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... ^ ^ ' ^ x . 1 jUiiit>W jif iA-H PwTJ 4 # *?*< ? / ' * '.:> ; i t..-i-i;?|. V? rap ,* .: . . ? . ,v...'... : t- -., .-. | j j r i ,,, " n ' ' ' ? jr5t'"!i H . J .J1 Jw& *'?*$} (% ^vtfK '; It ABBEVILLE PRESS & BANNERS" ' t # BY HUGH WILSON AND H. T. WARDLAW. ABBEVILLE, S. C., WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 1880. NO. 48. VOLUME XXV. | ~ The Tears Are Passing By. The years are passing by! We watch, as from an open door, Their passage through time's corridor; Each shadow, in its falling, slopes Across the grave ot buried hopes; The pulse ot being slower beats Through winter's snow, through summer's heat9, And taith and hope and love grow cold As we grow old?as we grow old! The years are passing by! The years are passing by! Time's record hath such psige9 blurred With hasty deed, with bitter word; Such sad mistakes mark all life's years Wo scarce can read, because of tears; We see dead laces on the walls, We hear dead voices in the halls, We touch some hand on bended knee, We kiss flooia lips we cannot see? The years sue passing by! The years are passingly! They carry with them as they go The rain, the sunshine and the snow; They leave behind the drilt of days Wherein each soul somo penance pays; Some hopes we have, hut not our own, Some loves we cherish, not alone; And there are leaves and faded flowers That tell sad tales in memory's hours. The years are passing by! I'ho ronrj nrn rtaoairtcr Kv' I'1?"J The 9eal ot silence on our lips We closer press. Time's umbra dips To deeper darkness down the lane Through which we wulk to hide our pain. We smile and smile as one who bears A liie untouched by griel or cares, But when in solitude we wait, We bow our head at sorrow's gate. Hie years are passing by! The years are passing by! Another Joint tjie passing band! Oh, is there not some other land ? nere compensation ior tm uis The measure of life's being fills ? L We wait the answer, but in vain. The shadow Cills, a sense of pain Rests on us whereso'er we go And xbispore ol the sod and snow. The years are passing by! COUSIN EDITH. Lillian Amos stood leaning against the casement of an open window leading on to a sioping lawn, at whose base llowed a sunny, rippling stream of water. It was one of England's fairest scones on which her eyeb rested, and she was one of England s fairest daughters. Even at this moment, spite of the fact that her brow is gathered in a frown. and the full, red lips are unmistakably pouting, her beauty is undeniable. A few bold spirits have declared there wa<! little soul in the face'; but the large hazle eyes could melt or flash at will; the dark lashes shaded a cheek white as parian marble, with rarely even a touch of color upon its velvety surface, and the lithe, graceful figure even unconsciously assumed new grace in each unstudied poise, until one forgot the questioa of soul in its perfect outward flesh-andblood tubernaclo. Near her, reclining on a low easychair, sat a young girl of about her own ago. At iirst giance the exquisite soulloveliness of her face paled in Miss Ames' more brilliant beauty, but ther<A were more1 to love its possessor, and fc fewer to envy her. Something like in^ < ignation was in her voice, as she addressed her friend. "T cannot believe that vou mean it Lillian," she said. " You have been engaged to Oscar Bering a year, and how you can say so carelessly that your cn grigemcnt shall he broken?" " Reg pardon!'' interrupted the other, in low, ironical tones. " I have not yet been engaged to Oscar Bering twentyfour hours. It was to l^ord Oscar Bering T save mv pledge." * Oh. but, Lillian, because he has lost title and estate must he also lose the vv.npan of his love? Think a minute. You surely will not give him up so easily?" "Nonsense, Edith! I am twenty-one ?no longer a girl of an age to live upon sentimenialism, but to look upon the everv-day realities of life. When I en rneed myself to Lord Bering, I was the subject of congratulation among all my friends. Now that the cousin who was supposed to be dead crops into life in some remote portion of the globe, and that Oscar insists upon renouncing the property in his behalf without even a f am oAnfonf f/v 4- V-? CUU^(V>| * Miu uvu vunu-nu i.\j ICO 111C51' same congratulations lapse into pity." " Oh. Lillian, do you think any one could pity you for possessing so royal a cift as the love of such a man? Think. V.etter of it, dear, I know you care for him. Do not so lightly renounce your g| life's happiness!" I " You plead his cause eloquently, ray W dear. Really I did not know I possessed ^ . a rival l'n my fair cousin. Perhaps, a hf?art caught in the rebound?you know the n-ft, ot course, and can point the moral." 44Lillian, you are cruel?cruel! I?' But the late speaker had passed through the open window out of hearin?, and advanced to meet a man (juickiy approaching on the ereenward, while the youn<r girl left behind fell hack in her chair, the great tears coursing down her cheeks, on which the crimson color-signal flamed. it whs as tnough some ruthless hand had snatched the veil from her own lieart, leaving exposed its most cherished seeret?a secret she had not known aerself, until now betrayed by her shame. /I... " "I mast leave this place. I cannot meet him again. I must go home! But. oh! how can she give him up!" Edith Loring and Lillian Ames were cousins, but the one was the daughter of a olergyman whose rectory was some ten miles distant from Ames Court, one of the noblest estates of England, and of wlricl* Lillian was sole heiress. The-girls, however, had been closely unitedj more by the tie of friendship tlusa oouainship, since the latter was a - distant hond. and Ames Court was al< most .is much Edith's home as her own. ft Xow, however, the homelier charms of the rectory were very grateful to her. Here no one could probe the discovery ^ so now to herself? to trace the scarlet blush which seemed so often to burn her cheek, until she wondered that it did not leave its brand. She had been home 6ix weeks, and twice Oscar Dering had ridden over to see her, but she had always denied herself to him on some household pretext, until one morning he overtook her in l>u rnflrf She had been busy with thoughts of him, wondering how he had borne his ' ruptured troth, and reproaching herself lor the cowardice which heretofore had forbidden her meeting him, when she heard oehind her the quick tramp of a horse's hoofs. His rider drew rein at her side. "So I am to find you at last," he said. His voice sounded the same as of old ?the bright, cheery tone was unchanged. He was not broken-hearted, tjien, or at least he did not wear that cruelly-used portion of his body upon his steed. '* Have you seen Liliian lately?1'she at last lound courage to ask. " No,'' he arswered, and then she saw ^ the frown gather on his brow, and an expression ol pain come about his lips. 4> I h?e as little of your cousin as possible now. You know, Miss Lonng, I ?m no longer a subject for congratulation." i ... .. "Yes, I know," she said. " I?" " Don't pity me," he interrupter]. " I can't bear that quite yet " " I did not mean to piiy jou, \3i1e replied. And then the conversation drifted into other channels. " Oh, if Liilian had not spoken of the heart caught in the rebound!" she thought, when week after week Oscar Dering would find his way to the rcc- : tory garden, or the rectory parlor, to spend long hours with its fair young ? mistress. She understood so well why he came, J because now and then Lillian's name drifted into the idle talk, and because, , as lie grew stronger, he dared speak of lur nml the love he had borne her. It was a mingled pain and pleasure to listen. If only she had not ^earned her ] own heart, the pain would have been less. But she was destined to learn it more fatally, yet, as, one morning, strol- ling through the woods together, the sharp report of a hunter's pun close be- ; side them startled them both. The next , instant her companion srtnk white and senseless 011 the sward beside her, while the affrighted hunter, whose misaim'ed charge had entered his arm, hjistened forward. "Bring assistance, quickly!" exclaimed Edith, while she raised the 1 heavy head to her lap. "Oscar, speas ^ tome!" she moaned. "Oscar! Oscar!" Over and over again she repeated his , name in the same accents of despairing i love, until they seemed to force their way into the life-pulses of his being, and e rouse them to activity. He opened his eyes with a half wan- ? derins look, as though delirium must have overtaken him. At this instant the hunter returned ' with assistance, and a half hour later <3 the wounded man had been borne to the 1 rectory, the wound dressed, and the knowledge given that it was merely a a flesh hurt, painful but not dangerous; a yet his recovery was a tedious affair. r He crew moody and abstracted. It cave him moiv time to think of Lillian d liio lrtca "PHifrli thnnirlit pven whilr t auu *???? AJMAHU v?? VMq.. ?r* ? , .? .? b slip wondered why his eyes followed her t with such a strange, questioning look, c Once she entered his room with some freshly cut flowers in her hand. ( " Where shall I put them, Mr. Der- $ ing?" she .questioned. v" " Mr. Pering?" he answered. "Pid c I not once hear you call me Oscar? Or was it a sweet fancy wafted from dream- , land?" J Again the crimson tide dyed her face, j* " Pon't!" she said, :is though he had J? hurt her, and hastened from the room. u bearing with her the flowers, and it seemed to him the light and sunshine. t Had lie been blind all this time, and was he just beginning to see? A grand ball was to be given at Ames Court, at which Lillian insisted that Edith should be present. The invalid was fully recovered now, and he, too, was summoned to the feast. Miss Ames had plunged into constant J} gaiety since the breaking of her engagement to Oscar Pering, but it all liad ^ failed to till the empty place in her " heart. ? On the evening of her ball, she picked ? up the paper sent down by the after- " noon's mail from London. Glancing idly over its page3, she suddenly sturtcd d at seeinsr the name of the man to whom ci she so lately had been betrothed. s: It was a published decision of the i* court, that, owing to some disability, * the title could not descend to Oscar Der- tl ing's cousin, but, together with the d estates^ must remain in his possession. He was, then, Ix>rd Dering still. Fool tl that^she liaa been! But the decision had b been made public but a few hours. He a would never dream ot the accident which t< had brought it to her knowledge. To- J night, wliilc he still thought her in is ignorance, she must win him back. a Never had she been more capricious o with her toilet; never had she looked more ravisliingly lovely than when she h descended to receive ner guests. w It was late when be entered the spa- tl cions drawing-rooms. f, " I have been waiting for you." she n said, in her sweetest, lowest tones. t< "You honored me too greatly, Miss b Ames/1 he replied. b "Let us go into the conservatory," p she ridded. " It is cooler there." He offered her his arm. v From a distant corner of the room, n Edith saw them. a " She need not have feared," she u thought, bitterly?only, the next mo- tj raent, to reproach herself with her sel- ^ fisliness. " I willnoi, begrudge him any jj happiness," she said to herself c " Haveyou fortntten the last time we ^ were here together, Mr. Dering?" Lillian was asking at this moment. " Air* " lip ??TiBwrf>rrwl ffP)iv(>lv . nnbinrr tl quietly hut surprised ly into the beauti- e ful face beside iiira. Y "Can one ever retrieve a mistake," '( she asked, " when one finds it out?"- ? 411 do not know," he replied, toying t( with an exquisite rose beside him, as lie f continued: "Can one cause the ros? blighted in midsummer to bloom again 51 in the frosts of winter?" She knew then w!>:?t lie meant, and mIso knew that it was too late to retrieve the p:ist. C " We are dealing in similes," she ex- a claimed, hiding her wound with a n nrnnd smilp. " Prrhnns it i<s nlnw h Let us return to our uuests." An hour later Oscar Bering led Miss T Loring to the same spot. d " I love you, Edith," he said, simply, n " [ thought my heart was dead when I v met jou. I know now that it had never s lived. My darling, will you be my t< wife?" tl " Oh, Oscar, you are sure, sure of your- g self?" c " I have been made sure to-night," h he answered, drawing1 her clote to his o heart, and breaking off the splendid P rose with which he had toyed an hour ti before, to place it in her hair. P " She was too happy to question his 1< words or their meaning?too happy even n + r\ lot. TVIlQQ AmPS1 / nriffrnhllotinnc eliwn. ? when she said,* seorn&llv: a "A heart caught in the rebound, n Did I not tell you so?" c Too happy even to be made happier i| when she learned she was to share no ^ humble lot with the man she loved, but 0 that her wedding-day made her Lady 11 Edith Dering. t What the Stars Foretell for 1881. Those who study the stars, says an exchange, will have plenty of occupa- i; tion in the coming years. The index- p hand on the celestial dial-plate points d to events of momentous import. The t four great planets reach their nearest point to the sun more nearly together n man mey nave none ior almost two thousand years. It is not unreasonable to suppose that, with their strong pull a and pull all together, they will create \ some unusual disturbance in the chaotic elements that make up the sun's lierv mass. The forces of the new spot- p cycle are now in active opera'ion, and E those who have closely watched the in- F fluence of the solar disturbance on t climatic conditions predict a hot sum- a mer from the heat-waves that follow ^ the commencement of the tremendous ? solar outbreaks. The hidden cham- ^ bers of the great pyramid have given forth in oracular fashion momentous -prophecies for 1881 to the few disciples 4i. u: J c vy uv/ uavc xaitu in men Lcauiiiiigs, nuu , astrologers cast strange horoscopes from tLe unusual planetary combina- s tion':. A doctor gives in a German medical ^ journal a detailed account of a man who literally burst, split his diaphragm in two, and died. He had swallowed ] four plates of potato soup, numerous 1 cups of tea and milk, and takeh a dose 1 of bicarbonate of soda to aid digestion, j His stomach swelled enormously and )j tore the diaphragm from the right side, t causing immediate death. y FOR THE FAIR SEX. My All. I have no home but in thy heart, No heaven apart from thee; My world is only where thou art; Within tho busy crowded mart, Thy lorui is all I see. My life, my love, my Heaven, my all! Oh, 1 would rather be rhino own, though kings should wait uiy call For lile, though in a palace hall, Were drear, unshared by thee. [ dread the day that yet may come, When one must go alone, With fond heart chilled, and senses numb, Because tho other's lips ar? dumb, Beneath a lowly stone. knd looking in thine eyea, I pray Wo may together go? ["ogether tread the sell-samo way t SVhich leadeth to eternal day? Because I love thee so! ?Lila J\i. Cushman Fuhlon Notci. A white satin dress laden with pearls las two hunches of white hyacinths for garniture. For basques the surplice effects are rery much used, and quite rival the di ectoire styles in popularity. Polka-dotted lavender and heliotrope iilks of thin light quality make pretty Iresses when trimmed with creamy ^anguedoc lace. Light foulards with cream, pale blue, avender or gray grounds are made with [uantitie3 of Languedoc lace for trimuing them. A surpJice basque, witu a Kercmei ibout the neck, a draped overskirt, and i kilt-plaited lower skirt, is the favorite Qodel for dresses of laneige tissue. One of the prettiest simple suits has a lauk heliotrope, kilt-plaited skirt, with iny checked silk of lighter shade for he Tallien overskirt and directoire oat. Youthful looking dresses of white Jhambery gauze over satin have a great ;eal of Languedoc lace on the apron, (rhile the foot is trimmed with three lose fine plaitings of dark red satin. Polka-dotted satin is pretty for the iasquesof young ladies' evening dresses, nd the apron is then of the same, or erhaps the front breadths are pJain atin, grenadine or tulle, while the fig.red satin is in the train. The skirts of evening dresses are made 3 represent a flat petticoat front or an nrnn urliilp thp hflct hrfl-ulths QWPPn nff ke a court train, though the whole kirt, apron and draperies are invariably lade together; that is, to put on in one ieee. White challis, white mohair, camel'sair and Chuddah cloths are also used jr summer dresses for the country, ome of these have theTallien overskirt raped very high on the side, or else pened its whole length to show the ounces of a heliotrope or blue silk skirt eneath. Pink gauze and satin dresses have a eep, full apron of the gauze, edged with urled fringe, gathered into the flowing itin train. The corsage ot such dresses > only half high, pointed back and front ith Grecian folds, forming a bertha on ic bust, or else a Languedoc barbe is raped around the neck. Very dark satin foulards are used for le street. The grounds are pheasant rown, olive or violet, and the figures re round white moons, with chintz pat2ms in them, or else polka dots or apanese fans. The -deep apron is finilied with heavy festoons of the same, nd in the knife-plaiting at the foot one r two red plaitings are introduced. Vests are not as much worn as they ave lately been, but are sometimes seen rith the shirred fronts of dresses; thus be contrasting fabric it set down the ont ol the waist like a vest, aid the latcria! of the basque is shirred in clus2rs each side of it. Sometimes the asque is laid in plaits that fold on the osom in surplice shape, and this is reeated in the back. Basque and trimmed skirt are thepreailing style, but a great many poloaises are also used. Some of the latter re seen with straight backs not caught p in the .'east, and quite full in plaits lint fall lengthwise; others have cominations of different fabrics for scarfs i front or on the sides; and many are at off in front like a basque, while the ack is in princess shape. A great deal of beaded embroidery is sed in the new styles. Sometimes the ntire basque and apron is of white satin rrought with pearls, or black satin with ;t. Lace is employed in profusion, lore especially the Languedoc and Bre5n lacer,, that are not expensive, vet are ffective for plaited flounces, and in the arbes now used for draping the cornge. The Secret of Woman's Power. The secret of woman's'power and sucess in regard to the relief of trouble mong the afflicted poor lies, not where lost other secrets of force aud efficacy ave their stronghold?in the intellect -but in the simple authority of virtue, 'lie sweet and even operation of a tener and steadfast spirit of charity ecessarily carries all before it. Woman rins her way also by showing, what lie cannot help, that her sole object is o assuage and succor, leaving upon the lireshold all that is not pure and simple ood-will. With men to do so is difliult. Men go by statute; they are upolders of the law, which demands bedience to the letter, enforces the aplicalion of it, and insists always upon echnical justice. Contrariwise women refer equity. The justice which fol3ws the dictates of nature is always lore Christian in essence, more liberal nd magnanimous, therefore better dapted for achieving noble ends. When ien in this department of work are exeptionally successful it is becaufie, as ridividuals, they have feminine disposiions. Eauity, whatever may be claimed n behalf of justice as a rule of life, is lie substratum of all the noblest nnures, whether male or female. An Episode. A somber faced man, with long hair ike a corn doctor or a poet, entered the ostoftice one day last week and laid own a nickel and inquired lor two hree-cent stamps. Ke was inlormed that six cents was ecessary for the purchase. "This is the economy of the country 3 it? In the city where I came from I 1 ways get two stamps for five cents. Is his the only postoffice in town?" 44 It is." 44 Ah, ha. That accounts for it. Comletition is what gives life to all busiless. If you only had two or three ostofiices here stamps would go down 0 twenty cents a dozen in no time. It's 1 wonder some enterprising capitalist lon't go into the postoffice business here, ind bring prices down where they ought o be." Tln:n fishing an old-fashioned copper >utof his pocket, and laying it in the lelivery window, he adhered his stamps o a vellow envelone. and vanished like i beautiful dream. Thus do some men scatter seeds of cindness as they journey through the vorld.?Marathon Independent. During the last year an average of [3,000 letters a day wa3 received at the iVashington dead letter office, Ne wEns<and furnishing the largest share pr?>jortionally. These letters contained 535,(KM) in currency and $1,500,000 in lrafts, ninety live per cent, of which vas returned to the proper owners. Hibernation. Most beasts do not hibernate, becaus* they have the power of keeping up a uni form body-temperature in spite of th< cold of winter. In the dormouse, mar mot and many allied forms, however as also in the hedgehog and in bats, wi do find this winter sleep to occur. Th< lower animals, such as reptiles, frogs and efts, many fishes, spiders, shellfisl and worms, also enter into this state In preparing to hibernate, animals seel secluded ana sheltered nooks, or burrow in the dry ground or in mud, or concea themselves in moss or beneatb the bar! of trees. There they fall into a sleep either uninterrupted or interrupted bj intervals of activity, which endure; more or less according to latitude and consequent length of winter. Durini this sleep the body-heatof warm-blooded animals falls greatly, as respiration anc circulation take place very gently and slowly. The nutrition of the body i? also affected very slowly, the fal of the body (generally considerable at the commencement of hibernation) being used up in the process, unless occasional awaking has given an opportunity for feeding. An anuuai punou 01 repose, huhiojjous mj hibernation, also takes place during the dry season in many tropicai animals? as in many reptiles, frogs ard fishes. The tanrec, of Madagascar, which has a superficial resemblance to the hedgehog, also resembles it as to its anuuai torpor, and certain lemuroids which inhabit the same island, seem also to prepare for the torpor of the dry season by storing up a quantity of fat in their tails, which it is alleged, disapp< ars by the time the period of activity has returned. Parallel with the periodic repose of animals is the winter inactivity of many plants, which (in temperate latitudes such as our own) drop their leaves, or if herbs, die down to shoot for^h again with the advent of spring. During this time the sap retreats from the surface, and the processes of life come almost to a standstill, to be renewed with a rapidity and suddenness not inaptly termed a " burst of vegetation," at a period which varies according to the species. The an nual torpor of animals is a prolongation for weeks or lor months of that process, so familiar, yet so mysterious, called sleep. During it the functions of life are slackened in their operations, and the refreshment which sleep produces is not due to any accelerated nutrition, but to a temporary cessation of the wear and tear of activity. The immediate cause of sleep is not yet satisfactorily known. It is intimately connected with some condition of the nervous centers, and it has been supposed that its immediate cause was a diminished quantity of blood in the brain; but as yet this view has not been adequately supported by facts. During sleep tae limbs are generally relaxed, and the position assumed by the body is often that which the embryo had taken before birth. The nervous centers are also more or less completely cut oft from external influences, the avenues of special sense being more or less obstructed by the position assumed by the body, by the closure of the eyelids, etc. Not only is this the case, but the'very stimuli received fail to excite response unless they are of much more than ordinary intensity. Indeed, when exhaustion has been very great, and sleep 4-Wvs. I,* 1UU? UUICIICU, tIJC Sl/llHUXl ?U C VVCIJC33, and the access of sleep becomes irresistible?as when Daraiens slept on the rack. Ordinarily, the advent ot darkness is the signal for sleep, but in nocturnal animals the period of daily repose is inverted. As the process of refreshment, induced by sleep, becomes more and more perfected, a" slighter and slighter stimulus is alone needed to awaken the sleeper, till, at last, the mere changes of organic life suffice to arouse the nervous centers to their wonted activity But although these centers are, during sleep, more or less deprived of commerce with the internal world, they still maintain a certain activity, as is evidenced by dreams which often elicit sound and slisrht movements even in the lower animals as well as in ourselves. It may, indeed, be that we always dream when asleep, though our dreams are general'y forgotten immediately on awakening. This question cannot be absolutely determined, though on the whole it seems more probable that it is only in imperfect sleep that we dream. That our nervous centers are not entirely cut off from the external world is proved by our dreams being often influenced by sounds, smells or touches. Indeed, a very active commerce with the external world must take place n the abnormal sleep of tlie sleep-walker, who may so wonderfully adjust his movements to varied conditions around him. A mere local lethargy occurs in hypnotism, when the patient not only sees, hears and feels, but replies to'questions and exercises hi3 imagination in response to suggestions in the greatest readiness, while remaining utterly paralyzed as regards his voluntary actions. Plants, since they have no nervous system, can have nothing really similar to the sleep of animals, yet many plants assume special positions as to the parts of their frame with the approach of night. Foliage leaves will fold themselves, and flowers will close, movements which as yet receive no adequate explanation. -Contemporary Review. Warmth and Energy. In ancient times, energy of mind and strength of body were supposed to be the effects of warmth, while depression of spirits and bodily weakness were as cribed to cold. Modem science h:.s explained and modified these theories concerning the production of physical and psychical force, but in the main it has conlirmed the principle of causation. In a general sense, it may be said that animal heat, when duly generated within normal limits, is the concomitant oi vigor. Practically, therefore,warmth is to be sought and cold avoided; but with this qualification, that the heat must be elicited by organic processes going on in thebod>, and not borrowed from without. The chief, if not the only use of wraps and warm surroundings is to avoid the loss of animal heat by abstraction. It is neither scientific nor hygienic, in any true sense, to trust to external sources of supply for the warmth we require to live well, happily and usefully. The food is more than the raiment, and those who desire, to help the poor and melancholy over their "dead points" in the course of life should be chiefly anxious to feed them well and sufficiently. So in the management of self?to live well is to feed appropriately. Stimulants do not give strength, because they cannot add to the normal :.nd healthy sources of animal heat. Nutriment ia the only true fuel. A Man 130 Years Old. A letter from Lafayette, Ind., says: Trot out your old men; Lafayette bids them all defiance. Residing in the eastern part of this city is Matthew Robinson, a son of the Emerald Isle, who claims that he was born under the reign of George III.; that his grandfather lived on this mundane sphere 145 years; and that he himself has knocked about the world for 130 years. Looking at him to-day. one would set him down in the nineties, with fair prospects lor twenty years more. He insists, however, that he is fully a century and a quarter old; that he took the first 1 A. * U U T 1 i. /XT V \ Dutu uiruugii Lue lAicKporb ^i>. i.j locks; that he went to sea at thirty years of age, and followed that avoca tion for fifty years: and for forty-three years he ran on the Erie canal. He lives here with hi* son, one of our most worthy citizens. The old gentleman is six leet and over in height, and was eighty years his average weight was 23l> pounds, though at present it is less that half that. He never wore spectacles, never carried n cane or crutch, and was never flick. TIMELY TOPICS, ft ?? I The fifteen great American inventions 3 of world-wide adoption are: 1. The I cotton gin. 2. The planing machine. 3. The grass mower and reaper. 4. The I rotary printing Dress. 5. Navigation by ^ steam. 6. The hot air engine. 7. The 3 sewing machine. 8. The India rubber 1 industry. 9. The machine manufacture of horseshoes. 10. The sand blast for I carving. 11. The gauge lathe. 12. The r grain elevator. 13. Artificial ice mak1 lag on a large scale. 14. Th** electric : magnet and its practical application. 15. The composing machine for print| ers. A sixteenth must be added?the , telephone. 1 A Nihilist trial in Kieff has resulted [ in a number of revelations concerning I the way the Russian revolutionists go to [ work. The accused, who has been conj demned to death, one Arsaynee Bogos lavsky, the son of a clergyman, was > charged with an attempt to rob a mail ! van and to appropriate the cash box of . a regiment of infantry, with manufac, turing explosive materials, with murJ ? ? ^ Ut;rill? lb IC1IU W tlUUiailOU) AVUIliVU) uuu , with dwelling in Kieff with a false pass, port. The murder of Kuriioff. one of ! their own, was decided upon because he was'believed to have been betraying his friends. He was fallen upon by the latter and shot, and his body was flung into the Dnieper. According to , one of the witnesses, an ex-Nihilist, the chief of their association is invested with the right of life and death over the members. For the first case of disobedience, corporal punishment is the penalty; for the second, death. According to the same and another exNihilist, one of their fellow membeis had been the son of a prince. Some figures on tlie magnitude of the Bessemer steel interest of the United States will not prove uninteresting. This industry was projected in 1864, and I in the following year the first steel rails made in America were rolled at Chicago by Captain E. R. Ward. There are at present in the United States eleven important establishments?five in Pennsylvania, three in Illinois and one in each of the States of New York, Ohio and Missouri. Productions has steadily increased, until, in 1879, the number of gross tons manufactured reached a total of 606,397, and the price has as steadily decreased from $166 per ton currency, in 1867, to $48.33 per ton in the year just expired. In the last ten years, and in the experimental years which preceded them, the United States has produced a grand aggregate of 2,522,107 gross tons of rails" enough to lay 26,750 miles of railwav track with sixty-pound rails. According to the highest authority recognized in the trade, no other country has in these ten years made half the progress in building up a Bessemer steel in/lnofrt? tl>of fhfl TTnifr_Orl llQL lUViUOUl J bUWV VliV WMtvuM MVHVW itinj made. American industry is to-day abreast of that of Great Britain, of which the present producing capacity does not exceed 750,000 gross tons of rails annually, and it is predicted that before this year closes the United States wiil take the first rank in this branch of manufactures. Several American residents of Yokohama, Japan, have sent to their home friends accounts in detail of the recent earthquake at that place. One of these accounts has reached the Baltimore Sim. The writer says that on fhe morning of the earthquake the first shock caused him to turn over in bed merely, aa he attributed the commotion to some lesser cause. At the next shock the noise was awful (the word being armoo Knf. in I UOCU UUU ill VUV DUUVVl'^lli kJV iWV y lyuw M*Jk its meaning, "lull of awe.") At daybreak he found both the chimneys that belonged to his house were gone. Other chimneys were hanging by the edges of ioose stones, and looked *s though they might have been Bhoved over with the little finger. Many of the houses were cracked from cellar to ridge. The writer continues: How strong this earthquake was one caii see by looking at heavy pianos,which have in some instances been moved three feet away from the wall into the room. It was by far the strongest shock I have felt so far, and off the bluff there is scarcely a house which has escaped damage altogether. All the ladies declare that they are going to leave this country by the first mail steamer, and I feel sure that ?211 ?? * f wn f ATCAfKar suLLie win reujijr ^un nc ?uv ?uuuiu shake like this last one, which God forbid. I have had enough earthquakes and do not wish for any more. Whence the House of Washington Derived its Name. While every American has heard of Mount Vernon, probably not one in a hundred knows whence it derived the name. The unfortunate Duke of Monmouth had a private secretary named Vernon, a prudent, sensible man of business, who, after the duke's death, found favor in influential quarters, and under William III. became secretary of state. He left a son, Edward, born 1684, who, greatly against his father's wishes, en tered the navy, and serving with early distinclion, rose to the rank of admiral. In 172*2 he was returned to the house of commons, and having in July, 1739, declared there that Porto Bello might be reduced with six sail of the line, and that he would stake his life and reputation on the success of the expedition, | he was sent off with a squadron to doit, succeeded, and gave his men $10,000, which had justarrived to pay his troops.; On returning home he received the tlianksof both houses and the freedom of the city of London. From t&at time, i however, his star declined. An expedition to Carthagena.made twoyears later signally failed, bmollett. at that time a naval sursjeon, accompanied the fleet, ana nas iota tne story 01 it in nuuerick Random." where he compares Vernon and General Wentworth, wbo commanded the auxiliary land force, to Caesar and Pompey. "The one," he says, " would not brook a superior, while the other was impatient of an equal: so that between the pride of one and the insolence of another the enterprise miscarried." It wa9 in the land force at Carthagena that Lawrence Washington, George's elder brother by fourteen years, had served, and apparently he esteemed Vernon, as he gave his name to his home on the Potomac, and procured a midshipman's appoint? ? 4- c? u.,4. i, uieut tin urcurgc, uuu uir? muuiu a interposition ultimately prevented the boy's availing himself of it, albeit sne at first consented. Vernon's popularity was so great that his unlucky expedition does not seem to have affected it, and he was actually elected to parliament for three places at once on his return. Probably his known hostility to the government had much to do with this. In 1745 he was detailed to watch the North sea, in view of a movement of the pretender's adherents. The next year a serious squabble arose between him and the government, resulting in his producing two pamphlets, which so exasperated the authorities that by the king's express command he was struck off the list of admirals. He died in 1757, at his seaun ouuoik. ann, noiwiwisuinuing ins disgrace, a handsome monumti.l r,o him was erected in Westminster abbe? It was Vernon who brought into use the custom of mixing water with the ration of rum, whicli got the name of erog from his habit of wearing a grogam waistcoat, and hence .his nickname of "Old Grog." Altogether, the man who invented grog, is buried n Westminster abbey, commemorated by Smollett, and gave a name to Washington's home, must Vregarded as no ordinary person.' Canada's timber supply is being heavily drawn upon, the present season's yield being estimated at 1,064,000,000 feet. ARCTIC INDIANS. Some of the Quier People Visited by IVordenakjold. tbe Explorer. The natives inhabiting the coast ot Siberia, between Cape Shelagskoi and | the southern part of Behring strait, are called Tchuktchis. Their number is estimated to be about three thousand, i including a nomadic tribe called the Rein-Tchuktchis. who subsist by keep- ing reindeer herds. These form a link ] between their brethren on the coast and ( the inland tribes o i Siberia, to the latter j of whom they dispose of their goods, i consisting of seal and walrus hides, j walrus teeth, etc., which they receive t from the country population in ex- | change for reindeer hides. I The coast population live in villages j numbering from three to twenty tents, f spread along the coast as near the shore } as possible, and at a few miles' distance , from each other. \ The Tchuktchis are divided into two , sections, each with its respective chief. ] The eastern population have for their f chief Menka, who resides at Markowa ? on the Anadyr river. The western, again, are under the chief Amra Urgin, who resides in the vicinity of Kolyma ] iver. I The tent of the coast Tchuktchis con- | sists of a neculiar and cleaverly con- 1 structed frame of wood, the material for which is obtained from drift-logs, with which the shore is plentifully strewed. This is covered with a number of seal and waltus hides carefully sewn together. Inside the tent, and right before the entrance is a smaller cubiform tent, made of reindeer-stins, and used as the sleeping chamber. During the cold season ,it is heated by blubber lamps. Even during severe cold the atmosphere within this tent is so heated that the natives who occupy it, without distinction of sex or age, lie almost nude. The dimensions of the tent depend upon the number of the family. In each tent generally dwells only one family, in which are included the sisters and brothers of the married aammIa 4- K AT* anfflrt f/\t? fliam. UUUJJAC UUIU^C bUUV Otl/HC A\Jk VUViu j selves. ( The Tchuktchis, the children of na- . ture in the Arctic regions, fostered \ among ice, snow and cold, familiarized with bloody scenes in the seal, whale | and walrus hunt, without any of the influences of civilization, are, notwithstanding, a good-natured, friendly, hospitable and hoaest people. J Although the Vega during the long * winter was daily vfsited by at least . twenty natives, it was only on two or 1 three occasions that they were found c guilty of dishonestly appropriating any- 8 tiling, and these thefts were of the most ? trifling description. The Tchuktchis are a people of small T stature, although among raaqimay be ? found perfect giants; as, for instance, a ] woman whom we saw six feet three J inches tall. Their complexion is sal- 1 low, the men's being usually darker than ^ that of the women. Occasionally, how- * ever, one may see, especially amon? the 1 women, a complexion as fair and clear 1 as that of the inhabitants of Northern J Europe. The eyes are black, and often 1 set oblique like the Chinese. The hair, J which is coal black, is worn by the men 1 cut quite short; while the women allow 5 it to grow quite lreeiv, part it in tne * middle of the brow, and wear it in plaits ] of twelve to eighteen inches lone, which J hang down at each ear. They also wear I a lock combed down and cut across ' which covers half the forehead. The A men also use a similar lock, and some- * times a long tuft at the crown of the 1 head. This tuft is worn, so tar as I } could learn, only by chiefs. ' Their clothing is mads principally of reindeer skin, and consists of a pesk or 9 1 blouse reaching to the knees, with an t opening at the top just sufficient for the head to pass through. In addition the J men have tiffht fitting trousers of rein- 1 deer sKin, which are tucked down into boots of the same material, the latter with soles of walrus hide. The women also .wear trousers, but those are wide, t ending immediately below the knee, where they are similarly tucked into the t boots. * in the outer clothing the hairy side of f the skin is always to the exterior, but, i on the contrary, the hairy side of those i articles worn next the body during the r cold season is turned inward. A close- t fitting hood of reindeer-skin and mittens o oi the same material completes their 13 dress. In this costume they defy any kind of weather. Often so clad, night after night, even in the most severe cold, they pursue their seal fishing 1 miles away from the shore without any t other protection from the icy winds. c The weapons of the Tchuktchis con- s sist of a bow and arrows, a spear? t which, like the arrows, has a point of r iron or of bone?a knife and a kind of 1 sling used for catching birds. The iron t for the arrow and spear heads is ob- a tained from the Americans and Russians c by their bartering transactions. They a themselves have no iron at their com- \ mand nor any knowledge of its work- p ing. To their hunting implements be- g lr?na t.hft qpjilinff-net. made of finelv cut V strips of sealhide, netted with a three inch mesh. With these the young seals ? are caueht. The net is extended be- r tween two blocks of ice, and the seals r get entangled in its meshes, and so be- r come an easy prey to the hunters. c The principal food of the natives con- J sists of seal-fish and blubber, in addi- j tion to whicu they use, feathered game, j bear and reindeer flesh, when such can a be obtained. The roots of certain shore s plants, also willow, leaves, ranunculus, ] and saxifrage, etc., enter pretty largely 8 into their diet. The leaves are col- r lected in the latter end of summer, ( pressed, and consumed during the win- ] ter; and in these they are provided { with a powerful anti-scorbutic. During x the winter, when getting short of otheV s provisions, the bon?s of seals and wal- t ruses caught during summer are crushed, and prepared in the form of a ] broth soup, which is consumed by both ] men and does. Of the latter there are j a great number in every village, which \ are chiefly employed in conveying tneir j owners by sleage from one place to another. Although these does are not' T large, three or four of them can with ease carry a man lone distances. When f] the Tchuktchis undertakes long journeys of three to five hundred miles, he often has as manv as eiehteen does harnessed to his sledge, with which he is able to j accomplish seventy to eighty miles a day. During the first half oi the winter we ] were daily visited by twenty to thirty ' natives, who got any food the crew ! might have lelt. Beside this they re- ! ceived a considerable quantity ol bread Irom the ship's stores. They made themselves useful in several small ways, such J as sawing wood, carrying ice, etc. la : the beginning of February, when their ' provisions began to run short, they all 1 removed from'Pitlekai (the nei'.resi village to us) to another village further ' east, called Naskai, where they raised temporary tents, and carried on seal- J fishing in the open water to be found in i the vicinity. About this time the na- 1 1 1 -ii : I livesmaae:i gran, unui,uimwing lu unuu tent twenty-five to fifty young seals. Beside seals, they got in the same vicinity a pood catch of a fish resembling cod. ?Lieutenant, Palandcr's Narrative, in Blackwood's Magazine. " Sir," roared a man out in Nebraska, striding up to a neighbor, " Sir, you are ; a liar." " i am?" exclaimed the aston- \ ish::d neighbor. " How do you know I ' am?" "Because I know it; because I have found it out." " How long have . you been living here P" "Sixw^eks." 1 Neighbor, tranquilly, nodding his head; ' "Oh, well probably you do know it ! then. I didn't think you had? been in town so long." There was no fight. ? , A mania for clocks :n the streets has seized upon the municipality of Paris, and a large number have already been i erected. The clocks are illuminated i ones. i A Lady's Strange Occupation. The Cincinnati Commercial has this description of Misa Middy Morgan, an Irish lady ot noble family, who, after having shone in Irish and Italian society, came to this country and assumed the position of live stock reporter (or a leading New York daily paper. She was always a lover of horses, and in Italy wasaemployed by King Victor Emanuel to purchase horses for his stable, her judgment of animals being so excellent. "When she first applied for her singular position she was allowed by the editors to try the work, for a joke, but she did so well that they ?oon found it worth while to employ tier in earnest. She is an immensely t?\ll woman, six feet two inches in height. Miss Morgan wore, when I saw her, a lanky waterprool dress reaching to her ankles. She wore a jheap black straw hat, " pitched onto " 4ie ohuk oi ner neaa. ic dUiiea ner, md it was nobody else's business. Her shoulders are broad and square, md she does not mince matters when ihe walks. She jumps on and off a car when in full motion when she feels like it. Tbose accustomed to the ordinary lelplessness of the female sex in the matter of locomotion are somewhat startled jy her methods. They aay she looks like a man dressed In woman's slothes. She has not a relative n this country, but has made iome warm friends. All the cattle narket people know her and esteem ler, as she goes here and there, from jne yard to another. Universal reipect and deference are shown to her. rhere is something very impressive ind strange in the way she moves ibout among the wild Texas cattle ind scarcely less wild cattle drovers, ind commands as much respect as my lady in a drawing room. They lay that no matter how crazy drunk any >ne of these drovers m*y be, he never ails to recognize Middy Morgan, and ;reat her like a lady. What made this ady refined, gifted, brilliant, a favorite n the highest circles of society in Eu epe, suddenly turn her back on it all to :ross the sea and become a market resorter among the cattle pens of the new vorld, nobody knows. low Grant Got His West Point Appointment. An Ohio member of Congress says hat General Grant once gave him the ollowing account of his admission to fVest Point: When I was a boy, living n Georgetown, 111., my mother ran >ut of butter one morning, and needing ome before it coula be had at the store, ihe sent over to the next door neighjor's to borrow some. I was just as veil acquainted there as I was at home ilmost, and opened the door and went n without knocking, and just as I went none of the folks, the old gentleman, I >elieve, was reading a letter from a son vho was in West Point. I didn't want rx /liafnvVh f AtYl TXrVlllo fVlOTT TKTOVO I\J UJObUt u buvrn ?? MilV ruvj *r v* v * vuv?ng the letter, and stood there and heard vliat was read. Well, the sun said in bis letter that he had been found?that s, he had failed to pass examination, ind he would have to come-home, and ie had sent the letter one mail ahead, o that the surprise at his return might lot be so great. When they got through t borrowed the butter and took it lome, and then rushed down to Thomas j. Hamar's office?he was our Congressman then?and I asked him if he wouldn't send me to West Point. He old me that he couldn't send me until his other boy got through, and that vouldn't be for three years yet. *' But, lamar," said I, "suppose this boy ihould fail to pass examination, and hould be sent home, will you send me hen ?" "Well, Uly," said he, "Iguessifhe sin't pass tbere'd be no use of you trying t." "But I want you to promise that you vill send me," said I. " All rieht,"said he, "if he can't get hrough I promise to let you try." During the day Hamar heard about he other fellow, and the next day I vent and asked 11 ne uaa neara me lews. He said he had, and after laughug at me for the way I had got him to ake the promise, ne said it was all ight, I should go. Well, I went, and iccause my mother happened to be out if butter has made me general of the irmy of the United States. A Carnival Freak. Among the strange freaks of the last Viennese carnival has been the adopion by several of the leading beauties if imitation feet and sandals, as acces-1 ories to mythological or classical cosumes. Having indued flesh-colored oaillots provided with th'n soles, these adies committed their delicate extremiies to the manipulation of the skilled irtists, who deftly painted thereupon :ounterfeit presentments of toes, sandals ind laces, all complete. The pretty vife of an eminent Viennese historical lainter had chosen the dress of a water prito wherein to attend the " G'schnas >all," and solicited her husband's aid to make up" her ieet in the manner ibove indicated. He consented; but lot wishing to enhance his wife's ifttnral charms bv adventitious neans, he put off the foot-painting >peration until the last moment. When, lowever, the carriage was at the door, md the water sprite's toilet completed n all respects but one, he seized brush tnd palette, and addressed himself, eemingly in feverish haste, to his task, lurrying his wife off to the ball as soon ls her mimic feet were ready, without jiving her time to inspect them. On 'ntering the gayly-lighted ball-room the ady cast a hasty glance at her husmnd's artistic achievements. Her horor may be better imagined than deicribed when she perceived that the )ink silk tights in which her dainty feel vere imprisoned had been admirably iluminated by his master hand with nor ible representations of chilblains, bunons and inveterate corns, only too true ;o nature. That night she danced not, jut sat in a corner, hiding her trarestied feet under her chair as best she night. rhe Great Tnnuel Voder the Alps. The report of the Swiss federal coun;il about the St. Gothard tunnel gives tome interesting particulars with regard ;o the completion of the work. The average number of men employed n the tunnel during the last month was 2,814, and tne total expenditure up to ;he date when the parties working from :he two ends joined hands was $9,125,395. The quantity oi eartn nna rocs excavated was about 570,000 cubic yards, md the masonry of the arch of the tuniel was completed for a distance of seven miles out ot the mine. The pressure of the air at the northern mouth ot the tunnol was equivalent to 3? atmospheres, while at the southern ?nd it was equivalent to only 3A atmospheres. The volume of air introduced into the tunnel every day was 187,584 cubic yards, and the mean temperature it the head of the shaft on the (roschenen side was eighty-six degrees Fahrenheit, and eighty-four degrees on the Airolo side, rising to as much as eightyseven degrees during the removal of the soil excavated. The highest temperalure upon eithor side of the tunnel wns ninety-lour degrees Jtanrenneit, ana tins nt a time when the thermometer outside stood at only three degrees above freezing poiiit. The average number of lamps alight in the tunnel was about 750 a day, and the daily consumption of oil was about jeventy gallons. It may be added that about eighty men lost their lives, and twice as many more received severe injuries, while Llic work was in progress. A Dakota girl has married a Chinaman. He had some dillieulty in explaining the state of his he irt. but she tinally irot his cue. Leap Tear. The American Agriculturist gives the followJrg account of why leap year cornea once in four years: The earth moves around the sun once a year, as you all have learned from your geography. The time required for the earth to pass around and return to the place from which it started is called a solar or sun year?the year made by tbe heavenly bodies. In olden times men did not know that the earth moved around the sun. If there was any moving it was donejby the sun,they thought; ana it did seem to move. To this day we all say the sun rises and sets? Knowing so little about the revolutions of the earth, it was very hard for men to arrange the divisions of time so that they would correspond with the solar year. The civil year is the one made by man, and, like many human things, it was at first very imperfect?that is, the civil year ana solar year did not correspond very closely. In the time of Julius Cfflsar, the two kinds of years had got so out of place that the spring of the civil year came in midsummer. To use an illustration, we will have two cog wheels that work into each other. If both wheels are in all respects alike, the places will alwayB come together at each revolution; but suppose one wheel is a trifle smaller than the other, the wheel representing the civil year smaller iU* i-Us* biiau me uuc ui tuc auiai vctu, men aujr points once together will keep getting further apart. This was just the trouble between man's year and the natural year. Caesar rearranged the civil year in 46 before Christ, and introduced the system having three years of 365 days and then one of 366?the additional day being giving to February. The solar year is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and ?Q1 omw?Ho an lhaf PaMor'a natty nf days, averaging the four, is about eleven minutes too long. The point is to get e these two years, the year of the heavens which we cannot alter, and the year oi e the almanacs, to agree. Matters went on as they had been started by Julius S Cfiesar, with a loss of eleven minutes a g year, until 1582, over 1,600 years, when it became evident that the little yearly 8l loss was too great and must be remedied. 0 How could this be done, was the question. At this time a pope took tbe mat- -r ter up?it was a time when popes had * ^reat temporal power?and decreed that 5 the filth of October be called the 15th, . and all the intervening days to be can- e celed. This only set matters right for 81 the time being, but the same pope, e Gregory XIII., made it a rule that the century years not divisible by eight be e not leap years, according to the new e rule. This omits three leap years in \ every 400years. With this arrangement the civil and solar years almost coincide, h the solar exceeding by only twenty-two a and one-quarter seconds, or a day i in about 4,000 years?a matter too small to need attention. _ Those who have followed us through, t and we iear 11 lias oeen raiuer uiy iur the younger readers, will see that it has been quite a hard matter to bring things around straight. The leap year comes a from the fact that there is a fraction of a a day in the solar year which it would 1 not be convenient to have in thejcivil, ? so we put enough of the fractions to- c gether to make a day, and have the extra one on the leap year, o ( very c fourth year. ? v ? r Milk and Lime Water. Milk and lime water are now fre- c quently prescribed by physicians in cases e of dyspepsia and weakness of the stomach, and in some cases are said to prove I very Deneuciai. jviany persons wno t think good bread and milk a fjreat luxury, frpquently hesitate to eat it for the t reason that the milk will not digest t readily; sourness of the stomach will s often follow. But experience proves, . says the Journal of Materia Mcdica, that jlime wa(er and milk are not only firod ^ and medicine at an early period of life, r but also at a later, -when, as in case of ^ in/ants, the functions of digestion and assimilation are leeble and easily pei*- \ verted. A stomach taxed by gluttony, irritated by improper food, inflamed by I alcohol, enfeebled by disease, or otherwise unfitted for its duties?as is shown I by the various symptoms attendant upon indigestion, dyspepsia, diarrhea, dysentery and fever?will resume its work, and do it energetically, on an s exclusive diet of bread and milk and t lime water. -A goblet of cow's milk j | may have four tablespoonfula of lime t water added to it with good effect. The k way to make lime water is simply to i ! procure a few lumps of unslaked, lime, s put the lime in a stone jar, and add watpr t until tbo lime is slaked and of about the * consistence of thin cr4am; the lime set- i: ties, leaviug the pure and clean lime t water on the top. c s ) " Stringy" Cabbage. ~ ? ? ! A f IjKOl'gU waa tiua?iijjaui,i? luuv ui 3 cold cabbage, and one day, seeing quite t a dishful was left after dinner, asked his I wife to save it for his salad at night. 1 About midnight George came home, laboring under a stress of heavy weather. Feeling hungry, and thinking of his favorite cabbage, he asked t where it was. ' t His wife replied, " In the pantry, on ( the second snelf." 1 ' Down he went, found the cabbage, 1 got out the oil, mustard and vinegar, a cut up the cabbage, dressed it to his 1 taste and ate it all. ... 1 In the morning his wife noticed the r plate of cabbago where she had put it J the day before, and turning to her s "Dear George" innocently asked why i he did not eat the cabbage. i " I did," he said. 1 ' How did you like it?" f " Oh! not very well, it was tough and t stringy." 1 " But here is the cabbage now, where 1 did you lind any more?" i "Why, on the second shelf, where i you told me." 1 A quick look at the shell by the wife i and then a cry of agony. * " Why, George, you have eaten $20 t worth of lace collars and cuffs that 1 ' had put in starch; stringy cabbage, in- 1 deed!" j Andrew Jackson's Way. ' Andrew Jackson's peculiar liking and * U/v*.;*-*.* mon ianiptnrPQnilPlv reaper iui iawim6 shown by a story related in the Nash- . ville Banner. John Crver, a mason, was on several occasions engaged to build chimneys at the Hermitng<\ and . while at work often observed the most retined and wealthy people of Nashville coming to visit the generaland his wife. The good mason, having more or less mortar ornamenting his clothes, would ( say to Jackson that lie "would not go j to the first table to eat"?that he " was I not tit to appear ii such elegant company." The general always replied: "You must go to the first table, sir; a , laboring man ought to be as highly ( honored as any man in the community, for the support of the world depends on , their labor. I will see that you arr>|( treated with proper respect at my table." |, Cryer, frequently laughing, said he had . been more honored than any man in the world, for President Jackson had fro- 1 quently waited on him and brought him . ! brick and mortar, when his regular at- j j t?ndynt was out of the way. ? i j < j One of the English election phrases for j l which there is no equivalent in the i United States is "plumping." Where I ever ;i constituency returns two mem- r hers, t'lu-li voter can eive one vote each s to any two candidaus, (?ut lie ran no t f ive his two votes to any one candidate. j f he chooses he can sri ve one vote to only t I one candidate, and this is termed c | "plumping." 1 Castles In the Air. I am lair with the Hush ot girlhood My heart ia as light as air, My future is brilliant with promise 01 days which will hold no core. I am clothed in aiUw and satiua, The belle'of the ballroom I, While enviou* eyea are watching As haughtily 1 pass by. I am traveling in far-off countries, Idling 'neath Italy's skies, Enchanted with scenes that delight mo Whero'er I may turn my eyea. 1 have suitors?yea, by the dozen? Kneeling so low at my feet, While pride in my heart runs riot, And the sense of triumph is sweet I am queen in a lordly castle, With servants at my command, And ease and comfort and pleasure (Jlone wittun reacn 01 my nana. Lo ! the flre has burned to embers, The room is chilly and dark, There's a well-known step at the doorway/ For John is coming; and, hark ! The coo of my own dear baby, Lying awake in her nest. And we welcome papa together, I and the child on my breast; For though my castle* have lallen, And grandeur has vanished away, No queen oould be prouder or richer Than I with my dear ones to-day. ? Earptr't Wttkly. STEMS OF CTTEKEST. A aha?ra?f Tkfl Anlf qIvam?m A VUUCUU CVCUU J.UO vuu oui^auu* There are sixty-seven Women preach rs in the United States. The slovenly dressmaker is the most rrible seam mtonster. the ladies think. Amateur fishermen in the United tates pay 31,000,000 a year for tiahing ear. In Macon, Ga., there are fourteen tihools for white and fourteen for colred children. The daily receipt of dead letters in the Vashington department for the past far has averaged 13,000. The population of Persia is about qual to that of Belgium. It has 30.000 oldiers, of whom about 10,000 are fairly fficient. v ... Over 1,800,000 gallons of petroleum or arth oil, are brought to the surface very day in the oil regions of Pennsylvania alone. If the Czar of Russia cannot punish tis enemies in any other way, he can .bdicate and go on a lecturing tour.? lome Sentinel. , Apricots are becoming a favorite fruit, mong the growers of California, where , he climate seems to be well adapted for heir propagation. When a man is startled at something, .nd says: " I hear a noi'e," it prob.blv never occurs to him that there is lotting else in this wide world that* inyboay else can hear but a noise.? Syracuse Sunday Times. A man in Marshal: county, Tcnn. , , >ver eighty years oi age, has never sope. lither a railroad or a steamboat. He is' l good farmer and attends closely to his >wn business. lie has lived within fivoi niles of a railroad for seveiral years. ? The wheat crop of Russia for 1879, hough reported short, was more than I jubie that of the United States Russia exports largo quantities to England, vhere she is the great competitor of the Jnited States, besides feeding a popu.aion of ninety millions. A man stopping his paper wrote to he editor1 thinTc men ottend to spend heir munny for paper, my dad dident, ind everybody sed he was the intelii-, jentest man in the country, aud he had he smartest family of boys that ever lug tators." Of course he didn't need a taper. Vben the conrting at midnight is ended, And he stands with his hat in his list, Vhiie she lovingly lingers beside him, To bid him " ta, ta," and be kissed, low busy the thoughts of the lutars? You bet yon his thoughts he don't speak? le is wondering how they can manage , To live on six dollars a areek. ?Modern Argo. He was of a scientific turn, she of a entimental cast. "You see, Amelia, he law of gravitation keeps the earth list so far from the sun all the time, and he centrifugal force of the centripetal nrttinn.orsomethinztjf that sort, makes t revolve." "Dear me, John," said he,'4 is that so? I thought 'twas love hat made the world go round. ' 'Well, yes, I suppose it does; but not n a technical sense." "I don't want any echnical sense. If you can't talk senti-. aental nonsense, you can go calling on ome girl that reads the magazines and :nows all about science, so there!" and t took half an hour of his best enieavor to place himself back in the. ame spot in her affections that he wad tefore the scientific discussion began.? Vew Haven Register About Alaska. Alaska covers a territory as large as bat part of the United States east of he Mississippi river and north of Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina. Che northern and central sections are argely prairies, on which grows heavy rrass which makes excellent hay. Chere are in the territory about 1,800 nen who would be capable immediately >f exercising the rights of citizenship. >itka has a white male population of ibout 600 and about 300 mn'.e adult Russians. The Russian church has a nembership ot 8,000 in the territory. The Yukon river is said to have i larger volume of water than ,he Mississippi. It is seventy miles vide across its five mouths and intervening delta, and 1,000 miles above its mouth it is, in some places, twenty nlles from main bank to main bank, [t is navigable for 1,500 miles live nonths in the year for light draught steamers. In the northern pirt of tlie ;erritory it is cold in the winter and hot ,n summer, the thermometer ranging . from seventy degrees below zero to 110 ibove: but in the southern section the winter temperature is about the same aa that of the State of Georgia and the summer temperature about fqual to Minnesota. There are about 7.000 of what is called the Aleut population, who are described as about tin a par, in ill mattersol education and citizenship, with the Mexican population received into citizenship with New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. The Indian population is reckoned to be from 30,00'J M.OOO. The country is absolutely without government, and there is no protection tor life or property. The fur interests of Alaska are the most valuable in the world, and the fisheries are equally as valuable. Cod and sa'mon are found in inexhaustible numbers anil of the finest kind. Eighteen ve-seis from San Francisco iast season took 3.00otons of cod - -? Alool-.I Tfu? Oil tile COIWL Ui OUUUIUII .1.^,,... finest snlmon sell in Alaska (or ore cent each. Then there are the valuable fish of commerce?herrine. h.?lil>ut ami others; also oil fisheries, the oulic.m and others. In the way of minerals, iron, coal, copper and jjolii are foun<). The coal is so line that the Russian war ... t?i,? ,*f nrr>fprrnci> to SLCiiuici's iinyjija r-~ any other. _As to agriculture, out" and barley growon t?e Yukon river. There ?re fine prairies covered with grass, excellent for grazing, and which makes c;ood hay. Vegetables of all kinds are raised and the country abounds in sinail fruits, such as blackberries, raspberries, n-anberries, etc. Under acts of Congress the United States government iharges a tax on seal Skins taken in Vlaska. The total amount paid into the reasury from such tax since the pur;hase of Alaska and up to December 31, 879, was $2,847,042.07. Ill ?MM