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The ■ vwe 3 p v oy®gton Star
J,“W. ANDERSON, Editor an (proprietor.
Is Life Worth hiving?
*‘Islife worth living?” Ask of him
"Who toils both day and night
To make a little home for those
So dear uuto his sight.
“Is life worth living?” Ask of her
Wbo, crowned with widow’s weeds,
Doth find supremest happiness
In kind anl noble deeds.
'•Is life worth living?” Ask again
Of those whose highest aim
Is to assist their fellow man,
Without one thought of fame.
Is life worth living?” Ah! dear fri
Let these good people toll;
A better question lar is this—e
Is life worth living well?
—Columbus Dispatch.
THE STORY OF A BOOK.
by benjamin northrot.
The housemaid had found it in an old
cedar box in the attic and put it beside
a volume of Dickens on the middle shelf
of the library bookcase. It was a little,
square, green-covered, dog-eared, round
cornered geography. It was published
when the art of geography-making was
comparatively speaking, in its infancy.
Its maps had blue seas, green, red, white,
yellow, purple, brown and many other
colored lands, and it was embellished
with odd pictures of still odder people
dressed more singularly still who have
become entirely exiinct long since tho
artist who drew them died, if the geog¬
raphies of the present day are reliable in
their illustrations.
The advent of this old-fashioned vol¬
ume among the richly bound books in
the library caused a flutter of excitement
not unmingled with indignation. I
“I can’t see for the life of me,” ex¬
claimed a collection of Matthew Arnold’s
essays, why this common book should
force himself upon our company.
“No, nor I, >) responded the Dickens
novel, sharply, “If this library is to bo
turned into a literary junk shop we
might as well be in a second-hand store
at once.”
Yes, indeed, echoed in unison a
row of Scott’s novels, which stood like
a line of Britisli soldiers with bright red
suits, on an opposite shelf.
.. Como, what have you got to say for
yourself?” inquired gruff old Ben John
son. ii Wlmt made you stick yours "if
in here against our com ■nff”
“I didn’t want to come, l> answered j
the Geography, mildly. “Indeed
didn't. It wasn’t my fault. 1 was ly
mg in (he old cedar chest in the attic, j
where 1 have lain ever since she grew j
up aud where I would have been now |
but—”
“She?” interrupted Dickens. “Who
is she, pray?”
U Why, don’t you know her?” replied
the Geography in amazement. “I
thought you must know her. She used
to study me when she was a little
pink-faced girl, years and years ago.
She and Jack studied me together. i
They were very fond of me, and i sup
pose that is the reason 1 have b va kept
so long.
“ ‘Jack?’” again inquired I lie iuquis
itive Dickens, “who is ‘Jack.’”
“Jack,” continued the Geography, en 1
thusiastically, “was the handsomest key j
I ever knew, and 1 knew a whole gener
ation of boys and girls too. 1 ought to
know them well, for I was read,
thumbed aud studied by idem for nearly
forty years before Jack found me on the
book shelf in iiis lather’s library, where
liis older brother had left me when he
finished school and went to sea.
“That doesn’t explain liow you liap
pened to be here.” iuterposed Bon Jen¬
son, rudely. “Come tell us that.”
“I was just about to tell you, con
tinued the Geography. “You see,
Jack took me to school with him the
very first day he went there. It was
the little red school house under the hill.
You probably know it. N >? I thought
everyone knew where that was. The
masttr was very strict and vary cruel, so
I used to think, and every day he used
to whip nearly all the boys and keep
half the girls in at recess. Just because |
they whispered, and 1 tell you that
boys and girls can’t keep from whisper¬
ing in school any more than from breath¬
ing. I said ‘nearly all’ the boys, Jack
was on£he didn’t whip. Why? Jack
was a cripple. How did that happen?
I’ll tell you. Phillis—she was Jack s
sweetheart—was the prettiest girl in all
the school. She was younger than Jack
just a year, He was twelve and sll
eleven, and they loved each other just f
as much as people a good deal older tin i1
they were, if not a little more. One „
day after school J;ick and Phillis were
sliding down the school hill on Jack’s
big sled, The master was out watching
them. The road did’nt run straight
down the hill, but wound around down
through a small grov of trees. The
road had been covered with water and
was ice from top to bottom, and the
sleds flew faster than the wind as they
went down, This afternoon Phillis sat
in front of the sled, her little red stock¬
ings curled up under her dress, while
Jack held on behind and steered with
his leg. They started—-the last slide
they had—from the top, and were going
faster than they had ever gone before, when
Phillis gave a little scream and caught
hold of the sled tighter than ever, Jack
looked over her shoulder and saw a log
sled, piled high w ith logs, crossiug the
How fast they were going, and how
it crept along! The seconds seemed
like years. They could’t possibly turn out,
for it was in the very middle of the grovo
It didn’t take Jack long to make up his
mind what to do. With a quick sweep
of his leg he turned the sled sideways.
He couldn’t stoprit, but he could make
the end where he sat hit the logs first.
A second later Phillis was lying in a
little frightened heap in tho snow by
the roadside unhurt, but Jack was
stretched out, white and senseless, un¬
der his sled by the side of the big run¬
ners of the log-sled.
ii The master picked him up and cor -
ried him to the schoolhouse. Then he
sent for Jack’s father, who was tho
country doctor. After Jack opened his
eyes and knew any one he was carried
home, and he didn’t leave it all winter
long. His back was injured, so they
said. The next spring he was able to go
to school again, but he couldn’t play
with the other boys. His crutches were
in the way, and no matter how much he
whispered the master never whipped
him. He never wanted to, either, for
most every one loved Jack. He used to
sit with little Phillis and they learned
their lessons out of me. During recess
they would open me at the map of
Europe, and mark out the trip they
were going to take when they grew up
and were married. They were going to
Paris where Jack was going
to be cured. Then they would
live in Italy a year or so on the banks
of a beautiful lake, and they would be
so happy that they wouldn’t care wheth¬
er they had any money or not.”
“Well,” observed Dickens, when the
Geography paused a moment to breathe,
“did they marry?”
I 4 No.” returned the other sadly. “The
next year Jack died and was buried in
the little churchyard behind the village
church. Phillis’s father preached th*
sermon at the funeral and tho whole
school put flowers on the grave. For a
while Phillis was inconsolable, but such
grief never lasts wery long, so I’ve learn¬
ed, and before her school days were over
she was just as cheery and much more
beautiful than ever before. I was laid
away years before she grew up—laid
away very carefully—for Phillis never
forgot the secrets that I shared with her.
Hut lhavn’t seen her for-years, I don’t
know really what has become-of her.
me to this house with her
over j n the old chest. I—”
At this moment the library door
opened and there entered the mistress
0 f the house, a slight, handsome woman,
with a sweet face and silver hair.
“I thought 1 heard a noise on the
book shelves, she said, “but I don’t
see anything there to make-it now. Per.
haps it might have been a mouse. i’ll
look for it. Why 1” she exclaimed, as she
sc: zed the old geography and drew it out
of its place, “how did this dear old
book ever come down here? I thought
1 had lost it years ago.”
Sitting down near tho table she opened
the wo# woru leaves. When she came
acre® 8 th® °ld time map of Europe criss
crossed by pencil marks, her face soft
ened, and as she bended over to kiss the
soiled and disfigured continent two tear
drops were mingled with the blue waters
of the sea.
“1 think,” whispered Dickens to Mat¬
thew Arnold, as he nodded in the direc¬
tion of the old geography, “I think I
know, now, why the geography was kept
so long. 1
“Yes, softly echoed the red-coated
hue of Scott. “Yes; we think you do. ”
_ Lew York Graphic.
How the Fairies Got Their Names.
A widely spread notion is that when
our crusading forefathers went to the
Holy Land they heard the Pavnim
soldiers, whom they fought, speaking
much of the Peri, the loveliest beings
imaginable, who dwelt in the East.
Now, the Arabian language, which these
swarthy warriors used, has no letter P,
and therefore they called their spirits
Feri, as did the Crusaders after them;
and the word went hack with them to
Europe and slipped into general use.
“Elf” and “goblin,” too, are interest
ing to trace, There was u great Italian
feu 1 in the twelfth century between the
German Emperor and the Pope, whose
separate partisans were known as the
Guelfs and the Ghibellines. As time
W( nt on and the memory of that long
strife was still fresh, a descendant of the
Guelfs would put upon anybody he dis¬
liked the odious name of Ghibelline, and
the latter, generation after generation,
\\ routd return the compliment ardently in
his own fashion, Both terms finally
came to be mere catchwords for abuse
and reproach. Aud the fairies, falling
into disfavor with some bold mortals,
were angrily nicknamed “elf” and
“goblin; .11 in which shape you will rec
| ognize the last threadbare reminder of
the once brtter and historic . . facuon , . of -
Guelf aud Ghibelline. — TFiae Awake.
Fiery.
“Will you have a cigar, sir?” asked
Thompson, offering an old gentleman
one.
“No, No,” replied the old gentleman,
testily; “1 never smoke.”
“No,” said Thompson, “but I see
i you flare up occasionally .—New York
j Sun.
COVINGTON, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2. 1887.
NOISY FISHES.
Some Mysterious Sounds
That Come from the Sea,
Various Noises, Mu ical and Otherwise,
Made by the Pinny Tribe.
Oftentimes noises that come from the
sea, and are seemingly unexplainable,
proceed from certain small animals.
That many fishes utter sounds is well
known; as many as sixty different spe ¬
cies of finny vocalists have been heard
from time to time,
A number of years ago, while on a
fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico in the
vicinity of Yucatan, I hauled in a small
fish, known to science as the Haemulon,
and to sailors as the grunt; and never
was a fish better named, as no sooner
did I take it in hand than it rolled a
most expressive pair of eyes as far as a
fish could roll them and commenced an
appeal that quite astonished me. First
the grunts were low and uttered singly;
then they grew louder and faster, until
finally the fish hurled at me a perfect
volley of sounds that I accepted as an
entreaty for mercy and hurriedly tossed
him back. Later I caught many grunts,
and they were all very talkative out of
water, but whether these sounds could
be uttered in their native element it
would be difficult to determine.
Dr. C. C. Abbott heard the mud sun
fish utter a deep grunting sound, and
the gizzard shad makes an audible whir¬
ring noise. The chub sucker utters a
single prolonged note, while the catfish
produces a gentle humming sound. Ab¬
bott believes, however, that the most
musical of the fishes is the eel, that ut¬
ters a single note frequently repeated,
and has a slightly metallic resonance.
The fact that the organ of hearing in
these musical fishes is very well devel¬
oped would seem to point to the belief
that the notes were calls; and as the air
bladder in fishes represents to some ex¬
tent the lungs of other animals, there is
no reason for not thinking that the
fishes have vocal communication.
The drumfish is one of the loudest
talkers in American waters. When the
nets are hauled on the Jersey coast, and
large numbers of dumbfish are caught,
their protest s are often very loud- That
these tfslies utter sounds under water
there can be no doubt. The sailors on
vessels anchored off shore have heard the
strange noise rising about them, and
described it as booming, while others
thought it was occasioned by drums be¬
ing beaten on shore. The fish utter the
sounds, according to some authorities,
by striking their pharyngeal teeth
together, while other writers think that
they beat their bodies against the sides
of vessels to rub off certain parasites that
infest them.
A vessel lying in the China Sea some
years ago had a remarkable experience.
The sounds that arose about her greatly
alarmed the crew, and were described
by the captain as resembling escaping
steam, the clanging of bells, the notes
of an enormous harp, with others diffi¬
cult to describe. The concert lasted for
some hours and was attributed to a
school of fishes that was seen in the
vicinity.
That fishes utter sounds was known
in very early times, and Aristotle and
Aetion both refer to the sound-uttering
fishes of the Mediterranean. The Cey¬
lonese fishermen are familiar with a fish
found in the Lake of Colombo, which
they call “magoora,” that makes an
audible grunt when disturbed; and
Pallegoix, in his history of Siam, re¬
fers to a brilliant fish, resembling our
flounder, which the natives call “dog’s
tongue,” that attaches itself to a boat’s
bottom and gives out a variety of
sound*.
Considerable excitement was occa¬
sioned at Batticola, Ceylon, a number
of years ago, by the report that musi¬
cal sounds were heard rising from the
sea in various places. Sir E. Tennent
visited the locality and interrogated
several fishermen who had heard the
notes, and described them as resem¬
bling the faint sweet notes of an
jEolian harp. According to the men,
they were only audible during the dry
season, and they had always known of
them, aud .their fathers before them.
They said it was not a fish that
sang, but a shell or mollusk.
which they called in the Tamil tongue
the corie cooleeroo cradoo, or crying shell;
the name evidently being an attempt to
reproduce the sound. The men soon
pointed out some of the musicians, which
proved to be the shells known to science
as Litlorina l®vis and Centhium palus.
Tennent engaged the men to take him to
the spot, and one moonlight night they
rowed him to a locality about 300 yards
northeast of the jetty by the tort gate,
and while the boat rested fn perfect
silence, not a breath of wind Wowing he
distinctly heard the musical totes.
i. They ame up from the water,” he
says, “like the gentle thrills).f a musical
chord or the faint vibration! of a wine¬
glass when its rim is tubbed by a
moistened finger. It wa t not one sus
tained note, but a mujf’itude of tiny
sounds, each clear and iwtinct in itself;
the sweetest reble mhgled with the
lowest bass. On applyng the ear to the
woodwork of the boat tie vibration was
greatly increased in vo'ume. The sound*
varied considerably at different points as
we moved across the lake, as if the
number of animals from which they pro¬
ceeded was greatest in particular spots,
and occasionally we rowed out of hearing ,
of them altogether^ Until on returning to
the original locality the sounds were at I
once renewed.”— San Francisco Call. j
Slaughtering Deer in Missouri.
On Hurricane G eek are two expert deer
hunters, who have been bagging deer
and turkey on the wholesale plan since
the opening of the game season. They
came from Michigan in September. Since
the deer season opened they have
shot and killed thirty-eight deer, aud
only wounded one which they did not
finally capture. They used no dogs, but
they go through the woods stealthy and
travel hut a short distance apart. They
use the Marlin magazine rifle. Three
times out of five if a deer starts up before
them one of the hunters stops him the
first shot. Failing to do this, they fol
low the animal up with three or four
shots in quick succession. If the deer
should escape this fusilade, and disap
pear from sight both hunters strike out
after him like a streak of greased
lightning. They go bouncing over logs
and through brush like all possessed.
They will run away trom ordinary an
person who is not used to Missouri thickets
and jungles as easily as a Kansas tornado
will outstrip a Missouri cyclone. Both of
these hunters have whistles. By the
sound of these whistles they telegraph to
each other the course of tbe game they are
pursuing—whether.it is bearing to right
or left, or moving straight ahead. Nine
times out of ten they will reach the
summit of a divide before the dee r
reaches the apex of the next divide, and
then they open fire again. That deer is
made of good stuff that gets away with¬
out taking some-of their lead with him
-that rises and shows himself anywhere
within forty rods, and these hunters say;
they have wounded onlv one deer since
they came that they could not capture. 1
This one was found a few days after it
was shot, but it was spoiled They ship
all,their venison to“ St. Louis parties.
They realize 12 1-2 cuits per pound for
the saddles, which is all that they ship.
—St. Louis Republican,
Davy Jones’s Locker.
Responding to a correspondent’s in
quiry as to the origin of the nautical
phrase, “Gone to Davy Jones’s Locker,”
the New York Sun says: Davy Jones’s
Locker is the sailor man’s name for the
place of the dead who are buried at sea.
When a mau dies at sea his body is
sewed up in canvass, some heavy weight
is attached to the feet to make sure that
the body sinks, and tbe whole is then
dropped overboard. The body, has gone
to Davy Jones’s Locker. It was an
awful conceit of one sea writer that the
bodies of the dead that have been cast
overboard along the principal routes
between America and Europe are now
standing erect on the bottom of the sea
shoulder to shoulder, from port to port.
Jones is the sailor’s corruption for
Jonah. He thinks the dominie who
preaches about Jonah is simply afflicted
with an ambition to talk like a cockney
when saying Jonah is the name meant.
Davy is said to come from (he West
India negro’s word dully, meaning
devil or evil spirit. Davy Jones is
simply Duffy or Devil Jonah—that is, he
is tiie evil spirit of the sea, just as
Neptune is the God of the sea. What¬
ever of evil happens to the ship or crew
is the work of the evil spirit of the sea,
and so when a sailor man dies Davy
Jones has claimed his own, and the body
must be consigned to his home. Some
authorities think that Davy is a corrup
tion of teufel, the German for devil.
A Wasteful World.
“I have been figuring, ” said Mr. Sta¬
tistic, “on the amount of finger-nail
that is waste 1 in this world every year
and, sir, it is something enormous. Now,
sir, the average person (rims off a thirty
second of an inch of nail from each
finger every week, or three iuclies a
year. The average of human life the
world over is forty years. Look at that,
sirl Ten feet o! finger-nail for each
finger—a round 200 feet from the
twenty fingers and toes. Well, sir, there
are 1,500,000,000 people in this world,
and altogether they waste, on an aver
age, 300,000,000 feet, or 56,818 1-5
miles of finger-nail in a generation.
Why, sir, that is sufficient to reach
around the earth, and still leave nearly
10,000 miles to do our scratching with.
And only think 1 it would take less than
four generations to raise finger-nail
enough to scratch the eyes out of the
man in the moon. There is a heap of
waste in this world, sir, a heap,” said
Mr. Statist! — Chicago News.
Agreeing to do His Best,
Young Winks. Dick, my boy, will
your sister be home this evening?
Little Dick. Guesso.
It’s only a night or two since I
called, but I’d like to call ngain this
evening if 1 thought she’d be home.
Here’ssom. 1 candy for you, Dick.
Thanks, awfully.
Now, Dick, T want you to be a good
liHle friend of mine.
Well, I’ll be careful not to let her
know you’re coming .—Omaha World.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
Snow is composed of line crystal* of
various form?, as anyone can satisfy
himself by examination with a micro- j
scope. The snowflakes in each particu¬
lar storm have similar general character¬
istics, based probably on the electrical
conditions of the atmosphere from
whence the storms proceed.
Almost everywhere coal must be
brought up from great depths, as the
coal measures are often covered by the
secondary and even tertiary strata. The
coal measures of the United States are
not generally so deep as those of Eng
land. Slates occur usually among rocks j
still older than the coal measures. j
An attempt to infuse new vigor into
the degenerationg potato by crossing
the cultivated varieties with the wild
pi an t has been for two or three seasons
j n progress at Reading, England, and
has proven very successful thus far. The
hybrid plants produce a good yield of
tubers of excellent form and quality.
The coast ofNorway is sinking gradu
^ ' while that of Swodcn 5s emerging
mo re and more, and the Baltic is becom
- shaUower . Landmarks made on the
Swedish coast by the celebrated natural
ist Linnaeus, at the beginning of the
ei hteeatb century, shows that this up
heaval raises tbc coast about four [eet fo
the course of a century.
An ingenious Hungarian has con¬
trived a method for driving posts at a
slight expenditure of muscle. He first
places a thick iron plate on the top of
the post and on this a charge of dyna¬
mite. Each single charge contains
fifty-five grains of dynamite, and devel¬
ops five times as much power as an ordi¬
nary pile-driver. One plate is good for
about twenty-five explosions.
A new work by Dr. Louis Jobert
states that no purely left-handed race
ha9 ever been discovered, although sev
enty per cent, of the inhabitants of the
Pen jab use the left hand by preference
as do als0 the lar £ er P art of tho Hotten *
tots and Bushmen of South Africa. Iu
a study of criminals, Dr. Marro has
found that from fourteen to twenty-two
per cent, of convicts were left-handed,
the highest ratio among the people of
all classes being only nine in the hun
died.
That surgery has reached the stage
where no further advance need be ex
pected, was recently expressed as the
opinion of Dr. Erichsen, a distinguished
British surgeon. On the other hand,
Sir W. Stokes, president of the College
i of Surgeons in Ireland, anticipates a
great future development of antiseptic
surgery, declares brain surgery to be yet
in its infancy, and believes it quite
probable that in time diseased lungs
ma y be found amenable to surgical
treatment.
Cne of the most interesting stations of
prehistoric man in France is found at
Solutre, and, while containing numer¬
ous human remains, with stone imple¬
ments, etc., is chiefly remarkable for the
enormous deposit of horse bones accu¬
mulated about the stone hearths. A
wall five feet high, eleven to fourteen
yards long, and four and one-half feet
wide is composed entirely of these
equine remains. Dr. Cartailliac esti¬
mates that 40,000 skeletons might be re¬
constructed from the bones,
and he assumes that the liprse
must have reached its greatest develop¬
ment and served in place of all other
! game at the time when the ancient hun¬
ters left the accumulations at this place
; What Might Have Been.
Prof. Claypole finds that Niagara
j river would probably never have existed,
and that the drainage of the four upper
Great Lakes would have flowed past
Chicago into the Mississippi—
1. If the ground at Black Rock (Niag¬
ara River) had been twenty-five feet
higher when the river began to flow.
| 2. If the ridge behind Chicago had
been lower by the same amount.
3. If the Silurian escarpment at
Queenstown (Niagara River) had been
as high as it is at present.
4. If the rc-elevation of the land after
the ice age had been more rapid.
5. If the ice-dam at Mackinaw had
melted before that to the north and east
of the lakes.
If any of these cases had occurred it
is very probable that the water now
flowing through Niagara gorge would
liave found its way through Illinois to
the Mississippi. .
If such a reversal of the relationships
of Buffalo and Chicago had really taken
place, not to mention the altered con
ditions of the great cities lining the
lakes, it would be difficult to predict
the effect. The great commercial inter¬
ests must have been developed along
other lines and the vast highways of
traffic and communication would have
taken entirely different directions.—
lie Resented Familiarity.
“Are you ready to pay your foui
: weeks’ board bill?” the landlady asked
\ Lighthead.
V • Madam, he replied, severely,
“though my name is William, I object
to any one familiar!. calling me Bill,”
! am 1 he slapped his hat on his hea I, and
j was out of the do r and got away for
1 that day before she recovered from her
I astonishment .—New York Sun.
YOL. XIII, NO, 15.
Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg.
From E. P. Alexander’s account of the
tUfd day , s fllTht at Gettysburg, publish
ed in tho Century, we quote as follows:
,.p ickett , s division swept 0 ut of the
wood and showed the full length of its
gray ranks aud shining bayonets, as
grand a sight as ever a man t looked on.
Joining it on the left, Pettigrew stretch¬
ed farther than I could see. General
Dick Garnett, just out of sick ambulance,
and buttoned up in an old blue overcoat,
riding at the head of his brigade, passed
us and saluted Longstreet. Garnett was
a warm personal friend, and we had not
met before for months, We had served
together before the war. I rode with
him a short distance, and then we wish
®d each other luck and good-bye which
was our ^ as t
“Then I rode down the line of guns,
selecting such as had enough ammunition
to follow Pickett’s advance, aud starting
them after him as fast as possible. I
got, I think, fifteen or eighteen in all in
a little while, and went with them. Mean
vvlli!e - tho infantr y had n0 sooner ’ d ®'
boucIled on tbe P lal “ * han a11 tbe
Federal lme - which had be ? n
si!ent ’ broke out a ” am wlth ab lbS
batt f ies ' The ei S ht f n S uns Wera ba< *
m the cemetery > and a 8 ^ OTm of sbeU
b J an burstln g 070r and nmoa S
infantry. All of our guns, silent as the
infantry passed between them, reopened
when the lines had got a couple of
hundred yards away, but the enemy’s
artillery let us alone and fired only at
the infantry. No one could have
looked at that advance without feeling
proud of it.
‘ 'But as our supporting gun* advanced,
we passed many poor mangled victims
left in its trampled wake. A terrible
infantry fire was now opened upon
Pickett, and a considerable force of the
enemy moved out to attack the right
flank of his line. We halted, unlimbered,
and opened fire upon it. Pickett’s men
never halted, but opened fire at close
range, swarmed over the fences and
among the enemy’s guns, were swallowed
up in smoke—and that was the last of
theTO _ Tbe cou fli c t hardly seemed to
last five minutes before they were melted
av/ay, and only disorganized straggler*
were coming back pursued by a moderate
p ire _ Just^thcn, Wilcox’s brigade passed
by us, moving to Pickett’s support.
Timm was no longer anything to sup¬
port, and with the keenest pity at the
useless waste of life I saw them advance.
The men, as they passed us, looked be¬
wildered, as if they wondered what they
were expected to do, or why they were
there. They were -soon, however, halt¬
ed and moved back.”
Receiving the Town Hearse.
1‘Saw a funny thing up in Rapid City,
D. T., the other day,” said a 1 ravelling
man just in from the West yesterday.
i i The town, you know, is the jumping
oH place of all creation. There is where
all r ilroading ends and a great deal of
tough staging begins. The town re¬
ceived its first hearse about ten days ago.
It came on a flat car. After the black
vehicle had been unloaded the mayor
and city council, the fire and police de¬
partments, and a number of prominent
citizens on foot and in carriages, marched
to the depot, headed by two brass bands.
“Here the grotesque procession was
reorganized, with the hearse in front,
and tho march through the principal
streets begun. Hundreds of people
swarmed along the sidewalks, and many
flags were displayed. At night there
was a creditable attempt at illumination
in the business district and an elaborate
display of fireworks in front of the un¬
dertaker’s shop, I’ll bet the first fellow
to ride in the hearse will get a send-off
that will beat any Fourth of July cele¬
bration the people in the Black Hills
ever saw. ’’— Chicago Herald.
The Blue Catfish as Game.
All my life 1 have taken great delight
in fishing, and have had the pleasure of
landing many of the game fishes of our
waters. Among those which have fur
■ nished the most snort is the blue or chan
nel cat. Of all the fish that I ever
hooked it makes the hardest fight for its
life. It differs from them in this way,
when struck leap out of the water and
! rush through it with their mouths open,
; thus making it much easier to conquer
and land them; while the catfish takes
! the hook in its mouth and starts for the
bottom o{ the stream or lake with a vim
that wiI1 test the tackle of the best ex
pert. 1 have had more real sport with
tban w ; tb an y other fish I ever tackled.
It ig fuU of fight from the 8trike t0 tbe
lauding net, and requires longer to bring
p t0 baad tban an y other of its weight,
—Forest and Stream.
j
Tommy’s Question.
| Two business men, sitting one eve¬
ning at the home of one of them, dis
cussed the prices of merchandise over
the evening paper, and one of them
read : “There can be no doubt that
the prices of general merchandise, as
we ll as of coal and provisions, will con
tinue to decline, and that the bottom
has not yet been reached.” At this
point little Tommy, who had been lis
tening as if he expected to hear some
thing of interest, broke in. “Papa, If
ga jd he, “does the paper say anything
about whether you can get two top
strings for a cent?”
And Then I
we fold our hands when the fight Is
ended,
And the broken fetters reluctant fall!
When freedom comes after long endeavor,
our hate be buried in love forever,
And the bitter past be forgotten aUf
we think no more on the blood «r
pended.
On the day of want and the nights of woe,
the galling chains and the taunts more
galling,
And the famine-murdered for vengeance
calling.
Where the graves, like waves, lie row on
tow?
Could we bury our hate in some desert
lonely,
That its eyes might never accuse us morel
But there's not a rood of our land un watered
With the blood of myriad martyrs slaught¬
ered a
In the grievo..s years that have gone
before.
Hadst thou left us a poor God’s acre only
We had buried our bitter burden there:
We had clasped in love the hand extended,
Forgiving all when the fight had ended.
Bnt that hallowed spot, we shall find it—
where?
—James Jefferson Roche , in Boston Pilot
HUMOROUS.
A gross answer—Twelve dozen.
A lady’s jacket is certainly not a coat
of male.
Pencils are sometimes lead, but the
pen has to be driven.
It is curious, but a man is called a
faster when he goes slow on food.
“I am gaining flesh rapidly,” as the
thief remarked when he ran away with
a ham.
A man may talk and talk and not be
a bore if he talks to you about your
good points.
A boot and shoe shop hangs out the
sign: “Cast iron lasts. We all
know it does, but we don’t want any
boots made of it.
A poet asks: “What is it makes the
noonday air so strong?' Weli, perhaps
the wife has been boiling cabbage or
something like that.
Pretty miss, looking into a dude’*
palm: “Your hand is very soft. You
are either a barber or a gambler. I
can’t tell just right away.”
An experienced philosopher and
sportsman observes that it is easier to
lug a heavy shotgun ten hours through
an impenetrable swamp than to put up a
clothes line.
Men are strange creatures. They will
waste au hour hunting a collar button
instead of having an extra supply and
letting their wife find the missing one.
You never see a woman look for the pin
she drops. Her husband finds it when
he walks around in his bare feet.
i i
The Wolves anil the Washtnb.
The story is told of a Norwegian far¬
mer who was conveying one of his swine
to another estate in the night. His road
lay across a pond which was frozen over.
Upon his sled he had fastened a very
strong, high tub, in which he placed the
weighty animal, and covered it. The
tubs which are in common use for wash¬
ing, as well as other purposes, are nearly
four feet deep, and are supported by three
feet.
The middle of the pond was reached
when in the stillness was heard the faint
patter of feet and the distant howling of
a pack of wolves, and the farmer knew
they were pursuing him with swift di¬
rectness. Now was his time to exercise
the coolest bravery and the most adroit
skill. He at once loosened hi* horse
from the harness and let him go. The
voracious creatures were almost upon
him when he threw them the fat porker.
He then overturned the tub and hid be¬
neath it as his only refuge, his ax hi»
sole weapon. After devouring the de¬
licious booty the wild beasts tried to get
at the man and make him their pray by
thrusting their paws or their noses under
the tub. But he wielded his ax with
energy and hi* well-aimed blows cut off
the intruding members steadily. The
ferocious animals fell back on the ice,
one after another, bleeding and helpless,
but the farmer remained imprisoned
until daylight. When he knew by the
silence that he was alone and safe he
crept forth to view the scene and mark
the result of the adventure. It appeared
that eight or ten of his foes had been
destroyed, and the bloody tracks upon
the ice showed that others had been
wounded and had crawled away. By
the bounty which he received for killing
the wolves and the sale of the skin*
taken from them the farmer gained a
round sum, although he lost the animal
he set out with, The horse had trotted
back to his stable.
Chewing Cocoa Leaves.
The natives of Peru chew the leaf of
the cocoa bush from which the cocaine
is extracted, and it produces in a modi¬
fied degree the same results as the sul¬
phate of cocaine when taken internally,
reports of whose ravages appear in the
papers from time to time. The miners
of that country will not work unless
twice a day for half an hour they are
allowed to chew their rations of leaves,
and then they are ready to endure any
hardship and work day and night.
They are absolutely enslaved by it, as it
is said that anyone beginning to use it is
bound to be.