The Washington Bee Newspaper, September 26, 1908, Page 6

DEMAND SPICY READING. English Holiday Trade Shows De- cline in Literary Taste. Inquiries made in the big midland towns of England respecting the class of books bought for holitay reading have pointed to the deduc tion that there is a marked decline in literary taste and the appreciable in- crease in the demand for what is termed spicy reading Apart from maps and guidebooks the bookseller’s trade with one ex- ception is practically dead at this sea- son. This exception is the sale of books of a more or less questionable moral tone. The demand for works of this class has been very large and the well-supplied market has been Kept very busy. It_is rather remarkable that this season of the year, which from time immemorial has been regarded as a closed season in book publishing, is | being selected for the bringing out of ; a new work which deals with the/ holy orders. Another book to be launched on the holiday season deals with the lives of some half-dozen women | whose passions played a part in his- | tory. Good Home Remedy. After having done an unusually hard day’s work or undergone some unaccustomed strain such as is likely to leave the muscles sore and stiff, | mix 15 drops of the tincture of ar- nicure thoroughly in one-half glass of water and take one teaspoonful of the mixture every hour until reliey- ed. This will give much quicker re- Hef than when applied externally, It is also one of the best remedies to promote absorption, remove soreness and prevent inflammation in any wound or bruise of the soft parts of the body. Antiquity of an Old Tune. ( When Napoleon's army was in, Egypt tn 1799 and the band struck up the tune which in England is set to the song, We Won't Go Home Till Morning” its effect on the Be- douins was electrical. They leaped and shouted and embraced one an- other deliriously. They averred that they were listening to the oldest and most popular tune of their people. It is thought that the tune was brought to Europe from the dark continent in the eleventh century by the Crusad- ers. Poisoning Canaries. Lloyd T. Montgomery the veteran insurance adjuster, says that if a/| caged canary be left out of doors oth_ er birds will feed to it poisonous seeds to kill it. We import 100,000 canaries annually Breeding them would be a nice home industry for reduced ladies who do not have the spunk to go out into the cold world; and struggle for existence. They are very prolific and bring high prices if taught to be fine singers. Petrarch. Petrarch lived seventy years. The; famous sonnets to Laura, the only productions by which the poet is now remembered, were all written within a period of twenty years, during which time the intimacy continued. Petrarch had been writing sonnets to Laura for about sixteen years when the lady fancied she discovered symp- toms of a not unnatural weariness and plaintively asked, “are you tired | 80 soon?” The Czechs. The derivation of the name “Czech,” or Chekh, has never been satisfactorily explained. Some au-/ thorities connect it with the word “ceti,” meaning “to begin,” thus making the name imply the original inhabitants. Others, ignoring the etymology connect it with a_ root, “cak,”’ ‘‘to beat,’’ and so making the name signify ‘the warriors.” | He Was Just Rehearsing. Alice—Last night Percy proposed to me, and I accepted him Ellen (triumphantly)—-Why, he proposed to me only a week ago and I rejected him Alice (scornfully)—Yes; I know all about it. He told me he had done it just for practice. He knew that you didn’t care for him. Mourning Colors. Black is practically the prevailing | mourning color among Europeans ani their kin the world over, but other peoples have other colors—the Chi- nese white; the Egyptians and Bur- mese yellow; the Syrians sky-blue; the Persians pale brown; the Turks| violet Population of Petersburg. According to statistics just issued the male inhabitants of St. Peters- burg outnumber the female by 124,- 000. The total population of the! capital is now 1,454,704, showing an increase of 230,000, or nearly 19 per cent, as compared with the census of 1900. The Philosopher of Folly. “The queerest stunt I know of,” gays the Philosopher of Folly, “is telling secrets. You expect some-/ body else to keep still about your- self.” } him. The Veiled Sisterhood. | The easiest way for the Sultan of aurkey to induce the women to be-| gin wearing veils again ts to supply” them with automobiles. | quested to marry a doll, and there- | married the doll, | or raised by refraction and what is | costs. ; beautiful marble quay on the rive: | side was the safest place, as it wa | Andes, about seventy miles | north-northwest of the town of Santa } brought to Europe in 1379. | were WHILE THE GLOVE IS UP. Then No Man Can Be Arrested in This English Town. The quaint custom of “proclaiming ‘ the fair” at Honiton has just been observed. The town obtained the grant of a fair from the lord of the manor so long ago as 1257, and the fair still retains some of the pictur- esque characteristics of bygone days. ; The town crier, dressed in pictur- esque uniform and carrying a pole decorated with gay flowers and sur- mounted by a large gift model of a gloved hand, publicly announces the opening of the fair as follows: | “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! The fair’s begun, | the glove is up. No man can be ar- rested till the glove is taken down.” | Hot coins are then thrown among the | children. | The pole and glove will remain dis- played until the end of the fair. Dodging Death. An inhabitant of the Indian city of Badaon lost two wives in quick suc- cession, and was about to contract a third marriage when he received the following mandate from the relations of the bride: “We are told that when a man has already lost two wives, his third al- so dies very soon. In order to sat- isty the angel of death you are re- | after come and marry our daughter, | who should be your fourth wife and | not your third.” The man did as he was told. He then gave out that she was dead, buried her with great pomp, and proceeded to marry his fourth wife. The Sky and the Weather. Weather clear or cloudy, a rosy sun- set presages fine weather; a sickly looking greenish hue, wind and rain; a dark, or Indian red, rain; a red sky in the morning, bad weather or much wind, perhaps rain; a gray sky in the morning, fine weather; a high dawn, wind; a low dawn, fair weath- | er. Remarkable clearness of atmos- pher near the horizon, distant ob- jects, such as hills, unusually visible called a good “hearing day,”’ may be mentioned among signs of wet, if not wind. Paris Fortifications. The Municipal Council has not ar- rived at any agreement with the | State on the question of fertifica- tions. It is very possible that this | opportunity may be lost if the State. weary of not being able to come to an agreement, should sell to private individuals for the building of facto- ries the lands which the city canno bring itself to acquire to turn int gardens. This the Parisian electo ought to forbid and prevent at all Lisbon Earthquake. The alarm caused by the falling buildings at Lisbon ressed tl frightened crowd of people that the well beyond the reach of fali ruins. Accordingly a great concours of people assembled there, when su denly the structure sank down bodily with all on it and no yestige ever ap. peared. Emeralds. At the present day, most of the emeralds that come into the market are obtained from the famous mines of Muzo, in the Columbian province of Bayaca. These workings are sit- uated on the Eastern sicpe of the to the Fe de Bogota. There is another} mine, called Lasquez, two day's jour- | ney by muleback from Muzo. Harvey's Discovery. Harvey’s book on the circulation | of the blood was published at Frank- | fort in 1628, but he had lectured on | all those years he conscientiously | withheld the publication of his book | while he waited for the facts which | should completely prove its truth-/| fulness. Playing Cards. The origin of the playing card is | uncertain. It is said to have been | Cards | illuminated for Charles VI. of | France in 1392. Playing cards were | probably invented by the Chinese, | though the question is still an open | one Make Over Old Firearms. | A large business in making over/ old firearms is carried on in Belgium. | At Liege 8,000 gunsmiths, working | principally at home, turn out “an tiquities.” They transform modern | rifles into flintlocks, | ——— ) Remove Kerosene From Carpet. | Take buckwheat flour and apply | to spots on carpet. Let it remain! for a few hours and by the second | application you will find your carpet | free from spots. | Anti-Flea Brigade. See that no harm comes to the | little blackbirds that visit your) yards. They are the sworn enemy | to tke flea wherever they can find| | | ior Bs ERs | There Is Always a Right Side} The man who is anxious to praise finds little that deserves blame. | ico, for homes of cliff dwellers, has \ the | mind, washed her mouth out with | kitten you was yesterday!” | rick, and geologists who have seen! | it express the opinion that the mark- | gettin’ | in’, when I could have made five dol- | the subject twelve years before. For | ‘“¢Y tumbled to the racket | ing competition was won by a Swiss | dog and | dogs have been ordered for St. | from seven to 26 per cent. of the dry ate. aio anh | PIGMY CLIFF BWELLERS. Tiny Roomed Houses Found by Ex- plorer on Mexican Mountains. Henry O. Flipper, an American ar_ { chaeolo, who has been searching ia the Sierra Madres in the western part of the State of Chahuahua, Mex- | found a house on Carabato Creek, a tributary of the Rio Chico, contain- | ing eighty-two rooms. There are two or three houses on the Rio Chico and two near Guay- nuopa. Flipper says all are typical | cliff dwellings similar to those in the United States. They are made of stone with mud cement and plaster- ing of mud. The roof is the over- | hanging cliff. The houses are from one to three stories in height, with walls about | five inches thick. Mr. Flipper says | the most remarkable thing was the ; tininess of the rooms, which were about five by five feet, with doors about 21 inches high by 12 inches wide. He believes that the cliff | dwellers were a very small people. | The Pygmy Cattle of Samoa. The Samoan Islands are the natur- | al habitat of the most diminutive species of the variety of the genus bos now known to the naturalist. The average weight of the male of these lilliputian cattle seldom ex- ceeds 200 pounds, the average being not greater than 150 pounds. The females usually average about a hun- cred pounds larger and are very “stocky” built, seldom being taller than a Mexican sheep. These dwarf cattle are nearly all of the same col- or—reddish mouse color marked with white. They have very large heads as compared with their bodies, and their horns are of exceptional length. King Cotton. According to the common under- standing, the expression “King Cot- ton,” or “Cotton is King,’’ was first used by the Hon. James H. Ham- mond in the year 1858. Hammond was from the State of South Caro- lina, the chief product of which Com- monwealth was cotton. Mr. Ham- mond’s idea was that cotton being the great commercial export of this| country and the chief article of man- | ufacture in Great Britain, was “King,” and that no politics were allowable that crossed the grain of “King’s” interest. Mary and the Kitten. Little Mary was playing with her pet kitten. The kitten scratched her and she exclaimed: “You is a darned | old kitty.” Her mother told her she must nev- er utter such a naughty word again; ; and to be sure to impress it on her soap and water. The next day Mary was again play- ing with the kitten and again trou- ble arose, when she was heard to re- mark: “You is just the same kind of aj} Rats Grind Ofi Their Teeth. _ A curiously marked stone has been found at Colebrooke, Devonshire, England, in the middle of a wheat ings on the stone were caused by rats using it to grind their teeth, which otherwise grew to an inordi- nate length. Some rats have been known to starve owing to their teeth getting too long. What He Could Have Done. “Remember, witness,” sharply ex- claimed the attorney for the defense, you are on oath!” “There ain’t no danger of my for- | it,” replied the witness sul- lenly, “I’m tellin’ the truth for noth- | lars for lyin’ for your side of the| case, an’ you know it.” “Please, Ma’am,” replied Tommy, Dogs Give Valuable Service. In the dog tests recently held at | Nanterre, France, the dispatch-bear- the searching for the} wounded prize was awarded to a} German dog. Thirty German police Pet- | ersburg to guard the palaces against | | assassins. The Largest Submarine. According to a report from Paris, | | the largest submarine yet built will | shortly be launched at Cherbourg. | | The vessel will be 200 feet long, with | 625 toms displacement, and she will | develep a mean speed of fifteen | knots. She will probably, adds the | report, have a crew equal in strength | to that of a destroyer. Shrinkage of Wood. The shrinkage of wood from loss} of moisture has been found by the United States forest service to range volume in different species One of Dickens’ Truths. } Throughout life our worst weak- | nesses and meannesses are usually committed for the sake of the people | | whom we most despise.—Charles Dickens. All Keystones. Every stone in an arch is a key- stone, though the name is usually ap- plied to the center one. | @s our pomme de terre. | American apple against the Ameri- | diseases as a mangy dog. | dollar out. | else connected with the working of | half a million in 1909; and to-day } British colonial office a resident of, | have reached the age of 205, | consist of figures pt objects, animate | erly bodies, and an immense number | | cles of miscellaneous character. | where, | where, is a gentleman anywhere, and | QUEER WEDDING EFFIGY. Mock Attention Paid by Bride’s Par- | ty to Bridegroom's Relatives. There is a curious custom still : prevalent in the Bellary district of | India in connection with the wedding ceremonies among certain Brahmin | families, Just prior to the close of the feast_ | ing, a hideous effigy of a male figure, fantastically robed in rags, supposed to represent the bridegroom's father, is carried along the streets in pro- | cession, under the shade of a sieve | adorned with tassels of onions and | ; Margosa leaves. yards during the pro- | | cession the feet of the effigy have to | | be reverently washed and head decorated with a caste mark by | the bridegroom’s | The bridegroom's other fe | Every few its fore- its living spouse, mother. male relatives have several mock at- tentions paid to them by the women of the bride’s party. As to Potatoes. Our pomme is about as worthless Match the can potato and you will have a stand-off. Germany is the largest producer of potatoes in the world, if anybody should ask you. She has grown a8 many as 48,000,000 tons in @ year, and some them were act- ually fit to eat. When will America learn to grow potatoes and to pre- serve them? Our breed has as many Too many family marriages; too much wedded bliss among cousins. A Kansas Girl's Advice. A Lincoln county girl writes this advice to the Kansas City Star: “Why do young men do so much loafiing? Go to work. Push ahead! I am but a young girl, but I clothe myself and have money in the bank. I lay up more money every year than any young man within three miles of my home. When they get a dollar they go to a dance and go home a I advise all girls to cut clear of loafing boys. Stand by the boy who works, and never put your arm through the handle of a jug.” Hanging Scaffolds. With the modern skyscraping of- fice building has come a new kind of building scaffold. Instead of con- structing the scaffold from below, which is impossible in the case of buildings ranging from 10 to 50 stories high, platforms are sus- pendea from the steel girders above. On these swinging scaffolds the brick- layers work and the scaffold is raised as the work progresses.—System. School of Waiters. It is often a matter of wonder why foreign waiters are preferred to Eng. lish ones, even in English hotels. The foreigner is a far better waiter. His aim is not always to remain a waiter, but to rise in the hotel business to a higher position. In Lausanne there is a school for waiters. They are taught there foreign languages, and noi only to wait well, but everything a hotel. Where Impoliteness Reigns. New York men have just earned the reputation of being less polite in their treatment of women in public convyances than are the men of oth- er cities. Figures obtained from other cities show an average of thir- teen per cent. of men seated while women are standing, and New York city shows about seventy per cent. Growth of City of Baltimore. In 1790 the population of the city of Baltimore was only 18,503; it was in 50 years or in 1840, before Baltimore had climbed up into the 100,000 class; she could first count the official records disclose a popu- | i lation of 680,810 Live Long in Africa, In the course of a report to the mentions is said to while his son did not die until he was 157. fhe latter visited Sokoto not many Nigeria, Kokafu, Borgu province, that the chief, years ago. New Zealand's Coal Supply. It is estimated that New Zealand has an available coal supply of 1,- | 200,000,000 tons, of which not more | than 20,000,000 tons have been touched. This was the first of the} British colonies to try the experi-| ment of state ownership of colliery | property. Egyptian Heiroglyphics. Egyptian heiroglyphic inscriptions and inanimate; men and animals, | and parts of them; plants, the heav-' of different weapons, tools and arti- A Meaty Bit of Truth, When a man in New York or else- loudly boasts that he is a “southern gentleman” he is a poor, cheap fraud. A gentleman from ead, he does not need to proclaim the fact. Chicago Wholesale Trade. The first wholesale store was opened in Chicago in 1844, but in 1906 the wholesale trade of the city | was conservatively estimated at $1,- 700,000,000 I by TYRE | tshing kind. Win. Ca OLE DISTRIBU ST nnon, SICK AND ACCIDENT INSUR- ANCE UP TO $25.00 PER WEEK WHOLE LIFE VERY LIBE. INSURANCE ON RAL TERMS PAYABLE ONE HOUR AFTER DEATH. AMERICAN HOME LIFE INSURANCE CO., FIFTH and G Streets N. W. Washington, D. C M. HENNESSY 216 9th STREET, N. W. WINES, LIQUORS & CIGA&S. Patrick CANN ON 935 PENNGY. Vid HOLMES’ HOTEL, No. 333 Virginia Ave., S.W Rest Afro-American Accommoda- tion in the District. FUROPEAN AND AMERI- CAN PLAN. Good T.ooms and Lodging, 50., 75c. and $1.00. Comfortably Heated by Steam. Give us a Call James Otoway Holmes, Prop. Washington, D. C. Main Phone 231. a lessons. Someone says: “It is bet-} ter to live with others even at the cost of considerable jarring and fric- ne Life’s best school is living with people, It is there we learn our best tion, than to live undisturbed quiet alone.” in That Sawing Motion. “Some people do dislike work,” remarked the Observer of Events and Things; “and yet it takes about the same number of motions to play one of Schubert’s sonatas on the fiddle as it does to saw a cord of wood.” Yonkers Statesman. Save the Soot. A cheap way to keep house plants | free from disease is to put a bag of | soot into a pail of water, let the con- ; tents settle and use a very weak s0- lution for watering plants. Soot is a valuable fungicide. ; West Grows Independent. The matter of securing funds to remove the crop no longer disturbs western bankers. To use an ex- pression of one of the number, “The West no longer sneezes when Wall Street takes snuff.” Sticky Varnish. Sticky varnish put on furniture} by cheap woramen may be remedied { by first placing on shallac varnish and then follow with a coat of copal varnish. Soldiers Live on Nuts. | The smal! soldier keeps himself | in perfect fighting condition on « diet of nuts. He eats only twenty a aay, but they are of a very nour-| An Undiscovered Genius. | The world has never learned the | name of the gentus who conceived | = idea of spreading wayne upon his | | BORN 60 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE Trape Marks Desicns CopyricuTs &c. id deseription may ether an Communica ANDBOOK on Patents ecuring pat: its taken th Muna & Co. rec va oe notice, withe out. ¥ sarge, in the Scientific American. A handsomety fllustrated weekly. Largest ctr- culation of any scientific Sarna. Terms, $3 a year: four months, $L Sold byall newsdealers. i MUNN & C0,3618rose~as. New York Branch Ofice, 625 F St. Washington, D. C. ant rable WOMEN’S GUIDE. A NEW PAMPHLET BY MRS, MARY J. BOLTON — ITS CONTENTS. Birth and early life of the au- thoress. A word to the young girls and mothers. The man who is little protection to his family. Colot among Negroes. A word to the better class preach- en. Why married people don’t stay together. A talk character Address west tine to the mother of good 512 You street north- “Mme. Davis, CLAIRVOYANT AND CARD READER. TELLS ABOUT BUSINESS. Reunites the Separated, and | Removes Spells and Evil Influences. | 1228 25th St, N.W., Washington, D. G Gives Luck to All B.—No leters answered uniesg accompanied by stamp. B.—Mention The Bee. N.