Newspaper Page Text
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
Trade with South America is being
gradually developed. There are now
six steamers running regularly be
tween New York and Venezuela, three
having been recently added to a suc
cessful line. Another fleet is about to
be sent to Bolivia, the first steamer
having already been sent out. On the
other hand, our trade with Peru has
dwindled down to almost nothing for
want of direct steam communication.
Lightning does its work before the
victim knows anything. Two men
were struck while taking refuge under
a tree. Both were carried into the
house and laid out for dead. One of
the men revived, and, aftei weeks of
terrific suffering and infirmity, he got
out again, and is still living. He said
he knew no more about having been
struck by lightning than he was con
scious of having lived before the flood.
It was all news to him when he was
told of the fact.
A western paper asserts that there
is no reason for believing that the de
feated candidates for the presidency
have had stronger physical constitu
tion or better health than those who
were elected, yet of the seven Presi
dents who have held the office in the
last 28years five are dead; two—Hayes
and Arthur— are alive; while of the
seven candidates for the different
terms in those 28years live—Fremont,
McClellan, Seymour, Tilden, and Han
cock—are alive, and only two —Doug-
las and Greeley —are dead. Two of
the Presidents died by assassination,
but as that was even more directly
in consequence of their holding the
office, it strengthens the proof. If we
go back of this period we find that
the defeated candidates for the Presi
dency survived the successful ones.
Van Buren died twenty-one years
after Harrison, though but nine years
younger. Clay, though a much
younger man than Polk, survived him
five years, and though only ten years
younger than Jackson survived him
twenty-three years. Cass was only
two years younger than Taylor, but
died sixteen years after him, while
Gen. Scott, though eighteen years ol
der than Pierce, survived him three
years. So that unless there is some
other known cause to account for these
discrepancies the most reasonable con
clusion is either that the Presiden
tial office is not conducive to longevity
or that ail, or nearly all, the defeated
candidates, as compared with their
successful opponents, happened to be
men of unusual vigor and vitality.
There is no reason for supposing that
this is the ease.
Incongruous Fifth Avenue.
The people who live side by side in
the pretentious avenue know each eth
er not says a New York letter.
Knickerbocker and parvenu, the
inheritor of wealth and the archi
tect of his own fortune, the genuine
gentleman and the vulgar snob, reside
in the same block. One house Is visi
ted by the best and most distinguish
ed; the house adjoining by men who
talk loud in sucidal syntax, and women
who wear holly-hocks in their hair,
And yellow dresses with pink trim
mings. Here dwells an author whose
works give him a large income; over
the way, a fellow who has a genius for
money-getting, but who cannot solve
the mysteries of spelling. Some of the
most spacious and expensive mansions
on the avenue always have a deserted
look. Only the occupants and’ ser
vants appear on the high, carved
stoops; only the carriages the masters
of the establishment owns stop before
(he door. That family purchased a
house in the avenue, but society has
not accepted its members. They have
nothing but a new fortune to recom
mend them. They must bide their
time. The first gen' ration of the un
recognized fares h; rd. The second is
educated and the third claims lineage
—prates of “gentility” and frowns up
on what its grandparents were. To
get into the avenue and into its socie
ty are different things. They who
struggle to enter certain circles are
not wanted. Those who are indiffer
ent to mere fashion are in request; for
not to seek, socially, is usually to be
sought.
Without a Compass.
New' England stories have a raciness
of their own, smacking of soil, and in
their rusticity often embodying the
traits which go to make up the Puri
tan character. Essex county abounds
in these, and they deserve recording
as illustrative of their time and gener
ation.
One of the sons of old Ipswich,
himself grayhaired, was thus relating
the characteristics of the parental
discipline which obta.ned in his youth.
“One evening,’’ said he, “I had come
under my father’s wrath,and he sternly
ordered me to go to bed. Bed was in
the loft of a log house, and I com
plained I had no light."
“Go to bed in the dark,” was my
father's answer, an 1 I climbed the
ladder and made my way along the
timbers, no flooring being laid. A
bright idea struck me, and I thought
I could make one more appeal from
my fate. I cried down:
dark I can’t find the bed !”
“Quick as a flash came the answer,
"Get as near to it as you can and he
down !”
It is unnecessary to say the bed was
found and not lost again until morn
ing.—Boston Record.
@lje 3’nmincruiUc (SMjette.
VOL. XII. SUMMERVILLE. GEORGIA. WEDNESDAY EVENING. OCTOBER 21, 1885. NO. 40.
EMMONS McKEE & CO.,
S7 BROAD STREET, ROME, Gr-A..,
Are Acknowledged Headquarters in North Georgia For
CLOTHING, FURNISHING GOODS, HATS AND MEN'S FINE SHOES.
( VA7 E have made extensive preparations for a rousing business during the coming season, and we have taken every precaution to fortify ourselves against disap- 1 /SgJ
~~~ ' J V V pointmeut. Our new stock is all tbatcould be desired in style, quality and price, and, if extra inducements are a consideration, our store will be the most >
j attractive place in this country for those who want the best for the least money. )
FALL TRADE IS WHAT AMi WANT!
And no stone has been left Unturned, no opportunity has been Neglected, no pains and
expense has been Spared to Secure
Yl|e Most Sttfkctive Stodk of ip lyorqe !
REMEMBER: We sell only goods worn by the MA LE SEX - Clothing, Furnishing Goods, Hats, and Men’s Fine Shoes —we can fit you out from head to feet, and hope every reader of this paper will
give us a call. We are always glad to show goods, and think our attractive display cannot fail to please you.
EMMONS McKEE & CO., Men’s and Boys’ Outfitters,
87 BHOAD STKEET. ROME, GA.
THE STRENGTH OF THE HILLS.
thoughts go homo to that old brown
house,
With its low roof sloping down to the
east,
nd its garden fragrant with roses and
thyme,
..at blossom no longer, except in rhyme,
Where the honey-bees used to feast.
iar in the west the great hills rose,
Silent and steadfast and gloomy and
gray,
thought they were giants, and doomed to
keep
.’heir watch, while the world should wake or
sleep,
Till the trumpet should sound on the
judgment day.
used to wonder of what they dreamed
As they brooded there in their silent
might,
•Vhile March winds smote them, or June
rains fell,
Jr the snows of winter their ghostly spell
Wrought in the long and lonesome night.
They remembered a younger world than
ours,
Before the trees on their top were born.
A hen the old brown house was itself a tree,
\nd waste were the fields where now you
see
The winds astir in the tassel led corn.
A id I was as young as the hills were old,
And the world was warm with the breath
of spring,
\nd the roses red and the lilies white
Budded and bloomed for my heart’s delight,
And the birds in my heart began to sing.
But calm in the distance the great hills rose,
Deaf unto ruptures and dumb unto pain
Since they knew that Joy is the mother of
Grief,
And remembered a butterfly’s life is brief,
And the sun sets only to rise again.
r hey will brood, and dream, and be silent, as
now,
When the youngest children alive to-day
4ave grown to be women and men, grown
old,
And gone from the world like a bile that is
told,
And even those e?ho forgets to-day.
—Louise Chandler Moulton, in Harper.
AN UNMASKED SHARPER.
A STORY FROM THE FRENCH.
They were discussing the latest scan
dal. A young man of good connections
nad been ignominiously expelled from a
club. Playing in collusion with a pro
fcssional gambler, he had cheated at
cards and in a few months had won a
considerable sum.
“And has he kided himself?” asked
some one.
“Bah!” replied another. “Do men
kill themselves for so little nowadays?
it was different in the good old times.”
“In the good old times, as you call
them,” said old General Roy, “those who
adopted the card sharper's profession
killed themselves no more than do tho e
of the present time. A few exceptions
there may have been among those who
were detected at the outset. But if the
first attempt succeeded, they did as they
do to-day, they quickly accustom ihem
selves to ’.heir degradation. Ah, it isso
easy! When respect for his own good
name will not restrain a man at the first
step, it is entirely dead within him, and
even a scandal will not revive it. By
the way, I can tell you of a curious case
in point, where the hero blew out his
brains, but it was not a suicide. No,
strange as it may sound, it was not a
suicide. Listen:
“It was some fifty years ago. The
press of that time was not the terrible
gossip that it is to-day, and sensational
news never passed certain bounds. There
were not fewer scandals, but the scan
dals were less known. In fact, I think
there were rather more. Not that we
I are more virtuous, but the fear of pub
. heity is certainly a great check.
“Among the elegint young fellows.
! he gilded youth of those days, who fur
, nished the greater part of the scandal
ous gossip by their eccentricities and
: duels, was a young gentleman attached
to the king's household. I shad call him
i the Vicomte Ro.and. The name was
not an illustrious one; in fact, the vi
comte was the fi nit of one of those
mixed marriages introduced by Napoleon
I. General Comte Roland, whose heavy
i cavalry charges are matters of history,
■ had married the daughter of the Marquis
jde Bransac. a member of one of the
wealthiest and most powerful families of
France. His son was 'hen about twen
ty-six years of age. He had not the ro
bust, plebeian beauty of his father, who
| had been one of the handsomest men in
the army. His was rather the delicate
and distinguished grace of his mother,
whose idol he was. Having loved her
, husband pas io ately, the countess was
; now wrapped up in her son.
“ The extra, life led by the son
had caused a quarrel between the parents.
’ The countess lived in She Bransac Hotel,
one of the finest in tho Faubourg Saint
Germain, while the general, secluding
himself in a little chateau in the forest, of
Senart, passed h s time in the pleasures
of the chase. They say he had ill-treat
ed his wife, but it was utterly untrue.
The fact is that there had been between
the general and his wife two terrible
scenes.
“The first was caused by an idea which
took possession of the countess. She
found this name ‘Roland' too plcbian for
her son, and tormented her husband to
obtain the king’s authority to add to it
that of Deßransac. The general ener
getically refused.
“ ‘My name has sufficed for me,’ said
he, ‘for me who have made it famous.
It will do for this fine gentleman, ray
son. If he does not find it brilliant
enough, let him try to add to its luster.’
“The second scene was brought about
by the vicomte abducting a ballet
| dancer, and by a duel and a debt which
were the consequences of this little af
fair. The general brought the son be
fore his mother and roughly reproved
him for his folly. Instead of supporting
her husband, the countess made excuses
for her son. Women always are indul
gent toward the man in a love scrape.
“As the general told his son that his
fortune was not sufficient to maintain
such scandalous absurdities, the coun
tess unhappily interjected:
“ ‘Oh, the fortune of the De Bransacs
will amply suffice for him.’
“She had not calculated tho effect of
1 her speech. An hour later the general
left the hotel and went to his chateau;
at the end of a week the family notary
informed the countess that her entire
personal fortune was at her disposal.
The separation was complete, and the
general lived alone on the fifteen thou
. sand francs which constituted the rev
enue he received from his own fortune.
“The son made ducks and drakes of
her fortune. At the end of six months
the countess was half ruined, and the
. energy of the notary alone saved her from
. her son’s extravagances.
“All at once it became known that
[ the Vicomte Roland no longer belonged
' I to the king’s household, and that he
had handed in his resignation as lieu
' i tenant in a cavalry regiment. That is
' what was given out, but rumors of a dis-
I ferent character were alloat. The coua
i less no longer appeared in public, but
confined herself to her hotel. In a few
weeks she seemed ten years older.
“The vicomte, after a voyage of some
weeks in Italy, returned to Paris, took
apartments in the Rue de la Chaussee
d’Antin, and lived the life of an idler on
the pension of a thousand francs a month
. : allowed him by his mother. It would
t \ be little to day; but at that time it en
l aided a man to make quite a figure in
the fashionable world. He passed his
L time between love adventures, the
theatres, and the green table. Then
little by little his elegance and his
eccentricities began to be talked about.
I Clubs were not as plentiful as they are
, now, but the gilded youth and the
gamesters had a few of them where lovers
of the green cloth could amuse them
selves.
“One evening when the Vicomte |
Roland, after having won a considerable j
sum from one of h's friends, offered him '
, his revenge, his opponent rose, and. j
pushing away the cards, looked at him j
in a singular manner.
“‘Well, no, Roland,’ said he; ‘what ;
, with your luck with women and your j
luck with cards, you have too much I
; luck for one man.’
“Roland, though somewhat choleric.
■ demanded no explanation, and contented l
. I him-elf with laughing.
, “Some days afier, the prefect of ;
police announced himself to the general
, at his chateau. What passed between
them Ido not know. Ail that is known
, of the affair is that they returned together
. to I aris.
I “At 11 o'clock of the evening following
. that interview, the vicomte was seated at,
a table playingecarte. He had just won :
ten successive games from an English
. man, who, passing through Paris on his
way home, had been introduced at the
citio bv one of the members. Roland :
had a considCTab c sum before him. The i
loser had just risen, ami before leaving
the table h id bowed thrice, when an el
derly gentleman approached the table.
“ ‘Will the Vicomte Roland permit me
[ to take the gentleman's revenge?'
“The young man paled, it was his
. father.
. “ ‘As you are a bold player, I offer you
' a bold game. It will be useless for you
• to say that it is too high. Read.’ And
the general handed him a note folded
i twice.
“The vicomte glanced over it and
f shuddered visibly.
“ ‘Do you accept?’
“He bowed. The general seated him
> self opposite his son, cut a king, and
, dealt the cards. He won the first hand.
. When it was the vicomte’s deal, he
trembled slightly and a strange light
r shone in his eyes; nevertheless he played
j on. The general won again.
“The vicomte rose, pale as a ghost,
! and in a smothered voice sa.d ;
“ ‘ln an hour, sir, I shall have acquit
ted myself. ’
“He left the room without another
word.
“On the following morning the guar
dians of the Bois do Boulogne brought
in the body of the Vicomte Roland. His
head was blown to pieces, his hand still
grasping the pistol. In a portfolio was
found an unsigned scrap of paper, on
which were the words:
: The loser will blow out his brains. :
“The pretended Englishman was an
accomplished card sharper, sent by the
prefect of police. The three bows had
been the sign agreed upon between him
and the general to indicate that the vi
comte had cheated.
“The game was one for life and death
between father and son. Both were dis
honored—the son by his own act, tho
father by the son’s. But this dishonor
was a secret, which threatened to become
an open shame. Death could stifle it—
the son’s death or the father's, for tho
stern old soldier would himself have dis
graced his son had that son not kept
t heir pact. Tho price of the general's
secresy was his son’s life.”— Argonaut.
A Ride in a Chinese Rickshaw.
Trot, trot, trot, along the smooth,
sunny, but bamboo shaded high road, I
have a little leasurenow to observe these
astonishing rickshaw coolies. They wear
the enormous traditional mushroom Chi
nese hat, suitable in case either of beat
ing rain or fierce sun, under which are
tucked their hard, plaited pigtails—for
even a coolie would feel himself dis
graced were he minus a pigtail. They
are bare-footed, bare-legged, bare-armed,
ami wear just sufficient rags to save them
selves from the charge of indelicacy.
Their skins are sallow, their Mongolian
faces are pinched, their stature is small,
their limbs seem attenuated and loosely
put together. And yet these demoniacal
looking wretches, to call whom, “breth
ren” is, indeed, a heavy demand on our
charity, throw themselves forward into
the shafts and drag their carriages with
its passengers, who may be ten or may
be twenty stone, not at a walk, or a
shuffle, or an amble, but a good round
trot of about six miles an hour. They
neither flag, pant, nor perspire, but
keep up this pace for two or three
miles at a stretch. Would not the most
renowned European athlete or pedestrian
be but a feeble coney in comparison!
Moreover, these coolies have to content
themselves at the end of their journey
with five cents—a cent is a fraction less
than a half-penny. They exult if they
receive ten cents, and consider the donoi
an utter fool if he gives them fifteen
cents.
The first sensations at being conveyed
in a rickshaw are those of mingled
amusement and shame. Ono likens one
self to a drunken masquerader or to an
unostentatious buffoon. Then habit
begets indifference. Dignitaries of the
church, dignitaries of the government,
dignitaries of the law, soldier., sailors,
and even the well to do Chinese, all have
recourse to them: and the sergeant in
his rickshaw salutes the colonel in his
rickshaw with precisely the same gravity
ias though both were on parade. Per
haps the full absurdity can be best real
i ized by considering what would be the
I effect produced were the dean of West
| minster to be trundled in a wheelbarrow
' down Picadilly by a dirty, ragged little
I London Arab. wrnhill Maj'-nne.
I ___
Terrible Scene at a Bull Fight.
A Madrid correspondent says: At the
I bull fight which took place in Vittoria a
few days ago a scene occurred which is
I seldom witnessed on these occasions,
i The first bull having been dispatched by
i the primer espada Lagartijo, the car
casses of bull and horses dragged away,
and the blood marks covered with fresh
sand,the signal was given for the second
bull. The beast appeared at the en
trance, looking suspiciously around him,
I and as a torero ran past him, he rushed
out, more like a tiger than a bull, and
with such impetus that clearing the bar
. rier by a flying leap he alighted in the
I midst of the terrified crowd. Those
nearest to the bairier jumped or fell
headlong into the arena, while others
i were tossed into the air. 1 adies in the
palcos screamed and fainted, while the
bull kept driving furiously into confused
crowds of men women and children,
I killing some, and wounding others very
• severely. A company of civil guards,
which were drawn up in line to keep
' order during the bull fight, ran off.
When the bull had cleared half the plaza
of its occupants, he paused to take
I breath and look at the arena, which was
full of spectators. Finding at last a gate
open, he trotted out to the promenade,
j sending several men, women and chil
: dren flying in the air. At last he was
I brought down by three shots fired at
him by a civil guard. When calm had
been restored, the people very deservedly
hissed the civil guards and toreros for
‘ their cowardice.
Cremation in Paris will soon be avail
able for the general public, at the small
j cost of $3 for each operation.
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
Continued investigation confirms the
belief that the English sparrow destroys
vegetation instead of protecting it from
insects. One observer has reported to
Miss E. A. Ormerod, the English ento
mologist, that the crops of fifty sparrows,
kiHed in one summer, contained but two
insects.
Angle-worms, fish, etc., are often
caught up into the clouds by revolving
storms, and then dropped again many
miles from the place where they were
taken up. Small fish have often been
found in puddles of water in village
streets, to the astonishment of people
who were unacquainted with the phe
nomenon.
The simplest and best test for glucos 0
in sugar is to place a little of it unde r
the low power of a microscope. Magni"
fying forty times is quite sufficient, and
less will do. Cane-sugar under this
power is distinctly and beautifully crys
talline, and each crystal looks like rock
candy. They are clear, bright and beau
tiful. Glucose, on the other hand, has
a dull, opaque appearance, like a lump
of tallow. Once seen, It will be easily
known ever after.
Narcolepsy is a name that has been ap
plied to a rare and curious malady, the
main feature of which is an Irresistible
desire to sleep, coming on suddenly at
irregular intervals —the spell lasting but
a short time. It may be due to a spasm
or iit-like action in the nerves controlling
the circulation of blood in the brain,
producing in that one organ an effect
similar to the loss of consciousness in
epilepsy, but not affecting the remainder
of the body as the latter disease does.
In an article on windmills, the Scientifi
American says: “An 8.5-foot wheel will
raise 3,000 gallons of water daily a dis
tance of twenty-five feet. Its first cost,
including the pump and a plain tower,
is about $l5O. A 10-foot wheel will
raise about 9,000 gallons of water a day
a like distance, and cost SIBO, including
the appurtenances above mentioned. A
12-foot wheel will raise 16,000 gallons of
water a day the above distance, and cost,
with the same appurtenances, $3lO. So
up, from 14 to 16, 18 to 20-feet diameter
of wheel, which costs about $1,200 and
will raise about 100,000 gallons of water
daily the specified distance.”
Minnis Haden, a colored blacksmith of
Montgomery, Va., has lately invented a
piece of very simple machinery by which
the striking hammer is easily and effec
tively worked by his foot, while he has
both hands free to hold his iron and use
' the small hammer. To a listener the
blows come as naturally and as rap
idly as if there were two men handling
the hammers in the old-fashioned way,
but there is a difference. The machine,
by an easy motion of the foot on the
treadle, strikes a harder blow than any
man can strike, andean be made,at will,
to strike as light a blow as may be
needed. But the use of this simple and
cheap device in the blacksmith shop is
not half. It can be just as easily used,
and will find a large field of usefulness,
in driving a drill or blasting rock.
Is the Air Colorless?
The Challenger has dredged from the
bottom of the ocean fishes which live
habitually in great depths, and whose
enormous eyes tell of the corresponding
ly faint light which must have de
scended to them through the seemingly
transparent water. It will not be as fu
tile a speculation as it may at first seem,
! to put ourselves in imagination in the
condition of creatures under the sea, and
1 I ask what the sun may appear to be
to them, for, if the fish who had never
risen above the ocean-floor were an in
telligent being, might he not plausibly
reason that the dim greenish light of his
heaven —which is all he has ever known
—was the full splendor of the sun shin
ing through a medium which all his ex
perience shows is transparent.
We ourselves are in very tact, living
at the floor of a great aerial sea whose
billows roll hundreds of miles above our
I heads. Is it not at any rate conceivable
I that we may have been led into a like
fallacy from judging only from what we
1 ! see at the bottom? May we not, that is,
| have been led into the fallacy of assum
ing that the intervening medium above
us is colorless because the light which
comes through it is so?
1 freely admit that all men, educated
or ignorant, appear to have the evidence
| of their senses that the air is colorless,
[ and that pure sunlight is white, so that
1 I if I venture to ask you to listen to con
‘ : siderations which have lately been
' brought forward to show that it is the
: ' sun which is blue, and the air really acts
! like an orange veil or like a seive which
l picks out the blue and leaves the white,
! | I do so in the confidence that I may ap
■ ' peal to you on other grounds than those
' i I could submit to the primitive man who
j has his senses alone to trust to; for the
' educated intelligence possesses those
| senses equally", and in addition the ability
i to interpret them by the light of reason,
. ; and before this audience it is to that
J i interpretation that I address myself.—
i Prof. Langley, in Popular Science Monthly.
THE BEAUTIFUL LIFE AND Dr.A i'll
Beautiful faces are those that we ir—
It matters little if dark or fair—
Whole-souled honesty printe I there.
Beautiful eyes are those that show,
Like crystal panes where hearth fires glow,
Beautiful thoughts that burn below.
Beautiful lips are those whoso words
Leap from the heart like the hearts of birds
Yet whose utterance prudence girds;
Beautiful hands are those tb it do
Work that is earnest, and brave, and true,
Moment by moment a long life through.
Beautiful feet are those that go
On kindly ministries to and fro —
Down lowliest ways, if God wills it so.
Beautiful shoulders are those that bear
Ceaseless burdens of homely care
With patient grace and daily prayer.
Beautiful lives are those that bless—
Silent rivers of happiness,
Whose hidden fountains but few may guesi
Beautiful twilight at set of sun,
Beautiful goal with race well won,
Beautiful rest with work well done.
Beautiful graves where grasses creep,
Where brown leaves fall, where drifts lie
deep
Over worn-out hands—oh, beautiful sleep!
HUMOR OF THE DAV.
Should a kite be made of fly-paper?
“I take rhe pledge and keep it,” says
the pawnbroker.
The fruit most frequently to be ob
served at picnics—the pear.
You cannot call a sailor a slugger be
cause he boxes the compass.— Derrick.
“Can any one suggest a sure prevent
ive of sea-sickness?” asks an exchange.
Certainly; stay on shore.— Puck.
Only eight American poets have lived
beyond the age of sixty years. This
shows the power of the press.— Merchant-
Traveler.
THE LATEST CRAZE.
Now the maiden sits in her easy chair
And drives away melancholy
By plying he*' needles and knitting a pair
Os scarlet sdk hose for her “Cholly.”
■ —Boston Courier.
The planets have been weighed and
the moon blocked out into election pre
cincts, but the heft and capacity of a
boy’s pocket still remain unknown.—
i Chicago Ledger.
When a cold wave comes
Then business hums.
—New York Morning Journal.
But when it thaws
There is a pause.
—Gorham Mountaineer.
Can’t you give us some war reminis
cences?” asked a citizen of an old fel
low m a party of ex soldiers telling
- stories. “No, I believe not,” he an
swered promptly, “you see I’ve only been
i married six months.”—Merchant-Trav
eler.
They were walking on the beach, and
as Claude held her little hand he mur
mured: “I love to be with you, Claribcl,
it seems so bright and I feel so much
fresher.” “Do you, dear? I should not
1 think that possible.” And then he
! dropped her hand and turned sadly
1 away, his sighs keeping time to the
■ surges as they lashed themselves to foam
on the pebbly beach.— jßusfiwi Tran-
1 script.
He mat ber in the garden,
And she was all alone.
i His arm he folded round her waist,
And said she was his own.
He on her lips imprinted
A kiss with 1 rue love’s zest,
And then, witli passion’s fervor,
Her soft white hand he pressed.
She screamed, and then his ardor
. Was in a moment d-ished;
For in that soft white hand she held
1 An egg, that now was smashed.
—Boston Gazette.
A Strong Cigar.
i “Don’t care if I do, stranger. Thanks.
Strong? Yes: tollable. Strongest cigar
J ever smoked? (Puff, pull.) No, ’tain’t
' (pull, puff.) Not by a long shot. What
' was the strongest cigar I ever smoked?
Well. I’ll tell you. It was so strong
that it knocked some of my teeth out.
You don’t believe it? Wait till you hear
the particulars. It was way back in
1565. I was with the Army of the Po
tomac. aud we we were closin’ up on Lee
in Richmond. I was on picket duty one
night when I got to hankerin’ fora cigar.
- ‘it was against orders to smoke on
the picket line, but 1 couldn't stand it,
and so I dove into the trench and lit my
i I weed. Then I returned to my beat,
i I happy as could be. It was a very dark
i night, an’ everything quiet, an’ I was
just flatterin’ myself that there was no
■ danger in a smoke, when whish! bang!
! and that cigar of mine went to pieces an’
> I felt a prickly pain in my mouth. I
j felt, an’ a couple o’ teeth were gone.
: Pretty strong cigar, that. Eh.’ Loaded?
( No; but the rille of that ’ere Johnny Reb
, sharpshooter was, and right here on my
t check is where the ball cum out. If the
j ash hadn’t fell off that cigar I would
i have two more teeth in my head to-day.”
CLIPPINGS FOR THE CURIOUS.
To roast a whole ox takes about ten
hours.
In Paris a man was arrested and
fined for dyeing tomatoes a deeper
red.
A tomato vine at Plant City, Fla.,
covered a spot seventy-two feet in
circumference and bore all last winter
without injury by cold.
Lightning is reflected for 150 or
200 miles. The sound of thunder may
be heard for twenty or twenty-five
miles; with the ear to the ground much
farther.
The Mexican stage coach always
has two drivers—one to hold the reins
and the other to do the whipping. The
latter carries a bag of stones to throw
at the leaders.
The battle of Hastings, which gave
the English crown to William the
Conqueror, and at which Harold, the
last of the Saxon kings, was killed, oc
curred in the year 1066.
A Lewiston (Me.) physician’s father,
when quite young, was bitten by a
Vicious horse, the horse’s teeth closing
over his ear lobe and taking out a
small piece of the upper part. The
mark of the wounded ear skipped one
generation, and has appeared in the
Lewiston physician’s son, there being
on the little fellow's ear the plain
marking of the ear that showed, years
ago, upon his grandfather.
One of the cruel tortures said to
have been invented in some heathen
country was that of a cell, which at
the prisoner’s first entrance presented
an appearance of comfort and ease.
By degrees, however, he observed the
dimensions of his chamber beginning
to contract, and the fact became more
appalling every day. Slowly, but ter
ribly, the sides drew closer, and the
unhappy victim was at last crushed
to death.
The age at which running can be
practised, an eminent physician says,
by a healthy man in training is from
20 to 30. Boys and girls also
of 10 or 12 can run with
no apparent fatigue. In boys’
races, for those under 14 years, no
previous training should be inflicted.
No one should train for running until
he is 18, but 20 would be the safer.
Between 20 and 27 is the best age for
attaining speed in running. Retween
30 and 40 a wise man will think twice
before undergoing training for race
running. Older men should run on
no pretence whatever.
The Highest Body of Water.
According to a correspondent of the
Philadelphia Press, one of the monu
ments of the spirit of American ener
gy and enterprise, albeit embodied in
a man of doubtful reputation, is the
railroad that connects Mollendo, a port
of Peru, with Lake Titicaca. This
lake is the highest body of water in
the world, lying in a great basin be
tween two ranges of the Continental
Cordilleras, 15,000 feet above the sea.
On the bosom of this wonderful lake
is the island —the Eden of the Wes
tern World—where tradition says
Manco Capac and Mama Capac, the
Adam and Eve of the Incarace, were
born. From this little garden sprang
a race that has never been surpassed
in industry and will always furnish
the most interesting topic of study
antiquarians and philosophers have
ever known. Here are the magnifi
cent temples and palaces which Pres
cott describes with such a vivid pen
and which Pizarro stripped of their
treasures.
The man who built the railroad was
Harry Meiggs, the partner of Ralston,
the California banker, who drowned
himself in the Golden Gate; the friend
of Flood, O’Brien, Mackey, Sharon,
and one of the princes of the golden era
of ’49. Bret Harte has written of him,
and Mark Twain has used him as a
text. He committed forgeries in San
Francisco years ago, and when his
crime was discovered, took a boat and
rowed out into the bay, as Ralston did
twenty years afterward, but, instead
of jumping overboard, he climbed up
on the deck of a schooner, purchased
her, and sailed away from the scene of
his remarkable career. He went to
Chili first, and then to Peru, bringing
much of his wealth and all of his ir
restible energy, which he applied to
the difficulties that had staggered this
country, and overcame them. From
Ecuador to Patagonia, through
Peru, Bolivia and Chili, his enterprise
extended, and the result is a series of
railroads at right angles with the
coast, connecting the interior of the
country with the seaports, and giving
the estates and the mines in the mount
ains, the sugar haciendas and the ni
trate beds easy outlets to the ocean.
He sent back money to California to
reimburse those who lost by his forger
ies, with good interest, but remained
there till he died, one of the richest,
most influential and famous men on
the coast.
A Vampire.
The Los Angeles (.Cal.) Herald de
scribes a specimen of the vampire
family recently there: “This huge
specimen measured twenty inches
from tip to tip of his wings, and was
pretty well armed with teeth and
claws. His head was as large as the
heads of four or five ordinary bat
heads combined, and well hooded with
two ears fully as large as a half-dollar.
His majesty was as vicious and war
like as a scorpion or tarantula when
confined, and his bite would probably
be as dangerous.”