Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, November 11, 1869, Image 1

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ljwiSM^Q^T,| "" ^n ji^^tnl ^amHg fttto^tr: jfor t|t promotion of % |?Mtal, Sucbt,^gticgllaral rob <rf % &irotj). ^ YOL. 15. YORKYILLE, S. C., THTJBSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1869. ., 4^STOr 45. ?hc iellet. \ "the wrong ticket. 1 One of the many men who came and went t as patients in ward six of our hospital at Wash- t ington, was Bernard Heine, a handsome, stal- c wart German, fresh, blonde, brave and merry. * He was there three months in all; and being 1 a social fellow, and a favorite of mine, told me all his history, in general terms, at first, * but gradually growing more confidential as he ^ knew me better, and became more assured of 1 my sympathy. I knew what a wild, adventurous youth he had been in the dear fatherland; t by what hair-brained scrapes he had angered his friends; how, at nineteen years of age, he a had run away and come to this country; how 3 his parents had died during the two years in which he had heard nothing from home, and J they nothing from him; and how sore his heart was when he thought of them, and knew what grief he must have caused them. I * knew about the Van Dorms, with whom he had boarded two years before he entered the u army, and how the young people were like t brothers and sisters to him, and the old people c like father and mother, and how Liza Van u Dorm wrote to him every week. And here 1 F guessed somewhat more than I knew. I guessed irom the slight embarrassment, the mingled d coldness and kindness with which he spoke of r her, the Unsatisfactory way in wliich he ac- % counted for his having entered the army, the 1 faint shade of annoyance which sometimes 1 crossed his face when he read her letters, and his slowness in answering them, that Miss Liza t was fonder of him than he of her, and that, maybe, he had entered the army to get rid of 8 her. I had known cases where nice young 8 men had been cordially received and fondly cherished in families where there were mar- r riageable daughters, and where, in spite of F themselves, the force of circumstances had obliged them to assume ties which they took reluctantly. 1 I like to see men do their own wooing, and always respect a man who flies from a wooing c woman. So my guesses made me like the 1 youn^ soldier all the better. He had made 8 his will before entering the army, lie told me, ^ and left everything he had, among the rest a ? life insurance of five thousand, to the Van Dorms. He exaggerated his cause of grati- I tude to them. He had no one else in the world who cared for him; and, besides their general 8 ?- ?ji: *1? i?J ? i"i ineuuuuess, uiej nou uuxbcu mui unuugu u severe sickness, and refused to take any extra b pay for it. b "They are the only ones in the world who f would mourn, if I should happen to get a bul- b let through me," he said, with a touch of bitterness in his voice which showed that there v was something yet untold in his story. s Later, one evening, when I was sitting by I him, to soothe and quiet him, after the tormenting pain of having his wounded foot f dressed, I got the rest of the story. He was t feeling unusually depressed that uight, and seemed to wish for a confidant. It was then that I first heard Helen Ayre's name. She t was a little yellow-haired schoolmistress, who v also had boarded at Mrs. Van Dorm's, had, b indeed, known them longer than he had. I t< could see how he had loved her from the tone tl of unwilling, yearning, angry tenderness with which he spoke her name. I could see more tl than that, what he, like a fool, as men always b are in such circumstances, could not see, the t angry jealousy of the Van Dorms, their insinuations, the seeds of distrust which they U slily sowed; how, while he had not dared to t: speak of love to the girl, they had made him o believe that she had boasted of her power over him ; how he had been made to think r her a coquette, and mercenary, careful not to a give him -too much encouragement till she d should know how much money he had. "When t he spoke of her capricious treatment and grow ing coldness toward him, I could see that these * were but reflections of his own distrust of her, t and the effect of their mischief-making. I hinted this to him, but he would not hear to it. Oh, the Van Dorms were the salt of the earth, d and his best friends, and they were incapable of deceit. c "But maybe they wanted you for Miss Liza," t I ventured. He dropped his eyes. s "If they did," he said, "they would not use dishonest means to bring it about I ought * to consider that a new proof of their friend- t ship for, and confidence in me, even though I should be unwilling to gratify their wishes." * I liked his reserve and his trust. They v were honorable. c "At last, she left the house and went elsewhere to board," he said. "I think they had t been a little cool with her for treating me so, 1 and she didn't want to stay. Besides, I sup- a pose she hated the sight of me. When she went out of the door the last time, I came 1 from the parlor to bid her good-by, and she i turned her head away." i "Did you ever have any talk, or attempt any explanation with her?" I asked. 1 "No. We never had anything on the sub- t ject, either understanding or misunderstand- t in&" . , "Master Heine," I said, emphatically, "it is 1 my private opinion that you have been made 1 a dupe of." t He smiled faintly as he shook his head. t "Oh! if you knew them, you wouldn't say 1 so." s "Have you ever heard from her since you t came here ?" I asked. 1 "Not a word." t I was silent a moment, wondering if the < poor little, yellow-haired schoolmistress might 1 ? ^ i 1-:__ I?I * ?i i? : not nave Deen oreajung ner iit-tirt tuuwiy uu- i ring the past year, and if she could just know ? where I was at that moment, if she would not ? consider me the most enviable woman in the f world. t "I wonder none of the Van Dorms come out to see you," I said, presently. i "Oh! they wanted to come," was his quick a reply; "but Mrs. Van Dorm has been sick, 1 and there was no one else who could leave, f Liza had to take care of her mother. The boys and their father are driven with business, s Besides, I wrote them that I was only slightly hurt; and you know I am going to have a i furlough in a few weeks. ? Our conversation was interrupted here, for more sick and wounded were brought in, and ? I had to attend to them. The ward already { seemed nearly full; but many were convales- [ cent, and those who wished were transferred t to the convalescents' room, and we crowded all a the beds we could get into the ward. The next morning, the man in the bed next to Heine's t died. As the custom was, as soon he died, the 1 card containing his name, age, place of birth, I regiment, company, rank and disease, was ta- 1 ken down from the wall at the head of his bed, and carried to the office to be recorded, and J reported. The weather was cool, and his fu- t neral was put off till the next afternoon. The next day, just after the funeral time, <. as I sat in the wartf taking a few minute's rest after giving the thres o clock medicines, I < glanced towards the door, and saw two spectres there. To be sure, they were men, stout and tanned, but their faces were, in spite of 1 an, of a sickly white, and their eyes were open md fixed glaringly. They were both staring it Heine, who sat up in bed reading the Washngton Star newspaper. I approached them, though half afraid. If hey were madmen, it would be well to have hem stopped on the threshold ; if they were lairvoyants who beheld some vision of horror o us unseen, I felt safer to be near their )iercing eyes. "You wish to see any one?" I asked politely nuch in the manner we would compliment a volf or a panther which we expect will devoUr is the next moment. One of the nfeu never stirred, nor seemed o hear me ; but the other, without turning his yes from their terrified gaze, pointed mutely md with a shaking hand to the man who sat o calmly readiing hs newspaper. "That is Bernard Heine, I said. "Did 'ou wish to see him ?" The man shuddered. "He is dead," he said. "We have just been o his funeral." "Oh! no, it is a mistake," I replied soothagly, beginning to see what was the matter, hough not knowing how the mistake had ocurred. "He is erettinp alon? nicelv. There 0 o ? O t , i not the least likelihood of his dying at (resent" "But," the man persisted, still staring, "his leath was reported with his age, place of birth, egiinent and company, and we have been toother the whole year. We heard it, and saw t in the morning's paper, and we came down rom Camp Distribution to his funeral." By this time the other man had got his jaws ogether and looked at me. "Did you get near enough to the chaplain it the funeral to hear the names read ?" I isked. "No, we were late, and the names had been end," was the reply. "But we saw the pa>er with all the particulars in it." I could but smile at his persistence. "Well, you can go and asL him if he is dead," said, turning away to attend to my business. They crossed the ward warily, with their yes still intently fixed 011 the object of their ncredulous fear, and when they were half way .cross, Heine looked up and saw them. A >right smile broke over his face, aud he held >ut both hands. "How are ygu, Herman ? And you, Matt? am glad to see you." At the sound of his ringing voice, and the Lj. _ I* V _1 i* i.L 1_ -i. J Li lgni oi nis cneery nice, mexr lust uouoi vanihed and they sprang forward to grasp his land, and one hung about his neck and kissed lim, and burst into tears, while the other stood ilent, but with brimming eyes and a quiverng lip. It made my own eyes fill. At first Heine listened to their story with wondering incredulity, and suddenly turned Jbout and reached the card above his bed. le glanced over it, and then looked at me. "Have you succeeded in convincing your riends that you are not dead V I asked going o him. He gave me the card. "That explains,v he said. "You know our >eds were pushed along night before last, and re forgot to move the cards. I suppose in the lurry, when Thomas died, the ward-master ook down the card over his bed and sent it to he office without looking at it." Heine seemed moved, not so much at the houglit of death associated with him?he had iecome too familiar with it for that?but the he sight of his friend's unexpected devotion. I left them, and they sat long with him, not ;oing till the very last minute that left them ime to get to camp before their pass should be verstayed. I found thut Heine's name had not been ead out at the funeral, the chaplain, who was cquainted with him, and had seen him that lay, perceiving that there must be some misake. "Well, Heine," I said, "you sec you were rrong in one thing; there are others besides he \ an Dorms who would mourn you dead." He looked up with glistening eyes. "Yes, God bless the poor fellows. I didn't [ream they cared so much about me." "Learn one thing by this," I said, signifiantly. "It is not the deepest or truest affecion that -professes the most." He dropped his eyes and for a moment was ilnnf Thnn cairl jliivu liv oaiu . "They will hear of my death. Ned Trask, vho told these fellows?told them he had writen to Van Dorm and sent the paper." "Such an unlucky mistake!" I said, and vent, in a fever of annoyance, to scold the vard-master, and send the right card to the >ffice. Later in the afternoon Heine beckoned mc 0 him. There was a little unusual color in lis face, and light in his eye; and though he miled, it was a merry smile. "I've been thinking that I will wait awhile >efore writing," he said. "Perhaps I ought lot, but I would like to see how thev all take t." I agreed with him. Perhaps it was wrong, jut I also would like to see how thev would ake it." So we practiced a "masterly inacivity," and waited. Two days after, as quickly as the mail could iring a letter, came an epistle directed to the ady-nurse of ward six, New Jerusalem hospi?1. I opened it, and read at the bottom of ;he second page, "Gertrude C. Van Dorm." [t was a precious epistle, written, as she assured me, by a woman at death's door, though he writing was uncommonly firm, and the auguage surprisingly fluent for a person in hat condition. She also assured me that the leceased was unto her like a sou, and indeed, lad he lived he would have been her son, beng engaged to her eldest daughter. I read it dl, and then went and sat by Heine, feeling ingry enough with him for this engagement, md fully willing to tease him by telling him he whole truth. "Heine," I said, holding up the letter before ne, "Mrs. Van Dorm is anxious that your vatch, and any papers and money you may mve died possessed of, should be sent to her orthwith." He colored, and looked intently at me, but aid nothing. "She says that she had done a great deal or you," I went on, "and that you are under ;reat obligations to her." "I told you what they have done," he said, 1 little hastily. "For the rest, I have alwavs ,~:.l 1 A !,? monv ;U1U mjf uuaiUj auu uuvu tuumut uiv iuuii T ircsents I have made them. I tried tu pay hem tenfold all the expense they have been it for me, and I guess I have succeeded." "She is very far gone," I said, showing him he letter. "See how feeble the writing is ? 't is impossible for them to come on after your >ody. She supposes it will be decently buried lere." Heine grew redder in the face, and a look of min,of mortification, clouded his usually frank ixpression. "She says that you were engaged to her laughter," I said finally." A spark of tire shot from his wide-opened :yes. "It is a lie!" he cried. I gave him the letter and he read it, his iamb shaking and his eyes flashing while lie read, and at the last word, he fiercely tore the sheet from end to end, then turned and hid his face in his pillow. I think the poor fellow shed tears at tne bitterness of his awakening. I bent over him for a whispered word:? "Remember the comrades who loved you so much better than you thought. Perhaps they are not the only ones." Then I left him to get over his troubles as best he might. . Once and a while, as I went about, I glanced at him sitting pale and grave, pretending to read. When I found time I was going to ask him what I should do about answering the letter, when one of the nurses came to me saying that a lady was in my room waiting to see me. I went out immediately. Going into my shaded room, I saw a small, black-robed figure sitting in my arm chair, and as she put her veil further back, caught sight of a tlun, white face that turned towards me. She said not a word, and did not rise, but only sat there as if half-fainting, and looked at me. Alas! in that sorrowful place, I had grown familiar with such sights. On looking more closely, I saw that this little lady was a young girl, but so pnle and hollow eyed, that at first glance I might have taken her for twice her age. "My dear, 1 said, taking her hand, you havo come here to look for some friend. Do you know whether he is living or not?" She panted out a breath or two, and herpnle lips fashioned the word "dead." I turned to the table and poured her a glass of wine. She took it obediently, and leaned her head against the back of the chair, but with her widely searching eyes still fixed on me. "Will you tell mc his name?" I said, presently. Sne strove to speak, but seemed unable to utter the name. Then she put her hand to the bosom of her dress, and taking therefrom a card photograph, held it toward me, but without relinquishing it. I looked and saw a fine likeness of Bernard Heine, in civilian's dress, evidently- taken two or three years before. The sight electrified me. I glanced up at the white forehead, and there were the pale yellow locks drawn back from it, and there was the violet blue of the eyes, in which Heine had never seen such anguish, so that only the color was left true -of the description. "You dear little creature!" I exclaimed, baiuug uci ui u.lj aAiiio, uuu wcxiuciij iciuuvni^ her bonnet and shawl that I might hold her more closely. "So you loved Bernard well enough to come here for him." "Can I get him?" she whispered faintly, too much exhausted to weep. "I have come for him. I came as soou as I heard, and have not slept or eaten since." "Yes, you can get him!" I said, hardly knowing how to temper the news I had for her. "You can have him forever. Do you know, dear, there was a mistake made?" She lifted her head from my shoulder, and clasped my hand in her shaking palms, her startled eyes on my face. "Be happy!" I said ioyfully. "He lives." The sweet head nodded aside, and she slipt down fainting. It wasn't long before she revived, but it was long before I could <juiet her, and persuade her, not only that Heine lived, but it was best she should not rush to him that minute. At length I bethought me of the little curtain window in my room, looking into the ward; and drawing the curtain partly away, gave her a peep at him, as lie' sat there reading. Troubling all over she stood, and, without removing her eves, drank in the sight, as one perishing of thirst drinks in water. The tears began to flow fast and the sobs to come. "I loved him all the time," she said; "and once I thought he loved me. But it seems not, or else they made mischief between us. I would never have sought him living, never! but when I thought him dead, my pride was in the dust I would have crawled here on my knees, if I could have got here in no other way. How pale and sober he looks! Is he very ill?" "No; his foot has been bad, but is getting on so well that he can walk about a little with a crutch." nt i j j : it.. ? i nave sunercu so uuring me iu?t year, she sobbed, but wiping her streaming eyes that she might not lose sight of him, "it has worn me to a shadow. And I couldn't tell anybody. They thought that I was in consumption, and I let them think it; but it was only heart-ache, and that was worse. You may think it strange, dear lady, that I talk so to you," stretching out a little white hand to me, but unable to remove her eyes from him, "but this shock has broken my reserve, and I must speak once, or die!" "Dear child, confide in me," I said; "and trust also the future. Now I must go back to the ward. Will you stay here alone, or do you wish to go in now to see him?" "Oh, no!" she cried, in alarm, the blood pouring into her face. "What would he think? I only wanted to go in when I didn't know what I was about. I would not have him know, not for worlds, that I am here." "What! will you go back without speaking to him, or letting him know," I asked. "Surely," she said. It is enough for me that he lives. Dead, I might have claimed him; but living, I am nothing to him." "You are much to him," I could not help saying. "He has told me of you, and I think he prefers you to any other. Besides, you should pity as well as love him. lie thinks that he has scarcely a friend in the world. That is what he looks so pale and sober about now. "But don't tell him I am here," she pleaded, as I went out at the door; and turning to promise, 1 saw the light of a new hope blooming in her face. I could think of nothing else, and made every excuse to go often to speak to Heine, that she might see him move and look up. But she nor I could see no smile 011 his face, though he had seldom more reason to smile. Little did he know whose loving eyes were watching him. I went back to my room presently, and the more I saw of the young stranger, the more I admired her, and the less I wondered at him for loving her. She was so sweet and dainty; and such a strong, true heart beat in her breast I did not like her less that she persisted she must go back the next morning, and refused me permission to tell him of her coming, though I had no intention of obeying her. She stayed with me that night, and was expecting to start in the morning at 10 o'clock. My morning labors done, I went and sat by Heine's bed, mindful of the eyes that, unseen, watched us. "Heine," I said, "wouldn't you like to know how Helen Ayre took the news of your death ?" lie was sitting pule ami gloomy, all his old cheerfulness gone. At my question, he half turned away his head. "No!" he answered bitterly. "I have had enough." "Oh, very well then! I won't tell you. But I thought you might care to know," I said carelessly. "What do you mean ?" he exclaimed, turning his eager face to mc again. "Oh, its no matter," I said, making a pretence of going away. "If you don't feel any interest?" A powerful hand grasped my wrist and held me. Heine must have been strongly moved to do that. He did not even apologize when I resumed my seat, somewhat disconcerted at such an exhibition before a score or so of men j who couldn't know what the matter was. "Has she written?" he asked, trembling with impatience. [ "No ; but I happened to know her. She had business in Washington, and called to see me." | "Darn these women! What torments they are ?" he exclaimed fiercely. Why don't you tell me!" I forgave him on the spot, for. he couldn't help it. "The poor little soul was very much grieved, though you don't deserve it," I said. "But I comforted her. You were a wretch to desert 1- j.? ?j ? SUUU a UCttUUC, ttiiu n iuvi LU ict mc yau Dorms dupe you so." "Where is she?" he panted out. "Oh, she is going north this morning," I said carelessly. "Her visit is over. She has friends here (so she hud Heine and I), and she is now going to leave them." "Where did you see her?" he demanded, as if I were nobody at all, and he my master. "You haven't been out of the hospital since I died; and she must have been here. Who is that looking through the window of your room ?" I couldn't help laughing; but I sobered myself the next moment. For Heine, with his face on fire, and his breath coming like that of a spent runner, was stretching his arm to reach his crutch that lay under the bed, and preparing to get up. "Now, Heine? He minded mc no more than he would a feather. Staggering rapidly to his one foot, he rested on the unaccustomed crutch, and began crossing the floor with seven-leagued strides. I could only follow him, hoping that lie would have some delicacy about entering my room uninvited. Not a bit. Before I reached it, he flung the door open and leaped over the threshold. And there stood the dear little, frightened, mortified creature in the corner of the room, vainly trying to hide her face. "My dear little girl!" he cried out; "is it you? and do you care whether I am dead or alive?" She dropped the hands from her face, and looked at him standing there, maimed, radiant, with eager arms outstretched. There was no room for pride in her generous heart. .She came shyly forward a step or two, till within reach of his arm that caught and clasped her. I meekly withdrew and closed the door after me, carrying a vision of that yellow head restinn ntrflinai H mtip'r hlnp inrtkp.t. It was nearly a week before I found myself at leisure to reply to Mrs. Gertrude C. Van Dorm'6 letter. My reply was as follows:? "My dear Madam.?I regret not being able to send you Mr. Heine's watch, money, and papers. He refuses to give them up, insisting that he has use for them himself He sends his regards, however, and begs that you will have no uneasiness concerning his welfare, as his wife, Mrs. Helen Heine, formerly Miss Helen Ayre, is here and in constant attendance on him. I have the honor to be, <fcc." What I wrote was simply true. They were married. Heine, terrified lest he should lose her again, entreated, and I was on his side. He was six feet tall, and I was five feet six; he was a lieutenant in the artillery, and I lady nurse, regent in the ward; what could a poor little yellow-haired schoolmistress do against us ? "Why, they had me married in spite of my teeth," the minx would say, if you would ask her now. But the only way in which she showed her teeth on this occasiou, was in the happiest smiles that ever were smiled. JrtUsrfUanrouo ftarting. THINGS IN CALIFORNIA. A Teunesseean, lately removed to California, writes his impressions of the State to the Nashville Union and American. We extract the following paragraphs from his letter dated at San Francisco: T? J* l.ii. T i 11 1! x xl ^ m my iorrner leucr 1 u>iu you very nine about this city ^ and, being afflicted with the headache this evening, I design telling you but little now. San Francisco is surrounded by the bay on one side and a succession of barren sand hills, devoid of vegetation, on the other. Such, indeed, was the character of the ground on which the city stands. Water, however, and a thin layer of soil soon carpet the sand with verdure, and make the desert bloom like a garden. So the singular scene is presented of a beautiful park, while the ndjoining lot is a waste of sand. Property has advanced here with incredible strides. It equals Chicago in this respect. A small lot recently sold on Montgomery 6treet for $185,000. Away out in the suburbs, two miles from the business part of the city, small lots just large enough for building a house upon, are worth from $5,000 to $15,000. Three years ago, they could have been bought for as many hundreds. Wonderful arc the tales we are told: how men have made wealth here nnd how they have squandered it. They sound like the story of Aladdin. When the mines were first discovered here, the gold was found on the top of the ground, in the beds of rivulets, creeks and rivers, in the mountains. The miuing was altogether surface digging. A gentleman told me that in 1849 he and another had a claim, from which they obtained as much as $3,000 per week, they two alone working it. It was on the banks of a river. When first discovered, there was so much gold glittering in every direction in the sands around there, they actually hesitated where to begin. Their last day's work panned out $800. That night the floods descended, and, when the morning came, their treasure was ten feet under x rp I _ x! .1 _ i .1 _ x wuicr. xne rains conunueu, ana me waters did not subside for six months, when lo! their golden sands had drifted away. "Wages at that time were enormously high. Laborers got sixteen to eighteen dollars per day. Everything else was proportionately dear. Money was so plentiful no one seemed to prize it. Faro banks did a prodigious business. Every day miners would come in from the mines, with little sacks of the precious dust hung over their shoulders, go straight to these faro banks and a few hours afterwards emerge from them without a cent in their pockets. They would then return to the mines and repeat the operation. Gambling had such a strong fascination it was almost universally indulged in. Mining communities are naturally given to this vice. Their money comes by chance, and they are cheated into the belief that they arc the special favorites of the fickle Goddess. Mining, though still important, is no longer the principal element of wealth of this State. There are certainly many rich mines, from one of which a lump of gold weighing one hundred pounds, and valued at $25,000, was taken a few days ago, but attention is now being directed chiefly to agriculture. But beforeleaving the subject of mining, I ought to give a ; passing notice to the mineral wealth of Arizona, which belongs nominally to the United i States, but really to the Apache Indians, and that of Mexico, a country belonging at present to banditti, but which will some day, I fear, be the Southern boundary of Uncle Sam's dominions. Arizona contains the precious metals in vast quantities. None of the mines are worked, however, owing to the hosi tility of the Indians. So rich are the deposits tnat numbers of men have selected claims and have been keeping watch and ward over them for years, enduring great privation and exposing their scalps to the knife of the savage, in the hope that the arm of government would, some day, be strong enough to encircle and protect them, when their fortunes would be secured. A small military force has been beting there; but brave, vigilant and active as they are, they can do nothing. The Apaches are bold, skillful, cunning ; tney know every foot of the ground; are fine horsemen, and splendidly mounted, and equipped with the i most improved fire-arms. The whole country is as bleak and barren as Sahara. So sly and daring are they, that one of them will sometimes crawl into camp and suddenly mount a fyorsc and carry him off triumphantly, in spite of the firing of the sentinels. You can, from these facts, imagine what advantages they have over our troops. I am informed, by an officer who served for sometime in Arizona, that the redskins kill more of our men than i we do of theirs, and that for every savage , killed the government expends $1,000,000. i No quarter is shown by either -party. Kit Carson once proposed to the authorities at Washington to secure all the scalps of the Apaches for $20 apiece. Morality aside, this would have been an economical bargain. The silver mines in Mexico are unsurpassed in richness, but the working of them is expensive. Besides, the government refuses to permit the exportation of bullion. It has to be coined in that country, and the percentage for coinage, together with the rapacity of Mexican officials, reduces one's pile about thirty per cent This grievous tax produces its natural result, smuggling, and large quantities of bullion are shipped out of the country in that way. , As I have heretofore intimated, agriculture is beginning to attract the attention of capitalists ; and, assuredly, the inducements offered the farmer are nowhere more captivating than here in California The land is exceedinglyfertile and productive, and is not easily exhausted. In San Joaquin Valley wheat has . been sown every year for sixteen years on the same ground, without any sensible diminution of the crops, and without the use of any fertilizers. The same cannot be said, however, of all the lands. From twenty to thirty bushels ' to the acre are produced. The second year the ground is not seeded, as a volunteer crop springs up quite as good as the first. Cattle and sheep raising, particularly the latter, are verf profitable. Two or three men can herd 10,000 sheep. They are very prolific, and live on the grass without any other feed and without shelter. In speaking of the cereals, I should have i mentioned a peculiar quality belonging to California wheat, to-wit: that it never sweats in the ship's hold, and is consequently better suited for transportation by sea than wheat raised in the States. Another valuable quality is the faculty the flour possesses of absorbing much more water in the baking process than other flour, thus giving greater weight to the bread and enhancing the profits of the baker. These peculiarities cause it to command extra prices in France and England. Farmers are never pressed here in the harvest season as they are in Tennessee; for the grain will stand in the field for raontlis after it ripens. Grape culture is prosecuted very extensivc. ly and with the most gratifying results. Forty varieties are grown. It is estimated there are from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 vines. The wine manufacture is extensive. Oranges, lemons, olives, and almonds are raised in Los Angelos county. To show you how profitable they are, it is only necessary to make a few statements. An orange tree is worth from 825 to 875 every year. There are 20 or 40 to the acre. Therefore, an orange orchard of ten acres is worth to its owner from 85,000 to?make the calculation yourself. Almond trees grow thicker, and produce yeari?i. i?i. o ii.~ TL ' | ly UL iCilSL oA A W tliu UCC. J.1IC I/IDU uw i never dies ; at least, it bears l'or hundreds of years. It has been growing here for sixty vears, and during that period there has never been a failure of tlie olive crop. These orchards are of slow growth. From the setting out of i the scions or the cuttings, or the floating of , the seed, seven to nine years elapse before they i return a profit. But remuneration is certain . if one has the patience to wait. "What a little paradise a person could make around him here m California! How delightful the prospect! Think of living in orange and almond groves, : fanned by breezes laden with the aroma of a thousand tropical fruits! This is no wild fancy. It is in the power of every man, how' ever poor lie may be, if he have industry and patience, to make for himself such a home. ; The statements I have made are derived from reliable sources. I have conversed with old citizens who know, and I have consulted statistics on the subject. Some of my information I have gathered from a young lady, a boarder at my boarding-house, whose home is in Los Angelos, and whose father owns an extensive ranch in that vicinity, and possesses a valuable orange orchard. I expect to visit that section of the country before a great while to see for myself. The oranges of the San Francisco market are shipped here from Tahiti, Mexico, the Sandwich islands, and from China. But they are of necessity pulled green, and have consequently a bad flavor. The oranges of this State, being but two or three days from market, cam be plucked when fully ripe, and are therefore better and find readier sale. Yesterday municipal, legislative and judi cial officers were elected 111 this city, and the State generally voted for members of the Legislature. Money was freely and publicly used to win the election. Men would hang round the head-quarters of the different candidates and ask to be paid for their votes. One man, let me instance, edged his way through the crowd to the treasurer and demanded money. A double gold eagle was slipped into his hand. "Is that the best you can do ?" he asked, with a contemptuous sneer. On receiving an affirmative response, the villain tossed the coin back to the giver, and strode away to seek a bigger bribe. Comfort For Tea Drinkers.?111 the life of most persons a period arrives when the stomach 110 longer digests enough of the ordinary elements of food to make uj) for the daily waste of bodily substance. The size and weight of the body, therefore, begin to diminish more or less perceptibly. At this time tea comes in as a medicine to arrest the waste, to keep the body from falling away so fast, and thus to enable the less energetic powers of digestion still to supply as much as is needed to repair the wear and tear of the solid tissues. No .wonder, therefore, that tea should be a favorite, on the one hand, with the poor, whose supply of substantial food is scanty; and on the other, with the aged and infirm, especially of the feebler sex, whose powers of digestion and whose bodily substance have together begun ! to fail. Nor is it surprising that the aged female, who has barely enough of weekly income to buy what are called the common necessaries of life, should yet spend a portion of her small gains in purchasing her ounce of tea. She can live quite as well on less common food, when she takes her tea along with it; while she feels lighter, at the same time more cheerful, and fitter for her work, because of the indulgence.? Chemutry of Common Life. A STOEY OF CinCKAMAUGA. A gentleman who witnessed the play of Enoch Arden at DeBar's Opera House, relates a circumstance very similar in its details to the sad stnrv of the east-awav sailor. We give the statement in his own words: "That play recalls to my mmd a circumstance that happened in my owu experience. A sergeant in my regiment was wounded at Chickaraauga, and was reported dead. He was seen to fall in the heat of the engagement, and our lines being pushed back, the body was not recovered until next day. When the poor fellow was found he was so mutilated by being trampled on by the cavalry that his face could not do recognized. A comrade, however, found in his breast pocket a miniature of his wife, and sent it to her, with an account of his death. It turned out that the body was not that of Tom C , but a .Sergeant of another company. Tom, desperately wounded, fell into the hands of the enemy, and-was sent to Andersonville, where the rebel surgeon cut off one of his arms and one of his legs, and, in spite of bad fare, he recovered in due time. I never knew why they kept Tom so long in prison, except it was for the purpose of exchanging him for a sound mar "When poor Tom returned to his home in Pennsylvania, he was a mere wreck of his former self, and nobody in the village knew liinr. His wife had removed to Illinois with her parents, more than a year previously. Without making himself known to any of his old acquaintances in the village, Tom started for Illinois to hunt for his wife. When he arrived in the neighborhood where she was living, he learned that she was married to aft old friend of his, who had followed her from Pennsylvania. His first impulse was to make himself known to her, ana claim her as his own ; but when he saw the snug cabin in which she was living, and heard how kindly she was treated hv her husband, he changed his mind. 'Suppose I go and claim her/ he said to himself, 'how can I support her, with only one arm and one leg, and a body weakened by months of suffering at Anderaonville ? No; she is happy and contented, and thinks me dead, and I will not destroy her happiness and become a burden to her. "Tom acted upon this resolution, and worked his way to New York, where he set up a small business as curb-stone merchant, selling nuts, and cakes, and soda-water, and getting along prosperously. He soon made money enough to buy him an artificial leg, and after a while he got a patent arm made, and to see him walking along the street, you would not suppose that he was but little more than half a man. He was a good business man, and in the course of a year enlarged his stock in trade and opened a regular retail grocery. He made money last, and became a prosperous merchant, respected by all who knew him. "In his prosperity, he never forgot his wife, and always cherished a hope that she would be restored to him. He was a regular subscriber to the village paper published at the town near which his wife lived, and read it with great interest. One day he saw in this paper the announcement of the death of the j man who had riiarried his wife. He lost no j time in starting for Illinois. He found his ( wife in deep mourning for her late husband, ( and she had added another infantile link to , the family circle. Tom made himself known t to her, and was rejoiced to find that she still ] loved him as fondly as ever. It was some , time before lie could convince her that he was ] not a ghost returned from the other world. ] In order to make things sure, the parson was ( called in, and Tom anil his wife were married over again. They went to New York, where they are still living, as happy a couple as you will find in Gotham. They live in a brown J stone front, and the family, when I saw them, . were preparing to add another little link to i its circle. Of course, they do not tell every body about their family matters, but you can ' l'ely upon this story as strictly true. The ending is rather better than that of Enoch Arden, i and I think Adams would do a good thing if ? he would depart from the version of Teuny- t son, and in the last act get Phillip Ray ground up in his own mill?accidentally, of course? 1 make poor Enoch step in and eujoy the wife and the fortune left behind. "What about the picture of Tom's wife, found in the pocket of the dead soldier? ? "Oh, I forgot about that. Tom says when r lie was wounded and left upon the field, a . straggler came along, and he stopped him. ? Supposing he would bleed to death, he gave i the picture to the straggler, with a message to i his wife. The rebel cavalry made a charge soon after, and killed the straggler, with the t picture of Tom's wife in his bosom, and carried i Tom off to Andersonville. That accounts for t the picture being found and causing everybody to bejiev& that Tom was killed.'?-St. Louis Republican. t ABOUT NEWSPAPERS. I The Journal of Commerce, dwelling on the t fact that during the past thirty-five years no c less than fifty-five daily papers have been \ started in the city of New York, lived for a i short time, and then died for want of adeauate \ support, after having sunk millions of dollars, y moralizes in this instructive vein: t The reasons why not more than one out of v (say) fifty daily newspapers succeed are net generally understood. If they were, instances c would be fewer of the sinking of fortunes in fc the unavailing attempt to found a daily?a e waste of money as literal and complete as if r the owner had burned it hi his parlor grate, t The first and greatest difficulty is the want h of sufficient means. Upon this point, which d has been frequently elucidated, we will barely I touch. To run a first class daily (and only g such stands the least chance of surviving in the a struggle for existence) costs not far from $1,- p 000 a day, even with a moderate circulation, n This* rate of expenditure takes frightful daily b bites out of the capital; and, unless the pro- d jector has the purse of a Stewart, Astor, or e Vanderbilt, he cannot stand the inroad upon b his funds for many months, or weeks or da vs. b Among professional newspaper . men in tfiis t city, the cash in hand required to give a first tl class newspaper a chance of life, is estimated p at from a half to three-quarters of a million. * Its failure, without such a sum at its back? t' which it is prepared to invest boldly and sa- r gaciously?is certain. Its success, after all n the money has been spent in the wisest and f u ost judicious manner, is still highly problematical. Unless all the circumstances favor the mdertaking?if there is a weakness or want >f tact developed at any stage of it?no amount >f money can put a new dailyjpaper in profitible operation in this city, fhe failing newalapers ore usually brought up with a round urn before many tens of thousands have been rank. The backers become alarmed?and lack out. If the new concern is a stock com?ny, the subscribers to shares pay but one or wo of the assessments, and then forfeit what hey have invested rather than lose more. )nly in a few cases are men so lucky?or perlaps we should say so foolish?as to go on vesting a real half million, before abandonng their ill-advised newspaper scheme. Discouragement and disgust commonly superrene by the time that $50,000 or I $100,000 lave vanished in the yawning gulf The editor then goes on to show that the lewspaper business differs from most others n the fact that when once established it can x indefinitely extended, with no risk and but AvfM ^aAatkl^r ?i/fo Itti^ OA 111 C* UVUUIVy MJU miua A newspaper with machinery for printing JO,000, 30,000 or 50,000 copies can throw off L00,000 or 150,000 with bat a few hours more vork. The newspapers now existing can supply the widest, demands for their issues. They eprescnt every variety of public opinion and nterest; no person has tlie least difficulty in fotaining a newspaper that meets his views ind suits his special want. If no journal :ould possibly print more than 5000,10,000 >r 15,000 copies, then the supply, would foil ihort of the demand, and there would be room 'or other papers filling . actly the same fields . is those already established. The lightning jresees of New York newspaper offices could, unong them, supply at least one paper a day o every adnlt who can read in the United States. In the dry goods, grocery, boot and ihoe, hat and cap, drug and other "lines of jusinesa, where articles dealt in are heavy ind bulky, no ten or a dozen men in one city, mle8s they have acres of buildings and armies if clerks, could supply the enormous demand or those goods. Tne extension of their busiiess is attended at every step by immense excuses and new risks, which are not incurred n the enlargement of tbe circulation of a nCwsmper that is once well founded. Ten or a lozen papers can furnish the public with readng matter just as speedily as a hundred could lo it, and at a cheaper rate. The promising fields of first-class daily i--: J_ :_j lewspapers ucing vnoujr uaajucu, uu ucu ournals can command & great success, except Jy taking away subscribers from other papers. This is a very difficult-thing to do. It never ?n be done except in cases where the paper o be supplanted wantonly and persistently leglects the interests or abuses the confidence >f its subscribers. So long as it pursues a just, lonorable and judicious course, meeting the rants of its customers in all or most respects, lie ties of friendship between the subscribers md the paper are as hard to break by any nitride third party as the links which bind >ld friends in business or social life. Occaiional defects and errors, if such there be in a lewspaper, are overlooked by those who have jecome attached to it through its daily perusal for years. Tliey may sometimes become lissatisfied with it on account of something .vhich has slipped into its columns, and may stop taking it; but the absence of the familiar beet at their house or office for a few days be:omes an insupportable deprivation, and they lasten to take it again, and possibly to apologize for having stopped it. This we believe to >e a common experience in the history of all staWished newspapers. No friendship on sarth is more constant than that contracted jy the reader for a journal which makes an lonest and earnest effort to merit his continled support. #-^>4 WHY DON'T BOYS LEARN TRADES f The present generation of young men seem 0 have a strong aversion to every kind of ,rade, business, calling or occupation that rejuires manual labor, and an eaual strong teniency toward some so called "genteel" em)loyment or profession. The result is seen in 1 superabundance of elegant pensmen, bookkeepers, and clerks of every kind, who ean jet no employment, and are wasting their ives in the v&m pursuit of what is not to be lad; and a terrible overstock of lawyers with>ut practice, and doctors without patients. The passion on the part of the boys and roung men to be clerks, office attendants, mescngers?anything, so that it is not work of he kind that will make them mechanics or radesmen?is a deplorable sight to those who lave full opportunities to see the distressing (fleets of it in the struggle for such employncnts by those unfortunates who have put it >ut of their power to do anything else by negecting to learn some permanent trade or busness, in which trained skill can always be urned to account. The applications for derkships and similar positions m large estabishments are numerous beyond anything that rould be thought of by those who have no (hanee to witness it. Parents and relatives, is well as the boys and young men themselves, eem to be afflicted witn the same infatuation, ro all such wc say that the most unwise adrice you can give to your boy is to encourage lim to be a clerk or a book-keeper. At the >est, it is not a well paid occupation. Very requently it is among the very poorest. This s the case when the clerk is fortunate enough o be employed; but if he should happen to >c out of a place, then comes the weary search, he fearful struggle with the thousands of others looking for places, the never-ending lisappoinments, the nope deferred that makes he heart sick, the strife with poverty, the huniliations that takes all the manhood out of he poor soule, the privations and sufferings if those who depend upon his earnings, and ?ho have no resource when he is earning nothng. No father, no mother, no relative should vish to sec their boys or kindred wasting their oung lives hf striving after the genteel posiions that brings such trials ana privations ipon them in after life. How do these deplorably false notions as to hoicc of occupations get into the heads of toys ? Why ao they or their parents considr it more "genteel or desirable to run erands, sweep out offioed, make fires, copy let .1. A! J.- 1- - L.i. .L.? era, etc., uitui u> xumo nata ur duuco, ui mj ricks, or wield the saw or jack-plane, or handle the machinist's file, or the blacksmith's lammer ? "We have h eard that some of them ;et these notions at school. If this be so it is ,^ad perversion of the means of education irovided for our youth, which are intended to aake them useful as well as intelligent members of society, and not useless drags and rones. Should it be so, that the present genration of boys get it into their heads that, ecause they have more school learning and ook accomplishments than their fathers had,' hey must therefore look down upon the trades hat require skill and handicraft, and whose roductions make up the vast mass of the realth of every country, then it is time for he controllers and directors to have the intcior walls of our school houses covered with iiaxims and mottoes warning them against the utal error.?Philadelphia Ledger.