254 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



August 



lather had already seized the spade aud 

 set to work. In an instant all the ele- 

 ments appeared to be confounded to- 

 gether, the winds were unchained, the 

 clouds burst, the brooks were changed 

 into impetuous torrents, groans issued 

 from all the plants in the garden. The 

 mountain opened and from its crest de- 

 scended, in the midst of the hurricane, 

 a giant of prodigious size, holding iu 

 his hand an immense club. He took the 

 peasant and hurled him in the air. An 

 enormous rock tell down aud covered 

 him with its ruins. The son heard the 

 moans of his father, which gradually 

 became weaker. For a long time he re- 

 mained astounded in the place. At last, 

 the sky clearing up, he rose and, thor- 

 oughly frightened, sought the chapel in 

 order to recommend himself to God. 



At the moment at which the peasant 

 became mo more, the lady of Lie^nitz, 

 who had appeared to be almost entirely 

 recovered, suddenly died. — New ^ork 

 News. 



Tho Crocodile's Strong Jaw. 



Sir Samuel Baker, iu his "Wild 

 Beast.s, " says that the power of the jaws 

 of the crocodile is terrific. Once he had 

 the metal of a large hook, the thickuess 

 of ordinary telegraph wire, completely 

 bent together, the barbed point being 

 pressed tightly against the shank and 

 rendered useless. This compression was 

 caused by the snap of the jaws when 

 seiziug a live duck, which he had used 

 as a bait, the hook being fastened be- 

 neath one wing. On one occasion he 

 fouud a fish weighing 70 pouuds bitten 

 clean through as if divided by a knife. 

 This, again, was the work of a snap 

 from the jaws of a crocodile. M. Paul 

 Bert once made experiments on the 

 strength of a crocodile's jaws by meani? 

 of a dynamometer. He found that a 

 crocodile weighing 120 pounds exerted 

 a force of 308 pounds in closing his jaw. 

 The lion has an enormous jaw power. 

 On one occasion an African traveler 

 pushed the butt eud of his gun into a 

 lion's mouth, and the pressure of the 

 jaws cracked it as though it had been 

 struck by a steam hammer. 



A Rebuflf. 



' 'Violet Ray? What a pretty name!" 

 said the unpopular suitor. 



"Yes," replied Miss Ray, "too pretty 

 to change. "— ifiok Me Ud. 



Cretan Caution. 



The followiLg dialogue between two 

 Cretans who ujet in the mountains is a 

 literal translation from tl:e original 

 and a typical illustration of their cau- 

 tion: 



A. — Good day, neighbor. 



B. — You are right welcome, my good 

 friend. 



A. — Where do you come from? 



B. — From up youd' r; quite near. 



A. — And where might you be going 

 fco? 



B. — Oh, only just down there. 



A. — Well, aud what's the news, dear 

 friend? 



B. — Good news, and all that you may 

 tell me over aud above. 



A. — Make me a present of your name. 



B. — You are heartily welcome to it. 

 [But he never breathes it for all that.] 



A living example of this curiov ^ dis- 

 trust and caution, lest by a m... ucci- 

 dent the comc:ou enemj- should learn . 

 secret of significance, is an old mai. 

 named Ccstcro Voludhaki, who, like 

 several others Cretans whom I met, 

 is a hale centenarian who has passed 

 through eight revolutions unscathed. 

 He carries .secrecy to such a point that 

 he never allows even his own friend^ 

 and partisans to know where he sleeps 

 at night. It is hardly surprising if, un- 

 der these circumstances, contemporary 

 Cretans have inherited the unenviable 

 reputation of their forefathers for un- 

 veracity. But no one who approves dF^ 

 ception iu war and diplomacy in peace 

 will be justified in casting the first stone 

 at those whose very lives occasionally 

 depend, both in war and in peace, upon 

 their misleading their secular foes. — 

 Fortuightly Review. 



The Etruscans. 



The Etruscans were a civilized peo- 

 ple ages before the foundation of Rome. 

 Herodotus states that Etruria, the mod- 

 ern Tuscany, was founded by a colony 

 of Lydians. The Etruscan vases aud 

 tombs show a high state of civilization 

 and refinement, and it is believed that 

 the Romans borrowed many of their in- 

 stitutions aud laws fro m Etruria. 



Residents on Glenwood avenue, Jer- 

 sey City, object to having their thor- 

 oughfare paved, because they say it will 

 then become a highway for funerals. 



