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W.'a'. MaVis CHALK,} Kd,lor ® and Proprietors.
NEWS OF THE WEEK,
SOUTH.
The value of spo.’ges collected this
season on the Florida reef is estimated at
$65,000.
Competition has reduced the steam
boat freight rates 40 per cent, between Ctii
cago and New Orleans.
The steamship St. Louis, from New
Orleans for Liverpool, put in at Savannah
Ga., last week, with cotton on fire.
A young man, by the name of Corwin,
at Moran, Ind., was caught by the buzz-saw,
in the mill at that place, and was literally
sawed in two. He died in a few hours.
At a recent cattle sale in Paris, Ken
tucky, twenty-one cows were sold at an aver
age of #1,995. One cow Bold for #B,OOO, an
other for #5,100, and still another for #4,400
Mr. Gray, of Jones county, Ga., be
queathed the sum of #20,000 to Mercer uni
versity, at Macon, for the education of young
men from Jgnes county who are unable to pay
their tuition.
The steamer James Kinney struck a
snag just below Cairo, lsjjt week, stove a hole
in her side, and was run on & bar on the Ken
tucky side, where she sunk. Her bow is in
four and her stem in nine feet water.
The office of the Gazette
at Wittsburg, Ark., was set on fire last week,
and, owing to a high wind prevailing at the
time, the flames soon communicated to the
adjacent building and seven buildings were
consumed, valued at $25,000.
In the suit of Win. M. Farrington
against the Memphis city railroad for $12,000,
for services as president, and against which
the company brought a counter-suit for SIOO,-
000, for alleged damages sustained under
Farrington’s administration, the jury returned
a verdict granting Farrington nearly $12,000,
and the counter-suit was thrown out of court.
The last letter ever written by Gen
eral “ Stonewall” Jackson is in the possession
of the southern historical society. It was ad
dressed to General Lee under date of May 2,
1863, and reads as follows: “General—The
enemy has marie a stand at Chancellor’s, which
is about two miles from Chancellorsville. I
hope as soon as practicable to attack. I trust
that an ever kind proyidonce will bless us with
success.”
A dispatch from Osceola, Ark., states
that a negro named Jack Phillips outraged the
wife of a planter near there. From the treat
ment received she will probably die, as she was
within a few weeks of her confinement. The
negro was arrested and brought to Osceola,
the citizens of which place, both white and
black, improvised a court, and after hearing
the ovidence, took the prisoner out and shot
him to death.
An officer sent from Fort McPherson,
Nebraska, a few days ago, by Gen. Ord, to
visit all sections of the grasshopper districts,
reports that he finds no cases of actual star
vation, but much suffering, some of which
partially relieved from various sour
ces. Relief must be given or hundreds will
starve before winter is half over. Within ten
days many will be without a pound of coni
or flour. The present aid they are receiving
is but a drop in the bucket. Unless the gov
ernment aids them their alternative is fearful
to contemplate.
FOREIGN.
The sister of the Tichborne claimant
have petitioned the queen for liis release.
The Duke of Abercorn has been
elected grand master of the Free Masons of
Ireland.
At the request of Gen. Garibaldi the
subscriptions for his relief have been sus
pended.
The great painting of St. Anthony,
by Murillo, has been stolen from the cathedral
in Sevillo.
Nalakaua, the King of the Sandwich
Islands, will arrive at San Francisco by the
Benicia, about the last of this month.
Political parties in France are known
as the “ Macs,” the “ Anti-Macs,” the “ Mac
ma honteus” and the “ Plonplonites.”
Gen. Jovellar has entered Turnel,
the Carlists flying befoie him. Large bodies
of insurgents have offered to surrender at
Maostrazzo.
The first attempt of the Prussian
government to have priests elected by their
congregations, has taken place at Sandsburg
and resulted in an utter failure. Only eleven
persons offered to vote.
Advices from Cape Town, of the 11th
of October, state that the gold fields were at
tracting more attention, large nuggets being
found almost daily. The crops throughout the
colony are in good condition.
Despite the government’s measures in
Asia Minor, the famine continues. The Khe
divo of Egypt sent corn to the distressed dis
trict. Baker, the American minister, Philip
Frances, the British consul general, and M.
Lobet, a French banker, have formed a relief
committee.
It is reported that Italy is about to
issue a memorandum to European powers
calhng attention to the dangers to Italy from
the intrigues of the Vatican, declaring that
the government can no longer tolerate a con
piracy in its own capital, and urging the pow
ers to discontinue the custom of keeping am
bassadors at the holy see.
The festivities of tho lord mayor’s
day were concluded with a grand banquot at
Guildhall. In response to a toast to the
queen’s iShistry, Disraeli made a speech in
which he said : The working classes of Great
Britain inherit rights and privileges not yet
possessed by the nobility of other lands.
They had no fear of arbitrary ministers and
domiciliary visits. They possessed the right
to combine for and in the protection and in
terest of labor. Justice was pure and no re
specter of individnal classes. No one was
liable to be dragged unwillingly from his
home and employments. It was not wonder
ful that a nation possessed of such privileges
wished to preserve them. Under such circum
stances was it to be wondered at that the work
ing classes were conservative.
The chief authorities "of the church
have decided to hold a great international
Catholic congress in London, with the object
of maintaining the doctrines of papal infalli
bility, asserting the pope's right to temporal
as wed as spiritual power, and the duty of all
Christians to retnrn to the allegiance of Rome.
It is stated this determination is the result of
direct instructions from the Vatican, and some
of the highest dignitaries of the church will
attend the congress. Archbishop Manning,
in a speech at Westminster, admitted that his
spiritual iufluence greatly increased since he
lost his temporalities. If arbitration was ever
to supersede war, the pope would be the only
possible authorized arbitrator. The Catholic
world, he added, was threatened with a con
troversy on all decrees of the oecumenical
council. There was undoubtedly approaching
one of the mightiest contests the religions
world bad ever seen. Therefore, it was°nec
essary to fearlessly assert, through the free
press of England, the pope’s rights and his
pretensions to world-wide allegiance.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Eighty workmen have been discharged
at tlio Washington navy-yard. A further
reduction will soon take place.
It is reported in Philadelphia, that
the owners of the steamship Great-Eastern
are deliberating about sending 5,000 passen
gers over in her, to be fed and housed on
board during the Centennial exhibition.
It is announced that the new direct
cable company expect to commence business
this month, and have made a contract with the
Atlantic and Pacific telegraph company for
the transmission of their messages at the end
of the line.
Ihe third wfiistairb post master-gen-
THE STANDARD AND EXPRESS.
eral. in his annual report, estimates the pro
portion of washed stamps nsed again in pay
ment of postage at 5 per cent, of the value
of all stamps sold each year, causing an an
nual loss of a million dollars to the revenues
of the department.
The redemption agency of the treasu
ry department, which has been in arrears for
some weeks in the redemption of national bank
notes, is now up to date, and, therefore, ena
abled to make prompt returns for all* remit
tances of such notes sent in for redemption.
The names of Messrs. Wood and Cox,
of New York, Randall, of Pennsylvania, Kerr,
of Indiana, and Payne, of Ohio, have been
discussed for the next speakership. Gen.
Banks is also spoken of. but he does not call
himself a democrat, and this is regarded as
putting him out of the range of probable ee
lection. There is no prominent person ye
spoken of for the clerkship of the next house
The present force in that office is made up al
together of republicans, and, of course, there
wiil be many changes among them. Mr. Bar
clay, the journal clerk, remains under all dy
nasties. and is not likely to be removed.
Gen. Walker’s essay on the center of
population brings into new prominence the
steadiness with .'which this center clings to
the thirty-ninth parallel, along which are situ
ated Baltimore, Washington and Cincinnati.
At no time from 1790 to 1880 has the center of
population departed north or south more than
twenty-five miles. It has marched westward
399 miles in that period, the greatest leap be
ing from 1850 to 1860 (eighty-one miles), when
the transfer of a small population to the Pa
cific coast gave a sudden elongation to the
western part of the lever, and necessitated
the moving of the fulcrum quite a distance.
It is now forty-eight miles east of Cincinnati,
and in 1880 will nearly coincide with that city.
Condition of the United States Army.
ANNUAL BEPORT OF GEN. SHERMAN.
Gen. Sherman’s annual report to the
secretary of war shows the total num
ber of enlisted men in the army on Oct.
15 to have been 26,441. It estimates
that this number will probably be re
duced through natural causes by the
fir-t of January, 1875, to the 25,000 al
lowed by law. It depreciates the inad
equacy of so small an army for the de
mands of so large an area of territory
as it has to be scattered over, involving
the necessity of withdrawing troops
from one department to meet the re
quirements of some other a long dis
tance away. It compliments highly the
efficiency of Gen. Sheridan and his sub
officers, in maintaining comparative
peace in the Indian country. It says
the report of the commanding officers
demonstrate that the small army of the
United States, called a peace establish
ment, is tbe hardest worked body of
men in this country. The discipline and
behavior of officers and men have been
worthy of all praise, and whether em
ployed on the extreme and distant fron
tier, or in aiding the civil authorities in
the execution of civil processes, have
been a model for the imitation of all
good men. Iu regard to the removal
of his headquarters to St. Louis, he
says: “I am prepared to execute the
duties that may be devolved upon me
by proper authority. Here I am cen
trally located, and should occasion arise
I can personally proceed to any point
on this continent, where my seivices are
needed.”
shf.ridan’s report of the black hills.
Lieut. Gen. Sheridan in his annual
report touches slightly upon Gen. Cus
tar’s Black Hills expedition, which it
pronounces a successful reconnoisance.
Some gold was found near Harney’s
peak, but of its abundauco there is at
present no reliable information. Suffi
cient evidence could not be given by an
expedition such as that of Gen. Custar’s
to determine its quality. Gen. Sheri
dan again recommends the establish
ment of a large military post in the
Black Hills country. Of the Indian
troubles, Gen. Sheridan says : “I res
pectfully differ with Gen. Pope as to
the chief causes of these Indian trou
bles, and attribute them to the immu
nity with which the tribes have been
treated in their raids into Texas for the
past three t years. Their reservations
have furnished them supplies with
which to make raids, and shelter from
pursuit wheu they returned with their
scalps and plunder. No man of close
observation can travel across the great
plains, from Nebraska and Wyoming to
Texas, and see the established ranches,
with their hundreds of thousands of cat
tle, sheep, and horses, together with
the families of the owners, and reason
ably think these people, much exposed
and having such valuable interests, are
desirous of provoking Indian wars.
There wus a time, possibly, when the
population of the Indian frontiers may
have been desirous of Indian troubles,
but that has passed long ago.”
Two Strange Human Beings.
I was once sitting in a cool under
ground saloon at Leipsic, while without
people were ready to die from heat,
when anew guest entered and took a
seat opposite me. Tho sweat rolled in
great drops down his face, and he was
kept busy with his handkerchief, till at
last he found rftjief in the exclamation,
“Fearfully lidt.” 1 watched atten
tively as he called for a cool drink, for
I expected every moment that he would
fall from his chair in a fit of apoplexy.
The man must have noticed that I was
observing him, for he turned toward me
suddenly, saying, “I am a carious sort
of person, am I not?” “Why?” I
asked. “Because I perspire only on
the right side.” And so it uas; his
right cheek and the light half of his
forehead were as hot as fire, while the
left side of his face bore not a trace of per
spiration. 1 had never seen the like, and,
in my astonishment, was about to enter
into conversation with him regarding the
physiological curiosity, when his neigh
bor on the left broke in with tbe remark,
“ Then we are the opposite and coun
terparts of each other, for I perspire
only on the left side.” This, toe, was
the fact. So the pair took seats oppo
site each other, and shook hands like
two men who had just found each his
other half. —Popular Science Monthly.
Tlic Total Eclipse in Africa.
A copy of the “Cape Argus” gives
the following account of the ideas of
the natives regarding the recent eclipse:
In Natal the Zulus stopped work when
the eclipse began, and resumed when it
was over, demanding two days’ wages,
the eclipse, in their opinion, having
been a short night. At the diamond
fields the natives rushed ont of their
claims, horror-stricken, and said the sun
was dying. The grandest living tableau
ever seen was the great gathering of
horror-stricken nudes watching, with
fearfully rounded and glaring eyes,
month open, and fiDgers pointed at what
they believed to be the dying moments
of the almighty luminary, whose ma
jesty is the only God they know. The
effoct of the eclipse on the imagination
of the natives, as depicted in their coun
tenances, was terrible. They were
grouped together on the heights of the
Kopje, silent and awe-stricken. They
knew nothing of the ghastly light that
preceded the darkness; gloom came
upon their labors silently as a thief in
the night, and it was not until the whole
of the mines presented a sulphurous
appearance that they left their work.
Poor young thing ! She fainted away
at the wash-tub, and her pretty nose
went kerslop into the soapsuds. ‘ Some
said it was overwork; others, however,
whispered that her beau had peeped
over the back fence and called out:
“ Hullo, there, Bridget, is Miss Alice at
home ?”
AUTUMN LEAVES.’
Like shattered rainbows where they lie
Within the forest silently,
. Autumn leaves !
The wind-harp grieves
For summer passed away—
Russet leaves!
Fluttering like snow-birds down—
Tender things of sober brown
That to onr windows fly.
Golden leaves!
Drifting like the Bunbeams fair
On the silent waves of air
So radiantly by.
Crimson leaves!
Dropping like the sun’s last rays
At the close of antumu days,
Upon the western hill.
Yellow leaves!
Whirling by on every blast
That plays a re piiem for the past
In tones that sadlv thrill.
Yellow, russet, gold, and red !
That rustle softly ’neath our tread.
Beautiful leaves!
That the frost king weaves
In nature’s magic loom.
BILL AND THE WIDOW.
BY 3. A. SMITH, ALIAS CAFT TOTHERBY.
“ Wife,” said Ed. Wilbur one morn
ing as he sat stirring his cofffee with one
band and holding a plum cake on his
knee with the other, and looked across
the table into tbe bright eyes of his
neat little wife, “ wouldn’t it be a good
joke to get bachelor Bill Smiley to take
Widow Watson to Barnnm’s show next
week ?”
“ You can’t do it, Ed.; he won’t ask
her ; lie’s so awful shy. Why, he came
hero the other morning, when I was
hanging out some clothes, and he looked
over the fence and spoke; but when I
shook out a night-gown he blushed like
a girl and went away.”
“I think I can manage it,” said Ed ;
“ but I’ll have to lie just a little. But
then it wouldn’t be much harm under
the circnmgtances, for I know she likes
him, and I know lie don’t dislike her ;
but as you say, he’s so shy. I’ll just go
over to his place to borrow some bags of
him, and if I don’t bag him before I
come back, don’t kiss me for a week,
Nelly.”
So saying, Ed. started, and while he
is mowing the fields, we will take a look
at Bill Smiley. He was rather a good
looking fellow, though his hair and
whiskers showed some gray hairs, and
he had got a set of artificial teeth. But
everyone said he was a good soul, and
so he was. He had as good a hundred
acre farm as any in Norwich, with anew
house and everything comfortable, and
if he had wanted a wile, many a girl
would have jumped at the chance like
a rooster at a grasshopper. But Bill
was so bashful—always was—and when
Susan Berrybottle, that he was sweet on
(thoughhe never said “boo” to her) got
married to old Watson, he just drawed
in his head like a mud-turtle into his
shell, and there was no getting him out
again, though it had been noticed that
since Susan had become a widow he had
paid more attention to bis clothes, and
had been very regular in his attendance
at the church where the fair widow at
tended.
“ But here comes Ed. Wilbur.”
“ Good morning, Mr. Smiley !”
“Good morning, Mr. Wilbur. What’s
the news your way?”
“ Oh nothing particular, that I know
of,” said Ed., “only Barnum’s show
that everybody is talking about, and
everybody and his girl is going, too. I
was over to Sackrider’s last night, and I
see his son Gus has got anew buggy
and was scrubbing up his harness, and
he’s got that white-faced colt of his as
slick as a seal. I understand he thinks
of taking Widow Watson to the show.
He’s been hanging around there a good
deal cf late, but I’d just like to cut him
out, I would. Susaa is a nice little wo
man, and deserves a better man than
that young pup of a fellow, though I
wouldn’t blame her much either if she
takes him, for she must be dreadful
lonesome, and then she has to let her
farm out on shares, and it isn’t half
worked, and no one else seems to have
spunk enough to speak up to her. By
jingo! If I was a single man I’d show
him a trick or two.”
So saying, Ed. borrowed some bags
and started around the corner of the
barn, where he had left Bill sweeping,
and put his ear to a knot-hole and lis
tened, knowing that the bachelor had a
habit of talking to himself when any
thing worried him.
“ Confound that Bagrider !”
said Bill, “ what business lias he there,
I’d like to know. Got anew buggy, has
he? Well, so have I, and new harness,
too ! and his horse can’t come in sight
of mine, and I declare I’ve half a mind
to—yes, I will! I’ll go this very night
and ask her to go to the show with me.
I’ll show Ed. Wilbur that I ain’t such a
calf as he thinks I am, if I did let old
Watson get the start of me in the first
place!”
Ed. could scarcely help laughing out
right, but ho hastily hifehed the bags
on his shoulder, and with a low chuckle
at his success, started home to tell the
news to Nelly; and about five o’clock
that evening they saw Bill go by with
his horse and buggy on his way to the
widow’s. He jogged along quietly,
thinking of the old singing-school days
—and what a pretty girl Susan was
then—and wondering inwardly if he
would have more courage now to talk
up to her, until at the distance of about
a mile from her house he came to a
bridge—over a large creek—and it so
happened that just as he reached the
middle of the bridge be gave a tre
mendous sneeze, and blew his teeth
clear out of his month, and clear over
tbe dash-board, and striking on the
planks they rolled over the bridge and
dropped into four feet of water.
Words cannot do justice to poor Bill,
or paint the expression of his face as he
sat there—completely dumbfounded at
this startling piece of ill lu.k. After a
while he stepped out of the buggy, and
getting on his hands and knees looked
over the water.
“Yes, there they were,” at the bet
tom, with a crowd of little fishes rub
bing their noses against them, and Bill
wished to goodness that his nose was as
close for one second. His beautiful
teeth that had cost him so much, and
the show coming on and no time to get
another set—and the widow and young
Sackrider. Well, he must try and get
them some how— and no time to lose,
for someone might come along and ask
him what he was fooling around there
for. He had no notion of spoiling his
good clothes by wading in with them
on, and besides, if he did that he
could not go to the widow’s tha* night,
so he took a look up and down the road
o see that no one was in sight, and then
qnickly undressed himself, laying his
clothes in the buggy to keep them clean.
Then he ran around the bank and waded
into the almost icy water, but his teeth
did not chatter iu his head, he only
wished they could. Quietly he waded
along so as not to stir up the mud and
when he got to the right spot he drop
ped under the water and came np with
the teeth in his hand and replaced them
in his month. But hark ! What noise
is that ? A wagon ! and a little dog
barking with all his might, and his
horse is starting. “ Whoa ! Whoa !”
said Bill, as he splashed and floundered
out through mud and water, “confound
the horse. Whoa ! Whoa! Stop, you
brute you, stop !” But stop he would
not, but went off at a spanking pace
with the unfortunate bachelor after him
and the little dog yelping after the
bachelor. Bill was certainly in capital
running costume, but though he strained
every nerve he could not touch the
buggy or reach the lines that were drag
ging on the i round. After a while bis
ping hat shook off the seat and the hind
wheel went over it, making it as flat as
a pancake. Bill snatched it. as he ran,
and after jamming bis fist into it stuck
CARTERS VILLE, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1874.
it, all dusty and shapeless, on his head.
And now he saw the widow’s house on
the hill, and what, oh what would he
he do! Then his coat fell out and he
slipped it on, and then making a des
perate spurt he clutched the back of the
seat and scrambled in, and pulling the
buffalo robe over his legs, staffed the
other things beneath. Now the horse
happened to be one that he got from
Squire Moore, and he got it from the
widow, and he took it into his head to
stop at her gate, which Bill had no
power to prevent, as he had not posses
sion of the reins, besides he was too
busy buttoning his coat up to his chin
to think of doing much else. The
widow heard the rattle of the wheels
and looked out, and seeing that it was
Mr. Smiley, and he did not offer to get
ont, she went to the gate to see what he
wanted, and*there she stood chatting
with her white arms on the top of the
gate, and her smiling face turned right
toward him, while the cold chills ran
down his shirtless back, clear to his
bare feet beneath the buffalo robe, and
tho water from his hair and the dust
from his hat had combined to make some
nice little streams of mud that came
trickling down his face. She asked him
to come in. No ; he was in a hurry, he
said. Still he did not offer to go. He
did not like to ask her to pick up his
reins for him, because he did not know
what excuse to make for not doing it
himself. Then he looked down the
road behind him and saw a white-faced
horse coming, and at once surmising
that it was that of Gus Sackrider com
ing, he resolved to do or die, and Hur
riedly told his errand. The widow
would be delighted to go, of course she
would. But wouldn’t he come in. No,
he was in a hurry he said ; had to go on
to Mr. Green’s place.
“ Oh,” said the widow ; “you’re going
to Green’s, are you ? Why, I was j ust
going there myself to get one of the
girls to help me quilt some. Just wait
a second while I get my bonnet and
shawl, and I’ll ride with you.” And
away she skipped.
“ Thunder and lightning !” said Bill,
“what a scrape!” and he hastily
clutched his pants from between his
feet, and was preparing to wriggle into
them, when a light wagon drawn by a
white-faced horse, driven by a boy, came
along and stopped beside him. The
boy held up a pair of boots in one hand
and a pair of socks in the other, and
just as the widow reached the gate
again, he said,
“ Here’s your boots and your socks,
Mr. Smiley, that you left on the bridge
when you was in swimming. ”
“ You’re mistaken,’’said Bill, “they’re
not mine.”
“ Why,” said the boy, “ ain’t you the
man that had the race after the horse
just now ?”
“No, sir, I am not! you had better
go on about your business.” Bill sighed
at the los9 of bis good Sunday boots,
and turning to the widow he said.
“ Just pick up the lines, will you,
please ; this brute of a horse is for ever
switching them out of my hands.” The
widow complied, and then he pulled
one corner of the robe cautiously down,
and she got in.
“ What a lovely evening,” said she,
“and so warm; I don’t think we need the
robe over ns, do we ?”
(Yon see, she had on a nice dress
and a pair of new gaiters, and she
wanted to show them.)
“Oh, my!” said Bill, earnestly,
“you’ll find it chilly riding, and I
wouldn’t have you catch cold for the
world.”
She seemed pleased at the tender
care for her health, and contented her
self with sticking one of her little feet
out, with a long silk neck-tie over the
end of it.
“ What is that, Mr. Smiley ?• a neck
tie?”
“Yes,” said he, “I bought it the
other day, and I must have left it in the
buggy. Never mind it.”
“But,” she said, “it was so care
less and stooping over she picked it
up and made a motion to stuff it in be
tween them.
Bill felt her hand going down, and
making a drive after it, clutched it in
his and held it hard and fast.
They went on quite a distance, he
still holding her soft little hand in his
and wondering what be should do when
they got to Green’s and she wondering
why he did not say "something nice to
her as well as squeeze her hand, and
why his coat was buttoned up so tightly
on such a warm evening, and what made
his face and hat so dirty, until as they
were going down a little hill one of tbe
traces came unhitched and they had to
stop.
“O murder!” said Bill; “what
next ?”
“What is the matter, Mr. Smiley?”
said the widow, with a start that came
mar jerking the robe off his knees.
“ One of the traces is off,” said he.
“ Well, why don’t you get out and
put it on ?”
“ I can’t,” said Bill ; I’ve got—that
is, I haven’t got—oh, dear, I’m so sick !
What shall I do ?”
“Why, Willie,” said she, tenderly,
“what is the matter?” do tell me,”
and she gave his hand a little squeeze,
and looking into his pale and troubled
face she thought he was going to faint;
so she got ont her smelling bottle with
her left hand, and pulling the stopper
eut with her teeth she stuck it to his
nose.
Bill was just taking in breath for a
mighty sigh, and the pungent odor
made him tlirow his head so far back
that he lost his balance and went over
the low-backed buggy. The little
woman gave a little scream as his big
bare feet flew past her head ; and cov
ering her face with her bands gave way
to her tears, or smiles—it is Hard to tell
which. Bill was “ right side up” in a
moment and was leaning over tbe back
of the seat hnmblv apologizing and ex
plaining, when Ed. Wilbur, with bis
wife and baby, drove up behind and
stopped. Poor Bill felt that he would
rather have been shot than have Ed.
Wilbur catch him in such a scrape, but
there was ro help for it now, so he
called Ed. to him and whispered in his
ear. Ed. was like to burst with sur
passed laughter, but he beckoned to
his wife to drive up, and after saying
something to her, he helped the
widow ont of Bill’s buggy and into his,
and the two women went on, leaving the
men behind. Bill lost no time in ar
ranging his toilet as well as he could,
and then with great persuasion Ed. got
him to go home with him, and hunting
up slippers and socks and getting him
washed and combed, had him quite pre
sentable when the ladies arrived. I
need not tell how the story was all
wormed out of bashful Bill, and how
they all laughed as they sat around the
tea’table that night, but will conclude
by saying that they went to the show
together and Bill has no fear of Gus
Saekrider now.
This is a true story about Bill and the
widow, just as Ihadit from Ed. Wilbur,
and if there is anything unsatisfactory
about it, ask him.
They are utilizing straw in the San
Joaquin valley, California, by using it
as fuel in some of the steam flour mills.
The proprietors estimate that they can
save fifty per cent, in the cost of fuel
by theburning of wheat straw. The Par
adise flour mills, on the Toulume river,
being situated virtually in the center
of a 200,000 acre wheat field, it
is found both convenient and econ
omical to burn straw instead of wood,
and accordingly no other fuel is used.
Seventy-five ladies of Rochester are
out in a card denying that they sleep in
their corsets in order to keep their
forms graceful.
PRESIDENT POLK’S WIDOW.
A Visit to One of the Mothers Tof the
Nation.
Nashville Letter to Chicago Inter-Ocean.
On one of the cozy, shady streets of
Nashville, the Boston of the south, in
an old-fashioned mansion of red brick,
with wide, deep windows, and a mam
moth-pillared piazza jutting out like
the bold forehead of the famous man
that once lived there, is the house of
Mrs. James Knox Polk, widow of the
tenth president of the United States—
one of the mothers of the nation. A
slender, graceful old lady, with a snow
white neckerchief and folds of curls
that lay pat on each side of her brow.
She is seventy-six years old, but her
figure is as straight, her step as quick
and her eyes as bright as the eyes of a
girl; active in every benevolent scheme,
generous to an extreme, hospitable ac
cording to the traditions of Kentucky
hospitality, and as courtly as a queen.
In Nashville, a few days ago, the house
was pointed out to me, and a descrip
tion of the old lady given, with the
remark that she liked to receive strau
gers. So I thought I would pay my
respects to the widow of a president,
and about noonday entered tho gate of
“the Polk Place,” and went up the
long gravel walk that leads to the
house. The yard is laid out in the old
fashioned style, with flower-beds in dif
ferent designs, borders of box and
shrubs of different sorts placed at
mathematical intervals. An old-fash
ioned brass knocker, like the handle of
a coffin, burnished as bright as a mirror,
asked entrance for me, and a bent,
rickety old negro woman answered the
summons.
“ Is Mrs. Polk at home ? ”j
“ Yes. sail; will you step in, sab ;
Missus Polk is at home, sal, but was
just gwine out, sab, and she’s boun’ to
go ’bout this time. Take a chair, sah.”
She led me into an old-fashioned pnr
lor, with shells of all sorts on the man
tel, and chintz curtains with large
flowery figures hung before the win
dows. On the walls were portraits of
men in wigs and military uniforms of
the old regime, and women with high
powdered hair and ruffles, with a few an
tique prints and half-faded landscapes.
The furniture was heavy mahogony,
and exquisitely caivod, and the carpet,
half-covered by canvas, was a relic of
ancient elegance. I was able only to
glance at things for a moment after the
servant left. Mrs. Polk entered, and,
extending her hand cordially, said :
“ I see sou are a stranger, sir ; but
I am happy to see you, nevertheless.
People call every day to see me,” said
she, laughing, “ to see how a woman
lives that lived in the White House once,
and I value the attention very highly. ”
I thanked her, and attempted to ex
plain and apologize for my intrusion,
but she tapped her hand impatiently
with her parasol, and said :
“The apology is on my part, sir, for
I must beg you to excuse me. I have
an appointment at this hour it is quite
imperative I should meet, or I would be
pleased to entertain you. I pray you
will excuse me, and make yourself as
much at home in my house and ou my
grounds as if I were here. My servants
will show you what people generally
wish to see. They are accustomed to
seeing strangers, sir ; ha ! ha! quite ac
customed to it, I assure you.”
It was something I bad read about,
this graceful, old-fashioned courtesy,
but I never saw before a real illustra
tion of the manners of the republican
court, and as I escorted tbe nimble old
lady to her carriage, she chattered away
as cordially as if she was my grand
mother, and insisted upon my calling
again. Her riding dress was of the
shiny silken material that one sees at
old folks’ concerts: black, and ent long
waisted, with a plain belt of corded rib
bon. At her neck was a white linen
’kerchief, folded with artistic precision,
and fastened with a large brooch, which
contained a picture of her husband.
Her shawl was of black lace, folded in
the old-fashioned way, and on her hands
were “mitts”—or whatever they call
those silk, knit affairs that haven’t any
fingers. As the carriage drove away I
turned back into the yard, and went to
the tomb of tbe president, which stands
midway between the street and house,
at the left of the walk. It is a plain,
rectangular sarcophagus, about sixteen
feet in height, of smooth limestone, and
inclosing a low square monument of the
same stone. An effort has been made
to remove it to the grounds of tho state
house, which stands not more than six
hundred yards away, but it is Mrs.
Polk’s wish that it remain where it is,
and she wants to be buried in the vault
beneath, beside her husband, Every
year the legislature of Tennessee call
upon Mrs. Polk in a body, have a brief
prayer at the tomb of the president, and
are entertained for a few moments by
his widow, with the assistance of a few
other old-fashioned ladies that have
been her life long friends.
The monument is covered with in
scriptions. On the side facing the
street, in bold, square letters, is en
graved :
JAMES KNOX POLK, ;
j TENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. J
: Born November 2, 1795. Died June 15, 1849. :
On the next face is an inscription as
follows:
• The Mortal Remains
: of
: JAMES KNOX POLK •
; Are resting in the vault beneath.
: He was born iu Mecklenburg County, ;
; North Carolina, :
: And emigrated with his father, Samuel Polk, to ;
’ Tennessee in 1806. :
; The beauty of virtue was illustrated in his life. :
: The excellence of Christianity was ;
; exemplified in his death.
On the third side, looking toward the
house, is the following :
: His life was devoted to ;
: the public service. He was ;
• : elevated successively to the :
: first places in the State and ;
: Federal Government*. a ;
: member of the General As- :
• sembly of Tennessee, a :
: member of Congress, Chair- •
• man of the most important •
: Congressional Committees, ;
: Speaker of the House of ;
; Representatives, Governor ;
• of Tennessee and 1 “resident :
• of the United States. :
On the fourth side is the following :
: By his public policy he defined, :
: established, and extended the :
• BOUNDARIES of his country; ;
: He Planted the laws of the :
AMERICAN UNION ;
: on the shores of the Pacific. :
: His influence and his counsels :
: tended to organize the ;
; NATIONAL TREASURY
: on the principles of the ;
; Constitution,
: and to apply tte rule of :
: Freedom to NAVIGATION, :
: trade, and :
INDUSTRY.
The state of Tennesseo owns “The
Hermitage,” the famous residence of
Andrew .Jackson, and prominent citizens
told me that whenever Mrs. Polk should
die they doubted not but that her resi
dence would alao be purahaaad and
kept, as the Hermitage ia, sacred to the
memory of its former owner.
Tennessee is grateful to the past, and
holds in respectfnl sacredness the relics
of her famous sons. Kentucky lets the
grave of Zachary Taylor lie unmarked,
and Illinois let the nation build a tomb
for Abraham Lincoln, when she should
have been jealous of the privilege. This
is noticeable in the fact that within the
walls of her statehouse, the most per
fect, architecturally, perhaps, of any
building of the sort in the United States,
are laid by act of legislature the bones
of its builder.
It is estimated that the people who
have fallen victims to the famine in Asia
Minor number over 150,000. As an in
stance of the terrible devastation among
(he catth and flocks, it is stated that,
in one village oat of more than 1,600
riheep and goats, just one sheep and one
goat remain, and of 100 cows two re
main. In another, from a flock of
1,200 sheep and goats, eight are re
ported ; and from another flock in the
same village, numbering 800, which 700
are mohair goats, the same number,
eight, is reported.
The Frisky Flea.
The averge woman hates a flea with
an intensity almost diabolical in its na
ture. She will pursue one of these
little innocents with the remorseless
ness of a fiend, and if you ever expect
to see a beautiful exemplification of
womanly traits never look for it when
she knows that a flea is about. And in
proportion as the woman hates, tbe flea
seems to love, and is never enjoying
ecstatic bliss unless favored with her
society. He likes to seek her coueh in
the stilly hours of the night, woo her
from slumber, and from a sheltered
nook witness her feverish exertions to
escape his caresses; b t perhaps be
does not reach the acme of enjoyment
until he can slyly accompany lier to
church and not make his presence
known until she has satisfactorily set
tled her furbelows and flounces on the
cushioned seat all ready to be admired
and make note of how others look.
And then the flea begins his manipula
lions, knowing'full well that he has his
victim at a disadvantage. Here there
can be no hasty flinging of skirts, no
assuming of unbecoming postures while
making frantic grabs at the mischievous
and inaccessible monster. If you note
the woman closely, you will see a com
pression of the lip and look of hate
and pain creeping into the face which
she would fain conceal and not reveal,
for are not many eyes upon her ? One
moment she settles herself a little more
firmly on one side, as though hoping to
crush the aggressor, but the next mo
mentfeels him scampering upward, when
she settles backward quickly to catch
him between her back and the rail, but
all in vain—his flag is still there. One
dainty gaiter may rub up against its
fellow as far as may be done without
disarranging drapery, and there may be
a quiet, yet nevertheless vicious clutch
of a jeweled hand under the pretense
of arranging lowing drapery, bnt all in
vain. And the flea, how he does enjoy
it. He roams hither and thither at his
own sweet will, uncaring for the boiling
wrath which fairly makes the white
flesh upon which he plays shiver be
neath his light tread. And perhaps
the flea has his mi te, and then the an
guish is doubled. At one moment they
are playing tag ; at another hide and
seek, and while the one is cosily nestled
away, the other rushes hither and
thither to find it in a way which is
maddening ; and then they act the part
of explorers, and prospect every hill
and dale of the form divine. But one
thing they do not do, they do not
go to sleep. And during this hour
of martyrdom how the wrath of
the woman gathers, and how only
thoughts of dire vengeance make
the brief agony endurable. But at last
the service which has seemed so long is
ended, and with as much majesty as
her writhiug form will permit, she sails
home without loitering, you may be
sure. The bouse reached, with one
bound she is within the privacy of her
own chamber, and there all restraint is
cast aside. With lightning haste oft
oome the barricades behind which the
flea found intrenchment, and at last she
stands like a gladiator stripped for the
fight, and then the fate of the invader
is sealed. He is pursued with remorse
less fury, and the battle does not end
until the victor shakes aloft the scalp
of the foe, and vows that so perish
always the flea who dares to invade the
sacred territory of her person.
Smiley’s Gun.
Recently it ocourred to Mr. Smiley,
of Darby, that it would be a good thing
to go out to see if he could not shoot
a rabbit or two. He always kept his
gun loaded and ready in the corner of
the room, so he merely shouldered it
and went ont. After awhile he saw a
rabbit, and taking aim he palled the trig
ger. The gun failed to go off. Then he
palled the other trigger, and the cap
snapped again, and then, taking a pin,
he picked the nipples of the gun, primed
them with a little powder, and started
again. Presently he saw another rabbit,
but both caps snapped again. The
rabbit did not see Smiley, so he put on
more caps, and then they snapp and too.
Then Smiley cleaned out the nipples
again, primed them, and fired the gun
off at a fence. Then the caps snapped
again. Smiley became furious, and in
his rago he expended forty-seven caps
in an e7ort to make the gnn go off.
When the forty-seventh cap missed also,
Smiley thought there might perhaps be
something the matter with the inside of
the gun, so he tried the barrels with his
ramrod. To his utter dismay he dis
covered that both barrels were empty.
Mrs. Smiley, who is nervous about fire
arms, bad drawn the load3 without tell
ing Smiley, for fear of making him
angry. If there had been a welkin
anywhere about, it would probably have
been made to ring with Mr. Smiley’s
excited denunciations of Mrs. Smiley.
Finally, however, he became cooler, and
loading both barrels, he started again
after rabbits. He saw one in a few mo
ments, and was about to fire, when he
noticed that there were no caps on his
gun. He felt for one, and to his dis
may found that he had snapped the last
one off. Then he ground his teeth and
walked home. On his way there he saw
at least six hundred rabbits. He has
been out hunting every day since, how
ever, with his gun in first rate order,
and he has never laid eyes on a solitary
rabbit. Smiley is beginning to think
something is wrong in the government
of the nnivers*.
Magnetic Women.
In the intellectual as in the physical
world, there are natural and artificial
magnets—these produced by those.
Most women are the artificial, gaining
by culture, adaptation, training, in
flation, imitation, a portion of what a
few women—the natural magnates—
have by inheritance. Magnetism may
be communicated by contact, either
material or social, and it often iB, with
out intention or violation. Unless
there be organic opposition, a really
magnetic woman may impart something
of her power to her intimates, easily
when their sympathy is so complete
and active as to beget homogeneity.
Human magnetism moves in circles,
returning in added force to its point of
emanation while yonth and vigor last.
Fitness dwells in this, for a circle is the
form of grace, the symbol of continuity;
and magnetism ii compulsion fairly
cloaked as the continuity of graoe.
Man catches not a little of his magnet
ism, when not inherent, from his fem
inine associates. He is molded, refined,
rounded by them through the influence
of that pervading property. He is
rarely amiable or interested who is un
accustomed to the societry of women.
She can convert clownishness into com
plaisance, selfishness into benevolence,
so serenely and skillfully that he hardly
knows he has been translated. Her
magnetism daily performs miracles,
which, from their commonness, get no
credit. Half the success of man with
man he owes to the lessons which
woman has taught him, and, by a
strange perversion of justice, by a ma
lignant violation of gratitude, mono of
his success with woman likewise. That
she should give into his hands the
weapons he turns against her, and in
struct him in their eflective use, reveals
the sarcasm of her destiny.— Junius
Henri Brown.
RAVAGES OF A PESTILENCE.
Ilow the Indian* Were Destroyed In
California in 1833.
The following appears as a communi
cation from Mr. J. J. Warren, in the
Los Angeles (Cal.) Star :
I have read of the horrors of the
London plague, and of the more than
decimation by pestilence of the inhab
itants of various parts ef the world, in
different ages, and of the destruction
of mankind by the angels of the Lord
and by destroying angels ; bat I have
never read or heard of such a general
destruction of a people bv any angel,
good or bad, or by plague or pestilence,
as that which swept the valley of the
Sacramento and San Joaquin in the
summer of 1833.
Iu the autumn of 1832, a party, of
which the writer was a member, trav
eled from tlie mountain down along the
banks of the San Joaquin river, and np
those of the Sacramento to some distance
above the confluence of the latter with
Feather river. The number of Indians
living along and in the vicinity of the
banks of the rivers was so much greater
than I had ever seen living upon the
same area of country, that it presented
a cons tant source of surprise. The con
clusion was then reached by me that
there was no other place on the conti
nent, north of the tropic, the natural
productions of which could snpppot so
large a population as was then living in
the section of country to which I have
referred.
In the latter part of the summer of
1833 we entered tbe northern extremity
of the Sacramento valley from the Kla
math-lake and Pitt-river countries. We
found the northern part of the valley
strewn with the skeletons and fragments
of skeletons of Indians under the shad
ing trees, around springs and the con
venient watering places, upon the banks
of the river and over the plain, where
wolves and coyotes, waddling from tree
to tree or over the plain, their hides
distended with unnatural fatness, had
dragged and denuded them. From
the head of the valley to the American
rteer but one living Indian was seen,
and he was the most perfect personifica
tion of solitude that was ever presented
to my view; his wasted muscles, his
eyes deeply sunk in their sockets, as if
there were no brains within the crani
um, emited a dull, vacant gaze, as if
astonished to behold a living being,
when he believed that all, all were dead,
and he alone left, telling most emphati
cally of his utter loneliness, of how he
had seen the destroying angel engaged
in his work of death on every hand, and
wherever his eyes were turned, until he
himself was prostrated, not killed, but
left to rise upon his feet, and wander
about among the bones and festering
bodies of his folk. The dwellings of
the Indians in tbe numerous villages lo
cated upon and along the banks of the
Macramento river and its tributaries
were void, and no foot-tracks but those
of fowls and wild beasts were to be
seen in the lonely villages.
As we traveled southerly the skeletons
were of a fresher appearance, and be
fore reaching the buttes, and from
thenoe southerly, the entire or partially
devoured bodies of the Indians, in ail
stages of decay, were so invariably
found in and about all tho convenient
and desirable camping places that it
became necessary, in order to escape
the stench of decomposing humanity,
to seek onr night’s encampment upon the
open plain.
After crossing Feather river, those
villages along the Sacramento which in
the winter previous were eaeh inhabited
by hundreds of Indians, were desolate
aud the abode of ruin. The same ap
palling proofs of the dire calamity were
constantly presented to us as we trav
eled up the San Joaquin. Neither
biblical nor profane history has por
trayed such mournful results of the
march of a destroying angel as were
presented to onr senses as we repassed
through, along by and around those
silent and vacated villages, which some
ten months before we had seen swarm
ing with Indian life, and resounding
with voices from hundreds of human
throats.
Around the naked villages, graves,
and the ashes of funeral pyres, the skel
etons and swollen bodies told a tale of
death, such as no written record has
ever revealed. From the head of the
Sacramento valley until we reached the
mouth of King’s river, not exceeding
five live Indians were seen, and here we
found encamped a village of Indians
among whom the destroying angel wa3
sating his greed of human victims by a
ghastly carnage. During tbe one night
more than a score of victims were
added to the hosts upon which he had
been feeding. The wailing of that
stricken village during that night was
incessant and most terrible. The sword
of the destroyer was a remittent fever,
with which the victims were first strick
en down, to be finished by a hot-air
bath, followed by a plunge into a cold
water one. It was evident to us, from
the signs we saw, that at first the Indi
dians buried their dead ; but when the
dead became so numerous that the liv
ing could not bury them, resort was had
to the burning of tbe dead bodies, and
when the living, from diministed num
bers, were unable to do this, they aban
doned their villages, the siok and the dy
ing, and fled in dismay, only to die by the
springs and pools of water, and beneath
the shade of protecting trees.
Don’t Die Young.
One of the most curious discoveries
mado during a recent investigation of
the almshouses of this state is that the
paupers have an obstinate way of not
dying. The average length of life after
admission to their comfortable estab
ments is said to be twenty years, though
the inmatos are, upon entering, most of
them, well advanced. Such is the ad
vantage of being free from botheration,
worry, fret, trouble, anxiety, disap
pointment, and the like things, the
names of which may be found in Dr.
Roger’s Thesaurus. It was long ago
settled by agreement of the moralists
and the physiologists that fuss kills
more than fever, and sends greater
numbers to an untimely sepulcher.
The wise pauper may say, if be takes
the trouble of saying anything: “I
have made a snug harbor at last; I have
all that the richest man is sure of—
three meals daily, a bed nightly, and
clothes to put on when I get up in the
morning. Good-by, hope I I have no
further occasion for your anchor, my
lady ! Farewell, care ! You shall not
kill me as you did the cat! Nothing to
do but to live ; ard, by George, I will
live as long as possible. Old boy, you
have got into a good thing! Don’t
make a donkey of yourself by prema
turely exhaling! ” He doesn’t it seems
—and why should he ?— N. Y. 1 rib.
Emigration Statistics.
In one week in July last 2,000 steer
age passengers sailed for Europe from
New York. Last Saturday week 500
sailed in a sigle ship. During the
year ending June 30, 1873, the outgoing
passengers by sea from the United
States were 110,154. Dnring the five
years previous the average annual num
ber was 81,000. Of these departing
53,706 were cabin passengers and 65,-
448 were “ other than cabin.” The ex
cess in Ihe year named is Dot due to
the Vienna exhibition, for during the
three months of the spiring and sum
mer, when travel was at its height, the
steamships carried only about 500 more
passengers abroad than in the corres
ponding period of 1872. For the year
ending with June, 1873, 47,744 citizens
of the United States came home, and
13,388 “ aliens not intending to remain”
arrived. The whole immigration for
the year was 473,141, exclusive of our
returning citizens. The remarkable
increase in the number of people going
abroad indicates the return of immi
grants for good. Some have made
their fortunes; some have been dis
appointed ; even labor has failed. This
last cause has operated for the past year
more than heretofore, as the returns of
next season will show.
A Mid-Ocean Rock.
The Mercmy publishes a rather sen
sational report of a rock in the middle
of the Atlantic ocean as a solution of
the mystery regarding the fate of the
steamships City of Boston, President,
Pacific, United Kingdom, the Ismailia
and other vessels that have never been
heard from after leaving port. The
rock, it appears, lies in latitude 40 north
and longitnde 62.18. It was discovered
by Capt. Picasso, of the Italian bark
Teresa, which arrived at Queenstown
October 2, from New York. Capt. Pi
casso makes the following report of his
discovery:
On the ninth of September, at one p.
M., wind northerly, very light and clear
weather, with sea perfectly smooth, ob
served on the horizon a large rock in
the shape of a trapezeum, about four
miles to the windward, in latitude 40
north, longitude 62.18 west; tried to
beat up to it, but, owing to the lightness
of the wind, could not do so. The rock
lay north and sonth, and was of a red
dish-brown color; discerned the seaweed
on it plainly with a glass. The dimen
sions are as follows: Length, 100 metres,
3 feet, 3 1 inches per metre, on the south
part; 14 metres broad, and 6 metres out
of the water, which was low about half
past two p. m. The rock bore north,
and we made, by chronometer calcula
tion, the rock was in the exact position
of latitude 40 north, longitnde 62.18
west.
Capt. Picasso states that he has a chart
of 1848 by Noneys on board, with this
rock marked on it, bnt there are two
degrees difference m longitnde. This,
he says, is accounted for by the incor
rectness of the old chronometers. He was
surprised at not finding this rock on an
English chart by Wilson, dated 1872,
and also on a French chart, same date,
which is on board. He states that he
tried for soundings, but could get none
in the vicinity of the rock. According
to Capt. Picasso’s report, the rock is
within a few seconds of the same degree
as New York is situated in, and on a
straight line from west to east, lying
about 550 miles from our harbor, and
nearly in the course of the ocean steam
ers, in what is known as the southern
passage.
Figlit with a Conga r.
A letter from Fort Griffin, Texas,
gives the following account of a little
episode in frontier life : “On the bank
of the Clear Fork of the Brazos river
John Selmau and his family were sitting
in their little cabin, enjoying the com
forts of a brilliant fire, when their dog
set up a fierce barking. Mr. Hewitt,
who lives with Mr. Selman, walked out
to see what was the matter, and discov
ered a largo cougar. Mr. H. stepped
back to get a gun, leaving the door
open, intending to return in a moment.
But their morning visitor did not choose
to wait for his retnrn, and followed im
mediately into the house. The first in
troduction the intruder gave himself
was to leap upon a little child, taking
hold of its neck with his monster teeth,
inflicting some very serious wonnds.
Mrs. Selman, the mother of the child,
grabbed it and released it. The animal
then made an attempt to recapture the
child from tho mother, and Mr. Hewitt,
who is gifted with uncommou Bizo and
unusual strength, knocked the monster
down and kicked it under the bed. Mr.
Selman had got hold of a gun by that
time, and, as the cougar came from un
der tbe bed, shot it, the ball entering
the left side of its neck, ranging back
and coming out throngh the abdomen.
Bnt that only infuriated him more than
ever. He then leaped up on the bod,
tearing the bed and bedding. The dot r
had got closed during the fracas, and
the wild animal having become dissatis
fied with his little prison, like a lion in
a cage, leaped from side to side of the
room, upsetting the chairs, table, and
other furniture, at the same time utter
ing the most terrific screams immagina
ble. At last Mr. Selman got hold of
another gnn, and shot it throngh behind
the shoulders. It then jumped at the
fire, grabbed its mouth full of live
coals, and stood there and growled until
Mr. Selman opened the door, and Mr.
Hewett took it by the tail and dragged
it into the yard, where it died. It
measured 11 feet 9 inches in length. ”
Jeremy Taylor on Marriage.
Marriage has in it less of beauty, but
more of safety than the single life; it
hath no more ease, but less danger ; it
is more merry and more sad; it is fuller
of sorrows and fuller of joys ; it lies un
der more burdens, but it is snppcr.ed
by all the strengths of love and charity,
and those burdens are delightful. Mar
riage is the mother of the world, and
preserves kingdoms and fills cities, and
churches, and heaven itself. Celibacy,
like the fly in the heart of an apple,
dwells in perpetual sweetness, bnt sits
alone, and is confined and dies in sin
gularity ; but marriage, like the useful
bee, builds a bouse, aud gathers honey
from every flower, and labors, and
unites into societies and republics, and
sends out colonies, and feeds the world
with delicacies, and obeys their king,
and keeps order, and exercises many
virtues, and promotes the interests of
mankind, and is that state of good to
which God hath designed the present
constitution of the world.
Weather Signs. !
Farmers predict a hard winter because
rabbits are burrowing far into the
ground. It is wise in a rabbit to do
this. If he didn’t some young man
would have him out of that with a
forked stick pretty quick. However, if
that is a sign, it can be offset by
the action of certain cockroaches
around this office. Not one of them
has even commenced to dig yet. They
ramble around as if they expieeted aj>-
plo trees to blossom in January, and
sort o’ tnrn up their noses when they
hear any thing about cold weather or
the wolf of starvation. They don’t
seem to care a cent whether they swing
on a gas burner or roost on the steam
pipes, and.their utter recklessness goes to
show that the coming winter won’t be
of much account.— Detroit Free Frees.
Tobacco.
The condition cf the tobacco crop is
aomewhat higher than was foreshadowed
by the September returns, though still
the promise is for less than two-thirds
of a crop ; the average of all the states
reporting this crop is 61. Only two
states, Connecticut 109, and Georgia
101, are above average ; Massachusetts,
Florida, and Oregon are full average.
These five states, however, represent
lees than 6 p>er cent, of the entire crop.
Kentucky, which produces about two
fiftli ■ of the entire crop of the country,
averages but 44. Virginia, the next
largest tobacco growing state, averages
but 65; Tennessee, the third in rank,
44; Ohio, the fourth, 40; Maryland,
the fifth, 78; Missouri, the sixth, 65.
All the other states are below average.
The Philadelphia Press: “ Six months
before the belching of the guns of Sump
ter any one would have been deemed a
fool who predicted alisolnte war.” And
the Louisville Courier Journal: “ This
may be all true enough ; but the war is
over now, and why do yon seek to renew
the bitterness of sectional bate by spell
ing Sumter with a p?"
VOL. 15--NO. 47.
SAYINGS AND DOINGS.
Marriage is often the end of man’s
troubles—but which end ?
The largest diamond does not always
cover the best hotel clerk.
When a female child is born in Wis
consin the unhappy father begins to
save money to buy a piano.
Tennyson is said to be at work upon
something for Mrs. Edinburgh’s baby.
It begins, ’tis said :
“ Oh. toothless, hsiileoa, royal babe.
About thee all the Kussiana rave." etc.
The peanut crop amounts |to only
750,000 bushels this year, and after the
female colleges have been supplied
there won’t be a pint apieoe for the rest
of us.
California now holds the Tosemite
valley in trust for the nation, and has
paid 855,000 to settle the pre-emption
claims of the persons who oolonized
there.
—lt is asserted as a fact that Disraeli
is quite spoony on the Empress Eu
genie, and all because the premier has
taken to wearing forget-me-nots in his
button-hole.
The high-toned young women who
danced with Alexis when he was in this
country will be glad to hear that the
young man is well. He has ordered an
other barrel of American beans.
They are going to try and put a stop
in Germany to the sale of so-called
“soothing sirups” for infants. Physi
cians assert that more babies are killed
by these concoctions than by disease.
Speaking of the profits of cattle graz
ing, an Indiana journal tells of a man
in Lafayette, in that state, who has
just sold, for $50,000, a herd of Texas
cattle that he gave $20,000 for last fall.
The city of Rome is said to be honey
combed with about 900 miles of subter
ranean passage ways cut through the
solid rock, and that these contain the
bodies of from 6,000,000 to 7,009,000 of
human beings entombed there since the
city was built.
The imperial memorial office in Pekin
has received the following verbal decree
from the emperor : “In honor of the
birth-day cf her majesty, the empress,
let dragoon clothes be worn for three
days, beginning from the 29th inst.
(11th August.) From the throne.”
When there wa3 a rumor in Paris’ of
the engagement of Mme. Lucca at the
Salle Ventadour, communications were
sent to all the journals, denouncing her
as being a most bitter hater of the
French, and all because, being an Aus
trian, she married a German, sang in
Berlin, and nursed her wounded hus
band during the late war.
Satisfactory Solution.—
Facts in geology and Egyptology,
Very momentous as touching chronology,
Seem to run counter to facte of theology. *
Very well, never mind. What if they do ?
These facts, and those facts as well, may be
tine.
Truth and troth ne’er can at variance be;
All truths will some day be proved to agree.
Seeminglv different troths, let us say,
Are equally true in a different way.
Adelina Patti is getting to have a
reputation as a spoiled child of song.
At a late reception, a Yankee, whose
parsimony held even sway with enthu
siasm, ventured to present the bejeweled
darling of the salon with a fifty-cent
nosegay, and the shock it caused her
was so great that she stood upon one
leg for several seconds while ten or a
dozen gentlemen scrambled wildly
around in search of cushions for her to
faint away on.
Goethe’s ideal of married life, and
one to which he strictly adhered, is de
scribed by himself as the union of two
persons of cultivated faculties, identical
in opinion and purposes, between whom
there exists that best kind of equality,
similarity of powers and capacities with
reciprocal superiority in them, so that
one can enjoy the luxury of looking up
to the other, and can have alternately
the pleasure of leading and being led in
the path of development.
Bret Harte, |in an essay on Confu
cius, gives the following as “his jokes:”
“One day, being handed a two-foot
rule, Confucius opened it the wrong
way, whereupon it broke. The master
said quietly that ‘it was a poor rule
that wouldn’t work both ways.’ Ob
serving that Wan Sing was much ad
dicted to opium, the master said, ‘Filial
regard is always beautiful.’ ‘Why?’
asked his disciples. ‘He loves his pop
py,’ replied the master, changing coun
tenance.
The farmers of California were much
elated a few years ago over the prospect
of raising their own coffee. Many trees
were imported and set out, but the yield
of berries was small, and the quality of
them was poor. Then they fell to rais
ing chiooory as a substitute for coffee.
It yielded “well, but they tired of its
taste. They have recently discovered
that grape stones parched and ground
yield a beverage with a flavor almost
identical with that of fine old govern
ment Java.
And now the drawling “ Tha-a-nks ”
of the languid swells has crept into the
dry goods stores; so when a lady hands
her currency to the brisk counter-jump
er, and he has yelled “ca-a-sh!” in a
rasping voice into her very face half a
dozen times, and rapped on the oonnter
till her teeth are on edge, he unsettles
her digestion for the rest of the day by
handing her the change and drawling
“ Tha-a-nks ” in a vapid, easy, familiar
style, as if he had just finished a waltz
with her.
An inventory has been made out of
the articles found in the stomach of the
lunatic shoemaker who died in the
Prestwick Asvlum in England the other
dav. In all'there were 1,844 articles,
namely: 1,639 shoemakers’ sparables,
6 four-inch cut nails, 19 three-inch cut
nails, 8 two-and-a-half-inch cut nails,
13 two-inch cut nails, 40 half-inch cut
nails, 7 three-quarter-inch cut nails, 39
tacks, 5 brass nails, 9 brass brace-but
tons, 20 pieces of buckles, 1 pin, 14 bits
of glass, 10 small pebbles, 3 pieoes of
string, 1 piece of leather three inches
long, 1 piece of lead four inches long,
and an American pegging awl,—the to
tal weight being 11 pounds 10 ounces.
The production of castor beans has
increased to such an extent that we
hear of the erection of three new mills
to extract the oil from them. There
will be no more physic to cast to dogs
or to use in evacuating the bowels than
there was before these mills were put
up. Some sharp chap will perfume this
oil so that its odor will be as pleasant
as its taste is disagreeable. Then he
will put it in nicely-shaped bottles and
label it “Bears’ Greasp, warranted
pure.” Some people have wondered
why the supply of bears’ oil holds out
so well, since bears are becoming scaroe.
They will understand the matter now.
English Journals.
Mr. Bailey, of The Danbury News,
has reoently returned from a scrutiniz
ing journey through the worm-eateu
monarchies of Europe, and wherever he
went he ferreted out things about news
papers. He thinks that “they are
rather slow concerns, are the London
dailies. They crowd their advertisers
into repulsive limits; they mix up their
matter without regard to classification ;
they publish but a beggarly handful of
American news; they report in full the
most insignificant speeches; they don’t
seem to realize that there is such an at
traction as condensed news paragraphs ;
they issue no Sunday paper, and but
one or two have a weekly; they ignore
agriculture and science, personals and
gossip; they carefully exclude all humor
and head-lines, and come to their read
ers every week-day a sombre and monn
ful spectacle that is most exasperating
to behold.”