Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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jr, ' ? VOL. IV. NO. 8. POET KOYAL, S. C., THUESDAY, NOYEMBEE 27, 1873. . flBWWS * I No Letters. ? 1 rav at mom "I shall l^ave one to-day I say at night, "I ?h*n have one to-morrow But day and night go creeping slow away, And leave me with my sorrow. And is he sick ? or is he dead, or changed ? Or, haply, has he learned to love another ? If I could know him careless or estranged, My pride my love might smother. Last night, indeed. I dreamed a letter came, Ah! welcomer than any first May blossom! And then I heard my mother call my name, And hid it in my bosom. And, cheated, woke, and heard the night wind rave, And hid my wet eyes in my lonely pillow; And dreamed again, and saw a nameless grave. Half hidden by a willow 1 THE FAT MAN'S DILEMMA. An English gentleman of true John Bull proportions?weighing some eigh teen or twenty stone?had occasion 8omQ years ago, anterior to the railroad to travel in summer by stage-coach from Oxford to London. The stage carried six inside; and our hero engaged two places (as, in consideration of his size, he usually did) for himself. The other four seats were taken by Oxford students. These youths, being lighter than our Modern Lambert, reached the stage before he did, and each snugly possessed himself of a corner seat, leaving a centre seat en each side vacant. The round, good-natured face of John Bull soon after uppeared at the carriage door; and, peeping into the vehicle and observing tne local arrangements, its owner said, with a smile: " You see I am of a pretty comfortable size, f entlemen; so I have taken two seats, t will greatly oblige me if one of you will kindly move into the opposite seat, so that I may be able to enter." "Mw eir " 'said n nAlt Wllinc Oww%* w"? "?- - r- ^ o law-student, " possession is nine-tenths of the law. You engaged two seats. There they are, one on each side. We ^ engaged one each, came first, entered regularly into possession, and our titles to the seats we occupy are indisputable." " I do not dispute your titles," said the other, 44 but I trust to your politeness, seeing how the case stands, to -enable me'to pursue my journey." 44 0, hang politeness!" said a hopeful young scion of some noble house, 441 have a horror of a middle seat, and would not take one to oblige my grandmother ; it's ungraceful as well as uncomfortable; and, besides, one has no chance of looking at the pretty girls along the road. Good old gentleman, arrange your conoerns as you please ; I stick to my corner. And he leaned back, yawned, and settled himself with hopeless composure in his place. Our corpulent friend, though a man not easily discomposed, was somewhat Sut out by this unmannerly obstinacy, [e turned to a smart-looking youth with a simper on his face?a clerical Btudent who had hitherto sat in a revery, possibly thinking over his chances of a rich benefice in the future. 44 Will you accomodate me ?" he asked ; 44 this is the last stage that starts for London to-day, and business of urgent importance calls me to town." 44 Some temporal affair, no doubt," paid the graceless youth, with mock | gravity; " some speculation with filthy 1 - lucre, for Us object. Good father, at w vour age your thoughts should turn heavenward, instead of being confined to the dull, heavy tabernacle of clay that chains us to the earth." And his companions roared with laughter at the " good joke." A glow of indignation just colored the ttrauger's cheek ; but he mastered the feeling in a moment, and said, with much composure to the fourth?" Are you also determined that I shall lose my plaoe ; or will yon oblige me by taking a central seat ?" "Ay, do, Tom," said his lordship to the person addressed ; " he's something in the way of your profession, quite a physiological curiosity. You ought to accommodate him." " May I be poisoned if I do !" replied the student of medicine. " In a dissecting-room, he'd make an excellent subject; but in a coach, this warm weather, too ! Old gentlemau, if you'll put yourself under iny care, I'll engage in the course of 6ix week s, byj a judicious course of depletives, to save yon hereafter the expense of a double seat. Bat, really, to take a middle seat in the v month of July is contrary to all the c rules of hygiene, and a practice to Y which I have a professional objection." I And the laugh was renewed at the F old gentleman's expense, ft By this time, the patience of coachee, ' who had listened to the latter part of the dialogue, was exhausted. "Harkce, gemmen," suid he. "settle the business i rs y6u like ; but it wants just threequarters of a minute of twelve, and with the first stroke of the University clock my horses must be off. I would not wait three seconds longer for the king, God bless him. Twould be as much as my place is worth." And with that he mounted his box, took up the reins, bid (he hostler shut the door, and sat with upraised whip, listening for the expected stroke. As it sounded from the venerable belfry, tho horses, as if they recognized n the signal, shot off at a gallop with the 9 four young rogues, to whom their own W rudeness and our fat friend's dilemma afforded a prolific theme for merriment during the whole stage. \TA?r.T>V>i'la tho enhieet of their mirth lUVOUWu^iV, ?v W?.V)|.V. hired a postcliaise, followed and over took them at the 6econd change of horses, where the passongers got ont ten minutes for lunch. As the postchaise drove up to the inn door, two young chimney-sweeps passed with their bag3 ancl brooms ana their well^ known cry. Jv "Come hither, my lads," said the Z corpulent gentleman; " what sav yon to 1 a ride?" The whites of their eyes enlarged into still" more striking oontrast with the dark shades of the sooty cheeks. " Will I you have a ride, my boys, in the stagetouch?" " Ees, zur," said the elder, scarcely daring to trust the evidenoe of his ears. " Well, then, hostler, open the stagedoor. In with you ! And, d'ye hear ? be sure to take the two middle seats; so, one on each side." The guard's horn sounded, and coaohee's voice was heard: " Only one minute and a half more, gen'lemen; come on !" They came, bowed laughing to our friend of the corporation, and passed on to the coach. The young lord was the first to put his foot on the steps. " Why, how no*, coachee ? What conlounded joke is this ? Get out, you rascals, or I'll teach you how to play gentlemen such a trick again." " Sit still, my lads; you're entitled to your places. My lord, the two middle seats, through yotfc action and that of your young friends, are mine; they were regularly taken and duly paid for. I choose that two proteges of mine shall occupy them. An English stagecoach is free to every one who behaves quietly, and I am answerable for their good conduct; so mind you behave, boys ! Your lordship has a horror of a middle seat; pray take the corner one." " Overreached us, by Jove !" said the law Btudent. " We give up the cause, and cry your mercy, Mr. Bull." " Blythe iB my name." " We cry quits, worthy Mr. Blythe." " lou lorget tnat possession is ninetenths of the law, my good sir, and that the title of these lads to their seats is indisputable. I have installed them as my locum tencntcs, if that be good law Latin. It would be highly unjust to dislodge the poor youths, and I cannot permit it. You have your corner." " Heaven preserve us !" exclaimed the clerical student. " You are surely not afraid of a black coat," retorted the other. " Besides, we ought not to suffer our thoughts to dwell on petty earthly concerns/i but to turn them heavenward." " I'd rather go through my examination a second time than to sit by these dirty boys," groaned the medical student. " Soot is perfectly wholesome, my young friend ; apd you will not be compelled to violate a single hygienic rule. Tho corner you selected is vacant. Pray get in." At these words, coachee, who had stood grinning behind, actually cheated into forgetfulness of time by the excellence of the joke, came forward. " Gentlemen, you have lost me a min ute and a quarter already. I must drive on without ye, if so be ye don't like your company." The students cast rueful glances at each other, and then crept warily into their corners. As the hostler shut the door he found it impossible to control his features. " 111 give you something to change your cheer, you grinning ras cal," aaid the disciple of .flSsculapins, stretoliing out of the window ; but the hostler nimbly eluded the blow. " My white pantaloons!" cried the lord. " My beautiful drab surtout!" exclaimed the lawyer expectant. " The filthy rascals !" The noise of the carriage-wheels and the unrestrained laughter of the spectators drowned the sequel of their lamentations. At the next stage a bargain was struck. The sweeps were liberated and dismissed with a gratuity; the seats shaken and brushed ; the worthy sons of the university made up, amongthemselvefc, the expenses of the postchaise ; the young doctor violated, for once, the rules of hygiene, by taking a middle seat, and all journeyed on together, without further quarrel or grumbling, except from coachee, who declared that "to be kept over time a minute and a quarter at one stage and only three seconds less than three minutes at the next, was enough to try the patience of a saint, that it was !" A Municipal (lem. The City of Birmingham, England, suffers from an embarran den richcnscn. A gentleman recently deceased, who seems to have possessed more money than brains, bequeathed a valuable diamond to the corporation, and the members of the Town Council have been puzzling their hrains to decide what they should do with the legacy. One of the Aldermen suggested that the gem should be placed in the art gallery, but it was objected tliut it would not be safe there, and would be altogether " too tempting." The Mayor thought it would probably "be better in a public hall," while one of the Council expressed the hope "that it would not go forth to the town that the Free Libraries Committee were afraid to trust the diamond in tho art gallery." After much discussion it was decided that the diamond should be placed 011 exhibition in the art gallery, but that His Honor the Mayor should have the privilego of wearing it on such oocasions as he may desire." The importance of the Brummagem civic functionary will doubtless be much enhanced by his appearance under the shelter of the corporation gem. A Startling Query. Gerald Massey, tho English poet and lecturer, appeared on a Sunday evening in New York before a large audience, his subject being the words of Robinson Crusoe's man Friday: "If that God so stroDg why He not kill that devil ?" The lecturer stated that in this passage of De Foe's there was more food for thought than in any other he had ever written, and the expectations of the audience were great when he started out in a very intelligent manner. Before going far, according to New York papers, the lecturer plunged into a sea of mythology, Hebraic and Egyptian, from which lie did not return even at the end of the leoture, leaving his audience so completely bewildered that nobody had any idea what he was talking abont. A city paper says : " Mr. Massey's learning will claim him recognition as a lecturer; but if his other lectures are as mystical as 4 Why Does not God Kill the Devil?' very few of his auditors will understand, although they may admire him." Bcocher Among: "Bulls" and " Boars." Mr. Beecher in a Friday lecture related his experience at the Stock Exchange: "One day (he said) I stood in the Exchange to hear the maniacs ' holler,' and to try to learn, if possible, what their hnbbnb meant. It seemed that each one stood barefooted on hot iron, and that it hurt so they were forced to dance and yell. I said to the VicePresident or Secretary, who was at my side, 'Do yon understand what they say ?' ' Perfectly,' said he, ' I can't see how you do,' said I. ' Suppose,' said he, ' there are fifty or sixty mothers at an evening party, all chattering and laughing and having a jolly time. One of them has a baby in an adjoining room. It strikes up a plaintive waiL Do you think that all the sounds in that Babel of noise can drown the voice of that child?can keep the sad notes of that cry from reaching the mother's ear?' 'No,'said I. 'Just so,'continued he. ' In all this din I sort out the different sounds. I catch those that are significant, for interest has made it necessa#p and training has made it easy. Thus, he reasoned, men do things that seem impossible, and to carry the analogy higher: "Our High Priest looking down upon us hears our plaints. He feels for us as we feel for those who are dear to us, and He answers us. I believe that God sometimes smiles at the childishness of our whines, just as I do when my baby tumbles and cries because it thinks it has been hurt. I do not smile because 1 do not feel, but because I appreciate the ludicrousness of the younster's position. Mirth and affection are a part of devotion." Death in the King. I One of the most amusing perfornfances in a circus ring is entitled the " one horse velocipede." An attache of the show staggers into the ring, clad as simultating a drunken boor. In vain the ringmaster tries to whip him out. j He wants his wife. Another performer, in female toggery, responds to his calls for " Hannah Jane," rushes upon the sawdust and embraces him. The crowd, equally divided between the deceived and those who "know a thing or two," all laugh. They laugh as crowds have laughed ever since spangles under and I misery beyond the glares of the lurid ' lights over the Bawdust were known. J In this dilemma the " one horse veloci| pede " is summoned by the manager. ' It is a wheel going upon its hub and dragged by one horse. Upon it the boors (?) are induced to taae a seat. The horse is then speeded around the ring, the wheel whirling on its centre so rapidly only experts could keep their places upon it. It ia a funny but very dangerous "trick." 80GeorgeReibold, ' J* /?* ?J <4 XXA 8. ponormer, iuuuu ii? m viuv/inuavi? nu was thrown violently from his place, picked up and carried out. The consternation of the audience was allayed and the performance went on, while Mme. Dockrill, fresh from her great bareback act, leaned over and nursed the poor fellow with womanly care until surgeons came and pronounced the case critical. And while Reibold, with concussion of the brain, lay at the Gait House watched over by his lifelong " partner " as by a brother, and wavering between life and death, the crowd roared over " the one-horse velocipede act" in the distant tent, as if " circus acting " wore but child's play. A Tableau Group in Flames, A verry narrow escape from a painful | death occurred at a tableau exhibition in a public hall in Grand Rapids, Mich. A correspondent of the Detroit Post says : "An entertainment given by the Ladies' Literary Society closed with a tableau having twenty-five young ladies and eight little girls on the stage. During a bright light produced by magnesium wire, a blazing substance dropped upon Miss McKee, one of the i tableau group, standing near the stage , wing. She darted into the centre to separate from the others, her clothes aflame, but accidentally touched a little daughter of Leonard Remington, whose clothes instantly blazed. The largo audience was in greut consternation, when Col. J. E. Messmore, in the audience, ' * ' ? ? i it.. .1... quickly oounaea upou me sutgu suu bugged the blazing child between himself and the overcoat which he wore, extinguishing the flames, but burning i his hand severely. The clothes dropped from her in blackened shreds when released. Her life was saved by his presence of mind, but one side of her face and body is badly but not dangerously burned. Miss McKee had, in the meantime, been pulled off the stage by men behind the scenes, who stripped off her clothing. She was but little burned. The result was announced, the panic of the audience subsided, nnd the hall was soon cleared. Dress Plainly Some one has given the following reasons why people should dress plain! ly on Sunday. These reasons arc as valid any other day in the week :? J It would lessen the burden of many who now find it hard to maintain their ; place in society. Ti ?1J 4k a Jams a? 4-nmnfq_ lb WUU1U 117SDCU luc lUitu v? w?m|/vh i tions which often lead men to barter honesty and honor for display. If there was less strife in dress at churcli, people in moderate circumstances wonld be more inclined to attend. Universal moderation in dress at church would improve the worship by the remittal of many wandering thoughts. It would enable all ol asses of people to attend church in unfavorable weather. It would lessen, on the part of the rich, the temptation to vanity. It would lesson, on the part of the poor, the temptation to be envious and malicious. It would save valuable time on the Sabbath. Sensation Reports. The daily papers are jost beginning to find out what business men knew about the panio, namely, its influence on manufacturing enterprise, and now that the worst part of it is over, they are filling their oolumns with details of the stc >onge of manufacturing, etc. Those jrho are at all acquainted with the boot and shoe manufacture know that we have now arrived at the usual season for stopping between the fall and spring trade, and if the panio has cut us off from three or four weeks' trade, the full influenoe of that was discounted three or four weeks ago, and only ill effects can result from an attempt now to revive the general distrust and want of confidence which prevailed toward the latter part of September. We have now, we trust, got beyond the influence of any such efforts, and we are sure that, in the boot and shoe trade, the prospects of a large and profitable business-in the near future were never better. Collections are reasonably good, because manufacturers have made up goods onlv on orders and have not over-supplied the market, so that they have no surplus on hand. The oountry is, also, notoriously short of goods, whioh they must and will have as 'soon as money becomes easier throughout the country, as it is now fast becoming in New York city. Manufacturers and leather dealers are showing their confidence in this prospect by their preparations for the future, and by the firmness with which both the raw goods and manufactured articles are held, and those who base their action on the newspaper reports so far as to presume that we are going to have a dull, hard winter in the shoe and leather business will, we are confident, find themselves mistaken. We have had no failures of any consequence in the trade, and with the money market daily working easier, the distribution of goods must be accelerated in the future to make up for the deficiencies thuB far experienced.-Shoe and Leather Chronicle. The New York City Labor Market. The New York World, in a review of the labor market and the progressive shrinkage of values, says: The Typographical Union will use its influence to persuade all employers throughout the city not to discharge their operatives, but rather to reduce the wages of all, or put them on short time. This plan, they think, would prevent much suffering which can in no other way be avoided. The same men will adviso all their confreres to assist the employers by willingly working a little longer for the old wages or accept a reduction of pay. This is no time, they think, for employers and employed to be at war. The panic is a calamity to all, the rich as well as the poor, and they contend that all ought to help one another to weather it VUlUUgUi The coopers are the only workingmen on strike at the present time. A?arge number of that very numerous class have taken exception to the course pursued by the firm of Havemeyer k Elder, aad are tryiug to make them yield to the demands of the workingmen by uniting on a strike. ThuB far the firm have stood their ground, keeping their shop in working order by importing coopers from the country. About 200 parasol-makers, girls, are at present idle in consequence of a strike. The employers recently reduced the prices from 7 and 11 oents apiece to 5 and 10 cents. Atone book printing company and binding establishment in Williamsburg, the largest in the vicinity of New York, the operatives have been put on nine hours' time. In the various job offices the expenses of running have been cut down to the lowest. In the Scums. Eugene Sue, the French novelist, used to visit in portions of Paris. In ragged and dirty apparel, he wended his way city-ward, to localities where even a cleanly mechanic would have attracted unpleasant attention. Into theso horrid resorts, the Ratcliffe Highway and Seven Dials of Paris, differing only from their London parallels in that the degraded tjpesof humanity in Paris i have a larger share of the demoniac element in their composition, the ci-dcvanl dandy found his way, trusting to his plausibility and good naturo to keep him out of harm, and to his preeminent muscular force to extricate him should he become entangled in ja row, or, as the denizens of Jttatclifle Highway would term it, a " tabernacle fight." Here, in some low tavern, he would shake hands, and be hail-fellowwell-met with the scum of humanity, the assassin, the forger, the thief, the chiffonnier, the pseudo-maimed, and the mendicant. Here he would assist at wretched festivities, when bad liquids would mock the miserable beings who partook of them with some maddening imitation of joviality. Here Sue was abie at last to see life as it was, without any of the lacquer which had seemed so wearisome in the gilded saloons of fashion. Sickness and Medicine. Among the dispatches read at the examination of Phelps, the defaulter, at Alhanv. was one as follows : ' Charley was very sick all night, but j doctors now say he is out of danger." This, the District-Attorney said, he ; understood to mean that the examinai tion of the Treasurer's book was called j for and there was great danger of an exposure. The District-Attorney also read one signed Harriet Snyder, to Mr. Phelps, calling upon him for a settlement ; also one signed Edwards, to Sherwin, saying Charley had had a relapse, could live but a few days, and calling on Sherwin to get medicine and come up to Albany at onoe. This, the District-Attorney said, he read as meaning that his rascality had been discovered, and it was necessary for Sherwin to oo me to his relief with the money, whloh he oalled medicine. Making her own Hat Mr/ Howard Paul, in his entertainment, says " that when a sudden sharp i fever of economy attacks a woman, and e she determines to make a' hat or a g bonnet for herself, for a brief period v between the formation of the resolution c and the consummation of the deed her c mind passes through various amusing t stages of agitation. First, she gets I herself up in her most attractive guise, c and proceeds to purchase a ' shape t as I believe the fragile outline or frame- 4 work of the future structure is called? c then, taking the ' bus home, she drinks r in the details of every hat that enters, [ and learns them all by heart, and does f mental sums over the cost of the rib- j bon, and makes up her mind to have a flowers in hers like those worn by the t woman in the corner, and lace like that i gaudy-looking creature in the middle, t The next day she walks down the street, a and studies all the hats that oome along; and, when a woman passes her with one t on, she twists her neck round to see t how it looks behind, and is disgusted to f see that the woman is also dislocating ] ? 4 1 - i-J 1 i ner Decs 10 see now hub trimo uoi uan. When she arrives in front of a milliner's, ' she lingers until she has analyzed all ' the hats in the window, and she determines to trim hers nineteen different ways, and decides not to have flowers like the woman who sat in the corner. Then she shoots into the shop, and asks to ' see hats' with the air of a person who wishes to invest a small fortune in head-gear. She examines every hat in the establishment, overhauls ten bushels of flowers, gets about fifteen shillings' worth of work out of the saleswoman, and then says she will 'look farther.' Then she gets home with her mind fixed on thirty-eight or nine different styles in which she wants to trim her hat. After a while she begins to think she ought to have a feather in it, and she passes two or three sleepless nights trying to decide whether to put one in or not. At last she resolves she will. Then she lies awake for two more nights endeavoring to determine whether it shall be red or blue. She settles on blue. She buys the trimming, and sews it on in twenty successive positions, her mind filled with deepest anxiety as to whether the feather should go on the right side, theleft side, or on top. She puts it on the right side; but just then Mrs. De Boots passes the window with a feather on the left side of hers, and so she changes it the next morning. Mrs. Fitzbrown calls, and her feather is on the right side, and then another change is made. At church next day Mrs. Smith has feathers on both sides, and ] Mrs. Johnson has one on the top. Then more sleepless nights and painful uncertainty. At last, in utter despair, ' she takes the hat to a milliner, and pays < thirty shillings to have it trimmed, ^ When it comes home she pronounces it < hateful.' and nicks it all to Dieces. and 1 broods over it, and worries and frets and loses her appetite, and feels life to be a bnrden for two weeks longer, until suddenly she has just the right thing, and becomes once more serene and happy, and puts the hat on and goes out and makes millions of other women miserable because their hats aro not trimmed exactly like hers. As a wife, woman is a blessing; as a mother, naught can compare with her; as an organizer of new hats, she is simply an object of amusement or?compassion." reapers. To the traveler in Spanish America, the striking of the vesper bells exercises a potent charm. As the usage requires every one to halt, no matter wb6re he may be, at the first stroke of the bell, to interrupt his conversation, however important, and listen, without stirring, untii the conclusion of the chime, the singularity of a whole population surprised in a moment as it comes and goes, held in a state of petrification, and paralyzed as if by an enchanter, may oe imagined. On every side you see gestures interrupted, mouths half opened for the arrested I .omo.lr cmilnc linCArinC OF T>Q.SS ing into an expression of prayer. You 1 would fancy them a nation of statues, i A town in South America, at the tinkle i of the Angelus, resembles the city in < the "Arabian Nights," whose inhabi- 1 taats were turned into stone. The ma- ] gician kere is the bell-ringer. But | hardly has the vibration ceased when a 1 universal murmur arises from these ] thousands of oppressed lungs. Hand < meets haud, question seeks answer, ] conversations resume their course; i horses feel the loosened bridle, and paw I the ground ; dogs bark, babies cry, the I fathers sing, the mothers chatter. The accidental turns thus given to conversation are many, and sometimes striking. Wetting Coal. j People who prefer wetting the winter's [ "store of coal to lay the dust on putting it into their oelkrs, do not generally i know that they are laying up for them- ' selves a store of sore throats and other 1 evils consequent upon the practice. 1 Even the lire-damp, says an exchange, j j which escapes from the coal mines, j arises from the slow decomposition of ] coal at temperatures of but little above that of the atmosphere, but under aug- ' i mented pressure. By wetting a mass j ; of freshly broken coal and putting it . into a cellar, the mass is heated to such j i a degree that carbureted and sulphu- ] retted hydrogen are given off for long ! periods of time and pervade the wholo I house. The liability of wet coal to j mischievous results under such circum- ( i stances may be appreciated from the , fact that there are several instances on ( record of spontaneous combustion of ( i ooal when stowed into the bunkers on holds of vessels. And from this cause, doubtless, many missing coal vessels i have perished. j j A shool-examiner lately gave a bright- 1 looking boy this sentence to oorrect: i " Between yon and I this is good but- i ter." The boy shortly returned the i slip thus marked: "InoQrrect; the ! lamp-poet is omitted." 1 A Piano Playing by Machinery. Human ingenuity haa perfected a aachine that makes it possible for any >ne with capacity enough to turn a ' 1 jindstone to perform the most difficult ? rritten music for the piano. The mahine in not a myth, says the Cincin- tri tati Commercial. We saw it only yes- L< erday. It has just been imported from 'aria, and was attached to the piano mly the day before. It played selec- 1" ions from "Barber of Seville, "Faust," 'Taunhauser," and other operas. In- is leed, its capacity is unlimited. It can in! day on sight any piece of. music, and be ts playing cannot be distinguished de rom that of a living player. It is ca- lii table also of playing on the organ, or my instrument having keys similar to hose on the piano. Another instrn- je nent of the same kind, the only one in sa he city, has already taken the place of ^ in organist at one of our ohurcnes. 0t The machine is a marvel of oomplicaion. It occnpies a position in front of . he key-board of the piano, and extends rom above the key-board'to the floor. Directly over the keys of the piano are ? ceys corresponding to the piano keys. These are the fingers of the machine. They are as many as the keys, and thHS he machine has an advantage over the luman player. How these fingers are & nade to work is the problem, which we B1l :an only faintly indicate in this descrip- to ion. S The top of the machine is about one ^ toot in width. It has in the centre two oilers, which are moved by a crank. Si These carry the music through, and as pi t passes the piano plays it. The music Ai s on paper, but it is not written. The n< lotes are made by cutting square holes sh ;krough the paper. As these holes pass in i certain point they allow a hammer to se 3ass through, and the stroke of that lammer is communicated to its own T( ley in the piano. Each key has its se lammer. It only requires that these tb loles be cut at proper intervals to strike ot iny number of keysjin any given series. ei The machine has a pedal arrangement W; vhich connects with the piano and en- re ibles the player to have the effects pro- m luced by an ordinary player. It also ias an arrangement to change the force )[ the tonchT J It is a French instrument, and has ? * i?i - in,. (P 96611 KDOWU UUU l? uium Him., mmmm 1L manufacturer has orders beyond his japacity to fill. The two machines in this city will doubtless attract much Mention. gi T All-Halloween. m The night of November 1st was All- ?1 Halloween, an anniversary hallowed by j memories of joyful feastings and inno- hi :ent revelries. The origin of this feeAval is unknown, but it undoubtedly tras instituted in the period of paganism. 3ome historians, however, have been ^ jontent to derive its observance from ^ she Church festival of All Saints, which ^ jeeurred ou the 1st of November. The ., ideas that were associated in the past with All-Halloween have continued to w meet the sentiment of its observance cc 3ven to the present day. Virgins have yj looked upon it as a time for divination, tc ind many are the methods they have e] used, and yet employ, to evolve man tl from obscurity and nothingness. Old tl housewives of the Celtic 6tocK recite to CJ youthful feminine auditors how maidens 0] have had their spells to work harm to \ them, instead of being a means to is satisfy their curiosity in regard to their h< matrimonial fates. Yet afterward the bi traditional practices will be followed, fenny ate her apple at the glass, hopeful to view over her shoulder the face of 8( the coming spouse; and, from the a lueer formations of melted lead dropped hi into water, Jennie, Maggie, and the ir rest ef the girls augured the pursuits t] 9f their future husbands. Afterward tl the bevy of females flocked out, each C( with her mouth filled with water, und tl 9no of her hands filled with salt, to run w iround a square. Then when a man is C( seen, there was a general sputtering tl screech, a mutual clutching of dresses tl for support, and finally the retreat of tl ' 4 1 1.1 1, ^ , the party in noisy minu, me muu w?u n; unused the commotion being left to tl wonder at it. These are the closing ob- a 3ervances of the evening, meet only for j maturing maidens. Before them the ]a children "ducked for apples," and B] burned their noses and greased their fs faces at " snap apple and lovers au- u jured much about the steadiness of b " burning passion " from the action of Q1 5re upon nuts. Altogether, the festive observances of All-Halloween are harmless and pleasing, and partly of that 3ame poetic kind that lend a mystery to 3t. Agnes' Eve, when (as Kent's muse h tells us) w Young virgins might have visions of delight, e: And soft adorings from t^ieir loves receive. Upon the honeyed middle of the night. Q. If ceremonios due they did aright. ' f( A Suffering Aetor. '* At an English theatre, the other eve- ?! ning, an actor playing King Henry V. struggled bravely half through the play I with evidently severe indisposition. At P last the poor fellow gave up the battle, F rod, white as death and almost breath- F - _x ? jID less, came to tne front ox me stage, unu in a nearly inaudible whisper said that ^ lie " felt as if bis last hour had come." M He " had struggled for three weeks, n xnd suffered God only knew what, in a bis endeavor to keep that engagement. 81 He had come on the stage that night, . knowing that it was at the risk of his j! life. He was no craven, but he was ^ now entirely defeated, and could not , proceed. He asked for their sympathy is Christian men." And he had it, for, as he was carried fainting from the itage, his audience gave him the hearty 0 avidenoe of their sincere alarm and in- ? terest. a Fbozeji to Death.?It is early in the tr season to find items like the following ii in the papers: Advices from Hidder, o forty miles east of St. Lonis, on the C Hannibal k St. Joseph Railroad, state tl that two strange men were found frozen a to death on the prairie near that town, a % few nights ago. They had been in n Kidder during the day, and appeared 1 to be intoxicated. b Items of Interest. It is said that John B. Gough has stared in Boston 869 times. The Mississippi Legislative Assem j has issued a hill postponing the neral election ontil next year. Bargees and his wife, who were on ial for inhnman treatment of Caroline >nise Donning, aged six years, at New .-leans, were found guilty, the penalty r their crime being imprisonment for e. Brigham Young, the Mormon chief, reported in very feeble health, cansg serious uneasiness to the great ilk of his people, whose interests are pendent upon the prolongation of his e. "My dear," said the sentimental rs. Waddler, "home, you know, is the tarest place on earth." "Well, jes," id the practioal Mr. Waddler, "it sts me about twice as much as any her spot." Worcester, Mass., raised a subscripjn two years* ago, which was intended r Chicago, but not needed by that - - > 1 T? 1 ? ty, and again rejected vj XKSDIASU loo v iar, and the committee now propose to Per it to Memphis. Of the five or six hundred depositors the banking-house of Jaj Cooke k ). all excepting about thirty hare gned the plan of argreement, namely, place the settlement in the hands of ^Commissioner of Internal Revenue ollins. Don't visit Boston to get work. The iperintendentof the Employment Deirtment of the Young Men's Christian ssociation there says that there are )w " 1,500 mechanics?nearly all well illed in their trades?whoarewanderg about Boston streets in the vain arch for something to do." A gentle Quaker had two horses, a sry good and a very poor one. When en riding the latter, it turned out at his better half had taken the good is. " What!" said a sneering baohor, " how comes it that vou let your ife ride the better horse ? Th%only ply was: " Friend, when thee be arried, thee '11 know." The most careful estimates for the resent year do not place the grape old of California mucn above 8,000,000 illons. Two reasons are assigned for lis shrinkage: First?The frosts, whioh ere the most severe that had oocurred i the State for many years, and which ime late in the spring, just at the trantion from blossom to fruit. Seoond? he excessively hot weather of the Burner months, which thickened the ptilp ! most of the wine gropes, making lem " fleshv," so that while the quality is really been improved the prices lve been diminished. A Farmer's Complaint. Col. Cochrane, a Orange officer, says ? a reporter that the cost of farming is been greatly increased by the ailding of railroads, or at least since Before the war he 1C11 IliklVVIWVnv. >ald Lire men who were capable of inducting his farm, without his super-' sion, for 1( ss money than he now has ? pay for hands who hardly know lough to hitch up a team and go into le field to work unless somebody tells tern how to do it. The only hands he in now hire are Germans, and they do aly about half as much work as the mericans be used to get. The same true of work in the houses; no matter ow able and willing the farmer may e to hire servants, his wife must be a rudge. It is almost impossible to find, he lid, a girl who knows enough to cook meal, and who will hire out to do ousework. The servants are the most iferior kind, and even they can't be epended on to stay at the very time ley are most wanted. If you make a infract with them in the spring for le season, and agree to pay them $2 a eek and board, when the hot weather imes they begin to grumble, and when le harvest begins thev "can't stand le work any longer," and the next ling you hear they are binding in the arvest field for a dollar a da^r, while le farmer's wife is left alone with from dozen to 25 harvesters to provide for. hese hardships the Colonel attributed irgely to the railroads?they paid unbilled laborers better wages than the irmers could afford to, and they opened p new country for homesteads for the etter class of men who formerly worked at by the month. (iolng West. All who go West do not find the annv lmnif exoccted. One man who "11-J i as doing well in the Eust relates his xperience as follows: I thought I could do better, so I sold ut, pocketed my money and Btarted >r the West. When I arrived there rings were not as I expected to find ;m. But I wish to say to all your raders who have had a similar expeiencc, and are homesick, don't come ack after the manner of one poor fool know of. I tell yon the railroad comanies got over 8200 for carting me and line out and back. Now don't be a inatic, as I was, bnt "stick." I came ack to please wife's relations, bnt 'hen I had been back three weeks they apted to know what I came back for; ow then I can go here and there to get day's work and get my pay?well, Dme time. People who go West with no definite lea of where they are going and what lev expect to do when they get there, ill in nine cases out of ten be badly isappointed. Carl 1st Decorations. ?Don Carlos, f Spain, is described by a writer who aw him recently as wearing a white flat at, like a Scotch cap, called a boina, nd on his breast three orders, or rather wo, for the third is the aacre cctur and * > worn by all his soldiers. The others there were the Golden Fleece and larlos III. His soldiers wear over, heir hearts an oval pieoe of flannel rith an embroidered heart, with a chain round it and the words " Do not harm ie; for the heart of Jeans is with me/' 'his they oonsider a oharm against the allots.