The Fairfield news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1881-1900, May 31, 1883, Image 1
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TR[•■'WEEKLY EDITION.
WINNSBORO. S. 0.. MAY 31, 1883.
ESTABLISHED 1848
BEMEMBEB THY MOTUKB.
Lead tinWi? tller tenderly
Down llBk^P decline:
Once her annift^y , 8U PP« rt >
Now she leans i
See upon her loving face,
Those deep lines of care;
Think—it was her toil for thee
Left that record there. *'
Ne’er forget her tireless watch
Kept by day and night,
Taking from her step the grace,
From her eye the light.
Cherish well her faithful heart
Which, through weary years;
Echoed with its sympathy
All thy smiles and tears.
Thank Ood for thy mother’s love,
Guard the priceless boon;
For the hitter parting hour
Cometh all too soon.
When thy grateful tenderness
Loses {tower to save,
Earth will hold no dearer spot
Than thy mother’s grave.
HI8 RIVAL!
It was the time when lilies blow.
The pearl-grey clouds were sailing
and piling themselves lazily above, and
behind these were “depths beyond
depths” of clearest azure.
The crickets chirped drowsily among
the drooping grasses, now and then a
bird uttered a faint protest against the
heat, and dropped into silence again.
Dell Irving tripped down the garden-
path with its fringes of feathery ferns
and pale, sweet-faced violets.
She was looking as cool as if the day
were tilled with delicious sea breezes
The golden hair, piled on the dainty
head in the indescribable manner fash
ion dictates, was shaded by a huge chip
hat.
What a picture she made, as, scissors
in hand, she stood and contemplated the
sweetly-blooming flower-beds before her,
filled with their old fashioned favorites,
as well as newer, rarer flowers.
A small, yet perfectly formed young
girl her every action and gesture a poem
in itself, so unconsciously graceful was
it.
But when you noticed the pretty arch
mouth, you were somehow compelled to
believe that Miss Dell»was not quite so
innocent as she looked, and that she had
a will of her own, if she only chose, to
use it.
Another figure flitted up the garden-
path—that of a young man, tall, dark
stalwart and handsome.
The “dark, dark eyes” lit up when
he saw Dell, and he waved his hand
gaily to her.
“Isn’t it warm to-day?”
Rick said this with a profoundly wise
look, as if afraid Dell might not yet
have discovered the fact.
Then he fanned himself vigorously
with his straw hat.
“Do you really think so?” with sar
casm. “Why, I was laboring uuder the
mistaken impression that it is rather
cool. I’m glad you came to undeceive
me,” gratefully.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” said Rick An-
derton severely.
Then—“Won’t you give me a flower,
Dell?” with an insinuating smile.
“Here is the ‘last rose of summer,’ ”
said Dell, cutting the “last rose” off its
stem with a vicious snip of the scissors.
“Its rather faded and old, but, of course,
you don’t mind,” in a tone impossible
to translate.
“No, indeed,” said Rick provokingly,
while Dell pinned it to the lapel of his
coat. “Of course I don’t mind if it is
a trifle faded.”
He was looking straight into Dell’s
eyes as he said it, and as he was her
lover, Dell took an unfair interpretation
of thfi last remark.
“Dell, where did you get that ring?’
Rick Anderton took Dell’s snowflake
of a hand in his owm great, strong one,
and gazed at it, a frown, half playful,
half real, in his eyas.
“Oh, somewhere!” said Dell, in
manner as exasperating as it was vague.
“But which one do you mean, Rick?
This one? Why, you gave it to me.
Don’t you remember?”
“I don’t mean that one,” said Rick,
the frown in his eyes growing more
ominously dark, the playful expression
entirely gone.
“This one, then? Aunt Belle gave it
to me on my last birthday.
“You’ve seen it ever so many times
before, I’m quite sure.”
“I don’t mean that one!” ’
And Rick’s voice w’as so harsh, am
stem and jealous that Dell almos;
skipped out of here dainty slippers.
Dell heaved a reluctant sigh.
There was only one ring-left—a deli
cately-chased gold one—so she sup
posed she would have to tell him all
about it.
She meant to teach him a lesson
though, for being so jealous without a
cause. '
“This,” she began, with a charming
as well as exasperating, air of reluct
ance, “er—Jim sent me yesterday. Isn’t
doubting me, and then how he will
laugh when he knows all about it.”
ut thelovely blue eyes were a trifle
clouded for all that whfip she rej
to the house hdefi with ^
-»w-&9nt Belle noticed the cl
said—
What is the matter with Rick And
erton, Dell? He w r alked away as if rac
ing for a wager.”
Oh, he got mail!” said Dell, de-
ightfully vague, as was her wont.
“ ‘The mountain and the squirrel had
quarrel!’ ” laughed Aunt Belle, re
suming her book without giving further
thought to the matter.
She was quite accustomed to Rick’s
and Dell’s little squabbles, and did not
imagine that this w'as anything more
serious than usual.
But Rick did not come Imck that
evening nor the next; and Dell become
uneasy, itnd then righteously indignant.
What a fuss Rick made alxnit noth
ing, on account of jealousy and ill-tem
per.
Why couldn’t he have waited for an
explanation, instead of starting off in
such a huff?
Well, she was glad to get rid of him,
and hope it was for good and all.
But for all that, Dell did not feel
quite happy.
If only Rick were not so inclined to
misjudge her.
Glad news!
Jim Harper was coming on a visit
that very afternoon, and Dell was to be
at the station at two o’clock, with her
pony phaeton.
She made herself look very bewitch
ing in a light summer dress, with great,
goldenhearted pansies at her throat and
in her belt.
She was radiantly happy.
How nice it would be to see dear old
Jim again!
After all, this world was a very glad
world to live in, in spite of the jealous
Ricks who tried to moke it so unhappy.
Rrick Anderton was at the station,
ounging about with a dissatisfied and
and not altogether happy look on his
face.
As the train came up, shrieking and
^raffing, Dell flitted past him without
even a nod of recognition, and gazed
delightedly at one of the windows.
There were uot many passengers
xrand for this sleepy village, but among
.hem was one dainty brunette, who
threw herself rapturously into Dell’s
arms.
Rick stared in astonishment.
He had heard, as naughty Dell well
knew that a certain Jim Harper was
about to pay a visit to Mrs. Belle Irving,
and he liad haunted the station in order
i;o find out what sort of a looking fellow
this Jim Harper was.
He found out at last.
“Jemima Harper—dear old Jim—how
delighted I am to see you again!”
gushed Dell rapturously, taking good
care to speak loud enough for Rick to
iear ever}' word.
And then she and her old school-
friend drove away, while Rick Ander
ton stood and started after them like
one dazed.
I don’t think Rick deserved .much
mercy at Dell’s hands, do you?
But when he came to her that even
ing, so repentant and humble, what
could she do but “forgive and forget?”
Rick promised never to be jealous
again, aud bids fair to keep his word.
Dell was a little sorry, however, that
she surrendered so soon, for, as her old
schoolmate herself declared—
“Rick would never have found so
ready a pardon from Jim!”
recreation tor the Million.
it too lovely?” gazing up at him with
those bewitching blue eyes.
Rick made no reply, but held her hand
tightly crushed in his own, displeasure
and pain in his eyes.
“You hurt me, Rick,” said Dell
plaintively, gently essaying to withdraw
her hand.
She was rather enjoying the scene,
but she had no intention of permittin;
her hand to be broken to bits.
With an impatient gesture, Rick
dropped it.
“Who is Jim?” he said abruptly.
“A dear old friend of mine, Rick!”
with enthusiasm. “I only wish you
knew Jim. You would be perfectly de
lighted with ”
“I beg leave to differ with you,” said
Rick freezingly, “I would not lie de
lighted with him.
Dell looked snubbed.
“But isn’t the ring pretty?” die said
at last, holding it up tantalizingly.
“And see what’s engraved on it.”
“To Darling Dell, from Jim.”
As Rick read, .the passionate jealous
pain at his heart became almost unen
durable.
He dared not trust himself to speak,
so he turned abruptly on his heel, ant
strode rapidly down the garden path.
Dell laughed, though just a little un
easily.
“He will come back to-night,” she
thought, “to ask to be forgiven for
It is not given to every one to cross the
ocean and make the tour of Europe; to
revel in the halls of dazzling light of New
port or Saratoga; to repair to the sea-side
or the mountain top, and there tor five dol
lars a day to drink in the life-giving air.
The spirit may be willing but the means
are wanting. And yet the same need for
recreation exists in the life of those of mo
derate means as in those of the rich. This
larger class, however, will be glad to know
that the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
proposes to continue during the season of
1883, its popular daily excursions between
Jersey City and Newburgh, a route furn-
isbing many objects of interest, and an
infinite variety of scenery. The magnifi
cent steamer, Richard Stockton, under the
command of Captain Lawrence F. Frazee,
will leave the Pennsylvania Railroad
docks, Jersey City, every morning at 9
a. m., (excepting Thursday at 9:30 a. m.)
and arrive at Jersey City on the return tnp
about 6:30 p. m. This steamer is sub
stantially built, fully equipped and with a
capacity for 2500 passengers. On the
route such points of interest as Weehaw-
ken, Ft. Lee, Yonkers, the Palisades, Tar-
rytown. Sing Sing, Sleepy Hollow, Stony
Point, West Point, Iona Island and New
burgh, with a privilege of remaining at the
three last named for a time varying from
one to two hours. The tickets are put at
very reasonable rates, and we know of no
way in which a day can be so pleasantly
spent, with a trifling expense as on one of
these trips up the Hudson on the Stockton.
Trees in the Northwest.
Economy has led to tree planting on
an extensive scale in the North and
Northwest. Belts of timber are taking
the places of pine fences along the ex
posed portions of the railroad where
some barrier of necessity be maintained
against snow drifts. The fences that
have been relied upon have to be eight
feet high, and, besides costing $800 a
milg, need constant attention and re
pair. Furthermore, the farmers carry
off the boards, and the stoutest oak
posts snap like pipe stems in a thor
oughgoing prairie gale. Trees answer
all the requirements much better. The
white willow, which grows to a height
of twelve feet in four years, has been
found to be the cheapest and best
though the box elder, cotton wood, api
green ash will serve. The soil must be
prepared by harrowing, 'however, and
prairie soil is often so poor as to require
two or three years’ work. Even then
it is said that it is cheaper to use live
fences than dead ones. These tree fen
ces are constructed by planting two
parallel lines of trees on the side of the
tracks exposed to the strongest ''Finds
and one line on the other side.
1
Bolognese Customs.
In the Bolognese territory some curi
ous customs prevail. A young man
ay have courted a young womrn for
cs^walkiitg with her home
om chuTch, _ and' r «#iisting her in field
labors; but lie is never allowed to enter
her house until lie comes for betrothal
before the priest. Eveu after this the
girl’s father is not supposed to be otti
dally informed of the affair until a w r eek
before the marriage is to take place, the
bridegroom’s father or some oue iu his
stead, goes to ask for the hand of the
bride. Her father “plays the Indian,”
is astonished aud reluctant, but at length
bestows his couset and they all set out
together to buy the marriage gifts,
which consist of as much garnet jewelry
as the bridegroom can afford, besides
several rings. The buying of these
things is a fete to thefamily—the amount
of bargainng for them and discussion
afterward as to whether they could have
been got better and cheaper elsewhere,
is something incredible to those who
have not heard it. When the bride is
dressed for the marriage ceremony,'
wearing her maiden necklace of coral,
the bridegroom is introduced with the
arnetsin his hand, aud asks her whether
she will exchange her coral for what he
brings. Her new omamets add the
finishing strokes to her attire, which is
usually a gay flowered dress aud em
broidered silk or muslin apron, tied with
a broad sash, and "a white veil. After
the ceromony the husband takes her
home, aud at the door she tiuds a broom.
Her mother-in-law has designedly left
the dust thick on a table or on the floor,
if the bride does uot notice it, it is a sign
that she is a bad housekeeper; but she
is usually warned of this trap, and falls
to sweeping With the convenient broom.
It is very necessary that she should ap
pease the presiding geuius of the house,
tor no matter how old the sons may be,
when they marry, the parents still hold
undisputed sway, and as they usually
all live together under one roof aud at
one table, a daughter-in-law’s position
is by no means an easy one if she is
disliked by the heads of the family.
She is greatly separated from her own
family, in a ceremonial point of view;
eiglit days after marriage she plays them
a visit; and then and henceforward she
is addressed by them with the formal
“you” instead of the tender “thou” to
which she has been accustomed.
Oue Lunar Day.
Let us, in fancy, take such a journey
as perhaps the emancipated soul may
take,’across the abysses of space. We
must leave our bodies behind us, and
go on the voyage as unclothed spirits
go. We swiftly traverse the void, and
take our place iu the center of the
moon’s visible hemisphere iu the depth
of the lunar midnight. We are' uot
wrapped in complete darkness; a sil
very earth-light illuminates such a
landscape as Daute might have added
to his pictures of the lufemo. We are
camped upon a rugged plain of glassy
basalt and scoria. To the westward,
the prodigious volcanic masses of
Coperuicus rise twelve thousand feet
above us, and to the northward the
view is bounded by the great wall of the
Apennines, rising to Audean heights.
They are uot forest-clothed or snow-
crowned. We see only basaltic nellies
and columns, and enormous vertical
precipices of glassy obsidian, standing
unchanged and immovable from age to
age—for here is no w ind nor rain, nor
any active agency capable of disturbing
the deathly stillness aud repose. No
stream gnaws at the base of the tre
mendous precipices; no cloud rests upon
their summits; no sound ever rever
berates from mountain to mountain.
Under our feet the floor of lava seems
to rest upon insecure foundations.
Vast chasms and crevices, of inconceiv
able depths and tilled with a mysterious
darkness, traverse the plain. We seem
to he lost spirits—sole survivors of
some awful doom, dwelling upon the
bumt-out cinders of a floating planetary
hell, now dead and frozen to its heart.
We look upward aud see a fairer vision
—one of planetary life. In the center
of the black dome above us, unchanging
in its place except as it sways imper
ceptibly northward and southward in a
slight vibration,.we see, as vast aud
bright as its equator the great cloud-
ring is revealed as a zone of dazzling
whiteness; and cloud-masses are float
ing every where,yet not whollyconcealing
fifteen full moons, our familiar earth
Around are the well-known outlines of
the continents. The earth has no secret to
hide from us, as the moon hides one of
its hemispheres from the earth. As
we look upward we perceive a steady
rotation, the continents marching past
in panoramic succession. As Asia
vanishes upon the eastern rim, America
rises upon the western; the polar ice
caps shine with a splendid white light.
The earth remains fixed in our zenith,
but the stars march past it in an end
less flow. The milky way, the constel
lations of the zodiac, the planets in
their order, all sweep by or are hidden
for a little while behind the great white
orb, which seems to take no part in the
endless procession of the universe; it
whirls swiftly and visibly on its axis,
but never changes its place. But for
its slight pendulum swing, it is fixed
immovably in mid-heaven. It was well
that we left our bodies hidden under
the warm, white atmosphere of the
t^rth; the great planet above us has
completed more than seven revolutions
since the sunlight shone upon our rest
ing-place, and around us is deadly,
terrible cold, almost the inconceivable,
absolute zero of the interplanetary
spaces. The long night slowly wanes
as we keep our strange watch. It was
lightest at the lunar midnight, for
black shadow is slowly creeping across
the earth’s splendid white disk. It was
a perfect sphere when we first looked
upon it ? but now it has completed seven
revolutions, and is but a hemisphere;
half of it has been swallowed by dark
ness. It is darkest j»sl before dawn;
but now a change is coming. There is
no dawn light in the sky, but the tre
mendous spires of the Apennines^begin
to glitter with an intense bluish-white
splendor. The moon’s morning is at
hand. There is no pomp of prepara
tion, such as we saw on earth; no
chariot of Apollo wrapped in gold and
crimson clouds, no Aurora opening the
gates of day; the glaring blue light is
strangely contrasted with the utter
blackness of the shadow. Slowly the
day gains upon the night, as the illum
ination creeps downward toward the
mountain bases. Suddenly the rim of
the sun rises above the eastern horizon;
without a moment’s preparation, or any
gradual transition, wc pass from the
d. pthsof midnight to the light of the
lunar day. The deadly desolation of
the landscaite is now fully revealed.
We see only volcanic ruins, ashes,
scoria, hardened lava-flow’s, the chim
neys of burnt-out craters. Not a cloud
floats in the heavens; ,not a water-drop
or blade of glass exists upon the plain.
There is no atmospheric perspective, no
blue veil of air hiding ami softening the
distant outlines; the lioiiow pones upon
the farthest horizon reveal features as
sharp and clear as those of the great
mountain at whose feet we stand. The
sun shines with a destroying brightness,
and the rocks beneath us begin to feel
its power, and glow with fervent -heat.
We look upward, not upon a vault of
tender blue, but upon a black abyss,
crowded with stars, as in the lunar
midnight. The earth still hangs from
the center of its black dome, but it has
waned to a hollow cadent, and as the
sun glides past the light for a little
wliile utterly goes out, but soon liegius
to kindle again and grow, as the sun
sinks toward the west. The earth has
made fourteen revolutions since the
long day liegan, and now the sun seems
to rest upon the southern slojie of
Copernicus. The valley is a furnace,
seven times heated; the rocks are lumi
nous with a dull red glow. But now r
the sun goes down suddenly, without a
twilight, the earth, immovable in mid
heaven, is now a hemisphere of soft,
splendid wiiiteness; the fiery light climbs
the slopes of the Apennines; and dies
uikmi their highest crest; the glowing
heat of the rocks swiftly radiates into
space; as the cold gains in intensity the
earth-light brightens, till our home orb
is once more the perfect sphere of the
lunar midnight. Since we pitched our
camp a period equal to twenty-nine and
a half earthly days has passed, and the
evening and morning are one day of the
dead world.
A New Form of Maduees.
Big Dining Booiuh.
The men who patrol the cemeteries
after the sun has gone down are armed
with pistols and clubs ; and are generally
accompanied by trained and savage
bloodhounds. In addition to these ex
ternal and tangible means of defense
they must be gifted with rare and pe
culiar mental organization. So many
men have lost their reason through
wa’ehing graves at night that jiersoiis
in that position have come to lielieve
that they risk lapsing into a state of
melancholia iierfectly distinct from any
other form of insanity. Sextons and
grave diggers call the affection “toml>-
stone madness.”
A startling realization of this fact
waa telegraphed throughout the coun
try recHftly. It was announced that
several of the soldiers who do sentry
duty day and night at the tomb of
Garfield, amid the dreary solitude of
Lake View Cemetery, nea^ Cleveland,
lave become insane. Anything or any
device ». used by the men to get away
from ti e ghostly muster of tombstones
or the dark array of mounds. An old
watchman at Glenwood Cemetery ex
plained this to a reporter recently by
saying that in all probability the
soldiers detailed at the grave w ere not
picked. “Take half a dozen men from
iny walk of life,” he continued, “and
place them at night to watch grave
yards, and the chances are that in a
short time five of the six will feel like
retiring permanently to a lunatic asy
lum.”
“If a man wants to enter this pro
fession and lie a success at it lie must
>e about as impressionable as brick and
mortar. If he Iras the least bit of im
agination he had better abandon the
rasiness, for when the moon is obscured
jy clouds and he is walking alnrat a
cemetery, shivering from his heels
upward, he will mistake tombstones
for ghosts. He will think that the
owls, as they whiz past his ear with
their mournful hoot, are unquiet
spirits come to haunt the receptacles of
the bodies which they once iiermeated.
When the noise of his footsteps makes
the rats disappear with a rustling sound
into little thickets of evergreens he
will start and grasp his weapon. The
very whine of his dog will make him
feel nervous, and bit by bit his reason
Speaking of stomachs that are palpa-
tie, they have become a feature in
New York architecture. A walk up
Fifth avenue reveals the fact that new
houses have had to bend to the require
ments of the era that Carlyle called the
age of the belly. Dining rooms may
have always had conspicuous attention
n the plans for rich men’s residences,
out never before were they made to iin
trude upon observation, and to distend
the wall lines of otherwise rectangular
buildings, exactly after the fashion of
that human proof or high regard for
good living as is typified in the aider-
men of tradition. The famed mansions
that have lately arisen along the fash
ionable thoroughfare seem all to be alike
in that one respect. So much extra
space has been required for ample and
luxurious dining halls that the houses
seem to present fat paunches to the
public gaze. Starting down from the
Central Park, the first new mansion is
that of Mr. Frederick W. Stevens, the
millionaire lawyer, on the comer of
Forty-seventh street. The dining-room
extends beyond the great brown-stone
' ace in an annex almost as long and
tail as the main building. It is equip
ped with a rare treasury of heavy plate,
delicate china and filmy glass, and the
carved hardwood furniture aud row of
odd candelabra are not surpassed else
where, but the main feature of the
room is the collection of Moorish
saddle-bags of embossed leather that
pad the walls. They are the million
aire’s pride. He collected them in long
joumeyings through Spain and Moroc
co. The dining-room in the new house
of Mr. Kemp, the man who made mil
lions in Florida water, is an exception
to the rule as far as the manner of its
construction goes, for it is like ordinary
ones—a mere room in the house. But
it is the costliest and biggest of all the
rooms. Its ceiling is made of sheets of
lustrous stamped brass. All three of
the new Vanderbilt houses expose their
dining-rooms after the abdominal fash
ion. It will not be deemed an over
sight if the opportunity for the thou
sandth description of these gorgeous
apartments is not here embraced. Per
haps the best examples of the new pro-
tmberant order of dining-room con
struction are seen in the grand houses
that the sons of the old Huguenot lain
monopolist, Peter Goelet, have just
moved into on the comer of Forty-ninth
street and the corner of Forty-eighth
street. These houses are exceedingly
quiet in outward effect, but as marked
ly rich within. In each the dining
room is extended into a conservatory
projection beyond the house. The din
ing-rooms proper are finished in the
French style, in white, paneled with
gilt molding, inclosing oil paintings on
canvas, ordered from the most con
spicuous artists in Paris and in London.
The effect of leaving oue end of these
rooms open so as to allow the tropical
display of huge-leaved plants and gaudy
flowers in the glass-roofed conservator
ies to form an indefinite fourth wall,
and pemitting the concealment of an
orchestra on great occasions, is exceed
ingly pleasing.
Ancient DDhe*.
The British museum has just acquir
ed an interesting collection of thirty-
nine silver objects which gives an in
sight into the daily life of the Baby
lonians, and reminds us of the discov
ery of the bird dealer’s shop at Pompeii.
These objects, which were all found to
gether on the site of Babylon, consists
of fragments of silver dishes, the broken
handle of a vase and coins, most of the
latter being defaced and clipped. It is
easy to see that aU have been broken
purposely by a practiced hand, with the
view of using the metal again, and we
may fairly conclude that the collection
is the remains of a silversmith’s or
coiner’s shop. Among the coins is a
Lycianone in good preservation. So
far as can be judged from the vase
handle aud dishes, the art is distinctly
Babylonian under Persian influence,
ana the workshop may date from the
conquest of Alexander.
will become unpaired.”
“I could give you some sad renn-
niscenses of people who watched grave
yards,” said one of the oldest watchmen
at Laurel Hill Cemetery, in a strange,
solemn tone. Then, half jestingly, lie
added: “But they’re buried in the
past, and it’s my business to let what’s
buried remain so.” He did not mind
telling one story, however. “I used to
work in a Brooklyn cemetery before I
came to this city, he began. “It was
there that the terrible scene which
shall sjieak of occurred. We wanted
an assistant night watchman very
badly, but none of the i*ersons who pre
sented themselves could endure staying
up with the graves for more than two
or three nights each. At last there
came an unfortunate man whose health
seemed shattered by overwork and
privation. It wits his last venture. He
had tried to get employment everywhere
without result and his wife and child
ren were suffering. We took him on.
I don’t think I shall ever forget his
face the morning after his first night in
the graveyard. He said he had endured
unheard-of agony, but was hopeful of
getting over it in time. The following
night was dark and windy. Rain came
down in torrents and there were flash
es of lightning every few minutes. At
about 1 o’clock the head wathman
heard a low cry; there was a sound of
running feat, followed by the report of
a pistol. A search was made and the
unfortunate man was found lying on
his back across a grave dead. There
was a small hole in his temple, and his
own revolver, one barrel of which was
empty, lay three feet away, where '
had filing it, inbeded in the ground,
was certain that some fearful creation
of the imagination had so terrified him
that he took his life to escape from it.”
When the old mail had finished this
narrative he was silent for many min
utes. He sat perfectly still, with i
vacant look, and allowed bright tears
to chase each other down his cheek.
Suddenly he made a brisk motion and
forcibly forgot the subject of his narra
tive. “There are amusing things some
times,” he raid, speaking at first with
an effort. “A short time ago a man
was put to work at night in a cemetery
not far from here. He strolled around
in an affected indifferent way, whistling
tunes dear to his countrymen. In *1110
course of his rambling he tumblei
bodily into a newly-made grave, and
lot of loose earth feel on him when he
reached the liotiom. He straggled
wildly, and in aliout an hour and three-
quarters managed to get out, screaming
lustily that the devil had dug a grave
and tried to bury him in it. With a
single bound he cleared a four-foot
fence, rolled down a forty-foot hill, and
that’s the last of him, for no one about
here ever set eyes on him again, dead or
alive. He must have gone liack to
Ireland, for he wasn’t hurt at all.
Some practical jokers once tried to
scare a watchman, a frieud of mine.
It was immense tun—for the watch
man. They got into the cemetery dis
guised its body-snatchers, and pretended
to lie opening graves. There were three
individuals. One got seven buckshot
in him, the second received five in his
leg, and I forget what happened to the
third. The only thing that is more
dangerous than watching graves is
robbing them.”
“What is it produces this dreadful
melancholia?” asked the reporter.
The old man locked around him mys
teriously and added, as he moved away:
“I’m not a doctor nor a scholar, but I
liave my belief that it’s the miasma
from the graves that ixiisons the blood
and warps the brain. Just see, cool as
it is this evening, the vapor is rising-
rising.” And the old watchman
pointed toward the setting sun, against
which blazing background a filmy mist
co uld be seen ascending from the ground
like the genii from the fisherman’s box
in the Arabian tale^
—Matthew Hamilton, a miner of
West Lafayette, O., claims to be a sur
vivor of the Light Brigade, which charg
ed at Balaklava.
A Shlp-lo««l of Monkey*.
Aii American consular officer relates
a very funny occurrence, which came
under his observation during his official
residence in Liverpool. • A wealthy ship
owner, who was better at making money
than at spelling, sent an order to Bom
bay, aud among other things wrote for
two monkeys, which he wanted to pre
sent to friends; but departing from the
usual mode of singling the word two, he
put it too. Perhaps the handwriting was
not very legible, as is often the ease with
other than illiterate ship-owners. At
any rate, tiie master of the ship read it
100 instead of too, and so did the agents
at Bombay. There was much astonish
nient at so strange an order, but the
master was bound to obey instructions.
Accordingly the service of a number of
natives were secured, the country round
about was scoured, and in a few days a
hundred monkeys, of all colors and pre
vious conditions, were secured. There
were little black monkeys, with eyes like
1 leads, bigger monkeys with whiskers,
and babboons whose grave expression of
countenance presented a ridiculous con
trast to their undignified antics. The
whole crowd chattered, screamed, and
fought in the cage which had lieen pro
vided for them in the ship, in spite of
all efforts to keep them quiet. In a few
days tiie homeward voyage was begun,
Mid with it tiie troubles of the crew.
As soon as the motion of the ship was
felt, the monkeys redoubled their noise,
making a regular pandemonium of the
ship. Relays of them shook the ban of
the cage without a moment’s cessation
for twenty-three hours out of each twen
ty-four, until thecage was literally shak
en to pieces, and the astonished sailors
beheld x .cloud of monkeys issuing from
the hold, scrambling, lighting, and tum
bling over each other as if their lives
depended upon getting into the rigging
n tiie shortest possible time The mon
eys,with mischievousness unparalleled,
would steal every thing they could lay
their hands on. If clothes were hung
ii]) to dry they would carry them up to
the highest jHiint attainable and pick
them to pieces. It was necessary to set
a guard over every thing that was wash
ed or dried. When the cabin hoy swept
the deck he had to lock up the broom,
for if he hid it ever so securely, his back
would scarcely lie turned before an old
ajie, half as big as a man, would have it,
going through the motion of sweeping
the deck with an air of indescribable gra
vity. So great wasjjthe annoyance that
it was with great difficulty that tiie offi
cers could keep the men from shooting
their tormentors, and when the ship
touched at Aden half of the crew desert
ed, preferring to take their chances at
this inhospitable place than to endure
further persecution.
Finally the ship reached home. She
had been signaled ivt Land’s End. ami
the owner was at the dock when she ar
rived, Shipowners generally pride them
selves on the trim apiiearance of their
ships, and our friend was weak in this
respect, if in no other. What then was
his astonishment to see the ship’s rigging
crowded with knots or bunches, with
here and there a festoon where several
monkeys had suspended themselves from
a spar in a string, holding eacli other by
the tail! Everybody aliout the docks
viewed with wonder the approaching
spectacle. The ship moved slowly to
her berth, and presently her yard arms
neared those of several other vessels
lying at dock. In an instant the mon
keys leaiied from one to the other, and
began a tour among the forests of masts
that fringed the harbor of Liverpool.
All the lioys and idlers around the dock
were engaged, and a grand hunt ensued,
up and down the rigging from ship to
ship, until all were captured.
The owner was furious, but was, after
a while, mollified by an explanation, and
tiie difficulty satisfactorily adjusted.
The monkeys were gradually sold off,
realizing a profit of aliout fifty dollars
alxive what they had cost.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Coffee Deans to Order.
“Give me your opinion of these, young
man,” raid the east side
as he
spread liefore the reporter a handful of
coffee beans. “They aren’t very reg
ular in size, are they? Now coinpare
them with these, and tell me which you
think are tiie better.”
The grocer placed a second handful
alongside of the others. The two lots
were of the same dark color, and at a
little distance away presented no very
marked difference. Closer inspection
showed that while the coffee lieans first
shown were not all of the same size,
the second handful were of extraordi
nary regularity, the beans being very
plump and large.”
“1 know what you are going to tell
me, and at first glance any one would
say so. Your opinion is that the last
lot is the best, isn’t it? Well, the dif
ference 1 iet ween the two batches is that
those which l showed you first are a
fair lot of coffee lieans, while the others
aren’t coffee at all, and never grew on
a coffee bush.”
“What kind of a bush did they grow
“No bush at all. They are a manu
factured article. You need uot look as
if you didn’t believe it, for it’s a fact
on which you may safely risk your last
dime. They are nothing more or less
than imitations, made out of dough,
and browned up to resemble the true
coffee. They are made in moulds and
baked afterward. Each one is almost
perfect in shajie, and all alike. You
won’t find genuine coffee beaus to have
such regularity.”
“They look all right, but it strikes
me that no one would mistake the bev
erage made from them for coffee.”
“You are wrong again, young man.
No respectable grocer would be foolish
enough to give any customer who buys
a pound of coffee a pound of the imita
tion. No, indeed. They mix it in the
proportion of four or five of coffee to
oue of the imitation. Nobod v examines
each bean. You hear pc.sous com
plaining of bad coffee all the time.
T’m sure I can’t tell how it is.’ says the
housekeeper; ‘I buy the coffee in the
bean and grind it myself. I am sure it
is not adulterated.’
“You see. the grocer can mix chicory
with ground coffee, but when coffee is
bought in the bean something's got to
be done. Some brilliant mind got over
the difficulty by making coffee beans to
order.”
—During the past six months Texas
has sold 2,185,000 acres of school land.
—Some of the farmers in San Bernar
dino county, Cal., are killing birds by
placing jioisoned apples on trees.
—An Ashland, Ohio, wife recently
liecaine the mother of a perfectly healthy
babe weighing less than one pound.
Ex-Secretary Columbus Delano Is
spending his old age in luxury on his
large sheep faun in Knox county, O.
—Internal revenue collections for the
San Francisco district for tiie year end
ing February 28th, aggregate $3,802,-
590.
—Light-weight husbands are wonder
ing Ikiw David Davis will get to his room
at 2 A. M. without making the stairs
creak.
—A granite monument is to be erect-
ed at Andersonville, Ga., in memory of
the Federal soldiers who are buried
there.
—There were twenty-two contested
seats in tiie Forty-seventh Congress and
it cost the country $100,000 to settle
them.
—France in 1873 produced 17,000,000
pounds of cocoons; in 1879 only 11,000,-
000 pounds, and in 1880 14,000,'"'"
pounds.
—Alexander II. Stephens was wforth
aliout $50,000—$.'$0,000 of which he iliade
out of his book, “ The War amoiiifc the
States.
—In the United States there is aloout
$40,000,000 of capital invested in pi .per.
mills, the annual product being 70,000,-
000 pounds. ^
—Ex-Secretary Kirkwood lias reccYr-
ered fully from the effects of his receuyt
accident, and is lecturing in Iowa ou\
“Education.” ~ v -
—Texas now leads the southern states
in the production of cotton. The crop
of last year will aggregate 1,500,000
bales, worth $75,000,000.
—Gen. Francis A. Walker will deliver
the oration at tiie opening of the Manu
facturers and Mechanics’ Institute Fair,
in Boston, next September.
—A recent letter from Honolulu,
Hawaii, rays that King Kalakaua’s
“Army” consists of 49 soldiers, exclu
sive of t lands and attendants.
—The proprietors of the marble quarry
in Hawkins, Tenn.. have for the last
year been realizing $300 per foot for their
marble delivered on the cars.
—The number of hogs packed in Chi
cago for the year ending March 1,1883,
was 4,223,000, a decrease of 878,000 com-
pared with the preceding year.
—One hundred and sixty active sin
gers and two hundred associate members
belong to the Mozart Society and Con
servatory of Music of Memphis, Tenn.
—The state of Neviula has for the past
sixteen year-, been collecting a cabinet
of minerals, and now lias a magnificent
collection, over two thousand specimens
iu ail.
—The total amount of per cent,
bonds exchanged into-3 per cents, to
date is $299 000,400. Of this amount,
$8,150,050 liave been exchanged since
February 1.
—It is asserted that Minnesota con
tains no less than 10,000 lakes, with an
average extent of .’$00 acres each. These
lakes, it is raid, cover one-twentieth of
tiie surface of the state. .
—The curfew is still rung at many
towns in England, and at Ripon a horn
is blown at 9 p. m. in memory of the
presentation to the city of a horn, still
extant, by Kmg Alfred.
—The sand business in Albany, N. Y.
amounts to quite an industry. Molding
rand is shipiied in large quantities from
that city to California. Oue man ships
about 25,000 tons yearly.
—It is raid that the finest sleeping cars
in the country are those which run into
New Orleans, and that fully four-fifths
of them are equipped with paper w'heels,
costing" $90 each, or $1080 a car.
—It is found by R. Schneider that dis
tinct traces of silver are obtainable in
many of the commercial preparations of
bismuth. Pure oxide of bismuth, when
free from silver, is uot affected by light.
—A young man died in Rome, Ga., a
few days ago, after an illness of forty-
eight hours, and his physician said his
death was due to congestion of the
lungs, caused by smoking cigarettes.
—A dying thief was compassionately
released from the Rhode Island State
Prison and sent to pass his remaining
days at home in Providence; but before
his deaili he crawled out and robbed
seven houses.
—Remains of a mastodom and a num
ber of curious bones belonging to vari
ous other animals have beeu found near
a salt mine at New Iberia, La. Among
them were some fossil teeth of horses,
and they have been presented to the
Yale College Museum.
—The Treasury department has de
cided that only $42,000 of the $72,000
appropriated by congress to reimburse
Oregon for expenses incurred by it in the
Modoc war shall be paid over, because
Oregon still owes taxes to the United
States amounting to $30,000.
—The quaint old town of Boscawen,
N. II., is to celebrate the one hundred
and fiftieth anniversary of its existence
during the coming summer. This town
lias given to the world Daniel and Eze
kiel Webster, Gen. John A. Dix, Will
iam Pitt Fessenden, Nathaniel wid
Charles G. Green, aud other distinguish
ed men.
—Of 362 houses inspected by the Lon
don Sanitary Protection Society last
year, six per cent, were found to have
drains completely choked up, preventing
all communication with a sewer. In 117
houses the soil pipes leaked, allowing
sewer gas to enter the house. Perhaps
it is no better here.
—Statistics of suicides in Russia that
include every Province except three or
four, give a total of 2000 persons who
destroyed themselves last year, and 7718
for a period of dve years. The greatest
numbers of cases are credited to thedis-
tricts of Moscow, St. Petersburg, War
saw and Irkutsk. ~~
the number of cases has also
This is likewise ti
Germany.
In the Russian army
oincro
of the
kTjL?;