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: ?: ' , ? ? ? ?? ? 4S&- ? ? ~ " ~ , ' % . ' V. v THE ABBEVILLE PRESS & BANNER ? V "? ? ? ? ; ~ - " " " BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1877. VOLUME XXIV.-NO. 31. i _ A Christmas Song-. The oak ia a strong and stalwart tree, And it lifts its branches np, And oatohe8 the dew right gallantly In many a dainty cup. And the world is brighter, and better mado, Because of the woodman's stroke, Deaoending in sun, or falling in shade, On tho sturdy form of the oak. Bnt stronger, I ween, in apparel green. And trappings so fair to see,| With its precione freight, for small and great, Is the beautiful Christmas tree. The elm is a kind and goodly tree, With its branches bending low ; The heart is glad whon its form we Bee, As we list to the river's flow. Aye ! the heart is glad, and tho pulses bound, And joy illumines the face, Whenever a goodly elm is found, Because of its beauty and grace. , But kinder, i ween, more goodly in mion, With branohea more drooping and free, ? V. ftan Uan/ia fl/lo] ifw UAAtTAH XUO bUlLB U4 nuuou icaivo, uuwuij nw??w, Is the beautiful Christmas tree. The maple is supple, and lithe, and strong, And clalmeth onr love anew, When the days are listless, and qaiet, and long And the world is fair to view. And later?as beanties and graces unfold? A monarch right rogally drett, With streamers tfhme, and pennons of gold, It seemeth of aU the best. More lissome, I ween, the brightness and sheen. And the coloring, sunny and free, And the banners soft, that aro held aloft, Bj the beantifol Christmas tree. ?St. Nicholas for December. THE SECRET DOOR. A Christmas Story of Two Hundred Years Ago. I Knowle, in Kent, is an ancient manor house. It stands knee-deep in rich garden and pasture lands, with hayfields and apple orchards stretching beyond, and solemn 03k woods which whisper and shake their wise heads when the winds blow, as though possessed of secrets which must not be spoken. Very much as it looks to-day, it looked j two hundred and thirty years ago, when Charles the First was king of England. I That was the Charles who had his head 1 ont off, you may remember. Bine i Christmas smokes cnrled from the { twisted chimneys in 1G45 just as this j year. The same dinnery fragrance tilled ! the air, for good cheer smells pretty much alike in all ages and the world over. A few changes there may be? thicker trees, beds of giy flowers which were not known in that day; and whero onoe the moat?a ditch like stream of green water covered with weeds and 1 scum?ran round the walls, is now a j i trimly cut border of verdant turf. But these changes are improvements, and in all important respects the house keeps its old look, undisturbed by modem times and ways. In the same nursery whore modern bojs and girls cat, sleep and learn their A, B, C to-day, two children lived? little lialph Tresham and his sister Henrietta. Quaint, old fashioned creatures thoy wonld look to us now ; but, in spite of their format drcrses and speech, they were bright and merry and happy as any children you can* find among your acquaintances. Ralph's name was pronounced "Rafe," and he j always called his eister " Hexie." Christmas did not come to Knowle in its usual bright shape in 1645. Gloom and sadness and anxiety overshadowed . the houso ; and though the little ones did not understand what the cause oi the anxiety was, they felt something wrong, and wont about quietly whisper ing to each other in corners, instead of whooping and laughing, as had been their wont. They hud oaten their Christmas l?ecf, and toasted the king as usual, but their mother cried wh u they did so ; and Joyce, tho old butler, had carriod off tho pudding with a fme like a funeral. So, after dinner, thoy crept away to the nur jery, and there, by the window, begun a long whispering talk. ! Hezie had something very exciting to tell. "Nurse thought I was asleep," she said, "but I wasn't quite; and when they begun to talk I woke up. That wasn't wrouf?, wa9 it, Rafe ? I couldn't sleep when I couldn't, could I ?" "I suppose a'tt; bat you noedu't have listened," said Rafe, whose no tions about honor were very strict. "I did pull the pillow over my car, but the words would get in," went on Henrietta, piteously. "And it wa=i fo interesting. Did you know that there were such creatures a<3 B jgics, Rafe ? Dorothy thinks that wo have got one in our house, and that its hole is in the great callurv, because onco wlien 6he was there dusting the armor, she heard a queer noise in the wall, and what else ooald it be? It eats a great deal, does the Bogie. That's the reason nurse is euro we have got oue. It ate all the cold sheep's head yesterday, and the day before half tho big pastry. No victuil is safe in the larder, the Bogie has such a big appetite, nurse says." 411 remember about the sheop's head," said Rafe, meditatively. "Almost all o^it was left, and I looked to see it como in cold; but when I a: k?d, Joyce caid there was none. Cold sheep's head is verygood. Do you re- j member how much Humphrey used to like it?" " I don't remember exactly, it is so long ago,"replied Hexio. " How loDg is it, brother ??since Humphrey went { away, I mean. Won't he ever oome back I" " I a^ked Winifred once, but she only said, 'God knew,' thai nothing had been hoard of him since the battle wh?-n the king was taken. Ho might bo dead, or he might ba esca'pod iuto foreigu Sarts?and then sho cried, oh, so hnrd, [oxie 1 Poor Humphrey ! I hope ho isn't dead. But, about the Bogie, how curious it must be to meet one I Oh, I soy, let us go to the gallery now, and see if we hear any strange noises there. Will von i" "?;0b, R ifd ! I'm afraid. I don't quite I like"? "Eat yon can't bo afraid if I'm j there," said Rife, valiantly; "besides, I'll pnt on Humphrey's old sword | which he left behind. Then if the Boeie i oomes? we Rbal1 Fee ?" R:ife ppoke liko a conquering hero, i Hexie thought; so, though Bho trembled, she ma -e no further objection, j but stood by while ho lifted down the i sword, helped to fasten its belt over his | shoulder, and followed along the pas- : sage which led to the gallery. The ! heavy sword clattered aud rattled an it dragged on the floor, and the sound was j eohoed in a ghostly way, which renewed Hexie's f ors. " Rafe ! Rafe ! let us go back 1" she cried. " Go back yourself if you are afraid," replied Rajph, stoutly;and as going back alone through tho dim passage seemed just then worse than staying where she was, Hexie stayed with her valiant brother. Very foftly they unlatched the gallery door, and stole in. It was a long, lofty apartment, paneled with cedar wood, to which time had given a beautiful light brown oolor. The ceiling, of the same wood, was carted, here and there, with i ^ shields, coats of arms, and other devices. There was little furniture: one tall cabinet, a few high backed chairs, and some portraits haugiDg on the walls. The sun, not yet quite set, poured a stream of red light across the polished floor, leaving the far corners and the empty spaoes formidably duek. The children ! nad seldom been in the gallery at this honr, and it looked to them almost like I a straugo place, not at all as it did at noonday when they came to jump up | and down the slippery floor, and play hido and-seek in the corners whioh now seemed so dark and dismal. Even Rafo felt the difference, and shivered in spite of his bold heart and the big sword by his Bide. Timidly they went forward, hushing their footsteps and peering furtively into the shadows. Suddenly Hexie stopped with a little scream. Close to them stood a large suit of armor, larger and taller than a man. The empty eye holes of the helmet glared out quite like real eyes, and the whole figure was terrible enough to frighten any little girl. But it was not at the armor that Hexie screamed; the iron man was an old friend of the children's. wa oaq]t fl-t/vr* lUUiijr u vi uiucttuu'oouu uou iiuqj played around, and bohind, and even inside him; for Humphrey had contrived a cunning way by which the figure could be taken to pieces and put together again ; and more than once Rafe had been popped inside, and had lain shaking with laughter while Hexie vainly searched for him all through the gallery. This had not happened lately, for Rafe was hardly strong enough to manage by himself the screws and hinges which opened the armor; but he knew the iron man too well to scream at him, j and so did Hexie. The object which j excited her terror was something different, and so 6trange and surprising that it is no wonder she screamed. fllosft bv the armor, half hidden bv a i curtain of heavy tapestry, was an open door, where never door had been known to be. It stood ajar, and dimly visible inside was a narrow staircase winding upward. "The hole of tho Bogiol" gasped Hezie, clutching at Rafe's arm. He started acd felt for the sword. It rattled fearfully, and the sound completed Ht xie's terror. She buret away, flew like a scared lapwing dowu the gallery, along the passages, and never st pped till she reached tne nursery and her own bed, where, with two pillows and the qnilt drawn over her head, she lay sobbing bitterly at tho thought of Ralph left behind, to be eaten perhaps by the Boftie ! Poor little Hexie ! Rilph, meanwhile, stood his ground. His heart beat very fast, but ho would not run away?that was for girls. It must be owned, however, that when a moment later the sound of muffled voices became audible down stairs, he trembled extremely, and was guilty of the unmanlike act of hiding behind the curtain. He was only ten years old, which must plead his excuse with biijger boys who are coLfiJent that they could never, under any oircumstances, hide themselves or be afraid. The voices drew nearer,steps sounded, and two figures came out of the narrow i doorway. Could there bo two Bogies? j No wonder they ato so much. But in j another minute nil thought of Bogies vanished from Ralph's mind, for in one J of the figures lie recognizod his own sis-1 ter Winifred. Her compauion w:is a man. There whs something familiar in bus form. It moved forward, and Ralph jumped so that the big sword rattled again. Bogie number two was his brother Humphrey, mourned as dead ever since the summer before, when so many brave gentlemen gave up their lives for King Charles at the battle of Naseby. "What noise was tint?" whhpored Winifred, fear.'ully. "Some ^.oand from below," replied Humphrey, after listening a moment. "Must you go, Winnie V *'I must, dear Humphrey. >dare not absent myself longer left I be missed and suspected. Oh, if to morrow were but over, and you s tfe on the French lugger aud over th<> sea! I cannot breathe wiuie tins mamg ana uanger go | on." "I supposo I ought- to bo glad also," j said Humphrey, ruefully ; " but to me that French logger means exile and loneliness and poverty, for tho rest of my life, perhaps. Better have laid down my life with tho rest at Nastiby, in slrikiDg ono last blo<v for the king." "Don't you speak sol" protested Winifred, tearfully. " You nro alive, thank God ; and onc<3 these wars are over we may rejoin you, aud have a huppy home somewht re, if not in the land of our fathers. Now, dear Humphrey, have you all you need for the night?" "Christmas cheer,"said Humphrey, in a would-be chcerfoi voicc. "Beef and ale?what bettor faro could be ? You are a gallant provider, my Winnie, and thero is need, for since I have lain in that hole with nothing else to do, my appetite has raged like a wolf. That sheep's h?ad was wondrous savory. I { say though, Wintie, what do the servants think of the famine I create in the larder?" " Oh, the stnpid creatures fancy that a Bogie has taken up his residence here. A very hungry Bcgio, Joyce calls the creature 1" The brother and Rister laughed ; then i thev kissed each other. ' GooJ-night, dearest Winifred." "Good-night, brother," and Humphrey vanished np the stairs. Winifred lingered a moment; then, as if remembering something, opeued tho door again and ran after him. R >lph markod that I who laid hor hand on i: particular boss in tho carved wainscot and pressed it in harJ, whereon the door sprnng open. He stole ont. laid his baud on the same boss, and felt the spring givo way undor his touch. Some undefined idea of stealing in later, to make Humphrey a visit, was in his head ; but ho heard Winifred returning, and hurried out of the gallery. Putting back the nword in its place, he entered tho nursery. No Hoxio was visible-, but a sobbing sound drew his attention to a tumbled heap cn the bed "Is that you, Heiie? Why, what aro you crying about V pulling away tho pillow which she held tight. "Oh, Rafo! Then the Rogie didn't oat you, after all!" And Hexie buried her tfar-stained face on Iiis shoulder. " Bogie! Nonsense! There are no ! ench things as Bogies !" "What was it, then, that lived up j that dreadful stairs ?" " I can't tell you, only it was nothing at all dreadful. Arid, Hexie, don't say I a word about that door to any one, will [ you? It might ronko great trouble if j you did." " I did tell Deborah, when she fetched the candle and asked why I oried, that I saw a strange door in the gallery," faltered Hexio, truthful, though penitent. "Oh! Hexie, how could you? I don't like Deborah, and her father is a knave. Humphrey said so one day. How could you talk to her about the door, Hexie?" I?don't know. I was frightened, and she asked me," sobbed Hexie. "Will it do any harm, Rafe?" " It may," said Rafe, gloomily. " Bnt don't cry, Hexie. You meant no harm, at all events." " Oh, don't speak bo gravely and so like Joyo?t" said Hexie, muoh troubled. She cried herself to sleep that night. Deborah, who undressed her, asked many qnestione about the gallery and the door. \ " It was very dark, and perhaps she mistook"?th&t was all Hexie could be made to say. Ralph was disturbed and wakeful, and Blept later than usual next morning. He jumped np in a hurry and made what haste he could with dressing and breakfast, bat it seemed as though they never took so much time before; and* all the while he ate he was conscious of a stfr and bustle in the house, which excited his curiosity very muoh. Knocking?the sound of feet?something unusual was going on. As soon as possible he slipped away from nurse and ran to the gallery. The door was half open. He looked in, and stood still with terror. Men, in brown uniforms and steel caps, were tnere sounding the walls and tapping the floor boards with staves. The gallery seemed full of them, though when Rafe counted there were but five. " This man of iron was, in all likelihood, a Malignant also," he heard one of them say, striking the armor with his fist. "He is somewhat old for that. Mothinks that is armor of the time of that man of blood, Harry the Eighth. Move it aside, Jotham, that we may search the further panel." So the heavy figure was thrust into a oorner, and the men went on tapping with their wands. Rafe groaned within himself whon he heard them declare that the wall sounded hollow, and saw them searching for a spring. Twenty times it seemed as though they must have lighted on the right place. Twenty times they jast missed it. "We were ill advised to come without tools," declared the man who seemed leader of the party. " Come thou to | my shop, Peter Kettle, and thou, Bartimous and Zerrubabel, and we will fetch Buch things as aro needful. Jotham, stay thou here, to see that no men escapeth from the concealment bohind the wall." So four of tho men wont away, leaving Jotham striding ud and down as on I guard. Presently came a shout from beneath the window: " Jotham! our leader hath dropped his pouch in which are the keys of the smithy. Hasten and bring it to the j outer door." "Aye, aye!" answered Jotham, and, pouch in haud, he ran down tho stairs. Nojv was Rafe's opportunity. Like a flash he was ncross the gallery, his hand on tho boss. The door 8ow open, and he fell into the arms of Humphrey, who, sword in hand and teeth set, stood on tho lower stop of tho staircase,'prepared to sjII his liberty as dearly as possible. " Rafe ! little Rife !" ho exclaimod. " Hush I Tho man will come back," panted Rife. "Oomoaway?hido?oh, where ?" Then with a Rudden inspiration he drugged his brother toward the inciila " lie / ricil I 11VSU llinut \JICT MV v>*V?r | "Thoy will never think of searching; there 1 Oh, Humphrey?make haste! Got inside!" There was no time to bo lost. With the spe6d of desperation, Humphrey unscrewed, lifted, stepped inside the armor. Iiafe slipped the fastenings together, whispered " Bhut your eyes," and flew back to his hiding place. Just in tim3, for Jutham's step was on the stair, and noxt moment ho onterod the gallery, and resumed his march up and down, little dreaming that the man sought for was peepiug through tho hoi- : met holes at him, net thvoo feet away. Presently the other soldiers came j back with hammers and wrenches, and I iu a short timo the beautiful wainscot, split- into pieces, lay on the floor. Suddtnly there was a shout. The secret door had flown opon, and tho staircase stood revealed. Four of tho men, with picks and pistols, propared to oscond, while tho fifth guarded the opening bolow. At that moment Winifred entered the gallery from tho further end. She turned deadly pale when she saw the open door and tho men. "Oh! Heaven have mercy!" she! cried, and dropped half fainting into a : chair. R ife darted across the floor and seized j her hand. " Hu?li," he whispered. " Dcn't say 1 a word, sitter. He is safe." "He! Who?" cried tho amazed Winifred. But now voices sounded from above. Tho men were coming down. Winifred rallied lie* courage, ro:-o and wont forward. She was very wLite still, but she spoke in a steady voice. Her two brothers, Humphrey in his hiding place aud little Rafo by her eide, both admired her greatly. " What is the meauing of this, Jothara Green ?" she demanded. " By what warrant Jo you enter and spoil our house'(" " By tho warrant which all true men have to search for traitors," said Jotham. " You will Had nono such here," responded Winifred, firmly. " We find tho lurking place in which one Kuoh has doubtless laiu," said Zerrn'oabfel. " Where holes exist, look out for vermin." "You are leva than civil, neighbor, j An old houso like this has many strange Dooks and oornor6 of wh ch the inhabitants may hnve neither uso nor knowledge. If your search is dono, I will beg you to make good the damage yon faavo caused .is best you may, and with as little noise as possible, that my mother be not alarmed. Jotham Green, yon are a good workman, I know. I recollect how deftly yon once repaired that cabinet for us." All tho men knew Winifred, and her oalm and decided manner made its impression. Jotham slowly picked np tho fragments of tho paneling and began to fit them together. The rest consulted, and at last rather "sheepishly, and with a muttered half apology about " wrong information," went awny, taking with them the injured woodwork, which Jotham undertook to repair. Rafe's first words after they disappeared were : "Winifred, you must dismiss Deborah. It is she that has betrayed us." " How do you know that, Rafe?" Then it all came out. Winifred listened to the tale with streaming tears. "Ob, Rafe, my darling, how brave you were ! You played tho man for us to-day, and have saved?I trust yon have saved?our Humphrey. The % men will not return to-day, and to-night tho lug- i ger sailf." And Humphrey was saved. Before | morning, well disguised, ho had made his way across country to a little fishing ! port, embarked and reached France j without further accident. So that strango Christmas adventure | ended happily. It was all long, long i ago. Humphrey and Winifred and Rafe lived their lives out, and lay down to q nanfnnr mid a half since under tho ] daisy Bpriuklod English sod. Little Hexie died an aged womnn, before any of us were born. Bat still the beautiful old manor bouse stands amid its gardens and pasture lands, with the silvery look of timo on its gray walls. Still the armed figure keeps guard beside^he secret staircaso, the tapestry hangs in the old heavy folds, evening reddens the cedar walls and the polished floor, and everything occupies the same place and wears the same look that it did when little Bafe played the man in that gallery, and saved his brother Humphrey, more than two hundred years ago.? St. Nicholas. An Hnmble Hero's Death. The Chicago Iribune has the following account of the loss of four lives at a fire in that city: It was in the Eastern House that the loss of lifo took place. The flames seemed to have enveloped the buildings in a whiff, for when the firemen came on the spot all the buildings were abluze. Captain Bull winkle and his men, who were first on the ground, rescued all they could, and in this work, as soon as they arrived, the firemen bravely assisted. Kaiser's family, Cella's and Geewe's, as well as the Oockells, had a narrow escape. Mr. Cockell employed considerable help in hiu restaurant. They slept in the rear part >f the second story, over the kittu o. The fire burned fiercely here, onf Tvl-inn tVia inmnf.r>? ronrn ftTCfllfflTlfid ee;ace was almost cu' off. GockeU and lr? family were awakened by a man named James Allen, who boarded at the Lonse, and their lives "were thus undoubtedly saved. He was a tailor by trade, thirty-seven years of age, and had recently oome home from Boston, where he left a wife and five children. This man Allen proved himself a hero, and met his death like a martyr in trying to save human life. After he had awakened nearly every one in the house, he took his overcoat upon his arm and got out upon the sidewalk. Finding that there were yet persons in the building he managed to got back. A poor girl named Agnes Healy, aged seventeen, who had been a waiter at tho restaurant, was half orazed, suffocating with emoke, and crying to be saved. He seized her around the waist, and was about to carry her to a window, but escape was cut off, and the two perished together, and in this way they were found charred and lifeless, clasped in each other's embrace. A little way from them were found the bodieH of Emma Bart, or Bradley, a dining-room girl, and George Broad. The woman was about twenty-four years oi ago imu murneu, uuu uei uurnu wuo m Oolumbus, Obio. Broad was an Englishman, twenty-six years of ago, and a clork for Cockell. The bodies were not burned so badly as to be unrecognizable, and their appearance seemed to indicate rather that they wore suffocated, the debris covering and in a manner proserving the remains. Women and War. Most wars of the last century, says the New York Times, have resulted in little less than waste of money and waste of life. Nothing ha3 been gained oither materially or morally; they have ended nearly whero they began, plus countless graves, invalids, shattered hopes and broken hearts. Thcro have been a few contests?contests for ideas, for | human rights, for higher civilization, but when such have been, women1 have taken up tboir great burdens, mournfully, though patiently and resignedly, and have accepted what fortune brought, not without poignant grief, but with 41- ? 4 l?nn / ?!-! ^ f ViOtT people, cuu uu uumiucu. j.u uii-oub wis the petition proposes that the two ] Houses shall improve the three weeks ' preceding Christmas in forming and ' agreeing npon a'Constitutional amendment placing in tho supreme court the ' duty of canvassing tho eleotoral vote. < Most of the State Legislatures meet im- j mediately after tho holidays, when the ' amendment could be submitted; and the J latter holds to tho opinion that the amendment could be ratified without ' delay, so that it could be made part of tho Constitution and apply to the present election. Both of tho Presidential candidates, it is urged, would recognize j the wisdom of this course, and both the . Republican and Democratio legislatures , would ratify it. The petition dwells at , length upon the wisdom of removing ! this important mattor from a tribunal that is likely to be affected by party strife. ( Who's Elected. One of tho teachers in a Sunday- 1 school was 4'stumped" badly during ! the services of the hour. He was teaching the infant class, and, after explain- ' ing the lesson as well as ho knew how, <-V?vr?TTT nnon ftm nnflotinn Viht firrnr. UU lUlUn V^/VU VUV \|UVUI/AU?* MQM* atively speaking, and told the children they might ask him any questions that suggested themselves. He was gratified by a seven-year-old girl, who immediately piped out: "Who's 'lectcd?" He couldn't tell Long Awat.?A traveler, who rode up to a wayside tavern in Wisconsin, baing told by a boy, who pointed to an elderly woman standing in the door, that "that ere woman is the landlady," politely bowed to her and asked: "Madam, where is your husband?" "Gone to Milwaukee for a stock of liquor and lemons," said she. " Has he been gone long ?" " Only twenty-three years. The traveler rode on. A CASE OF CREMATION. The Burning of the Body of Baron de Pal in In the United States, the only recorded instances of cremation, except the burning alive of prisoners at the stake by savages, are those of the burning of Henry Laurens, about 1816, of Henry Berry, in Marion county, 8. C., last July and that of Joseph Henry Louis, Baron de Palm, Grand Cross Commander of the Sovereign Order of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, Knight of St. John at Malta, Prince of the Roman EmDire. late Chamberlain to his Majesty the King of Bavaria, Fellow of the Theosophical Society of New York, etc., which has just taken place. This nobleman's life was a romance of which his death, ombalming, preliminary funeral id New York and cremation in Pennsylvania are strange sequences. He was a member of that diplomatic corps which includes in every European capital the brightest, the best educated, the most accomplished of men, but ho wearied of courts, possibly because the expenses of German diplomatists could not keep pace with those of English ambassadors. With a fuiling income and a stout heart he immigrated to America, and landed in New York in 1868, a bachelor of some fifty years. He pushed on to Chicago, and there from time to time, in company with associates who are well known among merchants, he engaged in various bnsiness enterprises and real estate operations. They proved unfortunate. Toward the close of the year 1875 he returned to Now York where he died, and his funeral services took place in May last, at the Masonic Temple. By the will the Baron requested that his remains be burned. It being impractiacblo to burn the corpse as he desired it to be burnedi it was embalmed and laid in a receiving vault to await the completion of the present crematory by Dr. Le Moyno, of Washington, Pa., and to that placo the remains were taken. The fnrnace is a cheap affair. Coarse bricks and firebricks form the walls ; the furnace door below and tho door of the fireclay oven above it are of unoraamented iron. The front of the furnace resembleB that of any common furnace for melting iron or reducing ores. A sooty feeder of the fire stood in front of it, ratber fatigued by a vigil of thirty-six hours since the lire began to burn. Before any guests wero admitted, the body had been takon from the coffin, completely wrapped iu a white sheet, and laid upon an irou crate which stood on wooden trestles in the center of the reception room,, according to the old Greek and Roman custom. It was injected and surrounded with cinnamon, cassia, frankincense and myrrh. A large number of scientiflo gentlemen wore present to witness tho affair. The body was plaoed in tho furnace about eight o'clock, and the fire was kept burning about three hours, when nothing remained bnt a confused mass of ashes in the bottom of the retort. When tho retort was cooled the ashes were gathered in a Hindoo urn and will be preserved. Patrick Henry's Prophecy. Patrick Henry, in tho Virginia convention on the adoption of the Constitution of 1788, ppoko as follows : " Your President n'-ay easily become king.- Your S^.nato is do imperfectly constiucted that your deareet rights mar hn sacrificed bv what mav bo a tilt; UUlibUUJJg LUUU^UU tuuu mvj suffered and mado sacrifice in a holy cause. It has bee a urged against women, sometimes, that thoy are incapable of beariug arms, of performing military duty in the flold. There lmvo been many exceptions to this rule, wbich no doubt, however, holds generally . good. If this incapacity bo a fault, it is certainly a good fault, one to which progress aud hnmauity should be lenient. It mi#bt be said in women's favor that, should -ehG have tho arrangement of ! affairs, wars would be far Ifss frequent, , if they did not cease altogether. She ! is not so strong, physically, nor so . fierce as her brother man, but phe is undeniably more moral and more civilized ; and where high morality and civi- ! lization are, war, often as it may happen, ! is always an anachronism. In any strict gyuocracy?should there ever bo ' such a thing?the question of -women 1 bearing arms will not be discussed, for war will be ranked, as in most cases it , deserves to be, as a relic of barbarism. . The daya of trial by battle on a grand , scale would assuredly b? numbered, if ! statesmen and leaders who declare war, and soldiers who conduct it, were capa- ! ble of feeling for any length of time tho distress of mind, the agony of heart, tho torture of soul, wbich every battle, nil over tho civilized world, naturally and necessarily brings to women. To them men owe much more than thoy ever think or concede; aud if men wore more in the habit of looking through ! women's eyes, before they imperil women's happiness in military venturos | for ho good or wise end, they might give , themselves such wholesalo pause as would turn the almost equally balanced scales on tho side of beloved and blessed , peaco. 1 The Electoral Vote. Ex-Senators Carl Schurz and John B. Henderson, and other prominent men of St. Louie, have forwarded a potition 1 to Congress relative to the counting of \ tho electoral vote. They say in the j potition that the present condition of ' the country calls for some action which shall settle tho political disquietude. Tho clause in tho Constitution respecting the canvassing of the electoral vote ic nnnfod nrx! nrnnonnced inadeauate ?A,w?wv., X" * and liable to diverse construction. The attempt to canvass the voto in joint session of Congress is deprecated as certain to rai e partisan issues, and develop a strife which may prove most disas- i trous to the country. The petition then ? proposes as the remedy that the whole ? matter shall be transferred to the supreme court of the United Slatos. It ' is urged that that is the only tribunal j from which a fuir aud unpartisan de- ' cision, one which will satisfv the whole [ 1- i tu:?j rril 1 small majority; and a very small minority may eontinuo forever unchangeably this government although horribly defective. Where are your checks in this government? Your strongholds will be in the hands of your enemies. It is on the supposition that your American governor shall bo honest that all the good qualities cf this government are founded, but its perfect and imperfect construction puts it in their power to perpetrate tho worst of mischiefs should they be bad men. And, sir, would not all tho world blame our distracted folly in resting our lights upon tho contingency of our rulers beiug good or bad ? Show me that age and country, where tho rights and liberties of tho people were placed on thechaucoof their rulers boing good men, without a consequent loss of liberty. I say that tho loss of that dearest privilege has ever followed, with absolute certainty, ovcry such mad attempt. If your American chief be a man of ambition and abilities, how easy will it be for liim to rrnder himself absolute ? The army is in his hands, and if he be u man of address it will bo attached to hira, and it will ba tho subjeot of long meditation with him to seize the first auspicious moment to accomplish his design. And, sir, will the American spirit solely relieve yon when this happens ? I would rathor have a king, lords and commons, than a government so replote with such insupportable evils. It we mako a king, we may prescribe tho rules by whioh ho shall rule his people ; but the President in tho field, at the head of his army, can prescribe the terms on which ho shall reign master, so far that it will puzzle my American even to get his neck from cinder tho galling yoke!" They Were Homesick. A letter from Hutisford, Wis., says: Ibout the first week iu October last ibout a dozen families and a few single poung men left ttm town and neighborhood, expecting to mako their futnre lome in Oregon. We were, therefore, a jood deal surprised about ten days ago ;o 6oe most of them back again. Some )f them, on being questioned, declared ;hat the country was a miserable region, irhere a man would find it difficult to ive and anything but pleasant to die. 3arefnl inquiry, however, disclosed the ;rue state of the case. They had gone ;oo late in the fall. It rained almost jonBtantly after they loft Wisconsin, and incessantly during their stay iu Oregon. 3evcral of the children foil sick on the way; nearly the whole party were utterly homesick before they landed at Portland. Freaks of the Registry. 1 /rs.n \ i,??, Alio UOIlimuUB \\Jtt. J -iv/i iy ocw o/ UUD the following: We have a file of the city registration since 1863. It is queer how 3ome people grow. In 1863 a leading manufacturer gave his age as forty-four, in 1876 he is only forty-six years old. Fie grows slowly. A shoe merchant in 1863 was thirty-seven, but in 187C he claims to be only forty-seven. Bnt it is the old bachelors and widowers who grow old sl< wly. One widower, a merchant, in 18C3, was fifty-four. In thirteen years he has only reached sixtyfour. One old bachelor registered himself in 1863 as thirty-two, but we find in 1876 he has only reached forty-one. Another of tho same species was thirty-six in 1863, but has allowed the hair to grow so as to cover the bald spot and he now registers forty-five. His Thinking. ? When a witness was testifying tho other day he replied to a question: "I think not, sir." "I don't want to know what you think," thundered the lawyer. "Well," said the witness, " I'm thinking under oath, and that's as near as I can tell you." That was something new, and tbe smile went round, and then somebody suggested thut possibly it might be a good thing for lawyers, stump speakers and some editors to do their thinking under oath. ONE OF DICKENS' CONTICTS. Spending a Llletlmt In Hoiltnrj Confinemeat?Decorating a Cell Under Dlfficnltlet? \ SIniular Character. Over thirty years ago, says a Philadelphia letter, -when Charles Dickens maBe the tour of this country that resulted in his " American Notes," he devoted muoh of his time to the inspection of our prison system. Our principal prison, then as now, was the Eastern penitentiary, in which the system of solitary conQnoment prevailed. Mr. Dickens in a few graphic sentences piotured the miserable condition of the unhappy convictB to whom the sound of a human voioe is almost unknown for year after year. That Mr. Dickens' notion of the system was a fair one, the experience of many years and the testimony of some of the best minds of the age [have shown; but many men are BCiii living?some 01 mom now wxtmu tho walla of the prison itaelf?-wlio are ready to testify that the institution was as light and airy thirty years ago as it is now, and a recent personal visit convince me that it is as pleasant and wholesome a place as is compatible with massive stone walls nnd unyielding bars of iron. Possibly Mr. Diokens' imagi nation, as is apt to be the case with men of snch high strung sensibilities, was wrought upon by his surroundings. At all events, those who read his vivid description will shudder more at the picture so powerfully brought before them, than they would be apt to at the original. . The building covers a square, and branches off from a circular hall in the center into seven long corridors, all well lighted and excellently ventilated. Everything is as clean as soap and water can mako it; and within the cells, which are ranged along tho corridors in two tiers, there is neatness and cleanliness which wonld shame many model housewives. In Dickens' time there was a prisoner of forty yoars or thereabouts, whose dejected appearance especially attracted tho attention of tho novelist. He was in the corridor fronting the entrance, and had devoted all the time allowed him from his work to painting and ornamenting his cell and cultivating his little garden?a patch of ground about eiirht feet lone and fivo or six feet wide. - Q - o Diokena describes the cell and the garden briefly, bat devotes a long paragraph to the downcast expression and demeanor of the prisoner. It wa3 the arrest of this man?Charles Langhoimer by name?that suggested this letter. Langheimer was discharged from the penitentiary in September last, and latoly was bronght up before a magistrate charged with stealing an overcoat. He is seventy-four years old, with bushy gray whiskers and grizzled hair, and has all the appoarance of a well-to-do mechanic. As far as I can ascertain, ha is not a hard drinker, but the police and the prison authorities say that his long life has been one constant series of larcenies. In prison he loves to work, and shows great tasto and ingenuity; bu-t, once at large, his itching of the fingers returns, and he is soon in trouble again. When Dickens saw him, ho was serving his third term for grand larceny. Since then he has "jdone " three terms of five years each, aud five otners or a year or two eacn, i returning to the prison with the regularity of the seasons. The eoli he ooonpied in 1842 is one of j the side shows of the prison, but the garden in not as well kopt as it was then. The walls snd ceiling of the cell are elaborately painted in red, bluo, and green. Every time be comes back he tries to get his old cell; but failing in this, he goes to a now one, and contentedly begins tho work of embellishment. When I saw him, just before his reloase, he had wpont nearly a year in a cell in the southern tier, and had painted and arranged it so thoroughly that it looked almost inviting. The paint he obtained by soaking colored yarns in which he worked in water, and extracting the dye. Such trifles as he could obtain from the chaplain or the warden ho utilized with wonderful ingenuity. His garden bed, like that described by Dickons, was coffin shaped, but his flowers were the brightest and most blooming in the prison. Ho sat at his wheel as fcho warden ushered me into the cell, looking up with a pleaded expression at the sound of our voices, but never stopping his work for a second. An expression of surprise at his wonderful ingenuity drew forth a faint, flickering smile which was painful to see, but after tho first glance he did not look up again, although I could sen that he heard every word wo said, and watohed our motions sharply out of one corner of his eye. Ho will take up his old quarters for a year or two more, and I am glad to say that his comfortable cell has been reserved for him. Ho is a standing ar- j gument for the authorities of the prison ! in favor of tho silent system. "Why," they say, "if this man wanted to, lie could get out of this Stato and into New York as 6oon as ho is released, for our prisoners seldom go away empty handed, and there he could servo his time in Sing Sing or on Blackwell's island and herd with his fellows. This system may ?i- r i.i :ti?11 not wurh. iuo bumu wim tm uiuu, uuu iud stories of iusanity arising from solitary confinement are all bosh. Invariably we find that onr insane prisoners were mentally unsound when they came to us. ? The Esquimaux Dog. i An Esquimaux dog aeems to bo an expensive luxury. On the return of the Pandora from tho Franklin search expedition, Captain AUen Young brought back with him a fine specimen of the Esquimaux dog, on whioh ho set groat value. The animal one day got loose, and for a long time was at large in the neighborhood of Southampton. The Hampshire farmers, taking it for a wolf, turned out en masse with guns and sticks, and killed tho poor brute. A long bill for depredations committed by tho animal was also handed to Captain Young, who bad to recompense the Buffering agriculturists. On the recent return of the Pandora from the Arotic region?, Liout. Arbuthnot brought home a fino Esquimaux dog, the " king of the pack." On November 20 the animal got away, and caused much alarm, being mistaken, as in the case of Captain TT Cn* n rrrnlf Tf CI VlBlfr AUllug a uug, iu! ? nvu. I to a farm at Broomhurst, gobbling up I four ducks and killing a fifth, but was soon after recaptured. The Lion Sermon. Over two hundrod years ago there lived in London Sir John Gayer, merchant and lord mayor in the timg of Ohnrlts I., and distinguished for his loyalty to that unfortunate monarch. During his traveling in Africa he was wonderfully delivered?in answer to his earnest prayer?from a lion, ana on ms return Lome commemorated his escape by endowing an annual sermon in his parish church, accompanied by a contribution of gifts to the poor. This sermon, from that day to this, has been called " The Lion Sermon." For more than two hundred years this sermon has Lieen preached regularly, and descendants of the Gayer family are frequently to be seen among the oongregation on these occasions. HARD TIMES. THE CAUSE AND CURE. Charlie.?Well, little wife, got on yonr thinking cap, eh, instead of welcoming yonr tired and discouraged husband home after a hard day's work doing nothing in the store ? Maggie.?Yes, Charley, your complaints about hard times have been running in my head ever since dinner, and lhave gone into a calculation. Charlie.?A calculation 1 well, my eweet, mathematical financier, can you 'how me how we are going to live this year, with trade fallen off fifty per cent., and twenty per cent, of the bills that we do make gone to the dogs ? Maggie.?Perhaps I can, by-and-bye, bnt I have jnst finished a general estimate of what might be done to cure the hard times. Charlie.?Better vet! Come, lassie. out with the figures, and I will have them posted on the bulletins, and quoted on 'Change before nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Maggie.?Don't be sargastio, Charlie; 1 there may be more sense in this "goosie head," as you sometimes call it, than you think. Charlie.?All right, Proceed to business. Maggie.?Well, first, I must "preliminate," as Parson B. says, that hard times come from waste. Charley.?Our Bridget's waste, for example 1 Maggie.?Be quiet, please, and do not interrupt the speaker. , Charlie.?Beg pardon. I am all attention. Maggie.?In the United States, in 1870, 81,500,000,000 worth of iirtoxieating drinks and $610,000,000 worth of tobacco were consumed ; the expenditures for licentiousness were as much more, giving a total of $4,220,000,000 luasted in the gratification of three appetites. Suppose this sum was saved. It would give to each of the 8,000,000 farmliaa in nnr lftTld ft frflfi Tflntal of 8200: four barrels of flour at $7?828 ; one barrel of pork, $22 ; one barrel of beef, $13 ; six barrels of potatoes at $2?812 ; three barrels of apples at $4?$12; 100 j pounds of sugar at thirteen cts., $13; forty pounds of butter at thirty-five cts., ( $11; one suit of clothes for the father, $60 ; one suit of clothes for the mother, , $45 ; three suits of clothes for the children at $25?$75 ; annual premium on a , lifo insurance policy of $1,500, $47. j Total, $526 for each family, still leaving , $8,500,000 surplus unerpended, CJharlifr?Maggie, yon astound me! , You have surely made some great mis- ( take! I Maggie?Well, ran over the figures j for yourself. You are no*:more enr- , prised than I was, but I can find no , error in the calculation. The amount of , liquor and tobacco consumed is as j officially reported in the United States ; census. The estimate of the amount j wasted in licentiousness is my own, but , certainly far within the truth. Now, if j wo could havo our proportion of those , artioles given to us this year, I think | that wo might live comfortably, even , with the diminished trade. Certainly if ( all this amount wore saved but for a { single year, the hard times would vanish. ] Charlie.?You're a jewel, wifey 1 But if hard times are to remain until men , cease their indulgences, I fear that pros- , perity is very far off. As for myeelf, I , can give up my wino without much self- j denial, but my cigars have become a , necessity I , Maggie.?Oh, Charlie, don't say that, j It makes me shudder; not that smoking is so very distasteful to me, but your | plea of necessity looks so like a surren-1 der of manliness to the power of an evil | ? ? II iiaDit. j Charlio.?Well, to my sorrow, I moat < confess that whenover I have attempted t to break off thd habit has floored me, i and I have como out second best every ] time. ] Maggie.?Perhaps you did not try in I the right way. ] OLarlie.?I just tossed my cigar into i the street, and said I wouldn't use an- ] other, and didn't until I lost my appe- { fcite, trembled all over like a leaf, lost < my power of recollection, and really 1 thought I would go crazy, or break 1 down in a general collapse, then I took ] the weed and was soon all 'right again. < Maggie.?Did you crave it all that i time ? I Charlie.?"Crave it I" I was stark I mad for it; dying for want of it. i Maggie.?Have you never heard of a < method of cure, perfectly painless, in- i stantaneous, and so complete that the < oraving never is felt. 1 Charlie,?Bosh! there isn't a medi- I cine on earth that will do all that. i Maggie?But suppose that a number < of credible witnesses testify that they have been personally cured in that way ? Charlie.?If they are really credible witnesses, and testify to acts in their own experience, I suppose they must be believed, but I should want to crossexamine thom pretty closely first. 'Maggie.?They will not object, and, if agreeable to you, we win invito VUO | i of them, Mr. B, to tea to-morrow, when you can quiz him all you like. Charlie.?All right; but now let ua * have some tea to-night, after which I , will enjoy my Havana (if those terrible statistics will keep out of my head), in anticipation of the marvelous reveal- J ments of to-morrow. I ***** * ** e (Charlie, Maggie and Mr. B. seated at ^ the table.) a Maggie.?Have your cup filled, Mr. B.? Mr. B.?No, thank you. Sinco I was j cured of my tobacco habit, I feel less in need of stimnlants than formerly, hence * rarely take more than a single cup of * tea. * Charlie.?That wouldn't serve me at ^ all. My thirst calls for a greater quan- 6 tity than that. t Mr. B.?Perhaps not bo much thirst * as the crv of suffering nerves for stimu- ? lants under the depressing influence of * the narcotic in your cigars. t Charlie.?Well, whatever it be, an- ^ other oup, Maggie, please; and now, f Mr. B., will you have the kindness to t tell us about that wonderful enre ? c Mr. B,?With pleasure. The story is * very short. I had been a slave to tobac- ! co in various forms for many years. J Had striven in vain to break off the j habit, taken various substitutes, but judging of my condition by the impera- j t Hi.a?ooo nt t.hn frfivinc. I was more en- 11 VlTUil^Oa VA M . .? OJ _ ... thralled than ever. That thought j I alarmed me; then, too, I resented the |' implied impeachment of my manhood, I 0 and nt last resolved that, cost what it * might, I would sometime give up its 1 uso. But the terriflo strain of former 3 efforts deterred mo from beginning at 1 once. While in this stato, I casually f mentioned my purpose and dread to an t old friend who had been converted not 1 long before, and had abandoned all his * bad habits together, when he surprised t me beyond measure by exclaiming: 1 " Why,"B., it's all useless to have any J fuss about the thing. Just go to the Lord Jesus on your knees and ask Him, not merely to help ydn to abstain, but i also to keep you from "craving for it, 1 and He'll do it I I know He will, for I i it ar\A Viaw? nflvflr had a desire for 1 it since. Just the same with the desire ( for strong drink. He swept the board \ for mo, and I've been a free man ever 1 since. Gloiy to His blessed name I" i The earnestness and sincerity of my i friend affected me, and I at once caught the inspiration of the hope. I laid' my tobacco qnietly on the shelf in plain sight, sought a place of retirement, and there on my knees asked God to take away the appetite, and believed that he would do it immediately. I felt no ohange beyond a consciousness of trust in Him to keep me, and returned to my seat; the sight of my tobacco kindled no desire, and I have had none sinoe. The victory was perfectly easy, and grandly complete. Charley.?Well, I've left the piety of the household pretty much to this good wife of mine, but if that's what the Lord does for those who trust Him, I'll take some stock in that concern before it rises on the market. Mr. B.?It is "without money and without price," salvation "unto the uttermost;" and '' now is the accepted time." Was not Charlie's deoision, though quaintly expressed, wisely made ? _ i End of a Family of Brigands. One of the blackest of all crimes is known as the Bender tragedy of Kansas. The Bender family was resident in Montgomery county, Kansas; tne family consisted of "Old Man-' Bender, his wife, his daughter Kate and his son, a young man who is fo some considerable extent acquitted in the public mind of much that is charged without distinction to his father, mother and sister. The crime oi the crowd consisted of murdering from mercenary motives, and burying upon their wayside promises not fewor than nine persons, all of them travelers, and some of them citizens of at least local prominence. Though a number of sudden disappearances had occurred in Montgomery county, suspicion had not settled on the Benders until after Dr. York, brother of A. M. York, the exposer of ex-Senator Pomeroy, had suddenly "come up missing, and when suspicion had finally fallen upon the family every Inember of the same simultaneously disappeared. Since their disappearance no trace of them has ever been found, notwithstanding the most diligent search and the most intricate plans and plottings of detective bureaus Hia /wniifrtr nrflr. AH nf Ihis. nniil within a few days, has been accepted as the essential substance of what could be discovered or explained relative to the precednre. Very lately, however, an unexpected solution of the matter has been offered, tliongh as yet it must not be accepted is conclusive. Facts have come to light which point very strongly to the sup position that a vigilanoe committee went do the Bendera' house, placed them in their own wagon, drawn by their own horses, and conveyed them to a secluded spot not far off, on the edge of a largo pond, and there extorted a full confession from them of all their crimes, down to the smallest details. After this the Benders were never heard of, and it is nore than probable that their bodies i?ere carefully concealed, it will be remembered that a few days after thi?-a ivagon was discovered near this point, )0 which a pair of horses were tied, ffhich was known to bo Bender's property. This was soon followed by the innouncement that the home of the Benders had been deserted. It is said that Gov. Osborn was seretly apprised of all these facts, which will aocount for the fact that, on the port of the Kansas authorities, no 3ys;ematio effort has ever been made to apprehend the Benders, and stories of their ianture elsewhere have only excited an ncrcdnlous smile at the State capitaL Effects of Frost. The workmen employed iq a Milwaulee shipyard, on visiting the dry-dock )ne morning to commence the work of ;he day, were surprised to find that the itarboard wheel of the steamer Amazon aad been slipped off the shaft. How so ponderous a piece of iron oould have seen removed was a puzzle that sorely perplexed the men. On looking down into the dock they diecovered the wheol [ying there broken in two. An investigation of the cause of the unusual ocjurreneo dispelled the mystery and demonstrated the power of frost. The aab of the wheel, about fifteen inches long, was slightly hollowed out at the jenter to admit of its being slipped on ivithont diffionlty over an uneven poriion of the shaft end. This recess web full of water when the boat was placed h the dock and the keying had been to jloso that the liquid?about a pailfnl? pas exposed to the frost. As the water longealed under the sharp wintry atnosphere of the night it expanded and jurst asunder the five-inch walls of the ron, and the broken wheel fell with a 1 jrash. i Ualliint AM Oantlnmnn. JX UlUJIHUV V*w VIVMtAVWM*. As an elderly couple were out walking, t lady on tlie opposite side of the itreet tripped and fell down. Tho old gentleman rushed across the street, aised his liat, and offered to assist her n any potsiKj way. His wife followed lim across at a slow pace, and witnessng his devotion .to the stranger, she got nadand sbook her fist at him. "It's ill right?it's all right," he whispered. 'Yes," she hotly exclaimed. "Here in unknown woman stnbs her toe, and rou plow across the street to eat her up : rith kindness. The other day, when I ell down stairs, you stood and laughed tnd chuckled and tickled your ribs, and vanted to know if I was practicing for i circus!" That Centennial Ferer. A Brooklyn (N. T.) physician who las attended many cases of the characeristic fever that resulted from visiting he Centennial, says that he is conrinoed that tne cause was not the bad lanitary condition of Philadelphia, or of ' he Exhibition grounds, but the pnsmce of fomites in certain articles on 1 ixhibition, which had been brought iom some of the worse plague spots of he earth?of Egypt. Africa, India, 1 ^sia and South America. The doctor urther adds that as a result of the Cenennial wo shall bo inflicted with numirous types or grades of fever hitherto 1 mlrnnwn to US. The Lead. Tho steamer Fanny was coming down he tipper Mississippi loaded with pig ead. Ag she was going over a shoal >lace tho pilot gave the signal to heave he lead. The only man forward was i green Irishman. "Why don't you leave the lead ?" "Ifl it the lead, yer lonor? Where to?" "Overboard, rou blookhead." The Irishman snatched ip one of the pigs of lead and threw it >verboard. Tho mate, in endeavoring 0 prevent him, lost his balance and fell nto the river. " Why don't yon heave be lead, and sing out how much water here is?" "Tho lead is heaved, yer lonor, and the moto's gone down to see low much wator there is." Though a Mohammedan who marries 1 French girl is not required to renounce 118 ruilgiuu, U?J CHUUUt CUllliaub a. vtuiu narriago with another woman daring ler lifetime. These unions usually turn int well and are extremely prolifio, and ;he Arab husband submits passively to ihe dominion of bis French consort, is though he taoitlyacknowledged himself af an inferior raoe. li are i Dare to be honest, good, and sincsre, Dare to please Gofl, and yon never need fear. Dare to be brave in the cans? of the right, Dare with the enemy ever to fight Dare to be loving and patient each day, Dare speak the truth whatever you say. Dare to be gentle and orderly, too, Dare ehnn the evil whatever you do. Dare to speak kindly, and ever be true, Dare to do right, and you'll hod your way through. Items of Interest. > Professor Swing says that a hat won on a bet "comes down over the eyes of the winner's soul." A diffident man is in a tight place Via Anaa nnt. Irnntr TtfVlftf, fcn flflv and is afraid to say it. Shakespeare in horticulture?" Thai which we cauliflower by any other name would smell aa sweet." A Paris fashion writer ssys that ladies have bonnets of seventy-five different shapes to chooee from this fall. On December 81,1875, Italy had a population of 27,472,184 souls, against a population of 26,601,154 on December 31,1871. The wine crop of Franoe this year is unusually large, being a third larger than the vines promised at tho outsot of the season. . There are estimated to be over 1,000 Young Men's Christian Associations in North America. The average number of members is 170. A Russian regiment, experimenting, swam, with one band on their horses' manes, across a river 250 feet broad in a quarter of an hour. The annual death rate in London now averages eighteen par 1,000; in Edinburgh* twelve; in Glasgow, twentyone ; in Dublin, nineteen. Dr. Carpenter believes in confining an habitual drunkard long enough to have new food, without alcohol, produce new, healthy tissues of the body. Russia has 170,000 wolves within its boundaries, and they destroyed last year not only an enormous quantity of cattle and poultry, but also two hundred people. imtrnn if JTeiOUi-lO WUU uato uwtv* mmu *? know how refreshing and invigorating it is to lie abed cool, bracing mornings and let their wives go down and build the fire. An Austin (Nev.) wife says she knows of five husbands in that town who have been made drankards by the excitement of the late political campaign, her own husband being one of the number. For writing something bad on the book of a postal card in Philadelphia a young man had to scrape together 8100 or go to jail, notwithstanding he told the judge that he was sorry for whai he had done. Williams College has graduated thirty members of Oongrees, five United States senators, eight governors, sixteen indcreo of the supreme court, tliir ty-two presidents of "colleges, aud 891 clergymen. European paper makers are importing the inner bark of the groat baobab tree, from the fiber of which good paper is made. The bark may be take a from the tree once iu eight years witbont injary to the tree. A physician wrote r prescription, aud, as the patient went out of the room, said to him: " I wish you would lot me know if that does you any good, for I have myself been very much troubled with rheumatism lately." Dr. Oasin having heard the famous Thomas Fuller repeat some verses on a scolding wife, was so delighted with them as to request a copy. "There is no necessity for that," said Fuller, "as you have got the original." "See hare, Gripps; I understand you have a superior way of curing hams. I should like to learn it." " Well, yes; I know very well how to cure them; but the trouble with me, just now, is to find out a way to pro-euro them." When you see a young man and woman leaning over the garden gate in the twilight and hear a sound like the " squash " of a potato bug beneath a farmer's heelfcyou instinctively feel that there has bg^Ji a climax of two eouis. Tell us, angelic host, ye messengers of love, shall swindled printers here below have no redress above ? The shining angel's band replied : "To us is knowledge giveg^j delinquents on the printers' books oaaftaever enter heaven." Jeremy Bentham once said: "I should wish that the years which I have yet to live could be passed each at the end of one of the centuries following my death; I should then be a witness of - - - 1? ?111 ? the influence wrncn my worss wm exercise on posterity." When a blear eyed, bald headed weather prophet is asked whether it is going to bo a hard winter, he shuts one eye, looks at the sun with the other, digs up a clump of grass, examines the roots, and says: "I don't know." He is generally correct. Mrs. Scott, a ncv.se, or Selkirk, Scotland, has just been tried for culpable homicide, inasmuch as she gave a baby twenty-four hours old three drops of laudanum, causing death. She got off with six months' imprisonment because "her Intentions were good." Two gallons of whisky were consumed by a man in Arkansas before he fully recovered from the bite of a larrantula. It was then discovered that he had been stung by a wasp. The men who contributed the whisky were too 1 mad to speak above a whisper. Chinamen with white wives are common in New York, but in San Francisco, OWlDg IU VlUlCiiU uau^u v/* the lirst marriage of that kind greatly excited the public. The husband is the wealthy ageut of a Chinese company, and the wife is a teacher in a city mission. Gay Fawkes day was celebrated throughout England with unabated vigor this year. To forestall dangerou3 outbreaks in towns where military garrisons were quartered, the soldiers were confined to barracks during the afternoon and evening, and the police force was augmented. There will be live cclipxesin 1877, viz.: A total eclipse of the moon on February 27, visible in the United States ; a partial eclipse of the sun on March 14, visible in Western Asia ; a partial eclipse of the suu on August 8, visible in Alaska, Kamschatka and the North Pacific ocean; a total eclipse sf the moon on August 23, partly visible in the Eastern and Southern States, and a partial eclipse of the sun on September 7, visible in South America. The Air We Breathe. You tvho live and move in crowded rooms without ventilation, remember that man's own breath is his greatest enemy; that air once breathed is unfit for respiration because, as Professor Wilder says: "1. It Las Jost about onefifth of its oxygen. 2. It has gained about an equal amount of carbonio acid. 8. It contains more or lejs effluvium, an organic matter capable of decomposition. The organic matter in considerable amount is offensive. By decomposition it beoomes a poison." *