Introduction of Postage Stamps. The use of postage stamps, one of the great reforms advo cated by Rowland Hill, was introduced into England through his efforts May 6, 1840. They began to be used in this country in 1847. Times That Try Men's Souls. Thomas Paine, professed to believe that men had no souls. During the Revolutionary war, soon after the British eaptured Philadelphia, and when the cause of independence was shrouded in gloom, Paine, who was certainly one of the most spirited, brilliant, and effective knights of the pen that championed independence, wrote in "The American Crisis," "These are times that try men's souls." How Oil-Cloth Is Made. Oil-cloth for floors is made on stout hemp canvas, which is woven very wide so as to have no seams in it. This canvas is first stretched tight over a frame; then is covered with thin glue, or size, and rubbed down with pumice. This is to fill in the spaces between the threads, and make the whole very smooth. Then a coating of thick paint is spread over the surface and rubbed in with a trowel. When this is dry another thick coat is put on, and after that another, and then a coat of thin paint, laid on with a brush. All of these are of one color, and after they have been put on and dried, the pattern of the oil-cloth is printed on by means of wooden blocks. The outline of the design is cut on these blocks and for different colors different blocks are used. Oil-cloth for table covers is made of light cloth or canvas, on which two coats, or perhaps three, of common paint are laid on, and the design is then printed in the same way that calico is printed. Origin of the Aztec Race. The Aztecs trace their origin to the legendary land of Aztlan, where they dwelt in seven caverns of the earth. After a cataclysm and distribution of tongues the Aztecs wandered away from their fellows, and traveled southward. It is said that the seven tribes halted many times before they finally reached the Valley of Mexico, so that the journey occupied from fiftythree to one hundred and sixty-three years. The emigration occurred in the thirteenth century. How Far the Naked Eye Can See an Object on the Ocean or on the Western Plains. The limits of vision vary with elevation, conditions of the atmosphere, intensity of illumination, and other modifying elements in different cases. On a clear day an object one foot above a level plain may be seen at the distance of 1.31 miles; one ten feet high, 4.15 miles; one twenty feet high, 5.86 miles; one 100 feet high, 13.1 miles; one a mile high, as the top of a mountain, 95.23 miles. This allows seven inches (or, to be exact, 6.99 inches) for the curvature of the earth, and assumes that the size and illumination of the object are sufficient to produce an image. Five miles may be taken as the extreme limit at which a man is visible on a flat plain to an observer on the same level. The Highest Single Fountain Jet in the World. The highest single fountain jet in the world is on the estate of 200 acres given by the late Trenor W. Park as a Home for Destitute Children and Women, at Bennington, Vt. This jet rises to the height of 198 feet. The Life of Eugene Aram. Eugene Aram, whose story has been immortalized by Sir Bulwer Lytton, was born at Ram-gill, in Yorkshire, in 1704. At an early age he married and continued his work as a teacher, living at Knaresborough. The sudden and mysterious disappearance of a shoemaker named Clark caused excitement, and finally the conviction of foul play became prevalent, the more because Aram's wife frequently dropped remarks to the effect that Eugene and a man named Housemen knew more about the affair than they cared to admit. In 1759 a skeleton was exhumed near Knaresborough, which was suspected to be Clark's, and Houseman was at once confronted with some of the bones; but he denied vehemently that they were Clark's. Finally, upon Houseman's testimony that Aram and Terry were the murderers, the former was arrested, after the skeleton of Clark had been found in a place designated by Houseman. Aram ably defended himself, and eloquently denounced the practice of conviction on circumstantial evidence, but nevertheless he was sentenced to be hung three days later. Before his execution he confessed his guilt to a minister. The Professional Tramp's Sign Language. Habitual tramps have a sort of organization-not so "com. plete as the beggar guilds of China, which have regularly ap pointed "kings," and are recognized by the laws of the land as established organizations, with certain legal privileges-but nevertheless a social body, banded together for mutual assistance, and with a cipher language peculiar to themselves. With these creatures the term "Turk" is said to signify a guild or class of beggars. Beggars who feign sickness are said to belong to the "sick lurk;" those who feign deafness, to the "deaf and dumb lurk;" those who claim to have suffered the loss of everything through some conflagration, to the "fire lurk," and so on. For common use these lurks have not only a sign language by means of which they can converse without honest people around them even suspecting it, but a number of written symbols, such as the following, which are claimed to have been revealed by a professional tramp, as among their cipher communications left on doors, fences, barns, and gate posts for the guidance of other members of the profession: I, good for a meal; ¶, this road better than the other; X, no good; §, these people have had too many tramps; t, will have you arrested, f, beware of these folks, they will hurt you, or have you imprisoned. The city tramp guilds in some places even resort to drug stores, hotels, and other places where directories are kept for public use, and set over against the names there such marks as these: *, very good, likely to give; -, not called on before, or doubtful. Other signs might be given, but these are enough to illustrate their secret vocabulary. The Longest Rivers of the World. Germany. Black Forest Black Sea.... 1,630 Brahmapootra.. Thibet.. Columbia. N. America. Colorado. James.... Potomac.. N. America.... Great Back Chesapeake Bone Mt... Bay Hudson.. Mt. Marcy. York.. Himalaya... Bay of Bengal Mountains. Pacific Ocean. N. America.... San Iaba.... Gulf of Cali Susquehanna.... N. America.... Lake Otsego. Chesapeake N. America Allegheny Chesapeake 1,500 1,090 fornia.... 1,000 500 400 N. America.... Adirondacks, Bay of New The Drainage of the Pinsk Marshes. The Pinsk Marshes are in South-western Russia, on the borders of Gallicia. In extent they are estimated at about 325 35,000 square miles, or larger than the whole of Ireland. From the earliest times this tract has been a dense marsh overgrown with trees and masses of undergrowth, an irreclaimable wilderness, utterly useless for any purposes of civilized man. The Russian Government first undertook the reclaiming of this vast wilderness in 1870. A large staff of engineering officers and several thousand troops have been engaged upon the undertaking since. Up to 1889 about 4,300,000 acres have been reclaimed by means of the construction of several thousand miles of ditches and canals, navigable for barges of several hundred tons burden. Of the expense of land already reclaimed, 800,000 acres consisted of bog, which has been converted into good meadow land; about 1,000,000 acres of "forest tangle," which have been prepared for timber purposes by cutting down the underwood and thinning the trees; 500,000 acres of good forest land-forest oases in the middle of marshes-hitherto inaccessible, but which have been connected more or less by navigable canals, and thereby with the distant markets; and finally, 2,000,000 acres have been thrown open to cultivation. Besides making the canals and ditches, the engineers have built 179 bridges, bored 600 wells from 20 to 80 feet deep, and have made a survey of 20,000 square miles of country hitherto unmapped. Facts Worth Knowing. Proper Ages of Reproduc- The Communication of Heat. Heat is communicated by conduction, convection. and radiation. Conduction is the method by which the heat is transmitted from particle to particle of a body, as from the end of a metallic rod placed in a fire, to all other portions of the rod. All bodies may be divided into two classes respecting their power of heat-conductors and non-conductors. If we hold the ends of two rods, one of fron and one of wood, in a fire, we soon become aware that the metal conducts the heat much more readily to the hand than the wood. The relative conducting power of metals is as follows: Silver, 100; copper, 74; gold, 53; brass, 24; tin, 15; iron, 19; lead, 9; platinum, 8; German silver, 6; bismuth, 2. Weight of a Cubic Foot of Various Substances. Steel........ 487 12 "The value of a ton of pure gold is $602,799.21. $1,000,000 gold coin weighs 3,685.8 pounds avoirdupois. †The value of a ton of silver is $37,704.84. $1,000,000 silver coin weigh 58,929.9 pounds avoirdupois. MISCELLANEOUS. India rubber....lbs., 56-oz., 7)Pressed cotton...lbs., 25 Italian marble..lbs., 169-oz. 41 Mortar. 64 25 EARTH, STONE, ETC. .lbs., 109-oz. 6 66 101 14 Vermont marble". 165 9 Mud Common glass.." 157 66 Moist sand. 128 2 loose 118 "12 loose WOODS. Lignum vitæ... lbs., 83-oz., 5[Shellbark hick'ry.lbs., 43-OZ., 2 |