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The Covington ’AR.
J. W. ANDERSON. Editor and Proprietor.
Ode to Spring.
I wakened to the singing of a bird;
I heard the bird of spring.
And lo!
At his sweet note
The flowers began to grow,
Grass, leaves and everything,
As if the green world heard
The trumpet of his tiny throat
From end to end, and winter and despair
Fled at his melody, and passed in air.
I heard at dawn the music of a voice.
O my beloved, then I said, the spring
Can visit only once the wailing year;
The bird can bring
Only the season’s song, nor his the choice
To waken smiles or the remembering tear I
But thou dost bring
Springtime to every day, and at thy call
The flowers of life unfold, though lcayes of
autumn fall.
—{Mrs. James T. Fields, in the Century.
A BOX OF DIAMONDS.
In the year 1867 I fouud myself at
Rio Janeiro, Brazil, just out of hos¬
pital, not a dollar in my pocket, and
ready to ask tiie American Consul to
send me to tiie United States in tiie
name of charity. I had been out with
an American whaler, and had boon
left there so broken in health that no
one supposed that I could live two
weeks. As the ship had taken no oil
there was nothing coming to me. In¬
deed, l was in debt to her, and but for
tlic few dollars raised among the men
I should have been a pauper on land
iug.
One afternoon, while 1 was on my
way lo tho Consulate lo see what help
1 could obtain, 1 encountered an Eng¬
lishman, whom I at once identified as
a sailor—captain or mate, lie .-topped
nnd inquired my name, nativity
and occupation and when I had given
him the information lie slapped me on
the back and exclaimed:
‘It’s a bit of luck that 1 met yon!
I’ve got a place for you, and wo’ll
drop in sour;where aud havo a talk.
He was a blunt-spoken man, but a
cautious one. He did not unfold his
plans until lie had pumped me pretty
dry and apparently satisfied himself
that l was a man ho wanted. Even
then 1 only got a part of tho story,
and aui still in the dark as to many
particulars. The sirangWo h«hk
C aptain Roberts, and ho had given
up tho command of an English brig
on purpose to enter upon a limit for
treasure. Two years before, as he
informed me, a coasting schooner,
which was earning half a million
dollars’ worth cf diamonds, besides a
large sum in rough gold, between Rio
and Montevideo, had been wrecked
about seventy miles below Bor to A'e
gre. Why this treasure had been in¬
trusted to a sailing vessel and wheth¬
er it belonged lo church or state or
some individual I never learned. The
captain had nothing to gay about that,
and I bound myself to secrecy regard¬
ing the whole affair.
IIow Captain Roberts had located
the wreck was a matter 1 did not ask
about, but I did hear it said that all
the crew were lost. I ivas a sailor and
a diver and he offered to stand all tho
expense of the seareli and give me
$10,000 in gold if we recovered tho
diamonds only, if we got tiie gold as
well I was to have a larger share. He
had chartered a coasting schooner for
three mouths, aud was then getting
aboard whatever ho thought would be
needed. I signed with hi in that after¬
noon as mate, and three days after
we bad picked up all our crew. For'
tunately for us a ship came iu with
twelve seaman rescued from a burn¬
ing bark at sen, and we took eight of
them and a cook. This gave us eleven
hands all told on the little craft, but
wrecking is a thing demanding plenty
of muscle at tiie cranks, windlasses
and tail ropes. The crew proper were
not let into the secret, lut signed for
a voyage to Buenos Ayres and return.
There was a Rio banker behind the
expedition,as I nccidentlly discovered,
but lie did not come near tiie schooner,
and Captain Roberts visited him only
by night. Wc were so well provis
ioned and provided that it must have
token a snug sum of money to fit us
out. Tliis tho banker no doubt ad¬
vanced and took iiis chances. At tho
Custom House we cleared for tho La
Plata in ballast, but some of that bal¬
last bad been taken aboard under
cover of darkness. Wc bad a diver’s
outfit, timbers, plank*, spare casks,
extra ropes and chains, and about the
last package received contained a
dozen muskets and a lot of fixed am
munition. Weslipped out quietly one
night witli tiie tide, and before day¬
light came we were far away.
Captain R berts had a pretty
fair chart of the
of the wreck, and after
Bpeedy run down tiie coast
reached it one afternoon about
o’clock. When we came to work
shore we got sight of the
peaks laid down on the chart, and
a couple of hours were sari-tie.1
the wreck was within a mile of
north or south. Just thero was a reef
about four miles off shore and extend¬
ing up and down tiie coast for thirty
miles. Behind this reef in many
plaoes was deep water up to die shore
line. It being summer weather, witli
the winds light but holding steady,
wc anchored off the reef, and then tiie
men were told that we had come to
search for a wreck. It was all right
with them, and after dinner two boats
were lowered to begin the search.
Taking the schooner as the centre,
wo jiu led botli ways, running close to
the reef. Tiie treasure craft had been
dismasted in a squall and driven
shoreward, and we confidently ex¬
pected to find lier hull, if it had not
gone to pieces, on or near the reef.
Before sundown we had made care¬
ful search for three miles away, but
without finding tho slightest (race of
her. Next morning \ve tried it again,
but nothing was brought to light, hi
Boino places the reef showed above
the surfaco at low tide, iu others there
was plenty of wuter to carry us over
at any time. The treasuro craft
might havo hit the reef at a favorable
spot and been driven almost to the
beach; but before accepting this
theory we got out the drag and ex¬
plored the deeper waters seaward
from tho reef. We spent throe days
at this work, grappling only the rocks
bidden away from 30 to 60 feet be¬
low, and using up the men with tho
hard work. The schooner was then
sailed over tiie reef and anchored in a
Bimg berth in 30 feet of water, and
we began tho search of the shore
waters. Tiie shore was a rocky bluff
crowned with a dense forest, with a
few yards of shingly beach at long
intervals.
"Wc had searched this bay for four
days without luck when I had the
good fjrtuno to discover tho wreck
witli my own eyes. She lay within
half a mile of the beach in 22 feet of
water, and was bottom side up against
a big rock. She bad probably passed
the reef in safety, but bad struck this
rock, which thrust its bead within
three feet of the surface, and in going
down had .turned turtle. It soeuied
now that not a soul of her crew bail
escaped, and how anybody li id after¬
ward loea’od the wreck and made a
chart of the locality was a greater
mystery than ever, Our first move
was to bring tiie schooner as near as
possible, and then wo began prepara¬
tions to lift tiie wreck. She must bo
turned over, so as to float ou her keel,
if nothing more. Lying boitoin up,
there was no possible way to get into
her cabin.
Next day after the discovery, I
went down in my diving dress and
attached chains to her starboard side.
These were spliced out with stout
ropes leading aboard our schooner,
and after half a day’s work we were
ready to haul, We could lift her a
bit, but not more than a foot, and
after working one day wc gate up
that method for another. Casks were
sent down to me and attached wher¬
ever possible, and but for tho presence
of sharks we would have had her over
in a day. As if one monster had
communicated with another for miles
up and down the coast, tliey gathered
about tiie schooner and tlio wreck,
and I had tho closest kind of ft call
from being seized by a man-eater that
was fully 15 feet. long. Standing on
Olll • decks 1 counted 86 dorsal fins
moving about us at one time, and 1
don’t believe that was half the num¬
ber of sharks within a circle of a
quarter of a mile, There could bo no
more diving while they were hanging
about, and we set to work to get clear
of their company, Captain Roberts
had foreseen such an emergency and
bad come provided.
I doubt if a ship's creiv ever had
deeper revenge ou Sailor Jack’s impla¬
cable enemy, Tlic mu-kots were
brought up and four of (lie men told
off to uso them, A fifth man was
given charge of a whale lance, and
the rest of us were kept busy admin¬
istering a punishment which isight be
called barbarous by humanitarians.
Wc licntcd bricks red hot on (lie galley
stove, swiftly wrapped them up in
cloths, and they no sooner touched the
water ihan they were gulped down.
As soon ns a shark was wouitded by
ball or lance so us to leave a trail of
blood lie was at once eagerly attacked
by others, And our hot bricks soon
turned a dozen or more big fellows on
their backs.
It was a regular circus for about
three hours, during which at least
fifty of the monste; s were slaughtered,
ai id then those that were left alive
suddenly drew off to tlio last one, and
| we did not sight another shark during
our stay. I did not go daws again
for twenty-four hours, however, not
feeling certain tiiat som.i big fellow
was not lving in wait behind tiie
wreck. When I did descend l found
the schooner liflimr to the ensks, and
COVINGTON, GEORGIA'TUESDAY, APRIL ID. 1892.
after attaching three or four more she
slowly rose to the surface, We then
got the boats out and towed her into a
depth Of fourteen feet and then swayed
her over until she righted. She went
to the bottom again, of course, as the
casks no longer buoyed her, but we
expected (hat.
When I came to go down in my suit
l found almost a clear deck. She h id
been schooner-rigged and both masts
had been carried away at the deck.
Beginning at the heel of the bowsprit
and running along the port side about
twenty-five feet of her bulwarks were
left standing. Capstan, windlass,
hatch covers and the skylight of the
cabin had been swept away, This
latter fact wa3 greatly in my favor, as
I could drop directly into the cabin.
I was told to look for the treasure in
the captain's stateroom, but my feet
had no sooner touched the cabin floor
tliau my outstretched hands encoun¬
tered something which I know by the
feel to be a dead man. My finding him
in the situation I did still further
deepened tire mystery of the whole
expedition. lie was tied fast and 1
had to cut him loose with my knife.
As soon as released the body floated
upward, and the men told mo that it
floated out to sea with the tide, riding
on the surfaco like a cork.
Evening was now drawing near,aiul
further search was abandoned until
another day. After breakfast next
morning I descended again, and with¬
in two hours iiad (lie treasure out of
tiie wreck. I found it, not in tiro
captain’s stateroom, but on the floor
of tiie main cabin—the diamonds were
in a cast-iron box about as large as a
child’s savings bank, and tiie gold in
stout wooden boxes, and I left nothing
behind.
From t he treasure being found
where it was I argued that there had
been a m nitty before the storm, and
that tho captain had been tied in tiie
cabin and ilie crew was making ready
to divido up tiie spoils. Perhaps after
driving over the reef and striking tiie
rock one had been cast aslioro to tell
the story, and it was on his informa¬
tion wo acted. If so, however, the
ract was not admitted. I learned no
more than I have told you. Not one
of the crew know the value of our
find, and, sailorlike, asked but few j
questions.
"When the treasure was safe aboard '
we returned to Rio. For four days
uol a man was permitted to leave the
vessel. Then I received tiie sum
agreed upon, with a considerable in¬
crease, the men were made happy
with a snug sum of money counted
down to each, and we were all bundled
aboard a steamer bound for Cuba,
each giving his promise to say nothing
of the wrecking expedition to anyone.
I learned later on that Government
vessels searched for weeks for tiie
wreck, and that tho Rio banker had to
fieo to England for safety, but that
only added to the strangeness of tiie
adventure instead of clearing up the
many mysteries.— [M. Quad, in St.
Louis Republic.
Devil's Lake.
Few people outside of the Ozark
wilderness iu Southwestern Missouri
have ever heard of Devil’s Lake, one
of tho strangest of natural phenomena.
A traveller Unis describes it: “Fancy a
lake perched on the top of a moun¬
tain, its surface from fifty to one hun¬
dred feet below the level of (lie earth
surrounding it, fed by no surface
streams, untouched by the wind, dead
as tiie Sea of Sodom. There is nc
point of equal alti'udc from which
waier could flow within hundreds of
miles, and yet it has a periodical rise
of thirty feet or over, which is in no
way affected by the atmospheric con¬
ditions iu the country adjacent. It
may rain for weeks in Webster coun¬
ty, and the return of fair weather will
find Devil’s Lake at its lowest point,
while it may reach its highest point
during a protracted drought. >>
,T hn Lee, who lives within a mile
or two of tiie lake, says tiiat a sound¬
ing of 100 feet has failed to reacli
bottom. Owing to tho steepness of
the sides of the howl in which tiie
water lies, it is very difficult lo meas¬
ure the depth. Ho believes that the
lake is fed by a subterranean stream,
and that the water so supplied flows
out by a passage many hundreds of
feet below the lake’s surface. A Mr.
Crabbe, who lias lived in the neigh
borhood for years, .ay. that he always
knows when the rise is coming by re¬
ports in the papers from the Upper !
Missouri River it. Montana. His
riieory is .hat the Devil’s Lake is a
part of an underground river, whose
entranco is larger than its exit, and
whose source is somewhere in the ex
treme Northwest Devil’s Lake is 1500
feet above the 6ea. It is situated
a few m iles north of Fordland on the
Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis
Railroad
QUEER AILING.
Some Ingenious Oiertal Ruses
to Catch Warr Fish.
The Chinese Halve Trained
Cormorants to A33Ut Them.
“Tiie Chinese have niaiy very cu¬
rious ways of catching l|h said a
piscicultural sharp. “In winter they
dive for them. A certaitupccies de¬
manded in the market seks shelter
during the cold season tudor rocks at
a considerable depth, ’hey cannot
be got witli a hook and line, and so
tiie fishermen go down iito tiie water
after them, plunging fi>m a boat.
Three dives arc made eaci hour, aud a
fire is kept up on board tho boat for
the purpose of warming (Hose at work
between whiles, Not infrequently
they come up bleeding fresn tho lungs,
i and rheumatism and stiii diseases
render them disabled by he time they
are forty years old.
“It was the Chinese who invented
tho well-known plan cf capturing
ducks aud other water fovl by wading
toward them with a baskit over the
head and dragging them inder water
before they knew what bad caught
them by the legs. Tlieiri is tho idea
of employing cormorants to aid them
in fishing. You have heard, doubt¬
less, how the birds used for Ibis pur¬
pose have collars arouad their necks
to prevent them from swallowing tiie
food they capture. At a signal given
by their owner they plunge into the
water after the prey. Whatever they
get is taken from them, aud they are
rewarded for every success witli a bit
of fish small enough for them to eat.
They are forced to work very hard all
day long, but great care is taken of
them and they are nursed most atten¬
tively when they are sick. A bird is
usually good for service until it is ten
years old. The cormorant fishermen
are organized into societies, the birds
belonging to each association having
a peculiar mark.
H In India also tiie natives employ
UO VI. •4vlllUg .. »-<• •
odd to us. There is in the district of
Oude a species of so-called ‘Walking
fish’ with snake-like heads, whicli are
often seen floating on tho water as if
asleep. The people shoot them with
cross bows. Usually they sink when
they aro killed, 60 that they have to be
dived for afterward. In the Indus,
the Ganges and other streams are nu¬
merous fish-eating crocodiles which
attain a lengih of more than 20 feet.
Except when near their nest and
anxious to defend their eggs they run
away from human beings, Of fish
they catcli au enormous number, and
it has been thought very strange that
the fishermen should not destroy such
rivals in their own business. But they
regard the mere suggestion of such au
idea with horror, saying that the croc¬
odiles are brothers in trade.
H Tiie man-eating crocodiles of those
rivers arc regarded as sacred and tire
never harmed, Of late years they
have destroyed more lives than form¬
erly, owing to the prohibition by law
of the ancient practice of consigning
corpses to the streams. It was tiie
good old way to fill tho mouth of the
defunct respectfully with mud and
leave the cadaver to be swept away by
the current. Upon such supplies of
food the great saurians depended
largely, and, being deprived of them,
they lie in wait to snap up living peo
plo and cattle. Five persons have
been known to be carried off in one
year at a single pool. However, the
country is over-populated, but one
would not tliink it au agreeable death
to die.
“The Buddhists in India have a
horror of earing the flesh of animals,
believing them to be incarnations of
human beings' souls; but they permit
themselves the luxury of fish, usually
getting around the difficulty by saying
that the fishermen take away Ihc
fishes’ lives and are responsible- On
the walls of their temples are numer¬
ous frescoes vividly depicting the ter¬
rible tortures which fishermen will
have to endure in a future state. In
tbe8C Paintings fires are represented
8lir,ed b ? i,n l }S > "ho are dragging
the fishermen into the flames in nets,
*•«»>«* ,bem b ? book8 * ,d llHes a,ld
prodding them from behind with fish
«pears.
“There u a story of a Buddhist
priest who lodged for some time at
the house of a fisherman. The latter
bad recenli ... -V reformed . and . was pursu
'*"<? anotbel ' occupation. After two
da >’ 8 S ucst asked wh v 1,0 fisb we,e
-
served upon the table, and, being in¬
formed that his host was withheld by
conscientious scruples from eatebing
them, lie expressed his approval in
b, S b term8 ' At ,he eud of a week >
however, he felt a craving for fish
strong upon him, and inquired jiow
the tUhernian’s net stretched across
neighboring stream. He was told
it extended one-third of the way
“ ‘If that is the case,’ said the
‘ihc flsh have their choice as to
they will bo caught or not.
So. if they choose to be taken nobody
is responsible. Therefore, you
will do right to try to catch some.’
i i Accordingly the priest was served
therewith with fish, of which delicacy
he would have been deprivod had it
not been for the wisdom which sacred
books had taught him.”
To Make Tea.
The tea question steins to have
many phases. Articles aro written
for and against its baneful qualities,
and women who preside at 5 o’eiocks
are as tenacious of (he superiority of
the particular sort tliey offer as they
are of (lie virtues of llieir family
physicians. Oolong, Formosa, Or¬
ange Pekoe and the rest of them all
have (heir zealous advocates. One of
the best of teas is undoubtedly a choice
and mild English breakfast. This
tea lias many grades, tho best being as
delieale and delicious ns tiie poorest
is rank and undesirable.
When it comes to the matter of
brewing, theories again clash. IIow
much to eacli cup and to the pot,
how long to stand, to stir or not to
stir—these are some of the rocks upon
which the ignorant go to pieces. C.
P. Huntington, who is considered a
connoisseur in tea, and who frequent¬
ly offers a cup to a business friend in
his effiee, believes in tho stirring
clause. He ladles out the precious
leaves, a teaspoonful to tho cup and
one to tho pot, pours ou a very little
water, stirs it well, pours on a little
more wator, lets it siaud for a little
less than a minute, then pours off this
first decoction, which ho asserts is not
acceptable to tiie eduentod tea palate.
After this he fills the measure with
water, of course, freshly boiled, and
in three minutes oilers a cup of amber
liquiil, fragrant, smooth aud dolicL us,
to his favored guests.
Real tea lovers take it unsugared
1 ,
days are such vandals ns to take the
latter “trimming,” though many still
incline to the sweetening part. As a
somewhat romantic man puts ii:
.. Part of the poetry of lea drinking is
the fascinating moment when tho pret¬
ty woman, clad in her dainty teagown,
pauses, cup in one hand, and tongs
daintily poised over it witli tho other,
and, looking up into yeur face with a
most engaging expression, murmurs
softly, ‘One or two lumps? • ft -[Phil
adelphia Record.
IIow They Came by Their Names.
The study of philology develops
such curious derivations as those be¬
low, and proves a most interesting—
even fascinating—study.
Blankets, it is said, wore named
after their first makers, three b:others
of Bristol, England, named Edward,
Edmund and Thomas Blanket, who
established a large trade in th's article
of woolen goods, and were tho earliest
manufacturers of it in the middle of
the fourteenth century.
Cambrics, we are told, came from
Cambray, a town iu French Flaude.s
famous for i s fine linens, and damask
originated in Damascus.
Calico is derived from Calicut, on
tlio Malabar coast, and muslin from
Moussoul, a city of Arintlc Turkey,
giving evidonce- that, though these
goods are now sent to India and tho
East, they wore originally imported
thence.
Few persons have ever troubled
themselves to think of the derivation
of (lie word dollar. It is from the
German that (valley), and came into
use in this way some three hundred
rears ago. There was a little silver
mining city or district in Northern
Bohemia called Joacliims:hal, or
Joachim’s Valley. Tiie reigning duke
of the region authorized this city in
tiie sixteenth century to coin a silver
piece which was called “joachims
dialer. fl The word “joacliim” was
soon dropped and tiie name “thaler”
only retained. Tiie piece went into
general use in Germany and also in
Denmark, where the orthography was
changed to “dealer,” whence it came
into English, and was adopted by our
forefathers with some alterations in
the spelling.
The Most Durable Voices.
All other things beir.g equal, a bari¬
tone voice in a man, and a contralto
voice iu a woman will wear better
and last longer than any of tho others.
It Is, however, impossible to lay down
any absolute rule as to the voices of
individual singers, because so much
depeuds on the method of life, tem¬
perance in food—solid as well as
liquid—and tho care of the voice ex
ercised by each individual.—[Detroit
Free Press.
VOL. XVIII. NO. 15.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
Rotting paper is made of eot
ton rags boiled in soda.
Rabbits signal with their fore pawj
and have regular signals and calls.
Scientists say that bees will visit
fields twelve miles from their hives
A man lias invented a macliint
which will register the paces and the
ground covered by a horse.
Tho power of flying possessed bj
ninny sea-birds is so enormous that
they arc, practically speaking, uever
out of reach of fresh water.
A four and a half foot vein of coal
has been struck near Niobrara, Neb.,
by artesian well drillers, Tiie fuel is
of good quality and from superficial
examination seems to be plentiful.
Two pieces of aluminium can be
soldered together by the use of silvet
cldor.de. Finely-powdered fuzed sil
ver chloride is spread along the junc¬
tion, after which tiie solder is ineltod
on witli a blowpipe.
It is figured out tiiat, if tiie entire
population of- tho world, comprising
1,400,000,000 people, were divided
into families of five, Texas could
furnish cacti family with a half-acre
lot and have plenty of laud to spare.
The shad of Florida are not tiie same
as those of the Hudson or the Connec¬
ticut or the Susquehanna, The same
li-li come eacli year to the particular
river where tlioy were born, an.l iu
their appearance are slightly difterent.
At a meeting of Florida orange
growers a Kentuckian present, who
had tried it, suggested cave storage
for oranges for summer consumption.
He told that in the Mammoth Cave
for instance, the temperature is about
52 degrees tiie year round and the air
dry.
A man weighs less when the barom¬
eter i,s high, notwithstanding the fact
that iho atmospheric pressure on him
is more than when the barometer is
low. As the pressure of air on an
ordinary-sized man is about 15 tons,
tiie rise of tiie mercury from 29 to 31
indies adds about one ton to tho load
Hv i»«» ..... r.
Tho first coining of money is at¬
tributed to Plieidon, Kingof Argos, in
895 B. C. Coined money was first
used in this country twenty-five years
before the Christian ora, but gold was
not coined here till tiie eleventh cen
(ury, and money was not given the
round form to which we are accus
tomed until tho lapse of another hun>
dred years or so.
Is There a Maelstrom I
Every school child in the early par
of the present century was taught to
believe that there was a terrible aud
wonderful eddy or vortex several
miles iu diameter on tho coast of
Norway, into which ships, icebergs,
whales and all tiie monsters of the
deep were indiscriminately dragged
and buried forever in tiie ocean’s
awful depths.
A correspondent says: “I have
been informed by a European ac¬
quaintance tiiat the maelstrom has no
existence outside tiie imagination of
sensational writers. A joint commis¬
sion of Swedish and German nautical
and scientific men recently went in
search of this, tiie greatest bugbear ol
antiquity, anil report themselves un¬
able to locate it, and that the sea was
perfectly smooth where the whirlpool
should have been.” “Ye Curious
Mai is of the opinion that the
above is correct. The latest geog
raphers barely allude lo it. One
marks its site upon the map, but docs
not mention it in his article on Nor
way. According to our way of view¬
ing thesubj ct, the maelstrom romance
lias been pretty effectually destroyed.
— [St. Louis Republic.
A Century’s Famines.
Only three or four periods Ol
scarcity of food that can be called
famines have occurred in Europe dur
ing the present century. These were
in 1812. 1817, 1847 and 1853. In 1847
315,000 starving poor had to be fed in
Paris. In 1853 the crops failed in
France, Germany, England and Pied¬
mont, and Louis Napoleon, to prevent
a rree in the price of grain, caused the
Sll ppiies of the army to be purchased
abroad. It is to be noted that the
destitution that prevailed iu England
in 1847 was one of the causes that led
to the abrogation of the com laws.
Droughts are of late years the most
frequent cause of famine, which usu¬
ally occur among people who depend
ou a single crop, as on rice in the East
Indies and China or on wheat in Rus
sia, aud we may add iu Nebraska. In
Ireland the potato crop fails from an
excess of moisture rather tbau for the
want of it. Families sometimes oc¬
cur among fishermen from the failure
of fidi to visit their coasts iu sufficient
numbers.—TSau Francisco .Chronicle.
The Return.
Now home again comes Lovs who long
Has absent been, and Joy once more
Kvom sleep awakes and, with a song,);
Hastens to meet him at the door.
He sees in each familiar spot
The friends who sorrowed when he went,
And all his exile is forgot.,—
’Tis they who tell of banishment.
For, like that wayward son of old
Who left his kindred, far to roam,
Love knew but half the grief they told
Who long had exiled been at home.
-fF. De Shermon, In Youth’s Companion.
HUMOROUS.
Sausage at wholesale price is dog
cheap.
U There goes a man to be trusted,”
said Jagson, as Dudeson entered the
tailor shop.
The depth of misery lies at the
bottom of a mud-puddle if you happen
to step in it.
“Did you ever write any ‘Beautiful
Snow’ poetry: “I tried it once, but
the editor pronounced it beautiful
slush. ft
A school j lurnal advices: “Make
the school interesting, 'J That’s what
the small boy tries to do to the best of
his ability.
To the chiropodist frankness is the
most admirable of human character¬
istics; lie delights in hearing men
acknowledge tho corn.
Harry—-So she refused you, did
she? Jack—Yes, and I shall remem¬
ber what she said as long as I
live. Harry—What did she say? Jack
—She said No.
James—I understand a new motor
has been adopted for increasing the
speed of horse cars iu this place.
Brown—So? Wliat is it? Jones—A
whip for the mules.
Hunker—Ever since I can remem¬
ber, Miss Flypp, I have searched for
the beautiful, the true aud the good.
Miss Flypp—Ob, Mr. Hunker, this is
so sudden. But you may speak to
papa.
Bingo (at the table)—Seems to me
we have less and less to eat all the
lime. What’s the matter? Mrs. Bingo
<«weetly>—Yo« -tawt £ I>eet “j to
have as much as usual, my dear, when
I am paying for my sealskiu on tho
installment plan.
Teacher—Now, Willie Wilkins, I
want you lo tell me the truth—did
Harry Thomas draw that picture ou
the board? Willie Wilkins—Teacher,
l firmly refuse to answer that ques¬
tion. Teacher—You do? Willie Wil
tins—Because I gave Harry my word
if honor 1 would not tell on him.
•‘I have an idea!” she suddenly said.
Her lover was sitting near;
He gazed at her fondly: “I see that you
• have,
And an awful bright eye, dear.”
Superstitions of German Miners.
German miners have many extra¬
ordinary superstitious, which are
tianded down by tradition aud firmly
believed in. They imagine that the
subterranean domaius are ruled by
good-natured and benevolent gods.
There are chiefly two, one being good
and tiie other bad. The former is
called Nickel and tho other Kobold.
To propitiate them their names have
been given to the metals nickel and
cobalt, whicli were originally discov¬
ered in the mines of Saxony. They
are tiie gnomes who fill or empty the
lodes, and who reproduce tho ore as
fast as it is removed. Tliey prowl
about tho old galleries or abandoned
working places; they blow upon the
lamps in order to put them out, and
drag by the noso or hair the miner
whom they encounter alone. When he
iias greatly displeased them they cast
spells upon him, throw him down the
ladders or email him under a fragment
of rock. Provisions are made in the
mines for theso formidable goblins,
bread, cake and pieces of money being
placed in niches where they can got
them.—[Washington Star.
A New Use for Gas.
A field in which gas is likely to
play an important part is to heat boil¬
ers and raise steam. The system has
been at work in a large establishment
iu Loudon, England, and the results
obtained aro simply astounding.
Burning about 300 cubic feet of gas
per hour under a 30-foot boiler, steam
is said to have been raised to 50
pounds pressure in 40 minutes. Gas
and air are supplied under pressure to
pipes that run parrallel with and un
Jer the boiler, and furnaces and chim¬
neys are dispensed with. - [Gas
World.
Reparatiou.
Jones—I say, colouel, your dog bit
my child, and you’ve got to make
reparation.
Colonel Brown—AH right, Jones,
I’ll make suitable eparation. You
(*adly) may have the dog. — [Yaukee
B ade. .....