of the same class of companies everywhere- 
The only security for the insured is to be 
found in a union of mature skill and ample 
cash capital. 
How is This Certain life companies 
have, it is said, an arrangement with certain 
fire companies to insure the property on 
which they make loans. An applicant for 
loans is required to cancel his fire insurance, 
often at a loss, and tako policies with com¬ 
panies named by the lenders, though those 
companies are sometimes the worst instead 
of the best. This is a comfortable arrange¬ 
ment to keep all the fees and profits in the 
family. 
Ilea Four citizens of Milwaukee, Wis., 
who lost their lives by the wrecking of the 
ill-fated steamship Schiller, held life insur¬ 
ances to the aggregate amount of #100,000. 
One of them, Mr. SciiJJTZ, himself in the 
insurance line, was insured #30,000, chiefly in 
New York companies. 
she made. In the illustrations herewith given 
(he skirt is drawn up by adjustable tapes 
inside; the basque is furnished with small 
pockets which button at the opening; the 
buttons used are of buffalo horn, and the 
INSURANCE NOTES AND NEWS 
USE OF SALT IN PACKING MEATS 
Don't Do It .—There are in this country 
perhaps twenty or thirty thousand persons 
who are being importuned to part with their 
life insurance policies, either for an inade¬ 
quate price in money or in exchange for 
others. The pretexts are various. The com¬ 
pany is about to close upits business and has 
arranged to transfer its policies ; it has be- 
eotm* insolvent, and this is the only measure 
of safety to the beleaguered policy holder, 
or d has discovered some new and exceed¬ 
ingly favorable plan which it magnanimously 
tenders to its insured members. There is no 
exaggeration in asserting that in ninety-nine 
cases in a hundred tmy change, proposed by 
the company will be, if accepted, preju¬ 
dicial to the assured and profitable to the 
company. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive 
of any <>ther than a selfish reason for pro¬ 
posing any change whatever. Unless tho 
company hopes to gain, either immediately 
or contingently, it can have no motive to 
disturb existing and. presumably, perma¬ 
nent relations. There are new and heavy 
expenses to he incurred l or which the com¬ 
pany has no especial relish. The agent 
must be paid, and his hill, with tho clerical 
charges, is always a formidable item. Who 
pays these bills ! The compauy directly, the 
policy holder indirectly, by surrendering to 
the company a policy worth a deal of money 
—that is, having a large reserve to its credit, 
for another having a very small reserve. 
The difference in price or value, which some¬ 
times amounts toa considerable sunt, reverts 
to the company and pays expenses and prof¬ 
its all around. For example, a gentleman in 
most palatablo condition, and us much as 
possible of its natural color. Chloride of 
sodium, or what means here about, the same, 
a good commercial salt, answers both ends 
satisfactorily, if properly applied. It does 
not necessarily change the color of the meat, 
nor does it affect its tenderness beyond 
reasonable limits ; it is also a good antiseptic, 
for it, prevents, if present in a sufficient 
quantity, the development of organisms of a 
lower order, which in their growth, as a 
natural consequence, will hasten the. disinte¬ 
gration of the meat mass, and thus its final 
putrefaction. 
Practice recommends the use of the coarse 
and hard qualities of salt for meat packing, 
for the following reasons :—they dissolve 
gradually, and contract the moa t by degrees 
to a desirable compactness ; they keep the 
salt pickle within a certain moderate con¬ 
centration ; they cannot enter mechanically 
into the meat, and thus overcharge it, and 
may therefore bo applied in a sufficient 
excess, so as to compensate for the losses of 
pickle by leakage, &.e., without endangering 
the tenderness and the flavor too 
. prematurely. The common, fine 
salt answers for a short period of 
keeping very well, and is cm - - 
B quently used in the packing of 
meat for immediate family con- 
vZ mM sumption. Fifty to fifty-six pounds 
mfeW of coarse suit are usually taken for 
the aaltlng down of one barrel of 
meat; ; flic bottom and the top 
of the barrel are always carefully 
covered with a layer of coarse 
salt. The coarse qualities of salt which 
are used in our country are either manu¬ 
factured from brines or from sea water. 
The purer the salt, the nicer is the flavor of 
the meat. A salt, which contains large 
quantities of foreign saline admixtures, par¬ 
ticularly of chloride of calcium and of 
chloride of magnesium, imparts a pungent 
and disagreeable taste, and injures also the 
color of the meat. 
FASHION CHIT-CHAT 
RIDING HABIT. 
Amelia, the ex-Queen of Greece, who re¬ 
cently died, was one of the most famous 
equestriennes in Europe. Morning breaks 
earlier in Greece perhaps than in America, 
for in summer time she rang her hell for her 
maid at 3 o’clock iu the morning, and half an 
hour later was galloping away on horseback 
to tako her morning bath in the saltwater 
of the Archipelago. After her breakfast she 
indulged in another canter, and such was her 
health and vigor that not one of her maids 
of honor wits ever able to endure the fatigue 
and dashing life of the Queen. But com¬ 
paratively few American women since the 
days of early pioneering have experienced 
the largeness and keen zest of freedom that 
edges of the basque and cuff's are bound 
with coat bindings. I’oekets may be intro¬ 
duced under the lappets at the back of tho 
basque. To complete the habit, loose trousers 
of the same material, or like it in color, take 
the place of petticoats, and are long enough 
to meet anil cover the boot tops. Low- 
orowned black silk hats remain fashionable, 
with a scarf veil about the crown, of black, 
blue or gray tulle or gauze. White uooktiea 
ol muslin or batiste are preferred by rather 
tho majority of equestriennes, but the color 
of the necktie is of course a matter of indi¬ 
vidual taste. For a breezy day, an elastics 
sewed to the hat a couple of inches back of 
the spring, passing under the hair and under 
the chin, secures tho chapeau from being 
disarranged. 
Riding gloves of ehamois skin, known as 
“Saxony gloves,” continue in favor, as they 
can bo cleaned by washing. They can be 
had in almost any shade desired, but the 
white ones are un»t stylish. Ladies with an 
eye for individuality, and who love to be¬ 
deck their steeds with winsome L appings, 
adorn the blanket that is placed under the 
saddle with gay embroidery and weave 
deftly on the corners the rider’s monogram, 
and on the right side, between the corners, 
the name of the horse in full. Hiding whips 
are attached to the wrist of the rider by 
means of a small chain or cord, and these, 
A GREAT DISCOVERY IN GLASS MAKING 
M. De La Bastie of France has made a 
discovery, which, if all Unit is claimed for it 
is true, will revolutionize the manufacture 
of glass, cheapen it’s cost and increase it’s 
UB6 to an almost fabulous extent. lie lias 
hit upon a mode of making glass, which is 
one of the most brittle of substances, the 
toughest. As is well known tho brittleness 
of glass is owing to the want of cohesion of 
it’s particles, and gradual cooling has been 
the only way of adding to this cohesion. 
M. Bastie found that if’ glass, when at 
cherry heat, were plunged into a bath of oil 
it’s properties were entirely changed and 
that in many instances it was renderaU un¬ 
breakable. By repeated experiments he as¬ 
certained the exact degree of heat required, 
and he claims that he has fixed upon anun- 
t'ailiug rule. The tests to which gluss made 
by his process has been submitted, warrant 
the conclusion that his invention is a com¬ 
plete success. 
comes from the masterful control of a spir¬ 
ited horse as did this admirable Greek 
Queen. Carriages have now become so 
universal and luxurious that the equipments 
for horseback riding have gradually fallen 
into disuse, so that scarcely more than one 
lady in a school district the country over, 
unless iu the Southern States, possesses a 
respectable sidesaddle and riding habit. For 
those brave few, and for the encouragement 
of others, we give illustrations for riding 
habit, Figs. 8311. It is called the “Metro¬ 
politan Riding Habit,” and will be sent from 
this office for $1. Eleven yards of goods, 51 
inches wide, are requisite. 
The material used may be chosen from a 
variety of fabrics, but as the 3tyle of habit 
remains iu the main unchanged from one 
year to another, it is economy to get good 
material and have the suit well made. Cloth 
of firm texture and all wool is pre-oininentiv 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES 
The Aurora Borealis.—A novel theory of 
the formation of the aurora borealis has 
been advanced by J. H. Groneman In the 
German Astronomlsche Nachrichten. He 
suggests that there may be fragments and 
particles of magnetic substances, such as 
nickel and iron, moving around the sun, 
which are rendered incandescent by friction 
upon entrance into the earth’s atmosphere, 
and then become visible in the form of 
aurora light. 
Fire, Lute —Mix thoroughly two parts of 
good clay, eight parts sharp washed sand, 
and one part of short straw or horse ma¬ 
nure ; temper like mortar. Another : mi- 
linseed or almond meal to a paste with 
limcwater, or starch paste. This ifc_ 
will make a lute that will stand fiv ^ hundred 
degrees of heat. 
Petroleum oils are now co,mlng rapidly in¬ 
to use for dressing leath^ and are claimed 
to be much better and. cheaper than animal 
oils for that purpose, 
