Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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[ not wliat the Day may bring, TheTiigbt Is all my own; A thousand .fancies round me fling Their charms-'1 ataalone! Alone with Night andB&Htade^ _ . The world’s great wheel is still; No vagrant sounds nor voices rude The happy silence fill. Oh, charmed hours! that, all too fleet, 8|»eed on to bring the Day, When shall the Night come, tender, sweet, When fancy hath its way? Love lovee the Night for Night brings Love To Love that counts the hours. And tenderest tones betwixt them move In love-illumined bowers. Nor care I what the Day may bring, So Night but bring to me The charms its fancies round me fling, gweet Solitude, with Thee! FOUND AND LOST. In a corner of Madame Froissart’s brilliantly - lighted drawing - room, watching the gay scene being therein enacted, sat Gertrude Meyer. For the moment she was alone—with her, indeed, a rare occurrence, since he was a belle and beauty; but a slight sprain to her ankle a few days previ ous, had prevented her joining in the dance, and the little throng of men who all the evening had gathered around her had for the instant disapi>eaied, many of them at her express command. The last had lingered, reluctant still to go, when—“I am tired,” she said. “I want to be alone.” He bent then, from his splendid height and, with a glance from his dark eyes few women could have resisted, whisp ered a few words in her ear; but neither glance nor whisper brought even a mo mentary flush to the lovely cheek. “Elsa is without a partner,” she re joined. “I like to see you dance to gether. Ask her for this waltz. ” An angry light kindled in Frederic Houghton’s eyes, and he turned abruptly away. The next moment, Elsa, with a pleased tiusli, was leasing on his arm, and with a half-^igh, though she knew not wherefore. Miss Meyer sank back in her cushioned comer. Was she always to receive love, never to return it? Gertrude asked herself. True, Frederic Houghton had never, in words, declared his passion; but every glance, every accent, had been replete with its intensity. She felt sure that he loved her. How poor and meagre was the cold friendship she might offer in return! But if she determined to smile at least more kindly, he gave her no oppor tunity. Other men flocked back to her side. She had sent him to Elsa; by Elsa he remaiued. One dance followed another, but he would resign her to no ether partner; and only an amused gleam crept into Gertrude’s eyes as she watched him, and fancied she read the pique which prompted his action—a pique which in part reflected upon herself, as the next day and the next passed, until the week had gone, and still she neither saw nor heard from him. At the end of that period she again shrugged her shoulders, and told herself that she had forgotten him. It was from Elsa, a fortnight later, that sire learned his regiment had been ordered upon active service, and was to depart in three days for the seat of war. What should she say to him when he came to bid her farewell? She need not have questioned. She waited, but he came not. He left with Iris good-bye to her un spoken. -r. It caused her no real grief, no heart- pang but a sort of restless surprise, which stirred some depths whose ex istence hitherto had been unknown. Three or four days later Elsa came to her with a shy blush. She had always been the child’s friend and conlhlante. Though in reality but twelve months her senior, she felt her-self the elder by long years. ‘ ‘i have a favor to ask you, Gertrude, ” she began. “Frederick asked me to write him. This morning I received his first letter. 1 am ashamed to send him my poor little scribbling, and at school 1 re membsred how beautiful always were your exercises, and I said to myself, T will go to Gertrude—she will tell me what to say.’ “I love him so much—so very much Gertrude! , j “I think that he, too, loves me. want to breathe into.my words, just enough of my heart’s perfume that he may know where to seek to find the flower itself.” Gertr ude looked up amazed. *Ts it this love which makes you'so poetical, Elsa?” she asked. “I never heard you talk like this before.” “It is one of ybur own thoughts I borrowed,” Elsa answered. “But tell me, will you do for me what I ask?” “You think it will lie honorable?” “Yes, yes! Why not? You can tell him nothing I do not feel—only you will paint the picture so that he may love to look at it.” A little longer Gertrude demurred, and then, drawing to her pen, ink and paper, she wrote. As she did so, her reluctance van ished. She fancied herself in Elsa’s place. She imagined how some rosebud, wooed by the sun, would one by one open its shrinking petals, quivering ‘twixt ecstasy and pain, to meet the passionate kiss of the day god ; and so her imagination found vent in words. She covered the sheets with closely- filled linee, and as she read them Elsa pressed them to her lips. “Ah, they will make him love me!” she cried, as site ran with them to her own home to. copy them in her own handwriting. % my the next post came his answer. Elsa had been right. The letter had strangely stirred his heart. Pulses he had fought dorment, he wrote had leaped into mad, exultant life, x** fp* rf r* 4 e had'Hept. he Jold tug, wijh jthe paper next Ms neartT Again Gertrude wrote, and yet again, o until sire looked as Elsa. She who had never loved in her life, found a strange and satisfying delight in pouqcgupon t&VsheettheHSflP^teMr iwigry soul, wliile her own soul knew no hunger, the passion she had never felt, the ecstasy of a love at which she scoffed. “So might I feel,” she whispered to herself, “when, like the sleeping prin cess in fairy lore, the magic prince would bend and kiss my lips.” And so to this unknown king she wrote. The replies became more frequent, more ardent, until at last there came a letter when Frederic Houghton asked Elsa to become his wife. With tears of joy in her bright blue eyes she brought this, like the others, to Gertrude. “Answer him,” she said, “and tell him yes! yes! yes!” Slowly Miss Meyer read the letter through. From hence came this dull pain at tier heart. A mist swam before her eyes. The written characters were blurred from her sight. By a powerful effort she controlled herself, and spoke with some degree of calmness. “Not this, Elsa,” she said. “This you must answer yourself.” “Oh, no, no! I cannot! * “Make it yet more beautiful than the others, Gertrude. “The regiment is ordered home again he writes; so* there will be no more letters atleast, until after we are mar ried and then there will be no more need of poetry. He will not miss its absence.” “No need of poetry?” “Ah,” thought Gertrude, “then was love’s perfect fulness but prose?” “Let me be alone,” she said aloud. “This evening I will send you your letter. Giving orders not to be disturbed, she seated herself at her desk, but one by one two scalding tears fell from the beautiful, proud eyes upon the blank page spread before her. They were the unconscious baptism of her awakened womanhood. Then she wrote, but it washer heart’s blood, rather than the ink, which spread itself upon the sheet whereon she im pressed her soul. my “I give you all,” she wrote, past, my present, my future. To me I see but two words—hus band and wife!” “They are emblazoned in letters of gold within the shrine where my soul kneels and worsMps. “Frederic, I love you!” Her pen dropped from her hand. Had she indeed written the words, or was it her heart wMch had cried them aloud in the stillness? A hundred mocking demons took up the cry and echoed it She heard it everywhere around about her. She saw it blazoned in the air. She sank trembling on her knees, and buried her face in her shaking hands. She and her secret were face to face at last. She had sold her birthright for a mess of pottage. In the evening, true to her promise, Elsa received the letter, but unfinished. “Add to it what you will,” wrote Gertrude, “I could not close it fitting ly.” But Elsa sent the copy with no added words. Another fortnight and the regiment had arrived. A month passed but Gertrude and Frederic Houghton had not met. Once he had called with Elsa, but she had not been at home. By a singular coincidence it was at another of Madame Froissart’s recep tions that fate threw them again to gether. For a moment her hand had rested in Ids and his keen eyes searched her face. - Then Elsa came to claim him for a dance, and they separated. Midnight had sounded, when some one asked Gertrude for a song. Many joint in the plea. Giving a somewhat reluctant consent, she took her seat at the piano in the little music room, the curtains divid ing that from the drawing-room drawn aside. She hesitated a moment, then struck the chords, and soon the rich r sweet voice filled the space. “It was a dream,” was the song she had chosen, and the pathos of voice and words brought quick tears to many eyes. As the last echo died away, amid a murmur of applause and admiration, a man bent close beside her. “Come into the conservatory a mo ment,” he said. “I wish to speak to you.” She let him place her hand within his own and lead here where he would. Among the plants and flowers he turned to her. “I must speak,” he said. “You shall know how I have loved you! “In another month to tell you would be sin.” “Is not your betrothal, then, as sac red as your marriage?” she questioned. “No.” he answered; “for sometimes, Gertrude, I feel it would be greater sin to redeem than break my pledge. “Listen to me.” “Y'ou knew the old love I bore you, though I never spoke in words. “Oh, heart of tee! had you not one throb for the anguish I endured? :“Coklly you sent me from you to an other. “She welcomed me with a smile—you had dismissed me with a frown. “She warmed me in the sunlight— you chilled me in the shadow. “For a little time I sought diversion and forgetfulness. “In the latter I failed sadly. “With giadrtfim I hailed the outbreak which brought my regiment into service again. ^‘Elsa’s regret tit my leaving her soft ened and touched me. “I begged her to write to me. “Through her I thought I should hear news of you; but, Instead, hor let ters gave me a wondering glimpse into a nature whose depths I had neter sus pected. ilLhoWfull, how true they were I canhoTpaira to you. “I read, and re-read them. “My heart cried out for more and more, until I knew that its longing and its need were satisfied at last. “How rich and exhaustless must be the mind which stored such jewels! “With man’s avaricious greed, I longed for its possession. “Is it only tlie fulfilment of the wish which makes me fancy its treasure al ready is exhausted? “It was Elsa’s letters, not Elsa, that I loved. “She gives* me food, but my heart still is hnngry. “Gertrud^, help me! “Tell me the right!” They were alone. The sweet scent of the flowers filled the air. A murmur from a little mimic stream rushed past them. Through the dim light she saw the white impassioned pleading of his face. She heard his quick, agitated breath ing. Her own heart beat so loudly that unconsciously she pressed her hand up on it. Her secret seemed to enwrap her in a tangled cloud. She loved, and here before her stood her king—The magic prince had come at last. For this only she had given up the birthright of her soul. One word, one little word, and she might reclaim it. One word, one little word, and her heart and his would know hunger never more. The temptation stifled her. She gasped for breath. “Then the mist cleared—she saw clearly. “Let us return to Elsa, Mr. Hough ton,” she said calmly. “She will wonder at our absence; and as for what we have been speaking of, remember the words of my song, ‘It is a dream. ’ You have your letters—they are realities. One cannot always live in dreamland.” “For the second time,” he answered, “you send me from you.” “For the second time, and the last.” “Oh, Heaven! that a soul so beautiful in outward form should wear a case of ice!” Thus, man-like, and in a man’s blind ness he judged her. He went forth, in his weakness, to redeem his pledge. She, in her strength, took up her double burdec, but, that she bore it, gave the world no sign. Painting House Walls. If a plastered wall be new, and has not been wMtewashed, it will do to size it with glue water; but if it has been calcimined or whitewashed, which is often the case, no glue sizing should ever touch it. Any preparation of that kind is liable, sooner or later, to peel off and spoil the surface for any future finish. A safer way is to take oil and coat the whole surface before painting, which makes a fast union of any wash to the wall. On such a base oil paints will ad here perfectly. . But the principle trouble in painting walls is found in the defective character of the plastering. If one is building a house, he can place the studding twelve inches from center to center, so that strong laths will not spring and break up the mortar at every pressure. The laths, too, should be spread one-fourth of an inch apart, and the mortar have twelve pounds of hair to the barrel of lime. This will make a wall that will stand like the walls of the houses plas tered a hundred years ago. The reason why the plastering falls off from our modem houses is because the laths are laid so close that the immediate swell ing cuts off the clinch, and the mortar is usually too sandy, and has but six pounds of hair. On such a surface are laid three coats, when the clinch will fail to hold one. Professional lathers or masons themselves ought to lay tlie laths and be sure of a large spread; then if the mortar is strong or rich, with plenty of hair, there can be no falling off. I have seen many houses so poorly plastered that the entire surface had to be cleaned off and replastered after a few years. A person coming into pos session of such a dwelling, no sooner gets the walls well painted to his taste than they begin to break up and disfigure the whole work. If you are sure the work is well done, the ceiling as well as the side walls may be painted to advantage. When any portion becomes soiled or smoked, it will then be an easy matter to wash it off. Booms once thoroughly prepared in that way last for a life-time and always look substantial and neat. In case of cracks, make some putty or the same color as the paint and dll up. An Accurate Time-piece. * * * ♦ While ou the subject of Wal tham wa-ches, we may mention that we have seen a letter from the Commander of the Gordon Cattle (Castle line of Bteam Packets) who was fortunate enough to save life at sea, and who for his gallant conduct was presented in September last with a Gold Keyless Waltham Fateh by the President of the United States, on be half of the London Local Marine Board. Referring to this Presentation Watch, he says: “When 1 left London the watch was six seconds fast, and on my arrival at Singapore it was only three seconds slow, a most extraordinary performance for a watch, as 1 < aimed it on my person the whole t me. I compared it every day with ray chronometers on the passage oat, and it seldom or ever differed one second from them; in fact, i found it almost, if not as good as my chronometers, which is a good deal to say for a watch earned about and subject to all kinds of jolt*.”—London, England The Watchmaker, Jeweler and Silvertmiih, Ftb 6, 1868. The crow regulates its food from necessity, and not from choice. To him, strictly a grain-feeding,and not an insect eating bird, corn is his favorite diet. It s not true, as some have claimed, that t picks out weevil-eaten or imperfect kernels from the hills. He eats all he can get, good or bad, and though he’ is also a great .scourger, the balance is rather against his being beneficial to the armer. The robin is au insect-eating bird. It prefers insects in the larval, pupal, and adult stage to any other food. Few persons have any idea of the enor mous, the incalculable ummhov of uiaects that robins eat every y'nr. A young robin in the nest requires a daily supply of food equivalent to considerable mare than its own weight. "To supply the millions of young birds hatched each year, this requires an enormous number of insects. The service of these birds, during the time they are engaged in rearing their young alone, would entitle i hem to protection, were the parents themselves to foed exclusively upon gar den fruits during the whole period. But at this time the diet of the old birds is \ery largely of an animal nature; nor is this the only sesjon during which the destruction of irsects goes on. It does not harm to put scarecrows in your trees and gardens to drive off tlie robins, but it hardly pays to kill them. Yet when killed they make very dehcate eating. Swallows may generally be found where there are grain-fields. The Sum mer range of these birds includes nearly all the central portion and the groat grain-growing sections of the West. They are more or less migratory, and spend their Winters in the South. As I'estiferousasthe eave and barn swallows are with their chatterings, and the an noyance they give the farmer in various other ways, they are natural enemies of the midges and similar small insects that prey on grain, and pursue them with un remitting vigilance. It has been esti mated that the nesting of a single pair of swallows will in twenty-one days con sume 5U0,000 insects. Their benefit is simply incalculable. Blue-birds have largely superseded swallows near houses, and protect fruit trees from insects much better than the swallows do. The martin is too lazy to do much good, and has been largely driven away from New England. The King bird, or bee-martin, has been voted a terror to bee-keepers; but it has been found thdt the immense number of in sects it destroyed more tiian balanced this evil. Again, the king-bird drives away che other birds from fruit trees, and is useful for this reason. If suitably baited with scraps of cotton, strings, and loose material to complete a nest, the king-bird will soon accustom itself to building in and about the orchards, gardens, aiiff even the houses of our far mers, and thus protect thousands of dol lars worth of vegetables and fruits. It is strictly an insectivorous bird, and will not destroy, on the whole, that which conduces to the interests of the farmers. Altogether the king-bird is one of the most valuable species for agri culturists. The legislation in regard to this bird should be of the stilctest kind. Another species doing an immense amount |of good in its own quiet way is the yellow-billed, as also its ally, the black-billed cuckoo. These birds build in apple and fruit trees. They are strictly insect-eating, while they make terrible raids upon the caterpillar. They should be encouraged in every possible way. The blue jay docs much benefit, but so much direct damage that it is almost absurd to class Mm as a friend to the farmers. The Baltimore oriole is very destructive to pea-vines early In the season, but he eats a class of insects not touched by other birds—the leaf beetles and tlie larvrn of many species of insects inhabiting the tops of elm. oak, and apple trees. At the end of the season a balance will be found in the oriole’s favor. The nut-hatch is eminently an insect-eating bird, living largely upon grubs which hide under the bark of oak, chestnut, elm, maple, and other rough- barked trees The black titmouse, or cMckadee, is of direct benefit to forests by the great number of insect larvm con sumed during the year. It eats insects too small for the nut-hatch. The wood pecker hooks out larger insects than either of the two preceding kinds, but can hardly be said to be an especially valuable aid to the farmer. The wrens are strongly beneficial to gardens and plants about the houses, because of the nnmber of caterpillars they eat. The fly-catchers are beneficial, and so are the thrushes, warblers, and vireos. The Figure,! Vest. Crucible steel is msde by melting in s pot, blister steel and wrought iron or an wrought iron end oharoosl end romp. In 1819 Mr. Rockwell, of Connecti cut, went as a carpenter on a wnaler. In the course of fifteen years he sailed on many voyages, on an English man- of-war, in -the American service, the merchant marine, enduring many hard ships and privations, without hearing from his wife and family. He was given un dead and Ms wife married again, lost her second husband, and and was left with three children. On the 4th of July, 1835, he came hack to his old home. About a week before Zelinda, the youngest child by the second husband told her mother of her strange dream. She dreamed that her “other papa” had come home, clad in sailor costum, except that he wore a peculiar vest made of handsomely figur ed silk, such as she had never seen before. She was laughed at, and no more was thought of it. A thunder storm was approaching as Rockwell reached his old home. He knocked and asked fer brief shelter from the impend ing storm. He was bidden to enter. The widow and children were just sit ting down, and he was asked to share their meal. He was unrecognized, but his sailor costume attracted attention— and the vest be wore! All eyes observ ed and all remembered Zekndas’ dream! The widow exclaimed: “You remind me of the man who was once my hus band!” “Don’t you know me, Esther?” the long lost husband replied, as they embraced each other. Explanations followed, and five days later the two were reunited in marriage. He died about a week since, aged 86, and his wife soon followed him. “Where did we get that quantity of stamps in the window? Why, it is only a sample of what we have inside,” a stamp dealer said. “Look here,”open ing a large case closely packed with stamps, “and at these,” displaying a pile of albums more or less filled. “I’ll tell you where we got them. We buy them from every civilized country in the world. Only this morning we got in a quantity of rare Belgian stamps, which cost us three thousand dollars. We have agents and corresiiondents in th.', capitals of every country, who are always ou the lookout for anytliing rare in our Mne. Besides, we purchase large quantities from small collectors in the United States, many of whom make a fair living nosing about importing houses and begging the stamps from foreign letters.” “Do you have many customers?” “I should say we do. Besides the large number of retail dealers through tie United States to whom we sell, we liave valuable customers in the army of stamp collectors which has sprung up of late. Yon would be surprised at the number of persons absorlied in the hobby. Stamj. collecting is no longer a school boy pastime. It has become the serious occui>ation of thousands of persons, the most of whom, as I find by experience, are far past their youthful days. You have no idea of the avidity with which they scrape together these odd-looking stamps, and the large prices they are willing to pay for them. I have heard of some who keep their stamp albums under double lock, and of others who even keep them under their pillows at night. Stamp collect ing is the most alluring of hobbies. There are 6,500 different stamps known. The value of certain single stamps is equal to many a person’s yearly income. A leading banker, whose residence is In Madison avenue, has an album of stamps worth at the lowest estimate $30,000. Another album, owned by a lady, is valued at $25,000. I could name several more, varying in value from $20,000 down to $5,000.” “Well, some are enthusiastic, and they collect stamps from pure love of the rare and curious. Just as many ex|teud fortunes on rare manuscripts and works of art. Others, and I believe they com pose the larger class, have more charac teristically American views. They see the almighty dollar behind these tiny pictures, and they buy them up for the same reason that a keen Wall street man buys up stocks which he knows will bring profitable returns. From two to five years will double the value of nearly every one of these stamps, and these collectors know what they are doing when they invest largely in the article,” “Are corners in the stamp market possible?” “Certainly; many collectors are at present buying up all the match box and medicine revenue stamps wMch pass out of use in July. They hope in a few years to create a comer in the market and get them off their hands at immense prices. We sold a match-box stamp yesterday for $15.” “What collections liave been sold at notably large prices?” “There was one sold in London in 1876 for £8,000. Another sold in Paris last fall for 40,000 francs. We our selves have sold several $5,000 collec tions. TMs may surprise you, but re member that some of these little stamps sell for more than $200. There is one of the old local stamps issued by the Brattleboro, Vt., post office in 1846. We would not sell it to-day for less than $200. We have many others of equal value. The stamps which are most in demand and bring the highest prices are the provisional stamps issued from 1844 to 1846 by the Postmasters of Baltimore, St. Louis and Brattleboro. Here is the Baltimore stamp—a simple frame of single lines enclosing a fac simile of the autograph of James Buchanan. The St. Louis stamp dis plays the arms of the State of Missouri with ‘St. Louis’ and the large number of value above, and ‘P. O.’ below. The Brattleboro stamp consists of the auto graphic initials ‘T. N. P.’ in an octagon ground of vertical lines, with ‘Brattle boro’ above and ‘P. O.’ at the sides, Any of these can be sold for $200.” “It is said,” the reporter remarked, “that many rare stamps have their birthplace in stamp factories in Chicago and other enterprising towns.” “That Is not true. Stamp counter feiting has been entirely broken up in the United States since we overturned one of the concerns in Philadelphia in 1876, and had the proprietor sentenced to State Prison for twenty years. Be sides, the stamp dealers are generally experts, and can no more be deceived by counterfeit stamps than the bank teller by counterfeit bank notes.” “When and where did this mania for stamp collecting begin?” “It may be said to liave originated in London in 1862, when Mount Browu, Esq., published the first list of postage stamps. Dr. J. E. Gray, of the British Museum, followed with a similar and more complete work in the same year. These works were widely read, excited much curiosity, and caused tnousands to become stamp collectors. The mania went on increasing until at present I can safely say there are more than a million persons seriouslydevoted to col lecting stamps.” Gold Mine*. It appears trom some statements on Mexico in 1882 that some of the gold and silver mines there have been worked an interruptedly since the Spanish con quest. Daring the time that Mexico was a Spanish colony, that is from 1537 to 1821. the mines produced silver to the value of $2,086,268,708. and gold to the value of $68,768,411. Since the Mexican independence was established in 1821, down to the year 1880, the mines produced silver to the value of $900,658,809, and gold to the valde of $48,418,783. This yields a grand total for the production of silver and gold in Mexico between 1587 and 1880 of $3.- 105.110.219, or upwards of £600,000,- 000. Another computation, based on the report of the Mexican Mint, gives a soa e what higher total than this. Astoria, a little “salmon” town at the mouth of the Columbia, on the ocean, also makes some pretensions to being the “future great.” It is.the oldest town here, having been established as a trading post in 1811. It is a wierd-look- ing place, built on the side of a hill slop ing to the ocean. Its chief Industry is salmon fishing and canning. The fish ing season begins about the middle of April and lasts four months. Then these “salmon towns” go to sleep for the re mainder of tlie year, like summer resorts. The lay at .the mouth of the Columbia River is very stormy during the fishing months, and loss of life is frequent. The fishennen are mainly Greeks,Portu guese, Russians, Finns and Scandinav ians. Some have their own boats and nets, while others are supplied by thei r employers. These who have their own boats and nets are jiaid 60 cents a sal mon of eight pounds weight; the latter are laid 45 cents a salmon. A “war” has also broken out among the canneries. One large establishment announces that it will give 90 cents a salmon. The rise of 50 per cent creates consternation among the canning establishments, and reduces their profits to nearly nothing. The man who is so extravagant is inter ested in canneries on the Sacramento River, where the spring run of fish is very light. This inducement will at tract indeiiendent fishermen from the Sacramento and lessen coniiietRion there. As fishermen are employed near ly all the year on the Sacramento, they can work cheaper, and the reduced price of material and cost of living enables the Sacramento canuer to can for about 50 per cent less; yet he sells very little if any cheaper than the Columbia can- ner. Some of the leading canning firms at Astoria have from seventy-five to 100 boats. It is designed to make Astoria the headquarters of the canning business for it is cheaper to seine salmon there than to catch them further up the stream and bring them back by boat. The smelt are very fat, and canning smoked smelt is one of the growing industries of that fishy town. The spiced trout the wise Easterners get from the far West are only a sjiecies of salmon. There are thirty-six canneries on the Columbia River. They turn out fr:m 6,000 to^25,000 cases each. The total for the season 1882 was 535,000 cases, which at an average of $5 20 per case would make the total value of the in dustry $2,782,000. Tlie shipments direct to forign ports were 344,328 cases, being about double the number shipped to San Francisco, the East and islands in the Pacific. Several vessels were dis- jatched from Astoria direct to Liver pool, with whole or part cargoes of sal mon, one vessel taking 70,000 cases. The estimated capital invested in can neries is $2,000,000, and during the four months’ fishing season employment is given to about 7,000 men. In the dis tant future it is proposed to establish a' hatchery, when instead of turning out 500,000 cases yearly three or four times that number will be canned. The run of salmon in the Columbia River is re markable, and seems to be inexhaustible considering the laxity of the law in re gard to the destruction of fish by traps and wheels. This system of wholesale slaughter and wanton destruction brings on another “war” between the canners and the free-booters. There is a law prohibiting fishing from Saturday until Monday, in order to allow the fish to as cend to their natural spawning grounds, but the buccaneer#, with their wheel of iron spikes, violate it with impunity. Large quantities of ti:. for making cans are im]M)rted direct from England to this point—this industry having intro duced a direct trade with England Duty on tin plate, less 10 per cent, is refunded to canners on their making proper entry at the Portland Custom House at the time of making foreign shipment. Chemicals required for can ning are also imported. Salmon canning has given an impetus to boat-building at Astoria. A few years ago nearly all of the fishing Ixiats were built at San Francisco. Several boat-shops were recently established at Astoria, and last winter turned out an aggregate of 300 boats. Flower* tor Cutting. If you care to cut many flowers for use in the house—and almost everybody who loves them wants flowers in every room during the season—it is a good plan to have a corner expressly for “odds and ends,” from which you can cut without feeling that you are taking from the beauty of the garden beds. In this corner you can sow such seeds as may be left after sowing in tho beds Here you can put out cuttings from the bedding plants, and “strike” the branches you cut off from your house plants in the spring when you put them out on the veranda for the summer. NotMng will come amiss. In a short time you will have a brilliant bed of miscellaneous plants, and the more flowers you cut the more there will seem to be. There is a peculiar charm about these out of the way comer gardens that I fail to find in the more orderly beds in the garden or on the lawn. Perhaps it is because there is a total lack of formality and primness, and such a general fraternizing of all kinds of flowers that the phere of the place is redolent of good will and equality. Lost ProfeMlon. The astonishing exploit of the safe- plunderers who burrowed through the wall of a building into a bank in. New Orleans, gagged and bound the watch man and robbed the strong box was the theme of a conversation recently With a veteran detective. He said there was a parallel to this in the adventure about four years ago of Charley Adams and George Mason, who is now under indict ment in this city for a recent conspiracy to rob a safe, and that happily Philadel phia banks had not been exposed for several years past to the danger of an onslaught of tlie same kind. Adams and Mason had tunneled through a wall into the Cambridge (Mass.) Havings Fund building when they were attacked by watchmen and policemen flpa were taken after a desperate fight, in which Mason was shot. “Do you think it would be possible,” he was asked, “to repeat tlie Kensing-* ton Bank adventure, for instance?” “ I don’t think so although it is al ways the unexpected that happens. I say no for the principal reason that the old generation of desperate men wh organized and formed the bands are either dead, in prison or have refoi The smartest man by all odds i profession of bank robbing was L Howard, known as Sheeny He lad all the science, skill and edge necessary to make such successful. lie knew as much locks as the safe manufacturers selves. He was a natural geni sooner would a new combinatioi lock come out than he would b through his agents and at oncedi and discover the weak points mechanism. He seemed to find by instinct. When he was slain tl was nobody to take up his sceptre, Jimmy Hope was pretty skilful at opera ting locks, as the manipulations of the locks in the Manhattan Savings Bank in New York showed. He and Ned Lyons worked the safe in the old Navy Yard, in this city, years ago, and it took Ned Tryon and Ned Carlin nearly a day to pick up the tumblers in the lock and open the door. But Hope is in prison in California for a few years to come. “ Ike Marsh is another good one; but he is an old man now, being over sixty, and, liesides, he is in the Eastern Peni tentiary for a few years yet, for partici- pacion in the robbery of the Wellsboro Bank. He was a daring express train robber. Old Allan Pinkerton, who is writing up a book of rogues, wanted Ike’s life from his own pen, but Isaac is too fly. He is one of the nurses in the sick ward and is spoken of as a gentle, attentive one. Brockie George was under his care for a time and died in the Penitentiary. He too, was one of the old gang and had a hand in the Kensing ton Bank robbery. Red Leary, Billy Conners, Shaug Draper, yes, and several more good ones might be counted up who have dropped the jimmy, the drill and the powder can and manage to live now by some other means. Jimmy Irving has just come out of the Eastern Peni tentiary and his partner, Billy Porter, is in the Brooklyn Penitentiary.” The veteran chewed his cigar, reflectively, before he responded to an inquiry as to the cause for the immunity of Philadel phia banks from raids, such as marked Mayor Fox’s administration and the early part of Mayor Stokley’s term. “Greater vigilance, l suppose on the part of the banks. The employment of inside and outside night watchmen, tele graphic commumcation, time locks and stronger vaults. The Kensington Bank robbery was a complete success, but 1 don’t believe it could be repeated. Then there was the attempt on the Com Ex change Bank, wMch came near to being a success. Pete Bums put up that job because the bank had obtained judgment and forced him to make good several thousand dollars wMch had been obtain ed on forged drafts. The cracksmen were going in and out of the building for nights, and had their tools and a dummy watchman stored in an uppei room. They were waiting for a million. “ Two experts, who were not in the job at all, but were on their wayto Wood bury, N. J., to do a bit of work for them selves, were arrested on the street early in the morning and were run in and put away ou suspicion of having designs ou the Com Exchange. Then there was the attempt ou the Southwark Bank, which was defeated because the mai> who was on watch got drunk and went asleep on a housetop and failed to signal to the workmen when to begin opera- tious ou the departure of the watchman. The Consolidation Bank would have been plundered, too, but for the tingling of a door-bell. The thieves had rented an adjoining building and had Knocked a hoie through the bank wall and had all of their implements in there. They heard the bell and supposed the watch man had returued and they fled, leaving everything behind them. I know of a Chestnut street bank wMch employed only one watchman, an old, decrepit fellow. I’ve seen him sound asleep in a chair, with the door wide open, on im—y a night. How that bank escaped being robbed I don’t know. There was another that had two ancient watchmen. One of them would let the other out early m the morning to go buy policy slips. There was an opening here for the men who worked the Kensington Bank. It won id have been the easiest thing in the wor J for a gafig to rap at the door and get admittance about the time the old fel low was to return. It is a fact not known outside of detective circles that a job was put up a few years ago to rob the United States Mint. The attempt on the Sub-Treasury in the Custom House building, in 1879, failed only be cause the cracksmen made a mistake and got into the vault where pennies were stored, instead of that hoMinggold coins. The government had to get uew locks and new safe doors. The leading banks all, have inside and outside watch men now. The, latter report every hour and have to record their visits by a tell tale dock.” M Witty sayings are as easily lost as the pearls slipping off a brokeu string, but a word of kindness is seldom very atmos- spoken in vain. It is a seed which, even when dropped by chance, springs up as a flower. 4 ■lr- '■ iti - *^tf xir-nna—TX ff ' ..