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*Savcd v Jackson Smith had ahobby, an un- conquerable aversion to old maids. And yet, as in very mockery of his pcb an- tipathy, his only child, Sarah, had de- veloped into the hated object, right in his own household. Sarah was tall and angular like her father, but her face was pleasing and her disposition mild and amiable. She had never revolted against anything in their lifeâ€"not even against the injus- tice of spending her youth in making Preserves, apple butter or pieCing quilts while other girls were making merry. One day Jackson Smith received a hurt, and when Dr. Brown was called in he told Jackson his days were num- bered. Then it was that his hatred for old maids proved itself. “I'll never leave this place to a wo- man that can't get a husband," he said fiercely. "But, father, Sarahis never had no chance; we’ve always kept her down." remonstrated his weeping wife. He waved his hand to silence her. “Woman, no old maid shall inherit my place. I've sent by the doctor for Law- yer Clarke,a.nd he’ll come toâ€"morrow, There’s money enough in the bank for you,but I‘ll fix it so that at your death it will go with the farm. Jackson Gog- ga‘n, my namesake, shall get it all." Tearfully Mrs. Smith imparted the {acts to Sarah; "Mother, would he turn you. out of the old place just because he hates me?“ and Sarah looked incredulous. The elder woman nodded; then Sara-h kissed the round, sunburned face and said: “Mother Inever have revolted against father, but I’m going to save the place for you. I wouldn’t mind so much, but you shall never leave your home. I’m going out now to think it over," and putting on her pink sun- bonnet she went out the back door. When some distance from the house. she sat down in the shade of atree, and while her heart beat loudly ov- er her father’s contemplated injustice she resolved to outwit him. "There’s Josh Mullin, he mightâ€"but I can‘t bear Josh; he chews tobacco, and his mouth always looks dirty.” She cast her eyes over the landscape, and on the next farm she saw the figure of a man in the field. "Yes, there’s John Howard, but"â€"and her face gnaw pinkâ€"“I hate somehow to ask it of him.” Then the bear-stained face of her mother passed before her mental vis- ion, and, giving a jerk to her sun- bonnet, she started down the path across the meadow. John Howard was hoeing corn. When he saw Sarah approaching, he stopped and leaned on his hoe, a look of con- oern on his face. "I; the old man worse, Sarah?" he asked; "Yes. Dr. Brown says he can‘t live more than two or three days, andâ€"oh, John, it's awful the way he isl" (KY7- _ mes, but you have been agood,sac- ificing daughter, Sarah, and you can‘t lame yourself for anything, you”â€" “Oh‘, you don’t understand, John! He’s going to leave everything toâ€"to Jackson Gozgan, and mother‘ll have to leave the place,” she half sobbed. "You can’t mean it, Sarah! Vi'hyâ€" why, that would be outrageous. What makes him talk of such a thing?" "Becauseâ€"becauseâ€"I am an old maid; he hates old maids," and her face grew pinker than the sunbonn-ct. John How- ard shifted the hoe to the other arm an looked down. “John, I‘ve come to ask you~oh,John don’t think me brazen; its for mo- ther’s sake. i can't stand to see her timed out, and for my fault, and if you will only help me andâ€"andâ€"come up to the house and pretend that we are to be marriedâ€"just until after the Will is madeâ€"it wouldn’t be so very wrong, Johnâ€"not so bad as letting mo- th‘er be put out of her home." She caught her breath in short gasps, but when John was silent her pink face suddenly paled. “I reckon it’s ask- ing a heap too much of you, John, but don’t hold it against me. I couldn't see any other way. Goodâ€"bye, John," She was turning away. "Don’t go yet, Sarahl. Iâ€"I think your idea is good, but. it might. not work.‘ Jackson Smith is sharp. He’d see right through it, butâ€"ifâ€"if you would be willing we could drive over to Squire Hall's this afternoon and get married. I wouldn’t trouble you any, Sarah. We could go on just the same, and I’ll never want to marry any bne else, and. if you should you could get a divorce, you know." . “Oh, you’re sure it makes no differâ€" enceâ€"you don‘t mind, John f" Her tone was eager. "No. I don't mind. I'd help you any way Icould, Sarah. It’s high noon now. I’ll drive over for you in the buggy right after dinner." "I’ll be ready, andâ€"I wouldn‘t have asked you, John, only--onlyâ€"you.un- derstaual how it is, don’t you?” Her face was red again‘. “Why, Sarah, \\ here have you been? You look as rosy as a poppy,” and Mrs. Smith wiped the tears from her eyes as she gazed at her daughter’s face. "I’ve been attending to business for us, mother, You will not leave the place. I’m going over to Squire Hall’s this evening, John Howard is coming to take me in the buggy." The sun was sinking low in the west when John Howard and Sarah returnâ€" ed from the ’squire's. "Wit; you come in, John, and stay Th3. arm. about some? I’dâ€"I'd rather you'd tell him, if you don't mind," Sarah said. John unhitched the horse and. went in. He walked to the bedside of Jack- son Smith and sat: down. “Uncle Jackson," he began, "I’ve come to tell you what I’ve done. You know that I've often warned you that some day you would love the most valuable possession you had." "It’s the brindle heifer," interrupted Jackson Smith, his eyes sraq-ping an- grily. “John Howard, you iliink beâ€" cause I am on my deathbed ill/If. you can do as you please, but I‘ll show you. It‘s just like you to shoot a. neighbor’s hei’er just. because she jumped into your wheat. I don’t expect anything better of youâ€"tbs whole party is made up of lhieoos and cut- throatsâ€"but I’ll leave it in my will. Jackson Goggan shall law and law un- til"â€" Ho sank back exhausfpd from his outburst. "If you get that angry over that brindle heifer, Uncle JaCkson, I don’t know what you will say when I lell you that I have not touched lhe hei- fer, but I have married Sarah,“ “Married â€" Sarahl" and Jackson Smith‘s eyes dilated. “Married Sarah!" he said, under his bneath. “John, give me your band, I knew Sarah was a Smithl. \Vhy there never was an old maid in the Smith family, but it. did seem she meant to take after the \Valkersâ€"her mother was a V'Valker, Sarahâ€"marriedl I can go in leace. John. now that. you have lifted the dis- grace from the Smith family. Call Sarah. I want to give her lhe brindle heifer." \Vhen the lawyer came the next day he wrote awill bequealhin; all, save a life intenest to Mrs. Smith, to his beloved daughter, Sarah, who h'id gladdened this last hours of his life. A few days later, with all due cere- monY. Jackson Smith was laid away by the side of other Sm‘ihs. John Howard went home with his wife and ‘her mother. At the porch be halted awkwardly, seeing which Sarah turnâ€" ed. edl‘Will you come in, John ‘2" she ask- “I’m afraid it would only pesler you if I did. Iâ€"rcckon I oug ’t to go home â€"â€"but I hate to leave youâ€"you women folks aloneâ€"and you’ll be kind of loneâ€" some noxu” “You might slay. We would fix up father’s room real comfortable if you would just as soon," said Sara h, beginâ€" ning to realire the awkwardness of her position, "I’d like to,.Snrah, I could lend lhe crop just as well, but. I’d feel as if I was living off you women, andâ€"and you might get to hate me if I hung around!’ “You ni‘edn’t be afraid of that. John," said Sarah, tapping her foot nervous- ly on the porch floor. "It would be the easiest way out of ourâ€"ourâ€"dilâ€" emma, but, if you’d rather not stay we could explain to folks how it was that You just married me to save the farm.” “But, Sarah, if we told that, it Would be a lie. I took advantage of your trouble lo get you married to me, and you didn’t suspect me, but now I feel mean and as if you will not respect me when I tell you the truth.” Sarah gazed at him in wonder. \Vhat could he mean, she thought, bUt no sound came from her lips, and he continued: “I’ve been trying for ten years to ask you to marry me but I never could do it, and when you came to me in your trouble I jumped at the chance, Sarah, because [wanted youâ€" I’ve always wanted you, but now I feel I can’t slayâ€"unless you can take me for your husband in earnest." His eyes did not lift to her face. “John!” Her eyes were Open wide in amazement and the face so lately tear- stained becamle radiant. with unexpect- ed joy. "You love me?" she question- ed in glad unbeliel‘. “Why, I have loved you all this time, too," she whisâ€" Peredb CANADIAN BOATMEN. Exciting Experience.lil' an Engllsll ("floor at Que-live. An English army officer who visited Canada some years ago, tells how he was feriiod across the St. Lawrence ut Quebec one January day when the river was full of moving ice. Under such circumstances the passage of a river is likely to turn out a pretty lively experience. Huge fields of ice were hurrying down the current, and looking at the distance between my side and the oth- er, 1 could hardly see how we were to escape being knocked to pieces. How- ever, I resigned myself to my fate and to my Frenchâ€"Canadian crew; and they, five in number, as soon as I was ready, begun sliding the canoe down the beach inlo the river, each springing in and snatching his paddle as the boat was launched. Four of the crew knelt in the front part of the canoe, working their pad- dles furioust and yelling like so many (lemons. The fifih, placing himself beâ€" hind me, assumed the dulies of cox- swain. . The instant we were in the stream. the fields of ice seemed stationary, ow- infor to our being swept along at the same rate; but still I could not see how we were to cross, and waited with some anxiety for the first sheet of ice. , This happened to be a large one, the men pulled straight for it. and as soon as the prow of the canoe touched it, the four who were paddling sprang out and dragged the canoe after them across the ice. On reaching the other side they launched it, again. with wlld- er shouts than ever, springing into the canoe at the same time, and re- suming their paddling as if for their lives. These maquuvres were repeated at every sheet of ice, and in a far short- er time than I could have imagined. we touched the. Quebec side, when a number of idlers, attaching a rope to our canoe, ran us up on the slope from the river. and left me sitting, with my crew, still shouting and gusticuâ€" iating. in the very street. talk can}... SHORT TALKS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. Cold food should be eaten very slow- ly in order to raise it to the proper temperature for digestion. Hot meat is digested more rapidly than cold. Prevention is always the best cure for everything, flies included. Keep the windows of the living rooms closâ€" ed during the heat of the day. For the kitchen windows and doors that must be kept open, provide screens. The cause of loaf cakes cracking open while baking is usually the fault of the oven being too hot when the loaf is first put in. A piece of asbestos paper placed over the top, if the temperature is too high, will prevent the cracking. It can be removed as soon as the bot- tom is well baked. Pickled eggs are very appetizing through the summer season, either as an addition to salads or sandwiches. They should be put in cold water which is heated slowly and allowed to boil one hour. When taken out they should be dropped at once into cold water. The shells are then removed and the eggs put into good vinegar in which beets have been kept. They should remain at least a week in this pickle, when they are ready for ser« vice as a. relish. A dozen or more can be done at a time. The simplest. method of cleaning a white straw sailor hat is to scrub it. Remove the band and apply a. good heavy lather, made of pure while soap; scrub with a good stiff brush until all spots of dirtare removed and then rinse the suds out thoroughly. The bat will then be clean, but the soap is liable to turn it yellow, so that in or- der to keep it white it must he suc- jectcd to a bleaching avid. The best. is sulphurous acid. This should not be confused will] sulphuric, acid. :is that would ruin the straw. Scrub the but again with the aidof the brush untill it is perfectly white. Ham muffins make a nice breakfast dishand are relished by nearly every- one. A light batter is made with a pint of flour, two teaspoonfuls of bakingi powder, a scant cup of milk. one egg. beaten light before it is added. a little salt and a half-teaspoonful of sugar. Chop about a cupful of cold-boiled ham very fine and stir into this batter. Bake in muffin tins for fifteen or twenâ€" ty minutes. . It is rather late to suggest a. way to keep furs and woolen clothing, but there may be some housekeepers who are depending on the shake~out-once- a-week plan who will be glad to avail themselves of an easier method. Take a clean barrel and line the interior with newspapers securely pasted on, so that no crack or crevice remains. Look over each garment carefully and see that no moth egg is in it; brush free from dust and sponge off all spots; then pack in the barrel. When full. cover the top with two or three thick~ nesses of newspaper pasted down at the sides. If care is taken that the paper is well fitted the barrel will be moth-proof. In buying shoes it is well to rememâ€" ber that the foot is fully oneâ€"third of an inch longer when one is standing than when one is seated; and the elon- gation is further increased when walkâ€" ing, for the weight is then thrown enâ€" tirely on one foot at each alternate step. Some of the lighter prepared cereals that are used for breakfast foods. those that are cooked in their preparation for the market, when served with blackberries. make a simple, nutritious dessert for the children's table. A pint of hot water is added to a pint of blackberries. “him this reaches the boiling point alialfâ€"oup of the cereal is added, the mixture boiled hard for ten minutes and stirred constantly. It is then poured into a mold and served 00111 with cream. White duck skirts and waists are worn a great deal this season. The yelâ€" low streaks which sometimes appear when they are laundered is due to the sulphur which is sometimes used to bleach white goods. The garment should first be rinsed in clear, cold water, and any spots should be rubbed with soap. After this it should be put into hot suds and washed vigorously with a. strong soap, rubbing on the rubbing- boztrd. Rinse white duck or pique in a boiler over the stove. As soon as the water around it begins to boil take it out, wring dry and spread it care-- fully on the grass, where the hot sun can bleach it. \‘i'hen it is dry, sprinkle and iron on the wrong side. if this process is followed the garment will be dazzling while. Every time the garment is washed it may be blued in a carefully prepared bluing water made from indigo. USING PLUMS. Plum Jelly.â€"'l‘he fruit should be gathered when only part. ripeâ€"about. half colored. ’l‘his point is very es~ sentinl. I’ul plums in a large granâ€" ite or porcelain kell’leâ€"dhe latter is“ bestâ€"with barely enough water to covâ€" er them. Cook until tender, but not until they are in a pulpy mass. Hm ing, previously covered :1 large jar with a cloth, strain the fruit in and 191 lhcl juice drip through, but. do not squeeze... CHALLI FROCK FOR. GIRL _This little frock is of red and white figured challi, with a tuCked white lawn Q‘Uimpe and standing collar. Two narrow ruffles trim the bottom of the skirt. The lop of the waist and the epaulettes are edged with double When all has drained through, strain once or twice more through another cloth, until the juice is perfectly 0183-1“ To one measure of juice provide one measure of granulated sugar, but do not put together at once. A very important point in the making of all jelly is that only a small quantity should be cooked at one time. Into a medium-sized kettle put, say. Mum- blers of juice: let it boil briskly l5 or 20 minutes, then add the 4 tumblers of sugar, and in a very short timeâ€" usually from 3 to 10 minutesâ€"the jelly will be finished, light, clear and de- licious. To test the jelly, dip a spoon into the boiling juice and sugar and hold it. up; when the jelly clings to the spoon in thick drops, take it off Qulely and put into jelly glasses. The plum pulp which is left can be put through a colander and used for plumâ€"butter. Roll the tumblers In boiling water quickly and fill them with the jelly. 0n the top of each. while it is still hot. drop a lump 0f clean paraffin which will melt and cover the lop tightly, preventing all moulding. _ Plum Butter or Jam.â€"Boil the fruit in clear water unlil nearly done. Re- move from the stove and put through a colander to remove the pits. ’ihen rub through a sieve to make-the pulp fine. Place pulp in kettle With about half as much sugar as pulp. or if you wish to have it very rich,_nearly as much sugar as pulp, and bail down to the desired thickness. Stir almost constantly to prevent sticking to the kettle. To make extra nice plum but- ter from any freestone plum, pure and take out the pits, put in granite kettle 01‘ pan and sprinkle heavily With sugar. and let stand over night. In the morn- ing there will be juice enough to cook them. Stir constantly while cooking and add more sugar if not sweet enough. This way preserves the grain of the fruit and with the De Soto plum makes a butter equal or superior to peach butler. if put in glass and Canned, less cooking is required than it kept in open jars. I Spiced Plumsâ€"Make a. syrup, allmw ing a pound of sugar and one pint of vinegar to each seven pounds of plums. to this add a teaspoonful of allspice. one of cloves, two of cinnamon and one- half ounce of ginger root. tying these spices into muslin. and cooking them in the syrup. ' _ . plums. bringing all to the boiling pmnt, then simmer slowly for fifteen min- utes, and stand in a cool place over night. Next drain the syrup from llie plums, put the plums into stone .or glass jars, and. boil the syrup till quite thick, pour it over the fruit and set away. Another way is to pour the boiling spiced syrup over the plums in a stone jar, drawing it. off and bringâ€" ing it to a boil every other way and pouring over the plums again until it has been heated five times, after which the fruit and syrup are placed in n kettle and boiled slowly for five minutes. and sealed hot in glass jars. This will preserve the plums whole. HO USEHOLD CONV ENIENCES. If you have an unused door in your sitting room or dining room, you can, at small expense, convert it into a. bookâ€"case. Unhinge the door and remove all fix- tures. Set the door as_far back in the casing as you can, to form a back for the shelves. Set an upright on each side of the casmg to make it flush with the wall. Fasten small iron brackets to these uprights to hold the shelves, which you must space, in 'tllS- tance apart. according to the height of books. Frame around the door with some fine wood. paint or stain it all; put up a curtain pole to suspend at our- tain from and you have a case that will hold 150 books or more. Of course glass doors will be better than a curâ€" tain. and may be added without in- creasing the expense more than two :or three dollars. The sleeping-room that hasn‘t a. ,closet should have a corner cupboard. livid; some of the iron brackets that Sell for ten or fifteen cents a pair and have some wide boards cut to fit the corner. l.’ut up lwq or three shelves according to height. and on the bot- tom of the louust nail Cleats into \Vhen it boils add the . FROM 10 TO 12 YEARS OLD. gpleatings, one of the goods over snar- irow white lawn pleating, headed by two rows of narrow white ribbon. At '; the side are white ribbon bows connect- ied by a strap and the belt is of white I ribbon. which to Screw the hooks to hang your gowns upon. Fit a. board to the cor- ner, on the floor, and have a narrow board or molding tacked to the front edge. This is for shoes. Hang acut- tain from the edge of the top shelf. making it long enough to reach quite to the floor, and full enough to hang win graceful folds. This is the best l substitute for a closet we know of un- less youcan afford awardrobe. Denim. l figured or plain, makes a good drapery. x Get it to correspond with the color of the room. WHO INVENTED THE BICYCLE ? The Pope Says It \Vns a Priest, “III This l lIm-lzu'ullon Is Not Ex l'nfllcdrn. l The Pope a few years ago. in grant- iing permission to the priests to use ,bicycles, took occasion to announce ythat the wheel was invented by Abbe lPainton, who used it in 1845. About ,the same time that Leo XIII. made this statement, E. R. Shipton, Secretary of the C‘yclists‘ Touring Club, of Eng- land, asserted that the first machine was invented by a Scotchman in 1846. {Another correspondent asserts that. strictly speaking, no one invented the ‘bicycleâ€"" it just growed.” The bicycle ‘ is the developed result of a long series of mechanical contrivances for the acceleration of individual motion, and ‘its beginnings are probably of older ‘ date than many people have imagined. In August, 1665, Mr. John Evelyn. lon his way back to London from his ghome at VVollon, called at Durdano, l tnear Epsom, and afterward noted in his diary that he had found Dr. “ril- kins, Sir William Petty, and Mr. Hooke l”contriving chariots, new rigging for ships, a wheel for one to run races in, and other mechanical inventions. Per- haps three such persons together, were not to be found elsewhere in Europe for parts and ingenuity." \Vhat was this wheel in which one could run races? 11. is impossible now to say, but the de- scription is curiously suggestive of some contrivance of the cycling kind. Another one hundred years were to pass before anything resembling the Imodern cycle was to be invented. The lfirst velocipedes, as they were so long Called, appear to have been made in Ib‘rance. In the “Journal de Paris ” of July 27, 1779, there is an account of la velocipede invented by BILL Blan- chard and Mngurier, which see-ms to have been a clumsy affair of four wheels, carrying two people and very heavy to work. This invention was a false start. No one followed it up, or improved upon it, and no further at- tempt in this direction was made for some lliirly or forty years. Then ap- peared the “ dandy horse,“ upon which our fathers and greatâ€"grandfathers disporied themselves gayly, albeit at times a trifle laboriously for a brief season. “hen the crank was first in- vented, or who invented it, is quite u â€" certain. The date must have been ea ly in the piescnt century, but who first hit, upon it is quite unknown. It was possibly first attached to a three- wheel machine. \VHA'i‘ BECOth OF THEM? The announcement that two million glass eyes are manufactured every year in Germany alone has set the London Lancet and olher authorities speculatâ€" ing on what becomes of them all. Is it possible that lhere are two million one»eyerl men in the civilized world, with the other eye made in Germany? And does the other eye only last a year! it is only oneâ€"eyed men. as the Lancet reminds us,.wh-r) use glass eyes, Nobody ever heard of a man who was totally blind indulging in this forâ€" lorn vanity. On reflection, however. the Lancet comes in the conclusion that glass eyes probably include eyes for stuffed beasls, eyes for waxworks, and eyes for dolls. And no doubt this is the explanation. CANOE RACING. First Aquatic Youthâ€"How was the canoe race loâ€"dny‘l Second Aqunlic Youthâ€"Dull. Awful- 1y dull. Only '.hi'ee upsets.