Evening Star Newspaper, April 11, 1896, Page 22

22 PICTURE GOWNS Fabrics of Beautiful Design and Bril- liant Color Bewilder the Shopper. RAINBOW GLORY OF APRIL STREETS Purple is the Predominating Color in Many Hats. SOMETHING ABOUT SLEEVES VARIABLE incon- delight the Persian patterns in dress goods, just as and not less variable man, having for long used such airy and beautiful designs in his neckwear,discanis them fer the paler and more ineffectual drabs and sickly hues of that sort. It is a peculiarity which the philosophers have long noticed that, when woman will, man will not. A famous caricature in t! old days of "54 represented two contrasting in the one a woman with scanty skirts, hugely distended sleeves and Gains- borough hat of monumental area stood be- fide a thin-shouldered gallant with volumi- mmentionables. In the other picture my lady of the tent-shaped hoop skirts was ately with another gallant, or perhaps the same, whose legs were tightly clothed, but whose rough coat was padded at the shoulders to an immense size. This HOUSEHOLD HINTS. Have you ever tried stzaming rice In- king it to a mush in water? red quantity over night, put in the steamer with ugh water to a little more than and steam undisturbed fur an hour or till done, keep- ing the steamer over briskly boiling wacer all the time. Serve without stirring up, so as to keep th A delicious breakfast or supper dish is mavle after this fashion. Take what of the cold boiled hominy and spr thin layer of it in the bottom of a buttered pudding dish. Over this s of grated cheese, then a thick layer of the hominy, and, tly, the grated cheese on top. Bake till the cheese cover is a nice melted golden brown, en the center will be well enough done. 2 Salt baths are prorounced good for nery- ous and worr-out people. Put a table- spoonful of kitchen salt, or two or three, as your skin will stand it, into a quart of hot water. Use a flannel cloth, a good, big one, which half wring out of the salt wa- ter, and then rub yourself for dear tife. It is very invigorating for some, and there are others who can't stand it at all. The only way to find out is to test it. If you feel tired and exhausted after it, lessen the salt. If that does not help you, stop it en- tirely. And now a very learned doctor says that the woman who would preserve her com- plexion will substitute peanuts for benbons! An excellent medicine for plants afflicted with insects is to let your cigarette flend of a friend smoke in the room with them. If you want to kill the insects in the earth peur a weak tebacco water on the roots. Make by soaking cigar stumps in an old ti ean. Floris! state that tobacco water makes plants vigorous. On the street one day this week a litile boy was stumbling along beside his mother, fretfully crying that he was tired. His mother asked him where he was tired, and he said in his legs. The poor little fellow, victim of fashien, had his spindle shanks done up ip leather leggins from heel to above the knee, aud every muscle in his legs was screaming with agony from the stiffness and pressure. Mothers who are so given over to style ought to do their own legs up that way for awhile and see how comfort- able it feels. “Smother” your pork chops instead of frying them. It makes them as sweet and palatable as young chicken. Salt and pep- per them, and place in a larded pan, in an oven at white heat. Turn twice in the five es they should remain in the oven, if Why is it that a poor tired woman has the rabies every time anybody suggests that she ans say in the world for a Pp strength, and that “an accomplish twice as much work if will only take moderate care of herself. 3 couch in the kitchen, if you can, end drop down with your eyes closed and limbs relaxed. The woman whose eyes are tired all the time should bathe them frequently in salt aspoontul of salt to half a glass pplied with soft linen cloth. rst thing on rising, but do not rub the ball of the eye harshly, as that is said to flatten it and destroy the sight. Orce or twice during the day, and on reti ing, will improve the eyes materially. Salt Water will net make the eyes smart unless — Pe tuman Hair Goods, Tt is Impossible to mention every article of Bigh-zrade artiste Hair Goods kept at my Em- b jore will only name the two latest ereatious for chis season's Colffure, the “MARIE ANTOINETTE POMPADOUR” and the pat- ented “NEWPORT COIL!” E7GRAY and PURE WHITE Mair a Specialty. <9 A Beautiful Catalogue and Treatis on the Art of Hairdressing will be sent gratis on epplica:ion. few York. A. SIMONSON, os BuoapWay. ew York. 21ST AND =D STS. stant, takes up with | | | Same gilt prettiness. principle is to rule in 1896, it would seem, for alongside of the iiiipte browns and grays of men’s suitings for April, ‘06, un- marked as they are by such loud checks and extravagances as past years have seen, wo- man’s garb shines more rainbow-like than ever. “The republic is opportunity,” its chief justice says; and the fashion opportunity widens its horizon every month, for every month fairly pretty fabrics. are cheaper and more plentiful, and every month, too, fab- rics of more beautiful designs, more brilliant colors, more cunning weaves, and especially more fabulous prices, are spread before the bewildered gaze of the woman who hesi- tates, and, hesitating, is lost. ~The evoiu- tion of the flower tint and cobweb filament garbing of today out of the dun cold webs of even ten years ago is like the bursting of the butterily from its chrysalis. The rainbow glory of the April streets when the sun glints warm against the brown stone walis impresses the beholder somewhat as a waving field of flowei ‘There are in it seen in the mass the bril- liancy of the tulips, the delicacy of violets, the grace of lilies, even the lines of cool ferns and frondage, all swaying, chanting, passing, repassing, until the street becomes like a kaleidescope which is never at r and in whose magic mirrors each tone p' ture breaxs, even as it is forming, into z other as beautiful and as evanescent. Shall we try to pluck from this garden a tiny handful of biossoms? There is the emphasis of cardinal flower in August in a short red cloth jacket, its seams outlined in gilt braid and buttoned with five gilt buttons. There is the tint of violets in a parple Tuscan straw hat whose straight brim, narrower behind than in front, is covered all with ourple and lavender tulle, and culled from the garden of the modiste, Jacqzemirot roses peep from the:r green leaves and from big puffs of tulle. There is the yreenish ycl'ow or yellowish green of the geass of a sunshine study by Chase in the material of a grass linen cos- tume, whose plain full skirt falls iike gos- amer over an old rose silk foundation. ‘The waist is embroidered in old rose, the sleeves are full and stop at the elbow, decked at the shoulder with old rose taf- feta silk in such form that one would think a butterfly had lighted upon the roses in the greenish yellow gra combined wi sok ‘Ss; and the silk, rie-of white and Need one add that ik foundations of are foremost in ith ement forms the yoke. S linen gowns over ach hue ef the rainbow favor? ‘Ther of deii a white gown : one dainty tea gown is | tteau back ending in h its si ed with wide cream lace, which brousht the shoulders and falls full to the e is the tint seen only in some eyes that are fair to look upon and in th: iuets which dot the dry side hills of mer, in a blue brilliantine with a full d short jacket, whose wide revers open a white vest embroidered in gold, and wide rol'ing cuffs are brave wita the There are again the purple violets and again the pink roses and green leaves, the former on the brim and the latter on the crown’ of a medium-sized bat which, Ike many of the hats of the epring, shades well over the face and rising behind, lets the sun kiss the wearer’s hair. Over the violets of the brim is a veil of green tulle aad at the back there are soft loops of it with white twle shining through from be- neath, * s There is a nasturtium-colored hat with a Tam O'Shanter crow?, around which coils- a soft-twist of black spangled net. On the- mums with yellow - centers aud- shaded grasses. And wlich of al the hats is the favor- ite? Which of all the colors will be most worn? If one is to judge by the examples one sees, it will be that tint least of all be- coming to the average face—purple. Never have I seen so many purple hats, or 50 many hats partly purple, or with purple predominating in their decorations. There will be many women whose life is to them anything but a pleasure because of this purple shade upon the landscape of their lives—until presto! change! One of the prettiest effects of the spring, especially adapted to thin faces with the sharply accentuated features which artists and photographers love to pose, is the lace tie ef such hue that, when brought from the rear of the tiny toque down across the hair cn either side just beneath the ear and the chin and knotted in a bow, shall frame the face as it were a picture. Picture hats we have long known. We shall begin to speak of pcturegowns next. I, indeed, have so named one of those creations, whose skirt is faintly lined with perpendicular stripes and dotted with clus- ters of tiny flowers, and which is far more eriphatically marked across the upper sleeves and across the vest front with bars of dark ribbon, from each of which falls a narrow frill of dotted lace. The jacket of such a gown has the inevitable outward curve at the hips, a curve more decided than that upon a golf stick. There is a pretty fashion this year in cheaper ready-made dresses, as well as in iy The serge outing suits, whose skirts and jackets have been for long of the same color and material, mzy now be—should now be, perhaps—ot related but different color; and the skirt of the two is the lighter. For instance, a plain skirt of blue and white checks, just the size of a baby’s finger-nail; over which a wide lapelled jacket, all of dark blue, matching the checks in the skirt, and trimmed with several rows of little silver buttons, three in a’row, down the skirt be- hind, and with silver braid. New sleeves, it may be noted, have not yet achieved suzerainty, or even extended their sphere of influence over the coat or wrap. Here the big squash or mandolin sleeve is as much in evidence as ever, even upon the smartest of the smart gowns— those, you know, with the cunning fitted backs and the loose, straight folds down the front, and heavily embroidered. ELLEN OSBOR there is some foreign substance in the wa- ter or salt. A torpid liver is one of the concomitants of spring. Some people find great relief from the “gone” feeling experienced on ‘ing in the morning, and caused by a terpld iiver, by drinking the juice of one lemon in a glass of cool water, in which is just a sprinkle of sugar. An orange eaten before leaving the room is another remedy. If you want to make a pretty little pres- ent for your newly married friend, a set of “holders” will probably be acceptable. That for the dainty teapot, for a 5 o'clock tea, may be of cream brocade, embroidered with pansies, or some other pretty design, and bound with ribbon. Or you might work on it, “Unless the teakettle boiling be, filling the teapot spoils the tea. Four inches square will be quite ample size. The holder fer the coffeepot will be quite pretty made of “crazy” patch. For the grate, to handle the poker and shovel, a velvet holder will not be cut of place. For the ironing table, make two or three holders of narrow- striped bed ticking, which you may work in feather stitch, and bind with tape. Put in three or four thicknesses of flannel, well basted together, so that it will not slip and make a wrinkle under the hand, for that will blister it, sure. —_-+—__ APRIL FOOL JOKE. HIS It is Harmless and le Has Worked It my Years. From the Lewiston (Me.) Journal. James F. Moses has been landlord of the good old-fashioned Bucksport tavern known as the Robinson House for thirty-six years. Just how far beck in history he eoneelyed his ingenious “April fool” joke is uncertain, but a gray-haired citizen was caught by it on April 1 for the twenty-third consecutive year, according to undoubted authority. The hotel is of the old-style hospitable front, with a piazza running the whole length, from which open two large doors. In winter these are protected by portable, box-like storm porches, about the width of the docrs and four feet deep. The door opening into the office is in ccnstant use, and it is bere that the trap for the unwary is set. As often as the 1st of April rolls around the veteran hotel keeper has the porch at the office door moved along the piazza to the left, so that it faces the blank broad- side of the house. Projecting sufficiently to hide the office door from a person ap- proaching from up street, it makes the de- lusion more effectual. The snare is hardly set before, perhaps, up comes one of the grocery delivery wa gons. The driver leaps from his seat, grabs two or three baskets and bundles, stumbles up the steps, kicks the door open, and goes Into the trap “fall over,” as the heay weighted door slams behind him. Next, probably, comes along one of the leisure population, who thinks to drop in and lock over the paper and have a chat. He opens the porch door deliberately and shuts it behind him, carefully wipes his feet,.and fumbles over the cold White clap- boards for the door latch, and then remem- bers the old, old, but ever new joke. The train is in, and along comes a pha- lsnx of the knights of the grip. The leader acutely recognizes the plot’as one which cost him many a cigar a year ago, and he resolves to make a wholesale slaughter of the rest of “the boys.” There are half a dozen or more, and by shrewd tacties he gets them in 2 group. ‘Now, boys,” says he, “let's all get in a bunch and pile into the office all at once and holler ‘Hilo, old Jed! All agree to it. ‘Now, charge! There is a rush, and in a second all but €ne are floundering in a confused heap in the four by six box, while the cause of the. commotion slips into the best room and is well seitled before the confused contingent gets untangled and with battered hats and wrath their eyes swarm in. And so it goes all day long. Landicra Moses, from his chair in the reading room, chuckles and haw-haws at the success of bis little scheme, although it is whispered that he was By a very deep-laid plot in- veigled into his own trap himself, and that he had to go down cellar and bring up something to square matters. ———_+e+____ Beats the Sky Scrapers. From the Chicago Tribune. “Ever seen anything like it?” said the man who wa3 Showing him around. “Anything like it!” contemptuously an- Swered the western populist, who found himself for the first time among the high buiidings in Dearborn street. “Say, was you ever in a Kansas corn field?” MIND YOUR EYE. What You Should Avoid if You Desire to Preserve Your Sight. From the Canadian Lancet. As nature has endowed each one of us with only one pair of eyes and will not duplicate them when injured, the following Lalf score of “don'ts” should not only be indelibly impressed on our memories, but be religiously remembered: Dr. G. Sterling Ryerson, professor of ophthalmology in Trinity Medical College, Tcronto, says: “Myopia being essentially a ecndition due to abuse of the eye, one is constantly obliged to say ‘don't’ to pa- tients. It occurs to me that it might be useful to put these prohibitory rules in aphoristic form: “1. Don't read in railway trains or in vehicles in motion. 2. Don’t read lying down or in a constrained position. 3. Don’t read by firelight, moonlight or twilight. 4. Don't read by flickering gaslight or candiclignt. 5, Don't read books printed on thin paper. 6. Don't read books which haye no space between the lines. 7. Don’t read for more than fifty minutes without stopping, whether the eyes are tired or not. 8. Don’t hold the reading close to the eyes. 9. Don’t study at night, but in the morning when you are fresh.’ 10. a select your own glasses at the out- set. “It would almost seem as though some of these rules were too obvious to require mention, but practical experience shows that most people abuse their eyes just in the way stated. “In short, anything which tends to in- crease the quantity of blood in the organ favors the increase of the defect, leading in extreme cases to detachment of the retina and blindress.”” LONG FLIGHTS OF BIRDS. A Shore Bird Which Goes Two Thous- and Miles Over an Ocean, The distance which birds travel is mar- velous, the naturalists say, and laymen are inclined to believe them. W. Herbert Pur- vis writes to the London Field that every spring great numbers of golden and ringed plover arzive in the Hawaiian Islands, and leave the first week of May. The neatest pcints of the American coast to which they go are in southern Califor- nia and the Alaska peninsula, respectively, about 2,000 geographical miles, and there is no intervening land. It may ‘be that the birds drop into the water to rest occa- sionally, as ducks do, during such long fight: ut it is not probable. This is the longest regular flight known to shore birds over the water, but it is known pretty cer- tainly that some sea birds fiy as a regular thing much further than this during their migrations. The brant geese, for instance, are said to nest in Siberia, and to fly north over the Arctic ocean and south again to Cape Hatteras, or thereabouts and beyond, every year, —+ee—_ It Was a Fine Stream. From the Portland Express, There is a “professional gentleman” in Portland who would make a_ successful horse swapper. Having a farm to sell, re- cently, this descendant of the Pilgrims ad- vertised it, and soon afterward a gentleman called on him to speak about it. “Well, judge,” said he, “I have been over that farm you advertised and find it all right except the fine stream of water you “mentioned.” “It runs through the piece of woods in the lewest part of the meadow,” said the judge. ‘What! that little brook? Why, it doesn’t hold much more than a spoonful. I am sure if you would empty a bowl of water into it, it would overflow. You don’t call that a fine stream, do you?” “Well, if {t were much finer you couldn’t see it at all,” said the judge, blandly. Racial Pride. From Truth, The Briton—“Pooh! There’s many a girl in England who is the daughter of a hun- dred earls.’ The Yankee—“Pooh! That's nothing. There's many a girl in America who'll be the wife of a hundred earls, if they keep cn mixing up divorces and foreign’ mar- riages much longer.” Z ‘Tickle your palate ‘bmoking Sweet M le nate ing Sweet Moments best. right side are grouped large chrysanthe- | BLOOMER COSTUME Not Popular With Women Who Ride the Wheel. THEY PREFER SKIRTS AND PETTICOATS Gossip About What is Worn When Using the Bicycle. VARIOUS SPORTING CLOTHES — HE ATHLETIC side of the fashiona- ble woman's life is growing to he quite as important as the purely social, but in no phase of her va- ried existence does she ever divest her- self of the never- failing query: “What shall I wear?” Nor is it possible for the most mildly athletic woman to provide hersel? with a single costume, saying,““This is my gown for athletic exercises,” for such costumes are a3 varied as the flowers of the field, even when designed for the same kind of exercise. There are as many dif- ferent kinds cf cycling: costumes, for in- stance, as there are bic¥cles, and as much difference of opirion as fo which fs correc: The comparative merits,,of two wheels form a sufficient topic of conversation for any two cyclists, be they men or women; and the correct costrme for women a-wheel is discussed by everybody, regardless of wheeling propensities. It is the person who does not ride who js most critical. The bloomer has come in for the greatest share of criticism, and the effect of such criti- cism is beginning to show itself by the gradual wane in populatity of the bloome Take the percentage of skirts and knicke: bockers in any large city, and the petti- coat will be found to do much more than merely hold its own. Nearly all the newly patented garments in the bicycling lire are skigts of one kind or another. ‘There are four principal va- rieties of cycle petticoat, all of which are in more or less general use. First, there is the ordinary short skirt, not very full, and without any unfeminine modifications. In spite of assertions to the contrary, this is the skirt which Is wor by the gereral run of people. Prominent fashionable women have not been riding the wheel for very long, and are not ready for the advanced costume yet. Nor does the every-day woman wish to make herself conspicuous by appearing in public in the much-criticised, bifurcated costume. Mrs. John Jacot; Astor wears a skirt when she rides. So do other leaders of fashion. Th: much must be said ‘for the bloomer, how: ever, that it usually goes with the petti- coat, but does not appear except in cases of emergency. Some women have adopted the practice of wearing a skirt while riding in the city, and then removing it and roll- ing it up in the carrier provided for tne purpose by enterprising inventors. A more cor venient arrangement than this is the new Bygrave skirt, named after its inventor, wno is an English woman. The skirt is the product of her own experience, and is very simple, yet very effective. The idea was to arrange the skirt in such a manner as not to interfere with the free management of the pedals, and to prevent its catching on the wheels. The skirt is practically converted into a pair of bloom- ers by drawstrings running up and down the middle of the front and back of the skirt. These strings may be pulled as tight as is desired, raising or lowering the skirt at will, ana they ere provided with catches to hold them in place. Tae skirt may thus become a pair cf knee bloomers, or be al- lowed to hang locse like a divided skirt; and when worn amidst “the busy haunts of men” it appears as a plain, ordinary skirt, with never a suspicion of masculinity about it The divided skirt comes in two varieties, thus making up the four mentioned at the beginning. These are the regulation Jen- ness Miller skirt, and the one that is only divided in the back. - The latter style is the cpecial property of a large New Ycrk store and has many qualities in its favor. Off the wheel it hangs lik> an ordinary skirt. and on the wheel it. stays, put in exactly the same folds each time, being cut and fash‘oned to fit the saddle. In the front this skirt usu- ally has a broad box pleat to admit of the free action of the knees while pedaling. Some of these bicycle skirts are surprising- ly full around the bottom, being stitched down in bcx pleats from the top, and then allowed to flare for about fourteen inches. The girl who wears a diamond frame gets no advantage from this Louis skirt, as itis called, because of thé undivided front. Nothing but bloomers or wholly divided skirts will serve her. One can buy bloom- ers just like a pair of trousers, separate from the rest of the suit. The best mate- rial is alpaca, for spring and summer, but they, are made of satin for the extravagant ew. Leggings to match the sult are the cor- rect thing, end are sold with the rest of the costume. The English tweeds in pep- per-and-salt mixtures are the favorite ma- terials, brown and white being the fashion- able as well zs the serviceable colors.Whip- cords, cheviots, trilliantires and corduroys are also popular. Mrs. Langtry wears a corduroy suit, with leggins of the same. Some of the prettiest corduroy suits ar double breasted and button up diagonally to each shoulder. This style is more sens'- ble than-the Eton jacket, which flares open and catches the wind. The Norfolk jacket is very popular, because, besides being well adapted to the use for which it is intended, it affords such good opportunity for tne display of the new belts, which are so pret- ty and so plenty this year. Leggins, as I was saying, usually match the suit with which they are worn, but they can be bought separately in any ma- terial desired. Most of them are buttoned up on the outside. Others lace up part way and are then fastened with Foster hooks, with a couple of straps at the top. It seems to be the general verdict, however, that knee shoes are preferable to leggins and low shoes. As to lets, the public is divided between the Alpine hat and the Tam O'Shanter. The Alpine hat will have a straw crown this summer. The Tam O'Shanter will be made of ary soft durable material. A pretty hat that combines the advantage of both is ncw on the market. It has a rolling, narrow brim that is stitched to make it tiff, with a Dresden silk Tam O'Shanter crown. It is trimmed with a couple of quills standing up on one side. These hats are more becoming to most peo- ple than the English hat, and at the same time furnish a good shade for the eyes. Bicycle caps seem to have entirely gone out of use among feminine riders. Perforated gloves are among the novel- ties invented for the comfort of luxury. loving wheelwomen. An experienced wheel- womar recommet.ds an outfit for a femi- nine cyclist which seems very reasonable: A full suit of cheviot or tweed, with an extra pair of bloomers, and two pairs of eguestrian tights. With these, a pair of high bicycle shoes and one pair of low shoes, with leggins, to admit of changes in the event of being caught in a rain storm while riding at a distance. A coupie of hats a¥d one pair of gloves especially devoted to cycling, whether perforated or not, complete the outfit. The sweater is worn by enthusiastic cy- clists, and there are meny new designs that are very attractive. Some of them are made with a blouse effect, which is rather prettier for the purpose intended. They can be bought for almcst any price from $1.98 to $5 or $6. Any costume described may be worn for other exercises, but in general it !s better to keep it for its own special use, though it adapts Itself to hunting and mountain climbing better than other athletic exer- cises. A lady’s sporting wardrobe bids fair to become very voluminous. What with her yachting costume, her tennis gown, her bi- cycle rig, her bathing costume, her golf, rowing and hunting gcwns, she will need several trunks to carry them, and not have much room or time for the old delights in gauze and ribbons and lece. There is no doubt that the coming sum- mer will be a great season for cycling, es- pecially among the swells, and no one knows what extravagances may be perpe- trated in the line of costumes by those who have so much money they don’t know what to do. There are rumors of silks and sat- irs and broadcloths for costumes, and gold and silver-mounted wheels; but we plain, ordinary mortals v.ill continue to pedal along in cur own sweet way, and get just as much benefit from the exercise as the millionaire cyclists, for the wheels zo round for the just and the unjust, the rich and the poor alike. SS A Dance on Wheels. From the Philadelphia Press. The bicycle reel is very pretty, and when the music is played in fast measure it is much more exciting than the ordinary reel. The dancing cycles range themselves in two lines along the hall. The two end couples ride toward each other, and in the cénter make a sharp turn to the left, and with their wheels at a hair-raising angle circle around one another and ride back again to their respective places. While this is going on the other couples stand alongside their bicycles ready to mount at a second’s notice. The riding is done very rapidly, and the sharp turns made make the uninitiated spectators catch their breath. Each couple in turn goes through the figure until all have made the dance. —_—_—+ Through English Eyes. From St. Paul's. A telegrar. says that Mark Twain is geriously ill at Jeypore. Let us hope we shall soon have a more cheering account of him, for we could {ll afford to lose so ad- mirable a humorist, and withal so kind and genial a1 man. Althovgh his works are known and admired by almost all English- speaking people, Mark Twain does not ap- pear to have brought his gcods to so re- raunerative a market as the late Bill Nye, avother American humorist, whose income for several years before his death attained the large sum of £6,000 a year. His quality of wit was peculiar to the American soil, ind probably would not have had such a success hed he been born elsewhere. . Highest of all in Leavening Powes,— Latest U.S. Gov't Report Royal Baki SWEETHEARTS AND CRONIES. A Politician’s Duty Sometimes Clashes With More Pleasing Affairs. From the Chicago Post. “Well, I'm up against it,” said Alderman Percy Pulsifer bitterly, inadvertently drop- ping into the slang of the streets and the counctl chamber. “That's where you have been moi time recently,” returned Tom. your hard-luck tale now?” ‘I've proposed.’ ‘That's pretty tough, of course, but then, you've talked so much about that girl who has been visiting your sister that I am not much surprised. “Oh, it isn’t the proposal,” explained Percy, so deepiy engrossed in his own tale of woe thet he forgot to take offense at Tom’s remark. “It's what happened after- ward that troubles me. The proposal was all right. ‘Accepted you, did she?” “No, not exactly, but the indications were faverable, She agked for a day to think it over, and, of course, I gave ft to her, and then I asked her to go to the theater with me that evening. That is where I made my mistake. I ought not to have stirred out of the house until the whole thing was settled.” < Percy sighed, as he thought of his ex- perience, and Tom looked at him inquir- ingly. “It was all right during the play,” ex- plained Percy, ‘and I put in the time to good advantage. She intimated pretty strongly what her answer would be, too, and I was feeling as if life was one great dream of bliss, when we came out and en- countered one of those political nightmare: ‘hat have made my life a burden recently. ‘I've been waitin’ for you,’ he said, grabbing me by the arm and trying to pull me into a corner. ‘Come to the station, quick?’ ““What station?’ I asked. “ “Harrison street,’ he answered. “Bill Finnegan’s been pinched. Give the dame on your flipper the shake an’ come with of the “Whai's m “I teied to shake him off, but he wouldn’t have it, co I asked him what the charge was. ‘Drunk an’ disorderly,’ he replied. ‘Bill's been boozin’ agin, an’ he tried to stick a man with a knife, but he done more’n any other man in the ward for you election da: an’ he wants you to try to square it with the police an’ ba‘l him out. Come on. Your flipper’s loose now. “He was right. My sister's friend had quietly dropped my arm and walked on alone, and when I finally got away from the man she had taken a cab and gone home.” Tom whistled and Percy looked solemn. “What did she say when you next saw her?” asked Tom. “T didn’t cee her again until this morning at the breakfast table, and then she asked me cold if I succeeded in getting my friend out of the hands of the police. “And the auswer that she was to give you?” . I haven't asked for it, and I don't be- lieve I will—at least for a few days. I may be a fool, Tom, but I am not an in- spired idiot, and I know that this is not an auspicious time to press her for an answer.” JEWL see. CALENDAR ERROR. A Universal Synod Suggested for Its Needed Correction. From the American Hebrew. In a lecture recently ‘lelivered under the avspices of the Greetz College, in Philadel- phia, on “The Jewish Calendar,” Dr. Cyrus Adler called attention to an error in the calendar which may occasion some surprise to persons who have not investigated the subject. It is a fact well known that the Jewish calendar in its present form was promul- gated by Hillel II, about 350 C. E. This calendar is a bound lunar calendar—i.e., a lunar calendar with correction to solar time. At the time that the calendar was estab- shed it was much more accurate than any in use. It was universally accepted by Jews, even by the Karaites, and has af- forded an important outward bond of union among ccattered Israel. Graetz has voiced the ordinary opinion as to the accuracy of our calendar in the following words: “‘The method of calculat- ing the calendar introduced by Hillel is so simple and certain that up to the present day it bas not required either emendation cr amplification, and for this reason is ac- knowledged to be perfect by all who are competent to oxpress an opinion on the subject, whether Jews or non-Jews.” This statement, however, does not agree with the astronomical facts. Our calendar makes the average lunar month twenty- rine days twelve hours forty-four minutes three and one-third seconds, whereas the true value is twenty-nine days twelve hours forty-four minutes 02.811 seconds. Again, our calendar calculates the solar year at 365 days five hours fifty-five minutes 25.439 secor.ds, whereas the true value is 365 days five hours forty-eight minutes 46.069 sec- cnds. It is plain, accordingly, that there is a double source of error, amounting to more than eignt minutes per year. As- suming the lunar and solar year to have been co-ordinated at the time of publica- tion of Hillel's calendar, the Jewish year has in the 1,540 years intervening advanced forward from the vernal equinox som: vhat over seven days. The importance of the correctness of the calendar {s so great that it would appear advisable that a univ: 1 synod be called to devise a plan whereby the error may be obviated. Such a synod once assembled might be able to take action in other di- rections of the highest importance for the welfare of Israel. oe Our Rulers. Lawyers From Harper's Week The Presidcnt and cabinet are all law- yers except Mr. Lamont and Mr. Morton, who are editors. The vocations followed by Senators are indicated as follov.s: Lawyers, 64; business men, 13; farmers, 3; doctors, 1; clergymen, 1; editors, 2; no data given, 6. The occupations folluwed by Representa tives are as follows: Lawyers, 24! ness men, 71; farmers, editors, 9 tors, 6; preachers, 4; printers, give no data as to vocation. More than three-quarters of the Senate and more than two-thirds of the House are lawyers. A SHY DANCER. Stories Told by Westerners of the An- . tes of the Saad Hill Crane. The sand hill crane is a very bright bird. A Recreation writer says that its very rame 1s synonymous of vigilance and alert- ness. It feeds on the treeless plains or in the barren whezt stubble, where it can see a long way beyond gurshot. Or one of a flock is posted as sentinel, and this bird stands with bill half open, ready to give an alarm. It can be kilied by decoying it with pasteboard figures cut to proper size and shape and painted, but mounted birds are better. A pit is dug deep enough to conceal a man, the decoys are put out, and the cranes are shot as they come over. The best region to shoot them {s in the Colum- bia river watershed and south of it in the Pacific coast states. When one shoots a bird of the size and build of a crane in midair it collapses, like a card house or a tent. But such apparent collapses are sometimes deceptive, as, for instance: “Before I could reach him he soared off into the air with wheeling flight. Again he hit the ground with fearful violence, but again he got on his feet. Running up, thinking to get him alive for a decoy, t tried to tap him on the head and stun him, He showed fight, and I used my gun as I backed off, and he took to his wings.” The sand hill crane is something of a fighter of men if wounded, and the only safe crane is a dead one. ‘Their bills are long and sharp, and are capable of putting out a man’s eye. The sand hill crane has some curious habits that make him of more than passing interest to the student of birds, Out on the prairies parties of them have balls in the spring, to which the select birds seem to be invited. These balls are picturesque affairs from the human standpoint. There are curious dances, which are gort of solitary waltzes or pretty slow jigs. Sometimes the birds leap over one another's backs and flop their wings, giving their peculiar cry. Sometimes rival birds have flerce duels, using their keen bills like lances, battle axes und swords. ON THE COLORADD. Fentures of a Steamboat Trip on Mud and Water. Pomona, Cal., Letter N. ¥. San. Among the winter attractions of southern California is a trip to the mouth of the Colorado river. The navigation of at lcw water is alone worth sec: western river navigation of the «© type. No river in the country changes nel so often as the Colorado. It leave famed Missouri in the shad Ik not merely by the day, but by th: pilot never tries to remember it, as Mississippi, but runs by the appeacance of j the water. Even this is so often dee»ptive that the boats are built to rua almost as well on mud on water. The Mojave is 150 feet lorg by 31 broad, wit decks, three boilers and two engines, a hot- tom and a big stern paddle wheel, and can accommodate sixty passengers. slides at full spced down a lon timbered banks, then suddenly =: tom with a heavy But there ger and little delay. She may st but the engines keep puffing, yon fe boat move again, and after a few h feet of crawling, she goes again : ides the shifting e next bar she has speed. and wiggle ove! is equal to the emergency. At times a bar is reached where this device fails, and then she swings around, stern to the (iifi-1 backs water with the big wheel. and in a short time washes out a channel through which she rides with ease Into t stretch of good water. Thus, with evolu- tions to meet the various emerg the cranky stream, she threads its w ccurse amid ever-varying scenery. Nothing to Say. From the Helena Independent. District Attorney Purvell defend=1 a cou- ple cf fellews accased of horse stealing in the district court of Choteau ccunty four years or s0 ago. They deserved somewhere in the neighborhood of ten years ap!ece, but they got off with a sentence of three. After the sentence had been pronounced the toughest of the pair, believing that ihe sentence could not be revised after it had left the lips of the court, addressed uimself to the judge. “I just want to say,” he told Judge Du Bose, “that when I get out you will be the first man I'll come tere to kill.” “If that is the case,” said Judge D: Bose, “I'll make it ten years, and then you won't trouble me £0 quick.” ‘Turning to the other prisoner, the judge added there some- thing yor would like to sa “Not a blessed werd,” replied the other. The mex, who had nothing to say is now out of prison. His partner is still behind the bars, end is ikely to remain there for some time. ——_+e-—____ Her Check. From the New York We Husband—“Did you get that check your uncle sent you cashed Wife—“No; I haven't been out.” Husband—“Well, I am sending an order to a cigar dealer for two boxes of $ cigars, I don’t want to send money in an envelope. ; You take this $10 and give me your check,” Wife—“Certainly.” “Husband (a day later)—“More money? Why, my dear, what did you do with the $10 your uncle sent you?” Wife Gin a huff)—“You took it for —eor—____ A Sordid View of It. From the Chicago Tribune ~ “There's a great difference between Pfish- er's two boys. He gave each of them §10,- 00. Silas has invested his money in real estate. Julius is spending his in fine clothes. “Don't you worry about Julius. spending his money in buying cut for the rich Miss Boodelle. It'll pa: bigger interest some day than ev will get.” ten. jollar (@®. S.—It did.) From Harper's B: Wife—“I don't see anything imm Husband—“Well, no—as long as you kcep out of it.” AGGRAVATING DEC! odest in that suit, do you, Robert?”