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The Sylvania Telephone. C. H. MED LOCK, Editor amd Pum-muieb. YOL. II. The aymakers. In the clover meadows Sharpened scythes are swinging, Hinging out their merry music to the mowers there; In the noontide shadows, Fading flowers are flinging Fragrant, dying odors to the fickle, fleeting air. Like the lading flowers, And as grasses wither, Leaving only pot fume to the mooking morn ing breeze; Lot ns all the hours— Flitting, none know whither— Breathe out lives oi sweetness, though they be devoid ot ease. Hither come the rakers, Carefully to gather Heaps ot dead and well-dried foliage lor the winter’s store; So should pleasure takers, Not dispel, but rather Treasure hopeless memories—the withered joys ot yore. Only in the sunshine Will our hay be making; Greater its dead value than when growing fresh and green; So a mortal lifetime Freed from all heart-aching Finds it lull fruition in the closing ol the scene. — S. T. Clark. The Old Sea Captain’s Story. Captain Gray, what is a land lub ber ?’’ The old sea captain laughed one of his hearty, rollicking laughs, as he met the gaze of the serious brow s eyes lifted to his faep. “ A land-lubber ? Why, boy, that’s my what the sailors call one who has never been on the wide blue sea. It strikes me that two very good definitions of the word are sitting close beside me now, waiting for their sailor friend to begin his yarn. Well, I’m ready — what shall it be P” “ A true story ,” exclaimed Walter. “A love story,” coyly added fifteen year-old Alice.; The old sailor looked thoughtful a moment; then he said : Vt?l y weit, It aiiAii o– ‘ ootn a cm * 1 story and a love story—something which happened in my own life. “ Thirty years ago I was not the old man you see me. These gray hairs were as black as the raven’s wing then, and these wrinkled cheeks had been bronzed bereath the skies of maiiy climes. “From a mere 1 id I had always lovpd the sea, and the sea must have loved me; for from a poor cabin boy, I rose through hard work to what the world calls a successful man. aid the owner and captain of as stanch a vessel as eyes could wish to see. “I had one daughter named Nellie,the prettiest girl (so every one said) for miles around. She was all I had to love, and with a fond father’s pride I gave her the finest of clothes and sent her to the best of schools. Then, when she came home from school for good, such pleasant times as we had 1 But after a while a cloud came over my happiness for I began to see that my pretty daughter could not always stay with me. “ Admirers began to be attracted to our cosy cottage, and one, I soon saw, Nelly liked better than any of the rest. John Estey was his name, and that he was a fair appearing lad I could not but admit, but he was only a common sailor before the mast, and in my pride I said that never should the daughter of the captain of the Ellen Gray wed with one so far beneath her. Besides, quite lately there had been another who had seen and fancied my daughter, aud who had confided to me his wish to make her his wife. Mr. Morris was older than she to be sure, by some ten or twelve years, but he was very rich, and I thought to myself how well Nellie, with her beauty and lady-like manners, would grace his elegant home. "I hadn’t told Nellie as yet of my ideas for her future; but as she had al ways been one of the gentlest of girls, I didn’t expect any opposition. t i But one afternoon as I came home from the river and walked; quietly up the garden path, what should I see but John Estey and Nellie seated close to gether on the stoop. And, to my great indignation, the audacious fellow had his arm around my girl’s waist! They were evidently far away in some world of their own, for my presence was un known until, like a bomb-shell, I burst in upon them. What I said I do not re member. I was very angry; but words spoken in passion are soon forgotten— and it is well for us all that it is so. “ I know that I must have said some cruel, bitter things, for when I had finished John Estey rose from Nellie’s side, and his face was very white as he replied quietly, his manner in marked contrast to my wrath: “ ‘Captain Gray, I love your daughter, and she has acknowledged that she joves me. Surely that is no cause for SYLVANIA, GEORGIA, TUESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1880. the insulting things you have said me.’ “Just then Nellie began to cry. “ Suddenly his calmness left him. If you were not her father,’ he said, ‘I would not^bear such words from you; but as it is ’ Here Nellie came and wound her arms around me, where I stood nursing my anger. it * Father,’ she said, ‘ we love each other sol’ it * Love! between a boy and girl!’ nonsense!’” a T exclaimed; ‘ stuff and “Then I turned to John and pointed to the gate. “‘Go!’ I said, fiercely, ‘and never come near my daughter again. She is not for such as you.’ .iwn With a parting , p.tymg look toward , , Nellie who was sobbmg as if her heart would break, John went “The next day I told Nellie of Mr. Morris’ pvoposa', and of his wealth and high station. She listened till I had finished; then she said gently, but with a look in her eyes I had never seen in them before: “‘I love John Estey, father, and it would be a sin for me to marry another man.’ “ After that, when it came time for my next cruise, I made up my mind it wouldn’t do to leave Nellie alone In our cottage home as I had always done hitherto; for, for alt I knew, that scamp (as I called him) might induce her to marry him while I was away. “ When I told Nellie of ray intention of taking her with me, she only an swered : it i Wtiy, father, you know 1 have always wanted to go with you on a cruise, but you never would take me before.’ “So we started. 1 had her cabin fitted up as pretty as a little parlor, and the days went by merrily. In the even ings we sat together on the deck, aud Nellie would sing, in her sweet voice, ‘Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep,’ and ‘A Life or. the Ocean Wave,’ and all the familiar sea ballads I loved. The three weeks were drawing to an end, and I began to hope that Ne.lie was coming round to my way of thinking - 2 OUL iilO-ub . 3 , J Mub «*•> rf o the home port: a % Now, Nellie, like a good girl, make your father happy by consenting to do as he wishes.’ “ She flushed an indignant, rosy red as she sprang to her ieet and confronted me. “ ‘ Father, I have told you that Icm never love any one but John. I would rattier die than marry Mr. Morris.’ “Then, in rnv turn, I got angry. “ 'Very well,’ I said: ‘ we will be in port in an hour’s time, and I hav e to go to L-(naming a town some miles distant) before we go home. I had in tended to have taken you with me, but you shall stay here all day till I re turn.’ “ That frightened her, as I knew it would. ti t Oh, father, please do not leave me alone on the ship. What if something should happen? ’ “ But I was obdurate; and when she saw that her pleading had been of no avail, Nellie saw me go without another word. “I smiled to myself as I locked the cabin door. “ ‘ I’ll see,’ I thought, ‘ if aseventeen year-old girl can set her will against mine.’ “ So off I went. But 1 was not so hard-hearted as I tried to be; for thoughts of my little Nellie locked in her cabin all alone troubled me all day. and as soon as I could I transacted my business and hurried back. “Itwa9 growing dusk as I reached the dock where the Ellen Gray was moored, and the first thing I saw was a great crowd of people, seemingly much excited over something. Then I missed the Ellen Gray; though I strained my eyes I could see no sign ol her. “Trembling and shaking under the influence of a terrible fear, I asked some one who was passing: it i What is the matter? What is the crowd for?’ “ The man did not know me, or he certainly would have used more cau.ion. Bluffly he replied: it i There’s been an accident, sir. A barge loaded with iron ran into the Ellen Gray, and sunk her. The captain was away, they say, and the crew had gone off on their own hook. Only the cabin-boy was on board, and he was picked up half drowned, and taken to his home. So it isn’t so bad as it might be, for no lives arc lost.’ “ I gazed for a moment wildly into his face, hardly comprehending his words, then flinging up my arms, I cried in a voice of agony: it t No lives lost? Man, I am a mur derer! My daughter was on that ship!’ “ Then a merciful darkness came over my vision, and I knew no more for a time. When I came to I found in a druggist’s shop, where I had been carried, and I could hear as in a dream low voices about me saying: it i How sad! Of course the poor girl must have gone down with the ship.’ tfi ONWARD AND UPWARD.” “ Then suddenly I remembered all, and cried out: “‘My child! my child! I have hilled my child!” “ Then I lost consciousness for the sec ond time,and when I awoke I was in bed, and S ome one was seated beside me. It was John Estey. With a sharp pain at my heart, I recognized the manly, hand some face of the lad my girl loved. No, had loved, Alas! through her un natural father's own act her sweet young life had been made a sacrifice to 4 moment’s angry passion. “John saw tint I knew him, and bending over nay bed, he took my hand, ashesaid: ^ you better, captain ?’ - * do wisb 0 be be tter > * an ' swered; if I , dared to pray T I would ask tbfi Lord to let me die . But I am a murder er-I have killed my child-I darenot pray.’ “ ‘ Don’t feel that way, Captain Gray. How could you know what was to hap pen?’ “ His gentleness—he who had such cause to hate me—went straight to my heart. “ ‘John,’ I exclaimed, ‘ can you for give me for my angry words? I see now how wrong I was, for I had noth ing against you save that you were not rich. Oh, John, how I wish I could put my child’s hand in yours and say take her. My daughter, my beautiful child!’ ii i Captain,’ said John, huskily, ‘ are you sure of that! Cou;d she not have been saved by some chance?’ “Histone and the expression of his face showed me he was keeping some thing back. ‘John!’I almost shrieked, ‘why do you speak in that way? For mercy’s sake do not wait if you have any good news for me!’ “ Then he told r m? how shortly after I had left, seeing that the Ellen Gray was in port, he had gone down to the dock, and rowed himself over to the ship, to try and obtain some word of Nellie, who he knew had gone with me on my cruise. To his surprise he had found the ship deserted by all of the crew save the cabin-boy, who told him that Ellen wa3 on board locked in the cabin. "Ina trice he had picked the look; and that v°’’ ,r d-y th* ST3 V fjero–w matters into their OWil ’ ) and, gging before a minister, ha! plighted each other their vows. n t Nellieheld back at first,’said John, ‘ for she feared that you would neve. forgive her But I said i: would ail come l ight in time, and that if we waited we might be separated forever. So she consented.’ “ As he told me all this, I, who had always prided myself on my strength, broke down and cried like a baby. “ Then came a step outside, and a sweet voice I had thought never to hear again called out: ‘Father! dear father!’ and there was Nellie clasping me round the neck with both soft arms as if she would never let me go, and weeping and smiling all together. “They were happy days, and years after that, John and Nellie came to live with me in our cosy cottage near the sea; and I hardly could tell which i loved best—my son or my daughter. “ As to the Ellen Gray, I scarcely felt her loss at all. In my great thankful ness that God in His mercy had kept me from living with the dreadful thought always before my mind that I had been my child’s murderer, I had not room to mourn.” A Hungarian Tragedy. A young Hungarian engaged coup Ie entered a draper’s shop in Sepsi-Szent Gyorgy for the purpose of buying a wedding cap for the bride, who duly se lected one to her taste, but, while her bethrotLe 1 was paying for .his purchase, she cast her eyes upon an uncommonly handsome kerchief, and expressed her eager desire to possess it. The enam ored youth, however, peremptorily refused to invest any more of his capi tal in headgear; whereupon, after rat ing him soundly for his stinginess, she abruptly turned her back upon him and left the shop. Indignant at this pro ceeding, he betook himself to the dwell ing of a rival village beauty, to whom he offered, not only his hand and heart, but the cap he had purchased for his former fiance, besides the many-liued handkerchief that had awakened her longings All his offerings were ac cepted ; but his forsaken love, unable to bear the mortification inflicted upon her by his faithlessness and the triumph of her rival, promptly hanged herself in her bedroom. Considerable sympathy was manifested with her sad fate by her fellow villagers, who followed her body to the grave in lar s e numbers, and the fickle bridegroom, meeting the funeral cortege as it passed down the main street, was so stricken by remorse that he also put an end to his life the same evening. Our edition of Webster does not con tain the words which the tiri d editor utters when, as he is about to go home, the devil protrudes his head into the edi torial room and yells out: “More copy!’’ The American Postal System. A postoflice system for the e< was established by the British g ment in 1710. Under this system, min Franklin was postmaster at he was twenty-seven years old. II< held the oflice until 1753, when he was made the colonial postmasterg-eneral him a salary of £600 “ for himself his assistant.” The system was completely organized until the gen his hands. He held the oflice of post master-general ’twenty-one years. He was removed in a rather summary manner, in 1774, because he was an out spoken patriot, who couldn’t be a tory. After the national constitution was adopted in 1789, a postal system for the United States was established by Congress. The first postmaster-gene ral was Samuel Osgood, of Massa chusetts. In 1790, the first year of his administration, the whole number postoflices was seventy-five; the whole amount of postage received, $37,935; and the whole net revenue to the gov ernment, $5,795. In 1800 the whole number of postoifices was nine hun dred and three; the whole amount of postage, $280,804; the whole net reve nue, $66,810. The first rates of postage were as follows; For a single letter, under forty miles, eight cents; over forty and under ninety miles, ten cents; over ninety and under one hundred and fifty miles, twelve and one-ha!f cents; over one hundred and fifty and under three hundred, seventeen cents; over three hundred and under five hundred miles, twenty cents; over five hundred miles, twenty-five cents. In 1816 these rates were changed as follows: A single letter, not over thirty miles, six and one-fourth cents; over thirty and under eighty miles, ten cents; over eighty and under one hundred and fifty miles, twelve and one half cents; over one hundred and fifty and under four hun dred miles, eighteen and three-fourths cents; over four hundred miles, twenty five cents. In 1845 there was another change, and rates were established as follows: For a letter weighing not more than half an ounce, carried not over three hundred miles, five cents; over HUUV. X ■ V* • » ? , y 1851 Congress enacted „ that V letter weighing not more than half an ounce might be carried three thousand miles, if prepaid, for three cents, or for five cents if not prepaid; for over three thousand, six cents, if prepaid, or twelve cents not prepaid; but in 1852 the twelve was reduced to ten. In 1855 the rates were made to be three cents for all distances under three thousand miles; ten cents for all over three thou sand miles, postage to be prepaid in all cases. Finally, by means of several acts and amendments, the rates were estab lished as we have them now. Cheap postage cannot as well b afforded in this country as in Great Britain, because the expenses of the postal system are necessarily much greater here than there. Great Britain is a small country in extent, with a great population. Ours is a country of “ magnificent distances,” and large por tions ol it, where there are postollicei to be served, are thinly inhabited. In a majority of the States, the amount ot postages paid is far below the cost of the postal service they receive. In some of the States the amounts paid for postage are much greater than the cost cl the service. Nevertheless, the post office department does not pay expenses. Words of Wisdom. Self-respect has more self-reliance than self-assertion. Proud hearts and lofty mountains are always barren. The poetic instinct turns whatever it touches into gold. Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them, then, or bear with them. The man who cannot laugh is not only fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils, but his whole life is already a treason and a stratagem. Frugality is good if liberality be joined with it. The first is leaving off super fluous expenses; the last is bestowing them to the benefit of others that need. The first without the last begets covet ousness; the last without the first be gets prodigality. In this artificial life of ours it is not often we see a human face with all a heart’s agony in it, uncontrolled by self consciousness; when we do see it, it startles us as if we had suddenly waked into the real world, of which this every day one is but a puppet-show copy. After all, the profession of journalism is the safest of all others. You never hear of an editor losing his life in an ocean disaster, or railroad smash-up. It is, perhaps, a little more tiresome, but it’s safer to walk .—New York Dispatch. Change of Key.—“What carrot-head ed little urchin is that, madam?” “Why, he’s my youngest son.” “You don’t s.iy so! What a dear little sweet dove-eyed cherub?” CURRENT NOTES. A strange combat between a man and a fish on the French coast is reported. A shrimp fisher named Patey remarked a black mass lying on the shingle a short distance from where he was occu pied, went to see what it was, and found himself in’presence of an'enormous wolf fish which immediately sprang at him. The man had nothing but a thick stick with which to defend himself, but Jie called for assistance, and, with the aid of two other fishers, killed it with stones. The fish, which from its well armed jaws is a dangerous adversary, weighed 250 pounds. Some remarkable long range shooting has lately been done at Ilion, N. Y. The weapon tested was a Remington mili tary rifle (Spanish model) using seventy five grains of powder, and 385 grains of lead; the distance being 1,800 yards, or one mile and forty yards. To obtain this range, the rear sight was elevated three and one-quarter inches. As near as could be calculated, the bullets were in the air a little more than five seconds. At the distance named, they were shot through a dry two-inch spruce plank, and imbedded tour inches in solid earth. A French paper points out that am nesty is more restricted than is im agined. Six thousand communists who were transported in 1871 have already returned, and those of them who are free from criminal antecedents have re sumed their full political rights. Scarcely 500 remain in Caledonia, and as amnesty will only restore them to the status they held before the Commune such of them as had previously incur red forfeiture for life of their ; olitieal rights will still be under disabilities. Sca;cely200 will be able to aspire to seats in the etiambers or local bodies, and only twenty of these are actually notorious, namely; MM. Rochefort, Felix Pyat, Jules Yalles, Bianqui.iTrin guet, and others. The steamship Calvert, which arrived at Baltimore recently, brought in its cargo a novel and great curiosity of tne deep known as the sea-cow. The an . ing the horns, and fins and tail like a fish, was caught in the St. Lucie river, Florida. It weighs nearly 1,000 pounds, and is as docile as a child. The head aud back is partially covered with coarse, black hair, the skinjbeing lead colored and very hard. The animal is about ten feet long, with a large, un wieldy body not unlike that off a seal, and lias a large flat tail. Since it was captured it has been kept in a large wooden tank filled with salt water. Not knowing at first what to feed it on grass was given it, which was devoured in large quantities. The new railway up the sides of Mount Vesuvius, runs along a road steep as a ladder or a fire escape, and 860 meters in length; but as regards danger, it is reduced to a minimum. It is not a train in which the passenger travels, but a single carriage, carrying ten persons only, and as the ascending carriage starts, another, counter-balanc ing it, comes down from the summit, the weight of each being five tons. Tlie carriages are so constructed that, rising or descending, the passenger sits on a level plane, and whatever emotion or hesitation may be felt on the starting, changes, before one has risen twenty meters, into a feeling of perfect security. Dismounting at a little station at the summit, you can scarcely be said to clamber to the edge of the crater, for the company have cut a convenient winding path, up which all except the aged, heavy or feeble can walk with ease. The amount of capital which has been sunk in the business of fire insuran ce is much greater than is generally sup posed. The Commercial Bulletin , which has just investigated the mortality ex perience of the joint stock fire insurance of twenty-six States, shows in a pub lished table that within ten years the withdrawals have reached the large number of three hundred companies, representing assets estimated r as aggre gating some $87,400,000. Of these with drawals, fifty-two were New York com panies, with assets of$18 000,000. Of the total number of companies, one hundred —or just one third—were swept out of existence by the Chicago and Boston fires of 1871 and 1872—leaving two hun dred companies whose withdrawals cannot be charged to any exceptional disaster, but must be accounted for upon the obvious general principle that their business did not pay lor the cost of doing it. A gentleman was promenading the street with a bright little boy at his side, when the little fellow cried out: “Oh, pa, there goes an editor!” “ Hush, hush!” said the father; “don’t make sport of the poor man—God only knows what you may come to yet,"—Hubbard's Advertise ”, TERMS—f 1 50 rn Yea*. NO. 2 . The Mower. Cutting hia swath in the sun, to-day, He hears the bees on the clover hum, He sees the birds at their darting play, Ho looks where the great clouds stealthily come, And suddenly stays his scythe in air, His heart in his eyes, lor one goes there— Goes with the man she long since wed— And the passion leaps that was dumb and dead. Oh, heaven! what desolate years since then Have written their rede on lite and brow, When she was one ol the daughters ot men, And he ol the sons ol God. And now She walks in peace her perfect way, And he is a vagrant cutting the hay Cutting the honey-sweet clover blow On the lands he lost long years ago. What is the ciuel fate that bred Her to honor and him to ruin ? What is the pitiless power that led Him in his strength to bis own undoing ? Let the breez8 blow up and the cloud roll over, Nothing cares he for cloud or clover; But he blesses the grave that is just at hand, And will give him his share of his father’s land. — Harper’s Bazar. MISCELLANEOUS. The balloon business is going up. If head work is so wearing, it is sur prising how long-lived barbers are. When banks become unsteady even the depositor is likely to lose his bal ance. Denmark bas only 1,980,670 inhabit ants, and that is 200,000 more than ten years ago. A blind bov, eight years old, in Ala bama, can play any air he hears, on the violin. An Iowa county official walked five miles to have some one explain to him what the “ fifth prox.” meant. Counterfeit trade dollars of date 1880 are circulating. The government has issued no trade dollars this year. The aggregate sales of the product of the Bethlehem (Pa.) iron works for the past year amounted to $4,000,000. Minnie Westerfieid, of New York, aged one year and four months, died from facial erysipelas, caused by having her ears pierced for earrings. Nevada has a mountain which is nodules are dug out or j grove?; 1 fike potatoes out ot the hill. The r J are the shape of half an apple, anti the outside i s rorgh like that of a nutmeg. San Francisco has been flooded wita a small thin Japanese coin, worth about three cents, but made to do duty so ex tensively as a half-dime that speculators are evidently responsible for its appear ance. Some one with a talent for economy has discovered that the bright and shiny appearance on black cloth and cashmere which have been a long time in use, can be removed by sponging them with ammonia; or, if that fails, with unsweetened gin. Philadelphia claims be the greatest manufacturing center in the world, and the manufacturers of textile fabrics publish statistics showing that the yearly productions in their industries amounts to $90,000,000, and of all the city’s factories to $680,000,000. Superstitions About Thunder. Almost all the tribes in the United States believed the thunder to be pro duced by the wings of a great bird, and that the lightning was the serpents that were invariably connected with the thunder bird, Among the ancient tribes of the Mississippi valley the thunder, therefore, soon became a thun der god, who could be propitiated with sacrifices. The Illinois Indians offered up a small dog when a child happened to be sick upon a day when there was much thunder, supposing the latter to be a cause of the malady. Many acci dents, like conflagrations, were attri buted to this angry god, and some tribes did bloody penance of propitiation, often burning to death their own children. Statements that the Indians adored the thunder, however, seem to be erroneous. It was the cause of the thunder that they worshiped, and before which they burned tobacco and buffalo meat, or cut off the joints of their lingers, or threw their children into th3 fire when they were overcome with fear. The Peru vians had as an ideal a stone that had been split by the lightning. They offered it gold and silver. The natives of Houduras burned a cotton seed when it thundered. Other southern tribes made no sacrifices on the approach of a storm, but abased tnemselves in the most abject fear. The wild rice being aquatic and looking like an arrow or spear, it is also attributed to the thun der spirit as its origin. In Mexico great tempies were built upon the sacred spots where the lightning had struck. A curious notion among Peruvians was that the preserved bodies of twin child ren who died in infancy should be wor shiped, supposing that one of them was the son of thunder, the origin of this idea being the fact that the thunder god of that people was one of the celestial twins ot Apo ’atcquin and Piquerad. This tradition was utilized by Pizarro’s missionaries to teach the Indians the doetrijie of the trinity.