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THE OGLETHORPE ECHO. Subscription Ratost „ Sixmont fc, ’ lw) Three M mthi M Ttrmt Cask in Adstmss. Po€l ‘ '▼'l/ o PPr Mol natu tba money li paid. ? " 0 tirf ' eh mb*-Tiber two weeks before the "* xetion of We tiffie, end If ssbecxlptloo Is tot ren "wed. the paper U U once -Usoontliioed, Any person who will send ns the nemes of fire new subs cribere, with $lO cesh, will be entitled to ow 7r n mbacrlptlon tr*+. No club ratM. Deserted Fifth Arenne. Iy early candle light I wander lorth l’l on Filth avenue and the adjoining streets. How silent, how deserted are theae marble halls, The homes of wealth and luxury. '-Varce the glimmer ot a chamber light is seen, I’be parlors all funerally closed, The folks are out o 1 town, The basements only show some signs ot life, A- Ann and Bridget, lelt to keep the house, •re loiter at hour ot early eve, I" breathe ir sh air and gossip V. :*h Itoundsman No. 7,682. A . ' at with stealthy tread ■'•tenia o’er the way, nlent on theft or commune with some other cat. M ..! Who are these? o stealthily peeping lorth A though in tear of toe outside in ambush, <>i sitting well ensconced within the hall,. In dresses dark and somber. These ? This is the tarnily, Who tor strong reason Have stayed in town this season, Who timidly a*- night unbar the door Closed in the day, and in deserted outward look * ontemporaneous with the rest. I turn away my head. I know their pain. 1 hey wish not to be seen of men. I'liey're theoretically out of town. I will not e’en spy out their number. Ihifl is true charity. —JVew York Graphic. The Little Old Woman and Her Cows. A BTOKY FROM OVER THE SEAS. Oudenarde is a town in the Nether lands; perhaps the guide books spell it Audenarde, but longago, when she lived t here, the country was known as Flan ders, and the name of the town began with O. They were times of trouble t hen on account of the wars. The men were nearly all off for soldiers whether they wanted to goor not; and the towns, 'vlr.eh all had high walls round them for ' defence, fell first into the hands of one army and then of the other, and fighting was the chief business. This woman, whose name was Petro nilla, lived just off the road between ■Oudenarde and Ghent, which were twelve miles apart; but she belonged to the former place, though she lived a good way outside, and never went there now; for not only did she feel too old for the walk, but the town had a garri son of soldiers in it, and was in danger of being attacked any day, and she had seen trouble enough without going to seek it. She was more than seventy years old, and lived alone except for her cat. Ami she was so poor that she had almost nothing hut two cows, and those she would not have had long if the soldiers had thought them worth driving off; hut as they were not much more than skin and hone, she was left in peaceful possession of them. Being a pious woman, when she said her prayers at night site never forgot to say that the cows were a great deal to be thankful for. On the few pints of milk they gave, and a little barley bread, she managed to live, and also to keep her cut in good condition. The eat —his name was Solomon—had belonged to her son Peter. So had the cows, which lie had raised from calves when they had a nice farmstead of their own. and all was prosperous with them. Now the farm was gone, the horses and the cattle, all hut the cows. She had only them and the cat. Her husband was dead; and Peter wr.s lost, lie had been forced into the wars, and now for eleven years no tidings of him had ever reached her. But she always prayed for him as if he was alive, and never gave over the hope that lie might come back —a mother never does. That was why she still lived near Oudenarde; because if she went away, and lie should come hack, how could he ever find her? Gould he anyway, for her old neigh’ ors were all gone, and the war had ch oiged everything? She had found shelter in a little, old but with a thatched roof. The walls looked ready to fall down, and the thatch bad rotted so that it let in tile rain; but she kept it sweet and airy. In fair weather the door always stood wide open, showing the clean, clay floor, a small fireplace with the dinner-pot, which had nothing in it, hanging on the crane, two wooden benches, a table and a bed, a brass lamp, some pewter and wooden dishes, and a crucifix and picture of the Virgin. Theie was a square window witli latticed bars across it in checkers, and on the ledge was always a mug of flowers, and beside it in sunny days usually sat the eat, which was salmon-colored and immensely large. This was how the house looked one September afternoon at sunset. Pit ro il ilia had just milked the cows, and both of them were safe for the night in a little yard at the end of the house. She stood in the door looking tirst at the small quantity of milk in the wooden dipper she held in her hand, and then at the cows, and saw that they were leaner than ever. Tlrer sli“ gazed off upon the dusty, dried-up fields, on whose out skirts they had picked up their scanty living, whileshe sat by watching them with knitting-work in lnr'hands; there was almost nothing left for them; what should she do? Then she t bought of the great meadows along the river toward Oudenarde: broad and green she could see then; far away this side the town. There the grasses grew rank and high; and in this time of fear no man eared for them, or would dare to cut them. A force ot soldiers had just gone into garrison there, the gates were kept shut and guarded.the inhabitants dared not stir outside; and at any moment the men of Ghent might march down and attack them. It was no trespass to gather grass from the river valley. The longer she looked the more she felt that sheeould get some, and that she ought to do it. When she had made up her mind she f"’‘ easier, and her face showed it. It w. s a good face; brown, because she had been out ot doors so much, wrinkled in a row of furrows clear across her forehead, and wrinkled about her eves and chin, but it was kind and patient.' She tied a dark handkerchief over her clean white cap, and tucked her small checked shawl closer about her neck and crossed it on her bosom outside of her brown woolen gown, then she put a strong cord into her pocket whicn she wore hanging from her belt, and took her start' from behind the door, and set out: but just before she crossed the threshold she looked down at Solomon, who sat them and said, •“Solomon, you keep house till I get back. It won’t be before midnight. Women who lire alone with cats are apt to confide'things to them. It was a lonesome walk, and a weary one for a woman of her years, but the thought of her poor eows kept her up. The . ght was beautiful, the air was mild, and the starlight so clear that she could easily find her way, and yet it was not bright enough to betray her to any one who might Vv wandering about, which indeed w s a very unlikely tmng to happen, fir everybody, except a few stray cottagers .ike hersdf, was safe within the walls .f the town: and as for the enemy, they were twelve miles off in Ghent. Resides its own strong defences Oude narde was further protected by great ditcl.es, deep and broad, along the mead ows, so that it was considered safe from attack on that side. When Petronilla Oglethorpe Echo. Bv TANARUS, L. GANTT. reached the outermost of these ditches | she was much surprised to find that ! there was no water in it, but being j anxious to gather her bundle of grass, she fell to work, pulling it up by long | handfuls, until she had secured as much | as she could carry, and fcgd just tied it I with the cord, when astrangething hap l pened, and slie soon learned something ! very important about the ditch. Though her hearing was not as good ; as it once had been, she was sure that two or three persons were talking not far away, and that they wefe coming nearer. She instantly pulled off her cap that its snowy whiteness might not at tract attention, muffled herself to the eyes in her kerchief, and crouched low among the tufts of reeds. Ami none too soon, for men began to pass close by her, carrying long ladder.), which nearly swayed against her, so I near were they. She dared not stir, and could not raise her eyes to see higher than their knees; but as the feet went by tier face, one pair after another, she counted; and there were four hundred men. What was the meaning of it shegath- I ered quickly enough, for the leaders talk- ; ed over their plans almost over her head, They were foes, the men of Ghent, come at midnight after long marching to surprise Oudenarde. They said that most of the garrison and the great officers were away, feeling that all was safe—they had sent spies who found this out —and that the town was carelessly guarded, and what was worse, that the inhabitants had drawn tfie water out of the ditches to get the fish, and along these channels the enemy could now approach even to the walls, and by means of their scaling-ladders climb over. As soon a the men had all gone by, Petronilla, though shaking with terror, hurried as fast as her feet could hobble by a short path she knew to the walls, just where the emptied ditch would give I them a place of advantage. The sentry was going his rounds, and i finding all was well, would soon have! passed out of hearing, but she began to j moan and cry as if in distress, and hear- j ingher.hecame back and asked her wiiat I was the matter. Then in a quavering voice she told her story, which he knew not what to think of; being only a poor sentinel obeying orders, what should he think when an old woman started up before him at midnight begging him to alarm the gar rison, when the commander bad felt secure enotlgli to leave everything just as it was? But lie was humane, so lie treated her kindly, and asked her to stop and rest herself, but she said : “No; if t don’t hurry away I shall he a dead woman.” When she had gone, the thought came to him how true and kind her voice was, and what an honest woman she seemed. “She made me think ot my poor mother, who lias been dead these many years, I fear.” Because of this, he said he would go and look off from the highest place and watch and listen, which lie did; hut not a sound broke the stillness except the cry of a night-bird on the meadow; nothing was stirring, even the old wo man was nowhere to be seen. Indeed, she had made haste to get back to the place where she saw the men, who remained as site had left them, all but four, who were just being sent onward with orders from their leader not to speak, not to eouglt or -neeze, hardly even to breathe, but to go as near the walls as possible without startling the watchman, reconnoiter, and bring back word This they did; and Petronilla waited to hear the report in dread and sorrow, tor she was sure there was not a light burning in all the town and that the people were sound asleep in their beds, never dreaming of danger; and when the spies returned, their words only added to her misery . They did notsee so much as a lighted candle, they said, and they believed that the sentinel had been his rounds and had gone to bed; and now it was proposed to prepare for a start, enter the ditch and movc‘on to the walls. Then poor tired old Petronilla started again, and appeared once more to the astonished watchman, who was still keeping a sharp lookout, and told him all she had just heard, and that it was the last he would see of her that night. “ But,” she said, “ if evil does come to the town and you escape, my hut can shelter you from harm. It is the first on tlie road to Ghent.” She told him this because he had a civil, pleasant way, which made her think of her dear boy, Peter. And now the man, fully alarmed, went round to the gate that was threatened, where lie found the soldiers of the guard crowded about a dim light playing dice, with three or four flasks of wine beside them; they weie his superiors in rank, so he addessed them as “Gentlemen!” and asked if their gates and barriers were all secure, because an old woman had been to him and told him that a band of men were on the’.r way to take the ! town. “Oh. ho!” they cried, “our gates are first enouglu A had night to the old woman who has come at such an hour to alarm us! Probably she saw some cows and calves that had come untied, and she fancied they were men ot Ghent coming here. They have no such inten tions.” - . Meantime, Petronilla, leaving her bundle of grass where it lay, wearily and sadly plodded home that she might be take herself to bed while she was able to get there; and the cows went without any supper. While she lay awake, for sleep she could not. the terrible tiling she feared came to pass. The guard, careless at their post, who scorned her -message, were surprised at their game. The four hundred had come over the walls by their scaling-ladders and gained the i market place, where they were heard shouting :• “Ghent! Ghent!” The startled people sprung in horror from their beds, only to see that it was too late to save their town, even if their own lives were secure. It was an awful night of fighting and pillaging; and the sight which the next morning’s sun looked upon was of streets full of armed men. houses broken open, confusion and destruction and death everywhere; and out through the now open gates a multitude of women and children, in th° clothes they sltep in, barefoot and half-naked, fleeing for their lives before the men of Ghent, who were driving them as if they had been cattle; and the poor fugitives, glad to escape on any terms, went running off on every road except the one to the enemy’s city; and in the end found refuge in other towns, where the hus bands and fathers of some of them after ward joined them, but the most were the same as- if they were widowed and j orphaned. There was only one person who dared take the road to Ghent, and he crossed out to it over the fatal meadow, but left S it as soon as he saw at one side the lean- ing cottage. with the little cow-pen be side it. where Petronilla Uvea. Tne sentinel had escaped, with his outer gar ment torn away and a gash across his shoulder: hut he had kept safe sewed within his leathern doublet a pouch of gold which he had laid by for his old mother’s support, if ever he should come back to Oudenarde. Since he came he had heard that she had been some years missing from the farmstead, which had been ruined by the wars, and that surely she must be dead. He thought that perhaps he would give this gray-haired woman some of it now for his mother’s sake. How anxi > ous she had seemed, vnat a faithful soul she was to do so much, how old she was to have walked so far. and how kind her invitation had been! THE ONLY PAPER IN ONE OP THE LARGEST, MOST INTELLIGENT AND WEALTHIEST COUNTIES IN GEORGIA. This was her hut, then! How poor it was. And those two cows looking over the fence and lowing mournfully—how lean and starved they were! The house ; door was open, and a cat came out, salmon-colored. Where had he seen such a cat of that queer color? She growled and put up her back and started in, -.hen stopped and looked aroqnd in dismay as lie called “Solomon! Solo mon ! It is my very cat. Solomon!” Then something else happened, for a voice cried from the bed within: “Oh, Peter!” Yes; Petronilla, sleeping late after her night’s adventure, dreamed of the senti nel ; and Peter’s words awoke her. As -ureas. she was Petronilla, he was Peter. What more is there to he told? Why, that they both agreed that it was best to get away from Oudenarde as fast as their feet could carry thorn. The house might serve as shelter to some poor fugi tive. The dinner-pot they would ieave with somebody who had wherewithal to buy a dinner to cook in it. And the few possessions of the departing house keeper should be left for her successor. But Solomon they took with them in a bag; and the two sorry-looking cows they drove before them to a more fertile as well as peaceful land—“ because,” said Peter, “it it had not been for the cows, we never should have found each other.— Youth's Companion. A Zulu Artist. M. Enanda writes to the Art Inter change from Zululand as follows: I will give you the history of one Zulu artist that I knew. Ilis name was Uqonqota. [Please strike the roof ot your mouth twice with your tongue, making a noise like a small hammer and then you wiil get the pronunciation of his name.] He fled to Natal with his wife, to escape the sentence of death which Getywayo had passeef on him for being suspected of witchcraft. He spent iiis time in carving wooden and ivory spoons, snuff-boxes of many varieties, made of vegetable ivory, etc., and also from reeds, all painted and figured. Bead work lie excelled in—also modern pillows with filigree carving, wooden milkpails, ivory and bone perspiration scrapers with a snuff-spoon at one end and bone combs that looked like three ined forks. With these forks they dress the hair in fantastic designs Aden an ox is killed Hie ribs are taken ure of to make these useful articles. I must, tell you before I forget that Uqon qota was also a noted poet and sang his own compositions as he carved or painted the snuff-boxes anti musical reeds. He could draw very well considering he never ha.l a lesson, and his silhouettes weie made with the spear red hot, burn ing the figures very evenly black though they were hideous representations. I regret not having a few copies for the cup and saucer painters of New York to ■opy. for they would have admired them hugely. This Zulu artist was indeed a very original character. He often paid us a visit to see the sewing machine, and would solemnly exclaim, “ The white man will soon find the medicine to cure death.” lie tried to imitate some of our things, and showed much taste for pic tures. His pottery was more graceful and the ornamentations looked lifelike. By his great industry in art he soon ac quired a large fortune, namely, three wives and a kraal full of cattle, calves and goats; but he did not retire from business; he would peddle his armlets and leglets, necklaces, spoons, spears, etc., far and wide over the country. At last he had filled an earthen pot full of English money, and he thought he could re-enter the Zulu country unknown, to buy more cattle, to buy more wives, to be a greater aristocrat, when he un expectedly met one of Cety wayo’s police men who was watching for runaways to Natal, and a spear too well aimed felled him to the ground. A Thumping Fish Story. Estimated by their game qualities and the difficulty sometimes experienced in safely landing them, the larger speci mens of our mountain trout weigh like a sturgeon. This fact is established whenever the trout, hooked in a pool with sufficient depth and spread of water can bring to bear in his native element the full resisting force of his remarkably strong and active tail. Illustrative of this, a story is told of the experience of two professional fishers who recently went out from Helena to the Big Black foot, one a doctor and the other a lawyer. In a very brief time they had a basket of beauties for their pains, but the faseina t ion of the sport kept them tossing their flies into the clear waters of the magnifi cent stream. Finally one man hooked a “ bouncer,” one on which he haft most yearned to try his skill. The pool was deep and broad, and, work and finesse as the doctor might, the trout held to the water. The lawyer, resting his com panion, tried his strength and tact, but with no better luck. The trout seemed quite master of the situation, nor could lie be towed or tuckered out. The con test finally culminated in a most exciting scene. Determined to secure the prize, and forgetting he could not swim, the valiant doctor, throwing aside coat and boots, jumped into the depths of the stream. It was a rash act. and to save him the lawyer was forced to plunge in after him. A fair swimmer, he reached his struggling companion, and holding :>u to the pole and tackle with one hand, lifted witli the other his companion’s head above water. But the lawyer found he could not bring his burden to shore, and only by superhuman effort could lie keep himself and companion ■from sinking. On the very point of drowning the trout came to the rescue, truightened out the line, and after a few portive pranks hauled the two men out of the pool to shallow water. Grateful for the service thus obligingly rendered, t he fish was permitted to disappear over the riffle down stream. This story is confirmed by the testimony of both the gentlemen concerned and by the trout itself, which has since been seen towing the tackle up and down the waters of the Blaekfoot.— Helena (Montana ) Her ald. * Fruits for Food. Henry Ward Beecher says there is no sense in the old familiar motto, “ Fruit is gold in the morning, silver at noon, inti lead at night.” His reasons for this opinion he thus states: Because, with a limited experience, people pereeive that some folks can eat fruit at one time and not at another, they lay down this rule for all. The cases where fruit is unhealthy at night are the exception It is true that in tropical climates, heavy ruits, difficult to digest, ought not to be taken at night. But the fruits that are on our North ern farms are all healthy, as a rule. Among the excellent small fruit are cur rants. gooseberries, raspberries, straw berries, grapes, mulberries—these last are a very much neglected fruit; there is no better fruit tree for children than the Downing’s ever-bearing mulberry. One of them will bear fruit for eight or ten weeks steadily, constantly ripen ing. and pleasing all the fowls and tur keys, children and old folks. I would rather have this mulberry to-day than a strawberry. The common mulberry is flat and sweet: but this has a fine sprightly acid taste, as finely combined as lemonade. As you go up. you have the apple, which is the patriarch, or the Abraham, of all fruits. If I had to choose but one fruit out of all in the world, I should deci-Te for the apple. For uses ot every kind, early and late, winter or summer, cooked or raw, ap ple is king. Then comes the cherry, then the pear, then the plum and the peaeli- I have not mentioned oranges, because they are not raisable in the North: but they ought to be eaten at the right time, which is all the time from getting up in the morning till you go to bed at night. The man with whom they disagree is the exception. LEXINGTON, GEOEGfA, FKIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1879. THOMAS BLANCHARD. The Inventor ol Machines for Turning Irregular Forms. A brief biography of Thomas Blanch ard, the inventor of the mechanical com bination for turning irregular forms, who died at Boston in 1865, has just been issued. The writer, Asa H. Waters, says that although the name of Thomas Blanchard is not so popularly known as many others who have achieved fame from single inventions, the writer boldly asserts that “it may be questioned whether another inventor can lie named in this country or in Europe, during the last century, who has produced so many different labor-saving machines, applica ble to such a great variety of uses and which have contributed so largely to the common necessities, comforts and econ omies of life. This language may seem extravagant, but it must be remembered that not an armory exists in this coun try or in England where guns are made —hardly a human being that wears boots or shoes—scarcely a vessel that sails upon the ocean—not a school where slates are used—not a carpet laid down, but that owes tribute to the genius of Thomas Blanchard for producing articles cheaper and better. The same may be said of carriage wheels, plows, shovels and various articles of furniture. Latterly, his machines have been applied to carv ing, to architectural designs and even to statuary—much to the surprise of artists. Indeed, there seems to be no limit to the uses made of Blanchard’s inventions, and it is impossible at present to enumerate them. One can hardly go into a tool shop, a machine shop, or a workshop of any kind, wood or iron, where motive power is used, in which he will not find more or less of Blanchard’s mechanical motions. Blanchard was a native of Sutton, Mass., and was born June 24, 1788. His father, Samuel, was a farmer, and lived on a poor, remote strip of land, where there was absolutely nothing to suggest a mechanical motion. While on the farm Thomas gave little if any promise ■of the latent powers within him. There was nothing in his surroundings to ex cite them. He was misplaced; schools were remote and he seldom attended, for he was afflicted with a perverse im pediment of speech, so that the bojs called him “ Stammering Tom.” At the age of eighteen he was engaged by his elder brother, Stephen, to assist him in his tack mill, which he had just started in WestMillbury. Young Thomas’ duty was to head the tacks in a vice, with a hand hammer, one by one. Once in a mechanic shop his dormant genius began to wake up. Ere he had spent many months heading tacks, one by one, he bad desigued, constructed and put in operation a machine which would cut and head them at one motion twice as fast as thd ticking of a watch, and better finished than those made by hand. So perfect was it in design and construc tion it was continued in use more than twenty years. It is said to be still in existence, and experts who have seen it say no essential improvement has ever been made upon it. The reputation of the boy’s success in his brother’s tack factory led Mr. Asa Waters, who had in the same town of Millburyan armory, where he manufactured arms for tha government, to send for the budding in ventor, and there young Blanchard, at almost a glance at the old processes for shaping gun-barrels, suggested an im provement by which the irregular butt of the barrel could be turned by machinery, and afterward produced a machine for turning out the gun-stock: The germ of the stocking machine lay in that calm motion, and it was then and there, as he afterward said, that the idea of his world-renowned machine for turning ir regular forms first flashed through his mind, although it required some months to elaborate and bring it out. Blanch ard was afterwart, called to the Spring field armory, v/here his machines were introduced and adopted by the govern ment. His machine for producing ir regular forms was applied to a.vast num ber of special purposes. Unlike many other inventions, this was really the dis covery of anew principle in mechanics, whereby the machine is made the obedi ent, faithful servant of man, to work out his designs after any given model, be it round or square, crooked or straight, however irregular, and made to repro duce the original shape exactly, every time. This perfect uniformity of Blanch ard’s work suggested the idea of having all tlie parts of the guns made at the ar mories perfectly uniform, so as to be in terchangeable. Hitherto they had been fitted separately, like Swiss watches and carefully lettered or numbered. This is the method in all our workshops, even to the bolts of a carriage or a com mon bedstead, and woe to him who mis placed one. It was Blanchard who first rendered possible the accomplishment of the desired result with respect to arms, and to him the writer gives thq credit of the origin of the “uniformity system” which has revolutionized mechanic pro cesses in all our workshops; perfected and greatly cheapened mechanic pro ducts, and driven from use the old sys tem ot numbering. Blanchard realized but little pecu niarily on his patents, for they were so pirated upon that he had to spend many thousands of dollars in defending his rights in the courts. He succeeded in getting an extension of his patent for producing irregular forms, but at the end of the extension he had made prac tically nothing on it, and began to think of trying for a second extension; but such a thing was unprecedented, and Blanchard, knowing that great opposi tion would be made to another renewal, thought he would resort to a little strata gem. He fittedup amachine for turning busts from marble blocks, took it to Washington, obtained plaster casts of the heads of Webster, Clay, Calhoun and others, and exhibited the busts in the rotunda of the Capitol. The mem bers were quite astonished when they i found that these busts were wrought | out by a machine, and that they were more exactly like the originals than any human hand could make them. It pro duced a great sensation. They all sup posed it anew invention. Blanchard said, “No; not anew invention, but a new application of an old one of mine from which I never realized touch, and I want the patent renewed.” A reso iution was introduced in the Senate by Web- ster to renew it for a term of years, and it was rushed through without delay. When the news was first proclaimed from Springfield of a machine which tunied gunstocks. mechanics came float ing from near and far to see it. Among those attracted were two members of the British Parliament, then traveling in this country. When they returned to England they reported the wonderful invention of Blanchard, by which the Americans were getting greatly in ad vancecf them in gun manufacture, and moved a resolution for the purchase of similar machines. A true John Bull memher then arose and ridiculed them unmercifully for being so badly sold and played upon by the cunning'Yankees. “The very idea of turning a gunstock is absurd on the face of it, as all must know who ever saw one.” Finding the resolution would fail the two members withdrew it and moved for a committee to go to the United States armory and report upon the facts. The committee came over, examined the workings of the machine, returned and reported the j facts to beas at first stated. The doubV ingThomas rose and said the Americans might have got up something to work : their soft woods, pine and poplar, but it would never stand the test of “ our i tough English oak and hickory.” Upon j this, doubting Thomas himself was chosen a committee to go over and ex amine. He was not to be imposed upon ; he would expose this humbug. Select ing three rough stocks of the hardest, toughest timber he could find, he went to the Springfield armory incognito. : brought his stocks to the stocking-room, and inquired of the overseer if he could grant him the favor n turning them. “ Certainly, sir, take a sent.” Without making the least alteration of the ma chine, the overseer run the stocks through in a few minutes, and then went on with his work as though nothing unusual had happened. The English man examined the stocks, found they were turned all the better for being of hard wood, and he wigs completely dumbfounded. After musing awhile, he frankly confessed who he was, why lie came, and his thorough conviction of the utility of ihe machine. Before he left the city he gave an order in behalf of the British government for this and the accompanying machines, some six or eight, which amounted to some forty thousand dollars. The machines were built at Chicopee, shipped to England, and have been in use there from that day to this. The Latest Thing Out in High Life. The recent discovery made by the edi tor of the Cincinnati Times that every man has a delightful summer resort on the roof of his house has east a gloom along the entire seashore. “I have al ways held,” said the editor of the Times to a reporter, “that anybody who has a roof to cover him can pass his time there more pleasantly than in the heated rooms below. I trust I am no mere theorist, and if you will come with me I will show you the practicability of this thing.” The reporter accompanied the editor to the latter’s boarding-house, over the door of which was the legend, “ Royal meals ten cents,” and followed liim up a ladder to the roof. “ This roof is not as flat as it should be,” observed the editor, “ but it will serve to illustrate my idea;” and crawling on his hands and knees he was soon safely astride the comb. “Just as easy as riding a gentle horse,” said he, taking hold of the shingles in front of him to make his seat more secure. “In the first place,” observed the editor, “I would recommend that roofs that are too steep should be planed down to the proper level. This, you see, will open up an entirely new field of industry to out idle millions.” The editor shook the kinks out of a leg on either slope of the roof, and continued with delightful en thusiasm : “ Please observe the magnificent view one has from this point. And the gentle breeze! How it fan’s one’s fevered brow and invigorates his whole being!” “ It’s a little too warm, isn’t it?” sug gested the reporter, as ho noticed that the shingles were about ready to take fire. “ A trifle warm, perhaps,” said the ed itor, “hut I would remedy that —so,” and up went his umbrella “How’s that, young fellow? Could anything be simpler? I reckon not. I would pro vide each member of the family with an umbrella, and have one or two in reserve for company. That would not only in sure you against sun, but against rain and hail as well. Simplest thing in the world, you see.” “ The children might fall off, mightn’t they?” “ Not necessarily. That is, not unless you wanted’em to. My plan is to have what might be called a family liitching post set in the center of the roof, with as many chains attached to and radiating therefrom as you have children. The chains will be just so long, and no longer. You catch the idea? When a child is secured at the end of a chain, it will be long enough—the chain will—to allow the child to sit on the edge of the roof and dangle its feet over, or look down on the less fortunate children on the hot streets below. Couldn’t please the little dears better.” “You would have your books, papers* gold fish, canary, etc., on the roof, I sup pose?” “ Certainly. Make it as attractive as possible. No better place on the broad universe to read and write than just here,” and the editor drew forth a bunch of paper and pencil, and, quickly throw ing up his knee for a writing desk, began to scribble vigorously. “See how the old thing works, young man,” remarked the editor, glancing up pleasantly from his manuscript. “I am writing a double-leaded editorial and writing it with less wear and tear of brain-tissue than I would write a single-leaded arti cle in my library or office.*’ Just then a lump of soot as big as a brickbat came sailing along and landed upon the elegant nose of the editor. “Of course, there will be a few disad vantages to overcome,” said lie, knock ing the soot off of his nose; “but they cannot be met successfully until they present themselves,” and lie glanced down his proboscis, which must have looked to. him like a stack of black eats. “This little trouble of coal soot will be speedily overcome by the adoption of smoke-consumers or removing a short distance in the country. Here you will observe I have written seventeen pages in less than as many minutes—a good hour’s job when shut up in a hot room down stairs. Up here, above the rattle Of the town, where the air is bright and clear as the eyes of the girl you love, one’s thoughts flow as free as a moun tain stream. No sluggishness, no dead eddies, no—” Here a sudden breeze lifted the edi tor’s umbrella and carried it oyer a dozen blocks of houses in ti e direction of Millcreek bottoms. In an endeavor to secure it, seventeen pages of the double-leaded editorial were caught up and distributed by the four winds of heaven. The editor secured his hat by buttoning it on the inside of his coat, and concluded: “ My scheme is not yet fully developed, hut this will serve to show you the drift of things. Saratoga is nowhere,” said he, crawling carefully toward the lad der, “and, as for Coney Island, I wouldn’t have it mentioned on the same day—l wouldn’t, by gracious!”— Cincin nati Enquirer. Pueblo Indians in Coart. A novel scene was presented in Chief Justice Prince’s court at Santa Fe, New Mexico, a short time since. Five of the so called “Indians” from the Pueblo of Laguna were brought into court for trial. The Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are the only remnant still exist ing of thecivilizedaboriginal Americans, whom Cortez found on his arrival in Mexico, living to-day exactly as they did 400 years ago; and those of Laguna are especially advanced in agriculture and mechanical arts. They are a quiet, industrious, honest and law-abiding peo ple, having their own municipal govern ment. and seldom, if ever, coming into the United States courts. On this oc casion about thirteen were in attendance, five having been indicted for driving a large flock of sheep into their village. It appeared, however, on the trial that the sheep were trespassing, ana were driven in by direction of their governor, and with no ill intent. The Indians wore no head covering, and all had long, jet black hair, except two or three very old men, whose hair was white as snow. The Lieutenant-Governor of the Pueblo had a red handkerchief arranged around his head like a tiara: and wore a curious large green shell suspended from his neck. Their dresses were various in color. Several were in white; some wore blouses of red cotton, others green, and others strippd pink and white. All had high foreheads, and intelligent faces with prominent noses. While they have been at peace with all mankind for many years, yet among their officials whom they still annually elect is a “war chief,” and he was among those present. As their wit nesses understood no Spanish, a vener able Pueblo was sworn as interpreter; and the questions, first propounded in English, were translated into Spanish by the regular court interpreter, then into the Laguna language by the old Pueblo: and the answers similarly translated, first into Spanish and then English, making the examination a slow one. The language is a peculiar one, and full of very prolonged consonant sounds and aspirations. The word for “yes” for instance, could best be " spelled, I “H-h-h-h-h-ah.” FREAKS OF INVENTION* Curiosities of Device Within the lien of t* l6 X’uited States Patent Office. The experience of the last six years shows that hard times stimulate rather than obstruct American inventive genius. This remark is verified by the record of invention and is not specula tive. More applications for patent rights have been filed in the United States Patent Office at Washington since the great financial panic of 1873 than were received by ihe office during any twenty years of its previous existence. Since the reorganization of the Patent Office, brought about by the great lire of 1836, more than two hundred and eighteen thousand patents have been j issued to domestic and foreign inventors, i There are now on the records of the Patent Office in the hands of aspiring inventors throughout the country more than two thousand patents for devices for the coupling together of railroad cars, the sole object of a very great ma jority of which is to provide for the au tomatic connection of the cars, and thus obviate the necessity of the brakeman’s going between abutting cars in the coup ling process and the consequent danger of his being mashed through the failure to meet or the giving way of drawheads as the vehicles mutually exhaust their momentum upon each other. And yet of these two thousand and odd inven tions only two are in general use in the United States, and certainly not more than four have proved to be worth the sheepskin and paper they are written and printed on! Upon seed planters there are to date more than five thousand four hundred patents. Of this great number of plan ters not a tithe can plant more than two rows across the field at once—be the seed corn, cotton or beans—excluding, of course, the machines for the depositing of the smaller cereals, which ai e classed in the Patent Office as “seed-drilling machines.” Of fire escape patents there are a fewer number because, principally, devices of this kind are of a comparatively recent date. There is no other class of inven tions so almost wholly due to the excite ment and demand of the hour as this one. Every great fire brings to the Patent Office a greater or smaller num ber of inventions for the rescue of people and property from burning buildings. The destruction of the Brooklyn theater and the consequent dreadful loss of a short time ago was worth a great deal of money to the Patent Office, and proba bly not less than seventy-five patents were issued in consequence of it. The Chicago fire, a little farther back, was also a great stimulant to inventors of fire apparatus, as was also, in a limited de gree, the burning of the St. Louis hotel in which tiie actress Kate Claxton came near losing lier iife. The dates of these three events are distinctly traceable in the records ot the office. Many of the escapes are awkwafd and impractical, while some are little short of absurd in their construction and application. It is safe to say that more than a score of the four hundred odd devices to enable peo ple to climb out of the windows of a burning house and safely descend to the ground are as reliable and convenient as the old and sensible style of tying a tope to the bedpost and letting one’s self down hand over hand. There are said to be at the present time a considerable number o f applications pending in this class, and it is manifest that the device which strikes the mean between utility and economy h:is not yet been placed before the country. A case which is not in the fire-escape line, but which may, like the cases in that line, be considered of the spasmodic order, was recently disposed of by the granting of a patent. It was to a Boston lady, and was a novel mechanism for holding back the ears of children and preventing them from standing out ob trusively to the prejudice of good ap pearance. This device is peculiarly applicable to children with abnormally large or Hop ears. The inventress does not specify whether or not the demand for her invention is peculiar to Boston. The patentability of a device is gov erned principally by two things. It must be either anew device or a combi nation of either new or old ones. The office exercises its discretion in deciding upon the practical utility of inventions, but it is liberally disposed toward appli cants in this respect, and to a great ex tent permits them to judge of the practi cability of their machines and processes. A good illustration of this idea occurred not long ago. Two Mississippians be came imbued with an odd notion that there was a great demand for means of preventing the destruction of houses by fire, and they set about jointly to supply the demand in a manner that is comical enough. Their plan is to save which ever part of the building may be the least affected by the flames, by rolling it away from the other portion of the structure on wheels, running upon an inclined track of suitable length. The theory is that the greater number of fires originate in the kitchen or cooking department of the house, and statistics are made to do duty in substantiation of the theory. The entire practicability of the plan is shown by the fact that very soon after the kitchen takes fire one of two ropes employed for holding it up snugly against the main portion of the build ing will burn in twain if not sooner cut with a knife or hatchet, and the kitchen will then, by the attraction of gravitation, roll away to the lower end of the plane. The ropes, it must be un derstood, are to be so disposed about the kitchen that a fire cannot bum in any part of it more than five or ten minutes without reaching one of them. The in vention is described as also applicable, with some necessary modifications, to small cotton ginning establishments. A patent was allowed. It is a noticeable fact that the patents granted to men hailing from the south of Mason and Dixon's line relate almost exclusively to the planting, picking, ginning and baling of the great Southern staple. An another but not quite as good illus tration of the liberality of the Patent Office toward inventors is found in the recent allowance of a patent to a man living in California for a combination churn and hath tub. Among the remarkable inventions that have been patented within the last month are a pocket umbrella devised by a New Englander, and so constructed that it can be folded and placed in an or dinary pocket without serious incon venience ; an automatic music machine, nvented by two Boston men, which is designed to wholly supplant the orches tra at balls and automatically call off the square dances, such as quadrilles and the lancers; a device for blinding a runaway lioise with spring curtains, and bringing him to stand, planned by a New York man; an exceedingly elaborate meteoro logies 1 instrument, conceived and per fected by General Albert J. Myer, the chiel of the government Signal Service, which, it is thought, will materially ex pedite the work of forecasting the weather; a process of making orna mental nuttons principally from blood and pulverized horn, united by an adhe sive substance, the result of the experi ment of a Jersey City genius; an electric light apparatus, designed to solve the great problem of the practical subdi vision of the electric current, by a New Yorker—A. Wilford Hall; an educa tional appliance for use by classes in rhetoric and grammar, by which sen tences are mechanically separated and analyzed, the different parts of speech being illuminated in varying colors—as nouns in black, verbs orange, adjectives yellow, adverbs blue, etc., and a steam operated machine for shearing sheep and clipping horses, by a Bay City (Mich.) inventor. Hereafter no recruit is to be enlisted in the United States army who cannot see well, at 600 yards distance, a black center three feet in diameter on a white grourfth j The Timber Rafts of the Black Forest. The Bauer (peasant) is primarily and | by nature a woodman; and a very large proportion of -the Blaek Forest people, who number about 300,000, are employed in the cutting and transporting, by road and water, of this chief product of their land. Formerly all the timber was floated down the various streams into | the Rhine. Very much of it is now con veyed by road and railway; but, fortu nately tor lovers of the picturesque, the old method is not wholly out of use, I and rafting—Holz-Flosserei, as it is called—still forms for the stranger one of the most attractive features of Bla-ck Forest life. The pines, having been sawed off’ a little above the roots, are slid down tlie mountain or hillside where they have grown, into the never-failing stream, which flows rapidly over bould ers and amid rapids, through the valley. Here they are pierced at each end and tied with willow roots, in rows of from four’ to ten. according to the widtli of tlie stream. To this roughly-constructed raft a similar one is joined,'also tied with willow roots. To this another and an other are added, until, perhaps, as many as thirty lengths of tall pine trees have been joined. To the foremost a sort of rough bow—a hollowed tree trunk —is usually fixed, and the last section of the raft is fitted with a rudder formed of a stripling pine. Tlie frail, extraordi nary-looking craft is now launched on its rapid voyage. A man stands at the bow to steady it, the water flying up between the trees and drenching him at every yard. Another is at the helm. All along the raft, men furnished with poles or oars move rapidly from section to section, guiding here, restraining tin re, and at times having to use all their strength to cling op, liable to be swamped at every moment as the raft rushes madly along with the impetuous torrent, dashing over rapids and through narrows, and over boulders, twisting and curving as it fo.lows the intricate windings of the stream, “ like a thing of life”; not pre cisely after the fashion in which we ordi narily apply the term, but rather in the form of a huge, black, wriggling serpent, which seems to swim rather through than upon the surface of the stream, sending a rolling wave before it. which surges up and through the tree-trunKs .in a thousand hissing eddies. As may well be believed, tlie navigation of these rafts requires no little skill, care and knowledge of the locality: and the ex treme rapidity with which they arc cur ried over the seething water seems to the uninitiated on-looker simply a mad career toward destruction. Asa matter of fact, however, the streams are so shal low that little real danger exists. Where the narrow mountain stream flows out into the scarcely less rapid river, the rafts are widened and joined to others, until in time, when the broad and stately Rhine is reached, they are built up into those floating villages which may he so often observed upon tlie river, some of them, it is said, 700 feet long. These constructions are very peculiar. They are formed of several layers of trees placed one on tlie other, and planked over with rough deal so as to form a deck. Upon this are erected various small huts and cabins; for the Rhine raft carries often a population of not less than three or four hundred per sons. the boatmen being accompanied by their wives and families, while cows, fowls and pigs are also earned for the use of the crew; and we are assured that the domestic economy of an East Indiaman or an English man-of-war could hardly be more com plete. A well-supplied boiler is at woj’k night and day in the kitchen; tlie dinner hour is announced by a basket stuck on a pole, at which signal the pilot gives flic word of command and the men run from all quarters to receive their ra tions, while the consumption of pro visions during tlie voyage is stated to be almost incredible, it having been calcu li ted that from the time of the construc tion of tiie raft until it is sold no less than 45.000 pounds of bread, 30,000 pounds of meat, 15.000 pounds of butter, 10,000 pounds of cheese, 500 tuns of beer, eight butts of wine, and other provisions in proportion are disposed of. Tlie rafts are navigated to Holland, where they are sold, producing from SIOO,OOO to $150,000 each. Tlie rafts are very fre quently the property of a company known as the Sehiffer-Gesellscnaft, which dates from the, sixteenth century? and which unites a vast number of small forest proprietors. This company, to gether with the government and tlie Prince of Furstenberg, owns the greater part of the Black Forest. The timber exported from the forests of the Shift ffer- Gesellsehaft alone is estimated at over $500,000 yearly, and altogether Holland is a consumer of Black Forest timber to tlie amount of $850,000 per annum. On Wheels. Every middle-aged person knows what a great change has taken place in the carriages in ordinary use in the last thirty or forty years. When I was a boy, family carriages, and, indeed, vehicles of every kind, excopt omnibuses and carts —I believe there has not been much change in them—were very heavy and unwieldy affairs, when compared with those now in use. Not long ago I saw at the permanent exhibition, in Philadelphia, the carriage in which Gen eral Washington used to ride. You could not get a President of the United States to ride in such a funuy old coach nowadays, and I doubt very much if any one would take it as a gift if they were obliged to use it. Yet it is far bet ter looking than some of the carriages that were thought good enough forkings and queens !. hundred years ago. But we cannot go very far back in making comparisons of carriages. Previous to the sixteenth century there were many hundreds of years when carriages were scarcelv known at all in Europe. In the old Roman days, there had been handsome chariots and wheeied vehi cles of various kinds, but when Rome declined, chariots and carriages disap peared, and people ;either walked, or rode on horseback, or were carried by men in sedan-chairs and similar con trivances. There was a good reason for this change. The old Romans made splendid roads, but the nations that afterward ruled Europe did not know how to make good highways, or did not care about such things, and were content to ride their horses over such roads as they found. Even in England, where we mightsupposethe people might have known better, this was the case. The principal highways were so bad and the mud was sometimes so deep, that even horsemen found great difficulty in get ting along. So they never thought of using wheeled vehicles on these wretched thoroughfares. But when they began to i makegood roads, carriages followed, as a matter of course.— St. Nicholas. On Driving Ont Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes can be driven away from rooms by the smoke of incense powder burned on a hot shovel. When it is not easy to get fire, put a bit of gum cam phor in a shovel, light, and the gum will catch as quickly as alcohol; then sprinkle a tablespoonful of insect powder (pyrethrum) on the flame, let it take fire and blow out the blaze, close the win dows and let the smoke rise for'five minutes. It will not injure walls or furniture, and does not harm human beings, though obnoxious to insects. Hanging a cloth on which a teaspoonful 1 of carbolic acid is poured at the head of the bod, will keep mosquitoes away, and the writer has repeatedly gained a good night’s sleep by this means when others failed. Take care to place the doth or ! sponge so that theue is no danger of ; touching it with the. face or hands in the night, as the acid bums like caustic. It is not generally known, as it ought to be, that the remedy for bums by car bolic acid is Canada tir balsam, spread on the part attack 'd. VOL. Y. NO. 51. TIMELY TOPICS. Tables prepared at Washington give the aggregate production of the three •treat agricultural staples of the South ern States for 1878 as follows: Cotton, 5,200,000 bales: sugar, 212.000 bogheads: tobacco, 572,000,000 pounds. In 1877 this production was: Cotton, 4,811.423 bales; sugar. 127,753 bogheads; tobacco. 560,000,000 pounds. Charles Readc is outdone in the story which Nathan G. Sayles, of Golden. Col., tells of his own experience as a crazy man. His persecutors were his wife and daughter, who would be bene fited by his dying intestate. He says on oath that they induced a jury of six of his enemies to pronounce him insane, hired a brute to keep him on his farm, reviled him when, in an effort to escape, he was lassoed and had a leg and a hip broken by his jailer, and finally stole his property. The man is vouched for as entirely sane. The French originator of the gigantic enterprise of bridging the English chan nel says that he means business and pro poses to commence operations at once. He has been laying his plans before the Chambers of Commerce in France and Belgium for the purpose of securing funds, and will soon make an ap peal to the British government. He has already secured the indorse ment of eighty-four commercial or ganizations in France and Belgium, and he estimates that seven months time and $200,000 will suffice for the experi mental stage and demonstrate the feasi bility of his enterprise. Imitation meerschaum pipes are now manufactured from potatoes in France. A peeled potato is placed in sulphuric acid and water, in the proportion of eight parts of the former to 100 of the latter. It remains in this liquid thirty-six hours to blacken, is dried with blotting paper, and submitted to a certain pressure, when it becomes a material that can be readily carved. The counterfeit is said to be excellent. An imitation ivory sufficiently hard for billiard balls can be made by still greater pressure. A re semblance of coral is obtained by treat ing carrots in the same manner. The race of white people which Major Pinto, the Portuguese explorer, lias dis covered in South Africa is named Casse quer, and is whiter than the Caucasians. Small tufts of very short black wool take the place of hair on the head, while smallness of eyes and prominence of cheek bones constitute a resemblance to the Chinese. The men are extremely robust, and both men and women are entirely nomadic, wandering in groups of'from four to six families eacn, and living on roots and on the results of the chase. Unless these fail them they have no intercourse with their blacE neigh bors. They are the only people in Africa that do not cook their food in pots. The latest “fastest” ocean steamer is the Arizona, which is the largest steam er now in service and which reached Queenstown in seven days, eight hours and eight minutes from New York, beat ing her previous trip, which was also her first one, by one hour and a quarter. 'The speed of ocean voyages does not necessarily increase the danger of them, for it is the perfection and excellence of the machinery used which enable the newest steamers to outsail the old„ones. For people who spend ocean voyages in the agonies of sea-sickness the quicker thetrip is made the better they like it, and provided safety be not sacrificed to speed, the savingof a day in crossing the Atlantic is an object for travelers of all classes. In relation to cotton production and consumption the United States Economist gives tables showing that for eleven years, ending with the crop of 1860, the total production of the country was 37,- 410,697 bales. The annual average yield 3,400,972 bales. For the fourteen years, ending with the crop of 1878, the yield, was 50,759.168 bales, the yearly average being 3,615,319 bales. The coming crop is put at 5,200,000 bales. The percentage increase is, for the three years ending 1856, 94 per cent.; for the three years ending 1859, 7; for the two years ending 1861, 20: for the three years ending 1871, 46; for the three years end ing 1876, 11J: for the three years ending 1877. 17: for the two years ending 1879, 15j. During the first eleven years fol lowing the war, the production reached 36,310,881 bales, an average of 3,300,099 per annum, against 37.410.697 for eleven years ending 1861, an average annual production of 3.400,972. The average . rop for the last fourteen years exceeds the average production for the eleven years ending 1861 by 215,000 bales. The crop now coming to market, if current estimates of it lie correct, exceeds the largest crop prior to the war by 377,000 bales. Through China. We passed through by-roads and fields of millet ten feet high, and could not see across the country unless where the har vest was cut. The stooks of the large millet looked like wigwams. We heard sad tidings of the famine; yet here there was abundance, so much that this one province could supply all the famine stricken. A measure of millqt wiH sup j [w>rt a Chinaman for a month; but there is no enterprise about getting the millet to the hungry, and the port was soon to be closed by the winter. There was al ways someone on the road, though the houses and villages were few. Now it was the postman, white mail-bag slung across his shoulders, his hands swinging vehemently as he went. Then it was travelers on horseback, armed with formidable spears with which to frighten, not to fight, the robbers that infest the roads of the roads. Peasants were trudg ing to market, a farmer was going over his land. Figures in white came near the road to watch us pass, anti we knew it was a family in mourning. Some ladies crossed by a path over the fields to pay a visit to a neighbor's house; a servant followed them, and they stole shy looks at the foreigners. Here the reapers were at work; and if it was the large millet, they cut down only one stalk at a time, and then bound them labor iously in gigantic sheaves. A watch man, staff in hand, was patrolling the fields to guard his master’s grain against the inroads of the poor. Then we saw a threshing-floor—the hard, beaten circuit of ground, the ears with only a short straw spread over them, and a white and lazy mule dragging a stone round and round. Sometimes the grain was lashed, but never thrashed with the flail. . Where roads met there was al most. always a small shrine of mud, a few feet high, raised to some local god, a shabby superstition that contrasted with the comfortable look and intelli gence of the people.— Good Words. The Small Boy in a Corn Bia. Frank, a, twelve-year-old son of Joe IV illiams, had anew experience Satur day. The youth was up in the new ele vator atter pigeons. Looking at the large hopper through which the shelled corn passed through into the car, it oc curred to him that it would be a pleas ant trip to ride down with the com. He jumped on and was soon covered up in the rushing grains of com. Dan Bush man. oHfeerving that the grain had ceased flowing, ran his hand in and felt the boy's feet. They had to break the spout to re move him. lie was almost smothered to death and black in the faee. They blew in his nostrils, worked the chest, and chafed his hands; and they were re warded lor their efforts by asiight pulse. On his removal home medical aid Was summoned, and the youtli will survive his spouting experience— Elrtora (7a.) /.• fiver. • t • • y * TEE OGLimp ECHO. Advertising Rates Space. |lwl2w|4w|2ja|3ml6m]lyr 2 inches 1.50 : 2.50 4.0C 1 6.001 (.00 12.00< 18.10 3 inches,.... 2.00: 3.50 4.75 7.00 ! 8.00i14.00 22 CO 4 inches 8.00 4.00 6.06, 8.00 10.00 16.00 1*5.00 * column... 4.00 6.001 8.00 10.00! 12.00120.00 80.00 column.. 8.00 12.00 15.00 18.(0 22 00:36.00' 65.00 1 column.., , 12.00i16.00 2g.00;25.00:35.00l60.00tl00.00 Legal Advertisements. Bheriff Pales, per levy $5.0 ) Executors*, Administrator* and Guardian’s Sales, per square 5 00 Notice to Debtors and Creditors, thirty days 4 (>0 Notice of Leave to Sell, thirty days 5 0- Letters of Administration, thirty days 5 00 Letters of Dismission, three months. ... .... <> .Vi Letters of Guardianship, thirty days*.’.’.’.*.*.’ 4 mi Letters cf Dis, Guaniiai ship, forty days*.*..... 500 Homestead Notices, three i:i> rtious . 3,03 Uule NisiV per square, each uiaeruou..* ’* ’’ ‘ ’ X;(0 Hcimgang. Hcimgang! So the German people Whisper when they hear the bell Tolling lrom some gray old steeple Death’s familiar tale to tell, | When they hear the organ dirges Swelling out tronr chapel dome And the singers chantiiw surges “ Hcimgang He is going home, Hcimgang We are all so weary. And the willows ns they nave, Softly sighing, sweetly dreary. Woo us to the tranquil grave. When the golden pitcher’s broken, With its dregs and with its fOnttr, And the tender words are spoken, “ Hcimgang !” We rye going home. — A. J. H. Ihigannc. ITEMS OF INTEREST There is not a single national bank in Mississippi. Japan has forty-three Christian churches. Seven years ago it had none The manufacturing business is so dull in England that ten mills do not make a cent. When a man uses his cane to help him walk rapidly it becomes a hurrycane.— IA) well Conner. There is an establishment in New Haven which manufactured 22,424,772 fish-hooks last year. The Japanese think paradise is en closed by a high board fence; and so does the small boy in watermelon time. The boy who lias a love for swimming and a nervous mother is one of the most unhappy beings on the face of the earth We hear of men sowing wild oats, but who ever heard of a woman sewing anything but tares?— St. Louis Times- Jotirtial. The Emperor Alexander, of Russia, is devout, well int< ntioned. and physically very weak. He lives simply and is given to long walks. The United States half-eagie contains 116 grains of pure gold, equivalent te S3; the British sovereign, 113 grains, equivalent to $4.87 of United Stains money. The ice-cream retailed at some of the down town restaurants is fearfully and wonderfully made. If the frost could be got out of it it might be sold for cot ton flannel. The ex-Klieuive to New York: “ Since I made you a present of the Egyptian obelisk I have failed in business. Couldn’t you allow me S3O or S4O for it ?”—Cincinnati Enquirer. A young man went into a restaurant the other day, and, remarking that “Time is money,” added that as he had half an hour to spare, if the proprietor was willing he’d take it out in pie. Always some hitch about it —a harness. American Punch. Always some itch about it —a mosquito’s bite. —Monthly Union. Always some switeli about it —a girl’s train. —New York People. The old saying that lightning does not strike twice in the same place will not always hold good, for on the farm ol Alexander Loucks, of York, Fa., is a walnut tree that has been struck no less than five times during a. single season. We are told that not on" American woman faints to-day where thirty years ago twenty-five fainted. —Boston Herald. Nothing like variety! They got tired fainting in the same place, probably. Men are not so easily fatigued by it.— Boston Courier. A British army captain and two lieutenants have been lined S6O each for breaking into the bedrooms of two other officers and sprinkling pepper on the carpets in order to make them sneeze iunnily when they returned. The com plainant was the landlady, whose furni ture had been damaged. One of a series of Indian mounds, twenty-five feet in diameter, has liecn unearthed by the Albany (HI.) scien tists. Curiously carved drinking ves sels of stone were discovered, and skulls and bones, evidently belonging to an ancient race of mound builders, were found in profusion. The blind pacer. Sleepy Tom, slackens bis speed toward the end ot each beat :is soon as be hears the crowd yell, for he thinks he lias finished. This ten dency has to be met by balking and with the whip, and even then counts seriously against his success, although he lias made the best time on record. Some gramnivorous animals will eat many plants that others do not appear to relish. Lrinnrcus, the distinguished ! botanist, by offering fresh plants of the S ordinary kinds eaten by animals, found 1 that horses ate 27S species and refused 1211; horned cattle 858 and refused 218. Sheep ate 387 and refused only 141. i Here is an incident of railroad travel : in Hungary. A mail train came to a i sudden stop in a tract oi open country. I The passengers thrust their E-ads out of i the windows to see what had happened. | A pig had leaped from a van and was skurrving away. The train employees j joined in a pursuit, and the fugitive was [ hotly chased for twenty minutes. Then all returned to the waiting train except the official why had charge of the bag gage vouchers, and the delay was pro longed, but in vain, for him to come back. At the end of the journey the passengers could not 4 get their trunks until next day, when the voucher man arrived. Some time ago the New York Express save an account of an attempt which was made to rob a bank. The newspaper got its information of the cashier of the bank, who it seems implicated an inno cent person. The person sued and re covered damages. The Express hits now brought shit against the cashier for the amount rf the damages widen it was compelled to pay. The result of this suit will be looked for with inter est. If the principle be established that the person giving the information and not the newspaper publishing ttie same is responsible, people who are inter viewed by reporters will doubtless be more careful wbat statements they make for the press.— Rome kenlinel. Too Many Snake Bites. | During the haying season an honest | cld farmer out on the Gratiot road cm ! ployed tiiree young men from the city to help cut and store his timothy None |of them liked work half as v< .r as j whisky, and a conspiracy was the rc ; suit. About noon one day one of the j trio fell down in the field, shouting and kicking, and the other two ran to the I farmer with wild eyes and called out j that their companion had b f, en bitten I by a rattlesnake and must liave ' whisky. The fanner rushed to the | house and brought out a quart, and the i three harvesters got a big drink all i around on tlie sly. while the “bitten” i one had a lay-off of half a day. _ The I next forenoon a second one was bitten, j and again the farmer rushed for his bottle. It was a nice little job for the boys, and on the third day the third one putin his claim for a bite, and yelled ; for the whisky bottle. The farmer took the matter very coolly this time, i and after making particular inquiries as i to the size of tlie snake, location ot the I bite, the sensation and so forth, he ! slowly eontinu* and: i “Day before yesterday James was I bitten and drank a quart of good ; whisky. Yesterday John was bitten ! and drank a quart more. To-day you've | got a bite ami the best thing you can do i is to smell tle ir breaths : mi lay in the j shade while tlie rest of us <-at dinner!’’ The m-m got well in ten minutes, and j not ano> her rattlesnake was seen during the senso.i,—Mmfl Free Press.