Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, September 10, 1885, Image 1

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?? " " " _ ? m?^' ??? ? ?? ? ? ;?-- ?? ?? ?? ? lewis m. grist, proprietor. J 31 it Jjnbeptitbtnf Jamilj) fttfospapfr: Jfor Ijjc promotion of fljc |)clitical, Social, Hgrimlfural anb Commercial Interests of % So?f|. |terms--$2.50 a year, in advance. VOL. 81. YOBKYILLE, S O., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER IP, 1885. 3^Q. 37. fctcrtcd foettti. j THE CLOSING HOURS. BY VESPER. Oh! precious hour, when glowing in the west Bright radiant clouds in gorgeous festoons rest | On the soft blue bosom of the evening sky, ' Fringed by lightning beams that leaping round i them fly i . In zigzag dances through the "tinnier air, At the same moment almost everywhere, While cooling zephyrs, with melodious voice i Seem whispering everywhere to all, "rejoice."' 'Tis sweet, indeed?'tis sweet at such an hour ! , To stroll l?y babbling brooks, through field or J bower, f And watch the weary herd as on their way 1 Slowly they move homeward at the close of day. i While drooping flowers rise and breathe around , us Perfumes so sweet that almost they confound us, Yet bid us hope when we with earth are done There will be found by us a better home. i How serenely sinks to rest the dying day. Robed in glowing purple, scarlet," blue, and gray, J While, fluttering fast, the birds of every wing" I Haste to the troes, there, vesper songs to sing, 1 Making melody as sweet as earth has ever heard ; < Though they can neither speak nor chirp a word ; j > Still they sing till all shadows take their flight ^ And stars begin to twinkle down their light. ! , 1 Now safe at home the flocks, the herd, and fowl, j 1 They fear no savage beast nor hooting owl When once they've heard the faithful watch- ( dog's bark", , But in peace till waken'd by the soaring lark, I When lirst he pipes his notes and darts away ! ! To meet the sun and grget the coming day, As slowlv flocks and heards arise again, Stretch themselves and go to browsing o'er the plain. I Oh! peerless hour, how dear are you to all, ; And what the tender memories you recall; < And oh! is it not solemn to see"the rapid flight ( Of all earthly objects as they pass from sight ? . How loudly do they call to improve each day, Ere we, lik"e them,"from earth shall pass away, J Where, as weary pilgrims, sadly now we roam, Longing for peace and rest in the eternal home, S $he ?dler. j A STORY OF ADVENTURE j AND < Suffering in the Far West. J < k Early in January, 1851, Mr. Royse Oat- ] man (a native of New York) and his family . entered that portion of the Mexican terri- 1 tory now called Arizona, in company with \ an emigrant party, of which he was a mem- ! ber. Originally the party numbered some i eighty or ninety persons, but disagreements 1 had divided them during the journey; Mr. i Oatman and his friends took the Indian j route from the Rio Grande, with a train , consisting of eight wagons and some twenty j persons. After a series of continued hard- i ships and disasters they reached Tucson i entirely destitute of provisions, their stock * broken down, and most of them unable to proceed. j Mr. Oatman saw nothing but utter desti- ] tution before him if he tarried there, and he was sorely embarrassed what to do. His : stock haci oeen reciucea 10 two yoKe 01 i cows and one of oxen, and was so jaded i after the long journey that it was not prob- 1 able they would hold out much longer. Nearly two hundred miles of a desert coun- 1 try lay between him and Fort Yuma; and < beyond the Colorado there was still a terri- j ble desert to pass before he could reach the 1 ' southern counties of California. While suf- ? fering the tortures of anxiety and suspense, ? with the gloomiest prospect if they remain- t ed, a Dr. Lecount, who had extensively ex- i plored the Pacific coast arrived from Fort 1 Yuma, and reported the route safe. He 1 had seen no hostile Indians, and had heard ? of no recent depredations on the way. Encouraged by the information, Mr. Oat- t man determined to push forward at once ? for California, and, accordingly, on the 11th ? of March, he sej out with such slender out- ? fit of provisions as he could procure. Trav- e eling for seven days under great difficulties, t his family on the verge of starvation, his ? cattle scarcely able to drag the wagon, he s * was overtaken by Dr. Lecount and a Mexi-11 can guide. It was evident from the exhaus-: ( tion of his team that he would be totally I j unable to reach Fort Yuma without assist- ; t ance. Dr. Lecount agreed to hurry on as : f fast as possible and send back assistance j j from the fort, which was still distant about j J ninety miles. i f The first night beyond the Oatman camp i i an attack was made by a band of Indians! s upon Lecount and his guide, and their ani- j mals stolen. Left on foot, without any , r means of subsistence, they were compelled to hurry on or starve. The Mexican was i sent ahead to procure assistance. It was c thirty miles back to the Oatmans. Lecount ? " saw no alternative but to rush on after the ( guide. He left a card, however, conspicu- f ously fastened to a tree, stating what had occurred, and warning the emigrant party | r behind to be on the look-out for the Apaches. ; 1 Although the Oatmans camped at the same ; 1 spot they failed to see the notice; or, as some t suppose, Mr. Oatman saw it and concealed : it from his family, in order that they might ? not be uselessly alarmed. f On the 18th of March they spent a dread- ( ful night on a little island in the Gila river. 1 A terrible storm blew the water up over them ; their scanty supply 01 provisions was , damaged, their blankets and clothing wet through, and the starving animals driven nearly frantic with fear. It was a wild and desolate place, many days' journey ; from any civilized abode. Hitherto, Mr. Oatman, naturally a man of sanguine tern-j perament, had borne every disaster and : braved every danger cheerfully and with-1 out flinching; but the presentiment, of some terrible doom seemed to have fallen upon ' him at this place, and he was seen by some of the family to shed tears while silting in j the wagon. The next day they proceed- j ed but a short way, when the jaded animals ! utterly refused to move. It was impossible to urge them on with the loaded wagon; their strength was spent, and the faithful creatures seemed ready to lie down and die. By unloading the wagon, and pushing the wheels from time to time, the distressed emigrants succeeded at length in getting upon a narrow flat, bordering on the river, where they halted to recruit. Mr. Oatman was greatly dejected. It I was observed by the family that he looked anxiously down the road over which they had passed, and that he never before seem- ! ed so utterly despondent. The sun, which j i had blazed upon them fiercely all day was | now fast setting. They were beset by diffi-11 culties. Before them lay a vast desert; be- j hind and to the right a wilderness of moun- ' tains. It was starvation to stay, and al- j 1 most inevitable disaster to go forward. Mrs. Oatman, the noble wife and mother, always patient, hopeful and enduring, busied herself in attending to the wants of the children, and in uttering words of encouragement to her husband. He, however, seemed utterly overwhelmed with gloomy forebodings, and continued to look back upon tne roaa, till, suddenly, an expression i , of indescribable horror was observed in his < P face, and the next moment a band of i Apache Indians was seen leisurely approach- i ing along the road. The children perceiv- 1 ing instinctively that their father?to whom i they had always been accustomed to look < for protection?was agitated by no ordinary emotions, became alarmed; but he succeeded by a strong effort in maintaining an appearance of composure, and told them not to be afraid, that the Indians would not hurt them. When the Indians came up, Mr. Oatman spoke to them kindly in Spanish, and mo- i tioned to them to sit down. They sat down and asked for tobacco and pipes, which he gave them, and they smoked a while in y token of friendship. * They then asked for < something to eat. Mr. Oatman told them f his family were nearly starving?that they < had a long journey before them, and could | ill spare any portion of their scanty stock.' However, he gave them a little bread, and 3 said he was sorry he could not give more, j After thi? they stood off a little, and talked in a low tone, while Oatman set to work to reload the wagon. It was observed that the Indians looked anxiously down the road, as if expecting some approaching par- 1 ty. Suddenly, with a terrific yell, they jumped in the air and dashed with uplifted clubs upon the doomed family. Lorenzo, a a boy fourteen years of age, was struck on the head and felled to the earth the first blow. I Several of the savages rushed upon Oatman, r and he was seen for a moment struggling \ in their midst, but soon fell a mutilated V corpse at their feet. Mrs. Oatman pressed i her youngest child to her bosom, and s struggled with a mother's heroic devo- 1 tiou to save it, shrieking in piercing accents, a "Help ! help! Oh, for the love of God, will e rmhrvnv save lis ?" t A few blows of the murderous clubs quick- a ly silenced the poor mother and her babe; Y and in less than a minute the whole family, t save Lorenzo, Olive and Mary Anne, were t lying dead or moaning in their death struggles upon the ground. Olive, a girl of six- i teen years of age, and Mary Anne, a frail r 2hild of eleven, were dragged asideand held a in the iron grasp of two Indians. Lorenzo, a the boy, was stunned by the crushing blows v which had fallen upon his head, and lay f bleeding by the edge of the precipice. In I his narrative he states that he soon recov- p ed his consciousness and distinctly heard t the yells of the Apaches, mingled with the a 3hrieks and dying groans ol his parents, cl The savages, seeing him move, rifled his r pockets and cast him over the precipice, a He must have fallen twenty-feet, and that he was not instantly killed, or maimed be- t yond recovery, seems miraculous. Strange- i: discordant sounds, he tells us, grated on his f *ars, gradually dying away, and then he Y heard "strains of such sweet music as com- t pletely ravished his senses." h Thus he lay until reason became gradually restored, when, with great difficulty he u :rept back up the hill. The sight of the t lead bodies of his parents, brothers and f sisters, lying scattered about the broken u wagon, was too much for him, and for a r while he felt like one laboring under some t horrible phantom. He knew that his sis- t ters Olive and Mary Anne had been taken e japtive, and the fate to which they were i loomed was even more dreadful to him lhan the sight of the murdered family, i Sick at heart, and faint from loss of blood, a he turned away and crept towards the river, r A. burning thirst consumed him. He a thought he was dying. With incredible lifficulty he reached the river, where he c satisfied his thirst and slept a-few hours, t Thus refreshed, he resolved upon an at- c tempt to reach the Pi mo Villages, which, c though distant a hundred miles, was the t nearest place known to him, where he could e hope to procure relief. During the next c two days he made his way along the road? ^ sometimes walking, sometimes creeping on s his hands and knees, resting every few min- c ntes when he could procure the friendly i shelter of a bush; at times delirious, and r constantly haunted by the horrible dread a that he might again fall into the hands of 1 Indians. He grew weaker every mile from f hunger, thirst and fever; and worn out at r last, lay down to die. f A strange noise aroused him from his n stupor. Upon opening his eyes he found r himself surrounded by wolves. He shouted \ us loud as he could, and threw stones at 1 them. The nearest he struck with his hand, t Rising again, he pushed on, the wolves I following closely at his heels. About noon yf the second day, as he was passing through a i dark ravine, two Pimo Indians, riding on \ 3ne American horses," appeared before him, c md seeing so strange an object fixed their a irrows and raised their bows to shoot. He i: iddressed them in Spanish, telling them he a vas an American, and begging them not to t sill him ; upon which they lowered their t dows and manifested signs of interest and r sympathy. \ When they learned what had happened, hey gave him some ash-baked bread and i i gourd of water. Then they told him to t iwait their return, and rode away. He s vprl a little while, but fearful of treach- t iry, started on again. Wandering along ;he road until he came out of the ravine ind overlooked the plain, he discerned some moving objects in the distance, -vhich he speedily recognized as two white:overed wagons. He knew they must be Americans. Overcome by emotion, he sank ;o the ground unconscious of all his sufferings. The wagons contained friendly American families who had started for Fort Yuma. Next day the unhappy sufferer was safe among the Pimos. The emgrants halted a few days until he gained iufficient strength to join them. He traviledwith them to Fort Yuma, which they eached after a journey of eight or ten days. As soon as the Apaches had concluded the nassacre of the Oatman family, and plunlered the wagon of its contents, they flew icross the river, takiug with them the two aptives, Olive and Mary Anne. These unortunate girls had seen their parents, broth;rs and sisters cruelly murderad, and were low dragged away, bare headed and shoeess through a rude and desolate wilderness. Ferocious threats and even clubs were used o hurry them along. Sometimes the younger sister faltered from sheer lack of strength ; but the savage wretches, unmind'ul of hor sufferings, beat her, and threatened to dispatch her at once if she lagged belind. On the third day of their journey, after the uost incredible hardships, having traveled >ver two hundred miles, they came in sight >t a cluster of low thatched huts down in a alley. This was the Apache village. The ribe consisted of about three hundred, and ived in the most abject condition of filth ind poverty. From this time, for many nonths they lived a life of servitude, workng from morning till night for their cap:ors. The scantiest pittance of food was alowed them, and that they had to gather :hemselves. Often they were without food for two days at a time, save such roots as they could secretly devour while gathering supplies for the lazy wretches who held them in bondage. The youngest sister, Mary Anne, was of a weakly constitution, c ind gradually declined under the terrible c hardships to which she was subjected. a There is a touching pathos in the gentle- j ness and fortitude with which she bore her e sufferings. She seldom complained; and t it was her custom, when alone with her r sister to sing hymns and say she thought j heaven would take pity on them some s Jay and deliver them. a The sisters one evening sat hand in hand, t Mary Anne sang one of the favorite hymns j she had been taught by her mother. Then r gazing with steadfast and loving eyes in ' 5) her sister's face, she said, "I have been a j < ?reat deal of trouble to you, Olive. You J will miss me for a while, but you will not! j have to work so hard when I am gone." I 1 The Indians gathered around in mysteri- > 2 aus wonder; but the dying girl saw them ( not. A smile of ineffable happiness beam- i ?d upon her features. Peacefully she sank j to rest in her sister's arms. Olive was left ? to bear the burden of life alone. t During several dreary years the brother, j Lorenzo, had vainly striven to procure the I i release of his sisters. No aid was furnish-! j ed by the military authorities at Fort Yu- j c tna. * The only person there who took any | j interest in the matter was Mr. TIenry j i irrinnei, a private citizen, who irum | t up to the date of Olive's rescue, never ceas- j ed to exert his energies to that end. Through the services of Francisco, a Yu- j ; ma Indian, the purchase of Olive from the i Indians was effected by Mr. Grinnell in Feb- s ruary, 1850. She was brought down to a j place on the Colorado at on appointed time, r Here Mr. Grinnell met her. So completely 1 was she disguised by long exposure to the s sun, by paint, tattooing and costume, that 1 he could not believe that she was a white 1 woman. When he spoke to her she made no i answer, but cried. It was not for several f, days after her arrival at Fort Yuma, that < she could utter more than a few broken i words of English. Subsequently she met i her brother and, was taken by him to his ( residence near Eos Angeles. ' 1 |psceU3ttC0ttSi ?cafliH(j. 4? z BRUSHES. t TOW THEY ARE MANUFACTURED AND OF WHAT THEY ARE COMPOSED. ^ There is not a household convenience or h l personal implement that is of more im- 11 >ortanee than the brush, and its name is j nany; a catalogue of different brushes e vould fill a column in this paper. Yet few i mow how a brush is made and of what s t is composed. It has been supposed by \ ome that split whalebone?which is on- g y another form of hair or horn?was used s ,s a cheap substitute for bristles and read- li :rs of forty or fifty years old will remem- i ?er that biack bristle brushes were avoided, t .nd only white ones were salable. In fact, li lowever. whalebone is much more costly n han bristles, and is only used for special t >rushes. ii And even the bristle supply is becoming f, ng costly and scarce. Hereaway we raise r 10 more bristled hogs; most of them have \ , coating of soft hairs sparsely distributed, v ,nd some of the finer sorts have a curly s yool. Even the Southern hogs, which self- e ared in the woods are dying out, and a c ligher type of the class Sus is taking their c dace. Nearly all the bristles that are f ised in this country come from Russia, (j .nd they cost the brush maker from one n lollar and a quarter to three dollars a >ound. They come tied up in neat rolls, nd assorted as to lengths and stiffness. t Horse hair is largely used for brushes; d here is no material that will so finely pol- p sh sewing machine needles, as they come v rom the last machine process, as horse- fc iair brushes. Horse hair makes the soft i irushes for plush, velvet, and for the silk e lat makers. c The vegetable kingdom is largely drawn o ipon for brush material. To say nothing of f< irooms, there is a grass called Tampico, b rom the place of its exportation, that is r ised for hand scrubbing brushes. It is a v ound fibre of light straw color, quite n ousrh and elastic, and possessing the un- 0 isual quality of retaining its rigidity ana E lasticity however much soaked it may be s n water. <j flattened steel wire with the temper in, is f ised for fine cleaning brushes and tor street i md stable use. These are so coarse and a igid that they would be better designated o is scrapers. p But there is a wire brush that is the very c ipposite of these. It is made of steel or c >rass wire that is so very fine that it goes t luite beyond the finest gauge made in this s lountry. It goes to what is known to the <] rade as forty-four English gauge. Brush- ( is made from this are employed in the pro- t luction of a peculiar finish on silver. a iVhen silver is used in plate, whether it is c olid or an external deposit, it is not often s impressed, or hardened, by any mechan- a cal means, except when it is burnished to f nake a polish. The "sattn finish" of plate j ind silver ornaments, so much admired of j ate years, is produced by these brushes of r ine steel and brass wire. The brushes are (j otary and are ru n at high velocity. The ef- j ect of their action on the soft surface of sil- s 'er is to raise the particles so that they will t lot reflect the light as a polished surface vill, but give a soft, velvety, refractive rj ight to the eye. This efiect is produced by v he soft wire brushes that feel under the p land almost like cylinders of down. The common way of fastening bristles v .nd hairs and Tampico grass in brushes is ] vith common pitch, which is kept hot at a t onvenient bench, and is kept fluid by the dmixture of a little tallow. The worknan grasps from a bunch or pile of bristles 3 . few in his fingers doubles them over at 1 he middle, winds a bit of fine twine about t he butt or bend, dips that end in the hot i ?iteh, and presses the bunch in a hole in the c vooden back of the brush to be. c But a better process is wiring or twining; a n either case the looped brush being held f >y a wire or twine that passes through a \ mall hole in the back of the larger hole h hat receives the bristles. But, as all these ci vires or strings are seen on the back of the t ?rush, they must be concealed by a false s tack for nice work. t The writer has a specimen with a solid t ?ack that was made more than fifteen years t go. In this, the bristles, doubled, were t ed by a wire staple into the holes, and the ? nds of the staple being crossed by a die, t he wire was forced into the wood by a t (lunger, and really locked in the solid ma- i erial. The brush has been in constant use I luring all these years and is "as good as 1 lew."?Scientific American. ? Southern Loyalv.?The thoughts of t he people are not upon the war, not much 1 ipon the past at all, except as their losses t emind them of it, but upon the future, s ipon business, a revival of trade, upon edu- e ation, and adjustment to the new state of t hings. The thoughts are not much upon e (olitics either, or upon offices; certainly hey are not turned more in this direction han the thoughts of people at the North * re. "When we read a dispatch which de- 1 lares that there is immense dissatisfaction v hroughout Arkansas because offices are not ? lealt out more liberally to it, we may know ^ hat the case is exactly what it is in, say, ' Wisconsin?that a few pofltical managers J re grumbling, and that the great body of he people are indifferent, perhaps too in- ^ lifferent, to the distribution of offices. Undoubtedly, immense satisfaction was r elt at the election of Mr. Cleveland, and s lation of triumph in the belief that now c he party which had been largely a non(articipant in Federal affairs would have a J arge share and weight in the administra- J ion. With this went, however a new feel- t ng of responsibility, of a stake in the eoun- a ry, that manifested itself at once in attach- *! nent to the Union asthecommon possession if all sections. I feel sure that Louisiana, for 1 nstance, was never in its whole history, 1 rom the day of the Jefferson purchase, so 11 onspciously loyal to the United States as it c s to-day. I have believed that for the past 1 en years there has been growing in this j1 ountry a stronger feeling of nationality?a ' listinet American historic consciousness? r nd nowhere else has it developed so rapdly of late as at the South. I am convincd that this is a genuine development of at- s achmenttothe Union and of pride in the c lation, and not in any respect a political r novement for unworthy purposes. I am I orry that it is necessary, for .the sake of } iny lingering prejudice at the North to say 1 his. But it is time that sober, thoughtful, mtriotic people at the North should quit 1 epresenti ng the desire for office at the South * is a desire to {jet into the government sad- ? lie and ride again with a "rebel" impulse. 1 t would be, indeed, a discouraging fact 11 f any considerable portion of the South ? ield aloof in sullenness from Federal affairs. 1 Vor is it any just cause either of reproach or r >f uneasiness that men who were promi- G lent in the war of the rebellion should be J irominent now in official positions, for with 1 l few exceptions the worth and weight of G he South went into the war. It would be 11 die to discuss the question whether the 1 nasses of the South were not dragooned J nto the war by the politicians; it is suflident to recognize the fact that it became iractically, by one means or another, a J inanimous revolt.?Charles Dudley Warner, 1 n Jfarper'.s Magazine for September. N - Poisonous Coffee.?As coffee drinkers, Vmericans lead the world, and it is distress- I ng, to say the least, to know that coffee is 1 ystematically polluted. A most deadly { loison, prussiate of iron, is used to give the s ich and much admired surface to the coffee t jean, and the consequent danger to the per- \ iistent coffee drinker is incipient paralysis, f tickles naturally preserved should be of a i ight green color and mildly pungent. The s lickles of commerce are bitter and of a dark ( jreen color. This is due to a preparation c if the soluble salts and copper. The effect c ipon the human stomach, particularly t imong children, need hardly be pointed f nit. A few years ago canned goods were r nit up in strong tin cans, and rosin used in r he process of sealing the ends. The tin iow used is a mere shell, and chloride of inc is a poisonous liquid and it is impossile to prevent its mingling with the conents of the can. The primary cause of this aod pollution is due to the demand for heap goods and the competition among nanufacturers to supply this demand. It i impossible to believe that any class of nen would deliberately poison their fellow reatures, and yet the result is the same, n the race for the nimble penny all considrations of humanity are ignored. It is mpossible for the consumer to protect himelf from these pollutions?the evil is uni'ersal. What shall be done about it? ihall the consumer hold the dealer responible ? That would be manifestly unjust, as ie cannot sample or guarantee his wares. Ahere remains the manufacturer, and him he laws can certainly reach. If the State aws are inadequate, what is to prevent the lation from seizing this monster by the hroat and throttling it. A rigid supervison of the factories, a seizure of all polluted ood and a wholesome fine and imprisonment would effect a wonderful change in a rery short time. The immediate effect yould be a slight ri?e in the price of wholeome food, but the nesult would be a markd improvement in the health of the whole ommunity. If it is in the province of the entral government to guard our shores rom the invader how much more is it a luty to crush the enemy that lurks in our midst.?Philadelphia Call. Mountains.?If the force which raised he mountains had acted all at once and no lisintegrating action had afterward taken ilace, the Alps would have consisted on the yhole of one great folded mass, led up to >y a number of lesser undulations, and risng at the centre into a huge boss or elongatd hog's back, which might, perhaps, be more or less broken here and tliere by an ccasional dislocation. They would have ormed, not a varied range of mountains, iut a continuous ridge. From the pictuesque point of view, such an Alps as this yould be practically worthless; it would be lothing more than one gigantic down, withut any variety, romance or mystery?a nere dome of swelling rock, covered on the ummit by a curved sheet of monotonous, lull and uninteresting snow. Fortunately or the British tourist and the canny Swiss lotel keeper, nature manged the thing in , different way. Frost and rain scraped >ut the range, as fast as it rose, into jagged >eaks like those of Chamount, or precipitous liffs like those of Grindelwald. Rivers urved out for themselves deep glens like hat of the Valals, and glaciers wore them elves profound beds lfke that of the Mer le Grace, or round lake basins like those of Irimsel. The softer parts were cut away >y this ceaseless action of wind and rain nd frostand ice sheet; the harder and more rystaline portions alone were left behind, carred and weathered into fantastic shapes is jagged peak or craggy summit. The inal outcome of the process in the modern Vlps as we actually see them?rising here nto snow-clad boases, jutting out there in laked needles; traversed at one spot by leeply cut torrents, sculptured at another nto beautiful valleys. "They remain," ays Profeasor Geikie, "marvelous monunents of stupenduous earth throes, followd by a prolonged gigantic denudation." The whole mass is not nearly so high as it vould have been had erosion never kept ?ace with elevation; but it is a thousand imes more picturesque, more varied, more vonderful and more dangerous. I add the ast epithets advisedly out of compliment o the Alpine Club." Lightning in TSropical Climates.? dy experience confirms the remarks of )r. Van Danckleman in Nature, respecting he little damage done by lightning in tropcal climates. In the plains of India at the ommencementof the monsoons, storms ocur in which the lightning runs like snakes ill over the sky at the rate of three or four lashes in a second, and the thunder roars vithout a break for, frequently, one or two lours at a time. During twelve years resilence in India I heard of only two human eingsand, I think, three buildings being truck, although in parts of lower Bengal he population amounts to more than (500 o the scjuare mile. I always attributed he scarcity of accidents to the depth of lie stratum of heated air next to the rround keeping the clouds at such height hat most of the flashes pass from cloud o cloud and very few reach the earth. The dea is supported by the fact that in the iymalayasatG,000feet, objectsare frequenty "struck. I have seen more than a dozen >ine trees which had been injured by the ightning on the top of one mountain beween 8,000 and 9,000 feet high. In the iritish Islands thunder storms are sum 0 be more dangerous in winter than in ummer, and such a fact, if true, can be, xplained by the very thin stratum of air hen intervening between the clouds and arth.?London Nature. A Storm of Birds.?Said a lighthouse:eeperat Atlantic City, New Jersey, I renemberone night late in September there vas what we call a dry fog, the kind that ;learns and looks bright sometimes without 1 light. I went out on the walk around the ight, thinking I heard a curious noise, ['here were thousands of birds darting bout in the luminous fog, with the light lancing on their backs and wings, so it reninded me of insects about a lamp. The oar of their wings and their cries were uch that you couldn't hear yourself speak ir even think, and I hung on to the rail .lmost crazy from the uproar. But I came o mighty quick, I can tell you, for the first hing I got a knock on the head, a bird aking me right aside of the neck; then, is I turned another struck me in the back, nd I don't doubt but that I'd have been airly; bombarded off it if I hadn't got in. fhe birds kept it up all night, and in the norning we counted over six hundred dead it the foot of the lighthouse. They were ?f all kinds?sparrows, hawks, robins and nostly duck and snipe, birds that traveled ilong the shore going south. You see, they lad seen the light, and getting confused rah ight into it." Lamp Shades and the Eyes.?Profesor H. L. Cohn describes a long series of leterminations of the relative values of vaious forms of lamp shades. The method mrsued was to measure the brightness of vhite paper lying on a table over which he source of artificial light was suspended it a given distance by means of a Weber )hotomete. As one would anticipate, the general effect of a shade is to increase very greatly the illumination immediately under he light, and not modify it notably at an mgular distance greater than forty-five decrees from this region. The last section of he pamphlet, which deals with the illumilation requisite for the easiest use of the (yes, is of the most general interest. Taking is a measure of the value of the illuminaion in this sense the number of lines which an be read from a newspaper in a minute, ind as the unit of illustration that of a nornal candle at a perpendicular distance of a neter from the paper, he finds that the >est illumination is very rarely secured, (xcept immediately under a lamp provided vith a good shade, the author emphasizes he conclusion that few school children vork in a satisfactory light.?Seteuce. Locusts.?California and Oregon are lia>le to occasional ravages of three species of ocusts, the most dangerous of which is the freat Rocky Mountain locust, whose ravages everal years ago came near starving out he people of two or three Western States. This locust is remarkable for its power of light, and travels in dense swarms high up n the air, darkening the sun or filling the iky with the glistening light of their wings. )bservers have stood on the highest peaks )f the Rocky Mountains and straining their jyes upwards have seen the sky filled with loudsof these tiny soaring insects, so high is to be barely discernible. These insects, ifter devastating one region, rise into the lirto look for fresh fields and pastures new. OLD-TIME SCHOOL-TEACHING. REMINISCENCE OF AN OLD PEDAGOGUE. It is always a very pleasant thing to let bad boy bring his punishment on himsell I noticed as f stood at an upper window i a large school-house where I taught, tha the boys came out the back-door into th play-ground as if they had been fired fror a cannon. They shot out one after anothe and generally landed in a convenient snow bank. On going to the head of the stairs saw the reason. The boys jumped astride c the banister and went sailing down the ir clined plane, jumping clear off the step.' and landed, as a general thing, on their feei The end of the banister had no newel posi and the open door was only a few feet fror the bottom of the stair-way. It was gref fun,.and theamusement was increased whe a big boy could rake in with his projectin feet some unfortunate youngster who wa going; down the stairs in the "ordinary waj I told the boys when school was called ths this sort of rapid transit would have to stoj Boys usually don't have much respect fc the commands of a new master until the find that he means what he says. At th next recess I went to the foot of the stair! to find out whether they proposed to obe me or not. I found, as I expected, thatthe didn't. When the lads came sailing dow the banister I grasped each, as he flew pas by the collar and swung him around int the lower passage way and stood them uj one by one, somewhat dazed by the whii they got. It was lively work, for the suf ply of the boys exceeded the demand. The came from the upper regions with bewildei ing rapidity and I had my hands full in e\ ery sense of the word, as I gathered them ir At last the news spread that the master we at the foot of the stairway, with a standin invitation to all sliders, and the down-pou of boys suddenly ceased. I wasjastabout t turn my attention to the row of captive when I heard the following conversation a the head of the stairs: "Don't. The master's down there." "I don't care." "He'll collar you." "I'd like to see him do it. I'll give hii a dig that'll double him up mighty quid you bet. Like to see him collar me." The latter speaker made no attempt t conceal the fact that he didn't give a nan for the new master. I stood at the foot of the stairs and waite for him. He threw his lesr over the banh ter, and, spreading out his feet, launche himself down toward me. A glanceshowe me that I would be raked in the next m< ment, and would be the laughing-stock ( the school; so I kicked the door shut an stood aside. The big fellow, whose name did not then know, came down like a whir wind. The moment the door closed he trie to fling himself off; but he was too lab He shot against the door with with a thu that made every window rattle, and fe back in a heap on the floor. I helped him up on his feet, assiste by one of the boys, and he said, feebl; that he guessed he would sit down for little while. I let the row of culprits gi and told them that an accident like thi might happen at any moment if the do< chanced to shut, and so after that we had r more sliding down old Grime's cellar doo It is seldom that a school-master has hand to hand encounter with a pupil; y< in the backwoods I have known such thing to take place. I once was one of party of five who undertook to thrash 01 school-master, who was a terribly sevei man. He gave me the worst thrashing ever received, and to this day I don't kno what it was for. However, thrashing ne1 er went amiss with me at that time. I a ways deserved it, and this one I mere! placed to account, knowing there was sti a large balance coming to me. But as was saying, five of us agreed to climb c the teacher at a lonesome place about half mile from the school where he couldn't ci for help. We climbed. But alas! it wi not the teacher who had to cry for hel] He thrashed all five of us. He had got s accustomed to thrashing boys that he seen ed to do it quite from the force of habit. The school-boy of my day was a bor fighter. Every new boy had to fight h way to his place among the boys. I ha\ fought, when I went to a new school as pupil, with good-natured fellow who ha] nptinil to he the ehamnions. who had in the slightest ill-will toward me, nor I 1 them. But school etiquette demanded tin we should fight, and we did. I don't suj pose this occurs to any extent in tow schools, hut, no doubt, it does in the com try, where a hollow behind the school-hous or a piece of woods down the road offers secure fighting ground. Little the teacln will know of these combats if there is stream near by where the victor and vai ?uished can wash their bloody noses, as a tost Londoner would say. 1 was alwaj a coward, and never took kindly to tho; fellows "whose fist was ever ready for knock down blow." The boys of that fi off time had no idea of the rules of the rinj They fought in a savage, rough and tumb way, and when one got the other down was considered no dishonor to pound awa at him till he cried "enough." At this cr the boys generally pulled the upper savag off if he didn't quit. One day a tramp circus man taught lr some valuable wrestling tricks. My favo ite was a hip-lock, which invariabl brought to earth the opposite party. Th beauty of it was that wnen once you raise your opponent off his feet you could lay hii out in almost any style you chose. He wt perfectly helpless, despite his struggles, tf moment you got him in the air, and the it was delightful after literally keeping hii in suspense to lay him flat on the groun in any particular style that fancy suggeste< This point, however, was not lasting for tf boys after tumbling to it in various attitudi generally "tumbled to it," as the slan phrase has it, and then its usefulness was s an end. Still it was always a wonderful a complishment in a new school, and on se1 eral occasions, although I was a terrib coward, I gained a victory over my oppi nent by clinching and hip-locking him an then pummeling him in such rapid succe sion that the fight was over before 1 4.1 4. : 4. uA,i lllUUgl illlilU UC^UII. Although boys will fight like tigers amor themselves, it is rare that one of them sun mons up courage enough to attack the common enemy, the teacher. Only once i my varied experience as a schoolmaster di a boy set out to thrash me, and that occ: sion I shall never forget?and I don't su] pose he will either. I taught a wild school in a backwoot district one winter when physically, I wj scarcely able to teach. 1 had had a sevei illness and was back at my desk again befoi I had fully recovered my strength. I ha\ often been pained to observe that theave age boy has little consideration for tl weak, and my school seemed to think tin because I wasn't able to give them the regular rations of birch they might d pretty much as they pleased?and they di< One day I felt that my control of the schoc was gone. The noise that I was unable I quell kind of dazed me, as I sat there loelin completely ill and helpless. I felt that I ha netter resign ana get into u suw-hjiu ui boiler maker's shop, or some such occnpi tion, that was quieter and more soothin than the one 1 was in. All at once tl noise ceased and on looking up I saw ths Bill Trinimins, the biggest and worst bo in school, was sitting on a desk with h feet on the seat he ought to have sat 01 This was a direct defiance of authority tin could not be ignored. Bill was the only sc of his father, and Old Man Trimmins ha no more control over him than I had. Bi could have thrashed me quite easily, an I knew it. "William," I said, somewhat wearil; "would you oblige me by sitting down c the seat." "Thank you," said Bill, "I'm quite con fortable where I am." There was a titter around the room i this remark, which was doubtless conside ed the very choicest of wit. "William," I said, rising, "f will have 1 punish you if you don't take your seat as you ought." He grinned at this absurdity and said: c] "Well, I guess you never had a better a chance." XJ f. I walked to where he sat in his elevated n seat. tj t "Hold out your hand." a e He laughed. p n I struck him a smart rap over the knuck- ^ r les with the ruler. This so enraged him g( that he threw down his slate, jumped into g( I the aisle, and with an oath tiling off his e if coat. I retreated back to the desk and he p i- followed. With all his bravado he was |j j, afraid to hit me a square blow which would t. have settled the matter there and then. a L He was not afraid of me personally, but I |, n represented, in a way, the authority of the j, it district?was the embodiment, as it were, 0 n of law and order, and that indefinable some- n g thing he was just enough afraid of to hesi- j is tate about striking, so ne clinched rae in- j, r. stead. Of course I quite agree with you ( it that there could not be a more demoralizing { i. sight for a school to see than a fight between *j >r teacher and pupil, but there it was, and I t y had not time to see my way cleverly out of j e it. Events had followed each other too rap- t 3, i<Uy- d y The moment Bill clinched, as they called c y it, I felt he had made a mistake. Old mem- j n ories of bygone fights rose up, and as they n t, rose I elevated William ou my hip and d o dropped him chattering on the floor, much d ), to his own astonishment and that of the t rl school. o )- "Rise up William," I said, "and hold out s y your hand." a r- He sprang to his feet and cried: "You 0 r- just try that again." b i. Once more we clinched, once more he c is lost his feet and once more he lay on the t g floor. t ir "There, I have accommodatedyou. Now j o oblige me by getting up and holding out 0 ?s your hand." i it This time he tried to strike me but I n dodged that, clasped him lovingly again, h and flung him at full length. He evident- v ly regretted that he had taken off his coat, h for the floor was hard. He made lor the f n door but lost time by going around for his a t, discarded coat. I reached the door first, g locked it and put the key in my pocket, g 0 Some of the girls had begun to cry, and all t g the boys sat breathless. Bill looked flur- j, ried and somewhat the worse for wear. a d "Hold out your hand, William," I said, t 3- as he approached. To my astonisnment he t d held out his hand, and he instantly thrust a d it further and took me around the body, a )- completely to my surprise. He raised me i )f from the floor and only a grapevine twist c d around his leg saved me. We surged back t 1 and forth a moment, till I got my feet on a 1- the floor and instantly I had him on the ? d hip once more. I felt my strength rapidly c 3. leaving me, so with a final supreme effort I c d flung him without mercy on the hard floor, r 11 and there he lay while I leaned panting c against the wall. As he showed no signs of i d getting up, I took a dipper from the pail r y, which always stands near the door in ,a f a country school-house and threw the cold j 3, water in his face. f at He raised himself and leaned with one i ar hand on the floor, dying Gladiator fashion, x io and seemed to be at a loss to know just r. where the discussion had left oft'. I helped a him collect his ideas by saying: 1 et "William, get up and hold out your 1 a hand." - 1 a He rose somewhat painfully, as Ilip Van ' ir Winkle did after he overslept himself, and, ] dusting off his clothes, he held out his hand i * rathersheepishly. I hadn't strength enough s w left to thrash him if I wanted to. I said: < frv whin o hifiP hnv ll'Vp VOll. I 1 ' jl uuu i VYaut iv ?yiup u uig mvj ^ You know what you ought to do as well as y I can tell you. If you goto your seat I'll say no more about it. I'll let you off easy 1 this time." 10 He felt dubiously of the back of his head a to see if it was in place, said "thank you," "y with a grim grin and went to his seat. ls When I got back to my desk the whole P* school seemed to whirl round and round and 30 I felt the ringing in my ears that a person feels when sinking in the water. However, I came to the surface all right, and when '.n the school-house became stable once more I ,s noticed that the pupils were more indus'e triously attending to their lessons. tt Such was the intellectual status of that P" neighborhood that I received more congratulations for my little debate with Bill Trimto mins than for all the brilliant educating I lt did for two years after.?Detroit Free Press. > t t , n Geokge Washington.?The following is a summary of the character ascribed to Washington in McMaster's History of the * People of the United States: He died in his sixty-eighth year, and in the heyday of his glory and his fame. Time " has since dealt gently with his memory, and he had come down to us as the greatest '.p of all leaders and the most immaculate of all men. No other face is so familiar to us. His name is written all over the map of J, our country. We have made of his birth? day a national feast. The outlines of his it biography are known to every school-boy " in the land. Yet his true biography is still to be prepared. General Washington is f known to us, and President Washington. ' But George Washington is an unknown man. When at last he is set before us in ' the habit as he lived, we shall read less of ' cherry-tree and more of the man. Naught y surely that is heroic will be omitted, but ' j side by side with what is heroic will appear ^ much that is commonplace. We shall behr>i<i rrrout. pnmmnndpr renairincr defeat ? with marvelous celerity, healing the diasen- t "r sions of his ofiicers, and calming the pas- r ? sions of mutinous troops. But we shall also 1 j hear his oaths; and see him in those out bursts of passion to which Mr. Jefferson has * alluded, and of which Mr. Lear has de- t ag scribed. We shall see him refusing to be c " paid for his services by congress, yet exA acting from the family of the poor mason l _ the shilling that was his due. We shall know him as the cold and forbidding char- { .J acter with whom no fellowman ever ventured to live on close and lamiliar terms, i J We shall respect and honor him for being, j 1 not the greatest of generals, not the wisest i " of statesmen, not the most saintly of his j race, but a man with many human frailties and much common sense, who rose in the ? fulness of time to be the political deliverer ' ~ of our country.?The American. ? in 1 id Increase of Negroes.?At the session 1 of the Presbyterian General Assembly^ ( 0. Itev. Dr. Allen, secretary of the Freed- 1 man's Aid Society, made a strong speech c js following the presentation of the report of I ls the society. To illustrate his remarks he ( re had hungon the wall, back of the platform, c re a map twenty feet long by twelve feet wide, s rQ showing the ratio of black to white popula- N r. tion in the Southern States. It was a very c ie startling map, and when explained by the j* xt earnest speaker, made a strong and lasting 1 jr impression. Here are a few of his signili- c l0 cant facts: Twenty years ago, at the close 1 1 of the war, there were in the Southern r u States 3,947,000 colored people, and now q there are more than 7,000,000. Then there a itr were in Mississippi 220,000 negroes, now t (1 050,000. Then there was in South Carolina ( a 400,000, now more than 000,000. Five hun- f j. dred colored babies are born in the United ? ig States every day. The colored population c ,e in the United States doubles every twenty e vt years; the white population only once in s ,y thirty-five years. Eight years will not have t'j is passed before the negroes will be in nu- t lt merical majority in some of the Southern | t States. At the present rate of increase, in in 1985 there will be 70,000,000 white people in J the United States and 192,000,000 colored ( 11 people. c id The day is not far distant when it will be t a physical impossibility to continue thepres- t y, ent disfranchisement of the colored people of 2 m the Southern States. In South Carolina he \ has bought and paid for 270,000 acres of land 1 l- which he cultivates. In the South he pays r taxes on more than ?91,000,000 worth of c it property. lie is editing, printing and pub- i r- lishing 100 newspapers, and yet of the 7,- c 000,000 colored people of this country more f to than G.0(M),000 cannot read nor write.' t ALWAYS 191 lJAJULK Ut tlNG. No one who is unacquanted with the liaracter of an oil-producing, storing, and ansporting district, writes a Warren, 'ennsylvania, correspondent of the New 'ork &??, can form any notion of the scene lat is presented when the fire breaks out nd gets beyond control in such a district, 'orest fires and lightning are the most readed agents of destruction, but there are d many other latent forces which may as?rt themselves at any moment, and wrap ntire communities in flame, that life and roperty in the oil regions may be said to ang upon the slightest tenure. The oil wells are all flowing over, and re pouring forth, by day and night, cease?ss streams of material not only highly nflammable itself, but from which gases f a most deadly explosive and comoustiDie ature are generated. Tanks holding from ,000 to 30,000 barrels of petroleum are thicker grouped in every producing district, and rom and to them the oil is constantly ouring through networks of pipes in all lirections through the field. The ground, he buildings, the trees and all surroundngs are literally saturated with crude peroleum. The puddles in the road are lepths of oil, or water thickly coated with iil. The physical character of the country n which petroleum is found in Pennsylvalia is sucn that every district is cut up by [eep ravines or gulleys, and the wells are [rilled not only on every available rod in he valleys, but they climb the rugged sides f the steep and lofty hills to their very ummits. Jlapid streams course the valleys nd tumble down the mountain sides. The il towns are compact collections of frame mildings, constructed without regard to ontiguity of the wells. Derricks rise from he very door-yards, in the streets, and ower above the buildings on every side. Ground about in this mass of inflammable il wells and tanks, oil-saturated surroundngsand tinder-box buildings, railroad loconotives scatter showers of sparks almost lourly. Natural gas is conducted from gas /ells in all directions, and is used in all the louses for light and fuel, at the oil wells for el, and leaps in pillars of flame into the ir from pipes set here and there in the round in all parts of the region. Nitroglycerine factories are numerous in all disricts, and the dangerous explosive is stored n magazines at many convenient points, nd is "transported daily in wagons througn he field for use wherever it is needed at he wells. The falling of a live spark from , locomotive, the premature explosion of , nitro glycerine torpedo, the careless or mprudent lighting of the natural gas in ?ne of the combustible houses, is sufficient o turn the whole community for miles .round into a sea of flame in an incredibly hort time. Thus at Hew city, a leading til town in the Bradford field, a torpedo txploded one day, and in five hours the ten niles of territory was swept by fire. Not a lerrick out of the three hundred that were n the district was left standing, and for lays three hundred leaping fountains of lame, fed by the oil spouting from the wells, tresented such a spectacle as few people iver witnessed. Three hundred thousand rnrrels of oil in tanks were destroyed, and lot a building was left in Hew city. The Wheaten Loaf.?Good wheat Dread and butter is the staff of civilized ife. Take away wheat bread and butter "rom our families for a few generations, and vho is prepared to say that civilization vould not glide easily to a state of barbarism? There is sound philosophy in this suggestion; because there is no other kind if human food that is so admirably adapted ;o the development of the human frame, including a noble brain, as good wheat Dread. Civilization has seemed to keep pace with the production of wheat, and refined society tne world over has seemed :o exist coveal with the wheaten loaf. We find the lowest order of intelligences standing on a potato. Only one step above ;his class, another order is found on a hoerake. One degree above this we meet with ;he class that has risen in the scale of being is high as it is possible for mortals to rise on i pan-cake. Head and shoulders above all ;hese classes we find the highest order of in;elligences, with large and well-developed Drains and noble characters, standing serurely on their wheaten loaf. No other 'ood can excel the wheaten loaf, because it "urnishes more and better material for the luman brain than any other food? The Cook. A Chinese Farm.?The Chinese farmlouse is a curious looking abode. Uusualy it is sheltered with groves of feathery jamboo and thick-spreading banyans. The ,vails are of clay or wood, and the interior )f the house consists of one main room, exending from the floor to the tiled roof, ,vith closet-cooking apartments in the cor- , aers for sleeping rooms. There is a sliding viudow on the roof, made of cut oyster ihells arranged in rows, while the side winlows are mere wooden shutters. The floor s the bare earth, where at nightfall there )ften gathers together a miscellaneous famly of dirty children, fowls, ducks, pigeons, md a litter of pigs, all living together in lelightful harmony. In some districts infested by marauding bands houses are itrongly fortified by high walls, containing ipertures for firearms, and protected by a noat, crossed by a rude drawbridge. ? ? ? The Rules of Elizabeth Fry.?The ollowing rules for the guidance of life are )y the celebrated Mrs. Fry: Never lose any time. I do not consider hat lost which is spent in amusement or ecreation every day ; but always be in the labit of being employed. Never err the least in truth. Never say an ill thing of a person when hou canst say a good thing of him. Not >nly speak charitably, but feel so. Never be irritable or unkind to anybody. Never indulge thyself in luxuries that ire not necessary. Do all things with consideration, and ,vhen thy path to act right is most difficult, >ut confidence in that Power alone which s able to assist thee, and exert thine own lowers as far as they go. Sleep.?"Blessings," exclaimed Sancho, 'on him that first invented sleep. It wraps i man all round like a cloak." It is a deicious moment certainly?that of being well lestled in bed, and feeling that you shall Iron srentlv to sleep. The good is to come, lot past ;~the limbs have been just tired mough to render the remaining in one Histure delightful; the labor of the day is lone. A gentle failure of the perceptions tome creeping over one?the .spirit of conciousness disengages itself more and more, vith slow and hushing degrees, likeamoth r detaching her hand from that of her leeping child; the mind seems to have a >almy lid closing over it like the eye; 'tis losing?'tis more closing?'tis closed. The nysterious spirit has gone to make its airy ounds.?Leigh Hunt. A Twklve-Foot Straight-Edge.?An tbsolutely exact straight-edge of more than hirty-six inches is a wonder of mechanism. )ne 'of six feet was not recently believed >ossible, although several had been made ?n different plans of' web-like and truss onstruction. It has been claimed, however, that almost absolute exactness had been ecured by a straight-edge twelve feet long, ["he appliance looks like an arched truss, he highest spring of the arch being only wenty inches in a length of twelve feet.? BSaT "Under certain conditions," says the Jermantown Telegraph, "the force which generates heat will also generate light, elecricity, and even sound. So the powers of he mind are convertible into each qyther. dental drill and discipline gained in one vay will avail us in a hundred other ways, vnowledge in one direction has intimate elations with all other knowledge. Powsr developed and exercised in one sphere is eady for use in another; and he who has Irawn it from many sources will be best itted to put it forth in his chosen vocaion."