Newspaper Page Text
THE
HERALD.
W, N. BENHS, Editor and Proprietor.
“LET THEKE BE LIGHT.”
Subscription, $1.50 ia Advance.
VOLUME X.
BUTLER, GEORGIA, TUESDAY. JANUARY 5, 1886.
NUMBER 9.
Song or tlio South Wind;
Hiroagb fragrant pines I swoop along*
And chant for thorn a ighty song,
Grand and triumphant, sweet and strong,
Like organ notc9 heard faraway,
In sonic cathedral old and gray,
When vespers tells the close of day
I stir the ripples on tho lake :
The dancing wavolits softly break
Against the cool white sand, and innko
A broken melody that seems
Like birdlings, chirping in their dreams,
Kro lights the east with dawn’s faint gleams.
I bring tho rain clouds from tho sea—
Tho shadows fall on lake and lea;
The thirsty plants nod thanks to mo,
And yield me treasures of periume,
Tho sweet mementos of their hi »oin,
To bear away to climes o! glo.ni,
To tell tho Northland’s prisoned flowers—
Biding tho slow, dark winter hours,
While dull und gray the dull sky lowers:
“Long though your time of waiting be,
And firm the chums that fetter yc,
Lose not your hope—yc shall bo free !”
—JliHjusla D. Dunn.
A TIGHT SQUEEZE.
BY AN - EX-CONFEDERATE.
When General Meade fell back from
Mine Run, in the fall of 1803, be went
into winter quarters bet ween the Rap-
idan and the Rappahannock, on his old
grounds. This was about December 1.
On tho 15th of the month I received
orders to cross the river, penetrate his
camp and pick up all possible infor
mation.
It was understood that he was send
ing troops off west, and I was particu
larly clnrrgcd to discover il there was
any foundation in the report.
I left the rebel caVhiry outpost at
10 o’clock one night, being on foul
and wearing a blue uniform through
out. There was about a mile of neu
tral ground between outposts, and
when I had crept down the highway
almost to the Union videttes I took
to the fields and flanked ’em. I knew
every rod of that country, and passing
the vidette was a matter of no trouble.
It was when I reached the first
line of sentinels that 1 had to go keer-
ful. It was now midnight, and win
ter had set in. There was no snow,
but the wind was cold and the ground
frozen. It so happened that I struck
a part of French’s corps. Knowing
that Lee was going into winter quar
ters, and knowing that a strong picket
was out. the sentinels were not over
watchful. I crept up until 1 located
two, and both were mallied up agaiust
tlio cold and thinking more of keeping
warm than of looking for spies. While
I was waiting for a chance to skulk
in, the two e.tiue together and stood
talking, and this gin me the show 1
wanted. 1 riz up from the cold ground,
bore off a little to the right, and en
tered the gap without being seen. In
ten minutes more I was among the
tents and shanties.
I must find a place to pass the night.
It was too cold to go prowling ’round,
saying nothing of t lie danger to be in
curred. I walked up one street and
down another, looking for a place to
Stow myself away; and by and by I
saw a soldier come out of a tent and go
oil'. 1 reasoned that ho was on guard,
and had como to his tent on some er
rand, and 1 was probably right.
It was lialf-tent, halt-shanty, with a
lire place in it. 1 crept in at the door
and found a lire going, and there three
men asleep under the blanket. There
was a heap of. wood at hand, and the
best 1 could do was to stir up the lire
and hover over it. I didn't mean to
fall asleep; that is I was bound and de
termined to keep aVake, but I had no
sooner .got fairly warmed, through
than I went off to the land o’ Nod,
and tho next thing 1 knew it was day
light.
None o’ the chaps under the blank
ets were awake, and I slipped out
without disturbing ’em. Everything
would have been all right ’cept for a
man in a tent across the street. lie
had cotne out after wood, and was
standing thero as I appeared. As both
tents belonged to same company, and
as all the men in each company knew
each other, it was only natural that I,
a perfect stranger, should attract his
attention. Further it vvasjestas nat
ural that he should suspect me of be
ing a thiof. He was a sour-faced,
beetle-browed clinp, and the minit 1
looked into his eyes I knew we should
have a row.
"Ah ! I caught you I” he growled as
I faced him.”
"At what?” I coolly axed.
"Stealing, of course!”
“You are wrong. I went in there
to get warm.”
“Whobe you?”
"George .Smith.”
“What regiment?”
“Sixth Maine.”
1 wasn’t answering at random. I
know that the Sixth Maine was in the
fight at Rappahannock Station, about
a month before, because I had talked
with some prisoners.
“Wber’s your regiment?” he asked.
"That’s what I’m looking for,” 1 re
plied. "I was took by the rebs fifteen
days ago, and have just escaped and
come in.”
I answered him so promptly, and
told such a straight story, that he
could have no suspicions, and I might
havo got away but for an accident.
He had brought out Ills collee-pot..
in moving away I fell oyer it. He
was aching for a fuss with somebody,
and that was a good excuse. He
jumped for mo without a Word, i
returned the blow, and then we
clinched and fought up and down the
street
I was getting the best of him, when
we fell upon and wrecked a tent and
began to draw a crowd. In live min
utes there were fifty men around us,
and pretty soon an oilicer comes up,
and separates us and asks;
“What is this row about?”
“I caught that chap stealing,” sings
out my opponent '
“He lies !”
“Who are you?” asks the officer.
“Private George Smith, of tho Sixtli
Maine.”
“Where’s your regiment?”
“Don’t know, sir. I was captured
by the rebs,’ got away and ain looking
for my regiment.”
“ When did you come in ?”
“Last night.”
“How did you pass all the outposts
and sentinels?”
Ilo had me there. I had as good as
betrayed myself by that one answer.
“I’ll see to your case !” he growled,
and he called the guard and had me
marched off. The guard-house was a
log stable, and as soon as he reached
it I was stripped and searched. The
next move was to hunt up the Sixth
Maine and discover that I did not be
long to that regiment. I was then
taken to corps headquarters and ques
tioned.
I changed my line of defense, claim
ing to be a deserter from the One
11 uiut red and Twenty-fourth New
York, who was voluntarily coining back
to his regiment, but the next day the
Colonel of that regiment came to look
at me, and pronounced me a liar and
au impostor.
Next day, when a court martial
was convened, 1 had no defense to
offer. They tried me as a spy, and
while nothing could be proved, I was
comdemned and sentenced to he shot.
1 was given to understand that, but I
■reckoned that some of the officers
were not quite satisfied. Instead of
carrying out the sentence right away,
the findings were sent to a higher
court for approval.
What I am telling you in a minute
consumed about two weeks. I was
pretty comfortably fixed in the barn,
but so zealously guarded that there was
no possible show for escape. The pa
pers had been sent off, and I was daily
expecting to hear their approval,
when, one night just before dusk, the
chaplain of a Pennsylvania regiment
came in to console mo. He was about
my sizo and age with the same colored
hair, and the minit 1 saw him I grasped
at a plan. When we had talked a little
I asked him:
“How did you get in ?”
“Why, I showed my pass to tho
guard,” he answered -
That was all I desired to know. He
talked for about an hour, and I made
him promise to come and see me the
next evening at the same hour. He ad
vised me to give up all hope and make
my peace with God, and I gave him to
understand that I might bo more con
trite on his next visit.
I tell you, that next day seemed a
week long. 1 had a plan, and it prom
ised success. When the day did begin
to fade away 1 was so nervous and ex
cited that I could not keep still. Tho
chaplain came in just at dark, and, as
he grasped my hand, he said:
"The papers have come back, and
you must prepare to die !”
“Pi ay for me !” says I.
He knelt right down, and he had
skeercely uttered a word when I had
him by the throat. It was so sudden,
and I had sich a grip on him, that he
skeercely kicked. I didn’t want to
kill him, hut I choked him until he
was like a rag. Then 1 off with his
coat, vest and pants, and was into ’em
before he showed signs of coming to.
It was too soon to go out, and I choked
him some more.
Poor man ! I felt sorry- -fo do him
sich injury, but my life was at stake.
In about twenty minutes I felt it was
safe to go out. I dragged him into a
corner, sat him up on end, and then
knocked on the door. It was opened
at once, and as 1 squeezed out the
guard shut it witiiout even glancing
in.
“How is he, chaplain ?” asks the
guard as he locks the door.
“Resigned, p’oor man,” I answers,
and off I goes.
As I afterwards learned, I had a
good hour’s start 1 didn't head for
the river, as might bo expected, but
for the north, and it was over a month
before I saw Lee’s lines again. A
Washington paper had a long story
about my escape, and it said 1 would
have bin shot next day, and that the
chaplain would be laid up for a month.
—Detroit Free Press.
THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN.
Ti> Take the Heat Out of Burns.
Carron oil has been found very much
better for this purpose than any other
application. It is made of equal parts
olive oil and lime water. A bottle of
it should be kept, ready for use, in
every kitchen. To make the lime wa
ter, put one gill of good lime in a quart
of water, in a tall bottle and let it
stand where it will not be jarred. The
lime should be slaked before putting it
into the bottle. When tho lime settles
use tho clear water above it. The
water will hold only a certain quantity
of the lime in solution, and as it is
used fresh water may be poured in on
the lime until the latter is nearly used
up.—Cook.
Clean (leads.
Keeping the head perfectly, clean is
a great aid to health. A distinguished
physician, who has spent much of his
time at quarantine, said that a person
whose head was thoroughly washed
every day rarely ever took contagious
diseases, but where the hair was al
lowed to become dirty and matted it
was hardly able to escape infection.
Many persons find speedy relief for
nervous headache by washing the head
thoroughly in weak soda water. We
have known cases almost wholly cured
in ten minutes by this simple remedy.
A friend finds it the greatest relief in
case of “rose cold, - ’ the cold symptoms
entirely leaving the eyes after one
thorough washing of the hair. The
head should be thoroughly dried after
ward, and avoid draughts of air for a
little while.
Ilope a« a Remedial Measure.
It is perfectly useless for us to at
tempt to portray the influence that
“hope” exerts upon mankind. It is a
proverbial fact that a man without
hope in the fight for life is already half
whipped. The sick man without hope
is desperately ill indeed, however slight
his physical ailment may be. It is
equally as true that there is a very
slight chance for the undertaker to be
benefitted in the case of a patient who
has no disposition or idea of dying.
The whole system—digestive, circu
latory, and nervous—is directly under
the influence of the mind; and if we
will ever bear this in mind in treating
our cases, we will often have a more
potent remedy, easy of administration
and more pleasant to give and take,
than anything found in the country
doctor's saddle-bags,or upon the shelves
of our metropolitan pharmacists. Rad
news, grief, or sudden disappointment
has been known to reduce tho circula
tion to a minimum, to cause a strong
man to become as helpless as a child,
and to arrest the process of digestion
and assimilation as suddenly as if the
patient’s throat had been cut. Just the
reverse of this may be observed undei
the influence of pleasant emotions and
the life-giving power of bright, heaven-
born hope.—Southern Clinic.
Her Son of a Doctor.
"George, who is your family physi
cian ?”
“Dr. Smoothma
“What, that num. skull? How does
it happen you employ him ? ’
"Oh, it’s some of my wife's doings.
She went to see him about a cold in
her head, and he recommended that
she wear another style of bonnet,
ce then she won’t have any other
—Chicago News.
I’cculiar Monuments.
There are a great number of monu
ments of a kind peculiar to China, and
which alone would sufiice to distinguish
this country from all others—namely,
triumphal arches erected to widowhood
or virginity.
When a girl will not marry, in or
der that she may better devote herself
to the service ot her parents, or if a
widow refuses to enter the marriage
state a second time, out of respect to
the memory of her deceased husband,
she is honored after death witli espec
ial pomp. Subscriptions are raised for
the erection of a monument to her
virtue, to which all the relations, and
even sometimes the inhabitants of the
village or district where tho heroine
has dwelt, contribute. These arches
are of wood or stone, covered with
sculptures, sometimes very well exe
cuted, of flowers, birds and fabulous
animals. On the front is usually an
inscription in honor of virginity or
widowhood, as the case may be; and
on the two sides are engraved in small
letters the virtue of the heroine in
question. These arches, which have a
very fine effect, are frequent along the
roads, and even in the towns. At
Ning-Po, a celebrated seaport in the
province of^Tche-Kiaug, there is a
large street entirely composed of such
monuments, all of stone, and of a
most rich and majestic architecture.
Houses in the National Capital.
It is easy to obtain a home in Wash
ington, because most of the real estate
agents will take a small cash payment
and arrange the remainder of the debt
at a low rate of interest—in some
cases as low as five per cent. Certain
lot holders have a very great advan
tage. Scattered throughout Washing
ton there is a very large number of lit
tle plots of ground winch belong to
the public reservations. These bits of
parking are given up rent free to the
lot-owners, who build up close to
them. Thev have the practical use of
them for nothing. They can fence
them in. ornament them as they please,
and enjoy everything about them ex
cept building on them. In many in
stances these littlo public strips art
the only yards that certain ho ise own
ers have.—New York World.
GIANTS OF THE FOREST.
Something About the Califor
nia Redwood Tree.
Ewenty-Five Thousand Feet of Lumber
from a Single Specimen.
A subscriber asks: “When is the
best time to marry ? ” Mr. Enpeque
says the best time for such a ceremony
is the 31st of February.
The Redwood of California is the
second largest and the third loftiest
[rce of the known world. It reaches
its greatest perfection upon the sea
ward slopes and along the transverse
ravines of the Coast Mountains of the
northern and central parts of the
State. It is occasionally found scat
tered or clumped among other growths,
lut is generally massed in dense for
ests. It grows so high, branches so
thickly and stands so close as to dark
en even noonday brightness into shad-
Dwy evening twilights among the huge,
monumental trunks below.
Fog s. ems its favorite food. The
lofty, thick and spreading tops form
vast and swift condensers of the heavy
fogs which descend in local daily rains,
forming pools which often remain till
high noon even in hottest days of the
dryest season. Where the trees have
been cut away, with no provision for
regrowth, springs have dried up and
streams have failed.
The name is one of those simple,
obvious, Saxon christenings which
every spectator understands the mo
ment he sees the color of the wood.
Its hues show all varieties of red,
from the most delicate pink of the
finest cedar to the deepest and dark
est shades of the richest mahogany.
In some casts its reddish-browns rival
those of black walnut, while under
long exposure to the weather it takes
on a blackness equal to that of ebony.
In texture and appearance the wood
is occasionally waved, curled, flecked,
veined, mottled, twistetj and inter
woven in the most varied, intricate
and beautiful manner. Indeed, some
specimens show all these varieties of
formation combined. Its knots, roots
and burls furnish veneers as exquisite
ly beautiful as those of the most
costly imported woods. If they came
from some distant foreign land, fairly
staggering under some polysyllabic,
unpronounceable name, our cabinet
makers, artists in carving, and their
wealthy patrons would esteem them
almost priceless. Its grain and densi
ty vary from those of the softest pine
to thoso of the densest beech. When
wet or unseasoned the wood is often
enormously heavy. Specimens have
been known to sink instantly. The
thickness of the bark varies from four
to twelve inches. Its texture resem
bles that of the famous Sequoias, or
big trees, which are but a gigantic
species of the Redwood.
In height the California Redwood
allows but two other vegetable
growths to look down upon it. Those
are its lofty relative above alluded to
and the Australian Eucalyptus. It
has been known to reach 320 feet;
quite often 250; very commonly 200 to
225. In diameter specimens reaching
twenty feet have been authentically
measured. Thousands of trees now
standing in the newly opened Loma
Prieta and others districts girt from
thirty to forty feet. The logs from these
trees are often so large that they havo to
be blasted into halves and even quarters
before the wood-teams and sawmills
can handle them. One tree yielded
seventeen logs each twelvo feet long,
and the upper one six feet through at
the smaller end. It is true that these
stories may seem incredibly “big’ to
the Eastern render, but the trees them
selves are very much bigger, as the in
credulous may easily satisfy them
selves by visiting the localities already
named.
Twenty-five thousand feet of lum
ber from a single tree is very common.
In the foggier and moister northern
counties the average from each tree is
fully one half greater.
For posts, sills, ties, flumes, aque
ducts and sewers the wood is the best
known. It is also admirably adapted
to the inside finish of halls, dining
rooms, billiard-rooms, music-rooms,
libraries, churches, cars and steam
ships, as well as for many forms of
cabinet-making.
When exposed to the weather with
out paint or oil, it turns nearly black.
It has also the remarkable quality of
shrinking endwise, and, what is still
more remarkable in the same log dif
ferent year’s growths sometimes
shrink un-equally. Sparks and cin
ders of burning redwood, falling upon
fiat or sloping surfaces, even shingle
roofs, go out at once. Shingles of it
ignite with great difficulty from sparks
of other wood. It seems to be natural
ly fireproof in the midst of exposure
which would quickly kindle other
woods.
The beautiful redwood is already an
nually supplying a constantly increas
ing demand in our Eastern cities,
while a now and wealthy syndicate is
exporting millions of feet to Europe.
To her already vast income from the
great staples, wheal, wine and wool,
the Golden State now adds a new
Eggs In Ireland.
Seeing that some three-fourths of
the whole population of Ireland are
more or less connected with or engag
ed in agricultural pursuits, there is
probably no question more often asked
daily by at least 1,000,000 of tho popu
lation of Ireland than, “What is the
price of eggs?” From the moment
tho well-known “Cluck, cluck,” is
heard from the hen announcing the
production of an egg there is a rush
made for it, which never ceases until
tho empty shell is thrown into the ash
bin. That egg is bartered and rebar
tered, sold and sold again, many times
before it is introduced to the break
fast-table. Many lies are told about
its age, some about its size, many more
about its price. Eggs are bought by
the dozen and by the hundred of six
score. In some parts of Ireland,
notably in Dublin market, the hundred
counts one hundred and twenty-four.
The trade is divided mainly into two
classes—buyers and shippers or ex
porters. The former are again sub
divided into two other classes—dealers
and shopkeepers. Buyers sell direct
to the shippers; shippers export direct
either to customers in Scotland, Eng
land, or W ales, or to an agent or brok
er there, who sells for him on commis
sion. The buyer is a man or woman
owning, or in many cases hiring, a
donkey, mule, or horse, and going from
one farmer’s house to another buying
their eggs for money; or, in many
cases, giving goods, such as groceries,
needles, thread, and other like useful
articles, in barter for eggs. Dealers
are a smaller class of buyers. They are
mostly old women who have what is
called a “dealing,” that is, a small shop,
which from ten to thirty shillings
would stock, their husbands or chil
dren being of the laboring class. These
poor dealers buy up from 300 to 400
eggs weekly, mostly obtaining the
same by barter. These they usu
ally send in by a donkey cart in a
basket resembling a fish-woman’s
creel, once a week, to the town where
the nearest shipper resides; or some
times, if needy, will sell for a less
price than would be had from the
shipper to a well-to-do buyer. Even
in the humblest walks pf life there is
pride, and the poorest dealers will not
sell to any one but a shipper, unless
they are very badly off for ready mon
ey.—Chambers' Journal.
creasing expbrt of the- valuable and
beautiful timber and lumber ot this
queen pi the vegetable kingdom, the
California Redwood.—San Francisco
Call. -A
A bad jury—perjury. -
A New Narcotic.
Something worse than opium or
chloral is reported to the New York
Medical Society. Several city practi
tioners found out that a few persons
were using hyoscine to produce a sort
of intoxication that resulted in pro
found slumber. The drug is a hydro-
bromate, and has to a limited extent
been used in medicine in lieu of atro-
phine for relief in epilepsy and other
diseases of the nerves. It is obtained
from a German plant, and is usually
on sale by German apothecaries in this
city. The supply has been small, and
the price about seventy-live cents a
grain; but a suddenly increased de
mand nearly exhausted the stocks
and sent the price to a dollar. The
doses must be infinitesimal in ord6r
not to be dangerous, and the peril of
self-dosing lies in the liability to kill
by carelessly swallowing or hypoder
mically injecting too much. The ex
perimenters with it proved chiefly
to be medical students, drug clerks
and others acquainted with its sopori
fic qualities. Hard drinkers employed
it to force sleep, and very nervous per
sons drove off insomnia with it. In
order to test its effects, it has been
systematically administered to thirty-
six insane patients in the Stato Hos
pital for the Insane, by Drs. Langdon
and I’eterson, who say that the effects
prove the very gre it danger of hyos
cine eating. They found that it would
indeed compel sleep in most cases, but
that its habitual use would surely
bring muscular paralysis and delirium
of a particularly violent sort. The
society will a k the Legislature to for
bid the sale except on prescription.—
Cincinnati Enquirer.
Bathing in India.
The gospel of cleanliness is not for
India. Do 1 begin to argue? I am
told that “a virtue of Gautama Buddha
was his dirty face!” And yet a bath
is a Hindoo’s frequent practice. But
the use of mustard oil overbalances all
ablutions. A native always polishes
his skin with mustard oil before bath
ing. “It prevents the water from en
tering the blood through the skin,”
Gauga tells me. It makes tho pres
ence of a native anything but agreea
ble, for the anointing having greatly
diminished the power of the water,
the sun’s action upon the cutaneous
surface is such that the smell has act
ually the effect of ruining the health
of Europeans who have to inhale it for
many hours daily in the katcherries
and courts of law.
If you say to one of these objection
able smelling parties: “You would do
well to take a bath!” he will answer,
spitefully: “I am a Hindoo!” This,
source of wealth in the regularand ia- ^ inter p r eted, means that the man
scrupulously observes the many wash
ings that the law enjoins. But those
washings are something like the
mumbling of a formal prayer. Indeed,
the high-caste Hindoo may not, like
tbie Pharisee of old, eat except he wash.
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
Three million pupils now attend the
free schools in the Southern States,
and over $10,000,000 is annually
raised to support them.
The Duke of Devonshire has at IIol-
ker Hall a notable herd of shorthorn
cattle. He has paid for the stock, in
all, since 1851, the sum of $107,245,
and the gross receipts from sales in
the same time amount to $-164,605.
Out of the difference between those
sums he has paid all expenses of man
agement, feeding, etc., and laid away a
handsome net profit.
A Belgian has invented a coffin that
makes it impossible for any one to be
buried alive. The pressure of the
earth thrown upon the lid of the cof
fin liberates a sort of stiletto, which is
so placed that on being disengaged it
pierces the heart of the occupant. On
the whole, this new invention is not
calculated to reassure those who fear
that they may be buried alive.
Some interesting statements and
statistics are to"bo found in the Florida
census returns. In Orange one farm
er claims to havo obtained 2,000 dozen
of eggs from twenty-five chickens in
one year, and another 800 dozen from
ten chickens. Every resident of one
district in Jackson is set down as
blind, deaf, dumb and uneducated. In
Jefferson County one man is put. down
as having died of prolapsus uteri.
“Why not eat insects?” is the title
of a recent English book. The writer
thinks that such a diet would have
certain .advantages for poor people,
and he insists that an “appetizing
relish” is to be found in “boiled cater
pillars, fried grasshoppers, and grilled
cockchafers.” His argument rests main
ly on the descriptions of half-starved
travellers concerning their personal
enjoyment of cooked insects, and the
fact that certain savages tlirivo on
such diet.
Careful investigation and estimates
show a production this year of 1,990,-
000,000 bushels of corn in the United
States and Territories, a gain of eleven
per cent, in quantity over 1884. Of
this yield, 280,000,000 Lushels will
come from Illinois, 265,000,000 bushels
from Iowa, 210.000,000 bushels from
Missouri, and some 356,000,000 bushels
from twelve Southern States. The
area of the corn crop is 73,860,000
acres, as against 69,683,780 acres last
year, the gain being almost entirely in
the YVestern States.
The Indians of Alaska are said to
be line silversmiths, and their silver
bracelets in particular are in great
demand. A lame workman has an
extensive repute, and he sells dozens
of bracelets, upon the arrival of each
steamer, at $3 per pair. ■ Some speci
mens he get $25 a pair for. The lame
Indian artificer is " a very rapid work
man, and will from a piece of coin
make a beautifully chased ring in an
hour or so with his rude tools. The
heads of animals and Indian char
acters are included in his designs.
There is a restaurant in London,
and a very popular and wealthy msti-
tion it is, where the customers walk
right in, eat what they want, tell the
cashier what they hayo had and pay
for it without the intervention of
checks. The proprietor rolies upon
the honesty ol his patrons to pay for
what they have eaten and not cheat
him, and he says this confidence en
courages customers and his losses are
smajler than most other restaurants
where dishonest waiters are employed.
One or two restaurants in this city
have tried to save something in this
way by doing away witli waiters en
tirely and letting their customers
help themselves. They kept two or
three spies walking about, however,
suspiciously eyeing everybody, a sys
tem of espionage the customers evi
dently did not like, for they went to
other places where they wouldn’t bo
taken for thieve?.
The New York World remarks that
“the old reproach that wo are a nation
of pie-eaters will have to give way to
the new one that we are a people of
pickles. A competent authority on
this subject stated the other day, be
fore a congress of pickle merchants,
that a billion of tho acidulous luxuries
are grown annually in this country.
Whole tracts of land in the East
formerly given up to prosaic wheat
and the humble potato aro now de
voted to the crescent cucninber, and
we hear eloquent picklers in couucil
talking of a falling off of millions in
the crop this season. In 1884 there
were 200,000.000 pickles raised and
salted in the North: That is four
pickles to every man, woman and.
child in the United States; awFwe are
gravely assured that this season 75,-
000,000 are needed from abroad to
make up the deficit of an extra de
mand. This extraordinary exhibit
must dispose forever of the popular
notion that only the young ladies of
America eat pickles late at night
There is a fearful suspicion here that
young and old and middle-aged of
both sexes eat them morning, noon
and night.”
The “Bunco” Game.
A “bunco stc^ter” has been telling a
World reporter how thieves take in
unwary strangers in New York. He
said:
“First of all, you must know that
there are no (lens in the business. The
boys hire a furnished room on the first
floor of a building in any quiet side
street, telling the lanlord that they are
agents for some company or other.
The hand-shaker grabs a prosperous-
looking stranger and sings out: ‘How
are you Mr. Green? How are my
friends in Brownville?’ Tho chump
generally replies: ‘Why you’ve made
a mistake I’m Mr. Brown, from Green
ville. Then tho ‘shaker’ apologizes,
hurries off and reports to the steerer,
who pulls a book out of his pocket and
hunts up Greenville. The book by
the way, is what is know as a bank
note reporter, and gives a complete list
of all the banks in the country. Froir.
the list the steerer finds that Mr.
Jones is President of the Greenville
Bank and that Messss. Smith and Gray
are among its directors. 017 lie goes
to the chump, shakes hands with him,
calls hit by name and saying he is
Mr. Jones’s nephew asks for the health
of the Smiths, Grays and other promi
nent people. See? The chump is
flattered by the attentions of the bank
president stylish nephew, and it does
not take long to steer him into the
room where the boss bunco man is
waiting to play his part. There is the
usual story about the painting drawn
as in the lottery prize, then the cash
prize and the rest of it. Usually the
chump bites in a few minutes; he is
anxious to get $500 for $100, he puts up
his wad of bills, the boys get it, and he
walks out in a brown study, not know
ing exactly how he was done up, but
quite sure he has been swindled.
“Complain to the police? Not much.
The bunco men leave their office a
minute or two after he does, and no
one could find them; besides, the man
is ashamed to tell how green he was.
Even if the boys aro arrested you can’t
find one man in a hundred who will go
to a police court and give himself
away for a sucker.
“Then there’s a very pretty scheme
of Grand Central Pete’s. You’d laugh
to see the dozens of farmers he gets to
lend him $50 on a worthless check so
that he can pay a man the balance due
for an imaginary horse. That’s a dan
dy scheme, and its perfectly safe, it
generally takes the haybag about an
hour to tumble after lie’s been left
standing outside a store where Pete
has to go in for a minute on important
business.”
Norse Music.
A characteristic vein of musical en
dowment runs through the Norwegian
nature. The folk songs and national
dances of the peasants are very re
markable They are the invention for
the most part, of nameless “spille-
niicnd,” handed down from generation
to generation of the local fiddlers,
without whom no peasant marriage or
other merrymaking can possibly be
carried on. Halfdan Kierulf and Ed
vard Grieg have arranged some inter
esting collections of these quaint and
plaintive airs, and in their own com
positions an unmistakable national
strain is always traceable. The name
of Johan Svenasen is now known
along with that of Grieg throughout
tho musical world, but Kierull’s ex
quisite songs deserve a wider populari
ty than they have attained ontsido of
Norway and Noidraak, acomposer who
unfortunately died very young, claims
mention by reason of his masterly set
ting of Bjornson’s finest lyrics. The
great name in record of Norwegian
music, however, is that of Ole Bull,
who died in 1880. Ho was in his way
a tone poet of the most original, but
remained to the "end simply an upland
“spillemand” raised to the highest
power. Both as a composer and vir
tuoso, ho was a Norwegian of the
-Norwegians, and his name is justly
held in reverence by the country
which his art may be said to have in
terpreted to the whole world.—Fort
nightly Review.
Electric Signalling by Balloons.
The* idea of signalling by balloons
has been worked out by Mr. Eric
Stuart Bruce, son of the hate Gen.
Michael Bruce, and has been exhibited
in operation every evening at the Al
bert Palace, London. About 9 o’clock
a balloon twenty feet in diameter, and
containing 4,000 cubic feet of gas, is
allowed to ascend to a height of 500 feet
and is rendered visible by six incan
descent lamps of twenty-candle power,
fed from a battery on the ground. The
material of the balloon is translucent
cambric, and when the lamps are in
action the whole glows with a soft
light which is very noticeable, and in a
clear atmosphere can be seen for miles.
In the conductors from the batteries
to the balloon there is inserted a
Morse key, by which the circuit can b«
made and broken, and the lamps be
caused to give long and short flashes
corresponding to the dash and dot of
the telegraph code It can be used in
a tint country, or between
arated by low hills, ii
confined to elevated
heliograph; the
large illuminated
small mirror,
gether with its
compass for
American.
Good night? I havo to lay good night
To eneli n host of peerless things!
Good night unto that fragile band
All queenly with its weight of rings.
Good night to fond uplifted eye»,
Good night to chestnut braids of hair.
Good night unto tho pci feet month
And all the sweetness nestled thero!
' The snowy hand detains mo—then
I’ll havo to say good night again.
But there will como a time, my love!
When, if I Read oar stars aright,
I shall not linger by this porch
With my adieus. ‘Till then, good night!
Yon wish tho time wore now? And I,
You do not hlnsh to wish it so?
You would have blushed yourself to death
To own so much a year ago.
What! both these snowy hands? Ah! then
I’ll have to say good night again.
— Thomas Bailee Aldrich.
HUMOROUS.
A call of duty—To visit a custom
house official.
The man who sets out to bo the
champion draught player enters upon
a checkered career.
A French doctor boasts that he can
change the shape of a man’s nose. So
can a pugilist.
An Omaha man advertises for a
buggy horse. What strange tastes
some people have.
Waiter—“Will von have some salt
with vour eggs?' Guest—No, thanks;
they ain’t at all fresh.”
German photographers are now
making photographs of lightning.
They arc said to be striking likenesses.
A philosopher who had married an
ignorant girl used to call her "brown
sugar,” -because, lie said, she was
sweet and unrelined.
Girls in searcli of material for crazy
quilts should apply to the railroad com
panies. They throw away thousands
of old ties every year.
It’s many years ago since the poet
wrote that “beauty draws us with a
single hair.” It generally takes a for-
ty-five-dollar switch to do it now.
Civilization is making gratifying
progress in the Congo country. A
few years ago the inhabitants ate
white persons raw; now they roast
them.
The opinion now held by physicians
that “raw cow’s milk, is better for
children than boiled” is very grat
ifying, as a raw cow gives much more
milk than a boiled one.
A writer has discovered that per
sons in captivity live a very short time.
This may be a rule, but we know of
some married men who have attained
a remarkable age.
Little Tommy was having his hair
combed, an 1 grumbled. “Why, Tom
my, you oughtn’t to make such a fuss.
I don’t when my hair is combed.”
“Yes, but your hair ain’t hitcfieU'to - "
your head.”
An exchange asks, “What are sau
cers malo of?” That depends upon
circumstances, if you break one you
will find it is made of very thin china,
but if you try to buy one to replace it
you will find it is made of solid gold.
IIEtt CRUEL VA.
“I’ve bouught a bonnet-, pnpn, dear;
My beau declared ’lia trimmed with skill;
I have no funds, and I’ve come hero
To sec if you wili foot the hill.”
“Your beau! and what may he ids name?”
The father ro’.HJdy questioned her;
She hung her head, with cheeks nthuno.
She softly answered, “William, sir.”
liis eyes shone with a dangerous light—
“Hum! So ho says ’(istrimmed with skill?
Well, bring him to Lite house to-night,
And I will glndlv foot vour Bill.”
Eclipses of tlie Sun.
The eclipses of the sun, says the
Chicago Inter-Ocean, are caused by
the moon’s passing between the earth
and the sun. It the two bodies fol-.
lowed the same track in the heavens
there would be an eclipse every new
moon, hut as the orbits are inclined;;
the moon generally passes above or .,
below the sun, and there is no eclipse.
Occasionally the sun is near oneofthe
moon’s nodes—the points where the.
planes of the orbits intersect—when it
passes, and then an eclipse occurs,. If ’
the sun and the moon were always at -
the same position with regard to.the
earth, and always tho samfe distance F
from it, the eclipses would, niways her
of the same size. But as tlrese condi
tions vary, so do the appearances of .
the eclipse: For instance, ret, us. sup- -
pose that at the time Of an- eelipse the . '
center of the moon happens to pass dl- .
rect over the center of too sun. If the .
moon is near the pipijt in. the orbit
which is at the least distance from the
earth her apparent diameter will ex
ceed that of the srfn,.and the latter will-
be quite hidden from vi,ew, and we
have what is known as a'.total eclipse...
Of course, even in this case, the eclipse
will only appear totaV let the. observers ~
near the line joining the centers of the ..
sun and moon. If, howeVer.the three
bodies occupy similar positions, but,
the distance between the cafth and
moon is greater, ttieAv.hole.of the sun
is not covered-by the'moon, And thO
eclipse is annular,- -If.the moon. how-
ever, does, iwfe pass contrail^ over the
sun, it caji only hide *part of tiro lilt-
ter on one side or the other, and the,
is-said -tti, be partial. AsthB
:V orbit is quite eliiptk'aVthe :dis-
tlif.t body frpm the earth
.fly. Itsv least distance is'
its. greatest. 259,600