The Fairfield news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1881-1900, February 22, 1883, Image 1
TRI-WEEKLY EDITION.
WINN8BORO. S. 0.. FEBRUARY 22. 1883.
ESTABLISHED 1848
A OOLDEV WKDDIXG.
Thera U a time beneath New England nicies
When the late antamn, as if loth to go,
Ungers along the hills with sanilt eyes.
And outstretched hands aver the vales below.
A golden haze floats round her lire a mist,
The air Is soft and balmy where she strays,
And lo I as her last, rlehest parting gift.
She brings the glorious Indian summer days.
So In these lives of ours there comes a time,
After long strife with care, and self and sin,
When the soul rises by a power sublime,
And to God’s rest and sunshine enters In;
Where calm and qnlet, and the peace of God,
And love divine, after Ion*, patient years.
Sit Jubilant upon the radiant brow,
And life has no more place for griefs or fears.
To these, love-crowned by fifty happy years,
Their golden wedding brings t-till larer gifts
Than blessed the glad, br ght days of long ago,
For now God's smile their souls to heaven up
lifts,
And in life’s blissful Indian summer time,
So rich in heartfelt Joy. they can await,
With reverent trust, their Heavenly Father’s will,
Till sale Ue leads them through'toe golden gate.
NUT VEBY ANGRY.
Grandma Hams was wrapping up
the delicious golden balls of her own
make of batter in fragrant snowy linen
cloths, and mentally calculating what
the batter and cottage cream, and the
four pair of fat chickens, and the half-
doien pumpkins, and the four barrels of
apples ought to bring in the market
when grand-father went to town in the
big wagon the next day.
And jnst as she had about decided
that, with good luck, they ought to be
able to bny the piano for Bessie by
Christmas, there came a step alongside,
and she looked np, to see Frank Merri-
▼ale, tall, handsome, with his fall over
coat wearing a rosebud and a spray of
bovardia and his soft felt hat pushed
off his forehead.
•‘Oh, it’s yon, is it, Frank?” grandma
Harris said, patting a butter-ball lov
ingly as she laid it beside a dozen others
in the long shallow basket.
"It is I, grandma.
"What aio yon doing?
"Give me a taste,
"Don’t you know 1 used always to
help you get the- butter ready for mar
ket?
"I haven’t forgotten how to tell if it
is salt enough.”
"Of course yon haven't forgotten
since yon have been such a find city
creotleman.
"Much you care for anything down
here in the country nowadays.”
She twinkled him a look from behind
her silver-rimmed glasses, whose ro
guish nees slowly changed to solicitous
concern as, for the first time since her
"buy” had been home to the farm for a
month’s visit, she noticed a paler look
than she liked to see ou tils race, ana a
certain unhappy look in his eyes.
"What’s tne matter Frank ?’’ she fin
ished suadenly, laying down her las* pat
ing, and showing her pretty white teeth
and her dimples.
"Yes, it’s me, sure enough.”
"I wanted your oream cake recipe,
dear, and there seemed a good oha no
lor me to get away for an hour or so, so
I thought I’d run over myself after it.
"Frank’s very fond|of cream-cake ; he
won’t get much of it either, poor fel
low.”
Lulu was copying her recipe, but
Mrs. Hams’s keen eyes did not fail to
see the little flush of color that surged
up to the girl’s forehead at mention of
Frank Mer:ivale’s name.
"How’s that ?” Mrs Carroll inquired,
interestedly. '
“Why, didn’t yon know he was going
back to town next Tuesday ? They don’t
ever have any such cream-cake there,
you don’t suppose ?”
Lulu folded the neat little paper np
and handed, it to Mrs. Harris, who put
it carefully away in her pocket.
"Yes, Frank's going back to the city
this week, and I don't suppose we shall
see much of him after thiy.”
Miss Lulu laughed, and shrugged her
pretty shoulders.
"One would think Mr. Merrivale was
going to emigrate to the South Sea Is
lands,” she answered.
"He might almost as well be going
there for all the nearness to town will
do ns.”
The air of mystery about the old lady
was having a most electric effect.
"Do tell, Mrs. Harris,” Mrs. Carroll
said, laying her grey yarn stooking
down.
"If you'll both keep it a dead secret,
I’ll tell yon.
"Frank’s going to be married.”
A momentary silence followed, only
broken by the tick-tack of the eight-day
clock in the corner, and the silvery lit
tle click of grandma Harris’s needles.
Thin, although Lula felt that her
very pulses seemed stopping, that for
her the sunlight was for ever to be
gloomiest shade, she managed to ntter a
strange weird little laugh.
"You don’t say Frank is going to be
married ?
"That is indeed news.
"Tell him I congratulate him.”
• Mrs. Harris peeped innocently over
her glasses at the sweet pale face.
"Just so I felt, Lulu—you and Frank
had been such good friends—and that’s
why l think you ought to be told first.
"Bakes alive I
"It reallv can’t be four o’clock al
ready—and me with a mile and half to
walk, and a short-cake to make for tea.
And the little old laday bustled off,
while Lulu put ou her red aud browu
blanket shawl and her little Derby hat
TritH. tlxo «cjuclet 'ring muOt 1 U8O0& Out 111*
to the cnsp N ovember air—somewhere,
anywhere to be all by herself, whercjshe
could try to realize all the sudden an
of butter, and loosing steauuy at mm. *=
He answered her loos with a little
forced laugh.
"The matter—with me ?
"Why, bless your old soul, grandma,
there’s nothing whatever the matter
with me.
"Don’t I eat and sleep like a plough
man?”
"Do yon, Frank?
‘‘Honor bright, dear—isn’t there any
thing amiss with you ?”
"Not physically, at all events,” he
said gaily.
Tnen, as suddenly as gravely, he ad
ded—
"1 don’t mind telling you, grandma—
it’s—Lulu Carroll!
"Lulu Caroll 1
"Has she been tormenting you, my
dear Frank ?
"Tell me the whole truth ; now,
mind,” she said solemnly.
"1 here’s not very much to tell,” he
said, with another constrained little
laugh.
"Bhe doesn’t care anything whatever
abut me, and I can’t help making a fool
of myself over her. '
Grandma Harris covered her butter-
rolls oyer carefully, and then went on—
"She dosen’tcare for you as much as
you care for her ?
"Is that it ?”
"That’s exactly it”
"Did she tell you so ?”
"Not in so many words, but all the
same I have been made aware of the
fact.”
"But, Frank, if ”
He looked ooaxingly at her, bnt she
saw the paleness on his dear face waa
even more pronounced than before, as
he gently interrupted her—
"Don’t let’s talk about it, please.
"I didn’t mean to mention her name
to a living soul.
"I’d rather endure my sorrow in si
lence, since it seems to me that Lulu
Carroll has it in her power to wreck my
hie for mo.
,‘T felt sure she loved me—but she
don’t.
"And that’s all there is of it”
And after that, grandma Harris went
on counting her eggs m silence, while
Frank leaned against the shelf and look
ed at her.
And then after a few minutes he went
away, and grandma took off her specta
cles and wiped the tears from her dear
old eyes—lor Frank was the apple of
her eye, and his happiness or misery
delighted or wounded ner to the very,
core of her motherly heait.
"I daresay he’s no worse than other
men,” she decided after dinner that day.
‘‘They mostly do fall in love with the
girl that is likeliest to lead tnem a pret
ty gait
' "I’ll put on my brown cashmere -and
lust run over and see how sister Carroll
is getting on, and borrow Lu'.a’s cream
cake recipe.
"Frank’s very fond of that cream-
cake of hen.”
Aod ao when Lulu Carroll came down
from her own room into the sunny cosy
sitting-room about three o'clock that
afternoon she found her mother
and Mrs. Harris enjoying a moat oom-
fortable chat over their bright knitting
needles.
* ShewosBUOh a pretty girl, slender
and graceful, with big brown eyes aud
wavy golden-brown hair.
Grandma didn’t wonder a bit that
Fiank oared ao much for her.
"Oh, it’s Mrs. Harris," she said laugh.
"iilull and confusion that bad come
"I understand it all plainly enough—
it was a loving little stratagem to catoh
Cupid, Lulu.
"Besides, am I not going A o be mar
ried ?
‘Say-
T doi
upon uer.
"It cannot be !
"Frank Merrivale to be married—oh,
it can’t be true 1”
And as she walked slowly through
the apple orchard, rustling the fallen
leaVett as she trailed tfuough them, the
big tears ran thick aud fast from her
sad eyes.
Frank Merrivale lost to her—and—
she loved him so I
She had been so sore of him, so sore
by when she condescended to cease her
coquetries upon him she could whistle
him back to her feet.
To be married 1
With his Handsome face, his pleading
voice, his passionate eyes—and not to
her.
With a heart-breaking little sob she
leaned her face ou her hands, and cried
as only a woman can cry when she real
iz.s that her true-love is gone for ever,
aud that all through her own fault.
When she heara rapid footsteps com
ing up the same narrow path by which
she was going down through the or
chard—footsteps she knew so well, that
thrilled her aiih jealous pain, lor she
recognized them belore she had the
courage to lift her face, all tear-stained,
flush and wistlul, yet prettier than ever
to Frank Merrivale, as he passed her—
with only a smile on his lace as he
courteously, yet coldly, raised his hat
to her— ana was passing on.
For just one second it seemed to hex
that her temples, her throat, all her
ion't think we’re very angry at
grandma Harris, are we ?’’
And Mrs. Frank never makes a oream-
eake for her liege lord but that she
blesses the day his grandmother came
for the recipe.
Vemllattoh of Stables.
Various suggestions regarding this all
important mutter are being made iu
agricultural aud other journals, remind
ing the writer of a careful study of the
subject that was forced upon him two
years ago. That Winter was very
severe, atjd frost and snow hermetically
sealed all the crevices ef his cuttle barns,
ao that little air was admitted unless a
door or window was opened, and this
was at the risk of violent and dangerous
drafts, accompanied by sadden and
extreme change of temperature. In
Mid-winter the hair on the cattle be
came dead, aud was rapidly carded off,
very much to their disfiguration. This
was very truly aitrib.ited to bad air,
which, after considerable study, was
completely changed by a very simple
aud inexpensive arrangement. A ven-
iilator from a warm stable can remove
foul air as fast as fresh air is supplied,
so when the ordinary vertical air box is
made, the remedy is reduced to the
simple question of so admitting fresh
air as to introduce it freely to all parts
of the stable wichont making a current.
This was done by the expedient of a box
the entire length of the cattle stalls 170
feet), about one foot square inside,
made of common lumber. This opened
to the outside air iu two places; at each
a wooden damper was put in to regulate
the supply. The bottom of this box
was pierced with 3,000 one-half inch
holes, through which air passed readily,
but with no effect of draft or chill. The
oatt e in this stable stood with their
heads facing a central alley, and the box
was over t>us, hang to the oeiling, so as
the oool air was showered down, the
animals had it to breathe before it
pas ed nnder or behind them. As soon
as this was in operation a marked change
was appareu*. The cattle freshened
up, and iu a few days new hair came
where the old had worn off, and never
since has there been any sign of dead
hair upon them in Winter. This free
income of pure air, drawn high above
the surface of the ground, coupled with
the use of dry earth as an absorbent,
has so purified these stables that after a
long stay in them, no per jeptible odor
affects clothiug.. Ineeed.
smell remains, while ao ev
suit from a constant change of air when
introduced as specified. Fiesh air is
the vital elem nt of health, and ou the
hills of our dairy count'es the supply
from Novembex to May is ordinarily
ample for all demauds; it is, up to the
present writing, not controlled by any
combinations, or likely to be locked up
by a ring, but in many and many a
stable (and bouse as well,) It is as care
fully economized as if there was a risk
of usiug it all up with uo chance of
getting any more. A cow cannot give
wholesome milk without pure air, as
well as pure water, but thousands get
little of either on farms where free
winds blow, and bright springs bubble,
simple because uo thought is given to
ventilation, and it is easier to iet the
herd drink from a yard pool than to
conduct water to them.
A New England rtn-king Bee.
When the gusats haye all arrived the
boys go to work and pull great armfuls
of hay from the mow, which they spread
around the heap of corn. Then each
seats himself by his favorite girl, draws
a bundle of basks into the hay between
them, and the busking begins. Work
is by no rarans suffered, however, to
interfere with play. The merry joke
goes around; the stolen mitten travels
about the circle and back to its owner
at last. Tf a tirl happens to pnll the
husk from a darkened ear, she must for
feit a kiss to the lad nearest or quickest
to snatch it. As fast as the ears are re
moved from the husks they are thrown
into separate piles, one for each party, on
opposite sides of the heap;-and there is
sure to be a deal of pleasant rivalry to
see which, side will have the larger heap
of com when the husking is done. It
is wonderful to see how fast the moun
tain of unhnsked corn L lowered,
thongh the farmer ani his boys keep
bringing fresh basketfuls and pilling
them on the heap. A perfect storm of
the golden ears keeps raining on each
pile of com. As the supply of material
fails the contest waxes warmer. The
girls throw off their hoods and shawls,
and the boys fling aside their overcoats.
The warm blood of health rashes to
each cheek, and the faster the bands tiy
the brighter do the faces grow, and the
last few ears are scrambled for, by the
contending sides, and with shouts of
merriment the husking is finished. The
victorious side is first served with re
freshments, Great palefuls of dough
nuts and "frittert” and slices of snowy
cake, pie ent in generous pieces, cider
aud apples, nuts and home-made candy
are passed around. The "old folks”
come stamping in by twos and threes,
and are immediately assailed with con
flicting stories of individual prowess aud
associate achievement, and then stuffed
with good thiegs to stop their langhing.
By 11.80 o’clock the festivities are over
and the merry company disperses two
and two. The farmer takes down the
lanterns, closes the big barn and retires
to the kitohen to smoke his pipe and
calculate, how many bushels of oorn he
will have when it is "off the ear.”
Didn't Want Advice From strauaen.
A Bar Inquiry.
Shake With Ue.
In a stairway on Woodward avenue
sat a man who looked the picture of
sadness, and every now and then he
palled out a red handkerchief with
many holes and rents in it and wiped
tears from his eyes. By and by a ped
estrian baited, and asked:
•‘Say, stranger, what ails you?”
"Oh, I dunno. I guess I feel sad.”;
"You shouldn’t feel bad on New
Year’s day. It’s the day on which to
brace up and swear off.”
"That’s just the pointl” replied the
brought out the handker-
loaned TJVer the bar of *a
M chigan avenue saloon the other day
and whisperingly inquired;
"Partner, what is the population of
the TJuih'd Stst* 1 *?'’
"Harl on to 50,000,000, I believe,”
was the reply.
"It’s over 40,000,000 any how?”
"Oh, yes.”
"You’ll bet on that 1 *”
‘TM like nothing better than to put
up $10 on it.”
Well, you’ll have a chance. There’s
a chap down in the shoe store who
claims that we haven’t got 35,000,000
population, and he is bluffiug everybody.
I’ll bring him np if you'll make a bet
and take him down a peg.”
• Bring him along.”
The stranger went away and returned
with the bluffer, who had no sooner
entered the saloon than he called out:
"Where’s the man who says this
country b&8 over 40,000,000 popula
tion?"
The saloonist modestly replied that
he was the man, and in less than a
minute the two ten-dollar bills wero
put into the hands of the first caller.
"There’s a new map in the store across
the way which has the last census fig
ures on it,” said the saloonist, and all
went orer to see the matter settled.
The figures showed that the beer-
seller had won by a large majority, but
nothing on that map, nor above, below
nor behind it oonld tell wnat had be
come of the man who held the stakes,
k woods ana swamps, until |
pulses would burst, with the concen
trated agony of the moment; should
she—dare she
"Frank 1” she said, scarcely above
her breath, in a strangely timid pitiful
way.
Me turned instantly.
"Did you speak ?”
"Frank I la it true ?”
"True ? Is what true, Lulu ?”
Bhe trembled perceptibly.
"Don't hesitate to tell me—don’t put
off the news—I know I deserve to be
punished so—but—you might have
known it was I who loved you better
thun any other girl could.
‘Oh, Frank—1 know it is dreadful
for me to speak so—out 1 must—I shall
die if I think you don’t knowhow much
I love you—even if yod don’t want me, ‘
He looked astonished.
"I don’t understand you, Lulu.”
Her lovely eyes flashed him a piteous,
reproachful glance.
•-Frank l”—bitterly—"don’t seek
refuge behind a pretence of igneranoe.
"A know, and you know, what, I mean,
but,” and she began to sob in a wholly
unheroine-like manner, "you might
have known hov, much I loved you, ”
And then, Franz’s eyes suddenly be
gan to shine with a giad glory that had
never been in them before, and he re
membered what grandma Harris had
said to him when be started off-—
Take my advice, boy, and if you
happen to meet Lulu, don’t let her thhik
you re inconsolable.”
"Lulu 1 tell me that again—aay it
again—you love me 1”
„"I do—1 do-*-l do, -iVank, but it’r
too late now, since you’re going to be
married so soon.”
"1 married, darling ?
"Nut that I xuow of, until you have
promised to have me.
"Will you, Lu?’ :
Ai.d with her head on his breast. Lu
lu told him all that grandma Harris had
"Don’t you drink?”
"Not a drop.”
"Nor smoke, nor chew?”
"Neither one; nor do I swear, gam
ole, bet nor lie.”
"Well, you must be a pretty good
man.”
•Uhl -I am—I-' ami I’m too good.
The rest of you ban resolve to-day not
to rob or steal again. You can awear
off ou whisky and tobacco and lay plans
for economy, but I’ve got to plod right
alon? tn the old track.”
"Can’t you think of one single point
for reformation?”
"Not a point—not a ona I’ve sat
here for a whole hour trying to find one
single weakness, bat I can’t do it.
Stranger, it makes me sad, and yon
.most excuse these tears. When 1
realize tnat I am ao all-fired good I am
half inclined to commit suicide'”
"I’ll tell you of a point, old man.”
"Will you? Thanks! thanks! What is
it?”
"Why don’t you resolve to get your
hair out, wash your face, clean out your
nails, and pnt on a clean shirt?”
"Why don’t I? ’ I will! Thank Heaven
there is a show for me after sill Tm not
as good as I thought I was. Yes, sir,
I’ll do it. S ake with me. You have
piob&bly s&vcd my life, and my grati
tude is unbounded.”
And then he cried some more, but
they were tears of joy.
AB In Palace.
had lost had also slipped awry that any
body realized that they were confede
rates. Then the victim started out
with a club to hunt the world over and
reduce the population by one, but his
in vain.
search was :
ECjpilmn Knitting.
The ‘‘winter carmvtJ” at Montreal for
1883 atiracied large crowds from all parts
ot Canada and the United States. It be
gan with a parade and a curling match,
and continued during the week with a
variety of winter spoils. A conspicuous
object in Montreal was an ice palace, built
in the center of Dominion Square. It was
constructed of blocks of Ice, and measured
nearly 100 feet iq iare. ' At each of the
four corners was a tower 80 feet high,
and a tower in the centre 83 leet
square rose to a height of 100 feck
cry fetal structure was nlimunaied at
by electric lights.
The Egyptians of the present—Eopts
as well as'Arabs—run about with bare
feet. The ancient Egyptians, on the
contrary, who are now only to be seen
in a dried condition in museums, pos
sessed a very good method of knitting
stookiugs as is shown in the collection
at the Louvre, in Paris. In the grave
of a mummy there were found a pair of
knitted stockings, which gave the sur
prising evidence, firstly, that short
stockings, resembling; socks, were worn
by the ancient Egyptians; and secondly,
that the art of knitting stockings bad
already attained great perfection in an
cient Egypt. These ourions stockings
are knitted in a very elever manner,
and the material, iLe wool of sheep,
that might once have been white, is now
brown with age. The needles with
which the work was done mast have
been a little th'cker than we should
choose for the same purpose, and the
knitting is loose and elastic. The stock
ing is begun just as we make the de
sign. only in the simplest manner, with
single thread ; bnt in the oontinnation
of the work it is not simply plain, but
fanciful The usual border of the stock
ing which prevents the rolling np of tne
work, is narrow, consisting oi a row of
tarued loops ; and the circle, the nicely
shaped heel, whion is a httie different
from our method, show a very skilful
hand. But in the point of the stocking
there is a obaracteristie difference be
tween the Egyp.ian stockings and our
modem soeas. While ours end in
rounded point, the Egyptian stockings
run oat m two long tubes of equal
width, lika the fingers of a glove. 'A’l’is
strange shape is made to anit the san
dals, which are furnished witn a strap,
fastened about the middle of the sandal;
as the strap had to bs laid over the
I stooking the divizion is needed.
The atternoon of Thanksgiving day was
ot'that dreary, hazy, nonpareil character
when the affluent glories of a soft Italian
rain were slowly fading into the autumnal
tints of a blue norther that came streaking
down from the bald summits of the R >cky
Mountains, and cast its chilling shadows
on the shingle roof of the City Motel at
Branham, Texas. Our scene opens in
this famous hostelry.
Five solitary drummers were lying
around ttie stove, and in picturesque
groups, but m obedience to the natural
instinct all drummers seem to have to
impart a*'fictitious expansion to the
truth They had been lying so much is
a professional capacity that it was a ’real,
to them to have a little go as you please
lying match with each other on general
principles. The subjects under discus
sion, or rather under prevarication, were
fishing, hunting and field sports gener
ally. They told such fearful lies that the
very stove turned red, which stove they
had surrounded as completely as if it
was a country merchant who needed
goods.
Tne youngest commercial emissary in
the delegation was a youth named Levi
Jacobson, who wan raiding on T. xas in
•he interest of a Baltimore house iu the
boot, shoe and clothing line, tie did
not join the conversation, and there was
really no reason for him to do so, as
the sacred cause of truth was suffering
abundant mutilation as it were, at the hands
of the other inquisitors. The reason
Levi Jacobson did not volunteer to help
was because there were other topics on
which he could do better. If they had
talked about the drama, or of female
loveliness, he would not have been found
without something to say, for was he not
a critic and a master of the mashers?
Be prided himself on being one of the
knowing ones; but having lived all his
life in cities cr on the road he was some
what lost when the talk was of quail,
trout, deer, and of the rival merits of
choke Itore, centre fire, 10 calibre, etc.,
etc., etc.
Snipe were mentioned, and some one
made an allusion to that hackneyed old
practical joke about catching snipe in a
sack, never supposing for a moment that
there was any one alive on earth who did
not know the joke. Jacobson, however,
was ignorant, os he demonstrated by te-
marking that "those snipe must be stupid,
like that ostrich was, to put their head tn
a bag.”
It was nuts to the other drummers to
find at last "the most innocent man on the
road.”
A snipe hunt was at once proposed, Mr.
Jacobson to take the leading role and
carry the sack and the lantern.
___ muni (viif
town in a back i
creeks, through
they came to what the driver said was a
good snipe ground, Jacabson was placed
in a path with a lantern in one hand and
the sock, is the other. The rest of the
party were to scatter out for some distance,
aud then to gradually close in and return
back to Jacobbon, driving the smpe before
them. The leading man in the company
was instructed how to kill the snipe when
be captured the full of the hag, and how
to set his trap and wait for more. Then
the other drummers vent howling out into
the darkness m pursuit of snipe.
Mr Jacobson waned.
Holding the sack made his asms ache.
Bullfrogs croaked.
Jacubson continued to wait
Owls booted.
The night grew on apace and found
Jacobson still waiting for the smpe to
come out of the darkness.
It was midnight.
Around the same stove four solitary
drummers were gathered. They were
full of mirth and gayety, and they
laughed loud and long.
Suddenly the laugh died away on their
lips, the merry joke was chopped off in its
utterance and ao unripe pun was hastily
thrown under the stove by the long-
legged drummer, for there in the door
way stood a ragged and mud stained
remnant- all that was mortal ot Jacob
son, the snipe hunter.
Ue said: “My vrends, you thought dot
was a good joke, but 1 vas acquainted
vith dot Joke sefen years ago. 1 stayed
out vith dot bag there just to see it you
was so mean as to blay dose tricks on a
stranger, aud I vants nodlngs more to
do with you.”
Be refused all overtures looking to
ward a reconciliation, ant' went to bed
swtariDg he would leave the place on
the next day’s evening tram. He stayed
in his room all of the next mormag. The
joke got o r er town. Mr. Muses Solo
mons, a leading merchant of the place,
tnought it war decidedly wrong to have
treated Jacobson so badly, aud called to
make bis acquaintance and extend his
sjmpathiea.
When he was admitted te Mr. J.
mom the latter said:
‘Vat you vants! Guess you would like
to go bear-hunting vith me and a flour-
sack; or do you vaat to liave some fun
driving jack-rabbits into a mosquito net,
eb!"
Mr. Solomons explained that he had
neard that the boys had treated Mr. Jacob
son ratber roughly, and that he had threat
ened to leave vhe city without showing his
samples. He merely called, he said, to
say that the citizens should not be blamed,
and to advise that Mr. J should change
his intention and prosecute bis business as
it nothing had happened.
“I don’t vant any advice from strangers.
I vas treated padly in this town, and I
leaves it right away. There vas no sben-
Lemans in this blace.”
Mr. Solomons has a great deal of pride
in the social and flnanancial standing of
the people of Bronham
When Mr. Jacobson was dragged from
under Mr. Bolomons it was found neces
sary to adjust bis scattered Abrahamic
countenance with about a yard of court-
plaster. Be is now traveU'ng iu Western
Louisiana, and he tells the merchants with
whom he does business that he was run
over by a hand-car oh the Central Railroad.
A Mountain On Fire,
A correspondent writes, calling at
tention to a curious phenomenon which,
although well known in the immediate
district in which it exists, will be new
to many readers. He says, "I hap
pened to be makinar a tour a few days
ago through the Rhondda Valley iu
wales ami as I was passing the Cwm
Park Mountain I noticed what at a little,
distance appeared to me to be a small
bonfire about balf-way np its side. Not
seeing any one in the vicinity of the
fire, cariosity prompted me to climb the
barren hill tones what was being burned.
After struggling through a good deal
of mud and over marshy giouud, 1
reached the fire ; when, to my surprise,
1 found that the dames were not caused
by the burning of rubbish or ary other
visible substance. The fire flamed np
through about three squa> e feet of bar
ren earth, which was hot and parched,
except where covered with what at first
seemed to be boiliog water. Upon closer
examination x found that only the wa
ter near the centre of the fire approached
anything like bui.ing heat, the rest
being iu some places lukewarm, and in
others quite cold. I waa sorely puzzled
at first to account for this difference of
temperature in the water, tor it all
boiled and bubbled with equal violence.
As I happened to have a walking-stick
in my hand I drove it into the earth
two or three inches away from any spot
from which fire issued, when, to my
astonishment, flames shat up from this
newly-made hole at least a foot high. I
repeate 1 the experiment two or three
times with the same result. It seemed
as though a fierce fire existed under
this small patch of ground. The thing
that puzzled me most was the nonexis
tence of any cracks or holes in the
ground except those which I had my
self made. The earth belohed forth
fire without opening its month. I had
not been many seconds at this spot be
fore I discovered that 1 was to leeward
of the flame, for I was half suffocated
by a sutphurons, gassy stench, which
escaped from the flames. 1 shifted my
ground, and after considerable delibera
tion come to the conclusion tnat this
extraordinary phenomenon was caused
by the continuous escape of aubterran-
ean gas through a deep fissure in the
rocks. Subsequent inquiries in the
neighborhood proved that my conjeo-
ture was right. The inhabitants of the
district say that the gas ascends through
a fissure in the rooks from a seam of
coal several hundred leet below the
surface, and that it waa set ou fire many
years ago by some onkuown person,
and has burned continuously ever since.
1 also learned that this is not a unique
phoiMMuemm in the district. A smaller
t'he bead' of the
NEWS IN MRIEF
tn
lor some years near
i ihoudda Valley. I could not, however,
spare time to ascertain the truth of
this statement. To witness tho earth
on fire is, no doubt, astonishing, but it
can hardly be compared with the phe
nomenon which a fellow-traveller in
formed me exists near Aberdare. Near
tnat town the gas from a seam ol coal
lorces itself up through a fissure in tne
rocks, aud through tne surface of the
earth and the waters of a stream, It
has been repeatedly lighted, when a
large spot on the water through which
tne gas bubbled seemed to be on fire,
just as the ground appeared to me on
Cwm Park Mountain. My informant,
rowever, stated that in the former in
stance the discharge of gas was inter
mittent, and that, consequently, the
fire went out at intervals, whereas, so
far as 1 could learn, the fire on the
mountain has been buruirg for some
thing like forty or fifty years, and has
in that time materially increased in
tiody and force. Indeed, so strong is
t now, that considerable difficulty, I
should imagine, would be experienced
in extinguishing it. It certainly forms
a notable feature in the landscape at
night, and gives a kind of weird aspect
to the scene. The inhabitants, how
ever, seem particularly attached to th£ir
curious night-light.”
Storing Ice.
—The foundation stone of the mag
nificent Chur afi c! the Bavioc? at Vien
na, which has been nnder cons true lion
1 for twenty-six years, and is the expres
sion of a national thanksgiving for the
pnaarv^ponof a monarch's life, is a
block of marble, quarried on the Mount
of Olives, Jerusalem. The church win
coat $1,875,000,
The ice should be cut Into rectangular
blocks of equal size; a convenient size is
16i24 ar 12x18 inches, according to the
thickness and weight. A cake of the lat
ter size eight inches thick, will contain one
cubic foot and weigh about fifty-six
pounds. The larger slz^ of the same
thickness will welgu nearly 100 pounds
Ihe mass of ice should be solid and with
out any air spaces in it. As the blocks
are brought in evenly cut they are fitted
closely but as the cutting cannot be done
exactly to rule, there will be some cpaces
here and there between the blocks As
the blocks are built up, some spare pieces
should be broken finely and the duet swept
with a broom into the crevices and packed
down with the edge of a broad chisel fitted
on to the end of a broom handle. Ever;
tier should be well packed la this way be
fore another is begun. If this is well
done, ice may be kept two or three years
in any well-made ioe-house, and will
waste very little m one season. At least
one foot of dry sawdust should be placed
on the floor for the Ice to rest upon. The
bouse should be filled in the coldest, dryest
weather, and tt should be left open a day
or two before it is filled. If the weather
is very cold, the Weeks will freeze, and
the whole mass become very solid if the
packing is well done, if inside packing
is used, this should be put in as the ice is
built up and trodden down firmly, and
each tier of the ice should be swept clean
it is flushed. More than half the fail
ures la keeping ice are due to negiwi m
the packing of it.
iLporoiun, Oaa».
The Armstrong cannon recently made
for the Italian man-of-war Italia costs
$72,000, while the corresponding gun
to be made by Krupp will cost $180,*
t'00. This enormous difference is partly
explained by the different modes of
maunfacture, and partly by the fact
tnat the steel bore of the Krupp can
non will be ail in one piece, while in
the Armstrong cannon it is in two
phots, a form which has been proved
does not in the least weaken the gnu.
The Italia will be furnished with three
other guns like the oue just tried at
Spezia, bnt rather more powerful, the
result of recent improvements.
—There are no* 28.136 volumes
the New Jersey State Library.
—Gambetta’s hraiu weighed a few
grains less,than forty-six ounces.
—The reserve m the treasury at
Washington has fallen to less than $111,^
000,000.
— The Washington mine at Port
Oram is worked oat and has been aban
doned.
—Millionaire Vanderbilt’* check for „
fourteen cents has been tm/beJfrmi
burn. W W I
—Mr. Chapin, the Speaker of the
New York Assembly, is only 31 years
of age.
—A fox was recently discovered asleep
in an old crow’s nest in a high pepper-
idge tre 3 near Middh town, (Jonu.
—Millionaire Tabor, of Colorado, has
been granted a divorce from his wife,
whom he gives $300,000 in hard cash.
—Colonel M. L. Clark, the president
of the Louisville Jockey Club, is urging
the organization of a national jockey
club.
—For the first time within living
memory the Potomac is frozen solidly
across Irom Washington to the Virginia
shore.
—A rich and eccentric Californian
has paid seventeen different John
Smiths in the State $300 each to change
their names.
—Suicide is said to be increasing in
Prussia, the figures having risen from
13 per 100,000 population in 1869, to
18 in 1880.
—The butter tree was discovered in
the central part of Africa ; from its
kernel is produced a nice butter which
will keep a year. „
—There is an 8,000-acre ranch in
Texas entirely devoted to the breeding
of ponies for children.
—The Duke of New Castle is at
Jacksonville, Florida, taking a rest
from travel,
—Twenty-five thonsand dollars are to
be expended this year in improvements
to the Oil CUy.
—An almost inexhaustible supply of
emery stone has been discovered near
Schimersvilie, Pa.
—The Erie oar works have in their
yards 10,000,000 feet of pine lumber
to be made up into cars.
—The total cost of fencing the land
in most of our States exceeds the east
of all the buildiugs.”
—Two years ago there were bnt seven
cotton mills in the Dominion; now there
are twexty-one, with an aggregate capi-
jflie^liaxrepaid by'the farmers in
New York are 33 cents per acre. The
MDimai taxes that fences occasion is
$1.12 per acre.”
The new railroad construction of
this year is reported at i0,b21 miles,
making the total in the United States
at the present time 112,631 m les.
—Railway Pretideut Garrett has pre
sented the Johns Hopkins Hospital at
Baltimore with a marble bust tf ASumla-
pius, executed by Mr. Reiser iu Haine.
- The number of arrest* made by
the Mayor's police of Philadelphia,
duriug 1882 was 46 130. The Stolen
property recoverd was valued at $88,-
788 46, of whioh sum $31,847 35 was
credited to the Detectives.
—At a stem graphic exhibition in
Paris t wonty-tour different systems of
short-hand were on view. Among other
curiosities there was a post card con
taining 44,000 words.
—The age for marriage of a European
prince is from twenty-four lo forty ; for
a princess, from eighteen to twenty-
eight. There are at present thirty-one
marriageable princes, and only twenty-
four marriageable priuoesses.
—It is said that Mrs. Frank Leslie,
with a number of artists and personal
friends, will make a tour of the South.
She will herself write the descriptions,
whioh the artists will illustrate.
—Three thousand London policemc n
followed the remains of one of their
number to the grave oue dny recently.
The London force now consists of 12,-
000 men, not uonnting special officers.
—Texas has $1,000,000 lying idle m
her treasury, but is -unable to apply it
to the reduotiou of her debt, $5,000,-
000, because her creditors ask $1.40 tor
the bonds, and she is unwilling to pay
that premium.
—The assertion is made that from an
annual cotton crop of 6,600,000 bales
seed can be obtained to yield $100,000,-
000 worth of oil. It is assumed that
every 400 pouud bale gives 1,200
rounds of seed.
—Gray squirrels are so troublesome.
:in Connecticut that tne farmers have in
vited sport-men to exterminate them,
and they are being killed in great num
bers. A paity of three recently bagged
105 squirrels in a day.
Itie Judge in one of the courts of Vic
toria, British Columbia, when a Chinese
witness was being sworn, said that he
had not yet met a Chinaman who could
not write, and oomphmented the witness
on the neatness of his characters.
—The total exports of petroleum and
petroleum products from the United
States during the eleven months which
ended on November 80th last were $41,-
670,160, against $44,415,673 daring the
corresponding period of the preceding
year.
—The report of the Census Bureau
shows that sac. in tbs United States
spend more money in drees than women.
The figures are $498,000,000 for men
and $317,000,000 tor women. Tne aver
age ia $45 a year for men and $27 for
women.
—There were 9 tons of postage stamps,
52 tons of envelopes, 1134 tons °* P 08 *
tel cards and 17 tons of newspaper
wrappers sold at the New York Poet
office in 1882. The sum altogether de
rived from postage at that office was $4,-
288,575,29.
—Twenty-foar thousand eggs of the
silk-worm weigh 1) ounces. For 789
pounds of mulUwiy leaves, seventy
pounds of ooonooa are obtained O-ie
nundred ooooous give 84 pounds of spun
■ilh. One pound of oodtoas ptodumat a
; single thread 38,000 fathoms lung.
■ >‘,1; ■ . .
-a?