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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.