Evening Star Newspaper, October 24, 1891, Page 9

WHEELING IN EUROPE. The Pleasures of Loitering in the : Mountains. BICYCLING IN SWITZERLAND. > The Rambling Oid Inn and Its Inhabitante— Over the Mountain Passes—Push Up and Baek Pedal Down—In the Rhone Valley— ‘The Old Swiss Church. Special Correspondence of The Evening Star. £10, SWITZERLAND, September 10, 1891. THE EDGE OF SWITZER- e is nothing and nobody here with us but the great rambling old gast- haus, by which we refer to the inu, two barns, *alistle church oat in the meadow back of the house, “der vater, die frau” and their noisy little as maedchen” who helps about e—they're not exactly kere is getting toward they'll be along soon—one goat, a cat, two dogs and our bicycles. Our being here is not the result of premeditation. our way to the next town, where to pat up over Sun heir apparent, We were passing on when the home-like ap- Peerance of the place appealed to us and we i ,”" and we did, much to the fran's surprise, who very seldom has guests, a year, in May, whi said,“Let’s stop the gasthaus to its utmost capscity. ene of the advantages of a tour such as oure, the opportunity and the privilege of stopping er and whenever it strikes your fan e tables and everything ct the freedom of one’s ng room isa large apartment on the t, With ceiling and walls of plainly a tloor of broad, d boards. The tur- with an secom- @ sung iu that har- ihion with which the G: is guited. Our bed rooms, which the frau 5 our new Paris breeches. is are vaulted in a delight- e feliasleep last night ated knights and ful goat in the barn the the cows. What a noise they rmore of them andeach with about her neck, which rings and Our cows—observe how are last and turn into the ir way to the stable. antage of our oppor- and bave plenty of fresi milk for supper. come more cows. Tinkle, tinkle, lke a ke the cows, with A young Swiss drives them. He is ina every few mina aging nimbly into the air with his bare teet just as he seems on colliding with the rearmost portion s know him of old and pay no heed to his demonstrations, and con- ack occasional moathfuls of grass a bell about her wone, down the bill toward Maic After she had given us our coffee in the 6, which we procured by going to the from some recess below, “Katfeo?” and she the frau would have ve, soimpressed was abe that such ue & we would net care to be inter- tions of the dinner hour Our ¢ was brought, consisted of exeel- p, ham and eggs and fine white an explanation by tl between bamme and hamme- feut nocdle sou; We both, G— for onions, and we ght how nice it would be to om the garden. An order was filled for uns and tuey came from thecellar, great big ws with aLreath on them like an asafor We explained to the frau that it was We meant young onions we wanted. but the frau is accustomed to taking ng literally and we got little onions, but nt as the first. We are re- nother occasion when w drew a vers lite ike picture of an ideal onion and were brougit turnips by our intelligs from North Amer- e the benefit of our ex- . which was good for us last evening, when we were un- ‘This furnishes a further proof that it to be connected with the even in » bumble and TRE OLD cHURCE. ‘The church, which we Lave already referred to, tw old and weather beaten, yet hardly cor- roborates the st ry of the inn’s people and 2,000 years old and is the ion of it, the pa, may be as old as that, and it oldest church in 'Switzer- It is a small structure, and, surrounded by the luxuriant grass and clover of the meadows, which grows to its very | d some shrubbery shading | d with just enough more atthe tower to soften ad dilapiaation, it pretty subject for our kodak. The or is severely plain; whitewashed walls, | mpt at decoration eave some paper about the pulpit and eaten earth and uupainted Here it stands, and pt unthought of for @ year, until the of good St. Luzien’s day brings it to r twenty-four hours it is the humble peasant ad- wreaths of gilt mirers of the aunt. DUFFICULTING WITH THE LaNavAG™ We have been talking German for the past five days, except G— to talk French ri 16 has continued ht along notwithstanding our repeated cautions. The change in lan- took plitce when we passed from French Switzerland but G “sil vous plait” every one. sulties attending the making of a quick change years, but still One of after survey of the Guests at the marked in quite audibie English to her panion: “I wonder where those two men are? Wo shall have tobe awfully what wo say." Then G— snickered and we were discovered. They were from a western city m the states, and we knew they were school teachers, though they said not s word that was intended to botray their identity. The peopie whom one meets at an Alpine hotel, away from the great centers, such as Lu- cerne, are more interesting than those one gen- erally meets elscwhere in Europe. There is less of dress and a greater ease of manner and familiarity of intercourse; less of conventional restraints which elsewhere operate as insepara- ble barriers. DIFFICULT WHEELING. ‘The Rhone ralloy below Brieg, where the railway terminates and the pass over the implon into Italy begins, possesses few attrac- tractions for the cyclist. The roads are far from good and there is = good deal of low marshy land which breeds millions of moe- quitoes and nasty little flies. It is the forte of the latter to get into your eyes and swarm into your mouth every time you open it to ex- press your feelings. ‘The only other sensation we experienced was that of passing through some wooded fvot hills. formerly the haunts of robbers. Of course that was along time ago, but one member of the band still survives and keeps the Hotel des Alpes at Viesch. He nearly starved us and charged us about one-third more than we have evor paid elsewhere. It has been our experience that the charges are generally higbest when you least expect, and it is a safe plan to ask in advance what you will be expected to pay. Even then you must mentally add another count to cover some- thing you have forgotten. Above Brieg the scenery becomes more pleasing, the valley has contracted and instead of Floushing through myriads of anathematized flies and mosquitoes in the low lands, you are following along a crevice in the side of the mountain, among mossy rocks, great trees and running’ streams of icy, sparkling water. ‘THE VILLAGES assume a character pecaliar to the upper val- leys; houses built of squared logs dove-tailed at the corners, but so closely fitted and care- fally finished that one does not at first detect act manner of construction. The ground not used save asa store room, or for nimals, and access is had to the upper jes by means of an outside stairway which terminates in a balcony. Potted plants and bright clean curtains of white are to be see: at the window: of the people and the neatness and the com- forts of a Swiss village home. In the midst of the village the village church, its walls stuc- coed stone, rears its white bell tower with bul- bous, eastern-shaped roof. There is usually only ore church, for the inhabitants are eith nearly all Protestants or nearly all Catholic serally the former in the upper Rhone valley. t THE RHONE GLACIER. As you round abend and see the Rhone glacier before you at the end of the valley the hotel seems almost at its base, but when. lean- ing your machine against the side of the build- ing to rest, you have started to go and gather some of the ice and walk and walk, you learn for the thousandth time that you aré too inex- perienced to correctly judge mountain dis- tan From the foot of the glacier issues the blue stream which then and there be- comes the Rhone river. Great masses of ice, broken from the parent rfass, lie in the young stream, while an azure blue cavern marks the piace of their detachment. ‘The best descrip- tion I can give is to liken it tos frozen water- fall whose surface by the action of the elements has become seamed and ridged, forming crevas- ses both wide and deep which have become the tomb of nota few adventurous climbers, and creating hillocks steep and slippery. OVER THE FURKA Pass. There is @ satisfaction in showing the skeptical that they are in the wrong. So we took especial care to render our- selves conspicuous at the window of our roam in the Hospenthal “Gasthans zur Post” when the diligence from over the Fu: drove up to deliver the mail to the post office occupying a portion of the lower floor, that itsskeptical con- ductor and driver might see that wi really gotten over the pass ahead of them. Crossing ses has @ monotony which the bicyclist feels more than any other t r. It is push your machine and walk; then when you have Feached the summit, your troubles take a new form and it is brake and back pedal down the other side. The next toSt. Bernard, is the highest in the Alpe.” ‘NATIVES. The grade is quite bossa 2 and of necessity the road is not one for bicycles. It is not the easi- est thing in the world to successfully and safely round the sharp turnsof « terraced descent, aver a surface consisting largely of loose metal. Now you go intoadense cloud and can see nothing more than ten feet ahead, and as you look over the edge of the road you do not know whether you are looking down a grassy slope or ® sheer descent of hundreds of feet. You ring your bell as a steamer befogged blows its whistle, and as you suddenly come face to face with the horses of a diligence or carriage of shove approach you have had warning by the sound of the horses’ bells you dismount and stand at the outer edge of the road fill they have passed by while the occupants of the carri stare and wonder what pleasure you find in this sort of bicycling. You could easily answer in one word, none. Now you leave the cloud, but there is another lower down, a great fluffy wad of cotton it scems. A few minutes and you are in it, and, heavens! it is full of rain, and the drizzle, which commences when you enter, is soon a shower, then pelting, and you fly down the final stretches to the rill with the rain beating in your face and drench- ing you through and through, in spite of your voluminous rubber cape. Coz¥ AND COMFORTABLE. Fortunately for us the little “Gasthaus zur Post,” with its two or three rooms, had no guesta. It is neat and clean, cozy and com- fortable, but is not a house patronized by the tourists. From the post office below we ob- tained the package of new clothes, ordered at Geneva und sent on by parcel post to meet us here, and casting aside the bedraggled cordu roys, which we with difficulty persuaded our | hostess to accept as a gift, we were soon in dr: clothing and our feet in slippers made to fit | manner and shape of extremities, senthd |im the gastzimmer, consuming omelette and fried potatoes. The Herr P meanwhile sat by a a of the room, Knitting industriously; and the rain still fell’ in bucketfuls, making rivers of the road and ditches, and sad looking spectacles of every one obliged to expose themselver to its dampening tendencies. 1M THR VORDES-RHINE VALLEY. Another climb, over the Oberalp pass, and we were in the Vordes-Rhine valley, one of the most beaatiful in the Alps Here the sommon language is @ dialect found nowhere else— Romansch—e corruption of Latin, the ne guage early Roman inhabitants of valley, then the Roman province of FEF __TRWAEVENING STAR. WASIMNGTON, D.C. frescoed in « style common in Italy, thus show- ing the remote relationship between the two ith the only means of communication much of the ‘revlon of the upper valley, the therelsnot Sush oppartentey for theyorn ts peice bowl ple to become acquainted Salside the cree ot their ‘cach ‘comm lives rather withie, felt holding lise communication wi the outside world. FLOWERS AND NORNETS. At this season the lower slopes of the mountains and the apper valleys are one inter- minable bed of wild flowers of all colors and Py past tow ds than touriste— ys than tor flowers in our caps, flowers in our machines, flowers everywhere. We’ sat down one morn- ‘on & bank to pick flowers and look for new varietios, when our pastime was terminated by G—— attracting the attention of the residents of a hornets’ nest, who ran him at s record- breaking pace fora quarter of a mile. Those hornets must have laughed many a hornet laugh to see G——- drop his flowers, rush for his machine and, springing on, fly madly down the road, thrashing his cap madly round his head. We could not refrain from laughter in spite of the few stragglers buzzing threateningly about, but we made haste to gathor up our specimens and follow the doparted con hoping. and not in vain, that G—'s hornets would not. on their return journey, recognize us ae having been with him. EES. LOVE STEONGER THAN LOCKS. ‘Mr. Chugwater Successfully Carries Off the Light of the Billus Mansion. From the Chicago Sunday Tribune. (Time, midnight. Place, the shady side of the Billus dwelling. Ladder against side of house. Ardent youth half way up ladder. Palpitating maiden leaning out of appor win- dow, conversing in agitated whispers with ardent youth. Horses and closed carriage in charge of discreet driver at convenient dis- tance round the corner. Moon disappearing behind friendly cloud. Coast clear. Land- scape wrapped in repose. Billus mansion similarly wrapped.) Bessie Billus— Arthur! Notsoloud! Is everything ready?” Arthar Chngwater (burning with lover-like zeai. but unable to keep his teeth from chatter- b-b-b—ready, dearest! It ing)—-“Eversthing i Bit-b—come, ‘Ho “sob, Arthur, Y'm afraid “Oh, Arthur, I'm afrai “Afraid, d-d-datling? You can't fall TU a Cate! .' - Icon't mean I'm afraid of falling, Arthur, but suppose papa «sould “Isn't, bb-b-—paps asleep by this tim “Yes, S'm sure he's asleep; but suppose he should wake up!” “Ts he—g-g-g—in the habit of waking up at unseemly honrs of the night?” Ob, dear, no! But I—['m so—_” (impationtly)}—“Soam I—f-t-f—dearest, and it's getting colder every minute.” (Leaning a little further out) “‘Are you sure, Arthur, you love me as well as ever?” (Impetuously)—‘Love you, Bessie? Why— b-b-b-b—Great Scott! I—__” “'Sh! Don't whisporsoloud, Arthur! Have you got the license?” “Wedon't need a—ch-ch-ch—license to get married in Wisconsin. Got your wraps all on, Bessie nen.” “I haven't! Ib-b-b—left my overcoat inthe carriage, and it’s getting-———” (Uneasily)—"Oh Arthur! I’ve just happened to think!” “What is it, dearest?” ; Sappose ‘we shouldn’s find » minister after 1@ line !"" t find a minister? Suffering Moses! Wis- is full of preachers.” “And suppose—hark !" “What is it?” “I fancied [ heard something!" “It's—b-b-b-b—one of the horses whinnying. Hurry, dearest! The train leaves in half an hour. and it will take us nearly twenty minutes retaniceas ‘But, Arthur I'm afraid it isn’t right!” ‘Bessie, see here——" twill fast break paps’s heart! I know it You'll always be good to me, will you, ch-ch-ch-chilly, ‘;Be—ch-ch—-good to you? So help me-—" “Sh, Arthur! Don’t swear!” “Hurry, Bessie, for the love of- (Venturing out on the ladder) — I'm coming. But remember. (Assisting her down the ladder)—“‘Ob, yos,T'll remember! Careful now! Steady! ‘Tiere! We're down!” (Clutching hisarm wildly)—“Oh, dear! Ifeel asif I must go back! Where—where did say the catriage wus? It will break pap: heart and mamma will faint! I know she “Let her faint! a short walk to the carriag iy) “Must I go! Must I break t heart of an indulgent father ar of @ tender mother? Must I ished home where I've always been - “Come, darling! “Where I've always been. Papa Billus (thrusting his head out of the upper back window, and speaking in a cold, hard, business-like Voice)—“Don't forget your Come, darling, —ree—______ Love ts Enough. FUNNY WAYS OF BEES Some Facts About the Lives of Most Interesting Insects, - WORKING EACHSHINING HOUR 4 Microcosm Inside of » Box—80,000 Work- ore and Their Queen—Where Males Are Not Considered in It—Breeding the Drones— ‘How Queens Are Made. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE has recently added to ite scientific staff an expert in bees. Secretary Rusk is of the opin- jon that the keeping of these insects might be made» vastly more jy industry in the United States than it now is. It is estimated that bees in this country produce a value of $10,000,000 yearly in the shape of honey and wax. This could be multiplied by ten without mueh difficulty. First, however, the farmers must be taught the art of bee cultare, and this is precisely what it is proposed shall be at- tempted. Next year a plant will be established for the purpose by the division of entomology, and experiments will be made with methods for caring for bees. Also it will be ascertained which of the various racos are best adapted to the climate, and a study will be made of their diseases. Possibly Dr. Benton, the expert re- ferred to, will be sent abroad to secure fine stocks. Of course there were no honey bees on this continent until the white man brought them hithor from the old world. A REASONABLY POPULOUS HIVE. One may well spend s lifetimo in the study of bees without acquiring nearly all the knowledge that is obtainable respecting them. Nothing can be more interesting as well as instructive than observation of theso little creatures, 80 wonderful in their social organization and man- ner of living, regulated by laws as strict as those which govern mankind. With them is realized the condition recognized as ideal by advocates of women's rights, where tho females run everything, the males being considered use- fal only for the purpose of perpetuating the species. A reasonably populous hive will con- tain about 80,000 workers, all of whom are of the gentler sex, though sexually undeveloped. They are not obliged to lay eggs, because the single queen attends to that business entirely. ithin a few days after tho queen becomes ® full-fledged insect she flies out of the hive \d mates with one of the drones, as the males are called, which at the proper season are always flying about. In this way provision is made for the fertilization of all the egge that e will lay within the next three years or more. pon returning to the hive she at once begins laying, crawling over the comb and depositing in each cell one ogg. Thus she oviposits in many hundreds of colls at a time, perhaps, and on the third day the eggs hatch out into little worm- like larve. It is theduty of the younger workers to take care of these larve, and this they do by going from cell to cell and depositing in each a Very nutritious fluid composed of albumen, sugar and fatty matter from glands in their heads. The larve grow very rapidly on this diet and on the twelfth day the nurse bees seal up each cell by covering it over with wax. When the twenty-first day arrives the little ones bite their way out of the cellsand appear as perfect bees. For three days more they do nothing but clean their plumage and feed, but after that they imme- diately take up the duties of nurse bees them- selves and devote their attention to feeding and caring for the young. Soit gocs on continually. the queen constantly laying egge and the young workers taking care of the growing larve In this manner the population of the hive is main- tained, notwithstanding the fact that most of the workers do not live more than two or three months. They literally work themselves to death, gathering honey and building. APPROACH OF THE SWARMING BEASOM. At the approach of the swarming season, which arrives in May and is also the time for msiing, the queen bee begins laying male eggs They are the same sort of oggs as produce the not fertilized. For that eu only drones, and of these several hundreds may be born in a hive. Cells of special size and shape are constructed by the workers for the incubation of these drones, which are givon a somewhat different food and require twenty-four or twenty-five days of nursing betore coming out of thei paules. | When the mating is over and the harvest of | honey bey to diminieh they are driven out of the hives into the cold world, where they quickly starve to death, because ‘they are not provided by nature with auy instruments for getting food from the blossems. When the swarming time is coming on the workers know that it ix necessary to rear more queens, because she who is the mother of them Ail will shortly desert them and the population of the hive would be wiped out in the absence of an egg-laying female. Luckily, any worker egg can be made to produce a queen. ~ It is all a matter of proper diet for the larva and ac- commodation for it while it ie developing. So the workers build a number of unusually largo Geils of ‘slongated shape, perhaps as many as a dozen. In each of these they see that an egg is lodged, and, as soonasthe occupant is hatched, What tho’ the Skyes be grays And dark the ait, is Suilen the Daye, So that that my Love be fayret And long the Night, ‘Withered the leat, Bo that my Love be bryghtet ‘What tho’ the Wind be loud, And rough the sea, ‘Threat'uing the cloua, So that my Love love me? What tho’ the Sunne be fayre, And soft the Wind, Buxom the air, So that my Love's unkind? What tho’ the Daye be long And brief the Night, Nature a song. my Love be light? ‘What tho’ the Breeze out sigh, And still the shore, Cloudiess the Skye, ‘80 that my Love's no Advantages of s Wooden Leg. From the N.Y. Sun. “Poor little fellow!” said a lady sympatheti- cally, as a sallow-faced boy, with one trousers leg empty, bobbled, assisted by his mother at | 2 one side and a crutch at the other, on board an o! seems to be very poor, too. As he he will have to depen: course, being uneduce able to earn his own living. ‘Most of the other passengers in the car evi- dently shared the la with only one leg bi: him, and they pi mother hel) poorly cia Gremsad grows older upon charity, for, of ted, he will never’ be woman was but the crippled lad was fairly well ie was about fourteen years old. “Now, there,” said = gentleman who has studied human nature with more than ordinary care, addressing a friend, ‘is a case of greatly mistaken sympathy. Of all the boys in the train that one is probably the most fortunate, and he wili be the most successful.,because he will make the best use of his opportunition. Allhe needs to start him in life isa wooden leg. which he will soon learn to use for pur- poses of locomotion, but he will never be able to travel fast enough with it to oscape the con- sequences of wrougdoing. Consequently he be likely to know enough not to do wrong; for why should he not know enough? He has nothing else to do in his maimed condit but to learn. Running, jumping, swimming, Playing base ball, all yh 5 are closed him, and studious its will more now the canton of Grisons, whose descendants many of the present uatives are. The manner of construction of the houses cl ‘some- what, the lower stories being gouerally of stuc- coed stone, and thero seems to be a greater Giversity of religion, the larger villages havi two or more churches. vie than compensate for the loss of bysical force. Learning is the bigh 5 road to suc- cous, and that road lies fair before him, esit would never have Iain had he not lost s, leg. Say, for the sake of the argument, that his fathor is @ laboring man. have been @ laboring to labor Ni he would had two the constable, and unless he falls into . which is about the hardest mode of lit any msn can ch he is ost certain td eos Sieh baie they begin feeding it with a quality of food, likewise secreted by the glands in their head, such as is never given to any but queen larva. 8o ricb is this food, particularly in sugar, that by the sixteenth day the young gueen is ready to emerge from her sealed sapsul TUE OLD AND NEW QUEENS. 5 Just a day or two before this, however—so carefully is the whole affair calculated—the old queen has made up her mind that a change of residence is desirable for her. So she runs about in the hive and makes a great distarb- ance, trying to excite the workers and persuade them to'accompany her. Presently she fies out and takes with her aswarm, leaving perhaps only afew behind. ‘The latter, alded by thove which return from the fields, not having been Present at the time of the exodus, devote their attention to taking care of the queen cells, which are about to open, also looking out for the growing young. Each queen coli has been carefully guarded by special sentinels to pre- vent the occupants from getting out prema- turely, because, if they did so, and there should be more than one queen in the hive at the same time, an awful fight would ensue. When the old queen has gone with the swarm and the proper moment has arrived, the remaining workers let a single young quoen out .of her prison. Sho knows that there are other youn jueens around and she walks about, uttering a note of challenge to them, whieh ‘sounds like “peep. per ‘The other queens answer ber with » similar piping noise trom their guarded cells. If she were permitted to do so she would bite open every one of their capsules in the rearand sting them to death, but the workers will not allow it, Sometimes in the excitement of swarm- ing the guards fail to do their duty properly, and two or more young queers obtaining their freedom at the same time engage in mortal combat, each desiring to reign over the hive. It may be that tne new queen will get dit and lead off a second swarm from the hive, upor which tho workers liberate another queen, and the business proceed as before | Bntil the remaining workers consider that the hive cannot stand any more drafts from. its population. Having arrived at this conclusion they will permit the queen at liberty to sing the others to death in their capsules, and B recognized factin the bee world that there cannot be two mistresses in the same house. A few days after the new queen has thus been set to rulo over the hive she is inspired to seek Amate and for that purpose flies out and bigh from other hives are Before a swarm starts gway from the hive to ey a 1 hi Se -SATURDAY. OCIg are often seen in getting at the juices. Thus a ba London Correspon. ato} as absurd, and the suggestion that of the royal famil; BE ‘up their residence in a hive the provides catching the queen and ber with wings in the hive, or by other means. In that cave the returning scouts go to the parent hive. If the queen is removed from & swarm by the beekeeper the workers set up a paighty roar and soatter in every direction look- lor her. i constructing cells to contain honey and eggs. ‘The queen, if she be a new one, goes out to mate, returns and proceeds to lay. that empty cells for the sake of warmth. or ten days they wake up eat a little honey. When spring a and the: start in to work again, the drone eggs are laid ‘and hatched, tho swarming takes pisoe and 80 on through the cycle of the year. KEEP THE MIVES WELL FILLED. Good beekeepers know that it is the best xy to keep a hive well filled with bees. Flowers at certain times manufacture great deal of Loney which goes to waste unless it can be gathcred immediately. When the ci is partioularly plentifal it pays to have Pre of workers on hand to collect i ditions the bees will do their best to produce enough workers for the purpose, but to hatch the and raise the larve takos many days. Sometimes the colony in a single hive will ther from fourteen to eighteen pounds of ioney within twenty-four hours, and this sort of business is remunerative. When the honey is freshly deposited in the hiye it is of an almost watery consistency, and t is the roason why one sees many bees con- stantly buzzing about the door of a hive. They do this for Lied re pre of creating with their ay i current of air that around in the hive and evaporates the sweet liquid, 80 as to make it thicker. Pollen serves the workers ‘a8 food also, and they will often put a quantity of it in the bottom of a cell, butt it down compactly with their heads and covering it over with honey. ‘There has been a great contro- versy for years past between the fruit growers and the beekeepers over the question whether bees. destroy fruits by cutting them open. ‘Bees the act of sucking _ of fruits, but, asa matter of fact, it is always wasps that cut the skin and the bees subse- quently drive away the wasps for the sake of bees have got id name through a very natural mistake, while in truth, if it were not for their assist- snce in fertilizing blossoms, hardly any fruit would grow and ripen. E ‘Why Tears Came to the Eyes of a Locomo- tive Engineer. From the Oakland ) Enquirer. Even in the life of the grimy railroad engi- Bineer, whose existence is one of almost con- stant danger, there sometimes falls a spark of light anda ray of human sunshine {lumi- nates his smoky cab, penetrates his greasy blouse and finds its way deep down into his breast. A little incident happened down at the mole the other evening after the arrival of the over- Innd train, which, though of « simple nature, will long be remembered by s certsin C. P. en- gineer. The great iron monster attached to the train was throbbing and puffing after the long and sinuous trip over mountain sides and rocky defiles, trembling trestler and marshy stretches. The din in er deafening, but out of the chaos of sounds « sweet," girlish voics was heard welcoming home her par- ents, who had arrived on the train. She was a little golden-haired beauty, scarcely six years of age, with a quick, intelligent eye ands loving nature, to which she gave fall vent in the radiant and impulsive way she welcomed her fond parents back. At last they took her by the hand and proceeded toward the waiting ferry boat. As they passed by the engine belonging to the train the little one broke away, ran up to the big black machine snd patted the driving wheels affectionately with her little white bands: Looking up. at, the smokestack, she said: “You good, big old iron horse, you have brought back my papa and mamma safe over the fearful mountains ts their little girl, and I want to thank you, even if you don’t care for me because Iam so ‘little, and you, too,” she continued, turning her face wistful ly toward the grimy engineer, who was leaning outof the cab window, “I love you both. ‘Then she kissed ber hand to him and was gone | like a ray of sunshins Just then a fleeting sunbeam from the great orb sinking down into the Golden Gste came stealing through a chink in the depot and stole by the engineer into his cab. There wasa strange look on his face for an instant, and all at once the ope wee darkand lonesome. When be turned his head into the cab there were two light spots on the cheeks of his dust-begrimed ——+e-____ The Decline of Royalty. New York Sun article in the Forum on English royalty has attracted some attention here and has surprised many of his friends. He is generally supposed to be an acute ob- server, but the Forum article is not considered creditable to his powers 2f observation. The idea that the march of British democracy will after the demolition of the house of lords and the sstablished church is scouted t there is no strong feeling in favor of s republican form of government in this country is entirely unwar- ranted by the facts. The most advanced re- publican weekly newspaper bas an enormous and steadily increasing circulation, and scores of newspapers not avowedly anti-monarchical lose no opportunity of ridiculing members of the royal tamil into contempt. these new papers re- Mest the opinions of 18 very large constitu. ency is undeniable. Mr. Labouchere could have informed his American rs, he cared to do eo, that the parliamentary com- mittee, of which’ Mr. Gladstone and he were members was appointed in consequence of the loud popular outcry provoked by the report that the government intended to ask the house of commons “to make suitable provi- & | sion” for Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of the Prince of Wales. The very rumor of such an intention was immediately followed by » series of public meetings of protest, and te tation quickly assumed such formidable propor- tiona that Lord Sslisbury’s government in the plenitude of its power had to yield. Prince Albort Victor is now twenty-seven years of *4e, but ho is still without an allowance from the public treasury, and there are no of an intention on the part of the government to provoke another outbreak of popular rage by asking parliament for money for any member not must it be supposed red to is confined to the working classes. It has gained ground in recent years in a remarkable manner among ‘the middle class and | manifests itself ina variety of ways. ‘The time was when publio ceremonies, such as opening new even holp her in killing her rivals, because it is | work which there is one in every state and territory, while some states have each two or three. At every one of them is gatherod a little knot of scientific men, who are continually engaged in trying to find out how to improve the pro- ducts of the soil. There is nothing which has todo with the tilling of the fields that they do not investigate. The planting and cultiva- tion of the crops, the saving and use of manures, ‘the care and feeding of stocks, the management of the dairy, the preservation of both crops and stock from insect pests and diseases, and a thousand other things besides, come within the range of their attentive study. Tt has been said that farming is = eT erope; with cattle and cattle food; with milk, butter and choese; with plows, barrows and ; with an almost endless list of most successful farmers are those who themselves experiment most industriously and intelligently, and who take the fullest vantage of the oxperiments of others. In early times the farmer made for himecif the rude tools he needed for the primitive practice of his art." Now be employs implements and ma- chinery which can be made only with large ighest skill. So hich, he can make do not stations, where the reso: Utilized for the improvement of agriculture. 4 BUSINESS OF DISCOVERY. As Prof. Atwater saysin » bulletin on the subject issued by the authority of Secretary Busk, the object of these stations is to “make a regular business of discovery for the use of farming.” ‘The experts attached to thom intro- duce scientific investigation to the green house, the garden, the orchard, the field, the stable, the sons ot There are few subjects which the farmer bas to deal with ‘are not being studied assiduously by one or more of the sta- tions. Just forexample, suppose the question to be one of feeding. - What are the effects of dif- ferent kinds of fodder, 1s hay, cornmeal or bran, fed te cows, ugem ‘the quality or quantity of the milk? Or what feed shail’ be used make better pork at less cost? Or what are the most economical rations for fattening steers or working borses? To get answers to these jaestions the stations make actual teste by ing the animals and noting the results. Successful fecding, sa alletin quoted, is not merely a matter of so much hay, corn oF turnips, but of the nutritive ingredients which they contain and which the animal digests and smploys to make blood, bone, muscle, fat or ilk, Or uses as fuel to keep warm an.’ give it strength for work. The chemist of the station ‘snalyzes in his laboratory the materials fed, as well as the excrement or undigested portion, weighing both. ‘Thus he learns how much of the whole food ahd of each it fient the animal actuglly assimilates. In trials with cows the milk is likewise weighed and sub- Jectea to analyses, and sometimes the very air the animals inhale and exhale is measured and analyzed with the aid of @ very elaborate or paratus. When the feeding is finished the animal is sometimes slaughtered and the dif- ferent portions weighed and analyzed. Ex- periments have already proved that different feeds modify the relative proportions of the different organs of the body; that the blood can be i or diminished, the liver made larger or smaller, and eyen the bones made weaker or stronger. Those resuits are not pro- duced by over or under feeding, but by a dif- ference in chemical constituents of the food. THE FIRST EXPERIMENT STATION. Forty years ago « cO&mpany of farmers near Leipsic, Germany, organized the first agricul- tural experiment station. The first one in this country was begun in 1875 in the chemical Inb- oratory of Wesleyan University, at Middletown, Conn. In 1887 there were seventeen of these institutions in fourteen states, and in that year Congress made the euterprise national by an appropriation of $15,000 per annum to eack of ie states and territories Which had established agricultural colleges. Today, counting branches, there are fifty-seven such stations in the United States, The several states appropriate €125,000 in addition to the $600,000 appro- pristed by Congress. This may sec like « rge sum to expend annually for agricultural experiments, but it is less than 10 cents for each of the 7.500,000 farm workers of the cour- try, or, reckoning the annual value of the pro- ducts of the farms at $2,200,000,000, it means an expenditure of about 33 cents for every $1,000 worth of products in an attempt to in- crease the valua of those products in future ears. ‘The European stations have become as fully established us schools. The consummate pro- duct of applied farm science over there is the “Farmers’ Almanac,” whick tens of thousands of German farmers carry in their pockets. It contains » calendar, blanks for daily memo- randa, cash accounts, and soon. ‘Then follow blanks for names of workmen, their work and wages, forms for registering cows and their —~ weekly yield of milk, and for other stock; other forms for keeping account with each field on the farm—its size, crop, manure, seed, produce, and 40 on. Then comes a series of tables and statements which compress in brief space an amount of information that is marvelous, SOME OF THE IXFORMATION. One table gives the amount of sced by weight or measure needed per Prussian acre or hec- tare, broadcast or in drills or hills, for each of ninety-five different kinds of crops. Further on are tables of the ical composition of lants, of fertilizers, of feeding stuffs, of tod- Jer rations, of humen food, and even of the whole bodies of animals. Referring to these the farmer sees ata glance how many pounds of the valuable food ingredients—protein, car- bohydrates and fate—there are in bay, straw, cornstalks, bran, cotton-sced meal and 250 other materials which German farmers feed to their stock. Close by is a table of feeding standards which tells how much of each of these ingredients will make a fair daily ration per 1,000 pounds live weight af oxen at rest in the all, oxen at work milch cows, young cat 's0 on. By comparing the compésition clinne shai aia tet & ie stuffe culated in the barn or store, ratibns can be which will bring the largest amount of work or meat or milk at the least cost. The various experiment stations of this coun- try have each their special work upon which they are enj tion receives good deal of ration in Colorado, sugar mak- ing in wine making in California. At least one station is doing romething in poul- raising and another in the keeping of oldest station, in’ Connecticut, is particn- larly intorested in manures and dairying. Its investigations have driven inferior fertilizers and feeding stuffs from tho markets of the state. ———— Studies in Scholarship. From the London Globe. Scene—An elementary school A teacher is examining s newly joined pupil, who proves extremely dense: to | question came up as to the weight of » dollar a a Ye ” Eh APE . 9 —=>= SS FATE OF THE PENNIES. THE CHESS WORLD. ‘Why It ts That the Mint ts Cotning Brouse | Problems, Solutions, Solvers —Earepess Cents by Millions, Games— Notes, YEAR AXD STILL THE CRY IS FOR MORE—WEIGHT OF 4 DOLLAR BILL—Picemos Im 4 Baxg—tus | “YA welcome. * PROBLEM No. 23. NEW CERTIFICATES—-MB. CASILEAR'S ADVER-| By Prawors WAND. Weninnee DC. rune. (Compones for The Rrening Sta. — ack 2 plone.” [AT BECOMES OF ALL THE PENNIES? It seems to be with thom very much as it is with knows where end how year coined 94,009,000 of pennies. It would takes g00d-sized building to hold so many, but they did not begin to supply the never-satisfied de- mand for more. Just now the establishment referred tois hard st work manufscturing further supplies, and so it will continue. Bronze cents are subject to more accidents than happen to any other United States coins. Is is said thata penny changes hands in trade ten times for once that a dime passes from one pocket to another. Being of smail value these little pieces are not taken much care of. There area thousand ways in which they get ont of circulation, and thus the minting of them has to be kept up continually. The metal blanks from which they are made by the simple pro- cons of gtamping are turned out by contract for Uncle Sam bya factory in Connecticut at the rato of a thousand for 81. As they come from the machines, fresh and new, they look like glittering gold ‘THE PENNIES Lost. One may get a notion of the number of pen- nies lost from the bistory of the oid half cents. Of these 300,000 were issued a few years ago. Where are they now? A feware in the cabi- nets of coin collectors. None bave been re- turned to the mint for recoinage or are held by the treasury. Nobody sees them in cireula- tion. All of them, except some hundreds saved out by curio hunters, have absolutely disappeared. Of the old copper pennies 119,- 000,000 still remain unaccounted for, save that once in a long while one sees'a speci- men. There aro more than 3,000,000 brouze 2-cent pieces sumewhere out of 4,500,000 of ™. inaton, D. @. (Compoged tor The Evening Star.) Wack _ pieces them that the government issued. Of nickel S-cent pieces :.cxrly 2,000,000 are yet outetand- ing, although it i# almost never that one of them is come across. In the treasury here cne day this week the PROBLEM No. By T. TAVERNER Dill. Scales of perfect accuracy were brought into requisition and the surprising discovery was made that 27 one-dollar notes weighed exactly as much asa twenty-dollar gold piece. ‘The latter just balances 540 grains. Howe the bills woighed were perfectly crisp and nt at Kee ka QBS be Trial made with soiled notes, such av come in Ghiorderskt easton every day for redemption, showed that twenty- = — seven of them weighed considerably more than re No. 26. By T. B. ROWLAND. S@#urEssgagn AtKRS QRS KS Kare KK? QB QRT witiéi 1m kt OQ AtKS KRG Ki Ss the twenty-dollar coin. Every paper dollar on its way through the world continually se- cumulates dirt, perspiration and eo that after a year of use itis perceptibly heavier. ‘WROHT OF PAPER MoNEY. The actual weight of paper money which the treasury sendeby express every year to all parts of the country is in the aggregate enormous. Since July 1 it bas dispatchod | We quote the followine extract from « letter re $33,000,000, nearly all of it in small notes, to | cei 4 irom Mr. A.V atrite of Coi elton ow the south and west, for the purpose of moving — Wn the crops. The banks lend this cash to the detober a). It farmers on whatever they grow and thus the ty a ors who could never have known eack PROBLEM No. 27. By A. V. BOATRITE (Atianta Sunny South.) Black —5 pitcws products of the field are harvested and shipped. Speaking of the redemption of paper money, very novel and interesting application was made the other day to the division of the ury which has this business in hand. The story, as it quickly came out, was as follows: An ingenious youth employed to sweep out a New York bank devoted attention for a consid- erable period to gathering up the crumbs from the tills in the shape of corners and other bits of notes such as get torn off and fall about in any place where dollars are counted. In the course of time he got together a quantity of scraps of the sort sufficient to fill a pint meas- ure and he sent them on to the redemption bureau at Washington in a box, with the ex- jlauation that they had been eaten by mice. ke tated the amount at €200 and asked for new bills in exchange. His little game was be- trayed on the face of it by the fact that the ieces forwarded represented, if anything, not jess than $1,000. The usual affidavit was de- manded from him, swearing to bis loss, bat he had not thought of that requirement and lacked the nerve to give it, luckily for himself. NOT OFTEN SWIXDLED. Undoubtediy the redemption division does sometimes get swindled, though not often. The ‘women experts employed to examine the money sent in are wonderfully skillful. It is marvelous how deftly they wi!l poke over a few charred fragments of notes and set an accurate valua- White. 5 pieces, Played at the Bohem: most celebrated of the ‘Yrunelated from the chin White—Kotre, Pacit and Pospinil Bleck Dobrusky, Kvicala and Traslews Kt tion upon them. ‘The other day # poor woman BRS IBS» in Ohio sent a wee corner of €20 bili, with a Roe 1S Ke itiful story about her baby’s having burut it. ae of ‘ed rdly more was left than a fragment big Kika 15. enough to show the figures of the denomins- 3 Fue 33 tion, but she will get the money back. Mice ‘ind white cusiobe are great destroyers of paper currency, and onsidered advieable, but tm some of the most hopeless specimens that next wove st appears to. come in have been chewed up for beds by thiise inva.) The black ales little rodents. Sometimes # pill box full of fey fy tT indistinguishable ashes will arrive, accompa- | clear nied by a certificate stating the amount repre- sented. Of course such a case is h Te] ped tn the teen Bo, 1 uF $ ay tn the first round of ¢ » tourney. Bp lp nemegy moiyteegreren gue of epecial Interest, an it is between two strung for first place. year than is lost in any other one way. Peo} will confide their hoards to them for hiding, and when they are lighted the greenbacks go up in smoke. The greatest sum ever con- sumed by fire in this country was €1,000,000. That antount went up in smoke at the sub- treasury, but the government was able to re- lace itat the cost of paper and printing. Ithss n estimated that 1 per cent of all the paper money issued is lost or destroyed. Of the old RUY LOPEZ, ae fractional currency it is reckoned that €8,000,- | #3. Rit Fi 000 worth has been totally lost. SB & “Ah few days ago an old colored man from | 1$ PB 4 ecross the Potomac in Virginia bi ge ay k treasury an extraordinary-looking Temp a metal. " He said that it was a lot of silver dol- | 1S E5F lars, halves and quarters which he had put in a tin can some years back and hidden in the stone wall of a barn by removing a stone and plastering up the orifice. When recently he took out the box he found that trickling water had rusted it almost aw: ef SOLUTIONS AND SOLVERS. Problem No. 11.—Solution will be given next cam out as week. Problem No. 12.—1. B-B3; 1. K-Q4; ; 8. B-B6 or B- pretty and ht as when they were min’ and wes carried away Selighted: THE BACK OF 4 NOTE WasuED. One day this week a five-dollar note on the National Bank of Rhode Isiand at Newport came infor redemption On tho face it looked quite new, but the back was washed perfectly ciean, so that not a mark was left on it. The joke of it is thet the bureau of engraving adopted the brown back for such bills on the ground that it could not be washed off, as the green back can be. It was intended in this way ° Et-QBe, Solved by Miss Henrietts Morrison, i. Boatrite, “crowded, but ideagood;” Otto W. ©. B., Kudolph H. Ezdorf, LY. Moistad, A. seo. Q-Rb: 2. Kin 3. 0-G6, mate. Fou 5 ‘moves; ms by Miss Henrietta ey v. _ W. C.B., Exzdort, 3 ak E Heintz, “very simple;” A. ¥. OPekio ym No. 16.—B-QKté solves Miss Henrictta C. Morrison, A. V, real gem. Mr. Wainright is « Eve: p ‘To illustrate this Mr. Casilear yesterday told how he happened to be in New York at one counterfeiters. To avoid | 7 Le if F Le Ts ni ES ! ? f I Ws. CT She Lage cattg ned anh nn ganan ee Vinge netial than saxty -avtee tasia oka bas (apdameees wena wie ee another dwell PO Seeiia a ng en bey yy tng place each bee goce to the atoree of honey “tte good, Gommon in Great Britain and Ireland, and at | Bis bodily indriaity has forced him to develop | gna fills ite sack with a su; Oncin@ividual tons. ae ‘'chateae | bis mind. ‘Tho loss of «limb may eave s man eh Rly. “I don't and sult rg ne lene from the scaffold. Ob, I tell you, there is pad news demeaned to the p of @ beer often much virtue in a x A MOUNTAIN FILLAGE. ery. Chur, the latter of a Slanguage between towns a4 ong, mast often | which we left «few mules up the val- A Reminiscence. in Bar , are both interesting towns for ‘From the Chicago Tribune. a i old buildings and’ walls. We think Lanz | Senert Yoows (to rustic old party oa oppo- of Encilss sfter some weeks of wandering |excela both. Part of the old walls of the town | site aide of street oot) toa ce te a ee =. emong non-English-speaking people. At a| still remain, with one which is frescoed at ‘Do I remind Bhoce vally hotel we ‘became aware that the |, colors itll gute it. There are, be- | 128 st me pretty close, Unele. - gecupants of an adjoining room were speaking | sides some and simple ornamental | You of somebody you used to know?” English Ther <—iiar males Gh ak, the degueen of engi clouds blowing ergo ~ — “Yes. brig ng SoS et about same time. table d’hote | trumpets, beneath are Latin inscriptions. aunt mine Only ‘s Gewese capenated by two ladies, not of tonder | The walls of several old houses in the town are | a. more beard than you've got,’ =