Newspaper Page Text
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• THE DYING BRAKEMAN.
BY SUSlfe DRURY.
Silent ttey sit In the shadowy room—
The lamp burn* low—
And they watt tb’ alarm of the signal bell,
For ooe baa a Journey to go;
He tbat shoos with tbe dream on bis lip.
And the throbbing breast just heaving so.
Hush! be start’, for the engine screams
With human cry;
He wakes with a start, and “ Kalamazoo 1”
His white, white lips i epl.v.
Soft steals the hour, and the wind sweeps by,
With tymn and lullaby, moan and sigh,
Wall, and laughter, and frolicsome glee.
nark i ii .lira '.he i’uili uiu; .-ij
Of the casement curtains about his bed.
once more ne wakes. “Jackson.” he said;
“ Chauge cars for Saginaw ahead.”
They wipe hie brow with womanly care:
Poor fellow! tbe trip’s nigh o’er at last.”
“ Just feel his pulse, good fellow, there 1”
“I thought he now had surely passed."
“ That is the tugboat’s whistle, friend.”
“ What iB’t he said “Sun Arbor?” “Ah!
When will the Journey end!*’
Again the o'd yard engine yells,
Some peril at band.
“ Way, way, sleep op, no red lights gleam 1"
“ He seems tc understand.”
“ So cn he comes, faster each time,
On this death-train.”
“ Ypeilanti- for Eel River Road
Change cars again!”
Softly-s'owly passing—
The end is very nigh,
lihe luster t f the spirit world
Beams on that closing eye.
“ He’s going—close tbat creaking door,
It moves him just the least 1”
“Grand rrunk Junction-passengers
Change cars for going East!”
“ Hush 1" ’tin over. “Way.”
“ what ?” “ Speak to me!”
“ You're reaching the white station now."
He whispers—“Da”—
No, not Detroit; brakeman, to thee
• The. angel whispered Death, not Do—
A BRAND NEW SWINDLE.
Gold Bars That Didn’t Fool a Chicago
i Priest.
Several enterprising individuals called
upon Father Cote, of the French Catho
lic churoh, corner of Halsted and Con
gress streets, Chicago, recently, with a
brand-new swindle. They were shabby
sort of fellows, and conversed inbioken
Spanish, One of them, Antonio Con-
tozo, took the good priest aside, and re
lated a Munschausen tale to him that
savored of the wondeiful riches of
Monte Christo, and was otherwise re
markable. As the story went, Mr. Con-
tozo, in company with his particular
friend, Edward Ouora, had left Mexico
during the month of April last, he for
this country and Onora for Canada.
Daring their voyage an Englishman on
board the same vessel died, and they
•succeeded in getting hold of his keys,
with which they opened his tranks, in
one of whioh they discovered a small
satchel, containing eight bars of gold.
This they carried « ff, and had now in
their possession. With this preliminary
statement, Antonio opened asmall satchel
and displayed an oblong bar, resembling
gold, which measured about six inches
in width, four in breadth, one in thick
ness, and weighed about five pounds.
On the back of each bar was the follow
ing diagram and inscription:
K.
Cartajena.
R.
Above the word “ Cartajena” was the
diagram of an nrn, and the bronze
blooks had every appearance of the
genuine article. The tale was well told,
and the fellows acknowledged the fact
of the larceny and their fear of detection
bj the friends of the dead Englishman,
tfhey asked the priest to take the blooks
for $500, and nse the proceeds from the
sale for charitable purposes. Upon the
priest expressing some incredulity at
the genuineness of the bars, they filed
off some dust from several of the blocks
and offered to let him test it. He ao-
oepted the proposition, and requested
them’ to call again.
The dust was taken to some experts
and found to be 19 karats gold. Father
Cote went with the story to a police
station, and several officers were de
tailed to bring in the Mexicans, which
they did. The fellows osmn to the
priest’s house promptly, and again dis
played their gold, and both they and
the bpgns stuff were captured. It was
found that on a nnmber of sides of the
blocks some genuine gold had been
placed, and, taken altogether, the trick
was a good one, and under ordinary
circumstances would have succeeded in
making a victim of some person.
White Ants at St. Helena.—White
ants were introduced into the island in
1810 in some timber from a slave ship.
Mr. McLachlan has identified the
species termea tenuis, Hagen, peculiar
to South America. The mischief whioh
it has done is almost incredible, and it
appears to have simply gradually de
stroyed tbe whole of Jamestown. A
considerable portion of the books in the
public library, especially theological
literature, was devoured by them, and
the whole of the interior would be de
stroyed without the exterior, of the
volumes seeming otherwise than intaot.
The Famous Duke and Duchess Breed.
A writer in the Mark Lane Express
gi.es the history of the origin of thiri
family of shorthorns, which has com
manded such enormous prices for a
few years past. He says: “ The first
of the family we hear of was brought
by Charles Colling from the duke of
Northumberland’s agent at Stanwix, a
massive, short-legged cow, of a yellow
ish red, with the breast near the ground.
She had a wide baok and was a great
grower. Colling called her Duchess,
and had often described her to Bates
as a very superior animal, particularly
in her handling, and told him he con
sidered her the best cow he had ever
seen, but that he could never breed so
good a one from her. She was de
scended from the old stock of Sir Henry
Smithson, of Stanwix. Thomas Bates
bought of Colling one of the descen
dants of this cow in 1804 for 100
guineas, being a fine dairy animal; and
he bought another at Colling’s sale in
1810. For the latter he paid 183 guineas,
and styled her Duchess First, and from
her all of the present family descended.
Bates says he was induced to seleot
this tribe from having found that they
are great growers and quick feeders,
with fine quality of meat, consuming
little food in proportion to their growth,
and also finding that they are great
milkers.
Breeders are now manifesting much
interest to know the total nnmber now
in existence of what are claimed to be
pure Duke and Duchess. Total num
ber of females in the Unitsd States,
eleven, seven of which are owned by
Mr. Alexander. How many of the re
maining four are breeders we are not
able to state; two of them, at least, are
understood not to be. • There are six
females in Canada, owned by Mr.
Cochran. In Great Britain there are
understood to be about thirty-three
females. Of bulls, we have in the
United States sixteen, in Canada, two,
and in Great Britain about twenty.
Total in the United States, 27; in
Canada, 8; and in Great Britain, 53;
in all, 88. Of these, ten oows in Ameri
ca have Lord George cross, and four in
England the same; while six females
in England have the Romeo, and eight
the Usurer otoss; and Grand Duchess,
say ten, have Booth and other so-called
outside crosses. There are two with
Lord George cross through Lord Duke
of Airdrie, and one at least, with the
Grand Turk cross. Of the few so-
called pure Duobesses, several are
doubtfal breeders. Of the “striotly
pare” bulls, the United States may
olaim four (one a doubtful breeder),
and Great Britain four—seven in all.
The Peculiar People.
An English religious seot whose be
lief prevents them from employing phy
sicians in sickness, have taken measures
to establish a large hospital from which
doctors shall be excluded and where
the only remedial agents used shall be
Q er and the anointing of the patient’s
r. It is improbable that the law
will allow the existence of such a hos
pital, as it has lately convioted a mem
ber of this peouliar sect of manslaughter
seeing that his invalid child died be
cause of his refusal to employ a doctor;
but should such a hospital come into
praotioal working it wonld be exactly
the opportunity for the application of
the celebrated “ prayer-gauge.” It will
be remembered that some time ago
Prof. Tyndall set the teeth of the re
ligious world on,edge by proposing to
examine the truth of "the doctrine of the
physical efficacy of prayer by setting
aside a ward in come hospital, the in
mates of which should be prayed for,
and if a larger number of them recov
ered than in the unimpreeated wards
the efficacy of prayer shonld be acknowl
edged. The hospital of the Peouliar
People would be a crucial test in this
matter, and, as no physioians may enter
it, it will afford more remarkable proof
on the religions side than Prof. Tyn
dall’s plan oould have afforded, since
according to that the patients prayed
for were to have tbe benefit of medioal
aid the same as those unprayed for.
FOX'S ROYAL FAMILY.
Searching the Feature* of the Hutted
States tor Blooded Cattle.
Reclining on the dean yellow straw
in a battered old building at 97 Pavonia
avenue, Jersey City, a duke a duchess,
several prinoesses, and other descend
ants of royal blood were contentedly
chewing their dads and switching their
tails yesterday. To-day they will sail
in the steamer Holland for their home
in Elmhurst, Staffordshire, England.
They are ail short-horn cattle that Iikvh
been selected from all parts of the
United StateB and Canada, and are prob
ably the most superb spedmens of this
breed in the world. Every means has
been taken to get only cattle that are
perfect in every point, and fabnlons
prices have been paid for the herd.
They belong to Mr. George Fox, the
foreign partner of A. T. Stewart, who
came to America in April last, and with
his agent, Mr. William Dolby, made the
selection. Fifteen animals were bought
for $125,000.
The most noticeable of the herd is
the bull, the twenty-fourth Duke of
Airdrie. He weighs 2,3C0 pounds,
and iB simply faultless in structure,
quality and handling. His lines are
even and perfect, his color is roan, his
hair is soft'and fine, and his massive
limbs are clean and splendidly shaped.
The Twentieth Duchess of Airdrie, sis
ter to the Duke, is much like her
brother, and to a breeder’s eye is a
triumph of superior breeding. These
two animals are from the famed Wood-
burn herd of Mr. A. J. Alexander,
Spring Station, Ky. f x and $30,000 was
their cost. The Princesses are the
Damask Second, Third Princess of
Oxford, Sixth Princeess of Oxford, and
Third Princess of Thomdale, all splen
did cattle. The other cattle are animals
that any breeder might be proud of.
Stalls with padded walls will receive
them in tbe steamer early this morning.
—New York Sun, June 24.
Ciscoe Fishing at Geneva.
At Geneva Lake, Wisconsin, about
seventy-five miles from Chicago, excit
ing sport is found in oatobing the oiecoe,
a species of the herring. Though never
more than five inches in length, it is as
beautiful as the brook trout, being
covered with fine white scales, giving it
tbe appearance of a quivering blade of
silver as it darts through the water. It
is a most delicious morsel, though from
its fraii delicacy unfit for shipment, and
is necessarily cooked as soon after being
caught as possible. A peculiarity of
the cisooe is that it runs for about five
days between June 1 and 20, and is
never seen, alive or dead, at any other
season of the year. Simultaneous with
its appearance, whioh is in countless
millions at every portion of the shore,
there arrive in the trees, on the water,
and in the bayous reaching baok from
different portions of the shore, myriads
of the oommon sand fly, whioh become
the eiscoe’s food, and which are nsed as
bait. When the sport fairly opens,
Lake Geneva, whioh is a beautiful strip
of water nine miles long and four miles
wide, with precipitous, sloping, and
almost level shores, is then the moBt
picturesque place in America, The fish
is taken with a silk thread, a diminutive
hook smaller than the minnow hook,
and from one to three flies for bait,
which you can supply yourself with by
merely taking a short turn through the
bashes, when.they will attaoh them
selves to yonr clothing, or by carefully
breaking a bough from a tree.—St,
Louis Times.
Burmah.
Burmah is preparing to go to wap
with England, and soon Burmese sub
jects will be bounding blithely from the
mouths of British cannon, with ten-
pound shot following close behind their
oarcisses. The king of Burmah was
offended because the British Indians
proposed to taka a slice off his territory,
and made a show of war. The viceroy
has sent an embassador to his Burmese
majesty in his calace at Mandalay, bat
as the peacemaker selected is Sir Dong-
las Forsyth, the same brave Briton who
blew the Kokas from the guns after the
Sepoy mutiny, and the Burmese know
him well, he Is not likely to accomplish
much. When the king heard that Sir
Douglas was coming he remarked diplo
matically to the British political agent
at his court that “ it would be well that
no differences should exist between two
such mighty powers as the British and
Boamese governments” so it appears
J
tbat hia majesty is not afraid. Bengal
has becom as much a British province
as Cornwall or Kent, and it is just pos
sible that, if his majesty of Burmah
continues to puff himself up, his do
minions will follow the fate of Bengal.
AN EARTHQUAKBAT 8EA.
(experience ot the Captain and Crew ot
f _ the Ship Hamtitoni
at New §ork last week from’Manila!
Her commander, Capt. Boss, states that
at 3 h m, on June 4, when in latitude
19 'deg., 16 min., longitude 57 deg., 51
min., all on board felt tbe shock oj. an
earthquake, whioh lasted fully 10 min
utes. Daring this time there was a
heavy sea running, and in different
places the water appeared to revolve in
oiroles like a whirlpool. When the dis
turbance first began the sea was quite
smooth, but as the shock increased in
violence the waters became correspond
ingly r gltated, terrify ing those who were
on deck and arousing those who were
sleeping below. Suddenly the vessel
receivi d a shock, as if she had grounded,
and a peculiar rambling noise filled the
air. k.imultaneously with the shaking,
the sky assumed a dark, leaden hne.
The atmosphere was also thick and
hazy. Daring the oontinaanoe of the
shock, control of the vessel was com
pletely lost, and the ship refused to
obey the helm. There was little, if any,
wind at the time, yet the vessel was
tossed about as though in the midst of
a gale.
The captain describes the upheaving
of the waves as similar to what would
occur if a series of heavy submarine
explosions had taken place. The dura
tion of the shook was long enough to
enable those who were below to reaoh
the deck and witness the unusual sight.
After the disturbance had subsided, the
sea again became as calm as before.
The vessel sustained no damage and her
cargo appears to be intaot, although her
5,000 boxes of sugar were thrown about
by the shock.
Brain and Sex.
When we take into consideration, says
a writer in the Popular Science Monthly,
that the forces of organic and functional
life represent simply the sum of gangli
onic activity, a jnst idea may be formed
of the extent to whioh this activity must
be pifferentiated iu the sexes. It is
simply necessary to extend the field of
ganglionio aotion to the brain, the su
preme ganglion of all, in order ■ to re
alize the fact that here also functional
differences most exist. That the brain
possesses functions in oommon to the
sexes in no wise renders it impossible
to perform its part as an organ em
braced in the sexual cyole. The rela
tions existing ’ between the sexes are
mutually voluntary, and involve more
or less of mental action. As these re
lations represent the opposite poles of
straotural and functional life, this mu
tuality must also represent phases of
mental aotion whioh exists as sexnal
traits. Concerning many of these re
lations we know that men and women
do not think alike, and that these dif
ferences are radical ones, and have ex
isted many years, and yet continue to
exist. Take the ’abor and the ballot
questions as the most widely known of
the points of disagreement, which seem
to have their origin in sexual mental
attributes. Bat even upon these ques
tions we find many men and women
thinking and acting alike. Yet these
are the exception, and not the rale;
which confirms my idea of tbe dif
ference in the results reached by the
mental processes of the sexes; for
enrely the want of agreement must be a
radical oae in whioh it is a rare excep
tion for the two types of mind to ap-
8 roach each other upon matters other
lan the organic emotions. Keeping in
view the aooepted fact that the brain, as
an organ, or nerve-center, ia the seat of
mental aotion with whioh its strnetnre
either in its histological elements or it*
relative proportion of parts, is more or
less intimately connected, it seems rea
sonable to refer these differences in the
results of sexual mental prooeeses to
structural rather than to any ephemeral
cause.
—A fond parent who bought a oow
for his summer residence in anticipa
tion of the delight that the product
wonld cause Mb little daughter, was
somewhat chagrined when Miss Pert*
looking upon a pan of nectar, ex
claimed: Oh, the horrid yellow least.
It isn't half so good as the nioe bin*
milk we get in Boston.”
