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the flower of fame At morn a bud, Whose leaves, still dampened by the morning dew, Give promise of a beauty unsurpassed, And lny upon tho altar of our view The possibilities the future may possess. At noon a full blown rose, Whose fragrance, which it scatters on the air, Is equaled only by its loveliness. The model which the artist paints with care. And the never-dying substance of the poet's ong. At night a faded flower, Whose withered leaves are trampled into dust Unheeded by the busy passer-by; ? nose periume, wmcn was oorue oy every gust, Is lost amid the tempest of the night. And so with fame. At morn 'tis brightened by hope's fairest dreams, To bloom into reality at nooa; At eve the sun's refulgent beams Find but the ashes of ambition's flame. Ed. Cooley in the Comet. "STOP THE SHIP." It was a dark, moonless night, in the middle of December, and the rising wind was whittling in the rigging and piping amonir the taut shrouds of the bteamship Sardinian, as shu plunged through the Atlantic surge-, homeward for Liverpool. The sloping aecKs were silent and deserted, save for the figure of the officer on watch, pacinir suddenly up and down before the wheelhouse. and a little group of satoou pass.ngers clustered under the lee of the starboard lifeboat on the garter-deck. There was some half-dozen of us in all. Two fair Canadians on their way to spend the holidays in the l,old country;"; a couple of young "subs.," coining home on leave from their regiment in Halifax; and one other careless pleasure seeker, like my.-elf, returning irora a visit to the l-'ar West. We had been whiling away the evening by ringing glees and tcllirg stories, until the quartermaster striking tive Leila? I0;tf0 o'clock?warned us that lights would soon have to be put out. Not feeling inclined to turn in, I bade my merry companions good-night, watched them laughingly down the companion-way, and then turned aft to have a chat with the second officer who was keeping the deck-watch. "You seem to have had a pleasant time under the boat there," he said, after a j few remarks upon the look of the | weather and the speed we were run- 1 ning at. "l'es, and we ended up with a ghost ] story, which Mr. i.urton told about his old grandmother seeing the figure of her j 1 husband standing beckoning her earnestly away from a terra e walk which !1 ran under a brick Jruit-wall in the hall; < grounds.' She followed hiin.and scarce-11 ly had she got out of danger before it i fell with a crash just where she had been j walking'but half a moipent before. His ; ( friend, Wyvill, made fun of it all, and i1 then we got into a hot discussion upon i warnings and second sight and the rest i1 of it." "Ar.d do you believe in such things?" \ "Not a bit," I answered, promptly. 1 ''Such things, as you call them,never ap- t pear to cool-nerved people in every-day life, but only to timid, scared, and nervous persons." i 1 "I don't know that. I am not partic-,1 ularly nervous, I fancy; and yet a queer ! 1 thin^ happened to me aboard this ship ; not very long ago," and he turned to 1 glance at the swinging compass at the ? mizzen crosstrees. "If you care to hear about it. I'll SDin vou the varn?unless t you want to turn in." j < So he began his story, whilst the i creaking of the spectre-looking spars : aloft souuded like the moan of troubled j spirits, and the swi>hing of the water i under the counler kept up a mournful j rhythm as he spoke as follows: j "We left the Mersey the first week in j May, bound for New York, with a full; ihip?saloon and steerage both crowded ?and made a quick run, for she is a fast boat, and the captain never gives her a chance of getting far off a straight course. i "We were five days out, and that * evening some of the gentlemen had got | up a concert, whii h was a great success, j and everybody seemed in high spirits at the prospect of the quickest passage on j record. Of course this was before the ; Arizona, Alaska, and Etruria had astonished the world by the wondrous smart runs whi h they have made. I relieved 1 Anno of ^An* Kulla nnrl fnnlr fVi<? nil. uwuwo au tuut WV4W ?w? br.dge, remarking to him, as he turned 1 to go down the ladder, that it felt un- j commonly cold for the time of year. 1 'It's leaving a warm cabin makes you 1 feel it,' he said, wishing me a pleasant i watch, and the next moment I was up ,1 there alone. i 1 "It was a pitch-dark night, and a ( thick veil of blackness seemed to wrap ? the ship from stern to stern. There was < so wind and the sea was quiet, the still- 1 ncss only broken by the dull, regular < throbbing of the great engines as they ' itcadily drove her along. I glanced 1 ahead and could barely distinguish the < watch forward and then I turned aft < and suw the dim form of the officer in < charge of the deck leaning against the ' poriaoor oi tne wueei House. . < "All was right, and I began to pace j ilowly a ross the bridge from side to < side, watching the white gleam o? the j 1 phosphorescent water as it raced past ' and trailed away into the dark expanse I behind us. I remember thinking what ; a nutshell this powerful ship was there j in the m'dst of the boundless ocean, and j 1 how but a thin plate of iron was between \' the hundreds of souls now sleeping, help- j: less below decks and the graves thousands of fathoms down among all th j j hideous creatures that live in the sunless depths. I was roused out of my musing hv tli? voire of the cantain. who had come up to see if all was right, as he generally did several times during the ! night, for he was always alive to the 1 laet that he had a valuable ship and precious lives under his care, and nothing i ever made hiin forget it. I have heard him say to some gentlemen who pressed i him to join them in a bottle of tham- j Ka<jne to celebrate the speedy arrival of is vessel oil the Irish coast: 4 '1 am much obliged to you for the \ kindness which prompts the request, but we are Dealing lnnd, anil this night, of: .all others, I must keep a cool head and o clear eye lor your .*ake and my own.' ' "Well, as I was snvi g, the captain ' ;ame alongside and said. j "How's her head, Mr. Brown?" " 'W. N. W., a quarter \V.. sir,' I an- [ jwcred. with a glimpse at the binnacle, j ' ; ight it is?ket;p it so;' he bade me ; cood-nii/lit. and I watched him go alon^ | the dcck forward to speak to the watch on th" fok'sel. "Then I began my walk again, and j my thoughts slipped away home, and IJ wondered how my wife and youDgsters | ivere. I lived oyer again in fanny the | clays I had ypent ashore during ray last leave, and then, somehow, memories of tny boyish days crept in. "Suddenly a curious sensation came ! over me and utterly banished all dreaming. I cannot tell you what caused it, but a powerful feeling of terror oven ame me, and I trembled like a palsied old mail. a. grunt aeuse ui a uietiu ui ouuicthiug terrible about to happen seized me ?something, I knew not what; and I strove against it in vain. I clung to the bridge-rail in front, and tried to pull myself together, and I grew calmer as the low voices of some of the men forward fell upon my ear. " 'Thomp-on!" I called; and the burly boatswain's mate came toward me with the easy roll of a seaman, and touching his cap, said? 'Did ye want me, Mr. Brown?: " 4 Everything right ? the watch awake?'" I asked. "'Yes, sir; but it's pitch dark, and we can't see five yards ahead. Jim Dixon's for'ard"' " 'Take a look rouud yourself,' I leplied. 'While the mate was gone, the terrified feeling seemed to leave me, and in its nlace an indefinable and ha'y but powerful impression gained upon m? that I must do something; but what I could not make out. You have no idea of the awful agony I was in, and how I strove to find out what it was that I now felt impelled to do. My brain seemed on fire, my temples throbbed as though they would burst, and a strange buzzing sounded in my ears. I felt as if I was going mad, and the thought of the great snip in cnarge of a maun.an on tne bridge flashed across me. A wild feeling, that it would be better to throw myself overboard crept into my soul, and I believe I did make u step over to the iide, when a ray of light broke in upon me. The turmoil in my brain grew still, and a voice distinctly said in my ear? " 'Stop the sh:p!' "I looked round sharply left and right, but there was not a creature on the bridge except myself. I leaned over and looked down onto the deck, but it was deserted, silent, and dark. I even glanced aloft, but of course saw nothing there except gaunt yards and the slender braces and lifts. ' 'All right fore and aft, sir," came Thompson's voice, and his dusky form loomed out of the shadow. " 'What order did the Captain give just before you came up?' I asked. Not that I for a moment thought that it was his \oice which I had heard, but I wanted to see if the boatswain's mate had noticed anything.' '' 'Order, sir ? Why the cap'en be turned in.' " 'But did not you hear some one say "Stop the ship," just as you got to the ladder foot?' 4 'No, sir, that I'll take my davy an. '4'Very well, you may go, but mind rou keep a sharp lookout.' " *Ay, ay, sir!" and the man moved away. 'i felt inclined to laugh at myself for in old woman, when a chilly feeling :rcpt once more upjn me, and something within me this time earnestly said: " 'Stop the ship!" "I shook the feeling off, however, and ictermined to give way no longer to norbid fancies I lighted a pipe, and bejan to pace briskly to and fro, from port :o starboard and starboard to port. But, ;hough all traces of fear and terror vanshed, yet ever those words came ringng n my ear, and the faster I walked ;he more plainly I heard? "'Stop the ship! Stop the ship!' "Again I hailed the watch: 'All ight forward? Can you see anything ihead?' and I peered out into the darkless round. u 'All clear for'ard. but we can't see nore than ten yard3,' saog out Thomplon, sullenly. "So once more I began my measured ;ramp, but louder and louder came the :ommand in tones of frantic entreaty? "Stop the ghip! Stop the ship!' "It was no use striving longer;- I felt lome potent inriusnce force me to the engine-room telegraph. I seized the hanile, and for a moment paused as I ibought of the confusion and alarm svhich I was about to cause, and how aujry the sleeping captain would be at my Iftrini? to do such a thinir without his O ~ _t t~ O jrders. The next instant I rang: 'Easy ihead.' I felt the engine's throb more jlowly. Yet again I heard, almost mady? " 'Stop the ship!' And without a moment's further hesi;ation I rang ' 'Stop," and soon the throbbing ceased entirely. I heard exclama- i ;ions of surprise from the fok'sel. There ivas a rare commotion on the deck as the :aptain rushed up the ladder in anxious laste, but before he could reach my side, ;he resistless power had overcome me igain, and I rang down "Full speed istc n." " 'In heaven's name, what's the mat;er, Brown?' I heard the astonished cap;ain say as the mighty screw began to ace astern, and forcibly pull up, as it were, the great ship, which still forged gently ahead. "Before I could answer, or even glanca iround, a loud shout from the lookout >n the bows: 'An iceberg right on us!' j ivaa followed by a slight shock and a juiver and rattle as we ran stem on to :he towering monster. What our fate would have been had we been steaming it full speed, you may guess; instead of carrying you home to-night, the old Sardinian would be lying fathoms deep, md her loss would have added one more :o the mysteries of the sea.' " There was a dead silence as the speaker ;ndtd. and we puffed our pipes thoughtfully for a few moments, until he idded? "That is a queer yam, I know, and if you can explain it, so much the better. I have often tried to do so to myself, but cannot. I believe some unseen spirit was sent to save those helpless souls that night, in spite of all the clever reasons which scientific men find for the existence of such things, and I know that, but for that powerful impulse which I could not resist, we should have rushed upon our doom. My yarn is a true one." Then glancing up alolt, he said? "The wind is hauling round, and we must have some of that canvas off her at once.' With a chc-cry good-night he left me, an>l I went below and turned into my birth, the shrill notes of the bo'sun's whistle, mred up with the creaking of blocks and the "haul i-oy" of the watch in my ears, as I thought over the curious story which was told me by the second officer. Homeopathy. Homeopathy, as a system of medicine, was introduced by Dr. Hahnemann, a native of Germany, toward the close of the la->t century. '1 he name is derived Irom two Greek words signifying "sim ilar suttering." nannemanns conviction was that medicines can cure diseased conditions similar to those which they have the power to excite. In short, that diseases are cured by medicines which produce symptoms in healthy persons similar to those pres-eutcd by the patient. In order to elaborate his idea he was obliged to practice upon himself and friends. The result of his labors in this direction are published in ten volumes.?Herald oj A COLD CROP. CUTTING AND STOWING ICE FOR SUMMER USE. Marking the Ice?Cutting with Plows?Separating the Blocks with a Chisel?Removal to the Ice-house. Those who love to mitigate the breathless days when the dog star is ill the ascendant by sipping cobblers and punches, or even by eating ices and drinking innocuons iced tea, may rest at ease in the conscionsncss ti.at Detroit's ice crop is practically made; that it is of unusually good quality and that its total amount reaches about 125,000 tons. This is exclusive of the cut of packing ice made for brewers' and butchers' use and is intended for domestic, hotel and bar use. There is quite a bit of coldness in 125,0U0 tons of ice, and the cutting, storing and delivery of it is a work giving emnlovment to a larce number of men and requiring a heavy outlay of money. Supposing the ice to be one foot in thickness, it will yield not far from 1,000 tons to the acre, and it will thus be seen tbat the area cut each season for the cooling of Detroit's whistles is as large a9 a good-sized farm. In the ice business promptness in seizing the opportunities of the weather is all-important. The moment the ice has reached a sufficient thickness the dealers begin work and never take a holiday until their houses are full or the thaw comes to put a stop to proceedings. The work is severe, in the matter of exposure, a d is correspondingly well paid. Occasionally a man or a horse takes an involuntary bath, too, but the number of accidents is not great and the consequcnccs are rarely serious. The first step in the ice harvest is to clear the surface oj snow. This is done with horse scrapers and, if the snow is light and dry, is an easy matter. If, on the other hand, it is of the dense and damp order, it free es to the surface of the ice, forming a spongy layer on top, which very much diminishes the value of the crop. The scrapers now used render possible a very perfect clearing of the surface even when the snow is of the heaviest. After the snow has been scraped away into great windrows, a straight line is carefullv drawn across the field and, with this a9 a base, a horse-marker, consisting of two blades forty-four inches apart, is set to work. One blade is run on the line described, and the other makes a scratch, an inch or so deep, forty-four inches distant. This done, the gu.de h run in the second scratch and another line is made, and so on until a sufficient area has been marked. This done, the marker is run at rjght angles with the first lines until the Held is divided into blocks forty-four inches square like a great chess board. Following the marker comes a series of cutting plows, the first of which deepens the scratch made by the marker to six inches, the second to eight and the third to ten inches. Sometimes, when the ice is of unusual thickness, a fourth plough is used, which cuts to a depth of twelve inches. This done, it is an easy matter to separate the blocks by deft use of a great steel chisel, as larpe as a crowbar, which is inserted in the crack and, by a twist, pries the blocks apart. The work of removing the ice begins at the shore, immediately in front of the ice-house, and a narrow channel the width of two or three blocks, is cut from that point to the heart of the field. Tr. falrin/y inn frt fllO Tl/tllQA if. lfl iU batWU? VMV 4VV wv VUV broken off in long strips of torty to sixty cakes, find these are floated slowly but steadily along the cbanncl named by the aid of pike poles until they reach an incline, which extends from the icehouse, its lower extremity being below the surface of the water. On this incline are two chutes, in which runs a heavy, endless steel chain, having oight-inch links and carrying at short intervals grips or carriages for the conveyance of ice. The strip* described are now separated and the individual blocks Hoated over and upon this endless chain, by which they are seized and borne up the incline. There is connection from the incline with the various galleries of the house, and men standing upon plutforms seize the blocks with spike poles when they reach the desired point and direct them into the galleries, the floorso; which have a sufficient descent so that the blocks will slide to any required point with only a little persuasion from the poles of a line of men stationed along the gallery to ''mow away." Within the house the blocks arc piled in tiers, one upon the other with a space of four inches between the piles. Each block freezes to the ones above and below it, but its separation is an easy matter. If, however, the tiers were in contact laterally, the contents of the house would free/.e into a solid mass. The loss by breakage, thawing, etc., averages not far from fifty-five per cent. The necessity of constant repairs to machinery and tools, especially to the endless < hain, is a proliific source of expense and delay. The machinery is used but a few weeks in each year, after which it is usual to take the engines apart, remove the chain and pa.k all tools away with great care. Nothing is used to protect the ice except a little tan bark at the doors, and it is only necessary to see that the doors are kept closed, except when absolute necessity requires that they be opened. ?Detroit Free Press. Hotels in Mexico. "The Mexican hotel proprietor does not show the least anxiety as to whether you stop with h m or not. I asked the proprietor of the hotel I went to what he charged per day. He said $4, and that without board. "Why don't you run a restaurant in connection}" I inquired. "Oh, it would be a bother," replied the landlord. "Why don't you give meals with board, American style, and make the profits yourself?" "It would be too much bother," he replied. shrugging his shoulders. Actually, the proprietor is so afraid of being bothered he don't cure a straw whether anyone stops with him or not. I asked for n wash list to give out some linen to be washed, and was informed ?i t .A ui.ii, iiiuy iirvui linn loll' \i iw^ iui na.?uing nor had anything to do with laundrying clothes, because it was a bother. Some 9f the servants had kin people, though* who might wash for me, I was informed. A tourist, I was told, came on ahead and said to the proprietor of a hotel that he had eighty in his party, who would arrive next day, and wanted to know if any reduction would be made from the regular charge of $4 per day on account of the large number. The pro prietor, with a languid sigh, informed the astonished tourist that he would charge each of his party $1.50 because he would have so much bother.?Boston Herald. Norel Mode of Subduing1 u Horse. 1 A very vicious and ill-tempered horse was eating his head off in a very luxuriant loose box. because there was no one in the establishment of the gentleman to whom he belonged who ha.d the courage or strength to enter his stable to saddle and bridle him. If a croom approached for any other purpose ths.n to give him his corn and h:iy. he would speedily drive him away by the fre?r use of his hoofs and teeth. 0,ne day at lunch the owner was lamenting the usclessne>s of the finest horse in his stud to a party of friends, and wound up by saying that he would glarlly make & present of the horse to any one who could saddle and ride him out of the yard. A. young graduate of Oxford, TTon. Sidney Lawford, expressed his willingness to make the attempt, and though warned by many a blood-curdling rccital of what had been the fate of the grooms and the stable boys that had made the like effort, he persisted in his determination to try. After lunch all adjourned to the stable in expectation of seeing the young follow receive a severe lesson for his temerity. He was known to be an expert in every manly oxercise, especially boxing, and was in perfect wind and training. Selecting a saddle and bridle from an adjacent; rack, he approached the strong bars, that opened into the brute's stall, speaking kindly and soothingly to him. The: horse turned and eyed the stranger, and, catching sight oi the hated bit became furious, lashing out madly with his necls and stamping wildly about the stall, making the straw of his bedding fly in every direction. Without a word the graduate rested the saddle and,bridle on the top rail; but the steady, undaunted fire of the eye, the firmly compressed lip, the backward poise of the shapely head, the swelling muscles of his lithe and activo frame as he lightly vaulted into the box, told plainly of the iron, indomitable will and pluck within. Scarcely had he landed on his Je.t than the now thoroughly infuriated beast came rushing headlong at him, with it s satin ears flattened closely against its lean head, its eyes aflane and bloodshot, its mouth agape and displaying a set of gleaming teeth, which he gnashed and ground with fury. Sudden and savage though the onslaught was, the young Oxonian was prepared. Throwing himself naturally and grficcfully into boxing attitude, he met the maddened animal with a blow on the temple, just between the ear and eye, swift, straight and inexorable as from a Nasmyth's hammer, that brought him on his knees. Hearing up and squealing with pain and range, the brute rushed | ?Viia fnA whn sten?f:d aside, i oguiu U|,VU ??, rr- , but pale and determined, awaiting his comiDg. Again a level bolt, straight from the shoulder, flew the clinched ust, and down dropped the horse. Slowly he staggered to his feet, ana trembling in every limb, while great patches of perspiration stained his flanks and sides, he cowered in a corner of the stall, completely vanquished. The victor soon had the bit in his mouth, and leading him out of the stall, cantered gayly on the prize his bravery and knowledge had won. ? Outing. Crazy Coasting. The other day Howard street hill (Albany, N. Y.) was lined on either side with men and women roaring with laughter. Sti augers who added to the throng and looked on sometimes joined in the merrimeut, but at other times held I wknf caw hnv?l lUL'il UICU1,U ,.?? j j . had poured water down the middle of the street and it had frozen into a narrow roadway of silvery ice. Along this slippery, slanting path there shot a lightning-like procession of coasting ina- i chines of sorts the most remarkable that j were ever seen together. First there would come halt' a dozen fragile painted sleds, followed by an errand boy in a soap box nailed to a sled, with brown paper fluttering out from under him to show that he was supposed to be delivering a parcel somewhere. Next came eight little urchins on a piece of rough plank, flying as if there were falling from the clouds. Swiftly pursuing the plank i came a boy on the lid of a trunk, a girl ' on a square block of ice, a boy on a ! side of such a box as oranges come in, with another boy astride of his back, all darting down at sixty miles a hour. Close upon these came a young lady and a boy on a toboggan, more painted sleds, another errand boy in a soap box, and, strangest sled of all, a door mat that had been wet and frozen still. bearing a ragged girl, revolving around and around after the manner of a pinwheel, and yet darting down hill like a flash. But there were many I other strange sights to toire. One was I a hriT? rtiffinnr hv with nothing I bllttb U1 ? ?/vj ?j ? .? a beneath him, while close to his back came the square block of wood that had slipped from under him. Another boy slid al. ng inside a dccrcpit old basket, and one went by like a swallow, 011 a little piece of wood under which he had screwed a pair of skates to serve as sled runners. It was not so much coasting as a coasting burlesque, so utterly ridiculous were mo3t of the methods employed to get down the hill. The truth was that as each boy happened along and caught sight of the glittering path of ice he threw himself upon it if he | had a sled, or, if he had none, he got the i first thing that came to hund to sit upon. ' Night after night this crazy coasting goes on, and thus far there is no news of any one having been seriously hurt.? New York Sun. Hnmiiiff PiMflim. uv<u...Q ? ~o The public, writes .1 New York correspondent of the Troy 7'imts, is but little j aware of the wide and increasing attention devoted to homing pigeons, and hence a brief paragraph on the subject ' may be acceptable. There are i-everal! societies or "federations" i'as they are ' called) thus engaged, and the Executive 1 Committee of the .New York pigeon dyers recently held an important meeting. One of the objects is to form a congress of pigeon flyers, and a constitution and by-laws are to be prepared for the next annual meeting. In Philadelphia there j is an extensive association called the j "United Fanciers of Pigeon Flying.'" 1 Another association has bei-n formed in 1 Boston, and others are now expected in | various parts of the country- The use ! of carrier pigeons is of gn at antiquity. ! being mentioned by Anacreon, who lived ' years ago. and Tasso also brings j them into the defen-eof Jerusalem. Tne ordinary time made by those birds is j thirty miles an hour, but instances ureon < record of thrice that rate. The culture j of homing pigeons is now fas soma say,) j only beginning, and far greater attain- | ments are expectcu uy American iau- , ciers. ? Sir Andrew Clarke, the celebrated ! English physician, declares that one-half the population of London is permanently ill. lie defines health as " that state in which the boily is not consciously present tous : the state in which work ui easy and duty not over great a trial; the state in which it is a joy to see, to thiak, to feel and to be."' PRAIRIE HENS. HUNTING THE CAUTIOUS BIRDS ik invcia Discovering Their Mid-Day Haunts ?A Fine Day's Sport "With Gun and Dog?Habits of tho Birds. Frank Wilkeson writes as follows in the New York Hun: Large numbers of prairie chickens are still in Kansas, but they, as a rule, no longer frequent wheat stubble to feed. They have learned that wheat stubble is dangerous feeding ground for young and presumably tender prairie chiekens. I was a firm believer in the theory that the proper time to shoot chickcns was in the morning and evening, and that the place was a stubble field. Occasionally I hunted on the prairie and during the heat of the day, but generally I had poor luck, and the evident distress of my dog worried me to sharply that I did not enjoy the sport. I knew that the birds were on the prairie, but I, nor no other man, knew where they were. About three miles to the southeast from my ranch a high, rocky hill rose above a piece of arid upland. Five ravines headed on the Hanks 01 this hill. Starting a9 slight furrows to carry off the heavy rainiall, which runs off of sloping prairie as water fro:n a shingled roof, they were gullies three or four feet deep and eight or ten feet wide before they left the hill. Then the flowing water cut deeply and widely into the less rcsistful soil of the uplands and made miniature canyons, which were from eight to fifteen feet deep and from twenty to forty feet wide, .and finally discharging their waters into the never-failing crecks through a deep ravine. These ravines were dry, excepting for a short period immediately after a rain had fallen. The bottoms of these gullies were covered with a rank growth of high, course grass, which remained green long alter the comparatively short upland grass had been cured by the blazing Kansas sun. One day, while ridiug after cattlc, I entered the ravines which headed on the high hill. It was in August aud about noon. Covey after covey of prairie chickens rose out of the thick green grass. All around me I heard the brisk whirr of their wings as they rose and flev to settle in the scanty, sun-dried herbage on the uplands. I had found the noonday home of the grouse. That night, as I sat on my front porch smoking a pipe, my setter dog, jN'ey, came to me and thrust her short muzzle - ? * ? ? ? mIaca^ Vior?/ ? T ufrftlrorl Knr iiitu my uaii uiuo^u u?uu? x ooiva^u uw? head and said: " Key, my girl, I have found the place where the prairie chickens stay during the heat of the day. You audi will have a hunt to-morrow, and such a hunt, old girl." The dog understood the menning of the word "hunt"' a* well as I did, and she eagerly and nervously thumped her approval of the projected hunt on the l.oor with her tail. Then she, ever keen to enjoy the pleasures of the chase, vociferously suggested that we go at once. About noon the next day I filled a water keg, placed it and Ney ia a wagon, got a boy to drive for me, and we went to the hill. I told the boy to keep about fifty yards behind me and to drive along the edge of the ravine. Ney and I walked into the high grass. The heat was intense. The hot air quivered and waved. The dog, obedient to my order, and continually cautioncd to ''take it easy," "go slow," "steady, stendy, steady, old girl." worked slowly to and fro across the narrow ravine and through tho high grass. Speedily she found birds, and stood trembling, with her neck beut and her nose quivering and her eyes blazing. I walked in ahead of her, and the birds got up lazily and at intervals. 1 was hampered with a muzzle-loading gun, and' necessarily lost manv shots, and I missed one-third of the birds I shot at. I was not a good shot, and the continual whirr, whirr, whirr of grouse's wing9 rattled me. As I shot a covey out tee dog brought the dead birds to me. When they were all gathered I piled them on the edge of the bank for the boy to pit k up. When I rcachcd the bottom laud, about threequarters of a mile from the poiut at which I started I beckoncd the boy. lie drove up. I fcave Ncy a drink, and wet her down thoroughly with water from the keg. Then we latin the shadow cast by the wagon to cool off. We looked at one another. The intelligent dog almost said: ' Well, that was a hunt." and she rolled over on her back aud clawed the air in excess of glee. The boy and I counted the birds as we dropped them one by one into a large sack. There were thirty-six. For every two I had shot I had missed one, and I had flushed at least six for every one I shot at. If I had had a breech-loading gun and plenty of cartridges, and could have shot as accurately as I did later in life. I could have killed - - ~ i J.._: -l i M- i there until it was almost dark. Repeated trials convinced me of the folly of hunting thess uncovered birds on foot, or to hunt with a dog. It was necessary to 10U oirus uurmjj mat onui t w.uiw. jl uuu left home with the intention of shooting all five ravines, but of course I abandoned that intention and shot no more that day. But out of the five ravines whigh headed on that high, rocky hill, I drew my supply of meat to feed the men who thrashed my crop. For several years I drew the larger portion of my summer's supply of fresh meat out of those ravine*. Hunters could come and hunters could go to and from my ho se, and I hunted with them, but never on this hill. Suddenly, with no previous diminution in the number of the birds, the grouse quit seeking shelter in the tall coarse grass,and that instinct has become hereditary in Kansas grouse. For years I have not found a prairie chicken in the tall grass which stands on the bottoms of the ravines. Last fall when I was in Kansas, T was hunting in the grass which surrounds my corn fields. Til'! weather was perfect. The birds were- abundant. Many hundreds entered the fields every morning to feed. But I did not fiud a prairie chicken where I hud formerly killed hundreds. Evidently the habits of the birds had changed. It has become, with the five years last past, an hereditary instinct for prairie chickens not to lie in the grass ?1 ~ Af onrn fidMc SllfOl t/.IUSC LU U1C vi VVIU w??.. birds as arc too Ia/y, or are disinclined to return to the upland and there bask in the sun, remain in the corn fields, where they are comparatively sale, as they can see the hunter long before lie sees them, }>nd take wing before tlie former is within gunshot. It is almost impossible to handle a heavy shotgun quickly and effectively in a Kansas corn field, where the stalks are fourteen feet high and stand closely together. When Kansas was first settled, the prairie chickens, iu the fall, frequented the newly sown wheat liclds to cat the uncovered wheat, of which tbey are exceedingly fond, much preferring that grain to corn. During the aiternoon of a late September day I have seen hundreds of prairie chickens fly over my bouse and settle on my wheat fields. They would scatter widely, and remain shoot from horseback or from & wagon, and from four to eight birds could b? shot any pleasant September or early October evening on a large wheat field Now. nraiiio chickens seldom, if ever, settle on a newly sown wheat field tc feed. Their acquired instinct tells them to avoid the open ground. In September the prairie chickens pack?that is, many coveys congregate and form immense flocks. The chickens feed on corn. When they leave the fieldsthey fly to the uplands. The middle of the fall and winter days they can be found, by those who know their habits, Southern Mountaineers. Among these mountaineers the purity of old English nomenclature and traces of English dialect barbarisms are singularly well preserved. Occasionally there is a strong Welsh infusion in a "neighborhood," which has beeu existent longer than current memory. In the West Virginia mountains there is a singular lace of dwarfish people whose origin nobody can suggest. They have been held in contcmpt by their neighbors ever since they appeared, and are even yet regarded as meuials little better than slaves. They intermarry a nong and perpetuate themselves, now and then getting ftcsh, but not better, blood from those outside whose condition renders harmless the contempt that they will invite by marriage with the dwarfs. In the North Carolina range there is a strong Turkish reminiseence directly traceable to fugitive piracy. Constineis there a commonly recurring surname, being a corruption of the Turkish ConofAntinA a nomo lmrnr* liv the merciless John of that ilk, who, for some years before the war, was an outlawed highwayman ancl murderer infesting the swamp lands of Carolina, levying terror and tribute upon the same surrounding country. So great was the dread of his name and the traditional infernal attributes that had seemed to protect him on many occasions, that even after he had been pursued into a swamp and killed by avenging planters, the negroes tirmly believed in his ability to triumph over death, and for years were confident that he would again appear in the majesty of his gigantic person and wield hia celebrated one-tinge: ed hand with more than his old destroying skill. Of the British refugees who took to the mountains for liberty's sake, many weie enslaved convicts but not all were felons. With the connivance of the corrupt officers of the Georges there were many instances of kidnapping.The slave trade with Africa, which was then precarious and slight, could not furnish the colonies with enough labor. Even (he etllux oi ieions irom ?,ngusuprisons, filled, as they were, with men accused and convicted on slight grounds, could not supply labor fast enough, especially since the terrors of the coast climate and the severity of the toil imposed killed off the penal slaves rapidly, llesort was had to force, and kidnapping Englishmen to be sold as slaves in Virginia became almost as frequent as the impressment of American seamen for British ships at a more historic period. Many of those who escaped from the coast plantations by flying to the mountain fastnesses were therefore innocent, unfortunate, and deserving men. Embittered Ly their fate, made self-reliant by their solitude and the terrors and dangers of their surroundings, all these confused yet distinct elements grew up imbued with wild courage,an instinctive disregard for life, and a character that was Puritanic in some directions while it was singularly loose and reckless in others, ?iwutfutrn I IilrO)iac. Trading oil the Coast of Africa. Along the northeast coast of Africa, south of Cape (Juordafui, there are no towns worth mentioning for some hundreds of miles. The Somali natives who live along the coast have had scarcely any dealings with white traders. A little while ago a smart firm in Aden made up their minds that by maintaining regular communications with this coast they would be able to build up a g-od trade. They' therefore bought a little steam vessel and sent their agent# along the coast to tell the natives that at certain times, if they would look out on the sea, they would see a steamer coming, laden with beautiful goods, to give them in exchange for hides, palm oil, and the other products of the Somali region. The little vessel has now made several trips, and the experiment has proved a great success. Knowing that they may expect the steamer at the date fixed, the natives from many miles in the interior tloi k to the shore at the diilerent points where the vessel stops. A large crowd well burdened with objects of exchange await the steamer, which anchors off the coast while trndiug boats put ashore, and a lively market is soon in progress where a few hours before nothing could be socn but the wide-stretching sands that border this coast. The goods that are most in demand among theoe new customers of the whites are Venetian glassware and American cotton shirtings. They drive very lair bargains, ana n is noteworuiy that the poor stulls they bought at first they now discard for better goods. The same keenness has been observed among other African natives. The Congo tribes, for instance, will not touch now the poor jackkoives and flimsy cottons they wero greedy for a few years ago. The grades of goods that the Congo State now takes to Africa for bartering purposes along the river cost, on an average, from sixty to a hundred per cent, more than the goods that were sold to the natives six or seven years ago.?New York Sun. Rnral Life in Russia. Usury is the greatest nightmare of rural Russia at present, au evil which seems to dog the peasant proprietor in all countries alike. The 'ooinbecn Man" is fast getting possession of the little Irish owners. A man who hires land ? i an not D'iri'ow on it; uiu uuic uwuh jo i tempted always to mortgage it at a pinch. In liussia lie borrows to the outside of its value, to ]>ay the taxes and get in his crop. The "bondage lalorcrs," i. e., men buuud to work on th?ir creditor's land as interest for money lent, receive uu wages and are in fact a sort of slaves. They repay their extortioners ^>y working as badly as they can?a '-level worst," far inferior to that of the srrfs of old, they harvest three and a half or four stacks of corn where the other peasants get live. The koulaks aud mir-eaters, 1 and other usurers, often of peasant ; origin, exhaust the peasant in every way; i they then foreclos.; the mortgages, unite the small pieces of land once more, and reconstitute large estates. A koulak is not to be trilled with; he finds a thousand occasions for revenge; the peasant J cannot cheat the Jew as he does the * ~.l ! landlord, ana is uumg sim >cu vui,?mo mortality is enormous. In the rural did- ' tricts of England the death rato is 18 per 1,000. lu the whole of Central Rus- . sia it reached per 1,000 at the last revision in 1S?2. 'The famine, now so frightfully commou, is not owing to bar- ' renness of the soil, for the mortality is greatest where the land is best. The birth rate in these provinces is 45."? Nineteenth Centura. i i ?m POPULAR SCIENCE. Professor W. Mattieu Williams maini. _ It..*, xl A..M.1 1 -r it. tains mat me uuai waves, rusnea 01 mo lea, and other phenomena of the kind observable in connection with earthquakes, are not affections of the sea, but of the land. Professor Herzen has recently shown, from vivisectional experiments, the intimate relation between cold and touch, and that an injury to the cortex of the > brain that destroys the sense of touch in any region will usually also abolish correspondingly the sense of cold. Professor Thurston says when a drop of oil is placed upon the surface of water it first rapidly spreads in all directions, forming a film of exceeding tenuity, and affecting the waves as if a sheet or carpet of thin, flexible, elastic, and yet tenacious substance, like rubber, had been spread over the waves. The healing-springs of Bosnia and , Herzegovina seemed destined to occupy a prominent place among the health resort* of the world. Professor Ludwig. of Vienna, in the course of at official journey recently, discovered over fifty medicinal springs. The best are those at Banjaluka, Serajewo, and Dolnja Tuzla. TVio invA?fimifinriQ nt T7ahprl<mf3t show that the poisoning by nettles and allied plants is not due to the presence in the needless of for.nic acid, as has heretofore been supposed, bnt to the presence of an unorganized ferment. The substance is albuminous, and, when coagulated, losing its power of produc- ' incr irritation. It is said that the more rapid deterioration of miuh of the iron of a late make arises from the fact that it con- ' tains more impurities than formerly. The common iron of to-day is filled with slag, and looki coarse and fibrous when rusted or worn. Fifty years ago the iron made iu the United States was largely charcoal iron, and was much'* purer and better than the same grades made at the present day. The method of vultures in finding carrion is seen by their habits of distributing themselves like sentinels over wide tracts of country. Tfieir keen eyes, as they circle over miles of territory, scan every object, telegraphing to the adjoining sentinel, many miles away, the discovery of prey. In this way, during the Crimean war, it is said that the vultures of Northern Africa forked iu scores around the contending amies, coming from thousands of miles. Mr. J. McNeil, ot Indiana University, mentions a long-horned beetle which lived no less th in nineteen years, and probably more than twenty, in an ash door sill Two similar cases of remarkable longevity in beetles are recorded by Packard. A specimen of the common pine-borer lived more than fifteen years in a pine bureau; and tnree beetles came from an apple tree table, the first after a residence therein of twenty years and the last of twenty-eight years. Tha contagiousness of leprosy, says Science, has for a longtime been a mooted question. The 1 loyal College of Physicians, in order to obtain the best information on this subject, sent inquiries to physicians throughout the world, whose practice had brought them in contact with the disease, and whose opinions would therefore be of value. Tnirteea of these have no doubt of its contagiousness, and thirty-four entertain no doubt of its non-contagiousness. Twelve regarded leprosy aud syphillis as being intimately related; twenty-one believed there was no relation. Most of those to whom the inquiries were sent regard leprosy as hereditary, and also that it maj originate spontaneously under suitable conditions. The Life of Cowboys. Time was, and not long ago either, that the cowboys when they received their pay after the round-up, lelfc In duty bound to go Miles City and blow it in at the gambling dens, saloons, and other . ' disreputable places, Cow-punching is at best a very toujjh business, and full of risks to life and limb, and pay is small and by no means adequate, and after the round-up there follows a long period of enforced idleness, duriaj -which they are given food and lodging only by the ranch owner. The average cowboy was wout to turn 'ip after his semi-annual spree with a very large head and not a cent in his pocket. Of late, however, the boys have tuken a tumble to themselves and are saving their money. So common has the economicul spirit become among them that Miles City has seen this year its quietest season. Most of the cDwboys looked upon their coming to Montana to herd cattle as the mistak? of their lives. The glowing stories of thrilling adventure and sudden wealth of the cowboys' life, which are common in the Last, are in most eases respousible for their entering -MJ L..L * I. me guua, uu? me ictttiijr ia quite a different mutter. Many of the economical ones have becu enabled by their savings to re urn to their Eastern, homes. People who have noi been through the bad lands have but a faint conception of the utter desolation and worthlessness of a cowboys' home. He is roasted in summer and frozen in winter. The lands can never be used for anything but grazing, and the distances are therefore something immense. One pccuiarity of the country mikes rapid riding a very difficult, not to say dangerous, undertaking. The earth is so iriable that a tiny watercourse will speedily cut for itself a deep gully or "coolie," as it is called, the depth of which, when filled with snow, ' n.nKl(,mot!f?l A Vir?r?Pmftn 13 ClibUOij ^iivviwuiuviVHk. who rides up with a cowboys' recklessness may suddenly find himself at the bottom of a six or eight-foot coolie, with his horse on top of hiui, and no way of getting out of it?if he happens to be still alive?save tunneling up to the head of the stream through the snow. Then ' one of your broncho's feet is as likely as not to sink suddenly two feet down into a coyote's hole when he is going at a furious pace. Kesult: 11 is leg snaps off like a pipe stem, and you are shot through the air to a point far beyond, and picked up more dead than alive. The water is generally bitter with alkali, and scorchoe your throat as you swullow it. There is little to cat. and that is hard to get.? Tomah Enterprise. Not so Harmless as Supposed. At Iron ton, Ohio, a young reporter for one of the city papers attended an ovster supner g ven by the ladies of a church society. The youth was waited upon with all the prompt fidelity due to his exalted station. The young man showed his appreciation of this kindness by publishing next day a half-column article on "The Church Festival Oyster," containing all the time-honored wittirisims that hnve been handed down to this generation on that su >iect. A committee of twelve young ladies waited on him at his lodgings shortly after the appearance of the paper on the street, took him into a smoke-tiouse, tied him to a post, read the article to him and then deluged him from head to foot with a bucketful of oyster soup that had been ( left from the supper the evening before. ?Rochester Dtmocrat.