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PUBLISHED EVERY THURBDA'
-A»-
JBB2JL.LTO N, Gr A.
BY JOHN BLATS.
Tißiis-41.00 per anium 50 cents for ah
months; 25 cents forthree months.
Parties away from Bellton are requested
to send their names with such amounts of
money as they can pare, from 2oc. to $1
TRUSTING.
BY C ABB IK V. SHAW.
I am thinking of you, darliig,
As I watch the dying day,
While the twilight dews are falling
And the light fades alow away.
I shall think of you forever I
When the autumn leaves srexed
I shall feel you onoe more near me,
I shall hear the words yon said.
When the winter snows are dropping;
"When the buds are born again,
And the April skies are weeping,
As in pity, for my pain,
I aha 1 think of you, and ever.
Till the close of life’s bright day, w
When the dews of death are falling
And the light fades slow away.
The Pilot’s Story.
We had grown up together, as it were,
Mollie and I, our parents being near
neighbors, and—which does not always
follow—firm friends as well. They were
poor, and I suspect that fact had much
to do with their friendship, for oppor
tunities were always turning up for help
ing one another; and I have often
noticed that, when near neighbors are
well off and have no need for mutual
help there is very seldom any friend
ship between them ; there is more apt to
be jealousy and competition.
Our parents being such good friends,
it naturally result’d that Mollie and I
followed their example. We went to
school together, read together, played
together ; and, somehow, when Mollie
was 18 and I 20, we agreed to travel to
gether all our lives, and were very happy
in that arrangement; in fact, no other
would have seemed right or natural,
either to us or our parents.
From the earliest days of my boyhood
I had a fondness for the water, haunting
the palatial steamboats that floated on
the great Mississippi river, on whose
banks nestled the city in which we dwelt,
and, at the period to which I am about
to refer, 1 had just secured a position as
pilot on a small freight steamer.
It was not much of a position, to be
sure, nor was there much of a salary at
tached to it; but, small as it was, Mollie
and I decided that we could make it an
swer for two people, neither of them ex
travagant or unreasonable; beside
which, I had hopes of better times to
come, as I had received words of com
mendation from my employers, and
promises of speedy promotion.
So, early one bright morning, having
obtained a day’s leave of absence, Mol
lie and I were married, and, stepping
into a carriage I had hired for the occa
sion, we started off, having decided on a
day’s excursion to a celebrated cave
near by, this being all the wedding trip
we could allow ourselves ; not that we
cared in the leapt, however; we were too
happy to be disturbed by any shortcom
ings of sum or purse.
w We had scarcely driven beyond our
own street, when we were brought to a
halt. A messenger, whom I recognized
as belonging to our steamboat company,
hailed me.
“ Here is a note for you from the
Superintendent. ”
Thus it ran:
Am sorry to have to recall your leave for to
day, but you must immediately go on board
the Mobilia, which is ready to start up the
river. The pilot is too ill to attend to duty,
and you are appointed to take his place for the
present.
“ There goes our wedding trip all to
smash I ” said I, as Mollie read the or
der.
*' Why so ? ” she asked.
“You see I must go into th# pilot
house of the Mobilia.”
“ Very well,” she replied. “We will
just go up the river instead of to the
cave. Drive on, Rob ; let us go down to
the wharf in state. ”
“ But you can’t go in the pilot-house
with me/lit tie goose.”
“Os course not; but I can sit on the
deck outside,” laughed Mollie, “ and
we can cast languishing glances at each
other.”
And so it came to pass that I took
possession of the Mobilia’s pilot-house,
my heart glowing with love and pride ;
with love, for there, just below me, on
the little forward deck, sat my sweet
bride ; with pride, because the Mobilia
was one of the finest of the beautiful
floating palaces of the Mississippi, and
to pilot such a one had for years been
the height of my ambition.
The steamer w’as fitted up with a
double cabin, one above the other—the
upper one opening upon a small deck,
reaching out toward the bow, near the
center of which, on a raised platform,
was placed the pilot-house. This deck
was always occupied by passengers, and
tliis morning it was particularly crowd
ed, for the boat was heavily laden with
people taking advantage of the beauti
ful weather to make an excursion up the
river.
Some rough fellows jostled against
Mollie’s chair after a while, and she rose
and passed down into the lower cabin,
“to get a drink of water,” she whis
pered to me as she passed ; but I sus
pect it was really to prevent the burst
ing of the thunder-cloud she saw gath
ering on my brow.
I saw that the insolent fellows made
no attempt to follow my dear one, so I
gave myself up to my own happy
thoughts, and, looking out on the far
distant, peaceful shores of the great
river, over whose placid bosom we were
moving so swiftly, there rose from my
heart a glad, silent hymn of rejoicing.
But suddenly a cry broke forth from
the cabin behind me that effectually
changed the current of my thoughts :
‘ ‘Fire ! fire! fire!" A horrible cry at
all tijnes, but most horrible of all when
it rings forth in the midst of gay, unsus
picious hundreds floating in fancied se
curity in the midst of the waters.
The North: Georgian.
VOL. 111.
An instant’s awe-struck silena# suc
ceeded that awful cry, and then three
hundred voices, of men, women, and
children, united in fearful, heart-rend
ing shrieks for help.
“jFire ! fire ! fire 1”
Aye ! there was no mistake about it,
nor false alarm. No one could tell how
it hod commenced, but there it was
creeping along the roof of the upper
cabin, with the deadly flames greedily
hipping up every scrap of awning and
curtain they could find upon their way,
ever and anon darting long tongues of
flame down to the floor to clasp the light
chairs and tables and settees in their fiery
embrace.
As well seek with a sieve to scoop up
the waters of the great river on which
• the Mobilia floated, as to try to subdue
the roaring, devouring enemy that had
seized upon the ill-fated steamer.
The people darted down from the
blazing upper cabin to the forward deck
below, where as yet the foe had made
but little headway, and there our brave
Captain—who was that rara avis “the
right man in the right place”—suc
ceeded in partially quelling the panic.
* • Keep quiet ! ” he ordered— ‘ ‘ keep
quiet, and stay just where you are, or I
will not answer for the lives of any of
you ! The steward will provide every
one of you with life-preservers; but
there is no reason for any person to go
overboard; not yet awhile, at any rate,
unless suicide is desired. Keep quiet. I
say! Pilot, head her straight for the
land, half a mile ahead.”' (We were at
least twice that distance from the main
land on either shore.) “Engineer, put
on all steam—crowd her on ! We will
run a race with the foul fiend who has
boarded the Mobilia. ”
There was an instant’s pause, and
then, with a groan and a surge, with
the timbers creaking and straining, and
the windows rattling as though in mortal
terror, the Mobilia gathered herself up
to run her last race.
Each passing moment the flames crept
on and on and on, never pausing in their
terrible march. Fortunately, they leaped
upward rather than downward, so that
there was as yet but little danger to the
panic-stricken crowd on the lower dock.
But the pilot-house was directly in the
track of the flames, and already their
advance guard was beginning to sur
round me, singeing my hair and eye
prows.
Suddenly there was a murmur among
the people below, and the next instant a
light form flew up the ladder leading to
the little deck by the pilot-house, and,
before I could say a word, my precious
Mollie had thrown open the door, and,
closing it again, stood at my side.
“Mollie, Mollie!” I cried. “For
heaven’s sake go back, go back! Don’t
you see how the flariles arc creeping to
ward us here ? Go, go, my dearest, my
own true wife ! Don’t unman me by
making mo fear for you. Go down
where I can feel that you have a chance
of safety.”
“Bob Thorne ! ” she exclaimed, with
her eyes looking bravely straight into
mine, “ am I your wife ? ”
“Surely, surely, thank God!” I ut
tered. ‘ ‘ But go, go! ”
“My post is here, just as much as
yours is,” she answered, firmly. “ I will
stay here, Rob, and if you die, I will die,
too. We will make our wedding trip
together, my dear husband, even if it be
into the next world. Keep to your duty,
mil never mind me, Rob. There is hope
for us yet, and, if it comes to the worst,
why"—and a brave, sweet smile crept
round her lips—“we are still together,
dear love 1 ” , .
1 saw it was of no use to urge nor any
more, and, besides, something swelled
in my throat so that I could not utter a
word, so I just gripped the wheel hard,
and looked right ahead, though every
thing looked very dim just then, and my
devoted darling stood calmly at my side,
watching the flames that were creeping
closer and closer upon us, leaping
around the pilot-house like hungry de
mons impatient for their prey.
“Thorne,” shouted the Captain,
“ come down. Dower her and yourself
over the rail. We’ll catch you. You
cannot stay there any longer. We are
very near the shore now, and the rest
we’ll take our chances for.”
It was an awful temptation. I knew
that, did I follow the Captain’s advice,
both Mollie and I would be safe, for I
was a good swimmer, and, should the
boat-not reach the shore, I could save
her and myself ; but then, if I did this,
would I not deliberately expose every
one of the 300 souls on board to destruc
tion ? True, the boat might keep to her
course during the short space remaining
to be passed, merely from the rapid im
petus of her approach ; but, again, she
might not—and then ?
1 looked at my dear wife inquiringly.
“ Stick to your post, Bob !” she said.
“ No, sir I” I shouted back; “I shall
stick to my post; I shall stay here till I
run her clear on the shore, or die first.”
“My brave Rob—my noble Bob I”
murmured Mollie.
But alas for my devoted Mollie! alas
for me! Not the pilot-house only, but
the entire deck around it was now sur
-1 rounded by flames. It was too late to
! lower ourselves to the deck below ! The
1 railing was all ablaze.
I My arms, released from their guardi
| anship over the wheel, clasped Mollie
close to my heart; but my eyes and
, brain were busv seeking for some mode
of escape from death that seemed each
i instant more certain.
1 All at once my eyes rested on the
i paddle-box. It had not taken fire yet;
1 the flying spray had saved it. I had
I only to dash across the flame-swept
j deck, and fling open a little door in its
i side, which afforded ready access to the
I wheels, to lower my precious charge to
BELLTON, BANKS COUNTY, GA., DECEMBER 23, 1880.
the water beneath in safety. No sooner
thought of than done.
“Take my hand, Mollie," I said,
“ and run with me. We shall be saved,
after all. Wrap your shawl across your
mouth. Now, now—run ! ”
Leaping down on the deck, we sped,
band in hand, to the paddle-box. I
dashed open the little door, and, push
ing Mollie inside, passed in myself, and
drew the door close again, shutting out
the eager flames whose angry roar pur
sued us as we dropped gently down into
the shallow’ water and crept out from
beneath the wheel.
Our appearance was hailed with a
shout of delight and relief, for all had
given us up us lost, and we must have
been but for the heaven-inspired thought
of the wheel-house.
Now that the danger was over, poor
little Mollie fainted ; and no wonder.
But she soon came out all right; and, as
the people began to find out that the
“bravo little girl,” ns they called her,
was really a bride of only a few hours,
anil that we were on our wedding trip,
there was a regular ovation, followed up
by nine deafening cheers.
The island upon which the Mobilia
had been beached was low, sandy
and uninhabited, altogether not an in
viting place tor 300 people, without a
particle of shelter, to pass half a day
upon, yet even in this plight there were
few grumblers in our midst.
There was no room in our hearts for
any feeling but that of thankfulness for
our preservation from a fearful death,
and, after the peril of the last
hour or two, it seemed a small matter
to wait patiently for the coming of th#
relief boats that we knew were sure to
arrive before many hours were past.
Though some miles from any large
city, we knew’ that the burning steamer
must have been seen from the farm
houses scattered sparsely along the river
bank, and that from these notices of th#,
disaster would be sent to the nearest
town. And so it was. Before nightfall
several small steamboats arrived, and,
after that, but a few hours elapsed be
fore we found ourselves safely at home,
and our adventurous wedding trip at an
end. But its results were not ended, by
any means. The terrible nervous strain
I had endured, combined with the se
vere burns on my face and hands, threw
me prostrate on a bed of sickness.
When I was able to report for duty
again, two weeks later, I learned that a
noble gift from the Mobilia’s grateful
passengers—no less a sum than $2,000
—lay in the bank awaiting my order.
Not only this, but the steamboat com
pany had voted me a gold medal and the
appoiutment of pilot of the finest steamer
on their line.
Years have gone by since my brave
wife and I had so nearly journeyed out
of the w’orld on our wedding trip. From
pilot I have come to bo Captain and
part owner of one of those beautiful
floating palaces that used so to excite
my envy ; but never do I pass without a
sickening shudder the little island where
the Mobilia won the stakes in the lost
rnceß-a race of fire against steam, of life
against death.
Fish for Food.
During the last twenty years chemists
and physiologists have been studying
the nutritious value of various foods.
They have advanced so far as to com
pute the relative values of the common
articles of diet. These have beep so ar
ranged in tables that the bread-winner of
the household may see at a glance what
food will give the most nourishment to
his family.
A prominent subject of those studies
has been the common food fishes. At
the recent meeting of the Ameican Asso
ciation of Science, Professor Atwater, a
chemist, gave some of the results of
these experimental studies.
In one hundred pounds of the flesh of
fresh cod there are eighty-three pounds
of water, and only seventeen pounds of
solids. In the same weight of salmon
there are sixty-six and one-half pounds
of water, and thirty-three and one-half
pounds of solids. The meaning of these
figures is that a family eating one hun
dred pounds of cod would be nourished
by only one-sixth of it, while if they
feed on th# same weight of salmon, they
would find one-third nutritious.
Next in nutritive value to salmon come
fat halibut, shad, and whitefish. Then
follow mackerel, bluesfih, lean halibut,
striped bass, flounder, and lake trout
The order in which they are placed indi
cates their relative value as food. Lean
beef is less nutritious than salmon, as it
contains seventy-five per cent, of water
and twenty-five per cept. of solids.
While fish is highly nutritious and
healthy, there is a somewhat exag
gerated notion that it is particu
larly valuable for brain food on ac
count of the large amount of phos
phorus which it contains. The notion
owes some of its popularity to a remark
alleged to have been made by the late
Professor Agassiz. “When I wish to be
very brilliant,” he is reported as saying,
“I eat fish for dinner/’ But Professor
Atwater says that the notion is not
founded upon fact. While fish is excel
lent there is no evidence to prove that
the flesh of fish is richer in phosphorus
than are other meats.— Youth s Compan
ion.
The Fall Mall Gazette says England
can no longer furnish her own butter,
because the dairy maid, with her pail, is
a thing of the past. Farmers’ wives and
daughters now think dairy work a degra
dation. Dairy farming in France is a
great and profitable industry, the daugh
ter of a dairy farmer often receiving a
dower of $20,000 on her wedding day.
Much of it is the product of her own
labor.
SOUTHERN NEWS.
Good tobacco grows in White county,
Ark.
At Little Rock the telephone has 170
Subscribers.
‘ Land is selling in Sumter county, Ga.,
at sls per acre.
Land in Louisana can be bought at $2
to $25 per acre.
The total bonded debt of the city of
New Orleans is $15,929,688.
There has been 140 rainy days in Jack
sonville, Fla., this year.
At Galveston an estimate puts the
cotton crop at 5,557,000 bales.
The receipts of cotton at Savannah net
over half a million bales.
At Bay St. Louis, Miss., Conrad Hoff
man picked 5,000 oranges from one tree.
Morgan City, Louisiana, shipped 180,-
000 oysters to New Orleans in one week.
Cleveland county, N. C., will consume
1,000 Tennessee hogs next year.
Many citizens of Biloxi, Miss., have
not yet gathered their oranges.
There are seventy-five inmates in the
deaf and dumb asylum at Austin, Tex.
Ten thousand children attended school
In Hinds county, Miss., during the past
year.
Receipts of cotton at Wilmington, N.
C., during November, 30,430 bales,
against 18,471 bales in November, 1879.
The debt of Columbus, Ga., is $540,-
•800. Only $26,000 of old bonds remains
to be exchaged for five per cents.
Adams county, Mississippi, contains
’22,906 inhabitants, of which 18,059 are
colored.
There were 4,255 letters mailed at
Birmingham, Ala., in the first seven days
.of this month.
Tobacco outlook has increased the val
ue of timbered land in Buncombe coun
ty, North Carolina, fifty j>er cent in three
years.
Arkansas has 3,635,000 acres of land to
give to actual settlers. The State Land
-office receipts are SIO,OOO in excess of ex
penses.
Joseph Sewell, on fifteen acres of Geor
gia upland that had been in cultivation
fifty years, made eleven bales of cotton
averaging over 500 pounds apiece.
The bulk of the Louisiana cane crop
is uninjured, and it is thought that the
crop will be the largest made in nearly
twenty years, reaching 225,000 hogs
heads.
Darien, Ga., timber merchants intend
doing a larger business this year than
they have done since the war.
Official returns of the census from all
the counties of Georgia, except three,
show a net increase in the last decade of
527,557.
Counties in Georgia having the largest
population : Fulton, 49,515 ; Chatham,
45,110; Richmond, 34,569; Bibb, 27,140;
Burke, 27,127 ; Floyd, 24,418; Houston,
22,412.
One of the most valuable features of
the Memphis sewerage system is the en
tire abolition of privy vaults, death deal
ing nuisances in large cities.
R. Y. McAden, a Charlotte banker, is
erecting a cotton factory in Gaston coun
ty, N. C., to have 7,000 spindles. The
seventh cotton factory in that county.
A yellow brocade silk dress, 127 years
old. is shown in the industrial exhibition
at Charleston. The silk was spun in
South Carolina and woven in England
for Mrs. Pinckney, wife of the Chief Jus
tice of the Province of South Carolina.
About 19,000 cattle have been received
in Farquier county, Va., in the last
three months. They are brought from
Tennessee and southwest Virginia and
fattened for the Baltimore and Washing
ton markets.
At the rate of $24 per month the 30
convicts now on hand will bring a reve
nue to Greene county, Ala., of $8,640.
It is said that the convicts will be well
clothed and kindly treated, but will be
required to do good work.
The report of the State Auditor of
North Carolina shows that the valuation
of land has increased in eight years $13,-
550,000, or twenty per cent. The in
creased value of town lots is $6,000,000,
or fifty per cent.
Texas is entitled to the banner which
she gave to Georgia four years ago for
polling the largest Democratic majority
in a presidential election. Tilden had
over 80,000 majority in Georgia and
about 40,000 in Texas. Hancock has
6%000 in Texas and about 35,000 in
Georgia.
It is said to appear, from the tax books,
that the value of property in eleven
counties of Georgia (Columbia, Harris,
I Thomas, Walker, Elbert, Randolph,
Chatham, Cherokee, Hancock, Houston,
and Monroe) in ’74 was $46,673,679, and
in 188 ', $36,188,880. Thia is thought to
show the correctness of Hon. A. H.
Stephens’ statement that the people of
Georgia have been growing poorer.
How to Make (loffe#.
Select with critical discrimination the
best of genuine Mooha; or, in default of
this, Ola Government Java. Never buy
it as roasted and ground in our stores.
In these processes and in the keeping
some of tire finest of the aroma must
necessarily be lost. Boast your own
coffee and grind your own coffee your
self. Boast it in an iron or other stew
pan, which is thoroughly cleaned and
scoured after each using. It will serve
greatly to retain the aroma to throw in a
piece of the sweetest of butter, about the
size of a chestnut When this is melted
it will throw around each particle of
coffee a thin, buttery film, which will do
much to prevent the escape of the deli
cate coffee bouquet Keep stirring con
stantly. Allow to remain until the coffee
is a fine, rich brown, bnt not until it
browns to any blackness. Grind to small
grounds, but do not make the very com
mon mistake of grinding to a powder.
Place these grounds in an earthen, or at
least porcelain-lined, bowl. Cover with
boiling water. Set on a warm place on
the stove, but not hot enough to make it
boil, and allow to infuse forhalf an hour.
Now strain. We have now on exquisite
coffee flavoring.
A very delicate coffee flavoring may
be obtained by another process, as fol
lows: Boast and grind your coffee as di
rected in a previous recipe. Now reduce
to grounds, and throw these grounds
directly into the cream before it is sot
on the fire. Now, by the time the cream
is heated up to the boiling point, the
whole mass will be pervaded by a very
delicate coffee bouquet. Os course the
cream must lie carefully straified before
you proceed to freeze.
It will strike the housewife at first
reading as simply incredible that the full
aroma of the coffee berry can be extract
ed without any application whatever of
fire. The experiment will delight as
well as surprise all ladies of intelligence
and taste who once put this to the test.
The cold process was first devised sim
ply with a view of preventing, as fin- as
possible, the escape of the aroma of the
coffee berry, which is as volatile as it is
delicate, anil all ordinary processes more
or less sacrifice. Take five ounces of
best Mocha or Old Government Java,
roast and grind to a coarse powder in a
way laid down in the previous recipe,
pour the grounds into a glass bottle or
decanter; pour on a sufficient quantity
of cold water to cover the coffee, stop
the bottle or decanter close, set in a
warm situation for thirty thirty hours;
now filter the infusion by passing it
through some fine lawn or blotting
paper placed on a glass funnel or strum
through muslin.
This process has been tried with hot
water as well as with cold, and, while it
contradicts all prevailing impressions to
say so, this still remains the fact, that
the cold water produces the best result.
Let each housekeeper try both the hot
and cold water process, and decide for
herself which result gratifies her the
most.
It will be observed that the delicate
and highly aromatic infusions obtained
by any of the foregoing processes will
be fully available for hot breakfast cof
fee, for ice-cold coffee, for coffee-ice, or
for coffee ice-cream. Philadelphia
Times.
How to ‘Write Well.
We believe that the whole of this
method is a mistake; that there is no
single system of mecanique for writing,
and that a child belonging to the edu
cated classes would be taught much
better and more easily if, after being
once enabled to make and recognize
written letters, it were let alone, and
praised or chidden, not for its method,
but its result. Let the boy hold his pen
as he likes, and make his strokes as he
likes, and write at the pace he likes—
hurry, of course, being discouraged—
but insist strenuously and persist
ently that his copy shall be legi
ble, shall be clean, and shall ap
proach the good copy set before him,
namely, a well-written letter, not a
rubbishy text on a single line, writ
ten as nobody but a writing-master
ever did or will write to the world’s end.
He will make a muddle at first, but he
will soon make a passable imitation of his
copy, and ultimately develop a char
acteristic and strong hand, which may be
bod or good, but will not be either
meaningless, undecided, or illegible.
This hand will alter, of course, very
greatly as he grows older. It may alter
at 11, because it is at that age that
the range of the eye is fixed, and short
sight betrays itself; and it will alter
at 17, because then the system of tak
ing notes at lecture, which ruins most
hands, will have cramped and tem
porarily spoiled the writing ; but the
character will form itself again, and
will never be deficient in clearness or
decision. The idea that it is to be
clear will have stamped itself, and con
fidence will not have been destroyed by
worrying little rules about attitude
and angle and shape which the very
irritation of the pupils ought to con
vince the teachers are, from some per
sonal peculiarity, inapplicable. The lad
will write, as he does anything else that
he cares to do, os well as he can, and
with a certain efficiency and speed. Al
most eveiy letter he gets will give him
some assistance, and the master’s re
monstrances on his illegibility will be
attended to like any other caution given
in the curriculum. “ Learning to
Write," in Popular Science Monthly.
Xoftli
«, > Puauratn Evert Thvmdat at
BELLTON, GEORGIA:
RATES OF SUBSOJUPTJOJT.
One year (52 uumbera), $1.00; six inoaths
1."6 numbers) SO eeate; three months (13
numbers), 26 cents.
Ollie# in th# Smith building, #ast of th#
depot.
NO. 5L
FACTS FOB THE CURIOUS.
It is said that no rhymes exist in the
English language for the words silver, •
orange, month, kiln, bilge and gulf.
It has been said thaUman is the only
animal that makes use of tools, but the
statement has been controverted, oh- •
servation having shown that other ani‘
mals do occasionally employ tools. This
is especially the case with monkeys,
which in confinement > have been ob
served to use stones to crack nuts, and
sticks ox leather straps to draw ’ toward
them objects which lay beyond their
reach. /
Shakbpeabh uses more different words
than any other writer -in the English
language. Writers on the statistics of
words inform us that he uses about
15,000 different words in his plays and
sonnets, while there is no other writer
who uses so many as 10,000. Some few
writers use as many as 12,000 words, but
tlie great majority of writers do not em
ploy more than 8,000. Li conversation
but from 3,000 to 5,000 different words
ore used.
Ih the city of Dublin there are 24,000
families, averaging five members, who
are each living in a single room. The
death-rate of the city is 40 per 1,000,
which is equivalent to 60 per 1,000 in
the tenement-house districts. These
two facts, the enormous number of fami
lies living in a single room, and the high
death-rate, prove that the horrors and
dangers of Irish distress have not been
exaggerated. These families of five,
shut up each in a single room, depend
for support upon wages of from 10 to 17
English shillings a week.
Tub eade with which the Esqui
maux of St. Lawrence island can see to
a great distance, and the marvelous way
in which news is transmitted from the
most distant pointe, is really wonderful.
A native will describe the dress and ap
pearance of a man whois approaching at
a great distance. A white man, even a
sharp-eyed sailor, can just make out
that it is a human figure. So if anything
occiu’s on the coast, if a piece of wreck
comes ashore, the full particulars will
be known in a short time 1,000 miles
from the place where it occurred. It is
a wonderful system of telegraphy—one
native rushing off to pass the news to
another, and thus speeding intelligence
over hundreds of miles in a single day.
From the examination of a book com
piled 2,000 years B. C. it has been as
certained, what has long bebn supposed,
that Chaldea was the parent land of
astronomy; for it is found, from this
compilation and from other bricks, that
the Babylonians catalogued the stesS,
and distinguished and named the con
stellations. They observed the seventh
day as one of rest. They invented the
sun-dial to mark the movements of the
heavenly bodies, the water-clock to
measure time, and they speak in this
work of the spots on the sun, a fact they
could only have known by the aid of
telescopes, which it is supposed they
possessed, from observations that they
have noted down of the rising of Venus
and the fact that Layard found a crystal
lens in the ruins of Nineveh. These
j “ bricks” contain an account of the del
' uge, substantially the same as the nar
rative in the Bible. They disclose that
houses and lands were then sold, leased
and mortgaged, that money was loaned
nt interest, and that the market garden
ers, to use an American phrase, “worked
on shares;” that the farmer, when plow
ing with his oxen, beguiled his labor
with homely songs, two of which have
been found, and connect tliis very re
mote civilization with the usages of
to-day.
A Diver’s Training.
Before a man becomes an expert diver
he must undergo a course of severe phys-
I ical training. The atmospheriepressure
on the surface is fifteen pounds tor every
i square inch of the body, and on the av
■ erago man is somethiiiglike fifteen tons,
I but the outside and inside pressure beirnf
i equal, this immense weight is unnoticed.
At every thirty-four feet of descent under
j water this pressure is increased one at-
I mosphere, or the additional pressure of
j fifteen pounds to the square inch, and as
it is absolutely necessary to have the air
pressure in the armor fully equal to
that of the water, some idea can be had
j of what the diver must withstand, even
at the moderate depth of thirty-four feet,
although the inhaling of this compressed
' air in a measure relieves th# unpleasant
! sensation. When the distance is in
creased to a hundred or a hundred and
fifty feet, the sensation becomes almost
unendurable—the blood starts from the
eyes, ears, mouth, and even from th#
pores of th# skin, and on returning to
the surface extreme exhaustion is the re
sult. Some men are so constituted phys
ically that they cannot remain under
water at all. The greatest depth that is
ever attained is one hundred and fifty
feet, and then the most experienced
diver can remain at this point but five or
I six minutes without serious injury.
, Divers go to this depth only to secure ar
ticles of great value, remaining long
1 enough to attach a chain or rope. At a
hundred feet an old diver can remain
about an hour, and at fifty feet from four
| to six hours, according to the strength
I of the diver.
Miss Flora Shabon, daughter of
1 Senator Sharon, is betrothed to Sir
Thomas Hesketh, a wealthy English-
I man, who, in the course of a tour round
I the world in his steam yacht, has been
making a stop at San Francisco.
That gigantic floating palace, the Li
vadia, made, in passing from Cork to
Gibraltar, upward of seventeen miles on
hour, while there was a total lack of any
disagreeable motion, her “pitch” being
but one degree. This may lead to a
great change in ship-buikling.