Newspaper Page Text
Wha< a Blind Man Did.
fc*ccott, the historian, and Prof. Fnvr
cett, of England, illustrate the will,
power of those who, stricken blind by n
calamity, have yet achieved success in
life. Instead of mourning over the
precious treasure ot eyesight lost, they
have gone to work. Adapting them
selves to their situation, they have
shown what training and persistent ef
fort could do. llut James Goodsell,
who died in Burlington, Vt., was blind
from his birth to his death—a lwriod of
ninety years. Yet what he did shows
that even this terrible misfortune is not
an insuperable obstacle in the way of a
man determined to make the most of
himself.
Tn spite of his misfortune, he would
swing an ax with dexterity, and felled
jrees; he was an accomplished grain
thresher, and would frequently go
alone a distauee of two miles to thresh
for the farmers, climbing the mows to
down the grain ; ho could hoe
com or garden stuffs as well as anybody,
having no trouble to distinguish the
weeds; he would set a hundred bean
poles with more accuracy than most
people who con sec, would load hay, and
was so good a mechanic that he manu
factured yokes and other farm articles
with success.
He bad an excellent memory, and was
an authority on facts and dates. He
could generally toll the tine of day or
night within a few minutes.
One instance is given when he slept
over one day and awoke at evening,
thinking it was morning. For once lib
ate supper for breakfast, but when in
formed of his mistake slept another
twelve hours in order to get straight
again.
He was familiar with forest trees and
knew just where to go for any timber
desired. He could direct men where to
find a chestnut, a maple or an oak, and
the children where to go for berries.
He was a good mathematician, and
could compute accurately and rapidly.
Tn olden days he was quite musically
inclined, and, like most blind people, lie
had a genius in that direction.
He was at one time a leader of the
Presbyterian choir. To crown oil, he
possessed one of the Imp]nest of disjiosi
tions, and was ever genial and cheerful.
To this end his generally excellent health
largely contributed.
The Slider.
The spider has never been to school a
day in his life. He has never learned a
trade or read a book, yet he can make the
straightest lines, most perfect circles,
beautiful little bridges, and many of his
family can spin and weave, some of them
can huntand swim and dive and do mason
work almost as well as if they had a trowel
and mortar. There is a spider in my
garden that makes so many lines and cir
cles you'll think it had been all through
geometry. It makes circles, every one a
little larger than the other, about twelve
of them, and then from the smallest circle
begins and makes about twenty-eight
straight lines going to the outside circle,
like the whalebones in an umbrella. It
makes this web so perfect and regular
that it is called the geometric spider.
You'll see late l in summer clusters of Its
eggs on bushes and hedges. When
hatched the spiders all keep together in
a little ball. You touch this ball and the
little spiders will scatter in all directions,
but as soon as they can they’ll get to
gether again as before. I left my silk
dress last night hanging over a chair near
the wall and this morning T found tliat
Mrs. Spider had been there in the night
and made a beautiful little bridge of spider
silk between my dress and the w all. The
spider that made this bridge for me had
eight eyes. It can’t move any of these
eyes; each eve has but one lens, and can
only see what is just in front of it. It had
a pair of sharp claws in the forepart of its
head; with the little pinchers it catches
other smaller spiders. When the spider
is at rest it folds its little claws one over
the other like the parts of scissors. This
spider has eight feet; most insects, you
know, have six. At the end of each foot
is a movable book. It has five little spin
ners or spinnerets, with w hich it makes its
web. Each of these' spinners has an open
ing which it can make large or small as
it likes. There is a tube like a little
hall communicating into each of the
openings. In this tube are four little
reservoirs, which hold the “gluey sub
stance of which the thread is spun.” As
soon as this liquid comes to the air it be
comes a tough a id strong thread. I sup
pose the air acts upon it in some way.
Dr. Holmes’ Advice to a Young Writer.
In “A Literary Confession,” Mr. Eu
gene L. Didier says : “ Men rush into
print without training, study or prepa
ration. They use too many words to
express top few ideas. ” Discouraged by
bis failure ten years ago to dispose of
his first magazine article, which was en
titled “The Grandeur <>t Human Des
tiny,” he wrote to Dr. Oliver Wendell
Holmes, asking for a situation as an
amanuensis. Dr. Holmes made this
characteristic reply : “lam not (as I
am often supposed to he) an editor, and
have no writing to do which I am not
competent to do myself, with a little oc
casional aid from members of my own
family. * * * Most of our writers
are as pool as rats themselves, and no
more able to keep an amanuensis than
they are to set up a coach and six. 1
do not know how to advise you beyond
this simple counsel, which I have occa
sionally given to young aspirants. If
yon think you have literary talent, write
something for the best paper or maga
zine you can get into ; keep to one sig
nature, and you will be found out by a
public which is ready to pay the high
est. price for almost any kind of literary
ability. If you do not think you can
make a reputation, why not l>ecome a
reporter to a newspaper ? Ido not turn
from your petition with cold indiffer
ence, but it is utterly out of my power
to do more than to give- you these few
words of friendly advice.”
Habits.
Habit constantly strengthens all our
active exertions. Whatever we do often,
we become more and more apt to do. A
snuff-taker begins with a pinch of snuff
per day, and ends with a pound or two
every month. Swearing begins in anger ;
it ends by mingling itself with ordinary
conversation. Such like instances are
of too common notoriety to need that
they be adduced; but, as I before ob
served, at the very time that the ten
dency to do the thing is every day in
creasing, the pleasure resulting from it
is, by the blunted sensibility of the bodi
ly organ, diminished, and the desire is
irresistible, though the gratification is
nothing. There is rather an entertain
ing example of this in Fielding s “ Life
of Jonathan Wild,” in that scene where
he is represented as playing at cards
with the Count, a professional gambler.
“Such,’says Mr. Fielding, “was the
power of habit over the minds of these
illustrious persons, that Air. Wild could
not keep his hands out of the Count s
rockets, though he knew they were
empty ; nor could the Count abstain
from palming a card, although he was
well aware that Mr. Wild had no money
to pay him. "
11 a milton Journal.
LAMAR A DENNIS, Publishers.
VOL. VIII.-NO. 15.
nil. m.D. m.D stohv.
BY TI DtOEBIE
1.
Why daycu write of the olden story,
One bo youur and one no fair;
Ha* thy young heart st*en aught <*f glory
That love haw brought?— nd the end despair !
Didst thou not know that notion were true,
That all wore t ilthVss, vu u the gray.
Anti brown, and Hark, the hnzle atul blue
Were never constant, and will wander away ?
u.
Let me tell you atory of a flower fair
That grew in the woodland quite alone,
A lily tali ami fragrant niid-rnre,
A tr pical beauty in u frigid zone.
’Neath Ha stalk and under the !ea>es
A vine grew up in Blonder tendrils fine,
And between tin* vine and lily broa'bes
The story so olden ami yet divine.
HI.
At first they were, and looked asknme.
And the lily was pale in her haughty pride.
While the vino was linn as Knight with lance,
Who eared for women only to deride. w .. .
They atruggled with fat*- urn itibiiM do,
Only b' enhance with brighter smile,
And ut last with twining arms they kisn'd. these two,
And saw not, wondered not, all the while.
IT.
The lily, bo proud and reguly tall.
Gave up her lieftrt, gave up her life,
And in the end this was not all,
A vow was given to be a wilt*.
Time went on; the vice ranid'y outgrew
The stately lily who had begun to fade;
Forgotten was she, ami only the dew
Was distilled from the eyes that God liad made.
v.
Braie, generous tine had began to stray,
And a pretty cobea was rcaehed at last.
While in a fortnight he was far away ;
His love was done, 'twas dead and past.
The lily was queenly in her power,
Dismayed at the course of the errant vine.
Threw smiles to Timothy in an hour.
And they were wed. Is tnis love divine ?
MORAL.
If two hearts stray and one is true,
Look for browm eyes and not for blue.
If brown eyes falter and betray,
Seek consolation in those of gray.
The Arch-Duelist,
Old Jack Smith, of Missouri.
It was a beautiful morning in May,
nearly fifty years ago, when unmistaka
ble doings in the “chief diggings” of
Missouri proclaimed one of those stormy
holidays then so common among the
miners, and coming always on the Cliris
tian Sabbath.
Wild-looking bands of men were seen
hurrying from all directions toward ij
central point, shouting as they went,
whether on foot or horseback, whether
brandishing naked knives, or dueling
pistols, or deadly rifles.
“ Huzza for Lobaum’s old diggings!
Let’s have a greasy day of it—a real
soul-smelter 1”
Before 10 o’clock the multitude at the
appointed rendezvous amounted to more,
than 1,000, when a huge Ajax from “Old
Kaintuck,” ascending a huge block of
ore, cried out, in a voice of hoarse thun
der, “ I, Big Pete Whetstone, what folks
calls ‘ Bloody Pete ’ for short, move
that this ere meetin’ comes to order
straight, to fix up a rule for the day’s
sport; and I moves furdermore that we
expense with our arms, and do all the
fightin’ with fists, feet and teeth. What
d’ye say to it, boys ?”
“Good as galena! It will be glori
bunctious sport—Oh, won’t it, though ?”
yelled the crowd, drunk with the new
idea, as Emerson would word it.
“ Then ground all of your steel and
fire-weepons,” exclaimed the giant;
“ and for sure, so you can’t any of ye sly
them out on a tight pinch, lot Devil Bill
Davis guard ’em with his double barrels. ”
“Right!” screamed the throng, re
joiced immeasurably at the prospect of a
spree with the unusual guarantee of
safety to their brains and bowels, and
stacking away their murderous imple
ments in one colossal pile under a tree,
where Devil Bill Davis took his station,
swearing that bo would blow to an un
mentionable place “ the first feller that
even looked hungry arter the guns ! ”
None lmt the pencil of an artist from
pandemonium could sketch a picture of
the scene which followed. Although
the present writer saw it all, and it xvas
my opening vision in Missouri, I would
as soon attempt to limn the likeness of
chaos. Let the reader imagine to him
self 1,000 drunken rowdies, vagabonds
and refugees from every corner of the
world, in the maddest state of intoxica
tion, suddenly cut loose from all re
straint and turned out on a plain to en
gage in mutual combat, and lie will have
a dim conception of the spectacle.
But what seemed to me the strangest
fact of the case, the belligerents for the
most part appeared to be doing battle in
fun, though blood flowed in earnest,
and so abundantly as to sicken my very
soul. They howled, wrestled, struggled
in the dust, tore each other’s clothes till
hundreds were stark naked, struck,
kicked and gouged ; and yet, strange to
say, not one manifested the slightest
sign of anger. It was a sort of grand
jubilee of physical force the saturnalia
of soulless animal instinct)
While the perilous sport was going on,
and waxing every moment wilder, a par
ty arrived on the ground that instantly
arrested my attention. This was a small
man, with a small, bony face the color
of half-tanned leather, eyes small, black
and glittering, like red stars, with hands
and feet actually as little as those of a
10-year-old bov, and countenance cold
and expressionless as that of a corpse.
He held on his shoulder an enormous
rifle ; two long dueliug-pistols depended
from each side of his beaded belt, and a
silver-hilted knife was tied to the butt
ton-hole of his left suspender. He was
followed by six huge negroes, armed
very much after the same fashion.
The sea of tumultuous gladiators
swept round the stranger, and many
scowled on him ferociously, but I ob
served that noue ventured to offer him
the least personal violence, or even in
sult ; nor did the presence of the Af
ricans call forth a single murmur.
“Who is that?” I inquired of the
friend I had accompanied to the mines.
“ That is old Jack Smith TANARUS.,” was the
careless answer.
At the sound of that dreadful name
I must have turned excessively pale,
for I felt my very knees shake beneath
re.
“What!” I asked in a whisper, “is
that the renowned duelist who has slain
ten men in separate affairs of honor ? ”
“ Only nine,” replied my companion,
and immediately added, as if just then
noticing my emotion, “you have heard
of him before?”
* * Who. of any State west of the Alle-
gimmes, has not heard of old Jack Smith
X. ?” I answered, shuddering at the bare
memory of many a bloody story connect
ed with the notorious name, many of
winch had been told to lnghten me‘into
good behavior when a child.
“That iB true,” said my friend; “ but
you will see some of his feats ere sunset,
or 1 am no veracious prophet.”
“God forbid!” was my involuntary
yet devout murmur.
At length Big Pete Whetstone sep
arated from the throng of insane rioters,
and, approaching old Jack, exclaimed,
“Gen. Smith. I don’t want to insult you,
but it’s the ’pinion of the crowd that you
and your niggers ort to stack your weep
ons like the rest of us.”
“ If you want my arms, you come and
take them !” replied Smith in a voice
111 11 1rT "TT'TT —*1 smile
that seemed to scorch the lip on winch it
writhed.
“Areyou mad at roe for telling you?”
interrogated Big Pete, apologetically.
“ I never get mail at dogs ; but I kick
them when they come in niv way,” re
torted old Jack, brutally.
“Stand up to him, Bloody Pete 1
You’re ns dead a shot as he is !” roared
the crowd, thirsty for the sight of a
duel betwixt two of the most redoubtable
champions in all Missouri.
“Let us fight this minute!” shouted
Bloody Pete, fairly beside liimself with
rage from the cool, Satanic taunt of his
enemy.
“ very well.”
“What are your weapons?”
“ Rifle pistols.”
In a very short time the two foes were
nut in position by their seconds, twelve
steps apart, and stood waiting for the
word which should summon one or both
to judgment. 1 could hear the mmers
all around laying wagers on the result
of the awful issue.
“ I’ll bet yon ten tons of lead on old
Jack—he shoots in the eye !” said one.
“ I’ll go it on Bloody Pete 1” cried
another. “He pops them through the
heart!”
At last the order was given.
“Are you ready? Fire—one—two—
three !”
.With the first ringing tone of the word
“fire,” old Jack’s pistol exploded, and
his adversary fell dead without pulling a
trigger!
Smith walked up to him and exclaimed,
in accents of astonishment, “ Well, I
made a blamed bad shot! I aimed at
his right eye !”
He had hit just one-quarter above tlie
eye-ball ! In all his other nine duels the
fiend had driven out the center of the
right eyes, and he always fired so incred
ibly quick that he could scarcely be said
to risk any danger, since his foes gener
ally dropped down corpses without the
chance of a shot.
It is easy to conceive what fear and
hatred such a man would necessarily in
spire by liis numerous affrays, always
fatal toothers, and his astonishing prow
ess, that had the appearance of some di
abolical witchcraft. Accordingly, he was
waylaid and fired on, by his hearth, in
his bed, at church—always in peril, and
yet he ever escaped without a scar 1
Do not dream, reader, that X am ro
mancing. Ask any resident of Missouri
and you will find my facts not colored a
ray beyond the strictest biographical
truth.
It was rumored that he wore impene
trable mail beneath his shirt. Some
whispered that ho hud bartered liis soul
to the devil for a life insurance for a cer
tain number of years. But in truth he
owed his safety to a spell more powerful
than any chain-mail ever forged of steel,
or than any charm ever brewed in the
fires of Tophet—the magical sjiell of
fear ! Brave men trembled to behold
him, and tremulous hands commonly
miss the plainest mark.
“But why did not the community
arise m masse and annihilate such a
wretch from the realms of space ? ”
Listen, and hear another phase in that
extraordinary character.
Smith possessed} immense wealth, liut,
although rich himself, he hated aris
tocracy with an intensity to he accounted
for alone on the supposition of partial
derangement. All his burning sympa
thies were with the masses. He was the
benefactor of the poor, the friend of the
feeble, the protector of the oppressed,
and the sworn enemy of tyrants tho
world over. Hence he was idolized by
the lower classes, who would go to any
lengths, even to the sacrifice of life, in
hLs favor. An anecdote, at once terrible
and ludicrous, may be set down here as
an illustration of his bias for the poor.
One day Hmith saw Gen. M., an opu
lent and overbearing merchant of St.
Louis, insult a poor mechanic in the
streets of Herculaneum. The desperado
forthwith assumed the mechanic’s quar
rel by challenging the great merchant.
Gen. M. replied ; “I am as brave a
man as ever breathed God’s air; but the
combat you propose is unequal, for I am
almost entirely ignorant of the use of
weapons, while you are a perfect master
of them all. Ft is not courage, hut your
matchless skill, that makes you rush
into so many dangers. In your heart
you fear death like the veriest coward.”
Smith retorted, with a scorching
smile; “ You say that I rely on my
skill, and that in reality I am not braver
than others. You say also that you are
brave. Now I offer a certain method of
settling both questions. I challenge
you to go to the top of the cliff by the
grand snot- tower, to have our right, hands
tied fast together, and tee which of us
two can leap the farthest down hill to
ward hell! What do you say to that,
coward ?”
Gen. M. turned pale, and for a mo
ment seemed undecided, but a hundred
eyes were upon him, and he saw
Smith’s horsewhip raised to strike if he
refused.
“ I accept,” was the gasping answer.
The seconds were chosen on the sjiot,
and the parties proceeded to the grand
sliot-tower, follow ed by the whole popu
lation of the village. The precipice was
a jierpendicular wall, many honored feet
in height. Old Jack stood on the horri
ble verge, coo), apparently happy, and
whistling a merry tune. But Gen. M.
was nervous and agitated, and cast be
seeching looks toward the crowd of spec
tators, as if hoping to see some mutual
friend step forward to negotiate a com
promise. Nobody, however, moved or
uttered a word, for all held their breath
“DUM SPIRO, SPERO.”
HAMILTON, <i A., NOVEMBER 4, 1880.
in horror, and every head swam with
sudden dizziness at the dreadful pros
pect.
Having consulted and arriuigrd pre
liminaries, ono of the seconds pulled
from his pocket a stroug silk handker
chief to tie the wrists of the two foes to
gether, and, advancing toward the fright
ful brink, exclaimed aloud:
“Now, gentlemen, are you ready ?”
“ 1 am,"shouted old Jack,in tones that
rung among the hills till they all echoed
again, and immediately commenced sing
ing a favorite ditty:
Away down In the I’lierokce nation,
With a pretty little wife and a big plantation.
Gen. M. shuddered convulsively, and,
looking as if lie was about to swoon,
stammered out,.“ Why, gentlemen, this
—this— tlu m no "honorable duel, but
downright suicide. We are both certain
to be killed 1 ”
“To be sure w e w ill, and that’s the
tun of the thing,” replied Smith. And
lie made h movement as it lie would seize
his adversary and drag him over the
precipice, lint the General could en
dure the agony no longer. With the first
step of old Jack toward him he took to
his heels, and ran away with the speed
ot a scared wolf, while a roar ot laugh
ter followed on the wind behind him.
Toeuumerate all I ho desperate achieve
ments of Jack Smith would fill volumes.
He fought two laud speculators at once
—rich men, who were buying up the
homos of the ]>oof —ami slew them both.
He was ever foremost in campaigns
against the It: dians. He was a father to
the orphan and a husband to the be
reaved widow. His own wife loved him
with a deep, devoted passion, llis two
beautiful (laughters worshiped him as a
being more than mortal, and every one
of lus fifty slaves was always ready to
laydown his life for his protection.
Marvelous phenomenon, truly I What i
the man of vengeance, so tierce and
fearful to his foes—whoso dwelling was
surrounded by the bones of the dead,
and the very lintels of whose doors were
stained with blood-spots—who was ugly
as a satyr, and hardly less hairy than a
black bear—to possess a heart within
his bosom notwithstanding, a heart to
love, and to be adored by those blessed
angels of the altar whose heaven is the
hearthstone of the beloved I
Ho has now been dead more than
twenty years, but his memory still
blooms green and fresh in the souls of
the poor, who, forgetting all the cruel
ties to others, feel only that their tender
est, truest friend has gone away from
the earth.
Yes, he is gone—that most terrible
duelist that the old monster T’me ever
saw and conquered! He was buried, by
his own previous order, like some wild,
savage war-chief, with his rifle in his
hand, and his long knife naked on his
bosom I
Let no one gaze into the deep, dark
night, where the dead man vanished, or
gaze only with that eye of hoping, trust
ful love, which, self-luminous as a living
star, can irradiate with eternal brilliance
the mournfulest gloom—the blackness
of sin—and even the sunless sable of the
grave.
Vanilla.
There was long a mystery hanging
over this useful aromatic. The Spaniards
under Cortez found it in use in Mexico
to flavor delicate condiments, and they
soon learned to employ it, and the dainty
in Europe sanctioned itw use, and from
that time vanilla has reigned supreme.
But what plant really produced it was
the question. The jealousy of the
Spaniards prevented much investigation,
but it is now known that the few species
of vanilla are all climbing orchids, so
that, as they never touch earth, their
substance mid fragrance is all won from
the air and the trees. The slender stems
ns they run along the branches throw out
roots to support themselves in both
senses, obtaining firmness and nourish
ment. The leaves are fleshy and heart
shaped, and, what will surprise our
readers, the flowers are thick, fleshy,
dull in color, and utterly destitute of
fragrance, possessing none of the aroma
which wc know so well. The fruit, or
pod, which is generally called the vanilla
bean, is three-cornea, fleshy, plump,
anil contains a number of mirmto seeds
embedded in an aromatic pulp.
The drying of these pods is a long
process. They are exposed to beat,
sometimes wrapped carefully in woolen
cloths, and at other times uncovered, and
from time to time they are oiled.
The vanilla used in this country comes
from Vera Cruz and Tampico, and near
those cities the plant is raised for the
purpose. The vanilla is propagated by
tying shoots of the vine to the trunk of
a tree, into the hark of which it soon
sends its roots and begins to draw suste
nance. The growth is then rapid.
As the use of vanilla is very general in
flavoring chocolate, ice cream, candies,
and cake, substitutes are sought for the
real and expensive vanilla. Melilot,
vernal grass, and the tonqua bean, have
an odor approaching it. Chemists have
obtained vanilline from the sap of the
pine, and even from stalks of oats.
How Texas Cattle Are Utilized.
There are beef-racking establishments
at Rockport and Fulton, Texas, both of
which places are in the center of cattle
ranges, in which at least 100,000 lieeves
ire slaughtered every year. Every part
of the beef is utilized, even to the tufts
of the tails, which are preserved and
sold for the making of ladies’ frizzettes.
l’he blood flows into tnnksand is pressed,
and is sold at 2 cents a pound for the
making of fertilizers. The tongues and
lean beef are boiled and canned. Tho
hides are salted and sold again. The
fatty matter is extracted and goes to tal
low. The hones are boiled to a pulp to
extract this fatty matter, and the dry
bones, mainly phosphate of lime, are
sold at 1 cent a pound for fertilizing.
The feet are cut off, and from the hoofs
aeats-foot oil is extracted. The horny
part of the foot, the shin-bone and
Knuckle-bones, are sold for the manu
facture of domestic ivory. The horns
are piiled up until the pith becomes
loose, and this is added to the fertilizers,
and the horns are sold for manufacture.
Every atom of the animal is probably
used.
During the past fifteen months about
10,000,000 acres of Government land
were sold under the homestead laws—a
more than usual heavy amount.
Long Fasts.
Ur. W. W. L. Phillips, ol Trenton,
N. J., who wan the physician in the
State prison in that city m 1874, is au
thority for the averment that m that
year John Farviancs, a native of Finland
and then a convict, 83 years of age, fast
ad for forty days. 1 lending the script
ural accounts "of our Savior’s fast of
forty days, and of the fasting of Moses
and Elijah, invited Purviaucs to his fast.
Dr. Phillips watched the prisoner
throughout the period, and at the expi
ration of thirty-nine days was Satisfied
that no nutriment, except what there is
in ice and water, was taken. The at
tendants offered the prisoner final every
day, hut he jiersistehtly refused to take
it.’ After the fast ho wua dosaugtal, and
now he is an inmate of the New Jersey
asylum for the insane. During his fast
ho hail perfect quiet ami all the fresh
air a man may have in a prison. At the
end of forty days he called for boiled
salmon, a boiled egg anil a drink of
whisky, which lie ate and drank with
a relish. While he was fasting Dr.
Phillips tempted him with the choicest
delicacies that could bo found, but he
would take nothing. The prisoner said
that ho hud previously fasted for twenty
eight. days at a time. He talked ration
ally uutfl toward the end of his fast,
when ho was reduced almost to a skele
ton.
When the Rev. Jabez 8. Swan, well
known in Connecticut as " Elder Swan,”
a revivalist of great jaiwcr, was conduct
ing a revival in Mystic, Mr. Calvin Mor
gan, of Poquonuoo Bridge, was convert
ed. Moved to manifest his unsjinakable
faith, he determined to fust forty days
and forty nights, and ho says that lie
did so, taking nothing into liis mouth
save a little salt ana water. He is now
hale and hearty at 78 years of ago. To
a correspondent of the Jlcrald. he said :
“ I entered upon tho task determined,
with the help of Goil, to perform it. I
was then a robust and ruddy-faced young
man, anil after completing my fast was
so weak, haggard and emaciated that I
had to be moved on sheets for several
weeks. I don’t want to go through it
again. I think Dr. Tanner*eoulil hold
out if he had truo faith in God to sup
port him.” Mr. Morgan’s neighbors
speak of him as a rigiiUy-truthiiil man.
“ The Boston Girl.”
A lady, who is now visiting the city,
anil whose eyes and ears are always open
to new anil strange sights and sounds,
thus records the impression made upon
her by the typical young woman of Bos
ton
The Boston girl leads ft complicated
life. She is devoted to “art.” She is a
woman of “ designs,” but she puts Ilium
all on canvas. She talks to you about
“studies” and shapes, and the new de
signs she is putting on the “biscuit.”
She walks Commonwealth avenue wrap
ped in visions. She is as inaccessible as
a mermaid. When you fondly imagine
her meditations are solely on the bril
liancy of tlie last remark with which her
11 resellce has inspired you, she is really
occupied with her secret cogitations upon
that lovely, iridescent pitcher, and won
dered if any jMitter would throw her that
particular shape in native clay.
The Boston girl carves stately mantels
and alluring cabinets; she models of
mornings, and shows marvelous skill in
portrait busts; she haunts the artists’
studios; she frequents the Museum of
Fine Arts, and spends much time in the
Athenaeum, anil is a devotee of the loan
exhibitions. She is a born t ran seen deu
tulist. Incongruous as it may seem .she is
also an energetic diffuser of useful know
ledge; a humble follower of Eastlako; a
fervent disciple of Herbert Spencer, and
an eloquent advocate for woman’s suf
frage. With an air of resignation she
informs you that it is not that she partic
ularly cares to vote, but that she has a
solemn conviction that it is her duty.
This fair Melusina never misses a lecture
ii]ion art. She revels in ancient auto
types ami etchings; she talks learnedly
to you of Michael Angela’s “Fates,”
and the different interpretations of the
Transfiguration. And the latest innova
tion of this fair saint is that she turns
her boudoir into an oratory, and before
an elegantly carved priedieu she kneels
gracefully and presents her petitions in
the most faultless of modern classics,
For a being of refined taste ami elegant
culture, is she the fair Boston girl I”
IloHton Tranucrlpt.
The Old Red Cent.
How much is sublimated in the famil
iar refusal “ Nous Gent I Not a Red !”
The old red cent is rapidly passing away
out of the United Htates currency, and it
will not be long before it will be known
only in memory and in numismatic col
lections. Its history is ft matter of suf
ficient interest, for preservation. The
cent was first proposed by Robert Mor
ris, the great financier of the Revolution,
and was named by Jefferson two years
after. It began to make its appearance
from the mint in 1792. It Ixjre the head
of Washington on one side and thirteen
links on the other. The French Revo
lution soon created a rage for French
ideas in America, which put on the cent,
instead of the head of Washington, the
bead of the Goddess of Liberty- a French
Liberty— with flowing l<x:ks. The chain
on the reverse was replaced by the olive
wreath of peace. But the French Lib
erty was short-lived, and so was her jxir
trait on the cent. The next head or fig
ure succeeding this- the staid, classic
dame, with a fillet round her hair—came
into fashion about thirty or forty years
ago, and her finely chiseled Grecian
features have been bill slightly altered by
the lapse of time.
Getting a Character.
Be wondrous wary of .your first com
portments ; get a g<xxl name, and bo
\ cry tender of it afterward; for ’tin like
the Venice glass, quickly cracked, never
to be mended, though patched it may
be. To this purpose, take along with
voii this fable. It happened that Fire,
Water and Fame went to travel together
(as you are doing now); they consulted
that if they lost one another, how they
might he retrieved, and meet again.
Fire said, “ Where you see smoke, there
you will find me.” Water said,-“ Where
you sec marsh and moorish low ground
there you shall find me.” But Fame
said, “ Take heed how you lose me, for
if you do you will run a great hazard
never to meet me again ; there’s no re
trieving of me.”
J. L. DENNIS, Editor.
SI.OO a Year.
BUG EXTERMINATORS.
Water Bios anpßoacheh. —l. Vigor
ously force into every crack anil cranuy
that they haunt, and all neighboring
ones, too, along (he edges of oil-cloth,
the scams of wood-work, etc., hellebore.
2. A teacupful of well-braised plaster of
Paris, mixed with double the quantity of
oatmeal, to which mid a* little sugar.
Strew it on the floor ot in the chinks
which they frequent.
To Exterminate Beetles. —l. Place
a few lumps of uuslaked lime where they
frequent. 1. Set a kish or trap, con
taining a little beer or sirup in flic bot
tom, and place a few sticks slanting
against its sides, so as to form a sort of
iwmgwsy few the beetles to climb up
by, when they will go headlong into tho
biiit set for them. i). Mix equal weights
of red lead, sugar and flour, ami place it
nightly upon their haunts. This mixt
ure, mode into sheets, forms the beetle
wafers sold at the oil shops.
To Destroy Ants. —Drop some quick
lime oil their nest, and wash it iu with
boiling water; or dissolve some camphor
in spirits of wine, then mix with water
and pour into their haunts; or tobacco
water (strongly), which has been found
to be effectual. They are averse to
strong scents. Campnor will prevent
their infesting a cupboord, or a s]>onge
saturated with creosote. To prevent
their climbing up trees, place a ring of
tar about the trunk, or a circle of rag
moistened occasionally with creosote.
To Remove Vkkmin from Canary
Birds.—Put a piece of cotton oroumlthc
end of each perch at night, remove tho
cotton in the morning (with the vermin).
Put in now, clean perches; clean the
cage every day. Give the bird a bath
every morning in a good large dish ; re
move it as Siam as the bird has finished ;
scald the ends of tho perches every day
before putting them in the cage again ;
renew the cotton around the perches
every night, and remove in tho morning
until tho lard is free from the vermin.
To Get Rid of Cockroaches.—A cor
respondent writes as follows : “ I bog
to forward you an easy, clean, and cer
tain method of eradicating these loath
some insects from dwelling houses. A
few years ago my house was infested
with cockroaches (or ‘docks,’as they
are called here), and I was recommend
ed to try cucumber peelings ns a rem
edy. 1 accordingly, immediately bo
fore bed-time, strewed the floor of those
parts of tho house most infested with
the vermin with the green peel, cut not
very thin from the cucumber, and sot
up half on hour later than usual to
watch the effect. Before the expiration
of that time, the floor where tho peel lay
was covered with cockroaches, so muon
so that the vegetables could not be seen,
so voraciously were they engaged in
sucking the poisonous moisture from it.
I adopted the same plan the following
night, hut. my visitors were not near so
numerous—l should think not more than
a fourth of the previous night. On the
third night I did not discover one. but,
anxious to ascertain whether the house
was quite clear of them, 1 examined the
peel after I had laid it down about half
an hour, and perceived that it was cov
ered with uiyriiulsof minute cockroaches,
about the size of a flea. I therefore al
lowed the peel to lie till morning, and
from that moment I have not seen a
cockroach in the house. It is a very old
building, and 1 can assure you the above
remedy only requires to he persevered in
for three or four nights to completely
eradicate tho pest. Of course it should
be fresh cucumber peel every night.”
For Preserving Meat.
Secretary Gold gave tho following ro
i ceipts at the Williamautiemooting of the
| State Board of Agriculture: Reef should
j not be allowed to freeze. Salting should
jhe deferred until the meat is ripe. The
i fat of pork only should he salted, the
j lean should he used for sausage meat.
1 Pack pork in clean barrels on the edge,
I lirst scattering on the bottom a few hand
fuls of salt, tin n again upon every layer,
packing very close, and when all is packed
in, pour on a brime made by dissolving
salt in hot water. Be sure to cover the
|sirk and place a hoard upon it, and a
weight upon the hoard, to keep all in
place. When a piece is removed he sure
that the remainder is tightly prised
down. For curing hams housed six gol
lons of water, nine jxiunds of salt, two
pounds of sugar, one quart of molases,
four ounces of saltpetre, two ounces ol
saleratus for one hundred pounds ol
meat. He first covered the hams with
salt and then let, them lie a couple ol
days, flesh side up; then he packed their
close in barrels, and jxHired ujxiti them
the brine above described. For small
hams three weeks would be long enough
to stay in the brine, hut if large ones,
then he would let them remain six weeks.
He then takes them out, dries them, but
d<xjn not allow them to freeze. When
properly drained lie then smokes them.
Our Bodies After Death.
Within a very near approach to truth,
the human family inhabiting the earth
has been estimated at 1,000,000,000; the
annual loss by death is Now,
the weight of the animal matter of this
immense laxly east into the grave is no
less than (134,000 tons, and its decom
position produces 08,000,()00 cubic
feet of matter. The vegetable produc
tions of the earth clear away from the
earth the gases thus generated, and de
composing and assimilating them for
their own increase. This circle of changes
has been going on ever since man lxi
eiune an txictipier of the earth. He feeds
on the lower animals and on the seeds of
plants, which in due time become a part
of himself. The lower animals feed upon
the herbs and grasses, which in their
turn become the animal; then, by its
death again pass into the atmosphere,
and are realty once more to be assimil
ated by plants, the earth or bone sub
stance’ alone remaining where it is de
posited.
A recent issue ol a Russian news
paper contained nothing but advertise
ments and the following : “ Through a
(■mine not our own, the original articles
prepared for this issue cannot be pub
lished, therefore we publish only adver
tisements.”
Paper making pays when well man
aged. Mr. Bloomfield Moore, engaged
in that business, recently died in Phila
delphia, and left $8,000,000 to his family.
riTH AND POINT.
Somethyno to lio about—A bed.
Head clerks—Barbers’ assistants.
A rAJtTiAt.LY deaf man has the " Hej"
fever.
A oooij whisky sling— Sling the bot
tle out the window*—after it is empty.
What did Mary any to her litt’e lamb
when she scut it out to grass in thr
evening? She said, “Ewe go to sup
]s>r."
A musician wants to know how to
strike a bee fiat and at tho sume time
avoid being stung by its demisemi
quaver.
Yor.vo man, don’t try to forget your
identity and lv*eniu< soiuclssly elso ; for
the other chap is almost sure to be an
inferior person.
“Is that a deer park over there?"
asked a gentleman of a laUiror. “’Yus,"
he replied, “a very dear park. It al
most ruined the owner to fix it up ! ’
\ lady living asked how old she was
replied: “l was married at 18; my
husband was then 30. Now he is twice
as old- that makes mo twice 18. I’m
36."
This young physician returns from his
vacation to find his patients lively as
crickets. He inwardly vows that he will
stay at home and attend to business
hereafter.
An old angler says that a fish does not
suffer much from being hooked. Of
course not. It is the thought of liow his
weight will he lied about that causes
anguish.
Lord Brougham once, when he was in
a face ions mood, being asked to define
a lawyer, said : “ A lawyer is a learned
gentleman, who rescues your estate
from your enemies anil keeps it him
self.”
He went, into a drug store and said to
the dentist: “You pulls out niitout
pain?” “Certainly.” “What does dat
cost?" “One dollar." “Py slummy 1
You dinks dat don’t hurt none, py gra
cious I”
A North Carolina man will work
four hours to chop down a tree that a
coon is in, but nothing would induce
him to split up enough wood to cook tho
su])]M*r with. The latter proceeding
isn’t sport.
The Prince of Wales’ two sons are
somewhat lively. While on a sea voy
age recently, the younger was heard to
exclaim: “Como, bub, tune up your
fiddle anil give us, 1 God save your old
grandmother.’ ”
“But, you know, pa,” said the farm
er's daughter, when lie spoke to her
about the address of hia neighbor’s &on,
“you know, pa, that ina wants me to
marry a muu of culture.” “8# do I,
my dear—-so do I; and there's no'better
culture in tho country than agriculture,”
“Dimples, you know, soon turn to
wrinkles," said Hwilton to a dimpled
darling. “ That can’t possibly concern
you, sir,” she replied. “Howto turn
wrinkles into dimples would Ire more in
teresting to you, I should think. And,
by tho way, what a crop some persons
could raise, couldn’t they ?”
“ Is your programme full, Miss Beetle
crusher V” asked a young man of a West
ern damsel who had just struggled out
of u refreshment room with disappoint
ment in her eye and an “order of dunces”
in her hand.' “Programme full ?” said
tho daughter of the setting sun. “ WaaL,
I guess not I I hain’t hud nothin’ but a
piece of cake and an ice-cream, an’ they
don’t go far toward tilling my pro
gramme, I can tell you.” —Boston Com
mercial.
A Romantic Story.
Loring, tho Boston bookseller, told a
very romantic story, as follows: “At
one time I had prepared boxes of fancy
paper with a fancy initial or |x-t name
embossed in it, and f put this up at $1 a
box mid advertised it widely. Ouo day
I bad an order from California from a
Miss Music —. The box was done up,
addressed to her and lay about here,
when a young Englishman came in and
wanted to write a letter. I gave him the
material and a place, when his eyes
caught the address on this box.
“‘Have you the order that came for
that box of paper?’ he asked.
“‘Yes,’ 1 replied, ‘ ’tin about some
where,’
“ ‘ Would you mind sending it up to
my hotel ? If it is what I think, I shall
leave for California to-night.’
“I found it and sent it around and
heard no more about it for ]x>rh:ips
three months, when one day the young
man, with a. lady on his arm, walked in.
‘Mr. Loring, I want to present you to
my wife,’ he said. ‘We could not leuve
this country till we had thanked you for
your part in bringing us together. ’ The
denouement was quite a romance. The
young man was the son of an aris
tocratic family anil the girl the daughter
of the gardener. But love levels all dis
tinctions, and the young man felt this
girl to he the chosen companion of his
life. To hreuk off the attachment his
father had sent him to the Continent
and dispatched tho gardener and his
pretty daughter to America, where the
young man had followed them, ignorant
of their address, and at lust finding it
through the chance of tho box of paper.”
A Clergyman’* Suit.
A clergyman in Horuellsville, N. Y.,
has excited much hostile criticism by
suing an estate for SSO for officiating at
a funeral, and securing the amount. It
turns out, however, tlmt ho had pretty
gixxl grounds for his course. A rich man
died, and the family wanted the funeral
to take place on Bunday, and also wanted
this particular minister to officiate. Ho
gave up his appointments for the day to
oblige tho family, hired a carriage, and
went. He waited sometime for remuner
ation, and at last sent a hill for 825,
which was refused, and so for the bill and
damages lie sued for 850 and got it. The
dead man never hired apowin the church
nor paid for preaching, and the question
naturally arises, Why are not ministers
entitled to pay for extra labor as well as
other men?
If a tiling is worth doing at all, it is
worth while to do it well. Yet the world
is full of work badly done and half-done.
It is always a bad policy to do work in a
jxxir, half-hearted and slovenly fashion.
Gixsl and honest work will always be of
the greatest service, both to the serving
and the served. The worker will ever
find it to his best interest to work con
scientiously and carefully, and to do his
very best.
Wiiat a monotonous life it must have
lieeli in Eden without those cheering
aphorisms that now everywhere brighten
up the landscape, making every rook,
tree, and fence to ixmrgeon out into such
gratuitous advice as “Purify our blood!”
“Chew Mehoricle Finecnt!” ‘‘Consump
tion can tic cured!” etc.
The aged Lueretia Mott is reported
in failing health. She is 87 years old,
and until recently has been active and
well. She is now confined to her room
in her son-in-law’s hame near Phila
delphia, but is still bright and cheerful.