fi UNHAPPY RICH MEN. PEOPLE OF'MODERATE MEANS ARE. MUCH MORE CONTENT. The Story of One Man Who Built a Large and Commodious Vault in “’hich He Would Die and Eventually Accomplish His Purpose. Millionaires are popularly supposed- to revel in a constant round of costly! pleasure; feeding on rich viands, and quaffing fine wines; But the fact is, millionaires are not, as a rule, half so happy as people of moderate means, whose responsibilities and aspirations are limited. Mr. Philip Armour. of Chicago. can write a cheque for,$5.000,000 as easily as he can order a dinner. But he was long compelled by dyspepsia to foreg all such luxuries as dinnersand to nour- ish himself on bread and milk. Cruel irony! The man who has raised moun~ tains of beef, mutton, and pork coni- pelled to eschew all solid foods, and adopt the abstemious regimen of a vegetarian. Mr. Joseph Pulitzer, who founded the “New York World," and thereby made a big fortune, was for years suf- fering from total blindness, the result of overwork. Mr. John Mackay, the Silver King, is rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Does he live a life of sybaritic ease? Far from it. . He is constantly worried about his bank, his mines, his cables and by harassing lawsuits and compli- cations. He is terribly anxious about his health, for, says he, “my health is my only real wealth.” To preserve. that he lives like an athlete. Every morning he spends an hour with dumb- bells and Indian-clubs, then'plunges into a cold bath and dresses himself, for he has no valet. After breakfasting on chops. toast, and a cup of tea, he takes the Elevated Railway ll his office; for he keeps no carriage. but uses a train like any junior clerk. He lunches where he can; usually with friends, and then takes a long constitutional in Central Park. He dines quietly and abstemi- ously, and seldom goes to the theatre or opera. He carries his cares about with him wherever he goes; an easy mind and millions seldom go together. The brothers Rockefeller, who started on nothing, have amassed a fortune of many millions. But they do not lead a life of pleasure. Indeed, their lives resemble that of an ordi- nary city man, and the monotonous regularity of their movements trans- forms them into automatic money-mak- ing machines. Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt is a man who does not appear to derive fromhis millions any particular happiness. He is not known _to have any pursuit or hobby outside his business. He is mod- est to the point of bashfulness, never goes into society, has a horror of in- terviewers and purveyors of popular- ity, and never attends public dinners or other social functions. He is a member of a dozen clubs, but seldom visits any of them. In a word, he leads a quiet, unassuming existence which i" :‘Id weary many of his salaried em- ,i cs. ~ ‘ Semama, a very wealthy man, re- c: :L‘iy committed suicide at Marseilles extraordinary crcumstanccs. The proprietor of a villa in the Prado, hr- had converted his grounds into, a veritable Eden. Rare fruits and flow— ers were to be found at every Season of the year in the immense hothouscs which he had constructed. He was a 2:2:2n of eccentric habits, and some time ago he. had a large vault built in a cor- rvr of the property, and furnished with a long arm-chair, a pair of candelabra, and two big receptacles for coal, which \‘fu'fii kept constantly filled, a quantity of tread being also deposited therein, ":"Ye rear at hand was a huge jar con- ta... of: spirits of wine to be poured on t: iii-rs if they needed stimulating. ': several occasions the millionaire * ten-ccnded into this vault and had fr :'-: h-uzrs in meditation, the candela- having been previously lighted by . servant. Recently he returned to . 1 spot. but he did not leave it alive. -’ '- imd set fire to the coal and wood, :tni then seating himself in his arm- had quietly awaited the end. \K’i: n his servant went back to the vault he found his master asphyxiated. M. Semama had always declared his intention to die there. Notwithstanding all these backs, it is very probable that those who are wrestling with life on thirty shillings a week would be quite willing to try the experiment of livingas mil- , lionaires. if only for the sake of mak- ing the compo: isoni l'.'_‘. fer 'v hag—7.7:”; n. ...... ; ENTOMBED IN ICE. Bodies Prescrv «'l for Years in Alpine Gla- r‘e ‘9 (fume :0 Lil": Again. "A skeleton li:::-: been found in one of the ”fissures of the Ademello glacier, in the Southern 'l’yrol. which is thought to be that of an American tourist of he name of llnth. who disappeared in 1:390. These fixer-es. cleave glaciers at all angles. and i very easy to slip into one of tilt When once in 4 hardly possible to escape without lit-AL) from above, and the warmth of the body melts the ice. around, so aim the victim slowly de- swnds by the Weight of his own body into the depths of the glacier, and gen- erally starves to death. On looking into these fissures the most beautiful play of light in blue and green and rainbow colors is seen. But these are best enjoyed from the safe vantage ground of- theupper, outside world, rather than down in the depths and close at hand. in some instances, it is said, bodies have been preserved down in these fis- sures in the ice for years. ‘i'hy is life like a law-co draw- . 5w n n n L Y no a Win L k; - G A ZETTE THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT. .i’m: Interesting Fact About the Tall Shali of “’hite Marble. The distance at which the monument is visible has always been a matter of debatable interest with Washington people. Not a train approaches the i City. nor a boat speeds up or down the Potomac, but carries a group of peo- "ple anxious to see at just what point they can last see the white marble against the sky as they depart or first find it as they return. Probably the greatest distance at which the menument is seen is from the summit of the Blue Ridge at‘Snick- er’s Gap, :1. distance of about forty» three miles in an air line. The eleva- tion there is 2,000 feet above the Po- tomac. The mountaineers years ago, with their keen eyes, trained to lofi'g and sharp sight in the mountains, de- tected the white spot gleaming on the horizon, and they can always quickly determine its place on the horizon line. Thousands of Washington people every summer invade that region as summer boarders, to subsist 011 fresh milk and fried chicken, and incidentally in their excursions up on the mountain to get, a sight of the monument. On clear days it is distinctively visible, especial- ly to those who are familiar with its precise location. But it is more easily' seen at sunset than at any other hour as the sharp reflection of the sun’s rays bring out the white surface of the marble. The mountain people are only too glad to point out the monument to their visitors, and usually tell them the secret by which they can themselves locate it. This is by finding first on the horizon line the slight elevation of contour presented by Munson’s Hill. Then, slightly to the left, perhaps one degree, there it is.——Washington Star. DOG GYP PUMPS WATER. Keeps the Tank Full for the Cattle “'ith- out Being \Vatched. For over-a year the dog motor on the hill back of Mill Valley has been oper- ated by a dog named Gyp, and he real- ly likes the work and knows more about pumping water than half the men in the ’State. When Gyp was first put into the machine she knew just what she had to do, and started in at a great rate. She ran so fast that she would have fallen from exhaustiOn had she not been lifted out. But as she has grown older she likes the work as much as when she started. When Gyp first started in to pump water she did not know when to stop. She pumped until the tank ran over all the time. In a few weeks, though, she was taught that all she was expected to do was to keep the tank full, and now she doesn’t do any more, says the San Francisco Call. . When Gyp is taken to the motor in the morning, she first looks into the trough to see how much it lacks of being full. She then works accordingly, and when she thinks she has done enough runs out and takes a look at it. If‘it is full she lies down and rests, and if there is still a few inches re maining she starts in again and does not stop until the trough is running. over. ' All the water that Gyp pumps is for cattle to drink. It flows directly from the well into the drinking trough, so that they can get it without trouble. Gye knows as soon as she sees a band of steers making for the trough what 'they are after, and she starts in pump- ing, so as to keep them from empty- ing it. Greek Girls lVIake Their Debut Young. The Greek girls of families of high social position make their debut at the age of ten, the occasion being a chil- dren's court ball held by King George and Queen Olga every year at the pal- ace toward the end of November. They dress. like most debutantes, in white, and Wear silk mitts, their dark hair, nearly always curly, hanging, but tied together with ribbon. After the first appearance they go to the ball every year until they marry or are too old for this festivity. Chaperonage is very strict and arranged marriages very early, most girls‘being married before they are sixteen years old. The regu- latiOn ways the girls have of seeing young men are few-minute conversa- tions when walking in the park, and from the balconies of the houses at the hour after lessons are over when the young men take their afternoon stroll. This strictness and lack of all 210 quaintance with the men they marry cause both many escapades and un- happy, marriages. ‘ A Government. Employee. Miss .‘i‘ce Fletcher. one of Uncle Sam's assstants, has made a life study of ethnology. She took part in the opening of many Indian mounds from Florida to Maine. ' Then she took a daring resolve. - She made up her mind that the real way to study Indians was to go, and.live among them. So she took up her abode among the Da- kotas. This was nearly twenty years ago. ' ' After being among the Dakotas and Omahas for some time, Miss Flctrhci went to “'ashington to beg certain fa- vors for them from Congress. She was suCCessful, but was asked to see the reforms she advocated carried out per- sonally. This she did. liVing among them altogether for fourteen years. She administered for them at one time a million and a half acres. She has helped to have educated a great many children. One of her former proteges is Mr. LaFleche, one of the clever-est employcs in the Indian Bureau. - German Juries. In Germany. when the vote of the jury stands six against six, the prison er is acquitted. A vote of seven against five leav es the decision to the Court, and in a vote of eight against four the prisoner is convicted—Tit- canse it is full of trials. Bits. .i WELL FIXED SQUAW-M EN. I‘hey Find No Trouble in Keeping the “Volt from the Door. What morecould a man ask than to have the Government provide a liv- ing for his wife and all his children? What more could. a man wish for than to be free from all taxes, free from the cares of ordinary mortals, and to live as careless and unrestrained a life as was ever lived by the wandering In: dian tribes of our Western plains? Yet such an earthly paradise is en- joyed by a class of white men in the West, and they are rapidly acquiring wealth under these favorable condi- tions. They are mostly a class of men whose restless spirit and love of adven- ture brought them in contact with the Indians in the early ’50s. these men were hunters, supplying wagon trains and United States troops with wild game on their long journeys to Utah and California. During these years the Indians followed the buffalo, elk, and deer over the plains of Kan- sas and the Valley of the Platte, in No- braska. These early pioneers and hunt- ers often camped and lived with the Indians and made their homes. in the tepees. To insure their safety they were often taken in as members of a tribe, which was soon followed by their taking a wife, generally the daughter of an influential chief. If they wished to join a tribe, taking an Indian wife was proof of their sincerity~to the In- dian. As the marriage ceremony con- sisted principally in giving the fathers- in-law a few ponies and then conduct— ing the brides to their own tepces. within a few years the squ‘aw-men, as they were called, became quite num- erous. By the treaty of 1868 the Indians rc- linquished all the territory occupied by them in Kansas and Nebraska, and were confined to parts in Wyoming and the great Sioux reservation in western South Dakota. In returnfor this concession, they received regular rations, which were increased in 1876, and certain annuities, which were - given them in clothes each year. Those white men who had married Indian women had now become engaged in stock raising. ‘When the Indians were restricted to their reservations, the squaw men followed their Indian wives and children. They gave up hunting and devoted their time entirely to the cattle business. No place in the United States is so finely adapted to stock raising as the Sioux reservation—Philadelphia Times. LIKE HUMAN VOICES. Curious Cries of Animals Veryllluch Re- sembls Those “'e Hear Daily. A species of crew in India has a note which exactly resembles the human voice in loud laughing. The laughing jackass, when warning his feathered mates that day-break is at hand, utters a cry resembling a group of boys shouting, whooping and laughing in a wild chorus. ' The nightjar has a cry like one la- menting in distress. Among birds that have the power of imitation, the parrot is the best; but, as a matter of fact, its voice is decid- edly inferior to that of the mino, a species of starling. Curiously enough the male bird speaks in a high, clear tone, like that of a child, while the‘ fe- male has a grufi voice. Another bird, the moreporkrof Aus- tralia, is frequently heard vehemently demanding more pork, in a clear sten- torian voice. The whip-poor-will also demands his punishment in“a distinct imitation of the human voice, and the command of the guinea fowl to come back, could easily be mistaken for a human voice. Coming to quadrupeds, the cries of none approach more closely that of the human voice than those of seals when lamenting the loss or capture of their young. The cry of a wounded hare resembles that of a child in distress. The Biggest Cow. Farmer “'illiam Bruce, of Tulare, Cal., owns a cow which has the dis- tinction of being the largest by long odds of any animal of her sex in that part of "m world. She could give [)Ol‘ '. the score to a Clydesdale stall. .9. ~ 1...“ then win the laurels from him as a heavyweight, and she is but six years old at that. When placed upon the scales to be weighed a few days ago she tipped the beam at precisely 2,550 pounds. This is not so bad for an animal that lays no claim to aristocratic pedigree. Remartable as she is for Weight, he; height is even more astonishing. The measurements taken show that she stands exactly sixteen hands high, or to come down to ordinary tape meas- ure, five feet and four inches. Of her own claim to fame sheis very modest, but of her calf, which is now nine months old, she is very proud, as indeed, she might well be, for it is nearly as large as an ordinary cow. While it is just half as high as its mother, it weighs but one-fifth as much. However, it promises well, and if some of the museum managers who are now negotiating with Mr. Bruce can make a satisfactory bargain, both mother and offspring will grow old together under the curious eyes of the public. d< No Fish On Friday. Cars belonging to the American Packing Association were being loaded ' with denizens of the deep, when two Irishmen stoppedto look. Seeing the cars bearing the letters A. P. A.. one grasped his. companion‘s arm and said: “See, Mike, what the bloody A. P. A.’s are doin’ now. Buyin’ up all the fish so as to make us ate meat on Friday.” m, . Mabel: . “With what verses are you the most familiar?” . . Poet: “Reverses" Many of _ a A CRUEL EAST lNDlAN WOMAN. She Had aMost Beautiful Face but a Very Vile Heart. iln person the Begum Somru was small, with a graceful, softly rounded figure, a complexion or dazzling fair- ness, large black eyes full of anima- tion, delicately chiselled features and a hand and arm of such perfect symme- try that nativepoets sang of them as matchless wonders of beauty. Her dress Was aIWays in exquisite taste and .of the costliest material. She spoke Persian and Hindustanifluentiy. Her manners were charming, and her conversation spirited, sensible and en« gaging. But, as a set OK to this long array of personal attractions, her char- acter was detestable. She was cruel, vindictive, and treacherous. If one of her servants displeased or disobeyed her, she would order his nose and ears to be cut OK in her presence, and watch the mutilation with gusto, while she placidly smoked her hookah. When one of her dancing girls of» fended her by attracting the attention of a favorite oflicer, she, in a fit of fu- rious jealousy, ordered the unfortu- nate girl to be buried alive. There was a small vault under the pavement of the saloon in which the nautch dances were held, and in that vault the Be- gum saw her victim bricked up. W'hen the horrible work was done, she com— manded the rest of the nautch girls to come out and dance over the grave. in which their still living sister was entombed. According to one account—- denied by some of those who have in-, vestigated the story—the Begum, that she might extract the last drops of fiendish pleasure out of the cup of re- venge, had her couch placed exactly over the vault. SOME QUEER WAGERS. Illustrating the Pleasure that Some Per- sons Find in Betting. A lot of travelling men had come to San Antonio to spend Sunday, and the discussion turned upon the. betting mania and odd or peculiar bets. “Tell you what,” said one man. “the English and Americans take the cheese on deciding everything by a bet. The outlandish bets of Americans alone ' would fill a' book and make a mighty spicy one. “I’ve seen two men watch a window pane on a rainy day, pick out two drops hitting the top about the same time, and bet $1 a side on which would hit the bottom first, and they wouldn’t drop like you might think they would either. First one drop, then the other would strike a sticky place, dust, &c.. on the glass, and hang fire and see-saw all the way down, thus furnishing the excitement which was the object of the bet. “Another time two Englishmen were selecting flies which lit near them, backing them for good money. The one that flew first won. They had to let ’em alone; it would forfeit the bet to punch ’em up. Sometimes they would be five minutes or more watch-.-, ing every move with breathless sus- pense—the flies running around, and often the still one flying first. Once both flew at once, and at another time the two champions got to scrapping and each man lost track of his fly, and bets were off. Quite a number of us had collected around, but the two bet- tors were too much absorbed in the game to notice us-.”—San Antonia Ex- press. ’ How a Dog Earns His Mistress’s Living. Among the great many almost de- crepit old women who earn a rather precarious livelihood inNew Orleans by picking up and reselling the waste cot- ton that falls from the bales about the streets and‘ warehouses. is one well known among the brokers, who goes by the whimsical cognomen of Mom Katrine. Mom Katrine is. a little bit of a wiz- ened negress, almost too old to walk, and quite too blind to see, but she owns an unfailing source of revenue in the shape of a little black and tan terrier, Voudoo by name, that is as ex- pert a cotton picker as one would wish to see. Every morning by the time the sun has warmed the edge off the day, Mom Katrine and Voudoo appear on the street, the old woman usually to take her seat on the curbing while the dog begins his daily task of cotton gathering. Voudoo’s energy in this un- wonted occupation is somewhat marve- lous, so the warehousemen say, audit is certainly arousing to see the little fellow dodging in and out among the bales under the feet of the porters, snatching a wad 6f cotton and dart- ing with it to Mom Katrine, who stores it away snugly in ‘her big sack, which she takes home full every evening. Some of the porters think Youdoo is a nuisance. He is such a persistent picker, but as they believe Mom Ka- trine to be a witch, and the (log a par- ticipant in. her black ,art, they are afraid to drive him away,.and so the two have become regular institutions of the trade.——Philadelphia Times. .The Stamp Dill Nut ‘lVork. A Belgian physician who stands very high professionally at home and is a gentleman of education. culture and 'refinement recently visited friends in this city. Hehad occasion to write a letter to an Evanston professor. and was told that if he would affix an "im mediate delivery” stamp to the let ter it would be rushed through to its destination without \delay. After a day spent in sight-seeing about the city with his Chicago fri ads the Belgian reached home, went to his room and immediately came down- stairs again in considerable perturba- tion. \ - ‘ “See!” he‘ cried, holding out the stamped letter, which had lain on .a ta- ble inhis room all day. “It has not gone yet. The stamp haf not worn. Nobody haf called for it all day through—Chicago Times-Herald. THE STORY OF A we. wmow. How “Miss Mary” Outwitted the North- ern Soldier to Save Her Baby. “What a dear little old maid!” said the Northern visitor, as the ‘charming Southerner tripped down the garden W811i. prim little skirts gently stirred by the autumn breeze, shawl neatly folded over shoulders which had the Slope of the true Virginia aristocrat, dark hair banded beneath be close little bonnet—an ideal type of spinis terhood. Everyone laughed. “ixliss Mary? An old maid? \Vhy, she is the fiercest war widow in the whole Shenandoah Valley! She hit a Union soldier’s arm clean through to the bone once. You must get her to tell you the story, it’s very interesting.” The story was in- eresting—decidedly so. “You see,” said Miss Mary. bending down to pick an invisible thread from the spotless rag-carpet rug: “you see, there had been a good deal of trouble all along the valley because certain of our people were said to be giving signals by means of lights in the houses at night to the Confederate troops in the Blue Ridge heights. Sheri- dan was encamped all round us, and he had issued an order that any house showing a light after dark should be burned to the ground. It was a regu- lar curfew.” “\Vhat did you do?” murmured her bearer sympathetically. Mis Mary’s laugh was a delightful thing to hear. “Oh, it wasn’t pleasant, but we all stumbled to bed in the dark —those who didn’t go to sleep- with the chickens. IVell, one night just at midnight, a messenger rode up to our door with a note for me. It was a note from one of my relatives, telling me that my favorite aunt was dying. Of course, I had to read the letter, and, of course, I had to have a light for the purpose. I went up in the garret and lighted just one little candle"—— ah, Miss Mary, what meant that odd gleam in your keen. dark eyes at the recollection?—“but it was seen. and early the next morning a regiment of soldiers filed into the yard, marched up on the gallery and into the kitchen and proceeded to turn the kitchen stove upside down, and so set fire to the house. My father expostulated with the captain. showed the letter about my aunt, told him my mother was old and feeble and liable to die from the shock—it did kill her. Nothing availed, the house was ablaze in a dozen places, and the soldiers began ransacking everything.” “I rushed frantically upstairs and down, trying to secure the most valu- able things, onr money—we hadn‘t much—and the silver and jewelry. My two children were asleep on the third floor, taking their morning nap when the exgitement began, my little girl of three years and my baby boy. My first thought of course had been for them, and the negro nurse was directed to take them to a place of safety. “I could see her in the distance, my little girl running about, so I took it for granted they were all right. But suddenly I had an inspiration—you know things are told you just as though a spirit spoke—I was dragging a small trunk out when the voice—it was nothing less, said ‘Go to your children.’ - “I dropped the trunk, ran down to the quarters; there was the nurse, there was my little girl, but—there was no baby. ‘Law, Miss Mary,’ said the stupid black creature, wringing her hands and crying, ‘he was so heavy I couldn’t done tote ’em bofe.’ “I never stopped, I fairly flew back to the house; the nursery door was al- ready in flames. On the stairs at big burly-soldier barred the way. I tried to dodge past, but he caught me by the elbows-I’m not very big, you know—- and held me out at arm’s length. “I couldn’t stop to argue, time was precious, I just ducked my head down, bit at tile fleshy part of his wrist and —let my teeth meet. He dropped me wih an oath. I ‘scampered past and caught up my baby just in time. The bedclothes were on fire.” A flash of the old bitterness and storm stirred Miss Mary’s mobile fea- tures for a moment; then she leaned back with her own musically Southern ripple of laughter. “Well, well, those days are past and my baby’s a’ father, and I’m a grandmother, and you, my dear, were invited to eat Sally Luna and drink tea, which is a heap sight more polite than telling tales against the Yankees. Let‘s go and have our supper.”—.\‘ew York Tribune. The English Trade in Toads. The present market price of toads is Sixpence a dozen: Of all'the means of riding an in- fested garden of slugs and other"pests there is nothing to touch a judicious regiment of toads. They will keep the worst garden clear of insect enemies for any length of time; and, in view of this, the toad trade has sprung up. At evening the toad-catchers set out; and among the banks of streams and under hedgerows they find the little brown “igk‘illers, walking solemnly: in e‘r." ns on the prowl it; worms and beetles. The wily Cfllk lifts" them one by one, and stows thei. in his sack; and, if he knows any- thing of the ways of wild things, he will fill all his receptacles in an hour. Three or four dozen may be taken in an evening almost anywhere—even on Hempstea (1‘ Heath. _ Florists and private people with large gardens buy the loz‘ds at six- pence a dozenéFrom Answers. _ His Compliments. An Oklahoma editor expresses his thanks for a basket of oranges thus: ‘fWe have received a basket of oranges from our friend, Gus Bradley, for which he will please accept our com- pliments, some of which are nearly six inches in diameter.”——Montreal Herald. - HIS BOOKS sow WELL. Eater the Reason Became Apparent Why They “’ent 011‘ Like Hot Cakes. “It occasionally aflords me consider- able pleasure to be made a victim of a clever little scheme," remarked a travelling man to another, “but. of course, too much of it would create a reverse sentiment. I must confess that the cunning of museum magicians is rarely equalled. To while aWay an hour or two in Chicago I visited the largest museum. The legerdemain work of a light-fingered artist was im— thensely pleasing as well as mystify- ing. He exposed a number of tricks .to interest his audience and, then launched into clever magic. “When he had'completed his first ex- hibition the little pamphlet exposing each trick was offered for sale at the ‘small sum of ten cents.’ I was as« tonishcd to observe how eagerly the crowd bought them. 'I returned a few minutes later, by chance, to the magi- cian's platform as a second perform- ance was about to begin. “ ‘A word with you, my friend,’ said the trickster to me, as I advanced to- ward him. “ ‘What do you wish?’ I asked. “ ‘You see, my friend.’ said he in a whisper. ‘I am playing to a cold audi- ence. My books don’t take well and all in the world it needs to make them go like wildfire is some one to start the ball rolling. Now won’t you, just as a favor, oblige me by stepping for- ward as soon as I offer the pamphlets for sale and buy one? The crowd will follow. I will return your money im- mediately after the sale.’ “The craftiness of the magician and his judgment of human nature amused me, and, as I saw nothing radically out of the way with his request, I con- sented. True to my word, I was on deck at the close of the performance. and, to tell the truth, I rather enjoyed the deal, which I considered a good joke on the crowd. time I rushed forward and_bought.a book. The audience crowded in haste to make a purchase, and in a remark- ably short time many pamphlets were disposed of. Then the magician dis— appeared behind the curtain. I waited several minutes for him to return, but he came‘not. I thought this strange. “ ‘Where- is that trick fellow?” grumbled a big fellow near me. “ ‘W'hy?’ I enquired. “ ‘I was to get my money back as soon as he ‘quit selling those books, and he has given me the worst of it.’ “ ‘I made the same deal with him.’ said several others. Then a general laugh followed. “I hurried from the museum, laugh- ing to myself. I was well aware of the graceful manner in which I had been taken in, and. like any other hu- man, found consolation in the fact that the fakir’s victims were numbered by the score.”——Detroit Free. Press. lllade Drunk Before They Die. ' An. Englishman who has penetrated into the almost unknown mountain re- gion which divides Burmah from the frontier states of the Chinese empire, has brought back some curious details about the Shans, as the people who live in that country are called. The Shans punish homicide- with death, but the singular feature about the execution is that before it takes place the condemned is taken through the bazaar of the town where he is to die, and at every liquor shop is given a drink of what he chooses. The re- sult is that most murderers reach the “Execution Tree” in a state of hilari- ous or maudlin intoxication. When brought- to the death place the name and crime of the criminal are read out, and the slip of bamboo on which they are written is missed over his head. The criminal then kneels down, his arms are tied behind his back, and his head is struck off, Chinese fashion. There is a curious mixture of Jewish and Teutonic in the criminal law, however; for the relatives of the mur- dered man or woman have the privi- lege of taking 300 rupees indemnity and letting the slayer go, or they may de- mand life for life. Anecdote of Du Maurier. “The death of Mr. De Maurler brings to mind,” writes a correspondent, “a. comical story he once told. One of his favorite views was from his study window at Hempstead, across his own lawn to the landscape surrounding Harrow. On one occasion an Ameri— can visited the artist, and the latter was showing his guest about the place. ‘There,’ he exclaimed. on- arriving at the study window, ‘that is prettiest thing of all. That is Harrow.’ ‘The visitor looked out of the window for a few seconds, but his gaze rested, not on the view, but on a mowing machine ' which happened to be on the lawn. ‘Harrow!’ he echoed, inquiringly. ‘Yes,’ repeated the, artist, keeping his eyes rivited on the view, ‘Harrow!’ ‘Is that so?’ questioned the practical American. ‘W’ell, now, do you know I took it for a lawn mower.’ And it ”4 mid in'all» seriousness, too.”— ' -:;ninsted Gazette. uildinr a R. man House in Connecticut. A Torrington Italian is building a house which is a reproduction of the old countr ' houses in Italy. The man and his Wife and children are doing all the work. It has three stories, each story being'quite low, and is entirely' made out of stone cobbles and broken fragments found on the ground or in the ledge near by. The corners are nicely built of brick in indented sec- ‘ tions. " The doorways in the_ second story are slightlyarched, and in' the third story have Roman arches. The cornice is of brick with ornamental projecting points; The inside parti- tions are built of the same. kind of stone and are about twenty inches thick. The house is perfectly square, with flat meta-Hartford Courant. At an: opportune »
Norwalk Chronicler