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- THE MAGICAL DOOR. BUDGET OF FUN. Thero'c a door to tho wall of the ages— A door that no man sect*, 3?or the Angel who writes in the Book of Time Is the keeper of tho toys. Once in the year it opens, At the solemn midnight hour, When the children sleep, and the old cloelis keep Awake in tho tall church tower, And then, as it swings on its hinges^ 'Whoever might peer inside Would catch a glimpse of the centuries That behind in the sllenco hide. Egypt and Home and Tyre, All in that mythical placo Where the old years rest that were onco pos sessed By tho wonderful human race. •She shadowy door swings open, And a pilgrim enters ID, Bowed with a twelve-months' struggle In this world of strife and sin. Waft bim a farewell greeting. Ho will pass no more this way— This weary year who must disappear In tho haven of Yesterday. Tho door still swingeth open, And outward another come?, With a stir ot banners and bugles And tho beat of friendly drums His hands are full ot beauty— Tho cluster, the song, the sheaf, Tho snow-flake's wing, nnd the budding spring, And tho foam on tho c rested res>£ This is tho New Year, darlings, Oh I haste to give him cheer. Only the Father knoweth Tho whole of his errand here This is tho New Year, darling! ' A year for work and play. For doing our best, and for trusting tho rest To the Maker of night anil day. —II. E. Songster, in Harper's Young People. \STEANGEK THAN FICTION\ BY HELEN FORREST GRAVES. Miss Ritchie colored.\ \Father sold tho farm to you, Mr. Tucker,\ said she, \and it's my business to see that the transaction is logal. Aunt Ruey is coming back.\ \Ehl\ cried the farmer and his wife, in chorus. \I had a letter from her yesterday,\ said Kitty. \That's one Teason I am here to-day. The cousins in Ohio won't have her any longer. She is getting older nnd more eccentric every day, and they say—what is quite true—that it is my business to care for her. And the I poor thing expects to come back to the | old Ritchie farmhouse just as if she had 'left it yesterday! So if Mrs. Tucker ] will lend me a few articles of furniture, I'll try to mako tho placo habitable for her.\ \And you're kindly welcome to 'em, my dear,\ said thefarmer's wife. 1 'There's plenty of solid old'furniture up in the garret, that we can rub up with a little oil and make decent. And it's our business to help you all we car, seein' it's Gideon's fault—\ \It's nobody's fault!\ quickly inter rupted Kitty Ritchie. \And if the trustees raise my salary, as they talk of doing, if that extra class in mathematics is started, I shall soon be able to pay a little rent for the place.\ \I guess we shan't dun you much for no rent, Miss Ritchie,\ chuckled Tucker. \An' you're welcome to the milk of the red cow if you an' the old aunty want it. A cow's a dreadful help in house- ktcpin'. Mis3 Ritchie thanked them and went on her way, limping slowly along. \I'd a* hitched up old Jack ami took her the rest of the way home,\ observed Tucker, as he stretched his neck to look after the departing figure, \if I hadn't a' seen Ilarry Wait's carpenter wugon I comin' down the road. An' I guess I ain't one t o spcil sport.\ | \'Twou't never bo a match if Kitty I Ritchie shoulders the burden o' th.it old crazy aunt o' her'n,\ said Mrs. Tucker. \A man can't bo expected to marry a whole madhouse!\ \I guess Kitty's worth it!\ declared Tucker. \She is a good girl I\ said his wife. \And there was one time folks s'posed ^ the pearly fluid [ sputter up iuto her face \There said she. \Didn't I always tell so'\ Gideon Tucker went stolidly on plucking a fine, fat duck for market. \You're 'most olways ielim' of me something,\ said he \It would be kind o' queer if some of your sny-soes didn't come true \ \Things Couldn 't help happening,\ said Mrs. Tucker, \with that old sunken well right in the middle of the medder. You hud your best cow lamed there the first year we bought the place, aud Dr Dupont's hired man liked to broke his neck there—\ \Just come short of it,\ said Gideon. \Anyhow he had no business short-cut ting it across my pasture lots. But there, Fanny, 'tain't no use your sroldin'. I always calculated to fill up that well when I got time. Aud I'm sorry as you be that the schoolma'am sprained her , ankle there. She's n nice girl, and she I helps to support that old aunt o' hern out West, an'—\ \It was nil my own fault. Mr. Tuck er,\ broke in a sweet, cheery voice. \It's just as you said about Dr. Du pont's hired man. I hadn't any business crossing your lot, but I wns in such a hurry, and it's au eighth of a mile shorter than to go around bv the main road.\ Miss Ritchie, the village schoolmistress, stood there in the doorway, leaning on a roughly-improvised crutch which Harry Wait, the carpenter, had made her. Her checks were pale, and there was a look of suffering on her brow, even though a sort of forced smile had been summoned to her lips for the occasion. \La me, Miss Kitty' \ said the far mer's wife, hastening to bring a rush bot tomed kitchen chair. \You do look clean peaked out. Gideon, go down sut ler an' bring up :i glass o' cold root beer right away.\ \ I can't do it, Mrs. Tucker,\ said Kitty, sinking into the chair. \It's no use trying.\ \Can't do what, Miss Kitty? \ \ I walked to the schoolhouse this morning,\ Ritchie answered, \lean ing on my cniteh and resting by turns. And I've walked so far on my way back. But I feci sick and faint, and I cau go no further.\ \There! \ said Mrs. Tucker, tragically apostrophizing her husband as he stood at the head of the cellar stairs with a stone bottle of home-brewed root beer in his hand, \see what you've done! \ \Twarn't me! \ stuttered poor Gideon. \Miss Kitty Ml hev to give up her school,\ added his wife, \and all through you!\ Kitty cauld not but smile, even through the pain of her stinging limb at Gideon Tucker's rueful face. \Oh it isn't so bad as that!\ said she. \Or at least I hope not. I mean to keep my school if I possibly can. And I'll tell you what my plans are. You know that old house under the locusts?\ \What!\ cried Mrs. Tucker. \The Ritchie Ruin?\ Kitty winced a little. \Yes said she, \I suppose it is a ruin. The grass is growing up through the kitchen floor, and the shingles have all rotted away on the north side, and I don't suppose there's a pane of glass left in any of the windows. But the doors are sound, nnd the roof dosn't leak to 6ignify. Henry Wait says it could bo made quite comfortable with a few pine boards and a pound or so of nails, so long as the weather don't turn cold; and if Mr. Tucker would allow me to live thcro this fall—\ \Tain't fit for even foxes to live in!\ cried Mrs. Tucker, hurriedly. \Why more slowly spoke her spouse, \I was calkilntin' to store my pumpkins an' cabbages there, but of courso if you've took a notion to the place—\ \ I was born there, Mr. Tucker,\ said Kitty, in a low voice. \Long before father and mother were obliged to sell the old place. Long before poor old Aunt Ruhamah wandered away and went to her relations out West.\ \Yes \ observed Mr. Tucker, nervous ly scratching his head; \and until I get | your Aunt Ruey's signature to my title I deeds, thoy won't be wuth more'n so | RS. TUCKER set down the milking- pail with an cm- l^'Ll^ i she \wn6goiQ , 'to be an'he^s—wheu\the old sea captain uncle came home with the prize money that he gained in the war \ \I don't believe there ever was any prize money!\ said Mr. Tucker, resum- J' o u | ing his task of denuding the plump duck of its feathers. \There!\ \I know there was!\ nodded his wife. \Mrs Ritchie showed it to me herself. All gold eagles, tied up in a shammy J bag, with a leather shoe string. The old captain give it to her for nussin' him through that fever.\ \What's the reason you Dover said nothin' about it before?\ questioned Tucker. \Mrs. Ritchie made me promise not to tell. She was afeared o' bein' robbed.\ \And what ever came of it?\ \That's what nobody knows. Jest's like's not old Ebcn Ritchie put it into that iron-mining' consarn that honey combed Blue Mountain and never dono no good. Or p'r'aps he invested it in lottery tickets. Ho never had no judg ment. Now, don't you go to chatterin' about this, Gid Tucker. Mind, I'm un der a promise to the poor old creetur that's dead and buried,\ \Somo promises is better broken than kept,\ said Gideon. But Mrs. Tucker knew that the secret was safe with her uncommunicative spouse. Meanwhile, the builder's wagon had stopped before the old, one-storied ruin of the Ritchie house, strongly silhouetted by the red smoulder of the September sunset. \Kitty snid young Wait, stealing his ai m coaxingly around her waist, \you can't live in an old shell like this I Give up your false pride, love! Let me mako a home for you.\ Kitty bit her lip. \And have it said,\ said she, \that Henry Wait was the only one of the Wait family that made a bad match!\ \I don't care what people say.\ \I do. \ \Kitty let's go to tho parson to night! Let's be married I\ Kitty shook her head. \Not until I've saved up enough to buy a decent outfit,\ said she. \Not until I've paid the last debt that poor father owed.\ \I'll pay 'cm, Kitty.\ \No Harry, you won't. I can be ns unselfish as you are!\ cried the girl. \Oh hush! Who is that?\ A board in the old floor had creaked softly, a shadowy little figure had come forward with a sidling motion, into the light. \Be you Kitty?\ asked a soft, high- pitched little voice. \Is this home? I've come a good ways, and I'm sort o' turned round.\ \It's Aunt Ruhamah 1\ cried Kitty. \Why how camo sho hero! And all by herself!\ \It's a good ways,\ repeated the old woman,\ shifting her fiat traveling bas ket, \and I'm sort o' turned round. But I followed sister Sarah all tho way. She went before, an' she beckoned. I fol lowed her here. And she's gone out to the old well. I'm sort o' feared to fol- ler her into tho high, wet grass, but she keeps a-beckonin', and I guess I'll have to go!\ Sho started for tho door, passing her hand in a confused fashion over her fore head. \What does she mean?\ asked Harry Wait. \She means mother,\ said Kitty— \mother that has been dead and buried these fifteen years.\ \Don't you see her a-beckonin'?\ piped tho little old woman—\just there by the old well? We nevor could get Ebon to put up a curb there, and sister Sarah was always afeard somethin' would happen.\ \I seo the tall grass waving,\ said Kitty, \and a cloud coming over tho surfaco of tbo rising moon, and that is all.\ \It's sister Sarah,\ said Aunt Ruey, pushing resolutely ahead; \and she wants me. Why, Kitty, do you mean to tell mo that you don't know your own mother?\ Kitty sent for Harry Wait the next day. \Harry said she, \do you want to do something for me?\ \I want to do everything for you, Kitty.\ \That's nonsense!\ (But sho laughed and colored nevertheless.) \ I want you to put a curb around that old sunken well. Aunt Ruey keeps wandering out much waste paper. At least so Lawyer Goodrich says. For she had somo sort >• there. Sho declares that mother stands ot a share in the property, sane or crazy.\ [beckoning her and leaning over to look in. And it's as near to bring out water from there as to go to Hemlock Springs.\ \I thought thQ old well -was dried up long ago.\ said young Wait. \There's water there. I see it shine and sparkle. And Mr. Tucker says he will dig it out anew and stone it up it you'll build a curb. It will bo handy for the cattle, too.\ \Very well,\ nodded Wait. \Any time Gid Tucker's ready, I am.\ Mrs. Tucker camo a few days later to the first husking bco of the season, full of excitement. \Hev ye heard?\ said she. And Mrs. Bradley, the buxom hostess, made answer - \Wo ain't heard nothin' new I\ \If I hadn't hcerd it with my own ears an* seen it with my own eyes,\ said Mrs. Tucker, \I never should ha' be lieved it. But it's true 1\ \What's true?\ breathlessly demanded Mrs. Bradley. ' 'Miss Ritchie's come into her fortuno,\ said Mrs. Tucker. \What!\ cried all tho company. \In gold,\ said Mrs. Tucker. \Tho old captain's prize money. I knowed it must be somewhere. And it was thero all the time 1 \ \Where?\ questioned tho compaDy, with one accord. ••Wedged behind the big half-way stoDC in the old sunken well, where they used to lower the cream-pail to keep it cool,\ eagerly spoke Mr3. Tucker. \In an old tin box rusted clean through, and tied up in the samo identical shammy bag that Mrs. Ritchie once showed mo years an' years ago. She must a' put it there herself, to keep it out of her hus band's hands, that time he had such a notion o' puttin' everything into minin' shares an' lottery tickets, an' died afore she had a chance to tell anybody whero it wns. Gideon he discovered it, fixin' up the new stun wall.\ Mrs. Bradley gave a start. \Don't ye know,\ said she, \poor old Aunt Ruey always stood to it that her sister Sarah was standin' there by tho well, beckonin' to her? She declared that sister Sarah went afore her all the way from Ohio.\ \Yes \ said Mrs. Tucker, in a low voice. \And when Gideon got to tho house, there was Aunt Ruhamah settin' by the fire, with her knittin' work in her hands, jest for all the world like she was asleep, but stone dead. And wasn't it lucky she signed tbem title papors o' Gideon's last week? And Kilty's cry ing fit to break her heart. Kitty can be mnrried now whenever she pleases. There ain't nothin' more to wait for. And who knows,\ she added, looking timidly over her shoulder at the gray shadows of the gloaming, \but thai) Aunt Ruhamah saw clearer than we doj and sister Sarah, Kitty's mother, was really beckoning on the edge of the old well?\ \Ah!\ said Mrs. Bradley, \who knows?\—Saturday Night. The Now Year in Japan. The Japanese New Year comes at tno same time as ours, but instead of celeb rating but one day, the Japanese observe the first three days of January. Indeed, in certain localities even six days are observed. During the holidays, public offices are closed, and very little business is transacted, all classes of people devot ing themselves to enjoyment, and spend ing much time in muking and receiving new year's calls. Arrayed in gay holiday attire, tho people go from house to house wishing one another \Shim now omedetto gozai- uiazu,\ which means, \May you have a happy New Year \ The callers are often attended by one or more servants who carry bamboo baskets laden with gifts, for it is the custom to leave presents with one's friendly greetings. The presents are usually inexpensive articles for every day use. It is customary to bestow more costly gifts upon one's relatives and intimate friends duung the closing days of the old year. During the holidays, the streets present a most festive appearance, for houses aro elaborately decorated and everybody locks gay and happy. The decorations remain for fifteen days, and consist in many case? of evergreen arches over tho doors. Red berries and yellow chrys anthemums are interwoven into these arches, and purple cabbages aro also used. The Japanese think tho cabbago highly ornamental, and use it as a house- plant and at funerals. The cabbages are said to look like large purple rosettes in the decorations. Straw ropes are twisted into fanciful shapes, and interspersed with ferns, and lanterns and Japanese flags are also much used in decoiating. Tho flag of the Sunriso Kingdom is a large red suu on a background of white —Forward. The Fiuuisli Laugnagc. That strango and difficult tongue, which is supposed to have once em braced tho greater part of northeastern Europe, is now practically restricted to a remote and sparsely populated prov ince of the Russian empire, and despite the facetious support accorded to it in the past by tho Russian Government its area seems to be steadily, if slowly, re ceding. Nor is this at all surprising whon we come to examine the language itself. Finnish grammar is a difficulty absolutely repulsive None of the other languages of the same group is half so bard. Hungarian—nay, even Turkish, despito vexation initial impediment of the Arabic alphabet—is easy in com parison. The syntax is at once provoking, ly elaborate and pcrplcxingly obscure. It possesses fifteen distinct cases and twenty-four differential infinite forms, but on the other hand there is no real distinction betweon nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, infinitives, and participles, so the student must not be startled by finding infinitives regularly declined like nouns and nouns taking upon them decrees of comparison liko adjectives.—London Athenteum. HOUSEHOLD MATTERS. CELLARS NOT GOOD FOR, APPLES. Cellars, and especially those under the> living rooms of houses, nro generally kept much too warm to preservo apples in good condition. Tho growing ten dency to heat houses from furnaces makes the cellar still hotter, so that it is impossible to keep apples from rotting rapidly. Tho plan of storing npple3 in out-of-door pits is better. They are preserved at a nearly uniform tempera ture, and if tho thermometer goes a few hours below the freezing point no seri ous injury is likely to result. Wo should always cover tho apples well with hoy or straw, so as to keep them from contact with the earth. Thoy will keep sound if covered only with soil, but acquire somo of tho taste which soil gives to what it touches.—Boston Cultivator. HOME-MADE WINDOW SHADES. \We weren't living exactly 'sixty miles from a lemon,' but we were living a good way from any place, and when it came to fitting up a house, wo were amazed at the number of windows which required shades, and the small supply of material on hand. Indeed, those we had were either too short or too narrow, and didn't seem to answer tho purpose at all. At tho nearest point where such things could be purchased, the price, $1 a window, struck us so utterly unreason able, that we declined to disburse the necessary amount of cash, especially as there was something like twenty-four windows in the building. Tho timely arrival of an ingenious friend helped U3 out amazingly. She had written us that she was coming, and wo wroto her tho particulars of our delemma about the shades. When she arrived, she brought among her other luggage a parcel which was duly turned over to the head of the family, with tho laughing remark. \ 'There, my dear, are all the neces sary supplies for your windows, and the bill is justS3.50.\ \The parcel contained two dozen shade rollers with fixtures, a lot of fringe and some whito muslia, tho purpose of which we did not at first understand Tho next day our friend went to work measured the windows, sawed tho roller3 and put up the fixtures. She then, with a very sharp shears, cut the curtains of exactly the size required, out of tho muslin, and lastencd them to the rollers with the smallest gimp tacks, which were also in the parcel. The hems of the curtains were finished, the fringe put on, and sticks put in. The curtains were then tacke 1 to a crossbeam in the garret, this being the most convenient place. They were fastened by the sticks in the hems, very slender nails being driven through at each end and in the middle. The cloth was then saturated with starch, in which was dissDlvcd some white glue, and weights were attached to the rollers. They were then allowed to dry without being touched. Having been cut by the thread <ind tacked, so that the cloth fell iu exactly a perpendicular liue, the cur tains dried perfectly square, and, when put up, rolled as easily as a holland, which they very closely resembled. \In large cities curtains are so inex pensive that it is scarcely worth while tc take the trouble to make them, but in couutry districts or wiiere goods are very high-priced it pays excellently well to make the curtains at home. It is really very little work, requiring only careful attention to cutting of the cloth and sawing the sticks, aud a mcchauical eye to put the fixtures up straight. Some home-made curtains have becu 30 neatly finished that the casual observer would never imagine them other than tho work of a professional. Fine heavy sheeting, ot even cambric, makes extremely prettj shades, if carefully mauaged. Fringe oi any othei desired finish may be used,and will add greatly to the neatness of the job A fine quality of size may be used instead of starch and glue, but mjst be very carefully applied, nnd permitted to be come perfectly dry before using.\—The Ledger. Potato Buttons. Thero need be no fear Of an ovor-pro- duction of potatoes now, since it hot been found that by treating the substance of the potato with certain acids,and thcr, subjecting it to great pressure, there if obtained a material almost like stone, 1 which can be employed for many of the I purposes to which horn and bono have been used. Tho buttons made of potato can only bo distinguished from those of; bone by close examination by an ex pert. The new button can bo colored in any desired shade, and their cheapness will probably insuie their popularity in the future. It is stated that a German fac tory is making these buttons in consider' able quantities.—Philadelphia Record. RECIPES. Apple Snowballs—One cupful ol boiled rice. Wring small cloths oat of hot water, lay over a bowl, spread t„<? rice on thinly, put n pared and cored ap ple in the center, tie the cloth together and steam. Vanilla Taffy—One pound of coffee A sugar, half a pint of water and half a tea- spoonful of cream of tartar dissolved in water; boil until it will harden in cold water, flavor with vanilla and pour on a aiarbleslttb; when cool enough, pull. Cream Corn—Open a can of sweet :oru, put in a stewpan on baci of stove, itew slowly, but do not boil; season with salt and plenty ot butter, and add a cup Df sweet cream five minutes betoro you are ready to use. Serve iu individual dishes. Dropped Eggs—Break the number ot eggs desired for tho meal into a pan of boiling water slightly salted, with muf fin-rings laid on the bottom of the pan, as they keep the shape of the e.^g well. Care should bo taken not to break the yolks. When the whites harden, take the egg up carefully and lay each on a piece ol toasted bread that has been moistened in hot water and buttered Sprinkle with pepper. Fried Muffins—Ooe cup milk, scalded, one-half scant teaspoon salt, one table spoon sugar, one tablespoon butter, on< egg, one-quarter cup yeast, flour to make a stiff drop batter. Scald the milk, nnJ melt in it the salt, sugar and butter. When cool add the boaton egg and yeast; then add flour gradually, beating it in until you can beat no longer. Rise over night. In the morning take up a spoon ful without stirring and drop it into deep fat. Chooolato Caramels—Two cups of arown sugar, one cup of molassos, one :up of cream or milk, one-half cup of butter, one-half pound of grated choco late, two tables poonfuls of flour. Boil '.be molasses, butter, sugar and flour fif teen minutes; stir the chocolate into the :ream and pour in the boiling syrup and Doil till done; drop in a little cold water; •f it piles up and hardens, then it is lone. Before pouring it.out on buttered Dans or plates add a teaspoonful of van- ,lln, and as it cools crease it in small squares. Escnlloped Tomatoes—Open a can of tomatoes and pour off almost all the juice. Butter a deep earthen dish and cover tho bottom with bread crumbs, then pour on i layer of tomatoes, sprinkle over it a lit- tlo salt and put bits of butter in several places, then another layer of crumbs and so on until the dish is filled with alternate layers, remembering to season tho toma toes every time and have tho top layer of crumbs. Cover over until it is very hot, then uncover and brown quickly S, HUMOROUS SKETCHES PRO VARIOUS SOURCES. i A Parody on Riley—A Ohureb. Scene, —A Boy—Ho Has th o Symp toms — Not a Sign ot 1'romiRe, JKcc. 8o very careful of your health; it's worth your while to try; said eat and drink with caution and to keep your stockings dry; for tkougn this is a healthy town, diseases lurk about, And the awful grip '11 get you if vou don't watch out. —Chicago Mail. A cnuncn SCENE . do those two young ladies \Why look so sad, papa?\ \Because each one has a new bonnet, aiy son, and each one thinks that the other has tho prettier.\—Judge. APPEAR AN CES OFTEN DECEIVE. Mrs. Qobbs—\I think it very strange that your friend Dobbs never married.\ Mr. Gobbs—\Oh you don't know Dobbs. He isn't half such a fool as he looks.\—New York Weekly. CAME AWAY WITIIOCT HER. Bunker—\How did you come to leave your wife in Paris?\ Hill—\She couldn't make up her mind whether sho wanted n yard or a yard nnd a half, and I got tired waiting.\— Cloak Review. tell A BOY. mo you are a happy \They father.\ \Yes \ \Are you setting up the cignrs?\ \No. I'm sitting up nights.\—Kate Field's Washington. PROVISO A PARADOX. \It is a fallacy to say that a man can not be in two places at the same time.\ \ I don't understand how he can.\ \Pshaw I Haven't you seen more than one angry man beside himself?\—Kate Field's Washington. TIE HAS TITE SYMPTOMS. \How lavish old Sol is with his light,\ said the exuberant lover one happy, sun shiny day. \Yes returned the loved one face tiously. \I thiuk Sol must be a sort of prodigal sun.\—Judge. NOT A SIGN OF PROMISE. \Is Miss Winterbloom in?\ \No sir She told mo to say that ihe waited for you until half past four ' \But I told her expressly I wouldn't be here until live I\ '•Yes, sir. So I heard hci Life. \D o you know me, man?\ \The book agent said he didn't.\ \ 'If you did,' snid Knowitall, 'you wouldn't want to sell me on encyclo pedia.' \ 'Oh,' said the book agent, looking hard at him, <I ought to have known that an encylopedia would b o mther be yond you. Well, what do you say to our new and elegantly illustrated primer.' \—Now York Press. say.\— snoT TO TnE POINT. \ I was davneing all night, donchcr enow,\ said Cholly to Miss Keene, on whom he was making a call, \but I'm aot a bit tired • on the contrary I think I look pwetty fwesh after it.\ \You're always ircsh,\ she said.— New York Press CAVG1IT IN HIS OWN TRAP. nandsomc Young Sheriff (with an or- ler from the court)—\I beg pardon,Miss McFtill,liut I have au attachment for you, wliich—\ Miss McFnll (thirty-two.if she's a day) | digestion as is .the rnastientiou of solid WHAT MAKES A CAT TREAD SOFTLY. \Grandpa what makes a cat tread softly?\ n3ked litilo Flandout of his nged relative as the pair sat down to improve their minds when the evening lamps were lighted. \It is n faculty provided by an all- wise Creator, my son, which enables tho cat to walk softly,\ replied the old man as he laid down bis paper and beamed on the youthful seeker alter knowledge. \All members of the cat tribe are en dowed with a noiseless tread, which greatly facilitates their capturing their prey. You have doubtless noticed that the pedal extremities of tho feline aro furnished with soft, velvety balls or coverings instead of hoofs These balls extend btlow the claws, which nrc drawn up when not in use, enabling the cat to walk across a board floor without the sligntest noise.\ \Oh. that isn't whatmakes a cat tread softly,\ said Tommy, when the old man had finished. \No? What is it, then?\ asked grand pa. \Rats replied the boy, while a happy, happy smile lit up his ingenuous face.—New York Mercury. Using Liquids at Meals. A great deal of misapprehension is often found to exist in the popular mind in regard to matters of eating and drink ing, the cause of this to some extent is to be traced to old-time sayings, which have come down to us in the form of a concentrated iu fusion of somebody's opinion upon a subject of which he or she was wofiiUy ignorant. One of these misapprehensions to wliich we may refer is as to the injuriousness of taking fluid with meals. One frequently hears it laid down as a maxim that \it is bad to dnuk with your meals, it dilutes the gastric juices.\ By way of explanation we may remark, says the Medical Press, that \it implies that the fluid taken is harmful.\ Whence this sagacious pos tulate originally came we ennnot tell, it has quite the ring about it of an incon sequent deduction formed by a person whose presumption of knowledge was only exceeded by a lamentable ignorance of the subject. Medical men often find much difficulty in dealing with theso museum specimens of antiquated science, for even educated persons arc disposed to cling to the absurdities of their youth. Upon this matter Mr Hutchinson re marks in the last number of his Archive*: \I observe with pleasure that the verdict of general experience and common sense has been confirmed by scientific experi ment in the matter of taking fluid with meals. Rev. Tev. 0. Stratievsky, of St. Petersburg, after elaborate trials, has found that fluids materially assist the assimilation of proteids and anuounccs the lollowing conclusion, which it is to be hoped no future experiments will con trovert.\on the whole, the widely-spread custom of taking fluids during or just befoic one's meals, proves to be rational and fully justified on strict scientific grounds. To take fluids with the meals is almost as important au. adjunct tc — \This is so sudden, Mr, Nippers! yes, dear.\—Puck. But, THE ONLY WAY. \Cynthia said Colonel Calliper, \isn't there some way of keeping Clarence from sliding down stairs? It disturbs me greatly \ \There is just one way, Cyrus,\ said Mrs. Calliper, \and that is to move into a one story house.\—New York Herald. COFFIN. the girl you with were A COCGII BUT NO Blinks—\How about $100,000 and the cough that engaged to lost summer.\ Winks—\I married her.\ Blinks—\Ah! Is the $100,000 gone?\ Winks (sadly)—\Yes. So is the cough.\—Kate Field's Washington. food preparatory to swallowing it. It is obvious, however, that there is a limit to the amount of Uuid one can swallow with impunity—not to speak of comfort —just as much with meals as at other times.\ It would bo dangerous to cre ate a general impression that fluid is good with food irrespective of quautity. It is, moreover, a well-ascertained clini cal fact that an excess of cumprandial fluid does retard digestion iu certain people, and gives rise to discomfort in most. A little attention to one's sen- ss.tions iu such matters will far befer fix the desirable limit than all the \d.itu\ in the world.—Science. POPULAR SCIENCE. *A beo does not weigh the one-hun dredth part of an ounce. It is said that the grip this year par takes of the nature of neuralgia. Electric motors have been so greatly improved of late that they will now pull nearly 30,000 pounds. Naturalists haye enumerated 657 dif ferent species of reptiles. Of this num ber 490 aro as harmless as rabbits. By a new system, compound sheets of platinum and gold are used to make cru mbles for use in industrial chemistry. The Maine Cattle Commission has dis covered tuberculosis iu cattle from Mass achusetts, and has ordered that importa tion bo stopped. Steel smokestacks aro being placed up- Dn the locomotives of tho elevated rail roads in New York City.thus reducing the weight from 800 to about 100 pounds. An apparatus for purifying lubricating )ils coming from machinery has been patented in Norway whereby tho samo ail can be used many times at a trifling jxpense. In order to photograph the flying in. icct, the exposure must last only 1-25,- 000th pait of a second. This the French photographer, M. Marey, claims to lnvo iccomplished by the aid of a new instru ment invented by himself. He has also photographed the blood globules circu lating in a vein. Owing to the lack of penetrating power possessed by the electric arc light in thick weather, its use in lighthouses is not recommended. Inventive talent is now being brought to bear in England to ascertain a better composition of the carbons, with a view to supplying the re quired rays for penetrating effect. Tho effect of a recent explosion ai Rome in which 265 tons of gunpowder blew up, has been observed on the bar ometer ut the Roman College, which is four kilometres froi- the magazine. The increase of atmospheric pressure caused by tho sudden evolution of gase3 made the mercury jump up 11.4 millimetres. The recent rise in the price of cannel coal bos led the English gas companiei to look about for somo other mentis oi increasing the illuminating power of thi gas. This has been found iu Russian petroleum, from a light product of whicl according to Mr. Weaver, a rich gas i now being supplied in Kensington by th< 'ocal company. An extraordinary result has been ol> tained by some experiments made in Eng land in signalling with electric lighti turned vertically to the sky. The lighi of the Eddvstone lighthouse can be seer only 17J miles, and then on a clear nighti but a vertical beam of light of far lesi power is visible just twice as far, with t strong chance of its surmounting an or dinary fog. Professor Krnil,of Vienna, Austria, in examining tho bands of a mummy, pro bably of the age of tho Ptolemies, which for the last forty years has been pre served in a museum, has fouud a strip o: i linen with several hundred lines of Etrus- I can writing. In this text, which is th> i longest we possess in that language, somt | words occur that arc to be fouud in Etrus can inscriptions known to us, but thi whole caunot, in the actual state of Etrus can studies, be deciphered Examination has shown that fish cam back to the stream where they were borr. after having been out at sea for tho win ter months. This is known by the marks placed on them and by the general di£ ferenco in the varieties of salmon and shad which came to different streams. This is not only a curious aud interest ing fact, but an important one in the consideration of the laws governing fish eries and fish culture, as it allows each State to have its own system and providt lor its own fish. ITS BEAUTY DEPARTED. Wife (rushing toward shop window)— Oh, look here\' Husban 1—\Well I declare. There is one of the tete-a-tete lamps you were id miring at Mrs. De Style's.\ Wife (suddenly stopping)—\Uorrors! It's marked 'Only Two Dollars.'\— New York Weekly. VERY STKICT. Little Girl—\My mamma is awful strict. Is yours?\ Little Boy—\Orful!\ \But she lets you go anywhere you want to, aud—\ \Oh she ain't strict with me.\ \Then who is she strict with?\ \Pap.\—Good News. COMPARATIVE ANTIQUITY. Mrs. Quizzei—\Flossie how old are you?\ Flossie—\I'm—I'm—I'm four.\ Mrs. Quizzer—\Oh no! You're much older than that.\ Flossie—\No I ain't. If Aunt Mat- tie ain't inor 'n twenty-one, I ain't mor 'n four.\—The Conglomerate. WANTED TO SEE A WHALE BLUBBER. \But why are you so very auxious to seen whale, Mr-. Trotter?\ asked the Captain, after the lady had asked for the twentieth time if ono was in sight. \ I want so much to see one blubber, Captain. It must be very impressivo to 6ee such a large creature cry.\—Harper's Bazar. A REI5UKE. Awkward Idiot—\Your train is quite long, Miss Lucy. Miss Lucy—\It will not be so long if you take two feet off of it.\ He had intended to conduct her to the supper table, but he hud t o get off the train very suddenly so that some other young man undertook to conduct her to the banquet hall. NO SALE MADE. \Knowitall met his match in a book agent tho other day.\ \He did?\ \Yes. You know he thinks he knows everything, and when tho book agent asked him to buy an encyclopedia on in stallments he broke out angrily with: Sympathetic Jurors. Criminal court lawyer3 like to have their cases on the first two or three day; of the term if possible. The reason is that the jurors in many instances are fresh and green at the work of listening to evidence, and invariably show more sympathy for the persons on trial than they have after they have sat for a cou.le of weeks. Jurors in tho General Sessions Court are chosen to try cases for a month. Every term there are always seme who have never been in the court before, while of course others have hnd plenty of experience, and are adamantine. So the youug lawyer at the beginning of the month dwells on the sympathetic side of bis case and resorts to nil tricks, such as bringing the weeping wife into court, aud tells the juries of the terrible re suits of a term in State prison. The workings of the minds of the jurors are bejond explanation. The first case tried in Part III. of tho ccurt this term wus n little assault cose. A man was charged with shooting at his wife, he didn't hit her. It happened to come out on the trial that the defendant had a razor, which be had dropped when he was arrested. There was not the slightest evidence that he had ever used the razor or threatened to use it. Still, after the jurymen had been out for half an hour, thoy sent back word to the court that they would like to have the razor seut up to them. What they could want of the razor was beyond im agination, but the Judsc sent it up to their room. It might have been ef fective, however, for the jury failed to agree.—New York Times. Xcadstono to a SUinbone. In a quaint little churchyard in Maine, is a handsome headstone with the epitaph, \Gone but Not Forgotten.\ Years ago a man went off fishing and nevor returned. Finally one morning there was cast upon the shore of the lake where he had fished a shinbonc, covered with a piece of red sock. His wife vowed that she had knitted this sock with her own fingers. In spite of opposition, the town hearse was brought out, the shinbonc, sock and all, was carefully placed in a box, with due cere mony it was buried, prayers were prayed over it, hymns were sung over it, and above it was placed tho headstone bear ing tho inscription, \Gone but Not Forgotten.\—New York Tribune. One Sunday's coosus of church Sv- tendants in Liverpool, England, gave 63,000 out of a population of 500, 000. Baffle tho Counterfeiters. \There is one fcaturo of United States Treasury notes which counterfeiteis find impossible to imitate,\ snid a Treasury official to the Man About Town, \and that is the two blue silk threads which you have noticed run lengthwise through the bills. They aro little overau incli apart, nnd though sometimes almost in visible tney form part of every bill issued by the Government. These threads are put in the paper when it is made at the factory, aud as it is a penitentiary offence for any paper manufacturer to make the paper it is impossible for counterfeiters to secure it. I never saw but ono bad bill that had a silk thread in it, nnd that only had ono thread instead ot two, nnd was, therefore, easily detected as spurious. It was quite plain from tho frayed edges of tho thread that the counterfeiter had split tho bill, und then putting tho thread in had pasted the two parts together again. The fellow must have been very stupid not to know that genuine money has two threads in stead of one.\—St. Louis Republic. Dog Meat for Consumptives. How long will i t be before canine cut lets will be a part of tho regular menu in hospitals whero pulmonary diseases are specially treated? A New York woman acknowledges that she fed her husband on dog meat for months and effected a complete cure, tho (rood man believing tho while that the wife had discovered a now and more palatable way of prepar ing mutton. This women is Mrs. Louise Schwartz, of East Ninth street. This was thirty-four years ago, and the hus band died without learning of tho ds- ccption his wife had practised on him, but he lived ranny years, and was finally carried away by a trouble that did not affect the lungs at all. But a Brooklyn German has gone a step further, he sells essence of dog, or perhaps it would be more proper tn say extract of dog, at $1 a bottle, having rendered it from the carcass.—St. Louis Republic. Solidified Petroleum. Experiments are being made in Lon don with petroleum in a solid state for fuel purposes, the crude oil being mixed with a chemical compound equal to about fifteen per cent, of its weight and then being subjected to a moist heat of about 212 degrees, alter which it is dried at a high temperature and com-' pressed into tho form of bricks by a powerful press. The fuel in this form, when burned in an ordinary grate, pre sented a bright flame of intense heat, without giving oil any liquid and leav ing but little ash. The tests made are said to have been very successful, tho blocks being equal to cool in heating power, without being, liable to spontaneous combustion, and! giving no clinkers when burned.'— Netr Orleans New. Delta.
