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GRETNESBORO, GEORGIA
■ - V UL" ' ——
GENERAL NEWS.
Wit e-beaters are given a job <si the
-haingang in Georgia—one rear for each
chastisement.
“Two-doixar Bluff' is the name given
tr: a village recently located on Indian
river, Fla.
Ano tree at Micanopy, Fix, bear*
flit Vinsliels of figs every year.
The Illinois Central railroad tthope at
Water Valley, M, are tuning oat
four twenty-ton cool cars every twanty
iour hour*.
It is reported from San Franaiaco
Hint in the last t*n years 86.000,000
-worth of opium has been smuggled into
that port.
Forty-three oities and towns in Tex
as assumed separate control <tf'their
achools and will conduct them independ
ent of State system.
The German carp sent to Fkmda by
tlie Fish Commission does not tbnve in
the everglades. The Alligator# scare
them to death and the turtles eat them.
A mining company have sunk a shaft
near Cold Springs. Greene county, Tenn.
to the depth of six feet in a rock, and
have struck a large vein of silver that
pays at that depth $31.71 per ton.
The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle says
that it is an uncommon thing to find in
that, city a negro who can not road and
write, while there is much illiteracy
among the whites.
Over 260 dwellings have been erected
during the past year witnin the city lim
its of Savnnnuh Ga., at an approximate
cost of $300,000, including $175,000
worth of property improved upon within
the city boundaries.
The fruit growers of Florida are pre
paring to form an association for the
protection of their business. The asso
ciation will have charge of all goads
shipped from local points, arrange for
their sale and secure careful handling.
Warren Hailey, a colored man uf
Augusta, Ga., is creating quite a sen
sation by bis aquatic gyrations and div
ing feat*. lie catches fish by diving for
them, and gives regular exhibitions,
which are attended hy large numbers of
citizens.
Georgia has just completed a building
containing 500 rooms, for her colored
insane citizens, at Milledgeville. After
the colored lunatics were trnnwfered to
their new quarters the work of remodel
ing their old asylum began, and in which
the white lunatics will he eared for.
Pulaski, (Twin.) Citizen: We Jiave in
tlie Southern State* in operation, or in
roune of erection, 191 cotton factories.
This outnumbers by twenty-seven all
the cotton factories in New England
outside of Massachusetts, and exceeds
by sixteen the number in that State.
Charleston, (S. C.) News and Cou
rier: The system of hiring out convicts
is a blot upon the civilization of the
South, whether the prisoners are pen
ned up in a coal mine, digging up phos
phate rock or in building railroads. It
is cruel, inhuman and murderous. It
should be abolished, and the sooner the
better.
Selma (Ala.) Times: To narrow
gauge railroads this State must look for
the complotest developemouts of its re
sources. We havn’t got the capital to
build broad gauges for feeders for local
convenience, but we can and must send
narrow-gauges out into every section
where it will pay.
MAjor C. K. Dutton's turpentine
farm, near Live Oak, embraces 18,000
acres of land, upon which five stills are
operated and work given to 250 hands,
42 mules, (i horses, wagons, carts, etc.
The annual production is estimated at
175,000 galons of turpentine and 14,000
barrels of rosin.
Apalachicola (Fla.) Tribune: Mr. .7
C. Bray ton owns n place n short distance
from the city, near Mr. \V. 8. Turner's
that abounds in hickory trees. Some
time ago Mr. Brayton grafted the pecan
into these trees. The experiment thus
far has prove n entirely successful. The
trees at present are having a maguiliceut
foliage, and they premise to bear pecans
in large quantities.
Aiken (S. C.) Recorder: An alligator
measuring ten feet and seven inches in
length and weighing HOC pounds, was
killed in Aiken county last week. The
existence of this saurian reptile in Glov
el’s pond has been known for twenty
seven years, and many is the load of
buckshot that has been fired at him, but
it was reserved for the good marksnuui
ahip and long rang rifle of Capt. George
to terminate his depredations. The rep
tile must not have been less than fifty,
and not improbably seventy-five years
old.
The Times says Selma has the most
wonderful artesian well in the world.
Two separate streams of water flow from
this well of entirely different properties.
This effect is produced by the insertion 1
of a two inch pipe within .a four inch
tube. The larger pipe descends 460
feet: the water has no mineral properties
and is very cold. The inner pipe de
scends 700 feet: the water strongly im
pregnated with sulphur and iron, and
compared with the temperature of the
twin stream, is quite warm.
Jacksonville (Fla.) Times-Union: Sa
vannah is alarmed at the rapidity with
which Norfolk and other Virginia ports
are drawing the cotton business away
from Charleston. The News thinks that
much of the cotton which goes to Nor
folk is diverted from its natural outlet at
Savannah, and that this diversion is dne
mainly to the pooling system adopted by
tlie railways which transport the cotton
thither. It intimates that strong press
ure will be brought to bear vpou the
railways to indnee them to abandon it,
EDITORIAL A'Ores.
Fob the six months enriefi August 15,
160 persons were killed enl 101 injured
on railroads in the State of 'New York.
The failure of the Edmunds law to de
stroy the evil jtower of Mormonism in
Utah lias revived the proposed plan of
governing (hat Territory by a Congress
ional commission. Gov. 'Murray is un
derstood to favor the plan a* the one
most likely to weaken and eventually
kill the baleful system of wholesale pros
titution which is practiced there under
the cloak of a so-called religion.
The Egyptian plague, having number
ed altout 35,000 jiersons among its vic
tims, is beginnings abate in the towns
first infected, but at Alexandria is in
creasing in violence. Medical men are
disposed to believe that the disease is
not Asiatic cholera, but the result of lo
cal causes, which belief has occasioned
a sense of relief in Europe a well as in
this country. At the same tine, clean
liness is as much a duty with every one
as though the plague hail reached-our
shores.
MAKING A GARDEN.
Tlik Mule Work the Old Woman Doe* lie
Way of
“Ben n makin’ gardin all day, an’ 1
fed slifTcr’n a hitebin’ post,” said the
Old Settler, as lie came in the Crissman
House, lit his pipe, and sat down.
“That groun’ o’ mine is ez meller ez a
sand heap, too, but ain’t no use o’ talk
in’. I can’t shove a spade inter the sile
ez I usty could. I’ve seen the time when
I thort that plowin’ on a side hill
with a blind mule were a leetlo the
toughest work a feller could set out to do.
But It ell ye, b’gosh, boys, a spadin’ up
yer gardin, with the aziny an’ the room*
ytiz an’ the plumbago hitched to yer,
kin give the blind mule lmsiness twenty
eight rod tlie start, an’ boat it ez slick
ez soap grease. ”
“Why don't you hire your garden
made, Major?” asked the Sheriff.
“Hire it made!” exclaimed'the Old
Settler, taking his pipe out of his mouth.
“Hire it ! Why don’t your granfatlier's
ghost snare suckers? You know dura
well, Shuf, that if gardins was a mailin’
fur a Tip an acre I couldn’t hire a cab
bage plant sot out, b’gosh, t’lmiglity !”
And the Old Settler p] aced his pipe in
his mouth and dosed his teeth on the
stem with so much emphasis that he bit
it in two. The bowl fell on the dog
Caesar, who was sleeping on the floor,
and the hot ashes lodged in his ear.
Caesar retired with such noise and haste
as the circumstances seemed to warrant.
“ No, sir, b’gosh,” said the Old Set
tler; '* jest ez long’s my lamp hoi's out
to burn I’ll make my own gardin, down
to stickin' o' the peas and polin’ o’ the
beans—with the ’casioual throwin’ in of
a leetle help on the part o’ the ole wom
an, sich ez kinder rakin' off a few stun
yer an' thar; shapin’ up o’
leotle; puttin’ out tlie onion
the tomater plants in, an' seein’ ez the
frost don’t tech ’em; plantin’ the corn
an’ 'tutors, an’ hoein’ of ’em nrter tliey’m
np; keepin’ the weeds sea'co, an' stonin’
ev’ry darn chicken ez comes diggin’ rouu’
the patch—with the ’ception of a few
leetle chores like them, which a woman
kin do a dum sight slicker nor a man
kin; with the 'ception of a few leetle
chores like them. I'll make an’ look
artor my own gardin, b’gosh, an’ them ez
wants to hire theirs made kin do it an’ be
darned to ’em !”
“ You’re right there, Major,” said the
County Clerk. “ There is some satis
faction in laying up provender for winter
when you know it nil comes through
your own hard work, I s’poso you
gather all your crops yourself in the fall,
don’t you—with tlie exception, of course,
of what little exercise your wife takes in
diggin’ the ’taters, cut-tin’ the corn, pull
in’ the turnips, and rollin’ in the pump
kins?”
The Old Settler did not reply.—Ed.
Mott.
NOT TO HE lllllllED.
Ilmv n i'otiivitrfor Once Trli’it to 'M-lt'’
an Army Oiiai'lemmslcr.
“Perhaps the most typical—certainly
the most interesting—story told of army
quartermasters is that of Colouel Tom
kins, who was for a time Depot Quarter
master at New York during the war. A
queer character, a good business man,
and a good soldier, lie had served for
years on the frontier, where ho had
picked up a great deal of flesh, a blunt,
brusque manner, and a string of oaths
such as few teamsters could equal. Re
was as patriotic as George Washington
and as honest as Aristides. I remember
liiin as a great red-faoed, bald-headed
mountain of flesh, in his shirt-sleeves,
vigorously fighting the heat on the hot
test sort" of a day. He was directing
one of the largest business enterprises iu
New York. He was hiring and loading
from three to thirty vessels a day, of all
sizes and at all prices, from SI 00 to $3,000
or $4,000 a day. He seemed to do it as
easily ns though he had been conducting
a small transaction in garden truck.
He knew his business and himself thor
oughly, and he got along very comfort
ably despite his incessant profanity.
One afternoon he chartered half a dozen
first-class vessels from a man who was
then one of the biggest shipping mer
chants in New York city. He became
famous afterward.
“The next morning Colonel Tomkins
found an envelope on his table contain
ing a cheek for SSOO, payable to bearer,
and signed by the shipping merchant,
whose name was good for a hundred times
that amount. Tomkins said something
to himself, but nothing aloud.
“Presently the shipping mediant
bowed himself into the room with a lively
expectation of favors to come. Without
a preliminary word,- Col. Tomkins held
out the ssoo' cheek with:
“ ‘Did you write that ?’ in stern, heavy
tones.
“ ‘Why, ves,’ said the merchant—‘a
little gift—'
“‘What do you take me fort’broke
iu Tomkins, sternly, with an oath.
‘You’ve mistaken your man !’ and then
handing the discomfited merchant the
check, he turned to his orderly. ‘Or
derly.’ he said, ‘do you see that man?’
“"‘Yes, sir,’ responded the orderly.
“ ‘Never allow him to show his face
inside that door again, and put him out
side of it now as quickly as possible. ’
“You may be sure the orderly obeyed.
I Oh, he was a fine old Spartan, was Col.
Tomkins.”
LORRAINE.
• '
“Are yo r#w<ty for yo*r steeple-chase, Lor
raine, Lorraine, Lorree?
Barnm, Barum, Barron, Bartun,
Barnm, Barnm Baree.
TtmYe hooked to rifle your capping race to
day at Conlteriee,
Tcra’Te booked to ride Vindictive, for all the
world to see,
To keep him straight, anfl keep him fret, and
* win the run for me.
Barum, Barnm," etc.
■“She clasped her new-born baby, poor Lor
raine, Lorraine, Lorree,
Barum, Barum, etc.
T cannot ride ’Vindictive, as any man might
see,
And 1 will not -ride Vindictive, with this baby
on my knee;
Hc'b killed a boy, he’s killed a man, and why
must he bill me?’
“ Unless yon ride Vindictive, Lorraine
Lorraine, Lorree,
Dnless yon ride Vindictive to-day at Coulter
lee,
And land him safe across the brook, and win
the blank for me,
ft’s yon may keep yonr baby, for you’ll get bo
keep from me.’
“ ‘That husbands could be cruel,’ said Lor
raine, Lorraine, Lorree,
‘That husbands could be cruel, I have known
for seasons three;
But oh ! to ride Vindictive while a baby cries
for me,
And be killed across the fence at last for all thr
world to wee!’
“Khe mastered young Vindictive—Oh ! the gal
lant lass was she,
And kept liim straight and won the race as
near as near could be;
But he killed her at the brook against a pollard
willow troe,
Oh 1 he killed her at the brook, the brute
for all the world to see.
And no one but the baby cried for poor Lor
raine, Lorree.”
Charles Kingsley
A LUCKY MISTAKE.
“Tom,” said my lather to me, one
cold November afternoon, as we stood in
(lie flag-paved hall of onr old-fashioned
farm-house, “ you’d better put the little
hay mare in the dog-cart and go into
Worthington for that saddle. I clean
forgot to call for it yesterday, and if you
want to go out with the hounds on
Saturday, you won’t have another chance
of getting it.”
I was nothing loth to act upon the
parental suggestion, although it meant a
long drive in the biting cold, and al
though the return journey would have
been done in the (lurk or with very in
different moonlight. We wero utterly
Isolated at the Mistletoe Farm ; for we
were seven miles from Worthington, our
nearest town, and ten mites in the op
posite direction, from the nearest rail
way station. The little bay mare that I
was going to drive was a young one of
our own breeding, clever ns a eat and
docile as a dog. From her infancy she
was my playfellow ; would come to me
when I whistled to her, eat out of my
hand or my pocket; and when the time
came for backing her and breaking her,
there was nothing to be done. She had
had perfect confidence and trust in us all,
and especially in me; the cat by the ftre
sido could not be more gentle or more
•asy to control.
Bhe was a world too good for harness,
I nought to myself, as I led her outof
tiNMMinU'H t*> put hairier
the old fashioned, square dog cart,
which turned up behind, and looked like
a mail cart —bailing the color, which
was a dingy gray. The little mare was
my hunter when my hounds were within
reach and my father would lot me go;
mid slio carried me as gamely, even after
twenty miless of harness the day before,
as if slio was one of the Squire’s cracks
and went out only once a week.
As we trotted quietly down the drive,
my father put his head over the hedge
and called to me:
“ Maybe the saddle won't be finished,”
lie said, liis red face glowing with the
cold, liis eves glancing critically at the
mare. “If so, you can put up at the
Angel and have your tea; but don’t be
later than you can help. Have you got
your watch on you ? ”
“ Yes,” I said, wondering at the ques
tion.
“You’d better give it to me,” said my
father, stretching liis arm over the
hedge. “I heard yesterday, at the or
dinary, there was a gentleman stopped
oil Monday uiglit on the road. You
haven’t got too pinch money on you, I
suppose ?-”
“No danger,” said I. with a laugh, as
I put my watch and chain into my
father’s big, brown hand. “They won’t
get much out of mo if they try it on. ”
And off wo went, turned into the high
road, and sped at a quick trot through
the gathering twilight in the direction
of Worthington.
It was dark when we reached the out
skirts ofatlie little town, and the lights,
not very brilliant if tried by modern
standards, sparkled cheerfully enough in
the windows. Past tlie blacksmith’s
forge, with the great bellows roaring and
tlie sparks living from tlie glowing cin
ders; past the butcher’s with a goodly
display of some our best beef; past tlie
grocer’s, where tho half-dozen children
who were llatteniug their noses against
the panes turned to look at us; and so,
clattering over the uneven cobbles of tlie
pavement, to the saddler’s shop. The
proprietor himself, a staid and portly
person, conscious of tho importance
which attaches to liis position in a coun
try town, came out and nodded a greet
ing-
“A cold night, Mr. Tom,” said he,
with a shiver, as the wind took his
apron. “I’m not quite ready for you.
Your father didn’t come in yesterday, so
I though you wouldn’t want the saddle
till next week. ”
“I want it for Saturday,” said I,
leaning sideways out of the trap. “The
hounds are at the coppice, and the little
mare and I are going. Can you do it if
I put up ?”
The saddler thought for a moment.
“Ay, I can do that,” he said at length.
“Will you call in between eight and
nine and it shall be ready for yon?”
I agreed, shook up the mare, and, a
few yards further down, turned in
through the narrowgateway of the Angel
into the dim, deserted innyard. From a
single half-open doorway came a stream
of light. A figure issued forth in answer
to my summons.
“Good evening, Mr. Tom,” said this
person, approaching and patting the
mare’s neck.
“Hallo, Jack! is that you,” said I, as
I drew the reins through’my fingers and
alighted, recognizing, as I* did so, Mr.
Jack Plover, to whom was intrusted the
important duty of carrying the Queen’s
mail-bags from Worthington to the rail
way town, “ion’ll have to wrap up
warm to-night. ”
“Ay ! bitter cold, that it is,” answered
Jack," undoing the traces. “But, law
bless me 1 I’m used to it. If only I’d
got as good a thing between my shafts
as yon have here, I’d think nothing of a
seventeen-mile drive, I do assure von,
sir.”
“Your old pony isn’t to be despised,
either,” said I, holding up the shaft
while Jack drew the mare out. “Anew
pair of forelegs and sound bellows
would improve him, but except for
that—”
“Well, he isn’t quite Newmarket or
Doncaster, I do confess,” said Jack,
leading the mare in through the open
doorway and putting her in a vacant
stall. “But he’s good enough for his
work. I start early and we take it easy.
You won’t have the collar off, sir • ”
“No,” I said. “I am off again in an
hour or so.
We crossed the yard, passed through
a swing door and found ourselves in the
warm cheerful bar.
There was only one other occupant of
the bar, a stranger to me. He was a
man apparently verging on forty, but
toned up in a shabby great coat, and
with his hat so slouched over his eyes
that his features were hard to be dis
cerned. To the salutation which I gave
him on entering, he made no reply, but
with arms folded, gazed fixedly on the
floor.
Jack soon said be must leave and as
he went out the man with the slouched hat
looked up, and, addressing nobody in
particular, inquired in a harsh, rough
voice, with a queer burr in it:
“ What time does the post go out
here ?”
“Atijght o’clock,” replied the bar
maid, Jfcking at her interrogator with
no pecWar favor. “ That is the driver
of the mail-cart who has just left.”
“So I judged,” replied the man,
rising, and putting some money on
the table. “Is that right ? Good night
to yon.”
And with a heavy, slouching gait, he
strode to the door and was gone.
After tea in the half-lit coffee-room and
a pipe in the bar, with the barmaid to
tell me the gossip. I started at about
half-past eight, called at the saddler’s,
put my saddle under the seat, and set
out for home. As we passed the black
smith’s forge at the end of the street
there was a pony being shod, and Mr.
Jack Plover, in a big great-coat, was
looking on at the process.
“ Cast a shoe, Mr. Tom, and had to
turn back,” he called out as I passed
hy.
Out into the country, looking doubly
black and dismal liy contrast with the
cheerful light and warmth that we were
leaving behind; with the slanting rain
driviintfull in one's face, so that it daz
zled tfll sight; with gray piles of cloud
hurrying overhead; with a veil of mist
and darkness blending hurdle and hedge
row, field and tree, into a vague, indis
tinct, gray mass. The road is muddy,
and, albeit the high-road, in bad condi
tion; but the little mare has got her
head homeward, and pulls her hard
est toward warm stable and well-stocked
rack and the society of heavy Dobbin and
bretliren. Not that my little hunter is
to be permitted to pull herself to pieces
through ruts and over ill-laid stones; for
there is Saturday in prospect, and, with
tlie country in this state, we shall want
the very last ounce. Now we are climb
ing the hill, and, anon, we are on the
top, and the rain and the wind heat
savagely upon us and the prospect on
either hand is dreary enough. Now
steadily down the shedding ground,
with a tight rein and a careful lookout
for loose stones; for this is a deep de
scent, and one fnlsc step may take twen
ty pounds off the little mare’s value.
are high, at all events, so
thereSWome shelter, and down at the
bottom there arc trees on either hand.
It was pitch dark in the hollow, but I
let the mare out at the bottom of the hill
and gave her her head. Suddenly, with
a loud snort, she swerved violently, ran
the wheel of the trap onto a head of wny
side stones, put there to mend the road;
and in a second we were over.
I went out, of course, and the driving
box, tho saddle, and the debris of mis
cellaneous articles after me. I landed
partly on my shoulder, partly on my
head, and was up again in a moment, al
though a hit dazed. The moment I
gained my feet I was seized by the col •
lor, and a harsh voice exclaimed—not to
me. but to someone else:
“Hold his head down—hold his head
down!”
A dusky form sprang to the mare’s
head and kept her from attempting to
rise. A third form knelt on the trap.
“By jove! ” exclaimed this last fellow
in an angry tone, “ we’ve got tho wrong
man!"
“ What ? ” said he who had hold of my
collar. “Do you mean to say it isn't
tlie—?”
With a volley of oaths, the other re
plied in the negative. The man who had
hold of me released me and joined tho
other. They whispered together for a
few seconds. Then the first one came
back to me and said, with a fine pretence
of indifference.
“Nasty accident, sir ! But it might
have been worse. It’s lucky we were at
band to help you.”
“I don’t know about that,” I replied,
with no small acrimony, “for my horse
shied at one of you. She never did it in
her life before. You’ll oblige me by
helping to get her out”
In a twinkling we had the harness un
done, and the mare with a flounder and
stagger, was on her feet, and shook her
self in a disgusted fashion. The men
said nothing, but obeyed my directions.
Luckily, nothing was broken; the mare
had rubbed a little hair off her, as well
os I could tell, but her knees were all
right. In seven or eight minutes from
the time we went over, so quickly did it
all happen, I was in my seat again ready
to start.
My assailants, or assistants, which evei
they were, made no opposition, and
seemed only anxious to get rid of me;
they dispatched me without a word, ani\
I was a mile on my road before I fully
realized what had happened. As is al
ways the ease in an accident, I could
only recall what took place immediately
before and immediately after, and for
that very reason the words uttered by
the men" were more vividly impressed on
my memory. What did they mean ?
It flashed into my mind like a revela
tion. They had been misled by the
shape of my trap: which, as I have said,
was square behind, and looked like a
mail cart, while the darkness was too
great iu their place of ambuscade for
them to see the color. The time of my
arrival was about that of the mail, had
not Jack Plover been obliged to turn
back; and the careful pace at which I
had come down the hill accorded very
well with the steady movements of
Jack's nag.
And the voice ? I had heard it some
where lately—the man in the Angel bar,
who asked, "too, the time when the mail
left. There was no doubt of the men’s
purpose.
How to prevent it? How to warn
Jack in time? There was no road back
but the one by which I had come, unless
I made a detour of several miles. Neither
was there a house near whence to get
assistance. I pulled up and thought it
out. A bruise on my right arm sug
gested something. I had fallen on my
left side, and this ornise was caused by
the saddle tumbling after me. I made
up my mind at ouee.
Turning in through the first gate I
came to, I drove over the turf to a corner
of the field where was a group of trees.
Here I took the mare out; put the trap
under the elms and turned the cushions;
took off all the harness bat the bridle
and saddled her. Luckily the bridle had
no blinkers. I wound the long reins
round and round my arms, mounted,
and, thanking Providence for my knowl
edge of the country, rode at the nearest
fence. There was a faint moonlight to
help us, but it was terribly dark. My
heart was in my mouth as we went at the
fence, which was a big upstanding one,
hut I knew there was no ditch on the
taking-off side, and I gave the little
mare the word at the right moment.
She jumped clean from under me, and
landed me on the crupper. I never shah
forget that leap ! If there had been any
one to see it I could have sold her almost
for her weight in gold.
We were halfway across the next field
liefore I had regained my seat properly,
mid then the mad .exhilaration of the
thing took possession of both of ns.
There was a flight of hurdles next which
we took in onr stride. Then a bank and
a close-cropped hedge that stood up,
black as Erebus, against the gray of the
night; which we jumped as though it
were twice its height. Then a flock oi
frightened sheep went scurrying away
into the darkness.
It was all turf, and, for the first time,
f blessed the poverty of the land, that
made it worthless to plow. A dozen
fences negotiated in the same mad
fashion brought us into a field that
skirted the high road; and here we were
pounded. There was a big bnll-fincli
into the road, with a deep drop. To go
on, parallel with the road, was impos
sible, for there was a made-up bank with
a cropped hedge, full of stakes and a
deep drain, as 1 knew, ran on either side.
I rode up and down by the bull-finch
in despair. Was all my trouble to be in
vain ?
At last T made up my mind, and rode,
not too fast, at the great, towering,
straggling hedge. I put my arm across
my face, shut my eyes, into it we went,
arid out of it, with a scramble, and a
flounder, we came—separately. The
bull-finch nearly brushed me out of the
saddle, and the mare and I dropped side
by side into the road, but both of us
were on our legs. Before I had time to
remount I heard the sound of approach
ing wheels, and a man whistling mer
rily.
“Pull ud. Jack?” I called out.
Jack’s whistle ceased, and a more as
tonished countenance I never beheld
than the one which looked down from
the mail cart.
“What the dickens ” he began.
Then I explained.
“Well,” he said at the end of it. with
out a word of commendation for me.
“That is a good pony of yours. What
shall we do?”
“I’ll tell yon,” I Baid, for my blood
was up with excitement of the night,
“Drive back toWorthington, get Rogers,
the coustable, and a pistol apiece, and
let them try again.”
“Done with you,” said Jack, turnin';
round. “You ride on ahead and find
Rogers, and I’ll wait for you by the old
toll-bar.”
In half an hour the constable and I
were seated very uncomfortably on the
back of the mail cart, and driving along
as fast as Jack’s pony could be induced
to go. Our only fear was lest the fellows
should have got tired of waiting, for it
was quite au hour and a half later than
the time when the mail should have
passed them. Down the hill we went,
our hearts thumping away with excite
ment, not to mention the difficulty of
holding on, and Jack performing “ My
Pretty Jane ” with exquisite variations.
Well, to cut my story short, we got
one of them. The constable, in his ea
gerness, jumped down directly the first
man had seized the horse’s head, and the
two other fellows made off. We got the
right gentleman, though ; the identical
fellow who had been in the Angel bar,
and whose voice I had recoguized. He
was tried at the Assizes, and two other
convictions being proved against him,
was sentenced to seven years penal servi
tude.
I went out with the hounds on Satur
day, and my little mare was the heroine
of the hour. The Squire himself came
up to me, and, after complimenting us
both on our achievement, said:
“What do you call her?”
“Well, Squire,”l replied, “we haven’t
given her a name yet.”
“Call her Little Fly-by-night,” he
mid.
And that’s how she got her name.
A Shocking Affair.
Old Mr. Middlerib got tired of having
the mischievous boys in the neighbor
hood snealt up, yank his front door bell
.half way across the street and then run
like deer for the nearest corner. So he
a- inched a powerful battery to the inside
knob, made connections with a zinc plate
on the door step, and waited for the hoy
to Kinie along and close the circuit. Biit
’lie boy had had fun enough for that
day, and didn’t come back for any more.
Mr. Middlerib grew tired waiting and
at iast forgot all about the whole matter.
It probably would not have occurred to
him again that day, had not the minister
made his pastoral call that afternoon.
The dominie gave the bell one gentle,
ecclesiastical pull, then he jumped into
the air so high that he looked in at the
transom, yelled like a wild Indian, his
hat shot off, he fired his umbrella
through a side light, and moaning pit
eously, sank down in a nerveless heap
on the sidewalk, while the glad voice
of Mr. Middlerib, who heard the row
but couldn’t see the tableau, rang out
from a side window, “ Pull it again,
will ye—ye flat-footed limb of the imp !
Pull it again, will ye ?” By the kindly
services of the house dog the pastor was
returned to consciousness and wrath be
fore Mr. Middlerib got down stairs. He
reluctantly accepted the hospitalities of
the medicine chest, but said his mind
was in too shattered a condition to listen
to any explanation just then. And as he
walked stiffly away Mr. Middlerib ad
mitted that he would have to double his
snbsciption this year, and about half
made up his mind that he would sell two
or three half-grown boys to the Keokuk
medical college to raise the extra sub
scription. And he would do it, too, if
he could catch the boys.— Hawk eye.
“No!” exclaimed the editor, “my
paper is not owned by Jay Gould ; it is
not the hide-bound organ of capital and
monopoly. It is the paper of the people,
by the people and for the people. If yon
don’t believe it come around next pay
day and see ns trying to scrape enough
cash together to pay the errand boy.—
Atlanta Constitution.
Bob Burdette says that his invalid
wife made him all he is. “ That’s right!”
mutters The Woman's Journal; “blame
it all on your wife 1”
DOWN UNDER WATER.
What a Diver Saw that Very Badly Fright
ened Him.
“Several years ago, about the begin
nin’ of the war,” says a diver. “I got an
order to go down (o New Orleans, and
from thery down the Gulf, to overhaul
a steamer that had gone down. She’d
been claimed by a party who found her
topmasts ont: but whether she was full
of cotten or iron, a gunboat or merchant
man, worth a pound or a thousand no
body knowed. I was loafin’ at a place
called Petit Ause at the time, and was
on the spot in less’n four days, with a
young lad, who, accordin’ to his own
lingo and general talk, was barehanded
the best diver in the State. At that
time mostly bells was used, but we didn’t
have any, and concluded to try and float
her by haulin’ down kegs. So we laid
along-side in a schooner, and young
Grampus—he was a black chap—offered
to go down and see how she looked. I
gave him a hook block to fasten to her to
lead the barrels, and with a ten-pound
bar as a sinker lie slipped off her to’ gal
lant crosstrees, which was all clear at
ebb tide. For about two minutes I fol
lowed him by the air bubbles, and saw
he was a workin’ aft, and then all at
once come a reg’lar boil, and I knew he’d
bust, and a second later up he come,
risin’ half his length out, and gave a
yell that made the cook spile his duff and
brought all hands up a-standin’. I first
thought a shark had him, but afore I
could say a word be was alongside and
jerked aboard. I ain’t goin’ to say his
wool was turned while, but ef ever a
Mack man turned pale that was the
time. He was literally failin’ to pieces,
l-shakin’ and groanin’, and 'l'm blessed
-f he wouldn’t a-come all apart ef we
hadn’t stopped his guff with aguardi
ente.
“ ‘Don’t ask me to go down agin,’ was
f be first word he spoke. ‘l’se seen do
lebble; jes' put me ashore. ’
“When he kiud o’ cooled down he let
ai how he struck the fore hatch and
found her a side wheeler, and when he
worked aft, there was the devil, horns
md all, a-breathin’ fire- out of the starn
companion way. Of course we all gev
him the laugh, but he wouldn’t go down
again, an’, betweenyou and me, I begun
to feel kind o’ queer about it myself.
Hut there wasn’t much hanky-panky,
about me, so I dropped over, and in fit'
bon seconds was on deck. I swum aft,
and when I turned the way I’m clanged
of I didn’t for a minute get the cold
•hills. It was kind o' dark, and there,
t-lookiu’ out of the way, was a crittei
with horns, and all covered with fire.
And what do you reckon it was ? Give it
up? Well, it wasn’t nutliin’ but a big
Texas steer a-lodged in the hold. His
head was clear and a-wabbliu’ up and
down, and his long horns a-scrapin’
against the woodwork. He certain did
look the old lioy himself.”
“But the light,” suggested the re
porter.
“Aye, the light. You see, the critter
was covered with this ’ere phopliores
cence, that you see on dead fish. She
was an old coaster, loaded with cattle,
about two hundred head I reckoned, and
the wreckers gev her up, an’ I believe
she was raised two years after by a Mex
icali company.”
Eggs Sent from Europe.
NEW YORK DEALERS SUPPLYING MB
TRADE WITH STOCK FROM AS FAB
AWAY AS TURKEY.
“Perhaps you think,” said a dealer in
New York city to a Sun reporter, “that
the eggs you have for breakfast are
hatched at early dawn the same morn
ing on Long Island or in Jersey. But
they may have oome from Ohio, Indi
ana, or lowa, and possibly from Den
mark, Germany, Italy, or Turkey.
This importation has been going on
about a year. Ours was the first firm to
import eggs. A dealer in Denmark who
had been accustomed to export them to
Euglnnd found he had packed an excess
of eggs. So to get them off Lis hands
he shipped them to as.”
“Howdo they differ from our eggs ?”
“They are smnller, hut as good, if
not better, in quality. Coming from a
cooler country, and being transported
across the sea, where the temperature is
also cool, they keep better than the eggs
we get from tlie West,”
“How long will an egg keep?”
“I have known eggs to keep as long
as eight months, but we do not usually
keep them longer than a couple of
mouths, unless they are limed. When
eggs are cheap they are put in lime
water. This closes the pores of the
shells and preserves the eggs until the
winter, when they are scarce, But yon
can’t use them for boiling, because they
explode.”
“Do you sell these imported eggs be
cause the snpplv from this country is
too small ?”
“Eggs are so cheap in Denmark and
Germany that we can afford to undersell
home dealers in the scarce season, when
prices are high. At those times we run
out our imported eggs. YVe only import
Micro bet ween autumn aud early summer.
Tn summer the whether is too hot for
them to keep well; and, besides, priees
are low. Between last fall and the pres
ent month we imported two thousand
barrels, containing about eighty dozen
each. Other firms are importing at
about the same rate.”
“Do you get your eggs only from
Denmark and Germany ?”
“They come from the ports of those
countries, but the dealers in those ports
in turn collect quantities of eggs from
Turkey and Italy, and no doubt many
of the eggs we import come from those
places.”
Affection in Sheep.
At the sheep ranch where I stopped
the lambing season was just beginning
—the time of greatest anxiety and hard
est work for the sheep owner. His puz
zle is to make the ewes own their lambs.
I noticed in one place, where a flock of
sheep with young lambs were feeding,
that the old herder, with a very unpoeti
eal stick not at all resembling the tra
ditional shepherd’s crook, was poking up
the little lambs to make them follow
their mammies, lest these should wan
der away and forget their offspring. At
another place in a corral, a herder was
rubbing the nose of a ewe upon a lamb
that had just been born, to make sure
that the mother should know the smell
of her own child. Two others had
caught and tin-own down a big ewe, and
were holding her while a couple of weak
lambs were sucking enough to keep
them from starvation. Sometimes they
shut a lamb and its mother into a pen
for a few days, and thus succeed in mak
ing the latter own and nourish the
former; and sometimes, if the lamb dies,
its skin is sewed on to a living mother
less one, and thus adopting another.
By such devices the sheep man can gen
erally save from 60 to 75 per cent, more,
while, if the sheep were left to them
selves, all but 25 or 30 per cent of th
lambs would perish. —Texas letter to
Springfield Mepublican,
IVAN THE TERRIBLE.
Ike Tyrant el Russia Seroeaed the Ter
rible.
Ivan the Terrible was an embodiment
both of the Byzantine antocrat and the
Tartar Kahn. The title of Great Prinee
was too insignificant for him, and so he
called himself the Czar, by which title
the Russians used to address only the
Khans. Ivan became ruler when* only
three years old. On reaching his thir
teenth year, he ordered that Prince
Shuisky, the head of the temporary Gov
ernment, be thrown to hunting' dogs
which tore him to pieces. That was his
first independent act as a ruler, and the
Russians realized that their little crown
bearer had become a real master. He
established the oprichniki, the gen
darmes of to-day. From their saddles
hung dog’s heads and brooms, which
signified that they were always ready to
cut off the heads of the Czar's enemies
and to sweep treason from the face of
Russia. Thus autocratic terror was es
tablished. The Red Prince before the
Kremlin was kept literally red with hu
man blood during the reign of the Terri
ble, which lasted fully half a century.
What tortures did he not try? What
ways of putting to death did he not
practice? But then he was pious, too.
He ordered the priests of the convent of
St. Kyrile to pray for the repose of the
souls of his own victims. In his list, or
synodic, there are found 3,470 names,
many of which were accompanied with
these suggestive words, “and family’”
or “ and sons ” or “ and fanriiy and ser
vants.” There is also found this elo
quent item: “ Lord, remember the
souls of Thy servants, the Novgoroilians,
1,505 in number ! ” The Terrible put to
death the Boyards not only with their
families and servants, but also with their
cattle and the fishes in their lakes ! No
doubt the Czar surpassed the Kahn.
However, Ivan feared for his own life,
and he corresponded with Elizabeth,
Queen of England, on the subject of an
asylum for himself in case of need. His
character was a strange mixture of gran
deur and barbarity. He was a cruel
maniac with lucid intervals, when he
was a genius. One day he was a despot,
the next day he listened to the counsel
of the people’s representatives. One day
he swam in human blood, and another
day he turned his dreadful oprichniki
into msuks, himself acting as their prior.
Once, as he was confessing before his
brethren, a Boyard remarked that the
Czar was humiliating himself too much.
“Keep your mouth shut, brute!”
roared the terrible prior. “I can hu
miliate mi self as much as I like, before
whom I please.”
Once in his rage he struck his beloved
sou with his iron stick and killed him on
the spot. It was under the Terrible that
Ermnk, with Iris valiant comrades, con
quered the Siberian czardom. The free
dom loving Cossacks never dreamed
that they had furnished the Czars with a
1 o rible prison for the sons and daughfirs
of history.
The Sun and its Heat.
PROFESSOR YOUNG ON THE THEORY THAT
IT IS PELTED HOT WITH METEORS.
“The Fuel ot the Sun” was the spe
cial subject discussed at the monthly
meeting of the American Astronomical
Society, Brooklyn. .The subjeet was in
troduced by Prof. Lenson, of Cooper In
stitute at the last meeting. Prof. C. A.
Poiing, of Princeton College said that to
account for the heat of the sun, there
might be some truth in Helmholz’s no
tion that the sun is fed on its way
through space with meteors attracted to
it by its immense mass. If this theory
were true, then the earth ought to get
ns much heat from shooting stars as
from the sun, and the surface of this
globe would have three tons of meteoric
matter to the square mile. Yet in some
way this objection could be explained
away. If we are to suppose that heat is
derived from matter distributed through
space we should first remember that the
matter would make itself felt on the
planets of the solar system. Prof. Proc
tor must be wrong in saying this does
not necessarilv follow.
Another thing, if, as some suppose, a
current of meteors toward the sun ex
isted. then mischief would be placed
with comets. They would enconuter re
sistance. Then, too, the temperature of
the sun would not be hotter from such
mete* ric combustion than the carbon
quints in the electric light. Prof.
Young had always supposed that the
heat in the sun was not less than 10,000
degrees centigrade. Yet, ns a very
light i 'crease of heat produces an im-
II esc nmount of radiation, the heat of
:i run might be lower than he had sup
pi-sod; yet he could not believe it as low
i.s that of an electric light. Another
i uzzling theory had been proposed, viz.,
hat . the sun sent its heat only to that
which receives it, only to each of the
planets, while space outside of a direct
line from tho sun to tho planet remains
cold. The trouble with that theory was
that heat radiated on all sides, and in
waves, not in one direction only. The
advocates of the theory said that solar
heat acted like the law of gravitation.
Finally, there was a theory that solar
heat came from the contraction of the
sun's body, but the objection to the the
ory was that it put a limit to the uni
verse. If it is a true hypothesis then
the sun could not be more than 15,000,-
000 years old, and it could not continue
to give heat more than 15,000,000 years.
Such a limitation is not to be thought of.
Slimmer Dresses.
Printed mull dresses, Harper’s Bazar
tells us, are the novelty for watering
1 ilace toilettes. This is the sheerest
white mull, as silky looking as guaze or
as India muslin, and on this transparent
surface are flowers of most natural hue
and design, printed there by some fine
process that makes them look as if
painted by hand. The great rose pat
terns are" liked by young ladies, while
their mothers wear the scabieuse flower,
and purple fleur de lis, or bunches of
pansies or lilacs. These thin tissues are
made up over white silk, a separate white
under-waist answering with several
dresses, but the silk skirt has the ma
terial placed directly on in each breadth,
and sewed up with it in its seams.
Flounces of scantily gathered white
lace are the trimmings, and the skirt
when finished is of scarcely perceptible
weight. Seven flounces of the lace cross
the front and sides, but only two pass
around the skirt. The short full dra
pery crosses in front, has a lace frill on
the edge, and its longer back breadths
are looped to represent a gTeat sash bow
with ends. Some of the waists are
basques shirred in surplice shape, and
others are baby waists full and belted,
with the neck cut square. The waist
lining of silk is also high in the back,
but is cut out in a point or square to
match the outside waist. Hose or olive
satin ribbons are made into loops for
these dresses, matching either the flower
or its foilage in color. Dark veivet or
pansy colored velvet ribbons are used
when the flowers are of these dark
colon.