Macdonald Gordon of Healey, Australia, weighed but thirty-four pounds, although six feet in height and broad in proportion. Some London speculators head of the freak and resolved to put the "bloomin' living' skeleton" on exhibition in the British capital. They sent a man to the Antipodes to bring the skinny Mac at any reasonable figure, but when he arrived they were on the point of arresting the agent for fraud—the "living skeleton" weighed 141 pounds! The sea air and change of food had ruined the speculation.—St. Louis Republic

Denver, Col., Dec. 13.—Joseph P. Ward of Central City was tried in the United States court to-day on a charge of using the mails with intent to defraud. It is alleged that he claimed to own land which he did not own, made out abstracts of title to the same. Part of the land sold was at the bottom of Lake Superior. The defense was that Ward’s conduct was not that of a sane man, and under the instructions given my Judge Hallett, the jury returned, a verdict of guilty.

The treasury department recently ruled that packs of cards known as “old maid,” “authors” and similar card games which are played with cards other than the regular pasteboards used in duplicate whist, euchre and occasionally seven up and poker are not subject to the 2 cent duty. Accordingly some wise manufacturer has issued and “old maid” pack. It consists of a euchre deck, with the addition of a card bearing the visage of a sour looking elderly female, supposed to be the old maid. It merely takes the place of the joker and can be used in the game or not, as the players please.

Concentrated thought, continued in, robs the stomach of necessary blood, and this is also true of hard physical labor.

When a five horse-power engine is made to do ten horse-power work something is going to break. Very often the hard worked man coming from the field or the office will “bolt” his food ina few minutes which will take hours to digest. Then too, many foods are about as useful in the stomach as a keg of nails would be in a fire under a boiler. The ill-used stomach refuses to do its work without the proper stimulus which it gets from the blood and nerves. The nerves are weak and “ready to brea,” because they do not get the nourishment they require from the blood, finally the ill-used brain is morbidly wide awake when the overworked man attempts to find rest in bed.

The application of common sense in the treatment of the stomach and the whole system brings to the busy man the full enjoyment of life and healthy digestion when he takes Dr. Pierce’s Pleasant Pellets to relieve a bilious stomach or after a too hearty meal, and Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery to purify, enrich and vitalize the blood. The “Pellets” are tiny sugar-coated pills made of highly concentrated vegetable ingredients which relieve the stomach of all offending matters easily and thoroughly. They need only be taken for a short time to cure the biliousness, constipation and slothfulness, or torpor, of the liver; then the “Medical Discovery” should be taken in teaspoonful doses to increase the blood and enrich it. It has a peculiar effect upon the lining membranes of the stomach and bowels, toning up and strengthening them for all time. the whole system feels the effect of the pure blood coursing through the body and the nerves are vitalized and strengthened, not deadened, or put to sleep, as the so-called celery compounds and nerve mixtures do—but refreshed and fed on the food they need for health. If you suffer from indigestion, dyspepsia, nervousness, and any of the ills which come from impure blood and disordered stomach, you can cure yourself with Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery which can be obtained at any drug store in the country.

A few months ago a Philadelphia street car companies began running smoking cars in response to a popular demand for them, says the New York Evening Post. It has been found almost impossible to keep women out of these cars, and to make matters worse the smokers, unable to resist the claims of politeness, have been cheerfully surrendering their seats to the women. Things have now got to such a pass that the latter have become masters of the situation. “Day by day,” says an observer, “the feminine travel upon the smoking car has increased. That man is lucky who can now cling to the edges of the car and fondly hope that he may smoke in peace, after the long journey is over and he has reached the secluded precincts of his office or home. The women not only claim the smoking cars as their own, but they have begun to stare coldly at such men as now venture timidly into the cars, which were prepared especially for them.” The question whether the men have a right to smoke in a smoking car in the presence of women has been settled by the latter in the negative, and an offender was actually ejected from one of these cars the other day by a man accompanying an indignant woman. What makes the persistence of the women singular is that the smoking cars are much less comfortable and attractive than those provided for general use. The Philadelphia newspapers are courageously supporting the men in this emergency, and urging them to stand on their rights. “The women,” one newspaper makes bold to say, “must yield the cars to men or they (the women) must learn to smoke.”

Chicago, Dec. 5.—Rev. John Alexander Dowie presides over the establishment at 6020 Edgerton avenue, known as “the divine healing home,” must again admit there is nothing so certain as death. Albert Garbett, a youth who came from Minneapolis to submit himself to the healing powers “Dr.” Dowie claims to possess, died to-day. The cause of his death was said to be spinal caries. Commissioner Reynolds gave permission for removal of the body to Minneapolis. The body was taken away on a Northwestern train consigned to an undertaking firm in Minneapolis. “Rev.” John Alexander Dowie refused to give any information concerning the death, and became very angry when asked for them.

Judsonis, Ark., Dec. 5.—Maggie Johnson, one of the most singular of human beings, daughter of a farmer living near here, is dead. She was seventeen years old and had the head of an adult and the body of an infant. She had no teeth and no bones, her body appearing to be a mass of muscles.