Newspaper Page Text
THE WEEK PAST
Wood is more durable than iron. Jn
1 s*;s an auger was dropped in the bay at
Belfast, Victoria, by one of the workmen
employed on the jetty. Last Christmas
the tool was picked up on the beach
near the mouth of the Moyne. The
iron auger was incrusted with rust, sand,
etc., and the iron partly destroyed, but
the wooden handle (blackwood) was
perfectly sound.
IT in Canada, at least in the older
provinces, the wild red Indian has dis
continued Ida scalping frolics and has
settled down into a bloated bondholder.
In Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince
Edward's Island and New Brunswick,
tin re are thirty thousand of him, his
aggregate real and personal property
amounting to the very resectable sum
0 f SK, 122,042.
fnt: Prince of Wales has now killed a
tiger in India. 'Taking his stand at an
npptr window of a house surrounded by
a h>fty wall, the prince waited till the
dreadful animal was driven tin within
range, when he turned loose both bar
rels of his gun, and the tiger tumbled
over. The frightful dan, which
the heir to the crown thus exposes hlm
-4 If are enough to make the hair of the
I'ritish lion stand up and turn gray.
Hr.REAF i kr, when princes, lords and
lie like come to this free country to hunt
lie wild buffalo, they must get congrcs
ional permit. The house lias passed a
dll prohibiting the killing of female
mi Haloes at all, and of males except for
narket or immedidate use. 'Thousands
if these animals are killed annually just
or fun, and there is danger of the breed
iccoming extinct. I lie clause imposing
i penalty reads: “Any white man who
dmll," etc. It is affirmed that the fn
lians, to Jwhom the buffaloes naturally
In loner, never wantonly destroy them.
\i >m l l: ai, Sivwmkh characterizes the
.lapft> ,OHC ,lH t,ie Yankees of Asia. Cer
tainly t'iT ho generally entertained
n few years’ l , wmtLJ
similar to the Chinese, has been dissi
pated cm better acquaintance. While
the celestial resists every advance of
lat rangers, the children of the tycoon
l welcome all innovations. Recently the
government has adopted a singular but
•tl’ei tive method for extending a knowl
dgeof the Arabic numerals with their
',ngli-li names; they are printed in tab
liar form on cloth, which is sold at a low
rice to the peasantry.
Sam Cox moves that a committee of
'congress be appointed to ascertain it there
b a science of money No committee
necessary. The science of money has
already liecn stated in an apothegm:
Work like the. devil and don’t spend a
cent Micawbor huxl it, too: “ An
imal income, twenty pounds; annual
expenditure, nineteen, nineteen six—re
sult, happiness. Annual income twenty
pounds, annual expenditure twenty
pounds ought and six—result, misery.
Hie blossom is blighted, the leaf is with
ered, the god of day is in darkness—in
short, you are floored. As I am.”
It is estimated, u)h>ii reliable data
that the loss by the burning of the
steamer Mary Bell, at Vicksburg, Mis
sissippi, will reach over half a million
dollars. She had a large number of pas
sengers, with valuable baggage. She
was believed to he the largest boat ever
constructed for navigating the Missis
sippi, or any other river, her estimated
length of hull being three hundred and
twenty-five feet,and breadth fifty-six feet.
In constructing the boat one million
feet of water-seasoned oak was used,
had a battery of eight steel boilers.
She cost over one hundred and twenty
five thousand dollars.
A iikcknt London paper says: There
".is another eonsignment of American
meat in the marketon Mon-lay morning;
the quantity was not less than 70 tons,
mid was sent up from Liverpool Saturday
niplit. Ihe beef is just as good in every
respect as that previously reported on,
mnl it is evident that the salesmen in the
market are finding the meat pay, for in
s ° me instances they are careful to ticket
’lm meat as “ killed in America.” The
1 mgo included about seventy sheep, which
"ere all right as to condition and sold
'faddy, but were scarcely fat enough for
dn bnglish market. This fault the con
dirnors say they will remedy in the next
It is reported from Liverpool that
trade in fresh meat from the United
d f ' s is assuming considerable propor
tions.
\ 'to\(i the gifts niade by Mr. Janies
kick for public purposes wasone oi $150,-
""" tur the erection of free public baths
" r ’lie city ot Ban Francisco. Accord
lng to the plans which have been recent
'v submitted by the architects, the
I'H'lding is to be constructed of iron and
k ass. The interior will be divided into
1 ,irt ’ e compartments—the middle com
partment, 160 feet bv 50, for the use of
mr " ; 'I IO smith compartment, o<> teet by
,r ,w *ys ; and the north one, 80 teet
for women. It is proposed to
'"Pl’ly the baths with water from the
M ' an, l hi have it warmed by the em
j'l">ment of the beat of the sun’s rays,
"accomplish this, fine jets will ascend
roof of the building, and fall in
a in. i- 1 imperceptible spray into the tanks,
” mm s rays meantime passing through
!’ ,u "' "arming it before'it reaches the
' ''hi. This is the plan adopted at the
I'd ic liathsat Liverpool, England.
number of visitors went to a Wis
f"ii-in cemetery to see a dog that was
u 'l to be watching faithfully over the
*‘ a " of his dead master. When they
there he was seen chasing a brindle cat
d' mi alley two blocks-away.
Two Dollars Per Annum,
VOLUME IV.
vr axuEi, mi lik
Into mv life came gently down
A tipautifnl angel without hei crown—
And 1 knew her not for ehe wore no crown
s'", hidl'Th ,li: " f W ? N an “rth-horn thing.
Vi . 1 ,lle 50 '. ,,1d of ,lpr an K el wing
1s V T° kc 1 * lO tones tliat the angels sing,
And my heart was replete
With a surfeit sweet,
' her dark blue eye* and her golden hair,
vJ i K r .u ,U , lle 80 p 4 r * and hf r so fair. ,
U ith the love and devotion la-eming there,
Of her willing hands and feet.
Into my life she brought a light
I hal flooded my patli with a glory bright
V iih a light that was more than an earthly light
And she lingered awhile in the deep
1 | rn -V near!, whore fondest memories sleep
1 hat awaken only to make me weep,
With a sonawing meet
h or her life so fleet,
l or her dark blue eyes and her golden hair
or her smile so pine and ler face so fair, ’
>• ith flic love and devotion beaming there
of her willing hands and fet.
Slie lingered m, limn • *(.~.,„i,. e, , .
Ot the sorrowing tiling I rail my heart—
With all her beauty a part of my heart—
But a wave of soiVow has over me rolled.
And the knell of my hopes has sadly toll’d,
.She has flown to her home in the Heavenly fold.
< Hi! to sorrow is meet
For a life so licet,
For her dark blue eye>s and her golden hair
For her smile so pure and her face so fair, ’
With the love and devotion beaming tlier’e
Of her willing hands and feet.
WHAT WAS IT ?
Dr. Hibbert has shown that spectres
are nothing more than ideas or recollected
images of the mind, [which in. certain
states of bodily indisposition have been
rendered more vivid than actual impres
sion, and that the picturesof the “mind’s
eye” a*e more vivid than the pictures of
the Itody’s eye. Sir David Brewster, in
liis “ Natural Magic,” goes further than
this, and shows that the “ mind’s eye ”
is actually the body’s eye, and that the
retina is the common tablet on which
both ..classes- of impressions are painted,
and by means of which they receive their
visual existence under the same optical
laws. He thinks that this is not only
true in the case of spectral illusions, but
that it holds good of all ideas recalled
by the memory or created by the imag
ination, and that it may he regarded as
the fundamental law in the science of
pneumatology.
Robert Dale Owen, in his “ Footfalls
on the Boundary of Another World,”
tells a marvelous story of coincidence
that one can hardly believe were brought
about by no other agency than chance.
Mr. Owen says that the story was com
municated to him in July, 1859, by Oapt.
J. *S. Clarke of the schooner John Ilal
lock, then lying in Rutgers ship, who had
if direct frnm Mr Rnmo t>faiwlf Idg
adds that the John Hallock was thm
trading between New York and Santiago.
Mr. Robert Bruce, horn at Torbay, in
the south of England, and there bred up
to a seafaring life, in 1828, when about
thirty years old, was first mate on a hark
trading between Liverpool and St. John,
N. B. On one of her voyages bound
westward, being then five or six weeks
out and having neared the eastern por
tion of the hanks of Newfoundland, the
captain and mate had been on deck at
noon, taking an observation of the sun;
after which they both descended to cal
culate their day’s work. The cabin, a
small one, was immediately at the stern
of the vessel, and the short stairway de
scending to it ran athwartships. Imme
diately opposite to this stairway, just be
yond a small square landing, was the
mate’s state room ; and from that land
ing there were two doors, close to each
other, the one opening aft into the cabin,
the other fronting the stairway into the
state room.
The desk was in the forward part of
the room, close to the door; so that any
one sitting at it and looking over his
shoulder could see into the cabin. The
mate, absorbed in his calculations, which
did not result as lie expected, varying
considerably from the dead reckoning,
had not noticed the captain’s motions.
Having completed his calculations, lie
called out, without looking around, "I
make our latitude and longitude so and
so. Can that be right ? How is yours ?”
As there was no reply, he repeated his
question, glancing over his shoulder and
seeing, as he thought, the captain busy
writing on his slate. Still no answer.
Thereupon he arose ; and, as he fronted
the cabin door, the figure lie had mis
taken for the captain, raised its head and
disclosed to the astonished mate the
features of an entire granger. Bruce
was not a coward ; but, as he met that
fixed gaze looking upon him in grave
silence, and became assured that it was
no one whom he had ever seen, it was
too much for him ; he rushed up to the
deck in such evident alarm that it in
stantly attracted the captain’s attention.
" Why, Mr. Bruce,” said the latter,
"what in the world is the matter with
you?”
"The matter, sir? Who is that at
your desk ?”
" No one, that I know of.”
" But there is, sir ; there’s a stranger
there.”
"A stranger! Why, man, you must
be dreaming. You must have seen the
steward there or the second mate. Who
else would venture down without or
ders ?”
" But, sir, he was sitting in your arm
chair, fronting the door, writing on your
slate. Then lie looked up full in my
face; and, if ever I saw a man plainly and
distinctly in this world, 1 saw him.”
“ Him ! Who ?”
"God knows, sir; I don’t. I saw a
man, and a man I never saw' in my life
before.”
" You must be going crazy, Mr.
EASTMAN, DODGE CO., GEORGIA, THURSDAY, MARCH 23, IS7G
Bruce. A stranger, and we nearly six
weeks out!”
“ ! know, sir; but then I saw him.”
“ Go down and see who it is.”
Bruce hesitated. “I never was a be
liever in ghosts,” he said, “hut if the
truth must l>e told, sir, I’d rather not
face it alone.”
“ Come, come, man. Go down at once,
and don’t make a fool of yourself before
the crew.”
“ I hope you’ve always found me will
ing to do what’s reasonable,” Bruce re
plied, changing color; “hut if it’s all the
same to you, sir, I’d rather we should go
down together.”
The captain descended the stairs, and
tiie mate followed him. Nolvdy in the
cabin! They examined the state-rooms.
Not a soul to be found !
“Well, Mr. Bruce,” said the captain,
“ did not I tell you you had been dream
ing?”
“ It’s all very well to say so, sir; hut if
I didn’t see that man writing on your
slate, may I never see my home and
family again! ”
“Ah! writing on the slate! Then it
should be there still,” and the captain
took up the slate.
“My God!” he exclaimed, “here’s
something sure enough! Is that your
writing, Mr. Bruce?”
The mate took the slate, and there, in
plain, legible characters, xvere the words,
“ (Steer to nor’west.”
“ Have you been trifling with me, sir?”
inquired the captain, sternly.
“On my word as a man, sir,” replied
Bruce, “I know no more of this matter
than you do. I have told you the exact
truth.”
The captain sat down at his desk in
deep thought, the slate before him. At
last, turning the slate over and pushing
it toward Bruce, he said, “ Write down.
SSteer to nor’west.’ ”
The mate complied, and the captain
said, after narrowly comparing the hand
writing, “Mr. Bruce, go and tell the
second mate to come down here.” He
came, and, at the captain’s request, he
also wrote the words. So did the steward.
So, in succession, did every man of the
crew who could write at all. But not
one resembled, in any degree, the myste
rious writing. After the crew had re
tired, the captain sat deep in thought.
“Could any one have been stowed away?”
nt IcugUt 1.0 aolA. “ TU„ obin must ho
searched, and if I don’t find the fellow,
lie must be a good hand at hide and seek.
Order up all hands.
Every nook and corner of the vessel,
from stem to stern, was thoroughly
searched, and that with all the eager
ness of excited curiosity—for it had gone
out that a stranger had shown himself on
board—but not a living soul beyond the
crew and the officers was found.
Returning to the cabin after their
fruitless search, “ Mr. Bruce,” said the
captain, “ What the devil do you make
of all this?”
“Can’t tell, sir, I saw the man write;
you sec the writing. There must he
something in it.”
“ Well, it would seem so. We have
the wind free, and I have a great mind
to keep her away and see what will come
of it.”
“ I surely would, sir, if I xvere in your
place. It’s only a few hours lost at the
worst.”
“ Well, xve’ll see. Goon dock and give
the course nor’west. And, Mr. Bruce,”
he added, as the mate arose to go, “ have
a lookout aloft, and let it be a hand you
can depend on.”
At about 3 o’clock the lookout reported
an iceberg nearly ahead, and shortly
afterward what he thought was a vessel
close to it. As they approached, the
captain’s glass disclosed the fact that it
was a dismantled ship, apparently frozen
to the ice, and with many human be
ings on it. Shortly afterward they hove
to, and sent out the boats to the relief of
the sufferers. It proved to be a vessel
from Quebec, bound to Liverpool, with
passengers.
As one of the men who had been
brought away in the third boat that had
reached the wreck was ascending the
ship’s side, the mate, catching a glimpse
of his face, started back in consternation.
It was the very face that he saw three or
four hours before, looking up at him from
the captain’s desk.
The exhausted crew' and famished
passengers having been eared for, the
mate called the captain aside. "It seems
that was not a ghost I saw to-day, sir;
the man’s alive.”
“ What do you mean ? Who’s alive ?”
" Why, sir, one of the passengers we
have just saved is the same man I saw
writing on your slate at noon. I would
swear to it in a court of justice.”
" Upon my word, Mr. Bruce,” replied
the captain, "this gets more and more
singular. Let us go and see this man.”
They found him in conversation with
the captain of the rescued ship. They
both stepped forward, and expressed in
the warmest terms their gratitude for
deliverance from a horrible fate—slow'
death by exposure and starvation. The
captain replied that he had done only
what he was certain they would have
done lor him under the same circum
stances, and asked them both to step
down into Lie cabin. Then, turning to
the passenger, he said: “ I hope, sir,
you will not think I am trifling with
—~ /re 7rust.
H vou ; hut 1 would be much obliged it
you would write a fexv words on this
slate,” and he handed him He slate,
with that side up on which the myste
rious writing was not. “ I will do any
thing you ask,” replied the pjnsenger ;
“ but what shall I write ?”"
“Suppose you write, ‘Steeifeo nor’-
wesL’ ”
The passenger cheerfully Complied.
The captain took up the slaty and ex
amined it closely; then, stepjlng aside
ho as to conceal the slate from tie passen
ger, lie turned it over and givqit to him
again xvith the other side up.
ou say that is your handwriting ?”
said he. /
" 1 neeu ,Jut ’ the
other, looking at it, “for you saw me
xvrite it.”
“And this?” said the captain, turning
the slate over.
I lie man looked first at one side of the
slate, then at the other, puzzled. At
last, “ What is the meaning of this?”
said he, “ I wrote only one of these.
Who wrote the other? ”
“ That is more than 1 can tell you, sir.
My mate here says you wrote it, sitting
at his desk, at noon to-day.”
The captain of the wreck nd the pas
senger looked at each other, exchanging
glances of intelligence and surprise;
and the former asked the latter: “ Did
you dream that you wrote on this
slate?”
“ No, sir, n<*t that 1 remember.”
“ You speak of dreaming,” said the
captain of the bark. “ What was this
gentleman about at noon to-day?”
“Captain,” rejoined the other, “the
xvhole thing is most mysterious, and 1
had intended to speak to you about is as
soon as xve got a little quiet. This gen
tleman (pointing to the passenger) being
much exhausted, fell into a heavy sleep,
or what seemed sleep, some time before
noon. After an hour or more he awoke,
and said to me: ‘Captain, we shall be
relieved this very day.’ When I asked
him what reason lie had for saying so,
he replied that he had dreamed that he
xvas on board a hark, and she xvas com
ing to our rescue. He described her
appearance and rig, and to our utter as
tonishment, when your vessel hove in
sight she corresponded exactly to his de
scription of her. We had not thought
much of what he had said, yet still we
hoped there might be something in it,
lor iiiuwauig nirii, , ~111
at straxvs. As it has turned out, I can
not doubt that it was all arranged, in
some incomprehensible xvay, by an over
ruling Providence, so that xve might be
saved.”
“ T got the impression that the bark I
saxv in my dream was going to rescue
us,” said the passenger, “but how that
impression came I cannot tell. Every
thing here on board seems to me quite
familiar ; yet I am very sure that I xvas
never in your vessel before. It is all a
puzzle to me.”
or EKING CEE EM OKIES.
The Centennial Exhibition—Openiny Day.
July 4th.
The ceremonies at the opening of the
Centennial exhibition are pretty nearly
determined upon. The president of the
United States, attended by the heads of
departments, distinguished guests, repre
sentatives of foreign governments, judges
of the supreme court, members of the
senate and the house of representatives,
representatives of the several states and
territories, the Centennial commissioners
and foreign commissioners—all these will
participate.
But the most stupendous " time ” will
be had on the Fourth of July. Accord
ing to the written assurance of a gentle
man concerned in the preparations, the
ceremonies on that day "will be of a
grander, more imposing character than
those w'hich have attended any event of
modern times, either in Europe or Amer
ica.” They will consist in part of a mu
sical performance, the assemblage of the
military and civic organizations of the
country and the unveiling of appropriate
statues.
The morning will be announced from
the old state house by the great bell of
peace, the gift of a citizen of Philadel
phia for the occasion. The bell, now
easting, will weigh 13,000 pounds, and is
inscribed with the words: "Proclaim
liberty throughout all the land, and to
the inhabitants thereof. Glory to God
in the highest! Peace on earth, and
good will to men.”
The musical performance will be di
rected by Theodore Thomas. The mili
tary display will be superintended by a
high officer of the general government.
The Philadelphia park commission has
furnished free camping ground for a por
tion of the volunteers to be assembled
from different sections of the Union.
Barracks will be erected, furnishing cheap
and comfortable lodgment for soldiers.
Already official notification has been re
ceived of the attendance of more than
18,000 equipped men.
AVm. ‘M. Evarts will deliver the
Fourth of July oration, and the Decla
ration of Independence will be read by
Richard Henry Lee.
.. Do you know that the Cuban to
bacconists grind up leather and put it in
their cigars? Patronize your home tan
neries.
MOl Y/> Ji lri I,HERS.
Tho Ancient Canals of the Mississippi Valle;/
Their I’tilit;/,
A correspondent of the Austin (Texas)
("Tx lus gives the folloxving account of
some of the antiquities of the Mississippi
x'alley:
Humboldt tells that in a forgotten
age, and by a forgotten race, a canal was
dug across the Isthmus of Darien, and
unmistakable traces of its whole length,
bridging with water the narrow neck of
laud that separates the'two oceans. And
xet hoxx xve hax’e boasted of modern pro
gress and modern daring, and modern
genius for tasks Which modern vanity
has pronounced superhuman, jno ~
position—supposed not long ago to be
wholly new—to construct canals con
necting rivers of this magnificent valley
with one another, and with the great
lakes and Mexican gulf, xvas partially
effected by a race of men older than Cy
rus or Solomon or Sesostris.
Just beloxv Cape Girardeau, Mo.,
there is a deep fosse more than one hun
rofl wide. It extended in an un
known period -tu U) .
xvestxvardlv to the waters of White and St.
Francis rivers. Its obvious purpose was
the diversion ofa large volume of the su
perabundant water of the Mississippi into
smaller tributary streams. At intervals
of twenty or thirty miles other canals,
still plainly defined, parallel with the
first, and in many places filled xvith xva
ter, and designed to lessen the floed tide
of the mighty river, render floods harm
less, and irrigate rich alluvial fields, tra
verse the lowlands. The earthquake of
1811 and 1812 moved across the country
from east to west and upheaved the
country’s surface as does a tempest the
ocean’s billoxvs. After the convulsion,
the lowlands of the Mississippi xvest of
Cairo and Nexv Madrid xvere broken in
ridges as if the waves of the sea, in the
midst of a violent storm, had been sud
denly frozen. By the convulsion of na
ture these canals were broken, and for the
first time since the days of David and
(Solomon, or Sesostris, xvhen they were
dug, became useless. I have traced these
ancient canals many miles. Probably
they xvere not designed to render calami
ties, such as noxv desolate rich planta
tions from Cairo to the sea, impossible,
but the internal commerce of wide dis
tricts, and of dense and mighty popula
(-U , t-j- ..c isrna
most cheaply conducted. For long dis
tances towing paths a little above the
hank of these canals may he plainly dis
cerned, and not far from Osceola, Ark.,
brick abutments of a bridge, that spanned
a canal, have been unearthed. In many
places there are aguadas, or artificial
lakes paved xvith adobe, and along these
canals, as everyxvhere along the Missis
sippi, there are countless earthern udo
meters, like those of stone at the base of
the pyramids of Egypt and along the
hanks of the Euphrates, designed to mark
each year the highest of successive
floods.
Artificial lakes were constructed, per
haps as fish ponds, or designed to sub
serve purposes of reservoirs dug by
Egyptian monarchs. From these, and
from canals opened by Egypt’s wisest
masters, farms, during the hot summer
months, were irrigated. Herodotus tells
—and Napoleon the Great, in his con
versations at St. Helena, repeated the as
sertion —that after these canals were dug,
the failure of crops in Egypt was ren
dered wholly impossible. 'J here was
hardly need for guano when floodgates
of countless canals might be opened and
broad plantations submerged and cov
ered with loam, as indispensable to suc
cessful cotton culture in this valley as
rotations of crops on the rugged hillsides
of Georgia or Connecticut. Each plant
er of to-day in the lowlands would glad
ly lose one crop in seven, that a layer of
alluvium left by an overflow may enrich
his fields. How wise were they who, in
a forgotten age, not only created for
themselves by means of these canals the
cheapest possible agencies of transporta
tion, but renewed each year the soil that
gave such wonderful harvests and sup
ported such dense population.
Twenty-five miles below Memphis
flatboats leave the river, enter Blackfish
lake, and thence the St. Francis river,
and its mouth, sixty miles further south,
re-enter the Mississippi. Grant was not
the first seaman or warrior to send armies
through the Yazoo Pass. Along this
mighty canal there are mounds every
where. Confederate soldiers in 1863-64
occupied them to resist the incursion of
nothern armies. Gen. Grant was, per
haps, impelled by the_military necessity
to cut the dyke that closed this outlet,
as were mound-builders in by-gone ages
to construct the canal. Bayous within
the country described by the Mississippi
on the west, and Yazoo Pass and Yazoo
river on the east, are beyond computa
tion and comprehension. Steamboat
men say that within the area defined by
these natural and artificial drains and
highways, there are such an infinite
number of transverse canals, connecting
the Mississippi with its lateral tributa
ries, that a steamer drawing five feet
without crossing its own path could
traverse three or four thousand miles of
navigable waters. The canal that con
nects Hushpuckenny bayou (itself, in
my judgment, excavated originally by
Payable in Advance.
NUMBER 7.
the mound-builders) with another, and
with the Mississippi, passes through the
plantation of the late Hon. Andrew J.
Donelson. It is perfectly straight for
ten miles, there is a perfectly defined
tow path upon its western bank, and
mounds and fortified strongholds every
where on either side of the perfect canal.
What barbarians are we to close these
endless drains and cheapest agencies of
commerce and of perfect irrigation by
means of earthen walls costing incalcu
lable sums and aggravating the very
evils they are designed to remedy. If in
telligent explorations were made, and a
map of so-called “ bayous” prepared con
necting the Mississippi with lateral
from the Missouri to tho gulf,
we would find that this great valley was
once drained by a perfect system of engi
neeiing skill, that these canals and lakes
were so planned, and so enlarged and
lessened or multiplied, that however
great the volume of the springtime flood
tide of the mighty river, it was subdi
\ ided and distributed everywhere over
( ! iese rich alluvial plains. Their produc
ti\( c ‘ l i’“-.tv was thus renewed each
iroar and niUUiRi ~
wheat growers never beheld
behind earthen walls grow red, or yel
low, and shriveled for want of loam de
posited each year by the murky water
that brings inexhaustible riches from re
mote lulls and valleys and mountains.
One hundred and forty natural and
artificial drains, or “bayous,” once re
lieved the Mississippi of superabundant
water on its western side, between the
mouth of the Arkansas and New Orleans.
When the melting snows filled the chan
nel of the great river, gateways were
opened from Cape Girardeau to the sea,
and many great canals, one after another,
were filled. Shallotv streams of regulated
depth, as by Egyptians in days of yore,
were diffused over cultivated fields, and
not only were disasters impossible, but
the floods we deem so ruinous were
sources of incalculable riches to primeval
dw'ellers of the lowlands. Red river
then had an outlet, now reopened to Ber
wick’s bay, and those who have traversed
Texas state that a great ditch, still
clearly defined, in a bygone age connected
Red river with the Trinity. The time
will come when the Missouri will be con
nected with the Arkansas, and this stream
through Bayou Bartholomew with Red
river, and the latter will become part of
the Atcnar.iiaya, cuiciiug Cnir
Mexico. A ship canal will connect Lake
Michigan with the Illinois, and an inex
haustible water supply through locks
and dams be given the rivers of this val
ley. Steamships and the largest sailing
vessels drawn through such a canal by
locomotives on its towing paths will con
nect New Orleans directly with the Gulf
of Mex ico. American railways will bear
the whole country’s wealth toward cities
on the Mississippi and its tributaries, and
the river itself become the highway of
nations and its valley the central seat of
American empire.
The Shower of Flesh in Ken
tucky.— In regard to the shower of flesh
in Bath county Ky., Professor J. Law
rence Smith, the scientist, says in his
analysis of specimens examined: “In my
mind this matter gives every indication
of being the dried spawn of the Betrach
ian reptiles, doubtless that of the frog.
They have been transported from the
ponds and swampy grounds by currents
of winds, and have ultimately fallen on
the spot where they were found. This is
no isolated occurrence of the kind, I
having come across the mention of sev
eral in the course of my reading. The
only one whose date I can now fix is that
recorded by Muschenbroek as occurring
in 1675. The matter is described by him
as being gelatinous and fatty, which sof
tened when held in his hand, and omit
ted an unpleasant smell when exposed to
the action of fire. The ovum or egg of
the Batrachian reptiles is a round mass
of nutritive jelly, in the center of which
appears a small black globule. In the
present case the passage through the air
would have dried up more or iessof these
gelatinous masses, so that the exterior
would become hard, and the interior, as
I found it, still soft and gelatinous. I
have desired more of the matter to be
sent to me, when, if there be any modifi
cation of these views, I will make them
known.”
..Laura Ream describes Belknap in
the Indianapolis News: “He is al>out
six feet in height, but does not look as
tall on account of strong build persis
tently rounded by approved Washington
habits of eating and drinking. His com
plexion is naturally fair. ,So is his hair.
He would pass for a blonde if his face
were not so red. It is not a rich, rare
brandy hue—it is rather the flush of
whisky and wine giving a sort of unnat
ural transparency to the skin. The effect
is even more marked in the eyes, which
are liquid—it will not do to say watery —
and unsteady. He has no particular
grace of manner or expression and does
not talk much. Wherever I have seen
him he has been especially devoted to his
wife.”
. . Another new asteroid! Well,there’s
no end tp the discoveries man can
make if he prefers to sit in a cold tower
all night to snugging under three quilts
and resting his feet against a hot soap
stone.
Gif,4 t'*' “ inoiicey, __
.•uiKKiy re poets him.
It has just been discovered that it
i>n t whisky that kills. When a man’s
fevth strikes a tumbler there is friction,
ami friction jars his nerves and wears
him out.
• The Rothschilds could give eighty
five dollars to every man, woman and
child in the country. There, now,
don’t get excited ; it isn’t certain they
will do it.
. Women are turning their attention
to the insurance agency business. Af
ter this there is nothing left for their en
ergy to cut its teeth ou but peddling
lightning rods.
..“Bridget,” said O’Mulligan to his
wife, “ it’s a cowld ye have. A drop of
the crathur ’ud do you no harrum.’
“ Och hone,” said Biddy, “ I’ve taken the
pledge; but ye can mix me a drink
Jemmy, and force me to ewallv it.”
The southern negroes are mystified
over the frequent visits of cyclones and
hurricanes, and an aged Savanah darkey
remarks: “If dose yere winds can’t Is?
tuned down a little what’s de use of buy
ing mules and ’cumulating a family?”
The owner of a pair of black eyes
assures us that the prettiest compliment
she ever reeieved came from a child of
four years. The little fellow, after look
ing at her for a moment, inquired naively,
“ Are your eyes new ones?”
.. A young man suffering from “here
ditary gout, said liedidn’t mind the pain
of it so much, “but,” said he, “the
thought that some old ancestor of mine
had all the fun of acquiring this precious
heirloom is what takes hold of me.”
the only representative fit Tnr VhJjj.Jufl
painters left in England. He is now en
gaged upon a picture, “ The finding of
what is left of the body of Harold,”
which will doubtless lx* the hit of the
next exhibition at Burlington house. 1
..A Child’s Grave.—
A little mound with chipped headstone,
The grass—ah me! uncut about the
sward,
Summer by summer left alone,
W ith one white lily keeping watch and
ward.
..There is to be no shortening put
into coat tails this spring, and pants
will be baggier than ever, to accomodate
those gentlemen whose legs are built on
the stilt plan. Dog-eared collars, cut m>
as to show the binding of the undershirt,
will be popular.
.I have my own ’pinion on zis tariff
question,” remarked a seedy looking
individual on fState street last evening.
“ What is your opinion?” asked a gen
tleman standing near by. “My ’pinion,
zur,” replied the man, “is zat every
filler’s got his own right (hie) to go on a
tariff’e wants to.”
.. When the Memphians sent word to
the country that “poetry” would lie re
presented in their Mardi Grass proces
aluil, 1111(1 Un <•••>>“ lllK'lf
with the word “jxietry’ changed to “pov
erty,” they were slightly and justifiably
irritated.
..The scholars in a Chinese school
never put bent pins on each others’ seat.
They are not civilized enough for that;
but when one of them shuts the lid ol
his desk down on the pig-tail of the Ixiy
next to him, the owner of the queue in
dulges in some frightful tea-box language
when lie attempts to rise from his seat.
..A young minister, somewhat dis
tinguished for self-conceit, having failed
disastrously before a crowded audience,
was thus addressed by an aged brother:
“ If you had gone into that pulpit feel
ing as you now do coming out of that
pulpit, you would have felt, on coming
out of that pulpit, as you did when you
went up into that pulpit.”
..The best wine Ills its lees. All
moil’s faults are not written on their
foreheads, and it’s quite as well they are
not, for hats would need wide brims;
yet as sure as eggs are eggs, faults of
some sort nestle in every man’s bosom.
There’s no telling when a man’s sins
may show themselves, for hares pop out
of a ditch just when you are not looking
for them.
..When a man acknowledges himself
in the wrong there is nothing more to lie
said. The [wditencss of the average
Nevada editor is delightful. Thus did
he of the Humboldt Register acknowl
edge himself a liar: “ The ex-publisher
of this paper hereby acknowledges him
self a cussed liar, knave and horse-thief,
and ought to go west for publishing that
scurrilous and lying article about the
editor of the Register yesterday. A
black eye and a bloody nose convinces
us that we did wrong. Old in the bus
iness is our only excuse. H. A. Waldo.”
..A stump-speaker in dealing with
the “modern physical degeneracy of
women,” exclaimed : “We must take
good care of our grandmothers, for we
shall never get any more!” It is so
with mothers also, as a ('ennecticut
merchant was surprised to hear the other
day. His pastor was visiting him and
his wife, and, after warning her that she
= ust take letter care of her health, he
concluded thus : “ Remember, my dear
madam, your family. Your husband
might replace you, but your children
never could !”
.. It may be interesting to many peo
ple to know that Mardi Gras does not oc
cur on the twenty-ninth of February but
once in a man’s lifetime, the in
troduction of the Gregorian calendar in
1582, Mardi Gras has occurred February
20, 1656, February 20, 1754, and after
February 20th of this year, will not oc
cur on that date again until 2028, then
in 2180, then in 2248, then in 2316, and
then in 2400, which is the limit of the
present calculation. In the year 1944,
Mardi Gras will fall on the twenty-sec
ond of February, and only that one time
on that date in"that’century.