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Sentiment.
Know the true value of time;
snatch, seize and enjoy every moment
of it. No idleness, no laziness, no
procrastination ; m ver put off till to
morrow what you can do to-day.—
Earl of Chesterfield.
A Wife to Her Husband.
One of us, dear—
But one-
Wlll sit by a bed with a marvelous fear,
And clasp a band.
Growing cold aR It, feels for the spirt;. land—
Darliug, whicu one?
One of us, dear—
But one—
Will stand by the other’s cofll 1 bier
And look and we c p,
While those marble Ups strange silence keep,
Darling, whlc 1 one?
One of us, dear—
But one—
By an Open grave will drop a tear,
And homeward go,
The anguish of an unshared grief 10 know—
Darling, which one?
One of ns, darliug, it must be;
It may be you will slip from me;
Or perhaps my life may first be done —
Which one ?
At War.
Through the large, stormy splendors of the
night,
When clouds made war, and s. ears of
moonlight strove
To penetrate their serried ranks and prove
That stronger than the darkness was the
light,
Yet failed before the storm-clouds gathered
might,
I hear t a voice cry," Strong Indeed Is Lovr,
But stronger Fate and Death, who hold
above
Their pitiless high court In Love’s despite.”
Storm-cloud met storm-cloud, reeled, and
shook, and fled,
The old earth trembled at their mighty
rage—
Till, suddenly, a lark sang clear, o’erhead,
As 11 to share his Joy he did engage
All earth and heaven; and Night’s wild war
was done,
And Love and Morning triumphed with the
The Regimental Figaro.
The regimental Figaro is quite a
character. He is not always chosen for
his skill in his tonsorial art. He may
have been a butcher a baker or a candle
stick maker before j lining the corps.
His good conduct has promoted him
to the post, and given him a most
envious position, for he receives a
slight remuneration, stopped each
month from the pay of the trooper.
He also enjoys immunity from a cer
tain number of drills, and has the
right of remaining out of barracks
until 10 o’clock every evening.
He is responsible for the heads of
bis comrades. If a man’s hair is
found to be too long, or if a soldier is
not shaved in ihe regulation manner,
the barber has to suffer. He is con
stantly on the lookout for the regi
mental dandies who prize their hair
as Samson did his locks, and, by the
aid of cosmetiques, plaster their hair
up until the kepi can be brought down
to cover it. These trices are known to
the officers, and many a kepi will be
raised to the utter confusion ot the
barber, who finds he has been pun
ished with three or four days’ arrest
becaus^ome trooper objected to being
shorn properly. Nothing remains for
those who pride themselves on their
hair save to curry favor with the regi
mental surgeon and obtain from him
permission to claim exemption from
the shearing procees on the ground of
weak eyes. Even this permission does
not hold good when any grand review
or inspection is to take place, and on
these occasions the barber has some two
or three hundred heads to manipulate,
to say nothing of chins which have to
be shaven, leaving the home troops to
wonder why they shoifld not enjoy
the safe immunity from the scraping
razors of their comrade as their col
leagues in Africa, who declare that
water is far too scarce and precious to
allow of its being used to mix with t
soap aud make a lather. There is a
story of the regimental Figaro who
was called on to shave Marshal Ba-
zaine on the second day of the battles
round Metz. An offer was made to
send into the town for an artist, but
the Marshal would not hear of sucli a
thing, aud reminded his advisers that
he had marched away from Versailles
a full private, with his knapsack on
his back, and that consequently he
had more than once been under the
hands of the regimental barber. The
8oldier-Figa.ro arrived with his instru
ments, nervous and intimidated at the
idea that he was about to handle the
nose of a Marshal of France. His
nervousness made him very awkward,
and when the napkin waH removed
from the Marshal’s face he found that
his personal appearance was anything
but embellished by the cuts and
scratches he had received. He felt in
his pocket, took out a louis, and sa'd
to the barber: “ Here, my friend, take
this and keep it. If your hand had
not trembled while you were shaving
your General I should not have
thought you were a real soldier.”
The Red River of the North.
Fruitful Soil Fifiy Feet in Depth—Big
Farms.
A Bismarck (D. T ) letter in the
Chicago Tribune says: The soil is of
unexampled richness and depth. I
was told of a man near Fargo who
dug up earth from the bottom of a
well tifty feet deep, and in this grew
wheat of the standard hard variety.
The soil is » rich black, instinct with
moisture, which the hot summers
transform into a fructifying steam.
The rainfall at first all through the
valley was somewhat meagre, but cul
tivation of the fields has had a good
©fleet, for the rainfall has averaged
larger year after year.
Traill, Cass, Becker, Otter Tail,
Clay, Wilkin and Richland counties
lie in this valley, and there the lands
are advancing in price. Good lauds,
unbroken, are quoted at from $6 to $15
per acre, and the broken lauds at $12
to $4n per acre. The country is well
settled in these counties, which are
defined soon to have a heavy popula
tion. 0.1 the Dakota side,Cass county,
in which Fargo is located, may be
taken as a sample. I' has au area of
about 1,100,000 acres, of which about
60 per cent, is valley lauds. The esti
mate of cultivated acreage for last
year was 180,000. O ' th s fully 150,000
acres were given up to wheat, 20,000
to oats and the rest to other crops.
Richland county had about 35,000
acres in wheat last year, and Traill
county reported 35,000 acres.
From the best sources obtainable I
have been informed that the acreage
in these counties, which constitute the
heart of the valley, was 375 000 acres
in wheat and about 75,000 in oats. A
low average for last year’s erop would
be sixteen bushels to the acre, which
would give a yield of 6,000,000 bushels
of wheat for the well settled lands in
the valley. During the past year land
has been broken ou all sides, and the
acreage, especially in wheat, will be
largely increased. The best estimates
of the yield place it at an advance of
about two bushels to the acre, which
alone would give an increase in the
crop of about 750,000 bushels. A con
servative estimate of the increased
acreage in the valley wa« 55,000, which
with the increased yield would give a
production for the Red River counties
in Dakota and Minnesota of nearly
8,000,000 bushels. However, figures
do lie in this country, and these esti
mates may be above or below the
market. Returning over the same
branch line, we proceeded to Dalrvm-
ple, a station on the main line, wh^re
the brothers of that name have located
their celebrated “Bonanz i Farm.” In
1872 Oliver Dalrytnple prospected the
country west of the R'd River, and
finally decided upon the vicinity
where they are now located. The first
furrow was turned in Juue, 1875. To
day the brothers have 35,000 acres of
which 28,000 acres are under cultiva
tion. They devote their energies
chiefly to wheat, year af;er year, rely
ing on the fertility of the soil of the
valley lands, without apparently hav
ing any thought of the necessity for a
rotation of crops. We found teams
waiting for us at the s'at.ion, and th*
whole party rode for upward of five
miles through fields of wheat and oats,
all belonging to this one farm. The
oats were nearly ready for cutting,and
the wheat was coming along nicely.
Tiie managers of the different places
we passed informed me that the crops
never looked better in the history of
the farm. There were occasional
spots where the wheat looked rather
thin, hut as a whole I should be in
clined to believe that more satisfactory
crops were never seen in this country.
They claimed here an average of thir
ty-five bushels of wheat to the acre,
aud sixty bushels of oats.
1 cannot help thinking that these
“bonanza” firms, as they are called,
are far from being conducive to the
general prosperity of the country.
Fifty square miles of farming land is
too much to place in the hands of any
one man or syndicate of men. Within
the limits of Cass county are four
farms with a combined extent of 85,000
acres. These proprietors are almost all
non-residents. They hire their assist
anee as it is needed, the Dalrymples
employing from 250 to 500 men. These
non-resident landlords do but little to
mprove the country. They take
moneyjout of it to spend iu the East,
and only leave in the Territory what
they pay out for wages. The people
seem to appreciate this fact, and some
of them even talk of a heavy tax ou
non-resident cultivators. I was told'
that the Northern Paeiflo has beguu to
disoouruge these large investments,
aud now places its land in small lots
In the hands of aotual settlers. The
large “bonanza” farmers in Cass coun
ty have been successful chiefly because
th^-y have absorbed all the money
usually spent iu permanent improve
rnents, and have conducted their en
terprises ou the cheapest possible plan.
The view of the valley from the
railroad is a beautiful one. Jamestown
lies above the river, nestled on a
slightly rising shelf. Througho it the
course of the river are green meadows,
broad fields, gardens aud pastures of
native hay. Jauiesiowu is the model
city ofDikota. It is iu the centre of
a beautiful country, which has im
pressed me wonderfully. The river is
not much of a stream, but tive town is
charming, active and growing It is
1400 feet above the sea, an 1 possesses,
apparently, a delightful climate. The
faces of the surrounding hills are cov
ered with bowlders, from which the
people have succeeded in cutting stone
of first-class quality. The river valley
varies from one to two milts inwidtn
aud in many places it is fringed with
elm, oak and alder. The surface soil
varies from twelve to fourteen inches
iu the valley and from sixteen to
twenty-four inches on the uplands.
Toward evening we arrived at the
Steele Farm, 150 miles from Fargo.
There was a surprise here in the shape
of a swarthy, handsome young man,
who proved to be the proprietor of
the farm. Mr. Steele stated that last
year his wheat had varied from six to
twenty-five bushels to the acre, aver
aging about thirteen bushels. In 1880
he had succeeded in raising thirty-six
bushels of wheat and seveuty bushels
of oats to the acre. Iu the latter crpp
he believed that he had lost much in
harvesting, the fans separating much
of the giaiu which had been cut a li ttle
too late. This year he claims that his
wheat will average thirty-eight
bushels and the oats 100 bushels to the
acre.
The Drum.
Of the original use of the drum there
are rather discordant accounts ; but a
very orthodox myth ascribes the in
vention of them to a time anterior even
to the reign of Jupiter. For it is said
that the Gprybmtes, when in charge
of ihe Infant god, and wishing to con
ceal him from the very unparental de
signs of his father Saturn, improvised
some drums, and kept up such a din
with them as often as the child cried
t lat the murderous parent was unable
to discover his whereabouts. Notwith
standing this tale it does not appear
that the Corybantian instrument was
very early used in war, for there is no
mention of it in the Trojan expedition
or in any of the campaigns of later
Grteks aud Romans. The learned
are disposed to believe that it was
brought into Europe as a milit iry in
strument by the returning Crusaders,
in the 13tii or 13 h century. But it
was clearly known long before in
Africa and Egypt, aud as a purely or
chestral accompaniment in times of
peace it seems likely to have been
known to t ie Hebrews under the term
which in the English Scriptures is
rendered by tabor. The likeness of
the word to the modern French tam
bour is too obvious to escape notice;
but it is also very similar In sound to
the Kurdish tambar, said to mean a
guitar, to the Persian tambur, and to
our old English term, “timbrel.” The
Hindoo tom-tom is, perhaps, also con
nected with It, and it has been argued
that all these words have a common
Aryan root, represented In our lan
guage by the verb “tap ” This would
besuppoited by the view, in which
classical arch so dogids concur, that in
early times both the timbrels and
other larger instruments of tiie kind
were played by striking upon them
with the finger ends. In its original
shape the drum or tympanum was
smaller even than a tambourine. It
was a mere disc of parchment stretch
ed upon a small circlet of metal. The
addition of a second surface with a
hollow space intervening, and with
supporting sides of cylindrical form,
was of much later design, although
this part of tiie instrument has now
become almost as natural to the idea
of it as any other. The proof of this
is to be found iu the metaphorical use
of the term as borrowed by engineers,
who have given the name by univer
sal consent to the large hollow cylin
ders rouud which a rope or chain is
coiled.
The first time that drums are men
tioned in the history of the Eaglish,
or, Indeed, of any European armies,
seeuiH to he at the time of the entry of
Edwaid III. iuto Calais, hut it is not
clear from Froissart’s account which
was the Bpeoles then employed.
A Rich Tin Mine.
Of the western half of Tasmania
little, comparatively speaking, is
known. In ersected by lofty moun
tain ranges, split asunder iu every
direction by precipice-walled gullies;
varied by wide-spreading heathy
plains, the pasturage of whicn is gen
erally inferior; or by vast eucalypti,
giant t^ees in many instances atlain-
ing au altitude of more than 800 h?et,
with a girth of 6 > feet aud upward ; or,
again, by undulating country, so
densely covered with scrub as to be
almost impracticable even to au ex
perienced bushman and subject to a
rainfall estimated at 111 inches per
annum; the far west of this island has
been explored aud “prospected,” but
never settled. .There are one or two
camps of tiruber-getters on the coast
line, and in the northwest districts a
few good bits of pasturage have been
taken up for stock-raising, but tvi-
dence of regular settlement of tl.e
country does not exist. To the west
ward of the Surrey Hills, however, in
the county of Russell, and at a distance*
of a hundred miles from Launeeston,
lies M >unt Bisch ft’ and here a lew
adveutu’ers found tin in 1872 A
company was formed, and workings
were begun ; an eminent mineralogist
reported that the mountain was almost
a mus3 of tin, the ore yielding from 70
to 80 per ceut of pure metal; large
smelling works wero erected at L 'un-
ceston, and iu the year 1876 a thou
sand tons of tin were raised. Five
dollars only have bsen paid up on each
share, but the present market price is
from $300to$35>, the company during
the last four years having paid a divi
dend every two months of $2 per share.
A fortunate gentleman in Hobait, who
expeuded $4,000 iu the purchase of 700
shares in 1873, now rejoices in the
receipt of $10,000 a year as the income
of his investment.
M. Blanc and the Nail in the
Wall.
Among the visitors at Homburg in
the year preceding my arrival at
Spa was a certaiu Count E., whose
right lo the title borne by him was,
according to all accounts, to say the
least, contestable ; and who having
lost at roulette whit little cash he
originally possessed, was at an early
period of the season literally without
a eou. A scheme occurring to him by
which he proposed to replenish his
coffers, he repaired one evening to
Blanc’s private abode, aud inquired of
the servant in attendance at what
hour in the morning he could see his
master. “Not before 10 o’clock,” was
the reply ; “monsieur is not an early
riser.” “That will be too late,” an
swered the Count; “1 am leaving by
the first train, and must see him, as I
have news for him which he will be
glad to hear. Sj, as the matter
presses,” he continued, slipping five
louis, which he had borrowed for the
occasion, into the valet’s hand, “I
shall count upon your showing meinto
his bedroom when I come.”
This being agreed ou after some hes
itation on the servant’s part, the
Count withdrew, and as 8 o’clock
struck on the following morning, was
ushered into the luxuriously furnished
chamber where M. Blanc was repos
ing. Carefully closing the door aud
bolting it, the Count advanced toward
the bed, the occupant of which,
aroused by his entrance, started up in
surprise, and, recognizing his visitor,
asktd what he wanted.
“My dear Blanc,” said E., compos
edly seating himself at the foot of the
bed. “I want ten thousand francs,
and naturally come to you for them.”
“But,” stammered the other, still
half aBleep, “you are aware, C *unt.,
that I am not at liberty to dispose of
our funds without consulting my col
leagues. Wait till this evening, and—”
“Jgot an hour,” interrupted the in
truder ; “you have only to open your
safe and hand me the money. Will
you do it? yesorno?” “Impossible!”
“Very good; then I must take my
measures aceorJingly.”
“With these words he rose from his
seat, drew from his pocket a strong
nail and a hammer, aud began to drive
the former iuto the wall as if about to
hang a picture. Blanc stared in utter
amaz roent. “What are you doing ?”
he gasped, stretching out his hand
toward the bell-rope. “Take care,”
cried E.; “if you touch the bell, as
sure as you are lying there, I will
strangle you before they have time to
break open the door.”
Blanc glanced at the tall and po wer
fully knit figure before him,aud shud
dered. “I don’t understand,” he mur
mured.
“Don’t you!” ironically retorted
the Count. “You see this nail i Well,
I have a rope in my pocket, and I am
going to hang you. Now will you
give me the money ? No ? very good”;
and lie went on hammering until the
nail was firmly fixed in its place.
Then, turning toward his victim, who
was sitting upright in the bed tremb
ling in every limb, he coolly remarked
that, before proceeding to extremities,
he would give him one more chance.
Blanc, perceiving that matters began
to look serious, thought it best to com
ply with tiie audacious demand ; and,
opening the s ife, extracted from it a
roll of bank-notes, which he handed
to the Count, warning him at the
same time that if he remained another
iiour at Homburg it would be at his
peril.
“You may be perfectly easy on that
score,” replied E., who had already
pocketed the notes aud was on the
point of quitting tiie room. “Now
that our little affair is settled, I have
nothing to detain me here. Adieu,
papa Blanc ; when the 9 o'clock train
starts 1 go with it.” A id so he did.
Somehow or other the story oozed!
out, and Blanc was terribly chafed by
his colleagues. “I could have recon
ciled myself to the loss of tiie money,”
hesaid long afterward ; “but I cannot
and never shall get over the nail in
the wall!”
Flameless Combustion.
A new theory of combustion, says
The Architect, was practically illus-
trat d by Mr. Thomas Fletcher, of
WArrington, England, at a soiree of
the S ->ciety of Chemical Industry at
Owens College, the results being so
totally unexpected that many present
would, and in fact did, go away with
Ihe impression that some deception
was being practised. Mr. Jacob Reese,
the inventor of the Reese fusing disc,
his stated his belief that ifit were pos
sible lo produce combustion without
flame, the temperature and duty ob
tained from any fuel would be enor
mously increased. Mr. Fletcher not
only has proved the possibility of
fl itneless combustion iu more than
one form, but also has demonstrated
practically the enormously high tem
peratures which can be obtained by
this means.
Taking a ball of iron wire about
three pounds in weight Mr. Fletcher
placed it on a slab of fire-clay, and
directing a blowpipe flame on it for a
few seconds he suddenly blew the
flame out. The temperature increased
so rapidly that iu a few seconds the
wrought-iron fused a id ran into drops
and this temper iture was steadily
maintained. The room was darkened
but the closest examination did not
show a trace of flame, although the
fact that the gas was burning was
proved by repeatedly relighting and
extinguishing it. The same experi
ment was repeated in another form by
Directing the flameless heat into are-
small fire-clay chan.bur, in which a
fractory clay crucible, made especially
for nickel melting, was partially fused
and worked into a ball like soft putty,
the sides of the fire-clay chamber being
at the same time fused. The heat was
so great that the blowpipe laboratory,
which was given up to Mr. Fletcher
for the evening, was much too hot to
be agreeable, in spite of open windows
and ventilators. How far this discov
ery can be utilized remains to be seen,
but it would appear that the presence
of flame, usually considered to be a
signed combustion, is really an indi
cation of imperfect results, and the
best duty is io be obtained only when
flame is totally absent. It is certain
that such temperatures as those ob-
taiued by Mr. Fletcher without flame
have never previously been obtained
with the fuel used, which was nothing
more than a small gas-supply for a
quarter-inch pipe, assisted by an air-
blast.
Automatic Control oi Gas
Supply.
An automatic instrument for closing
a gas supply at a given time has been
recently described in the Berlin
Chemical Society by Herr MIchaelis,
and is said to have given good results
iu practice. It looks like a small
round alarm clock, and has on either
side a nipple, for connection of the
caoutchouc tubing by which the gas
passes through the body of the clock.
A hand corresponding to that of an
alarm is set to the hour at which the
gas is to beshutoffja wheel liberated
at that hour closes a cock ou th© tube
within the instrument Titer
slit in the top of the clock, with a •»
jectlng brass arm connected with the
clock. By turning this arm, one may,
independently of the dock-work,
lessen, or shut off altoge her, the
supply of gas. Tne appuratu , it is
noted, will serve for other kinds of gas
besides luminous, aud it may he used
for the automatic stoppage of gas
motors.