University of South Carolina Libraries
WEEKLY EDITION. WHSTNSBORO, S. C., WEDNESDAY. AUGUST 23, 1882. ESTABLISHED IN 1844. |j ^ _ As the "Wind Blows, The wind blow* north, the wind blows south, The wind blows east and west; Bt matter h <w the free wind blow, |EL ^ '% K-oaie ship will find i^best; Some one out on the wide, wide sea i / Scouts with a happy air, jjjffok V Ho! shipmates, ho ! set all the sails. The wind is blowing fair! |8L One f-hfp sails out into the east, Auother to the west; HL * One has to struggle Serce and hard, R-*' By winds and v. aves oppressed, rjov ~ Hare masts, tosjed to and fro, n ??cu(l salt spray wet; The other flies before the gale With all Ler white sails set. "" Oh, wind, Oh, wind, why dostthon blow, | And out to ocean roar, When I would s'eer my little'bark k Toward some pleasant shore ? What hon'-r will it be to thee 8F If down beneath the wave My simple craft an i I shall find A cold, forgotten grave ?" " Oh, foclish on?, why wilt tho u ateer Against tne mighty gale ? |jt T&p re are ten thousand ships afloat Besides thy tmy saiL K} If thon would float o'er pleasant seas, |K' " Oppose my will no more ; W WLen I b'ow shoreward, then do thou Sail also to the shore." Yet if thy will wi:h mice must strive, Do thoa the best thou can; Again>t my might set all thy skill, rara- And fight me like a man. Keep by the wheel, steer steadily, Keep w*tch above, below ; p- Sach hearts v: < oiake the ports they seek 2io matter what winds blow.'* ?Harper's Weekly. L LISTER SALL1 ?'S SCHEME. Harrison Day was an old bachelor. Not .-o very old either?only a little way into the thirties. But why he was a bachelor at nil, the Lord only knows? I don't I'm sure; for he was one of the most domestic men living, and loved notLisg b=tter tLan a cozy hone fireside, w:th a friend or two to help him - eiijoy it. " v He was not excessively bashful, and he v. as quite able to afford the expense or a nome. 'inougn, xor inat master, Wp many a -young mail has found it costs less to keep two than it does to keep one sometimes. He *as quite popnlu: in society, and he migbt have suited him- ' seif if be chose?but he didn't choose. 1 Perhaps the main reason was that he ^ w had such a comfortable home with his brother; lor ever since George Day married pretty Sallie Saow, Harrison P. had boarded with them. And Sallie took such good care' of him and his traps that he never felt the want of a 1 Lome. That's the way with a man?if every- J thing keeps tight and tidy, he can do Tery well by himself; but once let things 5 yet at sixes ?nd sevens (generally at , about sixties and seventies under mascu- ' _ line rule) and straightway he Jooks around ior a "woman to straighten them j | However, be the reason what it may, 2 jjjter:; Harrison Day was a bachelor, and so he J^^t, jxiighr have been to this day, if the fates ' I v iad not sent Mrs. Sallie a visitor one B. smrm- r in the >hape cf a plump, sweet B& liitle sehooka'an, with cheeks round , and rosy as a Jane apple, and lovely 1 twowit hair, which was neither4 'banged" nor Yimtd with hot irons into a state j JEHK?*"~r'of ;.at.iy mnssiness, nor yet worn in a fc hombie "lunatic fringe/' but simply j rolled rack in soft, smooth loops and braids such as many a New York belle ( Wcuid j,ivu half her diamonds to have by natural right on her own head. This preitv little schoolma'am was , called Lanra Wilson, and it fell out that Mrs. Siilie?George being away from , home?asked her brother in-law to meet MifS Wiisoc at the depot on the day when see was espected to arrive. ITiirr'?on <rd not altogether fancy this task. But he could not be disobliging ? to his gocd little sister, so he marched ^ ^ to the ) ail way station like a hero. 2^ When the train came in there were enly three .aiy passengers. One was a j ^ ~ lav^e. benevolent looking old woman Pt with a basket?couldn't be she. The ] next was a pretty school girl in brown? couldn't be she either. Ba5 the next ] was a tall, angular female, with glasses and a most lerritic {'pull-bsck." ?;The beau ideal of a schoolma'am! Couldn't she flourish a birch rod in snnerb style !" mentally observed Sar rison. ' U pen that he walked out on the platR form, and addressed the lady with the grandest bow. ] "I presume I address Miss Wilson?" ^ The lady drew back and said, rig- j * Sir, yen presume too far. I have not ' the honor of your acquaintance.'' , ^ She passed on, and Harrison drew r back somewhat abashed, when the pretty ( schoolgirl touched his arm. , "I a in Miss "Wilson. Did Cousin / - J rSaliie >end yon to meet me, sir 7" she said, ia a sweet clear voice. Hirrison assured her he was sect most agreeably surprised to find this dear little thing was his sister's guest, and took her checks to get her baggage. They were soon 011 their way to George's in a carriage, and Harrison used his e^es so well as to discover that Miss L-iura had the finest eyes and the softest white hand he had ever seen, in a-jdition to her other beauties. In s-hort, he made up his mind at once to like her. And before she bad v>oon lift's cnest three weeks, he had taken the steps from liking to sometime a little higher, and was more than haif in love her. Saliie and George saw the turn things |^J? were taking, and were quite delighted : at the idea of having Laura for a sister. ^ Bat they did not interfere until Har- : rison seemed so slow to show the pieference they were sure he felt, that Mrs. Sallie was moved to help him a bit. One afternoon Laura had gone out l for a while alone. Mrs. Sal lie thought jj^ - if she got away too, and left Harrison to meet Laura on her return, the tete-atete which mast naturally follow, might bring about good results. Any way, she resolved to try. Putting baby Charley to sleep for his afterimon nap, ^ . -which was usually a long one, Mrs. Sillie has'.ily dressed for a walk, and going in Bflg where Harrison sat reading, she said, in Ler most engaging way: * mgL '-Harry, I lind I am obliged to go out on an errand. Won'_t you watch baby rfcr a little while ? He is asleep, and will only need a litte jog of his cradle ecw and then." Hsrrison readily promised, and drew his chair near Charley's cradle, resuming his book. Mrs. Sallie went straightway down to her husband's office, and confided ber plans to him; whereupon, he wckedly conspired with her to set a still stronger trap for Harrison's unwary feet. Therefores the office boy was dispatched to i he house with a note, tel ling Harry that George and bailie were detained a while on business, but Laura * tit II gt%A V??> act VtAT* to bare the kindess to give himself and lK. Charley a b.t of supp&r (she would fiod all things ready in the panrrv) and take Mfc? care of them until they could get home. Mr. Hariison was disposed to grumble at this news, aad wondered what .he business could be -which would keep Sal1'*?, too. E t there was no help for i:; and Charley's voice from Dr^ the cradle recalled him directly to his share of the Unties, so he went obediently in the sitting-rcom The little chap had waked in a good humor, and Harrison deemed it policy to keep him so. He sat down upon the floor and gave him Sallie's photograph i album to play with. When he got tired ! of that he was -supplied with a pin| cnsbion full of pins, and the scissors. I Luckily he did not kill Himself with these, and Mr. Harrison next presented him with Sallie's best bottle of cologne. This kept him' quiet a few minutes. Then he began to fret, and though Harrison offered him every available article in the room, he would have none of them, "Well, I can't think of anything else to please you, except the oil lamp or the hatchet," cried Harry, as he began to walk up and down the floor with his troublesome charge. "I do wish Miss Wilson would come, since your mother won't. I'm sure I don't know what to do with you." But Charley was tired and hungry, and began to squall most unmelodious by, and the more ins distressed uncle tried to soothe him, the harder he squalled. "What on earth is a fellow to do with you ? 'cried poor Harry, in utter despair. "What do young ores eat, anyhow? Bread and mil?? Maybe he's hungry. Let's go down stairs and see ?? ,e_j r ?:~u *t,~ T ?J wiiab we u2ui uiiu. jl wish lv luu juuiu Laura would come!" Down stairs they went, but milk they could not find, and Charley would not eat without is. At last unable to please the child with anything, the disgusted bachelor took the sugar bowl and sat down to feed'the child the sugar, keeping up a relentless trot, trot, trot, by way of helping the sugar go down. "There! eat, if it kills you I" he cried, dabbing a spoonful into the baby's mouth. "Good Lord! talk about women going off to vote and speechify, and look what a hullaballoo it kicks up when one of them goes out for an hour. There I eat, you little imp. I do 'sish to gracious Laura "Wilson would come." Immediate upon the invocation, Laura appeared in the dining-room door, with a comioal smile on her pretty ?rts\s\ of r\AQlflAn ia\/0 C* U VUX UV1V O |/vuiV!VU? Harry dropped the sngar bowl, and nearly dropped the baby, af he arose ard aw&wardly tried to explain the situation. "That's a pity! But they'll come as soon as they can, no doubt. And new I'm here we shall do very weJl," said Miss Laura. "Let me take Charley. Come, baby, come." She held out her pretty hands, and Charley, who was very fend of her, sprang to them with a crow of delight, cuddled down on her soft shoulder at once. She knew where the milk was, J J J." TIT? EfciJ.ll ULLUCi X1CJL U.Xx CUULUIXO) Uli. I 1(11 AAOVU brought a cap of it, and then watched her with admiring eyes as she ied the hungry child so daintily. " Now we will go upstairs, and he'll go right to sleep. You see, I know his regular habits, which makes a difference," she said, with a smile at Harry, which made his face flush uaaccountibly. In a few minutes Laura had Charley fast asleep, and in a few more Mr. Harrison was seated at a cozy supper-table, sphile she poured his tea. He thougnt tie should not object to "just such aa urangement in general, and there was \ little flutter of embarrassment about Laura which made her exceedingly inarming. After supper Harrison returned to the jitting-room, where Laura soon joined turn. He watched her as she sat beside :he lamp with some pretty, light work, md, before long, the sweet home pic :ure stirred his heart so deeply that he ;ook a strong resolution to secure it for lis own. " Why don't George and Sallie some ? " he said, by way of beginning a jonversation. "I hope nothing alarming detains ;hemt" said Laura. " I hope not. I'd go down and see, i>ut I don't like leaving you alone." " Go, if you lihe. I Bhall not be at ill afrai<?" " No, ? don't like. They will surely jome soon, anyhow. My gracious, Miss Laura, I was having an awful time when fou came." *' So I perceived," said Laura, laughhg a little at the recollection of the ;unny figure he cut. "I'm sorry I did iot hasten home sooner. I wouid lave done so if I had known you needed ne." "i wonder if I don't need you always. Will you come as readily if I do?" said Elarry, suddecly. Laura looked up in surprise, and her jweet face flushed deeply. Harrv rose nstantly, crossed over, and stood close ;o her, saying, gravely: "I am in deep earnest, dear Lauro- I TTQ-nf frt orvan^ ell f.hft fast lr?f t*V life rrauu wv duwuv v?*v V(? - _ frith you. May I ? " "But you have known m.e such a iittle while," said Laura sending closer Dver her work. "Long enough ?o learn to love you, though 1 think I learned that the first lay." "No sure* than think?" asked Laura, half loosing up with a blush and an irch glance. "Yes, a thousand times surer!" cried 3arry, ardently, dropping on one knee jeside her. "I know I did! Will you lave me, Laura?" I dare say Laura answered "Yes." ;hough Harry's shoulder hid her face so jompletely that nobody cculd have hnt himself, and I can onlv guesa it her answer; for when George and Siliie came in a little later, they surprised a most interesting tableau, and jne which delighted them, for it proved :hat 'heir little scheme had not failed, ir.u convinced them that Harrison Day's bachelorhood was almost ended. Xedical Value of Vegetables. A celebrated cook book discusses the medical valae'of vegetables as follows : Asparagus is a strong diuretic, and forms part of the cure f^r rheumatic patients at such health resorts as Aisles-Bains. Sorrel is cooling, and forms the staple of that soupe aux ktrbes which a French lady will order for herself after a long and tiring jonrney. Carrots, as containing a quantity of sugar, are avoided by some people, wmie | others complain of them as indigestible. J With regard to the latter accusation, it may be remarked,iD passing, that it is the yellow core that is difficult ol: digestion ?the outer, a red lo.yer, is tender enough. In Savoy the peasants have recourse to an infusion of carrots as a specific for j aandice. The large sweet onion is very rich in those alkaline elements which counteract the poison of rheumatic gout. If slowly stewed in weak broth and eaten with a little Nepaul pepper, it will be found to be an admirable article of diet for patients of studious and sedentary habits. The stalks of eatuir.cwer aaye the same sort of valae, cnlj too often the etalk of a cauliflower is so ill-boiled and unpalatable that few persons woald thank you for proposing to them to make part of their meai consist of bo uninviting an article. Turnips, in the same way, are often thought to be indigestible, and better suited for cows and sheep than for delicate people ; but here the fault lies with the ccok as much as with the root. The cooi bojls the turnip badly, and then pours some butter over it, and the eater of such a dish is sure to be the worse for it. Try a better way. What shall be said about nnr lottnce? The r>lant has a slight narcotic action, of which a French old womaD, like a French doctor, will finow the value, and when properly cooked it is really very easy of digestion.?Medical Record. In summer the professional swimmer is up to his eyes in business. Finely Tempered Swords. The art shewn in swoid-making was not bj any means confined to beautiful forms and"elaborate ornamentation. Tne greatest skill was exercised in the manufactnre and tempering of the blade, which, in the days when swords were not only worn but used, was more important than any other part of this weapon. In Europe, the sword manu factnrers of Spain first began to have a reputation lor producing worK 01 superior qaality, and the armorers of Toledo stood foremost among their countrymen. A "Toledo blade" was considered to be a weapon of great value, and, even now, when we wish to speak of something remarkably fine-tempered and sharp, we compare it to one of iLese swords. The peculiarity of the Toledo blade was not only its extreme bardness,. which enabled it to receive and retain the sharpest and most delicate edge, but its elacticity, which allowed it l;o be bent without being broken. Some of the most famous of these swords could be bent so that the points touched the hilts, and yet they would spring ba-jk to perfectly straight line. It is said that, in Toledo, sword-blades have been seen in the cutlers' shops coiled in boxes like watch-springs, and although they might remain in this position for some time, they would become periectly stra ight wlion fat-on rvnf OfcViAr in Europe were also famous for producing good swords. Many excellent weapons were made in Italy, and Andrea Fer. -ara, the Italian sword-maker, who has >een mentioned before, was better known throughout Europe than any other of his craft. To possess a genuine Ferrara blade was considered a great thing by ths nobles of France and England. Bui. it is to the East that the world owes the production of the most finely tempered swords it has ever seen; and the steel of Damascus has been celebrated for many hundred years as sajerior to any other metal that has ever been made into sword-blades. Even the cutlers of Toledo doubtless owed ' ? X 1.1. . T - tneir sum to me mours, wnu uruuisuL from Damascus the art of mailing bladeis that were as hard as diamonds, as sharp as razors, and as elastic as whalebone. Wonderful stories are related of these Damascus swords. We have I been t old that with one of them a mll! grown, sheep could be cut in half at a [ single blow, a heavy iron chain could be severed without turning the delicate edge of the sword, and a g?;uze veil floating in the air could be cut through with one gentle sweep of the glittering blade. These wonderful scimitars are not manufactured riow, but their fame has exceeded that of any Ablt am wnn A C iVl AtW OH/? If * O U UUCr vroapuii UI tncii nmuj tuau iu 10 quite certain that their extraordinary excellence "has not been exaggerated. It i3 probable that the workers in steel of the present day might be able to discover the peculiar methods by which rhe Dimascus steel was made, but as there would be little use or demand for the blades after they bad been 'produced, ic is not likely that their manufacture will be attempted. We should consider, however, that although the presert age is pre-eminent as an inventive and manufacturing period, there are seme things which have been produced by the ancients and the artificers of the middle ages which we of the present day have not been able to equal. It is possible, therefore, that our steelworkers mijiht never be able to make a Damas cus blade, even if thej wanted to. Some of the swords of Japan are said to possess wonderful qualities of hard ness and sharpness. The story is told that if one of these celebrated blades is held upright in a running stream the leaves floating gently down with the current will cut themselves in two when they reaeh the keen edge of the swoid. But these Japanese swords, some of which <">> held in such hi,?h esteem that e worshiped, and temples were *,.'* . their honor, were only hare an- ha ,; they had no elasticity, they nOi ^oh bend and they might breal. ... u in this respect they were far inferior to the splendid scimitars of the Moors and Saracens.? fSt. Nicholas. ( The Woods Craze. The guides through the-^'ea^ w^er" ness of the ssuthem ""?hame3? h?7e w^v. to cott ,-<iat they call the ^oodrcraze.',ViTiie most 6IPert hanter,they de^ure' *s become suddenly ly^ddered in the interminable j fore?40' and once having lost his reck onis seized with a kind of frenzy. Henry Forde records the same fact in its relation to travelers through the mountains of West Virginia. " The most experienced woodsmen," he writes, "are subject to these injuries ; the arguments of companions; the position of the sun ; observations of known land-marks, fail to convince them of their whereabouts. They simply are lost in mind as well as in body."' Old woodsmen usually recover in a short time, but men unused to vast wilderness have been known in their madness to fly at sight of parties sent to rescue them, and to bury themselves m tne tmcsets, wnere ^nev starve to death. Catlin was told by the Indians that a man lost on the prairie invariably travels ia a circle, moving to the left. An old hunter who lived nearly a century ago in Western Virginia, and left an antibiography behind him, fall of adven ture and keen observations, telis us of a madness which seizes the hunter after long pursuit of his prey, and which he calls the "deer fever." "I have gone for two days and nights through the deep enow, stripped to my hunting shirt and absolutely without food," he says, *c and neither felt cold nor hunger. I was burning inwardly, and as everyDOay snows, a mau never carts iu e?t when a fever is upon him, and is stronger then tban any other time." These random facts are worth notin?, as they really index important truths in the science of the miad and its ail ments. The rancheros in New Mexico and the cowboys of Arizona] have some curious traditions and cnstoms, which are founded upon natural laws that are bnt little understood. One of these is their belief that isolated cattle can and do find their way to their birthplace across the plains if released after a journey of hundreds of miles upon a railroad tram. Tins is alter an no more singular than the coming back of fish to spawn in their native waters, a phenomenon which occurs every year. They return even as far as from the Gaif of Mexico, to some obscure little stream in Kentucky.?Youth's Cornpan Urn. Bow the Italians Embalm. The principal Italian embalmers heep their process a secret, although the chief steps are well-known. First cold water is injected through the whole eirculatory system until it issues * - -i rPL: 4. .1? ? i quite ciear. mis wac ao iuu^ ao five hours. Alcohol is then injected, for the purpose of abstracting ail the water fr?. m the body. This is followed by ihe injection of ether, to dissolve out the fatty .matter. This injection is carried on several hours?in thin subjects for two, in very fat ones for even as long as ten hours. After this a strong solution of tannin is slowly injected, and full time is allowed for its soaking into all the. tissues; this takes from j two to five hours. Lastly, the b )dy is ! exposed for from two to five hours to a | current of warm air, whichispreviouf.lv ! dried by passing it over a heated chloride of calcium. The body can j then be preserved for any length of i time without undergoing change, and is ; 3s hard as stone.?[London Lancet. OX THE PLAINS. The Story Told bv tin Indian fo His White Friend i n N ew York. Going up Broadway last week with a friend from the West, we met a halfbreed Indian coning down the street near the postoffice, and I was surprised to hear my friend axclairc : way, naiioo, i>im, wu? urc tuu doing in New York?" Leaving the two talking together at a warm w:ndow in the postoffice, I took a stage and rode home. He was a poor, common-looking fellow, that hali breed, with thin, worn clothing, onl;? distinguishable from the ordinary tramp by his tall, lithe form, long, black hair, ; dark face and piercing black eyes, and I wondered why my high-toned friend had stopped to renew acquaintance with that link of two races. Three days later I met my friend and remarked : "Well, Will, that Indian didn't get your scalp ?" "No. Let me tell you something ( about him," ' All " --? "I met him first at A'oidene, Kaa.; ho was our guide in a surveying party, Saved Wy life one night." "How." "From a rattlesnake; the deadly reptiles are the constant menace of sarveying parties; in measuring off land you suddenly hear under your very fee!; in the thick grass the blood-curdling warning, and you must immediately jump or be bitten; but at night they will actually crawl under your blanket and lie up elos? to you to get warm. That is your terrible and unconscious danger; move hand or foot and they bury their deadly fangs in you. The only way to keep them out of a tent is to surround it with a horse-hair lariat, laid in an unbroken circle on the ground; they will not crawl over it, the iiau sclatches them, or perhaps they mistake it for their mortal enemy, the black snake. But to the story: One night, in the bright moonlight streaming into the tent, Jim saw a rattlesnake crawling over my neck, and just as 1 moved, he caught it by the tail, quick as lightning, and. flung it through the tent door. Poor fellow, he was hungry the other night, and I took him over and ordered a first-class suppei for us both, and he told me a little incident that went right down to the bottom of my heart. He is only a poor half-breed outcast, but he's true as steel, and when they come >o make up jewels at the last day for the great crown, I think there'll be some tiling stiming m nia nears tnat may give poor Jim a chance. This is what he told me: He had been away West to see his old indiaa mother, who lives with her tribe, and was returning across the plains on his pony when, one day, about half-way between Denver and Fort Wallace, he saw a wagon in the distance whose owner appeared to have gone into camp. Biding toward it, he was surprised to seo no horses in sight; and going still nearer, he saw a woman sitting on the ground crying as if her heart would break At her breast she held a poor, hungry-looking little baby, which was seeking nourishment from a source which was evidently fast failing for the want of food. It was a pitiful scene ; the woman's husband lay dead in the wagon and tie horses had broken loose and gone in search of food, while not a spark of fire was left and not a bits of food. The woman, or rather girl she might have been called, she was so young, told a sad tale of suffering and destitution. She had married against the wishes and commands of her father, who lived on a comfortable farm near Concordia, Kansas, and after a year of deprivation and toil with her husband, on a farm he had rented a few miles from her father, they had decided to go farther West and had started in their wagon with al' they possessed in the world, a little baby one or twr> <. For a few weeks thev the weather was E a f , j ^>aQajmt for the horses. Thev thf^5?*1 into 11 Bter^e regi?n and becaT*" l08ti on P13^6- w^er? ^ after day they had driven round in i circle; then her liusband was taken sick and suddenly d ied two days before Jim found them, and in despair she had ^iven up all hope and sat down to wait for death to take her and hei pitiful babe. "Jim had plenty of jerked meat with him and some coff?e and other little articles oftood, and he actually tnrned ronnd to hide ?is toars, he said, when he saw that poor half-starved creature eat. He wasn't the man to leave that woman alone out there, so he stood by her and her baby, pat them on his pony, abandoned the wagon after buryiDg the dead, and at her request started with them for her old home, walking and leading the pony, and occasionally killing some game on the way with his trnsty Spencer rifle. The weather was gradually growing colder, until at sundown of Tuesday they reached the locality of her old home a few flakes of orirtTi? Hoertm t.n fall, it was there that I the woman made a fatal mistake. Instead of having Jim go with her to her father's house, she had him leave her within half a mile of the farm, thinking she could better effect a reconciliation with her father if she returned home alone. So parting with Jim. under his promise to come to her father's the next morning, she trudged along the old, * 1 *? ? ? J ott/3 Tim rndfl ntlf. of lauiumr wiu i.iuuo auu u IU. ? sight toward the village, when he saw her reach her father's door. Poor girl, he didn't see her father spurn her from the door; he didn't see her turn her weary foot-steps ont into the coming snow-storm and wander heart-broken aod desolate and aimlessly down the road into the darkness; he didn't hear the cry of the little miserable, freezing baby at her breast; he didn't hear her wail of anguish; he didn't see the white snow weaving its mantle of eternal silence over her and the little dead baby by the roadside; bnt there he found them the nezt morning with the snow heaped over them, a frozen smile Kzv* ftna and nrasniriff fchA head of her UU JUC'X AHVU homeless babe to her homeless breast Did I say homeless ? Oh, no, they had gone home to that father who had heard their pleading voices, and their cold hands knocking at the gates of pearl."? [Detroit Free Press. Controlling Dreams. A Frenchman has recently made some carions experiments upon himself, and as a result has announced to the world that it is possible to control dreams and make "Jiem either pleasant or otherwise. His method is to stimulate the brain through the agency of heat, aad to place the body in certain positions. He finds that by bandaging ; his head with a layer wadding nis dreams always become sane and intelligent. As regards the position of the body, the results, so far as the nature of the dreams are concerned, are varied. For example, when he lay upon his back he experienced luxurious and sensorial dreams. To sleep on the right side brought him dreams which were absurd and full of exaggeration, and which brought old matters vividly back to his mind. While lying on his left side the exaggerated character of the I visions disappeared. They became sensible and intelligent, and recalled more recant experiences. The phenomenon of speech in slumber was also more aot to be noted while the body I >. j in thia postnre. A Florida paper estimates that there I are 165,000 orange trees in that State, i and tbe prodnct of this year is 50,000,i 000 oranges. That is one for ecch inj habitant of the Union. FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS. An observer says that toads will eat bees greedily. Most kinds of sandstone are nearly as porous as loose sand. Nine million eggs were fonnd in examining a tingle bee. In Bnrmah children are to be seen smoking in their mother's arms. It is 6aid that Coleridge wrote his vnaama (( Vioti '' in o /Iroaivi -Li.Li.UlCi UUOU a-j. a m&caiLLJ.* Isaac D'Israeli claims to have introduced the term " fatherland" as an English word. We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others jadge ue by what we have already done. The sense of smell may be made for the time more acute by filling the month with very cold wa:er. Good coral is worth live times its weight in gold, and the finest pink coral is worth $600 an ounce. Victor Hugo says that English statistics prove four robberies out of five to have hunger for their immediate cause. It is said that no other oity in the United States records so many deaths frnm the use of ch?i~o*oim _ Cin?! tinnati. * "The expressions 'bogie' and 'cowcatcher' are not American. The former, is. called the 'truck*-and the latter the pilot.' European diamonds are few and smali. OdIj abont seventy were gath ered in twenty years, at the foot of the Ural Mountains, and one has been found in Bohemia. When the German empress travels in summer the roof of herraijroad cariiage is covered with a layer of turf, which is watered frequently during the day as a device to keep her cool, Venice and Amsterdam are the cities of bridge?. The first has 450, the last Son. T inn don has 15'. Vienna 20 find Berlin will soon have 50. Altogether, the most beautiful and striking bridge in Europe is that over the Moldau at Prague. i Hunting the Sea Otter. The great majority of the sea otter bkins wh ch now come into the market are eecared in Alaska and while a portion of them are g^hered by white hunters, yet a very large ps.rt are taken by natives, the Aleuti It is true that many of these, especiallv the youDg men, have learned to "use the riria with success, yet their chief modes of hunt ing the sea otter still are entirely different from those already described. They kill them by Vspear surrounds" and by "clubbing" A "spear surround" is preeminently aa abor iglilaJL ili-iaxi, aiiu i ivo uild uatn in imagination to the days of old. It recalls tha hunting scenes portrayed on the moiuments of E*ypt and Assyria. Tbe weapon is a bone spear, barbed, and srt into the end of a long wooden pole, from which it is easily drawn ont by Ihe straggles of the animal wcnnded wifti it, but to which it is still attached by a very strong cord of considerable length. When the otter, therefore, is itrack, the spearhead is held by the .barbs fast in the flesh; he plunges tofscape, pnlls the spear from the wpid, swims to the length of the oord, atd then finds that he is dragging the pole- behind him This, of course, is h.>rd work and soon .tires him out,. : brought witbip^1*'blows to kUm^v.. . , , , ThA A1 pats "pafc2 ^18 attack only by i ^l^l ^atclied during daylight fi! ^t,v^ one cr more sea otters the spot goon ag ifc ;g ^arj. tjje m*Zotleave the shore-four men in Jach?three to paddle and a chief 09 other man of distinction to use the spear. They advance as quietly as possible, in a tranverse line, toward the spot previously marked. The first who discovers an otter darts his spear, and generally wifh succtssful aim. The AMi'mnl ^itTAO a-nrl oil fho VlAof.fi fif. aUlLUOi V* i. VA'j Oliiw uu uuv wv/MKk/ mm vmw | form a circle sufficiently. large to be sure that they have surrounded him aud that he must rise within, and then they wait patiently. The otter remains under water from fifteen to thirty minutes if he is not wounded; if he is dragging the spear-poll behind him he mu3t come up much sooner. Even in the darkness the keen eye of some Indian detects his head the instant it ie above water. If within reach, another spear is thrown ; if out of reach, a great shouting and splashing of paddles is kept up to compel the timid animal to dive again without delay. This is continued time after time, until, worn out an i exhausted, he rises where some one oan civ.j him a fatal blow. It is very o seldom that more than one is captured in this manner at one "surround," for even if a number of them have been seen together, the others almost invariablv make their escape in the darkness. Tne "clubbing" is equally characteristic of these strange people. It coaid never be done except by those who have about as little fear of the rough sea as have tbe sea otters themselves ; in fact, there are not very many even of the Aleuts who dare to undertake the work. It is done only in the winter, and at the end of one of the terrible gales which sweep that coast. Two men in a baidarka paddle out on the very tail of the gale to the low, .rocky islets, which are only just high enough to be out of water. The sea otters are lying there with their heads itfcmst into tbe kelp to escape the fury W +>>? wind Thfl noise of the wind and of the sea enables hunters to approach unheard. Each is armed with a short, beavv club, and blow ^ome3 down after blow as fast as their strong arms can 3wing them. Each blow leaves an otter dead, and in the crash of the gale, before the otters could take the alarm]and escape, two Aleuts were known to kill Berenty-eight in a single onslaught. cFscts About the Ea-.t Iliver Bridge. The construction of the great bridge between New York and Brooklyn was begun January 3, 1870. The length of the river span is 1.595 feet & inches. The length of e;ich land span is 9:50 fee1. The length of the Brooklyn approach is 971 ieet. The lenptluof the New York approach is 1 562 6 feet. The total length of the bridge is 5,989 feat. The width of the bridge is 85 feet. The number of cables is 4 The diameter of each cable is lof inches, and each cable consists of 5,300 parallel st eel wires, No. 7 g?.uge, wrapped to ? solid cylinder. The ultimate strength of each cable isl2,UC'0tcns. The depth of the tower louaaation oeiow menwater in Brooklyn is 45 feet. The depth of the tower foundation below hijTn-water mark in New York is 78 feet. The size of the toners at hi?h* water line is 140 feet by 59 feet and at the roof course is 135 feet by 53 feet. T.ae total height of the towers above high-water mark is 277 feet. The clear height of the bridge in the center of the river span over high-water is, as com. puted by the bridge eagineers( 136 feetTile height of the floor at the towers above high-water mark is 119 feet 3 inches. The grade of the roadway is fij in urm TOO feet-. The siz<* of the anchorases at the bases is 129 bv 119 feel: and at the top 117 feet by 104 feet. The weight of each anchor plate is 23 tous. A new and pretty material for summer dresses is a crinkJy, silky crape, called diamontine, which for evening i wt ar is made np over surah and trim' med with Spanish lace. GIANTS. Something Abont Men of Colossal Stature. Mythology and fable famish a long list of men of immense stature. We have Plutarch's word for it that Antocos was eighty-five feet in height. Strabo makes mention of a giant also eightyfive feet high, and Piiny tells of another sixty feet. Boccaccio describes the body'of a giant from bones found in a cave in Sicily about two hundied and t.w^ntv-fire feet in leneth: but Kircher spoils the story by declairing that the bones were those of a mastodon. Aagouleffre, the Saracen giant, was fifteen feet high, his face measured three feet in breadth, his nose was nine inches long, and his arms and ]egs six feet. He was repnted to have the ntrength of thirty men, and his mace was the solid trans of an oak tree. Giants inhabited Britain, sav the monkish historians, until Brutus went crcsr and conquered them. There were two wonderful fellows there at th*> time of Brutus' conquest?Gogmagog and Lancorigan. To the former, it is said, "the tallest pine hewn on Norwegian hills" was but a toothpich. Goliath was niDe feet nine inches high; his coat of mail weighed two hnnos-d eigfci ponnds. The Anakim were sojmmense that the Hebrew spies said they themselves were mere grasshoppers in comparison with these giants. Eleazer, the Jewish giant mentioned by Josephus, was ten feet six inches. Gabara, who Pliny says was the tallest man seen in the days of Glandins, was nine feet nine inches. The skeleton of Fallas, of the Titans, which was dng ont of a stone sepnlcher near Borne in tne reign of Emperor , Henry II., was "higher than the walls ' of the city," Kixchner gravely asserts. 1 And the same writer tells of a skeleton frvnnd near Palermo that rnnst have be Ion ced to a person four hnndred feet high. "We have the word of Lucious Flaccns that during the Cretan war : tbere was discovered in a great cleft of the earth the carcass of a man of the length of thirty-three cubits, or forty- 1 two feet If Father Jerome de Mon- j ceanx was not imposed npon, the skeleton of a giant ninety-six feet long ] was fonnd in a wall in Macedonia; the skull conld contain two hnndred and ten poucds of corn, and a tooth of the under jaw weighed fifteen pounds. This desultory mention of monstrous men, mostly of mythology and tradition, might be continued indefinitely. 1 There were any number of them tramp- ( mg around on the earth in the early * uojo. jucaviii^ tiic u'jLuaiu ui ifluio und legand for that of real life, we also find some very formidable giants. The Emperor Maximus was nine feet high; he generally ate forty pounds of flesh and drank six gallons of wine every day; his shoe was a foot longer than that of any other man, and he wa3 in ;he habit of nsing his wife's bracelet ? for a thumb ring. It is well, perhaps 0 to take a little salt wi'h the story that ? he could draw a carriage which two oxen could not move. Niceta3 asserts quite positively that Andronicus II., *as ten feet high. John Middleton, born at Hale, in Lancashire, in the ?eign of James I., was nine feet three inches; his hand was seventeen incnes c long and eight and one-talf inches j hrria^ ? Vanderbrook says he saw a black man * at Congo nine feet high. CharJes * Byrne, or OBrien, the Irish giant * (1761-1783). was eight feet four inches; ( and Murphy, contemporary with ' Patrick Cotter, who died m 1802., "was eight feet seven and one-half inches. It c is said of Charlemagne, who was nearly c eight feet tall, that he conld squeeze 2 together three horseshoes at once with c his hands. William Evans, porter to 4 Charles I.," was eight feet at death. s Francis Sheridan, an Irishman, who 0 went by the name of Big Frank, was c seven feet eight inches; weight, twenty- 1 two stone; girth around the chest, fifty- * eight inches. He died in 1870. < J. H. Riechart, of Fried herg, whose * father and mother were both giants, was * eight feet three inches in height. Gillv i a Sweder exhibited in the early part of 1 the nineteenth century, was eight feet ? high. LooshJSin, the Kassian giant, ana 1 Dmm Major of the Imperial Gaards, ( measured eight feet three inched. ' Maximilian Miller, the Saxon giant, was ' eight feet; his hand measured twelve ? inches, and his forefinger was nine ' inches Ion (. 'Among other giants in 1 real life, bnt who are now dead, the 1 following may be mentioned: Heinrich Osen, Norwegian, 7 feet 6 inches 3 Joseph Bruce, English, 7 feet 8 inches Cornelius Magrath, Irish, 7 feet 8 inches ] Edmund Mellon, Irish, 7 feet 6 inches ; James McDonald, Irish, 7 feet 6 inches j Louis. French, 7 feet 6 inches Harold Hardrada, Norwegian, 7 feet S inches ' Eleizeque, Spanish, 7 feet 10 inches . John Busbv, English, 7 feet 9 inches i Bradley, English. 7 feet 8 inches ( Henry Blacker, English, 7 feet 4 iuches Edward Ramford, Irish, 7 feet 4 inches Alice Gordon, English, 7 feet Robert Hale. English, 7 feet 7 inches ] La Pierre, Danish, 7 feet 1 inch Salmeron, Mexican, 7 feet 6 inches j Miles Darden, North Carolina, 7 i'eet 6 inches Chang, the Chinese giant, is seven foAf sit inches hich. James Gilbert, a i mulatto, of Chatham, North Carolina, who travels with Barn urn's show, is seven feet. Undoubtedly the most , wondeiful of living giants is Captain , Bates, the Kentuckian, who now resides on a farm near Seville, Ohio, when hj is not on exhibition; and Mis Bates is tbe most colossal oi the giantesses. The Captain is thirty-four years of age, weighs five hundred and twenty sis pounds, is seven feet eleven inches high, measures seventy inches around tb a chest, and wears a No. 10 hat, a thirty inch co' lar, and a seventeen boot. Mrs. Bates tips the scales at four hun| dred and eighty pounds, is thirty-one years old, and as tall as her husband and sports silk dresses of eighty yardb apiece. Rosewood and Mahogany. liosewooa fias Been ine xeaamg wooa to veneer pianofortes for the past thirty or forty years. The best comes from Rio Janeiro, some of which is very rich, but varies considerably in different, places where it is cut. Bahia rosewood is generally longer, heavier and harder to work, bnt some of it is handsomely crossfigured. As people generally demand dark colored rosewood, it has led to staining the light wood very oiten, which may be known when legs and arms, etc., ol furniture and pianofortes look unnaturally dark. At one time manufacturers used to cut rosewood veneers in ribbons to veneer picture frames, but soon rosewood was imitated to such perfection by staining that the demand for rosewood veneers for picture frames ceased altogether. It is impossible to imitate mahogany by staining so as to deceive, or mend bad places in the wood, as is done in other kinds of wood. The wood is rich in color, close grained, heavy and durable, and unlike rosewood and many other woods, does not fade, bat pains colors by time and grows darker. i The best mahozan.v known grows in the i Island of St. Domingo, and the finest I of all on the south side of that Island. "A piece of furniture veneered with i handsome mottle-headed St. Domingo mahogany looks as if it were full of life as jou move before it, and sbades every way, while a piece of furniture veneered with fully as handsome a veneer of Cuba mahogany will not shade every wav as the other will, but shows best if you look at it from certain positions. Cuba mahogany also is j much more apt to have dark or black marks or staias in it, which, when they ! occur, greatly lessens its value, POPULAR SCIENCE. The present flax yield in the United States is between 2.000,000 aad 3,000000 bnshels of seed and about 19,000 tons of fiber. When chlorate of potash is miied with loaf sugar, a drop of sulphuric acid let fall on the compound will produce a brilliant flnme. The chaDge in tint of morning glories under the influence of atmospheric moist are is said to be due to the presence of eome acid in the air. The cheaper qualities of absinthe of- | ten contain sulphate of copper, and j absinthe drinkers often show bymptoms j of copper poisoning. * Some facts of interest to arboriculturists generally near salt water havo been observed by Dr. Hooker at Cirencester, England, during the last fifteen years. The amount of salt carried from j the sea by the autumnal cralts and de- 1 posited after rain varied from five to seven grains per gallon, while the ordinary amount was only 5 grains. The average winter quantity was bnt slightly in excess of the summer average. At Oakley Park one side of the tiees was severely in j .ixed after a southwest ! tempest, and if no rain fell for a few days after the gale the salt sparkled on the trees even at a distance of fhirtyfive miles from the sea. The salt acted in abstracting tho moisture from the leaf-cells, and formed a condensed solution, so that the leaf became completely dried up, and consequently perished. As Las been remarked by Sir J. D. Hooker, the celebrated Dalton was the first to note a like phenomenon at the beginning of this century. Some trees resist the influence of the storm-carxied salt better. Development of Timepieces. If we seek for the origen of any invention, clouded as all inventions are in mystery, we invariably turn to the unclouded country of the East, and there among the splendor and luxury Df the Babylonians we discover the first indication of the ancestry of clocks. This* was the perpendicular staff or pil lar -which was so placed tnat at sunset it cast a shadow equal to twelve feet, and time was computed by the length :>f the shadow. So supper-time was called the hour of a ten-foot shadow, ind the hour of the bath, in later records, was the time of a shadow six feet! iong. Any very accurate measurement I )[ time was of course impossible under ' :his method, but we see in the "gno- , non," as it was called, the first indica;ion of the sun-dial, referred to in 1 lings, when Isaiah by supplication < jrought the shadow back upon the dial. 1 Prom Ba ylon to Greece transition was j ?asy, and in Grecian history we read of i he Polos, which was the foreshadow of i he later sun-dial, aad which was like a j ihallow basin, in the center of which ] in' upright staff was fixed, the day^ : md hours being marked upon the basin i rith lines. Little as there is in either )f these methods akin to our own, there ] vas equally little in the water-clock, ; is it is called, which was .certainly in 1 ommon use in Greece in the days of < iristophanea for he computed the time 1 lonsumed in a law case by reference to it j It is a little difficult to recognize i xactly what class of timepiece is inended when reference is made therein ] >y ancient historians, for the word ] lorologe covers them ali, or, rather, the < Jreek word from which horology is i lerived is used for sun-dial, water-clock, i :ontrivance, and was a very uncertain ( >ne, and was the first of which we here < tny record as measuring time by meihanical means. Some writers think hat it was in use in China, Chaldea, tnd Es?ypt before the gfneral knowledge )f tde sun-dial, but whether that was the l :ase or not it was very ingenious in its ! ray. It consisted of a hollow bail, Jaiiened a little at the top to the shape >f a poppy he .d, from whence it derived < ts Greek n.?me. There was an opening : it the top where the water was ponred < n, and this was kept closed with a stop- i per, so that the water was not l:able to be spilled over, and various small holes on i he opposite side allowed it to trickle ! )ut as if through a filter lime was jomputed. <.y the gradubl diminution of -he water in the vessel. The rscheJtones must have been of stone, but later on, after the invention of ttfass, transparent walls were used, and the water was supposed to run dry every fimir. No reliance, however, c^uld be placed upon it, for the flow of the water j fluctuated under climatic and atmos-1 Dbereic conditions, and the Greets and Romans can hardly have been "punctual to the minute'' if they relied upon the ilepsydra, as the water-clock was called, [t seems likely that these mechanical ilo'cks were in use in the houses or court of the houses, while in all public places, squares, or on monumental buiid ings sun-dials were universally used. Ia Lazurious families a slave was &ept on purpose to watch the sun-dial and water-clock to report the time, and we all remember the stupid Tr< malchio, who had a time-piece in his room and a slave beside it whose duty it was t j tell him each time an r our had elapsed. A wonderful water-clock is on record some centuries later when Haroan Ali Kaschild sent Charlemagne a striking clock regnlated by water, in wtacto, as twelve | hours were completed, twelve doors on \ the face or dial opened and twelve men on horseback rode out and returned, closing the doors behind them. After water-clocfcs come sand-glasses, existing in our midst as egg-timers, aDd still knovn as hoar-glasses, although they seldom exceed three or four minutes in operation. These were in greater favor in Western Europe than waterclocks ever became, and the best timeindicator of which we have definit knowledge is the caudle-clock of King Alfred, and his ingenious adaptation of transparent horn to keep the drafts from burning his candles' unevenly. The time of the invention of wheelclocks moved by weights is still more uncertain than thaj of water-clocks and sun-dials. Some enthusiasts are found to assers that 220 yea s before Christ a wan made?in the time of Archimedes?but there is no evidence to support such a belief. The first unquestionable fact that can be stated upon the subject is that Pope Sylvester j II, did construct a wheel-clock with | weights at Magdeburg in 996, and it is i possible tnat tnis was omy a revive Wi | an earlier invention, and that Boethins | was the originator of the mechancial j wheel-clock in A D, 510. One thing, : however, ^certain?namely: that clocks ! were in ordinary use in the monasteries j of Europe in the eleventh century, and 1 no doubt the monks, who had plenty of ! leisure and ample means for the cal'i-j vation of experimental science, perfect- j ed them, andin a large measure contrib-1 uted to the perfection of their ma- | chinerv as we know it In 1370 a clock : was made in Faance which was consid- j ered a marvel of accurate timekeeping. ! and which may have had a pendulum, i but we cannot find positive evidence of i r?_ i me aiscoyjrj ui mc wo u> , Inm until the days of Galileo, although I ancient astronomers are said to have 1 usvd them in computing the duration j of eclipses. From the date of Galileo's discovery to recent times, constant improvements have been made in the science of horology nntil it has reached what we may well call perfection. The top of a fenc<? in an inundated tract in Illinois reached just above the water, and for days every post and board was piled high with snakes, endeavoring to save their lives, JUDAH P. BENJAMIN. ! An Ex-Confedernte Cabinet Member Now Leader of the English Bar. I A London letter to the Atlanta (Ga.) Constifusion says: "I doubt if there is at the South one man familiar with his country'8 his'orv who is not proud of the career ot Judah P. Benjamin. In inquiring for his chambers, I learned from a Middle Temple barrister that Mr. Benjamin was regarded to dav as I +UA TTTTT f t?A TT Or! icVl | LLiC Jowjci a\ IUU uu^u^u uai. He is in court ail day till 4 oV.lcck in the afternoon, then until 7.30 he receives the solicitors in his chambers. After this hp goes home to dine at his club in the Weft End. His oi>ly leisure I is en Sunday and an occasional evening. Short of stature, thick-set, with a strong, bright eye, he is * man of simple, natural manner, relating his adventures, successes and reverses with the charming ease, g/ace and naturalness, miDgled with a subtle playfulness, of a pood reconttur. He said, in talking of his adventures after the fall of Richmond, that tbe Confederate government left Richmond in a body. He and Mr. Davis were together on their way to the trans-Mississippi department, and Mr Davis ieft the party to meet his w fe en route, and it was in- her camp-that he was captured. The Federals did not know thac Mr. Davis was in the wagon train which was transporting Mrs. Davis and friend, and only approached curiously to see what it meant. Mr. Benjamin continued his 1'ourney alone, and, hearing of the capture of Mr. Davis, gave away his saddle and or idle, and, securing an old tree, threw over it a sheepskin, and under an alias, playing farmer, at length reached the Gulf coast. Here he took a small boat, and, coasting around until arriv ing at a point near Key "West, he embarked in a small sailboat, open and without deck, for Nassau. Here the small, quaint-looking, black and bright eyes glistened as this remarkable man related how, when the Gulf stream almost carried them out into the open sea ; when battling against a head-wind and out of sight of land-for one hundred miles was the distance? and " with one bushel of raw sweet potatoes to feed ihree men;" when, almost without hope, at the last moment the wind changed, filled their small sail, carried them within sight of trie iigntnouse, ana enaoiea tnem to effect a landing just at the extreme northern point of the Bahamas. He landed in England in September, 1865. In Jane, 1866, he was admitted to practice at the English bar. His admission was granted by the benchers of Lincoln's Inn in six months instead of three years, as the rales require, on the ground that he was an old member of tbe bar of a country governed nnder the system of the common law., and the fact fctiat he was a political exile. He published his " Benjamin on Siles " in 1868, having, in the intervening years, supported himself and his family by smtiDg leading articles for the newspapers. The first year he made about ?500, the next year about ?400, 'and in ?... 5 l.. c jUC 1UULI IJJL jcalj IIO OiUU, 1UJ UlUUiUO was ?1,000. It rapidly increased after ;hat.' At the present rate of Mr. Benjamin's income he will, in a few years? if he is not now?be the possessor of ?ast wealth. 1 My book gave me my practice, and now, wonderful to relate, E have,' he said, ' npon looking over my lases, juet one half of them from the realm' (i.ethe whole of England, 3cotland and Ireland) * before the Ijfigda, on annpql.' .Mr. Rail-, _ Dfficer of the staff, and his wife and daughter live in Paris." Throw Up Your Hands. "Gentlemen will please throw np their hands." Such is the polite manner in winch a Hi.-souri train robbei usually addresses a car load of passengers as he appears at the door, playfully nnmnnff thorn tritih a. rftvnl VAT extended in each hand. Perhaps there is a party engaged in a game of euchre cr old sledge : they promptly throw up their hands without a murmur, no matter how interesting a crisis there may be in the game. Men partially paralyzed in their arms have been known to throw ap their hands at this summons with an alacrity surprising to themselves and everybody else. ''Throw up my hands!" said a man who was relating an experience with train robbers that he hud been through. "I had $10,0Q0 in a belt around my body, all that I had made in six years nf mininc life in California, and when I heard the command and realized how useless resistance was, a3 the gang eorronnding the car was armed to the teetb, I not only threw np my hands, but the thonght ^o! losing my money made me so sick," tbat I nearly threw up my boots!" The situation doesn't admit of a moment's hesitation, and every man knows it. A movement in the direction of a weapon would not escape the alert eye of the robber; and it would be the immediate signal for a shot. Brave men think and biaggards boast of what they would do under such circumstances, but when suddenly confronted by a cocked revolver and the stern com mand that signifies surrender, the hands are very apt to go up, though the situation be a humiliating one. Such attaoks are generally made at night, while most of the passengers are asleep and off guard, and then there is the uncertainty as to the number cf the gan?. Je?>se James once ^aid the bravest man lie ever knew he encountered in an at tenptto rob a passenger train. Tfce fellow stood on the platform of a car and coolly exchanged six or eight shots with the gan<?. Admiring his bravery, Jesse shouted to him to cease firing and they wouldn't molest his car. "I'll bet you won't," said he, "while I'm here." The robber captain said he would have given 85 000 to have had that man become a member of his band. But he did not consider tbat a man. brave as a lion on the tide of rikht, might prove the veriest coward in advancing the standard of violence and wrong.?[Cincinnati Saturday Night. Royal Peach Eaters. Alexis Lefere, who has jast died at1 Paris a Chevalier of the Legion of Ror.nr. member of a dozen learned soieties, and a millionaire, began life as a gardener's iaborer. He was &e creator of the great pe?ch ''industry"- of Montrenil, where bis gardens had long been famous for the care with which each individual peach wa3 tended aad brought to a profitable maturity?six and eight francs being a by no means i-xlravagant price. L"Uis Pt-ilippo was among the visitors to Montreau, wnere, Laving admired some of the choicest products and a&ked the price, ho whispered, "Send me two dozen cf the six franc peaches, but not a word of it to my ministers!'' His caution, perhaps, was jostifie 1 since Thiers' wife was known to cut a pt-ach in Jour quarters to regale her husband, herself, and their two honored guesrs. (X. B.?To neatly divide a peach, unless it ba a clingstone, cut loand to the kernel and gently revolve the two hemispheres in opposite i directions.) When Napoleon III. and , ' i? - ?~~ mcira.1 Mr nfrt-ni] tVioro nja-fl | UJC CUi^lCi-O V%.* ?v-w - -s. I no question about price, but both | snvergn* Helped themselves liberally. ; The proprietor made no demur, knowi ing that} avmerit would be made-in due i course, but wh^n he beheld the person! a?rs of the imperial suite joining in the ! feast he coaid no longer contain himself, and shouted: "Hi; hold on, gen; tlemen! The aides-de-camp's peaches j are over there on the other side!" THE G2ANT-FL001) CASE. A Story of a Bmken Ens-? sement That Kay or 31av Not Bn True. A recent Sar Francisco letter says: The s^ory of how Back Grant courted Miss Flood is in everybody's month in San Francisco This morning I went down to Monterey, the Long Branch of California. On the train was Miss Flood with a dozen frolicsome California airls. Some of them got off at Menlo Park and some went on to Montor^v MatiIo Park is the Atidnboa park of Sin Francisco. More than twenty millionaires have their residences there, including ex Governor Stanford and*Mr. Fiood. It is here that Governor Stanford has his 600 blooded horses and it is here that he had those instantaneous photographs taken, showing the exact attitude of the walking, pacing and running horse. These photographs Governor Stfjjford,. showed to Meissoniar, the great moder? mastei in Paris, and they bo excited him that he painted the governor's picture exactly the size_ that he painted Mr. Vaodet bill's. xnese are me onij two Americans ever painted by the great * . 4? Frenchman. Bat about Miss Flood. The young lady ia large and handsome. ;<?'-^4 She looks like and is like a thoroughly sensible American sirl. " We all like Miss Flood," said 0 San Francisco lady ; "she is so sensible, so demccratic and so frank and womanly. I tell you, we were ail glad when she mitteoed Back Grant." "But we in New York thought it was the other way," I said. "We thought Back Grant flirted with Misa Flood." " No," said my friend, *'1 know, all about it I went to the Yosemite with the party when Back Grant and Miss Flood were first thrown together." " How was it ?" I asked. " Well,, when General Grant arrived in San Francisco lrom his tnp aronnd the world, he was entertained by Governor Stanford, Charles Crocker and ''Voq Mr. Flood. Grant totfk a great fancy to Flood. They are a good deal alike ?both grim, sturdy, self-made men. The general and Mrs. Grant took a fancy also to Miss Flood. A fine-looking girl, with a prospect of four or five millions, is an interesting object to any *} parent who has a poor boy to fit out. She is a splendid girl, without any money. But as I was eayinz, the general and Mrs. Grant liked Miss Flood. They urged Buck to try and get her," " Did Buck try ?' "Try? Why, he just laid himself out. He was the most devoted lover I ever saw. He was at her side e*ery. moment He-was constantly getting Miss Fiood off one side that he might pour the siren tale of love and hope into her ear. When he went up to T1 _ T> i_ l Tl! .3 A _ aurror juase x>uck got oiush nuouio stay with him in the parlor of the hotel. When we went to the big trees Back led Miss Flood homa. Well, he finally proposed, and Miss Flood, without any especial thought, said?" " What?" She said: "Yes, if father agrees to it." " What did Buck do then T " Why, he hnrried back to 'Frisco and weot to the rich baokerat his office in the Nevada bank. Mr. Flood listened to the yonng man respectfully?yes, with pleasure. Bat still he turned to Buck and a aid : * " It's ail very well to talk about getting married, but you have no mosey to support a wife with. What are tout loung tfrant said fid flfti BO oxu&uesB bat was willing to do anything. . ' Very well," said ibe millionaire. " You go. back to New York, buy the , stocks 1 tell jou to, and deal for six mon hs as I suggest, and I think we can fix you out" "Did Grant follow Flood's advice?* " Precisely. He bought stocks, just as Flood told him to. Everything Back G<*ant bought made money. Every point Flood gave him the ureat millionaire was 8ore to mafee come out right. Ic was not lon? before Grant had a hundred thousand dollars ahead. Flood told him to go in again and doubie it. Grant kept right on, Flood arranging it so that he should make. Soon Grant had $2?0,-000 It began to turn his head. Everybody was talking about ^ 1 ^ ' rr. cacE urant'8 success, ne aiun i> it was FJood behind him who was making the money for him. But it was Fiood, and he was doing it so the world wouldn't b&y 4 he marries my daughter for her money.' Well, success begsn to make the young man top heavy. He couldn't stand it. He taw in himself a great speculator, when, in fact, it was Flood's manipulation behind the scenes which made the dollars come in." "What was the result?' I asked. " After young Grant had made $200,000 and all the world was talking about it, the Floods began to think it was time to bring him back to California to complete the nuptial arrangements. It *. ? h A/to* ? frt W&9 tilOil l/JUttif X*UCIV UlOUb wgau w ^vw dizzy-headed. He was courted and flattered by other girls then for the money which Flood had made for him. He started back for 'Frisco, but tarried in Chicago to attend clnb dinners and to meet young ladies. He began to forget Miss Flood, who is a girl of spirit. He fa mtered along over to California. At 'Frisco he found Miss Fiood was down to Menlo Park, their magnificent country seat. He immediately commenced receiving invitations, and accepting them, from other young ladies. Mis8 Flood expected him to rake the first t?ain forMenlc Park. Mr. Flood was disappointed is the young man. He called to see him at the Palace hotel. Young Grant excused himself by saying he was sick, but the great banker saw that he had made a mistake. The poot^ frank boy of a year a*o had become inflated. Succr ss had turned his head. ? He had even kept Mr. Flood waiting in his parlor while he finished a conversation with some one else. That night Flood went back to Menlo a disappointed man. He told his daughter that he believed they had both made a mistake. Miss Flood's pride was humiliated. She had a great fight with herself. ' What would the world say ? The envious girls in San Fran? ? ??? f rr>d ' ciscu arts tsvcu uu>* unaiu^ So sbe wrote to joong Grant, bat never sett the. le ter. * She said if he can't come straight to me I don't waut him. Finally, when young Grant called on her at Menlo ParK, she was in San Franciseo and he did not see her In 'Frisco she learned that young Gran; had been flirting with several yonng ladies, not particularly her friends. So sbe wrote him a plain note, saying she would release him alcogetherif it would please hica This made young Grant mad, and, being half in love with another young lady," he continued hie flir| rations till the Floods gave out publicly j that the engagement was off.,? " Tid Miss Flood mind it much ?" "Not personally. There was never very much love She is still in great demand, and even since then she has refused a marquis and a count who were searching around, Prince-deBourbon-lite. for a little wife and a good deal ef monev." 1 A clergyman, lecturing on Palestine remarked concerning one very ragged locality: " The roads up these moan tains are too sreep and rocky for even a dook^y to climb, therefore I did not attempt the ancwx'.'* Toe reverend gentleman noticed the smiles which gently passed over the feam-es of some of his hearers. Yet, not seeing any particular reason why they should be amused, he pushed on with his diecourae.