189G. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



73 



How She Got the Ne^s. 



Two Louisville woineu who are "great 

 friends," jih the phrase goes, froui one 

 cause or another had j)ot met for several 

 ■weeks, though living only a few stjuaros 

 apart. The other night one dauje went 

 dow'n to visit the other one and said ou 

 entering the house : 



"Margaret, I came down to visit you 

 because I heard you were sick. " 



"Well," answered Margaret, who 

 seemed a tritle out of sorts, "you took 

 your time about it. I have been sick a 

 ■week. ' ' 



"Yes," Deborah replied, "but I could 

 not come sooner because you took such a 

 roundabout way of letting me know you 

 were sick. " 



"Roundabout way? I don't reninmber 

 sending you any word at all. How did 

 you hear?" 



"Well, you wrote the news to your 

 daughter Alice in Milwaukee; slic wrote 

 to my daughter Mary in New Oi'leans ; 

 Mary mentioned it when she wrote to 

 me — and that is how 1 h-ippened to 

 come over." — Louisville Courier- Jour- 

 nal. 



Artificial Scenting: ol Flowers. 



Flowers that have lost something of 

 their perfume are now scouted ariificial- 

 ly by watering thenj wii:h an ali;oholic 

 solution of essence, \ising a liitl<; glycer- 

 in to fix the odor. Thus, for violots, the 

 liquid is composed of 100 grams of 

 glycerin and 10 grams of essence of 

 violet. In many places, while .-centen 

 violets are comparatively rare, the un 

 scented kinds grow wild in great profu- 

 sion. These are now bought up in large 

 quantities, scented artificially and put 

 into the market in advantageous compe- 

 tition with the perfumed violets grown 

 by the horticulturists. Cut flowers -which 

 have wilted from time or transportation 

 are revived by being plunged into a 

 ■weak solution of sal ammoniac. Flowers 

 ■which have little or no scent are also 

 perfumed for sale by being put into a 

 box with ice and tlien saturated with 

 a current of carbonic acid charged with 

 perfume. — London Public Opinion. 



near Sunderland, he was returning to 



his host's house alorjg a lonely road, 

 when he was acco.s*ced by a robber. The 

 latter was a believer in the right of 

 might and requested Mr. Mackenzie to 

 turn out all the cash he had got. "Well, 

 my dear man," replied Mr. Mackenzie, 

 "you know I am big enough to thrash 

 you. If it's money you want, I'll give 

 you half a crown." The robber would 

 not accept this very charitable offer. 

 Mr. Mackenzie "doffed" his coat and 

 gave him what the man is now jjleased 

 to call "a dashed good hiding." That 

 thrashing did the man a great service, 

 for he afterward left the paths of vice 

 and became one of Mr. Mackenzie's 

 many converts. 



An XliUMtriouH PUi ■\. 



It was in 1859, when he was embas- 

 sador at St. Petersburg, that Prince Bis- 

 marck studied Russian. The suspicious 

 ex-chancellor, who once declared that 

 blotting paper was "an invention of the 

 enemy," wished to dispense with inter- 

 preters. He engaged a young law stu- 

 dent to give him lessons. M. Alexeleoff 

 has lately furnished some particulars of 

 his former pupil. 



The pronunciation of certain syllables 

 was a great difficulty, and Bismarck got 

 out of temper more than once, but he 

 finally mastered the language well 

 enough for his purpose, and then disput- 

 ed the remuneration which had been 

 agreed upon. 



Bismarck carefully kept his knowl- 

 edge of Russian a secret from the court, 

 with the result that he occasionally 

 gleaned information not intended for 

 him, but ou one occasion the czar, who 

 was talking in Russian to Prince Gort- 

 shakott', noticed that the embassador was 

 looking very fixedly at hiju, and at once 

 guessed the truth. He a^Ked Bismarck, 

 point blank, if he understood Russian, 

 and the "man of blood and iron" con- 

 fessed, much annoyed at having been 

 found out. — Pearson's Weekly. 



Muscular Christianity. 



The Westminster Budget tells a char- 

 acteristic story of the late Rev. Peter 

 Mackenzie of London. Many years ago, 

 after delivering a lecture in a village 



Out of His Liine. 



The Boston Transcript reports that 

 two gentlemen fell into a talk about 

 books. 



"What do you think of the 'Origin of 

 Species?' " asked one man. 



"I have never read it," was the 

 other's reply, "in fact," he added, "I 

 am not interested in financial subiecta " 



