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KNOXVILLE JOURNAL. KNOXVILLE, GEORGIA. The difficulty that just now stares • good many people in the face, writes James Payn in the Independent , is how to apply the machinery (mental or other¬ wise) they possess, and which circsm stances have rendered no longer remu nerative, to other uses, The British farmer has to turn his attention to mak¬ ing jams. A rare of example of luck in this way has befallen the largest quill manufactory in the world. When steel pens came into vogue its death-bell seemed to have sounded; wheu all of a sudden “a happy thought ” indeed occurred to its proprietor—“ Toothpicks! 1 The establishment is transformed iuto a tooth¬ pick mill and now turns out 20,000,000 quills per annum. Senator Turpie, of Indiana, has in¬ troduced a bill into the United States Senate to provide for a sort of “direc¬ tory” of the most skilled mechanics and artisans in all parts of the country. The bill makes it the duty of the Commis¬ sioner of Labor annually to compile from the best and most authentic sources, and to prepare and publish a book to be called the “Register of Labor,” to be of the size of the Army and Navy Registers combined, to contain the names and ad¬ dresses of persons of known excellence in their vicinity in any line of skilled labor or mechanism, the names to be taken in proportion to population from the different States aud Territories. Only names of persons actually engaged in. the manual work of the respective call¬ ings are to be published. Allen G. Thurman and the mimbei thirteen, declares the New York Graphic, have a remarkable association, which be¬ gan with bis birth on the 13th of No vember, in the year 1813, four figures which constitute the number thirteeu. His name counts up thirteen letters, and the title of the office for which he has been named contains the same number, while by adding the day of his last nomination—7th of June—to the num¬ ber of the month, the product is again thirteen. The election takes place No¬ vember sixth (thirteen letters), and his symbol, “Tbe Red Bandana,” still further carries out the coincidence, though this is upset by the use of the double “n” in spelling the last word. And these examples do not exhaust the combination. Eggs of the Arctic Tern. A writer in the Oologht gives an inter¬ esting account of an egging excursion to Pumpkin Island: “As we neared the shore, Arctic terns rose from the rocks by hundreds, with screeches that were intended, perhaps, to drive us from their abode. Before I left the island I had collected 170 sets of eggs; 170 sets con¬ tained 3 eggs each, 2 sets contained 4 eggs each, and 4 sets ^mtained 2 each. I did not findasingle stet that contained nitre than 4 eggs. I found the average size of the eggs to be 1.04 by 1.20. The nests were composed of a few pieces of grass and seaweed; some sets were placed on fisherman the bare that rock. I learned from a as many as 500 eggs had been taken a few days before by persons who lived along the coast. I asked him what they did with them, and he answered that they would go on the island and smash a!’, the eggs they could find, and a day or two after they would go on and gather all the eggs they could. The smashing was done so that there would be noDe but fresh eggs. I again asked him what they did with them, and he said they used them for all the purposes for which civilized people use hen’s eggs.” You ate light, Julius Henry, a man may smile and smile and be a Prohibi¬ tionist still, but the average mau who smiles and smiles is more like a whiskey still ,—New York Sun. A FIERCE CONTEST. A FURIOUS BATTLE BETWEEN SHARKS AND ALLIGATORS. The Ocean Bloodhounds Attack the ’Gators—How the Rush was Avoided — Survivors Two Sharks and One ’Gator. Last week, says the 8t. Louis Globe Demo-rat , a contest was witnessed by a hunting Florida, party, on the Indian River, that they describe as being ex¬ the citing in the extreme. While fi.shing at mouth of a small creek their atten¬ tion was suddenly attracted by a furious splashing about and plunging in the water a Quarter of a mile from shore. Hastily pulling up their anchor they rowed out to investigate. On reaching the scene of disturbance they saw, to their astonishment, five or six alligators and as many “man-eating” sharks en¬ gaged in a deadly tight. The maddened brutes were too fren. ied with rage to notice the spectators and a good view was hud of the affray. The sharks, from appearances, had come up unawares on the saurians and had taken them by surprise. Two of the latter had lost ea h a foreleg. But they were all fighting furiously, snapping at the sharks with their ugly, wide opened jauv and using their tails to as good an desirious advantage as possible. But they seemed of getting away from the man • eaters, and at every chance they moved further out iuto the river. However, the wondering spectators, who thought the ’gators were afraid of tlieir oppo¬ nents, soon saw that the saurians knew a thing the or two. A few rods further on water shoaled to some three feet or less, and gliding on to th : s the ’gators seemed to be perfectly satisfied. The sharks were rather bothered by this state of affairs at first, as they preferred deep water, where they could dive and turn over, in order to get their cruel, big mouth fixed on a choice bit of alligator flesh. The latter, as soon as they reached this shallow place, remained quiet, only watching and their foes, who swam round round them, unable to make a deci sive blow. The blood flowing from the wounded ’gators seemed to° make the sharks fairly crazy, however and in few moments thev plunged in ferociously, with wide open jaws. The scene that ensued, say the eye witnesses, was beyond all descrintion The two were about evenly matched and each animal seemed to select one pqrtic ular antagonist and engage in a deadly embrace. The ocean bloodhounds endeavored to seize the forepaws of the ’gators, while the ’gators, fully aware of the powerful jaws of their antagonists, carefully avoided their rushes, and, in turn, with awful openness of jaw, tried to secure a mouthful of shank steak. The two dashed at one another in the wildest kind of fury, their eyes gleaming with fero¬ ciousness and anger, while the tails of the saurians threshed the water into white foam in their wild sweeps at then foes. The crunching of bones, the tear¬ ing, the ripping sound of giving fiesli and sullen roars of pain and rage from the wounded ’gators all combined to ren¬ der the combat most exciting. The sharks seemed to be fully aware of the folly of trying to cut through the thick, mail-like armor of their opponents, and, like skilful gladiators, tried to upset the ’gators, tected so as to get at their soft, unpro¬ under sides. But this the latter resisted with all their might, hugging the sandy bottom close and raising high their heads, with open jaws, displaying sets of long, cruel-looking teeth as they snapped at their opponents. The sharks made frequent feints,dash¬ ing within in ferociously, checking themselves a foot, as it seemed, of the noses of their enemies, and then, as the latter snapped at them, attenuating to dodge in under their jaws and seize their fore¬ paws, which is one of the ’gators most vulnerable parts. Several of them suc¬ ceeded in this, and then the combatants would become almost invisible in the foam raised by the furious struggle of the two mighty denizens of the water. If the shark missed, the saurian’s power¬ ful jaw would descend upon the shark’s back, aud his cruel teeth would be im¬ bedded into the flesh, aud then, with a snap and a jerk, the sickening sound of tearing flesh would be heard, as a huge piece and furious would fish. be torn out of the plunging The blood from tbe wounded animals dyed the waters red for rods and its taste seemed to render the combatants perfectly wild with fury. Their rushes became more and more furious, and it seemed to be a fight to the finish only t* end with the death of all. The indi¬ vidual cases were remarkable for their ferociousness. Here was seea a ’gator in a semi-ludicrous situation, half sitting and fore as it were, with his head uttering legs out of the water roars of rage as he endeavored vainly to grasp the shark in his jaws, while his long claws were ripping up the latter in a manner that made him thresh and churn the water with his Hail in a most violent manner. The shark had forced his way under the ’gator and by seizing him in an unpro¬ tected part of his body had him at his mercy. Near by would be seen a huge man eater struggling to break away from the fierce grip that his enemy had secured on his shoulder, the flail-like tails of both raising The columns of water high in the air. his ’gator held on with a bulldog grip, the fiery eyes gleaming as i he enjoyed fun, while every now and then he would savagely shake his victim as a cat would a huge rat. In another case both would be seen to have secured good holds, each engaged in tearing huge mouthfuls of flesh from his antagonist, their fury and anger seemingly in¬ creased by the pain from their wounds. Still another shark had forced his way under a huge old ’gator, and had man¬ aged to get a good hold on his tail in his massive jaws: the other had seized the shark’s tail in his own capacious jaws, while his sharp claws were lipping up the man eater in the most approved style. Both the were threshing their tails furiously in vain endeavor to get rid of their antagonist, historic but it seemed a case like unto the Kilkenny cats. For fully half an hour this sanguinary contest continued, and then only two ’gators and one shark were left of the fighters. Both the former had lost both forepaws each and one of them the greater the portion of his tail, while the rover of ocean seemed to be well satisfied with his share of the fight, having lost a good portion of his big under jaw; his sides and back also showed the deep fur made , , b tbe - The r ? ws y gator’s , claws. three survivors of the conflict remained ^l 11 for several minutes eyeing one an other > but none seemed to have any stomach for another round. Finally, after a sbort lnt erval, the shark turned tail and moved off into deep water, while the two saurians struck out for the flats - Tbe blInters rowed to the spot afterward, dead and they say the bodies of the reptiles showed the fury of the en counter - Paws and tails were bitten off and huge pieces of flesh were taken out— erne of the dead sharks having the bone ex P osed from his head to the tail, it bein S racked as clean as if a knife had cut ofI tbe fle3h - The largest ’gator measured 15 feet 8 inches long, the head alone measuring (i leet, with a width and openness of jaw in proportion, A Hoop Snake Killed. A genuine hoop snake has been cap tured by George Milton, a farmer, and i3 now on exhibition at Floris, Iowa. It is about 15 inches in length, is streaked with black aud white with a spiked tail, and is of a bronzed color on top of its head. Between the eyes is a small socket in which the end of the spike tail fits when coiled up like a hoop. Mr. Milton was in the field plowing when he saw an object like a hoop roll down and strike his plow beam with its tail. He saw that it was a snake, and when it at¬ tempted to roll away he struck it on the head with a club and killed the reptile. Mr. in Ramsey, a druggist, is has preserved it alcohol. It a reptile rarely seen in this country. This species of snake is said to be more poisonous than the rattle¬ snake .—New York Times. Theatrical Annoyances in Japan. Japanese theatres naturally have then peculiarities, A person jj.uailiar with them says a very singular custom pre¬ vails of allowing a visitor for a small extra foe to stand up, and the unfortun¬ ate individual behind him has no right to remonstrate or to rise and try to get a peer) at the stage. He may hear, but he cannot see. Another peculiarity is that the extravagantly disposed visitor may purchase the right to sit upon the stage wherever he likes, and the actors go on with their parts in apparent unconscious¬ ness of his presence. Our authority says he has seen a broad-sword combat fougbt all around a visitor, who showed no disposition to move.— Chicago Herald. The Boston Globe decides that the ex¬ pression “grammatical error” is correct English. NOBODY’S DARLING. The Blood-Curdling Stories a Cow boy Evangelist Tells. [From the St. Paul Pioneer.] The announcement that Charles W. Hiltz, the “converted cowboy,” was to speak at the young men’s meeting at Westminster attracted Church rather yesterday after- | noon than usual. Anybody a larger audience who supposed from the announcement that Mr. Hiltz.. is any “spring chicken” in the cowboy business was very much mistaken. He is still a young man, and although he has an honest face he has a square jaw and a general look on his “mug” that: would seem to indicate that he could be' a pretty dangerous sort of a cowboy if' he wanted to be. But he isn’t a cow¬ boy any more. been For engaged some nineteen, months he has in evan¬ gelistic work, in which he is very ear¬ nest and efficiect. The story he told yesterday was sim¬ ple and straightforward, and all the more graphic and impressive on that ac¬ count. It was a brief occount of his‘ life up to the present time. He was born in Baltimore, aud ran away from' home at a very early age. At the end of two years lie was so bad that when he went home nobody but his mother would His have father anything advertised to do with in him. the* own him papers. From that time he rapidly grew more hand tough against and desperate, and as his was every man and every man’s hand was against him, he got the name of “Nobody ’b Darling,” which he bore up to the time of his conversion.. He finally drifted out on the plains, where for many years he found a con¬ genial field for his eccentricities. He worked on ranches and he drove stage, but it got so he couldn’t keep a place more than two weeks. He was fighting had and experiences. drinking all tlie He time, and many was many times chased by the Indians and some- i times chased them. Sometimes, too, he would sleep out on the plains with only the howling winds and howling coyotes, for His simple accounts of some of his fights were quite place refreshing. For in¬ stance, at one where he went to work lie got into a fight with one of the men the first meal. He picked the fel¬ low up and threw him into the "middle of the table, and followed him with such force that the table was split in two, down and men, victuals, and all came on the floor, where they had it out together. He didn’t work long at that place. He must have been a formidable his sight in those days, with his long hair,, rough beard, his big white hat on. which was written his name, “Nobody’s Darling,” in letters so large that they hi!" could be read rods away. And all garb was in keeping. As lie roamed about, swearing horrible oaths, it was enough to drive terror to the heart of a timid man. And even those who were terribly with courageous didn’t hanker after a tussle “Nobody’s Darling.” In this garb and without doffing any of his personal characteristics, by some un cantrollable impulse—divine guidance he now considers it—became “East” all the way to Iowa. He made a big sen¬ sation wherever he went. For instance, he would go into a store and pass down the whole length of its swearing so horribly that the citizens, were struck dumb with terror. In one. place that he was in the Methodists were holding it a camp meeting, or, as he ex¬ pressed at the time, “raising hell and 1 keeping sleep.” a fellow from getting any But he got to going to the meetings, and He at one of them he was converted. tried to get up and say something, down but he couldn’t, and so first got and cried like a baby. The tears he had shed since childhood. Since that time he has been in the work, and has had good success in get¬ ting converts. As he was rather an im¬ petuous cowboy, so he is an ardent evangelist. from His experiences in going town to town are very trying, or would be if he didn’t have the gospel to comfort and sustain him. As it is, he can bear to be spit upon, or put out of saloons, or ordered from town, or any thing else. He says he wouldn’t ex¬ change terial wealth what he of has the got for all the ma¬ universe. Mr. Hiltz’s language still smacks of the plains somewhat, but he is evidently very sincere and earnest. An editorial in the Missionary Herald for June on “The Liquor Traffic with Africa,” contains a table showing the exports of in¬ toxicants from Boston to Africa for five years •-1883-7—amounted valued at 11,106,824. to 3,500,000 gallons,