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Life.
After the tempest comes the calm;
After the woe the healing balm;
After the shower the bright sunshine;
After hard toil the yielding mine;
After the planting the tender shoot;
After the growing the harvest fruit;
After mad folly reflection deep;
After long watching the blessed sleep.
So runs tbe mixture of sobbing and song
That checkers this life as we hurry along;
So runs the record of good and of ill—-
So runs the story of weakness and will.
Rut when ’tis viewed in philosophy’s light )
The grand sum is perfect—the average right;
The end comes at last, and our joys and our
woes
Are ended alike in eternal repose.
—[Francis S. Smith in New Yora Weekly.
FETTERED.
Tn Cheyenne’s early days, the sheriff
was one of the most important person¬
ages in the country. In fact, he still
holds a conspicious position in most
cities of the vigorous, impetuous
West.
Some years ago Sheriff Black of
Cheyenne was much annoyed by the
persistence and determination of sun¬
dry suitors for the hand of his fair
daughter, Alisa Helen.
As is always the case in the mining
districts, the male population far out¬
numbered the gentler sex, and Miss
Helen, who was a handsome brunette,
would have been a belle among far
severer critics than the youths of
Cheyenne.
She had graduated in St. Louis, and
besides being a gifted musician, was a
devout worshipper of nature, and fond
of out-door exercise.
Almost any line evening in sum¬
mer, a passer-by might hear her rich
mezzo voice accompanying her guitar
to some ringing “Ballad of the
Plains.”
Unconscious was she of the fact that
the melody floated out from the shad¬
ows of the cottonwood trees, and min¬
gled with the broad, effulgent moon¬
light, and that many a luckless youth
dated a hopeless lovo from the first
evening when he had dropped in to
help the sheriff and the old servant in
making an audience.
Miss Helen cared little for the ad¬
miration of men, but accepted it as a
matter of course, having been brought
up among them. She enjoyed herself
in a fashion of her own, with her
books, guitar, sketch-book and her
spirited horse, Wildfire.
Two of her lovers, however, seemed
to gain more favor than the rest. In
fact, popular opiniou was puzzled as
to which would win.
One of these was a tall, athletic
young Westerner, who was as bright
and invigorating of presence as the
air he breathed, and in whose clear,
blue eyes not a shadow of deceit was
wisiblc. Handsome, for true, but so
sturdy and independent that he im¬
pressed one as a young giant.
lie was an ardent geologist, could
analyze a “find” as well as an expert,
loved his mountains and worshipped
—Miss Helen.
But with all his devotion Joe was a
disci’cct young fellow, and held his
curly head up in defiance of mankind
•in general and his rival in particular,
and he had never let the fair Helen
feel too sure of her conquest.
The aforesaid rival was a wealthy
young m V'-owner from Chicago—all
that is conveyed by the term, “a pol¬
ished gentleman!” lie had laughed
heartily when, on departing for his
new home, his Chicago friends had
jokingly predicted that he would lose
Ins heart to some western beauty.
But here he was, eager to lay his fate
and fortune at the feet of the sherifl’s
queenly daughter.
One bright, breezy day in Septem¬
ber, Helen cantered off soon after din¬
ner with her sketching materials, os¬
tensibly to make some sketches of the
autum scenery, but really to commune
•with Nature, the only mother she had
ever known, and to decide what she
should give on the morrow to her
Vealthy lover, who (hat day had asked
her to be his wife. She had told him
that she must read her own heart be¬
fore she could answer, and he hoped
for a favorable reply.
Joe had been offended by one. of her
hasty speeches a week before. They
were talking about Russell, and she
had asserted somewhat warmly that
she knew of no one whose society she
preferred. As soon as the impulsive
words were spoken she repented, but
Joe rode away with a look in his blue
eyes that had haunted her ever since.
Somehow, Joe’s haughty head, Hang
back like a stag at bay, kept looming
up before her menial vision, when duty
demanded that she be thinking of llus-
sell and his flattering ofter.
The hours wore on, and so preoccu-
pied was she that she did not observe
the heavy clouds that were rolling
black and massive down the mountain
sides.
Suddenly a large drop plashed in
her face, and she looked about her ki
alarm. A heavy equinoctial stoim
seemed almost upon her.
Wildfire sprang forward at the
touch of the whip, and literally flew in
the direction of the house.
The great clouds came rolling over
the hills like giant ogres clad in mist.
Thunder and sharp, vivid lightning
followed, and then the deluge!
Wildfire dashed on until they came
to the creek, and then the girl drew
back in dismay!
The creek was a foaming torrent and
she could not see the bridge!
Suddenly, she heard a man’s voice
shouting to her, and in a few minutes
Joe, on his tough little mustang, was
beside her. lie wore a buffalo over¬
coat, and threw a large cloak of her
own about her shoulders. She did not
wait to ask how he happened to come
for her. She forgot that he was angry
and hurt. She reached out her firm,
white hand and caught Joe’s extended
lingers, and side by side the two horses
were urged across the bridge.
They galloped home in silence, and
when they reached there and Helen
stepped into the friendly shelter of the
broad veranda, she noted the fact that
Joe led both horses to the stable and
put them up.
Half an hour later Joe, arrayed in
Judge Black’s dressing gown and slip¬
pers (articles brought by Miss Helen
from the East), was explaining to the
rosy, demure young mistress of the
house that her father liadbeeu sudden¬
ly called to the next town, and might
not return before early morning. “He
asked mo to keep a sort of lookout
over the place, and when I rode over
to ask you to invite me to tea, and
found you gone,I hastened after you,”
he said.
This speech over, an embarrassed
silence followed. It was broken by
Joe, who looked straight at his hostess
and said:
“If I ’ intruding, Miss Nellie,
am
why, just give the word and I’ll go.”
Helen assured him, in a constrained
sort of way, that she was glad of
company, and went out to prepare the
little supper herself, for in those days
servants were rare in the West.
After supper, in an awkward pause
of the conversation, Joe took up a
little case from the table, and began
examining its contents—a bright, new
pair of hand-cuffs.
They were a r.ew kind, just from
the East, and Helen begau explaining
the spring lock which opened with a
skeleton key.
Somehow, one of the bands was on
Joe’s wrist, as she slipped the other
bright circlet over her firm white
hand, when lo, the lock snapped, and
they were locked together.
Helen blushed crimson and com¬
menced searching for the key in nerv¬
ous haste.
But no key was to be found. Sud¬
denly the truth dawned upon her.
The key was in her father’s pocket,
and he was on the other side of Crow
Creek, which was now a foaming tor¬
rent and dangerous to cross in the
storm and darkness.
She tried to smile and treat the mat-
ter lightly, but it was just the ghost of
a smile, and it was a very doleful
voice that said: “I am afraid, Mr.
Gordon, that we must break the lock.
Father has the key.”
Joe felt tempted to indulge in a
hearty laugh over their queer situation,
but a glance at the distressed face
across the table sobered his mirth. A
great throb of sorrow came over him.
If she loved him she would not care so
much.
He gazed at the shining fetters on
her wrists so long and so earnestly
that Helen lifted her eyes wonderingly
but dropped them again.
What woman ever failed to read the
story that she 6aw in the honest blue
depths of her humble young giant’s
eyes. encouraged Joe, but
Her confusion
there was almost a tremor in his voice
as he laid his great brown hand over
her fettered one and said softly;
“Nell, if you only loved me I would
believe that it was fate that ben ad as
together. I would take it as an omen
that fate would grant mo my dearest
wish. But, Nellie, I dare not hope.”
The girl looked up slowly into her
lover’s eyes, looked 6teadily, though
she still that look in them: ‘‘Joe, ’
saw
she said, ‘‘it is fate.”
The cool and cultured Mr. Russell
would have marveled had he seen
“that queenly girl” sobbing for very
joy on Joe Gordon’s shoulder, and
perhaps he would have marveled still
more had he known that at that mo¬
ment the thought of him and his mil¬
lions did not once enter her mind.
When the judge returned in the gray
of the morning he found an interest¬
ing picture.
The lamp still burned in the corner,
and the lire was smoldering away.
On the broad lounge by the fireplace
sat Helen and her lover. She h d
fallen asleep from sheer weariness and
Joe sat like a statue lest he might dis¬
turb the fair sleeper whose cheek was
so near his own.
The old gentleman’s face was a
study. When the truth dawned upon
him he flung himself into the near¬
est chair and laughed until he waked
the echoes—likewise Miss Helen.
She was at first bewildered by her
novel position, but soon remembered
the true situation and j elapsed into si¬
lence, leaving Joe to tell the story.
“And now, judge,” concluded he,
“you may loose these fetters with the
understanding that they will soon be
replaced by more enduring ones. I
must not let my prisoner escape.”
Helen’s father had always liked
young Gordon, and liis blessing was
forthcoming.
The announcement of the approach¬
ing nuptials gave Mr. Russell a con¬
clusive answer, and he settled up hie
affairs in short order and returned
East.
The old judge used to tell with great
gusto how Gordon won his perverse
daughter and how gracefully she wore
her fetters after she was won.— [At¬
lanta Constitution.
How One Rears.
Strangers visiting Washington have
been heard to remark that it seemed to
them more deaf people wero to be
found here than they had ever met in
any other city. It is astonishing liow
few persons actually of defective hear¬
ing have any notion of the structure of
the ear. The membrane stretched
across the interior passage and called
the “drum” merely serves to catch and
transmit the vibrations, like the dia-
phram in a telephone. In contact with
this drum is the extremity of a little
bone, which little bone is connected
with a second little bone, while the
second bone is hitched on to a third
little bone, all working together like
levers, in order to increase the power
of the vibrations ac.ing upon the drum.
The inner end of the third little bono
comes into contact with a second
drum, which is the wall of a recepta¬
cle filled with liquid.
A sound from without causes a vi¬
bration of the drum; the vibration is
communicated through the three little
bones and causes a series of pressures
upon the wall of the liquid-tilled re¬
ceptacle; filaments of the auditory
nerve floating in the liquid are agita¬
ted by the vibration thus communi¬
cated ; the auditory nerve conveys the
impression to the brain, and thus it is
we hear. To our notion all creation
is filled with sounds, whereas in
reality what we conceive to be sounds
are but vibrations of the air and pre¬
sumably the universe is in fact one
illimitable silence.—[Washington Star.
The Poisonous Tick.
This pest in Australia sucks the
blood out of the animal on which it
has attached itself, and it is supposed
that some poisonous secretion of the
tick passes into the animal. Two or
three ticks will kill a horse in a week
or ten days if they are not discovered
before that time and pulled out, while
dogs and some of the other animals
will not live as long after being at¬
tacked. Animals which have been
seriously affected with ticks and have
recovered—which is, however, a rare
occurrence—become tick-proof, and,
as native animals are tick-proof by
heredity, most of the loss occasioned
is with the introduced animals. These
pests wouid kill human being9 in the
same way but from the fact that from
the itehiness they cause they are inva¬
riably found and Dulled out.
LEAD PENCILS.
Interesting Points About a Use-
fui yttle Article.
Various Processes in Their
Manufacture Described.
“What does it cost to mako a lead
pencil?” said a New Fork manufac¬
turer, in reply to a reporter’s inquiry.
“First, let me tell you how we make a
pencil.
“See this fine black powder? That’s
graphite. It costs 25 cents a pound.
This white substance is German clay.
It comes across the ocean as ballast in
sailing vessels, and all it costs us is
freight. We mix this clay and this
powder together and grind them in a
mill, adding moisture during the pro¬
cess until the two are thoroughly
mixed and are reduced to a paste
about the consistency of putty.
“This paste we press into these dies,
each one of which is the size of a
pencil lead, except in length. There
are four leads in one of these, After
they are pressed we cut them into the
proper lengths and bake them in an
oven kept at very high temperature.
Then we have the lead made. Its
hardness is regulated by the greater
or less amount of clay we mix with
the graphite—the more clay we put in
the harder the lead.
“The cedar we use comes principal¬
ly from Florida, and is obtained en¬
tirely from the fallen trees that lie
there. The wood is delivered to us in
blocks, sawed to pencil length, some
of them thick to recivo the lead, and
some thin, for the piece that is to be
glued over the lead. The blocks are
sawed for four pencils each. They
are grooved by a saw, the groove
being the place where the lead is to
lie. The leads are kept in hot glue,
and are placed in the grooves as the
blocks are ready. When this is done
the thin piece is glued fast to the thick
one. When dry the blocks are run
through a machine that cuts the pen¬
cils apart. Another niacin ne scrapes
them, making them octagonal, or
round or flat, or three-cornered, as the
caso may be. The pencils are bur¬
nished by machinery, and are then
ready to be tied in bunches, boxed and
put out.
< * The different grades in value of a
lead pencil are made by finer manipu¬
lation of the graphite and the use of
better material. The average pencil
in everyday use costs about one quarter
of a cent to make. We are content
with 100 per cent, profit on it when
we sell it to the dealer. What his
profit is you may figure out for your¬
self if you have one of the pencils
about you that you paid five cents for.
Of this grade of pencil an operator
will turn out 2500 in a day.
“The most valuable lead pencil
that I know of is owned by a lawyer
in this city. It is a cheap looking af¬
fair, but I don’t believe it could be
bought for $100. The wood in this
pencil came from a* cedar tree that was
probably centuries old before any
cedar tree now standing began to
grow. It was taken from the bottom
of a mail bed in Orange county at a
depth of nearly one hundred feet be¬
low the surface. Near it was lound
the remains of a mastodon. The
knob on the end of the pencil was
made from a piece of the mastodon’s
tooth. The pencil has never been
sharpened, and probably never will
be.”
The Queerest Hotel on Earth.
“The queerest hotel in the world is
in Guatemala City, Central America,”
said an English tourist who is stopping
at the Richelieu, in Chicago. “While
there a few weeks ago I stopped a day
at the biggest hostelry and met with
more surprises than I have previously
encountered in my trip around the
world. The house is built only one
story high on account of the earth¬
quakes. It is constructed in the form
of a hollow square, and the interior
court is made beautiful with trees and
flowers. The exterior presents the
appearance of a prison. After pound¬
ing a high knocker on the outer door,
you are ushered into a scene of verdant
beauty. The hotel was formerly the
private re-idence of one of the rich¬
est families of Central America, but
the owner was banished by President
Barrios for an alleged conspiracy
against the government.
Around the interior were balconies
overlooking a garden fill'd
orange and peach trees, I
-■
beautiful flowers. The fare was
and we had our choice of pauj
with honey, fish, poultry, f ruits |
coffee and chocolate. You can't!
there if you are in a hurry tR ■
Only one thing is served at a tim e l
you everything can’t get else a cup been of coffee J I
has served.
hotel furnishes candles, but ma J
are extra. Then there is a system!
calling the guests, which entitle/
hotel to the name of the queerest
on earth. You are called by J
The flies down there are nearly as J
as an English sparrow and they J
like a hornet, though the bite i$
poisonous.
They never kill them, but b,
them away. The halls of the hotel!
filled with these pests in the momil
Over each door is a transom. Jfoi
you leave a call for 7 o’clock 11
transom is opened at 7 and the
go in. Do they wake you? I S )J
say so. The sensation is like mid that]
being sandbagged. In five
from the time your transom is opJ ]
you are down stairs looking f 0r
proprietor. It doesn’t do any goodi
kick, though, for that system hast*
the custom for years.”—[Atlanta Ci
stitution.
How Stanley Became an Ameri
Citizen.
When an American flag was ]
sented to Henry M. Stanley, at
ception given to him by the Amerii
in London a short time ago, thegi^™
African explorer said that he hadi
ways considered himself an Amerij
and a citizen of the United States,!)
the circumstances under which he
citizen known to only I
came a are -i
few. Stanley was naturalized inti
Superior Court of this city on Mi
15, 1885. A few days ago Thom
Hocsc, the clerk of that court told
Tribune reporter the circumstano
connected with the incident. “Out
date mentioned,” said Mr.
“the late A. S. Sullivan came into n
office and introduced me to a M
Stanley, who wished to become a ci
zen of the United States.
“I did not know that my
was the great African explorer uni
lie had been in iny office some tim
Stanley told me that he had alwajj of
considered himself a citizen
United States, as he had served in th
Union Army and had been honorabl
discharged. While travelling
rope, however, he had met an
can gentleman who had informed
that lie must go through the forms
provided by statute before lie becan
a citizen, and the fact that he wass
honorably discharged soidier did d
make him a citizen of the Unite!
States. foi
“Stanley was about to depart
Africa at that time and told me ths
he had come from London to Nei
York especially to bo naturalized
and that only a few persons knew thal
he was in this country. He swort
and produced witnesses who
that ho had always considered
self a citizen of the United
so lie received his certificate and
parted.”
Among the 300,000 or 400,000
tograplis which Mr. Boese has, at¬
tached to naturalization papers in
custody, Stanley’s is the one which
probably prized the highest.—pfeW
York Tribune.
A Big Slaughtering Business.
It is stated that the Armours,
great meat packers and dealers
Chicago, last year killed 1,200,0$
hogs, 600,000 cattle and 250,000 sheep
—$5,000,000 worth more than during
the year previous. They employed
G000 men, to whom they paid
000—or an average of $500 a piece for I
the year, or $1.66 2-3 cents per day
There are several other slaughtering
and packing establishments in the
West—notably in Chicago and Kansas
City—each of which docs a large Lusi- j
ness annually.
A Mammoth Watch.
There are some big things in this
town which are overlooked by thou¬
sands of persons every day. Among
them is a watch in the window of *
Park row jeweler. It is a specimen of
a large number of the same kind man¬
ufactured for the Philadelphia centen¬
nial. This mammoth timepiece is °° e
and a quarter inches thick and nearly
three inches across the face. It weigh*
nine ounces.—[New York Sun.