It took nearly a year to get the first block no pillar of the length and thickness reof stone quarried and mounted on the quired could stand the strain of cutting huge lathe. The work went on most suc- and polishing, no matter how carefully cessfully. The stone was turned to a and skillfully the work might be done. true cylindrical shape and then polished, This fact being fully established, a modithe machine running night and day. A fication of the contract was effected, by few hours more would have seen the which the pillars were to be constructed great cylinder complete.

in two pieces instead of one; and, under All at once it broke in two, with such a this arrangement, the eight columns were tremendous shock as to sever eight steel finished in the form they now have. They hook bolts, two inches thick, which held had cost five years of labor and large the tailstock of the lathe down to the bed, sums of money, both in themselves and and then fell to the ground completely in the attempts to make them monoliths. ruined and useless. The whole value of They have been set up in a semi-circle in the practically finished pillar—$25,000— the cathedral, around what will be the inhad been lost in a moment.

terior of the apse or rounded rear part of Without delay the company began the cathedral, where in the natural quarrying another block. It was de- course of things they may be expected tached from the ledge, transported to the to stand for ages.

Ostrich Farming in America

By E. H. Rydall

bewitching comf the most

ALACK EYES and a picture tried as an experiment, has proved itself

hat form one of the most to be enormously profitable, and firms bewitching combinations are engaging in it in many sections of within woman's dominion the country. At first it was supposed that of charms, according to the plume-bearing ostrich could not be

Professor Cu mnock, of bred profitably in any land but Africa, Northwestern University, an authority and under this long-accepted supposition on feminine attractiveness. The next the London ostrich-plume broker has most enticing sight that man's eyes amassed great fortunes. can gaze on, perhaps, is blue eyes and a picture hat. But black eyes have not always been able to afford the Ostrich Readily Americanized picture hat, and neither have the blue

But now the African ostrich has beeyes; for picture hats, those of the

come acclimated in the United States, really magnificent kind—the imitations

and we find it in Florida, North Carolina, look worse than none at all-cost large

Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, and Calisums of money. Without splendid plumes there can hardly be a real "picture"

fornia, and chiefly in the last-named hat; without ostrich feathers there can

State, where a dozen ostrich farms are be no splendid plumes; without os- in full operation. In 1854 some French triches there can be no ostrich feathers. officers near Algiers, in Africa, experiUntil recently the ostriches from which mented on the young of wild ostriches, the plumes were plucked for market lived corralling them in an enclosure and carin far-away Africa, and it

ing for them until they arwas the duty on the feath

rived at mature age. The ers and the large cost of

result was the domesticated importation that made

ostrich, which the British them cost so much.

took advantage of, estabNow, however, the con

lishing an industry that is ditions are about to change.

still enriching the London In fact, it may be said that

dealers and the ostrich they have already changed.

farmers of the Cape. Soon every pair of femi

Edwin Cawston, the nine eyes, black or blue,

original ostrich pioneer in may emit their light from

this country, the first man the shades of the picture

that made a success of the hat. Let all American

ostrich feather business in women rejoice that a new

America, conducts an osindustry has sprung up in

trich farm at Pasadena, America—an industry that

California; another at is to make them independ

Whittier in the same State; ent of the native African

and one at Nice, on the ostrich. Carloads of the

border of France and Italy, most resplendent plumes

to which place he has sent have recently been put on

a collection of California the market by owners of

ostriches to be exhibited to American ostrich farms.

the four hundred thousand The new industry, at first

aristocrats that daily frequent the famous watering place. Golden State. It is attractive in appearThis man has not only endowed ance in its infant stages and when arthe American Republic with the African rived at adult age; but during the inostrich, but within about twenty years tervening time, some three years, it is has built up an immense fortune by the not at all beautiful, being ragged and disdevelopment of the California industry. reputable looking, resembling very much

The ostrich is a multiplier. Twice a the emu. year the hen begins to deposit eggs in It is for the feather alone that the large holes in the ground, continuing the ostrich is cultivated in Africa. The practice every other day for about forty American ostrich farmers are now makdays. The first fifteen eggs are generallying fortunes by exhibiting the birds to fertile, but the rest are of no account, and inquisitive tourists. At Jacksonville, are blown and then sold to tourists as Little Rock, and Los Angeles, all Southsouvenirs.

ern watering places, ostrich farms are

Six weeks after the deposit of the egg established. The Pasadena ostrich farm in the nest, the little ostrich appears. It derives some ten thousand dollars anis fed on green alfalfa, ever blooming in nually from this source of revenue alone. California, some eight crops of this fod- Every eight months the magnificent der being raised there every year. feathers are developed on the big bird.

If they were not cut off, they would be Stones and Sand are Its Milk

shed. The cutting is painless to the osThe first meal of the baby ostrich con- trich and profitable to the management, sists of small stones and sand. There- for these occasions are duly advertised after it never ceases to devour the soft and many people pay admission to witgreen grass, and nothing else is fed it ness the operation. until it is about five months old. The growth of the young bird is wonderfully

Clipping the Feathers rapid. In six months it is six feet high. The ostriches are first blindfolded, and At all ages this peculiar biped is an ob- then led into a narrow paddock furnished ject of interest to the procession of tour with a wicket gate. A man attends to ists ever wending their way through the hold the birds in position while the

Making Rustic Furniture

By A. Parker

OTOP:

UT-OF-DOOR furniture adds Some attractive designs of rustic fur

a charm to the summer home niture are shown in the accompanying ilthat nothing else will give, and lustrations. Figure 2 is self-explanatory,

the making of it is more de performing the combined service of a lightful even than the using of it. A vine support and rustic seat. Such seats boy or a man with a little mechanical are frequently used in the adornment of genius can make his home beautiful lawns and grounds, and are very atwith varied unique designs of his own tractive. Fig. 1 is a writing desk. It conception. Never hire a man to is easily constructed when two trees

can be found standing about six or seven feet apart. A board, reinforced underneath with cleats, is fitted between the trunks at the proper height and angle for a swivel chair, to turn on top of a post driven into the ground. A heavy bolt welded to the iron plate on the bottom of the seat, may be dropped

Fig. 1. Rustic WRITING DESK.

build your rustic seats and tables and swings. Do it yourself, and you will enjoy the task, and take a greater pleasure in the finished work.

In making rustic furniture, it should be remembered that the tree limbs, since they must be joined together to produce an artistic effect, will not usually make a substantial structure, and so the framework of the chair or bench or stand should first be made of regular milled and surfaced lumber, the limbs being afterwards placed about it merely as ornamentation. The framed parts, comprising the structure of strength, should be previously treated with white lead or coal tar. Broad surfaces should not be brought into close contact, as they will absorb and retain moisture.

Fig. 2. Rustic Seat,
End may serve as a lattice for vines

or creepers.

into the hole in the post, having several wrought-iron washers to facilitate turning. A rest for the feet is placed between the trees at a proper height underneath.