Newspaper Page Text
SCHLEY COUNTY”
A. J. HARP, Publisher.
Life’s Hoses,
Throufh smiles the roses are climbing,
Climbing tenderly ovor her face;
They gather iu beautiful clusters,
Tinting softly each dimple and spaoo.
Her lovo weaves coloring of roses.
Ho changeful the tinting steals o’er,
That I’m lost in deep adoration
Of tno roses that bloom at the door.
llcr eye full of sun’s scintillations,
Softly Hashes amid her sweet smiles;
And countless the roses that cluster,
Quickly gathering and blooming the
Her welcome Is not in words given,
Yet it sooms from the dear heart to
Mid glowing enchantment of roses—
The roses that bloom at the door.
The rose leaves are ceaselessly falling,
So softly, so sweetly, and pure;
While rosebuds are springing about us,
The sweet treasures of home that allure,
*Tis true that our cottage is humble,
Iu the world’s goods, I know, we are poor,
But that does not alter the beauty
Of the roses that bloom at the door.
Yes, our home is humble and lowly;
By the fields where I labor each day,
Cheerfully attending the croppings,|
That my toil in rare comfort repay;
The plants grow and bloom in abundance,
To fulness my graueries they store:
Yet the charm of it all is the roses,
That bloom when she comes to the door,
I follow the plow In the furrow,
Turning over the rich, mellow earth;
While green corn goes waving and flashing,
As rejoicing with me in it* mirth.
The rich soil is teeming with blessings,
While I’m toiling it* rare fruits outpour;
Its fulness of treasure surrounds mo,
’Mid the roses that bloom at the door.
The sunset of evening comes glowing
With changes of coloring and shsdo;
And filling all space with its beauty,
Over stream, over meadow and glade.
The beauty of heaven in richness,
Its rare tints of coloring outpour.
So brilliant, to changeful and charming
With the roses that bloom at tho door.
I dream of these roses while sleeping,
They come clustering as angels above;
The buds and the flowers of Clod’s keeping,
To bo gathered in heaven through love;
I know that these roses are real,
That they’ll climb and entwine evermore,
Min ding our sou’s in oue being,
With the charms they have wrought at the
door.
—[A. Sanders Piatt in the Current.
A VALENTINE.
“Go and stay all night with old Mrs.
Fairfax? Indeed I can’t go. I’m in a
hurry to get my quilt together,” de¬
clared Patty Ann Bunting, as sho put the
finishing touch to the block of pink-and-
blue ‘nine patch’ she was piecing.
“And I’ve got the kitchen and back
porch to scour, and some ironing to do
before Sunday,” cried Adalino. “So
It’s out of the question for me to go.”«
“Well, I shan’t go either,” asserted
Penelope, tho youngest Miss Bunting,
tossing back her tar-black braids and
frowning ominously. “If Cecii Fairfax
chooses to go a-courting that hateful,
stuck-up Priscilla Pinkham, he can get
somebody besides me to stay with his
mother, I can tell him."
“But papa thinks so much of old Mrs.
Fairfax,” demurred Patty Ann, “he
won’t hear to none of us going.”
“There comes Vinev Farron in the
gate now,” cried Adaline. “Let’s get
her to go, and not tell her Cecil’s gone
away. It’ll be a good joke.”
“Yes,” agreed Penelope, ‘It’ll serve
her just right. She was setting her cap
for Cecil ail summer, till that Pinkham
girl come and caught him.”
“Pooh! Ha don’t care a snap for
Viney, anyway,” said Putty Ann, get-,
ting red in the face. “But site can’t re¬
fuse to go, aud that’ll save us the trou¬
ble.”
V-ney F rron was a cousin of tho Bunt¬
ing girls. She lived with her brother
and his wife in a little log cabin, on a
ten acre farm adjoining that of her Un¬
cle Bunting.
Tom Farron and his wife were poor ns
church mice themselves, but they gave
their sister a homo, and she helped to
eke out the slender incomo by knitting
socks for thc village store at forty cents
a pair, and by “taking in” sewing when¬
ever she could get it.
“I came over to borrow some browned
coffee,” said Viney, coming in fresh and
rosy from the frosty winter air.
“Yes, to be sure,” returned Adaliae,
more cheerful than was her wont. “And,
Viney, would you mind going over to
old Mrs. Fairfax's to-day? She wanted
some one of us to come, but we ore all
so busy."
And with a little deepening of the
pink in her checks, Viuev gave tho re¬
quired assent, and tripped away with
her howl of coffee, while the three
cousins burst into a hearty laugh at thc
success of their plan.
“She thinks Cecil will be there,” said
Penelope, maliciously. “Won’t she be
nicely fooled, though?’’
“Come in, my dear. I am so glad to
seo you!” said old Mrs. Fairfax, as Vin-
«y appeared, with rosy cheeks and a
fringe of curling, light brown hair peep¬
ing from under her scarlet hood. “You’ll
Bt ay all night, won’t you, Viney?” said
the old lady, placing a chair for thc vis¬
itor close to tho sparkling hardwood fire
that was glowing on the broad hearth.
“I didn’t expect to stay so long.” said
Viney, the dimples dancing in her bright
cheeks; “but I can, if you want me.”
And she thought of the pleasant time
she would have, chatting with Cecil ot
supper, dishing and afterward, with the firelight
brightly on the hearth, and
lighting up tho pleasant, cosey sitting-
room, with its bright rag carpet, its
spider-logged chairs and claw-footed
mahogany table.
“I’ll be glad to have you stay,’’said
Mrs. Fairfax, stirring up tho fire with a
long hickory poker, “fur Cecil’s gone to
tho city, an’ I’ll be alone all night."
Viucy’s heart, which had been ns light
as a tuft of thistle—down, sank like a
bit of lead in her bosom at th s nn-
nouncement.
“He’s been a-wanting to go to the
city fur some time,” said the old lady,
taking out her knitting and settling her¬
self for a pleasant chat. “I s’poso he’ll
call an’ see Priscilla Pinkham while he’s
them. I wish he hadn’t took such a
notion to that girl,” she added, confi¬
dentially, as she looked sharply through
her glasses at Viney’s blushing cheeks.
“But, there, we needn’t bother about
that now. I’m real glad you’ll stay with
me, Viney; and I’ll have lemon cakes
and raspberry jam fur tea. I know what
young folks like,” sho added, kindly.
“I must say, Priscilla, it’s time you
found something todol" said Miss Me¬
lissa Pinkham, sharply, to her younger
sister. ‘“You spent all our spare funds
on that trip to the country this fall, and
lost your situation by it, and here we
are, getting poorer every day. I tried
to make a little something renting rooms,
but nobody’s como to look at ’em even,
and something’s got to be done!"
“Oh, don’t worry, Meliss! My trip
to the country, that you grumbled about
so, was a speculation. Just wait till
Cecil Fairfax comes! I’ll manage to
bring him to the point, see if I don’t!
And when I get him our troubles will be
over!’’
“Humph!” sniffed Melissa. “I don’t
believe in having to bring a man to the
point! And besides, if your Mr. Fair¬
fax was to sec you now, I don’t think
you’d find it so easy to do,” she added,
with a glance at her sister’s soiled dress,
rough, untidy hair and slip-shod feet.
“Oh, he won’t see me this way!” said
Priscilla, lightly. “I shall frizz my hair
and wear my crimson cashmere and my
beaded jersey when he conies.”
At this very moment a knock sounded
on the door, and opening it hastily,
Priscilla beheld—Cecil Fairfax.
lie could hardly conceal his surprise
at thc picture which met his gaze, for
Miss Priscilla had been the pink ot
neatness during the few weeks lie had
known her, and Cecil had all a man’s
horror of a slovenly woman.
Priscilla, on her part, was awkward
and embarrassed, and was glad when the
interview was over.
“That’s thc end of your speculation!”
cried Melissa, sharply, when the guest
had departed. “Aud now that your
pretty air-castle lias tumbled about your
ears, I hope you’ll bo satuflxl to go to
work."
“Who would have thought she was
such a slouch?” murmured Cecil, as ho
started for the depot to take the first
train for home. “Little Viney Farron,
in her calico frocks and check aprons,
is worth a dozen Miss Pinkhams, as mo¬
ther said.”
Mrs. Fairfax and Viney were just sit¬
ting down to their lemon cakes, rasp¬
berry jam and fragrant Oolong ten, when
the door opened and Cecil appeared.
Aid so Viney had the pleasant chat
with him, after ab, while Mrs. Fairfax
set away thc tea tilings, and the bright
firelight flashed over the cosoy room, and
Cecil watched Viney’s fair face, with a
look of lover-iike admiration in his hand¬
some eyes.
“Here’s something for you, Viney,”
said Tom Farron, handing his sister a
large embossed envelope, plainly ad¬
dressed to “Miss Elvina Farron."
Viney opened it carefully, and out
dropped a gold ring, which wus attached
by n thread to the handsomely decorated
valentine inclosed in the envelope.
Within a beautifully designed wreath
of orange blossoms was the couplet:
“If thou wilt be my Valentine,
Accept this ring and I am thine!"
And under tho lines was the name “Ce¬
cil Fairfax.”
Adaline Bunting, who was at her cous¬
in’s at the time, beheld the valentine,
with a mixture of feelings.
“We didn’t make much by sending
Viney to stay with Mrs. Fairfax that
day,” she informed her sisters, “for Ce¬
cil came home the same night, and lie’s
scut Viney a valentine, asking her to
marry him.”
“Well, I must say! What fools wo
were!” cried Patty Ann, much provoked.
‘‘But it’s too late now; the mischief’s
done.”— [Helen W. Clark.
Defying the Mercury.
Congressman Tillman, of the E Igefiekl.
South Carolina, district, belongs to tho
anti-overcoat brigade, of which Hanni¬
bal Hamlin is the general, When the
mercury is cuddling into cup at zero he
walks to the capitol with his sack coat
unbuttoned and rallies his heavily
wrapped colleagues on their effeminacy,
He has not worn an overcoat in thirty-
five years, anti never has a fire in his
room in the coldest weather. He is 60
years old, but there is not a moro athletic
man in congress. Mr. Tillman tells with
pride that he has never made the pro¬
fessional acquaintance of a doctor.—
Atlanta Constitution.
ELLAV1LLE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY. MARCH 10, 1887.
AN OLIVE GROVE.
How Olive Raising Has Be-
come a California Industry,
The Fruit of the Mediterranean Now Ono
of America’s Produots.
From ancient writings, including the
Holy Scriptures, it can bo ascertained
that the olive is ono of tho oldest known
fruits. Tho Mount of Olives, near
Jerusalem, is famous in history. Long
before butter was known olive oil was
used in the preparation of food. Large
quantities of tho oil and fruit have from
time to time been imported hero from
the shores of the Mediterranean Sea,
whence most of tho product has been
obtained. Tho climate of California, not
bein « unhke that of the Mediterranean,
wns C0D8idered suitable for tho growth
of tho ohvo > and 8,1 el P erirneat ™ 8
made whlch bas P roved 6Uccoaaful - Thc
tree itself is pretty and ornamental. In
spring time it is covered with a pro-
fusion of white flowers, and in winter
has an evergreen foliage. When leady
for tho harvest it is so prolific that thc
branches bend under the weight of the
fruit, Olive wood is also beautiful,
and was chosen as parts of the orna-
mentation of the spacious and magni-
ficent Solomon’s temple. The oil is
considered by many as something
sacred. As such it is used in consecra-
tions and coronations. The ancients
used the sprays of olive leaves to crown
their great men, as it was believed to be
an emblem ot purity and peace. It
was considered the highest honor to be
crowned with olive leaves. In time of
war an olive branch borne in the hand
was a token of peace, and is even now
spoken of as such.
The olive tree lives for a long time.
Borne of the trees on the Mount of Olives,
in Judea, are said to be fifteen feet in
diameter aud over two thousand years
old, while that in the Vatican at Rome
has a record of over a thousand years.
The olive is very hardy, and will endure
treatment which would kill other fruit
trees. If infected with insects tho en-
tire head can bo cut off and thrown
away, while the trunk will sprout
again with renewed vigor. In Southern
California it has prospered beyond
expectation. Being sensitive to excess¬
ive heat or cold, its home is in the semi-
tropical belt represented by tho Pacific
slope of the United States. It prospers
best near tho sea, but can bo cultivated
a short distance inland. With ordinary
culture the olive in Europe will produco
over twenty gallons of oil per aere, be¬
sides allowing a largo quantity of the
fruit to bo used for eating. Although
yet iu its infancy in this country, ex¬
perts have said that the oil produced in
California is equal to any which has
been imported. Growers say the Cali¬
fornian coast, irom Point Conception to
San Diego, is equal to that between
Geneva and Naples for the production
of olives. The importations amount to a
large sum annually, and if the best olive
oil can, as it is claimed, be produced hero
and in sufficient quantities, that product
will form an addition to the[weaith of the
United States. So far as the curing of
the fruit is concerned, experience is like¬
ly to teach the proper treatment, as it
has with the raisin crop. The cuttings
of two trees planted in 1876 yielded well
in 1884—the ordinary time required for
bearing being ten years. The crop of
these two trees was then seventy-five
gallons of fruit, which sold readily at
$1 per gallon after being prepared for
the table. When taken from the trees
the grower realized seventy-five cents
per gallon. The same trees were loaded
down with fruit this season, and in Febru¬
ary will produce a large crop that can be
readily sold at the placo of growth at
eighty-five cents per gallon Tho
trees are planted on hillside, about
thirty-five or forty feet apart, to allow
for expansion, as they will live and pro¬
duce for centuries; Ah acre of ground
will hold about 40 trees. The small
fruit is used for oil, while the large or
queen olive is pickled for eating.
Olive trees can be planted on rocky
lands, where the vine would fail, and
the cost of planting the former is about
one-tbird of the latter. The crops nro
more easily gathered than grapes, while
the outfit for preparing olive oil is about
one-tenth of that necessary to produce
wine. The insect pest can be fought
much easier and with less cost than tho
phylloxera or other enemies of tho vine.
Being so prolific it becomes sooner
profitable to the grower, and each year
after bearing tho olive tree produces a
good crop until it reaches its full de¬
velopment, when it pays a much larger
revenue than a vineyard, bearing a crop
of from 30 to 40 gallons of fruit per
tree. The olive tree is also not so much
affected as tiie vine by drought. From
the experiments already made and their
results it is believed that the American
olive grove will in a few years become
successful rivals to that of thc Mediter-
ranean. -[Cincinnati Commercial.
Ambiguous.
Smith (with effusion)—Hello, Brown,
is that you? I heard you were drowned.
Brown (with sadness)—No, it was my
brother.
Smith (thought.essly)—What a pi ty. —
[Washington Critic.
Recuperative Tower.
The resistance, active and passive, of
the physical system to dostru tivo agents
is wonderful. Hugo wounds heal up
aud leave nothing but a scar. This is
true not only of the external muscular
tissuo, but of tho internal organs, in¬
cluding even the brain.
A large part of a bono may bo taken
out, and tho bono grow again. Deadly
poisons may bo swallowed, and tho
various eliminating organs will go to
work to destroy their power, and often
fully succeed. Millions of persons
transgress nearly every law of their
physical system, and still live out half
their days, because of tho unceasing
strugglo of that other law—tho law of
recuperation—to undo tho mischief, or
to reduce it to a minimum.
A bullet his been carried in the brain,
or in some largo bono or mutde, for
years without appreciable harm. In
such casos, nature builds a tough inclos¬
ing wall around the intruding object,
thus preventing either friction or the
solution of tho lead and the absorption
of the poison into the circulation.
Tho following case, tho full details of
which are given in a recent Lancet,
strikingly illustrates the tolerance aud
recuperative power of the system:
A soldier was badly wounded in tho
knee by tho explosion of a rifle. After
he had lain in the hospital five months,
during which time the joint constantly
suppurated, and was several times laid
open with the knife, tho wound healed
up. lie became able to do his work as a
messenger, and suffered no inconven¬
ience from the injury for eleven years.
Then an abscess formed, which dis¬
charged for some eight years, when tho
surgeon succeeded in removing a small
portion of tho brass heel-plate of the
rifle and bits of lead from the knoe.
The abscess remained open, occasionally
discharging small portions of brass, lead
and gritty matter for the next nine years,
or until the summer of 1885. At that
time, the surgeon at the hospital who
then took charge of the case, succeeded
in trncing the sinus, or opening, back to
a hard object in the opposite side of the
joint. Laying open the flesh at this
point, he found and removed the offend¬
ing cause, which was tne-half of a flat
tened and misshapen ul et. In a few
weeks the mau was abte to walk witli
little inconvenience, and returned home
with the prospect of perfect restoration.
Even in this case, jagged as was the
bullet, the cavity, which was about an
inch in diameter, was lined with a firm
capsule.— Youth's Companion.
No Humor iu His Soul.
“Herrmann, the magician, is a mighty
clever man at his business,” said a Clark
street gossiper, “and lias made a good
deal of money. But he is extravagant,
sometimes recklessly so, and occasionally
finds himself in trouble with his Credit-
ors. I think he has been twice in jail
for debt, though I understand that in
both cases lie suffered incarceration
rather than be bulldozed into payments
of sums which he did not rightfully
owe. If there is any way of getting
into jail that one cau admire that is tho
way. The last time •Herrmann got into
a scrape of this kind was, I think, in
Buffalo. One day, while exercising iu
the corridor, ho thought ho would have
some lun with the jailer, and so he bc-
gan to perform before the astonished
man's eyes some of his stage trick' 1 , such
as taking money out of the jailor’s nose,
vanishing coins out of his own hands
and so on. But the jailer happened to
bo one of those serious, solemn individu-
als who are unable to see anything funny
in the world. Instead < f being amused
ile was alarmed. An l lie lost n > time
in taking tlie genial professor to a cell,
there locking him in and remarking:
“ ‘Now let’s see you pull a key out of
your nose and unlock that door.’
“After that poor Herrmann got no
more exercise in ilia corridor, and was
watched as closely as if he were under
sentence of death .”-—Chicago Herald.
Long Sentences.
“Secretary E carts uses some remarka¬
bly long sentences doesn’t lie” said a
traveler to his seat-mate with whom he
had been discussing the various states¬
men.
“Yes, but I dou’t thiuk any of iris
can compare in length to a sentence
that I heard Judge Bromley get off Inst
week.
“What was it?"
“Twenty five years ."—Merchant
Traveler.
One ns Tend r ns the Other.
Omaha Butcher—“Well, I should say
you do look hungry.”
Tramp—“Not had a meal since yes¬
terday. Can’t you spare me a dinner
somehow?”
“Well, no, I have no small change;
but, here, I’ll give you a beefsteak aud
you can build a fire out there and cook
it.”
“No, thankee, I’ve got a piece of my
boot-ieg left.”- Omaha World.
Caught a Thrashing.
First Small Boy—“So you went fish¬
ing down the Schuylkill last Sunday,
(lid you?”
Second Small Boy— “Yuae.”
“Ketch anything? ’
“Not till I got home and met dad."—
[Philadelphia Call.
THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN.
Hints to II lie u mis Vies.
If I wero now to guess at the life his-
tories of thoso matronly ladies who loan
ns gracefully as they cau on their silken
umbrellas, I should say that their trou¬
ble, if not hereditary, arose from dietary
errors and want of sufficient exercise.
They have boeu busy people, perhnps -
busy at some kind of business which
took up all thoir time; they did not re¬
quire exercise, they thought, being al¬
ways on tho move, one way or another—
with only (he walk to and from church
on Sunday to count for relaxation of
mind. They forgot, or they did not
know, that moving around at the duties
of business is not exercise in its proper
sense; that exercise must bo pleasurable
to be of any avail; timt mind and body
must both have a change. Probably tho
digestion began to fail before a twingo
of rheumatism took place; they had lit¬
tle appetite for breakfast, except for that
cup of lea and toast. They oftcu folt
weary before the day was half over—
tired. I emphasize the word “tired"
because this feeling is universal at (he
outset of chronic rheumatism. Some¬
times their backs ached iu so weary a
way that even appetite was interfered
with, and depression of spirits caused
them to take very gloomy views of life,
indeed. Cordials would be suggested.
Ah 1 these cordials, what a deal of mys¬
tery they have to account for. Giving
but temporary relief, requiring to be tu-
ken oftener, and still more often, as tho
taking of them becomes almbit, injuring
the digestion, producing irritability of
temper and restless nights, they never
fail to increase the troubles they are
meant to quell, aud shorten life itself. ——
Cassell’s Magazine.
Health Hint*.
A window open a slight distance both
top and bottom, and a chimney draught
also open, arc the only sure ways of
keeping pure air in a sleeping room
whose doors are closed.
A simple remedy for neuralgia is to
apply grated horse radish prepared, the
same as for table use to the temple, when
tho face or head is affected, or to the
wrist when the pain is in the arm or
shoulder.
When one’s clothing becomes damp
from exposure to the weather, it is best
to change it immediately. Rub tho skin
with a dry, hard towel until the body is
in a glow all over; but if it is impracti¬
cable to change tho garments, exercise
moderately so that enough heat may gen¬
erate in thc system to dry the skin and
clothing without a chill.
Apples stewed and sweetened are
pleasant to the taste, cooling, nourish¬
ing and laxative, far superior in many
cases to tho abominable doses of salts
and oils usually given in fever and other
diseases. Raw apples and dried apples
stewed aro better for constipation than
liver pills.
To cure chapphd bands take common
starch and rub it into a fine, smooth
powder, putin a clean tin box, and
every time the hands are removed from
dish water or hot suds, rinse them caro
fully in clean water and while they aro
damp, rub a pinch of starch over them
coveriug tho whole surface.
A saucerful of shaved ice may be pre¬
served for twenty four hours, with tho
thermometer in the room at 90 F., if the
following precautions are observed. Put
the saucer containing the ice in a sotip-
plate and cover it with another, Place
the soup plates thus arranged on a good
heavy pillow and cover with another
pillow, pressing the pillows so that tho
plates are completely imbedded in them,
An old jack plane set deep, is a most ex¬
cellcnt tiring with which to shavo icc. It
should be turned bottom upward and
the ice shoved backward and forward
over the cutter. "■ 1 uu
-
How Lightning is Kindled.
It is no uncommon thing for the elec¬
trical force emanating from a cloud to
make itself felt in attractions and repul¬
sions many miles away. Clouds resting
upon the remote horizon thus frequently
produce perceptible efforts at distances
from which the clouds themselves cau
not be seen. An electrical cloud hang¬
ing a mile above the ground acts induc¬
tively upon that ground with considcr-
able power. When in summer time tlie
temperature of the earth’s surface is very
great, the ground moist, tiie air calm
and the sky clear, very copious supplies
of vapor are steamed up from the ground
under the hot sunshine.
Clouds, however, begin at length to
gather in elevated regions of the air out
of the abundance of the supply. The
free electricity which has been carried
up with the vapor is at first pretty
evenly spread through the clouds; but
after a time, as the electrical charge be-
cornea more and more intense, a power-
ful repulsive force is in the end estab-
fished between the spherules of the mist,
and a very high degree of tension is at
last produced at tho outer surface of thc
cloud, whe c it is enveloped by insulat¬
ing air, until in tho end the expansive
energy there becomes strong enough to
occasion an outburst from tho cloud.
The escape of the redundant charge then
appears to an observer’s eye as a flash of
lightning issuing from tlie cloud. Such,
in its simplest form, is the way in which
lightning is kindled in tho storm cloud.
— [Science for All.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
An observer must staud 0607 feet
nbovo tho level of tho sea to discern a
vessel ono hundred miles distant, and
20,000 feet when it is distant two hun¬
dred miles.
Tho teeth of an individual ofton vary
greatly in hardness at intervals, and a
Berlin physician, Dr. W. D. Miller, is
experimenting to show that this is duo
to a varying proportion of lime salts in
tho food.
The ultra-violet or heat rays of tho
spectrum, invisible to human eyos, ap¬
pear to be plainly preceptible to llio eyes
of nnts, according to the investigations
of I)r. Fore!, tho distinguished Swiss
entomologist.
Some idea of the wonderful progress
now being made in microscopical science
may be formed by the fact, us stated by
the President of the British Association
lately, that results are now attached in
this lino which maiheinaticians five
years ago declared to bo impossible.
A substance resembling celluloid may
bo made from potatoes by peeling them,
and, after soaking them in water, im¬
pregnating with eight parts of sulphuric
acid, then drying aud pressing between
sheets of blotting paper. In France
pipes arc mado of this substanco scarcely
distinguishable from meerschaum. By
subjecting the mass to great pressure a
substance cau bo made of it rivaling
ivory in hardness.
Mr. J. McNeil, of Indiana University,
mentions a long-horned heotlo which
lived no less than nineteen years, and
probably more than twenty, in an ash
door-sill. Two similar c isos of remark-
able longevity in beetles arc recorded by
Packard. A specimen of tho pine-
borer lived more than fifteen years in a
pine bureau; aud three beetles came
from an apple-treo table, tho first after
a residence therein of twenty years and
the last of twenty-eight years.
Henry W. Elliott, in his book on
Alaska, says that thc sea lion at its full
growth is twice tho size of the fur seal,
yet inferior in perfection of physical or¬
ganization, in intelligence, and even in
courage, at least against man. As it has
no fur, its skin has little commercial
value, but the Aleutians make abundant
use of its flesh, fat and sinews. Tho sea
lion common off the Bay of Ban Fran¬
_
cisco belongs to a different family, and
attains not more than half the size of
its namesake of the Behring Boa.
According to the Belgian Bavant,
Quetclet, a man attains his maximum
weight about his 40th year, and begins
to lose it toward his 00th year. A
woman, however, does not attain her
maximum weight until her 50th year.
The weight of persons of tho same age
in different classes of society also differs.
In tlie affluent classes the average maxi-
mum weight is 162 pounds and is
attained at 56 years of age. Iu tho arti-
san class it is 154 pounds, attained at
40. Among farm laborers it is 171
pounds, attained at 60. In the general
classes it is 164 pounds, and is reached
between 40 and 50 years of age.
Jnpan’s Mineral Wealth,
Although gold and silver were discov¬
ered in tho eighth and ninth centuries,
tho Japanese are still so unskillful in
separating tho two metals that their gold
has invariably an alloy of silver. Owing
to a glut of the precious metals in Japan
in the sixteenth and seventeenth contu-
ries and tho ignorance prevailing of their
currcnt value in tlie rest of the world,
more than one thousand millions of gold
gulden were drawn from tho country by
tho Portugese and Dutch within the
period of one hundred years. The con
ditions aro now so changed that Japan
is obliged to supply her want of the
precious metals by importation from
Corea, China, America and Australia,
Copper was discovered aud employed
for coinage earlier than gold—viz, in the
seventh century. Notwithstanding the
abundance of iron ore in tho country,
its manufacture is so clumsy and costly
that it fails to compete with tho foreign
article. Steel, however, of tho very best
qunlity, especially for sword blades, is
turned out, but tiic secret of its manu-
facture has not been divulged. Few
precious stones, and those only of in-
ferior order are found.
Just as It Happens.
“There goes a runaway 1” he called to
a citizen who was coming out of the
City Hall.
“Good enough! Let’em obey the or-
(finance and hitch their horses!”
Tho citizen walked around to the cor-
nor o( Port a „d Griswold, looked all
around for his horse and cutter, and
suddenly exclaimed:
“Bless me! but that must have been
my horse! The ordinance bo hanged,
an d I’ll lick somebody for not stopping
him!"__[Free Press.
Something to Remember.
A mother hail reproved her little girl
for being so clumsy as to drop a dish,
and tho little girl, after a thoughtful si¬
lence, said;
"Mamma. can you write with your
left hand?”
“I could if I wero left-handed, but
I’m not.”
“Well," said the little girl, “I guess
little children are left-handed alt over.”
VOL. II. NO.-24.
A Use of Memory.
Why should I think of dragging clouds,
of dreary, dragging clouds of gray,
When I have soeu them floating light,
Know mountains blaring soft and bright,
Of filmy feathers faint and white,
On many a bygone day?
Why should I think of sighing winds,
Of sighing winds that shake the rain,
Wlion I’ve folt breozas fresh and clear
That sing forever past my oar,
And breaths of summer drifting near
O’er clover fields and grain?,
Why should I think of days like this,
Of days like this, all dark and wet,
When I’ve knowu days bo grandly bright
So full of freedom and delight,
That, though all after-life were night,
I never can forget?
—[Woman's Journal.
HUMOROUS.
Cold comfort.—Sleiging.
A current event—Tho plum pudding.
Family jars oftcu grow out of family
juga.
Much adieu about nothing—Thc part¬
ing of two socioty girls.
What kind of robbery is not danger¬
ous? A safo robbery, of course.
Although not much talked about tho
postage stamp is on everybody’s tongue.
Isn’t it paradoxical that the best way
to keep a young lady’s affections is to
return them ?
Tiicro are some people who always
marry for money, that is, unless tho
bridegroom forgets tho fee.
They do not say “stomach acho" in
Boston. “Gastric Neuralgia” is tht
| proper word, but it gets tliero all tbs
same.
! “Man proposes, but”-. Upon
I thinking it over we don’t believe he pro¬
poses half so often as the girls would
like him to.
j Tho bravest arc not always the ten-
d rest, ns tho poet sings. There is the
red game rooster, for instance; ho will
fight a bird double his size, but he cuts
up tough in a pot pie.
After the clerk had pulled down
everything in the store without satisfy¬
i ing his customer, a woman, she asked
j him if there was anything else he had
not shown her. “Yes, ma’am,” he said,
“the cellar; but, if you wish it, I will
have that brought up and shown to you."
Right Breathing,
Breathing through tho open mouth is
practised for tho most part only by
“civilized” men. The aborigineos ol
our country, and savage tribes else¬
where, always keep the mouth tightly
closed and breathe through the nos¬
trils.
Nature is a wiser teacher than fashion,
for tho primitive method of breathing is
tho best one on every principle of hygi-
| one. There is danger of severe injury
to the bronchial tubes and to the deli-
cate vessels of lire lungs, in passing
from the warm air of a house to an at-
mosplierc in the neighborhood of zero,
if tho air is taken directly into the lungs.
By passing it through the nostrils the
chillis removed, and the shock from tho
sudden change escaped.
Yet our readers will remember that
Lieut. Schwntka, in an article which we
recently published, said that in the most
intense cold of tlie Arctic regions, ono
must usually breathe through the mouth.
If the modern germ theory of tho ori¬
gin of infectious diseases is tine, breath-
j ng through thc nostrils is one of na-
lure’s saleguards. The hairs, which
]j nG t ] 10 entrance to the nostrils, may ar-
re st the germs floating in tho air, and
prevent their passage to thc lungs, and
consequent absorption by the blood,
p aren ts ought to teach their children
| early to breathe only through tho nos-
tr ii s .— Youth's Companion.
i The Pita Plunt.
I
j The pita plant of Honduras invites the
enterprise of American capital and
! Yankee invention. Only one
thing is needed and the lucky man’s
fortune is made. Mr. Buchard, our con¬
sut, reports that this pita plant, which
has never been cultivated, grows spon-
taneously and in apparently inexhaust-
iblo quanties by the margin of every
fiver aud lagoon, and, indeed, anywhere
below the altitude of two thousand
feet. It can be had for the cost of cut-
ting.
The fibre is susceptible of a thousand
uses. The people of Honduras convert
[ t j nt o thread for sewing boots and shoes,
ail( i ; n t 0 nets, fish fines and cordage.
The finest hammocks and most costly
are also made of it. The smallquanti-
ties w i 1 ; c h have been sent to this market
have been manufactured into hand-
kcrch i e fs, laces, ribbons, false hair and
wigs,
The difficulty is to decorticate tho
plant without rotting or otherwise injur-
iug the fibre. The man who can do
that will be able to take fortune at the
flood. In other words, brains will bring
bullion.—[N. Y. Herald.
The Oldest Living Person.
The oldest person in France, perhaps
in the world, is said to be a woman who
lives in the village of Auberive, in Roy-
ans. She was born March 16, 1761, and
is therefore 125 years old. The authen.
tic record of her birth is to be found in
the parish register of St. Juslde Claix,
in the department of tho Isere. [Scien¬
tific American.