Newspaper Page Text
IN A DREAM.
The old f armhouse, I see it again:
In its low, dark eaves, the twittering wren
Is nested as long ago;
And I breathe once more the south wind's
balm,
And sit and watch, in the twilight's calm,
That bat flit to and fro.
The white cows lie at the pasture bars,
And the dairy, cool, with its tins and jars,
'ls stored with curds and cream;
There s'somebody putting the things to right,
And through the window I see the light
From the tallow candle gleam.
The garden is rich with its old-time bloom,
And I catch, in fancy, the faint perfume
Of.blos.soms dank with dew;
And overlt wffis the starlit doSe,
And round about it, the peace of hom*
How it all comes back to view!
The night wind stirs in elm and oak,
And up from the pond comes the
croak •
(it tba hull-frog’s rich bassoon:
And I catch the gleam, as over the brink
There peeps with a tremulous, shivering
bliilk,., ~ ■
The rim of a crescent moon.
It all comes back from the dusk of time,
With the mournful cadence and swell of
rhyme
That is half remembered, still—
Like a measure from some forgotten Strain,
That hauntingly comes and flees again,
And under a duty, twilight sky,
It, mingling, floats with thepiainfciveery
Of the desolate whippoorwill.
—Hollis W. Field, in Detroit Free Press.
A SUCCESSFUL RUSE.
r.Y IIEI.BN FORREST GRAVES.
“Plev.se',;'' sir,” said; oltt* Zeruiah, the
housekeeper, “there’s a man up in the
plum-tree 1”
“t p in the plum-tree?” repeated .Mr.
Brown. And what's he doing,up in the
plum tree? ' It-ain't trie time o’ year for
ripe plums. ”
“No,” said Zeruiah, giving the fry
ing-pan that she was'’cleaning an extra
scrape with the knife, “ ’tain’t time o’
year for plums to be ripe. But it’s al
ways t me o’year for young men to make
fools of themselves—and the third branch
of thit’ar plum-tree is ou a line with the
window of Arabella Arden’s room.”
“Eh?” said Mr. Brown, dropping his
newspaper and opening his eyes very
wide.
“As true as you live, sir,” said Zeruiah.
“But that was precisely what my
brother sent her down here for,” said
Mr. Brown, contracting his bald fore
head into innumerable wrinkles. “To
keep her out of Hubert Wynton’s way!”
“Humph!” said , eruiah. “The world
is wide - but it ain’t wide enough to
keep two fools apart.”
“ p the plum-tree, is he?” said Mr.
Brown, with a sardonic smile. “What
sort of a looking fellow is he, Zeruiah?”
“Wal,” answered the old woman, stilt
holding the frying-pan as Minerva of old
might have held her shield, “the leaves
is th ck, and my sight ain’t what it once
was; but he’s got light-colored clothes
on, as was cut in Beau Hollow;
and his hdt, that lays out on the grass,
has get a city maker’s n;ime in it.”
“Good!” nodded Mr. Brown. “You
ought to haye been a detective, Huey.
They would give you good wages, I’ll
bet a big apple. Where is the hat?”
“I lining it in and put it ou the hall
table,” answered Zeru ah.
“Very well. Go out and chain Csesar
under the plum-tree Give him a good
length of chai , Huey. Then come bai k
and move all Arabella s tilings into the
west bedroom I'll take the end room
myself. If there’s any‘serenading, or
poetry-reciting, or anything of that sort,,
I’ll have the benefit of it myself.”
A slow smile broke out over Zeruiah’s
wooden face.
"Hut what’ll you tell her ?" said she.
“Tell her? Why that the end room is
a better aspect for my rheumatism,” said
Mr. Brown, chuckling. “And make
haste, or she'll be back from Widow
Peet's. Everything must be moved be
fore she returns. And pu.l the shade
down, so the city chap won’t suspicion
what we’re up to.”
Off trudged Zeruiah, who, in spite of
her having first seen the light on the rag
fed coasts oi Maine, was at heart a true
pamsh duenna; and took a grim delight
in frustrating the intents of Cupid.
Bella \rden was young and pretty.
Bella had dared to rid 1 ulu her old fa-h
--ioned ideas. Bella had nicknamed her
“Medusa,’ and though . eruiah had not
the least idea who “Medusa” was, she
dimly suspected that it was no compli
mentary term. And therefore Zeruiah
was not sorry to see the pretty Boston
girl “come up with,” as she phrased it.
“Why, Uncle Brown,” cried Bella,
when she came in, with her fair hair
blown about her face, and her cheeks
reddened by her brisk walk across hill
and hollow—“why have you change® my
room?”
“Well, you see, my dear," said Mr.
Brown, craftily, “I’ve an idee that the
east room will suit my rheumatism bet
ter. You don’t mind!”
“ h not in the least!” said Bella,
cheerfully. ‘"And I’ll go right to work
and arrange the things that that cross
old / eruiah has flung about so recklessly.
Oh, by the-way. uncle, there was no let
ters fo: me, I suppose”' as she glanced
at the weekly paper lying unfolded on*
the tab e. “For I see they’ve brought
the mail.”
“No, my dear, said Mr. Brown, no
letters.”
And the cows came, with tinkling
bells, home from the fern scented pas
tuies, and the sun sank behind the
maple swamps, and the purple dimness
of twilight began to brood over all
thing 1 -, and still Hubert Wynton,
prisoned up among the tossing plum
boughs waited in vaiu lor some prospect
of his release.
“Confound these good people!” said
he to himself. “What on earth have
they ch tined that savage beast here for
just n<> \ And I believe I must have
made a mistake—that is not Bella’s room
at all. A stout o'.d man has sat there,
reading the.4>aper, all the afternoon, and
I haven't dared to stir, for fear of being
allot for a burglar. I’ve seen the darling
once or twice pick ng flowers in the
garden, and bringing water from the
spring, but I haven’t venturid to call to
her, for fear of betraying iny hiding
place. Shades of Kpicu:us! how good
that frying chi ken smells—Coilee, too!
I’d give a king's ransom for a cup of it 1”
Poor Hubert! He could not stir for
fear of rousing Cn gar’s deep,low-pitched
bark and compromising himself and
Bella, but he grew stitfer and more
cramped with every second of his en
forced vigil.
“They must take the dog to his ken
nel before long,” he thought, as the dew
suffused the air with moisture and the
night-birds began to wheel about the
1 luxuriant branches of the old tree.
But presently Zeruiah came out with
a tin pan of water and a platter of bones
to break Caesar’s fast.
“Is it all right, Huey?” said Mr.
Brown, in a sort of stage-whisper, from
the kit hen door.
“Ail right, sir!” Zeruiah answered.
And then, in a lightning-flash, as if
were, Hubert comprehended it all.
He was entrapped. That weazen
faced old woman and the malicious eld
erly uncle of his beloved were in league
to be his jailers. He whistled softly
to himself.
Casar, from below, left off crunching
his bones, and uttered a deep, thunder
ous grow! at the sound. From the dis
tance, the echo of voices reached him—
careless lau.ghten and stray sentences here
and there.
“It’s Helton and Ralph Weir, corning
back to the inn after their day’s shoot
ing,” lie thought. •* ‘lf I could only ge't
word to them!”
He tore a leaf from his pocket-book,
.scribbled a line or two pn it as well as
.he'could in the uncertain dusk, and
wrapping it around his watch, flung it
as far as his aim could reach toward the
swamp.
“Matters are getting serious,” he said
to himself.
But the missive had not been without
its use.
“Hello!” said Weir; “a shooting
star. ”
“A,white bird!” exclaimed Belton,
checking his long, swinging stride, “No
it isn’t, either —it’s a watch with a let
ter wrapped around it.”
And then, in the swampy fastnesses,
by the light of a few matches, they de
ciphered the cry for aid which had come
from the plum-tree.
“Whew-w-w!” said Weir. “Let’s go
and shoot the dog.”
“Let’s do nothing of the sort,” said
Belton. “What would we—or poor old
Wynton, either—gain by declaring di
re: t war in that sort of way? Let’s be
polite, or nothing.”
And he fired his rifle three times in the
air, a sort of signal recognition of his
prisoned friend.
“What’s that:” said Mr. Brown, who
was computing the interest on a promis
sory note at the sitting-room table by the
light of a kerosene lamp.
“I dunno,” said Hue, “unless it’s Dea
con Hall shootin’weasels in his hen
roost.”
“Oh, Unele Brown,” cried Bella, with
clasped hands. “I hope there are no
burglars around.”
“Never heard of such a thing in all
Bean Hollow, my dear,” said the old
man. - .
In the dead of that same night, how
ever, two masked men appeared mysteri
ously in Mr. Brown’s bedroom.
“Your money or your life,’’.said one.
“Miser,unhand your treasures!” shout
ed the other.
Old Mr. Brown lay quaking there,
quite helpless, when, in an instant, a
lithe form sprang through the open win
dow, balancing itself a second ou the
sill, and then hastened to the rescue.
A brief struggled ensued; but at last
the masked burglars fled precipittubdy.
Casar barking wildly at them, vs.'nd
strainirg his chain to the utmost, in his
efforts to wreak his vengeance upon
them.
“Young fellow,” cried the old man,
scrambling out of bed, “you’ve < rt, ed
my life, besides the government coupons
that were under my pillow. What can I
do to reward you
He was very pale and trembled vio
lently.
“I’d like something to eat, if you
please, sir,” said Wynton. “To tell you
the truth, I’ve just come outof the plum
tree.”
“Yes, I know.” said Brown, recover
inghimself a little. “You’re the fellow
that is in love with our Bella, ain't
von”
“I don’t deny it, sir,” said Wynton,
boldly.
“Well, you deserve her,” said Mr.
Brown; “and you shall have her. It was
I that ordered the dog chained up to the
plum tree. I meant to balk you if I
could, but I’ve changed my mind. I
should have been a dead man, young
fellow, if it hadn’t been for you. Come
right down stairs this moment. Noth
ing in this house is too good for you!”
And he wrung Wynton’s hand until it
seemed as if it were grasped in an iron
vise.
A strange midnight collation it was—
the coffee and cold fowl, the biscuits
and tongue, eaten with Bella nestling
close at his side, and Mr. Brown heaping
all s rts of indiscriminate dainties upon
his plate, while old 7en:i ih's face glow
ered out of the darkness of the kitchen,
like a badly-lighted polyopticou. But a
happy one—yes, a very happy one.
The constabulary force of llean Hol
low were promptly notified the next
morning, and a search instituted; but to
no avail. Nothing was ever heard of
the two masked burglars.
But when Mr. Wynton came back to
the Kean Hollow Inn, the following day,
to order his portmanteau removed to the
Brown farm-house, and bid his late col
leagues adieu, he wrung Belton’s hand
alternately with that of AVeir.
“I don’t kr ow how I can ever thank
you, boys,” said he. “Not for the res-
cue from a rather sorry plight—brute
force could hi e done that with a blow
on the dog’s head—but for the vmnrirr
of it. I’m a great man now in old
Brown’s estimation, and Bella thinks I
am a hero. And it’s all owing to you.”
“Oh. don’t mention it. old follow!” !
said Weir. “How did you like me as a
first-class ruffian
“By-the-way,” added Belton. “I’ve •
burned the masks. Circumstantial evi
dence, you know. They might get us
into trouble.”
“You'll invite us to the wedding, of
course ” queried Weir.
“Oh. yes ” said Wynton, beamingly.
“And I may kiss the bride”’asked
Belton.
“Of course you may!” said Wynton.
And Belton observed, thoughtfully,
that he considered that reward enough
for any man. —Saturday Niyht.
The mau wh ; knows everybody knows
few friends.
ENGRAVING BANK NOTES.
THE DELICATE WORK DONE BY
GOVERNMENT ARTISTS.
Intricate System of Transferring a
Design —Difficulties that Coun
terfeiters Must Overcome.
“During my long career I have heard
j of but two or three good engravers who
had anything to do with counterfeits,”
said L. .1. Hatch, formerly of the Govern
ment Bureau of Engraving and Piinting,
to the Chicago Herald: “The good en
j graver would scorn to engage in such
j work. His standing as art artist and a
i citizen is too high lor that sort of thing.
Moreover, Ido not think that there is
any one artist who combines in his per
son the aptness for the three great
specialties of bank note work—the let
tering, lathe and scroll work and pic
ture engraving. Especially the latter
specialty is one in which the height of
art is reached by but few. In fact, there
are not more tiian six or eight proficient
artists in the line of bank note picture
engraving in this country, and their ser
vices are so well paid that they would
be worse than fools to throw their talents
away in criminal pursuits. The bank
note as you see it -of course I speak of
the design only—is not the work of
one endeavor, but of four to each plate
at least. Each artist engraves a part of
the design and the different parts or dies
are united to one plate by an intricate
and delicate system of transferring.”
One can readily gain an idea of the
minuteness of banu-note work when it
is learned that it takes a good engraver
from twenty to thirty days to complete
the vignette—portrait or scene—alone.
“Each portrait requires a different
combination of lines and dots to har
monize with the features of the man por
trayed,” continued Mr. Hatch, speaking
in the Chicago Herald. “There is no
system of portrait engraving. If an art
ist would attempt to employ a settled
method he would distort the features.
In fact, each engraver puts his own in
dividuality into his work and his pro
duction is as characteristic of him as the
signature of a writer. So much is this
the case that one engraver in this line
will be able to tell the work of another
at a glance. For this reason the counter
feiter encounters insurmountable difli
culties in copying a vignette, unless he
discovers some mechanical method, like
photographing, litho-engraving or elec
trotyping, and these aids of the counter
feiter are, of course, at once apparent to
the expert. The counterfeiter who copies
a portrait by hand cannot keep his in
dividuality out of the work. Piciure
work requires the highest grades of en
graving. The artist has not only to
produce light and shade, but he must
understand how to harmoni/e lines in
order to obtain what is called a ‘speak
ing illness.’ • In this respect the en
graver’s art is not unlike language.
You may express the same idea in differ
ent words which expresses the idea ex
actly, beautifully, not a word too much
nor one lacking. Thus there is but one
harmony of lines and dots which makes
a. correct portrait. To copy such por
trait by hand without the copyist being
able to transplant himself into the
creative individuality of the original
artist is preposterous. This is the reason
' Why the inferiority of a counterfeit is
nearly a : wavs first observed in the
picture work. ”
Truly, the lot of a bank note engraver
is that of a patient toiler. Day after
day he plods away with his assortment
of diamond pointed gravers, some of
them as tine as the finest needles. I.ine
by line and dot by dot he _aives into the
shining steel plate before him a minia
ture of the design e reprodu. ed. The
days lengthen inw weeks and weeks
into months, before his work is finished.
That part of the plate, however, is not
the one from which the note is printed.
The lathe worker and the letterer have
been busy on their parts of the design
while the portrait engraver was working,
each artist working on a separate piece
of steel. These pieces are hardened and
form the die. From the latter the de
sign is transferred to a steel roll of softer
nature by applying an immense pressure,
actually impressing the design of the
die to the roll, on which of course the
parts sunk in the die will be elevated
and the elevations depressed. This part
of the work, though mechanical, re
quires the greatest degree of nicety and
exact adjustment of parts in the com
plicated machinery. The steel roll, con
taining now what may be termed the
matrix of the note, or rather one side of
it, is hardened in turn and from the roll
the design is transferred to a softer plate
by an immense pressure. The latter
plate is the one from which the printing
is done. Inasmuch as not more than
lO.OOOTo 12,000 impressions on paper can
be taken from one steel plate it is clear
that numerous printing plates have to be
made from the original engraving, which
is known as the “bed-piece.”
The plates used for pr niing are im
mediately destroyed wh n the impres
sions begin to show flaws. The “bed
pieces” are preserved in a vault of the
Treasury and temporarily transferred to
the Bureau of Engraving and Printing
when it becomes necessary to make new
printing p ates. All this is done under
the strictest supervision, of course, yet
it has happened that wax impressions got
into the hands of counterfeiters. These
wax impressions have been treated with
chemicals, known only to producers of
I the “queer.” until every line, dot and
filament of the genuine original was
transferred to the counterfeit plate. Of
course, in such cases nothing remained
for the Government but to retire the
entire series of genuine notes from cir
culation.
But there are methods of operating on
steel plates which expert counterfeiters
know how to handle with great dexter
ity and no mean quality of workmanship.
Two methods are especially dangerous
be ause they produce the original design
w T ith such exactness that only the quality
pf the engraving—like in the recent five
dollar certificate—furnishes a criterion
to determine whether a note is counter
leit or genuine.
One of the methods of transferring is
by means of gelatine, on which the de
sign is carefully copied and then trans
ferred upon the etching ground by the
usual process of acid baths. Another
process, still more artistic and giving a
higher degree of exactness, involves the
destruction of the genuine note The
latter is fastened to the steel plate by
means known to the craft, and then the
paper is seaked off, leaving the design,
I slightly elevated on the plate, which is
| then subjected to the etching process,
very much in the way the liner grade of
J electrotypes are made. Of coursS, this'
counterfeit can be readily distinguished
! from the work by hand, but it takes an
! expert to do it. The general public is
usually taken in until the counterfeit is
exposed.
NEWS AM) NOTES FOR WOMEN.
A revival of coral and gold jewelry is
predicted.
teal brown cloth is a favorite material
for riding habits.
Showy tennis gowns are of white
seigo; braided With gilt or silver.
.Miss Jessie Patton won the honors at
the University of Texas this year.
Black hats and small black mantles
are worn with dresses of all colors.
There are four women studying med
icine at the Christiania University, Nor
way.
Advices from the French capital state
that short waists are again coming into
vogue,
.Mrs. Cleveland wears a Gainsborough
hat of black leghorn in her afternoon
drives.
Crepe lisse is a popular material for
pafiasol covers. It is gathered or laid on
in full folds.
Professor .Maria Mitchell has been of
fered a home for life at Vassal - College
free of cost.
Polonaises may be draped alike on
both s des, or long on one side and short
on the other.
Black and yellow r , black and pink and
beige and red are favorite color coinoin
ations in millinery.
Bows of light green ribbon are some
times combined with white artificial
flowers in lieu of foliage.
Miss Annie Bomberger, of Philadel
phia, is believed to have been the first
woman dentist in America.
Imitators of Amelie Rives and Ella
Wheeler Wilcox are springing up in dif
ferent parts cf the country.
Gold, silver and other fancy embroid
eries are used to trim summer costumes
of pongee and cashmerctte.
In many of the latest imported cos
tumes there is a tendency to combine
several shades of one color.
Belts to wear with dressy blouses are
of silk belt ribbon, with buckles of
Rhinestones and other brilliants.
Some of the newest street jackets are
fastened only at the color, falling away
below in a modified cutaway style.
The cornor-stone of the State Indus
trial Home for Girls, was laid a few
weeks ago in Chillicothe, Missouri.
White feathers, either alone or com
bined with ribbon, are by far the most
elegant trimming for Leghorn hats.
Poppy red, ecru, old rose, reseda, and
Gobelin blue are popular colors for the
foundation of dressy black lace toilets.
A Hindoo Girls’ High School has been
started at Allahabad, India. It has
already more than one hundred pupils.
Mrs. Mackey recently presented her
daughter, Princess Colonna, with a pair
of jeweled bracelets valued at $45,-
000.
An Albany (N. Y.j physician asserts
that many young ladies of that city use
belladonna to give brilliancy to their
eyc3.
The wife of the Russian Consul at San
Francisco, Mme. Olarovsky, is consid
ered one of the beauties of the Pacific
coast.
Vests of white pique, plain or em
broidered in all over designs, appear
upon tailor gowns of light rough
woolens.
White lilac and Guelder roses, with
ivy and maiden hair fern, are the fash
ionable artificial fiowers of the summer
season.
Garden hats of basket braids are very
stylish, and are simply trimmed with a
garland of wild fiowers carelessly ad
justed on the front.
Eighteen young women were passed as
qualified for the sick chamber by the
Illinois Training School for Nurses, at
their commencement.
A pretty feature of a cream-tinted
surah tea gown was a bag front, With a
box-plait in the centre, which was
daintily feather stitched.
Miss Tosse Jones, of Oregonia, Kan.,
is only eighteen years old, but she
ploughed, planted and cultivated forty
nve acres of < orn last spring.
Mme. Alice de Plongeon, wife of an
eminent man of science, claims to have
found Maya writings which locate the
Garden of Eden in Central America.
As many as three slender bracelets are
often seen on each arm of very young
girls, while the number of rings worn by
some fashionable women would seem to
indicate great strength of wrist to carry
such a burden.
Fine checks in sunshades are stylish,
and with a wide flounce of lace are very
dre-sy. Color and broken effects in
plaids, and cross bars take the place of
all the simpler and less conspicuous
shades this season.
Ellen Terry, the actress, has just worn
an overdress knit of pure silver thread,
and a fashion writer wants to know
what good American will follow her
her lead, aud so provide a new handi
work for less fortunate sisters.
A gold bangle, with the date of mar
riage engraven on it, with a tiny lock
and key, is now often given to a bride on
her wedding day, and when the cere
mony is over the bridegroom locks it on
her arm and puts the key on his watch
chain.
The rage for smocking extends to cot
ton gowns, many of which have the yoke
of it and deep cuifs and borders to the
full sleeves. It looks well when first
put on, but when the average laundress
gets in her fine work it is something
fearful to contemplate.
The selvage is left on nearly all fabrics,
and now has not the unfini-hed look it
had when it was first in style here. Some
fabrics are woven with a very wide and
ornamental selvage for this purpose of a
finish, The heavy as well as the light
fabrics are with selvage.
The wife of Hermann Kaulbach, the
painter, is a beautiful, clever and a
notably fine swimmer. She has lately
received the gold medal of the Order of
Merit of the Bavarian Crown for having,
at the risk of her own life, saved a
i young man from drowning.
THE CULTURE OF TOIACCO,
VISIT TO A VIRGINIA PLANTATION
OF ANTE-BELLUM TIMES
Making a Plant Patch —Troubles of
a Young Plant—Gathering a
Crop—An Old Style Barn.
There have been great changes in the
methods of cultivating and curing to
bacco during the past twenty years, and
nowhere are these changes more notable
than in Virginia. Those familiar with
the tobacco plantation of ante-bellum
days would hardly recognize that of to
day. He would see the immense estates
divided into small farms, he would* no
tice improved tools and machinery in
use everywhere, and he would see every
department thoroughly systematized,
where before it was carried on ir rathar
a slipshod manner. However, the trav
eler will now and then come upon a plan
tation where the old methods are un
changed and the work is carried on in
much the same manner as it was in
slavery days. It was the good fortune
of the writer, on a recent trip through
the Old Dominion, to visit one of the
plantations that retain the characteris
tics of thirty years ago, and he had the
opportunity to inform himself about the
old-time methods. The plantation is
situated in Pittsylvania couuty, near the
enterprising city of Danville, which is a
center of the section producing the finest
tobacco grown in Virginia.
The planter, whose principal crop is
tobacco, is kept pretty busy all the
year round, and has not much time for
holiday making. Early in tlie year the
first step is taken, and it is nearly
Christmas time again before the crop
has been fully cured and partially dis
posed of. Fiist of all the plant patch
must be prepared, and the operation is
something the like of which cannot be
found in the culture of any other plant.
The soil must always be “new.”
On these old plantations few plaut
patches are used a second time, or, if so,
very rarely. The ground selected is
generally on the side of a hill, with a
Southern exposure, and naturally pro
tected by underbrush. A great pile of
dry rubbish and rotten logs is heaped
upon the spot, and this inflammable
material is set fire to. It is constantly
replenished, and is not allowed to die
out for two or three days. A good lot
of ashes remain, which makes a splendid
fertilizer, and these are plowed under
and carefully mixed with the fineiy
granulated soil. Now the patch is ready
for the reception of seed, and when the
favorable weather has brought them up
they are drawn and set in rows two or
three feet apart.
After the growth has been fairly
started the troubles ot the young plant
begins. It has to be as carefully watched
as the youngest baby of the household,
and the planter must of necessity be a
most patient nurse. It has to be de
fended from late frosts and that arch
enemy the worm. Thu ever present
worm is the only living thipg of the
insect or animal kingdom, with the single
exception of man, that relishes the
seductive weed. Frequently they destroy
entire fields three or four times, and the
planter host of the writer told him of an
instance where a field in his plantation
had to be reset a half-dozen t mes. The
Virginia worm is long, round and green,
with a smooth skin, protruding eyes and
numerous legs. It keeps pace in its
growth with the plant. When the latter
is small so is the enemy, and as it grows
so does the worm, until it reaches a
length of three or four inches and the
thickness of the index finger. When the
plant is small and tender the delight of
the worm is to eat through the stalk,
bringing it to the ground, but after it
reaches any size it contents itself with
eating great holes in the leaver
It is the chief work of the pickanin
nies (children) of the plantation to keep
the plants free Irom worms. Two or
three times a week they go up one row
and down another, carefully looking
under every leat in the hunt. Now and
then you will hear a joyous “ki-yi” come
from the direction of some worker and
you may know that it sounds the death
knell of an unusually large pest. The
‘•miller,” a large white moth, is respon
sible for the tobacco worm. It is exceed
ingly prolific and sometimes deposits as
many as a hundred eggs in a single
night. The planter gives a reward of 5
cents for every ‘‘miller” captured and
on bright moonlight nights, when they
are most numerous, you can see the
youngsters moving stealthily about the
fields on a still hunt lor scalps.
Thus the warfare goes on all through
the spring and summer, and when au
tumn approaches the big leaves which
have been so carefully tended commence
to take to themselves a golden hue. This
is the time the planter has been waiting
for,it is a sign that the harvest is at hand
and soon the keen tobacco knife is being
wielded by a hundred dusky laborers.
Loaded uoon wagons the once rank exu
berant leaves become as limber as a man
who has “only been down to the club,”
and when the barn is reached they are
withered and can be handled without
breakage.
The methods of curing tobacco have
undergone a great change in Virginia
since the introduction of flues, but on
this old plantation they are as primitive
as when the colonists first learned the
use of tobacco from the Indian. The
barns of the farm are unlike any other
used for farming purposes in the world.
They have no agricultural pretenses, be
ing generally a perfect square with a
height seveVal times the width or length
ancf surrounded by a deep thatched roof.
There are no w indows and but one door,
just large enough to admit of an en
trance. The eves of the house serve the
purposes of chimneys, and otherwise
there is no ventilation. Without excep
tion these barns are built of unhewn
logs, the crevices being plastered over
with a mortar made from clay, making
the structure as nearly air-tight as it
could well be.
Tiie interior of this peculiar building
is just as unpretentious as its exterior.
There is no floor other than mother earth
affords, and in the center is a deep trench
in which a tire is built. Around and
above this primitive grate are stretched
numerous beams, from which the plants
are suspended. Then the tire is started
and the work of curing is begun. In tne
opinion of the old-time planter, the tire
must not be allowed to blaze. It is
smoke that is wanted, and so the coals
are kept in a continual smoulder. Oak
and hickory are much used for curing
purposes, but many of the fid planters
preferred sassafras and sweetgum, under
! the impression that it improves the
i flavor of the weed. Those who have
adopted the modern improvements, ho-v.
| ever, scout the idea as ridiculous, but
j many of the older p'anters still believe
in a tradition that was handed down
j from the Indians.
j Great care is taken with the curing,
I for much depends upon it. Shades im
perceptible to the novice are only to be
brought out by the most skillful and ex
perienced handling. After the tobacco
is of the requisite color the leaves are
stripped and tied in bundles. The at
mosphere must be just right for this kind
of work, and when a damp season c omes
on the planter calls all his force to
gether, inn, women and -children. Se-oa
the tobacco is packed in a wagon or
hogshead, or tierce, and sent to market.
—Detroit Free Press.
WISE WORDS.
Discontent is the echo of unbelief.
Wit without wisdom is salt without
meat.
Every day is full of a most impressive
experience.
Our virtues spring from our needs;
our vices from our luxuries.
Contentmentconsisteth notin adding
more fuel, but in taking away some tire.
To be dexterous in dauger is a virtue;
but to court danger to show it is weak
ness.
We never practice a greater cheat on
ourselves than when we wish to be
thought humble.
Our grand business is not to see what
lie 3 dimly at a distance, but to do what
lies clearly at hand.
Look not mournfully into the past. It
comes not back again. Wisely improve
the present; it is thine.
He is happy whose circumstances suit
his temper; but he is more excellent who
can suit his temper to any circumstances.
If we would build a Arm wall we must
not hurry it up too fast; we must go on
gradually, and allow the cement time to
dry.
Few thing are impracticable in them
selves; and it is for want of application,
rather than of means, that men fail of
success.
In all negotiations of difficulty a man
may not look to sow and reap at once,
but must prepare business, and so ripen
it by degrees.
No true man can live a half life when
he has genuinely learned that it is only
a half life. The other half, the higher
half, must haunt him.
What is there in the world to dis
tinguish v rtue from dishonor, or that
can make anything rewardable, but the
labor and the danger, the pain and the
diflicuty?
There is no action of man in this life
which is not the beginning of so long a
chain of consequen es, that no human
providence is high enough to give us a
prospect to the end.
Phases of Moorish Life.
At a distance there is no more beauti
ful sight, says a writer in the New York
Commercial Advertiser , than a Moorish
city graining white in the sunlight,
spiked by the minarets of the mosques,
which alone are kept in good repair, and
surrounded by groves of tropical vegeta
tion. But enter these cities and you
will find steep and narrow streets, dirty
courtways aud interiors so dark and
mean that you hesitate to enter. Although
the streets are crowded with the tur
baned Moors, there is little noise, and
the foreigner, accustomed to the sound
of horse-car bells and the shrieking of
steam whistles,is struck with the silence.
These thousands of slippered feet make
no noise upon the stones, and the sound
of wheels is seldom heard in streets that
are too narrow to admit more than the
panniered donkey. These animals are
highly valued by them, and the price of
a good mule is double that of a horse,
except, of course, horses of the finest
breed used for the Sultan and Sheriffs,
these being the only aristocracy the
Moors possess. A knowledge of the
absolute and unjust rule of the Sultan
well explains the people’s indifference to
gain or advancement. I once saw the
harvest of a Moor ungathered, the grass
and grain rotting in the field. Upon
asking him why he had not cut his har
vest, he replied: “Oh, what use; it
would only be for the Sultan.” Upon
inquiry w T e found that this was true, a
man dares not become rich, or upon
some pretext his wealth goes into the
Treasury of the Sultan. Sometimes a
Moor who is suspected of having money
hidden away is accused of some crime,
no matter how petty, taken to prison
and made to slay there until he has
paid a ransom tor his liberty which
takes all, or nearly all, his possessions.
The Moors, as a race, are not avaricious,
and hence soon grow apathetic and in
different to money they dare not spend
in public display. Thus, in the interior
and in the outskirts of the town, if the
harvest yields more abundantly than
usual the Moor reaps only what he
absolutely needs aud leaves the rest to
decay.
The Ctun Chewing Habit.
The growth of the habit of chewing
gum among adults is something aston
ishing. A dealer in gum the other day
said that adults, especially men, were
the principal customers. Many men have
taken it up to break oil the habit of
chewing tobacco, which, even without
this aid, has been rapidly dying out, es
pecially among the younger generations.
The habit is tolerated among the older
men, but there is a stigma attached to
it that makes young men tight shy of it.
In one of the St. Louis courts, at a
great murder trial recently, there were
six counsel engaged, every one of w’hom
chewed gum constantly, although the
Judge stuck heroically to his quid with
the fluid expectoration of a frontiersman.
Each of the counsel said that they had
taken up the habit instead of the use of
the quid, and they found far more de
light in it than they did in the most del
icately prepared tobacco.
Expert gum chewers like the real
spruce gum the best, but as the forests
of Maine and the Adirondacks can suo
ply barely more than the local demand,
all sorts of artificial gums are manufac
tured.—New York Sun.
The Government is trying lobster cil
ture on the Pacific coast. The firsf; At
lantic installment has been anchored it
Santa Cruz.