The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, November 08, 1882, Image 1
jsuddenly seemed to awaken to. the]
! enormity of her conduct in thus;
thrusting herself into the society of an !
j unknown gentleman, taking forcible 1
t"possession of his retreat, and insisting .
, upon teaching him to skip stones, will
j he, nill he. Sudden scarlet eclipsed j
j cheek peach blossoms, and she began '
| to stammer apologies.
j " What will you think of me?" she J
| began. "Indeed I am not bold and !
! improper, although I know that I ;
! must have seemed so this afternoon.!
i You may ask any one at Fort 1'aynor j
I if I am." And then, recollecting that I
: she was speaking to some one who had ;
probably never seen Fort Haynor, she i
i added, hastily, "Or I will give you the !
address of mvminister and my Bible)
ABBEVILLE PRESS AND BANNERI
BY HUGH WILSON AND H. T. WAKDLAW. ABBEYILLE, S. C.. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1882. NO. 23. VOLUME XXVII. JJ
A Pathetic Poem.
Marc Cook ("Van Dyke Brown"), the
young poet who died in Utica, N. Y., recently,
of consumption, left one or two poems
touching his sickness and the prospect of his
early death, which are very pathetic. Here
is ono with a sigh in every line:
AWAITING TCIE END.
Never again to know
Health's warming, radiant glow ;
Never again to feel the pulse's quickened
heat
The siurws pliant sis steel, tempered in
action's heat,
The sweat of honest toil, bringing its respito
sweet;
But day and night, night and day,
To mark the body's slow decay,
And know that Death scores one in the game
/ Tn cunet,;,... nil conmi
Every day, every day !
Never again to dream
Of all that may be, or seem,
In the sunlit future hid from the eager eye
of youth;
Never to raise the lid of the precious casket
of truth;
Never to hope to delve in the field of thought,
forsooth;
But day and night, night and day,
To watch the hours waste away,
Still in the world and still not of it?
Still learning more and more to love it
Every day, every day!
Never again to stand
In the thick of the battle grand?
In the God-led battle of life, the goodliest
battle of all,
Where noble it were in the strife, manfully
fighting to fall;
Never in action's ranks to answer the bugle
call?
But day and night, night and day,
To passively sit and watch the fray,
With a skeleton specter always nigh?
Oh, worse than a thousand times to die
Every day, every day!
THEIR. COMMON BOND.
Several explosive sneezes interrupted
Love Travis as she added the last
touches of charming disorder to the
frinsre of curling lironze hair which lav
on lier forehead. As a particularly
energetic " Ah-tish-oo!" rent the air,
and caused her to perform an involuntary
courtesy, her straight, dark
brows met in the thoughtful little
frown which was peculiar to her, and,
looking meditatively into the mirror
she observed that her blue-gray eyes
were inflamed, and that her pretty
nose, with its suspicion of tip-tiltedness,
had, on this occasion, more than
a suspicion of redness.
" I can't have taken a cold," Love
meditate# " It must be; yes, it is the
fifteentls?|)f August!" she exclaimed,
as she^Sgaced at the calendar which
hungjpshe wall of her room. "It
has gpfcl" she announced, solemnly,
- as sp? walked into the room where
the ramily were assembled at breakfast.
" What? The Day of Judgment, or
a cyclone?" demanded Kate, Love's
younger sister.
" Xone of your flippancy, miss !" rebuked
Love. "What evil genius has
dogged my footsteps since my earliest
teens, lying in wait for me, and pouncing
upon me with mathematical precision
every year on the fifteenth of
August? What diabolical spirit, may
JL ttdlV JUU, JIU1U3 1I1C HI ltd UlUtUUCO
from ,that (late onwartl, making me
sneeze, and gasp, and cougli at its own
sweet will?(not mine, I assure you !)
until frost releases me from captivity i
'Of all gad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are, " Hay fever time again"!'"
she continued, with mock despair and
real vexation. " But," brightening,
and speaking with sudden resolution :
" 'Tis well for us all that a region lies
Where the infusoria never rise,'
and I'm going there this summer !"
Mrs. Travis, Kate and Johnny stared
in amazement. Had Loye developed
latent lunacy? Only last evening
they had all assembled in solemn conclave
to discuss ways and means to
pay the butcher's bill, and here was
Loye coolly announcing that she was
about to take a pleasure trip !
" How ? " inquired Kate.
"?She'll take her knapsack on her back,
And travel on the railway track,'"
sang Johnny, in an irritating falsetto.
" You know I'd be glad to have you
go to Michigan, or to some of those
Northern States, dear, but"? began
Mrs Travis.
" Yes," interrupted Loye, " I know
the family exchequer is not fdled to
overflowing. But I have a phin, and
if Kate and Johnny will stop glaring
at me as if I were a two-headed lady,
I'll tell you about."
She accordingly unfolded her plan,
and, after many feeble jokes and much ;
scoffing on the part of Kate and I
" Johnny, great perplexity on the part j
of Mrs. Travis, and much triumphant;
proving of points at issue on the part j
of Love, she "won her mother's con- j
sent to what she wished to do, and I
cheerfully dispensed with the approval!
of jeering Kate and Johnny.
****** *
One afternoon, late in August, Don- j
aid Trafton stood by the river at a
Wisconsin summer resort skipping
stones. As he was sauntering along
the wooded banks of the Lac la Belle,
its smooth expanse suggested a renewal,
at thirty, of one of his boyish '
sports at ten. Acting upon the suggestion,
he had collected a small moun- j
tain of thin, smooth stones, and for the
past ten minutes or more had been I
laboriously trying to make them skip j
properly. But instead of giving the!
graft']ui mue leaps wihcii xraiion uau
expected them to do as a matter of i
course, tliev ineffectually grazed the
surface of the river and then plunged |
at once beneath. They made a pretty j
show of sparkles and dancing rings on
the water, it is true, but they were not
by any means fulfilling the duty of
skipping stones. Donald paused and
ruefuily admitted that his success was
not brilliant. So evidently thought an
unseen spectator, for, to Trafton's
* stupefaction, there swooped upon him
an apparition in an ivory llannel dress,
with a dark green sailor hat atilt on a
bronze confusion of curl and wave, and
a pair of
" Eyes of a deep, soft, lucent hue,
Eyes too expressive to be blue,
Too lovely to be gray,"
met his with the direct gaze of a child,
while a sweet voice pleaded :
" Oh, please let me show you!"
As Trafton turned, a slight reddening,
which would have been an undeniable
blush in a fairer man, overspread
his face, and he met the gaze of
the pretty stranger with a look of re
cognition and pleasure which was instantly
suppressed. She did not notice
this look, however, for her fingers were
tingling for the skipping-stones as an
artist's may tingle for pencil and brush
Avhen he sees them used by unskillful
hands. Trafton making no reply to
her request, she again pleaded:
"Oh, do let me show you!"
lie yielded his place at once to the
ncognita in ivory-and-green, and, after
ruthlessly demolishing Trafton's carefully-built
mountain, she gleaned from
the scattered stones a few that met
with her approval, and proceeded to
" show" him. How pretty she looked
jus she stooped poised on the bank, taking
careful aim! With her fringe of
hair blown by the winds into countless
curly tendrils, her lashes resting
heavily on her cheeks iike black satin
on peach blossoms, and resolute little
dimples deepening at the corners of
her mouth, Trafton thought he had
never seen anything more satisfactory
to look upon.
In another instant the stone was
thrown. A deft turn of the wrist
sent it spinning over the river, touching
its surface and bounding onward four
separate times. Incognita breathed a
quick, satisfied sigh at the successful
accomplishment of her feat, and said,
excitedly, "There! Johnny himself
couldn't have done better! Then she
'
class teacher, ;md you may write and
ask them."
Trafton looked at her with smiling
dark eyes as she stood, in wild anxiety, |
to clear herself from all suspicion of j
1 being an improper person. Then, as j
[ she concluded, he said, reassuringly :
I "There is no necessity for writing.
I am fully convinced that you are the
very pink and pinnacle of propriety.
Why, any young lady who had a spark j
of the missionary spirit in her composition
would feel it an imperative duty !
to hasten to the instruction of a benighted
heathen, who was struggling,
unaided and alone, to make some progress
in the noble art of skipping
stones."
"You really were doing very badly,"
said the pratty missionary, candidly.
"Still, if you really insist upon it,"
continued Trafton, looking at her quizzically,
" when I return to Fort Kaynor
i will question your pastor and
teacher with regard to you, .Miss
Travis!"
The tables of surprise were completely
turned upon Love. .She repeated,
blankly, "Fort Kaynor! Miss
Travis!" then recovering herself
slightly, said: "I know that it is not
polite to stare at you so, and repeat
your words as if I was a parrot; but
you have completely petrified me.
Please turn me to llcsh and blood as
quickly as possible, by explaining
what you meant by exploding these
names upon me like two Fourth of
July firecrackers."
" Very well, Miss Galatea. I live
nt I'/irt I :ilii 1)i>ti:i1<1 Tr.'if
ton, oi' the firm of Trafton & Detwiler,
hardware merchants. I have
seen you in church, and learned your
name, although I have nfcver chanced
to meet you any where until to-day."
" We have only lived in Fort Kaynor
for two months," explained Love, "and
we have been busy settling, and
mother's health is poor, so that I've
been almost nowhere as yet, except
to church and the confectioner's," she
added, with a whimsical.reflectiveness.
"Sometimes, when 1 feel as if l were
absolutely rolling in gold?that is,
have a dime to spare? 1 treat myself
to some chocolates. Xow, if you had
only chosen to sell candy instead of
stoves and nails, this double surprise
might have been avoided. Hut you
would have learned what a temper I
have if you had sold me st;de chocolate."
"Never would I have been guilty of
such baseness !" returned Trafton, fer- 1
vently. "But have I dissolved the '
stony spell which bound you ?"
"Yes, I believe so," said Loye, giv
ing herself a playful little shake. "But
I am turned to llesh only to fly, for it's
a quarter past five," she announced, J
glancing at her watch and returning it !
to her girdle of dark-green velvet. 1
Then, before Trafton could carry out {
his intention of looking at his time- 1
piece, and declaring that hers was ah- '
suruiy last, sue luui uiucien mm goouafternoon
and sped away.
lie hurried after her to express a 11
wish that tlioy might meet often. She 1
never paused, but merely tossed over !
her shoulder a cool, "It isn't likely, fur 1
1 am so busy."
"What can she be 'so busy' about," j
Trafton pondered, shrugging his '
shoulders in annoyance. " For what ;
fancy work (or fancy idleness) she has :
thrown me over, I wonder? Probably,
like the rest of womankind, she has
fallen under the baleful irilluence of 1
sunflowers and cat-tails. But she is
carrying her devotions to extremes, if,
even for their resthetic sake, she eschews
the society of her kin;!."
Trafton felt amazed, as well as nettled,
by Love's cavalier dismissal of 1
his request. lie was by no means
vain ; still, he could not but be conscious
that he had a well-knit, athletic
figure and a remarkably handsome
face; and he knew there were few 1
young ladies who would not prefer iiis
society to seclusion, even when bright- '
ened by the yellow charms of the most i
gorgeous sunflower that ever lit a
Kansas prairie or bloomed upon a
chair-back. He retlected, however,
that Miss Travis' apparent check upon :
his advances might be only a coquettish
thorn, intended to sting and stim- 1
ulate him into seeking the rose, her
self. And then he fell to wondering '
if he would see her at the lawn social :
that evening.
lie had told her that he had seen her
sometimes at church, but he had not
informed her that, after his first sight
of her there, he had attended its services
regularly for the sole purpose of
looking at her.
lie had strolled" into the Episcopal
church at Fort Havnor, and his atten- :
tion had been attracted by a very
pretty girl who looked, as she listened <
to the sermon, like a child listening to i
an absorbing fairy story. Her eyes I
were wide and attentive, her head j;
thrown a little back and her lips i;
eliorlitlv ti:?rf! < 1 T.mvc never Tinker] for '
effect, but she had ;i way of doing
heartily whatever she did, which habit ;
included even listening to a rather poor i
sermon. !;
Trafton came again and again, mak-1;
ing the lovely lace, with its fascinating ;
combination of earnestness and pi- i
quancy, his prayer-book, sermon and
song. lie had never been able to obtain
an introduction to its owner, for
the reason which she herself had given
that afternoon. Then the time for
his annual hay-fever coming around,
he had run away from it to this north- <
ern retreat, trusting to lind Miss j
Travis in her usual place on his re- j
turn.
She was not at the lawn social, nor
did he meet any one who knew her, so j
lie was forced to fall ba<-k upon the
j hope of another chance encounter.
It came three days later. lie found j
her seated on a camp stool trying to j
sketch a bit of river scenery. Ho was
! as familiar with paint brush and penI
/til nc wvic tvifh el.* i tmi n <r
IV... <1.5 ,-uv .....1 ...v.. ?
j and under Ids instructions and finish-'
i ing touches the sketch was much more
satisfactory than it would have been
| otherwise.
"My self-respect is at last restored,"
said Trafton. " We have mutually in- j
! structed and surprised each other and
[ may as well cry quits."
"Perhaps," said Love, with a look
j which suggested the possibility of her
! having further surprises in store, j
j Then she gathered up her materials '
i preparatory to another (light. i,
"Are you Cinderella running off to j
I your riots and pans?" laughingly in- j
j quired Trafton, as he noted the quick i
; look at her watch with which she pre- j
faced her withdrawal. j
"Perhaps," tersely replied this mvs- i
terious young woman. " 1 am?stop-!
ping?at Mrs. JJlanding's," she added,
with an odd little dimpling smile, as
Trafton begged her to tell him where
she boarded ; then walked away with a
swift, elastic tread.
The next morning found Trafton installed
as it guest at Mrs. ^landing's.
| In the margin of time which bordered
the dinner hour some of his fellowboarders
assembled in the wide hall or
on the shaded poreju lie scanned the ;
little knot for Love, but she was not!
visible. Kminent among the ladies J
were a classical girl, two scientific girls
and a flirting girl. The classical girl
had woven several Homeric threads
into the web of desultory conversation;
the scientific girls had set up
J)arwin and Herbert Spencer in opposition
to Homer; the llirting girl
had angled for and obtained several
neat little compliments, yet Love did
not appear. They were at the dinner
table; every chair was occupied;
Trat'ton's eyes wandered eagerly in
search of Love, still she was unac-j
countably absent. He turned suddenly
as a sweet, unusual voice behind bis
chair inquired his choice of soups, and
his eyes rested upon the face for which j
he had been searching.
This creature of surprises wore a
nine gingnam, wun a wmve apron aim
white collar and cuffs. Her wayward
hair was lilleted and coiled into suhjec- I
tion, and if any merriment lay in am- ;
hush under the dark lashes it revealed
itself only by the merest twinkle. Heside
this severely grave young person
Milton's ideal woman, as exemplified
in Kve waiting on her celestial visitors,
would have appeared a giddy thing.
In his amazement he had not an- :
swered her question, and she repeated
it. lie stammered something in reply, j
and she flitted away. Awaiting her i
return, he glanced at the other occupants
of tiie table to see what they
thought of having Miss Travis for a
waitress. Apparently, they thought
nothing of it, for their faces showed
no marks of; surprise, and they continued
sipping soup so placidly that Trafton
soliloquized somewhat savagely:
"If an angel should drop down in a
casual way, fold its wings carefully so
as to keep the feathers out of the butter,
put a large apron over its'robe
of white samite, mystic, wonderful,'
and begin to wait on the table, they
would take it as a matter of course."
Love soon returned with the soup,
and placing it before Trafton, said, in
a solemn, measured whisper, "Are?we
?quits?" Then her lips suddenly
curveu, unu ;i vuu:eic3s iciugu
her face, setting* free a host of dimples
and brimming over in her blue-gray
eves. A second later her face was unchallengeably
demure, and she darted
away to supply somebody with water.
Trafton wished that the merry bud
of laughter could have blossomed. lie
would have liked to join in the silver
peal, even though it had rung at his
own expense.
Light had broken upon him. lie
fancied that he held the clew to Love's
freak. Remembering her pregnant
"Perhaps !" in answer to his remark
that they might as well cry quits, lie
concluded that she had planned this
surprise on the spot in order to turn
the scale once more in her favor, and
that she had taken the boarders into
her confidence and bound them to silence.
And he would not question any
:>ne. The little witch should have her
triumph ; he would not mar it by any
Paul Prying.
As the days went on he was rather
surprised to see her remain at her post
ind take no share in the festivities of
Ll. ^ .-1 1 .. i. 1..,. K ~ 1.^.1 4-T?r,4-/^
tilt* piace ; nut peniiips sue u?m a uoic
t'or private theatricals and wished to
make her part consistent. At all
events, freakishness w;is tu Loye what
freakedness is to the pansy?an added
^race.
Loye, having got the better of Trafton,
felt friendly toward him in consequence,
and graciously allowed him to
till her intervals of leisure with boating,
sketching, rambling and all the
atiier pleasant and-so-forths of summer
idling-time, which can be conducted
a deux, and from which, therefore,
she was not debarred.
So the days sped by as lightly as
thistledown puffs on a buoyant breeze
till the woods began to blush and the
summer sojourners to ebb away. Trafton
was not certain that Loye returned
liis love, for she was by no means a
ejirl to wear a sweet secret as openly j
its the flowers at her belt. One morning,
however, he resolved to put a
plain question, and wait for a straightforward
answer.
They were resting in a scarlet nook
of the woods after a long ramble. She
was looking up at the point where red
tree-shafts and blue sky meet, with
tne wine, intent gaze wnicn ne remembered
of old.
"Love," lie said, suddenly, "what
do you suppose I went to church at
Fort Kay nor for?"
"Why, how can I tell?" bringing
her gaze from the tree-tops to his face.
" Perhaps you went to show your new
clothes, or to see what the other gentlemen
wore ; or," she suggested as a !
remote possibility, "you may have
gone to hear the sermon."
" I went to- look at 'you. I
looked at you because"?here he faltered,
then went on quickly and passionately?"
because I loved you."
Did a tlush spring to Love's cheek,
or was it only a reflection cast by the |
rosv leaves? hid a quick smile curve I
tier lips, or was it only a trick of the i
sunlight that played on her face?
Trafton could nut tell, for she turned
her head so quickly.
" Love," he pleaded, after moments
had passed into minutes, "what do
vou sav? Iietter 4X<>' than nothing,
but make it 'Yes' if you can."
That was a neat little model of an
Egyptian pyramid which she was constructing
with the scattered acorns ; I
hut?he wanted his answer, and she
seemed in no haste to give it. She was
beginning to weave a very tasteful |
wreath of the tinted leaves; but?his
long-stretched patience would snap before
it was done.
At last she turned and said, in her
pretty, thoughtful way, with wide eyes
and a reflective little frown :
' I low strange it is that some words
lire so hard to pionouncu although they
:ire really very short!?' Yes,' for example."
Then there was a second
edition of the smile and blush which
were unequivocal verities, and Trafton
read in the lovely eyes the answer that
the lips had only skirted.
* * * ' * * * *
" That was a blessed caprice of yours,
Love. If it hadn't been for tli^t I
couldn't have monopolized you as I
have done all these weeks. And perhaps,
but for that, you would have said
' Yes' to some one else, and I couldn't
have you for my own all a long lifetime,
as I hope to do, sweetheart," said
Tral'ton, a few days later, as be slipped
a gleaming ring on her linger.
"Caprice!" she echoed.
44 Yes, the caprice that led you to !
wait at Mrs. ^landing's table in order i
(o give me a finishing surprise."
.. A u W uv.rfli tl,<. !
she retorted. " Perhaps it is a caprice
to have the hav fever?" she mildly inquired.
"Xo!?a thousand times no!" exclaimed
Trafton, energetically.
" It may he a caprice, to wish to go
where you will not have it?"
"There could not he a more eminently
sensible desire," fervently returned
Trafton.
"And 1 suppose, of course, that it
is a caprice not to have much money,"
continued Loye, with deadly sarcasm.
"Alas for freakish humanity if that
be so."
" I have sneezed through the hay
fever for so many years that I wanted
desperately to escape from it. But we
haven't nearly enough money to allow
me to go as a butterfly, so I decided to
.... 411* > lion Tlir? Vnw "Krurliiml jrirls :it.
an a "v?-. 0 n
the "White Mountains put the
idea in my head, and 1 recollected
Mrs. lilanding, an old neighbor
of ours in New York, who was
keeping hoarders here. I wrote to
her, stating my dire need, and asking
if 1 could come as waitress. She replied
that I might. So here 1 came
and here I met Prince Charming, who
has been very good to me and given
me a lovely ring." With a glance at
| the sparkling ring and a smile to its
| donor, she added, "Am I acquitted of
I capriciousness?"
{ " In regard to the heat-handed Pliyl|
lis episode?yes! Hut I suppose you
' inquire why 1 came here?"
| " "Why did you ?" she returned, obediently.
" Because I, also, have the hay fever! I
Love, it is clear that you and I were
made for each other; for are we not
pursued by a common enemy and
united by a common bond?"
? - -L- --
The Magician and the Hucksters.
Hermann looks a good deal like an
idealized and humanized Satan. He is
: of the darkest dark brunette, with j
blazing black eyes and the blackest of
I black hair on his face and head. lie
dresses in black, the only white showj
ing in his costume being his shirt col|
lar. At the market lie was at once
reoognized by the gamins who came
trooping after him, and when he
stopped at a vegetable dealer's stall the
crowd formed a ring on the outside.
"Ilow do you sell these soup bunches ?"
said lie, picking up a peck measure full
of herbs. " Two cents apiece," replied
the sample matron behind the lay-out.
" That's cheap," said Hermann, " very
cheap," and then suddenly looking into
the heart of one of the bunches be
pulled out a plethoric wad of $20 bills.
The woman made a grab for the money,
but as suddenly as it appeared it vanished,
and she looked from the bunch
to the magician and from the magician
to the bunch in a puzzled way.
" uo 'way with your foolishness," she
said at last, and declined to be further
interested. A couple of stalls below
there was a great selection of eggs.
These at once caught Hermann's eye.
"Are these eggs fresh?" he inquired
of the damsel in charge. "Yes, sir."
He picked up one and rattled it beside
the woman's ear. She started back at
the peculiar metallic sound, whereupon
he smiled accusingly at her, broke the
egg, and took out two $5 gold pieces
laying in the yolk. She stared, and he
got $10 more out of another egg.
After collecting about thirty in this
way, she suddenly declined to have any
more eggs broken. As she spoke a
blue tongue of flame sprung out of a
score of eggs on the tray, and the
whole party started back in affright.
The flame died away, and the woman
turned on Herrman with almost a
curse: "You are a sorcerer!" By
this time a great throng of people had
gathered around, and each new feat of
the master was honored by a round of
applause. A stall or two lower down
Hermann picked up a cabbage and
asked the man if it was not imprudent
to leave his valuables exposed that
way. The man glowered at him, and
said lie was not there lor joking.
" What will you take for the cabbage V"
inquired the maestro. "Five cents."
The money was passed and the cabbage
became the property of the magician.
Taking a knife, he cut it open,
and before the astonished gaze of the
multitude there lav :i uerl'eet nest of
treasures. Hermann deliberately began
to fill his pockets, first with a wad
of bill, (i hundred-dollar one on the
outside, then a gold watch and chain,
next two or three diamond rings, and
finally a heaping handful of $20 gold
pieces, and last of all a United States
bond for $1,000. Powers of description
fail to paint the changes which
passed over the huckster's face as this
lincl was being appraised and pouched
by the magician. Doubt, fear, avarice
and despair llitted one after another
over his countenance. And at last,
when the cabbage was evidently
empty, he Hung himself on the bench
behind the stall and refused to be comforted.
" That's a pretty good trade,"
said Hermann, and the boys cheered
him to the echo.
A few paces further on was a gamedealer's
stand, and here the miracle of
the day was performed. Picking up
a rabbit that was lying without any
head on the pavement, Hermann
asked the man how long it had been
dead. " Only a day or two." "Smell
it," said Hermann. The reporter
sniffed at it, and it certainly was gamy.
"Don't you know how to freshen up
animals?" said Hermann to the man.
And lie took the rabbit,-doubled it up
1 i i- i i..! i ii.A
miu uiiuK, aim iuiu iu uuuu un uiu
pavement with a lieacl on it, and evidently
alive. The dead rabbit at once
leaped in among the boys, who chased
it and finally brought it back, in sore
need of the kindly magician's good offices
again. Then he took a dove from
the cote over the stand, deliberately
wrung its neck, pulled oil' its head and
threw it to the. owner, and before lie
had time to examine it, returned him
his pigeon none the worse for wear.
By this time the crowd was so large
that locomotion was impossible, and
with a quizzical glance at his admirers,
Hermann hurriedly boarded a car and
disappeared toward the south.?St.
Louis Post.
A Tragedy in a Few Words.
The veil was lifted off a London interior
at an inquest held the other day
in Whitechapel, disclosing a picture
to which Hogarth orCruikshank would
have failed to do justice, and from
which the moral artists of to-dav, who
show a husband beating out his wife's
brains with a chair or knocking her .
down with a bottle or a poker, might
fairly take a hint. The victim in this
case was a child. The story is told by
a relative, who, himself drunk, still re+
,,f l.ic. > Tunc
LUIUl'll wmu UJL J I ID UHO, Vll I*. X ?V o(lay
night lie came home about halfpast
seven. On entering the room he
saw his brother lying on the floor
drunk, and his wife lying on the bed,
with her face toward the wall, anil
drunk. The deceased child was lying
at its father's feet, with the head
toward the fender. There was
a mug by the father's side,
but he could not say what it contained.
lie woke the mother up, and
told her she ought to be ashamed to
leave the child on the (loor, and he
then, at her request, picked the child
uj), when he saw blood flowing from
the mouth, and discovered it was dead.
The doctor deposed that " lie accounted
for the abrasions on the side by the
child being dragged about, and it was
quite possible that the injuries to the
head were caused by some blunt instrument,
such as a poker or flatiron. It
was also p'i " ! that the child was
caught up by the legs and swung round
and came in contact with something.
Ilis opinion was that the child had
been struck by some blunt instrument."
The father ol'the child termed it "a
crime and a mystery." Unlike many a
London "mystery," the solution does
not seem very dillicult to discover.
A (ireat Discovery of Oysters.
A Mr. Olson lias published a paper
in England from which it appears that
vast oyster beds have been discovered
in the Xortli Sea fisheries. Two hundred
miles of oyster beds, thirty to
seventy miles wide?that is to say,
10,000 wres of splendid oysters within
| easy distance of the Hritish coast?is a
! discovery to which all of those of
i Stanley and Livingstone sink into insignificance.
One, curious feature
about it is that the oysters lie at a
depth of twenty-one fathoms, thus
disposing summarily of the prevalent
idea that oysters can only be raised
successfully in shallow water. The
man who invents a new dish, according
to some, the man who plants a tree
according to the Mahommedans, deserves
well of mankind; but what is
the reward of a man who discovers
10,000 acres of oysters? The oysters
thus opened up to commerce are said
to surpass in llavor all that are so far
known to epicures. We shall soon lie
able to keep our oysters at home. We
sent no less than $400,000 worth last
year to England {ilone. They ought
soon to become, cheaper here.?Boston
Timet,
i ' -VX- : y ' **
Stories About Animals.
A terrier (log at Americus, Ga., has
forsaken his home and taken up his
lot with a herd of goats, refusing to
associate with other canines.
Jealousy recently induced a large
Berlin dog to attack a five-year-old
boy. The boy was petting a new lap
dog when the big dog jumped upon
him and threw him down. The lap
(log, going to the boy's assistance, was
killed.
A novel fight occurred in a stable in
Council Bluffs between ?a stallion and
a bulldog. The fight lasted more than
an hour, and was so furious that no one
dared enter to interfere. After fatally
bruising the dog the horse threw it
outside the stall with its teeth.
W. B. F. Daniel, of Dublin, Ga., was
deer hunting recently. His dog caught
a fawn. Daniel attempted to secure
it*and the doe came to the rescue.
He dropped the fawn to catch the
mother, but after a desperate struggle
she slipped from his grasp and got
away.
A lady at Branchville, X. J., one day
FACTS AND COMMENTS.
Among the Piutes, noar Austin,
New, is a queer one-legged Indian
Ijo}'. Tie was born that way, and is
otherwise perfectly formed. The leg
is strong, stout and symmetrical, situated
centrally between the hips, so
that the child when standing erect on
his foot is perfectly balanced.
Ell wood Cooper, of Santa Barbara,
the leading olive grower of California,
says lie lias trees eight years old that
have produced 2,000 gallons of olives |
to the acre. This would be equivalent i
to 250 gallons of oil to the acre, and
the oil linds a ready market at $5
a gallon. The yield of one acre would
thus he $1,250, which for a 100-acre
ranch would he a pretty fair income.
But these figures are not represented
to apply to any except the very
choicest trees, and an uncommonly good
year. But even computing profits of
olive culture at as low a figure as onetenth,
a twenty-acre ranch would support
a family very comfortably after
six or seven years of waiting.
Half of a life of sixty years spent
in the Eastern penitentiary at Philadelphia
by Jack Canter, one of the i
most expert forgers in the country,
has come to an end. Having brushed i
his thin gray hair and his mustache, i
he called for his shoes and broadcloth
suit. The insatiate moth, however,
had riddled the overgaiters and feasted |
royally on the garments. He had to j
buy a new outfit, which he was well .
able to do, as be had a credit of several
thousand dollars with the warden. J
When the new clothes and carriage
came he shook hands with the gate- ,
keepers, stepped into the carriage and
drove away to a prominent hotel. ,
Some say he has $40,000, and some say
more, with which to sustain his new '
station as a private gentleman. He is ,
well educated, writes and speaks
several languages, and has traveled a !
great deal and mingled in good society. (
The United States expend $84,000,- ,
000 a year upon education. The
figures from all the States and Terri- ^
tories have been collated from ofiicial ,
sources by the bureau of education at :
Washington, and various other interesting
items are included in the great ^
statement. In 244 cities, each with
more than 7,500 inhabitants, there is .
a school population of 2,061,498, with (
an average daily attendance of 1,105,703,
and an aggregate annual expend- ;
iture of more than $25,000,000. The
city of New York heads the list, with ;
385.000 children of school age, of
whom 270,170 are enrolled in 127 ]
schools; the annual expenditure being '
in round numbers $3,400,000. There
are in the different States 220 normal '
schools, 1G2 business colleges, 232
ldmlnrcrnrt.nns. 227 colleges in which
D , -- O
women are received, 83 scientific
schools, 142 schools of theology and :
120 medical colleges and schools.
The International Fisheries exhibition
in England next year will bo on a '
grand scale. Mr. Birkbeck, M. P.,
liead of the executive committee, lias
issued a report which informs us that
the imperial government of China has
applied for space, that Canada wants
10,000 square feet, and that nearly all
countries have come in. There will
be prizes for models of fishing and
carrier boats; four money prizes,
offered by Ash mead Bartlett Burdett
Coutts for the best collection of lishing
rods; a prize of $100, given by the
Baroness Burdctt Coutts," for the best
plan of a fish market; and a prize of
$300 for the best model of a carrier
boat, the boat to be specially adapted
for preserving the lives of her crew.
The English government will strike
medals at the mint as rewards .of
merit, will issue diplomas of honor,
and will probably make a grant 01
public money toward the expenses of
the exhibition.
The magnificent Yellowstone park
is in danger of being rapidly destroyed
and its natural beauties defaced by
wantonness and vandalism, unless the
government steps in to protect it. It
is said that the first thing the foreigner
does after registering at the Brevoort
house is to start for the Yellowstone
Park and needlessly shoot down scores
of its large game?deer, buffaloes,
bears, antelope and mountain sheep.
Xor are foreigners always the chief
sinners in this respect. Many of the
most famous Yellowstone geysers have
already been ruined by people who
amuse themselves by hurling immense
trunks of pine trees into them in order
to see the water force them high in the
air. In many cases these logs have
stuck in the water apertures, and have
completely stopped the spouting. In
Wyoming the people are taking steps
to put a stop to such vandalism, and
the wholesale slaughter of buffaloes
and other game by tourists.
The adulteration in drugs that is
said to be going on is a matter of
. _ a. 1 41... T
serious import, aim uiu uuiuiuu Ajutr*/dny
Review discusses it as follows:
" It is astonishing how little suspicious
even suspicious people are of thedrugs
they take when they are ill. They are
quite alive to the prevalence of adulteration
in other trades, hut they will
swallow medicines hastily fetched
from the nearest chemist's without so
much as a misgiving that they are not
in all respects what they profess to he.
Yet in nothing is adulteration so easy
and so profitable as in drugs. The
taste will some times do something
toward detecting it in articles of food
hut in medicines the taste is almost
powerless. The patient classes the
remedies he is condemned to take
under the general heads of nauseous
and not nauseous, and he does not care
to draw any liner distinctions. Genuine
drugs are often extremely costly,
so that the gains which can
he made by substituting other
substances for them may easily be
very large. Yet in no trade are the
effects of adulteration so disastrous as
in that of the druggist. Adulterated
food or drink may sometimes provoke
disease, but adulterated drugs are useless
to cure it. It is impossible to say |
n how many cases deaths have been j
set to the violence of the malady or to
..r i.i.ni ,,< fi,?
vtuiit ui nrvui \/n inu j/?nu t,uu u?>vb\/i
which have really been caused by
Worthless medicines. The doctor ordered
tin; medicines lie thought appropriate,
and if actually administered
these remedies would probably have
been sullicient to check the course of
the disease. Hut what was administered
was not these remedies, but a
counterfeit of them, and, though the
patient did not detect the difference,
the disease did, and the patient died.
IIow to insure that drugs shall lie
what they profess to be is one of the
most important problems in practical
medicine, and one to the solution of
which very few contributions have
yet been made.
They All Wanted to See. '
A -shrewd advertiser in New York
city hires a young man for twenty-live
cents an hour to stand in front of his
r?tore and gaze fixedly at the windows.
The simple scheme has been found to
be very successful. The young man's
attitude and gaze ..ttracted the attention
of a plasterer who was passing.
The plasterer stopped short and followed
with his eyes the gaze of the
young man. A boy, observing the
youth and the plasterer staring
across the street, joined them. Then
came a washwoman, then a bank clerk,
then a man of leisure, then two colored
swells, and finally a sizeable
crowd of a promiscuous nature was
collected, all looking in silent admiration
at two men in an opposite window,
who were engaged, one in swinging
Indian clubs* one in pulling away
i at a pate&t chest-e^anderi
fed ;i common brook turtle th.it had
approached her door. Thereafter the
turtle paid frequent visits. This season
the animal brought a mate with
it, and the two make frequent excursions
from the brook to the house to
obtain food.
A fight between a toad and a large
black spider was recently witnessed at
Merrick, L. I. After eacli round the
toad hopped to a plantain leaf, bit off
ii piece and then returned to the fray.
After this had occurred several times
the leaf was taken away, and the toad,
failing to find the leaf, soon rolled over
and died.
The distasteful odor of asafoctidathat
a Virginia lady had placed under the
leaves of the porcli as a disinfectant
ilrove away a wren that had just gone
to housekeeping. For some days the
bird and her mate were observed to be
very busy, and it was soon discovered
that they had moved their nest twig by
twig to the opposite side of the portico.
At a wayside inn in the south of France
is a roasting jack moved by animal
power. Two dogs turn the machine,
working alternately. One day the dog
whose proper turn it was being absent,
the other was caught and put on the
wheel. lie flatly, however, refused to
work, and neither coaxing, threats nor
r?li!ist.ispmpnt nroduced :mv effect.
After somo delay the missing dog
was found and set to the task.
After he had nearly completed the job
lie was released and the first tried
again, and the animal so lately recusant
now offered no opposition, and
made the wheel revolve with a hearty
good will till the roast was finished.
The bluejay is the boldest and most
mischievous of wild birds. Near
Knoxville, Tenn., recently, one was
seen to fly a number of times to a high
picket fence to attract a pair of kittens
playing on the lawn. The kittens
finally mounted the fence and began a
cautious approach from picket to
picket. The jay let the first get to
within eighteen inches, then hopped
over between the two. The second
kitten approached; the bird hopped
over it. It turned and the jay'hopped
back and between. The first kitten
approached and the jay hopped back
over it, and he kept it up till one kitten
got disgusted and left and tli.e
other followed soon after. Once or
twice after the jay tried to inveigle
the kittens to another frolic, but
failed.
Abe Simmons, of Rosendale, X. Y.,
hits a wonderful dog named Jack.
Jack used to toss a silver piece placed
upon his nose and turn around once
and catch it in his mouth, but some
out; put a hot penny on his nose one
day and that spoiled the trick. In the
winter time he is the dread of all the
school children who have sleighs, for
he will rush out when a boy is going
along, grab the rope of the sleigh, pull
it loose from the boy and run off with
it jus fast as he can go. Finally the
boys combined against him. "When
Jack decides that he wants a sleigh
they let him have the rope, but five or
six boys jump on the sleigh, and Jack
very sonn tires of drawing them.
Jack, when a cork is thrown up in the
air, will jump up, turn a somersault
and catch it in liis mouth.
A. T. Stewart's Body.
Talking to a New York detective officer
to-day, says a correspondent of
the Cincinnati Enquirer, I asked him
what had 1 income of the body of A. T.
Stewart.
" The best information I possess,
said he, "is that it has not only never
been recovered by the family and executors,
but that it is not now in possession
of the original thieves."
"Well, whojgot it from them ?" said I.
"It is the understanding at police
headquarters," said he, " that a second
band of thieves, thinkingthe body w;is
a good thing, stole it from the first.
Probably some of the persons privy to
the robbery took the body away from
those who had been at the pains to dig
it up and spirit it off."
" Well, how was Mrs. Stewart appeased
?"
"Why," said'the oflleer, "I suppose
she thinks that the bones have been
recovered. She either thinks they have
been recovered, or does not inquire
concerning them. The fact is," said
my friend, " that after the
robberv of that grave, it
became a, question among numerous
wealthy persons in New York what to
do to prevent a spoliation of other
tombs of the same class. You know
that immediately after the robbery in
St. Mark's churchyard the tomb of the
Vanderbilts at Staten Island, was
watched, and so were several other
tombs of conspicuous persons. They
all got tired of paying special watchmen,
because it looked as if they might
have to watch the tomb for a period of
years, and every rich man that died
would require two live ones to look
after his bones?a thing not very palatable
to heirs. Consequently a notice
was sent to Judge Hilton that lie!
ought not to pay any reward for the
return of Stewart's bones, whether
Mrs. Stewart wanted to do so or not.
The understanding is that Judge Hilton
and other gentlemen pacified Mrs.
Stewart in some way. You know the i
Collin of Stewart was not carried off
by the thieves at all; they merely took
the plate from the top and ;i .piece of
the cloth, and took out the body, so we
presume that the collin has been set in
the now cathedral at Garden City,
without the real hones, hut nobody
wanted to look into it.
A Poet's Appeal for a lllititf Man.
Victor lingo, leaving the Cafe de
Paris, where lie had just breakfasted,
saw on the boulevards a wretchedly
poor blind man, and in an impulse of
pity improvised the following lines, j
which lie wrote on the placard hung
around the beggar's neck. Freely
translated the lines are:
"Blind, as was Homer; as Helisarins, blind,
Hut a weak child to miide his vision dim.
The hand which dealt him bread, in pity
kind?
He'll see it not: God sees it, though, for
him."
The sous of tin* passers-by llowed
freely after reading this touching appeal
to their commiseration.
It is relatul of Siebenkees, an eminent
German scholar, that having
finished reading one of his beautiful
imaginiugS to his wife, who appeared
to bo listening with bated breat h and
eyelids cast down, he closed the book
with inward satisfaction at the completion
of Ills labors only to hear the
shaker of his joys exclaim: My
dear, pray don't puit on your left stocking
to-o?orrow-~thefe's a hole in it,"
i
FOE THE LADIES.
New* and Notei for Women.
A " boss " carpenter at Jackso
Fla., is one of the gentler sex.
Costa Rica has sent a woman, Madame
Beatrice, as envoy extraordinary
at Washington.
Mrs. Margaret V. Longley, of Cincinnati,
lists published a book entitled
" Type Writer Lessons," for the use of
teachers and students.
There were 7,569 weddings in Philadelphia
last year, which, leaving Sundays
out, is an average of twenty-five
a day. The Quaker city will surpass
this average this year.
Among curious vagaries of fashion
is noted the hat in which a London
beauty recently appeared. This hat
represented a gigantic bronze spider
web, with the voracious lly-eater ready
for his prey.
The competition of girls to obtain
appointments in the postoflice telegraphs
in England is increasing. An
examination was held a short time ago
at which there were no less than 800
candidates for thirty appointments.
The salary is small, commencing at ten
shillings per week.
Miss Maria P. 13race, teacher of elocution
at Viissar college, will this year
divide her time between that institution
and the State University of Indiana.
Miss Brace is the first woman
instructor at Indiana University, which
receives both sexes as students. Iler
salary is the same as that of the other
professors.
The Louisville School of Pharmacy
is now open to women, its first young
lady student having recently entered
with the intention of taking a full
course. A practiced chemist in Louisville
declares that after having employed
bcth men and women lie is
persuaded that the latter will make
the best drug clerks.
Judge Kingman gave at the Omaha
convention a statement of the practical
working of woman suffrage in
Wyoming. lie said that it had done
mnnli rrr*r?^l hr\fh fn u'nmon a rwl cn.
lliUVii Uiytu uw 11 VII1V.U iiixvi uv~
cietv, and that none of the evils so
often predicted had followed. About
eight-tenths of the men of "Wyoming
voted, and fully nine-tenths of all the
women. After thirteen years' experience,
he declared, no man or woman
who had resided one year in the Territory
was in favor of its repeal. It
was universally accepted as a permanent
and beneficent fact.
Needle painting is the latest contribution
to decorative art. By this
novel method a lady of Cincinnati has
already completed a large number of
landscape pictures, which are said by
connoisseurs to be remarkable productions
with the needle, equaling in effect,
if not surpassing, the finest oil and
water colors. Several artists and
prominent society people are making
an effort to have them exhibited, so
that ladies who have a penchant for
embroidery and house decoration may
see how easy and inexpensive it has
become to beautify their homes with
their own handiwork.
FnHbion Notes.
The Russian redingote has reached
the zenith of its fame.
Royal cardinal is the favorite color
for children's dresses.
The Glengarry cap of bright scarlet
wool is worn alike by boys and girls.
Basques of terra cotta cashmere are
much worn over black velvet skirts.
Plain or braided cloth jackets and
jerseys will be worn with plush and
cheviot skirts.
There is a tendency to increaso the
size of the sleeve above the elbow and
in the armhole.
The new cloaking materials have
repped surfaces, either lengthwise or
across the cloth.
Two and three rows of small buttons
fastening the front adorn many
fall jackets and corsages.
Stripes are as fashionable as ever in
all classes of material, and, used in
combination with plain fabrics, are very
effective.
Raised llowers in velvet, upon
grounds of Ottoman or repped silk,
are the most costly and elegant brocades
now imported.
Bonnets and round hats are exhibi
ted in a great variety of novel shapes,
from the graceful and elegant to the
exaggerated and grotesque styles,
which are wilder than ever this season.
Rich brocades, or corded silk with
plush or velvet spots of large size, will
n rvf Incu fnvnr tliic TV in tor Thpv will
lie used for the skirt or the overdress,
in combination with a plain material,
but not for an entire dress.
New dresses are less clinging to the
figure than they have been for years.
.Skirts are cut to give a fuller appearance,
and the puffed drapery is very
large, as it is mounted on a cushion of
hair sewn to the skirt lining.
Velvets, satin rhadames, corded silk,
Irish poplin and cashmere are in high
vogue for fall and winter wear. The.
first named fabrics, for evening dress,
are shown in all the. delicate tints of
pale pink, Persian mauve, ciel blue,
cream color and sea green.
Jackets and basques of every <le-.
scription and color are worn over skirts
of a contrasting material. The shapes
are varied and are in styles suitable to
every age. They are severally known
as the Austrian, the Hungarian, the
Direetoire and the Jersey. Tliev are
invariably close-fitting, :ire cut with a
narrow collar and button straight
tUnvn the front.
The added basque, so long a feature
of modern dressmaking, is losing its
popularity. The most fashionable
jacket bodies are cut in one. Many
of these open over waistcoats of contrasting
materials; otherwise the gilet
may be of velvet, silk or satin to correspond
with the dress itself. The
basque is often cut excessively short,
with battlements?that is, square
tabs?cut up to the waist line, representing
the part of the bodice
which is so stylish. "When deeper, the
basque is sometimes simply Vandvked,
the points being exceedingly sharp
and not cut up to the waist as in the
above case. This style looks best- v.Ii.-n
mixed materials are used in combination.
HEALTH HINTS.
Alcohol introduced into the blood
changes its constituent elements and
also impairs the integrity of the blood
vessels.
"Wheat, made into bread, puddings,
etc., will make more muscle twice
over, pound for pound, than fat meat
of any kind.
Sudden deaths do not come from
heart disease, one case in twenty, hut
from congestion of the lungs or brain,
or from apoplexy. More die from congestion
of the lungs than of the brain,
and more of congestion of the brain
than from apoplexy.
A severe cold can be soonest cured
by remaining within doors, in a warm
room and near the lire, until all signs
j of it have disappeared. Then care
j should be taken to prevent a relapse
by having the feet warmly clad, and
the whole body, and particularly the
chest and the back of the neck, well
protected when going out.
Kingworm is not an animal but a
I vegetal?le parasite that can best be
; destroyed by the use of horacic acid,
or of citrine ointment?the latter
being an ollicinal preparation kept by
all druggists. The citrine ointment is
a caustic preparation that must i?e
applied with extreme care, and not
left carelessly around the house.?Dr.
Foote's Health Monthly.
WISE WORDS.
If you wish to remove avarice you
must remove its mother, luxury.
The sweetest thing on earth is a little
child when it has learned to know and
love.
Conversation enriches the understanding,
but solitude is the school of
genius.
lie who lives to benefit himself
confers on the world a benefit when
he dies.
Brain is tl^p impelling force of the
world, and thought is the symbol of
progress.
Genius at first is little more
than a great capacity for receiving
discipline.
There are more fools than sages ; and
among the sages there is more folly
than wisdom.
Education is the only interest worthy
the deep, controlling authority of the
inougnum man.
A woman's dress is like the envelope
of a letter; the cover is frequently an
index to the contents.
The trouble and worry and wear and
tear that comes from hating people
makes hating unprofitable.
To the generous mind the heaviest
debt is that of gratitude when it is
not in our power to repay it.
He that wrestles with us strengthens
our nerves and sharpens our skill.
Our antagonist isNour helper.
The best portion. of a good man's
life is his little nameless, unremembered
acts of kindness and of love.
Every real and searching effort at
self-improvement is of itself a lesson
of profound humility. For we cannot
move a step without learning and feeling
the waywardness, the weakness,
the vacillation of our movements, or
without desiring to be set on the rock
that is higher than ourselves.
Fulton and the Steamboat.
Robert Fulton, the inventor of
steamboats, was born on a farm in
Pennsylvania. Robert was a delicate,
handsome boy, with a fine forehead
and brilliant eyes. Almost as a child
he became a mechanic, inventiflg
machines and lingering around work,.U
TT? +1. /I,,11 ??
aiiupa. lie was uiuu^nu uuii at ouuuyi,
and made slow progress in the usual
studies. But he was always inventing.
One day, when Robert was about
nine years old, he came late to school,
and when his teacher reproved him,
produced a new lead-pencil which he
had been making while playing truant.
The boys were all anxious to ha\^ one
of Fulton's pencils?they were better
than any they had seen. In his school
days he made rockets to celebrate the
Fourth of July, and in 1778, in the
midst of the war, set t^em off in his
native town. About this time he
made an air-gun and a boat moved by
wheels. He had a strong taste for
drawing. Ilis mother, who was now
a widow and poor, wanted his help.
Fulton was only seventeen, but he
went up to Philadelphia, made money,
became acquainted with Dr. Franklin,
and when he was twenty-one came
back to his mother with his earnings
and bought her a farm. Here she
lived happily for some years, watching
and enjoying the rising prosperity of
her son. The deed by. which Fulton
at twenty-one gave the farm to his
mother is still preserved.
There are persons living who might
have seen the first steamboat that
sailed on the Hudson. Many remember
when the famous De Witt Clinton
ntul "Vnrt-li A Tnprir>fi tlirmtrlit. t.hA
? O""
wonders of navigation; when they
sailed over the tranquil river at the
rate of sixteen miles ah hour, and left
behind them thick clouds of black
smoke that hung over the landscape
for miles. The Xorth America was
long the pride of the river navigation,
the swiftest vessel in the world.
The Hudson lias always been the
favorite scene of steam navigation and
enterprise. It is the birth-place of the
steamboat.
Here, in 1807, Robert Fulton, on
board of the Clermont, his first vessel,
sailed in a day and a half from
Xew York to Albany. lie stopped for
a few hours at Clermont, and then in
four mere finished his voyage. It was
the signal for an entire change in the
whole art of navigation. From that
time the steamboat has been slowly
advancing, its size has been increased
to immense proportions, its engines
have become animated giants, aad Fulton's
little vessel of one hundred and
sixty tons is converted into the Furnessia,
the Alaska, and the Great
Eastern."
Fulton, a fair, delicate, thoughtful
young man, had gone to England, to
France, had become acquainted with
many eminent inventors, and had al
ready planned a sieamuoa:. ne whs
the lirst to make one successful. He
came back to New York, and, aided
by his friend Livingston, in 1806 began
to build his boat. It was only a small
vessel, ruddy built; in it he placed an
engine made by James "Watt, the English
inventor; the paddle wheels he
planned himself and the imperfect
machinery. It seems now a very easy
thing to build a steamboat, but it was
then thought impossible* Men called
tin; boat Fulton's Folly. Hardly any
one supposed that a new era in navigation
was about to begin, and that
Fulton's machine would at last cover
the world with its discoveries. At
last the boat was finished.
The. fires were lighted, the boilers
hissed, the crank turned, the wheels
began to move, and the Clermont made
its way, at about five miles an hour,
from Charles Brown's dock-yard on
the East river to Jersey City. Once
she stopped, and men cried, "There, it
has failed!" Hut it was only because
Fulton was anxious to alter some part
of his machine. The great voyage |
was successful. The steamer reached |
Jersey City ami Fulton's victory was
won. Soon the Hudson began to
abound with Fulton's steamboats, the
wonder of the world.?Harper's Young
People,
How Hie Emperor of Brazil Rides.
A correspondent writes to the Xor-1
ristnwn Herald: Hark ! Do you hear
that racket? Clear the track! (let
out of the way there ! Here comes a i
calvacade that won't stop for any- i
thing. Don't stop to look until you
have dodged into the shelter of adoorwav,
but when you are safe you will
see?first, a half dozen horse guards
with drawn sabers Hashing in the sun;
then a couple of mounted chamberlains;
then an old black coach drawn !
by six brass-mounted mules (harness j
brass mounted), ridden by postillions, j
two gaudy footmen standing at I lie
back of the "trap;" inside the carriage
sits a white-haired, white-bearded,
handsome man in military costume,
his kindly luce beaming on me
startled people who had so hastily
taken shelter. "When the eoadi and j
the eotupany of nivalrv following it
have passed with all the speed that j
mules, and yellow mules at that, are i
capable of, 1 draw a sigh of relief. 1 '
have seen this turnout almost every j
day since I have been in Rio, but you
will probably have to be informed that
it was his majesty Dom l'edro II.,
"constitutional emperor and perpetual
defender of Urazil," who lias just
passed. Although Dom pj'dro is
rather more progressive-minded than
most of his countrymen, he still retains
an affected display of pomp and
power which he does not really
possess.
Hussar-blue cloth dresses are made
with a plain skirt bordered with velvet,
above which is military braid,
and a plain redingote with braided
wheels down the front, and plaited
fullness behind,
In a Sunbeam.
In a sunbeam?eyelids white,
Hiding merry, sparkling eyes;
Curls half-brown, half turned to goldFast
asleep the baby lies,
But a little gurgling laugh '?
From the parted lips steal out;
What do babies, fast asleep
In a sunbeam, dream about?
Buds and flowers, .
Rainbows, showers, <"
Butterflies and honey-bees;
Peaches, cherries,
Apples, berries,
Birdies singing in the trees.
Grass all over
Fragrant clover,
Dandelions golden bright;
Chickens peeping,
Squirrels leaping,
Big-eyed cows in daised meadows, "fjt
Sweet warm milk and yellow cream?
Of all these, when in a sunbeam
Babies fall asleep, they dream.
?Madge Elliott, in Baldwin's Monthly *
. >5
HUMOR OF THE DAT.
? y%km
A cuff on the wrist is worth two on -&M
the ear.
In point of real value the hen overlays
all domestic fowls.
A well-conducted husband, like a V*
well-conducted candle, never goes out f<M
at night.
Latin is a dead language, and that is
why doctors use it for writing out
their prescriptions. A
popular writer, speaking of the
ocean telegraph, wonders whether the' I
news transmitted through the salt 1
water will be fresh.
It is said ninety millions of postage 1
stamps are annually sold in this country,
and all of them have to be licked J
before they will do their duty. .
Arthur to Raoul?"Well, did you 'J3?
kill many partridges?" "Not one,but
still I am very well satisfied with my- ^
self. I came much nearer than last (
year 1"
A mother who fondly put the query
to her young son, "What would you; Jfi&Z
do without a mother, Tom?" was ^
dumbfounded with the reply: "Do as I |g
like, ma."
"Some scoundrel tucked a plugged
half-dollar olt. on me." "uan t you
pass it?" asked his friend. "Well, I ;v$S
don't know," he said, "but you bet I/. '"<$3
shall try." '
Professor Sharpless has published a, ||f
new and popular work on astronomy.* 53
It will fill a long felt want in those
cities where banana peel is thick on 'rM
th asidewalk.
Some philosopher has observed, that i;'|l
" To be a good conversationalist, one }
must needs be a good listener." This
is especially true if the conversation is
to be by telephone.
" Do you buy your music by the ; X&
roll?" inquired a young lady of#the * .
deacon's daughter. "Oh, no," she replied.
" I always wait until Sunday,
an<^L then I get it by the choir."
About the most discouraging thing
that can happen to a man is to be
doing the handsome thing in keeping *$3
ahead of a cross bull, and find, on -.J?
reaching the fence, that it is of barbed
wire.
"A Celebrated Case."
More than twenty years ago "Wm.
"Wackerle was a Minnesota farmer. . 3
lie served in the army during the war
and was disabled, for which he drew a
pension. He and his family would ' '-^3
seem to have been of wandering habits,
having lived in New Orleans, Cin- '%
r>innnti AfilwaulfPP. OhicaffO iind Df- SbS*3
troit, at which latter place, in 1869, he
left his wife and went to California,
whither she soon followed him. Their &{i
married. daughter having died there v|9
they returned to Quincy, 111., where
they lived until 1872, when the husband
went again to California. Th
next tidings she had from him that
year were those of his death in Louisi- yj,
ana, where he was run over by a train'
near Shreveport.
lie had two insurance policies on his
life, one of them in the Etna company
and the otner in the Xew York Mutual
Life. She had worked hard during ,' ;
his absences, and by her own labor had 3
succeeded in keeping the premiums '?*
paid. On hearing of his death she ?
went to Louisiana, had the remains ~
exhumed and identified them. The
Etna company refused to acknowledge H
this identity and she sued them in
Louisiana, getting a verdict in her '^**2
favor, which was reversed in the
supreme court of that State. .j
In the meanwhile an alleged "William
Wackerle made himself known on the
Pacific coast and continued drawing a *,
pension from the United States govern- >'
ment. Mrs. Wackerle set out upon a
tour of the United States collecting
proofs of her claim upon her y.rjjj
insurance companies and of her .
husband's death. She was known
in Xmv England as well as in . \,
Minnesota, in Missouri as well as in
Louisiana. She was without money,"
but not without friends, whose sympathies
she excited, and whose aid she ]>]
invoked, and who listened to her,
trusted her anil helped her on her
way. She refused all offers of compromise,
but insisted on her full claim.
To get it became the object of her life, '*
and although having nothing but the
clothes she wore, and the documents
she carried, she still continued to enlist
the support and assistance of those
who knew her. , Even when she
learned that a man claiming to be her
husband had appeared to thwart her
she did not despair, but kept up V;
the light, beginning it at last and . #
when fully prepared by a suit against
the Mutual company in St. LoYiw<_^
A Minnesota attorney agreal to produn1
"William Wackerle, her husband,
to testify in behalf of the insurancecompany.
So when the trial commenced
the alleged Calil'ornian went
upon the stand, swore that he was
William Wackerle, the husband of the
plaintiff, and that he still drew his
pension from the government. He betrayed
great famiiiarily with the life
and wandering career of William
Wackerle, and in several points was
able to establish a startling imitation
of the identity he asserted. She, on the
contrary, protested that he was not her
husband, but one of his brothers, probably
ayounger one, "Chris." "Wackerle.
She then entered upon a clear, exact
and circumstantial account of her life
with her husband, their various residences,
their varying fortunes and adventures,
and the births, deaths ;ind
sex of their children. In regard to the
children the claimant had shown himself
extremely defective in memory and
T 1 4.....
wanting in accuracy, ne hjso wuuiidieted
other evidence of the defense in
regard to Wackerle's residence in Cincinnati.
Several reputable and intelligent
witnesses repudiated him, declaring
that in his looks, features,
complexion, color of hair and heard,
he did not resemble William Wackerle,
some of these points being exactly opposite
to thoso of the claimant.
The case was then submitted to the
jury, wlib speedily brought in a verdict
for Mrs. Waekerleand against the
company in the sum of $t>,5<)6, a verdict
from which the company intends
appealing to the supreme court of the
United States. As they have millions
and Mrs. Wackerle nothing, the advantage
is altogether on their side;
i and the combative widow or defrauder.
as the case may by, will again
have to call upon all her pluck ami patience
for another fight.?Detroit Free
: Press. .
The ourang-outang, which escaped
from the Cincinnati zoological garden,
has been recaptured. This effectually
; disposes of the rumor that a bogus
| Oscar Wilde has been roaming around
I the West,