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ANCIENT FARM HOUSE.'
French Hostelries During the
Middle Ages.
MEN AND THINGS HAVE CHANGED.
A Very Reckless Lawyer, But He Wins
His Case—Our Sun a Star—A New
Apparatus for Measuring the Sea
Level Other Interesting Arti
cles on Various Subjects.
The houses of the fanners and the
country people differed then as now, ac
cording to their rank and prosperity,
and also according to the district they
inhabited. The yeoman farmer, and
even the well to do husbandman, dw«lt
in a solid house of brick or stone, tiled
or slated, with a paved yard separating
it from the barn and outhouses, the dai
ry and cattle pens. The farm house —
which in England was always construct
ed with a southern aspect—as invariably
faced the east in Aquitaine, while to the
rear well open to the west was a long
tiled veranda, where in winter after
noons the hemp picking, the wool card
ing, etc., were done.
Within the vast kitchen glowed in the
light of the fire —almost as unextinguish
able as the vestal virgin’s—peat, coal and
wood were each abundantly employed,
and for a trifling rent, generally paid in
kind, the lord of the manor would per
mit the farmers on his land to cut their
turfs from his bog or their boughs from
his forest. Fuel was not only actually
but relatively cheaper in the middle
ages than today, for the bogs were not
drained in those days, the forest covered
' great expanses, and the cost of carnage
made it almost impossible to transport
their produce. In almost every shire of
France and England the supply of fuel
was in excess of the demand.
This hospitable fire flared up a chim
ney proportioned to its size, lighting the
huge brick oven, the iron firedogs, the
bellows, shovel, gridiron, ladles, cal
drons, .saucepans, mortar, tin pails and
other utensils that stood on the brackets
of the hearth, and irradiating the brass
and copper pots, the metal candlesticks,
the lamp, the lantern, the not unfrequent
silver beaker, and the glass drinking
cups that were ranged on the chests and
cupboards round the walls. Near this
fire stood a high backed settle, the mas
ter's corner, and under the great mantle
of the chimney narrower benches were
set in the brick.
Within easy reach of the hearth a deep
oak chest held the logs for burning. It
was generally matched by a handsome
wedding chest with carved or painted
front, long enough to conti i a grown
person full length, butmore -lly filled,
it must be admitted,with the best clothes,
- the trinkets and the savings of the house-
The registers of thechatelet record
'no crime so common as the breaking open
of such wedding chests; and it is surpris
ing how many clasps of jewels, girdles
of pearls, golden headdresses and rings,
and purses full of gold were stolen from
quite humble households. Our fore
fathers invested their capital in cups
or trinkets of precious metal, pretty to
look at, easy to hide, and readily con
verted into cash when necessity demand
ed a sacrifice. —Fortnightly Review.
A Daring Argument.
A quick witted and daring western
lawyer once saved a guilty client from
sure conviction on a charge of poisoning.
It was proved that the poisoning had
been done by means of certain cakes, a
portion of which was produced in court.
When the counsel for the prisoner had
finished his speech, he said: “And these,
gentlemen of the jury, are some of the
alleged poisoned cakes. We declare to
you, gentlemen of the jury, that they
are not poisoned cakes. They are as
harmless cakes as ever were made, and
in order, gentlemen of the jury, to show
you that these cakes are not poisoned, 1
will eat one of them right here in your
presence.”
And he did eat one. He took good
care, however, to leave the room at the
earliest opportunity, and to make a bee
line for an adjoining room, where he
had an emetic in readiness and an anti
dote. But the jury never heard about
the emetic or the antidote until the law
yer’s client had been acquitted.—San
Francisco Argonaut.
Our Sun a Star.
Most young folks now know that the
difference between night and day on this
planet of ours arises simply from the
fact, that among the innumerable multi
tude of stars there is one infinitely nearer
to us than all the rest; being so much
nearer to us that when we see it we have
day. When by the earth’s movement
on its axis the sun has set in the west
we have night; at which time we depend
for light upon the more distant stars—
unless, indeed, the moon is shining.
In the main, it is true that the enor
mous difference in the intensity of the
light that we receive from the sun in the
one case, and from all the stars seen at
night in the other, depends upon the fact
that the Bun is the star nearest to us, and
the other stars are suns infinitely re
moved. —J. Norman Lockyer in Youth’s
Companion.
To Measure the Sea Level*
■ A new apparatus for measuring the
mean level of the sea has lately been in
stalled at Marseilles. It is based on the
principle that when a liquid wave trav
erses a capillary tube or a porous parti
tion, its amplitude diminishes and it is
retarded in its phases without the mean
level of the wave changing. It consists
of a glass tube, the lower end of which
communicates by a flexible pipe with a
plunger which is lowered beneath the
lowest water level. There are two cells
in the plunger, the lower being filled
with sand and open to the sea, the result
being. that the column of water in the
.”»e uses ana rails very nine wnn me
tides, and the mean sea level can be read
from a graduated scale.—New York
Times.
Everything Shipshape.
Small Boy—Say, dad, why does the
leaves fall off the trees every fall?
Dad (an old salt) —Bless you, boy,
don’t you know? The winds is high in
winter, an’ the trees has to lower sail. —
New York Weekly.
A Drop in the Market.
He—Darling, this engagement ring is
worth $350.
She—The last one I had cost S4OO.
He—You are older now! —New York
Herald.
Favorite Initiations at Harvard.
The favorite mode of torment seems to
be to make a man go out and sell some
thing, or perform some manual labor in
the streets. Not long ago a student who
was very much in love with a pretty
Cambridge girl was compelled to go to
the home of her parents with a Jew ped
dler’s pack and sell all the members of
the family the cheap handkerchiefs and
atrocious brass jewelry with which he
was loaded down. The match was not
broken off, but there was a frigid cool
ness in that house until the real object
of the visit was afterward explained.
Another rich and immaculate young
swell was ordered into a ditch where
some Italians were digging in the main
street of Cambridge, and into it he went
with pick and shovel, clad in a dress
suit, which was made part of the com
mand.
Rubber boots, an ulster and a fur cap
are frequently ordered on a victim in the
hottest days of term time, and they must
be seen on him whenever he appears out
side his room. Cambridge, like other
college towns, has become partly accus
tomed to these college vagaries, and
whenever any one is seen upon the
streets acting particularly like a lunatic
people class him at once as a candidate
for a college society.—New York Star.
Moor Baths.
The moor baths, of wliich much is
now heard, and which are provided at
many Austrian and German health re
sorts, were first used at Franzensbad. In
1823 Dr. Poschmann, a physician there,
believed that he had found in them a
new curative medium, and they have
since become popular. Some physicians
still question their efficacy, while others
in Austria and Germany rely upon them
to render good service in many maladies.
Though the bath is composed of peat or
moor earth to..vhich enough water has
been added to make a thick paste of the
mass, yet the peat is different from that
which is extracted from a bog in Ireland
or Scotland.
In both Ireland and Scotland the peat
is used as fuel; at Franzensbad the min
e. ’ -«d peat will not serve such a pur
pose. The bog from which it is extract
ed has been saturated throughout count
less ages with mineral water, and the
product is a strong chemical compound.
Thus a moor bath is a mineral bath in a
concentrated form, and effects are pro
duced upon the system by taking a
course of these baths which cannot be
produced, according to experts, by any
n.'neral water.—Blackwood’s Magazine.
Umbrellas In England.
Ho rany umbrellas are manufact
ured h. is country annually? There
are no oh. _jl returns giving the number
in this country, though in the United
States it is calculated that one umbrella
is made annually for every six persons.
If we apply this proportion to the popu
lation of the United Kingdom—now cal
culated, in round numbers, at 38,000,000
—over 6,000,000 umbrellas are made an
nually. Upward of 2,500,000 umbrellas
were imported by sea into Calcutta in
the year 1888-89, and the yearly exports
of umbrellas from this country are valued
at £581,000. In France, in 1830, um
brellas were manufactured by 160 makers
to the value of £280,000; in 1847, £405,000
worth by 303 makers; in 1882 their value
was £1,180,000, and 890 manufacturers.
Price averaged four francs each. There
were thus made in France in 1882 7,500,-
000 umbrellas, or nearly one for each in
habited house.—London Tit-Bits.
How Old Spiders Live.
Old spiders, which have neither web
nor the materials to make one, often
hunt about to find out the webs of other
spiders, younger and weaker than them
selves, with whom they venture battle.
The invader generally succeeds, and the
younger spider is driven out to make a
new web, and the old spider remains
in possession until a stronger spider in
vades the web and drives it out. When
thus dispossessed the spider seldom ven
tures another attack, but tries to subsist
upon the few insects that may fall acci
dentally into its clutches, and eventually
dies of hnne™. —'London Standard.
North, V East, South, West.
That’s where Pear line goes.
Wherever there’s yi M LZI fiJl (F* (
ha rd work for wo- * Ilk O O LL U \
men, there it’s x.
needed. Easy •■
washing goes Easy washing and better washing,
with it. . Washing that doesn’t-wear
out the clothes, or hurt the
hands or fabric, or tire the
washer. Washing that
aas^=Jr: ’ saves money but costs
/ (b? no more than the wash-
ing that wastes it. When it does all this and more, is it
any wonder that Pearline goes ? And it docs go. It goes to the
help of millions of women every day. T3ut there are some
who won’t be helped. And they’re the ones who need it most.
TJ 1 • Peddlers and some grocers will tell you, “ this is as good as ” or “ the
DIO WID O' same “ Pearline.” IT’S FALSE—but what a pull for Pearline.
O : S 8 JAMES PYLK, New York.
THE TRIBUNE-UF-ROME, SATURDAY MORNING FEBRUARY 28,1891.
HIS OB.IECT.
H« Had Had a Hard Time and He Could
.lw> Talk.
“Gentlemen,” he said, as he approached
the four of us seated in a row in the wait
ing room, “it grinds me to the soul to be
obliged to ask favors of strangers, but
I’ve got to do it right here and now.”
“What’s your case?” asked the man
on my left, who looked like a judge.
“Tve lost a wife and five children.”
“Well?”
“Then my house burned down and I
got no insurance.”
“Well?”
“Then I fell out of a tree and broke
my leg, and didn’t walk for a year.”
“Well?”
“Then I sold a pieceof real estate—the
only property I had—and a fellow robbed
me of every cent.”
“Well?”
“Then I got a heavy cold, consumption
set in, and one of my lungs is gone and
the other going.”
“Well?”
“Well, Tm ragged, poor, hungry and
sick, and want money to buy a supper
and pay for a night’s lodging.”
“I see. You are hard up, indeed. I
should think you were tired of life.”
“I have just one object in firing.”
“And that?”
“When I was a boy 10 years old, and
lived in Vermont, I stole a watermelon
from a farmer. My crime was never
discovered, but it has weighed like lead
on my conscience, and I know it has
hastened my end. I want to live long
enough and collect money enough to en
able me to return to Vermont, go to
that farmer’s house, and, standing be
fore him, say:
“ ‘Mr. Pritchard, thirty-nine years
ago, when I was a giddy boy, I stole a
watermelon of you. I am sorry. I
want to be forgiven before I die, and I
want to make such reparation as I can.
Here is $30,000 in gold. Take it and
buy a steamboat and say I’m forgiven.’ ”
“You are an infernal dead beat and
liar!” roared the judge as the man stood
in an attitude of humility, but we
chipped in half a dollar apiece and sent
him away rejoicing.—New York Sun,
New Mode of Engraving,
A French scientist has lately intro
duced a process for the engraving of de
signs on wood, leather or similar ma
terials by means of a pencil or tool, the
point of which is constantly at red heat.
After a series of experiments with hot
irons ar.d platinum wire heated by elec
tricity, a special tool was finally devised
by the inventor of this process, which
renders the operation extremely simple.
The tool in question is another applica
tion of the cautery instrument used by
surgeons. The pencil has a wooden han
dle upon which is mounted a small plat
inum tube with a fine point. Two sepa
rate receptacles communicate with the
tool by means of a rubber tube; one of
these contains a hydro-carbon, such aa
alcohol, benzine or wood spirit, and the
other contains compressed air.
A constant flow of the hydro-carbon
vapor is maintained at the point of the
tool, which is thereby kept in a state of
intense heat. Both receptacles are pro
vided with regulating apparatus, by
which the supply of ink can be adjusted
or cut off, as desired. The operation of
tracing designs on wood work and leather
is thus simplified to the utmost possible
extent. A tracing of the design is made
im the article to be ornamented, and any
degree of relief is instantly effected, very
little skill on the part of the operator
being required. The new process will be
of the greatest service to bookbinders,
carpenters and others, as well as afford
ing a ready means of labeli, g cases,
barrels, etc. —New York Comme. "al Ad
vertiser.
The Mason and Dixon Line.
The Mason and Dixon line runs along
the parallel of latitude 39 degs. 43
min., 26 degs. 3 min., separating Penn
sylvania from Maryland. It was
drawn by two distinguished English
surveyors, Charles Mason and Jere
miah Dixon, who began their work in
1763 and finished it in 1767. The line
is marked by stones set at intervals of
five miles, each having the arms of Lord
Baltimore engraved upon one side and
those of the Penn family upon the other.
Besides these large stones set to mark
each fifth mile, smaller stones were set
at the end of each mile, these haring a
large P engraved upon one side and the
letter M on the other—these intended as
initial letters of Pennsylvania and Mary
land.
All of these stones were engraved in
England. The Mason and Dixon line
was’not the line separating the free and
the slave States. The fine settled on in
the compromise of 1820 was 36 degs. 30
min. The Mason and Dixon lines as
shown above, runs along the parallel of
89 degs. 43 min.—St. Louis Republic.
$2.50 * FOR * si.2?
jw.
On receipt of ONE DOLLAR and TWENTY-FIVE CENTS
we will mail to any address, postage prepaid, a copy of
“Sunshine for Little Children,”
two beautiful engravings, and the
WEEKLY • TRIBUNE
For One Year, an offer which cannot be bought in any other way
for less than Two Dollars and Fifty Cents.
“SUNSHINE” is a large folio magazine, edited by Rey. J. Henry Smythe, D. D„ LL. D., of
Philadelphia, and t'.e engravings are lithoed water colors by Ida V z augh, the great American
artist.
The magazine is full of beautiful stories for children and will give splendid satisfaction to all
who buy it. The engravings are really worth 50 cents each and are lovely in style and finish.
Read what has been said of them by two great men;
Pray accept my heartiest thanks for I have received two numbers of u Sun-
the charming set of children’s picture shine ’ and a collection of pictures of
* , >. . . . . v , T , . children’s heads accompanying them. I
heads which has just reached me. It is a am very mnch pleased p wi / h Httle
delight and a refreshing to look them gallery cf childhood, which represents it
over. The beauty of childhood was with all its untaught grace and uneon-
never more sweetly depicted. I am, very ® ci ? us beauty They wid carry sunshine
J 1 1 j t o tue walls of the darkest room—one
truly, thy triend, that gets all its daylight from a northern
John G. Whittier. window. Oliver Wendell Holmes.
m im w
Has been completely overhauled by the new management and is
full of good reading. Every citizen of North Georgia should take
advantage of the above liberal offer.
FOR EIGHTY-FIVE CENTS
‘ Sunshine,” the two engravings and the Weekly Tribune will
be sent for six months.
FOR SIXTY CENTS
The Tribune for three months, a copy of “Sunshine” and the two
engravings.
attention!
HOWTO GET A GOLD WATCH
roany person who will get up a club of ONE HUNDRED SUBSCRIBERS at
$1 25 e<ch for the Weekly Tribune one year, together with a c-'py of
“SUNSHINE,” and the two engravings, the managemeut wili pre.l I
sent a handsome gold watch with first-class movement and fully guaranteed. To
any who will get up a club of fifty a fine coin silver watch, warranted a good time
keeper. Os. course the cash must accompany the names. This is a fine oppor
u njty to secure a handsome watch and at the same time give the members of
>our club $2.59 worth for $ 1.25. Let’s see now, who Will get the first watch.
All orders should be addressed to
THE TRIBUNE-OF-ROME.
A .W®: ■
ROJVLEL GEORGIA*
7