The Fairfield news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1881-1900, August 18, 1883, Image 1
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TRI-WEEKLY EDITION.
THE VERDICT
—OF-
THE PEOPLE.
SCATTER SEEDS OF KINDNESS.
There was never a golden sunbeam
That fell on a desolate place,
But left some trace of its presence
That time could never efface.
Not a song of ineffable sweetness
That ravished the listening ear,
Then slumbered In silence forgotten
For many and many a year—
BUY THE BEST!
Me. J.O. Boao—Dear Sir: I bought the first
Davis Machine sold by you over live years ago for
my wife, who has given it a long and fair trial. I
am well pleased with it. It never gives any
rouble, and is as good as when first bought.
J. W. Houck.
Wlnnsboro, S. C., April 18S3.
Mr. Boao: Tou wish to know what I have to say
in regard to the Davis Mach: e bought of you three
J ears ago. I feel 1 can’t say too much in Its favor.
made about tso,no within Uve months, at times
running it so fast that the needle would get per
fectly hot from friction. I feel confident I could
not have done the same work with as much ease
and so well with any other machine. No time lost
in adjusting attachments. The lightest running
machine i have ever treadled. Brother James and
Williams’ families are as much pleased with their
Davis Machines nought ot you. I want no better
machine. As I said before, I don’t think too
much can be said for the Davis Machine.
Hespectfully,
Ellen Stevenson,
Fairfield County, April, 1888.
Mk. Boao : My michlne gives me perfect satis
faction. I find no fault with it. The attachments
a-e so simple, i wish for no better than the Davis
Vertical Feed.
Respectfully.
Mrs. R. Millino.
Fairfield county, Apr!', 1883.
MR. Boao: I bougnt a Davis Vertical Feed
e wing Machine from you four years ago. I am
ellghted with lb It never has g.ven me any
rouole, and has never been the least out of order.
It is as good as when I first bought it. 1 can
cheerfully recommend it.
Respectfuly,
Mr.-'. M. J. Kirkland.
Monticelio, April 30,1883.
This is to certify that I have been using a Davis
Vertlcd Feed Sewing Machine for over tw lyeirs,
purchased of Mr. J. O. Ho ig I haven’t found U
pjssessed of any fanlt—all the attachments are s >
• Iinplc. It never refuses to work, and Is certainly
thv lightest running in the market. I consider it
a first class machine.
Very respectfully,
Minnie M. VVili.inuuau.
Oakland, Fairfield county, S. C.
Mr Boas : i am wen pleased m every particui
with the Davis Machine nought of you. I think
a first-class macniue in every respect. You knuw
you sold several machines of the same make to
diderent members of our families, all of whom,
as far as I know, are well pleased with them.
Respectfully,
Mrs. M. II. Mobi.et.
Fairfield county, April, 1883.
This Is to certify we have had in constant uss
the Davis Machine bought ot you about tnree years
ago. As we take in work, and have made the
price of it several times over, we don’t want any
better machine. It is always ready to do any kind
of work we nave to do. No puckerlngor skipping
stitches. We can only say we are well pleased
ana wish no better machine,
Catherine Wylie and Sister.
April 85,1888.
I have no fault to find with my mach ne, and
don’t want any better. I have mvie the price of
it several times by taking In sewing. It Is always
ready to do Its work. I think it a first-class raa
chine. I feel I can t say too much for the Davis
Vertical Feed Machine.
Mrs. Thomas Smith.
Fairfield county, April, 1883.
Mr. J. O. Boao—Dear Sir: it gives me much
pleasuie to testily to the merits of the Davis Ver
tical Feed Sewing Machine. The machine I got of
you about five years ago. has been almost la con
stant use ever since that time. I cannot see that
it Is worn any, and has not cost me one cent for
repairs since we nave had it. Am well pleased
and don’t wish for any better.
Yours tru'y,
hoBT. Crawford,
Granite Quarry, near Wlnnsboro S. C.
We have used the Davis Vertical Feed Sewing
Machine for the last five years. We would not
have any other make at any pnee. The machine
has given us unboundeu satisfaction.
Very respectfully,
MR8. W. K. Turner and Daughters]
Fairfield county, S. C„ Jan. tl. 1883.
Having booght s Davis Vertical Feed Sewing
Machine from Mr. J. O. Boag soire three years
ago, and it having given me perfect satisfaction in
every respect as a family machine, both for hea y
and light sewing, and never needed the least re
pair in any way. I ran cheerfully recommeud it to
any one as a first-class machln - in every particu
lar, and think it second to none. It is one ot the
simplest machines made; my children use it with
all ease. The attachments are more easily ad
justed and it does a greater range of work by
means of its Vertical Feed than any other ma
chine I have ever seen or used.
Mrs. Thomas owinos.
Wlnnsboro, Fairfield connty, S. C.
We have had one of the Davis Machines about
tom ywan and Bar* always found it ready to do ail
kinds ot work we have had occasion to da Can’t
aee that the machine la worn any, and works as
well as when new.
Mbs. W. J. Crawford,
Jackson’s Creek, Fairfield county, 8. C.
My wife is highly pleased with the Davis Ma
chine bought of yon. She would not take double
what sue gave for It. The macniue has not
been out of order since she had it, and she can do
any kind of work on it.
Very Respectfully,
Jas. F. Free.
Monticelio, Fairfield county, S. C.
The Davis Sewing Machine is simply a treas
ure Mrs. J. A. Uoodwyn.
Ridgeway, N. C., Jan. 10, 1888.
J, O Boao, Esq., Agent—Dear Sir: My wife
has been using a Davis Sewing Machine constant
ly for tiic past four years, and it has never needed
any repairs an i works just as well as when fir at
bought She says it will do a greater range of
practical work end do it easier and bet’er than
any machine she uas ever used. We cheerfully
rscommend it as a No. 1 family machine,
Yonr tru.y,
Jas. Q. Davis.
Winnaboro, S. C., Jsn. 3,1883.
Mr. Boao : I have always found my Davis Ma
chine ready do all kinds of to work I have had oc
casion to do. I cannot see that the machine is
worn a particle and it works as wed as when new.
Respectfully,
Mrs. R. C. Gooding.
Wlnnsboro, S. C., April, 1883,
Mr. Boao : My wife has been constantly using
the Davis Machine bonght of >on about five years
ago. I have never regretted buying it, as /t is
always ready for any kind of family sew log, either
neavy or light It is never ont of fix or needing
ivpafra.
Very respectfnllT,
A- w. Ladd
Fairfield, & C., March, 1181.
But a word or a tone might awakeu
Its magical power anew,
Long after the sweet-voiced singer
Had faded from earthly view.
Not a heart that was ever so weary,
Or tainted with sin and despair,
But a word of tender compassion
Might find an abiding-place there.
Yet countless thousands are yearning
For sympathy, kindness and love,
And souls are groping in darkness
Without one gleam from above.
There was never a sunbeam wasted,
Nor a song that was sung in vain.
(and souls that seem lost in the shadows
A Saviour’s love may reclaim.
Then scatter the sunbeams of kindness,
Though your deeds may never be known.
The harvest will ripen in glory
If the seed be faithfully sown:
And life will close with a blessing,
And fade into endless day,
Like the golden hues of the sunbeam
That fade in the twilight gray.
HIS YOUNG WIFE.
“Well, Aunt Antonia, what do you
think of her?”
Mr. Way land had just come home
from business, and met his aunt ii. the
snug little drawing-room, where the
red plush curtains hung in such vivid
folds, and the fire glowed in the twi
light like a crimson jewel.
Somewhere in the room there was a
paphne-tree in full blossom. Y on could
smell its subtle sweetness, even though
you could not detect its whereabouts
by means of the eye ; and a bright-
plumed bird whistled softly in the half-
light, as if it were soliloquizing to it
self.
Rufus Way laud had not seen the old
aunt who had brought him up for a
year—a year which, to him, had been
full of eventful interest, for within its
bright cycle of months he had wooed
and won the wife who was to him the
sweetest creature in all the world.
And now, that Aunt Antonia had
returned from the South, he had looked
forward to her visit with a sense of
happy exultation.
“She will take a mother’s place to my
motherless Zoe,” bethought; “andshe
cannot help admiring the dear little
thing.”
And so he had hurried home from
his business upon this particular even
ing, to feast his ears on Aunt Antonia’s
tribute of delight and homage to Zoe’s
charms.
Aunt Antcnia was a tall, rather stiff,
elderly lady in black silk with compact
little bunches of gray curls on either
side of her face, gold spectacles, ami a
mouth which seemed to screw itself to
gether, instead of closing like other
people’s lips.
She allowed herself to be kissed af
fectionately by her nephew, and then
straightened out her cap-ribbons with a
sigh.
“I think, Rufus,” said she, sepulch-
rally, “that you have married a child!”
“Well, she is young,” admitted the
husband, laughing.. “But she is such
a darling!”
“She can’t he twenty,” said Aunt
Antonia.
“Just eighteen,” said Rufus.
“And so uninformed!” added the old
lady, who had a way of heaving up deep
sighs from the lower regions of her
lungs at the end of every sentence,
which was, to say the least of it, de
pressing.
“You mean—”
“No system!” said Aunt Antonia.
“No definite aim in life I No logic I”
“But,” pleaded Rufus Wayland,
“what does she want of system, and
logic, and all that sort of thing?”
“Sitting on the mg reading fairy
tales,” said Aunt Antonia, “like a
baby! And then confessing out and
out, to me, without so much as a blush
of shame, that she has never read Mil
ton’s ‘Paradise Regained,’ and is quite
ignorant of Shakespeare! Any ten-year-
old child ought to be ashamed to own
such flagrant ignorance ! And when 1
asked her about the aid societies and
charitable club in the neighborhood, she
couldn’t give me a single item of in
formation, but kissed me, and wanted
me to eat chocolate-creams out of a
pink-satin box!”
Mr. Wayland laughed.
“That ii just like Zoe,” he said.
And the next instant, Zoe herself
came into the room—a beautiful young
creature, with golden hair, hound care
lessly with blue filets of ribbon, (in a
way which Aunt Antonia secretly pro
nounced “crazy fashion,”) a pale-blue
silk dress and the prettiest of high-
heeled French slippers.
“Tea is ready, Rufus,” she said;
“and we’ve made a real Maryland syll
abub for Aunt Antonia.”
Could there be anything prettier or
more lovable—the young husband asked
himself—than this gold-tressed fairy
who flitted about the room, seeming to
create a sweet home atmosphere where-
ever she went—this dimpled little play
thing who knelt on the rug, playing
with the cat, and never attempted to
follow the thread of the conversation,
while Aunt Antonia and her nephew
discussed the Concord School of Philo
sophy and criticised the last volume of
essays and the latest poem?
“Because, you know, I'm not liter
ary,” confessed Zoe, as she drew a rose
bud about the carpet to attract the an
tics of pussy, and laughed a peal of
sweet, girlish laughter, wheu the rose
bud was captured at last.
But Mr. Wayland was a little graver
than usual that evening, after Aunt
Antonia and her candle had disappeared,
with a majesty not unworthy of Lady
Macbeth, into her own apartment,
which Zoe had filled with flowers, old
china, Turkey rugs, and all manner of
pretty trifles. Was Zoe really frivolous?
or was it that Aunt Antonia’s higher
plane of life dwarfed her narrow circle
of existence?
“Zoe,” said he, “you must have a
great deal of time?”
“Oh, plenty 1” said the bride, inno
cently.
“Don’t you think you could go through
WINNSBORO. S. C.. AUGUST 18. 1883
ESTABLISHED 1848
a course of reading, which my aunt
will mark out for you? Every lady reads
nowadays.”
“But I read, too,” said Zoe, with
wide open blue eyes.
“Solid literature, I mean,” corrected
her husband. “The English classics—
all that sort of thing.”
Zoe dropped her head.
“I—suppose so,” said she, slowly.
“Of course, I know that you are a
dear little housekeeper,” went on Rufus;
“but my auut reminds me that we
ought not to confine our sympathies
within the narrow range of our own
daily existence.”
“I don’ -mderstand,” said Zoe,
faintly.
“Aunt Antonia will explain,” said
Rufus. ’’There are always clubs to
join, mutual improvement societies to
organize, charitable associations to
form. And when you have once tasted
the pleasures of these improving occu-
pations—”
“Oh, yes, I know!” said Zoe. “And
I will try my best to do as you wish,
Rufus.”
But there was the shadow of new
gravity on that infantine face, a pen
sive intonation of the voice, which
Rufus Wayland had never heard before.
Aunt Antonia went to the hook store,
and ordered home huge editions of the
classics. She began a daily course of
reading with her nephew’s wife; she
initiated her into the mysteries of
clubs, societies, symiwsiums, until the
day became all too short for her engage
ments.
“Your wife is improving.” she said,
to Rufus, I really think she is awaken
ing to a sense of the responsibility of a
woman in the nineteenth century at
last.”
And Rufus kissed the peach-like,
dimpled cheek, and congratulated Zoe
on her mental advance.
But somehow the home was not so
sweet arid cozy. An impalpable some
thing was missing—the influence which
had followed Zoe’s light footsteps all
through the rooms, the glass of flowers
here, the looped curtains there, the
sheets of music on the piano, the bird
cage hung in the sunshine, the delicate
dish prepared by Zoe’s own fingers, the
whipped cream, the lucent jelly, the
carefully cut-up fruits—all the pretty,
quaint devices which had descended to
this young housekeeper through a long
line of Maryland ancestors.
They had been very pleasant. Rufus
Wayland had enjoyed them as we eujoy
the sweet air and sunshine, without
pausing to think whence they came;
and lie missed them now.
“But, all of a sudden, the delicate
little flower drooped, as a blue-hell
droops after a sharp September frost.”
“I am not sick,” said.Zoe; “oh, no!
But-1 fuel as if there wasn’t any more
strength left in me. I think I won’t
f et up to-day; I’ll lie in bed and rest.
To, no; don’t send for a doctor! I don’t
need medicine—I only need rest.”
Aunt Antonia stared. Herself strong
as an iron machine, it had never occur
red to her that all natures were not cast
in the same enduring mould. But the
old family doctor looked grave, and
shook his gray head.
“She has overdone herself,” he said;
“the results may he serious. Put away
her books; don’t so much as speak to
her about classics or societies.”
And Aunt Antonia had never, in
the course of her whole life, felt such a
pang as when the doctor whispered his
impression that little Zoe must, proba
bly, drift away from them into the
great unknown world, as the autumn
crept on.
“But there is nothing the matter
with herl” pleaded she, with a mist
gathering over the oval of her glasses.
“That is precisely the sort of case
that we physicians find most difficult
to deal with,” said Doctor Dean.
And one day Zoe put her soft, trans
parent little hand out upon that of her
husband.
“I am not asleep,’’said she. “Don’t
keep so quiet. But sometimes my
speech and mind seem to float away
from me, and so I had perhaps better
tell you now how sorry I am that I
have been such a disappointment to
you.”
“A disappointment! Zoe, my treas
ure!” cried out Rufus.
“I never could have been a nice lady,
like Aunt Antonia,” whispered Zoe ;
“it wasn’t in me. They were killing
me—those dreadful clubs, and the long,
long pages of blank verse, and the tire
some plays of Shakespeare, which I
never understood. Tell her it was very
kind of her to try and remodel me for
your sake, dear; but it never could have
been done. But I loved you, darling—
oh, so well! If I had been Sir Isaac
Newton himself, I couldn’t have loved
you any better. Always remember
that, won’t you; dear ? And now I’ll
try to sleep a little.”
Aunt Antonia looked blankly at her
nephew, as the soft lids drooped over
the big, blue eyes.
“We have made a mistake!” she
whispered.
“Yes,” said Rufus Wayland, hoarse
ly, “we have made a mistake; and if it
has lost me my little Zoe, I shall never
forgive myself!”
And Aunt Antonia felt like a crimi
nal.
But Zoe did not die. With tender
nursing and constant care, she re
covered; and when she was well enough
to travel, Rufus Wayland took her to
the bright Azores.
“Hang Milton and Shakespeare 1 ”
said he. “Confusion seize all these
Mental Improvement Associations and
Intellectual Saturnalias! Put ’em all
together, I don’t value them half as
much as one golden hair of Zoe’s dear
little head. You can’t make a stately
ibis out of a humming-bird, and I love
my dear little wife just as she is, for
what she is 1 ”
“You’re quite sure you wouldn’t
have me any different ? ” said Zoe, art
lessly.
“ My dear,” said the young husband,
“ if you were like Aunt Antonia—who,
thank fortune, has gone with a Socializ
ing Society somewhere up to the North
Pole—I should commit suicide.”
And Zoe laughed the old, sweet
laugh, and was happy once again.
Qrief hallows hearts, even while it
ages heads.
Th« g->ur«e of Matbematlar,.
Algebra is on Arabic word, denoting
the science of combining the separated.
The Moslems in Cairo zealously culti
vated it, and after they came to know
Euclid they became great mathemati
cians on the basis of the Writings of
(Jlandius Ptolemaeos, and also great as
tronomers and geographers. In thm
province, too, they owe to the ancient
Egyptians more than has hitherto been
acknowledged. It is by no means acci
dental that the greatest mathematicians
of Hellenic antiquity were styled pupils
of the E jyptians, or that it was said of
them that they had lived on the Nile.
Thales (600 B. 0.) is reported to have
measured the height of pyramid* by
their shadow. Pythaatfowuved long
in Egypt, and studied .^iarticnlarly at
Heliopolis. He is said to have been
master of the Egyptiarf language, and
Onnphis and Sonchis are mentioned as
his principal teachers. In the same city
of scholars was trained, under Nektaul-
bos L, Eudemos of Knidos, (357,) who
discovered among other things, that a
pyramid was the third p :rt of a prism
whose base and sides were equal. It is
well known that Euclid wrote his “Ele
ments” Alexandria, under the first
Ptolemy (Soter.) The great Eratosthe
nes, who was the first to measure a
meridian of the earth, owed his success
in doing so to the previ >ns investiga
tions made in that department by tbe
Egyptians, who were already able to
give with tolerableHcorracy the distance
in a straight hue from Alexandria to
Tyana. In all this there is nothing that
is new to mathematicians, but few of
them have auy acquaintance with the
records that make known to us tbe state
of mathematical science among the
Egyptians in the beginning of the
second miilenium B. C. Tlie Rbiud pa
pyrus, preserved in the British museum,
may be termed a band-book of ancient
Egyptian mathematics. It was written
by a certain Aahmesu, under one ot the
last Hykso kings, and shows that the
science of ancient times continued to
exist even under the bated conquerors.
The Heidelberg Egyptologist Fisenlohr
bus published this remarkable oodex
and a translation of it, with the assis
tance of Kantor, the well known authori
ty « n the history of mathematics. Some
of the mistaken renderings of these
scholars—easily excusable on account
of the groat difficulty of the matter—
have been pointed ont in a most acute
and stimulating paper by L H. Rhodet,
which we recommend to the attention
of all mathematicians. The Ruind pa
pyrus establishes the remarkable fact
that certain processes of reckoning used
by the writer of that very ancient doc
ument are identical with processes
found among the through
^hem, among the JMmUR the western
mathematicians of the middle ages, to
whom the writings of the Arabs were
made known, for the most part, by
Jewish scholars. When we find, for
example, the arithmetical process of
“false stating” to have been practiced
from the time of Aahmesu (abont 1700
B. C.) dowu to the sixteenth century A.
D., that seems remarkable enough; hut
it is more astonishing still to hud that
certain examples of progression which
extort a smile from us on account of the
heterogeneous character of their ar
rangement, are contained m the writ
ings of Fibonacci (Leonardo von Pisa)
abont the year 12(X) A. !>., in exactly
the same form in which they are given
by Aahmesu. This fact, discovered by
Rhodet, is so remarkable, so easily an-
deratood, and so striking to the eye,
that it will interest even the lay mind.
The Egyptian example is stated thus;
Scribes, 7; oats. 49; mice, 343; meas
ures of corn, 2,041; bushels, 16.8J7—
total, 19,607. That is, there are 7
scribes, and every tc ihe has 7 cits (49)
and each cat catches 7 mice (343); and
eyery mouse m a given time eats 7
measures of corn (2,401); and every
measure when sown produces 7 bushels
(16 8071, How much is the whole? 19,-
607.
Hudson Kiver ExcunrioiiH via I'oui. sylvan la
K. K.
Commencing Thursday, tho 5th instant,
and continuing on Thursday only until
further notice, this most delightful of all
tbe one-day excursions will be commenced
by the Pennsylvania K. K. by rail to Jer
sey City, and thence via the favorite
steamer, “Richard R ocktou,” to West
Point and Newburgh. Th • iieauties of the
Hudson river have been pronounced by
great travelers as equal to any in the wor d,
and by s me said to exceed the world-fa
mous scenery of the Rhine. Certainly there
is nothing to compare with it in point of
convet.ienee and cheapness, as the entire
tripcau be comfortably taken between early
breakfast and laie supper.
A special train to connect with the boat
will leave Broad Stret Station at 7.00 A.
M., on Thursday only, to stop at Powebon
avenue, Ridge avenue, Germantown Junc
tion, Frankford Junction, Torresdale, Bris
tol, and Trenton. Connection will be made
at Trenton by the train which leaves foot
of Marker street at 6.20 A. M., which train
stops regularly at a 1 principal stations be
tween Camden and fronton. The lare for
the entire round trip is only |2.50; children
between the ages of five and twelve, half
price.
A Peculiar Vicar.
The Vicar of Chart-Sutton, England,
let out the churchyard as a sheep past
ure, then refused to allow a parishioner
to beautify his faipily lot unless he
would first pay a fee of about $8, and
when this bad been paid apd nine
shrubs had been set out, he demauded
their removal on the ground that they
were injurious to the sheep. Not long
afterward the shrubs disappeared, but
the vicar denied all knowledge of the
matter until his warden confessed that
they were removed by the direct order
of the clergyman. The Archbishop of
Canterbury was appealed to, but re-
lused to interfere, as the churchyard
was the vicar’s freehold, and he hat
acted within his legal ngbts The sum
realized for the sheep pasture was about
$4 for the season.
-■•The United States Fish Commission
has this year distributed throughout
every State and Territory in the Union
80,000,000 white fish, 30,000,000 shad,
and 10,000,000 of tbe salmonid* species.
The commission has also distributed 12,-
009 German carp.
—Montgomery Blair has a spinal af
fection.
Trade In Rubber.
A dealer in Rubber recently said I
don’t believe there is another trade in
the world that is so full of interest to
the general student as the rubber trade.
“It is a study from beginning to end.
The land bordering the Amazon pro
duces the controlling amount of rubber
in the world. Fara is the principal
market for the rich plantations along
this queen of rivers. A thousand miles
of territory contribute to its markets.
From Ma^aos to Pan. the vegetation is
of the rakest character. It is here that
the Siphonia elastica, or rubber tree, at
tains its best growth. Vegetation is so
rank that it is almost impossible to
force one’s way through the tangled
mass of vines and stems without a vig
orous use of the hatchet or kuife. The
rubber tree attains a height of forty or
fifty feet, anp is as straight as au arrow.
Its rich dark foliage and reddish brown
trunk give it a very picturesque appear
ance. The rubber producing season
lasts from May to September. The
people who gather it are of the lowest
order of human beings. They live in
the most primitive manner, and are ex
posed to the extremes of weather at all
times. They are a short-lived race.
Their way of living is removed only a,
single step from that of 1 leasts. As in
all the lower orders of human beings,
the male tyrannizes over the female and
compels her to do the most menial
work. She gathers the rubber while he
lies in Iris hammock ami smokes or
sleeps off the effects of the white men’s
drink. The privations that are endur
ed during the gathering seasou are of
such a nature that noue hut natives
could undergo them and live. The
lowlands where the trees flourish best
are inhabited by venomous reptiles and
and insects, and the atmosphere is
loaded with ]>oisonous vapors.
“The Indian pushes his boat through
the overhanging foliage to the river’s
bank, clears a small spot on which to
swing his hammock, and is soon ready
for business. He then cuts paths
ihrough the underbush to ten or twelve
trees in the immediate vicinity. Incis
ions are made in the trunks of the trees
with a hatchet ar sharp knife. Beneath
these incisions small tin or earthen cups
are fastened by means of soft clay. By
the time he lias completed this work
the cups upon the first tree are filled
with a white sap resembling cow’s
milk. The Indian empties the cups
into a large gourd which he carries to
the spot where his hammock is swung.
A small fire is burning near by. He
throws a handful of uuts from the
palm tree upon the glowing coals and
places over them a hottomhess tunnel-
shaped earthen vessel. Taking a pad
dle-shaped instrument lie dips it iu the
white milk and holds its iu the dense
black smoke which pours out of the
mouth of the vessel. With each drying
a thiu layer of rubber is formed. The
process is continued until the paddle
has tw r o or three inches of rubber upon
it, weighing from ten to fifteen pounds.
This is then cut off with the matchete
i knife used by the natives—and af
ter a few davs’ drying m the sun is
ready for market. ’ Tile messes of rub
ber made in this way are called ‘ bis
cuits.’ While the process of drying is
going on the milk which lias been spill
ed on the ground coagulates into a soft
sour substance. This is gathered and
pressed into a round hall and sent to
market under the name of ‘negro
heads.’ The commercial value of ‘ bis
cuit ' ranges from 50 to 60 cents per
pound, and ‘ negro heads ’ from 30 to
40 cents per pound. The general law
of supply and demand renders these
prices subject to a wide variation.
“ When rubber is first made it is wet
and soggy, so that after it is paeked in
bales and shipped to this country or
Europe it undergoes a gradual shrink
ing process; An average estimate of
the shrinking of rubber from the time
it leaves Fara until it is received and
worked np by the manufactures is from
23 to 25 per cent. This fact must he
taken into consideration when making
purchases.
“On arriving at the factory, the bis
cuits are placed in a large vat of hot
water and allowed to soften. They are
then nm through powerful griuders
made of corrugated iron aud rolled into
sheets. After drying the sheets are
manufactured into boots, shoes and
other articles.
“ Although the whole torrid belt pro
duces rubber, its quality and composi
tion vary in different countries. Next
to the Amazon district, Central Ameri
ca produces the best and largest quanti
ty of ruober. Africa and the island of
Madagascar stand 1 next in orderj Dis
tinct grades of the common varieties
are produced in the Dast Indies and
the country near Calcutta. Some i»eo-
ple have au idea that rubber and gutta
percha are the same, but they are not,
although the latter comes from a tree
much resembling tne rubber tree. Gut
ta-percha has more durability hut less
elasticity than the former substance.
Wheu brought to the country it has the
appearance of wood or pieces of cark.
Owing to its restricted uses, gutta-per
cha does not tind a ready market. Its
use is chiefly confined to Cental purpos
es aud the wauufacture of telegraph
wires.”
“ Is rubber ever adulterated ? ”
“Yes. there are several substances
used as adulterants in the manufacture
of the cheaper grades of goods. The
most important of these is whiting.
Lately a substitute for rubber has been
made from cotton-seed oil, hut it has
not come into general use. Old rubber
boots and shoes are also utilized. They
are grouud up and devulcauized and
then mixed with the cheaper grades of
African rubber. Formerly all rubber
designed for the United States market
had to he shipped to England aud then
reslripped to this country simply be
cause we had no line of steamers run
ning between New York and Brazil.
This remained a serious drawback to
the development of the trade until
about a year ago, when the United
States aud Brazil Steamship Ccompany
was established. The cable communi
cations are now very good. Dispatches
are received aud sent each day between
merchants here and along the Amazon.
The expense of this item alone often
reaches |50 for a single day. Take it
all in all, there never has been a time
when rubber could he handled so exped
itiously as now. The speculators who
have been working up the present cor
ner in the market have learned ere this
that manufacturers here are not so
easily imposed upon as they thought.
The bottom must fall out of the high
prices soou and the market will return
to its normal condition. At present
the rubber men are enjoying a well-earn
ed holidays, some have gone to the
Bermudas, some to Florida, aud others
to Texas. Early summer will find
them all hack at their posts ready for
business.”
Getting Winter Furs Ready.
Manufacturers of fur garments are
making up sacques, dolmaus, muffs,
tippets, aud other articles for the fall
and winter trade, which begins in Au
gust and lasts until February. There
are not half a dozen houses making any
quantity in New York. The head of
oue of the largest houses iu the trade
said that only from 6,000 to 8,000 seal
skin sacques a year were made iu New
York, and the number for the whole
country was from 12,000 to 14,000.
There is au ample supply of sealskin
aud all other skins as well, this year,
so sealskin sacques will not he higher
in price than usual in the fall. They
will be worth from $125 to $250, accord
ing to the styk and quality. A sacque
cannot he turned out of a shop in leas
than two days and an eudless amount
of work is put on it in that time. Oue
who sees the back of the skin is apt to
think the body is all made up of little
pieces. That is not the case, although
the skius often have to he patched to
make them the required size. The slits
are where imperfections are cut out of
the skin, and frequently they are made
to lengthen out the skin while decreas
ing the width. All this requires great
dexterity. The skiu has to he cut iu
such a way that the fur will joiu niceiy
when sewed together, and not show tho
existence ot the seam. The workmen
ply their knives rapidly, and wheu they
get through, the skiu looks more like a
lot of holes than anything else. Skilled
women sew up the slits, the skiu Ls
saturated aud nailed ou a hoard aud
then cut for the garment. It takes
four or five skius to make a sacque.
With good care aud usage a sacque
will last four or five seasons.
Moths are the destroyers. Furriers
say they have seen every particle of fur,
where moths had beeu at work, drop
off when a sacque was taken from its
restiug-place, leaving the skiu bare. In
the shops the furs are constantly beaten
to keep the moths from destroying them.
A man takes a long limber stick in each
liand aud beats them with vigor. Under
the beating the moths roll back and
forth, aud the sharp blows make a clat
ter like boys pounding on a barrel with
stick. The natural color of a seal is
light hrowu after the hair is pulled out
ol the fur. The fur is dyed to give it
the rich dark-brown color. The dyeing
is done In England maiuly, where the
greatest perfection is attained aud the
tucilities are adequate. Trouble is ex
perienced in matohmg skius in color
exactly. Mink will be the popular lin
ing for sacques aud dolmans tills sea
son, the dealers say. Ermine and squir
rel skins will he used also. Fox-hair
trimmings are said to he out of date.
Imitations of seal are made of muskrat,
rabbit, aud mink skins, hut they can
be easily detected, in Europe skunk
skius are much worn as muffs and trim
mings, but not here. Beaver is male
up m this country, to a large extent,
into mutt's, tippets, and trimmings.
Fox skins serve for trimmings. Otter
is to be worn by children, in Canada
beaver sacques are sold largely. They
are considered too heavy in the United
States. Cat, dog, woif, aud nutria
skius are used for robes.
A Russian rilgrlinaite.
Mrs. Stevenson writes the following
account of a Russian pilgrimage to the
shriue of St. Nicholas, at Bari, in Italy:
‘•They were all dressed in a kind of
uniform, the men iu gray, barefooted,
with staffs slung over their shoulders,
ou which were tied bundles of clothes
aud a pair of hoots; the women wore
blue serge skirts, gray jackets, and red
handkerchiefs round their heads, aud,
like the men, earned bundles, with a
water-bottle and tin mug, on their
hacks. They were all slowly crawling
on the steps, with bleeding kuees and
toru, travel-stained garments, mutter
ing prayers and endless litanies, as they
toiled upward. Ou einermg the churcii
we saw a shocking sight, so paiuf ul that
1 hesitate to describe it. Four pilgrims
were ou their kuees, with their heads
beut down to the grouud in the most
unnatural attitude, theireyes shut, and
the swollen veins standing out like
cords irom their crimsoued foreheads.
A man walked by tiie side of each,
holding oue end of a handkerchief,
while the wretched penitent held the
other, and was thus guiued along the
pavement. For a few seconds we did
not realize what was taking place, hut
as they crawled onward we noticed four
marks like a dark ribbou behind them,
aud it dawned on us they were actually
licking the floor! Aud such a floor 1
Thousands of only half-civilized liuman
beings had beeu iu the church since
daybreak, as the tainted atmosphere
but too plainly showed. For over
eighty yards those wretched creatures
kept their tongues on the rough pave
ment, over every pollution that came in
their way. We were chained to our
seats by horror aud disgust, aud in
spite of ourselves stayed till they at last
reached the altar steps aud were per
mitted to rise. Their faces haunt me
still; the small, cunning eyes turning
stealthily toward us, aud as hastily
turned away; the half shame-faced,
half-ferocious look; the coarse, dirt-
smeared features, the matted heads of
hair, aud the lolling, lacerated tongues
bleeding ovet their chins. And these
were fellow creatures, these beuighted
wretches, looking like scared wild
The Buffalo.
In going down the Yellowstone and
aeroes the vast region lying between
Glendive and Mandan, one is struck
with the evident scarcity of game. This
famous region, where two or three years
ago herds of buffalo, antelope and deer
were to be seen on every side, is now, to
all appearances, strippe l of its game.
For the entire distance from Livingston
to Mandan 1 only saw two or three
small bands of antelope and not a sign
of a deer or buffalo. The fact is, the
slaughter of buffalo and deer has been
immense for the past two years, and
particularly of the former. It is esti
mated that daring the past winter there
have been 1,000 hunters engaged m
the business of slaughtering; buffaloes
along the line of the' Northern Pacific’
between Mandan and Livingston. An
eagle-eyed hunter got aboard of the
train at Glendive, and he gave me the
following interesting details as to the
modus operand! in slaughtering herds
of buffalo: In the first place the experi
enced hunter uses the Sharpe niia, 40-
99 calibre. With this he can kill at 1,000
yards. When he sees a herd of buffalo
he usually slips up to within convenient
range, from 3J0 to 500 yards, and al
ways selects a cow for his first victim
lie does this for the reason that the oow
is followed by both her yearling and
two-year-old calves, and they will usual
ly staud by her to the last. But uuder
no circumstances will the experienced
hunter kill his buffalo outngbt. If he
does, the herd will stampede at once.
The policy is to wound fatally, hut so
that the animal will dash around in a
circle before falling. This it always
does where mortally wounded, aud after
a few moments lies down. The remain
der of the herd are not alarmed at this,
but continue to gaze or look ou d >zed
spectators oi the tragedy ben g enacted.
Alter his first shot the hunter pauses
uutil quiet is restored, and again fires
at another oow with similar results. He
always Rims to put his ball just behind
the fore shoulder, which will cause death
in five minutes at farthest. Wheu the
cows have been all slain he turns bis at
tention to the calves, aud lastly to the
balls. The experienced hunter general
ly bags his entire herd, unless he is so
unfortunate as to drop his game imme
diately, when all the survivors stampede
at once. The buffalo does not scare at
tue crack of a gun. He has decidedly
more courage than discretion. It is only
when the crack is followed by an imme
diate fall that he realizes its deadly na
ture and takes alarm. The policy of
killing the cows first and then the calves
has resulted iu almost the utter extiuc-
tion of the female buff do. Herds of
melancholy bulls can still occasionally
be seen, sometimes in bands ot twenty
or thirty, and often without a single
oow. The few remaining cows now have
their pick of lovers, and always choose
from the young blood of the herd.
The buffalo ball, after he passes his
fourth year, loses his attractiveness to
the opposite sex, and the aversion
seems to be mutual. Gathering about
him his bachelor friends of equal age, he
sullenly retires mto the wilderness and
forever avoids the female members of
the herd, who mate with younger and
more uxorious masculines. As I have
said, the built are about all that are now
lett of the buffalo. They largely owe
their safety to the foot that their hides
are less valuable than those of thecows,
while at the same time they are far
rnore difficult to kill. The hide of the
bull is only worth to the huuter from
$1.89 to $2, while that of the cow briugs
$3.25, aud that of the two-year-old calf
is worth from $1 to $1.50. But of late
there baa sprang np quite a demand
throughout the East for the head of the
buffalo bull. The well-preserved head
of an aged bull decked out with glass
eyes and horns iutast will readily sell
for $25 in the Eastern markets. Conse
quently the buffalo hunter of the future
will wage a destructive war upon tbe
bull tribe, and these venerable relies of
a bygone era will also pass swiftly
away.
Racing with • lempent.
On the 4th of July Prof. Grimley as
cended in a balloon from Honesdale,
Fa. At five o'clock the same afternoon,
or only two hours later.he descended iu
the forests of Neversink, ahgnting in a
large biroh tree standing in the southern
slope of the mountains, facing the valh y
of the west bank of the Neversink, at a
distance of abont one aud a half miles
from the lumber mills of Revilo Mahrix.
The aeronaut says that he was followed
throughout the entire distance from Ho
nesdale to the place where he descended
by a violent thuuder storm, the balloon
keeping about four miles in advance of
the storm. The scene afforded by the
rapidly pursuing tempest, according to
his description, was grand and impress
ive in the extreme. His purpose was to
reach the Hudson river, but just as he
came over the valley of the Neversink a
terrific thunder storm burst over the
summit of the Great Slide mountain,
toward which the wind was rapidly
carrying him. Not wishing to plunge
iujo the terrible war of the elements he
saw raging there, he palled the valve
string of his balloon and descended,
alighting, as before stated, in a large
birch tree. He fastened his balloon to
a limb at a height of sixty feet from the
ground, and sliding dowu the trank of
the tree made nis way out of the forest
to the residence of Andrew J. Maben.
Here he remained over night The fol
lowing morning he employed s number
of woodsmen and went back to the
place of his descent to get his balloon,
which, notwithstanding its partial col
lapse from tho exhaustion of gas when
he left it the evening before, was found
fully expanded and soaring at the limits
of us tether above the great tree. After
great labor, being compelled to out
down no less than sixteen trees, they
succeeded in getting the aerial monster
to the gaound without injury. As soon
as the gas was exhausted it was packed
up and brought outof the woods, thence
by team to Big Indian Station, on tbe
Ulster and Delaware Railroad, abont 39
beasts I What religion can that be which j miles from this city, where the Professor
permits such a frightful exhibition, such i arrived late at nigfit, tired and hungry,
of human degradu- 1 bat congratulating himself on the sue-
j cessfui termination of his trip.
a loathsome scene
ation!”