Newspaper Page Text
3.1 ailc
TRENTON, GEORGIA.
Mr. Ed ison, the great inventor, lias
turned his attention to the construction
of a practical flying machine.
A statue of John P. Hale, who wa
exe uted as a spy by the British during
the devolution, is to be erected in the
ya:d of the State House at Concord,
N. II
It is proposed in the City of Mexico
that there be an exposition for handsome
girls next winter. The prize suggested
is to be a good husband and a “dot” of
$ i 00, 000.
More cut flowers are now used in thi
country than in any other, and there are
probably more flowers used in New York
than in London, with a population four
times as great.
The population of Canada is less than
that of the State of New Y'ork; and yet
while New York has a debt of only
about >7,000,000, Canada L,» of
nearly $240,000,000.
v
A youthful applicant for
at Lexi igtou, Ky., being asked tne other
day: “What does history teach?” an
swered: “That the United States nevei
has been whipped and never will be.”
The Rev. Father Token, of Quincy
111., is the only colored Catholic priest ir.
the United States. He was born ic
slavery. He speaks several languages
and is highly regarded by the clergy.
Max O’Rell, the French satirist, on
getting back to England, declared thai
“in the higher classes of American so
ciety there is moie culture and amiability
:han in any other country in the world.”
The French are acknowledged to have
the finest guns and projectiles in Europe.
Their Ferminy shell has been shot
through an armor plate twenty inches j
thick, and come out with its steel point I
uninjured.
An experimental cattle farm is to be
started in France by the French Govern
ment. A commission, consisting of the
directors of agriculture, horse breeding
and other experts, has secured 500 acres
to be operated on.
The Chicago Nercs has established i
fund of SIO,OOO, the income of which is
to be given yearly (in medals) to th a
pupils in the several public «oh«ns >f
the town writing the best corn" •-’•on
on “Patriotism.”
——~ ■■ i ■ ■ .i-i «
Bev. Edward Judson, pastor or
Berean Baptist Church, New York City
is endeavoring to raise funds for tin
erection of a memorial church in tha
city to the late Adoniram Judson, first
foreign missionary and founder o
Christianity in Burmah. The sum re
quired is $200,000.
The rabbit pest in New
said to be constantly increasing in se
riousness in spite of thepersistent efforts
made by the Government and the farm
ers to eradicate it. They reduce, it is
said, the feeding capacity of the land
one-third, wtiiile the fleeces of the sheen
have decreased from JO to 40 per cent.
It is hoped that the increase in the pop
ulation and the cultivation of the coun
try will drive out the pests in time
The gradual destruction of our forests
leads Professor Foster to make the pre
diction that in 500 years this country
will be a desert, and immense sand
storms will be playing over the region
where abundant crops are now produced.
The Atlanta Constitution thinks the Pro
fessor may be mistaken. The growing
interest in forestry makes it probable
that in the future a tree will be planted
to take the place of every one fhat is cut
down.
Speaking of the rudeness and incon
venience to which passengers, anc
especially ladies, are subjected in
crowded street cars, the New York Press
luggests the construction of street car;
without any seats at all. The passengers
would then be on an equality of dis
comfort. No complaints would be made
about the refusal of men to give up theii
seats to ladies. All would have to stand,
and the accommodations would be
equally shared.
Trades Unions in China are very con.
servative, declares James Payu in the
Independent , and those who break their
unwritten laws are treated with greater
severity than even with us. Instead of
being boycotted, or blown up with gun
powder, the offenders, it seems, are
bitten to death. At Soochow, I read,
this punishment was inflicted the other
day on a member of the gold-leaf craft,
for taking more than one apprentice at a
tim. One hundred and twenty-three
members had a bite at him. These
Institutions boast, not without reason,
that none of the “brethren” ever comn it
a second offense; from which circum
stance it is supposed the proverb has
arisen: “Once bit, twice shy.”
A writer in a French journal eitimates
the total loss to France from the ravages
of the phylloxera since 1875, when this
scourge of the French vineyards first
made its appearance, at the enormoui
sum of 10,000,000,000 of francs, or about
$200,000,000. This estimate is based
upon French official statistics giving
the aggregate area of vineyards destroyed
in the country at about 2,500,000 acres:
and on the assumption that, in addition
to the acreage of vines thus utterly
destroyed, the extent of vineyards more
or less infected with the phylloxers
amounts to about 500,000 acres, making
thus together 3,000,000 acres.
The New York Press says: ‘‘Judge
Thurman himself tells how his name be
came associated with the red bandana.
In 1859 he strolled into the Senate at
Washington, and saw all the blue
swallow tail and brass button Senators
taking snuff. There was a pound box ol
snuff at each end of the clerk’s d'sks.
‘They were great snuffers in those days,’
said the Judge, ‘and all the Senators
used bandana handkerchiefs* We
seldom see a real bandana now. The
original ones were brown or chocolate
colored, with white spots in the body.
Well, as every man must have his vice,
I took to snuff, and got to be as big a
snuffer as any of them when I entered
Congress in 1844. No, my bandana was
no larger than anybody else’s, but Thur
man’s bandana interested a bright news
paper man, and he continually referred
to it. The gentle spirits only know why
I am called the ‘noblest Roman of them
all.’ I suspect that it is an inheritance
from old Uncle Bill Allen, who first bore
the title. ” /
The largest clothing, boot and shoa
store in this country, asserts the New
York Sim, is run by the United States,
though they sell things down at cost
price and there is no profit in it. Every
army recruiting station is a branch store
where supplies are dealt out. It is
different from ordinary stores, in that
the United States Treasury furnishes
the money that buys the boots, hats,
blankets and clothes, and the money
that buys from the United States also
comes from the Treasury. Besides his
pay each soldier in the regular army has
an allowance for clothing which varies
from $ ITS. 85 to $228.49 for his five
years’ term. This is only from $35.77 to
$45 .69 a year. If the soldiers had to go
around and buy their own clothing they
would not have a new coat more than
once every other year, and they would
have to sleep in their underclothes to
keep w arm. So the United States has
gone into the business of supplying their
ordinary things to soldieis at the bottom
price at which the contracts for them
can be made. There is no rent nor
salesmen’s salaries nor insurance nor
profit to be paid by the Government.
As a result the prices at which clothing
is sold to the soldiers are low that
many workingmen who are paid four
times as much wages as the soldiers are
not clad as well.
The National Home of
has again passed the bill to create a De
partment of Agriculture who e head
shall have a seat in the Cabinet. “It is
late in the day,comments the Farm Field
and Stockman, to give the greatjindustry
of agriculture this proper recognition.
Though about half the population of the
United States are directly interested in
some branch of agriculture in its broad
est sense, and though there is no other
industry that represents so much capital,
and though the other civilized nations
have long had such a department, yet
for some unexplainable reason it seems
to be difficult to secure the needed legis
lation. The excuse of economy which,
in the past might have prevented the
taking on of the additional expense, is
no longer valid. Inasmuch as the vast
business interests of the country depend
upon agriculture, including, as it does,
all that relates to live stock, the moving
of the crops, and, to a great extent, our
commerce with Europe, it seems a paltry
consideration to talk about the cost of
such a department. The manufacturing
of agricultural implements, of wagons,
of freight cars employed in the traas
portation of grain and farm produce of
all kinds and of live stock, is an immense
branch of business, but bound up so
closely with agriculture as to come into
close relations with the new Depart
ment. Besides the collection and dis
semination of ' a’uable information, as to
all best methods in farming, gardening
and the orchard, the finding of remedies
for the diseases of live stock and the in
numerable pests of the farm and orchard,
there are the great political advantages
which belong to such a position and in
which the agricultural population should
\avc a representative. The policies of
the Government affecting taxes, public
improvements of all kinds, foreign rela
tions, the control of railways, and even
the management of the army and navy,
are often influenced or wholly directed
by the action of the President’s Cabinet.
Why should not the great agricultural
interests have a voice in such decisionr
•nd policies?”
The countries south of the UnfAetJ
States, consisting of the empire of Fra
zil, four European colonies, and 15 Repub
lics, consist of 40,000,000 people, and
haye an aggregate area of over 8,500,0/H)
square miles—a population almost equal
and an area double that of the Unite*
State*. \
A COMPARISON.
Td rather lay here among the trees,
With the singin’ birds an’ the bum’lebees,
A-knowin’ thet I can do as 1 please,
Than to live what folks call a life of ease,
Upthar in the city.
Fer I really don’t ’zactly understan’
Where the comfort is fer any man
In walkin’ hot bricks and usin’ a fan, *
An’ enjoyin’ himself as he says he car
Up thar in the city.
It’s kinder lonesome, mebbe you’ll say,
A-livin’ out here day after day,
In this kinder easy, careless way,
But an hour out here is better’ll a day
Up thar in the city.
As for that, jus’ look at the flowers aroun’
A-peepm’ then- heads up all over the groun’,
An’ the fruit abendin’ the trees way down,
You don’t find sucli things as these in town,
Or ruther in the city.
As I said afore, such things as these,
The flowers, the birds an’ the bum’lebees,
An’ a livin’ out here among the trees,
Where yon can take your ease an’ do as you
please.
Makes it bettcr’n the city.
Now, all the talk don’t ’mount to snuff
’Bout this kinder life a bein’ rough,
An’ I'm sure it’s plenty good enough.
An’ 'tween you an’ me ’taint half as toi
As livin’ in the city.
—James Whitcomb B
AN EviTsPlßl
I3Y GEORGE D. SPARKS.
I received one morning, a year or so
ago, an invitation from an old s iiooi
mate whom I had not seen since leaving
college, to come and dine with him at
his residence on Staten Island.
Alfred Macray and I had been good
though not intimate friends at college.
•Macray was hardly the sort of a man
you could make a chum of; yet for all
that we enjoyed each other’s society.
After the gates of our beloved Alma
Mater had closed behiLd us, our paths
had diverged. At first I wanted to try
literature,'but the desire did not last
long: I gave it up and drifted into com
mercial life. In fact I was at present
holding a seat in one of the Exchanges.
As for Alfred Macray his course had
been very different. After graduation
he had been elected to fill a fellowship
in letters in his Alma Mater; after hold
ing the fellowship a year he hud gone
abroad to study and hau remained ever
sifice. He had only published one vol
ume as yet. It was on some literary
topic, “Studies in the Renaissance,* I
think it was. I had bought the book,
for the author's name on the cover.
Whether my yeais spent in commercial
pursuits had dulled my sense of literary
perception 1 do not know, but I remem
ber yawning over the book, although I
made it a point to tell all my friends
that it was beautifully written. While
Macray was abroad I had been told that
he had come into a fortune, but that was
all I had heard of him for more than five
years. I took up the letter of invitation
and re-read it:
“We have moved to Staten Island. Ido
not know whether you have heard of my
marriage or not. I have been married now
over a year. I met her first in Heidelberg
two years ago. She is a Bostonian She was
a Miss Creighton. I have chosen Staten Isl
and, bee iu-e it is quiet and it is neur New
York. I have brought with me from abroad
a large amount of material which, when 1
have time, I am going to work into a book,”
etc., etc.
I made up my mind to go, and sitting
down at once wrote a letter accepting
the invitation for the following evening.
As I stepped out on the platform of
the Staten Island Rai road the next
evening, 1 s;u*- a tall figure, which I rec
ognized as Macray. We were
soon shaking hands warmly; then he led
me to his carriage and we drove rapidly
to his house.
I found my friend more fascinating
than ever. I had always admired him,
but now fresh from years spent abroad,
after having mingled with all sorts and
conditions of men, he was to me quite
irresistible.
We were a good half hour in the car
riage before we entered the drive to
Burnver House.
We were warmly welcomed by Mrs.
Macray. I confess I had been anxious
to meet her, for I knew Macray was very
fastidious.
She was slightly above the medium
height with a very pretty figure, dark
hair and brown eyes. Her manners were
charming, but then no one could reside
long with Macray without insensibly ac
quiring that characteristic.
After dinner, Macray and I lingered
over our cigars, ta king over our old
college days. Finally at Macray’s sug
gestion we adjourned to the library. It
had originally been, I was told,an artist’s
studio, the principal light coming from
above; but there were also windows on
two sides. There was an enormous fire
place, with logs ready to be lighted, and
easy chairs were scattered about; several
beautiful paintings hung on the walls,
with here and there a delicate etching;
and as for books, they were everywhere.
A true book lover's paradise! Macray
and I were so busy looking at his
“beauties,” as he called his books, that
we did not hear a slight step.
“May I come in?’’
“Ah. Madge, is it yon? It is too bad
to have neglected you; but you know
when I get among my books 1 generally
forget everything else.”
“Yes, lam getting decidedly jealous
of them,” said his wife.
“Well, Madge, we’ll join you in just
two minutes. 1 mu-t show .lack that
Cruikshank I picked up in London.”
“Only that one, remember,” and she
left us.
Macray had taken down a small port
folio and as showing me a sketch by
that inimitable caricaturist in his best
manner. It was that of a parish beadle
—he must have been the original of Mr.
Bumble—looking at some small boys
who had unfortunately dropped a marble
during service in church. I remember
laughing heartily at the wonderful ex
pression in the eyes of the beadle; the
artist had thrown into them a whole
world of comicality. Not hearing .Mac
ray speak for a few moments I looked at
him and was surprised and shocked to
see that his face was blanched aqd with
the hardest look of despair on it that I
ever saw. He had withdrawn a foot or
so from me and had the appearance of
listening. I was on the point of asking
him if he was ill. when 1 heard steps in
the outer hall and an odd wheezin'-*
sound as if somebody had the csthma.
The door w»s presently pushed open and
an old settler crawled into the room.
The noise was now explained—it was
the old dog. I again looked at Macray;
the look of despair had faded out of his
couatenance and he was once more him
self.
“That is a capital illustration of
Cruikshanks genius, is it not?” he said,
coming hastily to me.
“It is so,” I replied.
Just then we heard music, and such
music.
“It is Madge, playing. Come,” and
his face was aglow with emotion. “We
will ioin her.” We did so.
“If there is one thin r, Mrs. Macray, I
shall insist upon, it is that my wi e shall
be able to play on the piano,” I said,
when she had finished a piece by Rubin
stein.
“ You are right, old boy,” said Mac
ray. “I do not think l could exist
without music; one needs it almost as
much as meat and drink.”
Wc talked late into the night; but all
gatherings must break up sometime,
and at half-past twelve I followed Mac
ray to my room. It was on the second
story —only a short distance from the
one occupied by himself.
Feeling very tired, I hastily undressed
and went to bed. It did not take long
for me to pass into the land of dreams.
1 was awakened by a heavy weight
pressing on my chest. Half awake, I
tried to push the something away, when
my hand was seized and bitten. Roused
into full consciousness by the pain, I
put forth ail my strength, and threw the
something off the bed and scrambled to
the oor. By the aid of the moonlight
I saxv that my unknown assailant was
not some gigantic monkey, as I had sus
pected, but a small, undersized man.
“Who arc you?” I said, “and what
devil’s game are you playing with me?”
There was no answer; but a hissing as
of a kettle boiling over came from be
tween his teeth. I had but lately seen
“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” and visions
of the latter came vividly to my mind.
I managed to reach the table and to
light a candle. At this the man, with
some incoherent gibberish, rushed at me.
I had thought I was strong, but,
whether owing to the terror of the situa
tion or what, this fiend incarnate
had me by the throat, and was—
oh, help!—killing me! I remember
struggling and writhing, but aIL to no
purpose: and then a choking, burning
sensation, and then all was a blank.
When I came to I found I was once
more in bed. The candle was still
lighted, and I saw Macray sitting on a
chair near me with his head buried in his
hands. A slight movement on my part
caused him to start.
“Are you better, old fellow?”
“Yes,” I answered; “it is gone?”
He seemed to understand, for he said
simply, “Yes.”
“What—or who—was it?”
“I will tell you everything to-morrow;
had you not better wait?” replied Mac
ray.
“No; tell me now. lam all right. I
think, though I had a pretty tight
squeeze.”
“It was my brother Charles who
attacked you. It is a strange story, and
I will not ask you to believe it. B'ome
five years ago Charley was in business
and had a home of his own. One day
he told his wife he had to go to Cin
cinnati. The nature of his business re
quired him to go quite often on short
trips to the neighboring cities.
This time he was absent about
a week. When he got back
he had not the slightest idea where he
had been, nor could he give any account
of his movements since leaving New
Y'ork. He said he could only remember
traveling a good deal on the cars. To
me and his wife he admitted i although
he could not at all explain it) thaChe felt
he hud suffered some harm; but of what
nature he could not say. This went on
for a year, when in the same week pre
cisely, as a year before, he had an attack
of insanity, which lasted just a week and
left him perfectly sensible; yet very much
exhausted. Fortunately this first attack
occurred when he was alone with me on
a fishing excursion in the mountains.
What I had to endure that week no one
can imagine, and no one will ever know.
Well, this has gone on for several years.
The mysterious attack always comes on
in that particular week of the year. The
doctors declare it is not insanity; ip fact
I can get no definite answer as to what
is the matter with my brother. Charley
has always had a morbid fear of an in
sane asylum, so 1 promised him always to
take care of him during that particular
week in the year. So secretly has the
matter been kept from the public that
not even his own wife knows of it. Y'ou,
and one or two doctors to whom
I have introduced my brother
as a stranger, aie the only ones that have
seen Charley in one of his fits, or what
ever you like to call them. I have al
ways had a taste for carpentering and I
have fitted up the room directly above
yours for him. Last night he managed
to escape out of the window, and thus
got into your room, it was most fortu
nate that I arrived when 1 did, for in an
other moment he would have strangled
you. However, there is no need of
further a'arm. I saw him safely into his
strong room, with no possibility of an
other escape. If you like it. we will go
and see him. I think that would be the
best means to settle your nerves.”
1 thought so myself, so we went. Al
though the room was directly above
mine, we had to walk quite a distance
through an upper hall before we came to
it. Stopping at a heavily-barred door.
Macray after unlocking an upper and
leaver lock, drew out a long thin key,
with which he finally opened the door.
“Are you not afraid to go in?” I
asked.
“Oh, no, he always seems to know
me.”
Holding a lighted candle, we entered.
At first I saw nothing of my Lite in
truder; but heavy stertorous breathing
led us to where he lay in front of a
thickly-barred window. We lifted him
up and carried him to a small iron bed
stead. The candle light fell on his face,
which was a repulsive one with a savage
scowl still lingering on it. Ilis hair was
thickly matted.
After standing a moment. Macray said:
“Come, we will have a glass of some
thing. I see your nerves are shaken a
bt. Look out or you will drop that
candle.”
“Of course, Jack,” continued Macray.
■when we were downstairs, “you will
never mention what you have seep
to any one. By the way, old Pompe*
gave me a big fright to-night: 1
thought it was Charley.”
“ies, I noticed it, I thought you were
ill,” I answered.
“Do you know what I think the matter
with Charley is? It is this; that he is
tormented by an evil spirit that at certain
times and seasons enters into his body
and takes possession of it. You may
have noticed the large number of books
I have in my library devoted to the sub
ject. We read that there were many in
the old days possessed with devils and
unclean spirits. Why could, not that be
the case to-day? Nothing else to my
mind will satisfactorily explain ray
brother's trouble.”
After the exciting scenes I had just
witnessed, I could but answer: “I think
so too.”
Some two or three weeks later, I was
again asked to visit Staten Island.
Among those whom I met was Charles
Macray, and his clever wife. I could
hardly bring myself to acknowledge that
the mari'who sat opposite to me at dinner,
and who by his brilliant conversation
held the entire table, was the same who
had attacked me in the dead of night
only a few weeks before. And yet it
was the same, and as I continued to
look, I recognized some of the character
istics of the first face.
A half amused smile was playing about
my host’s face His eves met mine and
they seemed to say: “ila e I not spoken
t the truth about my brother? Is it not
as I said?”
The next morning in the city, before
we finally separated, Macray turned to
me aud said:
“Ja Lqdo you realize now that Shake
speare was right when he said that there
are more things in heaven and earth,
than are dreamt of in our philosophy?
t-ood-bye,” and he was gone. The
Epoch.
The Mechanism of tile Heart.
In the human subject the average
rapidity of the cardiac pulsation of an
adult male is about seventy beats per
minute. These beats are more frequent'
as a rule in young children and iiv
women, and there are variations within'
certain limits in particular persons,
owing to peculiarities of organization.
It would not necessarily be. an abnormal,
sign to find in some particular individ-'
uals the habitual frequency of the
heart’s action from sixty to sixty-five or
seventy-five to eighty per minute. As a!
rule the heart’s action is slower and
more powerful in fully developed and’
muscular organizations, and more rapid
and feebler in those of slighter form. In'
animals the range is from twenty five to
forty-five in the cold blooded and fifty:
upward in the warm-blooded animals,!
except in the case of a horse, which has
a very slow heart beat—only forty strokes
a minute.
The pulsations of men and animals
differ with the sea level also. The work
of a healthy human heart has been
shown to equal the Teat of raising 5 tons
4 hundred weight 1 foot per hour, or 125
tons in twenty four hours. The exeess
of this work under alcohol in varying
quantities is often very great. A curious
calculation has been made by Dr. Rich
ardson, giving the work of the heart in
mileage. Presuming that the blood was
thrown out of the heart at each pulsation
in the proportion of 69 strokes a miunte?
and at the assumed force of 9 feet, the
mileage of the blood through the body
might be taken at 207 yards per minute,
7 miles an hour, 168 miles per day, 61,-
320 miles pe • year, or 5,150,880 miles in
a lifetime of eighty-fours years. The
number of beats of the heart in the same
long life would reach the grand total of
2,869,776,000. — Medical World.
Music Reconciled Them.
The Spanish and Indian Californians
.were passionately fond of music. All
the men could make shoes aud play the
guitar and every woman could sing
Spanish songs to her own accompani
ment. Bancroft, in his “California
Pastoral,” tells how the people, after the
conquest of the country by the United
States, were reconciled to the new rule
by music.
The Californians were invited to re
turn to their homes and resume their
usual occupations. Proclamations which
promised protection of their persons and
property were placarded in the towns,
but they would not come out of their
hiding places.
The commodore, whoa naval force
had helped to conquer the country, was
at Los Angeles, and, meeting Captain
Phelps, an old trader on the coast, re
quested his help.
“Commodore,” replied the captain,
“you have a fine band on your ship, and
such a thing was never before in this
county. Let it play one hour in the
plaza each day at sunset, - and I assure
you it will do more toward reconciling
the people than all your proclamations,
which few of them can read.”
The captain’s suggestion was adopted.
At first the children oarnt forth and
peeped round the corners oi be houses.
A few lively tunes brought ou, "he vivas
of the older ones, and before tin. liana
ceased playing they were surround?' by
delighted natives.
The next after uo .•. aza was
thronged with the people of the town
and Nvith ranchmen from a distance, who,
having heard of the wonderful band, had
ridden in. The old priest of the mission
of ran Gabriel, as lie sat by the church
door opposite the plaza, listening to the
music, Nvas introduced to several of the
noval officers.
“1 have not heard a hand,” said the
old man, “since I left Spain over fifty
years ago. Ah! that music will dc
more service in the conquest of Cali
fornia than a thousand bayonets.”—
You'h's Companion.
A Teapot Monomaniac.
There was at Palatka. Florida, re
cently a man of about forty winters,
who was an object of pity, and yet with
all that was somewhat amusing. He
was sane on all subjects but one, at
times imagining himself a teapot. He
could put himselt into the shape of a
teapot by rounding one arm to represent
the spout and the other to represent the
handle. While in that shape he became
very uneasy if anyone came near, fearing
they would break off the handle or spout.
He would not speak, but would make a
danger signal with his mouth to repre
sent the escaping steam. Then he would
walk around, sway to and fro among
those about him, fully satisfied that he
was a teapot.— New York Graphic.
QUAINT SIGHTS IN CUU
peculiar roads and curious
CUSTOMS ON THE ISLANDS.
Hospitality of the People-Polite
ness. Good Peeling: and Jteligion
—Coffee, Cigars ami Kind Wl.shes.
Describing some of the quaint sights
witnessed on a trip through Cuba, a
correspondent of the Worcester .Spy
says: We crossed two rivers on our
journey, the Sio dtl Gaaratre, where two
massive unfinished arches told of the
splendid improvements underway a quar
ter of a century ago, and the Rio (*uua,
whose margins for leagues "bristle w;th
wild cane, from which whistles, i-kets
and bird cages are made for the Havana
markets, when we leit the lower shore
3ide region for the upland district. For
the whole distance on every hand were
flowers and luxurant verdure, broken
only by the cleared grounds about lowly
and once noble haciendas aud the
reaches of cultivated fields of the estan
cias, or plantations, devoted to general
farming. One could see from the road
side alone anones, ltamoncillos, man
goes, guauabanas, nisperos, cultivated
and wild oranges, tamarinds, ba
nanas, carmitos, mammees, zapota and
pineapples, while the stately star of
Bethlehem, the mignonette, the vinca,
the golden jasmine, the hibiscus,
the galeu de noche, the flaming
flamboyant, the star cactus, the Carolina
tree, the campanile, the Cherokee, Mare
chal Neil and cape rose, the jacqu rainot
jonquil and lilies of die valley, die wild
pea, honeysuckle and heliotrope, and
myriads more of the almost unnameable
flora of Cuba, dazzled the eye with color
and filled the air with matchless frag
rance. But true to the bitter contrasts
everywhere noticeable in the island, the
road itself was execrable beyond descrip
tion.
They are all alike. Though usually
inclosed, as are the American country
roatls, they are utterly impassable for
any manner of vehicles. Indeed, no
vehicles are used in Cuba, save in the
large cities. In this region, agricultur
ally the richest portion of the island, the
needs between hundreds upon hundreds
of great plantations and Trinidad have
been met by “packings” on the hacks of
ponies and mules for over 2<JO years!—
and during one-fourth of the time the
road are altogether impassable. Every
sack of coffee, every pound of food,c cry
article of furniture, has always been
“packed” back and forth in this shift
less manner.
The roads crook and turn to avoid
obstacles just as the Cuban will do six
days’ labor to avoid one. “Beware the
pantanos!” was the warning from every
tongue throughout the uay. These
“pantanos” aie sinks in the clay soil
where one animal will plunge from per
fectly solid footing lairiy out of sight.
We rescued five animals so miied with
their muddy panniers and packs, for
dolorous and grateful pilgrims during
the day. The “pantanos” arc bad
enough, but the desechos (literally, re
fusals; avoidances) are worse. These
are always cut around impassable places
involving careful riding through bogs
and jungles, and not infrequent goings
astray in the dense forests.
The fences of these remarkable ‘
“roads” are curious affairs. Frequently
they are of the Spanish bayonet and the
hemequen with a bread leaf and barbed
point six inches long, strong enough to
impale a horse. Again, strips of stone
fence will be seen. Some are of the
pina de raton or bastard pine apple tree.
But the larger number are of pin ones
botija. Green limits are cut from this,
and when thrust in the ground grow in
stantly and luxuriously. Between the
branches the vejuco de augartila, a
hardy vine, is planted. This weaves it
self through and through the hedge in
all manner of fantastic and tightening
freaks: and as it bears a lovely purple
blossom, this fence is always strikingly
beautiful to the eye.
The overflowing hospitality of all
classes of Cubans had remarkable illus
tration upon our journey along the road,
singly or in persistent groups, the oc
cupants begged us to enter and tarry
with them. If it were but for a moment,
for greeting, good. If for a little chat
ter and “coffee,” better. If it could have
been for a week or a month, best. And
this was the never ending form of greet
ing and invitation from the head of the
house as he awaited us upon the high
way :
“Buenos dias, camara.” (“Good day,
citizen.”)
“Buenos dias, amigo.” (“Good day,
my friend.”)
“Hasta donde, bueno?” (“How far,
good sirs?”)
“Boy, al Aguaeate.” (“To the Agua
cate district.”)
“Yenga a tomar cafe. Usted va muy
lejos!” (“You go too far! Remain with
me for coffee and rest.”)
Again, being out of matches and de
siring a light for our cigars, drawing up
before a casa da vivienda, Don Manuel
would shout:
“La paz de Dios sea en esta casa!”
(“The peace of God upon your house!”)
“Y venga con voz!” (“Come you
with that blessing!” is answered back.
“Hagame el favor de darme candela.” „
(“Favor me with a light.”)
“Desmontesen y tomen cafe y fuego.”
(Di-mount and receive both coflee and
tire ”)
And there is no escape. Coffee as
well as a light must be taken, else the
guest is committing grave offense. Then
as you depart, and there is no exception
to this, you are followed back to the
road with blessings innumerable by the
whole family, and eager muchachos run
after us to show the safer way.
Fortunes In Falls.
It is not the fortunate lot of every one
to own a beautiful and romantic Falls,
that the public is ready to spend money
to see. An exceptional man was Michael
Moore, recently deceased at the age of
85, who was proprietor of Trenton Falls,
N. Y. He didn't own the Falls by
right of original discovery but he
married them, as one might say, his
wife being a daughter of (Sherman, the |
original proprietor, who we suppose
bought them of the Indians for a mere
song. Indians had no idea of the value
of Failß. AVhat a fortune they l ad in
Niagara if they had only known it. But
they let it go, and now they are com-
polled to pay for the privilege of selling
beaded pincushions and moccasins there.
Texas Siftings