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\ lite. Into gun* YOL. XXXVII. CAMDEN, S. C. MARCH 27, 1879. * NO. 36. She Camden journal, PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY . ?AT? CAMDEN, S. C., ?BY? G. G. ALEXANDER. Subscription Kutcs: ^ (in advance.) One Tear $2.00 Six Months 1.00 THE HOSTLER'S STORY. TitT y T TTinWRnTDOR. What amused ns most at the Lake house last summer was the performance of a bear in the back yard. He was fastened to a pole by a chain, which gave him a range of a dozen or fifteen feet. It was not very safe for visitors to come within that circle, unless they were prepared for rough handling. He had a way of suddenly catching you to his bosom, and picking your pockets of peanuts and candy?if you carried any about you?in a manner which took your breath away. He stood up to his work on his hind legs in a quite human fashion, and used paw and tongue with amazing skill and vivacity. He was friendly, and didn't mean any harm, but he was a rude playfellow. I shall never forget the ludicrous adventure of a dandified New Yorker who came out into the yard to feed bruin on seed-cakes, and did not feed him fast enough. He had approached a trifle too near, when all at once the bear whipped an arm aboathiin, took him to his embrace, and " went through *' his pockets in a hurry. The terrified face of tfie struggling and screaming fop, and the goodnatured. business-like expression of the fumbling and munching beast, offered the funniest sort of contrast. The one-eyed hostler, who was the bear's especial guardian, lounged leisurely to the spot. "Keep still, and he won't hurt ye," he said, turning his quid. " That's one of his tricks. Throw out what you've got, and he'll leave ye." The dandy made haste to help bruin to the last of the seed-cakes, and esc4ped without injury, but in a ridiculous plight?his hat smashed, his necktie and linen rumpled, and bis watch dangling ; but his fright was the most laughabie part of all. The one-eyed hostler made a motioD *--> Wet. who immediatelv climbed the pole, and looked at us from the crosspiece at the top. "A. bear," said the one-eyed hostler, . turning his quid again, "is the best., hearted, know in'est critter that goes -on' . all-fours. I'm speakin' of our native black bear, you understand. The brown bear aint half so respectable, and the grizzly is one of the ugliest brutes in creatiori. Cjme down here, Pomp." Pomp slipped down the pole and advanced toward tte one-eytd hoetler walking on hia hind legs and rattling his chain. ' Pmyiul as a Kitten r saia me oneeyed hostler, fondly. "I'll show ye." " He took a wooden bar from a olotheshorse near bv, and made a lnnge with it at Pomp's breast. No pugilist or fonoing-master conld Have parried ???bloat?mam - -neatly.., Then tho one-eyed hostler began ti thrast and strike with the bar as if iD downright earnest. "Esther savage play," I remarked. And a friend by my side, who never misses a chance to make a pun, added : "Yes, a decided act of bar-bear-ity." " Oh, he likes it 1" said the one-eyea hostler. " Ye can't hit him." And indeed it was so. No matter how or where the blow was aimed, a movement of Pomp's paw, qniok as a flash of lightning, knocked it aside, and he stood eood-hnmoredly waiting for more. "Once in awhile," said the one-eyed hostler, resting from the exercise and leaniug on the bar, while Pomp retired to his pole, " there's a bear of this species that's vioious and blood-thirsty. Generally, yon let them alone and they'll let yon alone. They won't ran from yon maybe, but they won't go out of their way to pick a quarrel. They don't swagger round with a chip on their shonlder lookin' for some fool to knock it off." " Will they eat yon ?" some one inquired ; for there was ring of spectators around the performers by this time. " As likely as not, if they are sharpset, ai.d you lay yourself out to be eaten, but it amt their habit to go for human flesh. Roots, nuts, berries, bugs and any small game they can pick up, satisfies their humble appetite as a general thing. The one-eyed hostler leaned against the pole, stroked Pomp's fur affectionately, and continued somewhat in this style: " Bears are partie'larly fond of fat, juicy pigs; and once give 'em a taste of human flesh?why, I shouldn't want my children to be playin' in the woods within a good many miles of their den ! " Which reminds me of Old Two Claws, as they used to call him, a bear that plagued the folks over in Ridgetown, where I was brought up?wall, .as much as forty year ago. " He got his name from the peculiar shape of his foot, and he got that from trifling with a gnn-trap. You know wh^.t that is?a loaded gun set in such a way that a bear or any game that's carious about it must come up to it the way it p'ints; a bait is huDg before the muzzle, aud a string runs from that to the . trigger. "He was a cunning fellow, and he put out an investigatin' paw at the pieoe of pork before trying his jaws on it; so instead of gettin* a bulletin the head, he merely had a bit of his paw shot off. There were but two claws left on that foot, as his bloody traoks show-! ed. " He pot off; bnt this experience seemed to have sonred his disposition. He owed a spite to the settlement. "Oue night a great row was heard in my uncle's pigpen. He and the boys r ushed out with pitchforks, a gun and a lantern. They knew what the trouble was, or soon found out. "A hnge black bear had broken down the side of the pen; he had seized a fat P"> rker, and was actually lugging him off in his arms 1 The pig was kioking and squealing, but the bear had him ?aat- fTo dirt nnt sfiem at all inclined to give np his prey, even when attacked. He looked sullen and ugly; but a few jabs from a pitchfork, and a shot in the shoal der, convinced him that he was mak ing a mistake. " He dropped the pig and got away before my uncle could load up for another shot. The next morning they QTamirifd his tracks. It was Old Two Ciaws. . , , 'put ftat sp'ilt bim (or being a quiet neighbor was something that happened about a year after that. " There was a roving family of Indians encamped near the settlement; hunting, fishing and making moccasins and baskets, which they traded with the whites. *'One afternoon the Red-Sky-of-theMorning, wife of the Water-Snake?AUA T.A?%M Tftil yiAVMA SXVTAW IA Willi* 1OU) l/auio wci uu vuv settlement with some of their track for sale. She had a papoose on her back strapped on a boardanother squaw traveled with her, carrying an empty jag. " Almost within sight of Gorman's grocery, Red-Sky took off her papoose and hung it on a tree. The fellows around the store had made fun of it when she was there once before, so she preferred to leave it in the woods rather than expose it to the coarse jokes of the boys. The little thing was used to such treatment. Whether carried or hung up, papoosey never cried. " The squaws traded off this truck, and bought, with other luxuries of civilization, a gallon of whisky. They drank out of the jug, and then looked at more goods. Then they drank again, and from being shy and silent, as at first, they giggled and chatted like a couple of silly white girls. They spent a good deal more time and money at Gorman's than they would if it hadn't been for the whisky, but finally they started to go back tnrougn tne wooas. " They went chattering and giggling to the tree where the papoose had been left. There was no papoose there 1 " This discovery sobered them. They thought at first the fellows around the store had played them a trick by taking it away; butby-and-by the Red-Sky-ofthe-MorniDg set up a shriek. " She had found the board not far off, but no papoose strapped to it, only something that told the story of what had happened. " There were bear tracks, around the spot. One of the prints showed only two claws. "The Red-Sky-of-the-Morning went back to the camp with the news ; the other squaw followed with thh jug. "When the Wate- Snake-with-theXiOng -Tail heard th. t his papoose had been eaten by a bear, he felt, I suppose, ve) y much as any white father would havefuH nntior thA oirrnmstances. He vowed vengeance against Old Two Claws, but consoled himself with a drink of the ' tiro-water before starting on the hunt. "The braves with him followed his example.- It wasn't in Indian nature to start until they had emptied the jug, so it happened that Old Two Claws got off again. Tipsy braves can't follow a trail worth a cent. " Not very long after that a woman in a neighboring settlement heard her childien scream one day in the woods near the house. She rushed out, and actually saw a bear lugging off her trSlIe was a Bxcniy,"iect)lhirort oT^wo1 man, bat Buch a sight was enough to give her the strength and courage of a man. She ran and caught up an axe. * ' - > - 1--J - U.-_ Tko* LiUCK jy BllO I1UU Ck Uig uug. -1.LJ.KJ litu went at the bear. " The old fellow had no notion of losing his dinner just for a woman and a mongrel cur. But she struck him a tremendous blow on the back; at the name time the pup got him by the leg. He dropped the young one to defend himself. She caught it up and ran. leaving the two beasts to have it out together. "The bear made short work with the cur; but instead of following the woman and child, he skulked off into the woods. "The settlers got together for a grand hunt; but Old Two Olaws ?for the tracks showed that he was the sooundrel ?escaped into the mountains, and lived to make more trouble another day. "The child? Oh, the child was scarcely hurt. It had got squeezed and a _ 1 J /v flnol fnaoln* SCraiA'UfcJU U URIC IU luo Uiim UUDOIV, iuuu i was f Jl. " As to the bear, ho was next heard of j in on r settlement." Tbo hostler hesitated, winked his one eye with an odd expression, put a fresh quid into his cheek, and finally resumed: "A brother-in-law of my unole, a man of the name of Rush, was one day chopping in the woods about half a mile from his house, when his wife went out to carry him his luncheon. ' tfhe left two children at home, a boy about five years old, and a baby just big enot.eh to toddle around. " The boy had often been told that if he Btrayed into the woods with his brother a bear might carry them off, and she charged him again that forenoon not to go away from the- honse; but he was an enterprising little fellow, and when the sun shone so pleasant and the woods looked so inviting, he wasn't one to be afraid of bears. " The woman stopped to see her husband fell a big beech he was cutting, and then went back to the house; but just before she got there, she saw the oldest boy coming out of the woods on the other side. He was alone. He was white as a sheet, and so frightened at first that he couldn't speak. "'Johnny,' says she, catahing hold of him, ' what is the matter ?' "' A bear I'.he gasped out at last. ?1 Where is von r little brother ?' was hei next question. "' I don't know,' said he, too much frightened to know anything just then. " Where did you leave him?'says she. 'Then he seemed to have gotten his -wi' B together a little. ' A bear took him!' said he. ' You can guess what sort of an agony the mother was in. ' Oh, Johnny, tell me true I Think! Where was it ?' ' In the woods,' he said. 'Bear oome along.?1 run.' "She caught him up and hurried with him into the woods. She begged him show her where he was with his little brother when the bear came along. He pointed out two or three places. In one of them the earth was soft. There were fresh traoks crossing it-?bear traoks. There was no doubt about it. "It was a terriole situation for a poor TT7L-J.1 r?11?? 41,/? woman. vr Lietutrr i.u 1UUU? lut: ucai and try to recover her child, or go at once for her husband, or alarm the neighbors; what to do with Johnny meanwhile?all that would have been i hard enough for her to decide even if she had had her wits abont her. \ "She hardly knew what ahe did, but just followed her instinct, and ran with Johnny in her arms, or dragging him after her, to where her hnsband was chopping. ^ " Well," continued the one-eyed hos- t tier ; " I needn't try to describe what r followed. They went back to the house, I and Bush took his rifle and started on a the track of the bear, vowing that ho T would not come back without either the I ohild or the bear's hide. s " The news went like wildfire through" 1 the settlement. In an hour half-a- a * Al_ _ J dozen men witn meir aogB were on me u track with Bosh. It was so mnoh trou- I ble for him to follow the trail that they s Boon overtook him with the help of the ? doge. "But in spite of them the bear got into the mountains. Two of the dogs , came up with him, and one, the only one that could follow a scent, had his ^ back broken by a stroke of his paw. After that it was almost impossible to j track him, and one after another the hunters gave up and returned home. * " At last Bush was left alone; but ^ nothing could induce him to turn book. f He shot some small game in the moun- Q tains, which he cooked for his supper, ^ slept on the ground, and started on the a trail again in the morning. ^ " Along in the forenoon he came in a sight of the bear as he was crossing a stream. He had a good shot at him as he was olimbing the bank on the other side D " The bear kept on, but it was easier 1 tracking him after that by his tifobd. 1< " That evening a hunter, haggard, his b clothes all in tatters, found his way toa fl backwoodman's hut over in White's valley, s It was Bush. He told his story in a few F words as he rested on a stool. He had J found no traces of his ohild, but he had c killed the bear. It was Old Two Olaws. s He had left him on the hills, and oame J to the settlement for help. b "The hunt had taken him a round- n about course, and he was then not 1 more than seven miles from home. The c next day, gun in hand, with the bear - 1 skin strapped to his back?the carcass I had been given to his friend-the back- ?J woodsman?he started to return by an s easier way through the woods. g " It was a sad revenge he had bad, but there was a grim sort of satisfaction in lugging home the hide of the terrible ^ Old Two Claws.. 0 fc " As he came in sight of his log house, a out ran his wife to meet him, with?what B do you suppose??little Johnny drag 0 gicg at her skirts, and the lost child in p her arms. ? "Then, for the first time, the man j dropped, but he didn't get down any c farther than his knees. He olung to his n wife and baby, and thanked God for the 0 miracle. f, "But it wasn't much of a miracle, a after aih e "IiitHe Johnny bad been playing 0 around the door, and lost sight of" the 8 bah^.. "r-rha fnrr^^- "Tl inhflnt ^ him when he" strayed iETo the woods and c saw the bear. Then he remembered all 0 that he had heard of the danger of being e carried off and eaten, and of course he j? had a terrible fright. When sBked about j( his little brother he didn't know any- & thing about him, and I suppose really 0 imagined that the bear had got him. "But the baby had orawled into a snug place under the side of the raintrough, and there he was fast asleep all tl the while. Then he woke up two or a three hours after, and the mother heard * him cry; her husband was far away on ? the hunt. ii " True?this story I've told you ?" r; added the one-eyed hostler, as some one b questioned him. "Every word of it 1" o *' Bnt your name is Rush, isn't it ?" I * said. The one eye twinkled humorously. o "My name is Rush. My uncle's a brother-in-law was my own father." ? "And you?" exclaimed a bystander, b "I," said the one-eyed hostler, "am " the very man who warn't eaten by the a bear when I was a baby 1" ? Youth's b Companion. o i. i? a The Cause of a Mine Explosion. ? Some peculiar features of mining t] casualties were developed at a coroner's o inquest on the bodieB of William Crone ti and Thomas Tiernay. who died from in- a juries received by anjaxplosion of fire- f< damp, at the JLower Kausch UreeK col- p liery, near Pottsville, Pa. These men o were working with safety-lamps on the si bottom level of the mine, 1,900 feet below the surface. The vein in which they worked made no gas, but another beneath it, with about nine feet of slate between, gave forth gas in quantities so n great as to force up the solid slate-cov- cl ering in the centre of the breast, the h pressure of the strata above, of course, If helping. The movement caused a n rumbling and cracking, which the men si thought came from the roof, and they, o; together with the fire -boss, James O'Neill, and a miner named Jacob s< Imschweller, were watching that part, fi when the noise became so violent that n Hio l-taarlinrr foorinrr fViaf. a tucj iau 1UW w. the roof would fall. The roof, however, ri remained undisturbed. The men had t< soarcely left the breast when the floor heaved up, opened, and a volume of f] gas poured forth, which at once filled li the whole place. O'Neill and Imsch- tl weller, fortunately for them, darted b into the passage leading inward from ii the breast; but Crone and Tiernay en - li tered the "intake" passage. Crone, tl knowing that a strong current of air i1 would force the flame through the s< meshes of his lamp and set fire to the ii gas, shielded his lamp as he ran, but ii Tiernay neglected this precaution. The t] gas ignited from his lamp, and a terrible ti explosion followed. Crone and Tiernay were so badly burned that they died in a few hours, while the others, being behind the explosion, which always takes an outward oourse, were only q slightly injured by being dashed against e the coal. The wood-work of the mine y was shattered for a distance of 100 s yards, and a boy named Grady received t fatal injuries from a door which fell on \ him. The mine was then beincr in- a spected for the third time that day (the c explosion ooourred at noon), and 16,676 1 cnbio feet of air per minute was then 3 passing through that portion of it. The e jury returned a verdiot that "the de c ceased came to their deaths from the c effects of an explosion caused by ran- 1 ning through the gas with their safety { lamps against, instead of with, the air- 1 current." ? TIMELY TOPICS - k. The sacred right of petition has been indicated to toe extent of 10,167 petiions introduced in the Hotise of Repesentatives during the Forty-fifth Jnited States Congress. They relate to 11 sorts of subjects, and oome from >rivate individuals, aliens, corporations, iterary, scientific, and -' labor-reform ocdeties, boards of trade, State and territorial legislatures; in fact, from ilmost every branch of trade and inlustry. Under the rule of the House petitions are net presented in open sesion, bat are placed on file, and as a ;eneral thing are never he fed of. Sixty-nine Vdiel snits for one libel 1 Lmbigaity hiui been the' death of one toor paper in Iklarseilles,France. The Vonvelliste, of Marseille^ stated some nonths ago ticj4 the tax reoeiver of St. itienne had embezzled MO,000. The proprietor mast have had more than ne " bad quarter of an hqpr " when he iscovered, as he very qnwkly did, that here are sixty-nine St. Efiennes, towns r communes in ^^ranoe. Every one of be tax reoeiv&rs of thase places brought n action against the paper, whiob has een ordered to pay $20 damages to aoh collector, besides 840fine. :Jr "AH*first exliibition oircrplar" of the felbonrne International ^exhibition of 880 has been received. It oonliains ong lists of commissioners-and oonomitaes and.the " system of general classication," apparently based to a con iderable extent upon, mat or jfnniweiihla. The president is the Hon. Wa ohn Olarke, member of the legislative ounoil at Melbourne. Applications for pace shonld be sent in not later than une 30, 1879. The reception oi exists will oommence June 1, 1880., and one will be sdmitted after August 81. ?he exhibition will remain open for six alendar months, commencing Ootober , 1880, and closing March 81, 1881. rull particulars can be obtained from Barnes E. Donison, No.'123 Collins treet, West Melbourne, who will aot as ;eneral agent for American exhibitors. Asnbjeotol more than ordinary insreat is now under consideration by a ommittee of the Medico-Legal society, nd it is deemed probable, mat the reult of the research and report oJ! the ommittee wiill be the passage of a law rovidinar for the veri fication of every ase of sup posed death occurring in Tew York ci.tv. The wisdom and neessity of such a law, the Herald relarks, can hardly be questioned by any ne who has given the subject any carenl thought; and so thoroughly is it oknowledged by Europeans that in very principid country of Europe legal 1 ognizance is taken of the possibility of 1 Fnoope being mistaken for death. And : *11, if all^|^?urimapaL-i ities on the continent tn^HHs an officer f the law whose duty it is to decide in J very case of apparent death whether it i or is not real. In England and Amer- 1 sa, however, no protection is afford- ' d by the statutes against the possibility f a live person being buried. An original oharactir, well known in j le Latin quarter, has just died in Paris j t an advanced age. Pere Royer, as he j ras callad, fancied he was an unappre- . iated genius, and amused himself in lventing new systems whioh were to enovate society. He set up a new re- j gion, one article o;: wnicn?ana me ne that procured the most adherents? raa to make every other day a day of est. He habituated himself to eating nly on alternate days, and used to rgue that by sleeping twenty-four coneoutive hours and then working for a ike period, the sane ,sum of labor rould be produced with a saving of food nd the time lost at meals. Daring the vte war Pere Royer invented a number f means for annihilating the Prussians, nd never pardoned the war departlpnt for the indifference it manifested 5ward his Greek flie, which he called lie "prussovore." He was the author f some songs, which were snng in their me by the student i, and of a poem illed " Le droit d6 boire," which, unirtunately for him, he never found a ublisher to bring out. Like many ther philanthropists, he died in a iate of utter destitution. A New Astronomical Wonder. At the last total eclipse of the sun, lany astronomers onsied themselves hiefly with observing the corona whioh ad excited so much interest and specuition at previous eclipses. This is the ime given to the bright light seen outide of the raoon's disk when the body f the sun incompletely Hidden by it. f\? /Ia/1 na f a if c oonan* irpuuuun WOID UlIIUCU rao >U AVH uiuau, . ame observers thinking it proceeded om the sun's atmosphere, or fiom lu- l, rinous gases which Bhot far above its . arface; while others imagined it eepa- 1 ited from the sun ;iltogether, and dne ! a other causes in tlio depths of space. ] From the observations made, and rom photographs taken, it is now be- * eved to be simply the reflected light of Lie snn. This reflection is supposed to e dne to immense numbers of meteor;es, or po3uibly, systems of meteorites, i ke the rings of Saturn, revolving about < he sun. The existence of such meteor- j ;es has long been suspeoted, and ob- i ervations now seem to justify a belief j a their existenoe. Their constant fall- i ag into the sun is thought to be one of i he methods by whiah its heat is main- : lined without loss. i i, i Relief From a Corn. Soak the foot in warm wafer for a j [uarter oi an hour every night; after i aoh soaking, rub on the corn patiently, : vith. the :inger, a half dozen drops o% | weet oil; wear arcund the toe during i he day two thicknesses of buckskin, nth a hcle in it to receive the corn, i Yi/l /wrifiitnn tViin treatment. nnt.il the 10m falls out. If you wear moderately oose shoes, it will be months, and even rears, before the corn returns, when the ame treatment wiT be efficient in a few lays. Paring corns is always danger>ns, beside making them take deeper oot, as does a woed cut olf near the pound; but the plan advised is safo, rainless, and costs nothing but a little Mention,? Exchange. Whoppers. It was at a miner's cabin in Tennessee; a dozen or so of rough, uncouth, unkempt-looking fellows sat over a stove in an atmosphere redolent with cold ooffee and tobacco. "Talkin' about your stories," said a grizzly, gray old fellow, removing his pipe from t>etween two shaggy masseB of tawny hair, while his companions gave eaoh other significant glances? "talkm" about your stories, why, y've all hparn on Bill Hess, him as was killed in '76, a moonshining. Well, Bill an' me wna old cronies. A year afore the war Bill, he swalled of a peach pit. It trnbbled of him a kinder, bnt no one thonght mnoh on't; but Bill's appetite it got stronger and stronger, till at last he'd eat and devour of every think as what he could lay of his hands on. An'the mystery about the affair wus, that the more BUI ha would eat, the thinner did he become. " It wus six years arter that?yes, it wus seving years?when one day Bill ha wus took with a gripin' an' a groanin'. Snakes 1 how he kicked and yelled; seving men couldn't hold of him. No dootor wus in the parts where we wus. Well, he h ad oonwulsions, an' he had 'em right amart, too, I tell yer, and the furst think we knowd, up came a small cherry tree "? "I thought as 'ow he swelled of a peach pit ?" some one asked. ?' Well, so he did and he discrorcred of a peach tree about three feet high?did I eay cherry ??well, that wus a slip of, the tongue?with bloomin' peaches on it. And arter that Bill's health oum taok to him, and he wusn't afflicted no more." " I've got a story to beat that," exclaimed a young, sprightlv-looking miner, with a merry eye ana a dear complexion. "Me an: Bob Jones we wus a travelin' in '58, just about* the time that ere accident happened to Bill Hess, and Bob he got a cinder in his eye, which kinder annoyed him. It got wuss end wuss, bill the poor feller hadn't no peace or comfort;, une day, says jbod to me, says he: * Pete, somethink is the matter with that ere eye, somethink is the matter. It feels like as what it wns gettin' bigger and leavin' of my head.' "I looked at it,and sore enough there wns a raisen-like sort of think on it. Still it trabbled of Bob. Day by day, that raisen-like sort of think growed and growed, until it wouldn't let the eyelid lahnt. Mind ye, all this time Bob could wee just as well as ever, if anythink, better than nor before. The raisen-like sort of think growed and growed for two years, when it had growed three imohes out of Bob's eye. It was just like a bnsh, with tiny branches and little bits of leaves. Well, to make a long jtory short, one night Bob turned over on his face in his sleep, and in the inornin' he found a little m&ple tree i%in' alongside of him, and the pain in IliB 'T 1 m ill IIII ' ' TVin.L lihere," pointing to a sapling just outot' the door, "is the tree which growed of the cinder what Bob Jones caught in his aye." A Suicide's Letter. The dead body of aa unfortunate man, Hood Alston by name, was found an the 3d of Maroh under a tree at Bay 3t. Louis, Miss. It was discovered that he had destroyed himself by morphine, and that he left behind him a pitiful and deeply interesting letter. He was evidently a man of culture, and the latter said he had once been a journalist. On the 2d of July, 1863, he was struck on the head by a piece of shell at the battle of Gettysburg. He recovered to all appearances and was thought to be quite well. In his letter, however, Alston declares that he has since been conscious that he has always been hovering on the dangerous edge of insanity. He has felt on particular and 'requent occasions au almost irresistible impulse to kill people, and always prefhnaa wlin narA mnat fr> I UlUiiWUUJ uuvuv nuv nw?w iim. To avoid this he has fled often from the presence of a wife and ohiliren, liviing in California, whom he tenderly loved; but has never had the noral strength to oonfess his fears and jause himself to be placed nnder reitraint. At last the accnmnlated igonies of his apprehension, and the rorror of his eeoret was too much for lim and he slew himself. The case is angular and suggestive. How far Alston's madness was as represented by aimself to himself, real and how far feigned we shall probably never know. PerhapB, as some writers would have us :hink of .Hamlet, he was sometimes sane md sometimes otherwise. But were lis fears lest he should take the life of ithers incident to his lueid intervals, or iid they only present themselves when J-J or -A- ? A 318 muiu wan UU ILt uuittliua nuu DU wu ititute the characteristic and proof of ais insanity? The question in a puzsling one, and, like the problem of Samlet'* lnnaoy and the inquiry whether t is genuine or simulated, may invite jndless discussion while leaving the ssue forever in the sequel to be "smothered by surmise."?New York Evening Post, A Custom of the Country. The massacre recently perpetrated by the king of Burmah, at which over jighty of his relatives lost their lives, frightfu!. ns it appeals, is merely one more example of a custom, so universal in the East that i t may almost claim rank as a recognized institution. The natural commencement of every Oriental " * i ? l'-.VI L I reign is tne siangncer or aisaoiemenu ui all possible pretenders to the throne; and the annals, not merely of Bnrmah, bnt of Persia, Turkey, Afghanistan and Bomara teem of instanoes too frightful for quotation. As recently as the close of the laBt centnry, a Western traveler found one of the royal princeB of Persia going about with a bandage over his eyes, and on questioning him was told, in a matter-of-course air which made the statement doubly horrible, that " as his eldest brother would certainly put out his eyeu on mounting the throne, he was teaching himself to dispense with the use of them." The Turkish sultan, Mahmoud, famous for his destruction *V? a Toniaoowna in 1 ftOA AtfTArl Ilia Ui IUU 1/UUiOOHllVO AU V VU mam elevation to the fact of his being the only member of the royal family left unslaughlered; and the multiplied butcheries of Mehemet Ali are still fresh in every one's recollection. Carious Method of Catching Quail. The following passage, from a work called " Sport and Work on the Nepanl Frontier," describes the manner of capturing quails in the East Indies: Traveling one day along one of the glades I have mentioned as dividing the strips of jungle, I was surprised to see a man before me in a field of long stubble, with a cloth spread over his head and two sticks projecting in front at an ob tuse angle to ms Doay, ionmng uumlike projections, on which the ends of his oloth, fwisted spirally, were tied. I thought from his curious antics and movements that he must be mad, but I soon discovered that there was method in his madness. He was catching quail. The quail are often very numerous in the stubble fields, and the natives adopt very ingenious devices for their capture. This was one I was now witnessing. overing themselves with their oloth as I have described, the projecting ends of the two stioks representing the horns, they simulate all the movements of a cow or bull They pretend to paw up the earth, toss their make-believe horns, torn round and pretend to soratch themselves, and, in fact, identify themselves with the animal they are representing; and it is irresistibly comical to watch a solitary performer go through this al fresco comedy. I have laughed -4. 2 ?1 Ji UlbtJU HI# BUUlt) "IHMllllg Uiu UCIUOUIOU ui shekarry. When they see you watohing them they will redouble their efforts, and try to represent an old bull going through all his pranks and praotices, and throw you into convulsions of laughter. Bound two sides of the field they have previously put fine nets, and at the apex they have a large cage with a decoy quail inside, or perhaps a pair. The auail is a running bird, disinclined for night exoept at night; in the daytime they prefer running to using their wings. The idiotic-looking old oow, as we will call the hunter, has all his wits about him. He proceeds very slowly and warily; his keen eye detects the conveys of quail, which way they are going, his ruse generally succeeds wonderfully. He is no more like a oow than that respectable animal is like a encumber; but he paws, and tosses, and moves about, pretends to eat, to nibble here, and switch his tail there, and so on maneuvers as to keep the running quail away irom tne unprotected eages 01 me field. When they get to the verge protected by the net, they begin to take alarm; they are probably not very certain about the peculiar-looking "old cow " behind them, and running along the net, they see the decoy quails evidently feeding in great security and freedom. The V-shaped mouth of the large basket cage looks invitingly open. The puzzling nets are barring the way, and the " old cow " is gradually closing up behind. As the hunter moves along, I should have told you, he rubs two pieces of dry hard sticks gently up and down his thigh with one hand, producing a^-^0finliar^ nrapif nfcinn a rrnnMing into flight, but alarming them enough to make them get out of the way of the "old cow." One bolder than the others, possibly the most timid of the covey, irritated by the queer craokling sound, now enters the basket, the others fol lowing like a flock of sheep; and once in, the puzzling shape of the entrance pre vents their exit. Not infrequently the hunter bags twenty or even thirty brace of quail in one field by this ridiculous looking but ingenious method. How Yassar Lost a Pupil. A letter from Poughkeepsie, N. Y., to the World, says: At the beginning of the term one year ago a young lady from New York entered the freshman class of 1878 at Vassar college. She was then sixteen, of slight figure, brown-haired, pretty, and a young person of buoyant spirits, who speedily became something of a character among her fellow-students. It is said, however, that the faculty found her intractable and subjected her to a course of mild discipline whioh she did not like. She had entered the college under peculiar circo instances. Her father had endowed a echolarship there at a coat of $8,000, and she was the first to receive its benefits. Finally, much of what was considered infelicitous in the girl's ways was overlooked by the faculty, and under the new order of things matters moved along more smoothly. Just before the last holiday week she was again, however, in open rebellion against the authorities. She expressed a determination to accompany a fellowstudent to the letter's home in the West to spend the holidays. The head of the /t/Oia-ra nrv-ifooto/1 with Arrmhaf.is; but when the time arrived the young rebel went on her proposed trip and returned iu due time and resumed her studies. In the meantime she was corresponding with and meeting in Poughkeepsie every Saturday, when the young ladies are permitted to leave the college to do their shopping, the young eon of her father's partner in New York. Thus matters stood up to a recent Friday, when the young woman was missing. Inquiry discovered that, with the assistance of two of her chums, she had quietly packed her wardrobe and stolen away. ine young man uuu a carriage in waiting for her, and on her arrival they went to the residence of Dr. Elmendorf. of the Second Reformed chnrch, in Ponghkeepsie, and were mar ried. Then they were driven to the Nelson honse, where they remained until Saturday afternoon, going then to New York. Dr. Elmendorf, it is said, was induced to perform the ceremony only by the presence of a gentleman of high standing in this oity, who accompanied the oouple to the house and vouched for their character and the regularity of the proceeding. The father of the bride and groom are in business together, the former being a wealthy manufacturer of a proprietary " bitters." The two girls who assisted his daugh ter in making her escape from the col lege have been expellod and sent home. A confidence operator was caught in the act of cheating a man at cards, and boldly insisted that by so doing he was only obeying the scriptural injunction' When asked how he made that out, he said: "He was a stranger, and I took him in." A case is sometimes gained though perjury and sometimes per jury, ADVERTISING RATESt Toes. 1 iD. col ^ coJ. 1 col." 1 Week. 3 1.00 $ 5.00 3 9.00 315.00 2 44 1.75 7.50 12.25 20.00 3 44 2.50 9.00 15.25 24.00 . i " 3 00 10.50 18 00 27.50 5 44 3.60 11.75 20.60 81.00 6 ? 4.00 12 50 22.75 34.00 7 4 50 13 25 24.75 37 Q0 8 " 6.00 14.00 26.00 40 00 8 months, 1.50 17.00 82.00 60.00 4 " 7.60 19.00 39.50 69.00 6 " 8.50 24.00 48.00 84.00 9 " 9 60 30.00 69 00 106.00 12 " 10 25 85.00 68.00 120.00 G" Transient advertisements mast bo accom panied with the cash to insure insertion. ITEMS OF INTEREST A horse-race?Oolta. " Branoh-houses "?The florists. There are fifty substitutes for coffee, and 129 for tea. The lighthouses of the world are estimated at 2,814, One-third of Chicago's population is German, or of German origin. The man who was lost in slumber probably found his way out on a nightmare. Many of the provincial oities of Ohina have populations of from 500,000 to 1,000,000 each. We suppose no one would care to do without a tongue. But, after all, it is only a matter of taste. Young ladies think they Miss it by not, and many a married lady thinks she Mrs. it in being married. The Erie canal was commenoed in 1817 and completed in 1825. The main line measures S68 miles in length, and ooet about $7,200,000. The Pekin (China) Gazette, the oldest daily newspaper in the world, was first issued about A. D. 1850. It is still in existenoe, and is an official jourrui. a vi/w w iflTnnvnw If the moon were like some men, Every night she'd be anblime, For-instead of quartering then She would be full all the time. On the Atlantic ocean, daring the prevalence of a heavy storm, the extreme altitude of waves above the intervening depressions or hollows was fonnd to be forty-three feet. New Mexico has 1,000,000 head of sheep, valued at $1,500,000; Oolcrado 950,000 head, valued at $1,000,000; Wyoming territory 225,000, valued at $450,000. The difference between the thermometer on a July day aud a meadow lark is that the latter rises three hundred feet, while the former goes up nearly a hundred degrees, above nothing.?N. Y. News. Two lovers at the gate; They linger, linger, Linger; He binds the ring of fate? The ring of love and fato? With a kiss upon her finger. ?Somebody. One lover at the grate; She lingers) lingers lingers, "HeighoT this ring of fate," She says, "I've seen of late Upon six others' fingers." ?Louisvihe Courier-Journal Foolish Every-day Questions? Askin the orange peddler, "Are they sweet?' Inquiring of your friend Smith as to what the weather is goiDg to be in the future time, certain or indefinite. Demanding " What's the news ?" with the expectation of getting any answer other than " O-o-h, nothing." Hailing Tom, Dick and Harry with " How d'ye do ?" " How are ye?" as though vou cared a rush how they did or how they were.? Boston Transcript. 7. Thrii maricrj .djlrieuiitirist, in an interesting - r 11 drive, says: "The oattle go to the river for water at noon, with the exception of a few, which remain behind to take care of the calves. One cow may often be seen watching twelve or fifteen calves, while their mothers have gone with the remainder of the herd to drkk. After the return of the herd the ' watohers' take their turn. This interesting tact is vouched for by several old ranchmen." David Crockett once visited a menagerie at Washington, and, pausing a moment before a particularly hideous monkey, exclaimed: "What a resemblance to the Eon. Mr. X. I" The words were scarcely spoken, when he turned, and, to his great astonishment, saw standing at his side the very man whom he had complimented. "I beg your pardon," said the gallant colonel; "I would rot have made the remark had I known you were near me, and I am ready to make the most humble apology for my unpardonable rudeness; but"? looking first at the insulted member of Congress, whose face was anything but lovely, and then at the animal compared to him?"hang it, if I can tell whether I ought to apologize to you or to the monkey I" The Custom of "Treating." "Treating" constitutes one of the chief perils attaching to the custom of imbibing spirituous liquors, and there are now few persons who oould not, if free from its shacKies, restrict the indulgence of their thirst to a decent moderation. A man meeting a group of his friends just as he is bent on obtaining his afternoon allowance of *' sherry and bitters " must, if he does not violate usage, and if he wishes to do what is expected of him, ask them all to join him. Suppose the whole party to number seven. Seven drinks are poured down seven throats, willing or unwilling. What is the immediate result of this hospitality? Six other individuals feel themselves mortgaged with an obligation to equal it. There may be a little chat, and then some one Bays: " Ah, let's have another drink I" Then seven more drinks are poured down seven throais. More talk. Another happy thought by another memof the party. Seven more drinks descend the seven throats. More talk. A fourth inspiration by a fourth participant. Some one who has done his fated duty tries to beg off; has business to transact; ought not to drink any more. His objection is vetoed by the asking party, who is already slightly stimulated perhaps. "No shirking ole feller, come on 1" Repetition of the gulping act by seven performers. Every one feels the mellowing intluence by this time. "Charley," says No. Six affectionately to the genius of the bar, "giv's 'nother! All hands round I" Encoro the feat of seven men swallow ing seven drinks. No. Seven's tnrn has arrived. The happy relief is near. He happens to be the least experienced of the party. He is already full of bliss. His words are few but expressive. "Set 'em np again, hie I" Up they go, and then down they go?seven more drinks. Let us see. 8even times seven are forty-nine. And all because one man felt like taking a little " sherry aud bitters." Perhaps he goes home to bis dinner afterward. Perhaps he don't. Perhaps he fails to see his wife and mother-in-l^w until the next day. Such is life in a country where "treating " is tVio /vnotnm.?Npw York Htrald,