That the dynamite, of which there was about fifty pounds, quite enough to have caved in the drift, did not explode was from the fact, afterward discovered, that the men, in walking about, about stepped on the fuse, cutting it in two against a sharp point of stone, thus stopping the little spark of destruction. Worth had no idea as to the cause of the attack made upon him. New Champion Horseshoer. Harry Wilson, a Des Moines, Iowa, horseshoer, defeated Frank McCarty, of Minneapolis, and Tom Welsh, of Milwaukee, in a shoeing contest. The winner’s time was five minutes, forty-four seconds. This Lad Makes a Home Run. A twelve-inch trout, five-foot rattlesnake, and a big black bear can afford a whole lot of excitement for one day. According to Robert Bastian, a sixteen-year-old boy, entirely too much for a tenderfoot. Robert was fishing in Roaring Run Creek, near Williamsport, Pa. He had just hauled out the trout, when he discovered the rattlesnake curled up beside the big stone. Seizing a club, he started to kill the snake, when he heard something crashing through the bushes. He jumped aside just in time to avoid the rush of the bear. Without waiting to pick up trout, fishing rod, or lines, he made a home run of over a mile. Folks in one of the houses he passed on his return dash say they couldn’t make out whether he was some low-flying bird or a frightened jack rabbit. Trees Lightning Is Most Apt to Strike. What trees are most likely to be struck by lightning? A Swedish forestry journal called the _Woods_ has made a serious study of this subject, and the results are both instructive and interesting. The oak, for example, is about a hundred times more likely to be struck than the beech. Next to the oak, the trees that are most often struck are the poplars, pear trees, elms, willows, ash, and the larger kinds of evergreens. Those least likely to be struck by lightning are alders, maples, horse chestnut, and beeches. The last-named seems to be the one that is least often injured by lightning. A middle position is occupied by lindens, apple trees, cherry trees, walnut trees, and real chestnuts. The birch is classified by some as being quite safe from lightning, while others have a directly opposite view. A German botanist, Ernest Stahl, has explained that liability to be struck by lightning depends on the ease with which the trunks of different trees get wet. It is a well-known observation that “dry thunder” is the most dangerous, and it is probable that the wet layer about the bark of a tree acts as a safeguard. Therefore, it is clear that in a thunderstorm it is best to avoid trees with a dry bark, and also trees that have been mutilated in the crown. It may also be observed in this connection that the number of people killed every year for every million inhabitants amounts to 1.8 in Sweden, 1 in England, 4 in France, and 4.4 in Germany. * * * * *