St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-08-24

porter how the sword was half drawn
during the Empress Frederick's famous
visit in Paris. The young German em-
peror, he said, had been SD cxasper-
ated by the demonstration against his
mother that for day he was on the
point Of ordering German troops to
cross the border. In fact, Freiherr
Won Marschall of the German foreign
office had warned the French ambas-
sador that one more demonstration
against the Empress Frederick would
mean war. rs the emperor could then
he restrained no longer. The testi-
monials to the genuineness of war
scares have been strengthened by the
revelations made several weeks ago in
the Hanoverian Courier concerning
the crisis in the winter of lss6-S7. The
Hanoverian Courier is Rudolf von Benz
ningsen's organ. 1t guarantees that
the following story comes from abso-
lutely unimpeachable authority:
Gear Alexander Ill. was not Ger
many's friend. He was in the hands of
his advisers, who were led on the one
side by Pobiedonoszeff, procurator of
the holy synod and head of the Pan
Slavist party. and on the other side by
NJ. de Giers, the representative of the
group friendly to Germany. After an
interview with PobiedonOszeff Car
| Alexander was for war with Germany;
after an interview with Giers he was
against it. According to the influence
exercised by each Of these men upon
the Russian monarch St. Petersburg
sentiment turned now toward France,
now toward Germany. But the agitA-
tion of the Pan-Slavists, among wheal
| were most of the ministers, together
with the diplomatic advances from
the French politicians, eventually won,
and consequently in 1857 combi-
nation of circumstances had brought
it about that Alexander Ill. was fully
determined to begin war against Ger
many and Austria. France naturally
was to join voluntarily in the war
against us.
'The critical position in which we
then found ourselves, after the old
reichstag was dissolved ard a new one
was summoned to pass the govern.
ment's army bill, has not been forgot
ten by anybody. In St Petersburg
the order of mobilization was expected
daily. The German embassy was fully
informed of the course of events, and
the whole staff had prepared to depart,
even to packing their trunks.
Before beginning the last decisive
preparations Car Alexander called to
him for final consultation the minis
tiers of war and navy. The minister of
the navy said that the navy was not
quite ready. The minister of war made
q similar statement regarding the land
forces These revelations affected the
czar disagreeably for he wished to
strike out at once: and he asked how
this unpreparedness in army ard navy
could be made good. After iong re-
fection the minister of war WAN
nowskl replied that he knew of but
one way in which, despite all existing
defects, the troops could be brought
into the field effectively and in the
proper spirit.
".And that iSY asked the czar
For your majesty to place your.
self at the head of the land troops re.
piled the minister, and lead them in
person
This the car refused to do and
thus defeated his own project of war.
The peace of Europe had hung by a
thread. but the thread had not
been cut and the staff Of the Ger
man embassy unpacked their
trunks. The choice had fallen on the
side Of peace. not out Of love OF peace.
but out of impotence. Germany was
at that time prepared and could
have stood her ground against France
on the one side and Russia On
the other. Eight days after the cars
decision the managers of the great
southwestern railway from Moscow to
Vienna were obliged to suspend traf-
6c seven days for lack of coal, and
later were not able for some time to
run more than few trains. This was
additional proof of Russia's unreadi-
ness to carry on war with Germany
and Austria"
This story was KEEP. secret during
Alexander ILLS life, the llanoverian
Courier explains, for state reasons
which no longer exist.-N. Y. Sun.
Electricity in Wool.
observation has noticed that woolen
garments will sometimes craklc and
appear to be attracted by the warmth
of the hand. This varies greatly in
different temperaments: some people |
being SO charged with electricity that
it literally emanates from all of their
wearing apparel. A number Of in
stances are recorded where women |
have worn as inner wraps what are
known as Grape shawels, these being |
made of oriental silk heavily wrought |
with embroidery and with long, thick
fringe. After rapid walking, especial
ly in the cold, the woolen outside |
garment is suddenly dropped off. the
fringe of the silk instantly rises in y
horizontal line and stands out like |
rays all around the body. One lady |
has the power of creating this condi- |
ton 1t will simply by throwing |
a woolen wrap over the silk one
and walking smartly about the room |
for five minues. This electric peculi- |
arity is much more observable in silk |
than in wool. although in the latter |
material it is sufficiently abundant to
cause no little annoyance in factories |
where the raw staple is worked up. |
The electric annoyance, however, is a.
most always coincident with the cx-
treme cleanliness of the wool. II it is |
slightly wet and saturated with oil. |
there is very little trouble. and it may |
be 50 heavily weighted in this way
that all inconvenience disappears. In
olden time, when women spun their |
yarn. it was often found necessary to |
use very pure and warm lard in order
that the threads might run more |
smoothly, otherwise the fibres seemed |
to crinkle and kink, and the thread |
would be rough and of inferior quail
ity.-N. Y. Ledger.
Peto's Mistake.
He Was the owners nephew, and /
when he came to the ranch ito learn
about raising cows, you
know" he WAS unanimously nick
named The Kid" Shortly after his
arrival he came over to the kitchen
one morning while the boys were At