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EASTMAN TIMES.
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THK WANUKitIAG .IKVV.
The Wandering .Tew once said to me,
I passed through the city in the cool of the
year:
A man in the warden plucked fruit from a tree.
T asked, “ How long has the city been here ?■’
And lie answered me, and ho plucked away,
“ It has always stood whero :t stands to-dav.
And here it will stand for ever and aye.”
Five hundred years rolled by, and tiiep
I traveled the self-same road agaiu.
V’ (race of a city there I found ;
A shepherd sal blowing his pije alone,
His dock were quietly nibbling around.
I asked, “ Mow long has this city been gone 1 ”
And be answered me. and he piped away,
“ rhe new ones bloom and the old decay,
I Ins is njy pastute-■/round for aye."
Five hundred years rolled by, and thou
I (raveled the self-same road again.
And I mmc io pea, and the waves did roar,
And a fisherman threw ids net out clear.
And, whan heavy laden, be dragged it ashore.
I asked, “ H iw long lias th mu h„en here?'’
And he laughed and he said, and he laughed away;
'• As long as yon billows have toseod their spray,
I hey’ve lislml and they’ve fished in this self-same
hay.”
Five hundred years rolled by, and then
I (raveled the self-same road again.
And 1 i ame lo a forest, vast and free,
And a woodman stood in the tbirket near ,
Mis ax he laid al the foot of a tree.
I aski and, ” How long have the vvoodn been here'?”
And he answered, ‘‘These woods are a covert for
aye;
'IV ancestors dwell here a!way,
Ami t lie trees have been since creation's day.”
Five hundred years rolled by, and then
I Irßveled the self-same road afpim.
And I found there a city, and far and near
Resounded (he hum of toil and glee.
And I asked, “ How long has the city been here,
And where is the pipe, and the wood, and the
sea 7”
Amt they answered me, as they made their way,
“ things always have stood as lhey staod to-day,
And fo they will stand for ever and aye.”
i'll wait live hundred years, and then
lil (ravel the self-same road again.
THE B 4 It EH IN THE (LOUD*.
A TRITE KTORY.
.1 nst ten years ago, there suddenly
hurst upon the western world a mag
nificent stranger front foreign parts,
witli all his traveling glories on.” It
was the great comet of 1858, on the
grand tour of the universe.
ft seemed strange that petty human
life could go on as usual, with its eat
ing and drinking, t. iling, trafficking
and pleasuring, while that “flaming
minister,” on his billion leagued cir
cuit, was preaching the wonders of in
finite immensity and power, and the
nothingness of earth. The comet no
longer runs his kindling race, like Vich-
Alpinc’s henchman, with his fiery cross,
announcing war and disaster.
Herald of battle, fate and fear.
ITr* is on his own business, not ours.
Under the tail of this particular
comet, doubtless many a tale of love was
told—-in the light of his swift splendors
many a tender look exchanged. The
astronomer coolly swept the starry field
with his glass, unawed by the irregular
night-guard patrolling the heavens, and
the robber and murderer disdained the
awful witness. He left us as lie found
ns —joiiied to our mortal idols, wise in
our own conceit, weak, and worldly,
and wicked, but no castaways of the
universe after all.
We remember that comet summer,
not so much for its great astronomical
event as for two singular incidents that
more nearly touched our human sym
pathies, which will grovel in poor
earthly affairs, even vitliin sight of the
most august celestial phenomena.
One pleasant Saturday afternoon
during the comet’s appearance, an aero
naut, after a prosperous voyage, de
scended upon a farm ih the neighbor
hood of a large market town in one of
the western states. He was soon sur
rounded by a curious group of the
farmer’s family and laborers, all asking
eager questions about the voyage and
the management of the balloon. That
f-ecured by an anchor and a rope in the
hand of the aeronaut, its car being a
foot or two above the ground, was
swaying lazily backward and forward
in the evening air. It was a good deal
out of wind, and was a sleepy and inno
cent monster in the eyes of the farmer,
who, with the owner’s permission, led
it up to liis house, where, as he said,
ite could hitch it to his fence. But be
fore he had thus secured it, the three
children, aged respectively, ten, eight,
au, l three, begged him t > lift them
“ mto that big basket,” that they might
“mI on those pretty red cushions.”
xv h ilo the attention of the aeronaut
”is diverted by more curious ques
tioners from a neighboring farm, this
rash father lifted his darlings one by
om- into the car. Chubby little Johnny
proved the “ounce too much” for the
a rial camel, and brought him to the
ground ; and then, unluckily, not the
"'d'y, but the eldest hope of the family,
aas lifted out.’ The relief was too
great for the monster. The volatile
I real ure’s spirit rose at once, he jerked
his halter out of his father’s hand, and,
with a wild bound, mounted into the
nr' Vain was the ieronaut’s anchor.
II caught for a moment in a fence, but
h fore away, and was off, dangling
uselessly after the runaway balloon,
"1"' 1 so swiftly and steadily rose that
i t' W minutes those two little white
s, peering over Ihe edge of the ear,
indistinct, and thoso piteous cries
•’apa!” “Mamma!” grew faint
and fainter, up in the air.
hen distance and twilight mists bad
swallowed np voices and faces, and
uothing could be seen but the dark,
cruel shape, sailing triumphantly away,
with its precious booty, like.au atrial
privateer, the poor father sank down
He lpless and speechless; but the mother,
ft antic with grief, still stretched her
yearning arms towards the inexorable
heavens, and called wildly into the
Rnanswering void.
Ihe aronant strove to console the
wretched parents with assurances that
fhe balloon would descend within thirty
Rules of the town, and that all might
'• well with the chilren, provided that
did not come dewn in the water or in
‘‘ ee P woods. In the event of its de
scending in a favorable spot, the
thought that the older child might step
Jiving the younger in the balloon.
■ hen it might again arise and continue
its voyage.
’ Ah, no,” replied the mother, “ Jen
me would never stir from the car with
out Johnny in her arms.”
1 he balloon passed directly over the
rh'-t town, and the children seeing
oy people in the streets, stretchod
t ( their hands and called loudly for
a< ‘*P. But the villagers, though they
Pa , w Ihe bright little heads, heard no
calls.
Amazed at, the strange apparition,
1 'ey might, have thought the translated
”features small angel navigators.
Two Dollars Per Annum,
VOLUME 111.
on some voyage of discoveiy. some lit
tle cherubic venture of their own, as,
heading toward the rosy cloudlands and
purple islands of sunset splendor, they
eailed deeper and deeper mto the west,
and faded away.
Some company they had, poor little
sky-waifs ! Something comforted them
and allayed their wild terrors—some
thing whispered that; below the night
and clouds was home; that above was
God; t hat w’herever they might drift or
clash, living or dead, they would rtill
bo in His domain and under His care
that though, borne away among the
stars, they could not be lost, for His
love would follow them.
When the sunlight all went away, and
Ihe great comet came blazing out, little
Johnny was apprehensive that the comet
might come too near their airy craft,
and set it on firo with a wdiisk of its
dreadful tail. But when his sister as
sured him that the fiery dragon was “as
much as twenty miles away,” and that
God wouldn’t let him hurt them, he
was tranquilized, but soon afterward
said, “ J wish be would come a little
nearer, so I could warm myself, I’m so
cold r
Then Jennie took off her apron, and
wrapped it about the child, saying ten
derly, “This is all sister has to make
you warm, darling, but she’ll hug you
close in her arms, and we will say our
prayers and you shall go to sleep!”
“Why, how can I say mv prayers be
fore I have my supper ?” asked little
Johnny.
“ Sister hasn’t any supper for you or
for herself, but we must prav all the
harder,” solemnly responded Jennie.
So the two baby wanderers, alone in
the wide heavens, unawed by darkness,
immensity and the millions of unpity
ing stars, lifted their little clasped
hands, and sobbed out their sorrowful,
“Our father,” and that quaint little
supplementary prayer :
Now I lay me down to eleop,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
“ There ! God heard that, easy ; for
Ave are close to Him up here,” said in
nocent little Johnny.
Doubtless Divine Love stooped to
the little ones and folded them in per
fect peace—for soon the younger, seated
on the bottom of the car, with his head
leaning against his sister’s knee, slept
as soundly as though he were lying in
his own little bed at home, while the
elder watched through the long, long
hours, and the ear floated gently on in
the still night air, till it begun to sway
and rock on the fresh morning wind.
Who can divine that simple little
child’s thoughts, speculations, and wild
imaginingp, while watching through
those hours ? She may have feared
ooming irr collision with a meteor —for
many were abroad that night, scouts
and heralds of the great comet—or,
perhaps being cast away on some deso
late star-island, or more dreary still,
floating and floating on, night and day,
till they should both die of cold arid
Imuger. Poor babes in the clouds !
At length, a happy chance, or Provi
dence—we will say Providence—guided
the little girl’s wandering hand to a
cord connected with the valve ; some
thing told her to pull it. At once the
balloon began to sink, slowly and gent
ly. as though some celestial pilot guided
it through the wild currents of air, not
letting it drop into lake, or river, lofty
wood, or impenetrable swamp, where
this strange, unchild-like experience
might ha\e been closed by a death of
unspeakable horror ; but causing it to
descend as softly as a bird alights, on a
snot where human care and pity await
ed it.
The sun had not yet risen, but the
morning twilight had come, when the
little girl, looking over the edge of the
car, saw the derr old earth coming
nearer —“rising towards them,” she
said. But when the car stopped, to her
great disappointment it was not on the
ground, but caught fast in the topmost
branches of a tree. Yet she saw they
were near a house whence help might
soon come, so she awakened her brother
and told him the good ncw r s, and to
gether they watched and watched and
waited for deliverance, hugging ea?h
other for joy and wurmtb, for they were
cold.
Farmer Burton, who lived in a lonely
house, on toe edge of his own private
prairio, was a famous sleeper in gen
eral, but on this particular morning he
tiwoke before the dawn, and though he
turned and turned again, he could sleep
no more. So, it last, he said to bis
good wife, whom he had kindiy awak
eued to inform her of his unaccountable
wakefulness, “It’s no use, I’ll just get
up and dress, and have a look at the
comet.”
The next that worthy woman heard
from her wakeful spouse was a hasty
summons to the outer door. It stems
that no sooner did he step forth from
his house than his eyes fell on a strange
potentous shape, hanging on a large
pear tree, about twenty yards distant.
He could see no likeness iu it to any
thing earthly, and he half fanciod that
it might be the comet, who, having put
out his light, had come down there to
perch. In his fright and perplexity ho
did what every wise man would do in a
like extremity ; he called upon his
valiant wife. Reinforced by her, lie
drew near the tree cautiously recon
noitering. Surely a never bore
such fruit.
Suddenly there descended from the
thing a plaintive, trembling little voice:
“Please take us down. We are very
cold.”
Then a second little voice said :
“Ami hungry, too. Tlease take us
down.”
“Why, who are you ? And where are
you?”
The first little voice said : “ It’s us,
and we runned away with a balloon.
Please take us down ” *
Dimly comprehending the situation,
the farmer, getting hold of a dangling
rope, succeeded in getting down the
balloon.
He first lifted out little Johnny, who
ran rapidly a few yards toward the
house, then turned round, and stood
for a few moments, curiously surveying
the balloon. The faithful little sister
was so chilled and exhausted that she
had to be carried into the house, where,
trembling, she told the wonderful
story.
Before sunrise a mounted messenger
was dispatched to the Harwood home,
EASTMAN, DODGE CO., GEORGIA,V THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 1875.
with .glad tidings of great joy. He
reached it in the afternoon, and a few
Hours later the childred arrived, in
state, with bannera and music, and cov
ered hay-wagon and four.
Joy-bells were rung in the neighbor
ing town, and in the farmer’s brown
house, the happiest family on the con
tinent thanked God that night.
It would seem that this comet bad
some occult maddening influence on
the balloons, for during its appearance
there occurred in another western state
an involuntary ascension, similar to the
one I have related, but more tragical in
its termination.
An leronaut, while, if I remember
rightly, repairing the network of his
balloon, was seated on a slight wooden
cross-piece suspended under it.; the ear
having been removed a few feet above
the ground by merely a ropo in the
hand of an assistant. From a too care
less grasp this rope escaped, and in an
instant the gigantic bubble shot up
ward, carrying the aeronaut on his frail
support; a rider more helpless than
Mazeppa bound to his Ukraine steed, a
voyager more helpless than a ship
wrecked sailor afloat on a spar in mid
ocean.
The balloon rose rapidly, but un
steadily, swaying and pitching in the
evening wind. As long as it remained
in sight, the form of the aeronaut could
be distinguished, swinging beneath it.
And as he was n to be a man of
uncommon nerve and presence of mind,
it was hoped that even from his dizzy
perch he might manage to operate on
the valve, or at least to puncture a
small hole in the balloon, and thus ef
fect a descent.
But such efforts, if he made any, were
vain, as for many days and nights there
was anxious inquiry and patient search
over a wide extent of country with no
result. We gave him up. Only wifely
love hoped on, and looked and waited.
At last, in a wild spot, the wreck of the
balloon was found, and that was all.
Still, wifely love hoped on, until, a
month or two later, some children nut
ting in a wood, many miles away from
where the balloon was found, discov
ered, half buried in the ground, a
strange dark mass that looked like a
heap of old clothes, but there was a
something, shapeless and fearful, hold
ing it together.
It was thought the aeronaut parted
company with his balloon by loosening
Lis hold on the cords above him, in
desperate efforts to open the valve ; but
he may, after whirling in swift vortices,
or plunging and mounting, through
cloudy abysses of air, have become un
nerved by the awful silence of the up
per night, by the comet’s fearful oom
panionehip, by whelming immensity
and infinity, and wearily let go his hold,
to drop etyrthward.
The Curse of Credit.
Southern Planters Pursuing a Suicidal
Policv—More Bread and Meat, and Less
Cotton Their Only Salvation.
From the Memphis Appeal, Feb. 20.
When the spring birds begin to twit
ter in the groves, and the frogs to croak
in the swamps, the southern journals
commence the same old song, “ Plant
less cotton.” This advice has been
given for the last thirty years, and it
has recently made its appearance with
the accustomed regularity. In all the
southern states the newspapers are
united in urging upon the farmers to
plant less cotton, and more corn and
oats, the coming spring. They show
from the statistics that at present
prices it does not pay to raise cof
ton, and it is folly to sacrifice every
thing for cotton, as has been the cus
tom for years. There can be no ques
tion that the best interests of the south
would be materially improved if the
farming community would give more at
tention to the raising of the necessary
articles of food required for home con
sumption and less to the specialty of
cotton. Cotton is now quoted about, as
low in Liverpool as at any time since
the war. This information should cer
tainly induce farmers to plant more
corn and raise all their other supplies.
Indfeed, with cotton below the cost of
production, farmers will be compelled
to raise their own supplies. But this
never would be done if cotton remained
at eighteen and twenty cents, and corn
aDd bacon even at the present prices.
Heretofore it has been useless to urge
this system of farming among planters,
but now the price of cotton will be an
argument to the farmers that will be
irresistible, and it comes just at the
right time, when preparations for the
coming crops are about commenced.
The planting of less eo'.ton will do
away with the suicidal policy of getting
supplies on a credit, which has been an
injury to the merchant and planter.
We have seen this fact recently illus
trated in an agricultural paper from an
actual bill, as follows :
3,000 lbs. of bacon at 15 cts $450 00
lut. sad for advancing for 9 months 112 50
Total $562 50
New, we would ask, in all candor,
any farmer of common sense, bow he
could expect any fate but the poor
house by such an arrangement as the
above? It is no wonder farmers are in
debt, and keep in debt, when they do
business upon such a credit system. It
is no excuse to say they cannot make
their bacon, and cannot make their
crops without it. If they cannot make
corn and bacon enough to w T ork two
hundred acres of land, then reduce
your surface and work one hundred
acres, and do not, we beseech you, go
in debt for your supplies. No busi
ness in this country will stand up un
der such a rate for interest and advanc
ing, by which you will become poorer
and poorer each year. The advance
and interest account on the above bill
would astonish any farmer outside of
the cotton states, yet it is an actual,
true bill, and only a specimen of hun
dreds of every day occurence. How
long! O Lord, how long ! will the
farmers of Mississippi continue to
make of themselves mere “ hewers of
wood and drawers of water.”
Corsets have been the destruction of
art. There are no good models nowa
days, says the scalptors. When Powers
made his Greek Slave he worked it out
of sixteen different models, and then he
had to so trade to tho antique for bis
bust,
7?i God We 2’rust.
THE COMING WAR IN EUROPE.
An Knglish Writer on the Fighting Cn
pnclty ot the Nations,
In that respectable London periodi
cal, the Gentleman’s Magazine, for
January, there appears an article con
tributed by Mr. H. M. Hosier, which,
in an intelligent and thoughtful man
ner, discusses the fighting capacity of
the nations of Europe in view of the
general war so confidently predicted by
Mr. Disraeli and other English states
men. Mr. Hosier alludes to the dis
quietude prevailing in the public mind
in England in consequence of these
mysterious utterances on both sides of
the house of commons, and believes
that a careful survey of tU# field will
have t'lx- oil rt of alightei mg his read
ers as to the nature of the conflict, the
parties which will be engaged in it, and
the duty of the English people and gov
ernment in the crisis which will soon
be upon the civilized world.
HI? begins his survey of Europe with
France, considers the military condition
of each country in turn, and concludes
with an endeavor to fix the exact point
where hostilities will break out.
FRANCE.
Notwithstanding the desire which
may exist on the part of the French
people to rush into a war with Germany,
to gain revenge for the defeat of four
years ago, it is doubtful if the French
government would encourage the as
piration. Torn as France is by politi
cal dissentions, it is extremely doubtful
whether any ministry would add the
cares and the perils of war to the other
prominent dangers of its existence.
Neither is the French army in condition
—nor is likely to be for many years—to
undertake a campaign of any magni
tude. The military organization of the
second empire was entirely broken up
by the disasters of the German war.
At the present time no fixed plan can
really be snid to have been adopted for
the organization of the army ; the
questions as to depots and cadres are
still unsolved. French military .men
assert that their artillery is in a power
ful state; but it may reasonably be
doubted that, in the short time that
has elapsed since the enormous loss of
that arm which occurred in the German
war, it can have been replaced by guns
judiciously selected and carefully man
ufactured. Though there is not'a great
dearth of men in the French army, it
cannot be said that the recruits are of a
satisfactory kind. The weakness of the
commissariat arrangement was one of
the most potent causes of the failure of
the French in the German war. It has
not yet been thoroughly changed for
the better. The mitrailleuses, which
were so.zealously guarded, and which
were expected to strike terror in the
German ranks, were fomwt to be a fail
ure in, the war, and have now been
abandoned for all practical purposes of
campaigning; so that at present France
is not in a condition to “rush into
war.” It has taken England twenty
years to reorganize from the break
down of her military system in the
Crimean war, and a vast amount of
money has been expended in effecting
the changes ; and it can hardly be pos
sible that things are so much better
managed in France that she can in four
or five years put an army in the field
with any prospect of winning back the
laurels so rudely wrested from her in
her last great contest.
SPAIN.
Spain may be considered at the pres
ent moment out of the military arena of
Europe. She is too much engrossed
by her internal troubles to be available
either as an ally or enemy in case of
international disturbances. Italy pos
sesses an army of considerable numeri
cal force—an army which may be in
round numbers said to amount to 400,-
000 men. But in Italy the sinews of
war are wanting. The Italian govern
ment is bard pressed by financial diffi
culties. The Italian army is anew
machine, and, like all other new ma
chines, it can not be expected to work
smoothly throughout. Its organiza
lion and administration were originally
copied from the French ; but since the
breakdown of the French system the
organization of the Italian army Inis
been considerably modified. Still, it
can not be denied that the Italian mili
tary forces are a formidable power to
be considered in the fighting capacity
of Europe, and would east an enormous
weieht into the scale on either side.
BELGIUM AND SWITZERLAND.
As to thv two new neutral countries
of Belgium and Switzerland little need
bo said. The neutrality cf one is guar
anteed by the great powers, and the
other has a perhaps still greater guar
antee of neutrality iu the shape of
public opinion in Europe. The Bel
gian army may be 80,000 strong. Per
haps they are not the finest troops in
the world, but stiil they are not, as a
great statesman is reported to have
said of them, “merely all coat and
musket and little man.” It is certain
that Belgium, unaided, could hold her
frontiers against neither Germany nor
France if either of these powers wished
to make the Netherlands its battle
field or its line of communications.
RUSSIA.
*• A great and mysterious power looms
up in the north.” On the Ist of No
vember last a law came into force iu
Russia by which every Russian subject
became liable to military service, and
the consequence of thi-i decree is an
enormous increase in the army. It is
e.-timated that next year Russia will be
able to put in the field 1,500,000 men.
These men are excellent soldiers in
many respects. They may not be acute
or intelligent, but they are strong,
hardy, capable of bearing fatigue, have
an intense loyalty to their sovereign,
believe that the Russian government
can do no wrong, and would enter upon
any campaign ordered by that govern
ment with all the religious excitement
of a crusade. The organization of the
army is simple and well conceived. The
men are tall, strong and fine, and, if
properly led and supplied with good
ammunition, the Russian army would
be most formidable in any war. For
defensive purposes Russia holds a pe
culiarly advantageous position. The
terrible example of the first Napoleon
still gives a shiver to almost anybody
who contemplates the idea of invading
her. No doubt an invasion at the pres
ent. time would be a very different mat
ter from what it was at the beginning
of this centujy. Still, it would be at
tended with enormous difficulties, not
the least of which would be the inhos
pitable climate, the impossibility of
feeding an invading army on a wild and
sparsely-populated country, and the
necessity which would fall on the in
vaders of drawing their supplies almost
wholly from their base. A line of com
munication might become bo much ex
tended that the troops requisite to
guard the line and the officers necessary
to administer it would consume more of
the provisions than the line itself could
bring up. In future wars it is doubtful
whether, considering the number of
men that would probably be engaged,
it will ever be possible to rely on the
supply of an army from its base of com
munications. A weighty oppression,
however, hangs over the military or
ganization of Russia. The official ad
ministration is so corrupt that it is al
most certain that in case of war pecula
tion would be rife* aud that the Russian
soldiers—brave, loyal and hardy as they
might be—would find themselves
worsted by an internal enemy more
deadly than any external foe. All this
is well known and alked' of openly on
the soil of Russia.
SWEDEN AND NORWAY.
The united northern power of Sweden
and Norway possesses certainly a smali
but excellent army, but probably would
be too wise to enter upon any European
war, even of great dimensions. It
would havo little to gain by descending
into the theater of contest, and possibly
might lose some provinces to Russia.
Denmark might, indeed, be anxious to
join an alliance against Germany, for
the sore of the Schleswig-Holstein
campaign is Bot yet healed over. But
she lias been so hampered by the war
of 1864, and her population has been
so reduced, that her tiny army of 40,000
men would rank as comparatively insig
nificant in ike consideration of the mil
itary capacities of the continent.
TURKEY.
Turkey is always a source of danger
In European policy, and must bo
“ almost a nightmare in every foreign
office.” The men of the army are good,
but the administration of Turkey is
much more corrupt and venal even than
that of her northern neignbor, Russia.
Tne small principalities which form the
kingdom of Ron mania have an army
not to be despised. They could put in
the held about eighty thousand men,
and these not at all bad troops,
GERMANY.
It is Germany which is universally
considered at the present time to be
the first-rate military power of Europe,
and toward it all eyes are directed.
The German army has proved itself to
be a most admirable military machine.
Most armies after such successes as
those which have attended the German
army would have got idle and claimed
the right to rest on their laurels and
enjoy luxury and ease, but it is a no
torious fact that the German officers,
high and low, have been working hard
er, perhaps, than they worked before
the late war in order to keep their
army from retrograding and to bring
it steadily forward. The opinion of
those who witnessed the late German
maneuvers is, that at no time has the
German army ever been in such a first
rate condition as it is at the present
moment. Not content with the needle
gun, which showed an inferiority to
the Chassepot during the French war,
experiments have been instituted and a
new arm has been adopted, which, it is
confidently asserted, will be much
more superior to the Chassepot than
ever the Chassepot was to the needle
gun. It is believed by the best judges
that the German army now is the best
armed force in Europe. As to the or
ganization of the army there can not
be two opinions ; it has passed through
the fire of three wgrs, and has proved
its capacity. The empire could, at the
present time, put 1,200,900 lighting
men in the field in case of actual neces
sity, and the reorganization of the
Landstrum will increase that force to
perhaps 1,600,000 men. As to the pol
icy of Germany towards other powers,
it is a great mistake to attribute blood
thirstiness to the Emperor William or
his heir, the Prince Imperial. It is
known by everybody who has a
knowledge cf the character of
the Emperor that he is peculiarly
kind and just, and rather soft-hearted;
he is loved by those who are brought in
connection with him, and is respected
by his household, and it has only been
after the strongest representations from
his ministers, severe mental struggles,
self-torture and deep and anxious pray
er, that he consented to enter into hos
tilities with neighboring powers. As
long as the emperor of Germany can
exert his individual will there can be no
doubt that, although Germany will be
strictly fenced and gaarded against any
attack from withour, and will be held
in a state of the highest military prep
aration for every contingency, she
herself will not willingly commence
a war, or without very grave and
serious cause draw the sword from the
scabbard. Yet though the princes and
people of Germany, alike combine in an
honest desire for peace, circumstances
may arise which may render them pow
erless to avert bloodshed. There can
be no doubt that dislike exists between
the people of Russia and Germany, but
at the same time there is a strong per
sonal affection between the head of the
house of Hohenzollern and the emperor
of Russia, springing from family con
nection and matured by reciprocal re
spect; and as long as the present em
peror of Russia lives, hostilities between
the two powers are not imminent. Ac
cording to all human calculations the
life of Alexandria may continue for some
time.
DANGER OF WAR
It bas been said that the danger of
war between Germany and France does
not appear considerable, because of the
importance of the latter at this time.
Io mav be regarded as almost certain
that unless Fraaee should provoke Ger^,
many to the utmost she would be con
tent with guarding her newly acquired
acquisitions, and not again cress the
Moselle as an invader, nor attempt to
dictate anew peace at the gates of
Paris. On the south matters hardly
appear to be so entirely satisfactory.
The inhabitants ol‘ Austria at large
have almost forgotten the war of 18(56.
The benefits which accrued to their
Payable in Advance.
NUMBER G.
country from the results of that crush
ingly rapid campaigo have been so
great that they have blotted out the
sense of soreness that spraDg from the
defeats which the Austrian army suf
fered. But though antagonism against
Germany has ceased among the people
composing the Austro-Hnugarian em
pire, it still lurks between the cabinets
and governments cf the two countries,
and on the Austrian side not only does
there appear to be a feeling of personal
resentment against the cabinet of Ber
lin among some of the advisers of the
crown, but it is almost universally be
lieved that the head of the state has a
deep personal aud individual grudge
against his northern neighbor, and re
fuses to meet even half way, or perhaps,
in any way, the advances which have
often been made to him from Berlin.
This fact, if not clearly ascertained, is
at least thoroughly believed north of
the Giant Mountains, and the belief
leads to a feeling of distrust on the
part of northern Ge r many towards
Austria. It is this attitude of the Aus
trian court which is one of the prime
reasons why Germauy keeps up her
great and expensive armamont. But
this state of things cannot always en
dure. Throughout the Fatherland
there is a feeling that it must come to
an end, and that the only way to reduce
these enormous armaments to a footiDg
proportionate to the capabilities of Iho
people is to force on events, and some
how or other disarm those on account
of whom these military preparations
are necessary.
England’s policy.
What role would England take io
case of a great European contest? The
general answer will doubtless be—that
of neutrality. But is it possible that
neutrality can always be maintained ?
If the British realm were confined to
the two small islands which constitute
its heart, it might be true that
it could keep out of war, but with
wide spreading colonies and foreign
entanglements it would be almost im
possible for England to avoid taking
part, sooner or later in the stiuggle.
How, *hen,* is she prepared for the
emergency that is almost sure to arise ?
The navy is apparently in good order.
The numerical strength of the British
fleet is larger than that of any other
power, and English sailors have hot
deteriorated. But a large part of the
navy is composed of vessels built since
England was engaged in a great naval
war. Their eorstruction, to a great
extent, has been experimental. Sup
pose on going to war it should be dis
covered that, the navy had been built
on faulty principles ? The result might'
be to nullify that arm of the national
defense, and uncover the coast of Eng
land to any powerful nation intent upon
invading the country and laying it un
der tribute. The enormous wealth ac
cumulated in London is a bait to aver
ice which must not be ignored in con
sideration of the possibilities of hostile
invasion. Suppose the coast should be
defenseless, what kind of an army
could England oppos e to the magnifi
cent* troops of the continent? The
militia and volunteers would be useless.
The regular army would be effective as
fur as ic goes, but at most it would be
60,000 strong. What could this hand
ful do against the tremendous hosts of
Germany, Russia or France. If Eng
land will save herself she must be
willing to spend her money freely to
to mainlain a lurge and efficient regular
army. If Englishmen will not serve
their country in person they must be
prepared to pay the price for that im
munity as for any other luxury. That
price isnot so great as that which
might be assessed by a committee of
continental bankers, in session in cap
tured London.
Charlie Ross ami Pinkerton's Photo
graph?.
The Charlie Ross case has now been
a prime topic of public interest so long
as to rise to the level of one of the most
celebrated police cases on record. One
of Pinkerton’s detectives states that at
the office in Third street they have a
collection of several hundred photo
graphs of different children of uuknown
parents, not only from all parts of the
United States and Canada, but even
from Europe. These were either chil
dren who had got lost, orwho had been
stolen, or followed strolliDg banJs, or
been taken iu charge as being without
homes. Msny eases exist of children
bciu£ abardoned by cruel or shiftless
parents or guardians. In reply to a
question as to whether ho thought the
child dead, the detective said he thought
it might be so without his beiDg mur
dered, as he had been subject to a
painful complaint of the bladder, and
had several times been operated on sur
gically before he was stolen. Had this
ailack come on again after he was
stolen, the wretches would have beeD
afraid to call in a physician, aud the
child might have died. There is no
doubt that the two men killed on Long
island were lealiy the abductors. From
all that can be learned, there is no pros
pfet of any further developments or
discoveries in the ease. But lost chil
dren supposed to be Charlie Ross will
probably continue to turn up for a year
to come.
Having attempted to hang himself,
but having teen prematurely cut down,
a young gentleman of Paris has sur
vived to give this account of his sensa
tions : “As I kicked away the chair
aud fell I had the sensation of receiv
ing a blow from a hammer on the top of
m? head. I did not feel the rope, and
the only defiued sensation succeeding
that cf the blow was a sensation of
weight in my head. My head seemed
hea ier and bigger than the great bell
of Notre Dame. It was night all about
me, and then there came a terrible cold
in the lower part of my body, aud then
a sharp pain where the rope was tear
ing my neck, and then—nothing.”
—The compiler of foreign gossip
doesn’t efeen give us anything so ro
mantic as this : The will of an c<d man,
who died recently in Bitusels, reiis how
he once found a valuable diamond in
Asia, which he concealed m a cut in the
calf of his leg, where he had made an
intentional wound. The apparent mis
fortune procured his release hom the
mine, and he was made immensely rich
by the sate of the gem, which is now
one of Russia's crown diamonds*
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Two squares 625 18 00 18 00 25 00
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Professional cards, $15.00 annum; fo at*
months, SIO.OO, in advance,
SAYINGS AND DOINGS.
MARCH.
March! March ! March ! They are coming
In troops to the tune of the wind ;
Ited-headed woodpeckers drumming. 1
Gold-crested thrushes behind;
Sparrows in brown jackets hopping
Past every gateway door;
Finches with crimson caps stopping
Just where they stopped years before.
March ! March! March 1 They are Blippiug
Into their places at last—
Little white lily buds dripping
Under tlte showers that fall fast;
Buttercups, violets, roses!
Snowdrop and blnobell aud pink,
Throng upon throng of posies,
Bending the dewdrops to drink.
March! March! March! They will hurry
Forth at the wild bugle-sound -
Blossoms and birds in a flurry,
Fluttering all over tlio ground.
Hang ont your .Tags, birch and willow !
Shake out yonr red tassels, larch !
Grass-blades, up from your earth-pillow !
Hear who is calling you—Mareli!
A Missouri woman who applied for
a situation as car driver, being asked if
she could manage mules, scornfully re
plied : “Of course I can, I’ve had two
husbands.”
“Good many children!” echoed a
Missouri farmer as a traveler counted
up fourtoen ; “I just wish you’d come
up to the graveyard with me !”
“ My lecture,” said a Galiforuia or
ator, “ w T ill be brief.” A turnip hit
him on the “divide” at that instant.,
aud he announced : “ Tho meeting
stands adjourned ! ”
We are still a long way from the
millennium., A witness in an Ohio court
has just sworn that he “ never knew a
miller on the canal who wouldn’t steal
water whenever he got a chance. ”
Carlyle, Ruskin, Tennyson, Brown
ing and some other distinguished Eng
lishmen are reported to havo signed a
memorial protesting against the horri
ble cruelties too often perpetrated un
der the pretext of scientific vivisection.
Don’t tell us any more about frhe
good women of old. An observer who
Wrote hundreds of years ago said :
“ Woman is a necessary evil, a natural
temptation, a desirable calamity, a do
mestic peril, a deadly fascination' aud a
painted ill.”
“ I see very little of you,” said an
old gentleman at a Louisville ball to a
young lady whom he had not met in a
long time before. “ I know it,” was
the artless reply, “ but mother wouldn’t
allow me to wear a very low-neck dress
to-night, the weather is so cold.”
A good joke is told of a resident of
Providence, It. 1., who, failing to get
his usual supply of water, concluded
the pipe was frozen, and spent nearly
a day in endeavors to thaw it out. His
feelings may be better imagined than
described when he found that the water
had been shut off for non-payment of
water rent.
The statement is made in an interest
ing article in the Trade Journal that
within the past forty years the grass
weight of cast iron articles produced
in America has been diminished fully
one-lialf. Half a e ntury ago tho iron
frame of a Washington printing press
weighed nearly 1,000 pounds, and al
though it was an arch of metal nine
inches wide by three inches thick, so
poor was its quality that it was often
broken by the pull of one pressman’s
arm. The present smooth light cast
ings show an actual elasticity under
strain approaching the service £)f
wrought iron.
A school teacher in Umatilla county,
California, had a pretty girl of sixteen
as a pupil. She entangled Iris heart,
and then cruelly jilted him. Thereupon
he sought retenge. Catching her in a
slight infraction of the rules, he swung
his birch branch aloft, and commanded
her to stand up and be whipped. She
ran out of the door and like a deer
across the fields toward home ; but her
fleetness was of short duration, and the
angry schoolmaster’s hand soon grasped
her arm. Her courago had gone with
her wind, and she offered then and
there to kiss and make up if he wouldn’t
whip her. He declined to compromise,
Jed her back to the school-house, and
flogged her until blood came through
the back of her dress. Her hour jof
exultation came when she saw him fined
SSO for assault.
A farmer called at the house of a
lawyer to consult him professionally.
“Is t’Squeer at home?” he inquired
of the lawyer’s wife. He was answered
negatively. After a moment’s hesita
tion a thought relieved him. “ Mebby
yourself can gi’ me information as well
as t’ Squeer, as ye’re his wife.” The
kind lady promised to do so if she
found it in her power, and the other
proceeded as follows: “Spoaze ye
were an old white mare, an’ I should
borry ye to gwang to mill with grist on
yer back, an’ we should get no farder
than Blair Hill, when all at once ye
should back up, and rear up, and pitch
up, and kneel down backward, and
break yer darned old neck, who’d pay
for ye ? Not I—darn me if I would ! ”
The lady smilingly told him, as she
closed the door, that as he had himself
sett led the case, advice would bo super
fluos.
Greece is about the size of Vermont.
Palestine is one-fourth the size of New
York. Hindoostan is more than a hun
dred times as large as Palestine. Tho
Great Desert of Africa has nearly the
present dimensions of the United
States. The Red Sea would reach from
Washington to Colorado, and it is three
times as wide as Lake Ontario. The
English Channel is nearly as large as
Lake Superior. The Mediterranean if
placed across North America, would
make sea navigation from San Diego to
Baltimore. The Caspian Sea would
stretch from New York to St. Augus
tine, and as wide as from New York to
Rochester. Great Britain is two thirds
the size of Japan, one-twelfth the size
of Hindostan, one-twentieth of China,
and one-twentieth of the United States,
the Gulf of Mexico is about ten times
the size of Lake Superior, and about
as large as the sea of Kamtchatka, Bay
of Bengal, China Sea, Okhotsh, or
Japan Sea ; Lake Ontario would go in
either of them more than fifty times.
The following-named bodies of water
are nearly equal in size: German
.Ocean, Black Sea, Yellow Sea; Hudson
Bay is rather larger ; the Baltic, Adri
atic, Persian Gulf and iEgean Sea half
as large and somewhat larger than
Lake Superior.