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[Published every Thursday by D. I*. FRERMA X.
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Terms: $1.50 per annum, in advance.
OLD SERES- -VOL. X- NO 2.
CEDARTOWN. GA,. MARCH 1. 1883
NEW SERIES-VOL. V-NO. )‘2
THE DRUM,
BY JAMES W. BUSY.
O, th# dram!
There is some
Intonation in thy gram
Monotony of utterance that strikes ids spirit dnrab,
As we hear
Through the dear
And unclouded atmosphere,
Thy rumbling palpitations roll in upon the earl
There's a part
Of the art
Of thine muaie-throbMn" hear.
That thrills a something in ua that awakens with s
start.
And, the rhyme
With the chime
And exactitude of time,
Goes marching on to glory to thy melod j sublime.
And the guest
Of the breast
That thy rolling robs of res
Is a patriotic spirit as a Continental dressed;
And he looms
From the glooms
Of a century of tombs,
And the blood he spilled at Lexington in living
beauty blooms.
And his eyes
Wear the guise
Of a nature pure and wi.-e;
And the love of thorn is lifted to a something in the
skies,
That is bright
Red and whits.
With a blur of starry light,
As it laughs in silken ripples to tne breezes day and
night.
There are deep
Hushes creep
O’er the pulses as they leap.
And the murmur fainter growing, on the silence
falls asleep,
While the prayer
Rising there
Wills the sea and earth and air
As a heritage to Freedom’s sous ana daughters every
where.
Then with sound
As profound
As the thundering* resound,
Come thy wild reverberations in a throe that sbnkes
the ground,
And a cry,
Flung on high
Like the flag it flutters by,
Wings rapturously upward till it nestles in the sky.
O, the drum!
There is some
ln'onation in thy grura
Monotony of utteranr*- shat strikes the spirit dumb,
And we hear
Through the c!ear
And unclouded atmosphere
Thy rumbling palpitations roll in upon the ear 1
THE MOURNFUL MAX.
flow Ibc O.lihosb Roys Enjoy a Bit of Fun.
[Front Peek's Milwaukee Sun.]
A few weeks ago a man registered at
an Oslrkosh liotel, and was assigned a
room, and everybody noticed that he was
a most mournful looking man. He never
said a word, hut there was that about his
face, and his actions that showed he was
laboring under some great sorrow. He
had his supper taken to his room, and
the waiter said the man never spoke, and
seemed to be the saddest looking man
he ever saw. The guests all talked the
matter over, and they decided that the
man was going to commit suicide. A
traveling man who had a room next door
to the solemn man, and who had pre
viously occupied adjoining rooms in dif
ferent hotels to three men who had com
mitted suicide, felt that he was about to
experience a fourth shook of the same
kind, and he lay in 'us bed :dl night and
never slept a wink believing that the
next moment he should hear a revolver
shot or the death struggle of his neigh
bor. from poison.
He' never heard a sound nli night, and
when he got up in the morning he told
the clerk that ho was sure the man was
dead. They passed the room and listened
but could hear no noise, and it was de
cided to look over the transom to see if
the man was dead. It is not a pleasing
thing to look over a transom into a man’s
room, not knowing whether your eye
will fall on a corpse or a live man with a
revolver pointed at you, so nobody
seemed to yearn to be the first to climb
the stepladder. Finally it was decided
to throw a cat over the transom, onto the
bed, and if they did not hear any noise
it would be certain that the man was
dead, and they could go on with the
funeral. A cat was procured, and the
porter, who knew just where the bed was
located, was detailed to toss the cat over.
He went up the ladder a few steps,
not enough to look over, because he was
not prepared to look suddenly upon a
corpse, and taking the cat in both
hands, by the legs, he gently tossed her,
or him, as the case might be, over the
transom on the bed occupied by the
mournful-looking man. The cat was
heard to fall with a dull thud, there was
a sound as of scratching and ripping, a
heavy form was heard to strike the floor,
tiie cat “purmeoud” and “spit,” and
the half dozen people out in the hall
looked at each other wonderingly, when
suddenly the door opened and the mad
dest man that ever was seen in Oshkosh
came ont in the hall in his night shirt,
his arm and face bleeding on to the white
night shirt. He had the cat by the hind
legs with one hand and a revolver in the
other, and as he struck at the assembled
multitude right and left with the cat,
there was the worst getting down stairs
that ever was, and the cat was thrown at
the last person who went down stairs,
and the man returned to his room.
He dressed himself, went down to the
office and paid his bill, and took the first
train south, never having spoken a word
while in Oshkosh, and the people are to
this day wondering whether he was a
prohibition speaker, a traveling man for
a corset factory, or an agent for a deaf
and dumb asylum. The traveling man
who was so nervous for fear his neighbor
was going to commit suicide, wishes he
' had, the landkwd fears that he has dis
pleased a guest who might have remained
longer, and the porter who threw the
oat, aaya that it is the last time he will
evar try to And a oerpss by the aid of a
DRIVING OVER TORPEDOES.
Lewis E. Dawson, a Pliilodelphia po
liceman, claims the honor of having
taken Gem McClellan safely through, or
rather over, one of the greatest dangers
of his life. “It was the time the rebels
evacuated Yorktown,” said the. police
man, “before theseven days’ fight in the
Peninsula. I was then driving McClel
lan’s private ambulance, a Eort of Ger
mantown wagon, that he had had fitted
jp for his own use. It would carry four
persons comfortably, and I bad a team
of four splendid horses to draw it. Web,
the rebels skipped ont of Yorktown one
Saturday night, but before they went
they filled all the roads in and around
the town with torpedoes—buried ’em
under a thin scum of earth, you know,
so that yon couldn’t see the blamed
tilings till yon stepped on ’em, and then
after that you never saw any tiling else.
The Sunday after the evacuation was a
beautiful day, but that night it rained as
it just knew how to rain down on the
Peninsula, and the mud—well, it knew
how to make mnd, too. It was about a
foot deep, I reckon, when I started on
Monday morning from McClellan’s head
quarters, four miles out, to drive to
Yorktown.
“There were four officers in the
ambulance—Gen. McClellan, Col. Col
burn, his chief of staff; Gen. Franklin,
and Gen. Fitz John Porter. It was still
raining, and the ambulance curtains wero
closed. Wo got along all right till we
came to the entrance to the Yorktown
fortifications, and there, right in the nar
rowest part of the way, was an ammuni
tion wagon, broken down in the mud,
and beside it was a stick planted in the
mud, with a little red flag hanging from
it. I knew what it was as soon as I saw
it; the rain had washed the dirt off ono of
them Woody’ torpedoes, and the soldiers
had found it and marked it; you bet they
wasn’t going to dig it up without positive
orders.
“Well, I stopped my team and Gen.
McClellan stuck iiis head through the
curtains and looked about him. There
were some soldiers standing around, and
among them was a Lieutenant.
“ ‘Don’t let our men take up any of
these torpedoes. Make the prisoners do
it.’
“Then he looked at the wagon, and
asked me :
“ ‘Do you think you can get past?’
“ ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I guess I can, if I
straddle that torpedo.’
“ ‘Well,’ said he, ‘go ahead. I expect
we’ll all be blown to thunder together. ’
Those were the very words he used. So
I threw my long whip down between the
horses to keep them apart as far as possi
ble, and drove ahead, and we got into
Yorktown without touching the torpe
do.”
‘ ‘And what did McClellan say then ?’
“He never said a word. When we got
into Yorktown he left the ambulance and
went into a house, and presently he sent
an orderly out to tell me to go back to
headquarters. I had no sooner reached
there than I received orders to turn
around, return to Yorktown, and follow
the winy, so I had to drive over tliat
i darned torpedo three times. I got kinder
used to it at last and was ready to bet
that £ could do it every time.”
Indian Corn.
The smaller, the husband, the bigger
(jp bundles bin wife siftfeea bint carry.
A Planetary Mystery.
The strangest phenomena in connec
tion with Wednesday’s transit is that re
ported by Prof. Langley, observing at
Pittsburg. When about one-half of the
planet wus upon the sun’s face a point of
light was seen near the rim of Venus,
outside the sun. No direct ray of light
could reach that point, and the Professor
expressly says that the phenomenon was
not duo to irradiation, nor to any instru
mental cause. The explanation and in
terpretation of this phenomenon is an en
tirely new problem for astronomers.
There can be no doubt- of the reality of
the mystery, for the report of it is over
Prof. Langley’s signature, and he is
known as a careful as well as competent
observer. His assistants, when their at
tention was called to it, saw the same
shining point, in no symmetrical relation
to the chord uniting the “horns” of the
polar limb, and unmistakably on one side
of the line drawn through the centres of
the sun and Venus. The spectroscopic
observations showed some new and un
known lines, besides unmistakably those
of watery vapor. It is noteworthy that
no observer reports having seen a satel
lite of Venus. Several skilfull observers
have heretofore reported that such a body
existed, but the observations of Wednes
day mast be taken to show that the
earlier observers were in error; that is,
that the disputed satellite was apocry
phal. A very satisfactory feature of the
repoits is that so few observers were
troubled by the “black drop.” Usually
the contacts were geometrical, a fact
highly conducive to exactness. The
O rman observers at Hartford, are
quoted as saying affirmatively, that there
were no indications of an atmosphere.
The point is worth noting, chiefly because
cf its inconsistency with the accepted
fact that Venus has an atmosphere, and
which must be taken to be rather more
firmly established than weakened by the
observations of Wednesday. On the
whole, tins transit was much more suc
cessfully observed than the last, and more
will be learned from it
Dr. Byron B. Halstead, at the winter
meeting, in Northampton, of the Massa
chusetts Board, spoke of Indian com,
the yield of which the present season
will approach very near two billion
bushels, raised chiefly in six States, and
on an area thirteen times as large as
Massachusetts, which produced two mil
lion bushels and was tne first in the
world to be planted with corn by civil
ized man. Corn is of a plastic nature
and can adapt itself to widely different
influences. The many sorts now grown
was probably developed from a single
source and from a variety much inferior
to our best kinds now. Com is divided
into flint and dent varieties, field or gar
den, or sweet, pop and husk-covered,
the latter believed by many to represent
the original habit of growth. From four
to forty rows are found in an car, al
ways an evon number. Varieties are
cultivated that reach a height of only
two feet, while others rear their tops so
that a man on horseback can scarcely
reach them. The kernels are many
shaped and many Colored, and the grain
varies in weight from fifty-six to sixty-
four pounds per bushel. The kernel is
made up of the chit or embryo, and
starch and oil for feeding it during its
early growth. Like most of all other
plants it has its roots, stem and leaves.
The value of the entire crop of the
United States is not less than seven hun
dred million dollars’ worth for each of
the hundred days of its growth, though
as coni grows but little during cold
spells, the money value is increased
most rapidly during the hottest days
just succeeding showers, when there
must at times be twenty or more mil
lions of dollars’ worth grown in a single
twenty-four hours. The sexual charac
ter of the plant was described with its
male blossoms on the spindle and the
female organs on the ear, giving us the
power to cross-breed and make new vari
eties by careful selection and manipula
tion. Much can be done te increase the'
average yield of the country by selection
of seed and growing seed especially for
planting. A varie'ty with the habit of
producing one fine ear is better than one
that may produce several small ears.
Tile cob should be small, the husk soft.
Early growth is also an important char
acteristic. The person who is fortunate
enough to originate a new variety of
marked superiority to any now existing
will be classed among the benefactors of
the race. America is the peculiar home
of the corn plant; England would gladly
give a thousand fortunes could she suc
cessfully raise this grain, which is every
inch a king.
THE FESTIVE OYSTER.
Texas claims a goose sixty-five yean
old. The Baltimore Zhfj/ wants to know
gbere tint goats mss d‘ ir ’“3 tbs vw.
At the New York Microscopical Society
Professor Samuel Loekwoood, Ph. D..
Secretary of the New Jersey State Micro
scopical Society, read a paper on th<
“Natural History of the Oyster.” Aftei
speaking of the great systems in physi
ology known as the negative, the profes
sor took up the ingestion, respiration and
circulation of the oyster, which he illus
trated with the help of the blackboard
and diagrams. In regard to the inges-
tive system, he show’ed the course which
the water took in conveying food to the
mouth of the oyster, and described the
action of the lip3 of the oyster in elimi
nating the food from the water.
The position of the stomach was then
shown with the involuted intestines, and
where the faecea were discharged at a
spot where the effete water that had
been taken to tho mouth, returned in a
stream, thus carrying the fcecal refuse
out of the shells. Further on he showed
the peculiar internal structure of the in
testines, by which the great surface was
made available for the absorption of food
into the general system.
In regard to the respiration, he showed
how the water entered the gills, and by
a series of innumerable millions of little
lashes in action, like oars, carry the water
through the minutest part of the gills,
eliminating the oxygen from the con
tained air. In respect to the circulation
he showed the heart in pulsation, com
posed of tiie ventricle and auricle, the
latter receiving the aerated blood from
the gills, giving the same to the ventricle,
which by the two aortas distributed the
blood through the entire surface of the
animal.
He spoke of the oyster as having some
little capacity for education (the Profes
sor is Superintendent of Publio Instruc
tion in Monmonth Comity, N. J.,) in that
in a singular way it can adjust itself to
many new environments, and then went
on to describe the building up the oys
ter’s house—its shells. He told how tiie
shells were formed and how the age of
an oyster can be told by the shoots or
layers of the shells, by the hinge lines
and by the position of the abductor
muscle.
The Professor then described the com
panions of the oyster and their habits,
detailing their efforts in gathering food
for the mollusc, and also the enemies of
the oyster, such as the drum fish,
grinds them up, destroying millions of
them in a night; of the drill, that bates
a hole through tiie shell and then sodas
out the life and body, unless the oyster
rebels and defeats the attack by plugging
up the hole. The aes-star aad the conch
were added to the Rated m«l.
one's operations begin n»jnnt«lyAis»a«s|
That seems tome very great and
noble—that power of respecting a fad
ing which he does not share or under-
HOW TO SECURE A PENSION.
Pension Commissioner Dudley has
written a letter to a gentleman of New
York City, who wrote asking whether
there was any real necessity for employ
mg pension attorneys and for a brief"
statement of the methods used by dis
honest attorneys to swindle soldiers:
In reply the Commission said that sec-
I ticn 4,748 of tho Revised Statutes pro
vides tliat- the Commissioner of Pensions,
on application being made to him in per
son or by letter by any claimant or &,;>
pii-. nut for pension, bounty, land A
otiur allowance required by law to be
adjusted or paid by tho Pension Office,
shafi furnish to such person, free of all
expense, all such printed instructions
and forms as may be necessary in estab
lishing and obtaining said claim.
When the claim, properly filled up and
executed, is filed the receipt is acknowl
edged, the number of the claim given
and the claimant notified that the same
will be taken up in its order; at the same
time a letter is forwarded containing full
and complete instructions.
Necessarily considerable delay occurs
between the time of filing the claim and
its being taken up in its order, which
delay the claimant is advised to employ
in procuring tho necessary evidence.
When the case is reached and is taken
up, if the evidence is all in and sufficient,
the claim is settled at cnce.
Otherwise claimant is called upon for
the particular kind of evidence required,
and the circular calls are so worded that
they cannot be misinterpreted by any
one. Tho evidence of record is obtained
hv the office direct, as is also the medical
examination by the medical boards in
different part3 of the country.
The Commission says the principal
violations consist in the collection, under
some guise or upon some pretext or an
other, of more than the feo allowed by
law; the enforced celb etion of so-called
expense fees or postage claims in ad
vance by addressing the calls to this
office for medical examinations or
oth< r evidence by. C. O. D.
packages; the collection of fees in ad
vance and abandonment of claim as soon
as fee is received; advertisements hohling
out inducements not warranted by law,
by which honest soldiers are led to pre
fer baseless claims, the only advantage
in such cases being that which accrued
to tho agent, who gets a feo.
Loss of Life at Sea.
From the annual report of the Super
vising Inspector-General of Steam Ves
sels, Mr. Dumond, there is obtained
much interesting and instructive' infor
mation regarding the loss of life and
property through accident to that class
of carric'rs. During the fiscal year the
total number of accidents resulting in
loss of life was: From elirect collisions,
16; explosions, 15; fire’s, 7; “snags,
wrecks, anel sinking,” 3, making a total
of 41. The number of lives lost was:
By explosions, 53; by fire, 60; by cuilis-
ions, 34; by occidental drawing, 4G; by
miscc'llaneous casualties, 6, anel by
“snags, wrecks, and sinking,” 6. The
total number of persons carried dining
the year, including officers and crew, was
354.070,447, showing that the loss of life
was only 1 to every 1,727,172 persons
carried. During the year 1851, the year
previous to the enactment of the steam
boat laws, of which those now in force
:U"e codifications, 39,000,000 passengers
were carried and 700 livis lost, being 1
life in every 55,714 passengers carried.
These figures are cited in proof of the
excellence of the present system of in
specting steam vessels. That they show
a marked improvement since 1851 is, of
course, not to be denied, but they are
very far from proving that the system is
as perfect or the officers engaged nnder
it as efficient and faithful as they should
be.
A Forgiving Woman.
The forgiving disposition of some
wemen was wonderfully illustrated in the
Court of General Sessions of New York
City the other day. Albert Arthur was
tried upon the charge of attempting to
kill his young wife, Nellie Arthur, a va
riety actress. The evidence was that he,
prompted by jealousy, attacked her in a
private box of a theatre in which she was
jn ployed, and stab lied her eleven times.
•Shs lay at the point of death for weeks,
but when she quitted the hospital it was
found that she had forgiven her cruel
husband, and was unwilling to testify
igainst him. During his trial, the evn
deuce of other witnesses being sufficient,
she went frequently to the prisoners’
box, and sent him luncheon at recess.
Artlinr was convicted, however, and the
probability is that he will spend some
in years State prison.
Unclaimed Money.
Mr. Preston, author of “Unclaimed
Money,” has Btartled Londoners by an
nouncing that the new Palace of Justice
has been mainly raised with the surplus
interest of suitors’ money, the Courts of
Justice Building act, 1865, giving power
to apply £1,000,000 of the Surplus
Interest Fund for this purpose. Mr.
Preston asserts that £75,000,000 are in
the Chancery Funds, the number of ac
counts being 35,545. A hundred years
ago it was £7,500,000, and 2,385 accounts
This employment of the money in bftild-
ing the courts need not alarm the numer
ous families in this country who daim
these funds, inasmuch an there is an
understanding that the Government will
make good all the money thus appro
priated to all claims which ahall be sub
stantiated m
It has been estimated that about one
hundred thousand miles of underground
chambers exist in the lime-stone at Ken-
HE WOULD GO TO SEA.
The Kemaaee of Commander Carriage’s
Boyhood.
Commander Gorringe, of c United
States Navy, is descended from an an
cient Swedish family named Gorings.
His father went to the Bnrbadoes imme
diately after tailing his degree at Oxiord,
and there settled down as a clergyman
of the Church of England. He married
a daughter of a fellow clergyman; and it
was in this charming sea-home that the
two young people reared their five chil
dren. They had everything heart could
wish for—position, means, health, and
prosperity. The worst troubles they had
to encounter were vicarious—for they suf
fered only through their parisliioners—
and thc-ir days of joy grew to months and
years, and still the sun shone.
The first jar came when the second boy,
Harry, walked into his father’s study one
day and announced that he could not
stand school-going, but must be a sailor,
adding with the honesty that has never
left him:
“I tell you, papa, because if you do
not let me go, I will run away.”
Mr. Gorringe thought it over, and
next morning had a talk with the boy
out of which grew the following treaty :
He was to return to school and stay one
year, which would bring him to the age
of fourteen ; then, if he still felt his hap
piness lay in a sea life, he was to be
shipped with a friend of his father’s to
learn his chosen profession. The’subject
was then dropped, and matters went on
so quietly that Mr. Gorringe forgot all
about it. Not so the boy; on the last
day of the year of probation, he went to
his father and quietly said :
“The year is up, papa. ’
“What year, my boy?”
“My year of waiting and now I
want to go to sea.”
Poor gentleman He went in dismay
to his wife—as the wisest man will do
when family puzzles arise—and it was
decided in solemn conclave to send the
boy a sailoring under a captain who
would disgust him with sea-lifo once and
forever. A vessel was in from England,
commanded by an old commercial friend
of tiie pastor; and to him he unfolded
the ease. He shipped his son as cabin-
boy; and after putting a sum of money
and a kit of “store-clothes” in the cap
tain’s charge, bade adieu to him and
went homo heavy-hearted.
Captain Gorringe says his first taste of
sea-life came as he hung over the rail,
with a lump in his throat, and looked
and looked at his home. As he gazed at
it through a haze of tears that twisted
and distorted its outlines into all sorts of
fantastic shapes, a rough hand took liin
by the ear, and a rough foot kicked him
forward with an oath-garnished order to
go aloft, or else take a taste of rope’s end.
After this he did see sea-life in its most
trying phases, bnt reached England un
dismayed, and was there arrested by his
uncle, and shut up until a letter from the
West Indies assured him that his nephew
had not run away, and that the whole
social system of the Bnrbadoes had not
gone to wreck, even though its pastor’s
sou was shipped as a sailor before the
mast on a merchantman.
By the time this letter came the first
ship had sailed; but the plucky boy en
listed on another and started for India.
Connecticut Valley Sandstone.
Mr. F.lins Nason reports, in a Boston
paper, that some very fine specimens of
tracks have lately been uncovered in the
famous quarry at Turner’s Falls, Mass.
One of the slabs has on it a series of
15-inch tracks (three toed), the stride
measuring five feet. Mr. Nason was per
mitted to take with him several beautiful
specimens, one of which exhibits the
delicate tracery of the feet of an insect
escaping over tho soft mud; another ex
hibits the ripples of the wave, another
the drops of rain, and others have well-
defined imprints of the tracks of birds.
He also saw the impressions of several
kinds of ferns and grasses. Mr. Staugh-
tou, who is working this geological mine,
considers some of the largest slabs to be
worth from 3500 to 31,000; bnt the cost
of excavating them is heavy.
This whole region is supposed to have
been originally covered by the sea. As
the waves receded, birds and quadrupeds
whose species are extinct left the impres
sions of their feet upon the mnd, which,
hardening into stone, has held them
through the ages for the examination of
tho scientists of the present day. Com
pared with these tracks as to age, the
pyramids of Fgypt "rz bnt r.s cf yester
day.
The Rise of Oleomakqabine.—In tho
census returns of 1870 oleomargarine
does not appear. According to a census
bulletin just issued the amount made in
tiie United States in 1880 reached a value
of nearly seven million dollars. This in
dicates lively progress of the infant in
dustry during the past decade in' spite of
the legislative and other obstacles thrown
in its way. The census of 1890 will
doubtless show a for greater advance of
the new product in the zealous competi
tion with its old-fashioned rival.
A SwindIiIno Wheel.—A roulette
wheel in a nincimmli gambling iwn wm
stolen, and the thieves turned out to be
rival gamblers, who desired to have one
made just like it. They testified in court
that it srss a new invention, containing
a spring by tile »bot at which its vic
tims could be robbed at will, the dealer
bring able to make, the ball atop an
whatever number he pleased. •
STORY OF “RIP VAN WINKLE.”
There seems to be good reason for be
lieving that the story of •‘Hip Van
Winkle” existed in similar form long be
fore Washington Irving gave it to tin
American public. Mr. Griffis, in bii
work entitled “The Mikado’s Empire,’
says: “The story (of Chinese origin) is,
as told by Japanese story-tellers, as fol
lows: Lu-wen was a pious wood-cutter,
who dwelt at the base of the majestic and
holy mountain Tendai, the most glorious
peak of the Naulin range in China.
Though he thought himself familiar with
-tiie paths, he few some reason one day
lost Ids way, and wandered about, haring
his ax with him. He did not care,
however, because the beauty of the land
scape, tho flowers and the sky seemed to
possess his senses, and he gave himself
up to the ecstasy of the hour, enjoying
all the pleasant emotions of holy con
templation. All at once he heard a
crackling sound, and immediately a fox
ran ont before him and into the thicket
again.
“ The wood-cutter started to puisne it.
He ran some distance, when suddenly he
emerged into a space where two lovely
ladies, seated on the ground, were en
gaged in playing a gome of checkers.
The bumpkin stood still and gazed with
all his sight at the wonderful vision of
beauty before him. The players appeared
to lie unaware of the presence of an in
truder. The wood-cutter still stood look
ing on, and soon became interested in
the game as well as the fair players.
After some minutes, as he supposed, he
bethought himself to return. On at
tempting to move away, his limbs felt
very stiff, and his ax-handle fell to pieces.
Stooping down to pick np the worm-eaten
fragments, he was amazed to find, instead
of his shaven face of the morning, a long
white beard covering his bosom ; while,
on feeling his head, he discovered on it
a muss of silken, white hair. The
wrinkled old man, now dazed with won
der, hobbled down the mountain to his
native village.
“He found the streets the same, but
the houses were filled with new faces;
crowds of children gathered round him,
teasing and langhing at him ; the dogs
barked at the stranger, and the parents
ot the children shook their heads and
wondered among themselves as to
whence the apparition had come. The
old man, in the agony of despair, asked
for his wife and relatives. The incredu
lous people set him down as a fool,
knowing nothing of whom he asked, and
treating his talk as the drivel of lunatic
senility. Finally, an old grandom hob
bled up and said she was a descendent of
the seventh generation of a man named
Ipi-wen. The old man groaned aloud,
end, turning his back, retraced his
weary steps to the mountain again. He
was never heard of more, and it is be
lieved he entered into tho company of
the immortal hermits and spirits of ilie
mountain.”
B. M. Baumann, a traveler, says :
“I may add that daring my recent
rambles in Japan, not ouly did I hear
the tale, as told by Mr. Griffis, con
firmed by the natives, but I was also
shown a Netsuke or ivory representation
of Rip as a very old man with long hair
and beard, leaning on an ax.”
The Crown Prince of Germany, who
takes deep interest in the village schools
near liis estate at Potsdam, visited the
school at Bomstedt the other day to see
‘he newly-appointed master. He hod
scarcely entered the room when a mes
senger arrived with a telegram summon
ing the master to come to his mother
who was dying in. a neighboring village.
The Crown Prince insisted that the mas
ter should iustantly depart. “But the
children—the school—how can I leave
then »” cried the agonized and perplexed
man. “Tilt 1 never mind such things,”
answered the Prince; “I will teach the
school until the vicar comes to prepare
candidates for confirmation. Go 1 run !
- iid may you find her yet alive!” So for
more than an hour the heir to the Im
perial tlirone examined and instructed
the children, until the vicar came, to
whose care he then entrusted the school.
Lett Him.—All the preparations for
Miss Morton’s wedding were made, at
Hopkinsville, Ky., excepting a choice o;
a bridegroom. She preferred Mi Ho 1
man, while her father insisted >u M:
McPherson. Parental authority : teemed
likely to he maintained, and Hz. Mc
Pherson was told to be on band. Ac
cordingly be was there, but Holman was
there too. Although the front door was
locked against him, he got in by the
back way, and pleaded his case so ear
nestly that the girl recalled her promised
obedience, and declared that she would
marry him or nobody. So the guests,
after being kept in suspense till the last
moment, finally saw her become Mrs.
Holman.
They had only been married a short
time. The other day she slung her arm
around him, and warbled, in a low,
tremulous voice: “Do yon realize,
Adolphus, that now we are married,
we are only one?” “No,” replied
the brute, “I can’t realize it. I
have just paid a $75 millinery bill, and a
lot non of your bilk, with several out-
aide precincts to hear from, n lam be
ginning to realise that, as far as expense
goes, instead of bring one, we .are about
half a doaen. I can’t take in that idea
of oar being one just yet; not by * bigs
majority.”—Taco* Sifting*.
WIT AND WISDOM.
Fannie: Yon aie right. It is better to
return a kiss for a blow. And a great
deal sweeter.—Christian at Work.
A >_an in Syracuse boasts that he has
had 302 colds Li the head in one year.
Ho’d better rent his head for an ice-box
(Ti'.)TU X., “A court of common pleas
j> what I call my store;
An,' the picas yon hear the most are these:
"Good friends, please shut the door.’ ”
A man in Tompkins County, N. Y.,
thought he had discovered the secret of
preserving eggs, bnt after 120,000 had
spoiled on liis hands he concluded that he
hadn’t.
If you meet a lion just right he will
drop his tail and flee, bnt there are so
many chances that he will drop yon in
stead that the meeting had better be post
poned as long as possible.
Houses sometimes appear to be almost
human. One in St. Louis chews tobac
co. The habit does not show a superior
intelligence, bnt it illustrates what a
horse can do when associated with men.
What is the differenco between econ
omy and meanness? Well, if a man
squeezes to save a little money, he calls
it economy; his neighbors call it mean
ness. It depends on who does the call
ing.
A new book is called “ How to Keep a
Store.” It is a work of several hundred
pages, and life is too short to read it.
The best way to keep a store is to adver
tise judiciously, and thus prevent it fall
ing into the hands of the sheriff—Nor
ristown Herald.
Venxob’s almanac for 1883 lies before
ns. Don’t misunderstand us. Wo don’t
mean to say—well, what we do mean is
that we have received a copy, and that it
contains sixty pages of statements re
garding the extent, quality and durabil
ity of next year’s weather.—Texas Sift
ings.
Illinois is worrying over the qnestioD,
“Who shall step into David Davis’s
shoes?” The next Senator may step
into David’s shoes, hut by tho great
American desert, he’d better keep out of
the old man’s trousers, if he wants to be
found in time to draw any pay.—Hawk-
eye.
A little fellow being told by a young
man to get off his knee—be was too
heavy to hold in that way, made quite a
sonsation among tho persons present by
yelling back : “ Too heavy, hey ? Sister
Sal weighs a hundred pounds more than
I, and you held her ou your knee for
four hours last night.”
Among some old papers sent to tho
Austin jail, says Siftings, was the elec
tion circular of one of the local candi
dates. One of the prisoners, who has
been in the jail for the last year, looked
at it, and said: “Look here, boys, this
is not intended for us. It is addressed
‘To the people at large.’ That don’t
mean ns.”
One Kentucky stage robber success
fully plundered the driver and three
passengers, rifled the mail, took a wheel
off the coach, and calmly went his way.
Had there been two or three more pass
engers and a guard, he would have sent
liis boy to do the job, while he went
down to Texas to do some man’s work.
A Kansas man, npon being aroused
from his bed at 6 a. m. to split some
kindlings, indulged in heathen language,
and wished something would come along
and convert everything combustible into
kindling wood. Next day a cyclone
come howling along and knocked his
house into kindlings, and yet he was not
satisfied. It is imposible to please some
men.—Norristown Herald.
Ovebworked Americans: A travel-
stained tramp was sitting under the pro
tecting aegis ot a stone-wall with a news
paper in his hand. “Yes,” he remarked,
sadly, “Herbert is right; overwork is
what’s raising the dence with ns Ameri
cans. Bnt as long as I live it shall be
my endeavor to stand as a living rebuke
to the spirit of unrest which animates bo
many of our people, and which is hiding
so mauy of our young and promising
men in early graves.”—Boston Tran-
script.
Blowing Hot and Cold.
At a meeting of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, the other day, a letter was
read from Prof. Piazzi Smyth, who says
that the observations made at the Clin
ton Hill Observatory prior to 1870 estab
lished three laws of occurrence: First,
that every eleven years a great wave of
heat struck this earth, this having oc
curred three times in succession, name
ly : in 1846, 1857, and 1868; secondly,
that each of these dates was the mark of
the beginning of a period of remarkable
solar activity; and thirdly, that close to
the heat wave came two cold waves.
Speaking in 1872, he had, he said, in ac
cordance with these laws, predicted that
the next cold wave would be experienced
about the end of 1878, and that the year
1880 would be warm. So remarkable
this prediction that he wished he
had then died, for then the statement
would have been remembered, and ablet
men than himself would have rushed in
to the field, and a new science would
have been born in a day.
The Claimant.—Mr. Anthony Bid-
dulph visited the Tichbome claimant a
few days ago at Portsea oouvict prison
for the first time since the convicts re
moval from Dartmoor. The claimant has
lost considerably in weight, and has aged
very much. He appeared to be perfectly
resigned to his position, but is looking
forward with hope to the Christmas or
1881, when he expects to be liberated
a tioket of leave.