Newspaper Page Text
WHAT ?
Clh, what is the love or the hate of men?
Vt hat- is their praise or their blame!'
THetr blame is a breath, but an echo of death.
And a star that glows bright and is gone
from the sight—
Ahl such is the vanishing guerdon of fame
0\ what is the grief or the joy of life!'
What is its pleasure or pain?
The joys we pursue pass away like the dew;
And though bitter the grief, time brings re
lief
j To the heart that is wounded again and
again
Oh t what Ls the loss or the gam of the time?
And what is the success’ fair crown?
The gain that we prize—lo! it fades and it
flies;
And the loss we deplore as quickly is o’er.
There Ls little to choose ’twist life's smiles
and life’s frowns.
Oh, men they may love and men they may
hate,
It matters little to me.
For life is a breath, and hastens death
To gather iri all, from the hut and wall,
I To the home that is narrow—the house
I that is free.
—Boston Transcript.
A BRAVE DOCTOR.
When Herman Dean was in college and
the medical school, he was so timid and
so slow of speech that his fellow-students
made him the butt of frequent jokes.
He seemed to know his lessons, but in
endeavoring to recite them he floundered
about and clutched at his words desper
ately and awkwardly, and made but a
poor appearance. One could not help
smiling at the tall, clumsy, blushing fel
low But lie worked at some of the prob
lems that discouraged the rest of us
with a stubborn courage that enabled him
more than once to surprise us and put us
to shame. “Thorough” seemed to be his
motto.
He took his decree of M ]) with
honors, and soon afterward we heard that
he had been appointed a United States
Medical Inspector on the Maine frontier
He entered upon Ids official duties in
1885, the year of the memorable small
pox epidemic which in Montreal and the
surrounding villages ra<»eii destructively
among thc French Canadians With al
most incredible fanaticism, thousands of
these people refused to be vaccinated
They dfcclaitU that to vaccinate was to
oppose the Divine will God had sent la
wicotte, and to try to prevent its spread
was wicked The Canadian health of
ficials, in attempting to compel them to
lie vaccinated, were fiercely assaulted,
their flags and placards torn down and
the people rioted in the streets. Under
these circumstances, it was almost im
possible to check the epidemic
The American health officials estab
Ifched a rigid svstem of inspection alone
the Canadian border, and required that
all passengers on railroad trains coming
from Surgeons Canada with should be fumigated!
the necessary appliances
were stationed at the railroad stations,
and on the wood roads and forest trails
leading across thc boundary, to vaccinate
all people arriving from Canada who had
not already been vaccinated.
Young Doctor Dean was directed to
make a tour of the logging camps in the
Moosehead Lake region, and to vaccinate
every man in their crews whose arm did
not show a fresh scar. Among these
loggers were many ignorant, lawless fel
lows, some of whom had the stupid pre
judice against vaccination which had led
the French people across tin* border to
resist thc efforts of t he Canadian doctors.
Their employers and the foremen, liow
ever, were heartily in sympathy with the
v>ork of the surgeon, and did their best
to compel their men to submit to his
lancet In one of these camps Doctor
Dean encountered a French Canadian
called Pierre Couteau, who was unusually
obstinate, and showed a vicious temper
in his opposition to the doctor’s pur
pose to vaccinate him. He was a huge
fellow with a black beard, and a great
red scar on his forehead.
“Its of no use for you to hang off—
you’ve got to have the job done, said
Dixon, the boss of the camp.
“No!” answered Pierre, crisply and
doggedly.
“Don't make any fuss about it! Roll
up the sleeve of your frock!” ordered
Dixon.
Dr. Dean took a step toward the Can
adian.
“No ’’growied the fellow,with an omin
ous emphasis, at thc same time grasping
his axe as if to strike. His eyes flashed,
the scar oil his forhead grew redder, and
be fairly bristled with determination.
Dixon was furiously augry and bunt
into a torrent of profane exclamations.
“Leave this camp and don’t vou ever
come back, you brute!” lie cried' “We
don’t want any murderers here!”
' Pierre muttered a few words in his na
live patios, flashed a defiant look at the
foreman, dropped his axe with a scorn
ful gesture, ami turned to go away.
| In a second Dr. Dean sprang upon him,
tripped him, throw him to the ground,
face downward, and jumped on liis back,
Dixon came quickly to his assistance and
helped to hold the man down.
“Throttle the scoundrel!” exclaimed
the excited foreman.
“No,” said the doctor, coolly. “I’m
going to vaccinate him.”
K friendly wood-chopper happened to
come along He helped Dixon to hold
down the struggling, cursing, frothing
man, while Doctor Dean cut away his
frock and shirt, criseroaaed his skin with
his lancet, and rubbed iu the vaccine.
COUNTY NEWS.
In less than a minute the operation was
OT ar.
Trembling with rage, but cowed, the
Canadian jumped up, flung back an
angry threat at the doctor, took his
small pack of clothing, and, still
breathing vengeance, strode away from
the camp.
“I dunuo; I guess you made a mis
take,” said Dixon.
“Why?” asked the doctor.
“That critter is liable to kill you. He’s
a bad one! I rather think ’twould have
been better to let him go without trying
to vaccinate him.”
“If I’d let him go he’d be liable to
kill a hundred men instead ot one,” re
plied the doctor. “He might be the
very one to spread the small-pox all
through this regon. One unvacinated
man is a constant menace. The only
safe way is for me to obey orders and
see that everyone is vaccinated.”
A few weeks later Doctor Dean was
ordered to take his station at a point
where a much-traveled road through the
woods crossed the boundry between
Maine and Canada. The Canadian
Pacific Railroad had gangs at work in
Maine, and many men were going back
and forth across the border. A log
cabin was build for the doctor s habita
tion. a turnpike gate was put up, and
no man was allowed to pass without first
having bared his arm.
The cabin was furnished with a stove,
hunks and a few necessary pieces of fur
niture, and was well stocked with pro
visions. A young man known as Dan
was engaged to stay with the doctor as
his cook and companion, and he also had
the company of a large mastiff and two
less sociable friends, a pair of rifles.
The cabin stood in the midst of a dense
forest, in which were many wild animals;
the nearest human neighbors were the
men in a railroad camp, twenty miles
away. The trout which abounded in a
stream that flowed past the cabin often
contributed to the bill of fare of the
doctor and his assistant. Once Dan shot
a deer - which supplied them with venison
f ? r Several weeks ‘ Their tabIe was at no
tlme scantily furnished, they had a col
lectl ? U ? f books ’ tb ® air of the woods
Wa f “""KORitmg, and they enjoyed their
£ ost every day , men Wlth . . packs on
? , . backs alon the road from
elP came S
Canada> and were sto PP ed and vacci
‘ iatcd ; Sometimes the y gnimbled, but
for a lou ff time no one resisted the doctor
At night the -two young men
t0 k turas at watchia S tbe g ate , ««d the
travcler over tb / turu P ike to Maine, at
wbatever hm e he arnved > had to stop
and be examined. .
Weelc after week passed, and still the
you P e ^ , n ormance ” men , ba( of } , tbo “°. ‘ ser r du , . lous * ies trouble , , , 111 . tbe ,,
-
<>m \ foreaoon tbe doctors , assistant .
took down °“ e of tne nfles ' aud sayin S
tbat f or dinner b ° WOul star ? try ed to lnto # et tbe ® ome w / >ods P arfcnd The ? es
?™ , t0 ’ sd V ! * he door st ' o1 of
the cabifi, \ .T aS reading n £ a °“ book. - °
h U -‘ijouldn –al t go very far away, Dan,”
“Oh, pooh! You won’t have any
trouble!”
“No, but our instructions, you know,
are to stick right here,” said Doctor
Dean.
U' I shan't run off,” laughed Dan.
“Better not go so far that you can’t
hear me if I should call.”
“Well, if you want me, you halloo,
and I’ll come.”
Dan had been absent for more than
half an hour, when the doctor heard
voices, and soon saw three men coming
up thc road. He took his case, and went
out to the turnpike to meet them.
“Gentlemen,” said he, politely, “I'm
a Government surgeon, and have orders
to vaccinate you.
“Huh!” grunted thc foremost of the
three men, a stout Canadian in ared shirt
aud kld 5 ta P- “Qu’estcc que e’est?”
The . doctor explained the situation to
them in French.
The three men chattered with each
other ... their peculiar C anadian . t rench
iu
dialect for a few moments. The doctor
pretended to pay no attention to them,
lmt listened intently, and caught nearly
all they said.
“Let s keep right on,” the red-shirted
man finally said. .
“Break the man s head ! ^ ’ exclaimed _ a
scrubby little man, with a large brass
buckle on the belt of his frock.
t l But the dog!” said the third man.
The mastiff was a quiet but attentive
listener to the colloquy.
“who cares for the dog. He can t
s ^°pus! said thc little fellow with the
big buckle.
Doctor Dean wished that lie had
brought one of his rifles out of the. hut
with him, and that Dan was at hand,
He shouted “Dan; loudly, thinking
that Dan might hear him. or that thc
cal1 mi S bt at b>ast serve to intimidate the
The three travelers listened fora mo
ment-, and looked sharply about them.
They heard no answer to the doctor's
call, and saw that nobody came.
“Laissez nous passes!” (Let ns pass!)
the first speaker said in French, with a
threatening look at the doctor, who stood
unflinchingly at the gate,
“It’s a very simple thing.” said Dean,
without raising liis voice. “The Govern
ment requires me to vaccinnate you. It
won’t take me five minutes.”
He spoke pleasantly, as if he had not
! heard their threatening talk-—as if he did
j not He sec a warning that he in tlieir about eyes. have
saw was to se
! rious trouble, but he made two resolves:
! one was to make every effort to keep
1 those men from passing the gate in deli-
anas of his orders, and the other was to
manage, if he could, to get his rifle fiom
the cabin. With that in hand he felt
that he should be master of the situa
tion.
jt was possible for the men to escape
him by turning from the road into the
woods, but they were too surly to take
so much trouble in maintaing their diso
bedience. They had determined to defy
the doctor, and to pass along the turn
pike in spite of his opposition.
Suddenly the man ia the red shirt
moved towards the gate. At the same
moment the doctor heard footsteps of
some one approaching down the road.
“Perhaps it is Dan,” he thought.
The red-shirted man started to climb
over the gate, but Dean grasped him and
pulled him back.
With an angry hiss the fellow aimed a
blow at Dean. The doctor dodged
quickly—and then straight from his
shoulder came a blow that laid his assail
an t; on th e g rD und.
The t wo other men, cursing, sprang
U p 0n the doctor.
“Take him, Lion!” Dean cried to the
growling mastiff—and in an instant the
do g was a ^ the throat of the man with
the brass buckle, who yelled with terror,
Dean, meanwhile, was wrestling des
pera t e ]y with the third man.
If he could only * iake him o2 and
ge t his rifle ,
But his first assailant was up. He
rushed to the succor of the screaming
wretch who was strugging with the
mastiff.
Dean was left to battle singly with the
third man. His courage rose,
They were whirling around, panting
and kicking, each trying to trip the
other, when a new-comer rushed into the
melee. It was the man whose approach
ing steps had been heard,
Dean saw a great red scar burning
over a face covered with black hair, and
his courage left him all at once,
The man was Pierre Couteau!
The doctor ceased to struggle, and
dropped limp to the ground. His
antagonist aimed a kick at his face with
his boot, that, if it had reached him,
would have disfigured him for life.
At the same instant the doctor saw
something pass between himself and his
assailaat llke a flash - Pierre Couteau
? ra PP led with the fellow and threw him.
Amazed, Dean sprang to his feet,
“I’ll help you!” Pierre cried in French;
and he yelled to the other fellows to
desist.
flic poor mastiff had received . ,.. his death ,
blow from a stone. Dean rushed into
the cabin and brought out his rifle. At
its appearance the three fellows sur
rendered and were vaccinated, and
allowed ,, , to tb
8° on eir way.
Tb ™ Dean learned from Pierre the
secret of his unexpeted behavior. He
bad S one from tbe Moosehead logging
cam l ) to Canada. While he was there,
the small-pox attacked his village. Many
of his friends died; but he, thanks to thc
doctors, vaccine escaped with a mild
attack of varioloid.
“I have often ask dose saint to bless
de good docteur,” he said in hisabroken
English.
When, on his way back to the States,
he saw his good doctor in trouble, he
was glad to do him a service, and thus
help the saints to answer his prayers.
“Some good luck dat I come ’long,
n’est-ee-pas?”
“That’s so, Pierre! Can you stay
here with me a while?”
Pierre said he would be glad to stay,
When the delinquent Dan came back
with his partridges, he was dismissed for
disobedience, and Pierre was installed in
his place.
All through that trying season, Doctor
Dean aud Pierre guarded the turnpike iu
the woods, and the doctor found in the
Frenchman a most tractable and useful
assistant.— Youth's Companion.
He saw the Gorilla.
The Fort Wayne (Ind.) correspond
ent of the Cincinnatti Enquirer says:
\\ H. Stewart, proprietor of a museum,
residing in this city, has a very large
g 0r iffa, noted for his strength aud feroc
ity, caged, and at present the cage is in
j,j s barn. This afternoon a man named
Isaiah Sla de, of Akron, Ohio, desired tc
see the animal, and visited Stewart’s bare
during his absence. The animal had
j us ^ been fed and one of the iron bars ol
the cage was left open. As soon as
Slade entered the barn the gorilla forced
k is way through the opening and
sprung upon the man, forcing him down
an d punished him frightfully. His veils
brought Stewart, who with great iliffi
culty drove the animal into his cage,
Slade had liis whiskers all pulled out, one
,, ve gouged out and liis nose badly torn
A Meteorological Mystery.
A remarkable air-wave has attracted
much attention from meteorologists, who
are still unable to explain the phenome
non. At several stations in Central Eu
rope the barometer recorded a sudden
dip of about four-hundredths of an inch,
followed by a corresponding rise a few
minutes later. Dr. E. Hermann has
traced the disturbance from Pola to Kei
turn, separated by about five degrees of
tho rale ^ translation between
thesc V laces bav,n . g be <‘ n about seventy
one miles an hour. In an easterly and
westerly direction the disturbance was
confined to narrow limits. There was
no earthquake iu Europe. — Avkamaw
Traveler.
Queen of Spain—-“Good gracious!
The baby King has the stomach-ache ”
Lord Chamberlain (excitedly)__“Call the
Secretary of the Interior!”
PECULIAR FISH.
Different Species Capable of Fly
ing, Walking and Climbing.
Some which Leave Their Native
Element to Lay Their Eggs.
“It was something like two years ago,”
“says a writer inthe New York Ilera d,
while sitting on the deck of one of our
European steamers and looking quietly
inio the water of the Gulf Stream, a
suddenly saw a creature of some sort
with wings. It came, apparently, ou*'
of the ocean and immediately took a
complacent attitude in mid-air. It was
a fish beyond dispute and I accounted
for its conduct from the fact that a
huge fish of a much larger kingdom
darted to the surface of the water in
eagei pursuit of this frightened creature.
At first I thought the tiny fish was safe
from the chase, but in less than two
minutes it dropped back into the sea.
Hardly had it touched the water when
it again bounded in another direction,
and it was soon evident that it was
again followed. When this aggravated
pursuer came to the surface I saw it
was none other than a huge dolphin.
I watched the sport very attentively for
some time, but as our steamer was los
ing sight of it I saw an albatross com
ing toward the fleeing fish. The acute
eye of the bird had espied the tiny fish
and ha t come to rob the dolphin of its
p;ey.
“The litt'e creature was not aw-are of
its double danger, ani by its frantic
movements kept sailing along,endeavor
ing to escape its finny enemy, Death
beset it in all directions, when at last
the albatross was upon it, and the fish
conscious of only the danger behind,
fell right into the claws of the bird.
“Naturalists claim that the fish does
not fly, but simply leaps from the water
and sails along on its membraneous
w-ings. I cannot believe this, for I
have seen the fish on many occasions
leave the water ani fly along furtuer
than it could possibly do if it dil not
fly. And. too, 1 have seen them flap
their winglike lias, change their course,
and fly against a strong w.nd. Tins
evidence, it seems to me, is far more
reliable than that of hundreds of natur
alists. A man may not be sharp- sight
ed enough to see the flying fish fl ip its
wings; nevertheless, 1 have often seen it
done, and nothing cun change my
mind.”
That keen observer, Grant Allen,
forcibly declares that the flying fish does
actua.ly fly. Of the flying fish there are
at lead twenty species and in appear
ance greatly resemoles the herring, with
large, bat-liite wings. T-.cy will not
leave the water unless threatened by
an enemy. Their speed is not rapid,
although they can easily keep ahead of
a steamer going at the rate of tweive
knots an hour.
We are told there are fish that walk,
which are more numerous and more
variable. Many of them leave tne water
from choice ratiierthaa necessi.y. O.ie
kiud in particular leaves its native ele
ment in search of leaves and twigs with
which to bui d a nest. It lays its eggs
and watches with great care until they
are hatched. There is auother when on
seeing there is danger of its pond dry
ing up and leaving it to die takes in a
supply of wa?er and embarks on a tour
of inspection. In a body they start
through a forest with as much boldness
as a body of men. The.r bodies arc
covered with sharp spiucq so they arc
not desirable eating for the animats of
the forest, and consequently are allowed
to pass unmolested. Some unmistaka
ble instinct tells them where to find
water, and their march always results in
reaching a much larger body than that
which they have just left.
There is abundant proof to convince
the most seep ieal that a fish can actual
ly run. There is a species m South
America that have large and prominent
eyes, which they have the power of
rolling back and forth at will, As you
thrust you hand down toward one it
turns its great eye with a rather corned
expression, and just as you are about to
pick it up away it runs out of your
reacn. But unless disturbed they march
slowly along until a pond is reached,
when they jump in and stay.
Another interesting kind of fish is
called the climbing perch. They ac
tually leave the water at intervals and
by means of two spines ascend into tho
treetop. What (heir object is in so do
ing cannot be accounted for, unless it
is to search for insects.
These are but a few of the fish whi
leave the water for time. (h *
a Th« * ue com.
mon eel , often travels considerable
tance in searching for fli s *
more anj dee ^
water. Eels have been found Uad
stones that have been dry for Wt(i(
.
yet when placed in water signs 0 f Hfg
are immediately made manifest. These
eels are very interesting fish and no
has been able to disting one
fish betw een the
male and the female, and but little i
known about their s
mode of rcproduc.
tion; yet each springtime swains of
tiny eels are seen to swim up the fresh
brooks, showing that they have been
born.
How Egyptians Water their Crops.
- The summers in Egypt, in Syria and
in Asia Minor are almost rainless. i
such climates n
the necessity of irrigation
is obvious, and the loss of the ancient
means of furnishing it helps to explain
the diminished fertility of mast of the
countries in question. In Egypt evapor
ation and absorbtion by the earth are so
rapid that all annual crops require irri.
gation during the whole period of their
growth. As fast as the water retires by
the subsidence of the annual inuudatioa
the seed is sown upon the still rnoist
uncovered soil, and irrigation begins at
once. Upon the Nile to-day, just as it
was thousands of years ago, one still
hears the creaking of the water-wheels
through the whole night, while
the poorer cultivators occasionally
ply the simple “shadoof/ 1 p r
bucket and sweep, laboriously raising
the water from trough to trough by ia
many as six or seven stages when the
water is low. Toe bucket is of flexible
lea:her, with a stiff rim, and is empted
into the trough, not by inverting it like
a wooden bucket, but by j utting the
hand beneath and pushing the bottom
up till the water all runs out over the
br.m, or in otner words, by turning the
vessel inside out. The quantity of
water (bus withdrawn from the Nile is
enormous. Most of this is evaporated
directly from the surface or the super
ficial strata, but some mo.sture perco
iates down and oozes through the
banks into the river aga n whiie a larger
quantity sinks till it joins the slow cur
rent of infiltration by which the Nile
water pervades the earth of the valley
to ti e distance, at some points, of not
les3 than fi.ty miles.
A Remarkable Fight.
The cliy of Constantine in Algeria
has been making a remarkable fight
against the crickets, which threatened
to strip the town of every bit of foliage.
These | eits, which have been trying for
two years to turn Algeria into a desert,
invade l the town in a cloud, and in a
few hours they were devouring all the
gardens, and even the interior of the
housei, the hospital and the prison
swarmed with them. It is well known
that ’.ho particular insect which is
uffl cting Algeria does not fly high. In
old r to keep out fresh arrivals the
citizens lost no time iu surrounding the
eutiie town with a fence of cotton cloth
about six feet high and over 36,000
feet long.
As soon as they had cut off thc sources
of re-enforcements, every man, woman
and cuild began to devote < xclusive at
tention to the enemy within thc walls.
Business was almost entirely suspended,
and lawyers, merchants, magistrate*,
Jew ban.icrs, laborers, Mohammedans
and Christians all went eagerly to
woik to k.ll crickets and save the
gaidens. The insects were killed bj
tne hundreds of thousands, and the
b dies of the slain were swept into
the river and carried out of the city.
The town had uo other thought oi
business as long as there were a n J
crickets to bo killed, At last the
enemy was completely vanquished* and
tho half-destroyed gardens were saved
from further injury. The war kept
the town bu;y for nearly a w'eek.
Died as He Wished, Fishing.
Colonel John Walker, of London,
Canada, who died while on a salmon
f.t-hing trip at Gaspe, Quebec, Canada,
recently had fulfilled in a remarkable
manner the wish he uttered when bis
friend, Sir John Rose, of London, Eng
land, dropped dead in the act of firing
at a stag in Scotland a few years ago
Colonel Walker then said at his club:
“When my finis comes Iliopo I may be
catching a 28-pound salmon.” A lettet
received from Gaspe with details of b'®
illness, says lie was stricken withparnly
sis just after catching a 24-pound fish.
Ho never rallied. Colonel Walker ^ a ®
well known throughout Canada .—^
York