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/ X 4 . : ^ ?g?Bgg ^ ^ ^ j^l ' lewis m. gbist, Proprietor. j ^n |nbe|jenbenf Jfamilo ftetosjjaper: Jfor fjie promotion of f|e political, Social ^grirultnral anb Commercial Interests of t|e Simtji. TERMS--$2.50 A TEAR, IN ADVANCE. _YOL. 25. YOEKYILLE, S. C., THUIiSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1879. NO. 46. leUw. THE DOOM OF THE BRATO. It was not long ago that, being in the City of Mexico, I made an opportunity of visiting the magnificent cathedral there, which, as is well known, is superior in size, costliness and architectural splendor to auy other religious edifice upon the Western Hemisphere. After haviug spent several hours in wandering about the interior, under the guidance of a bare footed friar? who was privileged as one of the exhibitors of the place, and whom I had propitiated at the outset, by a douceur of four reals (instead of two, his usual perquisite), I was passing out into the plaza? still under his guidance, for I wished to ask him some more questions concerning the numerous statues ranged about the esplanade?? when my attention was attracted by a large, " ' " * -i u. nat nagging sione, sea ait u acruss uj a * g&ag fracture, with a rude inscription underneath the broadest crack?"El Hado del Bravo" That was the purport of the inscription that I read on the stone, bending down to do so? for it was nearly effaced by the action of the weather, and perhaps the friction of thousands of feet that had passed and repassed over it since it was rudely chiseled there?and I then turned an inquiring glance upon ray guide. "El Hado del Bravo" I repeated. "That means in English, 'The Doom of the Bravo.' And pray, good padre, what does that refer to?" "Ah ! senor," said he, smiling, "that ominous stone lettering is so much worn now that few visitors find occasion to ask its meaning, but there is an old muleteer, accustomed to loiter hereabouts on the plaza about this time of day, whom, perhaps, it would be well for you to meet He not only inscribed this as you see it, many, many years ago, but would be more than willing, for a real or two, to give you its history, which is a terrible one in its way. There he Is now," he added, indicating an old, decrepit and miserably ragged man, who was lounging with an austere but purposeless air, at the shady side of a public fountain, not far away, in company witji a large group of muleteers, water-carriers, fruit* venders, and others, apparently as lazy and contented as himself. "Shall 1 call him hither, senor?" Oh !" he added, again smiling, as he noticed nly hesitation, "I will only leave you with old Gasco half an hour, and then return to finish the task for which the senor has already paid me so liberally." I then signified my assent, and the padre, straightway summoned the old Mexican, who ' r came with a great deal of alacrity, when he had been given to understand that it would ? ?' I 1 ! . De worm ms wnne. "Si, senor; it was my own hand that cut those words in the stone there," said he, when we were left alone. "But the sun fairly blisters here; pray, come into the shadow of those aloes yonder, whence we can see the front of the cathedral just as well, and I will tell you the story. Caramba! but it burns even here," he added, when I had followed him to the shelter indicated. "Ah ! if I only had the wiierewithal for some cigarettes, how it would refresh my memory now ! But we muleteers are so poor." I hastened to supply him with tobacco and paper for smoking, and then tendered him a real, together with the intimation that he should have another if he gave me his story in detail aud without exaggeration. Nothing else was needed to set him going with the regularity of a music-box, and between the twisting and lighting of his everlasting cigarettes, there was scarcely an interruption to the old fellow's narrative, which was as follows : "My name is Raphael Gasco, senor. You'd hardly suspect it to look at me now, in my rags and tatters, and with this skiu of mine, which more resembles smoked parchment than real human skin, but it is nevertheless true that on the 12th of April, just forty-six vears ago. I was as handsome, hearty aud devil-raay-care a young caballero as one would be likely to meet in a day's ride. Por Dios! I was all that; and in spite of having passed three of the best years of my life in the convict silver mines of Chihuahna." "I got sent up there, together with a fellow convict and ancient comrade of mine, named Pedro Valderaar, for having engaged in a sort of individual revolutionary movement, which the authorities were stupid enough to misconstrue into a highway robbery. But, caramba! we won't split hairs about it at this late day. Pedro and I were rivals as well as friends. That is, we were both in love with Carmen Corea, a beautiful Mexicana, whose father used to keep a pretty little posade on the Vera Cruz road. I was the more fortunate, and Carmen and I were one day married. "I was arrested so soon after my marriage as at first to make me suspect that Pedro had given information against roe out of jealousy and pique, for he had been ray only comrade" in the little revolutionary affair that was proving so troublesome. "But when he was also arrested, and we were both subsequently convicted and sent to the mines together, I thought I fiad wronged him in my thoughts, and we shook hands cordially over our shackles, and became chums as of old?hoping, despairing, groaning and suffering together, through thick and thin, as miserable convicts will. "It was only after we had tried to escape together that I became convinced of his treachery?convinced that he had even shared ray penalty for the fiendish pleasure of seeing me suffer at his side. "We had been filing at our fetters secretly for many days, so that at the last a sturdy wrench would break the links, and had fixed ii : r c?* ...u upou me eveuiug ui n eenmii icnoi. uajr, nucu our guards would be apt to have their attention diverted by a solemn procession that was to pass near where we were at work, as the time when we would vamose. "Everything worked like a charm. The church bells were tolling, the priests were chanting, and a vast crowd attended the holy procession that was sweeping along the mountain road, near the sluices in which we were working the ore, when Pedro and i shed our irons like a flash, leaped into a neighboring ravine, and made a rush for the wilderness, without being at once observed. The alarm of our flight was quickly sounded, however, and we had the prison guards and soldiers after us, pell-mell.' "Caracco! how we ran ! But, just as we were turning a sharp turu in the hollow, with Pedro a little in the advance, we suddenly came upon a small guard-house, of which we had been wholly unaware, and a trio of sentries waiting to receive us. They were within a few yards of us; to retreat was impossible. They presented their guns and called for us to surrender. "While I was hesitating what course to pursue, the companion of my flight turned upon me like a wolf at bay. " 'Maldetto!' he roared, 'stay where you are, and be taken! I have always hated you!' "And with that he struck me a tremendous blow in the face. "Down I went, as if struck by a sledge hammer. As I fell, I saw him dash one soldier to the ground, dart past the remaining two, heard a shot, and then all grew dark, and I knew no more for many hours. When I came back to my seuses I was in my dungeon cell, bruised and bloody, and loaded down with triple irons. "I couldn't discover from the prison of ficials whether Valderaar had effected his escape or been killed. They are profoundly secret about such things in the mines?I suppose for the purpose of adding mental distress and suspense to the bodily punishment that one endures. However, it was enough for me that I had been recaptured, and that I should in all probability have to serve out my term?which I did. "Finally, I was discharged. I returned to I the capital, ruined in fortuueas in reputation, I only to meet a more bitter blow. Poor Carmen, my beloved bride, had pined away of grief during my captivity, and had been dead and bnried several months before my release. Her father drove me from his inn with curses and reproaches, when I presented myself there. My own relatives and former friends shunned me. I was a miserable, ruined man?a beggar in the streets ! "The second day following my return was Easter Sunday, which was to be the occasion of an immense festival?a holy day and civic eelehration combined, whose crowning feature in the evening was to be the illumination of the cathedral, which had just been completed in every part, and was to receive a sort of rededication. "I cared nothing for these things as I wandered, on the preceding Saturday, ragged and hungry, through the gay and crowded streets. But chance led me here to the front of the cathedral, where I read a placard concerning the illumination, that gave me new hope. "It announced that one hundred workmen were required for the lighting of the dome and cupola, three hundred for the cornices, I pillars, colonnades and the like; and stated, in conclusion, that every workman employed on the outside of the dome and cupola should, on account of the extreme danger attending the employment, receive in payment a hearty dinner and the sum of twenty pesos?the wages of the rest being less than one-halt that sum. "There were few applicants for the dangerous posts; but desperate work at fair pay was just in my line. I went at once to moinr-Hnmn tmvincr fiharf/e of the ilium """ """J1" ? ?to '-(J- - ination, was entered upon his list, received two pesos as an earnest of the contract, and engaged to present myse f punctually at noon of the following day. That evening I supped well at a street stall, and bought leave to sleep on some straw in a stable at the back of the Calle del Theatre. "I was at the office on time next day, and together with a rabble of poor fellows, doubtless as miserable and desperate as myself, was ushered into a hall where two tables had been laid for our accommodation. We were ushered in by a file of sentries, and as we stood around the table, grace was read by a good old padre, whom I had known and loved in better days, but who had quite forgotten me. "As he began to read, a magnetic thrill shot through me. It impelled me to look across to the opposite table, and there?yes, by all the saints!?there I saw Valdemar. "He was looking full at me, but his eyes dropped on meeting mine; and I saw him turn perfectly livid. Caramba! what a sea of revengeful recollections surged upon me. Oh ! that I might live to meet him yet, under the free sky, where no priest was praying and no guards were by ! "The dinner lasted long, and when no one seemed able to eat more, the tables were cleared. Most of the men threw themselves upon the floor and benches, aud went to sleep in preparation of the hazardous night-work that was before us ?Pedro among the number. I could not refrain from going over and spurning him with my foot. " 'Pedro, you know rne !' I hissed. "'Diablo!' he growled, looking suddenly up; '1 thought you were in the mines.' "'It is not your fault that I am not there still,' I muttered. 'But, hearken! If you and I survive this night, you shall answer, for your treachery.' "He only glared at me from under his bushy eyebrows, and without replying turned over on his side again, as if to sleep. "He had evideutly gained little by his villainy,'for he was dirty, ragged and apparently as friendless as I. "The guard aroused us at seven in the evening. We were then marched in double file around by the back of the cathedral, and con| ducted by an inclined plane to the roof below the dome. From this point a long series of I staircases and winding passages carried us up J between the double walls of the dome; and j at different stages in the ascent, a certain numI ber of us were detached and posted ready for work. I was detached about half-way up, and I saw Pedro going higher still. "When we were all posted, the superintendent came around and instructed us. At a given signal, every man was to pass through the loophole, or window, before which he was stationed, and seat himself astride upon a narj row shelf of wood hanging to a strong rope just below. This rope came through the winj dow, was wound around a roller, and secured from within. "At the next signal, a lighted torch would be put into his right hand, and he was to grasp the rope firmly with his left. M, the ! given signal the rope was to be unwound from within, by an assistant placed there for the purpose; he was to be allowed to slide rapidly down over the bulge of the dome, and while thus sliding was to apply his torch to every lamp he passed in his downward progress. "Having received these instructions, we all waited, each man at his window, until the signal should be given. "Pur dios! but it was desperate work. Just run your eye over the cathedral dome yonder, j seuor, and you will understand the method of j this thing better than I can tell it. Those ! windows, circling it midway up, look like ! pigeon holes from where we stand, but, heavj en preserve you! they would look like church doors, were you sitting just outside of them, , as I was od that terrible night. "My window must have been that one diI xl? TTAH/Inn A f or?TT j recuj' uvei iijc tcuutiutauc juuvici. *.iuuuj | rate, a heavy body dropped from it would | have struck plumb in the middle of the Bravo I Stone there, and given it the zigzag fracture | which you see upon it. That I am perfectly ; certaiu of thi3, you will presently be aware. "Well, there we' were all stationed, and it 1 was fast growing dark. All the great ribs of | the dome, as far as I could see, and all the I cornices, friezes, columns and parapets, surrounding the plaza, three hundred feet below, | were traced out in lines of paper lanterns, which gleamed with a silvery fire that had a most fairy-like and marvelous effect, j "Scattered between and among these paper | lanterns at different intervals, all over the roof and dome facing the plaza, were iron cups filled with tallow and turpentine. To light these with our torches was the perilous task of the gang to which I belonged, and then the i illumination would be complete. "A moment of intense suspense elapsed. The darker the evening grew the brighter the j little lanterns, while the surging hum of the thousands in the plaza and the streets below rose louder and louder to our ears, j "I felt the quickening breath of the assisI taut at my shoulder?I could hear the beat! ing of my own heart. Suddenly, the first sig1 nal flew from lip to lip. I got out instantly and straddled the board ; then came the sec 1 ond signal, and I seized the torch ; with the third I felt myself launched, and lighting every cup as I glided past, saw all the enormous dome above and below me spring into Hues of ! gorgeous, dazzling flame. The bells began to j toll, and a great, ocean-like roar arose from ' the multitude below, seeming to shake the very roof against which I was clinging, and feelingjike the tiniest atom in the immensity of my danger. "But, having dropped safely to the' full length of the rope, and lighted my full share of iron cups, I was really, at that moment, sitting in secure enjoyment of the stupendous scene. "All at once I felt the rope vibrate! I looked up?I saw a man clinging with one hand to an iron rod, and with the other? saints of heaven ! what did I see. It was my fellow convict, Pedro Valdemar, firing the rope above me with his torch ! "I acted upon instinct?I had no time for thought. Everything was done in one fearful moment. I clambered up like a cat?I dashed my torch full in his felon-face, and then clutched >the rope, an inch or two above the spot where it was burning. "tJtterly blinded and baffled, he uttered an awful cry and dropped likeaMone. Then he bounded, like an India rubber^all, down the rounded roof, and over into the abyss. "Wall, that is about the whole story, senor. When Pedro was picked up from the stone flagging of the plaza, there wasn't a whole bone in his body, and his mother wouldn't have recognized him. "Yonder broken stone marks the place where he alighted, and one of the holy fathers gave me permission to scratch upon it the inscription which it has borne ever since? 'The Doom of the Bravo,' as it would read in English." "But how were you saved yourself?" I exclaimed, almost horror-stricken with his story. "Caramba ! I never exactly knew myself," said the muleteer, drawing a long breath, as he rolled and lighted hi6 last cigarette. "Scarcely had the bravo's death shriek ceased ringing in my ears, when I found myself being hauled up. The assistance came not a moment too soon, for I was sick and giddy with horror, and swooned dead away as soon as I was safe inside the window. J "The next day I waited on the general superintendent, and told him how it all had happened. The vacant rope by which Pedro descended, and the burnt fragment by which I had been drawn up sufficiently corroborated my statement, which was afterwards repeated to the archbishop and others high in authority. "I not only received much sympathy, but some pecuniary assistance; and for a long time they gave me lucrative menial employment about the cathedral here, which was finally lost to me/however, through my own folly,and?must I say it? my love-of aguardiente, as well. But somehow I was never the same man after that horror of the dome. "What! these four reals for my simple story ? But you Americanos are always generous! Milles gracious, senor! See! here - - .. - - O - ' # comes the padre to take charge of you again, and I have only bored you for half an hour. Buenos dias, senor!" Ipsfrniwcausi fUatlittg. TELLING TIME. HOW IT WAS ACCOMPLISHED IN EARLY AGES. Aristotle described time as "a multitude of parts of motion." Another writer says that "time is seen not, felt not, and that it is but a shadowy name, a succession of breathings measured forth by night with tbe clank of a bell, by day with a shadow crossing along a dial stone." When the interval called a day, and containing twenty-four hours, really begins and ends, is rather uncertain, for some nations begin the day at sunrise, some at raidday and some at midnight. It is not exactly kuown when the present mode of beginning the day at midnight first came into use, but it appears to have been an ecclesiastical invention. The natural day obviously commences at sunrise, and ends at sunset, when the natural night begins, and this seems to have been the earliest system of reckoning. Afterward the day and night became each divided into four parts; and long after this the division into hours was introduced, to correspond with the division of the year into months, and the first hours were therefore twelfths of the whole interval from the commencement of one dav to that of the next: and probably the subdivision into twentyfour hours arose from dividing both the natural day and night into twelve equal parts. It may be inferred that hours, uniformly of sixty minutes, were not used until some mechanical means of measuring time, as by the wheel-clock, had been generally introduced; for although the sun dial and water-clock are of great antiquity, they formerly represented hours of a length varying with the season; and the latter was adjusted to furnish hours of fifty to seventy minutes each, in order to suit the changing lengths of day and night. Thfe general name of every instrument that in any way measured the motion of time was anciently horologium, and this name was used whether it referred to a sun dial, clepsyda or water-clock, sand glass or clock. One of the earliest means of marking the hours was the sun dial. It is mentioned in the second book of Kings, chapter 20, verse 11: "And Isaiah, the prophet, cried unto the Lord; and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz." Water-clocks are known to have been in use long before the Christian era. The principle of these mechanical contrivances was very simple. In those of the common kind the water issued, drop by drop, through a small hole in the vessel that contained it, and fell into a receiver, in which some light floating body marked the height of the water as it rose, and by these means the time that had elapsed. The admission pipe for the water was made either of gold 0? a perforated gem, in order that it might not wear away or be liable to get foul. These water clocks seldom indicate the true-time of day, for they had ! two great defects?the one being that the water ran out with greater or less facility as the atmosphere was more or less dense ; and the other, that the water flowed quicker when it had nearly ran out than when first permitted to flow. A mechanician of Alexandria, two centuries before the Christian era, is said to i have constructed a water-clock in which the ! fall of water turned some toothed wheels, which gave motion to a column; the water ' thereby raised or lowered a small statute that I pointed with a truncheon to the months and ; hours engraved upon the column. Waterl clocks were used in the Roman courts to reg: ulate lawyers in their pleadings. "This," says an ancient writer, "was to prevent babj bling, then as such as spake in court ought to ; be brief in their speeches." Charlemagne had a curious clock worked by water. The 1 dial was composed of twelve small doors, j which represented the division of the hours; each door opened at the hour it was intended to represent, and out of it came a number of little balls, which fell one by one, at equal distances of time, on a brass drum. It might | be told by the eye what hour it was by the I number of doors that were open; and by the ! ear, by tin number of balls that fell. When j it was twelve o'clock, twelve horsemen, in min! iature, issued forth at the eame time, and j marching around the dial shut all the doors. The hour-glass, in which sand took the | place of water, was a modification of the water-clock. Candle-clocks were among the various methods which were adopted in past ages to j measure and apportion the time. Alfred the j Great is said to have procured six wax cani dies, each twelve inches in length, with the divisions of inches distinctly marked upon it. ' These being lighted one after another regit larly, burned four hours each at the rate of an inch for each twenty minutes. Thus the six candles lasted twgnty-four hours. It is impossible to state, with accuracy, the time when wheel-clocks were first invented, and commenced to supersede the ancient timekeeper. It is believed that the first wheelclock was made in the year 510. In the ninth century clocks are said to have been made in Geneva. However this may be, it seems tolerably certain that the trade of clock and watch making in Switzerland is of considerable antiquity; and it has remained until now as a staple branch of that country's manufactures. In the year 1286;St. Paul's Cathedral, London, had a clock. Iron and steel were used for the wheels and frames of clocks until toward the end of the sixteenth century, and the blacksmiths were:, in early times, the makers of them, as their materials required heavy forging. It was formerly not uncommon in England for churches and market houses to have an automata to strike the < hours, the usual names, for which was "Jacks 1 o' th' clock-house." ; TKo nrpoonf at fit Prill's. London, i was erected in 1708,and is remarkable for its 1 magnitude. It has two dial-plates?south i and west?and each is between fifty and sixty I feet in circumference. The hour numerals ] are a little over two feet in height; the minute i bands are about eight or nine feet long and i weigh fortytfour pounds each. The pendu- < lum is sixteen feet loDg, and its bob weighs i one hundred and eighty pounds; but it is j suspended by a spring no thicker than a five i cent piece. On a still day the 6trike can be i heard at Windsor, twenty-two miles away. / i Portable clocks, that is, clocks in which i the mainspring was substituted for a weight, i were in use about the year 1305. J A FUNNY INTRODUCTION. i At a recent political meeting at Elmira, | New York, Gen. Joseph R, Hawley, ex-Gov- 1 ernor of Connecticut, was one of the speak- 1 ers, and was introduced to the assemblage by 1 Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemmens) in the ( following style: ( "I see I am advertised to introduce the 1 speaker of the evening, Gen. Hawley, of Con- 1 necticut, and I see it is the report that I am to make a political speech. Now, I must say this is an error. I wasn't constructed to ' make stump speeches, and on that head (politics) I have only to say: First, see that you 1 vote. Second, see that your neighbor votes. ' Lastly, see that yourself or neighbor don't ' scratch the ticket. General Hawley was I President of the Centennial Commission. He ' was a gallant soldier in the war. He has 1 been Governor of Connecticut, member of ' Congress, and was President of the conven- 1 tion that nominated Abraham Lincoln." j Gen. Hawley?That nominated Grant. Twain?"He says it was Grant, but I know better. He is a member of my church at ! Hartford and the author of "Beautiful Snow."- 1 v*?t? L- ,i?? r*.,? T 1 luujrut; lie vviij. uciij mat. uut x aiu uuij here to give him a character from his last : place. As a pure citizen I respect him ; as a ! personal friend of years, I have the warmest 1 regard for him ; as a neighbor whose vegeta- I ble garden adjoins mine, why?why, I watch him. That's nothing; we all do that with 1 any neighbor. Gen. Hawley keeps his prom- 1 ises not only in private but in public. He is I an editor who believes what he writes in his 1 own paper. As the author of "Beautiful 1 Snow," he has added a new pang to winter. 1 He is broad-souled, generous, noble, liberal, 1 alive to his moral and religious responsibili- 1 ties. Whenever the contribution-box was 1 passed, I never knew him to take out a cent. 1 He is a square, true, honest man in politics, 1 and I must say he occupies a mighty lone- ' some position. He has never shirked a duty or backed down from any position taken in * public life. He has been right every time, ' and stood there. As Governor, as Congress- 1 man, as a soldier, as the head of the Centennial Commission, which increased our trade in every port, and pushed American produc* ( tion into all the known world, he has con- ] ferred honor and credit upon the United ! States. He is an American of Americans, j Would we had more such men ! So broad, ' so bountiful in his character, that he never \ turned a tramp empty handed from his door, J but always gave him a letter of introduction 1 to me. His public trusts have been many, I and never in the slightest did he prove un- j faithful. Pure, honest, incorruptible, that is Joe Hawley. Such a man in politics is like ' a bottle of perfumery in a glue factory?it ' may modify the stench if it doesn't destroy ' it. And now, in speaking thus highly of the speaker of the evening, I haven't said any 1 more of him than I would of myself. Ladies and gentlemen, thi3 is Gen. Hawley." ' Mr. Clemens was frequently interrupted by ' applause and laughter. At the close of his ' remarks, Gen. Hawley stepped forward and, ' for an hour and a half, spoke on the issues of 1 the day. j ICE AND ICE-HOUSES. j The ice harvest is not far off, and now is 1 the time to make preparation for its storage. 1 Ice is the cheapest of luxuries. The earth ' yields no crop with less outlay. It requires 1 no seed, no planting, no cultivation. One 1 does not need even a rod of land on which to 1 grow this crop. It is produced on the public 1 domain of our lakes and rivers, in quantity I immensely beyond demand. All that is required of the consumer is that he will harvest j and store it. There are niggardly men in the ] world, but we have never known one so mean as to act the part of the dog in the manger, and not allow the public to help themselves to all the ice they pleased from the lake or river contiguous to his estate. f For a farmer who has no vacant shed in i which to store ice, or much money to waste i on this luxury, I recommend that he build a ' rude structure, in some convenient but not ( prominent place, twelve feet square on the ] ground, with posts ten feet high, double board- ] iug it, and filling in between the boards with i sawdust. The roof may be boarded or shin- 1 gled, as he pleases. If the former, the cracks ' should be battened. The ground should be ' covered also with sawdust, to the depth of six inches, to prevent the heat of the earth from ' melting the ice. Such a structure will hold i a little over thirty tons of ice?more than 1 enough for an ordinary family, and giving a i good margin for the accommodation of your J neighbors. # 1 Hmo /i{' +1-iq ivma f qpprpt.q nf Irppninor ipp is to 1 V1 W,W V. ?- " pack it well. The cakes should be cut of uniform size?two feet long by fifteen inches wide | is a convenient size for handling?and in < packing, care should be taken to fill up all the 1 interstices with broken ice and "to break i joints," as the masons say. This prevents the ' circulation of air through the mass. Each 1 layer should be kept level, and if between I each layer there is a little pounded ice, the i cakes will come out all the better when needed for use. Of course, over the top layer there should be a covering of saw dust six I inches deep. If ice packed in this manner does not keep as long as it is wanted, it will probably be in consequence of wasteful consumption in the house.?Alex. Hyde, in the < Country Gentleman. tST A schoolmaster, meeting with a former pupil, said : "This is quite a stormy day, John." "Yes sir," answered John, "this ia quite a wet rain." The teacher, thinking to rebuke such hyperbole, asked if he ever knew of any other than a wet rain." I never knew , personally of any other," returned John; "but I have read in a certain book of a time when it rained fire and brimstone, and that would not be a very wet rain." Ventillation of Bedrooms.?The Loudon Lancet has some comments on this topic which may be read with as much profit in this country as in London. Itsaysr'Tfa man were to deliberately shut himself for some six or eight hours daily, in a stuffy room, with closed doors and windows, (the doors not being open even to change the air, during the period of incarceration), and were then to complain of headache and debility, he would be justly told that his own want of intelligent foresight was the cause of his suffering. .Nevertheless,, this is what the great mass of people do every night of their lives with no thought of their imprudence. There are few bedrooms in which it is perfectly safe to pass the night, L without something more than ordinary precautions, to secure an inflow of fresh air. Every sleeping apartment should, of course, have a fire place with an open cbimuey, and in cold weather, it is well if the erate contains a small fire, at least enough to create an upcast current and carry oft' the vitiated air of the room. In all such cases, however, when a Bre is used, it is necessary to see that the air drawn into the room comes from the outside of the house. By an easy mistake, it is possible i to place the occupant of a bed-room with a , Bre in a closed house, in a direct current of foul air drawn from all parts of the establishment. Summer or Winter, with or without ! the use of fires, it is well to have a free ingress jf pure air. This should be the ventillator's Erst concern. Foul air will find an exit if : pure air is admitted if) sufficient quantity, but it is not certain that pure air will be drawn in if the impure air is drawn away. So far as I sleeping rooms are concerned, it is wise to let i in air from without. The aim must be to accomplish the object without causing a great i fall in the temperature or of draught. The I windows may be drawn down an inch or two < tt the top, with advantage, and a fold of mus- ' lin will form a 'ventillator' to takeoff the feel- < ing of draught. This, with an open fireplace, i will generally suffice, and produce no unpleas- I mt consequences, even when the weather is jold. It is, however, essential that the air jutside should be pure. Little is likely to be i gained by letting in a fog or even a town i nist. < ' o < The Prime of Life.?Between the ages , >f forty-five and sixty, a man who has proper- i !y regulated himself may be considered in Jie prime of life. His matured strength of institution renders him almost impervious ] co an attack of disease, and experience nas jiven soundness to his judgment. His mind is resolute, firm and equal; all bis functions j ire in the highest order; he assumes mastery aver his business; builds up a competence on ( the foundation he Has laid in early manhood, ind passes through a period of life attended i by many gratifications. Having gone over a year or two over sixty he arrives at a stand- ] still. But athwart is the viaduct called the < turn of life, which if crossed i? safety, leads i to the valley of "old age," round which the river winds, and then beyond, without boat or j causeway, to effect his passage. The bridge j is, however, constructed of fragile material, and it depends 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 j gird up his loins and provide himself with a fitter staff, and he may trudge on in safety i and with perfect composure. To quiet met- f aphor, "the turn of life" is a kirn either into a prolonged walk or into the grave. The system and powers having reached the ut- ( most expansion, now begin either to close like , a flower at sunset or break down at once. < Dne injudicious stimulant, a single fatal excitement, may force it beyond its strength, while 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. ' j fl?" A thoughtful housewife in New London, Conn., started a fish hook on a strange route of adventure not long age, and brought, some people into curious juxtapositions as a , result of her plans. Finding the hook among her husband's papers, she thought best to de- , stroy it, fearing that it might wend its way into bis fingers. Accordingly she threw it into the fire. The following morning her ?ood husband, while patiently taking out from the stove grate pieces of stone and partly burned coal that had accumulated there, sud- , denly found a fish hook in the fleshy part of bis thumb. He called a surgeon, and when the hook bad been removed, he put it in his waistcoat pocket, thinking to., show it to his friends and neighbors. After breakfast he went out, and while on the street met a colorad woman, who passed him with a high head and a rapid pace. The two people suddenly same to an embarrassing halt. The hook had found its way through the side of .the gentleman's pocket, and its point found itself j in the wrist of the jaunty maiden. This af- , forded great delight for the small boys who j gathered to the spot from all directions. Re- : leasing himself from the hook, the gentleman . jaw his whilom captive dash away from him and pass down the street. A policeman at- j tempted to stop her, but before he had sue- s seeded in inducing her to return, he found | the fish-hook had lodged itself in the hollow | af his hand. At this point, the strange event- , ful history of a. fish hook draws to a close. | The policeman found a surgeon to extract it ( from his bleeding hand, and then deposited it ] in the station-house to show to the public. Lincoln Reading the Emancipation j Proclamation to his Cabinet.?Just here , I will, in imitation of Mr. Lincoln, tell a little t story which Secretary Chase told at his din- , uer table to guests the year after the procla- j mation. He said that when the Cabinet took , their seats in council, Mr. Lincoln, in a sol- i smn and impressive manner, read aloud the ( momentous State paper. After the reading j was finished he addressed his advisers, request- , ing advice or suggestions. Then spoke Mr. i Chase, urging that a line should be altered here and there. Mr. Seward and Mr. Stanton also found fault. Mr. Lincoln patiently ] waited until his advisers' objections had , scarcely left anything of the original. When ] they were through, a smile broke over the | ''" "ol" rnnrrrod fanp nf thfi man who. in lofti- < UUlUtlJ, AUfe6v,~ ...W- , , ness of purpose and prophetic vision of the future, stood so far ahead of the men who j surrounded him, and with the wit and readi- j ness that never seemed to desert him, he said : < "Gentlemen, your remarks remind me of the | greeting which a farmer received after an ab- j sence from home. One of his servants ran to j bim and said : 'Master, the old sow is dead j and all the little pigs, too ; but I didn't like ] to tell you all the bad news at once.' " The { Cabinet applied the moral, and theproclama- | tion was issued in its original form.? Wash- ( ington Letter to Courier Journal. The Senate Snuff Box.?There is a cu- j rious old custom kept up in the United States , Senate Chamber. On each side of the Vice- ( President's seat are fastened two snuff boxes. ( They are the result of a custom inaugurated j almost at the foundation of the government, ] when snuff-taking was a universal habit. | Thurman is the only Senator who makes a i habit of using snuff, but sometimes a Senator will stop and take an occasional pinch, while the many visitors to the chamber take a little 1 out of curiosity. At first the box was kept 1 on the Vice-President's desk, but in those days < so many Senators used the article, and so fre- i quently forgot to bring their boxes with them, i that it was resolved to place two public recop- 1 tacles for it, and in the aunual expenses of the i Senate is always found the item of snuff. 1 Honor Your Business.?It is a good sign when a man is proud of his work or his calliug. Yet nothing is more common than to hear men finding fault constantly with their particular business, deeming themselves unfortunate because fastened to it by the necessity of gaining a livelihood. In this way men fret and laboriously destroy all their comforts in the work; or they change their business, and go on miserably, shifting from one thing to another, till the grave or the poor house gives them a fast grasp. But while occasionally a man fails in life because he is not in the place fitted for his peculiar talent, it happens ten times oftener, thai: failure results from neglect, and even contempt, of an honest business. A man should put his heart into everything that he does. There is no profession, no business or pursuit, that has not its. peculiar cares and vexations. No man will escape annoyances Oy cnanging nis ousiness. xiu mechanical business is altogether agreeable. Commerce, in its endless varieties, is aiTected, like all other pursuits, with trials, unwelcome duties, and spirit-trying necessities. It is the very wantonness of folly for a man to search out the frets and burdens of his calling, and give his mind every day to a consideration of them. They are inevitable. Brooding over them only gives them strength. On the other hand, a man has power given to him to shed beauty and pleasure on the homeliest toil, if he is wise. Let a man adopt his business and identify it with pleasant associations, for Heaven has given us imagination, not alone to make us poets, but to enable all men to beautify homely things. Heart-varnish will cover up innumerable evils and defects. Look at the good things. Accept your lot as a man does a piece of rugged ground, and begin to get out the rocks and roots, to deepen and mellow the soil, to enrich and plant it. There is something in the most forbidding avDcation around which a man may twine pleasant fancies, out of which he may develop honest pride. One way to get Married.?Judge Bichardson doesn't pretend to be a parson, and, therefore, isn't as well up in the marriage ceremony as some others are. The young couple stood up before him the other evening and the Judge inquired, in a cross questioning tone, of the groom: "Are you a citizen of the United States ?" The ?room took hold of the waisthand of bi3 trowsere and tugged, saying: "I voted for Tilden, judge." "Why, James!" faintly exclaimed the blushing creature by his side. "It's a fact, Emmer," protested James, rathsr indignantly, and glaring at the judge. His honor coughed and demanded rather severely: "Do you, sir, as a citizen of Nevada, and a lawful voter of Reno, solemnly declare that pou will forsake all other evils and cleave unto this?" "I've money to bet on it," responded the groom, growing pale and placing his arm around the waist of the shrinking bride. "Then," cried the judge, bring his fist down en his desk, "God has joined you together and the man that puts you asunder. The fee is just what you like to give, young fellow." It was pretty liberal, and the court set them up, and kissed the new wife several times besides. - An Inbignant Poet.?Despite his grave character, Frederick the Great loved an occasional joke, provided it were well spiced with malice. On one occasion, Voltaire, according to previous appointment, came to read a poem in manuscript for his approval. mrtonflmo nnnrotor] Kotllfl/) A Qprppn JL UU IVlUg UlUtUWUIV OVVA vwu mm wv? vwm in the same room a man of wonderful memory, who had the gift of repeating any composition, however long, to which he had once listened. When Voltaire ha<j concluded his recital, Frederick expressed great admiration, but declared he had heard the poem before. The poet was indignant, repelling the charge of plagiarism with great warmth. The king, however, insisted that the poem was by no means of recent origin, and said there was a man in the court who could repeat it from beginning to end. He sent for the man who had been concealed behind the screen and who had listened to the reading, and requested him to repeat a certain poem, quoting the first lines. The man instantly, and to the great astonishment of Voltaire, repeated the poem word for word. After the king had sufficiently enjoyed his jest, he revealed the trick to Voltaire, who was both surprised and indignant. The Benefit of Laughing.?-Dr. Green, in bis "Problem of. Health," says that there is cot the remotest corner or inlet of the minute blood vessels of the human body that does not feel some waver from the convulsion occasioned by good hearty laughter. The life principle, or the inward man, is shaken to its innermost depths, sending new tides of life and strength to the surtace, tnus materiany Lending to insure good health to persons who moderately indulge therein. The blood moves more rapidly and conveys different impressions to all the organs of the body, as it visits them an that particular journey, when the man is laughing, from what it does at other times. For this reason every good hearty laugh in which a person indulges, tends to lengthen his life, conveying, as it does,-new and distinct stimulus to the vital forces. Doubtless, the time will come, when the physicians, conceding more importance than they do now to the influence of the mind upon the vital forces uf the body, will make their prescriptions more with reference to the condition of the mind, and partially discard drugs for the body; and in so doing will find the best and most effisient methods of producing the required effect upon the patient. 4S?" The mathematician, pencil in hand, is let loose again, and asserts that the year 1881 will be a mathematical curiosity. From left to right and from right to left it reads the same; 18 divided by 2 gives 9 as a quo tient; 51 divided oy y and y is tne quoueni. [f 1881 is divided by 209, 9 is the quotient; ;f divided by 9, the quotient contains a 9 ; if multiplied by 9, the products contain two 9's. 3ne and 8 are 9; 8 and 1 are 9. If the 18 ae placed under the 81 and added, the sum s 99. If the figures be added thus, 1, 8,8,1, t will give 18. Reading from left to right s 18 ; and reading from right to left 18, and 18 is two-ninths of 81. By adding, dividing *nd multiplying nineteen 9's are produced, Deing one 9 for each required to complete he century. Secretary Sherman is quoted as saying ;hat probably Mr. W. H. VanderbiltandMr. I. W. Mackey are the richest men in this jountry. Each of them owns about $5,000,)00 in the bonds of the United States?and ;hey are the only two individuals known to nold that amount in these bonds. Each of ;hem receives $50,000 in interest every three months. I?* The law of Connecticut makes the husband responsible for his wife's debts contracted before marriage. Recently, a Hartford man mgaged to wed a widow whom he knew to be in debt, and bought up all claims against her at twenty cents on the dollar before he applied for a license to marry. Most people would rather have a widow without a mortgage on her, t&~ Georgia has awakened to the fact that if she wishes to enjoy a rapid increase of wealth and prosperity, she mast encourage immigration. The last General Assembly passed an immigration act; but is it not as liberal in its provisions as it ought to be. However, the Governor is determined to make the most of it, and has therefore appointed an agent in New York to represent the interests of Georgia in that city. An effort will be made to induce a fair share of the immigrants landing / at Castle Garden to locate in Georgia. While the Northwest is rapidly filling up, and the Seat valleys and plains of that region are ing dotted with splendid farms and beautiful villages, the South, with her rich soil and genial climate, is passed almost unnoticed. Texas alone, of all the Southern States, is reaping any benefit from the thousands of immigrants who annually leave Europe in search of homes in this country. If the Southern States want immigrants, they must seek them as Texas and the States of the West seek them. Immigrants will not go to a section of which they know nothing, ana anouc which no effort is made to elighten them.? Neva Orleans Times. Traveling stones are no longer peculiar to Australia, similar curiosities having recently been found in Nevada, which are described as almost perfectly round, and the majority of them as large as a walnut, and of an iron nature. When distributed about upon the floor, table or other level surface, within two or three feet of each other, they immediately begin traveling toward a common centre. and there lie huddled in a bunch like a lot of eggs * in a nest. A single stone, removed to a distance of three and a half feet, upon being released, at once started off with wonderful and somewhat comical celerity to join its fellows; taken away four or five met, it remained motionless. They are found in a region that is comparatively level, and is nothing but bare rock. Scattered over this bare region are little basins, from a few feet to a rod or two in diameter, and it is in the bottom of these that the rolling stones are found. They are irom tne size 01 a pea to nve or biz incnes in diameter. The cause of these stones rolling together is doubtless to be found in the mate-, rial of which they are composed, which appears to be lodestone or magnetic iron ore. Books?Books are society, and they never repel the humblest reader that strives to bring himself up to the enjoyment of the expressed thoughts of great minds. The well ordered library brings the world within our grasp. Sages, poets, historians, novelists, philosophers, humorists are as ready to speak through the printed page to the man of the lowliest ' station as to the king upon his throne, and frequently the former enters more nearly into complete sympathy with the thought or fancies that the glowing words express than the latter. The grand democracy of books excludes no one who has self-respect enough to , learn to read ; but, instead, every one can find a companion and friend within its liberal domain. We know of nothing more fascinating, nothing more tempting to a cultivated man or woman, than books. l?*The city of Elmira, N. Y., seriously proposes to rival Cleopatra's Needle, about to be set up in the metropolis of the 8tate, by the erection of a monument to Adam, the father of the human race. It is to be a simple shaft of stone, 125 feet in height, and, therefore, will be a more prominent feature than the monolith of Egypt's Queen, being nearly twice as tall. It is said that two-thirds of the necessary sum has already been subscribed. The appeal of the projectors for subscriptions says: "Without him no man had entered into eternal peace. Shall we build monuments to foreign spies, and none to him who gave us heaven r It is said that at no period since the flush times of the war, has there been so much indulgence in stock speculation in Washington as at present Indeed, some authorities pot the mania higher now than then. While this activity may be regarded in one sense as an evidence of business prosperity, it' is not a healthy sign. Where stocks are bought and paid for, as an investment and held for the interest they pay or for a rise in price, it is well enough ; but speculating "on a margin" is too much like buying lottery tickets or ti'? j_ i gamDUDg witn carua, wj cuiuuiouu liacu. as a safe or proper proceeding. JSF* Nearly 150,000 emigrants have arrived in this country since the first of January, and it is estimated that at least 10,000 more will come by the end of the year. In point of numbers, the Germans are first, and next, in the order named, come Irish, English, Swedes, Scotch, Norwegians, Swiss, Russians, Welch and French. The commissioners of immigration estimate, that upon an average, the immigrants have brought $70 each in money, and personal property to the same value. This would make a total of $22,260,000 thus brought into this country and distributed in this way this year. I?" The warlike tone of the foreign news continues, and the prophets are promising a triple alliance between Germany, Austria and Eng land against another trio?Russia, Italy and France. The monstrous proportions which Europeam armaments are assuming, can be inferred from the official statement of the Hungarian government that when the military systems of Europe are completed, Italy will have over 2,000,000 soldiers; France, which has 1,815,000 now, will have 2,723,000; Russia has 2,489,000 already, and Austro-Hungary 1,194,000. I6T A 79 year old maid, who was quite ill in Savannah, told the doctor she had never been hugged by a man in her life, and asked for one kiss. The gallant door complied with this request, of course, and she got well. When the doctor got home and told the story to his wife he got?well, he is balder than he was. ? ? When a man enters a church during the singing of a hymn, and sits down to bear the sermon, only to see the contribution box passed and find the services are just over, his feelings are only equaled by the man who ' falls asleep in his pew, and in a dreamy state calls to the minister to "set 'em up again." > > ^ JST Postmaster-General Key has issued instructions to the postmasters in New York city, Louisville and New Orleans, to refuse hereafter to rent boxes in their offices to lottery companies or their agents. TUfl r?mn florr o/lrtnfo/1 Kvr llio Cf afo XUQ iifcIT UUg MUV^/WU VJ UUV VI Georgia, consists of a perpendicular blue bar from top to bottom of the flag, next to the staff, and three horizontal bars, red, white and red. I6y A German priest walking with his parishioners in procession over their fields to bless them, when he came to an unpromising crop, would pass on saying, "Here prayers avil nothing; this must have manure. . - , t&* North Carolina has more licensed grain distilleries than any other State in the Union, the record showing 165; Kentucky comes next, 149. It is estimated that there are nine million voters in the United States, and out of that number at least two-thirds are farmers. The women in this country squander $14,500,000 a year on ribbons. Just think how many cigars that money would buy.