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print] flaft Iimplmik
J C. HEARTSELL, Ed. and Pub.
VOL XII.
A SHABBY OLD COAT.
BT EVa KATHiaiXE CLAPP.
Fold it gently away in this wide cedar cheat.
'Tia a hero’s old coat, late his only, his beat;
There has dvwned on hia fortunes" a prosperou
And, day, wolf-like,
grim poverty slinks from tb
way.
But, Bound oh, the sweet memories that tenderly olio
each rent, fold and fray of this shabb
old tiling
Stir each pulse of my heart until tears blind m
view,
And its dull, faded colors the bright drops reneu
You were faithful, old friend, all those wintr
When days the form bleak,
you enshrined oft with nungs
While grew his weak,
courage stood firm and his liono
shone bright,
As it does, amidst plenty and friends, on tbi
night.
Yon were faithful, old friend, while the hard
hearted crew,
Who all crowded so close while your gloss wa.
still new,
With averred, cold eve, gazed afar down th
Lest street,
their paltry self-love your mute protea
might meet.
Twits just here ho once pinned, with a smil«
grave and sweet,
A wild blossom, bestowed by a child in th
And street,
the love that shone forth from that rugge*
“Made tlie gift,” he said, softly, "a keepsake t<
To a long-winded prayer that proud head sel
doin bow ed.
But to Love’s true religion his true heart wa!
Ever stanch bowed;
to a friend, ever just to a foe.
While bis presence made home a small h eavei
below.
In their well-cushioned pulpits our natty di
vines
Between saint and sinner draw strict, rigit
lines,
And their clerical garb, with a manner austere
They would hold far aloof if this old ooat drew
ntar.
Good, respectable friends, if the heaven yo*
preach
Should, indeed, dawn in beauty, let down to
your reach,
Oh, how stunned you would feel if its populat
vote
Should elect him a prince in this shabby old
ooat.
True, that’s never the way, in this blindfold ola
earth,
Where a diamond must glitter to herald its
worth;
But thanks bo to Nature, some few hearts still
The prize
ring disguise. of true worth, 'ueath all mask and
So fold it away in the wide cedar chest,
Just a shabby old coat, late Ills only and best,
Letting Like softly the fragrance of lavender float.
a prayerful “Well done," round our hero’*
old coat.
Chicago, 111.
1118 IU HAIRPIN;
-OK-
The Strange Tragedy of the
Grand Hotel.
BY ARTHUR GRIFFITHS.
CHAPTER XI—Continued.
“Ask her to describe this visitor. Quick.
Ramon.”
clew. I began to believe I had got a fresh
“He was a forastero, a stranger, speak¬
ing little Castilian, bnt enough to tell
me of my boy. He camo from him, I
was sure. lie showed me the blessed
image (hat Xavier wore always on his
heart.”
And which must have been removed by
the hands of the murderer. Who else?
The real criminal, who had secured it for
this very purpose, probably to send it as
a token to the mother as an authority to
deliver up the sea-chest or any other
property he coveted for reasons of his
own.
Who was he?
We plied the old woman with ques¬
tions.
But she shook her head and became
impenetrably left her stupid, obstinately dumb.
I at last, intending to renew
the attack another day. liamon should
go to her and try what persuasion could
do. If all other means failed, he was to
break to her gently the news of her son’s
death, hinting at its violent nature so as
to arouse a revengeful Bpirit, and thus
win her support.
An idea had been gradually taking pos¬
session of me that perhaps the mysteri¬
ous visitor was Mr. Sarsfield himself.
Smart’s letter rather encouraged me in
this. The long illness, I told myself,
with its close confinement, might be only
a blind. What if it were a mere subter¬
fuge hurried to cover his departure, to conceal a
visit to Spaiu?
True, he could not leave Bytliesea with¬
out the collusion of the two ladies; but
might tbps not have been secured by
some spec ous excuse to Miss Bertram, if
needs were, by a half confession to his
wife?
There was much to support my theory
that Mr. Sarsfield himself had come to
Cadiz.
Where could he find another messen¬
ger whom he could trust? It was every¬
thing to him, his secret. True, he might
employ his some messenger and still keep
own how counsel; bnt how much safer, if
not much easier, for him to go him¬
self!
Following out this line, I set inquiries
on foot for Mr. Sarsfield. Had he, or any
one like him, been seen in Cadiz these
last few days? The same result met us
at the railway station and the steamboat
offices—no Mr. Sarsfield, no person at all
resembling him, was to be heard of any¬
where.
But he might, and would probably, be
in disguise, to which, n-iturally, I had no
cine. So I changed my line of investiga¬
tion, and devoted it now to the sea-chest
of which the old woman had spoken.
A stranger with a sea-chest, but not a
sea-faring man. I felt that this was a
part Mr. Sarsfield would hardly assume.
Could we come upon the traces of any ei
this kind?
CHAPTER XII.
THE DOS HEBMANOS.
While I awaited the result of Ramon’i
further search I passed my time as best
I could in this dull seaport. Time would
have hung very heavy had I not culti¬
vated closer relations with the officers oi
the United States frigate that had
brought den me had to Cadiz. joke Captain Verhey<
I always a about the inquiry
was \tr- conducting. v
m
SPRING PLACE, MURRAY COUNTY, GA. APRIL 14, 1892.
" aai, now does it progress?” he «»ic
to me one evening as we sat over our win.
at the “Fonda del Mar."
“Not so fast as I could wish; still, wi
ed an making heart progress." And then I open
what my I to him, telling him plainly
I encountered. was doing and all the difficulties
“Case looks ugly against^arsfield—it
that how you call him?—there’s no gain
Baying it, ” remarked Captain Verhevdeu
who had listened attentively.
“Bat I've got to prove he came to Ca
dlz.
“That ought to be easy enough. You’vi
got the chest as a clew. ’Tain’t easy u
hide a sea-chest."
“Unless he took it off altogether—to-
England, his own country.”
“He’d be far more likely to break i
open and extract what he was in searc.
of than destroy or leave the chest behin
him.
“But what was the murdered nian’i
real name? You have not told me thBt.
He was deeply interested now, I coul
see that, “The Dos Hemanosl Yriarte
That’s thundering strange,” he criei
when I told him. “Those names ain’
new to me, Mr. Leslie. IS hot like wai
the ship, and where did she hail from?"
“She was a bark, 400 tons registei
Cleared from the port of Cadiz on Marcl
19, 186-, bound for the Havana witl
a cargo of wine.”
“Wine was on her manifest—sherr
wine, priorato, and Taragona port—whei
I boarded her in the Great Bahama Chan
nel, but nary cask did 1 find in her."
“When you boarded her, Captain Ver
heyden? Gracious goodness! what hat
you to say to her? I was just going t<
ask yon whether you could help mo tt
trace her in the Cub. n port, and now vot
tell iue you knew the ship.”
her, “Knew and h*r her! Yes, by" thunder, knei
captain and all her rascalb
crew!"
“Go on, please, tell me all about her.'
“ 'Tain’t a long story, but it’s full o
meat. In that year, 186-, I was Lieuten
ant-Commander of the United Statei
sloop Florida, Opossum, cruising in the Gulf o:
in and about the Bahamas, an<
round the Havana. You know Wd just
put down slavery, and we didn’t mean tc
let no one else carry on the trade in hu¬
mans, either. My orders were to keep i
sharp lookout for any craft with niggerf
on board, and seize her then ami there,
1 fell in with nothing, sir, for weeks and
weeks, and might not till now but for the
master of a cutter from New Providence,
who told me a rakish-looking craft, with
heavy been spars and strongly manned, had
driven northward by stress of weath¬
er, and when he met her was trying t|
beat back toward the Havana,
“Suspicious description this, so ]
cruised' her course. It was still blowing
a fresh breeze from the south-southwest:
but at daylight on the third day w«
sighted have her sailing on the wind. She
must seen us, too, for she fell awaj
at once, and went before it, cracking or
canvas and trying hard to give us the
slip. I went ahead full steam, and ol
course had the legs of her. But she was
chase. a clipper, you hot, and gave us a long
It wag late in the afternoon be¬
fore I overhauled her. Waal, we raB
within a few fathoms’ length of her, and
hailed.
‘What ship’s that? Show your colors
and send a boat aboard,’ I sung out on
the trumpet.
“She ran up Spanish colors, but still
sheered off, and seemed anxious to avoid
close quarters,
“ ‘Li* to, or I’ll sink you,’ I shouted
again, and, ns she continued her course, I
ordered a guu to be fired aero s her bows.
The blackguard now opened his por.s
and showed his teeth. He’d have given
me a broadside, bnt I ran alongside,
grappled their and boarded him. The crew
were at stations; the Captain with
» drawn cutlass ready to show fight, but
h* saw how strong we wore, and caved in.
‘This is an outr go on the Spanish
flag,’ he laid, sullenly, in fairly good
English. ‘Y'ou will have to auswerforit.’
“I ran down with the quartermaster and
saw the ’tween decks. There was not a
doubt of it—the benches, the chains,
scraps of food, water-gourds, all the
signs that tell the story of human occu¬
pation. Bnt where were the wretched
beings that filth had so recently been cooped
up here in and utter misery? Then,
at least, they were aliv*. What had become
of them now?
“I returned to the upper deck, deter¬
mined to fathom this to the bottom.
“ ‘Send all the hands aft,’ I cried; and
when every man was mustered 1 made
them a short speech. I told them what
I suspected—that some black deed had
just been done—and I promised, in the
name of the United States Government,
a full pardon to any one who would
sneak out.
“They were as ugly a lot as you evoi
clapped Greeks, Maltese, eyes on, Mr. Leslie—Spanish,
and mongrels of all na¬
tions—black-faced, murderous-looking,
villains who would not go back upon anv
bloody job. right But my address touched
them in the place, for it gave them
a chance of selling one another.
“Half a dozen chaps came forward, and
more would have done so, but that they
were too late.
“You never heard such a story! If
lickened us, maddened us. I believe my
fellows, if they had not been under disci¬
pline, “What would have lynched the lot. ”
had happened? What had he
lone with them?”
"Drowned them—two hundred and fifty
luman souls drowned lik* blind puppies
a a pond."
“But why, in God’s name?"
“To get clear of our clutches. He
■bought liave he’d escape us, that we should
no evidence against him."
“It was the captain’s, thi* Yriarte’s do¬
ing?”
“Not entirely, although he was held re¬
sponsible. He tried to shelter himself
under bis instructions. Said his owners
had told him to make away with his
cargo.”
“Was that proved?” I asked eagerly,
scenting a reason at last for Yriarte’s
threatening these Mr. Sarsfield. Who were
owners?"
“Cooch & Izquierdo. We got their
names against right enough. But what could we
do them? They were merchants
of Havana, beyond the reach of Ameri¬
can law. Besides, the captain’s state¬
ment w«b never substantiated; he could
not produce his instructions. *
“Anyway, “’Taint likely. he did I not took escape." him and his
into Galveston with prize ship
a crew on
board. They were tried before the Su¬
preme Court for murder on the high
seas, found -----»• guilty”-
-—--
“TELL THE TRUTHS
to have nut not been?” hangea, as they surely ought
“It was not a hanging State, Mr. Les¬
lie, so they got off with imprisonment.
The captain was put down for life, but he
seems to have got away somehow—es-
eaped, “Fate pardoned. brought
retribution to the end.
To be stabbed in the back with his own
clasp-knife-" “Was
a death almost too good for him.
I am inclined to think that the man whd
killed him did good service to society.”
“That would be a rather dangerous
doctrine to publish, Captain Verheyden, ”
I said, protesting; “besides, in this case
the murderer shared his victim’s crime.”
“No, no, you must not say that; you are
not certain Mr. Sarsfield was a party to
the massacre.”
“There was a strong suspicion against
his firm, anyway, and if his conscience
was not sore, why did ho go to such
lengths? If he could have braved Yriarta’s
threats he need not have killed him.”
“You still charge him with the murder?"
“Can you doubt it, now that we know so
much?”
“I’d rather not stand in his shoes, that
much I’ll allow. But you’ve got more to
do if you want to convict him.”
“His recent visit to Cadiz-"
“Ah, if you can prove that; but o»l
v«u?”
We went all over the points again one
by one, and while we were discussing the
case, detail after detail, trying bard to fix
our conclusions by logical proof, a waiter
came in to toll me that liamon had call¬
ed and wished to see mo without delay.
“Well, “Well, you you have have something something important imp
to to say,” say,” I I remarked, remarked, when when the the guide guide came
in, “l ean see it in your face.”
“Si, Senor, I have found the chest.”
'Where? Then you know the man?
Hoiv did you manage?"
“One moment, sir. The old woman,
•fter much pressing, let out that the chest
was fetched away by a man-”
“You have his description? Out with
it, quick.”
“By a man," continued Ramon, deter¬
mined to tell the story his own way, “who
came in a rowboat from Cadiz. I found
the boat and those who rowed it. They
tell me they helped to carry iho chest on
board, and brought it back with the man
to Cadiz."
“But this man? Describe him, I in¬
sist."
“He was a foreigner, speaking Spanish
not badly, although but still a foreigner; not a sail¬
or, he triod to pass for one,
and was taken with his chest to a sailor’s
looking lodging-house near the quay. said, He was
out for a berth, he in a ship
bound for South America. ”
“And he found one?”
'No one can tell; he disappeared after
the second day, leaving his chest behind
him to pay for his lodging. '1 hero was
moth-eaten, nothing in it except some old clothes,
which must have lain there
for a dozen years. ”
“Clever trick,” said Captain Verheyden,
who had been listening attentively; “he
got well rid of the chest. ”
“After extracting all he wanted. But
now, Tall, liamon, for the man’B appearance.
ish hair-” middle-aged, dark complexion, gray
“No, sir; rather young, short, inclined
to be fat, with a white face, straw-colored
hair, and pale-blue ovos—that’s how they
all describe him."
It was the waiter, Cornelis Janssen,
there could be no doubt of it; and instan¬
taneously thoughts tho whole current of my
was diverted into another
channel.
"What had brought him to Cadiz?” I
asked myself at once. He had come for
no good purpose. Of course, lie was in
search of further evidence against Mr.
Sarsfield, aud knew exactly whore to
find it.
CHAPTER XIII.
BANGLE’S BATHING MACHINES.
friends, Bidding farewell to my American
X left Cadiz next day, turning
my face homeward with considerable sat-
isfaction. My mission had borne fruit,
not that which I had expected, but fruit
c l l-T P' easan *° r an| l more substan-
1 >„!!,
T ^m/^onvLTio^ ■ , . , . , , ,
to the arrest of toe
murderer, hut I had relieved Mr. Sars-
field of a wrongful imputation.
I went on to Bythesea without pausing
in London, and reached the Grand Hotel
late one evening, just a mouth since I
had left it.
“I could scrag the murderer myBelf,”
Mr. Gray confessed to me in his little
inner room, as we sat there smoking a
cigar before we turned in.
“The police are still at fault, eh?” I
asked.
“I expect you know that better than I
do,” he replied, with a meaning look.
“What makes you say that?”
“Mr. Smart gave me an idea what took
you lot.” to And Spain. They’re still here, that
I gathered from his tone that
he no longer looked upon the Sarsfields
with affection.
“What lot?” I asked, willfully stupid.
“Why, toe Sarsfields. I wonder he has
the cheek to stay on here. But it will be
all the easier to run him in. ”
“What! Mr. Sarsfield? I don’t under¬
stand. I thought he had been ill.”
“They said it was a fit,” replied Mr.
believe Gray, contemptuously. “All sham. Don’t
a word of it. Why, he’s about
again, "I as well as ever.”
have am delighted to hear it. It must
been a trying, anxious time for the
ladies. Good-night, Mr. Gray,” I said,
abruptly, as I got up from my chair in a
way to show that I had had enough of his
gossip. My
first visit the next morning was to
toe police office, whore I told Mr. Smart
and Hasnip, at great length, all that had
happoned *We at Cadiz.
must have that chap Cornelis,”
said the Chief Constable, after eon-
gratulating “I remember me warmly on my success.
the fellow. Wouldn’t touch
the corpse that first morning. It looked
odd, I thought then. ”
him “Ay, easily,” but where is he? We shan't catch
“It’s quite said likely Hasnip. he'll
Depend give himself
away. to England and upon it, he’s come bick
means to put pressure on
Mr. Sarsfield."
“He'll never show up himself,” said
Hasnip. “He needn’t. The
threats can come
through another, or he can so work the
pressure himself.” as to keep in the background
Smart. “Well, “In it may happen so," said Mr.
the meantime we’ll put Mr.
Uorpelifi Janssen intoittw Hue and Cry..
kiud. Don’t let him suppose he’s wanted;
it would put him on his guard. I be¬
lieve he haB no idea what we know against
him.”
“ Are you sure of that?"
“Almost. At any rate, to advertise for
him would be to give away your chance
of “And dropping on him quietly.”
you will get the Sarsfields to tell
us if Cornelia makes any move?”
Yes,'' 1 said, “I will try and arrange
II* a b ’ hoping to get few quiet
with Miss Bertram a words
It not during however, the day.
was so easy, to reopen
communications with the Sarsfields.
They knew I had returned; the hotel
party was now a small one, and we had
met at table, where we had exchanged
bows, but I had no opportunity of speech
with any of them. I fancied they all
avoided me, including Miss Bertram and
Captain Fawcett.
On the second morning none of them
appeared, that Mr. and I heard to mv surprise
Sarsfield was much worse. He
had had a relapse. Yet the day previous
1 had seen him at dinner, looking white,
hesitated worn, more aged, but otherwise well. I
to intrude upon them, and yet,
for their own sakes, especially for Mr.
Sarsiield’s and in the interests of justice,
it was most desirable that they should
know what I knew against Coruelis
.Tans son. Accordingly, I made up my
mind to ask for an interview with one or
other of the ladies. I sent up my name,
giving important as reason my desire to make an
communication. The answer
was asked long in coming, but presently I was
to go up to the private sitting-
room where I had spoken to Mrs. Sars¬
field.
[TO BE CONTINUED.]
A MAN has give himself up in Cali¬
fornia for the murder of Jim Illaze in
Mississippi dently twelve years ago. He is evi¬
sorry that he extinguished that
Blaze.
Recluses iu Australia’s Mines.
Iu parts of Australia one comes across
a characteristic class in the shape of old
miners who haunt the deserted digging,
or the hanks of gravelly-bottomed
itreams which hold some traces of tho
shining tho old days treasure in their beds—relics of
of tho mining craze, ancient
hulks stranded where the reflux of the
great wavo of excitement and specula¬
tion has left them. One comes across
their huts notv and then in tho thick scrub
along bronzed tho water course, and finds in each
a and bearded hermit who greets
the visitor witli a quiet “Good-day,
friond,” as ho looks at him with lustre¬
less eyes. The old firo of expectation
and hope has gono out of those orbs;
they show nothing hut the settled and
putient acceptance of disappointed
hopes, has which in tho case of many weaker
men, caused madness or seii-distruc-
tion.
The history of muny of those recluses
would furnish material for absorbing
romances; of wild, ungovernable youth
when homo and friends were left on tho
other sido of the world in tho eager on¬
set upon fortune in the Australian gold
shafts diggings; of manhood spent in dark
or under the blazing sun in rocky
gullies amid the hopes and disappoint¬
ments of an army of men who thirsted
and gambled for gold; of an old age
which had nothing but. momories to live
upon, when life was supported by tho
few grains of gold which daily labor
esuld still extract from tho banks of the
improvised experienced stream. these Tho men who have
vicissitudes are not, as
a rulo, drawn into companionship there¬
by; they prefer to live alone, nor from
week’s end to week’s end do they see or
desire the presence of any other human
being;. bush, they Lost have in tho acquired remote wilds something of the of
the shyness and love cf solitude which
factorizes the furred and feathered
creature* about them—as silent as tho
wingless birds, living lives as destitute
fragrance ns tho scentless flowers,
Tall War Stories.
“1 saw a follow shot clean through the
body by agrapnelishoil within an inch of
bis heart,” he said. “The shell came out
behind and killed a mule, but the poor
fellow that was struck only gasped a little
for air and then ho kept on fighting just
as fresh as ever.” The room became
Tangle, very quiet and several looked toward
who was present.
Tangle “I arose and looked meditativoly
around. saw something of the same
kind as that,”he began, “It was at one
of the first engagements we had when wo
went to the front. There was a soldier
who stood right beside me who was struck
square in tho head with a twelve pound
cannon ball, and, gentlemen, he never
knew it.” The oid soldier who had told
the first story looked a little sheepish
and several laughed a little.
“But,” some one thought to enquire,
“didn't it kill him ?” Tungle looked up,
a little bit surprised. “Oh, yes, certainly
it killed him,” he replied. “But, then,
maybe it was all for the best. He might
have lived to tell the story. It’s proba¬
bly just ns well,” he added, looking at
the old soldier.—(Milwaukee Sentinel.
Chicken With Three Legs.
A curiosity in the shape of a chicken
is now on exhibition nt St. Francis. It
consists of a perfectly formed chicken
with three lees, hatched about live days
ago—one closely tho under tho wing, one
that is near lower end of tho back,
while the other is in the proper place.
The little fellow is yet alive and healthy
looking, and while the side with two legs
is an obstruction to navigation, he is ap¬
(Fla.) parently Facts. enjoying life.—[St. Francis
Twilled China silks show stripes that
have a slight bourette effeot.
$1.00 a Year in Advance.
the national library.
A GREAT COLLECTION OF BOOKS
AND PAMPHLETS.
Nearly 900,000 Volumes — Facts
About Copyrights—A New Libra¬
ry Building.
T HE great American brain is the
most active in the world,writes
the Washington correspondent
of the Times—Democrat. The
gray matter which lines our cranium
seems to grow in power from year to
year, and there are almost as many liter¬
ary inventions as there are mechanical
ones. We are fast becoming a bookish
nation, as well as a working one, and the
day will come when our national library
of Congress will surpass in size any of
the other great libraries of the world.
We have one of the finest librarians in
the world iu the Hon. Ainsworth B.
Spofford, who for a quarter of a century
has been dealing out books to the Con¬
gressmen, scientists and literateurs who
make called Washington their headquarters. I
on Mr. Spofford and asked him to
tell me the extent of the library, and to
give me the condition of the copyright
bill. Said liev
“We have nowin the National Libra¬
ry very nearly seven hundred thousand
bound volumes and two hundred thou¬
sand pamphlet*. This is an immense
amount of literary matter, and we now
rank as the sixth great library of the
woild. The five greater oies are the
National Library of France at Paris, the
British Museum Library at London, the
Royal Library of Germany at Berlin, the
Imperial Library of Russia at St. Peters¬
burg. The Paris library is the largest,
containing two and a quarter million
volumes. The British Museum Library
ranks second,with one and a half million
volumes.
“These foreign libraries are much
older than ours. The Library of Con¬
gress had a small beginning in the year
1800, when an appropriation of $3000
was made to purchase books for the use
of Congress. The selections were limited
to such works as were needed by the
members for reference. As a people we
were then almost unknown in literature.
There was evidently no thought of giving
to the library its pre3ent wide scope.
Additions were made from time to time,
and the library gradually assumed a more
extended range.
“Besides copies of all books copy¬
righted and published iu the United
States, the library contains probably
200,000 foreign books, which are pro¬
cured by both purchase and exchange.
About three-fourths of the whole num-
ber are of American and English issue.
The remaining fourth represents all
civilized nations of the world, with
France and Germany in the lead. There
are books in all the languages of Eu¬
rope, and a limited number from Asia
and other countries. Any foreigner vis¬
iting Washington and wishing to consult
books in his mother tongue may find
them here.”
“Doe* the library grow much from
year to yeai ?”
“The yearly increase of books in the
library is from 15,000 to 20,000. In
the actual number of volumes the in¬
crease is 10,000 to 12,000 greater, as
the copyright law requires the filing of
two copies of each publication. One
copy is placed in the library and the
other is deposited in the copyright ar¬
chives. From 3000 to 5000 volumes,
chiefly foreign, are added by purchase
each year and as many more by donation
and deposit."
“Tell me something about copy¬
rights.”
first copyright law,” replied Mr.
Spofford, “in the United States was
passed in 1790. There are books on our
shelves bearing that date. In these later
days of making books there is no end,
but at that time the copyright business
was not a hundredth part of what it is
now. Last year the number of entries
for copyright was 36,225. Of these
there were: Books, 14,783; peiiodicals
(in round numbers), 7000; musical
and dramatic compositions, 9000;
photographs, 3000; 2000; engravings and
chromos, the remaining 3500
embrace prints, cuts, designs, drawings,
paintings, maps and charts. Formerly
business trade-marks and labels were also
issued under the copyright law, but in
1874 these were transferred to the Pat¬
ent Office. The issue of copyrights by
the librarian of Congress is now confined
to literature and art in their various
branches. A copyright secures the au¬
thor against pillage of the product of his
brain, as a patent does to the Inventor.
The life of a copyright is twenty-eight
years. At the expiration of that time it
may be renewed for fourteen years more
by the author, or by his heirs if he be
dead. It cannot be extended beyond
forty-two years. There are very few pub¬
lications the vitality of which is not ex¬
hausted long before even the first limit
is reached.
“The library of Congress is open to
the people of Washington. Books may
be drawn upon a deposit of money to
cover their value, the money being re¬
turned when the drawer wishes to clo 3 e
the account. The books that may be
takeh out are the duplicate copies upon
the shelves. Those in the archives are
not disturbed. There is no library in
Washington that is accessible to the gen¬
eral public. Each of the departments
has a library for the use of its employes
only. The loss of the books of the
library of Congress in consequence of
the circulating system is small and is
made good from the money forfeited in
NO. 6.
such cases. The rebinding of boa&t
when necessary is done out of the librao^
appropriations.”
“The library is now very muei
crowded, is it not?”
“It may be safely said that no branch
cr bureau cf the Government has such
urgent need of more commodious quar¬
ters as the library. The space alloted to
it in the Capitol Building was full fifteen
years ago. Since then the alcoves and
recesses have undergone a process of
absolute cramming. Every shelf was
full long ago, and in every corner upon
the fioor Ue great heaps of books, pam¬
phlets and newspapers, for which
other place can be found. Eleven rooms
elsewhere in the Capitol are filled with
the accumulation, and still the stream
flows in day by day, in every week,
month and year.
“A new and adequate building should
have been erected years ago. Congress
has long had the subject under consid¬
eration, and it is a matter of congratula¬
tion that at last the project has crystal¬
lized into definite form, ana the walls of
the new National Library building are
slowly but surely rising. An entire
square, just east of the Capitol, was
bought for the purpose. Architects
were sent to Europe to examine the great
libraries in order that the best possible
plan might be perfected. As matured,
it is believed to be second to none in the
world. The building will cover three
acres. It will be larger than the great
State, Army and Navy building. Its
estimated cost will be $6,000,009. It is
the only structuie yet undertaken by the
Government that will be built for a cen
fury. Not one of the present publi
buildings in Washington is even no'
sufficient to meet the needs of the va
and rapidly growing business of t
country. The new library building w
suffice for 150 years to come. Wi
finished it will afford room for 4,000,C
than volumes—nearly fifty per cent, ir
are now embraced in any librai
the world.”
SELECT SIFTINGS. \
Envelopes were first used in 1839.
Anesthesia was discovered in 1844.
The Franciscans arrived in England in
1224.
The first horse railroad was built in
1826-27.
A Macedonian gold coin dating from
about 200 B. C. was found at Bergerae,
in France, the other day.
John Carney, a Kansas farmer, re¬
cently plowed up a gold ring which his
daughter had lost seven years previous.
The first society for the exclusive pur-
pose of circulating the Bible was or¬
ganized in 1805, under the name of the
British and Foreign Bible Society,
The first telegraphic instrument was
successfully operated by 8. F. B. Morse,
the inventor, in 1835, though the utility
was not demonstrated to the world until
1842.
A penman of Vienua, Austria, once
wrote 400 Hebrew letters on a single
grain of wheat. At another time he
wrote a Hebrew prayer on the edge of a
visiting card.
Almost any place in tho Sahara desert
one can find glass sticks or tubes from
one to three feet in length, caused by
lightning striking the pure sand and in¬
stantly converting it into that fragile
substance.
The La Plata was discovered by Juan
Diaz de Solis in 1516, who took pos¬
session of the country for the crown of
Spain. Buenos Ayres was founded by
Don Pedro de Mendoza, who became
governor in 1535.
It is recorded that in the time of King
William n. there occurred in England a
wonderful shower of stars, which
“seemed to fall like rain from heaven.
An eye-witness seeing where an aerolite
fell, cast water upon it, which was raised
in steam with a great noise of boilinar.”
One of the earliest accounts of star-
showers is that which relates how, iu
472, the sky at Constantinople, Turkey,
appeared to be alive with flying stars and
meteors. In some Eastern annals we are
told that in October, 1202, “the stars
appeared like waves upon the sky. They
flew about like grasshoppers, and were
dispersed from left to right.”
The “National Guard” was first or¬
ganized in Paris, France, in 1789 by the
revolutionary Committee of Safety.
There were 48,000 in Paris, 300,000 in
France, and the whole were under La-
foyette and carried the tricolor flag. In
1745 they were defeated aud broken up
by Napoleou, were reorganized by him
in 1814, dissolved by Charles X. in 1827,
again reorganized in 1830, and again in
1831. They fell away from Louis Phil-
lippe in 1848, were remodelled in 1852,
served against the Germans in the war of
1870-71, and in the latter year a part of
them took a share in the Communist
struggle.
Of late years steps have been taken to
prevent the destruction of forests by fire
in certain districts of India. This care
has had one curious result. Cover and
water, which vanished with the timber,
have again become commou, and there
has consequently been a large increase in
the number of wild deer. In one sense
it is fortunate that the deer have grown
iu numbers with the tigers, for the latter
have preyed upon them instead of upon
cattle and human beings. When, how¬
ever, they shall have scared away the
deer, or have become tired of venison,
they will probably prowl around villages
and play havoc with battle, besides kill¬
ing their man or two.