Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1896-09-17

never be struck by lightning. This IL
a lnost important and valuable ad
dition to human knowledge, II true
But, unfortunately 1t seems to have the
same deficiency that mars the very
valuable proverb: you can always
catch a bird II you put salt on its tail
A Paris correspondent Of the London
Times writes: "Quite recently a bull
fight was organized at Dion, but
matadors. toreadors, bulls and trap
pings had to go as they came. No
body would patronize the horrible spec.
tacle. The thing fell utterly through
want Of patronage. 1t may be remem-
bered that a similar fiasco occurred In
Paris not long after the exhibition of
1880. Bull fights did, indeed, disgrace
that huge cosmopolitan affair, but
ultimately the arena was pulled down
and the fittings sold for a mere song
Parisians we're Disguised. with the
whole contern. 1t is to be hoped for
the honor of France that the projects
OF the South will remorselessly carry
out their instructions and Danish this
relic of barbarism from French SOIL"
Nearly $4,000 barrels of California
feur We're sent to England this year,
and for the two years preceding there
had been no shipment of this -four. The
shipment Of -four from Pacific ports in
the United States to Japan, China,
Siberia and Australia Is also increas-
Ing in a much larger ratio. Formerly
what San Francisco lost in these ship
ments was taken by the English ports,
but the establishment of new steam
ship lines for freight from Oregon and
Seattle and Tacoma to Asiatic ports
has kept the increasingly important
-four export within the control Of the
United States shippers.
1t is popular idea that the Indians
Of North America are fast disappearing
and that in few years they will have
vanished as race. The truth is that
there are nearly 100000 of them, ex-
elusive Of the Alaskans.
A scientific study of the fig industry
In Turkey has resulted in the discov-
cry of the fact that the failure of the
Smyrna fig-trees in California to bear
fruit Is on account of the lack of cap
rification. 1t was found that in the
fig-grOwing districts of the Orient
there are two distinct varieties of fig
trees---one the edible fig and the other
the capri or wild fig. In Turkey, and
In other lands along the eastern shore
OF the Mediterranean Sea, both vari-
cites are indigenous, and 1t has been
the custom Of the Arab fruit-growers
from time immemorial to gather annu-
ally punches of twigs or branches
from the capri, or wild fig, and hang
them among, or close to, the cultivated
fig-trees. Further investigation showed
that the reason for this was to facil-
itate the progress of an insect known
to entomologists as the blastOphaga
psenes, or fig wasp, from the wild or
capri fig to the cultivated fruit. The
wasp is born in the wild fig, and
fig bearing pollen on its wings and legs,
and thus fertilizes the cultivated fruit
when young. Specimens Of the capri
fig were brought to this State imme-
diately. In 1898, when the wild fig
trees bore their first fruit on Ameri-
can soil, experiments were made in
several localities with the pollen from
them on the green fruit Of the now
large trees that have been imported
from Smyrna. AS weeks advanced
the fruit that had not been fortified
shriveled and dropped from the trees,
as it had done each summer season for
six years, while the fortified fruit
rpened and proved the peer OF any
that was ever packe and shipped
from Turkey.
The provisions Of the new German
Civil Code with regard to married
women are arousing renewed indig-
nation now that the bill is passed, and
Immediately before the decisive day a
petition of protest to the Reichstag
was numerously signed in the chief
cities of the Empire. The hardship
Of the new law Is that 1t reaffirms the
principle of perpetual tutelage for the
German wife and mother. BY marri-
age she is deprived of control over her
property and her actions and Of all
rights over her children. She is in
position of subsection to her husband
from which English, American, Rus
sian, Scandinavian, Austrian, Hungari-
an and Italian women have been freed
by the legislatures of those countries.
To put it briefly, while among 17O,-
100000 of people married women
possess control over their property,
and are not deprived of the rights they
enjoyed when single, 60,0OOOOO are
now declaring for n perpetuatiOn of
the barbarous old principles Of pre-
civilized epochs. The married state in
Germany is, as. German opinion has
forcibly expressed 1t, to be made n by
word among the nations. The proposed
law sets upon matrimony the seal Of
seryitude and minority or wardship;
1t degrades the life Of the nation among
people who have raised marriage to a
place of honor and equality.
The Milwaukee Journal describes a
new style of coffin, which it says has
been invented for wealthy people. To
all appearances it Is simply a luxur-
ious couch. In mechanical construction
it is as nearly perfect as can be made.
The sides, the ends and the corners are
fitted with silver hinges to drop to a
perpendicular, and virtually show the
coffin turned inside out. This inside
shows a couch Of exquisite design and
tho most Derfect workmanship mas