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The Clinton News-Record, 1898-10-13, Page 2• 4 DAWSCN EXPECTS A BOOL THE OUTLOOK IS VERY' MUCH BRIGHTER IN THE KLONDIKE. Bold on the Hillsides -Believed That the Output This Year Will be From *Me 000.00. to $15,000.000 -No Banger of Lack of Food -Supply Is Abundant and Prices Considerably Lower Than a Wear Ago, The camp seems to me to be on the eve of it boom, and 6ne that will do more good and be productive of more actual mining than the last one, writes a correspondent. Dawson la in appearance duller than ever and no business is being done. Money is very scarce and it is almost impossible to borrow on good security at ten per cent per month, But the creeks have a very 'different appearance from that of last year, and It Is there that the source of the coat- . Ing boom may be seen. There are pro- bably nearly two thousand men work- ing on bench claims on Eldorado and Bonanza creeks, and a majority of these are taking out pay. Many are working rich ground. Of course, on the creek beds only by sluicing can the ground be worked in summer, but on the hillsides and benches the ground is comparatively shallow and free from water. Consequently it is easily worked. The pay dirt is washed in rockers es it is taken out. Up to two months ago very little bench mining was done, except at French Hill and Skookirm Gulch, but as the laboring men quit work at the end of the drifting season, many who had staked on the hillsides began prospecting. Many newcomers had located hill claims, because there was nothing else open. It now turns out, much to the surprise of every one, that the hillside pay dirt extends along nearly the whole length of Bon- anza and Eldorado. Pay dirt has also been found on Bear, Hunker and oth- er creeks in the similar deposits. RICHER THAN EXPECTED. Very few of the claim owners say much about what they are taking out, for the royalty is still on, but the fact that they are all working hard and mining, and not simply prospecting, is the best proof that their claims are paying well. These bench claims sbould prroduce this summer certainly more than $1,000,000, and possibly twice that sum. Work will cease on most of them when cold weather comes, and many of the owners who take out any considerable,suniv will want to invest in creek claims on other creeks. Much of this money in small suns will be seeking investments here in winter diggings. Owing to the enforcement of° the royalty but few creek claims were op- ened for summer sluicing, but from those which are being worked consid- erable gold is being taken. In all these cases the claim bah been pros- pected and were known to be rich. They should yield nearly if not quite $2,000,000. This, with the yield from the hill claims, will bring the total for the year up to snore than $12,000,000, arid probably to nearly $16,000,000. However, no accurate estimate can ever be made, for there can be no doubt that considerable was stolen, and so not reported, and some of the miners' have doubtless refrained from making full returns in order to.avoid the roy- alty. WAGES WILL 'BE LOWER,. Every one who owns a claim on a creek with a good reputation is being importuned for lays, and many will be let, especially on Dominion and Sul- phur. However, wages promise to be lower than last year, and, as food is plentiful, a number of mine owners are preparing to hire men and board them. This will make a large saving. It is ra- ther early for predictions, but it looks as if much more work will be done this coming winter than last. There are here many men represent- ing capital, most of them from London. They may be divided into three classes: -First, the men looking for properties with which to take in the public; see - and the representatives of men who have been taken in, and third, men who are looking for legitimate invest- ments. These last can find all the good properties they want at very rea- sonable prices provided they are pre- pared to pay down some money as a .guarantee of good faith, Mine own- ers here will not give long options otherwise. There is need for a great deal of capital here, and there will be opportunities for investing to advant- age for some time. To the outsider it might seem that enough money is be- ing taken out to supply the demand, but this is not so, the bulk of it is carried away each year by the trading companies and by those who are selling out and leaving the camp for good. There are also some 2,000 sheep on the way and 150 live hogs are being brought down in scows. • • CHICKEENS AT $12 EACH. The first chickens that came to Daw- son, about a month ago, sold as high as $12 each, but the price has fallen to $0- A dozen or more men have gone out to bring in ohiokens, turkeys, oys- ters and other luxuries in large quan- tities. Christmas may be celebrated this year on the Yukon in proper fashion. Last year at Christmas din- ner I was treated to some frozen Yu- kon trout and canned plum pudding. There were no delicacies and nothing to drink except hoochinoo, and the day was anything but merry along the creeks. Fires were lit in the pits on Christmas eve, and the windlasses turn- ed as usual the next day. Bananas and oranges sold here at $1 each six weeks ago, but now the prices have fallen to about $2 a dozen. Fresh vegetables, particularly potatoes and onions, have dropped from $1 to 50 cents a pound. Meals at the restau- rants continuo to fall in price and im- prove in quality, $1 and $1.50 being the common prices now. A great many little patches of ground have been cultivated this sum- mer, and radishes, peas, turnips, pota- toes and other vegetables grown. Of course the quantity has not been large but it has been shown how easily lit- tle gardens can be cultivated, and no doubt much more will be done in this direction next summer. Besides this considerable quantities of potatoes and other vegetables are being grown for the Dawson market on the upper river about Fort Selkirk. DOGS WELL CARED FOR. Th,a dog of the Yukon is a fortunate beast. Last winter, no matter how much food cost, the dogs were well fed. Nov there are several hundred horses and mules in the district, which are kept fat on the luxuriant grasses along the creeks, but when winter comes there will be little feed for them, and they will be killed -all except a few -to make food for the dogs during the win- ter. Then bacon promises to be cheap- er this winter than any other staple, and this is one of the favorite foods for dogs on the trail. This is all a very good 'thing for the miners, for it means cheaper freights and the working of more mines, and it means, too, that fewer men will ruin themselves by carrying packs and drag- ging sleds heavily laden long distances. If the government would build roads and. provender were brought in for horses, most of the hauling to the mines in winter, and all in surrimer would be done with these animals or mules. There have been brought into Daw- son from the States a groat many dogs -probably several thousand -and now it seems as if there were more dogs than men in the town. They are of all breeds and mixtures, except small, and their barking makes life miserable. In winter one acquires a fondness for dogs here and comes to regard them as man's best friend, but in summer he prays for the day when horses will take their places. All last winter I noted how quiet and well behaved all these animals were. Never a bark or sound would be heard from them, except once in a while when a driver got out of temper and kicked or beat them. Ttie freight on supplies to the mines in summer is from one to five times as much as the original cost in Daw- son. For example, the frieght on 100 pounds of flour would be from $15 to lower Bonanza up to $60 to lower Do- minion. In winter, at last year's prices, the cost to Eldorado and Bon- anza would be from $7.50 to $15, but it is probable that this winter these prices will be lowered to less than one- half. PLENTY OF FOOD. Unless there shall be a great num- ber of people coming in over the passes from now on without outfits, food will be abundant in Dawson next winter. Already twenty-six steamer loads have come up, and many boats are on the way. A number of steamers are stranded along the river on bars be- tween here and Munook. These will be sources of considerable amounts of supplies for the lower liver. Many of tha steamers bound for Dawson bring loaded barges in tow part way and leave them at stations below here. As has long been the custom, many steam- ers on their last trips will stop as win- ter comes on in the river below here. So altogether it looks as if there will not only be an abundance of supplies, but that they will be pretty well dis- tributed along the river, so that dis- coverers of new diggings will be in eas- ier reach of food and tools than has been the case in the past: L' It is possible and quite probable that some of the larger trading companies will endeavor to combine to hold up prices, but while this may bo done with some of thr staples, it looks as if most articles will he much lower than they have been of late years, and this is teeth of alt meats. Bacon sold last year at the big stores at fifty cents a pound, but for two months it has been offered at thirty ,cents and less. Late- ly considerable of it has gone at fif- teen cents. Fresh beef and mutton, which sold at $1.25 per pound in June, is now offered at fifty cents. A11 sum- mer long the Indians have been bring- ing in moose, sometimes as many as fifty in a week, and as a consequence the owners of beef cattle have been re- training from killing. Large quan- tities of fish -king salmon, dog salmon and Yukon trout -have been naught In the rivers, and the retail price now is three pounds for fifty cents. Soon caribou will begin to come in, There are being killed about three beeves a day, but as there are 3,000 head of cat- tle here or at Fort Selkirk and on the way, the demand will have to be in- creased and price will probably fall to twenty -flue or thirty cents a pound, NO DOCTOR'S BILLS IN SWEDEN. It's a Case of "Write Your Own Ticket'' When Yon Employ n Physician There. Do you pay doctors' bills? Some per- sons ddn't. Do you have an idea that the medicine men are in the same cate- gory with street railway companies and therefore to be "beaten," in season and out of season? Do you object to getting a bill from your physician, and object on general principles? Then go to Sweden. That's the place for you. That's the place where the doctor's cease from troubling and the poor deb- tor is at •rest. No doctors' bills go in Sweden. Who wouldn't be a Swede? When you are ill in Sweden and re- quire the services of a physician, all you have to do is to send for him. if ie is likely to be an efficient man and courteous to a degree. Your needs will be ministered to and between the time of feeling your pulse and taking your temperature he won't slip one of his professional cards in your hand and remind you that he charges $10 a visit. Nothing is said of payment, and your doctor looks after you faithfully un- til you have recovered. When you feel like liquidating the obligation you'll find that it is a case of write your own ticket. If you are rich, you will fill out your check for a handsome sum. The money will be accepted and no comment made. If you happen to be pc'or, you may send a small donation to the doctor, and it will be just as unemotionally re- ceived. The Swedish doctor on his native heath tends the sick and makes no !rates. His wealthy patients pay him handsomely, his poorer patients give what they can afford, and the extreme- ly poor give nothing at all. All get the same treatment. The system ap- pears to have its advantages, but there are grave doubts as to the practicabil- ity of its adoption in this country. It might resolve itself into similarity witb the payment of taxes on property, the principles of which are so well known that a feature is made of the fact; that certain rich men honestly pay in proportion to their resources. It used to he that the doctors in the Scottish Highlands operated on a similar principle to that of the Swedish medicos, Scottish caution must, how- ever have finally stamped out 1 he practice, for in the middle of the pre- sent century the custom was aban- doned. Prior to that time the doc- tors had collected their dues only once a year. This was on a market day and when all the farmers had assembled the doctors would go around, getting from the Letter class of patients $26 or $50 earb, and from the poorer farm- ers as little os a dollar apiece for the year's services. On the Farm. itt itiN�'N�- -Nti� r MARKETING POTATOES. Farmers remote from market or ship- ping stations should not try to grow extensively such bulky crops as the potato. Forty bushels to" a load is about as much as most farmers will care to take to market, and if the roads be hilly, thirty-five bushels will make over a ton weight, which is enough for most teams to take over hilly roads to market. As a auocesaful potato grower aims to secure two hundred bushels per acre, it will take five loads at forty bushels each to clear an acre. Whether these loads have to be carried one, two, three or from that up to ten or twelve miles, becomes the 41 -im- portant question when a farmer has many acres to market. Twelve miles will allow only one load to be car- ried per day, and return with the team at night. When a shipping station is from one to three miles distant sever- al loads can be marketed per day and this cost can be reduced to the low- est amounts. It is usually the habit of large potato growers to send off most of their crop in the fall, even though the price be then low, as it usually is. Nine years out of ten the time when farmers are busily digging their potatoes is the best time to lay in a supply for tbe whole year. When the farmer is digging potatoes, if their skins have become hardened so that they will not easily peel, he can well afford to sell potatoes 5 cents a bushel cheaper tbau after he has been to the trouble to pit the potatoes, or to carry them to the barn basement or cellar. Where there is a good crop of pota- toes, it is easy to load up wagons from the field as the potatoes are dug, tak- ing out only those of marketable size, and leaving the small and unmarket- able ones to be picked up later. By picking up the potatoes, making a path wide enough for a wagon and far en- ough into the field to load it, a load of thirty-five or forty bushels may be very quickly gathered. This makes only one handling of the potatoes, and any one who has been used to hand- ling this bulky crop understands that farmers who have two thousand bush- els or more to handle are glad to get rid of a large part of this burden, even if it is at a lower price. Besides, at potato -dig ing time the roads are bet- ter than they are likely to be later and it is easier work drawing off the crop, thus making an additional argu- ment for early marketing. We have known farmers who lived several miles from the shipping station to either build storehouses there, where their potatoes could be kept, or to hire room of some shipper for this purpose. Then the potatoes can be drawn to the storehouse,. which should have a coal stove in it, to secure protection against sudden cold spells. Here the potatoes may be kept all winter, ready to take advantage of any rise in the market. The trouble is, however, that if farmers generally do this no rise A FAMILY AFFAIR. Rioh' Uncle -You might as well stop mooning about Miss Beauty. She has- n't been in love with you, after all. She's been after the money she thought you would inherit from me. Nephew-rmposetble I Why do you think so? Rich Uncle -I have proposed to her myself and been accepted. THE GAS COMPANY'S CINCH. Householder --Do you pretend to ley that this meter measures the amount of gas we burn ? Inspector --I will enter into no con- troverey, sir, but I will say that the meter measures the amount of gas you have to pay for• in price is apt to come. It sometimes happens that potatoes become suddenly scarce in some cities in very cold wea- ther, because it is difficult and un- safe to move potatoes very far in such wletather. Where the potato crop ie grown largely, most railroads are will- ing to provide lined cars with stoves, in which potatoes may be carried even through zero temperatures without being touched by frost. All that is necessary is a space of confined air be- tween the potatoes and the outside of the'car, which when it cuts through air at zero temperature is very sure to be at the same temperature itself. Where there is snow enough for good sleigh= ing, potatoes may be drawn on a sleigh several miles if the weather is not too cold and the potatoes are properly pro- tected from exeosure to the air. A team will draw, on the largest wa- gon box, all that can be put on to it if the sleighing is good. We once drew a wagon box with thirty-five bushels of potatoes in is nearly four miles when the temperature was below freezing point. But we covered the top well with blankets and nailed cleats on the inside of the box, so as to keep the po- tatoes from coming in contact with it. Wood is a poor conductor of beat any- way, and possibly the potatoes would not have been frost bitten if we had not taken this precaution. Besides this, we put the potatoes in bags in the cellar, so that they were probably several degrees above freezing, as also the air in the bags, before we started with the load. Yet with all the trou- ble we took those potatoes brought no more per bushel than those potatoes we had marketed from the field when dug the fall before. Potatoes are oft- en higher late in the spring than at any other time in the year. But the potato by this time has wasted from shrinkage if not from rot, and unless kept at very close to the freezing tem- pertiture it has had to be sprouted once or twice, thus still further less- ening its weight, and also its nutri- tive value. The moral of all this is that it does not pay for ordinary farm- ers to keep potatoes for higher prices. Those who have the facilities for keep- ing potatoes at nearly freezing tem- perature may do it with 'less loss, but even they cannot make sure that it will pay. But for all others there is aInliost n certainty that there will be some loss and occasionally I his loss will he a disastrous one. Every few years there is a great potato crap, which successively drags down the price from fall till winter, then on to spring, and finally in summer the po- tatoes can hardly be given away. It is a crop which cannot, easily be kept,, and, except in years of real scarcity there is rarely enough advance in spring to pay the extra cost of keeping until that time. an automatic rake, the bunches may be so large that they will have to be turned once In order to be fully our - ed. Having it in the barn, it is usual to thresh it when the weather is cold and dry in mid -winter. Machines are now made for not only threshing the straw, but also for rubbing out the seeds from the hulls and cleaning them, all at one operation. If such a machine cannot be procured, then the material may be trampled by the horses, and after the barn floor is full of chaff -that is, four to six inches deep -the horses are put upon it and kept there until they leave hulled the greater part of the chaff, whicb is then run through a common fan. That part of tbe chaff which falls nearest to the mill, of course, will still contain seeds. This is put back upon the floors and the horses put upon it again and the greater part of it again recleaned. In this way most of the seed which the chaff contains can be secured. Or, if the seed is wanted for home use, it may be sowed in the chaff. Unless, clover seed yields two bushels to the acre, it will hardly pay for the labor of saving it. SECURING CLOVER SEED. The second crop of common red clover may or may not produce nn?rhundance of seeds: A few heads shnuld he rub- bed out and this fact determined be- fore any labor is spent upon securing it as a seed crop. There are two or three ways of cut- ting it, The common reaper with sweep - rake is often used -that is, it is cut just as a piece of oats or barley would he. Sometimes it is mowed, hut this gets more' of the stalks thn.n is neees- sary to secure the seed, This is not objectionable, except that it takes a little longer to cure it and more la- bor to thresh it. The cut material is left in the field until it is well cured and usually quite black and the stems brittle. It le then raked up when it is a little damp and bunched. As soon as the material gots entirely dry, the hunches may bo rolled over so that I he lower part as well as the top, will he dry. The only question is as to get- ting the material into the barn dry. If it has been thrown of in bfinehes by .MIXING FERTILIZERS WITH MANURE. Farmers have not yet resorted to mixing the fertilizers with manure, such a course being extra labor, for which no corresponding benefit is de- rived; but it has been found an ex- cellent plan to reinforce the manure with such ingredients as may be lack- ing in the heap. It would occasion a loss to add any kind of nitrogenous substance to the manure heap, as de- composition would cause the gaseous nitrogen to escape in the form of am- monia. The insoluble phosphates can, however be added to the manure with advantage, as chemical action will ren- der the material soluble. A great many combinations occur in , the ma- nure heap, and the heat generated is evidence that all the substances com- posing the mass are breaking down and gradually changing,new forms coming out of the old, and plant food prepar- ed 1 hat will be immediately available in the soil. Such material as ground bone, bone meal, and phosphate rock, are not proof against the destructive influences of the manure heap, and when combined with the manure in the fall become suitable for plants by the time spring opens, their decomposition however, being too slow to permit of any loss of consequences in the heap. Fertiiizers may be mixed wilh man- ure also at time of applying the man- ure to the soil, and with advantage whether such work is performed at this season or in the spring. One point to observe with fertilizers is that the phosphates are not always soluble, and they are also liable to "revert" in the soil, even when the phosphoric acid is free, but the potash compounds are always soluble and may be carried off by .rains, melting snows, or from the surfare by being washed away. The nitrogenous fertilizers are nearly all soluble also, • and the same risks as with the potash compounds are incur- red, hence the time to apply fertilizers is when there will be less loss through the agency of water. Phosphates may, therefore be applied in the fall and nitrogen and potash in the spring. Lime is never applied to manure in the heap, as it assists in liberating am- monia, but there are farmers who af- firm that they have derived benefit from the addition of air -slacked lime to the manure just before spreading the manure on a field to be ploughed under, which is no doubt true where coarse manure was used. DEPOPULATION OF FRANCE. BAVARIIA'S XING WAS MAD HIS SUBJECTS LOVED HIM IN SPITE OF HIS WEAKNESS. Qts Manner Romantically Mysterious at First, Settles Into Madness -Ills Succes- sor King Otto a Madman. King Louis II. of Bavaria ascended the throne at the early age of nine- teen. From the early days of his reign his subjects adored him; all who ap- proached him praised the charm of his manner and conversation. There was something of mystery in his very smile, and at times bis eyes seemed to be searching for something they could not find; his mind seemed filled with dreams and fantasies, and Ba- varia boasted of having for a sover- eign a veritable king of romance. But their romanio king was also a very wise king and at one time wrote to the administrative councils of his capital persuading them to set aside for benevolent purposes a part of the money intended for a certain festival. He was obeyed, and nearly two mil- lion dollars which had been raised was set aside to aid the poor. At the sume time Louis II. gave from his own in- heritance two millions dollars to be used in encouraging art and science. As popular as he was then, although no one did him the injustice to doubt his reason, there bad been observed in his conduct, in his habits, his charac- ter and his language, singularities WHICH SHOCKED AND DISQUIETED his people. At first his subjects de- plored his obstinacy in not marrying. At one time he appeared to have con- ceived an affection for the Princess Sophia, of Bavaria. Upon leaving a ball where he had declared himself, he mounted his horse, galloped into the forest, and, until dawn, told his love to the stars. This passion very soon cooled, however, and ever afterward he had the strongest distaste for wo- men they inspired him with an invin- cible aversion, and, excepting his mother, the Princess Gisele, and the Empress of Austria, he scdrned them all. He remembered that his grand- father had lost his throne for having toe deeply loved Lola Montez. Louis II. now gave himself more and more to solitude; he would pass months almost entirely alone in his beloved mountains, where he believed himself a thing apart, seeming to consider his Majesty diminished when he approach- ed the lower ranks of humanity. His sub,lecte loved him in spite of his weak - nese. It was a severe blow when he recognized in a Hohenzol'ftirn the sue- cessor of the Wittlebachr and he was obliged to yield to the stern and haughty Bismarck, and content him- self with the favours which the prince granted him. Be considered the true king as being the only sovereign who exercised absolute power; and every- thing now reminded him of his de- pendence. From day to day HE FELT MORE KEENLY the awful disappointment. He became a prey to gloomy fancies, and the dis- orders of his mind changed into a set- tled wildness. He did not wish to survive his glory, and resolved to put an end to his life. But before leaving this world he determined to deprive of life the physician yvho had pronounc- ed him insane. He eagerly sought an opportunity -and found it. His sad, tragic life closed shortly after. The misfortune is that he left his crown to another maniac. It was gen- erally thought an Europe that Prince Luitpold would be proclaimed king in- stead of his nephew, Otto, but it was decided that this could not he done =- cording to constitutional right, and the Bavarians were consequently con- demned for long years to the difficul- ties and embarrassments of an un- fortunate regency. Little is permit- ted to become public concerning the condition of Otto, but quite recently a rumor escaped that he had become very feeble, and that his death might be expected at any moment. Influx of Foreigners Prevents the adcrease Becoming Apparent. The returns of the census for France which was taken on March 29, 1897, have no* been published and compar- ed with the statistics of the previous census, which was taken six weeks be- fore, on April 12, 1891. A year ago the number of people in France was 38,228,969, and at the 1891 census it was 38,095,150, so that in the six years the population of France had only in- creased by 133,819 persons. And even this trifling increase is more appar- ent than real, for it has taken place entirely in the large towns, and is due to the influx of foreigners, such as Belgians and Italians, who are to be found in increasing numbers among the urban populations of France. In only twenty-four departments is there any increase; in sixty-three de- partments there is a positive falling off, and this is more especially mark- ed in the rural communes. Even more than in England does the population flock from the country to the town, and yet we are always hearing of the perfect nature of the French agrarian laws and of the advantages of small holdings. The fact is, that small hold- ings tend to keep down the rural pop- ulation, for the subdivision of fields has now got to such a pitch that any family at all often means starvation to a man and wife. For years past the French popula- tion has only been kept from showing an absolute decrease by the influx of foreign workmen into t,be great towns, and yet the French allow the folly of the colonial party to drag them in- to ridiculous enterprises abroad for the benefit of a few greedy officials and functionaries. A nation with a de- creasing population can never hold col- onies, and the French may rest as- sured that sooner or Inter their col- onies will go the why of those possessed by the sister nation, Spain. THE PHILOSOPHIC GLUTTON. Saved From lltinseif by r'Irenmstances Lr Disguise. "I suppose," said a philosophio glut- ton, "that I ought to be, and as a mat- ter of fact I am, grateful that I have never had very much money. If I had had plenty of money I should doubt- less long ago have killed myself with rich food. As it is, I am still living toenjoy my corned beef and cabbage; saved from myself by circumstances that seemed cruel, but that were really kindly, as I suppose may befall in the experience of any of us. "What we need most, indeed, is pro- tection against ourselves." t ALL THD EAR MARKS. Servant -Lady at the door, mum. She don't have no card. Mistress -What does she look like? Servant -Red hair, cat oyes, thin lips, ugly chin, an' hooked nose. She looks as if she'd bite a body's head off. mistress -Tell her I'll be down in a moment. She's probably collecting money for some charity. • t ♦-s-•-•- 4-- ♦ - II -•-♦-110-•- Aunt Helen's Legacy. Mrs. Baker looked up hopefully as the door of her tiny room opened and her daughter entered, but her heart sank as she saw Helen's face. It was a sweet face, though clouded now by anxiety and deapair. The girl sighed heavily as her mother's eyes met hers. "I have not succeeded, mother." she said, quietly. " Not euoceeded ? Oh, Helen 1 What shall we do?" exclaimed the widow. Then as she saw Helen's lips quiver. "Come to me, darling," she Dried, hold- ing out her arms toward the young girl. Helen buried her face in her moth- er's breast, and burst into tears. Mrs. Baker stroked her hair softly, her own heart too full to permit her to speak. "There is not a crust of bread in the house," she murmured to herself. Helen heard the low spoken words and raised her tear -stained face to her mother's. " Mother, is it as bad as that ?" " Yes, dear, it has come to that at Last." " Heaven help us," moaned the girl. Then, controlling herself with an ef- fort, she staid, " I'm going out again, mother. I shall answer those adver- tisements I showed you Last night. It ig our last ehance. Pray that I may succeed." " My darling, you know that I will. Don't walk too far, for if you should get ill what would become of us?" " I will be careful, mother. Now, good -by." After kissing her mother she left the hawse. Turning the corner of B— street she went straight along and finally entered a large dry goods store. Little did, she dream as she enter- ed that building of what a. kind fate held, in store for her at home. For her sad -faced, heart sick mother was turn- ing over the few poor little treasures, looking for something that might pos- sibly bring a few dollars from the neighbouring pawnbroker: She selected a small, curiously carved writing desk. " This is the only thing fit to sell," she murmured. " I hate to part with it -Aunt Helen's gift to me. She told me never to part with it, for it might be a greater blessing to me than I thought. Poor Aunt Helen! I suppose her mind was wandering when she said it." Here a loud knock caused the wi- dow to rise hastily to her feet and open the door. She found herself face to face with her landlord. He was a large man with a coarse, brutal face. " Well, Mrs. Baker, I have come to see about my rent," pushing himself inside the room. " Are you aware that it is three weeks overdue?" " Yes, sir ; I am aware of it, but un- fortunately the firm for which my daughter and myself have been work- ing has failed and we were obliged to seek employment elsewhere. As yet we have not succeeded, but I hope to have your money very soon." "Well, madam, I'll give you just three days to get that money or get out. I don't want tenants that can't pay their rent," and out he went, slam- ming the door. ' Oh, what will come upon us next?" murmured Mrs. Baker, burying her face in her hands. " But I must bear it for Helen's sake, What did I do with that desk ? Theire it is. T must have knocked it down when that man Dame. She rose, and took it up. " Broken 1 Our last hope gone. I cannot sell it now. But what is this?" as she saw some- thing protruding from the crack in the bottom of the desk. She pulled it out, " Money I" she ex- claimed, joyfully. " Now I know what Aunt Helen's mysterious words meant! Broken as this desk is, it will be far. dearer to me then it ever was before. 1 never. dreamed that it had a false bottom." Tust then the door opened and Hel- en entered. Her face was radiant. "Good news this time, mother dar- ling," she cried. " Why, what have you there?" she added, as her eyes fell _on the desk. It is Aunt Helen's old writing desk. See what I have found in it." "How much is there ?" "I don't know. I haven't counted it y,et. But I thank God for it, be it much or little." "So do I, with all my heart anti soul." 'But what is your good news, Hel- en?" " Oh, it is northing beside this. I've got a positiou in Barnes' dry goods store, with a salary of $3.50 a week. But, mother, how did you come to find this money ?" ' I'll tell you about it after we have had some tea. You must he faint, poor child. Let us see how much there is here, then we will have tea," and she set about counting the money." They quickly found the roll contain- ed $1,000 in bills of large denomina- tions," "Enough to give you the rest you need so much." Yes," said the widow, and added, " let us tb'ink God for Aunt Helen's legacy.' SNAKES AS DECORATIONS. Samoan Dancing Girls Wreathe Them• selves With Reptiles. For the most part the Pacific islands are destitute of snakes. That is abso- lutely the case in Hawaii. In New Zea- land, equally free of these reptiles, the only knowledge which the Maoris had of snakes may he found in a legend of a monster called the taniwha, con- cerning which authorities differ as to whether it is the ancestral and dim recollection of a snake or of an alli- gator. All the eastern islands of Poly- nesia bet ween these two outposts are snakeless. Westward from Hawaii, down among the Gilberts and the Mar- shalls and the Carolinas, the square - bodied water snake begins to make its appearance in the lagoons and harbors. By t he time the Philippines are reach- ed the water snakes become both com- mon and deadly, and the jungles of those islands are abundantly supplied with snakes. From the Philippines, as one follows down the chains of islands, snakes are found both abundant and venomous. In the wild lands of the Western Pacific the reptiles are fre- quently objects of worship, and in some legends are credited with the creation of the world. Samoa seems to lie just on the boun- dary line of snakes in the Pacific. In eastern islands of the archipelago no snakes are to be found; in ilpolu a few are seen at rare intervals;in Sa- vaii, only a few miles to the westward, they are common and attain great sive, in the case n0'some kinds at least.. None of them are venomous, and the island- ers neither fear them nor exhibit. any of that repugnance to their presence which is commonly called instinctive. This indifference to the reptiles is made most markedly manifest atthe hamlet. of Iva, on the northeast coast of Savaii. Here are to he found small snakes of a most brilliant red color, They are so common that a basketful may be easily picked up in any banana patob, The dancing girls of this town are in the habit of employing these gaudy snakes for personal adornment in their dances. They tie them about their necks, their' ankles and their wrists, festoon them in their head- dresses and tuck a few extra ones in the belt in readiness to replace such as escape in the dance. At their hest. these Sivas danced by the Samoans are either dull or revolting shrrivs of savag- ery, It can easily be imagined that. I hey are made no more attractive when the taupou or•viltage maid and her crew of at.tendn,nt girls go careering' about with an assortment of writhing red snakes. Still the Samoans, who have no stook of snake prejudices, look upon this as cue of thes most successful and artistic ditneod in their islands; SHE CONCURS. I have just been reading a curious book. It shows that very few men of genius live happy with their wives. I wonder if that's the reason we don't seem to get along any better? " She -It must be. You have a posi- tive genius for making a fool of your- self. TTIE DOWNWARD BATH. Mrs. Mulligan -Mrs. O'Hooligin I'm jist aft her cumin' from th' perlic'.e sta- tion, an' they have your son Moike there, dhrunk as n lord. He was ar- risted this evening. Mrs. O'Hcolignn-Moy I Moy I Dhrnnk is he? An' it isn't a wake, Mrs. Mul- ligan, since he promised me he'd lcape out o' pollyticks. NO EMPTY COMPLIMENT. Miss Forlysummers-1 t old Mr. Reich I wns twenty-eight, end he said f did- n't. look it. Fred -Well, you don't; you haven't looked it for fifteen years. CASE OF LONG STANDING. Mrs. Fillanthrop-It you are a suf- ferer from nervous prostration, as you say you are, why don't you do some- thing for it? Tuffold ICnuit-I do, ma'am, I'm a takin' wot they call the rest cure. i THE NEW IDEA. Mrs. Gadd -Did you ever 1 Mrs, Mew- ed has had her bridal slippers silver- plated. Mrs. Gable -bond sakes! I'm gird there wasn't any such silly fashion when I wns married. Tat lle Johnny, moving unensily- bo'm T. The approval of yont' oenscienoe is an excellent thing, but it is not snffi- ctent to get you a raise of salary. CI NOTES AND COMMENTS. The Horrors of a battlefield are the most hideous and ghastly that one can possibly conceive. There are many events which of themselves do not cause a tithe of the suffering and de- solation of battle, but which excite in greater degree all the emotions of fear, dread and abhorence which limeq.,04111111 make up horror. There are mis- chances and even endings which are foreseen, and for which the mind is thus in a measure prepared, that yet arouse much deeper horror than the rigid corpses and scattered equipment of • a battlefield. It is the resentment against the thought of the many lives suddenly ended by shot and shell, that is the base of the popular horror of war, But the very fact that these sudden and violent deaths are an in- evitable and grewsome feature of war, tends to diminish the horror ex- cited by its visible results on the field. The mental shock is weakened by expectation, and the revulsion of the moral nature attenuated by thought of the noble purpose for which life was sacrificed. It is well to remember that the combination of emotions which we call horror does not depend for intensity upon the amount of pain and desola- tion. It depends rather upon the un - readiness of the mind to contemplate misery and suffering. A sudden death by drowning or a fall from a housetop will excite horror, where the death of the same person after a long and severe illness excites only pity. The answer of six hundred riderless horses to the bugle call after one of the battles of the Franco-Prussian war, was in its intellectual surprise more horrible than the sight of the stiffened corpses on the field. The onlookers were prepared for the fami- liar sight of the slain, but not for the sudden revelation of the extent of the human suffering and misery made by the trooping of the horses. The degree of horror thus depends on the entire unexpectedness of the cause and the resultant intellectual shock, rather than on the pain and sorrow involved in the effect. There are, however, many events which excite horror for which the mind is prepared, and which ,can, therefore, cause but little intellectual surprise. Take for example, the death of the drunkard or the debauches. His whole course of life tends to prepare thci onlookers for the end he finally reaches. Nothing but the death of a brute would satisfy the inexorable and righteous law that as a man sows so shall he reap. Yet when the inevit- able ending comes the horror is often none the less because of the intellect tual expectation of it. Indeed, it is not infrequently greater than that excited by death by war or mischance. Nevertheless, the intensity of the hor- ror still depends on the shock receiv- ed, though in this case it is moral, not intellectual. The whole career of the ,victim, and the extent of the mis- ery in which be involved himself and others, are after all so unnatural and repellant, that, viewing the completed whole, one receives a moral shock greater even than would have proved the intellectual shock had one been unprepared for the issue.. It may be doubted, indeed, whether the sights of the battlefield ever ex- cite the full intensity ,of horror. As we have said, the basis of horror of this kigd is mainly the thought of the number of human lives suddenly blotted out, the abrupt ending of so many useful careers. But death comes to all men, and to few with more en- nobling effect than to those who dis- interestedly yield up life in the ser- vice of their country. Indeed the willingness of so many men to lose life in defence of a great principle or national cause is a testimony to the real nobility of human nature. It would be unsafe to say that the men who thus die would have better serv- ed their kind had they lived on to die from natural causes. True, there is horror of a certain kind in the abrupt- ness of their taking off. But the as- sumption that war entails these re- sults attenuates the mental shock, while the moral shock is diminished by belief' that lives thus lost cannot justly be deemed wasted. They are closed in the disch•trge of a high duty, in disregard of selfish fears, and more often than not in such a way as to make them a fragrant memory. SMALL ENEMIES. Stanley's Experience With the Dwarfs d* Africa. Henry M. Stanley, in describing his journey through the forests of Africa., says that the most formidable foes he encountered, those that caused the greatest loss of life to his caravan and came nearest to defeating his expedi- tion, were the Wambutti dwarfs. These diminutive men had only little bows and arrows for weapons, so smell that they looked like children's pia" - things; but upon the tip of each tiny arrow was a drop of poison which would kill an elephant or a man as surely and quickly is a rifle, Their defence was by me ins of poison and traps. They would steal through the dense forest, and waiting in ambush, let f their arrows before they could be' c covered, They dug ditches and care- fully covered them over with sticks and leaves. They fixed spikes in the ground and tipped them with poison. Into these ditches and on these spikes mon and beast would fall or step to (heir death. One of the strangest things about it was that their poison was mixed with honey. The account of these small pe•,ple and their successful warefare inflnenees one to remember the small enemies we all are apt to encounter in hnhitch seemingly harmless, but dn.nge»ous to welfare end happiness. HER WORST PATILT. Isn't it difficult, Mrs. Jones, to get along with a girl that uses snob brok- en English? Oh, T don't mind that so much. It's her broken China that seta me wild•