Book of Charming Verse.

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Dr. Edson B. Russell of Minneapolis, who has a summer home in Excelsior, where he spends about half of the year, has recently issued a pretty book of his verses, entitled “Lotea and Other Poems.” The volume takes its name from the initial poem, which is an epic of the cliff dwellers in southwestern America. It is a story of absorbing interest, told in exquisitely chosen diction, and will take its place as the author’s most ambitious work.

The rest of the book is made up of other poems by Dr. Russell, and among them are many of the gems for which the author will be best remembered. The book is illustrated with numerous drawings by the author, which show that he is an artist with the brush as well as the pen. His themes are mostly taken from nature in her wild aspects, and pictures of the sea and shore, of the March woodlands, of northern marshes and lakes, abound.

The following short poem gives a hint of the author’s style and sentiment:

WINTER AT GETTYSBURG.I am crossing the line to the cold white camp,
In physical armour, no picket confronts me,
I see not the gleaming of fires or lam;
Though a stillness like night hangs over and
     haunts me.
The cannon is silent, no more in these hills,
Shall war’s desolation break forth in wild
     clashes,
The form of a hero, each shallow trench fills;
But his spirit is free from the mildewed ashes.
Drift over them gently, and over them deep
Ye snows of December, while nature reposes,
They heed not our winter (O, why do we weep),
They care not that summer has gone with its
     roses,
Drift tenderly over the mounds on this hill,
Fill up the dark furrows, and fallen leaves
     cover,
Raise up your white barracks, protecting them
     still,
(The patriots) brother, and husband and lover,
They vanished like dew ’neath a desert’s hot
    blast,
(I need not recite here the desolate story)
So, softly around them, a benison cast,
Each sodden tent mantle with emblems of glory.

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Never Taught Manners.

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The behavior of certain youngsters while attending the F-o-t-o Play Tuesday night was anything but commendable and their conduct certainly does not reflect any flattering credit upon the parents who have not taught their children better manners. The hall management wishes toward the fellows who bespattered the new wall paper with extract of tobacco that if they ever repeated the act there would be “something doing.”

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Changes in Telephony.

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Of late years a good many changes have been introduced quietly in the technique and management of exchanges, involving the expenditure of some very large sums of money, for the betterment of the service. Among these changes may be mentioned the removal of large masses of overhead wires of the bigger cities; the general adoption of the multiple switch-boards, raising the speed of communication, the employment of a finer type of transmitter, known as the “long distance;” the use of the “budging bell” system, which cuts down the resistance in the line, and gives clearer talking. To these may now be added the novel feature of dispensing with the battery at the subscriber’s instrument, and concentrating all the battery at the central office. One of the most familiar personages in connection with telephonic work has been the inspector who came around to est the battery, and who, if he happened to run short of salammoniac often had no scruples against the use of common salt. His function will now be largely abolished, and while the company will gain, in economy, the subscriber will, it is said, gain the greatest efficiency of the system.

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A Mock Marriage.

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Jacobs Forged a Degree of Divorce From His First Wife.

Milwaukee, Dec. 6.—W. C. Jacobs, under arrest here for his participation in a mock marriage, is not Pietzel the St. Louis insurance swindler. Jacobs was unable to get a divorce from his legal wife in Kansas City, but wanted to marry Mrs. buck of Chicago. He disappeared, leading his wife to believe that he had been killed. Mrs. buck refused to live with him until he had secured a divorce, so he got a copy of the Oklahoma Territory court papers and forged a judgment of divorce. Fearing discovery if he had a minister marry him, he conceived the plan of a mock ceremony. The police have released Jacobs, Mrs. Buck and Harvey, the bogus preacher.

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Harmfulness of Gossip.

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Idle Talk and Cynical Discussions Often Mar Reputations Without Flaw.

It seems to be a pleasure to certain people to deface things. A rich man will erect a handsome pavilion or fountain or summer house in the village square or park or at some roadside point and in a few months names and initials will be found carved on it with pocket knives or scribbled in pencil. The place is thus defaced because of wantonness and thoughtlessness. Advertisers will put lurid signs on vacant lots and mar the entire neighborhood, because public opinion does not express itself against it. A venerable mansion of colonial days will go to ruin and be torn down to make way for anew store because nobody cares to bother about is historical associations, or take time to notice that its architecture is beautiful. It is easy to tear down, but not as easy to build up, says American Queen.

It is the easiest thing in the world to pick flaws in the character of an acquaintance, to gossip about his or her shortcomings and make anecdotes illustrating foibles and weaknesses. But it is far more difficult to help that person build up his character, to give him sympathetic help when he needs it, and to stand up for him when others criticise him. It is easy to whittle gashes in his reputation and mar his good name with a few strokes, it is easy to look on carelessly or cynically and see a fine character go to ruin, but is another thing ot lend a hand and keep it strong and sure, in fighting with it against adverse influences.

Idle gossip is sharp and quick to harm, and it is easy to say “clever” things that cut into another’s character. It is the strong man or woman who upbilds and the weak one who tears down. It is the strong character which is quick to see strength and amiable characteristics in others, which is generous and tolerant and kindly. Suspicion, cynicism, bitter remarks and a readiness to gather and spread unpleasant smallnesses and meannesses. One never becomes popular by indulging in ridiculous gossip. He will be listened to, quoted and feared, but his associates will dislike him and distrust him instead of admiring him and having confidence in him.

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May Use Lightning.

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Curious Calculations of Power That Now Is Wasted.

It is just possible that one of these days, instead of making electricity for ourselves, we shall learn to tap the immense store of the electric fluid that pervades the higher atmosphere; that, in fact, we shall be able ot “harness the lightning.” Prof. Trowbridge shows that a discharge keeps in the same path for the three hundred thousandth part of a second, and he believes that a “step-down” transformer—a device by which the voltage of the discharge would be reduced—might render it fit for the use of man. An average thundercloud is estimated to contain about 300 horse-power of electrical energy.

A flash of lightning a quarter of a mile long practically means an electromotive force of millions of volts. Reckoning on the basis that a flash occurs when the electrical strain on the air is 1.37 pounds per square foot, the total electrical strain on the air is 1.37 pounds per square foot, the total electric energy in the cubic mile of the strained air just on the point of flashing is about 70,000,000 foot-tons, or, in other words, the energy required to raise a ton 70,000,000 feet high. Electricians are now trying to think out how this enormous power can be brought down to earth and utilized, and they talk of employing some modification of Franklin’s kite, at all events, for experimental work. If they should succeed, the corralling of lightning flashes may come to be a profitable occupation.—Brooklyn Eagle

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