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THE LINCOLNTON NEWS.
. D. COLLEY & CO.,
YOL. I.
Persian Serenade.
Hark! as the twilight pale
Tenderly glows,
Hark 1 how the nightingale
Wakes from repose!
Only when, sparkling high,
Stars fill the darkling sky,
Unto the nightingale
Listens the rose.
Here where the fountain-tide
Murmuring ilows,
Airs from the mountain-side
Fan thy repose.
Eyes of thine glistening,
Look on me, listening j
I am thy nightingale,
, Thou art my rose.
Sweeter the strain he weaves,
Fainter it flows
Now, as her balmy leaves
Blushingly close.
Better than minstrelsy,
Lips that meet kissingly
Silence thy nightingale—
Kiss mo, my rose!
—By Bayard Taylor.
GLEN ALLEN.
A heavy mist hung gloomily above
the peaks of theWicklow mountains, a
damp chillness pervaded the atmos¬
phere; piles of sullen clouds lowered
from the frowning skies and narrowed
the already narrow horizon; a veil of
moisture robed the meadows and dulled
the clatter, up the uneaven country
road, of the approach of a small band
of mounted dragoons.
“Halt!”
“’Twas astern, sonorous voice—a
voice that would make you lift your
eyes quickly and instinctively to scan
the owner. It proceeded from stern,
firm but handsome lips. It was en¬
forced by keen glitter of a pair of dark
gray piercing eyes; by the majesty of a
free commanding form and by an air
of native power entirely unassumed.
The party drew np before one of
those pretty cottages that have so nat¬
urally sprung up in the beautiful wilds
of Wicklow. A rustic gate stood half¬
open and revealed a small and taste¬
fully laid out garden with neatly kept
walks, inviting the pressure of the in¬
truder’s foot. A porch, half-buried in
woodbine, low windows draped in soft
folds of white lace, through which the
eye might trace a faint impression of a
pleasant interior—these met the gaze
of Captain Howard as he pushed wide
the garden gate and strode within.
The slow, irregular notes of a harp, as
though the player, following a vague
fancy, wandered aimlessly over the
chords, arrested for a moment the ad¬
vance of the dragoon. With a sudden
impulse he turned backward to his
men, and merely saying, “Wait till my
return,” he moved with measured steps
to the porch and knocked.
’Twas strange that in the few mo¬
ments between his summons and the ap¬
pearance of a whiteheaded domestic the
image of a sweet face he had seen and
loved in another land should present
itself so forcibly to his imagination;
and stranger still that, as he lifted his
eyes from that glance into his own
hidden heart, he could almost swear
the face looked at him for an instant
from the diamond windows near.
Slightly moved, he saluted the porter
by requesting to speak with the master
of the house, at the same time gently
insinuating he would bear him com¬
pany,as his business was too urgent to
admit of even the delay of waiting the
gentleman’s permission.
“Deed,then,I’mafeard he’ll bemad
enough with me for letting you come
in uninvited, I may say,” said the old
man; “bnt come along—and niver wel¬
come you,” he continued under his
teeth, "you Saxon hound. See, sir,
here’s a gentleman soldier was in sulh
a hurry to see you he wouldn’t wait
for me to bring in his name.”
Seated in an arm-chair, reading or
pretending to read, by a clieerrul fire,
the person addressed looked up, laid
down his book, deliberately wiped his
glasses, and resuming them, surveyed
his visitor.
Mine is an errand much to my dis¬
taste, sir,” the dragoon began.“ My in¬
trusion would ho unpardonable, but
that a stern duty brings me here, and I
have no choice but to obey.”
c The occupant of the arm-chair made
an effort to speak, but, though his lips
iiioved, no sound escaped them, lie
was a very elderly man, and very del¬
icate looking, with a nervous twitch¬
ing, closing and unclosing of the hand
holding the spectacles. He motioned
the dragoon to a scat, and again looked
in his face interrogatively.
Captain Howard was less and
less pleased with his mission. He
was a haughty man, but with a good
and noble heart, straight-faced in out¬
ward coldness and formality. He was
an Englishman by birth, and did not
consider himself bound in any ungen¬
erous crusade when lie offered his ser¬
vices to the Government for the pur¬
pose of qiiellingtho Irish insurrection.
But taking the field and playing po
liceinan are two different things. At
least, so Captain Howard considered,
and ’twas with mortification he found
THE A UGUSTA, ELB ERTO N ANt> CHIC4GO RAILROAD.
that the role of dragoon captain in Ire¬
land was at the time more than half
police exercise. Registering an inward
vow to resign his commissien at the
first opportunity, the captain returned
to the object of his mission.
“This place, is it not eqlled Glen Al¬
len r
The old gentleman motioned assent.
Unfolding a document, the Captain
continued; “The Government having
had information that in this house is
concealed a notorious rebel, for whose
capture a large reward is offered, I am
deputed to search the premises and as¬
certain the correctness of the informa¬
tion. As a loyal man you are required
to render all due assistance in the in¬
vestigation.”
The old gentleman, rising in a stately
manner, signified his willingness, and
with a strange repugnance to the per¬
formance of the duty, Captain Howard
ordered from the doorway half his men
to surround the house and arrest any
one attempting to escape, the remain
der to enter the house and await his
orders.
' While the search progressed he stood
with arms folded and gloomy brows,
following mechanically from room to
room. Suddenly his gaze fastened on
a picture—an oil painting—of a brown
ringleted girl, with soft, hazel eyes,
childlike in their candor and innocence,
and sweet red lips, occupying the place
of honor over the mantel shelf. It was
the face that had haunted him for a
twelve month, the face of a girl that
lie had met in London society, had fol¬
lowed ineffectually and had loved un¬
reasonably. It was a face he had sud¬
denly lost sight of, and sought in vain
until now. He learned from the old
man that it was the picture “of a re
lative’ at present staying with him.
With unconcealed anxiety the captain
requested to be allowed to see the origi
nal of the picture, and the old gentle
man, humoring his visitor's strange
fancy, left the room and returned pres
ently with a young lady w^iose extreme
pallor was hightened by her dress of
deep mourning and the melancholy of
her soft hazel eyes. At ’light of the
stranger a faint blush dyed her cheek,
-Captain Howard, much agitated, ad
vanced, and, taking her hand eagerly,
convinced itself by her recognition
that his fair London acquaintance
stood before him.
“How came it I lost sight of you so
entirely after that brief London earni
val,” he said, “and how is it I find you
here in this convulsed country—in this
solitude?”
“For the first question I can answer,
there is nothing more common than
for casual acquaintances, in a strange
country, to meet, part, lose sight of
each other, unless some powerful
incentive remained urging a pursuance
of the acquaintance. To the second I
would answer, this is my native land—
these are my native hills; what place
more meet for my residence ?” she spoke
half comtemptuously, half defiantly.
“And your brother, the dark-eyed,
Quixotic boy. Great God!” he mutter
ed, “it cannot be.”
A deadly pallor spread over the girl's
face; she raised herself proudly to her
full hight and demand, “Well, sir,
what cannot be ?”
He silently handed her the warrant
for the arrest of a dark, slender youth,
name assumed, whose capture was im
portant to the government, and against
whom there was strong information,
The paper went on to state he had been
known to be connected, on important
occasions, with some of the most prom
inent. rebel leaders, and a large reward
was offered for his arrest, alive or dead,
The lady flushed and paled as her eye
ran over this document, and her agita
tion was not lost on the dragoon,
With sudden resolve he said, turning
to his men:
“There is no necessity to search fur
t-her, I believe.”
And despite of the evident sulkiness
and disaffection of the disappointed
dragoons, he gave the orders to remount
and return to Wicklow. Nor could lie
fail to mark the sigh of relief that es
raped the lips of the fair girl he had
sought unavowedly to serve. He, in
courtly manner, renewed his apologies
to the host; trusted for the happiness
of meeting the lady, and, if possible,
serving her; and, with a new lightness
in his step and the cloud off his brow
sprang into the saddle. As he did so a
oud shout broke from the watch set at,
the rear of the house, and the dragoons
quickly appeared, dragging with them
a slight, dark-complexioned youth,
whose appearance indicated the sharp
ness of the struggle lie had made to
escape. afterward the police annals
A week
were full of the escape of the rebel
captured at Glen Allen, and the sus¬
picion attached to Howard, the dragoon
captain, who was supposed to have
given Jiim facilities to elude his cap
tors. Though that could not bo proved.
Howard was officially reprimanded for
his want of vigilance, and taking the
LINCOLNTON, GA., FRIDAY, MARCH 16 , 1883 .
iiint, he retired at once from his posi¬
tion in the army. The day Captain
Howard’s resignation was accepted,
the master of Glen Allen cottage and
his fair relative .prepared to join the
young outlaw of the family in his
refuge at Havre. The cottage bore a
dreary aspect, all except the garden, in
which stood the fair lady to whose in
fluence the exile owed his safety, and
by her side stood Captain Howard.
ou will forget that you have ever
seen me. You will forget you should
reward me,” he was saying earnestly
and j et smilingly.
“I,” she murmured, brokenly, “shall
never, while life lasts, forget or cease
to be grateful for j-our generosity; but
I am poor and obscure, who have been
wealthy and influential. What could I
do' to compensate your generous act—
your loss ?”
“Much, lady,” he said, gently. “This
little hand, nay, do not remove it—is
worth a thousand such acts, a thou¬
sand such losses. Let it repay me.”
Hoic Postal Cards arc Made.
United States postal cards are made
at a factory at Castleton, on the east
bank of the Hudson river, about eight
miles below Albany. A correspondent
describes how they are made. “The
cardboard,” he says, “is received from
the paper-mill in sheets twenty-one
inches by thirty, a size just large
enough to be cut up into forty postal
cards. The sheets are first printed on
an ordinary large cylinder ‘job’ print
ing press, there being in the factory two
Hoe presses and one Taylor. The im¬
pression is taken on a plate containing
forty cards faces with stamp, the mon¬
ogram US, the scroll and words Postal
Card, and the untruthful printed line,
‘Nothing but the address can be placed
on th i s side.’ Thus when a sheet of
cardboard is run through the press, it
comes out with forty postal cards corn
pietely printed, ready to be cut up into
the one cent missives with which the
public is familiar. Any two of the
j presses is sufficient to supply the do
mand without being rushed . From
lhe presses the printed sheets are taken
to a cutting mac hine, where they are
rapi(Uy cut into strips containing ten
cards ^ They are fed between rol _
lers> on which there are four cimllar
b]ades The cutting into strips is done
as f as t as a tolerably active boj’ can
pass in the sheets. From the first cut
ting machine the strips are taken to a
second cutter, where they are fed
through rollers with circular blades,
set as far apart as the width of a postal
card. Thus ten cards are produced
ready for use from every strip that is
run through the cutter. They drop
into ten pockets made of tin, and con
structed on a shaft. The boy who
feeds the strips into the cutter passes
twenty-five through and then calls out
‘tally.’ Three girls remove the cards
from the tin pockets, pack them in staks
of twenty-five each, and wrap each
package about with the paper band
with which everybody is familiar who
buys his cards in quantities of twenty
live and upward. In addition to empty
ing the pockets and banding the cards,
one of the three girls has to turn the
pocket shaft every time the feeder calls
out tally, and another has to count the
cards in any one pocket so as to see
that the count of the boy who feeds in
the strips is correct. Every twenty
five strips produces 150 cards, delivered
equally in ten pockets. If any one of
them contains twenty-five cards, each
of the other nine must contain a like
number. In order to equalise the labor
among the three girls, the one who
turns the pocket shaft and the one
who counts the contents of one of the
pockets empty and pack up each three
pockets. The third girl is, therefore,
required to empty and pack up the con
tents of four pockets, with nothing
else to do. The yellow paper band that
is wrapped about each package of
twenty-five cards is ready gummed, so
that the three pocket tenders are able
to work with alacrity, as it is evident
that they must do in order to stack up
a u the postal cards used in the United
states. The packages of twentj’-five
eac h are placed in piles of ten each,
and two of these piles are packed into
a strawboard box, each box thus con
taining 500 cards. The strawboard
boxe s are made rapidly on the spot by
an ingenious machine. The whole
machinery for making postal cards, af
£ er ^ be car dboard is received from the
pape r-mill, could be operated in a room
thirty feet square. This, of course,
XV ould not be sufficient for storing ma -
terial and s t 0 ck.”
Example is the light of day, every
man sees it, every man’s life proves
what his character is. If he is honest
those he deals with know’ it. Every
honest man does as he agrees and pays
his debts. A dishonest man does
neither. If a man’s word is good for
nothing what kind of a man is ho?
Every man that deals with him is sure
to have trouble.
LA It IKS’ BEPABTMEXT.
VuMmm NotM .
Trimmings and draperies, edged with
chenille, produce a rich effect.
Blouse waists for children and young
girls never go entirely out of fashion,
Bonnet crowns completely shingled
with small feathers will be much worn
Broad bands in Roman gilt with
centre ornaments are used for the
of turbans. ,
The French are combining drab and
bottle-green, and with bright accesso
ries these shades make very attractive
costumes.
The picturesque quaintness of chil
dren’s dresses, so popular during the
summer and fall, is still more empha
sized this winter.
The newest turbans of folded cloth
or velvet are without brims, the folds
reaching down to the hair, and are
without trimming.
The blouse waistcoat in colored
Surah on costumes of velvit and ot
toman silk is a favorite and beautiful
style for little girls.
A silk handkerchief, close around
the throat, inside the wrap, is the
proper neckwear with a sealskin jacket,
or fur-lined garment.
Brocaded flounces, with the figures
of velvet raised on repped silk, are the
elegant trimmings for the fronts of
trained dresses of silk or velvet.
Black is the fashionable color for
stockings, both for ladies and children,
and black slippers and stockings are
worn forfull dress, whatever the color
of the toilet.
Woolen embroideries, executed with
fine English crewels, imitate Decca
shawl work, but are much finer. The
oddest have picturesque resemblances to
animals here and there among the
arabesque patterns.
Small ostrich tips of pale colors are
worn by matrons in full evening or
dinner toilette this season, a costly
jewel ornament holding the quills in
place. A great deal of rich white lace
is worn.
Floral buckles are used to catch up
the folds of the drapery of evening
dresses. These buckles are large and
square, and are made of cardboard cov¬
ered with silk; small flowers are then
sewed thickly upon them.
Gold tinsel lace trims puffed white
tulle skirts of ball dresses. The puffs
of lace arranged alternately form the
skirt over its silk lining. The pointed
waist is of gold-colored satin edged at
the neck and sleeves with lace.
Some stylish boots of tan-colored
brocaded velvet have foxings of bronze
kid. Nearly all dress fabrics are con¬
sidered suitable for the tops of but¬
toned boots, and each dress has its own
pair of shoes W’here the coat is not an
objection.
The most fashionable belts worn
with house dresses are quite narrow - ,
and have long, slender buckles of ham
mered silver, or else of steel overlaid
with a delicate vine of tinted metals,
Buckles of Guadamacile leather are
worn upon the ribbed silk belting which
comes with Paris dresses.
For general wear, button boots
tinue to be made of French kid, and
have either foxings of enameled leather
or they are of the one material through
mit. For wet weather there are strong
walking hoots of pebble goat with a
white sole distinguishing the English
make, and red showing American man
ufacture.
Artificial Eyebrows Sewed to the Skin.
At a certain factory a number of
young women were working at small
tables, each table covered with little
instruments and things, the like of
which I had never seen before. At one
table two girls were threading needles
with fine, silky hair, and sewing them
in little squares on a thin, transparent
gauze.
“Those girls,” said the Professor,
“are making some of those beautiful
arched eyebrows you may some time
see in ballrooms. These sewed on the
net are the less expensive kind, and are
only used on special occasions. The
real brow is very expensive, and can
only be made by a person of great
skill.” I begged him to explain the
operation of giving a person eyebrows
who was born without them, and
ing me into an elegantly furnished par¬
lor in which was a large dentist’s chair,
he continued:
“The patient sits here. In this cush¬
ion to my left are stuck a score or so
of those needles you saw being thread¬
ed. Each stitch only leaving two
strands of hair, to facilitate the opera¬
tion a number of needles must be at
hand. As each thread of hair is drawn
through the skin over the eye it is cut
so that when the first stage of the
operation is over it leaves the hairs
bristling out an inch or so, presenting
a ragged, porcupine appearance. New
comes the artistic work. The brow
must bo arched and cut down with the
utmost delicacy, and a number of hours
is required to do it.”
“It must be very painful and
tedious ?”
“T hey don’t say that it is a picnic ex
cursion,” laughed the Professor; “but
eyebrows, small as they are, are very
important in the make up of the face
You have no idea how odd one looks
when utterly demanded of hair over
the eyes. The process I have described
is painful, but it makes good eyebrows
and adds one hundred per cent, to the
looks of a person who was wVhout
them. It is, too, much better than the
blackening and cosmeties so many peo
pie use, especially people who have
mere presence of brows comprising
only a few hairs.”
“Do j-our sewed-through-the-skin
eyebrows last ?”
“For years .”—Neic OrleansPieayone
Massacre of the Mamelukes.
The Citadel, Cairo, was in 1811 the
scene of the massacre of the last of the
Mamelukes by Mohammed Ali, a deed
of base treachery, but of consummate
and successful policy; a coup d’etat, in
fact. The Mamelukes had risen from
the position of slaves to that of sul
tans. The Circassian dynasty pro
duced a race of militar y P rinces who
wa 8« l war with the Ottoman sultans.
The last but one, Sultan Ghoree, was
slain in battle in Syria, and his succes
sor > Toman was routed on the
plain bet ween Cairo and Heliopolis,
He was taken ca P tive and han 8 ed ’ and
his head stuck on the malefactors’ gate
way, Bab Zooaj'len. Though the su
preme power had thus passed away
from them, the Mameluke aristocracy
still maintained their ancient valor,
till their brilliant cavalry was routed
by Napoleon at the battle of the Pyra¬
mids, and but a small remnant left.
These Mameluke nobles had helped
Mohammed Ali to the Pashalik, but it
is supposed that they had changed theii
minds > and were P lottin S to destro v
-
him - At 911 events - havin S used them
:ls the ladder of his ambition > he found
it expedient to get rid of them. He
therefore invited them all to be present
within the citadel, when a Pasha was
to be invested with some military
command. Four hundred and seventy
of these magnificent beings accordingly
rode up in great state, but when they
I j turned to depart they found the gates
j elosed, and from every corner a mur
| derous fire of musketry rained upon
them. From this horrible carnage one
alone escaped, namely, Amyn Bey,
who forced his horse to leap the ram
i part, a fall of forty feet. Happily he
lighted on a heap of rubbish, and
though the horse was killed, the man
escaped, and giving himself into the
care of the Arabs, found protection
i j during the ensuing days, when the
houses of Mamelukes were plundered,
and all their relations, numbering about
1 ,000, were murdered, and the gate of
jj ab Zooajdeh literally covered with
those ghastly trophies, the heads of the
s i a in. It is said that from this final
massacre one other man escaped, Sulei
man Aga by name, who disguised
himself in the long blue robe of an
\ rab WO man, and thus veiled, escaped
his foes. This man had been the
Pasha's prime favorite, and the story
goes that, without showing any special
disgust at his friend's trcacherj - , he re¬
turned to his post of favorite, and even
repeated the little joke of dressing up
as an Arab damsel, who appearing be
f ore b j s highness as as a suppliant,
pleaded her own cause with volubility,
and carried her case, whereupon, re¬
moving her veil, she displayed the
features of Suleiman, who is affirmed
by living eye-witnesses to have contin¬
ued for many years the cordial friend
°f tbe -Pasha and other great folks iD
Cairo.
TTatehcsand Diamonds.
Thb demand for American watches,
both here and in Europe, has con
stantly been growing, and one Ameri
can eompanj - , which is now producing
1,100 finished watches a day, is unable
10 f ld orders except on long notice,
xhere has been a heavy importation of
.Swiss watches the past year, but these
are mostly of the cheaper line. The
number of very costly diamonds sold
in this country the past year has been
remarkably largo, the demand being
unprecedented for exceptionally fine
stones, both single and matched. Re¬
cently in several cases as high as $1,000
per karat has been paid for diamonds in
this city in the trade, and they have
been sold for this price by one dealer
to another. Very high prices have
been given by our dealers for rare
stones in Europe, and when these dia¬
monds have been brought here they
have been resold in the trade at prices
which have astonished the sellers them
selves. Then, an enormous quantity
of the cheaper diamonds have been
worked up the past year in all kinds of
gold and other jewelry. There has also
been a strong demand for rubies and
sapphires, which have advanced greatly
in value, and there has been a rise in
the cost of fine pearls.
A Burmese Bomaneo
In the late king's time his favorite
daughter was the Tsalin princess, a
girl of great beauty, and of a most ami
able disposition. All foreign ladies
used to go to her, and to her only; for,
besides being the highest princess in
the land, her kindness and affability
made her the most universally loved
member of the royal family. When
the late kiug died, her charming
mother’s rival, Queen Allaynandeau,
having practically seized ail power and
authority, the Tsalin princess was im
prisoned, and so cruelly treated b\’or
der of the present queen, that she fell
dangerously sick, Left without any
care, and hardly any foot', death seemed
to be the only deliverer at hand. But
Providence watched over the princess,
A high-ofikial, remotely related to hpr,
and one of the foreign ladies who had
been most kindly treated by her form
erly, were most active in trying to find
for her the means of escape. But the
guards were too strict and too many
While her friends were scheming and
considering, one of her own female ser
vants living in her town, fell siek near
her and suddenly died. Another fe
male servant of hers, taking advantage
of the isolation in which she and her
mistress had been left within their
wretched place of confinement, put the
corpse into the princess’ bed, and the
latter, dressed as a common palace
slave, and in the hubbub caused by the
news of her own death, quickly found
her way out, and ultimately reached
the house of her foreign friend, who,
being rightly afraid to keep her in her
own house, had her removed to a safe
place outside of Mandalay,
The princess, meanwhile, being pro
nouneed dead, the body was removed
and disposed of, but not before the toes
on one foot had been chopped off, to
make it look like the princess, shehav
ing had the misfortune to he horn with
a club foot. After nearly two years,
the princess, who had entirely recov
ered her former good health, was taken
away from her hiding-place in a large
covered cart. With the help of her
foreign friend she put on a European
dress, and having arrived at the river
side, went straight on hoard of a
steamer that was leaving from Ran¬
goon. But when the steamer reached
Koonywa, some two days’ journey from
Mandalay, the down steamer had just
arrived at the same place, and the news
soon spread that some petty official
having lately absconded from Manda¬
lay, orders had been received at the
frontier to search closely every up
steamer, on hearing which the prin¬
cess, resuming her Burmese dress, and
making her face up as best she could,
landed and crossed the river in a small
boat, she having made up her mind to
try and reach the Shan country. Af¬
ter the weariest and most perilous
journey, on foot all the time, she at last
succeeded in reaching the State of a
friendly Tsawbwa, (chief,) under
hospitable roof she .
whose now lives.
anxiously looking for Prince Nvoung
Yan, who has been repeatedly invited
over by a large number of Tsawbwas,
anxious to fight under his banner and
carry him triumphantly back to ttm j
golden city. i
Bttliant Meteors.
A surprising number of largo and
brilliant meteors have made their ap¬
pearance within the last two or three
weeks. On December 20 a meteor was
seen in New Hampshire shooting
across the sky in broad daylight. A
few nights afterward a very large me¬
teor was seen in Connecticut. On
New Yf.r’s eve a brilliant fireball i
which burst into fragments, was seen i
from various places in New England. i
On New Year's night, just before the I j
snowstorm set in, a flash of light in the
sky, believed to have been caused by
the passage of a large meteor, was seen
in this city. On Wednesday night a
big meteor was seen shooting over tbe
State of Illinois, producing a startling
illumination, and leaving a red trail of i
light in its wake. The earth is being
continually bombarded by small me
teors, which are called shooting stars,
and many of which are probably no
bigger than hickorj- nuts, so that the
intense heat generated by their pas
sage through the atmosphere quickly
consumes them; but big meteoric
masses, like those recently seen, which
illuminate the heavens during their
passage, and sometimes fall to the
earth with terrific force, are rare.
Whence they come is a mystery the
astronomers have not solved. At any
rate, nobody need bo alarmed. The
chance of being struck by lightning is
many times greater than that of being
hit by a meteor.—2V. Y. Sun.
There is many a soul trudging along
life’s pathway with weary, uncertain
steps, sad and downhearted, who would,
if there was a kind hand reached out
to help them, walk erect and step
lightly, and even sing while passing
over rough places.
PUBLISHERS.
KO. 22.
English Seamen in the Sixteenth
Century.
I doubt if any single class of men
cver made a greater change in the for
tunes of mankind than was brought
ab °nt by the great English seamen of
of the sixteenth century. Some of them
" ere slave-traders, others were smug
g lfirs - almost all were lawless men in a
lawless age; but the result of their dar
in g expeditions wxs to altar the des¬
tin v of the American continent, and
.
therefore the career of the human race.
In the year 1500, Spain, with Por
tugal, was the undisputed master of the
New World. At the present timo
neither Spain nor Portugal owns afoot
of land upon the main continent of
North or South America. The destiny
°f the whole Western world has been
changed; and throughout almost all
northern half of it the language,
the institutions, the habits, have been
equally transformed. At the time
" hen Europe was first stirred by the
g°hl and the glory brought from the
newly discovered America, it was only
^P a ' n > and in a small degree Portugal,
that reaped the harvest. These wero
then the two great maritime and colc
nizing powers of Europe; and two bulls
from Pope Alexander VI., in 1593 had
permitted them to divide the newly
discovered portions of the globe be
tween them. Under this authority
Portugal was finally permitted to keep
Brazil—which was Jirst colonized by
Portuguese—while Spain claimed all
he rest of the continent. To this day
the results of that mutual distribution
are plainly to be seen in South
America. Brazil speaks Portuguese,
while almost all the rest of South
America, with Mexico; speaks Spanish,
But beyond Mexico, through all the
vast length and breadth of North
America, English is the prevailing and
official language. Throughout that ro
gion, instead of the Latin race, the
Germinic prevails; instead of the Ro
man Catholic faith, the Protestant i
preponderates. Thera has not been in
the history of the world a profoundei
.
change in the current of human evehts.
T be most remarkable circumstance of
all is, that this change was substanti
i!ly made in a single century (the six¬
teenth), a?.d was made mainly through
a single class of men—the old English
seamen. They it was Who broke the
power of Spain, and changed the fu¬
ture distinies of America.— Harper’s
Magazine.
scmriFic scraps.
Cast-iron transmits sound about fiif
teen times more quickly than air.
Copper wires transmitting electricity
of high electro-motive force become
brittle after a while.
The light which falls upon the earth
from the satellites of Mars is about
equivalent to what a man’s hand, on
which the sun alone at V ashington,
would reflect to Boston.
Nickel is proposed to be a substitut
for bronze in coinage in France. It is
also suggested that the new coins shall
be octagonal instead of round, so that
the people may not mistake tlfem for
silver in the hurry of business.
Some English chemists and sanitary
reformers have started a movement to
make bread from the entire grain of
wheat, and not from the inner portion
only. The movement has the support
of the first physiologists of the day.
Experiments have lately been made
on the common mushroom, from which
it appears that all common mushrooms
are poisonous, but that cooking de
prives them in a greater or less degree
of their poisonous qualities. The re
fluted washing with cold water which
the >' usuall - v under g° to clean them
takes away a portion of the poison,
and boiling does the rest; but the water
in which they have been boiled is
hi 8 hl >' poisonous, and should always be
carefully disposed of.
An invention which is believed will
effect important changes in the metal
trade has recently been penetrated in
Great Britain and most foreign coun
tries, and is now being sold as an article
of commerce. The invention consists
of a new method of manufacturing
alumina, by which-nine-tenths of the
present cost is saved, whiie it can bo
made in immense quantities in the
course of a few days, instead of re
quiringnine months to produce it, as
was formerly the case. The inventor
is Mr. Webster, of Hollywood, near
Birmingham, England, who has been
engaged in the experiments since 1851,
and only succeeded in perfecting his
process about twelve months ago, after
having expended nearly $150,000 in
experiments.
The British possessions in Australia
cover 3,075,000 square miles. The popu¬
lation, white and colored, numbers
2,835,945, by far the greater part being
concentrated in a few cities. The debt
of the colonies is already nearly $100,
000.000.