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THE STANDARD AND EXPRESS. A. 11ARS4H U,K 1 „ W. A. lURIKAf ALK,J Editor* and Proprietors. 'I V MVK -*I.Vo; I, never upoke a word of love, We never named its name, Ah through the leafy wood, and down The shadowed path we came; And yet—and yet-I almost think, Although I can’t tell why, rtis love is mine, and mine is his ; We’re oura—my Live and I, h lF® let , me sit . and lire lit thought Those blissful hours ttgain At. and ere I heard In my heart 1 heir sap and Sweetness drain. ‘ 'AP'ItPt 8 J u’ lucr their fair young heads , Bsneath t’ ae bluer sky, 'rte ta'ke a a t trivial, common things, We ,alked— my Love and I. And once—bow well I know the spot— We stopped beside the brook. And saw the gurgling waters, as Their sunlit way they took. My eyes met his. the soul of love Tn that brief glance did lie, My eyelids drooped—we watched the Btrearn Fiow past- my Love and I. A nd now, I’ve nothing more to say, My heart won’t let me tell The silent talk our spirits had The charm that o’er ua fell * I am not sure, but still i think Although T can> tell why. ’ His love is min'-, and mine is his We re ours -my Love and I. THOMPSON’S DOR JERRY. About one hundred m : les from Mo* bile, on the banks of the Tombigbee river, there lived an old planter named Thompson. Mr. Thompson was a great lover of horses and dogs, particularly the latter, and his plantation was head quarters for the lovers of the canine race for miles around. Mr. Thompson had a son named William ; we will call him Bill, because everybody called him by that name. Bill was about fourteen years of age when the war broke oat, and it inter fered with bis father’s plans concerning his education. However, the war ended, and he was sent to finish his studies at the University of Virginia. Bill remained at the university for about four years, and at the expiration of that time returned to his home The old gentleman was very proud of Bill—indeed he had reason to be. He bad grown to be a tall, elegantly formed man, of graceful manners and genteel appearance. f in his joy at his son’s return, Mr. Thompson had provided an elegant re past, and the elite of society were in vited to welcome Bill home. The entertainment was numerously at tended, and the occasion promised to be the one of the season, for the old gentleman and Bill were really great favorites. The old mansion was thronged with youth and beauty, and to the merry music of the dance the hours glided swiftly away. Bill was congratulated over and over; but tbe many congratulations he re ceived occasioned tbe drinking of more whisky than he could carry, and his part of the reception was brought to a close by bis getting helplessly drunk, in which condition he was found by his father, under one of the tables. The old gentleman, however, smoth ered his resentment, taking into con sideration that this might have been an accident, and that it would not again occur; but his hope was destined soon to be dispelled, for as other fetes fol lowed at other places, it was found that Bill was too fond of whisky and that he regularly c.ime to grief at each enter tainment. Mr. Thompson was not a man to very long tolerate such action on his 1 son’s part ; and one morning, after one of Bill’s excesses, he spoke to him con cerning the matter. ■* Bill could not deny it, and there was a poor chance for an apology. The old gentleman became enraged at Bill’s silence, and thus addresed him: “Bill, I have raised you up as carefully as ever a child was raised. You have disgraced me and my name ; I had fondly hoped you would be an honor to me and it. I’ll have no more of this. You can re main here if yon want to, and this may be your home. You can have a horse to ride and I will clothe you decently ; but, he added with great emphasis, “you shall not hereafter get drunk, you shall either earn your money or steal it.” It. was in vain that Bill tried to apolo gize. The old gentleman would take no apology. The fiat had gone forth, and however dry his throat might be, Bill knew there would be no retrac tion of his father’s words. So he concluded to be a temperance man, but as is usual in such eases, though “the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak.” Bill’s throat soon became very dry and annoying, and at last he made up his mind that he must calculate upon some plan whereby he could get a drink of whisky. In some of his readings Bill remem bered the fable of “The Wise Dogs,” and determined to profit by it. Meet ing liis father one evening, about a month after he had received the pre ceding lecture, he thus addressed him: “ Father, do you know anything about this colony of Yankees down here at the mouth of the river ? ” “ No, I don’t” was the reply, and a gruff one too, for the old man didn’t like the Yankees and didn’t care to hear anything about them. “ Well, father, they must be a queer lot. They have got schools down there.” “Yes,” thundered his father, “schools for niggers.” “ Wei*, ” replied Bill, “lets give the devil his due; they teach white children too.” ’’ “ Ye3,” said the old man, “ they teach lies—they teach them lies.” “ Well, I suppose they do,” replied Bill, “ but what I was going to speak of is that they have got a school for dogs ! ” “ A school for what ? ” “ A school for dogs! They teach dogs to talk ” “Come now, Bill, if you are fool enough to believe such stuff, don’t try to make as big a fool of me ! Teach dogs to talk! They may teach them to steal—l shouldn’t wonder if they did, hut don’t tell me about this teaching dogs to talk ! ” “ Well, now, father, I respect every word you say,” replied Bill, “but I am bound as a gentleman to believe what gentlemen say ; and I have heard sev eaal. talking about it. Really. I know nothing of the facts; but, as I said, I heard several speaking about it, and I believe it. I was down town the other day and your dog Jerry was with me, and a gentleman from Tennessee noticed him as we were speaking of the school. I asked him how long it would take for a dog like Jerry to learn to talk, and he said a dog as knowing as Jerry would learn in two months. Borne dogs will learn in three months, and he said a good many never would learn.” Bill’s praises of Jerry did not go un noticed. If there was any one thing that the old gentleman fully believed, it was that there was never another dog that, knew as much as Jerry. The conversation for this time ter minated, but Bill somehow felt that his father would mention the subject again, and he was not mistaken. A few days after the above dialogue the old gentleman met Bill and thus addressed him : “ Bill, do you really believe that Jerry could learn to talk?” “I certainly believe it.” Bill re plied. “Do you know how much they charge down there ?” “Well,” replied Bill, “I believe they charge twenty-five dollars admis sion, and then ten dollars a month for board and tuition for whatever time it takes.” “ Bill, how much would it cost for you to take Jerry down there and put him to school and come back; make up the figures, and if it ain’t too much, I’ll have you go down and put hitn to school.” Bill figured up the amount and came to the conclusion that about seventy five dollars would defray the necessary expenses, and so apprized his father. “ Well now Bill, the Osage is coming down the river this afternoon ; you get ready and take Jerry down there, and put him to school, if you find the school all right; if not, you bring him home. I wouldn’t sell him for a thou sand dollars, and if any dog can learn to talk, Jerry is the dog.” The grass did not grow under Bill’s feet in getting ready, and at five in the afternoon he got on board the steamer Osage, which was bound down the river to Mobile. Bill was not long ou board before he had the whisky he so much longed for ; and by 8 oVock in the evening he was as drunk as a lord, and had already got into a fight. Poor Jerry, seeing bis master rather rouehly handled, took a share in it, and bilingoneof the parties engaged was quickly set upon and knocked over the side of the boat, and falling just in front of the paddle wheel was struck by it, and instantly k lied. Bill did not discover the loss of the dog until the steamer had arrived at Mobile ; and it was to that place that he had originally determined to go. His astonishment and sorrow at the loss of his father’s favorite dog were very great, and it moreover necessitated all the strategy Bill was possessed of to bring his original plans to anything like a successful ending, He had originally intended to take the dog with him to Mobile, and on returning to his home to declare to his father that he had been that the school was a humbug and the pretended teachers knaves; and he well knew that so great, was his father’s dis like for anything Yankee that he would escape without any very severe cross examination. The killing of the dog had upset ail Bill’s reckoning, and he was compelled to frame anew story, which, as the sequel will show, he suc cessfully did. After remaining for about a week at Mobile and having pretty nearlj' ex hausted his cash in hand, * Bill started for home. His father met him at the landing and asked him many questions concerning Jerry’s chances of learning to talk. Bill declared that there was no doubt of his ability to learn, that he had seen many dogs not half as know ing as Jerry who could talk quite well; and the result was that the old gentle man was much elated with the idea of possessing such a wonderfal being as a dog lhat could talk. Before the end of the two months, which Bill had declared would be suf ficient to give Jerry a decent education, Mr. Thompson had become quite im patient to hear concerning Jerry’s pro gress, and Bill had written several let ters by his lather’s orders to ascertain how the dog was along, but strange as it seemed, no reply was re ceived to aiy of them and at last Bill was ordered to get ready and go down and see about Jerry, and bring him home, if only for a visit. Bill again went down the river on the same steamer by which he went on his previous trip, and with very much the same results so far as his own conduct was concerned, until he returned home. This time his father did not meet him at the landing, to Bill’s great relief, but soberly waited for him at the house. The old gentleman’s disappointment can better be imagined than described, when Bill came into the house alone; for he had not the slightest doubt that his favorite dog, fully informed on sub jects in general, would soon delight his ears with a hearty “ good evanirig” in place of his accustomed familiar bark. “Bill,” said his father, “where’s Jerry ?” Bill made no reply. “I say, Bill, where’s Jerry? “ Jerrv’s dead, father.” “Dead!” “Yes, dead.” “ How did he die?” “ I killed him,” coolly replied Bill. “You killed him! You killed Jerry?” “Yes, father, I killed him.” “ Yon rascal ” “Hear me, father,” interrupted Bill. Let me tell my story, and then if you think I did wrong you can abuse me and do and say what you like. ” “I went down to the school,” con tinued Bill, “and I was there all through the examination. Jerry could talk as well as I can ! They sai'i he was the smartest dog they ever saw! We came down aboard tbe steamer, and Jerry sat up in a chair, and as the ladies whom he had seen before came one by one into the cabin Jerry would say ‘good morning, Mrs. Smith,' or ‘ good morning, Mrs. Jones,’ and he looked as stately as a judge. “ Well, father, at last we got started away from the lauding. Perhaps we had got a half mile away, and the ladies were looking out of the windows, and Jerry was still sitting in his chair, when all of a sudden he turns round to me and says : ‘Bill, how are yon, my boy?” I says, ‘l’m all right.’ “ ‘ How’s the old man ?’ says he. “ ‘ All right,’ I replied “ ‘ How’s the old woman?’ says Jerry. “ Now, father, I didn’t like to hear him speak as he did about you, and when he called yon the old man, I couldn’t stand it very well, but when he spoke that way about mother I couldn’t bear it at all; still I didn’t want any fuss, because you thought so much of him, so I didn’t say anything only to eay she was well. “ Just then he looked around, aud speaking right loud, says he: ‘Bill, does the old man hng and kiss the cook as mueh as he used to?' I didn’t reply, and he kept on: ‘Bill,’says he. ‘l’ve seen the old man kiss the cook, Louise, I mean, more than fifty times, and I’ll tell the old woman when I get home. Won’t she give it to the old man!’ “ Father, I couldn’t stand it. It was right before the ladies. I got up and I took Jerry by tbe throa‘, and says I, ‘You lying dog, I’ll choke you to death. This comes of your cursed Yankee edu cation. I might have known thej’d teach yon to slander your friends. 1 “ Well, father, the villian tried to bite me. I had him by the throat and —I don’t know what I was going to do with him, I was so enraged, but I car ried him out on the deck, when he tried to bite me worse than ever. I went to kick him, and somehow—l was too an gry to recollect just how—he either lumped overboard, or I threw him over board, and the wheel struck him and killed him. “Now, father, I have done. If you blame me I must bear it, but I really was glad he was dead when I came to myself, for I thought what trouble he would make with his lies.” The old gentleman was pale as a ghost. “Bill,” said be, “you did right. I ought to have known that he’d lie if he could talk. Bill, here’s a hundred dol lars. Don’t go and get drunk on this money now, but Bill, don’t you say any thing about this you have "told. Jerry was a mighty smart dog, but somehow,” he added in an undertone, “ I always had an idea that dog was watching me!” — Metropolitan. Mortality of Races. The Deutsche Versicherungs-Zeitung of New Orleans, contains the following interesting notes on the mortality of the two races there, taken from statis tics of Dr. Cliille. The mortality of the colored population has always been decidedly in excess of that of the white population, excepting during yellow fever epidemics, this disease chiefly affecting the whites. There is no doubt that the great mortality existed before the war in New Orleans and other cities—certainly in Charleston, Washington, Baltimore, and New York. In comparing tbe five years of freedom from 1860-70 with "the four years of slavery from 1856-60 we find the aggregate death-rate has remained about the same. But when comparison is drawn between the whites and blacks in these periods it appears that the mortality of t e blacks has greatly in creased. Thus, during the four years 1856-60 (1858, a yellow fever year, be ing excluded) the colored death-rate was about 44 to the thousand, and the white 39 per thousand; while in the four years 1865-70 (excluding the yel low fever, 1867) the colored death-rate amounted to 43 and the white to only 33 per thousand. What are the causes to which we shall ascribe this larger mortality of the colored race? The official sanitary records afford scarcely any data bearing upon this point, and therefore are of no assistance in de termining the question. Some of these causes doubtless lie in the greater ig norance in determining the question. Some of these causes doubtless lie in the greater ignorance and improvidence of this race, and in the fact that its mortality from smali-pox, cholera, consumption, still births, and diseases of children is greater. The future of this race will depend upon the degree of its natural increase by propagation. The only reports of the health board which throw any light upon this matter are those for the years 1872 and 1873, since these alone give the number of deaths among children under two years of age with the two races separated. Regarding the population in 1872-3 as the same as that in 1870, find that in the year 1872, in every thousand children, 154 white chidren died under two years of age to 298 colored, and in the year 1873 181 white and 335 colored per thousand died under that same age. This proves conclusively that in New Orleans the mortality among the col ored children as compared with the mortality of white children is enor mous. The Uses and Functions of the Leaf. The office and utility of leaves are becoming better understood by cultiva tors than formerly ; yet we find a good many still adhere to the old belief that the sun’s rays shining directly on form ing fruit are what perfect it, independ ently of other influences. On this sub ject theory and practice have been in variably found in perfect accordance with each other. The principles of physiology teach us that the sap of a tree, when it passes in at the roots, re mains nearly unchanged in its upward progress through stem and branches until it reaches the leaves, where, being spread out in those thin organs to light and air, it undergoes a complete change and thus becomes suited to the forma tion of new wood and new fruit. Strip a rapidly-growing tree of its leaves at midsummer, and from that, moment the supply of new wood ceases, and it will grow no more till new leaves are formed; aud if it has young fruit the and maturity of the latter will cease in the same way. A few years since a yel low gage plum tree lost all its foliage from leaf blight when the plums were not fully grown and while yet destitute of flavor. The fruit remained station ary and unaltered until in a few weeks a second crop of leaves came out. They then swelled to full size, assumed their crimson dots and received their honeyed sweetness of flavor. The object of pruning should be, therefore, to allow the leaves to grow fall size without be ing injured from crowding. We find the following corroborative fact Btate.l in a late number of the New England Farmer : “We once knew of an intel ligent lady who stripped her grape vines of a portion of their lea\ es in order to let in the sun and ripen the fruit; but to her surprise where the leaves remained as nature had disposed them the grapes were the earliest and every way the best. This led her to investigate the matter,when she was de lighted to learn that the leaves were not only the protectors but the caterers of tbe fruit, constantly elaborating and supplying it with tbe pabulum it re quired to bring it to perfection, ” —The ( London) Garden. Solid Men of Antiquity, —There were tbe great scripture giants, Giliath and Og. The former was six cubits and a span (I. Samuel, xvn. 4), va riously estimated to be from nine feet six to twelve feet. Og is supposed to have been even taller, from the fact that his bedstead is mentioned in Deu teronomy in., 2, as being nine cubits long. During the reign of Augustus Cseiar we read of two giants, Iduslo and Secundilla, who were each ten feet high, and after their death their bodies were kept for a long time as a wonder. During the reign of Yitellius, he sent Darius as a hostage to Rome with pres ents, and among these was a Jew by the name of Eleazar, who was ten feet two inches high. Gabara, the Atabian giant, was nine feet nine inches high. The Empeior Maximus was eight feet and six inches high. Sacobus Damiun was eight feet. Walter Parsons, seven feet four. William Evans, seven feet six inches high. “ I’m sorry to hear of your embar rassment,” said a gentleman to a friend who had failed heavily. * “ Not at all,” said the latter; “keep year sympathy for my creditors ; it is" they "who are embarrassed.” CARTERSYILLE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1875. THR GESKRAL CHORUS. We all keep step to the marchftig choru?, Rising from millionH of men sroHnd. Millions have marched to the same before up, Millions come on, with a sea-like sound. Life, Death; Life, Death; Such is the song of human breath. What is this multitudinous chorus. Wild, monotonous, low, and loud ? Earth we tread on, heaven that o’er ns ? I in the midst of the moving crowd ? Life, Death; Life, Death; IVnat is this burden of human breath ? On with the rest, your footsteps timing ! Mystical music flows in the song, (Blent with it?—Born from it ?)—loftily chiming. Tenderly soothing, it bears you along. Life, Death; Life, Death; Strange is the chant of human breath! Fraser's Magazine. “A Thorough Investigation.” “Punch’s” Parody on the Investiga tion ot the Causes nt the Loss ot the Cospat rick. A few weeks ago the emigrant ship Cospatrick, bound from England to Australia, was burned at sea, resulting in tbe death of nearly all the passen gers and crew. Punch thus describes the investigation of tbe disaster : “Tbe loss of the emigrant ship Crossbones, which took fire on the voy age to Australia, and was burred to the water’s edge, all hands being either burnt or drowned, with the exception of one man and a boy, was the subject of an inquiry held yesterday. “ The court was composed exclusively of ship-owners. Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz represented the board of trade and charterers, while Mr. Phunky attended on behalf of the relatives of the lost passengers and crew. “Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz, in opening the matter, said that they were met to inquire into the loss of the ship Cross bones by fire, together with nearly five hundred lives. No doubt such unto ward events would occur, but in order to meet the requirements of the board of trade, certain witnesses—including the survivors—one man and a boy— would be called to prove that no blame could be attached to ariy one, and that the vessel was all that could be desired. “ The survivors, who had been spend ing the morning at the owners’ office, were then brought into court. They looked still very ill. “James Jonah, able seaman, deposed that he was one of the crew of the Crossbones ; he had been so ever since she was launched ; she was then called the Death’s Head. She went ashore on her first voyage, and strained herself. Was afterward lengthened and rechrist ened. Everything went well till the fire broke out. Couldn’t imagine how she could possibly have taken fire. The cargo was composed of pitch, tar, rosin, oil, paraffine, petroleum, rum, brandy, spirits of wine, fireworks, gunpowder, Ac. Did not consider that an inflam mable cargo. Thought the fire must have originated in one of the water tanks. There were quite enough boats. None of ’em were of any use. Was saved by clinging to a bit of a raft with the boy. “ Serjeant Buzfuz—And that is how you were buoyed out. [Laughter.] “ Witness—Was rescued by the Pe ruvian barque Pick-me-Up, the captain of which treated us most kindly. Hit everybody but us over the head with belaying pins. “Sergeant Buzfuz was most happy to inform the court that it had been inti mated to him that her majesty’s govern ment intended presenting the captain, in the course of a year or two, with a kaleidoscope and a tin speaking trumpet. “Examination resumed: Considered the Cressbones one of the safest skips afloat until she was lost. Would not have the slightest objection to have gone to sea in her again, with the same cargo, provided he was saved, and it was made worth his while. Considered lucifer matches on the top of a powder barrel or petroleum cask rather orna mental than otherwise. “Mr. Phunky was proceeding to ex amine the witness, when the court ad journed for lunch. “On its reassembling, Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz submitted to the court that Mr. Phunky had no locus standi. “Mr. Phunky said he appeared for certain persons who were not quite sat isfied. “ Mr. Phunky—l mean to say that they are not satisfied that the vessel was well found. “ Serjeant Buzfuz—How could she have been well ‘ found’ when she was lost? [Much laughter, which was not suppressed ] “The boy who was saved then called, and corroborated in every par ticular the evidence of the former wit ness. Thought the fire might have originated in the fore-top-gallant mast. Felt very hot after climbing up there. “ An experienced stevedore was then e died by Mr. Phunky, and said that he considered the cargo a most dangerous one, when ho was stopped by Mr. Ser jeant Bnzfnz, who called the attention of the court to the fact that witness dropped his h’s, and was evidently a most objectionable and untrustworthy person. “ The court allowed the objection, and the witness was ordered to staud dow*. “ The learned serjeant then said that it appeared to him quite unnecessary to address the court any further. “ The court, after consulting for two minutes and three-quarters, said that it was certainly most unfortunate that the majority—in fact, a large majority—of the passengers and crew of the Cross bones should have met with such a dis agreeable fate, but it could not be helped. Everything that science, ex perience and skill, as well as petroleum, pitch, tar, gunpowder, spirits, and other powerful agents, could do, had been done, and the court only hoped that the owners were fully insured. If the un fortunate captain were before them, the court would have immediately granted him anew certificate, in case his old one should have been burnt. The co art were unanimously of the opinion that the cargo was of a most harmless description and properly stow ed They would, however, recommend that in future the boats should not be launched keel upward, and that when Capt. Shaw returned from Egypt he should be consulted upon toe best method of suddenly extinguishing ig nited spirits and petroleum, as well as fireworks. “ Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz entirely con curred with the court, and was happy to say that the owners were more than fully insured. “ The inquiry then terminated.” Thirst at Sea.— Thirst on land is bad enough, but thirst at sea, with water everywhere, yet not a drop to drink, is ieu times worse. Of the agony conception when we read, as in the case which it occasions we may form some of a late pliipwreck, of the survivors of a boat’s crew greedily drinking the blood of < heir den J comrades. No one knows what his civil fortune may one day bring him to endure. For the benefit of the reader, therefore, we make a note of the following question put by the board of trade examiners to the candidates for certificates of com petency as mates in the English mer chant service : “ What would you do in order to allay thirst, with nothing but sea water at baud ?” The answer is, “ Kesp the clothes, especially the shirt, soaked with sea water.” Drinking salt water to allay thirst drives the sufferer mad ; but an external application of it gives relief, if it dees not satisfy the demands of craving nature. It is a pity that this simple yet truly scientific remedy is known to but few of those who tempt the treacherous main. The Enipriss of Russia’s Betrothal. A correspondent of the Boston Ad vertiser writes : “ I must tell yon the circumstances of the empress of Rus sia’s betrothal, es I learned them from one who is very near and dear to her. Like the princess of Wales, she was one of a numerous and poor family ; but, unlike that charming princess, she was not beautiful, and no hopes were founded upon her making a marriage which would add glory to the modest princess of Hesse Darmstadt. Such, however, was destined to be the case, and the projects of wise men were over turned by tbe simple caprice of the humanheart. Alexander Nicolajevitche, grand due lieriteer, was, in the year 1841, a charming young prince of thirty three, who, having reached the age when it was thought necessary that he should take a wife and perpetuate the imperial line of Russian monarchs, went forth on a voyage of discovery among-t marriageable princesses, great and small, armed with a list of the most eligible names, and quite decided to choose one from among them. Prinol Orloff, who accompanied his imperiae highness as mentor and guide, affirmed and confirmed by each courier the state of indifferent docility in which his fu ture sovereign pursued his round, and at last wrote begging l’Empereur Nicho las to indicate a preference whioh would help to turn the balance and decide the important question. Before the an swer was received fate conducted the wanderers to the theatre, where the first person upon whom the young grand due’s eyes alighted attentively was the Princess Maria Maximilianne of Hesse modestly seated in the second row of her father’s box. ‘ Who is that young person?’ asked his imperial high ness ; and when Prince Orloff replied, he added decidedly, ‘and the future empress of Russia.’ ‘ But her name is not even on the list,’ cried the poor Prince Orloff. ‘No matter, we will make it first,’ replied the head-strong youth, and he proved as good as his word, the unconscious Princess Marie was in due form demanded in marriage, and has ever since been the faithful and beloved of a good and great monarch.” How a Woman Boys Meat. When a woman enters a bntcher-shop to select a piece of meat for dinner, she has her mind made u > to take mutton roast. Therefore, when the butcher rubs bis hands and asks her what she will have, she promptly replies : “ I’ll take some of that mut— ” She stops there. Her eye has caught sight of a ham, and she suddenly de cides to take ham. “ Is that nice ham ?” she inquires. “Best bam I ever saw, madame. How much ?” “ Well, you may give me three p Well, I don’t know either. My hus band was saying he’d like some sausage. Have you any real nice sausage ?” “ Plenty, madame. Now, then, how much sausage will you have?” “It’s pork sausage, is it?” “Yes, ma’am.” “Well, I suppose a pound would be enough for our small family, but— but—” “Shall I weigh a pound, madame?” “ I was just wondering if a veal pot pie wouldn’t suit him better,” she an swered. “ You have veal, I suppose?” “Oh, yes, madame. Here’s a splen did bit of veal—as good a piece as I ever saw.” “ Yes, that does look like nice veal,” she says, lifting it up. “ And you’ll t&ke it ?” “Let’s see !” she muses. “ Y—no, I guess not. I guess I’d better take pork chopß.” “Nice chops—how much?” he asks. “ One of those slices will weigh a pound, I suppose ?” “ About a pound, madame.” “ And it was a young hog ?” “Quite young, madame.” “And you’ll cut the rind off?” “ Yes, madame.” “ Well,” she says, heaving a deep sigh, “ I guess you may give me some beefsteak—some that’s nice, and be sure to cut all the bone out!” And she’s only been half an hour coming to the point. The Imaginative Sex. Mr. T. W. Higgin3on believes in im agination, and that women excel in that high province of mind. He says : “I rejoice that in women, at least, here, as in Germany, the imaginative faculty still retains its hold. I remember that when Mr. Emerson was lecturing in Boston, many years ago, an eminent lawyer declined going to hear him on the ground that Mr. Emerson was so hard to comprehend ; ‘ but,’ he added, ‘my daughters understand him and they go.’ The remark was generally quoted by the lawyer’s admirers as good satire, and by Mr. Emerson’s admirers as good praise. Let any one notice in our high schools, where boys and girls recite together, which sex cares the most for literature; and he will find that if literature is of any value, the preference affords grounds on whieh the intellect of women may be defended. Cotton Mather says that Arius sup ported his blasphemies by first convert ing five hundred virgins thereunto ; and most of our poets have first won their way by enlisting an admiring constitu ency of women. The imaginative dis position is there, in the feminine na ture ; but if women have not criticised as profoundly and created as grandly, even in literature and art as men, it is owing to other causes, often expounded and forming a part of the general in tellectual discouragement under which they have labored. Woman has at last fought her way into the field of fiction and now stands at its head, both in quantity and quality of work ; but it is true, even here, that she has fought her way through snee rs and < iscouragement. It is a significant fact that the two greatest living masters of fiction are women who have found it for their ad vantage to write under the names of men.”— George Eliot and George Sand. The entire territory of Scotland is 20,047,642 acres. Fifty-seven proprie tors own a trifle more than one-third of the country, and almost one-third of this (upward of one-tenth of all Scot land) belongs to the three richest of them. A Great Yolcano. In her interesting work, “The Ha waiian Archipelago,” Miss Isabella Bird tells of a journey she made to the great volcano of Manna Loa. This mountain, which is situated somewhat to the south of the centre of the island of Ha waii, is the highest active volcano in the world, rising to a height of 13,760 feet. The whole of the south side of Hawaii down to and below the water’s edge is composed of its slopes, its base being 180 miles in circumference. “Its whole bulk above a height of 8,000 feet is one frightful desert,” though vegeta tion, in the form of gray lichens, a little withered grass, and a hardy asplenium, extends 2,000 feet further up. Dnring Miss Bird’s visit to the summit, the thermometer registered 11 degrees of frost. The crater Moknaweoweo is six miles in circumference, 11,000 feet long, 8,000 feet wide, with precipitous side3 800 feat deep. The crater appears to be in a state of constant activity, and at times overflows, carrying destruction to the lowest levels of tbe islands. Since white men inhabited the islands there have been ten eruptions from Manna Loa. Of the condition of the crater the following description of what she saw on her visit, accomplished amid hardships that few men would care to undergo, will give the reader a vivid idea: “When the sun had set, aud the brief red glow of the tropics had vanished, anew world came into being, and wonder after wonder flashed forth from the previously lifeless crater. Everywhere through its vast expanse appeared glints of fire—fires bright and steady, burning in rows like blast fur naces ; fires lone and isolated, unwink ing like planets or twinkling like stars ; rows of little fires marking the margin of the lowest level of the crater ; fire molten in deep crevasses ; fire in wavy lines ; fire calm, stationary and restful; an incandescent lake two miles in length beneath a deceptive crust of darkness, and whose depth one dare not fathom even in thought. Broad in the glare, giving light enough to read by at a distance of three-quarters of a mile, making the moon look as blue as an ordinary English sky, its golden gleam changed to a vivid rose color, lighting up the whole of the vast preci pices of that part of the crater with a rosy red, bringing out every detail here, throwing cliffs and heights into huge black masses there, rising, falling, never intermitting, leaping in lofty jets with glorious shapes like wheat-sheafs, oorruscating, reddening ; the most glo rious thing beneath the moon was the fire fountain of Moknaweoweo.” On the east flank of Mauna Loa, about 4.000 feet in height, is the crater of Kilauea, whieh, Miss Bird says, has the appearance of a great pit on a roll ing plain. “But such a pit! It is nine miles in circumference, and its lowest area, whieh not long ago fell about 300 feet, just as ice on a pond falls when the water below is withdrawn, covers six square miles. The depth of the crater varies from 800 to 1,100 feet in different years, according as the molten sea below is at flood or ebb.” Among the Mormons. The approaching trial of Lee, the Mormon prophet, charged with being engaged in the Mountain Meadow mas sacre, in Utah, draws near, and a cor respondent says the Mormons are pre paring for some startling developments. It is beyond question, he says, that not only were obnoxious Gentiles put out of the way in Salt Lake City without any trial, but even many of “the brethren ” were watched wbea out of doors and quietly led to a place conven ient for butchery, and there had there “ throats cut,” for the double purpose of keeping them from “opposing the kingdom ” and atoning for their sins of unbelief. It is said of Isaac C. Haight, who was the lieutenant colonel of the militia regiment that committed the massacre at Mountain Meadows, that he grew so fanatical and was so far re moved from any supervisory authority that he did as he pleased and disposed of the lives of the obnoxious with all the freedom of a doge of Venice. In the little town of Cedar, the head quarters of his militia, he is said to have kept two of the brethren—Stewart and Macfarlane—for that special pur pose, and to aid at oid times in harass ing and stealing from the passing immi grant Gentiles. No fewer than ten men were taken down into the cellar beneath Haight’s house, and from there they never came out alive, and the only answer that was ever made to any inquiry about a miss ing person in those days was the la conic sentence, “He has gone to Cali fornia.” To listen to the tales that are now told by men and women of the early times of blood one feels carried away in reflection to dark ages aDd barbaric nations, and it is this history that Brig ham Young has good cause to dread being brought to light in the forthcom ing investigation of the Mountain Meadow massacre, and 1 do not see how he can prevent its exposure. The investigation, when once begun, will be like the letting out of water the dam, once pierced, the breech will widen and widen until it all is out, and the revelations of crime will startle the nation. Its ultimate result will be the breaking down of a fearful superstition and despotism and the deliverance of a people who deserve to be free. Strange Matches. It is an historical fact that Frederick of Prussia formed the idea of compel ling unions between the tallest of the two sexes in his dominions, in the hope of having an army of giants. The reader will, in all probability, recollect the following ludicrous incident. It so happened that, daring a rather long ride, the king passed a particularly tall youog woman, an utter stranger. He alighted from his horse, and insisted upon her delivering a letter to the com manding officer of his crack regiment. The letter contained the mandate that the bearer was instantly to be married to the tallest unmarried man in the ser vice. The young woman was somewhat terrified, and, not understanding the transaction, gave an old woman the let ter, which was conveyed to the com manding officer and this old woman was, in a short time, married to the handsomest and finest man in the crack regiment. It is not necessary to say that the marriage was an unhappy one —particularly so to the old woman. In this connection comes another an ecdote. A rich saddler directed in his will that his only child, a daughter, should be deprived of the whole of the fortune unless she married a saddler. A young earl, in order to win the bride, actually served an apprenticeship of seven years to a saddler, and afterwards bound himself to the rich saddler’s daughter for life. But the- union was anj thing but a happy one ; the bride, neither by birth nor breeding a lady, reflected little credit on ber brice groom’s choice ; and repeated quarrels were followed by separation. So it is with all unequal matches; gold and brass won’t unite. Common sense say s, “ Young folk, marry within the bourt darv of your social and religious circle.” There is, then, no reasonable ground for complaint and recrimination. Many matches which might, with ordinary prudence, have proved at least mode r ately comfortable, so far as regards the dispositions of the parties, have, through the inequality of their social relations, proved miserable, because, like the Prussian king, they did not well con sider what they were abont. Woman a Beast of Burden. With all their fine culture and artisl ic instincts, the Germans are not admira ble in the arts aad elegancies of life. There is among men none of the chiv alrous deference and regard for women that marks American manhood. In the upper ranks women hold a tolerable place, but in the lower snd middle sta tions, she is a breeder or beast of bur den, merely ; in tbe lower ranks she is merely the latter, a beast of burden. The work that men do in America is done wholly by women here. There ii no kind of farm work that they do not perform; no manual labor on field, or manufactory’ that they are not called on to do. Indeed, there are but two classes of laborers in the German cities and villages, men over 45 and women of all ages. The youth of the land, when too old to go to school, must go into the army, the daughters must take their places in the field. You may walk from the Rhine to the Danube, and you will see in all the operations of toil, on the farm especially, seven women to one man at work ! Under these conditions is it wonderful that German woman are shriveled and unlovely? That softness of voice or delicacy of feature have perished wholly from the feminine par: of the population ? You will find fine looking men, for army life is by no means laborious. Reflecting on" the conditions nnder which these later gen erations of Germans came into the world, it is simply marvelous that the whole raca is not one of hideous de formity and mental imbecility. It is impossible to think that this" raoe of mothers could bear anything else than physically decrepit and mentally ina pt rfect beings. It i3 atrocious enough t see women doing the hardest labor of men in the field, but German life exhibits other phases of feminine use fulness, to which this is the lilies and langors of life. In every country oi Germany it is a common practice for women to do the work of horses. You may see it in this elegant capital of Dresden and in the surrounding vil lages, if you walk a block. With wide straps over their shoulders and across their breasts, their feet shod in wooden shoes, their hands generally bare, the women of the land may be seen in masses taking the places of horses, day in and day out, through every province of Germany. These masters of tbe Enropean world see nothing wrong in this. They continue on their way perfecting the machinery of war, swallowing up the manhood of the na tion in the pursuit of dominion. At America, and her ways, means, and peo ple, the German raises the voice of scorn. A benighted people, they say, in the wilderness as to education, and bar barous as to manners. None but the Germans know ho v to enjoy life ration ally, they as good as declare. Mean time, wiiat is the enjoyment of the millions of mothers who share the har ness before donkey carts with cows and dogs? If we have no universaties of Heidleberg, Liepsic, Bonn, and Berlin, with their wonderful diffusion of prac tical and elegant learning, we have nothing of this at least. From five in the morning until long after dark at night as you stand by the oity ga’es you will see this singular spectacle kept up, the employes pre senting the same general appearance, here a woman and two dogs, there a woman aud a cow, and presently two women and no dog, and so on. These carts supply the produce of daily con sumption in the towns, wood, coal, po tatoes, and the like. In most cases the head of the house accompanies these novel cortege, but never in harness. He holds the reins, or the whip, and smokes the stump that you see inva riably in the German’s teeth. Having disposed of the load by dint of tug ging through miles of cobbled streets, the weary women return at night home ward, the master of the cortege, who aided with his counsel only in the work of the day, not unfrequently stretching himself in the empty cart to be hauled home by the docile drudges of his house hold. Yet these are the mothers of the sons that conquered the first military nation of Europe, Franoe. Even un der the best conditions, women do not hold the place iu Germany that is con ceded them in America. A man’s wife is virtually his chattle. The law awards it so, and custom sanctions it. This is marked in a hundred ways. In the streets, for instance, there is none of the respectful courtesy shown the sex that may be seen in the remotest backwood town of America. The side walks in all tbe German cities, save the new part of Berlin, are merely single blocks of pavement jutting from the bnildiDg. No matter how wet the day or how muddy the streets, a German never thinks of stepping out to give the lady the walk. Quite the contrary, if she doesn’t flee she is rudely jostled into the slush as if she were a beast. Ablaze With Diamonds. The Boston Transcript tells this glit tering story : “A lady blazed all over with diamonds at a Fifth avenue party recently. On each shoulder she had four stars, the size of a dollar, made of diamonds, her hair was set thickly with diamonds ; there was a diamond bande let on her brow ; she had diamond ear rings, and a diamond necklace; upon the sides of her chest were two circles of diamonds, from which depended lines and curves of diamonds reaching to her waist, upon which she wore a diamond girdle; on her skirt in front were large peacocks wrought in lines of diamonds ; there were rosettes of dia monds on her slippers, and diamonds, large and small, all over her dress and person, wherever they could be placed. The lady’s grandfather was a cartman, her father was a pawnbroker, and her husband—well, he lives upon her father. Tne old gentleman is worth his mil lions, and still follows his business and tends to his store. He is never present at these parties although.” The six foliies of science are said to be tho following : The quadrature of the circle, the establishment of perpet ual motion, the philosopher’s Rtone, the transmutation of metals, divina tion, or the discovery of secrets by magic, and, lastly, judicial astrology. VOL. 16--NO. 16. sayings and doings. Mark Twain says : “To the poor whites along the Mississippi river chills are a merciiul provision of Providence, enabling them to take exercise without exertion.” Dobe’s picture of the “ Seventh Cir cle of Dante’s Hell” contains 900 fig ures. Those in the foreground are the size of life. They ere grouped in a circle about Dante and Virgil, who are on a central eminence, At a horticultural exhibition in Paris last fall, several gourds were exhibited that had gourds of other varieties grafted on them. The operation was performed by introducing the stem of a gourd through' the skin of one to which it was to be joined. Persons planting omt fruit trees are informed by several experienced in the matter that black walnut trees exert an injurious influence on some other va rieties, as the maples. It is according ly desirable to plant them to them selves. There is an arlerian well in Mission Bay, near San Francisco, over half a mile from the shore. It is 200 feet deep, and tbrongh a pipe eleven inches in diamoter fnrnishe* 100,000 gallons of pure fresh water every twenty-four hours. The following puzzle is again on its rounds: “To five and five aod fifty five the first of letters add, ’twill make a thing tli&t killed the king and drove a wise man mad.” It was published first about twenty years ago, and bar never teen correctly answered. But they say there is an answer. Spring baa conoo, Spring ha come, Spring has come; Hark! the feathered songsters tune their notes of jov— (tn a cage.) Hark, the lowing herd! List, the warbling bird Gaily, smiling, budding, blooming Spring has oome! fin a horn.) A nADT went to pay her respects to one of the latest arrivals on the list of babyhood, when the following colotjuy took place between her and the little four-year-old sister of the new comer : “I’ve come for that baby now,” said the lady. “You can’t have it,” was the reply. * “ But I must have it—l came over on purpose,” urged the visitor. “We can’t spare it all,” persisted the child; “but I’ll get a piece of paper and you can cut a pattern.’ “ Which, To-day, Abe.”— Sweet flowers. Ye were too faire, With drooping lids, Among your heavie morning tearea, I found ye. Faire buds!) I left ye there, For sorrow bids Brief greeting to gay youth, it fearos, To wound ye. But deare roses, in yonr noone (TUat graceful, merrie prime) I stole away the lovely boone, And was V. not a crime To rob the wooing aire, Of yonr sweet breath ? Ah! daintie flowers," The wanton hours Of midday’s golden shine Will see ye pine, To-morow, and so fade| Away to death. A qood natdbep but bothersome old bore, who loafs about our office a good deal, explained his projects tha other day and what he proposed doing with his sons: “ There’s Jim, now, he’s idle an’ lazy and worthless. I think I’ll send him to West Point an’ make a offi cer out of him. Then Ephraim, who’s stupid and good-looking. I’ll metamor phose into a preacher. John is a pious, religious, well-meaning youth, an’il do first-class for an editor. But Ned, Ned’s my hope, he’s a cute, sharp, in telligent chap, as’ll make a name for himself; I’m goin’ to set him up in a saloon and cigar shop next week!”— Washington Capitol. PUBLIC DEBT. Kegular illanthly Statement-Decrease In 3larcli $3,681,810. The public debt statement, shows a decrease in the public debt during March of $3,681,210 : Bonds at 6 per cent.... $1,149,135,000 Bonds at 5 per cent... 674,253,750 Total .' ...t1,723.388.650 DEBT BEAMSO INTEREST IN LAWFUL MONEY Lawful money debt $ 14.678.000 Matureddebt 7,373.650 DEBT BEARING NO INTEREST. Legal tender notes $ 37,929,882 Certificates of deposit 43.045.000 Fractional currency 44.343,209 Coin certificates 24,191,990 Total without intereet ..$ 490,878,991 Total debt. $2,236,919,292 Total intereet 29,048,419 CASH IN THE TREASURY. Coin i 84,105,520 Currency 518,252 Special deposit held for redemp tion of certificates of deposit, as provided by 1aw........... 4.354.000 Total in treasury f 132.332,933 DEBT LESS CASH IN TBEASCRY Debt less cash in treiieury $2,133,634,778 Decrease of the debt during the past m0nth........; 3,681,210 BONDS ISSUED TO PACTfIC RAILROAD COMPANIES. INTEREST PAYABLE IN LAWFUL MONEY. Principal outstanding $ 64.623.512 Bnnds issue! to Pacific Railroad Companies, intereet payable in lawful money, principal outstanding debt $61,623,512 Interest accrued and not yet paid 969,352 Interest paid by United States. 26,264,102 Interest repaid by transporta tion of mails, etc 5,943,748 Balance of interest paid by the United States 20.320,354 A Mexican Annexation Scheme. The New York Sunday Mercury has a Washington dispatch alleging that the excursion of Senator Cameron and others to Mexico has for its object the annexation by purchase by the United States of the northern States of that republio. The Mexican authorities are understood to have already acquiesced to the transfer, the terms of which are yet to be settled. The territory pro posed to be annexed is all that part of Mexico lying north of the Rapido river and the Rio Grande de Santiago, com prising the states of Sonora, Chihua hua, Coahuela, Nueva Leon, Cinaloa, Durango and Zacatecas, one half of Tamaulipas, one-third of Jalisco, a small portion of San Luis Potoai, and the territory of Lower California, alto gether about 438,000 square miles of territory, and over 1,500,000 population of whom less than 500,000 are whites, the rest being Indians and mixed races. The boundary line will commence at the mouth of the Rapido, following that river to its source to ward the town of Penos in latitude 25-35, longitu le 101-70, thence to the source of the river Santiago, and along that stream to its month. The movement is understood to have originated with the Mexican i authorities, who desire to see this sparsely settled country placed uuder a power possessing the meansol enforcing order among its population and of in viting emigration tbiibej;.