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1 Tmmmj riiikeu.
A party of men assembled at Tommy
Oeot ■ bar-room, and after com paring
notes and telling aoms big • tones, the
•onrermtion gradually drifted to the
comparative sixes of the cheats of the
parties present Finally someone pro-
V- ed that they measure chests. A, tape
line was accordingly procured and the
measuring commenced. Each party
■welled his chest to its greatest capacity,
end the measuring continued with an
abundance of mirth and good humor.
At last Qent took the line, and passed it
around the chest erf H Qoinn, and was
apparently greatly pleased with the re
sult To express bis satisfaction, he
placed his hands on either side erf Quinn's
head and commenced nibbing his ears.
He had drawn, his hands across the ears
only twice, when he was frightened
nearly out of his wits by seeing a bright
flame shoot quickly upward, reaching
nearly to the ceiling. The friction caused
by rubbing the ears seemed to have
caused the spark, which ignited the hair
aqd the blaze sprang up almost in
stantly.
To say that Qent was horrified is put
ting it mild. He thought he had been
the involuntary tool used to bring about
Quinn’s destruction by fire. The reader
can imagine what his feelings would be
were he to simply place his hand on a
friend’s ear and instantly he should find
the friend’s head in flames. Gent
sprang back, threw up his hands, and
ejaculated:
“ My God! what is it?”
And still the flamemrfolle&pfc.
Gent's face turned*pale and tbs ftfher
gentlemen in . the party hastily made
room for the “human flambeau, who, as
he hastily paced the room, reminded one
forcibly of the Circassian beauty with
the red porcupine hair, only he had fire
instead of hair. Some of the inmates of
the room yelled “fire, Are,” and others of
a more religious turn of mind commenced
praying. Gent’s knees were beating the
devil's tattoo on each other, as he ner
vously clung to the counter. He subse
<jufcnfcly said he thought the master me
chanic from Hades had surely come to
see him.
Finally, after some lively work, fee
man whose head was being cremated
succeeded in extinguishing fee confla
gration without calling out the fire de
partment. As soon as he had the fire un
der control his companions regained their
senses and gradually approached him.
“Sure an’ I didn’t know you was
loaded,” said Gent. *
“Do you have such Bpells often?”
asked another.
** I know you were gassing fearfully,”
chimed in a third; “but I didn’t think
you would go off in that way.”
And so they continued, while the man
who was indulging in the torchlight pro
cession proceeded to explain.
It seems feat Quinnisa baker of bread,
and while at work frequently has occa
sion to look in the ovens, which are dark.
When doing so he merely strikes a
match. In order to have the matches
handy, he has acquired a habit of carry
ing a handful back of his ears.
Using ears for a match-safe is anew
idea, and should be patented.
However the matches being stored
away in the suburbs of Quinn’s ears,
they were ignited by coming in contact
with Gent’s hand.!}, which are made rough
by honest toil, The hair was oily, aud
what followed was nothing more nor less
than an oil lire.— -Oil Citu Derrick.
Playing-Cards.
"Not many French cards were ever sold
in the American markets, comparatively
speaking, although these jrmnnfaotnr.
were exceedingly fine—a linen card/thin,
strong and delicate, and nioe to handle.
The great bulk of imported cards were
from English manufacturers, as they are
to-day. The English cards excel in the
beauty of their finished geometrical de- •
signs for their backs being ornamented
with fine colors and gildidg to an extent
never attempted with the American article.
This elegance of ornamentation seems to
have always been a specialty with the
English makers, and alone,, or in con
nection with the heavy duties, appears to
warrant the price asked for them—about
double that of American cards, the latter
being even a better article.
But, as has been hinted, of late years
great progress has been made in the
manufacture of playing cards in this
country, until at present no better goods
can be found in any market than are af
forded by United States makers. Tire
modern, round-cornered card of the pres
ent makes is a vast improvement over the
old style square-cornered affair; and the
manipulation of stock in their make-up
results in an article possessing all the at
tributes considered desirable by card
players. The English manufacturers
have been trying to copy the results at
tained in American round-cornered cards
by ‘ ‘dicing out” the stock; but in this
effort they failed signally, since the card
cannot be cut in that way without fatally
injuring its edges and quality. Conse
quently a couple of card-cutting machines
have been sent to England from this
country, and, by the use of Yankee (or
Jewish) methods, no doubt our cousins
will achieve better success. —Boston
Herald.
The Planet Mars.
Professor Lockyer is of the opinion
that human life on the planet Mars may
he very much like human life on the
earth; the light cannot be so bright, but
the organs of sight may be so much
more susceptible as to make the vision
quite as good. The heat is probably
less, as the polar snows certainly extend
further, but by no means less in propor
tion to the lessened power of the solar
rays. The professor agrees with others,
that several remarkable seas—including
inland seas, some of them connected and
some not connected by straits with still
larger seas—are now definable in the
southern hemisphere, in which, as is the
case also with the earth, water seems to
be much more widely spread than in the
northern hemisphere. There is, for ex
ample, a southern sea,, exceedingly like
the Baltic in shape ; and there is another
and still more remarkable sea, now de
fined by the observations of many as
tronomers—one near the equator, a long
straggling arm, twisting almost in the
shape of an S laid on its back, from east
to west, at least 1,000 miles in length
and 400 in breadth.
Gras-dma Garfield, a correspondent
says, is not a stately, impressive old
lady, but a nice, plain, companionable
mother of the every-day sort. You East
ern people, both men and women, grow
old more elegantly than those whose
early lives were full of frontier hardships
at the West. To see the General with
his mother reminds one pleasantly of
Lawyer Wemmick and his “ aged parent”
in Dickens’ Great Expectations.” As
the “Aged P.” of the administration,
Grandma Garfield will be by no means a
lay figure in the social life of the White
House.
Toils.
If yon want knowledge, you must toil
for it; if food, yon must toil for it; and
if pleasure, you must toil for it. Toil
is the law. Pleasure comes through
toil, and not by aelf-indulgenoe and in
dolenoe. When one gets to love work,
bis life is a happy one.— Butkin.
ELLIJAY 981 COURIER.
I
W. V. OOMBSI
Editor and Fobli.h.r J
OUR YOUNG FOLKS.
DOS.
Thta la Don, th dot of dof*. dr,
Jmt aa ttooo ootrank frog*, wtr.
Just as eagles an superior
To buzzards and that tribe Inferior.
He’s a shepherd, lad—a' *r —
And to poize him seems a duty.
Bat it puts nr pen to ziizise. W,
When hia virtues I would nMOO. dr .
“ Don! come heie, aud bend your head now,
I*t us see your best well-breed hew I"
Wee there ever ‘uch a croaturef
Common sense In evrrr feature)
** Don! rise up and look sroe ad you!”
Blessings on the day we found you.
Sell him) well, upon ray weed, atr,
That’s a notion too absurd, itr,
Would I sell our little Ally,
Barter Tom dispose of Sally,
Think you I'd negotiate
..
Sell oar Poo t you’re surely joking,
And ’tie fun at o? you’rqtooting!
Twenty voytgos We’ve tried, air.
Sleeping, waking, side bt side, dr.
And Don I will not divide, air;
He’s my friend, that’s why I lore him—
And no mortal dog’s above him?
He prefers a life aquatic,
But never dog was leaa dogmatic.
Years ago, when I was master
Of a tignt brig called the Castor,
Don and I were bound for Cadis,
With the loveliest of the ladies
And her hoy—a stalwart, hearty,
Crowing, one-year infant party.
Full of childhood’s myrtadgracea,
Bubbling sunshine in our faces
As we bowled along so steady,
Half way home, or more already.
How the Sailors loved our darling!
No more swearing, no more suarling;
On their hacks, when not on duty,
Round they bore the blue-eyed beauty
singing, shouting, leaping, prancing,
>ll the crew took turua in aancing:
Every tar played Punchinello
With the pretty laughing fellow;
Even the second-mate gave sly winks
At the noisy midnlay high jinks.
Never was acrevreo nappy
With a curly-headed chappy,
Never were such sport* gigantic.
Never dog with joy more antic.
While thus jolly, all together,
There blew up a change of weather.
Nothing stormy, but quite breezy,
Aud the wind grew damp and wheezv,
Lite a gale in too low spirits
To put forth one-half its merits.
But, perchance, a dry-land ranger
Might suspect some kind of danger.
Soon our stanch and gallant vessel
With the waves began to wrestle.
And to jump about a trifle,
Sometimes kicking, lire a rifle
w hen ’tie slightly overloaded.
But by no means nigh exploded.
’Twas the coming on of twilight*
> s we stood abaft the skylight
Scampering round to please the baby,
fOld Bill Benson held birr, maybe),
When the youngster Mtched his fingers
Toward the spot where sunset Ungers,
And with strong and sudden motion
Leaped into the weltering ocean I
" What did Don do?” Ga ’t you guess, sir?
He sprang also—by express—air;
Seised the infant’s little dress, sir,
Held the baby's head up boldly
From the waves that rushed sd coldly;
And In juat about a minute
Our boat had them safe within it.
Sell him I Would you sell your brother?
Don and I love one another.
•.a **** As
MILLY’S RUNAWAY.
“Oh! Aunt Milly. Tell us something
that happened when you were a little
girl,” said Jamie Williams, as he threw
himnelf down on the carpet, before the
glowing coals, which both warmed and
lighted the pleasant sitting-room.
“Yes,” said Mabel, “something that
happened ever and ever so long ago,
when yon were about as big as I am,”
and the blue eyes looked up lovingly.
It was an evening in early fall, when
careful mothers call their children in
out of the damp, chilly twilight, and the
restless feet and thoughtless heads find
it hard work to fall into the traces of
scliool-life and the quiet evening games
seem dull indeed, after the merry out-of
door romps, of the long summer days.
On each evening, Aunt Milly volun
teered to tell the children a story, while
the little mother cleared away the sup
per, and made preparations for break
fast. “Well,” . said Anntie, musingly,
“did lever tell you, about the time a
great, big horse ran away with me?”
“Oh, no, no;” exclaimed the children,
“tell us about it, do, please.” The visit
of this auntie was regarded as a great
treat by the children; she had the knack
of story-telling, and was always ready
to bring forth stories, new or old, from
bar treasure house of facts and fanoiei.
“Well,” sho continued, “it was when
your grandpa was living at C , and
kept a pony which I was used to riding
around the yard, though I was thought
too young to be trusted in the street.
“ Father had taken pains to teach me
at home, and almost my first experience
at school was ‘upstairs’ with the old
scholars. I was ten years old, but very
small of my age and frail-looking. Two
or three young ladies rode in irom fee
country, a mile or two, every afternoon
for a recitation in Latin. As I was an
especial pet with them, I asked one of
them one day if I might ride around the
yard at recess. She answered, ‘Yes,’ of
course, without a thought of any dan
ger.”
“What, auntie,” asked Mabel wife
wide open eyes. “ You ride a strange
pony. Weren’t you afraid?”
“Not a bit,” laughed auntie. “A few
days before, when our old Nellie had be
come frightened, and jumped so quickly
as to throw me off, I picked myself up
from the midst of the patch of burdocks,
where I had fallen, and took another
ride, burdocks and aIL”
“Hurrah for you, auntie,” said Jamie,
“ I wish I had you for a playmate. You
could climb trees I’ll warrant, and
wouldn't have been so afraid as Mabel
is, when I want her to romp in the barn
with me.”
“ Yes, I was a sad romp,” said anntie,
“but as I was such a delicate child,
mother allowed me to play as hard as I
pleased, and to this freedom I owe my
good health. My favorite play-house
was under the shade of a tree, on the top
of the leanto of the house, which was so
nearly flat, there was little danger of my
falling off”
“ Oh, Aunt Millie!” and Mabel drew
a long breath, “how could you.”
Anntie stroked fee brown hair as she
continued:
“The school-house was clear across
fee play-ground, which was fenced in.
This particular afterroon fee gate had
been left open. As I seated myself on
the saddle for a ride around the'yard, a
large boy, almost a young man in fact,
mounted the other pony. Seeing this,
tiio l toys all at once commenced to yell,
more like wild Indians than civilized
white boys,” and she smiled roguishly
at Jimie.
ELLIJAY, GA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY.2S, IBSI.
Recollections erf a certain noisy game
of the forenoon, made Jamie blush, bnt
he laughed, too, and said: “Well, auntie,
what is a fellow to do ? The noise just
hollered itself. ” Auntie drew the plnmp
fingers into her own, and petting them
affectionately, went on: “At fee first
scream, fee horse pricked np her ears,
and at the second started for the gate on
a run. The little hands holding the
bridle were powerleaa to hold fee fright
ened creature. On, on—faster snd fast
er, she sped with her frail burden, rftill
clinging to the reins.
“After running in this way sbont a
mile, I thought of the lane winch led to
the honse, and felt certain in. tumincr
fee chare comer at snoh a pace, I could
doa bold on, and then looking up, I saw
fee house of Mr. Shaw neat by. This
was fee home of my dearest-ttend, and
a place familiar also to fe4 rnftaway
horse. It was fee work erf an instant to
turn the horse’s head towards fee gate,
and the horse when she found herself to
fee old hitching-poet—stopped!”
Jamie’s grey eyes had been growing
bigger and bigger, and now with a sigh
of relief, he exclaimed, “What did you
.do next?”
“Oh!” answered auntie, “when fee
horse stopped and I realized feat I waa
saved, I began to tremble ■ little. In a
few min tea the young man, Henry Ad
ams, rode up. He had started as soon
as he found my horse was running away
with me, bnt oould not catoh me. Hia
pony oould not run as fast as mine. I
won that race fairly," and anntie smiled
on the two eager faces. “I began to
feel weak and faint and rather afraid of
the runaway, so Henry let me ride his
horse home, and took the one I had him
self.
“When nearly home we met father
coming on old Nellie. Bome one had told
him of the runaway, and he was nearly
as badly frightened as I.”
“ You didn't ride that horse again, did
you,” asked MabeL
“No, I believe not,” said Aunt Milly.
“I limped a little, for two or three
months, but was not cured oftny passion
for horseback riding. Since then I have
had many horseback rides, but never a
runaway. ”
The mother coming in wife fee lamp,
anntie lookup her sewing, and with a
kiss of thanks, the little folks turned to
their school-books for a little while, be
fore seeking dreamland. —lnterior.
Gen. Sam Houston’s Romance.
Bom in Virginia in 1793, left an or
phan in boyhood, Sam- Houston* went
with his mother to Tennessee, where ho
supported her with his cvn industry,
fens calif frurffftaftßyt fu
1813, at the age of 20, he enlisted under
Gen. Jackson in the Creek war, and for
his repeated deeds of gallantry he so
gained the esteem of Jackson that he
urged him to remain permanently in the
army. Resigning, however, and study
ing law in Nashville, he rose from office
to office, and in 1823, at the age of 30,
he was elected to Congress, and then
again in 1827 was elected Governor of
Tennessee. Up to this time Houston
was unmarried. Universally admired,
and urged by associates to form an alli
ance, which seemed essential to his sta
tion, a young lady of beauty and accom
plishments was commended to him by
family influence. His proposal of mar
riage was accepted, and late in 1828 the
marriage ceremony was performed with
unusual pomp. The next day Houston
resigned hiß office, crossed fee Missis
sippi into Arkansas, and Dec. 11, 1828,
wrote from the agency of his old Chero
kee acquaintances the letter to Presi
dent Jackson which called forth his let
ter of Jan. 24,1829. No one of Hous
ton’s companions knew till his death the
cause of his new course, which his best
friends, like Jackson, regarded as par
tial insanity; no one but his widow
could reveal it, and she only through a
sense of conjugal and Christian duty.
That cause was the highest test of
loyalty of which any man could be ca
pable.
On the eve of the marriage Gtov.
Houston observed a tremor in the voice
and in the hand of his bride, when the
vow of undivided attachment was pro
nounced, which convinced him some
secret had not been revealed to him.
Before retiring he frankly told her of
his suspicion, asked a frank confession
and pledged her that it should not work
to her injury. His frankness and firm
ness led to the confession that her af
fections had been given and pledged to
another before their meeting, and that
filial duty had prompted her acceptance
of his proffer. Houston retired to his
own cot, next day resigned his position,
allowed the entire fault to appear to be
his, permitted and encouraged ner appli
cation for a divorce on the plea of deser
tion, and his bride was married to the
man of her former affection. Many ir
regularities, rumor, of course, charged
on the man who had really sacrificed
everything to save one who had erred
only in mistaken duty; but no charge
of domestic infidelity could be true in a
man who denied it to the estimable lady
who afterward became hia wife.
A Drummer’s First Trip.
A Cleveland merchant determined to
send his son for a trip on the road in the
interests of the house. The young man
was rather averse to going, bnt his
father’s persuasions were all-powerful,
and he went. He was out some ten
days, and on his return his father anx
iously inquired, “Well, my boy, did
yon get many orders ?” “ Yes, father,”
answered the new-fledged drummer; “ I
got quite a number.” “Good!” ex
claimed the delighted father. “I knew
yon would succeed. The yqung man
grinned and answered: “ Well, the
first order I got was in Squashbog. I
went into a man’s store there and he
said ‘ git ont 1’ In Bungyille I got my
second order. This time it was ‘ skip 1'
My third order was ‘chase yourself
’round. ’ My next order wss ‘scoot,’
and—” Bnt the old gentleman hastily
arose and, kicking hisHopeful's sample
case across the office, sternly command
ed the young man to go ont and help
Jim load the truck.
To be effectively honest a man must
be honest at Heart. Honesty that comes
through a bell punch is full of hole*.
Cruelty and Cirittiation.
The mutilations of pnponers exhib
ited on Assyrian sculptural are not Bur
passed in cruelty by any tre find among
fee most blood-thirsty cjl wild races ;
and Rameees H.. who delghted in hav
ing himself sculptured on temple walls
throughout Egypt as holding a dozen
captives by thehair and staking off their
head* at a blow, slaughtered during his
conquests mare human beings than a
thousand chiefs of savage tribes put to
gether. The tortures inflated on captured
enemies by Bed Indiana are not greater
than write those inflicted <rf old on fel
ons by crutpßxkm, at cm inspected reb
els by sewing them up ta tiw hides of
slaughtered animals, or tj, Jieretios by
smearing them over with cifuibnstibb a
and setting fire to then- iTh*
described as ao utterlyjleart. •U*
they laugh on seeing one rf then
her killed by a wild are not
than were fee Romans, rfeo made snob
elaborate provisions for gratifying them
selves by watching wholesale slaughters
in their arenas. If fee numbers de
stroyed byfee hordes of Attila were not
equaled by the numbers .which fee Ro
man unm d—liuyud at tge conquest of
Selucia, and by the numbirs of the Jews
massatoed under Hadrian, it was simply
because fee occasion did] not _ jrmit.
Hie cruelties of Nero, tiallienns, and
the rest may compare -with those of
Zingis and Timour ; and wh.’Jn we read
erf Caracalla, feat after bh pad murdered
20,000 friends of his murdered brother,
his soldiers forced the Senate to place
him among the gods, we are shown that
in the Roman people there was a ferocity
not leas than that which deifies the most
sanguinary chiefs among the worst of
savages. Nor did Christianity greatly
change matters. Throughout medimval
Europe politioal offenses Tmd religious
dissent Drought on men carefully de
vised agonies, equaling* if not exceed
ing. any inflicted by the most brutal of
barbarians.— Herbert Spencer, in Fort
nightlj/ Review.
Stenographic Blonder*.
From a paper on blunders, by F. J.
Morgan, of Syracuse, we ektract the fol
lowing as ludicrous instances of steno
graphic interpretation aftd transcrip
tion :
Gross receipts—Grocery seats. Tam
arack knees—Dorn riokety knees. The
mother’s prayer The qfttters prior.
He was a little fellow—HJ was “a little
full. They capturod two JParrott, guns
—They captured two piraV guns. The
woman was baking bread—Thfe woman
was begging bread. I found fee horse
in feat pasture—l found )1m horse in
that posture—Counsel pffiuMV paper in (
evidence—Counsel .braMt ] pauper in ,
.evidence. JUfeujv Jfoi&C ti*i ck;dk
talk evangelist Arthur ” Waite, the j
Choctaw evangelist The showers were |
not sufficient to meet the wants of mill- j
men—wants of milkmen. In the inter- j
vening time he said nothing—ln the
entire evening time he said nothing. I
came with my brothers, Horace and
Henry—l come with my brother’s horse
and Henry. A medical witness, speak
ing of the illness of a lady patient, said :
“ Sho appeared to be somewhat un- i
strung and nervous.” Tlie transcriber
made him say “Sho appeared to
be somewhat kneesprung and nerv
ous.” A minister, preaching a ser- |
mon on the death of a gentleman
named Samuel, quoted: “And buds and
blossoms in fee dust.” He was delight
ed to read in the next issue of the paper:
“And buds and blows Sam in the dust.”
An attorney asked a female witness liow
she came to be employed by plaintiff, '
and she answered: “I saw a sign in fee
window, ‘Female clerks wanted here.’”
The blundering reporter rendered it:
“Family colo. warranted here.” An
orator referred to the different religiona
sects or denominations “going for one
another” throughout the country, and
said: “ Here we have one sect persecut
ing and was so reported, but
the transcriber rendered it: “Here we
have one sick person feeding another,”
and so it appeared in fee next-morning
papers. (
Several years ago an eminent lawyer
hired a stenographer to take testimony
in an important case. Tile transcrilied
minutes astonished him. A “patent,”
upon which much depended in the suit,
was converted into a “potentate;” a
“solid frame” was turned into an “iso
lated farm;” the “furnaces of this coun
try” were set down as “Fenians of this
country;” “ clerks and bartenders” wero
made “clocks and barometers;” and the
question, “Were you in the habit of
visiting the house?” was written, “Were
you in fee habit of fastening the hose ?” ,
A
A French Woman’s Yalor.
Visitors to Paris oannot fail to have
seen in the great central market an old
woman seated behind a goodly array of
cabbages and cauliflowers, wearing the
Order of the Legion of Honor on her
breast. Her name is Annette Drevon,
and her history is a remarkable one. In
her younger days she was cantiniere in
a regiment of Zouaves *who served in
Africa, in the Crimea, in Italy, and on
the banks of the Rhine. She was pres- |
ent at the taking of Magenta, and during !
that melee saw a couple of Austrian sol- j
diers lay hands ou the flag of the regi- '
ment to which she belonged. Undeter
red by the whistling of the bullets, the
courageous Frenchwoman rushed forward
to save the flag, killed one Austrian,
wounded the other with her revolver, and
returned triumphant with the standard
she had saved from the enemy. For this
act of courage she was decorated; but it
is not her only one. During the Franco-
Prussian war she followed the Thirty
second Regiment of the Line as canti
niere. One day after the armistice had
been proclaimed, she was insulted by a
Bavarian soldier, near the gates of Thion
ville. The plucky cantiniere drew out
her revolver and stretched the aggressor 1
dead on the ground. For this she was
arrested, tried by a court martial sitting !
at Metz, and condemned to death. On
the day she was to he executed Prinbe j
Frederick Charles hap|>er id to lie passing 1
through Metz. Having learned that a
woman was to be shot, ha inquired into j
the circumstances, granted her a respite,
and four days later sent her back to
France, pardoned. Since then Annette
has established herself as a market wo
man, and, aided by a pension allowed her '
by the State, manages to live, aa she is '
proud of saying, independently.
The London Cabby.
The London cabby is at ones a phil
osopher sud a wit, a sort of English
Diogenes ou his tub iustead of in it. He
bas triumphed over every obstruction,
even over the Loudon fog. Weather is
nothing to him as long as he can raise a
fare. When he can't raise a fare he
chaffs at the passing world. His bed, as
a rule, is his box, and he hat been known
to take a nap there occasionally. He is
a much-abused porson, but, on the whole,
he is a civil, cheery, well-conducted per
son, particularly gallant to nervous old
ladies and almost a rival of fee guards or
of the “bobbies” with the nursery maids,
for he has inherited the Brink of Sam
Weller, and nothing could possibly re
sist that Hia tribe is very numerous,
there being fourteen thousand of him,
notwithstanding nnderground and over
ground railroads and 'busses innumera
ble. A mission has been started in Lon
don for his special spiritual and moral
improvement, but he doesn’t seem to
take kindly to the movement; in fact, it
is hard to see how he can find time to
attend a mission. Of the 14,000 cabbies,
only 1,000 are set down as total abstain
ers, and even these elite would probably
resemble Rip’s drinks—they don’t count
If any class of persons might be exoused
for taking an occasional nip, it would
snrely be London cabmen, who are con
stantly exposed to every kind of ths
worst weather feat over was invented.
Sir E. Henderson, chief of the London
police, stated at a recent meeting that he
discovered a gradual improvement in ths
cabby. There has been a considerable
diminution during ths post year in the
number of cabmen brought 'before the
authorities for drunkenness, but in this
respect they had as yet by no means
reuohod the point of moral elevation at
tained by omnibus men and stage-drivers.
Out of 4,400 omDitms men there was only
11 oonvictions for drunkenness during
the year, and of .3,200 stage-drivers only
26. In 11,000 cabmen there had been
1,100 convictions, a reduction of 260 on
the previous year. They were also
rather addicted to furious driving, a fault
that probably bears a corresponding
ratio to gin.
Origin of Cyclone*.
For too purpose of discovering the
causes which determine the progressive
movement of storms, I have made on
extensive examination of the course and
velocity of storm centers in tropical re
gions, and also of abnormal paths in the
middle latitudes of Eourope and Ameri
ca. I have examined the course'of all
those hurricanes which have originated
near the West India Islands, and whoa*
jiatha have been carefully investigated,
mud also all the storm tracks delineate* ,
on the maps of fee montlilyjNreatherjjfc
view. have tkwwiso* ed|gHWitMP
those hurricanes in Souther)! Asia and
its vicinity whose paths have been beat
determined, and all the storm tracks de
lineated on the majia of the international
series of observations. Tho following
summary presents some of fee resnlta
derived from this investigation: (1) The
lowest latitude in which a cyclone center
has been formed near the West India
Islands is ten degrees, and the lowest lat
itude in the neighborhood of Southern
Asia is six degrees. Violent squalls and
fresh gales of wind have, however, been
encountered directly under the equator.
(2) Tlie ordinary course of tropical hur
ricanes is toward tlie northwestward. In
a few cases they sown to have advanced
toward a point a little south of west, and
in a few cases their course has been al
most exactly toward the north. (3)
Tropical hurricanes are invariably ac
companied by a violent fall of rain. Tlie
rainfall is never less than five inches in
twenty-four hours for a portion of tho
track and frequently it exceeds ten
inches in twenty-four hours. (4) Tropical
storms aro generally preceded by a
northerly wind, and after the passage of
the low center tho wind generally veers
to the southeast at stations near the
center, and too southerly wind which
follows tho low center, is generally
stronger than the northerly wind which
preceded it.
This fact appears to suggest toe ex
planation of the origin of the cyclone
and the direction of its progressive move
ment. Tho prevalent direction of fee
wind in the neighborhood of the West
India Islands is from the noitheast.
Occasionally a strong wind sets in from
a southerly quarter. The interference
of these winds with each other gives
rise to a gyration and a fall of ram
sometimes results. When the rain com
mences tlie latent heat whioh is lib
erated causes an inflow of wind from all
quarters, by which the rainfall is in
creased; and since the wind is deflected
by the rotation of the earth an arch of
low pressure is produced and the force
of the winds will be maintained as long
as the rainfall oontiUfees. The effect of
this strong wind from the south is to
transport the low center in a northerly
direction, and by the combined action of
the south wind and tho normal from the
northeast the center of low pressure is
usually carried in a direction between
the north and west.— Prof. Elias
Loomis.
Negri Songs.
Mr. Hughes, referring to the negro
song of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,''
which he heard in Tennessee, and the
words of the same, which he sent to the
London &Spectator, adds: “This, sir, I
think yon will agree with me, though
precious, is obviously a fragment only.’’
The fact is that all negro songs are in
some sense “fragments, foi the} arc
never exactly complete—that is, there is
no regular beginning nor end to them,
but, with the perpetually recuri iQg re
frain of the choius, the solo lines can be,
and are, stretched out to suit the fancy
of the singer. The music of ‘ Swing
Low, Sweet Chariot,” is given in several
publications of the “jubilee” ordei, but
the words are never twice alike. There
is a scrap of nogro ditty, probably more
thasouglily Ethiopian than anything
now to Ik; heard in the United States,
quoted in Michael Scott's story of ‘Tom
Cringle's Log,” as follows:
* Fader wm * Corram.nlee,
Moddei tui Mingo;
JBleck pukanlny burr* wants*,
St den srll-a me Peter, bn Jingo,
Jlggery, jlkgerjr, Jiggery.
This has the true ring of heathenism,
while most of the “songs of color” which
we hear are intended as a religious ex
ercises. — lnter- Ocean.
STJBSCKirTIOX - I VI .AIM rV
• i.ftO per Annum VUI /. Vl. JN U, O,
POPULAR SCIENCR.
Fon articles of rubber which hare be
come hard and brittle Dr. Pol recom
mends the following treatment: Im
merse tbe articles in a mixture of water
of ammonia one part and water two parts,
tor a time varying from a few minntes to
an hour, according to the circumstances
of tho case: When the mixture has act
ed enough on the rubber itwill be found
to have recovered all its elasticity,
smoothness and softness.
Thb royal engineers have tried the ef
fect of gun-cotton In bringing down two
old chimneys at the dock-yard extension
works, Chatham, England. Tbe first
was demolished by placing a necklace
of gun-cotton inside the chimney, the
total charge consistingof about four and
a half pounds. The second was de
stroyed by placing six charges of the ex
plosive in the center of the base of the
chimney, the total charge weighing
.twenty-eight ounces. Hie experiment
was very successful. At the instant the
electric spark ignited the gun-cotton the
chimneys became wrecks.
After a tolerably exhaustive examina
tion of the biograpLy of the subject, Dr.
Otto Kuutze maintai s, but on ground
not (juite satisfactory, shat the guff weed
consists of many varieties or species of
Sargassum vulgare, and that the plants
so named in the lump are either dying
or dead and incapable of reproduction.
There does not appear to be any good
reason for assigning a definite and con
stant area to the Sargasso sea. Patches
of weed occur more frequently in the re
gion of oalms, but sometimes there is
very little of the weed there. Winds
also affect the distribution of the patohes
with regard to each other and tne posi
tion of the whole mass of weed.
Attention has been directed by M.
Morirte to anew kind of food to which
the name “ nutricine" has been given.
Its preparation is thus described: Raw
meat, from which bones and tendons
have been carefully excised, is passed
into suitable machines along with nitro
gonized alimentary substances, such as
bread, to absorb the water of the meat,
and, possibly, to form new combinations
with it After the mass thus prepared
is dried in a stove under a mild heat it is
pulverized and sifted. A powder of an
agreeable taste, and varying from yel
low to gray in color, is the result Wten
albumxkdtstb, oc gummed water is add
ed powder solid cakes or cubes
maydiobroken up, as occasion may re
quire, for soups or sauces. This nutri
ome is admirably qualified to sustain
physioal vigor, and it can be preserved
for any length of time if it is kept from
the deteriorating influenoe of an atmos
phere chuqgrfwith moifture and from
the action at heat.
WWiWMiis-wf uittksm, ■ ——%
A writer in the Atlantic. Monthly
aays: I have found the worst femi
nine qualities almost invariably allied
to the blonde style; not the green
or gray eyed blondes, with straight,
abundant hair and fresh coloring, but
the swallow or pallid being, with light
blue eyes and limp or waving hair—aD
innocent-looking oreature, with feline
manners, pattc do velours, and such
claws! These are the women who delude
and destroy men; who never forgive an
injury or forget a slight; who smile and
talk sweetly, and put on airs of meek
piety or high art and refinement, but
under all are scheming, unprincipled,
false to the core. Did not Lucretia Bor
gia have golden hair? Was not Lady
Macbeth a Scottish woman, presumably
with lint-white looks ? Two of the worst
and most brilliant woman I ever knew
had this style of complexion, and the
lovely being whose picture was my child
ish adoration, who sat simpering over
the library shelf in dear old Uncle W.’s
house, robed in satin and sables, her
gold hair curling like a child’s, her sap
phire eyes as inscrutable os a deep
spring, her rosebud lips soft and fresh as
a baby’s, and her taper white fingers
crossed in her lap, was a virago, a drunk
ard, a woman without a symptom of 1
principle—the mystery and the curse of
the old and honorable family she mar
ried into. Black-haired and dark-eyed
women are quick-tempered, electric,
generous, jealous probably, but full of
relenting, and capable of iieing coaxed
into or out of anything. Weak ns to
their affections, snappy as to their tem
per; warm of heart and hot of head, they
are never very had or very good, and are
the delightful torment of every man who
loves them and whom they do not love
too much; but love makes slaves and
fools of them, and they are ridiculously
constant.
Man’s Self-Importance.
Mrs. Jameson, fn more instances than
one, shows her belief in self-importance
being man’s prime quality. Here is one
thing that breathes a hard spirit. “Per
sonal Vanity in a man is sheer, unmiti
gated egotism, and an unfailing subject
of ridicule and contempt with ail women,
be they wise or foolish. ” The Countess
of Blessington, who was almost as wise
as she was handsome, has left c few out
spoken opinions, of which one is that
“Self-possession and dignity ought to
characterize a man of birth and genius,
and a poet should neither be gay nor
flippant.” Here is a stinger: “Men can
pity the wrongs inflicted by other men
on the gentler sex but never those whioh
they themselves inflict on women.”
Though the following would apply
equally well to womer. it is woith re
membering as showing that to a delicate
minded woman the man who prides him
self on being a bear, growling out un
palatable truths at every breath, is not
considered the pleasantest of compan
ions: “Your plain-speaking men,’ says
the Countess, “are usually either of ob
tuse intellect or of ill-natured disposi
tions, wounding the feelings of others
from want of delicaoy of mind and sen
sibility, or from intentional malice. ”
The Countess grows concise, and in say
ing that a woman’s head is always influ
enced by her heart, and a man’s heart is
always influenced by his head,’ utters
an epigram worthy of Pope. In the
same epigrammatic mood must this have
been oonceived: “Great men direct the
events of their times, wise men take ad
vantage of them; weak men are borne
down by them." Elsewhere she says:
“In the society of persons of mediocrity
of intellect a clever man will appeal to
have less spirit than those around him
who possess the least, because he is dis
placed in their oompauy.”
ENTERTAINING PARAGRAPHS.
Wnout-aoum—-the Chicago girL
Frrb of charge—an empty gun.
Tux funniest part of a dog’s toil is tbs
It's the Gentile thing in M-srmandom
to have only one wife.
Noodle—a person who hasn't suftlcient
back-bone to be e fool.
Vessels are always called the, and
yet we hear of mail steamers.
There is more fashion in the city, bat
there's more Rtilee in the oountry.
Dnxo in poverty is not as hard ss
living in poverty, after all the novelists
say.
“Hair switches,” so reads a sign. So
it does, on the south end of a hone in
flv-time.
from an old aphorism—“ Where single
ness is bliss ’tia folly to be wives."
When one sees a man thrown from his
saddle over the head of a horse, he must
recognize the power behind the thrown.
It was a young housekeeper who set
the cake she had baked for a surprise
party out-of-doors, one cold night, to be
frosted.
A prisoner at the grate. Turnkey—
“ Are you in for contempt?” Prisoner
(with indignation)—“No, sir, I haven’t
fallen that low—it’s a simple drunk.”
When a grocer advertises every variety
of “raisins” for sale, does he include
derricks, pulleys, jack serews, yeast,
„rope and tackle, and that sort of thing?
• “What does ‘eficore'.iian?” asks an
exchange. It is only one phase of a
universal desire among the sons of men
to get something for nothing, and get it
right off.
Beaconsfteld ascribes all his great
ness to woman. Adam laid all his trouble
to the same source. Adam, we are
ashamed of you. Beaconsfield, you are
a gentleman.
Thb funniest patent medicine is the
“humor pad,” made expressly to tickle
the ribs of the mournful. Paragraphers
are manufacturing these pads in quan
tities to suit.
“Linked for life” is how the Syracuse
Standard heads a marriage notice. How
forcibly this reminds us of Byron’s beau
tiful lines, “I sa* two sausages in ths
hues of youth.”
“Come right into thelionse, children,”
shouted Mrs. Shuttle. “Yon ore making
more noise and uproar than a session of
Congress. What do you suppose the
neighbors think?”
A Calipopria heiress was left $50,000
worth of diamonds which she could take
possession of on her wedding day, and it
is not surprising that the first fellow who
offered himself was accepted.
“Youb opponent was a bright speak
er,” the citizen said to the candidate
who had not been elected by 2,000 ma
jority. “Yes,” was the sad reply, “very
bright He cast reflections upon me all
through the oampaign.”
A lady was praising the amiability of
her friend’s husband, aiul asked how in
tho world Blie had over brought him to
such perfection, whereupon the friend
sweetly answered that Bhe did it chiefly
with a croquet-mallet.
Therb was a fight imminent between
two boys. One of them darkly intima
ted that he was bigger than the other.
The smaller, who is the son of a deacon,
defiantly retorted, “I don’t care if you’re
as big as a church debt; yop can’t scare
me. Danbury News.
JOSH BILLINGS’ WISDOM. ...
fCnrrectly Spl!ed From Hl* Now “Cook Book. 1 ’!
The man who gets bit twice by tha
same dog is 1 letter adapted for that kind
of business than any other.
There is a great deal of religion in this
world that is like a life-preserver, only
put on at tho moment of immediate dsfi
ger and then half the time put on hind
side before.
Experience is a school where a man
learns what a big fool ho has been.
The man who doesn’t believe in any
hereafter lias got a dreadfully mean
opinion of himself and his chances.
There are two kinds of fools in this
world—those who can’t change their
opinions and those who won’t.
A good doctor is a gentleman to whom
we pay three dollars a visit for advising
us to eat less and exercise more.
Out in the world men show us two
sides to their characters; by the fireside
only one.
The world is filling up with educated
fools—mankind read too much and learn
too little.
Every man has his follies and often
times they are Uie most interesting things
lie has got.
The Dine Doctor.
One of the curiosities of Paris is Dr.
Cnirou, called the “blue grass.” This
name he obtained through being called
in to see a lady who was at the point of
death, as was supposed, from some mys
terious weakness. He sent-at once, no
for medicaments, but for an upholster
er, and ordered thir tradesman at one*
to refurnish the whole of the lady's
rooms with stuffs and carpets dyed with
indigo. He clothed her with stuffs simi
larly dyed, and ordered that none should
approach her unless clad in indigo-dyed
garments. The result was, so the story
goes, that the lady recovered, and M.
Chiron received the name of “le docteur
bleu. ” He is not liked by the regular
practitioners, who do not scruple to call
him a quack, but he has made some
wonderful cures by wonderful method^”
One of these cures occurred with the
wife of an eminent English statesman.
This lady had long suffered from an ap
parently incurable cough of a very dis
tressing nature. She went to the blue
doctor, who for three months made her
inhale daily a mixture of chloroform and
the fumes of some strong acid. Every .
day she was chloroformed to insensi
bility, and at the same time was acidu
lated, with the result that she is now
quite welL
The Difference.
“The difference," said Augustus Mill
whiffies, sauntering into the library the
other day—“the difference between the
works of Captain Cook and the works of
Beaumont and Fletcher is, I presume,
that the former are by a tar and the lat
ter by-tu-men.” Before he could cackle,
he was seized by the nape of the neck
and thrust out of the building by an
enraged professor, who said to him, as
he struck the ground, “Do you know
why you are like Noah’s Ark?”
“No,” said the bewildered Augustus.
“Well, it’s because you’re pitched
without,” said the professor, as ha shut
the door.
Secretary Evabts says there are mow
Bostonians in Brooklyn than there are in
Boston. Joseph H. Choate, the Secre
tary’s law partner, says he has lived in
Brooklyn a good many years, and out of
60,000 Brooklyn people he has never
been able to find a single one who was
born within the oity limits. —Botton
Pott.
