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THE SNOW. "Snow, snow, Thou art, I trow, Ihe coverlet white, Soff aud light, Of the old giant's bed in the sky! No! Saith the snow, Oh foolish man To think you can Tell whence I come or whither go. I am a dew droD in my birth, And, like the angels, start from earth To go up high; Aud then again Return to men, In ve.-tment white ani new, To hide the earth and leavj the sky in view.' ! ?James Vila Blakt. Farmer Fairweather. BY WILKfE COLLINS. I. Iam the la^t su'viving witness who ap-! peared at the trial, a d unles? I reduce : to writing what I bappeu to know, there j will be no record of the true particulars left after my death. I the town of Bctminster, and round ? about it for many a good l.nglish mile, ' I am known as Dame Koundwood. I j I have never bet'n married, and, at my present age, I nevor shall be. My o .c living relative, at the past time of which j I no?v write, was my sister?married to j a man named iMorcom. He was settled j in 1 ranee, as a breeder of hordes. Is'ow ; and then h crossed over to Kngland on ; business and went b uk again. I took such a dislike to .\iorcom that I refused to be present at the w dding. i This led. of c >ursc*. to a quarrel. Neph-1 ews and nicccs. if there had been any, might perhaps have reconciled ir.e with my sifter. .\ s it was, we never wrote to each other after she went to France with her husb.md. And I never saw her again until si e lay on her deathbed. So much about invself, to begin with. II. Circumstances, which it is neither needful nor pleasant to dwell on in this place, occasioned the loss of my income, while I was still in the prime of my life. I had no choice but to make the best of | a bad bargain, and to earn my bread by j going out to service. Having provided myself with good recommendations, I applied for the va- : caut place of housekeeper to Faimer Fairwcather. I had heard of him as a well-to do old bachelor, cultivating his , land nigh on five miles in a northerly di- < TocHnn hpvnnil M0f.min5f.pr_ Itiif. f urtoi. tively declare that 1 had never been in j his house, nor exchanged a word with ] him, on the day when I set f^rth for the farm. i The door was opened to me by a nice i little girl. 1 noticed that her manners i were pretty, and her voice wa3 a remark- 1 ably strong one for her age. She had, I j may also mention, the finest blue eye3 I ever saw in any young creature's face. ] "When she looked at you, there was just , a cast, as they call it, in her left eye, bare- j ly noticeable, and not a deformity in any \ sense of the word. The one drawback ] that 1 could fiud in th's otherwise pleas ing youug person was that she had rather < a sullen look, and that she seemed to be j depressed in her spirits. ( But, like most people, the girl was < ready enough to talk about herself. I found that her name was Dina Coomb, j and that she had lost 1 oth her parents, j Farmer Fairweather was her guardian, as well as her uncle, and held a fortune of j ten thou and pounds ready and waiting ] for her when she came of age. ( What would bicomo of the money if ] she died in her youth, was more than j Dina could tell me. Iler mother's time- ] Sicce had been already given to her, by j irections in her mother's will. It looked | of geat value to my eyes,and it flattered her vanity to see how 1 admired her grand gold watch. ' I hope you are coming to stay here," ] she said to me. Tais seemed, as I thought, rather a Budden fancy to take to a stranger. , uWhv do you want me to stay with you?" I asked. And she hung her hcid, and had nothing tr> ?av Thfi farmnr r.nrift in frnni ! ?o J ?* ??" ? his fields, and I entered on my business with him. At the same time I noticed, with some surprise, that Dina slipped out of the room bv one door when her uncle came in by the other. He was pleased with my recommendations, and he civilly offered me suiticient wages. .Moreover, he was still fair to look upon, and not (as some farmers are) slcvenly in his dress. So far from being ? an enemy to this miserable man, as has been falsely asserted, I gladly engaged to take my place at the farm on the next day at 12 o'clock, noon. A fiicndly neighbor at Betminster, one Master Touch, gave me a ca^t in his gig. We arrived true to the appointed time. While Master Crouch waited to bring my box after me, I opened the garden-gate and rang the bell at the door.' There was no answi r. I had just rung once more, when I heard a scream in the home. These were the words ; that followed the scream, in a voice which I rccognizcd as the voice of Diua Coomb: h uncle, don't kill me!*' I was too frighteued to know what to do. .Master Gouch, having heard that dreadful cry as I did, jumped out of the gig and tried the door. It was not fastened inside. Juntas he was stepping j over the threshold, the farmer bounced I out of a room that opened into the passage, and asked what he did there. My good neighbor answered, "Here, i sir, is Dame Bound wood, come to your j house by your own appointment." Thereupon Farmer Fairweather said j he had changed his mind, and meant to j do without a housekeeper. He spoke in j an augry manner, and lie took the door ; in his hand, as if ho me int to shut us I out. But before he could do this, we heard a moaning in tlie room that he had , just come out of. Says my neighbor:! "There's somebody hurt, I'm afraid." Says I: "is it your niece, sir." The farmer slammed the door in our j faces, and then locked it against us. I There was no h lp for us after this, but to go back to Betminster. Ma ter Uouch, a cautions m?.n in all , things recommende 1 that he should : wait awhile before we spoke of what j had happened, on the chance of receiv- j ing an ex planation and apology f. om the | farmer, when he recovered li s tcmp.r. j I agreed to th's. Butth"re! lama wo-J man, and I did take a ladv (a part'eu- j lar irien 1 of mine? into nxv confidence. The next <;ay it was all o.crthc town. I Inquiries wore made; some of the labor-' ers on the farm sai.i strange things; the j Mayor and Aid rmeo heard of what was | going on. When I next s.iw Farmer Fainveather, he was charged with the j murder of his nu-ce, and I wa? called, j along with Master < ouch and the labor- j er?, as witnesses against him. III. The ins and outs of the law are altogether beyond me. I can only report that I in i Coomb was eerta'nly missing ' ?and this, taken with what Master Goucli arud I had heard and seen, was (as ; ihe lawyer." snid) the case against the t farmer. His defence was that Hjna was r a bad girl. He found it necessary, stand* I m<r toward her in the place of her father, [ to corrcct his niece with a leather strap from time to time; and we upset his temper bv trvinir to cet into his house when strangers were not welcome, and might I misinterpret his actions. As for the disappearance of Dina, he could only con> elude that she had run away, and where she had gone to was more than he had been able to discover. To this the law answered: "You have friends to help you, and you are rich enough to pay the expense of a strict search. Find Dina Coomb, and produce | her here to prove what you have said. We will give you reasonable time. Make the best of it." Ten days passed, and we, the witnesses, were summoned again. How it ca:ne out. I don't know. Everybody in Detminster was talking of it; Farmer Fairweather's niece had been found. The girl told her story, and the people who had discovered her told their story. It was all plain ana straignttorwara.ana i I had just begun to wonder what I was j wanted for, when up got the lawyer who had the farmer's interests in charge, and asked that the witnesses might be ordered to leave the court. We were turned out, under care of an usher; and we were sent for the authorities wanted us, to speak to the identity of Dina, one at a time. The parson of Farmer Fairweather's parish church was the first witness called. Tiien came the turn of the laborers. I was sent for last. "When I had been sworn, and when the girl and I were, for the first time, set close together facc to facc, a most extraordinary intirest seemed to be felt in my evidence. How I first cams to be in Dina's comany. and how long a time passed wlrle I was talking with her, were questijns which 1 answered as I had answered them once already, ten days since. When a voice warned me to be careful and to take my time, and another voice said: ''Is that Dina Coomb? 'I was too much excited?I may even say, too much frigh'.cned?to turn iny head and see who was speaking to me. The longer I looked at the girl, the more certain I felt that I was not looking at Dina. What could 1 do? A9 an honest woman giving evidence on her oath I was bonnd, come what might of it, to tell the truth. To the voice which had asked me if that was Dina Coomb, I answered positively: "iSo." My reasons, when given, were two in number. First, both this girl's eyes were as straight as straight could benot so much as the vestige of a cast could I see in her left eye. Secondly, she was fatter than Dina in the face, and fatter in the neck and arms, and rounder in the shoulders. I owned, when the lawyer put the question to me, that she was of the same height as Dina, and had the same complexion and the same fine blue color iu her eyes. But I stuck fast to the differences I had noticed?and they said I turned the scale against the prisoner. As I afterward discovered, we witnesses had not been agreed. The laborers declared that the girl was Dina. The parson, who had seen Dina hundreds of times at his school, said exactly what I had said. Other competent witnesses were sought for and found the next day. rheir testimony was our testimony re peated again and again. .Later still, tne i ibominablc father and mother who had >old their child for purposes of deception were discovered, and were afterward puuished, along with the people who had paid the money. Driven to the wall, the prisoner owned that he had failed to find his runaway aiece; and that, in terror of being condemned to die on the scaffold for murder, lie had made this desperate attempt to ^et himself acquitted by deceiving the law. His confe?sion availed him nothing: his solemn assertion of innocince availed him nothing. Farmer Fairweather was hanged. IV. With the passing away of time, the memory of things passe* away too. I was beginning to be an old woman, and the the trial was only remembered by eldcily people like myself, wh?n I got a letter relating to my sister. It was written for her by the English Consus at the French town in which she lived. He informed me that she had been a widow for some years past; and h3 summoned me instantly to her bedside, if I wished to see her again before she died. I was just in time to find her living. She was past speaking to me; but,thank God, she understood what I meant when I kissed her, ana asxea ncr 10 iorgive me. Toward evening the poor soul passed away quietly, with her head resting on my breast. The consul had written down what she wanted to say to me. I leave the persons who may read this to judge what my feelings were when I discovered that my sister's husband was the wretch who had assisted the escape of Dina Coomb, and who had thus been the means of condemning an innocent man to death on the scaffold. ? n one of those visits on business to ; England of which I have already spoken, he had met a little girl sitting under a hedge at the side of ihe high road, lost, j footsore and frightened, and had spoken to her. She owned that she had run | away from home, after a most severe ; beating. She showed the marks. A | worthy man would have put her under the protection of the nearest magistrate. .My rascally brother-in-law noticed her valuable watch; and, sn^pectingthat she might be connected witu wealthy people, he encouraged her to talk. "When j he was well assured of her expectations, j and of the use to which he might put j them, in her friendless situation, he offered to adopt her, and he took her away with him to France. . , My sister, having no child of her own, took a liking to Dina, and readily believed wh:it her husband chose to tell ' her. For three years the girl lived with them, sue carca liuie ior me goon woman who wa< always kind to her, bu** alio was most unreasonably fond of th villaiuwho had kidnapped her. Alter his death, this runaway creature ?then aged fifteen?was missing again. She left a farewell letter to my sister, I say'ng that she had found another j friend; and from t.:attime forth notniug j more had been h .-ard of her, for yerrs on ' years. This had weighed on my si-ter's mind, and this wa; what she had wanted to tell me on her death-bed. Knowing nothing of the trial, she was aware that Dina belonged in the neighborhood of ' Dclmiaister, and she thought in her ignorance that I might communicate with Dina's friend-, if such persons existed, j On my return to Kngland, I thought | it a <luty to snow to tne way or 01 uec- : minister what the Consul hid written ! from my sister's dictation. He rend it and heard what I had to tell him. Then he reckoned up the ye;irs that h:id passed. Says he: "The girl must be of age by this time; I shall cause inquiries to 1 be made in London." In a week more we did hear of Dina Coomb. She had returned to her own country, with a French husband at her heels, had proved her clatm, and had got her money.? Youth's Companion. "When does a man leave off laying wa- , uersf-?When he is wiser, but no better, i A MAIL THIEF. CATCHING A POSTMASTER WHO CTnr.p t r^rnl'*>a Clcrcr Work by a Spccial Agent of the Post, office?A Squlrrel Hunt and Its llesult. By far the largest percentage of mail thieves are among the Postmasters, their assistants and the Star Koutc messengers. The way they are caught is sometimes very interesting, as the following ease, told to a correspondent of the New Orleans States by Special Agent John M. Crowell, will show: Some years ago numerous depredations on registered mail matter were committed in the neighborhood of Vienna or Minden, La. Registered letters would turn up with money contents either short or totally lacking. The complaints came from half a dozen little towns, and the department soon centered the mischief at the distributing point where all the mails concentrated. Crowell was detailed for the work, and he arrived on the scene as a stranger who was looking around to K?tt n form TTo nroo r*r?o*>ln wnrriA^l frt wuj (? iuiui, ug rrmo juiui *j nuitivu w death practicing this racket, as about 100 of the adjoining farmers wished to sell. Crowell quietly watched. He first placcd the messenger who carried the pouches to the railway station under surveillance, but soon wai intuitively satisfied that he was not the man. Then he rcas >ned that it must be the Postmaster, and he pave that worthy his attention. Casually he becamo acquainted with him, loafed around the office, but saw nothing wh ch his train.d eye thought suspicious. Peep-holes were utilized when the Postmaster was busy at night, but Crowell's efforts were unrewarded. In the meantime the robberies continued, even while Crowell was on the watch. The department sent him the envelope to examine, and suddenly he Baw how the thing was done. Many little postoffices have no postmark stamp, but simply cancel the stamp and write the postotlice and date in ink Crowell suddenly remembered that all the losses were from olhccs of this kind. Sure of his man now, his surveillance was redoubled. In "studying the postmaster's private habits, he found that he was fond of hunting, and every evening or two would take his gun and have a stroll. ?omctimi.B he brought back a bird or two or a squirrel, oftcner nothing. Crowell noticed, also, that he ever went in the same direction, so he followed him one evening. Dodging behind trees, lying down behind stumps, and using every effort to watch him and keep himself concealed, he saw his man 1- -1 .1 1 ^ go 10 an oiu tree, iouk uruuuu, pun ouuio vines and fumble among them. Soon he went awny,and then Crowell went to the tree. To his gratification he found inBide a hollow, concealed by the vines, numerous register envelopes, which a close examination proved to be duplicates of the ones forwarded to hira by the department. Replacing the torn envelopes he went back to town and quietly waited until next evening. Then he proposed a hunt with the postmaster, which was accepted. Crowell tried to borrow a gun, but purposely failed, so when he met the postmaster he said: ".Never mind, we will use your gun, shot about." This was satisfactory, and (. rowell led the way toward the tree, skillfully enough, however, to arouce no suspicions. Nearing the tree Crowell, who was carrying the gun, suddenly said: "Whist! a squirrel," and pointed to the tree. "Go there and shake those vines. I saw him run in the hole." The postmaster, not daring to refuse, but feeling rather uncomfortable, went to the vine, shook it, and said: "There is no hole or souirrel here." "Yes there is," said Crowell. "There's game there. Put your hand in the hole." "What do you mean?" asked the fright< ncd man. "T rrwmn fVi-it T saw hinr nr/imft rrn in A v"',v * ~"o o e>" ? that hole yesterday evening, and that I am a post-ottice inspector and have been hunting that game for three months. Now haul it out." The man obeyed, a::d Crowell said, referring to his little hook while he held the gun ready: "Jiive me No.?," etc., naming one after the other the tampered packages. The prisoner handed e.ich in a diizcd way, and Crowell would pleasantly lemark a? each was laid down: "Youowerac ten dollars on that five dollars on that," and so< ontinued to the last. He then marchcd his prisoner to town, but without any apparent surveillance. Arrived there, he said: "jNow, goto your bondsmen, friends, and whoever you can, and rcplace every cent of that money." By that night the money was paid to Crowell, but the postmaster was tried and convicted ull tho same. llow was the stealing douc ? Simply enough. A package was cut open, and the letter inside cut open and the contents removed. There being no postmark on either, an envelope was forced for the direction, and the red envelope replaced by another properly indorsed in the handwriting of all who had handled it. The extra red envelopes he had secure.I in New Orleans, on some pretext, from the office, and his stock showed up all right. Three Kinds of Subscribers. The subscriber who takes a paper year after year, and linally when asked to pay for it refu-es, and says he never did like the paper anyhow and never read it, i3, say* an exchange, like them >n who buys his groceries for years, never paying a cent, and then refuses tq settle because the sugar had sand in it, and the tea was not as pood as bo could get somewhere else, and he never used a partic!e of the soap he had bought. lie never could get ahead of the grocer like that. It is only the innocent printer that can be gulled so easily. The se ond kind of a subscriber is the one who reads the paper and then pays for it. He is like the man who buys an overcoat, wears it out, and then pays for it. e is 10.000 times better than the first kind, but he is bad enough. The third kind is the man after the printer's own he;>rt. lie pays in advance for his paper and is happy. He is the man who pavs rash for his groceries, me li inc*, hadware, jewelry, dry goods, and everything else that he buys. It is this kind of m-n who keep all kinds of business alive, and without whom a town would be as dead as a copy of the 4' Congressional Record." The Amateur Coir boy Cowed. The boy who was r.otnfrairl to go Wost And t:> hunt up the Indians wild, Who, to red-ikin? will never pull down his vest, Nor with lion or bear be mild, Ha? a creepy crawl that will over him fill | When he's played "nook ja k" from s hr<ol; And he spyeth his dad enraged and mad, A' >>ivaching with switch or rule. And he, who has sworn to know no fear, And to be a cowboy hns vowed, Now lackoth his cheer when his dad doth appear, And becomes a poor boy that cowed. ?GoodalVs Sun. THE HOME DOCTOR. Chapped-Han ds. The following yery simple direction i9 recommended: "To keep the hands smooth they should always be rinsed in fair water after sonp has been used. It is well to use soap.and soft water,avoid I ing. however, the use of yellow or bar soap, and also the colored Castile; but to prevent roughness it is absolutely necessary the hands should be rinsed in soft, fair water, and then made thoroughly dry on the towel. And it is well to avoid going out into the cold directly after washing. A proper observance of these d rections will always keep the hands smooth." Sleep a Prevonl ive of Headache. A scientific wri;er says: "Sleep, if taken at the right moment, will prevent an attack of nervous headache. If the subjects of such headachcs will watch the symptoms of its coming, they will notice that it begins with a feeling of weariness or heaviness. This is the time a sleep of an hour, or even two, as nature guides, will cflcctu illy prevent the headache. If not taken just then, it will be too late, for, after the attack is fairly unaer way, ins impossible 10 gui. aiccp till far into the night, pcrhnps. It in so common in these d:iys For doctors to forbid having their pr.ticc.ts waked to take medicine if they are asleep when 'the hour comes rouud. th it the people have learned the lesion pretty well, and they generally know that sleep is better for the sick than medicine. But it is net so well known that sleep is a wonderful preventive of. disease?better than tonic regulators and stimulants." A Simple Cure for Croup. Mrs. G. J. C., Cincinnati, Ohio, says in the household colnmu of the Free Prcsi: Mothers with young chifdren will do well to remember that one-third of ateaspoouful of powdered alum mixed with double the quantity of sugar will give almost instant relief in croup. It is also good for a hard cold, as.the smallest children take it without trouble, and it enables them to eject from the little stomach what cannot be raised in a'- ? ? ? *< " fnllawo qc n Uliy Olliur vvujr, unu unci ivuuns uo .M j natural consequence. If, when that clicad disease which so often proves fatal first 'makes its appearance, when the young mother perceives the difficulty of breathing, or the rattling, gargling sound in the throat, which is the sure forerunner of crou|>, if then this simple remedy were promptly administered and repeated as often ts there was need, there are few cases, I think, that might not be cured. The great trouble is that many young mothers do not know what to do, and if a physician is not within hindy reach the little one is often past human aid before help can come. I cannot close my letter without speaking a good word for "Brita's Sage Tea" for the hair. 1 know the remedy is good, and have a recipe similar to hers, the only dilTeren e being that we always drop in a few pieces of old iron into the tea while steeping and lemove them when it is cold.One gentleman acquaintance of mine, who waa quite young and yet nearly bald, tried it with excellent results, and I cing something of a joker attributed his success to the fa t that he. had dropped an old horseshoe that he had found into the tea to consolidate his ",-ood luck," as it were; but as another gentleman tried it with equally ?ood success, who only dropped in a few old nails and broken bits of iron, we are c impelled to think that the virtue lay not so much in the bciled-down hor-cshoe as ; in the ir >n itself, whieh is said to be good for the scalp. It may not prove cffective>in every case, but so simple a remedy is well worth trying by those who are unfortunate enough to lose their hair early in life. A Close Reconnoiter. I was ft member of an Alabama regiment belonging to LindeU's Battery, | under Lieutenant-General folk, mid, as the joke is on myself, your readers will 1 pardon mc if I hide my identity by j simply saying I was an officer. It was at the battle >of Perryville, and toward evening of our hardest day's fighting. A detachment of new men had iust come up, and were preparing for action, j I suddenly observed a body of men. Confederates, I thought, who were .firing desultory shots at our new friends. I said to myself: "They ore sally mistaken, firingon their comrades after that style. I'll see if I can't 8to > it." I put ' 8purs to my horse and dashed up to the Colonel of the regiment firing, and in I loud tones a ked: | "What do you mean firing at your I own friends?' lie answered with surprise: "Friends! I am sure thev arc the enemy." "Incmy! 1 have only just left them I myself. I am your superior, and I command you to cease firing, or I'll report you. What is your name?'' "I am Colonel Grovcr, of the II think] Seventh Indiana, Who arc you?" Imagine my astonishment to find I was among the Yankees. I saw ^thcre was no hope only to brazen it out. me shadows of approaching night assisted the deception. I assumed a bold demeanor, and said: ' III show you who I am. Stop firing, sir. at one." Then, in even greater haste than I had approached I cantered o(T, and in a roundabout way reached my men.?Chi : atqo Ledger. Occupations of Great Men's Fathers, j The Me. heal Aye has been investigating this sub:e:.t, and says that the father of Demosthenes was a blacksmith; of Euripides, a dealer in vegetables; of Socratc3, a medio ~re 'sculptor; of of Kpicurus, a shepherd; of Virgil, an innkeeper. Columbus was the son of a wool cardcr; Shakespeare, of a butcher; Luther, of a miner; Cromwell, of a . brewer; Sixtu.i n , of a swineherd; j J inn.eus, of a poor country minister; ? -< _ t?:i__. i, r ran Kim, 01 n iiuujj uuhli, nuuaaviu. ui a watchmaker: and .vurat, of an inn- . keener. The writer concludes that the mothers of the?ij men may have been the source from which their genius was derived, and, indeed, it is known that some of them were women of more than ordinary excellence. Snow. Snow is composed of fine crystals of _ various forms, as any one can satisfy himself by examination with a microscope. J The snowtl.ikes in each particular storm have similar general characteristics, j based probably on the electrical condi- ; tions of the atmosphere from whence the storms procecd. According to this theo- J rv the blinding blizzards of Western win- i tors a e of c!e trie origin, and possibly i similar in character to the cyclones which prevail in the same localities during the summer and fall. The snow in these bli/. ards is as :>olid and compact as ice, and close examination of the crystals shows them to be wedge-shaped, and capable of being closely compacted.? Bunion Cultica'.or. ~ BUDGET OF FUN. HUMOROUS SKETCHES FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. No Change?Hardly What SheMeant ?Didn't Want a Tutor?Tho Boat was Punctual?A. Slight Correction. Peckham (meeting an old friend)? "Why, Dingley, is this you? I haven't fjeen you for ten years. Horr are you, anyhow?" Dingley?"Oh, I'm just like I used to be. By the way, Peckham, how 8 your wife? You u ed to say you had the boss girl when you were single." Peckham (sadly)?"She's still boss." ?Life. . Hardly What She Meant. Edith?"What a lonesome spot a social gathering is where one is such a stranger!" Harold?"It is indeed, 'pon honor, donch:T know." Edith?"I don't know what I should have done but for you. Your are the * * * * ? ? J L 11 oasis 01 trie evening s aesert. Harold?"Keally, I am belioldea to you, Miss Edith." Edith?"Yes, dear Harold! your are the evening's oasis?the one green spot in all the dreary waste."?Folio. The Boat "Was Punctual. Captain Selah Dustm, who has commanded lake craft without number, been skipper of a woodyard, and encountered a good deal of rough legal weather during his stormy career, at one time ran a boat bjtwecn Detroit and Port Huron. The captain prided himself on the punctuality with which the lines were cast off and his boat left for its destination. One day, while taking on freight preparatory to ploughing the waves in the direction of Port Huron, a stranger walked on board and accosted the captain as follows : "What time does this boat go?" "At 9 o'clock sharp." "Does she go ontini3?" "She does?right on time." The prospective passenger here pulled out his watch and exclaimed: "Why, it's a quarter after 9 now." Without the slightest perturbation and in a tone of drawling placidity the captain responded: "Well, sir, this boat has been gone fifteen minutes." Then he resumed his supervision of the loading of freight.? Detroit Free Press. He Didn't Want a Tutor. A well to do resident of Holmes County recently came up to Cleveland with quite a load on his mind. He has a daughter just growing into womanhood and wants to give her a better education than the facilities of h:s neighborhood afford. In pursuance of this idea he called on a Cleveland friend last week and asked his advice. "Well," said the friend, "you might send her up here and give her the advantages that our schools afford." VI don't know," answered the father, "I hate to have her leave home. She ought to have just as good an aducation as the best of 'em, an' I can afford to pay for it, tco. I want her to learn the languages, you know, an' dancio', an' etiquette, an' music." "Suppose," said the friend, "suppose you get a tutor for her." "A tootei!" cried the father, "gosh, man, I don't expect her to play in no br iss band! If she learns the pianny, that's enough.''?Cleoelund Sun. A Slight Correction. "Mrs. Smith," said a Chicago traveling man to his wife. "Ami th? senior member of the partnership which we formed over a year ago with the assistance of the preacher?" "Certainly," replied Mr9. Smith, meskly. "Do T hold a controlling interest in this business?" "Of course you do, dear." "Am I the Secretary and Treasurer and Business Manager of this concern? Am I responsible for its business stitus ?" "To be sure you are. I never said anything to the contrary, did It" she responded. "Now, what I wish to direct your attention to, is this. Your household expenses have been running up tn an alarming figure, and your demands for pin money may be properly described as exorbitant. I have decided that I must take steps to keep you in check." "May I correct your grammar a little bit?" she inquired, sweetly. "Certainly." "You mean 'checks' not check. Plural number, you know," was the firmly spoken rejoinder. And he didn't attempt to argue the point. ?Merchant- TruveLr. The Bey's Justice. A certain Captain Baculard left Marseilles for China, but being buffeted by the winds he ha ;lt*i up in the harbor of Tunis to await weather. The Collector of the Fort came on board. Captain Baculard represented that he was freighted 'or Cunton, that he had nothing to do with Tunis, and that he only put in from distress of weather. But the collector exhibited manifest necessity that he should fork over. Captain Baculard did fork over in a rage, but instantly repaired to the palace of the Bey, demanding justice. ' Good Frank," said the Bey, "I am your friend?God is great. What do you want of ma?'1 "Highness,"' answered Captain Baculard, ''your custom house has robbed me. I have forked over?fork back." "Excellent individual," answered the Bey, "in this country, when we have the dust wo keep it. The original acqusition is a di.McuIty. To fork back a thing is unknown in Africa." "But shall I not have justice:" "Certainly, every on<; has justice in Tunis. Will you have it in French or Tunis fashion "Highness I have had a lawsuit or two in France. Justice in French fashion-God forbid." "Hut I rlon't press it on you, "observe! the Buy. "If you choose the French af.1 T ?:tl 1, 4-? o?n=?l IT* cer ail, 1 will Bjicatk. i,l> .uu^ui, loves justice. good mau; three of my subjects applied to him years ago for immunity. and they will get it next year I tnink? for he loves justice." "French justice, never! give me the Tunisian: I am in a hurry."' "I)o it then. God is great," said the Bey: "what is your cargo?" "Marseilles soap and twenty thousand cotlou caps." 4'It is well. Go away and be tranquil." The Bey summoned the Vizier. "Vizier." said he, "we love justicc. We love the Franks. Proclaim that every .lew who appears to-morrow out of doors without a cotton cap, will have a little transaction to settle with me." There nrc twenty thousand Jews in fuuis, and not oue single cotton cap in the place. Tiiey all made their wills, when they learned through an officer of customs that Captain Bacuiard had lota of the desired article; that was enough? Captain Bacuiard sold the ir /oice at $2 a cap. lie rushed to the palace and poured out his thauks. "Not so fast," said the Bey; "I am not done yet. Call my Vizier." The Vizier appeared. "Proclaim," suid the Bey, "that every Jew who keeps a cotton cap another hour will have trouble with you. God is great, and 1 am a lineal descendant of Mahomet." The visitor made a grand salute, plac ing nis leit leg on ine uacK 01 uis iiecu, according to the custom of the court, 1 and retired. 1 Whett Captain Baculard returned to 1 the dock he found the twenty thousand < Jews already awaiting him, cap in hand, lie might have had the cap? for nothing; I but desirous to leave behind him a name < for generosity and greatness of soul, he ' purchased them at two cents apiece. j Washington's Death anl Obsequies. After Washington's retirement to j Mount Vernon he busied himself with 1 his farming interests, and during the last few weeks of his life he was occu- ! pied devising a system for the management of his estates. "My great concern," he said at the time, "is to have all these concerns in such a clear and distinct ' form th-it no reproach can atlaeh itself ! to me when I have taken my departure for the land of spirits." This system of farm management was intended" for his overseers. It wa3 written out on thirty folio pages, and completed December 10, 1799. The next day there was mud and rain, and Washington noted in his diaiy that nt night there was a large circle round the uioon. The morning of the 12th. was overcast. That morning he wrote a long letter to Hamilton?the last he ever wrote?in regard to a plan for a military academy. About 10 o'clock he started on horseback to make his usual round of his farms. Soon after noon it began to snow, and then turned to a cold rain. Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather he continued to ride on, and did not return to his house until after a. Wh n his secretary, Mr. Lear, expressed the fear that he was wet, he answered no, his great coat had kept him dry, and sat down to dinner without changing his dress. The night was a very stormy one,'and the next morning he complained of a sore throat. In the evening he was hoarse, but in spite of his hoarseness he occasionally read passages aloud to his secretary and Mrs. Washington from the newspapers which had been brought in from the posto lice. When urged to take some medicine before retiring he replied : "No; you know I never take anthing for a cold.* Let it go as it came." That night he became extremely ill? he had a severe chill and experienced much difficulty in breath:ng. But he would not allow the household to be disturbed until morning. Then a gargle was prepared for his throat, but in the attempt to apply it he was almost suffocated. A servant was dispatched to Alexandria for Dr. Craik, and in the meantime he was bled by one of his overseers. Dr. Craik arrived about nine o'clock and later in the day two other physicians were called. All the efforts of the doctors to lelieve him were unavailing, ard between ten and eleven o'clock that night ho died. Xfvo Woaltinnrfrm ant nt. thfi flint of fchfl .WHO. >T lUU.UglVU foot of the bed watching him when his spirit passed away. "Is he gone?" she asked, Hi a calm tone. Dr. Craik was unable to speak, but held up hii hand a* a signal that Washington was dead. "It is well," said the grand old dame. "All is now over. I shall soon follow him." Washington expired without a straggle or a sijjh. From the fir?t he believed the attack would prove fatal and during the day frequently gave expression to the feeling or resignation with which he met his end. The remains of the Father of his Country were buried in the family vault at Mount Vernon on the 1 :th of December. The rubbish had been cleared away from the entrance to the tomb and a door made to close the vault, which be "ore had been closed with brick. A schooner was placed in the river to fire minute guns and there were eleven pieces of cannon in the funeral procession, which began to move about three o'clock. The Virginia militia formed the escort, then came the General's horse, with his saddle, holsters and pistol, "led by two grooms in black. The body was borne by Free Masons from the A'exaudria Lodge. Washington's family and personal friends followed, the corporation of Alexandria and people closing the proevssion. The Rev. .Mr. Davis read the fune^ser^ice and made a short addressj^rfro'whieh 1 - ? - ' i;.. . i??M the Masonic ceremony wtts-penoryicu and the body p'aced in tne'imult^^^r. The scene3 at Washington\^c?t?-t>ed and at his obsequies were characterrfed by that grandeur of simplicity which was a marked feature in Washington's character.? Chicago News. Superstition Anion? French Peasants. Another instanco of the superstitious nature of French peasants has just been exemplified by a crime which was committed in Briiitany. There was a family consisting of a widow named Jalia, with her two ? sons and two daughters; and the sons, who were millers, had heard so nebody say that one of their sisters, the eldest, was pesse sed by the devil. Thinking that this terrible supposition, which they implicity believed, would bring ill-luck to the mill, the two men resolved to shield themselves from the dcmoniac influence of their sister by murdering h^r. The neighbors, who had some apprehension of the catastrophe, went to the mill, but found their entrance barred by cne of the Jallus, who stood with his younger sister at thedoor, both brandish ng hatchets with which they threatened to murder any one who came near them. Ihe two were, however, sei/cd and overpowered after a long and dangerous staiggle, during which they behaved like maniacs. Iu the interior of the mill house w is found the body of Ksther Jallu, the eldest sister, who was alleged by her relatives to be possessed with the demon pride. The woman was put to the most atroc:ous torture, naving d:uu picr^iu jji vuhuuo parts of the body by a sharp instrument. During her agonv her mother and sister prayed by her side in order to exorcise the devil. All the members of the Jallu family have been placed in an asylum.? London Telejraph. An Insect Tramp. A supposed house-fly parasite has been found by a French naturalist, P. Megnin, to be in reality no parasite preying upon the fly's body, but simply the common cheese-mite availing itself of the first means of transportation to a new sourccs of food supply. Tiie creature, with a remarkable power of adaptation to environment, becomes greatly changed on attaching itself to the fly or other animal, but assumes its original form, and multiplies rapidly, on reachiug suitable feeding-grounds This discovery explains how fresh cheese c:in become infected with mites, even when carefully placed on a shelf away from all suspccted sources of contamination.?Arkanaau: Traveler. -1..m BUBBLING GOLD. I " r ' *"* MAKING GOLD COINS IN AN AMERICAN MINT. . & The Process of M6ltinjr English Sovereigns and Converting the Pee cions Metal Into American Money?Defective Coins. The San Francisco Call describes how 1700,000 of new British sovereigns, for? warded from Australia in payment of ; wheat, were converted into American half eagles at the mint in that city. We juote as follows: When the assay is cjmplete and the -7 transaction with the owner of the gold or silver closed,, the Mint then proceed* to effect its metamorphosis. The Australian coin, for instance, was put up in tin boxes; these again arc put in larger wooden boxes, which are locked with a 3pring lock. Tho boxes have only some ' ' twenty or thirty feet to travel to reach the melting-room,but even for that short distance, it is thought best to have them locked. The whole principle on which ""-v the business of ths Mint is conducted is ?not that every one is a thief, but?that it is always safest to keep temptation out of people's way. When the bores reach t the Superintendent of. the melting department, he weighs the bullion, and hi* weight must tally with the weight of the weighing-room. -If it doe?, he proceeds to blow up his fiies. His forge is not unlike a country Bmithy. It is fed with a mixture of English coke and California coke, the latter probably being employed merely as a matter of compliment to tne aiaie. The work is really done with English cokc; no Mint Superintendent on this coast has tried the McConnellsville coke or the coke from Colorado. Info the furnace filled with this coke and k6pt burning by a sharp natural draught, the melter places his crucibles. These are crocks such as o .r grandmothers used to .. send butter to market in. They are made of plumbago, and are of all sizes. Some of them will hold $20,000 of gold; but the size prefer-erl by the melters is one which conveniently holds one thousand half eagles or sovereigns. Whey they are filled to th's extent, the melter seizes them with a powerful pair of pincers and thrusts them into the furnace. The .. . melting point of gold is assumed at the San Francisco Mint to be 2140 degrees Fahrenheit, though in reality the metal fuses at a few degrees less. A very few minutes suffices to reduce the sovereigns first to a mixed m iss, then to a pulp, and r finally to a liquid. When the melter notices that liquefication is complete, he withdraws his crucible from the furnace ^ aud pours its contents into an iron mold, of which a large number stand ready to his hand. Gold cools so quickly when *?-* *? j.i-- >,? wunarawn irom iuu luiuntg uw tu? liquid metal begins to solidify the moment it touches tho iron mold. Ia a few minutes it is cool enough to be dumped out of the mold into a water bath, where it is left till it cools sufficiently to be handled by the fingers. The first part of the operation is thu* complete. The sovereigns have ceased to exist, and instead, we have a number of bars of gold. We must now follow these to their destination, when they ap- .*<?. Sear in the form of bright new crisp alf eagles, eagles and double eagles. The tirst tiling that is done with the ^ bars is to throw them into a common A: sink such ns dishwashers use. Here they are hammered to detatch from them any : ^ pieces of flux or other impurity which may hare stuck to them in the melting furnace. They look at this stage much ^ like common building bricks, and being v? about the same size, it is only by band* ling them that one reali/.es that tl:eir contents are a ponderous metal and not mere dried ciay. These bars now pass into s** another melting room and are remelted into ingots. Ingots which are to be used * in coining eagles nominally contain $1,200 of gold; tho?e out of which half eagles are to be made contain about $900 of gold. Ic is in this room that the delicate process of alloying is conducted. The gold coin of the I nited States is alloyed with 10 per cent, of copper; thu* whoa the melter proposes to produce an ingot of standard metal weighing 1,000 ounces ii# ruita into his meltinGr not 900 ounces AAW ? ? w A of pure gold and 100 ounces of pure copper. The coppcr gives toughness to the metal. The ingots are long strips of metal about a foot long by one and onehalf or two inches wide aud not quite as much thick. They now pass through several powerful rollers under a measure of some 200 tons aud are rolled out into ribbon? of some s'x feet iu length and of the thickness iciiuired for the coins it is proposed to make. This process is gone v through several t'mes and quite fre- < quently the m.tal has to be annealed by passing through a wood furnace and being plunged into a water bath before it acquires ductility cnoHgh to pass easily between the rolis. When, at last, the Tibbons are of the exact size re juire J, aud the uuiformity of their sickness is tested by an instrument which detects the last deviation from the standard, they pass into the . cutting-room. Hero the ribbons pass under a cutter whi h neatly cuts exact circular pieces of the size of a $5 or $10 or $20, as may bo required, and the workman returns the remainder of his ribbon, the fringe, so to speak, to the department from which he receives it. The disks now resemble old coins which have been worn so perfectly smooth by long use that every vestige of their >i original impression has been removed. No prudent dealer wou'd take them for a moment. The cutter forwards them to the stamping department, and here the work of milling and stamping is done. So soft is the inctal, and so powerful are the stamping machines, that though the smooth pieces arc cold, they are simultaneously stamped on both sides by a single blow of the hammer. One ma chine stamps in liv?3 in a minute Another pro<lnees $"i0.000 in tens in au * ? A. Art aa \ hour, and anotncr .t>iuu,uuj m iwciiun in the same period of time. The milling takes no time whatever. Then the coin is complete. It does not appear that the Mint in this city posses es the automatic weighing machines wlrch are used at the .Mint in London. But every coin is carefully weighed before it is allowed to go out, and any coin that is defective, either fr./m a flaw in the cooling or otherwise, is destroyed by being bent double by a blow from a machine ined for the purpose. Coins which are lighter than the rcgulnr allowance permits are stamped light. In Germany they arc now trying a -r 1. ?a composiuuu Ul UUl ft, oauu aim muc, molded into bricks, for the construction of light partition walls. It is said to ex- | elude sound better than ord nary brick- j work, while being light and a good nonconductor of heat. A New York physician says: "It ig dangerous to go into the water after a hearty meal." And we presume if he did \ go in after one he would not find it. 1 Always kept at arm's length?Our hands. " ' : - 'uS&ai