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THE HENRY COUNTY W EEKLY.
A JOURNALDEVOTED TO HOME RULE, TARIFF REFORM AND BOURBON DEMOCRACY.
VOL. XIV.
PS
Li
&AKjfi 6
POWDER
Absolutely Pure.
Thip |K>H»k» ih'Vh vsu .rs A marvel -a4'
pui i( v, st: oiiirt •:• ii»l w i.(>!.•<«mviu srf. More
economical Mum l!u- oniiniirv kirnls, and
< aiinot l»e sold in compelil ion wiili the mul
titude of low t. st, short weight alum or
phosphate powders. Sold only in cans.
Koval Baking I'uwiiki! ( «».. MMi \\ all street,
New York. novl3-ly
(il!l FFhN I’ulJXmtY
AND
Machine Works.
\y, Tiunounce to the Pußi.c that we are
\\ prepared to manufacture Engine Boil
ers ; will take orders for all kinds of Boil
ers. We are prepar* <1 to do all kinds of
repairing on Engines, Boilers dmJ Machin
ery, genera’lv. We keep in fetouk Brass
fittings of all kinds; also Inspirators, In
j odors, Safe tv Valves, (luages,
Pipe and Pipe fittings and Iron and Brass
Castings of every Description.
OSItOU\ X WALPOTT,
p R O FE&S lO NA L C A ItDSm
| |i:. ■*. < ampiu ij.
D ENTIST]
McDonough C*a.
Any one desiring work done can >w. ac*
com modal ed either Bv calling on me in per
son or addressing me through the mails.
Terms cash, unless special arrangements
are otherwise made.
ako W. Buy an j W.T. Dicken.
imVA> A WICKIIX.
attorneys at law.
• McDonough, Da.
Will practice in the counties composing
ilie Flint Judicial Circuit,th<‘ Supreme V.mi t
of (Jeor"iu and the United States Distnet
Court. . a P r27 - 1 - v
j ts. 81. TI mi.K.
attorney at law,
McDoNOI'GH, < i A .
Will practice in the counties composing
,V, e Flint Circuit, the Supreme Court of
Georgia, and the United Slates Distnet
Court. __ marl( ’- |v
]7 J u,A “ 4>
attorney at law.
McDonough, D a .
Will practice in all the Courts ol Deorgia
Special attention given to commercial and
other collections. Will attend all the Courts
at Hampton regularly. Office upstairs over
The Weekly office.
J « «
attorney at law,
McDonough, Ga .
Will practice in the counties composing tbe
Flint Judicial Circuit, ami the Supreme and
Dist rict Court sof G?orgia. Prompt attention
givm to collections. octs-’79
a. ilieoU’A.
’ ATTORNEY AT LAW,
Mi Donouor, Ga.
Will practice in all the count ies compos
ing the Flint Circuit, the Supreme Court of
Georgia and the United States District
Court. ianl lv
fj a.
ATTORNEY AT LAW,
Hampton, Ga,
Will practice in all the counties composing
the Flint Judicial Cii cifit, the Supreme Court
of Georgia and the District Court ot the
United States. Special and prompt atten
tion given to Collections, Oct S, 1888
Jno. D. Stkwart. J K.T. Danikl.
STEWART A ItA.TIEE.
ATTORN FA’S AT LAW,
Griffin, Ga. .
I jlt.K. J. ARAOt.D.
Hampton. Ga.
[ hereby tender mv professional service to
the people of Hampton and surrounding
country. Will attend all calls night and
d»y ;
J OHA I-. TVE,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
Gate City Natioal F.ank Building,
Atlanta. Ga,
Practices in the Stale and Federal Courts.
For Sale or Kent.
TVKhaveA -phndid farm of Ititi acres
I) lvingt miles from Stockbridge, Ga.,
near Flat Rock, known ns the Nancy E.
Crumbley place, for sale or rent. Will sell
for $1,200, one tenth cash, and the lialance
in ten equal annual installments, Bej inter
est on deferred payments, payable annually:
or w ill rent lor third and fourth to good
parties. Apply at once to C. M. sI'KKi:.
MeDonough.Ga.
FOB MEN ONLY!
LOBT or FAtUKO MANHOODt
511 and NERWJS DEBILITY;
ITaj MlAf* [WaikmeM of Body and Mind, Effect*
liJiULiJof Error* or Excesses in Old or Young,
fit,butt. >ObU BaNHOOD ftiilT lUatorroi. Haw to enlarft and
fit rm* *lk« WKAK, I VDtTKLOPED OKhAXS* FABTSOF ftODT.
iinJu,',;, HBfaitlaF HOSE TREATMENT—Bea*Ct« la a daj.
m r - , if'tlfj from ou BtMtem ana r»rci»» l ■ -sStr*.i-s, ffriii itta.
*>r *r’ he Book, eii-laaetlen and proofs autlled tea led fre*.
4fcm* ERIE MEDICAL CO., BUFFALO. N> V.
MEER.CATS AS PETS.
They Arc Very Cunning, bat Are Terribly
Liable to Consumption.
Old travelers are often asked to sug
gest an outlandish [>et, us we can testi
fy. but the demand is not easily an
swered. Doubtless lueereats lire the
best all round, hut they have their
faults, and besides they are terribly
liable to otmuouuption. Our damp win
ters, and, above till, our draughty floors
are very frying to animals that live un
derground in South African veldt. We
ourselves kept one for nearly three
years-, having caught it when a I wety.
The xceriesof its Illness and death from
iiriiuninwtion of the lungs are pathetic
to the ik'gree which only those who
have kept nieerents could credit At
thepirsf sigji y£ indisposition we seig. its
successors to the Regent's park, and
the authorities were overjoyed to re
ceive them, sixteen years ago---the first
male they ever had and the third fe
male It may comfort some of those
who cherish those pets to learn that the
former must have been 9 years old
when it died and the latter 12; they
may have been much older.
It is not worth while to describe uni
trials so easily observed tit this day. In
brief, the meercat resembles a chubby
weasel, nine or ten inches in length,
the tail included, with gray, broken
fur, mu/.z.le. and ears of black velvet,
the loveliest of eyes and the silkiest of
lashes, a small, unceasing, cooing cry
most restful to hear, and endless pretty
ways. To behold one of them sitting
upright by the hearth, with pendant
paws, us its manner is. watching every
movement in the room—or even outside
the whitlow—changing its note contin
ually, ;ts fancies pass through its shrewd
little brain, delights the dullest soul.'
It has an extraordinary range of voice,
mounting from the soft coo to a bark
of passion—by no means so agreeable
to hear. One could hardly exaggerate
the charm of this pet. Upon the other
hand, we must not conceal, that the
meercat has disadvantages. Though
loving, it never yields its independence,
and if otto be resolved to forbid any di
version on which its little heart is set,
our experience strongly advises that it
be thrust into a cage with the utmost
promptif udo.
Those pretty teeth are sharp as
needles anil keen as razors. It cannot
be induced to respect the carpet,
scratching it up like a terrier at a rah
bit hole, chattering the while in an
eager, hustling tone, most musical,
which wants tLie housewife, fortunate
ly Special care is needed, however,
when you interrupt your “cat” at this
work. And those we have known
would not endure a dog. We have
known tin exception to this rule, but it
is taken for granted in South Africa.
The dauntless rage of the tiny creature
as it springs t o attack a mastiff or New
foundlaud. with a kind of choking
scream, appears to terrify the fiercest
dog We ‘never saw one stand its
ground, and they say on -the veldt that
the meercat is always victorious, leap
ing to his enemy's throat at a bound
and severing the jugular.—London Silt
unlay Review
Ili‘g Your Pardon!
What talismaiiic virtue there is in
the three brief words, “Beg your par
don 1" You dig your elbow into a gen
tleman's ribs in making your way
through a crowd, and as he turns, irate,
to administer the “upper cut” you ut
ter tile magic phrase in deprecating
tones. Down drops his arm, his honor
is satisfied, and notwithstanding the
blue murk on liis intercostal region lie
grins horribly a ghastly smile and bows
his head as if in acknowledgment of an
act of courtesy
Passing along the avenue of knees
in a street car. in obedience to the
“move up" of the packing agent of one
of those social Black Marias, you come
down with maddening emphasis on an
unpinned corn The furious exclama
tion which follows the deed as natural
ly as foam from the drawn cork of a
bottle of champagne is arrested in the
middle with an obsequious “Beg your
pardon!" and the expletive never
reaches Heaven's chancery to trouble
tile eyes of tile Recording Angel.
You tread on the “trail" of a lady
and “r-r-r-ip” go the gathers. In trem
ulous semitones, plaintive as the “last
sigh of tlie Moor." you solicit forgive
ness, and she —no, beg pardon, she does
not forgive you, but with a scowl that
reminds you of the most vindictive of
the Don’s tormentors she passes on,
thinking daggers but sayiiig nothing.—
New York Ledger.
A TriOer.
Mother—Lucy, busn’t Mr. Jinks pro
posed yet?
Lucy No, not yet, mamma.
Mother—He helped you to put on
your gloves last night..
Lucy (shaking her head;— I know tie
did, but there are six buttons on the
gloves, and when he buttoned the fourth
button he asked me if that wasn't
enough. It only took him a minute.
If lie had any serious Intentions it
would have taken him half an hour at
least. 1 see he is only trifling with my
young a flections. —Chatter.
A Macon, Ga.. salesman while travel
ing on a southern road was greatly sur
prised when a woman occupying an ad
joining seat whispered in his ear that
his iiersonal beauty had captured her
susceptible heart. She was a woman of
45 and by no means beautiful. He took
another seat, but she followed him and
continued to pour into his ear her tale
of passion until every person in tbe car
•was laughing. Finally it transpired
that the woman was crazy and was
then on her way to an asylum.
McDQjJOUGH, GA., FRIDAY. JUNE 27. |8»<).
Hiiuntcd Hotel Rooms.
“Yes, a man who commits suicide in
a hotel causes a vast deal of trouble,"
said an old hotel clerk. “If the nuin
l>er of the room in which the deed was
committed gets out we always have to
renumber the room before we can get
anybody to occupy it. I recall an in
cident of ti few years ago that is inter
esting. A well known Richmond man
had committed suicide in one of the
Indianapolis hotels. About the time
the corpse was removed some of the
electric wires in the building got crossed.
“That afternoon a traveling man was
occupying ii room several doors from
tlie one in which tfie suicide laid oc
curred. livery time he would call fora
Isi_v the register on tlie clerk's desk
would point to the number of the room
In which the suicide bad occurred and
from which the corpse had been re
moved only ii few hours before. A boll
boy answered the first call and came
back white as a sheet, with the an
nouncement that no one was in the
room. 'Tiiig-a-ling-ii-ling' went the
call hell again, and once more tlie regis
ter pointed to the ■ room in which the
suicide had occurred. A second bell boy
was sent to the room, and he came
back as badly scared as the (irst, with
tint statement that no one was in the
room.
“ ‘lt is the dead man's ghost,’ said a
guest who had become interested in the
proceedings.
"Again the bell rang, and for the
third time the register pointed to the
suicide’s room. I ordered a third bell
boy to go lip and make sure that there
was no one in the room. Not much;
lie wouldn't go. Said I wasn’t going
to steer him in among spooks. T screwed
up my own courage and started up
stairs to make an investigation myself.
My breath was beginning to come short
when I let the traveling man on his
way downstairs, fuming because his
calls had not been answered. It oc
curred to me in a moment that the
wires had become crossed.”—lndianap
olis News.
Why Floys Leave the Farm.
Farmers have themselves often to
blame for the dislike their sons take to
a business in which they find only the
rough and hard side of life. Farm
work is not so hard and disagreeable us
it used to be before the introduction ol
much labor saving machinery that now
lightens it. Still, though less disagree
able, the boys do not like to imve its
roughest and worst features put on
them. Nor will it make it any bettei
fortlio father, who now shirks whatever
he dislikes, to tell his sons how much
harder he had to work than they when
lie was a boy. Farm work is easier
than it used to be, and the boys should
be the first ones on the farm to find
this out practically. Then fewer of
them would be led from tlie farm by
the attractions of city life.
So far ns possible boys ought to have
a personal and pecuniary interest in
everything they do, and the girls also
for that matter. Their labor legally
belongs to the parent until they become
of age. but he is indeed a strange father
who keeps his sons or daughters at work
without pay merely to save the wages
of hired help. This working without
pecuniary interest in what one is doing
is too much like slavery. Just as soon
as the pressure is ruinpved, and the
eliild becomes legally its own master,
all restraint is thrown aside. Every
young person should have some chance
to work for himself on some corner of
the farm, and whatever he thus earns
should bo his, to be saved or spent tin
der parental supervision.
In this way the habit of earning
money, and tlie knowledge of what it
costs to procure it. as well its the best
means of using it. may be learned. The
farm has undoubtedly greater opportu
uities for teaching both boys and girls
this practical knowledge of money
and its value than any other business
in the city can possibly enjoy. A great
part of the advantage of living in the
country for bringing up a family of
children will bo lost unless this oppor
tunity is utilized as much as possible.—
American Cultivator.
According to Size. •
“Now, I'll show you over tlio house,”
said a friend to mo the other day. She
had moved into a south side residence
whose numerous bay windows give one
the impression of a roomy interior,
when in fact the reverse is true. She
had made many improvements and
was anxious that I should see what n
good housekeeper she was.
On tlie third floor she threw open a
door disclosing an apartment about the
size of a bathroom in the average flat,
and in which she stored her trunks, va
lises, etc.
“This,” said sho, "wus the room oc
cupied by the former tenant's inaid-of
all-work. ”
“Was there a hole sawed in the par
tition through wliicli to extend her
feet (" I inquired, as the story related
by Frank Stockton flashed through iny
mind.
“Oil, no. Emergencies are met in
better fashion in Chicago. Instead of
making the room tit the girl, as Stock
ton did, the girl is selected to fit the
room. The lady who formerly resided
hero told me that slie lia/1 a small
mark on the purlor door, and in choos
ing her tielji if the Applicant came up
to the mark she got the position, hut if
beyond it she had to go, rio matter
how superior her qualifications wen-.”
—Chicago News.
An English naval officer has invented
a pneumatic line throwing gun, very
light and portable, which fires a hollow
shell bearing the cord to a wrecked ’ves
sel or into a burning building on dry
land.
LOST INSTINCTS.
i Sounds, Slghtii ami Conn** Known to Aut
mult au<l Not to Man.
If the doctrine be true tluit man is
really the heir of ail the various species
and genera of the animal kingdom it
seems a little hard upon us that, even
by way of exception, we inherit none
of the more marvelous instincts of
those species and genera, and have to
be content with those greater hut pure
ly human faculties by which the most
wonderful of animal instincts have
been extinguished. Sit John I.ubboelt
maintains there are Insects, and very
likely even higher anidwls, which per
i eeive colors of whicj&we have no
glimpses and hear sounds which to us
; tire inaudible. Yet we never bear of a
j human retina that includes in its vision
those colors depending on vibrations of
the ether which are too slow or too
rapid for our ordinary eyes, nor of a
human ear which is entranced with
1 music that to the great majority of our
species is absolutely inaudible.
Again, we never hear of a human be
ing who could perform the feat of which
we were told only recently of a blood
hound. In a dark night It followed up
for three miles the trail of a thief with
whom the bloodhound could never
liave been In contact (ho had just pur
oined some rolls of tan from the tan
yard in which the dog was chained up),
and finally sat down under the tree in
which the man had taken refuge.
Why, we wonder, are those liner powers
for discriminating and following the
track of the scent, which so many of
the lower animals possess, entirely ex
tinguished in man, if man be the real
heir of all the various genera which
show powers inferior to his own?
We see no trace in animals of that
high enjoyment of the finer scents
which make the blossoming of the
spring flowers so great a delight to
human beings, and yet men are entirely
destitute of that almost unerring power
of tracking the path of an odor winch
seems to be one of the principal gifts of
many quadrupeds and some birds. It
is the same with the power of a dog or
cat to find its way back to a borne to
which it is attached, but from which it
has been taken by a route that it can
not possibly follow on its return, even
if it had tho power of observing that
route, which usually it has not. Nothing
could bo more convenient than such a
power to a lost child. But none ever
heard of p, child who possessed it.
Still more enviable is that instinct
possessed -by .so mar«y "bh-As of crossing
great tracts of laud and sea without ap
parently any landmarks or seamarks to
guide them, and of reaching a quarter
of the globe which many of them have
never visited before, while those who
have visited it before have not visited
it often enough to learn the way
The migratory birds must''possess
either senses or• instincts entirely be
yond the range of human imagination,
and yet no one ever heard of the stir
vival of such a sense or instinct in any j
member of our race It may be said,
indeed, that men have either inherited
or some way reproduced the slave mak
ing instinct of some of the military
ants; but this only enhances the irony
of our destiny if we do indeed in any
sense inherit from these insect aristoc
racies one of the most disastrous in
stincts of the audacious but indolent
creatures which light so much bettor
than they work. What is still more
curious is that even where human be
ings have wholly exceptional and un
heard of powers they betray no traces
of the exceptional and unheard of pow
ers of tlie races whose vital organiza
tion wo are said to inherit.
The occasional appearance of very
rare mathematical powers, for instance,
so far from being in any sense expli
cable from below, looks much more
like inspiration from aofeve. The cal
culating boy, who could not even give
any account of the process whereby he
arrived at correct results which the ed
ucated mathematician took some time
to verify, certainly was not reviving in
himself any of the rare powers of the
lower tribes of animals. Nor do the
prodigies in music who show such mar
velous power in infancy recall to ua
any instinct of the .bird, the only mu
sical creature except ourselves. Still
less, of course, does great moral genius,
the genius of a Howard or a Clarkson,
suggest any reminiscence of lower an
imal life.—American Analyst.
Chicago Street Scene.
Peter Lynch was awarded a verdict
for §485 in liis suit before .Judge Mc-
Connell against the Chicago Lumber
company for §1.500. Lynch Ills an ex
tensive cabbage patch near the corner
of Ashland avenue and Thirty-fifth
street, immediately north is the lum
ber company’s planing mill, lie claims
that in the summer of 188.'! the defend
ants heaped a huge pile of shavings be
hind their-mill, and the wind distribut
ed them over liis cabbages. The crop
of 1883 was buried out of sight and
ruined, while, Lynch says, the ground
was so poisoned by the shavings that it
was unproductive all the following
year.—Chicago Times.
Orlj-ln*l Meaning of Cheater.
Cheater originally meunt esclieator,
or officer of the king's exchequer, ap
pointed to receive dues and taxes. The
present use of the word shows liotf
these officers were wont to li< -eee the
people.—Dry Goods Chronicle.
It Would Suit.
“Now, madam.” said the gentlemanly
clerk, “this carpet can't be beat.”
“Then I don't want it." replied the
shopper. “I always take up my car
pets in the spring and beat them."
Epoch.
$ 1.00 CASH, $ 1.50 ON SPACE : AND WORTH IT.
\Tliman's Wit to tho Uoncuo.
A last and pleasanter instaneo of
tho ready wit of a woman, more instant !
and efficient than ali the wisdom of
two philosophers, is the ono told with
great enjoyment by was it Edward or
Charles Emerson? concerning tho dif
ficulties into which Ralph Waldo Em
erson and himself found themselves led
by a frisky calf, and the solution of
these difficulties by the ready wit of
their Irish maid.
A young calf had got out into the
barn yard, and the philosopher and his
brother were called upon to drive it
back into the barn. They pulled gently
at the rojie about its neck, but it
load. Then they pulled luxrd.
tin did tiu* calf.** Tlie inqiellmg force
was then applied from behind. The
calf lay down. The two wise men then
drew to one side for a few moments
and applied their deepest philosophy to
the solution of the problem.
Tlie result was that they settled upon
the “shooing” process that is the favor
ite amusement between women and
hens. This went on for some time,
both men scampering hatless and
breathless about the farm yard, the
elate calf bounding and running in the
wildest manner, and leading in every
direction but toward the barn door.
Then the Irish maid to tho rescue!
With a sniff of unconcealed contempt
she stalked before the outwitted sagos
up to tho calf, thrust t»vo of her lingers
into its mouth and led it, eager and
docile, into the ham.—New York Even
ing Sun.
Tlie Vain litre Hat.
A great many Mulhatton yarns have
bedn told by travelers about the "ter |
rible bloodsucking vampires." The |
reader of S >uth American travel is al
ways treated to a dish of this kind of j
stud, which, if half were facts, would !
make a fellow's hair stand on end to I
think of being compelled to sleep in
open air in any part of northern South
America. The facts seem to be that
there is a specie* of bat, phyllostomn
spectrum, inhabiting the Central Amor
icon republics and South America as !
far south as the yakada, which it
pressed for food will fasten itself on
animals and tho exposed parts of the j
human body for tlie purpose of sucking 1
blood.
That sleeping persons are not awak
ened by the bat, and that tho incisions
through which the blood is drawn
readily heal, should be takoti as prooi
positive that tlie vampire bat stories,
like tlie human vampire stories of Hun
gary, are but fabrications of diseased
imaginations. The little vampire is an
insect eater, perfectly harmless, and not
at all feared by tlie natives of tlie re
gion which it infests.
A recent traveler (Clarke, 1888) says:
“I have slept out in the open air in tlie
Xingu country in all kinds of weather;
have seen hundreds, yes, thousands, of
vampire bats, but have always found
them perfectly harmless, as much so as j
the native black bat of Pennsylvania
and York state.” —Bt. Louis Republic. ;
IlirriH That l>anco.
In his “Pioneering in South Biuzil"
Mr. Brigg-Wither relates that one morn
ing in the dense forest his attention
was roused by the unwonted sound of
a bird singing, songsters being rare in
that distriet. His men, immediately
they caught the sound, invited him to
follow them, hinting that ho would
probably witness a very curious sight,
Cautiously making their way through
the dense undergrowth they finally
came in sight of a small stony spot of
ground at the end of a tiny glade, and
on this spot, some on the stone and
some on the shrubs, were assembled a
number of liltie birds, about the size of
tomtits, witli lovely blue plumage and
red topknots.
One was perched quite still on a twig,
singing merrily, while the others were
keeping time with wings and feet in n
kind of dance, and all twittering an ac
companiment. lie watched them for
some time, and was satisfied they wore
having a ball and concert, and thor
oughly enjoying themselves. They then
became alarmed, and the performance
abruptly terminated, the birds all going
oil indifTerentdlrectious. The natives
told him that these little creatures were
known as the “dancing birds."
Gen. Male.
In a conversation with Judge Joseph
Co*, who Is a very pleasant talker and
full of anecdotes and information, he
said: “1 was talking to Gen. W. T.
Sherman, several years ago, about rid
ing horses anil mules, and he said:
‘Cox, a mule is the easiest animal to ride
in the world. I always preferred to ride
one during the war. In a picture rep
resenting the burning of Atlanta tlie
artist lias me seated on a fiery steed,
with fury in his eye, etc., while the
houses are burning and the sol
diers are tearing up the railroad iron.
Well, I was there; but I was not on u
prancing horse, but I was straddled on
a plain, common, everyday mule.’ ”
Hut of course it would ruin a historical
picture to put a great general on a mule
instead of a Uery charger.—Cincinnati
Porcupine.
Now Alloy for Watches.
A new alloy is coming into use in
stead of steel in the manufacture of
various parts of watches, such res the
balance wheel and hair spring, so as to
obviate the disadvantages which follow
their magnetization or oxidation. The
alloy is composed of gold, palladium,
rhodium, copper, manganese, silver
and platinum. The copper and man
ganese are first to lx* melted, and the
other metals afterward added, or the
whole of the constituents may be
placed in the crucible at once, with the
manganese ut the bottom.—New York
Telegram.
A GIGANTIC HORSE.
A Queer Mounter Tluit llan KxUteit in
LtitcluiKl for Over 1,000 Year*.
About fvo miles to the north of
Liunbonro*, in Berkshire, England, is
White Ilorsc hill, on tho summit of
which there is a large Rot inn entrench
ment called Ufßngton castle. A little
below the castle on thp steep side of the
hill facing the northwest is the figure
of a gigantic white horse, the dimen
sions of which extend < vor about jui
acre iJ ground, its head, nock, bodv
and tail e-must of o ic white line, es
does also each of it: i'our legs. Flit* out
lines of this monstrous specimen of tlie
genus cqu i a. v f I by cutting
trenches in tlie cluilk. t f which the hill
is maliily eonijvosed, the ditches being
2 or 11 feet in depth jihfiUt JO foot
wide. Tlie elt.ilk of Jt.. T mSfrft being
of a beautiful white < olr r, and the sur
rounding turf the greenest of green, the
figure of tlie horse etui be plainly scon
at a distance of twelve miles, end even
farther, it raid, if the sun i shining
brightly.
A white horse is known to have been
tin* standard of the Buxons, and some
have supposed that this monster em
blematic figure was made In- Hengist,
one of tho Saxon kings Mr. M r i»;', an
author who has written much of the
celebrated white horse of Berkshire,
bring: several arguments to prove that
this figure was made under order of Al
fred during the reign of Ethulrc 1, his
brother, and that the figure is a momt
meat to a victory over the Danes in
the year 1)71. Oth r well known writers
arc of the opinion that tho wonderful
white horse is a natural freak, rate of
nature's oddest oddities. Ashme.nl
Burton thinks that the early tribes
noted the outlines of a horse on the
hillside and gradually worked it Into
its present graceful symmetry.
However this may be, it has been a
custom since time out of memory foi
tlie neighboring peasants to assemble on
a certain day of each year, usually about
midsummer, to clear away the weeds
from the White Horse and trim tin
edges of the troncli so as to preserve
flic color and shape. This task is
known for miles around as “Scouring
the Horse.”
A large uiound at the foot of White
Horse Ilill and almost directly under
the "Horse'' is called Dragon Hill.
Here, according to tradition, Bt. George
killed tho dragon. On the top of this
mound, or “barrow," there is a space
about fifty yards square upon which
not a B[>ear at grass has grown during
the last thousand yuan. Tim peasant*
say that the grass cannot grow on ac
count of tho ground having been poi
soned with the dragon’s blood at the
time Bt. Georg® gave him tho fatid
wound.—St. Louis Republic.
"Down on the Null.”
This is a well known half slang
phrase used for a cash payment. Of
its history I cannot sjicak, but I con
fess to feeling startled when I found it,
as it seems to me, in a parliamentary
deed of King Robert tile Hruce. By
indenture dated July 15, 132fi (Scots
Acts I. 17(ij, a tenth penny wis cove
nanted for. payable to the king. On
bis part ho agreed not to evict certain
prises and carriages unless he was puss
ing through the realm,-after the eas
tern of his predecessor, Alexander 111,
‘‘for which prises and carriages full
payment should he made supi r un
guem.” (The .words are, ‘‘Pro quibtis
prisiset cariagiis plena flat soluclosuper
unguem.")
1 am aware of the classical use of
the pliraso “in unguem,” or “ad mi
guem,” signifying “to a nicety,” but it
does not seem to apply here. At the
same time the corresponding French
phrase “payer rubis sur bougie" may
make this doubtful. Just below tho
passage cited occurs another, In which
payment is to be made “in tuanii.”
Both in my opinion refer to ready
money, and 1 do not hesitate to trail*
late “super unguem” "down on the
nail.” Hitherto I liavo supposed the
uuii to bo a figure of sjieech for tho
counter on which the coin was told.
Apparently this is erroneous, as it is
clearly the fingernail which is referred
to.—Note* and Queries.
Old I'ukliloupil I*ur»oiirt.
The old fashioned country pursonsof
the English church lived more on the
social level of tho farmers and yeomen
than of tho squires, though in many
cases they were men of culture. The
Rev. S. Baring Gould tolls an anecdote
of a parson of this class who was in
vited to spend two days with a great
squire some miles from tho parsonage.
He went, stayed his allotted time
and disappeared. Two days later the
lady of the house, happening to go into
tho servants’ hall in the evening, was
amazed to find her lute guest there.
After he had finished his visit upstair*
he hud accepted the invitation of tho
butler to spend another two days be
low.
“hike Persephone, madam,” he wild
apologetically, “half my time above,
lialf in the nether world.”- Youth's
Companion.
Pianos, which have long been con
sidered necessary school furniture in
American schools, are being introduced
into English Ixmrd school*, in which
all sorts of devices for' accompaniment
haxe been used previously. One teacher
complained that the whistling of tho
Ixiys frequently was too shrill and
drowned the girls’ voices.
The effect of the electric current on
the compasses of some vessels is so great
that it become* necessary to determine
how many hours the dynamo has been
running before working out the ves
sel's i tokening.
for ft 3larlno llftrometcr.
A suggestion for bettering weather
predictions lms boon made by C.ipt.
Franklin Fox, a well known English
Seaman. During January, 1890, when
terrific gales burst upon tlio Ilritish
islands, he finds that barometers at
London gave no reliable monitions of
theso disastrous cyclones. Ills own
idea is that the atmospheric power of
rising or depressing the mercury in a
barometer is affected by the amount of
electricity in the air at the moment,
and tluit * ‘to have strict,reliable weather
glasses wo require electric tests of the
conditions of the atmosphere attached
to them.”
It may be true, os Capt. Fox has sup
posed, that electricity has nn effect on
tho oscillations of the mercury in the
glass. During {he passage of au eko
tric storm over a station the mercury,
for reasons never fully explained, al
most invariably rises or falls very rap
idly, though it often returns to its pro
vious level when the storm is past.
There is little doubt that the electrical
shite of clouds, as Lord Itayleigh has
shown, determines their precipitation,
and the down rush of rain, always ac
companied by a down rush of air, will
tend to sustain or elevate the mercury
—an effect likely to be intensified when
tho descending air Is filled with the
smoke and dust arising over a great city.
When, therefore, a great storm is ap
proaching. and clouds In its front are
in that electrical condition which fa
vors heavy and prolonged precipita
tion from them, tho effect may very
naturally account for the barometric
phenomenon noted by ('apt. Fox. At
all events, tho series of experiments
which he proposes could not fall to
throw new and valuable light upon the
degree of reliance to be placed upon
the weather glass. If the invention of
a reliable marine barometer should be
the result of such experiments it would
be the means of saving thousands of
lives and ships from the ocean cyclone.
—New Orleans Picayune.
A (ifiMM-mu Farmer.
Rev. Smith Baker, of Lowell, Mass.,
formerly of Maine, while in Saco told
of an experience he once had while
holding a pastorate near Bangor. There
was a well to do farmer who lived on
the opposite bank of the Penobscot
from Mr. Baker’s residence who one
spring, whentho ice on the river was
breaking up, lost a daughter. Mr.
Baker was asked to officiate at tho fu
neral, which lie did, being obliged to
biro a horse and carriage to make the
journey, tho nearest bridge 1 icing some
distance up tho river. Nothing was
said about paying him either for Ins
services or his expenses.
A little while afterward another death
occurred in tho family. Mr. Baker was
again a ked to conduct tho services,
which lie did, this time hiring a man to
row Idm across tho river, tuid agtdu
witli no mention of compensation. Tho
next spring the farmer's mother passed
away. Mr. Baker was obliged to make
tlio Journey tts ho did tiro first time by
carriage. This time tlio farmer went to
Mr. Baker and said: “Mr. you
have been very kind to come over
hero to conduct these funerals at
at such an expense to you, and 1 feci
that it is asking altogether too much.
I want to pay you something. So next
fall, when theapplcw are ripe, you drive
around and you can help yoyrsclf from
my orchard.”—Lewiston Journal.
lie Didn’t Tell HU l’lirentH.
“1 liavo never been so happy before
in all my life," said Henry Soulen, the
father of* a 15-year-old boy who fell
from a fifth story window in the Now
Insurance building, and was saved from
a horrible death by alighting upon a
mass of telegraph wires. Mr. Soulen
was talking about his soil’s escape, and.
although two days had elapsed, his
voice trembled with emotion. “I have
just been over to tho scene of the acci
dent,” ho stated, “and consider that
my boy’s escape was simply wonderful.
The wires upon which he fell are not
more than a dozen in number." It ap
[tears that young Soulen did not tell
ids parents of liis frightful experience.
“John reached home Saturday even
ing,” suid his father, “ate his supper,
and acted as if nothing had hap
pened. Ho thought he might as well
keep quiet so long as ho had not been
hurt. In tho evening my son Herman,
who had read about tho affair wiiilo
down town, rushed into the house,
grabbed John in his arms arid thanked
God that ho was still alive. Then we
heard for tiro first time of John’s fear
ful experience.”—Milwaukee Wisconsin.
Sevt’Uty-thrce Roses on 111 m Coffin.
A pretty little episode in tho life of
the late I)r. Byford was revealed at his
funeral. The noted doctor had many
devoted friends, and among them were
Dr. and Mrs. Henrotin. The latter lias
for a number of years been in the habit
of sending Dr. Byford a white roso on
his birthday. She carried the rose to
liim on the last anniversary, and he
then said to her: “You must bring
seventy-three roses next year, for i
shall be that many years old.” The
doctor died before his seventy-third
birthday arrived, but Mrs. Henrotin at
tended the funeral and brought tho
seventy-threo white roses which wero
laid on liis casket.—Cliieago Herald.
Embroidered handkerchiefs had eouio
into use in Shakespeare’s time, as is
proved by the important part which
Desdeuiona's handkerchief—or “nap
kin,” as it is called—plays In tho trage
dy of “Otliclo.” But as yet the pos
sessors of handkerchiefs were lords and
ladies. Even iu the Seventeenth cen
tury the common people knew no such
luxury.
NO. 45