Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, January 06, 1876, Image 1
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Standard and Commercial.
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YOL. IV. NO. 5. BEAUFORT. S. -C.. THURSDAY. JANUARY 6, 187(>. $2.00 per Annum. We Copy 5 Cents.
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The Frost King.
From out big winter palace
The king has started forth ;
The birds Lave left their hummer nests ;
The wind ia in the north.
The river and the mountain, The
brown and wrinkled sod,
Begin to show already where
His messenger* have tied.
The clouds umwll their ermine,
And o'er meadow, lane and street,
juike courtiers, spread their mantles down
Before the royal feet.
Close to the friendly corners
The sheltered ivies cling,
And wear their emerald cloaks despite
The coming of a king.
His mien And look are hanghty,
His voice is cold aud stern,
And yet his kisses on the cheek
Like crimson roses burn.
Down from the crested mountain.
With grandeur in his tread,
The wwstfcr king is ocming, with
A..white orown on his head.
dt3P J . ? /
N?* smid waving banuere,
Or to the sound of drums
Beating their gladdest music,
This conquering hero comes ;
m * < - Bat silent It and eolemnV
He enters his domain,
Silk twenty and a hundred good
Stout yeomen in his train.
Clasping the old earth tightly
Agairio frozen hreast,
As if "she were his chosen queen,
He says : 441 bring thee rest.
Thou hast reigned long and nobly,
J| tf Thy virtues all areknowu, ?
And thou wilt not forgotten be,
Though I possess the throne
Oodtented*7 resigning
"Mf^r'^fepter and her crown,
Benlatt} 9 downy coverlet
' The weary qneen lay down,
To AJefpPVftl: L'fer companions,
^ tl V\bo, At the touch of spring,
-j-i Shall ?uo again in time to see
The goiayofa king. ?*
\t _ i
^ i W 1
iJi'JWftMW K
A Cnrioue InNtnnee of Snake (.'banning.
A^li.Y\rfflons case Was lately reported
in an American newspaper of a snake
- ' a bpy. I will now give yon an? j
accpmi.t uf a snake-charming operation
in the .blast Indies, -which came under |
. hjt own observation, in which case a I
i?an^&a?aad the snakes; the number of
' snftke^ffffected upon which occasion, as 1
we^iis the dfc&th-dealiDg powers of the j
v reptiles,-make the case a notable one.
Some time after a servant of mine had
**died of tLe l ite of a cobra, being in the
l neighborhood of Attocki on the banks
' of the ii^ins, when visiting some Hindoo
temples in the vicinity I met a worshiper
named Mean Raj, who applied
' ^ the officiating fakir, or
prie^, A*deliverance" from' a plague of
cobra snakes which infested a plot of
labor upon it, especially as most of them
went bartfoot. The church failing to
help him, bis friends recommended him
td jupj&rdp' the charmer^. This he did
.ivy feekmf foh 'services of one Mungul
, ^ Deen, who avqwed his readiness to coax
; . \ the snakes d^t'of tiJetif holes to their
.. death as effectually as St. Patrick is said
V. to have done ih Ireland.
? J may heje .mention that snake charm."
ere- art* magicians in the East, and a
6^st? or elass. by themselves.
Tfe word 4 * caste" throughout India de*
* .netbs tie partleulai: calling to which an
in dividual belongs. Eastern charmers
or magicians are found frequently to be
of tb<i JBrahminical or priest caste, which
isKke high*^4 ?in consequence of
its qoiMrwI^pTtwith he "Hindoo religion
&inl ilsipy.sf^ifs. rhe order of Brahmins
ufiring dier the shoulder, to
disth)giush thenn1 This string, which is
of pe ou*c<iat ?^n and difficult of |
imStalofl^B eoETerrbJ and placed on the
body in infancy, with much religions
ceremony attending the operation. Such
snake cha^uers- as belong to this caste
weaiSti** sacml It ring. Eastern charm
fers are nomadic ju flierr habits, wandering
over India in every direction. Like
the priests, the^: lead lives of'celibacy, '
or at least pretend to do so. The Indian
magicians appear tp. be a thriving class
of m?Yi, contest if they can only show
tlicir fellow nicgt&ls their mystical powers
ami gain living. /Undhe occasion j
of which I wnW/tr ?ort of grand stand,
composed^! wooden steps, arranged one |
above thooiber, had been erected, from
which to view the operation of charming
the snakes. >? ; >
Mungui Deen, the charmer, was a
fat, middle-aged man, with intellectual
countenance and* sparkling eye. He wore
a mustache, bnt no beard, Which seems
to be peculiarly affected by the Mahometans.
Mnngnl bad the 'light, coppercolored
complexion which obtains among
the nativ?3 of the Upper Punjaub, in
sfcrong^boitiask to the coal-black hue of
the natives of Low?g Bengal. His dress
was freely decorated with all sorts of
sign* inrtndiag -snakes ef evefy form
and size, was of white?lin?h and scrupulously
well adjusted, from the becoming
tui ban downwards. .
Everything being pronounoed ready
by Mungui, he first lighted small fire,
L.to which he threw something which
flashed up with a blue blaze, and then
the fira wgg allowed quickly-to die out.
He than went fearlessly all over the
snake-infested ground, distributing as
he walked some sort of powder,-the nature
of which was known only to1 himself
f after which he seated hrafs?lf" on
terra firma, slinging the . in? viable
"tum-tmm " around his neck, and' nbldin?
an instrument in his hand which
emitted a sound when played upon very
much like that of a bag-pipe. The spectators,
who were natives, except myself
and two gentlemen named Harrison and
TS .11, who were traveling in India for
their pleasure, showed their?ppreciatibn
of the music by occasional howls of delight.
Mungul consecrated his instrjp
ments, throwing up his arms, and then
begau his music with a wild discordant
? air. Not a snake had been seen as yet,
but as soon as what I may call the concert
had fairly opened, snakes swarmed
from all sides with heads erect ardhoods
j^r expanded. After a while a larg6 oo:aMp
course of ouakee, some hundreds in nus*
> V
ber, could be seen twisting and turning
on their tails to where Mungul Deen sat
tum-tumming and piping as unconcern- ,
ed as if he were "receiving visits from
the doves of paradise instead of the
deadly enemies of mankind. The only ,
change noticeable in him was that he
moved his head continually as if salaam- 1
ing to the snakes. At last, when a very 1
large company of cobras was gathered
around the magician, and many an anxi
ous fear was expressed by the lookers-on
lest he should be stung to death, it was
apparent that he very perceptibly 1
changed the strain of his rude music 1
from the wild discordant sound which
had marked it to a rather plaintive air, :
which I thought his instrument incapable
of producing judging from the j
previous performance.
Every one now noticed that the snakes |
were, in military phraseology, "cliaDg ;
ing front to the rear upon Ihe center " !
by turning round upon their tails, with |
heads down, and on their bellies winding !
back as if intent on reaching their holes !
as fast as they had come from them. In
so doing their mouths came, or seemed I
to come in contact with the powder j
which Mungul Deen had previously i
scattered and, as it seemed, on tasting !
it they immediately gave up the ghost
in whatever part of the field they
chanced to be.
The snake charmer continued his piping
for some time, after which he performed
a dance that would have done
honor to the Dervishes. This dance
lasted about fifteen minutes, during
which Mungul kept at first slowly mov
ing his body in a circle, until the movement
and excitement of the dancer seemed
to grow intense. His arms were
raised and lowered ; his head swayed to
and fro as if it would come off, and at
last he fell to the ground, apparently in
i a state of complete exhaustion. This
was not so, however, for upon an attendant
administering some potion from
a cup, he stood np and declared the battle
won and himself unscathed.
The spectators then desoended from
their rostrum, and I can testify as one
of the party that on inspection that
ground was found to be well covered
with the caratssesof dead cobras, the
most deadly of the genus hydra. I
learned some time afterwards that the
owner of the land. Mean Baj, was no
more troubled by his former plague; in
fast was so well oontent that he had reworded
Mungul Deen liberally, while his
servants no more refused to till the
ground where the Indian snake charmer
had charmed so wisely and so well.
Don Carlos' Letter.
The following is the full text of the
letter of Don Carlos to King Alfonso, '
a few items of which have been before
published : The attitude of the Presi
dent of the American republic may be '
considered as the prelude of a war if
you do not recognize the independence !
of Cuba. The revolution which yon
represent is responsible - for the depth <
of ignominy at which Spain has arrived. j
Bat for the revolution this parricidal re- '
bellion would never have been born. 1
Had I been reigning it would never <
have gathered strength. The legitimate I
right of him who commands can alone ^
reform without constraint, yield with- i
out weakness, repress without anger, J
govern without passion. But the in- <
tegrity of the country is in question, >
and all its children ongnc to aeiena it. >
Wnen the country is in danger, parties '
disappear; there remains only Span- !
iards. If war breaks out I offer you a <
truce as long as the struggle with the <
United States lasts. Be it quite under- |
stood, however, that a foreign war is the 1
only motive of the truce I propose, and <
that I firmly maintain my rights to the i
crown, just I retain the certainty of ]
one day grasping it. Beyond the sea I <
have no territory governed by my arms, 1
and I cannot send my loyal volunteers <
to Cube, but I will defend these prov- I
inces and the C.m'abrian coast. I will t
arm as privateers the indomitable sons 1
of those shores which gave birth to El J
Cano, Legarpi and Cliurruoa. I will 1
pnr>ue the maritime commerce of our I
enemies by going to seek them perhaps
even in their own port0. In the event
of foreigu war do yon accept the truce
I Offer you? Let us, then, appoint the
delegates who must arrange it. Do you
reject it ? The world will be witness 1
that Catholic Spain has nobly performed J
its duty. Do yon prefer to ask it of the !
enemy who menaces you ? Humble
yourself if you have the heart to do it.
Ton will, perhaps, obtain a momentary
respite, but there will soon l>e an attempt
to exeito fresh conflicts, and
Cuba will be lost to the country. For
you will remain the dishonor of having
humbled yourself, and the shame of
liarinc hnmbled vourself iu VrtiH.
A Sea Fight. j
The Zanzibar correspondent of the I
Western Morning Xctcs, writing under
date October 20, says : The bark Pauline
has arrived at Zanzibar, with coals
for her majesty's ships. When off Cape
St. JRoque, South America, a sight was
presented that made the crew aghastnothing
less than the great sea serpent
engaged in a conflict with a whale. It
had wound itself twice round the whale,
and was twirling it with tremendous
velocity, lashing the water into foam.
The noise could be distinctly heard on
board, and after battling for 6ome time
both disappeared. The serpent's length
can be imagined. It had two coils around
1 a foil-sized sperm whale, with thirty feet
clear at each end. Its diameter was from
three to four feet. Theyr saw it twioe
afterward. Once it came very close to
the vessel, and raised itself about sixty
feet out of the water, as if about to attack
them. I have questioned men and
officer?, trying to find out any discrepancy
between their statements, but am a
convert to the belief that it was seen.
Another naval offioer writes to the
Western Morning News to precisely the
same effect ; and the officers of her
majesty's ships on the station are said to
be convinced of the truth of the story.
Severe Firing.?Mr. E. J. Reed
: says : A. faintidea may be formed, perhaps,
of the extent to which Sebastopcl
was fired upon when I say that from a
tax of six pence per cwt., which the gov.
eminent levied upon the proceeds of the
sales of old iron, shot, and shell, pic' ed
up and sold by the people, a sum of
ntarly 875,000 was re*?iaed.
A WESTERN TOWN.
The I'pti nod Dow no of Ciold Hill?Plenty
of Stories and Ix>ts ol Letters.
Gold Hill, Nevada, is a city of steps.
The towii stands at the head of Gold
canyon, a large ravine that empties into
the Carson nver at Dayton, some ten
miles away. There being little room for
the town, it has been squeezed down between
the banks of the canyon as compactly
as possible. Not only has it been
squeezed down into the bottom of the
cany< n, but it has also been squeezed
up the banks on each side to a consider
able distance. This peculiarity in the
locati m of the place makes it a city of
stee] s and steps. Maiu street, as the
name implies, is the principal thoroughfare
; indeed is almost the only street in
the town worthy of the name. On both
sides of Maiu street are plank sidewalks,
.l/\??-/vll-n rt o /\nr* OAAT4 VIA
u111 3 HULL D1UC W illiVO UOU uc ix^u "f juv |
other town in the world. They are made
up of a succession of steps. Hardly a
rod of level walk can be found in any
one j)lace on either side of the street
When you have walked past the door of
a singlo little shop, you must descend or
ascend from four to eight steps. You
pass another shop, cigar store or saloon,
and more steps are before you. Look
where you will, there are steps?steps to
the right, steps to the left, steps in front
and in the rear. In passing through
Main street there must be not less than
a thousand steps in the sidewalk on one
sido alone of the street?perhaps more
than a thousand. When a house has a
frontage on the street of twenty or
thirty feet you find steps in the middle
of the walk before it. As there are no
street lamps it is a very rough place in
which to attempt to move about after
dark. There is no regularity about the
steps. They occur in all kinds of places
and after all manner of intervals. You
descend six or eight steps and think you
have reached a place where all is plain
sailing, but have not proceeded six feet
before you find the descent softened by
two or three steps stuck in as an appendix
to the main flight. Were all the
steps on the sidewalk straightened out
they would make sidewalks for a town
four times the length of Gold Hill. Not
only are there whole cataracts of steps on
the streets that run lengthwise of the
canyon, as does Main, but to reach that
part of the town which has sloped up on
the banks, one must ascend whole flights
of stairs. At the head of these stairs are
small landings, then more stairs. All
the houses are full of stairs. * You step
up or down at every move you make in
passing through a house. No two rooms
appear to be on the same level. When a
Gold Hill husband remains out late and
starts for home a little top-heavy, his
wife?well acquainted with his style of
falling?spots him while he is yet afar
r>flf indeed, as soon as he has left his
favorite saloon she is able to note his
progress and calculate the chances of
bis breaking his neck from the time he
starts ont for home until he has reached
the door of his own apartment. The
bouses are either pushed far back into
the banks of the canyon, or climb up
there by a series of terraces?the house
arrowing in height in front as it gains
length in the rear. Alf. Doten, editor
and proprietor of the Gold Hill News,
bas built a residence on the east side of
the canyon which is four stories high,
md the roof of his house is not yet on a
level with the ground behind it. He has
\ cellar on a level with each floor in his
bouse, and should he .take the pains to
iig it, might have a cellar into which he
3ould walk from the gable end of his
garret. If still in want of cellar room
there would be nothing to hinder his
ligging another cellar twenty feet higher,
into which he could climb by a ladder
planted on the roof of his house. Alf.
;nters his house by a drawbridge* This
bridge starts on Main street, and running
?ast some forty yards, strikes his house
ibout half way to the top. When he
sees a man coming towards his house
with a copy of the News in one hand and
? big club in the other he touches the
wire of an electric battery and blows up
the bridge.
Death in the Ballroom.
Miss Willi el mina Townsend, a young
lady, died suddenly while dancing at a
party in Boston. A party of young
ladies and gentlemen, numbering about
forty couple, held a sociable in Pythian
Hall, and were having a merry time.
None were enjoying themselves more
than Miss Townsend. She had during
the evening danced several times, and
while waltzing, after having passed
arnnud the hall a few times, she sudden
ly fell from the arms of her partner
upon a settee a corpse. At first it was
supposed that she had only fainted.
Medical aid was summoned, but too
late. Her father, who was present, conveyed
the body to his home. She was a
little more than sixteen years old. The
physicians pronounced it a case of heart
disease. The event so worked upon the
nerves of another one of the dancers,
named Sarah Pollard, that she swooned,
and was taken to the police station and
placed upon a cot, where she lay in a
deathlike stupor for nearly two hours, at
the end of which time it was deemed
best to convey her to her homo, she j
then showing but slight symptoms of re- j
turning to her former self.
Wages Now and Before the War.
The Springfield (Mass.) Republican,
which has been investigating the present
wages of local labor as compared with
the wages of 1860, confesses to some
snrDrise at the result, all tho important
branches of industry except railroad'
service showing an advance still retained
of from forty to sixty-five per cent., and
the average advanced for all classes covered
by the investigation being still
fifty-two per cent. The general average
of the excess of present over ante-war
wages is given as follows:
Railroada 35 per cent.
Cotton 50
Woolen 65
Paper 55
Buttons 55
Cigare 50
Whips 44
Domestic 65
Iron and wood 64
Day labor 40
Average 52
The table is one of interest, and deserves
a little thought.
T1K SE6001) OLD DAYS.
Ob ! for the t>? od Old Days of the Lone Ago'. 1
Ah! those were the days when Santa
Clans was a veritable personage, and no
childish lips dared to scoff at him as a \
myth 1 There were chimneys then (
worth speaking of?great, wide, oldfashioned
fireplaces with plenty of room ?
for the good little man to descend with ]
all his treasures, and to fill the stockings f
at his leisure, while he warmed himself (
over the red embers of the half-burnt |
logs. And all around the chimney place ,
were the pretty tiles, in blue and white, .
like the old-fashioned tea sets of our
grandmothers. And even the tiles re- ;
peated the sweet Christmas legend as j
their quaint little pictures represented J
the various scenes of the nativity. There (
was the lovely Babe in the manger, with ,
blue rays of light, heaven's blue, en- (
circling his infant head; there was Mary ,
with a blue-flowing robe?Heaven s Dine
again?and there were the Magi kneeling
in adoration and offering gifts; there
were the humble oxen, too, with their
large eyes full of mute adoration; there
were the stars, and all the shining host ,
of angels with spreading wings and cu- ,
rious little harps in their hands, chant- i
ing that first Christmas carol; there was (
the brilliant star of the Orient guiding (
the travelers to Bethlehem; there was
Herod, in his pa'ace, eagerly questioning
the wise men of the East; and there
were the shepherds on the plain, tend- <
ing their flocks by night, and listening ,
with awe and wonder to the voiced .
chanting in the skiesI All this sweet,
marvelous story was to be read in the
blue and white old-fashioned tiles set in
the wide mantelpiece?and what prettier
story than this for the children to
read, as they gathered in the long winter
evenings around the blazing fire,
and conned the pictured legend o^r and ,
o'er ? It was easily read by the light of
the fire; easily read by the unlettered as
well as the learned; by the little lisping '
prattler at the knee; and the uncultured
slave who sat in the background.
And then the stockings which hung in
the snug chimney cerner I They were
all homespun, knit by the mother's busy
hands in those same long winter evenings,
when the click of the shining
needles kept up a sort of merry tune, as
the mother rocked in her great easy
chair and told old stories to the eagereyed
little ones.
But, alas! the chimney-corners sra
gone; the pretty tiles are cast away sni
broken forever; the rush-bottomed rocking-chair
has not now even a nook in
the garret, for it has totally passed
away; the knitting needles, too, are
gone?for the mother knits no more
stockings now?and, as for St. Nick! the
wise little folks of modern daye sneer at
his good-natured majesty, and he, too,
has taken his rubicund figure and comical
visage into the dim land of the
past!
We have heaters now, and pianps, and
gas in our houses, and other luxuries too
numerous to mention, which our grandmothers
never dreamed of?and, in
fact, which they seemed to exist very
well without?and so we have done with
rush-bottomed chairs and chimney-corners
forever.
But still there are some of the pleasant
old customs at Christmas which old <
Father Time has spared us. There
stands the Christmas tree, brilliant with
twinkling lights, and splendid with
gifts. Ah! that tree belongs to the past
as well as to the present, for what is it
but the same old mistletoe bough which
hung in castle and hall, and gladdened
the poorest cottage with its bit of smiling
verdure, as it looked merrily into
the grim face of old winter ?
Education of the Flea.
Mr. Bertolotto, the well known educator
of the flea, is now in New York
exhibiting his curious success in this
line. The insects he employs appear to
be the species of flea common to dogs.
The first lesson, he says, is to put the
insects in a small circular glass box,
1 ? nn/1 IrnrulVl'nrr tVlr
Wlicre, UJ J urnpui^ auu auwouie >uvu
heads against the glass for a day or two,
the idea is finally beaten into them that
it is aseless to jump; and during the remainder
of their natural lives, to wit,
about eight months, they are content to
crawl. Having corrected their intellects
in regard to jumping, the instructor now
fastens a delicate pair of wire nippers to
the middle part of the flea's body ; to
the nippers any desired form of miniature
vehicle, such as a wheelbarrow, a
car, a wagon, etc., is attached, and the
flea thus harnessed trots away with the
load, to the great amusement of the
looker-on. The professor harnesses his
insect pupils into a great variety of other
positions, and makes them perform
many curious duties, such as the opera
tion of a fortrtne-telling wheel, orchestra
playing, racing, etc. They are allowed
to feed twice daily upon the instructor's
arm. It remains for Mr. Darwin and
his compeers to determine what effect
this system of insect education is likely
to have upon the habits and development
of future broods.
The Georgia Swamp,
The expedition which is exploring the
vast and hitfierto almost unknown Okefenokee
swamp, in Georgia, has discovered
that there are no extensive lakes
on the east side of the swamp, as has
hitherto been believed. The supposed
lakes are in fact prairies covered with
swamp grass, and forming in the rainy
season wide sheets of water. Among
these swamp prairies are elevations resembling
islands in a sea, and covered
with a growth of trees. The soil of the
islands is very rich. There are only
two small lakes in the prairies, though
open spaces are to be found, varying
from twenty to twenty-five feet in
diameter, frequently very deep, and always
covered with a growth of water
lilies. They partly spent sometime
in tracing the stream known as
Double Branohes, which is about
fifty feet wide, and has a sluggish
current. The stream enters the swamp
at its northern extremity, and continues
its course about midway, and is evidently
the channel for the waters of Alligator
and Gum Swamp creeks and other
streams that ran into the great morass,
j It is believed that the Double Branches
' is a tributary of the Suwanee.
THE POSTAL SEKYNK.
Itfport of United Mtates Postmn?ter-<?eiiernl
Jewell.
The report of Postmaster-General
Jewell shows, among other things, that
the ordinary receipts of that department
luring the fiscal year ended June 30,
L875, were $26,671,218.50, an increase of
?299,344.80, or 1.13 per cent., over the
receipts of 1874, being less than the estimate
made in 1873 by $1,809,331. To
the ordinary receipts should be added
the sum of $650,000, subsidies to steamship
lines, drawn from the general treasury
and expended, and $120,141.09,
revenue from ordinary order business,
making the receipts from all sources
827,441,360.57. The expenditures of
ail kinds were $33,611,309.45, an increase
of $1,484,834.87, or 4.62 per cent over
those for 1874, and less than the amount
estimated in 1873 by $318,603. The
amount drawn from the general treasury
uader appropriations to meet deficiencies
was $6,054,646.96, from which should
be deducted the sum of $1,338,319.50,
pfifprrpd tn in a nrevious uaracrraph.
which will leave, as the legitimate
amount drawn on account of the past
fiscal year, $4,716,329.46, against $5,259,933.65
for the fiscal year of 1873-74 ; a
difference in favor of 1875 of $543,606.09.
The number of recorded complaints
during" the past year of missing
letters of value is 5,645, of which 2,677
were registered and 2,968 unregistered.
The registered letters contained, as is
alleged, currency, bonds, drafts, etc.,
amounting to $76,216.24, and the unregistered
valuable contents amounting
to $75,997.16. Of the 2.67T registered
letters reported as lost 1,083 were satisfactorily
accounted for, 911 actually lost
and 683 remain under investigation.
During the year 307 persons were arrested
charged with various violations
of the postal laws, the greater portion of
whom were not connected with the
postal service.
In the Money Order department, the
annual transactions have reached about
$80,000,000. The offioers of the department
are subjected to great annoyances,
and the department itself to great pecuniary
loss, by the prevalent system of
"straw-bidding" on long and expensive
routes. Several stringent laws have been
enacted with a view to the eradication
of the evil, but they have signally failed
to accomplish the desired resujt. The
department pays the railroad companies
for transportation of the mails about
$10,000,000 annually.
The weight of public documents sent
through the mads from members of
Congress was estimated by the depart
ment to be from two to three hundred
tons.
The act of June 23, 1874, requiring
prepayment in stamps of postage on
newspapers and periodical publications
mailed from known offices of publication
or news agencies, and addressed to
regular subscribers or news agents, went
into effect the first of January, 1875, and
from present indications it will realize
about $1,000,000 for the first calendar
year. The new system has worked so
admirably, and has given such general
satisfaction, that no change is deemed
necessary.
? What to do in Winter.
The winter comes in with appropriately
cold weather. Now is the time to
pnt on yonr thickest armor of flannel
underclothing, and to see to it that the
deserving poor within your knowledge
have such assistance as you can give to
fortify them against the inclement
weather. Whatever may be said against
our winters, says the New York Sun, it
should be remembered to their credit
that our death rate is lower in winter
than in summer, spite of the bitterness
of the weather. In London the reverse
is the case. Last winter was an uncommonly
severe season in England, and
the death rate in December, January
and February went up at a startling
ratio. The last week in November, like
the preceding one, was exceptionally
healthy in New York. For the week
ending November 27 the deaths were
but 492, against 521 last year; for the
week ending November 20, 475, against
548 last year. Diarrhea and acute pulmonary
diseases are fewer, and diphtheria,
which carried off in the two
weeks last year 122 persons, this year
slew but ninety-two. The present death
rate of New York is lower than the
average of thirty of the chief cities of
Europe.
One thing to remember : good flannels
are a vastly better protection against
the cold than hot rum, and they cost far
less. In fact, they keep you warm,
while the rum unfits you to bear the
cold. Put your warmth on the outside
rather than the inside.
An Anecdote of Joiiu ttanaoipn.
John Randolph boarded in George- j
town while a member of Congress, and j
generally rode over to the eapitol, bnt
sometimes he walked. On a keen frosty j
morning he was walking over to the \
House, and soon after he erossed Rock
creek bridge he was spied by Mr. B.,
who was walking on the oppos^p side of
the street, in tho same direction. Mr. j
B. had a speaking acquaintance with
Randolph, and seeing him across the
street, thought it a good time to improve,
and so crossed over to walk with him.
Now, Randolph had very long legs, and
was, even in his ordinary gait, a very
fast walker. With some difficulty, Mr.
B. came up with Mr. Randolph and j
saluted him with: "Good morning,
Mr. Randolph; you are walking fast this j
morning." " Yes, sir," squeaked Ran-'
dolph, "and I can walk still faster,"]
and thereupon Mr. Randolph increased
his long stride, and Mr. B. was soon I
left to pursue his way alone.
??
A Blessing.
The adage that afflictions are often
blessings in disguise receives verification
in the case of a poor man, whose wife
during the first year of their marriage
yanked at his hair until he became entirely
bald. This misfortune set his inventive
faculties at work, and the result
was the production of a hair inivgorator,
the sale of which has made the family
rich. He often says to his wife, as they
roll along in their carriage : " The j
most devoted love could not do more
for me than you have done."
ON THE RIO GR1XDE.
How the Mexican Robber* Coodart their
Raid* and Carry off" the Cattle.
Says the New Orleans Picayune : A
gentleman who, for some time past, has
been sojourning at Brownsville, Texas,
and has had an excellent opportunity of
observing the operations of predatory
bands of Mexicans who cross the Rio
Grande, gives the following description
of the modus operandi of these raids:
It appears that the owners of the
ranches on the Mexican side have formed
a species of league, of which Cortina
is the head and front and moving spirit.
On the day appointed for the raid, a
series of signals, well understood among
the leaguers, collects the various detachments
into one body. The proprietor
of each ranche summons his vaqueros
and peones, and, as in feudal times,
joins his forces to the main company,
under the command of a chief.
T* * **? ? M/Inn /?A
it is generauy t? sumo inuuaugv,
which brings together the inhabitants of
an extensive tract of country, the plot
of the excursion is concocted. All necessary
preparations having been made,
the Free Lauces make a rapid dash for
the river, and after crossing, either
by swimming, or by boats held in readiness
by their confederates, the band
strikes out into the country, but never
in a direct route. The ranche upon
which the principal attack is made forms
the vortex of an angle, the sides of
which are the lines of advance and retreat
of the raiding party.
When the cattle, etc., have been secured,
swift couriers are sent out, who
make a detour, and, crossing the river,
notify their friends of the point where
Ihe predatory band is likely to cross.
The men on the Mexican side of the
river then post themselves advantageously
to cover the retreat of the successful
robbers. The beeves are purchased
from the raiders at $5 per head by large
cattle dealers, and sold in the markets
at prices ranging as high as $17 per
head. This is, therefore, a lucrative
business for bcth thieves and purchasers.
ihe organization of these
chevaliers d'i7iduslrie is almost perfect,
and their nefarious schemes are carried
out with a unity of ooncert and action
that generally crowns them Vith success.
Bloody scenes are frequently enacted
during these incursions. Not long since
a band of Mexicans captured, at a small
puebla near Brownsville, a poor schoolmaster,
who had unfortunately incurred
their hatred. The villains deliberately
hacked off the legs of the miserable
man and then commanded him to walk
on the bleeding stumps if he would save
his life. In his agony he made a few
oonvulsive movements, while the inhuman
butchers slashed him with their
swords and knives.
Not content with this barbarous treatment,
one of them, suggesting that the
stumps were too long, cut off what remained
of them ly dividing the hip
joints. Death soon came to terminate
the sufferings of the unfortunate man.
The knife with which this diabolical
deed was done was over one foot in
length, and is now in the possession of
Lieutenant McNalJy, of Texas.
A Tough Story.
Two old plowmen down East were
once telling tongh stories of their exploits
in breaking np new gronnd.
"Up to Dirmont," said one, "twentyseven
years ago this spring, I was plowing
in stnmp gronnd with a team of nine
pair of cattle for Sol. Cunningham; we
were going along, making not very
smooth work among rocks and stumps.
Well, one day the point oi the plow
struck against a sunk stump four feet
through, split it square across the heart,
and I was following the plow through,
when the thought passed through my
mind that the pesky stump might snap
together and pinch my toes, so I just
gripped the plow handles firm, swung
my feet up out o' the way, and the stump
sprung back and catched the slack of
my pantaloons. That brought everything
up standing. Well, I tightened
my hold, aud Sim Swithin, he and Sol
was drivin', they spoke to the cattle, and
we snaked that stump right out by the
roots, and it had awful long ones." "It
must have been strainin' on your suspenders,"
said the other. "My wife
knit them," was the reply.
Borrowed the Money.
The Independent tells the following
story: The evening before his inau
guration as Vice-president, nenry wuson
called on Mr. Snmner and said:
"Snmner, can yon lend me a hundred
dollars ? I have not got money enough
to be inaugurated on." Mr. Sumqpr replied
: " Certainly. If it had been a
large sum I might not have been able to
help you; but I can always lend a friend
a hundred dollars." He then gave Mr.
Wilson a check for the amount, and
after the latter had retired .Mr. Sumner
remarked : " There is an incident worth
remembering?such a one as could never
have occurred in any country but our
own." That canceled check, if still in
existence, with Senator Sumner's signature
on its face and Vice-President Wilson's
on the back, would be a very desirable
autograph.
Served Right.
Of all small vices, tobacco chewing if
about the raoht offensive ; and it is astonishing
that people will tolerate it
Here is an amusing embarrassment, thai
the man deserved : A young Hartford
marchant called on a young lady a few
evenings since, and was shown into the
parlor to await her appearance, when,
the lamps being unlit, he removed a
large quid of tobacco from his moutb
and threw it out of the window, as he
supposed. When the lady appeared
with a light, the most prominent object
in the room was that young man staring
in a very embarrassed way at a big chunk
of tobacco pinning the lace curtain to th<
unopened window.
Will Not Go.?On one ^block in th<
western part of Detroit, says the Fret
Press, there are eight ladies who won't
go to church on Sunday because a ninth
lady has an India shawl and they have
not. And the lady who has it won't gc
because there is no chance for her t(
show off the elmwl before the eight,
whose feelings ?he well *ade?taade<
I
Items of Interest,
A good wife w a good thing, bat a bad
husband beats her. j
The late elections wafted ten Mississippi
editors into office.
Seal-brown stockings are colored with
picric acid, an active poison.
If man thinks he would feel fetter off,
by all means let him off go.
There are 65.250 beggars in Paris,
two-thirds of whom are females.
An average crop cf wheat in the
United States is now about 300,000,000
bushels.
The Russian government owns 148
salt works, which produce annually
about 400,000 tons.
Mrs. Matthew Griswold, of Connecticut,
had governors for father, brother,
husband, son, and nephew.
Call a boy John, and he will be steady;
call him Charles, and he will deviate into
Charlie, and go in for flirtation.
New York youths in their twentieth
I year affect spit curls. JNo wonder oparn
trembles at the name of America.
Between five thousand and six thousand
houses in Philadelphia have been
registered for Centennial visitors.
Vice-President Wilson is said to have
left an estate worth about $3,000, and
his place in Natick is valued at $2,500.
The Belgians are the least litigious
people in the world, as it takes an average
of 27,000 of them to support one
lawyer.
A high Uhlan officer of the Prussian
guards has been sentenoed to a year and
a half imprisonment in a military fortress
for being married to a young lady who
was not of noble birth.
There is a dispute betueen Indiana
and Kentucky about the ownership of a
small island in the Ohio river near
Evansville. It will not be squabbled
for any the less viciously because it is
worth little or nothing.
The Leek (Staffordshire) Improvement
Commissioners have refused to receive
into their cemetery the following epitaph:
"Twenty-one years a dutiful
daughter, three years a chaste and virtuous
sweetheart and forty years a loving
wife."
A Mississippi alligator munched off
the wooden left leg of an editor the other
day, when he might just as well have
had the whole body of a Congressman in
place of it Is there a moral here?
Isn't there something here for parents
and guardians to ponderovsr ?
A man named Nathaniel Lyle smuggled
himself into a box car on a branch
of the St. Paul railroad, between Austin
and Mason City, Iowa. The car took '
fire and Lyle suffered some injuries.
I He sued the oompany for damages.
Physicians swore that Liyia was amiccea
with oonsnmption, the res alt of partial
suffocation and roasting in the car. and
a jury gave the plaintiff a verdict for $1,500.
"
Mme Antoinette Sterling, having been
invited by Canon Kingsiey to Eversley
Vicarage, sang to him his ballad. " The
Three Fishers." She says: 41 He had
never seen me before, and when I came - *
to that part of the song which expresses
the suspense of the weeping women on
the shore, I heard him say: * Go an?
that's right.' But when the suspense
was over and the bodies were lying on
the sands, missing his precious exclamations,
I looked up and saw him sitting *
with his face in his hands, crying at his
own pathetic story."
The United States Currency.
It is shown in the report of the comptroller
of the currency of the United
States that there was received at the redemption
agency of the treasury, from
June 20, 1871, to November 11, 1875,
8219,886,115. Of this amount $92^)00,000,
or about forty-two per cent, was received
from the banks in New York city.
The total amount received by the comptroller
for destruction frcm the redemption
agency and from the national banks
direct was $166,935,258, of which
amount $15,091,351 were issues of the
banks of the city of New York, $12,519,877
of those of the city of Boston,
$5,650,667 of Philadelphia, $3,366,735 ,
of Baltimore, $3,111,600 of Pittsburgh.
$2,796,915 of Chicago, $1,811,719 of Sfc
! Louis, $1,288,570 of Cincinnati, $1,386,
692 of New Orleans, $1, nu. /ou 01 Albany,
and of those of the other redemp>
tion cities $3,307,795.
The amount of national bank notes
, now ontstanding upon which the charter
; number has been printed is $156,256,347,
leaving $101,960,555 of notes in
circulation without such, numbers. If
the present system shall be continued
, until these notes are replaced by new
, notes bearing their cbfrter numbers,
economy will result to the banks, for the
expense of assorting will always thereafter
be greatly reduced, and when this
>' shall have been done the machinery now
in operation will be ready and adequate
for the redemption of national Dank
. notes in specie.
The Egyptian Army.
CoL S. H. Lockett writes from Egypt
to his friends in Montgomery, Ala.: I
brought quite a number of applications
for service in the khedive's army with
. ? * .11 (kAM T ham
iuo wnen x iu ou vi ?uvwv * v
i bad to reply that the Egyptian government
has no desire to employ foreigners
simply because they are such. A few
) Americans were wanted to fill certain
[ special positions, where previous inr truc'
tion and experience would make them
) useful. These positions are connected
, with the staff departments of the army,
, and they are now nearly all filled.
l There are no foreign officers in the line
> of the Egyptian army?and they are not
L wanted. They could not command the
k soldiers because they do not know the
I language of the country. Besides, the
: native officers are now a well-instructed,
5 competent set of men. No man can be
a non-commissioned officer unless he
can read and write, and the commis)
sioned officers all pass a rigid examina
tioa before appointment. Gen. Stone,
b chief of staff, has brought thin about
t within the last six years. There are
) now twenty American officers in the
> Egyptian armv. They are partly en>
gaged in the bureaus at headquarters
, here in Oairo* and partly&a explorations
in the for interior.