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GALLAHERS INDEPENDENT,
PUBLISHED EYEBX SATURDAY AT
QUITMAN, GA.,
P*
J. C. GALLAHER,
TEUIttS OF SUBSCRIPTION
TWO DOLLARS per Annum in Advance,
FIRB-FLIK^.
*Tit< June, and all the lowland swamps
Are rich with tufted rcoda and ferua,
And filmy with tlx; vaporous (Limps
That rise when twilights’ crin son Ivurua;
And as the deepening dunk of night
Steals purpling up from vale to height.
The wan toil tire-flies show their titxul light.
Soft gleams on clover-bonms they fling,
And glimmer in each shadowy doll,
Or downward with a sudden swing
Fail, as of old a Pleiad full;
And un the fields bright gems they strew
And up and down the meadow go,
Aud through the forest wander to and fro.
They store no liivo nor earthly cell
They sip no honey from the rose:
Bv day unseen, unknown they dwell,
nor aught of their rare gift disclose;
Yet, when the uightupon the swamps,
Calls out the murk ami misty damps,
They picroo the shadows with their shining lamps.
Now ye, who in life’s garish light.
Unseen, unknown, walk to and fro,
When death shall bring a dreamless night,
May we not find your lamps aglow ?
<*od works, we know not why or how,
Ami, one day, lights, close hidden now,
May blaze like gems upon on angel’s brow.
LITTLE UUTiI,
I know I was a selfish ohl idiot, now,
wheu I look around me aud see the incraicr
given me in my helpless old ago, fool the
Warm lovo around mo on all sides, and re
alise the desolation my own hand reached
forth to grasp, but I was blind to the fu
ture in those days when I so nearly
wrecked aU its happiness.
This was how it happened. After Mar
thu died—*my wife, I mean, with whom
forty happy years of my life wore spent—
and all my children were dead or married,
excepting Ruth, there fell upon mo the
heavy misfortune that has chained mo to
this chair, or my bed, for fifteen weary
years.
I hail been a hard-working man all my
life—a wheelwright by trade—with a largo
family to rear, to clothe, to feed, to edu
cate, and, ah, me 1 one by one to bury iu
the old churchyard, till only Mary, James,
and Ruth, our baby, were left to me.
Mary married, and went with her husband
to the far West. James took his small for
tune of a few hard-earned dollars and left
ns for the golden land of promise, Califor
nia, and only little Ruth was left us. Then
the angel of death came for Martin* aud
only six months later I was stricken help
less with paralysis.
lam reconciled now to my hard fate,
and can sit hore happily, glad that niv
eyesight is still good, my right hand free,
aud that I have learned in my old age to
love books, to enjoy reading, and even
writing, as I never did in the hard-working
days of my youth. But in those first
months of helplessness, when even to toss
and turn in my nervous torture was denied
me, my sufferings were simply humble.
No agony of pain, no torture of llesh or
bone, could equal the dreadful pressure
•upon my strong limbs, that held them
motionless, doad, in spite of my efforts to
move them one little inch. 1 have fainted
with the frightful efforts 1 lmvc mafic just j
to lift ouce the feet that hot! carried mo j
miles in a day with unwearied ease.
lint oven in that time of rebellious mur
muring, of bitterest repining, there was
some consolation. First, there was the i
house and live acres of land, my very own, j
free of debt or mortgage, and a small
sum in the bank, the interest of which
lifted us above actual want. Then I had
ltuth.
She was just twenty when her mother
died, and others beside her father thought
her face tho fairest one for miles around.
She hail tho bluest eyes, like littlo patches
of summer sky, and hair that was tho. color
of corn silk, and nestled in little baby curls
all over her head—rebellious hair, that
would never lie straight under any coax
ing, hut kinked up in tangles that were
full of sunlight. Her skin was white as
milk, with cheeks like tho heart of a blush
rose, and her smile showed tho prettiest
rows of pearly teeth I ever saw.
She coaxed me from my wicked repin
ings by coming to mo for directions,
making me feel that my head was still
needed to direct tho work, though my feet
would never more carry me over the door
sill. Then she fitted up for mo a large
back room that overlooked most of tho
farm, and had Silas, our head man, lift mo
up every morning, aid put mo in a deep
cushioned chair by tho window, where I
could see the barn, the poultry yard, the
well, and the fields of waving corn and
wheat. She made mo feel myself of im
portance by giving me thus the master
eye over my own little domain, and slio
brought up her own meals to eat with me
in the room whero my infirmity held mo a
prisoner.
You must understand what Ruth was to
me, or you will never understand the sim
ple story I have set myself to telling you.
She taught me to use my right hand with
out the left, and if you want to appreciate
the difficulty, tie your left axui down for
one single hour, and try how often it will
unconsciously strain at the cords. She
brought mo books from the village library,
and opened to my old eyes and brain a
field of pleasure never beforo explored. 1
had read my bible and the newspapers all
my life; but I never knew even tiro name
of books, now my greatest treasures, tilL
Kuth thought “reading would be compa
ny” for me. Little Kuth, oven she does
not know the world she peopled for me in
her loving care for my loneliness.
When, she was busy about her house
work, her baking, her washing and iron
ing, she left all the doors standing open,
that I might still hear her cheery voice as
6lie sang or talked to me. Then, when
all her work was done, she would put a
eleiyr white apron over her black dress,
VOL. 11.
and sit close beside mo, stitching busily
on the household linen, while I read
aloud whatever had most pleased in my
morning studies.
She divined little dainty dishes to tempt
mo to eat; blio put saucers of flowers on
my tftblo, that I might client myself into
fancying I was out-doors, ns their perfnmo
crept out on tlio air; slio nursed mo, pet
ted mo, loved me, till even my misfor
tunes seemed blessings drawing us so near
together.
And when she was all the .world to me,
all that saved me from misery. John Hayes
asked me to give him my Ruth for his
wife. I could have struck him dead when
he stood before me, a young giant in
strength, with his handsome, sunburnt
face glowing with health, and wanted to
take aw'fiy my ouo blessing, my only
homo-oliild.
“I will boa true son to you, Mr. Mar
tin,” ho said, earnestly. “I will never
take Ruth from here; but let me come and
share her life, and lift some of tlio bur
dens from hor shoulders. ”
I laughod bitterly. I know well what
| such sharing would bo when Ruth lmd a
I husband, and perhaps children, to take
! her time and her lovo from me. Rut I
was not harsh, I did not turn this suitor
from my house, and bid him never speak
to Ruth again, much as I lougcil to do it.
I worked more cautiously. I let him go
from mo to Ruth; and when ho left hor,
and she came to me, all rosy blushes, to
fi ll me, with drooping lids and moist
eyes, of hor new happiness, I worked upon
her lovo and her souse of duty till she be
lieved herself a monster of ungrateful
wickedness to think of leaving mo or tak
ing any divided duty upon her hands.
1 wept, asking her if sho could face her
dead mother after deserting her helpless
father. I pointed out to her the unceas
ing round of wifely duty that would keep
her from my side, aud proved to her that
the duties of child and wife must clash, if
undertaken under such circumstances as
wore proposed.
The loving, tender heart yielded to mo,
and John was tearfully dismissed.
Through the warm autumn months, when
the com ripened, and was garnered—
when our crops were blessed, and the lit
tle bank-fund was increased by the price
of the farm produce Ruth grow very
quiet and subdued. Sho was not sad,
having always a cheery word aud pleasant j
smile for me; but tbe pretty rose-tint left
lior round cheeks, end I no longer board
her singing at her work. When I road the
best passages in my books to her, 1 would
see her eyes fixed dreamily on some far
away thought, her work lying idle, till she
woke with a start at my fretful questions.
For I grow fretful and trying iu those
days 1 wanted her to givo up woman’s
dearest hopes and sweetest affection:;, and
bo the same sunshiny Ruth sho was before
my hand tore away her love-dreams. I
wanted her to put away all the loving,
tender ties of wifehood and motherhood,
and pass ftof life in devotion at the arm
; chair of a paralyzed old man. _ And when
I she complied, with gentle, touching sub
; mission, then I' wanted her to be the
| bright, happy girl who had resigned
i nothing, and who could nurse sweet, girl
ish fancies, with John for a hero. An un
reasonable old tyrant, wasn’t I ?
Tbe winter camo in early that year, and
beforo Christmas everything was frozen
up tight, ami the cold was intense. We
piled up coal in the stoves, listed doors
! and windows—that is, Ruth did the work,
j and I enjoyed the result; but there came
j one cold day—one Friday- —when it seemed
[no coals, no listing could conquer the
- cold. Children froze on their way to
| school that day, end worn found stiff and
stark, leaning against the fences. Food
frozo on tbo tables. Ask anybody iu
Maine if they remember that black Friday,
j and sco if some mothers’ eyes will not fill
ias they think of tiro little scarlet-hooded
! figures brought to their doors, whito and
! rigid, that had- lifted rosy, round cheeks
i for a kiss only a few short hours before.
Ou this cold Friday, Kuth hurried
through her work in tiro morning, making
| my room tiro warmest place in the house,
! covering my arm-clmir with soft woollens,
| and moving it near tiro stove. I worth!
i have it face the window, fur my glimpse
of ont-door life was too precious to resign;
bnt I was trot, as usual, near it, for Kuth
said there might be a draught.
When nil was done in doors, I saw from
my elmir Ruth, with a scarlet cloak and
hood thrown over her, going to the well
with an empty bucket. Bite stcppcilulong
quickly over tire hard frozen ground, and
1 1 was admiring tbe trim little feet, aird
| tho dainty figure wlien I saw lrer slide to
t tho two steps that wore above the well
| walls and .fall. Biro bad slipped, and she
lay doubled up between tho two wooden
steps and the rough sides of the well, as
|if she could not rise. Two or three times
her hands clutched tiro lower step anil,.
; she raised herself half way up, only to fall ;
! back again, as if her limbs would trot sup
! port lrer.
Ami I could only look on powerless, to
j move to aid her. Olr tiro agony of it To
| know she was hurt, unable to rise, and I
j helpless as a log. I sceamcd and coiled
i for help. Silas was somewhere I could
I not tell where and I called loudly for him.
! I could sco after a time that Kutlr, after
i her frantic struggles, was growing drowsy
' with tho death-sleep of cold, Tho scarlet
| hood drooped nroro and more till it rested
' against tiro woll-sidc, and tho blue-veined
, lid- closed over her eyes. The sight called.
QUITMAN, GA., SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 187-i.
from mo such a cry of agony as I thought
must be heard for miles.
It was hoard. A moment later, John
Ilaycs, panting and oagor-eyod, burst open
my door.
■‘What is it ?" he criod. “I hoard you
calling on tlio road 1”
“Ruth—Ruth !” I screamed. “Bho is
freezing to death by the well 1”
Ho stopped to hear no more. Out upon
the hard, slippery ground, down the stops
with swift, rapid strides, and then I saw
him stoop and lift the little scarlet cloaked
figure in his strong arms, ami como
swiftly back, bonding his face down over
the senseless ouo on his arm, while hot
tears rained down his brown cheeks. lie
put her en a lounge near my chair, and
then dashed out for snow.
“Rubber—rub her!” ho said. "I am
going for a doctor, and for my mother 1”
Beforo it seemed possible ho could have
crossed the lots to his homo, his mother
was with me, and lifted Ruth away from
tlio tiro to tlio bed. Tho doctor came, aud
the two worked, till my heart sank with
utter hopelessness beforo the blue eyes
opened again or tho breath fluttered
through the palo lips.
But it did at last and John joined mo in
a fervent “Thank God 1”
But Ruth had broken her leg, a#l we
know sho must lie helpless formally weeks
beforo sho could bo our own active bright
girl again. It was an appalling truth for
me to faeo, but sho was not dead nor
lying frozen against tho rough well-curb,
and I could not but fool thankfulness far,
far above the pain of knowing her suffer
ing. I was trying to settle it all in my
mind; to understand tho doctor's words,
while Mrs. Hayes and tho doctor lifted
Ruth to hor own room, that opened into
mine. They were away a long time and
John sat beside mo holding my hand in
his, and comforting mo as if I had not
taken tho very hope of his life from him.
“Don’t grievo so !” lie said, gently.
“Sho will live !”
“Thanks to you !” I said. “Oh, John
if she gets well, sho is yours. Givo her
your strong arm for life, John instead of
my helplessness. I sec to-day where my
selfish lovo has nearly cost hor her life 1”
“Do you moan that?” John asked, with
a little trembling in his voice; “do you
really mean that ?”
“I do, indeed. Let her stay here,
John. I will not boa burden on your
purse, for the house and farm, and all I
have saved, are Ruth’s; but let lier givo
mo what time aud love she can spare from
you."
"Gladly,” he answered; but we will not
wait till she is well, Mr. Martin. Let me
have Ruth for my wife now, to-day !”
“With a broken leg, sick helpless!”
“Does she not need mo tlio more ?
Givo-lier to mo now.”
But ho has to wait till tho banns were
called in church three times, though lie
come to us that day, caring for mo with
the tenderness of a sen, while his mother
nursed Ruth. They were alone together
us we were, and they had shut up the
house, and como to live with us, never to
leave again. For one morning, propped
up with pillows, Ruth was dressed in
white I>y Mrs. Hayes, and wo had a wed
ding in the little room. My chair was
moved in, and tlio neighbors camo from
far and near to hear tlip solemn words that
made John and Ruth man and wife.
Aud happiness has shed its truo light
upon our homo ovor since.
• 4*4
THE NORTH CAROLINA VOLCANO.
Kcw uml 4m;cr Fnaks of Nature In 11m
Iluld Mountain lli-giou.
Tlio Asheville Expositor of tho 29tli lilt.,'
has tho following news from Bald Moun
tain:
Thursday evening last, about lialf-past
seven, several severe shocks of an earth
quake again were observod at Bald Mown- j
tain equal in severity to any that have j
preceded them within tho last three or j
four mouths of these rumblings. The noise
was heard and quaking felt distinctly at
Chimney Rock, a distance of ten miles.
A score of persons at different points sev
eral miles distant from tho mountain, con
cur in the statement of feeling its effects,
especially in the direction of Rutherford
county ansi along Broad river. A number
of persons along this liver, at the distance
of ton miles from tho mountain, say the
rumblings and other impressions from tho
shocks were quite severe and terrible.
They were similar to the sounds and runi
! bling observed there in February last—
j even more marked and alarming. In ad
! dition to what was then observed, a strange i
j phenomenon of lights was witnessed by j
i many—lights which frequently shot up j
j from the mountain. A few nights before j
Thursday evening’s shock a party of four j
or live, at Spicer Springs, saw a huge j
light moving up Broad river, which shone i
with such intensity as to exhibit the trees |
and hills for an eighth of a mile on each j
side of the river, as if it wore daylight.
It shone but live minutes, and disappear
ing, left all in darkness. They describe it
as resembling an electric light, or like a
mellow line of fire moving up the river.
Tho witnesses were much alarmed at tho
time, and can offer no explanation of tho
strange phenomenon. On the Friday
previous to the übovo mentioned occur
rences, slight shocks were felt from the
same mountain. Tho people in. the vi- j
entity are much interested, umf manifest j
much excitement ever these new disturb
A Lightning-Rod Man’s Mistake.
Up in Blossburg, tho other,day, a ligld
niiig-rod man drove up in front of a hand
some edifice standing in the midst of trees
and shrubs, and spoke to Mr. Bummers,
who was sitting on the slops in front. Ho
accosted Bummers, as tho owner of the
residence, and stud:
“I soo you have no lightning rods on
this house.”
“No,” said Summers.
“Are you going to put any on ?”
“Well, I hadn’t thought oi it,” replied
Summers.
“You ought to. A tall building liko
this is very much exposed. I'd like to run
you Yp one of luy rods, twisted steel, glass
tenders, niekle-plated tips; everything
complete. May I put ouo up to show
you ? I’ll do tho job cheap.
"Certainly you may if you want to. I
haven’t the slightest objection,” said Bum
mers.
“During tho next half hour the man
had his ladders up, and his assistants at
work; and, at tho end of that time, the
work was dono. He called Summers out
into the yard to admire it. Ho said_ to
Summers:
“Now, that is all wdll enough; but if it
was my house, I’d have another rod put
on tho other side. There is nothing liko
being protected thoroughly.
“That’s true,” said Summers; “it would
be better.”
“I’ll put up another—shall I?” asked
the man.
“Why, of courso, if you think it’s best,”
said Summers.
Accordingly, tlio man went to work
again, mid soon had the rod in its place.
“That’sa first-rate job,” he said to Sum
mers, as they both stood, eyeing it. “I
liko such a man ns yon are- big-hearted,
liberal, not afraid to put a dollar down for
a tiling. There’s some pleasure in doaliu’
w-itb you. I like you so much so that I’d
put n couple more rods on that house, one
oil the north end and one on tho south, for
almost nothing.
“Tt would make things safer,l suppose,”
said Summers.
“Certainly, it would. I’d better doit,
hadn’t 1 hey V”
“Just ns you think-proper.” said Hum
mers.
So the man run up two more rods, and
then he came down, and said to Sum
mers:
“There,that’s dono; now let’s settleup.”
“Do what?”
“Why, tho job's finished, and now I’ll
take ray money.
“Yon don’t expect me to pay you, I
hope ?”
“Of course I do. Didn’i you toll me to
put those roils on your house?”
“My house!” shouted Summers.
“Thunder and lightning ! I novel-ordered
you to put those rods up. It would iliavo
been ridiculous. Why, man, this iu the
Court House, and I’m hero waiting for tlio
Court to assemble. You seem to be anx
ious to rush out your rods, and, os it was
none of my business, I lot you go on. I’ay
for it! Come, how, that’s pretty good." ’
The Blossburg people say that the man
ner iu which that lightning-rod man tore
around town, and swore, was fearful. But
when he got liis rods off the Court House,
lie left permanently. Ho doesn’t fancy 1
the place.
—■—
Minor Topics.
An unpleasant situation was that of
Patrick McArthur, on tlio Grand Trunk
Railway. He had started to walk down
the track. Ho had on stout now boots,
lie unluckily trod iu tho “frog,” and was
held as in a vice. Unavailiugly he turned
and twisted. The boot was strong and
fitted tho foot well, and tlio wedge was too
tight to bo broken, lie shouted, but it
was no use. livery moment he fancied
tho approaching rattle of :i train, and the
persporution started, and a desperate twist
of the leg would show how hopeless mat
ters were. Finally the whistle of a freight
train was too obvious. It was yet a long
ways off, and lie had a littlo time to think.
Ho had a match box in his pocket., papers
in his liuudlo, and tho idea oamo to liiui to
signal tho train. Tearing tho paper off
his bundle and getting at a number of
letters, lie rollpd them into a heap, and
for fear that tho llamo would die out too
suddenly ho added two flannel shirts from
tlio bundle. Tho bundle was then made
fast to tlio end of liis walking stick,
matches produced, and lie waited until
tho head fight of tho locomotive should
appear up the track. It finally greeted
his vision, looking liko a bright white stai
ns it glistened afar off. The l-nmbloof the
train grew louder, tlio star grew larger and
' brighter. Ho struck his match. Tlio
flame blazed tip brightly, but as ho moved
it toward tho bundle a littlo gust of wind
) blow it out. Was there time yot? Up
I the track ho could hear tho thunder of a
j hundred heavy wheels, and the great light
of the locomotive glared at him liko the
fiery eye of some wild beast. Another
match—an instant of fear and doubt—and
then the paper blazed up and curled over
and around the bundle, and swayed right
and left with the night wind. Ilu waved
tho signal of fire buck and forth, and just
when lie was ready to bolievo that death
under the wheels was certain ho hoard tlio
whistles for brakes. It was a near thing.
A Humorists Idea of Cremation.
I hardly think, upon tho whole, that I
am in favor of cremation. Tho process
seems to me to bo so frightfully wasteful.
At tho same time, I am ready to admit
that the dead might ho used much more
profitably than they aro now. If a man
must be buried let him ho planted where
he will make something grow. I remem
ber that Oasselbeny, of Vineland, New
Jersey, once laid his grandniotlier under
his grape vine, and, by carefully watering
her twice a day, ho secured a crop of fif
teen bushels of Black Hamburgs. The
subject came up in tlio agricultural society
subsequently, and there was a question
whether a grandmother was tho only fe
male relative that could bo efficaciously
used,, and whether it should ho a pater
nal or a maternal grandmother. Casscl
beny explained that ho had known a
maiden aunt or a second cousin to do
equally well, and lie had his stepfather
among tho roots of his mammoth goose
berry bush with every respect of a superb
crop. Very particular inquiries wero
made by Several members concerning the
availihliity of motlicrs-iu-law, and a man :
named Johnson said lie had been married
four times and had used all of liismotliors
in-law in improving the asparagus bod;
lift took the first prize for asparagus at
eight county fairs. Then the meeting
suddenly adjourned, and fifteen motliors
iu-luw in Vineland died during the mie
vending 'leek. -V'i.. .1 - 1.1
Tho Dreadful Condition of Louisiana
Affairs.
New York Herald publishes a long
interview with Dr. Ootlan just returned
from Washington whore ho had reported
to tlio oxoontivo Department the results
of liis investigations into tlio conditions
of affairs in the overflowed portions of
Louisiana. Ho says that Louisiana, be
tween the flood and the complicated con
dition of politics, is in a must unfortunate
condition. That misery, wr< tehediies",
want and despair are companions of tlio
poor whites and negroes. There is noth
ing in the State, and aid must como from
tho outside. Tho General Government
must take charge of tho leveCs. Louisiana
cannot furnish the means. It will be
years beforo tho overflowed portion can
recover. All tho peoplo of the State are
repudiating and the negroes especially
favor repudiation. The repudiation of all
tho State debts will be the issue in the
next oleetion in Louisiana ami in fact ail
over the south. Tho people attribute this
deplorable condition to the corrupt carpet
bag rule. Ootlan thinks that a political
crisis is inevitable in September. Secret
meetings are constantly being hold and
secret organizations aro being formed.
Civil war is probable, ami the time lies
como when every man must be square out
and out in liis relation between white
aud black.
Matters aro bad enough in Louisiana,
but it is to bo hoped that the political
prospect is not quito so gloomy and
threatening as represented by Dr. Ootlan
It would be sad indeed if to tlio present
calamities civil war or a war of races
should lie added.
—i 4 9
A Queer Family of Lunatics.
The family of James Scott, of Clark
comity, lnu., is afllictod with a very'
strange sort of lunacy. They aro Mor- •
mens, and Scott professes to bo tlio oracle
of God. His wife was takon sielc late in
August, and ho confined hor in a room, to
which he refused to admit anybody but
his son and daughter. Tlio neighbors 1
made several attempts to get in, but he I
always opposed them. One day a Mor
mon minister called and said he had ro-1
reived “manifestations from God” to the 1
effect that ho should see tlio woman, but
Scott replied, “1 havo a later manifesta
tion to kick you off the promises,” and
kicked him accordingly. Finally a band
of men determined to unravel the mystery, j
They broke into tho room, the father, son
and two daughters meanwhile standing by j
moauiug and talking wildly. They found i
tho confined woman sitting iu a chair, 1
and looking stiff and solid as marble, her
face void of expression, and she evidently
quito indifferent to all that was going on.
The woman, when she was first taken
sick, got a notion into her head that she
would never die, but would bo translated
as Elijah of old; and after sifting the mat
ter, it is pretty clearly ascertained that
Scott intended to keep his wife concealed
until she died aud then givo out to tlio i
world that alio was translated. A move- j
ment lias been made to havo tlio whole
family examined by a lunacy commission. }
Fish as Brain-Food.
Tho idea that fish diet, or, at least, the '
frequent use of fish as diet, is promotive
of brain-power, seems to bo growing; and 1
tho philosophy of it is said to be that the
phosphorus contained in lb It nets benefi
cially on the bruin. Looking at what are!
called the lower animals, it is true that a
considerable amount of intellect is to bo .
observed in those that feed exclusively on
fish, Learned seals aro very common
accessories to shows! Of all wild animals
tho otter is one of the most intelligent and
easily domesticated; and with regard to
tho feathered race, wonderful stories aro
told about tho instincts of storks and other
birds that feed upon fish. It does not
appear to have been satisfactorily demon
strated, however, that intellect in devel
oped in tho human race by frequent use of
fish diet. To arrive at a conclusion res
pecting this, it would ho necessary to ob
tain trustworthy statistics with regard to
tho mental powers of Laplanders, light
house keepers, fosters in Lent, and others
who live much on fish. Our own observa
tion is that those who live much upon
fish -as for example, tho inhabitants of
fishing;villagos~ aro not specially distin
guished for mental vigor, though their
animal power cannot bo questioned.—Tcvh
nologitil.
fSnAKBPKAKB’s Giiost. Not long since
an English gentleman residing at. Ilong
Kong dreamed two or three nights in ese
cession that he met the ghost of Bliaks
ponro near Stratford-on-Avon, of whom he
asked whether any of the manuscripts of
the great dramatist’s plays were still in
existence; whereupon tho ghost led tho
way into a forest, and then pointing to
ivspot near the roots of a large tree said,
“Dig,” and vanished. The Hong-Ken
groHsman hastened at once to England
! and to Stratford, wlicro ho found and
| identified the ghost’s tree, and at once
j began to dig, which ho continued to do
day and night until at tho depth of seven
feet nine inches and a half, ho found
wonderful us it may Seoul, that he had
made a fool of himself.
-
Quantity of Salt in tub Ocean. Ev
ery body knows that tho. waters of the
ocean are very salt to the taste; but how
many of you have thought of the immense
quantities of salts of different kinds that
must he in tho Atlantic and Pacific to give
flavor to such enormous bodies of water ? i
Scientific men have thought about it; and
one of them (Captain Maury) lias told us
that if all the various salts of these oceans
could be separated from tho water and
spread out equally over tho northern half
of this continent, they would form a cov
ering ono mile deep. So heavy would bo ;
this mass of salts that all the mechanical
inventions of man, aided by nil tho steam
and water-power in tho world, could not |
move it so much us ono inch in oven eon
turios of time. -Ex.
———
Tim lleat of the Sun. -Father Sec
chi, the distinguished Italian astronomer
has recently published tho result of his
investigations in tho solar temperature j
made during last summer, and that
hiu efforts were diroctec? toward tho deter
mination of tho relation of tho solar radia
tion, with that of the electric light. The ;
instrument used was a thermo heliometer :
of the investigator’s own invention, and
tho conclusion reached was that the radia
tion of the sun would he 110 \ times that of
tho carborn points. If, therefore the j
temperaturoat tho surface of the latter is '
fixed at 5,482 degrees Fahrenheit, a num- j
her not exaggerated and supposing tho j
radiation pmpoi'Uonal.te the temperature, ’
we obtain for tin |mU ntial temperature of
tilt sun 2iU,Bd(s degree- Fahrenheit.
Grant's Policy.
Have you forgotten Casey ? Casey ip a
brother-in-law, but ho is none the loss a
reprosentativo office-holder, liis fimazing
\illainy in tho full of ’7l and tho spring of
'72, aroused Slioh a storm of kidiguutlon
that tho ominous roar penetrated tho
heavy silken curtains of tlio Whito House
: windows and forced from Grant an un
willing announcement that his favorite
i relative at New Orleans should be romov
-1 0.1. But he was not removed. Nay, lio
I was reappointed, and a cowardly Senate
1 confirmed him in the tooth of orlmo which
ought to havo sent him to tho penitenti-
I ftry. . . ,
Beyond making this one promise, with
i the deliberate intention of breaking it,
| Grant has yielded absolutely nothing to
| popular opinion in tho matter of appoint
ments, Williams, who was broken on the
j wheel of independent criticism, carried
! tho corpse of his dead reputation into the
; Department of Justice, where it stiuketh
lto this day, and now Richardson, driven
I from the Treasury I lepartment for offences
which would justify a criminal prosecu
tion against him, is quietly dropped into
the Court of Claims, where ho is given al
most, autocratic power to pass upon do-
I wands involving millions of dollars.
These are the incidents of a gigantic
I system of fraud and corruption. Tho
, timid organs which are sotting up aud
knocking down Richardson, Sawyer and
Builfleld know full well that they arofight
, ing tho legitimate creatures of a policy
which they persistently defend. Neither
j these luou nor tho -others who still dis
grace stations equally high could by any
possibility havo a political existeneo to
day were it not for Grant. His wrongful
acts arc not to bo confounded with blun
ders. Ho docs not err through ignorance,
but defies decency after premeditation.—
Utica Observer.
- -**. ———■
The Sewing Machine Monopoly.
There is perhaps no greater swindle
endured by any people than that of tlio
sowing-machine monopoly in tlio United
States. There are a great many differ
ent machines manufactured. Tho original
patent for tho principle of a sewing ma
chine is now free. All that remain are
certain “improvements, ’’ and of these the
“Wilson feed” is perhaps the most impor
tant. The proprietors of six or eight
different machines have combined to per
mit no other manufacturer to use tho
Wilson feed so that the combination may
keep up tho exorbitant prices demanded
for sewing machines. We aro informed
that the manufacturer's Cost of producing
a machine of any of the designs is net
over Ml each. The cost of tho table or
box ranges from $2.50 to sls. So that
any mnehiuo now sold in tlio United
States for less than f 100 may bo sold at
from $25 to §35, aud afford a large profit.
Tlio,samo machines that are sold in the
United States at @SO, @OO, @7O, @BO, and
SOO are exported and sold in England and
in all parts of Germany at from $25 to
@35.
It is safo to assitmo that, by virtue of
this combination, these manufacturers do
now receive over $0,000,000 a year for ma
chines in excess of what they would get if
the “Wilson feed” patent was allowed to
expire. There is no pretense that those
persons have not keen compensated for
their inventions, and in the ease of tho
Wilson feed, the originator never got a
dollar for it, while others aro reaping
millions from the product of liis brain.
All that Congress should do ill the matter
is to lot these patents expire, and if neces
sary take away any discretion in any per
son in the patent office to extend, renew,
or revive any of them. Certainly, jt is
time to put a stop to any [further monop
oly under the "Wilson feed” patent.
The Farming of tho Future.
Tlio notion of an English writer in
; Urn-rr's .Witr/nziitr is, that tlio time will
come when farming will boa commercial
speculation, carried on by joint,-stock con
cerns, issuing shares from SSO to @IOO
! each, and occupying from one to ten thou
sand acres. He thinks that such conipu
| nies would, perhaps, purchase tlio entire
j sawago of an adjacent town. Their build
in;;,:, their streets of cattle-stalls, would bo
placed on a slope sheltered from the
; northeast, but near the highest spot on
l the estate so as to distribute manure and
i water from tho reservoirs by the power of
i gravitation A stationary steam-engine
1 would crush their cake and pulp their
: roots, pump their water, perhaps, oven
: shear their sheep. They would employ
| butchers and others, a whole staff, to kill
j and cut up bullocks, in pieces suitable for
1 tho London market, transmitting their
| meat straight to the salesman, without
the intervention of the dealer. That sales
man would himself bo entirely in tho cm
-1 ploy of the company, and sell no other
meat but what they supplied him with.
This would at once give a largo profit to
tlio producer, and a lower price (in conr
j parison) to tho public. In summer, meat
| might bo cooled by the icc-houso or ro
i frigorator, which must necessarily ho at
tached io tho company’s bacorr factory.
Kxcept in particular districts, it is hardly
I probable that tho dairy would be united
[ with tho stock-farm; but if so, tho ioo
i house would again come into requisition,
and there would lie a eundryiscd milk fnc
. tory on tlio premises. It is further pro
dieted of this company that they will
utilize land now waste, by rooting up
I bodges nml tilling ditches; that an olKirt
I to shorten the period between crops, and
got more than one crop from tho sumo soil
within a year, will be resorted to upon an
extensive scale, and that artificial beat or
electric currents will bo used to ripen tho
crops, and that blasts of hot air will bo
employed to prepare t he crops for harvest
ing us soon us out. This prediction will
strike most American readers as being a
wild dream of mi enthusiastic optimist,
and yet the author lias given expression to
not a single impossibility. Artificial beat
Imu already been employed to a largo ox
tent in cultivation, and artificially boated
air currents luivo boon used to dry crops
with perfect success. Tho employment of
steam motors for tho principal (>]Mirations
of agriculture is hugely increasing
throughout tlio world.
A man applied for a divoreo at, ‘Burling
ton tlio other day because his better half
liad deserted him, saying that she didn’t
“propose to leave York State to go and
live with a lot of d-d Vermont gum-clraw
ors.”
—
Governor Kellogg, of Louisiana, has
sent commissioners to Washington to ask
aid in rebuilding the levceii on tin. llii*iu-1
silTb ' ,
SCRAPS.
A contemporary calls his items “Nits,”
to show that ho gets them out of his owd
head.
Mrs. Hands, of Cairo, is under arrest fo*
kicking it cow to death, llud rather sfh'ulr
feet, too.
Admire your landlady’s tiow jockey lint
nml foathor, if you want a fiOrter-nouso
steak for breakfast.
Why do womou talk loss in February
Ilian in any other mouth? Because it is the
shortest month in tho yonr.
A Now Jersoy paper boasts of a now
subscriber one hundred aud throe years ohl;
We shouldn’t call him vory now.
An Irishman describing tho growth of
irotntoes iu his land, said, as a clincher.
“An’ sure, a bushel of thorn will HU u bar
rel. ”
An agricultural paper rocomrrtoffds (i
quart of brandy to cure the daggers. Wo
have thought brandy -tirnS the cause of
staggers.
Tho editor of a Nashville paper is ac
cused by his neighbors of having caught
cold while sleeping iu church with ms
pow door open.
A Kansas girl wouldn’t bo married with
out a yellow ribbon around her Waisic, and
a boy redo eight miles to get it while the
guests waited.
“Well, I 'spoflo tho dumod stuff got
mixed,” was tlio sad reply of a Missouri
druggist when lie killed u woman by sit
ing wsonic for sidtz.
Tho sum of $70,000 has been voted by
tlio Mexican Congress to provide for tbo'
proper representation of Mexico at the'
Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia;
Several fashionable young liulios of No#
York have entored into a solemn covenant
with each other never to marry a man who
cannot walk a mile in nine minutes;
“Escaped the Indicts of tho enomy to bo'
assassinated by a cowardly pup—a kiud
husband, an affectionate father,”is tho iu
scrixition on a tombstono in Columbia*
Tenn.-
“If I savo ton cents a day from mV
drinks,” ruminated old Reduose, “it will
bo @30.50 a year, and in fifty years it will
bo $1,820. aud then I eon mun-y Mary.-
Dear Mary!”
Whoever lias gono through much of life
must remember that ho has thrown away
a groat deal of useless uneasiness upon
what was much worse iu apprehension
than in reality.
NO. 6.
A man Who foil iffto a vat of boiling lard
and got out alivo, says that it was not an'
unpleasant sensation after tlio first mo
ment, but ho thought, wliat a mighty
queer-shaped doughnut ho would make.
An lowa engineer married a young lady
while; Waiting for a Into train last week.
That’s no groat shakos. A couple might'
marry mid ruiso a largo family of children 1
while waiting f6r a train in somo of tho’
Indiana depots;
A littlo boy in St. Cloud a few days ago’
undertook to see if ho could Hft himself
by hanging oil a mule's tail. He found
out all about it, and tho doctors think tlio
skin on his forehead will grow lip, but wild
leave a bad scar.
Tho Bible belonging to John Banyan,;
the author of tho Pilgrim's Progress, an j
with his autograph written within the'
cover, is among tho literary treasures said
to have been left by the late Charles Sum
ner.
There is an elm tree eighty-four years
old and about six foot in (tinlector at
Franklin, Vt., and tho man near wlioso
house it stands says that when ho wits a
boy he pulled it up, which made his father
so mad that ho walloped him with it aud
then set it out again;
Peoplo who liko to do things on tho
spur of the moment should emigrate to
Harding county, lowa. A couple there
were recontly married, and after the 6(sitS-'
inony the bride was obligod to tusk hor
husband what her name was. Tho parties
liod only been acquainted a few hours.
A Quaker, who had been troubled with
rats, informs a friend that ho greased a
thirty-foot board, filled it full offish hooks,
sot it up at an angle of forty-five degrees,
and put an old choose at the top. Tho
l-ats went lip, slid back, and ho caught
thirty of them tho first night.
Ethel: “And O, mamma,- do ydu know,
as we were comirig along, we saw a horrid,
horrid woman, with a red, striped shawl,
drink something out of a bottle, and then
hand it to some men. I’m sure sho Was'
tipsy.” Beatrice (who always looks on'
the best side of things): "Perhaps it was
only castor-oil, after all 1”
A Dotroitor, who removed to Lone Tree,-
Nebraska, a year or two ago, writes to a
tobacco house in that city, to send him
five pounds of “fine cut” by express.
adding: “I mil a eanidato for Sheriff of
this County, and I think by a judicious ueo’
of five pounds of good to(>aceO I can
secure two hundred Majority/’
Wifo of his bosom (directly ho came
home at night): “Charley, I’ve just got a
letter from mother. You know she was'
here only last week (yes, yon ean see la
the expression of his face that ho hasn’t
forgotten that), and she has lost all lici*
property by tho fai jure of the Splurges
and and now, I s’poso, Charley, she’ll
! have to come and stay with us all- the
time.”
An enterprising superintendent of oud
of our city Sunday schools was engaged
last Sunday in catechizing scholars, vary
! ng ti c usual method liy beginning at the
(ill of tho Catechism. After asking what
weio tho prerequisites foi 1 tho Holy Com
lnunu n and Confirmation, and neeiving
very satisfactory replies, lie asked: “And
now, boys toll me Wlnit must precede Bap
tism?” Whereupon a lively urchin shouted
out, “A baby, sir.” Fact; followed by
sensation and laughter.
A smart city billiardist picked up a'
countryman, and induced him to play u
game of billiards—one hnndred pbiiitsi
Tho city hoy took tho euo and ran tho
gamo out without a stop. Tlio country
man quietly laid down his euo and started
for the deer. Said the billiardist, “Hero,
eomo back and pay for this game. ” “Wliat
gamo?” said country. “Why, tho game
wo just played.” “We ?”said the country
man ; “wo? I lmint played no billiards as I
known of. I gueNß, mister, see’u as you
played tho game alone, you’d better pay
for it alone!” Whereat thoffcouiitryuiun
walked out and (lie smart city boy cogita
'ted.
When Burdette, of the Burlington
fTaakni/e, attempts the severely calm style
of writing, ho appears, as a rule, to bo
successful. The following is mi instaSeo
in point: “Yesterday morning a boy saun
tered up to a yard on Eighth street, where
a woman was scratching the bosom of tho
earth with a rake,and leaning on the fence,
said: ‘Areyou going around the back yarn,
nftor awhile ?’ The woman said she dids t
know; maybe she would; why? “Be
cause,’ the hey said. ‘I just saw tho cistern
lid drop on the baby’s head.' mimil-n a/re.
and thought if’you went around you'
might lift it oil.' i • • cumutiy repel eeie*
that the woman went..”