The Fairfield news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1881-1900, March 20, 1883, Image 1
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-■ TRI-'WEEKLY EDITION.
WINNSBORO. S. U. MARCH 20, 1883.
ESTABLISHED 1848
THOUGHT.
I bought Is deeper than all speech,
Feeling la deeper than all thought,
Sails to souls can never teach
What onto themselves was taught.
We are spirt's clad In veils;
Man by man was never seen;
All our deep communing fails
To remove the shadowy screen;
Heart to heart was never known;
Mind to mind did never meet,
We are columns left alone
Of a temple once complete.
Like the stars that gem the sky,
Far apart though seeming near,
In our light we scattered He;
All is thus but star-light here.
What la social company
But a babbling summer stream?
What our wise philosophy,
But the glancing of a dream ?
Only when the sun of love
Melts the scat’ercd stars of thought .
Only when we live above
What the dlm-ejed world has taught;
Only when our souls are fed
By the fount which gave them birth,
And by Inspiration led
Which they never drew from tarth.
We, like parted drops of rain.
Swelling till they meet and run,
Shall be all absorbed again,
Melted, flowing Into one.
THE UNCLE'S WILL.
My diamonds, Mary,” said Mrs. Del-
mont; “and my six-button gloves. And
I’m almost certain that the point oi
that Cashmere shawl is trailing on the
carpet.’*
Mrs. Delmont stood in front of the
fr.U-length mirror, whose golden stai d-
ards were veiled in draperies of em
broidered lace—a little withered sharp-
nosed woman, with a complexion ail
composed of paint and powder, hair
artfully touched up by the patent
“Golden Dye,” and teeth so obtrusively
false that no one would ever dream of
calling them a deception.
But her violent velvet dress bad cost
eight dollars a yard; her bracelets were
of dead gold studded with diamonds,
and she sparkled ail over with precious
stones, like a jeweeler's show-case.
The tioudoir was hung with pale-blue
satin, the carpet was of tbo softest
Aubusson, the chairs and tables of en
ameled white, garlanded about by tiny
golden vines, and a Skye terrier lay
coiled up on a bine Angora rng in front
of the lire, with a silver collar around
bis worthless little neck.
“Yes, ma'am,” said Mary, with a
cough.
“The shawl is quite right now, ma’am.
But if you please, ma’am, Mrs. Masters
is waiting to see you.”
“Mrs. Masters!” cried the widow, in
a vexed tone.
But before she could say more, the
door opeued, and a pale-faced woman,
dressed in garments so shabby as to be
barely respectable, came in.
4 T won’t keep you a minute, cousin
Caroline,” said she apologetically.
“The horses are waiting/’ said Mrs.
Delmont ungraciously, “and it always
does make them vicious to stand too
long in this frosty air.”
“I have been facing it,” said Mrs.
Masters bitterly; “ and my cloak is not
so warm as the embroided blankets of
your pampered horses, Caroline.”
‘•Well,” said Mrs. Delmont impa
tiently, “now yon aro here, you may as
well sit dow. What is it that you want
now?”
•T am sorry to be always begging,
cousin Caroline,” said Mrs. Masters,
“but things have gone wrong of late*
Some of my best boarders have changed
their quarters for a more fashionable
location—others have gone away with
out paying me—and I nave been obliged
to call in an expensive doctor for Don
nie—”
“Just what you might have expected
when you adopted that child,” said
Mrs. Delmont. “Why couldn’t you let
him go to the asylum, as other chil
dren do?”
“He was our cousin’s child,” said
Mrs. Masters sadly.
“What difference does that make?”
s aid Mrs. Delmont, with a shrug of the
Cashmere draped shoulders.
"And,” added Mrs. Masters, without
debating the point, *11 hoped perhaps
you would let me have a little money,
just until the next months board-bills
come due.”
“I can’t then,’ said Mrs. Delmont
pettishly.
“It’s money, money, money with you
the whole time. I do belieyo yon think
I’ve a bank, or a gold-mine, or some
such inexhaustible supply. And I may
as well stop it now as any time. So I
beg, Clara, that yon won’t trouble yom-
se'I to oome here soy more on your beg
ging expeditions. Mary—the car
riage,”
So Mrs. Delmont swept downstairs,
flashing and sparkling as she went, and
the meek little boarding-house keeper
to herself off, shedding a few furtive
tears behind her shabby crape veil
“Carolina never had much heart,”
mused she. “And what she had seems
to be turning the stone.”
Mrs. Masters was one of the nnlncky
kind.
When she was a young girl of eigh
teen, she had left boarding-school to
oome home and nurse old ancle Joseph
through his fatal illness, while Caroline,
har cousin, “didn’t see that she could
do any good,” and serenely remained
at Cape May.
And vrhen the old man died, and his
will, leaving nil he had to Caroline’s
deceased father, was opened, Clara
made the best of things,
“I did suppose he would leave me a
little,” said she, choking down a sob.
“But then people ought not to be sel
fish. The will was made ten yews ago,
before uncle Tom died.
‘•If uncle Joseph had thought to
make a new one, I do believe he would
have remembered me,
And of course Caroline will divide,
seeing that we are equally related to
uncle Joseph, and I was with him when
he died.
Bat Caroline did nothing of the sort.
“What’s mine is mine,” said she;
“and I certainly shah not give away a
solitary cent of it.”
So the cousins went their differen t
ways.
Mrs. Delmont married a handsome
Southern lawyer who had left her a
widow at forty.
Clara wedded a penniless clergyman
who had died as poor as he lived, and
she kept soul and body together by
means of a third-rate boarding-house,
further incurring Caroline’s displeasure
by adopting a poor little lame orphan
who had no other prospects than the
poor-house.
“I've been unlucky all my life,”
sighed Mrs. Masters, as she hurried
home through the biting winter blast,
“and luck don’t seem likely to change
now.
“I must just let Thompson, the
second-hand man, have the big walnnt
secretaire that uncle Joseph gave mei
and tho rosewood bookstand 1 took for
Miss Mowbray’s board. They’re the
only articles I’ve got left of any value.
Thompson, tho second band man, sat
in his store with a faded oil portrait
hanging above him, and a pair of blue
velvet window curtains draped at the
left, three bird-cages on the table, and
a cooking-stove at his rear, while he
was engaged in counting out the pieces
of a set of antique china.
“Humble servant, ma’am,” said
Thompson, who had always recognized
Mrs. Masters as a lady through all her
adversities.
“Thompson,” said Mrs. Masters
sadly,
“I’ve made up my mind to part with
my walnut secretaire aud rosewood
bookstand.”
1 Ail right, ma’am,” said Thompson,
eyeing the spont of the cream-pitcher
hard, to make sore that it was not
cracked.
“You may sendnpfor them to-night.’
“Very well, ma'am,” said Thomp
son.
Mrs. Masters shed a few tears as the
big secretaire anti the little bookstand,
the last relics of her gentility, were
taken away in Tnompson’s wagon.
“Goodness knows what I am to do
next,” said sbe. “But there 1 We’re all
iu Heaven’s hands.”
Tho upson the furniture man made
his appearance the next day, with a
curious bewilderment iu his face.”
“Well, I am beat!” said Thompson.
“Wonders never will cease, as my
poor old mother used to say.”
“What do you mean?” said Mrs.
Masters in surprise.
“It’s that there secretary o’ your’n,”
said Thompson. “It was kind o’bruised
and scratchy, so I just took it all to
pieces to oil aud polish it up. Aud clear
at the bpek, I found two or three old
papers that must have slid down out of
the back of the drawer and got wedged
above the wooden cleats that support
ed the lower drawers.”
“Papers?” said Mrs. Masters, “Dear
me, Thompson, what sort of papers?”
“There’s an old note of hand, as
mast be outlawed long ago,” said
Thompson “And a catalogue of Rail
way Bonds, aud a will.
“A what!” gasped the widow,
‘‘A last will and testament. Dated
weeks before your uncle Joseph
wn*t?
When Deacon Stowers came down to
visit bis son Ben, who lives in Chicago, he
had a great antipathy to games of any
kind as played among young men. He
was a pillar in a church that considered
cards as an especial invention of the devil
to lure men into his p >wer. He had seen
them played, but he didn’t know one from
the other. Billiards be had heard of, but
he had never seen a billiard Uole, and he
didn’t want to. He considered billiards as
harmful to the aristocratic part of tne
community, who could afford to play the
game, as cards were ic the common classes.
Both were bad—bad I and he and hie
brothers in the church had often groaned
together over the tendency of the rising
generation to amusements of this kind.
His son was a well to do merchant and
his borne was a pleasant one, far finer than
anything plain old Deacon btowers was
used to seeing, aud ae asked Ben to show
him over the house.
They came to one room which Ben
tried to get the old gentleman past. But
he was bound to see everything, and he
opened the door and looked in. In the
center of the room stood a nearly square
table of peculiar appearance, covered with
green cloth, and with a raised edge all
around it.
“What is that ?” asked the old gentle
man.
“That’s a table the boys play a gam?
on,” answered Ben. “Come on and I’ll
show you the stable, now.”
But the old gentleman's curiosity was
excited, lie looked the table over, and it
bad such an honest, square appearance,
that be couldn’t see much chance for any
thing bad in its use. At least, that is the
way it struck him.
“dow do they use itf” he asked.
Ben saw that his father had become in
terested, so be explained the game and
produced the balls and cues for the old
gentleman’s inspection.
“It must be quite a rice game,” said the
deacon. “They—they don't gamble with
it, do they
“The boys never play for anything but
amu-ement,” answered Ben, evasively.
“That's right,” said the deacon, taking
up one of the cues and giving a ball a tap.
“That would have been a good shot if
you had been playing the game,” said
Ben. “It would have counted you two.”
“Is that so?” The deacon was qui.e
elated at his success. 1 don’t believe in
games, much, tho' I allers liked to play
checkers, but I b’lieve I’d kke this. Let’s
try a game an’ see how it goes.”
“AB right,” said Ben, chuckling to him
self for he knew well what a prejudice his
father had to billiards.
So they played. The deaon had in him
the elements of a good billiard player.
He made some very good shots, and came
uear beating Ben. He enjoyed the first
game so much, that he wanted to play
another, out but one or two
behind on that, ipftfcallenged Ben to play
a third, and won.
“I like the game,” he declared, emphat
ically. “It amounts to suthin’. What’s
the name of it, Ben ?”
“Billiards,” answered Ben, with a sly
twinkle in his eye.
“What?”
The deacon looked at Ben as if thunder
struck. “You don’t mean to say I’ve been
playin’ billiards do you ?”
“Yes," answered Ben; “and you played
well for a beginner. If you keep on
practicing, you’ll make a tin-top player.”
“Good Lord 1” groaned the deacon,
turning pale. “1 wonder what they’d say
up to Greenville if they knew ? I wouldn’t
have it git out that I’d been a playin' bil
liards, for a farm. Don’t you say nothin’,
Ben. Ef it should leak out, I'd be turned
out o’the church.
“I don't see as any harm has been done,”
said Ben. '‘You sec now, don’t you, that
billiards can be played with the best of
motives ?”
“Yes, but that excuse wouldu’t go down
with 'em, ef they should find it out,”, said
the deacon. “You won’t say nothin,’
Bsn ?”
Ben promised to keep mum. Mobody
in Greenville knows how the deacon fell
from grace on bis visit to the city. When
ever his brothers in the church inveigh
against the sin of billiard playing, he says
nothing, and feels guilty of deceit in not
confessing the truth. But to himself he
admits that he did really enj >y the game.
1 know the good deacon would like to
have the church make it obligatory on its
members to learn the game of billiards, but
he wouldn’t dare to say so.
TUree PkasM ni Llfa,
six
died- And—don’t turn pale, Mrs. Mas
ters,” said Thompson; “it leaves you
all the property he had in the world.
It states—’’
But here poor Mrs. Master fainted
away.
“Well—the rest can be easily imag
ined,
The will was put into court, and tri
umph antly proved.
Mrs. Delmont found herself dispos
sessed and Clara Masters be^me the
heiress.
“But, dear me, I wouldn’t bam a
hair of Caroline’s head,” said good Mrs.
Masters.
“Ain't there enough for both of us?
And really, I am more glad on Dennie’s
account than my own.”
For Mrs Masters was the same sweet*
natured woman throngh storm and sun
shine alike.
“Ought to ha’ been a duchess,” said
Thompson the second-hand man.
“And I always said so,
“Aud to the day of my death, I shall
be proud to think it was my chisel and
screwdriver as pned ont her inheri
tance.”
A reporter slipped tbe other day be
tween the lines of trucks which obstruct
the current of traffic at 'the junction of
Broadway and State street, Albany, Mew
York. Ahead of him was two gentlemen.
One said to the other:
“I don’t see bow these fellows (meaning
tbe carmen) exist. Their wagons stand
here day in and day out, and they never
seem to be doing anything but fooling with
each other.”
The reporter approached one of the car
men. Thu particular common carrier had
a round rosy face. He looked valuable.
“How is business ?” asked the reporter?
“Prettv good. Will you have a cart.”
“Mo, not to day. But how do you folks
ever get enough to feed your horses a nd
yourself?”
“We have a way,” and after consider
able questioning, the carman gave the con-
dit'ou of the trade about as follows :
“You see there u not more’n a dozen
carta here now. Well, all told, there is
40 of us and we are kept busy, so tbat
there is not mure then bait of us bere at
the same time. Borne days is better than
others; but it is a poor un which don’t
bring in 12 shillin’. Some weeks we have
enough to do for customers to keep us
busy all the time; and on those times we
don't have to stand here a’tah. Youv’e
noticed, ain't you, that no matter how few
there is here, that most ot ’em are near
the cross walk ? Well, that's considered
the best stand. You see, a stranirer corn
in’ along strikes the first one he comes to.”
“How much do you realize in a day on
an average ?”
“Oh, from $1 to !$6Jor $7. Have a
cart, lady ?” said the cartmtn to a pros
pective customer, who answering in the
affirmative left the reporter without a story.
--The three leading winners en the
English-turf last year were Mr. Craw
ford, Mr. Lefevre and the Duke of
Westminster, with respectively $129,
000, $78,500 and $69,000 gross gains ia
stakes. The Duke of Hamilton won
$49,000, Loid Roseberry $46,000,
Prinoe Soltykoff $18,500, Mr. Keene
$7500 and Mr. I^onilard $5000.
Vulgarities ot speech.
The above term properly includes net
only words and phrases of obvious coarse
ness, but a large class of expressions in
which a fine word is employed in place of
a simple one, or a word tbat does not prop
erly convey tbe meaning is used. The use
of many-syllabled words in place of short
ones has ocen a notorious vice of news
paper writers, whose example has been
largely followed m con? creation. With
out running to the opposite extreme, the
simplest language sufficient to convey one's
meaning is the best to use. Many will
find it profitable to keep handy for refer
ence the following list of common errors.
Much might be added to it.
Accord, forgive, “the information was
accorded him.”
Aggravate, for irritate; aggravate is to
make worse.
Allude to, for refer to or mention.
As, for that; “not as 1 know,” for “not
that 1 know.”
Avocation for vocation; a man’s voca
tion is his business; avocations are things
that occupy him incidentally.
Illy, for ill.
Inaugurate, for begin.
Kids, for kid gloves.
Learn, tor teach.
L'able, for likely or apt.
Loan, for lend.
Reside, for live.
Commence, for begin.
Pants, for pantaloons, or better still,
trowsers.
Partake, for eat
Plenty, as an adjective, when plentiful
is meant.
Balance, lor rest or remainder.
Character, for reputaioo; one may
may have a good reputation but a bad
character, and the two words should never
be confounded.'*’
Dangerous, for danger, a sick man is
sometimes most absurdly said to be dan
ger oua, when it only means that the poor
fellow is in danger himsel:—-i very differ
ent thing.
“What are ‘he prosnects for the coming
season ?” asked a reporter of a canal boat
captain whom he met in the street.
“i,t is a little too early yet to speculate.
I have no reason but to believe that we
will have a good season next summer*”
“Do you think that the removing of
tolls on freight will make much, if any
difference ?”
“Mo; when tbe tolls were high we made
more money than when the authorities
lowered them. Just so sore as our expen
ses are lighter, the freight rates are cut.
The railroads shave their rates down, and
the shippers have to nave their commis
sions, so that deducting the price for se
curing the boat load, and taking the ex
ceedingly low rate of freight, leaves but
little margin. No: with tolls off, the
shippers and forwarders will think we
ought to carry everything cheaper,”
“Why don’t you try some other busi
ness ?”
“Because I lore my boat. During the
winter I feel as uneasy as a fish out of wa
ter. and from tbe opening of the canals
until tne close, l wnws h»«V * fism
Last fall I sold my horses, and now I am
in search of a good team.”
“Is there much fascination about the
life of a canaier ?”
“Well, yes. At first, when the propo
silion to be a canaier was made to me, I
spurned it. 1 got hard up and thought I
would make a little money. Before I got
over tbe route from Buffalo to Mew York
once, the old dread of the life had left me.
and I was so fascinated with it that I
thought 1 could never tire. Since that
time i have never once regretted going on
a canal boat. I worked hard, and after
awhile bought a boat of my own, and to
day the old craft is as dear to me as one of
my family.”
“Conductor, can’t you ael me a seat I '*
said an ira<cible passenger of tbe female
persuasion on a car. There was not a va
cancy.
“Some people are hogs.”
This was the comment of the passenger
on her feet.
“So they are,” the condurter rejoined
totto voce, “and no one more than your
self ”
The reporter was led to inquire by catch
ing the strange remark.
“Yes," said the conducter, “I see a
good deal of tbe selfishness of this world.
Some people will set in, and because they
pay thtir fare think that 1 can find a seat
for them. Women are the worst, and
many a blowing up l get because I cannot
do an impossibility, i do not except men
either, because some of them are even
worse than tbe women. If one of the
latter enters with a basket she will set the
basket on her lap so that it will take up
twice as much room as she is entitled to,
and it is at the cost of considerable abuse
that I can prevail upon her to put, her bas
ket on the floor. Then again if a woman
comes m with a child, sbe will place the
youngster along side of her, and no matter
if the car is full, that child must have a
seat to the exclusion of older patrons.
Sometimes the child is removed to thspat
ents lap if an old man is seen standing, but
never if it happens to be a woman. When
one women is asked to make room for
another, she madly moves along, or throws
the child on ber lap, and takes up as much
room as possible. Borne of the male riders
occupy seats, and never see a woman when
she enters. They look right past her, and
sometimes when within about a block of
where they want to get off, see the lady,
get up and offer her their seats. I have
noticed that some women when they board
a car think that some one ought to get up
ard|give them a seat If no one stirs thejaew
arrival glances around with an impudent
look. Then again 1 have seen a workman
with his dinner pail board a car and get
a seat. He gave U up soon after to a
fashionable dressed woman, who claims it
as a matter of right, never even thanking
him. But most always a lady upon ac
cepting a seat will either say ‘thank you’
or incline her head fo rwtfrd.
Artificial Donna or Crop*.
A paper on the artificial drying of crops
was read before the Society of Arts re
cently, in which Mr. Gibbs stated he had
during the last two or three seasonal, on
the lands of noblemen, large landowners
and farmers in half tbe aunties ot Eng
land, saved thousands of toes of produce
that must otherwise have been wasted.
Mr. Gibbs described the vanous processes
which bad been used for drying crop*.
His own plan, as adopted in hie harvest
savers, was that of passing heated air by
means of fans through the gran to be
dried. He felt assured that if fanners
had used even tbe simpler resources which
were in their power, in the direction oi
harvest saving, some millions would have
been gained by the country.
A New AntDepti*.
New York and Boston are greatly ex
cited over tbe discovery of a new antisep
tic solution which, it is claimed, is des
tined to revolutionize all existing methods
for tbe transportation of perishable goods
by rail aud sea. It seems that several
years ago one Profeaeor R. K. Humlstofti,
in a remote western village, was appealed
to as a practical chemist to embalm a hu
man body for long transportation. Tbe
need can.8 upon him unexpectedly, and
hie facilities were meagre, but his attempt
was wondei fully successful. Reflection
convinced him that the process which thus
so remarkably preserved a human corpse
could be made to serve living humanity
by the piotracted, economical, and health
ful preservation of flesh food.
The study and experiments which led
up tp preugi. results have covered three
years, and have gene along under the cog
nizance and encouragement of prominent
Eastern gentlemen, among whom are J.
Willard Bice, of Boston, brother of Ex-
Governor Rice of Massaciiusets, and bead
of the well-known paper house of Rice,
Kendall & Go.; and Eiward Burnett, also
of Boston, son of Dr. Joseph Barnett, a
relative of our Minister to England. Mr.
Lowed, and owner of the celebrated Deer-
foot farm near Boston. All the while
confident assertion and general publicity
have been made to wait upon actual ac
complishment, and 1 am but now able to
give to the public, for the first time,
through the Daily News, an outline of
what these discoveries have really done,
as well as of a crucial test begun ‘he other
day under my own eye by Samuel W.
Johnson, professor of agricultural chemis
try in Y ale college.
Professor Humiston, seme time since,
claimed that his antiseptic preparations
would preserve meats, fish, fowl, oysters,
milk, cream, etc , in perfect and even im
proved condition, tor from three weeks to
three months, and disinterested gentlemen
in Boston, Baltimore, and other cities were
asked to witness experiments and assume
charge and control ot articles of fo>d
treated by the new process. Mr. Burnett,
of Boston, at his farm, became the custo
dian of the foods there operated upon,
which were sausages, milk, cream, etc.,
merchantable products of the farm, and
which have given it great fame. Mr, Bur
nett has signed a statement affirming the
absolute perfection of tbe antiseptic's
work. He says tbat he never before could
ship sausages during hot weather or the
summer months, without a large percent
age of loss, and never sent seaside custo
mers cream and milk before, but tbat last
summer he freely shipped sausages, cream,
ililk, etc , treated by tbe Humiston pri*
cess, without loss, and that he now em
ploys tbe antiseptic in all his products,
ships freely without refrigeration or Other
agencies, and not only escapes all loss, but
saves heavv expense aud gives his custo
mers a degree of eetiefactioa never
expressed before.
The antiseptic, a pungent', sodaish-look
ing powder, bad been dissolved in . water
the previous evening by Profs. Johnson
and Humiston—perhaps a common wash-
tub full, in stone jars of various sizes—at
wh oh time Prof. Humiston drank six
ounces of the mixture as an evidence of
us harmlessness. The meats &nd fowl,
punctured in their thicker parts, were
simply immersed in the liquid; and re
mained therein from two to twenty hours.
A small quantity of it was poured into
and mingled with the cream. The oyst
ers, after pouring off tneir liquor, were
immersed in a somewhat different solution
of tbe antiseptic adapted to this specially
difficult ta^k. One piece ot steak was
simply wrapped in a towel wet with the
general solution, and laid in the inverted
lid of a jar. The whole process was so
simple that a child of a dozen years could
perform it with the briefest verbal instruc
tion. At suitable limes the immersed ar
ticles were removed from the solution and
simply hung up on hooks and nails in the
open air of the laboratory, where they are
to remain at least three weeks.
Th'.re is to be no access to the labora
tory during this time, except by Professor
Johnson or in his presence. The tempera
ture therein is to be kept as uniform as
practicable, at between 70 deg. and 80
deg. Eahrenaelt, observation and record
of which is to be made by tho professor
twice daily. Prof. Humiston has gone
his way and will not probably see the la
boratory or its contents again till the test
shall be completed—at all events he is not
to touch tbe articles again till then. At
the end of three weeks the five gentlemen
will again meet in the laboratory. Prof.
Johnson in their presence will take down
and inspect the articles and certify to their
exact condition, after which, if they are
in the condition expected, they will be
cooked by a New Haven caterer and
served at a dinner to the scientific gentle
men and their co-observers. If the anti
septic fails the professor in charge of the
articles will dispose of them very sum
marily.
The Dancer Attending Arsenic.
It is ueoassary to raise a warning cry
against a most mischievous statement
which has recently been circulated and
has alreadj done harm, to the effect
that “arsenic in small doses is good for
the complexion.” It is not difficult to
in aginn the risks women will inoar to
reserve or improve their “good looks.'
~o more ingenious device for recom
mending a drug can be hit upon than
that which the authors of this baneful
prescription of “arsenic for the com
plexion’ have adopted. Suffice it to
recall the foot that for many years past
chemists and sanitarians have been
laboring to discover means of eliminat
ing the arsenical salts from tbe coloring
matter of wall papers, and certain dyes
once largely used for certain articles of
clothing. It is most unfortunate that
this hopelessly antagonistic recom
mendation of arsenic to improve the
complexion should have found its way
into pnut. Those who employ the
drug as advised—and there are many
either using it or are contemplating the
rash act—will do so at their peril. Bo
far as they are able, however, it will
be the duty of medical men to warn the
public against this pernicious practice,
which is only too likely to be carried on
secretly, it ia not without reason that
we speak thus pointedly, and urge prac
titioners to be on the qui vive iu muon-
aiotu or obscure oases.
—The British Museum lately acquired
thirty-nine Babylonam objects of silver.
S'
The Siughaiese.
The greater number of children play
ing in the street were boys. Girls, are
early accustomed to remain inside the
huts and employ themselves in house
hold work, Besides this, they develop
very young, being often married at ten
or twelve years old, and old women at
twenty or thirty. Grandmothers of
twenty-five or thirty are very frequent.
A further significant fact is tbe perma
nent disproportion of male and female
births among the Singhalese, The av
erage is ten boys to eight nine-tenths
girls. The fact is connected, to some
extent at least, with the curious insti
tution polyandry. In spite of the ef
forts made by the English Government
to suppress this custom, it maintains its
ground, especially in the more remote
districts of the island. It is not nn usual
to find two or three brothers with ene
wife in common, and ladies may be
found ithe happy possessors of ten or
twelve husbands. These complicated
family arrangements form the theme of
many extraordinary stories; but it is
very difficult to distinguish fact from
fable on the subject.
Tbe Singhalese have a passion for
musio and dancing, and practice both
arts according to a standard of taste
very different from our own. Their
principle instruments are the drum and
the tomtom, vigorously belabored with
wooden drumsticks; besides these, they
have reed pipes, ami a very primitive
stringed ir strument of one string. My
evening culm was often broken in upon
by the din of these ear-splitting instru-
meuts, aud if I followed the sound toils
source was I sure to find, in front of a
fire under a palm tree, a group of ten or
a dozen naked, brown fellows, gaily
painted with white yellow or red stripes
aud indulging m the most extraordinary
antics. A circle of spectators stood
round and followed the grotesque per
formance with devout attention.
New York BalU and Dinner*.
It was once laid down by a high priestess
in the aits of sooiety that no good-natured
woman could give a really good ball in
any great city, and there is a considerable
amount of truth in this. A gcod-natured
woman cannot turn a deaf oar to the
claims of old friends. Consequently, sue
asks persons who contribute nothing to
the beauty of her rooms or to the social
attractiveness of the entertainment. Again,
she is at the mercy of those—their name
is legion—who ask for invitations for
friends and are ever ou the lookout to
make capital for themselves in the future
at other people’s expense, whereas it is
psrfecly useless to attempt to impose on
Mrs. Highly T.gkty in this faamoo. Im
portune her and she will be “positively
rude.” “As If,” she will say, “1 am go-
mg to have those dreadful Bunglers. Why
these girls must be S5 if a day, and, heav
ens, what dre^es they had on at the Tub-
bingtou’s on Friday I” The fact is that to
have a pretty ball or an agreeable salon,
or dinner party, the weeding process is a
horrid necessity, and society in New York
needs that it should be applied far more
unsparingly than hitherto. Mo one dn
give agreeable dinners, who, as a rule,
ks his guests on the clearing-off prin
ciple, or because they arc old friends. To
give interesting paites people must be
asked for their social merits and advan
tages, and all other claims must be subor
dinated to these. Lady Holland's extra
ordinary success as a dinner giver was
largely due to the circumstance tbat she
was not “in society," in the ordinary ac
ceptance of the term, and had no dinners
to pay back to bores with whom she had
dined; indeed, the Holland House society
whs almost exclusively composed ot men.
As a rule, it is a great mistake to have a
mixed dinner party of young and old
guests. Each bores tbe other. It is
dreadful to think in reference to dinner
given here what a tremendously costly and
elaborate machinery is set in motion to
produce, iu point of pleasure and satis
faction, such small results; and this is due
to vulgar ostentation and stupidity in not
discriminating as to who will like to meet
who.
Th® nerr Z\oj.
NEWS IN BRIEF
He was a brand-new office boy, young,
pretty-faced, with golden ringlets and blue
eyes. Just such a boy as one would im
agine would be taken out of his little
trundle-bed iu tbe middle of tbe night and
transported beyond the stars. The first
day he glanced over the library in the edi
torial room, became acquainted with
everybody, knew all the printers, and went
home in the evenitfg as happy and cheery
as a sunbeam. The next day he appeared,
leaned out of the back window, expector
ated on a held headed printer's pate, 'tied
the cat up by the tail in the hallway, had
four flgbts with another boy, borre^ed $2
from an occupant of the building, saying
his mother was dead, collected his two
days’ pay from the cashier, hit tbo janitor
with a broomstick, pawned a coat belong- w . .
ing to a member of the editorial staff,«|
wrenched the knob* off the doors, upset
the ice-cooler, pied three galleys of type;
and mashed his fingers in the small press.
On the third day, a note was received say
ing ; “Mi Mother do not want 1 to work
in such a dull place. She says I Would
make a Good preacher, ro Do L mi finger
is Better ; gone fishin’. Yours TUI Deth
do Yank us.”
Strang® Glorlea.
A writer from VirgimaCity, Nevada
says, one afternoon recently the heavens
became obscured by a peculiar vapor,
which seemed neither fog nor smoke nor
yet clouds. Though the sun could be
plainly seen, it preseuted precisely the
same appearance as when viewed through
smoked glass. To the southward this va
por appeared of au orange hue, while to
the west it was blue. Borne of our people
looking in that direction, called out: “Old
Mount Davidson has got the bluet I” and
really everything in that direction had the
blues. About tour o’clock the whole mass
of vapor moved east aud settled down over
the valley ah >ve the Carson river. There
It presented a white appearance, hiding aU
the valley land and low hills, but allowing
the peaks of the Uomo range of mountains
to be seen. While this was going on there
was visible on the eastern horizon a broad
hand of deep blue with above a corres
ponding band of a deep rose red.
—The first copper cent was coined in
New Haven in 1687.
—The first printing pres* in the Uni
ted States was worked in 1620.
—Glass windows were first introduced
into England in the eighth century.
—The first attempt to manufacture
pins was made soon aftjr the war of
1815.
—The first comnlete searing machine
was patented by Elias Howe, Jr., in
1846.
—An exhibition of tbe works of the
late Hablot K. Browue (“Phiz’) is to
be held at Liverpool.
—Mr. Blaine intends to sail southward
in the yacht Blaine, with her Boston
owner, m the spring.
Professdr Virchow, of Berlin, owns
nearly 6,000 human skulls of all ages
and nationalities.
—The Marquis of Lome has beeh re
elected commodore of the Royal Nova
Beotia Yacht Squadron,
—The consumption of thread of the
best grades in the United States is 21,-
000,OuO spools per annum.
—A bottle of 50 gallons capacity, the
largest ever blown ia this country, was
lately made at Millville, N. J.
—The police of Berlin will no longer
permit pnblic performances of tamers
of lions and other wild animals.
—John Cabot received the magnificent
sum of £10 from Henry V1L by way of
reward for discovering America.
—The strength of 120 pounds is re-
vuired to tear asnnder an iron wire one-
twenty-fifth of an inch in diameter.
—England paid about $17,000,000 for
convincing Arabi Bey that he ought not
to rebel against bis owu government.
—The total cost of the new Capitol
in Albany up to January 1, 1888, is sta
ted by the Capitol Commissions at $14,-
193,663.
—The Prince of Wales has at Sand
ringham 100 short-horn oows and 29
short-horn bolls, which are kept in two
distinct herds.
—The debt of the United States prior
to the war was about $90,000,000. Tue
debt of tbe Australian oolonies is al
ready fivefold that.
—The famous chestnut tree on Mt.
JSiuH measures 210 feet at its base. Its
age is at least 800 years. Italy has
many renowned trees of this species.
—The next exhibition of works by
Prussian and foreign artists will take
place in May and June, at the Polytech
nic School at Charlotteburg, near Ber
lin.
—A mau ovdr GO years of age is re
ported, by a British paper, to have mads
156 miles in 24 hours on a tricycle. A
younger rival did 186 miles in the same
time.
—The whole number of letters mailed
iu this country daring the year 1880
was 1,058,252,876, or an average of 21
to each man, woman and child in the
country.
—Sarah Bernhardt-Damida has closely
trimmed off the big frizzes of hair that
used to overshadow her brow, to the
great improvement, it Is said, of her
appearance.
—A cargo of pig iron, sunk in Long
Island Sound, off Saybrook, twenty-
seven years ago, now being recovered
by divers, comes out from under the
sand in good condition,
—The hazing for which five Sopho
mores of Bowdoin College have been
suspended consisted in cutting off vio
lently one-half of the slow-appearing
mustache of a reluctant Freshman.
—From the deposit discovered in
1872 on the Appomattox River at Ber
muda, Va., there are now taken 1,000
tons annually or about a third of the
fine oohiee used in the United States.
—Artificial eggs are now manufact
ured in Germany. A woman who bought
a dozen of a peddler found them filled
with water, tne yolk having been ex
tracted and the hole covered ?rith paste.
—The schools of Portland, Me., re
cently held a “Longfellow honr,” on
which occasion interesting exercises
were held in all the schools, and a hand
some sum was realized for the memorial
fund.
—Hannibal Hamlin has given to Col
by Univeisity a copy of the Cristopher
Columbus oil poruait in the Naval
Museum at Madrid, supposed to be the
only authentic likeness of the great dis
coverer.
—The Hon. Alexander H. H. Stuart
has been requested by the Historical
Society of Virginia to prepare a history
of the events of 1869 “which led to the
restoration of the State to her place in
the Union.”
—Albert Victor, son of the Prinoe of
be educated at Christ
Church, Oxford. Like his unde, Prinoe
Leopold, he will wear cap and gown
only on occasions where they are re
quired by law.
—Custer County, Montana, is the
largest county in the United States. Its
area is 86,000 square miles. It is larger
than the States of Vermont, New
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Delaware
and Rhode Island, all oombined.
—Tbe real estate subject to city tax
in Philadelphia is $562,687,555; furni
ture, $5,698,280; hones, $2,304,965;
cattle, $139,250; pleasure oarriagee,
$653,205. The increase over 1882 la
$17,708,026.
—The Japanese Department of Agri
culture is planting oyster beds near
Yokohama, The Japanese oysters are
considered among the finest in the world,
and hopes are entertained of exporting
them largely in a preserved state,
—Workmen are already engaged on
the removal of the central tower of
Peterborough Cathedral, and as very
recently several new cracks of an alarm
ing character have been discovered, the
work has been nudeneken none too
soon. Tuouaands of people are reported
to have visited the cathedral from ail
parts of Europe since the news of the
“proposed demolition’* eras made pub-
ho.
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