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I
ange Story of Captain Mellon
of the River Colorado.
, cs Of the Prehistoric Man
iscovered in the Salt Beds.
t'aptain J- A. Mellon, one of the old
white settlers of Fort luma, A. 3.,
]i r ed in Yuma two years without
[0 and who
*iog a white woman, com
in ded the first steamer, the Gila, that
went U P th ° Colorado Rivcr t0 thc
V 1 Virgin, is at the Lick,
arrived lately, says the San
6
ta neisc3 Examiner.
j* oW pioneers in any land have had
estrange experiences of Captain Mcl
B “It is over 25 years, now,” he
id “since I went to Fort Yumu, and
( San Francisco
e changes I see in sur
ise me. running the Colora
"Have I been on
River all this time? Yes, and let
that there are stretches of hun
•e<fe of miles on that river that are less
) 0 W» than the heart of Central Africa.
r egc cp there to get salt. There are
mountains of salt up on the Vir
^fhich is a tributary of the Colora
jph of which is larger and higher
■joat Island. The salt is pure and
M It is clearer than glass. You
■take a piece of it seven or eight
Jh thick and read a common news
tper through it. The salt mountains
iver a stretch of about 25 miles on
jth sides of the Virgin, seven miles up
om the Colorado. A single blast of
ant powder will blow up tons upon
os of it.
"This salt does not dazzle your eyes,
i you might expect, while riding along
) the river steamer or clambering over
iem, It has a layer of sandstone from
to to eight feet thick over it. When
to ie tom away the salt lies in full
tht, like a great snow-drift.' How
jep it is, nobody knows. This salt is
ptitied lalth. to he the source of great
Hamilton Disston, the big saw
Imifacturer, and Baldwin, of the Bald
fci Locomotive Works, are the only
In who have secured any of these salt
luntains. When the Utah Southern
llroad is pushed on from Frisco,
lab, it will tap the gigantic salt moun
p, and then an enormous revenue
|l be realized for them.
P'l brought down with me for
I Academy of Sciences here some
|er per the things from rock the salt mines,
cap was found charred
M " nc i charcoal, besides some mat
prnade perved it. of cedar It might bark. Tho salt ha!
fusands havo lain there
of years. Evidently there
been a slide that covered up thc
°P equipage of seme prehistoric
D ’ Grange to say, a similar dis
ru y bas been made in the salt mines
Louisiana. The rocks up toward the
1 mountains are painted and cut into
toghphics which none of tho Mojave,
pa, Piute or other Indians know the
dnjDg of.
! ‘There aro v alleys along the great
as yet unknown Colorado, singly,
auch as 120 miles long and twenty
e. That will be the real orange
of the globe. They are as rich
h8 of the Nile. Irrigation
* redeem them. Water will be
^gbt on them as sure as destiny.”
Tlure More Eiffel Towers.
e idea ^ building three more
, * t0wer
* an( i then turning the four
e kgs of a huge platform whereon
tottarium ca n be built above the
,!j e aud stir and dust
and noise of
> whither invalids could ascend in
ch of P’tie air and seclusion, being
-ussed is
with every appearance of
er % in Paris, The notion is cer
a big one and worthy of the age
tackle 8 such big undertakings as
an8ma Canal and Channel tunnel,
H will not fall to the lot
of invalids
9 feneration, I fear,
orof the next,
r > o avail themselves
UariiLn of the aerial
which i 3 suggested.
A Breatf,i a? Well.
A i /"! , 1 Wed
* las discovered
lat S!atl0Ii 110 ’"lies east
FI D HM \ T( ’
X l3 - ^ « an abandoned
Wel1 ’ 8J0 ^et deep. bu*. the
in it. For twelve
^' lla y a furious gust of air
I'hea T” ,he
velvo tubia S» and tho next
° houtg an equally strong gust
•shos ou‘. This
| r egularity, occurs with tho ut
and, so far, no break
u»uc„d in th0 regular occur-
SCHLEY COUNTY NEWS.
The Writer of a Familiar Hymn
How many of the myriads who in
childhood have sung -There is a happy
hind, Far. far away,” know anythin** of
its writer? His name is Andrew Y
and he is eighty oung,
now years of age, stili
mentally and physically vigorous, and
retaining in all its early freshness his
sympathy with children. The hymn was
composed in 1838. The tune to which
it is married is an okl Indian air, which
blended with the music of the woods in
the primeval forest long before Sunday
schools were thought of. The hymn
was composed for the melody. Its
bright aud strongly marked phrases
struck Mr. Young’s musical ear the first
time he heard it casually played in the
drawingroom. He asked for it again
and again. It haunted him. Being
ac
customed to relieve the clamor of his
thoughts and feelings in rhyme, words
naturally followed, and so the hymn
was created. Mr. Young happened to
have his hymn performed in the presence
of his intimate friend, Mr. Gall, a mem
ber of the publishing firm of Gall –
Inglis. It got into print. It has been
translated into nineteen different
languages. Aud yet the author ha#
never received, and, indeed, has never
been offered, a penny remuneration. It
is only recently that Professor David
Masson, referring to the unique influence
of this lyric, stated a most touching in
cident in the life of Thackeray. Walk
ing one day in a “slum” district in
Loudon he suddenly came upon a band
of gutter children sitting on the pave
ment. They were singing. Drawing
nearer he heard the words: “There is
a happy land, Far, faraway!” Ashe
looked at the ragged choristers and
their squalid surroundings, aud saw that
their pale faces were lit up with a
thought which brought both forgetful
ness and hope, thc tender-hearted cynic
burst into tears.
Sweet Peas.
The history of the pea family is an in
teresting one. The pea originated in
the East, where it has bien known and
loved from immemorial times. Young
Daniel, when he fed upon pulse, may
have included this sweet product of the
garden in his abstemious fare. Be that
as it may, the people of the East wero
familiar with it long before it became
knowm to the Greeks and Romans. Tho
pea was introduced into Europe during
the Middle ages, and was not cultivated
in England until the time of Henry
VIII. The pea-flower is papilionaceous,
or having a winged corolla resembling
the butterfly. The fruit is contained in
a legume or pod. The pea has spread
from India to the Arctic regions. At
least 50 kinds are grown. Indeed, the
Pulse family, to which the pea belongs,
is so numerous as to include 6500 plants
agreeing at least iu the one feature of
pod-bearing. Peas arc not only pleas
ant to the taste, but they are nutritious,
as they contain much cassein.
The variety of pea grown in the flower
garden and known as Sweet Pea, is a
native of Sicily. It is worth while to
watch the bee make a visit to the pea
blossom. The stamen and pistels are
hidden in the lower projection of tho
flower. Thc bee lights upon this part
and its weight forces the petals down,
while the stigma, conveying pollen from
the surrounding anthers on its hairy
style, protrudes and striking the bee,
dusts it well with pollen. As in the
case of the scarlet geranium, the bee
seems tQ know by instinct just what
part of the flower to alight upon. The
pea is such a cheerful looking flower,
that it really appears to enjoy pommel
ing tho busy bee.
Aside from tho pretty flower, every
part of the pea is beautiful, for the vine
is graceful, the foliage fresh and clean
looking, the pods curious and the ten
drils of interest as transformed organs.
Charles XII. and the Bomb.
A« Charles XII of S.veden was dicta
ting a letter to his secretary during the
siege of Stralsund, a bomb fell through
the roof into thc next room in the house
where they wero sitting. Tho terrified
secre ary let the pen drop fromhishaud.
“Wnat is the matter?” quoth tho
king.
‘ ‘The bomb, sire!” cried the secro
tary.
“Ah! never mind thc bomb; it will
off presently.”
And it d.d.— Harper's “Drawer.”
The base-ball player has no fear of
cheek. That is hard and durable.
He pu:s on the muzzlo to save hu nose
front teeth.
FOH FARM AND GAHDE.\
TO BREAK REARING HORSED.
Icung horses are sometimes given to
this bad habit. One who has had some
experience with them says to use a mar
tinga'.e, with a running rein commenc
ing at the breast strap of the martin
ga e, and then, running through the
ring of the snaffle, bring it back to the
hand; this will give you full power
over the horse's head when its exercise
is called for, and will not distress him
while he behaves himself. It will rfot
take long to break a young horse in
this way from a very dangerous and bad
habit. — Indiana Farmer.
OPEN SHEDS FOR SHADING CATTLE.
There are many who now incline to
thc belief that open sheds are better for
shading cattle iu pastures than are trees.
The advantage of the shed is that it need
not be a permanent fixture but may be
constructed in such a way as to make it
possible to shift it to the different fields
seeded down to pasture in any given ro
tation. Where permanent pastures a re
found on the farm, trees are appropriate
and profitable, but where the pasture
lot has in its turn to be broke.n up and
cultivate! to cereals or corn, trees are a
positive nuisance. It would seem that
even in a permanent pasture an open
shed furnished with drink ing-troughs
and feed-boxes is preferable to a clump
of trees located, as often is the case, in
a boggy slough. In the latter instance
the water becomes foul from the drop
pings cf the stock and the puddling of
the mud by their feet. Place the shed
where the wind can play through ittrom
a! sides, furnish pure water from a
windmill and tank, and the best condi
tions are supplied for summering cattle
on grass.— Farmer's Iieview.
THE FIRST CULTIVATION OF CORN.
Properly speaking, the first cultiva
tion after corn is planted is not of the
com for it is not yet up, but of the
soil. After the grain has germinated
its root at first grows more rapidly than
the top and a harrow passed over it
loosens the soil , breaks the crust and
practically does no damage whatever.
But after the corn is up aud large
enough to see the rows, we like to go
through it with the cultivator, and
pretty deeply the first time, The ob
ject is not to cut near the hill where the
bulk of the roots are at this time, but to
6tir up the centre between the rows that
has likely enough been compacted by
rains. If not done at once it cannot be
done without severe cutting of roots.
Bo the first cultivation should be in the
centre of thc row and as deep as the
plow went, if possible. After that fol
low with the drag again if you wish. It
will enliven the surface near the corn
roots, where after the cultivation in the
centre it will seem much compacted.
After the first cultivation the teelh may
be spread so as to cut as near as possi
ble to the corn and be set to go in as
shallow as possible.— Boston Cultivator.
EUREKA SHEEP RACK.
All who keep sheep are aware of their
disposition, above all other animals, to
nose over and through their feed, what
ever it be, picking out a few tidbits
and very soon getting tho rest under
foot and unfit to eat. Sheep arc dainty
creatures and will not eat enough to
keep well unless their ration is pro
tected from this habit. I have tr.ed
giving much more than they would eat,
allowing them to choose, and giving
the remainder to horses, which do not
much miud thc sheep-smell left upon
it. But this plan did not work well.
I have seen sheep-yards thoroughly lit
tered with bright timothy hay, pulled
down from a sort of rack made by put
ting two sticks in a bench, two or three
inches apart. A great improvement on
this is a kind of box, any length you
choose, 2} feet wide, with boards at
top and bottom, and strips up and
down to keep the sheep from crowding.
But still with this my sheep would pull
a great deal under foot. This disgusted
me so that I studied out my Eureka, by
which they eat everything very clean,
and keep in better condition. I after
ward saw something similar in an agri
cultural paper, but much more compli
cated and expensive, and not quite so
good, in my estimation. With my de
scription any ordinarily intelligent far
mer can make it at small cost:
Take four posts—a small caestnut
quartered, is excellent—4 ft. long, two
for the ends and two for the middle, to
Hols sl'. firm. ihres 1 -inch strip*
2 1 -2 It, long across the bottom. 6 inches
high, on which to lay a tight floor—for
it is equally good for grain, roots oi
hay. Now nail on boards, 10 inches
wide, above the floor, all around, aad
do same at top—making the rack 6
inches wider at top than at bottom.
Also nail upright short boards, 1 ft.
wide, C inches apart, all around. Now
you are done except the rack to hold
the hay. This is formed by placing
two boards, 1 ft. wide, on each side in
side the rack, at an angle of 45 degrees,
the top resting against the rack and the
bottom coming together except 2 1-2 or
three inches space, through which the
sheep will pull the hay, very little at a
time, and eating nearly as fast as they
pull it down. You will be surprised to
find how realily they will do this
through such a small opening. All
roots and grain will drop at once to the
bottom where each will share alike. It
often made me laugh at first to see how
nicely I had checkmated their bad dis
position to overhaul everything at once
and made them behave decently at meal
time. The ‘ saving is very con
siderable, the sheep keep better, and it
is very pleasaut to sec all crowding,
wasting, partiality and favoritism done
away with.
LAZY BEES.
Bees are proverbially industrious, but
now and then a colony will bo found
that does not deserve the title. I have
been watching with interest a very
large colony with the surplus-boxes full
of bees; also the portico and the out
side of the hive covered to the top.
They have been loafing for over a fort
night, and the honey in the surplus
boxes increased very slowly. I xvas
tired of such folly, and moved their
hive and put in its place a hive contain
ing young bees and a virgin queen. I
1 obtained these bees in this way: A col
ony swarmed, and, as I do not desire
increase, I hived them and moved the
old colony, putting the swarm where it
stood. Thc next day I took out all the
combs belouging to the old colory,
brushed off the bees and extracted the
honey. There was no young brood, as
the colony had swarmed before and
there were a number of queen-cells that
their inmates had lately left. All bees
that had been working in the fields flew
to the old stand and joined the swarm.
I put back the frames and carried the
hives to where the loafing colony had
stood, and dipped out the bees with' a
long-handled spoon from the crowded
portico and gave them to the new hive.
The bees that were working in the
fields, as they returned, entered the
hive upon their old stand. There are
now two good working colonies in lieu
of one loafing one.
FARM AND GARDEN NOTES.
Ground oats with a little middlings,
or a little bran, is good food once a day,
so is barley meal and middlings.
Hen houses will need considerable at
tention from now on; warm weather
suits lice and the red mites; be on tho
alert for them.
Work corn as deeply as possible at
first; after that, not over two inches
deep, ending up with even shallower
cultivation, so as not to disturb the
roots.
Some of the early broods will show
signs of future quality, and when theso
are fam.liar to the breeder, he will be
able to discriminate and cull intelii
gently.
The early broods will now demand
coarser and heart er food for their
growth and development. Their di
gestive organs will assimilate all you
wish to give them.
“I have come to regard the corn as
but half the crop of my cornfield,”
writes a farmer. “Tho fodder is tho
other half, and by reason of its greater
quantity is wjrth quite as much to me. ”
Ducks and chickens should never be
kept on the same place unless they can
be separately fenced. Ducks are not
the cleanest animals in the world; tuey
will foul any water to which they havo
access.
It is not so hard to get a hungry ani
mal away from a pail of warm bran slop
as to got it away from the starvation
point when it has once got there. To
give it a new start costs a deal more than
to have kept it going.
When buying salt for butter sec that
it has been kept where it could not ab
sorb the odors of tobacco smoke, cod
fish, kerosene and others peculiar to the
average grocery store. Balt absorbs
odors readily and will carry them into
Um» hmUMc.
The World-Old Question.
3o ^ disaster, passion, love and
grief—
Pray what are these to him who stand»
alone
Within the desert of a shadowy world,
And mar ks the shadow of his own life fall
Across the sands that hold no footprint*
yet?
To him. that shadow is so great, it fills
The widest margin of the earth and sky;
And yet he questions: Is he grain of sand,
Or shadow vague, amid the shadows there.
And all the grains of sand?
—David A. Curtis in Drakes Magazine.
HUMOROUS.
An old slat—Attic.
Even the golden rule is only electro
plated in these days of sham.
It is the clerk of ethe weather who
frequently makes a signal failure.
The first chapter in the history of a
young woman’s love is chap. won.
No wonder hats begin to look played
out at an early period of their mortal
existence. They arc on the rack about
half thc time.
Aunt Hetty—“Well, Juliet, did you
marry the man of your choice?” Juliet
—“Well I should smile! And I cut out
Annie Wilkms, too.”
The days are here again for sport,
How welcome’s the vacation
For teachers, boys and girls— in short,
The bored of education 1
“Uncle,” said a sweet girl of
eighteen, “is love blind?” “Yes, my
dear, when the other party is rich, ” an
swered he.
“All things come to him who waits,”
says the proverb, but the man who, af
ter waiting half an hour, discovers that
the last train has gone is not a believer
in it.
“What is your son doing now, Mr.
Janeway?’' “Oh, he’s brace! up won
derfully. He’s doing nothing now.
While lie was in business he nearly
ruined me.”
Bjohnson—“By the way, did you
ever see the sun rise, Bjenks?” Bjonks
—“No, Bjohnson; I can’t say that I
ever did. I think I’ve always been in
bed before that.”
Mr. Societe (who has just been pre
sented to a bevy of young ladies)—
“Pardon me, but with so many names
I am quite at sea regarding yours. ’’ She
_* i But you are not far wrong. I am
Miss Atwater.”
Prudent Lover: I havo a vital secret
to confide in you, which you must
promise to forever hold sacred. Kind
Parent: What is your secret? Prudent
Lover: I want your daughter’s hand in
marriage. Kind Parent: I shall never
give it away.
It is wonderful when you think of it
what a large number of men have start
ed out into the world without a penny
and have worked their way up so that
they are now nearly as well off as when
they first started out.
Husband—“Well, my dear, what did
the magnetic physician say to you?"
Wife—“He says I am a sick woman,
and that my nervous system is not in
equilibrium. He says I am too posi
t.ve.” Husband—“Ilumphl I could
have told you that and saved a couple
of dollars. ”
Traits that Make a Skillful Cowboy.
To be a successful cowOoy one must
bo skillful in four qualities. He must
be a good rider, have complete control
of his lariat, a good knowledge of the
country and be a keen judge of cattle
sod their brands. Riding all sorts of
horses, as he does, soon gives him an
intuitive knowledge as to whether any
particular horse will give him trouble,
and when once on ho has got to stick
for all he knows how. His rope comes
in handy fifty tirae3 a day, either to
catch some maddened cow or ruuaway
ca ^» baul wood or hundreds of other
uses.
Without a knowledge of the country
he could never pilot a branch of cattle
to the main herd or could ho look up
strays, and finally other cattlemen would
palm off the most miserable »p cimens
upon him if ho could not teli good beef
fiom bad. Ilis rea liness to distinguish
and knowledge of the various marks
mod to deaote 0WQ e r3hi P u exceedingly
important, especially in tho spring, as
disputes frequently arise.
A.l these qualities a really good cow
boy excels in, and when to theso aro
added cheerfulness, adaptability and
good humor, it is hard to find a more
pleasant companion. The life is hard,
but the freedom and excitement seem iu
most instances to outweigh the hard
ships.