The Summerville gazette. (Summerville, Ga.) 1874-1889, December 23, 1885, Image 1
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
The advantage of fresh air from
the open windows in a sleeping room
has received strong proof from an in
cident of,the cholera in Spain. In the
house of a rich merchant the cholera
attacked, first of all, the one person
who slept in the only room of the
dwelling which was without a win
dow.
Pike’s Peak Railroad, when com
pleted, as it is soon expected to be,
will be the most notable track in the
world. It will mount 2000 feet higher
lhan the Lima and Oroya Road in
Peru. The <ntire 30 miles of its
length will be a succession of compli
cated curves and grades, with no
piece of straight track longer than
3bo feet.
The acreage devoted to the cultiva
tion of tobacco in the United States is
said to have increased from 638,841
acres in 1880 to 700,000 acres at the
present time, while the product has
Increased from 472,661,000 pounds to
600,000,000 pounds. Until 1870 Vir
ginia led as a tobacco-manufacturing
state. Now Kentucky is first, The
late crop of that state is said to berthe
largest ever raised, with the exception
of that of 1877, which amounted to
181,484,000 pounds.
A German traveller, Doctor Ger
hard Rohlfs, contends that it is un
wholesome to wear woolens in a hot
climate. He bases his assumption on
th;s fact that she, p taken into hot
countries lose their wool in the
course of a year. The lion of North
Africa has a thick mane, but in Cen
tral Africa none. There must, urges
the traveller, be a reason for this loss
of a woolen coat in the tropics and
from the fact a lesson should be de
duced by man which should be rigidly
followed.
The last thing at which General
McClellan worked on the day of his
death was an account of the battle of
Antietam. lie was preparing a series
of articles for the Century Magazine.
and the first of them was to be one on
Antietam. It was not finished. From
between the leaves of a book lying
< n the general’s table when he died
protruded numerous pages of manu
». script. The book was an authority
the general had been consulting and
the manuscript was the half written
article on his most famous battle.
“A Game With a History” is the ti
tle of an essay upon Imp scotch, read
before the Anthropological Society in
London. A very interesting account
of that active amusement is given, but
it is scarcely fair to distinguish it as
if other games were historically want
ing. Many of our out-door ami in
door sports have been handed down
through centuries with but little va
riation, showing the impress of time
less than language itself. To investi
gate their changes it is necessary tc
study the mythology and ctis onus a
well ns the civil history of nations.’
The chron.cler of Hop Scotch consid
ers that it signifies the passage of the
soul from earth to heaven. In Roman
times the player hopped through a
I ibyrinth, but after the introduction of
Christianity the shape became that of
the church or Has licon. The divi
sions were made seven in number to
agree with the courts of heaven, para
dise being the highest.
Si go Gt is I! lilt us Wire.
Siege guns built of wire are the
newest descript, m of ordnance for the
British national service. A very
tough steel wire is used, having a
breaking strength of one hundred tons
to ’lie square inch, which is wound
over a steel tub - as tape maybe wound
on a reel, being frequently lastened oil
to secure its cuh'«i n, and so neatly
put together a; to look precisely like
solid metal. An i xperimen'al howitzer
has been ma le up .n this principle,
and passed a satisfactory proof at the
royal ar enal. wicti. It has a
caliber of ten inches, but weighs only
about 7,000 pounds.
In its trial this howitzer threw a shell
of 360 pounds with a charge of twen
y-eight pounds, ai d attained a veloci
ty of 1,000 feet per second—a result
which may be compared with two
guns of a similar weight which
are at present in the service.
One of these is the eight-inch howit
zer which fires a shell of just half the
weight—namel , 186 pounds—with a
velocity of 950 feet, and the other is
the 100-pounder gun cf 6.6 caliber,
which, with its light shot of one hun
dred pounds, manages to reach a ve
locity of 1,390 feet per second. The
trial weapon seems in no way im
paired bv the strain to which it has
been subjected. — Chicago Journal.
Why Hunters M ss Game.
A correspondent oi the American
Field says that “most of the rifles now
turned out of the factories have a
front sight upon which the brightest
pointful shift from side to side and
from base to tip. In all quick shots
this must have some influence, whether
trim are awaiz of it or not. Take a
rifle so lighted out in the sun, and
with your eye on the sights swing th*
rifle all around the horizon, watch th<
change of light upon it, and see how
youThay be deceived when in a hurry
‘ Then point it up hill and down hill
ri ie sun behind you and ahead o;
llu. and see if you can discover hov
~ ever missed any game.”
@he oiijcttc.
VOL. XII.
Christmas Chimes.
The meadows are brown, the hills are all bare,
And up through the valley the clear, crisp air
Is singing a Christmas song.
Like the song of the sea in the purple shell,
If we list to its notes it will sweetly tell
The secret it’s kept so long.
It tells of a time so sunny and fair
When we watched the clouds of the snowy air
For the reindeers’ tiny form.
And saw in our dreams such pictures of light,
As we iay through the hours of the long, dark
night,
Away irom the clouds and storm.
Such pictures as glow- in fairy tales
When told at the hour that daylight pales
And the crimson west grows gray,
When we list for the chime of liny bells
That are hung in the shade of haunted dells
And are rung by goblin and fry.
It rings on the heart a tearful change
Ofa darkened time, so sad, so strange,
When our dreams had lost their light.
It whispers and sings to the leafless trees
Our secret that sighs in every breeze
Till the day wears into the night.
O, Christmas chimes! Ye are merry and sad,
Ye wound the heart and ye make it glad
With the music your ringing makes;
And tiie weary heart that has dreamed so long
Takes up the thread of the broken song
And sings lilt it, quivering, breaks.
THE RED LIGHT.
A CHRISTMAS STOH'l*
It was Christmas Eve.
Not one of the ideal Christmas Eves
of poets and romance writers, wherein
the moon Is always at the full, the
snow always a-sparkle like pulverized
diamonds, and the air always still and
cold and clear, but a stormy twilight,
with the snow driving steadily from
the east, the wind raw and biting, and
the sky—what you could see of it—
black as ink.
But it was Christmas Eve, all the
same, and Bertha Hooper's cheeks
were as red as the bitter-sweet berries
in the woods as she sat, all wrapped
up, in the train that was steaming
northward, on her way to spend
Christmas with her Aunt Almira
Higgins.
Christmas In the country!
tha, who had lived all her life m the
brick walls and stone pavements of a
iity, the very words seemed to convey
somewhat of cheer and joyousness.
And Bertha, as she sat with her eyes
closed and her little gloved hands
safely nestled into a gray squirrel
muff, beheld in her mind’s eyes great
fires of logs roaring up wide-throated
chimneys, walls festooned with hem
lock boughs and black green tufts of
mistletoe; and she had half composed
a poem on Christmas and its cherished
associations when the ruthless conduc
tor came along for her ticket.
“How far are we from Montcourt
station?” she inquired, as she gave up
the bit of pasteboard.
“Next but one, Miss,” said the man,
as he hurried on, with his lantern .
under his arm. “Half in hour yet.” j
She had never been so far from j
New York in all her life before. The
driving rain in which she had left her
home had changed as they progressed
northward into the steady fall of snow,
which fluttered around them like a
white waving shroud. But Bertha
Hooper cared little for this. Had not
Aunt Almira promised to send Zebe
dee, her youngest sou, to the station
with the pony to meet her on the
arrival of the six-forty train from ;
New York? And was not Zebedee -
to have a lantern with a red glass :
door to it, so she could identify him at j
once?
She was very pretty as she sat in
little black velvet toque, with its curl
ing plume of cardinal red and the
wine-red ribbon bow at her throat—
pretty with the bloom and freshness
of eighteen. She was dark, with large
hazel eyes, almond-shaped and long
lashed, a clear, rosy bloom on either
cheek, and wavy dark hair hanging
in silken fringe over her broad, low
forehead.
“Mont Court station 1” bawled
the breakman, putting in a snow
powdered fur cap, and withdrawing it
again as quickly as if he had been a
magnified edition of the Jack-in-the
box, which children much rejoice at in
holiday time. And Bertha Hooper
knew that she had reached ter destin
ation.
Stiff and cramped from the length
of time in which she had been sitting
in one position, she rose up, with a
little steel-clasped traveling-bag in one
hand and a dainty silk umbrella in the
other, and made her way to the door.
All she could see when she stepped
out upon the wet and slippery plat
form was a blur of driving snow,
through which the lights of the soli
tary little country depot gleamed fit
fully; but the next instant something
flashed athwart her vision like a
friendly red eye—and beneath the re
flector over the station door she saw a
tall fine-looking young man, in a fur
trimmed overcoat, a seal-skin cap set
jauntily on one side of a crop of chest
nut curls, and a red-lighted lantern
winging from, ids left hand, as he
SUMMERVILLE, GEORGIA, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 23, 1885.
stood straining his eyes in the stormy
darkness, as if to catch sight of some
familiar face in the little crowd.
“Cousin Zebedee 1” cried Bertha,
aloud, and she made one spring into
the arms of this blonde-whiskered
young giant. For had not she and
Zebedee played dominoes and fox-and
geese ogether, in the days when she
wore blue ribbon sashes, and his hair
was a closely-shorn mat of carroty-red?
“Oh! Cousin Zebedee, I’m so glad
to see you; and I hadn't any idea you
had grown half so handsome !”
And she gave him a great hug, at
the same time holding up her rosebud
lips for a kiss.
But, to her infinite amazement, the
hero of the sealskin cap seemed a lit
tle backward in responding to her
cousinly advances.
“I—l beg your pardon," said he,
slightly receding, "but I’m afraid
there Is some mistake. My name is
not Zebedee and the lady for whom I
am looking is some years older than
you.”
Bertha Hooper started back coloring
and confused, and as she did so, a fat,
comfortable-looking old lady came
trundling along the platform in an
India shawl and a boa of Russia sable
worth its weight in greenbacks.
“Charlie!” she cried, “I thought I
never should find you, Is the carriage
here?"
“All here and waiting, Aunt Ellie,”
responded the young man; but he still
hesitated a second as Bertha Hooper
stood with averted face and motionless
figure in the shadow of the building.
"Can I be of any service to you?”
lie asked. “If you are expecting
friends who have failed to meet you
“Anybody here by the name of Ber
tha Hoo-ooper?'” shouted a stentorian
voice, and a tall, raw-looking lad with
a lantern —also lighted with red glass
—rushed shuffling around the corner.
Zebedee himself! red haired and
shambling and awkward as he had
been in old fox-and geese days.
“Oh!” said he, catching up his lan
tern so that the scarlet bird's wings
flashed out like a spit of flame —scarce-
ly more scarlet, alas, than Bertha’s
own face. “Here you be! I’m a
little late, for the roads is so all-fired
bad, and I couldn't start the pony out
of a walk. Come on. How de do?
Be you very cold?”
“Zebedee,” said Bertha, clinging
almost hysterically to her cousin’s
arm, “who’s that young gentleman
with—with the other lantern?”
"Eh!” said Zebedee. “That feller
with the old lady in a patchwork
shawl?”
“Ye-.”
“It’s Charley Harcourt, the squire's
son,” said Zebedee. “Just come from
furrin parts!”
“Zebedee,” said Bertha, with a curi
ous little sound between a laugh and
a sob, “put me into the cutter, quick,
and drive me somewhere. I don’t
c are where! Because—”
“Eli!” said Zebedee, staring hard at
his cousin, as he packed the buffalo
robe around her before touching up
the laggard old pony.
“Because.” added Bertha, in a spe
cies of desperation, “I took Mr. Har
court for you; and I hugged him and
kissed him.”
“Is tha', all?" said philosophical
Zebedee. “He won’t care.”
“No!” said Bertha, “but 1 shai_*
“You ain’t crying, be you?” said
Zebedee, noting the quiver in his
cousin’s voice.
“How can I help it?” wailed poor
Bertha.
“Twarn’t no fault o’yourn,’’ said
Zebedee, consolingly.
“Os course it warn’t,” said Bertha,
impatiently. “How was I to know
that every lantern at Montcourt had
a red glass door to it?”
And poor little Bertha cried herself
to sleep that night.
The next morning—Christmas Day,
all snowed up into glorious drifts ev
erywhere —Mr. Harcourt drove over
to the Higgins farm-house. The
young lady had dropped a fur glove
on the platform, and Mr. Harcourt
felt it his duty to restore it to her.
And, moreover—here Mr. Charley
Harcourt hesitated a little—he hoped
Miss Hooper would excuse him for be
ing so stupid as to allow her to fancy
him her cousin.
“I ought to have explained sooner,”
said he.
“No, you ought not,” said Bertha.
“The fault was all mine.
“I don’t recognize a fault any
where,” said he. And if I aid par
doned —”
“Os course you are !” said Bertha,
rosier and prettier than ever.
•Tn that case I am commissioned by
my mother to ask your aunt's permis
sion to take you over to help us finish
deessing the church in time for morn
ing service. My horse is waiting.”
“May I go. Aunt Almira?” said
Bertha with sparkling eyes.
“Os course you may go,” said Aunt
Almira.
What was the end of it all? There
is but one sequel to stories like this
when youth and bright eyes and hu
man hearts are concerned. The next
Christmas eve Bertha Hooper and
Charley Harcourt were married. But
the bridegroom persists in declaring
that Bertha did the first of the love
making.
And Bertha only laughs.— Amy Ran
dolph. »
The Mouse-Tower on the Rhine.
This tower is situated on an island
in the Rhine, and is supposed to have
been erected during the middle ages
by some of the robber-knights that
then infested Germany. The ruins
have been covered with stucco and
converted into a watch-tower. Its
name is popularly derived from the
legend of the cruel Archbishop Ilatto
of Mayence. According to the story,
as told in the well-known ballad of
Southey, the crops of the district had
failed one year, and all the poor people
were starving. But the rich bishop
had granaries filled to overflowing,
which ho was holding in order to profit
by the advanced price of the grain.
The wretched people besought the
bishop to give them food from his
abundant stores. To rid himself of
their importunities, the bishop ap
pointed a day for all the poor to come
to his barn and receive a portion of
grain. When they had all gathered in
the building, the cruel prelate ordered
his servants to fasten the doors and
set fire to it, thus burning the wretch
ed beings alive. The next day a
whole army of rats were seen coming
toward the bishop's palace. He fled
foi safety to this tower on the Rhine,
but they pursued him, swimming the
river and scaling the walls of the tow
er; and making their way into the
room where the terrified bishop was
trying to conceal himself, they de
voured him alive. This was in the
year 970. A different story concern- I
ing the mouse-tower, however, is given |
in Murray’s Hand-book of Germany, i
Tiiis asserts that the tower was not '
built until the thirteehth century,
more than 200 years after the death of
Bishop Ilatto. "It was intended,
with the opposite castle of Elirenfels
erected at about the same time, as a
watch-tower and toll-house for col
lecting duties upon all goods which
passed the spot. The word manus is
probably an older form of mauth,
meaning duty or toll, and this name,
together with the very unpopular ob
ject for which the tower was erected,
perhaps gave rise to the dolorous
story of Bishop Ilatto and the rats.”
—lnter- Ocean.
Fast Railroad Time.
“It's a foolish statement,” said As
sistant Superintendent Howland, of
the C., B. & Q., pointing to a para
graph cut from a railroad paper pub
lished in Chicago. “I refer to this
paragraph, which somebody has
mailed me with a big interrogation
mark on the margin: ‘A train on the
West Shore run eighty miles an hour
not long ago. The fast mail train on
tiie C., B. Q. regularly makes sixty
miles an hour on certain portions of
its run.’ I am astonished that such a
statement as this should appear in a
railway paper. No train in America
was ever run eighty miles an hour,
nor no engine without a train. Os
course our fast mail train doesn’t make
sixty miles an hour any portion of its
run, regularly or irregularly. A mile
or two here and thereon a down-grade
may be covered at sixty seconds to the
mile, but that’s all. I have run a
train for twenty-two years and I tell
you I don’t want to ride eighty miles
an hour or anywhere near it on the
best track tiie Chicago, Burlington & '
Quincy lias, and we have just as good
roadway as there is in the United j
States. Eighty miles in an hour is I
practically an impossibility with our
present locomotives and track. For
years I tried to beat the record be
tween Mendota and Galesburg, an
hour and forty-six minutes for the
eighty miles, with two stops, but we
couldn’t do it. When they talk of
I their sixty miles an hour you tell
them they lie. Beats ail the fast-run
ning stories that go around. The
other day I read that a train in Eng-*
land regularly ran ninety miles an
hour for 470 miles.”-- Herald.
Very Like a Tornado.
“Papa, what is a tornado”” asked a
youths ul seeker after information.
Glancing nervously around the
room to see if the coast was clear he
said:
“You have often heard your mother
blowing me up for bringing company
home without previously notifying
her?”
“Yes sir.”
"Well, that is as much like a tornado
as anything I know of. But you
needn’t toil your mother that I said so,
however.'’— New York Journal.
EXPLORERS IN A PLIGHT.
Unexpected Adventures in
Little-known Regions.
Dilemmas, Some of them Ridiculous and
Others Dangerous,
It often happens, says the New York
Sun, that explorers find themselves in
some unexpected dilemma, and, unless
they are quick enough to immediately
extricate themselves, the results are
sometimes serious. Lieut. Cheyne’s
adventure with a polar bear in the
arctic regions shows the advantage of
keepirg one’s wits about him in an
emergency.
Lieut. Cheyne was an English officer
in one of the Franklin search expedi
tions. Early one spring he was sent
with a couple of sledgemen to examine
the condition of some provision depots
that had been laid down the previous
fall. They took nothing with them
but a tent and sleeping bags, rations
of pemmican and hard tack, and a
small supply of tallow to be used as
fuel in thawing their pemmican and
boiling their tea. One morning, after
they had traveled about 150 miles
from the ship, Lieut. Cheyne was
awakened by something pulling at the
corner of the tent. He lifted the tent
flap just in time to frighten a big
white bear, and the animal was in full
retreat over the ice before Cheyne had
extricated himself from his sleeping
bag. The party had more serious work
on hand than bear hunting, and they
would have let the animal go if it had
not been suddenly discovered that his
bearship had torn open the tallow bag
and eaten every ounce of fuel. Here
was a predicament. The men were
five days’ journey from the ship, the
weather was terribly cold, and they
could not eat the solidly frozen pemmi
can. It was necessary to get that tal
low back, and so Cheyne, shouting to
his comrades to follow, set out after
the bear. The chase was an exciting
and anxious one, but the animal was
at last overhauled and killed. No time
was lost in opening the creature’s
stomach, and the men returned to
camp in triumph with all the tallow
of which tiie unfortunate brute had
robbed them.
During last winter the James broth
ers succeeded in exploring a part of
Somauli, in East Africa, where sever
al explorers had been killed. The re
gion has remained almost wholly un
known on account of the hostility of
the natives. The bravery of the
Messrs. James’s escort rapidly oozed
out as they advanced into the hostile
country. They refused once or twice
to go any further, and finally the
brothers hit upon this expedient for
infusing them with a little courage.
A great noise in their own camp gen
erally has an inspiring effect on the
natives of Africa. The Jameses had
their sentinels fire their guns at fre
quent intervals during the night.
They report that this practice greatly
pleased and inspired their people, who
always felt more secure when firing.
The young explorer, Thompson, two
years ago, was considerably nonpluss
ed by a lot of smart and suspicious
natives whom he encountered near
Mount Kenia in East Africa. He had
a few tricks which he very impressive
ly performed when the inhabitants
were unfriendly, and it was necessary
to exhibit his great power as a wizard
to induce them to sell him food. He
had two artificial teeth on a plate, and
the feat that usually overcame all op
position when everything else failed
was to extract these teeth. These
Mount Kenia natives were very much
pleased with this feat, but they said
that if he could take out two teeth he
could remove the others also, and they
insisted upon seeing the entire show.
Finally they not only refused to sell
him food, but threatened to attack
him unless he took his teeth out, and
he thought best to make a forced
march one night to escape his too ex
acting acquaintances.
Mr. Thompson’s white comrade,
Martin, had a more serious experience
with some suspicious natives, and per
haps it served him right. He was
telling a crowd of Wakwafi girls that
he could do even more wonderful
things than the leader had shown
them. Holding out his hand he said
be could cut his fingers off and put
them on again. One of the girls sud
denly sprang forward, seized one of
the extended fingers and cut it to the
bone with a native knife. She had
taken Martin at his word, and was de
termined to see the feat performed.
Dr. Hayes stole a march on the
Esquimaux who refused to take him
and his comrades back to Dr. Kane in
Smith sound after the failure of
Hayes's attempt to return to Upernavik
in small boats. Hayes and his men fully
expected to die of starvation unless the
Esquimaux, with their dog sledges,
assisted them to return north. The
Esquimaux declined to make the long
ourney in rhe growing darkness of the j
NO. 49.
winter. One day two natives drove
up to Dr. Hayes’s hut with a sledge
load of walrus meat. They were on
their way home after a long journey,
and they accepted the doctor’s invita
tion to tarry a while. Everybody ate
heartily of the walrus meat, and then
the natives, overcome with fatigue,
laid down for a nap. Hayes and his
men stole to the hut, barricaded the
entrance, and then drove off with the
dogs and walrus meat. They had gone
several miles before they saw the Esqui
maux in full pursuit. The party wait
ed for the thoroughly angry natives to
come up, and then told them plainly
that they would never see their dogs
and sledge again unless they agreed to
go with them to Kane’s ship. Finally
a bargain was made, good feeling re
established, and the poor fellows, to
gether with some of their friends from
a neighboring village, never rested un
til Hayes was back on the ship again,
The “Thirteen” Superstition.
In Paris there are streets where 12
does duty instead of 13; and the house
holders who thus ingeniously sought
to circumvent fate would not for the
world let the proper number be paint
ed upon their doors. Some years ago
Prince Napoleon tried to laugh his
countrymen out of the superstition;
but liis efforts did not benefit his cause,
for, with characteristic perversity, he
used to invite twelve friends to ca
rouse with him on Good Friday,
whereby lie gravely scandalized right
feeling people, whatever their theolog
ical views.
In Americ t similar but less aggres
ive attempts have been made to correct
popular superstition, and numerous
Thirteen clubs have been established,
the members pledging themselves to
dine thirteen at table on every oppor
tunity. In France, too, there is a
Thirteen club, the headquarters of
which are at Senlisj and even in Eng
land there is a little coterie of thirteen
men who djne monthly at a house
numbered thirteen, and pay thirteen
shillings each for their dinner and 13
pence each to the waiters. Yet still
the superstition is as lively as of yore
all over Europe and America, and
probably it will continue to flourish
and to make people uncomfortable un
til the end of time. There are, in all
likelihood, men and women who are
even now undergoing vague uneasi
ness because 1885 happened to be a
multiple of thirteen.— Philadelphia
Call.
A Machine that Calculates.
The calculating machine invents
by Prof. Thomson appears to excel, in
its ingenious adaptation to a variety
of results, even Babbage’s wonderful
apparatus. By means of the mere
friction of a disk, a cylinder and a
ball, the machine is capable of effect
ing numerous complicated calculations
which occur in the highest application
of mathematics to physical problems,
and by its aid an unskilled person
may, in a given time, perform tiie
w'ork of ten expert mathematicians.
The machine is applicable alike to the
calculating of tidal, magnetic, meteor
ological and other periodic phenome
na; it w ill solve differential equations
of the second, or even higher powers
or orders; and through this same won- j
derful arrangement of mechanical
parts, the problem of finding the three |
motions of any number of mutually '
attracting particles, unrestricted by
any of the approximate suppositions I
required in the treatment of the lunar I
and planetary theories, is done by sim- i
ply turning a handle.— New York !
Sun.
Books for the Indians.
The only written language of the
American Indians was in the form of I
hieroglyphics, but this plan of picture- ■
writing was not much used among the ■
tribes of North America. As the spok- \
en languages of the tribes, however,
have such a complete dialectic struc- |
ture it was not “icult to give this a ■
written form lr ans of the Roman
alphabet. This Las been done in many '
instances, and a number of grammars !
and dictionaries have been printed in f
different Indian dialects, besides many I
other books. Several newspapers are ■
at this time printed among the civil- j
ized Indians of the West, and at mis-1
sion stations, in the Indian language. '
The Aztecs and Toltecs kept their his- ;
torical and other records by means of ■
hieroglyphics in a very systematic
manner.
An Odd Public House.
A curious public house is among the
latest attractions in Paris, it is called i
La Taverne da Bagne. The walls are I
hung with paintings representing the j
horrors of convict life, interspersed ,
with portraits of notorious Commun- |
ists. All the waiters are dressed in |
convict uniform and wear the chains i
and boulets of the regular/breaf. The ;
landlord is Cltoyen Maxime Lisbonne,
one of the leaders of the insurrection
of 1871.— Lyndon Truth.
Gentians.
Shiv’ring like children with their garments
torn,
All the comely leaves of their roundness
shorn,
Srouehed in the bleached and ahndd’ring grass
i find them to-day as I idly pass,
Blue gentians.
Children ot frost—of winds snow-kissed,
Uurtnred in travail—in sleet and mist,
3udding and blowing in the chilling rain,
IVith little of gladness and much of pain,
Poor gentians !
In pity I bend and gather each one,
And hold their, up to the pitying sun,
Co give them a glimpse of a fairer day,
Wore they shall droop in their quick way,
Sad gentians.
And I hold them close to my eager face,
And the tender lines of their being trace,
And I count their goodness to come so late,
iVhen no flower is left to be their mate,
Lorn gentians.
Chough the year of my life wane drear and
cold,
flay this kindness be left, its hands to hold,
Chat some flower of love as a tender sign
Hay bloom as a token of summer time,
Sweet gentians.
—S. B. McManus in the Current.
HUMOROUS.
All the rage—A mad dog.
As a general thing, what a man
tews he rips.
The thermometer gains notoriety by
iegrees, so to speak.
The man who is opposed to vaccina
tion is probably to be pitted.
Even the most inveterate toper ob
jects to taking a horn with a bull.
A young lady asks . “How can I
remove superfluous hair?” Comb the
butter.
The man who said, “There is a gar
ien in her face,” was evidently using
liowery language.
The telephone is an arrangement by
which two men can lie to each other
without becoming confused.
The king of Sweden and Norway is
a poet. The dictum that the king can
do no wrong appears to be exploded.
“Round again ?” he asked, as the
lun put his head in at the door.
"Yes, and I’ll stay ’round until I get
square.”
“Using tobacco in one form," says
!ti hater of the weed, “usually leads to
the use of it in another.” This is
doubtless true, for when a man first
takes snuff he must et-chew I
“Why Johnny,” exclaimed mamma,
“aren’t you ashamed of yourself, going
about with such a dirty face ?” “No,
I ain’t,” replied Johnny, with a con
scious pride in the integrity of his in
tentions; “you’d like to have me taken
tor a dude, wouldn't you ?”
Shying Horses Near-Sighted.
"Why it is that shying in horses
should be set down to an ugly dispo
sition I don’t Jrno.w,” oaSU A pivlUlUent
veterinary surgeon to a New York
Sun reporter: “It must be because
horsemen don’t know what else to lay
it to. The fact is that it seldom Is
met with unless the horse is near
sighted. I have tested scores of shy
ing horses for near-sightedness, and in
nearly all cases found what I expected.
And now, wften I am asked to give
points on buying horses, I give this as
one of the requisites: Never buy a
horse which is near-sighted. Thera
are, however, two exceptions to this
rule. If the horse is to have a mate,
then it doesn’t make any difference
about the sight. One horse can go
blind if the other is clear-sighted. If
the horse is to be used for riding to
saddle be careful that he is not near
sighted, for he will throw you sooner
or later.
"The reason why a near-sighted
horse shies is very simple,” the sur
geon continued. “Os all animals the
horse is the most gentle and even tim
id. He sees a strange object and his
susceptible mind magnifies it into a
monster that is going to destroy him.
A piece of white paper at the roadside
in the night is a ghost and an old
wagon in the ditch is a dragon. Eve
ry horseman knows that if you drive
tiie animal close to the dreadful object
the horse cools down at once. It is
supposed that it is because the horse
makes a closer acquaintance with the
object. That is true, but not in the
sense in which it is generally under
stood. The animal has not been able
to see it from a distance. He is near
sighted.”
The Biter Bit.
“Oh, ho!” exclaimed a suburban
passenger to his milkman; “got a box
of chalk under your arm, haven’t you?
Bought it in the city and taking it out
to the dairy, eh ? Now, will you be
kind enough to tell me what you are
going to do with it ?”
“Certainly, sir, certainly,” replied
the milkman; “your wife tells my
driver to chalk it down so often that
he has run out of crayons, and I’m
laying in a new supply. If you’ll
come out to the farm I'll show you
your statement of account on the side
of the new barn.— Chicago Herald.
A I ream.—At Kilmacthomas Work
house Hospital a man named Vid e has
just b i n admitted, suffering from t right
ful injuries. He had b<.en awavfom
his wife twelve months, and received a
letter from her stating she had dreamed
lhal a great accident was to happen to
him, and imp! iiing him to return home
at once acting en her advice he
started for Dub in. He reached Kilmae
thoinas, and w hile passing t e bridge
that spans the River Manor he fell over
the boundary wall, a depth of fifty feet.
He sustained eimcussiou of the spine and.
cannotrecover.