University of South Carolina Libraries
&Z - - r I'"". \ ???? BARTER. ' Give me the gold from off thy hair, The rose upon thy checks that lies, Thy siuging voice that everywhere Makes laughter in the trembling air, The young joy in thine eyes." "What will you give to me. oh. say, Thou gray old man with restless wings, For love's entrancing morn of of May, For dawn and fre?hne>s of the day, And life that leays and sings J" ''Lo! I will ma'ce thy foot>t?p* slow Across the flowers that bend and wave; A ad for thy gold will give thee snow, And silence for thy laughter low, Darkue s, a grass-grown grave." ?Boston Transcript. ? THE SERGE ANT;S VOW. r I bad been waiting a week at Jeffer OQ for instructions fr. m Washington. I bad written for permission to go to New Orleans, as I had relatives there with whom I wished to pass the winter; but at the end of the week my hopes were all nipped in the bud by the following mi sive: Major: You will proceed at once to Fort 8tet.-.on: thence, with all possible disjatch, to Foit Carson; and thence to Fort Kearney, t which posts you may pay oil' the enrolled men and officers, n<id alio settle all duly authenticated bills against th? offic e on account of provisions, forage, camp and garrison ttoi es, etc. It is particularly re jucsted that you wi'.l be careful and exact in your return of estimates for the co ning winter months. Captain Goodwin will detail for you suih scoi t as you may ro^uire. I have the honor to be, etc., G. P. Bowman, D. P. M. G., Major and Paymaster, U. S. A. To G. S. Cochrane. This did not reach me by the hands of Captain Goodwin, however, whom I tiould Have b;on nappy to meet; out oy the hands of Se geant .'ames Connover, who cime with s.x n.cu tsndet his command, to cscoit nie on my way, if I deemed s i<h : sco:t su i cicnt. Goodwin, who w.;s sick wit 1 fever and ague, wrote by the hind of his clerk: "I would send you more men: but, really I think more would be iu your way. There aie no Indians ou the trail between . etferson and Stetson; and certainly this cscoit is suflicie.'it again-tany ordinary highway interpolation. Ser, gcant Lounover is not a very brilliant man: nor is he over and above sociable: but I have found him true as steel; and the privates?members of my own company?whom I send wiih him you can rely upon in any emerge uoies. Only, they liavc tho common weakness. Don't ?jv,. give them too free a run at the whisky Dottle. Th y won't break faith with ! you to get it; but if allowed full sway, ; they might get a drop two much for j your own comfori.'" And he wrote abjut other matters, but: nothing more of his men. After reading the letter I raised my j yes and rait the ^aze of the Sergeant, who stood with his cap in his hand on the opposite side of the small table, lie tartid when I looked up. and I thought he was ashamed of having been caught taiing at me so fixedly. But the flush quickly left his face, and he inclined his head another way. He wa> a man of medium size, very i heavily built, and evidently very muscu- I lar. In short, he was made for a fighter, i and f.r one of those valuable fighters' wVir? r>riss!j?s<! stubborn will and doffirid 1 "* 0-? I resolution rather than hot and impetuous | pugnacity, lie was not a man to be ever in a ferment; but a man who, when j fairly aroused, is to be feared, lie wa3 not fur from forty-five years of age, and i the stripes upon h:s foreaim showed that he had served four full terms of enlist- ! ment previous to the present. I wont out with the Sergeant and i found the six raea on the p azza, stand ing at eaie under arms. They wererejlly J fine looki. g fellows, and auswerid, re- j pectively, to the names: Smith, Adams, ! Mealy. Oe.'-au, Van Wirt, and Connolly. I Smith was a Yankee; Adams was an Eng-1 lishman, and had been in the Queen s ervice as a dragoon; Mealy and Connolly were Irishmen; Oe^uuwas a Dutchman, and Van Wirt was a Gcrmau. A wide range of nationality for so small a quad; but a fair sample of our army, ! nevertheless; and, furthermore, six men i cf one nation could not have beea more free and pleasant t!:an were those six. j Unlike their Sergeant, they were free i t*nd pleasant, and seemed to be thankful I for the privilege of taking the forest tramp with me; while I, in turn, gave . * them to understand that I would do all I couid to make them comfortable. The I ennnrl hud rnmn with <?ood hor-es. SO ! the only preparations I had to make for the start were to get my own horses ready and draw my money. My estimates had been to the amount of *ii.>,000, and this I must take in gold. I went to the baak with the sergeant and three of the men and got the money, which I took a<\ay in four small canvas bags, weighing about forty pounds each, but at the hotel I packed the gold in a tort of pannier-saddle, a contrivance which I had invented myself, and in which I could so pack anywhere from one to four hundred pou ids of gold that it would neither sway or jingle. In short, ? a horse could bctr in this saddlc-pack a burd n of dead weight almost as easily as he could bear a human rider. And I had a hoiin on purpoe for the workone that I used for several years, and that understood his duty as ihmgh it had all been reasoned out in his mind. Bright and early on a clear, cool October morning we set forth from .JeiFerson with three days' rations in our haver*f / sacks, for fctet-on was 120 miles away and we would be doing well to make thu trip within the time indl aed. I rode in advance?not because I desired it, but because the others "were inclined to fall to the rear. We were passing over a narrow bri'lge just on the outskirts of Jctrcrson when we met two men and two boys driving before them a dr .ve of cattle. I had met and gone clear of the herd without difficulty, and was think ug how I would like to take one of the fatter bullocks along with me. when an c clamation of nnger arrest'.-d my attention, and turning in ray saddle I discovered one of the oxen? n wild, frolicsome thing?had attacked the sergeant's horse. It had been quickly done?a fri*k-a leap?a lunge of the great curving horns at the horse's side?the ieiring of the latter, and the .consequent unseating of the sergeant. WYhen Connover had regained his feet the fro'lesome bulock was away f. 0111 his reach, but to. so the innocent drovers. Til'1 two men w;re near together and directly by his side as he graced his sword-hilt and turned upon ihem. I did not think Connover would harm them; but they were terribly frightened, nevertheless, and the younger i f the two, who was a stout, fair-looking fellow, was the lirst to speak an intelligent word?(the sergeant had utteiedone or two oaths). "Excu-e us, my good friend, I am forry?truly sorry?for this mishap, but I assure you it was no fault of ours." As Sergeant Connover then stood his face was turned very nearly toward me, so that I caught nearly every line and sha !e of expression upon his features, lie had been terribly shaken and was 1 .... .....> exceedingly wrathful, but his wrath wa3 in a gr atcr part made of chagrin at being unhorsed in so ridiculous a manner than from a mere attack of the bullock. A few seconds he glared into the face of the man who had spoken to him, a id then, prefacing his remark w th an oath of condemnation, he exclaimed: "If ye've got a (iod ye'd better thank Him that .'em Connover don't owe yc much of a grudge!" The man muttcre.1 something and passed oil to attend to his cattle, while the Scgeunt pitted his foot in the stirrups, and as lie did so he looked toward me. Our eye? m?t, and again I saw him change color and start, as though he had done s:mo guilt.v thing in thus looking into the face of his superior officer. "If ye've got a God. ye'd better thank Him that -cm Connover don't owe ye mut'h of a grudge.'' Why did those words ring in my ears, j and ec ho through my whole being? Twenty times dining that day I looked upon my Sergeant whim he did not know it, and studied his face, ar.& each effort seemed to bring the last connection nearer, without quite giving it into my hands, lie seemed to knew that I had begun to feel an interest in his ante* j ce ients, and toward the latter part of the day behaved himself more as the oflicer of my esc >rt ought. He asked me I how I would like to have the guard disI posed, and very modestly gave inc to un! derstand that my wishes would be held i as law by them. I took this for what it | was worth, aud I knew very well what it j meant: There was an old association that he would not have raked up. ; Th it night found us at the foot of | Brock's Mountain, and at the extreme i verge of civilisation in that direction. ' Beyond here we were to take the old i government-supply road ?a mere bridlep ttli?with which Connover and his two men were perfectly familiar, and we wou'd not strike another settlement until near Stetson. I went to sleep in my tent thinking of Sergt. James Connover, and it must have been immediately after my waking senses that my dream senses took up the thread, and they took it up to some purpose. Hampered with to ordinary loutine or j system of circumlocution, bothered with I * 1! 1!.U I no scsarcniiig iur cunucvuug uun.5 m gur- , j relative circumstances, they went back , over the years with a leap, and drew a ' j picture for rae a? vivid and distinct as i ! the original event had been just eighteen j | years before. I was at F->rt Sne!lin<,' a Second Lieu| tenant of Engineers, engaged in surveying government lands, laying rut roads, and so on. and among those detailed to assist me was a private of the name of James Connover. He got drunk while at work, and when I reprimanded him he used language so offensive and foul that I could not pass it by. I fact, if I had been armed at the time I should have ! shot him, for his course was such as to entirely place himself beyond the reach I of forbcaravce. I reported him and he j was Hogged severely?Hogged so severely | that I bore him no more grudge. But he j bore a grudge to.vaid me. though. Aye ?while his back was bleeding and smart- I ing he hissed into mv ears: "If ye'vegot! a Cod, be sure to him. Jem Connover swears that he don't give over this grudge till one of us dies." I started out from my sleep aud s ;t up. It had been a dream, and yet not all a j dream. All the while th? scene was be- [ ing repeated before me. I had been conscious that I lay there in my tent under I (he old boulder of the Brock. I had j sunk into a state where my mind was ! free to follow its own course, taking the j single fact of James Connorer for a point of doparturo, and thence running back- j ward until he was met again. I remembered all now. Yes. This j was the man who, eighteen years before, had cursed and swore and reviled me, and threatened all manner of violence; ; and his only provocation had been that I i liad threatened to have h:m punished if ' he ever got drunk again while on duly j with mc. To be sure he wss under the j influence of li |U?r at the time; but not j so far gone but that he know very well j what he was doing; because, alter reach- | ing the fort, on our return, he made his ; boast that he had given the <;sho ?Idcr- j pop" (so he called mcl a stoma* liful to carry off, but he didn't believe I would ! dare to report him. But I did report j h m, and I gave his specc-h in full, and) the resu't was that the old Major ordered ! a court martial, out from the sentence of J which the man came with a hundred : lashes. And here I was. with my old enemy i for an escort! From'that far gone time to the present I had never s en nor heard j of the man, and he had longajro passed j 1 entirely from my mind. Connover is a . common name in the army; or, at least, j i I had happened to hit quite a number of | | enlisted men of that name; so I had n'.>t ' connected the stout, dark-browed, I stocky Serjeant with the fair-faced, | lithe and youthful soldier who had crosscd my path at Snelling. , j ' A hasty review of the whole thing 1 brought ir.e to rather an unpleasent un- ' derstandiug of the present situation, j That < onnover still b'j:e a grudge was , i very evident; and it wa> equally evi- j dent that ho meant to settle the account i between us on th:s t ip. I could not | think therein the tent. It was too nar-1 row a space. I had arisen, a:id was upon J , the point of passing out, with my pistol ! ; in my hand, when I heard a stealthy j footstep at the entrance. Without noise ! I sprang into a front corn t, and there j I crouched down upon my saddle. 1 had scarcely gained the position ! when the flap was thrown aside and a ; man looked in. Ah! ju-t beyond the I | fa e of the interloper was an opening at; the end of the mountain, and I caught j , his profile against a p itch of clear sky. | i It was the hard, broiued face of John j : t'onnovcr! I held my pistil realy for instant use, i | expecting every moment to see him leap ' to the spread blankets. But he was ! very moderate, lie put his he d further I ; in, and seemed puzzled. It w:is, of : course, very dark in there, but yet he could probably see that the bed did not ! look as though there was a man in it. Once I raise:! my pistol, full sure that j j the man v. as after my life, and fearful! I that if I threw a chance away he might j I get thy better of me; but I did not fire. | Something seemed to wiiisper in my ear: j "Hold on: you've hit him once. Be sure j you're in danger before you hit him ' again!" and I lowered my pistol and wat- hod. Presently: ''Major!" came from his lips, carefully but earnestly. "Major!?Major C'och| rane'r" There was something in the tone of that voice that gave me heart. It was a j soit of imploring, prayerful tone, as of ! one who has a great lavor to ask. I de- : tcrmined to answer him: but to be sure I j kept my pistol ready at hand. With a yawn, as though just startled from my sleep, I returned: "A-ah! Hello! Who'sherc?" "Eh! Down here? It's me, Major? Sergeant Connover. I was passing round back of your tent and thought I heard ye talking with yerself. f?'o, thinkin' ye'd be awake, and havin' something I wanted particularly to say, I made bold to come around and look iu. The fact . ' :.y :."Vis Major, I couldn't sleep till I'd sst matters right." By this time the fellow had turned so that I could see that he had no weapon with him, and I began to think that I had been a little to:> fearful. However, I got up and stepped out int") the centre of the tented area, and then .<-aid: "Go ahead, sergeant. I'm all attention." Without further preliminaries he went oa: s'Of course you kn:>w me?" ' I fiiuk I have good reason to remember you, sergeant." 4'And you remember the last words 1 ever spoke to you in the old years'*" "I have not forgotten thrm." "Well," he said, with a palpable burst of feeling, "them wo.ds have been haunting me ever since I met you nt the hotel in Jefferson. When I was ordered to rcpo:t to .Major Cochrane I never thought of you. The old aTair hid almost gone from my mind: but when I saw your face I knew you, and when you looked up at ; me I was troubled. I hoped you might nut remember me. If you did not I : meant to hold my tongue. But I could't j act hide m}\self. Howsumever, I held up l till to night. But after we'd done supi per I kfpt watch of your movements, and j made up my mind th it you were going ; to look out for mc. But, Major, don't | let it go no fuither. I'm too old a soldier now not to know that the harm I suffersd ! at Snelling was of my own making. I don't bear the old grudge any longer, j and I tell you the truth when I tell you | that you did me a good turn that time. ' I know how I was going on, a::d I know | that another oilicer in your place would have shot me. So, yon will tike my hand and cry quits of all old memories?" I never gave my hand to a man more readily, nor more cheerfully; and 1 doubt j if in all this Western wilds there was a j more sociable and .^olly party than we ! made on the following day. As an individual, I was particularly happy; foi I am free to confess that there* were a few moments of that first night in the wilderness freighted with about a3 much dreud and uneasiness as a m in woul care to experience. But, as I remarked to the Sergeant on a former occasion: "All's well that end's well." And our tramp of four weeks continued so pleasantly that the end might have been longer deferred without complaint from us.? Chicaao Times. Healthy and Unhealthy Occnpations. The first place among healthy occupations is held by ministers of rel gion, the death rate of this cla33 being ;>53. Next we h*ve gardeners and nurserymen, who stand at r.Oit; farmers and graziers, G31; agricultural laborers, 101; schoolmasters, 718; the other trades which follow closely on these being grocers, oal merchants, paper manufacthr- ! ers, lace and hoisery manufacturers, wheelwrights, ship builders and .shipwrights anrl coal miners. The ligures of mortality of all these trades is under 775. Cn the other side, that of unhealthy occupations, the first place is held by the trade* which are concerned in the manufacture und distribution of intoxicat'ng drink, which, as is well kr.own, entail many temptations to use it to excess. The list of unhealthy occupations is headed by the class of inn and hotel ser.ants, whose figure mounts up to 2,205, being nearly double that of the medical profession. The highest place next to them are held by the general laborers and coster - mongers, hawkers and street sellers, the i former class with 55.020, and the latter with 1,870. It is probable that both are largely made up of brjkcn men, the wiecks of other calling. Innkeepers, ?Mih1l/inns crviiif winfl onfl hftAr Hpnlnrc " "" follow with ii figure of 1,521 and brewers with 1,301. In support of the belief that thes.* high rates oT mortality are ohiefly due to alcoholic exces?, Dr. Ogle has compared with them the mortality assigned to diseases of the liver, the orjrfin through which sucii excojs chrefly dcclarcs itself, nnd has obtained results which are entirely in harmony with those of the trade returns. Next to the trades conccrned with alcohol, the highest rates arc furnishedJ?y occupation, which involve the breathing of dust?other than coal dust?and especially of a sharp and gritty character, or largely composed of mineral matter; next, those in which there is expo urc to lead poisoning. as with plumbers, painters and filemakers. The earthenware manufacturers, who are mu.-h exposed to mineral dust, have a figure of 1,742; fileraakers, who work upon a leaden cushion, reach 1 lilt? onrl nlnmKftro onrl nnintprQ "whrfc 4%"vc r**??> are also exposed to lead, reach 1,202.? Chambers?4 Journal. Noted Book Peddlers. Mark Twain and Brete Hartehad their first association with literature as humble canvassers. Jame G. Blaine began life as a book agent in Washington, Penn., selling a ' Life of Henry (."lay." The poet Longfellow was a book agent before his verso began to attract the attention of the public. .Jay Gould made h:s first money peddling books in the rural districts of Central New York when a mere boy. Rutherford B. Hayes footed it all over Southern Ohio when a mereJad getting subscriptioss for Baxter's "Saints' Best." Danrel Webster paid his second year's tuition at Dartmouth by acting as local agent in Merrima? county, N. H., for Dc Tocquevillo's "America." When Napoleon Bonaparte was a Lieutenant in the army, and unemployei at Paris, he canvassed a suburban Parisian arrondisscment for a work en titled "ITHistoire de la Revolution." General Grant, after his resignation from the army and before his ventures on t':ie Dent farm, took part of the territory of a general agent of Putnam's to dispose of Irving's "Columbus.'' George Washington, while surveying Fairfax county in his youth, canvassed for BydeU's "American Savoys: llow he .May be Tamed by the Weapons of (. ivili. ation," and sold over 2U0 copies in Alexandria, Va. Bi.-marck, when at Ileidelburg during the winter vacation, having his allowance cut short by his father, the Baron, canvassed for Biumenbach's ' Aufgescliichte die Wes-elgung in der Spiegeleisen.''? New York Graphic. Letter Mail Long- Ago. The interesting Post Museum at Berlin has lately received a noteworthy addition in the shape of a letter cover dating from last, century. The letter was sent from rnuaaeipnm touie great gnmu-iubu?;j ui the U}te possessor of the cover. The cover bears the postmarks af Philadelphia, London, Calais, Brussels, the Hague, Amsterdam and Hamburg, so that the route adopted in those days was evidently a very circuitous one. The date of the missive is between 1700 and i 1789, but the actual year cannot be de! termined, as the cover gives no date. The cost of transmission was no less than five thalers?twelve schilling of Mecklenburg money, or eighteen mark niuety pfennig of modern German money. TCSJHB* ' crcsrv: ?* / ?V'' *- ; ? A HOT FIGHT. AN INCIDENT OP BANKS'S REI RIVER EXPEDITION. A Federal Flotilla Attacked by Con federate Troops?A Battery's Warm Reception?Under a Heavy Fire. Carrington Smith describes in the De troit Free Pram a hot fight which .'th naval flotilla that accompanied Genera L'atiks's ill starved Red hiver Expidi tion had with the Confederates. Say the writer: "We had at Grand t'core a ! the time a large gunboat called the East ; port, which was in an almost helplus ! condition from having struck a torpedo ! and three smaller ones, aud all the crew j were a mixed set and not too strong ii numoers. i was iucu ?civiu^ uu uuun the Cricket, which was the ling-ship, an* I at least half our crew was made up o negro refugees, all of whom c ;u'.d hel] I han lie the big guns, but none of whon j had the least knowledge of gunnery o i had ever been in .1 fight. "We were lef to ourselves, and in what every man real ized was a dangerous position. W were far fr.m Alexandria, in the nvds of a hostil countiy, with a river full 0 bends, bars and sunken logs. Had the gunboats moved off at one we might h ive escaped much of the los we we: e compelled to sulfa by the delay but the Admiral refused to leave th Eastport b.hind. She had been un 1 loaded and something done toward re ! pa ring the leaks, and he det-rnvnet ihat she should go withusto Alexand ia j She not only had to be towed, but t j drag a lighter after her, and such wa ' her draught, even wh:-n light, "hat con stant vigilance had to bu exercised t keep her off the bottom. She got agroum twice the first day and in the next fift miles she was almost literally pull d b ; hand over burs,sunken logs andob tinai i snags. During nil this time the gun j boats were pumping tne water out, o i her, and a full hundred men were kep busy with hawsers and chains. At lengtl a stiff current at a bend of the river sc her upon a bed of sunken logs am slumps, and she was there to atay. Shi could be lightened no more, and any at | tempt to pull her off w. uld have ton her to pieces. Thirty hours were spen in trying various plans,and she was thei filled with powder and blown up. The Confederates had been given am pie time to concentrate betwera us anc Alexnn iria, and we had scarcely gottei ; rid of the Eastport wlien the wood seemed to swarm with sharpshooters They fired on us at every bend and fron every bank, but fortunately did not seel j to obstruct the way by telling trees. W< bad a s arp fight with infantry befori leaving the scene of the l ast port's dc struction, and were made to realize tha we should mee. with more serious difii culties on the way down. Our thrci gunboats were guaranteed only bulle proof, but they were not even that. Qui guns were of old pattern and small cali ber, and, r.a I said at the outset , the gun crews were made up from a inisc-'llan eous lot of stragglers. When we lef; the spot where the I astport was blowi up. the flag-ship took the lead down the river, with orders for the batteries or every boat to be in readiness to open fir< at any moment. We had, if I remcmbe rightly, eighteen guns in all, and thi largest one on the L'rieKet was a twelve pounder. We had been uhJ-rt ?Yny a,1 out threi hours und had just readied the uppc end of a blulf a mile long.when the pilo blew a sharp blast on/the whistle as 1 danger signal, and the next moment then was a roar and a crash which seemed ti sh:ike heaven and earth. The Confcd crates had planted a score of cannon or the blulf, trained them all on the channe at short range, and as we came oppositi the whole battery was discharged as om gun, and the Cricket received every mis silc. Whi'o the guns were being rcfoadci several hundred infantry opened fire,am there was n t a square foot of the gun boat above water which was not chippci by bullets. The fire from the batte:; killed the engineer, pilot and ten othe persons, and wounded twenty-one, in eluding e*ery fireman and the best gun ners. inside of two minutes we lost ii killed aud wounded over half our crew We were five minutes under fire befur returning it. and in this t'.ine were strucl over foity times. The following gunboa came in for almost as many hard knocks having twenty killed and wounded, an( she got out of range by returning up th river. Meanwhile, we in the Cricket hat floated down to a point from which w< could take the Confederates in reverse and we soon silenced half the j guns though they worked a sutlicient mnnbe I to sink one of our tow-boats nnd drowi her whole crew, and to bluff the othe gunboats from attempting the passage. They left us below, and two gunboat and a tow-boat above. We ran dowi about seven miles, getting aground a;i< off again twice, and then fell in will | one of our ironclads. The latter wtts a j once ordered up the stream, but ran her self aground after going a coupL* o mile?, and before she got off the twi gunboats came down. They had -eft th other tow boat above the battery to fa I into the hands of the Confederates, anc they also raised the one sunk in the rivei "We lost in kill d nnd wounded on tin threi boats nearly ninety men, and whili one had two and the other three gun rendered helpless, the flagship had onl; one which could be used after the was over. Many of the missile.* passe, through both sides of the boats, anc dozens of them fell into the engine room and it has always been looked up >11 as 1 miracle that the engines and boilers es capcd injury. The Polite Children of Norway. The village of Egersund beneath in nestles close to the base of the hill a? though frightened by the threatening bowlders all abr>ut, writes a correspond ent of the Boston Hcral /. The day ii cloudy; the wind is strong, but not un> Comfortably cold, and we sit in a sliel tf.rcd nook and write a letter tothehom< folks, or gather some of the wild flow' crs, blooming luxuriantly everywhere, But a few drops of rain fall by and by, and wc do not wish to risk a wetting, s:: we descend leisurely to the town, and or the way meet numbers of school chil dren. The boys politely do!F their caps, while the? girls shyly drop a demure cjur t sy to the "Inglisman," for all strangers are 'Tnglismen" until known to he nf another nation. The children have boea well taught in the school of good man ners, as all Norwegian children are, and recalled to our minds an incident thai happened in a suburb of Hamburg, when the streets are only narrow lanes, twisting in and out between the tiny red-tiled house-on the steep hillside. E'own oik or these oyways we were wanting siowi\, when a little golden-haired 0!rct:hen raci us. and in the most winsome way helc out her hand and greeted each one, noi saying a Avord, but very grave, and as i: giving us a cordial welcome to the vil Inge. ' - * k - ' " w - Pommican, the Food of Arctic Trarelers. The meat, cut in long fakes from the j warm catenas of the buffalo and dried in the sun, is afterwards beaten into shreds by flails upon a floor of bntfalo-hidc on the open prairie. The hide is thi'n sewed " into a bag, the meat jammed in, the top sewed up all but one corner, into which more meat is crowded, and then the fat, which has meanwhile been tried, is poured in scalding hot, filling every crevicc. A species of cranberry is often added with the meat. The whole forms ?, a bolster-shaped bag, as solid and ns ' heavy as stone, and in this condition it remains, perhaps for years, until eaten. ^ Each bag weighs from 100 to 120 pounds. Cne who has tried it will not wonder that it was onco used in the turmoils of s the contests between the Northwest and ' llud-on Bay Companies to form a re s doubt, armed with two swivel guns. ? There are two ways of preparing this. , one r all; d "rub-a boo," when it is bnilt d f in a great deal of water, and makes a soup; the other more favorite di-h is P '-rousseau," when it is thrown into a 1 frying pan. fried in its own fat, with r the addition, perhaps. of a little salt I pork, and mixed with a small amount of flour or broken biscuit. But somec times, when philosophers are fcaid put to ? it, and forced to take their meal in the c.moe, th? ptmmican is eaten raw; chopped out of the bag with a hatchet, L an I accompanied simply by the biscuit, 3 which has received the sobriquet of "Red ' River granite." These wonderful obe jects. as large as sea-biscuit, ar.' at least three-quarter.} of a i inc'.i in thickness, and against them the natura ist's geological hammer is always brought into " requisition. 0 But the "infidel fish," as rousscau is 3 termed, is by comparison with the others palatable, though it is even then impos? sible to so disguise it as to avoid the suggestion of tallow candles; and this ^ and the leathery, or india-rubber, strucy t.nri> of the meat arc its chief disaualifi cations. But even rousseau may lose its I chiirins when t iken as a steady diet three J times a day for weeks, especially when itiss.-rved in a frying pan, and, break. fast or dinner over, ones. es the remnants with the beef or pork all hustled to * ge:h r in the boiling kettle; the biscuit, 3 broken bannock3 and unwashed cupa placed in the bread-bag; the p ates, J knives and forks tossid into the meatdish; and all, combined in the ample 1 folds of an old bit of gunny cloth, which has served daily at once as dishcloth and j tablecloth, thrown into the canoe to rest I until the next meal, when at last Billy 1 finds time to wash the dishes?the table3 cloth never. \ Why Men Bccome Bald. g "Did you ever notice what classes of j men arc most commonly bald?1' asked an _ I expert hair-dresser the other day. "That j.; thiowi a good deal of light on the causes _ I of baldness. People give all kinds of ! explanations for it?dissipation, cutting j the hair too sho t, letting it grow too ; long, smoking, drinking strong coffee, j woi ry, wearing high hats, wearing low _ | hats, wearing your hat indoors, not ; wearing it outdoors, late hours and a hundred other things. Now you will | notice that there are no classes of men , more frequently bald than retail sales' men, bookkeepers and otiicc clerks in I certain lines of business. Why should ' i baldness affect them more than others? ! Because they habitually stand or sit j r.early every evening under gaslights. Bookkeepers always have a strorg light I ri?ht over their heads or just in fiont of e j them. So do clerks who have to work r j at night, Itctail salesmen sell goods at 1 , night directly under two powerful burn* | ers, and most of the time their heads are 1! not more than two or three feet from the > flame. The artificial heat dries out the " I hair, makes it brittle and unhealthy and 1 i finally kills it at the root. If you will 1; pass your hand through your hair after B j you have been standing under a gaslight s i for a few momeuts you will see at once " | how it is. Although you may not have I noticed the heat ou your head, your hair, *! if you've got any, will bo hot to the ": roots. You'll be surprised to observe, * I too, at what a distance from the light r j the hair wi.l absorb the heat. Now there r | is nothing so bad for the hair as getting * i it dry. That is why the use of water on " i it is so in urious?because it evaporates ri j so readily and takes with it the Datural oil of the hair. Your hair should be c j moist all the time and with the oil th'..t c j is secreted by the little cells at the roots. j "When the oil is continually and rapidly j | dried out, as it is when the head is kept * i heated by gaslight, the cell dr'es up and c ; the hair fal s out People who sit under 1 the gaslight should wear some kind of a I cool, non conducting headgear to prois tect themselves. I have an idea, too, , J that after the.electric light has been in , ! universal use for a generation or two, r ! baldness will be as scarce as it was before 1 gaslights and night work got common r , together.- New York Mail and Exprm. s I It Is Unlucky i i j | To be struck by lightning on Monday, j I To sit on a buzz saw in motion on * j Friday. _ i To break the mirror your wife's mothf ! er gave her. 3 j To fall down stairs with the parlor c ! sto/e on Tuesday. j | To speculate with other people's monII ey. and get caught. To get wet when you fall overboard 2 while boating on Thursday. g To see a bill collector over your right 3 shoulder on Saturday. ,. To see a bulldog over your left shoult : der in your neighbor's orchard. ] j To see your overcoat over either j: shoulder as you pass out of the shop of j your uncle. I I To spill salt in the cofTce of the man who has the carving knife. To be one of thirteen at table when there is only food enough for six. ? Tid Bit . j The Mouse and the Hare. 3 A Hare who was Seeking his Dinner r; in a Stubble one day came across a Field i - I Mouse and thm Addressed him: ) | "Well, well, but who on l-.'arth ever j J heard of y u Before? I wouldn't be as , -1 Small and Helpless as you are if I could | ? 15vn in Idleness all mv Days!" At that moment the Shouts of Men and j , the Harking of Dogs were heard and the i , ! Hare began to tremble and gasped out: | ? j "They nre Hunting for Me, and I feel! i that I shall Certainly be Captured!" I "Very likely,"' replied the Mouse. | , j "While I, who am so Insignificant and! i Helpless, will be run over and left Uu11 noticed." 'I Mon*'-?The Greater the Size of the i Game the more the Anxiety of the Hunt er to Secure it. A Drayman sleeps uni disturbed o' lights; the Congressman t must lie Awake to checkmate the Plans s of his Enemies.? Detroit Free Press. I .T. B. Wells, of Red Bluff, Cal., cut ; down a sound oak, and four feet from the butt, in a little cavity in the heart ol ' the tree, were five small and healthj I frogs. They were a little off in color, | but all right. Many a man asks a girl to share his i lot when he owns no lot. I i AD r I?ATT A 1 TfTTI70 j UIUIiiUilL IVIIJ^O. ! CHICAGO CHINAMEN KEEPING A NATIONAL HOLIDAY. Taking Large Kites of Many Grotesiue Forms Out on the Prairie and Plying Them? A Queer Ethibition. A few days ago a strange scene might ; have been witnessed on one of the big ! vacant lots on the west side. From an I early hour on the day iu pucstion an occasional Chinaman carrying an unwieldy and mysterious looking bundle took one of tbc Madison or Randolph stre.-t cars and went to the end of the route. Each one as he arrived dismounted and wended his way in a westerly direction, but none of the "busy conductors was aware that a common point was their destination. I Such wa* the case, however, and before i the autumn sun had begun to shine very strongly they were gathered to the number of a score or more on a sloping piece of gromd a short distance outside the city limits. Then a queer movement began. Each celestial, having made a variety of elaborate salu'ations toward the east, turned bis attention to his parcel and commenced to gravely undo the fastenings. A Nms repoiter, -\vh-> happened to bean unseen observer, fully expected to see a quantity of ong-tailed shirts, linen cuffs, collars, etc., produced and a new method of bleaching exhibited to his wondering ea/.e. But a still greater surprise was in store. From each newspaper wrapper a br.ind-new and elaborately constructed paper kite was unfolded, and in a few j moments the cords were adjusted, and a score of pig-tails were streaming in the morning breeze as the orientals scampered nimbly around in every dire tion trying to "raise the wind'' and hoi->t their strange playthings upoa their wings. An 1 a curious looking batch of contrivances they woie. It w as no ordiuary school-boy's kite that John thinamaa was disporting himself with on the Chicago piairies this fine morning. They were of all -hapes andsi7.es, cunningly manufactured and elaborately on.aj mented. Birds, tish, serpent-*, dragons, j and, in fact, eve;y kind of imaginable | animal and reptile were represented. One big laundryman, with a huge ! queue and the most curly pointed of I wooden shoes, kicked up his heels like a ! two-year colt as he bounded over the j soft turf at the end of a string attached | to a kite that res mbled an immense pair of spe:ta Ics. lie jabbeied continually I in n innmiATft that seemed made UD of " w **"? O' ? ? nothing but three or four woids that sounded like the monotonous tones of a v gorously hammered goug to a companion who was floating nn arrangement meant to resemble an eel not less t!:aa fifteen feet long. Another child of the sun was flaunting a paper eagle with | plumage of u flaring ? e low, and a third j carried a peculiar-looking eight-sided figure, wh'ch was probably made in imI itation of somu of the diagrams produced ! by the early Chinese emperors, some of | whom had mathematical pretensions | Cualrupeds, bipeds, and reptile* of l almost e' cry species were represented, all being gaudily painted and dccorated. One ludicrous-looking Mongolian, with a face like a pumpkin with a gash in the center of it, hung on to what looked like a liuddhist idol almost as ugly as himself. He seem.d in high "lee as thi monstrous image floated rapidly upward, its huge head and shoulders bobbing from side to side, while its glass eyes seemed to twinkle like stars as they now and then caught the rays of the morning sun. One low, broad-shouldered fellow had a i larger bundle than any of the rest and went some distance off from the main crowd to open it. Five minutes later 1 * * i - - i. 1 1,., ! wnat secmea to ue u, uuun. ui uamu nOJ I hovering over (he yellow-faced heathen, their beaks and talons bent downward as i if prepared to alight on some object underneath. They were all of paper, and by an ingenious contrivance controlled by one string. For over an hour the?e queer gambols were kept up, and then the kites were recalled, and the owners, after again indulging in similar extravagant ai.d fantastic salutations to those with which they began proceedings, disappeared as quietly as they had come. At first when this extraordinary scene was presented to the eyes of the wondering scribe lie became impressed"withthe idea that the Chinamen must haw taken leave of their senses, and that some new j and extraordinary species of insanity had ! developed : mong the Easterns. But such was not the case. The Chinamen were simply observing one of tbeir nationa holidays?the niith day of the ninth month?which in their own land is celebrated by kite-.Sying on tbejhilltops. The Chinese tell the following story in explanation of their choosing a particular (late for the observance of thiscastim: In ancient time a certain m in named Hing Shay was informed by one of the wise men of his locality that some dire ca' " ? i- T limity Wouiu oeiau uia uyu^umu on iuc date in question. lie immediately informed his family of the impending ruin, nnd on the morning of the inu>h-dreaded davrepiired with all his re'ations to a nighboring hill and spent the time as I best he could. On returning home that j evening he found all his domosti*. ani! mala dead. The Chinaman consid*.:ed h'mself lucky to have escapcd with his family, and, the story having got around, h came to be looked upon as one in whose behalf a miracle had been performed. Ever since then Chinamen, wherever they are scatterel and when i the opportunity offers, celebrate the ninth day of the ninth month by propagating ' the evil spirits in the same manner that I Iling bhay did. ? Chicago Newt. Hindoo Heads. A Hindoo writes to the Phrenological Magazin* as to the relative size of tin heads of his countrymen as compared 1 with thoset>f Europeans. He says: "All the Hindoo heads I have had the opportunity of measuring by tape measure come nrar to or about twenty-two inches, and in some cases more, in circumference." The writer goes on to give his view of the difference between the English and the Hindoo, and the reason ol the hitter's subjection. The native, he considers, has less of those qualities that give energy, force, resistance, enterprise, hopefulness and caution, wnne lie nas more of those that 1 ad to passive obedience, reverence, respect for authority, submission to what appears to be the will of hcavon, and in general to religious influence?, than his couqueror. Consistency. Ha always stays so late?that stupid Browul 'fwas half past ten, I know, Last night before he took his hat And "thought he'd better go." I thought so too, but only said "Good night," and yawned behind my fan And wondered bow the other girls Could entertain that sort of man. Three months later; same man, same girl. "Don't hurry, Ed; it isn't late. "Chat clock is lo's too fast. It's only twelve; I'll let you stay Till twenty minutes past, E. Sylvester, in Judge. [ POPULAR SCIENCE. I Professors Fischer and Penzoldt,. of I Erlangen, have established the curioua fact that the sense of smell is by far the 9 most delicate of the senses. They find 1 tbut the olfactory nerve is able to detect fm the presence of 1-2,700,000,000 of a grain Jj of mercaptan. * According to observations made in Munich on a zinc roof which had been in use for twenty-seven years it is estimated that such a roof l-48th of an inch in . . r thickness would last for 1,248 years. It was found that the rust of zinc, instead of hastening, like iron rust, the oxida- A tion on the metal underneath, really pro-. tected it. A glass'as hard as ff"iy cast metal, and Dot more expensi/e than cast iron, has been produced by Mr. F. Siemene, of Dresden. Experiments are being made to determine whether it can be used for rails on railways. Specimens of this hard Gflass have been found suitable for mill stones and railway sleeper'. An important advantngj of the glass is it? transparency, as flaws can be detected before /-' it is put to practical US3. -fThe Journal of Reconstruction states that an infant lose? from three to six ounces in weight duriug the first four to six days after birth; by the seventh day I it should have regained its birth-weight; j from that to the fifth month it ought to .? j gam about five ounces per week, or jsl I about six drams a day; after the fifth I ; month, about four drams a day; at the Jrl j fifth month it ou ?ht to have doubled its , J | birth-weight, and in sixteen months ' 1 quadrupled it. C In many skulls from Roman and Etrus- ;;; J | can tombs Dr. Marter, of Rome, has dis- -J covered interesting specimens of ancient sH dent stry a'.:d art flcial teeth. These lat-' ter are in most eases c arved out of the 1 teeth of some large unimal, and in many j instances arc fastened to the natural ^ teeth by b:nds of gold. No filled teeth ^3 have been discovered. The skulls exsfin- I ined date back as far as the sixth cen- ffl tury B. C., and pro . e that toothache-and I the art of den i try ase by no means 9 modern institutions. A new method of preserving and tranf-' porting fresh fish lias been devised by Mr. A. R. Rcosen, of Hamburg, and was recently tried in England. It consistsin ? placing the fish in barrels of steel, eaf*h ; barrel being closed l>y an air-tight lid fitted with a small valve connection, to y which is temporarily attached a tube '""T o omn 11 V? ?r/3 *? ? n 1 r* Konrl.mimn Witll liv/iU n 3ujou ujuiiiunu aauu-|/uiu^/. tv this pump water is forced into the barrel . (the air being at the same time expelled) until the guage indie..tes a pressure of about sixty pounds ]>er square inch. The ^ tube is then disconnected, and the barrel closed by the valve. Before the pumping begins the b r el is supp'ied with sufficient fish to make the cargo, and an <! antiseptic solution of three per cent of . boracic acid, tartaric acid,salt and water, with ninety-seven per cent, of fresh water. Fish have bcc:i brought in a freaky condition by this plan from Montrose, Copenhagen and ihe Shetland Islands for 7 London consumption. -in the west of Scotland, Stevenson ' -jj found the average force of the waves for - ^ the five summer monthi to be 611 pounds per square foot, aud for the six winter months 2,036 pounds. He mentions thnt on one of the Hebrides a mass of rock weighing about forty-two tons waj gradually moved five fee t bv the waves in a storm. Hagen records that in the harbor of Cette a block of concrete measuring 2,500 cubic feet and weighing probably 125 tons, was moved on its bed over three ; feet. And now a late observer, Mr. E. '.IH M. Nelson, reports finding on one of the " Shetland islands senvi granite boulders, whose appearance in 1 cates that they ha. e been broken fr m the (lit! at the water's edge as a sing'e block weighing fifty tons, cast up U0 yards inland ana thirty-five feet above sea level, and i broken in three pla- es. This tremendous j power of the waves is constantly grind- Q ing away exposed coasts, forming new A land of the removed materia', and thun a slowly but steadily changing the contour ^ of the continents and inlands. Worship of Ancestors. During the first three weeks in April the Chinese held a prolonged uAU 4 Souls" festival iu honor of their dead ancestors. Family parties are arranged for a day's outing at tho graves of their de- * parted sires. They walk many miles, bearing stores of good things, such as roast ducks and fowls., and cooked fish. I They provide sometimes a roasted pig, [ for which the more economical substii tute a pig's hea 1 with the tail in his * ; mouth, which is symbolic of the whole nnimal. As the d'.*;.d ancestors care only to smell the offerings the family enjoy an excellent feast on their return home. Worship of ancc tors permeates Chinese life, affecting the most trivial details of every day. It is the most conservative of intfuen e>, for it compels the j Chinese to look backward, instead of forI ward, and obliges him to stop and think if a proposed act may not offend the sp rits of his fathers. He may be a Buddhist, or a Ta ui t, or a Confucian, ? but his first duty is to worship his ancestors. *???* Evqn the service of the Empire must j give ftay to this act o; filial revercnce. It j IS 111(3 om* 111 VU'Uil n UIV/U vaauo ! precedence of everything else. The mo it I important Government officer may ne' gleet his official. duties with impunity while engaged in some ceremonial associated with this wo ship. Should his father or mother die while he is in office, he is obliged to retire from public life y, for many months. ' A Viceroy of Canton wks notified that his grandmother had die at Pekin. An ^ Imperial order summoned him to attend her obsequies and to remain in mourning for one hundred days. Being a person of dignity, he required a large retinue to attend him. He char! tercd a special steamer at a cost of ten j thousand pounds to < o ivey him ana His J suite to Taku. Sea-sickness so disgusted him with the otea.i that he embarked at Shanghai, sent hi-j baggage on the stealer, and journeyed the rest of the way by land to hon-or his grandmother's remains. Yet the man who thus honors an ancestor need not even wear mourning at a ? * daughter's death, much Ie3s interrupt his daily businc a on account of such an event.?Youth's Companion. The Gait of Fast Horses. An interesting statement has recently been worked out, showing the distance I a trotting horse goi-s at each second at j various rates of speed. Maud S., when j ! i j _ ?:i~ :? o rtcsi I sne covcrcu a mus m 41 1-3 feet per sccond. At a 2.20 gait ^ a horse travels 37 5-7 feet per sccond. At a 2.25 gait he travels 3U^ feet per second. At a 2.30 gait he travels 35 1-5 feet in the same time. At a ^.35 gait he ^ travels 34 1-6 feet; at a 2.40 gait the dis- ^ tance traveled is 33 feet; at a 2.45 gait, 32 feet; at a 2.50 gait, 311-1? feet; at a 2.53 gait, 30 1-16 feet. Wahn going a mile in three minutes he travels over 29 1-8 feet per second; at a 3.10 gait, 272 feet; at a 3.20 gait, 26 2-5 feet; at a 3.30 gait, 25 1-7 feet; at a 3.40 gait 24 feet ; at a 3.50 gait, 23 feet, and at a 4.00 gait, 22 feet per second.