LANTERNS INVENTED BY A KING.

KING ALFRED of England, having no means of measuring time, noted the hours by the burning of candles marked with circular lines of different colors, which served as hour-lines. To prevent the wind from blowing out the candles, he had them incased in horn scraped so thin as to be transparent. Glass was then little, if at all, known in England. Thus lanterns may be said to be the invention of a king.

GLASS 3000 YEARS OLD.

GLASS was early known. Glass beads were found on the bodies of mummies over three thousand years old.

A STRANGE DERIVATION.

THE interrogation-point is said to be formed from the first and last letters of the Latin word quaestio (an asking), placed one over the other, thus: ; the exclamation-point, from the Greek word Io, signifying joy, placed in the same way: 1.

THE SUN IN DECEMBER.

IT seems hard for us to understand that the distance of the earth from the sun is about 3,000,000 miles less in December than it is in Junebut it is true.

THE ETERNAL CITY.

THOUGH Rome is called "the Eternal City," the name by right belongs to the city of Damascus in Syria, which is the oldest city in the world. As long as man has had written records the city of

Damascus has been known.

THE DEATH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.

IT is a curious fact that George Washington drew his last breath in the last hour of the last day of the week, in the last month of the year, in the last century, dying on Saturday night, at twelve o'clock, December 14, 1799.

JUST EIGHT YEARS.

THE Revolutionary War, from its first outbreak at Lexington, April 19, 1775, to the final disbanding of the army, April 19, 1783, lasted just eight years to a day.

NEVER BEATEN.

THE following three great generals were never defeated: Alexander the Great, who died 300 B. C.; Julius Cæsar, who died 44 B. C.; the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, who died 1852.

THE SEA HORSE.

much like that of a horse, found on the Atlantic THE sea horse is a small, bony fish with a head coast, in size from three to six inches long; but a California species is often eight to ten inches long. It looks as though its body was covered with tiny spangles, and it shines like silver. It always swims erect, carrying its head with the neck curved like that of a proud horse. Its two eyes have the power of being independent of each other, gazing two ways at once.

NAPOLEON IN VENICE.

IN May, 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte rode to the top of the bell-tower or campanile of St. Mark's, Venice, on horseback, that he might signal to his fleet the surrender of the city.

AN ODD TITLE.

LUXEMBURG, the great French soldier, was called "the Upholsterer of Notre Dame " from the number of captured flags he sent to be hung as trophies in that cathedral.

ANIMALS IN PARADISE.

ACCORDING to the Mohammedan creed, ten animals beside man are admitted into Paradise. These ten are: 1, the dog; 2, Balaam's ass; 3, Solomon's ant; 4, Jonah's whale; 5, the ram of Ishmael; 6, the Queen of Sheba's ass; 7, the camel of Salet; 8, the cuckoo of Belkis; 9, the ox of Moses; 10, the animal called Al Borak, which conveyed Mohammed to heaven.

A BEE-LINE.

THE eyes of bees are made to see great distances. When absent from their hive they go up in the air till they see their home, and then fly toward it in a straight line and with great speed. The shortest line between two places is sometimes called a "bee-line."

SCHOOL A PLACE OF LEISURE. OUR word "school" is derived from a Greek word meaning "leisure." The education of men was obtained not so much from books in ancient Greece as from lectures on philosophy, the public assembly, the theater, the games, and the lawcourts, where most of their unoccupied time was spent.

THE GRAVE OF "PETER THE HEADSTRONG."

THE church known as "St. Mark's in the Bowery," New York, contains an ancient colonial shrine inclosing the tomb of Petrus Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch governors of New York.

AN ACRE.

AN acre was originally as much as a yoke of oxen could plow in a day, but in the thirteenth century it was made by law of its present size. The word "acre" is from the Latin ager, a cultivated field.

THE PILGRIM'S SCALLOP.

THE scallop abounds on the coast of Palestine, and in old times pilgrims returning from the Holy Land used to wear one on their hats to show that they had been there.

A CURIOUS SUPERSTITION.

AMONG the superstitions of the Seneca Indians was one most beautiful one: When a young maiden died they imprisoned a young bird until it first began to try its powers of song; and then, loading it with caresses and messages, they loosed its bonds over her grave, in the belief that it would not fold its wing nor close its eye until it had flown to the spirit-land and delivered its precious

burden of affection to the loved and lost one.

VENEZUELA.

WHEN Columbus discovered South America, near the mouth of the Orinoco, the Spaniards found an Indian village built over the water on piles. As it reminded them of Venice, they called it Venezuela, or "little Venice."

HOW A MEDICINE WAS NAMED.

QUININE is made from Peruvian bark - the outer part of a medicinal plant, called cinchona. It was so named from the wife of Count Cinchon of Peru, in the seventh century, who, by its use was cured of intermittent fever.

THE SHIP OF THE DESERT.

THE scent of the camel for water is said to be very keen. He can smell it a great way off; and oftentimes the travelers who are suffering for water will let the camel take his own way, and he will take them often to a place where water may be found.

"E PLURIBUS UNUM."

WE are indebted to John Adams for our national motto, "E Pluribus Unum." While he was minister to England, Sir John Prestwick suggested

it to Mr. Adams as a good motto to indicate the union of the colonies. It was submitted to Congress, and adopted by Act of Congress, June, 1782. The eagle in its beak bears a ribbon on the eagle bore also in its talons a bundle of thirwhich is the motto. In the early days of its use

teen arrows; but when in 1841 a new seal was made to take the place of the old one, which had become worn, only six arrows were placed in the talons. Whether this change was ordered by law or not is not known. The old Latin motto was in use in England as far back as 1730 on the "Gentleman's Magazine."

THE SKYLARK'S SONG.

IN winter the skylark of England does not sing; but in the early days of spring the great flocks of these birds break up, and then go in pairs to look for places to build their nests and rear their young ones. And then the charming song of the skylark is heard in all its sweetness. While the mother bird is brooding over her eggs to warm them, her mate often rises into the air, and then with quivering wings mounts vertically upward so far that he looks like a mere speck in the sky, and all the time pouring forth his rich and beautiful song, but at last ceases his song before descending again to the nest. One of the most beautiful poems in the English language is Shelley's "Ode to the Skylark.'

HOW FISHES BREATHE.

LANTERNS INVENTED BY A KING.

KING ALFRED of England, having no means of measuring time, noted the hours by the burning of candles marked with circular lines of different colors, which served as hour-lines. To prevent the wind from blowing out the candles, he had them incased in horn scraped so thin as to be transparent. Glass was then little, if at all, known in England. Thus lanterns may be said to be the invention of a king.

GLASS 3000 YEARS OLD.

GLASS was early known. Glass beads were found on the bodies of mummies over three thousand years old.

A STRANGE DERIVATION.

THE interrogation-point is said to be formed from the first and last letters of the Latin word quaestio (an asking), placed one over the other, thus: ; the exclamation-point, from the Greek word lo, signifying joy, placed in the same way:

THE SUN IN DECEMBER.

IT seems hard for us to understand that the distance of the earth from the sun is about 3,000,000 miles less in December than it is in June but it is true.

THE ETERNAL CITY.

THOUGH Rome is called "the Eternal City," the name by right belongs to the city of Damascus in Syria, which is the oldest city in the world.

As

NEVER BEATEN.

THE following three great generals were never defeated: Alexander the Great, who died 300 B. C.; Julius Cæsar, who died 44 B. C.; the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo, who died 1852.

THE SEA HORSE.

THE sea horse is a small, bony fish with a head much like that of a horse, found on the Atlantic coast, in size from three to six inches long; but a California species is often eight to ten inches long. It looks as though its body was covered with tiny spangles, and it shines like silver. It always swims erect, carrying its head with the neck curved like that of a proud horse. Its two eyes have the power of being independent of each other, gazing two ways at once.

NAPOLEON IN VENICE.

IN May, 1797, Napoleon Bonaparte rode to the Venice, on horseback, that he might signal to his top of the bell-tower or campanile of St. Mark's, fleet the surrender of the city.

AN ODD TITLE.

LUXEMBURG, the great French soldier, was called "the Upholsterer of Notre Dame" from the number of captured flags he sent to be hung as trophies in that cathedral.

ANIMALS IN PARADISE.

Damascus has been known.

THE DEATH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.

IT is a curious fact that George Washington drew his last breath in the last hour of the last day of the week, in the last month of the year, in the last century, dying on Saturday night, at twelve o'clock, December 14, 1799.

JUST EIGHT YEARS.

THE Revolutionary War, from its first outbreak at Lexington, April 19, 1775, to the final disbanding of the army, April 19, 1783, lasted just eight years to a day.

These ten are: 1, the dog; 2, Balaam's ass; 3, Solomon's ant; 4, Jonah's whale; 5, the ram of Ishmael; 6, the Queen of Sheba's ass; 7, the camel of Salet; 8, the cuckoo of Belkis; 9, the ox of Moses; 10, the animal called Al Borak, which conveyed Mohammed to heaven.

A BEE-LINE.

THE eyes of bees are made to see great distances. When absent from their hive they go up in the air till they see their home, and then fly toward it in a straight line and with great speed. The shortest line between two places is sometimes called a "bee-line."