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UP WAS THE PIE.”
In th* night— noleinn right—
I awoke In fe&iful fright,
And my chart
Seemed op preened
At If lead—heavy lead—
A ton or more of dead
Weight was profiting;- cruelly pressing—
On my cliost!
And a demon wib u pie—hot mine© pie—
lurched upon my bedpost high;
And blue devil*
Held their revels
O er my brain—aching brain
Backed with pa|n,
And kept dancing—madly prancirg
On xny brain.
Then 1 cry*—wildly cry:
44 Give me rest, or let me dlo;
Let me deep**
Sweetly sleep.”
Bui the demon perched on high—
Yea ! tbe demon with tb* pie—
Honrue'y ehrited, 14 Never-never!”
Quoth the devilt, 44 Haul17 everl”
Than the joke— Joke-
Startled me, anU I awoke
Awoke in pain,
Half insane,
And I said— aimp y M>td:
44 Do I dream, or am 1 dead?
Have I fallen out of l ed?”
From ih" "loom there caino reply;
4< Silent Ik*,
„ It was the p*e ! M
—Toronto Grip.
THE CONDUCTOR’S STORY.
I think it iH Emerson who nays,
“ When you pay for your ticket and get
into tbo car, you have no guess v hat
food company you shall find there,
on buy much that is not rendered in
the bill.” I lmvo found this remark
eminently true on several occasions,
particularly when my life-long friend
Roth bears mo company.
Ruth is the most unconventional of
women. She travels, as she does every
thing else, with wholosouled earnestness,
and finds bread where most people
would gather only stones. Thus, re
cently being in the roar ear ot the long
train, she preferred standing on the
platform and drinking in at one draught
that magnificent valley through which
wo seemed Hying than by tantalizing
sips, as one has to ilo from behind a
narrow car window.
I followed her. I always do. And,
holding on to the narrow railing, wr. felt
somewhat like two lost comets whirling
through space. Soon the door behind
us banged, and a gentleman in the
midsummer of life, with a face aa class
ically beautiful as Edwin Booth's and
a waist of Falutiiffian dimensions, joined
ns. He beamed on us literally. From
the dimple in his fair soft chin to the
ring of brown, silky hair which lay upon
his brood, smooth forehead, tlio ex
pression scintillated with intelligent
good nature. Withal, there was such a
retrosjiectivo background to tlio sunny
brightness that, after*a few common
places, Ruth, the darling, honest, im
pudent creature, said, looking up mean
while into his face with a smile so
honest and kindly tlmt he would have
been a Hersekeanot to have reflected it:
“Sir, permit mo to remark that you
are a physical incongruity.”
"Not so bad ns that, madam, 1 hope.
I am merely a conductor, as by this
time you have discovered, and a pretty
well balanced one, independent of
avoirdupois."
"But your thoughtful face, sir, that
is what, perplexes me. It should belong
to a body but one-third the weight of
yours,” suggested Ruin, the wise disci
ple of Lavuter.
“My face is all right," ho replied,
strki’'g his checks and chin with mu
air of marveloussolf-ooniplueoney. " It
stopped growing ten years ago, but it
is here,” touching tbo region of hi.s dia
phragm with the tip of his trout fore
finger, “thatcontentment and my rare
good luck shows itself. Once 1 \r a iis
thin as l'otor Hehenauel’a siiiidi.w,
and "—ho paused, looking into Ruth's
clear, gray eyes as if lie would sound
her soul's depths—“l am strongly
tempted to tell you my bit of it romance,
toi there is a long stretch ahead, anil
you look like one of the kind to euj >y a
twin'll of nature. Isn't it so?"
Tlio conductor had struck the very
keynote of our needs. Wo .were pining
lor a veritable California story, told in
an unconventional way ; to be told, too,
under such peculiar circumstances
would bo an added spicu, anil thus be
sought him to immediately yield to
temptation.
"I am an old sttiger,” he said, "at
least as far back us tile spring of 1850,
With a blanket strapped upon my back,
60 ceuts in my pants pocket, and the
biggest stock of hope and unused en
ergy that ever made n lad's heart as
light as a balloon, 1 tramped along hero
in my search for the ‘gold diggings.*
My ambitiou vvaa higher than those
buttes yonder by thousands of feet, end
the top was to bo capped by sulid geld,"
pointing as ho spoke to three siugnUi
and isolated iwaks we wore just then
passing, known aatho Marysville buttes,
whose volcanic heights looked as inao
oessibie to us ns tlnur |eala> seemed
brown and barren.
“It appears to me,” said Ruth, meas
uring the most precipitous sides of those
lofty and laysWiiuut hills, “that whim
a man aspires to touch the key ho would
want a higher guerdon than mere gold ;
not, however, that I hold the metal in
oontempt.”
“ I had, madam, an 1 that was the
whole matter. I was and speratelv in
love—that was n solemn fact expressed
in aa few words as poasildc, and I la'-
lieve that she loved me, but the top ot
Mount Shasta was not more unattain
able to mo than Jennie. Her father, an
old Philadelphia druggist, had money,
and I as ambitious for his daughter ns
he was proud. 1 felt, that 1 could * move
a mountain,’ if I could find a mountain
to move ; so Jennie ami I said gix-d-hv
one afternoon under an old oak in F.ur
moulit Park, and in the very depths of
my heart I believed that aho would be
true to me. It was not a severe seven
days ride in a palnoo-car from New
York to San Franeiseo in tnose days,
and the tall, aleudor, hungry, penniless
lad, who tramped along here twenty
nine years ago, seeking his fortuueli-ke
another Dick Whittington, was a weary
and homesick one os well. ”
"By ’ here,’ which you have twice
used, do you mean this veritable valley
of the Sacramento ?” said Hath.
** The very same. My objective [siint.
was a place now famous in tile annals of
that period called ‘ Bid well’s Bar,’ ou
account of a rich bar in the Feather river
full of golden sand, which was discovered
by Gen. JJidwell. The place was man y
miles from me ; tbe count ry was thinly
settled. I did not know a soul (for even
tramps were scarce in those early days),
and so my courage and lees gave oat to
gether. Pulling off my lxxits about 5
o’elock one sultry day, I bored my blis
tered feet to the cool evening bronze,
and, creeping into a clump of young
maiizauitas, fell asleep, hoping that I
would never awake again this side of the
•tars. I did, however', oouscions that
my toes were being licked in a gentle
fashion, and discovered that it was l>e
ing done by a brown setter dog, alunt
as hungry looking and generally dilapi
dated as I was myself.
“ Where he came from I never know,
but. looking into his half-hnman eyes,
we speedily entered into a sort of dumb
compact to trudge oatogwh*-r* Mound
that ttto jour fuUt>w (i utwf gooldOftil
him a brute) had a sore knee, inflamed
and bleeding. I tore a strip off from
my last linudkerchief to bind it up,
mid, in place of the Good Samaritan’s
oil anil wine, gave him my last scrap of
cold bacon. It is strange, but, forlorn
as I was in those days, I recall them
with a tender pleasure almost unac
countable. It I had been raised a Brah
min I would have believed that some im
mortal spirit of unfailingcheerfulness -mi
unending resources was imprisoned in
that dog’s body. Hid you ever read the
fairy legend of ‘the White Cat,’who,
after she had persuaded the young
prill'■ •, her lover, to cut off' her head
and tail slid throw them in the fire,
tu ld'jnly stood before him a woman,
fair as Aurora? Fritz, for that was tho
name by which I called the dog, looked
at me with Jennie’s brown eves, half
roguish, half thoughtful, and together
wo resumed our journey. Nor would I
have followed in the wake of the young
Prince, even had I known tho result
would have been similar, for Fritz, tho
dog, was invaluable just os lip was. All
loneliness wu,“. gone now that ho rarely
left my side, anil although our shadows
had grown less liy tlio time we reached
tho * bar * nur immaterial entities were
in prime order for everything in the
shape of adventure. ‘Have never seen
any gold dug.’ Then I’ll not at this
late day spoil your first impression of a
minor’s camp by describing mine ; as 1
approached Bid well’s bar, I may say,
though, that one might have supposed
an earthquake or tornado hail been at
work there, tearing up the hundreds of
thousands of cubic feet that had been
moved and removed by mortal hands in
their frantic, persistent search for gold.
“Tho bar was a world in miniature.
Almost every nationality was there rep
resented, and almost every feature of
human kind but humanity. Armed with
a pick, pan and shovel, I, like thousands
of others, begun to dig and burrow and
wash dirt. But my labor and its results
would not balance, for somehow my little
leather lmg of gold dust got no heavier,
toil as I would. Wages being good, I
stopped digging and Uiroil myself ns a
camp soullnm. I did every kind of job
bing within the range of a minor’s wants.
Washing dirty flannel shirt* and cotton
overalls, patching leather trousers and
cooking flapjacks, is not the most digni
fied and flower-strewn path of fortune,
you must know; and to a boy whose
ideas of chivalry, independence and deeds
of knightly valor were purely Byronio
such n fate, yon must acknowledge, was
a sort of poetic injustice. My aim,
though, was to earn enough money with
which to buy a certain claim of which f
knew; and that I had in advance labeled
‘ Bonanza.’
“I might, have succeeded, but I was
prostrated by a malarial lever, and for
flays and weeks lay unconscious nt, the
tender mercy of a few rough Welsh
miners with human hearts. My little
hoard of money and mv energy melleil
away together like Npring snow. But
for Fritz I'd have died of disappoint
ment alone. He hail adopted the ‘never
say die’ motto, mid I often rend in his
glorious eyes the sentence, ‘ You great
old coward ! At him again I' us a tender
and npp.vcintivo sympathy which tho
gift of speech could not have made more
iiHsiiring. My nurses had pitched me a
tout on the south Hide of a low hill and
Imd left me to get well at my leisure.
My ‘bottom dollar’ had dwindled to the
value of a dime, my legs to the thick
ness of a pair of tongs (for all appetite
was gone), and one evening hope failed'
me. Isi lioving I was going to die. 1 re
solved to do the fair thing by Jennie,
apprise her of the event and advise her
to forget me. By the flickering light of
a bit of fallow candle I began the letter,
the first I hinl written for months. I
thought aloud uud wrote, Fritz lay be
side me, his nose wedged between his
paws, but I knew by the twitch of his
ears that 1m understood every word I
was writitig.
“ I lmd reached the climax of renun
ciation and wretchedness —or, rather, my
expression of it- -when 1m suddenly rose
mill wont out. I soon hoard him pawing
and tearing and scratching the earth
about si v foot from me, as though ho
was under contract to dig a tunnel to
China before daylight. Thinking lie had
found the burrow of a wolf or fox, 1
called him off, but he was ns dent as a
lut to my voice. Homing the candle, 1
hurried to the spot, around which lay a
half bushel of gravel, which ho had loos
ened, ivtu u my eye caught the gleam of
a dull, rod streak that veined a piece of
quart/, about tho silo of an egg lying
among the free earth. \Yulil you be
lieve it? That streak was worth SSO,
for it was yirgin gold. Nor was it, the
onlyoho upon that-hillside. Fritz lmd
found a loilo (thanks to a gopher), and I
thereby hud found a fortune. As soon
as possible 1 hud tho gold of that pre
cious stone wrought of my own design
ing, all of it, at least-, but. the contents
of the blunt, corner, whjch, in its native
roughness, 1 had mounted ns a simple
brooch. Sending these to Jennie, I—”
“An act of great gonofosity, sir, I
think," interrupted Ruth, with a laugh
able glint in her eye. “One would Have
thought you would have preserved snob
n piece of rare good fortune ns a memo
rial stone.”
“You anticipate mo, madam. It was
ns a memorial that 1 sent my first bit
of treasure, but I expected to get it
back again in two years, the giri with
it.”
“Ami did you?"
"No; nor even received a letter of
acknowledgment that my offer had been
accented. Nothing finds gold quicker
than gold, when a msui lias onoe got a
fair share of it, and in two rears 1 had,
in various ways, secured §20,000. In
vesting it, as *1 thought, safely, I re
turned to Philadelphia in ail the" pride of
a conquering hero. My story ought to
end here, to wind up with a* chime of
wedding-bells and a beautiful Ruchol as
my reward for faithful serving, but I Lad
scarcely arrived when I heard, inci
dentally, that Jennie had gone with her
father to Europe, nor left on* sign that
she ever remembered me.”
“ You certainly did not let that fact
dampen the ardor of your pursuit?”
queried Ruth; “you followed her, of
course,”
“I did no suoh thing, madam. I re
turned to San Francisco and plunged
ii * > the excitement of gold-hunting
wih a recklessness that a woman can
not understand. Bis months after that
I lost every dollar, but by that time I
had learned that experience is worth
nothing na solid capital until it has
Iwu dearly bought. I whistled my
rhyme:
Lo*f nl gain, ;>wir- and i>iio,
Buiuc tl' iiisav f
in the sensitive car of my frioud Fritz,
hugged his own browu head close to my
ah milder-—don't laugh, that dog was my
friend— rolled up my sleeves, and again
went to work with a vigor that I knew
meant certain success if win held
out. It did, and five years afterward I
had h hank account which ran largely to
the thousands. 1 invested it in land.
By that time I was s bachelor of 30.
U.qrd knocks and diaapjxnnt
oiuul bad shaken fll the romance out cf
' me, ami when I again w vat East it was
on business connected with the con
struction of this railroad.”
“And you have quite outlived your
boyish fancy, as your heart began to
lose its youth ? ” said Ruth, with the
least bit of cynicism in her tone.
“ I think Fritz knew,” said the con
ductor, quietly. “ I hail become almost
a misanthrope for his sake. If I left him
to go into society—such as we had— for
a few hours, he either w hined like a sick
child or kept up such an increasing bark
ing and baying that to save him from be
ing shot as* a nufcmiice I went to no place
where it was impossible for him to ac
company me. The old fellow went with
me even to New York, and pn tho jour
ney I often caught myself cogitating
how lie, bom in a wilderness of wild
mustard, and as fond of camp life os an
Indian, would take to tho constraint of
an old city. Well, I had not been in
New York a" week before there was a
strong tugging at my heart to run down
to Philadelphia. Not that it was home
for me, for my parents had died before
I first left it. I called the desire ‘ the
charm of association,’ and it led me.
“ There, as I fitst went, down Arch
street, my poor dog lost his wits and the
sober dignity of liis maturity. He had
a remarkably fine scent. I always knew
that, but no sooner had we turned into
that particular street than, with his nose
close to the ground and rigid tail, he
ran zig-zag to and fro, as though he was
on the trail of an erratic fox. I called
him, but lie gave no heed, People got
out t f his wav. The gamins shouted,
and with anilil, shrill bark he suddenly
bounded into the doorway of a large dry
goods store. I bounded after him in
time to see him rush up to a lady in
black, who was examining some gloves,
and danced around her with signs of the
most extravagant joy. There are tones
that live without the aid of photographs.
‘ Roy 1 Roy I Hoar old Roy,’ was all she
said, but I'd have sworn tiie voice was
Jennie’s if 1 Jiml heard it on the summit
of Mont Blanc. A white hand was laid
upon his head and my ring was on tho
hand.”
Ho paused.
“ Yours? sir. I liojie you did not claim
it,” said the practical collocutor.
“I did, and the hand which wore it,
just ns I originally intended.” Nor did
Alexander, in his hours of conquest,
ever smile a more serene approval of
himself thau our conductor at this stage
of tlio story.
“ But tho conduct of Fritz, and the
lady’s silence, and the queer concomi
tants which exist only in fiction—how
do you recompile them with au o’er true
tale ?” said Ruth, the truth-loving.
“ Fritz was Roy, the Roy who had
often boon caressed by Jennie before
libs young master, Jennie’s cousin, got
the golden fever, when I did, and came
to California never to return. Jennie
lmd written, but her letters lmd nover
reached mo. She thought mo dead.
Why the dog came to me when his mas
ter died is one of the riddles of my life,
which I will disentangle in tho horo
uftir.”
“ Anil to-day where is she?”
We stood waiting for the answer.
“ On our ranch near Sacramento, and
I believe one of tho happiest women in
the State. Wo have a boy 10 years old
whose name is Fritz, and all tiie dearer
for the sake of the old friend who Ims
gone where I hope one day to meet the
human of him. I wish you would stop
off a bit and see my wife. Queer, isn’t
it, that I should have introduced this
bit of private history upon you ? but tho
truth is—Yes—coming ! I’ll bo with
you again, ladies.”
A brakeman beckoned him inside, and
wo bud uoeii the last of our handsome
conductor.
The evening shadows hail beguft to
lengthen. The setting sun, lmd turned
tlio vast plain of tho Sacramento valley
into a “ field of the cloth of gold,” end
tlio distant peaks of the Sierras, elail in
their eternal snow, but now rose-tinted
and glowing, seemed to cleave the azure
above them us with a \Cedge of burnished
silver. It was starlight when we reached
tlio end of our car ride aud were regis
tered for the night.
“Tho conductor's story was a pleas
ant little episode, Ruth, wasn’t it ? Do
you believe it all happened?” I asked,
as I leaned from my pillow to hors to
leave a good-night kiss on her round
cheek.
“ 1 liko Fritz,” was the sleepy answer.
“There’s an instinct about some dogs
that the half of mankind can neither ap
preciate nor maintain. I trust a man
whom a good dog loves.”
Moves of Stnmhoiil.
“The traffic in househokl slaves,"
says the St. James’ Ornette, “goes on as
briskly as over in Stnmboul, notwith
standing the slave trade treaty with
England. There are two well-known
dealers, whose establishments nre at
Toplmneh, one of 'them named Omor,
the other Knfedjioghi RJsehid. These
men bny and sell and keep always on
hand a considerable stock, which is open
tp inspection of buna jide customers.
Those are principally in the tipper ranks
of Turkish society, and the class of goods
moet in demand is youth, in the fynn of
neat lads of twelve to sixteen, or maidens
of like age, or even younger, if blonde
and blue-eyed- fast colored, so to say,
as not liable to turu yellow or swart
with advancing years. Both Otpea aud
Ivafedjioglu Rescind operate largely iu
refugees, and in so doing they liavoQomo
into collision with Riza Bey, the Presi
dent of the Refngee Relief Commission.
For there is an imperial irade which de
clares all refugees free, aud although
Riza probably dot s not earo much about
slavery for its own sake, the subject be
comes interesting as soon as it presents
itself iu the form of a lever of vexation
against his neightiors. In the last fort
night five, or rather six, transactions in
mMiirus have come under notice. The
object of tho first was Fatuich, a Turkish
girl from Pliilipivipolis whom Omer had
picked up a bargain and whom he first
sold Ragsime Khanoum, widow of one
Balmomndji, a a lady in easy circum
stances, who, however, returned Futmeh
upon Omor's hands, and she was resold
to Aveslie Khanoum. Next name tbe
ease of Emethalo, a girl fromSoukhoum,
whom Captain, ill the Imperial Navy had
brought thence when she was of too
tender age to be advantageously market
able. Through the good offices of
Omer, acting as broker, this young lady
has become the property of Ali Effendi,
a gentleman residing much at Ins east' in
Besliiktash. Following tho case ot
Emeihale caino that of Allcstiue, also
from Sonklioum, who was bought from
Omer by Kosah Rescind Boy for 8,500
piasters.
J. Higgins, in the Popular Science
Monthly, writes that experiment lias
shown that animals confined in a dose
apartment where they must inhale over
and over again their own exhalations,
develop tubercle of the lungs, aud that
human beluga are no less injured by
breathing the air of poorly ventilated
rooms, ho thinks is proved by the fact
that of eleven preachers who di*d during
eight years m tile county of Philadd
puny 4wd ri voasatuirtwii.
THE GREAT SCRAP-BOOK MAKER.
A Colored Janitor’* Unique Llbrarj-Oc*
Hundred Hook* or CllppluK*.
[Philadelphia Timee.J
A bad memory and a desire to preserve
the good things he read in the news
papers led Joseph W. H. Cathcart
twenty-five years ago to begin scrap
book making. Now he has a library of
one hundred volumes, made up entirely
of dippings and covering a great variety
of subjects, showing at once the broad
range of the collector’s tastes and the
wide scopo of the journalism of the past
quarter of a century. Cathcart is jani
tor of the building 303 Walnut street,
and has held that position for half liis
lifetime. In his room is a large book
case filled with neatly-bound volumes
each with the character of its contents
stamped in gold upon the back, with the
name of the compiler, followed by the
mysterious letters “O. S. B. M-," which,
as translated by Mr. Cathcart, means
‘ ‘Great Scrap-Book Maker. ” In proof of
his bad memory the collector was unable
to tell without consulting his books when
he first began his work. An examina
tion of his first collection of clippings
furnished tho date, December 16, 1856,
and the first clipping was found to be an
advertisement offering a reward for the
capture of a runaway slave. The lost
book compiled is a pamphlet, which
when bound will bear the title, “ Mayor
King and His Black Policemen.” It is
mado up of all the newspaper articles
relating to the appointment of colored
men on the police force.
'1 he titles of some of the volumes will
givo an idea of tlio subjects covered.
Three large volumes are devoted to
“China and Japan,” anil are mado up of
more than a thousand clippings. “ In
cidents in the Life of Jefferson Davis”
fill two volumes, which are followed by
four bulky books, entitled “Anxious In
quirers.’' Then come four good-sized
volumes of “ Sermons and Religious
Scraps,” next to which “The Assassina
tion of Lincoln and Trial and Execution
of the Conspirators,” is given place in a
book of many hundred pages. “Odd
Fellows and Good Templars” are repre
sented next in a single volume, ns are
also “Men and Women of 1808 and 1869.”
Three large volumes, among (he neatest
in the collection, are devoted to “Colonel
Forney’s Letters anil European Corre
spondence.” Next to Colonel Forney’s
letters is a volume inscribed “Life and
Heath of dairies Sumner,” and another
“Comic Sketches.” One of tho most in
teresting books in the collection and,
perhaps, the most valuable, is “Poetry
of the Rebellion,” which contains about
one thousand war songs. Another in
teresting volume and the largest in the
library is “The Colored People and the
Passenger Railroads and Railroad Mat
ters of the United States.’’ This book
contains 682 pages. No less than eight
bulky volumes are devoted t “Weseott’s
History of Philadelphia.” Three vol
umes are filled ‘ with “Masonic Scraps”
and five with clippings concerning “En
franchisement's Last Chapter, tho Fif
teenth Amendment,” and four volumes
suffice to accommodate “Tho Black Man
After the Passage of Civil Rights Bill.”
Five volumes contain the doings of
“The Freedmen’s Bureau,” and the
same number of books are made up of
clippings relating to “Slavery.” “John
Brown’s Insurrection” finds place in
single volume, next to which are two im
mense “Scrap Book of tho Rebellion.”
A fat book, measuring four inches across,
contains “Tho Trial of Mr. and Mrs.
Twitched for the Murder of Mrs. Hill,”
and another volume is a record of mur
ders and executions and miscellaneous
criminal nmttora. Three volumes now
under way the scrap-book maker takes
great pride in, being no less than “ The
Crimes of Ministers.”
Mr. Cathcart sets great store by his
library and reckons its vulue in Bnrdid
dollars very liigb. To him it represents
twenty-five years of work, and he says
that a man to make another such collec
tion must start young and wait until all
his hair has turned gray beforo it will be
as complete.
Patti as ft Conversationalist.
Born in Bpuin, of Italian parents, ed
ucated in America and pi. >sig lier ma
ture life in the various capitals of Eu
rope, Madame Patti is a cosmopolite.
Who speaks English liko au educated
American; French liko a Parisian; the
beauty of her Italian all who have heard
her know; German and Spanish are
equally familiar to her, and she cau talk
with a Russian in his own tongue. She
even asserts that she can speak Welsh,
and it can at leajjt be attested that she
f nrlersly pronounces the name of her
postoffleo in Wales, which no ono on
this side of the Atlantic would attempt.
It is curious to hear, her carrying on a
polyglot conversation, talking business
to one person, art tri another and small
talk to a third, and interpreting from ono
tongue to another with absolute com
mand of the idioms of .each. The visitor
calling after her breakfast hour will
probably find a good deal of this poly
glot conversation going on in animated
fashion, It takes a long while for 51.
Franclii, Madame Patti’s business man,
to get the arrangements for the day
eleafrly understood, but tlio elderly
Frenchman presently takes his leave,
kissing the Diva s hand with courtly
obeisance, and then business is for the
tune dismissed. The conversation na
turally drifts to music. Madame Patti
understands her own position as an art
ist perfectly well. She knows that she
is tho best singer in the world, for it is
to that that her life has been devoted,
and the consciousness of her power is
one great secret of her achievement.
She does not lead the talk to herself, but
if you speak of her singing she will talk
of it with you without the slightest af
fectation. her position is simply taken
for granted, and therefore she can speak
of other artists with the appreciation and
the culm judgment of one who is quite
beyond the reach of professional jeal
ousy. Like all thorough artists she lias
an outspoken contempt for everything
that looks like charlatanry aud a warm
recognition for every honest achieve
ment, in however small a way. Like
other thorough artists, also, she likes
appreciation, and if you have given her
praise wliicli she knows to be intelligent
and just, she will think you with as
much apuarent earnestness as though
she had net heard the same thing a hun
dred times before.
It is instructive us well as entertain
ing to talk w ith such s woman about
music. She has heard all the famous
singers of the past qUutor of a century
and of them all she sys that Sontag
was her ideal. But Jins she scarcely
needs to say. for those who heard Son
tag must find her metaory recalled by
Patti, and the descriptions of Sontag's
method that we road in the books might
be applied with scarcoli a change to her
successor.— Ptiiiadclplia Times.
It is beautifully remiiked that man’s
mother is the repreiratative of his
Maker. Misfortune aid mare crime set
no barriers between tor aud her son.
While his mother livts a man has one
friend on oajith who wu not desert him
w hen he is needy. Rtf affection flows
from a puts fountain and ceases ouiy
at mjv oNN t 4 vtenth’. - ’ -
Stealing the Rolling Stoek.
Speaking of hand cars* if we live to be
as old as Susan Anthony we shall never
forget our first ride on a hand car. It
was about twenty-five years age—let s
see, twenty-five and sixteen is forty-one ;
yes, we were sixteen years old then, and
it must have been twenty-five years ago,
though it does not seem more than six
months. It was soon after the railroad
was built to Whitewater, and from there
to Janesville. The section men had a
hand car, one of these old-fashioned cars
that run with a crank and a belt, and
to see four of those Irishmen whoop
through the town it looked too easy, and
all the boys had an insane desire to ride
on one. One Sunday morning there
were six of us hoodlums down at the de
pot, and the hand car was on the track,
and the section men had gone to attend
mass, and it was a splendid opportunity
to steal a railroad, or as much of one as
any of us would ever own. One of the
lioys suggested that we take tlio car and
run down to Janesville, some twenty
miles, and have some fuu. Another boy
said we could have dead loads of fun,
mashing the girls, and get back in the
evening. They didn’t call it “mashing ”
in those days. We have forgotten the
name for it, but it was the same thing
exactly, only a different name. Another
hoy said he knew more than twenty girls
there, as he was down there once to a
lynching, and they were just boss. We
didn’t go much on girls at that early day,
but as the boys began to pile ou the car
wo didn’t propose to get left, so just as
the car was moving we caught on. We
thought if a pair of white linen pants
and a red necktie, and low shoes, and a
boughten straw hat couldn’t make an
impression, while the other fellows wero
getting solid, then we wouid walk home.
Four of the boys pumped at a time, while
two rested. We wanted to rest consid
erable, but the boys wouldn’t have it,
and we pumped, and pretty soon the cai
went whirling through Lima, every boy
looking as though he owned the railroad.
Between Lima and Milton an accident
occurred. Our coat-tail got caught in
the belt and we were thrown over the
crank, and before the thing could be
stopped, one tail of the coat was ripped
off', aud we fell to the deck of tlio car
with a “dull thud.” We didn’t care
much for the lame back, but there was
a black grease spot on the elbow of the
white pants as big as a milk-pan, and it
was on tho same side of the house that
the coat-tail had been torn off. No boy
can he a success at capturing the fond
affections of a Janesville girl, with one
coat-tail torn off, a lame back and tar on
the hind leg of a pair of white pants, and
we Jmew it. After leaving Milton the
road was all the way up hill, and there
were six backs broke, and on arriving in
Janesville about noon they were six of
the sickest, tiredest-lookiiig country
galoots that ever lived, and they lay
down on the depot steps to rest, and fig
ured up how much money was in the
party to buy dinner. There was twenty
cents all told, and after a crackers and
cheese banquet the boys started home,
part of the time walking behind the car
and pushing it, and a part of the time
lotting it slide. The crowd arrived home
after dark, and as the car stopped at the
depot the Irish section hands jumped on
to the boys with sticks and fairly made
them sick, and when they got homo,
their parents repeated the dose, and that
Sunday’s experience fairly broke up what
might otherwise have been a splendid
gang of mashers. Since then many rail
roads have been stolen, but, it is believed
the stealing of that hand car was the be
ginning of railroad stealing.—Geo. IF.
Costume in Nevada.
Her dress was of a highly-wrought
fabric of old pinchbeck gold, frosted ovei
with Paris-green can-spangles, and bro
caded with mahogany sawdust. There
was an exquisite overskirt, shirred with
hempen yarn of a unique pattern, and
elegantly caught up with a costly zinc
plate suspender buckle.
A wreath of natural shoemakers’ wax
hung in ravishing waves from the waist,
while loops of molasses candy heightened
tho caudal appendages of the basque-de
coat. The train was massive and decol
lete. It was gorgeously resplendant
with a row of richly embroidered sliells
de-oyster, sprinkled with assorted grains
of costly coal-de-ashe. Surmounting all
was a rich Oriental mantle of bag-de
cordMge, which was pinioned at the right
shoulder of the fair wearer with a shiugle
de-nail, on which was a leviathan carved
dome, wrought entirely of rare pie ces ol
gum-de-spruce.
The fair wearer of all this magnificent
apparel wore a tin star, buried iu a per
fect torrent of red-hot black-coal hair,
while slio glided through tbe mazes ol
the ilanoe liko a gazelle with its right
arm in a sling. When she brought her
pretty little Cinderella slipper down up
on tho marble tiles of the festive hall, the
raftors in tho building shook with silver
laughter, while crockery in the cellar,
like enchanted fairies, leaped up and
kissed the floor underneath. When ex
cited and full of enthusiasm, this lovelv
Venus opened her mouth, revealing two
massive rows of pearl that reminded the
eneliantod beholder of trains of white
washed cars gliding on wings of love
through Hoosac’s magnificent tnnuel.
Her musical laugh sent a thrill of delight
across the mass of surging, worshiping
humanity, like the trickling of cold milk
punch down ti e back of a man who has
just filled his boots with chocolate ice
cream.— Carson Oazctte.
Society.
It was my fortune to be born iu the
times which* produced the greatest ac
tions in the history of the world. The
actions have been prolonged throughout
my long life. I was a living witness of
the seven years’ war, afterwards of tho
separation of America from England,
later of the French Revolution, and
finally of the Napoleonio era, to tho
ruin of the chiefs, and the event which
followed.
I have also arrived at conclusions
which must totally differ from the opin
ion which those who are now bom will
hold, got by tho help o! books which
they will not understand.
\Vhai the future may hold it is impos
sible to predict; but Ido not think we
shall Very soon enjoy tranquility. It is
not given to the world to be moderate—
to the great to deny in themselves the
use of their power—to the populace to
be satisfied with an humble position
while they await the progress of ameli
orative action. If one could make hu
manity perfect, one might indulge in the
fancy of a perfect society. But as it is
eternally swaying from right to left, one
portion must suffer while the other por
tion is happy.
Egotism aud envy are two foul demons
who eternally torment, and party strug
gles will never cease. The most reason
able course is that every one should do
Lis own business—that he was born to
and which he has learned—and that he
should not prevent others from doing
theirs ; that the cobbler should stick to
his bench and the laborer to his plow;
aud that the King should know the sci
ence of government, for that also is a
business which must be learned, and
which must not bo simulate! when < is
oot uadwitood.— Qovihs.
eccentricities of bullets.
Stories Effsrillsf b Cnrl.n. Corses
Take* ky Ballet*.
(Phrenological Journal. }
At the battle ot Peach Orchard, when
McClellan was making his change of
base, a Michigan infantryman fell to the
ground as if shot dead, and was left ly
uig in a heap as the regiment changed
position. The ball which hit him, first
struck the barrel of his gun, glanced and
struck a button off his coat, tore the
watch out of his vest pocket, and then
Btruck the man over the heart, and was
stopped there by aßongbook m his shirt
pocket. He was unconscious for three
quarters of an hour, and it was a full
month before tlie black and blue shot dis
appeared. At Pittsburg Landing amem
ber of the 12th Michigan Regiment of
Infantry stooped to give a wounded man
a drink from his canteen. While in the
act a bullet aimed at liis breast struck
the canteen, turned aside, passed through
the body of a man and buried itself in
tho leg of a horse. The canteen was
split oi>en aud dropped to the ground in
halves. At the second battle of Bull
Run, as a New York infantryman was
passing his plug of tobacco to a com
rade, a bullet struck the plug, glanced
off, and buried itself iu a knapsack.
The tobacco was rolled up like a ball of
shavings, and carried ono hundred feet
away. Directly in line of the bullet was
the head of a Lieutenant, and had not
the bullet been deflected he would cer
tainly have received it. As it was he
had both eyes filled with tobacco dust,
and had to be led to the rear. At Brandy
Station one of Custer’B troopers had his
left stirrup strap cut away by a grape
shot, which passed between his leg and
the horse, blistering his skin as if a red
hot iron had been used. He dismounted
to ascertain the extent of his injuries,
and as he bent over a bullet knocked his
hat off and killed liis horse. In the
same fight w.is a trooper who had suf
fered several days with a toothache. In
a hand to hand fight he received a pistol
ball in his right cheek. It knocked out
his aching double tooth and passed out
of the left-hand corner of his mouth,
taking along a part of an upper tooth.
The joy of being rid of the toothache
was so great that the trooper could not
be made to go to the rear to have his
wound dressed. Au object, however
trifling, will turn the bullet from its true
course. This was shown one day at the
remount camp in Pleasant Valley.* They
had a “bull-pen” in which about five
hundred bounty jumpers and other hard
cases bad been under guard. Once in a
while one of these men would make a
break for liberty. Every sentinel in po
sition would fire, and it did not matter
in the least if the man ran toward the
crowded camp. On this occasion the
prisoner made for the camp, and as many
as six shots were fired at him without
effect. One of tho bullets entered tho
tent of a Captain in the 12th Pennsylva
nia Cavalry. He was lying down, and
the course of the bullet would have
buried itself in the chest. Fortunately
for him, a candle by which he was read
ing sat ou a stand between him and
where the bullet entered. This was
struck and cut square in two, anil tho
lighted end dropped to tbe floor without
being snuffed out. The ball was de
flected and buried iu the pillow under
tho officer’s head, passed out of that and
through his tent into the ono behind it,
passed between two men and brought
up against a camp-kettle. There is iu
Detroit, Mich., a man who was wounded
five times in less than ten minutes, at
Fuir Oaks. The first bullet entered his
left arm, the second gave him a scalp
wound, the third hit him in tlio foot, the
fourth buried itself in liis shoulder, ami
the fiftli entered his right leg. While he
was being carried to tbe rear tbe first
two men who took him wore killed.
While his wounds wero being dressed an
exploded shell almost buried him under
an avalanche of dirt. In being removed
further to the rear a runaway ambulance
horse carried him half a mile and
dumped him out, and yet he is seemingly
hale aud hearty, anil walks without a
limn.
Decidedly Tough Fowls.
I was much amused at many* incredu
lous persons doubting the truth of the
statement about duck-shooting pub
lished in the Richmond Dispatch,
wherein a couple of hunters on the
Chesapeake shot a small dipper duck,
putting four loads of No. I shot into it,
then ran it down with a boat, caught it,
picked all the feathers from it, cut its
head off and, after taking out its en
trails, let it into tho water to wash it,
when it gave a flop and got away, swim
ming so rapidly that it took them an
hour to secure it again.
Perhaps this does look a little fishy,
but it can be readily believed by any one
that is acquainted with the tough natnro
of Virginia fowls. In the fall of 18611
was a memlier of the Thirty-fourth Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, and we were camp
ing at Winchester, in the Shenandoah
Valley. The whole country thereabout
had been occupied by both Union and
Confederate armies times innumerable,
and all the chickens, geese, turkeys and
pigs had long disappeared into the ca
pacious stomachs and haversacks of tho
hungry soldiers, except one old rooster,
whose long spurs aud venerable appear
ance had saved him from the foragers’
nimble fingers. He looked so tough
that a soldier whose courage would never
falter at charging an enemy’s battery
shrank from the more difficult task of
boiling his carcass tender enough to eat.
We were out of rations, nnd hungry. My
mess got sight of that old rooster, whose
comb hod been worn down by the storms
of many years, and bore a slight impress
of the initials B. C. We were driven
to desperation by the cravings of our
hungry stomachs, and in a few moments
we had him dressed and in a eamp
kettle, boiling furiously, with a large
pile of fagots collected. We were to sit
up all night, by turns, and keep the fire
red-hot under him, hoping by this time
to have him cooked for a dainty break
fast. My turn came to fire under him
at four o’clock a. m. I kept him boil
ing for over an hour, when sleep over
came me, and I dropped off into a doze.
Just at break of day, imagine my surprise
at being aroused by a cry always sweet to
the ears of an old soldier. That rooster
had jumped up, knocked the lid off the
kettle, and was sitting on the rim crow
ing for daylight, as if nothing had hap
pened to mar his comfort or pleasure.
After arousing the camp with his clarion
bugle notes, he flew down and strutted
off with the importance of a field officer
of the day, and my mess had no break
fast. I merely make this statement to
corroborate the duck-shooter’s yarn.
Captains Hawkins was with me on that
occasion, and can vouch for me, if any
doubt that Virginia fowls are tough.—
J. H. S.. Locust Corner , Ohio.
“Where do naughty, bad, wicked
folks go to when they die?” asked a
i Sunday school teacher of her class, last
Sabbath, in this city. One bright boy,
who had probably heard his father talk,
answered; “Chicago!” Who knows
but that the boy may be right.— £>
o Arnm. ' ‘ i
Why Newspapers Publish Society News,
The time will reach us some day when
the society column will not be demanded
in the newspaper, but the time has not
yet arrived. The average reader’s palate
relishes as a sweet morsel the account!
of the movements iu society. The Now
York Hour hns issued the following as
tho reason why newspapers contain re
ports of social actions:
The publication of society news, or
what is going on in fashionable society,
has finally become a feature of metropoli’
tan journalism. Yet nothing is more
common among fashionable people than
outcries against the impertinence o(
newspapers, the reporters of which in
vade the privacy of their homes. There
are even insinuations that the best way
to be rid of this inquisitive class is to
help its members down stairs with the
toe of the boot.
Any one who is familiar with the man
agement of the great newspapers in this
city, knows what a conjugal struggle the
editors have to cut down the copy so as
to get all the news into the paper. Tliero
is little exaggeration in saying that a
journal the size of the limes or tho Tri
iilne could be filled every night with
good matter which the editors 'of those
papers strike out of copy with their blue
pencils. It is condensation, , not late
hours or night work, that is killing men
in newspaper offices. If, them this is
the case; if fashionable people thiftk that
the publication of it ms about .their re
ceptions, weddings and dinners is highly
impertinent; and if the newspapers cau
hardly find room for actual news, why do
the journals in* New York print, day af
ter day, descriptions of social incidents
which are most uninteresting to the gen
eral reader ? Tho explanation is simple
enough. The fashionable people do not
always tell the truth when they rail
against tho intrusion of reporters into
private circles. They really like to see
their names in print; delight to have
their receptions noticed; are in ecstasy
over descriptions of their fine dresses.
It cannot be denied that the newspapers
print what the public demands.
Not only do many fashionable people
not object in their hearts to seeing their
names and doings chronicled, but they
send the matter to the newspaper office
themselves. Hardly a mail fails to bring
statements that a wedding will take place
at such an hour in such a church; that
this lady has returned from Europe by
such a steamship; that this one and her
husband will sail ; that a reception
'(which “please notice") is to occur at
such a number in Fifth avenue at the
time named; that “enclosed ia an invita
tion to a wedding to takeplaoe in Roches
ter, which please 6eud to your special
correspondent there.” (This comes from
the “best man.”)
The description of the dress of a bride
who was married in Grace Church not
long ago appeared in a leading newspa
per. She had written it herself. In
fact, she revised the entire account of
the wedding, as she happened to know a
man on the paper who obtained for her
the copy at an early hour in the day.
Her father had often said that all news
paper men were good for was to be
kicked. A reporter called one evening
to see the husband of a leader in New
York society about an addition to a li
brary in which the family had long been
interested and which is certainly a legiti
mate subject of inquiry. The gentle
man was out. The servant, however,
with a knowing air suggested that the
lady of the house might be able to give
the desired information. Down stairs
came the lady, smiling graciously, still
in her wrapper. The reporter told bis
errand. “Oh dear!” exclaimed the lady
in a most disappointed voice, “I thought
you br.d come to report my ball.”
Capturing Wild Horses.
A largo mob of wild horses is descried
coming toward the riders over a distarit
rise. As they draw near and see them
selves headed by mounted men, thev
wheel sharply on one side, and, with
manes and tuils streaming in the wind,
and their Hanks shining with moisture,
they gallop off in another direction, but
only to find enemies wherever they turn.
At last, in desperation, they make
straight for the widest gap thev see in
the circle. The two men between whom
they hope to escape leap off their hack
horses, which they quickly hobble and
leave loose, and, mounting barebacked
on tlio spare one, wait for the right mo
ment for closing in on the flying and al
ready distressed baguales as they make
their Anal rush. If tlioy do so too soon,
of course the mob swerves to one side,
and passes behind the hunter; but, if
they manage well, the two simultaneously
close in on the drove, bol'eadoras in hand,
ready to cast; and at the moment the
horses pass each singles out a good look
ing - colt, whirls the balls round his head,
and, letting fly, entangles them round
both hind legs so effectually that the vic
tim, after struggling onward some fifty
yards, is obliged to submit, and falls
heavily over. After the first cast the
hunter presses on close to the heels of
the escaping mob, and, loosening his
second pair from round his waist, often
sr-cures another colt. Then he dismounts,
and, after tying the prostrate animal’s
fore hoofs close together with some of
the many rawhide thongs about his per
son or his horse, he leaves it, struggling
but secure, and resumes his place in the
circle as before, in case there im more
game still within it. And hero let me
give a brief description of the boleadoras.
for it is these that are chiefly used—and
not the lasso, as is commonly supposed—
for catching the wild horses of the
Pampn. Three double-twisted thongs of
raw- horse-hide, each about three feet six
inches loug, are softened by rubbing and
working them in the hands, and when in
a pliant state, are tied together at one end.
At the other end of one is fastened a
stone ball, covered with hide, and shaped
so as to fit the grasp of the hands; and to
the other two ends are bound wooden
balls (of the size of a small croquet one),
also cased in hide. Grasping firmly the
stone one, the hunter whirls the others
around his head, and, when the right
moment has arrived, he lets go (as a boy
does half his sling), and the three balls
twist the thongs around whatever they
are thrown at. But to resume. After
nil the baguales inclosed have escaped or
been oaught, we look after the ostriches,
which have, as a rule, remained, hiding
thems“lves about the middle of the cir
cle. Any who mav have singly tried to
run off previously lhave been allowed to
do so; bnt if a troop should have made a
rush (during the horse hunt), three or
four of the men pursue and generally
bag one apiece. Many others will drop
into the low grass, hoping not to be seer,,
but the corredores are too keeu-sighted
and experienced, and, galloping up and
down, tliev beat thegrujnd like spaniels,
shouting and Whistling, until the birds
are flushed, one by one. and have to run
for it. On these expeditions any deer
and guauacos (a species of llama) are
not hunted; only so when neither bagu
ales nor ostriches have been inclosed.—
London Field.
The coronation of the Czar Nicholas
cost 0,000,000 rubles, and that of Ales*
Meier ll 11,mm mbltt.