Newspaper Page Text
The Irwin County News.
Official Orsran of Irwin County.
A. G. DelOACH, Editor and Prop'r.
f £NERAL NEWS.
Curr- .vents of the Day Boiled Down
I a Few Lines For Busy People,
’ernor Fishback, of Arkansas is
qi low.
fe lore was a slight earthquake shock
at San Francisco.
ittle Siam has had to give in and
let France have her way.
The Mississippi editors will go in a
body to Chicago Aug. 21st.
The American Waltham Watch Co.,
has reduced their force one-half.
John Dan, of Paiatka, Fla., suicided
at Augusta, Ga., by taking chloro¬
form. 1
James T. Kilbreth his been appoin¬
ted Collector of Customs of New
Y> rk.
n August 1-t 16,WO workmen
wt e discharged from EJgin Watch-
fa pry.
ohn Carter, a negro, was struck
a killed by lightning near W ftming-
tc , N. C.
din Stevenson, the well known cm
bi der, died at New Rochelle, N. Y,,
ag ,d 84 years.
From 1,000 to 1,500 lives are said
tt have been lost in ii battle reported
f oui Nicarauga.
The silver convention in Chicago
de'nands I lie free coinage of silver at
a ratio of 16 to 1.
Martin Reed, wanted in Cincnmati
on an old charge, lias been captured
after twenty years.
Officer J. A. Harvey, of Syracuse,
N. Y., was shot to death by a prisoner
natn',1 George A Barnes.
Tile World’s Fair was opened on
1» unday by. an order of court, but
.tendance was small.
he First National Bank of Chicago
haioirdcred a shipment of $500,000 of
An rican gold lroin London.
Tne Nclour, and the Detroit, two
Chicago hotels, were damaged $3,50C
by lire. There was no panic.
This steamer City of Alexandria
reached New York yesterday with
nearly $500,000 in gold from Iliwa-
na.
A«Seveii-story brlcK and iron build-'
r Irlnnen collapsed at Pittsburg. Forty
narrowly escaped, but two
:re lost.
Ihe first general meeting of women
«5 ers ever held wiil assemble at
•ella club house Chicago on Thurs-
f, Friday and Saturday next.
■ork lias taken a downward turn
■ and during tho past week sold at
y. as $10 per barrel, whereas hereto'
er ,it has been selling as high as $19
n Sheehan, one of the wealthies
J^in and around Meradian, Miss.
(J :ad. Ho owned considerable
arty both in Alabama and Missis-
COi ouble between union men and
., union men at the lumber docks in
b nd, Wis., culminated in a free
DOW in which a number of both sides
A injured.
at t. Georgia Pacific railroad is no
r operated by the Richmond &
to tille railroad, but. is under the
Av.ff ement °F Die Georgia Pacific
vay Company,
^is shown by official statistics just
hitileted that there are in Mexico
nt :6,000 head of horses, 3,QOO,OOQ
- 1 of cattle, 3,000,000 head of sheep
5,000,000 head of goals.
t. Parkland a suburb adjoining
y e isville, the Marshal Andrew
f . dc was shot and killed by Edward
* rl n, whom he was trying to arrest,
tm. Murry Blunk,son of the Marshal’s
Kurn killed Grim.
JtlVoiASTJYJl iaiiV.l*\(l alien steerage pas-
ligers gaVut at New York in 1892,
■y 4,116 their destination as
™ southern stated. So far this year
Ik proportion on, southward-bound
uuuigrants Is no greater.
It is estimated that every\ection about 3,000 real
Instate men from of the
|jnited America Stales will assemble and Brtitish at\St. North Paul,
Minnesota, the on the 21st duy\of August the
o attend annual meeting of
Nafional Real Estate Congress.
G dispatch from Washington reports
Ji ks resumption in day. of and fourteen intimst»° jnational that
r one
iy more will re-open, as the imajori- kres
* those recently suspended ab-
C clWd
tely solvent, and only
K R et, ugh an unwarranted lack of eon-
,,icc in banks generally.
I Ihundor During a severe wind, rain knd
storm- at Nashville the ciirciii
lar If building contairing the cyclorAma
® Die battle of Missionary Eilffge
pva way before it, and it is a conn.
alil - wreck. If tho picture is ruin\ed
i
and ; • i-s will be $20,000, with no
dign insurance. No people wove
auyti
tho ret- J; Taylor was electrocuted at
, New York. Tho first attempt
failure the djnamo burning
Ineinen connected the electric prisoiji light np-
s with a btreet
SYCAMORE, IRWIN COUNTY, GA., AUGUST 11, 1893.
plant and niter an hour’s delay the
second attempt was made which
proved successful.
On the Labe shore at Chicago, a
man was found dead tiro past week,
A partly filled can of powder was be¬
side the body, the face was torn and
mangled, suggesting the probability
that the man had tilled his month with
powder and touched it oil with a
lighted match, blowing away a part of
his face.
Mayor Harrison of Chicago asked
that the poor children of the city be
shown the sight’s of the iVorld’s Fair,
and 15,000 beys and girls from the
slums of Chicago marched in process¬
ion through lire streets, became guests
of the Illinois Central Street ltailway
alul were, VQvtdly entertained by Buf¬
falo Bill,”gave them the most
glorious day in all the history of Chi¬
cago w-aifd. m
Libby Prison Survivors.
During tho tatter part of August
there will be a reunion at the Libby
prison war mnsenin of the survivors
of the famous tunnel escape from this
prison on Die uight of February 9,
1864. This event will be marked by
the attendance of Col. Thomas E.
Rose of the Seventy-seventh Pennsyl¬
vania infantry, the projector of the
celebrated escape, and Capt. A. G.
Hamilton of ihe Twelfth Kentucky
cavalry, bis companion iu the under¬
taking. Colonel Rose is now in the
United States army and stationed at
Fort Riitggbld, Tex., and Captain
11 s: mill t> ■ living at Reedyville, Ky.
They an most prominent living
incmbtts’of Btc tunnel party, and will
meet for the first time since the close
of the war. Among others that will
be present are Capt. I. N. Johnson,
Sixth Kenliiiky infantry, Pleasant-
ville, Ky,, Capt. Terrence Clark, Sev¬
enty-ninth Illinois infantry, Paris,
Ill., and Gen.*11. C. Hobart, Twenty,
first Wisconsin infantry, Milwaukee-
Gigantic .Swindle Exposed.
A liugh conspiracy has been un¬
earthed whereby seventy-three banks
ami banking institutions in New Eng¬
land were violin izod.
The story is to the effect that certain
employes of the Northern Pacific Ele¬
vator Company of Minnesota issued
$.1,500,000 of forged duplicated cer¬
tificates for gr.-jin in storage in the
country elevators,owned by the con-
, 1 . ...e ih^/cction is not so
strict as at the terminal elevators.
These forged certificates were deposi¬
ted witli Eastern banks as collateral.
About $800,000 was secured in New
England, and the balance in New
York. Some of Die Eastern holders
of the paper became suspicious, and
on an investigation being made, tho
true state of affairs cainc to light.
Good News, If True.
A private dispatch from a New
York banker reports that engagements
have been made in Liverpool for the
shipments tills week of $10,000,090 of
gold to New York and Chicago by
London banks.
Several Now York National banks
have purchased $12,000,000 of United
States bonds from savings banks, and
have shipped the bonds to Washington,
in oider to issue about $10,000,000 in
hank notes,
The New York banker expressed
the opinion that, the present stringent
financial situation cannot last more
than 30 days longer.
Must Pay Up.
Secretary Carlisle has replied to the
requst of Keutuky distillers for an ex¬
tension of ninety days in which to pay
their internal Revenue taxes upon
their whiskey which has been held
ihree years in bond that the law is im¬
perative and loaves him no discretion
in tho premises. So these distillers
when tiio three years are up, whieh
will be this month, will have to pay a
tax of ninety cents a gallon or subject
themselves and their stock of whiskey
to the penalties prescribed by law.
A Horrible Crime.
Near Montgomery, Tex. ; three ne¬
groes attacted the house of Mr. M,
Marsh, killed Mr. Marsh, brutally
assaulted his wife, murdered his in¬
fant, and cut out the tongue of his 7-
yeav-old child.
One of Ihe negroes was caught and
lynched. The Sheriff and posse are
searching for tlie others, who will cer¬
tainly be Ivnched if caiurht.
Tho Pesky Grasshoppers.
A plaugue of grasshoppers has ap¬
peared in parts of Alabama and Ten¬
nessee. Reports from Calhoun county
Ala., say that in tho Valley around
Choccolocco, much damage has been
done to growing crops. In some
places the grasshoppers have appeared
in great droves and stripped the corn
anil cotton alike. On several farms
crops have been practically destroyed
within a few days.
Sliver Bullion Depository.
Attorney-General Eugley of Colo¬
rado, has rendered an opinion to the
affect that it is witlbn the power of
the legislature to enact appropriate
legislation for the establishment of a
and statuary depository of silver bullion
the issuance of certificates there¬
on, assignable by delivery, and receiv¬
able by the State in the payment of
State taxes.
“In Union, Strength and Prosperity Abound.”
DUN’S TALK.
Condition aid General Outlook of The
T.ospects of the Country.
It. G, Dun & Co’s weekly review
of trade Rays: The hardest week has
left tho business world in a condition
to rejoice in the soundness and
strength disclosed. Prices of stocks
Wednesday, were greatly depressed Tuesday and
closing lower Gian any
oilier day since January, 1879, and the
fall oil Wednesday averaged over $2
per share, and yet only two failures
resulted and those of brokers not
especially important. A sharp rally
followed on Thursday with buying
from London by shorts, and especially
the significant buying by small inves¬
tors, No banks hero or at other
Eastern cities, and no Eastern firm of
largo importance have gone down,
but numerous banks failed at the
West, including some of high repute
and large business. The Erie Ilail-
roacl was again placed in tho hands of
a receiver, though for eight months of
the fiscal year the- net earnings of the
company hud been larger tliau last
year’s, and the earnings of other roads
reporting are generally closo to last
year’s. Tho money market became
excitingly stringent again with the
depression in stocks, and the drain to
assist other cities has been very heavy,
but through all the strain the banks of
New York have passed without troub¬
le, and imports of gold have com¬
menced. From $1,000,000 to $2,000,-
100 in money has been sent West
•very day and a large decrease in the
bank reserves is expected as the Treas¬
ury has not been disbursing heavily.
A few commercial loans have been ne¬
gotiated and those at high rates.
At other cities the money markets
have been quite close, but bank fail,
ures at Milwaukee, Indianapolis and
Louisville have caused less disturb¬
ance than might liavo been feared.
The treasury purchased silver sparing¬
ly ; nd the exports of that metal have
Been targe. Exchanges between this
city and Philadelphia have been espe¬
cially disturbed, but the banks of the
latter city continue to supply custo¬
mers as well as they can. Chicago
has drawn heavily on New York, but
in that and other cities the bank state¬
ments indicate creditable soundness.
Cotton has declined an eight though
receipts are little larger and exports
smaller than last year, but holders
show great stubbornness in view of
large stocks in sight and closing of
many mills. Fall cottons, though half
a cent lower than last year in price
and exceptionally attractive, meet
with but moderate demand and print
cloths are weaker at 2.94 cents. The
iron business grows less active and,
in spite of the past decrease in the
output, the demand does not equal
the supply, so that four large furnaces
at Pittsburg are expected to close.
Bar is weak and has been sold at $1
55, Plates are in narrow' demand and
structural iron is irregular with
beams down to $1.80. Of steel bars
28,000 tons were sold to agricultural
impliment makers at
St. Louis reports a fair trade for
the season except in Dueling, and no
complaint, among jobbers. At Knox¬
ville and Nashville trade is fair; at
Little Rook it is voyy conservative but
safe; at Columbus and Macon the out¬
look is good, though money is tight.
New Orleans reports trade exceedingly
dull, and money very tight, but banks
sound and crop prospects excellent.
Mobile reports fair crop prospects;
Jacksonville i* doing a close and cau¬
tious trade, and Charleston is doing a
dull but sound business.
Failures during the past week num¬
ber 383 in the United States, against
171 last year, and 23 in Canada against
22 last year. It is noteworthy that
only three failures of capital above
$200,000 each, and only 99 of capital
over $5,000 each. Over fifty banks
stopped during the week, but nearly
all were at tho West. Last week the
failure* in.-the United Stales numbered
457 and the previous week 374.
Death Preferred.
A special from Antigo, Wis., says:
W'lliam Nunemacher, a farmer killed
his wife and babe and two boys, age 5
and 3 years, by dashing out their
brains. He then plunged head first
from a window in an attempt to kill
himself. He is stilt alive, but para¬
lyzed. The cause of the quadruple'
murder and suicide is said to be a fear
that hfs family would die from starva¬
tion.
Relief Withdrawn.
The state, county and city official*
out at Denver, Colorado, have abol¬
ished Camp Relief, where the unem¬
ployed wore being fed. The cause for
this action was that hundreds of
tramps were flocking to Denver from
all parts of tho west to partake of the
liberality bestowed upon suffering peo¬
ple who were dependent only beoause
there was no work to bo found.
She Horsewhipped Her Mamlerer.
Lulu Belknap, a farmer's pretty
daughter, horsewhipped Thomas Con¬
nolly, a popular young merchant, in
the p office at Lamette, Jackson
count), la., because, as she announced
to the crowd, Connolly slandered her
after she refused to marry him.
Tlio Reunion Again Postponed.
The Southern Confederate Reunion,
which was originally to hayo been
held at Birmingham in July, and was
then postponed until the 15 and lo of
September, has again been postponed
to take place on Moiklay and Tuesday,
October 2 and 3.
Among the reasons assigned for the
further postponement arc the summer
heat, the harvesting of the crops and
the hope and belief that the iinaucial
situation would greatly improve by
the delay, id id principally was a desire
to afford the old veterans an opportu¬
nity of the cheapest rates lo the
World’s Fair.
Adjutant General Moorman has is¬
sued a general order announcing the
postpomneut, and positively suiting that the re¬
union would take place at
Birmingham on the last named dates,
and that the unveiling of the Confed¬
erate monuments at Chicago would oc¬
cur on October 17.
As this is I ho only Confederate
monument upon northern soil erected
to commemorate the memory of 6,000
Confederate dead, resting in the shades
of Oakwood Cemetery, Chicago, Com¬
manding General John B. Gordon,
appeals to all comrades to form clubs
and take advantages of the cheap ex¬
cursion rates secured for the occasion.
Hon. W. C. !’• Breckenridgo; will
be the orator of the day.
3he Souih in the Storm.
The fact that the financial storm has
been so light,in the South while so
heavy in the West, is made a subject
of comment by the Manufacturer’s
Keeorii of Baltimore, There is no
doubt that the bankers and financiers
of the South are more conservative
than those of the West, speaking
broadly. It is also to be remembored
that speculative activity has been lees
energetic in the South than in the
West, that the silver-producing West
has been more affected than the South
by the diminished demand for silver,
that manufacturing industries found¬
ed upon credit have been expanded
more rapidly in the West than in the
South, that the cotton crop of the
South is more readily available at all
times for the payment of balances
than any product of the West, that the
real estate transactions in the West far
surpass those in the South, and that
the amount of reserve capital in the
hands of Southern people is propor¬
tionately, greater than in those of
Western people. The whole country
is pleased with the liuaeial stability of
the South, as illustrated by the figures
given in The Manufacturers’ Keoord.
—New York Sun.
Both Loved tho Same GlrL
Two prominent young men of Lou¬
isville, fought a duel near Versailes
about a young lady, both were in love
with. Two shots were fired from six
shooters with tho result of ono of the
participants being hit In tho leg. The
young men have determined to decide
the issue by fighting it out with nat¬
ure’s weapons at some future time.
Anottier Big Coal Strike.
In accordance with the decision of
the Miners Federation the groat strike
the English coal miners has beeu
inaugurated at a majority of the pits.
No disorder has been reported from
any quarter. Something like 350,000
men were directly affected by tho
itrike.
Gelling Rookies*.
Four hundred men took possession
of the Union Pacific freight train in
the yard at Denver, ono night recently.
they made the train crew throw oat
the loaded oars and put on empties,
ind now are on their way east. It is
aot probable that they will be moles-
IVary in Trouble.
The Philadelphia, Record has a dis¬
patch from St. Johns, N. F., which
says advices have been received from
Labrador of serious trouble in Lieu¬
tenant Peary’s expendition. It is said
that it is so great that tlie trip is likely
to prove a failure.
Lynchers Indicted.
Two of the ring leaders of (he mob
who lynched and burned Lee Walker,
at Memphis, have been indicted for
murder and are now in jail awaiting
trial.
Good Showing for the South.
Since Nay 1st, the aggregate capital
of the Colorado banks that have sus¬
pended exceeded by $2,000,00 the
capital of all the banks that have failed
in tlie South. Financially, the Sou tb
is solid.
A Heavy Gorn Crop.
The Omaha Bee says that unless all
signs fail, Nebraska wiil this year har¬
vest $50,000,000 worth of corn, which
is equal lo ono year’s silver product of
Colorado, Montana, Idaho and Utah.
Appeal-Avalanche in Trouble.
The Chancery Court of Memphis
has ordered Dio sale of tho franchise
of the Appeal Avalanche.
SHvcritcs lit Chicago.
Silveritos fr > u the oa-t. south and
west aro in GUiougo m i u ge numbers,
They aro iu convention.
$ 1.00 a Year in Advance.
NOTES AND COMMENTS.
Discussing tall men and short men a
writer in The Boston study, Transcript says:
“It is an interesting by the way,
to see a handsome man of very great
height enter the company such of a will miscella¬ find
neous lot of men, as one
at a club sometimes, or a dinner party
where the guests are conversing and not
yet at table, or under other circumstances
where the newly arrived giant will natu¬
rally pass from one to another, convers¬
ing. It is the invariable rule, so far as
The Listener has observed, that the men
of middle size treat the big man with
deference and admiration, while the
little men shy away from him, or affect
not to see him. The little men naturally wiil
avoid the contrast, from which they
suffer, or else they fancy that thought by showing
admiration they will bo to be
toadying to a big man because he is big.
The then of average height, on the other
hand, are acting perfectly instinctively;
for it is still as natural for men to admire
a man of great and noble stature as it is
for animals to show deference toward a
giant of their kind. A spectacle civilization, of this in
sort takes us through
which a pygmy is exactly as well off as
a giant, directly back to barbarous times,
or the cave dwellings. In a way the
thing is impressive; in another it is very
funny. Men’s ways are after all so ex¬
tremely amusing I”
A cciuous method was recently used
in Illinois to take the foul air out of a
well. The well was to be cleaned, but
the man that took the job was afraid to
go down until he had ascertained the
quality of the air at the bottom. He let
down a lighted candle, and when it de¬
scended to about six feet of the bottom
it went out as suddenly as though ex¬
tinguished by a whiff of air. That was
all he wanted to know. He was then
sure that the well bad poisonous gas in
it, and took a small umbrella, tied a
string to tho handle and lowered it open
into the well. Having let it go nearly
to the bottom, he drew it up, carried it
a few feet from the well and upset it.
He repeated this operation the bystanders twenty or
thirty times, with all
laughing at him, then again lowered and bright tho
light, which burned clear
even at the bottom. He then conde¬
scended to explain that the gas in the
■well was carbonic acid gas, which is
heavier than air, and therefore could be
brought in an umbrella just as though
it were so much water. It was a simple
trick, yet perfectly effective.
A Philadelphia, war veteran has
patented a device for protecting soldiers
to a considerable extent from an enemy's
fire. It is a folding shield in of bullet¬
proof material, circular form, whioh
can be fixed to the barrel of a rifle. Its
diameter is eighteen inches, and the sur¬
face is corrugated for the purpose of de¬
flecting bullets. The inventor does not
pretend that it furnishes a oomplete pro¬
tection, but he believes that it would be
found indispensable by skirmishers, and
in a general engagement would be the
means of greatly reducing the casualties.
When not in use it can be folded into
portable compass and worn at the side
like a bayonet. When expanded and
fastened to the rifle-barrel, an aperture
on the line of sight is shown, which en¬
ables the soldier to take aim and use his
piece effectively, The idea of the in¬
vention is already applied to The large rifled
suns on vessels of war. inventor
has brought his device to the attention
of military experts, and they have en¬
dorsed it as practicable in operation.
That the earth’s motion has an appre¬
ciable effect upon artillery fire, deflect¬
ing the projeotile from a straight course,
may be news to many, and as such would
probably seem a novel notion. It has,
and the exact nature and extent of the
effect is an important point English of study
with artillery experts. An army
expert told of the results of many in-
foresting experiments along this line in
a P?P el ! read befo re th ® Uo >?!. Artl ! le U
Institution the other , day. l‘‘rmg from
north to south there is a divergence of
projectiles to the left duo to the earth’s
rotation, and firing due north the diver¬
gence is to the right. The extent of the
“pull” varies at different points on the,
earth’s surface, and with projectiles fired
at different speeds and elevations. In
England a deflection of five inches is
found to occur with the projectile of a
12-pounder in a 4 000 yard range.
One of the few novel ideas that have
come to light as the result of the recent
advertisement for plans for a submarine
naval boat involves the construction of a
craft that can be sunk by admitting a
limited quantity of water, and will then
run around on tlie bottom of the ocean
on wheels. The inventor thinks that his
boat can move more directly in a straight
path than a boat subject to deflection
by currents and waves, and therefore
claims for her the ability to pick her
position with accuracy beneath the iron¬
clad she wishes to destroy. He has made
provision for reaching the surface when
desired by means of a set of pumps to
expel the water admitted to the hull.
An Indiana man named Dobbins has
invented a voting machine which is said
to be more simple and accurate than any
similar machine. “The Indianapolis
News” thus describes it: “The tickets
are printed on one continuous roll, which
is locked in the machine. Beneath a
glass-covered table the ticket passes from
this roll to another roll fitted into a
ballot-box. The glass cover is divided
into four sections, and between each
section is a row of keys similar to the
typewriter. The upper key is larger,
and is called the straight ticket key, and
when this is struck it locks the other
keys, thus preventing mistakes.”
A demand is made in Maine for the
reenactment of the law permitting birds the be¬
killing of crows, as these are
coming a great nuisance again. A
Damariscotta farmer says he is obliged
“to sit up most of tlie nigh* and watch
VOL.IV, NO. 13.
all day to tight crows.” Another asseris
that of 1,200 hills of potatoes which he 1
planted the crows have spoiled all hut
195. They are also destroying sufferer young
chickens and ducks, As one
from their raids says: “You can’t mako
folks believe that crows don’t koep
posted on the Maine revised statutes.”
The next Legislature will no doubt be
asked to revive the old law, and if the
crows know what is good for them they
will read it and give the State a wide
berth.
There arc four systems now in force
for the grant of patents: 1, the Ameri¬
can, in which the patent is granted after the
rigid examination into novelty; 2, adver¬
British, in which the invention is
tised and the grant is subject to oppo¬ of
sition; 3, tlie German, which is a sort
compromise between the American and
British, Involving both an examination,
nfid an appeal to opposition; and 4, the
French, which involves neither an ex¬
amination nor public Opposition, but is
a registration merely. All the patent
laws of the world can be included in
some one of these systems, or pnrtakc of
their features.
A novel contrivance to restrain runa¬
way and pulling horses has recently been
patented. 'The inventors claim that,
when iu operation, standstill it will bring powerful to an
immediate the most
and refractory horse. It is fixed under
the box seat, the buckled end of the
reins being passed through an aperture while
for the purpose, and the driver,
guiding the animal with his left hand,
can with his right, if need be, instantly
raise the machine, and motion by putting tighten a the re-
volving process in
reins to any extent required.
Thebe are treasures at the bottom of
the sea, in the wrecks of the countless
galleons, transports, merchantmen,
steamships, and other vessels that have
sunk thereto the ages through. The in¬
ventor who has laid before the Navy
Department his design for a submarine
punt on wheels, that shall traverse tho
sea’s bed with a crew in the bold of it.
can, in the opinion of the New York
Sun, engage in more profitable business
than that of sinking the enemy’s cruisers.
Tru: fastest time on record for the de¬
livery of American mails in England was
made a feiv weeks ago with the mails
arrivingirom New Yorkbythe Teutonic.
The Teutonic made a passage of six days
four hours to Queenstown, and the mail
was delivered in London in exactly six
days and twenty-two hours from the
time the ship had left New York.
Georgia paid $181,235 to crippled
veteran of the Confederacy last year.
There has been great mortality among
these old soldiers during the last ten
years. In 1833 the number of pensioners while
on the Georgia rolls was 1,009,
now there are only 773.
The greatest depth under water ever
reached by a diver is believed to have
been attained by Capt. John Christian¬
sen, who went down 196 feet below the
surface at Elliot Bay, Wash., recently.
He remained at that depth in his armor
for twenty minutes, without inconveni-
cnce.
The Rise of the Cat.
It seems hard to believe that during
all the long 'g/es which passed between Chris¬
the dawn ob/ivilizatiou and the
tian era the Romans and the Greeks
should have beeu ignorant of tho most
familiar pet of our homes—the common
cat. Yet no fact seems established more
clearly than this. Hahn, in his “Wan¬
derings of Plants and Animals,” insisted
upon it, and it has since been estab¬
lished by the united efforts of scholars
and zoologists. We know that our do¬
mestic favorite—with its winning, ooy
ways, uneasy when removed from man’s
society, and yet never completely old-world trust¬ air
ing it, with its mysterious nations of
—was unknown to the chief
antiquity till after the Christian era. It
was the patient and gifted nation of tho
Nile Valley who built the Hall of Col¬
umns at Karnak, and who reared such
colossal statues as that of Rameses II. at
Memphis, tamed not to speak of Hereditary the pyramids,
that first the cat. an¬
tipathy as deep as that which reigns be¬
tween the feline race and'mankind does
not die out in a generation. Countless
years and many dynasties must have
passed eve the wildest members of crea¬
tion became the most faithful servants
of mankind. In Egypt we know that
cats were regarded with veneration, and
embalmed and buried after their death.
Herodotus alleges that all cats on their
decease were taken to the city of Bubas-
tis, where they wore embalmed; but
their mummies are found, as a matter of
fact, in Thebes and other Egyptian
towns. zElian refers to them as re¬
markable for their tameness. He de¬
scribes the way in which (according to
Eudemus) the cats were used to hunt iu
packs, the quarry being the ape, which
tried to escape by climbing to the end of
a bough and hanging there.—[LondoD
Academy.
An Enormous Kite.
The largest kite ever made in the
United States is that produced in Dur¬
ham, Greene County. The frame con¬
sists of two maip sticks, 28 feet long,
weighing each 100 pounds ( and two
cross 75 sticks, 21 feet long and weighing
pounds each. All the sticks were
2x6 inches in dimensions. Over tho
framework was stretched a great sheet
of white duck, 25x18 feet, which
weighed 55 pounds. The tail of the
kite alone weighed 50 pounds and Con
tained 155 yards of muslin. Twenty-
five hundred feet of one-half inch rope
served $100, as kite and strings. it is The mounted plaything
cost when into
tlie air it exerts a lifting power of 590
pounds. Six men once permitted U 13
ascend 1,000 feet.—’Albany F.xpu.fci.