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W. F. SMITH, D. J. THAXTON & S. J. SMITH, Publishers.
GRANDMOTHER'S SERMON.
"HPPfJf ,B °’®r, the hearth is swept,
flro’R (flow
V n c * U9 ter to hear a ta’e
ur tout time so long ago,
W AnS ?hf"? ma ’ 8 l l ? alr , wa * oMcn brown,
Anri the warm blood came and went
u er the face that could scares have beet,
sweeter then
Than now in its rich content.
19 wrinkled and careworn now,
t * n d the golden hair Is gray;
ut tho light that shone in the young girl’"
eyes * 8
Nover has gone away.
And her needles catch the firelight
As in and out they go,
with the clicking music that c*andma loves
Shaping the stocking toe. '
And the waiting children love It. too
for they know the stocking song *
tJ 1 !?. 8 Z n l! ny a tal ® to grandma's mind
Which they shall have ere long.
But it brings no story of oldcn-time
To grandma’s heart to-n giit—
Only a retrain, quaint and short
Is sung by tho needles bright. '
“ Life is , a stocking.” grandma says,
“And yours is just begun;
But I am knitting the too of mine,
And my work is almost done.
** w [th merry hearts wo begin to knit.
And tho ribbing is almost play;
Some aro gay colored, and some are white.
And some aro ashen gray.
14 But most aro mado of mnnv hues.
With many a stitch sot wrong;
many a row to be sadly rippod
Li e tho wholo is fair and strong.
"There aro long, plain spaces, without a
break,
That in life are hard to bear;
And many a weary tear is dropped
As we fashion the hoel with i aro.
“ But the saddest, happiest timo is that
We count, and yet would shun,
when our Heavenly Father breaks the
thread,
And says that our work is done.”
Tho children come to sny good-nlsht,
wiJii in their bright young eyes,
'MIi l 0 A n . Krand,nu ’ 8 with broken thread,
Ihe finished stocking lies
—Saratoga Sun.
JOE LAMBERT’S FERRY.
It was a thoroughly disagreeable
March morning. The "wind blew in
sharp gusts from every quarter of the
compass by turns. It seemed to take
especial delight in rushing suddenly
around corners and taking away the
breath of anybody it could catch there
coming from tho opposite direction.
The dust, too, filled people’s eyes and
noses and mouths, while the damp, raw
March air easily found its way through
the best clothing, and turned boys 1 skins
into pimply goose-flesh.
It was a‘ out as disagreeable a morn
ing for going out as can be imagined;
and yet everybody in tho little western
river town who could get out went out
and stayed out.
Men and women, boys and girls, and
eren little children, ran to the river
bank; and once there they stayed, with
no thought, it seemed, of going back to
their homes or their work.
The people of the town were wild with
excitement, and everybody told every
body else what had happened, allhough
everybody knew all about it already.
Everybody, I mean, except Joo Lam
bert, and he had been so. busy ever
since daylight, sawing wood in Squire
Grisard’s woodshed, that he had neither
seen nor heard anything at all. Joe
was the poorest person in the town,
lie was the only boy there who really
had no home and nobody to care for
him. Three, or four years before this
March morning, Joe had been left an
orphan, and being utterly destitute, he
should have been sent to the poor
house, or “ bound out” to some person
as a sort of servant. But Joe Lambert
had refused to go to the poor-house or
to become a bound boy. He had de
clared his ability to take care of him
self, and by working hard at odd jobs,
sawing wood, rolling barrels on the
wharf, picking apples or weeding on
ions as opportunity offered, he had
managed to support himself “ alter a
manner,” as the village people said.
That is to say, he generally got enough
to eat, and some clothes to wear. He
slept in a warehouse shed, the owner
having given him leave to do so on 1
condition that he would act as a sort of
watchman on the premises.
Joe Lambert alone of all the villagers
knew nothing of what had happened;
find of course Joe Lambert and and not
count for anything in the estimation of
people who had houses t> live in. The
only reason I have gone out of the way
to make an exception of so unimpor
tant a person is that I think Joe did
count for something on that particular
March day at least.
When he finished the pile of wood
that he had to saw, and went to the
house to get his money, he found no
body there. Going down the street lie
found the town empty, and, looking
down a cross street, he saw the crowds
that had gathered on the river-bank,
thus learning at last that something un
usual had occurred. Of course he ran
to the river to learn what it was.
When he got there he learned that
Noah Martin, ihe fisherman who was
also the ferryman between the village
its neighbor on the other side of the
fiver, had been drowned during the
early morning in a foolish attempt to
row his ferry-skiff across the stream.
The ice which had blocked the river for
two months, had begun to move on the
day be'ore, and Martin with his wife
ft fid baby—a child about a year old —
were on the other side of the river at
the time. Early on that morning there
had been a temporary gorging of the
ice about a mile above the town, and,
taking advantage of the comparatively
free channel, Martin had triea to cross
with his wife and child, in his boat-
The gorge had broken up almost im-
Jhediately, as thcriver was rising rani I
v* and Martin’s boat had been caught
crushed in the ice. Martin had
been drowned, but his wife, with her
c hud in her arms, had clung to the
ivreck of the skifti and h&4 been carried
IJliitt!!® Georgia
Devoted to Industrial Inter st, the Diffusion ol Truth, the Establishment of Justice, and the Preservation of a Peoples’Government,
by the current to a little low-lvino
island just in front of the town. °
What had happened was of less im
portance, however, than what people
saw must happen. The poor woman
and baby out there on the island,
drenched as they had been in the icy
water, must soon die with cold, and,
moreover, the island was now nearly
under water, while the great stream was
rising rapidly. It was evident that
within an hour or two the water would
sweep over the whole surface of the
island, and the great fields of ice would,
of course carry the woman and child to
a terrible death.
Mnnv wild suggestions were mado for
their rescue, but none that gave the
least hope of success. It was simply
impossible to launch a boat. The vast
tields of ice, two or three feet in thick
ness. and from twenty leetto a hundred
yards in breadth, were crushing and
grinding down the river at the rate of
lour or live miles an hour, turning and
twisting about, sometimes jamming
their edges together with so great a
force that one would lap over another,
and sometimes drifting apart and leav
ing wide open spaces between for a
moment or two. One might as well go
upon such a river in an egg shell as in
the stoutest row-boat ever built.
The poor woman with her babe could
be seen from the shore, standing there
alone on the rapidly narrowing strip of
island. Her voice could not reach the
on the bank, but when she held
her poor little baby toward them in
mute appeal for help, the mothers there
understood her agony.
There was nothing to be done, how
ever. Human sympathy was given
freely, but human help was out of the
question. Everybody on the river-shore
was agreed in' that opinion. Every
body, that is to say, except Joe Lam
oert. He had been so long in the habit
of finding ways to help himself under
difficulties that he did not easily make
up his mind to think any case hopeless.
No sooner did Joe clearly understand
how matters stood than lie ran away
from the crowd, nobody paying any at
tention to what he did. Half "an hour
later, somebody cried out: “Look
there! Who's that, and what’s he go
ing to do? ’ pointing up the stream. 0
Looking in that the people
6ii w someone three quarters of a mile
away standing on a lioating field of
icc in the river. He had a large farm
basket strapped upon his shoulders,
while in his hands he held a piank.
As the ice-field upon which he ; too 1
neared another, the youth ran forward,
threw his plank down, making a bridge
of it, and crossed to the farther field.
Then picking up his plank, he waited
for a chance to repeat the process.
As ho thus drifted down the river,
svery eye was strained in his direction.
Presently someone cried out': “It s
Joe Lambert; and he’s trying to cross
to the island!”
There was a shout as the people un
derstood the nature of Joe’s heroic at
tempt, and then a hush as its extreme
daßger became apparent.
Joe had laid his plans wisely and well,
but it seemed impossible that he should
succeed. His purpose was, with the ad
of the plank to cross from one ice-field
to another until he should reach the
island; but as that would require a good
deal of time, and the ice was moving
down stream pretty rapidly, it was nec
essary to start at a point above the
town. Joe had gone about a mile up
the rivet" before going on the ice, and
when first seen from the town lie had
already reached the channel.
After that first shout a whisper might
have been heal'd in the crowd on the
bank. The heroism of the poor boy’s
attempt awed the spectators, and the
momentary expectation that he would
disappear forever amid the crushing
ice-fields made them hold their breath
in anxiety and terror.
His greatest danger was from the
smaller cakes of ice. When it became
necessary for him to step upon one of
these, his weight was su hcient to make
it tilt, and his footing was very inse
cure. After awhile as he was nearing
the island, he c ame into a large collec
tion of these smaller ice-cakes. For
awhile he waited, hoping that a larger
field would drift near him; but alter a
minute’s delay he saw that he was rap
idly floating past the island, and that
he "must either trust himself to the
treacherous broken ice, or fa 1 in his at
tempt to save the woman and child.
Choosing the best of the tioes. he laid
his plank and passed across successful
ly. In the next passage, however, the
cake tilted up, and Joe Lambert went
down into the water! A shudder passed
through the crowd on shore.
“ Poor fellow!” exclaimed some ten
der-hearted spectator; "it is all over
with him now.”
"No; look, look! ’ shouted another.
‘‘He’s trying to climb upon the ice.
Hurrah! he’s on his feet again!” With
that the whole company of spectators
shouted for joy.
Joe had managed to regain his plank
as well as to climb upon a cake of ice
before the fields around could crush
him, and now moving cautiously, he
made his way little by little toward the
island.
"Hurrah! Hurrah! he’s there at
last!” shouted the people on the shore.
"But will he get back again?” was
the question each one asked himself a
moment later.
Having reached the island. Joe very
well knew that the more difficult part
of his task was still before him, for it
was one thing for an active boy to work
his way over iloating ice. and "quite an
other to carry a child and lead a woman
upon a similar journey.
But Joe Lambert was quick-witted
and "long-headed.” as well as brave,
and he meant to do all that he could to
save these poor creatures for whom he
had risked his life so heroically. Tak
ing out his knife he qynte the woman
cut her skirts off at the knees, so that
she might walk and leap more freely.
Then placing the baby in the basket
which was strapped upon his back, he
cautioned the woman ag inst gi' ing way
to fright, and instructed her carefully
about the method of crossing.
On the return journey Joe was able
to avoid one great risk.’ As it was not
necessary to land at any particular
point, time was of little consequence,
and hence when no large field of ice
xv as at hand, lie could wait tor one to
approach without attempting t 0 make
use of the smaller ones. Leading the
woman wherever that was necessary, he
slowly made his way toward shore,
drifting down the river, of course, while
all the people of the town marched alono
the bank. ”
lien at last Joe leaped ashore in
company with the woman, and bearing
her babe in the basket on his back, the
people seemed i*eady to trample upon
each other in their eagerness to shake
hands with their hero.
Their hero was barely able to stand,
however. Drenched as he had been in
the icy water, the sharp March wind
had chilled him to to the marrow, and
one of the village doctors speedily lifted
him into his carriage, which he had
brought for that purpose, and drove
rapidly away, while the other physician
took charge of Mrs. Martin and the
baby.
Joe was a strong, healthy fellow, and
under the doctor’s treatment of hot
brandy and vigorous rubbing with
coarse towels, he soon warmed. Then
he wanted to saw enough wood for the
doctor to pay for his treatmeut, and
thereupon the doctor threatened to
poison him if he should ever venture to
mention pay to him again.
Naturally enough the village people
talked of nothing but Joe Lambert’s
heroic deed, and the feeling was gen
eral that they had never done their
duty toward the poor orphan bo3 r .
There was an eager wish to help
him now, and many offers were made
to him; but these all took the form of
charity, and Joe would not accept
charity at all. Four years earlier, as I
have already said, he had refused to go
to the poor-house or to be “bound out, ’
declaring that he could take care of
himself; and when some thoughtless
person had said in his hearing that lie
would have to live on charity, Joe's re
ply had been:
“I’ll never eat a mouthful in this
town that I haven't worked for if I
starve.” And he had kept his word.
Now that he was fifteen years old he
was not willing to begin to receive
charity, even in the form of a reward
for his good deed.
One day when some of the most
prominent men of the village were talk
ing to him on the subject doe said:
“I don't want anything except a
chance to work, but I’ll tell you what
you may do for me if you will. Now
that poor Martin is dead the ferry privi
lege will be to lease again, and I’d like
to get it for a good long term. May be I
can make something out of it by being
always ready to row people across, and
1 may even be able to put. on something
better than a skiff after awhile. I’ll pay
the village what Martin paid.”
The gentlemen were glad enough of a
chance to do Joe even this small favor,
and there was no difficulty in the way.
The authorities gladly granted Joe a
lease of the ferry privilege for twenty
years, at twenty dollars a 3' ear rent,
which was the rate Martin had paid.
At first Joe rowed people bg,ck and
forth, saving what money he got ver?
careful]v. This was all that could be
required of him, but it occurred to Joe
that if he had a feny-boat big enough,
a good many horses and cattle and a
good deal of freight would be sent
across the river, lor he was a "long
ueaded” fellow, as I have said.
One day a chance offered, and he
bought for twent3’-five dollars a large
old wood boat, which was simply a
square barge fo.ty feet long and fifteen
feet wide, with leveled bow and stem,
made to hold cordwood for the steam
boats. With his own hands he laid a
stout deck on this, and, with the assist
ance of a man whom he hired for that
purpose, he constructed a pair of pad
dle-wheels. By that time Joe was out
of mone\', and work on the boat was
suspended for a while. When he had
accumulated a litt’e more money, he
bought a horse-power, and placed
it in the middle of his bo I*,
connecting it with the shaft of his
wheels. Then he "\iade a rudder and
helm, and his horse-ooat was read\’ for
use. It had cost him a hundred dollars
besides his own labor upon it, but it
would carry live stock and freight as
well as passengers, and so the business
of the lerr} T rapidly increased, and Joe
began to put a little money awav in the
bank.
After awhile a railroad was built into
the village, and then a second one
came. A year later another railroad
was open on the other side of the river,
and all the passengers who came to one
village by railroad had to be ferried
across the river in order to continue their
journey by the railroads there. The
horse-boat was too small and too slow
for the business, and Joe Lambert had
to bu\’ two steam ferry-boats to take its
place! These cost more money than he
had, bnt, as the owner of the ferry
privilege, his credit was good, and the
boats soon paid for themselves, while
Joe’s bank account grew again.
Finallv r the railroad people determined
to run through cars for passengers
and freight, and fo carry tht-ro across
the river on large boats built for that
puruose: but before they gave their or
ders to their boat builders, they were
waited upon by the attorneys of doe
Lambert, who soon convinced them
that his ferry privilege? gave him alone
the right to run any kind of lerrv-boats
between the villages which had now
JACKSON, GEORGIA.
frown to such size that they called
themselves cities. The result was that
the railroads made a contract with Joe
to carry their cars across, and he had
some large boats built for that purpose.
All this occurred a good many years
ago, and Joe Lambert is not called Joe
now, but Captain Lambert. He is one
of the most prosperous men in the lit
tle river city, and owns many large riv
er steamers besides his ferry-oo.ts.
Nobody is readier than he to help a
poor boy or a poor man: but he has his
own way of doing it. He will never
toss so much as a cent to a beggar, but
he never refuses to ffive man or bov a
chance to earn money by work. He
has an odd theory that money which
comes without work does more harm
than good.— Geo. Cary Eggleston, in
Wide Awake.
A Strange Race.
In her work, “Unbeaten Tracks in
Japan,* Miss Isabella L. Bird gives some
graphic pictures of the Ainos, or abori
gi e o the Island of Yezo, Japan. “Af
t r tho yellow skin, the stiff horse-hair,
the feeble eyelids, the elongated eyes,
the sloping eyebrows, the flat noses, the
sunken cheeks, the Mongolian features,
the puny physique, the shaky walk of
tlie men, the restricted totter of the
women, and the general impression of
degeneracy conveyed by the appearance
of tli? Japanese, the Ainos,” she says,
‘ ‘make a very singular impression.
“All but two or three that I have seen
are the most ferocious-looking of savages,
with a physique vigorous enough for car
rying out the most ferocious intentions,
but as soon as they speak the counte
nance brightens into a smile as gentle as
that of a woman, something which can
never be forgotten. The men are about
the middle height, broad-chested, broad
shouldered, ‘thick-set,’ very strongly
built, the arms and logs short, thick,
and muscular, the hands and feet large.
The bodies, and especially the limbs, of
many are covered with short, bristly
hair. I have seen two boys whose backs
are covered with fur as fine and soft as
that of a cat. The heads and faces are
very striking.
“The foreheads afe very high, broad,
and prominent, and at first sight give
one the impression of an unusual capac
ity for intellectual development; the ears
are small and set low; the noses are
straight but short, and broad at the nos
trils; the mouths are wide but well
formed, and the lips rarely show a ten
dency to fullness. The neck is short,
the cranium rounded, the cheek bones
low, and the lower part of the face is
small as compared with the upper, the
peculiarity called a jowl being unknown.
The eyebrows are full, and form a straight
line nearly across the face. The eyes
are large, tolerably deeply sets and very
beautiful, the color a rich liquid brown,
the expression singularly soft, and the
eyelashes long, silky, and abundant.
"The skin has the Italian olive tint,
but in most cases is thin and light
enough to show the changes of color in
the cheek. The teeth are small, regular,
and very white; the incisors and "eye
teeth” are not disproportionately large,
as is usually the case among the Japa
nese; there is no tendency toward pros
nathism, and the fold of integument
which conceal the upper eyelids of the
Japanese it never to be met with. The
features, expression, and aspect are
European rather than Asiatic.
"The ‘ferocious savagery’ of the. ap
pearance of the men is, produced by a
profusion of thick, soft, black liair, di*
vided in the middle, and falling in heavy
masses nearly to the shoulders. Out of
doors it is kept from falling over the face
by a fillet round the brow. The beards
are equally profuse, quite magnificent,
and generally wavy, and in the case of
the old men they give a truly patriarchal
and venerable aspect, in spite of the
yellow tinge produced by smoke and want
of cleanliness. The savage look pro
duced by the masses of hair and beard
and the thick is mitigated by
the softness in the dreamy brown eyes,
and is altogether obliterated by the ex
ceeding sweetness of the smile, which
belongs in greater or less degree to all
the rougher sex.
"I have measured the height of thirty
of the adult men of this village, and it
ranges from five feet four inches to five
feet six and a half. The circumference
of the head averages 22.1 inches, and
the arc, from ear to ear, 13 inches. The
average weight of the Aino adult mascu
line brain, ascertained by measurement
of Bino skulls, is 45.90 ounces avoir
dupois, a brain weight said to excel that
of all the races, Hindoo and Mussulman,
on the Indian plains, and that of the
aboriginal races of India and Ceylon,
and is only paralleled by that of the
races of the Himalayas, the Siamese, and
the Chinese Burmese.”
—The recent mobbing of “General”
Booth, of the English Salvation Army,
at Hereford, recalls a good story of a
stalwart Kentucky preacher in the days
"befo’de wah.” He was oncev conduct
ing a revival service, when he was an
noyed by the indecent conduct of a
couple of rowdies. He went up to them
and rebuked them, when one replied:
"We heard that you work miracles, and
are come to see if it is true.” "No, sir,”
said the preacher, taking off his coat,
"bnt we cast out devils,” and he forth
with cast them out.
Insanity.
Dr, Maclaren, of Edinburgh, Scotland,
states that the types of insanity have
changed within modem times. For in
stance, delirious mania is now compara
tively rare, but mental enfeeblement, at
tended with paralysis, is becoming more
and more common, and is *the result of
the overwork and worry of the struggle
for existence at the present day.
• dow Plants Eat, Move and Sleep.
In a work entitled “ Movements ol
Plants,” Mr. Charles Darwin gives tho
results of his latest, investigations into
the question of botanic life. These re
seorches are of a nature which cannot
fail to excite general interest, while they
will be “ like an eagle in a dove-cot ” to
those who cling to the venerable belief
in a distinct line of demarcation between
tho animal and vegetable kingdoms.
Speaking from careful experiment, the
author tells us how plants exhibit many
of the characteristics of animal nature.
They sleep, they' move, they are very
sensitive, they have appetites, they are
carnivorous, and they have radicles
which by their sensibility and their ef
fect upon other parts of the plant act a
part similar to to that of brain in lower
animals. We are told that a loaf of a
carnivorous plant which has been mo
tionless for hours will instantly curve on
being touched in a most delicate man
ner with a piece of raw beef. In observ
ing the sleeping habits of certain plants,
Mr. Darwin, by an ingenious contriv
ance, hold down the leaves which other
wise would have returned to a vertical
or sleeping position at night. The re
sult was that those leaves were frost
bitten in a temperature which had no
such effect on tiie leaves that were al
lowed freedom to sleep. Mr. Darwin
thence concludes that the sleeping of
the plant is to it a “ question of life and
death,” the vertical position of the
leaves at night protecting it from inju
rious effects of radiation and cold. Not
less instructive and suggestive are the
researches into the effects of light upon
certain forms of vegetation. Instances
are given of the wonderful sensitiveness
of some plants to light. The seedlings
of the Phaearis canariensis . for exam
ple, are said to have a power of detect
ing differences in light which are inap
preciable by the human eye, while they
sympathetically turn to the minutest
point of light. Nor is the constant mo
tion of plants confined to any special
state of germination, for we learn that
from year to year since tho tree first be
gan to rise through the ground tho tip
of each rootlet endeavors to sweep small
ellipses or circles, as far as tho surround
ing earth permits. All this would seem
to show that when wo speak of flowers
“peeping,” “ smiling, and “drinking
dew,” we express something more than
a mere poetical metaphor.
How to Get Rich.
Everybody wants to get rich. Almost
anybody can become rich if he likes to
apply himself to the matter. The
trouble is that every one wants to get
rich at once and without exertion. Many
seek to do this by speculation. If a
person had obtained control of 100,000
bushels of wheat on Saturday last, which
could have been done by putting up a
margin of one cent per bushel, he would
have made $3,000 by Monday, and would
have received back his margin less the
broker’s commission. This would’ be a
reasonable profit for a day’s work at
doing nothing. If he held on till Tues
day $2,000 of his profit would have been
wiped out, and probably by to-morrow
he would have lost his margin and every
thing else beside. Still people only
look on the gaining side of the matter,
and thousands are striving to get rich in
this way. One out of every thousand
will probably succeed. A gentleman of
Detroit, who is worth over SIOO,OOO,
gives his experience in getting rich, and
the beauty of his plan is that 999 out of
1,000 can, by fair management, get rea
sonably “well off,” while many will be
come rich. He says: “Young man, save
one-third of your earnings. If you get
$6 a week, pretend that you get only $4
and put away the other $2. On no ac
count touch that reserve fund to spend
a cent of it, but when it gets big enough
put it in a 10-per-cent, mortgage. Ten
per-cent. mortgages, with first-class
security, are not so hard to find as a per
son might think. Add the interest to
the reserve fund and keep on putting it
out on mortgages. This method is slow
but it is sure.” —Detroit Free Press.
It Went Up.
There is a man in this city who once
lost $20,000 through a twist of the Eng
lish-language. He was then a resident
of California, and San Francisco was
wild with excitement over mines. The
“Blue Ledge” was then blooming.
Shares had gone to thirty times their
face value, and brokers reaped a golden
harvest. At length, almost within an
hour* “Blue Ledge” began to drop, and
it went down—or rather the shares did—
over 200 per cent, before there was a
breathing spell. At this crisis the New
Yorker went to a broker and asked:
“What is your candid opinion about
Blue Ledge?”
“I think it will go up,” ,as the
prompt reply.
*■ vv nen i“
“Well, within a fortnight.”
The would-be buyer knew of stocks
for sale, and before night his entire for
tune had been invested. Quotations re
mained the same for two or three days,
and then “Blue Ledge” shares, $lO each,
fell to ten per cent, of their face value.
The New Yorker rushed to the broker in
consternation, and gasped out:
“Didn't you tell me that Blue Ledge
was 'sure to go up ?”
“I did.”
“And now—now ! —”
“It’s gone up, just as I predicted. I
heard two weeks ago that it had worked
out its veins, and it was only a question
of a few days when it would go up.”
“But, great Heavens! It has gone
down.”
“Yes; I understand. Yes, it has gone
up, and hundi eds of people will be
ruined.”
SUBSCRIPTION-$1.50.
YOL. X. NO. 21.
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
—Lord Houghton’s newly-purchased
estate in Florida comprises 60,000 acres.
Lord Houghton is largely interested ia
sugar culture in Jamaica.
—The waste of the wild cocoons,
gathered in the woods of China, Japan
and Australia, is made into felt one
half the size of hair felt, and is used for
the manufacture of hats and for fur
nishing purposes.
—A Wilkesbarre paper asserts that
it takes a keg of powder to mine a ton
of coal, but the Scranton Republican
wants it to explain, if so, the fact that
a keg of powder costs more than the
mine price of two tons of coal.
—Many an injured workman’s life hae
been lost through his frightened com
rades’ inability to perform a simple
operation. An Ambulance Association
in Glasgow has begun a useful work by
establishing courses of plain lectures
for operatives, showing what ought to
be done at once with a bleeding artery,
a burned limb, a half-drowned body,
etc.
—Fourteen factories, located chiefly in
New England, supply this country with
pins, the annual production of whioh for
several years past has been about seven
millions. Exportation of American pina
is confined to Cuba, South America,and
parts of Canada. England supplies al
most the whole world outside of the
United States, although her pins are no
better than the American. The ma
chinery and material used in the manu
facture of American pins are entirely
the product of American resources.
-Hard-wood blocks must now be
used by the workmen in Dantzig to hold
the amber when they are removing the
outer, weather-worse portion of that
prized fossil gum. Formerly the crude
mass was held by the left hand in a block
of lead. This was done for the purpose
of preventing a dulling of the edges of
the knives. But lead-poisoning of the
men and women engaged in the industry
ensued, as cases of the peculiar colio
caused by that metal ana other symp
toms abundantly proved, and an of
ficial investigation has compelled the
abandonment of lead in the dressing of
amber.
—Flour is peculiarly sensitive to the
atmospheric influences, hence it should
never be stored in a room with sour
liquids, nor where onions or fish are
kept, nor any article that taints the air
of the room in which it is stored. Any
smell perceptible to the sense will be
absorbed by the flour. Avoid damp
cellers or lofts where a free circulation
of air can not be obtained. Keep in a
cool, dry, airy room, and not exposed
to a freezing temperature nor to intense
summer or to artificial heat for any
length of time above seventy deg. to
seventy-five deg. Fahrenheit. It should
not come in contact with grain or other
substances which are liable to heat.
Flour should be sifted and the particles
thoroughly disintegrated ana theu
warmed before baking. This treatment
improves the color and baking proper
ties of the dough. The sponge should
be prepared for the oven as soon as the
yeast has performed its mission, other
wise fermentation sets in and acidity re
sults.—American Miller.
—William Welch a young man, died
in Pittsburgh, Pa., the other morning
from the effect o' cuts inflicted by a
friend named William Lewis, in a
drunken fight a week before. The last
hours of Welch were terrible. The
agony from his wounds was intense,
but he paid no attention to this or to
the tears of his friends. He seemed to
have but one desire, and that was to re
cover in order that he might be arenged
on Lewis. With frightful oaths he cursed
the fate that made the accomplishment
of his vengeance impossible, and
virtually diet! with an oath on his lips.—
Piltsburah Post.
—Edward D. Cooley was only thirty
fiyp years old when he died, at West
Springfield, Mass., and yet he lived
alone in so poor a hovel that it was
assessed for taxation at only $25, while
bank books discovered since his death
show that he had about $25,000 at in
terest. He was a graduate of Amherst
College, and it is said that a love affair
first made him a recluse. His life was
very solitary and his nearest neighbors
had no acquaintance with him. A few
books and a gun w r ere Jus companions,
ard he wa3 contented to live in rags
and squalor.
—Rev. Mr. Boeder says he had an
umbrella returned to him which he hau
mislaid in a sleeping-car. Next thing'
we know Mr. Beecher will be writing
dime fiction or composing circus adver
tisements. When he says he had a mis
laid umbrella returned he evinces de
cided talent in that direction.— Norris*
town Herald.
—The practice of blowing out one’s
gas previous to retiring should be dis
couraged. It is undoubtedly a sover
eign cure for insomnia, but should nev
er be indulged in by persons in normal
health. If you would arise in the morn
ing bright and early, rested and reia
vigorated, turn off your gas before go
ing to bed; never blow it out. — N. T.
Graphic.
—A Virginia, Nev., miner complained
to a magistrate that a neighbor kept
hogs that grunted all night so load as to
destroy the peaceful slumber of the sur
rounding residents. An investigation
showed that the objectionable neighbors*
snores, and not a hogs’ grantings, were
the sole cause of complaint.
A little girl read a composition Be
fore the minister. The subject was “ A
Cow.” She wove in this complimentary
sentence : “ A cow is the most ose2)
Murad in the world except religion, *