Newspaper Page Text
THE CONGRESSIONAL BANK.
A LlUle laalltallon by I taelt that is Ran ler
the Benefit «f Member*.
The bank in the Capitol where the
members of Congress receive their sala
ries is an interesting place and I spent an
hour in it watching the members come in
with checks and go away with handfuls
of fresh, new greenbacks. Members of
Congress are always paid in new money,
which is brought there fresh from the
printing presses, and none of which has
ever been used. The Sergeant-at-Arms
is the president of this bank and he has
entire charge of all money payments to
Congressmen. On the left of the bank
ing room opposite the counter are desk
shelves fastened up against the wall, on
which are racks holding checks in blank
directing the Sergeant-at-Arms, United
Slates House of Representatives, to pay
to bearer dollars and charge to the
account of Congressman. Back of
the counter is the bank safe, which usu
ally holds from $50,000 to $75,000 in
greenbacks and which pays out from
SIO,OOO .0 SII,OOO every day. During
the year it contains about $3,000,000,
and many of the members use it as a
place of deposit Washburne, of Min
nesota, used to have at times as much as
$50,000 in that safe. Now that so many
of the Washington banks are failing
Congressmen prefer to leave their money
there and check on the Sergeant-at-
Arms.
This bank of the Capitol does a regu
lar' banking business as far as the mem
bers are concerned. It deals with no oth.
ers. A Congressman can check on it
and it will cash his drafts and receive his
deposits. His salary is due him in
monthly payments and he cannot over
draw. Every mouth $110.60 is put to
his credit here, and this is pretty rapid
ly checked out. Some members check
their money out as fast as it conies in.
Others take it in five dollar bills, and a
bill at a time. Some draw but a little,
and instances have been known of Con
gic.siuen taking nothing until the close
of the year. None so far have refused
to take their salaries. If a Congressman
dies his salary stops at his death, but it
is now the custom of Congress to vote
his widow a year’s extra pay. As to
mileage, each Congressman gets forty
cents a mile each session for the dis
liv-.-u from his home to the Capitol, and
this pay ran,.- =, all the way from $3.80
to $1,6 ’O, according to the distance. Mr.
Omy, the territorial delegate from Ari
z.i.ri, gets $1,600 a year mileage m addi
tion to hi salary. When it is remem
bered that this is enough to pay one pas
sage niuiiud the world, and that yon can
go from New York to San Francisco for
less than one-eighth of it, it seems a
good deal. Couorc. -mcn arc also allowed
$125 a year tor stationery. The Ser
(■■■.iiit- - -’ii >’ B-..k also attends to
tie-. W-t of the members do not use
all of tins and they are entitled to draw
out th-- balance. '.’ his bank must keep
ti.' ir accounts of this as of other things.
It s ;-o carefully and has a complete
r t< • I - r- which must be balanced
i >■ inornu-j —journal, ledger and casli
b . If ai: ul s wrong the whole must
1- gone over with, and good business
1> . are u- --de I for the work. The mon
i . i-.-.l is brought up daily from the
.■ nry in a bag, ten thousand dollars
at i A p-diceman accompanies this
> i-r, and the l-.-.'ik is so carefully
a- far as the present
i m jlier, they h ive never heard
i t b ’y -i.-- I■■ .ig :itt mpted.
Seals in an Iceberg.
Capt Lanrsen of the Norwegian bark
F-iga, t< !!.-> the f lowing astonishing
store ot his recent trip to this port;
‘• \V«- ' ere within 3 >0 miles of the east
ern eo. -ft of Newfoundland when we
sdr. Imi ie<J rg. The iceberg was as
cu-'ir n- cry ,tal, with the exception of a
! ’ ■ m is in its centre, a fathom
oi ooaiiove the water’s edge. From a
cblr hi the side of the berg a slender
r uu.n of vaj>or ascended. I at once
diicoted my binocular glasses upon the
cry 1 r ■ rind discovered that the
b’K'k bi-jtch in the centre was moving.
Soon it could no plainly seen with the
naked eye, and my men became greatly
exched. In half an nour we were near
e: v'.igh to pet at the truth, and, you may
scarcely credit it, that iceberg was just
swarming with seals. There must have
been $20,000 worth of sealskins in that
berg. The vapor that came from the
top of the iceberg was caused by their
br-athiug. Without exaggeration I
think there were between two and three
hundred seals there. The berg was
evidently hollow, and the water we could
see the seals plunge into now and then
was the ocean. The wall of ice that
separated us from the seals appeared to
be only a few feet thicK, and I think it has
only been there a short time. After sail
ing around the K-rg without finding an
opening we hove the bark to and lay off
that iceberg as long as we dared, hoping
it would split or crack in some manner
to give us a chance to get at the seals,
bv « a had to sail away.”— Philadelphia
’LI IMS.
Skies Aglow at Midnight
"he Bismarck Tribune says: Perhaps
as strange an aerial phenomenon as has
ever been experience-1 or observed in
the Northwest was uMt in the Missouri
slope Tuesday night. At about mid
night the entire heavens were briliautly
illuminated with a bright, warm light.
The experience of the pedestrian was
similar to that of a sudden lighting of a
lamp in a darkened room. It reminded
one of standing beneath an electric light
tower in the evening just as the lights
first throw out their brilliant rays. One
so -t -ry sword-like ray reached out from
Aurora’s northern lighthouse, and, as if
touching some magnet set firmly in the
zenith or connecting with another elec
tric current in the very center of the
starry dome, a perfect ocean of flicker
ing light was produced, with a small
circle of dazzling brilliancy in the center.
The phenomenon lasted about twenty
minutes, during which time a newspaper
could be read with perfect ease out of
or at a window in an uniighted
©fljette.
VOL. Nil. SUMMERVILLE, GEORGIA. WEDNESDAY EVENING. FEBRUARY 25, 1885. NO. «.
THE FORTUNATE ISLES.
BI TOAQUIS MILLER.
Toil rail and yon ae*k for the Fortunate Isles;
The Old Greek Isles of the yellow bird’s
song ?
Then steer straight on through the watery
miles,
Straight »n, straight on, and you can’t gc
wrong.
Nay, not to the left; nay, not to the right,
But on, straight on, and the Isles are in sight,
The Fortunato Isles where the yellow birds
ring
And life lies girt with a golden ring.
These Fortunate Isles they are not so far,
They lie within reach of the lowliest door;
You can see them gleam by the twilight stat,
You can hear them sing by the moon’s white
shore.
Nay, never look back I These levelled grave
stones
They were landing steps; they were steps unto
thrones
Os glory for seals that have sailed before,
And have set white feet on the foitunate shore.
And what are the names of the Fortunat -
Isles?
Why, Duly and Love and a large Content
Lo! these are the Isles of the watery miles
That God let down from the firmament.
Lo, Duty and Love, and a true man’s trust;
Your forehead to God and your feet in the
dust;
Lo, Duty, and Love, and a sweet babe's smiles,
Ami these, Ob, friend, are the Fortunate Isle :.
The Current.
THIRTY YEARS AGO.
It stood iu a wretched side court, lead
ing out of the “Five Point:;,” iu New
York. For three years this old frame
house, with its rotten outside, had been
on tenanted--or, at least, it was thought
so. Gloomy and dark and grim and
scowling if stood, separated on all sides
from the surrounding houses, and always
reminding people of its fixed determina
tion to fall ai d demolish those who
passed beneath its shadow, for it was
crooked, crazy and seemingly falling
apart.
There was a deep mystery about this
old house, and wo proceeded to unravel
it.
The church clucks of |jtho city had
tolled out eleven one dark, starless night
in November, as a man, dressed in deep
black, ascended with noiseless footsteps
the rickety stoop of this old house, and
applying a key to the door, entered and
closed it behind him.
Not a living soul had observed him.
The quiet court was deserted and partly
wrapped in deep slumber.
Gaining the dark and dusty hallway
the man proceeded onward, going up a
flight of stairs and then into a musty
smelling passage, narrow and dark as
Hades.
Here be produced a largo lantern from
some corner, and striking a match, he
lighted a candle and unlocked a strong
ly-barred door of a room situated, it ap
peared, in the very heart of the old
bonse, and surrounded by rooms on all
sides. Into this apparently secret room
the stranger entered.
By the rays of the candle in the lan
tern we see a round, wood-paneled room,
cold and chilly, a three-legged stool, an
old tireless hearth, and a straw tick laid
on the dirty, dust-covered floor, and on
this tick reclines a pale, emaciated man
of perhaps five-and twenty, tied with an
iron band around his ankles; attached
to the band was a chain four feet in
length. The other end of the chain was
fastened to a heavy ring in the wall.
This man is a prisoner. The stranger
is his jailer.
“So, Robert Grantly 1” says the
stranger, laying his lantern down and
then seating himself on the three-leg
‘ged stool. “I’ve cotte back again, you
see I Come, you ain’t si. eping 1”
“Go away from my sight, yiu demon
iu man’s form !” cried out the prisoner.
“Your presence is a poison to me I
Curse you, what has brought you hen
again ? Let me starve to death, but do
not torture me by your fiendish pres
ence 1”
“Come, now, Grantly, you know why
I came here again. I want you to an
swi r, yes or—or no.”
“No, you plotting scoundrel I—no,1 —no, to
your teeth, and for the last time.”
“You are quite brave, ain’t you?”
sneered the stranger. “You’ll never
leave this place; it shall be your tomb.”
“Perhaps,” replied the prisoner; “but
I’ll not give up my life without a strug
gle, I can tell you. You false, treacher
ous Judas.”
‘ Judas,” and the stranger laughed.
“Yes, that is rightly your name.
Whom else but an assassin and a Judas
would have played the vile and double
part that you have enacted. Why am I
lr_re, a weak and starving man? Why
i have I been imprisoned here for twelve
months? You are a penniless man. I
I was paying my addresses to Marian
i Ma;.drake, a loving girl, wh< m you dis
; covered to have had Ixmiidhs- wealth.
| You wished to gain her for your biide—
: God help her should that be 1 er fate— •
I s’ood in your way. You played the
part of friend to me, and late one ■ '
night, after drugging me, you eutic.
i ne into this grim and lonely place, coe
| ; g’ii dme to this dreary and dark room
.nd for one year I have not seen the
i -i glit of day.”
‘You can purchase your freedom by
! pist—”
“By signing a p u r drawn np by
i -.n. Ralph I.- ; y renouncing all
.1 claim tv Marian -lan ii-ke’s naud, and
'eaving her for you to win, by eousent
ing—by swearing to leave New York tib
after you have married her, and never to
nention—never to breathe to a living
soul my imprisonment here.”
“Exactly, my dear Robert, these ire
the conditions whereon yon gain your
life and liberty, my fine fellow.”
"I scorn your offer; 1 utterly and
(irmly refuse them, and defy your
threats, Ralph Langly.”
“This room shall be your tomb, then,
do yon hear mo?” in a rage, “your
tomb, I say—your tomb 1”
• You said that before, there's no use
lepeating it. Now go, and leave me.”
“I shall return again—to-morrow
night, for your last answer, and then
you shall be left here to die. And I
shall win Marian Mandrake for my wife
—her gold, her fortune shall be mine
mine 1”
With a meek bow and a sneering
laugh, Ralph Langly passed out of the
secret room and out of the old frame
house.
**♦•*»»
It was the night after the above scene
in the old house, and past ten o’clock.
The November night was cold and
windy, with a starless sky, aud the
s’reefs partly deserted. In the secret
room in the old frame house, sitting in
gloom and darkness on his old straw
tick, was the prisoner whom we saw the
night before—the victim of a treacher
ous man.
“I an effort to escape,” ho
groaned to himself. “Oh, were I but.
free from those terrible irons, thi n there
might be a chance. Oh, Marian, Marian,
what must you think of my long ab
sence from you ?”
To the outside of the door came
familiar footsteps. The key grated in
the lock and the jailer’s lantern threw its
flickering candle-light into the room,
aud on the prisoner's form, laying ou
his straw tick.
“You see,” said Ralph Langly, as he
entered, “I have come, as I promised,
for your last and decisive answer to hl.
proposition.”
“You have received it often enough
my utter refusal. That’s enough. Nov.,
go away from me.”
“Do yon know that you will starve L
death here.”
“Will I ?”
“Yes, you will.” Langly’s pass;- n
was Stirling at. Ids prisoner’s c.v'lui.
“These walls are thick, this ro ri hi m
the very heart, of th.- house, your ion .
♦ « » » ♦ ♦
Ralph Langly, gaining consciousness,
ooked around for some opening of
ipe ere his late victim returned with
I in- officers, ns he had threatened to do.
The tables were turned on him now.
A small air-opening, just over the bed
lick, presented itself and he went to
. i it by standing the stiff tick against
>l>' wall and then getting upon it that
lie i light roach the air-opening.
Hi had got to the top of the tick and
Ir-.l grasped the edge of the opening
bis fallen enemy, Robert Grantly passed
out of the chamber, and unlocking the
shackles from his ankles gained the
open street and breathed fresh air for
the iir .t time iu a year.
‘ Give me the key to unlock these
shaci.lesjon my ankles—quick, I say 1”
was Hebert’s command.
“It's in my pocket,” hissed the fear
stricken coward.
Searching with one hand in the
wr- tch’s pocket, Robert Grantly brought
‘..rth the key of the shackles, of the
lecret room and also of the front door,
which he had dropped into his pocket.
“Now, then, I’ve got to lock you in
here till 1 return with a couple of offi-
You shall pay for all the misery 1
Lav.- suffered, or I'm mistaken.”
Saying which, ho grasped him still
ti ..' . r round the throat, raised him to
his fed and hurled him against the wall
of uie room, where he fell, partly un
conscious.
Casting a look of hate and triumph at
By the lantern’s light, Ralph Langly
beheld the prisoner rush toward him, go
the length of his chain, and come to a
sudden pause, then he heard the sound
from the wall, and looking, saw the
part of the wood in the wall which held
the chain give way, aud the heavy chain
dropping to the floor told him that his
prisoner was free.
With a sudden cry of fear the villain
turned to flee.
But Robert Grantly was upon him in
an instant, and boro him down on his
back on the floor; then, with one knee
ou his breast, and one hand grasping
the throat, he exclaimed :
“-Vow, you coward, who is master?”
The wretch on the floor made an
effort to arise, but the late prisoner’s
grip was one of iron.
Maddened, aggravated, almost
fr -uzied, by the words and manner of
the sneering Langly, Robert '"Grantly
Ic.ped to his feet, and forgetting for the
moment that he was chained, rushed at
sis foe, with the intention of strangling
him on the spot.
As he got out as far as his chain would
allow him, there came a strange sound
from the wall, near the bed-tick, followed
by a glad cry from the prisoner, Robert
a-aistly.
“You’d rather stay here and starvi
and die, eh?” The villain’s manner
would have aggravated an angel to
anger ami rage as it did the prisoner.
“And still, for ail that Miss Mandrake
sbnii become mv wife.”
fry cannot penetrate scarcely beyond
this room. People think this house un
inhabited—quite right that they should
.hink thus—nothing could suit me bet
-er, ’’
’ Go from my sight, yon murderer,
.ward 1 It is my chained condition
‘hut amboldens you to speak thus. Oh,
or a moment’s liberty 1 I should
aven j ill the months of suffering I have
expem.. -ed at your hands.”
“Indeed I” and Langly came nearer
his prisoner. “But it is not likely you
shall be granted a moment's freedom;
no, my dear fellow.” He took out his
watch now. “After eleven, getting
late. Well, I suppose I've received my
final answer. You must give up Marian
Mandrake. You won’t leave New York
until after the wedding, will you?”
“No, a thousand times no; neither
will Marian Mandrake ever become your
wife.”
above, when the straw tick bent beneath
him and fell over on the large lantern
where the candle was burning, and he,
losing hold of the edge of the opening,
fell back into the secret room with a
curse.
His first act was to drag the straw
tick from the lantern, but he was too
late; the flames of the candle had
entered it and dense smoke began to
fill the room, and tongues of flame be
gan to issue from the bed tick.
“My God, the house will be on fire.
How can I escape, how, how ?”
He tried to beat out the fire, but to
no use; the flames of the burning tick
caught the dry door and wood paneling
of the room and a heap of old rags in
one corner, and three minutes after the
room was one cell of flame aud smoke
and burning wood.
Yells of agony, curses on curses and
maledictions camo from the suffocating
wretch, as he buttered at the walls in
hopeless despair and terror at the fear
ful fate which threatened him.
Denser became the smoke, fiercer the
flumes, and louder shrieked the un
fortunate Ralph. The room was now
one sheet of raging flame, which began
to communicate with the other apart
ments of the old Louse. A terrible cry
of agony, a shriek of despair and pain,
Ralph Langly fell 'backward into the
raging sea of tire, with his dark soul
heavy wi'l'i sin.
For I.ii hoars afterward the fire
i-mtiii. ■ <i, iv,th jury unabated, nor did
it ce.e till every piece of timber of the
old lion Im , i dlo ashes, and leit
naught but I'iw'k, smoking pile to
show where it had once stood.
Four days after, the charred bones of
Adph Langly were found amid the
ruins.
All we have to add is, that Marian
Mimdralic’s joy at Robert Grantly's re
turn, was unbounded, as was also he”
indignation toward Langly, when she
heard of her lover’s imprisonment by
that now <lea I man. And so they were
married in the spriniz.
..
Two Sides of a Congressman’s Life.
It is an error to supposp that the
law-makers have nothing more to do
then to attend the ordinary sessions ot
the Senate or House and draw their pay.
Some of them are models of industry
going to the Capitol early in the morn
ing, holding committee-meetings for an
hour or two, darting off to an executive
department for information, taking
part in the debates of the respective
houses, writing letters to constituents,
and transacting infinite odds aud ends
of business until dusk. And, when
they go home in the evening, they are
not always allowed to rest. They are
bothered by dissatisfied constituents,
they are besieged by strangers aud
friends, one wanting this done,
another that, a third something else,
until, wearied and exhausted, they sink
into a restless sleep, and dream
hideous visions of the coming day.
Yet there is another side to the
■ icture. They each receive five
thousand dollars a year and perquisites,
to say nothing of the honor of writing
“M. 0.” and “U. 8. 8.” after -their
names; they are “distinguished guests”
wherever they go; they are invited tc
al levees and receptions, to all festivals
and amusements; they are banqueted
by the President and entertained by
Cabinet Ministers, and they are
welcome to every species of domestic
and foreign hospitality, from a charity
ball to a german at the legation, where
they may move solemnly through the
figures of the stately minuet, or dance
to the livelier music of a cotillion and
Virgina reel. Altogether, their careers
are decidedly agreeable, and the average
Congressman would gladly serve his
country for life, and “nominate his
bones ”to fill the vacancy occasioned
by his death. The bright little son of
>i senator evidently thought the Senate
was an hereditary uisiitn :.ni ; for,
• hen asked wjiat he iiilende! to be
•u reaching manhood, he mouinfully
answered : ‘ Weil. I’d like to be a
hack-driver, hut 1 s’pose I’ll have
■obe a senator I ’’ — St. Nicholas for
January.
Sotenoe marches steadily forward
with the torch of progress, clearing up
the mysteries of yesterday, and bringing
those of to-morrow dimly into view, but
she stands palsied in all her efforts to
make out what it is that chews oil the
brim of a boy’s hat.
A ROMANTIC STORY.
THE LATE MYftA CLARK GAINKH AND
HER EVENTFUL LUTE.
The Htory of her Contest for a Hundred
Million Dollnrn-Roads Like a Novel.
For about fifty years Mrs. Myra
Clark Gaines has been a prominent
figure in society at Washington and
New Orleans. She has been no less
prominent in the courts in those cities
on account of the wonderful series of
suits which she conducted to recover the
property of her father, a very wealthy
man, who died in 1813. The mother of
Mrs. Gaines was a beautiful creole, who,
at the ago of 14, married a brilliant
young Frenchman named M. de Grange,
but, learning that he had a wife already
living, she transferred her affections to
Daniel Clark, an influential Irishman,
owning large estates in Louisiana, and
much property in Philadelphia. It is as
serted that they were secretly married
iu Philadelphia about 1803, but he never
acknowledged his wife publicly. Myra
was the second child of this union. She
was born in 1806 in New Orleans.
Clark persuaded the mother to give up
thfe child and placed it with a friend in
Philadelphia, who promised faithfully to
care for her. Not long after this Clark
was sent to Washington as the first
Louisiana Delegate to Congress, and his
wife, learning that he was unfaithful,
separated from him.
With domestic trouble camo business
disasters which made Clark think he
would lose all his property, and he
therefore conveyed to his friend, the
guardian of Myra, $700,000 in trust for
the child, and made a will which gave
the rest of his estate to his old mother.
He had previously made a will leaving
the bulk of his property to charitable in- ,
stitutions, and naming as his executor
and administrator his business partner,
who was also his confidential friend.
Recovering from his losses, and finding
himself ntill amassing wealth, he made
another will, making his daughter sole
heiress of all he possessed. He soon
after died under circumstances which
led to the belief that he had been
poisoned.
Clark’s first will was recorded by his
partner the day after his death. The
will leaving his wealth to Myra was
never found, but an aged negro in
Clark’s service testified that lie had
seen this partner open Clark’s secretary ’
after his death, and take from it a sealed
document and burn it When, some
years later, the partner win told that
Myra had declared in open court that
her father had made this will and that
it had been destroyed by an interested
party, he exclaimed: “Great God I did
she say that?” and, throwing up his
arms, fell dead from apoplexy.
As a child, Myra was kept in igno
rance and seclusion, her guardian, it is
alleged, hoping thereby to obtain com
plete control of the $700,000 which he
held for her. At 20 he selected for her
a husband who was likely to further his
aims, but she had already fallen in love
with William Whitney, the son of a
wealthy Philadelphian. When, there
fore, Whitney spoke to the guardian
about marrying Myra, there was a
scene, from which Myra learned for the
first time that she wao not her guardian’s
daughter, but nothing was said about
the $700,000. As the wife of William
Whitney, Myra had a luxurious home, a
kind husband, and intelligent friends.
From a Southern gentleman she learned
of her rights, and of her just title to
property even then worth millions <>’
dollars. She also learned thai he.
mother still lived, and that her ■
name had remained ail these ye irsnud r
a dark cloud. To see her mother si l
prove her marriage to her father v.a-
Mrs. Whitney's first thought. Tin
beautiful home was abandon e< I, md •
few weeks later Mr. and Mrs. /> faitney
were living in New Orleans, and Lad
taken the first plunge into the litigation.
Thin whs about 1832.
She was at first successful, but her
husband died of yellow fever, leaving
her with three small children to fight
out the contest. To legal opposition
were added slanders about the chnract r
of the beautiful young widow, and even
attempted assassination. For the sake
as her children and her own name she
pressed the suits with vigor. But her
means ran low.
When she hail finally reached a des
perate strait, and was exposed to insult
and poverty in New Orleans, she was bo
friended by Gen. E. P. Gaines, the hero
of Fort Erie, and an old friend of her
father. He was her gallant protector,
and she at length became his wife. She
thereafter had a respectful hearing. The
suit was carried to the United States
Supreme Court three times on questions
of practice, aud at length, by compro
mise with one of the defendants, she
gained a victory in 1818, the United
States Supreme Court declaring that a
marriage had taken place, and that
Myra was entitled to four-fifths of
Clark’s estate.
But Mrs. Gaines found that, to secure
the property, she would have to bring
suits against each of its owners in suc
cession. Her snit against the execuL r<
reached a hearing in the Supreme Court
in 1851. The defence was vigorous this
time, aud she found herself non-suited
at the end of nineteen years, the court
reversing its former decision as to the
marriage of her mother.
Iu 18-19 her husband had died, and
now, unaided, shea^unb.e^ansui tunder
the will which, it was alleged, had been
destroyed by her father’s partner. She
won at every step up to the United States
Supreme Court, which decided in het
favor in 1861. The war stopped the
litigation, but at its close she was ready
again, and in 1866 her rights were re-af
firmed iu the United States Supreme
Court. The property, which includes
the best parts of New Orleans, was then
worth $100,000,000.
But the judgments obtained by her in
the Supreme Court of the nation, simply
decided her right to bring suit against
the individual occupants of her prop
erty. The number was great. She
pressed the one against the city of New
Orleans, and it was determined, in 1883,
that the city was indebted to her in the
turn of $2 000,000. The long fight,
however, wore her life out, and on Fri
day night, she died. .
In the course of the fifty years of liti
gation in which she was engaged such
men ns Daniel Webster, Caleb Cushing,
Charles O'Oonor, Judah P. Benjamin,
and others of the ablest lawyers of the
age were employed in the case. Mrs.
Gaines onoe argued her own case before
the United States Supreme Court against
Daniel Webster, aud won. She is de
scribed as a slender little woman, with
brilliant eyes and vivacious manners,
and was at onoe witty and eloquent in
conversation. The great wealth to
which she established her title will go
to heirs who will, it is believed, accept
compromises which she rejected, and
thus end a celebrated case in American
jurisprudence.
• —o -- -
NANKIN’S PORCELAIN TOWER.
A Wonderful Work of Archlteclural Ar*
Erected* Out ot Filial Piety.
The city of Nankin, once the capital
of China, has for centuries been famous
to the “barbarians” of the outer world for
its porcelain tower —a relic of the
splendor of its ancient days before
Pekin usurped its dignity as the seat of
the empire. The place is now, to a
great extent, a city of ruins, and the
city proper has shrunk to one-fourth
as its former dimensions. The porcelain
tower was built quite early in the
fifteenth century by order of the Em
peror Yung loh, and as a mark of filial
piety. It was a monument to the
memory of his mother and he determined
that its beauty should as far outshine
that of any similar memorial as the
transcendant virtues of the parent, in
her son’s eyes, surpassed those of the
rest of her sex. No expense was spared
iu its erection, and its total cost is esti
mated nt more than three-quarters of a
million of our own money. The work
iviis commenced at noon ou a certain
lay in 1413, and occupied nearly twenty
years in its completion. The total
height of the Porcelain tower was not
more than 200 feet, or about equal to
that of the monument of London, and
it was faced from top to bottom with
the finest porcelain, glazed and colored.
It consisted of nine stories, surmounted
by a spire, on the summit of which was
ii ball of brass, richly gilt. From this
ball eight iron chains extended to as
us many projecting points on the roof
and from each chain was suspended a
bell, which hung over the face of the
tower. The same arrangement was car
ried out in every story. These bells added
much to the graceful appearance of the
tower, breaking its otherwise formal
and monotonous outline. Round the
outer face of each story were several
apertures for lanterns, and when these
were all illuminated, we are told, in the
magniloquent language of the Chinese
historian, that “their light illuminated
the entire heavens shining into the
hearts of men, and eternally removing
human misery I” It is not difficult to
imagine, however, that the appearance
of the tower on such an occasion must
have been beautiful in the extreme.
On the top of the tower were placed
■>wo large brazen vessels and a bowl,
which together contained various costly
irtielos, in the nature of an offering and
r charm to avert evil influences. Among
these were pearls of various colors, each
supposed to jiossess miraculous proper
ties, together with other precious stones
and a quantity of gold aud silver. In
this connection, designed to represent
the best treasures of the State, were
also placed a box of tea, some pieces of
silk, aud copies of some ancient Chinese
writings. The tower was demolished
>y the Taeping rebels in 18 53.
The Same Old Fool Joke.
The Providence Journal says: A
young lady of Olneyville had been sitting
in u ohair and arose to get something,
and as she attempted to regain her seat
a yonug friend quickly withdrew the
chair, and allowed her to sink heavily to
the fluor. The next day she was taken
ill, and a physician summoned, arid for
two months he has lieeu applying band
ages, plasters, etc., to save the young
lady, who is 18 years of age, from a per
manent curvature of the spine. As it
was, her body became bent, and gave
her friends great alarm. It will be five
years before all danger of spinal disease
will be removed. The fall cauis d the
end of the spine to be driven upward and
to one side.
STRAY BITS OF HUMOR
FOUND IN THE COLUMNS OF OUH EX
CHANGES.
ft wnn Hobson’s Cholce-A Texo. Sehool-
An Assertion Provetl-Uoardnic Uoilfc
“Bettles”—A Dor l.n'v, Ete.
NEVEB BEI'OBE.
A Chicago gentleman who was a pro
fessor of languages, moved to Texas and
started a school. His business flourished
so well that he was soon enabled to take
unto himself a better half in the shape
of a widow with considerable property.
On the morning after his marriage he
opened school as usual, but did not
seem to be in a very hilarious mood.
The reason for the Chicago man’s dis
satisfaction leaked out when he dis
missed school, for he said: “Young
ladies and gentlemen, I do not think
that you have treated me courteously.
None of you have congratulated me on
my marriage. When I taught in Chi
cago I don’t remember of eveb having
got married a single time without my
pupils congratulating me on the happy
event”— Texas Siftings.
AN ASSERTION PROVED.
Mrs. De Blank—“ What nonsensal
Here is one of those newspaper para
graphs saying that no woman can
th n-pen a pencil.”
Mr. De Blank— ‘Well, the paragraphs
tell the truth, sometimes.”
“I would just like (o know if yon re
gapd the truth as told in this case?”
“It is partly told, certainly.”
“Oh ! you l liink so. Now just stop a
moment, Mr. De Blank. Is there any
pliysi nil, mental or moral reason why a
woman can't sharpen a pencil, if she
tries ?”
“Yes. ”
“Oh, indeed 1 Well, why is it ?”
“Because she generally tries to do it
with a table knife.”— Philadelphia Call.
AN OUTBAOB.
A Galveston mendicant was in the
habit of calling at the office of a local
lawyer and receiving a small sum on ac
count of former acquaintance. Last
week the mendicant called as usual, but
the lawyer said :
“I can’t assist you any longer as I’ve
got a wife now, and need all the money
I can lay my bauds on.”
“Well, now that’s just coming it u
little too strong. Hera you actually go
mid get married at my expense.”
SHE GAVE HIM SOMETHING.
It was one of the genus tramp. Ho
knocked at the door of a house and
when a kindly-looking woman opened
it he said:
“Madam, lam very hungry. I have
had nothing for a week back.”
“Why, you poor soul,” said v gooa
woman, “wait a moment ai£ .11 find
something for you.”
And she gave him an old porous plaster
and closed the door before he had fin
ished thanking her. — Atlanta Constitu
tion.
A DOG DAW.
Bob Potson was a great legislator. He
did not understand parliamentary law
quite as well as some people, for once,
when called to the chair during a heated
discussion, he took off his coat and
joined in the debate. Shortly after his
arrival Potson was appointed a member
of the judiciary committee.
“Bob,” said the chairman of the com
mittee, “don’t go away to-night. We
want you to help us frame a dog law.”
“Help frame it, why, hang it, man, L
don’t need no help. I am as good a
carpenter as there is in the State and can
make a frame that would tickle a Presi
d nt. What kinder wood do you want ?”
—Arkansaw Traveler.
hobson’s choice.
During the lute cold snap Moses
Schaumburg laid iu a big lot of wood.
He encouraged his son to pile it up by
saying :
“If you vash a good little poy, Isaac,
you nwy pile up dot load of wood.”
‘ And ven I vash a pad little poy, fod
der, vot den ?”
“Den you shall pile dot wood up
voder you vante to or not, or I dras
you.”— Texas Siftings.
ON WHEELS.
Only a girl on roller skates, only a
female defying the fates; only a step pi
two out on the floor, only this, then
something more. Only a man on the
backward glide, with hands outstretched
and feet spread wide; only a bold dash,
then a dull thud, only a scream that
would curdle your blood. O nly a min
gling of stripes in the air, only a shower
of auburn hair; then she sat on him by
the ton, never was man so sat upon.—
Louisville Journal.
BOARDING HOUSE “BETTIES.”
Two young men stood in the doorway
of a cigar store lust night on Clark
street, near Indiana, when a peculiar
looking individual passed by. One of
them looked at the pedestrian with un
disguised contempt stamped on every
feature. This was noticed by b.is com
panion, and he asked:
“Know him ?”
“I should smile.
“Who is he?”
“He’s a ‘Betty 1’ ”
“A what?”
“A Betty. You don’t pretend to say
that you know nothing about Betties?”
“I’m honest—really, I’m clear off.”
“Well, a Betty is the husband pl
a boarding house landlady.”— Chicago
Trildiiui-
A BUSINESS TRANSACTION.
Sam Oppenheimer, of Sau Antonio,
was one of the passengers on the Sap
Saba stage that was robbed a. few, weeks
ago.
“Shell out your money or off goes the
top of your head,” remarked one of the
robbers, holding a pistol. under Sam’s
nose.
“Three hundred dollars vash every
cent 1 got, so hellup me schiminy gra
sbus. ”
“Hand ’em over.”
Sam did so, keeping back six dollars.
“What are you keeping back them Six
dollars for ?” mildly inquired the rob
ber, pressing his pistol against Sam’s
Head. , , 4
“Mine Gott 1 don’t you let a man
take out two per cent, ven he advances
money mitout securities ?” - Texas Sift
ings.