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J. TT DEVEAUX.. Max son* J-
VOL. 111.
... _ . Tiie Rock to the Sea.
Storm and tempest rage,
Rage and roar.
Beat my battered side,
With each coming tide,
Through ano her age,
> As before !
Drench me with your spray,
Cruel sea;
Crush me at your feet,
Till ray old bones meet,
Proud crests cold and gray,—
Death to me !
Pierce my poor heart through,
True and tried;
Like a tiger wild,
Tear me, heartless child 1
Long I’ve conquered you,
Long defied !
I have seen you grow,
Grow and play;
Round me you have curled,
Eddied, rippled, whirled,
Childish to and fro, —
But to-day f
Now you would destroy,
Destroy and kill;
Send me to my grave;
Make your master slave
Use your helpless toy
As you will!
Bring my grand form low,
Cruel sea;
Tear my fibres all,
Jeering at my fall,
Till you quiet flow
Over me !
Ages on will roll,
Come ami flee;
Rocks will guard the shore,
Check you as before,
hind you, still control,—
Baffled sea !
—[Charles K. Bolton.
The Message in a Bottle.
A wedding took place in the Little
Church Around the Corner not long
since, in the celebration of which a bot
tle bore a very important part. A com
mon every day soda water bottle, such
as the bar-tender takes from under the
counter when you ask for a temperance
drink. Such a bottle, with a patent
rubber stoppel, as is taken along when
you go on a picnic. For fear of offend
ing the parties concerned, the names of
Julia Maynard and Henry Smith shall
be used for the purposes of this story.
’Twas one of those joyous weddings
where the sly archer had transfixed two
hearts with one arrow. And when the
brief but sacred ceremony was con
cluded, Henry kissed his bride with
such a resounding smack that she re
buked him with a glance so full of
mingled love and reproach that he was
about to repeat the kiss had not an ur
chin stuck his head in at the door and
shouted “Golly!’’ in such a loud tone
that the whole wedding party were
alarmed. As they marched down the
aisle to the carriage at the door, Henry
leaned down and whispered in the ear
of his wife: “God bless the bottle,
dearest!”
And she replied: “Yes, dear.” But
her eyes met his with a glance of mean
ing more eloquent than words.
There was no wedding tour. The
couple had wisely concluded to put
their money into furnishing a flat on the
West side, and thither the party went
to partake of a wed ling supper. The
bride sat at the head of the table and
poured out the tea for the company, of
there were twenty present, while
her husband carvel the turkey and
passed the cake.
In the centre of the table, with a blue
ribbon round its smooth neck, stoo l a
bottle which attracted more attention
JEic.n those containing sherry and
angelica. It was empty save a little
roll of paper tied about with a red silken
cord.
“That’s the bottle, ch, little woman! ’
Bai l llcT.ty to his wif n “That - - the bit
of glass that did the businc s.”
“Oil, Henry, now don’t say anything
about it; please don’t.’’
*. “But it’s too good to keep. I can’t
help telling it, although some hare have
heard the story."
A chorus of “Go on, Henry, let’s hear
it,” arose from the tabla ai each one
turned in his or her chair, filled with
that comfortable sense of repletion
which follows a wedding feast.
“Three years ngo, this very night,"
began Henry; “yes, and at this very
hour in the evening, I was walking up
Fulton street in Brooklyn, on my wav
to call on the little woman who sits at
the head of this table. To tell the
truth, I was walking a trifle zigzaggy,
and this soda water bottle was in the
pocket of my ulster. I don’t know how
it got there, but probably some of the
boys stuck it in my pocket, knowing
where I was going. Well, *when I ar
rived at the house and pulled the bell I
was not the most refined looking young
man you could scare up. The bow of
my white necktie was shifted around
under my car and my speech was not as
clear as it is to-night. When the little
( woman let me in she was horrified at
my appearance, but she got me into the
parlor and took the bottle away from
me. Let’s see, Julia, what did 1 say to
you on that occasion?”
“You asked me to marry you three
times in as many minutes, and you acted
in a disgraceful manner.”
“I’m afraid your e right,” continued
Henry. “But the upshot of the matter
was that I left the house about 11
o’clock and when I awoke the next
morning and realized what an ass I had
made of myself I was as much broken
up as a clam shell under a trip hammer.
Os course I thought it was all up w ith
me and the little woman yonder, and so
in a fit of desperation I went down to
New Bedford and shipped aboard of a
whaler for a three years’ cruise. I left
a note for Julia saying that I was sorry
for my conduct, asking her forgiveness,
and telling her what I had done. We
hadn’t been three weeks in blue water,
before I was sick of my bargain. But
there was no use in repining, and so I
buckled to, and as I was a stout, able
bodied young man I soon found favor
with the vessel’s crew. But all through
that dreary voyage the memory
of the look with which
the little woman used to greet
me came to my recollection. On moon
light nights when it w’as my watch on
deck, I got as blue ns indigo, thinking
that perhaps some other chap would
get her before I got back. Then again
I thought she would forget me, and if
she did not, surely she must hate me
after what had hapened at our last
meeting. But I found out afterward
i that she did not; that she cried a little
when she learned that I had gone, and
went to reading sentimental stories
about knights and fair ladies to comfort
herself while I was away. She has
solemnly assured me that she knew I
would be back again. Well, after she
had been reading the love stories for a
month she got a curious notion in her
head; she ”
“Oh, Henry; stop. I wouldn’t tell
any more if I were you,” cried his wife,
her face crimsoning.
“Ob, yes, 1 must tell the folks how
you wrote that letter and put it in the
bottle, and dropped the bottle from a
| Jersey City ferryboat. You see, the
: letter was directed to me and I was
' thousands of miles away in the Arctic
! regions after whales. How that bottle
I got out to sea of course will never be
; known. How it escaped the wheels of
i steamboats; how it survived all the
i storms of two long years and bobbed
: along serenely through the Gulf stream
; and across the equator, I cannot say;
I Lu‘, dear old bottle—hand it over to
i mo, Bob. I think almost as much of it
| as Ido of the little woman sitting over
there.”
Ho took the bottle and held it up in
j the gaslight. There was nothing par
ticularly attractive about it; yet every
, one at the table looked at it with a fas
cinated interest, and an impatient young
' lady sail:
“For mercy’s sake, tell us why you
i think so much of that old soda-water
! bottle!”
“Well,” continued Henry, “ws were
1 on our return voyage, with 200 barrels of
j oil on board. The crew was overjoyed
I at the prospect of soon reaching port,
when one night, just after my watch
! turned in, soma one shouted, ‘Fire!’
When I got on deck, smoke was pour
i ing from the hatches, and in half an
hour the oil bad caught and the vessel
, was doomed. Wo took to the boats. ”
SAVANNAH, GA.. SATURDAY. MAY ID. 1888.
The levity had all gone from Henry’s
manner now. The recollection of that
awful time when they left tho sinking
vessel and were alone on tho sea, with
the waves leaping at them, made him
pale.
“For six days we drifted, sometimes
seeing a sail off tho horizon and then
watching it fade away. During the
day the hot sun blistered us and drank
our blood and one by one tho six men
in the boat died of delirium and thirst
until there was only myself and the sec
ond mate left. I was lying in the stern
trailing my fingers in the water. My
eyes were fast glazing and 1 feared not
death. All hope had gone. Something
had drifted against my fingers and they
closed involuntarily upon it. ‘Twas this
bottle. I was so weak that I could
scarcely lift it into the boat.
“When I had secured it I saw the
little roll of paper within it just as it is
now with tho silken ribbon. For two
hours I tried to fish the note out of the
bottle, but it wouldn’t come, and so at
last I cracked the neck on the gunwale
and took it out. I remember the sun
was setting. As I held the letter up in
the fading light I read these words:
Dear Henry: This may never reach you.
I have committed it to the water in the hope
that God will make the wind and tide carry
my message of love to you. For although I
never told you how dear yon were to me, my
heart is aching to relieve itself. Dear heart,
come back. Yours anxiously. J. M.
“That love letter saved me. The mate
died the next day, poor fellftw, but the
thought that the little woman still cared
for me infused hope into my heart, The
next day I was picked up by an ocean
tramp steamship and this wedding today
is the result of finding the bottle.
Blessed bottle! Let’s drink to it.” And
they toasted the message bearer half
smilingly and half tearfully.—[New
York Sun.
Daniel Boone's Death.
The Bourbon (Ky.) News publishes
from old copies of tho Paris Citizen
dated in 1815 and 1818, a notice of
Daniel Boone’s death, as follows:
“As he lived, so he died, with his gun
in his hand. We are informed by a
gentleman direct from Boone’s settle
ment on the Missouri, that early las;
month Colonel Boone rode to a deer
lick, seated himself within a blind
raised to conceal him from the game.
That, while sitting thus concealed with
his trusty rifle in his hand, pointed
toward the lick, tho muzzle
resting on a log, his face to
the breech of his gun, his rifle cocked,
his fingers on the trigger, one eye shut,
the other looking along the barrel
through the sights—in this position,
without a struggle or motion, and. of
course, without pain, he breathed out
his last so gently that when he was
found next day by his friends, although
stiff and cold, he looked as if alive,
with his gun in his hand just in the act
of firing. It is not altogether certain,
if a buck had come into the range of
his gun, which hid been death to thou
sands, but it might have intuitively
obeyed its old employe’s mind and dis
charged itself.
The Ugliest Waterfalls.
According to a recent calculation, the
highest waterfalls in the world are the
three Krimbs Falls in the Upper Prinz
gau; these falls have a total height of
1,148 feet. The three f ills next in
height are found in Scandinavia -the
Verme Fos 3 , in llomsdal, 981 feet; th:
Vettis Foss, on the Sognc Fjord, 853
feet; the Rjuken Fo in Thclemarken,
801 feet. With a decrease in height of
213 feet, the three Ve.ino Falls, 591
feet, near Z nil (the birthplace of Taci
tus), follow next in order, ami they are
succeed d oy the three Tessa Falls, in
the Vai Formazz-*, 541 feet. The Gas
tein Fulls, in the G -t in Val’.qy, 469
feet, rank between the Sk jag ge lal Foss,
in the Hardanger Fjord, 424 feet, and
the Boring I*os-, in the same fjord. If
the width of the falls is taken into con
sideration, the most imposing arc those
of the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi,
which uro 391 feet high, with a width
of 8,200 feet. A long way behind these
falls come the Niagara Falls, 177 feet
high atyl 1,9<J8 leet wide.
Chinese Superstitions.
A girl who is partaking of the last
meal she is to eat in her father’s house 1
I previous to her marriage, sits at tho
table with her parents and brothers;
but she must cat no more than half the
bowl of rice set before her, else her de
parture will be followed by continual
scarcity in the domicile she is leaving. I
If a bride breaks the heel of her shoe
in going from her father’s to her hus
band’s house, it is ominous of unhap
piness in her new relations.
A piece of bacon and a parcel of su
gar aro hung on the back of a bride’s
sedan-chair as a sop to the demons who
might molest her while on her journey.
The “Three Baneful Ones’’ aro fond of
salt and spices, and tho “White Tiger” ,
likes sweets.
A bride may bo brought home while j
a coflin is in her husband’s house, but |
not within one hundred days after a
coffin is carried out. Domestic troubles
are sure to come upon one who is mar
ried within a hundred days after a fu
neral.
A bride, while putting on her wed- j
ding garments, stands in a round, shal
low basket. This conduces to her load- ■
ing a placid, well-rounded life in her
future. Alter her departure from her '
father’s door her mother puts the bas
ket over the mouth of the oven, to atop
the mouths of all who would make ad
verse comment on her daughter, and
then sits down before the kitchen
range that her peace and leisure may
be duplicated in her daughter’s life.
A bride must not, for four months
after her marriage, enter any house in
which there has recently been a death
or a birth, for if she does so there will
surely be a quarrel between her and tho
groom. If a young mother goes to see
a bride, the visitor is looked upon as
the cause of any calamity that may fol
low.— [Popular Science Monthly.
Window Decorators.
The Tribune recently printed some |
facts about the window decorators of
Chicago—who they were, the wages I
they commanded, etc. Yesterday one
of these masters of his art was asked:
“Who make the best window-dressers,
• women or men?”
“Men, by long odds. Women aro a
failure at it, in fact. Strange, too, isn’t
it, with the average American woman’s
exquisite taste in combining colors she
| cannot fit up a window with the re
! sources of a store at her command. I’ll
I tell you why. She cannot execute a
general design, and, not to appear too
! ungallant, neither can she appreciate it.
Stand with a crowd of women in front
■ of a window which is worked into ono
i grand design, and you will find nine
I outof ten of them have discovered each
i some particular piece of stuff that rhe
j likes, and doesn’t see anything else in
, the window.” [Chicago Tribune.
The Whistling Tree.
In Nubia there arc groves of acacia
extending over one hundred miles
square. “The most conspicuous spe
i cies,” says Dr. Schwcinfurth, “is the
acacia fistula. Its Arctic .name is ‘soffnr,’ ,
: meaning flute or pipe. From tho '
larva: of insects, which hav • worked
their way into the inside, their ivory
white -hoots are often distorted in form
and swollen out at their baso into
globular bladder-like gall about ono
inch in diameter. After the insect has ,
, emerged from a circular hole, this
thorn-like sho ,t ;.-comes a sort of mu
sical instrument upon which the wind
as it plays pr i ices the regular sound
of a flute. (> i this account the natives !
of tho Sou 1 name the acacia the
whistling tree. -[The Coronado.
Di-Iri< t of Columbia.
The District of Columbia originally
included a strip of land tea miles square,
lying on both files of the Potomac.
This land w t s ceded by the owning
■dates—Maryland and Virginia—as a
gift, with tho mnditiun that Congress
or the Unite I States should have ex
clusive control forever. That part ly
ing south of lh<- Potomac wa* ( however, j
' retroceded to Virginia by the United I
! &UU. in 4846. J
(91.2 S Per Annum; 75 cents for Six Months;
- 50 cents Three Months; Single Copies
( 6 cents--In Advance.
Crows and Ants of India.
Crows in India arc as gentle as spar
; rows with us, writes ex-Mayor Harrison
to tho Chicago Mail. Indeed, much
more so. 1 saw one in Calcutta taking ,
its meal from a quarter of beef which a
butcher had on his head, and several
times 1 have seen them steal food from a
i man's dish when he was eating beforo
his door. They come withia five or six
feet of the natives at every railway
station, but cyo very suspiciously a
foreigner, and can hardly be tempted
with crumbs nearer than ten feet or so.
There aro vast numbers of them in every
part of tho land. In Burraah they aro
black ; hero they have a mouse-colored
neck, and look as if they wore a cape.
A native hurts nothing if ho can help it.
Ants aro tho terrible post of tho land.
I The white ant eats up the houses and
| destroys the trees, yet I have seen tuoro
than one native carefully stop sons not
to crush these little workers traveling
from their nests to a neighboring tree.
The Hindoo, like the Buddhist, believo
1 in transmigration of souls. From all I
I can learn lam convinced that though
Buddhism exists to only a small extent
at the present ti.no in India proper, yet
when it did exist it made its teaching
take a largo hold upon tho Brahmin ial
I religion, and has left its traces through
out the land, and has very greatly
softened the cruel nature of the older
and more dominant religion.
A Moorish House.
We visited ono of tho native houses,
the home of the guide. It was a simple
dwelling. Tho entrance, which was
narrow and paved with tiles, led to a
little open court, from which were outlets
hung with portieres leading into rooms.
A narrow stairway also inlaid with
tiles, led up to tho rooms above, into
or.cof which wo were shown. Tho
walls were mostly bare, but of peerless
white from tho rnmy whitewashings,
j which gave a p|ea mt air of purity
< while it reflected the light coming from
tho little court, which was opea to Iho
sky and undo the well room of the
house. There were no window < for
insiders to look out or for outsiders to
look in, Lut that was perfectly Orionta
in character. Tho .Moor never allows
the slightest exposure of his domestic
affiirs. The very entranceway often
turns at a sharp angle, so that the in
terior may not be disclosed, and espe
cially tbit tho female occupant; may
not bo seen from tho outer door.—
[Boston Transcript.
A Child's Victory.
A child was more L n l of candy than
her moth.T thought good for her.
What was thought 1 proper share was
doted out to her one day, and the rest
put away on the high shelf of a cup
board beyond tho child's reacii. Her
mother cautioned her not to attempt
reaching it, then left the room.
Returning after a while, sho looked
’ into the room, standing where tho
chil i cotthl not see her, and surveyed
the scene. Th-ro stood the child, her
feet on the first shelf, to which sho had
climbed by ai 1 of a r ';-:ir, and her h rail
i grasping the candy, which she had
reached to her lies. There it ptumdift
for a moment, the litt'e face ’bent in
earnest thought. Hud lenly the candy
flew from her lips an.l into the :.-ng
agein as the child leaped frwui thgAhelA -
on to the chair and tl; to then <or, ® '
where >he struck an attitude and
shouted exultantly: “There, Goll I
didn’t cat it alts'r all!”—[Boston
‘ Record.
—l1—
A Former Slave’s i’erseveranre.
A lawyer of »une prominence in Chi
cago is Louis Washington, a colored
man who w . 1 : »r si :ve boy with no
education at the clew of the war, and
whose ri e in life has been due entirely
to his rmnrkablc periev.-rjiaca in tae
face o <b tales. Without help no
worked hu way Wheaton Col
lege, in Illinois, and after a course in Si
law at the Uaiun Law College in Chi
cago wai admitted to the Btr ia 1819.
Besides his knowledge of Blackstone,
he i« well versed in R >man law aud is
. a good Greek and Latin ashoiar.— »
1 tNew Vorik World. ... a.,. .gJMI
NO. 31.