The Ellijay courier. (Ellijay, Ga.) 1875-189?, December 06, 1878, Image 1

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YOLO ME IV. * t*. .'"ft fW ' * . t )twY wi W.T.nyjpr^. o^. 313 D °' Solution.—Let x-eqnal •■'rare**,” ind i plnseqml caress seen;" then x plus j plus n will equal kerosene, and we hare the answer thus: Extinguished it, for he did not iTuQntiimii . § he ■**■■•4: 44 O. dear, it's dark !** ■ Solution.—Let q and\k plus g JWf J. 7P h . en M k plus g will equal uJWtin ch reduced to United States means v.the light.” Note-a. The word “ delight ” refers to the ioya of courtship, h. In some countries rfl****** ***> terms. “ bright enough,” her lover said, ** With the light of m % hi. What makes the youth love Mary so? I’ll tell you- she’s a catch: ** ?&£ e^>l^ >Ut rft ata nP J^ u know, Solution.—This is very simple, and can be solved by mental procesa. The young man extinguished the lamp ao that he could have the fun of striking a match and lighting it again.- OH City Derrick. jM%| THRILLER lyaES gv RAIL. “In the. fall of 1849 I commenced run ning the baggage on the New York and Erie: Railway.’’ ssucUMr. John Camp. otreSi #u oWeet tlmWigh ill the Company’s employ, in conversation with the writer at the Erie Depot, foot of Chambers-street, “ and a rough time we had of it, too. Railroading was at that time in ite infancy, the steam loco motive was anew thing, and was every where regarded as one of the wonders of invention. Doing away with, as it did, the old tedious stage lines, and making the distance in far less time, with none of the inconveniences of the early methods of conveyance, it was, of course, generally attractive. “ But still, when I look back and com pare our old cabooses, small wood-burp mg engines, rickety cars and cheap rails with these modern coaches and solid locomotives, comfortable cars, heavy Stee} rails and reliable air-brakes, I am as much astonished at the improvements as people were at the first invention. You see, we had no reliable arrange ment in the matter of brakes, and those terrible old machines used for that pur pose wj3re simply a chain worked at each end by a sort of wheel, which, when turned by strong exertion, pressed a block of iron made to fit the face of the wheel tightly against it, similar to a.like construction on a heavy wagon. Well, the boys dptested these brakes, which were a dangerous thing to handle by an inexperienced man,“with the train going at full speed. More than one poor fellow has received his death from the breaking of the chain while operating these bungling .machines. In the ab sence of a name for the brakes of that day,-the boys used to call them the . 4 Armstrong Brake,’ which was well ap • plied, as it required a full amount of -of muscle and nerve to operate them. “I began running from New York, by way of Piermont, before the road was open to Suftern’s. AVe used to transfer passengers and baggage up the Hudson River to Piermontfrom our old depot, which was located at .the foot of Duane-street, on two boats owned by the Company, and from that place west ward by rail. The completion of the road down through New Jersey is of more recent date. After a few months the road was opened t<> Elmira, and thence up to Jefferson (now Watkins) at the foot of Seneca Lake, and our traffic was transferred from that place by b at to Geneva and on to Buffalo. The year after we ran to Hornersville, and about 1851, or thereabouts, we reached Dun kirk, then the western terminus. “ I think that the section from Port Jervis to Deposit was about the worst and most dangerous of any in the coun try, being cither cut in the rocky cliffs embankißg the river, where, in case of a slight accident, the whole train would have been hurled down the precipice fully one hundred feet into the foaming waters beneath, or laid through low woodland marshes clear down to the river’s level. It was in these high cuts that the danger of rocks on the track was feared. A slight rain, or the moisten ing of the ground occasioned by the frost leaving’it in the spring of the year, would start a large rock, which would fall to the track, and, should a train collide with it in the night, the chances were in favor of a wholesale slaughter. From Lackawanna to Hancock we were pretty near down to thelow-water mark, and with a slight freshet our track was subject to being washed out for a long distance, thus requiring a great deal of watching and repairs; and in each case of such a wash-out I have known trains to he blocked for a day or two. ’Tis not the most agreeable thi’ngin the world to he.thus delayed, and not a house within ten miles of the spot. Perhaps more ac cidents h'ave occurred on division than on any other two divisions com bined, and it is a wonder to me that we have not all been hurled into eternity. From Deposit to Susquehanna it is up and down hill, the grade running for eight miles on each side of the sum mit at a slops of sixty feet to the mile. Along this section was the old Cascade Bridge, familiar to tourists as the high est structure of its kind in the State, and which being washed out was subse quently filled in with gravel, over a stone culvert, making a yawing ravine on either side fully one hundred feet deep. Along the Susquehanna and Chemung Valleys the road is good; the scenery through this section is not sur passed for picturesqueness throughout the State, and hundreds of dwellings and farms dot the hillsides and valley, with here and there a neat little village. The principal stations on this division are Binghamton, Owego and Elmira. In those early days Owego was the largest and most thriving of any, and was con nected by a horse railroad with Ithaca, but time’s changes have more favored Elmira and Binghamton, until in fact they have far advanced beyond their sister village. The road was in fair condition ihc remainder of the way to Dunkirk "Our cars were rather poor affairs to.mpsred with the palace, drawing-room THl® ELLIJ AY COURIER t antf h#iwl coaches, but people were just I-* comfortable then sea ted in n old box . car with six windows on'a side as in those on the improved plan. The en gines were of a smaller pattern than the heavy coal-burners at present in use, *tfd though not as strong, were capable of pulling quite a load. Sometimes, in case of delay, our wood supply would run out, and th<m the whole force on the train was obliged to turn out and cut enough wood to enable us to make the Dearest station.’’ *" “'ll the matter of baggage, where., now a spacious new Saratoga or an orna mented canvased-covered russet is a necessity, an old painted wooden chest, with iron handles, was usual, while a hair-trunk and a. carpet-bag seemed a luxury. There were no ‘ baggage smashers ’ then; they came with modern improvements. Our baggage-cars were simply ordinary box-cars, painted yel low, with a door at each ena, and a win dow and door on the sides; the platforms fere without railings. But very few of these cars had even a stoke in them, and were decidedly uncomfortable, be ing too hot in summer and very cold in winter. A ride of thirty or forty miles in the dead of winter, and not even time to ruryiuto the coach to get warm! Isn’t it a cheerful thought? But such was our business, and such was railroad ing twenty-five years ago. “ Speaking of accidents I will give you an account of a few. Among the many such familiar to all. pldl railroad men there was one which most impresses me, and which happened to the train on which I was running, at Deposit, in the winter of 1852,1 think AVe were east ward bound, and while stopping for dinner at thU plhce the scene occurred. I had scarcely seated myself at the table in the dining-room before there Was heard a great yelling and s v ; ng among the crowd on the train and „ e station. It was useless to ask the cause of this sudden outburst, as in a heat of excitement nobody seemed to know any thing. Upon rushing out I soon dis covered. a freight train coming at a ■frightful speed down the grade from the summit, and that she roust run into us. It was but the work of a moment; she couldn’t stop; we had no time to eet out. On she crashed, colliding with terrible force with the rear of our train, and making a complete wreck of every thing. As soon as the passengers be came aware of the approaching danger there was a general panic in that train, each one struggling with the other to reach the door, and, consequently, the loss of life was large. A party of Mo hawk Indians were in the rear car, and, being ignorant of this sudden outburst, and unable to understand its ran hither and thither, some off. thadoomed car, and others r® u,, |l"g into the forward cars. Among tflfm was a young squaw—the brightest-look ing Indian I ever saw—who ran for the forward platform of the rear car, which she succeeded in reaching just as the train crashed into its rear. So sudden was the jar that she was thrown upon the track, directly across the rails, and her head was severed from her body. AVe gathered up the remains, placed them in a box, and gave them in charge of her friends. “She was buried in Oswego, where, through the influence of the late Judge C. P. Avery, of that place, a large and elaborate monument of white marble was erected, with this inscription: ‘Sa cred to the memory of Sa-sa-na-oft; by birth a Child of the Forest, by adoption a Child of God.’ Here her people come every year and pay respect to the mem ory of their lamented sister. In a quiet corner of Evergreen Cemetery, at that place stands the ‘ Indian Girl’s Monu ment,’ familiar to every one in the Susquehanna Valley; its lone and seem ingly sad seclusion in its shady reserve upon the mountain overlooking river and railroad, and the bit of romance connected with it, making it attractive to all visitors at Oswego—once the home of N. P. AVillis, the poet. On the same train was a little girl between twelve and fifteen years of age, journeying from Great Bend to her home in Otisville. She had been at the Bend to attend the funeral of her aunt, who was buried on the preceding day. She, too, was in the rear car, and in the excitement and panic was unable to escape. With a terrible crash the engine of the freight train forced its way into the rear end of the car, filling it full of scalding steam which emanated from the boiler of the locomotive. AVith the sudden jar the girl must have been thrown to the floor, and was there scalded to a frightful mass, so intense was the heat of the steam. As soon as possible the car was forced open and the body of the poor unfortunate, who was still alive and suffering beyond description, was removed to more ’comfortable quarters. So terrible was the effect of the hot vapor that in her removal, though every possible care and attention was given, the flesh would peel off her body with the merest touch. “ In this painful trial she exhibited the most wonderful patience, and was conscious of her condition to the end. After we had got her in a more agree able position she gave a brief account of herself, with her name and place of residence. The fortitude and meekness she displayed I have never seen equaled. AVithout a murmur, and with a smile of gentle peace and resignation, calm as the departing day, she passed away within an hour after her recovery from the wreck. I have thought of this sad sight a thousand times and as often have I fervently thanked God that as yet no child of mine had ever met such a fate. It is sad to witness the decease of a strong man, dr to assemble at the death-bed of departing friends; but to see a young and beautiful maiden, just verging into a happy womanhood, thus cut off, is fearful. “ One night about eleven oclock we left Port Jervis on time, bound west ward. It was in the spring of the year, the weather was bad, rain had been pouring down incessantly the whole day long, and I did not like the prospect ahead. Dark! you couldn’t see your hand before your lace—ami we were running along those rocks aud cliffs at | about thirty miles an hour. To tell the truth, I was uneasy in mind regarding the safety of the trip. A horrid, dismal 1 fading, "ffefc as I hav* never ex- ELLI J AY, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1878. perienced before or since, seemed to creep over me, notwithstanding my endeavors to shake it off with the idea that it was simply nervousness Hur rying through with my work, and after a close inspection to see that all was right within, I lit a cigar, and, repairing to the smoking-car, seated myself by the stove. Scarcely five minutes afterward, and hardly before I had time to direct my thoughts from the mental gloom from which I was suffering, there came a shrill, short whistle, known to the beys as a signal of followed by a series of crashes, a terrible jar, and then a long and awful silence. AVith the rest I rushed out to see what was the trouble. There was the engine cut loose from the train, lying upon its side, nearly parallel with the track, close up to the rocks, while my car was precipi tated over the cliff into the river, about thirty feet down. It appears that a large rock had fallen to the track, and as the front of the locomotive struck it she glanced to the left, and turned over on her side, while the baggage-car, fol lowing next, had glanced in the opposite direction, broken her coupling and gone clean down the bank. The fireman was killed outright, while the engineer was hurled out of the forward cab-window to the track, and the boiler of the engine came down upon him, resting upon his legs and hips. His name, I think, was Talloman—a good fellow, too —and there he lay with about twelve tons of red-hot iron crushing him to the ground. AVe hnd no ‘jack-screws’ or derricks to prop up or raise the engine with, and were atoms on the rocky cut in the middle of the night, with nothing on earth to rescue or relieve the poor fellow with. His sufferings for the few awful minutes which preceded his death were fearful to contemplate. • ‘Oh 1 save me 1’ he cried, with an expression of painful horror and desperate agony. ‘ For God’s sake, if you are men, help me! I don’t care if 1 lose my legs, only save me from this terrible death. My wife and child will starve. Oh, Qod, it’s killing me!’ And there he moaned away his life, while, perhaps, his dearer ones at home were awaiting with eager expect ancy his welcome return. Powerless as we were to save, it was a period of horror for us strong and willirfg men-to witness’ this sight. Not.until morning could the wreck be removed, and then a large corps of trackmen and laborers were obliged to clear the track. Those are about the worst accidents I have ever witnessed. I had five dogs with me when we left the ‘ Port,’ ana upon going down to the car I found those canines as healthy hnd frisky as you could wish, barking lustily as they saw me approach, and not a hair singed or a scratch upon them. Funny, wasn’t it? My residence is in Oswego, and I make the entire trip, from New York to Buffalo twice a week, having every other Sunday off in New York. Our road is now in a condition second to none in the country —road- beds t-mooth, rqils solid, and reputation as a trunk line unexcelled. In the Erie of to-day tnere remains not a vestige of the clumsy contrivances which all new railways then possessed.” AVords of Wisdom. [Stillwater Lumberman.] AVhen men, women and opportunity meet, the devil sits down, knowing that the fire will burn withouthelp from him. It is better to rise from your knees, and shut your hens out of your neigh bor’s yard, than to indulge in long prayers. The perfectly contented man is also perfectly useless. Try to see yourself through the eyes of those around you. The ideal saint of the young moralist is cut from sappy timber. The Lord can more easily have faith in the religion that wears an old coat to church, than the man in the coat can.- True prosperity builds up the soul rather than tne pocketbook. The vigorous ideal keeps warm though wrapped in few words. Faith that asks no questions kills the soul and stifles the intellect. Happy is the man who has neighbors willing to forgive his mistakes. Appear to be better than you are, and aim to be what you appear.’ He who thinks poorly of himself can not win the respect of his fellows. Many who expect to go to heaven, will find little comfort there unless they are able to get up a lively trade in harps, and gold, and nickel plated crowns. Neglected Children. [Rural Sun.] Many a mother has wept over the sins of her child, little dreaming that while she pursued her round of idle pleasures, that child was taking its first lesson in sin from the example of a vicious nurse. The truth is, parents take upon them selves too many unnecessary burdens, and consider themselves bound by duty to perform too many tasks, which are of much less consequence than the teaching and training of their children. Tbe father has his trade or profession, and his few leisure hours he must spend in social pleasure. The mother has her household cares, and the comforts of her family to study; and besides this there is much time to he devoted to-fancy work, viritors, and to amusements of one kind and another. Her children are mere secondary considerations, and depend upon the kindness of hirelings. Their dresses may be miracles of puffing, ruf fles and embroidery, but what does that count when their minds are dwarfed through neglect? Her house may be the model of neatness, her bread excel that j of all her neighbors, her jellies and pre | serves enough to tempt the most fastid ; ions; but if in all this she has k--pt aloof ! from her child, has chilled his heart ' towards her, what does it count ? The Countess Marie Bismarck, the daughter of the Prince, is to be married sometime in the winter. She is a charm ing lady, and a great favorite with her father. Count Rautzan, her betrothed, is the descendant of an ancient family in Holstein, is a member ef tbe German diplomatic corps, and has always heen much liked by Prince Bismarck, who appointed him one of the secretaries to l tne late Congme, SCIENCE AND ART. Alfred Stevens, th 4 Belgian artist, has been appointed to paint the silver wedding-of King Leopold and his Queen. A new picture, by Gabriel Max, on exhibition in Berlin, represents A’enus and Tannhauser when the latter, sated with beauty’s charms, is about to set out on his travels. The fourth centenary of the birth of Giorgione, one of the founders of the A r enetian school of paintiDg, has just been celebrated at Castelfranco, Italy, and a statue of him unveiled. Bicknell, the Malden (Mgss.) artist, has painted a figure piece, with land - scape, entitled, “ representing Tennyson’s heroin* in her sorrowful journey from the home out of ivhich she has been driven; It is highly com mended. At the Paris Observatory a large hall is to be fitted up as a picture gallery. On the walls, together with portraits of the most eminent astronomers, will he hung view’s of the moon and the plan ets, magnified by telescopes of the high est power. Edmonia Lewis, the daughter of an Indian mother and negro father, has captured the Chicago critics with her colossal statue of “ Cleopatra Dying.” This is her second work of note exhib ited in the United States, her first— “Hagar”—having been destroyed by fire. A traveling fortress, an iron-clad coach, is now running on the Cheyenne and Black Hills stage patji. It is made of thick boiler iron, with four port holes, is bullet-proof, carries two well armed guards inside, and runs for the sole purpose of transporting bullion for the California quartz mills. Mrs. AVilson G. Evres, of Newport, R. 1., has a remarkable portrait of Gen eral Washington. It was a present from Martha Washington to Colonal Lear, Mrs. Eyre’s grandfather. It is Bet in the form of a locket, about three inches in length, and in the back there is a lock of AVashington’s hair. On the satin lining of the case are these words: “ Presented to T. Lear by his friend, Mrs. AVashington, 1801. The police have discovered at Rome some valuable paintings and tapestry, which were concealed in 1878 by the con gregation of Maria in Valleeelli before the liquidating junta took posses sion of the convent. Among the objects area “ Holy Family,”attributed to An drea del Sarto; a vase in verd antique, valued at twenty-five thousand francs, and a tapestry, said to be worth six thousand francs. Miss Harriet Hosmer’s statue, rep resenting a well-kuor/n Incident isUhe. destruction of Pompeii—the death of the Roman sentinel at his post—is to be completed in marble, in Rome, next year. It is over eight feet high, and is said to be finished with the greatest del icacy. The sentinel stands half leaning forward on his spear,—the right knee advanced and slightly bent. He seems straining every sense to catch, if possible, the welcome word of command to leave his post of death. But he remembers that he is a soldier; that lie has been posted with orders to leave only when duly relieved; and, in spite of failing strength and weakening physique, he manfully obeys orders. The statue of “ Humboldt,” by Fer dinand von Muller, lias been cast in bronze in Munich. It is a gift to the city of St Louis from Mr. Henry Shaw, who last year presented it with a Shaks peare memorial. The statue is seven feet in height, and represents the sub ject in his thirtieth year. He leans against a .palm stump, from which hangs his mantle. His face expresses deep thought. In bis right hand he holds a map. The costume is of some eighty years ago. The figure will be placed on a stone pedestal, to be decorated with three bronze medallions, in relief, de signed and cast by the same artist. The one in front shows the features of the donor of the monument, with an appro priate inscription. The other two for the sides represent the giant volcano Chimborazo and part of the grand for ests on the hanks of the Orinoco, both of which Humboldt was the first to ex plore. We are accustomed to regard the great trees of California as the most gigantic specimens of vegetable growths known to man, but such is not tne case. There is a submarine plant growing in the North Pacific Ocean which, accord ing to Professor Deinsch, dwarfs all others in its vast proportions. The Macrocittis pnjri(era } one of the Melan otpermw, has been known to grow to such an extent as.to cover vast areas of the ocean bed. One specimen, by meas urement was found to cover three square miles, and the stem from which the growth proceeded was eight feet in diameter. It is almost impossible, to conceive of such a plant, or how a sys tem of nourishment can lie maintained through such extended channels in the living organism. Nature performs strange freaks, and certainly none can be stranger than the fact that of this gigantic species there are some speci mens so small as to be microscopic, or only to he seen by the aid of powerful objectives. An Extraordinary Fish. A most interesting discovery has been made in the Sea of Tiberias of a fish which incubates its young in the cavi ties of the mouth; and, what is the more remarkable, it is the male which per forms this part of the family function. Asf soon as the female has deposited its eggs in the hollow cf the sand, the male approaches and draws them into the cav ities of the mouth by the process of aspi ration. Here they are distributed be tween the leaves of the gills; and in the midst of the respiratory organs the eggs rapidly develop, distending the mouth of the male fish in the most extraordi nary manner. Finally the young fishes make their appearance, packed in the gills like so many herrings, all with iheir heads directed toward the opening. ■ From this place of safety mid retreat 1 they run in and out until they are large i enough to take care of themselves. It is said that as many as two hundred ; individuals art soaatimas crowded Into 1 the mouth End gills of the mala flab. Two San Francisco Women. San Francisco is a vast gambling hell at the present time, and the women are, if possible, worse than the men, in their greed to obtain money by gambling in mining stocks. A very sad case, illus trative of the demoralization which the craze is developing, is now before the police court. A young womau of one of the best known society families, wild to raise a few hundred dollars with which to speculate in mining stocks, invented a bogus charitable society to relieve the pressing wants of needy and starving families, whose modesty "would not per mit them to make a personal apjleal to the charity of their friends or the public. She appointed herself treasurer, under a false name, and sent out a number of circulars begging for money. One of these circulars was sent to Mr. Sam. AVil son, a prominent lawyer, who, suspect ing a swindle, sent a police officer to fol low the messenger and investigate. At the same time he handed the messenger a small sum of money, which was duly delivered to the young woman who was waiting in the street, and who, lining unable to establish the good faith of the society for which she pretended to be acting, was arrested, and charged with swindling and obtaining money by false pretenses. Mr. AVilson was sent for, and found, to his consternation, that the prisoner was a fashionahle young woman, a frequent visitor at his own and others of the best houses in town. Bail was taken for her appearance flier true name was withheld from the police report and newspapers, and strenuous efforts are being made to avoid a trial and public exposure. The affair is, how ever, an open secret, and the girl, who is only nineteen years of age, is ruined for life, , The Palace Hotel, in San Francisco, is just now perplexed with an amusing contest wi(h the wife of an jmuy officer, who has made her presence very objec tionable to the inmaterfof that vast es tablishment by undertaking, on her own assumption, to manage its social arrange ments. She has succeeded in making herself so obnoxibuA to the guests of the house thatthe managers have requested her to leave, which sne peremptorily re fuses to do, and challenges them to put her out by force. Her gas and water are cut off, but she holds the fort and refuses to surrender. Her appearance in the public rooms oc casions a general stampede; hut as she pays her bnls regularly, and has an un commonly voluble and bitter tongue, Senator Sharon and his staff’ are in an awkward dilemma. History of a Demi Letter. Some time in 1877 a soldier stationed with th% cavalry in Texas died very suddenly, and was buried with military honors by his comrades, and the spot carefully marked. On his person was a discharge, which he had received the day before for physical disability, and a letter from his mother in England, and one evidently from his sweetheart, hut signed only by her first name. These were carefully preserved by the lieuten ant of the company and forwarded, by a letter of sympathy, to the bereaved mother in England. In due course of time the letter was returned to the United States Dead Letter Office as un deliverable, the mother not at her former address. It was then opened, and, after an examination, returned in its open condition, with the suggestion that the contents would enable the En glish post officials to discover the person it was intended to reach; but in due course of time it came hack the second time as undeliverable. The letter was then turned over to one of the lady clerks in the Dead Let ter Office, who on reading the contents, with a woman’s instinct, divined that the “Ollie” spoken of in the letter and the Miss L—— spoken of in the mother’s letter was identical. AVhat is techni cally termed a “ letter of discovery ” was addressed to the supposititious lady at ihe address in (Scotland post-marked on her letter. This letter on reachibg that office was forwarded to London, whither ' the young lady had gone, and the Dead Letter Office at AVashington has just re ceived a reply from her, with thanks for the diligence displayed in endeavor ing to secure the delivery of the letter, stating that it was the first they heard of the soldier’s death, and giving the present address of the mother of the sol dier, to whom the original package has been forwarded, making its fifth trip across the Atlantic Ocean. The famous marble quarriesof Carrara although they have been worked since the reign of Augustus, and have fur nished a steady and enormous supply to the whole civilized globe, seem to be in exhaustible. They compose an entire mountain range, and embrace every variety and quality of mifrble, from the coarse, common kind to the statuary mar- ! hie, Monte Crestola and Monte Sagro j yielding the largest aud finest blocks, i The blocks are detached, drawn out by oxen, and rolled down the hill. The quarries numbersomefivehundred, only about twenty of them furnishing the mar ble used by sculptors. Mostof the inhabi tants of Carrara and the vicinity—some 6,0f;0 workmen in all—are employed in the labor at forty cents to sixty-two cents a day. The marble taken out dur ing the year before last was about 120,000 tons, valued at $2,400,000, of which 40,000 tons went to the United States. The export of marble to this country has increased immensely within twelve to fifteen years, the third largest firm of marble quarry owners now at Carrara being American. The American Consul there is a member of the firm, and his ! Consulate is said to produce a larger in ! come than any other in Italy. The two rooms occupied by Voltaire in his chateau at Ferney have been kept lovingly and reverently as he left them His sleeping apartment, with its truckle bed an’d its walls hung round with portraits—among them Milton and Newton— is exactly the same as when he I died there a century asm. Unchinped, : too, by Cook’s tourist’s knives is still the i black sarcophagus in which his heart is 1 interned. Take in your geraniums at night; lay . away your straw bat* ; take your Ulster* 1 out of the camphor or pawnshop. A Review of home of the Leading In ventions of the Past Half Century. 1“ Pro(r**or' Chair" In Christian t’nlon.] AVhat next? AVhy, steamboats, of course. AVere you surprised to learn for what a comparatively few years we have had railroads? People thought of applying steam to vessels a long time before they experimented with locomo tives, although the first practical results of the former came fairly within this century. The idea seems to have been a long time working itself out, for some people Bay that the application of steam to boats was suggested by Roger Bacon, who lived away back in twelve hundred and something. One or two tugboats and working models of steamboats were made during the latter part of the last century, but Robert Fulton, in 1807, sailed up the Hudson River in the first passenger steamer making regular trips. This boat was called the “Clermont,” and was one hundred and thirty feet long, eighteen feet beam and seven feet deep, and had a tonnage of one hundred and sixty tons. Her speed was about five miles an hour. In 1814 Fulton built the United. States steamer “Fulton the First.” She was the first steam war vessel ever constructed. America sent the first steamer across the Atlantic in 1819. This trip occu pied twenty-six days. The Professor, chair and all, can cross now in about ten days; that is if anyone will pay his— hut we will not hint. On tne 4th of July, 1840, tlio “ Britannia” left Liv erpool for New York. She was the first steamer of the famous Cunard Line, and had a subsidy from the English Govern ment of about $400,000 for carrying the mails. But we must hurry on. Printing presses. AVhile the hand press, sucTi as Franklin used, was in vented in 1620, what other event took plnci in that year? The first successful power printing press was built lor the liOndon Time s in 1814, the issue of No vember 28th having been the first news paper printed by machinery. The press gave aoout eleven hundred impressions per hour. The inventors name was Konig. Until recently the newspaper presses had to bo “fed” by hand, one person being required at each cylinder. AVm. A. Bullock, of Philadelphia, in 1861, in vented a press to which the paper was fed automatically from a large roll or web, and now all the well-known news papers are supplied with presses having this attachment. In 1869, Mr. AValter, proprietor of the London Time , brought out the “AValter” press. The roll of paper running thi£igh this press is three miles long. *'ne Hoo Printing Press of New York will deliver, folded, from twelve to fifteen thousand copies of the New York Tribune hourly. The telegraph. The Professor could talk all night about the telegraph. In the first place, did you ever hear of the semaphore? It was the first telegraph invented, and was adopted by the French Government in 1794.- It had nothing to do with electricity, however. A descrip tion of it says that “ it consisted of an upright post supporting a horizontal bar, which, turning upon a pivot, could he placed upon various inclinations. This had two smaller arms pivoted to its extremities, and capable of being turned at right angles with them. By independent movement of the parts the apparatus was susceptible of ninetv eight distinct positions, and of exhibit ing the same number of differentsignals, which could he made to represent either letters, numbers, words or sentences. The semaphores were placed on high towers five miles apart.” Nicholas I, of Russia, built a line of this telegraph which was composed of two hundred and twenty stations. The work of erecting the towers, etc., cost several millions of dollars. About this time people began to turn attention to electricity as a means of conveying sound, and, after partially successful attempts by others, (Samuel F. B. Morse invented his system of dashes. This was in 1835. In 1844 the first line was built between AVashington and Baltimore (forty miles), and the first message sent May 27 of the same year. The Morse system is generally used throughout the world. The first ocean cable was laid in 1858. It worked for a few weeks and then stopped. In J 866 two new lines were in suc cessful operation. There are about four hundred thou sand miles of telegraph line in the world, representing a million of miles of wire. THE MORSE ALPHABET. L,’— u,n $ - n| - W, —-~ jj’ R, | I, A Romantic Career. William Buckley, a British soldier, convicted of receiving stolen property, or being concerned in an attempt upon the life of the Duke of Kent, was sen tenced to transportation in Australia for life. He escaped, and fell in with ■ a tribe of natives, with whom he resided | thirty-three years, without meeting a : white man until he discovered a party ;of tourists, and saved them from a I treacherous attack by a wandering band l of native warriors. It is believed that I he owed his safety to his gigantic size I and ferocious appearance. A more ro mantic epxlanation is that, having taken a spear from the grave of a dead chief, \ he was supposed by the natives to be | their leader come to lifein anew body. Buckley says that these people imagined i that the world was supported by props, which were in charge of a man who lived at the extremity of the earth, and that , uuless the props’wete renewed from time to timC, the whole fabric would tumble to pieces. Doesn’t it seem like a sarcasm on the 1 complaint of hard times to see the bril i liant fabrics which are exhibited for wouieu’s wear this season? There is a positive gorpeousiiess slsmt some of 1 the importations. Tin- color aud the ■ combinations of color doubtless have a great deal to do with this, and then the material* them wive* art rich and heavy. NUMBER 1. WORK WRICK IT H RAT. The world t wide, but IU went b wider. Mo lent endwrof bU Irnltleee be ; Though the eer b full of the mom's soft gler J i J Each smaller eter ablnee from am toam. The world b wide, ud the work b waiting. We can only call one day our own I 0, dumber not for the day fa breaking-* For an hour’a loaa you can nerer atone- The world b wide, and the rfoMt groweth Side by dde with the queenly rom; One filleth the air witbaubUe fragrance. In silence and shadow the other growa, Yet who a hall tell what the angels know not— Which of the two ahall fairer be, When the flowers are gathered from earthly gar dens. To bloom In the light of Eternity. The world la wide, and the people in It, Each haa a work to Hod and do; The sunshine dieth, the dark night flieth, Haste while the daylight walb on you! ALL SORTS. “ What is money?”— Burlington Hawkeye. Don’t know; ask somebody who deals in it. The Vienna theaters issue no checks to enable parties to go out between the acts, and so the boys have to carry their cloves and lemon peel in their vest pockets.— Breakfast Table. “ Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?” is often asked. Well, really, we don’t know, unless it is because he can climb a tree and a mule can’t.— Philadelphia Chronicle-Herald. The Saratogian tells of a Unitarian clergyman at the recent conference who saw the placard, “ Leave your dog out side,” and tried to purchase a dog in order to comply with the regulations. A Minneapoi.ir cat has achieved a kitten with five heads, and we cat. imagine how sweet it will be when that cat attains its majority, to have it Sit on the back fence and. commune with itself.— Breakfatt Table. The Turners Falls Reporter says: “It is human to doubt. Display a sign with the incription ‘ Beware of Paint,’ and nine out of ten will draw their fore fingers across the newly painted surface to see if the sign is not merely ‘ an in vention of the enemy.’ ” The forest leaves are turning, and the chestnut worms are squirming, as the peanut man stands churning them upon a fiery bed; and books will soon be laden, by every city maiden, with leaves which nature made on purpose to be red.— Wheeling Sunday leader. In the sweet, balmy, delicious happi ness of love’s first-young dream, a youth will not only insist on cracking walnftts for his girl, but in picking out the goodies as well. Two years after mar riage he wjll not even let her have the nut-cracker until he is through. Girls, get married.— Breakfast Table. A Georgia farmer bought a grand piano for his daughter. His house is small, aud, to economise room the lower part of the partition between the kitchen and jlarlor was cut out, and the long end of the piano stuck through. Pris cilla now sits at the key-board, singing “ Who will care for mother now?" and the mother rolls out doughnuts on the other end of the piano in the kitchen. SLEEP. When to soft sleep we (ire oureelres swsy, And in a dream, Min* fairy bark, Drift on and on through the enchanted dark To purple daybreak—little thought we nay To that aweet bitter world we know by day. We are clean quit of it, as ia a lark So high in heaven no human eye can mark The swift pinion cleaving through the gray. Till we aßkelll fate can do no ill, The resting heart nbali not take up again The heavy 16ad that yet may tnakrit bleed : For this brief apace the loud world’s voice ia still, No faintest e ho of it brings us pain, iiow will it be when we shall slero indeed? - Aldrich. “ Try not to pass, the old man aaid; so the urchin made it “ next” instead. —New Haven Register. And the old man chuckled and nudged his pard, for he held both bowers ana the joker card. —Bridgeport Standard. And the fourth man muttered, ‘‘We can’t afford to have so much talking across the board.”— New York Graphic. Then a smile o’er the urchin’s face did steal, as he threw down six cards and* exclaimed, “Mis deal 1” (But what does it all mean, any how ?) — Norristown Herald. Florence, the actor, of “ Hon. Bard well Slote ” renown, was presidentof the i'ury which sampled the wines al the ’aris Exposition, and he informed a New York reporter that he would' not undertake the task again for all the vintage of France. The jury fasted each day for a week from eight a. m. to three p. m., passing judgment upon one thousand six hundred bottles. The Turkish representative on the jury was not satisfied with tasting his glass, but emptied it every time until he was snor ing under the table. Scarcely had the Raccoon of Swat been laid among his fathers before the Ameer of Afghanistan appears to test the Atlantic cable with his ill-timed per formances: and this, too, while General Phillipovich is bombardingthe Bosnians at Senkovics, and Janovich is whooping them up at Kiobuk. Some ideas of the terrors of a British shindy on the Pun jaub border may be gathered from the fact that such names’ as Barrookullen, Ghuznee, Kounegoorum, Mootakhala and Muzulfarabad are likelv to be act ively involved day after day.nßalti more Ocaette. Mr. Deßarth is a very modest young man, who never drinks. He has but one bad habit, and that is tobacco chewing. The other day he rode in a Fifth-avenue car, and he had a quid of tobacco as big as a loaf of bread in his mouth. Ar Four teenth-street a young lady Entered the car. Great Heavens! It was ,his girl! What should he do? She took a seat beside him, and chatted a Way right merrily. The conversation had not pro gressed very far when Deßarth’g face began to turn red. He felt for his handkerchief, but he had none. Then his face turned purple. In two minutes more his cheek began to swell. Wbat could he do? If his girl caught him chewing tobacco, that would settle it. The passengers all noticed that Mr. De- Barth was dying, but none of them moved to assist him. The crisis had come, and in a fit of desperation D. B. pointed to the front of the car. All hands, including his girl, looked in that direction. While they were doing so he spit down his sleeve. Then he took the quid from his mouth and, without look ing in that direction, threw it out of i the window—or attempted to do so. It I went up against the pane with a squash. : and flattened out until the car became 1 darkened. Xe cards.—X- Y. D^pateK