The Jackson news. (Jackson, Ga.) 1881-????, July 12, 1882, Image 4

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Making Gold. The odd tiling is that the alchemist* were probably right in principle, even in their wildest dream. Every fresh ad vance of chemical science encourages the belief that the metals, in their various classes, are really identical as to ultimate substance—indeed, possibly all of them together, with, it may be, the other elements, blend into such com mon matter as the scarcely imaginary hydrogcninm, of which hydrogen is the vapor. Dr. Norman Lockyer’s re searches with the sp’ ctroscope tend to confirm this unity of material ; and if it exists Paracelsus was right, and gold is merely' an allotropic form of other sub stances. In saying tins, however, we hasten to reassure the Stock Exclumgo, by adding that theory would bring chemists none the nearer to practice in regard to manufacturing gold by the ton. Thu student of science can make palla dium or platinum combine almost mirac ulously with hydrogen, and melt gold in selenic acid; but bo knows little of that subtle and unapproachable chem istry by' which the earth’s primeval beat fused and formed, under pressures and conditions inimitable by ns, her gold and iron, bur salts and crystals. Mau must dig for nuggets and dust still, or work for the shining stuff with hand or head. Tho worst that could happen to shake tho great idol on his metallic throne would be—what is certainly geologically-possible -the sudden dis covery of a mother-nugget of gold, a monstrous central deposit in the cavern ous base of some Australian or Cali fornian reef, furnishing, sav, lmlf a mil lion tons of specie. That would shako tlic market and send silver up, but spec ulators need not fear science, nor the modern alchemists. Meanwhile, If wo hare not inherited from the ancient Arcbiinagus the uni versal solvent or the elixir of life, at least they gave us chemistry. It was in ('reaping along that dark fantastic rood of wild desires that Hoger bacon discov ered gunpowder, Ocbir nitric and hydro chloric acid, Valentino tho precipitation of iron, aud Paracelsus his grand doc trine of the unity of visible mutter. Thus does nature teach her children. Withthe childish allurements of nlehetny she led them toward chemical truths; with the superstitious of astrology she reduced them into the sublimities of astronomy, fluid also the embodiment of wealth—is inlike manner her go-cart, as it were, <>r nursery-plaything, for hu manity. While men traverse lands and seas, and toil and strive aud eufl’er, to board up bis yellow sinning dross, the work of effort and evolution goes briskly on; the race develops, and tho globe’s surface is exploited. The loving mother who, by the proffered orange, tempts her child to walk, does much s nature does to tho human race with this glitter ing gold. London Tt byraph. The Man Mho Boxctl. There nro scoria of ivMpenlablo and reputable heads of families in this city wlin take regular lessons in the manly ml of Kidi-tli leiise, anil who spend nn hour every evening in swinging clubs and otherwise developing and hardening the muscle. One of tlio most enthusi astic of the lot luil finished his boxing lesson the other night, when the trainer said : “ 1 am sorry k lose your money and vour company, hut I foi l it my duty to say that 1 can learn you nothing further. You have got the science mid the muscle to clean out a crowd, and heaven help the man who stands before you 1 ” The citizen went home with a con scum,sue .s that only cowards carry re volver-.. ami lio wondered how a man would look after he Imd given him a soek dologer straight from the shoulder. The next morning as lit* was leaving his liou.-e along came a strawberry man who was yelling his wares at the top of his voice. “Do you sell any more berries for yelling ip that manner?" asked the citizen ns the peddler drew rein. ‘M)h, take in your nuso?” was the reply. “Someone will take your whole body in some day ! " Hut it won't be n man witli a wnrt on his chin 1 ” “ No impudence, sir 1 ’’ *' And none from you, either 1" “You and serveu good thrashing 1” “ And perhaps you can give it to me ! " Then* was tho golden opportunity. The one hail science- the other impu dence, The one had received thirty eight lessons m lioiing- the other fairly iiclicd to la* | voundod. “Don’t talk that way to mo or I’ll knock you down I" said the (hushed pupil us lie gently threw himself into a position to mash a brick wall. “Oh, you will, eh? Then let's see you doit 1 ” Even the graduate couldn’t tell ex nelly what took place. lie remembered of being kicked on the shins, struck on the cliiu and twisted over a horse-block after lie fell, but when consciousness returned his wife and children ware crying over him and the peddler was two blocks down tlio street shouting : “ Straw -lui-rics—groat Dig ones—red as blood perfect as daisies—only two shillings for a he iping big quart without any thumb in it 1 ’*- Detroit Free Press. Commercial Courtesy. Thera art' some merchants who regard drummers as a nuisance, <uid refuse to tilth to them, or if they sav anything at idl, it is only n r'i|uest to hath at aeon ►pieiiousb posted picture of a man in a eortln, with the legend underneath. “ This man was talked to death ly a drummer.” Hut old Twopercent, whoso place of business is on Galveston avouno, js not that kind of a merchant prince. A New York drummer wivs passing his place of husinoss, when ho called him a.•ro's the street and asked to look at his samples. The drummer could hardly believe his senses. lie had never been treated that way Indore in Texas, It was hardly a minute before he had his samples spread out in anticipation of u ffi.t Hit) order. Old T\vo[>ereent got the very bottom price of everything in his line, hut when the New York drummer asked him if he didn't want to order some of the goods the reply was : “ Not mooch. You do not shuppose dot is vot 1 called you in for ?” “ What did you’call me in for, then?” the dnimmcr. ‘ • I only wanted to sec vot your riggers vos, so ash to find out if I vas not sell in g my own goods too low.” —Oalvctton AVtt's. _ Hemiv \Vakx> BiacannA habit of reading while traveling at railway si wed, says the Hartford /W, favors both his eyes and his brain. He does not jHiro over a book constantly, but sntislks, him self with leisurely references to it. After reading not to exceed n page and a half, he drops the hook into las lap, and rests in re-flection and window-gw in It for a few minutes before lie resumes his reading. This process of Ixiok study is gone over with uniform exact ness. When he has enough “inwardly digest'd,” he goes into a doze till re frthiied, and bends to the book again. The She Pope Thore is n story, now generally re garded as fabulous, that a female named •loan (others say Gilberts or Agnes) of English descent, but born in lngelheim, or Mainz, Germany, fell in love with a young Benedictine monk named Feldn, and in order to be admitted into the Monastery of Fulda, where be was clois tered, assumed male attire. She after ward went with him to Athens, where lie died whilo they were pursuing their -todies. Hoon after this she went to Home, where her great learning brought b- . into distinction, and from a success ful career as a professor she was elected by general consent of tho college of (iardinals to be the successor of Pope leu IV., who died A. 13. 885. Others i ay she was the immediate successor of Pope Adrian If., who died A. D. 872. Her title was Pope John VIII; a title which in the Roman Notizie, or official calendar of the Roman pontiffs, is as cribed to a different person. Jtisfurtlier related of this " female Pope ” that she administered the pontifical office with great ability until her sex was discovered by her giving birth to a male child dur ing the excitement and fatigue of a pro em aion to the Lateran Palace, which was quickly followed by her death, some say puerperal fever, while other narra tives declare that she was stoned to death. Hr. Dellinger lias written an elaborate analysis of tho various stories in regard to this personage, going to show quite clearly that she was a medie val fiction, yet it cannot be donied the belief in the veritable existence of the poti till cate of Joan was general through out the Gatliolic Church from thirteenth to the fifteenth century, and was not discredited under the Reformation, when it was made use of by the Protestants to scuudajize the papacy. Dellinger says she was first mentioned by Chron icler Stephen de Bourbon, who took his information, lie thinks, from the chron icle of tho Dominican, Jean do Mailly, no copy of which is now known to be in existence. He attributes the origin of this scandal upon tho infallibility of the J’uupocy to a grudge nourished against the popes on account of tho porscutions inflicted particularly by I’ope Benedict VIII. on the monks of the I tonneau and Minorite, ordcis. Certain it is that good Catholics nt one time lmd such faith in the existence of Pope Joan, or John, Unit they placed in the Cathedral of Hi urn, along with those of the other popes, n bust of the popess, with the in siption, “John VIII., a woman from England:” and this statue held its place without serious objection on tho part of priests or people, until the beginning of seventeenth century. The “Holy Chair” is the chair used in the enthronement of the popes. The tradition that the form of this chair is duo, in a certain particu lar, to the fraud said to have been per petrated by Joan, is now treated by his-' torians as a vulgar fiction. —Chicago Inter-Ocean, Inch* Muse’s Testimony. A colored man named Bob Tompkins was on trial before a Justice for assault. Old Uncle Mose was one of the leading witnesses for the HI ato. The main point was whether or not Tompkins lmd given any provocation to bring on the row. “Now, tell this jury all you know about the nlTair,” said tlio Justice, “ Kin I tell de jury all I knows in my own way'?” asked old .Mono. “ Yes, tell the jury what you know in your own way.” Old Aloso turned solemnly to the ex pectant jurymen: "Gemmens ob de jury, you am do meanest lookin’ crowd eber I seed—” “Stop!” bawled the attorney for the State. "Your Honor will incarcerate the wit ness for contempt of court!” howled the attorney for the prisoner. The foreman of the jury got tip and nsked tho court to protect the jury from insult. " Witness, if you insult the jury again I shall certainly resort to extreme measures. ” “ I'm not gwino ter consult nobody ef you don’t interfere wid mo,” said old Mose sullenly. “Proceed.’’ “Gem'mens ol> do jury, you am de mcancst-lookin' crowd ober I seen out sat ob a jail—” The Prosecuting Attorney jumped up and down, 'The foreman of the jury once more howled ‘‘Your Honor!" The constable laid his heavy hand on the col lar of old Mose, when the latter calmly repeated to the jury: “You am ile moanest-lookin’ crowd eber 1 seed outside ob a jail. Hem was de berry words de prisoner dar used wlion ho first come inter de bar-room, aud which led to de row.” The foreman sat down quick. The at torneys doubled up like juekknives with suppressed laughter. His Honor smiled. Tho spectators roared: while old Mose, with a surprised look of childish in nocence, once more said emphatically to the crowed jurymen: “You am ne meauest-lookin’ crowd eber I seed outside ob a jail.”— Terns Sifting*, Hon Nutmegs (Iron. Nutmegs grow on little trees which look like pear trees, aud are generally not over twenty feet high. The (lowers aro very much like the lily-of-the-volley. They are pale and very fragrant. The nutmeg is the seed of tho fruit, maoo is the thin covering over the seed. The fruit is about os large as a peach. When ripe it breaks open and shows a little nut inside. Tlte trees grow ou tho islands of Asia ami tropical America. They boar fruit for seventy or eiglitv years, having rijio fruit upon them ail the seasons. A fiuo tree in Jamaica has over 4,000 nutmegs ou it every year. Tho Dutch used to have all this nutmeg trade, os they owned the Banda Islands and conquered oil the other traders and destroyed tho trees. To keep the price ti j> they once burned three piles of nut megs, each of which was as big ns a church. Nature did not sympathise with such meanness. The nutmegs pigeon, found iu all the Indian Islands, did for the world what the Hutch deter mined should not be done-—carried those nuts, which are their food, iuto all the surrounding countries, and trees grew again, and the world had the benefit.— Leslie. Huge Joke. They were talking of the innumerabh caravan of colored men, now passing tc the tomb, who hud once been coaclunet to the Father of his Country. Brown sate they were one and all impostors. “Yoi wrong them,” said Fogg. “ Why, I ear show you a man, a friend of mine, whe has seen Washington.” “Nonsense!’ exclaimed Brown. " I’ll bet you some thing on that." “AVtiat shall it be?’ asked Fogg. “A dinner for throe.’ 1 “Done.” Fogg retired, returning s moment later with a youngish-looking fellow. "Here he is,” said Fogg. “ What!" cried Brown, “do you mean to say you have seen Washington?'' “ Oh, yes," was the quiet reply ; “lived there tw;o winters.” Brown paid for th< dinners without a whimper.— Boston Transcript, Some Bolling Stones. Some rolling stones do gather moss. James Harris tried his hand at many things in various parts and one day took it in his head to plant a few oraiwte trees at Ocala, Florida. He now owns 75,000 of the trees and has an annual income from them of 8130,000. Henry Meyers worked hard for many years at Bodio, California, but gathered no moss to speak of. In 1880 he cut his tether and began to roam around the rookies. He tried farming in Idaho last summer, but gave that business up in disgust. On Wednesday, two weeks ago, lie struck a quartz lodge of free gold in Shasta County, California, aud now is rich. Charles NewaH’s mind always ran upon farming, but neither on the Atlantic coast nor in the Mississippi Valley could lie do anything for himself. After rolling around the country for several years he struck out for the Pacific coast. His ad ventures were numerous. In 1871 he reached the Pleasant Valley, Washington Territory, with fifteen horses and eight dollars in money. His ranch of 7,000 fertile acres now brings him in the gold by the handful. “Sailor Jack” Flood started out in his youth with the purpose of making a great deal of money. In spite of the adage often repeated by his mother, to wit : “A rolling stone gathers no moss,” Flood roamed over sea and land for many years, now on this continent and then on the other, or eating salt grub in the forcastle of a ship. A month or so ago Flood “ struck it rich ” near Colma, California, aud now owns “The Sailor Jack,” a quartz lode of alleged rich ness. Josiali T. Walls,colored, tried farming, fishing and politics. His only success was during tho reconstruction period, when he secured a seat in Congress. When the Democrats regained the as cendancy in tho Month, Walls sought in various ways to make a living. A few years ago he struck the cucumber idea and began to raise that vegetable in Alachua County, Florida. Now ho is well-to-do, shipping 400 crates of cucum bers *nd tomatoes a day during the early summer. Only llie General Manager. At a station on one of the railroads leading out of Detroit the train had ar rived and departed, the other day, when the station agent, who had been in the place about three weeks, and was looking for a call every hour to come to Detroit and take charge of the line, was ap proached by a quick, well-dressed man, smoking a cigar, who asked : “ Keep you pretty busy here? ’ “Yum,” was tho jerky reply. “Business on the increase?” “Yum,” again. “Do you run this station ?” asked the quiet man, after a turn on tho platform. “Nobody else runs it!’’ growled the agent. “Have you got a patent car coupler ?” “Oh, no.” “I was going to tell you to goto thunder with it if you had. Want special freight rates, I suppose ?” “ No, sir.” “1 don’t give any passes.” “ I don’t want any.” “ Waiting for the next train ?” “ Not particularly.” “ Want to charter a car ?” "No.” The agent left him on tho platform, and entered his office and busied himself for half an hour, when the quiet man looked in on him and asked : “What’s the salary of a position like this ?” “ That’s my business,” was the prompt reply. “What’s the income from this sta tion ?” “Ask the baggageman.” “ Your name is , isn’t it?” “Suppose it is ?” “Oh, nothing much—only I’m the General Manager of tho line, niul I’d like to exchange cards with you!”— Detroit Free Press. How Light Affects the Blind. An interesting account has been lately furnished by M. Plateau, the emiuent Belgian physicist (who has been blind nearly forty years), of tho sensations he experiences in his eyes. He has no sense of objective light even when turn ing his eyes to the sun. But liis visual field is always divided into spaces, some of which aro pretty bright and others somber or nearly dark, and which merge into each other. Their general tint al ternates, iu time, between gray and red dish. The relntivearrangementof those different spaces is always the same, but the intensity of their tints varies. The central space seems now rather bright, now very dark; above and below, and ou the left to the limits of tho field, there is sometimes brightness, sometimes dnrk dess, but ou the right there is generally a vertical band, nearly black, and beyond this a space which is nearly always bright and reddish. These appearances follow all the movements of the eyes, which probably do not participate in the same way in the tints, but M, Pla teau can not distinguish what belongs to one from what belongs to tlio other. No connection of general tint with the work of digestion is observed. The author states that lie became blind from lookiug fixedly at the sun for some time, witli a view to observing his after sen sations. It was not till about fourtoeu years after this that inflammation of tlio choroid set in, destroying vision; but duriug tlie interval, he often saw colored and persistent halos, round flames, etc., and he advises those who have such vision to consult an experienced oculist Graves of Poets. Emerson's grave is in the little rural, hillside cemetery of Concord. It is hid den from the village by an nuglc of the road. Its pine-fringed hills hold their own Btvret. In winter the snow covers it over iu uudisturlH'd whiteness. From the crest of tho hill you look down into “ Sleepy Hollow," a wild, desolate aw phitheator, surrounded by hilla, and whose bottom is overgrown with high bushes that summer covered tlie great moss-growu logs that lie there. The crest of these hills were favorite walks of Emerson, of Hawthorne, of Margaret Fuller. It was here that Hawthorne fouud Margaret sitting one summer afternoon, with a book, “with some strange title,” in her hand, and Emerson chanced to come by and they talked of poetry and philosophy and religion. All these memories and more cling to the spot like mosses to the old manse. It is here they real. Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thorean. The grave of Hawthorne is marked only a low, white stone with the one word, “Hawthorne,” on it The lot is surrounded by a low hedge of arborvitsp. The duty of being cheerfut, says a coutoini>orary, is one which is at all times binding upon us. We have no right to be morose or suller, or accus tom ourselves to look on the dark side of things. No sense of the solemnity and importance of life can excuse ns for giving way to a sour and unhappy tem per Military Fpisodc. This story is found in the memoirs of a Prussian officer of distinction. He was at the time on the staff of General Winterfield, one of the most skillful and competent captains of his day, aud Win terfiuld was tha general in command at the time spoken of. Two soldiers had been condemned to death. In a drunken condition at night they had assaulted an officer of the line, and one of them had drawn a knife upon him, but ho could not positively say which of the twain held it. And the men themselves did not know. N '(her of them remembered anything about it. So both of them were condemned to be shot. They were both excellent soldiers, and only one of them had been guilty of using a weapon. The officers of tho division, including him who had been assaulted, asked tint the men might be pardoned. At length Winterfield said he would pardon one of them. Only one had held a knife, and only that one ought to die. He would pardon one, an 1 the men must tlmm soives decide which of them should be shot. How should the decision be made? “Let us shake the dice,” said one of the condemned. And the other agreed to it. And anon it was agreed to by all interested. The two men took their places by the side of a big drum aud were to throw the dice upon its head. Two dice wore given them and a proper box for shaking. The first man threw two sixes. He groaned in agony. He felt that lie had consigned his comrade to death. But when the second man came to throw lie also threw two sixes. “Won derful !” cried the lookers-on. They were ordered to shake and throw again. This time the second man threw first —two aces. “Ho! flood! You will live, Peter.” But when Peter came to throw, the dice presented those same two aces. Aud now the beholders were wonder stricken, indeed. Another throw was ordered, and Peter threw a five and a deuce. The other threw—five—douce. After the excite ment had again subsided the men shook once more. The first threw two fours. “Oh ! now throw lives aud save your self, Peter.” Pet:r threw—two fours. At this point the colonel ordered them to stop. He went and reported tho mar velous result to Winterfield. He said: “Clearly, General, Providence will have those two men to lie saved." And saved they were. The general cured not to oppose the wonderful fate of the dice, it did seem providential, and so lie accepted it. And the redeemed soldiers lived to prove that the saving fate had given back to Prussia two of tho very best and bravest of her sons. How lie Fought iiis Duel. One Sunday, at Montgomery, we were talking about duels, and wheu the names of several parties who had gone out hi jiast years to satisfy their honor were mentioned, the Judge knocked the ashes off his cigar and said : “Gentlemen, it may be mentioned right here that I have been there my self.” “ Were you challenged?” “I was. It was over in South Caro lina, ami I called a man a liar. He sent mo a challenge, and I selected swords us the weapons. We met at 7 o’clock the next morning. It was just such a morn ing us this—bright, beautiful, and full of life.” f ‘And how did you feel ?” “Very queer. I shall never forget my sensations as I saw my rival, and ho seemed to be as visibly affected. Wo couldn’t either one of us say a word.” “Was it iu a grove ?” “ Oh, no; it wns at the depot.” “The depot! Why, you did not fight at the depot did you ?” “Well, no. The morning express trains passed there at 7, and he took one aud I the other.” —Detroit Free Press. Affection in the Itoyai Household. When the Princess Louisa returned to Canada and her husband, after an ab sence of a year or two, the meeting be tween her and her husband was affecting. She permitted Lome to kiss her hand. Well, if ho is that kind of a fellow, who can be separated from tlio one lie loves for so long a time aud then be stood off witli simply kissing her hand, that is all we want to know of him. He can’t slide on our cellar door. The idea of kissing her baud 1 What kind of an ice cream freezer can he be, anil what sort of a refrigerator is the Princess, for heaven’s sake. Ii he was one of our Wisconsin fellows, and slie another, he would have rushed up to her and put both arms around her and squeezed her until there would not have been a whole bone in her corset, and he would have taken one look at her blue eyes and seen them twinkle a couple of twiuks, and then he would have fouud where she kept her mouth, without the aid of a grand chamberlain, or anybody, and he would have kissed her right before the whole of Canada, n that steamboat, until she would have forgotten whether she was in Quebec or heaven, aud he would have hung 'on until the Princess would swal lowed her chewing gum and made up her mind she would never leave him again the longest day she lived. — Peck's Sun. Doctors’ Fees in Europe, Perhaps in the matter of doctors’ fees it might lie as well to glance at France and Germany. Iu both these countries there is a regular tariff for the visits of medical practitioners, often, nav, gen erally, exceeded by rich patients, but affording n guarantee against excessive charge for the poorer. It is also a satis faction t> the public mind generally to know exactly what they will have to pay when calling a doctor. Permit me further tc draw attention to a point of medical etiquette iu North Germany. Except in cases of severe illness, when daily nftendance is absolutely neces sary, a doctor never repeats' a visit. He must bo requested to do so. This custom has its advantages, as it will often hippeu in cases of slight illness that a angle visit suffices. If medical fees arc too high with ns, they are too low in Germany aud France (two marks and two francs a visit), excepting, of course, in the fashionable watering places, whither none but rich folks must betake themselves. Makes His Own Legs. Hid you ever notice a man who comes to Hartwell, Ga., with a one-ox wagon laden with big yarn potatoes aud other things to sell? :>id you ever notice liis wo*den leg ? He plows that ox and makes a good liriug on poor land. He went to the war a jKior bov and did bis duty faithfully. He was elected County Treasurer at tlic last election aud made a good officer. He is a quiet, modest gentleman. This nan is called “ Rough ” ltrowu, anil from the looks of liis leg he don't care a eoutinentai for his rough appearance. AA eu his leg wears out lie goes to the wood-pile with his ax and choj? out aqolktf,— MdrtwcU Sun. Devices for the Deaf. In a store window in Broadway, where i dazzling collection of spectacles, a va ri.-ty of ear trumpets and several dozen ipera glasses are displayed, a number of •rdiuarv-lookiug canes aud a common place-looking umbrella stand in the cor a r. A placard affixed to one of the canes designates it as an acoustic cane. Another placard on the umbrella conveys the information that with the assistance of the acoustic umbrella a deaf person can hoar conversation, when the person speaking is at a distance. A second in spection of the canes, after reading the placards, discloses the fact that they consist of bamboo sticks with a varnished black metal top aud a .very small hori zontal piece for a handle. A salesman in the store exhibited a cane to a Tribune reporter, and, twisting it in his hand, disclosed a row of holes encircling the black metal. Placing the small horizontal piece in his ear, in the easy arid natural way that some men put the handle of a cane in the mouth, he assured the reporter that his voice was so loud that he could scarcely endure it. He then showed a small aperture through the horizontal handle. This connected with an ear-trumpet ingeni ously arranged in the top piece of the cane. The reporter then held the han dle of the cane to his ear. It sounded as a seasliell would. When the salesman spoke his voice was increased several times in volume. The chief value of the invention lies in the fact that the cane or umbrella may be used without be traying the fact of the owner’s deafness. “It is wonderful,” continued the clerk, “ how much people dislike to ad mit that tiieir hearing is defective. They conn- in and ask to look at ear-trumpets f< >.r friends. We know that they want them for themselves. People who are hard of hearing are just as numerous as persons who are near-sighted. If the wish to ignore deafness was not so pro nounced, ear-trumpets would be as com mon as spectacles.” “We have sold thousands of these,” continued the store-keeper, showing a miniature silver ear-trumpet, calculated to fit inside the ear. “They are pop ular, because they can be used without exciting remark.” Another miniature ear-trumpet was shown, made from two metals, the union of which produced electricity, intended to have a vivifying influence on dead or dying nerves. These appliances for the relief of deafness are all costly. The canes are $25 apiece, and the miniature car-trumpets §8 a pair.— N. Y. Tribune- Going to Bed in Japan, Going to bed in Japan is rather an in definite expression for any one accus tomed to slefrp between sheets and blankets and on snowy pillows. In fact, you do not “go ” to lied at all, but the bed, such as it is, simply “comes” to yon; and the style of preparing for the night is about the same wherever you go. Fust, a cotton stuffed mat is laid anywhere upon the floor, and a block or roll is placed at one end to rest (?) your head upon. Then you lie down, and a cotton stuffed quilt is thrown over yon. This quilt is like a Jap dress on a big scale, with large and heavily stuffed sleeves, which flap over like wings, But the difficulty is that these capacious sleeves, with all the rest of the bedding, contain unnumbered legions of voracious fleas bid away in recesses known only to themselves, but which only wait till you get fairly nestled in sleep, when they begin their onslaught on their dofouse loss and helpless victims. Awakened by the merciless havoc they are making upon you, it is in vain that you roll and toss and shake your clothes tiU you are wearied out. That only increases the vigor with which they renew the battle, and you may spend hours in the fidnt glare of the primitive oil lantern, which is set in one comer of the room, and strive to rid yourself of the tiny tigers that are devouring you; it is all to no purpose, and you sink down at last asleep. But you are soon awakened again, only to undergo the same tribula tion, and the hours of the night pass away as you pace up and down the nar row limits of the room listening to the snoring of the dozen or more of the tough hided sleepers who surround you, and peep through the sliding shutters of the house to see if the day is breaking or not. Y’ou cannot’ lie down again—for the floor is crawling with the creatures you dread—and you cannot sit down, (for there is nothing to sit upon,) and such a thing as a chair was never heard of in that region. A Horse that Chews Tobacco. There is a gray horse, worked by the St. Louis Transfer Company in one of the large omnibus teams, which is a habitual tobacco cliewer. The animal is really passionately fond of the weed, and seems delighted when offered a piece of tobacco. The fact lias become known .it nearly all of tlie hotels, and the equine with such habits is the recipient of a great deal of attention by human being addicted to the same habit. The driver of the ’bus says it costs him at least fifty cents a month to keep the horse sup plied, notwithstanding the fact that the friends of the beast treat him so often. Tho only drawback in the way of the horse’s becoming an expert iu chewing the weed is that he cannot learn to ex pectorate. As soon ns that accomplish ment is acquired the driver expects to purchase a decorated cuspndor, which is to be placed in the gray nag's stall.— St. Louis liepublican. l)r. Sehlieniaun’s Mansion at Athens. Hr. Schliomann lives in princely style in Athens, in an imposing marble palace, which bears on its front, above the door, the inscription in letters of gold, “ Hall of Ilium.” Here, every other Thursday evening during the winter, he entertains a hundred or more professors, journal ists and statesmen. The. spacious par lors afford room for more tnan 300 guests. All the decorations of the house com memorate Hr. Sehliemann’s great re searches. The floors are paved with Italian Mosaics, the walla covered with Pompeian frescoes and patterns of ob jects found at Troy and Mveente, and Homeric mottoes and inscriptions abound. At the table classic Greek alone is spoken, and even the servants hnvo classic names ; the gardeuer is Priam, the porter Bellerophou, aud the 'two nurses Hecuba and Polyxena, How to Be Nobody. It is easy to lie nobody, and we will toll you how to do it. Go to the drink ing saloon to spend your leisure time. Yon need not drink much now— just a little beer or some other drink. Iu the moautime, play dominoes, or something else to kill time, so that you will lie sure not to read any useful books. If you read anything, let it lie the cheap novels of the day ; thus go on keeping your stomach full, and vour head emptv, and yourself playing tune-killing gomes, and in a few years yon will be nobody, un less you should turn out a drunkard, or a professional gambler, either of which is worse than noluxlv. There are any number of young men hanging around bar-parlors, just ready to graduate aud be nobodies. The Blue Sky. Professor Brucke has constructed an artificial blue sky by dropping a spiritu ous solution of rosin into water until the liquid becomes turbid and milky. When a blackboard is placed behind the glass containing this turbid solution, and the light is allowed to fall upon the liquid obliquely from above, it assumes the aspect of a clear blue sky. Professor Helmholtz very UDpoetically, and almost irreverently, speaks of a blue sky as simply an eye with turbid humors. Professor Tyndall has followed up this interesting branch of investigation by showing that an artificial blue sky can also be produced by throwing a strong beam of electric light upon certain kinds or gas contained in long glass tubes. The effect he conceives to be in some measure dependent upon decomposition of the gas through the agency of the light. One portion of the gas is sud denly precipitated in the form of a deli cate cloud, capable of catching aud turning back the blue vibrations. In some modifications of the experiments the attenuated vapor makes its first ap pearance in an exquisitely delicate form. The light reflected from these artificially constructed blue clouds is always polar ized where it is thrown off at au angle of 90° from the course by which it has fallen upon the reflecting particles. The most perfect piolarization always occurs in the direction that is perpendicular to the path of the illuminating beam. The effect gradually grows weaker, and ulti mately fades away, as this perpendicu larity is departed from. The polariza tion of the sky is most distinctly devel oped in one particular track of the vault, aud fades gradually away as the neigh boring regions are brought successfully under examination. Guileless Innocence and Jack Pots. There was a party of Milwaukeeans out in lowa shooting chickens, and they made their headquarters at a little lowa town, where their special oar was side tracked, and where the visitors became great favorites for their generosity and good nature. Their evenings were largely spent in the perusal of the re vised edition of Hoyle, and they had many a discussion over that chapter of the book of Poker, which in the re vision makes a straight flush an inspira tion which knocks the everlasting spots out of a full hand. There was a very deserving, pious old lady living in the town who was poor, and tc make up a purse for her the boys decided that every time they achieved a jack pot the winner should chip in a quarter for the old lady. During the week the jack-pot fund acquired great proportions, and when they came to leave a pious young man of the party was detailed to deliver the money to the good old lady, which he did. He left her the money with no explanation except a card, on winch was written the legend, “ From Jack Pot.” The good old soul took the money with many thanks, and asked the young man if his name was Mr. Pott; He said that it was not his name, and on being pressed to tell something Of the good Mr. Pott, he said it was tne earnest desire of the donor to remain incog., and, pressing the old lady’s wrinkled hand, he went away with a tear in his sunburnt eye and another coursing down the side of his nose where the skin had peeled off, and left the old lady shower ing Heaven’s choicest blessings down on the head of the good and pious Mr. J. Pot. She insisted to the citizens there that Mr. Pot must be a banker, or a wheat dealer, or a railroad man, and claims that if she does not meet her benefactor on earth she is sure she shall meet him in heaven. —Milwaukee Sun. Meteoric Stones. The meteorites in the British Museum are arranged thus: 1, aerolites, which are rocky masses composed principally of silicates with isolated particles of nick eliferous iron and troilite interspersed ; 2, aerosiderites or siderites, masses ol native iron containing phosphides oi nickel and iron, troilite and occasionally carbon ; siderolites, which partake of the character of both aerolites and siderites, being porous or spongy masses of nick eliferous iron with silicates in the cavi ties. Of these three classes the first is the commonest, the number of specimens possessed by the museum be ing 211, the largest of which weighs 134 pounds. Of siderites there are 114 spec imens in the collection, the largest weighing over three aud a half tons ; and of siderolites there are twelve specimens, the weight of the largest being nearly sixteen pounds. In 1664, Paolo Maria Terzago, an Italian physicist, surmised that aerolites might be of selenic origin. Olbers, in 1795, without any knowledge of this conjecture, investigated the amount of the initial tangential force that would be requisite to bring to the earth masses projected from the moon. Laplace, Biot, Brandes and Poisson also took up the problem. Olbers, Brandes and Chladni decided against the view of a selenic origin ; but Laplace seems to have inclined somewhat to that hypoth esis. It was then believed that active volcanoes existed in the moon ; but that idea has been abandoned and the lunar aerolites with it. At the present time a number of eminent men who have stud ied the subject of meteorites, think that they must have been ejected from volca noes ou some celestial body, probaby the earth at a remote period of its phys ical history, This may be the true the ory, but facts are wanted to confirm it, and until those are discovered it is not safe to pass judgment.— Tinsleys. Spider nsnermen oi Maryland waters. One of the most interesting sights we saw on the whole trip was the seines and the manner of catching fish on the Wi comico. With us the fishermen always procure a couple of poles anil tie one to each end of their nets and stick them in the desired place in the evening and let them remain till the next morning. But on the Wicomico they use no poles, but let their nets drift with the current. Each seine is watched by a man, who looks so lnzy and careless that one would think it makes him miserable to move, but all the while he keeps his eyes on the seine corks or floats, and when* the motion and disturbance of these indicate the pres ence of a shad he becomes all life and activity in a moment and seldom misses his fish. The whole method of these fish ermen with their seines puts one to com paring them to a large spider watching iiis web, the actions of which they are certainly not unlike. —Cambridge Neu's. A Useful Invention. A priest of Ravenna, named Ravag ling, has constructed an electrical appa ratus which can be set in operation by simply pressing a button, aud by which the doors of a large building can be in stantaneously opened. The apparatus was tried at the Alighieri Theater, in Ravenna, with the most satisfactory result. All the nine doors opened sim ultaneously, as if through some spiritual agency. The inventor hopes to improve his apparatus, so that should a fire break out on tho stage of a theatre, the rise in temperature would itself set the machin ery m motion. Nineteen Reason. A great many people cannot under stand why the female portion of the community prefer sober men. The mat ter is simple enough : • I. Wives like sober husbands because they can reason with a sober man. •2. The sober man is more companiona ble. 3. Sober men have pride, and pride is a woman’s main hold. 4. Sobriety means a comfortable home. 5. Good clothes for mother and child ren. 6. A house of your own, 7. Evenings at home instead of in a bar-room. 8. Better health and the enjoyment of life. 9. An elevated view of life and a sense of your responsibility. 10. You are a credit to your wife and children. 11. People who once despised you wifi dow bless you. 12. Your word will be gauged as you resist the tempter. 13. Young men will pattern after you. 14. You will be an ornament to so ciety and the whole town in which you live. 15. The _whole community will take pride in you and wish they had more like you. 16. Your family and friends will appro date you. 17. Your enemies will admire your path of sobriety. 18. Scoffers will be disarmed by your works. 19. Your many qualities will grow with your years. The Australian Farmer’s Pest. Although the farmers of America have their troubles from drouth, rain, cut worms, grasshoppers and chinch-bugs, yet they are exempt from some of the torments which harass the Australian agriculturist. The rabbits devour much of his crops and his grass ; but his worst foe is the kangaroo, which multiplies with wonderful fecundity and devours every green thing. It costs the farmers SSOO a mile in fencing to keep their sheep and cattle runs from these animals. A small run requires fifty miles of this fencing and a large one three or four times that amount. Even when the fencing is up it is hard to keep the beasts out. They run along by the side of it until they find a weak spot and push through. Once inside, they will do an incalculable amount of damage, cleaning whole acres of everything on the land. The rapid increase of the ani mal is attributed to the killing of the dingo, or native dog, which the settlers are obliged to poison because it kills sheep as well as kangaroos. Kangaroo hunting, therefore, is a business rather than a sport, and the slaughter is terri ble, often resulting in the destruction of 1,800 kangaroos per week. But still another enemy is the parrot. The par rot of Australia has quit a vegetable diet and taken to meat. They are de stroying the sheep in enormous quan tities, and when the farmer is not shoot ing kangaroos he is killing parrots. Where he gets time to do any farming is a mystery, An Item for Young Girls. There is a multitude of young girls in the country and small towns who ara anxious to enter what, they ‘think, tho paiadice of New York life, aud suppose they will be ull right if they can manage to secure a place there as copyist or book-keeper. To such, Shirley Hare ad dresses these wise words: “Do they know what copying and book-keeping means in town? They fancy a book keeper is a young person iu tasteful dress, wearing lawn cuffs, and having early hours with easy work on a salary of perhaps S9OO or $1,500 a year. “The average pay of good women book-keepers in New York is $8 a week, aud not over sl2 for the best, unless by favor, which implies uo improvement to a girl’s repu tation. A book-keeper can board for $4 a week, her washing cost 50 cents, anil car fare from 50 to 70 cents more, and she works in a dimly lighted office, with gas burning half the time over her page, till the bloom dies from her cheek anil from her spirits. ” Teaching Her Young to Sing. A wren built her nest in a box on a New Jersey farm. The occupants of the farm-house saw the mother teach her young to sing. She sat in front of them and sang the whole song very distinctly. One of the young attempted to imitate her. After proceeding through a few notes its voice broke and it lost the time. The mother immediately recommenced where the young one had failed, anil went very distintly through the remain der. The young bird made a second attempt, commencing where it had ceased before, and continuing the song as long as it was able; and when the note was again lost the mother began anew where it stopped, and completed it. Then the young one resumed the tune, and finished it. This done, the mother sang over the whole series of notes a second time with great precision, anil a second of the young attempted to follow her. The wren pursued the same course with this one as with the first; and so with the third and fourth. This was repeated (lay after day, until each of the young birds became a perfeot songster. Attention Young Men. A Chicago paper sets out to show that marriage is the best life insurance yet organized. This on the authority of a j physician who has employed his leisure i hours compiling statistics and life tables ; bearing on celibacy and matrimony, and the degree of longevity contingent ! thereupon. Striking an average, he finds that the man who passes his life from the age of twenty in the married state is likely to live twice as long as if he had lived in celibacy, and that while married men reach an average of sixty and seven-tenths years, bachelors can safely count upon only forty and kwo-tenths A xoung man in a train was making fun of a lady’s hat to an elderly gentle man in the seat with him. “ Yes,” said his seat-mate, “that’s my wife,'and I told her if she wore that bonnet that some fool would make fun of it.” The young man slid out At the next station the old man poured out his hot coffee into the saucer to cool. “Look, ma.” said a snickering girl, “at that oil fashioned way of drinking.” “Yes,” said the elderly gentleman, “and it was old fashioned manners not to notice it.” The elderly gentleman finished his jour ney in Sensible Decision at tbe Last Mo* ment. A clergyman, on asking the bride if she would have this man, was startled at her reply, “ No, sir. I was a little late getting to the church; it wasn't mv fault, but he said, ‘G—d d—n yon, if this is the way yon begin, you’ll find it to your cost when you’re my wife.’” Under those circnstancea she concluded she wouldn’t be his wife. Bhe repented in haste, and will marry at leisure,