Beaufort Republican. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1871-1873, September 05, 1872, Image 1
' The Beaufort MSt Republican.
AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY NEWSPAPER, DEVOTED TO POLTTICS, LITERATURE, AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. OUR MOTTO IS-TRUTH WITHOUT FEAR.
VOL. II. NO. 48. BEAUFORT, S. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1872. I KW'J:
Rear oof.
When children, heedless in their eager play,
Seem casting half their innocence away
Tn some coarse word or deed that makes ns
start,
Waking a painful wgpder in the heart.
We, ripe and righteous, blame the little ones ;
Tien quick to God, poor, trembling Conscience
runs.
For while our sternness brings au instant hash.
The cheek is kindling with a guilty blush.
The older heart remembers its dark room
Wherein it would not have the children come ;
Where, when they sleep, the worldly-wise steal
in.
Exchanging thoughts that have to do with sin.
Viul thci it scorns this place that dreads surprise,
And would like children live without disguise,
Longing to have the secret soul become
Choice as the eve and ear that guard the home.
FIGHT WITH AH ALLIGATOR.
A few years since, ''circumstances over
which I liad no control"?this, I believe is
the popular way of putting it?bad re- ^
duceJ me from affluence to poverty. 1 (
^ was but twenty-four years of age, strong 4
of heart and of limb; and so, instead ot
idling away my life at home, I resolved to
emigrate to South America, where an old '
friend rf tuy father's was likely to a>d me c
in the restoration of my fallen fortunes. 1
T reached Buenos Ay res in due season, ano l
?orn after found myself at the estanzia of <
Don Miguel Ramon, of Oerrado, near the j
city of St. Jago de lo? Cabillos. Don <
Miguel was a very wealthy man, growing |
cotton and coffee, tobacco and com, a?- ,
well as other South American productions, t
but deriving, in patriarchal fashion, the a
greater part of his income from his flocks *
and herds. Unfortunately, he was a wid- (
ower, with only one child, a boy, now of c
some five years of age, and of whom his s
father was dotinglv fond. Here I was *
fiankly and generously welcomed, and. ^
what with riding my host's horses, shoot- \
ing among bi> ricc-tields, aiding him in his !accounts,
and giving little Charlie lessons t
in French and English, I passed my time I
most agreeably. I
I was returning from a half-built sugar- i
mill ou<* day, perhaps a month after my a
tiWt aruval at the hacienda, at about four t
o'clock in the after, oon. I had left the s
dingy coinplexioned masons sipping their
chocolate, and bad received the foreman's t
solemn assurance that a fresh course of \
bkeks properly cemented should be laid f
before he i>crmitted his gang to give over r
work. I was riding homeward, then, *
thinking of manv things?of the old days ^
at home; of friends and schoolfellows that (
I should perhaps never see again in the 0
flesb ; of ^
"What was that? A cry of pain V t
Yes, a cry, certainly of pain or terror?the
shrill, appealing cry of a child's agonizing
voice; and I started, and wheeled my }
hoisc towards the quarter from which the v
sounds seemed to come. The cry was re e
"u'lloil mnpp fw'hlv tlinn Vn?fnre nnrl an 1
bad gov no doubt a* to the directioii r
whence the call for help proceeded, 1 c
dashed across n ravine, and scrambling up ^
the steep bank opposite, came in sight o! t
the chain of lagoons, connected with the ^
mightv Rio Plata by a ?niall river, which j
skirted i lie plantations of rice and tobacco J
and on the banks of which I had shot |
many a snipe and flamingo. Here, at the n
edge of a cane bordered creek t hat ran up j
from tne neatest lagoon into the broken ^
ground, w here the hillocks wete gay with (
purple rhododendrons and the wild gera n
iiium, I beheld a sight that chilled un j
"blood with horrar.
Close to the margin of the water, knee- (
deep in the flowers and the tall Pampas j
giu?s just where the white and jellow f
pond-lilies mingled with the rich colored
blossoms of the flowered prairie, was a
child ?little Charlie?Dot Miguel's hope
and heir?the one tie to l>te and its allec- c
tiens. 1 knew the bare little golden head v
at once. But the boy stood, rooted to
the srrund. transfixed bv terror,crouching f
flown, his blue eyes, dilated by mortal v
tear, fixed on something huge, shapeless. 1
unclean, that drewr nearer and nearer yet. *
a grim and monstrous thing, that hail
mote the aspect f,f a large log, glistening N
with slimy uind, than of anvthirg eise. '
\\ hat is the ugly thing that has crawled '
out from ibe creek, fringed with bushes of *
tie lautel-rc.se, and that is clumsily climb- r
im: the bank with awkward Lurry of its "
ungainly claw-tipped feet I An alligator ?
b\ Heaven ! for I see the slanting snnlicht. 1
gii.-ten on its scaly back, and the formid- r
able jaws open and display the curved row '
of gleaming white teeth, as, with its cruel 1
red eve fixed upon its piev, it approachtd 1
the ?|>ot wbere stood the fated child, frozen
by a terror that denied hun the power to 1
flee.
u Run. Chat lie, run! run towards me!'' *
I ca'! <! aloud, at tut* same time urging ra\ '
horse down the bank. The little fellow
turned his pale face towards me, and re
cognized me; but fear was still too potent
with him, ami he remained where he was.
crying- out to "M.nv Warburton" to save *
him. I dashed in the spurs rowel deep, 1
md at one bound came crashing through
the rhod >d?ndrors to within some thru* t
or four feet of the place where the child <
stood. The alligator wheeled angrily round, ?
to ccnfiont the intruder who dared t<> '
coin between bitn and hi- txithsom sup- '
i?cr : and my hor-e, driven wild with ter- I
roc at the sight andsmellof the monstrous '
reptile, reared, swerved, and threw me. T
galloping off like a mad creature. I wn? <>n
my feet in a moment, and had just time <
t) Mi row myself between the alligator and *
th*bo\ before the bloodthirsty jaws could f
clo-e m the first fatal snap. The brute c
r r< ;,e t a little, for alligators are cowardly 1
?- wen as n?rce, and tney have been 1
k town to watch f??r horn* in their reedy t
a allowing men to pass between 9
them uninjured, until they could pounce I
secon-lv on a woman or cluld. But the
reptile's slow Mood had l>een too much <
stirred by the exiiccf.ition of an easy .
tnumph to penult him to d. cline the i
tizht, and he crawled in upon me, uttering i
the hoarse cry, half-roar, hall whimpering I
moan, that a cayman gives under the sting (
of pain or fury. <
I had my sheath knife out, a strong, 1
double edged blade of Barcelona steel, c
with a cross-handle and buckthorn haft; $
but this seemed a poor weapon against c
such a foe. By a hastv impulse?one of 1
those lile-saving thoughts that come u[?on 1
^ us at momenta of extreme peril, as if they (j
were the whimperings of in=piration?I tore
r?e blue woolen poncho from ray ?houldeis
?happily, 1 had adopted the new Spanish
style of dress ? and, wrapping the mantle
iround the touch handle of my whalebone
dding-whip, I forced it between the alli>ator'?*
jaws as he closed with me, while
it the same time, bending forward, I
struck hard with mv two-edfred knife at
uis white throat, which was comparatively
mprotected. The first stab told, for the
wb;te streak was soon crimsoned with
hlo^d: but the second stroke failed, and
rhe knife slipped, and i at tied uselessly on
the atmor-plates of the creature's trade
hack ; and then began a struggle for death
ar life between my terrible antagonist arid
myself. My strength was nothing to that
>f the huge reptile, arjd I felt m\stlf
iragged to right and left as if I had been
i rat in the gripe of a terrier, yet I held
>n fast to.the whalebone handle of the
whip, while th?shaip teeth vainly gna?he<l
md tore at the spongy wool thar clogged
tbfcm, and I retained my hold in sheer
ipeperation, striking it with my knife
whenever 1 got a chance, but usually
baffled by the tenacious armor of nty in
vulnerable adversary.
Charlie, a lew feet distant, was sobbing
jiteously, at times crying aloud in appeal
to Guacbos whom he knew?'Saneho!'
' Dieco !" 4t El Negro!"?to help "Mirry
iVa: burton;" tor the dear little fellow,
Jelivered from his first agony of alarm,
eemcd now to think only of my peril,
rhe idea was a good one, although the
hild's weak voice could nut of coutsc
each far. Exerting the full strength of
ny lungs, I twice shouted forth the wellcnown
desert cry when a jaguar is sighted:
' Mozos, a mi!?El Ttgre!? Mo-zos ?
ind I fancied, as I uttered the second call,
hat T heard a distant answer, like a faint
?eho. But now I bad need of all my
ireatb and all my muscles, for the infuriited
animal with which I fought, tearing
he cloth of the soft mantle to pulp, was
rradually getting its srim jaws free. Twice,
ilreadv, bad ray -wrist and arm been grazed
>y its keen teeth?I bear the white scars
;o this day?and the horrible odor of the
nnil Oio rum(irSMlp? (rhlP of its
^ vai uit. mm iuv *vujv? w.vW ^~ -mall
bloodshot eve, impressed me with
he fantastic notion that my enemy was
omething evil beyond the more furious
:ree<l of a wild beast. Yet I grasped the
vhalebone whip-handle, and drove in the.
inife with all the force <,f an arm that was
asr growing exhausted. Spent, breathess,
giddy, 1 was dragged down, and in a
tneeling altitude, exerted the remains of
nv waning strength in a stab at the alii
:ator's throat. The blade broke short ofl
>y the handle as it lodged among the
tout scales of the neck !
Just then I heard a shout, and the
r imp of a hor^e coming up at full and
urious speed. On the}' came, the steed
oam-tiecked and gored by the spur, the
ider brandishing high above his head the
uiial coils of the lasso, f recognized the
lorseman in an instant. It was Juan, the
xuacho, the boldest and most dexterous
f aP tuat Centaur brotherhood; and he
;new me, and comprefiended at a glance
he state of afi'aiis.
"Stand back, Englishman, stand back !"
le cried aloud, "and I'll do the rest;
Jozos!?El Tigre!?Mozos!" And he
vhirled the lasso high, spurring his frightned
horse near and nearer the spot.
Reeling, breathless, and dizzy of brain,
understood the (ruach >'s meaning suftl
iently to stand back, letting go my hold
>1 the tough whip-handle, which, with the
attend poncho wrapped around it, I had
litherto obstinately kept between the aligator's
churning jaws. The infuriated
>rute followed me up with bitter bate,
lis hateful snout all but brushing my knee
s I staggered back. But.iust at that
nstant, whirr! cracK! came the well
mown sound of the heavy lasso whistling
launched with unerring aim, and as i
:azed about me witn haggard exes, I saw
- #iir,
liar ILIC UlHhC \\ i'll iii riiuij; iuuiiu vu*
eptile's neck; while Juan, with the end
?f the stuut cord fastened to liis saddle,
lad started elf" at a canter, towing along
lie alligator after hitn, as he had tug-zed
hmg many a bull anu many a wild steed.
For an instant it seerneu as if the Guaho's
would be an ca\y triumph ; but ir
ias only the surnrise of the shock that
lad mastered the alligator, a very large
>ne. and the great weight and strength of
rbich soon began to tell. 1 ?aw the horse
nought, with a jerk, to a stop, and then,
o my dismayf be'held steed and ndei
ragged by -b?er force towards the lagoon,
ainlv str'Ving to resist the superior power
>1 the gigantic tyrant of the waters. Juan
trove in his spurs, urging his panting and
errilied horse by voice, hand, and knee,
o put out its whole sticngth; but it soon
ofmed plain that unless the saddle-girths j
rave way, dragged down into the pool he j
vould be, horse and man, while there ]
ould be in such a case bttie doubt ol the ;
<sue of the conflict. To cut the ?oid,
vould have been the only mode of sepaating
the combatants in this unequal
'uel ; but f had let fall my broken knile
n the long Pampas grass, and a Guuebo
lings to his las?o with the same inecham
al impulse that causes a seaman to bold
ast to shroud or stay. ,k Let go the rope!"
[ called out to him as loudly as I could.
Loose the end from tlie sa Idle-ring, and
et the brute go!*' But Juan paid no
iecd to my advice, but spurred his strue:ling
Jjor>e, uttering at the full pitch o! '
ii< voice the " tigt r-cad'' ot the herdsmen, i
The child had crept, close to nie, and
vas holding on to my coat, weeping and 1
idling on his absent father, and Ins pres- !
nee embarrassed me ; t >r, waned and ]
lisanned as I was. I felt eager to cmie to i
he aid cf the bold lad, who had saved me
rom the verv jaws of death; but just at
he moment that the mulatto girl, Cuarlie's
uirse, came running down the hill with
:obs and outciies in search ol the truant
barge who had strayed off while she was
hreading scarlet Ivories for a necklace,
<?ur of our mounted men came thundering
Jown with cheery shouts and las?oes
whirled aloft; and in a very short time,
he alligator, strong and savage as lie was. !
loosed and entangled by the pliant cords,!
t lUUmi with knives. and beaten down bv I
'VX" f mf
XjIus, lay dead and harmless.
Before wo left the spot a number of
ther persons, alarmed bv the" tiger call"
?never belb?e boa'd so near the hacienda
tself?came up, and anions the last of
hose was Don Miguel, already instructed
iy a mounted messenger as to what had
>ccurred. He arrived, pale with emotion,
prang from bis horse, and clasped bis
ittle son in his arms, eyeing the child all
>ver with jealous anxiety, as if to be asmrcd
that he was really unscathed ; then, j
ronnng up to me, he grasped both my
lands, and betore I could prevent him,
tissed them as fervently as ever devotee
Hewed his lips to the relics of a saint.
The Ethics of Jesting.
A humorous paragraph has been going
the rounds of the press lately?as most
paragrapl^ of the sort do?one so exceedingly
and surpassingly stupid that we 1 ave
no hesitation about attributing it to one
or another of those dreary weeklies?
Punch, Ju'Iy, or Fun?which our English
cousins are content to think funny.
The paragraph reads:
"A newly married daughter asked her
mother how long the honeymoon lasts.
' Until you a<k your husband for money,
my dear,' was the reply."
We have seen this weakling in all forts
of places lately. One paper puts it in a
column of 44 News Items." Another
classes it with 44 Happenings Here and
There." Some cf them credit it to 41 Pen
and Scissors," and occasionally we find it
unblushingly announced as " Wit and
Humor." So long as this was confined to
provincial dailies and rural weeklies, we
bore it with a sigh of regret that the
litf>r?rv taste of onr oonntrv iournalists
was so small and their sense of humor so
blunt. We now find the paragraph, however,
in three religious journals of the
first-class, and its presence there prompt"
us to ask a question or two. Are the
editors of these religious papers aware
that a jest carries a teaching with it good
or bad, as the case may be, as often as
anything else does? Do they know that
i very professedly humorous paragraph
they print finds half a dozen readers
where their labored leaders find but one?
Probably this idea has never occurred to
them, but it is true nevertheless, and the
editor who preaches good things in his
ponderous articles should look sharply
after his original or borrowed witlings,
lest they undo faster than he can do. It
is a small thing, perhaps, but the little
paraeraph which we have taken as a sample
as current items of the sort, teaches?
well, let ns not be too harsh, but call it
softly, in the language of goo 1 Mrs. Opie,
" a lie." It is not true, among good people,
that the harmony of a marriage is
broken as soon as the wife asks the hu6
band for money. It is not true that women
are all selfish and silly, or that men
are all idiots, which is precisely what this
little paragraph means, if it means anything.
And are we not, as a people, a trifle too
fond of jesting ah >nt matrimonial matters?
We hardly ever read a newspaper
in which there is not an unjust fling a?
wive9 as a class and marriage as an institution.
Of course it is all meant in jest,
but it is serving to break down our reverence
for the most sacred of social relations.
Of the hundreds of papers in which we
see jests of this sort., not one would dare
utter, editorially, the sentiment which is
finding constant expression in its most attractive
column. Perhaps not one of
them would wish to do so. And yet the}
are constantly impressing the sentiment
upon others, and giving it vastly more of
vitality, as a teaching, than they could
possibly give it by direct, earnest argument.
We know a snccessfnl publisher, one of
whose standing instructions it has always
heen that there shall be in his publications
no jesting at the expense of old
maids and no flings at the marriage relation.
When the coming School of Jonr
nalism shall be a reality, we hope to see
that publisher make a lecture on tiie
Ethics of Journalistic Jokes.?Hearth and
Home.
\n Exciting Scene.?A letter from
Red, Bird a small town in Monroe County,
111., gives a thrilling account of the escape
from its keepers of the rhinoceros
belonging to a menagerie and circus on
the occasion of its being brought into the
ring for the first t>mo. The showman
had prepared the animal for the exhibition
in the ring by attaching to a ring in
its nose two strong wire ropes, and twenty-four
men were deemed sufficient to
control the beast, which submitted <jnietly
to being led from the cage, but on entering
the arena suddenly threw up its head,
and, plunging madlv to the right and left,
broke loose from the men and dashed
forward through the tents. Its first vie
tim was John Gillem, a canvas-man, who
was knocked down, and the beast tramping
upon bis breast, be was killed instantly.
It next ran its nose against
Martin Ready, another canvass-inan,
striking him in the stomach and ripping
out his bowels, killing him. It next made
a dash in the direction of the seats, which
by this time were cleared bv the frightened
spectators, and knocked down nearly
nil of the seats on one side of the tent,
dislocating the shoulder of one of the
employes, and breaking the arm of a spectator.
It then ran into the manager's
tent and upset Mr. Forepaugh's den of
performing animals, after which it struck
the center pole with its head, bringing it
down with a crash upon the CHges of the
tiger and leopar 1, hut not breaking them
so as to allow the animals to escape.
Dashing into the museum tent it smashed
all the curiosities, stampeding all the people
in the vicinity, and rushed ont
through the side of the canvas into the
street, finally bringing np in a vacant
honse, the door of which stood open, and
here the men succeeded in capturing the
animal and getting it into a caee. The
damage to the show was about $3,u00.
A Srrntoga belle b*s five drewes sent
her weekly from her city dressmaker. i
Remarkable Adventure.
Our citizens will remember how the
showers came in freqnent succession a few
j evenings ago, pouring torrents while they
lasted, but stopping after a brief pour.
Well, there were, at eight o'clock on that
evening, seven men at the point in Sycamore,
and Abigail streets to which is completed
the great sewer which is really an
up-town extension ot the big Eggleston
avenue sewer. Their business is to clean
the open end of that sewer, so as to prevent
delay to workmen engaged in constructing
it up Sycamore street. It had
occurred to them that by stirring the sediment
at the bottom of the sewer the water
from the showers would wash it away,
and their work would, in this way be
greatly expedited. After a long cessation
in the rain, they went into the sewer
some distance, and continued their work.
While so engaged, one of those heavy,
? ' ' * ? ' -1 4l_
sadden showers wnicn cnaracierizeu uie
evening came np and poured down its
tremendous streams. The first warning
they had of their peril was a sudden rush
of water upon them, carrying the whole
party off their feet. The four men nearest
the mouth of the sewer escaped with
difficulty, battling up stream against a
I powerful current, the other three were
J carried down toward the river by the
gallopirg tide of defiled waters. Two of
them caught at a man-hole near the canal
and succeeded in making themselves heard
by their tour fortunate companions who
had escaped. They were drawn np to
the solid ground by these. But John
Clark, one of their companions, was not
so fortunate. He . continued to travel
down to Court street, where he made a
short turn and thence proceeded before
the every moment increasing volume of
waters to Eggleston avenue*sewer, where
he made a turn to the right, whence it
was a straight road to the river. Mr.
Clark tells the story himself. He s-iys he
proceeded down in the daikness, his back
to the press of waters and his face to their
current. As he could not stand up, he
put himself as nearly as possible in a sitting
position, and went down the stream
very much as a boy slides down hill on a
sled, only Mr. Clark had no sled. Coming
to the mouth of the sewer, where its
waters discbarge into the Ohio river, he
cried for help. Mr. Lewis, who lives in a
tenement wharf boat at that point, and
who hires rowboats to parties, heard his
cries, catne to his relief, and saved him.
Mr. Clark, exhibited a badly torn pair of
pants, and a pretty roughly bruised body.
?Cincinnati Gazette.
The Printer's Estate.?We find the
following remarks, which all printers and
publishers will agree in calling sensible,
in an exchange, and commend them to the
attention ot the reader. They will apply
to all localities in which newspapers circulate:
The printer's dollars?where are
ihey? A dollar here and a dollar there
scattered over the numerous small towns,
all over the country, miles and miles apart;
how shall they be gathered together ?
l'he paper-maker, the journeyman-compositor,
the building-owner, the grocer
the tailor, and all assistants to him in carrying
on his business have their demands,
hardly ever so small as a single dollar.
But the mites from here and there must
be diligently gathered and patiently hoarded,
or the wherewith to discharge the liabilities
will never become sufficiency
bulky. We imagine the printer will have
to get up an address to his widely scattered
dollars something like the following:
Dollars, halves, quarters, dimes, and
all manner of fractions into which you are
divided, collectyourselvesand come borne.
You arc wanted. Combinations of all
sorts of men that help to make the printer
a proprietor gather in such torce and
demand with such good reasons your appearance
at this counter, that nothing
short of you will please them. Collect
yourselves, for valuable as you are you
will never pay the cost of collecting.
Come here in single tile, that the printer
may form yon in battalion, and send you
forth again to battle for him and vindicate
his feeble credit. Reader, are you sure
yon haven't a couple of the printer's dollars
sticking about your clothes ? If you
have, order them home immediately.
Tickets.?Bv-and-by we shall come to
understand what the contract is which is
made between a railroad company and an
individual by the purchase of a ticket.
The courts in some of the States have determined
that a ticket sold for a certain
distance on any line is good for six years.
A Boston court recently went a little further,
and decided that a ticket sold to a
man to take him from New Haven to
New York will also take him in the opposite
direction from New York to New
Haven, and a man who was put off a train
because lie insisted on having a ride when
he had paid for one has obtained a verdict
for $5,200.
Ask the Pk:ce.?A Salem lady says it
is always safe, when travelling, to inquire
the price of an article before deciding to
purchase. She bases this opinion on the
tact of a railroad regtaurant taking fifteen
cents for a cup of tea from all who didn:t
a?k the price, and only ten cents from
those who did.
There is so much of weeping and then
forgetting, that use may be made of
what Miss Mulock says : "When God
takes our dead from us, he means us not
I to grieve forever, only to remember.n I
' ' 1
Death Sentence in Servia.
There is no state in Europe in which
the barbarous punishment of breaking on
the wheel is inflicted any longer on criminals
of the worst description except in
Servia, one of the semi-dependencies of
Turkey, on the lower Danube. Not long
since a whole family was murdered by two
tnenjwho were arrested by the authorities.
Under the torture of the lash one of the
murderers confessed his guilt and immediately
detailed the horrible circumstances
attending the crime. Both men
were found guilty and sentenced to be
broken by blows from a club, which wa?
done in the presence of an immence concourse
of people. When the two criminals
had been brought on the platform
every stitch of clothing left upon Alexiry
wa9 torn off, and he was firmly tied to
the St. Andrew's cross. Until this fatal
moment he had preserved his equanimity
to a most remarkable degree. But now
the executioner drew from a green bag a
sort of an.iron club, with an iron knob at
its head. The fastened criminal looked
wistfully at the man who was to torture
him, and then pnt him to death. The
executioner raised the iron club and crashed
Alexiry's right shoulder. The murderer
gave a shriek, and made a desperate
effort to free himself of his fetters. He
struggled desperately in his agony, but
the next blow which the executioner gave
him?on the knee-pan?elicited from the
culprit a scream of pain that caused the
blood of the spectators of the dismal scene
to freeze. After the infliction he seemed
insensible, and the other blows that crushed
his joints, and the finishing strokes on
his belly, were given as to a dead man.
Meanwhile, Werthstein, in his chains,
had to look on. He rent the air with his
lamentations, and came near fainting
away when the executioner dealt Alexiry
the'lirst blow, he flung himself to the
floor and begged piteously for his life ; but
after the lifeless and mutilated corpse of
Alexiry had been detached from the fatal
St. Andrew's cross, he was dragged to it?
and, in spite of his invocation of the Holy
Moses, fastened to it like his accomplice.
He yelled even before he received the
first stroke with the iron club ; but when
that instrument of torture descended upon
his shoulder joint he gave an unearthly
scream, and the executioner's blow upon
hi> knee pan made him howl still worseFor
five minutes?an eternity under the
circumstances?he continued his yells,
and it was not until the executioner gave
him three heavy blows on the abdomen
that all was quiet, and Servian justice
was satisfied.
How He Settled It.?A French justice
of the peace recently disposed of a case
brought before him by a skilful and amusing
application of Solomon's famons judgment.
In a village near Bayonne lbes
oRe Colin, who owned a very fine calf,
just arrived at that interesting age when
lie could advantageously sell it. One
morning he missed his calf, and, after
anxiously searching for it everywhere,
found it in possession of a butcher named
Mathieu, who was conveying his pet to
the slaughter-house. Colin demanded
his property. Mathieu insisted that the
calf belonged to him, and after a long and
useless wrangle the matter was brought
before the justice of the peace. This
functionary was pnzzled by the counterstatements
of the men?each one claimed
that the calf was his, and that he owned
the mother 'which suckled it?but suddenly
thought of a method of settling the
question beyond dispute. "This calf,:'
said he, " cannot belong to both of yon,
and most certainly it cannot have two
mothers. Let bv>th the cows he brought
here that you say have suckled this little
animal." The order was obeyed. No
sooner were the cows brought than one
rushed bellowing towards the calf and the
calf towards her, while the other cow
stood looking upon this little family scene
with the most stolid indifference. Mr.
Colin, of course, needed no further testimony.
Mr. Mathieu was nonplussed, and
has besides to appear in another court to
prove how he came in possession of the
calf.
Shakers.?The Shaker settlement at
Niskayunn, Schenectady County, New
York, is unlike any ordinary village. It
has no store, shop, lawyer's office, nor
druggist's laboratory. The four colonies
into which the settlement is divided live
nearly a mile from each other. The buil-1
dings are commodious, comfortable, and
scrupulously neat. No attempt is made
at architectural display; yet the Shakers
evidently love the beautiful, and will combine
it, if possible, with the useful. Each
colony has an office for the transaction of
public business, and a leader who has
power to manage the affairs of the society.
The Shakers here have amassed con
siderable wealth, yet no one claims any
thing as his own. All things are possess
ed in common.
The Cf.n'sub.?The United States Census
is working on its mass of figures, which
were collected in 1870, and the tables ot
occupations are now in shape. The number
of people in the States ten years old
and over is 28.228,238. Ot these 5,922,471
are engaged in cgricnlture. There
are 2,053 actors, 2 948 artists, 485 authors
and lectures, 43,874 clergymen, 26,394
hotel keepers, 40,736 lawyers, 6,519 professional
musicians 62,483 physicians and
surgeons, 126,822 teachers', 6,286 journalists.
The Farmer's Progress.
Our increase in all the chief articles <
agricultural produce, ft9 9hown by the cei
sus report, is something enormous.
Wine has increased fourteen fold sin<
1850, and nearly doubled in the last d
cade, California being its chief producer
Hops have increased seven fold In tl
same time, and more than doubled in tl
last ten years, New York growing twi
thirds of the whole crop..
Barley has increased six fold.
Flax six fold, and flaxseed trebled.
Wheat trebled and oats doubled.
Iiish p-tatoes have only increased on
third, and sweet decreased one-half.
Live stock have trebled in value, ai
now amounts to the handsome total
one thousand five hundred and twent
five millions of dollars, or an average
nearly two hundred dollars tor evei
family in the nation.
Animals slaughtered have nearly qua
rupled in value, now amounting to foi
hundred millions of dollars annually.
Wool lias increased from sixty to oi
hundred millions of pounds.
Cotton is half a million of bales abo1
what it was in 1850, and three fifths
its amount in 1860.
In only one instance is there a decrea
of an important product, and that is
Indian corn, which falls short of tl
amount reported in 1860 by seventv-eig
millions of bushels, or ten per cent,
the whole.
In some of the lesser products, hoi
ever, the downcome is considerable. Si
cocoons are only a third of their form
amount, hemp a sixth, peas and beans ai
rice about a third each. Buckwheat h
decreased from seventeen millions of bu
hels to nine, and rye from twenty-oi
millions of bushels to sixteen.
The farms themselves as may be e
pected from this great increase of pr
duct, have risen in value from three
nine thousand millions of dollars, whi
farming implements, valued in 1850
$151,587,638, now foot up $336,878,42
an annual increase of nine millions of d<
lars. Few minds can form even the r
inotesl conception of what these numbe
imply. The value of the farms in doll
bills would take an expert accountar
capable of getting over one hundred
minute, five hundred years to connt thei
or if Communists and Internationals hi
their way, and their value was divid<
equally among the whole people, it wou
afford $1,000 to each family, in additii
to the million or two which would 1
sure to stick to the hands of the divider
The farms have considerably increasi
in number, but diminished in size, fro
109 to 153 acres, being on an avera;
fifty acres each less than in 1850. Th
decrease extends to every state in tl
Union save four: Arkansas, Massachu
setts, New Hampshire and JNew Mextc
Of the present nuuiber of farms (2,655
485) 6,876 are under three acres. Tho
with more than 10 acres and less than 50
have increased, those with less than t<
acres decreased in number, one-sixth
the whole are over 100 acres and undi
500, but the largest numbe: (847,61
contain between 20 and 50 acres.?N. ]
Post. ______
A Company Posrd. ? Archbishc
Whatelv always enjoyed a good joke, at
not untrequently propounded riddles 1
companies at his own house orelsewher
which none of them could answer. T1
following is a good specimen:?A fe
years ago there was a dinner party giv<
in the city of Dublin by an eminent digr
nitary of the church, famed for learnit
and eccentiicity; and in the course
the evening, during the " feast of reasc
and the flow of soul," the host propost
the following strange conundrum : Wf
do white sheep eat more than blar
ones?" Taken aback at once by tl
strange simplicity of the question, whic
on account of the well known ability <
the interrogator, was supposed to invoh
a most intricate maze of solution, not or
of the noble, learned and accoinpiisne
guests could give an answer. They wei
fairly nonplussed. Said the archbieho
u Do you give it up? Do you give it u
Miss Lind ?*' (for the world famed and a
complished cantatnce was pres nt.) " E
you give it up, my Lord Chief Justice
Do you giye to up, Mr. Vice-Provosl
What! all give it up? Weli, then, it
becaust there are mure of them /"
A Daring Feat.?A very daring fei
was performed a few days since on Lool
out Mountain, by a young lady froi
Nashville. It is customary for all strai
ers visiting the height to have the
photographs taken at the gallery situate
on the 44 point," or extreme verge of tl
mountain, overlooking the Tennesst
Iiiver. Timid persons aie genenally coi
tent with a position ranging at lrom thr*
to four feet from the edge of the prec
pice, which juts out above the tret
several hundred feet below. The youn
ladv in question was not satisfied wit
the common custom, but with the assii
tance ot the photographer and a frieut
climbed over the verge and stood on th
projecting fragment of rock only si
inches square, within a few feet of tl
top of the bluff, and looked calmy dow
from the giddy height until her piotui
was taken. One jo.-tle or misstep, an
she would have gone down through tl
tree tops and into the valley below. N
other lady has ever attempted the fea
and we suppose never will.
Brevities.
Df Garnet jewelry is becoming very fash3
ionable.
Lncca collars,cuflfo,handkerchiefs,etc.,
are now the rage.
:e ?
One flash of lightning killed 32 sheep
e at Barnwell, S. C., lately.
A Baltimore woman has been arrested
ie for being a "common scold." Keep it
le up.
o- The Florida Indians bring in for sale
wild honey in deer skin, just the shape
of the animal.
The way they muzzle dogs in most of
the Western towns is by placing the
muzzle behind the ear and pHliing the
e- trigger.
Our sage soys it is with bachelors as
1(j with old wood?it is hard to get them
started, but when they do take flame
0 they burn prodigiously,
y* The farmers of Miunesota are securing
of their crops in excellent shape, and will
ry have not less than 20,000,000 bushels of
surplus wheat, to put in the market.
The^neual value of iron manufactured
in the United States is 8900,000,000, and
ur the wages of labor engaged upon it exceed
8600.000,000. The number of workae
men employed is 940,000.
Mr. Smith is fond of making quotave
tions ; but he gets things mixed some^
times, as for instance :
" O, woman, in onr hours of ease.
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please
" But, seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."
in English servants are tempted to steal
ie by the circulation of hanubills thrown
ht into the areas giving the place of busioJ
ness ?f purchasers of ''old silverware,"
accompanied by the information, in large
type, that all purchases are melted down
v- on the premises.
Ik Two editors in Russia have been fined
er and imprisoned, merely because they
made some allusion, in their papers, to
the report that the Grand Duke was
as secretly married while, he sojourned in
is- America. It must be a pleasant thing
Qe to edit a newspaper in Russia.
Somebody having applied to an editor
x for a method by which he might cure
his daughter of her partiality for young
?" gentlemen, is kindly informed that there
to are several methods of reform. The
i)e best are to put her in a well and drop a
few londs of gravel on her head, or to
( * bind her ankles to an anvil and upset
her out of a boat.
W. C. Eaton, of Englund, states that
e- last January he found on Eighteen-Mile
re Island, Fitzrov River, an alligator's nest,
ar containing (57 eggs. On reaching England
two of these eggs were placed under
lt> a setting hen, and when Mr. Easton
a visited the nest in March he found the
two young alligatois had broken their
a(j shells and were doing well.
ed
id A Terrible Reprisal.?The murders
3n of the Mexican Gen. Inclan, and of his
be aide-de-camp, whose name I forget, by
>8 the Spaniards, says a letter frein Cuba,
?(j has been partially balanced by Gen. Agram
monte He had captured seven Spanish
officers,- among them a very distinguished
/"I tliAm nwioAnnro in Vila
j,. v,-uujut?i, auu nciu tucui |/iio<'uviD iu ui.
ie camp. As soon as the authorities in
g Puerto Principo heard ot their capture,
0 the Government Secretary and other
I. officer repaired under a flag of truce to
se Agrammonte's camp. Re received them
() hospitably, listened to their petition, in>n
formed them that he then held seven
ot- Spanish officers prisoners; that it was nof
er his custom to shoot prisoners, and that he
^ was willing to parole thetn on one condiY
tion. That condition was that Gen Inclan
and his aide de-camp be liberated.
To Gen. Agramonte's astonishment, the
>p Spanish Commissioners then informed him
id that they regretted that it was out of
to their power to comply with that one cone,
dition, because the patriot prisoners had
ie already been shot. Gen. Agraraonte then
w invited the Commissioners to breakfast,
?n and gave orders to his chief of staff to
li- have all the prisoners shot at once. When
ig the firing was heard, Gen. Agramonte
of turned to his guests and regretted that
>n he could not comply with their wishes,
id because the Spanish officers were already
iy shot.
:k
ie Japanese Coinaoe.?The new Japanese
money, in progress of recoining at San
Francisco is a curiosity. The reverse of
;e the coin contains in the center the repreJe
sentation of a mirror, symbolical of the
i(j rising sun. Above is a circle divided into
re sixteen segments, representing a chrysann
tbernum. Below is a branch of the "kiri"
I T
r. tree, with three stems, seventeen binsn
#
c_ soms, and three leaves. On the side of
>() the mirror are the Imperial Japanese
, f standards, one containing the son and the
. | other the moon. Around these devices
js is a wreath, one side composed of chrysanthemum
leaves and the other "kiri" leaves.
The obverse or face of the coin has in the
center the figure of a dragon, the emblem
of wisdom and purity, and a symbol of
[n imperial power. The Japanese inscrip3
lions on the f?ce of the coin aronnd the
jr dragon mar be translated 44 Great Snn
(j Rising," the name of Japan, and 44 Third
year of peace and enlightenment," the
,e official designation of the reign of the
present emperor. The special name and
value are placed on each coin.
i- flow to no it.?An intelligent and
?s thrifty farmer says : tfutior mecooperg
ation of my boys I should have failed,
h The eldest is near 21, and the other boys
s- in the neighborhood, younger, have left
1, their parents; mine have stuck to me
e when I most needed their services, I atz
tribute this result to the tact that I have
le tried to make their home pleasant. I have
n furnished them with attrative and useful
e reading, and when night comes, and the
d day's work is ended, instead of running
le with other boys to the rai'road station
o and adjoining towns, they gathered
t, around the great lamp and became interj
ested in their books and papers. ,