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. ^ , , | | mii ii [i i i i - r i IT ?u? ? -i 1 ?i m i?i i ??????????T!?? ?M?wmmamttmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?mmmmmmmmmmmm ' ABBEVILLE PRESS & BANNER. ? . BY HUGH WILSON AND W. C. BENET. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, MAKCH 6, 1878. NO. 39. VOLUME XXV. The Henchman. BT JOHN GREENLF.AF WHITTIKR. Mv lady walks her morning round. My iady's page her fle-'t gr-yhound, My lady's hair the fond winds stir, And all the bird* make songs for her. H< r thrushes si g iu Rathburn bowers, And Rithburn side is gay with flowers ; But ne'er like hers, in flower or bird, Was beauty seen or music heard. The distance of the sta-s is hers ; The least of all her worshippers, Thu dust beneath her dainty heel, She knows not that I see or feel 0 proud and calm !?she cannot know TV! ere'er she goes with her I go ; 0 cold and fair!?she cannot guesa 1 kuet l to thare her hound's caress ! Gay knight beside her hnt and hawk, 11 ol> their earn of her sweet talk ; Her suitors corae from east and west, I rteal her smili* from every guest. Unheard of her, in loving words, I ^reet her with the song of birds, 1 reaoh her with L6r green-armed bowers, I kiss her w.th th jlips of flowers. The hound and I are on her trail, The wind an 11 uplift her veil; A? if the calm, cold moon she were, And I the tide, 1 follow her. As nnrebuked as they, I share The license of the sun and air, And in & common homage hide My worship from her scorn and pride. Nor look nor sign betrayeth me ; I t-erve her in my lo<v degree, Content in humble ways to prove He berveih well who serves for love. And still to her my service brings 3 he reverence due 10 holy things ; Brr tna'den pride, her haoghty name My dumb devotion shail not bhame. ?Independent, j The Express Train. j TVo or three of us hat! lounged out of ( tlie ' lub one night, into Santley'a office, J ( t > find out the news coming in by cable, i wbirfc the.Blpepiug town would not hear ' ( nutil the uaDer would be out to-morrow. 11 Sautley was editor of the Courier. He ; \ was scribbling away at driviug speed, j, bis ha-on, an uniigbted cigar in bis mouth. WVI ".Ton're at it late, Ben." * |( " Accident on a western road. Sixty < lives lo9t," without looking up. I ( We peized tbe long wbite slips which ' ^ lay coiled over the table, and read tbe ( dispatch. j " Tut, tut I" "Infamous!" f ' I "Nobody to blame, of course." ( " I tell you the officers of a road where i j such an accident is possible should be j; 1.-1. >'1 1?i? ?:?,i ini'u iur luuxuci j umi xcucio. I ^ San tier shoved his copy to the boy, ' ( and lighted his oigar. " I think you're ! \ wrong, Ferrers. Instead of being ; startled at such casualties, I never travel , on a railway that I am not amazed at ] the security of them. Ju*t think of it. ! f Thousands of trains running yearly on j ] each, with but a minute to spare be- |, t ween safety and destrue ion, tne safety I \ of the trains depeqding on conductors, j ] telegraph clerks, brakesmen, men of I, every grade of intelligence, the brains , subject to everv kind of mood, disease . i.nii temper. The engineer takes a glass of liquor; the conductor seta his-watch , half a minute too fast; the flagman falls j, asleep, and the train is dashed into ruin! jj It is not the accident that is to be won- ' j lere.l at, it is the escape that is miracu- j lous!" ; We had all dropped into seate by this i 1 time. The night was young, and one I ( lifter another told oome storv of adven- ! ture or danger. Presently Santley said, I, " There was an incident which occurred J, on the Erie road a few years ago, which made me feel as I do in the matter?I \ liappened to be an eye-witness to the whole affair." ' What was it, Ben ?" "its rati'er a long story? "No matter. on. You ran't go j home until voar proof comes in any- , how." ] "No. Well, to make yon understand, j about five years ago I had a bad breakdown?night work, hack-writing aud j oor pay. You know how fast it all ( wears out the machinery. The doctor ( t dked of diseases of the gray matter of j >'ie brain, etc., and prescribed, instead \ f medicine, absolute rest and change of s >ene. I would have Rwallowed all the , istruma in a drug shop rather than ] h ive left the office for a week. ' " 'I'll take country board and send in c: litorial,' said I. " ' No; you must drop office and work utterly out' of your life for a month, at ! *ast. Talk and thiuk of planting potat >es, or embroidery?anything but newspapers and politics.' " Well, I obeyed. I started on a pedestrian tour through Pennsylvania, studi -d od stock in Alleghany county, and . te-I sour-kraut in Berks. Finally I i rough t up?footsore and bored beyond i 'earing?in Williamsport. While there T fell iuto the habit of lounging about fie ml way station, studying the con ruction of the engines, and making i fiends with the men. The man with vhom I always fraternize most readily is 1 ie Bkilled mechanic. He has a degree <>f common-sense a store of certain facts v Trvnr rminff nr i'r .* >t to lack. Besides he is absolutely < *urH of his social standing ground, and ( has a grave self-respect which teaches !'im to respect you. The professional l id just started on his career is uneasy, | > 6t sure of his position; he tries to i limb perpetually. I tell you this to explain my intimacy with many of the offi ials on the road. especially with an engineer named Blakeley. This man attracted me first by his , : ' >ility to give me the informat on I wanted in a few direct sharp words, i v . i. ?l:?-i. * l,.. 1 rnoBi rtjuucuir uitui uc j w eight ami value of words. I soon be- j; < !-me personally cinch interested in him. ( He was about forty, his hair streaked with gray, with a grave worn faoe, which hinted at a youth of hardship and much < suffering' However, Blakeley had found i ills way to the uplands at last. Three . oars before he had married a bright, heerful woman. They had one child? ;i lx>y. He had work and good wages, :i"d was, I found, high in the confidence | the company. On one occasion, hav-, a Sunday off,he took me up to Jersey Shore, where his wife and child lived. He was an exceptionally silent man, but ? hen with them was garrulous and light- , ' earfed as a boy. In his eyes Jane - as the wisest and fairest of women, : ndthe boy a wonder of intellect. One reaf source of trouble to him was, as I lound, that he was able to see them but <>ace in three weeks. It was necessary >r titp child's health to keep them in he country air, and, indeed, he could not afford to have them elsewhere; but :.?iis separated him from them almost totally. June was in the habit of com-j i ig with Charley down to a certain j point of the road every day,that Blakeley i light Hf e them as he dashed by. " And when I found out this habit, it < ccurred to me that I could give Blakeley j a great pleasure. How often have I I - ursed my meddling kindness since. I /anu*ry 25th was the child's birthday. | ! proposed to Mrs. Blakeley that she and '! hurley should board the train which 1 er husband drove, nnknown to him, ud run up to Harrisburg, where he f had the night off. There was to be a little 6upper at the Lochiel House. Charley was to appear in a new suit, ' etc., ete. Of course the whole affair was at my expense?a mere trifle, but an af- | fair of grandeur and distinction which fairly took Jane's breath. She was a most innocent, nappy creature; one of J those women who are wives and mothers j in the cradle. When Blakeley found j i her she was a thin, pale little tailoress ?a machine to grind out badly-made shoddy clothes. But three years of i marriage and petting of Charley had ; made her rosy and plump and pretty. "The little Highland suit was brought : complete, to the tiny dirk aud feather, i and verv pretty the little fellow looked I in it. i wrote down to order a stunning i supper to be ready at eight. Jane and 1 the boy were to go aboard the train at 1 Jersey Shore, a queer little hill village ' near which they lived. Blakeley ran the < train from Williamsportdowu to Harris- 1 burg that day. His wife being in the j passenger car, before he took charge of j the engine, of course he would see and j know nothing of her until we landed at j Harrisbnrgh at seven. I had intended 1 to go down in the smoking-car as usual, < ] but another fancy, suggested I suppose i by the originator of all evil, seized me. 11 No need to laugh. Satan, I believe, has i quite as much to do with accidents and miserv and death, as with sin. Why -xt r JL not t However, my muujr, ainuuiiuti ui ; not, was to go down on the engine with ] Blakeley. I hunted up the fireman and i talked to him for an hour. Then I went , ( to the engineer. I e "' Blakeley,' I said, 'Jones (the fireman) wants to-night off.' " 'Off! 0, no douht! He's taking i to drink, Jones. He must have been 1 drinking when he talked of t'iat. It's ' impossible.' f 'I explained to Blakeley that Jones ; had a sick wife, or a sweetheart or some thinp.and finally owned that I had an nn- f conquerable desire to run down the road on the engine, and that knowing my | only chance was to take the fireman's 1 place, had bribed him to give it to me. The fact was that in my idleness and * the overworked state of my brain I I craved excitement as a confirmed drunkard does liquor. r " Blakeley, I saw, was angry and ex- c ceedingly annoyed. He refused at first, ! but finally gave way with a grave civility, which almost made me ash'imed of ' aay boyish whim. I promised to be the prince of firemen. " Then you'll have to be treated as ? ->ne, Mr. Santley,' said Blakeley, curtly. 1 'I can't talk to gentlemen aboaid my K sngine. It's different h?re from on the ' 0 r?ln+f/\rrr> vrm'll rpmf?mhi-ir TVp. ffilt to ' ^ 7* - - - o 3r<ler and you to obey, in there, ana i ? ;hat's all there's of it.' j * 44' Oh, I understand,' said I, thinking ' that it required little moral effort, to \ }bey in the matter of shoveling coal. If | * [ could have guessed what that shovel- ' !ng coal was to cost me ! But all clay I v ivent about thinking of the fiery ride I ? ;hrough the hills, mounted literally on t: ;he iron horse. " " It was in the middle of the afternoon v jphen the trait) rushed into the station. . [ caught a glimpse of Jane on the pas- ii: senger car, with Charley, mugniicent in ! L lis red green plaid, bt-side her. She ! aodded a dozen times and laughed, and 1 a ;hen hid behind the window, fearing her j ii msband should see her. Poor girl! It t .vas the second great holiday of her life, j a she had told me, the first being her t we. Id in? day. ! b " The train stopped ten minutes. It ? was neither an express nor an accommo- a Jution train, but one which stopped pt e the principal stations on the route?Sel- j I insgrove, Sunbury, etc. i d " I had an old patched suit on, fit, as | t [ supposed, for the service of coal- I heaver; but Blakelev, when I came up, f Bjed it and my hands sardonically. He a was in no better temper, evidently, with t amateur firemen than he had been in the morning. * ' c ' All aboard !' he said, grufflv. ' You j e take your place there, Mr. Sautley. 11 you'll put in coal just as I call for it, if ; t ?ou please, and not trust to your own a judgment.' j ( " Hi* tone annoyed me. ' It cannot j h require much ju.igm-'nt to keep up a fire 11 under a boiling pot, and not make it too * hot. Any woman can do that in her own j I kitchen.' j 1 "He made no reply, but took his 1 place on the little square box where the * greater part of h:s life was passed. I c noticed that his face was flushed, and his r irritation at my foolish whim was cer- ' tainly more than the occasion required. I watched him with keen curiosity, won- 1 Bering if it were possible that he could g have been drinking as he had accused poor Jones of doing." a " It strikes me-as odd," interrupted I Ferrers, "that you should not only > made an intimate companion of this fellow, Sautley, but taken so keen an in- r Unrest in his temper and drinking bouts, l Foil would not be likely to honor any of us with such attention." " No. I have something else to do. [ was absolutely idle then. Blakeley ind his family for the time made up my ttvorld. As for tne friendship, this was ? in exceptional man, both as to integrity ind massive hard sense. The knowl&)ge that comes from books count* with v ne but for little, compared with the experience and contact with facts for forty fears. I wan honored by the friendship ^ if this grimy engineer. But the ques- j ;ion of his sobriety that day was a serious 0 ine. A man in charge of a train with s hundreds of souls aboa d, I felt ought to be sober, particularly when I was S shut up in the engine with him. 1 "Just as we started a slip of paper wa* handed to him, which he read and ? threw down. j L "' Do you run tills train by telegraph T [ a^ked, beginning to shovel vigorously, t " 'Yes. No more coal.' 44 ' Isn't that unusual ?' e 44 ' Yes. There ure two special trains i on the road this afternoon.' f 44 4 Is it difficult to mn a train by tele- ( graph ?' I said presently, simply to 1 make conversation. Star ng in silence t nt the narrow slit in the gloomy furnace 11 or out at the village street, through ! which we slowly passed, was monotonous, j 44 4 No, not difficult. I pimply have, to obey the instructions \fhich I receive | at each stat'on.' jl 44 4 But if you should happen to think j ] the instructions not right ?' j i 44 4 Happen to think! I've no business 1 to think at all! When the trains run by telegraph the engineers are so many I machine* in the hands of one controller, f who directs them all fro:n a central point, j He has the whole road under his eye. f If they don't obey to the least title their orders, it is destruction to the whole.' i 44 4 You seem to think silent obedience the first and last merit in a railway man ?' 44'Yes,'dryly. i " I took the hint and was dumb. 1 44 We are out of town now. Blakeley i i quickened the speed of the engiue. I i. did not speak to him again. There was i little for me to do, and I was occupied | in looking out at the flying landscape. , i The fields were covered with a deep fall 1 of snow, and glanced whitely by, with a j 1 strange, unreal shimmer. The air was 11 keen and cutting. Still the ride was 1 tame. I was disappointed. The excite- ! meat would by no means equal a danh i on a spirited horse. I began to think I j had little to pay for my grimy hands ( and face, when we s.owed at the next !: station. Oue or two passengers came aboard the train. There was the inevi- | table old lady with bundles, alighting, < and the usual squabble about her trunk. 1 I was craning my neck to hear, when the boy rau alongside with the telegram. " The next moment I heard a smothered exclamation from Blakely. " Go back,' said he to the boy. ' Tell Simla to have the message repeated. There's a m stake.' " The boy dashed off, and Blakely sat waiting, coolly polishing a bit of the Bhining brass before him. Back came the bov. Hud it repeated. Sands is raging of ttaii Q iro nn micfalra or?<1 you'd best get on,' thrusting the Becond message up. " Blakeloy read it, and stood hesitating for half a minute. I never shall forget the dismay, the utter perplexity that j gathered in his lean face as he looked at j the telegram, and then at tbe long train | behind him. His lips moved as if he j were calculating chances, and his eyes suddenly quailed, as if he saw death at the end of the calculation. " ' What's the matter ? What are you joing to do ?' I asked. " 'Obey.' "The engine gave a loog shriek of | lorror, that made me start as if it were | Blakeley's own voice. The next instant we 1 ushed out of the station, and dashed ;hrough tbe low-lying farms at a speed vhich seemed dangerous to me. " * Put in more coal,' 6aid Blakeley. " I shovelled it in. " ' We are going very fast, Blakclev,' [ ventured. " He did not answer. His eye was fixid on the steam gauge; his lips closely j ihut. j " 4 More coal!' " I threw it in. J ' The fields and houses began to fly j mst but half seen. We were nearing ! Junbury. Blakeley's eye went from the j1 piuge to the face of the timepiece and j >:xck. He moved like an automaton, j1 ["here was little more meaning in his ; ace. 1 " ' More,' without turning his eye. " I took up the shovel?hesitated. " 'Blakeley We're going very fast. ( ive're going at the rate ol sixty miles an lour.' " 4 Coal !' j1 " I was alarmed at the stern, cold I igidity of the mau. His pallor was be- j ioming frightful. |1 " I threw in the coal. " At least we must stop in Sunbury. i J le bad told me that was the next halt. '' " The little town approached. As the I. irst house came iuto view, the engine j' ent out its shriek of warning ; it grew i1 ouder, louder. We dashed into the j. treet, up to the station, where a group j J if passengers waited, and passed it with- >' nit the halt of an instant. I caught a i. ;limpse of the appalled faces of the \ raiting crowd. Then we were in the ieldp again. I " The speed now became literally ! j )reathless ; the furnace glared red hot. i1 ihe heat, the velocity, the terrible ner-1 ous strain of the man beside me, seemed I! o weight the air. I found myself draw- I' ug long st-entorious breaths, like one !1 [rowning. I heaped in the coal at inter- j. als. as lie bsde me. | " 'I'd have done notliing of the kind 1' j j nterrupted one of the listeners. ' The ' nan was mad.' " I did it because I was oppressed by :, n old sense of duty, which I never had j j q my ordinary brain work. I had j aken this mechanical task on myself, nd I felt a stricture upon me to go hrough with it at' any cost. I know now j low it is that dull, ignorant men without a spark of enthusiasm, show uch heroism sometimes, as soldiers, . ugineers, captains of wrecked vessels, t in this overpowering sense of routine < luty. It is a finer thing than sheer | >r<ivery, to my notion. Ho.vever, I ] >^gan to be of your mind, Wright, that | Jlakeley was mad, laboring under some ( uJden frenzy from drink, though I had ] lever seen him touch liquor. I '1 He did not move hand or foot, ex- < ept in the mechanical control of the < mgine, his eye going from the gauge to ] he timepiece with a steadiness that was ! | nore terrible and threatening than any 11 'lutim nf irwnnit-.v would Imvfl Hpfin. , )uce he glanced back at the long train I peeding after the engine, with a head- | ong speed that rocked it from side to j ide. You would catch glimpses of ( mndreds of men and women talking, ( eading, smoking, unconscious that their j ives were all in the hold of one man, i rhom I now strongly Buspected to be | nad. I knew by his look that he re- < nembered their lives were in his hand. ] le glanced at the clock. "'Twenty miles,' he muttered. ] Throw on the coal, Jones. The fire is j joing out.' I "I did it. Yes, I did it. There was j omethiDg in the face of that man that ] ! could not resist. Then I climbed for- ] rard and shook him by the shoulder. < 4 4 4 Blakeley!' I shouted, 'you are , nnning this train into the jaws of j leath !' 44 * I know it,' quietly. i " 4 Your wife and child are on it.' , 444 My God !' ( 44 He staggered to his feet. But even ] hen he did not move his eye from the i ^auge. ' I " ma minute? , 44 4 Make up the fire,' he said, and ( mshed in the throttle valve. < 4141 will not.' 44 4 Make up the fire, Mr. Santley,' 'ery quietly. 44 4 1 will not. You may murder yourelf and your wife and boy, but you 1 hall uot murder me.' ( 44 He looked at me. Hie kindly eyee ; flared like those of a wild beast. But j le controlled himself in a moment. 44 ' I could throw you out of this door, i tnd make short work of it. But?look 1 lere ; do you se? the station yonder?' i 441 saw a thin whisp of smoke against < he sky, about five miles in advance. < 4 4 4 1 was told to reach the station by 1 lix o'clock. The express train meeting ( is is due now. I ought to havo luid by i or it at Suubury. I was told to come : ' ? - i "1- ? ? rtwa TTmIadO >11. A lie iriMjiv. in a diu^ic vuc, uutuoo [ can make the siding at the station in liree minutes, we will meet it yonder in ;he hollow." 44 4 Somebody blundered 1' 44 4 Yes, I think so.' 44 4 And you obeyed ?' 44 He said uothing. I threw on coal, [f I had had petroleum, I would have ant it on. But I never was calmer in ny life. When death has a man actually :>y the throat it sobers him. 44 Blakeley pushed in the valve still farther. Tiie engine began to give a itrange panting sound. Far off to the ?>uth I could see the bituminous black imoke of a train. 441 looked at Blakeley inquiringly. He sodded. It was the express. 141 stooped to the fire. 44 4 No more,' he said. 441 looked across the clear, wintry sky it the gray smoke of the peaceful little pillage, and beyond, that black line coming closer, closer, across the sky. Then [ turned to the watch. 44 In one minute more? 44 Gentlemen, I confess; I sat down ind buried my face in my hands. I don't think I tried to pray. I hail a confused thought of a mass of mangled, dying men and women, mothers and their babies, and, vpguely, of a merciful God. Little Charley with his curlB and pretty s.iit? 4'There was a terrified shriek from the \ engine, against which I leaned. Another iu my face. A hot tempest swept past me. 441 looked up. We were on the siding, and the express had gone by. The hindmost cars touched in passing. " 1 Thank God 1 Yon've done it, Blakeley ! Blakeley I' I cried. " But be ditl not speak. He eat there immovable, and cold a? a eton.. I went to the cars and brought Jane and the boy to him. and when he opened his eyes and took his little woman's hands in his I came away. " An engineer named Fred, who was at the station, ran the train into Harrisburg. Blakeley was terribly shaken. Rut we went down and had our little feast, after all. Charley, at least, enjoyed it." " What was the explanation ? A blunder of the director, or the telegraph operator ?" " I don't know. Blakeley made light of it aftorward, and kept the secret. These raiiway men must have a strong esprit de corps. " All I know is that Blakeley'fl salary was raised soon after, and he received that Christmas a very handome ' testimonial for services rendered,'from the company." Interesting Facts and Fignres. A ton of coal yields about 8,000 feet of (?as. President Hayes receives 100 letters a day. New Orleans claims a population of 200,000. There are 11,000 men on the London police force. San Francisco has about 100 gambling houses. England fed 606,392 out-door paupers last year. Texas would make 210 States equal in size to Jfthode island. There were 1,593 buildings erected in San Francisco last year. Tennessee's tobacoo crop is estimated at 60,000,000 pounds. Europe expended for telegraph messages last year. 815,400,000. Members of the Mississippi Legislature receive $300 per aunum. One thousand polygamous marriages took place in Utah it 1877. Nebraska raised this year 25,000,000 bushels of corn and 175,500 ho^s. The railroad rioters oost Pennsylvania $700,000 for military expenses ilone. The Cherokee Indians are enough jivilized to possess a public debt of 5187,000 , Of 369 members of Congress only 193 are natives of the (States which they represent. There were eighty-three murderers lianped last year among a population of 50,000,000. Boston people eat each year about I9.f? nflfi howwn of -wliifih the WeBt Dro rides 38,000 to 40,000. In Hale county,. Ala., licenses to marry were issued last year to fortyfour white and 202 colored couples. During the year 1876, 108,771 Italians jame to America. Of this number, 39,000 are set down as temporary tour- , ibtfl. The population of Australia, at the J last census was 1,742,294. The popuation of the capital, Melbourne, is *10,000. The ship-yards of Maine have turned >ut a tonnage of 76,308 tons for the rear 1877, which is an increase of 2,734 ions over 1876. There are entimr.ted to be about 350 natch girls. 700 bootblacks, 100 sweepers and 250 dower-girls daily and nightly busy iu New York streets. The London Dust-Man. There are more than 300,000 inhabitid houses iu London, consuming more ;han 3,500,00 ) tona of co:tl a year, aud 1 hipui.iPK Mia asIias from this trreat auan tity of fuel, the dust-raan gathers the )ther refuse of the houses. He is employed by u contrnctor, who agrees with , ;ho corporation to remove the ashes, ?tc., out of the city, and the contractor Jivides every load into six parts, as folows : Soil, or tine dust, which is sold to brick-makers for making bricks, and \ to farmers for manure ; brieze, or cin- ; lers, sold to brick-makers for burning brick ; rags, boneB, and old metals, sold ' to marine store dealers ; old tin and iron vessels, sold to trunk-makers for 1 slumps ; bricks, oyHter and other shells, ' 'old for foundations and road-building ; 1 ind old boots and shoes, soli to the 1 manufacturers of Prussian blue. Sometimes much more valuable things than these are found, and the readers may remember the romance that Charles Dickens made out of a London dustman?Our Mutual Friend. It is in sifting the different parts of the load that the men, women and children are em- ' ployed ; ttiey are busy as ants ; mere 1 babies and wrinkled ol i dames take a , part in the labor, and all of them are so sovered with dust and ashes that they Eire anything but pleasant to contem? ?V. na a *nln flmtr nrfl noo. ' pilll?, lliuugu, no a &iuvf wuwj uw ful, honfst. and industrious members of society. "Dustie" is what the LonJoners familiarly call the dust-man, and ' :>nly a few know in what ignorance and poverty he lives. One would think that he would work himself into a better occupation, but his family have been lust-men for generations, aud the generations after him are not likely to ;hange.?St. Nicholas. A Sausage Proce-sion, It was formerly the custom of the butchers of Kouigsburg, in Prussia, to Iraw through the streets of the town on New Year's Day, to the souud of trum- ' pets and kettledrums, a sausage of some : hundreds of ells in length. One of the 1 most remarkable of these processions is J thus described by an eve-witness : " On the first of January, 1601, the butchers J jf K raigsbnrg marched gloriously, with ilrums beating, fifes whistling, and ; banners of green and white fluttering 1 gaily. Their leader carried in his hand ! a om't. with feathers and 1 ribbons. One hundred and three 1 journeymen dragged the noble sausage, 1 whioh measured 1,005 ells ; on each side ! ran guards to protect it. When they reached the royal castle, his princely 1 grace was presented with 130 ells. 1 Thence they proceeded to the Sowenicht, where they were received with 1 many honors by the bakers, and detained as guests. To them they prepented a portion of the sausage, aud the day closed with festivities which were prolonged far into the night." This saa- i sage weighed 885 pounds ; eighty-ono hams, the intestines of forty-five hogs, one ton and a half of salt, and eighteen pounds of pepper were required to make it, and it cost two days' work to thrqp master butchers and eighty-seven journeymen. Sew Popular Music. " Grease the Griddle, Birdie, Darling," a beautiful new song and chorus by the author of " Banpr ray Scalp Locks O'er my Forehead," will have a greater run than anv piece since "Darling, I ain Growing Old." The melody is simple and plaintive. Arranged for barber *hop guitars and French harps, thirty- ! five cents: " Grease the griddle, Birdie, darlingGrease it o'er wit i lambient lard, Ponr the buckwheat batter on it From tho bowl so brown and bard. And in order that the buckwheats, Be not burned and aoorched and sore, Grease tho griddle in profusion? Grease the griddle, Birdie, dear." Thia beautiful song may be obtained at all musio Btores,?St. Louis Journal. WEDDING SIFTS. Items of Interest Concerning Nnptlals In Wales, Germany* Poland and Else- C where. Wedding presents, now so common II rt 1 L ? J 1 II in tne nrst stage 01 ni?imuuiiy, uuvu , oome down from the feudal system. In 2 almost all parts of the civilized world, such things are given and received, and, ^ we might add?expected. ? In a start in married life certain neces- . saries in the way of furniture, napery, crockery, and so on, were alwavs acceptable. Rich people and feudal lords P* would not object, on the bridal of their J* daughter?, to receive presents from their vassals. In different countries different modes. The penny weddings, in Scotland, of J which Wilkie gave a lively and accurate i| idea in one of his domestic paintings, ;| * are peculiar. Invited guests make con- j tributione in money. (One shilling is- ! j the general tribute, and half a crown is a princely offering.) Out of the sum thus collected the not very costly ex penaes of the feast were paid, and the surplus went toward buying the furniture. In the weddings of the poorer classes ,p| in Ireland this levying contributions on m guests never takes pdace, for, however ^ poor a man may be, his pride revolts ?Q. from the appearance of poverty on such ce an occasion. There is a collection, how- j ever, to raise the sum for liberally com- \ pensating the clerical gentleman who jj"" "has tied the knot," and in the house of | ^ a rich farmer this swells up to a good round sum. j j.jc In Wales, among the small farmers m| and traders, the custom prevails to this Q_ day of "bidding," not single guests, ^ but whole families, to a weduing. That jf such an event is to come off, with the mj where and when, is duly advertised in the local newspaper, with a request that ^ all persons who, ia time past, have been ^ similarly obliged in that manner, will at- ^ tend, bringing presents for the bri e ^ and groom. Besides this, particular and ^ almost peremptory invitations, in writ ing, are sent to each household on whom the to-be-wedded folks may have some ^ especial claim for former generosity -n under like circumstances. Presents of all sorts?food, furniture, flour, fuel, ar( table and chamber linen?even sheep, lambs, calves, goats and ponies?are ^ omA?rr f 11 a rriffa ,, In Germany there is the "pay wedding," at wliich the bride receives her _ guests with a basin before her, each ( person depositing a jewel, silver spoon ^ or a piece of moDey, at the same time apologizing for the donation being so ^ far below value, oompared with the damsel's deserts. In some ports of Germany the rule is that the expenses of [v the marriage feast shall be met by each ^ guest paying for what he eats and drinks ?just as if ho were in a hotel?but not r at fair hotel prices. Thus the entertain- CQj ment sometimes extends over several jm, days, and the young couple oHen realize V a sum out of the profits lafficient to jn start them fairly in life. F rom one to ^ three hundred guests are olten present throughout these festivities. gSometimes the flow of presents takes ^ a very different course. In 1'oland a jr( lady is not regarded as eligible for pg' double - blessedness until sue nas wrought with hei >wn hands cloth and garments for each of her future lord's iriends (groomsiuiai) accompanying him to the altar. : In Nor-ay the clergyman has to be -j, propitiated with two or three bladders . uf mincemeat, m-ide by the hands of the 1 bride, and a bottle or two of brandy. In that country moBt presents made on wed- " ding occasions take the tangible form of .. * laraer supplies?at least among the peasantry and artisans. In high life in England, of late years, wedding presents have coiae into fashion. ftP The Earl of Aberdeen, a Scottish noble- by man of immense wealth, recently mar- *? ried a rich lady of high family. T1 ie presents were valued at ?15,000 sterliD.g, "h 87fi non nf nnr monev. and the lasKnfjws from England mentions that this oauntess, careless of her spoil's, had taken ^et much of it?eay to the valne of $50,000 mf ?with her on a railway journey, con- 601 triving to lose sight of the chest which At sontained the jewel cases, and finding, ^ at her journey's end, that some adroit re' thief had forced the lock.1 and escaped with the treasure. m( an ~ Fc Two Brutes. 10, We find this story in a late number of Pfl the Leader, Cheyenne, Wyoming Ter- W1 A 4am?i'V\1a f aaatin>a/1 woafn??_ At HWiJ, a VCHlCHt ii^uv WVUA1VU jtBWii lay afternoon at the corner of Ferguson Pf and Sixteenth streets between Crazy kit florae's squaw and a yortng bull terrier. U8 The terrier was brought to this city j04 from Fort Laramie a oay or two ago. iQC At the fort it had learned to despise In- ani dians, and always fight them. Tester- J i lay, when the dog in its rambles about or the town ran across Crazy Horse's tui squaw, who has been in the city about a ^ year, and is to be found at the corner 'ot named on sunny days, t'aere was an in- 8? Ktant declaration of war by the canine. At the moment of attack the beautiful "*< Indian widow was leaning against a post, j80 miling languidly upoia Turck and R >b<;rts, who were sitting in Joslin & Park's J'? window. Her back was turned to tlie }a'; (log ana ne sprang at her ie?s witn iury. So unexpected was the attack, and bo " a lightning-like the movements of the ter- 8P rier, that he bit both limbs before Mrs. 'a( Crazy Horse could turn around. The mi i iwner of the dog, who loves Indians less, be if possible than his dog, seeing that the 1?^ squaw was about to injure the dog, Bprang upon her and grasped b Jth arma, holding them with a vise-like grip which ilefled her frantic eilorts to get free. The terrier was busy, and for fr.ll fifteen minutes it was allowed to tear and rend j Lhe hapless sqnaw, even springing into re< iter face, biting out one oheek and tear- hit ing off the under lip. Satisfied at last, its the pale face released the squaw, mount- let sd his horse, and giving a shrill whistle, an lisaDDeared. followed bv his dog. Drs. til Preshaw and Tuttle were at once sum- i inf moued by Mr. M. D. Altman, and ob Jressed Mrs. Crazy Horse's wounds, tio which though severe, are not considered su dangerous, as the loss of blood was less ne than usual. th< ' foi Stanley's Earlj Journalise Work. ag Mr. Henry M. Stanley is reported as J1* Raying that the first line he ever wrote as a journalist waa an account of a naval a8 engagement that he witnessed from the aS' masthead?one of the earlier ones of tho war. He sent it to the New York tio Herald. It was accepted, published ria and liberally paid for, and Stanley re- Ki ceive l a flattering letter from Mr. Ben- Mi nett, as Stanley's was the only account. Fa This so fired the boy's ambition that he coi applied himself to reading and study a as rigorously as he could, and the form- dr< ation of the resolution to travel and off write. An acquaintance says of him in Mi the Cincinnati Commercial: " His hoi powers of labor were immense, and he Tn never tired nor lost his temper. I have do known him, after riding all day in the bu ambulance, to remain up the entire J sc: night, wrapped in an overcoat and | an blanket, and on his kneeB, by the aid of Br a tallow candle, write, the live long j ret night, several letters to different papers, | lift yet on the same subjects, changing j res language and ideas, so as to be ready wi for the oourier who started at break of tio day, and then trnBt to the jolting of the pn ambulance for his nods of repose, on the sta narrow roads?to repeat the operation, cle if he oould secure any news or smelt a at chanoe for another letter." I . ] DEAD LETTERS. onnnnlcatlona That Pall to Beach Their Destination?Wonders Unearthed. Every day hundreds of precious and nportant letters go astray and hundreds f hearts are made sick by hope deferred, i the early colonial times, so the old allow pamphlet in the department arrives tells us, great pains were taken > recover letters 'which had been lost, letter in those days was an expenBive Fair; paper cost a great deal, and the jstage was considerable, ranging from renty-five cents even np to one dollar, ' say nothing of the annoyance of havg to whittle out your own pen from ie quill, and impressing on the back of ie missive the immense seal so customy in those days. Some of these rearkable old epistles are still to be seen the dead letter office. Their faded ies and yellow appearance lure one to a deep reverie of those long gone iys, and the imagination pictures the riters, who years ago have crumbled to dust from which they came. From November, 1777, to December '89, all the letters that went astray are corded in a book of forty-one pages, lis covers a period of twelve years. A arked contrast is evident when it is town that for the year 1877 more than or millions of dead letters were reived by the post office department. For the handling of this immense imber fifty-nine ladies and twenty-nine ntlemen are employed. It is an easy itter to talk about millions of letters, it when it is understood that each parmlar one has to be separated, handled, irked, inspected and the majority ened and returned to the writer, the ignitude of the work can be imagined, not appreciated. When a letter is sdirected or the postage haa not been epaid it is Bent by the postmaster imidiately to the dead letter office, with B other letters which have not been lied for. Here they are opened by 3 gentlemen who sit at long tables in 3 large cheerful room. If anything luable is contained in them they are nded over to another division,?where 3 contents are registered and placed a large safe for future redemption. If jre is nothing in them of value they i sent np stairs, where the ladies inect them, and if the address of the iter is found 'ihe letter is inclosed to ; person by *?hom it was written. If ) letter has been held for postage a cular is sent to the person to whom it addressed, informing him that there a been re chived at the dead letter ice a letter directed to him which will forwarded upon receipt of the necesy postag a. To this circular the dertment r ecf.ives many very funny rees. If no response is made within rtvdaTa it in treated as an ordinarv ul letter. rhe &yjat amount of money passing itinually through the mails can be agine* i when out of the dead letters me, o. small percentage, over $50,000 money and more than 81,500,000 in tfts and commercial paper was taken :hin the last year. All but about 000 of this has been returned to the .feers. A great share of this comes tin the mis or non-directed letters, ople seem to be so intent on what es into the letter that they forget the perscrif-tion. It is a sad thought when e reflects upon the vast amount of Serin# in many cases that comes from is ne/lect Here, for instance, is an istration, an exact copy of a letter reve<"i at the office not long since : u My dear Mag?I received yonrverry Ikim letter yeetuday it gave me grate 5 of mind to here that yon are well a8 is leaves me in at present, thank kI !" The writer then adds a dad story of dispointment imd disaster, and finishes saying: "I sen J yon ten dollars r you need it more than I do." Poor Mag ! The ten dollars for which e has longed and waited has gone into lcle Sam's rich purse?not from oice, but from necessity. Foreign iters are treated in a very diplomatic inner, and are in all cases returned roes the water without being opened, nerica seems to be a perfect geographi[ engima to foreigners when they di* jt letters to friends here. They mix the States and cities up in one grand 388, and then put a considerable lount of the mixture on each letter. >r instance, one address reads as fol vs : "uie Anderson, nocicawy cin , North America, New York." Who 11 underf ake to forward that letter ? id yet the dwellers across the sea obably make no more mistakes of this id than Americans, for how many of fully understand all the geographical :alitif? of the minur cities and prov;e8 of Germany or Sweden, or, in fact, y country on the continent 7 tn the gallery there are seated forty fifty ladies, whose business it is to rem the letters in official envelopes to iters wh<Jn their addresses can be im i. Every day the huge sacks which forth from that place crammed with texs show the amount of work which 3 ladies do. One handsome young ly is kept busy all the day in stampj the envelopes, and she does it with htning rapidity. It is said that these lies are the best readers of bad writing the country, and it is not to be wonred at when one sees some of the pcimenn nf their work. The average ly reader probably -will say that it ist be " too funny for anything " to continually reading other people's re letters ; but even gold tarnishes th mnch handling, bo it is with readl other folks' letters when it has to done at the rate of from twenty to ty an hour, day after day and month er month. k few months ago an application was jeived for a letter wbich had a famous rtory. Forty-two years ago it missed destination and landed in the dead ter office. No call was made for it, d there it remained in the archives I the descendants of the writer, wish* to prove their right to his property, tained from old journals the informan that the deed had been mailed at ch a time to such a person, but had <f vci luouiicu ild uoobuiniiuLu xucy an made application to the department the letter. The odds were so greatly ainst them that thoir surprise must ve been boundless when the old yelw document was returned to them just it had been mailed over forty years o. Many will remember the great sensan caused by the account of th? marge of Don Cabral, the "Diamond ng " (a fictitious character created by r. William H. McElroy, of the Albany lening Journal). Papers all over the antry published the account, and as consequence hundreds of letters adessed to him came to the dead lettto ice, and were afterward returned to r. McElroy as the only living repreitativo of the aforesaid fi ctitious Don. his application for them he says : " I not wish these letters for publication, t would value them for file in my apbooks as illustrating in a marked il unique manner the success of ' The azilian Wedding,' an extravaganza dijted at one of the follies of modern 3." The writers of these letters repsented every degree of life, and all th American directness asked donaus or loans from hirn for that or this rpose. Some even inclosed a postage imp or a photograph only to have the irks who returntid these letters wonder their creduJity, Every day there comes with the list from Philadelphia a letter inclosed in a plan, white envelope and addressed in the delicate chirography of a woman to "Edward P. Ewing," simply thiB and nothing more. The lady never signs anything bnt her initials, nence the letters cannot be returned to her. Here is the subject for a romantic novel. One can imacrine a broken-hearted woman every day sending a letter ont into the world to her lost lover, in the vain hope that some day it may reach his hands. She does not know ms whereabouts, so j she sends her letter out, directed anyj where, nowhere, hoping yet despairing j of its ever reaching nim. As the reporter left this interesting j place he couldn't help thinking how I much trouble and sadness would be I averted if people would only direct their I letters in a loud hand, as Pat did when writing to his deaf grandmother, making the superscription plain and full; or, if this. does not suit the ladies, let them always add their address to their letters, and they will never be lost.? Washington Republican. The History of Skating. It can only be conjectured when skating was first practiced, but it was certainly very long ago. In that anaient collection of Scandinavian songs and legends known as the "Edda" Uller, the handsome god, is described as being the possessor of a pair of skates. This proves that skating is at least a thousand years old. It is supposed to have P.nrtlQTtA OVlrtTl4". fliA wccu UiV(\AiUVCU mvu juuguwu HWW* ?*?v twelfth century and into the central parts of Europe somewhat earlier. It is cnriouB that although all northern nations possessed the sledge, those of America knew nothing of the skater while the people of Europe did not have the snow-shoe.. The course of invention varied, according to requirements. In America, in high latitudes, the snows are heavy, and open ice is comparatively rare. In the corresponding parts of Europe there is much more clear ice, and proportionately less snow. The ancient skates were nothing but shin-bones of oxen or other.large animals, pierced with holes to receive the cords or thongs which bound them to the feet. Fitzstephen's "History of London," written in the thirteenth century, is the earliest English book in which skating is spoken of; and we learn, from its description, that the performers upon these bone skates kept j themselves in motion by striking against J the ice with an iron shad-pole. Some| times specimens of these bone skates have been discovered in the progress of I excavations, in several European counj tries; and a very well preserved pair, | found in England some years ago, I ??%? Ua oaaii \fnoflnw [ Utii UKJ\y UD DOC?Li 111 uuu Xiiiviou muovmm It is unknown when or where iron waa j first employed in the construction of skates. It was probably in Holland; ! for skates of a pattern very much like that of the ones we have now, not only were known in that country, but were extensively used by all classes of its people, long before the pastime of skating became general elsewhere. Skating is something more than a pastime in Holland. There it is one of tne useful arts, and it is universally practiced and highly esteemed. It offers a very convenient mode of travel in winter over the canels that almost entirely supply the place of roads in the Land of Dykea; and people skate Irom farm to farm, and from town to town, and to church, and to market, often carrying heavy burdens. The Russians have j constructed an ice-locomotive, with j roughened driving-wheels to lay hold of the slippery surface, and it has proved ! a success ; but in Holland, every man is i his own locomotive. And so is every * ? ? !L 1 1 woman ners,?ior n nas iuug uecu customary for ladies to skate in Holland; whereas in other countries, until recently, this most excellent of out-door exercises tor them have been almost tabooed. The first skaters in our part of tne world were the honest Dutchmen of the | " province of Nieuw Nederlandts," who ! doubtless brought their skates with ' them in that celebrated vessel, tlie j " Goede Fiouw," which we are told by i the learned Diedrick Knickorbooke, j "had one hundred feet in the beam, one j huudred feet in the keel, and one hundred feet from the bottom of the sternpost to the tafferel." The Dutch certainly deserve high honor for having introduced skating and Christmas presents into America,, if for nothing else. As they did so, the worthy St. Nicholas must be esteemed the patron of all American skaters. A War Scene. The horrors of war are described with _1 n_ 1; is V^foa guwjuy rctumiu IU ouuic UIUD from an Artist's Sketchbook" in the Iiondon Daily News. On the first morning of the year, the correspondent set out from Fratesti for Putenieu in Roumania. Afar off a long, dark line moving in caterpillar-fashion broke the horizon. It was a column of Turkish prisoners marching?the men who once kept the flower of the Russian army at bay around Plevna. Half-starved, almost dead with fatigue and severe cold, many with fever burning in their eyes? mere stalking bones and foul rags? ! came the brave troops who made the j fame of Osman Pasha. Thousands of | birds of prey whirled round and settled j in front and rear, always following this : Rrim procession like sharks round a I doomed ship. A few yards farther on i lay, half covered with snow, a nude | ! body of another dead Turk, stripped by his companions for the little warmth of ; the rags he wore. A crow had settled on i his clenched hand, and the dogs were j slinking round their victim. At night a ' star and the crescent moon, the only , signs in the clear sky, shine brilliantly, j There is the ominous black line wending j up the valley?more wretched prisoners j footsore and weary, with their cadaverous faces and ice-laden beards. A halt I is made at thejittle bridge, to dole out to each their frozen loaf of bread. A ! few poor fellows throw themselves down | on the snow and ferv ently pray after i their fashion. How the heavens, with the bright symbols of their faith glitterj ing on the frosted snow and on their I misery, seem to mock these poor Turks! The World's Borrowing. Borrowing was done on a grand scale ! in 1877. A Belgian statistician has | compiled a list of the issues made in various countries in tho world, and Rets j down the total amount as 81,580,975,1 000 against ?725,000,000 in 1876, and 8330,000,000 in 1875. Of this enor; mous amount, 81,154,650,000 was bor! rowed by governments, national, State I and municipal, and the balance by railway and industrial companies and institutions of credit. The excess of the j world's borrowing last year over that of ' previous years was mainly due to the | conversion loans of the United States. 1 The French loans have amounted to 8375,000,000, over two-thirds of which | have been issued uy railway and indusi trial companies. The large loans of Russia were paid chiefly in the paper money which the government itself had issued. Climate Changing.? It would seem that not only is the clii nate of Iceland growing so cold that gra in cannot ripen ! there, but that of So andinavia and western Europe is beoo ming more severe. This is due, it ii i supposed, to the steady descent of thi > ice of the far north upon the shores of Iceland. The temperature of Greenla nd was once much mope mild than at, p resent. ENTERTAINLNtt DOG STORIES. The ftenaeof the Myateriaiia in Brute*-Re* nlta of a Natnrallat'a Experiment a. Mr. (George J. Romanes, the English naturalist, writing to Nature about Herbert Spencer's treatment of the subject of " Fetichism'in Aninials," tells some entertaining stories about experiments made by himself with Mb pets. II T *r?n n l/> J '' La AA?*m II ?MaYvA ;jl >yuo leu, no oajoy vkj uirano vuo experiments by reading the instance given in the Descent of Man' of the large dog which Mr. Darwin observed to bark at a parasol as it was moved along the lawn by the wind?so presenting the appearance of animation. The dog on which I experimented was a Skye terrier -a remarkably intelligent animal, whose psychological faculties have already formed the subject of several communications to this and other periodicals. As all my experiments yielded the same results I will only mention one. The terrier in question, like many other dogs, used to play with dry bones by tossing them in the air, throwing them to a distance, and generally giving them the appearance of animation, in order to give himself the ideal pleasure of worrying them. On one occasion, therefore, I tied a long and fine thread to a dry bone and gave him the latter to play with. After he had tossed it about for a dhort time I took an opportunity, when it had ialien at a distance irom nun auu vuuh he was following it up, of gently drawing it away from him by means of the long and invisible thread Instantly his whole demeanor changed. The bone which he bad previously pretended to be alive now began to look as if it really were alive, and his astonishment knew no bounds. He first approached it with nervous caution, as Mr. Spencer describes, but as the slow receding motion continued, and he became quite oertain that the movement could not be accounted for by any residum of the force which he had himself communicated, his astonishment developed into dread, and he ran to conceal himself under some articles of furniture, there to behold at a distance the 'uncanny' spectaole of a dry bone coming to life. " Another experiment proved that the sense of the mysterious was in this animal sufficiently strong of itself to account for his behavior. Taking him into " 11 1 LLU a carpeted room j. dibw a euap uuuuu, and by means of a fitful draught made it intermittingly glide along the floor. He became at once intensely interested, but seemed uuable to decide whether or not the filmy object was alive. At first he was very cautious and followed it only at a distance, but as I encouraged him to examine the bubble more closely, he approached it with ears erect and tail down, evidently with much misgiving; and the moment it happened to move he again retreated. Alter a time, nowever, during which I always kept at least one bubble an the carpet, he began to gain more courage, and the scientific spirit overcoming his sense of the mysterious, he eventually became bold enough slowly to approach one of the bubbles and nervously to touch it with his paw. The bubble, of course, immediately vanished; and I certainly never saw astonishment more strongly depicted. On then blowing another bubble I could not persuade him to approach it for a good while; but at last he came and oarefnlly extended his paw aa before with the same result. But after this second trial nothing would induce him again to approach a bubble, and on pressing him he ran out of the room, winch no coaxing would persuade him to re-enter. "One other example will suffice to show how strongly developed was the sense of the mysterious in this animal. When alone with him in a room I once purposely tried the effect on him of maxing u scries ui uuinuic ^nmuvcro. At first be thought I was only making fnn; but as I persistently disregarded his caresses and -whining, while I continued unnaturally to distort my features, he became alarmed and slunk way nnder some furniture, shivering like a frightened child. He remained in this condition till some other member of the family happened to enter the room, when he emeiged from his hiding place in great joy at seeing me again in "my right mind. In this experiment, of course, I refrained from making any sounds or gesticulations, lest he might think I was angry. His actions, therefore, can only be explained by his horrified surprise at my apparently irrational behavior?that is, by the violation of his ideas of uniformity in matters psychological. It must be added, however, that I have tried the same experiment on less intelligent and less sensible terriers with no other effect than catming them to bark at me. " I will only add that I believe the annan r\t +J.O mvatprinil 3 in lift thfl CAUSO DiiDO V* IIU V 41A T _ of the dread which many animals show of thunder. I am led to think this because I once had a setter which never heard thunder till he was eighteen months old, and on then first hearing it I thought he was about to die of fright, as I have seen other animals do under various circumstances. And so strong was the impression which his extreme terror left behind that whenever afterward he heard the boom of distant artillery practice, mistaking it for thunder, he became a pitiable object to look at, and, if out shooting, would immediately bolt heme?or, if at a great distance from home, would endeavor to bury himself. After having heard real thunder on two or three subsequent occasions, his dread of the distant cannons became greater than ever, so that evenrtnnflrli Vio Irppnlv ATlinrfiil HDOrt. nothing would induce "kirn to leave his kennel, lest the practice might begin when ho was a distance from home. But the keeper, who had a large experience in the training of dogs, assured me that if I allowed this one to be taken to the battery, in order that he might learn the true cause of the thunder-like noise, he would again become serviceable in the field. The auimal, however, died before the experiment was made." Dancing to the Howling Winds. -LUU Wl. x aui ^xuuiu.y jl # Vw has this statemont: Frank Plummer has attain been heard from in connection with another and recent very perilous experience. About the first of the month Frank was returning to Deadwood vrith a companion from his hay ranche? and wns suddenly overtaken by a furious blizzard, which continued all night. Being without facilities fpr starting a fixe, and finding it impossible to travel in the face of the blinding storm, the two put in the night in dancing in order to avoid a severe freezing or possible death. Frank says he has danced when ho considered it a pleasant amusement, but never before followed it as a very serious and necessary business. He has lost his taste for dancin g. Merchant Shipping of the World. Sailing. .tan. Countrit*. . Nn. of Tnn- A'o. of Ton. To'al Ship'. na.gr. Ship'. nag*. Tonnagi. British 20,iW5 6.811,,366 3,2<9 3,362,992 9,K0,:i67 United States 7,2*8 B.390,621 789,728 3,180,249 Norwegian.... 4,749 1.410,91(3 IB 66.874 1,466,777 Italian 4,801 J.292,076 114 97,683 1,3*>,S68 (ttrmin. 8,466 876.996 IX 228,888 1,102,8M French 3,868 736,048 314 3^,834 1,069,383 Spanish J,915 657,320 230 176,360 783,570 Greek 3,121 426,9u5 11 7,133 434, "38 Dutch 1,433 899,933 126 134,600 634,598 Swediah 3,131 399,138 319 88,660 4X7,788 Romian 1,786 391,9.>2 161 106,963 497,914 Austrian 9X1 338.6M 78 8 ,269 419,963 Danish 1,348 188,963 87 60,697 349,66(1 Portnguese... 466 107,106 26 93,376 129,393 So. American *73 96,469 81 69,363 164,722 Oeot'l Amer'n 163 67,!M4 6 3,133 61,076 Tnrk. A Egypt 306 48,288 30 38.264 76,563 Belgian M 83^44 35 40,700 W.044 Atlaho 43 16,019 11 10,877 26,996 LibMian 3 MS 646 Items of Interest True to the last: a well-made boot. Milan, Italy, is preparing for an international exhibition. A man never uses his thumb nail for a screw driver but once. Eighty-three murderers, all men, were hanged in the United States in 1877. The Colorado mines produced $7,879,432 worth of gold and silver ore in 1877. The males are more apt to be delayed by pretty women than by severe northckoof flfnrma It is absurd to suppose that a man can speak above his breath, since his mouth is below his nose. The delightful sensation felt in riding on an iceboat can be obtained at small cost by falling from a six-story building. Life, young man, is only A slippery sheet of ice ; No girl there?it's 'onely ; One girl there?it's nice. Irritable schoolmaster?" Now then, stupid, what's the next word? "What comes after cheese?" Dull boy?"A mouse, sir." . A traveler met in Japan a woman who didn't know the use of a pin. Her bewilderment when shown a pin-cushion was amusing*. The United States utilizes in agriculture ten per cent, of its area; Great Britain, fifty-eight per cent., and Holland, seventy. ? Of sawdust nineteen per cent, and of sand fourteen per cent., was what was found in a sample of Bossian army bread recently analyzed. ? t ?Are blacksmiths, who make a living by forging, or carpenters, who do a little counter-fitting, any worse than men who sell iron and steel for a living ? In ancient davs the precept was, " Know thyself. In modern times it has been supplanted by the far more fashionable maxim, "Know thy neighbor and everything about him. What the Bochester Express calls " a. to RAVfl swearing " hftg been invented by a man in Lockport N. T. It consists of an arrangement by which stovepipes are joined together like a telesoope. The last story told about Chicago is that twenty-five cents is extracted for the privilege of viewing what is reckoned the choicest cnrioeity which the great Lake City can show, viz., the only unmortgaged piece of gronnd. An Indiana man has died leaving a collection of 100,000 beetles. Yet there are some men right here among us who will not leave a collection of 4Nn a dozen beetles when they die. For shame!? Worcester Press. A woman will face a frowning world and cling to the man she loves through the most bitter adversity, but she wouldn't wear a hat three weeks behind the style to save the government.?Cincinnati Breakfast Table. At bedtime little Willie was saying the usual prayer at his mother's knee, and, having got as far as " if I should die before I wake,"hesitated. "Well, what next?" asked his mother. "Well,! - "? L KA O ^Ttr??k_ s pose me Qexi tiuag wumu uo ? ral." The strength of the French army is as follows: Active army (five classes) 719,836; reserve of active army (foui classes), 520,982; territorial army (five classes), 594,786; reserve of territorial army (six classes), 639,782; total, 2,473,866?all trained men. The total number of Methodists in the United States is over 3,3X5,000; in Canada, 161,172; in Great Britain and her colonies, 607,404. In all the world they number 4,383,888. The increase in law mnmhprs for 1877 throughout the world is given as 211,309. The following business in the United States is seen in the following : Distilleries, 4,992 ; rectifiers, 1,130 ; brewers, 2,758 ; wholesale dealers, 4,604 ; licensed saloons, 164,598. On a basis of 45,000,000 people there is one legalized saloon to 280 persons. John Holden, a surveyor, of Perry county, Miss., has dug up a treasure of 635,600 in coin, to which he was guided by an instrument of his own invention. The money was buried during the war by guerillas, who quarrelled and killed each other off, leaving only general instructions as to the neighborhood where it was concealed. A lady resident of Boyertown, Pa., the other night had a desperate fight with a mad dog in her bedroom, and finally, having hurled a 8120 set of false teeth at him, was pleased to see him disappear. She awakened to find tbat it was all a horrid nightmare, but that the room was wrecked and her teeth shattered beyond redemption. The mesquite gum of Western Texas is almost identical with gum arabic. During the past year it has become an article of export, some 12,000 pounds having been gathered in Bexar county, and as much more between that and the coast. The gum exhudes from the stem and branches of the mesquite, a mimosa, several species of which grow in Texas New Mexico and Arizona. a pooh fellow's defiance. I'm driven to the wall, and the world is my foe. Whatever I do is a failure most flat. Yet my soul is my own, And I'm not overt rown ; What mimifles that? av. what signifies that ? I've nothing to-day for to-morrow's great needs, I wait upon fortune that never cornea past; Bat if, though I'm poor, I can laugh and endure, What signifies that i ay, what signifies that ? Persons about to go to Hot Springs, Ark., for health, may be interested in the following item from a local newspaper : "On Thursday James Cooper, the merchant, mortally wounded Nead Gillis, a well-known citizen. Gillis has defied and bulldozed the civil authorities, and threatened the life of Cooper, who, seeing him come up the hill as though to carry out-his purpose, stepped * 1 GJ r\ni?ann Ilia fWn out ana nreu iumj umm ? tentsof two double-barreled shotguns." Maxime du Camp, the historian of the Commune, has been inquiring into the stories of the wholesale massacre of Communards after entrance of the Versailles troops into Paris, andinstead of 25, 000 to 40,000 corpses, "including 10,00*0 women and children," ho finds that from May 20 to May 30,1871, there were 5,339 interments in the cemeteries, and from the 24th of May to the 6th of Sep tember there were exhumed from graves on the highway, etc., 1 328 bodies, making a total of 6,667. A recent fatal duel in Georgia has called out in the Southern papers reminiscences of all the famous duels of the last half century. As remarkable a one as any was that fought at Bridgeport, Ky., in 1836, when Shelton and Kingsbury were arrayed against each other. Kingsbury knew it was a joke ; Shelton thought it was real. The seconds loaded the guns with soft foap. Shelton won the first fire, banged away auii ilr.-pped behind a log. Kinpsbury walked up t" Shelton, put the muzzle of his put near his head and fired. Such a looking ni:u? was never wen in Kentucky or citewhere ; soft so"p covered his entire head. In mortal agr.ny Shelton put up his hand, got a handful of p.wp and exclaimed: "Oh, my poor brains! my Eoor brains?" Finally reahriag the oax he chased Kingsbury more than five miles, firing stones and volleys of profanity at him.