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AFTLR THE RAIN.
BY LATHAM C. BTROHO.
S listen with the win,
•r nutters in the hull
uuuiow sunlight floods the plain,
be blue wet woods are bright again.
And sweet the murmur of the rills.
I bear the sound of little feet,
And catch a glad, exultant cry,
As on the curtained window seat
Two little rocuish faces meet,
To see the rainbow in the sky.
The scent of roses fills the air;
The fragrance of the new-mown hay
Is blown across the meadows, where
The patient oxen meekly Hare,
And silence marks the close of day.
The tumbling brook unceasing swirls,
The; rainbow fades along the skies,
And as I clasp my little girls
I note beneath their shining cnrls
Two little pairs of drowsy eyes.
The fresh green leaves are jtut ajar.
And flattering birds are chirping low;
The village bell sounds faint and far,
And softly now the evening star
Above the hill begins to glow.
Two white$obed little ones to-night
Together kneel beside the bed,
And as the moon with fingers light
Is pushing back the curtains white.
Two little prayers are softly said.
The night is come with mist and moon,
The falling waters sob and sing,
The crickets chant a measured tuue,
And all the strange, sweet life of June
By day and night is worshiping.
Two little darlings, fast asleep,
Together wander hand in hand,
Through moonlit valleys still and deep,
And down the mountains dark and steep,
Into the realm of fairyland.
Andrnstlingpinions seem to glow (
And fill the room with purple light,
As if some angel, last to go,
Had lingered from the rest below
To kiss the little one good-night I
PLANTATION TOPICS.
The Farmers of California Satisfied.
For once the farmers of California
are satisfied. Scarce a grumble is
heard from one end of the state to the
other. Even the little injury done by
the spring winds has been repaired by
subsequent showers. There is hut one
side to the crop story, and that is that
the area sown is greater and the yield
per acre promises to be larger than
ever before in the history of the state.
[Reliable judges, well supplied with
data on which to base estimates, be
lieve there will be a surplus of seven
hundred and fifty thousand tons of
wheat for export.—San Francisco Post.
Farm Values in England and 'America.
The Boston Advertiser, in discussing
the relative value and rental of Eng
lish and American farming lands,
comes to the singular conclusion that
the American are held at the highest
rates, alleging that the English range
of annual rent from $850 to $900 per
S ir for oae hundred acres is “ much
ow what would be demanded in
Massachusetts.” Indeed! Will the
Advertiser put its finger on a few
Massachusetts farms of one hundred
acres which rent for $900 ? And does
it suppose that the average would rent
for even $350? The same writer
thinks the valuation of land in the
richest English county—$270 per acre
—much less than it is held at in this
country. On the contrary, the aver
age value of the farming lands in Mid
dlesex county, including the rich mar
ket gardens around Boston, being the
richest farming county in the state, is
only $108 per acre.—Springfield Re
publican,
Sea Island Cotton.
^ The commissioner of agriculture, in
reply to a resolution of the senate
gives the following information: “A
soil of marine formation appears to be
necessary for the growth of the stalk
and fibre of the sea island or long sta
ple cotton, and a sea atmosphere, with
its warmth and equability. A sandy
deposit of marine salt but little above
the sea level, permeable by the moist
ure beneath, and convenient for the
requisite manuring by salt-marsh, fur
nigh conditions for the highest produc
tions of sea island cotton. Edisto is
land, south of Charleston, is the most
prominent locality for the production
of long staple cotton. Saint Simons,
Ukyl, and Skidaway are also favorably
known for products of high quality.
The geographical limits and area m
which 6ea island cotton matures a per
fect growth include the islands off the
coast of South Carolina^ Georgia, and
Florida, and in the Gulf of Mexico,
and a few miles inland from the coast,
ten or fifteen, more or less. The line
extending farther inland up the river
valleys, which have a marine, soil and
unobstructed sea breeze, and including
most of the area of Florida. The area
suitable for this culture in Texas is
claimed to be quite large, and has. of
late been extending. The proportion
of upland to sea island cotton is about
two hundred to one. Probably not
more than one hundred thousand acres
are now devoted to its culture, while
that occupied in upland cotton is from
one hundred to one hundred and
twenty times as much. The area could
be increased immensely were the con
ditions favorable—a sufficient price,
more systematic and labor-saving
modes of culture and preparation, and
more available and sufficient labor, the
former residents of the coast and is
lands having gone to the cities or re
tired to the uplands.”
Flank Floors Bninons to Horses.
Can not some genius invent a kind
of stable floor that can be kept clean
without too much labor, which will not
ruin the feet of horses standing upon it?
Our horses have not much to do in
the winter season, and we have noticed
a tendency in them to become lame,
but as they got over it upon driving,
we paid but little attention to the mat
ter. The past winter we have kept
but one horse, and as a public convey
ance ran between our place and office,
we have preferred to patronize that
and let our horse stand in the stable.
After the sleighing disappeared and
the roads^hecame bad he had but little
exercise, and we noticed that he was
becoming lame. Supposing that he
would improve as soon as spring work
commenced, we paid but little atten
tion to it, until he became so lame that
he could not strike a' trot, and his
limbs «eemed weak and tender, al
though we could find no sore or tender
spot, nor were bis limbs swollen. We
consulted a veterinary surgeon, who
could neither find cause for lameness,
nor prescribe a remedy.
' We determined to try an experiment.
We made a fence inclosing a small
plot of grass, and turned him out, cut
ting grass for him. Now for the re
sults. For three or four weeks before
turning him out he had been getting
lamer and lamer, until he became un
able to trot. In one week from the
time we turned him out he could trot
off quite lively, and now he has nearly
recovered. He seemed to be lame in
every foot, and especially in his hind
feet, and we have no doubt that stand
ing idle on a plank floor caused his
hoofs to become dry, hard aud con
tracted, so that they pressed upon the
tender frog. If any of our readers
know of a substitute for plank floors,
that will obviate the difficulties we
have presented, we should be glad to
hear from them.—Am. Rurat Borne
Bloodhounds as Detectives.
It is probable that every well con
ducted police-station will now add a
bloodhound to its detective staff, and
confide to him the unravelling of the
most mysterious cases. On the 28th
of March a little girl of seven years,
living at the town of Blackburn, was
outraged, murdered, and cut into frag
ments. Some fragments of jber body
were found a few days afterward near
the town, but the police could not get
a clue to the murderer. They had
some reason, however, to suspect tbit
the crime had been committed by a
barber, or in a barber’s shop, and the
rest of the story may be best told in
the words of the chief constable when
he brought the murderer before the
magistrate:
Yesterday morning a man named
Peter Taylor, » painter, of Neson
street, Preston, vulunteered his services
with a dog—in fact, with two dogs.
One is a springer spaniel and the other
is z bloodhound and pointer-nog, part
bred. I arranged with two of my of
ficers to go witn the owner of the dogs
to the place where the body was found,
near Bastwell, and endeavor to trace
the 6cent. They hunted the fields and
woods in all directions, but without
finding anything, and they returned
to Blackburn. I had arranged pre
viously that the man with the dogs
should remain till night to make a
further experiment vVe arranged to
visit two barbers’shops, one kept by
Denis Whitehead, who resides in Bir-
ley street, and to search the house of
the prisoner. In the first house—that
of Denis Whitehead — the dog fa
bloodhound) did not pay any particu
lar attention, nor did it appear to scent
anything. We had possession of the
prisoner’s house at that time, and the
prisoner was in, and also his wife, and
of course we immediately began in the
prisoner’s shop. The dog having en
tered the house began to scent all
round the rooms in which the prisoner
carries on his business. It entered the
closets, went to the corner, and all
round the corners and crevices of the
house. It further went into the back
room, scenting all round closely, and
evidently scented something. It
jumped upon the slopstone with its
forefeet and appeared to scent some
thing there. At this time the door
whi<ffi leads to the upper room was
shut, and when detective officer
Holden opened the door and went up
stairs the dog immediately rushed af
ter him. The dog scented reund the
back room, which is a room where
there is no fire-place, and really scented
something. It then passed into the
front room and finally scented in the
fire-place. Now this fire-place had
nothing in the fire-grate, nor any ap
pearance of a fire in any shape or
form. Mr. Taylor, observing the
scent, knew what it meant. He im
mediately rushed into the chimney
and found a human skull, evidently
that of a child, with part of its hair
on it. The hair has been saturated
with blood. There are also parts of
the broken skull and parts of the
smaller bones. There are bones which
appear to belong to a forearm and
bones that belong to the hands. There
were in addition small pieces of gar
ments, pieces of gray calico and a
chemise.
The prisoner—a young man named
Fish—has confessed his guilt, and the
bloodhound is justly looked upon as
the best detective in the kingdom.
Visitors to Philadelphia,
The hotel capacity of Philadelphia k
below the requirements for the year
1876. Though accommodations have
been rapidly increased by the erection
ot new hotels and the extension of
older ones, there is still a deficiency,
to meet which the centennial ledging
house agency has been organized. This
is an association composed of railway
men, who early saw the necessity of
bringing private dwellings and board
ing houses under some comprehensive
system, whereby they could be utilized
by strangers unable to find hotel ac
commodations. This association has
contracted with householders for their
best spare rooms, and have secured
daily accommodations for nearly fortv
thousand persons in rooms furnished
equal to those of any hotel in the city,
with two meals of superior quality, at
daily prices of about one-half tho«e
charged by hotels.
The plan of operation is as follows
Coupons are placed ou gale at all the
principal railway offices in America
and Canada where excursion tickets
are sold to Philadelphia, while like
Coupons are sold in Europe. Each
coupon provides for one full day’s ac-
commoaation, which day is to consist
of a breakfast, with meat or ham and
eggs, tea or coffee, two kinds of veget
ables, etc.; supper (or dinner) as sub
stantial as the breakfast; and lodgings,
in rooms well furnished and with clean
bedding (the same linen never being
used by different persons); parlor or
sitting-room fer use of guests, closets,
etc., and in most cases bath-rooms; all
without additional cost—the respecta
bility of the houses in all cases being
vouched for. A visitor to Philadelphia
can purchase coupons for one day or
one hundred days,. Previous to liia ar
rival in the city, he is met on the train
(no matter by what road lie may come)
by a messenger of the association, who
will locate him in one of the rooms,
and give him a card showing exactly
how to reach it, and have his baggage
forwarded to him in the shortest pos
sible time, either by street car or by
special conveyance. The coupons will
be accepted by the proprietor of the
house in payment for his accommoda
tions, and unused coupons will be re
deemed at the central office of the
agency.
The Billiard, Tournament.
Mr. H. W. Collender offers $4,000
for prize money; an additional $1,000
is subscribed by Mr. Frank Queen, of
the Clipper; a number of our room-
keepers have also made liberal sub
scriptions. The tournament will be
held directly under the auspices of the
centennial commission, to whom the
profits will go. They will be supported
by a committee of influential gentle
men selected from the leading cities of
the country, and the chief manage
ment will be by a local committee
comprising the most eminent men in
the profession, uuder the general su
pervision of Mr. Collender. The tour
nament will begin on the fifteenth of
May, and will continue a fortnight,
closing on the twenty-seventh. It will
be held in Horticultural hall. The
games will probably all be the three-
hall, French carom, and it is expected
that four games will be played each
day. The prizes will be five in num
ber, and the winner of the prize, $2,-
500, will gain the centennial cham
pionship. All the most noted players
in the world will take part iq tne tour
nament, among them Maurice Vigil-
aux, the present champion of the world;
A. P. Rudolphe, who holds the dia
mond cue of America, and M. Piot, a
young French player, who has ac
quired a brilliant reputation in the
short time that he has been before the
E ublic. Among our own players n^ay
e named William Sexton,* George
Slosson, Maurice Daly, one ot the
Dions, and John Dessunger.
System of Awards.
An original system of awards has
been adopted by the United States cen
tennial commission, which it is believed
'fill yield most satisfactory results
Two hundred judges, one-half ofwhom
are foreigners and one-lmlf citizens of
the United States, are selected for their
known character and qualifications.
Awards will be based on merit, and
will be made by the United States cen
tennial commission upon written re
ports signed by the awarding judges.
l'he awards consist of a diploma and
bronze medal, accompanied by a spe
cial report, of the judges. Exhibitors
have the right to reproduce and publish
the reports awarded to them. Each of
the judges receives $1,000 to meet his
personal expenses.
A juryman was asked if the judge
had charged him. “Faith,” said he,
“ the little fellow lectured us a good
deal, but I don’t think he means to
charge for it.