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unu lieary ln-g * - - ? ? . ? ? ?? > .... ,. . ? ? ? lewis 3vi. GBisTj i?ropfietor. j ^n Jniepenient Jfamilg ftctospaper: Jfar tjje promotion of t|e political, Social, ^grimltnral aab Commercial Interests of % Sont|. jterms?$3.00 a tear, in advance. VOL. 24. ' " ' YORKYILLE, S. C., THUBS^AY, SEMTEMBEB 5, 1878. NO. 36. which he bad to correct, and it was late in the evening when the work was complete. "How is it now, Tom ?" asked Mr. Scott, as he came into the testing house and found the workmen ready to depart. "She's all right, sir. You may give your warrant without fear." "God bless yon, Tom! You don't know how like sweet music the old voice sounds. Will you take your place again ?" "Wait till Monday morning, sir. If you will offer it to me then, I will take it." At the little cottage Ellen Darcey's fluttering heart was sinking. That morning after Tom had gone, she had found a two dollar bill in tho coffee cup. She knew that he left j it for her. She had been out and bought tea and sugar, and flour and butter and a bit of tender steak; and all day long a ray of light j had bf-en danciner and shimmering before j Jftitrtel fflfirg. FORTY YEARS AGO. How wondrous are the changes, Jim, Since forty years ago, When gals wore woollen dresses, Jim, And boys wore pants of tow; When shoes were made of calf skin And socks of homespun wool, And children did a half day's work, Before the hour of school. The girls took music lessons, Jim, Upon the spinning wheel, And practiced late and early, Jim, On the spindle, swift and reel ; The boys would ride bareback to the mill, A dozen miles or so, And hurry off before 'twas day, Some iorty years ago. The people rode to meeting, In sleds instead of sleighs ; And wagons rode as easy, Jim, As buggies now-a-days: And oxen answered well for teams, rw? v. faa oiaiit i JLQOUgll bilVJ U UO VW oiwrr, For people lived not half so fast Some forty years ago. 0, well do I remember, Jim, That Wilaon'?'patent stove, That father bought and paid for, Jim, In cloth our gals had wove; And how the neighbors wondered, Jim, When we got the thing to go, They said 'twould burst and kill us all, / Some forty years ego. - ? Yes, everything is different, Jim, -- From what it used to was. For men are always tampering, Jim, With God'*great natural laws; But what on earth we're coming to? Doe6 anybody know ? For everything has changed so much, 8ince forty years ago. lit ONLY A HUSK. Tom Darcey, yet a young man, bad grown to be a very bard one. At heart he might have been all right, if his head and bis will bad only been right; but these being wrong the whole machine was going to the bad very fast, though there were times when the heart felt something of its old truthful yearnings. Tom had lost his place as foreman in the great machine shop, and what money he now earned came from odd jobs of tinkering which he was able to do, here and there, at private houses; for Tom was a genius as well as a mechanic, and when his head was steady enough he could mend a clock, or clean a watch, as well as he could set up and regulate a steam engine?and this latter he could do better tban any other man ever employed by the Scott Falls Manufacturing Company. One day Tom bad a job to mend a broken mowing machine and reaper for which he received five dollars ; and on the following morning he started out for bis old haunt? * ~ U/i IvriAin kof kio VX7I fo but? village bavciu. XIO aucn Iiu?v u?o n??v sadly Deeded the moDey, and that his two little children were io absolute sufferiog from waDt of clothing, and that morniog he held a debate with the better part of himself; but the better part bad become very weak and shaky, and the demon of appetite carried the day. So away to the tavern Tom went, where, for two or three hours, he felt the exhilarating effects of the alcoholic draught, and fancied himself happy, as be could sing and laugh ; but, as usual, stupefaction followed and the man died out. He drank while he could stand, and then lay down in a comer, where his companions left him. It was late at night, almost midnight, when the landlord's wife came into the bar-room to see what kept her husband up, and she quickly saw Tom. "Peter," said she, not in a pleasant mood, "why don't you send that miserable Tom Darcey home? He's been hanging round here long enough." Tom's stupefaction was not Bound sleep. The dead coma bad left bis brain, and the calling of his name stung his senses to keen attention. He had an insane love for rum, but did not love the landlord. In other years Peter Tindar and himself had loved and wooed the sweet maiden?Ellen Goss?and he won her, leaving Peter to take up with the vinegary spinster who had brought him the tavern, and he knew that lately the tapster had gloated over the misery of the woman who had once discarded him. "Why don't you send him home?" demanded Mrs. Tindar, with an impatient stamp of the foot. "Hush, Betsy ! He's got money. Let him be, and he'll be sure to spend it before be goes home. I'll have the kernel of the nut, and his wife may have the husk!" With a sniff and a snap Betsy turned away, and shortly afterward Tom Darcey lifted him? tf _ l: ii sen upou iiio ciuuw "Ah ! Tom, are you awake?" "Yes." "Then rouse up and have a warm glass." Tom got upon his feet and steadied himself. "No, Peter, I won't drink any more tonight." . . : "It won't hurt you, Tom?just a glass." "I know it wont!" said Tom, buttoning up his coat by the only solitary button left. - "I know it won't." And with this he went out into the chill air of midnight. When he had got away from the shadow of the tavern, he stopped and looked up at the stars, and then he looked down upon the earth. "Aye," he muttered, grinding his heel in the gravel. "Peter Tiudar is taking the kernel, and leaving poor Ellen the worthless husk?a husk more than worthless! aud I am helping him to do it. I am robbing my ; wife of joy, robbing my children of honor ! and comfort, robbing myself of love and life?just that Peter Tindar may have the ' kernel and Ellen the husk ! We'll see 1" It was a revelation to the man. The tav- j ern keeper's brief speech, meant not for bis j ears, had come upon his senses as fell the voice of the Riseu Oue upon Saul of Tarsus, j "We'll see!" he replied, setting his foot; Brraly upon the ground ; and then he wended J his way homeward. On the following morning he said to his j wife: "Ellen, have you any coffee in the house ?" | "Yes, Tom." She did not tell him that her ; sister had given it to her. She was glad to ! hear him ask for coffee instead of the old, old ! cider. "I wish you would make a cup, good and ... >? strong, There was really music in Tom's voice, and the wife set about the work with a strange flutter at her heart. Tom drank two cups of the strong, fragrant coffee, and then went out?went out with a resolute step, aud walked straight to the great manufactory, where he found Mr. j Scott in the office. "Mr. Scott, I want to learn my trade over again." "Eh, Tom ! What do you mean ?" "I mean that it's Tom Darcey, come back to the old place, asking forgiveness for the past, and hoping to do better in the future." j "Torn 1" cried the manufacturer, starting forward and grasping his hand, "are you in earnest? Is it really the old Tom ?" "It's what's left of him, sir, and we'll have him whole and stroDg very soon if yv)u'll only set him at work." "Work! Aye, Tom, and bless you, too! \ There is an engine to be set up aud tested \ to-day. Come with me." 1 Tom's bands were weak and unsteady, but \ his brain was clear, and under his skillful i supervision the engine was set up and tested ; \ but it was not perfect. There were mistakes s \ her?a ray from the blessed light of other days. With prayer and hope she bad set out the tea table, and waited, but the sun went down and no Tom came. Eight o'clock? and almost nine. Oh! was it but a false glimmer after r*ll ? , Hark ! The old step! quick, strong, eager for home. Yes, it was Tom, with the old grime upon bis hands, and the odor of oil upon his garments. "I have kept you waiting, Nellie." "Tom 1" "I didn't mean to, but the work hung on." "Tom ! Tom ! You have been to the old shop!" "Yes, and I'm to have the old place, and?" "Oh! Tom." And she threw her arms around his neck and covered his face with kisses. * "Nellie, darling, wait a little, and you shall have the old Tom back again.'' "Oh ! Tom. I've got him now?bless him 1 bless him ! My own Tom ? my husband, my darling!" < And then Tom Darcey realized the full power and blessing of woman's love. It was a banquet of the gods, was that supper?of the household gods all restored? with the bright angels of peace and love and joy spreading their wings over the board. On the following Monday morning, Tom Darcey assumed his place at the head of the great machine shop, and those who thoroughly knew him bad no fear of his going back into the slough and joylessness. A few days later Tom met Peter Tindar on the street. "Eh ! Tom, old boy, what's up!" "I am up?right side up." "Yes?I see. But I hope you haven't forsaken us, Tom ?" "I have forsaken only the evil you have in store, Peter. The fact is concluded. My wife and little ones had fed on busks long enough, and if there was a good kernel left in my heart, or in my manhood, they should have it." "Ah! you heard what I said to my wife that night ?" "Yes, Peter; and I shall be grateful to you for it as long as I live. My remembrance of you will always be relieved by that tinge of warmth and brightness." THE EGG TRICK. FOOLING THE "WRONG PA8SENGER. When Whacker, "the magician," last visited our land, he found no greater admirer than Job Pennypacker. Job himself had dabbled, in an amateur manner, in legerdemain; had made many shillings disappear through tables, and reappear at the cry, "Presto, change!" could make six balls fly about in the air with the ease of an Indian juggler, and even while bobbing about, vanish, to be found in the pockets of innocent bystanders. And Mr. Whacker's mysterious performances were viewed by him with the sympathizing pleasure of a brother artist. The "egg trick," which was, in brief, a seemingly inexplicable power of taking eggs out of anything, in any number and under any circumstances, particularly charmed him, and seeking audience with Mr. Whacker, he persuaded him to teach him the wonderful art, and soon found himself capable of delighting and astonishing bis acquaintances. He took eggs out of his grandfather's hat and his mother's work-basket, accused the postman of having brought him a dozen in a letter, and proved it on the spot. He caused the servant-girl to give warning, by fishing eggs out of her bandbox, frightened ignorant people, and puzzled smart ones to his heart's content. And once or twice he played the old stock trick of the magician upon some market-woman by buying eggs from her, which he broke in her presence, taking from the shell not a yolk but a half crown, and so setting her to smashing her whole stock, believing them to be the production of the veritable fairy heu which laid the golden eggs But even a wonderful trick loses its charm when it has been played on one a hundred times. Therefore, that the time and money which he had spent on the acquisition of the egg trick might not be wasted, Mr. Pennypacker turned his attention to the public, aud upon the occasion of a long journey practiced upon guards, porters and fellow-passengers to an astonishing extent. It was upon a certain railroad that he last came upon as tempting an opportunity as had | ever been offered him. Opposite him rode an elderly woman with a basket full of provisions, radishes, turnips,; lettuce and new laid eggs, and near her sat a I stupid-looking young man, with his mouth j wide open and his eyes almost shut, and both ; hands plunged into the pockets of a coat several sizes too large for him. Mr. Job Pennypacker chuckled. Now he would play magician on a larger scale than ever before. tt u i ne wouiu urgm uiiiuiv, nuu liic jjjul should "thicken" as he went on. Accordingly he stooped and apparently picked up an egg from the floor, which he handed to the old lady, with an indifferent "Here, ma'am, you've dropped this out of your basket." "Thank ye, I'm sure," said the woman, and he settled the egg comfortably amongst its fellows. In a moment more, however, Mr. Penny- j packer stooped again. "I must say, madam," he said, a little ; sharply, "that you are very careless with such j brittle things as eggs. Here are three more on the floor." "I can't understand !" cried the old lady. "Why, there must be a hole in the basket, j Why, thank you. I wonder they aren't i mashed." But there was no hole in the basket, and finally the old lady decided that there was "n<> accounting for them eggs getting out," and thrust them carefully under the lettuce and raddishes. By this time the attention of all the other passengers was aroused, and now was the : moment for the final effort. "The most singular thing I ever heard of," said Job. "Ah I ah! I understand it now. Don't you feel ashamed of yourself, sir?" and he frowned and nodded at the stupid young man with the big coat, who scowled at him in return. "I ashamed ! I haven't done nothin',"; cried the young man, indignantly. "Do you call it nothing to rob this excellent old lady of her eggs," cried Job, with an air of virtuous disgust. "You have done nothing else since you entered the carriage ; and you have a dozen in you pocket at this moment!" "You're telling lies !" cried the young man. "What do I want of raw eggs ? You'd better search me, and see whether I've got any eggs on me or no." "I will, then, sir; I will," said Job, "and I call on my fellow-passengers to be my witnesses. Ah! I thought so! Two eggs in your vest pocket. Here, madam. What! two more in the pockets of your trousers ! Take them, madam, take them ; and?bless me! his coat pockets are full of them! Here, hand them over to the lady, some one. One?two?three?six?ten?a dozen 1" "He ought to be ashamed of himself!" cried one of the passengers. "It's perfectly dreadful!" exclaimed another?a woman. "I feel cold chills all over me when I think of it," sobbed the old lady. "Put him out!" yelled a chorus. "We don't want thieves here!" "I haven't taken a solitary egg," said the yonng man, evidently trembling. "This here fellow is a devil?that's what he is. Well, find more eggs in my pockets, will you ?" "No more iD your pockets, friend," said Mr. Pennypacker, "but in your hat. Ah! 'I&Tl Thought so!'' He Bnatcbed off the soft hat and looked into it with a stern eye, and began to take from it one egg after another, while the old lady's astonishment and the indignation of the other passengers grew greater and greater. Just at this instant the whistle shrieked, and the train slowly came to a standstill at Barkington. "I ain't goin' to stand this no more!"yelled Job Pennypacker's victim. "Let me go!" And, wrenching himself from the amateur magician's grasp, he rushed from the car, sprang to the ground, and was seen to dart up the road at a tremendous rate, only pausing on the platform for a moment to pick up his hat, which his tormentor threw out of the window after him. "It becomes my duty to explain," said Job Pennypacker, rubbing bis hands and looking conceitedly about him. "That young man is as honest as any of us. I've only been teasing him a little. You've all heard of Whacker, the magician ? Ah, I see you have; and of bis famous egg. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I learned the trick of Mr. Whacker while he was performing in York, and I think you've seen enough to know that I learned it tolerably?very tolerably, for an amateur." "Astonishing I" cried one. "Astonishing 1" echoed the rest of the passengers. But now the guard, a large man, slow of speech and sarcastic of smile, put in his word as he took Job's ticket. "Well, I suspected something of the sort," be said, "but I wasn't sure. You see that fellow you tackeled is a well knowu pickpocket, and he is capable of stealing eggs or anything else. Perhaps you'd better examine your pockets. He's very adroit, and if you've pot off without losing anvthiner. after being so O O / - O' ^ ^ w close to that fellow, you are a magician." With a pale face, Job Pennypacker began to dive first into one pocket and then into the other. With a paler one he sat down, leaving them all turned inside out and empty. His handkerchief was gone, his cigar case, pocket-book, which contained thirty pounds. Each of these discoveries caused him a new pang. He put his hand .to his throat to loosen his cravat, for Job Pennypacker was of an appoplectic habit, and easily lost his breath under the influence of agitation. Alas! a diamond pin of value had disappeared also. So, in a moment more he discovered, bad the amethyst ring which he always wore upon his little finger. The passengers looked grim. The old woman with the basket looked quite a moral. Job did not enjoy the joke. He got down at the next station and telegraphed the robbery to the proper quarters. But he has never recovered his property, and the "egg trick" has forever lost its charm to him. finding. POSTAGE STAMPS. THE PROCE&S OF MAKING THEM?AN INTERESTING DESCRIPTION. The process of making postage stamps for the government, as seen at an establishment l- -?*_ - *1 J -1 I I ID new i ofk cuy, is mus uescriueu uy u recent visitor. After the paper is "wet down," as the printers Ray?every hundred sheets being counted, and the number marked by a projecting tag?it is taken up to the printers. Each sheet is of the right size for making 200 stamps, of the ordinary size. Curiously enough, none of the gentlemen of whom I inquired, seemed to know what paper mill makes the paper; but it is made especially for the purpose. The printing room is crowded with presses used for printing the stamps; no fewer than eleven presses being in operation. Each press has three persons in attendance?one to "teud pre88,"one to ink the plate, and one? the "printer"?to brush off all the ink (in a wonderfully swift and dexterous way), from the surface as soon as it is put on. The reason of this, which otherwise would be a piece of self-stultification, is that the stamps are "counter-sunk," or cut in, and the ink is not wanted above them, on the plane surface. It would cost too much and take too long to prepare separate steel engraved dies for every stamp; so a ca9e-hardened steel die is made, down at the Continental Bank Note Company's, all carefully eugraved and cut away to perfection, and then a steel plate, softened for the purpose, is, by machinery, rolled over the die, which leaves its impress every time, until the entire plate is hardened and ready for use?one for every printing press in the room. These are hand presses, and the cylinder that makes the impression is merely turned by a single whirl of the wheel, obtained hy the leverage afforded by the pro jecting spokes or handles. It is all done in a surprisingly quick way ; and there is no "lost motion" of wheel, cylinder or elbows. The ink varies according to the kind of stamp. Some of the presses are printing the red 2 cent stamps, some the 3 cent green ones, and others different colors. Two-thirds of all the stamps, says the superintendent, are the Q oont npoon rmoo Th? "ink " R mippr ?tlh " *""" b"""? "~> - ~l stance in bulk, and queerer still when seen on the ink table and roller, is made by the note company, and its secret is theirs. All they know at the printing room is that some kinds have "laundry blue" in them, and that all kinds are made with reference to canceling? to the effect of the dauhy canceling-stamp used in the post-office. For the orange-toned 90 cent stamps (these are the highest denorai- j nations I saw), and also for one of the ver- j million stamps, a peg or two below that, the | materials are imported from Europe, and i mixed in New York. All the others are wholly made here. The different colored inks are apparently about the consistency of gome styles of newspaper ink ; but not by all means so sticky. The "printer" who brushes off the plate the moment before it goes into the press does it all iu six swift motions?three with a sort of cloth, and three (to conclude) with his bare hand. The operation, for deftness and celerity, is like one of Heller's, the magician. The ink is rolled over the plate with a roller made of Canton flannel. The printers are paid by the hundred. Precisely how much they earn I could not fiud out, but it ought to be good wages, for they "worked like beavers." There is no idling or play in that room?nor anywhere else in this busy establishment. The blank paper, all numbered, is dharged to the printers to whom it is delivered, and the plates are also numbered and charged .to-them. When not in actual use tbe plates-tire kept darefully locked up in the safe?&3ittle room in it* self. OVER TWO MILLION STAMPS A DAY. Each of these eleven; presses turns out 1,200 sheets a day, or JfiOO a week. Each sheet contains 200, and aMhey are delivered i to the postmasters onlyjfn sheets of 100 it I follows that each sheet ?musl be cut right 1 through the middle. This is done by band. ' A girl, with a long pair .of shears, cuts them as accurately as a ruled line, showing what a | good eye and rapid hand{ can do. There is no room in the crowded ?heet tor any error, and the girls make none*1 One girl whom I watched for a while,jjut 50 sheets a minute? 11,000 a day! It was a silent cut, cut, cut? from morning till night?working as if her life depended upon it. She sits at her work. The girls are all busy at a variety of processes in the preparation of the stamps, all of which require a delicacy of touch as well as swiftness, and their wages average $8 a week, or a little over. , From the printing room and the drying room (the latter an insufferably hot place where the sheets are place J on drying racks) they go to the gumming room?which is also a drying room ; but nof hot?the drying being aided by revolving ftms affixed to a shaft, which send their influence through lofty piles of the gummed sheets m frames. The gum used is not gum arabic?that would, in drying, cause the sheets to curl and crack?but is simply a kind of potato starch. It is made I believe in Providence. A girl swiftly adjusts the edges of a heaifoif printed sheets so as to slide them all into hlace while she deftly daubs them at a single stroke with the mucilaginous substance, which she applies with a single motion of a wide brush. This is the substance you lick "to make it stick" on the letter you drop in the post office. The sheets are dried in wdodentfr&mes. SMOOTHED AND COUNTED. After the gumming and drying, the stamps, in sheets, are flattened out and made smooth by being subjected to the persuasive power of a hydraulic press, the -fifrce being 450 tons. They are put in thin botrds, which divide the several packages. - Ad# after they come out they are taken and counted again by girls seated at tables, who also swiftly adjust them in even heaps while counting. Let one of these damsels make a mistake, even of a single sheet, and she necessarily discovers it on the flnal footings and adjustments. Then there is a careful going over all these weary piles?thousands of sheets?till that lost sheet is found. If he doesn't turn up then the piles are turned around, and gone through with from the edgo on the side, not the oppo site edge?and lo, the delinquent is probably found to have got turned under, and so did not report at muster, for the count is done at the edges. i ? ?> PERU OF ICED TEA. Beware of the cup. In these days of raging thermometers and busy coroners it is fraught with peril. Scientific men, learned men in the professions, have compelled us to drop the luscious strawberry, in terror, by screaming out to us that it would give us hydrophobia. They have made us heartsick with apprehension by showing that the tempting peach in our hands was reeking with deadly jprussic acid. ?bey ^ave filled our ice cream with poisonous impurities. They have forbidden us to drink water that has passed through iron or lead pipes, or that has stood in a wooden vessel, or lain in a cemented cistern, or rippled from the rock of the hillside, impregnated with heaven and chemistry only know what awful substance, until one restriction after another has made it the only safe way for a man to get a drink of water, for him to lie down on his back, open his mouth and wait for a shower. Science has kindly warned us of the death that lurks in the coffee cup. The cup that blessUln Smnnina t ItA rllrtAfti Jnn C3 LUC uica&mai tauic lUJ^aiis tuc ui^qouuu. Large doses of it produce palpitation of the heart. It is adulterated with Venetian red and native sesquioxide of iron. Science has also warned us againBt the use of warm tea, bread and butter, meat, vegetables, fruit, grain, roots, berries, milk, and similar articles as food. Singularly enough, science has not yet assailed iced tea. But it will not do to permit people to enjoy this cool, delightful beverage, simply because its taste is grateful to the wearied system during the scorching weather. We must do our duty, though science may shrink from it, and the people may cry out against us. There is danger in iced tea, and if you would live long and well shun the cooling cup. We will cite a few instances of carefully made experiments. On the 10th of June, John C. HerapBtead, of West Hill, began to drink iced tea at dinner and supper. He kept up this practice for nearly three weeks and then one day, going down the Davidson street step9, slipped and fell, abrading the skin of both legs, and runniug a sliver into the ball of his thumb so far that it made his teeth ache when he pulled it out. His clothes wre also considerably torn. When he went home that evening he learned that his eldest boy had been whipped at school for sticking a pin as far through another boy as the head would let it go. He was warned to quit drinking iced tea, but he persisted in the practice, and he is now sleeping in the valley, between West aud North Hill, where he lives, and says he never felt so well in his life. But maybe he lies about it. Henry Esterfeldt, of Eighth street drank iced tea regularly every summer for three years.* He persisted, and one Sunday afternoon while he was dfct driving, his horse ran outqv anH amaohaH apopntppn Hollars nut of a -"-J ? - ?-? borrowed buggy. He paid the money, but neglected the warning. He went on drinking iced tea, and in less than six weeks somebody poisoned his dog. A young woman who did plain sewing in this city, while employed in the family of Ralph Henderson, of Maple street, became addicted to the use of iced tea. She soon ran a sewing machine needle through her thumb, and for many days, whenever she picked up a cup of iced tea, a sharp pain ran through that thumb. She refused to obey the warning, however, and in six weeks she was carried away. The man who carried her away married her first. Last week at the beginning of the heated term, two eminent scientific gentlemen, of Burlington, took a strong, healthy, black and tan dog and immersed him in a tub of pure cistern water, into which a weak solution of iced tea had been poured. They held the dog's head under the water fifteen minutes, although ; he struggled violently, thus showing natural aud instinctive aversion to a substance which intelligent human beings blindly and eagerly drink, and when the gentlemen took him out of the tub he was dead. If a teacupful of iced tea in a tubful of water will kill a clog, think for yourselves what must be the effect of a strong, undiluted cup of this decoction upon the system of a weak woman. Eleven grains of strychnine mixed in a tablespoonful of iced tea will kill the oldest man in America.?Burlington Hawkeye. Whatever you wish your child to be, be it yourself. If you wish it to be happy, sober, truthful, affectionate, honest and godly, be yourself all these. If you wish it to be lazy and sulky, a liar and a thief, a drunkard and a swearer, be all these yourself. SING SING STATE PRISON. A reporter of the Star recently visited the New York State Prison at Sing Sing, and j learned the following facts in regard to the institution from one of the officials: "How many prisoners are there ?" "One thousand six hundred and fifty at the present time?too many for the accommodations." "Have they suffered in the hot weather?" \ "Yes. It has made several ill." "How about their meals?" | "They breakfast at 6 a. m., have hash? ; boarding-house style [the chaplain smiled]? j coffee and good bread. They dine at twelve i o'clock noon, and their bill of fare is changed from day to day. Sometimes they have boiled beef, sometimes fish or ham, with vegetables. On Sunday they have a rice pudding, butter and coffee, and every day a good vegetable soup. To these meals they march in lock-step?by the company, under a keeper? each company being composed of from forty to seventy men. Grace is not said at mealtime as formerly, great complaint having been mado Ktr fVin nrioAnara of Kninrv Irnnf TOQltinrr UIOUU l/J bUV ^IICTVUVIO Ul/ UVlUg UMIVlUg while their food was cooling on the tables. Supper is given them in their cells, to which they go at six o'clock p. m. This meal consists of cold meat, tea or coffee, and frequently cheese?the last a novelty in prison diet." "How about the chapel ? Do all the prisoners attend that?" "Yes. We have a nine o'clock a. m. service in the chapel, which seats 1,200. They are all anxious to attend, and are seemingly much interested. I never preach to them? but talk to them and try to give them words of encouragement, the whole service taking only an hour. We have good singing by convicts who have rehersals during the week." "We have a contract for making stoves, having 900 men at work in the foundry alone. Then Bhoes are made by the convicts for the Bay State Company, and 1,600 pairs are turned out each day. Laundry-wash is done for the city stores very extensively, each man earning frdm sixty to ninety cents per day for the State. Then there is, in addition, the regular prison work, the manufactures, clothing, etc. Often the convicts say to me, 'Oh ! if I had only learned a trade I never would have been here.' They all learn one while here." "Is all the labor done by the convicts ?" "Yes, all of it, and the accounts are kept by accomplished book-keepers?all prisoners." "What notorious criminals are here at present?" "Well, there is Bush the celebrated carriagemaker, Babbitt's defaulting clerk, and a number of others?I don't like mentioning them." "Most of the prisoners are young ?" "Yes, almost all; and let me state that they, one and all, express their satisfaction with the present management of the prison." The warden on again visiting his office expressed a desire to have the reporter dine with him, and on acceptance opened a door into a corridor and led the way into very handsome parlors. The ladies of the family soon after led the way to the dining-room, where an appetizing dinner was served by two servants in white linen clothes?both convicts. All their servants, in fact, are convicts, and very good servants they are, too, as it is considered a privilege to have the freedom of the hoU86. FORTI IN A DUEL. AN INCIDENT IN MISSISSIPPI LIFE FIFTY YEARS AGO. ? The famous duel in which forty or more gentlemen were engaged, in 1828, is still remembered in Natchez, Miss. Colonel James Bowie, the famous fighter and iuventor of the knife which bears his name, used to spend a great deal of bis time in that city. He was challenged by a gentleman from Alexandria, La., whose friends, to the number of forty or more, accompanied him to Natchez to see fair play, knowing that Bowie was a desperate man and had his own friends about him. All parties went upon the field. The combatants took their places in the centre, separated from their friends in the rear, or enough not to endanger them with their balls. Behold the battle array thus : Twenty armed Louisianians fifty yards behind their champiou and his seconds and surgeon, and opposite them, as far behind Bowie and his seconds and surgeons, twenty armed Mississippians. Behold the heights of Natchez thronged with spectators and a steamer in the river rounded to, its deck bla,k with passengers watching with deep interest, the scene. The plan of fight was to exchange shots twice with pistols and to close with knives, Bowie being armed with bis own terrible weapon. At the first fire both parties escaped. At the second the Louisianian was too quick and took advantage of Bowie, who waited the J A . iL.*. T>?? i K*V.,I wuru. i buia uuwico ecvuuu uicu iuui play," and shot the Louisianian dead. The second of the latter instantly killed the slayer of his principal. Bowie drove his knife into this man. The surgeons now crossed blades, while, with loud cries, came on the two parties of friends, the light of battle in their eyes. In a moment the whole number was engaged in a fearless conflict. Dirks, pistols and knives were used with fatal effect until one party drove the other from the field. I do not know how many were killed and wounded in all, but it was a dreadful slaughter. Bowie fought like a lion, but fell covered with wounds. For months he lingered at the Mason House before he fully recovered.? Morristown (Tenn.) Gazette. Sleeping Positions.?The food passes from the stomach at the right side, hence its passage is facilitated by going to sleep on the right side. Water and other fluidsflow equally on a level, and it requires less power to propel them on a level than upward. The heart propels the blood to every part of the ; body at each successive beat, and it is easy to i see that if the body is in a horizontal position | the blood will be sent to the various parts of j the system with greater ease, with less expenditure of power, and more perfectly tliau : could possibly be done if one portion of the ! body were elevated above a horizontal line. On the other hand, if one portion of the : body is too low, the blood does not return as j readily as it is carried thitl er; hence, there | is an accumulation and dimension, and pain ; soon follows. If a person goes to sleep with the head but I a very little lower than the body, he will eith-;' er soon wake up, or will die with apoplexy be-1 fore the morning, simply because the blood |, could not get back from the brain as fast as ; it was carried to it. If a person lays himself: down on a level floor to sleep, a portion of the , head at least is lower than the heart, and dis- , comfort is soon induced ; hence, very proper-1 ( ly, the world over, the head is elevated during ; sleep. The savage uses a log of wood or a bunch j < of leaves ; the civilized a pillow; and if this i pillow is too thick, raising the head too high, i there is not blood enough carried to the brain,; I and as the brain is nourished, renewed, and ; invigorated by the nutriment it receives from '1 the blood during sleep, it is not fed sufficiently, and the result is unquiet sleep during the night, and a waking up in weariuess, without refreshment, to be followed by a day of drow-1 siness, discomfort, and general inactivity of both mind and body. i The healthful mean is a pillow which, by j i the pressure of the head, keeps it about 4 : inches above the level of the bed or mattress ; i nor should the pillow be so soft as to allow the i head to be buried in it and excite perspira- i tiou, endangering ear-ache or cold in the bead J on turning over. The pillow should be hard enough to prevent the head sinking more than about 3 inches. > ? The Toad.?Not only are toads harmless, they are absolutely and directly useful to us, perambulating our fields and gardens at night, and devouring vast quantities of injurious insects which could never be destroyed by the hand of man. The mode in which a toad takes his prey is very curious. The sing ilarly beautiful eye of the toad is as quick as it is bright, and if within the range of its vision an insect or a grub should happen to move, the toad is sure to see it, and nearly certain to catch it. First, the toad holds its head as high as possible, so as to make sure of its prey, and then crawls slowly towards - i ?e?:? i-_ ic it, preiernug lu get uiiuei it 11 jjuosiuic. When it is nearly within reach it gazes intent at the insect, its mouth being gradually brought nearer and nearer; something pink then flashes from its mouth, and the insect vanishes as if by magic. The pink flash is the tongue of the toad, which is formed in a rather curious way. The base of the tongue i9 fixed close to the front of the lower jaw, and is long and tapering, the tip pointing down the throat when it is at rest. When, however, it is used for catching prey, it is thrown out with a sort of "flick," and the tip, which is covered with a glutinous secretion, adheres to the insect and conveys it down the toad's throat before the prey has time to make an effort for escape. When the toad swallows its prey it does it with a mighty effort, during which the eyes almost disappear, the size of the insect having little to do with the vehemence of the demonstration. Sometitnes, when a large beetle is swallowed, it does struggle, but too late, and for some time its struggles may be seen through the thin and ribless sides of its capturer, the toad sitting the while in perfect composure, not in the least affected by the scratchings and kickings that are going on in its interior.? The Lancet. How Barnum Became a Showman.? Barnum says that the best investment he has ever made was the $1,000 whioh he gave (1835) to the Philadelphia exhibitors of Joice Heth, the pretended negro nurse of George Washington. He had then lost most of his property, and borrowing the amount from his friends, be made a journey to Philadelphia to investigate the prospect of turning the old colored woman to pecuniary account. Satisfied that there was money in her, be purchased her, cash down, advertised her so cunningly that he created great curiosity to see her, and soon took in $1,500 a week. After t Vt a /ii t rt V? t\ rJ K nnn nwafifta/1 K ?t f k a oinkf a f tuo vibjr uau uccu gtaiiucu ujr vug oigun ui Joice, he traveled through the country with her, in connection with a company of mounteebanks, and made a good deal of money. This was Barnura's venture as a showman, and determined his career. He cleared directly, it is alleged, $50,000 out of Joice Heib, and indirectly an immense fortune. He bad not had her much more than a year when she very ungratefully died, and an autopsy proved her to have been but 75 or 80 years old, instead of 161, as had been claimed. Barnum said he had bought her for the latter age, and had done his best to make the public believe her so old. It was her fault if she had fallen short of what was expected of her by some eighty years. She might have been 161, no doubt, if she had wanted to be, and her failure to attain that degree of venerableness evinced on her part a disposition to disappoint a too credulous and confiding community. The world is studded with Joice Heths, with different and unending variety of names. The Turn of Life.?Between the ages of forty-five and sixty a man who has properly regulated himself, may be considered in the prime of life. His matured strength of constitution renders him almost impervious to an attack of disease, and experience has given soundness to his judgment His mind is resolute, firm and equal; all his functions are in the highest order; he assumes mastery over his business ; builds up a competence on the foundation he has laid in early manhood, and passes through a period of life attended by many gratifications. Having gone over a year or two past sixty, he arrives at a standstill. But athwart this is the viaduct called .i . _/ i_- L :r ] _ ine turn or me, woicn, n crusaeu iu Buieiy, leads to the valley of "old age," round which the river winds, and then beyond without boat or cross-way to effect his passage. The bridge is, however, constructed of fragile material, and it depends on how it is trodden whether it bend or break. Gout and appoplexy are also in the vicinity to waylay the traveler, and thrust him from the pass; but let him gird up his loins, and provide himself with a fitter staff, and he may trudge on in safety and with perfect composure. To quote metaphor: "The turn of life" is a turn either into a prolonged walk or into the grave. The system and powers having reached the utmost expansion, now begin to close like a flower at sunset, or break down at once. One injudicious stimulant, a single fatal excitement, may force it beyond its strength, whilst a careful supply of props and the withdrawal of all that tends to force a plant will sustain it in beauty and vigor until night has entirely set in. What Becomes of Wealth.?A boot and shoe dealer has hanging in his store a pair of boots worth seven dollars. They constitute a portion of the wealth of the world. A man buys them and begins to wear them ; by friction against the pavement little particles of the leather are rubbed off, and thus separated from the rest of the sole. Every particle that is thus removed takes out a portion of the value of the boots, and when the boots are entirely worn out the seven dollars of wealth which they formed is consumed. The wheat, corn, etc., which was raised by our farmers last summer is being eaten up. No particle of matter is destroyed by this process, but, the value which was in the grain is destroyed. As, while men are wearing out clothing and eating up food, they are generally busily employed producing wealth of some kind, mooltli nf fKo ronrlH in nnt nqnullv Hi raiuished by the consumption, but it is cbang- 1 ed. This applies, however, only to personal ' property ; town lots and farms generally retain their value, but personal property is sub- ' ject to perpetual destruction and renewal. 1 As the several particles of water which con- 1 stitute a river are forever rolling away to the ocean, while their places are being supplied 1 from the springs and fountains, so the move- : able wealth of the world is constantly being 1 consumed to gratify human wants, and con- ' stantly beiug renewed by the restless activity I' of human industry. 1 Woman's Health and Servants.?A scientist in the east, from a collection of nu- i merous cases and data, has arrived at the ] scientific conclusion that the good health of J the American women is in inverse ratio to I the number of servants employed in any case. 1 That is to say, a lady having one servant is t partly invalid ; having two, she becomes a i valetudinarian ; having three, she is confined i to her room ; having four, she gets up to have \ her bed made; having five, she dies of ser- t vants and is committed to an early grave by \ an over-indulgent husband! Thus it will be ( seen that it is a kindness amounting to cruelty t for a husband to employ servants at all. He i should rigidly insist on his wife doing her i own work, and in instances in which her time is not fully occupied by that, she might be ( put out to service for wages, i Texas in 1880.?The census for 1880 for the taking of which Congress has prepared a bill, will show a great change in the shifting of population and power. The most important growth will be seen in Texas, that State whose wealth will be poured into New Orleans, and which, with the Texas Pacific road completed, will make New Orleans the greatest commercial city on this continent. The area of Texas is four or five times as large as Pennsylvania. Its present population is estimated at fully 2,000,000. It annually receives 240,000 to 300,000 emigrants from various parts of the United States and foreign countries. It produces 100,000 bales of cotton, worth $40,000,000. It also exports cattle valued at $10,000,000; beef in barrels and in cans, $2,000,000; and other productions valued at $3,000,000. Texas is also coming into importance as a wheat producing State, and when communication is established between Northern Texas and New Orleans, this product will be largely increased. In 1880, when the new census ia to ton on/1 thoro in a now annortinnmnnt of 'w "kJVfcW w - -v" -rr"* 7representatives, Texas will be the foremost in the list of growing commonwealths to claim an increased representation. Her gain will be acquired at the expense of the slow growing States of the East, which are gradually falling off in political importance, and which in time mast occupy a secondary position in the decisions of national questions.?Mobile Register. ? ? The Use of Tobacco.?It is rather singular that Americans are the only civilized people who habitually chew tobacco, although sailors of nearly every nation are addicted to its mastication. It is singular, too, that we, probably, employ tobacco in other ways less than ether countries. Snuffing is rather rare here, common as it is in Europe, especiallyon the continent. We do not smoke any more than, if as much as, the English; and the French, Italians, notably the Germans, Dutch and Spaniards, exceed us in smoking. But aa tobacco eaters we occupy the field alone, having, it is to be regretted, a monopoly of one of the most unwholesome and obnoxious of practices. The national mastication and expectoration are known over the world, and do ample service in all conceptions and carricatures of brother Jonathan. To see a landsman chewing tobacco anywhere abroad is to know him for an American, native or adopted. Perhaps we stick to the worst of the three customs, because tobacco is to so large an extent an American plant Europe knew nothing of it until the discovery of the Western world by Columbus. The sailors he sent ashore at Cuba found the natives smoking, and seeing them emit smoke from their mouths and nostrils, imagined them to be on fire. All the natives from the northwest coast to Patagonia use tobacco, and to chew it is one of our inalienable and aborigioal rights.?N. Y. Times. Sleep for the Brain.?"Blessings light on him that first invented sleep," saysSancho Panza; and the tired workman, tired in body or brain, echoes the benediction. The best possible thing for a man to do when be feels too weak to carry anything through is to go to bed and sleep as long as he can. This is the only actual recuperation of brain force, because during sleep the brain is in a state of rest, in a condition to receive and appropriate articles of nutriment from the blood, which take the place of those which have been consumed by previous labor, since the very act of thinking harfes-^up solid.particles, aa ovary Lara of the wheel or. screw.of the steamer is the result of consumption by fire of the fuel in the furnace. The supply of human brain substance can only be had from the nutriment particles in the blood, which were obtained from the food eaten previously; and the brain is so constituted that it can best receive and appropriate to itself those nutritive particles during the state of rest, of quiet and stillness of sleep. Mere stimulants supply nothing in themselves; they goad the brain and force it to a greater consumption of substance until it is so exhausted that there is not power enough left to take up a fresh supply. Better Whistle than Whine.?As I was taking a walk early in September, I noticed two little boys on their way to school. The smaller one tumbled and fell, and though he was not very much burl, he began to whine in a babyish way, not a regular roaring boy cry, as though he was half killed, but a little cross whine. The older boy took his hand in a kind and fatherly way and said: "Oh! never mind, Jimmy; don't whine; it is a great deal better to whistle." And he began in the merriest way a cheer* ful, boy whistle. Jimmy tried to join in the whistle. "I can't whistle as nice as you, Charlie.'" said he, "my lips won't pucker up good." "Oh 1 that is because you have not got all the whine out yet," said Charlie; "but you try a minute, and the whistle will drive the whine away." So he did, and the last I saw or heard of the little fellows they were whistling away as earnestly as though that was the chief end of life. I learned a lesson which I hope I shall not soon forget, and it called out these few lines, which may possibly cheer another whiner of maturer years, as this class is by no means confined to the children.?Examiner and Chronicle. Learn Something.?A young man stepped into the office of the Indianapolis Rolling Mills not long since and asked for work. "What can you do ?" asked the President. "I don't know," said the young man. "Have you a trade ?" "No, sir." "Where did you come from ?" "From Pennsylvania." "Are you a German ?" "No, sir, I am an American." "If you were a German, or an Irishman, or a Frenchman, I could set you to work, because you would know bow to do something, but Americans don't know anything about practical business." This reply will not apply to all Amerioans, but it is lamentably true to a great extent. In Germany the boy is brought up where he sees something done, and has some idea of doing it. Very few Irishmen or Germans but know how to turn over a few rods of ground and raisfl something unon it. Most of them bave some idea of mechanical operations, the production and uses of material and of tools. It is those born in America who are ignorant and idle. It is the false notion that a man does not need to labor, or that he can ;et his living by his wits, that causes a large part of our idleness and distress. Begin at )nce to learn something; no matter what your ige, learn some practical pursuit at once. Prosperity and Adversity.?An observant writer says that "very few men can bear jrosperit.y. It intoxicates them, like wine, [t turns their head and throws them off their )alance. Others cannot bear adversity. They lave no fortitude; no courage, no hope. They ire like the old sailor who said he always 'elt happiest at the height of a storm, because le knew tbat the next change that took place, vhatever it might be, must necessarily be for he better. They cannot realize that there vill be any change. When the sky is once ilouded and overcast they will not believe he sun will shine again. Young men should nake it a point to keep their heads cool under ill changes of circumstances, to preserve their squanimity and not be unduly elated by suejess, or too much cast down by disappointnent."