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THE STANDARD AND EXPRESS.
A MiRMHiLK ) __
W. A. miRsOHALK,/ Editors and Proprietors.
ACIIOSS THK STKKKT.
I do not know it if she knows
I atcb her, as she conies and goes;
I wonder if she dreams of it.
Sittine and working at my rhymes,
I weave her sunny hair at times
Into my verse, or gleams of it.
Upon her window-ledge is set
A box of flowering mignonnette;
Morning and night she tends to them,
The senseless flowers, that do not care
To kis that strand of loosened hair
As prettily she bends to them.
If I could once contrive to get
Into that box of mignonnette.
Some morning as she tends to them !
Dear me! I see the sweet blood rise
And bloom about her chepks aud eyes
And bosom, as she bends to them !
JOHN CO'NETI’S NOTABLE BIRTH
DAY.
Mr*. Ellen Ko*s (NeUle Brooks.)
CHAPTER I,
John Cosnett felt very much like
“Mr. Ready-to-halt,” as he walked
along under the gloomy sky of a cer
tain 24th of December.
John had not a very robust constitu
tion, and he felt the influence of
weather and surroun ding circumstances
more than he would have done had he
been a stronger man. He knew that it
was to a great extent his own fault that
he had destroyed the health he once
enjoyed by years of excessive drinking;
but this reflection did not make his
trouble any easier to bear—far from it.
It was now exactly twelve months
since he had signed the pledge ; and
instead of looking back with joy and
thankfulness upon the happy change
which had taken place in himself, his
family and his home during that time,
lie perversely chose to look at every
thing in a light as gloomy as that of
this gray, frosty, cheerless Christmas
Eve.
“I don’t see that we’re much better
off than we were this time last year,”
he said to himself. “Almost all we
can say is, that we are quite out of
debt; but home isn’t much better, that
T can see. Fifty things that we wanted
then to make it comfortable, we want
yet; and I can’t see any prospects of
getting ’em. It has been nothing but
patch, patch, patch, alter all our striv
ing ; and there are lots of things that
wife and children want this cold
weather, that can't be got and won’l be
got for many a day. Then see how ill
Tolly h?s been, aud what a sickly little
might she is still; I shouldn’t wonder a
bit if we lost her, and I think it would
drive me well nigh mad to lose Polly.
Ah, thiugs do look dark, and there
doesen’t seem much encouragement to
keep on. Wife and children don’t seem
even to remember that this is the anni
versary of the day on which I gave up
the drink, although it was the hardest
trial of my life to do it. Not a word
have they said about it, and they don’t
seem to care. I suppose if I did just
a i Tom Hanvors wants mo to so much
—go and keep Chrismas Eve with him
aud the rest of ’em at “The Golden
Goose.” Well, if I did it wouldn’t be
so bad, after all. Haven’t I kept the
pledge the whole year? And that’s
more than many can say. If I did
have ’a hit o? enjoyment, to-night, I
could sign again after New Year’s
Day.”
John thrust his cold hands in his pock
ets, and jingled the silver about in them
that lie had just received for wages
It seemed as if he tried to look and
feel as miserable as he could.
Ah, John, John ! Don’t you know
how easy it is to make everything in
life look as black as night, if we are
bent upon murmuring and repining?
And don’t you know that there is a
sunny side to every cloud, and that
oftentimes tilings are not nearly so bad
as they see in te be ? Now if your
“good augei”could have whispered into
your ear just then, what might you have
heard ? Something like this :
“ Now, John, man, pray reflect upon
what you have been saying. You are a
deal better off than you were this time
last year. Not only can you hold up
your head before the whole world, and
say, “ I owe no man a penny,” but your
money lias done many blessed things
besides putting you out of debt. Cer
t.inlv there is not se much to show for
it yet; but it has kept the children
plentifully supplied witn good food all
year; it lias kept tlieir shoes sound,
and tlieir clothes tidy ; it lias brought
many little comforts to your home, and
made your wife a glad and thankful
woman. And though many things are
still wanted, they can be done without,
a little longer, and you will get them in
very good time if you hold on bravely.
Then, although your darling littly Polly
has been so ill, she is now aimost well,
you may say, and, with care, may turn
out as strong as any of the other chil
dren. And if it should please God to
take her. He would surely give you
strength according to your day, and
help you to say, “His will be done,”
if you look to Him. Aud as for wife
and children not caring about this im
portant anniversary ! you just wait a
bit and see. It is because they are
afraid of letting the cat out of the bag,
as your oldest boy, Arthur, says that
they have not said a word about it dur
ing the past two or three weeks.
Bea man, John ! Don’t be so foolish,
nay, wicked, as to go off to “ The
Golden Goose” seeking enjoyment!’
You know well enough you wouldn’t
find it there. Didn’t you try through
many a weary year to get enjoyment in
sucli places, and after all didn’t you
find yourself in the very depths of
misery and despair? And pray don’t
let Satan deceive you with the notions
that you would go and sigu the pledge
very easily after New Year’s day. You
might never sign again, if you want to
only break it now, aud then woe, woe,
1 ° yourself and everybody belonging to
you.
Go home, John, go home! Home is
the place for the tempted and the
gloom. It is a haven to run into and
e cape shipwreck. Ii things look dark
to you now, go home, and hope for the
sliming of the sun to-morrow !
Whether John’s reflections took a
turn this way I know not; but certainly
he kept straight on in the direction of
home, turning not to the right hand
nor to the left, where lay many of his
well-known haunts, like man-traps to
ensnare the weak and foolish.
He quickened his steps, for it was in
tensely cold, but before ho had gone
tar, he saw, long way off, a little group
turn the corner oi the street, to come
towards him. “ I wonder where they’re
oft’ to,” he said, “ aud Polly, too, I de
clare ! I’ll just step out of sight, and
follow them when they pass by.” So he
stepped up a passage close at hand, and
stayed there, hoping he would not be
noticed. In a few minutes his children
passed—Arthur and Willie, and Polly,
and Susie—all so well wrapped up and
so chatty and merry, that he thought
surely thev must be out on some happy
errand. Before we follow after them
with the father, we will learn what took
place before they started out.
&rCHAPTER 11.
X or many a day passed little Polly
had been saying anxiously :
“ Oh, mother ! I hope [ shall be well
enough to go out with Arthur on father’s
teetotal birthday. Even if it snows, I
ma 7 P.o, mayn’t I? A bit of snow
wouldn’t hnrt, if I get a deal better ;
and oh, I do want to help to buv father's
book.”
“ No, you’d better not say any more
about it till the day comes,” Arthur
said one evening ; “ for if you keep on
so about it, I know you’ll let the cat out
of the bag before* father, and that
would just spoil every thing. And
seven and sixpence is too much to pay,
after having our plan spoilt. Hi! seven
and sixpence, mother,” he added, with
a happy laugh, “isn’t it a lot to give
fora book? I never spent so much
money in my life before. Ido hope,
when we go cut on Christmas eve to
buy it, that we shan’t meet any pick
pockets.”
“You mustn’t trust in your pocket,
Arthur ; you must carry it tight in your
hand,” said little Susie, with a wise
nod of her curly head.
“There’s a knowing Susie,” cried Ar
thur. “Now that’s just what I’ll do, if
you’ll walk without holding my hand.”
Seven-and-sixpence for a present for
the father ! It may be asked how they
could get such a sum for such a pur
pose, and the answer is, that it was the
fruit of self denial and affection,
“ Father’s first teetotal birthday,” that
was coming, had been talked of many
times during the past year, aud the
children has resolved that he should
have some little present in remembrance.
So they saved by every halfpenny they
could get, Arthur frequently earning a
few pence by running errands for per
sons in the neighborhood. And when
Polly fell ill, and kmd friends dropped
in to see her, she had pence often given
her with advice to buy eggs, or oranges,
or cakes with them, or tempt her poor
appetite. But not a penny would she
spend on herself. She remembered the
want and misery of the time before her
father had signed the pledge ; and she
thought he had been such a dear, good
father ever since last Christmas that
she could not possibly do too much
for him. Besides, the present they had
set their hearts upon getting was so
expensive for them, that it was urgent
they should save every penny that came
into their hands.
At first they were very undecided
about what to get. They frequently sat
down in solemn conclave over the ques
tion, but could not ome to a decision.
Arthur voted that they should get at
least five shillings for the present, and
that was too large a sum to be lightly
spent. Should it be something to
wear, to eat or to use ? They decided
that it must not be anything either to
wear or to eat, because they would like
it to be kept for years in remembrance
of the important occasion. “It should
be something to remind father on every
Christmas to come, what a happy day
liis first teetotal birthday was,” said
Mrs. Cosnett.
“ Oh, mother ! ” he exclaimed, “ I’ve
seen something that would be exactly
the thing for father’s present. You
know Robinson’s old book shop ? Well,
I was looking in, and I saw such a
grand Bible ; it isn’t new, but it looks
as good as if it had never been used,
anti it has such lovely pictures. It is
a family Bible, a beauty ! aud I went in
to look at it, and ask the price. Guess
what it was.”
“If it was more than five shillings
it isn’t much good to know the price,”
said Mrs. C^-mett.
“ Well, it was nine, mother, and
when I heard that I could have cried, I
fell so sorry. I said to Mr. Robinson
that we would not be able to have it,
a3 it was too much ; and he asked me a
lot of questions about who it was for
and all that, and at last he said we
should have it for seven and sixpence,
and ha wohld keep it for us uutil I
brought him a decided answer. Now
you see there is half-a-crown of mine,
eighteen pence of Polly’s, six pence of
Willie’s, and six pence of Susie’s—five
shillings. How could we manage to
get the other half-crown! Do you
think you could afford to help,
mother ? ”
Mrs. Cosnett thought of a small sum
of money which she had put by, six
pence at a time, to buy herself a pair
of boots, which she had needed very
much.
“Just think,” Arthur went on plead
ing, “ how nice this book would be;
something to be always using, and yet
something to last all our lives.”
“And something to be a real blessing
to us all,” the mother added. And
while she spoke she resolved to wait for
her boots, and add half-a-crown of her
money to the children’s precious store.
“ Ye3, you shall have lialf-a crown
from me,” she said. “There could be
nothiug better for father’s teetotal
birthday than that.”
So Arthur called next day to tell the
old book-seller that they would come
and buy the book on Christmas eve.
And when the day came Polly prevailed
upon her mother to let her go on the
happy errand with the others; she was
sore she was well enough and she didn’t
care how much her mother muffled her
up so she might go and carry her eight
een pence to the shop,
Off they went: and as they neared
the place in the dim light of the fading
afternoon their father overheard the
words, “ Won’t father be glad?” from
Willie ; “ Who’ll have to give it him?”
from Susie ; “We shall seß when the
time comes,” from Arthur ; and “ Mind
you don’t lose your sixpences, Susie
aud Willie or we shan’t be able to buy
it,” from Polly.
When the father had heard so much,
a sense of honer forbade him to pry
farther into their glad secret. He
guesses that they were intending and
hoping to give him a surprise, and a
surprise he resolved it should be. He
would not even look to see wmth&r they
were going, but turned directly back
towards home.
What a change the sight of them, and
the sound of their words, had wrought
in his feelings! A great weight
seemed to be lifted off his heart. He
thought no more of Tom Hanvers’ pro
posal, which just now appeared quite
tempting to him. “The dear things
are thinking of me,” he said, with
fatherly fondness; “and I was think
ing of turning my back upon them to
night and playing the traitor to home.
May God forgive me, and make me
strong to do the right evermore.”
CHAPTER 111.
When John reached home, he did not
say anything at finding his wife alone,
though she supposed he would when he
missed Polly, who had not been out for
so long a t ime. Among other good tilings
which John had learned since he became
a total abstainer, was to have a great re
gard for truth. Teetotalism does not add
much dignity to a character when the
more excellent virtues of truthfulness
and perfect honesty are wanting. So
when Mrs. Cosnett said, “ You don’t
seem surprised at not seeing Polly,” he
replied, “No, because I saw her out
with the other children ; but they did
not see me. Do you think it is safe for
her to be out ?’’
“I don’t thick she will be hurt, John,
They are not gone far, and the air is
clear, though cold. I wrapped her up
right well ; and they promised to walk
fast.”
“Yes, they were walking fast,” said
John. “ I had better go and get dressed
up a bit before they come back. I sup
pose you will want us all after tea to
help get the things ready for the pud
dings. Well, it will be a pleasant bit of
employment, rather new to us.”
“ Yes ; and the dear children are so
glad about it. It would do your heart
good to hear them talk, John. They
think they are going to have the happi
est Christmas of anv people under the
sun ! I’m sure it will seem a reward for
well-doing, to see how joyful they are,”
said Mrs. Cosnett, with tears of delight
glistening in her eyes.
“I don’t doubt it,” said John, as he
left the room to make ready for their
return home.
They came in while he was still en
gaged in “dressing,” and the large
package which Arthur carried was put
away in a drawer, out of sight.
“ I wish you would look over it now,
mother,” he whispered, “it is such a
beauty, I think it must be worth Jive
times the price we had to pay for it,
mother!”
Polly brought back such a color on
her cheeks that her mother declared she
looked as if she had never been ill at all.
And what radiant faces they all had, and
what sparkling eyes!
Mrs. Cosnett folded away their walk
ing clothes, and they stood around the
bright fire warming their hands, when
their father made Lis appearance; little
Susie, the youngest of the four, began
clapping her hands as her father came
in, and said, mysteriously, “Ah, dadda,
you don’t know somefia’!”
Arthur pulled at her frock to stop her
tongue.
“ Don’t pull so, Arthur,” she said in
an injured tone, “I isn’t going to tell
him !”
This only made matters worse in Ar
thur’s opinion ; his face colored, and he
proposed that Susie go to bed if she did
not keep quiet.
“ Youmusn’t say anything ’cept what
you’re told,” said Polly.
At which Susie opened her eyes wide,
and said, *‘oh, oh! can’t I talk about tea
and all that by myself ?”
“ Yes : but not about anything else,”
said Polly, feeling very anxious about
their secret.
“Well,” said Susie, “after tea we shall
talk ’bout—now, ’member, I shan’t tell
what about.”
Mr. Cosnett burst out laughing, and
very considerately began talking about
something that he thought would divert
Susie’s eager mind from the secret which
they all wanted to keep a little while
longer.
The little ones sat down to the fire
wi ll father while Mrs. Cosnett got the
tea, and meanwhile Arthur was busy in
another room. He had carried the
Bible away unnoticed by the others,
and was there inscribing within the
the cover words that they had decided
upon during the day. When that was
done, Mrs. Cosßett brought a beautiful
book-marker that she had worked in her
young days, and put it between the
leaves. Then they left it there, and
went away to tea.
I must not dwell upon that happy tea
time. You may imagine all about the
cozy brightness of the room, the chatter
of the children, and their enjoyment of
their father’s teetotal birthday.
As soon as the meal was over and all
cleared away, Susie said, joyfully :
“Now Arthur’s got to go and fetch
somefin’.”
And, lest the secret should suddenly
burst the bounds of her rosy lips,
Arthur went and fetched the present.
He brought it in with a flushed face,
and placed it on the table in front of
his father.
“ There now, dadda,” cried Susie;
“ we’ve bought that for you with our
very own money, and I put sixpence to
it.”
“Did you, pussy,” said her father,
laughing. Then he opened the beauti
ful book and read :
“ TO DEAR FATHER,
FROM
Arthur, Polly,'Mary, Willie and Susie
Cosnett , in Thankful Remembrance
of His First Temperance
Birthday, Christmas, 1868.”
He read the worls over more than
once, liil at last they looked ail blurred
to him, aud a bright drop fell just be
low the inscription.
“ Children,” he said presently, in a
rather unsteady voice, “you are very
good to remember father so. I can’t
tell how much good your present has
done me, how great a blessing it may
yet be to me and to all of us. Come, I
must kiss you all around for it, not for
getting Susie, who has put the noble
sum of sixpence toward buying dadda
this beautiful book.”
He got up and kissed each of them.
Polly’s thin face was glowing with joy.
“ You must kiss mother, too,” she
said, “ for she put a good bit toward it,
father.”
“Yes, I’ll kiss mother, too,” he said,
merrily, “ though till within the last
year, I must confess, I’d almost forgot
ten how to. There, good lass,” he ad
ded, after kissing away a tear that was
rolling down her face. “And now let
us just look at two or three familiar old
texts in this book, and then we will all
look at the splendid pictures together.”
He turned over the leaves and read,
“Wuenlsaid My foot slippeth, Thy
mercy, O Lord, held me up.” He
turned the leaves over again aud read,
“ Look thou not upon the wine when it
is red, when ho giveth his color in the
cup, when it moveth itself aright. At
the last it biteth like a serpent and
stingeth like an adder.” And, “ Wine
is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and
whosoever is deceived thereby is not
wise.” He turned again and read,
“ God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tempted above that ye are
able ; but will with the temptation also
make a way to escape, that ye may be
able to bear it.” Once more he turned
the leaves and read, “He that over
cometh, the same shall be clothed in
white raiment; and will not blot out
his name out of the book of life, but I
will confess his name before my Father
and before His angels.” “Be theu
faithful unto death, and I will give thee
a crown of life.”
John closed the book and said, “ Ah,
where could we find such inspiring
words of counsel and comfort? They
put new vigor into me. Never, never
as long as I live shall I forget this, my
first teetotal birthday, and I do pray
that every Christmas we may yet be
spared to see may find us all more pre
cious to each other than ever. Yon
have made this a happy Christmas in
deed to me, wife and children, and I
shall see how much I can do henceforth
CARTERSYILLE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 1575.
to make Christmas and all time happy
to you.”
“Father,” said Arthur, presently,
“ there is one text you ought to have
spoken for u just now. I think we’ve
got it quite deep hewn into our hearts,
though.”
“ What is it, Arthur ? ”
“ This, father : 4 lt is more blessed
to give than to receive.’ ”
“Ah, that’s a beautiful text to have
in your hearts and to practice in your
lives, my lad—a text for Christmas and
all times, for you and everybody else,
if the world is to be made bright and
happy as our little world at home here
is to night.”
THE COCOA. THUS.
[Mr. Charles Warren Stoddard ha introduced
into iiis book of South Sea Idyls the following
poem. It is little known:]
Cast on the water by a careless band.
Day after day the winds persuaded me;
Onward I drifted till a coral tree
Stayed me among the branches, where the sand
Gathered about me, and I siowly grew,
Fed by the constant sun and the inconstant dew.
Th 9 sea birds bnild their nests against my root,
And eye my slender body’s horny case.
Widowed within this solitary place
Into the thankless sea I cast my fruit:
Joyous I thrive, for no man may partake
All of the store I bear and harvest for his sake.
No more I heed the kisses of the morn ;
The harsh winds rob me of the life they gave;
I watch my tattered shadow in the wave,
And hourly droop and nod my crest forlorn,
While all my fibres stiffen and grow numb
Reck’ning the tardy ships, the ships that never
come.
Is the World Round!
A Scientific Heretic Loses $6,000 ami
Lands In Jail tor His Unbelief.
Let not the civilized New Yorker,
then, hold up his hanus in Pharisaic
horror when we inform him that there
now languishes in one of her Britanic
majesty’s prisons a worthy and respect
able Englishman of good estate *who
has brought himself to that sad condi
tion solely by his profound and pas
sionate conviction that the world is not
in the least round, but, on the contrary,
as flat as a pancake. He bears a heroic
name—immortal in the annals of lib
erty—no less illustrious a name, in
deed, than John Hampden. He has
worked out a cosmography of his own,
which he calls the “ zetetic system,” in
name at least a most modest and com
mendable system, its vital principle, if
its nape means anything, * being’ that
the whole universe rests upon a mark
of interrogation. His earlier efforts at
undermining the accepted theory of
things were as gentle and persuasive as
became an innovator bent not upon
uttering oracles but upon propounding
queries. He addressed himself to no
less a personage than Mr. A. R. Wal
lace, the great ally of Darwin, and in
duced that eminent man of science to
join him in submitting the Copernican
theory to an ordeal by wager. This
sounds perhaps like a joke. But it was
no joke at all. Mr. Hampden and Mr.
Wallace each deposited in Coutt’s bank
the comfortable sum of £SOO sterling,
and, selecting Mr. Walsh, of the Field,
as their umpire, proceeded to ascertain
whether it could or could not be shown
that there exists a perceptiblecurvature
in the surface of six miles of water.
The experiment was tried upon the ca
nal of the Bedford Level. A couple of
levelingrods were placed in the canal
six miles apart, with a third rod
midway between the two. This
having been done, accurate obser
vations made at each extremity with
an ordinary theodolite showed in a mo
ment that there existed in the distance
of six miles a perceptible cur vatu ic, the
extent of which proved upon careful
mathematical calculation exactly to cor
respond with the ordinary calculation
of the length of the earth’s radius, and
with the average curvature of her sur
face. This result satisfied the umpire.
It satisfied Mr. Wallace, who, upon the
umpire’s decision, drew forth from
Coutts’s bank the comfortable thousand
pounds therein deposited. But it did
not satisfy Mr. John Hampden. That
gentleman wrote to Mr. Walsh and Mr.
Wallace inviting them to make s new
trial on the ground that they had failed
“to make due allowance for the natural
dip of the line of vision,” the effect of
which, as Mr. Hampden assured them,
is to induce a man unskilled in the ze
tetic philosophy to imagine, when he
looks along a plain surface, that he per
ceives a convexity, the truth being that
he perceives nothing of the sort, but is
only suffering from a defect in his eye
sight not remediable otherwise than'by
the stimulating effect upon the mental
facultie-3 of zetetic truth. Mr. Wallaoe
replied by slapping his hand, as it were,
upon his pocket which contained the
thousand pounds. Mr. Walsh replied
that he had other fish to fry, and cared
not to dip any further into the dip of
the line of vision. Whereupon Mr.
Hampden naturally fell into a rage, and
began straightway to persecute his hide
armed antagonists. He sent them
postal cards every day, denouncing
them as “ thieves,” “ swindlers,” and
“ common cheats ;” and as they took no
notice of these observations he pro
ceeded to send similar postal-cards to
all their friends and acquaintances.
Tnis at last drove Mr. Wallace into the
courts for relief. The courts awarded
Mr. Wallace £6OO sterling with costs,
making, as it appears, something like
£1,400 or £1,500 in all “sent to the bad”
by the modern Ptolemaio philosopher
in his vain attempt to bring a single
Copernican to reason. How many men
in this generation would spend asmuch
io save a single heathen soul, or to c®n
vert Brigham Young from the error of
his matrimonial ways?
Magnificent Pauperism in the Month
The New Orleans Picayune is pub
lishing a series of articles in the hope
of doing something to lead the plant
ing class out of what it calls the present
slough of despond. During the past
three years, the editor reminds them,
the southern states have produced large
crops of cotton, and sold them at good
prices. Putting the incoming crop at
only 3,650,000 bales, and tli9 total pro
duction the last three seasons reached
the enormous aggregate of 11,750,000
bales, worth about $725,000,000. The
average crop for the ten years preced
ing the war was 3,545,000 bales, worth
$178,000,000. The average of the last
three years is 3,916,000 bales, worth
$234,960,000. Yet, notwithstanding all
tuis, the Picayune savs, the cotton
states are in a deplorable financial con
dition. They have gone on producing
cotton and purchasing supplies, appar
ently doing a prosperous business, only
to find. that each year leaves them
deeper in debt. Now the merchants
refuse to advance the means to put in
large crops, the planter begins to re'J
ize how desperately poor he is. More
than one remedy may be requisite for
this condition of things, but one of the
most effective of these would be a
greater diversification of agricultural
interests, to tiie end that the planters
may live more within their own re
sources than heretofore.
Animal Wonders.
In each grain of sand, there are mar
vels ; in every drop of water, a world.
In that great spectacle called nature,
every being has its marked place and
distinct role ; and in that grand drama
called life, there presides a law as har
monious as that which rules the move
ment of the stars. Each hour removes
by death myriads of existences, and
each hour produces legions of new
lives. The highest as well as the lowest
created organism consumes carbon and
water to support life and its duties, and
it is not uninteresting to glance at the
food, the habits, and the ways and
means, peculiar to some of the inferior
animals. From their petrified ejections
we know what such fossilized reptiles
as the plesiosaurus, etc. are, aud may
some day be able to discover the fish
and Crustacea they hunted down. Ani
mals, when not living by their own
respectable efforts, are either parasites
or dependents ; many would seem to
have positive trades, or are connected
with branches of industry. There are
miners, masons, carpenters, paper man
ufacturers, and weavers, lacemakers
even, all working first for tnemselves,
and next to propagate their kind. The
miners dig into the earth, from natural
arches and supports, remove the use
less soil: such as the mole, the chin-
chilla of Peru, the badger, the lion ant,
as well as certain worms and molluscs.
Trie masons build huts and places ac
cording to all the rules of architecture,
as the bees and tropioal ants : there are
fish that construct boats that the waves
never can upset, and Agassiz has drawn
attention to a fish which builds its nest
on the floating sea weed in the middle
of the ocean, and deposits therein its
eggs. The wasps of South America
fabricate a sort of paper or pasteboard.
Spiders are weavers as well as lace
makers ; one species oonstruots a diving
bell, a palace of lace. When the as
tronomer has need of the most delicate
thread for hia telesaope, he applies
to a tiny spider. When the naturalist
desires to test his microscope, he selects
a certain shell of a sea insect, so small
that several millions of them in water
could not be visible to the naked eye,
and yet no microscope has yet been
made sufficiently powerful to reveal the
beautiful variegated designs on the
atomic shells ! Aristotle remarked,
and he has since been corroborated, that
a variety of plover enters the crocodile’s
mouth, picks the remnants of food off
the animal’s tongue and from be
tween its teeth. This living tooth
pick is necessary, as the toDgue
of the crocodile is not mobile.
The Mexican owl, when enjoying a
siesta, puts itself under the guard of a
kind of rat, that gives the alarm on the
approach of danger. Parasite s are
everywhere, depend on no particular
condition of the body, and are as abun
dant in persons of the most robust a3
of the most debilitated health. They
are at home in the muscles, in the heart,
in the ventricles of the brain, in the
ball of the eye. Tney are generally
either in the form of a leaf or a ribbon,
and are not necessarily, as was once
supposed, confined to a special animal.
The parasites of fish have been detected
living in the intestines of birds ; and
there are some that, for the purpose of
development, must, pass into the
economy of a second animal.
Mrs. Johnson’s Mistake.
My friend, Johnson, has an establish
ment for the manufacture of jewelry
and silver-ware in Boston. Some time
ago he sold a bill of goods to a dealer
in Augusta, Me. About a month after
ward his partner was on a visit to Ban
gor, and while there Johnson wrote to
him to this effect:
“I have heard nothing of that jewelry
I sent to Augusta. If you are around
that way stop and inquire if it was re
ceived all right.”
He put the letter in his pocket and
forgot to mail it. Next day he left the
coat at home and Mrs. Johnson, as
usual, went through the pockets, and
she found the letter. When Johnson
came home that afternoon and opened
the front door he was amazed to see
Mrs. Johnson with her bonnet on and
an umbrella and handbox in her hand,
sitting in the hall on a trunk, looking
as if she had about twelve hundred
pounds pressure of rage to the square
inch. He said :
“ Why, Emeline, what on earth are
you doing ?”
“ I’m waiting for a cab to take me to
my mother’s, yon brute !”
“To your mother’s? Why, what’s
the matter ?”
“Matter—matter? You know well
enough what’s the matter, you wretch.
I’ll not live with you another hour l
Oh, don’t talk to me, if you please!
Go and talk to Augusta—go talk to her
if you’re so fond of her. I’ve done
with you. This winds you up with
me!”
“What do you mean anyhow?
You’re behaving ridiculously.”
“ I know I am ! Abuse me ! Keep
on abusing me ! Knock me down and
stamp on me ! Augusta ’ll like it, I
dare say ! I wish I had her here now,
the wretch ! I’d give oer a taste of this
umbrella ! I’d scratch her eyes out!”
“ Really, Emeline, this is the most
extraordinary conduct. “ Will you tell
me, my dear, what you ”
“ Oh, dont ‘dear’ me, if you please!
Save your rubbistiing sweetness for her.
It’s too late to soft-sawder me. I’m
going home to mother’s. You can’t
give me clothes io be decent, but Au
gusta gets all she want •, of course. I
go slouching around this house in an
old calico dress, but Augusta, I dare
say, has her silks and satins. I can’t
get a decent breast pin, but you can
give Augusta a cart-load of ’em. It’s
infamous!”
“Emeline!”
“Well, what?”
“ Did you read the letter I left in my
coat yesterday? ’
“Yes, I did, and that’s the way I dis
covered your villainy. ”
“ Emiline!”
“ Well, what d’you want?”
“ That letter referred to some jewelry
I sold to a man in Augusta, Maine.
Emeline!”
“ Well?”
“ You’ve been making a fool of your
self.”
“ Was it really Augusta Maine? Oh,
William ! I’m afraid I have. I’m afraid
—boo-hoo !—boo hoo !”
Here Mrs. Johnson broke down and
wept profusely over the lid of the band
box, while Johnson put her umbrella
gently in the rack and carried her trunk
up-stairs, while she gave play to htr
feelings. She didn’t go home to her
mother. Bat that night she fixed a
dozen of Johnson’s shirts that he had
been trying in vain for a month to in
duce her to repair.—A r Y. Weekly.
The South Africa* Diamond Fields.
—A letter recived in Salem from a gen
tleman of this city, now located at
Cape Town, C. G. H , reports that the
diamond-fields are in a bad way—a
very few paying expenses. Many of
the claims are 150 feet deep, and what
with the labor of hoisting dirt and
pumping water, to say nothing of the
hundreds of tons of earth that fall in
at short intervals, and consequent ex
tra labor and danger, diggers are fast
realizing that the old ways are giving
out, and that stock companies most
soon take their places. Not over
3,000 whites and blacks are now at the
the fields, while a few years ago there
were ten or fifteen times that number,
The business of the fields has, of course,
an influence upon the business of Cape
Town and Port Elizabeth. Both ports
are glutted with stocks of all kinds,
far beyond present requirements.
The Dying Lion.
His Capture and Hislury—A Kecord of
Blood.
There is now lying at the hippodrome
in a dying condition one of the most
remarkable lions that was ever imported
into this country. “ Jim ” —for such is
his name—was captured by the agents
of some London animal dealers when
about two years old, and his savage
nature has never been thoroughly
tamed. With the exception of Pompey,
Parker and Admiral, he is the largest
and oldest African lion in captivity, his
age beiDg nearly twenty-eight years.
Following his capture Jim was taken to
London and placed on exhibition, and
after he had been before the public for
some time it was thought that he was
in a condition to be trained, and a
tamer by the name of Ardent undertook
the but the brute bandied him so
roughly that he was confined to bed for
the next six months. Jim was then
sold to the proprietor of a show that
was traveling throngh the country; and,
finally, after reaching Edinburg, a man
by the name of McArthur undertook to
break him as a performing lion. He
entered the cage of the brute before a
large audience, and after petting and
handling the leopards for a while he
put his hand on Jim; but the animal
did not like it, and with one blow of
his terrible paw knocked the tamer
down. Instantly all was confusion, and
the leopards at once made a dash for
the lion, and fastened their fangs in him.
Whether or no they saved the man is
doubtful, but certain it is they were fast
giving their life for him and the lion
was manglipg them in a fearful man-
ner, when the trainer, with the rapid
ity of lightning, cut him several times
across the eyes with a cowhide, com
pelling him to relinquish bis hold,
when the gate of the training-cage that
divided the animals was at once shut,
and the keeper escaped. Shortly after
this Mr. Bamum purchased the fero
oions animal and brought him to this
country. He was used for awhile in
Forepaugh’s menagerie, where he killed
one of his keepers. By crushing in bis
skull with his ponderous jaws. He
was afterward transferred to Van Am
burgh’s menagerie, when Prof. Lang
worthy tried his hand on him, but
without success. He would not be
tamed, and after receiving some bad
cuts the animal was given up as a bad
job. Jim was afterward sent with the
Bailey menagerie and it was while with
that party that he made himself fa
mous by breaking out of his cage and
attacking the huge “Jennie” elephant.
The great beast caught him in her
trunk, and, after holding him between
heaven and earth for a few seconds,
dashed him to the ground with such
force as to break three of his ribs. He
was then taken back to the Bamum
show and Prof. Charles White tried hie
hand at tamiDg him and partly succeed
ed. But a few years ago, however, the
brute badly injured him and he was
then caged as an exhibition animal.
The old fellow caught cold a few days
Bgo, and, inflammation of the lungs
setting in, he is about to be called to
his fathers. His savage nature is ap
parent even in his last moments, and
but for the fact that he refused to be
fed his life might have been spared.
His career has been a most remarkable
one for a dumb animal, and his loss will
be severely felt, as his ferocity made
him a great attraction. It was not
thought that he would live through the
night. Jim’s record foots up in killed,
one man and thirteen different animals
and a host of wounded.
Spring Bonnets.
A Paris correspondent writes : “ Not
withstanding the cold weather the
spring bonnets are out in full bloom
and beauty. They are very, very
pretty this season, and very becoming
to almost any style of feminine faoa.
The old graceful gypsy shape, set rather
on the back of the head, yet coming
well forward, and fitting closely and
snugly over the back hair, is the" most
in vogue. The high brim of the front
stands up somewhat too much above
the head for actual beauty, but when
the space is filled in with flowers the
effect is good. Flowers are to be worn
in lavish profusion. Every fashion
able bonnet now looks like a perambu
lating bouquet. Flowers fill up the
brim, load the front, wreath the crown,
and dangle in long, drooping sprays
over the wearer’s shoulders. Rice
straws and the coarser straws are in
great favor. Avery beautiful bonnet
which was shown me was made of rice
straw. The exterior disappeared com
pletely under a wreath of wheat, oats,
and poppies, and long sprays of oats
drooped at the back. The high brim
was lined with black velvet with a
single bow of poppy-oolored silk set at
one side. Another was of black straw,
with a broad scarf of white matelasse
Surah tied around the crown and held
down in front by a large cluster of tea
roses. Over the crown was laid a row
of mingled white and black ostr.ch
feathers, ten being employed to form
this garniture. A wreath of tea roses
inside the brim and broad strings of
white matelasse Surah completed the
whole. A delicate and graceful bonnet
for a young girl was composed of rice
straw, with a wide puff of blue silk
around the crown ; the brim was lined
with blue silk and filled in with pale
pink rosebuds. All these were of the
gypsy shape. Another very pretty and
youthful looking bonnet of rice straw
had the wide brim that was so popular
last year; it was lined with pale blue
silk, the brim raised at one side and
confined with a bow, and a wreath of
forget-me-nots encircled the front; the
crown was shaded by two long and very
rich pale blue ostrich feathers. A shape
specially reserved for young girls is
somewhat like an inverted sauoer, which
does not sound very effective, but which
on the head is very stylish and pretty.”
When a common Japanese goes into
the presence of an office-holder he must
say : Great and distinguished chiid
of the sun, deign to put your foot
upon my neck.” There’s some pleas
ure in b olding an office in that country.
A New Story of the Creation.
Mr. George Smith has written a letter
to the London Telegraph concerning
his efforts to read the cuneiform tablets,
which were produced by him in Assyria
and deposited in the British mneenia.
Those tablets oontain the Chaldaio ac
count of the creation and fall of man,
and thus, at this comparatively latediy
of the world, their report comes to
strengthen or weaken the Mosaic his
tory, as recorded in the Bible, of tie
same great events. Mr. Smith, after
giving an account of the discovery of
the tablets, says that when complete,
they must have numbered nine or ten,
and that the history as recorded on
them of what occurred “ in the begin
ning” was much longer and fuller than
the corresponding report in the book of
Genesis. He continues as follows :
“ The nairative on the Assyrian tal>-
lets commences with a description of
the period before the world was created,
when there existed a chaos or confusion.
The desolate and empty state of the
universe and Ihe generation by chaos of
monsters are vividly given. The chaos
is presided over by a female power
named Tisalat and Tiamat, correspond
ing to the Thalatth of Berosus ; but as
it proceeds the Assyrian acoonnt agrees
rather with the Bible than with the
short account from Berosus. We ara
told, in the inscriptions, of the fall of
the celestial being who appears to cor
respond to Satan. In his ambition he
raises his hand against the sanctuary of
the God of heaven, and the description
of him is really magnificent. He is
represented riding in a chariot, through
celestial space, surrounded by the
Btorms, with the lightning playing be
fore him, and wielding a thunderbolt
as a weapon.
“ This rebellion leads to a war in
heaven and the conquest of the powers
of evil, the gods in due course creating
the universe in stages, as in the Mosaic
narrative, surveying each step of the
work and pronouncing it good. The
divine work culminates in the creation
of man, who is made upright and free
from evil, and endowed by the gods
with the noble faculty of speech.
“ The deity then delivers a long ad
dress to the newiy-created being, in
structing him in all his duties and priv
ileges, and pointing out the glory of
his state. But this condition of bless
ing does not last long before man, yield
ing to temptation, fails; and the deity
then pronounces upon him a terrible
curse, invoking on his head all the
evils which have since afflicted humani
ty. These last details are upon the
fragment which I excavated during my
first journey to Assyria.
“ I have at present recovered no more
of the story, and am not yet in posi
tion to give the full translation! and
details ; but I hope during the spring
to find time to search over the collec
tion of smaller fragments of tablets,
and to light upon any smaller parts of
the legends which may have escaped
me. When my investigations are com
pleted I will publish a full account and
translation of these Genesis legends, all
of which I now have been fortunate
enough to find, some in the old museum
collection, others by excavation in As
syria.”
Havana Women.
A writer in Lippincott’s, speaking of
Havana society, 6ays : “ The ugliness of
the women amounts to a vice,and is un
redeemed by any quality such as some
times palliates plainness of features.
I have cried aloud for the beautiful
Cuban, but in vain. lam nssurod that
she exists—am told, “My dear fellow,
you never made a greater mistake in
yonr life ; am pooh poohed in various
ways, but I cannot find lier. I hear it
said that owing to the political chaos
here she has retired from public view ;
but it ia not denied that she will go to
the carnival and the opera. I was
warned not to expect her at the ball in
AlfonseG honor at the Spanish club,
and certainly it was a timely warning.
Fancy a long hall of colored marble
pillars running the length of it, form
ing arcades; balconies on both sides
hanging over the streets, and full of
young men Rmoking cigarettes; men
parading up and down the hall and
quizzing the women, who were all
seated—two rows of them, hundreds
all together—seriously contemplating
the male procession; enameled, pow
dered, attired in the wealth of the In
dies, saying doing nothing,
not smiling nor blinking, just sitting
there, an awful arrav of hideousness.
After the band struck up and the danc
iDg began I remained long enough to
lose in the music the horrible impres
sion of the opening scene, and then
hurried home. At the opera and the
carnival it is not so positively unen
durable, but a handsome face, or a
pretty face, or even an intelligent., ex
pressive face I have not seen in a
woman in Havana ; and at this season
of the year, if Havana is Cuba, I don’t
condemn them—l merely give my
luck. ”
Rejected Suitors.
A writer in the Home Journal says :
“ A woman never quite forgets the man
who has ones loved her. She may not
have loved him : she may, indeed, have
given him the No of the Yes he
hoped for ; but the remembrance that
he desired a Yes always softens her
thoughts of him, and would make him,
were he reminded of it, a friend for
ever. There may be girls who make a
jest of discarded suitors ; but they are
generally very young, and the wooiDg
has been something that did not be
token much depth of tenderness. There
are mercenary offers, too, that only
awaken scorn and hate in a woman
wooed for money and not for herself;
but really to have touched a man’s
heart is something not to be forgotten
while she lives. Always she remembers
how his eyes looked into hers; how,
perhaps, he touched her baud with his,
and how her heart ached when he
turned away without that which she
could not give him. She loves some
one else. Some ether man has all the
truth of her sonl—always has and al
ways will have—but she cannot forget
the one who turned away from her and
went his way and came no more She
is glad when she hears of his success,
grieved when she knows that he has
suffered ; and when some day she hears
that he is married—she who has herself
been married lot g years, perhaps ; she
who, at all events, would never have
married him—is she glad then ? Ido
not know. A woman’s heart is a very
strange thing. I do not believe she
knows herself. Glad ? Oh, yes ; and
is his wife pretty and nice ? And then
she says to herself that * he has quite
forgotten,’ and ‘that, of course, is best,’
and cries a little.”
Torpedoes are now sent into whales
at the end of a newly-invented harpoon
in use at Norway. They kill the fish
without delay."
VOL. 16—NO. 17.
SAYINGS AND DOINGS.
A belt, has recently been east in Ger
many weighing 50,000 pounds. It waa
made from cannon taken from the
French during the la f e war. It is for
the Cathedral church at Cologne,
Spring brings joy to the heart of a
western editor, who sings: “Soon the
dnsky sqnaw will be seen straining
maple sugar through her winter stock
ings.”
A fashion editor reports that the
Easter bonnets have a hurricane deck,
a bell tower, signal lights, birds of
Paradise, qnail, Welsh rabbits and
flower gardens ad lib.
A three-ye ar-orp yonnsster saw a
drunken fellow “ tacking” through the
streets of Lowell, the other day.
“ Mother,” said he. “did God make
that man ? ” She replied in the affirm
ative. The little fellow reflected a
moment and then exclaimed, “ I
wouldn’t have done it! ”
The .Tardin d’Acclimatization, Paris,
has a Chimpanzee which measures four
feet in heigh*, is perfectly tame and ex
tremely gentle. While its master lived
at Sierra Leone it performed in the
house the functions of a servant, salut
ing visitors, opening the door for them,
escorting them out, and offering them
their hats.
The removal of snbstanoes from the
ear may be accomplished by doubling
a horse hair in the form of a loop,
and, placing the patient upon the
side, passing the loop into the ear as
far as it will go, then turning it gently.
The substance will genera l lv come out
in the loop aft°r one or two withdraw
als. The application will do no dam
age if the hair be carefnlly used.
A party who was looking at a honse
in the sixth ward the other day, said be
couldn’t afford to pay so much rent.
“Well, look at the neighborhood,” re
plied the woman. “ Ton can borrow
flat-irons next door, coffee and tea
across the street, flour and sugar on
the corner, and there’s a bier pile of wood
belonging to the school-honse right
across the alley!”
The Innaties nsed to see tough times
in the sixteenth eentnrv. Tn enlight
ened England, in 1591, “ William Hack
et, a fanatic, personated the Saviour,
and was executed for blasphemy. James
Naylor also represented himself to be
the Saviour. He was convicted of blas
phemy, whipped, and his tongue was
bored throngh with a hot iron, by order
of tli9 house of commons.”
The villagers of Bexkah. near Anti
och, in Asia. Minor, while digging near
the old castle called Bnghazi, on the
Akra mountains, the other day, came
upon a leaden coffin having a lid re
sembling woven feathers. These were
supposed to be t.he feathers of the
samandar, or phoenix, and on putting a
piece of it into the fire it did not melt,
but assumed a different hn<\ The gov
ernment has given directions for the
preservation of what remains of this
relic.
Gould’s St. Louis Directory for 1875,
just out, gives the population of that,
city at four hundred and ninety thou
sand on Jannarv 1, 1875. Increase in
the population since the census, fifty
seven per cent., or more than ten per
cent, yearly. Business and manufac
tures of the city better in the agereate
than ever before in spite of the general
prortratioD. Annual value of produces
of manufacture, two hundred and thir
ty-nine million dollars. Very satisfac
tory figures.
At a recent blast at Crarae Quarry,
Cumlodden, over thirty thousand tons
of granite were dislndcred at a single
explosion. A bore thirty feet long was
driven into the rock, and was then con
tinued at right angles for twenty-five
feet, when it was again sunk a distance
of one hundred and sixty feet. Here a
powder chamber was formed, and a
charge of five thousand pounds of gun
powder introduced. The result was
entirely satisfactory; the blast was one
of the largest ever fired.
Somebody wants to know “ who
wrote that article” in the Houston
(Tex.) Telegraph, and it promptly re
sponds thus : “ The man who wrote
that article early io life was a hard
working blacksmith later he was a deck
hand on a steamboat, then he was a
oow-boy on the' 1 frontier, but of late
years he has followed the profession of
a prize-fighter. He only became an
editor to reduce his flesh by starvation
so as to become more of a success in
his peculiar line.” The Telegraph re
ceived no further inquiries.
Rousseau once wrote, “Tf it were
only necessary for you to hold ont, your
thumb in order to cause the death of an
immensely wealthy mandarin in China,
whose heir you wouM be, are you sore
that you would not extend your
thumb?” This passage one day at
tracted the attention of Henri de
Lacrois, a young Frenchman of excel
lent familv, bnt whose brain bad been
a little affected by the loss of his for
tune. He thought, “If I could stretch
out my thumb and that would be
enough to kill my uncle and cousin, I
should become very rich.” In a sort
of hallucination be extended his arm
toward the photographs of his relations
and said, “ Ret them die, so that I may
inherit.” Fifteen days later his uncle
and his cousin were carried off by
typhoid fever. Within the last six
months remorse preyed upon Lacrois’s
enfeebled intellect, aßd he imagined
that his spell caused the death of his
relatives He heard voices from all
sides of his room calling. “ Thou hast
killed us ! Thou hast killed us!” He
delivered himself up to the police and
asked to be executed. He died a few
davs ago in an insane asylum.
THEREisnodaDger of our being claim
ed bv Sydney Smith’s genuine Mrs. Par
tington, if we say that sx>mehow—we
are not bound to tell how—*he railroad
brings rain. Would it not bs wonderful
if that brace of iron bars across the con
tinent should literally interpret that
pleasant Scripture “And the desert
shall blossom as the rose”? And it
looks like it. The old devices for arti
ficial irrigation are growing useless,
and territory hitherto unproductive is
beginning to do something for man.
And this, not because of the pioneers
to whom the railroad has made + he
desert possible and accessible, but be
cause of its direct influence upon the
climate. Rain clouds west of the
Rockies, that have never spoken a loud
word within the memory of man, are
now talking as audibly and emphati
cally as if thunder had been their
mother-tongue from babyhood, andrank
vegetation is growing where nothing was
ever before sown but fire. The vast
system ©t iron net-work and the hair
lines of telegraph, about enough to
make a snare to catch the planet, have
disturbed- the eleotrical equilibrium,
and the results are seen in ths new and
novel phenomena of thunder and show
ers.—Benj, JB. 2ay lor.