The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, October 11, 1876, Image 1
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THE ABBEVILLE PRESS & BANNER.
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BY HUGH WILSON.- ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1876. VOLUME XXIV.-NO. 27.
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The Fair Tambeurimst.
With feet half naked and bare
And drees all tattered and torn;
With a penny here and a mockery there,
And floods of deriBion and aoorn,
She wanders the street, wherever her feet, ?
Weary or willing, are borne,
With an eye as bright and cheek as fair
As the earliest blush of the morn.
Wandering up and down,
And driven from door to door,
A jest for every idle clown
And a bntt for every boor;
While the velvet slippered, in satin and lace,
Qo rustling by hrr side,
With a chilling look and averted face,
And a hp all^curled w ith pride.
80 beautiful?yet so frail;
So willing, and yet bo weak;
Oh, what if the heart should fail
And a heavenly purpose break,
And the dens and kennels of vice
Another poor victim should hold ?
A celestial spark be quenchod in the dark
And an angel be bartered for gold V
No wonder the heart should fail,
And a heavenly purpose fade;
The eye grow dim, and the oheek grow pale,
When none stand ready to aid!
No wonder the lairs ?Dd cradles of sin
80 many poor victims should hold,
While the good are content to worship their
God,
And the rich to worehip their gold.
Move patiently on, oh, earth !
'Till mercy's wondering dove
Shall fly to the rosy realm of its b'rth,
And rest in the bosom of love.
Move patiently on 'till the Crucified
Shall gather His radiant crown
From the lowly flowers and blooding hearts
That the world has trampled down !
Reforming the Household.
" Jmt what I have been expecting for
abor.t Eeven yearp,"said Mies Pauline
Wortbington, looking up from an open
letter in her hand with a frowning
brow.
"Is not your Mter from Herbert,
Lina?" questioned Mrs. Wortbington, a
tiny.nilver haired old ludy, with a gentle
expression.
" Yes, mother, Essie is very ill with
low, norvcus fever, and they want me to
oome and stay till she is better. The carriage
will be sent t?t< three o'clock, mother."
Then, more emphatically: "I
think it is about time Bert's tyranny
over that little martyr was ended. He is'
killing her."
" Liqp ! He is your brother."
" I mn see his faults if he is."
" I never heard Essie complain."
" She rever would. But look at her.
Nine years ago, when she married, she
was a living sunbeam, so bright and
pretty. Now, paTe, quiet and reserved,
her voioe is seldom heard, her smile seldom
seen. A wintry shadow of her former
summer brightness ! Now she has
broken down. You have never seen her
at home, but surely when she is here
vou Ree the change ?"
" Yfes, dear, she has changed; but
family care3 "?
"Has"Louie changed so? She has
been twelve years married."
Mrs. Wortbington was silent. Louie
was her oldest child, and presided over
the home in which her mother had been
a crippled prisoner for fifteen years.
Sbe took all the household cares, and
had five children, and yet Louie had
gained in beauty, and certainly in
cheeiful hnppiuess, since her marriage,
even if the merriment of girlhood was
gone.
" Henry appreciates Louie 1" said
Lina; "there lies the difference between
her happiness and Essie's direction.
If there is any domestic trouble
Henry and Louie sharo it, while Herbert
shifts it all upon Essie. He is an habitual
fault finder."
"P.^rhap--, deor, Essie is not so good
a housekeeper as Lonie. Herbert may
have cp.u^e to find fault "
" Ouce in ten times he may. I never
saw a faultless honsn or housekeeper;
bnt Essie and her h >U3e are the nearest
app?oach to perfection I ever did see."
"You never spoke so before, Lina."
" Because Louie and I thought it better
net to worry yon with a troublo beyond
your help. I intend to give him a
lessoD. I do, indeed. That is, if you
can spare me to go ?"
"You must go, dear. I shall get
along nioely."
So when Herbert Worthington sent
his carriage, Lina was qnite ready lor
the foarteen mile drive to her brother's
houne. It was most unlike a house
wherein any evil spirit of repining or
fault fiodiDg should have found an
abode. Spacious, handsomely furnish
ed, with well trained servants, aud all
comforts wealth could furnish, it seemed
a perfect paradise on earth to visitors.
But a very demon lurked there to poison
all, and this demon Liua had come to
exoroise.
Fur the first fortnight E^sie took all
her time and care, the gentle spirit hovering
very near the portals of the eternal
home. There was a baby, too, six
mouths old, and its wants filled all the
sparo moments. Herbert snarled and
fretted ovi'r domestic shortcomings, but
LiDa peremptorily forbade all mention
of these in the sick-room, haviug the
doctor's autLoritv for sayiuj? the pa
tient's very life depended upon quiet.
But when convalescence begun Lina
sent Essie and the baby to visit old Mrs.
Worthington, and took control of Herbert,
the two oluer childieu aud the
household, determined to show her
brother how far he carried bis habit of
absurd f*u!t finding. With all her severity,
she did believe ho was himself
unaware of the frequency of his querulous
complaints nnd the exaggeration of
his fitful statements.
The first dinner saw lhe beginning of
the lesson Lina meant to teacn. Herbert
entered the dining-room, his handsome
face disfigured bv its habitual
frown. Harry and Louie were eeated.
" ck>up," said Herbert, lifting the
tureen oover; "perfectdish water!"
" Susan," said Lina, sharply, to tho
servant, before Herbert oould lift the
ladle; " take that tureen to tho kitchen
and tell Jane tne soup is not fit to eat."
Su^au promptly obeyed. Herbert
looked rather ruefully at the vanishing
dial). He was especially fond of soup,
and the savory fumes of the really delicious
dish were tantalizing. Ail dinner
time Lina kept up a ding-dong at Snsan
about that abominable soup, till Herbert
wished he had said nothing about
it. But his imagination detecting a
burnt flavor in the pudding, he oould
not refrain from mentioning it, and before
he could remonstrate, that dish had
followed the soup.
" I'll get thi3 house in some sort of
order before I leave it," said Lina, emphatically.
" Before you leave it," said Herbert,
shaiply. " Do you suppose you are a
better housekeeper than Essie ? Why,
I have not a friend who does not envy
me the exquisito order of my house and
my dinner table."
Herbert, you surprise me. Only
yesterday I heard you say you did wish
there was ever anything fit to eat on tne
table."
' One doesn't expeot every word to
be taken literally," said Herbert, rather
sulkily. But not an hour later, finding
a streak of dust in the sitting-room, he
declared emphatically it ww^^^^^or
a pig to live in. What "was the consequence?
Coming into it the next morning,
he found the curtains torn down,
the carpets taken up, the floor littered
with pails, soap and brushes, and Lina
in a dismal dress, her hair tied up in a
towel, directing two women, who were
scrubbing vigorously.
" Good gracious, Lina !" he cried,
' what are you doing ?"
" Cleaning this room."
" Why, Essie had the whole house
cleaned only the other day," he added,
contemptuously.
"Well," said Lina, slowly, "I
thought this room a marvel of neatness
myself, but wben you said it was not
fit for the pigo i supposed you wanted
it cleaned."
"The room was well enough," was
the curt re; iy. "For meroy's sake
don't turn aiy more of the house upside
down."
At breakfast a tiny tear in Ljuie's
apron caught her father's eye, and, Dy
has own angry statement, "she never
had a decent stitch of clothes, and he
did wish somebody would see to her."
Two days after a formidable liren
draper's bill was Bent to him, and Lina
explained it in this wise :
" You said, Herbert, that Louie
hadn't a decent Btitch, and you wished
somebody would see to her, so 1 bought
her a complete outfit. I could not see
any fault myself, but cf course I got
more expensive articles, as you did not I
like those already provided. I am glad |
you called my attention to the poor [
neglected child."
"Poor neglected child I" echoed as-!
tonished Herbert. "Why, Lina, Essie
fairly slaves her life out over those
children. I am sure I never see any
better dressed or neater."
Lina merely shrugged her shoulders.
A month passed. Essi? gained strength
in the genial atmosphere surrounding
Louie and her mother, while Lina ruled
Herbert's house with a rod of iron.
Herbert begun to experience a sick longing
for Essie gentle presence. Lina
took him so very literally in all he said,
and yet he coidd not rebuke her for
doing exactly what he openly wished.
An arm chair with a tinv snot of dirt
being declared absolutely filthy, was
upholstered and varnished at a cost of
ten dollars. A dozen new shirts, Essie's
last labor of love, being said to "set
like meal bags," were bestowed upon
the gardener, and a new set obtained.
Every window was opened after a pettish
declaration that the " room was as
hot as an oven," and an hour later the
grate wa<* fired up to smothering heat
because he declared it " oold enough to
freeze a polar bear."
In short, with apparently an energetic
attempt to correct all shortcomings, and
put the housekeeping upon a perfect
basi*, Lina in one month nearly doubled
her brother's expenses, and drove him
to the verge of distraction.
But Essie, well and stroDg again, was
coming home. On the day of her expected
arrival Lina, with a solemn face,
invited her brother into the sitting-room
for a few moments of private conversation.
"Herbert," she said, very gravely,
" I have a proposition to make to you.
You are my only brother, and I need not
tell you I love you very dearly. It has
really grieved me to the heart to see how
much there is to find fault with in your
beautiful home." Herbert twisted himself
uneasily in his chair, but Lina con
tinned:
" You know that mother is very dependent
upon me, Louie having the
house and children to care for, but I
think she would sacrifice her own comfort
for yours. So if you wish, Herbert,
I will come here permanently, to
keep things in order for you."
Here Lina was obliged to pause and
strangle a laugh at Herbert's expression
of utter horror and dismay.
" You are very kind," he faltered, the
instincts of a gentleman battling with
the strong desire to tell Lina she would
certainly drive him into a lunatic asylum
by six months more of her model housekeeping.
'
" Not at all. A man who has made
an unfortuaate marriage certainly needs
all the aid and sympathy his family can
give him."
The last straw was laid upon the
camel's back. Herbert spoke hotly :
" You are entirely mistaken, Lina. 1
w* (. <1 /-? r??i tmfAvfnnafa ry% o a rrn
ujivc uub uiuuc au uuiuiuuuuvq uui4iiu^v?
If ever a mau was blessed in a wife, 1
am that man."
"You amaze me, Herbert 1" Linn
cried, in well feigned astonishment.
"I don't see why you should be surprised.
Essie is gentle, loving, orderly,
a model mother and a perfect home
angel?God bless her I"
*' Herbert, ia that true ?"
" Certainly it is true."
" I cannot believe it I" was tbe slow
response.
" Cannot believe it! Why ?"
"Because"?and Lina dwelt impressively
upon every word?"during the
nine years of your married life, though
visiting here frequently, I have never
heard you speak one word of encouragement
or praise to Eapie. I never saw
one look of approbation or appreciation
of any effort she made for your comfort
upon your face. Continual fault finding,
constant blamo, have changed her
from a happy girl to a palg, careworn
woman. Even her last illness was but
the unspoken despair of a heart crushed
under a load of daily censure and constant
striving for tbe approbation never
given. Aud you tell me now she has
never failed in hor duty to you. There
is a grave error somewhere, Herbert."
The sadly earnest tone, the face of
n > AT*AKTT TTAV/l
uliuugljlu u1 gl UV H)V y oru 0 ttuui
home to tho young man's heart. He
spoke 110 word of self-defense as Lina
slowly left the room. In the profound
silence that followed conscience reviewed
the past, and he knew that his Bister
had spoken only the truth.
" God help me," be whispered, " to
conquer this fault. Essie shall hear no
more fault finding, and if I see her
drooping, I will send her to mother, and
have Lina here to keep house."
Never had wife and mother warmer
welcome than greeted Essie. The childr?n
were unchecked in their loudest demonstrations
of delight. Bat Lina had
to rash into the hall to hide her merry
eyes when Herbert, kissing Essie, said :
"We must let mother have Lina now,
dear. She has been very kind and
worked hard for my comfort; but there
is no home fairy like my Essie."
The quick, glad look in his wife's soft
eyes told Herbert one step had been
taken in tho right direction. Ab the
days glided by, and Ecsie found appreciation
meeting every effort to add to !
home comfort, a word of praise for every
little trinmph of cookery or needlework,
her pale face grew bright with happiness.
and Herbert found his own heart
lightened by the cheerful voice, the I
sunny smile, the bright eyes of the |
Essie he had wooed years before.
And Lina, making a visit six months
later, told her mother on her return :
" Herbert learned his lesson by heart,
mother. He appreciates Essie now at her
value, and lets her know it."
The Oektetnuij.?'The value of the
Centennial buildings is put at 85,949.!
000, and of their oontent9, $104,820,340.
A large portion of the exhibits, which
are not taken into account, are not of
intrinsic value, though probably they
could not be purchased for all tnat the
rest of the ExniMtion is worth.
THE CENTENNIAL DOG SHOW.
Ita Extent and Varlety?Value of Some Animal*
Present?Cnrloaltlei to be Seen.
Of all the international gatherings,
conventions and oongresses, special exhibitions
and side shows of this centennial
year, the most curious is the dog
show open at the live stock exhibition
grounds at the Centennial, on Belmont
avenue. For the accommodation of the
canine wonders nine long sheds with
double rows of stalls are provided.
These stalls differ only from those ordinarily
used for the exhibition of cattle
at State or county fairs, in having their
floors placed two or three feet above the
ground. The dogs, singly, in pairs or
families, are chained or tied in their
places, and supplied with straw beds
and plentv of biscuit and water. There
are about six hundred of them here, of
all kinds, from the rough bulldog and
the common rat terrier to the thoroughbred
English or Irish setter, and the
slight and graceful Italian greyhound;
and of all sizes, from the diminutive
toy black-and-tan terrier to the massive
Siberian bulldog and the mild eyed
Newfoundlander.
Long before the visitor reaches the
show he is greeted with such a medley
of dog voices as he has assuredly never
heard before. From the deep bay of
the fox hound to the sharp yelp of the
terrier, from the full tone of the English
mastiff to the uncertain squeak of the
poodle, there are numerous gradations,
with variations for each mood of the dog
mind. The whining of some of the
petted lap dogs exposed to the cool
wind, as well as homesick, and perhaps
hungering for the dainty food to which
their fair owners have accustomed them,
is really pitiful.
Setters are more largely represented
than any other variety of the dog race,
and there are many fine, highly bred
animals. There are some excellent red
Irish setters, including a few that are
valued at 200 guineas apieoe, and some
black-and-tan Gordon setters so finely
marked that they would form fine sub
jects lor tne animal painter. Many
English setters are exhibited, and some
of tbem not only show the points of good
dogs, but have pedigrees of remarkable
extent. Most noticeable among the
latter are two dogs recently imported
from England, late the property of Edward
Laverack, of Shropshire. They
are descended from stock which Mr.
Laverack obtained in 1825, and which it
was supposed had been pure for thirtyfive
years. He has kept a continuous
strain of pure blood since that time. The
Dediffree of the does for nine genera
tions is shown, and the nnmber of
names in it is adapted to givo a person
an enlarged idea of the dimensions of
the graveyard which might contain the
bones of his ancestors. Some wag has
burlesqued the pedigree mongers by
issuing the prospectus of the full pedigree
of a dog, giving its desoent from
one of the Biblical dogs that licked
Lazarus' sores. There are comparatively
few pointers, but some are good animals.
Some Irish terriers are shown of
a' very high strain of blood, as may be
judged from the price, 200 guineas in
gold, asked for one or two of the best.
Very curious in appearance are the Irish
water spaniels, with loDg early topknots
and shaggy ears. There are quite a
number of dachshunds, a medium sized
dog with singular crooked forelegs.
Among the other canines are English fox
terriers, used to unearth the fox -when
the hounds have run him into his barrow;
many Skye terriers, Scotch terriers,
blaok-and-tan terriers, poodles and lnp
dogs, Spitz dogs, Siberian bloodhounds,
a tine English mastiff, English and
Italian greyhounds, Chesapeake bay
duck dogs, viciouB looking bull terriers,
English pug dogs, sheep dogs, and two
queer hairless Mexican hounds.
JL Uis 18 me nrsi. extensive uug buuh
over held in this country. Such shows
have, however, been of pretty regular
annua! occurrence in England and
Franco for some tirno past.
The Explosion at Hell Gate.
General Newton hns recently stated
that tho great explosion at Hell Gate
will take place shortly. Tho excavations
have been complete for some time past,
but del ys in passing tho appropriation
bill by Congress checked further operation",
and for this reason the blow-up
did not occur on the fourth of July, as
for a long period was contemplated.
Those who expect to witness a gigantic
column hurled hundreds of feet, into the
air, or look forward with some trepidation
to the effects of fearful concussion
on adjacent buildings, will hardly find
their anticipations realized. The mine
will be flooded previous to the explosion
; and with the possible exception
of jets forced through seams in the rocks
there is no reason to believe that auy
very remarkable exhibition of the tre
mendous force of the explosives will be
manifest. From a scientific point of
view the occasion will be of considerable
interest, as the earth in the vicinity will
bo shaken by the communicated vibrations,
which are likely to travel over a
long distance. An opportunity will
thus bo afforded for measuring the velocity
of sound waves through earth,
ana prepiirauuii? aro utiuj^ maun uj
scientific men to observe tue same at
points at distances two hundred and
three hundred miles away.
The arrangements to guard against
any possible danger are being perfected,
in utter disregard of the desires both
of those who hope to s?o the great blast,
and those who aspire to profit pecuniarily
through the popular curiosity. Steamboats
and other craft will be warned
away, so that a view from the river will
be out of the question ; the authorities
have been requested not to grant passes
to would-be. spectators on Ward's island,
the best point of observation ; and a
bluff of earth and the buildings near the
works prevent seeing the operation from
the rear, so that the expectant populace
will probably have to satisfy themselves
with a distant view from the high land
on the New York shore.
How much powder, etc., will be burnt
is noi yet definitely stated. An approximate
idea of the quantity may be
gathered from the fact that there about
4,000 drill holes, each three inches in
diameter, and varying from seven to
thirteen feet in depth. Each will be
charged with a separate canister of dynamite,
vulcan and rendrock powder, and
the simultaneous explosion will be
hv the current from a bitterv
of 800 cells. About two pounds of
powder aie used to one of dynamite,
and the charges are inserted in the 172
piers of rook and in the roof supported
thereby. It is estimated that 30,000
cubic feet of broken rock will be left
under water, and this will have to be
removed by dredging so as to secure a
channel twenty-six feet in depth. The
total length of tunnels, galleries, etc.,
excavated, is 7,425.67 feet. The amount
thus far expended is 81,686,841.45.?
Scientific American.
^ * a ? t_i I :
ADAH J^ETINED.?A ooinuumuu, uuijjg
examined by his minister, was asked :
What kind of a man was Adam ?"
" Ob, jist like ither folk." The minister
insisted on having a more special
description of the first man, and pressed
for more explanation. " Weel," said
the catechumen, "he was jist like Joe
Simpson, the horse coaper." "How
so?" asked the minister. " Weel, naebody
got ony thing by him, and many
lost"
The Population of Turkey.
The war in Turkey lias had the effect
of discovering to the majority of newspaper
readers their ignorance of its geography,
history and population. Especially
with regard to the raoes subject to
the sultan and the inhabitants of tributary
states included in maps as parts of
the country does a general ignorance
prevail. It may not, therefore, be presumptuous
in us to present on this subject
some recent and authentio information.
The populatien of European Turkey,
exclusive of tributary states, is
8,430,000. Adding to these the number
of inhabitants in Servia, 1,840,000;
Montenegro, 125,000; and Roumania,
4,600,000, the total population is 14,396,000,
of whom about forty-two per oent.
are Mohammedan. The Greeks, Alban
ians and Roumanians are of the GrecoLatin
race; and the Servians, Bulgarians
and Russians, of the Sclavonic. Besides
these are represented in smaller numbers
Armenians, Jews, Gyspies, Circassians,
Arabs, Magyars and foreigners;
the Circassians, who are the most numerous
of this group, only numbering
144,000. It is calculated that of the
Greco-Latin race in Turkey the Greeks
number 1,137,000; the Albanians, 1,011,000,
and the Roumanians, 200,000; and
of the Sclavs, the Servians, 1,388,000;
the Bulgarians, 2,877,500, and the Russians,
10,000.
To localize these numerous peoples is
a work of considerable difficulty; but
roughly it may be said the Turks are
the majority in Constantinople, and in
the sanjaks of Serayvo, Prizrend, Divro,
Berat, Drama Ras'chuk, Tulcha and
Varna. The Greeks, of whom many are
I thought to be nothing but Grecized
Sclavs, are stronger in the Epirua,
Thessaly, Macedonia, Thrace, and along
the shores of the Black sea. The Albanians,
a fine, warlike race, live principally
between the Epirus and Montenegro;
723,000 of them are Mohammedans,
200,000 Roman Catholics and
88,000 belong to the Greek chnrch. The
Roumanians are of the bnlkof the population
of Wallachia and Moldavia. Most
of the Servians are members of the
Greek ohurch, bnt a large number having
turned Mohammedan to save their
lands from confiscation, there are now
about 463,000 Servian followers of the
prophet. Over 60,000 are Roman Catholics.
The Montenegrins and Herzegovinians
are Sclavs.
The Prevention of Crime.
Mr. Angell, of Boston, spoke before
the Social Science Association on "Tho
Prevention of Crime." Mr. Angell begun
by giving some instances and statistics
showing tho rapid increase in tho
number of criminals, and said there
oould be no doubt that the remedy for
many financial and moral crimes may
be found in European habits of economy,
a knowledge of domestio industry,
and a reformed public opinion which
shall make it more respectable to be
married and livo in a small house than
to remain single and board in a large
one. Coming down to the practical details
of tho question : "How shall we
stop crime ?" Mr. Angell said: Tho
iirst step, in my judgment, is to organize
societies for the purpose. Let
each of these in our cities establish an
office, aud put into that office an enerrtUn*
Vionrln/1 nvonlifiol man with
gCLiU) L1CU1 UCOrUUU) ^IWVilVtu MMU) navu
such assistance as he may need, whose
duty it shall be first to aid, protect and
advise the poor, and gather and publish
information and promote plans calculated
to benefit them; second, to see
that proper laws fortlr*?)Wl6cti3^Bh
the public health 't^TQ the security of
property and lifti are not only enacted
but enforced. Fo the present relief of
the poor there should be in our cities
and larger towns " temporary industrial
homes," where any one can obtain a
bowl of sonp and a clean bed, paying
the value in money or labor, and where
fuel can be bought in small quantities at
low prices. For the permanent relief
of poverty and prevention of orime two
things are needed : First, constant remunerative
labor; sccond, places where
the poor and tho unemployed, and the
inebriates who are trying to reform, can
pass their evenings. He would have
day or evening schools where the poor
of both sexes can bo taught various
trades and branches of industry to make
them self-supporting. He would havo
farms where young men can be taught
agriculture, and places whero young
women can be taught sewing and domestic
industry, and how to nurse the
sick and how to prevent sickness by observing
sanitary laws. In answer to
the question of how to provide labor for
| the unemployed, he urged their colonization
upon the cheap and fertile lands
of tho West.
Slminn Sagacity.
The sagacious monkey, who, according
to tho time honored story, used the
reluctant paw of a cat to withdraw hot
chestnuts from the Are, is outdone by
the performance of another member of
his tribe, which is recounted bya Frenoh
resident of South Africa, in a letter to
Lea Mondes. The writer is the possessor
of a large coffee plantation, and his
crops have suffered severely from the
ravages of a large species of baboon,
which greedily devours the fruit of a
small tree which grows among the
bushes. The beet eafegardf against the
depredations are the wasps which make
I in f lAnrav C\f fllfifln
UUUU JUOOUO iU UUU ivnw* Vi vmwwv
trees, for, of the fierce attack and painful
stings of these insects, the baboons
have a wholesome fear. One morning,
a hideons chorus of yells and howls was
heard from a portion of the plantation
whera the wasps had most thickly congregated,
and whero the fruit trees consequently
were heavily laden. On
searching for the cause, tho writer saw
from afar a venerable and ancient baboon
busily engaged in throwing infant monkeys
at the trees. These living projectiles
thus knocked down the nests and of
course were objects of the keen attentions
of the infuriate occupants. Meanwhile
the baboon quietly made his way
to the upper branches, gorged himself,
and then added insult to injury to the
badly stung monkeys by pelting them
with the rinds and pits of his repast.
Cotton Gunpowder.
One of the most recent important dis
ooverios is that of a new explosive,
known as cotton gunpowder. The first
process of its manufacture, which is
carried on at Oare, in England, is to
steep cotton in a mixture of nitrio and
sulphuric acid. After the aoid has been
pressed out, the cotton is dried and
triturated (reduced to powder), and
mixed with certain other chemicals. To
show how safe it k, not to explode with
fire or pressure, the following experiments
were lately made. Two barrels
of the powder were placed in the middle
of a roaring bonfire. The barrels
were consumed, and the powder blazed
gway without exploding. Then an iron
pile driver, weighing half ft ton, was allowed
to fall fifteen feet on a box containing
ten} ounds of the powder. The
box was simply crushed, and tho powder
soattered about. Exploded with a
fuse, the cotton gunpowder broke four
steel ingots, weighing several hundred
-11 ... ... 3
weiglll, 1U pitJOOO, buu vruuu uiiuci neater,
sent r<p a oolumn of water two hundred
feet high. It was alBo made to explode
when wet with twenty per ecnt.
of water.
Four quarts of milk are required to
make one pound of oheese.
1
A Case of Female Roguery,
Oelia Logan tells the following story
of romanoe in a letter to the San Franoisoo
Call : An instance of female duplicity
has lately come to my knowledge
whioh greatly resembles the New Magdalen
story, with the advantage of being
trne. A man?Wilkins we'll call
him?of wealth and influence had a
brother who immigrated to the West
when voung, and whom he had never
seen afterward. He (the brother) died,
and also all his family, with the exception
of a daughter, who came to New
York to seek a home with her uncle.
She was armed with facts of family history,
letters, and every credential to
prove her identity, which was not disputed.
She was young, beautiful, amiable,
and soon made herself beloved by
the Wilkins family. She was surrounded
by every luxury, introduced into
societv. and soon married well?a rich
society man, by whom she hag now two
children. Her character is irreproachable,
and her manners good. She is
not, however, qnite as well educated as
her nncle ooold wish, bnt she pleads as
her excuse that her father was poor and
kept her working on a bit of a farm
when she should have been at school.
And now, after four years pf happiness,
another woman appears in the Wilkins'
household, asserting that Bhe is the
veritable nieoe, and the other is an impostor.
Lydia, the new comer, tells a
strange story. She says that when her
parents died, ehe took what little money
the farm was sold for and set out to find
her rich unole in New York: that in a
village on the road she was taken seriously
siok and was oarried to a hospital.
The young woman?the hired nurse of
.Vint inqf.ifcntinn?was mtifih fthovfl h?r
station in life, was Kind, attentive and
sympathetic. Naturally she confided
her history to her, also her letters, photographs
and money to be taken care of
nutil her recovery. She recovered her
health partially, but her mind was found
to be so unhiDged that she was removed
to an insane asylum, where she
had been all this time. At length she
was discharged, cured. The hospital
nurse had disappeared, aloDg with all
the effeots intrusted to her care. The
wronged woman managed to get to Ne\%
York, only to find that her p'.ace had
been usurped by the treacherous attendant.
The first woman takes the matter very
coolly, alleging that she was the one
who fell sick on the road; that the other
is the nurse, who got possession of her
history, and is now trying to make
capital out of it. The uncle unhesitatingly
believes in the first woman, bnt
the husband is much disturbed in mind,
each story being so plausible and so
well sustained that he ccnnot decide
which is Wilkins' niece, and 'which is
not; but his wife says: . "What does
it matter, anvhow. whose niece I itm f I
am your wife, that's certain, and the
mother of your children."
If an impostor, she has fixed herself
very comfortably in life, while the defrauded
woman wandeis about almost in
beggary, for the Wilkins utterly refuse
to countenance her. She has, however,
appealed to several of their aristocratio
friends, and bo the Btory got out.#
After Sixteen Years.
In the year 18G0, says an exohange,
Mr. Joseph J^arts carried on the business
of a bjtcher in the town of Guilford,
Oonnstiout It was a successful
business and earned for him a wide
reputation. * One morning during the
ttmaer ol the year referred to Mr.
Evarta was making his usual round with
a meat cnrt, when, on npproaohing a
oitizen's residence, he was attacked by a
savage dog of the mastiff species. During
the encounter tho dog bit Mr.
tvarts in the left leg, inflicting a serious
flesh wound. Soon after the attending
surgeons learned that their patient had
been in contact with an animal suffering
from the worst form of hydrophobia.
All that skill and medicine could do was
brought into requisition to drive the
poisoned virus from Mr. Evarts' system.
Ho ultimately recovered, deolared he
felt no inoonvenience from the bite and
went on attending to his business as
usual. A few years later he removed to
Branford and engaged in the meat busi
_l i i?? ?rpi,?
litttttt, wuoro no ntw uoca cvoi oiuuu. xuo
adventure with the dog was forgotten
aud never alluded to, from the fact that
the condition of hia body and mind wore
so nniformly natural until about six
weeks ago, during the heated term, when
his friends noticed peculiarities in his
actions. He would suddenly appear agitated
and moan as if suffering bodily
pain. Again he would growl and snap
liko a surly dispositioned dog and run
wildly about as dogs do when first overtaken
with rabieB. These manifestations
lasted a half hour or so. whenthey passed
off, and Mr. Evarts would bo himself
again. But they increased in violence
with each repetition, and ere long his
friends wore compelled to accept the
terrible reality that Mr. Evarts was a
raving maniac. He grew worse and
worse and soon had to be tied to his bed
to prevent his biting those in attendance.
Even then he would break loose,
so great was the muscular power which
the disease enabled him to exert, and at
times the united strength of six men
was insufficient to hold him. During a
spasm he would tear the bedclothes and
giuw the bedstead in a manner frightful
to behold. The affliction is undoubtedly
the result of thQ bite sixteen years ago,
and the attendant physicians are of the
opinion that it is a case of fully devel"
? ^ ' T t U /\ nn/Avfnnafa
U|Jt3U Ilj'urupuuuiai XUO uui U1 vuuu vu
man is thirty-five years of age, unmarried,
and in his sane moments speaks of
his wretched physical condition, gives
directions as to his personal affairs and
expresses himself as conscious that the
end of all things, for him, draws near.
Weighing a Beam of Light.
Mr. Crookes' apparatus for weighing
the beam of light is an exhausted glass
chamber in the form of a horizontal
cross, with arms of circular cross section.
Inside the larger arm is a glass
fiber maintained in a uniform state of
tension by a spiral spring at one end,
and by a glass stopper at the other end,
which stopper is capable of rotation.
The shorter arm of the cross contains
in a like manner a stouter fiber beam of
glass seonred at the point of crossing to
the loDgitudinal or torsion fiber, and
having at one extremity a pith surface
of two eqnare inches area, and at the
other end a little cup. Inside the cham
Dor is a ir 086 particie 01 iron wtugmog
11-100 of a grain, and outside the stopper
is a oounter reoording the number
of torsions or tnrns the glass fiber
makes. The method of procedure is as
follows : The position of a dot of light
from the little mirror plaoed at the intersection
of the two glass fibers having
been noted, the little iron weight is
lifted by means of a magnet, and plaoed
in the cup, which, when thus weighed,
descends. Torsion is then applied to the
glass fiber until the beam is lifted, and
the dot of light returns to its forme*
position. This may be called the zero
of the machine. This exact amount of
torsion having been determined and its
equivalent in weight ascertained, the
torsion is removed, and the ray of light
is then made to fall on the disc, whioh
causes a depression of the glass beam.
Tho calculation of the absolute pressure
of the sun's radiation on a square foot
of the earth, when carried out to the
square mile, gives a force of flfty-s^ven
tons.
A REMARKABLE STORY.
H?w*B?m Tweed Arrived In Cuba.
A Herald reporter, ascertaining that
a merchant of New York city, well
known in the Onban trade, had received
letters from William M. Tweed, '
paid him a visit When questioned the
merohant admitted that he had received
a letter from John Secor, that Secor
was Tweed, and that the letter had
been written in Cuba under promise '
that his name would not be divulged*
The gentleman gave the following in- '
teresting and graphic details of Tweed's
movements in Cuba :
Tweed was landed on a rocky promon- 1
tory about ten miles from Santiago de j
Cuba, by a boat which took him ashore :
from an American yacht. I have also '
? a it-.A ii 1 ?i__ J _ J u: I
nearu tuut we veuaei wiuuu uuiueu uuu
on the Cuban coast was bound for Jamaica.
This, however, is immaterial
Here, much fatigued and ezbausted,
Tweed was discovered by a fisherman,
who volunteered to conduct him to
Santiago de Cuba, and they marched
along over the rooky paths leading to
the oity. Tweed was accompanied by a
man named Hunt, who, if I mistake
not, was a coachman ior a long time in
the service of Tweed, and was noted for
his fidelity and honesty. Well, Tweed,
owing to his heavy weight, had much
difficulty in walking to the oity of Santiago.
He was terribly sunburnt, his
face being as brown as a berry and
very muoh blistered, The fisherman
who accompanied them received a gold
"ounce" for his trouble, and led the
wandering pair, not to a hotel, but to
police headquarters. Had Tweed and
his follower been discovered by the
Spanish troops on the beach they would
undoubtedly have been shot, after a
dmmVioa^ /v-inrt mart.ml an Ampriwin
filibusters just landed from Jamaica en
route for " Cuba Libre."
I cannot tell you what date this was,
aa my letter does not give it. The police
authorities not being satisfied with
the fisherman's explanation, or Tweed's
statement, naturally made in English,
that he was an American oitizen, sent
him and Hunt on board the Spanish
man-of-war stationed in the harbor as
prisoners. Tweed and Hunt were accordingly
marched off to the vessel and
there detained. While on board Tweed
sent for the United States consul at
Santiago de Cuba, Mr. Young, and demanded
the protection due to an Ameri- j
can citizen. Mr. Young, who is a very
fine fellow, instantly interested himself j
in the case, and took into his counsel ?
Mr. Bamsden, the British consul, j
Tweed's passport was found to be in order
as "John Secor," likewise that of j
his companion in exile, " Hunt." Their
release was formally demanded and
granted, and Tweed took up his residence
at the Hotel de Shy, kept by
Madame Adelia, under police surveillance.
Here he lived very quietly.
Meanwhile Consul General Hall entertained
a suspicion that there was something
wrong about " Secor," in spite of
hia passport being en regie. Telegrams
passed frequently between him and
United States Consul General Hall at
Havana. Tweed feeling that he was 1
looked upon with suspicion -was restless ^
to be off, and engaged a passage in the ^
bark Carmen, bound for Vigo and Bar- j
celona.
Tweed, through not having his pass- .
port vised by the Spanish authorities on ?
the twenty-second of July, canned the j
Oarmen to be detained till the twenty- .
sixth, he paying demurrage for the delay.
The night before his departure
Mr. Youiig telegraphed to Consul General
Hall at Havana that it was William
M. Tweed who was nsing the name of
"Secor," but the dispatch arrived too
late at Havana. Mr. Hall immediately
took a carriage and went out of town
for a distance nf eight mitea to find
Captain General Jovellar to ask him to
send an order to detain Tweed, alias
Secor. The dispatch was sent but ar- j
rived too late, the Carmen having Rail- j
ed. The authorities, however, both at
Santiago de Cuba and Havana wero <
made acquainted with the facts in the j
case and the news was consequently ,
telegraphed over to Madrid. The rest (
von know. ,
A Rise from the Griuc,
Prof. Nixon had advertised in Charles
ton, S. 0., that he would allow himself 1
to be placed in a coffin, screwed down, *
and buried in a grave six feet deep. He
was to remain there for one hour and a
half, and then rise from the grave 1
through the soil. The grave was dug in 1
Belvidere, and he said that if he failed '
he hoped tho crowd would bo large ]
enough to insure a respectable legacy to
his wife and children. Upon approaohing
the grave Nixon was seen on a plat- I
form performing juggling tricks. He 1
was dressed in a bright yellow coat, pink (
trousers (short), and about eleven bro- 1
gans. Mr. Nixon claims to be an Egyp
tian. If the Egyptians ordinarily dress *
in that costume, Moses was justified in *
getting out of the country at all hazards. '
An Egyptian taskmaster with a brogan 1
like Nixon's must have been able to ad- 1
minister a fearful kiok. Nixon soon ap- *
proaohed the grave, and made earnest I
appeals to the crowd to get away from <
it. The coffin was brought forward, *
and a committee wae selected to seo <
that there was no deception. Nixon
now pulled off his shoes, and stood on
the coffin, holding in oaoh hand a vial.
His voice assumed unnatural solemnity. t
He said that he wantid silence for a
while; that this was a life and death
matter; his voice became husky, and _
perspiration began to start upon his
brow. He paused a moment. A look
of grave determination settled upon his
face, and with a tremuious sigh he hastily
swallowed the contents of the vial.
In a few minutes his face assumed a
deathly pallor, ancj^dark rims appeared
beneath his eyes. The spectators
thought he was going to die. He lay
in the coffin and the lid was screwed
down. The coffin was rapidly lowered
into the grave, and the earth shoveled
in. The excitement increased as the
time for whioh the professor was to remain
under ground (thirty minutes)
passed. At twenty-oight minutes the
exoitement communicated itself to the
judges, and they issued orders for the
horn to be blown, which was to summon
the buried man forth. As the first note
of the instrument rung out the assembly
became frantic. Soon a scream rose as
the earth began to crack, and Nixon
came up into sight with a load of dirt on
his head. Then a howl was caused by
the discovery that the professor's appearance
had been made through a neatly
covered chamber, which was divided
only by a thin partition from the head
of the grave. He had burst the head
out of the coffin, crent into the shaft.
?nd emerged from it at the sound of the i
horn. lie bowed his thanks and with- I
drew. i
j
Servians Mutilating Themselves j
A speoial dispatch from Belgrade to ]
the London Times says: Before the
publication of the order rendering sol- i
diers mutilating themselves, to escape 1
service in the army, liable to the penalty i
of death or imprisonment for life, many 1
Servians had already been executed for :
that offense. On ono oocaaioQ as many :
as forty in a batch were executed. I
have been told that there are hospitals
in which more than half the patients are
of this class.
The Bottom of the Sea.
Professor Huxley, speaking at a dinner
in Edinburgh of the result of the :
Challenger expedition, sent out to ob- !
tain more accurate information of the J
physical characteristics of the sea and 1
of the animal life in it, gave the follow- 1
ing interesting facts as examples of what i
has been discovered: <
Some of the discoveries whioh have
been made by the Challenger are un- 1
doubtedly such as to make ufl all form i
new ideas of the operation of natural i
causes in the sea. Take, for example, !
title very remaritaDie iaoc mat ac great,
depths the Ujmperatoreof the sea always
sinks down pretty much to that of freezing
fresh water. This is a very strange
fact in itself?a fact which ooold not
bare been anticipated a priori. Take,
again, the marvelous discovery that over
large areas of the sea the bottom is covsred
with a kind of chalk, a substance
made up entirely of the shells of minute
creatures. The fact has been known for
\ long time, and we were greatly puzsled
to know how these things got to be
ihere. But the researches of the Challenger
have proved beyond question, as
far as I can see, that the remains in
question are the shells of organisms
tvhich live at the surface and not at the
bottom, and that this deposit, which is
if the same nature as the ancient chalk,
lifflm'no in anm? minnr rwmflnifl. hnfc
essentially the same, is absolutely form- 1
3d by a rain of skeletons. These orea- s
lures all live within one hundred fath3ms
of the surface, and, being subject
(o the fate of all living things, they
sooner or later die. and when they die
;heir skeletons are rained down in one
continual shower, falling through a
nile or conple of miles of sea water.
Sow long they take about it imagination ?
'ails one in sapposing, but at least they
?et to the bottom, and there, piled up,
;bey form a great stratum of a substance
ivhich, if upheaved, would be exactly
ike chalk. Here we have a possible
node of construction of the rocks which
jompose the earth of which we had previously
no conception. Bat this is by
10 means the most wonderful thing.
5Vhen they got to depths of 8.000 and
1,000 fathoms, and to 4,400 fathoms, or
ibout five miles, whioh was the greatest
lepth at whioh the Challenger fished
Lnvr.hinc from the bottom, thev found s
ihat, while the surface of the -water f
night be full of those calcareous organ- t
sms, the bottom was not. There they t
'ound red clay. This red clay is a great i
Duzzle, a great mystery; how it comes i
ihere, what it arises from, whether it is, j
is the director has suggested, the ash of c
'oraminiferse; whether it is decomposed t
:umice stone, vomited out by volcanoes a
ind scattered over the surface; or ^
whether, lastly, it has something to do a
rith that meteorio dust whioh is being a
sontinually rained upon us /rom the
ipaces of the universe. Which of these t
saases may be at the bottom of the phe- t
lomenon it is very hard to say; it is one a
)f those points on whioh we shall have c
nformation by-and-bye.
The Fashions. (
Brown, slate, dark blue and cardinal 1
ed are the most fashionable colors in c
he new hosiery. When stripes appear c
hey are formed by th& ribbing only, or ?
n hair lines of contrasting color. 1
The new French coiffure, consisting 1
)f pnffs of hair on the baok of the head,
ind a water wave held in a catogan loop '
jy a silk braid net which covers all the t
5uffs and the loop, is to be seen. ?
Ball and evening dresses are out low 1
n the front and back, and given a square c
meet oy oroaa snouiaer straps, which i
lo duty as sleeves, coming high on the i
shoulder, and hanging like an epaulette t
)ver the upper part of the arm. r ]
The new pookets on polonaises are c
placed low down and far back on either 1
side according to the caprioe of the r.
nearer, aDd they are 0/ all dorta of fannful
shapes: funnel and fan formed, 1
lalberd shaped, square, triangular and
lexagonal.
Elegant and reasonable priced opera,
Saratoga and Newport shawls are shown
n stripes of repped silk, alternating ?
with raw silk natte. They come in all 1
jolors and pure white. They look f
Oriental, but aie French. <
In America and England the right (
aand is no longer useful to ladies, it be- :
iag required to hold np their dresses. J
[n Paris this is thought economical, and 1
therefore base, and the train is allowed ]
bo sweep the street like a broom.
American women refuse to follow 1
French styles in the arrangement of the 1
hair. In Paris a great deal of false |
hair is necessary in the composition of <
the present style of coiffure. Here the I
neat, compact but severe fashion of "the 1
Frenoh twist prevails for this moment. ]
The range of fanoy in hosiery is <
greater this season than ever. Some of <
these faocy silk stockings are literally ]
covered with vines, leaves, butterflies, I
Bowers, bees, trueiovers' xnois, anu
Dther devices in colored embroidery
that extend all over the Btooking, from
the rise of the instep to the knee; others
bave the sandal straps and bands aroond
she ankle defined in flowers and vines,
while others are embroidered in self or
contrasting color of any kind, on
grounds of black, white, and all shades
)f every color of the rainbow. And all
;hese are imitated marvelonsly in the
jotton and raw silk hosieries.
An Accomodating Man.
Some carpenters who were repairing
i bnilding in Detroit called upon a pelestrian
to help hoist a long pole which
was to form a scaffold support. When
fc was up he was asked to steady the
oole, and, unknown to him, it was made ,
'ast at the top with a rope. The carpen:ers
went out on the other side of the ^
Duildiug, going to dinner, and said <
nothing" to the accommodating man in ,
'ront. Ho thought they were a good
vhile getting ready, but he kept his ,
araco against the pole for a long half
lour, fearing each moment that it would 1
)verpower him and fall across the street. J
it length a boy came along, saw how ,
Hinom -wfirfl nnd cried out:
" You can't steal that pole unless you j
intie the rope at the top."
The accommodating man stepped j
jack, realized his position, and the way
ie kicked a bunch of shingles to pieoes
orced the boy to exclaim : J
" Well, now, I've seen a good many .
nen get mad, bnt I never saw a mad
nan's teeth hang out as his do."
Novel Treatment of Obesity.
The Paris Medicale discussea the treat- (
iient of obesity by the administration of (
sea water combined with a residence at j
;he seaside. Sea water, taken internally, ,
icts like a diuretio and purgative salts, a ,
remarkable fact being that the diuretio ,
iffect increases when the purgative di- ,
uinishes. The water should be ob- ,
;ained, when possible, from some depth, .
md far from the shore. It is then to be '
eft to settle for from six tc twelve hours ,
md filtered. It is to be taken three ]
iimes a dav in doses of a small tumbler- ,
Fix], or in half that quantity at a time, .
(vith fresh water or milk. It is stated as {
\ fact that sea wate? thus used facilitates ,
the oxygenation of the blood, and that
it hastens the elimination of effete materials.
In combination with this treatment
sea -water baths are to be taken,
free exeroiae is to be carried out, *md at
the same time fattening foods are id be
avoided. It is said that oases which
have resisted other measures have been
known to yield to this treatment.
The Case of Dr. Helmbold.
Dr. Helmbold, the onoe famous buchu
man, escaped from the insane asylum at
Philadelphia to New York, where old
friends took him in charge, under the
belief that he was not insane. " The
first idea that the public should have of
bhis affair," said Judge Ourtiss, his
counsel, to a Sun reporter, " is that Dr.
Helmbold has been kept in a madhouse
that somebody else might enjoy his estate.
About five years ago he was doing
a very large drug and chemical business.
He enoountered financial embarrassments,
and went to Europe with his
family, returning in 1875. He wished
bo resume oharge of his own business,
but was put eff with a fair speech about
his health. Thirty-six hours afterward,
in Philadelphia, he was arrested, accused
}f being drank and disorderly. Instead
it being given a hearing before a magistrate,
he was taken to the Kirkbridge
isylum for the insane, the authority being
two physicians' certificates that he
eras insane. One was a young physician,
imv/uIv anH f.VlA nfchflr h.ld
lever seen Dr. Helmbold. They were
jaid generous fees. Friends freed Dr.
ffelmbold with a writ of habeas corpus.
Se went to Long Branch, but was recaptured
and taken back to the Kirk)ridge
asylum. Then his wife procured
lis release- legally. He came to New
Fork, fearing to remain in Philadelphia,
)ut he was arrested here as a lunatic
ind committed to the Bloomingdale
leylum. He tried to recover his freelom
by appealing to the supreme court,
>ut that tribunal held that, as the. comnitment
was regular, it could not go belindit"
"Iliad no counsel," interposed Dr.
ETelmbold, who had all along aided
rudge Ourtiss' memory, "to urge my
ause."
" A short time after this ineffectual efort
to regain liberty," resumed Mr.
Jurtifls, "the superintendent of the
iloomingdaie asylum, JL'r. tfrown, one
>f the foremost authorities in the world,
,nd the directors united in giving Dr.
lelmbold a certificate of perfect sanity,
,nd discharged him. He went to Fhilalelphia
to join his family, and was ar>
ested on the original certificate of the
wo Philadelphia physicians, and taken
>ack to the Kirkbndge asylum. Oounel
got him before Judge Briggs on a
prit of habeas corpus. His honor said
hat, although individually satisfied of
he sanity of Dr. Helmbold, he would
lot take the responsibility of dischargng
him, but would send him before a
ory. From the jury, we claim, a verLict
was irregularly secured. * Dr. Helm>old
was imprisoned in the Kirkbndge
isylum. In July last he escaped, and
(rent to Long Branch, where he was
eized, beaten, gagged and dragged
everal hundred yards to a oonveyanoe."
" Here are the marks of their ruffianly
reatmenc," said Dr. Helmbold, showing
he little finger of his right hand,
icarred, misshapen, and a deep, livid
dcatrice below his left elbow.
"Dr. Helmbold," continued Judge
Jurtiss, " was again immured in the
lirkbridge asylum. He made his escape
and came here. He proposes to
ive here, and begin at once legal proseedings
to get possession of his propsrty.
He cannot be taken back to the
isylum, in my opinion, by process of
aw, and he shall not be by foroe. His
riends here intend to guard him well."
"My brother," said Dr. Helmbo)d,
< knows that I am as sane as any man
hat walks. I have certificates of my
lanity from eminent physicians of New
Pork city, and can produce before any
sonrt the evidence of those who knew
ma altmaai> 4-k?*a?ir?ti/yrif tyitt V\noir>oca />a_
HO ttJLUiUOU ViUVUQUVUV UAJ uimuuwdo v?
eer. I confess that I hare been eccenrio;
I am of a lively temperament. If
[ had not been, conld I have bnilt np so
luiokly a great trade ? .1 wag barbarousy
treated in the Kirkbridge asylum.
They used me even as an advertisement.
L'he intention is to keep me in a private
nadhoose until I become mad indeed."
The Age ot Ihe Earth.
Sir Charles Lyell was inclined to aslign
the glaoial period of the earth's
listory to a date one million of years
igo. Remarking upon this, Mr. James
Droll eays: If the beginning of the
jlacial epooh be carried back a million
rears, then it is probable, as Sir Charles
Lyell concludes, that the beginning of
;he Cambrian period will require to be
placed 240,000,000 of years back. But
It is very probable that the length of
iime embraced by the pre-Cambrian
iges of geological history may be as
great as that which has elapsed sinoethe
dose of the Cambrian period, and if
this be so, then we shall be compelled to
idmit that nearly 500,000,000 years have
passed away since the beginning of the
earth's geological history. But we have
avidence of a physical nature which
Droves that it is absolutely impossible
ihat the existing order of things, as regards
our globe, can date so far baok as
in\thing like 600,000,000 years. The
irguments to which I refer are those
vhich have been advanced by Professor
3ir William Thomson at various times.
These arguments are well known, and to
ill who have really given due attention
io them must be felt.'to De conclusive. It
vould be superfluous to state them here.
[ shall, however, for reasons whioh will
oresently appear, refer briefly to one of
ihem, and that one which seems to be
;he most conclusive of all, viz.: the argument
derived from the limit to the
ige of the sun's heat.
A Sign of the Times.
A recent report from the department
)f buildings, of the city of New York,
ihows that the estimated cost of new
>uildings erected in this city in 1870
?as, in round numbers, thirty-eight
nillion six hundred thousand dollars; in
1871, thirty-seven million five hundred
housand dollars, and in 1875, only eightsen
million two hundred thousand dolars.
This is a good illustration of the
iepressed condition of business, and exjlains
the scarcity of labor. Twenty
nillion dollars more were expended on
abor and materials in 1870 and in 1871
han in 1875. Real estate has been so
leavuy loaded witn taxation and so
jaralyzed by the shrinkage of valnes and
ihs general depression that it has been
mpossible to take advantage of the decreased
cost of bnilding. Yet the city
;axation w.ll be as heavy next year as
t is this year.?New York Herald.
How She Pat Them Up.
" What exqnisite preserves, Mrs.
Smoothly: how do yon have such splenlid
lnck with everything yon put np ?"
jomplimented one of the ladies at the
\ea table. " What are they, by the
way ?" Mrs. Smoothly is taken by surprise,
but recovers herself and calls the
Servant. "I have not tasted them yet,"
she said, "and have really forgotten
what I ordered the girl to pnt on for
yon. Bridget, what are these preserves ?"
11 Thim, ma'am ? Thirty-five cents a
oan; sora the nickle less wud the grocer
take, and thim big green things in the
dish beyant is fifty cents fur a little
glass jar." Tableau of silence, and a
good hearted, honest giti out of a job
? u??. ^n^ |y
A nephew of Mr. Bagges, in explaining
the mysteries of -a -teakettle, de*
scribes the benefits of the application
of 8team to useful pufjiSbses. For all
of which," remarked Mr. Bagges, " we
haTaiMtincioallv to thank?what was his
natoBr* - "Watt was his nime, I beHere^'taiole,"
replied the boy.
,
? 4
A Terse by Tfhlttler.
Whittier sent this little verse^to an *
autograph collector in'England :
AMERICA AND ENGLAND.
Thicker than water in one rill, * >
Through centuries of story,
Oar Saxon blood has flowed, and still
We share with you the good and ill,
> The shadow and the glory.
Items of Interest* ;
The bank deposits in California exceed
8117,000,000, and the capital is over
836,000,000.
It is determined by actual oonnt that
Philadelphia has 125,000 rooms to lef to
Centennial visitors.
A society has been formed in England
for " united prayer for the protection of
animals irom cruelty."
Maoon, Ga., expects to receive daring
the coming season 76,000 bales of cotton,
against 54,000 last year, and Columbus
will have 65,000, against 52,000.
English correspondents criticise the
American taste which permits a young
lady at a boat raoe to chat with a young
man who has only a breach cloth opu
" Madam, a good many persons were
very muoh disturbed at the concert last
night by the crying of your baby."
"Well, I do wonder such people will go
to concerts I" " <
A Chicago Chinaman says that he
looks around M alle iiime" and never
puts his money into a bank that baa
marble desks or dashing young officers
with diamond pins.
A French doctor claims that life during
the act of drowning remains longest in
the intestines, and that by heroic treat
ment they may be so stimulated that the
heart will resume it action.
About 12,000 inhabitants of the city
and suburbs of Damascus ware carried
off by cholera in three months. Most
of them vere Mohammedans, only about
500 being Jews and Christians.
In a little Breton churoh the beadle
takes up the collection with a plate in
?~ iionj on^ a mnff.hnT in the other.
VUU uauu HUM ? _ ^
from which he gives a pinch to every
one who contribute to the poor fond. "
Much dissatisfaction has been created
at tiie Chatham dockyard by the British
admiralty having resolved to break up
the useless vessels of war, which are
now rotting there, by the labor of convicts.
Since the beginning of the year 1,220
miles of railroad have been constructed
in the United States. This is more than
twice the mileage reported in 1875, and
a third more than in the corresponding
portion of 1874.
A Lille court has decided that a person
divorced in a country where divorce
is allowed oannot enter into a matrimonial
engagement in France during the
lifetime of the person from whom he or
she has been divorced.
The czar of Russia, recently addressing
the offioersof the Faulowsly guards,
said he had been able hitherto to spare
the blood of his soldiers, but the time
might soon come when he should have
to call npon their loyalty and valor.
A Paiis letter says: False hair will
be a drug in the market when frost
comes. Short curls and natural hair,
such as the pictures of Mme. Becamier
and Queen Hortenee have made familiar
to everybody, will be all th& fashion.
William S. Mercer, a prisoner in the
Nebraska State prison, has succeeded in
getting for that institution the best
library in the State. Many well known
writers have at his urgent request sent
complete sets of their works, and the
principal publishing houses have made
generons donations.
A Chicago schoolgirl, of tender years,
thus writes to her bosom friend : " Dear
Sasie, I shan't attend school agin until
i Get some knew cuffs, kollers and Jewelry?dear
mamma agrees with me that
It is my Duty to take the shine out of
that Upbtart Mammy Jonee, and I'll do n
it if i never learn nothing."
Not long ago a man was tried for
murder in the usual oourse. In the
usual course he was found guilty and
condemned, and in the usual oourse the
jurors were applied to to sign the petition
for a commutation of his sentence.
One wiser than his fallows did so with
the postscript: " Oil condition thatf he
hangs himself."
Young Foe dick was a member of a
wealthy Cincinnati family. When drunk
in a street car he insulted Miss Goshorn,
and her brother, whose family is not
wealthy, boxed his ears. Fosdick stagnnfc
to the olatform, fell off, and
the wheel killed him by passing over
his neck Goehorn was arrested and
accused of killing Fosdick, bob finally j>
acquitted.
A Tn?n, one-eighth colored, married a
white girl at Newport, having convinced
her?that he was a Spaniard. Upon learning
of the deception, she wished to be
freed. A Rhode Island law declares the
marriage of a white person to a "negro
or mulatto " void, and upon that ground
a lawyer is trying to have this bond of
wedlock broken. The hnsband, however,
answers that he is not a mulatto,
but an octoroon.
A woman got into a Baltimore street
car, took a peat, and carefully examined
a loaded revolver which she took from
her pocket. Then she told the conductor
to let her out at John Kevins' honse.
A friend of Nevins' heard the remark,
and, getting out of the car ahead of
her, ran into the endangered man's residence
and warned him to fly. The
woman was crazy, and she intended to
kill Nevins, against whom she had a
grudge.
In Spain the heat has been so great
this summer that the thermometer rose
to 166 degrees in the sun at Cadiz.
Tallow candles melted and became useless
at night, hundreds of>'< people
dropped dead in the streets, and field
laborers refused to work in the torching
sun. Owing to the recent disbandment
of 200,000 soldiers, the labor
market was so glutted that many workmen
could only obtain about fifteen
cents daily for twelve hours' work.1'
Meteors In Sweden. *
A fall of meteorites took place on fhe
twenty-eighth of June, between eleven
and twelve a. m., near Stalldalen. Several
fell on the ground and some into a
lake. Two were found, one about the
size of the fiat and weighing four and
one-half pounds, the other smaller.
Eye-witnesses say that a loud whistling
was first heard in the air from weet to VV
cast, and a light was plainly distingmsnable,
although the sky was clear and
cloudless; thereafter two very sharp reports
were heard, the second succeeding
the first after a momentary interval, followed
by several others less sharp, resembling
thunder, after which the falling
stones were observed by eight or
ten persons; and, finally, there was seen
in the air a whirling smoke, not very
high up. A meteor was observed simultaneously
at Stockholm and at other
places.
Puustjring.?Vicar (to old lady who
is returning from a funeral): " Weil,
Martha, I'm afraid you've had a sad
afternoon; it has been a long walk, too,
for you." Martha : " Snrely 'tis, sir !
Ah, sir, 'taint much pleasure now for
me to go to funerals. I be tco 6ld and
full o' rheumatiz. It was very different
J wh?n wa waayonng, that 'twtr!"