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I mil Ml ~ -: ^'^:^!^'^pwf * ' ' ' ' *^.?-; v THE ABBEVILLE PRESS & BANNER BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1876. VOLUME XXIV.?NO. 34. 1 ' I ? ? ? "? ? I Af TnfAMof Young and Old. When we are young our boys are sweet, They climb oar knees and lie at oar feet; When we are old they are hard to please, Cold as the rooK and wild as the breeze; They kiss as kindly and speak as fair, Bat we know their hearts are otherwhere. Oh, my son's my son till he gets him a wife, Bat my daughter's my daughter all her lu'e. When we are young onr cays oar bright, And fall of hope from morn till night; When we are old we Bit alone, And think of pleasant days long gone, When the house was fall of the children's noise, The willful girls and the nanghty boys. Oh, my son's my son till he gets him a wife, Tint mv dantrhter's mv daughter all her life. THE RAVEN'S VOICE. I was a very bold and fearless child, and my brothers and sisters often dared mo to go into lonely places ft the dark, or do perilons feats of various kinds, which challenges I never refused. Often they set out to play tricks on me, bnt it usually happened they fell into their own traps, while I performed my part in safety. Very possibly the consciousness that they were about to dupe me gave me more oourage than I would otherwise have had, for any unusual noise or appearance would be attributed to one or another ooming to frighten me. But, night or day, I used to go straight up to and touch whatever seemed fearful, and finding the object of doubt resolved itonlf infrt TTuinT oimnlfl olomprfn T a/v 1||T '1-1 1UW ?W*J vawMav?m quired an ease which stood me in stead in timea of real danger. We lived in a large old house built of English oak, and bearing its nearly two centuries very lightly. It opened to the south, and the two large parlors looked to the east and west. The dining-ball and spacious kitchen formed the square of the house, while at the west and back was another large room, sometimes called the great porch, and at the east and back was the dairy and another porch. There were three stairways leading to the upper rooms, and a garret, whose ample space was broken only by the great chimney in the center. Wo had a gay and lively house, and were used to a great deal of company and visitors, for my parents were great ]y given to the old fashioned virtue of hospitality. The humblest wayfarer coming in at the porch was entertained kindly and bade God-speed, as well as the guest whose elegant carriage and span drove round to the front door on the southern side. I am not going row to tell you of my handsome " gentle" parents, or my brothers and sisters?only about myself. There were a great many of us when we were all at home, especially in the winter holidays, but at times we were nearly all away. Boarding schools, academies, traveling?all claimed us at various times". let it was rare indeed that one was ever at home alone. It so happened, however, and to me. It was a summer day, and warm, bright and beautiful. The morniDg praised a lovely day. Just after our earl' breakfast, a merry party came ridinr down the lane, in carriages and on horseback, and calling joyously for my father and mother t > accompany them oil a pleasure trip. They were accustomed to this mode of impromptu festivity, and gayly answered that they would soon be ready. It was only the day before that my father had returned from the Australian gold fields, and had bronght with him a bag of gold. I knew be had this, for 1 had seen him the night before counting some out of it, and putting it into another bag. Thomas brought the cliai'ie to the door. Father's favorito blnck horse, whoso eout looked like lustrous v lvet, and who stepped so proudly, was pawing tbe ground impatiently oh he appeared. He handed in my beautiful mother, and 1 stood looking on with hildish pleasure at her l>eauty and rich dress that so became her. My father suddenly turned to me and said, taking his key to his iron bound box : " Ran, Ann, and get me the little bag you saw me put away last night." t j ?. X W IS promt iu ut: nu iii uouou , uui when I quick ly retnrued with it, he was already in the chaise, and part way to the pate. He looked out and said : "No matter now, Ann ; you may put it back again, for we are going another road, and I will pay Harris to morrow. Take care of the key, my dear, and goodbye. " " G x>d-byft, and a good time to yon," I laughingly replied, and ran back to pnt the treasure in safety. T VtaofAnnd ir>dr?nrn ncrain to thflm wind down the private way that led through our extensive grounds, and half wished I were old enough to go with them. Hearing a slight noise, I turned and saw a stranger, a tiguro not unusual, a man with a bundle hung on a stick. H? was leaning on the stone wall, and apparently looking after the carriages. He came forward in a moment, and asked if he might sit down and rest, and if I would kindly give him something to eat. Of course I said yes, and with light steps soon had him a substantial lunch of bread and cheese, which he came into the kitchen to eat. Betsey and Hannah were bu?y, hurrying to finish their work, for they were going out to tea and to spend the evening. They talked gnyly about their viwt, paying little attention to the stroller, who was quietly eating. He had laid his straw hat on the floor, and I Baw that his head was bald on the top, and the thinni>h hair brushed up from behind over it. He had prominent ears, low forehead and large mouth, with a receding chin, where grew a stubby beard, of gnzzlv black, liko his hair. I did not know why I observed all this, or his eyes, small and hid under grayish brows, that seemed to glance furtively about him when no one appeared to be looking. His voice was harsh and croaking, and had startled me when he first addressed me. W<> were used to strollers of all kind?', as I have said. PerhaDS I was mentally contrasting his repulsiveness with ray father's noble and dignified features. He seemed to me very ugly. I was Rind when he had finished his meal and risen to go. He a-ked percussion to light his pipe, which was readily granted. He went oat dirpctly, passing accidentally throngh the dining-room tiud ont of the great hall, where he lingered for a moment or two. He had thanked mo civilly enough for his breakfast, hut the girls laughed and nodded as he went out, and said they should think I had picked up a raven. All (bat loDg, bright day 1 was busy and happy in the flower garden, or sewing, or reading; and when the girls left, looking very cheerful at their half holiday, I wished them a merry time, and told th m not to hasten home, for Thomas should oome for them. I expected mv father and mother soon after eijrht o'clock, and I told Thomas that he might go about that time, as they would soon bo home, and it looked a little like rain. Heavy clouds were gathering in the west, and the thunder rumbled sul lenly. He tdW.lie covered wagon and old gray, and, before he stepped ifl, said : " Miss Ann, I think yon had better fasten the doors, as yon may be all alone for a short time if I go so soon. "Would yon not rather that I shonld wait till yonr father comes?" "Oh, no, Thomas; I don't mind being alone-in the least, and yon onght to go, lest it shonld rain hard, for it is more than two miles to ride, and they may not wish to leave in a minnte. I expect father and mother every moment. Don't wait." So Thomas left, ai:d the wagon rattled merrily np the lane. I bolted the doors becanse he had told me to, for otherwise I wonld not have thought of it. It grew dark rapidly, and the thunder began to peal heavily, while the wind ro?e, and the flashes of lightning grew more vivid and frequent. I went to the east parlor, and looked out to the south, but the sudden lighting up of the sky and the following darkness did not interest me long. I could not see out very well, either, as the honey suokles covered the windows. The large mirror reflected me as I turned away to cross the room, and I stopped a moment with a natural vanity, for I was young and fair enough to look npon. I let all my hair fall loose, and wonnd it in long, shining, brown oorls over my fingers. It oertainly did look handsome, for it was very thick, and fell below my waist, and curled almost of itself as it fell. There came a great flash of light, and 1 saw distinctly reflected in the glass a faco looking in the window. It was an instant of terror, but I neither screamed nor moved. The face could not see my faoe, and I kept my body still, and rolled the long, shining rings off my oold, white fingers. It was an ugly face, and I recognized it. I had seen it that morning, and I knew what * 1 * T .1 31 1 !.# lay Dei ore me. jl prayea mwaraiy a unei prayer for help. Turning from the glass, I went steadily toward a table that stood near the window, and on whioh I had left my candle. I moved steadily as usual, and took up the water pitcher and looked in it, then took my candle and went toward the kitchen. The lightning kept flashing, but the face did not come again. I dropped my candle on the kitchen hearth and put my foot on the wick. I set down the pitcher on the dresser, and with soft, light footfall hastened throngh the west room up the front stairs, into my father's chamber, and softly closed and bolt9d the door at the head of the stairs. I unlocked his box, took out both the bags of gold, relocked it, and made my way into the great chamber. 9 I heard voices; I heard the doors tried below. I knew it was not my father. I dared not tremble nor grow faint. I went through that room and two others to the garret stairs. I hardly breathed. I heard a window pushed up; more than one person came in at it I felt about me in the dark. There was a sliding panel in the inside of the stairway. I pushed it . nd it rolled back. I entered into a long closet under the stairs, and slid the panel carefully into its place. I felt cautiously to see if all waf safe. I pulled my dress close about me lest it might be caught, and the door not closed tightly. Then I waited. I hearfl steps ooming up the stairs. I heard a search through all the rooms below. My heart beat till I thoupfl.t that each bound mast be audible, heard voioes?one voice, the Raven's. I knew that harsh croak. It told me nothing. The faoe had revealed all to me. The man had seen the bag of gold as he leaned over the wall in the morning, unnoticed by the gay group. It was all plain to me. He had gathered from the girls' talk that I might be alono. He had returned and watched. He had brought aocomplioes. Very soon the steps and voices came my way. I could distinguish plainly the words that wero spoken. " Drat her! she must have seen you." " No matter; we'll split the box open with this ax." I knew the ax was in the little porch. Thomas had set it in when he had done chopping the brush, as it looked like rain. I heard the stepB and voices move a war, a auii, crasnmg sonna, ana men stifled, angry tones. I knew they had opened the box, and found nothing but the papers. I knew they would now search for me. I heard them as they looked into every room and closet, and came up the stairs separate. They all met at the foot of the garret stairs. A thick board was between us. I thanked God that the panel was close shut. I knew it, for no ray of light camo through. " She must be up here," said the Raven, " and we'll soon have her." "I'll warrant she is here, and I'll wring her neck if she makos a noiso about it." Bat the thorough search was ended, and the voices grew very angry and full of frightful oaths and threatenings. They sat down on the garret stairs to lit Id a parlt>>. A spider ran across my f*ce. A spider puts me in mortal fear. It was with a great effort that I kept from screaming. " Come," croaked the Raven, "let us j?o and get the silver ; that will be something?that will be something." " Curse the silver. It's the gold I've come for, and I'll bnrn the house if I don't fiud the girl! So let her look out!" A cold perspiration came on my forehead. Would they perform their threat ? "Good! Then tlib rats will 6queak, 'Down drop the money bags,' and we'll choke the girl to make her dumb." " Hold your noise. The old man will be comiug home. We'll l e caught here. Be quick." " Who c^es forhim 1 He's only one. A bludgeon will give him a handy little headache as he comes in." " And his wife ?" They spoke low, hideous words that made my flesh creep. I almost was ready to call aloud, to open the panel, to give them the gold, and bid them go. They got up, and the steps and voices went down. It was horrible there in the dark. I was stifling. I moved the psnel slightly. No light entered. 1 slid it softly back. My resolution waa taken. I would get out of the house, run down the road, and meet my father. I would save him. I left the gold in the cloaet, shutting it in close. I stole down two stops into the chamber below. I knew there was a window open there. I crept across the room, listening keenly. I lifted myself cautiously on the window ledffe, and cnight a branch of the cherry treo which grew close to the house. Swinging myself lightly out, I hastily descended the trunk of the tree, I and found my Pelf on the ground faf?. I No. The lightning flash betrayed me. The Raven's voice shrieked, hoarsely : " There she goes ! (Jatch her 1 Quick! This way!" Out at the front door came the pursuers, hardly ten steps from me. I dashed toward the thick shrubbery to put them off the track. Fortunately I knew the way, every step of it. They were guided solely by the sound and flashing light. " Shoot her by the next flash !" cried one. My flying feet struck loose boards. I was passing directly over an old, unused well, very deep, and it gave back a hollow, resonant sound. Almost the next moment I heard a crash, the report of a pistol, a heavy fall, oaths and a deep groan. Shuddering, I sped on through the garden, up toward the cider press, over the stone wall, down the hollow, up the hillside, over the fields. No stepB followed; no voioes shouted after me. I ran down to the second bars, and let them down. It began to rain a few great drops, then fast, then it poured. I was wet to the skin. I ran on, for I heard advancing wheels ooming rapidly. I stood in the road and cried: " Father ! father I" The chaise stopped. Another chaise behind stopped also. It was our next neighbor's, who lived a quarter of a mile further on. "Ann, my child. Good heavens! What is the matter? What has happened f" I told the whole in a few words, amid eager exclamations of joy at my safety, of surprise, even of anger, because Thomas had left me alone. " Don't blame him, father ; I insisted on his going." A hurried consultation took place. My father was very brave. Our neighbor was very timid. He proposed going on to his house and returning with weapons. In the meantime I had got into the chaise and crouched down at my mother's feet, who was half crying, and wholly thankful to feel me there. We rode on, and came to our gate under the willows. There were lights in the house, but all was still. Nothing moved. My father put the reins in my mother's hands, and opened the other gate that led np the lane. "Will you go home with Nathan?" said he, 41 And leave you here ? No." " Take your wife home, Nathan, if you will, and come back." " We will stay by you." "Let us reoonnoiter, then, a little." They got out, leaving us sitting still. The rain fell less heavily. They got something that would do for weapons from the toolhouse. They went all 1 round the house?all was quiet. They wint in. We sat still, speaking few 1 words, my hand clasped in my 1 mother's. . ' "Thomas is ooming?" I exclaimed, eagerly. " I hear the wheels." i We called to him as he came to the gate, for he could not see us. He drove through and called out: ; " What is the matter?" ' We told him sufficiently, and he left Betsey and Hannah, and went in at once, with only the heavy whip. We did not sit long. Nathan came out directly. ^ i "What have you found? Who is there ?" "Nothing. Nobody." " Are they all gone ?" " Yes, with some of the silver and a few things. We don't know what yet." The horses were put under the shed and we all went in. Father said, calmly : " We will take a lantern, Thomas, and lnnt ennnil nnfc nf rlnrvrs ft lifctlfi." I knew they would go to the old well. I stood and looked out of the window and saw the gleam of the lantern as it moved. In a very few minutes they came back. "One of them is dead," said my father, "and the other lies at the bottom and groans. Ihe third has es.japed." They laid boards across some barrels in the shed, and brought up tho dead man and laid him on them. His comrade, who fell in the well, bad Bhot him in the head as he plunged through the Iwards. His ugly faoe was still uglier. It was the Raven. That night my father'8 prayers were very solemn, and his embrace was close as he gave me my good-night kiss. The robber in the well was bruised, but not seriously hurt. The law took him to Duniahment. Tha third escaped. I was never left at horn? again alone. Little Tommy's Letter. Deer Ma: I wislit yoapwood come homb. JonDy shuts me up in the clozzet and pinches me awfnl cos I wont shuv eginst for him to cut it hurts my bans, an ho ses none of the chickens is going to be mine when my hen comes awf cos they was his cgs wbafc she set on. The old black banty tride to set but we diddent want black chickens, we wanted wite, so we chaste her awf evry day, an the wite hen woodent set till Jonny tide her onto the nest, an she duzzent set sho stans. He eed lie wood give me One chicen cheap for 25 cents an I bawt it. Deer Ma I miss you awful. Cant I have some pants of my owen an not Jonnys ? That feller what comes to eee Ant Cad was here last night. He set on the pofy an Jonny was under thesofy but he diddent no it at awl. When Ant Cad came in tho feller tole her ses he thoy is plenty of rume here, an she set down byo him. Then he kist her, not rite away bnt bine by an she was rele inad an got up and slamed the door. Wheu she came back ho kist her agen an she^kep telling him to stop, but he diddent til Jouty run a shaul pin into iiis leg. Then Aut Cad reeoht in an hn.wlor> .Tinnv r>Tcfc. nn hriTfc Viin eres an cawled him o you nawty boy, an Jonny eride, an the feller Bed it was no matter. The flour what Gramna cawis serins ulumed the other nite. She Bent for evry boddy to come an see it and the hows was ful of fokes an a lot stanning owt on the pavement looking into the window. They was a coming an goen evry minnit. Thev sed it was wunderfall. I thawt it was a nice flour, an Jonny whispered pick it an I pict an I ftint got over it yet. I am bo soar I cant bare to net down mutch. Our girl baa got a bow. He must be a very ritch gennelman, he wares such a big long gold chano wounded twice around his neck, an tb?n such a wach I with too lids to it, and ho nes it is a court cronomj tt-r wach. When ho wants to no wat time it is, if it is in tho day time, he just lnys it onto a fents or a post an IetB the sun Rhino on it, and then if he staze there til.it is noon, he can toil egzactly what time it is. If it is afternoon he has to wate til next day. When the sun dont shino be cant tell enyway, an when it is nite he dont no. Ant Cad ses it is the best court wach she ever saw, I want you to send me too shilen in your nez letter an rite rite away. I want to here from you bo mutch I cant wate. Your afexunate son Tommy. The Turkish Capital. The population of Constantinople, with the eubnrbs, is now estimated at 800,000, and the burden of vessels clearing the port fit about 4,000 tons. The Ronmeliau railroad connects the city with the northern provinces, pausing through a wonderfully rich but wretchedly cultivated country, and before long there will be a more direct railroad communication with Europe by a line meeting the Ruschuk-Varna railroad, and crossing the Danbue at Gurgieve, to join the terminus of the Roumanian truck line. Pera, thanks to frequent fires and foreign residents, bids fair to blossom into a pleasant place for a Christian to dwell in. Two-thirds of it was in 187ft when 2 000 houses, in 'eluding the British embassy, wero destroyed. It is not being rebuilt on the former site, bnt a large town is raising aronnd tho ppot where the old town stood, and about Galata, covering a wide area. A very important Christian city is probably destined to grow np here, under the anspioes of the embassies which olnster on Pera's heights. THE PATH OF VIRTUE. The Sad Story of a Tonne Maa'a Crime? *tfhe Road to Vice. There is nothing sadder in the literature of romanoe than is the story of the defalcation in the National Park bank. It is a melancholy tragedy in real life, surpassing, in its sorrowful details, anything that the novelists can invent?a tragedy, truly, although the sufferers bj Ullis' sin are still alive; more truly a tragedy, indeed, because the blow which he has struck at the persons nearest to him is of a kind that does not kill the body. For eighteen years this man has labored to build up a reputation which was worth -infinitely more to him and to fomiln fViot Via hiul onl 1 Arf nhnnt him ! than life itself. He had been diligent and faithful in his business. He had grown up with the bank in which he worked, and had become a part of ita working machinery. He had piWBed tlirough all the lower grades of office there, and was the most confidently trusted of the bank's officers. The millions in its vaults were in his sole keeping. The president and the cashier alone were above him in rank, and they trusted him implicitly. In the natural course of events he would have succeeded them in office. His slowly earned reputation for fidelity had been abundantly tested, and it was a solid and secure capital for him. He had been "up to his elbows in money for years," and the time had long ago gone by when there was room for doubt as to his strict integrity. He was rich; richer that any amount of money could make him, because his wealth was of a kind that no thief could steal and no adverse fortune could take away from him. His salary, too, was ample, and he had all the means of comfortable and even of moderately luxurious living. The lust of gold seized him, and for a sum whioh to such a man ought to have seemed paltry, he sold all this. He threw away his capital, throttled his honorable reputation, destroyed the results of a patient lifetime's work, abandoned the prosperous and happy future whioh lie had so laboriously Becurea, and in one minute ohanged himself from an honorable man, whose success in life was already accomplished, into a thief hiding from the officers of the law. All this is terrible, but this is only the smaller and less tragic part of the story. This man had for his own something more than wealth, something better than success. In his Brooklyn home there were a wife and five children, and the wrong done to them was more terrible than any words of ours can hint. There is a bright boy there, twelve years of age, this man's firstborn son, and we read in tne newspapers that when that boy saw the story of his father's guilt in the journals he sunk under the blow, and wept. Who shall picture the agony whioh brought those tears ? Who shall tell, who shall even imagine the crushing, blighting effect of this man's crime upon the life and soul of that boy ? The child has been reared to hold in highest respect those principles of fidelity to trust and integrity of character which bad made his father a trusted and honored omcer 01 a great mturupuutan back. His pride in such a father as his was believed to be must have been the highest joy of his life, and his young ambition must have been to follow in his father's footsteps, to win for himBelf a like reputation, perhaps to follow his father in the very institution in which the father's honors had been won. The light is all gone out of that young life now. The bright boy, with high impulses and with the stimulus of a father's conspicuously honorable career as a motive to earnest effort, has in a single hour become the son of a thief. His little brothers and sisters are under the same terrible cloud which overshadows him aud which nothing can over remove. The pioture is too horrible to contemplate, and yet it thrusts itself upon the gaze of every father with depressing, but let us hope with wholesome effect. Tht.t poor boy, weeping iiver a grief that even time cannot as suage, is much more truly and much more terribly the victim of his father's pin than be would have been if he had Tirwjfi* n Klntp frnm Inn IUUCU UDUU UUUVi H Wiwif father's band. Tlie thought of him in his grief is a nightmare from which there is no escaping; and Ellis' reward for all this tragic work was a paltry sum of money which he may easily was to in a single year.?New York Evening Post. Burns and Scalds. Barns and scalds are among the most common of accidents, and perhaps there are none for which moro remedies have been suggested and employed. With some of theso remedies it is the duty of all of us to become familiar, that we may krfow what to do in an emergency. It is a thousand pities to have the chance, onco in a lifetime, of playing the part of the good Samaritan and laok the sk^I The first thing to be noticed is, that >v moving injured people great care sho jld 1? ?J.l Ia nffonf nf UO UiKtJU 11UI> IAJ nuu l/v wuuuw w*. v**v shock which the system has already experienced. In removing the clothes there must be no tearing off of the burnt or blistered skin, which affords a useful protection for the injured surface. The next thing is to cover the burnt or seal-led parts with material that will exclude the air. Flour answers well, and should be freely applied. Or common whiting, reduced by cold water to the consistence of thick cream, may be spread on a light limn rag, and applied to covor tho injured surface. The ease it affords is instantaneous, and it only requiros to be kept moist by occasional pprinkling of cold wak;. Cotton wool, if at hand, may be wrapped round the injuries, or lint, or linen rugs steeped in water may bo used. These may be covered with oiled silk. A mixture of linseed oil and lime water, in equal proportions, may bo applied with rags laid over tho burns. The more extensive the surface involved in the accident, the greater care should be taken not to expos? it to atmospherio influence, which increases the pain, and also adds constitutional depression. Should the sufferer be greatly exhausted, give brandy or other stimulant; if the pain be excessive and irritating to the nervous system, ten drops of laudanum should be given until professional aid mn hA nhtainari. A Handsome Sum. The report tliat Mr. Delaue'will shortly retire from the editorship of tho London Time* excuses a reference to a statement which has been goiDg the rounds relating to the births, marriages and deaths column of the great journal. It was said that those were at first in serted gratis; but Mr. Walter, the then proprietor, thiukiDg that a Benedick might very well pay a trifle for the announcement that he had volunteered into the "noble armv of martvrs." fix ed a tariff of half a crown npon each epithalamium?fcho money to go to the printers. One morning at breakfast Mrs. Walter suggested that tho sum realized in this way would fit in very nioely to her pooket allowance; and her husband, seeing with the eyes of his wife, diverted the revenue accordingly. At the subsequent transfer of property, it was found tlftit the triple record of human weakness and mortality was worth fully four thousand a year. Only Four Hundred Miles. We cannot conceal a sense of disappointment at the return of the English north pole expedition withont having accomplished its direct object. Captain Hall pushed the little Polaris, a vessel but poorly adapted to its task, tg within four hundred and sixty-four miles of the pole, and the English expedition, under Oaptain Nares, only reaohed sixty-four miles further in sledges. His advance vessel?the Alert?wiutered in latitude eighty-two deg. twenty-seven seconds, while the Polaris had wintered in latitude eighty-one deg. thirty-eight seo. Here is certainly a Blight advanoe; one are we to consider that this is the limit ? Dr. Hayes in 1860, with dog sledges, explored as high as eighty-two deg. forty-five sec., or only forty miles short of Captain Nares' furthest. Parry reaohed the same latitude north of Spitsbergen in 1827, and Oaptain Scoresby, in the Spitzbergen sea, touohed eighty-otife deg. thirty sec. In 1806, or within five hundred and ten miles of the pole. The efforts in the direction of the Arctic during seventy years, therefore, represent a total advanoe of one hundred and ten miles. No polar expedition went forth so well equipped and under such favorable auspices as that which has just returned. Doubtless no pains were spared by any person in the entire expedition to accomplish all that could be achieved; but we may here note our surprise that a single winter's experience was deemed to establish conclusively their inability to reach the pole. Why, for instance, was not one of the vessels dispatched south, after landing her stores, .before the ioe olosed, to return with the open water bearing fresh supplies ? The experience of all explorers who have adopted the Smith sound route has x 1.1 iL.i J.1 I laugHfc l-UHb liiU rtaii cuurt uc^mo ai tuc eighty-second, parallel, and hence, if Arctio exploration is not at an end, arrangements must be made in future exCoitions for a journey northward on t sledges of four hundred and eighty miles. The terrors, the enormous difficulties of suoh a journey, are pictured in the one fact that the heroic sledge party from the Alert could not advance more than a mile a day. If this speed cannot be bottered of course disoovery northward is at an end. The contiibutions to our knowledge of the Arctio regions will doubtless prove considerable, the tracing of the coast line of the American continent two hundred and twenty miles to the west of" Greenland and a considerable distance to the east, in all, probably, one-fifth of the circumferenoe of the rim of the north pole being especial1^ ?rtftntnin Vavad /la/ilovaa ly Yttl U'lUlU) VO^/VOtU H CO ucwtuw I emphatically against Kane's open Polar sea. Below the eighty-second parallel animal life and the migration of birds cease. Beyond all is ice, ice, ice. " The impracticability of reaching the pole was proved," he says. If that has been fully demonstrated by one winter's effort we can permanently resign the north pole to the romai oers who have had it so long. But has it been ??New York Herald. The Tarantula's Bite. Dan Sheppard, a workman on the South Pueblo water works ditch, Colorado, some time since, the Denver News says, was bitten by a tarantula. Sheppard was sleeping in a cabin on the Gray back ranch. He had made his bed on the floor, and bad scarcely gone to sleep when he felt something l inohhis left shoulder and then run aoross his face. He tried to catoh it with his hand, but it escaped him. Severe pains beginning to shoot from the shoulder, Sheppard became convinced that he had been bitten by a tarantula. He thnn ran up the railway track to M. T. Robinson's, about a mile distant, in the hope of getting some whisky for u*e as an antidote, but unfortunately Robinson had no whisky on hand. He then returned down the track and went to a house near where he was bitten. Sheppard is a stout, powerful man, but by this time he was nearly exhausted. The pain had passed from his shoulder down his left side, then into his legs and up his right side, until his whole body was auecteu, ana ue wan m I a state of tho most excruciating agony. A neighbor immediately mounted his horse and galloped to Pueblo, eight miles distant, for a supply of whisky. In tho meantime Sheppard retnrned to his cabin, and in a sfiort time, from the action of the poison, he became almost insensible, and his body, head and limbs became frightfully swollen. In just two hours and & half from the time he was bitten, the much needed whisky was received from Paeblo. Tho poisoned man was now in a very critical condition, unable to movo, atjd evidently at the very gates of death. The whisky was immediately administered, and he speedily revived. About a quart was given him, when, as Sheppard himsolf says, he began to feel himself the strongest man in Colorado, and it was with difficulty that four men could hold him. It soon became evident thai the whisky would prove au effectual antidote to the tarantula poison. Sheppard is now recovering rapidly, and though he is still weak, and has lost some thirty pounds in weight, there is little doubt t&at in a week or so he will be all ngnt again. It is a little singular that, although the effects were so terrible, the bite itself left a mark so small as to bo scarcely perceptible. Although the whole of the rest of the body was badly swollen, the spot bitten was scarcely affected. An Army Examining Board, Board of trammers and victim applying for commission: Examiner?"Who was the greatest general of ancient or modern times?" Mr. Green?"Some say Alexander, some Napoleon, others General Grant, bnt I think Moses was the greatest, because he carried an immense army with women, children and baggage across an arm of the sea, and didn't use a pon toon train." . " Who is the greatest man ra the United States to-day ?" "Dr. Mary Walker." ' Who founded the city of Sevastopol?" ? " Exonso me. general. " The city of Sevastopol, Mr. Green." "Oh, yes 1 Sebastopol. Hannibal, general." "Now, Mr. Green, suppose yo* were marching your command through a hostile country, right in front, and you were hemmed in by the enemy on both flanks, with an impassable river in front and th?> nea in rear of you, what would you do ?" "Well, I think I should sit down and write to mother and he passed?out. His Will. A wealthy man died suddenly without leaving any will. The widow, desirous of securing the whole of the property, ooncealed her husband's death, and persuaded a poor shoemaker to take his place. Accordingly ho vu olosely muffled in bed, as if very sick, and a lawyer was called in to write the will. The shoemaker, in feeble voice, bequeathed half of all the property to the widow. " What shall be done with the remainder ?" askod the lM?yer. "The remainder," replied he, " I give and bequeath to the poor little shoemaker across the street, who hip'been a good neighbor and a deserving man." ** > > * \ * "? . . A SAD DISASTER. The Railroad CellUlon en the Delawaure* Lackawanna and Western Ballrcad. A frightful aocident occurred on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad at a station known as Lehigh Summit, on the Pecono mountain, twenty miles from Scranton. The regular afternoon train to New York and Philadelphia, consisting of seventeen passenger ooaches drawn by three engines, had about twelve hundred pas? i 11- I J 1 sengers on Doara, principally uouuu ior the Oentenuial Exhibition. The train was two hours behind time, and reaching the summit shortly alter eight o'clock, stopped to take water from the tank. While there a heavy coal train, drawn by three engines, ran into the rear of the passenger train, telescoping two of the cars through and through, and breaking five others. The scenes that ensaed were heartrending, although by a most miraculous circumstance the number of killed are few. It seems that after taking water at Lehigh Summit one engine became detached from the train. After being coupled on agpin another start was made, which resulted in breaking off the last two oars. The two engines and fifteen cars went back for the stray cars, but in coming up missed the coupling. In backing up again, and when at about forty yards from the two detached cars, the long, heavily laden coal train came driving up at a speed of about fifteen miles an hour, ran into the detached cars and shot those forward into the rear of the rest of the train. The two detaohed cars, standing between the two trains, were, strange to say, but little dama ed, and the rear cars of the fifteen, into which these were immediately plunged, also suffered little; but the fifth and sixth cars from the rear were literally knooked into kindling wood. The fifth car reared and was thrown right upon the car in front. The rest of the passenger train in front was not muoh iniured, and even the engine of the coal train which had caused the damage was very little broken np. Imagine two cars Bmashed into flinders as by a pile driver, the splinters and blocks thrown into a heap in the most indescribable confusion, and the passengers pitched into this mingled mass of wood and iron, and wedged in such a way that the backs of the seats had to bo broken in order to resoue many of them, the air filled with the shrieks of men and women, and the groans of the wonnded, and one has only a faint conception of the scene. Some of the passengers had stepped off the train to wait for the watering of the engine, and so fortunately escaped. These, and the uninjured on the train itself, immediately set to work to rescue the wounded. Some of these were so tightly wedged in by the debris of the car that it was a longtime before they could be extricated, and their sufferings were indescribable. To add to the horror'of the scene, one of the cars took fire and was rlentmvfld. Surgeons had been telegraphed for to i S or an ton, eighteen miles away, and ! Strondsburg, thirty-five miles. There was one surgeon at Gouldsboro, two miles distant, Dr. Patterson, who was soon on hand and did all he oould. But what could one physician, however skilled and however humane, do with so many wounded? The officers of the road did all that possibly could be done to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded while awaiting the arrival of the surgeons who had been telegraphed for, and who, it seemed, would never come. It was at least two hours before the Scranton and Strondsburg corps of surgeons arrived. They reached the place about the same time, and numbered about fifteen. With them came probably forty persons from the two places, and all set to work binding up wounds. The country near Lehigh Summit is very sparsely settled, and but little aid could be rendered by the few residents. As to the cauE9 of the accident. The road in this section is fall of curves, and the grade at the place of the disaster? whioh is only a watering place and telegraph station. :he pasaeugor station being two miles this side?is eighty feet to the mile. The passenger train left Scranton with two conductors, the regular conductor, Mr. Bush, being on the front'of the train, and the extra conductor, Mr. darling, on the rear cars.. The rear car had the usual red light signal, but the crowd on the platform hid the signal from the engineer of the front engine of the on-coming train, so the latter olaims. The ourve bid the passenger train until the coal train was immediately upon it, and the steep grade required all the steam which could be carried. The actual cause of the accident was probably the fact that the machinists and men laboring in the yard at Scranton had been on a strike about a month, this beiug the third re duction of their wages, and, consequently, the rolling stock is sadly in need of repairs. On account of the Centennial, the road is constantly crowded with passenger and excursion trains, and all the stock is in oonstant demand. Two passengers were instantly killed and a large number injured. Several of the injured died. I Men and Women Cooks. There seems to be more natural difficulty for the woman to learn than the man. There is a sweet tooth running , through her sex whioh affeots her taste and renders hei less trustworthy. She is less exact, at least in the pursuit of this vocation, and does not reason as the man does. If he fails he thinks and i * * 1 a# fha fating I tries w iiiiu out iuu u>uoo w vuu whioh she is less - apt to do. He givoe poands and ounces as to quantity where she gives approximate handfals. The man is more particular about the food which he consumes himself, which makes him more careful about what he propares for others. Many women are content provided they have ice oream and sweet cake, or something equivalent thereto. Count de Najao, a man of some | authority concerning the table in Paris, I avers that the interest and traditions of the kitchen can only be oonfined with safety to men, ana tutu 11 ILLO YTUJLUVU | guests at a table were not under the eye of the stern sex they would begin dinner with the dessert. As may be conceived, this is a pa^jful mistake for a Frenchman to make, but a sense of duty doubtless rises above all other considerations. Notwithstanding, even if men be superior to women in this calling, if any widespread movement is to come about the movement must come from them, for the kitchen is virtually in their hands. A Business WIrl. When a Chicago girl received a dispatch from Wisconsin, announcing tliat her lover was going off with the consumption, she telegraphed to his friends: " Has poor Jeffrey kept up his life insurance?" The friend telegraphed baok: " Policy for $10,000 in your favor is paid up till May 9, 1877." Poor Jeffrey cannot last arter the first cold snap." The young lady then wondered philosophically how she would look in blaok, and telegraphed to Jeffrey : " Darling, I will be with you on Tuesday, never to quit*you during life. "Lubline." " It will be a sad loss to you, mv love," said her mother. " Yes, ma, sobbed the girl,but the loss is fully oovered by insurance." A Lady Sargeon In the Army. There was at this time at the cape a person whose eccentricities attracted universal attention?Dr. James Barry, staff surgeon to the garrison and the governor's medical adviser. Lord Charles described him to me as the most skillful of physicians and the most wayward of men. He had lately been in professional attendance upon the governor, who was somewhat fanciful about his health, but, taking umbrage at something said or done, he had left hit, patient to prescribe for himself. I had heard bo much of this caprioious, yet privileged gentleman, that I had a great curiosity to see him. I shortly afterward * ' * ? 1' 1 1L ^ sat next aim at dinner at one ui u-jo regimental messes. In this learned Pandit I beheld a beardless lad, apparently abont my own age, with an unmistakable Scotch type of countenance, reddish hair, high cheek benes. There was a certain effeminacy in his manner, which he always seemed striving to over: come. His style of conversation was greatly superior to that one usually heard at mees tables in those days of non-competitive examination. A mystery attached to Barry's whole professional career, which extended over more than half a century. While at the cape he fonght a duel, and was considered to be of a most quarrelsome disposition. He waa frequently guilty of most flagrant breaches of discipline, and on more than one occasion was sent home under arrest, but somehow or other his offenses were always condoned at headquarters. In Hart's "Annual Army List" for the year 1865 the name of James Barry, M- D., stands at the head of the list of inspectors general of hospitals. In the July of that same year the Times one day announced the death of Dr. Barry, and the next day it was officially reported to the Horse Guards that the doctor was a woman. It is singular that neither the landlady of her lodging nor the black servant who had lived with her for years had the slightest anani/nnn nf Vior ?fiT. Thfl l?td MtS. Ward, daughter of Colonel Tidy, from whom I had these particulars, told me further that she believed the doctor to have been the granddaughter of a Scotch earl, whose name I do not now give, as I am unable to substantiate the correctness of my friend's surmise, and that she adopted the medical profession from attachment to an army surgeon, who has not been many years dead. 1 Modern Antique, There is a millionaire here, Hu Xuang Tung, says a Centennial letter, who has an exhibit of porcelain or chinawarethat is very, very valuable, because it is vpry, very old. You must know that crackled ware is now all the rage; I do not know why, except that it is supposed to be very old when covered with a network of cracks. A jar all crackles is worth about $500 or $600. We had in the familv a hideous thing?half bowl, half pitcher; old?ever bo old?older than I am. Tears ago it was laid away among the archives (we keep them in a barrel in the cellar) because grease would ooze out through the crackles. After a day among tho chinaware at the Exhibition, Toffy, who is always diving into the musty reoesses of the past to drag up some relio of kingly splendor, went down into the cellar and fished that bowl out. It was dark brown, and covered with ribs about half an iuch apart. Toffy varnished it and painted the ribs a yellow green. Then she set it in the sun to dry. When dried, she placed it on the front parlor mantel, where it reallv looks hideous enough to be genuine. I Visitors como in, eye the monstrosity, I and say : " What a?a?peculiar jar that is I" " Yes; is it not ? It ia very old and raro, You may have seen them at tho Exhibition?in the Chinese department. This crackled ware "?(taking it up care fully, and showing the network all oyer it)?" is very valuable, you know." " Ah! I see; it is indeed remarkably beautiful; the design is wonderful. I had not examined any of them before, but I can see this is very rare." 'Yes," replies Toffy, "we prize it highly as a specimen of the antique," and then she replaces it cautiously and resumes her conversation. The James Family. Mrs. Samuels, the mother ol the James boys, the famous Missouri marauders, has left Olay county, Mo., and gone to Texas. On leaving she said: " I hope I shall at last find peace and rest in the new home I hope to And. I am very old now, and not the woman I was thirteen years ago, when trouble came upon me and mine with the war. My husband was hung by the Federals, and Jesse, then a boy fifteen years old, was whipped by the same gang until speechless because he would not tell where his brother Frank was. As for my family, here is all there is of it. Dr. Samuels is old and helpless. My little boy is unable to make a living yet. He is the next to the boy killed by the detectives at the time they threw in that hand grenado. Then there is my daughter. She was brought home from school to do the sewing for the family when I lost my arm. Besides these three helpless members of my family, I have an old colored woman who has lived with us on the farm over there in Olay county for thirty years. She will never leave us; she is too old to do for herself, and will not take her freedom. Then 1 have an old paralyzed colored man belonging to the family. I must keep him as long as he lives. And then a little ohild adopted by me, and old Aunty, make up my family. There, you see, are eight of us, all helpless and all harmless, and why we must be hunted out of the home we have lived in for thirty years I cannot understand." It was Yery .Warm. a* o dinner rtartv there were two 3iatere present, one a widow who had just emerged frdm her weeds, the other not long married, whose husband had lately gone ont to India for a short term. A yonng barrister present was deputed to take the widow down to dinner. Unfortunately he was nnder the impression that his partner was the married lady whose husband had just arrived in India. The conversation between them begun with the lady's remarking how extremely hot it was. "Yes, it is very ! ot," returned the young barrister. Then a happy thought suggested itself to him, and he added with a smile : " lint not so hot as the place to which you husband has gone." The look with which the widow answered this "happy thought" will haunt that young barrister till the day of his death. To Come Back. A man considerably more than half drunk presents himself at the police station: " ' 1 Off Official?" Well, wnat ao you wtuii i Inebriate?" I want to be looked nt>." Official?" Why V Inebriate?"Oh, (I get drunk every Snnday and am locked np at night, bnt to-night I couldn't find any officer to take me up, so I thought I would come myself." Tho sergeant refieots a moment, then replies, sententioualy: " If you are able to find the road to the police station by yourself you are not drunk enough to be looked up. Oome back in an hour or so." me .rower 01 conscience. A tonohing incident, illustrating the Eower of conscience, even in the most ardened criminal, recently occurred in Washington. At dnsk a well dressed stranger rang at the door of one of the honses, and, on being admitted, said to the proprietor: " You do not, sir, reoognize my face. 'Tie -well. Listen. Your pocket was picked abont a twelvemonth sinoe?" "It was, and I lost $12.65." " I was the thief. Nay, sir, spare your reproaches. For seventeen days I had not tasted food, and my wife and eleven small children lay at home on their miserable pallets, crying with hunger and cold. The money I stole from you then, sir, saved them, for with part of it I bought coal, with part of it bread, and the remaining portion I played upon the eight, coppered the king, and called the turn till I ran it up to #60; but pardon me for intruding the details of my humble business upon ydur attention. I became an altered man, and determined to reform and lead another life. I am now well employed, and night and morning my wife and children bless your name, though they, innocent ones, do not know that I stole the money. I have long since sought' you, but was unable to find you ; but, fortunately, my friend and benefactor, I recognized you on a street car yesterday; I followed you home and learned your name, and to-night I have oome to restore to you the money of which I robbed you." So 11 - Si 1 1L? 3 saying me fieuiwui gave iiie j&mu geutleman a $20 bill, reoeiyed $7.35 change, blessed his benefactor warmly and left the house. Next morning the old man fonnd chat the bill was a counterfeit and that the tbief had, on leaving the honse, taken the old man's hat and umbrella. A Nervous Actress. Laf jrriere, says a French journal, has been playing "The Poor Idiot" in the provinces. At one small town the stock company was very nervous about playing with the greftt star, especially a hapless woman who was cast for the mother, and with whom Laferriere has the crack scene of the piece. It is in the fifth act, at the moment that the idiot begins to recognize and distinguish the persons that surround him; then she rushes to him and, folding him in her arms, shrieks: "My son, I am your mother 1" At every rehearsal Laferriere encouraged her. "Don't be nervous," he would say; " keep cooL All you have to do is to cry: 'My son,'I am your mother 1' and embrace me." " Oh, yes ; but, M. Laferriere, I am so frightened to play with you." All went well through the first four nets, and in the wait before the fifth JLafernere went to tne actress dressingroom to cheer her. "Keep up a stiff upper lip," he said, cheerfully; " vou know what your have to do. The whole play leads up to that scene. I reckon on you. ' My son, I am your mother!' and embrace me." "Yes, yes; 'my son, I am your mother I' I shall not forget" The curtain rose. Laferriere was playing with even more than his furious vigor. " Now, then," he whispered, encouragingly; then, taking up bis part, yelled : " Who is this woman ? Who is she ?" " My mother; I am yonr son!" gasped the actress ; then she shrieked. Laferriere had made his teeth' meet in her arm! Intelligence of. Horses. Dr. L., of the New York veterinary establishment, says that generally horses seem to understand that what is being done to them is for their good, and they will often bear bravely the infliction of necessary pain, even when it causes their great frames to tremble in mute agony. At times, however, they manifest as much nervous dread of pain a? human beings show, and then it becomes necessary either to control them by powerful apparatus or to administer anaesthetics. In the latter case, pieces of sponge saturated with ether or chloroform are inserted in the animal's nostrils. Frequently two ounces of either fluid will be found sufficient to plunge a powerful horse into utter unconsciousness, while again a pint may be administered without procuring the desired degree of anesthetization. Horses show a keen appreciation of pleasant flavors, and an excenenc inemurpr iui uau uum They also have a very fair knowledge of the flight of time. When a horse is going through a course of medicine he will show that he knows when the hours arrive at which he is to take a dose almost as well as his doctor does, and if he has taken a dislike to the potion which has been given him, he will stubbornly resist any attempt to get more of it into his mouth, while on the other hand, if . he has found it sweet or otherwise pleasant flavored, or even simply tasteless, or if he is allowed to sniff at it and find that it is not the stuff to whioh he objects to, he will open his big jaws and take it down as graoefully as a horse can be expected to swallow drugs. Where Russia Stands. The London Times' correspondent at Paris says there is no doubt of oomplete accord between Russia, Germany and Austria. It can bo easily seen that England and France will not break their neutrality. Therefore, Russia has only Turkey to face. The only minister of the Ottoman cabinet who believed that Turkey might defend herself and receive European aid has fallen. The cabinet are now convinced that Turkey cannot oount on the accord of Europe in her favor, and that Turkey cannot longer mam tain complete dominion of the Balkan peninsular. If they hesitate abont the six weeks' armistice it is because they wish to know the conditions to which they will have to submit What Russia wants is now known, and the Ottoman cabinet will probably resign themselves to it Russia wishes the absolute independence of Servia; the recognized independence of Montenegro, with an extension of territory, and the annexation of the port of Spissia and the political and administrative autonomy of Bosnia, Herzegovina and Bulgaria. She wishes to strip off Bessarabia, taken from her in 1856, and to have the liberty of the Dardanelles established. No Savey Sne. Sansome street, San Franciscc, resounded to the echoes of a policeman's whistle in the hands of a miserable, miserly looking old Ohinamau. A policeman hurried to the scene, and found that the celestial wanted a citizen arrested who owned him some money and refused to pay it. It was in vain that the officer tried to point out .7>th the legal acumen that the Chinaman's remedy was at civil law?that he should sne the refractory debtor. No, he wanted criminal process. 41 Me no savey 4suesavey, he got my (money; savey, me want it back." 44 Oh, come, get out of this," said the guardian of the public peace, gently shoving him away from his debtor, who walked quietly off. 44 What you shove me for. Get me back me money. Chinaman tie no pay white man money he go to prison ; white man he no pay Chinaman he walk off. Yon say ' sne, sne.' Me no savey sue.' Savey yon allee same fool." Here the officer made a grab for John, who effected his eseape. 11CU19 VI liiiivtVBv* Prussians and Bavarian* are volunteering largely into the Servian army, as well as Russians. Eggs and butter ere generallv, bat erroneously, regarded as perishable articles, for they gain *n strength as they grow old. A lake in Lower California which covcred 150 square miles in 1878 has now almost disappeared. In drying up it has left a large deposit of salt. Inauguration day (March 4) falls on Sunday in the years 1821,1849, 1877, 1917,1945,1973, 2001, 2029, 2059, 2085, 2125, 2153, 2181, 2221, and so on. The last native of Tasmania has died. at the ace of seventy-three. This island, which Became an English oolony in 1808, had 5,000 natives in 1825; in 1847, forty-five, and now the raoe is extinct. , Here is a model verdict of a coroner's jury: "We do believe, after dne inquiries, and according to our best knowledge, that we do not know how, when, and where the said infant came to its death." Ike has had an irritating skin disease. Mrs. Partington says "the charlotte russe broke out all over him, and if he hadn't wore the Injun beads as an omelet, it would doubtless have culminated , fatally." A brave and good little Ohio boy sat on the fence two hours in the freezing cold of dead winter, watching a broken rail on the railroad truck, so as to carry the latest news of the impending accident to his father, who was local editor. In 1790, not one hundred years ago, at the sack of Ismail, the Bussians were -.8 atrocious toward tie Turks as the latter are toward the Servians; and Suwarrow put 8,000 persons to death, as a leebon to his soldiers in the art of . massacre. ; . .. " Why didn't you put on a clean cot lor before you left home ?" called out an imnarfmonii mnnoi inn to an omnibus IlUfU* j ? __ driver. " 'Cause your mother hadn't sent home my washing," was the extinguishing reply. An old woman who is crossing the street has a narrow escape from being run over by a hearse. ." I am not at au superstitious," she says to her rescuer, " but it has always seemed to me that it wonld be unlucky tp be killed by a hearse." "To have ideas is to gather flowers, to think is to weave them into garlands," says one newspaper. V* It's ? rather late in the season, but still < not too late to advise our neighbor to gather some flowers," sarcastically adds another. A Scotchman being asked by his minister "What kind of a man was Adam?" replied : "Oh, just likeither folk." The minister inisted on having a more special description. "Wee!, naebody got anything by him, and many lost" ' TT-11 ^'* sntuMM. Tne name ueu 11/ XXUW tljk/J^vw*w| is older than the Dutch settlement of 1613.. In a very ancient map of this locality, found in the library at Munich, Manhattan island is represented as covered by Mohicans, but " Helle Gatte " is indicated in the East river. Prof. Loo mis concludes, after comparing five hundred case, that storms move at the rate of twenty-sir jniles an hour on land in this country, and a little over nineteen over the ocean. An exprem train or a first-class steamship could easily keep ahead of a common storm. In London 153 children die annually out of 1,000 before they attain their first year; in Denmark, 156 ; Scotland, 156; England, 170 ; Belgium, 186 ; Holland, 211; France, 216 ; Prussia, 220; tpain. 226 ; Switzerland, 252 ; Italy, 254 ; Austria, 813 ; Russia, 311; Bavaria, 372. Calculations, have been published Showing that over twenty-three millions of animals and birds were wounded,, without being captured, by the licensed sportsmen and poachers of the British islands during the year ending March 81, 1876. The vivisectionists are oompletety eclipsed by this cruelty. If you put a hot coal in your pocket it will burn its way out. Aye, so will a bad deed, that is hidden, make itself known. A fault concealed is a fault ' ? j? mil it onk | aouoiea j tutu du juu all through life. Never hide your faults, but confess them, and seek through God's help to overcome them. "How do you do dear aunt do you love poor Vicky dearest aunt this a present for you Victoria." This autograph letter, written by Qaeen Victoria when she was an infant, has just been sold at auction. Probably Julius Ossar wrote just suoh epistles when he was small. It shows that any of us are liable to be born great. A strange story i9 told of a horseman on a white charger, who, in the thick of a battle between the Turks and the Servians, rode in front of a Servian regiment, and shouted to them to retire, as the Turks were in the rear. The apparition was not seen again, and proved to have been a Turk who had risked his life in the ruse. It seems probable that the elephant will soon become extinct Acoording to a statement made at a recent meeting of the Parish Geographical Society, EDgland imports annually 1,200,000 pounds of ivory, to obtain which it is necessary to kill 30,000 elephants. The total annual destruction of these animals is estimated at 100,000. Two Cossack women have attracted a good deal of attention by starting from St. Petersburg to join the Servian army, in which they desire to do voeman service. They are sisters, ttheir family name Lukjanow, and the elder is only twenty-three ; but they possess unusual physical strength, wd the younger is said to have taken part in many a boar hunt, in which she displayed extreme boldness and endurance. The Bushmen account for the origin of the milky way by relating how a girl of the ancient raoe wished for a little light, so that the people might see to return home at night. She therefore oohflfi into the 8kv. which ULLLCMY YT became the milky way. This same girl, being vexed with her mother for giving her too little of a certain red edible root, threw up portions of it into the sky, where they became stars. The First he'd Heard of It. A blacksmith having failed in business, a friend, to enable him to start once more,' loaned "him some iron, which a creditor attached at the forge. The friendly owner sued for his iron. Choate appeared for him, and pictured the cruelty of the sheriff's pro ceeding as follows: " He* arrested the arm of industry as it fell toward tho anvil ; he put out the breath of his bellows ; ho extinguished the fire upon his hearthstone. Like pirates in a gale at sea, hia enemie swept everything by the board, leaving him, gentlemen of the ? ?4 ? ?nnf. sn muoh as a JUTJT, liUU DU uiuvu mw? horseshoe to nail upon his doorpost to keep the witches off. The tears came into tbe blacksmith's eyes at this affecting description. One of his friends, : noticiug them, said to him: "Why, .Tom, what's the matter with-- yon f What are yon blubbering ab08*P'\ "I had no idea," was the whimpering tone?" I had no idea I had been so much a-a-a-abused !"