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THE MAJORITY. How fare they all, they of the pallid faces, Beyond our power to beckon their return? How is it with them in the shadow places? How shall we learn Their solemn secret? How can we discover, By any earnest seeking, the true way Unto the knowing in what realm they hover, In what high day, Or in what sombre shadows of the night, They are forever hidden from our sight? “We question vainly. Yet it somehow pleases, When they have spoken the last sad good-by, It somehow half the pain of parting eases, That in the sky, In the vast solitudes of stars and spaces, There may be consciousness and life and hope. And that when we must yield to death’s em braces, There may be scope For the unfolding of the better powers, So sadly stifled in this life of ours. —Tracy Robinson, in Boston Transcript. THE CANNON’S MOUTH, »>y f. a. mitcheij. They said it was a forced march. First, some soldiers on horseback went tearing by with a terrible clatter, leaving a cloud of dust behind them, then it was all quiet for an hour. I heard a tramp ing, and looking up to the crest of rising ground to the north, saw the road packed with soldiers on foot. They came quickiy up, and I scarcely had time to see what tliey looked like before those in front had passed. They didn’t march like soldiers I had seen in the city on a gala day, when I was a little girl; they hurried along, each man walking as he liked I wondered how they could go so fast, they were loaded down so. They carried great heavy knapsacks and blankets, and tin pans and canteens, be sides their muskets. They look more as if they were going to set up liouse-keep ing than to war. While I was leaning on the widow sill, looking out and watching them, I saw a young officer ride into the yard, just as if he belonged to the place—or, rather, as if the place belonged to. him— and back toward the barn. Two soldiers rode close behind him, and they got down oil their horses and went into the barn. I thought at once they were after our horses. My pony was there, and I made up my mind they shouldn’t take him without walking over my dead body. I ran down stairs and out to the barn. If I had been making a forced march myself I couldn’t have gone faster. Before I got there they had two horses, out, and were harnessing them to the j farm wagon. I marched straight up to the officer and asked him what he was doing. O v | He was a trifle startled at seeing a girl standing before him, looking as if she intended to make a resistance. e’re ’pressing all the horses and wagons we find along the road.” he said. “What do you mean- by ’pressing them ?” -*'■ We’re ’pressing them into the ser vice.” “What fori” ‘'To carry the men’s knapsacks. They can march faster.” “Do you think it makes it any more respectable to call it 'pressing?" The officer’s face was flushed. I thought it was because he was ashamed of his work; but I soon noticed that he was in a burning fever. “You shan’t take my pony, anyway,” I cried, going to a man who was leading him out of the barn and seizing the halter. “.Nevermind that horse,” said the of ficer ;‘ ‘ it’s only a pony. Take it back into the stable.” The man obeyed at once. They har nessed two horses to the wagon, and led the team into the road. As the soldiers marched past it they threw their knapsacks on the wagon, and it was soon loaded, and one of the negroes drove it away. Just then an officer came along with a number of other officers and a train of horsemen following him. 1 noticed that he had stars on his shoulders, and wore a straight sw T ord instead of a crooked one like the rest. “Captain,” he said, looking at the of ficer who had taken our horses and wagon, “you’d better not try to go any farther.” “I can go on, general. It’s only in termittent.” The general cut him short with, “Stop where you are.” He spoke so sharp that I thought he was going to bite the cap tain’s head off. I wished the captain had the courage to ans\*er him, but he hadn’t. The general and those who were With him rode on, leaving the sick man sitting on his horse looking after them, to take care of himself as best he could. I noticed he wore the same orna ment on his cap as those about the gen eral—a wreath—and I concluded he was one of them. There was an interval in the passing regiments, and no one was near but the captain and me. “What are you going to do?” I asked him. I was sitting on the fence, with my feet dangling. It wasn’t a very graceful position, but I was only a country girl then, and didn't know any better. “I don’t know,” lie said, wearily; “I suppose I must ride back to N . There’s a hospital there.” If he hadn’t been a Yankee and a rob ber, or a ’pr*sser, which is the same thing, I’d have asked him to come into the house at once, he looked so sick. “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself,” I Said, “to take horses that don’t belong to you?” He did look ashamed. “It isn’t a Sleasant business,” he ssia. ‘You’d etter get that pony of yours out of the way; there'll be more troops along here by-and-bv.” When he said this his voice sounded bo pleasant, and he looked so sick, that I made up my mind to ask him in. But I couldn’t bring myself to speak kindly to him. I couldn't forget that he was a Yankee soldier. “Come into the house,’ I said,sharply. He looked at me out of his melancholy, feverish eyes. “No, I thank you. I’ll ride back to N and he turned his horse's head to ride away. I called to him to step He obeyed me, and I went out into the road and took hold of his bridle. “What do you mean by that?” he asked, surprised. “I going to ’press your horse.” “What for?” “To keep for the safe return of those you’ve taken.” lie looked at me sort o’ dazed. He put his hand to his head, and didn’t seem to know what to do. I led his horse up to the veranda. He dismount ed and walked feebly up the steps and sat down on a bench, while I took his horse round to the barn. Well, the captain was put to bed. He had typhoid fever, and a very bad case it was. Occasionally, when troops would come into the neighborhood, I wound mount my pony, and ride over j to their camp and ask to have a surgeon ! come and sec him. Between the sur geons and my nursing we got him through the crisis. I nursed him for six weeks. Then he became con valescent, and it was very nice to have him sitting up in an arm-chair on the veranda looking so pale and handsome, j I used to sit by him with my work, and he seemed so gentle and so patient —not at all like he appeared to me when 1 1 first saw him riding back to the barn to ’press the horses—that I began to feel, sorry he wasn’t one of our own men in stead of being nothing but a detestable Yankee. One day while I was sitting on the veranda beside him, sewing, he said: “Miss Molly, are you still holding my horse as a hostage?” “Yes. Ours haven’t come back yet.” “Don’t you think you could let me take him when I get well, if I should promise to go and find your horses, and have them returned?” “I’ll see about that when you get well.” He’d been talking already about going on to join the army, but I din’t think him well enough, and didn’t mean to let him go. He couldn’t very well go without his horse, so I wouldn’t let him ; have it. “What hostage do you require in token of my appreciation of your kindness since I’ve been sick?” he asked. “Y T ou haven’t anything to leave. Be sides, I’ve done very little, I’m sure.” He thought a moment. Then he said, somewhat sadly: “Yes; there’s one thing I can leave— only one. I’il leave that with you.” I couldn’t think of anything he had except his revolver, and I was sure he wouldn’t leave that. It wasn't appro priate. -I waited for him to tell me, but lie ■-aid nothing about it then. At last he was well enough to go. At least he thought so; I didn’t, lie was still as weak as a kitten, but I saw how anxious he was, and I didn’t oppose him any longer. So one pleasant morning, when the air was soft and the roads were dry, I told one of the colored boys to bring the captain’s horse round from the barn. The captain stood on the veranda ready to mount and ride away. His blanket and rubber poncho were strapped behind the saddle, just as he had left them, and his ; horse was so anxious to be oil that the boy could hardly hold him. The cap tain took my hand in his to say good-by, and looked straight into my eyes. I lowered them to his spurs. “Y'ou’re a good girl,” he said. “I’ll not forget your kindness.” “Oh, I would have do 11A me for any one.” “Any one?” “Any one.” Then I asked myself: “What did I want to say that for. ’ „ “I leave you the spoke of,” lie said, “bnt it is a very poor return for so much kindness—a mere bagatelle.” I could have bitten my thngue off. He was going to make a return —to pay for what 1 had done for him. “Yon will find it,” he added, “if you have the shrewdness to guess where it is.” With that he gave my hand a pressure, : and looked loftg and steadily into my eyes. Then he mounted his horse and rode away without once looking back. As soon as be had gone I commenced to think what he could mean about leav ing a hostage. I was sure he wouldn’t j oiler anything very valuable. He must know I wouldn’t like that; but I thought he might leave some little trinket for me to remember him by. I ransacked the room he had occupied, looking into bureau drawers, into closets, any place the ingenuity of man could find to hide anything. I even looked behind the pictures hanging on the wall. Then I went all over the house from attic to cellar. Not a thing could 1 find. Then I recalled his words: “If you are shrewd enough to guess where it is,” and went all over my search again. At last I gave it up. “A pretty way to treat me,” 1 grumbled, “after taking care of him so long!” I vowed that if ever I should see him again he should tell me whether he had really left anything, and what it was. News came of terrible fighting at the front, btragglers, broken-down horses, wagons, ambulances from which now and then a ghastly face would look out, kept going by day after day for several days. The yard, the barn, the kitchen, were full of men. They first day they drank up all the water iu the well. Then regiments marched by almost as fast as wheu they were making their forced march South. They passed on by the house, but stopped on the crest of the hill up the road. There they began to dig with spades and shovels, and the t next morning when I looked out there was a long line of forts, and the Yankee flag flying above them, and, great heav ens '. tbe black mouths of cannon frown- ing directly down at us. \Y T hilel was looking I heard some thing rattle far down the road. It sounded like emptying a barrel of stones into another barrel. Then another rat tle, mingled with a constant dull doom ing. All the morning the sounds kept coming nearer, till at last 1 could dis tinctly hear the loud reports of cannon and of muskets all fired at once. I no ticed a great stir in the forts above! Horsemen were galloping Lack and forth; new guns were every moment thrusting out their ugly mouths, and men were marching and countermarch ing. 1 could hear their officers shout ing gibberish a* them, which they must have been Indian or Chinese to under stand. Then more soldiers passed the house from the South, tiied, dusty, grimed, some of them running, some wounded and tottering along slowly. All passed in a steady stream behind the forts. i Suddenly a hosremnn clashed up to the house—he was all dust and dirt, and hit horse was covered with foam. He threw himself from the saddle and came up o» to the veranda. Good gracious! the captain. “Come away from here at once,” he said: “our men are retreating; we are going to make a stand behind the works. You are directly in range. Be quick! the lire is liable to open at any moment. ” Then there was a scramble to snatch a few things. One took a lamp, another a pitcher, another a photograph album. It seemed as if everybody took the most useless thing to be found. All except me were hurrying down the walk to the gate; I stayed behind. The captain tried to make me hurry. He was stamping up and down on the veranda and through the hall, almost crazy at my delay. “Come, be quick!” he said, as sharp as if he were the general himself. “Captain—” I said, hesitating. “What is it?” he asked, impatiently. “The hostage.” “What hostage? ’ “That you left when you went away: I couldn’t find it. Must we leave it.” He looked at me a moment as if he thought I had lost my senses; then he burst into a laugh. I never could stand to be laughed at, and just then it was particularly obnox ious. I made up my mind that he should tell me what I had hunted for, and tell me there and then. “Never mind that,” he said, seeina that I was irritated. “Save yourself ana it’will be in no especial danger. “ “I’ll not leave it, whatever it is,” 1 said, resolutely. “Come, come! this will be a battle field in a few minutes.” “I won’t stir a step till you tell me what I want to know.” , “Nonsense!” he said, severely. The more severe his tone, the more resolute I became. I stood stock-still. “For Heaven’s sake!” he urged, be coming really frightened; “the gunners are standing with the lanyards in their hands ready.to fire.” “Let them fire!” I folded my arms. A volley sounded a short distance down the line of forts to the west. The captain tried to seize my wrist. “Do come,” he pleaded. “Tell me what was the hostage,” I said, stubbornly. “Here?” “Here.” “No, no; this is not a fit place to tell you that. For the love of Heaven do come away 1” I vowed I would conquer him or die on the field. “You shall either tell me or I will stay here till the battle is over.” He looked at the frowning forts anxiously, then back at me. “You must know?” “Yes.” “Now?” “Now.” “Well, then, Molly dear, I left you my heart.” “I stood as one who sees an engine coming straight down on him, and whose limbs are paralyzed from the sud denness of the discovery. Merciful Heaven! wliut had I done? What stu pidity! The blood rushed in’a torrent to my cheeks; I covered my lace with my hands. “And now, sweetheart” taking one of my hands from my burning cheek and leading me away—“if you’re satisfied about the hostage, we won’t stay here any longer.” As he spoke there was an explosion in the forts,rftnd it seemed as if a dozen were whirling over our heads, I almost wished one of them would strike me dead. The captain led me like a child toward the forts through smoke and noise and confusion. I didn’t think of the battle that was opening; I only thought how immodest he must think me, and that he never would believe I j could he so stupid as not to know what he meant by leaving a hostage. I have had to suffer all my life for that one mistake. I never can have my way abo it anything; for when my husband finds all other expedients for governing to be failures, he invaribly taunts me with having forced his secret at the can non’s mouth. — Harper's Weekly. A Colt’s Race With a Train. The Gl be-Democrat describes a re markable race between a three-year-old thoroughbred colt and an express train in Kentucky. The colt belongs to Vince Carpenter, at Limestone Station, in Carter County. When the express train arrived at Limestone the colt stepped on the track in front of the en gine, and when the train started the colt started also, keeping some distance in front of the engineer, until a large trestle was reached at Soldier, the next stopping point, a distance of five and a quarter miles from Limestone. The colt started over the trestle, but fell down, and the race came to an end; the engineer stopped, a rope was attached to the colt, and it was removed from the track. The race of five and a quarter miles is reported to have been made in the short time of thirteen minutes. The colt jumped several cow gaps, crossed numerous small trestles and ran around one or two bridges. When the colt left the track to go around the bridges the engineer gave his engine full speed to try and pass the colt, but it succeeded in getting on the track in front of the en gine again and the race was renewed. At Enterprise a number of men tried to scare the colt from the track, but it passed around them and got back on the track before the train could pass it. The engineer says that several times he gave his engine full speed, trying to pass it or run over it, but it was too swift for his engine. In the fall on the trestle the colt was not injured much. Neglect Lost Him a Fortune. About ten years ago Mr. 11. B. Mikel, of Milton County, invented a rotary mo tion to churn with, and used it at home. It was a great improvement on the old fashioned way of churning, and saved time and labor. Some of his friends advised him to patent it, but he neglect ed to do so, thinking he would patent it at some future time. Neaily two years ago* Messrs. Davis & Cobb were selling family rights for the same churn in this county, and called on >tr. Mikel to sell him one. On examining it Mr. Mikel found it to be Exactly like his churn, and showed his churn to them. Some other man had patented it and made a fortune out of it. If Mr. Mikel had taken out a patent when he invented the churn it would have paid him hand somely. —Atlanta Constitution. WAR’S CARNAGE. THE MEN WHO FELL ON BOTH SIDES IN THE CIVIL WAR. A List of Battles With the Number of Federal and Confederate Killed—Figures Full of Melancholy Interest. following table of the killed in the various battles of the war has been compiled from various sources for tbe New York Mail and Express: Union. Con fed. Bombardment of Fort Sumter. None Nona Evacuation of Fort Sumter.... 1 None Riots in Baltimore 4 9 Battle of Bull Run 481 261) Battle of Wilson’s Creek 223 209 Battle of Ball’s Bluff 222 36 Battle of Roanoke Island 35 16 Battle of Fort Donelson, Tenn. 4+6 231 Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark 203 1,100 Battle of Shiloh, Tenn 1,735 1,728 Battle of Hanover Court House. Va 53 200 Battle of Seven Pines or Fair Oaks 890 2,500 Seven Days Retreat, Army of Potomac 1,583 2,820 Battle of Cedar Mountain, Va. 150 229 Battle of Groveton and Gaines ville, Va 7,000 7 000 Second battle of Bull Rnn 800 700 Battle of Chantilly. Va 1,300 800 Battle of Harper's Ferry, Va... 80 500 Battle of South Mountain, Md. 442 500 Battle of Mumsfordville, Ky... 50 714 Battle of Antietam, Md 2,010 3,50!) Battle of luka, Miss 144 263 Battle of Corinth, MBs 315 1,423 Battle of Perry vilie, Ky 916 2,500 Battle of Fredericksburg, Va.. 1,150 579 Battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn. .1,533 14,560 Bombardment Ft. Sumpter 2 4 Battle of Ckancellorsville, Va. .1,512 1,581 Siege of Vicksburg 545 31,277 Siege of Port Hudson, La 500 100 Battle of Gettysburg 2,834 3,500 Battle of Chickamauga, Ga 1,044 2,389 Battle of Lookout Mountain... 757 861 Battle of Olustee, Florida 193 100 Battle of Wilderness 5,597 2,000 Battle of Spottsylvania, Va 4,177 1,000 Battle of Resaca, Ga 600 300 Battle of Cold Harbor, Va 1,905 1,200 Battle of Kenesaw Mount.,Ga.. 1,370 1,100 Capture of the “Alabama” off Cherbourg, France 9 Battle of Malvern Hill 898 400 Battle of Peach Tree Creak, Ga. 300 1,113 Battle of Atlanta (Hood’s first sortie) 500 2,482 Battle of Atlanta (Hood’s sec ond sortie) 100 642 Battle of Winchester and Fish er’s Hill C 93 -3,250 Battle of Cedar Creek (Sheri dan’s ride) 588 3,000 Battle of Spring Hill and Franklin, Tenn 189 1,750 Siege of Mobile, Ala 213 500 At Murfreesboro, the Confederates lost 14,560 killed, wounded and miss ing; at the battle of Vicksburg, 31,277 killed, wounded and prisoners; at Win chester, 3250 killed, wounded and miss ing, and at the sharp engagement at Gainesville the Union and Confederate forces each lost 7000 killed, wounded and missing. The other engagements recorded in the table give only the killed. More soldiers were killed outright in the battle of the Wilderness than in any other engagement of the war. Gettys burg follows next in mortality, and An tietam makes a good third. The many thousands wounded and missing after each battle were often five and six times greater than the number killed outright. Comparative statement of the number of men furnished and of the deaths in the United States army: GRAND AGGREGATE. White troops 2,494,592 Bailors and marines 101,207 Colored troops 178,975 Indians 3^530 T0ta1....:. 2,278,304 Aggregate number of deaths 359,528 New York troops furnished 409,561 New York troops furnished, sailors and marines. 35,164 New York colored troops furnished 4,125 Total 448,850 Aggregate number of deaths 46,534 It is estimated that 1,000,000 able bodied men perished in the civil war. January 1,1861, the army of the United States for active service consisted of 14,663 men. May 1, 1865, there were 797,807 men on active duty, while 202,- 709 more were absent. During the Etruggle there were 44,000 killed in bat tle, 186,000 "died from disease, 26,000 died in rebel prisons, 49,000 died from wounds, 280,000 were wounded and 185,000 are recorded captured and miss ing- An Extraordinary Epitaph. Mr. E. T. Viett has furnished the Charleston (S. C.) Neua and Courier the following epitaph, which was copied from a tombstone in Horsleydown Church, Cumberland, England: Here lie the bodies of Thomas Bond, and Mary, his wife. Bhe was temperate,chaste and charitable; But, she was proud, peevish and passionate. She was an affectionate wife and a tender mother; But, her husband and child, whom she loved, seldom saw t er countenance without a disgusting frown, \ while she received visitors,whom she despised, with an endearing smile. Her behavior was discreet toward strangers; But, imprudent in her family. She was a professed enemy to flattery, and was seldom known to praise or commend; But, the talents in which she principally excelled were difference of opinion and discover ing flaws and imperfections. She was an admirable economist, and, without prodigality, dispensed plenty to every person in her family; But, would sacrifice their eyes to a farthing candle. Bhe sometimes made hex husband happy with her good qualities; But, much more frequently with her many failings. Insomuch, that in thirty years’ cohabitation he often lamented that, maugreall her virtues, he had not, in the whole, enjoyed two years of matrimonial comfort. At length, finding she had 10-t th s affection of her husband, as well as the regard ol her neigh bors, family disputes having been divulged by servants, she died of vexation, July 28, 1763, aged 48 years. Her worn out husband survived her four months and two days, and departed this life November 28, 1763, in the 54th year of his age. William Bond, brother to the deceased, erected this stone as a weekly monitor to the surviving wives of this parish, that they may avoid the infamy of having their memories handed down to posterity with a patchwork character. Old Ships. The Resolute scoured the Arctic seas in search of Sir John Franklin. She was frozen fast in the middle of a wide waste of ice and abandoned by her crew. The ice setting outward from the frigid zone, bore her southward, and after a re markable drift she was picked up by an American whaler. The United States Gov ernment refitted and returned tbe derelict to Great Britain. She lay uncared for at her moorings in the Medway for several years, and was ultimately taken in dock and pulled to pieces. A suite of furni ture was fashioned from her oaken timbers and presented to the President of tbe Republic. Small pieces of her were smuggled out of the dockyard, and many a wooden article is held dear at Chatham as a relic of the brave old dis covery-ship. The duel between the Shannon and the Chesapeake (.Juno 1, 1813) forms an interesting page in the history of the struggle between the United States and Great Britain from 1812 to 1815. The Americans had crowded the Chesapeake with inexperienced landsmen, and had made ready, it is said, a feast on shore for the crew on their return flushed with victory. The unexpected happened as as usual; the xVmerican frigate became the prize of the ship of the mother country. The Shannon also was broken up at Chatham, and parts of her hull were sold at a premium. Sir Francis Drake's tiny ship, the Golden Hind, at a still more remote period came to a similar end at Deptford. A chair made out of her timbers is treasured by the university authorities at Oxford. The Betsy Caius brought over William of Orange to this country in 1688, and w\ns cast away in 1827—139 years later. This historical ship, that helped to change a dynasty, -was over 150 years old when she ceased her combat with the winds and waves. The Brothers, a wooden brig, built at Maryport in 1786, is even now ploughing the waters of the North "Sea. We noticed a good model 6f her in South Kensington Museum. She is one of those box-like craft that sailors say are built by the mile and cut off as they are wanted. The Robert, a wooden barkentine built at Barnstaple just ten years after H. M. S. Victory, is in active service. The True love of London, an American-built bark of 1764, would appear to be the oldest trader in this country, or indeed in the whole world. The Goodwill, built at Sunderland in 1785, the Eliza, built at Whitehaven in 1792, and the Cognac Packet, built at Bursledon in the same year, complete the list of British ships remaining to us from last century. The Norwegians possess three vessels that have been employed actively for 100 years— Chambers’ Journal. Pilfers His Workmen's Minutes. Standing at a window five stories from the ground, on Cedar street,a New York Sun reporter was admiring the tall build ing to tbe left on the opposite side of the street, and commenting on the im provement a new structure would make, which is now in course of erection,when his companion remarked: “See my watch. It is just two min utes of 12 o’clock. Two minutes after 12 the boss of the 100 laborers and ma sons on that building will blow his whistle for the men to stop for the din ner hour. The reporter produced his watch also, and exactly two minutes after 12 o’clock by the two timepieces the boss blew his whistle. “I have observed tbat fact so many times that lam sure there is method in it,”gaidMr. Stewart. “I became curi ous to see what time the men were or dered to work, and invariably the whistle blows three minutes of 1 o’clock. In that way the contractor gains 5 minutes a day on each man, 30 minutes a week, 120 minutes a month, and 1440 minutes or 3 days a year. “Now, say that this contractor em ploys, in one way or another, 100 men the year around, and that ho gains five minutes a day, or three days a year on each man, what does he gain? Well.say he pays these skilled and unskilled w orkmen $2 a day. On one man he will make $6 a year, and on 100 men, S6OO a year. That is not so bad, is it?” The reporter said nothing, but he did an immense lot of thinking. The Great Native Fruit Trade. “We handle exclusively American fruit,” recently said a large New York dealer to a Mail and Express reporter. “You don’t mean to say that these raisins are a product of native indus try?” ‘“Yes, sir, I do. They come from the West. The California raisin industry is growing into greater prominence every year. This Muscat grape is generally used for making raisins. When the grapes are sufficiently ripened,Chinamen go into the vineyard with wooden trays five feet square and three inches deep, cut off the branches, and lay them in the trays, being careful that the grapes do not lie upon each other. The trays are then laid in the sun and left there. Ten days later the Chinamen go into the vineyard again, each one with an empty tray. They find the exposed side of the grapes cured, and of a rich purplish col or. The empty trays are now laid bot tom up on the filled ones and they are turned over together,so that the uncured side is exposed in the new trays. They are left thus in the sun for another ten days, and are then taken to the cooling house, where they are kept for about two weeks. They are then packed in boxes for the market, in what is known as the ‘London layer 1 style. There are no bet ter raisins in the world .indeed there are few that equal them. The production last year was 800,000 boxes. 1873 it was only 6000. This year it is expected the figures will reach nearly one mill ion.” Persian Carpet Making. A native of Finland named Runen, was sent about two years ago to the East at the expense of the Government with the object of endeavoring to discover the art of Persian carpet weaving, the secret of which is strictly guarded by those en gaged in the trade. He made the jour ney disguised as a simple workman, but it w r as only after long and fruitless efforts to obtain admission into a Turkish car pet manufactory that he succeeded at a small place near Smyrna in acquainting himself with ihe process and making a design of a loom. A Persian carpet manufactory has now beer established in Finland, and important results are ex pected from the new branch of industry thus irftroduced. —Pall MM Gazette. EARTHQUAKES. ROCKING AND HEAVING OF THU VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. A Series of Remarkable Shaking that Continued for a Period of Three Months —Inci- dents of the Quake. On the night of December 16, 1811, § well-defined trembling of the earth awoke the inhabitants of New Madrid, Mo., on the Mississippi river. This was the prelude to a series of most remark able and exceptional shakings, that con tinued for a period of three months. Few instances are on record of such protracted and violent agitation in a region remote from volcanic contiguity. The region of country most involved was over three hundred miles in length, and perhaps from fifty to eighty miles wide, the town of New Madrid being near the center of the district, with the great Father of Waters flowing right through it. Within these boundaries some most singular natural'phenomena were made manifest. At this time the river was low and the water rather clear, but this changed to a reddish hue as the ' bottom of the river was churned by the undulations, while the surface was lashed into bunches of foam that quivered to the incessant trembling. The atmosphere was peculiar. A thick and apparently gaseous vapor shone in the dim light with a purplish tinge, and seemed to be distinct from smoke or the » haze of Indian summer. There was what has been fre juently noticed, a peculiar “earthquake sky” and “earthquake air.” The great force seemed to pass along in the form of great undulating waves, the . effect being the alternate opening and closing of immense fi-sures. As the earth thus opened along the shores of the great river, when the rents closed again, water, sand and mud were thrown, in many instances, over the tops of the trees. The heaving of the bottom of the river would temporarily check the current, but in its subsidence would send the flow on again with increased im petuo-ity. In many places where the banks were precipitous they fell into the troubled river with almost cataclys mic violence. Innumerable trees thus fell in and lodged on the sandbars, while the accumulated water-logged wreckage of ages was lifted and changed situa tions. Boats were lost and their crews with them. Although in the latter half of December, the weather was sultry and oppressively hot. Owing to loosening of the roots tbe forest trees generally over this region thereafter presented the appearance of. “deadenings.” Girdling with an ax* could not have killed them- more effect ually. In the river new islands rose and some old ones disappeared. Most singu lar, too, was this remarkable action on the land. Hills sunk from sight, and lakes were there instead. Where some lakes had been the land was dry and ele vated, and vast heaps of sand lay scat tered in every direction. At times, when this condition was at its highest, shock followed shock, whilj the vapor was so thick that not a sun beam could penetrate through it. Con siderable areas sunk somewhat below their former levels, and into some of these basins tbe Mississippi commenced discharging its waters, and for a timej the river presented the singular specta-® cle of running towards its source,® Where these “sinks” fell below the® water level lakes were formed, one of® which is probably seventy miles in length® and from three to twenty wide, in places® shallow, in others fifty to 100 feet deep,® being considerably deeper than the bot-B tom of the river. In the vicinity of New Madrid the earth was rent with innummerable fis sures : the churcyard on the bank of the river was thus detached and engulfed in the waters. Skeletons of long extinctl monsters were in some instances thrown! to the surface in the throes of this re-J markable upheaval. The fissures had a prevailing direction! with some variation, generally north anfl northwest. The country people perl ceiving this general trend, felled trees si as to fell across these prevailing lines! and on occasions when shakes and break! were unusually threatening they wouli fly to these and get on them as a measurl of safety. I It was a time of general terror. Th| eminent engineer, Eringior, related tfl Professor Lyell, the widely known geoß ogist, that he saw, as the wave motiol advanced, trees bend down and meetia® others they would interlock before the! could again right themselves. Mr. Lye* visited this region in 1846, in the intere® of science, and saw numerous .“san® blows,” as they were called —circul* cavities of varying diameters and deptls® One peculiar sink hole was noticeable,® it had dropped right down, interrupts an even plain, the sides being then very steep, and the distance down to tfl water’s edge twenty-five feet. A regifl covering hundreds of square-miles,fl known as the “sunken country,” «fl presents an interesting field of curiosifl to the students of nature. —PittstiM Dispatch. Roman Gladiators. It is not to be denied that it was I splendid sight when a hundred ol tfl gladiators, who were to play the “fi>| act,” so to speak (they were a mere fr® tion of all the performers to be exiifl ited), came marching in, two by t® They were armed mostly as soldiers, ® with more of ornament and with grea® splendor. Their helmets were of van® shapes, but each had a broad brim a® a visor consisting of four plates, the ® per two being pie- ced to allow fl wearer to see through them. On the ® also there was what one might liken tfl comb of a cock; and fastened to thifl plume of horse-liair dyed crimson, or® crimson feathers. Some were cal® “Samnites” (the name of an Italian tfl that once nearly brought Home to® knees). These carried a short sword®j large oblong shield. Others were arfl as Thracians, or as Greeks. 11 ' B again, were distinguished by the synfl of a fish upon their helmets. Put fl most curious of all were those cafl “net-men.” who were equipped w»fl net in which to entangle an having so disabled him,the net-inaO*fl him with a three-pronged harfOfl These have no helmets, and are equip* as lightly as possible, for if they theif cast they have no hope of f *fl but in their fleetness of foot. ola*. 1