Newspaper Page Text
J. W. HARRIS )
W. A. MAKtjCHALK,f Ed “* r * and Pr*lrlt*rs.
NEWS OF THE WEEK,
SOUTH.
Colonel James Coleman, for many
yoara superintendent of the telegraph lines
in Tennessee, died last week at Raleigh.
Conrad, the Swede, charged with the
murder of E. D. Creaawell, in Bartow county,
Ga., a short time since, has been tried and
acquitted.
Iter. Wesley Prettyman of the north
ern M. E. church and postmaster at Marietta,
Ga., has been arrested for embezzlement and
other penal violations of the postoffice laws.
M'jor General G. Pennypacker, colo
nel sixteenth U. S. infantry, lias been as
signed to the command of the Federal troops
in New Orleans, relieving Gen. Brooke, who
assumes command of his regiment, the third
infantry.
Montgomery, Ala,, was crowded with
negroes last week, drawing rations in accord
ance with an act of congress appropriating
SIO,OOO for the relief of those made destitute
by the overflow of the Tombigbee and Ala
bama rivers, last March and April.
EAST.
General Sherman has sold his resi
dence on I stroet, Washington, to ex-Mayor
Emory.
The will of Miss Mary D. Brown, of
Philadelphia, distributes $120,000 to local
charitable institutions.
During the year, 15,326 members
have been initiated into the Order of Good
Templars in the state of New Yoik.
The production of the cotton and
woolen millH in Berkshire county, Mass., will
he cut down twenty per cent, after the Ist of
October.
A oar load of twenty-one cattle from
Buffalo were attacked by a mysterious dis
order at Wasbiugtonville, N. Y. Eight sud
denly died and the others will die.
The cattle disease in Connecticut has
attained such proportions that it has attracted
the attention of eminent scientific gentlemen
of that state, and an effort will be made to
lessen the shipment of western and Indian
cattle, to which the origin <sf the disease has
been traced.
The recent experiments in the use of
steam as a propelling power on the Erie c mal
seem to have been satisfactory, and it is ex
pected that next season there will be at least
twenty steamboats on that canal. This will
effect practically a revolution in heavy freight
transportation, and bo of vast advantage to
the producing interests of the country.
The discovery made a few days ago
that forged deeds of real estate in New York
city and Brooklyn had been freely negotiated
in the market, threatens to produce a panic
among real estate dealers. Evidence is grad
ually coming to light that the deed forgery
business has baen quite extensive, involving
many parties, and having the appearanco of a
conspiracy.
The loss by the burning of the Gran
ite mill No. 1, at Fall Rrier, Massachusetts,
last week, is reported at $500,000. All
the operatives in the spooling room were
lost. In the fifth story they were panic
stricken, and jumped from the windows or
were suffocated. About thirty persons ware
killed and injured, and the dying number as
many mere. Investigation eeema to prove
that the fire originated in the mule room, hav
ing staited in from unused mule-heads in
charge of a boy named Young. The spinners
in the room tried to check the spread of the
flames with boxes and sticks, which broke all
the threads attached to the machine. Efforts
were mad a to subdue the lire, but ineffectu
ally, and when it was at last found necessary
to Bound the alarm, the flames had gathered
such strength that they were darting from
the lower windows. Many of the girls be
came unconscious from fright ero the flames
reached them. Seme leaped from the win
dows, preferring to be crushed and maimed to
being burned. The shocking, heartrending
sight that mot the eye on all sides was ago
nizing. The wailing of mothers and sisters
over their dead was terrible to hear. Granite
mills were incorporated in 1863, and No. 1 had
>6,000 spindles and 8,100 looms, and employed
at least 425 male and female operatives.
WEST.
Chicago now has a severe penalty for
any frame building.
The demands of the striking Illinois
miners will be acceded to.
Twenty-five hundred coal miners are
on a strike in St. Clair county, Illinois.
The Indians in Nebraska are murder
ing the defenseless settlers in the western
part of the state, and burning their homes and
running off the stock.
The Paris and Terre Haute, the Paris
and Decatur and the Peoria, Atlanta and De
catur railroads have been consolidated into
one road under the presidency of R. G. Haney,
and making a line of one hundred and eighty
miles between Terre Haute and Peoria, the
last rail upon which will be laid within thirty
days.
A military command, officially known
as “The Big-Horn expedition,” is being or
ganized at Rawlins, on the Union Pacific rail
road to rid the country of wandering Indians.
A regular camp is to be established on the
Sweetwater, where the infantry are to guard
the supplies while the cavalry sweep the
country. Buffalo Bill will lead the scouts.
A dispatch from Bismark says that a
party of fifty men will leave that place in about
thirty days for the Black Hills. The party
will be composed of experienced miners and
hunters, who not only know the color of gold
and the habits of the Indians, hut are sharp
enough to evade the military, and who, once
in the hills, can live as red men live, and con
sequently will not bother themselves with sup
plies to any great extent.
A large number of letters have been
received from grain men in various parts of
Missouri, and nearly every one contain a con
tradiction of the early estimates in regard to
the extent of the wheat crops. It is alleged
that the general yield will fall very much be
low the published estimates. The crop in the
near vicinity of St. Paul is reported heavier
than anywhere elso in the state, and tho
kresliiug machines are already dispelling the
expectations of & total crop of 25.000,000
bushels in Minnesota for the year 1374.
A correspondent in camp on tlie
Wichita river, telegraphs that the supply train
for Gen. Miles’ expedition, in charge of Maj.
Lyman, with one company of infantry and
twenty mon of the sixth cavalry, commanded
by Lieut. West, was carrolledon Wichita river,
on the 9th inist., by from 400 to 500 Comanches
and Kiowas. After a fight of five days the
Indians were repulse!, with the loss cf from
25 to 30 killed. Lieut. Lewis, fifth infantry,
was badly wounded in the loft leg, and two
men wore killed and five wounded. Maj.
Price of the eighth cavalry defeated a large
party of Coman lies on tho 15th inst., six
miles south, killing several. Liet. Baldwin
and three Sioux, with dispatches for supplies,
got through after a desperate fight, killing
five and capturing one renegade. On the 12th,
six couriers for supplies were surprised by 150
Comanches, on the Wichita, and after agallant
deforce and the loss of one of their number
killed, and all hut two wounded, repulsodthem
with a loss of 12 killed.
Reports from Davenport and Dubuque,
lowa, and Rock Island, Illinois, give accounts
of a terrible storm, rain and wind, in those
localities last week, by which a great amount
of property was destroyed and damaged at all
these places. Houses were unroofed, walls
blown down and fences scattered, while cellars
and basements were filled with water. The
whole snrrounding country was flooded. At
Rock Island the first Presbyterian church was
nearly destroyed, a portion of the roof being
lifted up and dropped through into tho base
ment, carrying with it the organ, pulpit and
floor, and upon these a great portion of the
THE STANDARD AND EXPRESS.
walls fell. It is impossible to estimate the
amount of damage, but it will be many thou
sand dollars. During the storm a freight
train on the Illinois Central railroad, when
three miles west of Dnnleith, ran into a break
caused by the flood. The engine was com
pletely wrecked. The engineer, fireman and a
brakeman were buried beneath the ruins.
They were taken out horribly scalded and
bruised. The brakeman died soon after, and
the other two are lying in a critical condition.
Col. Miles, in a dispatch, dated sth
inst., seventy miles south of Red river, ad
vises Gen. Pope that he should fall back for
supplies. His dispatch received by Gen.
Sheridan to-day is dated from camp on the
Wachita river, Sept. 14, and came via Fort
Do ige, leaving there on the 17th inst. He
says: I find that after leaving the Canadian
river, Maj. LomaD, commanding the escort to
supply the train, was attacked by from 3,000
to 4,000 Indians. On the morning of the 9th
inst. the Indians charged the train several
times, and made every effort to capture it,
fighting so determinedly as to detain it for
three days. The fight was very close, and th 6
train completely surrounded. On the third
day the Indians abandoned the attack, re
tiring south-west. From all the information I
can get here since my arrival, I believe they
formed no part of the body we drove eff the
Staked Plains. They were believed to have
boen led by Satanta and Big Tree. During
the fight Lieut. Lewis, of the fifth infantry,
was severely wounded in the knee. Sergeant
Dearmont, Cos. I, fifth infantry, was killed.
Sergeant Single, of the sixth cavalry, Private
Buck, of the fifth infantry, and wagon-master
Sanford were wounded, the latter mortally.
The officers estimate the number of Indians
killed at fifteen, and the wounded as many
more. Private Pettijohn, of tho sixth cavalry,
was killed near camp McClellan creek on the
11th. Lieut. Baldwin will have informed you
of his successful encounter with the Indians
while coming in as a* bearer of dispatches.
Part of the force that attacked Major Lyman
attacked a party of six bearing dispatches,
who entrenched themselves in the sand, and
after a desperate fight all day, in which one
courier and four men were wounded, Ihey
compelled the Indians to retire, having killed
twelve. Whenever we have fought they have
been severely punished, with comparatively
small loss on our side. The rivers to the
south are now so swollen as to be impassable
for wagons. lam building a bridge across
the Wachita. The cavalry were obliged to
swim their horses on returning. The march
back was even more exhausting than the ad
vance, even with Indians in our front, owing
to the terrible and continuous rains which
flooded the streams and made th3 roads
almost impassable, from which facts, as well
as because but half forage was furnished and
the Indians have destroyed much grass, the
animals have come in exhausted and worn
down. This command now occupies the val
leys of McClellan creek, Sweetwater and the
Wachita river. Maj. Price’s command is
camped near us, acting independently. Gen.
Pope, in a commuication inclosing Col. Miles’
report, says: Miles has force enough to beat
any Indians that can be met.
FOREIGN.
A dispatch from Constantinople says
the governor of Angara reports 35,000 people
utteily destitute, who will requiro mainten
ance throughout tho winter.
Tho London Standard says that the
Schleswig-Holstein question is assuming a
serious aspect, in consequence of the daily
expulsion of Danish subjects and the hostile
tone of the German press.
By a railway collision in England,
Sept. 11, twenty persons were killed outright
and fifty were seriously injured. This acci
dent occurred on the Great Eastern road,
which is supposed to be one of the best man
aged in the island.
The government had received assur
ances from its minister in London that there
wa3 now great hopes that tlifc Honduras rail
road would be finally finished. One section
of it, from the bridge of Lavinta to Blanca*
had been contracted for at .£4,000 per mile.
The great strike of cotton operatives
at Bolton, England, has begun. The strike
stops seventy-four mills, employing 13,000
hands. Forty-eight mills, employing 7,000
hands, continue operations. Subscriptions
for the strikers have been opened by the
trades-unions throughout the manufacturing
districts.
Guatemala advices say that four Eng
lish vessels of war, including the flag ship
Republic, were at San Jose. The government
had appointed Don Mincent Dardef, of Gua
temala, minister at Washington, to confer with
the United States centenary commissioners as
to how Guatemala best could be represented
at tho centennial exposition.
Reports from Nicaragua show that
the country was at peace. The Official Gazette
remarks that the moral progress the republic
has made was shown in the orderly way in
which the people celebrated the feast of San
Domingo and Santa Anna. Hundreds of pri
vate and public reports from the republic show
that it is beginning to enjoy some tranquillity.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Michael Hays, of treasury safe-bur
glary fame, has been released on $4,000 bail.
Edna Dean Proctor has instituted
suit against Francis D.' Moulton for libel, lay
ing damages at SIOO,OOO.
Army officers say that the army is not
large enough for the protection of the fron
tiers, and at the same time act as comitatus to
the judicial officers of the south, aud in en
forcing process in extraordinary cases, such as
that of Louisiana. m
Complaints are coming from various
sections of the west, and especially from
Pennsylvania, aud New York, of the suspen
sion, or partial suspension, of mills and man
ufactories for the want of water to run. The
trouble is rapidly extending, with prospets of
its bosoming general unless rain soon falls.
This is not only true of textile manufactories,
but flouring mills also, especially at the west,
whioh are shutting down to an extent that
shippers say they find it difficult to obtain
their needed supplies on this market, and that
they are largely compelled to hold off for fear
of putting up prices without getting a supply.
Oppressive Brilliancy.
“Madame Podsnap,” says the Sara
toga correspondent of the Washington
Capital, “ descends to breakfast with
the diamonds good society counten
ances in those who owned gems before
the days of shoddy, sparkling as soli
taires in her ears, and representing
$5,000 on her lingers, and beneath her
heavy silk, of a shade dark enough for
winter wear, is concealed a small for
tune, say $50,000 worth, of diamonds in
a muslin bag. She dare not leave them
in her room, of course, and cannot put
them in the hotel safe without giving
up the pleasure of wearing them each
evening, so she conceals them until
evening, when she displays them every
one; and sleeps with them beneath the
mattress. So she is doomed to dia
monds for constant, companions. It is
the only brilliancy 6he understands.”
Some Facts About Eels.
Eels, it has been proved, have both
sexes in one, and spawn somewhat, after
the manner of other fish. Like the tur
tle they can travel out of the water for
some distance, from stream to stream,
so that in almost every rivulet, however
small, they can be found. Tqe gills or
the breathing organs are covered up by
a most delicate curtain which acts like a
valve and a reservoir for water, thus en
abling the fish to take in a gill-full of
water, so to speak, to keep its gills moist
during the time it is out of the water.
It has a heart in the tail, the same that
is known to exist in the salmon, with
pulsations at about ninety-four tbe
minute.
TUANKSUIVMU.
Father, I thank Thee!
Once again I feel
The loving arm of thy protecting care,
Outstretched to save mo in the dreary night
Of sorrow and despair.
I was to weary!
I had wanderd far
Out on the billows of life’s troubled sea.
Without the Pilot who alone can guide,
Tempest-tossed souls to Thee.
Earth-trials thickened!
And the hour grew dark,
My Btep was faltering, and my faith was weak,
In bitterness I piaved that death might come
And then I heard Thee speak.
Only a whisper 1
By the ocean borne,
Bringing sweet comfort from the heavenly shore,
“ Be stiil and know that I am God,”
Nor fret thy spirit more.
Only a lamb that strayed
From out the fold.
Yet the good shepherd sought, with anxious pain,
To find tbe wanderer, and with loving care
To bring it back again.
For this I thank Thee !
And tho’ still the test
Of earih’s hard conflict I may have to bear,
I’ll lean upon a Saviour’s loving arm.
And I will conquer by tbe power of prayer.
THOSE TWO HEARTS.
Yes, it certainly was the door-bell.
“Da-liverance!” said Miss Phrygia,
“and I’ve just taken the comb out of
my back hair 1”
In emergencies of this kind Miss
Phrygia had a way of drawing back the
tidy chintz curtain just far enough to
peer through and see whether it would
do to ran down “ just as she was.” If
it would do, down she ran, and if it
wouldn’t, she called softly through her
window “Immediately!” and then
flashed through her preparations with
a speed, truly miraculous, for Miss
Phrygia had a love of promptitude that
covered the whole superficial stratum of
her nature, and “ Immediately !” was
so favorite an expression of this quality,
that if 3he had been asked graciously
to set a time for her own execution,
those who knew her best would have
expected it as the natural and unhesi
tating reply.
But this time, as the chintz curtain
revealed a pony phaeton at the irate,
and on the door-step a slight, maidenly
figure, a sweet young face, and a mist
of golden hair, she only said “Dear
heart!” and laying the "comb on tbe
dressing table, she glided down stairs,
her own locks falling into an undula
tion of chestnut rings, that, might well
have been the envy of a goddess in her
own namesake land.
“So glad you are at home,” said a
voice from under the golden mist.
“ I’ve just brought you my little book.
I’ve kept the last page for you, you al
ways have everything so nice. Any
trifle, 4 light as air,’ you know, will do.”
It was od6 of those blessed old towns,
rare to find in these days, where the
loftly and the lowly knew and respected,
loved and took an interest in, each
other, and Miss Phrygia, instead of
waiting for the book, wh’ch the maid
ens of the place, when about to assume
the duties of wife and housekeeper,
had a fashion of circulating amoDg
their friends for collections of choice
receipts, reached forth and took both
the slender, gauntleted hands in her
own. As she did so, her right thumb
pressed a diamond on the left forefinger
of her visitor, and her face, so beaming
as she ran down stairs, suddenly melted
into a different expression, as she gazed
into the hazel eyes confronting her with
a yearning tenderness pitiful to see.
“Poor thing!” she said softly, “poor
little thing!”
“ Why, what’s the matter. Miss
Phrygia ? I know you don’t like en
gagement rings, but you can’t under
stand that I am, and am going to be,
the happiest little woman in tho world.”
“ Poor little thing!” was all Hiss
Phrygia said again, much as you would
eoo over an unfledged doveling that will
fall out of the nest.
“And then,” with a caressing squeeze
from the slender hands, “ I’m not go
ing far, you know—-only a step—you
can see the chimneys right up there
through the trees. You’ll como and see
me often, won’t you ?”
“ That’s what they say when people
die, but a pretty long step, I call it,”
said Miss Phrygia ; “still, it’s always a
sort of comfort to visit their graves,
and I’ll come with pleasure.”
“Oh, Miss Phrygia! Well, I only
wish you did understand. I wish you’d
get married yourself! You’d be a
hundred times better off; didn’t you
ever feel so in your secret heart ’?”
“Yes,” said Miss Phrygia, quietly,
“ a groat many times.”
“ Don’t you think it would be pleas
anter than living here all alone?”
“ Yes,” said Miss Phrygia.
“ Then why haven’t you tried it ?”
“ There’s been always just one dif
ficulty with every opportunity I’ve had,”
said Miss Phrygia, dropping her eyes
thoughtfully—“yon can’t seem to find
any way of doiDg it but by marrying some
man, and that,” with a little shiver run
ning over her shoulders, “puts it so out
of the question!”
A rippling laugh, that made the
golden mist seem like moonlight on the
lake, answered Miss Phrygia.
“ Then if you could come across an
angel you think you would venture ?”
“Immediately,” said Miss Phrygia.
“ Well, I’m sorry I’m so fond of the
only one in the world that I can’t give
him up to you, but it does seem as if
yon might find something,” and with
another little squeeze, the dainty hands
left a marble-covered book in Miss
Phrygia’s, took up the pony-reins, and
drove away.
Miss Phrygia went slowly up stairs,
put in her comb, and sat down to the
receipt book, for “ immediately” was
deed as well as word with her. A soft
evening cloud that alternately lets fall
a few drops of refreshing rain upon the
flowers, and then illuminates its whole
surface with a heaving flash, direful to
be encountered, is a fib type of Miss
Phrygia’s face, as, gazing at the open
page, her thoughts turned first to the
gentle heart that would ponder its pud
dings, and then to the “ man” into
whose keeping that heart’s happiness
was to be confided.
“ Poor thing ! Sweet heart!” she
murmured, with a tender moisture in
her eyes, aud then, with a dangerou#
flash, “ Horrid creature! I wonder what
he looks like !”
The alterations went on for a few
minutes, and then a sudden gleam of
humor lighted up her face, as if some
stray, belated sunbeam had tipped the
cloud with pink.
“ A t rifle light as air,” she said, “I'll
write it for her !” and seizing a pen,
Miss Phrygia wrote :
MORTAIiITY PUFFS —NEVER KNOWN TO FAIL.
Eggs (cockatrice), 1.
Milk (human kindness), just ready to
sour, 1 drop.
Cream of tartar-caught, 2 large
spoons, heaping.
Flower (of an hour), 1 full cup. .
Salt (of the earth), very small pinch,
mere dusting.
Raise with fermentations brewed as
follows :
Hop(e)s realized, 1.
“ disappointed, 99.
Sweeten with faith and submission.
Spice with variety.
Bake in earthen vessels, under a slow
fire, til], the vessels crack.
******
A week later, Miss Phrygia put on a
pair of black gloves, a black bonnet,
and a "black lace veil to let down in case
she should cry, and went to chnrch to
see a plain gold ring take precedence
of the diamond she had pressed, and to
hear the hymeneal blessiDg pronounced
over this mist of golden hair.
She bad to drop her veil onoe or twice
us she gazed at the cloud of lace and
orange-blossoms before the altar, and
when she couldn’t help seeing the new
broadcloth suit that stood beside it,
CARTERSVILLE, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1874.
she kept herself down by repeating as
fast as she could, “ Charity hopeth all
things, endureth all thiDgs, is not easily
provoked.” Then she uent home, put
on the brightest dress she had, and
went to nurse a sick neighbor who could
obtain no assistance for money, and
therefore must have it for love.
The bright dress had almost time to
fade before Miss Phrygia saw the way
clear to go home again. If was a long
pull, and neither she nor the invalid
knew how they would have got through
had it not been for the strength and
comfort of the doctor’s daily visits.
Six feet in height, two hundred pounds
in weight, strong as a tower, firm as a
rock, cool as a hygrograpb, and yet
when pain or discouragement called for
it, quick with a brooding tenderness,
more beautiful, Miss Phrygia thought,
even than a woman’s.
Twilight in tbe sick room seemed
lonely to Miss Phrygia, and she fell in
to the way of watching for a light to
gleam through the elms that shaded
the doctor’s house just opposite, but no
light ever appeared, and she had just
made up her mind that he was never at
home in the evening, when she had to
send for him two or three times after
the stars were out, and there he was.
“Oh dear !” she said, “I hope he
doesn’t sit there withont so much as a
candle lighted, thinking about those
children of his that were drowned, and
the wife in the insane asylum that only
died a year and a half ago. He can’t
or he never could como over here on a
moment’s call, all ready to cheer us up
and be such a comfort !” This “ cheer
ing them up and being a comfort” con
tinued until Miss Phrygia began to
wonder what days at home would seem
without it, when her season of duty
should be ended. What Ihe doctor
thought about losing his nurse, he did
not say, but he insisted upon seeing her
home, when the time oame, although
the moon was as large as a cart wheel,
and shining clear.
As they came out, they both invol
untarily glanced up at the house under
the shadow of the elms.
“ Dark,” said Miss Phrygia; “it al
ways is.”
“ Yes,” said the doctor, “ it has been
for a good many years now, very dark.”
“I know it,” said Miss Phrygia, soft
ly, feeling ns if she ought to have on
her black gloves again.
“Don’t you think,” said tho doctor,
adjusting her hand a trifle more closely
to his arm, “ don’t you think I might
bring in a bright, warm light before
long, if I could find it ?”
“ Immediately !” said Miss Phrygia.
“Even,” —and the doctor stooped to
come as near as he could to a look un
der Miss Phrygia’s hat,— “ even if I
should leave your house empty and
dark to do it?”
W T hat Miss Phrygia said, or’ what
either or both of them said after that,
will never be revealed ; but certain it is
that when Miss Phrygia ought to have
been going to sleep that night, she
wasn’t going to sleep at all, but saying
over and over to herself : “ Oh, what
have I done ? What have I done ? How
could I ever do it ? What am I going
to do ?”
The perplexityjthickened and dark
ened, to the peril of Miss Phrygia’s
nigiit, when suddenly a ray of light
flashed forth upon it.
“Why, of course!” she said. “He
isn’t exactly a man, after all; he’s a
doctor ; and that’s just how I came to
do it!” and with this satisfactory con
clusion in her soul, and a wonderful
whirl of new sensations in her heart,
Mis# Phrygia turntd on her pillow, and
went .o sleep like a kitten.
The village was so astir with the news
the next week, that Miss Phrygia was
thankful her first walk, —leaning on an
arm that wasn’t her’s, and yet claimed
to be, —came in the twilight.
The shadows deepened as she wan
dered on, listening to a great many
things the doctor had to say, until at
last, just as Miss Phrygia spoke for the
first time, a glow-worm came in sight.
“ I must stop and tie up my shoe !”
was what Miss Phrygia said, and
whether the doctor heard it or not,
he stepped forward a few paces to see
about the glow-worm, and Miss Phrygia
put up her foot on a stone by the way
side. As she stooped, a noiseless step,
accompanied by one a trifle heavier,
came behind her; something misty
touched her cheek, and a voice whisper
ed in herear:
“Is that your mortality puff?”
“Hush A/” said Miss Phrygia.
“Yes, for a breath might blow him
away. Bring him round to visit my
grave, won’t you ? Some evening about
tea-time ; and we’ll have—puffs J”
“Immediately!” said Miss Phrygia.
The Longevity of Birds.
Among the feathered creation the
eagle and raven, the swan and parrot,
are each centenarians. An eagle kept
in Vienna died after a confinement of
one hundred and fourteen years, and
on an ancient oak in Slid borne, still
known as the “raven tree,” the same
pair of raveni are believed to have
fixed their residence for a series of
more than ninety years. Swans upon
the river Thames, about whose age
there can be no mistake, since they are
annually nicked by the Vintner’s com
pany, uuder whose keeping they have
been for five centuries, have been known
to survive one hundred and fifty years
and more. Tbe melody of the dying
swan is entirely mythological. Upon
approach of death the bird quits the
water, sits down upon the bank, lays i?s
head upon the ground, expands if*
wings a trifle and expires, uttering no
sound. The extreme longevity of the
parrot is equally authentic. In the zoo
logical gardens of London there is a
macaw that was admitted to the tower
in the year 1761. At Versailles, during
the reign of Charles X., there was al
ways hanging a cage in the (Eil-de-bce if
which contained a parrot purchased by
the Regent Orleans for the the Duchess
de Berri. There is not a collection of
birds in any of the royal aviaries of
E iope that has not its ancient parrot.
The writer purchased a gray African
parrot in 1856, whose residence in’Walea
was authenticated for seventy-seven
years. Tim bird, more wonderful for
variety of speech than for her age,
learning everything and forgetting
nothing, accomplished alike in the Welsh
tongue and the English, born in Africa,
living more than three quarters of a
century in Europe, and dying in Amer
ica, might have been alive now but for
heediessness. In 1867 she had certainly
approached, if slio had not reached and
passed, her one hundredth year. Upon
a severe cold night in December of
that year, she was sent from New York
to Washington, and perished by the
way. She was in perfect health, had
never known a day of sickness, showed
no decrepitude, enjoyed life to the ut
most, demanded no allowances or con
cessions on the score of advanced years,
and might, but for an exposure to the
rigor of an unaccustomed climate, have
been alive to-day.
Almost invariably the cry of a short
cotton crop comes up in September
from various sections of tbe country.
Reports from Augusta, Memphis and
Galveston this year take similar gloomy
views; but lrom Mobile and New
Orleans a considerable increase is an
ticipated. A review of the entire field
at the present time would probably in
dicate nearly, if not quite, an average
crop.
When a paper says that there has
never been a family fight in the town of
Clio, lowa, it little knows of the way
women have of choking their husbands
with the left hand to drown the noise of
their screams as the rolling pin falls.
SNUFF-DIPPING.
The Viltliy l*rctlce Wot Confined to the
Southern States.
From the New York Times.
The variens modes of using tobacco
are by snuffing, chewing, smoking and
dipping. It has been generally consid
ered that the latter practice belongs alto
gether to the southern and southwes
tern states, but it is not so ; it extends
to a certain degree throughout tho en
tire length and breadth of the land.
Snnff-dipping is so called perhaps from
the reason that it is used in small
quantities obtained from the bottle or
box, as tbe case may be, by dipping it
out with a stick or small spoon. The
practice prevails to a slight extent in
the state of New York, and to a much
greater extent in the cities than in the
country. It orig nated among the demi
monde, and from them gradually made
its way to other classes of society. Two
kinds of snuff are used by the dippers,
both of which, however, are known as
Scotch. The difference between them
is that one has a certain amount of table
salt mixed with it, and the other has
none. They are known as salt Scotch
and fresh Scotch. Fresh Scotcliis pre
pared more in this city than in any
oilier part of the state. The following
is the manner of dipping in New York :
The dipper is provided with a small
spoon, about half the size of a common
teaspoon, with which she dips a suffi
cient quantity of snuff from her bottle.
Then seizing the lower lip with the
thumb and forefinger of her left hand
she draws it well forward and fills the
cavity with*the bonne bonche contained
in the spoon. There she lets it remain
until it is gradually diffused through
her mouth, expectorating the while, in
a manner that would do credit to a
veteran. Sometimes tho delicacy is
daintily enveloped in a fine piece of
tissue paper and deposited in the same
place. In the eastern states the salt
Scotch is preferred, but it is not used
in the same way as in New York. There
the dippers use a small stick of some
very fibrous wood, the end of which is
chewed until it assumes a mop-like ap
pearance owing to the separation of the
fibres. This is dipped into the snuff
and then rubbed on the gums and teeth.
A large quantity of the snuff is used by
the factory girls in all the eastern
states, and it may readily be imagined
how easily a habit of that kind may ex
tend among a people.
In the southwest, that is to say in
Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Lou
isiana and Texas, Scotch snuff is used
exclusively with a stick, as in the east
ern stifles. The habit is indulged in
by all classes, in secret by the higher
and openly by the lower. In North and
South Carolina “ high toast” snuff is
tho kind in demand. It is peculiarly
strong and pungent, as it is made by
very much the same process as the Irish
Blackgurrd, being dried on heated
screens before being ground. In Geor
gia and Alabama Maccaboy snuff is the
favorite. It is a strong, black snuff,
salted, and scented with otto of rose.
In all the last-mentioned states the stick,
or “ brush,” as they call it, is employed.
In Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey,
Maryland, and the western states, there
is but little snuff dipping, but there, as
in all other states, the habit is steadily
increasing. The Scotch snuffs above
alluded to are all of a light coffee brown,
and are perfectly dry and ground as
fine as flour. The Maccaboy, which is
almost black, is coarse aud quite moist.
So far as expectoration is concerned, the
spoon dippers are not excelled by their
sisters who prefer the stick, either of
them being able to compete with the
celebrated Mr. Hannibal Chollop, the
gentleman whom Mr. Chuzzelwit met at
Eden during his travels in America, who
“ required two foot in a circ-lar di-reo
tion,” and who had “ gone ten foot in a
circ-lar di-rection” on a wager.
Dipping is apparently vesy beneficial
to the teeth, and it may be that the
habit is often acquired from using snuff
as a dentifrice. The writer of this ar
ticle has traveled extensively through
the south and the southwest, and his
experience has been that wherever the
practice prevailed the teeth of the wo
men were beautifully white and singu
larly free from decay. Tobacco pos
sesses high antiseptio and detergent
properties, and must exercise beneficial
influence in purifying the mouth.
In order to show to what an extent
the habit has obtained, it will only be
necessary to say that in the year 1873,
one New York firm alone, Messrs. P.
Lorillard & Cos., sold in round numbers
161,000 pounds of snuA all of which
was of the kind used for dipping, be
sides more that 150,000 pounds of the
regular mixtures for the old fashioned
snuffers. Add to this enormous quan
tity the large amounts manufactured in
the other cities, and some idea may be
formed of the extent to which dipping
is carried in the United States.
Dancing With a Fat Woman.
The new York Herald reporter has
been to a “ Fat Woman’s Clam Bake,”
in Pleasant Valley, N. Y., whereat
solid ladies of some three hundred
pounds attempted the light, agile and
graceful dance. He chose the smallest
partner he could find. Unfortunate
man ! There was a band on the music
stand, which played quadrilles without
any dancers for some time, owing to the
known modesty of the fat people.
Through au unadvised sentiment I was
induced to dance a waltz with a fat wo
man, who turned the scale at 193
pounds. Now, let it be “remembered
that the thermometer stood at 88 de
grees, and the floor was highly glazed.
After several bows had been delivered,
I approached my female Behemoth and
grasped her madly around what was in
tended for a waist, but which resembled
much more a sack of oats. The band
of eight pieces struck up a waltz troi
temps, and in tbe word* of Artemus we
“glode.” After the first step or two,
I felt as if 1 had been swinging Kehoe’s
clubs for a week, aud there was a sing
ing in my ears as I vainly strove to glue
myself to the floor. I looked over the
lady’s shoulders and saw tears in the
eyes of some of the spectators, while
others were laughing outright at my
predicament. The lady grasped me
tighter, and the drum gave a rattle.
My collar flew off, and a button was
heard audibly to rattle on the floor like
the sound of a pistol ballet that might
be dropped suddenly. She struggled
a moment as we went whirling around—
I mean as I went whirling around; for
she was moving with the specific grav
ity of a lumberyard on wheels—and
suddenly I was hurled into space
and lay on a bench, while the lady
dropped into a seat, and her bench shut
itself into a fan, under the terrible
weight of her person. Thus ended my
first and last waltz with a fat woman.
I felt humiliated, aud heard her telling
a lady friend shortly after that I didn’t
amount to much—l was too light.
TV hat a Blind Man Sees.
Nature struggles hard to make up for
any defects in the senses, and she gives
to the blind a certain power to see
when the eyes give no help. A blind
man says :
“ Whether within the house, in the
open air, whether walking or standing
still, I can tell, though quite blind,
when I am opposite an object, and can
perceive whether it be tall or short,
slender or bulky. I can also detect
whether it be a solitary object or a con
tinuous fence, whether it be a close
fence or composed of open rails, and
often whether it be a wooden fence, a
brick or stone wall, or a quick-set
hedge. I cannot usually perceive ob
jects, if much lower than my shoulder,
tut sometimes very low objects can be
detected. This may depend on the na
ture of the obj set, or on some abnormal
state of the atmosphere. The currents
of air can have nothing to do with this
power, as the state of the mind does not
directly affect it; the sense of hearing
has nothing to do with it, as when Blow
lies thick on the ground objects are
more distinct, although the footfall can
not be heard. I seem to perceive ob
jects through the skin of my face, and
to have the impression directly trans
mitted to the brain. The only part of
my body possessing this power is my
face ; this I have ascertained by- suita
ble experiments. Stopping my ears
does not interfere with it, but oovering
my face with a thick veil destroys it al
together. None of the five senses have
anything to do with the existence of this
power, and the circumstances above
named induae mo to call this unrecog
nized sense by the name of 4 Faiil
Perception.’”
MONKEYS.
The ‘'Conueotlni; Link” as a Uouseliohl
Pet.
There are people who like monkeys.
They it is who must be the true link be
tween us and monkeys, just as monkeys
make tbe link between them and lower
animals. In my opinion one must be,
as it were, a semi-simian to endure the
society or even the sight of monkeys.
I have, as I said, no sympathy whatever
with them ; my dignity will not admit
of it. I feel as a staid Castilian might
feel in company with a low comedian
from the Palais Koyal. Their grimaces
make me uncomfortable, their half hu
manity shocks me, their hideous com
*mnnity of feature with some of my
dearest friends is horrible to me. A
party of my fellow-creatures staring,
with faces expressive of various stages
of idiotic delight, at the antics of the
caged monkeys in the Zoological gar
dens, is to me a pitiful and painful spec
tacle ; it is enough to persuade a man
of the truth of Darwinism. Mr. Glad
stone, who, not long ago, deplored the
fact that his special duties gave him no
leisure to read Darwin and Wallace, and
to make up his miud upon the doctrine
of evolution, might perhaps now find
time to spend an hour in front of the
monkey-house in the Zoological gar
dens. He would, lam sure, come away
a Btrong believer iu this fashionable
doctrine. Yet monkeys have many
pleasing qualities ; some of the species
are very gentle, and capable of con
siderable affection toward human be
ings. There is, however, that about
monkeys, in this country at least,
which should effectually stand in the
way of their becoming pets. They
have almost always, every one of them,
the seeds of a fatal consumption, their
lives are nearly always to be measured
by a few months, and their antics are
none the fewer that they aie racked
every now and then by a dry hectic
cough. Their ill health depresses them,
bnt nothing can deprive them of their
love of mischief, and this contrast of
buffoonery and depression is one reason
why a monkey makes one of the most
melancholy of pets. They are ghastly
humorists, they are drolls in season and
out, their gaiety is like that ascribed
to the Chinese, who laugh to see the
executioner flog or behead a criminal.
A monkey’s humor is of a kind that I
could never enter into. It is founded
on the doing of mischief. Let a man
who does not believe me watch a mon
key playing with puppies or kittens,
and compare their innocent playfulness
with the cruel tricks the monkey will
put upon them. My own monkey pined
away, and in two months after he came
to me, do what I would, was in the last
stage of consumption. It was cold,
shivery, winter weather. He crouched
near the fire, feeble and exhausted, look
ing at me, as sick animals will do, with
reproachful eyes, as if I were responsi
ble for his sufferings; but almost to the
last he would do mischief, pulling a
burning coal on tbe hearth-rug, or up
setting a cup of tea if it stood within
reach of him. Notwithstanding his
wickedness he was affectionate. And
I was getting reconciled to him when
he died. —New Quarterly Magazine.
The Colors of Animals.
Color is often the protector of the
life of the creature. In this respect
the principle of utility, which is much
spoken about by the partisans of the
theory of indefinite transformations
manifested in all parts of the organism,
requires little consideration to be
deemed indisputable. The hunter rea
dily believes that the animal has suc
ceeded in escaping from him in conse
quence of the gray or tawny color of
the fur, which was scarcely to be dis
tinguished' from the soil, of its
plumage, which was almost identical
with th foliage of the trees. In num
berless cases, hares and rabbits, flying
over the naked soil, are able to evade
their pursuers from a similar cause.
The antelopes of Africa and the kanga
roos of Australia have coats that pro
cure for them equal advantages. The
lion may be cited as a magnificent ex
ample of conformity or coloration.
Lying upon the sand of the desert, or
squatted among the rocks, the animal
at a short distance would be almost in
visible, and the gazelle would approach
him without a fear of danger. The po
lar bear does not stand out conspicu
ously upon the glaciers ; the arctic fox,
the ermine, the alpine hare, which have
earthly tints in summer, have in win
ter the whiteness of the fields of snow
which they traverse. Nocturnal beasts,
bats, rats, and mice wear vestments,
which are well suited to obscurity. Al
though the tiger, the leopard, the pan
ther have, it is true, very visible mark
ings, yet they hide themselves beneath
trees, whence they spring upon their
prey. Among birds protective colors
are very common. Even without the
testimony of travelers we should have
good reason to suppose that paroquets,
touracos, and parrots, colored with all
sorts of beautiful shades of green,
would be very difficult of discovery in
tropical forests. In the desert where
there is no shelter, and where neither
tree nor bush is to be seen, swallows,
quails, linnets, and gangas, which in
habit such localities, wear plumage of
various shades of p r ay and “ isabella”
similar to the sands and gravel. In the
mountains of Europe the lagopede (a
species of partridge) during the sum
mer has a plumage which exactly har
monizes with the tint of rocks covered
with lichens. The bird delights to har
bor among such rocks, and sportsmen
say that frequently a large flock of
them escape notice. In the winter,
however, the lagopede changes his cos
tume and becomes as white as the
snows; he again succeeds in warding
off attention. The yellows, browns,
and “ dead-leaf” tints of groupe render
the animal almost invisible when repos
ing among the trees in the woods. A
species of goat-sucker found in South
America is of such peculiar tints that
when it is lying upon the little rock is
lands of the Bio-Negro it cannot be
perceived by the keenest vision.
The proprietor of the Summit House,
in the White Mountains, finds it neces
sary to warn his patrons as follows :
“ Guests going out to see the sun rise
are requested not to take the blankets
from their rooms.” The genial land
lord (all landlords are genial) has no ob
jection to see his guests going sooting
before the gale, provided they do not
carry the bedclothes with them and
their bills are paid.
Gen. Cttlcula, the new Carl it,t briga
dier, exchanged the whip of a coach
man for the r.word of a soldier, while
Lieut. Gen. Saballs came from the gal
leys. On the 4th of July, 1850, he was
sentenced for life for robbery.
A PERUVIAN SHAKE.
The Terrors of “ K 1 Temblor”—ilovv the
People Act.
Lima Cor. Chicago Tribune.
Since I wrote you my last letter we
have had some of our customary earth
quake shocks, passing over Lima in the
direction of A'-eqnipa, and not felt at
all, or very little, in the western part of
the city. Nor did the shock reach Cal
lao, although it was felt among the
shipping in the harbor, and the waves
were agitated for a few seconds, as if a
whirlpool were about to form in the bay.
The morning came damp, lowering and
cloudy ; so that our friends, as we set
them iu the streets, said, with a shrug
of the shoulders : “Regular earthquake
weather this !” Exactly as we would
say to our friend in the United States,
on meeting him, “We shall have a storm
by and by.” At about 2p. m., low, sul
len clouds settle lower and darker,
birds wheel wildly in frightened cir
cles, chickens and turkey-buzzards fly
in haste to some shelter, and the river
Bimac moans noisily as it rushes over
its stony bed. The donkeys in the
street bray with tremendous frequency,
and a cloud of dust, through tbe feot
deserted streets, warns all pedestrians
that some calamity is at hand. Shut
ters flap and creak ; the distant blue
bills surrounding Lima darken and
seem lost in gloom ; my horse, standing
at roy paved court-yard gate, unhitched
and free to wander at will up and down
the paths, as is the custom, suddenly
begins to tremble, giving shrill neighs,
and a cold sweat runs down his shapely
neck and legs, as he shudders and grow a
mare and more uneasy. Now my dog
begins to howl, and crouches with
trembling limbs, and mute, imploring
eyes, at my feet. The wind wails, the
sky darkens, and a hoarse, muttered
murmur comes on the air, near and more
near, low aud ominous. Now the doors
begin to quiver, the windows jar and
rattle. My bird-cage, with its fright
ened occupants, sways and falls; the
parrot shrieks, “El temblor TCI tem
blor !” (the earthquake! the earth
quake !) and buried his head under his
wiDg. Now the very house-timbers and
joists crack and strain. Chimneys fall,
with adobe plastering flying: and all
tho frightened inhabitants, Peruvian
and foreign, rush madly, pell-mell, into
the street. Many run to the open plaza,
or square, to escape the falling build
ings, should any fall.
A sudden lull, a hush of wind and
moaning sound, and again, louder and
nearer, the dread earthquake comes
again. Here are frightened women,
with disheveled hair and tears of peni
tence ; here are wealthy senoras. half
clad, and just from their toilettes,
kneeling in common fright and suspense
most trying, side by side with the Chi
nese beggar, sore and loathsome, or be
side a negro Cholo, fairly pale with ap
prehension. There are cries and pray
ers, clasped hands and kneeling figures,
in long, black mantas, looking more
ghastly from the funeral aspect.
“ Where may we go ?” cry one and all
as the ground rise# and fells in billowy
undulations; and children mingle their
screams with the general uproar. Tet
all of it passes over in less than a sec
ond of time, less than I have taken
to describe it; and whenagain the sun,
bursts forth, the clouds disperse, and
all fears are allayed that the earthquake
will come again this day, then the kneel
ing figures jump up as lively as they
knelt down, and the laughter and the
gossiping begin. Beside the public
fountains, the dark-eyed senorita, with
the powder on half of her face, gathers
and rolls up her masses of heavy hair,
aud, smiling, flits into the house to
complete her toilette ; and the vocifer
ous cries of the water-men, the calls of
the cake and dulce venderp, and the
bustle of busy city life commence ex
actly where they were interrupted an
hour before!
Such is the levity of these people, so
accustomed have they become to these
earthquake shocks that they will dance,
and flirt, and sing ; go through all the
different gradations of horror, terror,
abject despair, faintings, prayings,
kneelings, jnea-cuipa cries and shriek
ings, during the few short seconds of an
earthquake vibration; and forget its
terrors as soon as it has passed quiver
ingly by.
But with a foreigner the case i3 very
different. He may have been through
fire and flood, through the dangers of
shipwreck and through hairbreadth es
capes on land and sea ; but the longer
he lives in this volcanic country, the
more he treads its thin, lava-crusted
soil and studies the innervolcanic forces
of its strata, the oftener he experiences
an ever-so-slight vibration of an earth
quake, the more he dreads and fears it,
the more solemn are his reflections as
the earth and sea rock and jar ; and, as
to becoming used to it, only a native
born Peiuvian can say that with any
shadow of truth.
Of all the horrors of an earthquake,
those shocks which occur at nicht are
the most terrible. Tour bed rocks you
like a very cradle ; and, throwing on
the first clothing that lies handy, you
attempt to draw with trembling hands
the bolts of the doors of your hours—
that meanwhile are jarring and crashing
so that you seem every moment in dan
ger of being buried in a living tomb by
the falling timbers—and then, when
desperate fear has given you superhu
man strength to pull the displaced bolts
from their fastenings, you rush head
long, impelled by the oscillating lateral
motion, into the dismal streets, with a
darkness that can be felt all around
you—your knees quaking, sdJ the cries
of kneeling, awe-stricken wretches sing
ing in your ears.
Such a feeling of insecurity comes
over you, such a sense of your own lit
tleness, when the solid grouud rolls and
quiveis under your feet! Such a feel
ing of awe, aad shrinking of very soul,
after the shock has passed on and over,
and you are left pallid and dazed, to
think of it all.
The First Steamboat..
At Shepherdstown, in Jefferson coun
ty, West Virginia, the first steamboat
was built. General Washington and
Governor Johnson, of Maryland, were
the patrons of the enterprise. After
the war they procured together the in
corporation of the Potomac company
by their respective states. And in 1785
Bumsey demonstrated to them on the
Potomac, above Shepherdstown, his
great discovery that a boat could be
propelled by steam up stream against
the current. The boiler and machinery
for Bumsey’s steamboat wero made at
the Catoctin iron furnace, in Frederick
county, then owned by Johnson and
some of his brothers. The gentlemen
of the Potomac country then used to go
to the Baltimore (now Berkeley) springs
to drink the waters, and this experiment
of Bumsey’s, of steam navigation, was
certified to have been a success by
Washington, Johnson, and other emi
nent men then present. The first steam
boat was propelled on the Potomac;
the first boiler was made in Frederick
county, twenty years before Fnlton per
fected the idea and applied it on the
Hudson.
Discoveries Near the North Pole.
According to accounts in late London
journals, the Austrian north pole expe
dition was frozen in at the north point
of Nova Zembla in August, 1872, and
was driven in a northwesterly direction
with ice. The crew worked five months
in vain during the summer of 1873 to
free the ship. In the autumn of this
year, north o: the 80th degree of lati
tude, an unknown land was discovered,
whose boundary line, north and west,
was not to be seen. A thin line was ex
plored in sledges from the 9.h of March
to the 4th of May, 1874, up to the SSd
degree. In honor of the emperor of
Austria, this was named Franz Joseph
Land. There were were no signs of an
imal life. On tho 20th of Mav, 1874,
the crew left the ship to get off in four
sledges, and after traveling ninety-six
days, reached Nova Zembla, wherie they
met with some Russian seamen and
were taken to Wardoe, in Norway, after
undergoing indescribable sufferings and
privations.
OUR EDUCATIONAL MOLOCH.
A Common Sente View ot tlie Modern
Public School * ystem.
The native of America has his fetishes
as well as the untutored inhabitant of
Africa. One of these is the educational
system in vogue in our public schools.
It is a cardinal point of belief with the
othordox American that the system is
perfect and ought not tx> be touched.
The teachers are held to be inspired
and infallible. To hint it a reform in
their laws and customs iu esteemed al
most a crime. Therefore it is that the
youthful American is placed in the arms
of the moloch of education, Jand his
parents are bidden to keep at respectful
distance until the will ol that power is
accomplished. The mould into which
the child is plaeed is one and the same
for all. It is of iron, ant will not bend.
Tne child must be made to fit the sys
tem, since the system wi 1 not yield an
iota to accommodate the peculiarities
of any particular child. In this, it may
be respectfully submitted, the system
is defective. Asa point of fact, is is
questionable whether as good general
scholars are turned out by the schools
of the day, with all their modern appli
ances, as by the old-fashioned school
teachers who taught in log cabins, with
few text-books and impel ect aids to ed
ucation. The trouble seems to be that,
children are forced and ci ammed. It is
the aim to send out graduates of imma
ture age, who put on the appearance of
vast erudition, but have little practical
knowledge for the business of life.
Pupils are well up in algebra who can
not tell where Fort Biidger is, and
seholais who can give the chemical sym
bols are unable to fix the vear in which
the constitution of the United States
was adopted. Logic, rhetoric, anil ge
ometry are excellent studies in them
selves, but accurate spelling, aud a full
knowledge of geography and histo*y
are a necessity of daily life to one who
pretends to anything like an education.
Boys are studying logic and quadratic
equations, when they should be thumb
ing the spelling-book. Arithmetic is
made the foundation ani test of all
progress, and everything else is sacri
ficed to it, though the knowledge of the
elementary rules of that science is all
that is needed in the ordinary affairs of
life. Hence a child that has a good
memory stands well and is advanced
rapidly, though he should forget to
morrow what he learns to-day. The
teachers hear the lesson by rote, and
memory is therefore always at a prem
ium. Of course the child who has no
taste for arithmetic, though a genius
in all else, must stand at the foot of the
lowest class so long as he or she remains
a scholar. These things ought not so
to be. A sound system of education
would place spelling, geography and
history on a par with mathematics, and
would give the brain that puzzles over
vulgar fractions an opportunity to make
up its defeat by triumphs in other lines.
Colleges can afford to make much of
Euclid, Sophocles, and Kant, but aver
age graduates of tbe public schools
want to learn everything about their
own country, and a little about tbe rest
of the world. The plan of giving a
free education to every child is a grand
one, but it by no means follows that the
system in use is infallible. Parents
can do little or nothing by their over
sight, so long as the rules are inflexibly
applied to all alike. On all hands it is
agreed that there is too much cram
ming. Physicians say that growing
children should not study at home. If
the teachers are educators, and not
merely machines to hear s lesson by
rote, the six hours that are {riven them
to train a child afford ample time to fill
the brain for a single day. Fewer
branches of study, more instruction and
less recitation in the school, and no les
sons at home, would be an admirable
basis for a reform in our system of ed
ucation. Our modem moloch of edu
cation shouid give place to a living sys
tem that shall be adapted to the needs
of living men and women.
Gossip About Young Bonaparte.
The feelings of the Bonapartists—
sensitive souls—have been so much hurt
by reports about a certain young man
pursuing his studies in this country
that they have published a formal state
ment of what they call the lacts. The
young man in question is sometimes
spoken of as young Chiselhurst, some
times Chiselburst IV., sometimes the
Woolwich infant, and appears now to be
officially styled the prince impend.
The Morning Post, always a sort of
semi-official organ of thß Napoleonists
—whether they happen to be conspiring
or enjoying the plunder accruing from
former conspiracies seems to make no
difference to this automatic sheet—was
selected as the medium for giving this
important intelligence to the anxious
world. The prince stands, it declares,
eleventh in a class of 32 cadets. In ar
tillery he is fourth, in fortification
eighth, in mathematics and mechanics
tenth, and so on, down to twenty first
in chemistry and physics. I observe
with pain that in military hi dory he is
only eleventh. Considering 1 hat he had
school books adapted expressly for him
in his early youth by obsequieus Dnruy
and others, he ought to have done bet
ter in that branch. But it in just pos
sible that the authorities of the royal
military academy at Woolwich do tot
take the Napoleonic views of military
history. The visitor who scans the
long catalogue of French victories cut
into the stone of the arch c f triumph
which crowns the Champs Elysees jin
Paris, cannot but remark some names 1
which in all military annals but the
French have passed for Frenc l defeats.
The day may come when Sedan will be
added to the list. Gravelot:e has al
ready been explained away. However,
you will be delighted to hear hat those
best qualified to jadge of tie young
man’s capacity and progress, loth abso
lute and relative are entirely satisfied
in every respect. Those best qualified
to judge mußt be the priests i ito whose
hands his mother—perhaps the most
bigoted woman in Europe—e irly gave
him, together, with such philosophical
students~of practical politics as Pietri
and the virtuous Bouher. Perhaps I
should also include that model of Chris
tian peace-makers, Mr. Paul C assagnae.
People who have seen something of the
young hope of French inperialism
speak of him as sustaining vrith diffi
culty the hot-house forcing ivstem to
which he is subjected ; a system which
threatens to overtask his body and
mind.— Mr. Smalley , inN. Y. Tribune.
Hebe are some proverbs which Al
phonse Karr says are Bussian: If you
are a mushroom let them put you in
the basket. Debts are not r oisy, but
they keep one awake. One is not loved
because he is handsome, but handsome
because ha is loved. Make friends with
a bear, but keep hold of your hatchet.
Henby IV. went around to the cities,
as MacMahon has done, and a mayor
intended to inflict an address. He be
gan : “Hannibal, on leaving for Car*
thage—.” At this point tie king
said: “When Hannibal left for Car
thage he had dined. Let us go and do
the same.”
VOL. 15--NO. 40.
raSLASO’B (jIEES.
Her Gergtoat Aparinirnti at Windsor
The London correspondent c i the
Chicago Inter-Ocean writes of a visit to
Windsor Castle and says: “ The Water
loo chamber is 93 feet long, 45 feet
high, and 47 broad; it is lighted by a
lantern of ground glass extending the
whole length of the room, and is divided
into five compartments by light, grace
! ful arches. At each end of the room
there are galleries for musicians, formed
of richly carved oak. The walls and
oeilings are deoorated in white and gold
relief with armorial bearings, and in
serted in the panelling round the room
are portraits of all the eminent men
who were connected with the battle of
Waterloo. Lions, masks, and grotesque
heads holding wreaths of flowers and
fruits embellish all the mouldings, and
the doors, mantle-pieoes, and picture
frames are adorned with beautiful wood
carvings by Gibbons. The carpet is
dark marroon, pannelled mad figured
with the stars of the civil and military
orders of the Bath, and the furniture is
of oak (corresponding with the style of
the room) covered with crimson velvet.
The presence chamber is 90 feet long,
33 feet high, and 34 leet broad; an im
mense Gcthio window forms almost one
entire end of the room, and commands
an extensive view of the park and ad
jacent country. The style of the room
is that of the time of Louis XIV., and
the workmanship is admirable. 'The
ceiling is a marvel of beauty, as are
also the cornices, which are ornamented
by scrollwork of the most exquisite de
scription. Large, richly carved doors
open into the throne room, the Water
loo gallery, and the banqueting hall.
The walls are hung with six superb
BDecimens of Gobelin tapestry, repre
senting * The History of Jason and the
Golden Fleece.’ Splendid looking-glas
ses occupy other portions of the room.
Four chandeliers of ormolu, interspers
ed with cut-glass branches and pend
ants, are suspended from the ceiling.
The floor is of oak, parget, the oak be
ing inlaid with Jleur-de-li* in ebony.
The furniture is Bolialy gilt, and is very
gorgeous. At one end of the room
there is a large malachite vase, which
was presented to Queen Victoria by the
Emperor Nicholas of Russia. The ban
queting hall is 200 feet long, 32 feet
high, and 34 broad. On one side ot the
room there are thirteen windows, and
opposite to them there are recesses con
taining life-size portraits of the last
eleven sovereigns of England. In a
music gallery at one end of the hall
there is an organ, and under, upon a
dais, is the queen’s chair of state, made
in imitation of the coronation chair in
Westminster Abbey. In the spaces be
tween the portraits there are large brass
shields, with the cross of St. George
and the Garter motto. Brackets sup
porting lamps project from each side of
the shields, and above them are steel
helmets with cross spears. The ceiling
is almost entirely covered wi'.h shields
emblazoned with the armorial bearings
of all the Knights of the Garter, from
the institution of tho order down to the
present time —a period of about five
hundred years. The names ef the
knights are painted between the panels
of the to each of them is
affixed a number ’corresponding to that
attached to the arms on the ceiling.
On each side of the window there are
two knights (in stucco) in complete
armor. The furniture (of which there
is but little, the hall being very seldom
used) is ot oak, covered with scarlet
velvet, and the carpet is an oak pattern,
in small panels, with the cross in the
centre, and a rich border of the Garter
and motto. In one of the departments
we were shown an ebony cabinet, inlaid
with onyx, which had belonged to Mary
Queen of Scots, and two large tables of
solid silver, one of which had been
owned by Charles 11., and a portrait,
by Rembrandt, of the famous Countess
of Desmond at the age of one hundred
and twenty.” i
Fishing With Jiitro-Glycerine.
Residents of Boston and vicinity have
been excited by the operations of a man
who has been killing fish at Quincy
Point, Mass., by the explosion of nitro
glycerine. Large numbers cf the sea
bass have of late appeared ofl the
Glades and the waters around Quincy
Point, and it was upon these that the
man made his experiments. His first
attempt was with a small bottle of ni
tro-glycerine, the explosion of which
under water brought to the surface
only three or four dead bass. A second
trial, with an extra charge of the explo
sive compound in a can, proved more
destructive, all the fish within a circle
of forty yards being shocked by the
concussion aud risiDg to the surface in
great numbers. About one hundred
were found to have been instantly killed,
and were captured and sold. Many
of the bass were quite large., one weigh
ing forty pounds, while one which was
but slightly shocked -being beyond
the area affected by the explosion—
made his escape, and was judged to
weigh seventy pounds. It was estima
ted that the dea h of nearly two hun
dred bass resulted from this experi
ment, as many which were killed or
captured with gaffs were so seriously
a flee ted by the shock as to perish. A
careful inspection of the fish killed
showed, in every instance, that the sec
ond or air bladder was rent and filled
with blood. The fisherman has been
warned against a repetition of this ex
periment, which is punishable by fines.
The Danger of Wet Coal.
People who prefer wetting the win
ter’s store of coal to lay the dust on
putting it in their cellars, do not, we
believe, generally know that they are
laying up for themselves a store of sore
throats and other evils consequent upon
the practice. But so it is said to be.
Even the fire-damp, which escapes from
coal mines, arises from the slow decom
position of coal at temperatur e but
little above that of the atmosphere, but
under augmented pressure. By wetting
a mass of freshly broken coal and hav
ing it put in a warm cellar, the mass is
heated to such a degree that carbureted
and sulphureted hydrogen are given off
for long periods of time and pervade
the whole house. The liability of wet
coal to mischievous resulte under such
jcircumstanoes man be appreciated from
the circumstance that there are several
instances on record of spontaneous com
bustion of wet coal when stowed into
the bunkers or holds of vessels. And
from this cause, doubtless, many miss
ing coal vessels have perished. —London
Medical Record.
A Lesson in Adjectires.
“Well, my son” oa . bave B ot
grammar, have yon ?” said a proud sire
to his thickest chip the other night.
“ Let me hear you compare some adjeo
tives* M
Chip—“ All right, dad. Little, less,
least; big, bigger, beast; mow, more,
most—” , _
Proud Sire —“Hold on, sir; that is
not right ; you —”
Chip—“ Toe, tore, toast; snow, snore,
snout ; go, gore, gout; row, roar, rout.”
Proud Sire—“ Stop, I say, those
adj—”
Chip—“ Drink, drank, drunk; stink,
stank, stunk ; chink, chank, chunk—”
Proud Sire—“ You infernal little
fool! What in thunder—”
Chip—“ Good, better, best; wood,
wetter, west; bad, wusser, worst; bile,
biler, billerest; sew, sewer, fup;
pew, poor, pupouch; oh, gemimi!
o-o-O-W!” , ,
The outraged parent had broken into
the recitation with a bootjack.