g70 THE YOUNG 
hold when they should be cared for ; to 
put up the ripe fruit before it has time to 
soften ; to mend the little holes in stock- 
ings, the rips in gloves. If women who 
have work to do would not waste time in 
useless fretting about the unchangeable 
nature of their work, they would gain in 
time and strength. 
— Engagement rings are the natural 
sequences of the summer campaign of 
the belles of the watering-places, and 
many a young man is at his wits' end to 
raise the necessary cash wherewith to 
secure the preliminary token of future 
domestic bliss. Ice cream, drives, boat- 
ing, and pleasure excursions generally 
have depleted the pockets of the devoted 
beaux, and in many instances when the 
question, the momentous question, was 
asked, it was with fear and trembling 
that the expected answer was received. 
On leaving, the happy girl generally 
says :— " When you get me my ring get 
me a nice one, Charley, for I want to be 
proud of it, and all the girls will criticise 
it, you know. Get a nice solitaire with a 
skeleton setting, so the diamond will 
show nicely. I think a pure white stone 
is the best. That hateful Laura has a 
colored one, and I believe it is full of 
flaws. She is always showing it, any- 
how, and if she hasn't a scratch on her 
finger she is continually fixing her hair 
or arranging her collar. I want a better 
stone than hers. Won't you get it, dear ?" 
*'Iwill, darling; I'll get you the best 
in the market/' and he departs with a 
sinking heart. 
The next day he makes an arrange- 
ment with some jeweller by which he gets 
an inferior stone at a high price, which 
he pays for in weekly instalments. Visits 
to his girl and the usual presents and 
theatricals take the remainder of his 
salary, and when the wedding-day ap- 
proaches his or her fond parent is obliged 
to hand over the necessary funds to unite 
the twain and send them off on their 
bridal tour. On their return they gener- 
ally settle down, and the question of the 
engagement-ring and the attendant inci- 
dents form a subject of jocular conversa- 
tion between them. 
SCIENTIST. 
— Fifty females employed in the Mint 
at San Francisco are called adjusters, and 
their pay is $2 75 a day, counting week 
days and all holidays but Sundays. 
Their hours are from 8 o'clock in the 
morning until 4 in the afternoon, with 
the exception of Saturdays, when they 
cease at 2 o'clock. These adjusters oc- 
cupy two large rooms on the second floor 
of the Mint. One is used for the adjust- 
ing of silver and the other for that of - 
gold. The floors are carpeted, and each 
lady has a marble-top table, a pair of 
scales, and a fine, delicate file. Before 
the gold is turned over to them to be ad- 
justed it goes through the process of be- 
ing rolled, annealed, cut, and washed. 
They then take it in a state called 
" blanks," that is, perfectly smooth, and 
the weighing is done. It is weighed to 
see if each piece be of standard weight, 
which must be of 4123 grains for a silver 
dollar, a slight discrepancy being allowed 
on either side. If a coin is found outside 
of the limit after being weighed by an 
adjuster, it is returned; if too light it is 
condemned, and must be remelted ; if too 
heavy, it is filed to its proper weight. 
This is the ladies' work, and an interest- 
ing sight it is to watch the small white 
fingers deftly handling the shining 
pieces. A room near the adjusting room ' 
has been set aside for the ladies, who use 
it as a lunch room ; twO long tables are 
provided, and a janitress furnishes boil- 
ing water for making tea, and also keeps 
the place neat and clean. Several of the 
ladies have been in the Mint for several 
years 
DICTIONAEY OF OSCULATION. 
Buss, a kiss. 
Eebus, to kiss again. 
Pluribus, to kiss irrespective of sex. 
Syllabus, to kiss the hand instead of the 
lip. 
:iglunderbus, to kiss the wrong per- 
son. 
Omnibus, to kiss all promiscuously. 
Erebus, to kiss in the dark. 
Incubus, to have to kiss some one you 
don't like. 
Harquebus, to kiss with a loud smack. 
