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7 1 CO JVOL. III. ST. HELENS, COLUMBIA COUNTY, OREGON, OCTOBER G, 1882. 1 NO. 9.

TRUE LOVE.

Three ladies wre seated in AgathaFoster's parlor Miss Forteseue, large,dark, and of uncertain age, who rnouopolized the most comfortable arm-chai- r;

Mrs. Becker, shrunken anil sandy, whowas constantly sliding of! tho sofa andreinstating herself with a jerk, and MissAgatha herself, who sit apart from theothers, glancing uneasily out of the vin-lo-

as if distressed by their garrulity.Miss Agatha was a fair young roman,with a uoblo head and a countenanceexpressive of all grace and goodness.Yet at this moment she entertained feel-ings decidedly hostile to her callers, whohad run ia with the familiar freedom offellow-boarder- s in a family hotel, tochat away the afternoon. At heart theywere immensely sorry that Miss XanmeFoster had not yet returned from asuburb where she had gone the day be-

fore. Miss Nannie, Agatha's cousin,companion and chaperon m . one,was far more to their taste; she was moreattentive, more easily impressed, moresympathetic, they thought. She neversat looking out the window when thej'were retailing their choicest bits ofscandal for her especial benefit. Butthen she was a woman of years. How-ever, they still lingered; it was a pleasant place". The Fosters had the hand-somest suite in the building and fur-nished with such taste! Such carpets!Such decorative art! And the Fosterswere tip-to- p people. There were fourof them Miss Agatha, her two bachelorbrothers, ten and a dozen years hers' n or, and Miss Nannie, who, sincethtir parents' death, had kept the chil-dren together. The winter day drew toa close, ami the room grew dusky, andstill the ladies lingered.

Agatha could endure it no longer; this,of all days, she was without patience.She rose quicklv.

"Ladies,"' she said, with an indignantquiver in her sweet contralto voice, "youmust excuse me. I cannot listen to suchconversation!"'

There was sileuce a moment; thenMiss Forteseue lifted her cumbrousframe. "Oh, certainly, I juite under-stand. We will withdraw. Wo do notwish to offend.

"Oh, certainly," faintly echoed Mrs.Becker, slhliui? from tho sofa for thelast time and prep j ring to follow.

Agatha's impatience onbj increased."And allow me to say," she exclaimed,

with no compunction, "that I thinkladies might be better employed thanwith their neighbors' affairs." c

"Good afternoon." said Miss Fortes-cu- e,

savagely.

Becker."Good riddance!" cried Agatha,

sharply, ere the door had closed."To-da- y of all days," sho said, as she

walked to and fro in the dusk. Presentlythe door opened.

"All in the dark.Agatha?" said acheeryvoice.

"I thought you would never come,Nannie," was the swift, unnerved reply.Then she lit the gas.

"Why, what is the matter, dear?""I have just put Miss Fortesque and

Mrs. Becker out of tho room, and it--ithas annoyed me.''"Dear me! What had they done?""The same old sickeuing gossip. Miss

Bruce flirts on tho street; Mr. and Mrs.Brown have shown no marriage certifi-cate; Mrs. Gray holds her step-ohil- d tothe fire to burn it, and so on and so on."

"They get their ideas from the morning papers," said Nannie, calmly, un-clasping her fur-line- d circular. "Thestep-moth- er holding the child to the fireis a favorite paragraph when the news isscare. Sometimes she heats the flat-iro- n.

For my part, I would never go to thattrouble."

But Agatha could not respond to herstaid humor. Sue helped to put awaythe wraps, and inquired after the subur-ban friends.

"You look rather pale; aren't youwell?" asked Miss Nannie, when theywere seated.

The girl dropped her eyes. "Nannie,I have some news for you," she siid withan effort. "I last night I promisedMr. Peters to to marry him."

Then she sighed if relioved of a greatburden.

The room was still, utterly still. IfMiss Nannie was surprised or shockedshe gave no token. She only sat quietlylooking at the girl and taking time tt,collect her thoughts. Agatha never liftefther eyes until, after some moments, hercousin cleared her throat and tranquillyinquired:

"Well, dear, are you satisfied tint youwill be happy?"

Then the girl rose andthrew herselfupon the sofa. "Oh, Nannie, I don'tknow; I can't tell."

More silence; then Miss Nannie askedif she had told the boys.

To these women George and Lewiwwould be "the boys" as long as theylived.

"I told George at noon," Agatha re-plied, in a voice heavy with tears."Lewis was not here. I wish vou wouldtell him."

"And what did George say?""He only said, 'I congratulate Mr.

Feters."Miss Nannio leaned back in her chair

and meditated, bringing Peters up formental review. Poor little whiffet! Tobe sure, he had money, some standingsocially and a fair education. They hadknown him a long, long time, and evenfelt for him a sort of distant relatives'affection. They would do anything inthe world for him. He often took Agathaabout, to places of amusement, to churchor riding. But he was at least fifteenyears her senior, and they never thoughtof his aspiring to marry her.

His appearanee was pity fully againsthim. Miss Nannie reviewed bis bad build,

his bow leers, his "wild eye," as shecalled it a suspicious i eye that seemedto skirmish about the j room while itsmate regarded you with steadfast respect.Then she turned her thoughts to Agatha

Agatha, perfect in face and figure andennobled by education and advantagesAgatha, for whom a senator had pro-posed, and a congressman languished,to say nothing of her jlesser adorersAgatha, who had rejected tho senatorbecause he lacked principle,, and thecongressman because he was a widower.

Nannie remembered that the girl hadsuffered and shed tears over refusingthese and others. She had a curiousdisposition, as the boys had said.

At length Nannie roused and spoke."I will tell Lewis; and now, you hadbelter dress; it's near dinner-tim- e. Alittle Florida water i will cool yourcheeks "

"Hark!" cried Agatha, "there ho is,now gone into his room."

Nannio recognized the clumsy step.Lewis had never yet comn up thosestairs without tripping at the top; thorushing, impetuous way of his boyhoodwould always cling to him.

"I am going at once to tell him,before George comes," said Nannie,

"Yes, do," said Agatha. And whenher cousin had gone out across the eorri- -

dor, and her tap had been welcomed bya' careless "Come in: the young girlstole after and listened at tho crack ofher brother's door.

"Lewis, I have news for you," saidNannie, gently, and there was a hiddensob in her fond voice. "Agatha haspromised to marry Mr. Peters."

"Oh, JLord!" cried Lewis, iu open-mouthe- d

disgust.Agatha crept away from the door; her

face was burniDg and j her heart beathard.

But Miss Naunie remained awhile inher cousin's chamber, i

"Lewis," she said, qtiietly, "I snp-pof- 'e

wo all feel the same over thismatter?" Agatha says jwhen she toldGeorge he remarked that he 'eongratulated Peters.'" j

"Well, this is too bed," said Lewis,indignantly. "It is a j shame if a girlwith her face and brains can't do better.She is altogether too soft hearted. Shewould have married all the men whoever proposed, if we had. let her, and outof s ieer pity, not because she cared forthem. That is why she accepted Peters;couldn't bear to hurt his feelings didn'twant his straight eye to suffuse withtears! We must do something to pre-vent." j

Nannie smiled deprecatingly. "Wemust, bo very careful.! Agatha bas acurious disposition, and i if she thoughtwe were all against him, she would onlypity him the more."

"If there were only some way to dis-pose of him," exclaimed Lewis, grimly;"if we could send him out with the nextAn tic expedition "

Nannio rose. "You will be very care-ful what you say, Lewis?"

"Oh, of course."She lingered at the door. "Agatha

ha not a foiceless nature bv anymeans,' she said; "she can get angry ifshe cares to. She tells me she put MissForteseue and Mrs. Becker out of ourparlor to day, because of their vile gos-sip. I have no doubt sho did."

"Humph!"

Agatha came dovn to dinner with herface composed and her manner graciousas ever. Her inward defiance was notoutwardly manifest. Of her family,George was a shade more dignified thanusual, and Lewis appeared annoyed,while Nannie put on a regretful lookand occasionally sighed. When theyl6ft the dinirg-roo- m Agatha swepthaughtily by tLe table, at which sat theForteseue and the Becker. She wasdone with the twain and intended theyshould see it.

Up in their own parlor, George satdown by his sister. "Agatha," he saidslowly, and with an evident distaste forthe subject, "do you think you did wellto eng'ge yourself to Mr. Peters beforeconsulting your family?"

"I was of age three years ago," shosaid, regarding him with serene dignity.

"Yes, yos, of course. But there issuch a thing as advice. Mr. Peters iscur good friend, but i3 ho a suitable hus-band for you?" ''

"What is there against him?" sheasked, unflinchingly. ' She was notblind to her lover's bodily imperfec-tions. She had lain awake all night,mentally endeavoring to straighten hiscrooked limbs and control his recreantorb. But with daylight they haddawned upon her as uncompromising asever.

But George would not stoop to personabties "Nothing," ' ho answered,quietly, "Only we have looked veryhigh for you. We want yoti to behappy."

"Then do not speak against Mr.Peters," she said, in a way that seemedto dismiss the subject. i

George betook himself to his ownroom, and Lewis took j his place byAgatha. "I suppose I am to congratu-late," he said, with a careless disregardof Nannie's injunctions,

"You do not seem very i enthusiastic,"responded his sister, calmly, recallinghis secretly heard exclamation upon firstlearning the news.

"I can't help it if I don't," he an-

swered, half impatiently.; "You know-ho-

proud we are of you; Gath, and wocan't bo expected to think any man goodenough." v

Sho smiled. z' f

He went on recklessly i "I don't be-lieve you know what you are doing.You don't love Peters; you only pityhim, just as you used to pity the Sena-tor and all the rest. This crooked littlecurmudgeon! Why, he is older thanGeorge and cross-eye-d "

. She sprang up in a rage. "Lewis,you have said quite enough. Neverspeak so again to me; I forbidjit.".

Then she sought her own chamber andthrew herself upon the bed.

Nunnie came to her after awhile. "Mypoor darling! Why are you feeling sobad?"

"Lewis has been saying such awfulthings!"

"And are you quite sure you havemade no mistake?"

"Quite sure."She rose and arranged her toilet; Mr.

Peters was to come that evening.He arrived early. Nannie endeavored

to be gracious, but soon excused herself,leaving Agatha to her lover, the boyshaving both gone out. And Agatha,with Lewis' crnel criticism still ringingin her ears, felt as if in a dream. Fortunately, Peters made no inquiries as tobrother's opinion of the marriage. MissNannie had congratulated him as thoughall were satisfactory.

A githa accepted his adoration quitepassively, and at last, when he had gone,retired to lu r own room to pity him andweep for him, and tell herself how muchshe loved him.

But as the winter slipped away theengagement was announced, and, havingremained unbroken, Agatha s brotherseven began to feel resigned.

The quiet, intense devotion of Nor-man Peters was touching. He wor-shipped his betrothed; to him she was avery goddess.

"If." thought Nannie, with a softenedregret, "if he were only not quite sosmall! If he were only a half-inc- h

taller, to be of even height li withAgatha!"

Meanwhile poor Agatha was frettingherself to death. A thousand littleheartless sarcasms and glances ofridicule, to which Peters, in his greathappiness, was utterly oblivious, wereconstantly stabbing her. Night afternight she passed iu wakeful agony.the idea of breaking the engagementnever once occurring to her. Shewas sure she loved him, and sherealized the death cf his devotion.She endeavored to rise above morbidsensitiveness, telling herself that peoplewould cease their cruel ways when thevsaw that she was determined to stand bvhim. But she grew thin, and her facewore a hunted expression. MesdamesBecker and Fortescne now began to cir-culate pretty little stories about heringeniously constructed but untruthfulromances.

iNotning vervhad. tor Agatna was awoman to whom no doubtful mist couldcling for a moment; but whispers of"coquetry,"S"blighted hopes," "girlishfolly," and "last lesort," which, blownfrom lip to lip on the dubious breath offriendship, came at last to vex tho earsof the Foyers. Agatha only grew morepale. Stormy Lewis, however, con-fronted Miss Fortopcao in tho hall beforehis sister's room.

"I tell you, madam, that you mustdiscontinue your talk of my sister," hecried, acgrily.

Agatha came out. "Ob, Lewis, dear."He took her by the arm. "Go back.

Gath. I've a matter to settle with thislady. She knows what mischief she hasbeen trying to work, and I intend thetalk shall cease, or I will take measuresshe may not admire!"

Without a word Miss Forteseue turnedand fled.

"I was sorry for her," said Agatha,"she looked so guilty and helpless."

"I declare I haven't much patience withyou," exclaimed her brother, "to thinkthat you would defend tier, and she everyday assailing your good name. But allyour ways of late are provoking. Yonare going to marry a man you don't love,because yon pity him. For God's sake,why don't you pity some one suitable "

She trembled ith excitement andpassion.

"Lewis, if you have tho least particleof love or respect fot me, you will nevers(.eak so again. I do love Norman, andit would kill me if anything shouldbreak the engagement.''

Lewis quit her presence crestfallen.Tho days slipped by. There had bten

no date nxed tor tue wedding, nor wasthe subject discussed by the familv.

None but Nannie knew the terribletremor in which the girl existed. Shewas ever moving about, her hands constantly occupied. Day after day, rain orshine, the two women were out of doors.Thev had always an errand, usually oneof mercy. Naunie, howexer disinclined,would have felt it a sin to oppose, and soAgatha dragged her off through the flitting sunshine, the moodiness, the chillor the storm of the springtime, until onelast morning.

It had been raining for three days,and so steadily that the sidewalks flagswere cleaned and whitened.

Agatha said they would not be ham-pered with a carriage, and they took acar for a mile or so, alighting to walk afew squares to another line. Tho stormhad abated, and tho rain was but a list-less drizzle.

Agatha slipped and slid onoe, andNannie gave a frightened exclamation.

"My overshoes are useless," said thogirl, carelessly. "I must havo anotherpair. I have a good deal of shopping todo soon- -

"Your outfit " ventured Nannie,and stopped.

Agatha sighed, but her sigh was lostni tho noise of the street.

A poor little yellow dog limped outfrom a passingjyelncle, holding up onepaw and yelping pitifully.

"Oh, see!" cried Agatha, with hereyes wet. oor.7 noorL

do-- ?

ogie! I am sosorry !"

The yelps died away in the distance,and the ladies went on.

A blind man crying "Cough lox-detain- ed

enges!" upon the corner themfor a moment.

i ,

In the next block an old building hadbeen torn away to give place to a newone. Careless workmen hail left the sidewalK unguarded in one place, a stepfrom which would have landed one in "a

deep cellar, where lay a number of looseiounaation stones.

Just as they had reached this spot theywere .brought to a sudden halt by loudcries and confusion. Down the street.ana directly toward tnem, came a runaway team dragging a splendid carriage.

Agatha took an irresolute step forwardand then sprang back as the horsesdashed up against the sidewalk.

The women were thus separated, andin a second Nannie was reaching forward,cold with horror.

'Agathal" she cried, but too late.The girl had lost her balance and hadfallen backward from the unguardedsidewalk down into tho deep cellar, andlay there upon the stones limp and un-conscious.

.

She would live, sadly crippled andhelpless; the spine had been injured andone hip dislocated. So said the best ofsurgeons. Sho would henceforth re-quire all care and tenderness.

Thank God, sho is not poor!" criedNannio. As for tho boys, George wascomepletely crushed, and Lewis pacedthe floor for hours, crying for "his poor!poor sister."

Agatha insisted upon hearing theworst, and when it was made known wasvery silent. By and by Nanuie couldsee great tears trembling under the long,dark eyelashes.

"I would not mind," faltered tho suf-ferer, "but for him. Who will love andcare for him now?"

Then she asked that he be sent . for atonce. When he arrived, Nannie and theboys were in the room, but they with-drew to the window. Peters' face was aspale as Agatha's own.

"Norman, dear," she said without pre-face, "I am a cripple for life. I maynever valk again. I seut for you togive you back your freedom.

A frightened expression overspreadhis countenance; his lip quiver hI, andhe sank on his knees by the bed andburied his face.

"Agatha, darling!" he cried, withreal pathos, fdon't, dan't cast me off.You are a thousand times dearer to menow. All I ask is the right to care foryou" his voice broke and he fell toweeping.

By the window three persons heard itall. They looked in silence at eachother; then Lewis strode swiftly acrossthe room.. "Eeters,lie said, Vwo haven't doneright by you. I, myself, have acteddespicably. But if you will forgive andforget, it will be very different in thefuture."

Then Peters, who had risen, stood si-

lent and bewildered till, through themist, the room grew suddenly bright,for they had encircled him and wereclasping his hands with loving warmth.

And as Agatha lay watching.she raiseda feeble hand to stay the tears thatcoursed her cheeks.

"I never thought," sha sobbed aloud"I never dreamed 1 could oe made sohappy."

Hints for Uoni?$.

Think as weJl as act. Use your en-ergy wisely; tho constantly active arenot necessarily the most energetic. Misdirected labor is sometimes as great .nevil as idleness itself. What is the useof firing unless yon aim at the target andlearn the skill of a good marksman? Sothe owners of humanity are but wastedunless your industry executes with correctness and promptitude each duty as itarises.

Pleasant looks, pretty clothes andjolly speeches are as good at home aselsewhere, only tue latter cannot Dear atoo frequent repeiition.

That woman is wise who cnooses forher partner in life a man who desires tofiad his home a place of rest. It is theman witn many interests, wan engrossing occupations, witn plenty oi peopleto fight, with a struggle to maintainagainst the world, who is the reallydomestic man, in the wife s sense; whoenjoys home, who is tempted to make afriend of his wife, who relishes prattle,whom he feels in the home circle, wherenobody is above him, nd nobody un-sympathetic with him, as if he were ina heaven of ease and reparation. Thedrawback of home-lif- e, its contained pos-sibilities of insipidity, sameness and con-sequent weariness is never present tosuch a man. He no more tires of hisown happier moods. He is no moreplagued by his children than with hisown lighter thoughts. The man alwaysat home has not half tho chance of theman whose duty is outside it, for hemust sometimes be in the ay. Thepoint for the wife is, that he should likehome when he is there; and thatliving, we contend, belongs, first of allto the active and strong and deeply en-

gaged, and not the lounger, or even totue easy minded man. 1 Sunday lie-vie- w.

Apple Jelly. Make a syrup of a poundof sugar, putting in sufficient water todissolve it. When boiled enough lay init the peeled and cored halves of somelarge sour apples. Let them simmertill tender, then lay them carefully in adish so they will remain unbroken andin good shape. Add another pound ofsugar to the syrup, let it boil, skim it,and when partly cool pour it over theapples. When the dish gets oold eachpiece of apple will be surrounded by adelicious jelly. Eat with cream.

Mrs. John Murphy, of East St. Louis.111., awoke the other night to And aburglar in her room. She attacked bimwith a pillow and drove him from thehouse.

I

Superstition! AboatVbTe.

From the earliest times no event inhuman life has been associated with amore extensive folk lore than marriage.Beginning with love divinations, theseare of every conceivable kind, the anx-ious maiden apparently having left nostone unturned in her anxiety to ascer-tain her lot in the marriage state. Somecut the common brake or fern just abovethe root to ascertain the initials of thefuture husband's name. Again, nuts andapples are vary favorite love tests. Themode of procedure is for a girl to placeon the bars of a grate a nut, repeatingthis inoantation:

If he lovca me. dod and fly:I' ho bates me, live and die.

Great is the dismay if the anxious face ofthe inquirer gradually perceives the nut,instead of making the hoped for pop,die and make no sign. One means ofdivination is to throw a ladybug Into theair, repeating meanwhile the subjoinedcouplet:

Fly awa7 east Dd fir a wj west,tihow me where Uvea the one I like beet.

Should this little insect chance to flyin the diiection of the house where theloved one resides, it is regarded as afavorable omen.

Another species of love divinationonoe observed consisted in obtainingfive bay leaves, foar of which the anx-ious maiden pinned at the four cornersof her pillow, and the fifth in the middle.If she was fortunate enough to dream ofher lover, it was a sure sign that hewould be married to her in the course ofthe year.

Friday has been held a good day ofthe week for love omens, and in Norfolkthe following lines are repeated on threeFriday nights successively, as on thelast one it is believed that the younglady will dream of her future husband;

To-nig- to-nig- Is Friday night,Liyme down to dirt white;Dream who my biuoand 1h to be.An: lay my children by ray atd4,If I'm to live to be hU bride

In selecting tho time for the marriageceremony precautions of every kind havegenerally been taken to avoid an unluckymonth and day for the knot to be tied.Indeed, the old Roman notion that theMay marriages are unlucky survives tothis day in England. June is a highlypopular month. Friday, on account ofits being regarded as an inauspiciousand evil day for the commencement ofany Kind of enterprise, is generallyavoided. '

In days gone by Sunday appears tohave been a popular day for marriages.It is, above all things. necasarr- - thatthe sun should shine on the bride, and itis deemed absolutely necessary by verymany that she should weep on her wed;ding day, if it be only a few tears, theomission of such an act being consideredominous of her future happiness.

In Sussex, a bride on her return homefrm church is often robbed of all herpins about 'her dress by the singlewomen present, from the belief thatwhoever possesses one of them will bemarriei in the course of a year, and evilfortune will! sooner or later inevitablyovertake the bride who keeps even onepin used in the marriage toilet.

"Flinging the stocking" was an oldmarriage custom in England. Theyoung men took the bride's stockings,and the girls those of the bridegroom,each of whom, sitting at the foot of thebed, threw the stocki g oyer their heads,endeavoring to make it fall upon that ofthe bride or her spouse. If the bride-groom's stockings, thrown by tho girls,fell upon the bridegroom's head, it wa asign that they themselves would soon bemarried, and similar luck was derivedfrom the falling of the bride's stockings,thrown by the young men. There ia asuperstitious notion in some places thatwhen the bride retires to rest on herwedding night her bridesmaids shouldlay her stockings across, as the act issupposed to guarantee her future pros-perity in the marriage state. bornething to Bead.

rocTj-Stor- e Talfc.

The articles in a country store got madand had a little talk over politics, religion, etc., in a most soirited manner.

"I'm no sucker." said the mackerel."You are a mighty scalv sort of

party, though," said the sugar, "and I'vegot sand enough to tell you so to yourface"

"I'll run counter to that," remarkeda piece of woodwork lengthwise of thestore.

"Lay the question on the shelf," saidanother portion.

"Let us have peas, oried out the coffee.

"Bah! you must be green," said thestarch, "look at me and get a little stiffening to brace vou."

"Lard help us," said the butter."Shell out and let's get from beneath

this yolk," cackled the eggs."Hit him with a London club, said a

bottle on the top shelf."None of your sauce, wait till you

catchup with the times," fired up thepepper, in hot temper.

"Shut up, or 1 11 sour on the whole ofyou, snapped the vinegar.

"Taffy, taffy, whispered the molasses,et's get into the thiok of it."

"Let us call it a draw," simpered thetea.

"We aro too strong," howled thecheese.

"How have the mitey fallen," repliedthe knife, as it slung the cheese on to thefloor. !

"Aw, you shut up," answered thecheese as it closed the blade and chuckedit out of sight behind a barrel.

"Let s soap for better things," said thelye. j

"How can we in the presence of alye?" said the soda.

v - -

: T3's.f

-

-

.

;

j

"Well, if j I'm a lye you are an alkali,'came the answer. -- .

"I rise to a point of order," sung ontthe yeast, j ,

j "Salt him down," squealed out a ham,''for I'm smoked out."

"You can all be bought," said thecandr. j

"Ah, you sweet thing," came back theresponse, "what are you giving us?"

"Well; I'd be darned,". ripped out thecoffee sack, ,"if his must stop." ""That's oil right," gurgled the kero-sene- -j

, . : V w -

Blast you all," roared the powder.' T von ,,4.l. l. t ,. ,1 tk. 1

phur. j

"I'm shot," shrieked the lead over inthe corner.

"I'm out," groaned the meat, "andwill have to be mustered out of service."

"I m killed," chorused the oyster, thelobster, the j codfish, the mackerel, thepork, the bead and in the midst of itthe grocer walked in and everythingwas hushed, and trade went on as usual.

Steuben ville Herald.

Sir fit and their HablU.

Swifts eat on the wing, drink on thewing and collect materials for theirnest on the wing. Hence, like all othercreatures, they produce extremely smallbroods, for the material used up in mus-cular motion cannot tfso be devoted togenesis as well. Long ago GilbertWhite was much puzzled with the diffi-culty suggested to him by the swifts towhat became of the annual increasewhich must take place even among suchsmall breeders as these, for thoughthey lay but two eggs at a time and setbut once each summer, instead of twice,like the other swallows, yet they mustgive a constant 'increment of populationat the rate of about double every year,even after allowing normal deaths of oldbirds. What becomes of such increase?That was the question that puzzled thenaturalist of Selborne ; and if he had beena Darwin or even a Malthus, it mightnave led him gradually on to the greatdiscovery of the principle of natural se-lection, which has since revolutionizedall biographical scienee. As it was, hecame only to the lame and impotent con-clusion that they must disperse them-welve- s

over the remainder of the world,as though Selborne church tower werothe central Ararat of an unpeopled andvacant continent, whence endless o&o-nie- s

might go forth to increase and mul-tiply and replenish the earth. I n soberfact, one-ha- lf of them fail to pick up aliving at all;! the other half jnst.fceep .up ,the standard of the race to its fixed nu- - '

merical average; for everyone who haawatched the swifts closely knows that .

each year just the same number of pairsreturn punctually to just the same ac-customed station in just the same ances- -tral towers. Indeed, that is the rulewith tho vast majority of species, animalor vegetable.' There are a few which,like man, the Colorado beetle and theCanadian pond weed, are rapidly increas-ing and overrunning the rorld; thereare a few others, which, like, tho greatauk, the beaver and tho edelweiss, arerapidly dying out before their enemies.But by far the greater number - seem tocontinue absolutely, invariably fromyear to year, at least within the range ofordinary, huu.au observation. Out of40,000 seeds of one common Eagliahweed, only a single seed on an averageproduces a full grown plant every sea-son. St. James Gazatte.

Monster Flag Moue

An immense flag stone, which is saidto be the largest ever quarried in Ameri-ca, is destine i for the sidewalk in frontof R. L. Stuart's new brown-ston- e resi-dence on Fifth avenue and Sixty-eight- h

street, stretched across avenue fromcurb to curb yesterday, and made itnecessary to cIobo the street betweenSixty eight and Sixty-nint- h streets.! Thegreat slab is of river bluestone, andmeasures twenty six feet six inches byfifteen feet six inches. It is nine inchesthick and weighs over thirty tons. Ifraised on its side it would make oue sideof an average seaside cottage. It isperfectly smooth with tae exception of a slight ri.lge through thecenter which will be removedafter it is in position, The stone wascut from the same quarry in Sullivancounty as the great fltg stone now com-posing part of the sidewalk in front ofthe Vanderbilt man si m, but it is muchlarger. It was brought down the Hud-son from the quarry on the deck of thebarge and unloaded at the foot of Four-teenth street by being raised highenough with jack screws for two heavyflat stone wagons to be placed under it,when it was drawn to its destination byeight powerful horses. Then it wasraised again with jacks and lowered bythe same means and placed on rollers.The operation of moving the great slaband getting it on the rollers in front ofits final resting place occupied threedays. Six men were at work one daymoving it with jacks into its position di-rectly in front of the main entrance tothe new house, where a four-foo- t Btonefoundation had been prepared for it. Itis moved at the rate of a foot an hour,and the masons expect t get it in po-sition in a day or two. New YorkTimes.

Quince and Apple Preserve. Haveone-thir- d weight of bweet apples pared,cored and quartered; equal weit ofsugar and fruit. When the quinco isboiled tender take it out, boil tue applein the quince water, put them into thesyrup and let them boil until they lookred and clear; an hour and a half is nottoo long. Do not boil the quinces in thesyrup, but put layers of the apple, whendone, into jars, with th quince, prev-i-ously cooked tender ia water, and pourtha syrup over them.