The Abbeville press and banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, September 12, 1888, Image 6
f THE KNIGHT IN SILVER MA.IL.
She left the needle in the rose
And put her broidery by,
And leaning from her casement tall
8be heard the owlets cry.
The purple sky was thick with stars,
And in the moonlight pale
She saw come riding from the wood
A knight in silver maiL
His plume was like the snowy foa?
That wreathes the roaring tide.
The glory of his golden locks
His helmet could not bide.
She took the lily from her breast
(Like hers, its beauty frail),
And dropped it as ho rode beneath?
The knight in silver mail.
About her gown of crimson silk
She drew a mantle dark.
Bhe saw the stately castle towers
Uprising from the park,
And on the lake the mated swans,
Asleep in shadow, sail.
But left it all to follow him,
The knight in silver mail.
* Oh, I would see thy face, my love,
Oh, I would see thy face!
Why dost thou keep thy visor down?
It is a lonely place.''
His voice was like the hollow reeds
That rustle in the cale;
*' 'Tis lonelier in my castle," said
The knight in silver maiL
He let his steed go riderless,
He took her by the hand
And led her over brake and bria*
Into a lonesome land.
41 Oh, are they headstones all a-row
That glimmer in the vale?"
41 My castle walls are white." replied
The knight in silver mail.
"* So close unto thy castle doors
4 Why buriest thou the dead!"
For tan long years I've slept with them;
Ah, welcome home!" he said.
He clasped her dainty waist around,
And in the moonlight pale
Upraised his visor, and she saw
The knight in silver mail.
At dawn her father's men-at-arms
Went searching everywhere,
And found her with the churchyard dews
A-sparkle iu hair.
And lo! a sight to make the best
And bravest of them quail:
Beside her in the tangled grass
A skeleton in mail
?Century.
SELENL
#
ODe April morning, while the sun was
hiningdown in Silver City,Seleni and hei
father tame slowly into town. There was
mow still in the mountains?many feci
of snow?but it had melted in the valley,
?nd the wooden pavemeuts of the little
mnuigcamp we;e as dry as though it
. was in ..uly.
Over in Hallelu ah Gulch a greal
strike had been made, and numbers ol
' prospectors thronged the streets and
stood in groups on every corner. One
Tough miner turned and looked aftei
Beleni and her father and the old hand-organ.
' lhis 'ere's a city, now, boyshe
-cried. "Just look at the orgun-grinder
come to town."
"Give us a toot, old man!" called out
a second miner.
"Let him nlone. boys," said a third.
. "He is blind."'
Seleni led her father down the narrow
street, and piloted him safely
through the noisy crowd. As she turned
a corner she spied an unpretending restaurant.
"Dinner 50 cents," the sign read, nnd
she paused before the open door.
"We'll go in an'git some dinner, dad
I'm fearful hungry."
the led her father to one of the small
tables and slipped the organ from his
back. Then she drew an old bandana
handkerchief from her pocket and un
tied one corner. A little roll of nickels
dropped out on the table.
"Got enough, t'elcni?" asked hei
latli'.-r, anxiously.
. His quick ears had caught the click ol
the coins.
*\ ots,"said ?eleni, shortly.
She hastily tied up the money, and
foiug to the counter, ordered dinner foi
er father, and for hersel: only a bow
of mush and milk.
"I was pretty near starved," said th(
old organ grinder, as he ate his roasi
beef with a -rood reli-h. "H'a:nt th<
meat real good, ^eleni:"
' Bet your life!" answered Sslcni
C ilmly taking a sip of milk.
'And the tomatoes, and the rice pud
din'," added her father.
" . es, dad, but don't stop to talk,5'
?aid Se em.
Seleni soon finished her own simpli
dinner, and leaned back in the sti:f
woo.len chair. Two miners near bj
looked up admiringly, feleni's eyes wer<
laige and b'.ack, as had been those of he:
Italian mother, who had died when sh<
was born. Heavy braids of blue-black
hair were wound around her head, anc
her cheeks and lips were crimson. He
old straw hat was tied down with a fadec
ribbon; her dark l.lue dress was stainec
?nd shabby, bhe wore a blanket shaw
around her slender shoulders.
"We've had a splendid diuner, bain'
we':" said her father, rising and taking
the organ on his back.
Seleui paid the restaurant keeper, anc
tied ud her few nickels that remained
Then she took her father's arm and led
him to the corner of the street.
"We'll stop and piay here, dad."
Her father patiently began to turn th
crank of the old organ. Seleni atooi
beside him and eagerly scanned the face
of the passers-by. Few seemed to thin]
the music was worth paying for. A lad
gave Seleni a 10-cent piece, and amine
carelessly tossed a quarter toward them
But their supper and a night's lodginj
were to be paid lor, and very few nickel
were left in the bandana hankerchief.
It grew late at last. The organ grinde
had now played through all h;s tunes.
"You are tired, dad," said Seleni, a
her father paused. "We'll go and Una
place ta sleep."
. "We don't want no supper, do we
Seleni? We had such a hearty dinner.
" . es, dad," said Seleni, faintly.
"And it w is late, too," added the oh
man. "It must ha' beeu most l o'clock.
"Be you huigry, dad, " a*ke I Se'eni
anxiously looking into his face.
"Nm a mite," answered her father
very cheerfully. "And s'po<e I play
little longer. 'Taint dark yet, is "it
let's walk along!"
They turned a corner and found thera
selves on a s'.de street in a quiet neigh
borhood. There were lace curtains r
the windows of some of the small cabins
An open door gave a glimpse of a brigh
Brus els carpct.
Suddenly a young girl appeared at
window and, raising the sash, very car<
lessly tossed out into the street a beai
tiful but withered bouquet of hot-hous
flowers. Seleni quickly glanced up a
the lady, who wa3 young and had fai
hair. This much she remembered a
ways. The bouquet rolled to the youn
girl's fe t, then stopped. She stoope
jul picked up the flowera. They wei
only a little faded; some of the rosea
were quite fresh and fragant. It must
have been a beautiful bouquet once.
Why did the young lady throw it away
so soon?
It was near 7 o'clock. Seleni and her
father had paused before a lnrge hotel.
The piazza in front was crowded with
men. Some of them gazed at the girl
who stood so patiently beside the old
organ. Her hat had slipped back and
her black hair lay in rings on her smooth,
white forehead. Seleni did not know
how pretty she was and wondered why
the men stared at her so. She knew that
she was tiied and hungry. She wished
some one would toss them some money.
A young man came down the steps.
He wore a blue flannel shirt, and his
coat was quite as shabby as the one Seleni's
father wore. He stood in front of
the organ with h:s hands in his pockets.
For a few moments he did not speak,
but seemed to be listening to tiie music.
And then his eyes fell on the flowers.
"Where did you git 'em?" he asked
suddenly.
"Found 'em," answered Selini, quite
as shortly.
He came a step nearer, and held out
his hand.
"Let me see 'em."
Seleni drew back hastily.
"Pay for 'em first. I'll sell 'em cheap,"
he said.
He thrust his hand still deeper into
his pocket, then tossed a silver dollar on
the top of the old organ. Then he took
the flowers, and studied them intently as
he turned the bouquet around.
"Tell me where you got'em, "he asked
pleadingly.
"Found 'em," Seleni said again. "A
lady threw 'em out the winder."
The young man said something under
his breath, then turned and walked away.
Seleni had seen the color come to his
face, and a hurt look in his eyes. As she
looked after him he gave the bouquet a
toss, and it fell in the muddy street, only
to be crushed the next instant by the
wheels of a passing wagon.
"Haint there enough money yet?"
asked her father, touching her arm.
"Yes, dad," she answered. "We'll go
and get some supper, and then we'll find
! a place to sleep."
The little Darlor of Mrs. Murphy's
lodging house was crowded with lodgers
that evening. Seleni left her father
seated contentedly in a corner and stole
quietly out at the front door. She was
so accustomed to being out of doors that
she felt Bufl'ocatcd in a close room.
Some one sat on the lower step with
his head resting on his hands. He
looked up and saw Scleni as she stood
hesitatingly in the doorway.
"Don't be afraid," he said, kindly.
?i It was the young man who had bought
: the flowers.
i Seleni sank down on the steps and
; drew herold blanket more closely arouad
, 1 her.
! "It's cold out here,'' said the young
; man. "Mebbe you'd better go in."
"Ihaint cold; I'm most always out:
doors," said Seleni.
t. "Where do von say you found the
I Dos'esr" he a<ked.
s 4 A young lady throwed 'em out. She
had yeller hair. " It was a house with
white curtains at the winders. I didn't
set no pricc on the flowers. You needn't
s; ha.-e paid me so much for 'em."
"I don't complain of the price; they
cost me a pile to begin with."
;! "Did you give em to her;"
"Yes; more fool, too."
"They were faded some," remarked
Seleni, consolingly.
"Yes," he said bitterly. "She had
' 'em twelve hours."
His head dropped on his hands again.
"I wouldn't care-" said Scleni, softly.
The young man glanced at her. Seleni's
.eyes were soft with sympathy; she
\ looked so fair in the moonlight.
; i "How old be youT' he asked.
| ".-e\enteen."
i "And you travel round with your
i father?".
i; 44 i es; dad likes to travel. He won't
j let me do nothin'. He says he reckons
i i he can support me," said i-'eleni,proudly.
j "Can you write?" looking eagerly into
- ! i
r j ucr prvujr iatc.
! "Considerable?I was to public school
once," ausw.Ted Seleni.
! "I hain't got m> edieation. and I want
1 to get a letter writ."
1 i "I'll do it."
r j "Will you, now?"
1 "Yes," eagerly.
I The young fellow sprang up.
i "Come on into the kitchen, then;
t there's nobody there."
; In a few minutes he had brought
: Seieni a sheet of paper and pen and ink*.
, They were alone in the little kitchen
! that was scarcely more than ashed. The
- girl seated herself at the table.
i "Begin 'Darliu' Lizzie,'" said the
' 1 young man, leaning over her shoulder.
| "Ves," said f'eleni, and in a very
} j cramped hand she wrote the two words.
, "Tell her I love her; tell her I'm goin'
f! over to Red Mountain to-morrow, but
3; she can write to me. Jim Conroo'll read
r me her letter. Got it all down?"
3 "Pretty nenr. You told me sucli an
: | awful lot," said Seleni.
I She handled the pen awkwardly,
r A bright color had come to the young
1 man's cheeks. His hair was light,almost
1 golden?just the color of the young
1 lady'9, Seleni thought. She glanced
do?n at the letter. Would "Uarling
t j Li'zie" say yes or no?
?: "Got done?" said her friend. "I'll
' take it over to the po>to:fice."
I He sealed the envelope carefully and
. | put it tenderly in his pocket. Then he
I held out his bronzed hand.
' i.''ood-by. I'm much obliged to you.
If I don't never see you again I wish you
e good luck." .
i As he passed Seleni's chair a silver
s i dollar dropped into her lap.
k ! The next April Seleni and her father
y I found themselves once. more crossing
r j Red Mountain on their way to Silver
. | City. Seleni hid grown a little taller,
g ; but she looked much the same. Her
s I dress wasstill shubbv*, and a forlorn felt
, hat replac ed the old black straw. Bui
r her lip* and cheeks were crimson with
I *? ? J i?ii.i. A -
tjAcrciau sou mrtuui. xva iui;j vuiiig um
3 view of the town they passed a group ol
a miners who were out prospecting. Om
of them shadeJ his eyes with his hauds
, and looked steadily at Seleni.
" "Give us a tune!'' he called out to th<
organ-grinder, and the old man obedi
.1 ently set down his organ and began t(
" turn the crank.
, Then the young miner came slowly to
ward tr'eleni and held out his hand. Th(
, girl knew him at a glance,and her blaci
;i eyes grew bright with pleasure.
?! "I didn't get no auswer," he whi8
j pered.
i- Seleni looked sorry; then a curiou
l- j gladness came to her eyes.
it "Hain't you seen her?" she asked,
i. ".Vo," answered the young man; "shi
it doesn't live here no more."
"I'm very sorry," said the girl; "
a writ it plain."
s- "'Twasn't you fault."
i- Then he looked at her admiringly,
e "S'pose I eome to see you to-night?"
it The old organ-grinder1 took "up hi
ir burden again, and as they moved awa;
I- Seleni smiled over her shoulder at th
f young man with fair hair, who lookei
after her a9 he leaned lightly on hi
e pick.
A month later a priest at Silver Citj
married them.
Seleni was very happy in her new
home. There were no lace curtains at
the cabin windows, for her husband was
but a poor prospector, with only his
youth and hopp.
One evening during the winter Seleni'a
husband came home, and a3 he seated I
himself by the stove, drew a yellow envelope
from his pocket. It was old and
worn by much handling,and bore numerous
post marks.
"What is it;" asked Seleni, quickly.
"An o!d letter fur me," answered her
husband. "They said it had bin follerin'
me round everywhere. I hain't been
in one place long the past year. I guess
it ain't much good now. S'pose you read
! it."
Seleni took the letter and tore open the
envelope. There were only a few lines.
It began "Darling Jim" and was
signed "Your own i.i/.zie." It stated
that the writer would marry him at any
, time.
"Don't look so!" cried her husband,
as Seleni grew deadly white.
| She did not speak, but stood perfectly
still with the letter clutched in her hand.
But her husband threw his strong arms
around her.
"I'm glad I didn't get it!" he cried.
"Don't you know I love you best? Nobody
can't take your place now."?
I St. Louis Star Sayings.
The Gentle Bloodhound.
"There's a great deai of nonsense in
I the Northerner's abhorrence of the blood,
hound," said a Southern gentleman to a
I New l'ork Telegram reporter. "He's
, not at all a ferocious animal. There is
j really no difference between him and the
I fox, stag or other nounas save in traini
inS"The
true bloodhound, the old Southern
hound, is the Talbot. The hound
, of that breed is tall and large, larger
i than the fox hound, broad chested, and
I utters a deep bay. He has a good, what
I might be (ailed a dignified, face. He's
I tremendously slow in clrase (even a good
I walkex can keep up with him if the run
is long), but his scent is someth ng wonderful.
He'll follow a trail twelve or
fourteen hours old, and through herd
I after herd of animals like the one he's
| after.
i "But if blood of some other animal i9
spilled across the trail, then he's gone;
the blood confuses him and throws him
off. It is from this, and the fact that he
will follow a wounded animal as accurately
by the blood as the track, that he
gets his name, not from any peculiar
ferocity.
"The Talbot used to be trained on the
English and Scottish borders to pursue
cattle thieves and other marauders.
These sleuth-hounds, as they were called
{ there, are still kept in some of the big
! deer parks in the north of England.
"There is a dog in the South called
I f-m Pnhnn hlnndhnund that was some
j times employed in hunting down slaves,
and is, perhaps, found among the packs
used in following escaped convicts. It
is not a bloodhound, however, but a
cross of mastiff and bulldojr. It's scent'
ing is poor beside that ol the true bloodhound;
it is good for nothing but to hunt
nib2, and Is tierce and bloodthirsty. The
Spaniards trained it in the first place to
hunt Indians, and afterward followed
runaway slaves with it. It has stolen the
bl.'odhsund's name and given them its
reputation.
''The big Russian greyhound, which
has a cro-s of bulldog, can be taught to
follow men like a bloodhound."
Mammoths in Siberian Glacier*.
It must not be supposed that our own
elephant is iu any way a degenerate descendant
of the true mammoth. On the
coutrary, says a w iter in the Cvrnhi'l,
the great Siberian beast in many respects
a more advauccd and specialized
representative of the original family than
| his Southern cousins He was, in snort,
I a progressive elephant, who, seized with
j a desire to emigrate, had gone north and
overspread the whole temperate regions
of Europe, Asia, and >'orth America before
the coming on of the great ice age.
In his northern home he retained or redeveloped
the hairy covering which the
elephant lost iu India or Afiica, and he
took kindly enough to the cold weather
which preceded the advent of the glac al
epoch. In short, he was rather an elder
brother of the elephant than in any sense
a direct ancestor.
Other mammoths have since been found
in the Siberian tundra, buried where they
sank in up to their necks among the soft
slush, and preserved ever siuce, partly
like tinned meats by the exclusion of the
air, and partly like Australian mutton by
the effects of frost. The mo it interesting
find was that made by a young Russian
engineer by the name of Benkendorf,
who, steaming in a Mnall cutter up the
Indieirka River, saw, during a flood, to
| his immense delight, a real dead mamj
moth, with its eyes open and its hairy
trunk moving restlessly through the
turbid water, bobbing up and down
merrily in the stream before him. There
is a well-known Swiss story of the
wrinkled old woman in a mountain village
who recoguizes in the fre3h corpse
; of a young man just brought down
among the ice of a glacier to the point
where it melts into an Alpine torrent,
; the features of her lover, lost half a century
before in the yawning mouth of a
1 deep crevasse. But what is half a century
of iced humanity to a hundred
thousand years of preserved mammoth';
Snudstorm in the Bert Sea.
The steamer Glenshiel, which has arrived
at .New York from Yokohama and
other Eastern ports with a cargo of
7:', 00) packages, or 5200 tons, of tea,
reports a curio ;3 experience which she
encountered in the Ked Sea, but which
is by no means unknown to voyagers in
those waters. Her log says that od
leaving the l'erin Islands the atmosphere
was so crowded with sand-duet that it
I was necessary to run at a low rate ol
' speed. When half way up the sea a
1 sandstorm of such violence was experiP
enced that the greatest difficulty was
found in making any headway at all.
' The sand sifted like tine snow through
1 every crevice, tilled every dish of food,
and covered everything with a gnuj
' coating. At the same time its cloud;
were so thick and impenetrable that ont
> could not see two ship lengths ahead oj
the vessel. This state of things lusteo
[ for eight hours, but Sue', was reached
I at length, and the vessel arrived at Porl
k aid. next morning.?New York Times.
A Noseless Clock,
s A curiously considerate invention ha?
been produced by a Frenchman in th('
shape of a noiseless clock, for use mon
3 especially in sick rooms. In place o:
the usual pendulum, the hands are set it
I motion by the unrolling of a chain, th?
end of which ia fastened to a buoy, float j
ing in a tank of fluid. This flu d escape I
at a uniform rate, and can be utilized t( j
feed a lampwick, thus giving the ap
s paratus the double character of clock anc j
j lamp. When the lamp is lighted, th<
0 necessary diminution of liquid take
1 place by combustion, at other times bj
8 carefully regulated dropping. ?Scieno
L and Art. "
- - - w-.-? ' "c.. " '
- . ' " -- .. : .
EYEGLASSES.
SPECTACLES WERE FIRST A
BADGE OP NOBILITY.
Their Use Wan Born of Affectation
and Contluued Throajjh Necessity?Origin
and Development
?The Effeminate PIncenez.
"When Alesaandrodi Spina of Florence
invented spectacles, he believed he was
conferring a benefit on all those of the
human race who suffered from defective
vision. It cannot be surmised that he
ever anticipated that they would be used
as marks of social position and intellectual
superiority by s >me of the most civilized
nations of the earth. Yet, strange
as it may appear, they have been put to
this extravagant use, especia ly in Spain
in former days, and 1 itterly in England
and America. In Germany the habit of
wearing spectacles first began in a.iectatiou,
consequent, it may reasonably be
presumed, on the intercourse which existed
between that country and Spain
under Charles V. By degress this affectation,
following the theory of natural
evolution, became a necessity, and now
it is almost an obligatory badge of scholarship
among all those who aspire to the
distinction of being considered a savant
in Germany. Mark Twain wittily observes
that if he had the monopoly of the
sale of spectacles in that country he
would be monetarily rendered happy,
inasmuch as the revenue he would derive
from it would supply all his wants.
In the seventeenth century, in Spain,
the wearing of spectacles by both the
sexes was a mark of social eminence. For i
this reason they were worn by many j
who by right of birth were not entitled
to them. It was then the custom that!
no one carried on a conversation until
these brain-illurninators were iirst fixed
on the nose, and adjusted carefully by I
the dainty pink-nailed lingers of their
fair wearers. Although they were not necpflsarv
mknv lcent them on while eatincr
or attending public functions, such as
theatres, concerts, and bull tights, so
that they might command by this badge
of nobility respect from those of the
lower orders with whom they might be
compelled to comc in contact. There is
a story told of a young monk, who, having
accomplished for his order a very
ditlicult task, was asked by the prior to
request him any favor which it was in
his power to giant, and it
should be conceded to h m. With grave
and anxious looks he replied that he had
long.yearned to be permitted to wear
spectacles. This request evidently gratified
his superior, who, with an air of
satisfied pride, said to the yountr monk,
"Hemxano, jwja hi* o'nhi*" ("Brother,
put on spectacles"), which concession
tilled the recipient with such joy that he
forthwith fell on bis knees, and kissing
the hand of the prior, earnestly expressed
h's gratitude for so yreat an
honor having been thus readily bestowedupon
him. There is another story told
which shows how highly the right to
wear these ornaments was esteemed. It
is said that when the Viceroy of Naples,
the Marquis d'Astorgas, was having his
bust sculptured in marble, he was most
careful to have his best and large t spectacles
put in, as he thought it cou'd not
be a good likeness of him if these necessary
appendages of nobility were
omitted.
In this century the size of spectacles
was also a matter of important consideration,
just as carriages aDd men servants
are nowadays. As a man's fortune
increased so did the size of his spectacles.
And the Countess d'Aunoy assures us that
as men rose in political and social rank
the higher the spectacles were placed on
their noses. She also states from personal
observation that some of those
worn by the grandees were as large as
her head, anu that for this reason these
great personages obtained the sobriquet
of ocales. These glasses were for the
most part made in Venice, until the
Venetians, out of revenge, played a trick
on me opuuiiuus. n> n *wviv*uu
that the Marquis de Cueva with two
other nobles undertook to set the
arsenal of Venice on fire by means
of burning-glasses, and thus render up
the city to the King of Spain. To be
revenged for this attempt on their city,
the Venetians caused a large number of
these huge spectacles, or oviles, to be
made of burning-glass, and had them set
in frames of an e\p!osivc material, so
that when the sun's rays beat upon them
they would heat it so (.hat it would explode,
and thus blind their wearers. It
is said that this desired end ac'ually was
arrived at, but with no more disastrous
consequence than the burning of the
eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair of the
wearers, a circumstance which made the
Spaniards very irate with the Venetians,
causing them to withdraw their custom
for oc<dcs from them forever.
It would seem that the L'Dglish caught
this quaint and ridiculous custom from
l\n(- not- tn nonpar slavishlv imi
ul'n,,,l ""'I ~v " ?n J
tat ve, they adopted the eyeglass, that
vain decoration of a man's lace which
Coleridge described as "a piece of glass
stuck in a fop's eye to show that he was
a coxcomb." How many men wear this
carious ornament for affectation, it were
useless to speculate. For a time this
single p ece of glass was much in vogue,
but it has by degrees given place to the
more refined and less dangerous to the
eve-sight ornament?the pince-nez. This
is the eye gear which is most affected by
actors, or men who wish to attract attention
to their puny individuality?for
sure'y that individuality is puny indeed
which is marked by the aid of the optician
and tailor rather than by their own
intelleptual merit.
In former days the rims of spectacles
were made of bone and tortoise shell,
but this clumsy framework has given
place to gold, nickel, and steel, so that
a pair of spectacles can now be had
which weighs less than half-an-ounce.
Still, the tortoise-shell frame, with long
handles of the same substance, is most |
in fashion for "ladies'glasses-" It is a i
9trange fact that those who have real I
need of spectacles are slowest to wear j
fhflm though bv their timclv usr: a wan- j
ing eyesight may be preserved or restored,
and a pleasant old age secured to
him who otherwise would have a sad and
gloomy one. ?Pull Mull QazMe.
A Lapland Forest Giant.
In Lapland there has just been felled
a pine tree which is described as one of
the largest ever grown in Sweden. It]
was 12.? feet high and at twi> feet from j
the ground had a diameler of 12i feet.
These are large dimensions for Scotch
fir; and yet there are pines beside whi h
it would be but a dwarf. There are
specimens of the giant pine or sugar
pine of California, for example, that
rise to the ho'ght of *.00 feet. The spar
of the Douglas pine at Kew, England, is
15!) feet; there are mast spars of- the
Cowdi pine 200 feet long, while a specimen
of the Wclliugtonia gigantea has
been described as 4.r>0 feet high and 110
leet in circumference.
There are nine cities having more than
600,000 inhabitants'apd leas than 1,000,j
000. _ - - J
5fi
r':i. ; ;*
Anacondas Make Themselves at Home*
Two immense anacondas were recently
discovered on the barkentine Emma R.
Smith, while discharging a cargo of
phosphate rock at South Camden, N. J.
Each measures over thirteen feet, and
they are said to be not only the largest
bnt the finest specimens ever seen. It is
not known how the snakes came on
board, but they are supposed to have
reached the vessel's rigging from dense
overhanging tropical foliage while she
was lying in the harbor of i'ara, Brazil,
which is conceded to be the home of the
anaconda and the boa constrictor. The
serpents have thus far shown no attempt
to interfere with the crew or those working
on the vessel, and often remain in a
comatose state for a week at a time.
When they become hungry plenty of food
has to be quickly procured, alive chicken
or a stray cat being esteemed the greatest
luxury by them.
The most remarkable occurrence has
been the sudden disappearance of the
army of rats which had multiplied in the
vessel's hold for several years past.
Several times during the passage the
snakes were given the liberty to investigate
the between decks and lower hold
in search of the rodents, and on each occasion
they were so liberally rewarded
that they were unable to move. Their
stomachs had been stretched to the full
esi tension. many visitors, anioujj mem
persona interested in science, have visited
the \esseltosee the curiosities. ? Philadelphia
Record.
Tlic Young Son of a Revolutionary
Veteran.
It is a remarkable fact that we have in
town a man only 41 yeBrs old whose
father was at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Winfield Scott Hasham is the man we
have reference to. His father, Stephen
Hasham, was about fourteen years of age
at the time of the battle, witnessing the
engagement from the steeple of the
church at the North End and carrying
water to the soldiers of the Copp's Hill
battery. He learned the trade of a clockmaker
and located in Charlestown, N.
H.. says the Claremont Adrocate, becoming
in the course of time keeper of the
Eagle Hotel, making with his own hands
the eagle still used for a sign. We un>
derstand that he also made the eagle
which surmounts the town in Claremont.
He ma'ie se.eral town clocks, some of
which are still in use. Mr. Hasham in
1i"jj7 married Susannah Hastings,
daughter of Captain Johnson. Five
children were born to them, and in 1841
Mrs. Hasham died. The same year Mr.
Hasham, then some eighty years of age,
morrinrl T.liPvr A Millor nf finrinff plrf
luttiiivu ""Vj -- ~r & ,
Yt., a woman maay years younger than
himself, and five more children were
born to him during the next ten years.
He died Feb. 4. 1<>G1, aged about 100.
Of his children only two survive, W.
S. Hasham, above mentioned, and his
6ister, Mrs. Eugene A. Pandall, of
t hurlestown, who was born two years to
a day after his birth.
An Emperor's Wealth of Name.
Kaiser Francis Joseph is fifty-eight
years old, observes the New York
Tribune, and may he have as many happy
returns of the day a* he has handles to
his name. For this genial monarch is
fully styled Francis Joseph I. Charles,
Emperor of Au-tria; Apostolic King of
Hungary; King of Bohemia, of Dalmatia,
of Croatia, of Slavonia, of Galicia,
Lodomeria and Illyria; King of Jerusalem
Arch Duke of Austria; Grand Duke
of Tuscany, and of Cracow; Duke of
Lorraine, of Salzburg, of Styria, of
Corinthia, of C'arniola, of Bukovina;
Grand Prince of Transylvania; Margrave
of Moravia; Duke of Upper Silesia, of
Lower Silesia, of Modena, of Parma, of
Placenza and Gua3talla, of Auschwitz
and Zator, of Teschen, Friull, Ragusa
and Zara; Princely Count of Habsburg,
of Tyrol, of Kyburg.Goritzand Gradisch;
Prince of Trent and Brixen; Margrave
of Upper Lusatia, of Lower I.u?atia, of
Istria; Count of Hohenembs, Feldkirche,
Rragnnza, Sonnenburg, etc; Seigneur of
Trie-ta, of Cattaro, etc.
An Intrepid Young Shark Fisher.
A youngster named George Vreeland,
son of a wealthy Jersey City < N". J.) man,
captured a man-eating shark, six feet
long, in New York Lay, one afternoon
recently. He was in a row-boat fishing
for eels when he saw the shark's fin
above the water 20) feet away. He
rowed ashore and securcd an oldfashioned
harpoou. He only rowed a
few feet from the shore when the shark
came up close to the boat. He threw
1 the harpoon at it, a :d the iron stuck
firmly in its baik. The shark dashed at
the boat and nearly succeeded in overturning
it. Then the shark dived and
^ * ? -- "*r ?11:?
started on ior rne narrows, pumuy tuc
boat after it. Vreeland tie.I the htrpoon
( rope to the bow of the boat and sat back
for a ride. Three miles from the Greenville
shore the rope slackened, and in a
few minutes the shark rose to the surface,
stomach tip. Hewa?deud. Vreeland
towed it ashore. This is the second
shark that he has captured. He is
fiftee-i years old.?Times Democrat.
The Art of Taxidermy.
A taxidermist's is a queer place, says
the Chicago Hcrnht. Few people know
how the delicate work of preserving the
relics of a defunct animal is done. The
skinning alone is difficult enough, but
after the'"shell,"so to speak, has been
obtained, theieal niceties of the job are
brought into play. And the greater or
lesser excellence wilh which the ''stutfing"'
of the beast is docs, so as to make
its new outline correspond exactly with
tho original, gives a taxidermist claim
t to mere or less lame, ine wuoib iusiuu
of the animal is, of course, rejected,
except some of the bones which are
needed to support the frame properly.
The preserving against moths and decay
is done by rubbing the inside of the
skin with arsenic soap. aud arsenic
powder is strewn through the inside bej
sides. This arsenic, though inside,
gradually works through the seams and
pores, and a stufTed animal is, therefore,
never a safe plaything for a child, nor
for a grown-up person either.
Artificial Silk.
Artificial silk has been prepared by
Dr. Ohardonue, a French experimenter,
by dissolving three grammes of nitrocellulose
in 100 to I.jO cubic centimetres
of a mixture of equal parts of alcohol and
ether, and adding y.5 cubic centimetres
of a filtered 10 per cent, solution
of ferrous chloride in alcohol, and
1.5 cubic centimetres of a solution, of
tannic acid in alcohol. The filtered
i liquid is placcd in a vertical reservoir,
having a blowpipe no/zle of glass in its
bottom. This pipe forms an acute cone
with an orifice from one-tenth to onetwentieth
millimetre wide,the thickness
of the margin not exceeding one-tenth
millimetre, aud opening into a vessel of
water acidulated with one-half per cent,
of monohydrated nitric acid. The fluid '
in flowing out by pressure hardens in the
acidulated water, and the resulting
thread is dried rapidly in hot air. The
thread can be dyed all colors by soluble
pigments.
^S;4
' HAPPY ICELAND.
AIT EARTHLY PARADISE WITHIN
THE FROZEN ZONE.
Where the Doors Are Never Looked
and Hospitality Is a National
Trait?Remote AncestryForm
of Government.
There is a nation in existence, says the
New York Graphic, that has preserved
its identity for more than a thousand
years, whose leading families claim an
ancestry so remote that it is almost mythological,
and whose ninety thousand
f y-v.t-W ?V.AA AK?1*A1A<]
pcupic live uuuci uui iui tjnuico ui u^ica
that form their whole jurisprudence. Its
history rccords but two thieves; crime is
almost unknown and armies and policemen
are never seen. Seven out of ten of
the educated class speak, read and write
the Latin language fluently,and a greater
proportion of the English language.
These people claim to be the freest on
earth in doing just as they please, providing
they interfere with no one else.
They never lock their doors, have no
hotels, and provide ample hoepitality for
all visitors in their homes. They glory
in the possession of the^ purest, bravest
blood in their veins that flows among
mankind to-day; and claim the richest
traditions of modern nations. They live
where there are forty-one days in the
year of total darkness and a like number
of perpetual sunlight. That nation is on
this earth, too, and inhabits the island
of Iceland.
Fr. Ludwig von Dolcke is the son of
an Icelandic stads-holder, a gentleman
of refinement, who wan highly educated
in Sweden, and has traveled extensively,
a'nd has come to this country to practice
his profession of electrologist. In the
course, of a talk recently he presented
the above striking facts concerning his
native land. The Doctor speaks Knglish
fluently, having remained in the country
twenty-three months when he first came
here in 1S44 as Commissioner to select
the lands in Dakota and joining British
Columbia territory, upon which a colony
of six thousand Icelanders settled later.
He siys that four thousand more are
coming very soon.
"A popular ignorance of Iceland
prevails," the doctor said, "owing, I
think, largely to the misleading name of
Iceland. The island, of about 42,000
square miles, is green and fertile in the
southern portion from May until October,
when deer and sheep graze at large. In
winter the snow is abundant. The recent
millenium celebration has attracted
travellers to Iceland lately. A good line
of steamers sail from Copenhagen fortnightly.
The country is under the
protection of Denmark, but there the
connection ends. There are nine provinces,
each of which elect twelve of the
oldest and wisest of its men to perform
dut;es somewhat analogous to a State
Legislature here. Th jre is a'so a national
gathering similar to the House of Representatives
and a body like the Senate,
which meets once a year. But there is little
governing and no law making to do.
Each man governs himself upon the
broadest Drincinles of oersonal liberty in
everything. The Icelanders are descended
from the old Norse Vikings, the
free born families tracing their lineage
to Harold and his men, who, their rich
Norse mythology says, landed in 618.
Tour history makes it in the eighth century.
The "land is owned by a few, and
those who work the estates are serfs, who
pay rental. Traveling is by pony or deer,
and in the mountains of Northern Iceland
man's foot has Dever trod. The Icelandic
pony will take you as far as it is
safe for you to go. The city of Redj&vik
has about 13,000 people, the greater portion
of the people living upon the estates.
There is splendid hunting and
fishing, the wild game, similar to the
northern part of this country, being
nearly all white. Polar bears that come
down with the icebergs furnish popular
hunting.
?ITV.? Trvoln dor 5o varv nrmirl nf hlB
1UV i VVj It* UUI A<J ? v? J w ?-? w>
pure nnd courageous Norman blood. You
know that tbe French, English and German
aristocracy, if possible, will claim
even 11 trace of Norman blood, and there
is a people that have nothing else.
"I never heard of but two cases of
thieving. One was an Icelander who
had broken his arm and whose family in
the winter were suffering for .food. He
stole several sheep and was finally detected.
He was at once put under medical
care for his injury, provisions were
furnished his family, and in time he was
given work. That was his punishment.
The other case was a German who stoli
seventeen sheep. He was in comfortable
circumstanccs, and the theft was malicious.
His punishment wat to sell all his
property, restore the value of his thefts
and leave the country, or be executed.
He left at once."
Disputes and trades are settled by
arbitration, the doctor says, and the decision
must be accepted by all con
cerned. Public disgrace attaches to any
?^ * ?o?/4 ??A Ana AAn HtrA
Sllgllb 1UISUUUU, mu lit/ V/U1/ vnu Utv
there and undergo the consequent mortification.
Besides agriculture, which
produces barley, rye and vegetables, the
great industry is sheep raising. The
exporls aie largely eiderdown, picked
from wild birds, lava from the volcano
Mt. Hecla, which is pumice stoue, and
sulphur, which is found in similar and
such varied states as salt.
"Vineland is the name of America
used by all the people except the few
who were educated abroad." continued
the doctor. "It is the old Norse name.
No people in the world are esteemed bj
Icelanders so highly as Americans, and
this is why: The Icelanders know that
their blood is purer than any of the
European nations, where every man is
generally a lord or a peasant, as he is
born. But in Arcerica every boy and
gi 1 is born a prince or a princess. The
Icelander loves his own personal freedom
and princely birth. He thinks that the
man who ha9 won both by the possession
of political conditions for which
he fought is his equal."
Witch Hazel ft True Water Finder.
J. F. Dowdal. of Pittsburg, Penn.,
recently remarked to a Chicago Neics
man: "We have a well-tiuder living
near Pittsburg, a Welshman named
Price, who has convinccd me that there
is a good deal in those old stories about
men being able to find running water
with a ha/el switch. He cut his rod into
a long Y, and taking one side of the fork
in each baud he holds the rod before
him and walks up and down over the
place where the well is to be dug. At
last he stops with the rod pointing
down, and I have never known it to fail
that water has been found in a reasonable
distance down where he has directed a
well to be dng, while I have seen very
deep wells dug without reaching water
within easy distance of the places he
pointed out. Price declares that he teels
the rod twitch and pull when he is crossing
running water, and he can locate any
subterranean stream that is not more than
a hundred feet or so beneath the surface."
A carpet has been laid down in the
Music Hall at Cincinnati that measures
2000 yard*.
.v. 'J Si
v~";" ' * V;" v"
; . ' "" '.*'. '/.: > ' &M
J POP ULAR^SCI EXCZ |
The scientist declare that ninety per
cent, of man is water.
The best of rules, sextants, quadrant^
compasses, lances and knives are mads
of worn out saws.
A man at Hartford, Conn., received &
shock from an electric wire, and was
supposed to be dead for some miautes, ^
but was revived by another shock.
A workman in the Carson (Nev.) mint
has discovered that drill points,
heated to a cherry red and tempered by
being driven into a bar of lead, will bora
through the hardest steel or plate glass
without perceptible blunting.
Analysis of natnral gas shows the proportion
of each constituent ia 100 parts
_t - 1.^ e _n r- U 1 ~
<Ji nit! gas w ue h louowa; taruuiuu
acid and carbonic oxide, G each; oxygen,
8; olenant gas, 1; ethylic hydride, 5
marsh gas, 67; hydrogen, 22; nitrogen,8.
It has been estimated by Professor
Kirchoff, of Halle, that the language ?
most spoken on the globe?for the last -f
thousand years, at least?ia Chinese, for
it is without doubt the only one which it , *?]
talked by over 400,000,000 of thebiuaaa
race.
The use of electric motors m a suhsti- '.??
tute for the steam engine is rapidly i?- >
creasing. In cities whieh are provided j
with an electric lighting plant, the dyns.mos
can be used during the day to
furnish a current for operating naotoceia , .'-.'-j
workshops and small factories at a lest ?
expense than that of a steam engine.
In calico printing works it is cvatdtt- j
ary to supply each printing machine with , j
a separate engine to drive it. One reason
for this arrangement ia that eve 17
time a fresh pattern is put into the ma- -h
chine it requires to be driven with exceeding
slowness, and is frequently
stopped until the attendant has adjusted
all the rollers, so that the various parts
of the pattern fall exactly in the right
place. . .
An instrument called the. osteotome vj
has been invented as an improvement .. s
over the tedious and clumsy surgical
methods of cutting through bones by
by means of saws and chisels 1 It'll i
practically a ci cular saw revolving at ^
very high speed by an electric motor. J
An ingenious devised sheld, which '}
passes around the bone' to be operatea
upon, protects the surrounding flesh*
from injury. ;
A French gardener does not cat? what
kind of soil be starts with. 4 He would be V
satisfied w.th an asphalt pavement, because
be makes his soil, una so much ofit
that he ha* to sell it to keep his place
from being gradually raised above the
level of the surrounding country. Whea
a farmer once understands the laws of ]
chemistry he has no difficulty in making '
soil that contains all the materials needed .
for plant life.
Heavy machinery is now run by ar- :
tesian-well power in many parts of
France, and the experience of the French
shows that the deeper the well the great*
er the pressure and the higher the tem- j
peraturo. The famous Crenelle well,
sunk to the depth of 1:500 feet.and flow- in?
dailv 500.O00 gallons, has a pressure
of sixty pounds to the square inch, the I
water being also so hot that it is used t 1
for heating the hospitals. j
An ingenious employe of a New Jer- .
sey concrete iirm has invented a paving
composition which has some very remarkable
features. He claims that hii ;
preparation, the composition of which i
he keeps secret, is just-as durable aa 'i
stone, but is soft and elastic to the tread,
so that it is not only pleasant to waH^ s
upon, but actually gives the foot an impulse
like that?in a lesser degretf, of
course?gained from a spring board.
Whether his invention be a possibility ot
not, something of the kind would cer- *
tainly be acceptable to tired townfolk
whose feet achc.and blister as they stamp
along on the hard and noisy pavement
A Turkish Dinner.
i Rousseau has said that from the food
of anationyoucan tell its chara teriatics; ;if
this is true, no better spot for the study .
of ethnology can be found than Cavalla.
Doubtless, if it be desired, an opportune
ity will occur of dining with many natinnalittAa
Rv ftll means ftCCBDt ao UlVi" fl
tation to dine with a Turkish Pasha,
says a writer in GornhiU. I had the
pleasure of taking a meal with the
Governor of Drama, who is passing rich
for a Turk, seeing that he rules over the
plains where the chief tobacco farms are,
and his opportunities for amassing wealth
are many and varied. Silcnce and expedition
are the chief characteristics of a T
Turkish meal. The table preparations
are few, but the dishes are many; olives,
caviare, cheese, etc., are dotted about,
i and perhaps as many as ten dishes are
handed found on covered brazen dishes,
consisting of rice or barley, meat or
boiled fish, cakes seasoned with vegej
tables, roast lamb, be.ins, a species oi
rissole wrapped up in vine leaves, the
inevitable piiaf ana fruits. Each person
has his glass of sherbet by him, and his
piece of unleavened bread, for the Turks
love half-baked dough. It will comfort
the European to see every one wash his H
Jiands before his meal, for forks are un- Bj
known, and each is expected to dip his H
fingers into the savory morsel as it is I
handed to him. During the whole of I
the feeding process scarcely four or five . H
words w:ll be uttered, and at the most
your repast will last twenty minute', but H
then, afterwards, with the coffee and the b
hubble-bubble, conversation will flow H
freely. To the Turk eating is a serious H
gastronomic exercise, which will not ad- D
mit of any conversation being entered H
into during its progress. H
?A "4 -K
Opium Smokers Increasing:. m
The number of opium smokers in H
China appears, according to Mr. Consul 9
Hughes, to be increasing. Even women, H
he tells us, are now in the habit of N
frequenting opium divans; but efforts B
are being made by the Chinese authori- H
L nf f Ko miln if?ino! H
Willi LUC wamouw u* iuv luuutwum* _
police, to prevent the spread of tills D
demoralizing custom. The customs H
returns show a great falling off in the H
importations of opium, but this is be- H
cause the native production has super* H
seded the supplies from India. Shanghai H
draws its present supplies chiefly from M
the north of China. A leading merchant H
artirms that it is mixed with Indian to M
the extent of thirty to thirty-five per H
cunt., but other authorities put it lower. H
?London Daily News. % Kh
A Woman Proud of Her Longevity. H
Probably in no country are examples H
of longevity so numerous and so striding ?H
as in Kussia. Almost every day the Sn
newspapers contain well authenticated
accounts of women and men who toolc flQ
part in, aud have a vivid recollection of,
the most noteworthy cveuts of thela*t
quarter of the eighteenth century, ine
latest of these instances is a woman who ffl
is only forty-four years younger than the Bj
Patriarch Isaic was wheu he died. Thifc 999
human relic of the past, who celebrated
her 140th birthday some weeks ago,'
lives exclusively on potatoes and milk. |S
She was at all time3 a strict teetotaler.
She is still lively, brisk and cheerful, JB
and can read without spectacles.?Can*
tv.rciai Adcerti er. ^ BM
U