Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, June 24, 1880, Image 1
lewis m. grist, proprietor, j %n |ntrepenbent Jamiln ftetospaper: Jfor % fromotion if f|e $olitical, Social, Hgriraltoral anb Commercial Interests of % Sont|. terms--$2.50 a tear. in adtance.
VOL. 26. YORKVILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, JUJSTE 24, 188Q. ISTO. 26. .
ttffooitt ? uretrg.
EACH OTHER.
How little we know of each other,
As we pass through the journey of life,
With its struggles, its fears and temptations,
Its heart-breaking care and its strife.
We can only see the things on the surface,
For few people glory in sin,
And an unruffled face is no index
To the tumult that rages within.
How little we know of each other!
The man who to-day passes by,
Bless'd with fortune and honor and titles,
And holding his proud head so high,
May carry a aead secret with him,
Which makes of his bosom a hell,
And he, sooner or later, a felon,
May writhe in a prisoner's cell.
How little we know of each other!
That woman of fashion who sneers
At the noor girl betrayed and abandoned,
And left to her sighs and her tears,
May, ere the sun rises to-morrow,
Have the mask rudely torn from her face,
And sink from the height of her glory
To the dark shades of shame and disgrace.
How little we know of each other!
Of ourselves, fcoo, how little we know!
We are all weak when under temptation,
All subiect to error and woe.
Than 1 At hlfwwAf) oh.iritv rule US?
Let us put away envy and spite?
Or the skeleton grim in our closet
May some day be brought to the light.
m ?tm SeUfL-"
ft WHY I JOINED THE DETECTIVES.'
"Can I sit with you ?"
H "Certainly, sir."
"Nice weather."
"Splendid, indeed."
"Crops growing finely."
"Yes; couldn't do better."
I was sitting in a car on the Wisconsin
Railroad, one day years ago, when a good
looking, pleasant spoken man came along,
stopped at my seat, and the above couversa
tion took place, the latter part of it after I
bad given him part of my seat.
Now I am regarded as a social man. I
like a joke; more so then than now. On
entering a railroad car I always looked about
for a talkative man, and then I got as close
to him as possible, and drained him dry, if
the journey was long enough.
And I want to state one thing more. Left
an orphan before I could realize the sad
event which made me one, I got kicked here
and cuffed there, and grew up between folds,
as they say. I ought to have had at the
time of which I write, a pretty thorough
knowledge of human nature, and have been
enabled to read evil in a man's face if he intended
me evil. I did not pride myself on
being over sharp, but the knocking around
among strangers ought to have given any one
a good experience.
Well, the stranger and I fell into an easy
train of conversation as we rode together,
and in ten miuutes I began to enjoy his company.
He was a well made fellow, finely
dressed, and wore a fine watch and a simon
pure diamond ring. I never saw a man who
could talk so easily and so pleasantly. It
seemed that he had but to open his mouth I
and the words fell right out.
I had traveled in the south ; so had he; I
had heard the roar of the Pacific; he knew
ail about it. I had been up in a balloon,
down in a mine, been blown up, smashed up,
and repaired again and again; my new
friend had experienced all these things, and
was wishing for something of a more startling
nature. We agreed on politics, neither
had any religion, and I had never met such a
railroad companion.
Did you ever meet a man who though a
stranger to you ten minutes before, could
wrest from you your secrets which you had
sworn to yourself not to reveal ? Well, he
was such a man. It was not long before he
commenced asking me questions. He did
not seem trying to quiz or draw me out, hut
he asked me questions in such a sly, roundahmit.
wav. that before I knew it I was giving
him my history.
I whs at that time just on the point of being
admitted to the bar of Wisconsin as a
student of Law & Law, of Briefville. The
firm were old lawyers with a lucrative practice,
and it had been talked over that in
about a month I should become the "Co." of
the firm. A year before a farmer named
Preston, down about four miles from Grafton,
died, and his matters had been put in the
hauds of Law & Law for settlemeut. PreBton
had died rich. He had money in bank,
railroad stocks and mortgages, etc., and everything
was settled to the satisfaction of the
relict and fatherless.
About a year before his death, being pinched
for money, and not wishing to sell anything
at a sacrifice, Preston had given a mortgage
on his own farm for 83,000. While the
papers read "for one year from date," there
was a verbal agreement that it should be
lifted any day that Preston desired. A month
after, when, having the funds to clear off the
paper, the "old money bags" holding it refused
to discharge, wishing to secure his interest
for a year.
I was on my way to learn the date of expiration.
A fire among our office papers had
destroyed the memoranda, and I must go
down and get the date from old Scrip, who
lived south of Grafton about five miles. The
stranger pumped this all out of me in about
ten minutes, and yet I never once suspected
he was receiving any information.
"I am not positive," I added, "but I am
pretty sure that the time is the 13th, which
would be Tuesday next."
"And then your folks will send you down
with the money aud discharge the mortgage,
of course ?" he queried.
? -- ' . i ?i
"Oh, yes, I shall most likely bring itaown,
I replied, and it never occurred to me bow
imprudent I was.
He turned the conversation into other
channels, and did not once attempt to pump
me further. We got to Grafton at 10.50,
and to my great surprise he announced that
he wa3 to stop in the town on business for a
few days. I had not asked his name or avocation,
while he knew everything about me.
We went to the hotel aud had dinner, and
then I secured a livery team and drove out,
getting through with business so that I was
back to take the 3.20 express east. My
frieud was on the porch of the hotel as I
drove up, carrying the same honest, dignified
face.
"Well, did you find out?" he inquired in
his pleasant way.
"Yes, it was on the 13th, as I expected," I
replied.
We took lunch together, and when we
shook hands and parted I had no more idea
of ever meeting him again than I bad of
knowing you. In fact, he told me that he
should sail for England within a week or ten
j days, and should not return to America. At
parting he gave me his card. It was a modest
piece of pasteboard, and bore the name
1 of "George Raleigh," in old Euglish text.
I Everything at the office went on as usual,
l and the 13th came at length. Law & Law
i had arranged with me to go down with the
! mouey, and I had looked upon it as a business
of special importance.
"We know you are all right," remarked
the senior partner, as I was about to go ;
"but I want to give you a word of warning,
nevertheless. Don't take any stranger into
your confidence until you have passed out the
money, and look who sits next to you.
It was something new for him to caution
me, and I could not but wonder at it; but
in the bustle of getting aboard the train I
forgot what he said. Ordinary prudence had
induced me to place the money, which was
oil in honk Sills and divided into three pack
ages, uuder my shirt and next to my skin,
where the deft hand of a pickpocket could
not reach it.
Interested in a newspaper, time flew by as
the train flew past, and at length the hoarse
voice of a brakeman warned me that I had
reached Grafton. I leaped down and was
making for a livery stable, when I heard a
familiar voice, and looked up to see Raleigh.
He was seated in a buggy, and had
seemingly waited for me to come in.
"Don't express your surprise," he began,
as I stopped at the wheel. "I did intend to
go away. I changed my mind, and like this
section so well that I am going out to-day to
look at a farm with a view of purchasing?
come, ride up to the hotel." 1
We rode up, ordered lunch, and while we 1
were discussing it, Mr. Raleigh discovered
that the farm he was going to see was just
beyond that of old Grip's. 1
How fortunate! I could ride out with
him, see the farm, return in his company,
and he was greatly pleased. 1
I was also pleased. If any man had told 1
me that George Raleigh meant to return 1
with my money in his pocket and my blood
upon his hands, I should have believed him
a lunatic. And yet George Raleigh had <
planned to do that very thing.
It was a lovely day in June, and the cool ;
breeze and the sight of meadows and green <
groves made ray heart grow larger. My ;
companion was very talkative, but he didn't <
even hiu't at my errand. He talked as far i
away as he could. 1
"Oh 1 excuse me!" he exclaimed, after we i
had passed a mile beyond the village, and
were among the farm houses, "I should have |
offered you this before."
He drew from his pocket a small flask of 1
wine and handed it to me. Now, I was tem- 1
perate in regard to drinks. In fact, I detest- 1
ed the sight and smell of anything intoxica- !
ting. But I had not the moral courage to
tell him so, and hand back the flask undis- 1
turbed. I feared to offend him, and so I 1
drank perhaps three good swallows. He 1
called my attention to the woods on the left, 1
as he received back the flask, and when I '
looked around again, he was just removing it J
from his mouth, as if he had drank heartily. 1
In about five minutes I began to feel queer. J
The fence along the road seemed to grow '
higher,and the trees grow longer; something '
x ikn f\f Vm KllfV_ i
came IU Illy ems an mat uit lauic ui iuv uug
gy sounded a long way off. ?
"Howstrange! Why, I believe I am going
to be sick 1" I exclaimed, holding on to the 1
seat with all ray might. 1
"You do look strange!" he replied, a snaky ^
smile stealing over his face : "I shouldn't won- '
der if it was apoplexy." '
I did not suspect the game he had played. 1
His words were like an echo, and his face j
seemed twice as large as it was. My head be
gan to spin, and my brain began to snap and 1
crack, and I was terribly frightened.
"You are badly off," he continued, looking (
into my face. "I will drive as fast as possible 1
and get a doctor." '
My tongue was so heavy that I could not '
reply. I clutched the seat, shut ray eyes, and '
he put his horse to his best pace. We met a 1
farmer'8 term, and I can remember that one 1
of the occupants of the wagon called out to
know what ailed the man. Raleigh did not 1
reply, but urged his horse forward.
About three miles from Grafton was a long '
stretch of forest, and this was soon reached.
The pain in my head was not so violent, and ]
was not so badly affected when opening ray 1
eyes. I had settled into a sort of dumb stu- (
por, with a brain so benumbed that I had to 1
say to myself: "This is a tree, this is a stump," 1
etc., before I could make sure that I was not 1
wrong. Half a mile down the road after we
struck the forest, and then Raleigh turned the I
horse into a road leading back into the woods.
I could not understand what he intended. I
tried to grapple with the question, but could
not solve it.
"Well, here we are !" exclaimed Raleigh,
when he had reached a point forty rods from
the main road. 1
He stopped the horse, got out and hitched '
him, and then came round to the wheel.
"You don't feel just right, but I guess you
will be better soon," he said. "Come let me
help you down."
He reached up his arms, and I let go the
seat and fell into them. It seemed to me as
if I weighed a ton, but he carried me along
without an effort, and laid me down within a
rod of a fence, which ran along on one side
of an old pasture. The effect of the drugs
was wearing off, and I got a faint suspicion
that something unusual had happened. But
I was powerless to move a limb; the sensation
was like that when your foot goes to sleep.
"Can you speak?" inquired Raleigh, bend
| ing over me. "Because, if you can, it win
save me some trouble. I want to know just
where you stored away that money."
Now I began to realize my situation. His
face looked natural again, and the load was
off my tongue. I also felt that I could move
my fingers a little.
"George Raleigh! are you going to rob
me?" I asked, finding my voice at last.
"Well, some folks might call it 'robbing,'
| but we dre3s up the term a little by calling it
the only correct financial way of equalizing
the floating currency, so that each one is provided
for, and no one left out."
"You shan't have the money: I will die
first!" I yelled, raising a little.
"Ah t I see?didn't take quite enough," he
coolly remarked. "Well, I have provided
for this.
He went to the buggy, procured ropes and
a gag, and kneeled down beside me. I had
but little strength yet, and he conquered me
in a moment. Laying me down on my right
side, looking toward the fence, he tied my
hands behind me, and then forced the gag
into my mouth.
"There now! You see you are nicely fixed
up, and all because you acted like a fool, instead
of a sensible young lawyer, soon to be
admitted to the bar."
While he was speaking?indeed, while he
was tying me, I caught sight of a little girl
looking at us from between the rails of the
fence. I could see her great blue eyes, and
knew that she was frightened. There were
red stains around her mouth and on the little
hand resting on the rail, and I knew that she
was a farmer's child searching for strawberries.
I could not warn her of her danger,
and I feared that she would be seen or heard.
While Raleigh was tying the last knot I
winked at the little girl as hard as I could,
hopin'g that she would move away, but she did
not go. _
"Well, now for the money," said Raleigh,
and he began searching my pockets. He
went from one to another, removing all the
articles, felt down my boot-leg, and then finally
dressed his hand over my bosom and found
the money.
"Ho! horeitis!" he exclaimed, drawing
the package. "I don't believe that old Grip
will see any of this to-day."
He sat down near my head, undid the packages,
and was cool enough to go at it to count
the money. As he commenced, the little girl
waved her hand at me. My heart went
thumping, for I expected that she would utter
a word or a shout, but she sank down from
sight, and I caught a gleam of her frock as
Bhe passed through the grass.
"You see, my young friend," remarked
Raleigh, as he drew off one of his boots and
deposited some of the bills in it, "there is nothing
like transacting business as it should be
transacted. Some men would have shot or
stabbed you, but it is only apprentices who do
such ttork. All the real gentlemen of our
calling do business as gentlemen should."
He drew off* the other boot and placed some
"fifties" and "twenties" in it, and then continued
:
"I have it all planned out how to deal with
you as soon as I get this money disposed
cf around my person. I shall lay you on
your back and pour the balance of the wine
down your throat. There's enough of it to
make you sleep until to morrow night, and
by that time I shall be hundreds of miles
away. As soon as I see the drug take efTect
I shall untie your hands and remove the
[jag. When you come out of your sleep?if
?itaii YiaA KoHai* s?rawl mifc tA
J UU OYCI UU JUU irnu UUVVV1 V?WM* WW .
the road, where you will most likely meet
jorae traveler soon. I want to use the horse
ind buggy, otherwise I would leave them for
pou.
How coolly he talked. He treated the
matter as if it were a regular transaction in
which I fully acquiesced. He had me a Fast
prisoner, and I felt that he could do just
is he pleased. While I was thinking, I saw
the little white face appear between the rails
igain, but in a moment it faded away and
its place was taken by the sun burned phiz of
i farmer. He looked from me to Raleigh
md back again, and I winked at him in
i way which he readily understood. His
face disappeared, and I felt that I should be
saved.
"No, old Grip won't get his tin to-day,"
mused Raleigh, storing away the bills in his
pockets. You will go back to Law & Law
feeling put up and cut up, but they couldn't
alame you ; it is not your fault at all. True,
bad you minded your business on the car and
?" * 1-* ? flfxnnrtflu klO IDAIll/1
JUL UCCU SU itco VVlbU a Oliau^l) buia nuuiu
not Lave happened. I was on ray way to
Milwaukee, and had no thought of such rich
picking here.
I saw nothing of the farmer. Raleigh finished
his counting and I made up ray mind that
the farmer was afraid to interfere and had
run away. My heart went down as Raleigh
*ot up, for I saw that he was about to carry
out his plan for further drugging me. He
turned me on my back, sat down astride of
me, and then pulled out the flask.
"Now, in just about a minute we'll be
through with the business," he remarked,
trying to put the mouth of the flask between
my jaws.
I rolled my head to one side, and he did
not succeed. He was jamming the flask
against my teeth, when I caught the sound
of a soft step, the crash of a club, and Raleigh
rolled off my body. He tried to leap up, but!
three or four farmers struck him down, and
one of the blows rendered him senseless.
Before he came to, I was free of ropes and i
gags, and we had hira securely bound.
Over beyond the pasture a farmer and |
his hands were raking hay. "Little Blue I
Eyes," only eight years old, bad wandered off:
after strawberries, and had, fortunately for
me, witnessed a part of Raleigh's proceedings.
She had hurried back to her father
and told him that "a man was all tied up
out there." Understanding the situation, he
and his men had moved around so as to secure
an advantage, and Raleigh's capture was the
result.
When the rascal found his senses he was
terribly taken back, and cursed euough for J
a whole Flanders array. We took hira back j
to Grafton, and when I saw hira again he |
was on his way to the penitentiary to serve a
sentence of fiteen years.
The mortgage was duly lifted, and the gift
which Law & Law sent Katy Gray kept her I
in dresses for many years.
For myself, I felt so humiliated at having ;
fallen into the rascal's trap, and so wrathy at j
the treatment, that I determined to devote |
myself to a thorough warfare on rogues. I
therefore joined the dectective force and af-1
ter due study, took my place as a full fledged |
detective.
Size of the Great Lakes.?The latest
measurements of the fresh water seas are as
follows:
The greatest length of Lake Superior is 355
miles ; its greatest breadth is 160 miles ; mean
depth, t'88 feet; elevation, 627 feet; area, 81,000
square miles.
The greatest length of Lake Huron is 100
miles ; its greatest breadth is 169 miles ; mean
depth, 600 feet; elevation, 270 feet; area,
20,000 square miles.
The greatest length of Lake Erie is 250
miles; its greatest breadth is 80 miles ; mean
depth, 84 feet; elevation, 555 feet; area,
6,000 square miles.
IpSttHattWttii Heading.
SOME STRANGE AVOCATIONS.
Said a witness under cross examination :
"I am an Early-caller. I calls different
tradesmen at early hours, from 1 till 5:30 in
the morning and that is how I get my living.
I gets up between 12 and 1 ; I goes to bed at
6 and Bleeps until the afternoon. I calls
bakers between 1 and 2?the bakers are the
earliest of all. What sort of a living he
made is not recorded. A pound a week, we
should say, would be the outside figure, and
to earn that he would need a couple of scores
of customers. The early caller's fee is well
earned, since but for his intervention his
clients would often lose a day's pay, if not be
1' 1 - ^ ? ? ?1- aunmafunw ktt atilinrv in
mrown uui ui wur& anugctuci, uj minug ?w
keep time. Not so deserving of encouragement
are "tuppennies," carrying on their vocations
in those quarters of London where
pawnbrokers and poor people abound. They
are feminine intermediates between the pawnbroker
and folks anxious to raise a loan upon
their belongings, who, rather than transact
such business for themselves, are willing to
pay twopence for every parcel conveyed to
everybody's "uncle" or redeemed from his
clutches. These go betweens, it is averred,
also receive quarterly commissions from the
tradesmen they favor with their patronage ;
and so one way and another contrive to make
a comfortable living out of their neighbors'
necessities.
There are men in Paris, birds of a feather
with the chiffonier, who go from hospital to
hospital collecting the linseed plasters that
have served the turn of doctor and patient;
afterward pressing the oil from the linseed
and disposing of the linen, after bleaching
it, to the paper-maker. Others make a couple
of francs a day by collecting old corks, which
beiDg cleaned and pared, fetch, it is said, half
a franc per hundred.
A lady-resident of the Faubourg St. Germain
is credited with earning a good income
by hatching red, black and brown ants . for
pheasant preservers. One Parisian gets his
living by breediug maggots out of the foul
meats he buys of the chiffoniers, and fattening
them up in tin boxes. Another breeds maggots
for the special behoof of nightingales;
and a third marchand d'aaticots boasts of
selling between thirty and forty millions
of worms every season for piscatorial purposes.
He owns a great pit at Montmatre,
wherein he keeps his store. Every day
his scouts bring him a fresh stock, for
which he pays them from 0 to 1U pence per
pound, according to quality ; reselling them
to anglers atjust double those rates, and clearing
thereby something over ?300 a year.
This curious avocation is not unknown in
England. Some twelve years ago we are
told, Mr. Wells, a fishing-tackle maker of
Nottingham, in order to insure a constant i
supply of bait to his customers, started a farm
for the rearing of lobworms, cock-spurs, ringtatled
tn-antHing^Tmr} s^her worms in demand
among the disciples of Walton, who abound
in the old lace town. To keep his farm stock- 1
ed, men and boys go out at night collecting i
worms in the meadows and pastures ; a moist,
warm night yielding from two to six thou- '
sand worms. As soon as they are brought in,
they are placed in properly selected moss, i
field-mo99 for choice, to scour until they i
become little more than skin?freshly caught i
worms being -too tender for the anglers to
handle ; while "when a worm is properly ed- i
ucated, he i9 as tough as a bit of India-rubber, '
and behaves as a worm should do when put ]
upon a hook." When this condition is at- ]
tained, the worms are packed in moss and 1
put up in light canvas bags for the market.
This worm-merchant does not entirely depend
upon the industry of his collectors, but breeds
large quantities himself in his own garden?
the component parts of his breeding heap be- 1
ing a secret he not unnaturally keeps to him- !
self.? Chambers Journal. 1
I
CONCERNING ELEPHANTS.
"There are about 50 elephants in this couu- '
try at the present time," said Prof. George I
Arstingstall, the keeper and the trainer of the '
10 mountains of flesh which form one of the at- I
tractions of the Cooper-Bailey show. "The \
fir8telephant ever brought to the United States i
was by Hack Bailey, in 1824. It was called
Betsey and is known in the profession as Bet- <
sey the First. It was exhibited for four years
through New York State and New England, i
It was a great novelty. The owner traveled 1
with it at night, and it was always exhibit- j
ed in a building over it. The old timers tell' i
about the great excitement it created through- :
out the country. The news of its coming i
would go before, and whole villages would I
tarn out and spend the night along the road- :
side in the hope of seeing the creature, only i
known through pictures and the works of I
travelers. What they generally beheld was a
great shapeless mass covered with tarpaulins, i
swing along through the darkness, carefully
guarded by attendants, who kept the curious
rustics at a distance. It was not a very big i
elephant and came from upper India. It was 1
anything but amiable, and had a habit of
tearing out the side of its house and starting
off on "go-as you-please" excursions. This
was a fatal folly for*Betsey. One night Betsey
was out near Albany, New York. She
li__ 1
was mad aDout soraeming, anu veuuug uer
rage iu the exasperating shriek peculiar to
an elephant, she got into a farmer's yard.
He saw the monster. He did not know what
it was. The ODly thing that he knew was
that he was badly frightened and that he
knew how to use a gun. He fired at the
creature, and the leaden bullet pierced her (
heart. She sank to the earth and died, moaning
piteously. Her keeper arrived. She was
stufTed, and I believe some museum has her
now. i
"Where are most of the elephants from ?" <
All those prior to 1850 were from upper
India. The bulls were wild, restless, wicked
creatures. Most of those now on exhibition
are Ceylonese elephants. They are
much more tractable than their brethren of
the north. There are a few African elephants,
but they are not desirable, as they
certainly lack amiability. Prior to 1865
there were few shows that had more than one
elephant. The first caravan of four was
made when Cooper and Bailey went into the
business. One of these was the world-famed
Columbus, the largest elephant ever living
in captivity. It was eleven feet five inches
in height. I will tell you something about
training elephants. Stewart Craven, who is
now living quietly on his cattle ranch in
Texas, was the inventor of a new system of
handling elephants, and he actually broke
every performing elephant now before the
country, with the exception of the seven now
with the Sella Brothers' show, which is over
in Illinois. That batch I trained myself.
Craven broke in the celebrated Hannibal and
Romeo. In 1870 James Kelley, proprietor
of the London show, sent Bill Shannon to
Ceylon, and Shannon sent him back 10 elephants.
They were brought to Philadelphia
in 1872, and broken by Craven. Five of
them were sold, and the other five came into
my charge. They were well broke when I
got them, but I trained them to their wonderful
ring performances. An elephant is a
treacherous, cunning and very intelligent animal.
He forms no attachment for his keep
er. He will, however, become deeply attached
to a dog or other animal. There are three
dogs with my elephants, and Babe, my best
elephant (Chieftain is the largest), has a pet
camel called Dick. The camel will stand
by her side for hours in contentment, and
Babe actually fondles him with her trunk.
In handling elephants fear is the only instinct
to cultivate in them. Kindness, such as you
would extend to a dog or a horse, does them
no good. They are liable at any time to
harm you if they are not kept in subjection.
They must be punished immediately after the
offense, whatever it may be, is committed.
Chieftan cut up a little rough the other day.
I had him overthrown and chained, and then
I warmed hira with a hoop-hole until I was
very tired and he was very sore. The skin is
very tender, and they feel the punishment
The usual persuader is a short instrument
shaped like a bill-hook. This punctures the
hide, and is a very valuable article to keep
on hand when you are bossing elephants.
Teaching an elephant a trick is exactly like
teaching any other animal. It requires only
a mastery of the brute. The first thing to
do is to get iuto the elephant's head what you
want done, and then to escape punishment
he does it Put a bell in the grasp of an ele
phant's trunk and teach him that every time
he drops it he will he prodded, and he will
quit dropping it. Then there is a way to
reach an elephant through his stomach. I
worked for months with the animal that
mounts the highest pedestal in the pyramid.
I Dut his food ud there, and he soon learned
to go up there after it, and then it dawned on
his brain that I wanted him to go up there;
that if be did go up he escaped punishment;
and now he never thinks of balking, and
hardly ever needs punishment.
The professor told about how one of the
elephants picked up a colored boy, who was
making up her bed in Kansas City, and tossed
him gently into the candy stall; how,
when he was trying to give a sick elephant a
quinine pill at Gilmore's garden, in New
York, she was angered at the pain he caused
her and threw him 30 feet against a canvas
screen, which fortunately broke the fall; and
related the details of the killing of Keeper
Williams in Connecticut, by Romeo, about
three vears apo: told how. when an eleDhant
kills a keeper, it always tramps upou ami
mangles the body ; and the elephants all being
asleep, he concluded to go back to the
hotel and do likewise. As be passed out he
said to an attendant, "If the wind hegins to
blow hard, come ayd wake me." In explanation
he stated to a reporter that elephants
always get very much excited during wind
storms.
One more question the reporter asked, and
that is, whether it is true that an elephant
will not lie down when under a roof. The
professor said that it was true of bull elephants,
which would stand on their feet all
winter, being afraid to lie down.?St. Louie
Globe Democrat. '
? <
MARRIAGE IN EGYPT.
When an Egyptian wants a wife he is not
allowed to visit the harems of his friends to
select one, for Mohammed forbade men to see
the face of any woman they could marry?
that is to say, any besides their mothers or sisters.
A man is therefore, obliged to employ a
"khathen," or matchmaker, to find one for
him, for which service, of course, she expects
"backsheesh"?that is payment. The khathen,
having found a girl, recommends her to
the man as exceedingly beautiful and eminently
suitable to him. The father is then
waited upon to ascertain the dowry he requires,
for all wives are purchased as they
were in patriarchal days. When Jacob had
no money to pay for Rachel he served her
father for seven years as an equivalent;
and when duped, was obliged to serve a
3econd time to secure his prize. (Gen.
xxix.) Fathers still refuse to give a younger
daughter in marriage before an elder shall
have been married. The people of Armenia,
in Asiatic Turkey, forbid a younger son to
marry before an elder, and this is likewise
the law ot the Hindoos.
The price of a wife varies from 5 shillings
to $1,500. The girl may not be more than
five or six years old, but, whatever her age,
two thirds of the dowry is at once paid
to her father in the presence of witnesses.
The father then or his representative, says:
"I betrothe thee my daughter," and the young
man responds, "I accept of such betrothal."
Unless among the lower classes, the father expends
the dower in the purchase of dress ornaments
or furniture for the bride, which
never become the property of her husband.
Even when betrothed, the intercourse of the
parties is very restricted. The Arabs will
not allow them to see each other, but the
Jews are not quite so stringent. The betrothals
often continue for years before the
man demands his wife. Thus, "Samson went
down and talked to the woman," or espoused
her, and "after a time he returned to take
her." Girls are demanded at the age of ten
- - J 1 J J-1- ? J- - ? J -i tAAMA V\ llf Q An*
anu ueiweeu uiai nuu aiAtccu yvma, uuu ajm
Bixteen few will seek them, and the dowry
expected is then proportionately low.
Girls in Egypt are often mothers at thirteen
and grandmothers at twenty-six, and in
Persia they are said to be mothers at eleven,
grandmothers at twenty-four, and past childbearing
at thirty. When a man demands his
betrothed a day is fixed for the nuptials, and
for seven nights before he is expected to give
a feast, which, however, is furnished by the
guests themselves. Thus one sends coffee, another,
sugar, etc. The principal time of this
continued feast is the night before the consummation.
The conduct is intrusted to the
"friend of the bridegroom." (John iii, 29.)
About the middle of this day the bride arrives
at the house and then returns to the
harem, where she sits with her mother, sisters,
and female friends. At the third or fourth
watch of the night?three or four hours after
sunset?the bridegroom, who has not seen |
his fair one, goes to the mosque to pray,
accompanied by "raeshals," or torches and
lanterns, with music. Upon his return he is
introduced to his bride, with whom, having
given her attendant a present to retire, he is
left alone. He then throws off her vail and
for the first time sees her face. If satisfied,
he informs the women outside, who immediately
express their joy by screaming "zuggareet,"
which is echoed by the women in the
house, and then by those in the neighborhood.
A WONDERFUL CLOCK.
A wonderful clock, said to be superior in
mechanism and the variety of its performances
to the famed Strasbourg astronomical and
apostolic clock, will be placed on exhibition in
Tammany Hall to-day, and for a considerable
time will remain there for the inspection
of the public. This clock was constructed
at Detroit by Prof. Felix Meiers, a gentleman
who has devoted his entire life to the
I * " * I f4 !.
stuay or astronomy ana mecnanics. 11 is
called the American national astronomical
clock, and it is probably the most complex
and ingenious horological work that the hand
of man has ever produced. The clock is 18
feet high, 8 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, and
weighs 4,000 pounds. It is wound once in 12
days, and is run by weights of 700 pounds.
It shows the local time in hours, minutes and
seconds, and the time of 13 other cities of the
world, among which are Washington, San
Francisco, Melbourne, Pekin, Cairo, Constantinople,
St. Petersburg, London, Berlin and
Paris. It also denotes the movements of the
planets, and measures their movements by
seasons, years and cycles for 200 years, including
leap years.
Concealed in it its interior is a music-box,
which plays when Death strikes each hour.
At the same moment the figure of Washington,
seated in a chair beneath a canopy, rises
to his feet, holding the declaration of independence
in his right hand. A liveried
servant sitting at the right hand also rises
and opens a door through which come all
the Presidents o* the United States, who 1
march in review before the effigy of Washington,
saluting him as they pass. The procession
disappears through a door on the opposite
side of the platform, which is opened and
closed by a servant in gorgeous livery. The
likenesses of these figures, including that of
President Hayes, who is in the rear, are said
to be excellent. As soon as the door is closed
the figure of Washington resumes its chair of
state, and all is quiet until the hammer of
death again sounds the hour on the gong,
when the extraordinary scene is repeated.
The quarter hours are struck by an infant,
the half hours by a youth, and three-quarters
by a man. The South church, Boston, has
offered $45,000 for the clock, the price of
which is $50,000.?New York Timet.
Character More than Reputation.?
Keep straight ahead. The curved line may
be the line of beauty, but it is better to be
able to walk a crack than a circle. The man >
wKa OAa walk >->? jtmijlit !! ? nnjr Lv bH '
right, but he who can only walk in a cycloid
curve is assuredly all wrong. This injunction
concerning your physical peregrination applies
as well to your spiritual itinerancy.
Are you slandered ? Keep straight on in your
course, and let backbiting die the death of 1
neglect. What is the use in lying awake of
nights and brooding over the remarks of some
false friend, that runs through your brain like
lightning ? What is the use of getting into
a worry and fret over gossip that has been set
afloat to your disadvantage, by some meddlesome
busybody, who has more time than character
? The thing cannot possibly injure you ; 1
indeed, take notice of it, and in combating it,
you give it standing and character. If what
is said about you is true, set yourself right;
if it is false, let it pass for what it is worth. <
If a bee sting you, would you go to the hive 1
to destroy it? Would not a thousand come 1
at you ? It is wisdom to say little respecting '
the injuries you have received. We are gen- '
erally losers in the end if we stop to refute all '
the backbiting and gossiping we may hear by '
the way. They are annoying, it is true, but '
not dangerous, so long as we do not stop to <
expostulate and scold. Our characters are 1
formed and sustained by ourselves, and not i
by others. Value what you know of yourself 1
more than what others may think of you. '
Character is more than reputation, and the 1
approval of your own honest conscience is a '
thousand fold more valuable than the com- i
mendation of a community. But you can i
have both. Live for God's approval and i
your own proper commendation, and that of 1
your friends will surely follow.
Man's Age.?Few men die of age. Al- J
most all die of disappointment, passion, mental
or bodily toil, or accidents. The passions ,
kill men, sometimes, even suddenly. The
cnmmnn CYnrowion. "choked with DaS8ion."
has little exaggeration in it, for even if not
suddenly fatal, strong passions shorten life. :
Strong-bodied men often die yonng?weak 1
men live longer than the strong, for the strong
use their strength, and the weak have none to
use. The latter take care of themselves, the 1
former do not. As it is with the body, so it is
with the mind and temper. The stronger are 1
apt to break, or, like the candle, to run ; the '
weak, to burn out. The inferior animals, 1
which live temperate lives, have generally
their prescribed number of years. The horse ]
lives twenty-five; the ox fifteen; the lion 1
about twenty; the dog ten or twelve; the rab- 1
bit eight; the guinea pig six or seven years. {
These numbers all bear a similar proportion 1
to the time the animal takes to grow to its
full size. But man, of the animals, is one :
that seldom lives this average. He ought to
live a hundred years, according to physical '
law, for five times twenty are one hundred; i
but instead of that, he scarcely reaches, on an i
average, four times his growing period; the f
cat six times; the rabbit even eight times the <
standard of measurement. The reason is ob- J
vious?man is not only the most irregular <
and the most intemperate, but the most labo- }
rious and hard worked of all the animals, 1
He is also the most irritable of all animals; J
and there is no reason to believe?though we 1
cannot tell what any animal secretly feels? i
that, more than any other animal, man cher- <
ishes wrath to keep it warm, and consumes 1
himself with the fire of his own secret reflec- <
tion. 1
?# j
Committed Arson for Love.?A curious
case recently came before the court at Versailles,
in France. During many ^eeks the 1
newspapers of Paris gave information of i
repeated fires in the commune of Auvers. j
They were evidently the work of incendia- }
ries, and the police were set diligently to
work to find the criminals. Their search
resulted finally in the arrest of a young girl
of sixteen, Clemence Blossier, a sewing girl
of Auvers.
The motive which led her to this wanton
destruction of property is one that every
one will recognize as a very particularly
inflammable one?love. It seems that
this girl of sixteen was madly in love with
a youth of her own age named Albert Romarn,
a laborer in a neighboring village. The
girl's parents had forbidden her to see her
lover, and the two had great difficulty even in
managing a clandestine correspondence. It
was this obstruction to the course of love
that gave the girl the extraordinary .dea of
setting fire to farm houses and haystacks.
The alarm was given, bells rang, neighbors
ran to the scene. Albert Romarn ran too,
met the young girl in the throng and"1 fled
away with her to a neighboring forest, where
they passed hours together while the fire
worked its ravages. Six times in six weeks
the lovers fled to the little woods, and the
farmers of the commune paid for lighting
their love making a sum of 30,000 francs.
But finally, one fine night just as Clemence
was thrusting lighted matches into the haystack
of one of the neighbors, a strong hand
was laid upon her shoulder and she was led
away a prisoner. She confessed all immediately,
and has been condemned to ten years
hard labor.
Life in the Polar Regions.?It is impossible
to form an idea of a tempest in the
polar sea. The ice-bergs are like floating
rocks whirled along a rapid current. The
crystal mountains dash against each other,
backward and forward, bursting with a roar
like thur der, and returning to the charge
until, losing their equilibrium, they tumble
over in a cloud of spray, upheaving the icefields,
which fall afterward like the crack of a
whip-lash on the boiling sea. The sem gulls
fly away screaming; and often a black, shining
whale comes for an instant puffing; to the
surface. When the midnight sun graces the
horizon, the floating mountains arid the
rocks seem immersed in a wave of purple
light The cold is by no means so insupportable
as is supposed. We passed from a heated
cabin of thirty degrees above zero to fortyseven
below zero in the open air without inconvenience.
A much higher degree of cold
becomes, however, insufferable if there is
wind. At fifteen degrees below zero a steam,
as if from a boiling kettle, rises from the water.
At once frozen by the wind, it falls in
a fine powder. This phenomenon is called
ice-smoke. At forty degrees the snow and
human bodies also smoke, which smoke
changes at once into millions of tiny particles,
like needles of ice, which fill the air,
and make a light, continuous noise, like the
rustle of a stiff silk. At this temperature
the trunks of trees burst with a loud report,
the rocks break up, and the earth opens and
vomits smoking water. Knives break in cutting
butter. To talk is fatiguing. At night
the eyelids ureToVBreer wira a crust orice,
which must be carefully removed before *one
can open them.?ProfeiBor Nordenskjoid.
* ?
The Horseshoe Superstition.?The origin
of the horseshoe superstition has never been
3atisfaotorily explained. Among the t heories
offered, that contained in the following is
? ? ALA MAAn'k'l'^AA MTIIA A MAC k AO AP
ailJUUg tUQ |JUSC1 UlllllCO ? xuo uv/idvouvv v?
old was held to be of special service as security
against the attacks of evil spirits. The
virtue may have been assigned, perhaps, by
the rule of contraries, from it being & thing
incompatible with the cloven foot of the Evil
One; or from the rude resemblance which
the horseshoe bears to the rays of glory which
in ancient pictures were made to surround the
heads of saints and angels; or, finally, from
jome notion of its purity, acquired by passing
through the fire. This latter supposition receives
some countenance from the method resorted
to for the cure of horses that bad become
vicious or afflicted with any distemper which
village farriery did not understand; such disBase
was invariably attributed to witchcraft,
ind the mode of cure seems to imply the belief
that the imperfect purification by fire of the
shoes which the animal wore had afforded an
inlet to malevolent influences. Accordingly,
the horse was led into the smithy; the door
was closed and barred; the shoes were taken
off and placed in the fire, and the witch or
warlock was speedily under the necessity of
removing the spell under which the Animal
suffered. Sailors are, for the most part careful
to have a horseshoe nailed to the mizzenmast,
or somewhere on the deck near midships, for
the protection of the vessel. The Chinese
bave their tombs built in the shape of the
borseshoe, which custom is very curious, as it
may be fairly regarded as a branch of the
superstition long prevalent among ourselves."
The Gardner Machine Gun.?A gun
which can fire 5,000 shots in 13 minutes was
recently tested in Washington. The Gardner
is a machine gun, like the Gatling. It has
two barrels made of 3teel, encased in brass.
This is an auxiliary to small arms, and is
simply a gun which, by the ingenuity of
the designer, is calculated to do the work of
a number of muskets, and do it more rapidly
and effectually. It cannot, probably, shoot
as accurately as a musket, but, if properly
bandied, must be fearfully destructive, especially
when directed against a line of an
advancing column. Itn calibre is 45-100 of
an inch, and the same cartridge is used as in
ordinary rifle practice. The charge is 70 grains
of powder, and the ball weighs 405 grains.
It is mounted on a small field carriage, and
is light enough to be carried by two men.
rhe whole length of the gun is only four
feet. It can be fired 500 times in a minute,
ts capacity in this direction being only limited
oy the rapidity with which it can be fed. If
iteam could apply the motive power, and it
louid De tea last enougn, mere is no leinng
iow rapidly it could be fired. The firing is
lone by turning a crank in the rear of the
gun, and it is fed through a fiat shaped box,
nto which the cartridges are placed in blocks
lolding 20 each. They fit down neatly into
his block, which holds about 50 cartridges,
ind as fast as the crank is turned they drop
lown into a channel, and are carried forward
'or discharge, and the empty cartridges returned
and dropped beneath. Five thousand
ihots were fired in 13 minutes, three men
elieving each other at the crank.
- ? e
S6T The way to catch a woman?If married
iut not a mother, praise her husband; if married
and ha3 children, praise them; if unmarried
and engaged, praise her lover; if unmarried
and not engaged, praise herself.
'? I. *