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i^????? lewis m. grist, proprietor.! |U Inbtpcnbent Jfamiln ^|ltt?spaptr: J^or tjje |lromotron: of tjje political, Social, Agricultural airb Commercial Interests of tjje Soutjr. jterms?$3.00 a year, in advance. VOL. 19. YORKVILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1873. NO. 7. ' ' : : ' - - ~ . " , JU ?riginul Jftrcg. | Written for the Yorkville Enquirer. THE MYSTERY OF MOSSGROVE.: A ROMANCE OF THE 19TH CENTURY. BY MRS. IIENRY DEAS. CHAPTER XII. A NIGHT OF TERROR. Spring was now advancing with its joyous train of sunshine and flowers, birds and song, tender perfumes and fleeting tears and smiles. ; The woods commenced to don their robes of green, and eveu the gloomy shades of Moss- j grove wore a less sombre aspect, and seemed j to partake, in some degree, of the universal; preparation for "Nature's festival," the birth of her fairest child. Lucy's spirits, crushed and saddened by 1 the melancholy influences that had surround-; ed her through the long dismal days of winter, j began somewhat to revive in sympathy with j the smiles of the beauteous created world, and J with the natural elasticity of youth, to throw ) off, in a measure, the depressing weight under j which they had labored for such a length of j time. The prisoner, after a time, becomes inured j to the solitude of his cell; the bird, that at first struggled in its captivity, ceases to beat the bars of its cage with impetuous wings; habit reconciles us to the most dismal lot; and Lucy, at length, had become, if not content with her fate, at least accustomed to it, and had learned to bear it with patience, and even with thankfulness, when she had no special cause of alarm or anxiety to disturb her. This state of comparative tranquility had lasted for some weeks, when a new source of trouble and care arose. Little Claude, to whom she was most tenderly attached, suddenly fell ill, and the delicacy of his constitution was such that, for some time, it was doubtful whether he would be able to struggle through the attack, which was one of pneumonia, in a violent form. The child's strength seemed to diminish daily, the delicate outlines of his face grew sharper and thinner, and a wasting cough shook his slender frame. Lucy would not venture to leave him by night or day, and watched him as though he were some fragile flower which the slightest adverse breath Illlgllli UCSUUJ. Stanley, too, displayed unwonted tenderness in his manner to the suffering child, and seemed to feel keenly the prospect of losing him; a prospect which seemed only too certain a one to all who watched him. Death, however, sometimes spares those who seem most likely to fall victims to his dread decree. After a long period of agonizing suspense, it became apparent to the devoted Lucy that her ministration was to be rewarded, and she hailed with intense gratitude the first faint symptoms of recovery in her gentle little patient, who through all his illness had never given vent to a petulant or complaining word. He was still feeble enough to require constant attendance, and she was sitting one night by his couch, when she saw a light shining under the door, and wondered whence it could proceed at that unusual hour; for it was past twelve o'clock, and the household, according to her belief, had long since retired to rest. As she watched it, it gradually grew fainter, and finally disappeared. She was sure, however, that she heard the sound of footsteps, and the cautious closing of a window or a door. Since Claude's illness, Melissa had been sleeping in the house, so as to be within reach, if her mistress desired her help. Lucy now supposed that she might have got up in quest of something, and unwilling to have her blundering about the house with a light at that hour, resolved to go and see what was the matter. Accordingly, after a glance at Claude, who [ was sleeping quietly, she threw a light shawl around her, and noiselessly opening her door looked out. She now saw the light again, shining beneath a door at the end of the entry, and immPflifltelv nrnceeded in that direction. *"V i As she opened this door, it disappeared, j and she found herself in total darkness. A slight feeling of apprehension now took possession of her, and she began to fear that! some thief might have made his way into the 1 house, and was trying to escape detection. J On reflecting a moment, however, she con-! sidered that if such was the case, a thief would be more likely to confine himself to the lower j portion of the house, where the plate and oth-} er household articles of value were kept, and ! not risk discovery by coming up stairs. While pursuing these reflections, the light. again appeared, shining, like a will-o'-the j wisp, in a totally different direction, through j a window which opened from a closet on the , stairs. She was now convinced that Melissa . must have gone to this closet to search for ! something, and immediately hastened toward ; it. She was again baffled, for the mysterious j light, apparently bent on eluding discovery, vanished from her sight, and she opened the closet only to find that she had again deceived : herself. Just beyond this closet was a narrow platform, or landing place, which turned at a right angle and ran for a short distance to-, ward the back of the house, the end of it being concealed from view by a projecting' piece in the wall. Lucy went slowly forward,' past the closet door, and advanced to the corner of the platform, ia order to see if any one was there. There was a window at the end of the platform, and through the window the moon, par- i tially obscured by clouds, shed a fitful and uncertain light. As Lucy looked toward the window, a sudden chill rushed over her, for she distinctly ' saw the outline of a figure standing between it and her. Suramouing all her courage, she cried in a tremulous voice? "Melissa, is that you ?" There was no reply, nor any movement on the part of the figure. Lucy, impelled by a strange fascination, stood as if spell-bound, unable to turn and flee, as fear prompted her to do, and with her eyes fixed on the shadowy form. Suddenly the moon shone out brightly, disclosing more distinctly to view, what had at; first been only a vague and uncertain shape. It was the figure of a woman, clad in white i trailing garments, and with long disheveled hair floating around her shoulders. The foa tures of the face were not discernible, but in s the pale moonlight they had a white, wan and p ghastly look. v As Lucy gazed in speechless terror, the r figure slowly raised its hand, with a warning ! e gesture, and at the same instant moved a step ' t toward her. < t Every remnant of courage now forsook her s mind ; a cold horror took possession of her, i; and tottering backward she fell fainting to t the ground. t It was long ere she recovered her senses, j 1 When she did so, she was lying on a couch in ' t her own room; a light was burning on the 1 floor in a corner, and her faithful Melissa was j r bathing her face and applying a scent-bottle, j containing some powerful restorative, to her o nostrils. I v "Oh ! Missy," she exclaimed, in a tone of < v intense relief, as the bewildered Lucy opened j a her eyes, "I thought you was mos' dead ! For ! n the Lord's sake, Missy, what has happened in j n the house this night? Tears to me like the j t world is comin' to an end." ! il "What is the matter Melissa?" murmured | b her mistress, in faint tones. "Has anything a happened?" n ? * /VI "Happened! My JLord, Missy, sucn awiui i u noises as I've been hearin', you never did hear, j Didn't you hear none of 'em ? What was it j t scared you, Missy ?" ' e "I?hardly?know,"said Lucy,putting her ' v hand to Jier brow and trying to recall her | 3 scattered thoughts. "I saw something in the j moonlight, 1 believe?I must have been dream- j t ing. I went to look after you, Melissa. Did ,.b you have a light out in the entry, some time ; ago ?" ' k "Me, Missy ? No, ma'am ! I don't trus' i v to walk'bout at night, 'specially in this house. I I was sound asleep, and first thing I knew, j Mas' Stanley came shakin' and hollerin' at j d me, and tell me to get up right away and [ d come after you, 'cause you'd fainted. He [ u came in here with me, and showed me what j v to do to bring you round again ; he seemed in ! b a desprut hurry, and said somethin' 'bout! things going wrong, and he must see what the j s matter was, and off he went. He looked j b awful white and scared, and his voice was so i s # j shaky he could hardly talk plain. And then c I heard a runniu' and screamin', that made j k irv blood run cold; it seemed to me somebody i I was bein' murdered in the house. I just sot' ii here by you, and I was that sick with fright; t I didn't know at first what I was about. At' b last the noise stopped, but Mas' Stanley ain'tj t come back." j v "Good Heaven," murmured Lucy, with a I li shudder, "what can have happened? Oh !; t Melissa, cannot you find out?" 1 a "Me, Missy ? For the Lord's sake don't j t make me go outside of that door," said the j 3 maid, in such terror at the idea, that Lucy j y saw it would be cruelty to press the demand j n upon her. "I darsen't go searchin' about in h a place where sperrits walk, like I know they does in this house. h "But, Claude?" cried Lucy, starting up in t a sudden accession of fright; "where is he? c are you sure he is safe ?" ii "Oh ! yes, ma'am?don't you fear for him, j he's inside your dressing-room, all right, j t sleeping like a baby. He never woke up > n once, the blessed chile." ; y To satisfy her mistress, Melissa opened the : fc dressing-room door as she spoke, revealing a J s glimpse of the little invalid fast asleep in his j u cot-bed. Lucy remembered that she had j u given him an anodine on retiring, which, prob-! y ably accounted for his not having been dis-: g turbed. jh About an hour more passed, spent by Lucy , a in trying to allay the sickening fears that had j t taken possession of her soul. What new mys-1 i tery was going on?what new plot being en- s acted?the drift of which it was not permitted ; g to her to discover? The recollection of the j p shadowy appearance she had seen in the inoon-1 i lieht recurred chillingly to her mind ; had [ r her terror invested it with a distinctness it did j s not possess, and given it form and motion ; or j o had it really been a supernatural being es- j t caped from the regious of space to visit, for ! a some inexplicable purpose, the realms of earth ? j 1 Then again she remembered the apparition, f though of a different sort, that had so terrified 1 Claude some time before, and the mysterious J d sounds that had afterwards frightened him t away from his chamber, all of which she had ( f attributed at the time to some malicious effort. g to work upon his nerves and startle his timid j j mind. Was this last appearance, too, the re- I suit of some such scheme? If so, how could v it have been arranged for her to encouuter it t at such an unexpected time and place? She I f recalled the weird, phantom-like look of the ! y figure, its pale awful countenance aud gesture ; e of warning, and shudderingly closed her eyes ' li as if to shut out the appalling remembrance, i v She could not reason, she could not explain s away her own fears ; confused and unnerved, i v she continued to pursue a bewildering and 1 s unsatisfactory train of ideas that seemed to , o revolve in her brain until it grew dizzy aud , f sick with vain, unprofitable effort to discover , some clue to the truth. g Where, too, was her husband ? Why did ' h he stay away from her all this time, leaving j her to the sole care of a servant, when every : ii sentiment of duty and affection on his part' t should have kept him at her side? i v The pale gray dawn was beginning to steal t in at the windows, ere any sound broke the (I stillness that had fallen upon the disturbed , li household, and Stanley at length entered his s wife's apartment. His countenance wore a stern expression, J and approaching Lucy he asked in a cold, j d sarcastic tone? "Well, Lucy, how do you feel now ? Have : s you recovered yet from the effects of your J c midnight ramble?" !s Surprised and wounded at his manner, so ; t different from what she had a right to expect 1 under the circumstances, Lucy found it diffi-! t cult to reply. At last she found voice to b murmur? I d "I feel wretchedly ill, Alfred, and no won-'t der, after all I have endured." 1 s< "All you have endured!" he repeated in a i somewhat softened tone; "but was it not p through your own folly that you brought this i fright on yourself? Why on earth did you a go wandering about the house at that time of, v night? It is a mystery which I am anxious to have you explain to me." : g "I went because I saw a light," replied h Lucy, "and wished to find out where it pro-ii ceeded from. I was afraid something was the i b matter. Was there anything singular in j that?" ;a "The matter was simply that Mrs. Ford,; ti imagining that she heard a cat in the house,,1 chose to go on an exploring expedition in I y earch of it; you chose to go an exploring exiedition in search of Mrs. Ford ; the result ?as an encounter in the dark somewhere, or , ather in the moonlight, as it appears, which i nded in a fainting-fit on your part and hys- J erics on hers, both of you being wise enough j o take each other for ghosts. As for my j trong-minded housekeeper, she has been keep- j ug up such a succession of screams, %woons, earing of the hair and other extravagances, \ hat I really thought she was going crazy, j Lt last I have reasoned her iuto composure, [ hough I believe she still labors under the deusion that you were a spectre, sent on a aoonlight flitting for her especial benefit." Although Stanley said all this with an air j f assumed carelessness, and an inflexion of k'ould-be contempt in his voice, the disguise ms too thin to cover an evident nervousness nd trepidatiou both in his expression and nanner, nnd Lucy observed that his eyes did iot meet hers steadily as bespoke. His face, oo, was pale, and there was something of agtation and uncertainty in his whole air that etrayed a concealed anxiety of some sort, ud convinced her that there was more in the aatter than he chose to reveal, in spite of the ffected lightness with which he treated it. "Do you mean to say, Alfred," she ques* ioned in a searching tone, and fixing her yes full on his face, "that the figure of the roman I saw in the entry by the window was rlrs. Ford's, and none other?" "Of course I mean it, little simpleton," reurned her husband. "Whose else could it ie?" "Then I tell you that you are greatly mista:en," said Lucy, her voice now trembling rith excitement, "for it was certainly not Mrs. ^ord." "Pshaw ! my dear Lucy, this is mere chillish folly," said Stauley impatiently. "You lid not see her distinctly, I suppose, and your ierves being weakened, and your mind nought up by superstitious fancies, youinvesed her with a supernatural character." "I don't know who or what it was that I aw," said Lucy ; "it may or may not.have ieeu a supernatural appearance?my mind is o confused and shaken that I feel almost inapable of reasoning on any subject, and I mow not what to believe; but of one thing am as sure as that I am lying here, and that 3, that it was not Mrs. Ford whom I saw in he entry. I tell you it was not," she reiteraed, as he made a gesture of dissent. "I saw his womau's face in the moonlight, and it was rhite and sick-looking, and she had long ight hair hanging around her. Now, was hat like Mrs. Ford, with her dark complexion nd coal-black, frizzly hair ? The height, and he whole appearance was as different from Irs. Ford's as mine is. You may say what ou please, but you canuot convince me that jy eyes deceived me so eulirely as you would ave me believe." Stanley arose from tho seat he had taken by ier side, and paced several times up and down he room in great excitement. At last he nine back, and, taking her hand in his, said :i an affectionate and persuasive tone? "Now, my dearest Lucy, I want you just o listen for one moment to reason. You fiust not mind if I seemed a little harsh to ou just now; I, too, am excited and worried >y all this unusual commotion, and may have poken more hastily than I intended to. But iow I must really try and convince you how inreasonable you are, in thus persisting in our refusal to accept the explanation I have ;iven you. In the first place, your nerves iave been greatly weakened here lately by ,11 the anxiety you have undergone in regard o Claude, and the fatigue you have sustained n nursing him. When a person is in this tate, the power of reasoning is, of course, ;reatly impaired, the judgment becomes im>erfect, and all the faculties of the mind lose, n some degree, their natural vigor. The oind acts powerfully on the physical frame, ,nd affects both sight and hearing, leading me to believe that they do actually see or hear hings that exist only in imagination. When .nything of reality is mixed up with the de- j usion, it makes it, of course, only the more j >owerful; thus you did actually see Mrs. ! ford (who in the dim, uncertain light, no | loubt presented a more ethereal appearance hau is natural to her by daylight,) and your j ancy immediately invested her with certain j ;liostly attributes, which, to your eyes, were | ust as apparent as if they did actually exist. J ler long white nightdress, or dressing-gown, i whatever it may have been, probably added ! o her spectre-like appearance; as for the long, j loating hair, that was simply the result of! our imagination, probably produced by the ! nds of the white handkerchief in which her j icad was bound up, and which dangled, some-! k'hat unpicturesquely, I must confess, on her j houlders! Now, my dear child, are you j rilling to be reasonable, aud take this simple j olution of the great apparent mystery, as the j nly natural and sensible one that can be of-' ered?" Lucy, who had listened to this labored ar;umentwith a passive air, quietly shook her I lead. j "No, Alfred," she rejoined, "I do not accept ; t, because I cannot. I have accepted many ' hings since I have been your wife, because I vas powerless to resist, and was forced to be \ ilind and passive, or at all events to seem so. j iut I do not believe that the explanation you lave just given me is the true one, and I never ) hall believe it." An angry light came into Stanley's eves. J "Do you mean to imply that I am wilfully leccivingyou ?" he asked in a stern voice. ! "I have been deceived and kept in the dark I o long," said Lucy, "that it is no wonder if I' uistrust everything. .1 may be weak and) illy, but I have done nothing to deserve the , reatment I have received at your hands.' t/t I {ou and your tools have conspired in every way ~ .K.,*..n.,/1 linwnrn mo until mv lifip lino 1 L? U 15 l/l COO ftliu lltliACVOO IliU) UIIVI* IAS J 1MV lecome a weariness to me. If this torture j oes notsoon end. God knows how I shall con- i inue to bear it, for I feel sometimes as if my j enses were forsaking me." i And turning from him, she burst into a ' mssion of tears. Stanley stood for a moment gazing at her, 1 s if uncertain how to reply; then without a ford turned away and left the room. As the sun rose above the tree-tops at Mossrove that morning, Monsieur Leroy might! j ave been seen by a passer-by quietly emerg lgby the back-gate in the rear of the shrubery. |; A malicious smile distorted his countenance, : nd his cunning eyes sparkled with satisfac-, i ion and triumph. j "Ha, ha ! my adorable Julie, have I found 11 on out at last?" he murmured with an an-11 dible chuckle. "You didn't see me peep in 1 at that chink in the closed up window, did you? You din't think I was quite so near, ha? Now I've found out the powerful at-j traction that keeps you at Mossgrove ; the in- i teresting occupation that engrosses so much 1 of your time. But I shall soon inform you,; that with all your circumspection, you have not succeeded in excluding me from partici- j pation in your little secret, and I may turn the discovery to good > account yet. I have ; you and your excellent patron pretty thor oughly in my power, now." The same morning it was discovered that: Medor, the ferocious watch dog, had been put out of the way of doing any farther good or injury in his vocation. He was found lying, [ dead and swollen, in front of his kennel, with j j * nf K!O 1 apiece 01 poisuneu wcni uu mo gmuuu uu u.o | side. [to be continued next week.] i fpstcUaueous fUMiug. | Correspondence of the Yorkville Enquirer. WAIFS FROM GOTHAM. New York City, February 6,1873. After a brief business trip through portions of the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, I arrived in New York a few days ago to find the city, like many places which I have recently visited, completely "snowed in." An immense quantity of snow has fallen over the Northern and New England States within the past month, and travel by rail has been much impeded, trains from all I directions arriving from one to twenty-four hours behind their regular time. But as it is an "ill wind that blows nobody good," those fond of sleigh-riding have had a splendid opportunity to employ their leisure hours in their favorite pastime. But people traveling on "business," have experienced much inconvenience, and I doubt not much damage will result from the extraordinary fall of snow. I would not be surprised to see the entire country, contiguous to large water courses, entirely inundated in the spring. Butavaunt with "borrowing trouble," for it comes fast enough without assistance, so we will take a look at some of the wealthy men of new york. Persons claiming to be intimate with the ? - o financial affaire of many of our wealthy citizens, say that they have very largely increased their worldly goods within a few years? some of them within a few months. One does not find much in the Scriptures to encourage the career of our worshippers of Plutus; but they forcibly illustrate that "Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance." Among the wealthy men of Manhattan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, known as the Railroad King, stands at the head of the list. Mr. Vanderbilt, in his younger days, was a ferryman 011 the Hudson river, and made his "start in the world" by rowing passengers aoross the North river. He has been estimated to be worth $35,000,000, and rumor says that he has recently increased his wealth by some $10,000,000. Wm. B. Astor's wealth is set down at $30,000,000. Daniel Drew, who came to New York a poor boy, is now worth, it is estimated, $15,000,000. Henry N. Smith, who, I am informed, worked on the bench in this city for many years as a journeyman shoe-maker, some time since discarded thehammerand lapstoneand commenced "pegging," in the gold exchange, and has succeeded in drawing the "cords of affliction" through the soles of the Wall street speculators, and is now the fortunate possessor of some $10,000,000. It was this shoe maker that succeeded in "pinching" from Jay Gould, $9,000,000, said to have been "borrowed" from the Treasury of the Erie Railway corporation, while the latter was President and the late James Fisk, jr., its "managing" director. George Law, of "condemned musket" fame, who seldom furnishes a squib for the newspapers now-a-days, is declared to have recently doubled his $6,000,000. R. L. & A. Stewart, the well-known sugar refiners, are said to have been remarkably lucky in the advance of real estate purchases, and to 1 have augmented the value of their property by several millions each. As they owned conjointly some $10,000,000 or $12,000,000 previously, it is though this increase, with proper economy, will prevent their becoming objects of public charity. August Belmont, for many years well-known as one of the leaders of the National Democratic party, and celebrated as a banker and patron of the fine arts, as well as being the rival of Gen. Grant as a connoisseur in horse flesh, is said to have increased his immense fortune by several millions of dollars through discreet operations in American bonds at home and abroad. Many speculators in Wall and Broad streets have reaped golden harvests lately?that is, the big speculators have, while the smaller operators have shared the fate of the little fish in all waters. IDEAS OF RICIIES. In some countries a man who is the possessor of $50,000 is called rich. In Chiua, the possessor (if he be native) of $1500 or $2000 is independent; but in New York a man with only $1,000,000 or $2,000,000 is poor. In this city representations of wealth are graduated. For instance: Rich, $5,000,000 and upward ; very well off, $3,000,000; comfortable, $2,000,000; independent, or in easy circumstances, $1,000,000; poor $50,000 to $100,000 ; gone to "old Harry," $30,000. SELF-MADE MEN. A majority of the wealthiest men here, strange as it may seem, commenced life in a very humble way, and have wrought their wealth by hard work. William B. Astor, it is true, inherited his fortune from his father, but the elder, John Jacob, arrived here the possessor of only twelve dollars in the world, the product of the sale of half a dozen flutes (given him by his brother in London) to one of his fellow steerage passengers. After he j had acquired an immense estate, it is said that j he watched the building of the Astor House , by the hour, to see that the carpenters never | lost or wasted a single nail. A. T. Stewart, j the merchant prince, now worth 835,000,000, commenced with a small shop not far from , where his present wholesale establishment now stands, and sold, at retail, "odds and ends," which he had purchased at auction. George Law was a day laborer on the docks many years ago, and worked hard and lived economically for eighteen months to save one bun- j i dred dollars. Peter Cooper, the philanthro- i pist, was a coaehmaker's apprentice, and his circumstances so poor that he never attended j school more than six months. Daniel A p-1; pleton, the founder of the great publishing t house of D. Appleton &*Co., and the two; t surviving brothers of the celebrated Harper c firm, were all practical printers, and have' 1 worked at the case at from 88 to $10 per : I week. i < WELL-TO-DO JOURNALISTS. ! i Many of the newspaper men here are al- j i most comfortable, as comfort is monetarily I reckoned here. James Gordon Bennett, the j present proprietor of the New York Herald, J i may sately be estimated to possess 83,000,000; . Wm. Cullen Bryant, of the Evening Post, i 8500,000; George Jones, of the Times, 8400,- ] 000 ; Hugh Hastings, of the Commercial Ad- \ vertiser, 8500,000; Brooks Brothers, of the j Express, each, 8250,000, and Manton Marble, < who has recently become sole proprietor of i the whole World, 8500,000. i BALLOONING EXTRAORDINARY. During: my peregrinations about the city a few days ago, I dropped into the well-known show-printing establishment of Samuel Booth, : Esq., 199 Centre street, which, at this season of the year is one of the headquarters of showmen. At that establishment can be found managers, agents and performers at almost any time, looking after the proper execution of their mammoth show bills previous to starting on i the road. As a consequence, showmen of the i better class, in all branches of the profession, | some times congregate there for business and social chat. Being personally acquainted with many of them, I occasionally step in to i hear the gossip and anecdote of this class of s people, who always have on hand a large sup- i ply, both of an amusing and entertaining na- I ture. While sitting there, as is my custom, es- < pecially during such "cold snaps" as we have 1 experienced in this region for some weeks i past, my quondam friend, Wash. H. Donald- I son, the champion balloonist, put in an ap- i pearance. As Mr. Donaldson has created i considerable e: nent in the aeronautic < world lately by his daring exploits with bal- i loons, a brief description of what he has done, I what he expects to accomplish, and his personal appcarauce, may not prove wholly un- I interesting to your readers. MR. DONALDSON Is a short, thick set man, about thirty-two l years old, dark complected, with black eyes and hair, and wears a heavy, black moustache, i twisted at the ends a la Napoleon. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and for some years i past has followed the profession of a magician, or sleight-of-hand performer. Several years ago he made up his mind to become a balloonist, and his first ascension was at Reading, Penn., in August, 1872. He has made since ; that time 3ome twenty-eight ascensions, and used a basket only one time. All subsequent ascensions were made with no other support for his weight than an ordinary bar ot wood or iron suspended from the balloon by means of two ropes?similar to that of a trapeze, < which is so commonly used by circus performers while doing their gymnastic feats in mid 1 air. During the past year he has encountered 1 all sorts of dangers, and the history of his hair-breadth escapes is both wonderful and 1 thrilling. He is a very intelligent and genial man, and relates the incidents of his perilous ! profession with a cool sang froid, anything but refreshing to poor mortals encumbered with 1 weak nerves. He does not appear to look upon ballooning as a dangerous occupation. By the use of a basket, people are inclined to regard these ascensions with considerable amusement and interest. He says that the ' time is at hand when some improvement ought to be made in aeronautism, from the fact that the old mode of ascending in a basket has be- 1 come tame?the people being used to it, the I novelty has disappeared?and it is necessary ' to do something new and startling in this age of sensation, to make people take an interest , in a matter that is destined at no distant day | to occupy much of public attention. In order to do this, he has dispensed with the use of j the time-honored, apparently tame and simple < support of a wicker basket, which, to all ap- 1 pearance, seems safe enough as long as the 1 Unllnn.1 nmi t? a /I a frv rafoill ifQ hllftvnnev I UU11UUIJ UAU ub luauw bv ivkmiu ivw vuvj w..vj and keep out of the way of tree tops and large bodies of water. He conceived the idea of attaching to the balloon a simple trapeze bar, and, dressed as an acrobat, made au ascension. The people became frightened and a new interest was awakened. At the height of half a mile he went through a variety of gymnastic performances, such as "skinning the cat," whirling around, hanging by his toes, suspending himself head downward by one foot, and other perilous looking evolutions, usually accomplished by circus performers while only a few feet above ground. He says that during an ascension made at Chicago, and while three-fourths of a mile high, he hung by the back of his head from the bar. I remarked that it was rather a dangerous proceeding, when he said, "yes, people sometimes call me crazy and reckless; but they forget that I value my life as much as they do, and that I know exactly what I am about. I feel just as contented and safe on a bare trapeze bar three miles high, as I do setting here. I see no danger, and, therefore, there is no danger to me." He said he would like to make an ascension standing on the top of a balloon, and that he intended to try, as he was perfectly confident that it could be done. He is just the man to accomplish the feat if it can be done. He says he feels so light and buoyant at the height of two or three miles that he ofteu performs for his own amusement while above the clouds. He has been lost, given up as dead, found again, bruised, scratched, washed in the Atlantic ocean and baptized in Lake Michigan; but is here yet to rehearse the story of his escapes, and without so much as a visible scratch or a bone broken. Jtie lias I lost two balloons, had one burnt when two j t miles high, and damaged several others. He | i likes sensation, but would prefer to make a , i voyage through the air, in aid of science and | * thedevelopmentof aerial subjects, and to that i 1 end he is making preparations to cross the ! j. Atlantic Ocean in an air ship. He says that! s the public make light of the idea of naviga-1 t tiun through the air, and hoot at its possibili-: li ty; but that people sneered and said that r Fulton was a lunatic when he announced his 1 ^ intention to make steam a motive power, and ^ that Prof. Morse was crazy, when he made known to the world that the present system of! jtelegraphing was among the undeveloped t sciences. He thinks that the day is near at | F hand when this subject will command univcr- a sal respect; for it must be a success. To con* ^ struct a Hying machine to navigate the air, ? ho says it is not necessary to have wings like a a bird, but that there are certain currents of j: air at certain heights, which always blow in i t .he same direction. He says the most impor- j ant part of aerial navigation has been discov:red, and that is to rise into the air and renain suspended without the aid of propelling lower. This is more than the bird can ac:omplish without the use of its wings to assist t through space. If this were not the case ve would have had aerial ships long ago. CROSSING THE ATLANTIC. Mr. D. expressed his determination to make j an attempt, at no distant da}', to cross the Atlantic Ocean by means of a balloon. He is now constructing a set of balloons for that | purpose. Being an excellent draughtsman j and "sketchist," he has made a design of the [jreat air ship with which he intends to accomplish this wonderful feat. He proposes to have three balloous, two large aud one small one. The two large balloons are to be + r\rr&l li Kv moflna Pnrd.Q flhoilf. lOOb^UWU IV^UbtiVl UJ IUVHUW V? VW4 ?<vj M.-WWWW I twelve feet apart, each having a basket at- i tached, in which he will carry provisions, j scientific instruments, etc., for use ou the ; voyage. Between the two large balloons he ! will suspend, in the same manner, another | balloon about half the size of the others. The apparatus will be so arranged that if an accident occurs to one balloon, he can use the other. By an ingenious contrivance he has also arranged, in case of necessity, to pass the gas from one air-ship to the other, and thus keep the.ra all equally supplied at the same i time. Beneath the three balloons, suspended j at a proper distance, he will have a beautiftil j nail-boat, ready to be rigged at a moment's j notice, should occasion require him to light on the surface of the water. He says that he :an travel east at all times, for at a certain height, there is always a current of air blowing in that direction. He proposes to ascend to that altitude where he has always found an 2astern current, and undertake the journey, j certain that he will safely reach the other side , af the Atlantic. He believes, that as there is always an eastern current at the height men-; tioned, there must certainly be a counter (or western) current, atsome other elevation, and hence the probability of a safe journey either way. Mr. D. intends to start from St. Louis, sometime during next June, en route (or air) for ! Boston, and soon after he will leave this-city j on his air explorations across the Atlantic. | The distance to England is about 2600 miles,! and he expects to make the voyage in about two days and a half. Knowing the man as I do"; and knowing, too, that he is not a "visionary," I have not the slightest doubt that he will attempt what he ; proposes; for he knows no such word as "fail." Hunkidori. FEDERAL AID FOR THE SOUTH. It is not well to encourage the hope that j '!>? T71 finirornmont trnnl/t nnv flip rtphts i 11IC X tutl t*I V* VTVl UIUVUV l'K'J v"v ?vww of the southern States, or help these States to pay, as such hope would engender a feeling of apathy and reliance which would render disappointment crushing and bitter indeed. It is extremely doubtful that the Federal Government will extend a helping hand in this way to the South ; yet it is not in the South only that the possibility of such a scheme is talked of. We copy below an article from Colonel Forney's paper, the Philadelphia Press, which, as will be seen, quotes the New York Times, the semi-official organ of the Federal Administration: j "The financial condition of the southern States is now a more serious problem than their political condition. The war, of course, left them impoverished and burdened with debt. It was expected that they would rapidly rc- j superate, but, instead the indebtedness of many j has swollen mountain-high, until repudiation j :>r bankruptcy are the only alternatives. The ' first is now seriously considered by some of! these Commonwealths, and may be resorted to ! unless some plan Is devised by which ruin may j be averted. In Virginia, the State, unable to i pay the interest on its millions of bonds, proposes to go into the insurance business, and in 2very part of the lately insurrectionary section, save only Texas, almost universal pov- j srty, corporate and individual, prevails. In j this exigency it has been suggested that the i General Government come to the relief of these States. Mr. Hale proposed it in his resent speech on the corruptions of southern politics, and business men in all the great; trade centres cordially approve it. The debt jf North Carolina is $30,000,000 ; South Car-; alina, $16,000,000; Virginia, $47,000,000;: Georgia, $10,500,000; Alabama, $15,500,000; i Mississippi, $25,000,000 ; Louisiana, $21,000,-1 DOO Tpnnpsspo. S31 000.000: Florida. S6.-1 300,000?or an aggregate indebtedness in ten j States of 8202,000,000. The most feasible plan suggested is by a correspondent of the New York Times, who would have Congress authorize the issue of 8100,000,000 of bonds by the General Government, to be distributed under suitable restrictions among the southern States for the purpose of relieving in part the people from liabilities contracted since the war for works of internal improvement by their respective State governments." Either this or some other means must first be j practiced for the assistance of the powerless ; South, or its recovery will be indefinitely de- j layed. As it is now, the average prosperity jf the section is not much greater than that )f Ireland." A Curious Story of tiie Late Confederacy.?The Lynchburg Virginian narrates in incident in the career of the late Confed2racy, which goes to show how greed may ! ivercome patriotism. Richmond was the j leadquarters of the Treasury Department, i ind the national currency was issued there. | A.t a time when a new issue of bonds had just seen ordered, there was employed in the rreasury Department a man named Elara, j ,vho saw the way to sudden wealth through a jold move, which he, with an associate, pro-1 ;eeded at once to make. One night the two i nen entered the Treasury building through a ! jack window, and taking the plates, from the i lenomination of 85 to 81000, they placed j hem on the press and printed, on the regular ! ? ? i ii rni japer, five million dollars, mere was no | nore difficulty in printing them than in printng an ordinary business card, and there were 10 precautions taken to prevent such an enerprise as that undertaken by the two wor- j hies. All that remained to be done to make the ! ?onds fit for circulation was to have them 1 igned. The signing at this time was done j >y the young ladies in the department, one [ lundred of whom were thus employed. The j neu persuaded two of these to sign their [ londs, and after a division they had each two i ,nd a half millions of bonds, worth, at that; ime, their face value in gold or silver. The discovery came in its natural way. The , taper was missed. The men were flush with I heir money, offering hundred dollar bills in J layment of small debts, and in other ways j .cted suspiciously. One was arrested, and . icing terribly frightened, confessed his guilt [ ,nd implicated the other. Both were thrown ! nto prison, from which one afterward escaped ,nd went North, but the other suffered the icnalty of his crime on the gallows. As for : ho bonds, nothing was ever known of them, i Whether they were concealed, destroyed, or nut in surreptitious circulation, is uncertain, but the former supposition is the most probable. Horace Greei.y's Barx.?Some ten years ago Mr. Greeley built a stone barn at his country seat, near New York; two years ago he wrote as follows: "My barn is a fair success. I placed it on the shelf of my hill, nearest to the upper (east) side of ray place, because a barnyard is a manufactory of fertilizers from materials of a lesser weight; and it is easier to draw these down hill than up. I built its walls wholly of stone, gathered or blasted from the adjacent slope, to the extent of four or five thousand tons, and laid in a box with a thin mortar of little lime and much sand, filling all the interstices, and binding A n mnna fill m \T vnalla a pa UIO VY11UIC iU a ouiiu uioco, Kill uij nuuo miv nearly one solid rock, while the roof is of Vermont slate. I drive into three stories?a basement for manure, a stable for animals, and a story above this for hay, while the grain is pitched into the loft above, from whose floor the roof rises steep to the height of 16 or 18 feet. There should have been more wiudows for light and air; but ray barn is convenient, impervious to frost, and I am confident that cattle are wintered at a fourth less cost than when they shiver in board shanties, with cracks between the boards that will admit your hands. No part of our rural economy is more wasteful than the habitual exposure of our animals to pelting, chilling storms, and to intense cold. Building with concrete is still a novelty, and was far more so ten years ago, when I built my bam. I could build|better and cheaper, but I am glad that I did not. I calculate that this bam will be abidingly useful long after I shall be forgotten, and that had I chosen at first to have my name lettered on its front, it would have remained there to honor me as a builder long after it had ceased to have any other signification." ? ^ How Drinking Causes Apoplexy.?It is the essential nature of all wines and spirits to send an increased amount of blood to the brain. The first effect of taking a glass of wine or stronger form of alcohol, is to send the blood there faster than common, hence the circulation that gives the red face. It increases the activity of the brain, and it works faster and so does the tongue. But as the blood goes to the brain faster than common, it returns faster, and no special harm results. But suppose a man keeps on drinking, the blood is sent to the brain so fast, in such large quantities, that in order to make room for it the arteries have to enlarge themselves; they increase in size, and in doing so they press against the more yielding flacid veins which carry the blood out of the brain and thus diminish the size of their pores, the result being that the blood is not only carried to the arteries of the brain faster than is natural or healthful, but it is prevented from leaving it as fast as usual; hence, a double set of causes of death are in operation. Hence, a man may drink enough of braudy or other spirits in a few hours, or even minutes, to bring on a fatal attack of apoplexy. This is literally being dead drunk.?Dr. Hall. Pensions.?The annual report of the U. S. Commissioner of Pensions, transmitted to Congress at the opeuing of this session, estimated the total amount needed for pensions for the ensuing fiscal year at no less than 830,800,000, and yet this does not include the whole account, for on the 30th of June, 1872, the close of the last fiscal year, there were on file in the Pension Bureau, uriadjudicated, no less than 37,176 claims of invalid pensioners, 33,762 claims of widows, orphans, and dependent relatives, and 11,580 of soldiers and ~ ; widows of the war of 1812. To meet every just claim Congress promptly voted $30,480,000. We have just barely finished with Rev| olutionary pensions, although it is nearly a century since independence was declared. If the pensions of the war of 1812 hang out in the same way they will be closed about the year 1900, and as for the pensions on the civil war list it will be 1960 before they are closed out. These figures arc in no sense exaggerated. Indeed we are not certain but there may still be some Revolutionary pensions left. There is nothing like a pension for insuring i? lUllg iiic. ? ? Good Nature.?There are many persons who suppose that good nature is kindness. It has not one attribute of it, necessarily. Half the time good nature is good digestion ; that is all. Half the time good nature is nerves well sheathed in adipose matter. Many men do not feel cross, and are not irritated; and why should they not be kind and easy-going ? Why, we can show you hundreds of blessings, sweet-cheeked, sunny-faced, plump-bodied men who go through the world kindly. We don't undervalue them. They lubricate the way of life, but they ought not to call themselves by false names. Good nature is far more physical than mental. And it is not active; it does not energize anything; it does not suffer for the sake of doing good to other people. There are many rough, severe men, who, though they will hew you with their tongue, will put forth ten times as much true love for you as these waxy-cheeked, goodnatured men. The Miller axd his Dam.?A miller busy at his work, was notified that a small leak had been discovered in his dam, and the informer suggested its immediate repair, even though the mill had to be stopped. But the miller did not consider it of sufficient consequence; and went on with his work. In the evening, he was again notified of the break, which by this time had become serious. "I will attend to it early in the morning," said the miller. At midnight, with a terrible crash, the dam broke, and at daylight was totally destroyed. A bad habit, if not checked in the beginniug, will in time become as ruinous as the leak which destroyed the miller's property. J&2T "Mother, mother," cried a young rook, returning hurriedly from its first flight, "I'm so frightened! I've seen such a sight!" "What sight, my son ?" asked the rook. "Oh! white creatures screaming and running, straining their necks, and holding their heads ever so high. See mother, there they go!" "Geese, my son ; merely geese," replied the sapient bird. "Through life, child, observe, that when you meet any one who makes a great fuss about himself, and tries to lift his head higher than the rest of the world, you may set him down at once to be a goose." Heavy Guns.?One of the 35*ton guns, known as the Woolwich infants, has been fired at Shoeburiness, England, to test range and accuracy, and the performance was found to be remarkably good. This success seems to have aroused Mr. Bessemer, the great steel manufacturer, who is about to make a cannon twenty yards long. The diameter will be forty-eight inches and the bore thirty inches. It is expected to discharge a shell weighing five tons. The Epizootic in Salt Lake.?The horse epidemic has become very general, and is rapidly spreading among horses and mules. Transportation between Camp Douglas and the city has been stopped. Stages and mail lines are hauling off their teams. The street cars are making but few trips, and the livery stable keepers report nearly all of their horses affected.