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The Cedartown Advertiser
[Published every Thursday by ID. B. FREEMAN.
Terms: S1.50 per annum, in advance.
OLD SERIES-VOL. VII-NO. 8.
CEDARTOWN, GA., MAY 6, 1880.
NEW SERIES—VOL. II-NO. 21.
THE OLD GRIST MILL.
By Willow brook, beneath the hill.
Stands quaint and gray the old grist-mill.
Spring mosses on his steep rrof grow.
Where broad their shade the w lions throw.
The pond near by ia clear aEd deep.
And around its brink the alders sweep ;
The lily pads spread gay and green,
The lilies white and gold between ;
While grinds the mil) with rumbling sound,
The water wheel turns round aud round.
Among the reeds tbe muskrat dives,
And swift "the swallow homeward flies
T^e robin sits in cedars near,
Y/hen Willow brook runs swift and e'ear ;
The children by the school house play.
Where slumberous shadows softly stay,
And warm and low the summer breeze
Is whispering through the willow leaves,
While grinds the mill with rnmbling sound,
The water wheel turns round and round.
The crows now wing their southern way ;
The squirrels in the nut trees play ;
With merry ehonta the echool boj'a run ;
The mountains bltuh ’neath autum i*a sun ;
Their grain they bring adown the hill,
The farmers, to the old grist mill ;
And faint from far o’er hill and dale
Falls on the ear the thresher s flail ;
While grinds the mill with rumbling souud,
The water wheel turns round and round.
Long years have come aod passed away ;
The mill with age is gaunt and gray ;
The roof gaps wide to rain and sun ;
With oobwebs thick the walls are hung.
The pond is overgrown with weeds ;
The marsh-wren bnilds among the reeds ;
The night winds throngh the willows moan ;
The school house gone, the children grown ;
The farmers sleep where w Id flow rs *row.
Who brought their grain so lenj ago.
When ground the mill With rumLliug sound.
And the water wheel turned round and round.
Red Wins.
"Red wins!'’
It was tlie croupier's hoarse cry. ngain
aud again reiterated, only diversified with
that of "Red loses!” whicn broke the still
ness in the superbly-appointed room at
Homburg, with the gaming-table in its cen
tre, round which were gathered its eager
votaries, behind whom were the scarcely
less interested groups of lookers-on.
“Come away, my dear,’ 1 said a very love
ly woman among the spectators, in a whis
per to her husband. “I am sorry that wo
came. This is no place for Pearl,” indicat
ing with a nod of the head, as she spoke,
an exquisitely beautiful girl, scarcely more
tlian a child, of some twelve or thirteen
summers, who stood beside them.
"Come, Pearl,” the father said.
But the girl stood entranced, her eyes
fixed upon a man’s face seated at the far
thest end of the table. It wns n strikingly
handsome face, even when wearing, as it
now did, an expression of calm, born of
desperation. No tinge of color was in cither
cheeks or lips.
Ills eyes shone with a strange aud hard
glitter, and were fixed upon the balls as
they swung round, as though on the color
uppermost hung his hope of life or death.
And so it was. He had sat down pos
sessed of a fortune; he arose a beggar!
Fate had steadily pursued him with mock
ing hopelessness, until he had placed liis
last stake, only to see it mercilessly swept
from him.
He half arose from the table. What
more was to be done, save to go out some
where into the still night air and send a
bullet through his heart or brain.
It was at this moment the girl, with
flushed cheeks aud lrnlf parted lips, darted
up to his side.
“Take this,” she pleaded, “far my
sake,” and pressed a gold piece into his
cold hand.
He turned. To his excited imagination
Bhe seemed scarcely mortal in her pure,
childlike loveliness. Ills first impulse was
to return her offering—-he was not yet an
alms-taker—but again rang out the croupier’s
cry of command to place the stakes.
Tbe child stood breathless in her eager
expectancy, her eyes burning with feverish
interest.
A sudden impulse overmastered him.
Without speaking a word, he placed the
gold upon the table.
The next minute a small pile of gold was
at his elbow. He staked it all again. Again
he won. A bright spot of scarlet replaced
the pallor in bis cheek, which spread and
deepened as Dame Fortune, who had so
persistently frowned upon him, now re
served for him only her smiles.
Morning was breaking when lie rose from
tbe tables, no longer a desperate mau, but
with his fortune threefold returned to him.
After his first winning lie had turned to
return to the child her offering, but she had
vanished. Should he ever find her, ever
repay the debt ? He knew not; but, stand
ing at last out under the clear blue sky,
with a great weight lifted from his heart
and brain, Harold Clayton vowed that it
should be his life-search, but that the lesson
tanght him should never be forgotten, and
the gaming tables should know him never
more.
Six years passed, and Harold Clayton
was winning name and fame in his own
land, in his profession as an artist.
Standing one night in a crowded assem
bly, some one in passing touched him light
ly on the arm with her fan, and glancing
around, he met the smiling face of his hos
tess.
“Come,” she said, “I want to present
you to my belle. If you can prevail upon
her to give you a sitting, and transfer her
coloring to canvass, you will render your
self immortal. ”
“la she, then, sorbeautiful ?” he question
ed.
‘.‘Judge for yourself,” she lightly rejoin
ed, loading him to a little group doing
homage to the fair girl in its centre.
“MiasRayburn—Mr. Clayton,” were tha
formal words of the introduction, as Harold
bowed in acknowledgement before the wo
man whom his artistic eye confessed the
moat beautiful that in all his wanderings
he had ever met.
Before the evening was ended he might
have added, the first woman whom he ever
loved, Bince she had awakened in him an
Interest as new as it was strange.
Through the next week her face haunted
him. Then they met again, and the charm
grew and deepened. He could not define
it; he scarcely acknowledged it to himself;
only away from Miss Reyburn he was rest
less and uneasy, until he again found him
self within the scope of her fascinations.
let her nature remained an enigma to
him. Although so young in 'years, so
beautiful in form and feature, she seemed
cold even to haughtiness, reticent almost to
scorn.
It was as though some exquisite marble
statue had risen in his pathway, which
might some day warm into life.
She welcomed him whenever they met.
with a manner which, while it gave him
no cause for complaint, yet chilled the hope
springing within his breast.
One daj% on going to her home, the ser
vant met him at the door with the an
nouncement that she was very ill. This
knowledge brought other knowlege—the
fact that he could no longer conceal from
himself that he loved her, and that on his
hope of winning her hung his life’s happi
ness.
He went back to his studio, wretched
and despairing, and seated himself at his
easel. Ho had not meant to paint her face
—liia brain seemed unconscious of liis fin
gers, toil—yet, when the morning broke,
it was her features smiliDg upon him from
the canvas, and he remembered the words
his hostess had uttered on the night he first
had met her—that thus should he render
himself immortal.
lie grew pale and wan in the days of j
anxious suspense, when those who watched ;
over her couch knew not which would J
conquer, the angel of life or death. But'
there came an hour, never to be forgotten, j
when he was admitted into her presence.
She was very white, very fragile, but
more beautiful than in the coloring of per
fect health. A new expression,, too, was
in the violet eyes raised to welcome him.
"I am very glad to meet you again,” she
said, gently. “I hear you have been anx
ious about me. You were very kind.
Then the words lie had not meant to
speak burst from his lips.
“Anxious?” he8aid. “Can a man, Miss
Reyburn, perishing of hunger, hear of the
famine without a shudder? I am preaump- I
tuous, you will say. It is true. What is j
my life, with its many settled pages In
which your eyes could never look, that I
should dare offer it to you ? And yet, puri
fied by your love, I would try to make it
more worthy. Tell me—answer me I If
I serve H3 Jacob served for Rachel, is there
hope that 1 may win you? “My darling!
my darling! I love you! I cannot live
my life without you! Will not you share
it?”
Lower and lower drooped the lids, until
the long dark lashes swept the marble
cheek, while the sweet mouth trembled;
but tbe in omeutary weakness passed as she
spoke; “Forget all that you have said,
Mr. Clayton. It can never he.”
“You do not love me?” lie questioned
sadly.
Again that swift expression of pain flitted |
across the lovely face.
“1 shall never marry,' 1 she answered;
“but,” and in iter voice crept an almost
pleading tone, ‘ ‘I need my friend very
much, Mr. Clayton. Do not desert me!”
“I cannot, ” lie replied. “To desert you
would be to desert the hope of one day
forcing you to unsay those cruel words—
the hope which will go with me to my
grave.”
What was the barrier between them?
This was the question ever ringing in Har
old Clayton’s ear. As she looked when she
pronounced hi3 doom, so lie had fancied
she might have looked when the statue
wanned into life.
Since then, she had been colder, more dis
tant than before; but he had caught the
momentary expression, aud transferred it
to the picture on which his every leisure
moment was spent.
He was thus engrossed one morning, ever
striving to add new beauty to his almost
perfect work, when a low knock at the
door aroused him.
“Come in!” he callc-d, then bent anew
to his task, without so much as raising his
head until a low, laughing voice sounded
close beside him.
“We were caught in the shower, Mr.
Clayton; and I persuaded Margaret to seek
shelter with me here. I did not dream she
would find herself forstalled.”
It was Mrs. Somers who spoke—the lady
who had first presented him to Miss Rey
burn—whose instruction he had, unknown
to her, carried out.
“Margaret,” site added, turning to her
friend, “you have been sitting for your
portrait, and did not let me kDow. Why
have you kept it such a secret?”
He had now sprung to his feet in time to
see the rosy tide spread over Margaret Rey- j
burn's face.
It was a liberty I took without Miss Rey-!
bum’s knowledge, Sirs. Somers,” he ex
plained. “I assure you I have never been j
so fortunate as to secure a silting.”
“Well, you shall have one now, and you |
must thank me for it,” site rejoined, while \
.Margaret turned away to examine the!
sketches and studies lying about in profuse ,
confusion.
* ‘Here are some sketches taken while I
was studying abroad, Mias Roy burn,” said
Harold. “Will you amuse yourself by
looking at them?”
“I will return in a few moments,” in
terrupted Mrs. Somers. “Wait for me,
my dear.”
A word of expostulation rose to Mar
garet’s lips, but too late. The door had
closed behind the speaker.
Silence fell between the two thus left
behind, when a low cry arrested Harold’s
attention. He sprang to Miss Reybum’s
side.
Her eyes were fixed upon a little sketch
she held in her hand. It represented a
gaming table, at one end of which sat a
man, haggard, desperate, despairing, and
by him a child, holding out to him a single
goldpiece, with a smile in her eyes, and
seemingly a prayer on hetjips.
“You would know the history of that
picture,” he said. “Let me tell yon.
Y ears ago I was in Homburg. The gaming
tables attracted me, and every night found
me beside them, losing or winning accord
ing to the fortune of the hour. One even
ing the demon ill luck pursued me. I lost
and lost until I found 1 was haggard. Mad
dened, desperate, I resolved to put an end
to my miserable life, when some one touch
ed my shoulder; a child angel stood before
me and slipped into my hand a piece of
gold. ’For my sake!’ she whispered.
The croupier’s hoarse call warned me no
time was to be lost. I staked the gold and
won, but turning to give her back her own
she had fled. When I rose from the table
I had recovered ail and more, but 1 vowed
a vow to my unknown deliverer that 1
would never again hazard a dollar of the
fortune I considered hers. I have never
found her, Margaret. The child will never
know her work, but I am not afraid to
meet her, for I havo kept my pledge.
“Harold!”—it was almost a whisper,
but something in the tone made his heart
give a wild, joyous leap—“have I known
you all this time, and have you just found
me out? It was this, Harold, which sep
arated us. I dared not give my life to a
man whom I had first known as a gambler.
I supposed you still played, and I thought
that to see again the expression on your
face I had seen that night would kill me.
Tell me, is it true? Have you never
touched a card since?”
“Never!” he answered, solemnly. “And
it is to you I owe it—it and life. Pearl—
little Pearl, can you not trust the man who
has been so long faithful to the child to be
still faithful to the woman ? My. own, you
will not doom the life that you have
saved?”
But at this juncture, Mrs. Somers, open
ing the door, beats a precipitate retreat.
Harold's statue has warmed into life, and,
pressing the lovely lips to liis, he thanks
God that it is his oreath which has awaken
ed it.
The Trials of an Engaged Girl.
Yell Fire In his Ear.
J ust about midnight the other night four
men in a Detroit saloon sat looking at a
fifth. The fifth one was drunker than the
other four. While all men were created
equal, some men get drunk twice as fast as
otlrcrs.
‘ ’It will never do to send him home in
this condition, ’’said one of the four after a
silence.
‘No, it would break his wife’s heart, ”
added a second.
“But wc can’t leave him here, and if we
turn him out the police will run him in,”
observed the third.
“Ihavebeen thinking,’’musedthe fourth.
“He has a telephone in liis house. Here is
one here. I will make it my painful duty
to inform his waiting aud anxious wife that
he won’t be home to night.”
He went to the telephone, got her call,
and began;
“Mrs. Blank, I desire to communicate
with you regarding your husband.”
“Well, go ahead.”
“He is down town here.”
“I know that much..”
“in descending the stairs loading from
the lodge room he fell and sprained Ins
ankle. ”
“Are you sure it wasn’t his neck?" she
asked.
“It is not a serious sprain, but we think
it better to let him lie on the sofa in the
anteroom until morning. Rest assured
that he will have thb best of care. We arc
doing cv .”
“Say!” broke in a sharp voice. “You
bundle him into a wagon and drive him up
here, where I can keep him hidden until
that drunk goes off! He won't be sober
before to-morrow night!”
“My dear mad ”
“Get out! If he’s sleepy drunk put
water on his head! That's the way 1 al
ways do. ”
"Will you let me inform you that”
“No, sir; I won’t! Throw water on his
head, get him into some vehicle and rattle
him up here, for it’s mo3t midnight now
and it vr!! take me half an hour to get his
boots off and push him up stairs! Re
mem uer—pour water on liis head and yell
‘fire’ in his ear!”
| After all, the yoke of marriage in an ap-
; paratus that shotdd sit on two pair of
j shoulders; and there is nothing very seem-
! ly in seeing a girl wait to wear her own
| part of it until it has been nicely padded
with quilted satin. Looking at the matter
from a less elevated point of view, long
engagements are rather tiresome in restrict
ing the liberty of girls. Miss Jenny, who
is going to marry Sir. Simpson as soon as
that hopeful young man gets a living, is
I obliged in the meantime to deny herself
; many pleasures, lest Simpson should take
offense. IShe must eschew balls; she must
take care that nobody makes love to her;
and for this purpose she is obliged to let all
chance comers be speedily informed of her
engagement. Unhappily, the symbolism
of rings is always unregarded, else tbe
chance comers might discover the fact for
themselves by looking at the second finger
of Miss Jenny’s left hand. If Jenny has
no sisters to talk of her betrothal, and if
her mother does not accept timely hints to
mention it an every necessary occasion, or
the engagement is not announced the girl is
rather embarrassed for words in which to
convey the Dews delicately to strangers.
She cannot allude to Mr. Simpson as
“Johnny”—that would bo too familiar;
she cannot speak of him as “Simpson,” for
this would sound strange; bat if she refers
to him fstquently as “Mr. Simpson,”
strangers might draw undesirable inferences
from her apparent familiarity with a person
thus coldly specified. Then the engaged
girl has to put up with a great deal of chaff,
which is only pleasing lor a while, and af
terward becomes intolerable. The trials
of matrimony are frequently commended to
her impatient attention by way of paternal
rebuke: “Ah, my dear, you will find out
that I was right when you ore a wife your
self I” and so forth; or a snub is pul, upon
her too hasty wish to consider herself free
by tbe reminder that there is many a slip
between the cup and the lip. Sometimes
Simpson is actually held up to her as a
bogey: “My dear, I don’t think Mr.
Simpson would quite approve of your
wearing that cherry ribbon;” “Jenny,
dear, I think Mr. Simpson would be sadly
grieved if he heard you express those opin
ions;” or, “Jenny, I am sure Mr. Simpson
world not think it proper that you should
play croquet with Capt. Mallet.” There is
enough in all this to make a girl sit down
and scream.
Han&ruroo Hunting.
The kangaroo, as is well knowD, is found
ODly in Australia and Tasmania. It,
means of locomotion and defense are so pe
culiar, and Its swiftness so great, that the
chase of it is attended with excitement and
dangers wholly unique. The hunting of the
fox in England is over corn parati vely smooth
ground and moderate-sized fences, with
well trained horses, while the kangaroo lias
to be chased over new country, full of holes
covered with wild grass, over ditches,fallen
trees, among trees, and their branches, on
horses that have no superiors in the world
in spsed. Then the dangers that you are
to encounter when you o vertake the kan
garoo, though not in reality extreme, are
as great as those met in the tiger hunt as
usually conducted, while in the latter you
have not the excitement and danger of the
chase. The place where I write is about
200 miles from the ocean shore, on the
banks of a beautiful river, shaded with en-
caiyp'.us trees. These trees are the natural
growth of the country, cover a large part of
it, and are believed, both here and in Eu
rope, to so destroy malaria as to he a sure
guarantee against fevers of all kinds. The
couches are examined before retiring at
night to see if there are any snakes in them;
but none are found: A native, with two
women, is camped on the shore near by.
Their camp is a half-eircle of piled-us logs,
fences as we found, and we jumped several
of a height of four to five feet, always ap
proaching them at a full run. We divided
the party, half going to each side of a
partly open plain. I soon saw a large kan
garoo and two small ones coming towards
our party. We waited until they were
near enough to see us, when they made a
right angle and went off at an astonishing
pace, in jumps of fifteen to twenty feet in
length, going from eight to ten feet in the
air at each jump. We “went for” the big
one, but he quickly got beyond our sight,
the three already having distanced the
dqgs.
The kangaroo dogs hunt by sight like the
greyhound. These three were all lost, we
learned as we met at the point agreed upon.
We next surrounded another large tract of
forest plain and meadow, this time divid
ing the dogs. In a few moments a hun
dred or more kangaroos came bounding to
wards the party with me. The dog with
me started tor them, and all the
dogs and men were at once in pursuit The
kangaroos divided into several parties, each
dog selecting one to follow, and each man
following some one of the dogs. Sly dog
went for a boomer,and I also, in comapany
with two others of the party. The boomer
stood up, took a long look at us, and then
flew. We followed him among tbe trees
and branches, jumping logs and debris of
ail kinds, and across plains at a fearful
rate. The horsrs needed no urging; their
blood was up now. The dog ‘ ‘laid to it, ”
but made no sound. When he would get
near the kangaroo the animal would make
a jump at right angless and change his
course, while the dog would shoot on a
distance before turning. After a run of
this kind for some distance, the kangaroo
started for a swamp. After reaching that,
and going in a distance, he turned his face
towards us, standing up on his hind paws
to a height of seven feet, and prepared for
battle. The dog went for him and the
fight commenced. The dog succeeded in
;etting hold of his tail, and was carried in
the air some distance by repeated jumps.
The dog then lost his hold, and was seized
and put under the water. Owing to my
having the best horse, I was first to come
to the dog's aid. I was warned by shouts
not to approach the animal, but dis
regarded them and showed myself a good
kangaroo hunter. The animal proved to be
eight feet long. The rest of the party
killed two smaller ones, und later in the
day, at another chase, another large one
was killed. The females do not fight, but
run so swiftly that they are rarely over
taken.
Air and Food.
An English scientific paper remarks as a
curious physiological fact, that although
open air life is so favorable to health, yet it
has the apparent effect of stunting growth
in early youth. While the children of
well-to-do parents, carefully Loused and
tended, are taller for their age than the
children of the poor, they are not so strong
in after years. “The laborers’ children, for
instance, who play in the lonely country
roads and fields all day, whose parents lock
their cottage doors on leaving for their work
in the morning, so that their offsprings shall
not gain entrance and do mischief, are al
most invariably short for their age. The
children of working farmers exhibit the
same peculiarity. After sixteen or eighteen,
after years of hesitation as it were, the lads
shoot up, and become great, hulking broad-
shouldered fellows, possessed of immense
strength. Hence it would scent that in
door life forces growth at the wrong period,
and so injures.” The inference is plausi
ble, but is wide of the mark. The children
of the well-to-do are tall, not because they
are kept in-doors, but because they are well
fed und srved from severe exposure. The
children of the poor are stunted, not by too
much sua and air, but because they are ill
Cars in the Arabian Desert.
Mr. Russel], gives an interesting sketch
of a run through a portion of the Arabian
desert b’y a new railway route. We sub
join an extract: “Blanched bones of
camels lie in dull whiteness on the sand.
Not a bird fans the hot silent air. Stones
and land, and sand and stones, are ail and
everywhere stretched out dead and hard
under the blue sky and the relentless sun.
The rail which conveys us through this
desolation is single, and the line is said by
English engineers to be very poorly made,
as the French engineers who laid it out
took it over a ridge 1,100 feet high, instead
of following a low level near the river,
which would have greatly diminished the
expense and cost of working. The water
and coal of the engines is to be carried by
the trains out to the various stations. 8o
they are like commissariat animals in a
barren country, which have to carry their
own fodder and diminish the public bur
thens. The stations are helpless, hot, oven
like erections, generally eked out by forlorn
old wooden huts, within the shade of which
may be seen an undoubted Englishman
smoking his pipe. At th tlwelfth station
we coaled; the train ended in the desert
here; but at long intervals, for miles in ad
vance, we could see the encampments of
Arabs, who for the time had come navvies,
and were engaged in picking and burrow
ing, and blasting through the rocks a way
for the iron horse. In a long, wooden shed
—the centre of a group of tents—were laid
out long tables, covered with hot joints of
recondite animals, papiere mache chickens,
aud lignite vegetables. This was our din
ner—it bad come all the way from Cairo—
so had the wine, beer and spirits. If manna
and quails were at all eatable, we had en
vied ths food of the Israelites.
.. fed. Give the first class plenty of out-door
three feet high, while on the open side to- , with the dic ? an / t , will be
wards the water glares a brilliant fire, ; strou ’ a3 we „ „‘ a t 4 Gi ’ e t0the 1 aboror8 .
lighting up them and the darkness with a , dlild * CI1 the food 8uitable for the i r years,
lund, fantastic sayagencss. These natives | and n0 amouut
of sun and wind will stunt
resemble the African more nearly than theln- 0n tbe contrary, they will not have
either of the other tour of the human races, t0 wait till age brin ^ c^y t0 turn
nnn onmo wit limit. nmint. frnm tnnt ctnnlr . . , . f r J ,
3trong food to boue and muscle, and time
to overcome the evil effects of hard times
in early iife; but they will grow from the
first, steadily and sturdily.
and come without doubt from that stock.
Their hair cannot be strictly said to be
either hair or woo), but most nearly resem
bles the latter. They are of good size,
dark brown, well made, and flon’t encum
ber themselves with much clothing. One
of their weapons of war is the boomerang,
and it is a curious affair. It is made of
very hard wood, three feet long, four inches
wide, one inch thick at the centre, and
bends edgeways so as to make a third of a
circle. With the hand they are said to
throw this implement 150 yards, cutting off
the head of an enemy, and having the
weapon return to the feet of the Bender. I
have seen it thrown that distance and re
turn to the person throwing it. The full-
grown male kangaroo is called “boomer,”
and is about seven and a half feet long from
his nose to the end of his tail, the tail be
ing about three and a half feet of this, and
one foot in diameter at its base. He lives
on grass, sometimes invading the fields of
the frontiersman and eating up all he has.
He stands on four legs when feeding, and
at no other time. His tail is full of power
ful sinews, but it is used only to assist in
the equilibrium while sitting, standing on
the toes and running. In a sitting posture
he is about four and a half feet high ; but
when he stands on his toes to survey the
country or an enemy, he is taller than a
man. He has a soft, gazelle-like expres
sion, but the white teeth gleam between
Tile Wire Age.
Whenever, in walkinc or riding through
the streets of our great cities and towns, the
eye is directed upward, a perfect network
of wires is seen stretching from building to
building and from chimney to gable. The
appearance is as if some huge spider had
been at work silently and covered in the
compact city, holding it a prisoner in the
meshes of its nest. The view is bewilder
ing, and it seems impossible that any prac
tical or important us e can be made of these
iron wires, so numerous as almost to shut
out the sunlight. It is but little more than
thirty years since only a single onecould be
seen connecting some important building
with another in a distant city, by which
telegraphic communication was maintained;
and forty years ago not even one teas visible
anywhere. We live in the wire age of the
world’s history, and a most interesting and
wonderful epoch it is. We know that these
iron lillamcnts subserve the purpose of
nerves of thought and sensation, and over
them, or through them, the world’s com
merce is carried on. In the human organ
ization we. know that if any accident or
the lips. His color is brown, tending' in j event happens to the extremities, the fleshy
age towards red or grey, according to the i nerves transmit instantly the news to tl.c
species. They weigh (the male) from 150 jseat of sensation—the brain ; and so it is the divorccset aside on the ground of fraud,
to 170 pounds each. The meat tastes with the iron nerves in the external world,
somewhat like venison, but is not very
eood, though the tail makes excellent soup.
The female is under six feet in length, and
is different somewhat in appearance from
the male. The young, when born, are
only an inch long, and are first seen nurs
ing the mother in the pouch in front,where
which science lias arranged; not an event
of importance can transpire in any part of
the globe which is not instantly “wired" to
the great cities, and the news spreads
everywhere with the rapidity of thought.
Until within the past four years the wires
were capable only of transmittingsignalsaif
she carries them. They remain in this a complex nature, but easily understood
poach till they are eight months old and and interpreted by experts; now, human
weigh about ten pounds, and long after
wards return to it on appearance of danger.
When the mother is hard pressed by tbe
enemy in a chase she. throws the young one
beings talk with each other over the iron,
and it seems to make, as it were, a unit of
the great family of man. Words, actual
words, produced by the organs of speech,
Strange Devices.
Society women in Philadelphia are ac
cused of strange devices by the shop-keep
ers. One storekeeper in the artificial flower
business says it is quite a common occur
rence to have ladies call on the morning be
fore a ball and have handsome flowers sent
to their residence for approbation, which
are faithfully returned the next day, with
perhaps the purchase of a fifty cent rose,
and occasionally without making any pur
chase at all, having thus obtained the adorn
ments for one evening’s wear at the mer
chant’s expense. Some time ago a carriage
customer, it is said, ordered to be sent to
her fashionable residence, for selection,
braids, puffs and curls of a color to match
her hair. As it was on the eve of a grand
reception, the messenger was told not to re
turn without the money or the goods.
The lady played sick, the articles were sent
to her room for examination, and the mes
senger politely dismissed. Determirtff not
to he humbugged, the storekeeper Bent a
pe-emptory message demanding the return
of the articles immediately, which was re
luctantly complied with.
out of the pouch, who thereby makes its es- are ever winging their way, with tbe speed
cape. There are kangaroo dogs, very swift of lightning, over cities, across rivere and
and strong, especially adapted to hunting
the kangaroo; but no experienced dog will
tackle them without somebody to back
him. They jump about fifteen feet at a
time usually, but sometimes twenty or more,
and their swiftness is prodigious. Nothing
can apparently overtake them in a fair
race, and the usual way is to practically
surround them. When hard pressed they
place their back to a tree for the fight; or,
in preference, they always strike for the
water If then is any Bear. They try to
seize their enemy with the fore paws, and
then rip it from top to bottom with the
middle claws of their hind feet, which are
very sharp. If they are in the water they
try to hold their enemy under it until he is
drowned. They will always leave a dog
to attack a man.
At 9 o'clock one morning ten men, in
cluding myself, started on horseback, with
four dogs, on a chase. All were experi
enced in the business exoept a young Eng
lishman and myself. We took no firearms,
a large stick being ths only weapon to be
used. We had no difficulty In finding ths
animals. It was disdained to aroid such
mountains and woods, and voices are recog
nized scores of miles away. The wires
needed in cities for transmitting fire and
burglar alarms, for police calls, time signals
and other municipal purposes, are many in
number; and when to these are added the
wires for telegraphic and telephonic pur
poses, the question of space or room for
them becomes an important one. These
wires must all be independent of each other;
there must be no contact anywhere; else
serious errors and complications occur. In
Pniladelpliia tbe fire alarm system has been
so often interfered with that the chief engi
neer has called the attention of the city au
thorities to the matter. The time is not far
distant when additional wires will) become
necessary for electric lighting, and,‘perhaps,
warming. In the years to come the whole
country will be covered with them unless
some plan is devised by which electric
currents can be conveyed in the earth by
wires protected in tubes of clay or metal.
It is certain that some method of this nature
must be adopted, and that quite speedily.
There is no saulptor like the mind.
Match Hunting.
Most people have no doubt observed at
one time or another, and perhaps at various
times during their lives, that matches not
made in heaven, viz: lucifersare very often
apt to come up missing, or else prove worth
less at the most critical junctures. If you
are a married man and the father of child
ren, your opportunities for observation in
this line have been, like a kind of paper,
manifold. It is during the cold and frosty
hours of a winter night that the interview
ing of the family match safe is generally
accompanied by the greatest amount of ill-
luck, and, unless you are careful by pro
fanity.
About 2 o’clock, a. in., on a winter night
your wife wakes you with a shake and
yells:
“John Henry, strike a light, the baby has
the croup! ”
Turning over in bed you reach for the
match -safe at the head of the bed, and find
it empty. This is a great disappointment
to you, but you say nothing. Meantime
your wife speaks again :
“John Heury, will you ever get a light I
This ohild will choke to death. ”
With one bound you are out of bed and
the next moment with arms outstretched in
front, you run full tilt against the edge of
the sitting room door, which stands about
half way open. Such little incidents are
good for you. They start the sluggish
blood from the nose which you have bruised
on the door, and disciple you in the art of
holding your temper. To render the dis
cipline greater your wife laughs in a sup
pressed manner at yourmisfortune. Finally
reaching the dining room you plunge wildly
for the place where the match-safe is usually
kept, and find it not. Then your over-taxed
patience begins to flow away, and you say,
mildly, of course:
“Angeline, where is the match safe?”
“In its usual place, my dear,” she re
plies.
‘I don’t find it.”
‘Feel around on the floor. Perhaps the
children havo knocked it down.”
Then you get down on your knees and
“feel.” Just as you have run a needle into
your finger aud are about to express your
self in positive aud forcible language, your
wife says:
“Oh, 1 think the match-safe is in the
book case, where I put it yesterday to keep
it out of the way of Jennie.”
Another effort and tbe book-case is
reached, opened, and the match-safe found
at last. It contains two matches. With
frantic haste you rub or.e on the under side
of the shelf in the case. It fails to ignite.
You have tried the wrong end, you think.
You essay another effort withthe other end.
A dull rasp is heard, but no fire is stiuck.
Who under the sun uses mutches and
puts them back into tbe safe again ?” yon
ejaculate.
No answer from the lied room.
Grasping the last match, you ascertain
by tbe feeling that it is one of those thin
emaciated specimens, about as thick as a
piece of paper. You “scratch” it carefully
and hopefully. It breaks in two as it
ignites and the sulphur falls to the floor
witli a fizz and a sputter, the fumes filling
your lungs. At this important juncture
your wife’s dulcet tones are again heard:
“John Henry Frelinghuysen, what under
the canopy are you about ? nave you fallen
asleep out there?”
“Oh, j’es, I’ve fallen asleep. I have.
I’ve fallen asleep out here, with my knees
knocking together, with the cold. To
morrow I’ll buy two gross of matches.
One gross I’ll piie up in the bed room and
the other gross I’ll open and place the
boxes all around the house, so that a fellow
can find anything he wants in this house. ”
Then you make a desperate rush for the
kitchen and find a box full of matches the
the first time trying. Lighting a lamp you
prepare to fix up a dose for the croup, when
the last straw is laid on the camel’s back
by your better half, who says:
“Never mind, now, John, I guess the
baby hasn t the croup after all, for she has
fallen asleep again. ”
Then, after making a mental vow to
keep a light burning every night the re
mainder of the winter, you shake the stove
down, and in a fit of absent-mindedness,
blow out the light and retire.
This performance is a matchless one,
when well executed, and is capable of
countless variations.
Burning Burns.
“I Might At Well Inquire.’
There are undoubtedly many barns Recently a card of “To rent’’ was nailed
burned from carelessness. In one case to a house ou Brush street, Detroit. It was
recently, a match, which had been lit to af- a large card, and the printing was plain,
ford a momentary light, was thrown down A bold line at the bottom said that people
in the dirt on the barnfloor, where it started should inquire next door, and pretty soon
a slow fire, which gradually extended to the i the calls commenced. The first man who
haymow. In another instance an enter- came began:
prising owner shot an owl in the barn and “Js the house next dcor to rent?”
killed him—and burned the bam. When- i “Yes.”
ever it is necessary to fire a gun about' “Then it is not for sale?”
buildings, wool should be used for wadding, ' “Xo, sir.”
as it will not readily take fire from the j “Isn’t, eh? I thought it was for sale,*’
he said as he went away.
powder. Spontaneous combustion, it is be
lieved, caused the burning of the other two,
one by the heat from a big pile of buck
wheat chaff, and the other by hen manure
under the shed, mixed with straw and other
manure. In some instances buildings have
barely escaped. One of our citizens w as
sitting in liis house one evening in Autumn,
and happening to put his hand against the
wall he found it so hot as to nearly burn
him. Seeking for the cause, he found it to
l>e heat from the banking around the dwel
ling, winch was buckwheat chaif. He did
not go to bed until that banking was re
moved, The house would undoubtedly
liave been burned before morning. Another
man jus? at night loaded his wagon with
the droppings from the barnyard, and then
added some hen manure and ashes, and as
it was late left the wagon and contents
stand until the next morning. Fortunately
he did not run it into any building, for the
next day he found it on fire in three places.
The dirt from a large grist mill was swept
out of the back door, and here too a lot of
shavings were thrown. One night the mill
burned down, and the fire started at the
very place where the debris was rotting. A
farmer who leaves the hen manure to ac
cumulate during the summer, or lets the
horse manure remain in the yard, runs the
risk of having to build a new barn. Every
building should be kept clear of litter,
within and without, and no violence will
be done to chemical laws nor to good taste.
A Rise in Diamonds.
The next man stood looking at the card
for full five minutes, and then called next
door and said:
“I s’pose that house i9 empty, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Tnen it is to rent?’’
“Yes.”
“How long ha3 it been to rent?*’
■‘Only one day.”
“How long will it be to rent?”
‘‘Can’t tell.”
“Well, if I can’t find out anything about
it here, I’ll go to the owner. I s’pose he’s
in Europe, isn’t he?”
“No; he’s in New York.”
“Ah! that’s always the way. Well, if
T conclude to take the house, 1*11 call around
again.”
The third caller was a lady. She looked
in to the empty house and then called next
door and said:
“I see that you have a house to rent?”
“Yes.”
“Will it be painted thi3 spring?’*
“Yes.” •
“Was the last family ver3 T respectable?”
“Yes. *
“Has it ever been a boarding house?”
“No.”
“It has a cellar and hot and cold
water?”
“Yes.”
“And folding doors and grates?”
“Yee.”
“Well, we have had some thoughts of
moving this spring. I don’t much thiuk
we shall, but if we do, and this house is to
rent when we get ready, I’ll look through
it.”
The fourth caller wa9 also a lady. She
looked in at all the windows, entered the
Whether it be on account of the increas
ed demand for diamond earrings, or on ac-
couut of the decreasing supply of the pre-
cious stones, both from the Cape fields and I back yard'and cMhai nexTdror
the “Distncto Diainantino of Brazil, cer- "Can yon tell me if this darling little
tain it is, that the price of fine diamonds j house is to rent?”
has risen fifteen per cent. Dealers com- j “it is.’ ?
plain, however, that they cannot get the j “It is’the sweetest little place in all De.
higher price to which they have gone, as i tr0 it, and 1 know that a family would be
the majority of purchasers insist upon the happy in it. It reminds me of a romantic
old average of *5U to $75 a carat. They i little house in the outskirts of Paris. How
are therefore obliged to use inferior stones! much is the rent?”
to keep their trade going. There is really
no difference between a good Brazillian
alone and a good stone from the Cape, and
the outer}' recently raised in London by a
lady who discovered that the diamonds she
had bought as Brazillian were Africans was
a fanciful one. The frauds of the Dutch
“Eighteen dollars per month.”
‘ ‘Eighteen dollars! That’s highway rob
bery! Why, it’s a squatty little pig-pen,
no sun. no air, and as gloomy as a prison!
Y ou must be crazy! Do you think war
times have come again? Tnat’s all I want
to know. I didn’t care about changing,
and English dealers afe perpetrated mainly j anyhow, but being out for a walk and s5-
in cutting the Brazillian and Cape dia- mg tbe card up I thought I might as well
monds m the old-fashioned styles of the In-! inquire.”
dian stones, which were in vogue before the i
Brazilian fields were discovered in 1730' * * *
and which now have the value of antiqui- j Cust«r city.
ties. The only superiority of the Brazilian j
over the Cape diamonds is that the per I Michigan men, who have lately returned
centage of fine stones is larger in South! fr° m Custer city, assert that the glory of
America than in Africa. Thus, for instance
m a thousand Brazilian stones three hun-
ered fine ones may be found, while the
Cape will not yield more than a hundred
specimens of the same quality. The mo
mentary scare produced among the posses
sors of a “wealth of jewelry” by the re
port that Hannay, the Scotch chemist, had
discovered tbe secret of making artificial
diamonds ha3 now entirely disappeared.
He acknowledges that he never really made
anything but “very small quantities of a
substance like bort.” Bort is known in the
trade as a dark brown stone similar to the
diamond in its properties and of use only
in cutting real stones or for drilling pur
poses.
Decca Muslins.
A Novel Divorce Case.
There isn’t much humor in law but some
things that come out of the law are rather
funny. One of these happened the other
day and caused smiles all around, except
on one man’s face. This man had come
from Nevada at the request of a lawyer to
have a decree of divorce set aside. He had
packed off from his wife several years ago,
and the woman afterwards married the
lawyer, first, however, going through the
form of getting a divorce. She hod not
been long married to the lawyer when he
followed the example of her first husband
by withdrawing from her company. Then
learning that there had been some irregul
arity about the divorce, he set out to hunt
up the original husband. He discovered
him in Nevada and persuaded him to come
to New York. The husband had not be
fore heard of the divorce, and when the
lawyer told him about it he was mad
enough to pitch ill and smash it to pieces,
just for spite. He did pitch in, and was
helped by a lawyer who was a friend of
the lawyer who had hunted him up in Ne
vada. Proceedings were opened to have
or something of that sort, and everything
went on very nicely for awhile. But by-
and-by the first husband began to think.
Then he went to the lawyer who was act
ing for him and told him to stop. The
lawyer said lie would if his fee was paid.
The man from Nevada said she did not owe
any fee. He appeared in the case merely
to oblige the other lawyer, and the latter
was the man to look to for a fee. “Very
well,” said lawyer number two, “then I'll
go on with the case.” And go on with it
he did before a referee, and before the Ne
vada man could help himself the referee
had made a report to the court and the court
had ret aside the decree of divorce. The
effect of this is to release the lawyer from
his marriage to the woman, and to reinstate
her as the wife of the man whom the law
yer had brought on from Nevada to help
him out of a snarl. The Nevada man
didn’t want his wife given back, and the
woman did not want to be reinstated, but
the law said that was how it should be, and
the lawyer can put his hand in liis pocket
and ask the reunited couple, who had hoped
never to see each other again, what they
are goin^to do about it. Let this be a warn
ing to other husbands, who have once got
rid of disagreeable wives, to be mighty
careful about accommodating lawyers who
may possibly want to get rid of the same
wives themselves. Had the Nevada man
stuck to his camp, instead of coming to
New York to oblige a lawyer, he would
not have a wife thrown back on bis hands
by the law, after she had got a secret di
vorce from him and married another man.
—The State debt of Iowa Is only
$•00,000.
—The regular charge for cremating a
body Is $83.
Tbe Decca muslins of India are among
the most wonderful evidences of the hand-
skill of the strange people of the mysteri
ous East. These fabrics, which are spun
and woven entirely by hand, and are the
product of obscure and curious processes,
unknown to and unattainable by the West
ern nations, like the fabrications of Damas
cus steel and the making of camel’s hair
shawls; are marvels of ingenuity and skill,
and they illustrate the poetry of cotton.
The most delicate of these fabrics is known
by the name of “woven air.” It can only
be made in the early morning and in the
evenings, when the air is full of moisture
and the dew is on the grass. The process
es by which it is woven are kept secret, and
people who do the work are compelled first
to pass through a long course of training
and initiation. Their delicate wares are of
such ethereal texture as to be almost invisi
ble, and yet so enduring that they will bear
washing and wear in a wonderful manner.
This precious stuff is monopolized for
the use of the ladies of the oriental harems,
and is said to be worth hundreds of dollars
per yard.
A Florida Lad?.
the place has forever departed. In these
days when a stranger in buckskin, loaded
down witn knives and revolvers, enters the
town and yells out that he is the great
Rocky Mountain Ibex and spoiling to shed
gore, no one gives him a second look. If
he jumps into a saloon and slams down a
buckskin bag filled with dust and calls for
the drmks for the crowd, the saloonist
won’t touch a decanter until he opens the
bag to see if it isn’t filled with brick-dust.
There was a time when a man could stand
in the public square and hanker for a good
old-fashioned rough-and-tumble fight and
get it before he could flop his arms and
crow twice, but that time has fled. He can
stand there and hanker and crow and flop,
and the old residents will laugh in contempt
and ask him why he doesn’t start a taffy
foundry in Custer. There is no fun there
any more. When a man jumps into a
hotel dining-room with a bowie knife in his
teeth and a revolver in each hand, he can’t
hit anybody if he shoots, and as soon as he
begins shooting, the guest nearest him rises
up and then knocks him down with a piece
of cranberry pie, or hits him in the eye with
a boiled potatoe. It used to be great sport
for Wild Bills to ride into town on a mole
and shoot aud yell and whoop and slash un
til everybody was driven indoors, but it
is not done any more. The last one who
tried it was knocked off his mule with a
quart can of tomatoes and taken before the
court, when His Honor said.
“Thoughtless and giddy boy, yon proba
bly didn’t mean any harm, tut a fellow who
can’t wound a cross-eyed dog in firing
twenty-four shots into a crowd shouldn’t be
seen in Custer City. The sentence of this
court is that yon have your hair cut, your
leggings ripped off, and then be kicked out
of the city, never to return under penalty ot
having your ears cropped. ”
Men used ta go toiling up and down the
main street picking their teeth with a huge
knife and asking where the graveyard was,
but even this game of bluff was cut short
last fall when the constables attached the
toothpicks for debt and chucked the pickers
into the basement lockup on suspicion that
they were looking around to steal old axes
and buck-saws. Hardly a month ago the
“Great Tornado of the Plains” was knocked
down with an axe-handie and run in and
fined twenty-live dollais because he stood
on a barrel and yelled for some one to tread
house near by reading
One morning a figure was seen dimly
amongst the flags and reeds of the distant
lake shore. Presently we made out that it
was a woman. She hailed us, and asked
to come aboard to trade. Our small boat,
with a gallant gentleman as escort, brought
out this specimen of the South Florida lady.
She looked abashed as her upturned face, , iver . pad , aod thereby disturbed four
caught the glance of a dozen men, who all • whQ £5 in a bonse ne.r bv reading
greeted her with pleasant raillery. They ] .
politely lifted her on deck. Her short, 1 rac s ’
scant dress revealed cowhide shoes and
ankles innocent of stockings, and, apparent
ly, she wore nothing under her thin calico
sacque and skirt. But back in the faded
sun-bonnet I saw a cheerful, sun-browned
face whose smile is, perchance, the radience
of that which most blesses man’s earthly
homt—woman’s love. She traded her beef
hide for coffee and tobacco. About to
leave us, she answered to a challenge to be
our cook: “I’d like splendid to go ’long
aud cook for you, but I couldn’t leave the
babies.”
A Precious Darling.
There is a child in Bangor, Me., whom,
according to the old theory, Providence
manifestly designs for either pulpit or the
gallows. This enterprising youngster has
not yet reached age of live years, but he. is
old in experience. Two years ago he swal
lowed a quanity of paint, which the doctor
finally succeeded in removing from his lit
tle stomach. While the recollection of this
exploit was still fresh, a mouthful of lauda
num found its way down his throat to that
bourne when such travelers seldom return,
but again the physician was equal to the
emergency. Not long afterwards his par
ents took their darling to Belfast to make a
visit, and, while there, he introduced into
one of his nostrils a kernel of corn, which
it required heroic efforts to dislodge. With
out waiting for an encore, be repeated this
puformance immediately upon his return
tb Bangor.
Narrowing a Railroad.
Preparatory work for reducing the guags
of the Great Western railroad, Pa., has
been commenced. The chief engineer has
selected the '22d of June as the day on
which to perform the work of narrowing
the guage, presumably because it is the
longest day in the year. It will require an
immense force of hands to do the work,
probably from 2,000 to 3,000. F very thing
will be in readiness, and even the inside
spikes will be partly driven. Then at a
certain hour the work will be begun simul
taneously all along the line, and the line,
which is over 300 miles long, will be nar
rowed down to the standard guage in a
wonderfully short apace of time, and thus
will be annihilated the great scheme of
McHenry, who planned to belt the conti
nent with a six-foot guage railroad, and
succeeded in getting from New York to St.
Louis on his way from ocean to ocean.
The line was made up of the Erie', the Alle
gheny and Great Western, and the Ohio
and Mississippi. But the scheme was not a
success. The last named road was reduced
to the standard guage in 1869, and when
the Erie was narrowed it left the Allegheny
and Great Western out in the cold, compell
ing it to transfer ail its freigit before send
ing it over the connecting roads. The track
will be narrowed from Leavittaburg west
and a third rail put down from Leavittaburg
east. The redaction of tie guage to the
standard width is but a portion of the work.
This time the kernel of corn
remained so long in the nose that, when howevir, as it will be necessary to put new
finally extracted, it was found on tbe point | trucks under all tbe tin in t lie shortest
of sprouting. | possible space of time.