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HARLEM, GEORGIA
PI’BI.ISHED KVKIIY THURSDAY.
X9«.ll*rcl <** AlUln»on.
rnopuno*b.
Report* of two taxes of recent out
rage* on American* in China have been
forwarded to the St cretary of Htatc.
The Presbyterian minion house at Kwn'
Ping wi» looted and destroyed, and the
Rev. A. A. Fulton nu I wife and Mis*
Mary A. Fulton were forced to flee for
their live*. A lady missionary at the
Methodist hospital at Chung King waa
atoned by a mob and quite seriously in
jured. In neither of these two caaea
could the authorities lie induced to pun
iah the offender* or give protection tc
the missionaries or their property.
A'cording to the Urrrlai-d China Mail
a method of suicide of tin original char
acter has been invented and carried in
to rueersaful effect in Hoag Kong by a
Chinene servant of the name of Yeung-
Yan-lling. In the first place he attempted
to pats out of life by the commonplace
method of a dose of opium. Ilu was,
howeve.r brought round by prompt mean
lire* taken by a Chinese doctor, who re
aided in the sume house. But he was
not to bo balked in his intention, and
two days later he procured a heavy ham
mer and a long ri.nl, ami with the for
mer he drove tin’ latter so d -eply int i
his skull that, although every effort was
made at the government civil hospital to
save hia life, be expired the next day.
A man must, Indeed, bo bent upon self
ilcstruction who will hammer n nnil into
his head. It would be difficult to
imagine any form of suicide demanding
greater nerve and resolution.
Wiggins, who knows all about it, say*
that cartliqmikea arc caused by the shift
ing of the planet’s center of gravity.
Wiggins is the Canadian weather prophi t
—-or, to speak with precision, he is one of
the Canadian weather prophets. Undis
covered, a year ago last March, that the
planet wasabi ut to shift it* center of
gravity. Forthwith, he set his prophetic
faculty to determine what the consequen
ces of the performance would be. Start
ing upon the self-evident fact that a mov< -
meat of the center of gravity ono mile
from the normal ccnlerof volume would
cause “the parts of the surface at the end
of the longer axis to be heavier, mid the
parts nt the end of the shorter axis to l>o
lighter, than normally,” lie discerned nt
once that “these disks would grind upon
etch other," genurating heat and hivn that
would produce an earthquake in South
Carolina when Jupiter should be near his '
inferior conjunction, nt the end of
August, 1886. Which settles the question
of the South Carolina earthquake, with
out any help of the disagreeing seismolo
gists, to the satisfaction of everybody.
SIUiTJ. 'J - '
A Spanish flow.
The latest novelty in plows is nt pre
sent being used In Spain. It works the
land to n depth of 30 inches, mid turns
a furrow 3 feet wide. It is drawn by
two 10 horse power engines. The instru
mentis constructed on the patent balance
plow principle, but of very strong pro
portions. It is n one furrow plow, but’
fitted with two skifes, the first turning a
furrow 16 inches wide rind 14 inches
deep, tho second following to a depth
of 30 inches and turning over a furrow
21 inches wide, leaving tho land com
pletely loosened to n depth of 2 feet <1
inches. Drawn by the steam engines,
the account in a foreign exchange says it
is possible with this plow to turn over
four acres per day. In cases where it is
not necessary to turn up the hind to this
great depth, but simply to stir up tho
under-soil, all that is required is to take
off the last skifo and In its place tlx a
aulisoil tyne, which will go to the depth
of 34 or 30 inches.
Mockery.
Pompous Banker William, I’m going
to the Exchange. From there 1 go to
the Directors’meeting of tho Glide In
surance Company, after which I shall
look on uty associates iu tho Bull beef
Syndicate, and then go home. If any
body calls you will know where to find
me. Good-day!
Cashier—AH right, sir; good-day.
(Aside) I am going to Delmonico's.
From there 1 go to the office again, afte
which I shall look in on th- th ket etlicc
of some reliable scalper, and then go to
Canada. If anybody calls you tfe'i’t
know where to find me.
Adding Insult to Irjary.
Never wa» true delicacy of consider
ation better Illustrated than by a thief in
tho French capital a week or two ago.
A ruffian was struggling with M. Autel
for h.s watch. M. Autel was proving
100 much for the acoundre), when an
Vther Gallic Bill Sikes came up, and the
honest man was laid on the pavement.
The conqueror* disputed over their pray,
without much chance of immediate set
tlement, when a happy thought came tc
rascal number one. “Sir,” said he tc
the groauing and bruised Autel, “w<
beg you to arbitrate in this matter."—
A’rr )'ri CemmcrvML
The Southern cotton mills have in
cr-ased in number in six yean from 161
io 310, and In production from ♦!«,-
387,598 to *80,726,250, or 88 per cent.
‘I hey have weathered severe storm*, re
st! ting from h too rapid growth, have
secured new markets, and are now ex
porting goods,
Think of a counterfeit buzzing in the
head to cure a cold! A sensation ha*
been produced in the Izmdou drug mar
ket by the accidental discovery of a sub
stitute for quinine. The substitute i" al
leged to have like medical projrerties,
though tho cost of production is not ove
six cents nn ounce.
Colorado bus 800 miles of first-class
irrigating canals, 3500 miles of second
ary canals, anil 40,000 miles of smaller
ditches, which have cost in the aggre
gate abcut 811,00 ,000, and will irrigate
2,200,000 acres. Tin: operation of this
great water system has developed con
flicting claims of various ditch com
panies in regard to the use of water,
which it is very difficult to settle.
Tho famous shell heaps at Damariscot
ti*, Me., are to bo ground up into hen
food and fertilizers by a Boston tom
puny. The largest heap is 341 feet long
by 126 feet wide, ami is from four to
twenty feet deep. The o-igin of these
shell heaps has been a subject of much
discussion among si' Im- ilogists. The
Peabody Miis-um is to have all the
relics and curiosities that may be found
in the heap*.
It has been deemed impossible that
carrier-pigeons could rival the telephone,
but a wholesale baker of Brussels,having
fifteen branch establishments, sends to
each, with the first morning delivery, a
pigeon, which during the day returns
with any unusual order. At the bakery
its alighting closes a circuit through a
vibrating bell, and announces its arrival.
The entire expense of purchase ami in
stallation not having exceeded the cost
of two months’ rental of the telephone,
the happy baker felicitates himself on his
happy evasion of the hello business.
Our consul at Chemnitz, Germany,
writ'-s the Department of State: “Horse
meat is extensively consumed by tho
laboring classes, the prices ranging from
four to five cents per pound. I can also
vouch for the fact that u large number of
dogs uro annually killed for consump
tion. Dog meat is publicly exposed for
sale in the markets, and I mn informed
that many well-to-do jicople frequently
eat it in prefer-neo to mutton; and tho
fact that it is sold from ono to three
cents )H-r pound more than horse meat,
would seem to bear out this assertion
‘Roa«t dog and dumplings,' is frequently
advertised in the papers by keo|>cra of
restaurants, and the Chemnitz paper*
contain n weekly statistical account of
all the horses and dogs killed for con
sumption in that city. Dog meat is
supposed to possess a curative power in
cases of pulmonary complaints, and to
judge by the number annually killed in
this neighborhood, the disease must be
widespread.”
Electric power ha* la-on applied in a
very novel manner of late on tho estate
of the marquis of Salisbury at Hatfield,
England, where it has been in operation
for some time past in various ways and
works; but the last is p<-rlmps the most
peculiar of all. On one of the farms en
silage has been stored in large quantities,
a farm building being turned into a silo
for this purpose; ami, it being decided
that tho green foo l shall be “chaffed"
before placing it in the silo, a chaff cut
ter has been erected about twenty feet
above the ground. This machine is not
only driven by tho electric power, but
the same motor is employed to elevate
the grass to the level of the chaff-cutter.
This is done so effectually that about
four ton* of rough grass are raised and
cut per hour. A sixteen light “Brush’
machine is the generator, driven by a
huge water-wheel, and both are on tho
banks of tho river Lea, a mile and a half
distant. Nor is this all, for the same
electric power is ingeniously applied to
I work the “lifts” in use at the many hay
! stacks on the estate.
A problem which is attracting to its
study astronomers, relates to the earth as
a timekeeper. \\ < measure time by di
: riding either the period during which
the earth revolves around the sun, or that
in which it turns on it® axis. By the
first method we measure a year; by the
second a day. The earth, according to
some astronomers, is losing time.
Through two causes, the sun’s attraction
and the fricti n, so to speak, of the
tides, the earth each year revolves more
slowly on its axis. The speculative
question which tin-e astronomer*nredis
cussing is whether .a the end the earth
, will stop its tevolution upon its axis and
I will present always the same face to the
! sun. Wlt-.n that event occurs there will
l be per|>ctual day in one part of the earth
1 and perpetual night iu another. Bat
there is no occasion for immediate alarm.
The rate at which the earth is supjioaed
to lose time only shortens the year by
half a second in a century. There are
more than 31,000.000 second* in a year.
Therefore, if the earth ever doe* cease to
revolve on its axis it will be more than
six thousand million years before it will
stop.
A Little While.
If I oonld *ea the® once again
A llttto while, once more,
Thy tend nr heart I might regain
And my lost peace restore;
You would forget the scorn you felt
So penitent I’d tie.
You would forgive while low I knelt,
If I might only we-
Thy bright eye, smile on me:
Only a little while,
Only once more.
If I should see thee once again
And find thee stern and cold;
An ever dead -sh, bitter pain—
Th, bright, strong love of old;
Yea, even while I felt your scorn,
—All bitter though it be—
And my sad heart with grief were torn
I’d welcome misery,
If 1 thy face could see:
Only a little while,
Only once more.
H'. .4. Hunt, In Detroit f-re Prett.
__*
SUSIE DALTON’S RIDE.
.
We were sitting out on the broad
piazza —grandma and I—and ns Barney
went by with the horses to water at the
spring grandma *nid:
■“Why! how much that hor.se does re
mind me of Blupher!” I saw by her ]
peculiar smile that she recalled some
pleasant reminiscence of the long ago.
“Do tell me!” I said coaxingly.
She laid down the scarlet stocking she
was knitting for Pearlie, and let her eyes
wander to the hills, golden with the 1
October sunlight, as she dreamingly went 1
back over the long stretch of years inter- |
veiling.
“I/?t me sec, it’s sixty years and over,
for I was coming on fifteen and Susie was
two years older. Susie was an orphan
brothers and sisters who had
found places among relatives and friends
-living with Weymouth Brewster, her
cousin Pauline’s husband, who was a
merchant in Lime Rock. She wu* a
quiet, capable girl, and they set great
store by her. Her sister S illie had mar
ried during the summer and gone to
housekeeping over in Massachusetts, and
Susie had been longing to go and see her
lor quite a while. So when it came a
slack spell on the farm, late in Septem
ber, Weymouth told Susie she could take
Blucher— a great roan horse—and go
over to her sister's one day mid come
back the next.
“Susie was wild with delight, as she
ran over to get me to come and help along
with the work during her absence. She
did look sweet, to be sure, as she came
out with her batiste dress of soft, silvery
gray, her jaunty velvet hat, turned up to
show the pearl satin lining, with its os
trich plumes a-nodding in the wind
You see, that hat was bought on pur.
pose for her in New York, when Wey
mouth went after goods. There was not
another in town to compare with it.
“Well, the hired man held the horse
while Weymouth helped heron, and she
was off down the road while we were
calling out good-bye to her. Women in
those days mostly rode horseback when
they went anywhere, and Susie went on*
happy as a bird, until she got over the
state line, when her ear caught the sound
of drums and fifes, and her horse began
going as though he was ‘a-walking on
egg*.’ Then Susie remembered all at
once that it was ‘general trainin’ ’ day
over in Massachusetts.
“Her horse had been owned by an
officer of the troopers for several years,
and always stepped in time to music.
Site spied tho troopers now on a cross
street making for tho main street. If
they only would pass before she reached
them! She tried to restrain her horse,
so that he would not overtake them, but
he beard the martial strains, and as
though the sweet elixir had filled all his
veins with life, ho pricked up his ears
and swept on like tho overwhelming leap
of a cataract, to join them. On he went,
never pausing at tho rear of the glittering
column, on, past tho array of men sitting
so proudly within their saddles, on, to
tho very front, and there, beside the tall
form of the gallant captain, he deigned
at length to form in line and sweep on
to tho martial tread of inspiring strains;
for, 10l he would have his accustomed
place 1
“Poor Susie! what should she do? ;
She longed for a moment to have the I
earth open and swallow her up, as it did
Korah of old. There was a perceptible
smile on more than one lip, as the men
glanced at their perturbed captain, who
was an old bachelor of the most ortho
dox kind—rich and hard-hearted—yet
terribly afraid of all women. When
Captain Drew saw how terribly fright
ened Susie was, and that, try as she
would, she could not make that incorrig
ible horse budge, ho pitied her. aud
essayed to say something comforting.
“He saw,too, that she was very come
ly to look upon, and modest and very
tastefully dressed. He kept looking
more and more. Finally, a bright thought
came to him. aud he said, very respect
folly: 'Miss, if you are willing, I will
exehaugo horses with you, as mine I am
using for the first time in this way, and
he has not become so attached to martial
music a* your*.’ Si. helping Susie off.
' and exchanging saddles, he inquired her
nam? and place of residence that he
j might come to exchange them again.
“Well, Susie went on and had her vis
, it out. We all wondered a great deal
i when she came back on a strange hor*e,
! yet she never tried to enlighten us any.
Weymouth said, ’Susie made a very good
bargain in trading horses, aud any of
them are at her disposal if she doe* as
well every time.’
“But the next day when the handsome
captain came driving up and we saw Su
sic’* blushes, we knew just as well how
it would end as we did the next May
when we saw her stand up beside the
captain in the little church, while the
•ih-mn words were said which made
them one.
“Yes, I was one of the bridesmaids,
and wore a silk dress for the fir-t time.
Well, Captain Drew took her to a home
of love and plenty, and she said many years
afterwards, ‘I never had cause to regret my
first ride with the troopers.’ That was
her first ride but not the last.
“For, every general training, the men
would have their captain bring out his
sweet wife just as they had formed in
line on the village green, and the way
they would cheer her! So this is what I
thought, of when I saw the horse that
looked like Blucher.”— Good Chter.
The Shark and the Pearl Direr*.
“The reason why big strikes in pearls
don’t create a boom, us a gold discovery
would,” said an old hand at the bust
ness, “is because most everybody knows
the danger of it, and if you don’t super
intend it yourself you are at the mercy
of a pack of the biggest thieves that ever !
lived. The principal dangers are sharks,
rays and drowning. The -.harks are the
worst, and some grounds have old man
eaters that hang about them for years, at
least the men think so.
“I remember one season we got on the
grounds early. I was owner of an outfit
comprising ten men, but when we got
ready not a man would go over. I didn’t I
blame them, as they pointed out the fiu
of a big man-eater that was swimming ;
about. I wouldn't have gone over myself
for all the pearls on the farm. The shark
had a notch on his top fin where some
one had put a bullet through, and one
man said it had eaten his brother, another
that his cousin was killed the year before
by the same brute, and you would have
thought that every man in the place had
lost a relative of some kind, so I con
cluded it would be a charity to put the
old murderer on the retired list. I had
a harpoon with me that had barbs that
fitted into the iron so that it would go in
easily, and then when a slight pull
was made they would set back. This I
rigged to a pole and fastened to a line
about one hundred feet long, having it
fastened to a keg. Heaving the toggery
into the boat I got one of the men to pull |
me to the shark that was swimming
around and around, and as it came by
the boat I put the spear into its back as
well as I knew how.
“We didn’t bother about haulingin,
but just threw over the rope and keg :
and let him go, and that’s the la-t we I
oversee of the old man-eater. I reckon i
he ain’t stopped yet, as we kept bearing
of the keg up along the coast for several
weeks.”— San. Franeitto Call.
A Senator’s Signature.
When Senator Don Cameron of Penn
sylvania writes his name in a hotel regis
ter, he invariably puts a dash in front of
it thus:
J. D. Cameron.
The dash is very long, and begins
where the page of the book is fastened
in its place. If the register is a very
wide book, the eccentric dash of the
Pennsylvania senator is supplemented by
nn affix:
J. D. Cameron.
Whenever he writes his name on the
Fiftli Avenue Hotel register, which is a
wide book, he uses the double dash. A
gentleman gives this explanation:
“I have lived in Washington; know
Senator Cameron well, and the reason he
uses a dash before his name. He never
uses a dash except on a hotel register.
At tlie capital nearly every man has a
handle to his name. When a senator or
general registers at a hotel, the clerk
politely adds the prefix, whatever it may
be, and it appears that General So-and-so
has deliberately written his entitle. Sen
ator Camcron, instead of being a vain
man, is very modest and unassuming.
The polite clerKs put the prefix, Senator,
to his name frequently on the registers,
which was exceedingly repugnant to
him. His simple request to leave off ali
appendages to his signature did not h ive
the desired effect, and he hit upon the
happy idea of the dasli to keep anything
from being written in front of his name.
The front dash worked for a time on
narrow registers, but finally the ingeni
ous clerk wrote the word Senator after
his name. This required double vigil
ence, so the retiring and genial Senator
added the affix dash.”—WasAinyton lie
publican.
I 4
Horseshoe* of Sheepshorn.
Various trials of the new French horse
shoe, which is made entirely of sheep’s
horu, are said to show its particular
adaptness for horses employed in towns
and known not to have a steady foot on
the pavement. The results of the experi
ments ate, therefore, regarded as very
satisfactory; hors s thus shod have been
dr ven at a rapid pace on such pave
ment without slipping. Besides this ad
vantage, the new shoe i» spoken of as
more durable, and, though a little more
expensive than the ordinary kind, seems
destined sooner or later to rep ace the
iron shoe American Hrtfidet.
THE CHOCTAWS.
Something About the Indians
of Indian Territory.
Their Language the Best for Oratorical
Purposes in the World.
The Rev. John Edwards of Wheelock,
Indian Territory, a missionary of the
Presbyterian Church, said in the course
of a recent interview with an Indian
apolis Journal reporter:
“The Choctaw is a fine sounding
tongue, declare*! by Walter Lawry, once
a United State* senator, and fully cap
able of judging, as being the finest
language in the world for oratory. It is
easy to learn enough of it for trading
purposes, but to learn it thoroughly is
very difficult. It has more words than
most Indian tongues, the lexicon con
taining about 10,006. The Choctaws
for over fifty years have had publications
in their language. They use the
Roman alphabet, with some modifica
tions. There are twenty-two letters.
They now have a regular representative
form of government, and have had for
many years. Their principal chief is
Edmund McCurtain. This officer is
elected every two years. Thoma* Mc-
Kinney has recently been elected his suc
cessor. The Choctaw capital is Tush
kahomina. They have a general council,
consisting of a senate and a house of rep
resentatives, and have county, district
and supreme courts. The Choctaw na
tion had the prohibitory liquor law thirty
years before Maine, and it was in their
constitution thirty year* before Kansas
had it. It is enforced fairly well, par
ticularly as the United States intercourse
laws prohibit the introduction of intoxi
cating liquors into the territory. As to
the general laws of the nation, they are
not as well enforced as they might be.
“One of their young men, brother of
the recently elected principal chief,
graduated at Yale divinity school last
spring. The fact that a white man
by marrying a native woman, se
cures the rights of a citizen in the na
tion is a strong inducement to many men
to intermarry with the Choctaws. This,
in course of time, will eliminate the
Choctaw blood and bring about a solu
tion of the Indian question so fur as they
are concerned. Os the five civilized
tribes of the Indian territory it has been
found by enumeration that 55 per cent,
of them can rea I. The proportion of
the Cherokees who can read, as com
pared with the Choctaws, is greater than
that of the latter nation, while the
Creeks who can read are fewer in num
ber than the Choctaws. Sequoya, or
George Guess, as he was called, was a
Choctaw, who invented a syllabic alpha
bet for his people. It contains eighty
five characters, and to read, all one
need do is to mention the names of the
letters. A smart Cherokee wiil learn to
read in a few hours. Sequoya formed a
better alphabet for them than a white
man could have male. The Choctaw
alphabet is phonetic, ami therefore
learned with greater ease than English.
I suppose that fully 10,000 of the Choc
taw nation do not understand English.
“The Choctaws live almost wholly by
agriculture. They are all farmers and
generally poor farmers, though some of
them are quite good. A few are large
farmers. There is an erroneous impres
sion concerning Indian territory. The
land is not, as many suppose, very fer
tile. There is a deal of waste land
there and a great de il of poor land.
There is a considerable admixture of
white blood witli the Indian race, and
it is constantly increasing. The
Choctaw lauds are held in common, and
a white man, by intermarriage, gets
Choctaw citizenship and equal rights in
land, holding them as long as he does
not marry a white woman. The native
population of tho nation is between
13,000 and 14,000. They have two
boarding schools, each with oue hundred
pupils—one at Spencer for boys and one
at New Hope for girls. They have an
orphan school at Wheelock for boys.
It has fifty pupils, and a similar school
! for girls at Wheelock has fifty pupils.
They are paying much attention to edu
, cation. There is a provision for neigh
borhood schools that wherever there are
ten pupils a school may be established,
tie teachers to be paid |2 a month for
each pupil. The law makes attendance
of children at school compulsory,
parents being fined for not sending their
children.
“The Choctaws are generally quiet
aud orderly, except when under the in
fluence of liquor. There huve been a
greater number of crimes since the war,
owing to feuds originating then. They
wear citizens’ dress, and only in color
would be distinguished from white peo
ple. They no longer wear mocassins or
hunting shirts. Since I have been back,
I have not seen more than half a dozen
hunting shirts. The old shawl head
dress, once so popular among them, has
been given up. There sre no blanket
. Indians among them. Their dwellings
are mostly log cabins; a few have very
good dwellings. Scarcely any of them
now pretend to make a living by hunt
iog- _
Opportunity makes the thief. A
woman swinging a fat purse on her little
finger is an opportunity.
An Asia Minor Furiosity,
The recent destruction of the-besm’ I
fn! white piuk terraces atTorawer* ,s
Zealand, has drawn from a trav..i|* cr ’''
Asia Minor an account of an ttnc ;
white terrace which he saw n-,.r ; '
ruin* of Hicrapolis, called by the Turf
I’ambouk Kulessi, or hot springs, is s j
uted on a low branch of the ,
mountains overlooking the Lycus
and the ruins of Loodiccia, immediate
opposite to Colos-se, which wu, bmh
the slope of the Khono* mountain, mu
to Denizii (D ospolis) ou M mnt Cad w f
First seen from the ophite mount.,*
some twenty miles off, it looked lik, '
breastplate of silver on a great mount,;,
giant. A nearer investigation show„|
that it wai formed by hot springs of s u :
phur and lim», which descended f rom
great elevation in dazzling white cat,,
acts, and formed in their passage down,
ward by their petrifying power iee-hk,
cliffs ami seemingly frozen waterfall,
running into natural basins of beauty
and varied g ometrical shapes, all stab,
etiejeovered petrification* of fantastic
forms. On the high plateau whence th t
springs descend are the ruins of a temp'.,
once appropriately dedicated to I’iut,,
Tlie holy hot bath which stood in the
temple courtyard, surrounded by a Cf) |
onnade, is still in fine preservation, and
beneath its deep, clear, bine waters can
still be seen many a fluted column and
finely-carved cornice. Gas is continual);
bubbling up from the bottom of the
bath. The chief source of the sulphnt
springs (the ancient plutonium) is a car
from which a vapor issues fatal to a#:-
mal life. This was considered :i short
cut to Pluto’s infernal realms. Not fat
off is a ruined fountain ami cistern neat
to a cave of sweet water which supplied
the whole town with that necessary *,l
life. The writer adds, as interesting tc
the Christian archceologist, that on »
ruined lintel near Piuto’s temple he saw
these words sculptured: “Js. Us. nika—
Jesus Christ Conquers.”— London Tele
graph.
Spires.
The tall spire, conveying to the mind
an idea of immeasurable height, and
seeming to fade away in a jxiint, is, per
haps, the most perfectly beautiful exter
nal feature of the pointed or Christian
styles of architecture to which it prop
erly belongs. In ail ages and countries
there has been an apparent tendency to
carry buildings to as great a height as
possible, and hones have originated the
various architectural forms of pyramids
and obelisks, towers in endless variety,
domes of various shapes—classic, Byzan
tine and Saracenic —the minarets of the
east and tall monumental pillars; but
the spire, obvious as its form seems iu it
pure simplicity, was unknown in archi
tecture till toward the end of the 11th
century. There have been many dis
cussions, somewhat unprofitable, though
interesting, as to the source whence the
mediaeval builders drew their first ideas
of the pointed arch and spire, and gen
eral opinion has apparently settled to the
conclusion that the pointed arch was
simultaneously suggested to the various
nations of Europe by the sight of the
Saracenic arch during the crusades. It
this were really so, it must be added
that the Christian builders improved so
vastly upon any hints they may have re
ceived from the east that all traces of
such origin rapidly disappeared. The
spire, however, is a purely self-envoived
feature, which originated in the general
tendency of pointed architecture, com
pletely independent of external hints or
examples. Among other suppositions it
has been said that the form of the spire
might have been suggested by the pyra
mids 05 obelisks of Egypt; but there are
so many points of dissimilarity between
these objects and the true spire that it is
extremely unlikely.— American ArM
ted.
Virtues of Cold Coffee.
A good mark for Gen. Boulanger! la
the instructions sent to the officers com
manding the regular army and the mili
tia reserves engaged in the autumn
manoeuvres they were told to prevent, a’
much as possible, soldiers drinking at
the first well they meet, and if the
weather was hot, to make each mau take
with him before setting out on a long
march a provision of filtered water. If
he had said, “a provision of cold cof
fee,” it would have been better. There
is no such safe and sustaining drink as
coffee for the marching soldier, tourist
or sportsman. It prevents, in places
where food is scarce and bad, typhus
fever, by counteracting rapid waste of
the tissues. The internal waste caused
by fatigue is the most dangerous of any,
inasmuch aS the vitality is too low to
throw it off, and so all the dead stuff ia
the body poisons what is living. I have
seen persons, after walks greater than
their strength could bear, suffer a’ if
from violent poison. In point of fact,
they were poisoned, but merely through
inability to get rid of the detritus of
wasted tissue in themselves. Tourists
should, no more than Gen. Boulangers
soldiers, when out on holiday excur
sions, drink water out of the first well
they meet, and to prevent the rapid using
up of their own bodies they ought to fill
up their flasks, before starting on long
walks, with coffee, which is, perhaps,
nicer to drink cold than hot.—-■ft'"**
Letter. ~