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â- ^rmm*iM -Hmm m mui i it i ani PREVemNG "CATCfflNfi" DISEASES ^AND THE WORST IS YET TO COME r/ ThU ti tba Mason of the ymr wUou 4Wtiool chUdran kto moat llabia to com- PHinicabla or "catchinc" diveases. In Oetobar th« common cold U moat com- aon. In Nuvembar the sore throat rata It tlia bt(h-!it. Tba gr«at iQfluan- â- a wara of 1!)18 iwept over th« coun- try In October. Diphtheria Is apt to be at ita wont in September, within thrae weeka after the bec1nntD« of •cbool. It ti reaaonaMjr certain to reach Its peak during one of tbe Vonths between Labor Day and Naw Year's Day. j The Portala of DIaease. Meaalea, whooping oough, aoarlet fever, and pneumonia started mount- ing a month ago, but they will not reach their peaks until later In the winter or early spring. All of these ^iseaaea enter the body through the . mouth and nose. Probably as many j Of the cases get their Infeotlone through the mouth as through the other parts. DUeases are often apread by means of objects which children habitually put in their mouths. Among the ar- ticles are toys, pencils, penholders, apoons, forks, cur^, the mouth parti «f playground, street and school foun- tains, whistles, the mouthpieces of band injstrumaata, tooth brusbas and Angers. Handa. A child will not infrequently chew a pencil that is still moist from Iha mnulh of anotUer child. Ilanda are wor»e offfnJers than any other objects m«-iitluned hec«u>^e they have so many oi>pc>rtunUlet for iufection and they traTcI ao frequently to the moutb. For- tunately, the custom is for a person to put his hand to his moutb only. There la no telling what would happen if somebody made It faahionsble to put one'a llogora In another man's mouth. A Poaslble Spreader. One observer studied tlie poaslbtllty of the toothbrush as a spreader ot diphtheria in a boarding school. The boys kept their toothbnishea on a rack. They had a common bowl of car- bolic tooth powder, Into which they ell dipped. It was aasumed that tho ca^ bollo in tho powder made It safe to use It In common. The study showed that the diaoaso could be spread by tooth- bnishea. Furthermore, It was found that it Is not easy to aterllize a tooth- brush with chemicals onoe It has be- oome infected. The only safe plan seems to be to train children to keep such oblecta as penholders and pen- cils out of their mouths. The mouth secretion of a child who soems to be In good health may cause Infection. The child may be about to be sick or he may be a carrier. The eafe rule Is to put nothing in the mouth except clean eating utensils, clean food and dean drink. The problem of the appropriate gift on such occasions as commencement days, anniversaries, weddings and birthdays la not so simple as it used to be. It Is often hard to Judge what a bride and groom who are to begin life In a distant city will need or what will best suit a young man who Is leaving ttie university for his profosalon. Gifts of money, of oourse, are sure to be use- ful; but it is hard to give tho desirable touch of sentiment to cold caah. Still the money gift solves the problem of transportation whan tho new home is fcir away and the problem of selection when there Is no clue to what Is want' •d. It riakfi no awkwardness of dupU- oato sugar spoons, it saves hours of •earch for Just the right thing, and It permits the recipient the plelasiire of leisurely choice. Therefore thore are times when money Is the best gift to nake. A UUg keepsake of no value, troa- •nred for associations, If sent with the Bxoney gift, lends a touch of originality and Interest, especially if a note of ex- planation or a Jingle goes with It One tnoiher, who wlsh^ed to give her son's fiancee a check to cover the oos-t of a loumey across the continent to vtalt tho new famlly-ln-law, enclosed the cheque In a tiny shoe that had been ber son's first bootee, kept among her raluablea all tho Intervening years. With it fihe sent a rime telling about the shoe and the purpose of the gift, ending with these lines: "Wo want you here to visit ua, And so this little shoe Ooefl trotting over hill and dale To take my gift to you.** Another mother gave her daughter a cheque with which to buy her table linen and sliver and dinner set, and on the envelope she tied with silver ribbon a souvenir that she had kept (or thirty yearaâ€" the wishbone of the trat chicken she baked In her own •ran In her nowl.y-marrled days. The Wishbone, she a.ssurod her daughter In * little note, would bring her good luck •rary time she used the linen and the *lna. A daughter, living; far from homo, wanted to give her mother a Biiver taapot that she knew she had been wishing for. So, on the mother'a sll- Tar wedding day, there arrived from (be daughter a carefully-pocked wood- •n box. Inside tho box, safely wrap- pad In folds of tlAsue paper and ex- •alalor, was the Uny doll's teapot that tba mother had given her little girl â- lany years ago. And Inside the spout 9t the teapot was a draft for enough Bioney for tho allver tea thlnga that tho mother bad wanted so long. Sometimes a keepsake without any romantic aaaoclatlons is amusing. Once Bpon a time a little girl heard of the •Id-time ciutom of saving the llrst •nrla of a little boy and giving them fMia later to his wife. The little girl W«a tiirllled at the Idea, for she adorad km lltUs brother; but he had atralght hair. Still, she resolved that she would find something belonging to him that she could keep for his future bride. Everything belonging to her brother appeared to be In use, except ! one tiny pair ot outgrown knicker- bockers that her mother had made for him of soft blue French serge. They were far smaller than any pair ever found In any store. She took them and rid them In her treasure box, aaf© from moths. Twenty-five years went by, nad the brother became engaged to her own best frlond. Perfectly de- lighted, the older sister rushed to the attic, found the little knickerbockers, pressed them neatly, put some five- dollar-gold-pteces Into the tiny pocket and wrote a Jingle to her -f rieni, the future bride. The Jingle contained too many linos to be quoted in full, but these are the concludlnc stanzas : "And 80 these little ijantaloone I stole that very day, ; And with his future bride In mind I hid them safe away. "The little pocket then contained Some pennies bright and oloan. You'll And them in the very place Where they so long have been. "I took them out and sblnod them up, â-  And now perhaps they'll do To buy some things that you may need ' When Geoffrey marries you." ZooGgical Gardens on Anticosti bland WHh the object of traostonalng llt- tla by little Antlcoatl Island, hla do- main. In the St Lawrence, into huge loologleal gardens, Sanator Monlor, ciiocolat* king, hSA Isaued Inatruc- tiODt to Us representatives to take means of bringing two new specimons of anlmela to the famoua Island. j According to Instructions be haa : transmitted, a party of men will leave early next spring for the northern lands to gat seme muaJi oxen, a variaty ot tba buffalo, which la on the are of being destroyed In the Arctic roglona, ' due to the constant campaign con4uct' ! «d agalnat them by the Esklmoa. Used for Food. Plana are being made to bring fifty representatives of that dying race to tho Island, where they will be assured all the facilities ot growing without any Interference and under Ideal con- ditions, according to experts, who claim that AntocoatI is wonderfully lo- cated tor such experiment*. There is much similarity between the musk oxen and the buffalo and In both cases their destinies having been subject to the constant attack ot the hunters, who had as an excus« that they were generally tlM only means they had ot food. This Is what la stated by the EskImo», who are said to be slaughter- ing the animals because they are In aaad of food at eartatai p«rtod» of tk*' year. While this spaclos will certaUIy prove interacting It tb* axporlmMit to suceoessful, Senator Uoalcr baa idao ilaclded to try and aara anotiiar variety by purchaaiog acme poDl«a» which are now living under unfavor* able conditions on Ilia aux Sablaa, th^ loat Island In tha Atlantic ocean, ara for Ponlaa. These ponlea have an Intareatln^ history which brings back aonvantr* of over throe hnndrad yeax» ago. At that time an attempt waa made by Monsieur Da Mont« to colianiaa Canad* with some prlaonora, who came from some French Jail. His attempt warn, fortunately, not aucce^atul, and th« majiorlty of the would-be settlers starved to death. However, horse* which had been taken across by the expedition were able to look after themcelves, but lost their original character until finally to-day they ara of the size ot ponies. To try and Improve that dylrg raM Senator Meni«r is to make also an ef- fort to get some of those ponlea trans- ferred to the island and to meet that end has entered iirto pourparlers with the proper partlea. As a reaulit next spring a number ot the ponies will b« transferred to th« large Island. I For a gift to be deposited in a new baby's bank book one proud grands ^ father sent a cheque that stuck out of i the chimney of the little red toy bank into which his son, the baby's father, had dropped the first penny that he ever earned. And a young college senior at oom- mencemont time found in her pcfit- olllce box a package from her grand- j mother, containing a quaint daguerreo- type of tho grandmother at tho age i of twonty-two, In lioop skirts and Pais- j ley shawl â€" and folded Inside tho j frame a loving letter enclosing twenty- two doUarfl "from the girl In the pic- ture." Gifts of that kind are such fun to show to your friends! Tho little koop- sako that came with the money makes a perfect transformation. "See what miy aunt sent tne for my sixteenth birthday â€" a cheque plunod like a sail to the mast of the little toy boat my father whittled for her \7hon sho was sixteen and he w€ia toni" Or, "Juat see this clever wedding preBontâ€" the. i bride's first toy piano, with a note I from her father telling her to ox- I change it for a larger one after she j gets to her new home." ! Qltta of money presented in that ' way never fleem sordid or impersonal. The recipient can convert Ihem in imagination Into Just what he wants. ' No two families keeD the same sort of souvenirs, but nearly every house oontalna some long-treasured toy or trinket that would aild to the value of a gift of money. Some little thing can alwaya be found to glorify a gold piece or a greenback â€" and the g'ver need never worry lest hla gift be a "white elephant" to the rsclpiant The Age of Fourscore. In a letter which The Star has re- ceived from a reader who Is In his eightieth year. th(-re occurs this In- tere.sting passage: "What puzzles me is where have gone tlio eighty years! They have slipped away almoet unnoticed, and I suddenly awaken to a realization of the fact that I have long since passed the allotted span of life, and even with this knowledge I do not feel like an old man who should lay aside Interest In contomporaneous events. It really Is wlaer to load an active, Industrious life. It ensures against melancholy and Idle repining, mental condltlona that must Impress health," There Is surely much wisdom in this opinion based on the experience and observation of a long and useful life. But even nioro inopoetlng than the ex- pressed opinion is the wonder as to "where have gone the eighty yeare." The years' of a man's life slip by al- most unnoted; they steal by him so soft-footedly that his attention la not attracted. Others may see changes In lilm of which he Is unaware. His hair may whiten, but so gently does Time use tlip brush, hat one does not feel It, ;ind so imporceptlble ts tho change that one's own eyes can scarcely de- tect It. And a man feels that he Is hlm- atolf; ho feels as he expects to feel. If he does no run to catch a street car or a train, It Is because he does not want to run. It Is a matter of Inclina- tion. The question of his ability to run does not arise at nil. He Is wiser than ho was and Is In time for his train. Ho Is more ot a philosopher than he was, and knows that if one street car leaves without him, another will follow almost at once. It is not that he is old, but Uiut experience to him haa been Instructive. He orders his comings and goings with a Just and sensible proclFlon which 11 would be well if others \ifl<Kl. An English physlelan has been mak- ing quite a stir by leaching that men do not become stooped becauso they are old, but become old because they aoot>. It is so. A genei-ation or two ago In Ontario. In villages and on the farm, men hecnnio old at a time of life when wo would now call them mlddle- ag+»d. No sooner waa a man a grand- father than he retired to an arm-chair beside tho fireplace, and spent the rest of his days talking of hl» rheumatism, his oth«r ailments and the not always interesting lecnillectlons of hla youth. His day's work was done, his evening had come, he resigned himself to It, and rested and mated away. It is not so now- It is certainly not no in the great Induerlal, llnf.ncial and husinosst cenros of Ontario, where men in their seventies and eighties, and even in their nineties, are still ac- tive, influential and. as our corres- IMindant says, keenly Interested In contemporaneous events. â€" Toron& Star. Warning I We wish to draw attention to the matter of unpacking the piano during the months between November and April, when the temperature Is liable to bo below the freezing point, as. It certain precautions are not observed serious damage will follow. The governing principle Is that the InKtrument must be warmed gradual- ly before being taken from the case and exposed to the warm Interior air; or If this l.s ImpoftS'lble, then the three Impervlouai wrapplnga must be left on and not removed for an Instant until the Instrument has been taken Into a temperate room and left covered fory at least 24 hours. The physical prin- ciple Involved Is that warm air carries a larger percentage ot moisture than cold, which Is being brought In con- tact with very cold .surfaces Immedl- aely gives up Its moisture by conden- sation In the form of a thin film of water which covens everything, pre- , clB'ely as happens to one's spectacles ! when coming Into the house out of a i zero temperature. This surface moU'- ture leaves a coat ot rust over all metal parts with disastrous effect; but still more fatal to the highly poltohed surface ot the hard varnish at thia time undergoing a severe process of con- traction and subsequent expansion. It this mater Is carefully watched no ; trouble will result from shipping In cold weather, and the Instrument will I open up In as good shape as w^hon It ^ was packed. Obperve principally that , the more gradual and thorough the I change from cold to warm before un- [ covering, the better. i '> 80 Well Trained. The school teacher was very proud of the results ot her labors during the past few weeks.' Day after day ahe had trained her pupils In the Intrica- cies of lire-drill, and at last they seem- : ed perfect. 1 "Now," she said one day, "what : would you do If I told you that the building was on fire?" j Like one voice came the answer of the hundred or more children assemb- led. A few days later a lecturer visited the school. Bald teacher, with a beam- ing smile on her face: "Now, children, what would you do it I were to tell you that Dr. Wlsehead was going to lecture here to-day?" Everyone knew. "We would rise promptly, put away our books, then quietly and without disorder file Into the street," they re- plied In chorus. Men are often visionaries. Women are always practica! â€" Mr. Winston Churchill. Eldibles from the Ocean. Along the Great Barrier reef ot Aua- tralla 1* found that curious sea beast, the dugong, and those who have tasted Its fieah d'eclare there Is nothing else to compare with It tor delicacy. Du- gong flesh Is now being cured like pork and exported to this country. As population increases man turns more and more to the almost untapped resources ot the sea tor food. The amount ot fish taken to-day Is three times greater than it was fifty yeajrs ago. The war taught us that the flesh of whal«fi 1» good food. The tongue and the tall of the finner-whale are as good as beet. The octopus, formerly used only tor bait, Is, when properly cooked, a re«d delicacy. In Italy It la a favorite dish. Many seaweeds can be used either tor salad or Jelly-making, or can be cooked as vegetaWes. That calied laver Is popular in South Wales, and you may see It In the markets In Bath and &rle<tol. Beohe-de-mer Is now being Imported from the trepang or sea cucumber, ot fro mthe trepang or sea cucumber, ot which there are no fewer than thirty- six different varieties. Trepang is dried for export, and must be soaked before cooking. It is boiled for eight hours In salted water and then allowed to cool, after which It can be eaten either with meat gravy or made Into soup. The Housekeeper. The frugal anall, with forecast o< re- pose, Carries his house with him wb«r«'af he goes, Peeps out, and If there comes a shower ot rain. Retreats to his small domicile again. Touch but a Up ot him. a horn â€" 'tla well- He curls up In hla sanctuary ahell, He'a hie own landlordi, hla own tenant stay, Long as he will, he dread* no quarter day. Hlmfi'elt he boards and lodges; both Invites' , And teaeta hinuelt; sleeps with hlok- I self o' nlgh<ta I He spares the upholsterer trouble U> procure Chattels ; himself Is hla own furniture. And his sole riches, wherosoe'or he roamâ€" - Knock when you will, he'* eux<e to b* at home. â€" Charles Lamb. Good Advice. "Hey, Joe! At last I've figured out a sure way to beat the racM." "Gee! Howzatt?" "Don't bet!" <» Religion a Higher Form of Qoaalp. The mere existence ot newspapers Is a proof ot the religious Instinct among men. that paselonate Interest In one another which Implies that we are all gossips together. Gossips are people who have only one relative In common, but that relative the highest possible ; namely, God. â€" Christopher Morley In 'Rellglo Journalletlci." Plenty to Chooae from. Mrs. Qabb (reading) â€" "Do you know, my dear, that there are approximately 700,000 words In the English lang- uage?" Mr. Oabbâ€" "Only 700,000! Why, I thought you used a great deal more than that every day!" The Left Hand in Piano- Playing. Are yoa a <^e-handed pianist A famous teacher of the piano haa re< oently said that there are very few two-handed plantats' to-day, although most people u®e both hands In playing the piano. The reason for this Is that very few people can make music with each hand alone and separately, but I must have both hands working la the ! Biame way. There Is mutlc written for j the lieft hand aJone, and If people I W011M practice this more than they ^ do. If they would leam to play tunea ; with their left hands In »uch a way : as to be pleasant to listen to, they i would be better players al'together. ] People who have etudled the subject ] will give twenty reason» why lett- ! hand music Is useful, but the principal ! one Is that only by using it can we get I both hands to work equally well. And I only by getting both hands' to work equally well can we get both sddes ot â-  the brain to work equally well, tor each hand Is worked by a dUfereift side of the brain, the right by the left and the left by the right. Stage G>ach to Revive London-to-Brighton Trip Old coaching days will be brought back agHin- although with a differ ence-when a stage ooach for paeaen- I gers will run between London and j Brighton, a distance of fifty miles oneh 1 way, on alternate days. It W redtoned ; that, leaving London nt 10 am., tho i ooaoh Khould arrive nt Brighton by \ 6 p.m.. BO that it can hardly be con- , stdered a rival of the railroad or the ' charabanc, since the train now does the trip In en hour and the oaraliano In Just over two hour*. There ara to be seven teama of coaoh horsaa for the Journey, and chaugefi ara to be made at the aume placet en route as use:] to be made in the days BL Des BallVeta, well-known Cana- ot old. One Jim ftolby covorM him dlan sporting figure, haa bean appoint- lelt with glory, and incidentally won •d winter iporta director at tho Cha- » wager. In the time ot the early tMia Frontonao, Quebec. He haa had Oeorgea, by driving his coach from Wld* •xperiai«e in thla oonnocUon in London to Brighton and back in aeven PvltK«rlai/L I hour* aad Otty BUaatw^ "Mad" Men. The recent obaervance In France ot the centenary ot Henri Fabore, the great entomologist, recalls the fact that to the vlUagera ot Serlgnan, where he spent twenty-five years ot his lite, he was known as "!• tou" (the madman). A very similar doubt of the mental powers of other great men haa been expresi>ed by those about them who observed without under- itandlng their habits of meditation. Darwin's gardener, when asked about the naturalist's health, replied, "Oh, my poor master has been very sadly. He moonei about In the garden and I have seen him stand doing nothing before a flower for ten minutes at a time. If only he had something to do I really believe he would be better." An old laborer' of the Dales, who used t« encounter Wordsworth wandering along tho roads "booing his pottery," believed him "quite daft" but subject to lucid Intervals when he was san* enough to say "Good morning, JtAn," Jus-t like other people. This small lake wua forine.l by the energetic work of a colony of beavers, a particularly fine bit of engineer- Mig in its looatton and ooavtnictlon. The opening In the trees la the boundary between Saakatchewan and Alberta. Dean of Chester Tells Story in Fewest Words. Many peopla, probably, are familial with the story of the serial friction- writer who, being asked by his editor to conclude a certain story In the few^ eat possible word», owing to exigen- cies of spac^. wrote aa follows: The hero thereupon took bl» hat, his revolver, hl» departure, and, flnaUy. his lite. This story ihas been capped by tiM Dean ot Chester with an anecdote which lllus'trates strikingly the ad- vantage.1 of compression In speech. A little friend of his had been a&ked to tell the .story ot BUsha, and her re- ply was: "BHaha had a bear and th» I children mocked him, and he said: "It I you mock me I will set my bear oa I >-ou, and t'. will eat you up.' Aad th%* did, and he did. and It HA,"