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A NOTE FROM POOR-MAN' & BEST).
Yes, Jim, 1 jfot your letter, ami 1 answered it,
old friend;
1 see you ain’t forgot the boys back hereon
Poor-Man’s B# nd.
I didn’t know but‘•strikin’it” might change
my old-time pnrd;
But 1 think you've got the kind of grit that
changes mighty hard.
I’d like to come and see you, boy; I often
think of you;
But Western manners in the East, I size it up,
won’ t do—
For forty years and over 1 have bandied pick
ana pan,
And though I’ve got the “lucre,” boy, that
doesn’t make the man.
1 remember well the days we spent up here In
Idaho,
A washing out the two-cent dirt when grub
was getting low.
Do you recollect the Injun fight up on the
Lightning bar;
How you and Jack were Just In time to save
the old man’s ‘ harlr”
8o never talk of owing mo a debt you cannot
pay—
What s mine Is yours, remember It—that’s all
I need to say.
It’s true I nicked you up a cub, as green as
grass in spring;
But you had a look about you, lad, which
showed the proper thing;
And w hen I doubled up with you and stood off
half the camp,
I knew we had our fortunes made in the old
“Aladdin s lamp.”
You sec that Eastern manners, when you get
out in the West,
Are not the sort of racket which the •miners
like the best;
And you had not been hardened, and was kind
of pale an i slim.
And didn't like to go© them shoot, so they
called you “Tender Jim.”
But when they Jumped tho“ Aladdin’s Lamp,"
my boy, you were on band,
And showed that “Frisco” Company the way to
swallow sand.
The boys all thought you’d weaken before the
row begun
Hut I tell you, pard, you assayed there away
up to the ton;
And 1 say it was a bower, the flivt ird that you
led.
When their Captain tumbled down the shaft, a
bullet through Ids head.
It is true that Jack and 1 fllled in, in a quiet
kind of way.
But we had both been there before, from
“blossom” clear to “pay.”
Bo cut the obligation biz, you got but your Just
due;
For what you worked and fought for, lad, must
well belong to you.
Four hundred thousand dollars V Whew! It
takes my breath away
After forty yeurtof mining, at last to strike
the “pay!"
Alas! too lute! (excuse this blot, my old eyes
fill w ith tears);
Without a kith or kin on oaithto soothe my
waning years.
’Tis different, boy, with you; for now your life
is ill its prime.
While my lad years have come to ino—mine Is
the hiirved time.
J caii'l guy I regret the past—l have been Ini|e
py, too;
My rifle and my pick have been whet home
must be to you.
Fo, If you II Just excuse me, I believe I’ll stay
out WHt.
For old hero, I know, will suit me
beat;
And If you strike Onunclul straits while climb
ii-tf ii|> Jll’i.’o hill.
Just show your build and take the pile of
yours, * Ik'd-1 took Bill.”
—Rfiidoltle Herald.
Sunburn's Experiment in Feeding.
The published details of the experi
ments of J. VV. Sanborn, Superintendent
of the College Farm at Hanover, N. IF,
contain interesting results, some of
which in condensed form arc here given.
The experiments in feeding calves
present some facts which may bo of
some value to meat raisers. Two calves
were taken, four and a half weeks old,
both together weighing2B3 pounds, ami
were fed 20 quarts or skimmed milk
daily late in November. They gained
in 18 da) a39 pounds. Over 8 quarts of
milk were required for 1 pound in
growth. For trie next 11 days a pound
of mixed meals was added to the milk,
and they gained 63 pounds, at a cost of
2.2 cents per pound. For the next 14
days they bad 2 pounds of meal and 4
pounds of hay added to the milk eacli
day, and they gained O'J pounds, at a
rust of 3 cents a pound, lor the next
li days they had nearly the same feed,
and gained 71 pounds, at a cost of 2.7
rmnlu n imimil 1 1 tin. tfoab 1 I tliVj
they gained 60 pounds on the same food,
will) some addition of hay, at a cost of
8.6 rents. Fourteen days later they had
gained 63 pounds, with added meal and
hay. at a oust per pound of 3.9 cents.
Thr lesson taught by these results was
that the older the meat, the more cost
ly; but through the whole, although in
winter, there was an actual prolit,
rating the meal at 1.4 cents a pound,
■‘ft’-v'lk at 4 mills, and the hay at $lO
r T*\)lv ■ This was a single limited ex-
' Cut, but it shows the importance
to farmers of knowing at what age of
animals it is most profitable to feed or
dispose of them. Wool erve in the ilo
-1 nils of the above oxpei .ment tlint, there
was but a slight increase in the amount
of food given when the weight of tho
animals had largely increased.
Other experiments were made, with
those averaging 426 pounds each, to de
termine tho probable amounts of food
animals would consume. They wore
found to require 3$ per cent, of their
live weight daily in hay, the small
amount <>t grain being estimated in hay.
Teu pounds of hay wore required for
one pound of growth. Additional trials
were made with two-year steers, weigh
ing from 1,000 to 1,100 pounds. An
average of eight experiments, extend
ing from 28 to 90 days, gave a con
sumption of 2.16 per cent, of their live i
weight daily, with an average gain of
086 of a pound. Tho important fact j
was determined that the older aud
larger the animal grows, the more food
it requires to make a pound of growth.
Seme valuable experiments were
mado with roots as food. For growing
cattle, carrots brought nothing, but they
proved very much bet ter for milk anil
nutter than swedes or mangolds. The
latter were found worse than useless for
niilrlt cows, as compared with other food,
while for growing animals they brought
one dollar and seventy-live cents n tun,
rating hay at ten dollars a ton. Prof.
Man burn alludes to tin* old analytical
methods of determining tho value of
foods, anil these applied to carrots
would show 1.36 of albuminoids. By
tin* present method it is cut down to
only 0.2 : . This fact bears rather hard
on the infallibility of abstract scientific
teaching
Gam Arable.
The most familiar objects about us
are often least understood, and probably
few can pause to ask the question, what
is gum arabio, and from whence it
comes? In Morocco, about the middle
of November (that Is just after the rainy
season), a gummy juioe exudes spon
taneously from the trunk and branches
of the acacia. It gradually thickens in
the furrow down which it runs, and as
sumes the form of oval and round drops,
about the sire of a pigeon egg, of differ
ent oolors, as it comes from the red or
white gum tree. About the middle of
December tn Moors encamp on the
border of the forest, and the harvest
lasts a full month. I'he gum is packed
in large leather sacks and transported
on the backs of camels and bullocks to
seaports for shipment to different coun
tries. The harvest occasion is made one
of great rejoicing, and the people, for
the time being, almost live on gum,
which is nutritious and fattening. Such
is the commercial story of this simple
but useful article.
A Nahville fTenn.) woman who
h id been slandered by a young man at
r u ked the youth in' the street with a
butcher knife, and, says a local paper,
••Cowi'T'ed herself like a perfect lady
throughout the affair."—Detroit Frit
DRAWING THE CROSS-BOW.
The cross-bow was undoubtedly the
most deadly of all the missile weapons
before the perfecting of fire-arm,. The
Spaniards Drought it lo the greatest de
gree of efficiency, but the french and
English also made very line cross-bows.
The stocks of some cross-bows are
straight, others arc crooked, somewhat
after the shape of the stock of a gun.
A great many of these weapons bad
wooden bows which were made of yew
wood, but more had steel lathes. The
arrows of the cross-bow were called
quarrels, or bolts. They were shorter,
thicker and heavier than the arrows of
tho English long-bow. The place in
the cross-bow where tho string is fast
ened when it is pulled hack, ready to
shoot, is called the nut. From the nut
to the fore end of the stock the wood is
hollowed out, so that, when a quarrel is
placed in position for firing, it does not
touch the stock, except at the tip of its
notch and the point where it lies on the
fere end. The trigger works easi yon
a pivot, causing the nut to tree tlie
string, whereupon the bow discharges
the quarrel.
The history of the cross-bo-/ is very
interesting. You will find th.. Richard
the Lion-hearted was a great cross-bow
man. Housed to carry a very strong
arbalist (the old name for cross-bow)
with him wherever he went, liven on
his long expedition to Palestine against
the Saracens his favorite weapon was
his constant companion.
At the siege of Ascalon, he is said to
have aimed his quarrels so skillfully
t lint, many an armed warrior on I lie
high walls was pierced through and
through.
The steel bolts fired from the strong
est cross-bows would crash through any
but the very finest armor. There are
breast-plates and helmets of steel, pre
served among the British antiquities,
which have been pierced by quarrels.
1 have read in old books, written in
French and Spanish, all about how
those terrible weapons were made atid
used.
Richard was killed by a quarrel from
a French cross-bow.
A plowman in the province of t'om
piegno unearthed a gold statuette of
Minerva, a most valuable thing. This
lie divided, sending one half to Richard,
and keeping the other half hitnsclf. tint,
you know, in those days a King wanted
every thing. Kicharti’s non heart could
not brook to divide a treasure with ono
of bis vassals. So lie peremptorily de
manded the other half of the treasure,
which being refused, he called together
a small army and went to lav sie oi to
the strong eastle of < halits, In Norman
dy. wherein the treu-ure was said to he
hidden. Rut it was a dear expedtr ir
for the bold King. A famous cross
bowman by the name of liertram de
•I nurd an, standing on tho tall turret of
the castle, saw Richard riding around
in the plain below and took steady aim
at him. Ibis Bertram do Jourdan had
cause to hate tho King, for Richard had
killed bis two brothers wilh his dwn
band. ,So when lie pressed tho trigger
of Ins powerful cross-bow he sent, a hiss
of revenge along with the slmd-bcadod
quarrel. Richard heard the keen t wang
of the bow-string and bent low over the
bow of liis saddle, but the arrow struck
him in the shoulder and be died of the
wound. So, vou see, lie Would have
done better to leave that gold alone.
However, his men stormed tho castle
mid brought Bertram do .Jourdan be
lore him while he lay dying. Richard
was too noble to mist reat a prisoner, so
he gave tho cross-bowman amagnilicuit
Mllfl m'Jueoil !; I. . .0,1 „(
liberty. Hut one Maivaileo, an in anions
bruits who was next in comimiiul to
Richard, as soon as the Kin<r was dead
ordered De Jourdan to ho flayed alive
and hung: up for the vultures to eat.
in the year 1100, William 11., sur
nallied Unfits, a famous King of En
gland, and a son of tho conqueror, was
killed by a cross-bow bolt in the forest
at I’haiHiinghani, accidentally, it is said,
by Mir Waiter Tyrrel, lii.s bow-bearer.
A nephew of King Rufus had been
killed iti May of the same year by a
like mishap. Hut the deeds done with
the cross-bow were not all so bloody
and terrible. From a very early dale
in the history of France companies of
cross-bowmen have existed, among
which those at Lisle, Roulaix, Lomov,
Coniines, Le tiuosnoy and Valem ionic*
may be mentioned as prominent.
That tit. Itouluix was instituted by
Fierro do Roulaix in 11!)1, a year be
fore America was discovered by Colum
bus. The members of these'societies
shot at targets and marks of various
hi. ds, gud their meetings were oltcn
the ocorsh • ' i- great pomp and siilen-
" . . these companies have
• ~.pressed by law in comparative
ly recent times.
’Cup and, 1 have read, as far back
i ■gn of W illiam Rufus, laws
were passed forbidding tho use of the
arbr’ist, excepting by persons having
especial royal permit. This was be
cause the cross-bow, particularly the
kind with a windlass attachment to
draw the string, was so destructive to
the King's deer. You will at cit.v see
the great advantage the arlialist gave
to huntsmen who used it instead of the
long-bow; for ho could shoot from am
tangled thicket where n long-bowman
could not use his weapon at aid. t lion,
too, it required years of patient pr:u tico
before a man could shoot well enough
with a long-how to hit a doer, w hie
anyone, with but a day or two’s expe
rience, could successfully aim a cross
bow.
Once Do Soto and his men were pur
suing some living sav ages, when on.i
suddenly turned his face toward the
Spaniards nnd halted, lie was armed
with a long-bow and arrows, amt was
just across •> narrow river from his foes.
He nmdo signs that lie challenged any
one of the Spanish eross-iiovvmcii to
t ght a duel with him. Ihe chilli nge
was accepted hy one Juan de NAinas. a
most expert arbalister, who stepped
fprth and faced the Indian. The ,
rades of Salinas offered to cover him
with their shields, lint tin* brave soldier
scorned to take advantage of a naked
savage. So he refused the cover, ami
placing a quarrel on the not of hi,
j drawn bow made ready to shbot. lhe
! Indian also was ready by this time, ami
| both discharged their arrows at the
; same moment. But Salinas was cooler
I under such stress of danger than the
; Indian was. and so took truer aim. His
| quarrel pierced the savage warrior's
; heart, and he fell dead The bows of
| the savages were puny things when
matched against the steel aiboluts of
ue usmeii r>pamsft soldiers. The In
dian’s slender reed arrow passed
through the nape of Juan de Salinas’
neck, but without seriously hurting
him. A quilted shirt of doubled silk
was sufficient protection against most
of the Indian missiles, and a man in
steel armor was proof against all.
I have seen a picture of Queen Eliza
beth, of England, representing her in
the act of shooting at a doer with an
arbalist
But he hadastror ■ inaulu-'•e'b-w ,
i
bearer, and all she had to do was to
take aim and puli the trigger after the
bow-bearer had made the arbalist all
ready for shooting.
The manner of hunting deer in those
days was to stand in a spot whence you
could see in all directions through the
forest, while a number of expert woods
men drove the game near to you as you
held your arbalist ready to shoot. If you
- hot at a running deer you had to aim
far ahead of it in order to hit it.
Hare or rabbit shooting was great
-port, for the cross-bowmen. For this
purpose lighter arbalists were used.
The hunter kept carefully trained dogs,
somewhat like our pointers and setters,
whose business it was to lind the game.
Twenty-five yards was about the usual
di-tance for shooting at rabbits. They
were rarely shot while running— Maurice
Thompson. in SI. Nicholas.
Mothers-in- Law in India.
That the youthful wife or wives of
the budding Hindoo are very much un
dor the personal jurisdiction of their
mother-in-law has always been re
garded as a peculiar fact in Indian
sociology; but the appalling consequen
ces which result from this arrange
ment have rarely been brought to light
in so forcib.e a manner as in a case of
female suicide which has recently been
the subject of inquiry in Bombay. It
was proved that the girl, almost a child
in age, who had committed the dread
act of self-destruction, had been driven
to it by the persisted persecution which
she had undergone at the rutniess hands
of her husband’s mother ever since her
marriage. In directing the jury, the
i ,'oronor stated the remarkable fact that
by far the largest number of femaie
Hindoo suicides are those of women be
tween the ages of twelve and twenty; and
it is beyond question that the cause
which impels these hapless maidens
to put an end to their existence,
just when at an ago to reap most enjoy
ment from it, is in nearly every case
tiie organized despotism of the mother
in-law in the interior of the zenana.
How this slate of affairs is to be reme
died it is difficult to see, although in the
instance referred lo the Coroner de
clared the need of a complete change in
Hindoo social habits. The only change
which would be effectual is for the
voung Hindoo not to bring his wife
nome to the paternal mansion, but to
set up home for himself with his matri
monial partner, according to European
custom. This, however, would be such a
complete revolution in native habit, see
ing that several generations usually live
and have their being under the same
roof-tree, that centuries would be nec
essary to bring it about. We should
rather, perhaps, look tothe annTorating
\rul humanizing tendencies of the noble
efforts of those ( hr stianladies who pen
etrate the secret depths of tho zenana
and carry into them the lessons of a
higher morality. I.otidon T.tegraph.
The Javanese “ Death Valley.”
Another romantic tradition has been
refuted, another thrilling illusion dis
pelled, by Dr. Otto Kunt/e's discovery
that tlie letli..: capacities of Pakamaran,
the renowned Javanese Death Valley,
are as utterly fabulous as the Norwegian
Kraaketr or Richard of Gloucc.-.ier’g
hump. It is no longer permitted to us
to ludieve that the etteets of the subtle
poison given off by the “Deadly Upas
Tree” have bestrewn that dismal vale
with countless carcasses of savage
beasts, crpcnls, and birds, or that a
•)• ..>). ~..niinA!iy loomanty trav
eler attempting to cross it; for the emi
nent German explorer lias paid Paka
maran an exhaustive visit, and reports
it, to lie as healthy as any other part of
the island. In the way of corpses, he
did not see so much as a dead liy within
it s precinots. He describes it as a small
circular depression in a gorge of the
Dieng Mountains, about seven square
meters in size, and forlorn of vegetation.
It is approached by two footpaths,
winding downward from the hills by
which it is surrounded. By one of these
put lis Dr. Kuntzo entered the Death
Valley, despite the entreat es of his
guides and servants, one of whom re
peatedly strove to hold him back by
force, and, having traversed Pakamaran
in every direction, quitted it by the
oilier path. The natives had assured
him that ho would find the valley choked
up by skeletons, as even tho swiftest
birds flying above it would drop down
stone-ilea I, -lain by its poisonous exha
lations. In van. however, did he look
about for a single bone; nor could lie
detect the least unpleasant odor. Dr.
Ktuitze pronounces Pakamaran to be an
imposture, the offspring of ignorance
and superstition. Unable to dispute his
sentence, we are bound, not altogether
w thout regret, to relegate the death
ilea! ng vale to the limbo of exploded
mvtlis. London Vi La rank.
Docs It Pay I
I Doea it pay to do a kind act, in this
I ife? Doesn't a deed prompted by a
desire to benetit your fellow-man come
1 back on you like a boomerang and muko
vou curse the hour of your nativity?
i these questions arc prompted by the
adventure of a tall gentleman on a
train coming in over the Fitchburg Hoad
the other day. He observed a lady sit
tug in the seal it front of him, and by
j her *iood a very handsome umbrella
th it o.i'd not have cost less than live
dollars. The train stopped at a station
and i lie lady rose and got out. As she
w i di-appearing through the door tho
bill •.eiitloman observed that she had
c t i, r umbrella, and grabbing it,
rushed a ter hr. lhe train was just
starting as he reached the platform, but
he managed to cry to her: “Ma’am,
be.e’s your umbrella that you lett,”
An i lie tised it to her and turned back
car, as the train apod- along.
Now. as he had started for the door, a
stout gentleman, with an irascible look,
•“'••tried a:tor him, but being lame, could
n o overtake him They mot as the tall
man re-entered the ear. “What did
vou do with that umbrella?" asked the
i‘*ut gent,, in: n. “Have it to the lady!"
I : the loi; man. "What did you
that tor? roared tho stout man.
Win it belonged to her and I didn't
"ant her to lose it.” “Belonged to
la r! howled the fat man. 'Drat your
tnalodor >us pelt, it was mine!” ‘The
i d man wanted the long man to pay for
it and tho latter objected, and the vio
l|Mit wrangle they indulged in was a de
ftcieus treat to the uninterested observ
es lin ally the long man was com
pelled to give up five dollars, and the fat
n an wa> partly reconciled to the trans
aeiion. But the thin man wasn’t. He
sat in a corner and looked sulky, and the
disposition people showed to snicker
when they looked his way didn’t seem
to improve h:B temper one bit.—Boston
—Home made jelly glasses: be lent
good-si, e l bottles. Take a strip of old
muslin or a piece of candle wick, clip it I
in lamp oil. wrap it around the bottle i
where vou want ;t to break, set it on
lire and the glass will crack just above j
tho doth. —Prairie Farmer. I
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.
—There are in the United States and
Canada 779 Young Men’s Christian as
iociations, numbering 82,375 members.
—The one hundred and twenty
itinerant Methodist ministers who died
.ast year averaged but thirty-two years
of age.
—The Protestant Episcopal Church
n Massachusetts proposes to introduce
the free-pew system in all their church
jdifices throughout the State.
■ —Mr. James W. Scoville has given
to the Chicago Theological Seminary
the sum of ten thousand dollars for the
endowment of a Scoville Professorship
of elocution.
—The richest colored congregation
In the country is said to be that of St.
Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church,
Washington. The best church music
at the capital is alleged to be that of its
choir.— Chicago Journal.
—rPresident Welch, of the loiva State
Agricultural College, has left his home
for Europe, where he goes by appoint
ment of the United States Government
to inspect the agricultural and industrial
schools of foreign countries, and make
a report as to the systems and methods
of those schools.— N. Y. Post.
—There is a headman of a kraal in
Natal, South Africa, who does not ob
ject to his people becoming Christians,
but who decidedly objects to their be
coming bad Christians: ‘‘lf you be
come betterjnen and women bv being
Christians, fju may remain so, if not, 1
won’t let you be Christians at all.”
Christian t'riiun.
—The North American Review says:
“During the century lust passed the
population of the United States lias in
creased eleven-fold, ami churches have
increased thirty-seven fold, and while a
hundred ycars’ago there was one church
to every seventeen hundred inhabitants,
there is now one for every live hundred
and twenty-nine.”
—A lease for 999 years nowadays is
regarded as equivalent to a sale, but such
a lease has just expired in England, and
the property lias reverted to the original
owner—the Church of England. It is
thus legally decided that tho Church of
England has had a corporate entity
since the time of Alfred the Great, and
that it did not, as has been supposed by
many, originate in the time of Henry
VIII. Chicago Tribune.
—Though little is known in this coun
try of the Greek Church, it is one of the
most important in Europe. Its adher
ents number about 70,000,000; 44,000,-
000 of whom are in the Russian Empire;
11,000,000 in Turkey, and 4,000,000 in
Austria and Greece. It was nominally
in defense of their fellow-members of
the Greek Church in European Turkey
that the Russians brought about the
Crimean war and the war of 1877 with
Turkey.
Struck Dumb While Committing Per
jury.
A strange story comes from the east
ern portion if this county of a woman
being struck dumb while giving false
testimony. The facts as related are as
follows: On last Friday a colored man
named James Price was on trial before
Esquire Allen, a Justice of the Peace,
who lias an office on the Macon road,
between Germantown and Bartlett,
Tenn. Price had been beating a num
ber of men iu Hie neighborhood, and
Isabella .Jackson, a colored woman,
was placed on the witness stand to tell
what she knew of the matter. Shedie-
IfQII luip ,■ (lll.t Hlua *0(1*1 u lu*
asked by the' Justice: “Do you not
know that you are lying?’’ Hie an
swered, “Yes, Sir.” Those were the
last words Isabella Jackson ever spoke.
She had appeared quite independent,
and to some extent impudent, when first
put upon the stand, and after her last
remark a number of questions were
asked, but the woman made no
reply. Believing that she was sham
ming, tho Justice directed Constable
W. 11. Allen to escort the witness
from tho court-room, but when ordered
to follow that officer she did not move.
Two men of her own color were then
told to carry hor oat of tho room. While
in the act of carrying her out it was ob
served that she was in a helpless condi
tion. She hail been paralyzed in every
part, her limbs were motionless, her
tongue had no power, and it soon be
came apparent to all present that the
hand of the Almighty had been laid
heavily upon her. For two hours or
thereabouts the woman remained in this
passive state, after which she was placed
in a wagon and conveyed to her iiome.
She never moved <>r spoke afterward,
but on Saturday evening site expired,
no antidoteappfied during the interval
having availed in affording the slightest
relief. Thu incident is verified by
’Squire Allen, before whom the woman
appeared, and also by a number of per
sons present at the time of its occur
rence.—Memphis Cor. l.ouisiille Courier-
Jemma!. _
Mt r ’ rT ” Water Finders.
One of these individuals who possess
what used to be called an impossible
power of detecting water beneath the
surface by the turning of a forked witch
hazel or apple-tree twig in liis hands
when passing over tho locality where
water was desired has made his appear
ance on Cape Cod, A Provincetown
man says that the “wafer finder” is
quite old and nearly blind. “He locates
water for well-diggers, or pretends to,
simply by moving about over the surface
with his eyes totally blinded. He pre
tends to give also about tho number of
feet below tho surface at which tho wa
ter will bo found. It is said that the
old water tinder is a farmer and a lime
burner; also, that he has been employed
at Beverly and Newport at §8 per day
this season, and succeeded in locating
water; also,that ho succeeded in de
tecting the presence of metals.” Inves
tigation shows that a person somewhat
answering this description has been
miite sucoessml in locating water veins
this season along the line of the Eastern
Railroad, and that there are others in
New England who have fully shown
themselves possessed of the same “pow
er of divination.” In upper New Hamp
shire wells are often located by uch
means.— Boston Herald.
If a man means what he says lie will
be deliberate in his speech, and sfati
his purpose in nlain, simple fashion
Intending suicide, he will not make
motions at himself with a razor in the
presence of his family five or six times
a day. Mr. Micawber's stvle of speech
is associated with his style of action,
i difficult, vaporing, tragic, superlative
words exhaust, the speaker. His strength
all goes out through his mouth, and lie
is thus left helpless to do anything.
Lyman Beecher said that when iic bad
not much of a sermon he always thumped
the nulpit and “hollered ”
There are ways enough of advantage
ously helping our fellow-men, provided
we keep in view the grand leading prin
ciple not to paralyze or deaden their
faculties by withdrawing the stimulus to
action, but to improve and develop them
by every effort we make in their behalt
New Clothes.
There is something almost regenerat- j
ing about new clothes. They possess a
moral influence which even the mission
ary who carries them to the heathen has
not overlooked, however thoroughly he
mav be persuaded that we overdo the
matter. What man in his new spring
suit ever refused his wife a favor? When
he had on his old things, and felt down
at the mouth and shabby enough, he
could doubtless do it without a qualm; ,
but let him cr.se get inside of his new j
breeches, and all the complaisance in
his nature comes to the surface. Even |
Pat feels himself hedged in in his Sun- j
day clothes, and limited as to drinks, j
anil if he is going to give Biddy a black
eye, he will do it in his old duds. And
Biddy, herself, though she may be sour
enough about her work in her tattered
calico, and ready at bandying billings
gate, no sooner dons her smart new de
laine than a lady-like behavior seems to
be endued therewith. We love consist
ency, and there is something inhar
monious to our mind3 between new
clothes and bad manners, and we would
fain remodel our speech and actions to
correspond with our attire. Not that
old clothes necessitate incivility. We
will tind many a gentle man and woman
inside them. But when the rude and
untutored body puts ou her best, a
vague, unformulated idea possesses her
that the'old ways are not in unison with
the new things, and Mrs. Grundy will
peruelrc at a f-lanoo that rho is Only a
cook unless she simulates the bearing of
the mistress as well as the cut and fash
ion of her garments. But even among
the very eclat, whose manners need no
reformation, whose mind and temper
are supposed to be above suspicion, new
clothes are capable of arousing some
latent enthusiasm. The excitement of
selecting and preparing new ones never
seems to grow sta’e or unprofitable,
since every season brings into the mar
ket fabrics and fashions so quaint and
picturesque that one docs not feel as if
she were indulging in the commonplace
recreation of clothing herself and foster
ing vanity, but as though she were cul
tivating her aesthetic taste, enlarging
her borders of thought and apprecia
tion, encouraging the arts and com
merce, and absolutely doing missionary
work in her own way in behalf of her
self and her neighbors; for is not the
eye an avenue to the soul? In the
meantime we will always meet those
who have the audacity to find fault with
new clothes, to whom new boots are an
invention of thelnquisitiononlysecondto
the thumb-screws, who never feel at
home in the spring suit until its fresh
ness ha' departed, to whom the Ulster
is a strait-jacket, the new bonnet a
species of martyrdom, who never be
come resigned to the discipline of new
clothes.— Harper's Bazar.
A Party Named Johnson.
One of the patrolmen on Jefferson
avenue was halted yesterday by a stran
ger who seemed to have had a wrestle
with the tumbling-rod of a thrashing
machine, and who lowered his voice to a
whisper as ho began
“ Can I speak to you in strict confi
dence?”
“ It’s according to what you desire to
communicate.”
“ Well, for instance, if a party named
Johnson, who came here to see the
Knights and the soldiers and have a
good time, should inform you that he
had lost his watch, could you do any
thing lor him on the quiet?"
‘* Perhaps.”
“And if the same party named John
son should inform you that he had lost a
clean hundred dollars that would be con
fidential also?”
“ \‘es.”
“ And if this man Johnson should
further add that he had been drunk
twice, hail three fights, been licked
three times and was all broke up and a
hundred miles from home without a
trekel, you wouldn’t give it away so
that liis family could hear of it?”
“ Oh, no.”
“Can’t be anything done for me, can
there?”
“ I hardly think so.”
“Id better take the dirt road home,
®h ?”
“ Yes.”
“ And gradually brace up as I grad
ually draw near Iiome?”
“ That’s the idea.”
“And not have any brass handout to
serenade me, nor send on any advance
word for the boys to assemble to give
me a public welcome?”
•• I wouldn’t.”
“Then I won’t. I’ll do just as von
say about it. I didn’t expect to meet
with any such kindness and sympathy
here, and it affects me. Let’s shake!
If you ever strike Livingston County in
quire for a party named Johnson, and
be powerful careful to add that when
you met him in Detroit he was leading
the Arhole procession. Where do 1
strike the Howell plank road?”—.De-
one or tae Kpocns.
Among the latest commissions issued
bv Acting Postmaster-General Hatton,
says a recent Washington special, is
one to “Bill” Nye, lately appointed
postmaster at Laramie City, YVy. T.
Nve is the editor of the Daily Boomc
nii t;. In accepting the nomination he
says:
t.ARAMIKCITV, W>-. TANARUS„ Au-oat 19, 18SS.
.■it Deaii (iENeral: I have received tiie
m \\ < by leloarraph of my nomination and ccw
iinnation as postmaster at Laramie, and
wi hto extend my thanks for the same. I
nave ordered an entirely new set of boxes and
post-office outfit, including new corrugated
euspadore* for the use of clerks. 1 look
upon the appointment myself as a
triumph of eternal truth over error and
wrong. It is one of the epochs, as I may
say. in the Nation*! onward march toward
political purity and perfection. 1 don't know
when I nave noticed any stride in the affair*
ot rotate which so thoroughly impressed me
with its wisdom. Now thai ws aro coworkers
in the aarne department, I trust you will not
feel shy or backward In consulting mo at any
time relative to matters concerning Post-Ot*
fic* Department affairs. Be perfectly frank
with tne, and feel perfectly just to brin*
Anything of that kind right to mo. I do not
fe I reluctant because I may appear at times
cold and reserved. Perhaps you think I do
not know tho difference between a post-offleo
window and a three tun quad, but that ts a
mistake. My general Information is far be
yond my years. With profoundest regards, I
remain, s.ueersly yours. Bill Nve.
i A curious “crips of accidents remlt
, .'•! >r >m a e:vn] lunt. loaded wi:h hay,
_;e! i -tilus w ~ j n g under ‘a
•ri>f -T'' i" Soho c i iv. X. V., the other
da An engine w de crossing the
bridge set tho hiy on fire, which was
de-troyeil and tlie boat, damaged. The
J tire hi exuded the freight trains, and in
rii s 'q'ioi.e * one train on a grade ran
: *l*• :t. m> li*r, eau-iug Another 11 e which
ie t eyed e ght <.r ton cars atul bidly
f un-gv.il a locum cive.
—Of a verity practical lessons are
taught by Nature. It was a poetic young
man contemplating the stars who dis
covered how didactic they were. “Did
you ever think of the beautiful practice
they teach?” he a-vked. And when
someone reverently said, “No. What
is it?” he softlv replied : “How to wink.”
, -.V. F. ifctwrf.
A Baby and a Bear.
Henry Flynn, who resides-up the hills
near Inskip, is in town to-day, and has
the following incident to relate, in
which a bear of the cinnamon species
abducted his three year-old daughter,
not with any desire to harm the child,
but through a strange kind of affection.
It appears that Mr. Flynn started one
morning to take a horse' to pasture, and,
as his little girl seemed anxious to go,
he put her upon the horse’s back and
let her ride a short distance, perhaps
forty rods from the house, where he put
her down and told her to run home.
He noticed that she continued standing
where he left her, and, on ldoking back
after going a little farther, saw her
playing in the sand. He soon passed
out of sight and was gone about an
hour, expecting,' of course, that the
child-would return to the house after
playing a few moments. On returning
home be made inquiry about her of its
mother, who said she’ had not seen her,
and supposed he had taking her along
with him. On going to the spot where
he had left her he saw huge bear tracks
in the sand, and at once came to the
conclusion that the child had been car
ried off by the bear.
The family immediately made search
through the forest, which was grownup
to almost a jungle, rendering their
search very slow. All day these anx
ious parents searched for traces of their
child; nor did they stop when darkness
came on. but remained in the woods
Calling th© loot ono by her name. Morn
ing came, and their search was fruit
less. A couple of gentlemen from be
low, who are traveling through the
mountains buying stock, came to the
house, and, being informed of the cir
cumstances, immediately set out to find
her. The gentlemen wandered about,
and as they were passing a swamp spot
where the undergrowth was thick called
the child, or else they were talking loud,
when one of them hoard her voice. Ho
then called her by name and told her to
come out of the" bushes. She replied
that the bear would not let her.
The men then crept through the
brush, and when near tne spot where
she and the bear were they heard a
splash in the water, which the child
said was the bear. On going to her
they found her standing upon a log ex
tending about half-way across a swamp.
The bear had undertaken to cross the
swamp on the log, and being pursued
left the child and got away as rapidly
as possible. She had received some
scratches about the face, arms and legs,
and her clothes were almost tom from
her body; but the bear had not bitten
her to hurt her, only the marks of teeth
being found on her back, where, in tak
ing hold of her clothes to carry her he
had taken the flesh also.
The little one says the bear would put
her down occasionally to rest and
would put his nose up to her face, when
she would slap him, and the bear would
hang his head by her side and purr and
rub against her like a cat. The men
her if she was cold in the night
and she told t hem the old bear lay down
beside her and put his “arms” around
her and kept her warm, though she did
not like his long hair. She was taken
home to her parents.— Chico (Cat.) Rec
ord.
Vibration in Buildings.
It is easy to understand bow a mill or
factory may tremble or vibrate with its
own machinery; that it will also vibrato
to the motion of other objects, outside
ftn*l removed from it, is moro difficult to
understand. Yet this is fully proved by
observers. It is on the principle by
which a note struck on the piano will
sometimes cause other objects in the
room, say a brass medallion in a cabi
net, to tinkle in response. The piano
wire itself will respond when its key
note is struck. Other vibrations are not
always audible, because they may lie
outside of the range of the human ear.
Synchronous vibration has come to be
quite a study in the construction of
mills; the jar of their own machinery is
not all that has to be provided for.
Some apparently trifling causes vibra
ting outside will not only add to the
strain upon the building, but may act
ually interfere with the steady working
of looms, etc., causing breakages an3
stoppages. Mr. C. J. H. Woodbury re
lates some instances of this in a re"ent
book on mill construction. At one of
the print works at North Adams, It. a is.,
anew and unoccupied building was
found to vibrate in consequence of the
puffing of a small steam engine sixty
feet away. At Centerdale, R. L, it has
been necessary to change the height of
the column of water flowing over the
dam to prevent the excessive vibration
of the adjacent mill. At Amesbury,
Mass., out of eleven mills that are near
the river two vibrate when water in cer
tain quantities flows over the dam, but
tlut tremor can be wholly stopped by
changing the flow of water. The most
frequent cause of vibration is due to the
running of the machinery, and it has
repeatedly happened that a complete
cessation has been obtained by increas
ing or lessening the speed at which the
machinery is run. This is not always
profitable or possible, and the fact that
this vibration results in a loss of power
variously estimated at from ten to twen
ty per cent, is a strong argument in
favor of the construction of one story
mills, which would necessarily vibrate
niucii less than factories having a height
of six or eight stories. Pkilailclphia
Lede/er.
A Fight With a Boa Constrieto"
Just after the close of a circti .
forraan e at targo, I). TANARUS., th'ifVler
noon, a huge boa constrictor ar jtf* hon
made their escape from their ,n.%u n( j
not having keen fed for tw . ...ee
days, seized upon a young .‘ ' -a
crushed it to death in an matt
of them went for a beautiful Indian an
telope and would have k lied it in a mo
ment, l lit a number of circus men came
to the rescue with pitchforks and goads
and drove the serpent into a comer.
Jennie Hickey, the young girl who acts
as snake charmer and has charge of the
monster, was summoned and struck the
I rgest snake twice with her whip. He
darted furiously at her, twirled himself
around her. and in a second or two
wouki have crushed her in his coils, as
he had the baby camel, but, with great
nro once of m nd, she drew the fong
keen kn fe she always carries for such
emergen tes and cut the huge reptile in
two. It was a narrow escape, and the
girl was greeted with a round of an
plause when she came into the ring to
ygkl.—targo Dispatch to SL Louit
X3 lobe- Democrat.
-It is said that there has recently
been discovered in Australia a specie, of
th *^ l “ ond leaf gum, which
has been accurately measured and provee
*° foet "P 40 the fir t branch*
430 fact to the top. This tree is
< r maference * t “ 80Iae die
Unoe from tte ground. This equals
£•l*4* notailrp *“’ the b * tr eea of
PERSONAL AND LITERARY.
—Alexander H. Stephens has com
fileted his history of the United States,
t is a complete history of this country
down to the time of Senator Hill’s
death.
—Morrison Heady, a Kentucky blind
man, is fond of chess. He has chess
men with projecting points, so that ho
may distinguish by the touch between
them. He is hard to beat.— N. Y. Sun.
—Mrs. E. W. Guilford, widow of
Nathan Guilford, who founded the com
mon schools of Ohio, celebrated her
eighty-first birthday anniversary in Cm.
cjnnati recently. About 200 Ohio pio
neers were among the callers.
--The Washington Star says: “Mrs.
Sara A. Spencer has returned to Wash
ington with her two sons, from a tour
ot the Northern lakes. They spent two
days at Mentor with Mrs. Garfield and
her family, whom they found in a cheer
ful,' healthful, happy spirit, full of ten
der reminiscences of old days, but rich
in memory and hope.’’
- The oldest printer in the country
who is at present engaged in the aotin
practice of his profession is probaodjj
“Grandpa” Prescott, in the composi'
tion room of the Corning (la.) Gazette,
who, at the age of ninety years, and
with sixty-three consecutive years at
the “case” behind him, sticks typo
every working day in the year.— ln,
dianapolis Journal.
—According to the London World,
Victor Hugo is rapidly declining phy
sically anu mentally. His journey to
Guernsey in company with the !wo la
dies who have devoted their live.-: to
him was undertaken for the sake o!
what is almost “native air” to him.
There is now a constant struggle be
tween the sight-seers who would push
the old man to write anything, and the
family circle which endeavors to restrain
his lyric overflow.
—The Rev. Dr. Henry J. Morgan,
who for fifty-two years has been rector
of St. James’ Episcopal Church, Phila
delphia, is, with the exception of tho
Rev. Dr. Shelton, of St. Paul’s Church.
Buffalo, th* only clergyman of that
church in this country who lias had so
long a continuous service in one par
ish. 0 He succeeded Bishop White upon
the election of the latter to the epis
copate, and the church has had only the
two rectors in eighty-two years.— N. Y.
Independent.
Fisheries at Cancale.
‘The fishing fleet of Cancale, both for
dredging oysters and catching fish,
numbers more than 200 lugger-ribbed
craft of small tonnage. These boats are
owned partly by single individuals,
partly by their crews, who have clubbed
together for copartnership. Their
tackle and gear cost as much as the
boats and sails; the nets, which arc
chiefly made at Nantes, being the great
item of expense. The seine is never
used; the trawl, which is fitted with a
huge head-bagor receptacle, being the
sort of snare generally adopted. Each
boat has a functionaiy called a “mis
tress:” that is, a woman who has con
tracted, under certain conditions, for
the sale of the take of the craft. The
crew have, therefore, nothing to do
with the disposal of the fish. Thg pro
duce of the sale effected by the “mis
tress” is generally divided into tire
parts —two to the owner or owners of
the boa f , one to the skipper and two to
the crew, the woman having previous
ly deducted her legitimate profits.
The life of a “Cancalais, ” as
thceo fishermen dub themselves, is
one even more rife with danger
tiian that of others of their calling.
The Bay of Mont St. Michel is one of
the most perilous seas in the world.
Equinoctial tides rise in it to the height
of fifty feet, and ordinary tides to thir
ty-five feet The distance between high
and low' water marks is more than six
miles in some places, and the rapidity
of the currents, especially on a stormy
day, maelstrom-like. Quicksands, too,
arc numerous, and a boat shoaled on
one of them during ebb-tide has little
chance of its crew being saved; as re
gards itself, none. In calm weather
the boats fish in the shallowest waters,
their keels occasionally heeling in the
mud: and here they take soles, turbot,
doree, brill and skate in considerable
quantities. Government forbids fishing
within a mile of the shore; but so soon
as night sets in and screens the fisher
men and their fleets from the look-outs
of the steam gunboat at Granville and
the coast-guard sailing schooner at
Cancale, the boats are run within the
prescribed limits, and the forbidden
fruit is tasted. Oysters are allowed
to be taken only on certain days at
certain times of the year, a strict watch
being kept b' ‘he ’wo vessels above
mentioned, f, .*** which signa's are
made when dredging is to commence
and to cease. Fishing proper, how
ever, goes on all the year, the only re
strict ~ with the exception of the
fixed ce from shore, s nli “idy
mention 1 ; that of mailage, jr
size of the Hushes of the nets. Meshes
wider by a fraction of an inch only,
hazing been ordered by the Govern
ment to be used and their use cont inued
for a few years, brought the Dopulation
of Cancale to the verge of -“•vation,
fishes that were entangled l ! . p
ing now. In fact, so momentous a
question is this one of mailage among
a class of individuals who earn their
living from the depths of the sea that
\ ‘andidetes for State or municipal offices
invariably promise the electors to ob
tain for them the privilege of smaller
meshes for the fishing nets, that prom
ise, whether carric l out > r not, being
the only safe “■ -,rit for 1 curing suc
cess. Mailage is the bug-bear of Can
cslais.—French Paper.
Woo. rt ffncli -ry.
The statistician • >, ak mown on the
authority of good judg hat a woolen
mill renuires thorough- renewal every'
double decade. There are altogether
nine thousand sets of woolen machinery
tu the country. The number worn oiit
and replaced every year is estimated at
four hundred and fifty sets. This in
cludes thirteen hundred or more cards
and spinning mules, with ten to fifteen
thousand looms. The price of mules
varies from seven hundred and fifty to
®me hundred dollars, according to the
number of spindles. To replace the
mules worn out every year the sum of
nearly one million two hundred anvl fifty
thousand dollars is expended. The
average durability of the machinery of
a mill is about twenty years. The dura
bility of different pieces of machinery
vanes. A set of cards used carefully
may last half of a century. The cloth
ing on them may be renewed every five
years. Looms are long lived. They
may continue in use fifty years, but gen
erally twenty years’ service is about as
much as they can render. The mules’
average time of durability is fifteen
set 04 cards comprises geuer
ly three to mur separate carding u
ernnos. In manufacturing different
yles of woolens there are thirtv-five
r forty different processes, and nearly
every process calls into use a different
*ind of machine.— Providence Journal.
