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THE STANDARD AND EXPRESS.
W. A* MJRSiTULK,} Editors and Proprietors.
TRUTH AftD FALSEHOOD.
BY JOHN O SAXE.
List o a tale well worth the ear
Of all, who wit and sense admire,
Invented, it is very clear.
Some ages prior to Mathew Prior.
Falsehood and Truth, “ upon a time.”
One day in June’s delicious weather,
(Twas in a distant age and clime).
Like sisters, took a walk together.
On, on their merry w ay they took,
Through fragrant wood and verdaßt meadow,
To were a beech beside a brook
Invited rest beneath its shadow.
There, sitting in the pleasant shade,
Upon the margin’s grassy malting,
(A velvet cushion ready-made),
The young companions fell to chatting.
Now, while in voluble discourse
On this and that, their tongues were running
As habit bids, each speaks, perforce,
The one is frank, the other cunning.
Falsehood at length, impatient grown,
With scandals of her own creation,
Said, “ Since we two are quite alone,
And nicely screened from observation.
Suppose in this delightful rill.
While all around is so m-opitious,
We take a bath 7” Baid Truth. “ I will ;
A bath, I’m sure, will be delicious I”
At this her robe she cast aside,
And in the stream that ran before her
She plunged, like Ocean’s happy bride,
As naked as her mother bore her !
Falsehood, at leisure, now undressed,
Put ofl' the robes her limbs that hamper,
And, having donned Truth’s snowy vest,
Ran off as fast as she could scamper.
Since then the subtle maid, in sooth,
Expert in lies and shrewd evasions,
Has borne the honest name of Truth.
And wears her clothes on all occasions.
While Truth, disdaining to appear
In Falsehood’s petticoat and bodice,
Still braves all eyes, from year to year,
As naked as a marble goddess.
THE NARROW ESCAPE.
A REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENT.
Upon one of the lovely farms that
lie along the Delaware dwelt Israil
Israel and his fair voung wife, Althea
The blasts of war, which was desolating
the land, long delayed to reach their
borders, and as yet. each true-hearted
American, their neighbor, dwelt unmo
lested uuder his own vine and fig tree.
It is true that many of the young men,
the forward, the enterprising, the
crossed in love, and the bowed down
with debt, had enlisted ; and in their
communications, blood-stained from
the various battle-fields, awakened
sympathy and gladness, by turns among
their friends at home. But Mr.
Israel felt no call to leave the blooming
wife, and the merry twins, whose voice
was his home music, for the stern music
of the war. He eerved his country in
a more quiet but perhaps equally effi
cient way, by working sedulously in his
vocation, paying the large taxes incum
bent on the war drafts, making an occa
sional loan io the government from his
thriving treasury, and nursing up the
promising twain whom Providence has
vouchsafed as the frnits of wedded
love. But the sounds of strife began
to come nearer his district. The de
feats upon Long Island, and the dark
season that followed, sent many a poor
fellow back to his neighborhood,
maimed or ragged, or starving, to tell
iiow the heart of the great Washington
was nigh despairing at the gloomy pros
pects ahead, and to ask an aim of the
full-handed farmer for God Almighty
sake.
Such appeals were not suffered to fall
unheeded. There was bread and to
spare in the buttery ; there was raiment
and to spare in the old clothes press ;
there was shelter and to spare in the
big gable-roofe.l house. These were
bountifuly dispensed to suffering patri
ots at the hands of the kind-hearted
Israel or his affectionate spouse. For
Israil Israel was a free mason. It is
with such as he that our pen is most
pleased. There is a freer flow at its
point when it glides upon this topic.
Brother Israel was a fiee mason. He
was what a writer styles “a born ma
son ; a mason in the bud and flower ; a
mason in the milk and grain; a mason
in the lint and thread, in the cloth,
dye and garment; thoroughly a mason!
Therefore he was liberal—it is one of
the virtues of masonry to be liberal—
and patriotic; the world-wide attach
mentsof the craft do not, in the least
blunt the delicate home sympathies
which are natural to us all.
I he m asonic lodge in this vicinity ac
knowledged the superior ability of Mr.
Israel, and placed him at the head of
the various finance boards and emer
gency boards, which that emergent
season demanded. This position neces
sarily made him the medium of pay
ment for the various masonic charities
of the district. It must be confessed,
however—and the circumstance is re
lated not to disparage the brethren, for
the aid of the poor at home, and the
prisoners in the prison-ship at New
York, were usually cashed from the
pocket of Mr. Israel himself. Quar
terly dues could not be collected to keep
pace with the demand ; there was too
much pressure from without to justify
a resort to harsh measures for the col
lection ; so Mr. Israel trusted to the
future consideration of his brethren,
and favored! the orders from his private
funds. At the close of the war, when
a general statement of the fiuauces of
the lodge was made, there was found
to be due this noble hearted mason
more than two thousand dollars in gold
and silver. When the suffering patri
ots came near his door on their disas
trous retreat from Long Island, an
opportunity was offered for a liberal
display of his disinterestedness ; for
though provisions were scarce, and com
manded a high price in the markets of
the country, yet on the personal appli
cation of General Washineton, Mr.
Israel supplied the American forces
with fifty laigo beeves, contenting him
self with a plain commissary’s receipt,
instead of the hard money. The war
drew further and further south. Phil
adelphia was occupied by the British,
t he surrounding country was daily rav
aged for their sustenance. Although
the English officers were noted for their
p ompt payments, and even generosity,
where their own friends were concerned,
yet where thß slightest snspicioa of a
disposition favorable to the patriots ex
isted woe to that farmer’s possessions !
He was well escaped if the foraging
parties contented themselves by strip
ping him of his grain and beeves. An
empty roost, a vacant stock yard, un
tenant! and fetalis, were but a light inflic
tion. It, was oftener the case that the
stalls were fired, tho dwelling consumed,
and the poor farmer, whose only crime
was to love his country better than his
country’s foes, was left far-off to com
mence the world anew. While the
dark cloud still rested over the patriots
Prospects, the Roebuck, frigate, an
chored in the Delaware, not far from
Mr. Israel’s house, and a detachment
was sen - ashore to secure that gentle
man, an 1 appropriate his cattle. Mr.
Israel was easily taken, for he rather
put himself in the way of the party,
thinking no further evil than that of
his property would be subject to a heavy
draft. Mach to his surprise, the sol
diers seized him, bound his hands, and
sent him on board the frigate to be
tried by court martial that very day !
All this happened in plain sight of his
wife, who stood in the doorway; and
no sooner did it pass, than she instantly
divines that mischief was brewing. To
prevent the capture of the stock, she
hurried to the yard, turned all the cat
tle out, and set the dog after them.
He soon ran them out deep into the
woodß. The horses in the stable were
liberated in the same manner. By this
time the detachment came np, and see
ing her purpose, they fired their mus
kets at her, but without effect.
Some harsh language was used, bat.
the English officer soon came up and
ordered his men away, having received
no instructions to damage the prop
erty, and the strong-minded woman was
left to rock her babies and ponder upon
the fate of her husband, then in so
dangerous a condition. Mr. Israel was
taken on board the frigate, and while
the officers busied about the final dis
position to be made of him, one of the
sailors approached him, and in a low
tone inquired, “Harken, friend, ain’t
ye a free mason ?” What prompted
the question in the man’s month, can
not be known; but the reader will pres
ently perceive that Mr. Israel’s life wbs
involved in the answer. Startled by
the inquiry, but feeling: new heart at
the very word mason, Mr. Israel whis
pered in reply that he was. “Then,”
pursued the sailor, hastily, for an offi
cer was approaching, to order the pris
oner below, “ you had better tell it,
for the officers will hold a lodge in the
cabin to-night.”
Avery few hours sufficed to prepare
an indictment, summon offioers enough
for a court martial, and commence pro
ceedings. Mr. Israel was led across
from tbe forecastle to the cabin, where
a speedy trial and a short shrift were
in store for the rebel. And the rebel
took a glance across the still water to
his pretty homestead which he felt was
not long to claim as the proprietor.
The trial was a mere formality. Wit
nesses testified to anything that was de
sired of them. The Judge Advocate
evidently felt that the whole matter was
beneath him. He asked but few ques
tions, and those in a careless manner.
One witness, as a crowning point to his
testimony, averted that when Lord
Howe sent to purchase cattle with
specie that the rebellions individual re
turned for answer “ that he would rather
give his cattle to Washington, than re
ceive thousands of British gold !”
“ Wnat have you to say in plea,
prisoner ?” inquired the senior officer,
in the same breadth giving a low order
to the sergeant, which hurried him on
deck, where the rattling of a block,
fixed to a yard arm, could be distinctly
heard. The rattling ceased. A file of
marines marched across the deck.
Something there was awful in all this, ,
and Mr. Israel’s lips paled as he an
swered. He made a manly defence, j
averring his devotion to his country’s |
cause, and maintaining his entire inno
cence of ever having committed any
crime whica could merit such hard
treatment. He was a plain man ; loved
his country ; loved his home ; thought
no harm to any one ; and hoped the
court would not deprive an innocent
man of his life in the very presence of
his family and home.”
At the conclusion of his last remark
he gave the sign of the brotherhood.
A hasty whisper passed upon the judges;
an evident interest took the place of
their listlessness. Their haughty bear
ing was changed ; the senior officer or
dered the Judge Advocate to recall the
witnesses. This being done, the mem
bers of the court cross-examined them
searchingly. It was not difficult now
to sift out of their evidence so much
malioe .nd envy, that the senior officer
dismissed them with a 6tern rebuke
“for seeking to hurt so honorable a man
as Mr. Israel.” The verdict was a
unanimous not guilty. The court being
dismissed, Mr. Israel was sent on shore
in the captain’s barge, and a handsome
present sent to his heroic wife, whose
coolness, in defending her husband’s
property, had been reported to the
officers.
So long as the frigate kept her anch
orage, there were numerous exhibitions
of friendship on the part of her officers,
and Mr. Israel made frequent visits to
the ship where he had been so lately a
prisoner, but where he was now hailed
as a brother. It is needless to add, no
evil of any description was ever inflicts and
on the fortunate man. The records of
Pennsylvania show that Israil Israel
was for many years grand master of
the state.
Ballooning in 1875.
An Attempt at Crossing tile Atlantic
Probable.
Although Mr. Donaldson, the aero
naut, did not succeed iu reaching Eu
rope last year by the aid of the easterly
current, his limited success has induced
Mr. Barnum to make a further engage
ment with him for the summer months
of 1875. A few days ago an agreement
was entered into by which Mr. Donald
son agrees to devote his entire services
to the furtherance of aeronautic travel
ing during the next eight months, for
which he is to receive the sum ot two
thousand dollars, Mr. Barnum further
agreeing to pay all expenses attending
the experiment. During the last sum
mer Donaldson made a large number of
successful ascensions, during which
hundreds of careful observations were
made, none of the results have as yet
been made public. It is considered
proved, first, that it is possible to land
a balloon successfully at any point
named and to re-aseend without material
loss of ascending power; and, second,
that a fixed law governs the air currents,
a knowledge of which will enable the
voyager to leave any spot aud return
to the same at pleasure. During the
past winter Mr. Donaldson has been
engaged in arranging compactly the
results of his work during his many
years’ experience, and possesses therein
a more complete aerial chart than was
ever before compiled. Extensive prep
arations have been ma le for carrying
on a successful summer campaign dur
ing the coming months, to absolutely
determine the existence of an easterly
current. If these experiments continue
to develop Mr. Donaldson’s theory,
there is little doubt that by October of
this year he and a selected company
will have a try at the Atlantic. He is
now at work upon six balloons of vari
ous sizes, capable of carrying from one
to twelve people.—iV. Y. World.
An English picture collector reoently
bought an enormously valuable “old
master” on the Continent, and, in or
der to get it into England under light
duty, had a modern “daub” painte3
over the old mister. When they
washed off the daub the oil master
went with it, and left behind a portrait
of George III; so it wasn’t a very old
I master,
Marriage and Longevity.
In the recent published “ Study of
Sociology,” Mr. Herbert Spencer as
sails a theory that has long been cur
rent with regard to marriage and lon
gevity. That married life is favorable
to longevity has generally been regard
ed as satisfactorily proved by numer
ous statistics, showing, almost without
exception, a greater longevity on the
part of the married. When the ratio
of deaths in the two classes stands at
ten to four, and even twenty four,
there would appear to be little room
for doubt. Bat to this astute social
scientist the evidence, strong as it
seems, furnishes no warrant for the
current belief. He regards the case as
a substitution of cause for effect; in
other words, greater longevity is not
the consequence of marriage; on the
contrary, marriages are clearly tracea
ble to influences favoring longevity.
The principles of natural selection work
so strongly in deciding between the
Benedicks and the bachelors, that tbe
long livers are drawn to the former and
the short livers to the latter. Marriage,
Spencer holds, is regulated by the
ability to meet its responsibilities. The
qualities which give the advantage here
are intellectual and bodily vigor, pru
dence, and self control; these, too, are
the qualities which determine a pro
longed life or a premature death. An
even more direct relation is to be found
in the instincts which lead most strongly
to marriage. The reproductive in
stincts and emotions are strong in pro
portion as the surplus vital energy is
great, and this in turn implies an or
ganization likely to last; “so that, in
fact, the superiority of physique, whioh
is accompanied by strength of the in
stincts and emotions causing marriage,
is a superiority of physique also con
ducive to longevity.” Another influ
ence tells in the same direction. Mar
riage is determined by the preference
of women as well as the desires of meD,
and, other things being equal, women
are attracted towards men of physical
and intellectual power, refusing the
malformed, diseased, and ill-developed
types. In the operation of those three
elements Mr. Spencer finds all that is
needed to account for the striking dif
ference of longevity between the classes,
and declares that “the figures given
afford no proof that marriage and lon
gevity are cause and consequence ; but
they simply verify the inference which
might be drawn a priori—that marriage
and longevity are concomitant results
of the same cause.” —London Medical
Record.
The Art of Conversation.
The secret of a great talker is in his
courage and presence of mind. The
god of gabble helps those who help
themselves to our ears and time. 0
tongue-tied friend ! what a fool you are,
with your stammering and your rush of
blood to the cheeks, your mistimed
modesty and miserable struggles to be
accurate! Shall we tell you a little an
ecdote ? The scene is a library. The
subject is an edition of the Greek tes
tament just put out. The interlocutors
are two gentlemen who have written
for newspapers until they have forgot
ten all their Greek, and another gentle
man just from Oxford and dreadfully
fresh in his Alpha-Beta-Gamma. He
at once points out an error in the text
—a wrong particle and not of the least
consequence, so far as the salvation of
the world is concerned. He waxes in
dignant at the criminal carelessness of
proof-readers. The two also wax indig
nant. “Good heavens!” they cry,
“what are we coming to ?” So the Ox
ford man goes away, with a great re
spect for their exegetical powers, and
then—they look into each other’s faces
and laugh" “Awful carelessness,” they
say as they smoke over it—“Basker
ville would never have nade a ‘typo’
like thatand then they smoke and
laugh again. There is nothing like
assuming erudition, though you have
it not. Besides, it is usually safe,
especially in this country, to take the
ignorance of the other party for
granted, unless you happen to know
your man too well to try it on. If you
are a fool, you will sometimes get
caught; but, being a fool, you will not
feel it. Accurate knowledge of any
thing is the rarest acquisition of this
superficial time. Don’t be scared !
When we are exceedingly dignified
and moral, we express a great contempt
for mere praters, and speak as if a gen
eral massacre of the whole crowd of
them would shove us several thousand
leagues toward the millennium. Can
anything be more embarrassing than
the awful silence which sometimes falls
down like an enormous wet blanket
upon a company, left to look idiotically
in each other’s face, and horribly to
hem and haw? Your part of the work
is but small—only a “Ye-e-es” dropped
here and there to* keep things bobbing.
Sweet then is the sounding brass—
sweet the tinkling cymbol! Is it at
dinner? Is not any noise better than
a clatter of knives and forks ? Or, if
it be at tea, a jingle-jangle of the spoon?
Or in the evening circle, better by far
than the thrums of the piano and the
chirp of the family soprano ? So
that when we are sometimes forewarned
that “ Miss Multiglott is coming,” and
that she “will ta'k us to death,” we are
not in the least frightened, but rather
consoled. We like her simple, honest
hat. Sue will tell ns about our neigh
bors. And we like doarlv to know all
about our neighbors. She will make
matters lively. She will sprinkle Wor
cestershire sance upon the funeral
baked meats, and pat a little tasto into
the cold tea of young lady-lisping. It
is so pleasant to 101 l back in one’s chair
and be all receptivity! And the best of
it is that we shall really be told some
thing which we did not know before ;
for it is astonishing what queer, odd
things these petdeoated fetchers and
carriers pick up in their constant trots.
Magnificent Fishing in Florida.
South from Jacksonville about two
miles in Alachua Lake. Formerly this
was a vast prairie of over twenty thou
sand acres of good grazing land. In
the midst of it was a deep hole or land
sink, of which there are a great many
in the state, into which the waters of
McKinstry Lake, situated further north,
and the surrounding country used to
flow and And a subterranean outlet to
the sea About four years ago the out
let got more or less choked up, aud the
su'plus water backing soon covered this
vast tract of country, in which aqueous
condition it has remained ever since,
increasing and diminishing in area as
the season varies from wet to dry. This
lake is literally dive with fish. I have
seen colored boys with an ordinary
pole cut from the woods, a line not over
four feet long, and a fly, rudely con
structed of white and xed flannel, catch
eighty pounds of black bass in a couple
of hours. These iish average from two
to twelve pounds. An eight-pound bass
is common, A few days ago a gentle-
CARTERSYILLE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, APRIL 1. 1875.
man residing in Gainville caught and
weighed on Fairbank’s scales, in the
presence of a number of northern visit
ors here, a black bass weighing nine
teen and one-quarter pounds. Tradi
tion says one was caught here last year
that weighed twenty-three pounds. All
the small streams flowing into this lake
are also lull of bass. Day before yes
terday I saw three small boys standing
in a stream, about three feet wide, and
may be a foot deep, each armed with a
piece of hoop iron, with which they
killed, in the half hour I was present,
eight good sized bass. Another boy of
the same party, with a two-bushel corn
bag, made one haul in the same stream
of ten bass.
Lucrezia Borgia.
Kate Field having witnessed Ristori’s
enactment of the character of Lucrezia
Borgia in Victor Hugo’s drama, takes
it upon herself to defend the truth of
history from what she deems the dram
atist’s misrepresentation. In a commu
nication to the New York Tribune she
says : “If Victor Hugo were not a
poet, he might be called a liar. Being
a poet his lyre is spelled differently.
Lucrezia Borgia was an honor to her
sex in an era when licentiousness was
universal and the code of morals suffi
ciently lax to gratify the most vicious.
Her court became famous for its bril
liancy, and her platonic friendship for
Pietro Berrbo is historic. Bembo speaks
of her as a princess who was more de
sirous of ornamenting her mind with
excellent endowments than her person
the decorations of dress, applying all
her leisure hours to reading or compo
sition, to the end that she might sur
pass other women as much in the charms
of her understanding as she already did
in those of external beauty, and that
she might be better satisfied with her
own applause than witn that, however
infinite, of the rest of the world. Lib
anori pronounced her a most beautiful
princess, endowed with every estimable
quality of mind and with the highest
polish of understanding. She was ‘ es
teemed as the delight of the time and
the treasure of the age.’ In 1508, Ca
viceo dedicated II Peregrino to Lu
crezia, as a homage to her excellence.
Ariosto declared that she rivaled in the
deeorum of her manners, as well as in
the beauty of her person, all that former
times could boast, and in the forty
second book of his great poem he as
serts that Rome ought to prefer the
modern Lucrezia to the Lucretia of
an iquity as well in modesty as in
beauty ! The mother of three sons, she
superintended their education, and her
husband reposed so much confidence in
her that, when in the field, he gave to
her the reins of government. For twen
ty years Lucrezia was the life of Fer
rara, her last years being rigidly de
voted to charity.”
Hawthorne on the Saxon.
A London critic says that Julian
Hawthorne’s Saxon Studies, in the last
number of the Contemporary Review
are “ marvelous pieces of writing, filled
with his peculiar humor, and sometimes
displaying gleams of insight that posi
tively startle.” He thus attacks tne
custom of listening to fine music in a
beer garden: “ The Saxon’s sentimen
talism is vitiated by his moral and phys
ical in-healtb. He is continually doing
things false in harmony, and incompre
hensible, as all discord is. Who but
he can sit through a symphony of
Beethoven’s, applauding its majestic
movements with the hand which has
just carried to his lips a mug of beer,
and anon returns thither with a slice of
sausage ? It seems as if no length of
practice could marry this gross, ever
lasting feeding, to any profound ap
preciation of music. He frowns down
the laughter of a child, the whispering
of a pair of lovers, as disturbing the
performance ; but the clatter of kni e
and fork, the champing of jaws—offends
him not. He seems to recognize the
noble beanty of the theme ; he nods and
rolls his eyes at the sublimer strains.
Does he comprehend them? He re
minds me of the Jews, who, indeed,
possess the Bible; written, moreover,
in their native Hebrew; who peruse
it daily, and can repeat much of it by
heart; and who yet have never read so
much as a single line of the word of
God.” His final judgment is that the
Saxon has a strong resemblance to the
goose, “that pig of the bird race,” and
he accuses him of a “cold, profound
selfishness, which forms the foundation
and framework of the national and in
dividual character, in every walk of
life, —the wretched chill of which must
ultimately annul the warmth of the
most fervent Germau eulogist, provided
he be bold enough to bring his theo
retical enthusiasm to the decisive test
of a few years’ personal intercourse and
conversation with the people.”
Ostrich feathers.
The raidfcof ostriches for the feath
ers, so important a feature
of the stoCK m trade of the milliners
nowdays, appears to have become quite
an industry on the Cape of Good Hope,
whi'her the business has recently been
attracted from up the country. A cor
respondent saw a flock of twenty of
them pasturing in a meadow near the
observatory, aad was surprised to Lam
that they were valued at $350 each.
They feed on grass, like cattle, and re
quire bnt little care. Usually they are
tolerably docile, but at certain seasons
they become irritable, and will some
times go as far as even to attack aoy
person who happens to approach the r
vicinity. In such cases they do not
use their beaks, but kick forward at
their antagonist, and, as their legs are
very powerful, and the middle toe ter
minates in a sharp and massive claw, if
the blow strikes home it is suie to in
flict a severe and not unfrequently a
fa’al wound. "When enraged they are
not very easily driven off, and one of
them is a rangerous adversary for t n
unarmed man. Singularly enough,
notwithstanding their long legs, a fallen
log or fence a foot high is to them an
impassable barrier—they will never try
to over it, Each bird yields from
$l5O to $250 worth of feathers per an
num ; those from the females being
gray, and those from the males all
black, except a single white plume
which grows under each wing, and
which is the most valuable of all. As
in addition to the feathers a number of
young birds Rre reared each year, aid
as the cost of keeping the flock is small,
it will readily be seen that successful
ostrich farming is a very lucrative oc
cupation.
The Sultan of Turkey employs in bis
palace 6,000 servants of both sexes. He
pays and feeds 300 cooks, 300 gardeneis,
500 coachmen, and 600 more to do odds
and ends about the house. To feed
these people and they- liangt-rs-cn 1,200
sheep aud 2,000 fowls are killed every
day, and 60,000 francs for lights are
expended. No wonder they call him
the sick man of Europe,
American Advantages Over Paris.
On an average we dress better, far >
better, sleep softer and combat the cold
in winter and the heat in summer with
more scientific persistency than do any
of the so called luxurious nations of
Europe. Take, for iustance, the mat
ter of heating and lighting. A few of
the leading hotels in Paris and a small
minority among the most expensive
suites of private apartments have gas
introduced into all the rooms, but as a
general thing it is confined to the pub
lic rooms, and the unfortunate wight
who longs to see beyond tbe end of hia
nose is forced to wrestle with dripping
candles and unclean lamps, known only
by tradition in our native land. The
gaslight, which is a common necessary
in the simplest private dwelling in an
American city, is here a luxury scarcely
attainable save by the wealthiest. And
we do not know how precious our gas
light is till we have lost it. To sit in a
dim parlor where four lighted candles
struggle vainly to disperse the gloom,
to dress for opera or ball by the uncer
tain glimmer of those greasy delusions,
is enough to make one forswear all the
luxuries of Paris, and flee homeward
forthwith.
Then in winter comes the question of
warmth. What is more delicious than
to plnnge from the iced-champagne at
mosphere of a sparkling winter’s day in
America into the nest-like, all-pervad
ing warmth of an American home ?
Here such comfort is wholly unknown.
The cold, though lees severe than with
us, is damp, raw and insidious, and
creeps under wraps with a treacherous
persistency that nothing can shut out.
The ill-fitting windows, opening in the
old door-like fashion, let in every
breath of the chill outer air. A fire is
a handful of sticks or half a dozen
lumps of coal. The caloritere, a poor
substitute for our powerful furnaces, is
a luxury for the very rich—an innova
tion grudgingly granted to the whims
of the occupants of the most costly and
fashionable of private apartments.
Warmth, our cozy, all - pervading
warmth, is a winter luxury that we
leave behind us with the cheerful light
of our universal gas-burners. In sum
mer we sorely miss the cold, pure ice
water of our native land, and we long
for it with a thirst which vin ordinaire
and Bavarian beer are powerless to as
suage. The ill-tasting limestone-tainted
water of Paris is a poor substitute for
our sparkling draughts of Schuylkill or
Croton. Ice-pitchers, water-cdolers and
refrigerators are unknown quantities in
the sum total of Parisian luxuries.
The “cup of cold water” which the
traveler in our country finds gratui
tously supplied in every waiting-room
and railway station, every steamboat,
every car and every hotel, is here some
thing that must be specially sought
for, and paid for at an exorbitant price.
Ice can be purchased only in small
quantities for immediate consumption.
Ten cents for a few lumps swimming in
water on a tepid plate is the usual term
for this our American necessity, this
rare Parisian luxury. Nor do all the
deiicate artifices of French cookery
suffice wholly to replace for an Ameri
can palate the dainties of his native
land. The buckwheat cakes and waf
fles, the large, delicately-flavored, lus
cious oysters, the canvas-back ducks,
the Philadelphia croquettes aijd terra
pin, find no substitutes on this side of
the water. The delicious shad ui.d
Spanish mackerel have no gastronomic
rivals in these waters, and the sole must
be accepted in their stead. We miss,
too, our profusion and variety of vege
tables, our stewed and stuffed toma
toes, green corn, oyster plants and
sweet potatoes.— Lippincoit’s.
The Figure and Color of Wood.
The figure of wood depends more up
on the particular mixings and directions
of the fibres than upon any difference
of color. If a tree was found formed
of merely circular rings, like the sec
tion of an organ, filled with layers of
peel instead of pulp, the horizontal seo
tion would exhibit circles ; the vertical,
parallel straight lines ; and the oblique
section parts of ovals ; but few, if any,
trees are to be found either exactly per
pendicular or straight, and, therefore,
although the three natural sections have
a general disposition to the figures de
scribed, every little bend and twist in the
tree disturbs the regularity of the fibre,
and adds to the variety and ornamenta
tion of the wood. A perpendicular cut
through the heart of the tree is the
hardest and most diversified, because in
it occures the most profuse mixture and
density of the fibre, the first and the
last in point.of age being presented in
the same plank; but the density and di
versity lessen as the boar and is cut furtln r
away from the axis. Curls are formed
by the confused filling in of the space
between the forks of the branches. The
beautiful figure thus induced causes a
log, say of mahogany, to be valued in
proportion to the number of curls it
contains. There is great competition at
public auction for such logs, and prices
which seems astonishingly large are
sometimes given for a log known by
judges to contain several fine curls Oc
casionally some disappointment may be
experienced when the log is opened, but
not often. The curl generally shows
itself on the outside, where it can be
seen, and there is always the possibility
of there being interior ones as well,
which do not show on the surface. Fig
ure is also produced as follows: The
germs of the primary branches are set at
an early period of the growth of the par
ent stem, and thus give rise to knots.
But many fail to penetrate to the exte
rior, and are covered over by the more
vigorous deposition of the annual rings.
Each branch is a miniature tree down to
the smallest t wig, and this process goes
on in each individual branch just as in
the tiunk. These knots produce fignre
in the foil owing manner: Wnen thegerm
succeeds in forcing its way to the sur
face, the future rings of the trunk bend
and turn aside when they encounter the
kuct, and in the softer woods do not
unite with it. This accounts for white
wood knots being so liable to fall out.
The turpentine in other sorts of wood
acts as a sort of cement and keeps the
knot in its place The hardness of knots
is due to the close grouping of the fibers
and to their compression by the sur
rounding wood, which itself is allowed
expansion by the yielding nature of the
bark.
Loudness op the Latest Parisian
Mode. —The latest mode of Parisian
lady’s wear has been given out to thiß
measure : The lady is wrapped around
twice in a gauze scarf and thrice in a
tulle veil; twenty yi rds of flower gar
lands are next woven crossways around;
having thus become somewhat of a
package, she is still not sufficiently
dressed, and something more is needed;
a tail, or train, or declivity (however it
may be prefeired) is next attached be
hind with diamonds or pearls, and must
be as heavy as the rest of the costume
is light; the said tail to be covered with
butterflies of gauze, birds of lace and
sarcabenses of lophophore (which is not
cotton jeans), with their respective
claws tied by golden threads. The
ladv thus clothed is kept warm down
below ; but her upper half is kept fresh
with no sleeves, scarcely any corset and
thighs prominent. The toilet is then
essentially complete. This looks as if
the empire was under way again with
its loudness.
Leopard versus Cow.
Sir Samuel Baker, in his interesting
work on Ceylon. telL us that the leop
ards in that country canse no little loss
among the cattle. They are so daring
that they will get to the sheep and cows
by scratching through the thatched
roofs of the sheds in which they are
kept. Sometimes, however, they meet
with their match in the small bnt active
cattle, as in the following instance :
About three years ago a leopard took
it into his head to try the beefsteaks of
a very savage and short horned cow,
who, with her calf, was the property of
a blacksmith. It was a dark, rainy
night. The blacksmith and his wife
wtre in bed, and the cow and calf were
nestled in the warm straw in the cattle
shed.
The door was locked, and all was ap
parently secure, when the hungry leop
ard prowled stealthily around the cow
house, sniffing the prey within. The
strong smell of the leopard at once
alarmed the keen senses of the cow,
made doubly acute by her anxiety for
her little charge, and she stood ready
for the danger, as the leopard, hav
ing mounted on tbe roof, commenced
scratching his way through the thatch.
Down he sprang, but at the same in
stant, with a splendid charge, the cow
pinned him to the wall, and a battle en
sued which can be easily imagined.
A coolie, slept in a corner of the cat
tle shed, whose wandering senses were
completely scattered when he found
himself the unwilling umpire of the
fight. He rushed out and shut the
door. In a few minutes he succeeded
in awakening the blacksmith, who pro
ceeded to load a pistol, the only weapon
he possessed.
During the whole of this time the
bellowing of the cow, the roars of
the leopard, and the thumping, tramp
ling and shuffling which proceeded from
the cattle- shed, explained the savage
nature of the fight.
The blacksmith, who was no sports
man, shortly found himself with a lan
tern in one hand, a pistol in the other,
and no idea what he meant to do. He
waited, therefore, at the shed door, and
holding the light so as to shine through
the numerous small apertures, he look
ed in. The leopard no longer growled,
but the cow was mad with fury. She
alternately threw a large dark mass
over her head, then quickly pinned it
to the ground on its descent, and then
bored it against the wall as it crawled
helplessly toward a comer of the shed.
Tlxio w lilt) bccl-cttlei in lodnecj oir
onmstances. The gallant little cow had
nearly killed him, and was now giving
him the finishing strokes.
The blacksmith perceived the leop
ard’s helpless state, and, boldly opening
the door, discharged the pistol, and the
next minute was bolting as hard as he
could run, with the warlike cow after
him. She was regularly “ up,” and was
ready for anything or anybody. How
ever, she was at length pacified, and the
dying leopard was put out of his misery.
The Mental Attitude ©f the Primitive
Man.
Comprehension of the thoughts gen
erated in the primitive man by his con
verse with the surrounding world can be
had only by looking at the surrounding
world irom his stand-point. The ac
cumulated knowledge and the mental
habits slowly acquired during education
must be suppressed, and we must divest
ourselves of conceptions which, partly
by inheritance and partly by individual
culture, have been rendered necessary.
None can do this completely and few
can do it even partially.
It needs but to observe what unfit
methods are adopted by educators to be
convinced that evan among the disci
plined the power to frame thoughts
which are widely unlike their own is
extremely small. When we see the
juvenile mind plied with generalities
while it has yet none of the concrete
facts to which they refer—when we see
mathematics introduced under the
purely rational form instead of under
that empirical form with which it should
be commenced by the child, as it was
commenced by the race—when we see a
subject so abstract as grammar pot
among the first instead of the last, and
si e it taught analytically instead of
synthetically, we have ample evidence
of the prevailing inability to conceive
tbe ideas of undeveloped minds. And
if, though they have been children them
selves, men find it hard to rethink the
thoughts of the child, still harder must
they find it to rethink the thoughts of
the savage. To keep out automorphic
interpretations is beyond our power.
To look at things with the eyes of ab
solute ignorance, and observe how their
attributes and actions originally group
ed themselves in the mind, implv a
self-suppression that is impracticable.
—Herbert Spencer.
Another German Invasion of France.
The Germans are getting back into
France—this time on a peaceful mis
sion, apparently. The French com
plain and take consolation in a round
of abuse, as follows: Germany is a
shabby land, as it’s inhabitants can’t
stay at home. Prussia sends back into
Gaul her discharged soldiers, on the
close of their war labors, to gobble up
all the best paid positions which the
Gaul is foolish enough to give them,
generous hearts abdicating vengeance.
These Germans are not only covetous,
but spie3 of Bismarck, to ferret out all
the secrets of the shop, families and
state, and yet thrice silly Gaul persists
in wearing her heart, on her elbow, for
the daws to peck at. These Germans
are permanent overseers, not discour
aged by hatred and contempt, only
thereby rather more 6limy. These
Germans are Austrians and Poles, or
give themselves out to be, while taking
the front seats in trade and manufac
ture. These Germans left us to get
their weapons across the Rhine ; they
came back and skinned us alive ; they
then went home to hang up their
bruised arms ; now, like vultures, they
have come baok to pick our bones.
Tuese Germans have been particularly
spotted of late in the prefect’s reports.
They prohibit the exportation of their
horses to Gaul, whiob in turn should
prohibit the importation of all their
two-legged animals, not wanted and far
more dangerous than quadrupeds. And
so we go. The truth is, the Germans
like France—love her—got a first-class
taste in 1870, and subsequently belied
to get back. France is a pretty girl ;
her teeth are like a flock of sheep, and
Prussians like sheep meat, Comme
toxis lea chiena,
The Earth—lts Beat and Contraction.
Professor P. M. Duncan, F. It. S.,
recently delivered at the Royal Institu
tion a course of lectures upon “ The
Grander Phenomena of Physical Geog
raphy. ” He pointed out that there is
strong evidence that the earth is a solid
body now cooling, because the deeper
man can get in mines or in borings the
hotter is the temperature, and the tem
perature continues to increase at depths
to which man cannot reach, a tempera
ture of 3,680 degrees would be found
at a depth of forty five miles. At this
temperature granites and lavas fuse.
Assuming, then, the earth to be a hot
body now cooling, as it cools the rocks
must contract; moreover, those rocks
which are rich in silicia will not con
tract so rapidly on cooling as others,
consequently herein is a source of
change of shape of the earth. It is
well known that surface changes are
going on, that some large areas of land
are in course of slow upheaval, while
others are slowly sinking, and that at
one geographical period there was a
great upheaval of the larger portion of
the continent of North America. Tbe
globe, therefore, is cooling unequally.
The radiation from some parts is
greater than at others, so in this there
is a further souroe of disturbance. Sir
William Thomson has calculated that
every year ninety-two horse power of
work —for beat means work—is got rid
of from every two hundred and forty
seven acres of the surface of the globe.
The dissipation of energy and the con
traction of rocks not being uniform,
the effect of these disturbing causes is
to produce horizontal thrusts, which
form mountain ranges by crumpling np
the earth, for mountains are formed by
this crumbling action, and not usually
by direct volcanic or other upheaval.
The changes produced by the contrac
tion are slow, and there is every reason
to believe that our present sea floors
and onr present continents are ex
tremely old, geographically speaking,
so far as their present forms are con
cerned. He said that the upper part
of Snowdon consists of sea land,
fossil sea fishes, and volcanic ashes, fell
mixed together ; in fact it appears to
have been at one time in the same con
dition that the Bay of Naples is at
present, that is to say, volcanic ashes
tell into it and sometimes buried fish.
The lower part of Snowdon consists of
vast streams of old lava. At some
geological period the crumpling action
already mentioned took place below
the Bay of Snowdon; consequently
the bottom of the bay was elevated and
became the top of the highest moun
tain in Wales. Rain, and rivers, and
atmospheric changes then played upon
it during the course of long ages,
sculpturing out the beautiful mountain
scenery which characterizes the Snow
don range.
The rattlesnake, the most dreaded
reptile n# A ruarioa, i a brarolj Utt&Ckel
and killed by the antelope. The man
ner of attack is curious and effective.
As soon as the snake is discovered,
the male antelope commences trotting
swiftly round the enemy, seemingly
with the purpose of confusing it; then
springing high into the air, and bring
ing his four sharp hoofs together, as he
descends with all his weight upon the
snake. The instant he tonenes it he
separates his feet with a quick move
ment, and tears it to pieces before it
has time to strike.
Civil Marriages in Germany.
The Berlin Staatsanzeiger publishes
a royal decree laying down the particu
lar conditions under which the imperial
law on civil marriage is to be applied in
the Prussian monarchy from the first of
March. The marriageable age of the
adult male subject is fixed at not under
twenty years, of the female at sixteen ;
bnt exceptions may be male by lawful
authority. The consent ©f the father
is necessary before wedlock up to the
end of the young man’s twenty-fifth
year, and the young woman’s twenty
fourth ; but if the father be dead, then
the mother’s is required ; but if neither
parent be living, that of the sponsors.
Sects that, under local customs, use no
sponsors, are released from this last
restriction. And where there is a law
ful guardianship, in the absenoe of
parents, by a family council, its author
ity is recognized. For children born
out of wedlock the mother’s consent
takes the place of the father’s ; and the
child of legal adoption requires the
consent, up to the full age, of its
adopted parent. In ail cases of refusal,
after the first limit of marriageable age
is reached, the son or daughter has a
legal appeal to the district court. The
forbidden degrees are of course those
recited in the original act of the impe
rial diet. Widows cannot marry, with
out legal dispensation, before the end
of the tenth month after their former
husband’s decease. None of the spe
cial restrictions now existing as to the
marriages of military and civil Prus
sian officials, or of foreigners residing
in Prussia, are to be affected by the in
troduction of the law, but all othe im
pediments c xisting uuder former local
laws are repealed. Violations of the
x*estrictions prescribed are to be pun
ished as offenses agaiDst the criminal
code of Prussia. And, finally, all dis
pensatory power is for the future to
rest entirely in the ha ids of the Btate.
The Worth of Life.
Life is no commonplace matter: it
may feel so when we are disappointed,
when we are wearied with labor, or are
disgusted with meanness, and then we
ma< say with the Jewish preacher,
“ Vanity of vanities, all is vanity ! ”
But myself, how often in my more
cheerful moments, and at those more
thoughtful seasons, when my awakened
faculties have made me most truly man,
have I been awe-struck and breathless,
whilst the great mystery of life has oc
curred to my mind in sudden vividness!
In such moments what a miracle have I
felt myself I Excepting God himself,
what is there more wondrous than the
existence of the infinite; than this birth
of .feeling, thinking, and active life,
in our bosoms, which a short time since
were inanimate, insensate dust ! What
thought is there more wondrous than
this, that we are living souls, abroad
and active on the faoe of a world which
was once without form and void ! Well
might the sons of God shout for joy,
when the first man of our race stood up
erect amid the trees of Eden. It was
the birth ef mortal spirit, and that
paradisal woeder is repeated in the
growth of every infant and throughout
the life of every man \ -Mountford
The Shakers have at present eighteen
societies in the United States, compre
hending fifty-eight families, with a to
tal population of 2,415 souls, and real
estate amounting to about 100,000 acres,
of which nearly 50,000 belong to their
own home-farms,
VOL. 16--NO. 14.
SAYINGS AND DOINGS. __
Some observer who has notioed the
effect of great religions awakenings
might do the good cause a servioe by
publishing the number of old debts
that are paid after each revival. There
are scoffers who affect to believe that if
a:i amount has been over-due a very
long time no religion in the world will
make the debtor hunt up and* pay the
dc an he owes.
The southern baptists have joined
heartily in the plan proposed by the
American Baptists education commis
sion for the celebration of the ap
proaching Centenary of American In
dependence. The Nashville Advisory
committee, which met Feb. 22, parsed
resolutions urging the formation of
st ate committees in the states it repre
sents, namely: Kentucky, Tennessee,
Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkan
sas, Louisiana, and Texas. The com
mittee recommended the endowment of
the Southern Baptist Theological Semi
nary, and of the denominational insti
tutions of learning in each state.
The legislative committee appointed
a i hoc, lets the eagle out of the Napo
leonic bag—an eagle, by the way, ever
stuffed with meal. They discovered
that the Brutals had already organized
a secret empire, which wa3 carrying on
functions throughout France, proselyt
izing army and peasantry, intimidating
judges, prefects molding more or less
all others in executive authority, and
distributing daily over 500,000 copies
of imperial journalism. The commit
tee advises the stopping of this busi
ness, but does not say how it is to be
stopped. The discovery of the secret
empire gave rise to the recent fears of
a coup d'etat.
Mart E. Arbons was advertised by her
husband in San Jose, California, as
h iving left his bed and board without
just cause, and so forth. Mrs. Arbons
retorted in a card, in which she said
that she had been married ten years,
aid in that time had cooked about ten
thousand meals, spent fifteen thousand
hours over a hot stove, borne six children,
milked cows over ten thousand times,
and performed other housewifely duties
in proportion. She adds: “ I have
drawn the picture very mildly. I have
m ade allowances for my sickness, when
I have had help, something after the
vs ay that a farmer would hire a horoe if
his own was sick and unable to work.
I had nothing when I went there, and
nothing at the end of those ten years of
servitude.’'
Punch’s Advice to a Baby. —Don’t
come into the world in cold weather.
If you are the heir of a branch of the
house of Smith, by no means permit
your parents to christen you Howard,
or Stanley, or Clinton, or Spencer. If
you are a lady-babv, don’t let them call
you Mary Ann, or Mary Jane, or Soph
onisba, or Sophronia. Think of your
future husband’s misery under such
conditions, ne intensely cross to evexj
body. Nobody asked whether you
wished to enter the world, and you have
a right to protest against being brought
into it. Cry lustily. It is good for the
lungs, and it generally results in some
thing nice being produoed to quiet you.
Allow no one to talk politics in your
presence. Howl when you are smacked,
and resist all attempts to put you to
bed early.
In the Malavan Peninsula large apes
of naturally intelligent breeds are em
ployed by their masters much in the
sfme way that human slaves are made
use of in some parts of Africa. The
cocoannt palm is valuable for its fruit,
bat this is very difficult to procure, so
the landlord of a tope of palms trains
his apes to climb the trees and judi
ciously pick \he richest nuts for him.
The apes seem to delight in the work.
The apes thus employed in the neigh
borhood of Singapore and Penang are
bred in Atchin, and the owners itiner
ate and hire them out. They go up
the trees with a line attached, and obey
the command of their masters, choos
ir g the proper fruit. They twist the
nut round and round till it falls down
from its stalk, when the feat is hailed
on the part of the apes by jumps and
chuckles of evident satisfaction.
Our secretary of legation at St. Pe
tersburg has a Deutsche-sounding
mime—Schuyler. It has been said of
late that on account of his curious and
deep dives into Russian matters, Prince
Gortschakoff had asked his recall. The
si.ving is denied from St. Petersburg.
It. is a significant fact, however, that
the Russians are extremely bitter
against the Germans, and all that
snacks of a German sound. They
have so far received all their civilization
imported by German heads and hands,
and manifest a tendency to kick out
ward from their own sterility. Clever
Germans monopolize their big and diffi
cult jobs and places, oould not be done
without, reside in the country, and
r eceatjarily excite jealously. Todtle
t>en, thj defender of Sebastopol, was"
Teutonic, and by that fact was a target
for the national Slavonic spleen.
The American traveler in England
ran scarcely have failed to notice the
embellishment of railway stations along
the road by flower-beds and pretty lit
tle gardens. These cultivated areas
are commonly the unused land lying
a ong each side of the track at the en
trance to the station. Occasionally
there is a somewhat fantastic taste ex
hibited by the station-master; but a
few freaks of design may well be par
doned in view of the healthful ambition
that led to them. These garden-spots
become matters of pride and zeal with
the station-masters; they employ what
would otherwise be idle hours; and
hence they are not only a charm to the
t-aveler, but a means of agreeable
change to the otherwise monotonous
duties of tha railway officials. We
should be glad to see in America as
prevalent a teste for flower culture as
finds almost everywhere in England.
White Quails.
A year ago from last fall a pair of
white quails were netted in the western
part of this country and were purchased
by G. H. Ribble, Esq., of this city.
They were very much like the ordinary
quail with the exception of being pure
white. Mr. Ribble kept them until last
May and then, as they seemed drooping
and despondent, turned them loose in
the woods south of town. Nothing
more was heard of them until early in
the fall, when they were discovered on
the Lackland farm, with an interesting
family of thirteen chicks, all as white
ss themselves. They are yet in that
vicinity, our sportsmen, by common
consent, leaving them unmolested. If
it had only been a freak of nature, as
was supposed by some to be tbe case
with the pair captured, the progeny 1
would have been of the ordinary color.
They are evidently a kind new to this
country. What is their proper name
end classification, and where did they
come from? Wyi some, one ..who j*
jjosted please inform ns.— Mexioo (Mo.)
/ntelligenoer, &