ahead. This man waited only long enough to lay 
In a new supply of pictures and to make some 
paste. He whacked a dozen glraffs on the tea¬ 
kettle, two or three or which seemed Intent on 
going up the spout, fastened an elephant to the 
handle of the spider, and made the stove boiler 
fairly howl with Its burden Tof camels marching 
up and down with their back3 all humped up. 
When every door-knob had been ornamented with 
the phiz of Queen Elizabeth, aud the family cam¬ 
phor bottle had been made the ground-work for a 
Spanish bull-fight, then the husband threw the 
shears, four knives, two spoons and his paste pall 
over the alley fence, and waited for his wife’s 
return. 
She arrived the other day. He sent her home 
In a carriage from the depot, and walled an hour 
or so before following her. When he thought she 
had time to thoroughly Inspect his work, he 
■went home. Several boys were playing on the 
walk, and as the husband was unlocking the door, 
they saw a woman’s hand suddenly reach out 
seize his collar, and haul In on him, and as his 
heels twinkled in the air a voice filled with emo¬ 
tion called out: 
" I'll paste rhinoceroses on you till you can’t 
wink 1" 
They are In a scrape in that house—they are 
scraplug ceramics Into oblivion, and engaged In a 
lively discussion.— NoiTistown Herald. 
hardships. It is a dismal sight to see hungry 
dogs yelping about a well-fllled butcher’s shop; 
and when boys prepare a 11 slide” on the sidewalk 
for the purpose o upsetting the passers. It Is hard 
for them to see the rolks keeping their balance, 
and nobody going by “ on his ear.” But times 
are out of joint. 
As a suggestion, it may be said that cases not 
quite reachable by the above bill might be some¬ 
what hastened by delicate and Indirect methods; 
for instance, put on the old man’s breakfast ta¬ 
ble a placard to the effect that “ Watched pot Is 
long a-bolUng,” or int roduce in the same way the 
poet’s sentiment, ‘‘The good die first," or leave 
about the house, In odd places, the business cards 
of some undertaker, stating that funerals will be 
furnished at short notice—that Is, of course, all 
but the corpse. Leave the old gentleman to guess 
who will furnish that. 
some undoubtedly will be calm and comforta¬ 
ble In spite of these hints, saying, In often-quoted 
words, “None of these things move me.” With 
such old fellows as these, there Is nothing to be 
done but have patience. 
woods and planted at Intervals of five or six feet 
—hark left on. The wire stretched on the outside 
Hue of the posts was held In place by large¬ 
headed tack nails. The fence, when done, was 
scarcely noticeable a lew rods away; but in mid¬ 
summer it was a curve of beauty, being overrun 
with climbers of various sorts, for which It served 
as a trellis, Morning Glories, Cypress vine, Mau- 
randla, Nasturtiums etc. Petunias I think would 
he better to plant in the border following the 
fence, than vines even, as when trained against 
a wall or frame, they often present a superb ap¬ 
pearance. As my chicken fence kept out all sorts 
of depredators, and cost so little, and proved so 
ornamental, there Is no need to add that It paid 
for Itself many times over. 
I am glad to see Willi an Falconer advocating 
the culture of native flora, since so many people 
can never see tue beauty In common things, until 
some one points It out, and they become 
fashionable. The Germans cultivate corn In their 
gardens, lor Its stately beauty, as wo do Gannas 
—corn being far handsomer to my mind. The 
French cultivate our common road-side and field 
Daisy—they call them Marguerites and a pretty 
bouquet of white bloom they make in a gay border. 
One of the pretty uses made of Morning Glories 
last summer, that I noticed, was the way In 
which they were trained over a rude fence that 
surrounded a very elegant dwelling. The fence 
was nearly draped with them, aud to drive past 
there of a morning and see the Incomparable 
blossoms, white, crimson, blue, violet—Illustrat¬ 
ing,the beautiful text “ My mercies are new every 
morning”—was to see a sight well-worth seeing. 
BuUhen, I go “daft” over Morning Glories—one 
way to enjoy them is to cut off a vjseful^of the 
opening buds at night—put It on the table for 
breakfast, and next morning you will have a vis¬ 
ion of beauty at your morning meal, lovely and 
exquisite enough to humanize, reflne and delight 
you for at least twenty-lour hours to come. 
In preparing a lawn, the people are wise who 
plant a part of It thickly with the common wild 
blue Violets—those fragrant blossoms with 
“spurs” that the children love to gather and use 
for “ngbting,” purposes, nipping off their heads 
with eager delight. They are among the earliest 
spring bloomers, are quite hardy, take care of 
themselves, aro always a sight to see, and masses 
of them In bloom form an expanse of rich color 
hardly to be surpassed. 
Strawberries as a Poison. 
Apropos of the poisonous effect somoilmes pro¬ 
duced by strawberries, which a late number of 
the Rural commented on as being altogether im¬ 
probable, I will mention the case of a gentleman 
whom I know, who has twice nearly lost his life 
from eating that delicious fruit. The first time 
he ate them was when he was a mere, lad, and 
they acted upon him as a powerful poison. It 
was not until many years later, that he dared re¬ 
peat the experiment, which he did aud sulToreli 
again In precisely the same manner. Being ex¬ 
tremely fond of the berry, It Is quite a depriva¬ 
tion for lilm to be obliged to pass through life 
without the privilege of enjoying them except at 
the hazard of his life. 
gloomy old palazzo where the artists had taken 
up their residence, who did not regret the golden- 
haired you«# Englishman who was passing away 
from among them. 
“ I wonder what has become of Alan ?" said the 
dying man towards evening, as he lay raised up 
by pillows, having rallied a little with the excite¬ 
ment of bis sister's arrival. 
“ He Is In the house signor,” answered Marian¬ 
na, quietly from her seat near the window ; “ hut 
he was afraid he might disturb you and the slg- 
norlna.” 
“ Ask him to come,” said Harold. 
And Sir Alan coming In, found Cora, In her pret¬ 
ty, fresh garments, sitting by her brother, who 
greeted him with a smile. 
“You would not have been de irop, old fellow,” 
said he. “ I wanted to thank you for your kind¬ 
ness to this child, it was a foretaste of the broth¬ 
er’s part you are going to act towards her when I 
am gone. You don’t know what a fellow hols, 
Cora,” he added, smiling—“as strong as a lion, 
and as gentle as a woman 1” 
Shortly after, Dr. Crosby came in, followed by 
George Leeson; and when the physiclt n left the 
room both Cora and Alan followed him. 
“ Have you brought a good stock of courage 
with you, my dear 7” said the doctor, as he took 
the young girl’s hands la his. “You must be 
brave to-night, and to-morrow you shall cry. 
Your brother will not suffer many hours now.” 
Cora turned from him with a gesture of despair, 
while a lit of shuddering came over her, aud she 
trembled so exceedingly that the baronet called 
Marianna, and left the girl to her care, while he 
returned to Harold.—To be continued. 
THE CLOCK OF CLOCKS, 
world. It was built by Stephen D. Engle, a 
watchmaker at Hazleton, lie Is about forty-live 
years of age and was about twenty years iu per¬ 
fecting the clock. Mr. Held paid Engle $5,000 for 
It. Engle never sow the Strasburg clock. In 
fact, he lias not, traveled more than two hundred 
miles from home at any time. This clock stands 
eleven feet high. At Its base It Is about four feet 
wide and at the top about two. 1 1 Is about three 
feet dpep at the base; gradually less toward the 
top. Its colors arc brown and gold. The Strasburg 
clock is thirty feet high, yet Its mechanism Is not 
so Intricate nor has It as many figures as the 
Hazleton clock. The Strasburg clock’s figures 
are about, threejfeet high and the American clock’s 
about, nine Inches. 
Three minutes before the hour a pipe-organ In¬ 
side the clock plays an anthem. It ha3 five 
tunes. Bells are then rung and, when the hour 
Is struck, double doors iu an alcove open and a 
figure of Jesus appears. Double doors to the left 
then open, and the apostles appear slowly, one 
by one, In procession. As they appear and pass 
Jesus, they turn toward him. Jesus bows, the 
apostle turns agun and proceeds through the 
double doors In an alcove on tbe right. As Peter 
approaches, Satan looks out ot a window above 
aud tempts him. Five times the Devil appears, 
and when Peter passes, denying Christ,, the cock 
flaps its wings aud crows. When Judas appears, 
Satan comes down from his window and follows 
Judas out In tho procession and then goes hack 
up to his place to watch Judas, appearing on 
both sides. As the procession has passed, Judas 
and the turee Marys disappear, and the doors are 
closed. 
The scene can be repeated seven times in an 
hour, If necessary; and the natural motion of the 
clock produces It four limes per hour, whereas 
the Strasburg procession Is made but once a day, 
at 12 o’clock. Below the piazza Is the main dial, 
about thirteen inches in diameter. To Its right 
is a figure or Time, with an hour-glass. Above 
this Is a window, at which appear figures repre¬ 
senting youth, manhood and old age. To tho 
lett of the dial Is a skeleton, representing Death. 
When the hour-hand approaches the first quarter 
Time reverses his hour-glass and strikes one on 
a bell with his scythe, when auoiher bell inside 
responds. Tnen Childhood appears Instantly. 
When the hour-hand approaches the second 
quarter, or hair-hour, there are heard the strokes 
ot two bells. Then Youth appears, and the 
organ plays a hymn. After this, Time strikes 
two and reverses his hour-glass, when two bells 
respond inside. One minute after this a chime 
of bells is heard, when a folding door opens In the 
upper porch, aud one at the right ol the court, 
when the Saviour comes walking out,. Then tbe 
apostles appear in procession. The clock also 
tells of the moon's changes, the tides, the seasons, 
days and day ot the month aud year, and the 
signs of the zodiac; and on top a soldier is con¬ 
stantly on guard, walking back and forward. 
As the hours advance Manhood, Old Age, and 
Death take part lu the panorama.— Heading Eagle. 
CHARACTER 
Character is so much more than wealth or 
knowledge, fame or power, that It Is the measure 
of the man. When a man la placed in a promin¬ 
ent,;, position of any sort whatever, we say at 
once, “ what is he worth ?" not “what does he 
know? but “what sort of a man Is he ?” That Is 
the momentous question that Involves all. All 
others are secondary. Wealth, knowledge, fame 
and power, are most desirable accessions for a 
good man; but otherwise they add strength in a 
wrong direction. 1 wonder If the young men, 
and boys lu our land, realize that character Is tho 
most Important capital In any and all business 
transactions. If a man ot large business Is look¬ 
ing for a partner or employe what does he re¬ 
quire first and of all ? An honest man or boy. 
Wealth and position, with this first requisite, will 
be no detraction, nut nothing without It. 
What, pillars are to a building, what the foun¬ 
dation Is, and the corner-stones thereor, so is a 
good character to a man or a woman, boy or girl. 
The wise man said, “ A good name Is rather to be 
chosen than great riches," and he had no lack of 
wealth. Remember, boys—and It will harm none 
to remember—that what you are Is of infinite Im¬ 
portance ; while what you have Is finite In Its val¬ 
ue; Its end Is the grave, while the former will 
grow aud enrich Its possessor through all the 
ages of Immortality. Strive for It as tor your 
life, for life Is naugUt without It; Jf a man die tor 
fits house, he is an everlasting hero; while If ho 
die for his wealth, 'no Isa sordid fool. We honor 
It In death, If not In life. “ So teach us to number 
our days, as to apply our hearts unto wisdom.” 
INTEMPERANCE 
Once upon onr nation’s honor 
Lay a dark, unsightly stain ; 
We of that great crime wore guilty, 
Biiyiug, selling, “ souls of men.” 
And we fought and prayed against it— 
Prayed God to remove the stain; 
Aud He did it—not in our way, 
Iu His own. He broke the chain. 
Now another mighty evil 
Threatens to destroy our peace; 
Daily binds unnumbered victims; 
In our streets It* thousands slays. 
Friends and neighbors, they are dying 
They are falling all around; 
Aud our brother’s blood is crying— 
Crying’gainst us from the ground. 
And tho voice of God is calling: 
“ Who is on iho Lord's side, who ? 
Take unto you trusty armor. 
And go forth to meet this foe. 
Long enough hath this Goliath 
All our Israel’s hoets defied." 
Courage, bretbern, wc shall conquer; 
Truth, aud right are on our side. 
Not with carnal weapons fight we 
’Gainst this great and crying sin ; 
But with spiritual ones, and mighty; 
Weapons that are sure to win. 
“In tbe name of God," like David, 
Go we forth with sling and Btone; 
Never need we go unaided, 
For the battle 1« Hia own. 
RECENT LITERATURE 
HOW WE CAN “CIRCUMWENT” THE OLD 
MAN. 
Tlic Study ot Words. Lectures addressed (orig¬ 
inally) to the Pupils at the DiOocaau Training 
School. Winchester. By KicbaRP Chenevix 
Trench, D. D.. Archbishop of Dublin. With an 
exhaustive Analr'ia. additional Words for Il¬ 
lustration, earl Questions tor Examination. By 
Thomas D. Hl’im.ec. Houd Master of St. Augus¬ 
tine's College, UeuecU, California. [12mo.—pp. 
3‘J.i. *1.M1.J Nuvr York: W. J, Wlddleton. 
When Hamlet, In reply to the question of Po- 
LONtns, said he was reading " Words, words , 
words," he may have had an Idea of the full sig¬ 
nificance of hlB answer, aud he may not. That 
question, however much open to discussion, we 
do not propose to take up at the present time. 
What are Words 7 is a question susceptible of 
several definitions, each of which may be entirely 
true; as, Words are two or more letters of 
the alphabet In combination used to represent 
certain sounds; Words are vocal sounds used to 
represent Ideas; 'Words are representatives, writ¬ 
ten or spoken, of ideas, which, taken In combina¬ 
tion, constitute Language. 
How many readers ever stop to think that there 
was a time when there were no words, or how 
certain words came to be used to represent cer¬ 
tain thoughts or Ideas ; how language has grown, 
and Is still growing, or how new words are con¬ 
stantly being Introduced from rorelgn languages, 
or constructed entire 7 To those who have not 
seen the book above named, It will open a fountain 
ol Instruction and entertainment. Dr. Trench, 
In speaking on this point, quotes tbe words of a 
writer who says“ Iu a language like ours there 
are tew modes ot instruction more useful or amus¬ 
ing than that ot accustoming young people to 
seek for the etymology or primary meaning ot 
the words they use. There are cases lu wfilch 
knowledge ot more value may be conveyed by the 
history of a word than by the history of a cam¬ 
paign.” 
Take as an example (condensed from the “Study 
of Words, ’) the derivation ot our word frank- 
meaning free, open and honest. A German tribe, 
proud of their liberty, gave themselves the name 
of “ Pranks,” or free men. They conquered Gaul 
and gave It their name—now France. They were 
superior to the Gauls and Romans in Gaul, In 
their love of freedom and of truth. In their up¬ 
rightness and true manlluess,—and thus It came 
that the name of the t ribe or of Its members— 
Frank—became the synonym of high moral qual¬ 
ities. So of the word slave. The conquering Teu¬ 
tonic races, In tho oldeu time, were enabled to 
keep t heir markets for servants supplied from the 
Sclavonic tribes, aud the name Sclav became slg- 
SEASONABLR HINTS 
N. J. SANDPirKK. 
MARY A, E. WAGER-FISHER, 
The case of the old Mr. Lord seems at last to 
have been completely settled, but to prevent a re¬ 
currence ot trouble of this sort, we seem to need 
some special leglalat Ion. 
If a man la poor, having merely enough to sup¬ 
port himself from day to day, it makes Utile dif¬ 
ference how long he may choose to Uve, hut ltls 
a wretched shame that old men who have plent y 
ot money, should persist lu living on, year after 
year, long alter their relations think they should 
be dead and burled. 
In case a bill regarding this subject should be 
brought before the Legislature, an expert would 
be needed to put It Into proper shape, but the 
substance might be somewhat as follows: 
Whereas, It, is a matter of complaint that cer¬ 
tain rich men, by virtue of a strong constlt utlous 
and care for bodily health, do succeed In living to 
a great, age, and whereas,by so doing they grleve- 
ously wrong those who aro walling for their death 
and for their money; and such gross misconduct 
being not now punishable under the presentlawa, 
as it should be, 
If is herebu enacted that on reaching the age of 
seventy any man who may have any considerable 
s um of money, shall upon application of his legal 
heirs, immediately give up hl3 said money, and 
make over any and all of his property—so much 
of It, at least, as may be worth accepting—pro¬ 
vided always that he be allowed to retain one 
suit of old clothes and such other personal outfit 
as decency may require. 
And in case the said rich old man shall refuse 
to give up his said property, he shall be compell¬ 
ed to do so at once by force or law, any court be¬ 
ing held to have jurisdiction in such matters, 
for the more speedy furtherance of the ends or 
Justice. 
And be it enacted that this law is to take effect 
Immediately.. 
It may be said that the motto “give the old 
man a 
I wish to commend to the Rchal farmerlnes 
who cultivate flowers, the convenience and ad¬ 
vantage of using what Is called the “German 
Hot-bed” In the germination ot flower seeds. 
Last year, 1 sowed over otgUly varieties ot flower 
seeds In hot-beds, of this sort during the last week 
In March, and excepting Lantana seeds all were 
successful. Tne hot-beds are constructed In the 
usual manner, except that In Hen of using window 
sash and glass for covering, we airctcu and nail 
to a frame snugly fitting over the box, cheap 
muslin (at six cents per yard) and then give the 
muslin a coating of raw linseed oil Into which an 
egg has been stirred—three eggs to a pint ol oil, 
This preparation makes the muslin water-proof 
and translucent. The advantages this cover has 
over the glass, are la Its lightness to handle, and 
Its complete protection to the plants against 
sun-burn, covers of this kind If well taken care of 
will last for two seasons. Flower seeds that will 
not germinate to complete satisfaction In a 
“German Hot-bed "are surely of “no good," 
while delicate seeds that often perish from lack 
of proper conditions when sown In open borders, 
will thrive marvelously under the muslin cover. 
Seedsmen are often biamod for Belling poor seeds, 
when the fault lies In the gardening solely. 
Moreover, most seedlings will give the florist 
double enjoyment by being given an early start. 
Another thing which I wish to commend In this 
connection, is a wire chicken fence for tbe flower 
garden. The feathered tribe and flower-beds and 
borders were never born for nelghborllness. The 
florist who has to contend with the chicken tribe 
knows better than anybody else the meaning of 
“ vexation of spirit,” while flower beds In a lawn, 
with which the poultry Is on Intimate terms, pre¬ 
sent an appearance too forlorn for comment; 
while to brush or wire beds, Is to cultivate flow¬ 
ers under too great a disadvantage to be enjoy¬ 
able. What one wants Is a spot, of ground Into 
which neither fowl, nor beast, does enter. Having 
once upon a time the depredations of poultry to 
contend with, I Inclosed a portion of the lawn 
upon which a back piazza opened, wltli a fence 
which cost In money outlay lor wire, $2.15—a 
bunch of galvanized Iron wire ol seven or eight 
hundred yards, costing that much. The posts 
used were made from saplings brought from the 
THE HUSBAND’S CERAMICS 
Some women are loth to credit their husbands 
with good intentions, or to give them the credit 
due their genius and enterprise. Such a woman 
lives hard by. She was fairly crazy about ce¬ 
ramics, but In tbe midst of her pottery decora¬ 
tions she was summoned to New Eogland to see 
a sick relative. Her husband, good soul, decided 
to ceramic that house to the most complete ex¬ 
tent durlug her absence, and he Invested money 
enough In transfer pictures to liavo bought fils 
winter's coal, lie pasted old Roman heads on the 
newel posts, bordered tho edges ot the stairs, had 
a p iper monkey climbing up each leg ot tne ex¬ 
tension table, parted an alligator on each panel 
of every door, had sailors tumbling over each 
other on the water pitcher, ran a border along 
the baseboard ot the parlor, pasted the teapot 
with red roses, bordered all the mirrors with lean 
dogs running after fat rabbits, and gummed the 
head 01 a trotting horse on the back ot every 
chair. The panels la the bedsteads blossomed 
with glraffs reaching out. tor weeping willows, 
and s rpents trained around tho legs or the 
piano shot mad glances at small mules wit h their 
hoels In the air. 
Home men would have stopped here, and waited 
[ to be patted on the.back, and encouraged to go 
chance" is too fully carried out In the 
above, but It must be borne In mind that the pub¬ 
lic 13 not. prepared for more severe legislation. 
It is a hardship, undoubtedly, to wait till a man 
Is seventy, before getting hold of Ills money, es¬ 
pecially when those who are walling are so touch 
better able to spend the money InteUioentlo than 
he Is himself; but, wa are continually having our 
reelings hurt by the contemplation of Just such 
