Newspaper Page Text
8
PRAIRIE TYPES.
Vanishing PKCFLIARITIES OF
FAR WESTERN PLAINS.
__
l la Early Settlers’ Residences Were
the Iliigout and the Sod House —
The Claim-—Cattle Trails and
Cowboys—I’ralrle Schooners.
A MOUND of earth, a tiny swell
in the limitless ocean of level
.A \o< 1. t I1C* dutrout was the first
refuge of the dweller on the
plain*. ft was tin emblem of the
monnd-buiMer age in western develop
un lit. Near to nature’s heart indeed
were those who inhabited it. The j
walls of their home touched every
land and nation. The first step in its
• n otion was to shovel out the rich
dark virgin eaith us if for a cellar. In j
building no other kind of house does
one begin at the top. When the ex
cavation reached a depth of four or
five fci-t slanting rafters were thrown
aero >d and dirt piled on, a chirn
ney opening left and the residence was
complete. Y blanket was the first
door—wooden panels came later. On
Lone Prairie one such dwelling had
two window panes fixed roughly in its
front wall and for miles its fame as
“tho shack with gla*s eyes” spread,
giving its owner considerable prestige I
and renown.
Three or four steps downward led
into tho ilugout, much as did a stair¬
way cut in the rock conduct one to
tho humble dwellings of highland cot¬
tars in ancient times. Once inside
you often found a most homelike and j
cozy apartment. Whitewash fre
(juently covered the earth-walls, and
an ample hearth and blazing fire com- |
plcteil a cheery picture. was’more j
Hometimes there than one |
room, board or cloth partitions (livid
ing the interior. Upon the earth
covering >f tho primitive dwelling
many a housewife sowed the little
package of flower seeds brought with
precious care from the old New Eng¬
land home, and produced a veritable
roof-garden. Old-fashioned holly¬
hocks, four-o’clocks, pinks and mari¬
golds tossed and nodded their gay
heads in the prairie breezes, strange
visitants among the wild flowers and
tumbleweeds of the west.
Milak m
3^5
r
-A I 'c-' \l. (fy
(
A riUIIUE SCHOONER.
Winds shook not nor could waters
Wash away tho dugout. It was as sub¬
stantial ns tho prairie itself, and many
a plainsman risen to better things, re¬
tains tho humble structure in which
ho began the new life on the prairies,
ns a refuge, should a tornado threaten
his more modern home.
The dugout as a family dwelling is
no more. Locomotives’ smoko rolls
over nearly every section of the
cheaper, more primitive dwelling.
Only a herder here and there, or a
hunting party making a long stay,
condescends to seek its humble pro¬
tection.
The sod house was an evolution and
an advancement from the dugout. It
was above ground instead of below.
It had windows and shape and parti¬
tions. In a neighborhood where dug
outs were the rule, the owner of a sod
house was au aristocrat. The dugout
has never been celebrated in song, but
seldom is there a western “school ex¬
hibition” or “lyceutu” meeting at
which is not rehearsed a crude favorite,
beginning:
“I’m looking rather seedy uow, wliilo hold¬
ing down my claim,
My vituals are not always served the best ,
And tho mice play slyly round me in my
S alo°no l
As I la y mo down at night to rest.
“Thehinges are of leather nml the windows
The'roof inlets tho howling blizzard in
Rut I’m happy as a clam on this land of
Uncle Sam’s
In my little old sod shauty on the claim.''
It took skill to build a sod house,
Not every cue could construct a wall
of earth that would stand the winds
and storms of years. Blabs of tho
firmly knitted grassroots, undisturbed
#ov centuries, were cut two and a half
feet long by two feet wide, and laid
one on another ns in buildings of
stouo. Rough window and door
frames were built in and sometimes a
board roof was afforded, though more
- ——-----
_r m
k \ r'i: I ~ " —T - jit i_- $ I
-> 7r— w|3 —Z/J |
=m \
m/ / 17- d 1
\ '<N
X—
THE SOD SHANTY.
often it was poles covered with sod
and hay.
The sod house was the most common
first residence of immigrants. There
was a poetic appropriateness in mak
ing their very shelter out of the land
tliey had acquired after so long a
journey sunsetward, and so much
planning and effort.
Within the sod house you found
more that in the dugout. There was
a stove, a carpet, sewing machine,
rocking chairs, and mayhap an organ,
paid for by close economizing in the
management of the claim.
In those early days of prairie de
relopment school houses and even
churches were of sod, small, to be
sure, but large enough for that gener
atiou. With added prosperity
tod wall been relegated to the
stable and the tool house; but on
many a homestead the father
motluri now growu gray and
worm i«ok through
»»
THE MONROE ADVERTISER, FORSYTH, GA„ TUESDAY, JUNE IT 1894. -EIGHT PAGES
standing back among the trees, and
recall, not without regret, the happy
days spent therein—days when hearts
were young, when care was yet to be
known, when life was all before them
R ad the now decaying, despised sod
house seemed a palace because it was
home.
lotoii slowly over weary leagues of
pathless plain or to race amid a mad
cataract of rushing humanity at the
crack of a rifle, to stop suddenly and
call the place your own—that has been
the experience of the settlers who dur
ing the past two decades have, either
by entry or in the opening of Indian
reservations, secured claims on the
prairies. The land once obtained, the
battle was, however, but begun. The
plainsmen called the prairie “wild,”
and said it must be “tamed.” They
well expressed the situation, for there
__________ _
*
‘
=^=—
mm ft A) Jp A O A S
r
i—v - xVf ^3^.
A SOD SCHOOL HOUSE.
is no poetry in developing a well-tilled
and improved farm out of a hundred
and sixty raw' acres.
Mighty hopes centered around the
lmlf-milo square on which after so
Reparation . the settler began
1,1 ‘ 1 ‘ ’ 1
10 a ^ aiu> those reared beneath
ancestral roofs can little realize theall
absor .bing optimism that prevades tho
P rttine home - Inspired by its radiance
husband and wife skimp and save and
struggle, enduring and suffering all,
in order to realize tho more perfect
prosperity that the future offers. From
the claim to the city addition with its
streets, alleys, electric lights and
trolley wires is a long step, but west¬
ern lands have often taken it, and there
is to tho settler no reason why his own
possession should not repeat the his¬
tory.
There was something inspiring in
tho word “claim.” The land repre¬
sented was not purchased, leased or
loaned—it was “claimed” by the
holder as his right as au American
citizen to the unused territory of the
nation. The first who came were first
served and eager—sometimes bloody—
were the contests over desirable
quarter-sections “claimed” by more
than one settler.
The claim was the financial salvation
of thousands of deserving families
during the past two decades, and it is
unfortunate that Uncle Sam has been
compelled to tell his children that he
can no more “give them all a farm.”
The claim and the settler can figure
no more in western development—be¬
cause tho claims are all taken and the
settler has become a farmer, or a real
estate speculator, or an office-holder.
Leading up from the ranches of the
southwest to the northern shipping
points, taking their way over hill,
valley and river, washed by rains,
swept by the winds, trodden by mil¬
lions of pattering hoofs, the cattle
trails of the prairies for twenty years
were unique features in wester/; land¬
scapes. Great furrows they were, two
to three hundred feet wide, chocolate
colored bands on the green of the
plains. Along their undulating course
herd after herd plodded its northward
way. None ever came back—for the
little seas of thin, nervous faces, slen¬
der branching horns and hairy backs
that became such familiar sights were
but supplies for the waiting shambles
of city market places.
The wealth of an empire moved over
these broad highways. In a single
season nearly a million Texas cattle
traversed them. To see the herds in¬
stinctively arrange themselves in order
like an army, with the same leaders
day after day was a study for the na¬
turalist. Rivers were crossed with
out confu f on > herders *^3 their
bronchos . beside the bovine
swimming
commanders of the battalion. At
night, “rounded up," the cattle lay
olose together, a huge circle of breath
ing, living auimal force. The crackle
of a stick, the snort of a horse,
howl of a coyote, and ten thousand
pauie-strickcu steers, anyone of which
would not hesitate to attack a man or
horse alone, were stampeded, to be
again controlled only after hours of
chasing and the loss of scores of mar
ketable animals.
The cattle trails, first located by
the herders as convenience dictated,
became recognized as the prairie’s
thoroughfares, just as cowpatlis are
reputed to have become an American
city’s streets. But the new develop
ment of the west is making them ob
solete. Freight cars carry cattle more
swiftly and safely. The “man with a
hoe” needs the land and is plowing up
the trails and running his barbed-wire
fences across their courses. Theopen
ing of the Cherokee Strip and Okla
homa ended the existence of
greater ones—features around which
clustered so much of trade, romance
' and adventure.
Closely connected with the cattle
trail, yet not wholly confined to it in
his sphere, was the cowboy, the stage
j hero been of the maligned west. His and character has
1 heaped so with lauded, so
glamour and contumely,
; that one who has not met the real ar
tide considers him either a prince of
j romauce stalks or a monster. down Occasionally
! a York man Boston a Chicago, New
or wearing o wi4«*
; whita hat, i«*th«*» trettttri
with long jingling spars, He glares
fiercely Irom side to side and the im
pressionable stare wonderinglv at the
swaggering creature, thinking they
gaze at a cowboy. They are mistaken
—it is the basest immitatioD. The
real cowboy does not wear outlandish
dress nor swagger. He is engaged in
too serious business to make a travesty
of his calling. Not without training
and a clear brain can one take part in
handling a herd of wild Texas steers
from the back of a still wilder bron
cho.
The cowbov works hard seven davf,
in the *
week. He is usually an ambi
tious young man who has come west
to seek a livelihood, and if von watch
him you will see him occasionally take
from an inside pocket the picture of
a bri«hteyed eastern <drl the memory
of whose smiles is his inspiration
through the long nights when a driv
ing storm compels constant riding in
order to control the herd.
Eleven months of the cowboy’s year
are spent on the range—which means
on the monotonous prairie twenty or
thirty miles from a railway. The other
month goes in taking the cattle to the
shipping station, and usually includes
a week of revelry, which gives such
places the name of being the worst
towns on earth. The cowboy is tut
human, and his lonely life tends to
make'his weakness more noticeable
when he comes before the public’s
eyes.
The dividing of the great ranches
of the prairies into farms has driven
the cattle owners and the cowboy to
tlieraDges of Montana and Wyoming.
In Texas and Kansas, where he gained
his fame, he is forgotten, except as
some old-timer recalls the early days
of his prominence. Brave, chivalrous
and faithful, the cowboy is not a bad
fellow'. He is neither the tinseled
desperado of the stage nor the vin
dictive villain of fiction, Like the
troubadour and the puritan, he has a
fixed place in popular ideas, and so
seldom is a representative of his class
seen that it is doubtful if the current
impression of his character can ever
be corrected.
r
r l
ji
j f V
Jiii
tei
AN IMPROVED DUGOUT.
The prairie schooner was the May¬
flower of western immigration. The
family that crossed the Mississippi to
the sound of its creaking wheels feels a
decided advantage over the one that
was hurried westward on the luxurious
divans of a Pullman car. Not unlike
a vessel was it with its huge poke
bonnet-like white canvas cover, sailing
steadily through the sea of waving
prairie grass. It was of this ship of
tbe plains that Whittier thought when
he wrote the “Kansas Emigrant’s
Song:”
“Wo oros3 tbe prairies as of old
Tbe Pilgrims crossed the sea.”
^ ean and * az Y team, a bearded
111 aIi o 11 front seat., a wife and babe
surrounded by bedding, cooking uten*
sils and provisions just visible beneath
half raised side curtains,
tied to the rear and a colt or
cow led behind that was the prairie
schooner's cargo. In early days,when
d aQ ger threatened, scores of these
unique vehicles tiaxeied together and
plodded toward the mountains along
tbe wagon trails leading
across the plains. But in later years
each has gone by itself, and the single
family that has made it a habitation
while in search of an abiding-place
has steered as fanov or interest dic¬
tated.
The last grand review of the prairie
schooner fleet was when on a beautiful
day of the autumn of 1893 hundreds
of them lined up, ready to be hurried
into hunting grounds of the redskins.
When the signal was given at high
noon, and the memorable “rush” had
taken place, scattering the congre
gated homeseekers in a moment over
the waiting lands, the display was
ended for American history, Never
again can so many of these old wagons
be gathered.
The prairie schooner was freighted,
as is the white-winged traveler of the
ocean, with hopes and sorrows. Oft
times the long journey, the furnace
heated south winds and the constant
jar wore out the tiny spark of life in
tne baby’s breast, and the mother
never recalls the pilgrimage without
thinking 51 a little mound that nestles
low amid the prairie grasses some
where along their course.
At an artists’exhibition last wintei
a western railroad president purchased
at an exhorbitant price a large paint
mg of a typical prairie schooner. “I
shall hang it,” said he, “beside a su
perb drawing of my private car. Had
mv parents not ridden in a prairie
schooner I should not now enjoy the
luxury of a palace on wheels.”
Had the pioneers of the Westerr
States disdained the picturesque but'
lumbering vehicle and the sturdy toil
of which it may well he considered an
emblem, the splendid development of
the tra«»*MiB«i*aippi region might be
£«Ma« fre»S
General Sickles.
It is said that General Daniel F.
Sickles is tired of Washington and will
not seek a re-election to Congress,
Should this rumor prove true a few
months will see the close, so far as the
public is concerned, of an extraordi¬
nary career, but General Sickles will
remain until the end one of the strik¬
ing figures of this big town, writes
ttt uford ,, , Gray „ . New „ „ lork . , letter. .
” in a
now seve pty-two but does
is 1°°^ erect to be and over powerful. sixty. His He figure has
a
massi '' e head, strong features, a dark
C P m Plexion and an eneigetie expres
f 1 011 which is increased by the fire of
. ark °! hair and
P P eav lS ( mustache e * yep ' retain their pristine
- v
hue, and seem even darker than they
Were 3n Lls yoUQ " er vears ’ aud * Tet
-
nearly , fifty this scarred vet
years ago
e jan of politics and war was in the
Yoik Legislature, and during the
bitter debates upon slavery that pre
c eded secession, he was a leader of
tlle , Democracy in Congress. His
career as a volunteer officer in the
service of the Union, from the time
he raised his renowned brigade until
the day he was maimed for life, and
through the battles that were fought
between the Chickahominy and Get¬
tysburg, was distinguished by the
same vehemence and tenacity that he
had previously displayed in politics
and that were subsequently displayed
in another field, about -which less is
known by his countrymen. The story
is of his successful efforts at Madrid,
when he was American Minister to the
-
|
* -y £ M
v
4v- fJ : 7
A , m Wm
> f'A
m
t n,
/
DANIEL E. SICKLES.
short-lived Spanish Republic (1869
1874), to bring about the abolition of
negro slavery in the Spanish West
Indies, has never been told. There
are documents upon this subject in
the State Department at Washington,
from which one of the most striking
chapters in our diplomatic annals
could be written, and it is to be hoped
that the chapter, which would bring
to light a remarkable but obscure epi¬
sode in the stormy career of General
Sickles, will remain unwritten till
his life has ended. It is not too much
to say that it was by General Sickles’s
pressure upon Castelar that the abo¬
lition of slavery in Porto Rico was
brought about, nor is it too much to
say that it was under the same pres¬
sure that the law providing for grad¬
ual emancipation in Cuba was pro¬
mulgated. Furthermore, if General
Sickles had then been able to secure
tbe desired co-operation at Washing
ton, the “Gem of the Antilles” would
long ago have been under the Ameri
can flag. General Sickles is a man of
fortune by inheritance, and knows
how to enjoy life in the fashionable
circles of New York.
A Yery Smart Jacket.
Huge leg-o’-mutton sleeves are seer
on the natty jacket 6hown here. It is
cut from light beige colored cloth,
made tight fitting, and fastens in
front with small ivory buttons. A
Figaro is imitated by a wide bias fold
of cloth stitched three times. The
sleeves are also machine stitched at the
wrists, as well as at the sides and bot¬
tom of the garment. It is finished by
wide revers of white cloth trimmed
with three buttons each, and two
collars, also of white cloth, the second
«->
C N
V
C l 1
> '
\\ ' M
1 J
V
ending at the shoulder seam and being
considerably higher than the other,
as sh.own.
Plenty ot Holidays in New Zealand
The people of New Zealand are a
holiday-making race. In almost every
month they have some day which is
set aside as a holiday. At Christmas,
New Year s and Easter the working
class take two or three daya extra to
carry on their festivities. At these
times all the inhabitants give them¬
selves up to amusements. Horse rac
ing, athletic sports, boat races and
excursions are carried on in every
available spot, and are attended by a
large and almost invariably well-be
haved crowd. The principal amuse
ment among the common classes is
picnics. All tbe different trades and
societies have picnics of their own, to
which the general public are welcome
upon paying a small fee of admission,
New Zealand people are like cattle,
On one of these holidays the streets
and houses of the villages are desert
ed, and an enterprising burglar could
ransack the town from one end to the
other without fear of being disturbed.
About seven o’clock in the evening
the streets become livelier again with
the returning crowd# —Sb Luuie
A Cheap Milking.Stool.
Fig. 1 shows tho stool* complete.
Fig. *2 shows the shape of the five
pieces that compose it. Make two
pieces, A, 12x18 inches, for the legs;
A 3
D
j
c X
one piece, B, 12x18 inches, for the
seat, with two slots in the centre for a
hand-hole; and two pieces, C, 4x18
inches, to brace the legs together and
i®
m
support the seat. Use one-half-inch
lumber throughout, and give it a good
coat of paint.—R. W. J. Stewart, in
Farm and Fireside.
Bird and Kitten.
“I once saw a curious exhibition
given by a free mocking bird toward
a young kitten,” said James F. Gilli
gan, of Pensacola, Fla., who was at
the Laclede. “The bird had taken its
position in a tree just in front of our
house, and the kitten was rolling
around on the grass directly beneath
it. The bird had worked itself into a
state of great excitement and was
chattering away at a great rate. Fin¬
ally it flew down on the lowest branch
of the tree, and, leaning as far as
possible toward the kitten, uttered a
peculiar sound like the ‘fuff’ of an en¬
raged cat. This was evidently the
bird’s war cry, and although the kit¬
ten did not pay the slightest atten¬
tion, it struck me as very droll that
the bird should thus declare war upon
the hereditary enemy of its race, even
in its infancy.”—St. Louis Globe
Democrat.
Holland’s Girl Queen.
Thelittle Queen of Holland seems to
have passed out of that delicate state
lifit i
i v:
Art
£ * k-t
a sp wl A 1 ¥4 - n
WILHELXIINA, QUEEN OF HOLLAND.
of health which so alarmed her loyal
subjects a year or so ago, if this pic¬
ture represents her accurately. She
is certainly a blooming enough young
person here. It is her latest portrait
and delights her people greatly, not
only because it shows her in so robust
a state but because she is wearing in
it the national peasant dress.—Now’
York World.
Hoiv Old Are Horseshoes ?
The earliest form of the horseshoe
was a leather boot, says Dr. S. J.
Harger, of the University of Pennsyl¬
vania Y T eterinary School, But this
boot was only -worn by heavy war
horses. The ordinary horses of the
Greeks, Romans, Arabics and other
natives were unshod, though methods
of hardening the hoof were occasion¬
ally used. The earliest written reeor l
of metal shoes is found in a book by
the Emperor Leo VI., who died 911
A. D., but horseshoes have been found
in tombs that date back to the sixth
century. The earliest Oriental form
of shoe was nearly circular, and was
fastened on, not by nails, but by
flanges driven into the side of the
hoof. The Arabian farriers even to¬
day shoe their horses cold, and regard
the European method as injurious.-—
The Pennsylvanian.
The Eagle on tlfe Dollar.
The figure of the eagle on the dol¬
lars of 1836, 1838, 1839 are exact por¬
traits of a famous American eagle.
“Peter, the Mint Bird,” he was called
by everybody in Philadelphia, and
during his life his fame was equally as
great as that of “Old Abe,” the Wis¬
consin war eagle, the latter being
really a spring chicken when compared
with Peter. Peter was the pet of
the Philadelphia mint for many years.
Finally he was caught in some coining
machinery and had the life jerked out
of his body in a jiffy. The figure on
the coins named above is an exact re
production of a portrait taken of
Peter after he had been stuffed and
placed in a glass case in the mint cab
inet.—St. Louis Republic.
Bespoken.
f
: i
■
% j
j W&) iii
k ■» in t Ife- U
-
Lady of the House—“I am a poor,
j Qne w j c j ow HasreVrd— g j r . an q_»>
fUgrred “I’d like to ac
coaraadalc you. Ma'am ; but 1 am al-
WHITE RHINOCEROS,
AN IMMENSE ANIMAL ALREADY
'YELL NIGH EXTINCT.
Two of Them Shot Recently in Mash
inaland—Difference Bet ween
the Black and the White
Rhinoceros.
[ d . than probable that
is more be
fore . the close of the century the
■white rhinoceros, the largest of
a.1 the mammals after the elephant,
v»i >e extinct, i hero are but very
ea pieserved specimens in existence
o give the natural history student of
. e and * u t_ure peculiar an idea of its enormous
size structure. It is now
generally recognized that there are in
Africa only two varieties of the rlii
noeeros, the black and the white. The
u d Dutch elephant hunters always
lelieved in several, advancing as their
reason the different lengths of the a u
terior horn, and judging entirely by
this standard. Both sorts are easily
to shoot, and it is small wonder when
a long train of carriers has to be fed,
or when natives are hunting for a
supply of meat to carry back to their
kraals, that a rhinoceros was always
shot in preference to buck, wary and
difficult to stalk as are the latter, and
as a rule more tenacious of life.
Furthermore, it is natural that the
white rhinoceros should be shot in
preference to the black, for it gener¬
ally carries a good deal more fat, is
very much larger than the black
species, and as a rule has more valu¬
able horns.
The main points of difference be¬
tween the two species are the shape of
the month and the manner of feeding.
The Bicornis has a prehensile upper
lip and a much smaller head altogether
than the Simus; he feeds entirely
upon leaves and twigs, and prefers a
rough, bushy, inhospitable country;
he is wary and shy, quick to anger and
exceedingly obstinate, inquisitive and
suspicious. The Simus has a dispro¬
portionately large head, with a great
jaw which is cut quite square off in
front, and tho great rubber-like lips
are suited for the grass upon which he
feeds entirely, though in the autumn j
and winter, when the grass over vast
stretches of country has been burnt
away, it is a puzzle how he manages
to get enough to sustain his great
bulk. He carries his head very low,
and has long ears slightly tipped with
curly black hair; he is not so inquisi¬
tive or suspicious as his black brother,
and is slightly more sluggish in his
movements, though u>'on occasion he
can cover the ground with unexpected
speed. Another curious fact is that
the calf of the Simus will always run
in front of the cow, while the calf of
the Bicornis invariably follows its
mother; this habit never varies. They
drink every day, or rather every night,
and, as a rule, do not go down to the
water till after midnight. When the
sun gets very warm they generally en
joy a siesta, sometimes in the bush,
and sometimes out in the glaring,
quivering heat; and though they will
occasionally lie in thick, bushy coun¬
try they do not make a point of choos¬
ing the deepest shade. YVhen fairly
asleep they do not waken easily, and
they may then be easily shot or pho •
tographed.
In the first few days of June, 1893,
I started alone from Salisbury and en
tered northeast Mashonaland. For
five days, from sunrise till dark, I
patrolled and quartered every yard of
country for a good number of miles,
and on the sixth day I saw—though
so far off that they appeared just as
dark specks—two of the huge brutes I
was searching for. The first thing to
do, of course, was to get below the
wind, as when they were first sighted
the wind blew directly from me to
them. In an hour’s time I was crawl¬
ing toward them through the fringe of
bush that lay about 150 yards below
the open position they had chosen for
their midday siesta. I thought they
might give me some trouble, so I took
my colored ooy with me—he could
shoot rather well and carried a single
twelve-bore rifle. As I crawled on my
stomach toward them with the great¬
est possible care, I saw one of them
had become suspicious, and had got on
to his feet, evidently much disturbed.
When I saw this I flattened myself as !
much as possible into the sharp grass !
stubble and black ash—this latter the
result of a devastating grass fire which
had occurred a few weeks before. It
seemed hours before this very painful
crawl brought me to the small tuft of
dry grass I was making for. After
waiting for some time I was relieved
to see the other brute stand up. I
whispered to the boy, and then knelt
right up. The larger bull was on the
left, almost facing me; the other
stood broadside on. I did not wish to
break any great bones, so I did not
fire at tiie point of the shoulder— ! 1
which would have been the usual shot
under the circumstances—but put the
bullet from the ten-bore “Paradox” j
between the first two ribs and into the
lung. As the huge brute spun round
I put the second shot behind the ribs;
it traveled forward, and also. I found
afterward, reached the lungs.
simultaneously The boy’s rifle with went first off shot, almost j
my and j
as tfie rhinoceroses went off in op
posite directions we jumped up and
followed them at our best pace. For
over a mile the old bull went like a
steam engine; he gradually, however, i
settled down, and I came up and gave ;
him two more bullets from behind;
this helped him on again, but not for ! i
more than half a mile. I soon ran up
to him and found him beginning to
stagger; for all this time he had been
throwing blood bv the gallon from his
nostrils. One more shot finished him,
and as he sank down with a kind of
sob, the buffalo birds left him, and
with shrill notes of alarm they Hew
up, and circling for a few minutes ;
over us, they disappeared in the ditec- ' !
tion tbe other rhinoceros had taken.
I was completely exhausted by the
severe run, and, taking out my pipe,
I sat down for a short rest upon the
huge gray head. The mile second bull sue- j
cumbed about half a from where I
I had first fired.
skin It is of a these curious fact animals that I under found the six j
two
native bullets, which they must have
carried about with them for years, j !
*
—Pall Mall Budget.
;
Naomi j? a Hebrew nam**- the Alisr*
ip $ Qs#s
Hysterical Blind ties.*.
At the Narragansett Electric Light¬
ing Company’s works in Providence,
R. I., says the Journal, there arc twe
men who, during the last few years,
have been temporarily blinded when
throwing a switch. Superintendent
Thomas says that this happens in
every big electric lightiug station in
the country. When a switch is thrown
the circuit is broken. When properly
done another connection is made sim
ultaneously. The intense flash lasts
until another connection is made. One
Q f the men with the Narragansett
Company was so nearly blinded that
he was at home three davs at one time,
He was not, however, as is said to have
been the case with Caulfield, unable
to see anything at all. He was able
to grope about, but could see nothing
distinctly! Both the men who have
been affected at the electric lighting
company’s works are remarkably
strong specimens of manhood, and
could not Vie called hysterical by the
wildest stretch of their imagination.
In Caulfield’s case, with the single
exception of drooping eyelids, which
might have been caused from lack of
sleep, his eyes seemed to be perfect.
The feature of drooping eyelids tallies
exactly with the local cases cited. In
fact, there seemed to be one very goo l
reason why they couldn't see. In
of this it seems quite possible that tlT '•*
difficulty, in their cases at least, might
be called physical rather than liyp
notic, which is a term applied to the
Brooklyn case bv Dr. Raul).
A further argument which would be
advanced by those inclined to believe
the theory of hysterical blindness a
fanciful one is that the flash, when a
switch is thrown, is far more intense
than auy that could come from the
trolley. The switch board at the Nar¬
ragansett company’s station is now so
arranged that in case of a flash there
is a marble slab an inch and a half
thick between the man’s eyes and the
exact location of the most intense
light. Yet Superintendent Thom is
states that uot later than two weeks
ago he had to turn his back to the
slab, so powerfully dazzling was the
light. If left long enough tne mar¬
ble slab would burn like paper.
Storms on the Sun.
Those who were unfortunate enough
to witness the devastation which
marked the paths of the cyclones that
visited Marshfield, Mo., and Mount
Vernon, Ill., may have some little con¬
ception of the enormous power there
is in wind; but, awful as those visita¬
tions were, they were but pigmies in
force wheu compared with the storms
that occasionally sweep the face of
the sun.
The velocity with which these solai
storms move is very great, and they
sometimes extend over a space several
times as large as the whole of the
earth’s surface. In common parlance
they are called “sun spots,” but as
they are known to have a rotary mo¬
tion exactly similar to terrestrial
cyclones they may be regarded as true
solar storms. It lias been computed
by emineut astronomers that these sun
storms move with the astonishing ve¬
locity of 120 miles per second, and wo
can best form au adequate conception
of what the force of such a storm must
be by compariug it to an eartfi storm
moving at 100 miles au hour, which
is, indeed, a terrible hurricane. Dar¬
lington and Hodgson, the English as¬
tronomers, describe a sun storm which
traveled 35,000 miles in five minutes;
and, in 1871, Professor Y'ouug, of
Cincinnati, witnessed one that trav¬
eled 166 miles i>er second for forty
five minutes, and constantly threw
sheets of flame and fiery matter to a
height of not less than 200,000 mile/
above the sun’s disturbed surface !
A Peculiar Rock Formation.
The constant allusion to “soaks,’
“rockholes,” etc., contained in the re¬
ports from the Western Australian
gold fields must be a kind of puzzle
to people not acquainted with the pe¬
culiar physical characteristics of that
colony.
As the Department of Public Works
has resolved to deal with these rock
mounds in a novel an i strong fashion,
it is necessary, perhaps, to explain
what these formations are, thinks the
Sydney Herald. From out of a level
sea of barren scrub towers a do ie of
bare * brown granite. In height it
ma Y be 100 feet, and at the base cover
au area of 100 acres, The shapes of
these isolated mounds of rock are ec
centric, •Some are peaked, home
round-backed, but all are naked, and
from their sides the rare rainfall des
cends as it would course down the
familiar galvanized iron roof,
Naturally the denudation of these
rocks has caused a deposit of soil
about their feet. This is, as a rule,
more open than the surrounding
scrub, fairly grassed, and having in
its deeper portions a spongy sur ace
spring. This is “the soak.” Some
times at the base of the rock there is
often a kind of cistern-like hole in the
rock itself, either one or more; this
i s “the rock hole. ’ Naturally a good
Ac®! of the w’ater whn.li runs off the
face of the rock is lost in the earth at
its base.
flie Canary Islands Are Waterless.
The Canary Islands not only _
possess
most wonderful climate, but an
extremely fertile soil. The only diffi
Y ia agriculture is the want of
wa ter. It has lately been found that
are S reat quantities of water in
of the mountains of Teneriffe.
English company has undertaken
6 et h oufc - Th cy And that bdtiug
a depth of a hundred feet is
to procure a large supply of
ter. If they succeed in getting an
unlimited supply in this way, the isl¬
which have declined in pros
in resent years, will probably
P greater productivity thai
American.
Beans to Separate Bones.
Anatomists, when they wish to
the bones of a skull, some
resort to a very peculiar proce
They fill the skull with small
beans and place it in a vessel of water.
beans swell and reml the skull
at the sutures. The well known
physiologist, Grehaut, meas
the f rce which the beaus are
of exerting under these con
and found that it indicated
atmospheres, equal to the average
iu the boiler of a vteoui
lae.~ Albany