Newspaper Page Text
—--
the mercury.
Siiiulprsvlllc, Washington County, Go.
PUBLISHED BY
A. J. JERNIGAN,
PnOPBIETOll AND PuLLISHEB,
Subscription.
.11.80 per You-.
the mercury.
A. J. JERNIGAN, PnonuETOR.
DEVOTED TO LITERATURE, AGRICULTURE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.
SI.50 TER ANNUM.
VOL. II.
SANDEKSVILLE, GA., JUNE 7, 1881.
NO. 10.
Watches, Clocks
AND JEWELRY
BEPAWED BY
JERNIGAN
POSTOFFICE HOURS.
7:00 to 11:30 a. m.
1:30 to 0:00 p. m.
E. A. Sullivan, P. M.
Subscribe for the MERCURY
Only $1.50 por.Annum.
published BY
JERNIGAN & SCARBOROUGH
BUY YOUR
Spectacles, Spectacles
FROM
JERNIGAN.
None gonuino without our Trade Mark.
On hand and for Bale,
Spectacles, Nose Glasses, Etc
MUSIC! MUSIC!
-GO TO-
JERNIGAN
-FOR-
BOWS, STRINGS,
J tOSIlV BOXES,
Machine Needles
Oil and Shuttles
At the Restaurant.
It In the pretty waitor-girl—
She's one among a Booro;
And tih not that I lovo them loss,
But oh, I lovo her moro !
Down to tho festive board 1 nit;
Sho stands behind my chair;
I eatch tho Hlight auggestivo eougli
Tliat tolls mo bIic is tliore.
Sty pretty, pretty waiter-girll
Hlio liatti a pleasant voice;
Of chops and steaks, of lisli and fowl,
Sho hiddeth me make clioico.
I ponder on my littlo joko
While fingering tho menu;
Tlion: “ If I wero to order duck,
I might, perhaps, got yon.”
Her eyes aro on tho table cloth;
Their glauco, it is severe
“Or, ahotdd I call for venison,
’Twore you ngnin, my dear.”
She wears tho lofty look of ono
Who soarchcth the top shelf;
“Pray, do not ask for goose,” sho said,
“For yon might got-yourself.”
—Boston Courier.
ONLY ONE FAULT.
t'on ALL KINDS OF MACHINES, for snl ■
i will also order parts of Machine, that
get broken, fur which new
pieces aro wanted.
V. .T. .TERN1GATS
G. W. H. WHITAKER,
DENTIST,
SANDEKSVILLE, GA.
Tkiims Cash.
Ofllco at his ltosidoneo, on Harris Streot.
April 3, 1880.
B. D. EVANS,
Attorney at Law,
SANDEKSVILLE, OA.
April 3, 1H80.
DR. Wflf. RAWLINGS,
Physician & Surgeon,
SANDEKSVILLE, GA.
Office at Sandorsville Hotel.
April 10, 1880.
E. A. SULLIVAN,
notary public,
BANDEUSVILLE, QA.
8pecial attention given to tlio collection ol
claims.
OHico in tho Court-house.
0. H. ROGERS,
1
• -Attorney at Law,
Sandorsvillo, Ga.
Prompt attention given to all business.
... Dmco in northwest wing of Court-house.
May 4, 1880.
C. C. BROWN,
-Attorney at Law,
•Sandorsville, Ga.
comli Ip e 0 i icc . in estate and Uuitod States
wniris. Qfaoe i„ Court-house.
H. N. H0LLIFIELD,
■Physician an{ j Surgeon,
Sandcrsvillo, Ga.
store'en ^ oor to Mrs. Bayno’s millinery
!. ro 011 Harris Street.
DR. J. B. ROBERTS,
Physician and. Surgeon,
Sandorsvillo, Ga.
Street oonsplted at liis oflleo on Haynes
t. tn to i 10 Masonic Lodge building, from %
ather hmiil' antl f rom 3 to 6 p. m.: during
lyhen nnt I. 11 "r U . R rosi< foneo on Cliurcfi Stroct,
April^^‘^"y^gagod.
'’"liMHMlKteel l>It11,1. POINTS.
3 utd «!! ’ S°7 r i** utl fully,and instead of crowding
* ia X. ™ vnt ! ne, ‘ ro "». wstlor It 8W, 4, and b ins. ;
VA • Undin * "idtr apart, hire tnora ROOM
fc T0 STOOL, derive mow nourishment from th. mil.
becomo more rigorous, produce belter derelopca
are rage heads, Sen.l for Illustrated ramrhlet
I w T-7—J.A.J0NES, WILMINGTON, DKL
'••livffi,!; W brother "
Zt!T L™ .VlS ™ l 1 """' wh H ri
fl„S ut V-Hrer hen ' I . ,1L had ,n «»»rcd t
T® f n,e n|<l M 'v‘r * an,e I,! ligtli of run
H. CLAYTON.
1 «ot n Vo Farmer.”
hh j°i ir p 0 j n . ,J* to the acre more whent, where 1 drilled
M i »buwii, x Yf) y the old style. 1 gave them a fair
" JOSUVA CLAYTON, Ja., lit. PIcMMt. Del.
Von may soo it in Greenwood ceme
tery. A splendid tombstone with n
lady’s namo upon it. Not Ruth Holly
—though that in tho namo under which
you shnll know her—but a prouder
name, and ono you may have heard.
Flowers grow about her tomb and the
turf lies softly over it. You would
scarcely guess her life and its sad end
as you -tood there. Rather would yon
fancy that lovo and tenderness sur
rounded ono, over whom such piles of
sculptured marble rears itself, from her
birth unto her death.
It is a story such ns I seldom write—
this life of hers—ono that ennnot be
ended by happy reunions and tho sweet
sound of marriage bolls; but there are
too many such stories iu tho world to
be quietly passed ovor, haply there be
any warning in them. Tho lives of
others are, if wo read thorn rightly, tho
host sermons over preached, and this of
Ruth Holly’s is only too truo. Yot it
began very sweetly, like somo old pas
toral poem. She loved and was beloved
again, and tho man sho loved had only
one fault. Ho wns young, ho was brave,
he was witty, he was handsome, ho was
generous; his lovo was devotion, his
friendship no lukewarm thing of words;
ho had great talent and great power.
Hiseloquoneo had thrilled many an au
dience worth tho thrilling. What ho
wroto touched tho soul to tho very
quick. Ho was an amateur painter and
musician and overywhoro was loved and
honored and admired. Ho had only one
fault in tho world—ho drank too much
wine at times. When he did so he
turned, so said convivial friends, into a
very domi-god. It was wrong, but not
so bad as might have been, and he
would sow his wild onts somo day they
said, loving him as his friends all loved
him; and so Ruth thought. Swoet, lov
ing, boautiful Ruth, to whom ho had
plighted his troth and wooed iu verse
and song and with his most eloquent
eyes long before ho put his passion into
words; but so did not think Ruth
Holly’s father. This ono fault of Ed
ward Holly’s overshadowed his virtue
in | his eyes, and ho refused him his
daughter’s hand, giving him the reason
why plainly and not kindly.
“ You’ll bo a drunkard yet, Ned
Holly,” said tho old man, shaking his
head, earnestly. “ I’ve seen men of
genius go tho samo road beforo. I’ve
often said I’d rather have no talent in
my family, since it seems to lead so
surely to dissipation. My sons aro not
too brilliant to bo sober men, thank
heaven, and as for my daughter, only a
sober man shnll have her for a wife;
you’d break her heart, Ned Holly.”
So tho dashing man of letters felt
himself insulted and retorted hotly, and
tho two wore enemies.
Ruth suffered bitterly, sho loved her
father, and sho loved Edward, to disobey
her parent, or to break her lover’s heart,
seemed tho only choice offered her.
She had other lovers, sho had seen
much society, and had been introduced
to tho highest circles in France as well
as in England, but amongst all tho men
she had known none pleased her as Ed
ward Holly did. Not what ono styles an in
tellectual woman herself, she reverenced
intellect, and her affections were in
tense. The strugglo in her heart was
terrible.
She met with her lover by stealth,
against her father’s will, but for a long
while slio rosented his entreaties to
marry him in defiance of the old man’s
refusal. At last, angered by her per
sistence in obedience, Edward accused
her of fearing to share the fortunes of
one comparatively poor—one who must
carve his own way up life’s steep hill
without assistance. Tho unmerited re
proach sunk deeply int o her warm heart,
and in a sudden impulse of tenderness
and sympathy she gave him tho promise
ho had so long sought in vain. They
were married that ovening, and before
morning were upon their way to a far-
off city, where Edward, sanguine and
conscious of power, believed that ho
should mnko for himself a name and
position of which any woman might be
proud. To her father Ruth wrote a
long letter, imploring his forgiveness,
but tho answer crushed all hope witliiu
her bosom.
“ As you sow, so must you reap, weio
THE MERCURY. r
PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY.
NOTICE.
jWAII communications intended for this pa-
por must bo accompanied with tho fnll name o;
tho writer, not necessarily for publication, hut
as a guarantee oi good faith.
We aro iu no way responsible for tho views 01
ludoions of correspondents.
the words the old man wrote. “ I hnvo
no longer a daughter,” and Ruth know
that henceforth (for sho had been
motherless for years) she had in all tho
world only the husband for whom sho
had sacrificed fortune, and, what is
worth far moro, the tender protection of
either.
In tlioso early days Edward did his
best to rnako amends for nil, aud sho
was so proud of him and so fond of him
that she soon forgot to grievo.
Sho heard his namo uttered in praise
by nil. Sho knew that ho had but to
keep stendily on, to mount to the
proudest sent in famo’s high temple, and
for a year she had no fear of his faltor-
ing. Now and then a feverish some
thing iu his voice and manner, a strango
light in his eyes, a greater flow of elo
quence in liis talk, a moro passionate
demonstration of lovo for her than usual
told that ho was under tho influence of
wino, but tho fact only seemed to en
hance his power of fascination. Nover
was ho so brilliant, nover so handsome.
Almost could Ruth have laughed at the
sermons preached by temperance folks
of tho harm sure to follow wine-drink
ing.
If tho story could end hero, the true
story of Ruth Holly’s life, it would be
almost a happy one, but alas, tho sunny
slopo down which it seemed so easy to
slido daily grew darker as tho years
flow on. How they began to toll her
tho fate beforo her, Ruth hardly know.
A little flush of shame came first when
his stop was unsteady and his voico too
loud. Then a grieved tear or two when
ho wns unreasonable. Then a sorrow
that kept her heart aching night and
day, for tho man who first won inspir
ation from tho glass now lost it in its
depths; lectures to bo delivered wero
not given to the expectant public be
cause "of (ho illness of tho locturer.”
Ruth know what that illness meant,
and tried to hide it. Literary work
was neglected also. Money was lost
that might hnvo been easily won.
Debts grow aud credit lessened, the
handsome suite of rooms was exchanged
for ono quite shabby. Ruth’s dress be-
camo poverty-stricken, hor husband was
out nt tho elbows and at toes—ho was
intoxicated from morning until night,
and yet sho loved him and clung to him,
and in his sober moments he loved her
us fondly as ovor. Somotimos the old
strength and tho old hope would be
aroused in him and ho would struggle
to regain his lost position, but it was all
in vain, mm triumphed, aud iu five
years from her wedding day Ruth found
herself with her ono remaining child,
tho first had died within a year of its
birth, in tho dingiest of wretched tene
ment houses, iu n stato bordering on
beggary.
Edward had boon moro madly intoxi
cated than ever before, ho had oven
given hor a blow, and now, as tho night
woro on, ho muttered and raved and
called for brandy, and cursed her aud
himself until sho -trembled with fear.
At last, tho clock struck ton, he started
to his feet and staggorod out of the
room, vowing to got drunk somewhere.
Poor Ruth stood where he had left
her for a few moments. Tho memory
of tho past was strong on hor that night.
Juet at this hour five years before they
had (led from her father’s homo together.
How tender he was, how loving, how
gentle! How ho vowed that sho would
never regret that night, and how ho had
kept those promises ? Ho had broken
every vow—ho neither cherished nor
protected hor. His worldly goods ho
had given to the ravenous demon, drink,
his lovo had becomo a something
scarcolv worth having, and yet she loved
him and clung to him. Sho tried to
foel cold and hard to him, but she could
not, sho strove to remember the blow
ho had given her, tho oaths ho had
uttered, but she answered herself as sho
did so, “It was not he who did it—it
was rum.” Sho listened to tho uncer
tain, reeling footsteps in the street below
and burst into tears.
“My poor darling,” she whispered,
as she thought some grievous calamity
had smitten him into the thing he was,
and ho had not himself “ put an enemy
in his mouth to steal away his brain,’
unmindful of her pleading, unmindful
of her woe and of hor shame. She
thought of him reeling helplessly along
the street, and feared that somo harm
would como to him. Ho might fall in
somo out-of-the-way place and lie there
undiscovered, and so freeze to death
that bitter niglit, and in her agony of
terror poor ltuth could not restrain
herself from following him.
Her poor, weakly baby slept; sho
wrapped it in a blanket and laid it in
its poor cradle. Then sho threw her
warm shawl ovor her head and hastened
down the street, busy this late Saturday
night with market-going people of tho
poorer classes.
A little way beforo her reeled the
handsome, broad-shouldered figure of
her husband, and she, a lady bred and
born, fastidious elegant, accomplished,
reared in luxury, heard poor laborers’
wives warn their children to beware of
j tho “ drunken fellow.”
She heard eoarso laughs at his ex-
! pense, and under tho shadow of her
i shawl her check burnt hotly, but fc;r
nil that she never thought of going
back aud leaving him to himself. As
soon as sho could she gained liis side
and called to him by name;
“EdwardI Edward!”
Ho turned and stood unsteadily look
ing at her, in a bowildered way.
"You?” ho said. “ You ought to bo
at home this time of night."
“So ought wo both,” said Ruth.
“ Come, dear.”
Ho throw her hand off.
"I’m my own master,” ho said, “I’m
not tied to any woman’s apron string!’»
and staggorod awpy again,.I^uth follow
ing through thelong streets with every
face turned toward them as thoy passed
—somo laughing, somo contemptuous,
somo terrified; out nt last upon tho
wharves, and there the besotted man
sat down moro stupefied by the liquor
ho had swallowed, in that fresh, cold
$ir. Ruth was thinly clad—tho chill of
tho sea-blast scorned to roach hor very
heart. Sho thought of tho babe at
homo and tears coursed down her cheeks.
Again and again she plead with tho mad
man at hor side. Again and ngain she
tried to bring to his mind somo linger
ing memory of tho past days when his
lovo and protection had been hors. In
vain. Wild fancies filled liis brain,
demons born of tho fumes of rum held
possession of his senses. Sometimes
ho thrust hor from him, sometimes ho
gnvo her a maudlin ombraeo and bade
hor bring him more liquor, but go homo
ho would not. The distant hum of tho
city died out at last, all was still with
tho strango stillness of a city night.
Tho froBty stars twinkled overhead.
Now and then a night boat passed
up tho river, with measured beat
and throb. Once a rulllanly-look-
ipg fellow sauntered pass them on
tho pier, but though he flung hor an in
solent word and yot moro insolent
laugh, and wont away singing yot more
insolently, ho did not approach thorn.
So benumbed had Ruth grown, so cold
to tho very heart was sho, that the
power of motion had almost deserted
her, when nt last, as tho church clock
not far away tolled the hour of four, the
degraded man staggered to his foot ami
reeled homeward. Sho followed feebly,
only by clinging to tho balustrade could
sho mount the wretched stairs. It was
Litter cold within as without, but she
was glad to find horself at last under
shelter. Hor babo still slumbered and
sho did not wnken it. Her frozen bosom
could only have chilled tho littlo crea
ture. There wero n few bits of broken
wood in a corner, and with those she
made a ilro in tho old stove, and crouch
ed over it, striving to gain somo little
warmth, while her husband slumbered
heavily upon the bed in tho corner, to
which ho hud staggered on his entrance.
Thus an hour passed by, and Ruth
also fell asleep. The silence, tho pleas
ant warmth at her feet, the fancy that
nil hor troublo was over for the night,
lulled her to pleasant dreams. From
them sho was awakened by the leud
ringing of tho factory bell and by the
sound of cries anti shouts iu tho street
below. Sho cast her eyes toward the
bed—her husband was not there?
toward the cradle—it was empty. She
flew to tho window—the street was full
of factory boys with their tin kettles.
Homo great jest amused them mightily.
They roared, they danped, thoy tossed
their ragged caps on high, they shrieked
in unmusical laughter, and the object of
all this mad mirth was only too evident.
On tho steps of tho liquor store oppo
site stood Edward Holly, holding liis
child in his arms and exhibiting for tlio
benefit of tlio delighted crowd all those
antics of which an intoxicated man
alone is capable. Ho called on tho
grinning master of the gin-cellar to
“give this child somo brandy;” and
turned the screaming infant about in a
manner that left no doubt that ho would
end by dropping it upon tho broken
pavement.
Wild with terror Ruth rushed out into
the streot, aud made her way through
tho crowd to tho spot where her hus
band stood, but before sho reached him
tho scene had changed.
Some boy moro brutal than the rest
had thrown a handful of mud into Ed
ward Holly’s face, and he, reeling and
blaspheming, had dashed forward to re,
vengo tho act.
The child had been flung away at the
first step, but fortunately had been
caught by an old woman who, though a
degraded creaturo herself, had enough
of the woman remaining to save an in
fant from injury.
And now tho whole horde of boys
beset tho drunken man, pelting him
with sticks and stones and decayed
vegetables from tho kennel, and revel
ing in the brutal dolight with which
such a scone always seem to inspire
boys of tho lower classes.
Ruth saw that her babe was safe and
that her husband was in danger, aud,
forgetful of all else, flew toward him..
Sho cared nothing fo^tlio jeers of tho
mob; beforo them all she flung her
arms about him and interposed her
boautiful person between him and his
assailants. Tho head that had carried
itself a little proudly in tho presence of
tho highest of the land—that had seemed
moro queen-liko than that of tho em
press herself at tho court of Franco—
that had awakened the envy of titled
English women when the young Amer
ican woman dwelt among them— dropped
itself low upon tho bosom of tlio drunk
en wrotch who was tho jeer and scorn
of n low mob, and only in love and
pity, not in anger, did sho speak to
him:
“ Como homo, Edward! They’ll
hurt you, my poor lovo! come homo
with mo."
Mnd as ho was—fillod with tho demon
of drink, to tho' exclusion- of tho soul
God had given him—th soft, sweot
voice, tlio foud touch of the white fin-
gors, awakened somo memory of tho
past in tho man’s breast.
“ Go you home, girl!’’ ho whispered,
"I’ll kill them? Don’t fret. I’ll kill
’em, and—”
“Como home, darling," sho whis
pered ngain, ant] ho stopped and gave
hor a kiss. At that the boys yelled de
risively, aud flung moro mud and stonos
nt them. Ono throw a stono—a
heavy stono, sharp-pointed and jagged.
Who! her ho ever intended to striko
the man is doubtful, but the missile
flow fiercely through tho air and crasbod
against tho golden head of tho devoted
wife. A stream of blood gushed from
tho white temple and poured down upon
tho bosom whoro it dropped nover to
lift itself ngain—never, never moro.
Only with a quivering shudder of pnin
sho folt for tho faco of tho man who lmd
sworn to lovo nud cherish hor, and had
broken that vow so utterly while hors
had beon so truly kept.
“Good-bye, Edward,” sho whispered.
“ I can’t soo you know—kiss mo. Oh, bo
good to baby ! Bo good to baby I” and
no word more.
Tho crowd was hushed to silence. A
sobered man bent ovor tho dead woman,
whoso hands had dropped away from his
breast, and tho love and truth aud ten
derness of her heart wero all manifest to
him in that terrible moment—manifoHt
in vain, for repentance could not restore
hor to life, nor blot out the lovo which
lmd crushed her honrt through all those
weary days of her sad married life.
“ What is tho matter lioro?” cried a
voice, as a portly man forced his way
through tho crowd. “A woman hurt
“A woman killed,” said tlio policeman
“and that brute is tho cause of all," aud
tho gentleman bont forward nml started
back with a cry of anguish.
“ It is Ruth 1” ho said. “ Ar,v Ruth !”
and fell back into the policeman’s arms
in a ilcathliko swoon. Forgiveness and
ropontanco lmd come alike loo late for
poor Ruth Holly, ller father could
give her nothing but a grave.
Tho child born amidst want and
ponury, nourished by a half-starving
mother, pined away and died in the
luxurious home to which its grandfather
boro it; and now, as tho old man sits
alone in his splendid home, ho some
times hoars a strange, wild cry in the
streots outside, through which a drunk
en creature reels and staggers, howling
ever and anon, “ Ruth ! Ruth! Ruth!”
It is Edward Holly, who ever in liis
drunken madness senrehes for his mur
dered wife. It is tho pitiful, horrible,
heart-brenking wreck of tho once splen-
didly-beautiful man of tnlont, who lmd
only ono fault.—Mari/ Kyle Dallas.
Methodist Statistics.
Dr. Do Puv, of tho Now Y6rk Advo
cate, has gathered tho statistics of tho
Methodist Episcopal church for 1880,
from tho official records, and presents
them in the following table, which we
quote:
1880.
Nel
Increase.
Annual conferences
Missions outsiito of eon-
04
3
forenees
15
Itinerant prcachors
12,00(1
400
Local preachers
12,555
HO
Total preachers
Lay members In full con-
21,051
510
neetion
Lav mom hers on proba-
1,504,105
40,700
tion
1*. allw lit itinerant
178,817
3,510
prcachors
113
H
Death of lay membero,.
Total deaths during tho
21,204
150
21,437
104
Infant baptisms
Adult baptisms
Total baptisms during
58.535
1.078
60,330
<1 3,888
tlio year
117,805
(J. 1,810
Hunday-schools
Bundav-school officers
21,003
734
nml teachers
222,374
4,107
Hnmlay-sobool scholars.
Total teachers nnd
1,002,884
53,010
scholars
1,821,707
57,420
Churches [edilleosj....
17,601
040
l’nrsomiffOH
Value of churches
5,844
$04,131,300
155
$1,010,880
Valuoof parsonages
$8,750,513
$315,321
Total vnluntion,...
$72,831,810
$1,920,210
CONNECTION A L BENEVOLENT COLLECTIONS.
For missions
$571,327.01
$27,884.00
Church extension
H7.437.2*
25,884.00
Tract cause
12,837.75
707.02
Hundav-srhnol union...
15,002.21
3,410.77
Freedman's aid society.
51,807.30
17,320.57
Board of education
44,280,82
17,210.20
American Bible society.
20,322.53
317.85
Conference claimants...
137,003.48
10,001.01
Total
$047,158.44
$102,410.27
CURRENT NOTES.
oniKit coKTBimrrioss.
Kcdnctton of church debts $1,537,308.00
Nmv church buildings and improve
ments 3,660,010.00
Support of pastors, presiding elders
and bishops 7,305,007.70
Current church nud Bunday-aohool
expenses 1,113,532.08
Tho collodions for education do not
Tho Czar's Procautions.
A lettor from St. Petersburg gives
a gloomy account of tho new czar’s life
at tho Castle of Gatschina, thirty miles
from tho capital. Beforo tho courtrc-
moved thither several hundred artisans
of tho Proobrajinsky regiment wero sent
to mnko tho necessary alterations. At
midnight they assembled in the church
at Gatschini and wero sworn secretly to
silence, death or Siberia being tho
penalty of tho infraction of their oath
Ton rubles wero the price of each man’s
silence. The alterations were made in
forty-eight hours.
Vodki soon loosened the tongues of
tho workmen, and the following is a de
scription of the precautions against as
sassination made in tho palaco of tho
czar: A subterranean passago leads
from tho czar’s room to tho stables,
where a number of horses are kept sad
dled and bridled day and night. Senti-
nals are posted at intervals of twenty
yards all around the building.
The imperial bedroom has two win
dows, protected at night by massive
iron shutters, which can only be reached
from tho outside by passing through
three spacious antechambers, in which
arc posted eighty Cossacks, armed to
tho teeth. They aro allowed to speak
and to move about in the two outer
rooms, but in the hall adjoining tho
czar’s bedroom perfect siloneo is main
tained all night. The general on duty
for tho day sits in an easy chair, his
Cossacks sitting on tho divan which
runs around the whole room.
At tho general’s right hand is the
knob of an electric apparatus which
rings a bell in every guard-house within
tho palace grounds. When the em
peror is about to retire to rest, before
shutting the door, ho removes the outer
handle, so that no entrance can be
effected until ho himself personally
opens the door from the inside. Unlike
his father he cannot endure the presence
of an armed sohVer in his bedroom.
include money raised for tho main
tenance of colleges and seminaries, for
which thoro was given in 1880 ovor a
million dollars. The missionary col
lections do not include bequests, nor
tb o sums givon for local or homo mis
sionary societies. Thoro are fifteen
missions holding annual sessions like
annual conferences. Tho not gain to
tho ranks of the itinerant ministers is
400. Ovor 700 preachers woro received
into tho ministry in 1880. Tho not
gnin to tho local preachers’ ranks is
eighty.
Siamese Burial Customs.
When tho pooror classes of Siam die
from accidental or unnatural methods
tho body is interred in the graveyard ol
somo temple. The surviving relatives
then, in accordance with their means,
make tho necessary preparation for the
cremation of tlmir departed ono; and
whon their preparations are complete
thoy exhume what may bo loft of theii
deceased friend, which generally con
sists of tho bnro bones. When death
occurs nnturally tho pooror classes have
tho remains of their departed friend
cremated as speedily as possible at some
native temple, Tho ceromonios, dis
play, number of priests in attendance
and tlio amount expanded in presents
to priests aud others aro regulated
according to tho means tlio deceased
may have left. Tho leading members
of well-to-do families are seldom, if
ever, interred. When any ono of this
class dies tlio remains aro carefully
placed in an urn, so constructed as to
allow tho exudation of tho corpse to
escape in anothervosssel. Tho exuda
tions are from time to time removed
and disposed of with religious cere
monies. The urned remains are so sur
rounded with aromatic and fragrant
preparations as to counteract, in a great
measure, the offensive odors of the
exudations. When all tho preparations
commensurate with tho position, rank
or wealth of tho deceased have been
made, with pompous ceremonials the
gorgeous and costly structure, in which
tho urn and the remains are encased, aro
borne to the open crematory hall of the
temple, where it is exposed for days, and
is daily guarded and daily visited by
friends and spectators to listen to the
performances of the priests, to viow
Siamese and Chinese theatricals, to eat,
drink aud receive such presents as may
be distributed to the crowds or to
special friends. Whon the funds will
admit fireworks aro exhibited every
evening till the oremation is over.
When Shall We Three Meet Again ?
Types have an expressiveness of their
own and can he made to speak plainly
enough without putting them into form
al words if they are only set up in the
right shape. The following will make
this plain to every reader, nothing but
tho ordinary symbols in common uso
being employed to tell the story of the
three worthies. It will be seen that it
is wholly unnecessary to say that tho
old girl in the middle is in a condition
of perplexity, doubt and general aux
iety, which is perfectly natural, consider
ing how hard it must be to make herself
acceptable at one and tho samo time to
the voi y glum man on her right and
tho exceedingly jolly follow on her left:
??•/????????.„
§§» *§§ §§* *§§
i ® I © i'
$i-i $
(•—)
}§( “ 1§§
}§ (—) §§l
S§ ‘—- §§l
Professor Bell, tlio inventor of tho
telephone which bears bis namo, has
carried his experiments in sound so far
that when lie struck a sunbeam it made
a noise. Indeed, it gave forth a clear,
musical tone, the pitch of which de
pended upon tho frequency of tho inter
ruption of the light. It is not improb-
ablo thnt this discovery has already
suggested tlio construction of a harp, or
a flddlo or a banjo, upon which sun
shine would take tho place of strings,
to the everlasting banishmont of catgut
and silver wire.
nero is a moral hero lor the dramatist
—Buckshot Bill, of Nevada, a scout,
a pupil of Kit Carson and successor of
Buffalo Bill. lie speaks twenty-five
Indian tongues; onco snw eleven of liis
comrades burned alive by tho Co-
mAudios; signed with his blood, before
a magistrate, a vow to liavo tho scalps
of eloven Indians who killed his
brother and stole his diamon ! pin; pur
sued theso Indians with ono comrade
and killed six; and now “ hasll7scalp8
hanging in tho Smithsonian institution
in Washington, which wore taken with
his own hands."
Professor Tidy, in a papor read beforo
the London Ohomieal society, restates,
in reply to Dr. Franklin, his firm con
viction that a fairly rapid river,
having received sewage in quantity not
exceeding ono-twentiotli of its volume,
regains its purity after it run of a few
miles, and becomes wholesome and good
for drinking. This opinion is in ontiro
accord with numerous analyses of
water in the Western rivers of tlio
United States, which has always been
found purer, even when taken a fow miles
below largo chics on their banks, than
water from a majority of the interior
lakes.
Tho Dement family woro traveling
through Arkansas in a wagon. They
camped ono day on top of a hill, and
tlio father went off to fish in a stream a
milo away, leaving the wifo and two
children to mind tho horses and bag
gage. Wliou ho rotarued ho saw a
prairie tiro moving up the hill. Ho
linllood to awakon Mrs. Dement and tho
children, for night had fallen and they
woro asleep. Thoy found themselves
approached on ono side by flames, while
oil tlio other was a precipitous rock.
Thoy endeavored to escapo by climb
ing, but had reached only a little height
whon tho fire scorched them, nnd they
mot a horrible death in sight of the
powerless father.
A statistician declares that tlio larger
number of suicides tnko place iu coun
tries where lifo is thought easy and
happy, as iu the kingdom aud duchies
of Saxony, in the smaller German
states and in Denmark. Trustworthy
statistics prove that there aro 110 cases
of self-murder in Franco for every sixty-
nino cases which happen in England.
Suicides are least frequent in Spain,
which is, perhaps, of all European coun
tries tho most superstitious. There are
only thirty fomnle suicides to every 100
men who destroy themselves. The
greatest number of suicides occur in
summer ; tho fewest in midwinter. Out
of ‘23,304 French suicides, 8,413 died by
strangulation, 4,65(3 by drowning, fire
arms disposed of 2,462 and poison of
only 281.
WORDS OF WISDOM.
Never judge by appearances. A seedy
coat may cover a heart in full bloom.
Beautiful are the admonitions of him
whose lifo accords with his teachings.
Ho submits himself to be soon
through a microscope who suffers liim-
self to bo caught in a passion.
The mind has more room in it than
one would imagine, if you would furnish
the apartmonts.
Fortune is like a market, where many
times if you wait a little tho price will
fall.
Don’t get soured with the world; it
does not mend matters with you, but it
makes you very disagreeable to others.
A good temper, like a summer day,
is the sweetener of toil and soother of
disquietude. It sheds a brightness over
everything.
No man was born wise; but wisdom
and virtue requires a tutor, though we
can easily learn to be vicious without a
teacher.
Modesty and humility are the sobriety
of the miud; temperanco and chastity
are the sobriety of the body.
Oui distinctions do not lie in the
places which we occupy, but in tho
grace and dignity with which we fill
them.
Conceit is to nature what paint is to
beauty; it is not only needless, but im
pairs what it would improve.
Contentment is a pearl of great price,
and whoever procures it at tho expenso
of ten thousand desires makes a wise
and happy purchase.
Wise men mingle innocent mirth
with their cares as a help either to for
get or overcome them, but to resort to
intoxication for the ease of one’s mind
is to cure melancholy with madness.