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A THANKSGIVING STOIiY IN VARSE "Thanksgiving!?for whatC ?and he muttered a cnrs3? "For the plainest of food and an empty purse; For a life of hard work and the shabbiest clothes? But it's idle to talk of a poor man's woesl Let the rich give thanks, it is thoy who can; There is nothing in life for a laboring man." Bo said John White to his good wife Jane, And o'er her faco stole a look of pam. "Nothing, dear John*:" and he thought again; Then glanced more kindly down on Jane. "I was wrong," he said: "I'd forgotten you; And I'vo my health, and the baby, too." And the baby crowed? cwas a ooui:cn:g uuy? And o'er Jane's face came a look of joy: And she kissed her Julm as he went away; And ho said to himself, as he worked that day: "I was wrong, very wrong; I'll not grumble again, I should surely be thankful for baby and Jane." ?Boston Globe. AT THE FRONT. A TIIAXKSGIVING DAY STORY. The engine of the Eastern express O 4 broke her crank just where the line crosses "Big "Wapoo" Creek. There was an up grade both ways, so that the engineer could not run by gravity in cither direction. It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon on the day before Thanksgiving, and there was at least a dozen people in the train who were on their way to a family reunion somewhere. There was a demure little Yankee school mistress and her sister from ever the divide. They were bound for their brother's, who had a ranch near the road a hundred miles farther east. There was a family?father, mother, and some five hearty well-cared-for boys and girls? who were on their way to the old folks' home still other hundreds of miles to the eastward, and then there were several men who wanted to get somewhere in time for the Thanksgiving dinner, and had trusted to the time table to enable them to do it. Of course there were "Westerners and Southerners on board who> had no Thanksgiving traditions to look back upon, and rather scorned the timehonored New England festivities as a Yankee institution whose importance wa9 not for a moment to be weighed against the business engagements to which they were themselves hastening. All, however, agreed that it was a great nuisance to be detained here in a mountain valley, far away from all help, with nothing to do but wait until the train was missed and extra engines telegraphed for to haul it out of the way. We were ploomilv watchincr the darkening g> * 0 w landscape, when some one, with sharper eyes than the rest, looking keenly up the valley, said: "Isn't that a man on horseback just by the turn of the foct hill on the right?" All eyes were turned forthwith in the i direction indicated, and easily made out an alert, vidette like equestrian figure, just where a tolerably practicable mountain road rose over the crest of a low ridge. As we looked it was joined by another similar figure, and the two sat on their horses apparently consulting about the stationary train. 1 Presently they both put 6purs to 1 their horses and came dashing down the i valley after the wild Western fashion of i horsemanship. We passengers were standing and sitting, some inside and j Bome outside the cars, for the evening ' was not an unpleasant one for the season, i and there was perceptible among us an instant disposition to look to our rcvolv2rs. One or two even drew and cocked their six shooters, for the region was lnnplv and all had read nf ro:id arrents and their daring raids. Just at this junc- ' ture the conductor came along, and seeing the approaching horsemen, reassured everybody by a cheery recognition, as the two riders pulled up abruptly at the foot of the embankment. ^ "How do. colonel? Here we are, stalled, for the night, I reckon. Hope you won't fire us off your preinisss?" "No fear of that. Glad to have you stay as long as you like. But what's the matter?" "Crank broke," and then followed explanations and conjectures. "When did you get your last dispatch from below?" asked the elder of the two horsemen. "Three hours ago, at Blizzard City." '? "Then vou can't have heard about SalTliiver bridge?" What's th$ matter with it?" "Swept away. There was a heavy rain in the Cross Hatch range night before last, and the run flooded and got away with a lot of felled timbers up above. The logs gorged at the bridge, and away she went. There's a construction train expected before morning, eo I heard, but of course you can't cross for several days." 'T should think not!" said the conductor, adding some remarks which were perhaps justifiable at the time, but need not be repeated here. A meeting was presently called in the rear car and the conductor stated the case. The wrecked bridge in question was some twenty miles distant, beyorni a rough mountaiu chain. Conveyances could not be had for all hands anyhow and there seemed nothing for it but to picnic where we were. A few of the more ath'etic of the men determined to start at once and walk the distance so as to catch the first train to the eastward. A i.l .1 1 i.1.. i ine rest wouiu smy uv me uaiu. This decided, he whom the conductor had addressed as ''Colonel"?he had dismounted and entered the car with the rest?stepped upon a seat and removing ? his soft felt hat, claimed attention for a moment. "Gent'emen and ladies." he said, "you do not know it, but you are in a manner my guests. The road runs through my land here and our ranch is just out of sicht over the rise yonder. I want to make you all welcome to my house. I have enough for you to eat and can give the ladies comfortable quarters. The men will have to put up with shakedowns on the floor." This hospitable offer was gratefully received. Some of the passengers, however, preferred to stay by the train. The outcome of it was that about a dozen, including the three ladies aforementioned, equipped themselves for the walk to the ranche. It was soon reached, and the colonel's companion having previously ridden home to give warning, there was a great bustle of preparation. The building was a log house of palatial dimensions and we men were told to make ourselves at home in a large room on the ground floor. No mention need be made of the I details of the substantial supper, for the strictly Thanksgiving part of the narrative came afterward, when pipes and cigars were alight around the big fire place. Among the passengers were two, both of thcmgrave, reserved, rather well-to-do looking men, one evidently a Northerner and the other a Southerner. The Northerner, Roscoe by name, had tV*no for -rtrofnrl linot Wlfli ft nil expression. At length ho spoke: "Colonel, I bejrin to think I did not hear your name right. Is it Smith?" "No," said our host, laughing good humoredlv, "not quite. It's Akers." "That's it!" said Koscoe, smiting bis knee and leaning eagerly forward. "Tom Akers, don't you remember me?" i "No, I can't say that I do," was the reply, "and yet there is something?there was a Bill Koscoe in a regiment that I, served with, but?but?what? Are you ! 13:11 Koscoe?" And with that the two had each other by the hand and shook till they were both red in the face. The Southerner knocked the ashes from his pipe on the hearthstone and shook his head, but nobody noticed him. me two oiu comraaes sac aown together, and conversation again became general, until first one and then another of the company became interested in what the colonel was saying. "Let | me see. We went into winter quarters about the first of that year, didn't we?" "Yes; twenty years ago to a dot," said Roscoe. "By Jove, Tom, I believe I could do it over again if I got excited." "Heaven forbid," said the colonel. And the Southerner removed his pipe from between his lips to respond fervently "Amen!" Every one looked round, a trifle startled at the deep tone;but Roscoe went on: "Tom, old man, I am going to tell a story on you, right here to all these folks. Oh, you needn't blush and look round. Just stand by the door, one of you. No, open it and call the women in, if they don't mind the smoke. I don't believe his own wife and children know what a hero she married?his wife, I mean." The ladies soon came in, coughing a bit at the smoke, and were given the best scats. Then Koscoe went on: "As our colonel here said?and by the way, gentlemen, he wa9 a real colonel and held the President's commission?as our colonel said, we went into winter j quarters about November 1; that is to j say, we had tents served out and made a j regular camp instead of roughing it as j we had been doing for the last eight months. "We put up board stables j for the horses and walled our tents so we could have fireplaces inside, and j made ourselves as omfortable as you ] please. Still, being cava'ry, and pretty j well advanced, we did not expect to be : altogether idle, and we weren't. Tom, 1 here, was a first sergeant of my troop ! then. Strict he was, too, on duty, but j off duty he was the best fellow in the worlds and was really more in command of the company than the captain himself. ".Deing a i>ew iors regiiucutwe iuuh. a good deal of slock in Thanksgiving. { The colonel got the governor's procla- ! mation and had the adjutant read it on parade one evening, like the parson used to do at home, aad some of us had boxes and barrels from friends, and we all laid out to have a gorgeous spread on the coming Thursda}'. "Well, what should the Reb3 do Monday night but ride in on the infantry pickets a mile or two on our right and 3tampedc a green regiment, and our troop was ordered out in a hurry with three days' rations to chase them down j the valley and teach them not to trifle 1 with our Thanksgiving programme. "We started out at daylight, hoping' to make a clean job of it and get back j by Wednesday night, at the latest. We j rode all day and never saw a 'Johnny,' find camped Monday nij/ht in a patch of woods just of! the pike7 where we had a 1 ^ood line of retreat in two directions. ! Tom here was sent down the road with a 1 strong picket, of which I was one, and | the rest had their supper and turned in. "About four o'clock in the morning I was sitting, chilly and sleepy, on my j horse, it being my turn as vidette. and the sergeant and the other five men were j huddled together under a tree trying to keep warm, when I thought I heard j something very like the clunk of a sabre ' down the road. I was wide awake in a ! second and cocked my carbine. I was ' in a deep shadow where I could look i down the road, but it was a dark, star- j less night and there was not mucn to ue r seen. However, I shut my eyes tight for | a moment and then opened them quick, i and for just a second I could make out j the forms of several mounted men riding under the trees at the side of the road a c ouple of hundred }rards away. "Of course I fired at them and wheeled my horse and galloped back to the picket. The boys were in their saddles : before I reached them, and the sergeant formed us where we were and we blazed away, more to give the alarm than with the hope of hitting anybody. "The fire wa9 promptly returned and | Wc 6aw there was gOlQg to be music. ' Then followed the usual falling back on j the main body, firing as we went. One of our boys was knocked over and we had to leave him where he fell, for the rcbs were pushing us, and we were not more than half way back to camp when there came a rattling volley from the ; woods ahead of us. We could see the j flashes through the trees and guessed j that our retreat had been cut off. In a minute we dashed up to the troop aud ; found them all mounted and ready, but i the captain had been killed at the first ^? linufonorif +VlO f\Y\ 1T7 \ lire <11111 IUU HlOl VMW vutj I other officer with us?was hard hit im-I mediately after, so Tom was left in j command. "As soon as he saw how the land lay he ! gave the word 'Forward, fours right! ; Trot? Gallop!' and away we went up j the road helter-skelter. "There was no room, even if there had ; been time, for formation and a change j in line. Some of us drew sabres and i had a chance to use them, but most of j us used our revolvers and made a rush j for it. "Well, it was all over in three minutes. There was a wild scrimmage, shots and oaths, and riderless horses and the deuce to pay generally. My horse went down, and the rest, what was left of them, galloped on. "Somebody put a pistol to my head, and of course I held up my hands and had them tied behind ine, and then I sat on the dead horse and heard the fight go otl up the road. Evidently most of the boys had cut their way through, for presently the recall was sounded and the Rebs came strangling back, and by daybreak they were calling the roll and making themselves comfortable in our camp. Two other prisoners were brought in, one of them Tom here and the othsr a fellow named Richards. "We were put under guard and treated well enough, and after the sun was up the dead were brought in. There was a dozen all told, seven of them our men, and we got leave to write their names on a pine slab and stuck it up where they were buried. "Then the Rebs started off on a raid of their own, and we three prisoners J were sent to the rear under a guard of j three men, two of whom were wounded and unfit for rough work. We three were on foot but not pinioned, and our guards rode along behind us. "Tom had always sworn he would never go to Libby prison, but here he was on the way to it, and it looked as though he would have a chance to see Libby in spite of himself. "Well, we tramped along for five or six miles and then the corporal in charge called a halt. " 'Cover these 'yer Yanks with your irons, boys,'fie said, as fie dismounted. 'We may as well hobble 'em while we rest.' "He dismounted, and taking one ol his blanket straps approached Tom. " 'Set down, Yank,' he said, but the next minute he got a crack from Tom's right that sent him heels up over a log, aud Tom was off into the bushes like a deer. The other two shot at him but missed, and the corporal jumped up and chased him, but he was a trifle dazed by Tom's blow, and anyhow was no match for him in a foot race, so Tom got clear a?vay. "We were glad of it, of course, though our arms were pinioned the rest of the way. "Now, Tom, you tell your part of the story. Hearsay evidence is not admissible in this court, you know. Our host laughed, and his daughter, a pretty girl of eighteen, went over to him, as if to lend the encouragement of her presence, and stood beside him with her hand on his shoulder. "Roscoe ha3 made a fairly good story of it," said he, "but he hasn't done himself justice. It was my horse that was shot and he made me take his own. That's how he happened to be.captured. His memory always was a little treach- j erotis. Well, I ran through the woods until my wind gave out and then walked on two or three miles until I came 10 a narrow road running north. Following this awhile and keeping a sharp lookout I presently saw a horseman coming down the slope across a little run. You may believe I hid as quickly as I could, and watched him from behind a tree. He was a Confederate officer, well mounted and riding carelessly. "Now, in the hurry, our captorfl had overlooked a little revolver which I carried in one of my boots. So I got it i ready, and when he was opposite I stepped out and had him covered at ten feet distance. There was nothing for ! him to do but come down, and we ex- i changcd clothes, and I tied him securely i and left him quite comfortable with his j i head on a bunch of moss by the roadside. Then I rode off on his horse toward our lines. In a few minutes I struck the i road that we had marched over so i wearily in the morning, and after one or i two narrow escapes got back to our lines, i and who should I find there but Bill and i Richards, who had managed to get the b^st of their guard shortly after my es- 1 cape, and so we were all safe back for i our Thanksgiving dinner after all. I "Oh, I forgot to say that my Reb offi- I cer was a bearer of dispatches which I nroved to be verv important, and I got i 1 ? ? _ my promotion inconsequence." "Now, look here, Tom?that won't do!" broke ia Roscoe, glaring with pretended wrath at his friend. "I shall have to take up your dropped stitches." ' Every one turned expectantly toward 1 him as he paused, and, seeing that the ' colonel was not inclined to proceed, he 1 went on: 1 "When Tom struck that main road, as J he told you, he didn't go north at all, ' but just cantered along south on our trail J and overtook us in an hour. He had got ' himself up so we didn't know him at first, but he rode along with us, told the ' corporal who he was, heard the story of ' the morning's fight ("the comoral took 1 care not to mention his escaped prisoner), ' and then said, carelessly: : " 'That strap is rather tight, corporal. J Their hands are swelling. They can't 1 march long that way. There are four of ' us now. I'll take the responsibility.' "Then he halted us and unbuckled ( the strap, slipping his revolver into my ( hands as he did so. In a few minutes ' Richards tumbled the wounded man at ' his left off his horse. Tom had his pistol ' at the corporal's ear and the tables were * turned. ' "We thought it prudent to keep in the | woods on our way back to tne lines, so i it was right in our way to pick up the bearer of dispatches, whom we found where Tom had left him, and you can just bet we were cheered when we rode into camp next morning with our four prisoners." The young girl slid her arm round her father's neck and kissed him while he modestly kicked a log into position on the andirons, amidst a buzz of admiring approbation. " ''Colonel," said the Southerner, rising < and coming forward and extending his ] hand as a silence fell over the little com- i prmy, "I want to thank you, sir, forhav- ] ing put that roll of moss under my head ' when you left me by that road in Vir- < ginia, sir. You tied me pretty blamed tight, but thatmosa was a great comfort, 1 sir."?New York Telegram. ' s^=ss=se=s=? 1 Long-LIred Soldiers. The death of McClellan from natural causes illustrates anew the immunity of commanders from death on the battlefield. The number of distinguished gen- , erals killed in this manner is very small. Turenne, Louis IV.'s great general; Desaix and Moreau, Napoleon's marshals; Gustavus Adolphus, of Sweden, in Europe; Mcpherson, A. S. Johnston, Stonewall Jackson, Kearney and Custer in this country are among the few that have met th?3 fate to which a soldier, as * ' * * U 1-. Al i. one migtit mintc, wouiu. ue iue must exposed. Not only is this true, but beside nearly all the great military commanders have lived beyond middle age, some of them to extreme old age. Among the veterans who have lived to be over eighty years are "Wellington, Scott and Von Moltke. Hannibal, Frederick the Great,Lafayette, General Gates and Napier lived to be over seventy. Themistocles, "Washington, Grant and Lee were between sixty and seventy, and McClellan was in his sixtieth year. Generals Thomas and Hooker, of the civil war, died considerably over fifty years of age; whileMurat, j Napoleon's marshal,and General Greene, | of the American Revolutionary war, had nearly reached their forty-fifth year. The three greatest conquerors in history all died comparatively young, and from special causes. Alexander at 1 thirty-two from debauchery; Napoleon { - - - ' -? j?-- :-i. I at fifty-two lrom exiic ana aisappuiutment; Caesar at fifty-six by assassination. So that provided they are not cjreat conquerors, military generals' lives would seem to be about asgood insurance risks as there are.?Detroit Free Press. Wake Up. To be tirod of the world and its whirlTo surfeit of kiss, hug and curl? To feel that no joy can unfurl A fresh or new pleasure of life, Suggests to the miserable man (A wretch of the bachelor clan) That he had bent get?if he can? A stirrer in shape of a wife. | ?Detroit i\ee Press. A Forest Fire In Michigan. In a letter to the New York Sun frocj Michigan, describing the adventures oi y a party of surveyors, occurs the following passage: The wind began to howl, and great clouds of smoke nearly stifled the little ^ band. Coals of fire as large as a man's ? hand were blown over their heads, and * numerous little heaps of brush began to burn brightly. As the flames became * hotter the wind increased in velocity and seemed to be blowing in every di- ' rection. The fire spread laterally, and 1 soon a new danger became apparent. All ! the bears and other wild beasts and reptiles began to hurry to the little stream 1 that ran by the camp. From all dircc- 1 tions they came, and the savage brutes, '' in their terror, fought as they ran for the ! advantage in the pathway. Hromwell j gave the order to move, and told the men to be especially careful of their am munition, and to place it at the edge of . one of the pools of water caused by the uprooting ?f the trees. They moved about a quarter of a mile, and found a spot quite free from any debris. Ogauchee, one of the Indians, told Bromwell that they must get behind what remained of a big tree which had been reduced to a bed of coals. Bromwell wished to know the reason, but the Indian's on!y response was: ''You see, bimeby." Just above where their camp had been established the little stream ran over a ledge of lime rocks and was spread out in a series of cascades. The burning masses of trees and brush were not long in making these stones red hot, and the water reached a scalding temperature as ' it filled the pools below. The men first heard above the crackling of the flames a confused murmur, and then a mighty roar as the savage animals found themselves in a worse predicament thau ever. They naturally ran irom tnc source 01 meirncw iruuuic, , and their course lay directly toward Bromwell and his companions. r The men began to qet uneasy, but I Ogauchee told them there wa9 no danger. As the animals came to the bright bed of coals behind which the men were intrenched they went to either side and plunged into the pools of water. The nir now again began to get stifling, as the wind once more changed about, and the surveyors were themselves compelled f to jump into the excavation on the borders of which they had placedtheir cart- c. ridges. Here they had to stay for about ten hours. They then found that the fire had cleared the way to the mountains and was sweeping through the forests on the precipitous sides. They ? dragged themselves along in the hope of ! finding some recess among the rocks , where C they could sleep. When the * mountain side was reached the followed it a short distance to a cleft in the side of i great cliff, and entering found a roomy , :avern, on the sandy floor of which they it once sank to sleep. About 9 o'clock next day they awoke. n [t was raining hard, and it continued all I ~ lay, and through the night the forest 1 5rcs "were extinguished. The Indian ^ hunters soon brought in a deer which I they had shot, aud the party feasted on . this meat and roasted nuts. 1 a \ New Disease?. It is almost impossible, the London t Standard asserts, for any new occupation 1 to spring into existence without devel- t sping some new malady. Scores of such c :ases could be adduccd. But perhaps a the most curious was one which for a 1 time puzzled the Washington physicians. Some years ago it was noticed that al- t most every one of the women employed ? in counting banknotes in the treasury c began after a few weeks of the work to ( look ill, and then to have sores upon t ;heir hands and heads. This extraordi- t lary indisposition increased to such an r extent, that many of the clerks had to I ibandon their labors, after periods vary- r !ng from a few months to several years. i| 3ome of the cases were worse than t >thers; but there seemed no more possi- t rility of escaping the treasury malady o than of leaving Bagdad without the p curious "button" which marks forever i ;be resident in the city of Haroun al c Raschid. At last, however, the mystery p vimfi out. The note counters were one o md all suffering from blood poisoning, li ;aused by their having unconsciously c ibsorbed the arsenic used in coloring the t "greenbacks." Their moist fingers were t' ipplied to the forehead, or to rub the eye, o ind in this way the arsenic got entrance r ;o the system, and duly worked the mis- t; jhief mentioned. The hurry and scurry )f civilization are rapidly bringing new c diseases in their train. Softening of the * jrain was very little known before the r ige of competitive examinations and c iigh-pressure business. Stock-brokers c ire now so liable to it that Dr. Wynter n proposed to call it the Capel court dis- a ?asc. The first beginning of this terri- n ble malady very often comes upon a man v in the heyday of his prosperity. Its ap- c proach is so insidious that he may be h walking about and transacting his busi- P nesss, while all the time the fatal disease r is slowly working its way. Then, sud- P denly, he is missed. As in the "Vision f of Mirza," a personage is every now and again noticed to have vanished from the ? ebb and flow of city life, and none but to the family physician and the bereaved I relatives know that he has dropped g through the pitfall on the bridge, and d will never more mix in the busy haunts of men. The "Tennis elbow,'5 happily, f ia nnf nniln nn serious. It is only tcm- c porary. and it is affirmed that one attack r acts as a propyhlatic against a return of ^ the disease. But it is none the less a new ^ malady, caused like the housemaid's a knee or the chimney-sweep's cancer, s or the clergyman's sore throat, or the bent shoulders of the student and of the ^ pitman/by circumstances to which na- ] ture is a stranger. * Bio d Brotherhood. This is made between Congo chiefs ? who have hitherto been at enmity, for state purposes and for mutual security, and is held inviolable. The ccremony j varies in different distriefs. In one case the contracting parties literally drank j each other's blood, sucking it from an incision in the arm: in another they smear '? ? - -1 T)..t ' each other's bodies witn oioou. dui r the ccremony most common is performed as follows: The arm of each person is ^ cut with a sacrcd knife, and each taking ^ a slice of banana, rubs it in the blood of his future brother, and cats the palatable morccau. A goat is then killed, and j each takes a piecc of its liver, dips it in salt, and presents it to the other. A set . form of service is intoned by one mem t ber of the tribe, intimating that the breaking of this tic of brotherhood will j be avenged by instant death, and de- j claring that all old feuds hitherto existing between the contracting parties are now flung into the river to be carried away by the current. Though repulsive, this ccremony is impressive.?Blachcood. j Ozone baths are a specialty at East- J bourne, England. The bath is filled with long, green seaweed, steeped for an " hour before use in boiling water. The 8 bather remains in about twenty minutes, j and the bath Is thought very invigorat- * ins. 8 THE LOST CITIES. 1 1 Wonders of Ancient Civilization ' Found in Central America. Copan in Honduras is famous for its ( jrotesque idols or stone columns and t iculpturcd altars. These are very pro- j use and some of them remarkable. In ^ ^700, Fuentes, who wrote the chronicles f )f the kingdom of Gautemala,mentioned :his ruin and stated that in his time the . A# Pnnon waa onflTA T f. ^lcau V/ilb IO Ui VWJ/UU l? wg vuw?? V. *v .vns a circular space and surrounded by itone pyramids eighteen or twenty feet ligh. He also mentioned a stone hainnock in which were two human figures ind all cut from the same stone, and so idjustcd between the pyramids that it :ould be put in motion by the slightest mpulse of the hand. These ruins ex- , ;end a distance of two miles along the iver. The largest building is the temple, as t has been styled. It is an oblong in:losure and extends along the river bank 524 feet and rises from sixty to ninety 'eet. It is made from blocks of cut itone from three to six feet long aud one ?oot and a half wide. The other three lides consist of rows of steps and pyranidal structures rising from thirty to 140 :'cet on the slope. In one placc two maslive pyramids of 120 feet on the slope leem to adorn a gateway. Sculptured uins are scattered about in great numbers. The idols or scriptured columns :haracterize the ruins. Some of these, Stephens thinks,equal the finest Egyptian sculpture. The same hieroglyphics are ound in sculptured profusion as a? ?alenque. Uxmal and Chichen in the northwesern corner of Yucatan are to me more j vonderful than any others yet men- t i mi . t 1 ...1-.^!..* 1 lonea. i ne lormcr uns c*ieusive auu j nagnilicent ruins scattered over a large j irea. One immense building called the A 'House of the Governor" stands upon t hree ranges of terraces, the lower maonry five hundred and seventy-live feet. The structure is three hundred and wenty-two feet long and faces the east. rj The wall is smooth to the tops of the loorways and then the cornice is one ich mass of eleborate sculptured orna- e uents or hieroglyphics. J A few miles west of Uxmal is another j indent city?Chichen. This zroup of uins is all found within two miles in lircumfcrence,'though ruins extend some listanco into the surrounding country. ^ These, like its neighbor at Uxmal, stand ipon a 'succession of terraces made of t ubble imbedded in mortar and held to- ^ 'ether by finished walks of concrete t imestone. Above these huge terraces j, he buildings rise perpendicularly onclalf their height, when to the cornice ^ he remainder is laid off in compart- f nents, which arc elaborately decorated j; vith stone sculpture and illustrated with ? lieroglyp'nics. This is varied withelaboatc borders, the whole executed with j ccuracy and precision. The rooms in- j, iside are finished with white stucco and r minted in fresco, sky blue and light jreen colors predominating, and arc still | iroaArvnri Dni! huildin<? is named the 'Palace of the Nuns,'1 and is very rich t n sculpture. The largest is the castle, . ,nd it has wonderful stone carvings in ? vhite limestone. a The hieroglyphics are curious and t leautiful. The mural paintings in this ost city are fine, even from the artist's g ?oint. Some represent warriors in battle a asting spears and javelins, while others j ,re thought to represent incidents in the ives of the rulers of Chichcn. 1 Speculations in regard to the age of hesc ruins have been wild and extrava- ^ jant. They have extended from the j leluge to the fifteenth century of the christian era. Bancroft made an at- ' empt to collect the most important of j. hese conjectures, and this was the ange. In 185!) Charney was sent by the ; French government to explore these a uins. From what knowledge he gained t was judged by scicntitic men that here were at least seventeen hundred or wo thousand years old. Upon his sec- f nd visit in 1881 he found that the rapid ;rowth of the concentric layers of the ^ orest trees from which his former con- * li?/l l./inn rnanlinrl u'nrn nnt in tllA !. I UJS1VU3 UilU uvwti ivavuwu <?v?v ... ^ iroportion of otic a }rear as i 11 the layer f trees iu the north, but nearer to one lyer for each mouth. He Bet his first j alculatious aside as very wide of the rue date, and this time concluded that ? hey could not be earlier than the 12th j r 13th century. Jladaiilac thinks the uins of Pa'enque cannot bo older than ^ he first century of our era. ^ At Mctta, a town near the Pacific oast, in an arid and desert plain sur- {' ounded by rugged mountains, are the uins of a once magnificent towu. The minent archeologist, Viollet-lc-Duc, says ^ oncerning its principal building: "The lonuments of the golden age of Greece [' nd Rome alone equal the beauty of the ^ lasonry of this great building." The t rails and pavements were covered with oats of stucco, and painfed red, much j !ke the decorations of the walls of Pom- ^ cii. The rooms were ornamented in j. icti mosaics 01 mue sttuiua, erfectlv [symmetrical designs in Greek ' rets or arabesques. At Kabah, near Uxmal, is a structure r portico that bears a marked resemilance to the Roman triumphal arch. y )uring the past ten years Dr. Le Plon en, Charnay and others have made iscovcries which have added very ma- t erially to antiquarian treasures. The ormer, near the palace of Chichen, exavatcd several beautifully executed bas cliefs, representing feline animals and lirds of prey, a figure of a tiger with a luman face, a stone urn filled with ashes g nd a statue of a man reclining upon a epulclirnl stone. This same figure has been found at the ; ?ity of Mexico and Merida and is sup- j >osed to have represented some un:nown divinity. ? Several dossal heads have been found, j )ne seven feet high and another twelve. Vt Izamal arc several pyramids which :ontain clumbers like those in Egypt. * Jlovigero, who passed through the I VliOlC 01 MCX1CO, ICliS Ui Having ^ itand'n?r in many places massive piers j ntended to support bridges of masonry c >ver the rivers. J>road paved highways ( ed from place to place. These wore , nade of blocks of stone covered with ^ veil preserved mortar and a layer of cenent a couple of inches thick. (! At Cholula is a pyramid still standing t fvhich covers an area double that of 1'heops. In Cortex's time tins was { rowned with a magnificent temple, vhich he destroyer7, supposed to have ' jecn dedicated to the sun. Others r :luim thut there is still a tradition among ? he Indians that this was built in expeoation of a second deluge. At Xochi-!g :alco a peculiar temple was found on a j lill'two miles in circumference and ris- i' ng from 300 to 400 feet in the midst of I l plain. This hill has two tunnels t >peuing to the north. One was explored t ind found to lead to a room measuring ;ighty feet, which had been excavated rom a rock; two pillars had been left to { itrengthcn the top. At one corner of t his room was a rotunda six feet in di- , imeter, which was also excavated with ^ l perfect 'gothic roof. The outside of he hill was formed of five successive i; erraces seventy feet high, upheld by I tone walls crowned with parapets, a LTpon the summit rose a temple sixty five jy fifty-eight feet made ot blocks of lorphyritic granite, laid without mortar ] mil so nicely adjusted that the joints cere hardly visible. Think of the L - c 1? ?? - - Ulv/\* MftAntonrTr fft % llliOllUl Ol JIUlliau lauui utuxou.; -w 2 ransport from a distance these stoaei ^ or hill and temple. In 1835 there wen? \ ive stories, one behind the other. The i sntire front was covered with sculptures. f Bastian, a German traveler, who ex- ] )lored in 1875 quite extensively in this \ egion, found in cvclopcau stone colossal ] isads of strange and unknown type, j igures of animals, the tapir and alliga- j ors, and huge has reliefs representing ;rotesi}ue figures. In another place on ] he Gulf of Honduras an immense head { vas found and the statue of a woman vearing on her head a crowned idol, ind close by was a tiger in porphyritic < ock. ( In all the explorations that have been t nade in these ruined cities and the sur- i ounding regions, few places of sepultures f lave been observed. What became cf ? he builders of these unknown cities is c ret as much of a mystery as their origin. fi n the province of Durange, in a. cave, j housauds of dried mummies have re- a ently been discovered.- This may point s o the solution when the explorations t lave been more minute. It has been j cnown some time that the ancient Peru- a nans understood the art of embalming ; he dead, and why should not the same p cnowledge have been general among e Vioan liirrllll' Olllflvnfprl llUtlflprfl of UW1' "'O-'J -- | V jrand and beautiful cities? s Of the people who lived and loved j md toiled in these once bustling thor- E mghfarcs history is silent. Tradition E :omes to our aid, but that is unsntia- i actory. "We may give wings to our j houghts and repeople them to suit our { ndividtial fancy, but the fact still renainsthat they are lost cities clothed t vith mysteries a9 profound and impene- ^ rablc as the grave. ? Cleveland, Leader, f ? 5 RAISIN MAKING. b a [lie Operation a* Conducted by the j California Packer*. j The grapes are purchased on the vines, f lome by actual weight, others by esti- 8 nating the crop from weijjhing the pro- c luct of every tenth vine. Good judges v :an make a pretty clo^e guess at the a lumber of tons on an acre of vines, and j rears of practice enable the buyer to tell 8 'ery nearly not only the amount, but the y |uality of the raisins to be made from G he vines which grow in different soils. s rVhilc the lower and damper lands bring [ lie largest crops and perhaps the largest f jerries, the dry lands give a much larger i jercentage of sugar, and consequently a c iner raisin. It is claimed that the best B rradc of Orange raisins will this year j quul any in the market, and it is con- r ideally expected that our product will r fain a very enviable name and footing 11 the East this year. Unusual care is 8 >eing taken to pack and grade in a mail- ^ icr that will reflect credit on Orange's 8 >roducts, and the result will certainly ^ )e a strong demand in the future. t The grapes are picked by crews of j nen under experienced foremen, and are ilaced in trays or wooden frames, which ire piled on top of cach other in wagons x ind taken to the scales, weighed, and g hen taken to the drying grounds. These ^ :onsist of about sixty acres of land, ( mootlicd and cleaned like a brick yard, ( nd the grapes are spread out in long ^ ows to dry in the sun. Ten days or two ? veeks from the "laying down" is usual- t v about the time required to dry them, , nd then those thoroughly cured are j aken up and put into the sweat boxes. r 'robably one-third are not yet cured, t " n - - x nlnn/Si^ in incx liicsc uru lurucu uvui auu pKivwu au i ^ iarrow rows until the ?ction of Old Sol las made them ready. The enormous ? juantiiy of grapes handled by one firm an be estimated when it is known that a ,t one time this sixty-acre plot was cov% [ red, and a portion of it has been covered f , second time. Teams are continually f :oming and going, and a small army of i aen are employed to take care of the E ;rapes and keep the teams on the move, t rtany women and girls arc also employed j ticking up the loose raisirs which have a alien from the stems. The trays are of a lumber and capacity to hold 300 tons of f [rapes. Another thing which catohea he eye at the drying grounds is the pre- a laration made for possible rains, in the ^ liape of rolls of oiled paper stacked up r n all directions. This paper is in sheets v ,bout four feet in width- and sixteen t cct long, prepared to withstand rain by *\ lipping it in boiled oil. Two carloads of e taper and fifty barrels of oil have been t ised this season, but as yet it has not t teen found necessary to use the paper. fc When properly dried the grapes are a aken up and put into sweat boxes, fc irobably seventy-five or 100 pounds to n he box, and hauled to the packing ^ louse, where they are piled from floor i o ceiling in the large front room. They t re left here some ten days, and passed hrough a sweating process, the object s icing to equalize the moister contained v a them. When placed in boxes some ( re much drier than others, but when p cady for the packer the intention is to s aakc them, as nearly as possible, equal v nd uniform in that regard. Four lay- f; rs arc placed in a box, and each layer is v weighed by the packer, and the whole oust make exactly the twenty pounds g equired. "When a box is filled the packer akes it to the scales near the door, pre- a ided over by an expert in the business, a ' " * fivnminflQ if l yno careiuuy nuijjus mm u .ud ii all right it is carried to the next v oom, where it is nailed up and the coi- c ters smoothed olT, and it is ready for v hipment. Particular care is exercised a a grading and weighing. About 120 t ncn are employed in an 1 about the pack- I nghouse.auda "steady stream of boxes" t s kept going around the circle. We a vere informed that about ,1,500 boxes a g lay were being turned out, or three caroads every two days. i j The most of the packcrs are Chinamen, c .nd as usual they soon become very ex- < >crt at the business, putting up from ten a o twelve boxes a day. White men fill n 11 the responsible stations, it evidently fc ?eing considered necessary to keep a lose and vigilant watch over the a 'heathen" to keep him from resorting to t, 'ways that arc dark." Occasionally a n >ox goes back to the packer and is upset m his table as a gentle reminder that i 1. 4. 1. ? /lnnn <>11 +11 irst-ciass wurit must ut uuuv. ??? iinc. The box lids are branded by a power- v ill cylinder press run by horse power, i ? nd it is rather amusing to a printer to . vatcli the modus operandi of this coarse J? grained printing. Checks arc used in * very department, a packer receiving a j J* hock for each box delivered :.r the!:1 cales. The whole business seems to be j ystemati/.cd thoroughly and moves P long like clockwork. The work prornis- f. is to last until Christmas or New Years j >eforc the whole crop is disposed of,'but I v he favorable weather .vhich the raisin- !v nakers have been blessed .with will fa- ? lilitate their operations, and if it coninues for another mouth they will have v he most of the work done. ? Oraruje ? CaL) Tribune. * An agricultural editor says: "No ani- a nal can tight and eat at the same time." t Je has evidently never seen n, traveler at t , ten-minutes-for-lunch stand.?rack. ( QUEER SIGNATURES. Hoiv some Bank Officials and Other# Sign Tlieir IVamew* "I think it's Simmuns," said the sig? lature expert of the United States treas* lry, to a Washington correspondent ol ;he New York Sun, as he laid aside ai nagnifying glass and wiped his eyes with i silk handkerchief. He had for half an,: lour been examining a curious scroll on ;he back of a check. It consisted of a slack stroke of a pen, tapering off to an rregular line, and was there to represent ;he name of some bank cashier. "There is not a letter in it," he said, mldinrr if. lm tn thp lirrht "hut it mean# .r & -- r o?: simmons." "Do you have many of that sort?" "Worse than that. Five or six hundred lifferent signatures pass through hqre in i month, maybe, and two thirds of them ire illegible. Bank cashiers seldom make ettcrs in their signatures. They adopt t certain form of scroll generally, and ilways use it lor their signature. Some >f them are very curious. This, for intance," and he took from a drawer a )aper across which was scrawled a charicter that looked like a schoolboy's ketch of a whirlwind. The line had >een spun around and around in one >iecc like a spiral spring, then shot icross the paper about. half an inch* vhen the gyration was again related, and this was followed by ,nother dash and some more ciriles. "That," said the expert, "is the ignature of the cashier of one of the 'few York banks. Of course there are 10 letters in it, but we know what it neans and could swear by it at any time, wouldn't want a better signature. But f you wanted a longer one, here it is," IliU UU iiauu^u VUU uuuiuwi uiutv. "The length of this," lie said, "is reg- ? ilated by the width of the paper on vhich it is written. It always extend* rom margin to margin. Ic consists, rou see, merely in high up and down trokes, perfectedly pointed at the top, .nd all of about the same height. Again ou have no name at all. It is simply he sign of a name, but it is just as good or us. It is always the same,*and asimple as it may seem, I don't think it :ould be counterfeited. Here is another vith the same pointed strokes, but there,re fewer of them, and the signature is ligher than it is long. But there is oneignature we get on checks principally vhich is more remarkable thsi^ ither of these. The letters are all the ame height, and will reach from top ta >ottom across the face of a chcck. * At irst glance nothing can be made of it, ' - 1 >ut if you follow the line carefully you :an unravel the name, and you will be urprised at its plainness. Each letter is jerfect in itself, but is so tall and narow that at first glance you don't comtrehend what it is. "We come across some very curiousignatures, and some mighty bad ones. Phnar? nf Ron "Rutler ftiid Horace Greelev ire famous for their ugliness, but they vould fall into insignificance alongside he scrawls that pass through here on. irafts and checks." - "How do you make them out?" "Generally the contour suggests thelame, though no letters may be formed, Sometimes I know a name at first glance, vhen if I try to analyze it I am thrown )lf the track entirely. Probably once or ;wice we have had to write to find out vhat a name was. but generally when hey are too much for me, the register of' he banks will give the name. "When ve come across a new signature that isparticularly hard to make out wc make a ecord of it, so that whenever we see hat same combination of odd characters ve know what it stands for." "Is a bad signature a sign of ignorince?" "By no means. The worst signatures ire those ot educated men, generally tank officials. They are always written reely and quickly. Write your name as ast as you can and see what itknksike. That's the way it's done. These nen have to write their names so often hat they get to making the quickest sombination of characters possible., and ,dopt it as their signature." "What is the easiest signature toorge ?" "One that is extremely bad or remark,bly good. Spinner used to write the rorst signature of any man in this de >artment. Yet there were a aozen cier*?vho could counterfeit it so perfectly hat no one could tell tlie difference. The perfect Spencerian signature, howver, is the easiest to imitate. One of he best signatures I have ever seen ishat of the new treasurer, Jordan. It is icautiful to look at?as clear and legible ,s engraving?but I don't think it could ie counterfeited. He can write hisame quicker than any man I ever saw. Assistant Secretary Faircbild and Third auditor Williams write their names well, oo. "The most ponderous signature I ever truck was that of Drake Do Ivay, who vas assistant adjutant general under Mc;lellan. When he signed letters and apers of various kinds they used to be pread out on the floor, where the sun . ould strike them, to dry. This is a act. I don't know what he used tamte with, but I think it was a stick." "Do you ever come across any f orreries?" .... . 5?!i_ - e "Yes, Dut tne large majority ui iucui re innocent. They grow out of ignornce. Sometimes checks come in with a aan'a name signed to them, and when 7d come to look over the papers in the laira against which the check is drawn re find he can't write at all and has used i mark only. Then, of course, we know here has been a forgery committed. Jut it generally turns out that the man ias had some one sign his name for him, nd the parties have been led into forgery innocently? "Theodore Thornton," he said, breakng off suddenly, and casting his eyes ?ver a check that was laid on his desk. Wake a record of it." Tlien he put way his magnifying glass and began laking sketches on the blotter of the ?ad signatures he had been describing. 'I can't tell you how it is," he added, fter a minute, "but I can always tell a oigery from a genuine almost at a :lance." Inspecting Eggs. One of the curious operations to be ritncssed in New York is the inspection f eggs. In the large markets men maj >e seen testing eggs at almost any lime, ut especially in October and November, "hey work in dark rooms, where they :ecp a lamp burning iu a box on the able before them. One of them will ake two or three eggs in each huud and ass them rapidly between hi3 eyes and he lamp. If the egg is good that is. if he albumen is still unaiTectcd, the light fill shine through with a reddish glow, rhicli if the egg is affected will be paque and dark. The inspector's praciced eye quickly perceives the least rant of clearness in the eggs, and suspiious ones are re-examined, to be passed nto "bad"' or "doubtful" baskets. In his way over a hundred eggs a minute re often examined, and any one can est the goodness of eg/js who will hold bem up to a light in a dark room.? Cultivator.