The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, February 14, 1877, Image 1
. . \
ABBEVILLE PRESS & BANNER.
/ BY HUGH WILSON. ABBEVILLE, S. C.. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1877. VOLUME XXIV.---NO. 36.
? - * ? " ^ 1 UA..M nf
Shut the Door.
Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore No
doubt vow have heard that name before?
Was a boy who never would shut the door !
The wind might whistle, and the wind might
roarr
And the teeth be aching, and throats be sore,
But still he never would shut the door.
His father would beg, his mother implore:
"Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore,
We really wi -li you would shut the door!"
Their hands they wrung, their hair they tore.
But Godfrey Gordon Gustavus GoreWas
deaf as the buoy out at the Nore.
When he walked forth the folks would roar :
"Godfrey Gordon Gustavus Gore,
Why don't von think to shut the door ?"
They rigged out a shutter with sail and oar,
And threatened to pack off Gustavus Gore
On a voyage of i>enance to Singa]>ore.
But he begged for mercy, and said no more,
Pray do not send me to Singapore
On a shutter. and then I will shut the door :
41 You will ?" naid the parents, " then keep on
shore!
Bnt mind you -do! Fur the plague is sure
Of a fellow that never will shut the doorGodfrey
Gordon Gustavus Gore!"
AN HISTORICAL JEAN YALJEAN.
The 111 Luck that Pursued Frangois
Dubois, Hero and Convict, for
Forty Years.
This is the story of Frangois Dubois,
hero aud galley slave,as it is written in the
police archives, the army records and
the Gazette den Tribunaux:
Toward the close of 1813 he presented
himself to the commandant of Wesel,
Prussia, haggard and in rags, saying
that he belonged to the chasseurs, and
l-.i a: ?a ~ x a.
imu utrtrii uiMiiuunwu uujliu^ uiu it'iiwi
and compelled to skulk slowly after the
army, and asked to be forwarded to liis
regiment. In those terrible days men
were precious, and officers were not surprised
to discover veterans in rag-clad
skeletons. Dubois was hent to the hussar
regiment attached to the Marshal
Martier's army, where he soon became
the talk of the corps. He never was
known to laugh, spoke but rarely, and
fought with a reckless daring uncommon
even in those times. At Bar-sur-Aube,
when the hussars charged the butter)- at
the bridge of Bout-de-Lain, he w?s the
first to reach th( guns, and, falling with
Berserkir rage 011 the cannoneers of one
piece, killed, wounded and dispersed
them, and had taken the gun single
handed before the squadron could seize
the others. The marshal had seen the
battery carried, and sending for* Dubois
praised him highly and promised him
the cross.
Not long after, the marshal had occasion
to send a dispatch from Troyes to
the emperor, then at Pine, on the
Brieune road, and selected the hussar as
his messenger. The country was thick
with hostile U'ckets and scouts: he was
lived upon several times, but by good
luck and good management, now lighting,
now running, now hiding, he made
his way in safety to Marmont's outposts,
and was conducted to the emperor.
Napoleon gave him a brief written replj*,
instructing him, in the presence of
his staff, to conceal it in his bootleg.
Dubois hiul nnyle his way back as far as
the mill of Sanciere, near la BelleEpine,
when lie foir :d himself hemmed
in on all sides by a squad of Cossacks.
He rode resolutely ut the thinnest part
of the line and tried to cut his way
through, but,after a desperate tight, was
unhorsed, disarmed and led t? the headquarters
of the Russian emperor.
"What orders were you carrying?"
asked the chief of staff.
"Verbal orders."
" That's a he. Search the lining of
his left boot," replied the Russian. The
guard did so?wl^ had betrayed the emperor
frg^i his ow? headquarters ??and
the paper was found. Dubois was lock
ea up, a prisoner, wun juieutenant Auger,
of the lancers of the guard, and
Augusta Bernard, one of the emperor's
couriers. Two days later, at St. Marc,
he aud Auger escaped and rejoined the
French army. The Duke de Trevise
welcomed him warmly and rewarded
him for his services. At Berger Dubois
was severely wounded while fighting
with his headlong bravery. Napoleon
? waw forced back on Paris, stubbornly
though he resisted. March 27, 1814, at
Dubois, his wouuds not yet healed,
but attached to the commissariat
staff, was just about to enter the liead.
quarters of Count Millot, who had proposed
his name for the cross, when three
of Yidocq's agents arrested him as a fugitive
galley slave!
At the police office he was identified and
J ordered aside to be returned to the galleys.
He gave up to the police a sura
of 4,000 francs belonging to the regimental
chest, with which he had been
intrusted to make some purchases at
Bondy. Brincart, the colonel of hi6
regiment, made the most earnest attempts
to secure his release, but all in vain.
The mighty fabric of the first empire was
falling to pieces, and officials had some
uuux mure important 10 iuim aooui man
the case of a private soldier?an escaped
convict.
* # * * ? *
Dubois was born at Prauthoy, in
Upper Mariie; he was sent to the school
of Brienne at the age of twelve; in 1790
his'futher placed him among the students
of Mars. After Robespierre's downfall,
Dubois was returning homeward when,
at Bar-snr-Seine, he fell in with a soldier
of the Fourteenth dragoons. They became
friends, visited the different places
of the town together, and (lined with
much jollity at the Crown, a public
house kept by one Chevrelat. At dinner
the dragoon stole three silver spoons,
which, a couple of days later, as they
were about to separate, he sold to Dubois
at a low price, saying they were his own.
Meanwhile, the landlord, missing Mfl
mlvpnunrp Rtisntvf.p/1 them ami followed
them to St. Marc, where they were arrested.
The dragoon escaped from the
gendarmes; the spoons were found on
Dubois, and he, then being only twenty
years of age, was sentenced to eight
f* hard labor as'an accessory to the
was first sent to the galleys of
m, whence January 21, 1796, he escaped,
enlisting in the Seventh chasseurs.
He was sent to the army of Italy,
where he served with marked courage,
receiving several wounds, notably one in
the face from an Austrilan sal>er at Marengo.
Being honoraby discharged he
went to work at Ancerville ; one of liis
men identified liim as a convict and be
had to*fly to Troyes. Here, too, after a
considerable interval spent in labor, he
was recognized, betrayed to the police
axul sent back to the ^alleys, Fortunately
his services in the array pleaded
for him, ami as an act of grace the tim^
he had served was deducted from his
sentence, and eleven months later he was
set at liberty.
Going, on his release, to La Villette,
Dubois had lived there peacefully and
industriously for something more than a
year, when he was arrested and sentenced
to seven years' imprisonment for?escaping
from the galleys in 179G ! This time
he was sent to Cherbourg, whence he escaped
in 1809, fleeing to Paris and enlisting
in the cavalry. He served in Spain,
as in Italy, with marked heroism and
faithfulness, and won the confidence of
General Laverdiere, who made him his
orderly and selected him to attend him in
the Russian campaign. Passing by
l?io v/\Oil 4-/* "Dllltnlfl
Viinuiuo UU X1IO iunu IAJT IUAV, AAV.U*, ^ U
could not resist the temptation to visit
his family. His brother-in-law denounced
him to the authorities, and Dubois was
sentenced to twenty-four years at the galleys.
They sent him to Anvers, whence,
in 1813, he escaped to rejoin the army, as
we have already said, and vainly seek
death.
Betaken in 1814 by Vidoeq, the prisoner
was sent to Rochefort. After seven
or eight years he was pardoned. A miserable
tiling: was a freed convict in those
days. For ten years he was condemned
to police surveillance ; his yellow ticket
of leave announced his disgrace to everyone
; he could find no employment nor
even shelter. They hunted him from
* l 1 i . * ?n i i l 1
place u> piaco iiko a wiiu ufusb or w teper.
He tried to shoot himself?and failed.
Refused work and lacking bread, he stole
the means to purchase a meal. The court
unly looked at his record of escapes aiyl
kentences; counsel were assigned him too
dull to see the magnificent opening such
n case presented, and the poor fellow got
ten years more.
For thirty years now he had been convict
and* soldier, but he had not lost
strength?possibly even some hope survived
in him that the luck would turn.
At any rate, he broke jail again?he had
been confined at Dijon?and made his
way to Paris, where, August 10, 1823, a
detective recognized him on the Rue St
Martin, and hauled him before the commissioner
of the second division, M.
llenrv. It was befoie M. Henry that
Dubois had been taken when he was arrested
at Bondy in 1814 ; to him the soldier
had intrusted the 4,000 francs placed
in his hands from the regimental chest;
he knew all about his case. To his in- j
delible disgrace the official only recalled
that Dubois had been before him on a
previous occasion, and the prisoner was
pent to Bicetrf.
Bicetre and La Force were then literal
' hells. There was 110 classification of
prisoners; the strongest anil most brutal
ruled his.ward without interference by
his koepars. The prisons swarmed with
vermin and reeked with malaria, and the
prisoner who could not bribe the turnkeys
ran an imminent risk of dying of
hunger. Dubois remained here four
years, slowly sinking in health and
spirits. Justice seemed to have forgotten
him, when he was takeu back to
Dijon. He had been condemned in contumaciam
for his escape in 1822. The
prison doors opened for him again as inexorably
as ever, this time Mont St.
Michel being his destination. On his
way thither, while passing Prez-enPiul,
he escaped again.
He was subsequently asked why he
had so frequently escaped, and answered
:
" I had lost hope. I begun to believe
that I was destined to end my days under
the lock and key, and I sought to
escape because every day of liberty was
a day saved from inevitable captivity. It
had been for more than thirty years my
luck to be rearrested and committed, and
since it had to be bo, I tried when I
could to cheat it."
I Yes. It was hie luck. November 25,
1S31, he was entering the diligence, Rue
du Bouloi, when a hand was laid on his
! shoulder. It was the inevitable police
j officer. For the first time, gaining
! strength and eloquence from his des;
peration, Dubois resolved to plead his
( own case. He told his story, insisted on
1 his innocence of the original crime laid
to his charge, recounted his honorable
service in three armies of France, showed
his scars. The court heard him part,
ly through, yawned and sent him back
' to Bicetre.
Small wonder he gave up for a while
and abandoned himself to despair. He
was almost sixty, and luck had run
cruelly against him for nearly forty
years under the republic, the consulate,
the empire, the hundred days, two restorations
and one revolution. He was
destined to Mont St. Michel, most horrible
of the prisons of the day. The
| monarchy of July was then in its first
' flush and inclined to be merciful, and as
a last hope he wrote out the whole story
of his life from the time that he entered
the school of Brienne. He did not omit
; an incident, his escapes, the petty theft
lie committed alter vainiy attempting
suicide.
You will find it all in the Gazette den
j Tribunaitz of the time. It concludes
thus :
" Advanced in age, my strength is failing.
There remain to me but one hope
and the sorrow of never seeing the end
to my evils. Still the sovereign's mercy
is great. I have never committed a
crime which should make me despair of
pardon. I cannot survive the hardships
of the fearful route from Paris to Mont
St. Michel. I beg, therefore, that my
position may be ameliorated, by sparing
me that terrible journev and severe treatment,
and that I may be sent to a place
of detention nearer Paris, as Poissy or
Melun, where my brother, who will give
security for me, can find me work at my
trade (saddlery), and I can await in patience
the moment when your majesty
will deign to take pity on my misfortunes."
This plea he sent to Qneen Amelia
most pious and venerable of sovereigns.
And now with a tender hearted woman,
and Bhe a queen, on his side, Dubois'
luck turned. The queen had the whole
story hunted out.
It was all true !
The regimental records attested the
bravery and scrupulous honesty of Francois
Dubois.
Old Marshal Martier told how the hussar
had ridden first and headlong into the
battery of Bout-de-Lain.
The Duke de Trevise bore witness before
the queen of the_ hussar's repeated
; gallantry and of liis services to France as
a dispatch :arrier, and interceded warmly
for him. :
The prefecture of police itself could
onto report that the worst offense against
Dubois wus his breaking jail; it was for
this that he had been so relentlessly pursued
and so often arrested ; there was no
reason jhe should not be pardoned.
He for the next week's Gazette
7V.;AiM,/mr nnnfninprl this an
U' O JL / DVWfUVu.v
nouncement:
"Weh*vethe satisfaction of announcing
that this unfortunate prisoner lias
I
l>een liberated ami that her majesty the
queen lias presented him with a sum of
money sufficient to prevent liim for the
lvst of ltis days from again falling into
misery."
We never heard of Dubois after this,
i and it is pleasant to think that at last he
found rest, peace and comfort.
That is the story of Frangois Dubois,
. hero and galley slave, as it is written in
the police archives, the army records and
the Gazette den Tribunuur, how the
blind fury of the law hunted him for
forty years, and to the verge of the grave,
for an offense which he never committed!
Fashion Notes.
Vorv dark' shades are as fashionable
t l.'1/l
lur UiUUUCli an 1UI ^iv;wu iwjao,
Cat's-eye stones sot in diamouds are
among the new thiugs in jewelry.
Dark blue waterproof skirtnig suits are
worn over eardinel red petticoats.
Long trained hustles are worn hy some i
ladies under trained evening dress.
White Smyrna laces are used for trimming
red flannel skirts and drawers.
Tiny turquoises, rubies and garnets
are the favorite jewels for baby sets.
Cardinal ,red cashmere stockings arc
clocked with black or blue or white silk.
It is the fashion this winter to wear
warm and comfortable shoes and stockings.
Chamois skin under jackets are pre
ferred by stout ladies for skating purposes.
Outer garments of :ill kinds for child-1
ivu are cut very long and with no full1
11 CSS.
Mrvtle green, seal brown and ink blue
are still the favorite colors for dress
fabrics.
Ccral and gold necklaces, of tine and ;
delicate workmanship, are the styles for
ladies.
Seal brown stockings, clocked in ribs
a ad checks, with red or blue silk, are
sought for.
Fall dress coiffures require a great deal j
of false hair, curls, puffs, frizzettes and !
false braids.
Jewelry made of tigers' claws has be- j
come fashionable since the Prince of!
Wales' visit to India.
Humming bird jewelry made entirely
from the feathers of these little creatures !
i is sought for in Paris.
Cashmere stockings, in pale shades of i
blue, clocked with dark blue or cardinal ;
red, are very fashionable.
Baby pins and rings, when not sot
with jewels, have the word " baby"
carved or enameled on tliein.
Scarf pinR, with the enameling done in i
very bright colors, representing Chinese
pictures, are in great demand.
Skating skirts of cashmere, felt,
moreen and mohair are all wora, and in i
various colors, but red is preferred.
Old fashioned " gemmel rings," two :
or more rings joined together to form
one, are among Tiffany's new styles.
Gold cuff buttons, covered entirely
with white enamel, to resemble linen, is j
the latest style brought over from England.
?
The favorite skating petticoat is of
quilted red satin, sometimes flounced;
and again trimmed, with frills of Smyrna |
lace.
?
How it Feels to be Drowning.
I was crossing a bridge over a wide !
U..J. ? 1 ;
UilL DUUllun micuiu, IU a IUUCIJ i-riavc,
and accidentally fell off. When I say j
shallow, I mean for such a wide body of ,
water. I saw nobody near me and could j
not Bwim a 6troke. I knew how deep '
the water w{is, and gave myself up for
lust. The quickness of the senses when
sudden death seems impending has frequently
been noted, but still, without
experience, no oue can realize it. It is
as if one's whole life were spread out in !
a panorama before him, every portion of
which was visible at once. Every min- j
ute detail of things long forgotten, and
which when they happened were so trifling
that they apparently made no impression
on the memory, stand out in
sharp and bold outline. I remembered,
for instance, games of marbles played
when I was a boy, and a futile attempt I
once made to transmute a "commoney "
into a " white alley" by roasting it in
the tire. I remembered how the marble I
bursted in the operation, and how a piece ,
of it?t,ruck and cut the cheek of the boy j
who naa oepmeu me imo uiu rxpennient,
and the satisfaction I experienced
at the retributive justice. It seemed as
if everything I had ever done, suffered,
or thought, was presented to iny memory !
at a single flash.
Then I struck the water, when a sound, I
which I have siuce learned to liken to
the roar of Niagara, burst on my ears !
and stunned me with its overwhelming j
volume. I remembered a brief instant |
of struggling and clutching, and then a I
sense of sinking ? sinking?sinking?
until I had reached a depth of thousands j
of fathoms. I neither suffered pain nor j
felt alarmed, but had a vague feeling j
of being irresistibly home to some cat- j
antrophe, the climax to which would be ]
terrible. Suddenly I found myself pos- ;
sessed of the power of floating or waft- j
ing myfftlf along by mere volition. With !
a delicious feeling of languid indolence I
suffered myself to float about?not- in
I the water, but in the air?skimming over j
j the surface of the ground in whatever >
j direction I chose, hither and thither, as !
I a wayward fancy led. I was conscious j
; that it was a new power, and I exulted
in its possession and reasoned on its j
nature. I found that my body was as
light as the air in which it moved, and
imagined that a thistle down would, feel
as I did, if possessed of consciousness.
Then I was in the water again, and
everything around me had a roseate hue,
which speedily changed to green, then
to violet, and finally to jitter darkness,
aud then all was blank.
As I subsequently learned, some men
in a skiff half a mile away had seen me
fall into the water and hurried to my
assistance, but I had disappeared long
before they reached the spot. Many
minutes elapsed before they found me,
and full half an hour afterward before
the physicians, who had been summoned,
nriMva/1 TMinxr ino /lon/1 niwl
that they made any attempt to resuscitate
me was clue solely to the persistence
of au intimate friend of mine who had''
accompanied them.
The Lake Shore railroad company, it
is said, will contest suits for damages on
account of the AslitaVmla disaster, claiming
that the breaking of the bridge waft
" an act of God," for which they cannot
bo held responsible. They will endeavor ,
1 to prove that the bridge was ordinarily
cafe, and that cold weather weakened it.
Should they be defeated, the amount of .
judgments would amount to about half a ;
million dollars. I
IX THE VMTEI) STATES SENATE.
(<'rn]ilitc of the Serin- when flip
('nni|>roiiiiM<> Kill wn* PreMenied.
It cannot lie said that the plan of the
committee was received very favorably
by the members of either house, writes
a Tribune Washington correspondent.
Almost every one had ideas of his own
which he desired to have adopted, and
the passage of this bill supersedes the
pet plan of procedure which a majority
of the members hoped to see agreed to.
Notwithstanding the abundance of adverse
criticism the bill encounters, its
passage may be confidently predicted.
At least such is the plain outlook now.
The men who denounce it most strongly
?l/i nnf env tlinf, tlirv iinfcifiiimte its de
feat, and do not even propose to make an
open tight against it. They usually
end their criticisms by saying that they
suppose the final adoption of the compromise
is inevitable.
Nothing was thought of or talked
about at the capitol except the report of
the electoral committee. Although the
outlines of tlie bill agreed to were generally
known, there was an anxiety and J
eagerness manifested not only by the
senators and representatives but by hundreds
of people who gathered at the
capitol early in the day to hear the text
of the measure read and to learn how it ,
would be received.
The report was presented to the Sen-'
ate by Mr. Edmunds just as soon as the
committee adjouured their meeting,being
apparently for the purpose of carefully
examining the printed copy of the bill
agreed upon. The news that the report
was in spread rapidly through the lobbies
and coat-rooms, and the vacant
chairs in the chamber were speedily filled.
Perfect silence prevailed and the closest i
SUKJI1UOI1 wiu* given UIU leaning. JUVGLJbody
recognized the gravity and importance
of the occasion. The members of ,
the committee had a look of serious satisfaction?all
except Mr. Morton, who
appeared to be in ill humor. Mr. Conkling
nervously washed his hands with
invisible soap and water. Mr. Edmunds
sat with lingers interlocked across :
his vent, twirling his thumbs. Mr. .
Bayard took his pen and made an occa- i
sional note, Mr. Thurman wore an impassive
and judicial .look. Mr. Fre-1
lingliuysen was more than usually dig- i
nified. Not a senator left his seat until :
the bill and report had been read. The j
excited interest in the subject was shown !
at the moment the secretary announced |
the title of the report in a manner al- i
most unprecedented in the Senate. A I
score of voices demanded: "Bead,!
read." Evidently the report was written
by Mr. Edmunds, for when the secretary
stumbled once or twice over the
manuscript, Mr. Edmunds prompted
him. Besides, its language and logic !
are characteristic.
When the report had been read
through, the secretary said : " Signed
by the members or the committee.
" Read the numes," insisted at least at
score of senators in one breath. They
were read, and then it was found that
Mr. Mortoih's name was not there. Of
the fourteen members of the joint committee,
every one had signed it except
the Indiana senator. All eyes were
turned toward him, but he offered no
minority report and said nothing. A
buzz of relief from the suppressed ex- |
citement that hail prevailed ran through 1
the galleries. Mr. Sargent, who came iu
after the bill had been read, insisted on a i
second reading. j
Mr. Morton slated to one of the House
members of the committee that, although j
he should not sign the report, he should '
probably say nothing in the Senate to |
oppose the passage of the bill. He took |
strong grounds last session against the ,
constitutional powers of Congress to |
throw the settlement of disputed questions
growing out of a Presidential election
into the supreme court or into any
tribunal outside of the two houses.
An Engineer's Snichle.
Charles Collins, a civil engineer of the
Lake Shore road, on which the Aahta- '
bulu calamity occurred, was found dea^l
in his house, having evidently committed-suicide
by si looting. He was before
the investigating committee of the
Legislature a few days ago, and was !
closely questioned regarding the acci- ,
dent and lack of wire which might per-'
hitps have prevented it, and this, coupled
with the fact that public opinion would
not be satisfied of his innocence, it is believed
led to the rash act. He had appeared
very despondent previous to and
immediately succeeding the examination,
and had been missing since the
da}- following. It is supposed that in- j
stead of going to Ashtabula to join his
family, who were visiting there, he repaired
to his house, and fell to brooding
over the terrible affair. He had passed
the ordeal of the examination by the ;
coroner and the legislative committee ,
with great satisfaction to all his friends,
the members of the legislative committee
entirely exonerating him in private.
But he was unable to withstand
fears that the general public would not
so decide. The deed was evidently committed
on the day succeeding the examination.
Mr. Collins was highly respected
as an engineer and ft gentleman, and
enjoyed the complete confidence of Commodore
Vanderbilt. He had been in the '
position since the consolidation. He was
a graduate of the Troy Polytechnic Institute,
and former eluef engineer of the
Boston and Albany road.
The Ballet in Elmira.
The Elmira Advertiser thus expresses
its omuion of ballet dancers, incidental
to a description .of a recent performance
in that cily : But the ballet was the ,
most attractive part of the entertain-1
inent, and it was the beat one ever given
in Elnn'va. If it in said that our people
are hardly up to the finest kind of music,
how much more can it be said that tljey
are not up to the ballet. They didn't
seem to appreciate it. Some most graceful
and beautiful dancing was allowed to
pass without a murmur, while the athletic
jumps of the master of the ballet, his
gymnastic turns and evolutions, were encored.
Four of the principal ladies
1 *1 11 1 Ail*.? 1 1
were ueciueuiy neauiiiiu iu uieir uuucing,
ami looked pretty, except for their ;
white skirts that didn't reach to the I
kneo. Their dresses were the only ones
out of character, and out of harmony
with the play. The remainder of the
troupe wore a graceful, neat, and not
immodest costume that was Assyrian,
that gave their l'mbs freedom of action,
and withal was very pretty. If there is
an ungraceful and ridiculous costume for
a woman, it is .the usual ballet girl's
dress, the white gauze skirts, that are of
no possible use, either for protection or
attraction. They had much better be
left off entirely. A woman thus accoutered
looks like a hen with all her
feathers plucked off except a rim around
the center of her body, and becomes
rather an object for laughter and ridicule
than for admiration.
THREE ABANDONED CHILDREN.
A Slx-Ycnr-Olil Girl Gone Crnz.v from
Ilunvcr nnd Cold.
Mrs. Margaret Dunn, with her sixyear-old
daughter Johanna, lived in the
tenement house in the rear of No. 91
Oliver street, New York. They had one
miserable little room and the others about
1 it were all empty, for the tenants had
1 not paid their rent and the landlord had
| turned them out. Mrs. Dunn went on a
spree, leaving her children alone. Just
when the spree begun is not certain, but
the woman was arrested on a Saturday,
too drunk to answer questions intelligently,
nnd was committed to the city
prison for ten days on Sunday morning,
after a night at the station house. On
Monday she was found raving from the
effects of the liquor and was sent to
Bellevue. Here her delirium passed off,
and coming to herself she remembered
her little daughter and besought a visitor
of St. Vincent dc Paul to go and find
lier before it should be txxi late. The
woman will die.
Mr. O'Sullivan, of that society, at I
once went to the miserable room, and
found the little girl alone. How many
days she had been alone it is impossible
to say. There was no food in the room,
no lire, no water even. She was in rags ,
and filthy, and luid traces of dried tears
on her face, but when she was found she
was done crying, anil was sucking eagerly
at her left hand, which she liad thus
drawn o>it of all shape. The visitor
spoke to her, but she paid him no attention
beyond a foolish laugh. He suj>posed
she was merely weak from want
of food and cold, but when he had taken
her away and had her fed and washed? ,
they had to cut oft' her hair for filth?it
was found that she was demented. In- :
quiry among the neighbors showed that
she had been a bright, intelligent child,
and though her face is pinched and wan
the features* are good and the head is
shapely. ' It is hoped she will recover
with care and nursing, but in the
Tombs police court she laughed foolishly 1,
when spoken to, and said nothing.
At the same time two more children
were presented in court by officer Edward
Chiardi, of the society for prevent?
* "I * TT _ * / 1
ing cruelty to cnuureu. ne kiuuu ukiu
iu a miserable hovel in Front street. It' (
is the office of this gentleman to visit the 1
island institutions and the city prisons
to make inquiries for the ehiklreu of
prisoners. On Blackwell's island lie
learned from a Mrs. Bums that her two
children were in Front street. He went
there and found Bessie and Mary Burns,
aged six and four years respectively.
They were not in so terrible a condition
as the Dunn girl because the neighbors,
though having more mouths to feed
themselves than they had bread for, '
gave them enough to keep body and ;:
soul together. Mr. Cliiardi took them ; i
under his protection, and fed them and
doctored them. The mother of these i
children had been sent to the island for
four months. It was nearly a week after i
her committal when Mr. Chiardi heard of
the children, the mother seeming indif- i
ferent about them. Judge Duffy sent all
three to the commissioners.?Xcii' York '
World. i
The Colorado Desert.
The Colorado desert is 150 miles'long
"* '1 nnitAi.li. nn',In wivorinnr nn ni'Pit
U.11U. DC *VUUJ -XI ?\j n 4V4^J vvivt^ ....
of 3,000,0(K) of acres. It lies across the i
path of all immigrants and all cattle entering
overland into southern California i
and the oblique passage across is dread- , i
ed by all travelers. It is hot as a baker's , i
oven, which is caused by its being be- I
low the level of the sea some seventy j i
feet, and without shelter of trees, flow- . i
iug water or herbage for cattle. The i
aJjacent country is desolated by climatic
peculiarities incident to the borders of 1
all deserts. Till lately this great basin i
was part of the gulf 'of California. <
Gradually obstructing drifts formed a <
dam that cut off the upper end, and in i
time the isolated lake dried up and be- 1
came a sunken desert. The marine shells i
under foot attest this. On its now bar- ]
ren borders there flourished formerly a ]
populous race, with cultivated fields,
sheltering forests and healthy climate. <
There is occasional rain, but it comes in 1
furious and destructive storms, deluging i
the country, plowing up the mountains I
and scattering the surface soil over the <
desert, and in process of time preparing 1
it for agriculture and forestry in genera
tious to come. This gives us instructive 1
revelation of a law of nature more ford- ]
bly impressed than any other, viz.: the ]
law of perpetual change of forms. In
time, geology teaches that every 11101111- i
tiiin is destined to seeK the plains oe- j
low, every sen upheave and become 1
mountains, and, literally, the earth will, 1
so to say, be turned inside out. This is 1
not idle faucy. To-day the process is ]
going on before our eyes. Three thou- I
sand miles of coral islands are being ]
built up by marine insects from solid ]
elements of ocean waters, and by gradu- ]
al unheaval the sea bed becomes moun- <
tain. These coral isles form a continuous
chain, stretching from Australia to
the continent of Asia, and they are clearly
destined to be united in some future
ages. Holland is drying up ancient seas 1
and converting them to dry land. Every- <
where nations are reclaiming submerged i
landB. Coal and metaliferous rocks are ' i
being taken yearly hi hundreds of millions
of tons from the bowels of the ;
earth. i
Sojourner Truth and the Mob. 1
At one time she was at a camp meet- '
ing, and a mob of young ruffians were
determined to break up the meeting. :
She, at first, hid herself, from fear, but ,
afterward said to herself :
"What! shall I run away and hide ,
from the devil?me, a servant of the liv- '
big God? Have I not faith enough to
mioll flint. mnh wlion T know !
uuu 44,1 lvl UUV41 v""v **"?1 , I
it is written: 'One shall chase a thousand,
and two put ten thousand to .
flight ?' I'll go to the rescue, and the ;
Lord will go with me to protect rae."
She went out into the open field. , 1
among the wild and reckless mob, and
commenced to sing in the most fervid |
manner and with powerful voice?
It wan early in the morning, it wan early in the {
morning,
lust at the break of day,
When He rose, when He roso, when He rose, |
And wont to Heaven on a cloud.
Soon the crowd surrounded her, arm-1'
ed with clubs and sticks. As she ceased,
one suoke up: ]
"Sing on, old woman! nobody shall '
hurt you." Another said: "Talk to us,
old woman!" Another: " Pray, old
woman, and tell uh your experience !" <
8a she talked and sung and prayed
until tho subdued and convicted mob :
quietly dispersed, and the exercises of
the camp meeting proceeded peacefully ;.
to the close.
i ,
Some goodness is like the glow worm
in this, that it shines most when no eyes, !
except those of Heaven, are upon it. I;
The Story About Mrs. Gaines.
A Washington letter to the Cincinnati
Commercial nays: The community was
rather startled by an announcement in a
paper of an engagement between Mrs.
Myra Clark Gaines anil Mr. Billy McGarrahan,
whose claim before Congress
is an ol<l story. A first reading of the
article astonished people, but a sober
second reading convinced them that it
was a hoax. Poor Mrs. Gaines, she is
wedded to but one thing?"The case;"
and can anything in this life bo more
pitiable than that of a daughter striving
for thirty or more years to establish her
legitimate claim to property left by her
own father ? From court to court this
dauntless woman has fought her ground
?to-day gaining an inch, to-morrow losing
a foot, but never, never giving up. j
"What has been accorded as a right by I
one court, has been snatched from her
by the next. She is a wee bit of a
woman, with eyes of piercing brilliancy;
in color one moment of the blackest hue,
the next a steel gray, and the same eyes,
when softened by the recital of another's
distress, becoming of the most tender
oiue. one wears ner ngnt nair m curia,
and rarely appenrs without her bonnet.
She is one of the best conversationalists
you ever listened to, and'one of the most
agreeable women it was ever my fortune
to meet. Her "laugh" lias been Celebrated
for forty years,'and tilne, that
ruthless destroyer, has* neither marred
nor destroyed the rippling qualities
which make it so infectious that whoever
hears it must smile, if they don't
join in with it, whether tlioy know or not
the subject which has provoked the __
mirth. The supreme court has finally
and unquestionably decided in her favor,
and if she can collect it she will liavfe
thereby $36,000,000 of money, less the
$8,000,000 or $10,000,000 to be deducted
for lawyers' feea, etc. When she gets
final possession she intends erecting in
Washington a grand hotel, where members
of Congress and their families will
be able to live off their salaries.
Poor McGarrahan, whose name is
coupled with that of Mrs. Gaines, is here
this winter; but what chance has he to
win even an honest claim ? He is poor.
He cannot fix up the members. He cannot
push his affairs forward over "canvas
backs" and Vcuvc, Cliquot. If his1!
claim is fraudulent it serves liim right
that he is deprived of the means of carrying
his bill; but* if, like Mrs. Gaines, :
bo is struggling for an honest right, then
" God help Billy McGarrahan " becomes
more than the frivolous utterance of a
heartless politician whom I heard make
the exclamation several days ago.
For the North Pole.
Captain H. W. Howgate in a receut;
letter says his polar-colonization scheme
naturally divides itself under three heads,
lis follows :
1. The organization of a properly i
equipped expedition, with ample means,
ootn ro mum mm h cuiuuy uhu mj pzuae- j
cute efforts to reach the north pole. To
this end Congressional aid is to be sought!
and a bill has been introduced into the
lower House and properly referred. j
This provides that $50,000 be appropriated,
to be used under the direction of !
the President, in organizing one or;
more expeditions, and that the naturid
ncademy of sciences be invited to assist
with its advice. In case this bill fails to
pass, the necessary fluids, it is hoped,
could be raised by private subscription.
2. The establishment and maintenance
of the colony. Proper material for j
shelter, ready to be immediately put up,
should be taken by the vessel carrying j
the colonic. With tlus precaution |
they could lie made aa comfortable as
fclie signal service officials at present are
at the summitof Pike's Peak or of Mount i
Washington, although the exposure of
these last mentioned would be for a shorter
period; Proper food should be provided
in proper quantities and sufficient vari- 1
sty. Fresh meat in proper quantities j
can be had in the immediate vicinity of
the proposed colony. With proper food
Mid shelter there is 110 trouble about!
keeping men even at sucn attitudes in
robust health.
3. Explorations to the pole.?The
jllicer in charge being on the spot would r
be able to take advantage of all favor- !
ible opportunities, and no doubt, in j
three yeaus' time or less, would dis-!
ioxer the pole itself, if such a feat is ,
ivitliin the reach of human efforts. The :
vessel taking the colonists should return
immediately, and the colony be 1
provided with sledges and small boats .
for their penetrations northward.
Captain Tyson, of the Polaris party, j
jntlmsiaatically indorses Captain How- j
gate's scheme. He' characterizes it as
the most practicable yet devised, and j
thinks the scientific societies of the conn- !
try ought to memorialize Congress in j
favor of the bill bofore mentioned. If '
the United States, lie says, proves too !
niggardly to prosecute this enter; rise, i
England or Germany will undoubtedly j
move in the matter and secure the honor !
jf accomplishing the desired result.
The Fiend Twin's Diary.
January.?Am bom. Didn't want to j
be. Object immediately as loud as I
jail. Younger brother boru seven min- |
utes later. Looks like a fool, but may j
improve as he mellows with age.
February.?Catch r cold. Give it to
younger brother. He's sicklier than I
im. Very nearly settles liim.
March.?Catch a nice rash. Pass it on
to the other cove. Pretty well winds up
[lis clock.
April.?They've christened us. I'm
Augustus and lie's Alexander. Don't he
look an ass of an Alexander! I'll kick
liim when he sleeps.
May.?Got the nettle rash. HoorayJ
so s ne ! omy worst1.
June.?They don't think they'll be ;
ible to reur liirn. He's to have cod
liver oil. Can't help laughing.
July.?He's been squalling awful.
Nurse says it's his nasty temper. I;
know it's a pin, but I'm not going to
say.
August.?We've got a new nurse, who
talks to tall soldier, and leaves perambulator
basking in the sun. Alexander's
[jot a blister on his nose. They d^n't
know wlmt.it is, and they're going to give
liim a powder. ,
September.?I ve given him the scarlatina.
He seems resigned. I've nailed
liis feeding bottle.
October.?I've got a new game now?
poking Noah's wife into his ear when
fhe nurse ain't looking.
November.?We're beginning to walk.
He's weaker on his pins than I am, so I
can shove him over easy.
December.?I'm beginning to cut my
first tooth. As soon as it's through I've
made up my mind to bite Alexander.?
Puneh.
Frank Walworth is still in the State
lunatic asylum in Auburn, N.Y., and Superintendent
Gray believe? tlwt he was
insane when he killed liis father. j
He Whipped "lanKee" nuinvan.
Among the storiee told about the late
Commodore Vanderbilt is the following,
related by an old resident of Staten
Island:
During the warm and closely contested
Presidential campaign of 1844, when
James K. Polk aud Henry Clay were
running as the respective candidates of
the Democratic and Whig parties, there
was great enthusiasm and intense excitement
on Statcn Island relative to the
issue. Commodore Vanderbilt, who was (
then in his prime, took a great interest
in the fight, and was an ardent supporter
of Henry Clay, for whose success lie exerted
himself with all the vigor for
which he was so well noted. He was
amorg the foremost in getting up meetings
and processions, and organized and
commanded a magnificent troop of horsemen
composed of about 500 of the finest
men in the Whig party on the island.
When the grand Clay and Frelinghuysen
procession took place in New York Commodore
Vanderbilt and his troop of
horsemen occupied a very conspicuous
position in it, drew encomiums from all
who saw them, and were greatly cheered.
The commodore, especially, presented an
imposing appearance on account of his
magnificent physique. At that time
" Yankee " Sullivan kept a barroom in
Chatham street, just opposite City Hall
park. He was in his barroom with a
irancr of roughs fis Commodore Vander
hilt's troop passed by, and hearing the
applause and noting the fine appearance
of the commodore, he thought it a fine
opportunity of exhibiting to his friends
h >w lie could "take the commodore
down," and ruslxing out he seized the
reins of his horse and tried to compel
him to alight. The horse reared, the
commodore cut Sullivan across the back
with his whip, and then, leaping to the
ground, so badly beat him that his
friends took him away in a nearly senseless
condition. Commodore Vanderbilt
remounted and proceeded, and was not
molested again tliat day. As every one
knows, Clay was defeated. The result
was, so far as Commodore Vanderbilt
was concerned, that he went out of politics,
and ever after kept entirely clear of
pariy b triii".
Bank Clerks.
The Boston Commercial Bulletin
says that the bank clerks of Boston arc
as capable, industrious, and faithful a
set of bank officers as can be found in
any city in the world. But after all, it
states, the place to find an extensive
army of well trained bank clerks is in
the Bank of England. This institution,
with its capital of ninety millions of dollars
and dating back to 1694, to-day employs
nine hundred clerks. The building
in which these clerks do their work
covers live acrefc of ground. It has not
a single window upon the street, the
light of day being admitted only through
open courts. It has a clock in the center
of the bank with fifty dials. The '
Bank of England is instituted in the !
center of London ; but it has one branch i
at the west end of the city, and many ;
branches in the provinces. Though the
Bank of England employs a very heavyforce
of, clerks, it would seem, from a
glance at its business, that it ought to
keep them well employed aud fairly
remunerate them. Its sole work in its '
issue department is to give out notes to
the public. The profit the bank derives
from its issue department is the interest
received upon the 870,000,000 govern- '
? ? ? -- i 4.1,^
ment uem ana securities, wmvu, ?t me
rate of tliree per cent., is ?2,100,000 a
year. By its dealing in coin and bullion,
it lias the reputation, of making $150,000
a yeftr. The amount of Bank of England
notes afloat generally averages about
3100,000,000, and has lately reached1
$1(55,000,000. The deposits in the Bank
of England, out of which it of course
makes a great deal of money, range from
$60,000,000 to nearly twice that sum.
The Ohio Valley Floods.
It is fortunate, says an exchange, that
the area of heavy precipitation which
caused the floods in the Ohio and Cumberland
rivers has been limited to that of
the Ohio valley region. If it had extended
into the watersheds of the upper
Mississippi and the Missouri rivers we
might now be recording the destruction of
levees and the inundation of the bottom
lands along the lower course of the
"Father of Waters." While the Ohio
and tributaries were gorged with the
floods descending from their respective !
watersheds the upper portion of the j
Mississippi and the entire length of the j
Missouri were so unaffected by the recent
heavy storms of rain and snow as to I
add but little beyond the ordinary flow j
to the volume of water entering the lower i
Mississippi at Cairo. Hence the latter j,
river below that city was low rfnd rendv
to receive the surplus from the Ohio
.miiuv witlmni PThihit.imranv remarkable
..mw, o ?
disturbance of its levels. The damage i
caused bitlie floods wa?, therefore, con-1
fined to tne regional which they originated.
If, as we stated above, the immense
watersheds of the Mississippi and Missouri
had been proportionately affected '
by the storms as was that of the Ohio 1
valley, the destruction of property would
have been unparalleled, for the united
waters would have continued to be pre-,:
cipitated into a reservoir, or rather channel,
already filled. The " danger line " 1
would have been overtopped at all points
and the adjacent country inundated.
The possibility of this occurring any
year should awaken the State authorities
'to a sense of their danger, and induce
them to exert themselves to provide
against such a contingency by raising ,
and strengthening the Mississippi levees
The Centennial Addresses.
It in not so generally known as it ;
should be, says a Washington paper,
that Congress invited by special joint
resolution, approved March, 13, 1876, ,
that all counties or towns where histori
nil addresses were delivered on the ceutennial
day. July 4, 1876, should file one .
copy of such addresses in the library of
Congress, at Washington. Up to this
time about 150 historical documents 1
illustrating the origin and progress of j
ais many American towns and countries
have been received and filed ait the '
library of the United States. Many of
these aire in manuscript, many more in :
newspaper form and others in quite jf
elaborate books with illustrations. '
Twenty-seven States aind four Territor- |:
ies are represented in this collec-!1
tion, and others are still coming in,
which, it is hoped, will be continued 1
until printed sketches or manuscript,
histories of American towns are gathered ;
together at the seat of government.
Representative G. A. Hardenbergh.
of New Jersey, under whose auspices the
work has thus far been done, is still giving
the subject his earnest attention,
and hopes to be fully successful in completing
this greait commemorating record ,
of American progress.
/
ancvi nuiu u?
Sweet hour of prayer, nwcet hour of prayer, %
That calln nie from a world of care,
And bidrt me at my Father'* throne
Makes all my wants and wishe# known ;
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter's Bnare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
May I thy consolation share,
Till from Mount Pisgah's lofty height, ,
I view my home and tako my flight;
This robe of flesh I'll drop, and rise
To seize the everlasting prize,
And shout, while passing tlirough the air,
Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer.
Ifoitis of Interest
Every clay of your life is a page in
your history.
The best portrait ol Happiness ih a
laughing child.
California shipped 3(>.000,000 pounds
of wool last year.
Many a man blows the bellows of the organ
that sounds his praise.
A young lady may dine in an ivory
cashmere, trimmed with pink silk.
"A" is easy enough, but the last
letter of the alphabet izard. Do you
Z it?
Over seventy members of the Vermont
Lesislature attend a prayer meeting
every morning.
Eemember that one square meal is
better than all the " Heaven pity the
poor " poems ever written. ,
The Lowell Courier 6ays wlien a man
is elected mayor he naturally thinks ha
is getting Hon. in the world.
It is estimated that not less than 10,000,000
trees have been set out in
Minnesota during the past year.
The T,nn Ancplpa Herald, savs that
southern California needs farmers and
money, and not helpless clerks.
An exchange says that " money is so
tight that we actually believe it must
wear corsets." Of corset does.
Sweet are the uses of adversity. A
cross eyed schoolmarm can keep twee the
usual number of children in order at
once.
A fashion paper says that damasses
will be popular with the ladies this winter,
and society men have taken'fresh
hold of life.
A mother remarked: "Yes, I want
my daughter to study rhetoric, for she
can't fry pancakes now without smoking
all the house up."
A philosopher who went to a church
where the people came in late said it
was " the fashion there for nobody to
go till everybody got there."
A Nashville man answered a Chicago
advertisement, "How to win at poker,"
and received for his two dollars the following
: "Hold four aces or don't
poke."
The Bashi-Bazonks have been described
as " irregular Tartar troops who
are quartered on the inhabitants in time
of peace, and quarter them in time of
disturbance."
The State of Maine pays a $5 bounty
for every bear killed within its limits.
Last year was apparently good, or rather
a bad year for bears, for 54i^ere killed,
costing the State $2,745.
A postal clerk in Dubuque opened a
letter just to see if a certain girl was
very sweet on a certain fellow. She
was, and the government is also very
sweet on the postal clerk.
They do business witn uiBpatcn iu
Texas. A man iu a certain neighborhood
who had lost a valuable mare, received
the following by telegraph:' 'Mare
here. Come get her. Thief hung."
The time is at hand when a fellow
buys for his chum's sister a highly ornamental
valentine, the great center of attraction
of which is a picture of the
fabled boy who has decidedly more
wings than overcoat.
How a St. Louis bankrupt got rid of
86,000 in three weeks was explained to
the satisfaction of the creditors by a witness,
who explained that he was a
"genial" fellow, that he played poker
and bought lottery tickets.
Norristown Herald:? Love makes
128 pounds of girl feel no heavier than
a feather on a fellow's knee. Fulton
Tuiich :?And the same fellow would
have his leg cramped all out of shape by
seventy-five pounds of wife.
"Is that a friend of yours?" asked a
New York gentleman, pointing to a
party who was sailing rapidly down the
street. " Can't tell you till next Saturday,"
returned the iudividual addressed.
" i've just lent him five dollars."
The principal of a Des Moines (la.)
school raised a false alarm of fire
us an experiment, just to see how quickly
the pupils could get out of the building.
The panic was a striking success,
and several children were slightly hurt.
In the following there is a good deal #
of truth : There are plenty of good but
weak women iu every community who'll
work, and starve, and scrimp, in order to
furnish their parlors, and then won't sit
in 'em for fear of injuring the furniture.
The correspondent of a Western newspaper
says that Claude Burroughs, on
being sent from the Union Square Theater
to act in the Brooklyn Theater wrote
a note to the young woman to whom he
was engaged, saying that he wished tiie
Brooklyn establishment would burn
ilown.
This is a dreadful winter for the poor
icemen. Every time, says the Burlington
JIaw/ccijc, they have raised the
piteous wail that there will be another
ice famine next season, the thermometer
goes down to bed rock, aud the
Mississippi freezes from top to bottom
and half way back.'
Mr. Holly, the engineer, will attempt
to heat the entire city of Lockport, N.
Y., by steam. The city is divided into
districts, and each district is to have its
separate boiler. Mains from each boiler
lire run to the different houses, and all
the occupant has to do is to turn a faucet
and obtain all the heat he wants.
The newsboys of Washington are uniformed.
This is a departure from tho
ancient and accepted uniform of the
newsboys, which usually consists of a
man's coat, one suspender and a cigar
Btump. Sometimes, under stress of very
trying and destitute circumstances, the
? i ?i
suspenuer anu cuul iimj ut~ uumwu.
Three millions in twenty-dollar gold
pieces arrived in New York from San
Francisco. The weight of the gold was
six tons, it filled fourteen iron safes, and
it took seventeen men to guard it on the
way. Suppose Yanderbilt's sixty millions
were hi gold, weighing one hundred
and twenty tons, what a troublesome
thing it would be t<> have about
the house.