Newspaper Page Text
€ije JlifSnffie Smxmnl,
18. PUBLISHED WEEKLY
—A T—
THOMSON. 0A..,
—B Y—
GERALD &, WHITE.
BUSINESS CARDS.
DR. WM. McLEAN
ANNOUNCES TO THE CITIZENS OF
THOMSON AND VICINITY
that he has resumed the practice of his
profession.
WHEN NOT PROFESSIONALLY
engaged he may be found at
{&MS&TQN
NEAR THOMSON, GA.
July 16, ts
Mm Em SGMNIBE'Bs
IMPORTER AND DEALER IN
WINES, ALES,
LIQUORS, # PORTERS,
Cigars, Etc.
Corner Itroad nnd Juck-
Kon Street,
AUGUSTA , GA.
May 7 ts
PAUL C. HUDSON.
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
Thomson, On.
iSiT Prompt attention given to all busi
ness entrusted to his care.
March 12. Cm
PALMER HOUSE.
(Over Bignon A Crump’s Auction Store,)
SBt Broad Street, Augusta, Georgia.
J. J. PALMER, Proprietor.
Good board furnished by the week, month
or day.
April 9 3m
R.WH.NEAL,
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
THOMSON, GA.
Office.—Over J. 11. Montgomery’s Store.
CHARLES S. DuBOSE,
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
WAR RENTON, GA.
S3T Will practice in the courts of the
Northern, Middle and Augusta Circuits.
H, C, RONEY,
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
THOMSON, GA.
iHF* Will practice in the Augusta, North
ern and Middle Circuits. nolyl
WALTON CLARKE & CO.
Wholesale Grocers
—AND —
Commission Merchants,
No. 303, Broad Stroot,
Jan. 22, ly. AUGUSTA, GA.
A . D, HILL,
Druggist and Apothecary,
THOMSON, GA .
Keeps constantly on hand a full and com
flete supply of Drugs, Medicines, Chemicals,
aints. Oils, Varnishes, Glass, Putty, Pure
Wines and Liquors for Medicinal purposes.
Kerosene Oil of 130 fire test; also Lamps,
Chimnies and Burnes.
ALSO, Just received a fresh supply of
Buists Warranted Garden Seeds.
Prescriptions carefully compounded.
jan 13 mO
Thomson High School
ran bops ./.v/> ernes.
—o—
N. A. LEWIS, Pbincipal.
MISS E. F. BRADSHAW, Assistant.
The Spring Term began on the 13th of
Jan. 1873, and embraces six scholastic
months.
The Fall Term begins August 11th and
embraces four months.
For particulars apply to the Principal. ]
Feb. 12 ts.
Central |jotei
ZB’Sr
MRS. W. M. THOMAS,
AUGUSTA. GEORGIA
seplltf
The Oldest Piano Establishment in Georgia
Established in Charleston in 1838.
Established in Augusta in 1848.
George A. Oats,
DEALER IN
PIANO FORTES,CABINET ORGANS
BOOKS,
Music and Stationery ,
240 Broad Street, Angusts, Georgia.
Sole agent for
STEINWAY A SON, NEW YORK,
AND TOB
CHARLES M.STEIFF, OF BALTIMORE
(Celebrated. Pianos,
Also a variety of other makes.
j\_LSO sole Agent for
L. A.! PRINCE A CO’S., o® ESTEY’S
CELEBRATED CABINET ORGANS,
All of which are warranted for five years.
•S' All Pianos sold, delivered at the
nearest railroad depot, and the putting-np
superintended if necessary.
4ST Descriptive Catalogues sent on ap
plication: and references given,
•3T For sale for Cash or City Acceptance.
May 7,3 m,
1 Q SAMPLES sent by mail for 50c. tha
±/C retail quick for $lO. R. L. WOL.
COTT, 181 Chathaaa-sqnare, N. Y.
(The tggeelilg Journal,
VOLUME 111-NUMBER 32.
For over FORTY YEARS this
JPurel.v Vegetable
LIVER MEDICINE has proved to be the
Great Unfailing Specific
for Liver Complaint and its painful off
spring, DYSPEPSIA, CONSTIPATION,
Jaundice, Bilious attacks, SICK HEAD
ACHE, Colic, Depression of Spirits, SOUR
STOMACH, Heartburn, CHILLS AND
FEVER, Ac., Ac.
After years of careful experiments, to meet
a great and urgent demand, we now produce
from our original Genuine Powders.
The Prepared.
A Liquid form of SIMMONS' LIVER REGU
LATOR, containing all its wonderful and
valuable properties, and offer it in
ne Dollar Bottles.
The Powders, (price as before,) slooper
package. Sent by mail, 1.04
C-T CAUTION!
Buy no Powders or PREPARED SIM
MONS’LIVER REGULATOR, unless iu
our engraved wrapper, with Trade mark,
Stamp and Signature unbroken. None
other is genuine.
J. H. ZEILIN & CO-,
MACON, GA. AND PHILADELPHIA.
SOLD BY ALL DRUGGISTS.
BRUMMEL’S
LADIES’ BITTERS,
NT:i nuihi’tun'd t>y
282 BROAD ST„ AUGUSTA, GA.
Rectifiers, Redistillers, Importers and
Wholesale Dealers in
PURE RYE
AND
Corn Whiskies.
FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC LIQUORS,
Brandies,
Wines,
Gin,
Rum,
Porter,
Ale,
Etc.
Also a Superior Article of
LADIES’ BITTERS.
Tobacco and Segars of every variety.
January 2!), 1873—3 m.
The Guide is published Quarterly.—
25 cents pays for the year, which is not half
the cost. Those who afterwards send mon
ey to the amount of one dollar may also or
der 25 cents worth extra—the price for the
Guide. The first number is beautiful, giv
ing plans for making Rural Homes, Dining
Table Decorations, Window Gardens, <fcc.,
and a mass of information invaluable to the
lover of flowers. 150 pages on fine tinted pa
per some 500 engravings, and a superb col
ored plate, and i’hroino Cover.
first edition of 200,000j)rinted in Eng
lish and Germm.
JAMES VICK, Rochester, N. Y.
March 12
THE PORTABLE FOUNTAIN PUMP
AND SPRINKLER.
Cheap, Simple and cannot get out of or
der. The most useful apparatus for
watering'
.Shrubbery, Flowers and Plants.
For washing Windows, Carriages &c.
For Sprinkling Sidewalks and Floors
And for Extinguishing Fires
It will easily throw a stream of water
forty or fifty feet or more and with a
Sprinkler attached will spread the water
in a gentle shower or spray. A lady or
child can use it easily and effectively.
Price with Sprinkler and Hose com
plete 810.00.
Cash on delivery. For sale by,
JAS. 13. NEAL& SON-
April 16 ts
DRHOLLAND,
DENTIST,
Can be found at his Operating Room in
Thomson, Ga., on the first Monday in each
month, where he will remain two weeks, or
more except in “cases of sickness." augTtf,
THOMSON, McDUFFIE COUNTY, GA., AUGUST 13, 1873.
POETICAL.
The Poet and the Proof Reader.
Ah! here it is! I’m famous now—
An author and a poet!
It really is in print, ye gods!
How proud I’ll be to show it ?
And gentle Anna! What a thrill
Will animate her breast,
To read those ardent lines and know
To whom they are addressed.
Why, bless my soul, here’s something
strange;
What can the paper mean
By talking of the graceful brooks
That gander o’er the green ?
And here’s a “t” instead of an“r,”
Which makes it tipliug rill ;
We’ll seek the shad, instead of shade,
And hell, instead of hill.
They look so—what ? I recollect,
’T was sweet, and then’t was kind,
And now to think, the stupid fool
For bland has printed blind!
Was ever such provoking work !
’T is curious, by the by,
How anything is rendered blind
By giving it an eye.
Hast thou no tears! that “t,” is left out,
Hast thou no ears instead,
I hope that thou art dear, is put
I hope that thou art dead.
Whoever saw in such a space
So many blunders crammed ?
Those gentle eyes bedimmed, is spelt
Those gentle eyes bedammed.
The color of the rose is nose;
Affection is affliction;
I wonder if the likeness holds
In fact as well as diction ?
Thou art a friend, the “r” is gone—
Whoever would have deemed
That such a triffling thing could change
A friend into a fiend ?
Thou art the same is rendered lame—
It really is too bad!
And here, because the “ i ” is out,
My lovely maid is mad ;
They drove her blind by poking in
An eye—a process new ;
And now they’ve gouged it out again,
And made her too.
Let’s stop and recapitulate:
I’ve dammed her eyes that’s plain,
I’ve told her she’s a lunatic,
And blind, and deaf, and lame.
Was ever such a horrid hash
In poetry or prose ?
I’ve said she was a fiend, and praised
The color of lier nose.
I wish I had that editor
About a half a minute ;
I’d bang him to my heart’s content,
And with an “h” begin it;
I’(l jam his body, eyes and nose,
And spell it with a “d”—
And send him to that hill of his—
And spell it with an “e.”
SELECT MISCELLANY,
A LEGEND OF THE RHINE.
The beautiful river Rhine, in some of
its windings, is not unlike that portion
of our Hudson which flows through the
Highlands. Rut it differs vastly from
the latter, in that the grand old hills
and immense rocks lying on either side
are covered with ruins of what were
once massive towers, castles and strong
holds. These frowning battlements,
perched upon jagged rocks and steep
mountain passes, were the homes of the
warlike knights and barons of olden
time, whose lives seem spent in warring
against each other. To all these ancient
mins throughout Germany, as well as on
the Rhine, are attached some story or
romance woven from history and tradi
tion. A charming Gorman author has
gathered into a little volume many of
these legends. One of the legends is
connected with Richard 1., king of Eng
land, called Richard “Coeur-de-Lion,”
because of his indomitable courage and
bravery.
Richard was bom in Oxford, and in
1180 succeeded his father, Henry IL It
is Baid that his haughty spirit and un
bending will hastened the death of the
old king. Partly for remorse for past
misconduct, partly from martial taste,
which early in life distinguished him,
soon after his accession to the throne he
leagued with Phillip of France for a
second crusade in Palestine against the
famous Saladin, emperor of Egypt and
Syria. Saladin had wrested Jerusalem
from the hands of the Christian knight,
Reginald de Chattillion, and slain many
of his followers. News of this disaster
reaching England, Richard determined
to regain possession of the holy city.
The key to Syria was the fortress
St. Jean D’Acre, which endured a
seige of two years before yielding to
the combined forces of England and
France. However, before the lion
hearted monarch had time to take per
sonal possession of Jerusalem, news
reached him of war at home. He con
cluded a truce with Saladin, and quickly
embarked to quell the revolt in his own
kingdom. On the coast of Italy he was
shipwrecked. Nothing daunted by this
new misfortune, he disguised himself as
a pilgrim, hoping to pass through Ger
many unseen. By some means, how
ever, he became known to Leopold,
duke of Austria, who, to gratify a per
sonal prejudice, caused him to be ar
rested and secretly imprisoned. The
fame of this great monarch has been
spread iar and near by pilgrims to the
Holy Land ; by the songs of troubadours,
and the plaudits of those who had fought
under him. His own knights worshiped
him, and a number of them banded to
gether, determined, if he was still living,
to find his hiding-place and deliver him.
On a lovely summer morning, a troop
of horsemen were passing through the
country, in which lay a portion of the
Hartz mountains. Three noble-looking
men rode forward, evidently the leaders
of the troop which followed. The mid
dle horseman was dressed as a minstrel
and on his face was an expression of
deep pain and anxiety. Suddenly he
stopped his horse, to catch the notes of
a shepherd singing in the far-off field.
No sooner was the song finished than
he dashed toward the astonished singer.
“My boy, sing that again? See, I
have gold for you 1”
“’Tis a song I love!” said the boy,
as he took the gold and re-commenced
his music.
“Now, tell me, lad,” said the minstrel,
“who taught you that song ?"
“I dare not tell 1” replied the hoy, as
he glanced with suspicion at the knight.
“Ay 1 But you must tell met No
harm shall come to you 1 See, here is
more gold for you.”
“I have heard it sung in the castle of
Triefels, near which I often feed my
sheep.”
“Oh, God I” exclaimed the minstrel,
bursting into tears, as he knelt on the
ground, “How wondrous are thy ways!”
His companion approached him with
amazement, to hear him exclaim : “We
have found him! On to Triefels 1"
After the excitement of their supposed
discovery had somewhat abated, they
decided, first, to get a view of the fortress,
and then mature their plans for getting
witliin it. The shepherd boy, who was
to guide them thither told them no
strangers were allowed to cross the draw
bridge ; and the keeper was imperious
and unsociable. Soon the towerß of
Triefels glittered in the sun, and after a
careful Burvey of its surroundings, they
moved away for further deliberation.
“My friends,” said the knight, “in
my minstrel’s dress, I must try alone to
gain admission to the castle. Meantime
this l>oy will find you lodgings in the
hamlet below. If our noble king is
imprisoned here, we must release him.”
Thus sayng, and with one servant to
bear his shield and harp, he rode to the
bridge and demanded food and shelter
for himself and servant. After much
parley, he was received ; but veiy un
graciously. However, within these drea
ry walls he found a beautiful woman,
the keeper’s neice, whose smile was like
the warm sunlight of a winter’s day.
After dinner, the minstrels sung to
the drowsy uncle and the charming
niece. As the former after a while,
seemed to sleep soundly, the knight
began:—
“You seem to love music, fair lady I
But surely you do not often hear it in
this lonely castle.”
“No ! only myself and one poor pris
oner sing.”
“A prisoner ?”
“Yes ! and he must be of a gentle
birth ! But I dare not say more lest my
uncle wake. He will be angry if I talk
of him.”
‘ ‘Tell me one thing dear madame can
I hear the song of this one, who sings
for freedom?”
“Yes, if you listen to-night! his mel
ancholy brings the tears to my eyes
often enough 1”
Just now, the old keeper awoke, and,
giving orders to lead the stranger to his
apartmeut, he himself went out. When
our knight entered his chamber, he
went to the window, and vainly strove
through the deepening twilight, to find
the tower in which ho supposed his dear
king to be. Soon, a melancholy voice
was heard singing , these words :
“The golden stars wander over hill
and valley, messengers of my longings
and my griefs. In this gloomy prison,
I pass my life and can only confide my
woes to Heaven.”
“Oh! my king?” sobbed the knight,
as a pale face appeared at a tower win
dow. “How can I tell you how near
your friends are ?"
“The harp 1” he cried suddenly, and
snatching it up, with trembling fingers,
he played a romance, which he had once
composed for the king.
No sooner had he finished a few bars,
than the voice in the towers caught up
the air and finishined it. “Blondel?”
exclaimed the king. For answer the
minstrel again seized his harp and
sang :
“Oh ! Richard, oh ! my king?
The world abandons thee
And no one now is seeking
Thy deliverance, but me.
I’ll save thy precious person,
I will break thy cruel chain,
I pledge myself in song
Thy freedom to regain. ”
Blondel spent the night in laying
planß for the deliverance of Richard.
He resolved to gain admittance into the
castle for his followers, through his
friendship for the lovely girl, who had
already made an impression on his
heart.
Within a day or two the newly elected
emperor was to be crowned at Frank
fort. On the evening of the coronation,
he directed the landlord of the little inn,
near Triefels, to give the garrison of the
castle a banquet, that with proper cere
mony they might drink to the health of
the new monarch. Meanwhile, one by
one, his own trusty knights stole,
through the twilight, to the woods be
hind the castle.
At a late hour of the evening, the lit
tle side-gate of the fortress opened, as
the young maiden cautiously stole out to
meet Blondel.
TERMS-TWO DOLLARS IN ADVANCE.
Then for the first time he unfolded to
her the real object of his meeting with
her, entreating her to fly back to Eng
land with the king (whom he was about
to liberate) and himself ; assuring her
that every token of love and gratitude
should be shown her if she would yield
to his wish.
With a cry of astonishment and pain
she exclaimed, “Oh 1 traitor ? oh woe !
my poor uncle!” As Bhe turned to
fly within the castle walls, the followers
of Blondel, who in the darkness, had
approached unperceived, flocked about
her, and made their way to castellan’s
room, where the tower keys were kept.
The few defenders of the fortress who
were not at the villiage feast were soon
overpowered ; the old keeper was power
less to do aught, but he cried out as the
liberated Richard stood before him :
“Against this deed, contrary to the law
of nations, I protest; and swear that
you shall not leave Germany in safety !”
The poor maiden threw herself upon
her knees and accused herself of this
terrible disaster.
Meanwhile, the report of the attack
upon the castle had reached the inn and
the warriors came back in hot haste, to
find themselves barred outside the walls,
with a threat that if they did not dis
perse the castellan should lose his head
and the castle be destroyed.
Blondel and the king argued the
maiden to return with them to England,
but she could not forgive the man who
hnd used her heart for an act of treason.
Blondel left her, but not till she had
accepted a ring and chain of gold in token
of his eternal remembrance of her love
and service toward him.
We do not propose to follow the for
tunes of Coeur-de-Lion, after his escape
from Triefels ; but to tell our reader
what tradition says of the minstrel
Blondel and the unhappy maiden.
Many, many years after the events
which we may have described, and on
another summer day, a gray-haired cav
alier rode over the same mountain-pass,
where the king had been sought and
found.
“Here,” murmured he, "Here have I
felt in days gone by the highest bliss
and the deepest woe of my life 1” Slow
ly he rode on till he had reached the
little inn.
Ab he looked into the face of the land
lord he discovered the features of the
shepherd boy. With an almost tender
interest the two (one of whom was Blon
del) talked of the past.
In tears, the now old minstrel learnt
the sad fate of the castellan and his
neice. He was killed by some hidden
hand soon after the flight of Richard
was discovered. The broken-hearted
maiden entered a convent near Baden,
where henceforth her life and history
were lost to the world.
None can visit this ancient ruin of
Triefels without a melancholy interest
as they recall the dreary prison-life of
the great King Richard ; the touching
romance of the minstrel knight, Blondel,
and the lovely, loving maiden over
whose story centuries have rolled.
Our Visitor.
He came in with an interogation point
in one eye, and a stick in one hand.
One eye was covered with a handkerchief
and one arm in a sling. His bearing was
that of a man with a settled purpose in
view.
“I want to see,” said he, “the man
that puts things in the paper 1 ”
We intimated that several of us earned
a frugal livelihood in that way.
“Well, I want to see the man what
cribs things out of the other papers. The
fellow who writes mostly with shears, you
understand.”
Wo explained to him that there were
seasons when the most gifted among us,
driven to frenzy by the scarcity of ideas
and events, and by the clamorous demands
of an insatiable public, in moments of
emotional insanity, plunged the glittering
shears into our exchanges. He went on
calmly, but with a voice tremulous with
suppressed feeling, and distinct through
the recent loss of a half a dozen or so of
his front teeth.
“Just so. I presume so. I don’t
know much about this business, but I
want to see a man—the man that printed
that little piece about pouring cold water
down a drunken man’s spine of his back,
and making him instantly sober. If you
please, I want to see that man. I would
like to talk to him.”
Then he leaned his stick against the
desk and spat on his serviceable hand, and
resumed his hold on the stick as though
he was weighing it. After studying the
stick a minute, he added in a somewhat
louder tone:
“Mister, I came here to see that ’ere
man. I want to see him bad.”
We told him that particular man was
not in.
“Just so. I presume so. They told me
before I came that the man I wanted to
see wouldn’t be anywhere. I’ll wait for
him. I live up north, and I’ve walked
seven miles to convease with that man.
I guess I’ll sit down and wait.
He sat down by the door and reflective
ly pounded the floor with his stick, but
his feelings would not allow him to keep
still.
“I suppose none of you did’nt ever
pour much cold water down any drunken
man’s back to make him instantly sober,
perhaps.”
None of us in the office had tried the
experiment.
“Just so. I thought just as like as
not jou had not. Well, mister, I hare.
I tried it yesterday, and I have come
seven miles on foot to see the man that
printed it, just a few minutes.
You see, John Smith, he lives next door
to my house, when I’m to home, and he
gets how-come-you-so every little period.
Now, when he’s sober, he’s all right if
you keep out of his way ; but when he’s
drunk, he goes home and breaks dishes,
and tips over the stove, and throws the
hardware around, and makes it inconve
nient for his wife, and sometimes he
gets his gun and goes oat calling on his
neighbors, and it ain’t pleasant.
“Not that I want to say anything about
Smith ; but me and my wife don’t think
he ought to do so. He came home
drunk, yesterday, and broke all the kitch
en windows out of his house, and follow
ed his wife around with the carving
knife, talking about her liver, and after
a while he lay down by my fence and
went to sleep. I had been reading that
little piece ; it wan’t much of a piece, and
I thought if I could pour some water
down his spine, on his back, and make
him sober, it would be more comfortable
for his wife, and a square thing to do all
around. So I poured a bucket of spring
water down John Smith's spine of his
back.”
“Well,” said we, as our visitor paus
ed, “did it make him sober?” Our visit
or took a firmer hold of his stick, and re
plied with increased emotion:
“Just so. I suppose it did make him
as sober as a judge in less time than you
could say Jack Robinson ; but, mister, it
made him mad. It made him the mad
dest man I ever saw, and, Mister, John
Smith is a bigger man than me, and
stouter. He is a good deal stouter.
Bla—bless him, I never knew lie was half
so stout till yesterday and lie’s handy
w ith his fists, too. I should suppose
he’s the handiest man with hia fists I ever
saw.”
“Then he went for you, did he?” we
asked innocently.
“Just so. Exactly. I suppose he
went for me the best he knew ; but I
don’t hold no grudge against John Smith.
I suppose he ain't a good man to hold a
grudge against ; only I want to see that
man what printed that piece. I want to
see him bod. I feel as though it would
soothe me to see that man. I want to
show him how a druken man acts when
you pour water down the spine of his
back. That’s what I came for.”
Our visitor, who had poured water
down the spine of a drunken man’s back,
remained until about 6 o’clock in the eve
ning, and then went up street to find the
man that printed that little piece. The
man he is looking for started for Alaska
last evening for a summer vacation, and
will not bo back before September, 1878.
A Chapter of Wonders.
Little children have been delighted
with fairy stories ever since fairies were
thought of, but I can tell you something
far more wonderful than your fairy
stories, nnd true besides, which makes
it more interesting.
H you think small people two or three
inches high are amusing, what would
you think of a little creature so small as
barely to be seen by the naked eye ; so
small, indeed, that he and a thousand
others have plenty of room to live, grow
and travel around in a tiny puddle of
water ? And what sort of a house would
you think such an atom of a thing could
build ? What if I should tell yflu that
he can build a brick house, that he se
lects from the water in which he lives
the necessary material, shapes them in a
mould which he has in his body, and
piles up a regular house for himself ?
You can hardly believe it but it is per
fectly true.
What do you think of creatures so tiny
that a whole family can live in the cavi
ties in a grain of sand ? To your eye, a
grain of sand looks perfectly round ;
but these dots of creatures find comfor
table caves to live in. How do you sup
pose they like it to be mixed up with
water and other things, and walled up
in a stone wall ? It’s as bad to them as
being shut up in enchanted palaces, and
worse, for no disenchanting words will
let them out.
The world of wonders opened to us by
the microscope is stranger than all the
tales of giants, genii, and enchantment
you ever heard. Think—if you can—of
atoms so small that whole colonies can
live in a drop of water, swim around
freely as whales in the ocean : and that
it would take many millions of them to
be as large as the head of a pin. Imag
ine these specks of life swimming around
in the water, chasing other creatines
smaller than themselves for food. They
are almost too small to think of. You
would never think of looking for beauty
in these little creatures, but they are
exquisitely formed and colored. Many,
not so large as the head of a pin, are as
perfect and beautiful as a flower, and
just as nioely adapted to their life in
every particular as a human being is to
his.
Many creatures in the sea look so
much like flowers that in olden times
they were supposed to be flowers ; but
studied by the help of the mioroscope,
Advertising Rates.
One square, first insertion 9 1 00
Each subsequent insertion 75
One square three months 10 00
One sqare six months 15 00
One square twelve months 20 00
One quarter column twelve months. 40 00
Half column six months 60 00
Half column twelve months 75 00
One column twelve months 125 00
Ten lines or less considered a square
All fractions of squares counted as squares
they are seen to be animals, though as
beautiful in color and shape as the love,
liest flowers that grow. One kind is
called the sea-lily, and there are ane
mones, daisies, and other flower names.
But each one is a hungry little animal,
waving around in the water, not to look
pretty, but to catch somthing to eat,
to stuff into the eager mouths they al
ways have.
How do you suppose the sponge you
have to use with your slate at school,
spent his time when he was alive, before
he was tom from his home for your use ?
Do you see those little hills on him, each
one of which has a hole in it ? Well, he
spent his time in drawing in the water
through the tiny holes all over him, and
after he had snatched all that was good
to eat, spirting it out again through
these volcanoes. Why, he made a regu
lar fountain down there at the bottom of
the sea. I wouldn’t be surprised if your
father wears some pieces of the sponge
for shirt studs and sleeve-buttons.
You ask him if he wears the fashionble
“moss agates,” and if he does, you just
tell him it is nothing but flint with pieces
of sponge turned to stone in it.
If you’ve ever been in the mountains
—and I hope you have—you remember
seeing piles and piles of immense rocks.
Many of these rocks are made entirely of
the shells of some of these sea-atoms,
each one no larger round than one of
your hairs, but as beautiful as the large
sea-shells you have seen so carefully pre
served.
These curiosities of the sea take the
most wonderful shapes you ever thought
of. Some families look like a basket of
flowers, as large as a peach-basket.—
Every stem of the basket is a house, in
the shape of a long tube, and the flowers
are only lovely little animals’ heads stuck
out of their houses. Nothing can be
more beautiful than this little star, wav
ing around in the water. Then there is
the sea-moss. To the eye it seems as a
mere film of moss on some old stone;
but under the microscope, it turns out
to be a perfect forest of little trees of
various colors, and the trees are made of
live creatures, throwing their arms
around for food.
Do you wonder what these mites were
made for ? You may be sure that each
one has his use, however humble. The
wise men have decided .that these crea
tures ore scavengers. They eat decay
ing animals and vegetable matter that
would be very hurtful if not disposed of.
These scavengers are food for larger
atoms, and those, in turn, are food for
men. Nothing is lost.
But don’t think the wonders are all in
the sea. The insect world has marvels as
well as the sea. Take the eggs of moths
and butterflies—tiny things not so big aa
thejhead of a pin. Why, bird eggs cannot
compare with them for beauty I In
color especially they are exquisitely
changeable. One egg is covered with
hexagonal figures—hexagonal, you know,
is six-sided—and at each comer is a tiny,
raised button. It is a beautiful blue,
and white, changeable. Another egg
like a ripe orange, another like a beauti
ful round shell; some oval, with perfect
ly regular figures all over ; others trans
parent like glass, so the little curled-up
worm can be seen inside. Some have
beautifully made covers, so that the tiny
creature has only to open his door to get
out.
But if the eggs are interesting, the
butterflies, moths, and insects are quite
as much so. There’s one moth with a
regular finger at the end of his antenna
or feeler. Then the tongue of a butter
fly is most exquisitively made to dip into
flowers, being a perfect tube, through
which he can suck sweets as easily as
you can suck lemonade through a straw.
Butterflies’ wings are covered with
feathers, lapping over each other like
shingles on a roof. Naturalists can,
take off these feathers one by one and
examine them in their microscopes.
Then there’s a tiny fly which infests
gooseberry bushes, called the saw fly.—
Why, that atom of a creature has as per
fect a saw as was ever cut out of steel—
yes, a pair of them, and a convenient
sheath for them in his body, where he
puts them when he don’t want to use
them.
Perhaps you know that the honey-bee
has a nice pocket in his hind legs, where
he puts the bee-bread he wants to cany
home.
Possibly you have heard that each of
your hairs is a hollow tube, with a root
like an onion, and that no two animals'
hairs are alike ; some have scales like a
fish, and others have different marks.
ft «*■—»
Thrity-five Kickapoo women and chil
dren, kidnapped by McKenzie from Mex
ico, are imprisoned in Fort Gibson.
Citizens who have seen them represent
that they are almost without olothing, ill
fed, and housed like cattle. This should
not be. The women and children should
not have been carried off, but being pris
oners, they ought to be treated like hu
man beings.
Mr. L. H. Keith, of Massachusetts,
has come to Louisville with ticket 20,893
in his pocket, and got his SIOO,OOO. So
that’s settled. The “Oourier-JoumaF’
very properly devotes a column and a
half to it.