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A * S MORTALITY. poem Is justly considered a '.he highest order. The origl- the Irish MS. in Trinity There Is reason to think was written by one ol those tian hards In the reign of about the year 544, and was ted at the last grand asRem- eftalus and bards, held In the Tara. The translation is by A manuscript copy of the by Professor Stewart, of Trln- ie person who iurnished It for he Buffalo Oommtrmal Adver- . damask rose you see, Or like a blossom on a tree, Or like a dainty flower tn May, Or like the morning to the day, Or like the sun, or like the shade, Or like the gourd which J jnah made; Even such Is man, whose thread Is spun, Drawn out and out, and so is done. The rose withers, the blossom blasteth, The flower fadeR, the morning hastelh, The sun sets, the shadow flies, The gourd consumes, the man—he dies. Idke the grasR that’s newly sprung. Or like the tale that’s newly begun, Or like the bird that’s here to-day, Or like the pearled dew in May, Or like the hour, or like a span, Or like the singing of the swan, Even Buch Is man, who lives by breath, Is here, now there, in life and death. The grass withers, the tale Is ended, The bird Is flown, the dew’s ascended, The hour is short, the span not long, The swan’s near death, man’s life Is done. Like the bubble in the brook, Or In a glass much like a look, Or like the shuttle in weaver’s hand, Or like the writing in the sand, Or ike a thought, or like a dream, Or like the gilding of a stream; , Even such ls man, who lives by breath, Is here, now there, in life and death. The bubble bursts, the look forgot, The shuttle’s flung, the writing’s blot, The thought is past, the dream is gone, The waters glide, man’s life Is done. Like an arrow from a bow, Or like a swift course of water flow, Or like the time ’t»ixt flood and ebb, Or like the spider’s tender web, Or like a race, or like the goal, Or like the dealing of a dole; Even such ls man, whose brittle state Is always subject unto fate. The arrow's shot, the flood Boon spent, The time no more, the web soon rent, The race soon run, the goal soon won, The dole soon dealt, man’s life soon done. Like the lightning from the sky, Or like a post that quick doth hie, Or like a quaver In a song, Or like a Journey three days long, Or like the snow when summer’s come, Or like a pear, or like a plum ; Even such ls man who heaps up sorrow, Lives but to-day and dies to-morrow. The lightning’s past, the post must go, The song is short, the journey so, The pear doth rot, the plum doth tail, The snow dissolves and 60 must all. The American Army of Two. Two girls, a Drum and a Fife. A TRUE STORY. It was about nine o’clock in the morning when the ship first appeared. At once there was the greatest excite ment in the village. It was a British ir-ship. What would she do ? lould she tack about in the bay to tray coasters as prizes, or Jdiers to burn the ,) there would be lip in !h 'of a was not pleasa then, and had no monitors and sink the enemy or drive and the good people in the Mage of Situate Harbor were h’ great distress over the strange ship hat had appeared at the mouth of the harbor. About two o’clock the tide reached high water mark, aud, to t4re dismay of the people, the ship let go her auchor, swung her yards round, and lay quiet about half a mile from the first cliff. They were going to land to burn the town. With their spy-glasses the people see the boats lowered to take the soldiers ashore. All ! then there was confusion and uproar. Every horse in the village was put into some kind of team, and* the women aud children were 1,lurried off the woods behind the town. The men would stay aud offer as brave a resistance as possible. Their guns were light and poor, but they could use the old fish-houses as a fort aud perhaps make a brave fight of it. If worse came to worse, they could at least retreat and take to the shelter of the woods. It was a splendid sight. Five large boats, manned by sailors, and filled with soldiers in gay red coats. How their guns glittered in the sun ! It was a courageous company come with war-ship *nd cannon to fight the ss fishermen. Bo Rebecca and Barah thought, as ey sat up in the light-house tower bking down on the procession of s as it weut past the point and tered the harbor. jOh ! IM only were a man ?” cried “What could you do 1 See what a lot of them ; and look at their guns?” “I don’t care. I’d fight. I’d use father’s old shot-gun—anything. Think of uncle’s new boat and the sloop!” “ Yes ; and all the bolts.” “It’s too bad; isn’t it?” “ Yes; and to think we must sit here and see it all and not lift a finger to help.” “Oh, look! look, 1 The sloop’s afire!” “ Come, I can’t stiy and see any any more. The cowardly Britishers to burn the boats! Why don’t they go up to town and fight like—’ “ Come, let’s get the drum. It’ll do no harm ; and perhaps—*’ “ Well, let’s. There’s the fife, too ; we might take that with us.” They took to the water side, and, with the drum between them, ran as fast as they could towards the main land. Presently they reached the low heaps of sand that showed where the spit joined the fields and woods. “ All right ; but we mustn’t stand still. We must march along the shore towards the light.” “ Won’t they see us.” “ No; we’ll walk next the water on the outside beach.” “ Oh, yes; and they’ll think it’s soldiers going down to the Point to head ’em off.” “Just so. Come, begin! One, two, —one, two,” Drum! drum! ! drum! ! ! Squeak ! squeak! ! squeak! ! ! “ For’ard—march !” “ Ha! ha!” The fife stopped. “ Don’t laugh. You’ll spoil every thing, and I can’t pucker my lips.” Drum ! drum! ! drum! ! ! Squeak ! squeak ! ! squeak ! ! ! The men in the town heard it and were amazed beyond measure. Had the soldiers arrived from Boston? What did it mean ? Who were com ing? Louder aud louder on the breeze came the roll of a sturdy drum and the sound of a brave fife. The sol diers in the boats heard the noise and paused in the work of destruction. The officers ordered everybody into the boats in the greatest haste. The people were rising ! They were com ing down the Point with cannons to head them off! They would all be captured, and perhaps hung by the dreadful Americans. How the drum rolled! The fife 'changed its tune. It played ‘ Yankee Doodle,’—that horrid tune! Hark^ The men were cheer’ng in the town ; there were thousands of them in the woods along the shore! How the Britishers scrambled into their boats ! One of the brave officers was nearly left behind on the burning sloop. Another fell overboard and wet his good clothes in his haste to escape from the American army marching down the beach—a million strong! How the sailors pulled ! No fancy rowing now, but desperate haste to get to the ship. How the people yelled and cheered bore! Fifty men or more jumpetmW^htii* to prepare for the chase. Ringlncr shots began to crack over the water. Louder aud louder rang the terrible drum. Sharp aud clear rang out the cruel fife. The boats swopt swiftly out of the harbor on the outgoing tide. The fishermen came up with the burning boats, Part stopped to put out the fires, aud the rest pursued the flying enemy with such shots aH they could get at them. In tiie midst of it all, the sun weut down. The red-coats did not return a shot. They expected every minute to see a thousand meu open on them at short range from the beach and they re served their powder. Out oMClie harbor they went in cou- fusioij^nid dismay. The ship weighed and ran out her big guns, but ; fire a shot. Darkness fell own on the scene as the boats readied the ship. Then she sent a round shot towards the light. It fell short and threw a great fountain of white water into the air. - The girls saw it, and droppinemheir drum and fife, sat down on the^each and laughed til! they cried. That night the ship sailed away. The great American army of two had arrived, and she thought it wise to re treat iu time.—St. Nicholas. Scientific Economy. The Scientific American mentions a reoenfly patented device for extin guishing kerosene lamps, which con sists olWphut-off for the air supply, becoiuiim if the English steel castings are made by some firms from old files, in connection with other material, and are said to be sound and very strong. It is said that the excess of carbon in the stock is foand no disadvantage. J. H. Tucker, in the Chemical News, shows that the organic matters in im pure sugars have too small an influ ence upon the results of the copper test to make it necessary to remove them from the sugar solutions before estimating invert sugar. Last year the German wire mills supplied England with 80,000 tons of wire, and Russia with 40,000 tons. France received from Germany from 12,000 to 15,000 tons of steel wire for sofa springs, aud America not less than 30,000 from the same source. It has been found by Professor Ex- ener, of Vienna, that galvanic ele ments formed of three elementary substances, one of which is bromine or iodine, give perfectly constant action, and that the electromotine forc es cor respond to the heat values of the chemical processes. A watchmaker at Vouvry, in Swit zerland, claims to have made a watch which will run for years without winding up. The Nature says that a box containing two watches intrusted to the municipal authoritiesou Janu ary 19th, 1879, has just been opened, and the watches were found going. In seeking for a substance which would destroy the microscopic animals in water without injuring it for drink ing purposes Dr. Langfeldt found that citric acid (oue-half gramme to every litre of the water) killed all the living organisms, except Cyclops and those with thick epidermis, within two minutes. Two Austrian iron works have ob tained the contracts for the delivery of 19,000 tons of Bessemer steel rails and 2000 tons of permanent way fittings required for the Servian railways. The period for delivery extends to the year 1883. A further contract of 7000 tons of rails must also be placed shortly, and this will probably be ob tained on behalf of the Austrian meta industry. its volume of sulphuric acid, and the whole mass agitated by means of air- pumps which bring the acid iu con tact with every particle of oil. The acid has no affinity for the oil, but for the tarry substance in it which dis solves it, and after the agitation, the acid and tar settle at the bottom, and the mixture is drawn off. After the remova! of the acid and tar the oil is again agitated with either caustic soda or ammonia and water. The alkali neutralizes the acid remaining in the oil, the water removes the alkali and the process of refining is finished; though some refiners are not content without a second distillation at this point. The so-called paraffine lubricating oils are formed during the distillation of the heavier portions of crude petro leum. After taking from the still the dif ferent products of the petroleum there is a black, Hl-smelling residue remain ing. Large quantities of this are used by the manufacturers of the paraffine and lubricating oils, and it is also used as a lubricant for heavy journals. Sperm oil has. been called the 1 ‘King of Lubricants,” and it is doubt- i ful if, as a lubricant, it will ever be entirely supplanted, at lea^t by the oils at present known. It will never again be used to a great extent un mixed as in the days before paraffine and other mineral oils, but as an adul terant it possesses qualities unsur passed, and for extending other lubri cants its continuance is assured. In recent tests of lubricants sperm oil stood second on the list that showed the least ce-efficient friction at the low est degree of heat, a very fine sample of mineral oil being first. Sperm oil requires a greater heat than 300° to ignite, a moat important quality of lubricants. The oil is taken from the head of the white or sperm whale, and comes to this market from New Bedford. Whale oil comes from the blubber of the Balcena mitticelus, or great northern whale. Its consumption is largely governed by its cost. Its pow erful competitor is lard oil, but as lard oil is now sold at a high figure a great deal of the sperm and whale oil is be ing used. A Histone Ship. The “ Great Western’s ” Remarkable Reoord. Oils. Petroleum. Though petroleum was well known for many years and was employed for lighting purposes as far back as the year 1825, it was not until 1850 that its true value was discovered during ex periments made whereby the crude material was put through the same processes used to extract burning oil from coal and coal tar. Since then the processes of refining crude petro leum have been brought so near per fection that it seems hardly possible to go farther with them. The first run is gasoline, a very volatile oil and the lightest product that is used in large quantities. The automatic gas machines consume a great deal of this material, and as ihese are used to a great extent in the rapidly-increasing number of summer hotels, manufactories, etc., and as the street-lighting companies, with their patent lanterns, are using large quan tities, gasoline has become an impor tant article of commerce. Next to the run of gasoline come three or four grades of naphtha or benzine. This is used largely as a cleansing agent, in the preparation of rubber, and during the war times, when spirits of turpentine was scarce, it was used in the mixture of paints. It is little used for burning nowadays, the accidents from its use having had their effect. The laws now give pro tection to the people from accidents by fixing the fire point at 110°, and the adulteration of other oils with naphtha is seldom practised. After the naphtha come, in regular order, illuminating oil (cpmmouly called kerosene), paraffine, residuum. It is probably known to very few persons that the word “kerosene” Is a trade-mark aud can be used only by the Downer Company—the owners —and the Portland Kerosene Com pany, who have purchased the right to use it. Though the common petro leum oil is known as kerosene to the great mass of the people, those who observe closely will notice that re finers, others than those mentioned abovj^do not employ the term. Bu™wh«n the petroleum has been distilled it is not lit for use, for it is of a dirty color and has an offensive smell. It is then refined. The liquid is pumped into a vat or agitator hold ing from 250 to 1.000 barrels. There is then added about two per cent, of Odds and Ends. A young man who visited a Sunday school was asked at the close of the lessons, to address the children,which he did, commencing, “My dear young friends, mutability is stamped on all aublunary objects.” The children were not prepared to deny the accuracy of the statement. A more remarkable instance of the difficulty which some men find in coming down to the comprehension of children was that of an eminent di vine who, in addressing a Sunday school on a particular passage of Scrip ture, said : “This is an epitome of the whole Gospel.” Aud then thinking that some of them might not compre hend the term, he said: “Perhaps some of you do not understand what the word epitome means. I will ex plain it so that the very youngest of you will understand it. Epitome—my dear children — epitome—is—synony mous with synopsis.” The Christian Register of Boston, says: “In one of the Episcopal churches of Providence a Sunday or two ago, the preacher, a stranger, de fined the sou! as ‘the non atomic centre of psychic force,' aud throughout ills discourse, when alluding to the soul, used the phrase. Fancy the impiove- ment on the old reading,—‘What Is a man advantaged if lie gaiu the whole world, and lose fiis nou-atomic centre of psyclift force.’ ” A lady alighting from a street car met an ; acquaintance who said to her, “You appear to be excited?” “So I am. I had to stand up the whole way.” “Did nobody offer you a seat ?” “Yes, one man ; but I declined, tliiuk- iug lie would urge me to accept.” “And he didn’t ?” Great Britain is the only country in which wedding rings are taxed. The duty on them is $4 25 an ounce, and the amount of revenue to the Govern ment from this source is $100,000. The revenue has been greatly increased by the fashion of having heavy wedding rings. John Ruskin is not in favor of uni versal suffrage, Ou being asked to deliver au address on woman suffrage, he replied that lie was not only op posed to extending the franchise to women, but was iu favor of taking the right from most men. The Great Western, which sailed for Tacoma on Friday, and wtiich, previous to her departure, was caulked and coppered at the old Ajax heaving- down hulk at Second street wharf, is in mauy respects a remarkable vessel. If, according to mariners, the average age of ships is from eighteen to twenty years, then has the Great Western survived two nautical generations. She is 1,800 tons register, and was built between thirty and forty years ago in New York city. Her first voyage was to Liverpool, and at a time when the average size of ships was from 700 tons to 900 tons burden. She was the prodigy of Liverpool docks. Cxowds assembled daily to gaze and wonder at her majestic hull and tower ing spars. She was twenty-nine years in the Atlantic trade as one of the fleet of the Black Ball packet line, and has been nine years trading along this coast, chiefly from San Francisco to Portland and Washington Terri tory. The crossed the Atlantic 116 times, and except when undergoing ordinary repairs, has been steadily kept by her owners in the coasting trade ever since, and in all the vicissi tudes of her long nautical life never lost one of her crew nor so much as a spar in a gale of wind at sea. She was a passenger ship at the time of the great Irish exodus after the famine of 1848, and has brought 30,000 passengers, and one time and another, from the Old World to the New, and has in this respect, as her owners claim, done the United States better service than any other sailing ship afloat. She has had 1,500 births and 200 marriages on board. In transferring so many thousands to new life, new occupations, new asso ciations and a new country, the Great Western has peen sponsor in this second baptism of social translation to a generation which ds now itself grow ing sober in the autumn twilight of existence. Her nautical children are scattered everywhere, even along this coast, and whenever she calls at way- side ports, many of them pay her an affectionate visit, when they point out the very spot, ’tween decks, where they slept in the long, long years ago, and dreamed of the old homes which they had left, and of the new homes to which they were bound.—San Francisco Chronicle. Organization of the Nihilists. A correspondent in the Baltic prov inces writes to a German newspaper that he has succeeded in learning much about the organization of the nihilist party in Russia. The present Russian social-revolutionary partisans are united into different groups, which are rather loosely allied to one another than welded into a compact whole. There is a sort of general direction of the whole exercised by certain influen tial persons, who may be ealled the central group, since they send out commissaries or organizers to each of the two principal groups, the “Na- rodni” and the “Buntari.” The “Narodni” (whose journalistic organ is The Land and the People) carries on its propaganda in the country dis tricts ; it forms subordinate groups among the peasantry. But it aims also at the students, the common soldiers, and the artisan population, and hence has now added city groups to its coun. try organizations. The “Narodni” is undoubtedly revolutionary and social istic, but it is not nearly so extreme— not to say rabid—as the main group of nihilism. The “Buntari” or terror ists (whose public organ is The Will of the People) does not shrink from open recommendation of crimes against life, and is largely occupied with frightening the quiet in the land by issuing denunciatory proclamations of “the executive.” The writer believes tiiat the strength of the party, as te-ted by the number of its adherents, is ex ceedingly small—far smaller than is usually imagined, either in or out of Russia. ItH most zealous members are young students and workmen, and in the large cities its catologue of mem bership includes a considerable num ber of thieves and other criminals. The writer says, further, that there is good evidence to show that the capital expended by this party is very muoh more largely drawn from foreign than home sources. His'information must be,of a great extent,founded upon con jecture, for lie himself says that all correspondence among the nihilists, in both the chief groups, is exclusively carried on by cipher. John O’Omuor, who shot and killed his wife Ellen iu Octobty^A881. at New Yorl^|^^ c mvicteu^H^^^r, in the sec i \