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CThc Sniicinuiili (Tribune.
Published bv the T»tßxn>r Publish is? Go. j
J. H. lIHVEAUX. Manioo >
VOL. 111.
The Katydids.
Sight after night, in the old elm tree#
A queer discussion has long been held;
fiuch a war of words ’twould have taken a
host
Os peacemakers ever the feud to have
quelled!
An individual —Katy by name —
It seems the quarrel was all about:
But who was Katy, or what she had done,
Our earnest endeavors could ne'er make out!
An irate voice in the topmast bough
In challenging tones cried, “Katy did!”
From a lower limb in quick response
Came “Katy didn’t!" in triumph said.
Theu from friendly trees that had long
clasped arms,
Reaching across o’er the broad highway,
Called new contestants, both pro and con.
With ardor joining this odd affray.
’Till the dear old tree that had nodding stood
So quiet and peaceful all day long.
Whispering only in loving mood—
Tremulous thrilled by the wild bird’s song—
Seemed filled with gossiping, clamoring
tongues
That rose and fell on the evening air,
While “Katy did!" and “Katy didn’t!"
Were heard and repeated everywhere.
All through the early autumn nights,
Still was not ended the strange dispute:
The woodlands turned to crimson and gold,
Brown and russet —the birds grew mute;
But one starry night—when the winds were
chill,
I heard a voice from the elm tree call,
That in this contention was the last word,
It just said “Katy’’—and that was all!
—[Hartford Times.
A NOBLE REVENGE.
BY JENNIE I>. ELKTON.
Winter was here and with its iciest
throe sheeted everything by a fall of
sleet; the north wind held its sway, and
tore with bitter gusts through the storm
driven streets. Steps and pavements
were traps for the unwary; telegraph
and telephone wires were down; even
staunch poles had been snapped sheer
oil between the weight of the ice and
the force of the wind. But the sun
came out the next morning clear and
bright, flashing in rainbow tints on a
crystal world; and a lineman who was
out on the roof of a seven-story building',
creeping down towards the eaves after a
refractory wire, caught the dazzle in his
eyes, slipped and fell, but made a des
perate clutch with his numbed hands at
the eavestrough, ami hung suspended
by that frail support which might give
way any instant beneath his weight.
People in the street below cried out
as they caught sight of his perilous
position.
“Oh, he’ll be down in a minute.’’
“He can’t draw himself up, for see,
it’s breaking away now."
“No, it holds vet. Can’t something
be done for him?”
While they gazed upward, dazed
with horror and feeling the utter help
lessness of any effort to reach him in
time, a second lineman appeared on the
roes, sent there, it would seem, to assist
the other. It only required an instant
to take in the situation—the cracking,
swaying eaves-trough, the desperately
igripping hands, the ghastly set face of
Ithe doomed man, who swung over that
{deadly abyss.
“nave him! Save him!” came up from
[the street below.
I Only the meaning of the cry reached
lhe man on the roof, so loud and strong
■vas the wind which blew there, but he
Answered as if he had heard it:
■ “I’ll try. ’Taint no dijf'rence to me
■ tis Steve Brady. May be as we’ll
Both go down; but 1 reckon we’ve about
Bkil chances."
■ He was busy fastening a rope to the
Blearest chimney as he spoke. It was not
■ long rCpe, but it would reach beyond
Bl ■ edgo of the roof, and he made a
■oose in the end of it, which he placed
■round lis body beneath the arms; then
Baking a eoil of wire which he carried
■or repairing purposes from his pouch,
Bie plied it to the rope a few feet farther
Kp, and dropping upon hands and knees,
Bnade Id’s way to the eaves.
| “Hold fast, Steve,” he called, en
couragingly; “I’m cornin' to help ye.
■lang on till 1 get a turn cf the wire
■rour.d yon—good Lord! man; don’t
■on wriggle, or you’re a gone one in
■’it' al me'”
SAVANNAH. GA.. SATURDAY. DECEMBER 24.1887.
But in the same breath with the warn- 1
ing there was a convulsive effort on the
part of the suspended man, the parting
caves trough slipped from his rigid fin
gers, he was toppling backward, falling
into space, the earth, the sky, the face
of the man above him all blending in
one chaotic picture before his despairing
sight, yet he did not fall; the atm of
John Harmon, who had slipped like a
flash over the edge, was about him hold
ing him up, while he adjured:
“Get a hold, get a hold, for God’s
sake. If you vaily your life and mine,
keep your wits about you, Steve Brady.
Now, then, climb up the rope. I’ll bear
the strain, I think, and’you can get on
the roof from my shoulders. Steady ;so.”
There was a moment of suspense, the
strands of the straining rope were cut
ting on the edge of the slates, but the
wire which John had plied to it higher
up divided the weight and enabled first
one, then the other to climb to the roof.
They stood there panting with exer
tion, looking into each other’s eyes.
“I owe my life to you,” said Brady,
“but I wish I didn’t. I wish I’d
dropped down into the street afore I
owed it to you.”
The cause of the enmity between
them? The usual cause—only a girl.
Not even a pretty girl as the world saw
her, but the one on whom each of these
men had set his heart. There was some
thing of the coquette in her, or else she
had not yet learned her own mind, for
she had given encouragement to each,
or he thought so, which amounted to
the same.
The bitterness of feeling that, out of
common gratitude, he ought to stand
out of his rival’s way, was working in
Steve Brady, but, with the words on his
lips, he began to waver and sank down
unconscious.
When he. came to himself he was in
a strange place, but it was still John
Harmon who was with him and who
had this to say:
“Now, look here, Steve Brady, don’t
you go to fussin’ or worritin’! You’ve
been took with a spell, and busted a
blood vessel innardly, through strainin’,
but you don’t want doctorin’ so much
as quiet an’ peace of mind. That’s why
I brung you here. This is my room and
it’s in my mother’s house, and I want to
say to you that I’ll be square an’ even
with you. I won’t take a step toward
seein’ Dolly till you’re on your feet
again. 1 won’t try to get ahead with
her through your misfortin’, and I don’t
want you to feel beholden to me for
anything. You’d a done as well by me
if I’d been in your fix.
The evil spirit in Steve was quelled
by this generous treatment.
“You’re a better man than I am, John
Harmon,” he cried out. “You’re more
deservin’ of her, too.”
“I don’t know," answered John, “I'm
slow an’ you’re quick, that’s about the
difference. It just depends on which
she takes to most, that’s all there is of
it.”
Another spirit moved the injured man
before he was conceded by John Har
mon to be fairly on his feet again.
The latter canie home late from his
work one evening.
“How’s Brady?” he asked of his
mother as he sat down to the supper
which she had kept for him. “Wants
to get out, eh? He’ll be there soon now,
but I reckon I’ll have to give him the
slip to-night. She’d bo disappointed if
I didn’t come ’round.”
“Yes,’’from the mother. “But seems
to me bananys ud give jou better worth
for your money than them there roses,
John.”
“She wouldn't think so, mother.”
Then a door went shut, and Brady,
who was half way down the stairs when
these words arrested him; turned anil
went up again vpth his blood on fire.
So, this was the kind of faith with him!
This was the man who was more worthy
of Dolly than lie was.
He could hear John splashing the
water st the kitchen sink as he made
ready to go out, but Harmon hud no idea
that a dark figure on the other side of
the way, when he finally reached the
street, was that of his rival. lie did not
notice how it crept after him, keeping
him in sight, and if there had been any
doubt at all in Brady’s mind it was soon
ended, for they were taking the direct
route to Dolly's home.
It was a lonely way; down side streets
and alleys, and presently Steve saw a
second dark form on Harmon's side of
the way now, creeping stealthily after
him. He remembered then that this
had been pay day and that John most
probably had his week’s wages in his
pocket; but his first impulse was to cry
out and warn the other died down.
Why should he interfere? What busi
ness was it of his if John should be as
saulted and robbed? Was not the latter
stealing a march on him, carrying roses
to Dolly and ingratiating himself when
he had promised to keep away. He had
a momentary glimpse of an uplifted arm
carrying something which looked like a
short club. He knew instantly what
it was. He remembered an item which
he had read the week before of an un
known man who had been sandbagged
on the street and killed outright by a
single blow. He had not set this out
law upon the track of John Hannon; he
had nothing to do but to hold his peace
and it might be his rival would be re
moved from his path forever.
It was a wicked thought, a horrible
thought.
“You hain't, got to do nothing, Steve
Brady; only just keep quiet,” whis
pered the tempter.
But another inward voice,finer,stiller,
made itself heard.
“Wher’d you be now if he'd done
nothing when you hung down from that
rotten eavestrough? Did he keep quiet
an' let you drop out of his way, or did
he venture his life to save your'n? This
here’s murder you're a nursin’ in youu
heart, Steve Brady. Are you ready to
do murder for any girl—leastwise for a
girl that don’t know her own mind well
enough to choose between the two oi
you?”
All this before the murderous blow
fell. It takes time to tell these
thoughts of his, but they all flashed
through his mind in the .space of a
breath. As it fell a wild, car-splitting
yell startled the assailant and assailed
alike. John Harmon wheeled in his
tracks, and the blow, grazing his check,
had force to knock him down. He was
up again on the instant; up in time to
catch Steve Brady as the ruffian flung
him off after the briefest struggle—for
Steve was weak yet and no match for
the burly villain whose flight he had
tried to intercept—to catch him and
break the deadly force with which he
was hurled head first against the wall.
That set-to had the effect of sending
Steve back to his bed again. His head
troubled him and he raved about roses
and sand clubs and Dolly until one day
he found himself looking into Dolly’s
own blue, tearful eyes.
•‘Oh, you poor fellow!" she cried.
“Oh, to think you eared so much for
me! But how brave of you to save him
when you were so sick and jealous and
all. You needn’t say a word, for John
Harmon has told me everything; but
the idea of you believing that I—that I
could—like him the best.” •
“Dolly,” muttered poor Steve, hardly
knowing if he were really awake, “de
you mean—you choose—me?”
“You, and you only,” murmured
Dolly, who would have been vastly in
dignant had any one hinted that honest
John Harmon was mere worthy to be
glorified by that same heroic light with
which she had invested Steve.
It made no difference when Steve con
fessed his temptation to her afterward.
What woman will not forgive a man
who errs through loving her?
Those roses were never intended for
Dolly, after all. They were meant for
a little lame orange girl who was fast
dying of consumption. They were the
one bright spot in her joyless life, and
that was the only pay night as long as
she lived on which John 11 irmon failed
to take them to her.
lie is Steve's best irn nd, but he has
never found another Dully. -[ Washing
ton Critic.
if there is any (mtmoii to whom you
feel a dislike,that is the person of whom
you should never speak.
Legend of the “White Woman.
she latest measurement makes Popo
catepetl a little more than 19,000 feet in
height, one of the mightiest in that
“burning girdle” which surrounds the
Pacific. Its twin, Iztaccihuntl, is 3000
feet lower, a long, uneven ridge, instead
of a cone, but being that much nearer
the limits of vision, the greater of the
two from the vallpy. Facing eastward,
Iztaccihuntl-la Mujer Blanca, or the
“White Woman,” is really suggestive
by its shape, of a dead giantess, robed
for burial. Far and near this long ex
tinct volcano is known as the “White
Woman,” and from the City of Mexico,
as from the plains of Amcca-Mcea, the
resemblance is the same, to a dead
woman stretched out on her bier, cov
ered with a white sheet. The contout
of face, breast, and limbs is perfect, and
the hair is streaming in long, silvery
locks back from the snowy forehead and
down the sides of the bier. The feet,
are turned toward her companion giant,
and between the two lies a brown anil
treeless ridge.
There is a tradition among the Indi
ans that these two volcanoes were once,
in the early years of the world, living
human beings, both of gigantic stature.
Unfortunately for the colossal pair, thej
committed some misdemeanor which sc
offended the Supreme Deity that He
changed them into mountains. Ik
struck the giantess dead, and there she
lies to this day, robed in glistening
white, stretched beneath a winding
sheet of snow. The giant was merely
rooted fast to the spot, condemned
through all the slow centuries to con
template his loved companion. For
merly he was wont to express his grief
and indignation by pouring forth vol
times of smoke and shedding floods of
fiery lava tears, shaking the whole
earth in the agony of his tremblings.
Then the affrighted natives worshiped
him as Tlaloe, the God of Storms, and
called him Popocatepetl (“Hill That
Smokes.’’) But all this was long ago;
and for hundreds of years the giant ha«
remained impassive, apparently re
signed to his doom.”—[Mexican Letter.
The Mouth.
The mouth contains seventeen distinct
species of micro organism, according to
M. Vignal, who has of late succeeded in
isolating and cultivating them, and test
ing their action on foods. Os these or
ganisms, 7 dissolve cooked albumen; 5
swell it, or render it transparent; 10
dissolve fibrin; 4 render it transparent,
or swell it; 9 dissolve gluten; 3 trans
form starch, but only 1 acts with some
energy; another seems to live upon it
but without transforming it; 7 coagu
late milk; 0 dissolve casein; 9 transform
lactose into lactric acid: 7 intervert
cane, 7 cause glucose to ferment, and
transform it partially into alcohol. Ail
these actions are more or less energetic.
Six of the buccal organisms were found
in the fasces. Vignal concludes that
micro organisms play an important part
in the digestion of food.—[Medical
Record.
Testing the Sea’s Depth.
On some parts of the coast of Sumatra
and the neighboring islands the fisher
men test the depth of the sea and also
the nature of the sea bottom by the
noises they hear on applying the ear to
one end of an oar of which the other
end is plunged in the water. At a
depth of 20 feet and less the sound is a
crepitation, similar to that produced
when salt is thrown on burning char
coal; at 50 feet it is like the ticking of a
watch, the tic-tac being more or less
rapid, according to whether the bottom
is entirely of coral or alternately of coral
and mud, or of sand. If the bottom is
entirely of sand the sound is clear; if of
mud it resembles the humming of a
swarm of bees. On dark nights
the fishermen select their fishery
grounds according to these indications
—-[Science Monthly.
At the Garden Gale.
/ “Don't you Hunk it’s getting pretty
late, George.”
“Yes, dear, it is, a little for one to b<
out, but not so very late for two.”—
[Boston Courier.
1 f 1.25 Per Annnm; 76 rents for Six Months;
< 60 cents Tuns Mouths; Single Copies
‘ 5 cents- -In Advance.
Idiosyncrasies of Plants.
An English reviewer of a book by Mr.
Charles Roberts, called “The Natural
ist’s Diary,” mentions the idiosyncrasis
of certain plants and animals as a fea
ture to which more attention might bo
given. Thus, a quantity of seed taken
from the same plant at the same time,
and sown under tjio same conditions so
far ns possible, will nevertheless exhibit
very great variation in the length of
time required for germination. The
fact enforces the circumstances that the
same amount of aggregate temperature
and of water-supply, the same conditions
of .soil, etc., do not necessarily imply
corresponding identity of result.
The same, thing happens to trees.
Every one knows how some individual
horse-chestnut trees arc year by year
more precocious in their development
than their fellows. It sometimes hap
pens, too, that one branch of one trea
is considerably in advance of the others.
Some persons might call these cases of
exceptions, but they are hardly that.
Since they are connected with the main
body of habitudes by every possible
gradation, they arc to be considered as
extremes rather than as exceptions, and
therefore to be included in the making
up of averages.—[Monthly Popular
Science.
The Value of Pearls.
The value of a pearl depends upon its
size, shape, color, brightness and free
dom from defects. The most value
able pearls are those which are perfectly
round, the bouton or button-shaped
pearls rank next, and then comes the
drop or pear-shaped jtearl. Perfectly
round pearls, over twenty-five grains in
weight, arc extremely scarce and secure
high prices. They are greatly sought
after to form the centre, of necklaces,
and large pearls of this character are
safe and very profitable investments.
New discoveries of diamond fields have
before now so largely increased the sup
ply of diamonds that those gems are by
no means steady in price. Other dis
coveries may again cause a fall in value,
but the source of supply of pearls is far
more closely sealed, and the difficulties
attendant upon the prosecution of pearl
fishing are as great as its disappoint
ments, risksand uncertain character are
deterrent to the xvould-bc explorer.
There is, indeed, no prospect of pearl
fishing being increased to any great ex
tent, nor are the habits of the mother
of-pearl oysters likely to alter and render
the formation of pearls a less rare occur
pence.—[Jewelry News.
“Sleep Off” a Headache
A scientific writer says: “Sleep, if
taken at the right moment, will prevent
an attack of nervous headache. If the
mbjects of such headaches will watch
the symptoms of its coming, they can
notice that it begins with a feeling of
weariness and heaviness. This is the
time that a sleep of an hour or two, as
nature guides, will effectually prevent
the headache. If not taken just then it
will be too late, for after the attack is
fairly under way it is impossible to get
sleep until far into the night, perhaps.
It is so common in these days for doc
tors to forbid having their patients
waked to take medicine, if they are
asleep when the hour comes round, that
the people have learned the lesson pret
ty well, and they generally know that
Heep is better for the sick than medicine,
But it is not well known that sleep is a
wonderful preventive of disease—better
than tonic regulators and stimulants.” j
The Regular Tiling.
An old gentleman of Detroit was
passing through the ceremony of taking
his fourth wife the other day. At the
impressive climax of the good preacher
man’s part in the performance, some
body was heard sobbing in an adjoining
room.
“My goodness! exclaimed one of the
guests in a dramatic whisper, “who on
earth is that crying on this festive oc
casion?”
“Thatreplied a mischievous mem
ber of th* - experienced brid.-groom's
family. ••That’s nobody but Em. She
always bootioos when pa's getting mar
ried.’—[Detroit Free Press
NO. 10.