The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, November 15, 1876, Image 1
THE ABBEVILLE PRESS & BANNER
* J"?.y ,
_________________ - ??? ? ? . - " - - - . . _ i ^ <jj
% . ?
BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1876, VOLUME XX1Y---NO. 32.
- ? :A
... r. . ^ ??^ .4
? """ 1 . i' Di^ma In TVr"nf. 1 Night Song,
Cleopatra Dying.
Sinks the sun below the deeeri,
Golden glows the sluggish Nile;
Purple flame crowns spring and temple,
Lights up every ancient pile
Where the old gods now are sleeping;
Ieis, and Osiris great.
Guaid me, help me, give me ootirage
Like a queen to meet my fate!
"I am dying, Egypt, dying!"
Let the Caesar'h army come?
I will cheat him of his glory,
Though beyorrl the Styx I roam,
Shall he drag this beauty with him
While the crowd bin triumph sings ?
No, i o, never! I will show him
What lies in|the blood of kings.
Though ho hold the golden eoepter,
Rills the Pharaoh's suudy land,
Where old Nilus rolls reaistlees,
Through the sweeps of silvery sandHe
shall never say I met him
Fawning, abject, like a Have?
1 wil foil him, though to do it
I must cross the 8tygian wave.
Oh, my hero, sleeping, sleeping?
Shall I meet yon on the shore
Of Plutonian shadows ? Shall we
In death meet and love once more ?
See, I follow in your footatepa?
Swrn the Cffisar and his might?
For your love I will leap boldly
Into realms of death atd night
Down below the deeort sinking
Fa ?es Apollo's brilliant oar,
And from out the distant azure,
Breaks the bright glsam of a star
Venus, queen of Jove and beauty,
Welcomes me to death's embrace,
DyiDg?free, proud, and triumphant,
The last sovereign of my race.
Dying! dying! I am ooming,
Oh, my hero, to your arms :
Yon will welcome me, I know it?
Guard me from all rude alarms.
Hart! I hear the legions oomiug.
Hear their ones of triumph swell,
But, proud Cffisar, dead I scorn yon,
Egypt?Antony?farewell!
? Thomas S. Collier.
Joe Gorton's Passenger.
The day was drawing toward its close,
chill and raw. Lake Village was almost
always gusty, but just now the wind was
having its own way more than usual,
and any passer thrungh the long, bleak
street, happening to glance in at the
window of the little tavern, might well
have been tempted by the bright fire
and good company inside the bar.
They were tne twual afternoon loafers,
with the exception of one small, wiry
looking man, a stranger, who, at the
moment, was evidently the center of the
general interest.
" But what is it yon know, anyhow,
Etranger ?" asked one of the group.
Come, now, among friends."
"Never you mind," answered the
man addressed, " I know enough to
shut up John Sawyer a pretty spell, if
not t<? make him nwing, and I know how .
to tell it when the right time comes, :
dor't you be afraid for that. The day's
getting on," he added, abruptly, rising
and turning toward the window, " and i
your duck pond there don't look over 1
agreeable just now. Who's a good boatman
hereabouts ? for. if I'm snilt. I i
can't swim."
"Job Gorton's your man," was the
answer; he couldn't tip over if he
tried, oouldu't Joe."
" Why don't yon wait till to-morrow,
Bt ranger, if you're afraid o' the weather?
and them clonds over there do look
kinder pesky," baid the landlord of the
Lakeside- House, turning a practiced
eye on the gray mingling outlines of
lake and sky.
"Well, fact is," said the other, " I'm
acquainted over in Milham, and, if it'B
all the same to you"?with a wink?
"I'd rather be there than "hete; so, if
you'll hunt up this Joe Wbat's-his-name,
111 be obliged."
Tt ie 1 udVrd. resenting the wink and
the impi e<i in^ii uati >u, or>ened the
door and cdl<-u out, rutber sulkily, to
somr. one in the next room: " M?rky,
run do vn to tlie water and tell Joe
there'b a pas* nger here."
In another minutn the house dooi
closed, and a tall, slight girl's figure,
with a shawl over her head, might havi
been Keen hnrrvinc down to the water
Bide.
Joe Gorton, busy about his boat
heard his name called, and, looking up.
saw the girl Margy. The sharp wind
bad blown out stray looks of her crisp,
black hair from under the red Bhawl,
but th?? hectic in the cheeks, and the
feverish brightness in the dilated eyes,
were not all the wind's work. She came
close to the young .boatman, who raised
himself up, facing her.
Joe," she said, "there's a passenger
waiting up to the house;" she laid
her hand on his arm, and glanced can
tiously around before adding, in a whisper
: 'Joe, if once that man reaches
the other f>ide, it's all np with father."
" What's that, Margy ?" said the boat
man, looking wonderingly at her.
I tell you I heard it; he'll bring it
home to him; he says he's come a-purpose.
It'8 father's chance clean gone if
you take him across."
"Do you mean I should refuse to
take him, Margy ?" said Joe, slowly.
' What good would that do?" said the
girl, impatiently. "Kelley or some of
'em wonld take him fastenongh; what's
father's life against a fare ? No, it's you
must take him, Joe, and then, if anything
happens," sinking her voice to a
meaning whisper, "nobody but me and
you'8 the wiser."
Joe started back.
" Marg, what's that you're thinking ?"
"I cui't help it," cried the girl, passionately,
twisting her fingers in the
shawl fringe so that it snapped; "he's
my father, and never was a better but
for the drink?you knowyourself,everybody
says so?and, if you could hear
that man up there laughing and boasting
he'll hang him, Joe, you'd find it
hard to keep your hands off of him; but
I don't ask you to so mach as touch a
finger to h m, only, if the boat turns
over, he can'r swim. I heard him say
so, and then father's saved, and nobody
? the wiser, for t^e best boatman that
ever was might have an accident on a <
squally evening like this."
" There, there, Margy, be still, poor i
girl, you don't know what you're say- i
ing," int-irupted Joe.
"Yes I do," she said, passionately; i
" never you think that, Joe Gorton. I i
tell you it lays with you to save father |
or to kill him; yes, and mr, too, for if i
they hang him 111 never live over the i
day, and that I swear, so you choos be- i
A, TT 1- >? _1_ _ i I* t. .
iwwu u?. i-LurtL i sue iurDea to listen.
" I can't stay." She pressed her hand :
hard on his shoulder, looking up^pite- .
oosiy in his face. "Joe, if ever yon
oared for me, save that poor old man! "
And before he could answer she was
gone, leaving him looking after her like
one in a dream.
The clouds were getting lower and
heavier as the boatman set off with his
passenger.
" Looks as if we should have a spell
of weather," said the latter, glancing
* from the leaden sky to the leaden water.
" Hope you're what they cracked vou up
to be, for if I got a ducking here I
shouldn't find myself again in a hurry."
" Well, I'm as good as they average,
I reckon, mister?I didn't hear your
name," said Joe, looking up inquiringly
"Peter Groom is my name, and one I
ain't ashamed of; it'll be pretty well
known in these parts by this day \fr6ek,
I'm thinking," and the man smiled a
smile not pleasant to see.
" How's that ?"' said Joe, anxious to
betray no previous knowledge.
* I've come to give evidenoe in a trial
that's coming off in your county town,"
answered Groom, motioning toward the
Milham shore. "I've traveled nigh
five hundred miles on purpose to do it,
and I'd travel five hundred more if 'twas
needed."
"Is it the Sawyer trial you mean?"
asked Joe, carelessly. "People have
been saying there ain't evidence enough
to make a case, Dut 1 'spose mere s
something new turned up ?
"1 should rather think so; something
that'll make a case'11 hold John Sawyer
as tight as his coffin."
Joe clinohed his hand on his oar. He
was beginning to understand Margy's
hatred for this man, with his open exultation
in tho ruin he was going to work.
' I'm sorry for the old man," he said,
after a pause, "and so are most folks
about here. Wilson was known for a
bully, and, if Sawyer really aone it,
'twas that?that ?nd the drink, for when
he's himself he wouldn't hurt a worm."
" You've no need to tell me what John
Sawyer is," said the other, shortly. " I
knew him before you were born, before
even he i ame into the^e parts."
" Well," said' the boatman, " you've
a queer notion of old acquaintance'
sake then, that's all."
"I'll give him a swing for old acquaintance'
sake, if I can," replied
Groom, with a scowl.
Joe drew a quick breath.
" Can you do that?" he asked.
" That or a lifer. I tell you, my man,
I saw it done."
" You saw Sawyer kill Wilson ?" exclaimed
Joe, stopping short on his oara.
"I saw him strike the blew that killed
him, and that comes to pretty nigh the
same tfcmg, 1 ta&e it. "
"Bat how is it you've kept back all
along?"
" Well, it's like this," said Groom,
who appeared to be in a more communicative
mood than a while before.
" The day of the murder?to begrn at
the beginning?I happened to be passing
through Milham, and stopped over
a train there to see a man I had dealings
with. Ho lived a little ont of the
town, a lonesome road, part of the way
across some fields. I did my business,
and started back again alone, as I had
come. Half way, or thereabout, I
heard a kind of cussing and quarreling
in the next field?right close to my ear
it sounded, only I couldn't see anything
for the high hedge. 'What's up ?'
thinks I, ' might as well take a peep.'
'Twas an uncommon fine evening;
moonlight you could almost see to .read
by, and 1 knew Sawyer as soon as I set
eyes on him. His faoe was turned exnshflwr
a tyin on/1 tiotItt Annnorh if. Innlro^
OVWiJ W iUV, WUVt VMVMQU *? *w?vv
then. The next minute 1 saw him strike
out, and the other went down like a
log."
" And you let him lay ?" interrupted
Joe, in excitement. " You never called
for help, nor nothing?"
" What for?" said Groom, carelessly.
" I thought 'twas just a drunken quarrel?I
knew what Sawyer was?and I
left 'cm to settle it between themselves.
I had to look sharp for the next train,
so I hurried back to the hotel, and none
too soon, either. I never thought again
about the matter, till the other day I
happened to hear that John Sawyer was
ffoing to be tried for murder, and, talking
this way and that, I found the time
and the gen'ral circumstances agreed
with that evening?so, then, I knew I
had seen .the thing done."
Groom paused a moment, and when
he resumed it was in an abstracted tone
" 'Twasn't particularly convenient for
me to leave my business just then ; if
it'd been anybody else I'd likely have
left the p<y>r devil to sink or swim, as
might be, but John SawyerJ I tell
?nn " >ia /?nntinriAr1 t.hrnnch hin
teeth, as, catching the boatman's eye,
he appeared suddenly conscious of a
listener, "I'd let all I've got go to rack
and ruin for the pleasure of seeing John
Sawyer stand there, a disgraced and oon
victed man, and Raying to him : * 'Twas
me that did it!"'
There was something in Joe Gorton's
breast on which the fierce words and
manner jarred painfully. He was no
preacher, this poor, untaught boatman ;
he did not know he * to tell the man before
him that his promised revenge was
cruel and cowardly ; bnt yet he felt that,
even setting aside Margy's interests,
there was something in it which roused
all his instincts of resistance. iTe shook
his head as he thought abont it.
*' That's a feeling I can't make out,"
he said, half aloud.
* n?n'fc Tjrm 2" R&irl H-rnnm. shortlv.
supposing the remark to be addressed
to himself. " Have you got a sweetheart,
young man ?" he added, abruptly,
after a chort pause.
" A sweetheart?" repeated Joe, starting
at the associations connected with
tin: question, and the man who put it.
"Well, you've no cause to be shy of
owning it," eaid Groom, who had noticed
the movement. "A sweetheart,
when she's the right eort, is what no
man need be ashamed of. I had one
myself when was your age"?he
stopped a moment?" I don't s'pose
you'd often see her like, I never did.
There -was a girl up at that place, that
tavern there, had a kind of look of her
about the eyes an' forehead, but nothing
to oompan. I had a friend, too?
well, it ain't much of a story," Groom
broke off, with a dry laugh, "and I
don't hardly know why I tell it at all,
only, maybe, it'll help you make out
what seems to puzzle you. The long
and short of it is that mv friend?mind
that, youngster! my friend cheated me
out of my sweetheart. I ain't much to
look at, I know?never was ; but I could
care for a ? oman just as much as if I'd
been six foot high, and fresh as a rose,
and I'd take my oath she cured for me,
too, till he come between us with a false
tongue enough to turn my girl's head.
Well, he come off first best; she left me
and went away with him. I swore then,
boy," said Groom, looking darkly in his
listener's earnest face, " that if ever my
dayoome, I'd be even with John Sawyer;
1 never thought 'twould, but it has, and
do you think I'll let my chance slip
dow? No, and the man brought down
his fist with a force that Bhook the boat's
side.
" That was hard lines, sure enough,"
3ftid Joe, thoughtfully, "but, Mr.
Qroom, you was speaking just now ol a
girl up at the tavern, there. She's my
sweetheart, and," added the boatman,
slowly, " she's Sawyer's girl, his only
child."
"NoI" exclaimed Groom, evidently
moved by the intelligence. "Hetty's
child," he muttered to himself,
" Hetty's child!"
" Yes," said Joe, eagerly, " don't for
get whose child she in, and that you'll
make her suffer along with the old man."
"Ah," said Groom, "that's all very
well, but I don't forget, neither, whose
child she is on the other side. No ! I'm
sorry for the girl, and for you, youngster,
since you'-e an interest in her, but
I'd have my pay out of John Sawyer,
now-, if I was to die for it."
Joe's grasp tightened convulsively on
his oar. Waa the man crazy, thus to
make a boast of the misery he would
cause before one whose advantage and
opportunity it alike was to insure his
*
I
silence; who bad him almost as completely
at his mercy here on this unfamiliar
element, as if they two had been
alone in all the earth 1 If he were to
die for it I Every plunge of the dark
water seemed to be repeating those
words. The boatman roused himself
with a start at the sound of his passenger's
voioe.
"You're a pretty feller, ain't you,
now," said the latter, resuming the subject
in a lighter tone, " wanting to persuade
me to cheat justice after that
fashion?"
"As for that," answered Joe, "you
said yourself if it had been anybody
but Sawyer you wouldn't have troubled
to hunt him down, and I can't see as
that's any better notion of justioe than
mine. Besides," he added, gravely,
"the old man's got his death sentenoe
a'ready, if that's what you want; what
with the drink he ain't the man he used
to be, and the night of the quarrel he
got a ccngh that's tearing him all to
pieces; the doctors say he can't live
long, nohow."
" He'll live long enough to make the
acquaintance of a rope's end, I reckon,"
said Groom, with a coarse laugh, "and
that's all I care about"
rm_ - i i-i ?
lilt) UIUUU WUIUO tUlU umuulol k uuodu
the lurking devil in Joe Gorton'a heart.
He stammered out a curse, inarticulate
for passion.
"Eh?" said Groom, oatohing the
sound, but not the words, "what's that
you say ?"
The boatman stopped rowing, and
leaned forward till ne almost touched
Groom where he sat
" Just put yourself in the old man's
place for a minute," he begun, with an
effort, speaking quietly. "S'pose there
was somebody'd got the chanoe and the
will to get shut o' you, just as you have
of old Sawyer "?
" What are you driving at now ?" interrupted
Groom. "There ain't anybody,
as I know of, has got either- more
luck for me !" he ended,with a laugh.
"Ain't there?" said the boatman,
slowly. " You talk about justioe, Mr.
Groom," he resumed, "but it ain't jus-,
tioe you've set out to do?it's murder.
You ve got the law on your side, as it
happens, but all the same, as far as you
--- J - !? * 1?J l?
are concerned, it a muruer?t%a uwjl, ivx
what I can see, as if somebody?it might
be me," said Joe, .looking fixedly in the
other's face through the growing dusk,
" somebody with a motive, no matter
what, for wanting to be rid of you, getting
you all alone?as it might be hereout
of sight or help, should just put you
quietly out of the way "?
' Hey ! d'ye mean to threaten me ?"
cried Groom, springing up. Just then
the breaking gnst struck sharp on the
boat's side, that, left to her own guidance,
had drifted round ; she gave a lurch and
a bound, that sent Qroom, who in starting
back bad lost his balance, overboard
like a shot.
Joe stared for an instant at the empty
place opposite, hardly comprehending
what had happened so quickly, then,
mdden as the lightning darting through
:he sky above him, it flashed into his
mind that here were silence and safety,
and that throngh no act of his. Why not
profit by the accident? Why not, in the
man's own spirit, in his very words,
" leave him to sink or swim, as might
be?" But foe could no more be deceived
by his own, than by others'
sophistries; a voice within him cried:
"If you leave thiH man to die, yon are
his murderer 1" A great surge of horror
and remorse for the thought that had
been in his heart seemed to sweep him
away, and before a second lightning
bolt could tear the clouds, he had thrown
himself after Groom.
When the two rose together, the boat
was nowhere in sight. There was nothiDg
now for it but to strike out for the
shore. Luckily, the Milbam side was
not now very distant; still, it was a hard
stretch through the numbing water, encumbered,
as he was, with his heavy
olothiDg and the weight of Groom, who,
moreover, himself completely helpless,
held him with a nervous clutch that half
strangled him. By the time they neared
th#shore, his strength was pretty well
spent, but the growing lights gave him
heart again ; he reBted an instant for the
final prll, and just then it was that the
gUBt seized him, unprepared, and whirled
him away from the inlet he was making
for, to the rock ledge jutting into it,
that caught and battered him?poor Joe.
He was conscious when they took him
up, but there was a look in his face that
foretold the end, even before the doctors
did. As for Groom, he had been
shielded by Joe's body, and, tough and
wiry as he was, was scarcely the worse
for the whole adventare. When he
beard what they were saying about Joe,
he burst out with an oath, and hurried
to where he lay.
" Well, Gorton, and how is it with
you ?" he said, affecting to speak cheerfully,
though struck at once by that look
of death in the face.
"About as bad as it can be, Mr.
Groom," answered Joe, feebly. " The
old boat and 111 go down together, I
reckon."
" Now, never you talk that stuff, my
man," said Groom, in almoBt a blustering
way, perhaps to conceal a certain
unsteadiness of voice; "I owe you a
life, and I ain't one to rest till I've paid
if if if fotraa oil ffon /^AAfAva f mm nora
to Jericho. I've got means, I tell ye."
"No use, Mr. Groom," said Joe,
Hhere ain't no doctor oould patch up
what's smashed inside of me. But look
here," and he instinctively lowered his
voice, with a glance at ?the attendant,
though there was little* fear of that
broken whisper reaching any ears but
those close to it, "it's what I wanted to
speak to you about?you owe me a life,
you6ay; mine ain't yours to give?but
old Sawyer's in"?
Groom's face darkened. "I swear I'd
almost rather you asked for my own,"
he muttered,
"But you'll promise, Mr. Groom?"
said Joe. in his eacrerness manacrinor to
half raise himself, "you'll promise?"
"Well?Is'posel ain'tgot no choice,"
answered Groom, still reluctantly; "yes,
I do promise, there's my hand on it."
A gleam of intense delight for a moment
almost drove the death look from
Joe's face. "It's all right, Margy," he
whispered, softly, to himself, and laid
his head back again.
When John Sawyer had been discharged
for want of evidence, when the
Lake Village gossipB, wondering over
the stranger's disappearance, concluded
that his boasts had been mere idle talk
to make a sensation, Margy could have
told them better. She knew how it was
Joe died, she knew that a life had been
paid for her father's; and in a heart
softened by pain she acknowledged that
her prayer had been answered in God's
own way.
A Clerical Hit.
Ministers will have their little jokes
like other people.
' Gome over and preach for me tonight,"
said a Chicago divine to a
clerical friend whom he met on the
street, not many days since.
"I can't to-nteht," was the reply,
"I'm almost down sick with a headache."
"Well," drolly observed the other,
" I guess you can do it, for if you preach
as you usually do, you won't have to nee
your head any!"
They they both laughed, and pinched
each other in the ribs, and said it was a
good one, just as heartily as though
they had been the worst kind of sinners
all their lives.
A Yellow Feyer Story.
There was a curious incident in the
yellow feyer panic at Savannah which
has not attracted as much attention as it
deserves. The hero, of the mournful episode
was a young ding clerk. When tne
fever broke Out at Savannah the whole
foroe in the drug store where he was at
work deserted the post of danger and
left the city. His friends, who lived in
Augusta, sent word to him to come
home, but he refused, and remained on
duty until the proprietor of the store ordered
him to close it. He then went to
another drug store in Savannah and
worked laboriously as prescription
clerk. He was kept so busily engaged
that he had little time for his meals, no
chance to change his clothes and no opportunity
for rest or amusement. His
employer took the fever and died, although
the boy nursed him faithfully.
The cook took it, and he attended to
her also and she reoovered. A young
oomrade was then taken ill and the steadfast
drncoist nursed him and performed
his duties in the store night and day.
His friend regained his health slowly,
and then the olerk was himself seized
with the fever, bnt as he was strong and
eheerful he sent word to his relatives
that he had no- fears. It was then his
companion's turn to show the kind of
stuff of whioh he was made; and the
material turned out to be pur ? gold. He
nursed his friend from day to day, keeping
up constant communication with his
home by telegraph as long as the telegraph
messengers could be persuaded to
venture into the infected part of the
town. His last dispatches were : "I
will stick to him to the last," and "I
shall not sleep to night." Both of the
young men died that night.
We are not much addicted to what is
known in the newspaper profession as
gush, and have no desire to tura a oommonplaoe
matter into heroism by a few
gorgeous phrases glittering in the light
of an overheated imagination; but we
are inclined to mini mat ?um? uuuur us
due to the memory of these two young
fellows, and should be frankly paid.
They found themselves in the heart of a
city afflicted with the plague, a place in
which even brave men often quail and
from which selfish ones always shrink.
They were in no sense before the publio
eve, and whatever they did wm done
through loyalty to their own impulses,
not in the nope of reputation or reward.
They had that kind of duty to perform
which is the hardest that can be put
upon man. It was ugly, wearing, disagreeable
and dangerous. The self-sacrifice
required was not sudden and
startling enough to win glory, but it
was of that moderate, continuous and
exhausting kind which only rare patience
can stand. If these young Georgians
had fallen side by side in a battlefield
in the endeavor to sustain their
flag or rescue each other, no one would
have wondered at their death; but to
find them wearing out their health in
nursing the sick, and faithful to each
otner tnrongn weary vigns, is a sweet
sorprise. At a time when the national
character has suffered a great deal
abroad through the misconduct of officials
through whom we are mainly
known to other peoples, and the American
is pictured as a hard, angular, superficial,
unscrupulous personage, occurrences
like this at Savannah should
bring us reassurance and comfort. It is
only one incident out of many from day
to day suggesting rare powers and propensities
for good. Every skirmish on
the plains, the overturning of a pleasure
yacht, or the rescue of a shipwrecked
orew, is sure to briog some hint of a capability
for heroism which seems to be
an American heritage. Few readers
will fail to respond to the words of the
correspondent who has told in a private
letter the facts which we have just re
peated: ' They were brave boys, were
they not ? Does it make any difference
which side or which flag such souls
fought for twelve years ago ? Can't you
reach out and shake hands over any distance
?"? World.
A Glassmaker's Fate.
There was an artificer in Rome who
made vessels of glass of so tenacious a
temper that they were as little liable to
be broken as those that are made of gold
and silver. When, therefore, ho had
made a vial of the pnrer sort, and such
as he thought a present worthy of Caesar
alone, he was admitted into the presence
of the then Emperor Tiberius. The gift
was praised, the skillful hand of the artist
applauded, and tne donation of the
giver accepted. The artist, that be might
enhance the wonder of the spectators and
promote himself yet further in the favor
of the emperor, desired the vial out of
Caesar's hand and threw it with such
force against the floor that the most
solid motal would have received some
damage or bruise thereby" Coe3ar was
not only amazed, but affrighted with the
act; but the artist, taking up a vial from
the ground (which was not broken, but
only bruised together, as if the substance
of the glass had put on the temper of
brass), drew out an instrument from his
bosom and beat it out to its former figrrro
Thin rlnno Via imnainnd that he
had conquered the world, as believing
that he had merited an acquaintance
with Csesar, and raised the admiration
of all the beholders, but it fell out otherwise,
for the emperor.inqnired if any
other person besides himself was privy to
the like tempering of glass. "When ho
told him " No " he commanded his attendants
to strike off his head, saying :
"That should this artifice come once to
be known, gold and silver would be as
of little value as the dirt in the street."
Long after this, in 1610, we read that,
among other rare presents then sent
from the Sophy of Persia to the king of
Spain, were six mirrors of malleable
glass, so exquisitely tempered that they
could not be broken.
The Good that Comes to Us.
Much of the good that comos to ns
through life is far removed from any of
our plans or intentions. If we watch
a child at play we shall see that his continual
pleasures take him unawares. One
by one they meet him unexpectedly in
simple yet ever ohaDging forms. When
he grows older and plans his enjoyments
how seldom does he realize his anticipations
! Happiness eludes his search and
defies his schemes, but comes in ways
unthought of. It escapes from the ambition*
schemer, who thought his grasp
upon it was firm, and dwells with the
simple and loving hearts under the cottage
roof, who court it not. It flies
from the banquet table, spread to ensnare
it. and descends upon the frugal
board, where health and peace and love
preside. Complicated plans to secure
wealth and power, fame and position,
may be successfully carried oat without
bringing hall the enjoyment which comes
uncalled to those who live simply, purely,
trustfully and self-denyingly from
day to day, making no claim, but receiving
gratefully whatever blessings descends
upon them.
We would by no means nndervalue a
grand life purpose, or throw the least
shade of disrespect upon careful and
well laid plans of action. They are invaluable,
if we use them as instruments,
keeping them under a wise control and
modifying them an occasion may require.
They are only detrimental when
we worship them, become absorbed in
them, are bound down by them, und
a* ek good in no other direction. Like
fire and water, our plaua rnaho excellent
servants but very bad masters.
A Story, *1lh a Moral;
A gentleman of middle age; who had
always been a farmer, had cleared up i
and improved one of the best farms in i
Maine, erected hew and convenient (
buildings, reared a family, and was en- <
joying the blessings with whioh he was 1
surrounded, became possessed with the ]
idea of aellxiig hiaiartn. i
Friends told him he could live so i
muoh easier to go into the village, where i
he could have a nice house, a garden, i
keep a cow, and, if he chose, a horse, (
and live like a gentleman on the interest (
of his money, .that he advertised his (
farm for sale. He found no want of t
purchasers, and the farm was soon dis- c
posod of for a handsome sum. Then c
the stook, farming tools, etc., were sold, i
and the place that he had wrought with c
liia own hands, the buildings he had c
built for his own convenience, and, ao- t
cording to his own notions, the spot s
where he had raised his family, and t
around which clustered so many associa- i
fi/vno naooA/1 infn flio tlflTlrifl nf fltrftTl- V
gers. For a time the gentleman did not i
locate, as he desired to look round, find 1
a place to rait him, and see where he d
could he happy for the remainder of his d
days. At last he found a place that i
suited him, purchased it, and settled c
down to life again. But things did not a
go right. He missed hiB old farm and l
house, the silent but delightful oompany v
of his cattle, sheep, and other domestic s
animals, the scenes where he had pass- s
ed bo many happy year?, and the society i
of his old neighbors, tried and true, t
He grew discontented, and was well t
nigh sick. His wife and daughters, f
also, were not pleased with their new s
home; it was half a mile from town, (
with a little land, and was what many ?
would have called a desirable place. $
Having remained long enough in his
new plaoe?he ooald not be said to have
lived at all?to become satisfied he
should never be contented, he resolved i
to have the old farm back again. He 0
went to tbe man who owned it, paid him E
five hundred dollars more than what he j
got, took possession again of his fa- j
miliar fields and groves, and, having 3
learned a wholesome lesson from his
transaction, is now at work again upon
!_ _ -ni i :? Vt/ii. 1
ms U1U lurui, 1* LUtppittl, wrnci nuu ucir
ter contented, if not a richer man. _
Its moral to farmers and ethers is,
that when they get discontented and sell j
out, they should be snre they are able to 1
buy bacK their old homes and business, 1
when they find they have not bettered
themselves by the change.
c
A Grand Potlatch.
There was a mighty gathering of In- t
diaus at Saanich, says a letter from %
British Columbia. Ppward of 3,000 redskins,
in 273 canoes, were present. 1<
The occasion of the assemblage was a 7
grand potlatch of over $15,000 worth of ('
goods being given away. English ^
blankets to the value of $6,000 were ^
thro an from the top of the lodges to be
scrambled for by the natives below, who
stood armed with loDg poles, 8tr*k full
of nails at one end? to secure the nze a
as soon as it fell. In addition to fteso, 8
somo curious " pcrcecees," made by the t
natives themselves from"the wool of the d
mountain sheep, wero also thrown, t
Three hundred guns, amongst which a
wero some very fine doubled barreled J
pieces with percussion locks, were then t
thrown down, and caused a series of a
tremendous struggles, which lasted in
some cases for nearly an honr. Pieces
of board representing sums ranging from
3100 to $600 were then scrambled for
after the same fashion. Three brothers c
gave 3,500 blankets as their contribu- 1
tion, which had all been paid for by the f
products of the chase. The stock of s
/m'ft.j Koine PTlmriflfpil the natives all cot s
into their canoes and left, thus ending t
one of the largest meetings of the kind t
which has taken place for many years, g
and probably the last of any magnitude t
which will occur, aa the rifling genera- c
tion of Indians seem to care little about c
perpetuating the customs of their fore- a
fathers, and this, as well as many other 8
ancient practices, will soon be numbered t
j among the things of the past. All was
conductcd soberly, and the Indian i
superintendent, Colonel Powell, and
Police Superintendent Todd, who were t
present, were both struck with the ab- c
sence of any sign of intoxication. a
c
A Horrible Death.
Some weeks ago Alexander Scott, a B
farmer living near Cherry Hill, Mary- t
land, indulged in an ezohange of (
horses. The horse he secured was a J
fine looking animal, but at the time was i
suffering from disease of the head. Mr. c
Soott believed it to be "distemper," ?
and did not object to mnaing the risk. r
A few weeks ago Mr. Scott's hand begun a
" i i j 1.1. ^
to inname irom a Bngnt wuauu uu ue t
back of it, and became in a few days a G
very ngly ulcer, causing him a great <3
deal of pain. He became sick of fever, T
and a physician was called in. He found t
the patient suffering from fever, but de- ^
tected nothing different from an ordinary
case of intermittent fever, and prescribed
the usual remedies. The physician
having occasion to leave home, and
the fever not abating, another doctor t
was asked to attend Mr. Scott. At the s
first visit he prescribed for intermittent I
fever, having first inquired about the s
sore hand, and being told that it had n
nearly healed. The next day, however, t
he found Mr. Scott suffering with a rag- a
ing fever, and covered with 1' button c
farcy." The disease was unmistakably t
"glanders," and had been'communi- ?
cated frocu the glandered horse throngh 1
the break in the skin of the hand. Mr. a
Scott suffered the most fearful agony t
and delirium throughout two days, when 8
death ensued. Oases of persons suffer- t
ing from " glanders " are very rare, but t
occur often enough to remind horsemen "v
that the proper way to deal with a horse ?
sufferiug from this fatal disease is to t
have him killed at once. A horse may t
have "ohronic glanders" and live a
long time, keep fat, and work without i
difficulty, yet innoculate man and beast 1
with the deadly virus that is slowly sap- c
ping his existence. i
^
Not Contagions. (
The following incident is mentioned [
in an exchange in proof that the yellow f
fever is not oontagious in the sense in f
which smallpox or scarlet fever is, and f
that, unless a place is in a condition
favorable to the spread of the disease, [
there is no special danger that the 1
presence of a patient who has contracted 1
the fever elsewhere would causa a well
person in contact with him to tako it:
About twenty years ago the yellow fever
desolated Norfolk, Virginia. For a time ?
the alarm in the oountry round about t
was very great, and every village and (
neighborhood instituted a sort of quar- t
autLne, which shut the poor Norfolk i
people closely in their stricken city, i
Henry A. Wise alone of all the people 1
in the neighborhood retained at once ]
I his courage and hiB humanity. Seeing <
how sore the need was of a refnge ]
without the walla of the city, he invited ]
the sufferers, sick and well, to come to i
his plantation in Acoomac county, just I
across, the strait from the city ; and de- i
fying the threatened violenoe of a ]
frightened mob, he bronght them there .
in "considerable numbers, and not a <
particle of harm came of it; not a single '
person who had not been erposed |
to the infected air of the city took the ]
disease. If this fact is correctly re- 1
ported, there is something in it deserv- 1
ing the careful investigation of thoughtful
physicians.
A War Incident*
At the battle of Gettysburg, while
commanding a company in the Eightysecond
Ohio regiment, July 1, an offloer,
3apt. Lee, was wounded and left /or
lead upon the field at night by his repeating
comrades. One of Jubal
Early's aids carried him off the field,
vith other wounded, and deposited them
n an obscure farmhouse, whence he had
10 means of communication with his
ammanf rrf fHotirl*. Thfi TlfiWB of
leath reached his home in Ohio. His
>bituary was published, and Prof, MoDabe
had prepared an eulogy upon him*
o be delivered July 11, the Sunday of
commencement week, in connection with
>ther exeroises appointed for the day.
Iin immense crowd were gathered in the
ihurch. After the opening of the exircisee,
Capt. Lee, pale as a ghost, hob)led
in on crutches and took a quiet
eat among the worshipers. He had
>een left oehind by his captors, and,
lot knowing himself reported dead, he
tad come quickly aome to Delaware to
eoover, reaching there unannounced
ate on Saturday night. Those were
lays of intense dramatic experience,
lays of death in life, and life in the
aidflt of death, and though everyjheart
if those who knew him leaped for joy
t seeing him, the decorum of God's
lonse was preserved. The meeting
ras turned into a missionary anniverary.
Rev. Dr. Harris, the then misionary
secretary, but now a bishop of
lis church, presided. When donations
o the missionary fund were in order,
his young soldier, a poor man, pale and
alteringly, rose on his crutches, and
aid, briefly: "In token of gratitude to
Jod for Having Bp area my me upon me
leld at Gettysburg, put me down for
!100."
Hotel Bills.
Were you ever in Sohwalbaoh ? This
9 the bill with which a party of four and
ne-half?viz.: three ladies, one gentleaan,
and a servant?had to pay at the
)eutschen Kaiser Hotel in that place in
uly last :
'o apartmenta?
Foot bedrooms and a sitting-room, five
days, ten franca.... 50
'o breakfast?
'Four persons, 1.25 francs each, five days. 25
'o dinner?
Foar persona, three francs each, five days. 60
'o wine? five bottles Hochheimer 15
'o tea?four persons, 1.25 each, five days . 25
'o servant s board and room, five days 25
Total 208
-'all one dollar five francs. ...w $40
Were you ever in Saratoga ? This is
he bill which a party of four?viz.: two
:entlemen, one lady, and two servants
-hod to pay at a hotel there in August
ast:
'o board?$40per day, fire days $200
Three bedrooms and one small sittingroom
; servants' rooms.)
'o meals in room 10
!o baths . 2
Total $212
In accordance with a custom at hotels,
servant is reckoned as half a quest?two
ervants count for one. Now at Schwaliach
each guest had to pay less than two
[ollars a day, while Saratoga mulcted
hem in the snm of ten dollars apiece
nd over. What is the reason, asks the
few York Times, for this difference beween
the cost of living at?the American
nd German watering places ?
It Didn't Snit.
A Detroit boy, after finishing the last
hapter of a book called "The Pleasires
of the Deep," pleaded with his
ather to let him ship aboard a lake
chooner. The old man smiled a grim
mile, took the case under consideraion,
and in a few days the boy wus on
he rolling deep, having shipped as a
greenhorn on a vessel in the lumber
rade. He sailed to Saginaw, came
lown and crossed to Toledo, and next
??? lama on/1
my no aMpcaicu iu i/ov&vii) juuav i.MM
tiff, his throat sore, one eye nearly shut
,nd a feeling of humbleness running all
hrough him.
"What! back again?"cried the old
nan, as the boy entered the house.
" Yes, father. I want to saw all the
food for winter, bring in all the coal,
ilean ont the cellar and paint the barn'
jjd you needn't give me bat two meals a
lay."
" Don't you like sailing?"
"Father, you don't begin to realize
.nytbing about it The captain sailed
ight along on Sunday, the same as any
>ther day, and I believe he swore even
tarder. He wouldn't give me an umbrella
when it rained, he made me sit
ip most all night, and two or three times
le called me up at midnight and made
ae haul on ropes and drag old sails
j-ound. There wasn't a single night
uiian nil nf ns cot off to bed at nine
'clock, and there wasn't a day that he
lidn't boss ns around and break in on
is every time we got to reading anyhing
good ! I like land, father, and I
riflh you owned a farm I"
A City of Insnrance.
By the last official report it appears
hat 212,467 people have their lives inured
in the insurance oompanies of
lartford, Oonn. If each of these repreents
a family of five, then more than a
aillion people are looking to the city as
heir refuge in the time which the inurance
agent, himself a Hartford proInct,
can so pathetically describe as cerain
to be, for the uninsured, of acute
Inancial as well as domestic .distress.
?hese lives are insured for $450,000,000
Itogether, and the property insured in
he fire companies of die same city is
1645,646,000 more, so that the total risk
rhich Hartford carries is in round numiers
$1,100,000,000. The Chicago fire
piped out six of the large number of
ire insurance oompanies in the city, and
ook $10,000,000 of property away from
he plaoe.
A singular freak of fate, says a writer
u S'cribner for November, made the
oss seem even a bit worse than if it had
some on any other date. In Hartford
fiurance stock is taxed at its market
r&lae, and the tax lists are sworn to,
)otober first each year. The fire came
>n the ninth of the month, and so the
lolders the worthless or fallen stocks
lad for that year to pay taxes on the
lighest valuations the stocks had ever
mown. I? the fire had occurred ten
lays earlier, the difference in favor of
he individual losers would have been
rery considerable.
Love and Devotion.
Sandy Melville endeavored to swindle
in old man in Omaha by selling him
ipurious gold coins in "exchange for
greenbacks. After his arrest he at-1
jempted to escape from the officers and
vaa dangerously wounded. A lovely
naid haunted the corridors ot tne jau i
intil the sheriff took pity on her and
permitted her to enter the prisoner's
jell and dress his wounds. She nursed
aim and gavo him brandy and water and
piloted him ont of the valley of the
shadow. When she had restored him
xa health the courts took him in hand
ind sentenced him to five years' imprisonment
in the Iowa penitentiary.
Affecting spectacle ; justice of the peace
sailed in; marriage ceremony in the jail
witnessed by all the prisoners; bridegroom
carried cff to chew tobacco in the
penitentiary; bride returns to her humhlfl
homn to take in washing and to wait:
beautiful essay in local paper on
woman's* devotion, with appropriate
references to Diana and Mother Eve.
/
Strange Sounds at Night.
Evory one has noticed how many
singular sounds are heard at night? c
noises apparently unexplainable, and t
consequently mysterious. Many a c
ghost story has sprung up from an un- f
accountable noise; many a person terri- j
fled beyond measure by an unexpected t
sound at midnight. Sir David Brew- 1
ster gives an ezoellent account of a t
mysterious night souild which would c
have frightened many persons* but z
which proved innocently harmless when 1
tested by a steady observer. A gentle- {
man heard a strange sound every night i
soon after getting into bed; his wife ?
heard it also, but ~ not at the time when s
she retired, a little earlier than he. No s
probable cause could be assigned, and J
the effect upon the imagination became t
rather unpleasant. He found some time i
afterward that the sound came from a i
wardrobe which stood near the head of c
his bed. He almost always opened and t
dosed this wardrobe when undressing; t
bat ss the door was a little tight he t
oould not quite olose it. The door, pos- t
sibly affected by gradual changes of t
temperature, forced itself open with a a
sort of dull sound which was over in an c
instant. From the lady not being in t
the habit of using that wardrobe, the d
mystery became associated with her n
husband only. Had they given way to d
imagination, and never investigated the s
affair, another haunted house would e
have been added to the long row already e
standing. o
L
The Custer Fight. r
Little Buck Elk has stated to Indian ^
Commissioner Mitchell that he was in
the fight in which Gen. Custer and all
his men were slaughtered, and that
eleven different tribes were engaged in f
the fight. He said that the Indians o
were as thick as bees at the fight, and c
that there were so many of them that a
they could not all take part; that the p
soldiers were all brave men and fought a
well; tbat some of them, when they tl
found themselves surrounded and over- p
powered, broke through, the lines and n
tried to make their escape, but were s
pursued and killed, miles from the battle- a
ground. One soldier, who had a faster v
horse than the rest, made his escape v
into the Bad Lands, and after he had fa
riden seven or eight miles accidentally g
ran into a war party of Indians and war s
killed by them. This soldier rode a 1;
big horse with flaxen mane, and had a t
government saddle and gray saddle c
blanket, but it was not known whether f:
he was an officer or not. He also said u
that they captured six battle flags, and fa
that no soldiers were taken alive, but i
after the fight the women went among d
the dead bodies and robbed and mutila- fa
** ? ? 1?i.? _
tea mem. mere were pieui/j u* waimu?> u
and money taken from them which the fa
young warriors are now wearing in their j
shirts and belts.
Another Indian fight.
News from Fort Fetterman states that s
a haying party of twelve men and seven s
ox tecma were attaoked by a band of a
twenty or thirty Indians, twenty-five a
miles from that post. John Ottens, \
wagon master, was badly wounded and 1
one horse was killed. It appears that t
two of the party were ont hunting about 1
eight o'clock, and, hearing an Indian c
war song, hastened to the train, whioh ]
was immediately prepared for defense, e
Four of the men Btarted to find the sav- 1
ages, which they did, and made a lively t
rfltrpftt. hotlv trarsued bv them to with- t
in fifty yards of the train, when the re- c
maining eight men Bent a volley into the c
Indians, who retreated to the shelter of a
the bluffs, and commenced firing upon I
the train, which, being at a disadvantage, c
was compelled to move two hundred i
yards. The fight lasted nearly four t
hours. The number of Indians killed is t
unknown, but two were seen to fail ?
Mr. Powell, a contractor, states that the \
Indians showed great courage, and were t
strongly armed with Winchester and
army rifles. The telegraph line between
Fort Fetterman and Oheyenne being cut
about the time of the fignt, it is thought
that it was the work of the same band. ?
Ottens is doing well, but undoubtedly ?
will lose his right arm. *
s
. *Jnst Like Her. "
The Pall Mall Gazette reads modern
wives a lecture on the duty of finding
sureties for their husbands. A woman
who was an inmate of the workhouse of
St. George's-in-the-East applied for permission
to leave that establishment for a
day or two. Her husband, who was in
receipt of a pension of ?38 per annum, i
had been sentenced to four months' imprisonment,
and to find sureties for a
further period of two months for a sav- s
age assault upon herself. During his 1
imprisonment she and her child had be- z
come chargeable to the parish, and the
guardians had attached the pension, so
as to pay for the maintenance of the
wiffl and ohild during their stay in the .
workhouse. The term of the erring
husband's imprisonment having nearly
expired, he had written a most affectionate
letter begging his wife to find the
necessary sureties for him. Her application
was granted by the guardians, and
the woman was given permission to start
on her singular errand of endeavoring
to persuade some confiding person or
persons to guarantee that for two whole
months her husband would refrain from
any further attempt to fracture her skull
or smash her ribs.
Legal Begging aud Stealing.
To beg tobacco and steal umbrellas is
strictly legal, for it has become a law by e
custom, the practice of which has been c
indulged in " time out of mind, whereof
the memory of man runneth not to the
contrary."
If by chance one loses possession of
an umbrella only for the short space of. i
five minutes on a stormy day, when such *
things are most required, the chances e
are that it will go into the hands of a
stranger and will never be seen again by 1
the rightful owner. But an umbrella
stolen is not so great a crime or an aci i
of such unparalleled meanness as to 1
have an habitual tobacco beggar solioit \
in a bland manner a " chew;" and when
you hand him your box to have him j
take all that there is in it, put what ho ?
can in his mouth and the rest in his Test e
pocket, then coolly remark that you
keep a poor stock and ad visa you to go
and purchase a new supply.
Both of these disreputable acts are of i
frequent occurrence, but the petty lar- (
ceny in umbrellas is not so frequent as f
the confidence dodge in tobacoo. The [
snrest remedy to effectually abate this j
nuisance is to attach your umbrella to f
your side as some of the ladies do their j
fans, and when you are solicited by ,
well kaown tobacco beggars hand them (
five cents. \
Let Me See Him. j
When Louis XV. was passing through 1
a town in the north of France, his re- 1
V?nin/v rt# fliQ mrvof. AnfYinaiacfin
V,0|;illVU UVUIQ V* VUW AWV/V VlikUWMM. V.V)
an old woman was suddenly seen to dart
throngh the ranks of the military escort, 1
crying: "Let*me see him! Let me i
see him!" i
The kiug stopped his carriage, ad- <
dressed a few kind words to her, then i
oontinued his progress. i
Then the old woman flung her hands 1
into the air, aud, with all the raptnre of ]
pions Simeen, cried: I
" ThaDk Heaven! 1 have seen him ! <
And now I don't care how soon?he <
dies!" 1
A AltJIT JtlOguv ** M
A letter horn Alexandria says : A new
jalamity now engages the attention of
dl Egyptians even more than the finan)ial
decrees of the hhedive or the reosal
of the government to acoept the
adgments of the new courte. It seems
hat many of the cavalry horses that
lave returned from Abyssinia in the last
wo months came with a most malignant
lisease upon them. The doctors protoonce
it a kind of typhoid fever. It is
nost infections and terribly rapid in its
>rogress, death resulting in many cases
n a few hours. It is stated, and on
[odd authority, that the government, intead
of isolating the infected animals,
" "L 1fcn thfl
old them an ul wry iub
'ellaheen. Thus they have been disribnted
throughout the country, and in
he neighborhood of Cairo alone several
inndred horses are already reported
lead. A well informed correspondent
has describes in the Delia the effect of
his epidemic in one of the busiest disricts
: " It is ravaging now among the
torses, mules and donkeys of oar disrict
most furiously, and many villages
re named where not one horse has esaped
the disease. It is to be feared
hat this calamity will interfere very
lisagreeably with our work, as the cartaen
will be short of horses, and the
lonkeys to cany seed and cotton to the
tations will be very scarce. The govrnment
is alone to blame that the disase
lias spread so quickly over the
ountry, selling everywhere for a napo3on
or a pound the sick cavalry horses
etumed vrom Abyssinia, instead of isoiting
them."
Sitting on a Porcupine.
The Sacramento (OaL) Union has the j
Dflowing incident: A traveler by one I
f the railroad trains brought to the
ity a porcupine of large size, caged in
roomy box, with pieces of board
laced across the top at intervals of
bout an inch and a half, in order that
tie animal might have as much air as
ossible. His owner sat the box down
ear the ticket office while attending
ome other matter, and it attracted little
ttention. By-and-bye a young man,
rho had got tired of standing up, seeing
'hat appeared to be an empty fruit box
" * * ' ?AT_ _
andy, deposited iiimseil upon it wim u
igh of relief. A bystander who underfcood
the " situation,"stepped up quiets'
and with his cane begun punohing
be porcupine. It wasjiut a few secnds
before the animaf became " fretol,"
as it were, and he got his "back
ip." The reader may at some time
isve admired the alacrity with whioh an
q dividual has arisen from a chair out of
leferenoe to a bent pin which had sometow
got there before him, bnt on this
ccasion the man shot up as though he
ad sat down upon a full paper of bent
tins, all hot at that.
A Dance of Death,
Tne uon. .aveiyii asmo*, obcp-gmuuon,
biographer, and formerly private
ecretary of Lord Palmers ton, writes to
r London paper to explain, by means of
, private letter he has received from a
rery authentic source, the meaning of
ilr. Baring's denial of the statement
hat forty Bulgarian girls were burned.
Che statement was founded on a misunlerstanding
of a colloquial Turkish
phrase. To bum is yakmak, a verb conitantly
used in the sense also of ruin.
Chus a debtor will say: " Do you wish
0 burn me ?" meaning to ruin me. The
ruth as to these girls is that they were
larried off, and have never been heard
if since. Mr. Ashley's correspondent,
1 consul, further tells him that after two
inndred men had been murdered in a
ertain village, the Turks found some
aore in hiding places, and told them
hat if they would dance one of their naional
dances they would let them off.
Jo the poor fellows begun to danoe. It
ras a dance of death. The ruffians shot
hem down while at it.
San Francisco Millionaires.
It seems to be a penchant among the
aillionaires of San Francisco to squanler
their money on hotels and opera
touses. Senator Sharon has a sevefctory
palace hotel, on which he is losing
bout 01,000 a day; Senator Jones runs
. newspaper and a Roman bath estabishment;
E. J. Baldwin, another milionaire,
has built an opera house and
lotel at a cost of $2,6JO,000. John Kerne,
another millionaire stock broker,
las given Strakoech a $30,000 lot of
ground, upon whioh ho promises to
mild an "Eetalian opera house;" and
rasper McDonald, a leading bear, has
ust taken possession of one of San
jVanoisoo's leading theaters for moneys
idvanoed. It would seem as if her milionaire
brokers intended having a
nonopoly of all the luxuries *f life.
Elbow Grease.
"Awful Gardiner" was onoe a well
mown pugilist and sporting character in
'few York. On one occasion he went to
Newark with a " select party " to give
l sparring exhibition. The man who
-J nf tViQ Viol! TpVioro th? show
UK1 Uiuugo VI w*v
?as to take place was of gigantio stature,
md one of the party wagered a bottle of
rine that " Awful Gardner " could not
mock the fellow down with his fist.
Chey all waited in the hall for the comng
of the janitor with lights. He ap>roached
with a candle shaded in his
lands, and as he came within arm's
each the "Awful" measured him and
truck square from the shoulder. The
uau hardly winked/ He simply turned
lis head round toward the pugilist and
aid: " Gentlemen, please be a little
tareful of your elbows."
His Eplcnrean Taste.
"Speaking of epicures," lately reaarked
a young Chicago society swell,
' I've got a brother who is the greatest
*r 99
ipicure x ever saw.
"Indeed," chorused the oircle about
dm.
"Yes," continued the swell, "why,
te eats everything in the line of victuals
ie can lay his hands on?he doesn't care
rhat!"
Then when everybody got up and
oiled around and laughed, that young
iwell got mad, and wanted to know if
iny one supposed that he "didn't know
vhat an ' epicure' was ?"
Weld Peaches.?The editor of the
iVallapai Enterprise, published at Minsral
Park, Ari., has been presented with
i box of wild peaches, and says of them:
These peaohee, though wild, are equal
n flavor to any we have ever eaten, and
lome of them measured as much as nine
nches in circumference. The trees
lpon which they grow were discovered
some twelve or thirteen years ago by
ihe first whites in this section of the
jountry, and at the time of the discovery
;he main tree looked to be as old as it
loes to-day. The fruit, in appearance,
resembles the fine&fc Jersey peaches.
A Notable Clock.?In the Kansas
auilding, on the Centennial grounds, is
i clock whose peculiar excellence is that
;t requires winding but once in a hundred
years. It is said to keep the most
iccurate time, telling the month of the
yrear, the day of the month, the day of
;he week, and the time of the day; and
pet the inventor claims tnat it does an
ibis with muoh lees power than is required
with any other clock escapement
3ver invented. Who would like a century
clock ?
Over tbo bill
All ia still,
Yon ota scarcely hear a breath,
'Mid the tree tops, calm ae death,
The little bird is silent in his neet,
Only wait;
Soon or late '< .
Yon, too, my sonl, shall one day find your res i
Items of Interest.
If a clergyman is in doubt what to
preach about, he should preach about
ten minutes.
A California Indian went a\ray from
home with the avowed intention of getting
a new wife. His old wife thereupon
killed herself and four children.
A Wisconsin editor having written of
a deceased gentleman that "sickness
had impaired his health," a rival rejoined:
" Yes; it often has that effect."
"Ho, all ye dyspeptics!" gays a
patent medicine advertisement If all
the dyspeptiee would only hoe regularly
their number would be reduced amazingly.
On the English channel, where the
voyage prod noes the usual effect. An
economical lady cries: "What a pity!
A breakfast that they charged so much
for, too." "
It is humiliating to a yomig man who
has been singing nis sweqfcst songs in
front of a house to be told by a. policeman
that the family have been.absent
for a week. ?. ,j,
" I wish you would jwy a little, attention
to what I am saying, sir," roared a
lawyer at an exasperating witness. " I
I am paying as little as I can," was the
I calm reply.
The following notioei* .posted conspicuously
in a Scotch office Shut
; the door, and when yon have done talking
on business, serve* your mopth the
same way."
Every year a Georgia farmer cultivates
a distinct piece of cotton, which he calls
his "preacher patch," because theavails
of the crop go fc>- the support of
his minister. t: J
A trained horse in an English^ circus .
attached tee man wno waa uuuuuuuiug
its performance, shaking him its a cat :
would a mouse and then throwing him j
out of the ring.
According to a well known physician,
" it is dangerous to go into the watnr
after a hearty meal." And it would bo
a very fishy one a man would get if he*
did go in alter one.
Three boys in London were sentenced
to three days' imprisonment and to receive
seven stripes each with a birch rod
for having thrown atones at trains on
the Midland railway.
On September 15, the sixty-ninth
anniversary of Mexican independence,
the oorner stone for the bronze statue
of Juarez was laid. Signor Gagliardo,
a San Francisco sculptor, won the prize
for the best model. ' '
M. Sebrill, a French architect, obviates
the danger arising from dampness
in brick buildings by injecting
bricks, tiles and other earthen material
with the tarry residue from the manufacture
of illuminating jt.n.
The Louisville Courier-Journal says.
Mrs. Sally Beers, of CJinton county,
Mich., works a form of one micdrei
acres and has nine children. 'Ii there
were a few thousand such persons in the
world as Sally, more of ?j* might escape
work.
A Binghompton (N. Y.) man is suing
for a divorce from Iijb wife on the plea
that she has a glass eye that is always
open nights, and the "aspect makes
him nervous." Ho coaxed her to close
it with red sealing wax, bat that only
increased his terror.
Th? latest. siinDiefit and most effectual
moose trap yet thought of is an earthen
washbowl nearly half filled with water,
covered over with meal and placed on
the pantry sht tf. A Pulaski (N. Y.)
woman recently caught several of the
mischief makers in one night by this
method.
A traveler in Egypt ig 1866 visited a
number of Arabian schools, in almost
all of which he noticed they kept a silk
cap. Upon asking why this was dono
he was told that it wa&the severest punishment
that oould be inflicted upon'
i any of the children to be compelled to
wear it.
It was Pope who used to swear " God
mend me," and, swearing his favorite
oath one day in the presence of a little
boy, the boy looked at the diminished
and misshapen form of the great poet,
and said: " Good mend you, indeed !
I think it would be a good deal easier to
make a new one." ']
The miners of South Yorkshire were
dissatisfied with their wages, and attempted
to beoome colliery owners them
selves. An association bought a colliery,
the profits of 'which were to be shared
among them. The capital raised was
about $400,000. The enterprise has
proved unsuccessful, and the money is
lost.
It has been proposed to establish
penny banks in connection with the
public schools of New York. The candy
shops and chewing gum venders might
suffer, but good results would be obtained.
The experiment has been tried
iu London, where, in a few months,
5,266 ohildren had deposited no less
th?n $5,620.
Visitors to the Centennial art gallery
will be sorry to learn that the little statue
of "Playing Cat's Cradle" was
broken by the point of a parasol one
day recently, and the tiny bars of mar- v
ble replaced by threads. But the lady
who' unwisely meddled with it feels
probably more sorry, as report tays she
had to pay $500!
The ire of a St. Lotus paper toward
the editor of a Chicago journal i3 let
loose in this way: Ho stands up<jpd
lies, sits down and lies, eats lies, drinks
lies and dreams lies. There is no other
" ? ? a oiirl
name but lies icr ms prepuce UUO auv?
unprincipled assertions. If there is
really a place prepared for liars, the
smell of sulphur already arises to his
nostrils.
General Fadeeff, a Bcssifiu, is of
opinion that Germany will not willingly
expose her flank to Russia when she
could protect it by raising up a Polish
state between herself and her great
enemy on the north and east. It would
suit Germany marvelonsly. moreover,
to have an independent Poland, which,
in its movement toward the east, it
might colonize with its superfluous
population.
No tool is more essential on the farm
than a good grindstone. They were
formerly all imported from England.
Then the Nova Scotia ones were found
superior. Ohio grindstones are largely
used by Western fan0rs. But now
Lake Huron grindstonesare superseding
all others; they have a fine sharp grit,
m ci-.nnld
and leave a tine edge, xue DIVUu ??
be kept clean and dry, and free from
grease and rust.
A mercantile agency in Toronto professed
to make, through its system of
espionage, a correct statement of the
status of a retail dealer. The presumed
knowledge was sold to a wholesale dealer,
who sold to the retailer on the purchased
hypothesis that he would receive
the money for his good*. The retailer
absconded, and the wholesaler recovered
8524 at law from the mercantile
agency, and a higher conrt affirmed
the judgment.