Newspaper Page Text
The Covington Star.
J. W. ANDERSON, Editor and Proprietor.
Life’s Hoses.
Through smiles the roses are climbing,
Climbing tenderly over her face;
They gather in beautiful clusters,
Tinting softly each dimple and space,
ller love weaves coloring of roses.
Bo changeful the tinting steals o’er,
That I’m lost in deep adoration
Of tiio roses that bloom at the door.
Her eye full of sun’s scintillations,
Softly flashes amid her sweet smiles;
And countless the roses that cluster,
Quickly gathoringand blooming the while;
Her welcome is not .n words given,
Yet it seems from the dear heart to pour.
Mid glowing enchantment of roses—
The roses that bloom at the door.
The rose leaves are ceaselessly falling,
So softly, so swoe'ly, and pure;
While rosebuds are springing about us,
'Ike sweet treasures of home that allure.
’Tis true that our cottage is humble,
In the world’s goods, I know, we are poor,
But that does not alter the beauty
Of the roses that bloom at the door.
Yes, our homo is humble and lowly;
By the fields where I labor each day,
Cheerfully attending the croppings,}
That my toil in rare comfort repay;
The plants grow and bloom in abundance,
To fulness my graneries they store:
Yet the charm of it all is the roses,
That bloom when she comes to the door.
I follow the plow in the furrow,
Turning over the rich, mellow earth;
While green corn goes waving and flashing,
As rejoicing with mo in its mirth.
The rich soil is teeming with blessings,
While I’m toiling its rare fruits outpour;
Its fulness of treasure surrounds me,
’Mid the roses that bloom at the door.
The sunset of evening comes glowing
With changes of coloring and shado;
And filling all space with its beauty,
Over stream, over meadow and glade.
The beauty of heaven in richness,
Its rare tints of coloring outpour,
So brilliant, to changeful and charming
With the roses that bloom at tho door.
I dream of these roses while sleeping,
They come clustering as angels above;
Tho buds and the flowers of Uod’s keeping,
To bo gathered in heaven through love;
1 know that these roses are real,
That they’ll climb and entwine evermore,
Min;ling our sou s in one being,
With the charms they have wrought at tho
door.
—[A. Banders Piatt in the Current.
A VALENTINE.
t Go and stay all night with old Mrs.
Fairfax? Indeed I can’t go. I’m in a
hurry to get my quilt together, de- | i
dared Patty Ann Bunting, as she put the
finishing touch to the block of piuk-and
bluc ‘nine patch’ she was piecing.
t t And I’ve got the kitchen aud back
porch to scour, and some ironing to do
before Sunday,” cried Adaliuc. “So
it’s out of the question for me to go.
“\\ell, 1 shan’t go either,” asserted
Penelope, the youngest Mis3 Bunting, j
tossing back her tar-black braids and
frowmng ominously. “If Cecil Fairfax
chooses to go a-courting that hatclul, !
stuck-up Priscilla Pinkham, lie can get
somebody besides me to stay with his
mother, I can tell him.
“But papa thinks so much of old Mrs.
Fairfax,” demurred Patty Ann, “ho
won’t hear to none of us going.’’
“There comes Viney Fur-ron in the
gate now,” cried Adeline. “Let's get
her to go, and not tell her Cecil’s gone
away. It’ll be a good joke. »>
“Yes,” agreed Penelope. “It’ll serve
lier just right. She was setting her cap
for Cecil all summer, till that P.ukliam
girl come and caught him.”
“Pooh! lie don’t care a snap for
Viney, anyway,’ said Patty Aud, get
ting rod in tho face, “But she can’t rc
fuse to go, and that’ll save us the trou
ble.
Viney F, i ron was a cousin of the Bunt
ing girls. She lived with her brother
and his wife in a little log cabin, on a
ten acre farm adjoining that of her Un¬
cle Bunting.
Tom Farron and his wife were poor as
church mice themselves, but they gave
their sister a home, and she helped to
eke out the slender income by knitting
socks for the villagj store at forty cents
a pair, and by “taking in” sewing when¬
ever she could get it.
t > I came over to borrow some browned
coffee, said Viney, coming in fresh and
rosy from the frosty winter air.
. . Y’es, to be sure,” returned Adalins,
more cheerful than washer wont. “And,
Viney, would you mind going over to
old Mrs. Fairfax's to-day? Siic wanted
some one of us to come, but we are all
so busy.”
And with little deepening of the
pink in her cheeks, Viney gave the re¬
quired assent, and tripped away with
her bowl of coffee, while the three
cousins burst into a hearty laugh at the
success of their plan.
11 She thinks Cecil will be there," said
Penelope, maliciously. “Won’t she be
nicely fooled, though?’’
“Come in, my dear. I am so glad to
sec you!” said old Mrs. Fairfax, as Vm
ey appeared, with rosy cheeks and a
fringe of curling, light brown hair pec]>
ing from under her scarlet hood. “You’ll
stay ail night, won’t you, Viney?” said
the old lady, placing a chair for the vis¬
itor close to the sparkling hardwood fire
that was glowing on tho broad hearth.
u I didn't expect to stay so long.” said
YYney, the dimples dancing in her bright
cheeks; “but I can, if you want me.”
And she thought of the pleasant time
she would have, chatting with Cecil at
supper, and afterward, with the firelight
flashing brightly on the hearth, and
COVINGTON, GEORGIA. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10. 1887.
lighting up the pleasant, cosey sitting
room, with its bright rag carpet, its
spider-legged chairs and claw-footcd
mahogany table.
“I’ll be glad to have you stay," said
Mrs. Fairfax, stirring up the tiro with a
long hickory poker, “fur Cecil’s gone to
the city, an’ I’ll be alone all night.”
Vincy’s heart, which had been as light
as a tuft of thistle-down, sank like a
bit of lead in her bosom at th s an¬
nouncement.
“He’s been a-wanting to go to tho
city fur some time,” said the old lady,
taking out her knitting and settling her¬
self for a pleasant chat. “I s’pose he’ll
call an’ see Priscilla Piukham while lie’s
there. I wish he hadn’t took such a
notion to that girl,” she added, confi¬
dentially, as she looked sharply through
her glasses at Viuey’s blushing checks.
“But, there, wc needn’t bother about
that now. I’m real glad you’ll stay with
me, Viney; and I’ll have lemon cakes
and raspberry jam fur tea. I know what
young folks like,” she added, kindly.
“I must say, Priscilla, it’s time you
found something to do!” said Miss Me
lissa Pinkham, sharply, to her younger
sister. “You spent ail our spare funds
on that trip to the country this fall, and
lost your situation by it, and here wo
nre, getting poorer every day. 1 tried
to make a little something renting rooms,
but nobody’s come to look at ’em even,
and something’s got to be done!”
“Ob, don’t worry, Melissl My trip
to the country, that you grumbled about
so, was a speculation. Just wait till
Cecil Fairfax comes! I’ll manage to
bring him to the poini, see if I don’ll
And when I get him our troubles will be
over!”
H Humph!” sniffed Melissa. “I don’t
believe in having to bring a man to the
point! And besides, if your Mr. Fair¬
fax was to see you now, I don’t think
you’d find it so easy to do, she added,
with a glance at her sister’s soiled dress,
rough, untidy hair and slip-shod feet.
“Oh, he won’t see me this way!” said
Priscilla, lightly, • • I shall frizz my hair
and wear my crimson cashmere and my
beaded jersey when he comes.”
At this very moment a knock sounded
on the door, and opening it hastily,
Priscilla beheld—Cecil Fairfax.
He could hardly conceal his surprise
at tho picture which met his gaze, for
Miss Priscilla had been the pink of
neatness during the few weeks he had
known her, and Cecil had all a man’s
horror of a slovenly woman.
Priscilla, on her part, was awkward
and embarrassed, and was glad when the
iuUTvicw was over .
“That’s the end of your speculation!”
c[ . ied Meligga ^ 8 i uirp ]y t w Uen the guest
h ^ d ted> now that your
u air . castle llas tumbled about your
g) j hope you »a bo satnfi.d to go to
W ork.”
“Who would have thought she was
such a slouch?” murmured Cecil, as lie
started for tho depot to take the first
train for home. “Little Viney Farron,
in her calico frocks and check aprons,
is worth a dozen Miss Pinkhams, as mo
ther said,
Mrs. Fairfax and Viney were just sit
ting down to their lemon cakes, rasp.
berry jam and fragrant Oolong tea, when
the door opened and Cecil appeared.
And so Vmcy bad tho pleasant chat
with him, after al 1 , while Sirs. Fairfax
set away the tea things, and the bright
firelight IP, shed over the cosey room, and
Cecil watched Vincy’s fair face, with a
look of lovcr-!ike admiration in his hand
some eyes,
“Here's something for you, Viney,”
said Tom Farron, handing his sister a
large embossed envelope, plainly ad¬
dressed to “Miss Elvina Farron.”
Viney opened it carefully, and out
dropped a gold ring, which was attached
bv a thread to the handsomely decorated
valentine inclosed in the envelope.
Within a beautifully designed wreath
of orange blossoms was tho couplet:
“If thou wilt be my Valentine,
Accept this ring ami I am thine 1”
And under the lines was tho nams “Ce¬
cil Fairfax.”
Adnlinc Bunting, who was at her cous
in’s at the time, beheld the valentine,
with a mixture of feelin TS.
“We didn’t make much by sending
Vmcy to stay with Mrs. Fairfax that
day,” she informed her sisters, “for Ce
cil came homo the same night, and he’s
sent Viney a valentine, asking her to
marry him.”
“Well, I must say! What fools we
were!” cried Patty Ann, much provoked.
‘■But it’s too late now; the mischief’s
done.”—[Helen W. Clark.
Defying the Mercury.
Congressman Tillman, of the E Igefieid.
South Carolina, district, belongs to tho
anti-overcoat brigade, of which Hanoi
bill Hamlin is t ie general, When the
mercury is cuddling into cup at zero he
walks to the capitol with his sack coat
unbuttoned, and rallies his heavily
wrapped colleagues on their effeminacy,
He has not worn au overcoat in thirtv
five years, and never has a fire in his
room in th';' coldest weather. He is 60
vears old, but there is not a more athletic
man in congress, Mr. Tillman tells with
pride that he has never made the pro¬
fessional acquaintance of a doctor.—
Atlanta Constitution.
AN OLIVE GROVE.
How Olive Raising Has Be¬
come a California Industry.
The Fruit of t’ae Mediterranean Now One
of America’s Products.
From ancient writings, including
Holy Scriptures, it can be ascertained
that the olive is one of the oldest known
fruits. Tho Mount of Olives, near
Jerusalem, is famous in history. Long
before butter was known olive oil was
used in the preparation of food. Large
quantities of the oil and fruit have from
time to time been imported here from
the shores of the Mediterranean Sea,
whence most of the product has been
obtained. The climate of California, not
being unlike that of the Mediterranean,
was considered suitable for tho growth
° *be olive, and an experiment was
i mad ? wblch Las P roved ^cessful. The
I tree ltself is P rett y and ornam ental. In
spring time it is covered with a pro
fusion of white flowers, and in winter
has an evergreen foliage. When ready
for the harvest it is so prolific that the
; branches bend under the weight of the
fruit. Olive wood is also beautiful,
and was chosen as parts of the orna
j mentation of tho spacious and magni
ficent Solomon’s templo. The oil is
considered by many as something
| sacred. As such it is used in cousecra
j lions and coronations. The ancients
used the sprays of olive leaves to crown
; their great men, as it was believed to be
an emblem of purity and peace. It
I was considered the highest honor to be
crowned with olive leaves. Ia time of
war an olive branch borne in the hand
was a token of peace, and is even now
spoken of as such.
The olive tree lives for a long time.
Some of the trees on the Mount of Olives,
in Judea, are said to be fifteen feet in
diameter and over two thousand years
old, while that in the Vatican at Rome
has a record of over a thousand years.
The olive is very hardy, and will endure
treatment which would kill other fruit
trees. If infected with insects the en¬
tire head can be cut off and thrown
away, while the trunk will sprout
again with resowed vigor. In Southern
California it ha3 prospered beyond
j expectation. Being sensitive to excess
ive heat or cold, its home is in the semi
tropical belt represented by tho Pacific
slope of the United States. It prospers
best near the sea, but can bo cultivated
» short distance inland. With ordinary
\ ! culture the olive in Europe will produce
over twenty gallons of oil per acre, be
sides allowing a largo quantity of the
i fruit to bo used for eatiug. Although
| yet in its infancy in this country, producod ex
ports have said that the oil in
California is equal to any which has
1 been imported. Growers say tire Cali
, j fornian coast, lrom Point Conception to
g nn Diego, is equal to that between
Geneva and Naples for the production
of olives. The importations amount to a
j ] ar g e SUU j annually, claimed, and be if produced the best olive here
0 il can, us it is
and in sufficient quantities, that product
will form an addition to the’wealth of the
; United States. So far as the curing of
, ^ ^ h concornc(3j experience is like¬
ly tQ teach the proper treatmC nt. ns it
| ha9 with the raisin crop The cuttings
.
1 , of two trees planted in 1876 yielded well
in 1884—the ordinary time required for
bearing being ten years. The crop of
i these two trees was then seventy-five
gallons of fruit, which sold readily at
f 1 per gallon after being prepared for
the table. When taken from the trees
the grower realized seventy-five cents
per gallon. The same trees were loaded
down with fruit this season, and in Febru¬
ary will produce a large crop that can be
readily sold at the place of growth at
{ eighty-lhe cents per gallon The
, I planted hillside, about
j trees are on
thirty-five or forty feet apart, to allow
for expansion, as they will live and pro
duco for centuries. An acre of ground
will hold about 40 trees. The small
fruit is used for oil, while the large or
queen olive is pickled for eating.
Olive trees can bo planted on rocky
lands, where the vine would fail, and
tho cost of planting the former is about
one-third of the latter. The crops are
more easily gathered than grapes, while
the outfit for preparing olive oil is about
one-tenth of that necessary to produce
wine. The insect pest can be fought
much easier and with less cost than the
phylloxera or other enemies of the vine.
Being so prolific it becomes sooner
profitable to the grower, and each year
after bearing the olive tree produces a
good crop until it reaches its full de¬
velopment, when it pays a much larger
revenue than a vineyard, bearing a crop
of from 30 to 40 gallons of frurt per
tree. The olive tree is also not so much
. affected as the vine by drought. From
' experiments already made and their
t ] ie
results it is believed that the American
0 b V e grove will in a few years become
success f u l rivals to that of the Mediter
ranean. -[Cincinnati Commercial.
Ambiguous.
Smith (with effusion)—Hello, Brown,
is that you? I heard you were drowned.
Brown (with sadness)—No, it was my
brother.
Smith (thought.essly)—What a pity.—
[Washington Critic.
Recnporative Power.
The resistance, active and passive, of
the physical system to destru tive agents
is wonderful. Huge wounds heal up
and leave nothing but a scar. This is
true not only of tho external muscular
tissue, but of the internal organs, in¬
cluding even the brain.
A large part of a bone may be taken
out, and the bone grow again, Deadly
poisons may be swallowed, and tho
various eliminating organs will go to
work to destroy their power, and often
fully succeed. Millions of persons
transgress nearly every law of their
physical system, and still live out half
their days, because of the unceasing
struggle of that other law—the law of
recuperation—to undo the mischief, or
to reduce it to a minimum.
A bullet his been carried in the brain,
or in some large bone or murcle, for
years without appreciable harm. In
such cases, nature builds a tough inclos¬
ing wail around the intruding object,
thus preventing either friction or the
solution of the lead and the absorption
of the poison into the circulation.
The following case, the full details of
which are given in a recent Lancet ,
strikingly illustrates the tolerance and
recuperative power of the system:
A soldier was badly wounded in tho
knee by the explosion of a rifle. After
he had lain in the hospital five months,
during which time the joint constantly
suppurated, and was several times laid
open with the knife, the wound healed
up. He became able to do his work as a
messenger, and suffered no inconven¬
ience from the injury for eleven years.
Then an abscess formed, which dis¬
charged for some eight years, when tho
surgeon succeeded in removing a small
portion of the brass heel-plate of the
rifle and bits of lead from the knee.
The abscess remained open, occasionally
discharging small portions of brass, lead
and gritty matter for the next nine years,
or until the summer of 1885. At that
time, the surgeon at the hospital who
then took charge of the case, succeeded
in tracing the sinus, or opening, back to
a hard object in the opposite side of tho
joint. Laying open the flesh at this
point, ho found and removed the offend¬
ing cause, which was ono -half of a flat
tened and misshapen 1 ul et. In a few
weeks the man was abie to walk with
little inconvenience-, and returned home
with the prospect of perfect restoration.
Even in this case, jagged as was the
bullet, the cavity, which was about an
inch in diameter, was lined with a firm
capsule.— Youth'* Companion.
No Humor in llis Soul.
“Herrmann, the magician, is a mighty
clever man at his business,” said a Clark
street gossiper, “and has made a good
deal of money. But he is extravagaut,
sometimes recklessly so, and occasionally
finds himself in trouble with his credit¬
ors. I think he has been twice in jail
for debt, though I understand that in
both cases he suffered incarceration
rather than be bulldozid into payments
of sums which he did not rightfully
owe. If there is any way of getting
into jail that one can admire that is the
way. The last time Herrmann got into
a scrape of this kind was, I think, in
Buffalo. One day, while exercising in
the corridor, he thought he would have
some lun with the jailer, and so he be
gan to perform before the astonished
man's eves some of his stage tricks, such
ns taking money out of the j tiler’s uose,
vanishing coins out of his own hands
andsoon. But the jailer happened to
be one of those serious, solemn individu
als who are unable to see anything funny
in the world. Instead cf being amused
he was alarmed. And he lost no time
in taking the genial professor to a cell,
there locking him in and remarking:
“ ‘Now let’s sec you pull a key out of
yovy nose and unlock that door.’
< . After that poor Herrmann got no
more exercise in the corridor, and was
watched as closely ns if he were under
sentence of death.”— Chicago llerald.
Long Sentences.
“Secretary Evarts uses some remarka¬
bly long sentences doesn’t he” said a
traveler to his seat-mate with whom lie
had been discussing the various states¬
men.
“Y’es, but I don’t think any of his
can compare in length to a sentence
that I heard Judge Bromley get off last
week.
. . What was it?”
“Twenty five years.” — ifcrchant
Trawler.
One as Tend r as tho Other.
ala U U | C 7^ “Well ’ I Sil ’ ° U lie * ~ ^
you do look , hungry. „
Tramp— “Not had a meal since yes
terday. Can’t you spare me a dinner
somehow? ’
“Well, no, I have no small change;
but, here, I’ll give you a beefsteak and
you can build a fire out there and cook
it.
“No, thankee, I've got a piece of my
boot-leg left.”— Omaha World.
(’aught a Thrashing.
First Small Boy—“So you went fish
ing down the Schuylkill last Sunday,
did you?”
Second Small Boy— “Yaas.”
"Ketch anything? ’
“Not till I got home and met dad.”—
[Philadelphia Call.
TIIE FAMILY l’HYSICIAN.
Hints to Itlienmatico.
If I were now to guess at the life his¬
tories of those matronly ladies who lean
as gracefully as they can on their silken
umbrellas, I should say that their trou¬
ble, if not hereditary, arose from dietary
errors and want of sufficient exercise. |
They have been busy people, perhaps- -
bu'y at some kind of business which
took up all their time; they did not re¬
quire exercise, they thought, being al¬
ways on the rnovo, one way or another—
with only the walk to and from church
on Sunday to count for relaxation of
mind. They forgot, or they did not
know, that moving around at the duties
of business is not exercise in its proper
sense; that exercise must be pleasurable
to be of any avail; that mind and body
must both have a change. Probably the
digestion began to fail before a twinge
of rheumatism took place; they had lit¬
tle appetite for breakfast, except for that j
cup of tea and toast. They often felt
weary before the day was half over—
tired. I emphasize tho word “tired”
because this feeling is universal at the
outset of chronic rheumatism. Some
times their backs ached in so weary a
way that even appetite was interfered
with, and depression of spirits caused
them to take very gloomy views of life,
indeed. Cordials would bo suggested.
Ahthese cordials, what a deal of mys¬
tery they have to account for. Giving
but temporary relief, requiring to be ta¬
ken oftener, and still more often, as tho
taking of them becomes ahabit, injuring
the digestion, producing irritability of
temper and restless nights, they never
fail to increase the troubles they are
meant to quell, and shorten life itself.—
Cassell’s Magazine,
Health Hints.
A window open a slight distance both
top aud bottom, aud a chimney draught
also open, are the only sure ways of
keeping pure air In a sleeping room
whose doors are closed.
A simple remedy for neuralgia is to
apply grated horse radish prepared, the
same as for tabic use to the temple, when
the face or head is affected, or to
wrist when the pain is in the arm or
shoulder.
When one’s clothing becomes damp
^ rom exposure to the weather, it is best
to change it immediately. Rub the skin
with a dry, hard towel until the body is
in a glow all over; but if it is impracti¬
cable to change the garments, exercise
moderately so that enough heat may gen¬
erate in the system to dry tho skin and
clothing without a chill.
Apples stewed and sweetened arc
pleasant to the taste, cooling, nourish¬
ing and laxative, far superior in many
cases to the abominable doses of salts
and oils usually given in fever and other
diseases. Raw apples and dried apples
stewed are better for constipation than
liver pills.
To cure chapped hands take common
starch and rub it into a fine, smooth
powder, putin a clean tin box, and
every time the hands are removed from
disli water or hot suds, rinse them care
fully in clean water and while they are
damp, rub a pinch of starch over them
covering the whole surface.
A saucerful of shaved ice may be pre
j served for twenty four hours, with the
I thermometer in the room at 90 F., if the
I following precautions are observed. Put
| the plate saucer and cover containing it with the another. ice in a Place sonp
j the soup places thus arranged on a good
, heavy pillow and cover with another
I pillow, pressing the pillows so that the
| plates old are completely imbedded in them,
j ! An jack plane set deep, is a most ex
eellent thing with which to shave ice. It
should be turned bottom upward and
the ice shoved backward and forward
over the cutter.
,Iow Lightning ^ is Kindled. ~
It is no uncommon thing for tho elec
tnca ' force emanating from a cloud to
make itself felt in attractions and repul
sions many miles away. Clouds resting
upon the remote horizon thus frequently
produce perceptible efforts at distances
from which the clouds themselves can
not be seen. An electrical cloud ham?
ing a mile above the ground acts induc¬
tively upon that ground with consider
able power. When in summer time the
j temperature of the earth’s surface is very
1 great, the ground moist, the air calm
i and the sky clear, very copious supplies
j under of vapor the are hot steamed sunshine. up from the ground
Clouds, however, begin at length to
gather in elevated regions of the air out
! °^ tbe a ' juni * ancc the su pply- The
free electricity which has been carried
up with the vapor is at first pretty
j cven , y gpread through tljc clouds; but
a f ter a time, as the electrical charge be
; comes more aud more intense, a power
ful repu ] s ive force is in the end «stab- i
]j g ] lcd between tlie spherules of the mist,
an| j a ver y bjgh degree of tension is at ,
last produced at the outer surface of the
i cloud where it is enveloped by insulat
| I- air i’ r until in the end the expansive
|energy ing ’there
becomes strong enough to j
i occasion an outburst from the cloud,
, The escape of the redundant charge then
| appears lo an observer’s eye as a flash of |
j lightning issuing from the cloud. Such, !
in its simplest form, is the way in which
lightning is kindled in the storm cloud, i
— [Science for All.
VOL. XIII, NO, 17.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
An observer must stand 6667 feet
above the level of the sea to discern a
vessel one hundred miles distant, and
26,666 feet when it is distant two hun¬
dred miles.
The teeth of individual often vary '
an
greatly in hardness at intervals, and a
Berlin physician, Dr. W. D. Miller, is
experimenting to show that this is due
to a varying proportion of lime salts in
the food.
The ultra-violet or heat rays of the
spectrum, invisible to human eyes, ap- I
pear to be plainly prcceptible to the eyes
of ants, according to the investigations
of Dr. Forel, the distinguished Swiss
entomologist.
Some idea of tho wonderful progress
now being made in microscopical science
may be formed by the fact, as stated by
the President of the British Association
lately, that results are now attached in
this line which mathematicians five
years ago declared to be impossible.
A substance resembling celluloid may
be made from potatoes by peeling them,
and, after soaking them in water, im¬
pregnating with eight parts of sulphuric
acid, then drying and pressing between
sheets of blotting paper, In France
pipes are made of this substance scarcely
distinguishable from meerschaum. By
subjecting the mass to great pressure a
substance can be mado of it rivaling j
ivory in hardness.
Mr. J. McNeil, of Indiana University, j
mentions a long-horned beetle which
lived no less than nineteen years, and
probably more than twenty, in an ash
door-sill. Two similar cases of rernark
able longevity in beetles are recorded by
Packard. A specimen of the pine
borer lived more than fifteen years in a
pine bureau; and three beetles came
from an apple-treo table, the first after
a residence therein of twenty years and
the last of twenty-eight years.
Henry W. Elliott, in his book on |
Alaska, says that the sea lion at its full 1
growth is twice the size of the fur seal,
yet inferior in perfection of nhysieal or
ganization in intelligence, and even in
courage, at least against man. xYs it has S
no fur, its skin has little commercial
value, but tlie Aleutians make abundant
use of its flesh, fat and sinews. The sea
lion common off the Bay of San Fran
cisco belongs to a different family, and
attains not more than half the size of
its namesake of the Bfiiring Sea.
According to the Belgian Savant,
Quetelet, a man attains his maximum
weight about his 40th year, and begins
to lose it toward his 60th year. A |
woman, however, does not attain her 1
maximum weight until her 50th year,
The weight of persons of the same age
in different classes of society also differs,
In the afflueut classes the average maxi
mum weight is 162 pounds and is
attained at 56 years of age. In the arti
san class it is 154 pounds, attained at
40. Among farm laborers it is 171
pounds, attained at 60. In the general
classes it is 104 pounds, and is reached
between 40 and 50 years of age. :
Japan’s Mineral Wealth. I
Although gold and silver were discov
ered in the eighth and ninth centuries,
the Japanese are still so unskillful in
separating the two metals that their gold j
has invariably an alloy of silver. Owing
to a glut of the precious metals in Japan
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centu
ries and the ignorance prevailing of their
current value in the rest of the world,
more than one thousand millions of gold
gulden were drawn from the country by
tho Portugese and Dutch within the
period of one hundred years. The con
j ditions are now so changed that Japan
| is obliged to supply her want of the
precious metals by importation from
Corea, China, America and Australia.
Copper was discovered and employed
f or co i aag e earlier than gold—viz, in the
scven tb century. Notwithstanding the
abundance of iron ore in the country,
Ug manu f actur e is so clumsy and costly
lhat jt fails to compete with the foreign
art!C i e- Steel, however, of tho very best
, jU;l [ity, especially for sword blades, is
turned out) but the secret of its manu
facture has not been divulged. Few
precious stones, and those only of in¬
ferior order are found.
Just as It Happens.
There goes a runaway!” he called to
a citizen who was coming out of the
City Hall.
“Good enough! Let’em obey tlie or
dinance and hitch their horses!”
The citizen walked around to the cor
n er of Fort and Griswold, looked all
around for his horse and cutter, and
suddenly exclaimed:
“Bess me! but that must have been
my horse! The ordinance he hanged,
and rll lick somebody for not stopping
him!”__[Free Press.
Something to Remember.
A mother had reproved her little girl'
for being so clumsy as to drop a dish,
and the little girl, after a thoughtful si
lence, said:
“Mamma, can you write with your
left hand?”
“I could if I were left-handed, but
I’m not.”
Well,” said the little girl, “I (mess
little children arc left-hauded all over.
A Use of Memory.
Why should I think of dragging clouds,
Of dreary, dragging clouds of gray,
When I have seen them floating light,
Snow mountains blazing soft and bright,
Of filmy feathers faint and white,
On many a bygone day?
Why should I think of sighing winds,
Of sighing winds that shake the rain,
When I’ve felt breezes fresh and clear
That sing forever past my ear,
And breaths of summer drifting near
O’er clover fields and grain?
Why should I think of days like this,
Of days like this, all dark and wet,
When I’ve knowu days so grandly bright.
So full of freedom and delight,
That, though all after-life were night,
I never can forget?
—[Woman's Journal.
HUMOROUS.
Cold comfort. ■Sleiging.
A current event—The plum pudding.
Family jars often grow out of family
jugs.
Much adieu about nothing—Tho part¬
ing of two society girls.
What kind of robbery is not danger¬
ous? A safe robbery, of course.
Although not much talked about tho
postage stamp is on everybody’s tongue.
Isn’t it paradoxical that the best way
1° keep a young lady’s affections is to
return them ?
Tliere are some people who always
marry for money, that is, unless the
bridegroom forgets the fee.
They do not say “stomach ache” in
Boston, < 1 Gastric Neuralgia” is the
proper word, but it gets there all the
same,
“Man proposes, but”-. Upon
thinking it over we don . t believe he pr0 .
poses half so often as the girls would
like him to.
The bravest are not always the ten
d rest, as the poet sings. There is the
red game rooster, for instance; he will
fight a bird double his size, but he cuts
up tough in a pot pie.
After the clerk had pulled down
cver Vt . 1 store wit out satis
ln ^ 111 y
j”*’ !' S customei, a woman, she as ^ e
him if there was anything else he had
not shown her. i . Y'es, ma’am," he said,
“the cellar; but, if you wish it, I will
have that brought up and shown to you,"
Right Breathing.
Breathing through the open mouth is
practised for the most part only by
“civilized" men. The aborigincos of
our country, and savage tribes else
where, always keep the mouth tightly
closed and breathe through the nos
trils.
Nature is a wiser teacher than fashion,
for the primitive method of breathing ia
the best one on every principle of hygi
ene. There is danger of severe injury
to the bronchial tubes and to the deli
cate vessels of the lungs, in passing
from the warm air of a house to an at
mosphere in tho neighborhood of zero,
if the air is taken directly into the lungs,
By passing it through the nostrils the
chillis removed, aud the shock from tha
sudden change escaped.
Yet our readers will remember that
Lieut. Schwntka, in an article which we
recently published, said that in the most
intense cold of the Arctic regions, one
mujtt usually breathe through the mouth,
]f the modern germ theory of the ori
gin of infectious diseases is true, breath
ing through the nostrils is one of na¬
tU r e ’s safeguards. The hairs, which
]j ne the entrance to the nostrils, the’ may ar
rest the germs "their floating "to in lungs’ air, and
preV ent passage the °b’lood. and
consequent absorption by the
parents ought to teach their children
early to breathe only through the nos
t r ils_ Youth's Companion.
The Pita Plant.
The pita plant of Honduras invites the
enterprise of American capital and
Yankee invention. Only one
tiling is needed and the lucky man’s
fortune is made. Mr. Buchard, our con
sul, reports that this pita plant, which
has never been cultivated, grows spon
taneously and in apparently inexhaust
ible quanties by the margin of every
| fiver and lagoon, and, indeed, anywhere
below the altitude of two thousand
feet. It can be had for the cost of cut
i ting.
The fibre is susceptible of a thousand
uses. The people of Honduras convert
it into thread for sewing boots and shoes,
and into nets, fish lines and cordage.
The finest hammocks and most costly
are also mado of it. The small quanti
ties which have been sent to this market
have been manufactured into hand
kerchiefs, laces, ribbons, false hair and
wigs. difficulty decorticate
The is to the
plant without rotting or otherwise injur
ing the fibre. The man who can do
that will be able to take fortune at the
flood. In other words, brains will bring
bullion.—[N. Y r . Herald.
The Oldest Living Person.
The oldest person in France, perhaps
in ‘he world, is said to be a woman who
lives in the village of Aubenve, m Roy
ans - ^be was born March 16, 1761, and
is therefore 125 years old. The authen.
tic record of her birth is to be found in
the parish register of St. Just de Ciaix,
in the department of the Isere.—[Scien¬
tific American.