Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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TRI-WEEKLY EDITION. WINNSBORO. S. 0.. OCTOBER 18. 1883. ■ - ESTABLISHED 1848 THE VERDICT THE INCONSISTENT HEART. -OF- THE PEOPLE BOY THE BEST! Mb. J. 0. Bcuo—Dear Sir: 1 bougut tne Drat Dans Machine sold by you over five years ago for my wife, who has given it a long and fair trial. I am well pleased with It. It never Rives any rouble, and Is as good as when first bought. J. W. UOI.ICI. Wlnnsboro, S. C., April 1888. Mr. Boag: lou wish to know what I have to say In regard to the Davis Machine bought of you three f ears ago. I feel I can’t say too much in its favor. made about $80,00 within live months, at times running it so fast that the needle would get per fectly hot from friction. I feel confident I could not nave done the same work with as much ease aad so well with any other machine. No time lost In adjusting attachments. The lightest running machine 1 have ever treadled. Brother James and Williams’ families are as much pleased with their Davis Machines bought or you. I want no better machine. As I said before, I don’t think too much can be said for the Davis Machine. - Respectfully, Ellen Stevenson, FalrlMd County, Apri', 1883. Mr. boas : My machine gives me perfect satis faction. I find no fault with It. The attachments are so simple. 1 wish for no better than the Davis Vertical Feed. Respectfully. Mrs. R. Milling. Fairfield county, Apn\ 1883. Mr. boag: i bought a Davis vertical Feed e wing Machine from you four years ago. I am elighted with 1L It never has giveu me any rouble, and has never been the least out of order. It is as good as when 1 first bought it. I can cheerfully recommend It. Respectfully, Mrs. M. J. Kirkland. Montlcelio, April 30. 1883. This is to certify that I have been using a Dans Vertical Feed Hewing Machine for over tw i years, purchased of Mr. J. O. Boag. 1 haven’t found It possessed of any fault—all the attachments are so simple. It never refuses to work, and is certainly the lightest running in the market. I consider it a first class machine. Very respectfully, Minnie m. Willingham. Oakland. Fairfield county, 8. C. Mr Boag : i am wen pieasea m every particui with the Davis Machine nought of you. I think a first-class machine In every respect. Yon know you sold several machines of the same make to dillerent members of our families, all of whom, as far as I know, are well pleased with them. Respectfully, Mrs. M. H. Mobi. Fairfield county, April, 1883. LEY. 'Ihia isto certify we nave nad in constant use the Davis Machine bought of you about three 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 have to do. No puckering or skipping stitches. We can only say we are well pleased and wish no better machine, l ATHRKINE WYLIE AND SISTER. April 25, 1888. I have do fault to Hud with my nuoh ne, aad dou’t want any better. I have made tne price of it severa times by taking In sewing. It is always ready to do Its work. I th uk it a first-class ma chine. I feel I can t say too much for the Davis Vertical Feed Machine. Mrs. Thomas Smith. FairCeld county, April, 1883. Mr. J. O. Boag—Dear Sir; It gives me much pleasure to testify to the merits of the Davis Ver tical Feed Sewing Machine. The machine I got of you about five years ago. has beeu almost la con- ■taut use ever since that time. I cannot see that it is worn any, and has not cost me one cent for repairs since we have had it. Am well pleased and dou’t wish tor any better. Yours tru'y, Host. 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 price. The machine haa given us unbounded satisfaction. Very respectfully, Mrs. W. K. Turner and Daughters Fairfield county, 8. C., Jan. 21,1883. tiaViug uOuglit a Davis Vertical ceeu dewing Machine from Mr. J. O. Boag some three years ago, and It having given me perfect satisfaction in •very respect as a family machine, both for hea y and light sewing, and never needed the least re pair In any way, I can cheerfully recommend It to any one as a first-class machine In every particu lar, and think It second to none. It la one ot the simplest machines made; my children use It with all ease. The attachments are more easily ad justed and it duei a greater range of work by meana 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 DavU Machines about four years and have always found It ready to do all kinds of work we nave had occasion to no. Can’t ■ee that the machine is worn any, and works as well as when new. Mrs. W. J. Crawford, Jackson’s Creek. Fairfield conntv. s. C. My wife Is highly pleased with the Davis Ma chine bought ot yon. She would not take double what sue gave for It. The machine has not been out of order since she had It, and she can do uny kind of work on It. Very Respectfully, Jas. F. Free. Montlcelio, Fairfield county, 8. C. The valley was bathed In glory this morn ing, For high o’er the mountain tops hung the bright sun; The fragrant winds bore the notes of the songsters In through my casement, in soft liquid runs. But out in the garden some one was hum ming A plaintive strain of the Miserere; And I hid my face in my downy pillow. While my heart re-echoed the minor key. Down o’er the heather, where gowans were bending, I walked, while the bells rang a musical chime; The harebells blossomed; this world was an Eden; The brooklets were purling a musical rhyme, But my wayward heart went back to the morning, To the quivering voice and the minor key, The wonderful depths of the passionate sorrow . And the wailing cry of the Miserere. I still heard the birds with their clear-voiced music, And the warm sun still smiled with radi ant light; The Soft blue mists that the mountain en shrouded Like a fleecy veil hid the cliffs from my sight, All the world was as fair as a dream of heaven And my life was as sweet as a life could he: But somehow my wayward heart kept re peating The sorrowful wail of the Miserere. The DavU Sewing Machine is slmplr a treas ure Mrs. J. A. uoodwyn, Ridgeway, N. C., Jan. 10, 1883. J.O Boao, Esq., Agent—Dear Sir: My wife has ueen using a Davis Hewing Machine constant ly for the past four years, and it has never needed : any repairs anu works Just as well as when first bought. She says It will do a greater range of practical work und do it easier and better than any machine she has ever used. We cheerfully recommend it as a No. 1 family machine, Your tru_y, Jas. Q. Davis. Wlnnsboro, S. C., Jan. 3,1883. Mr. Boao : I have always found my DavU Ma chine ready do all kiuds of to work I have had oc casion to do. I cannot aee that the machine _ worn a particle and it works as wed as when new. Respectfully, Mrs. R. C. Goodino. Wlnnsboro, 8. C., April, 1883, Mr. Boao : My wife haa been constantly using the DavU Machine bought of you about five years aco. 1 have never regretted buying It, aa u U always ready for any kind of faiully sewing, either heavy or light. It U never oat of fix or neeain repeus. Very respectfully, a. w. Ladd. Fairfield, & a, March, 186$. JOHN WARE’S NURSE. There are two reasons why Joanna Blight had her studio up in the man sard. In the first place, she craved quiet and seclusion, in the second—well, Mrs. Algernon Mowry was veiy much ashamed of it. Mrs. Mowry was quite content that “her husband’s niece” should pay her board bill. The money was very ac ceptable to them in their narrow cir cumstances. But for the life of her Mrs. Mowry could not see why Joanna preferred to earn her own living when she had a brother able to support her. This little studio was a very pretty dace. The bare floor was patched with iright-colored rugs; the walls were iinted a delicate blue, bordered with larmonious bands of crimson, olive, and gold. There was one wide window to the front, and near it, at her easel, Joanna sat one sweet April morning, finishing a birthday card in water-colors. From time to lime she would pause at her work, and, leaning back in her chair, she would watch the builders over the way. Some one had bought the corner lot and the two lots adjacent to it ou tlie main and side streets. Within the past six weeks a charming little Queen Anne cottage had sprung up there as if jy magic. Rumor said that it was being built for a gentleman from Washington. “He must be a man of taste,” Joan na thought as she took in the graceful effect of the building, even in its un finished state. “How I should like to live in a house like thatl Tiles and ter ra cotta and low-down gratesl That ought to make life worth living!” Joanna smiled at her own fancies as she took up her brush and palette. When she looked up again the men were hoisting some heavy framework jy means of a pulley. “Look out therel” cried a tall, manly fellow on the roof, who towered head and sholders above his companions. He was a well-made man, with a rich, bronze skin, and a full brown beard that had concealed his finely shaped neck. The only parts of his dress visi ble were a blue Cardinal jacket and a pair of overalls. “Tney have got a new workman,” Joanna observed idly. “What.a splen did fellow is! I wonder what business a carpenter has with a face and figure like that? Sometimes it seems to me that nature blunders sadly.” That stalwart young carpenter disap peared meanwhile, and Joanna left her work. I wish the Palette club didn’t meet this afternoon,” she murmured as she passed into the next room and began to unplait her long, thick, yellow braids, Her toilette was simple, but somehow it went lorward slowly. She felt rather dull that day, and as she smoothed her hair in a leisurely fashion, she hummed to herself— Heighol for the holy! Most filendshlp is feigning— Most loving mere folly] So she went on, placidly pinning up her braids again, and never once dreaming of what happened since she left the window until Mabel came bursting into the room with a panic- stricken face. “Joanna,” she cried, hysterically, “come on down stairs! One of the workmen has fallen off the new house, and they’ve brought him over here.” “Good heavens!” Joanna exclaimed. “Is he killed?” “I don’t know,” Mabel answered with a burst of tears. He’s all covered with dirt and blood, and—he just looks awlul!” Joanna went flying down stairs, and met her aunt in the hall. Mrs. Mowry was on the verge of hysterics. “Do go in and see what they are doing!” she cried. “Good heavens, who would have dreamed of such thing? And all these men with their muddy, boots tramping over my car pet—” “Where have they taken him?” Joanna interrupted, as she turned away with ill-disguised contempt. “In the library.” sobbed Mrs. Mowry. ‘“Oh, I don’t know how you can bein’ to go in! My nerves could not endure it.” But Joanna pushed past her with prompt determination. As she enteref the room she saw a little, horror- stricken group of men in blue blouses, and overalls hovering about the lounge on which the injured man was lying. She took several steps toward them and then a low, startled cry escapee her lipe. It was the handsome younj; workman whose splendid physique she had admired only an hour previous, and there he lay, white, crushed, and 1 bleeding. “Have you sent for a doctor?” she said, as she dropped on her knees be side the passive, insensible form. “Yes’m,” answered one of the work men, who i-tood a*; his head. “We sent right off.” “Who is this man,” she asked, quickly. “Where does he live?” “This man here? I dunno, ma’am. His name’s John Ware. He is a new hand. We don’t know' nothing about him. lie w'as kind of a bossy chap, and yet he didd’t seem to know so all- fired much either—did he, Eli?” “Don’t you know any of his friends?” Joanna asked. “Where does he live?” “Deed, I couldn’t tell ye, ma’am. I don’t know nothing about him. The doctor came, and his verdict was a grave one. Joanna came out of the library with a pale, resolute face. • “Aunt Margaret,” she said, quietly, “they are going to take him up to my room.” “What!” Mrs. Mowry screamed, in a spasm of hysterical horror. ‘ ‘Joanna, are you mad?” He says he has no friends in the city; and, anyhow, the doctor says it might be fatal to move him from the house. The slightest jar makes him suffer unspeakable agony.” “But, Joanna, it is utterly impossi ble for us to keep him here. Think of the—the expense. He’s only a laboring man, and ” “I will bear whatever expense his being here may entail upon you.” “But suppose he dies on your hands? Or he may lie here for months. For heaven’s sake, send him to the hos pital!” • “I cannot think of doing anything so inhuman. He may occupy my room, Aunt Margaret. Do not distress your self about it. I will see that he does not occasion you the slightest annoy ance.” So John Ware was installed in the ittle bedroom back of the studio, and the doctor came and went for weeks jefore it was really known that the patient would recover. Joanna nursed him with untiring devotion. “You really think lie will get well now?” she said, some days afterwards, with womanly tears in her eyes. The doctor took her hand and pressed it warmly. “Yes,” he answered; “thanks to you!” The patient had been sleeping, but now he opened his ejes, and they shone with a glad welcome as they fell upon the pale, sweet face of Joanna. “I was just saying, my young I’riend,” observed the doctor, releasing Joanna’s slim fingers to take up John Ware’s finely shaped hand, which was now as white as marble—“I was just saying that you owe your life more to ’ Urs. Blight than you owe it to me. ” The handsome fellow gave her a look so full of gratitude tliat it was almost admiration. “I shall never forget her!” he said, in a musical voice that promised to be rich and deep when he grew stronger. “1 cannot even estimate what I owe ler, much less repay her.” Joanna did not like to be thanked, and she slipped away at the first op- jortunity; but she carried with her the memory of that handsome head, with its crown of chestnut curls resting softly among the pillows. The weeks w r ent on, and John Ware was convalescent. It was one midsummer morning that he sat at the window of the study in an easy chair while Joanna made a feint of working a little in oils. But what did it mean, the tender ight that shone in John Ware’s eyes as they rested on her lithe, graceful figure clad in pure white? Why did Joanna’s hand tremble as it held the jalette? And why was her face so often suffused with a sweet, conscious blush? “Why don’t you come over here and talk to me?” he said, witli the pre sumption of an invalid. “1 have something better to do, Mr. V iT O T-ZY eVlA O T^OVETSTi i a I AJAAVf MA4AJ «« VSAV/Il) AAAAA)\SA4AV V VMAOA J • “But you don’t know what you are missing. The little cottage must be complete now. Here comes a wagon load of new furniture.” Like every woman (and every man), Joanna had some curiosity, and this announcement brought her to the win dow without delay. Certainly, there was a wagon-load of furniture, and such turniture! In that load, which was the first of several that came that day, there was a beauti ful oaken sideboard, exquisitely carved; a .quaint, lacquered cabinet, ebony bookcases, a handsome brass bedstead, and dear knows what not. “They are going to make a very pretty home out of it,” John Ware observed. “How do you like the house?” Joanna’s eyes sparkled. “0,” she cried, clasping her hands together, “I think it is perfectly charm ing! But, she added, with sudden gravity, “I should think it would make you shudder to look at it.” “Oh! no,” he answered, with perfect calmness. Then he added, softly, “It might, under different circumstances. But if I had never had that fall I should never have known you as I know you now.” Joanna did not speak; but presently she felt his firm clasp upon her hand. Still, he did not look at her.” “You know what has been tremb ling on my lips for weeks,” he said. “1 would not ask you to make the smallest sacrifice for me, if you felt it was a sacrifice; but I love you, Joanna, and my happiness will never be com pleted unless you are my wife.” He did not ask her to marry him; he did not press his suit. He simply told her. She might dc as slie chose. As for him, he knew tnat a mere mechanic had no social right to win such a wo man as she for his wife; but then— “I could not help telling you,” he said, turning towards her for the first time. “The merest galley slave may look at the stars and love them. I can go away—no, no! I cannot go away! Joanna, speak to me!” She was trembling like a leaf. “I know it!” he cried, triumphantly, as he caught her in his arm. “But I was not so sure that your love was strong enough to set at defiance the ridicule of society. I did not know that you would stoop to marry a car penter.” “It is not the carpenter* I mean to marry,” she said, hiding her face on his shoulder. “It is the man.” When Mrs. Mowry heard of it there was a scene, of course. In an hysteri cal burst of tears she jteclared that Joanna would disgrace tjl family, and ended by ordering her out of the house. John Ware demanded an account of this interview, and heard it with com pressed lips and an angry frown. “Joanna,” he said, taking her two hands in his, “you must marry me to day. I have a little saved, and we will make a home of our It will be very humble, of course, but—” “1 don’t mind that,” she said, smil ing at him through a mist of tears. You know I am a decorative artist. Besides, I always had a fancy for love m a cottage.” They were married that very evening. John had a carriage at the parsonage waiting to take them away. “What extravagance!” cried Joanna. “This is a bad beginning ” “One isn’t married every day,”8 aid John, laughing. “I am going to take you to the house of my dearest friend, Joanna.” The carriage stopped in front of a dwelling that was shrouded in darkness. John took a key from his pocket and opened the door himself. “My ^friend is away,” he said. “I have the entree of his house in his absence.” Taking a match from his pocket, he it the gas in the hall and ran lightly up stairs. Joanna followed m amazement. She had expected to enter a humble home, but she found herself in a perfect palace of luxury. John lit the gas up stairs. When she entered the room he had thrown open, he stood in the middle of the floor with his face all aglow. “You like it?” he queried, as he noted the wonder and delight pictured upon her face. “Joanna, I have de ceived you. This is the Queen Anne cottage opposite your aunt’s—this is my louse—your house, darling; our home! I am not the poor carpenter you thought me, Joanna. I am J. M. Ware, architect and designer, if you please.” Joanna could not say a word. “I wanted to see how things were going on, and so 1 came here in person. But I knew that the men would pat their best feet foremost if I came to watch them, so I Just appeared on the scene as a new workman, and they never guessed who I was. I did not intend to deceive you. At first I was too ill to explain. Afterwards, Joanna, when I learned to love you—and I learned that very soon, dear, I wanted ' ;o win you for my own very self, and so I let you think me nothing but a poor carpenter, whereas I am rich, my darling, rich in every way, and, please God, you will never regret your choice.” “It would take a long time to tell what Joanna said, but Mrs. Mowry never said a word. What could she say? John and Joanna are perfectly happy in their beautiful home. It is love in cottage, and there’s a great deal of love in it. The Cnlnese in New Yom. “How many Chinese are there in New York” asked a reporter of an of ficer of the Chinese Consulate recently established here. “We are now engaged in making a list of Chinese in New York, which will tell the exact number. At present can only say that we estimate the number at three thousand.” ~ “Are there any women among them?” “I am told that one Chinese woman lives here, somewhere on Sixth avenue. You know that most if not all of the men come here from San Francisco. This trip, witli the ocean voyage to California, is rather expensive to the average Chinaman, and would be more so, of course, if he brought his family. Besides, the larger number expect to return to China.” ‘ What are the occupations of these three thousand?” “Most of them are laundrymen, some cigar-makers and the rest petty mer- cliants. There is, however, a firm in Broadway, opposite Astor Place, which imports bric-a-brac, &c. There are no Chinese importers of teas that I know of.” “Where do they get the names of ‘Lee,’ ‘Sing,’ ‘Lung,’ &c?” pursued the reporter. “Oh those simply represent certain Chinese sounds. I can give you a curi ous fact or two about their names. One is that, by an old custom in China, a man has one name in business and another in his private life. The other fact is that their names corres ponding to the English John, Tom, &c„ follow, not precede the family name. Some, however, have adopted the English way.” “How much intercourse is there be tween the Chinese and Japanese here?” “None whatever. You may be interested in learning that though the two nations use the same characters for writing, one cannot understand the spoken langauge of the other. The Japanese here number about four hundred.” “Is not the language very difficult to acquire?” “Extremely so, there being, for in stance, seven thousand letters, each having four sounds.” “Do the Chinese have any religious or joss-houses here?” “There isn’t any in this city, but I believe there is one in Nsw Jersey in connection with a large laundry—a case of cleanliness next no godliness,you cj/wv 99 Dv\3e —The only place y^here jute Is manu factured into grain bags ih California is at the State Prison in San Quentin. The operatives net a monthly profit of between (4000 and (6000. Stocking knitting is the most profitable employ ment given convicts in the Eastern Penitentiary in Philadelphia. Grain-Estlna Bird*. The finches are pre-eminently a grain- loving species—using this expression In its widest and most general acception— but they are never known to do much mischief to cereals. The cardinal gros beak and towhee evince a fondness for rice and corn, but are never so numer ous as to be sources of much alarm to the farmer Among columbine birds, to whj# bur various doves belong, the wilcbor migratory pigeon is sufficiently abundant in certain localities to be of incalculable injury. But then, these birds frequent timbered regions and waste fields in proximity to running streams rather than thickly populated districts, and have a seeming prefer- •nca for arboreal fruits; and when there is a scarcity of sdfch diet they feed upon the seeds of last year’s growth. Barring the destructive, grain-loyjng sparrow of Europe, now well-gpiab- lished in this country, we liaye m^re to dread from the stbrlingsramFcrows than from all other species combined. The sub-family of orioles, from the smallness of its grain-eating propen sity, can hardly be considered as an enemy of the agriculturist, and there fore must be passed by without a more extended notice. Of the marsh .black birds, the bobolink, swamp blackbird and meadow lark call for a share of at tention. The bobolink has at different seasons of the year a remarkably extended dis tribution. In its migrations it traver ses the whole of the United States east of the high central plains to the Atlan tic seaboard, as far north as the fifty- fourth parallel, which is considered as its most northern limit. Its food with us consists of the seed of various weeds and grasses of valueless kiuds and grubs of diverse ground beetles, as well as the mature forms themselves, and grasshoppers, crickets, bats and plant-lice. At the South these birds do a vast amount of injury to the young wheat as they are passing northward in the spring, and upon the rice-planta tions, on their return in the fall. Throughout their breeding territory they are not known to molest crops, but confine their food to destructive insects and useless weeds. About the middle of August or early in September the flocks wend their way southward. They soon congregate in large numbers among the marshes of the Delaware, where they are eargerly .hunted by sportsmen under the name of reed birds, their flesh being a racy and toothsome article of diet. Two weeks later they swarm among the rice fields of South Carolina. They are now called rice birds. Southern epicures pursue them with the same tireless en ergy and pleasure, and tlmusands fall a sacrifice. In October they halt again among the West India Islands, where they feed upon the seeds of a certain species of grass, which render them exceedingly fat. The sporting frater nity here call them butter birds, and vast numbers are destroyed for the table. They render immense service to the cultivators of Sea Island cotton by destroying the larv® of the obnoxious cotton worm. The swamp blackbird, is being 'a lover of swamps and low, humid grounds, from which fact the species takes its name, extends throughout the whole of North America from the At- antic to the Pacific northward to the fifty-seventh parallel ot latitude. While these birds may occasionally be seen in the stubble fields in quest of the fallen grains of wheat and rye, we have never observed them to attack these plants while standing. With respect to buck wheat we cannot say so much. In some ocalities they manifest a relish for the grain, which they do not hesitate to take from the sown ground as well as from the stalk. But, when all is told to the detriment of the species that can be said, a long experience has taught us that the millions of insects which these birds annually destroy compen sate, in more than quadruple ratio, the farmer for the losses—never enor mous—which he sustains. The meadow lark is resident over large portions of the United States. It ranges from Florida to Texas on the south, and from Nova Scotia to the plains of the Missouri on the north. It is fond of lowlands, more elevated situations only occasionally being cho sen. With us it manifests considerable distrust, shunning rather than court ing the society of man, although in Georgia and South Carolina it consorts with the kill-deer plovers about the yards and outbuildings, showing won derful familiarity. Their food consists of seeds of grasses, blackberries and strawberries—the wild kinds—and ground beetles, fern-leaf beetles, grass hoppers, crickets, ants, earth-worms, field in spring and to the corn while shocked in the fall. Such is their pas sion for this staple product that they defy all efforts of the husbandman to keep them away. Scarecrows are of no avail. The gun must be brought into requisition, and it is only by deci mating their ranks with powder and shot that the grain is at last saved from total destruction. In DaleearUe, Sweden. Phenomenal Horse-Fle*b. Passing through the station we open ed the door into a new world. Crowded around the ticket office was a score of people of both sexes, wearing the dis tinctive dresses of a half-dozen Delecar- lian parishes. We had stepped from the auditorium into the wing8;'*»01d men in buckskin small-cfbthes and leather aprons jostled pretty peasant girls in quaiqt pointed caps and many- hued kerchiefs; mothers witli leather sacks full of babies on their backs, and workmen with bundles of tools, all clamored eagerly for tickets, evidently too little familiar with rail- w r ay travel. Here and there flash ed among the drapery the orange- yellow aprons of the women, enlivening the color composition of the group with a few strong notes, and cheering us with the proof that we had not lost the trail. Fortunately it was near midsummer, the vegetation was in its perfection, and the sun shone for nearly twenty hours each day. The people, sun-worshipers in their way, were preparing for the festivities of Midsummer-day—a popu lar holiday, which is celebrated on the 24th of June, and is perhaps more than any other day the great Dalecarlian festival. From the railway line it is about twenty-five miles to Siljan Lake, and the chief means of communication is by steamers on the Dal-Elf, or river Dal, a shallow stream only navigable at intervals. Wagons, by courtesy called diligences, transport the passengers around the rapids and shoals,and mater ially add to the discomforts of the journey. The Dal-Elf is so near like the American backwoods stream that it is not remarkable that the Swede who exchanges his small river farm for the extensive woodland tract in Ameri ca rarely experiences the pangs of home sickness, but settles down to a content ed life of diligent toil. The stream ed dies are full of timber on its way to the saw-mills below. The odor of pines and spruces fills the air, daisies and butter cups sprinkle the fields, pond-lilies dot the surface of the meadow-pools, and a bright sun ripens the grain waving in the large fields redeemed with difficulty from the stony slopes or from the dense forests that cover the hill-sides. Shut your ears to the sound of men’s voices, and you cannot believe you are in Sweden. That;little,gray log house in the distance, with its shingled roof, the cattle sheds and bams, the well-sweep and curb, the stone walls and post-and- rail fences, might be transported bodly and set down in the backwoods of many a State and never be noticed for the dif ference of a single stick of timber or the fashioning of a single stake. Let the door open and the geography changes by magic. A little child totters out into the sunlight. It is dressed in a single long garment of yellow homespun wool as bright as the petals of the buttercups or the dandelions. From under a close- fitting cap of vermilion hue straggles out a mass of flaxen hair. A stout leather apron tied under the arms and over the shoulders protects the dress from the chin to the toes of the clumsy little shoes, A half-dozen other chil dren dressed exactly the same troop out after it, and following them, the mother, witli a curious poke sun-bonnet of bright red rivaling in brilliancy the crimson of her homespun apron, carries a pail on each arm to milk the cows lowing at the pasture bars. The fath er comes to the ’oor of the barn to say a word as they pass. But for his leath er apron shining with wear you would take him for a New England farmer of Continental times, with his low shoes, knee-breeches, long waistcoat and felt hat. The ever equalizing influences of modem science have not yet reached them, and they live and feel much tiie same as their great grandfathers did be fore them. plant-lice, caterpillars, ’grubs, butter flies and moths. They are indiscrimi nate feeders. Injurious and beneficial in sects are alike destroyed. In the autumn these birds, young and old, collect in small flocks, and retire to the South. They gather in large numbers In the rice fields, being passionately fond of this grain, and also about the buildings wh^re it is deposited. During the win ter in Alabama and Western Florida they visit the salt marshes in flocks of from ten to thirty, where they obtain food and shelter. Although destroying considerable rice, it cannot be reckoned an unmitigated nuisance, but rather a benefactor to man than otherwise. Its Western cousin has a better reputation, however, for it feeds upon seeds ana insects chiefly, destroying vast num bers of the latter, but is not known to do any damage to the crops. The crow blackbird, sometimes called purple grakle, exhibits three distinct varieties. From North Florida in the Squth, to Maine, and from the Atlan tic to the Allegheny Mountains, it is known by the latter name. In th country west of the Alleghenies as far southward as the Rio Grande and thence to the Missouri plains on the northwest to the Saskatchewan, and to Maine, and NovaScotia on the north east, it takes the name sf bronze gra kle. Few species are more condemed than this, notwithstanding the great good which it confers upon man. Its bad reputation is due not so much to its destruction of the cherry as to the damage which it does in the com Give Your Wife a Vacation She needs one. Little cares are hard* er to be born than great responsibilities; and she has many more little cares than her husband, and sometimes as great re sponsibilities. Who needs a vacation if she does not? And she cannot get it at home. The more quiet and restful the home is to you, the more evidence that it is a care, if not a burden, to her. If you see no friction, it is because she is so skilful an engineer. If you see no machinery, it is because she makes it run so smoothly. It is true that it is always difficult to make a wife and mother take a vaca tion. The better the wife and mother she is, the greater is the difficulty. She thinks that no one can take care of the house as she can. And she is right. She is sure that no man can take her place in the care of the children. Right again. Nevertheless, she needs her vacation; and she will be a better housekeeper and a better mother fer a week’s rest. The house will value her more for a week’s abdication of her throne. Her children will appreciate her better for a week’s laying down of her scepter. Is she sometimes irritable'* She is tired. Is she sometimes depress ed and gloomy? She is over-worked and over-worried. Send her off, or take her off, where she can sleep with out one ear open to hear the children uneasily tossing in their sleep; where she can sit down to a table that will present some unexpected dishes to her; where her night will be without cares. Such a vacation will take the tired look out of her eyes and put the old light back again; it will give the rippling merriment of girlhood to her laugh, elasticity to her step, color to her cheek. Woman’s power of recuperation is won derful, if it has half a chance. Try the experiment. Why not? The sporting fraternity at IndUna- polis is in a ferment over a new Indiana horse that promises to out- trot any Hoosier horse-flesh on the track; in fact, has already done so. This new and valuable animal is a six year old brown stallion, and he comes from Noblesville. His owner, John Martin, is a wagon-smith of that place, and suddenly fii.ds himself in the possession of a fortune. A few days ago D. R. Brown, of this city, saw the horse trot and offered five thousand dol lars cash for him. It was the first time that the owner realized that he had the best horse on the Indiana turf, but he knew a good thing when it was pointed out, and since Brown’s offer $7,000. (9,- 000 and now 110,000 have been planked down in vain before Martin’s eyes. The history and training or the horse will almost cause a revolution in the jockey business. Six years ago Martin reluct antly accepted an old mare in pay for some work done. From this unpromis ing nag the colt in question w f as foaled. Martin sold the mare for (100, and for several years has been driving the colt to a buggy in his daily business. All this while he stabled the animal in a rickety old shed, and in many ways showed that he did not know what sort of oiled lightning he was stabling. A few turns, privately, on a race track led Martin to believe that he might venture to enter a county fair with some promise of success; but when he applied at No blesville and elsewhere he was hooted out. Last week he was admitted to a county fair in northern Indiana, and to everybody’s surprise captured the prize with ease. Last week, there being no body to enter tire Noblesville race, Martin was told that if lie could beat 2,30 with his old brute he might have the stake. Without any preparation he drove into the ring and accomplished a mile in 2,24. Horsemen say this phenomenal horse can make 2,16 without an effort. Par ties in this city already have a (5,000 bet that he will beat Hare’s Mambrino —with a 2,16 record—at the coming Louisville races. Martin has been us ing the horse carelessly, and lie has “just growed” into what he is. It is doubtful if he ever was sponged or pet ted or jockeyed. When heated he has been tied up in a fence corner and left to cool off, and yet has flourished, and to-day is believed to be the best horse in Indiana. Dr. Brown, learning the his tory of the horse, went up to Nobles ville, hunted out the old mare which foaled the horse, bought her for (100, and two days later, on the reputation of her son, sold her for (600. Tne Blue-Grass Country The blue-glass country is reached b; traversing Central Virginia and Ken tucky along the line of the picturesqui Chesapeake and Ohio railway, unless indeed one prefers the swift and solic Pennsylvania route to Cincinnati, ant drops down to it from the north. Oi this particular journey, at any rate it was reached past the battle-fields am springs of Virginia, and up and dowi the long slopes of the Blue Ridge am gorges of the Greenbrier and Kanawha In the wilder Alleghanies. It is fount to be a little cluster of peculiarly fa vored counties in the centre of tin State. Marked out on the map, it is liki the kernel, of which Kentucky is tin nut; or like one of those “pockets” o: precious metals happened upon bj miners in their researches. The soil ii of a rich fertility, the surface charm ingly undulating. Poverty seems abol ished. On every hand are evidences ol thrift corresponding with the genia bounty of nature. A leading crop ii times past has been hemp, and lam tliat will grow hemp will grow anything This is being more and more with drawn in favor of stock raising ex cluslvely, but the tall stacks of hemp in shape like Zulu wigwams, stil plentifully dot the landscape. One drops into horse talk immediate ly on alighting from the train at Lex ington, and does not emerge from i again till he takes his departure. It i the one subject always in order. Eacl successive proprietor, as he tucks yoi into his wagon, if you will go with hin —and if you will go with him there i no limit to the courtesy he will shov you—declares that now, after bavin] seen animals more or less well in thei way, he proposes to show you a horse Fortunately there are many kinds o penection. He may have the bes horse or colt of a certain age, the on which has made the best single heat or fourth heat, or quarter of a mile or average at all distances, or the bes stallion, or broodmare, or the one whic! has done some of these things at priv ate if not public trials. Each one hai at any rate, the colt which is going t be the great horse of the world. Thi is an amiable vanity easily pardoned and the enthusiasm is rather catching A man’s stock is greatly to his credi and standing in this section while h lives, and when he dies is printo< prominently among the list of hi virtues. —The government hires a vault m a safe deposit company in St. Louis for the storage of silver dollars, and has about $4,000,000 in it. The Trade Dollar. -it The trade dollar Is an infidel coin- has o redeemer. It is like a dude because it is lacking in cents. It’s like a drunkard because it don’t pass at par. It is like - a boy when his father is thrashing him, because it’s below par. It is like a laundry, it belongs to the Chinese trade. It is like a sluggish stream—it will not pass current. It is like a canvasser, it tries to ap pear honest while it bears a lie on its face. It is like a lawyer’s cheek—it. is not a legal tender. It is like corner stone deposits, it’s base coin. It’s like a politican’s promise—only taken at a discount. It is like a julep—it needs the mint to make it good. It is like a doctor—the leas you have' to do with it the better you are off.