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,4 , ’Rlaying-Cards.
Ndt many Fronoh cards were ever sold
In the American markets, comparatively
speaking, although these manufactures
were exceedingly line—a linen card, thin,
strong and delicate, and nice to handle.
The great bulk of imported cards wore
from Engl ikh manufacturers, as they aro
to-day. The English cards excel m tho
beauty of tlieir finished geometrical de
signs for their backs being ornamented
with flno colors and gildidg to an extent
never attempted with the American article.
This eleganco of ornamentation seems to
have always been a specialty with the
English makers, and alone, or in con
nection with the heavy duties, appears to
warrant, tho price gsfyed for them—about
double that of American feards, the latter
boing even a better article.
But, as has been hinted, of late years
groat progress has been mado in the
manufacture of playing cards in this
country, until at present no bettor goods
can bo found in any market than are af
forded by United States makers. The
modern, round-cornered card of the pres
ent makes is a vast improvement over the
old style square-cornered affair; and the
manipulation of stock in their make-up
results in an article possessing all 4ho at
tributes considered desirable by card
players. The English" manufacturers
have been trying to copy tho results at
tained in American round-cornered cards
by “dieing out” the stock; but in this
effort they failed signally, since tho card
cannot be cut in that way without fatally
injuring its edges and quality. Conse
quently n couple of card-cutting machines
have been sent to England from this
country, and, by tho use of Yankee (or
Jewish) methods, no doubt our cousins
will achieve bettor success.— Boston
Herald.
A French Woman’s Valor.
Visitors to Paris cannot fail to have
seen in the groat central market an old
woman seated behind a goodly array of
cabbages and cauliflowers, wearing the
Order of the Legion of Honor on her
breast. Her name is Annette Drevon,
and her history is a remarkable one. In
her younger days she was cantiniere in
a regiment of Zouaves who served in
Africa, in the Crimea, in Italy, and on
the banks of tho Bliine. She was pres
ent at the taking of Magenta, and during
that mclcc saw a couple of Austrian sol
diers lay hands ou the flag of the regi
ment to which she belonged. Undeter
red by the whistling of the bullets, the
courageous Frenchwoman rushed forward
to save the flag, killed one Austrian,
wounded the other with her revolver, and
returned triumphant with the standard
she had saved from the enemy. For this
act of courage she was decorated; but it
is not her only one. During the Franco-
Prussian war she followed tho Thirty
second Begiment of the Line as eanti
niere. One day after tho armistice had
been proclaimed, she was iusulted by a
Bavarian soldier, near the gates of Thion
ville. The plucky eantimere drew out
her revolver and stretched the aggressor
dead on the ground. For this she was
arrested, tried by a court martini sitting
at Metz, and condemned to death. On
the day sho was to be executed Prince
Frederick Charles happened to be passing
through Metz. Having learned that a
woman was to be shot, he inqnired into
the circumstances, granted her a respite,
and four days later sent her back to
France, pardoned. Since then Annette
has established herself as a market wo
man, and, aided bya pension allowed her
by the State, manages to live, as she is
proud of saying, independently.
Man’s Self-Importance.
Mrs. Jameson, in more instances than
one, shows her belief in self-importance
being man’s prime quality. Here is one
thing that breathes a hard spirit. “Per
sonal vanity in a man is sheer, unmiti
gated egotism, and an unfailing subject
of ridicule and contempt with ail women,
be they wise or foolish. ” The Countess
of Blessington, who was almost as wise
as she was handsome, has left c few out
spoken opinions, of which one is that
“Self-possession and dignity ought to
characterize a man of birth and genius,
and a poet should neither be gay nor
flippant.” Here is a stinger; “Men can
pity the wrongs inflicted by other men
on the gentler sex but never those which
they themselves inflict on women.”
Though the following would apply
equally well to womer. it is woith re
membering as showing that to a delicate
minded woman the man who prides him
self on being a bear, growling out un
palatable truths at every breath, is not
considered the pleasantest of compan
ions: “Your plain-speaking men,’ says
the Countess, “are usually either of ob
tuse intellect or of ill-natured disposi
tions, wounding the'feelings of others
from want of delicacy of mind and sen
sibility, or from intentional malice.”
The Countess grows concise, and in say
ing that a woman’s head is always influ
enced by her heart, and a man’s heart is
always influenced by his head,’ utters
an epigram worthy of Pope. In the
same epigrammatic mood must this have
been conceived: “Great men direct tho
events of their times, wise men take ad
vantage of them; weak men are borne
down by them.” Elsewhere she says:
“In the society of pe sens of mediocrity
of intellect a clever maa will appeal to
have less spii'it than those around him
who possess tho least, because he is dis
placed in their company. ”
The Blue Doctor.
One of the curiosities of Paris is Dr.
Chiron, called the “blue grass.” This
name he obtained through being called
in to see a lady who was at the point of
death, as was supposed, from some mys
terious weakness. He sent at once, not
for medicaments, but for an upholster
er, and ordered this tradesman at once
to refurnish the whole of tho lady’s
rooms with stuffs and carpets dyed with
indigo. He clothed her with stuffs simi
larly dyed, and ordered that none should
approach her unless clad in indigo-dyed
garments. The result was, so the story
goes, that the lady recovered, and M.
Chirou received the name of “le docteur
bleu.” He is not liked by the regular
practitioners, who do not scruple to call
him a quack, but he has made some
wonderful cures by wonderful methods.
One of these cures occurred with the
wife of an eminent English statesman.
This lady had long suffered from an ap
parently incurable cough of a very dis
tressing nature. She went to the blue
doctor, who for three months made her
inhale daily a mixture of chloroform and
the fumes of some strong acid. Every
day she was chloroformed to insensi
bility, and at the same time was acidu
lated, with the result that she is now
quite well.
Toils.
If you want knowledge, you must toil
for it; if food, you must toil for it; and
if pleasure, you must toil for it. Toil
is the law. Pleasure comes through
toil, and not by self-indulgence and in
dolence. When one gets to love work,
bis life is happy one,— limkin.
STIC iwii fist* pps.
WILL W. SINGLETON, Editor & Proprietor.
VOL, VI.
OUR TOUNO FOLKS.
now.
This is Don, Ih* do# of dogs, sir,
Just as lions outrank frogs, sir.
Just, as eagles are superior
To blizzards and that tribo inferior.
He’s a shepherd, latl—a beauty—
And to praise him seems a duty,
But it puts mv pen to shame, sir,
When nis Tirt’uei I would name, sir,
“Don! come hcie, and bend your head now,
Let 11s see your best, well-broad bowl”
Was there ever uch a creature?
Common sense in errrt feature!
“ Don! rise up and look around youl”
Blessings on the day we found you.
Sell him! well, upon my word, sir,
That’s a notion too absurd, air.
Would f sell our little Ally,
Barter Tom. dispose of Sally,
Think yon I’d negotiate
For my wife, at any rate?
6pll our Don! you’re surely ioking,
And ’tisfun at us you’re poking!
Twenty voyngos we’ve tried, sir,
Sleeping, waking, side by side, sir.
And Don I will not divide, sir;
He’s my friend, that's why I love him—
And no mortal dog’s above him?
He prefers a life aquatic,
But never dog was less dogmatic.
Years ago, when I was master
Of a tight brig callod the Castor,
Don and I were bound for Cadiz,
With the loveliest of tho ladies
And her boy—a stalwart, hearty,
Crowing, one-year infant party,
Full of childhood's myriad graces,
Bubbling sunshine in our faces
Ah we bowled along so steady,
Half way home, or more already.
How the sailors loved our darling!
No more swearing, no more snarling;
On their backs, when not on duty,
Round they bore the blue-eyed beauty—
Singing, shouting, leaping, prancing,
AII the crew took turns in dancing;
Every tar played Punchinello
With the pretty laughing fellow;
Even the second-mate gave sly winks
At the noisy mid-day high jinks.
Never was a crew so happy
With a curly-headed chappy,
Never were such sports gigantic,
Never dog with joy more antic.
While thus jolly, all together,
There blew up a change of weather.
Nothing stormy, hut quite breezy,
And the wind grew damp and wheezy.
Like a gale in too low spirits
To put forth one-half its merits.
But, perchance, a dry-land ranger
Might suspect some kind of danger.
Soon our stanch and gallant vessel
With the waves began to wrestle.
And to jump about a trifle,
Sometimes kicking, like a rifle
** hen ’tis slightly overloaded.
But by no means nigh exploded.
’Twas the coming on of twilight,
As we stood abaft the skylight
Scampering round to please the baby,
(Old Bill Benson held hire, maybe),
When the youngster stretched his fingers
Toward the spot where sunset lingers,
And with strong and sudden motion
Leaped into the weltering ocean!
“ What did Don do?” Can’t you guess, sir?
He sprang also—by express—sir;
Seized the infant’s little dress, sir,
Held the baby's head up boldly
From the waves that rushed so coldly;
And in just about a minute
Our boat had them safe within it.
Sell him! Would you sell your brother?
Don and I love one another.
-J. T. Fields . in Youth's Companions
MILLY’S RUNAWAY.
“Oh! Aunt Milly. Tell us something
that happened when you w r ere a little
girl,” said Jamie Williams, as he threw
himself down on the carpet, before tho
glowing coals, which both warmed and
lighted the pleasant sitting-room.
“Yes,” said Mabel, “something that
happened ever and ever so long ago,
when you were about as big as I am,”
and the blue eyes looked up lovingly.
It was an evening in early fall, when
careful mothers call their children in
out of the damp, chilly twilight, and the
restless feet and thoughtless heads find
it hard work to fall into tho traces of
school-life and the quiet evening games
seem dull indeed, after the merry out-of
door romps, of the long summer days
On each evening, Aunt Milly volun
teered to tell the children a story, while
the little mother cleared away tho sup
per, and made preparations for break
fast. “Well,” said Auntie, musingly,
“did I over tell you, about the tirno a
great, big horse ran away with me?”
“Oh, no, no;” exclaimed the children,
“tell us about it, do, please.” The visit
of this auntie was regarded as a great
treat by the children; she had the knack
of story-telling, and was always ready
to bring forth stories, new or old, from
her treasure house of facts and fancies.
“Well,” she continued, “it was -when
your grandpa was living at C -, and
kept a pony which I was used to riding
around the yard, though I was thought
too young to be trusted in the street.
“ Father had taken pains to teach mo
at home, and almost my first experience
at school was ‘upstairs’ with the old
scholars. I was ten years old, but very
small of my age and frail-looking. Two
or three young ladies rode in from the
country, a mile or two, every afternoon
for a recitation in Latin. As I was an
especial pet with them, I asked one of
them one day if I might ride around the
yard at recess. She answered, ‘Yes,’of
course, without a thought of any dan
ger.”
“What, auntie,” asked Mabel with
wide open eyes. “You ride a strange
pony. Weren’t you afraid?”
“Not a bit,” laughed auntie. “A few
days before, when our old Nellie had be
come frightened, and jumped so quickly
as to throw me off, I picked myself up
from the midst of tho patch of burdocks,
where I had fallen, and took another
ride, burdocks and all.”
“ Hurrah for you, auntie,” said Jamie,
“I wish I had you for a playmate. You
could climb trees I’ll warrant, and
wouldn’t have been so afraid as Mabel
is, when I want her to romp in the barn
with me.”
“ Yes, I was a sad romp,” said auntie,
“but as I was such a delicate child,
mother allowed me to play as hard as I
pleased, and to this freedom I owe my
good health. My favorite play-house
was under the shade of a tree, on tho top
of the lean-to of the house, which was so
nearly flat, there was little danger of my
falling off.”
“ Oh, Aunt Millie!” and Mabel drew
a long breath, “how could you.”
Auntie stroked the brown hair as sho
continued:
“ The school-house was clear across
the play-ground, which was fenced in.
This particular afternoon the gate had
been left open. As I seated myself on
the saddle for a ride around the yard, a
large boy, almost a young man in fact,
mounted the other pony. Seeing this,
the boys all at once commenced to yell,
more like wild Indians than civilized
white boys,” and she smiled roguishly
at Jimio,
BUENA VISTA, MARION COUNTY, OA„ SATURDAY. FEBRUARY 26, 1881.
Becollcetions of a certain noisy game
of tho forenoon, made Jamie blush, but
he laughed, too, and said: “Well, auntie,
what is a fellow to do? The noise just
hollered itself.” Auntie drew the plump
fingers into her own, and petting them
affectionately, wont on: “At tho first
seream, the horse pricked up her ears,
and at the second started for the gate on
a run. Tho little hands holding the
bridle were powerless to hold tho fright
ened creature. On, on—faster and fast
er, sho sped with her frail burden, still
clinging to the reius.
“After running in this wav about a
mile, I thought of tho lane which led to
the house, and felt certain in turniner
the cliarp corner at such a pace, I could
not hold on, and then looking up, I saw
the house of Mr. Shaw near by. This
was tho homo of my dearest frioud. and
a place familiar also to the runaway
horse. It was tho work of an instant to
turn the horse’s head towards the gate,
and the horse when she found herself to
the old hitching-post—stopped!”
Jamie’s grey eyes had been growing
bigger and bigger, and now with a sigh
of relief, he exclaimed, “What did you
do next?”
“Oh!” answered auntie, “when tho
horse stopped and I realized that I was
saved, I began to tremble a little. In a
few mintes the young man, Henry Ad
ams, rode up. He had started as soon
as he found my horse was running away
with me, but could not catch mo. His
pony could not run as fast as mine. I
won that race fairly,” and auntie smiled
on tho two eager faces. “I began to
feel weak and faint and rather afraid of
the runaway, so Henry let me ride his
horse home, and took the one I had him
self.
“When nearly home wo met father
coming on old Nellie. Someone had told
him of the runaway, and he was nearly
as badly frightened as I.”
“ You didn’t ride that horse again, did
you,” asked Mabel.
“No, I believe not,” said Aunt Milly.
“I limped a little, for two or three
months, but was not cured of my passion
for horseback riding. Since then I have
had many horseback rides, but never a
runaway. ”
The mother coming in with the lamp,
auntie took up her sewing, and with a
kiss of thanks, the little folks turned to
their school-books for a little while, be
fore seeking dreamland.— lnterior.
Gen. Satji Houston’s Romance.
Born in Virginia in 1793, left an or
phan in boyhood, Sam Houston went
with his mother to Tennessee, where he
supported her with his own industry,
thus early learning family loyalty. In
1813, at the age of 20, he enlisted under
Gen. Jackson in the Creek war, and for
his repeated deeds of gallantry lie so
gained the esteem of Jackson that he
urged him to remain permanently in the
army. Resigning, however, and study
ing law in Nashville, he rose from office
to office, and in 1823, at the age of 30,
he was elected to Congress, and then
again in 1827 was elected Governor of
Tennessee. Up to this time Houston
was unmarried. Universally admired,
and urged by associates to form an alli
ance, which seemed essential to his sta
tion, a young lady of beauty and accom
plishments was commended to him by
family influence. His proposal of mar
riage was accepted, aud late in 1828 tho
marriage ceremony was performed with
unusual pomp. The next day Houston
resigned his office, crossed the Missis
sippi into Arkansas, and Dec. 11, 1828,
wrote from the agency of his old Chero
kee acquaintances the letter to Presi
dent Jackson which called forth his let
ter of Jan. 24, 1829. No one of Hous
ton’s companions knew till his death the
cause of his new course, which his best
friends, like Jackson, regarded as par
tial insanity; no one but his widow
could reveal it, and she only through a
sense of conjugal and Christian duty.
That cause was the highest test of
loyalty of which any man could be ca
pable.
On the eve of the marriage Gov.
Houston observed a tremor in the voice
and in the hand of his bride, when the
vow of undivided attachment was pro
nounced, which convinced him some
secret had not been revealed to him.
Before retiring he frankly told her of
his suspicion, asked a frank confession
and pledged her that it should not work
to her injury. His frankness and firm
ness led to the confession that her af
fections had been given and pledged to
another before their meeting, and that
filial duty had prompted her acceptance
of his proffer. Houston retired to his
own cot, next day resigned his position,
allowed the entire fault to appear to be
his, permitted and encouraged her appli
cation for a divorce on the plea of deser
tion, and his bride was married to the
mau of her former affection. Many ir
regularities, rumor, of course, charged
on the man who had really sacrificed
everything to save one who had erred
only in mistaken duty; but no chnrge
of domestic infidelity could bo true in a
man who denied it to tho estimable lady
who afterward became his wife.
A Drummer’s First Trip.
A Cleveland merchant determined to
send his son for a trip on the road in the
interests of the house. The young man
was rather averse to going, but his
father’s persuasions were all-powerful,
and he went. He was out some ten
days, and on his return his father anx
iously inquired, “Well, my boy, did
you get many orders V” 11 Yes, father,”
answered the new-fledged drummer ; “I
got quite a number.” “Good!” ex
claimed the delighted father. “I knew
you would succeed. The young man
grinned and answered: “Well, the
first order I got was in Squaslibog. I
went into a man’s store there and ho
said * git out!’ In Bungville I got my
second order. This time it was ‘ skip !’
My third order was ‘chase yourself
’round.’ My next order was ‘scoot,’
and—” But the old gentleman hastily
arose and, kicking his hopeful’s sample
case across the office, sternly command
ed tho young man to go out and help
Jim load the truck.
When letters and papers come in late,
as usual, people wonder how they ever
did get along without the fast mail.
Devoted to the Interests of Marion County and Adjoining Sections.
Cruelty and Civilization.
The mutilations of prisoners exhib
ited on Assyrian scullwnfes ate not sur
passed in cruelty by any wo find among
the most, blood-thirsty of wild races ;
and Raineses 11,. who delighted in hav
ing himself sculptured on temple walls
throughout Egypt as holding a dozen
captives by the hair and striking off their
heads at a blow, slaughtered during his
conquests more human beings than a
thousand ohiofs of savage tribes put to
gether. The tortures inflicted oncapturod
enemies by Red Indians aro not greater
tluin were those inflicted, .if old on fel
ons by crucifixion, or on suspected reb
els by sewing them up in tho hides of
slaughtered animals, or on heretics by
smearing them over with combustibles
and Betting tiro to them. The Danisms,
described as so utterly heartless that
they laugh on seeing one of their num
ber killed by a wild boast, aro not worse
than were the Romans, who made such
elaborate provisions for gratifying them
selves by watching wholesale slaughters
in their arenas. If the numbers de
stroyed by the hordes of Attila were not
equaled by the nnmbers which the Ro
man army destroyed at the conquest of
Selucia, and by the numbers of tho Jews
massacred under Hadrian, it was simply
because the occasion did not permit.
The cruelties of Nero, Gallienus, and
the rest may compare with those of
Zingis and Timour ; and when we read
of Caracalla, that after he had murdered
20,000 friends of his murdered brother,
his soldiers forced the Senate to place
him among the gods, we are shown that
in the Roman people there was a ferocity
not less than that which deifies the most
sanguinary chiefs among the worst of
savages. Nor did Christianity greatly
change matters. Throughout mediieval
Europe political offenses and religious
dissent brought on men carefully de
vised agonies, equaling, if not exceed
ing, any inflicted by the most brutal of
barbarians.— Herbert Spencer , in Fort
nightly Review.
Stenographic Blunders.
From a paper on blunders, by F. J.
Morgan, of Syracuse, we extract the fol
lowing as ludicrous instances of steno
graphic interpretation and transcrip
tion :
Gross receipts—Grocery seats. Tam
arack knees—Dum rickety knees. The
mother’s prayer The matters prior.
Ho was a little fellow—He was a little
full. They captured two Parrott giuis
—They captured two pirate guns. The
woman was baking bread—The woman
was begging bread. T found tire horse
in that posture—l found the horse in
that posture—Counsel offered paper in
evidence—Counsel brought pauper in
evidence. Arthur Waite, the chalk
talk evangelist Arthur Waite, the
Choctaw evangelist. The showers were
not sufficient to meet the wants of mill
men—wants of milkmen. In the inter
vening time he said nothing—ln the
entire evening time he said nothing. I
came with my brothers, Horace and
Henry—l came with ray brother’s horse
and Henry. A medical witness, speak
ing of the illness of a lady patient, said :
“ Sho appeared to be somewhat un
strung and nervous.” The transcriber
made him say “She appeared to
bo somewhat kneesprung and nerv
ous.” A minister, preaching a ser
mon on the death of a gentleman
named Samuel, quoted: “And buds and
blossoms in the dust.” He was delight
ed to read in the next issue of the paper:
“And buds and blows Sam in the dust.”
An attorney asked a female witness how
she came to be employed by plaintiff,
and she answered: “I saw a sign in tho
window, ‘ Female clerks wanted here. ’ ”
The blundering reporter rendered it:
“Family color warranted here.” An
orator referred to the different religious
sects or denominations “going for one
another” throughout tho country, and
said: “ Here wo have one sect persecut
ing another,” and was so reported, but
the transcriber rendered it: “Here wo
have one sick person feeding another,”
and so it appeared in the next-morning
papers.
Several years ago an eminent lawyer
hired a stenographer to take testimony
in an important case. Tho transcribed
minutes astonished him. A “patent,”
upon which much depended in tho suit,
was converted into a “potentate;” a
“solid frame” was turned into an “iso
lated farm;” tho “furnaces of this coun
try” were set down as “Fenians of this
country;” “clerks and bartenders” were
made “clocks and barometers;” and the
question, “Were you in the habit of
visiting the house?” was written, “Were
you in the habit of fastening the hose ?”
Negro Songs.
Mr. Hughes, referring to the negro
song of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,
which he heard in Tennessee, and the
words of the same, which he sent to the
London Spectator, adds: “This, sir, I
think you will agree with me, though
precious, is obviously a fragment only. ’
The fact is that all negro songs are in
some sense “fragments,” fot the} are
never exactly complete—that is, there is
no regular beginning nor end to them,
but, with the perpetually recurring re
frain of the choins, the solo lines can be,
and are, stretched out to suit the fancy
of tho singer. The mnsic of ‘ Swing
Low, Sweet Chariot,” is given in several
publications of the “jubilee” order, but
the words are never twice alike. There
is a scrap of negro ditty, probably more
thoroughly Ethiopian than anything
now to be heard in the United States,
quoted in Michael Scott’s story of ‘Tom
CriDgle’s. Log,” as follows:
‘ Fader was a Corramantee,
Moddal was a Mingo;
Black pickaniny hurra wanlee,
Sc deiu sell-a me Peter, hr Jingo,
Jiggery, jiggery, jiggery.’
This has the true ring of heathenism,
while most of the “songs of color” which
we hear are intended as a religious ex
ercises. — lnter- Ocean.
When to Take a Bath.
There is no practice mor6 objectiona
ble than to go to bed closely wrapped
up in the dust and dirt that accumulate
on the surface of tho body during the
day ; nor is there anything so conducive
to sound sleep as a tepid douche just be
fore getting into bed. Many bad sleep
ers become the best of sleepers from the
adoption of this simple rule,
Tho London Cabby.
Tho London cabby ii at once a phil
osopher and a wit, a sort of English
Diogenes on Ids tub instead of in it. He
has triumphed over every obstruction,
even over tho London fog. Weather is
nothing to him as long as ho can raise a
fare. When he can’t raise a fare ho
chaffs at tho passing world. His bed, as
a rule, iB his box, and he has been known
to tako a nap there occasionally. He is
a much-abused person, but, on the whole,
ho is a civil, cheery, well-conducted per
son, particularly gallant to nervous old
ladiea and almost a rival of the guards or
of the “bobbies” with tho nursery maids,
for he has inherited the wink of Sam
Weller, and nothing could possibly re
sist that. His tribe is very numerous,
there being fourteen thousand of him,
notwithstanding underground and over
ground railroads and ’busses innumera
ble. A mission has been started in Lon
don for his special spiritual and moral
improvement, but ho doesn’t seem to
take kindly to tho movement; in fact, it
is hard to see how he can find time to
attend amission. Of the 14,000cabbies,
only 1,000 are set down as total abstain
ers, and even these elite would probably
resemble Rip’s drinks—they don’t count.
If any class of persons might be excused
for taking an occasional nip, it would
surely be London cabmen, who are con
stantly exposed to every kind of the
worst weather that ever was invented.
Sir E. Henderson, chief of the London
police, stated at a recent meeting that he
discovered a gradual improvement in the
cabby. There lirb been a considerable
diminution during the past year in the
number of cabmen brought "before the
authorities for drunkenness, but in this
respect they had as yet by no means
reached the point of moral elevation at
tained by omnibus men and stage-drivers.
Out of 4,400 omnibus men there was only
11 convictions for drunkenness during
the year, and of 3,200 stage-drivers only
20. In 11,000 cabmen there had been
1,100 convictions, a reduction of 250 on
the previous year. They were also
rather addicted to furious driving, a fault
that probably bears a corresponding
ratio to gin.
Origin of Cyclones.
For the purpose of discovering the
causes which determine the progressive
movement of storms, I have made an
extensive examination of the course and
velocity of storm centers in tropical re
gions, and also of abnormal paths in the
middle latitudes of Eourope and Ameri
ca. I have examined the course of all
those hurricanes which have originated
near tho West India Islands, and whose
paths have been carefully investigated,
and also all the storm tracks delineated
on the maps of the monthly weather re
view. I have likewise examined all
those hurricanes in Southern Asia and
its vicinity whose paths have been best
determined, and all the storm tracks de
lineated on the maps of ihe international
series of observations. The following
summary presents some of the results
derived from this investigation: (1) The
lowest latitude in which a cyclone center
has been formed near the West India
Islands is ten degrees, and the lowest lat
itude in the neighborhood of Southern
Asia is six degrees. Violent squalls and
fresh gales of wind have, however, been
encountered directly under the equator.
(2) The ordinary course of tropical hur
ricanes is toward the northwestward. In
a few cases they seem to have advanoed
toward a point a little south of west, and
in a few cases tlieir course has been al
most exactly toward tho north. (3)
Tropical hurricanes are invariably ac
companied by a violent fall of rain. The
rainfall is never less than five inches in
twenty-four hours for a portion of the
track and frequently it exceeds ten
inches in twenty-four hours. (4) Tropical
storms are generally preceded by a
northerly wind, and after the passage of
the low center the wind generally veers
to the southeast at stations near the
center, and the southerly wind which
follows the low center, is generally
stronger than the northerly wind which
preceded it.
This fact appears to suggest the ex
planation of the origin of the cyclone
and the direction of its progressive move
ment. The prevalent direction of the
wind in the neighborhood of the West
India Islands is from tho northeast.
Occasionally a strong wind sets in from
a southerly quarter. The interference
of these winds with each other gives
rise to a gyration and a fall of rain
sometimes results. When the rain com
mences the latent heat which is lib
erated causes an inflow of wind from all
quarters, by which the rainfall is in
creased; and since the wind is deflected
by the rotation of the earth an arch of
low pressure is produced and the force
of the winds will be maintained as long
as the rainfall continues. The effect of
this strong wind from the south is to
transport the low center in a northerly
direction, and by the combined action of
the south wind and the normal from the
northeast tho conter of low pressure is
usually carried in a direction between
the north and west .--Prof. Elias
Loomis.
The Difference.
“The difference,” said Augustus Mill
whiilies, sauntering into the library tho
other day—“the difference between the
works of Captain Cook and the works of
Beaumont and Fletcher is, I presume,
that the former aro by a tar and the lat
ter by-tu-men. ” Before he could cackle,
he was seized by the nape of the neck
and thrust out of the building by an
enraged professor, who said to him, as
he struck the ground, “Do you know
why you are like Noah’s Ark ?”
“No,” said the bewildered Augustus.
“Well, it’s because you’re pitched
without,” said the professor, as he shut
the door.
Grandma Garfield, a correspondent
says, is not a stately, impressive old
lady, but a nice, plain, companionable
mother of the every-day sort. You East
ern people, both men and women, grow
old more elegantly than those whose
early lives were full of frontier hardships
at the West. To see the General with
his mother reminds one pleasantly of
Lawyer Wemmick and his “ aged parent”
in Dickens’ “ Great Expectations.” As
the “Aged P.” of the administration,
Grandma, Garfield will be by no means a
lay figure in the social life of the White
House.
AVIOUNT OF SUBSCRIPTION, $1.25.
POPULAR SCIENCE.
For articles of rubber which have be
come hard and brittle Dr. Pol recom
mends the following treatment: Im
merse tho articles in a mixture of water
of ammonia one jiart and water two parts,
for a time varying from a few minuteß to
an hour, according to the circumstances
of tho case: When the mixture has act
ed enough on the rubber it will lie found
to have recovered all its elasticity,
smoothness and softness.
The royal engineers have tried the ef
fect of gun-cotton in bringing down two
old chimneys at the dock-yard extension
works, Chatham, England. The first
was demolished by placing a necklace
of gun-cotton inside the chimney, the
total charge consisting of about four and
a half pounds. The second was de
stroyed by [dacing six charges of the ex
plosive in the center of tho base of the
chimney, the total charge weighing
twenty-eight ounces. Tho experiment
was very successful. At the instant the
electric spark ignited the gun-cotton the
chimneys became wrecks.
After a tolerably exhaustive examina
tion of the biography of the subject, Dr.
Otto Knntze maintains, but on ground
not quite satisfactory, that the gulf weed
consists of many varieties or species of
Sargassum vulgare, and that the plants
so named in the lump are either dying
or dead and incapable of rep 'eduction.
There does not appear to be any good
reason for assigning a definite and con
stant area to the Sargasso sea. Patches I
of weed occur more frequently in the re
gion of calms, but sometimes there is
very little of the weed there. Winds
also affect the distribution of the patches
with regard to each other and the posi
tion of the whole mass of weed.
Attention has been directed by M.
Moricle to anew kind of food to which
the name “ nutricine” has been given.
Its preparation is thus described: Raw
meat, from which bones and tendons
have been carefully excised, is passed
into suitable machines along with nitro
genized alimentary substances, such as
bread, to absorb the water of the meat,
and, possibly, to form new combinations
with it. After the mass thus prepared
is dried in a stove under a mild heat it is
pulverized and sifted. A powder of an
agreeable taste, and varying from yel
low to gray in color, is the result. When
albumen, fats, or gummed water is add
ed to this powder solid cakes or cubes
may be broken up, as occasion may re
quire, for soups or sauces. This nutri
cine is admirably qualified to sustain
physical vigor, and it can be preserved
tor any length of time if it is kept from
the deteriorating influence of an atmos
phere charged with moisture and from
the action of heat.
Wickedness of Blondes.
A writer in the Atlantic Monthly
says: I have found the worst femi
nine qualities almost invariably allied
to the blonde style; not the green
or gray eyed blondes, with straight,
abundant hair and fresh coloring, but
the swallow or pallid being, with light
blue eyes, and limp or waving hah—an
innocent-looking creature, with feline
manners, patte dr, velours, and such
claws! These are the women who delude
and destroy men; who never forgive an
injury or forget a slight; who smile and
talk sweetly, and put on airs of meek
piety or high art and refinement, but
under all are scheming, unprincipled,
false to the core. Did not Lucretia Bor
gia have golden hair? Was not Lady
Macbeth a Scottish woman, presumably
with lint-white locks ? Two of the worst
and most brilliant woman I ever knew
had this style of complexion, and the
lovelv being whose picture was my child
ish adoration, who sat simpering over
the library shelf in dear old Uncle W. 's
house, robed in satin and sables, her
gold hair curling like a child’s, her sap
phire eyes as inscrutable as a deep
spring, her rosebud lips soft and fresh as
a baby’s, and her taper white lingers
crossed in her lap, was a virago, a drunk
ard, a woman without a symptom of
principle—the mystery and the curse of
the old and honorable family she mar
ried into. Black-haired and dark-eyed
women are quick-tempered, electric,
generous, jealous probably, but full of
relenting, and capable of being coaxed
into or out of anything. Weak as to
their affections, snappy as to their tem
per; warm of heart and hot of head, they
are never vpry bad or very good, and are
the delightful torment of every man who
loves them and whom they do not love
too much; but love makes slaves and
fools of them, and they are ridiculously
constant.
Incurables Not Taken.
“Mrs. Topnoody,” said Mr. TANARUS., at
breakfast, “if you don’t stop your ever
lasting wrangle I’ll go to the lunatic asy
lum.”
“Oh, you will, will you?” replied Mrs.
Topnoody
“Yes, I will, and that gladly.”
“But you won’t, all the same.”
“Why won’t I?”
“Why?”
“Yes, I say why?”
“Well, because they don’t take incura
bles, that’s why.”
Topnoody went down town without
finishing his breakfast, and wrote a letter
to the authorities for information re
specting qualifications for admission to
the asylum.
A Colored Beau Brummel.
There was a ball the other night that
was attended by the elite of the colored
aristocracy of Galveston. Jim Webster,
who is of very light complexion, and
rather proud of it, was there. He invit
ed one of the colored ladies, who is
blacker than the ace of spades, to dance,
but she put on immense airs because lie
didn’t wear gloves, fearing he might soil
her dress with his hands.
“Look iieah, Sukey,” said Jim, “ef
yer didn’t wash yerself fore you corned
here I don’t want to swing corners wid
you, nohow. I don’t want- to hab ter
use a scrubbin’ brush on my bans ebery
time I slings one ob dese black heifers
around. ’ ’
If you want to find out how little a
man knows about himself aud family,
give him an insurance “ application” to
fill out. If you want to see how little
he knows about anything, put him on
the witneßS-staud. Hawk-
Eye.
ENTERTAINING PARAGRAPHS.
Whole-soled—the Chicago girL
Free of charge—an empty gun,
The funniest part of a deg's toil ifl th
wag.
It's the Gentile tiling in Mermondom
to have only one wife.
Noodle— a person who hasn't sufficient
hack-bono to l>o a fool.
Vessels are always called she, and
yet we hear of mail steamers.
There is more fashion in the city, but
there’s in-ore stilea in the oountry.
Dying in poverty is not as hard m
living in poverty, after all tlie novelists
say.
“Hair switches,” so reads a sign. Bo
it does, on tho south end of a horse ia
tty-time.
Maiden lady's quotation slightly altered
from an old aphorism—“ Where single
ness is bliss ’tis folly to lie wives.”
When one sees a man thrown from liia
saddlo over tho head of a horse, he must
recognize the [lower behind tho thrown.
It was a young housekeeper who set
the cuke she had baked for a surprise
party out-of-doors, one cold night, to be
frosted.
A prisoner at the grate. Turnkey—
“ Are yon in for contempt?” Prisoner
(with indignation)—“No, Rir, I haven't
fallen that low—it’s a simple drunk.”
When a grocer advertises every variety
of “raisins” for sale, does he include
derricks, pulleys, jack serews, yeast,
rope and tackle, and that sort of tiling?
“What doos ‘encore’mean?” asks an
exchange. It is only one phase of a
universal desire among the sons of men
to get something for nothing, aud get it
right oft'.
Beaconsfield ascribes all his great
ness to woman. Adam laid all his trouble
to the same source. Adam, we are
ashamed of you. Beaconsfield, you are
a gentleman.
Thf, funniest patent medicine is tho
“humor pad,” made expressly to tickle
the ribs of the mournful. Paragraphers
are manufacturing these pads in quan
tities to suit.
“Linked for life” is how tho Syracuse
Standard heads a marriage notice. How
forcibly this reminds ns of Byron’s beau
tiful lines, “I saw two sausages in the
hues of youth.”
“Come right into the house, children,”
shouted Mrs. Shuttle. “You are making
more noise and uproar than a session of
Congress. Wliat do you suppose the
neighbors think?”
A California heiress was left $50,000
worth of diamonds which she could take
possession of on her wedding day, and it
is not surprising that the first fellow who
offered himself was accepted.
“Your opponent was a bright speak
er,” tho citizen said to tho candidate
who had not been elected by 2,000 ma
jority. “Yea,” was the sad reply, “very
bright. He cast reflections upon me all
through the campaign.”
A lady was praising the amiability of
her friend’s husband, and asked how in
the world she had ever brought him to
such perfection, whereupon the friend
sweetly answered that she did it chiefly
with a croquet-mallet.
There was a fight imminent between
two boys. One of them darkly intima
ted that he was bigger than the otLo*.
The smaller, who is the son of a deacon,
defiantly retorted, “I don’t care if you’re
as big as a church debt; you can’t scare
me. ” — Danbury Mews.
JOSH BILLINGS’ WISDOM.
[Correctly Spelled From Hie New “Cook Rook.” j
The man who gets bit twice by the
same dog is better adapted for that kind
of business than any other.
There is a great deal of religion in this
world that is like a life-preserver, only
put on at the moment of immediate dan
ger and then half tho time put on hind
side before.
Experience is a school where a man
leams what a big 100 l he has been.
The man who doesn’t believe in any
hereafter has got a dreadfully mean
opinion of himself and his chances.
There are two kinds of fools in this
world—those who can’t change their
opinions and those who won’t.
A good doctor is a gentleman to whom
we pay three dollars a visit for advising
us to eat less and exercise more.
Out in the world men show us two
sides to their characters; by the fireside
only one.
The world is filling up with educated
f oO [ s —mankind read too much and learn
too little.
Every man has his follies and often
times they are the most interesting things
he has got.
The Yard Measure.
Every one is acquainted with the na
ture and utility of the yard measure. It
is the British standard of length, regulat
ing all other measures, and consequently
is the foundation of business transactions
and professional operations of many dif
ferent kinds. But its high utility is en
tirely dependent upon its fixed and
uniform dimensions. It would be in the
greatest degree inconvenient and unsatis
factory if a yard in one part of the
kingdom meant something different to
the measure which passed under the
same name in another, or if the least
variation were found in the yard measures
of different parts. Hence it is necessary
to have somo authoritative standard by
which the dimensions of the yard shall
be accurately adjusted, and according to
which the iegality or otherwise of any
measurement may be determined.
Many curious particulars are connected
with tlie formation of this authoritative
standard of the country; and few persons
unacquainted with the facts would have
any idea of the interest which thus at
taches to so common an object as the
yard measure. In our early history dis
putes often arose in the measurement of
cloth, etc., and frauds were frequently
committed. To check them Henry I.
ordered a standard yard to be made and
kept at Winchester, and decreed that it
should be of the length of his own arm.
This was a rough and ready mode of set
tling the matter, which presents the
greatest contrast to the formation of a
standard measure to the present time.
The disadvantage attending it was that,
in the event of the standard being lost or
destroyed, it would be next to impossible
to construct another of precisely the
the same dimensions. To avoid any
such difficulty, a scientific basis has been
taken in modem times for the formation
of the standard yard measure. Plainly
stated, this basis is the exact length of
the clock pendulum which vibrates
seconds of time in the latitudo of Lon
don. This may appear to some to be a
simple rule, by which the standard may
be determined with comparative ease;
but on the contrary, it is a matter requir
ing the most minute and accurate re
search, which only astronomers and
mathematicians of the highest attain
ments are competent to undertake.
A man who has not apiece of property
big enough to put a mortgage on is con
sidered oor.
NO. 25,