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THE MAPLE SUGAR CAMPS.
WOOD LORE FROM THE LAND OF
THE SUGAR TRLE
£
When the Tree Should be Tapped -
How the Sweet Sap is Made Into
Saccharine Substance.
A Harrisburg letter to the New York
Tri’runt says that Pennsylvania farmers
manufacture over 13,000,000 pounds of
maple sugar every spring. Tiie work is
simple, though tedious. The sugar
farmer has discovered many curious facts
about the maple and its sap. For the
sap to run freely there must be well
mingled conditions of heat cold and
light. A still and dry, yet dense at
mosphere, with a north or west wind
blowing, is the best for sap running.
That is the weather referred to by the
farmer in his saying: “When tiros burn
best then sap runs best.” When the
ground thaws during the day and freezes
at night, and there is plenty of snow
in the woods, • sap weather” is prune.
■A heavy snow storm during the sap sea
son, follwedbya freeze and a thaw, will
make the owner of a sugar bush happy.
“A few trees will produce as much sap
as a good many,” is an anomalous saying
of the sugar farmer. It means that trees
standing close together divide the .aggre
gate flow made possible by the extent of
soil they cover, which aggregate would
be as great if there were half as many
trees draining the spot. Night sap, or
sap that runs at night, will make more
sugar than the same quantity yielded
during the day. Sap contains more
saccharine substance wt-en caught either
immediately before or just after a suow
storm or freeze-up. A tree tapped high
will give sweeter sap than one tapped
low, but the low tap will yield the
largest quantity. A shallow tap will fetch
from the tree a sweeter sap, and one that
will produce whiter and better grained
sugar than a deep tap, but the deep tap
wii. yield the most molasses. Sap starts
just on the south side of the tree, and
runs much sweeter than sap from the
north side, but sap will run a long time
from the north side of the tree after it
has ceased running on the south side.
As soon as the sap starts in the trees the
maples are tapped, iron spiles driven in
the holes and a covered bucket hung to
each one. In the old days the spile was
an e’der with the pith punched out, and
the receptacle for the sap was either a
trough hewn out of a birch block or an
ordinary pail. The sap falls from the
spiles drop by drop, and so slowly that it
seems as if a pail full would never be
obtained; but on the contrary the trees j
have to be watched very closely, as the
pai s till in a remarkably short time, and
the little drops of liquid sugar will be
running over the rim of the pail before
the stranger would think it possible. As
soon as a , ui 1 is til ed it is lifted from the
spile and emptied into a large barrel with
atop like a big funnel. This barrel is
securely attached to a rude sled or wagon,
aud is drawn about tiic bush, from trie to
tiee. by a mikl-maunered and easy-going
horse, driven by a youth especially
selected tor his patience and carefulness,
for the rounds of the camp must be made
in a slow and cautious manner. There
are logs and stumps and pitfalls aud
snowbanks lying in wait for the sap-eol
lectiug establishment, and the driver must
be constantly on his guard to circumvent
all these. An upset in the bush with a
cargo of sap aboard lowers a driver iu the
.estimate of his fellows, and it, is a great
feather in his cap if he comes out when
the season is over with a clean record on
that score.
When the rounds of the trees are made,
the big barrel is tilled with sap and is
taken to the sugar-house or boiling shed.
There it is emptied into vats, beneath
which a steady tire is kept burning. As
the-ap boils in the vats it, is kept con
stantly agitated by tho-e having charge
of that p.rt of the work, who use long
handled ladles and rakes. This is the
m 'st interesting part of maple-sugar
making, but it is at the same time the
most distressing. The damp wood
.•smouldering beneath the boiling vats,
acted upon oy the riotous wind, sends up
dense clouds of suffocating smoke. The
stirrer chokes, fiee/.es aud bums by turns,
according to the whim and the tempera
ture of the wind and the combustible
qualities of the wood iu the tire. The
same wind that can provide all of these
annoyances, also frequently fetches with
it a few bushels of last year’s dead leaves,
picked up in its frolic, and distributes
them indiscriminately in the boiling sap
and over the patient stirrers. These dis
comforts, however, never attend sap
boi iuginthe northeastern counties of
the btate, where the sugar-houses are en
closed and well-appointed.
After boiling in one vat until certain
conditions are brought about, which the
sugar-maker’s skill detects at the proper
time, the sap is run into another vat,
through a strainer, and then the boiling
is continued. When a proper consistency
is reached in the second vat the sap is
ready for sugaring off. A few farmers
in Western Pennsylvania have their bdtl
ing houses so equipped that the last pro-
Ces- may be gone through with on the
premises, but generally the waiting
syrup is loaded iu barrels and conveyed
to the farm-houses, where the farm wives
and their daughters take charge of it
nd “ sugar off.” It is placed in huge
toilers, on stoves arrang 'd for the pur
po c, where it boils and bubbles aud re
duces itself, under the shillful manipula
tion aud superintendence of the house
wife. The tests of the different stages
of the syrup as it is slowly transformed
into u gar are the same to-day as they
rwere the first day maple sugar was made
—a spoonful of syrup on a plate of suow,
or dropped into a bowl of cold spring or
well water. The work of sugaring off
requires the greatest skill and the most
con attention. If syrup is warned,
the quick eye of the farmer’s wife de
tect s* the stage knowm as the ‘buck
wh<vt” —when little three-cornered
gra '3 form under this test. The syrup
is tl. n turned into earthen jugs. When
4he i oiling shows the advance of the
hardening stage, the hard work begins.
The hot,sticky mass must be beaten and
stirred and stirred and beaten, until the
grains separate and the sugar assumes a
tine, smooth whitened appearance.
"While the syrup is still in liquid form it
is run into molds and forms of all de
scriptions, tc suit the fancy or con
venience of the maker, and set away to
cool. A barrel of whit©, finely-flavored
maple sugar, of her ow n make, is among
the greatest objects of pride to the farm
woman of the Pennsylvania sugar re
gion.
SELECT SIFTIN’(IS.
The oldest known MS. is part of the
Iliad found in upper Egypt.
Owen county, Ky., lias a girl school
teacher barely eleven years old.
The first notice of aurora borealis in
England was ou March (i, 1710.
The organ was invented by one Ctcsi
bius, a barber of Alexandria, about 100
11. C.
Snow has just fallen in Formosa,
China, for the first time within the mem
ory of man.
Twenty-tive-cent gold pieces have been
minted in (he l : nited States, but merely
as specimens.
There are but three silver dollars of
the coinage of 1804 in existence. They
are worth §lOOO each.
Solon, Chilo, Bias, Pattacus, Perian
der, Thales and Cleobulus were called
the “ seven wise men of Greece.”
The Bangor (Me.) Con 1 rrurci d tells of a
man whose hair has been changed by
electricity from iron-gray to a beautiful
bright bay.
The Portland (Oregon) coal men send
a card with each load, advising the pur
chaser how he can measure his coal so as
to ascertain if the weight holds out.
The heaviest man of whom there is any
record was Miles Barden, of Tennessee,
who died in 1807 at the age of 59. flight,
seven feet six inches; weight, 1000
pounds.
Under the laws of Maine you can bor
row a man’s horse, keep him for a year
and a day. and then settle for twenty
cents per day for every day the animal
was used.
Gold can be beaten 1200 times thinnei
than the material upon which this paper
is printed. One ounce of beaten gold
will cover 14'J square feet by actual com
putation.
Mr. and Mrs. Ileulet, of Sandsfield,
Mass., have been married seventy-three
years, during the last forty of which he
has worked regularly oil the farm, anti
she, although blind, has done almost all
her housework.
It is said that Orrington, Me., was
meant to be Orangetown, and got its
present appellation from the legislative
| clerk, who made out the charter, and
was of opinion that “orring” was the
right way to spell orange.
Two French ladies lately agreed upon
a trial for S2OO to sec which could talk
the faster. The contest was to endure
for three hours. One pronounced 203,-
500 words reading from Eugene Sue.
The other pronounced 2)0,311, and won
the prize.
A unique cove:let, called an “auto
graph quilt,” was recently presented to
the Soldiers’ Home at Kichmord, Ya.,
by Miss Copland, of Botetourt County.
It is made of 200 pieces, each of which
bears the autograph of some notable
person. Among the names are those of
President Cleveland and Miss Cleveland,
Governor I ee and United States Senator
John W. Daniel.
An English family has a custom of
feeding wild birds regularly after break
fast. Opening the dining-room window
they ring a bell, and immediately all
kinds of birds, and sometimee even
squirrels, come to the feeding place. A
curious result of the custom is that
numerous applicants are seen each
morning waiting the sound of the bell,
like so many patients at a hospital.
A curious creature was brought to Sau
Francisco by a ship which arrived tli/~
the other day. It has some characteris
tics of the crocodile, but is covered with
a coat of short bristles or hair, which
gives it a most peculiar appearance, it
has been domesticated to a certain ex
tent and will permit tha captain or :«({)>
of the crew to approach it and receive
their caresses with evident pleasure, but
if a stranger approaches, it distends its
big jaws and shows fight The crew
call it a “woolly crocodile.” It is active
and weighs about forty pounds.
Valuable Eggs.
Another egg of the extinct great auk
has turned up at a sale at Stevens’s
rooms in the collection of a Mrs. Wise,
whose husband bought it in 1851 of Mr.
Wi liams, a dealer iu Oxford street, for
S9O, it having been imported from Paris.
This specimen, which was a very fine and
perfect one, was put up,and after a bii-k
competition was knocked down to Mr. J.
Gardner, the well-known naturalist, for
SIOOO, tiie highest price ever paid. It
is said to be -bought for America. This
shows a gradual increase in the price of
these rare eggs—of which there are sixty
six known specimens, forty-three of them
being in England and Ireland—as will
be noticed by the following dates and
prices at these rooms:
In 18(55 four fetched about $l5O each.
In 1876 one fetched about $320.
In 1880 two fetched about $525 and
$555 each.
Iu December, 1887, one fetched about
SB4O.
If any of these specimens (or why not
the dodos?), having escaped the perils of
fire and water, should again be sold in
1988, what will they bring? Will it be
thou ands? or, like the tulips a century
ago, be down again to “pence;” — Pall
Mall Guz tte.
Coyotes Besieging Jack Rabbits.
“After a lot of coyotes have a talk,so
to speak, and decide to go on a hunt,
they will sometimes go to a rough
region, where they know the rabbits
abound, and lay siege for them. Certain
brigades will clamber up on the high
rocks and hilltops surrounding a canyon,
and drive the game down into * the
depths below, other relays of wolves
having previously been placed at the
entrance, and at the weak places. They
oftentimes get a great many into a
canyon in this way, and thus speedily
finish them.
“It is generally iu the very early
morning that the coyotes sound their
reveille and go after the rabbits.” —San
Francisco Chronicle.
His Choice of Positiou.
“I think I will have some photographs
; taken, John,” saida lady to her husband.
I “Have you any preference as to posi
tion?”
“Yes,” he replied, after sufficient con
sideration. “If you were to have your
picture taken, dear, while in the act of
sewing buttons on my shirts, it would be
a counterfeit presentment that I could
contemplate with a good deal of pleasur
able emotion.”— Bazar.
NEWS AND NOTES FOR WOMEN.
Broad sashes are in favor.
Yellow is a favorite color in millinery.
There is a slight revival of China silks.
Gold braiding is much used on cloth
Iresses.
Quite new and very effective is tortoise
shell jewelry.
The ex-Empress of Spain had 38 bon
nets in one month.
Flower bonnets promise to be popular
during the summer.
Each of Worth's employes is allowed
one dress a year made up to suit them
selves.
Ribbon, ribbon, ribbon! Never was
there seen so much of it, or such latitude
af choice.
Tweed in big checks of light and
lark blue is a favorite material for Eng
iisk tailors’ suits.
Some of the new trimming is made of
jet and gold strands combined—goiden
threads among the black.
“Gath” says Mrs. .Jefferson Davis was
af Northern extraction, a descendant of
an early Governor of New Jersey.
Crepe is again in high favor as a stuff
for headgear; but bonnet or hat of it
must be self-trimmed to be stylish.
Very elegant brocaded moires are
woven upon a ground of glace moire,
and show brilliant changeable tints.
Mrs. Celia W. Wallace, a rich and
philanthropic Chicago woman, is plan
ning an industrial school for boys in that
city.
Miss Amy Morris Homans, who has
organized the cooking-schools in Boston,
is pursuing her good work in Balti
more.
Real wheat is used to a considerable
extent on the new bonnets, for making
the bonnet itself as weil as for trim
mings.
Hemstitched linen sheets are used by
those who can afford luxuries, with pil
low cases and bolster cases hemstitched
to match.
The first official act of the Emperor
Frederick was the conferring of the rare
and exalted order of the Black Eagle
upon his wife.
Miss Percilla Woody, of Lumpkin
County, ( a., was so popular that all
girl children born in the county were
named after her.
Long wraps suitable for traveling pur
poses are made of serviceable goods,
such as Henrietta cloth, cashmere, or
even broadcloth.
It is said that P. T. Barnum’s wife
writes everything which appears over his
nam°, and that what pay he receives is
turned over to her.
Madame Bruhl, once a protegee of
Empress Eugenie, died in i ittsburg re
cently, where she taught French, being
in reduced circumetances.
The physician in attendance on the
Queen of Corea is an American woman,
who is said to receive an annual salary
of .$15,000 for her services.
Sprays and clusters of faded roses,
wind torn till sometimes but three petals
cling to the sterms, are the latest “real
istic” effect in bonnet fiowers.
Gloves having wide bands of stitch
ing, in self or contrasting colois, are
still in vogue, nevertheless the plain
styles are quite as desirable as ever.
Miss Jennie Cliamberlaiu, the famous
beauty, and her mother have returned to
Cleveland, Ohio, from Florida. Miss
Chamberlain will soon sail for Europe.
The newest polonaises, according to a
fashion authority, iu usually correct
Boston, are very Ion" and fully draped,
the entire effect beiijf'J tuat of slender
ness.
Miss Jenny Flood, the daughter of the
California fifteen-millionaire, is an ex
cellent business woman, and personally
manages her own snug little fortune of
$5,000,000.
Passementerie is becoming so ponder
ous and heavy, not to say odd, that there
is a good prospect that at last the broken
china and glassware in the family cup
board can be utilized.
Miss Bayard, of Baltimore, a niece of
Secretary Bayard, is six feet tall; Speaker
Carlisle’s wife is five feet nine inches and
several other Washington society ladies
are about the same height.
The garland of crushed roses, either
under or around the crown, is the favor
ite garniture for summer wide hats,
while many turbans are inappropriately
tnade of roses veiled with lace.
Miss Carrie May, who was at one time
engaged to be married to Mr. James
Gordon Bennett, editor of the Herald,
is now Mrs. William Wright, and pro
nounced “the most beautiful woman in
New York to-day.”
New serges, showing bars and blocks
of red, terracotta suede, navy and gobelin
blue, upon a cream-white ground, will
very largely take the place of the so-long
worn plain cream, both for entire gowns
and iu combination toilets.
The engagement is announced of Miss
Flora West, daughter of the British
Minister, to Mr. Gabriel Salanson, onsof
the Secretaries of the French Legation at
Washington. The wedding will take
place in Paris some time this summer.
Mrs. E. E. Briggs, of Washington
City, has determined to donate her ele
gant residence property, known as the
"Maple Square,” for the foundation of a
college for women, to be patterned after
Girard College. The property is valued
at $200,0)0."
The most charming effects are some
times produced by the simplest means,
as seen, for instance, in the outlining
glace* which any young girl may do in
i tier leisure moments. This outlining
may be done in color or in gold and
silver threads.
Mrs. Hicks-Lord owns what is proba
i bly the most costly fan in the country.
It is the finest white point d’Aleucon, of
a pattern combining bowers, leaves and
I lyres in a way that is anything but con
ventional. The fan is worn suspended
from a chain of diamonds and pearls.
A noted Gretna Green,of the Northern
Missi-sippi Yalley, is Fairplay, a quaint
old settlement in the southwestern part
of Wisconsin, near the State line. Here
hundreds of runaway lovers from lowa
and Illinois have been united in the
bonds of matrimony after escaping the
vigilauce of parental opposition.
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL.
All steel railway car wheels are coming
into use. The machine which rolls them
weighs 112 tons.
What is meant by an inch of rain fall
is that 14,500,000 gallons of water have
fallen upon a square mile of ground.
A young man at Azalia, Ind., has in
vented a machine to measure wheat by
weight as it runs from the elevator.
A new attachment to the microscope
has been devised, the object of which is
to observe the melting points of minerals
while under the process of examination.
The recent decision of the Supreme
Court, awarding a Philadelphian, Tiigh
nian, $320,000 for the infringement of
his Glycerine Patent has excited much
attention.
A company has been formed in Berlin,
Germany, to manufacture electrical
watches. Two small cells and a small
electric motor take the place of the ordi
nary movement.
A shower of dust near Lyons, Frence,
in 184(5, was estimated by Ehrenberg to
amount to 73,00) pounds, one-eighth
being microscopic organisms. The red
color is due to oxide of iron.
Shoe making machinery has reached
such a staire of perfection that 4,000
stitches per minute can now be well
made. The best shoes now made by a
new process are made without tacks,
wax, nails or inside thread.
Manufacturing establishments are
gathering at natural gas centers in
the north, and at cheap coal centers,
such as Northern Alabama, in the South.
There is a great demand for boilers and
engines ail over the country.
Black and muddy rain fell at Naples,
Itaij, recently. Professor Palmieri, of
the Vesuvio Observatory, says that the
strong winds from Africa raise into the
air any amount of dust, ancl the rain,
passing through those clouds of dust,
fails down blackish, colored by it.
The Oregon ash is of beauty and
utility for decorative purposes, is figured
with concentric curves, and allows an
attractive polish. The maple of that
State is also of beautiful appearance,
light yellow in color, and a surface cov
ered with small, wavy lines, of especial
beauty in the gaslight.
Paper bedclothes are made at a fac
tory in New Jersey. They are doubled
sheets of manilla paper, strengthened
with twine, and valuable, by reason of
the peculiar properties of paper as a non
conductor of heat. Tiiey have a warmth
preserving power far out of proportion
to their thickness and weight.
The artes an well which has been in
in course of construction at the Place
Hebert, Paris, France, for the past
twenty-two years, has just been com
pleted. The water bed lies at a depth of
712 m. 20 c. (about 2,400 ft.) from the
surface of tne soil. Paris now possesses
three artesian wells, viz., at Grenelle,
Passy, and the Place-Hebert.
An electro-magnet with a carrying
capacity of SBOO pounds is attached to a
crane in the Cleveland (Ohio ) steel works,
and readily picks up and handles billets
and other masses of iron without the use
of chains, tongs or other devices. A
mere lad is thus enabled to do the work
of fouiteeu or fifteen men. He lowers
the magnet from the crane onto the
object to be moved, turns on the current
and the magnet immediately attaches
itself; the crane—operated by a pneu
matic valve—raises the load, which is
carried to the desired position, lowered,
and then released by catting off the
current.
A syndicate, including several Georgia
capitalists, has secured the exclusive
right for the Southern States of the
Tompkins process for reducing vegetable
fibres to paper stock, with the intention
of establishing mills in all the cotton
States, and applying the process to the
reduction to paper of cotton stalks and
seed hulls, now practically worthless.
The promoters of the enterprise claim
that they can make good newspaper at
two cents per pound, and that the estab
lishing of their mills will be as important
an event in the economical history of the
South as the establishing of cotton-seed
oil mills.
During the late violent storms in the
English Channel the sea washed through
a high and hard sand-bank near St.
Malo, nearly four metres thick, laying
bare a portion of an ancient forest which
was already passing into the condition
of coal. This forest at the beginning of
our era covered an extensive tract of the
coast; but with the sinking of the land
it became submerged and covered up by
the drifting sand. Mount Saint Michael
once stood in the middle of it. The
forest had quite disappeared by the
middle of the tenth century. Occa
sionally, at very low tides after storms,
remains of it are disclosed, just as at
present.
A Cuban Pirate’s Career.
The noted pirate chieftain, Francisco
Marti, became a tremendous power in
Cubaj during the revolutionary period of
18.5(5 In the first quarter of the century
he hhd come, a poor Barcelonian fisher
man, to Havana, plied his his vocation
there, married a mulatto, Tomassa, sud
denly disappeared and in time came to be
the most daring and dreaded contraband
ist and freebooter ever known in the
West Indies. Governor General Tacon,
havitig exhausted all means to his cap
ture, finally offered $50,000 in gold and
full rjardon to any of his followers who
would deliver to him the live or dead
bodyiof the pirate. Upon this Marti
himself suddenly appeared iu the palace
in thej guise of his own betrayer, and. be
fore maxing himself known, secured not
only the reward, which he made a gift
to Tacon, but a monopoly for life of the
fish privileges of Havana. Ilis millions,
diplomacy and great abilities made him
during li s later life the most hated,
fawned-after and yet powerful citizen
the island ever knew. And on his ca
reer to knighthood—for he became
Chevalier de Francisco Marti, and ob
tained for bis wife and daughters, “La
Bunda de Marie Louise,” the highest
honor conferrable by Spanish royalty
upon woman, through the gift of $1,000,-
OuO in gold to Ferdinand VII.—in order
to honor the friendship of Tacon and
placate the Havanese aristocracy, he
built iu Havana one of the largest and
finest theatres in the world, naming it
Theatre Tacon. —Mail and Exp ress.
Madrid means a little forest, being
the same as materita, the diminutive of
materia, which is Spanish for lumber.
PERILS OF CIRRUS LIFE.
DANGEROUS FEATS PERFORMED
BY CELEBRATED ARTISTS.
The Fatal, Neck-breaking Triple-
Somersault —The Thrilling Cata
unit and Cannon Acts.
The great danger to the circus leapei
is in his somersault. If he is very skil
ful, he may have a pretty clear idea
while he is in the air of where and how
he is going to land after a double somer
sault; but many leapers go through life
without ever solving that problem satis
factqrely, and. of course, they are the
most frequent sufferers by accidents.
Landing on an edge of the thick mat
tress is exceedingly apt to injure an
ankle, and coining down head first is
liable to break the neck. But when the
adventurous performer essays a triple
somersault he never knows how it is
going to result. The first man. who
attempted that feat is said to have been
John Aymar, in the Isle of Wight. He
broke his neck 5l doing it. It has been
successfully performed by several men in
this country, but is raiely done,and when
it is, does not impress the public suf
ficiently to make it worth the risk it in
volves. People fail to appreciate it.
They do not know that each somersault
following the tirst in all aerial flight
gains one-third in speed over the one
preceding, so that by the time the third
is turned the performer lias not the
slightest idea of his position with re
ference to the earth, and is powerless to
save himself. If he does not break his
neck, it is simply a lucky accident.
A somewhat varied form of the “leap
ing act.” technically known as the
“Spanish Trampoline,” which used to
be practised in ad circuses and is never
seen now, was especially dangerous. In
that the men sprang from the solid
starting point instead Of a spring-board,
and went over horses, the number of
which was increased gradually. Tim
Turner cleared sixteen horses and Hiram
Franklin seventeen. The extreme diffi
culty of such a leap will be in
some measure realized if it is remem
bered that the men had to find all the
impetus for it in their own muscles and
their little run. having no aid of a
spring-board to lift them to such a
height as enables the somersaults to be
made with case. Of course, many men
were crippled for life in this act, and
happily it seems now to be altogether
done away with.
One of the most dangerous individual
feats ever performed in a circus ring was
the “catapault” act, done by Lulu a few
seasons ago. In that the performer laid
himself out straight and rigid on a great
beam that was poised like a lever with
him ou the long and, and a great number
of strong india rubber strings straining
at the other. Then, at a signal, a trigger
was touched, the power of the springs
exerted, and Lulu was sent whirling up
almost to the roof of the Garden, and,
turning a somersault, landed in a net
with his eyeglasses still upon his nose.
The tension of those springs changed
surprisingly in sympathy with scarcely
observable changes in the temperature,
so that for almost every performance
some of them had to be taken off or more
put on. One day, just before the doors
were opened for the evening performance,
Lulu had an impression that he ought to
test the*machtne before risking himself
upon it that night. He tried to persuade
himself that it was useless to take the
trouble, since he had been thrown right
in the alternoon, and he could not feel
that the temperature in the Garden had
changed at all. The impression re
mained, however, and, at lengtt, yield
ing to it, he called his assistants, set the
machine, put ou it the bag of gravel
equal to his weight—used for the tests—
and touched it ofl. That bag of gravel
was hurled clear up into the lantern of
the roof, and struck a beam there with
such force that it burst. llad he been
the object catapulted, instead of the bag,
he would have fallen to the net a man
gled corpse. He simply remarked:
“Close call,” and placidly went to work
reducing the number of springs.
The cannon act, as done by Mme.
Loyal, had the same element of danger
that existed in the catapult, those treach
erous India rubber springs. She was
apparently fired from the mouth of the
cannon up some twenty-seven feet to a
trapeze, where she caught on and did
some quite clever business. If the pistol
—set to go off when she did—didn’t
happen to hang fire, the illusion was ex
cellent, and she went up with such grace
and ease that there didn’t seem to be
much difficulty or any danger in the
performance. But had she not held
herself as rigid as a log when
put into the cannon, her legs
would inevitably have been broken
when she was fired out; as certainly as
Lulu’s skull would have been cracked if
he had not held it tight against the cat
apult beam the moment when he was
thrown. ‘When she performed in Nix
on’s Chicago Amphitheatre in 1872, the
manager would not permit her to be sent
up without making some provision to
save her if she failed to catch the trapeze,
and as he had no net then, he stationed
a half dozen stout fellows to hold under
her a “Sancho PaDza blanket”—which
is a large square of strong canvas with
grip loops on its edges. Her husband
was indignant, swore that the arrange
ment spoiled the effect of the act, and
denounced it as a piece of useless folly.
“All the same,” replied Nixon firmly,
“the blanket goes under her, or she
don’t go up.” For three weeks she per
formed twice a day and never h;id an
accident, but on the first night of the
fourth week the springs failed to throw
her within reach of the trapeze and she
fell back into the blanket. Had it not
been there she would have fallen right
back on the mouth of the cannon, and
smashed a lot of her rius. —New York
Sun.
The Funny Seahorse.
The seahorse is a curious little creature.
It is not an animal, but a fish. It is
bony, has tufted gills, and belongs to the
pike family. It grows from six to eight
inches long. The snout is prolonged
und the head elevated posteriorly, very
much resembling the head of a horse,
the ears being represented by a spiny
coronet on the occiput. The tail is long
and whiplike, and without a fin. It is
by the tail that these fish suspend them
selves to seaweeds and other submarine
objects. The eyes are prominent and
can be moved independently of each
other and in opposite directions. In
swimming these fish always assume an
■upright position.— Detroit Free Pres*.
Positively No Danger.
Carker (in hotel corridor) —“Let's get
out of here, Barker.”
Barker—“ What's the matter?”
Carker—Those two men are having
such a violent discussion that I’m afraid
it will end iu a fight.”
Barker (carelessly)—“No danger of
that. They're both pugilists.”— Detroit
Erie Frees.
Tiik Atlanta, Ui , Evening.Tovma\ the
only daily anil weekly paper in that citv
that advocates tar If reform, under the
skillful management of lion. Hoke
Smith a::<i H. li. Cabaniss, is making
wonderful strides in the direction of in
fluence and circulat on.
A European steamship line is
now having constructed a steamship that
will cross the water between New York
and Queenstown in five days.
CATARRH.
A New Home Tith!input for tlio fnre of
Catarrh. Catarrh 1 DenL.css
an Hay Fever.
The microscope has proved that these dis-
Ba-es are contagious, and they are due t the
presence of living parasites in the lining mem
brane of tiie upper air passages an 1 eustaehian
tubes. The eminent scientists, I yndai l. Hux
ley and Bt aie, endorse this, and these authori
ties cannot be disputed. The regular me hod
of treating these diseases has been to apply an
irritant remedy weekly, and oven duly, thus
keeping the delicate membrane in a constant
Btate of irrita ion, allowing it no chance to
heal, ai d as a natural consequence of such
treatment not one permanent cure has ever
been recorded. It is an absolute fact that
these diseases > annot he cured by any applica
tion made oftener than once in two weeks, for
the membrane must get a chance to h al
before an application is repcatelt is now
seven years since Mr. Dixon di-covered the
parasite in catarrh and formulated his new
treatment, and since then his remedy has be
come a household word in every country
where the English langua ;e is spoken. Cures
eff cted by him seven years ago are cures still,
there having bee no return of the disease.
Ho highly are these remedies valued that ig
norant imita ors have started up everywhere,
pretendi gto desi roy a parasite, of which ti ey
know nothing, by remedies, the results of the
application of which they are equally ignor
ant. Mr. • axon's remedy is applied only once
in two weeks, and from one to three applica
tions effect a permanent cure in the most ag
gravated cases.
Mr. Dixon sends a pamphlet describing his
new treatment on the receipt of stamp to pay
postage. The address is A H. Dixon & Son,
004 King street west, Toronto, Canada.—Scien
tific American.
The “Bureau of justice” Is Chicago's latest
and it affords legal assistance to poor people.
“ Then let the moon usurp the rule of day.
And winking tapers show the sun his way;
For what my senses can perceive,
I need no reve at on to believe.”
Ladies suffering from any of the weaknesses
or ailments peculiar to their sex, and who will
use Dr. Pierce’s Favorite Prescription accord
ing to directions, will expaiiei ce a genuine
revelation in the benefit they will receive. It
is a pi sitive cure for the most complicated and
obstinate ca cs of leucorrhea, excessive flow
ing, painful menstruation, unnatural sup
pressions prolapsus, or falling of the womb,
weak back, ‘female weakness,” anteversion,
retroversion,bearin' down sensations,chronic
con.estion. inflammation and ulceration of the
womb,inflammation pain and tenderness in
ovaries, accompanied with “internal heat.”
Bishop J. H. Vincent, a native of Ala., is no
ted for promoting religion among young people
Conventional •• Minion ” Resolutions.
Whereas, The M non Route (1,. N. A. & c.
Ry Co.) i es res to make it known to the world
at large that it forms the double connecting
link of Pullman tourist travel between the
winter cities of Florida a d the summer re-
Bortsof tho Northwest: and
Whereas, Its “rapid transit” system is un
surpa-sed, its elegant Pullman Buffet Sleeper
and Chair ca’- service between Chicago and
Louisville, Indianapolis and Cincinnati un
equalled; and
Whereas, Its rates are as low as the lowest;
then he it
Resolved, That in the event of starting on a
trip it is good policy to con-lilt witn E. O. Mc-
Cormick, Gen'l Pass. Agent Monon Route, 185
Dearborn St.. Chicago, for full particu. irs ;ln
any event send for a Tourist Guide, enclose 4c.
postage.)
Sypher & Co. of New York,the antiquarians,
are purchasers, at all times, of Colonial and
other relids, such as portraits and letters of
the signers of the Declaration of Indepen
dence, Presidents, Generals and all celebrities
of the period, of the Revolution. Also old silver*
china, furniture an i curious ariicles general
ly. Parties desiring to dispose of anything in
the above line would do well to corresp >nd
with that firm. Their address is 800 Broadway,
and they were established in 1831.
President Cleveland has received official no
tice from Brazil of the abolition of slavery.
Thousands of cures follow the use of Dr.
Sage’s Catarrh Remedy. 50 cents.
In Denver, Col., five of the richest saloon
men ask that the license be increased to §I,OOO.
For The Nervous
The Debilitated
The Aged.
Medical and scientific skill has at last solved the
problem of the long- needed medicine for the ner.
vous, debilitated, and the aged, by combining the
best nerve tonics. Celery and Coca, with other effec
tive remedies, which, acting gently but efficiently
on the kidneys, liver and bowels, remove disease,
restore strength and renew vitality. This medicine is
(•(Paine's
elery
“10h9und
- It fills a place heretofore unoccupied, and marks
a new era in the treatment of nervous troubles.
Overwork, anxiety, disease, lay the foundation ol
nervous prostration and weakness, and experience
has shown that the usual remedies do not mend the
strain and paralysis of the nervous system.
Recommended by professional and business mem
Bend for circulars.
Price 21.00. Sold by druggists.
WELLS, RICHARDSON &CO., Proprietors
BURLINGTON, VT.
Do you Y?aat u inspirator?
C yjj WAS I£
1 ROANOKE
"fSfeaf Cotton and Hay
\ Jt* jjlH > / The best and cheapest irade.
\ J ] Hundreds in actual tj«b.
v ' Raj H Bales cotton fatter than any
W te*‘‘ 1 / gin can pick. Address
Uv Bal //' ROANOKE IRON AND
SfcMS-EjN WSth WOODWORKS forourCot
• ton Hay Press circulars.
- i rawg'- • Chattanooga, Tenn. Box 1:60
W Lire at home and make raore money working*fbr«arban
tfUIMPI at anything else in the world Either sex Costly outfit
rukX. Terms FLiK. Address, Tlilk A Co., Augusta, Maine.
[PISOS CURE FOR CONSUMPTION!
If so, writs ItliOWN A KING
Manufacturers and Dealers in
Colton. Woolen a ml Gen
eral dill Supplies.
Wrought Iron Pipe Kilting*
' and lirnss Goods.
g( S. BuoadSt., ATLANTA, GA.