The Fayetteville news. (Fayetteville, Ga.) 18??-????, November 30, 1888, Image 1

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The Fayetteville news., November 30, 1888, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextYOL. I. = The estimated population of tho United ;g, 0Utes to-day is about 0(5,000,000. ' The farmers last year furnished three- fourths of all the exportations shipped from this country. ( . ya a i, = -- The consular report on the condition of Brazil says that the ] opulation con sists of 4,000,000 whites and 4,000,000 meztizoes. PAYETTEVTLLE, GA„ FRIDAY, 1 NOVEMBER 30, 1883. 1 Five years ago there were five girls’ schools in Yokohama and Tokio, Japan To-day there are more than thirty, and all well-patronized. The action-of Judge Arnold, of Philo- 'delphia, in refusing naturalization papers to a Hungarian because the latter avowed himself an infidel is a reminder, observes ■ the New York Telegram, that tho days are not so far off when Uuiver nlists were refused the right to testify in court because they stood in no fear of hell. The Tabasco Planof Durham, N. C., tells how Colonel R. F. Webb, a 'Mexi can veteran of that town, who saw Pro fessor Morse and his daughter plant the first telegraph polo, the other day sat in his office in the stirring little North Carolina town and sold tobacco by cablo over in London, sending the message and receiving tho answer without stirring from his seat. At Charleston, W. Va., a company of young ladies, thirty-five in number, liavo organized, elected officers, chosen uni forms, consisting of blue dresses, trimmed in white, and hold regular drill -meetings every Wednesday evening. Tho arms used are wooden muskets, made in -exact imitation of the regulation article, ■ and the girls are said to be making re markable progress in tho manual of 3arms. The habit of taking morphia is in creasing in France to a dangerous ex tent, according to the New York Post. Among some wealthier circles it has be come quite a fashionable custom, and the most inveterate “morphia maniacs” habitually carry about with them a tiny phial of the drug and a small’ syringe concealed ifa a cigarette cbso, a scent bottle, work-case, or some other dainty trifle. „ Army recruits are not of first quality Bow-a-days. Of sixteen recruits re cently arrived at Livingstone, Montana, -six are in the guardhouse for serious •offenses, three have deserted, ono has been sent to Fort Benton for trial by -court-martial and one was strung up by indignant citizens and made to confess where he had hidden a satchel, gold watch and some money he had stolen from a dead women. In an obscure little town in Mexico lives a lineal descendant of Montezuma II., the legal hoir'to tho Aztec throne. Seuor Montezuma, as he is called, in dulges in no idlo dreams of the restora tion of the ancient empire, and quietly accepts the meager pension allowed him by the government. In contradistinc tion to this the heirs of Cortez receive immense revenues from the estates of tho Marquis del Valle (Cortez), nnd live in grand style. There is also living a de scendant of tho Indian Emperor Chimal- popoca, who is a civil engineer of much ability. ______________ A whole steamboat load of ivory has lately come down the Congo River, in Africa, from regions where tho native know little of its value, to the European trading-centre established by Stanley the explorer. This is good news to tho manufacturers of ivory, but better still to those who hate cruelty. For one great object of the African slave-hunters is to procure the human cattle that carry the ivory to the coast. These dolorous pro cessions of dying wretches wearing great yokes of logs about their necks, besides the freight they lug, will now he less necessary to trado. It is calculated that every tusk (worth $500 in London) has cost at least one human life to get it to the sea coast. Our present Congress can boast or tho longest session on record. When tho two houses of Congress met at noon on Monday, October 1, the session had be come the longest by twenty-four hours in American history. The longest pre ceding session was that of 1850, the year of the Missouri Compromise, which was adjourned at noon of September 80. Constructively, says the New York Observer, the session of 1868, following the impeachment proceedings against President Johnson, was longer, the ad journment sine die having taken place BmberJi^atl, as a matter of fact, r Peeks’ recess from APART. Out on a leafless prairie, where No song of bird makes glad the air, No hue of flower brings to her eyes Outward glimpse of Paradise,— A thousand miles antfa half away,— ' My lady is in love to-day. And all her heart Is singing, singing, And every new south wind is winging Tidings - glad from her truo lovor, And kisses bridge the distance over— Lips to lips and heart to heart, A thousand miles and a half apart. —Orelia Key Bell, in (he Century. FROM SUDDEN DEATH. BY LUCY H. HOOPEB. An intensely hot and brentliloss Sum mer day brooded over the fields end mountains of New York State. Seated in one of the leading cars of tho after noon express train on tho Froightsvilio and Brightsburg Railway, I was speed ing along, half nsleep and extremely Warm, suffering all the discomfort which dust and heat and flies combine to be stow upon the Summer traveler. We were nearing the station where we were to take supper—a 6mall town known as Claynor. 'Bumpity! bump! bump! bump! The moti.ou of the ears had changed with a horrible suddenness. Startled broad awake by tho change, ohd too old a railroad traveler not to know what it portended, I gazed out of the window with alarmed intcutness. The cars Were oil' the track—that I knew too well. We were running at full speed, and the road led alongside of a narrow stream down whose precipitous banks we might in another moment be hurled. 1 saw the car itv-ffront of the one in which we rat sway and topple as though about to fall over. If it did so, a general wreck and ruin would ensue. Still bump, bump, bump, went the car-whecl3 over the sleepers. '1 hen the motion of the train slackened, grew slower still, and finally it came to a stand-still. We were saved! “Goodness gracious! what are you stopping for?” asked a slout lady, look ing up from her pictorial paper. “Twenty minutes for refreshments, ma’am,” answered a youth beside her. He was pale as death, as was natural for one who had just looked death in the face, for he had fully comprehended our peril, but even in that moment the strauge recklessness which is one of our national characteristics had come upper most. As soon as the danger we had escaped became generally known, there was a Universal chorus of cries nnd exclama tions, some of terror, others of surprise, and some few of thanksgiving. In tho midst of it ali most of the passengers started to get out of the cars to look over the wreck. We found the engine and tender half way down the embank ment. Tho foremost car had lodged against a small tree, whose tough, teaa-! cious roots, running down the bank and i spreading through the earth, had enabled it to check the outward motion of the train, already slackened by the breaking of the coupling that attached the engine ! to it. Humanly speaking, that tough j little tree had saved tho lives of possibly one-half of the passengers in the train. 1 As it was, noboby was hurt, save one unfortunate boy who had Leon stealing a ride, perched upon the step of the fore most cars, and he was past either surgery or prayers. As I stood gazing upon the engine, standing on its head in the mud, a well- known voice sounded in my ears, a friendly slap tingled on my shoulder. “Well, Brooks, can this be you? Were we fellow-passengers without knowing it?” I started, turned, and warmly grasped the hand that was extended towards me. “How does the learned physician? Well, this is a strange rencontre. And where have yon been this hot weather, in the name of wonder? Rusticating among the mountains, eh?” “No; I have been to Brightsburg on professional business.” “And what are wo to do now, I wonder 1 It will take ton hours at least to clear tho track, replace the rails, and get things in good running order again. This is what the conductor tails me. And to morrow is Sunday, too—vvori-e luck, for they run no trains on this road on that day, except the early morning one.” Dr. Max Melfort burled his hands in the pockets of his linen duster, and looked abroad over tho land. “Havo we got to stay here till Monday morning?" he queried, at last. “Not here, but at Claynor. Of course, we shall reach there too late for the solitary Sunday train, which passes there about eight o’clock in the morning.” “And how far is it from here?” We called the conductor and held a parley. We found that Claynor was forty miles off by rail, but that a road to it lay over the mountains, which was lessthan half that length. “I tell you what, gentlemen,” said tho conductor; “if you are very anxious to get on, why not strike across the fields to that little town over yonder—there— just where you see tho white spire above the trees? You can hire a horse and buggy there, I’ve no doubt, and, if you’re not afraid of a night-ride across the mountains, you can reach Claynor long before the time that tho train is due.” “I must reach New York before Mon day morning, if possible,” said Dr. Max, turning towards me. “What say you, Paul? Are you ready to mako the at tempt?” “Of course. Anything is better than to stay stewing here, with a prospect of being roasted at Claynor all day to morrow. Besides, the moon is at its full, so that a night-drive in this weather will be rather plensq^^fcg^Stherwise. ” And with a the conduotor, [on the disorgan- ;roups that were collected round it, and stftrted off in search of tho l.ttio town to which we had been directed. We reached it after about half an hour’s walk and found it a very small and sleepy place indeed, though rejoic ing in the pompous cognomen of New Nineveh. The little white-washed hotel afforded us material for conious ablu tions am 1 e good supper, ancl the horse and bug 6 y were easily found, and were hired by us.at a reasonable rate. We were to leave them with the proprietor of the principal hotel at Claynor, their owner having business there in the course of the next week, and as ho very sensibly said, “he could go the e by rail and then drive himself home, just as well as not.” The sun had not long been set when we started on our journey. The heat was still intense, while.the atmosphere seemed stagnant with a dull, oppressive clo-enc-s that weighed on mind and body alike. “We shall have a storm before long,” qno’h Dr. Max, after we had gone a few miles; “there is thunder in the air. But it will hardly come up before to-morroW morning, I think.” Cur way at fir>t lay among verdant pastures and productive fields, which skirted either side of the road. Gradu ally the road began to ascend, the traces of cultivation became fewer, and half- cleared patches of land took the place of well-tilled farms. At last even these gave way to a dense forest of pines which rose on either side like walls of gloom, looking dark and dreary in the gather ing shadows of the twilight. The road, too, became rough and stony, and our progress was necessarily slow and im peded. Suddenly a heavy roll of thun der was audible in the distance. The storm soon burst upon us in all its fury. The rain poured down in tor rents, wetting us to the skin. The blazing streams of the lightning, at tracted by the tall pines that studel the w T ood, ran hither and thither like ser pents of iiame on either side of us. Finally our road emerged upon a clear ing half way up the side of the moun tain. By the quick flicker of the light ning we discerned along, low two-story frame house, standing back from the wood, and with more than one light Visible in its windows. “Goodl” cried Dr. Max,, in a tone of relief; “here is a habitation, and pre sumably some human beings to help ns to dry clothes and a shelter for the night.” We drove up to the door, and after knocking for some little time, an inner bar was withdrawn, and a woman, with a lantern in her hand, presented herself. “No, we could not come in,” she said, in answer to our queries. “She was ill —she had just sustained a tferrible be- rea- cment—she wanted no strangers peeking about her premises. Not that there was anything to hide—” And she was going on, maundering in an imbecile sort of way. when she was suddenly thrust aside by a short, sharp-looking young fellow, who took upon himself the office of spokesman. “Comein? Of course the gentleman shou’d come in. It was not a night to keep a dog out in. The horse could be put under the shed, and would do there \ ery well till morning. And if the gen tlemen wanted any supper, they could have eggs and ham, aud some hot whisky-aud-water to keep off the chill, Don't be a fool, mother; stand aside, I say, and let the folks in, out of- the wet.” We found ourselves, on entering, in a spacious, low-ceilinged kitchen, which somehow looked desolate, instead of cheery and comfortable. The woman who had first accosted us retreated to a seat beside the blackened hearth, whereon no fire had apparently been lighted for some time, and there seated herself, swaying herself to and fro, with her hands clasped over her knees and her eyes fixed on vacancy. She was past middle age, and was red-liaired and frei-klcd, but with tho remains of con siderable beauty still apparent in her regular features, white skin and shapely form. The man who had insisted upon our entrance, in spite of his hospitable action, was anything but a genial and prepossessing-looking personage. lie was thin and sickly looking, with shift ing, uneasy eyes, and a sallow, unshaven face, lie seemed uneasily and ostenta tiously anxious to welcome us, brought us chairs, and set about lighting the fire nnd getting supper, while the woman sat rocking herself to and fro nnd noticed nothing. Her son introduced himself as I.udwig Schultz, and also vou hsafed the information that h's mother had married twice, her second husband being old Jncob Gruber. -‘He died of apoplexy this morning, gentlemen,’’ he continued; “that’s why she's so upset. And you’ll not mind things being a bit dull, as tho old man died so suddenly only a few hours ago?” We assurod him that we would not; the idea of the presence of a corpse be neath the roof that sheltered us being anything but agreeable or enlivening, w’hilstthe presence of that silent woman, see-sawing herself to and fro with monotonous action, and her eyes fixed on vacancy, was enough in itself to de press our spirits. She meal when served was more appetizing than mi<*ht have beou expected, and wo both did it full jnstice. Before wo had quite finished, a door at the end of the room was pushed open, aud a half-drunken, heavy-look ing young fellow staggered into the room. He glared at us with a sort of stupid ferocity mixed with amazement. “Now what tho deuce—” he was be ginning, roughly, when his brother seized his arm, and, saying something to him in German in an undertone, half dragged, half pushed him out of the roomj There was the noise of a sharp altercation outside for a few minutes, and then tho man called Ludwig came back and offered to show ut to our room. We accepted his offer, and he led the way to an upper story, arouud which ran a wide porch, supported on rough- hewn pillars. On this porch the win dows and door of each room opened. There was no corridor, and tho only access to this upper floor was by a flight of stairs, leading from the kitchen we had just left. Our guide / docked the door of one of the rooms,/ id set down the candle on the little table. “Do either of you gentlemen speak German?” he asked. “Not one word of it,” answered Dr. Melfort, much to my surprise, for his mother had been a German lady, and he spoke the language like a native. “All right!” raid Schultz, with a per ceptible air of relief. “Only, you see, the old woman speaks German better than she does English—and I thought— so,' if you want anything . Well, I’ll 6ay good night and a good sleep to you.” He took his departure, and as soon as his lumbering footsteps had died away in the distance, tho doctor unfastened tfjs door and stepped out on the porch. “J am going to reconnoitre a little,” ho said, in a whisper. “Come with me, if you like.” I followed at a short distance, and saw h'm suddenly pause, with a stifled ex clamntion, before a window, the shutter of which had been apparently forced back by the wind during the storm. Then, without speaking, he beckoned to me to come to him, which I did, and pausing before the open casement, I looked, as lie had done, into tho room beyond. Never, to my dying day, shall I forget the horror of what I saw. Upon a low bed, at the further side of the little chamber, lay the corpse of an aged man, unwashed, unshorn and un- straightened for the grave. His clothes were the rough, soiled garments of his everyday life and toil. lie lay on his back, his limbs contorted, as though the parting soul had left its tenement amid pain and struggling. But the most fear ful clement of that dead spectacle lay in the fact that above the half-open mouth hovered a cloud of pale, luminous vapor, that steamed continuously upwards, and broke and quivered and floated away with the slight disturbance of air caused by our presence at the window. I was about to utter an exclamation of horror when Dr. Melfort laid his hand upon my lips. “Silence 1” he whispe ed in my ear. “Our very lives depend upon our making no sound, on our giving no warning of the discovery we have made. We are in the house of murder!” “That strange light— “Is a symptom that the dead ma nas been poisoned with phosphorus—a drug common in crime, because so easy ob tained from ordinary matches. Back to our room! We must get away from here as quickly as possible.” •4Ve stole back to our allotted chamber. The storm was rising again. One of the sudden gusts of wind had blown out our candle, and we looked in each other’s faces by the pale gleams of tho light ning. After & brief pause, to make certain that all was quiet in the house, we clambered down one of the rough hewn pillars of the porch, and, making our way to the shed, we unfa-teued the horse and waited till a long roll of thunder came to cover the noise of the wheels. Then we started, turning our horse’s head, not towards Claynor, but in the direction of New Nineveh, trust ing to the animal’s instinct to find his way home through the woods. As we plunged into the forest, a shout in the distance, followed by a rifle-shot, were audible. “They have found out that we are gone,” muttered the doctor between his teeth. “Now. Paul, for a drive for life!” He whipped up the horse a=, he spoke, and we dashed along at breakneck speed.. The road lay down hill, and if we were pursued, we were soon out of reach of the pursuers. We saw and heard nothing further of the brothers. In fast, the tempest, which had broken forth again in redoubled fury, was enough to check the p-ogress of auy one who had striven to follow us. Am d the continuous hla/.c of the light ling, the violent gusts of wind, and the blinding rain, wo made our way, thankful when, at last, we emerged from the forest, as we d d so, a red light shone on our path, reflected from the lurid clouds overhead—the light of a distaut con flagration. It was not till we weto comfortably c tnhli.-hed in the best room of the hotel at New Nineveh, our wet clothes ex changed for dry garments, and wine and cigars on the table before us, that Dr. Melfort told me one of the causes of his sudden flight. In the brief alterca tion between tho brothers, held outride the kitchen while we we e fiuLhing our supper, lie had hoard 1 udwig essaying to pacify the other by a promise that we should never <,u t the premises alive. When we were nearing New York, on the early express train tho following day, my fr.cnd, without a word, passed to me the paper he had just purchased, pointing as ho did so to a particular paragraph which ran as follows : “Ter rible Catastrophe.—A House Struck by Lightning aud Consumed—A Whole Family Perish in tho Flames.—During the great thunderstorm of Thursday night, the house of Mr. Jacob Gruber, on the road between New Nineveh and Claynor, wa9 struck by lightning and entirely consumed. Four persons, namely, Mr. Gruber, his wife, and Johann ancL Ludwig Schultz (the two sons of Mr-. Gruber by a former mar riage), inhabited tho house at the time, and all lost their lives in tho flames. The building was constructed of wood, aud must have burned with great rapidity, thus entirely cutting off the es cape of tho inmates. It is probable that tho brothers Schultz, who wero well known in the neighborhood as hard drinkers, were intoxicated when tho fire broke out, aud so wore unable either to take measures toextinguish it or to make their escape. Be this as it may, the re mains of four human bodies were found amongst tho ruins, thus proving con clusively that the whole family had shared the fate of their home.” Thrice, therefore, in the spnee of a single day hod sudden death—by rail road disaster, by lightning, and by mid night assassination—come close to our path, and had passed us by. And on t-unday morning, when, with bowed head, 1 listened to the petitions of the Litany, my heart responded with an unwonted thrill to those well-known but newly impressive words, “From sudden death, good Lord, deliver usi”—Frank Leslie's. Growing ltocks. The American Analyst says it is true that many rocks actually do grow. The limestones liavo been formed by living organisms, like the coral polype, and it may even he said of many limestone deposits that every particle has at some time formed a part of a living animat. Sandstones, slates, and probably some varieties of granite have ali been de posited underneath large bodies of water, and in this sense have grown to their present dimensions. Only the igneous or volcanic rocks cannot strictly be said to have “grown,” and those of this class which are highly crystalme may he in directly so considered, as the formation of a crystal, either from fusion or so lution, pre ents in many ways a wonder ful resemblance to the growth of a liv ing organism. It is, however, the decay of the rocks that is of the most importance, and with which we have most to do. The “eternal hills” are not only often “shaken,” but are very far from being eternal. They are constantly decreasing in size and being washed down into the valleys. Even the lofty Alps are considered to be but the “stubs” or remains of a much loftier range existing in past geological epochs. It is to this constant degra dation and decay that the farmer owes his fertile fields, as the soil from which he raises his crot33 was at one time in the condition of nard and bar.en rock. The agencies which cause the decay of the rocks are very numerous and varied. Cold, heat, frost, rain, wind, vegetation, running streams and standing water all do their part; and chemical decom position is an important factor, espe cially with granites and other rocks con taining felspar. . Extremes of heat and cold cause the surface of the rock to crack, and the cracks become filled with water, which freezes and expands, breaking it up still further. Every stream of water, from the trickling raindrops to the lushing torrent, does its part in wearing away and pulverizing the rocks in its course; and the finely divided material is carried along by them, and deposited along it? hanks or in the sea at the mouth. Skin Currency. . It is not a generally-known historical fact, says the Pittsburg Dispa'rh, that from 1774 to 17k! the territory now- known as Tennessee formed a part of North Carolina, and that in 1785 tli6 Tennesseeans, becoming dissatisfied with their Government, organized a State Government under the name of “Frank lin,” which was maintained for some years. ’!he State afterward organized disbanded and territorial Tennessee was- again annexed to North Carolina. The follow.ng is among the laws passed by the Legislature of the State of Frank lin. We copy it as found in a speech by Daniel Webster on the currency of 1888: Be it cuncted by the General Assembly of the State of Franklin, and it is hereby enacted by the autnority of the same. That from ’.lie 1st day of January, 178!’, the salaries of the oLeers of this com monwealth be as follows: His Excellency, the Governor, per annum, ltiOtl deer skins. His Honor, the Chief Justice, per anuum, 500 deerskins. The Sccreta y to his Excellency, the Governor,] er annum, 500 raccoon skins. The Treasurer to the State,-150 raccoon skin. Each County Clerk, 300 heaver skins. Clerk of House of Commons, tWO raccoon skins. Members of the Assembly, per diem, three raccoon skins. Justices’ fees for signing a warrant, one muskrat skin. To the Con-table for serving a war rant, ono mink skiu. Enacted into the law the ISth day of October. 1780, under the great seal of the State. Human Voices in the Phonograph. Now that the phonograph Iras become an assuied commercial success, observes the Detroit Fre • P,e<it may he well to point out ono great advantage it pos sesses nnd that has heretofore cleaped the notice of newspaper men. it is a curious fact that uo person recognizes his own voice when it is given l ack by the phonograph. His friends recognize it; hut it sounds strange aud weird to the speaker. The new machiuc, there fore, establishes this curious and hitherto unknown truth, that uo man has yet heard his own voice as others hear it. Now there is in this and all other coun tries a das of individuals who persist, every time they get a chance, in speak ing iu public, or in reciting or singing, as the case may be. No one has the - courage to tell a person of this kind that his efforts are atrocious, aud even if & man hold enough to do so existed, the chances are that the amateur performer would not beheve him. He would merely get angry aud say that it was the other fellow’s jealousy. Now this can all be remedied, to the great relief of a suffering public. Let every amateur speaker, reciter or singer be persuaded to speak, recite or sing to the phono graph and then li-ton to the result. It will be a frightful disillusion to him, but he will never offend again. Pullman says he can build sleeping cars containing six nice bedrooms, but passengers would have to pay $5 instead of fa per night. NO. 18. "AS A BELA. IN A CHIME." As a bell in a chime, gets its twin-note a-ringing, js one poet's rhyms. Wakes another to singing. Bo. once she has smiled, All your thoughts are beguiled And flowers and song from your childhood are bringing. Though moving through sorrow As the star through the night, Eho needs not to borrow, She lavishes, light. The path of yon star Seemeth dark but afar: , Like hers it is sure, and like hers it is Each grace is a jewel Would ransom the town. Her speech has no cruel, Her praise is renown; T is in her as though Beauty, Resigning to Duty The scepter, had still kept the crown. —Robert Johnson, in the Century. PITH AM POINT. High sees—Astronomers. A scaly trick—Catching a fish. There is an idol in a Chinese temple that weeps tears, idol tears. Crooked work will always bring a man into straights. —Piltilurg Chronicle. Some plays are so solemn that men have to go out of the theater to smile. Nobody knows where flies go to. Per haps they go up the “flew.”—Detroit Free Press. They buried the milkman in the old- fashioned way. He took no stock in creamation. The dentist should make a good work ing politician. He is always ready to take the stump.—Boston Transcript. It was compla ned at a child’s party, where the growu-up people were in the majority, that it was too much adult erated. While cost of living may he ieduced down to a mere nominal sum, the trouble remains with many to get the nominal sum.—Sittings. A fashion article in one of our ex changes says that terra-cotta is much worn this fall. We suppose it is cither in the shape of tiles for gentlemen or piping for ladies’ dresses.—Lctoelt Cou rier. Two Strike is the name oI an Ind an chief at the Pine Ridge agency in Dako ta. There is evidently baseball talent on the Sioux reservation. Mr. Anson should look into this mater.— Chicago Fetes. - W hen the frost is on the pound cake and the sparerib's in the pot The chilly autumn’s hens and the furnace lire is hot. And the man who has dyspepsia eats those things which he should not. —' .ticago Xews.- This comes from the West as frozen fact, but we more than suspect it is made to order: “Miss Clam has married Mr. Fritter and now signs herself Mrs. Clam- Fritter.” As the tale comes from “Bad Man's Gulch,” out in Arizona, the mari time flavor is all the more remarkable.— Com m - rcial A Jar: iser. Judge Tree, of Illinois, it is said, is to be the Minister to Russia. It will, therefore, be in order to say that his bark will soon be ou the sea to stem its way to the other side of the Atlantic. There will, of course, be proper leave taking, and ns .-ooa a> he arrives at his destination he will make his bough to the Czar. There is little doubt but that he will soon take deep root in the esteem of the Ilus-iaD court.—Boston Courser. Why Chinamen Escape Yellow Fever The New Y'ork Sun's Chinese reporter asked Dr. Youg Tsye Hong, of Pell street, about his experience with yellow fever in China. “In Kwong Tung, Foo Kien and Kwong Si,” he said, “there were a few cases of yellow fever several years ago. The fever was called by the natives ‘wun blun.’ It never became epidemic, owing to the people’s habit of smokingTopium.” “i oes the smoking of opium prevent or cure yellow fever;” “Certainly it does. Wherever opium is smoked it destroys yellow fever.” “But is not the opium smoking habit as dangerous as the fever?” “Ao: it takes ut least a year of con stant smoking to aequite the habit, as all old opium smokers will testify. There might be yellow lever all over the t nited States, hut the Chinese opium smokers would not he ejected.'’ Dr. Li Shi I.eon, of 10 Mott street, said: “Why, certainly, opium smoking cures yellow fever. 1 had two cousins in Memphis during that terrible yellow fever scourge in 1875, who simply smoked their pipes the moment they had caught the fever, and got we l in less than twenty hours. ao, there is no danger of getting the opiun habit if the patient does not smoke longer than six months; hut, then, it is a hard thing to learn how to use the pipe.” A Combination Piece of Furniture. A bureau exhibited at tho Brussels hi Lotion is a source of great surprise when taken to pieces. In the space of five minutes the bureau can be traits - formed into a complete set of bedroom furniture, consisting of the following articles: First, a bed ^including mattress and blankets); id, a table; 3d, a leather trunk; 4th, a washstand, with basin, ewer, etc., complete; 5th, a towel rail; Cth, a looking glass; 7th, an armchair, etc. There is nothing short, in fact. Tho inventor is & Mr. Zwicker Lotar, of Brussels. Of course, the bureau con tains all the usual accessories iu the shape of drawers for papers, letters, account books, otc. In the morning, after a comfortable night’s rest,' the bed is again transformed into a writing table and washstand, table, etc,., and re stored to their place* in a few minutes.