The pearl divers of Japan are all—or nearly all—women. Along the shores of the Bay of Ago and the Bay of Kokasho, says the Oriental Review, the thirteen and fourteen year old girls, after they have finished their primary school work, go to sea and learn to dive.

They are in the water and learn to swim almost from babyhood, and spend most of their time in the water, except in the coldest season, from the end of December to the beginning of February. Even during the most inclement of season they sometimes dive for pearls. They wear a special dress, white underwear, and the hair twisted up into a hard knot. The eyes are protected by glasses to prevent the entrance of water. Tubs are suspended from the waist.

A boat in command of a man is assigned to every five or ten women divers to carry them to and from the fishing grounds. When the divers arrive on the grounds they leap into the water at once, and begin to gather oysters at the bottom. The oysters are dropped in to the tubs hung from their waists.

When these vessels are filled the divers are raised to the surface and jump into the boats. They dive to a depth of from 5 to 80 fathoms without any special apparatus, and retain their breath from one to three minutes. Their ages vary from thirteen to forty years, and between twenty-five and thirty-five they are in their prime.

A story is being told at the expense of an old English farmer who was recently called upon to explain why he had failed to take out a license for a favorite fox terrier dog. "'E's nobbut a puppy," the defendant remarked, in response to a question as to the animal's age. "Yes, yes! So you say. But how old is he?" "Oh, weel, I couldn' tell to a bit," was the reply. "I never was much good at remembering dates, but 'e's nobbut a puppy." On the other hand, it was maintained that the animal in question was a very, very old-fashioned puppy, and the magistrate inflicted the usual fine. Shortly afterward the farmer was met by a friend who wanted to know how he had fared at the police court. "Nobbut middlin'," was the reply. "Did they fine you?" "Yes," responded the victim; "an' 'ang me if I can understand it! Last year an' the year afore that I told the same tale about the same dog, an' it wor allus good enough afore! Wh's been tamperin' wi' the law sin' last year?"

In the Woman's Home Companion there is an interesting presentation of the difference that exists between the domestic standard of young married women of today and those of the past generation. How did the women of the middle class of a generation or two ago manage when they could not keep help? following is the answer quoted from and Companion editorial:

"They lived according to their means; they did not set up impossible standards, and they knew much less about the science of bringing up children. They had no special style to keep up; gave the children a weekly bath; kept the table set between meals; did not serve their meals in courses, but put all the food on the table at once; confined their social affairs to evening calls and parties, and church suppers, at which they wore the same black silk dress for at least two season; in short, every woman did only what she could, and her friends made it easier for her by doing likewise."

If the commercial travelers of this country really do go after the tipping system with all the power they possess, they can nearly, if not entirely, destroy it. Their national president avows his determination to rally the organization to an assault upon this graft, which, he says foots up $50,000,000 a year in the United States. If those figures even approximate the facts, tipping is more than a nuisance to individuals, it is an enormous tax upon business that should not be tolerated. It has made parasites not only of a horde of servants, but of certain lines of business, which thus, through underpaid employees, prey upon other businesses. Tipping might find some plausibility if it amounted only to gratuities to a faithful servant seeking to please, but everybody knows that it goes far beyond this, says the Omaha Bee. The tip is more often given, not for extra service, but to get any kind of service at all. It is not surprising that commercial travelers thin of organizing a united attack upon tipping. The surprise is that they have not done so long years ago. They practically live on the road, in hotels and trains a good part of the year. That sort of life is hard at best. To make the most of it they pay tips that they may obtain a living existence, so to speak. The commercial travelers can destroy the tip if they will. They can get no-tip hotels when the unitedly demand them and they can get, at least, some improvement in conditions even from the sleeping car company. If they succeed they will have the thanks of everyone who ever travels away from home.

The Lancet publishes a concluding article upon tea which sums up the results of an investigation into the subject under the title of "The Chemistry, Physiology and Esthetics of a Cup of Tea."

The suggestion that an infusion of good tea consists chiefly of caffeine tannate is confirmed. It is pointed out that when caffeine and tannin are ina state of combination, neither being in the free state, the harmful astringent qualities of the tannin disappear and the bitter taste of free caffeine is not perceptible.

The teas of high quality yield as a rule a simple infusion of caffeine tannate, not of caffeine or of tannin. Such teas must be regarded as the most desirable from a physiological point of view. it is interesting to find that as a rule the expert taster picks out these teas as teas of high quality.

Good teas, in short, according to his inquiry, are those which on a five minute infusion yield only caffeine in the form of caffeine tannate to the infusion and bad or indifferent teas are those which yield on infusion a tea containing, in addition to caffeine tannate, either caffeine or tannin, but especially tannin, in excess. A good tea may be made a bad tea, but a bad tea can not be made a good tea except perhaps by very skillful blending. Excessive infusion will spoil a good tea, but even a short infusion of a bad tea may be as objectionable as an excessive infusion of a good tea.

On physiological grounds, therefore, the consumer of high quality teas runs less risk of digestive disturbance provided the tea is made properly.