The Fairfield news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1881-1900, May 10, 1883, Image 1
TRI-WEEKLY EDITION.
/5
W1NNSBORO. G. 0.. MAY 10, 1883.
ESTABLISHED 1848.
•w
BOVS WANTED.
Boys of spirit, boys of will,
Boys of music, brain and power,
lit to cope with anything—
ge are wanted every hour.
Not the weaFWULwbining drones
That all trouble tmi
|. Not the watchword of “I can’t,”
But the nobler one, “I’ll try.”
Do wbate’er you have to do
With a true and earnest zeal;
Bend your sinews to the task,
'Put your shoulder to the wheel.
Though your duty may be hard,
Look not on it as an ill;
If it be an honest task,
Do it with an honest will.
At the anvil or the farm,
Wheresoever you may be,
From your future ettbrts, l>oys,
Comes a nation’s destiny.
IN THE WRONG HOUSE.
igo
It was in Boston. The first snow of
the season had fallen the night before,
and the wind was dashing it off the tops
of the high bmldings, filling the air
with tiny particles that glittered like
diamonds in the brilliant sunshine. It
wasn’t quite so pleasant to have it come
with a rush right into one’s face, bnt
every one was merry and brisk this
morning, and why shouldn't the wind
be so too? Two bright-faced girls were
rapidly threading their way throngh the
crowds that thronged aronnd the great
dry goods stores. For an hour they
had been flitting from place to place,
attending to matters important or other
wise, hovering over the pretty things
piled high upon the counters, but
laughingly shaking their heads over
their enapty purses.
‘*1 shall have to appoint myself your
guardian, Alice, and put a veto on your
buying what you don’t need.” And the
speaker linked her arm with that of her
companion, and drew her towards the
door.
“I ought to be grateful, for I am in
debt now, and I really ought not to
spend a cent. Did you ever see such a
good-natured crowd? Now, you have
that call to make, and while you go
there I will run in and see Mollie. Don’t
stay long, will you, Grace?”
“No, I won’t. What a wind! Islould
think it came straight from Labrador.
This was rightly named Winter street!
Here, give me your hand. Let us get
into the sunshine, somehow, as quickly
as we can.
Hand in hand, laughing, breathless,
with heads bent to meet the fierce
winds tnat came tearing around the
corner, the cousins struggled forward
until they gained the comer, where
Alice halted for breath; but Grace ran
on, across Tremont street, and stood in
the flooding sunlight, waiting for her
companion.
"Which way shall we go?” asked
Alice, when they were together again.
“Up Park street or across the Com
mon?”
“Across the Common by all means,”
said Grace. “I go out of my way when
in Boston, to walk on the Common. It
is such a rebel to me to escape from the
cold shadow of the high buildings.”
So on they went, with faces so bright
! from the cold air and their merry hearts
that all who met them smiled and went
I their ways more blithely. Suddenly
their path was blocked by the snow, on
I which men where still at work. An tin-
[ broken white expanse lay between them
‘ their goaL
“Three alternatives,” exclaimed
| Grace, gayly; to wade throuiih this
[enow, which looks rather deep; to wait
ill the men finish the path for«us, or
i take this path over to Park street.’’
”In view of the lateness of the hour,
rhaps we had better make a conoes-
and accept the last. See, there is
lollie’s house. You see the house
vith the roof higher than the others?”
“Yes,” said Grace, not very decided-
‘Well, it is the third house from
If you finish your call first you
. stop for me, or vice versa, I will ]
i meet you. Now don’ stay long.
And they parted, Alice keeping on
>wn Beacon street in the sunshine,
trace turning north over the hill.
Neither had far to go from the corner
a they separated, and Grace was
on waiting for admittance at her
iend’s door. The servant who took
tie card returned presently with the
itelhgenoe that her mistress was so ill
»t she was quite unable to receive
lyone. So it happend that in a few
aments Grace was again upon the
reet.
This is nice,” she said to herself, as
i retraced the steps. “Alice will not
herself, and, meantime, what is
> become of me? I do not wish to
arten her call. I will walk down the
set very slowly and try to kill time,”
What an exquisite picture it is! And
ily it was beautiful The leafless
on the Common lifted the delicate
ery of their branches against the
(mdless sky. The newly fallen snow
still spotless, on the streets and
stops. Along the few paths that
been opened on the Common people
ssed and repassed. The roar and
, of the great city came softly to the
across the white plain. Near at
the State House raise \ its shining
ae high in the air, and the tinkle of
sgh bells and the merry shouts of
tdreu added life and interest to the
!“i am getting somewhat tired of this
le, although I doubt if there
found a pleasanter place for it
i city. Which house did Alice
I'm sure I don’t know, if I walk
st this club house a few more
iall create a sensation. That
do at all Lei me try
But as she turned the corner
wind met 'her, and her feet
jlangeroualy. on the icy pave-
stand this, in more senses
Why doesn’t that girl appear?
[not for the snow, now, 1 might
Common in the most unno-
y possible. 1 will cross over
these r jofs. What did Alice
t a stupid not to ask her the
But then I shouldn’t have
she had told me, berves me
ving ouch careless attention
to wbat people are saying,
don’t even know her friend’s name.
Mollie, Mollie—what? I ought to know.
I have heard her name times enough
when I have be^n here before, Sh<\i '
one of jiltesT cTassmates, but 'she
Mention her last name this morn
ing. This must be the house. Shall I
try it?
Grace, who had been carefully sur
veying the house that she was approach
ing, suddenly looked very determined,
mounted the steps and rang the bell.
Thd door was opened almost instantly
by a dignified old servant in livery.
“1 beg pardon if .1 am makeiag a
mistake,” she began, in her most win
ning voice. “Indeed, I am quite at
loss to explain myself. Has a young
lady called here within a half hour to
see a friend, a Mies Mollie ; my
com in did not mention her surname.”
And she paused with an embarassed
half , smile. But the old servant had
already shaken his head.
“No, miss; no one has called I
know, because I have baen right here
all i.he time,”
“Then I have made a mistake. 1 am
sorry to have troubled you. But, could
you. possibly?"—she hesitated
“I think there is a young lady next
door,” indicating the house with his
land. “We have no young ladies in
this family.”
“Thank you,” aloud. To herself:
“That accounts for a slight trace of
crustiness in your bearing, my good sir.
However, youjtreated me very well—
for a tramp.”
Should she dare again? Her blood
was up. The merry mood of the morn
ing had not passed It would be no
worse than this horrid promenading, and
she might find her.
This time the door was opened by a
pleasant-faced young mulatto, who
seemed instantly to appreciate the situa
tion, for a suppressed twinkle in his eye
answered to the smile that, do what she
would, Grace knew was twitching at the
corners of her mouth.
“I beg pardon,” she said, with an air
of frankness that would have disarmed
the most suspicious mind: “My cou
sin Miss Raymond, left me to call on a
friend, while I mode another call in the
near neighborhood. My cousin pointed
out the house to me, but really I do not
know the house, the number, or her
friend’s name. She called her only
Mollie. Is there a Miss Mollie—? Has
a Miss Raymond called? You see, I—.
It is really very absurd,” and the young
lady ended with a little appealing ges
ture of the hands that would haye done
credit to a T rench woman.
'he young fellow smiled, yet very
respectfully. “There is a Mias Molly,”
he said, Grace looked relieved. But
she was not yet sure.
“A lady may have called,” he con
tinued, “although I did not see her.
Miss Mollie is in Now York.”
“Oh, then,” began Grace, preparing
to retreat. But he went on.
If you will step into the parlor, if
you please, miss, I will go tfnd inquire.”
T thank you. I am sorry to trouble
you.”
“How utterly ridiculous this is,” she
said to herself, as she took the proffered
seat in a most elegant apartment. “To
think that I, Grace Carter, should be
in such a scrape as this! That man is
a true gentleman. How does he know
what I may intend to carry off in my
pocket while he is gone? What would
Alice—”
The sound of a half suppressed cough
iu another part of the room started her.
She became conscious that she had been
thinking aloud. Throwing, for the first
time, a rapid glance around the room,
her eyes met those of a gentleman who
was almost hidden from her view by an
angle of the room and the de»p chair in
which he was sitting. He rose from his
seat, seeing himself discovered. Grace
arose also, turning towards the door,
for she heard the sound of returning
footsteps.
“The lady is not here miss, I am
sorry.”
Ail Grace thought of now was to get
out of her awkward position as soon as
possible. The gentleman advanced to
offer assistance, but Grace rapidly and
somewhat incoherently uttered her
thanks and apologies to the servant,
fled, and drew a long breath of relief
as she reached the sidewalk once more.
“I feel as if I had lived an age, and it
is not fifteen minutes since I blundered
into the first place. If that girl docs
not appear before I reach the next
corner I shall go home without her.
There she is this very minute, bliss
fully unconscious of the mischief I have
been into,”
“How nice; you are just in time,
Grace. I told Mollie you might call
for me, and I have been listening for
the bell for some time. Did you have
a pleasant call? Mollie was looking
very lovely this morning; she had on a
new wrapper that is extremely beoom
ing.”
“Mrs. Benton was indisposed, so that
1 did not see her at all,” said Grace, ra
ther grimly.
Alice looked up and laughed a queer
expression on her cousin’s face. “Why
what did you do all this time?” she ask
ed.
Grace hesitated. ‘ 'Gan you keep it to
yourself, if [ tell you something?''
“Yes, indeed!”
“Well, then. 1 have been making
morning calls, on New Year’s Day, up
on the elite of Beacon street, Bostonr
“Grace Garter!’
“Percisely; that’s just what I say.”
.. i “ ..
I declare I, Raymond, that
me.” ^
is all I have to guide
And half laughing, half rueful, she told
the whole story.
Meanwhile the gentleman who had
been so suddenly disturbed in his quiet
dose did not seem inclined to-return to
his chair.
“You say she gave her cousin’s name
as Miss Raymond, Alfred?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very well. That will do. How long
before dinner? I think 1 will go to the
store after dinner. My headache seems
tG Sjo bwiter." ‘
“What a face that girl had!” he con
tinued, whea'left alone. “She must be
a stranger in the city. She is not a
Bostonian. A needle in a haystack!
Yet I am bmnd to find her, and I with
Alfred went away chuckling to him
self: “Ur. Frank’s struck at last.
■1 too. Bnt she is a
ttle lady, that’s a fact!” But Mr.
Frank went to the store aud studied the
direotoi-y with gieat care.
He had been invited to a little New
Year’s party that evaning, and as it was
to /be a very quiet, informal affair, he
had consented to going, for although
belonging to one of the most aristocra
tic wealthy families in the city, he was
no society man. He wished now that he
had not promised to go, for he wanted
to take steps toward beginning his
search for the apparition of the morn
ing.
“Fortune favors the brave.” “As
Mr. Ellis turned away after paying his
respects to his hostess, his eyes met the
very eyes that had looked into his that
morning in his mother’s parlor, and
although they were instantly turned
away the swift rush of color showed that
h# was recognized. With an adroit
e. :nse about “a very striking resemb
lance,” he soon gained the desired in
troduction and made himself so agree
able to the yonng lady that Grace forgot
her determination to be frigidly polite,
and ere long the two were chatting
together like old friends, to the utter
astonishment of those present who knew
Ellis. Among his eonpanions he was
considered a little short of a “woman
hater,” and there he sat completely en
grossed by a little, plainly dressed
country girl.
The months fly swiftly, and again it
is the eve of the New Year. Come with
me to a house in one of the pleasantest
suburbs of Boston. A few snowflakes
are beginning to fall Look! the door
is opened and a servant stands on the
threshold, and, shading his eyes, peers
into the surrounding gloom to see if
there is a promise of a storm. We
recognize Alfred. Let ns slip past him
into the light and warmth of the hall,
and looking into the drawing room
where the ruddy fire light is dancing on
the wall. Two persons are standing be
fore the open fire, and the the taller has
his arm thrbwn carressingly around the
slight little figure at his side.
••Grace, my darling,” he is saying,
“1 never can be thankful enongh that
you got into the nrong house last New
Year’s. It was the making of my for
tune—and Alfred’s,” he adds laughing.
“Do yon know,” Grace answers de
murely, bnt with the merry sparkle in
her eyes as of old, “1 am not sure, In
the light ol subsequent events that it
was the wrong house.”
A Wooden Leg Under Fire.
A fashionably dressed matron sat in the
rear cabin of a Fulton ferry boat, New
York. 8hn. wan accompanied by a thin-
legged, restless-eyed little girl of 4 or
thereabouts. A few seats away was a man
with a wooden leg. With ucemng instinct
the child’s eye had lighted upon this man.
That eye at once bei ime fixed, dilating
with concentrated t terest. The child
crawled down from *• - seat, upon which
she had been kneeling, in order to afford
that eye better facilities for observation.
The object of scrutiny squirmed uneasily
in his seat. Turning to the mother the
child exclaimed in a portentous whisper:
“Oh, ma 1 Look at that man.”
“Hush, my dear. You must not be
rude.”
“But ma" (in a very audible whisper),
“do look at his leg.”
Be quiet, Ethel, I tell you,” frantical
ly urged the matron in agitated tones. “The
poor man has lost his leg. It’s very rude
to notice iL”
“What’sthat one made of?”
“Hush! ot wood, my dear. Look at
that pretty little boy over there. See how
good he is.”
“Did you ever have a leg like that,
ma!”
“No, my dear. Look over there at
that ”
“Will pa or Uncle John or I ever have
one, ma ?"
“No dear.”
“Gould he kick a ball with that leg?”
“Hush, do!”
“But, ma ”
At this juncture the mau with the wood
en leg sought, in turn, to create a diversion
He drew from his pocket a pretty little
bonbon box and offered the child some
sweetmeats. The child accepted them
with some hesitation and mistrust An
instant later the boat reached the slip. The
mother rose, and smiling graciously, said:
“Thaak the gentleman, Ethel, and say
good-bye.”
Ethel advanced, her eyes still firmly
fixed upon the object of interest. She held
out the tips of her little fingers.
“Good-bye,” she said, in a voice full of
emotion; “good-bye, you poor man."
The mother seized the child by the hand
and, hurrying through the boat, gamed
the bridge.”
A Bad Man.
A story is told of a prominent Wiltuing-
tonian. who several years ago waa inclined
to be full of fun, a little irreverent and
somowhat short ot cash. One afternoon,
perhaps seven or eight years ago, he waa
met by a friend wbo addressed him thus':
“I say, Charley, who was that nice look
ing old lady, you had out riding the other
day on the Kennett pike!”
“That,” replied the young man, “was
my rich aunt. She is about 95 years old,
and 1 was afraid she had been forgotten
end was never going to die, so I took her
out to show her to the Lord.”
The questioner waa somewhat shocked
at the reply, and made no further remarks.
In about three weeks, however, be met his
friend Charley, the old lady in the mean
time .having died and been buried, and
thus addressed him: “Well, Charley,
see you plan worked, and the Lord has
taken your aunt. How did you make oat
by her will.”
“Only a part of the scheme worked,
George,” replied, the young man, with a
lugubrious cast of features and l-haven’t
got-a-cent-m-the-world-voice. “'The old
lady waa taken, that’s true, but when her
last will and testament waa read 1 found
she left »li her wealth to two old darkey
servants and a home for aged men, while
I only received as my share of the estate a
dog-earned and thumb-marked family.
Bible. The trouble didn’t pay at all, be
sides 1 am a dollar and a half out for car
nage hire. The next tune I trot anv /one
out that has been overlooked, you’ll Know
*5.*
About the Bed.
A Spanish minister signalized his ac
cession to power by going straightway
to !>ed and staying there, lest he should
be expected to do something. No
English minister ever adopted that
igpoble expedient to escape performing
his duties; bnt Walpole relates that
William Pitt and the Dnkeof Newcastle
once held counsel together in bed.
Pitt had the gont, and, as was his
custom when so bfilioted,day under a
pile of bed-clothes in a fireless room.
The Duke, who was terribly afraid of
oatohing cold, first sat down upon
another bed as the w<i|mest place
available, drew his legs i;to it aa he
grew colder, and at last txirly lodged
himself under the bed-clothes. Some
body coming iu suddenly beheld “the
two ministers in bed at the two ends of
the room, while Pitt’s long nose and
black beard, nnshaved for some time,
added to the grotesque nature of the
scene,”
The great Commoner was abed and
asleep when Wyadham and others of
his colleagues burst into his room and
shook their chief out of his slumbers
to tell him there was mutiny iu tie
fleet, that the Admiral was a prisoner
on board his own ship, and in danger
of death. Sitting up in bed, Pitt asked
for a pen, ink and paper, and wrote:
f’lf the Admiral is not released, fire
upon the ship from the batteries;” and
turned over on his pillow, and was in a
sound sleep a few minutes later.
Wuen, in 1814, the military affairs of
the allies looked somewhat unpromis
ing, it was aronnd the bed of General
Enesbeoh, at Barsnr-Aube, tnat the
Emperors of Russia and Austria, the
King of Prussia, Hardenberg, Vol
konsky, Bchwartzenberg, Mettemich,
Radetsky, Diebitsch, Nesselrode, and
Castlereagh held their council c f war;
and the issne of the campaign culmi
nating in the occupation of Paris was
virtually decided by Castlereagh in
sisting upon the immediate transfer
ence of watering Bernadette's battalions
to Blncher’s command, and taking the
responsibility upon his own shoulders.
It was in bed, at the little inn at
Waterloo, that Wellington received the
terrible casualty-list of the memorable
18th '.f Jane; and as name after name
fell from Dr, Home’s lips, he threw
himself back on the pillow and groaned
out: “What victory is not too dearly
purchased at such a cost?” Wellington,
who possessed the faculty of sleeping
at will, held that when it was time to
turn over it was time to turn out.
Napoleon, a man of another tempera
ment, provided for wakelulness by
keeping tne returns of his army under
his pillow, to be conned apd.oonsidered
^when tired nature’s sweet restorer re-
ia«oti to uUuru iiim “bed majosticai. ■
One of Johnson’s earliest ventures in
book-making was the translating of
Lobo's “Voyage to Abyssinia,” whicn
put fifty dollars into hu pocket. Lying
in bed, he dictated sheet after sheet to
his friend Hector, who carried them off
to the printer without waiting for John
son to look over them.
When the fit was on him. Rousseau
remained in bed, carefully drawing his
curtains to keep oat the daylight, and
gave himself up to the fascinating
delights of composition.
In bed, Paesielio composed his
“Barbiere di Seviglia’’ and “La Moli-
nara.” One at least ol Rossini’s operas
was composed under the same condi
tions.
Swift, fond as he was of lying in bod
of a morning thinking of wit for the
day, wrote to his friend Sheridan;
“Pray do not employ yonr time in loll
ing abed till noon to read Homer.”
Better, perhaps, do that than imitate
George IV», and lie in bed devouring
newspapers the best pait of the day.
Many very clever people, however, have
scouted the idea of health, wealth and
wisdom coming of early rising.
Maoaoley read much in bed, and
anxious to keep up his German, Im
posed upon himself the task of perusing
twenty pages of Schiller every day
before getting up.
Maule won his senior-wrangleehip by
studying bard, long after ordinary folk
were up and about, snugly esconoed
under the blankets.
John Foster thought his sermons out
in bed; methodical Anthony Trollope
regularly read for an hour before rising;
and Mary Somerville made it a rule not
to get up before twelve or one, although
she began work at eight; reading, writ
ing, and calculating hard—with her pet
sparrow upon her arm—four or five
hours eveiy day, but those four or five
hotus were spent in bed.
Not Insulted.
Borax.
There is one article of merchandise
enumerated iu the new tariff bill on which
an import has been laid for the purpose
of disoouragiug ire importation and en
couraging its home production, which is
largely a California product. This is
borax, of whioh large quantities are
gathered in that state and in Nevada.
Few people, except those engaged dir
ectly in its production and sale, are like
ly to take much Interest in the tariff on
borax, and yet it is an article of almost
universal use. Prior to the discovery of
the California and Nevada fields lar e
quantities of the mineral were imported
from Turkey and Italy. Its value then
was about thirty-five cents a pomad. At
present the production of American bor
ax has depressed the price to ten ”ents
a pound, and it would have gone still
lower and canned the cessation of mining
operations in California, if mining it can
be called, if Congress had not imposed
a customs duty upon the foreign pro
duot. This duty is five cents a pound,
and is to be levied after July 1st, The
local producers look forward with much
satisfaction to that period.
The production ot borax in the United
States at present is not sufficient to sup
ply the demand. But it is thought that
when the price shall have risen a few
cents under the fostering influences of
the duty first imposed the production
will increase sufficiently to supply the
entile market. At now ruling prices,
borax making in the Pacific states is not
a business which yields a great profit
There are; it is true, immense fields of
the mineral, but they are in distant dis
tricts, not easy of access, and while the
cost of condensation is. not great, the
cost of freighting is so heavy that there
remains but a very small margin. A
nnmherof incorporated companies, who,
in the enthusiasm engendered by the
first discovery undertook the business,
have gone the way of all flesh, Some
years ago there was one company whioh
operated quite successfully in Lake
county. There was in the employ of
this company a young engineer who
some tunes struck an idea. The borax
in that paiticular locality was conduct
ed from the waters of a little lake, which
was very strongly impregnated with the
mineral. The engineer, therefore, con
ceived the idea that if the water on top
contained so much borax, that under
ground must contain so much more.
He therefore induced the company to
bore at the banks of the lake. The au
ger went down and strues, not borax,
but a good, strong stream of fresh wat
er, winch began to flow into the lake,
and thinned it so much that it did no
longer pay to condense its waters for the
sake of the mineral.
The bora* fielda whioh have been
wOI>6d solar Lave been generally small
in extent. Only those in the neighbor
hood of good roads have been operated
upon. These are easily exhausted, and
the operators have to hunt for new bor
ax-fields. This is the cause and origin
of the numerous borax mining compan
ies which are incorporated each year,
Several of those lately formed are to
operate in Inyo county, where the borax
fields are very extensive. The water
of Lower Owens’ lake contains a very
luge percentage of borax. In early
days prospectors loved to wash theirjgray
or black woolen blankets in this water,
because it removed not only dirt, but
also color. They also liked to bathe in
it, behause the poorest swimmer would
float in its saline fluid. But the water
was not good for drinking or cooking
purposes, and a very small quantity is
sufficient to produce sea-sickness. The
nse of borax has materially increased of
late years. It is now used for a great
many manufacturing purposes, such as
making agate household ware, pigments,
&o. The trades, also, nse it in liberal
quantities, and so do the soap-makers
and housewives, who .hate grease-spots
and cockroaches. The industry promis
es to become important in California.
Mexican Common Life.
NEWS IN BRIEF.
Saved by a Sea-Bird.
“That man to whom you sent me, in
sulted me,*' said a young drummer, who
had only been a few months in the busi
ness, to his trainer in a large house in this
city.
“Insulted you,” reiterated the trainer,
with an expression of contempt almost
sufficient to make the novice sink into the
floor.
“Were you never insulted,” timidly re
sponded the young man.
“Never, sh; not even during the period
of my novitiate, which passed through very
rapidly, and I have twenty yean m the
business.”
‘That is very sU»j l tv’ said the novice,
skeptically.
“Very strange if you don’t understand
it,” ferociously cheerved the old drummer.
“I have been often badly abused. 1 have
been ordered peremptorily to leave the
premises. 1 have been frequently knocked
down for standing on the order of my go
ing, and several times I hare been uncere
moniously kicked down stairs; but,” he
continued, gasing fiercely and triumphant
ly at the young man, “I have never been
insulted. The moment a drummer feels
himself Insulted be is no longer fit for
business.”
—The law library of the late Justice
Clifford, of the United States Supreme
Court; is now offered for sale at Port
land, Maine, and an effort is being made
bo have it pitnihamA oaa whole and kept
in that city as a public liwy. It is
said to be the largest law libnuTSa-New
England except one in Boston.
A singular story has been related to us
by the master of the bark “Gladstone,”
which arrived from London at Sydney,
Australia,on the 22d, of March. While the
vessel was in latitude 42 degrees south and
longitude 90 degrees east, a seaman fell
overboard from the starboard gangway.
The bark was scudding along with a
rough sea and moderate wind, but on the
alarm of “man overboard” being given
she was rounded to. and the starboard life
boat was lowered, manned by the chief
officer and four men. A search for the
unfortunate man was made, hut owing to
the roughness of the sea he could not be
discovered; but the boat steered to the
spot where he was last seen. Here they
found him floating, but exhausted, clinging
for bare life to the legs and wings of a
huge albatross. The bird had swooped
down on tie man while the latter was
struggling with the waves and attempted
to peck him with its powerful beak.Twice
the bird attacked its prey unsuccessfully,
being beaten off by the sailor battling with
two enemies—the water and the albatross
—both greedy and insatiable. For the
third time the huge white form of the bird
hovered over the seaman, peeparatory to a
final swoop. The bird, eager for its meal,
fanned its victim with its wide-spread
wings. Suddenly a thought occurred to
him that the huge form so close to his face
might become his involuntary rescuer.
Quick as thought he reached up and
seized the bird, which be proceeded to
strangle with all Ms might. The huge
creature struggled with wings and paddles
to free itselL In the contest the sailor
was beaten black and blue, and cruelly
lacerated, but he held his own, and slowly
the bird quivered and died. The carcass
floated lighty on the waves, its feathers
forming a comfortable support for the ex
hausted man, who had so narrowly es
caped a lingering death. But another
danger awaited him. He was not much
of s swimmer, and the excitement of the
extnprdinary conflict began to tell upon
him. He was faint and grew giddy. But
wiULone arm around the albatross' body,
under the wing, and one hand clutching
the bird’s feet, the sailor awaited his
chance of rescue. Presently he heard his
comrades shout from the boat, and in a
few minutes mere was safe on board the
bark, though a good deal shakes and ex
You wilt find the miserable j seals (huts)
of the Mexican lower class on the outskirts
of every town, made of mud, sticks, straw,
cornstalks, barrel staves, shoe boxes, tin
cases any old drift that will bang together
when once fostered into place. They are
tightly roofed with file thatch, which
slopes almost to the ground. Sometimes
they stand in rows in the suburbs , some
times they are perched ou the top of a
clay cone, and sometimes tucked away in
the cracks of dry ravines. Every Jacal
has its garden patch, where the women
cultivate a few onions, red peppers, beans
and sweet potatoes. A little mud oven
stands close by. A Mexican family eau
live on a hill of beans per day. in the
winter a five penny soun bone and a yam
will satisfy their needs. Nearly every
one keeps a small donkey and a few chick
ens, a couple of goats and a blue-skinned
dog, with no hair on except a white tufs
on the top of his head and the tip of his
tail They singe the thorns off the cactus
and feed the pods to the donkey; give the
soup-bone to the dog, and the goau have
what is left m the bean-hill. Other dogs
have they, marvelous in number and va
riety, whose bite disturbs no one, but
whose ’nocturnal baying divides the voices
of the night with the cock-crowing that
resounds from house to jacal, and from
t&rm to ranch, in surges of sound like the
waves of the sea.”
Of the interior of these huts, it may be
said that the earthen floors are always
swept, and the gaudily covered bed looks
clean and neat, thanks to the house-thrift
of the women, who seem always busy.
There are abundant evidences of extreme
poverty, but not of filth or squalor. As
for pater familias, who dozes m the sun
or shade alternately, according to the sea
son, it costs him a mighty effort to turn
over, even to light his cigarette is too
great an exertioa Occasionally, in des
perate straits, he musters energy enough
to bestride his donkey and ride out to the
chaparral for a black load of mesquite
sticks, which he will sell for a “bit” on his
return, driving his beast before him. This
is the most momentous event of his life,
and stimulated with the proud conscious
ness of having earned a shilling, he rises
in his rags and salutes you with the grave
courtesy of a Spanish don. it is the cli
max of his ambition, but it is painful. Hla
children are more active, and they vary
their out-door play by throwing the lasso
at each other, the dogs and the goats; but
they never lasso the old man. He ia too
dignified to be trifled with. And you will
notice that he never demeans himself by
attempting to speak English—he has not
sunk so low as that; bat he will accept
American money without question, It pre
sented to him in a respectful way. Vul-
game dios I
it is interesting to walk through these
strange purlieus ot the towns and watch
the beggars at the church doors; visit the
-cmree stain uu me pinzas; nine tuc-warer
carts on their merciful errands ; the wo
men at their spinning wheels or pounding
com tor their frugal meal, and the grotes
que milkman astride bis donkey, going
bis morning rounds, dipping from one can
or the other as he servos and sells. It is
all very strange and foreign, but not a
whit like the halls of the Montezumas or
the Alhambra. I see the accquios run
ning through the streets, and the irrigat
ing ditches dug by the early Spanish co
lonists. I saunter under the shade of huge
grape vines with stems as large as a tree,
and hear the clang of the iron bells in the
old stone belfry, built two centuries ago.
I recognize all these traces of an attempted
civilization, like halt-obliterated footprints
in the mire. It is the imprint of the
sterling coin upon the basest sort of com-
position. 1 would fain nee in disgust from
the squalor, poverty, ignorance and semi-
barbarism which has settled in the valley
like a miasma—but already I behold the
sun of a new dispensation; I see that all
these Mexican features are being rapidly
wiped out by the settlements from the
East, which have followed the completion
of the railroads.
-Snow has fallen for eleven success
ive Sundays at Bar Harbor, Me.
—Longfellow’s daughters are spend
ing the winter in Washington.
—The Parisian Florist says that spring
is the very worst season for selling flow
ers.
—Oscar Wilde is studying for the
stage. One of his first efforts will be
“ Romeo.”
—In the United Stateaone jierson in
285 is said to be a pauper; in England
one in 35.
—There are 2,187 miles of telephone
wire in I’aris, and what-is better, they
are all under ground.
—Under the new lau^the State Treas
urer of Colorado has to give bonds iu the
sum of half a million.
—Ex-Senator David Davis is to lie
presented by admiring friends ip Texas
with a chair made of ox iionis.
—Dr. Yates, of Shanghai, says the
Chinese pay $154,752,000 annually
quiet the spirits of their ancestors.
—On each 1,000 of silver dolla
Government clears $183.75. The
costs $803.75 and the labor $12.
—The Crow Indians of Aiontan
Iter about 3,400 and are chiefly
ed in agriculture and stock raisii
A thousand dollar bill was
niton the contribution plate in St
Church, Pawtucket, R. I., Easte
ing.
A lady tourist at Jacksonville
took to a jeweller a live lizard, tu,
that it be mounted in gold for a s
pin
—Franklin Pierce’s old home in ttu
outskirts of Concord, N. H., is to be
transformed into a Protestant Episcopal
school for girls.
■A man up town made a wager with
a lady that he could thread a needle
quicker than she could sharpen a lead
pencil. The man won.
—Taning and feathering is a Euro-
jtean invention. It <Vas one of Richard
Cceur do Lion’s ordinances lor seamen
in punishment for theft.
—Edward the Confessor was the first
monarch of England who used a seal in
his charters. This is the origin of the
broad seal of England.
—Between the years of 1783 and 1857
six gieat earthquakes took place at Na
ples, which lost thereby 1,500 inhabit
ants per year for that period.
—Orange trees are cultivated from
seed. A tree requires fifteen years to
reach maturity, but produces both flow
ers and fruit in the fourth or fifth year.
A Queer Joke.
The cash office of the Treasurer s De
partment m the Treasury Building at
Washington often contains many hun
dreds of thousands of dollars, and great
care is taken against the possible de
predations of tliieves: The room is very
high studded and contains a gallery
which can be reached by the general
public from the floor above. The Inter-
est.clerk is an anborn-haired individual
of the most nervous temperament, and
notwithstanding the fact that he has been
in his position for many years he has
never lost sight of the tremendons re
sponsibility of handling the vast sums
of money whioh daily pass into his pos
session. His nervousness has grown
ohronio, and heis made the butt of many
a quits practical joke. The greatest of
these was played some time ago by one
of his intimate personal friends who ob
tained permission from Treasurer Gilfil-
lan to try his little scheme. The gen
tleman armed himself with about twen
ty-five feet of twine, and attached to one
end of it a machine composed of a steel
prod pointed as fine as a needle, and a
solid piece of rubber as a ballast. He
stationed himself in the gallery directly
over the interest clerk’s desk, where
there were heaps of money all nicely ^
done up in packages. Then he slowly';
let down his string until it was directly
over a large package, and releasing his
hold on the twine, the steel prod impal
ed a bundle of notes, which he quickly
drew to the gallery, and having secured
them, rushed to the Treasurer’s office
with his prize, whioh proved to be $6,
000 in legal tendeis. Meanwhile the in
terest clerk saw bis money going sky
ward and gave the general alarm, but
not in time, however, to detect the cul
prit. The clerk was nearly crazed when
he received a note signed “James Gilfil-
ian,” asking him to come at once to the
Treasurer's office. He went as fast as
hu legs could carry him, and imagine
his joy when the Treasurer handed him
the musing $6,000, advising him to be
more careful that his money did not
“take unto itself wings and fly away” in
the future. This practical joke has
taught tbe department a good lesson,
to-wit; tnat it was possible for a clever
thief to abstract money in the method
mentioned, and so double precautions
have boon taken, and under the existing
state of affairs such an event is not at
all likely to happen again.
I'aniil locks were known in Upper
Egypt from the most ancient times
1652.
—Of the $150,000,000 worth of wheat
imported by Great Britain last year
$100,000,000 worth was from the United
States.
—There is talk in Georgia of purchas
ing Liberty Hall, Alexander H. Steph
en’s late residence, by voluntary contri
butions, and to retain in it his famous
rolling-chair and other relics.
—Mrs. Carter, of Bellair,0., says in
her application for divorce that her hus
band compelled her to swallow spools,
buttons, long strings of wrapping yarn
and marbles as punishment for smiling
at other railroad men as they jiassed the
house.
—Of the 11,000,000 acres of land oc
cupied by the Sioux Indians in Dakota
Uncle Sam will take 8,000,000 for white
settlement, placing the Indians on sepa
rate reservations. The Indian territory
west of Arkansas will be the next cus
tomer.
For a long time official circles in
London have been agitated over the
question whether or not a woman should
be appointed to be superintendent of the
female employes in the post-office. It
has at last been decided by the appoint
ment of a woman physician.
—French mails have increased in in
closures, etc., sent from 865,000,000 in
1877 to 1,340,000,000 in 1881; French
telegraphs from 8,174.000 dispatches in
1876 to 19,466,000 in 1881; French money
orders from $1,341,000 in 1879, when
they were established to $9,775,000 in
1881.
—Since the Cotton Exhibition at At
lanta last year, $1,500,000 of capital has
l>een invested there;a grain elevator and
a cotton compress built; a spinning com
pany completed, and nearly filled its
capacious building with machinery, and
a concern oiganized for the manufac
ture of oleomargarine.
—There is an earnest attempt being
made to root out the terrible disease of
leprosy from the Hawaiian Islands.
Fifty lepers have recently been removed
from Honolulu to the leper settlement
at the island of Molokai, to be separated
from their friends and families forever.
—Sir William Thompson finds that
sunlight has about 70,000 times the in
tensity of the light of the full moon at
any place on the earth, aud about 53,000
tliat of candle flame. The latter result
differs widely from tlirt obtained by
Arago, who found the light of the sun
to have about 15,000 times the intensity
of caudle flame.
—Antwerp, a city of 200,000 has no
water supply but wells and canals, and
in 1879 works were built to filter the
waters of the Nelhe by passing them
through filters of sand and spongy iron
and gravel. The plan has proved suc
cessful, but the supply is very small, ac
cording to American ideas, being receiv
ed in a tank of only 340,000 gallons.
—The number of newspapers now
published iu Great Britain and Ireland
is 1962, of which 1530 are published in
England alone, London claiming 386 of
them. In Wales there iue 75 papers, in
Scotland 184 ? in Ireland 152, in the Idea
21. The daily papers are thus distrib
uted: 127 in England, 4 in Wales. 22 in
Scotland, 16 in Ireland and 2 in the
Isles, In 1846 the number of newspa
pers in Great Britain and Ireland was
only 551, or about one-fourth the num
ber now. and only 14 of them were dai
lies. The magazines now in existence,
including the quarterlies, number 1311,^
of which 326 have a decidedly religions^
character.
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