Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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lewis m. grist, Proprietor, j $nbcjpbcnt Jamil} ftotospptr : Jor l{>t promotion: of f|t, ^oliliral, Serial, ^griralfnral anb Commmial Jntmsts of fjit jSonlj). j TERMS?$2.50 A YEAR, IN ADVANCE. VOL. 33. YOBKVILLE, S. O.. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 33, 1887. . ISTO. 8. Serial ftejg. SNOff BODflD AT BAGLE'S BY BEET HARTE. [Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., and published by arrangement with them.] CHAPTER VI?Continued. Rawlins rose to follow him; Hale alone hesitated. The rapid occurrences of the last half hour gave him no time for reflection. But he was by no means satisfied of the legality of the last act he had aided and abetted, although he admitted its rude justice, and felt he would have done so again. A fear of this, and an instinct that he might be led into furthor complications if he continued to identify himself with Clinch and Rawlins; the fact that they had professedly abandoned their quest, and that it was really supplanted by the presence of on authorized party whom they had already come in conflict with?all this urged him to remain behind. On the ether hand, the apparent desertion of his comrades at the last moment was opposed both to his sensq of honor and the liking he hjui taken to them. But he reflected that he had already shown his active partisanship, that he could be of little service to them at - Wild Cat Station, and would be only increasing the distance from his home; and above all, an impatient longing for independent potior, finally decided him. UI think I will stay here," he said to Clinch, "unless you want me." Clinch cast a swift and meaning glance at the enemy, but looked approval. "Keep your eyes skinned, and you're good for a dozen of 'em," he said, sotto voce, and then turned to Stanner. "I'm going to take this paper to Wild Cat. If you want to communicate with me hereafter you know where I am to be found, unless"?he smiled grimly? "you'd like to see me outside for a few minutes before I go?" "It is a matter that concerns the stage company, not me," said Stanner, with an attempt to appear at his ease. Hale accompanied Clinch and Rawlins through the kitchen to the stables. The ostler, Dick, had already returned to the rescue of the snow bound coach. "I shouldn't like to leave many men alone with that crowd," said Clinch, pressing Hale's hand; "and I wouldn't have allowed your staying behind ef I didn't know I could bet my pile on you. Your offerin' to stay just puts a clean finish on it Look yer, Hale, I didn't cotton much to you at first; but ef you ever want a friend, call on Ringwood Clinch." "Tho same here, old man," said Rawlins, extending his hand as he appeared from a hurried conference with the old woman at the woodshed, "and trust to Zeenie to give you a hint ef there's anythin' underhanded goin' on. So long." Half inclined to resent this implied suggestion of protection, yet half pleased at the idea of a confidence with the handsome girl he had seen, Hole returned to the room. A whispered discussion among the party ceased on his entering, and an awkward silence followed, which Hale did not attempt to break as he quietly took his seat again by the fire. He T^as presently confronted by Stanner, . who, with an affectation of easy familiarity, crossed over to the hearth. "The old kernel's d?d peppery and high toned when he's got a little more than his reglar three fingers o' corn juice, ehl" "I must beg you to understand distinctly, Mr. Stanner," said Hale, with a return of his habitual precision of statement, "that I regard any slighting allusion to the gentleman who has just left not only as in exceedingly bad taste coming from you, but very offensive to myself. If you mean to imply that he was under the influence of liquor, it is my uui/j w uuuwwyo ?uu, uu ncuw ^rcifectly in possession of his faculties as to express not only his own but my opinion of your conduct You must also admit that he was discriminating enough to show his objection to your company by leaving it I regret that circumstances do not make it convenient for me to exercise that privilege; but if I am obliged to put up with your presence in this room, I strongly insist that it is not made unendurable with the addition of your conversation." The effect of this deliberate and passionless declaration was more discomposing to the party than Clinch's fury. Utterly unaccustomed to the ideas and language suddenly confronting them, they were unable to determine whether it was the real expression of the speaker, or whether it was a vague badinage ? t affectation to which any reply would involve them in ridicule. In a country terrorized by practical joking they did not doubt but that this was a .new form of hoaxing calculated to provoke some response that would constitute them as victims. The immediate effect upon them was that complete silence in regard to himself that Hale de0 sired. They drew together again and conversed in whispers, while Hale, with his eyes fixed on the fire, gave himself up to somewhat late and useless reflection. He could scarcely realize his position. For however he might look at it, within a space of twelve hours he bad not only changed some of his most cherished opinions, but ho had acted in accordance with that change in a way that made it seem almost impossible ior nun ever to recant, in tue mieiesut ui law and order he had engaged in an unlawful and disorderly pursuit of criminals, and had actually come in conflict, not with the criminals, but with the only party apparently authorized to pursue them. More than that, he was finding himself committed to a certain sympathy with the criminals. Twenty-four hours ago, if any one had told him that he would have condoned an illegal act for its abstract justice, or assisted to commit an illegal act for the same purpose, he would have felt himself insulted. That ho knew he would not now feel it an insult perplexed him still more. In these circumstances the fact that he was separated from his family, and as it were from all his past life and traditions by a chance accident, did not disturb him greatly; indeed, he was for the first time a little doubtful of their probable criticism on his inconsistency, and was by no means in a hurry to subject himself to it. Lifting his eyes, he was suddenly aware that the door leading to the kitchen was slowly opening. He had thought he heard it creak once or twice during his deliberate reply to Stanner. It was evidently moving now so as to attract his attention, without disturbing the others. It presently opened sufficiently wide to show the face of Zeenie, who, with a gesture of caution toward his companions, beckoned him to join her. He rose carelessly as if going out, and, putting on his hat, entered the kitchen as the retreating figure of the young girl glided lightly toward the stables. She ascended a few open steps as if to a hay loft, but stopped before a low door. Pushing it open, she preceded him into a small room, apparently under the roof, which scarcely allowed her to stand upright. By the light of a stable lantern hanging from a beam he saw that, though poorly furnished, it bore some evidence of feminine taste and habitation. Motioning to the only chair, she seated herself on the edge of the bed, with her hands clasping her knees in her familiar attitude. Her face bore traces of recent agitation, and her eyes were shining with tears. By the closer light of the lantern ho was surprised to find it was from laughter. "I reckoned you'd be right lonely down there with that Stanner crowd, partickerly after that little speech o' your'u, so I sez to maw I'd get you up yer for a spell. Maw and I taeerd you exhort 'em! Maw allowed you woz talkin' a furrin tongue all along, but I?sakes alive!?I hed to hump myself to keep from bus tin' into a yell when yer jist drawed them Webster unabridged sentences on 'em." She stopped and rocked backward and forward with a laugh that, subdued by the proximity of the roof and the fear of being overheard, was by no means unmusical. "I'll tell ye whot got me, though! That part commencing: 'Suckamstances over which I've no controul '" "Oh, cornel I didn't say that," interrupted Hale, laughing. " 'Don't make it convenient for me to exercise the privilege of kickin' yer out to that extent,'" she continued; "'butif I cannot dispense with your room, the least I can say IS CUSl It S tb u?u aigub uci.lci uiau j uui tuuipany'?or suthin' like that! And then the way you minded your stops and let your voice rise and fall jest ez easy ez if you woe a First Reader in large type. Why, the kernel wasn't nowhere. His cussin' didn't come within a mile o' yourn. That Stanner jist turned yaller." "I'm afraid you are laughing at me," said Hale, not knowing whether to be pleased or vexed at the girl's amusement. "I reckon I'm the only one that dare do it, then," said the girl, simply. "The kemel sez the way you turned round after he'd done his cussin', and said yer believed you'd stay and take the responsibility of the whole thing? and did in thatkam, soft, did-anybody-speakto-me style?was the neatest thing he'd seen yet! No! Maw says I ain't much on manners, but I know a man when I see him." For an instant Hale gave himself up to the delicious flattery of unexpected, unintended and apparently uninterested compliment Becoming at last a little embarrassed under the frank curiosity of the girl's dark eyes he changed the subject. "Do you always come up here through the stables?" he asked, glanfing round the room, which was evidently her own. "I reckon," she answered, half abstractedly. "There's a ladder down thar to maw's room"?pointing to a trap door be side tbe broad chimney that served us a i wall?"but it's handier the other way, and nearer the bosses ef you want to get away quick." This palpable suggestion?borne out by what he remembered of the other domestic details?that the house had been planned with reference to sudden foray or escape reawakened his former uneasy reflections. Zeenie, who had been watching his face, added, "It's no slouch, when b'ar or painters hang round nights and stampede the stock, to be able to swing yourself on to a boss, whenever you hear a row goin' on outside." "Do you mean that you" "Paw used, and I do now, sense I've come into the room." She pointed to a nondescript garment, half cloak, half habit, hanging on the wall. "I've been outer bed and on Pitchpine's back as far ez the trail five minutes arter I heard the first bellow." Hale regarded her with undisguised astonishment. There was nothing at all Amazonian or horsey in her manners, nor was there even the robust physical contour that might have been developed through such experiences. On the contrary she seemed to lazily effeminate in body and mind. Heedless of his critical survey of her, she beckoned him to d .-aw his chair nearer, and, looking into bif eyes, said: "Whatever rossessed you to take to buntin' , men?" Hale was taggcred by tbe question, but neverthelc-.., endeavored to explain. But he> was surprised to find that his explanation appeared stilted even to himself, and, he could not doubt, was utterly incomprehensible to the girl. She nodded her head, however, and continued: "Then you haven't anythin' agin' George?" "I don't know George," said Hale, smiling. "My proceeding was against the highwayman." "Well, he was the highwayman." "I mean it was the principle I objected to? a principle that I consider highly dangerous." "Well, he is the principal, for the others only helped, I reckon," said Zeenie, with a sigh, "and I reckon he is dangerous." Hale saw it was useless to explain. The girl continued: "What made you stay here instead of goin' on with the kernel? There was suthin' else besides you wanting to make that Stanner tako water. What is it?" A light sense of the propinquity of beauty, of her confidence, of their isolation, of the eloquence of her dark eyes, at first tempted Hale to a reply of simple gallantry; a graver consideration of the same circumstances froze it upon his lips. "I don't know," he returned awkwardly. "Well, I'll tell yon," she said. "You didn't cotton to the Kernel and Rawlins much more than you did to Stauner. They ain't your kind." In his embarrassment Hale blundered upon the thought he had honorably avoided. "Suppose," he said, with constrained laugh, "I had stayed to see you?" "I reckon I ain't your kind, neither," she replied promptly. There was a momentary pause, when she rose and walked to the chimney. "It's very quiet down there," she said, stooping and listening over the roughly boarded floor that formed the ceiling of the room below. "I wonder what's going on." In the belief that this was a delicate bint for his return to the party he had left, Hale rose, but the girl passed him hurriedly, and, opening the door, cast a quick glance into the stable beyond. "Just as I reckoned?the horses are gone too. They've skedaddled," she said, blankly. Hale did not reply. In his embarrassment a moment ago the idea of taking an equally sudden departure had flashed upon him. Should he take this as a justification of that impulse, or how? He stood irresolutely gazing at the girl, who turned and begun to descend the stairs silently. He followed. When they reached the lower room they found it as they had expected?deserted. "I hope I didn't drive them away," said Hale, with an uneasy look at the troubled face of the girl. "For I really had an idea of going myself a moment ago." She remained silent, gazing out of the window. Then, turning with a slight shrug of her shoulders, she said, half defiantly: . /\U ...I *1,? " liUt 5 lilt? USU IIUW 5 UUt IIXUrv i lug uutiuigi crowd has vamosed the ranch, and this yer stranger kalkilates to stay!" CHAPTER VII. A week had passed at Eagle's Court?a week of mingled clouds and sunshine by day, of rain over the green plateau and snow on the mountain by night. Each morning had brought its fresh greenness to the winter girt domain and a fresh coat of dazzling white to the barrier that separated its dwellers from the world beyond. There was little change in the encompassing wall of their prison; if anything, the snowy circle round them seemed to have drawn its lines nearer day by day. The immediate result of this restricted limit had been to confine the range of cattle to the meadows nearer the house, and at a safe distance from the fringe of wilderness now invaded by the prowling tread of predatory animals. Nevertheless, the two figures lounging on the slope at sunset gave very little indication of Hiiv morions minlitv in the situation. In deed, so far as appearances were concerned, Kate, who was leturning from an afternoon stroll with Falkner, exhibited, with feminine inconsistency, a decided return to the world of fashion and conventionality just as she was effectually excluded from it. She had not only discarded her white dress as a concession to the practical evidence of the surrounding winter, but she had also brought out a feather hat and sable muff which had once graced a fashionable suburb of Boston. Even Ealknc had exchanged his slouch hat and picturesqi serape for a beaver overcoat and fur cap < Hale's which had been pressed upon him b Hate, under the excuse of the exigencies c the season. Within a stone's throw of th thicket, turbulent with the savage forces c nature, they walked with the abstraction c people hearing only their own voices; in th face of the solemn peaks clothed with whit austerity they talked gravely of dress. They walked with the abstraction of peopl hearing only their own voices. "I don't mean to say," said Kate demurelj "that you're to give up the serope entirely nn? woo*. if am foinv niorhfrc otirl wlioi you ride over here from your friend's hous to spend the evening?for the sake of oli times," she added, with an unconscious air o referring to an already antiquated friend ship; "but you must admit it's a little to gorgeous and theatrical for the sunlight o day and the public highway." "But why should that make it wrong, if th experience of a people has shown it to be i garment best fitted for their wants and re quirements?" said Falkner orgumentatively "But you are not one of those people," sail Kate, "and that makes all the difference You look differently and act differently, si that there is something irreconcilable betweei your clothes and you that makes you lool odd." "And to look odd, according to your civil ized prejudices, is to be wrong," said Falkne bitterly. "It is to seem different from what on really is which is wrong. Now, you are mining superintendent, you tell me. Ihe you don't want to look like a Spanish brig and, as you do in that serape. I am sure i you had ridden up to a stage coach while was in it I'd have handed you my watc and purse without a word. There! you ar not offended?" she added, with a laugh which did not, however, conceal a certai earnestness. "1 suppose I ought to have sui I would have given it gladly to such a rc mantic figure, and perhaps have got out an I danced a saraband or bolero wuu you?i that is the thing to do nowadays. Well!" sh she said, after a dangerous pause, "conside that I've said it." Ho had been walking a little before hei with his face turned toward the distan mountain. Suddenly he stopped and face< her. "You would have given enough of you time to the highwayman. Miss Scott, a would have enabled you to identify him fo the police?and no more. Like your brother you would have been willing to sacriflc yourself for the benefit of the laws of civiliza tion and good order." If a denial to this assertion could have bee: expressed without the use of speech, it wa certainly transparent in the face and eyes o the young girl at that moment. If Falkne had been less self-conscious he would hav seen it plainly. But Kate only buried he face in her lifted muff, slightly raised he pretty shoulders, and, dropping her tremulou eyelids, walker! on. "It seems a pity," sh said after a pause, "that wo cannot preserv our own miserablo existence without takinj something from others?sometimes even i life!" He started. "And it's horrid to hav to remind you that you have yet to kill some thing for the invalid's supper," she continued "I saw a bare in the field yonder." "You mean that jackass rabbit?" he sail abstractedly. "What you please. It's a pity you didn1 take your gun instead of your rifle." "I brought the rifle for protection." "And a shotgun is only aggressive, I sup pose?" Falkner looked at her for a moment, ain then, as the hare suddenly started across th open a hundred yards away, brought the rifl to his shoulder. A long interval?as it see me to Kate?elapsed; theuuimal appeared to b already safely out of range, when the rifl suddenly cracked; the hare bounded in th air like a ball and dropped motionless. Th girl looked at the marksman in undisguisa admiration. "Is it quite dead.'" she sail timidly. "It never knew what struck it." "It certainly looks less brutal than shool ing it with a shotgun, as Jolm does, and the: not killing it outright," said Kate. "I hat what is called sport and sportsmen, but < rifle seems" "What?" said Falkner. "More?gentlemanly." She had raised her pretty head in the ait and, with her hand shading her eyes, wo .looking around the clear ether, and sai meditatively, "I wonder?110 matter." "What is it?" "Oh, nothing." "It is something," said Falkner. with a: amused smile, reloading his rifle. "Well, you once promised me an eagle1 feather for my hat. Isn't that thing a: eagle?" "I am afraid it is only a hawk." "Well, that will do. Shoot that!" Her eyes were sparkling. Falkner with i drew his own with a slight smile and raise his rifle with provoking deliberation. "Are you quite sure it's what you want? he asked demurely. "Yes?quick!" Nevertheless, it was some minutes befor the rifle cracked again. The wheeling bin suddenly struck the wind with its wing aslant, and then fell like a plummet at i distance which showed the difficulty of th feat. Falkner started from her side befor the bird reached the ground. lie returned t her after a lapse of a few moments, bearing i trailing wing in his hand. "You shall mak your choice," he said gayly. "Are you sure it was killed outright?" "Head shot o(T," said Falkner briefly. "And, besides, 1 be fall would have kille< it," said Kate conclusively. "It's lovely, suppose they call you a very good shot?'' "They?who?" "Oh! the people you know?your friend and their sisters." "George shoots better than I do, and ha had more experience. I've seen him do tha with a pistol. Of course not such a long shot but a more difficult one." Kate did not reply, but her face showed i conviction that as an artistic and gentle manly performance it was probably in ferior to the one she had witnessed. Falkner who had picked up the hare also, again tool his place by her side, us they turned towarc the house. "Do you remember the day you came when we were walking here, you pointed ou that rock on the mountain where the pooi animals had taken refuge from the snow?' said Kate, suddenly. "Yes," answered Falkner; "they seem t< have diminished. I am afraid you were righ'? they have either eaten each other or escnped, Let us hope the latter." >r "I looked at them with a glass every day," ie said Kate, "and they've got down to only >f four. There's a bear and that shabby, overy grown cat you call a California lion, and a >f wolf, and a creature like a fox or a squirrel." ie ! "It's a pity they're not all of a kind," said >r ' Falkner. >f ! "Why?" 10 "There'd be nothing to keep them from be,e | ing comfortable together." "On the contrary. I should think it would be simply awful to be shut up entirely with ! Ano'o nu*n L'l'nri " "Then you believe it is possible for them, j with their different natures and habits, to be j happy together?" said Fajkner, with sudden i earnestness. "I believe," said Kate hurriedly, "that the bear and the lion find the fox and the wolf very amusing; and that Ae fox and the wolf" "Well?" said Falkner, stopping short. "Well, the fox and the wolf will carry away a much better opinion of the lion and ; bear than they had before." They had reached the house by this time, I and for some occult reason ICate did not im> i mediately enter the parlor, where she had left her sister and the invalid, who had el> j ready been promoted to a sofa and a cushion hy tho window, but proceeded directly to her own room. As a maneuver to avoid meeting Mrs. Hale, it was scarcely necessary, for that lady was already in advance of e her on the staircase, as if she had left the parlor a moment before they entered the houso. Falkner, too, would have preferred ' the company of his own thoughts, but Lee, ' I apparently tho only unpreoccupied, all per 1 vading and boyishly alert spirit in the party, ^ hailed him from within, and obliged him to j present himself on the threshold of the parlor with the hare and hawk's wing he was still carrying. Eying the latter with affected j concern, Lee said gravely: "Of coarse, I can eat it, Ned, and I dare say it's the best part of the fowl, and the hare isn't more than enough for the women, but I had no idea we were so reduced. Three hours and a half gunning, and only one bare and a j hawk's wing. It's terrible." Perceiving that his friend was alone, Falkner dropped his burdeu in the hall and strode rapidly to his side. "Look here, George, we I must?I must?leave this place at once. It's no use talking; I can stand this sort of thing no longer." "Nor can I, with the door open. Shut it, ' and say what you want quick, before Mrs. Halo comes back. Have you found a trail f * , "No, no; that's not what I mean." a I "Well, it strikes me it ought to be, if you n 1 expect to get away. Have you proposed U Beacon Street, and she thinks it rather premature on a week's acquaintance?" J | "No; but" "But you will, you mean? Don't, just ., i y6t-" | "But I cannot live this perpetual lie." , j "That depends. I don't know how you're i lying when I'm not with you. If you're j walking round with that girl, singing hymns j and talking of your class in Sunday school, ' or if you're insinuating that you're a millionaire, and think of buying the place for a j summer hotel, I should say you'd better quit . I that kind of lying. But, on the other hand, ^ I don't see the necessity of your dancing ^ round here with a shot gun, and yelling for , Harkins' blood, or counting that package of ' greenbacks in the lap of Miss Scott, to be truthful. It seems to me there ought to be something between the two." ~ j "But, George, don't you tuxnu?you are on a such good terms with Mrs. Haft'and'her ^ mother?that you might tell them the whole | story? That is, tell it in your own way; they j will hear anything from you and believe it." ! "Thank you; but suppose I don't believe in j lying either?" "You know what I mean! You have a r way, d?n it, of making everything seem like r a matter of course, and the most natural p thing going." a "Well, suppose I did. Are you prepared Q for the worst?" 0 Falkner was silent for a moment and then g replied, "Yes; anything would be better than a this suspense." e "I don't agree with you. Then you would s be willing to have them forgive us?" 1 ; "I don't understand you." "I mean that their forgiveness would be the j worst thing that could happen. Look hero, Ned. Stop a moment; listen at that door, j. Mi's. Hale has the tread of an angel, with the pervading capacity of a cat. Now, listen! I don't pretend to be in love with anybody ( here, but if I were I should hardly take advantage of a woman's helplessness and solij tude with a sensational story about myself. It's not giving her a fair show. You know a she won't turn you out of the house." . "No," said Falkner, reddening; "but I should expect to go at once, and that would 9 bo my only excuse for telling her." "Go! where? In your preoccupation with that girl you haven't even found the trail by ^ which Manuel escaped. Do you intend to eamn outside the house and make eyes at her a ?* when she comes to the window?" ! "Because you think nothing of flirting with Mrs. Hale," said Fnlkucr bitterly, "you care little" "My dear Ned," said Lee, "the fact that Mm. Hale has a husband and knows that she can't marry me puts us on equal terms. Nothing that she could learn about me hereafter would make a flirtation with me any less wrong than it would l>o now, or make ' her seem more a victim. Can you say the j same of yourself and that Puritan girl?" "But you did not advise me to keep aloof from her; on the contrary, you" ; "I thought you might make the best of the situation and pay her somo attention, because a you could not go any further." , "You thought I was utterly heartless and 3 selfish, like" n "Ned!" ! Falkner walked rapidly to the fireplace and returned. "Forgive me, George?I'm a fool?and an ungrateful one." Lee did not reply at once, although he took tj and retained the hand Falkner had impulsively extended. "Promise me," ho said slowly, after a pause, "that you will say nothing yet to either of these women. I ask it for 8 your own sake and this girl's, not for mine. ^ If, on the contrary, you are tempted to do so 8 from an}- Quixotic idea of honor, remember a that you will only precipitate something that 0 will oblige you, from that same sense of 0 honor, to separate from the girl forever." 9 "I don't understand." a "Enough!" said he, with a quick return of 8 his old reckless gayety. "Shoot-off-his-mouth, the beardless boy chief of the Sierras, has spoken! Let the pale face v. ith the black mustache ponder and beware how ho talks * hereafter to the Rippling Cochituate Water! 1 Go!" Nevertheless, as soon as the door had closed upon Falkner, Lee's smile vanished. With 3 his colorless face turned to the fading light at the window, the hollows in his temples and 3 the lines in the corners of his eyes seemed to ' have grown moro profound. He remained > motionless and absorbed in thought so deep that the light rustle of a skirt, that would at 1 other times have thrilled his sensitive ear, " passed unheeded. At last, throwing off his reverie with the full and unrestrained sigh of a man who believes himself alone, lie was ? startled by the soft laug . of '.Ivs. Ilalc, who ' had entered the room unperceived. "Dear me! How portentous! Really, I ? almost feel as if I were interrupting a tete-a& tete between yourself and somo old flame. I r haven't heard anything so old-fashioned and ' conservative as that sigh since I have been in California. I thought you never had any > Past out here!'1 ' Fortunately his face was between her and the light, and the unmistakable expression of ' annoyance and impatience which passed over bagged bim to shoot a bird to get a feather far my hat. And that wing is so pretty." "It is a pity that mere beauty is not ediblo," said Lee, gravely, "and that if the worst comes to the worst here you would probably pttfer me to Ned and his mustachios, merely because I've been tied by the leg to this sofa and slowly fattened like a Strasbourg goose." Nevertheless his badinage failed somehow tot amuse Kate, and she presently excused herself to rejoin her sister, who had already slipped from the room. For the first time during their enforced seclusion a sense of restraint and uneasiness affected Mrs. Hule, hex sister and Falkner at dinner. The latter ad dressed himself to Mrs. Scott almost entirely. Mpa Hale was fain to bestow au exceptional anil marked tenderness on her little daughter Minnie, who, however, by some occult child islr instinct, insisted on sharing it with Lee her great friend, to Mi's. Halo's uneasy con fidpuaness. INor was Lee slow to profit by th< child's suggestion, but responded with certaii vicarious caresses that increased the mother'.' embarrassment. That evening they retiree eady, but in the intervals of a restless nigbl Katoteas aware, from the sound of voices ir the opposite room, that the friends wen equally wakeful. it was spared her. There was, however, stiL enough dissonance in his manner to aiTecl her quick feminine sense, and when she drew nearer to him it was with a certain maideiv like timidity. "You are not worse, Mr. Lee, I hope You have not over exerted yourself?" "There's little chance of that with one leg ?if not in the grave at least mummified with bandages," ho replied, with a bitterness new to him. " "Shall I loosen them? Perhaps they arc too tight. There is nothing so irritating t< one as the sensation of being tightly bound.' The light touch of her hand upon the ru? that covered his kness, the thoughtful ten derness of the blue veined lids, and the deli' cato atmosphere that seemed to surround hei like a perfume cleared his face of its shadow and brought back the reckless fire into hi.1 bluo eyes. "I suppose I'm intolerant cf all bonds," he said, looking at her intently, "in others as well as myself!" Whether or not she detected any double meaning in his words she was obliged to ac cept the challenge of his direct gazo and raising her eyes to his, drew back a little from him with a slight increase of color "I was afraid you had heard bad news jur now." "What would you call bad news?" nskec Leo, clasping his hands behind his head anc leaning back on the sofa, but without with drawing his eyes from her face. "Oh, any news that would interrupt you: convalescence or break up our little family nartv." said Mrs. Hale. "You have beei getting on so well that really it would seen cruel to have anything interfere with ou: life of forgetting and being forgotten. But, she added with apprehensive quickness, "ha anything happened i Is there really air news from?from the trails? Yesterday Mr Falkner said the snow had recommenced ii the pass. Has he seen anything, noticed any thing different." She looked so very pretty, with the rare genuine and youthful excitement that trans figured her wearied and wearying regularity of feature, that Lee contented himself witl drinking in her prcttiness as he would havi inhaled the perfume of some flower. "Why do you look at me so, Mr. Lee?" sb with a slight smile. "I believe some tiring has happened. Mr. Falkner ha, brought you some intelligence." "He has certainly found out something did not foresee." "And that troubles you?" "It docs." "Is it a secret?" "No." "Then I suppose you will tell it to mo r dinner," she said, with a little tone of relief "I am afraid if I tell it at all I must tell i now," he said, glancing at tho door. "You must do as you think best," she said coldly, "as it seems to be a secret after all.' She hesitated. "Kate is dressing, and wil not be down in some time." "So much the better. For I am afraid tba Ned has made a poor return to your hospi tality by falling in love with her." "Impossible! Ho has known her foi scarcely a week." "I am afraid we won't agree as to thi length of time necessary to appreciate an< love a woman. I think it can bo done ii seven days and four houi-s, the exact time w< have been here." "Yes; but as Kifte was not in when yoi arrived, and did not come until later, yoi must take off at least one hour," said Mrs Hale gayly. "Ned can. 1 shall not abate a second." "But are you not mistaken in his feel ings?" she continued hurriedly. "He cer tainly has not said anything to her." "That is his last hold on honor and reason And to preserve that little intact he wants t( run away at once." "But that would be very silly." "Do you think so?" he said, looking at hei fixedly. "Why not?" she asked in her turn, bu rather faintly. "I'll tell you why," ho said, lowering hi: voice with a certain intensity of passion un like his usual boyish lightheadedness. "Thin! of a man whose life has been one of alter nate hardness and aggression, of savagi disappointment and equally savage successes who has known no other, relaxation than dis sipation or extravagance; a man to whon the idea of the domestic hearth and familj ties only meant weakness, effeminacy, orworse; who had looked for loyalty and devo tion only in the man who battled for him a his right hand in danger, or shared his pri vations and sufferings. Think of such < man, and imagine that an accident has sud denly placed him in an atmosphere of purity gentleness and pence, surrounded him by thi refinements of a higher life than ho had evei known, and that ho found himself, as in i dream, on terms of equality with a pun woman who hail never known any other lift and yet would understand and pity his. Im agine his loving her! Inmgino that the firs effect of that love was to show him his owi inferiority and the immeasurable gulf tha lay between his lifo and hers! Would he no flv rather than brave the disgrace of hei awakening to the truth? Would ho not flj rather than neeept even the pity that migh tempt her to a sacrifice?" "But?js Mr. Falkner all that?" "Nothing of tho kind, I assure you!" sail he demurely. "But that's the way a man it love feels." "Really! Mr. Falkner should get you t< plead his cause with Kate," said Mrs. Hali with a faint laugh. "I need all my persuasive powers in tba way for myself." said Lee boldly. Mrs. Hale rose. "I think I hear Kate com ing," she said. Nevertheless, she did not movi away. "It is Kate coming," sho added hurriedly, stopping to pick up her work basket which had slipped with Lee's hand from he; own. It was Kate, who at once flew to her sister'; assistance, Lee deploring from the sofa hi own utter inability to aid her. "It's all mj fault, Ion," lie said to Kate, but looking a Mrs. Hale. "It seems I have a faculty of up setting existing arrangements without thi power of improving them, or even puttinf them back in their places. What shall I do I am willing to hold any number of skeins 01 rewind any quantity of spools. I am ever willing to forgive Ned for spending the wkol< day with you, and only bringing me the winj of a hawk for supper." "That was all my folly, Mr. Lee," sail Kate, with swift mendacity; "he was all thi i time lookine after something for you, when ' * . ^ '' ^**~~ f'1" I ^ ' "It's all my fault, too," he said to Kate. j A morning of bright sunshine and a soft l warm air did not, however, bring any cbangi 5 to their new and constrained relations. Ii I only seemed to offer a reason for Falkner t< 5 leave the house very early for his dailj i rounds, and gave Lee that occasion for un ) aided exercise with an extempore crutch 01 the veranda which allowed Mrs. Hale to pur [ sue ber manifold duties without the necessit] ; of keeping him company. Kate also, as if t< ' avoid an accidental meeting with Falkner had remained at home with her sister. Wit! one exception, they did not make their guest i the subject of their usual playful comments nor, after the fashion of their sex, quote tbei; ; ideas and opinions. That exception was mad t by Mrs. Hale. ) "You have had no difference with Mr Falkner," she said, carelessly. ? "No," said Kate, quickly. "Why?" > "I only thought he seemed rather put ou ' at dinner last night, and you didn't proposi j to go and meet him to-day." "He must bo bored with my company a times, I dare say," said Kate, with an indil ferenee quite inconsistent with her risini r color. "I shouldn't wonder if he was a lit i tie vexed with Mr. Lee's chaffing him abou his sport yesterday, and probably intends t s go further to-day and bring home large j game. I think Mr. Lee very amusing al ways, but I sometimes fancy he lacks feel j ing." "Feeling! You don't know him, Kate, said Mrs. Hale quickly. She stopped herself 3 but with a half smiling recollection in he dropped eyelids, t "Well, he doesn't look very amiable now stamping up and down the veranda. Per 1 haps you'd better go and soothe him." 1 "I'm really so busy jqst now," said Mrs Hale, with sudden and inconsequent energy "things have got dreadfully behind in th : last week. You had better go, Kate, an< j make him sit down, or he'll bo overdoing it i These men never know any medium?in any i thing." r "Contrary to Kate's expectation, Falkne r returned earlier than usual, and, taking th s invalid's arm, supported him in a more am f bitious walk along the terrace before th house. They were apparently absorbed ii ! conversation, but the two women who oh . served them from the window could not hel] noticing the almost feminine tenderness o Falkner's manner toward his wounde< ? friend and the thoughtful tenderness of bi j ministering care. 3 I "I wonder," said Mrs. Hale, following then b with softly appreciative eyes, "if women ar capable of as disinterested friendship as men B 1 nover saw anything like the devotion o these two creatures. Look! if Mr. Falkne s hasn't got bis arm round Mr. Lee's waist and Lee, with his own arm over Falknar' j neck, is looking up in his eyes. I declare Kate, it almost seems an indiscretion to lool at them." Kate, however, to Mrs. Hale's indignation threw ber pretty head back and sniffed th air contemptuously. "I really don't see any ,. thing but some absurd sentimentalism o their own, or some mannish wickednes t they're concocting by themselves. I am by no means certain, Josephine, that Lee's influ ence over that young man is the best thin; n for him." j "On the contrary I Lee's influenco seem the only thing that checks his waywardness, t said Mrs. Halo quickly. "I'm sure, If any on makes sacrifices it is Lee; I shouldn't wond<> that even now he is making some concessioi to Falkner, and ull those caressing ways o your friend are for a purpose. They're no much different from us, dear." j "Well, I wouldn't stand there and let then see me looking at them as if I couldn't bea them out of my sight for a moment," saif Kate, whisking herself out of the room ( "They're conceited enough, heaven knows already." That evening at dinner, however, the tw< men exhibited no trace of the restraint or un easiness of the previous day. If they weri less impulsive and exuberant, they were stil frank and interested, and if the term coulc be used in connection with men apparently trained to neither self-control nor repose ' there was a certain gentle dignity in theii manner which for the time had the effect ol lifting them a little above the social level ol their entertainers. For even witn an tneu predisposition to the strangers, Kate anc Mrs. Hale had always retained a consciou; attitude of gentle condescension and superi ority toward them?an attitude not incon sistent with a stronger feeling, nor altogethei unprovocativo of it; yet this evening thej w found themselves impressed with something more than an equality in the men who hat 3 amused and interested them, and they weri perhaps a little more critical and doubtful o their own power. Mrs. Hale's little girl, wh< 1 had appreciated only the seriousness of thi f situation, had made her own application o it. "Are you dow'in' away from Aunt Kat and momma?" she asked, in an interval o silence. "How else can I get you the red snow w< 1 saw at sunset the other day on the peak yon der?" said Lee, gayly. "I'll have to get uj ' somo morning very early and catch it whoi 3 it comes at sunrise." r "What is this wonderful snow, Minnie, tha 1 you arc tormenting Mr. Leo for?" asked Mrs 3 Hule. 5 "Oh! it's a fairy snow that he told mo al ubout; it only comes when the sun comes u; ' and goes down, and if you catch ever so littli I of it in your hand it makes ull you fink yoi want come true! Wouldn't that bo nice?' II But to the child's astonishment her littli 1 circle of auditors, even while assenting r sighed. f ? The red snow was there plain enough th< Illuming ueiuiu HJU >U?1CJT UJ >.atu with light, nnd while Minnie, her raothei * nnd aunt Kate were still peacefully sleeping 1 And Mr. Leo had kept his word and was evi dently seeking it, for he and Falkner wen already urging their horses through the pass with their faces toward and lit up by its glow t [to be continued.] j&aTOne of the most remarkabh 3 formations of common salt in thi: - country, and in the world, is that 01 . the Island of Petile Anse, 125 mile: r west of New Orleans. It was dis covered in 18(52 while sinking a wel s and was immediately sie/.ed by Jef 3 ferson Davis as a Confederatesupply r The salt is underground at a deptl t ranging from ten to twenty-thre< . feet. One hundred and fifty acre: 3 have, up to the present time beer r traced, and a depth of 140 feet beer ) reached. The salt is taken out ir ' massive crystaline blocks, and is o the clearest white appearance. It ii 1 nearly chemically pure,contains99.8f 3 per cent, pure salt, the remaining ' fraction of a per cent, being gypsuu and chloride of lime. The mines ar( 1 owned by the Avery family, and an 3 worked by a New York firm, whicl t pays 83,000 per month as a royalty HJiSfdliWfam fading GIST'S BRIGADE AT FRANKLIN. [From the News and Courier.] Mr. D. P. Smith, of the Inquirer pub lishes in the Philadelphia Times an ac count of the battle of Franklin, Tenn., ii which Gen. Gist, of South Carolina fell He mentioned Gen. Gist and his brigade but failed to mention them where men tion was due. It was an omission whicl was caused by his want of informa tion of what was done by the troops c other commands than those of his owi corps, and he has written to Gen. Caper very frankly acknowledging it, and put lished the following in the Times: The Rev. Ellison Capers, of South Care lina, who commanded the 24th South Cat olina volunteers of Gist's brigade of Care linians and Georgians at Franklin, call 3 ray attention to an unintentional injus t tice done Gist's brigade in ray account c > the battle of Franklin. In so brief a t article it was impossible to mention th - gallant deeds of every command, but Ger i Gist's South Carolinians and Georgians . who charged side by side with the heroi j Gordon, should have received more notic< 3 The 24th South Carolina regiment captui ed the flag of the 97th Ohio and held i J until November 30, 1885, the twentiet anniversary of the battle, when it was corn teously returned to the brave men wh ' lost it. Gen. Gist and every field office r of the brigade fell in the grand charge 0 and at the close of the battle the brigad was commanded by a captain of one ( the companies. The division to which Gist's brigad belonged (Cheatham's) was commanded ? t Franklin by the gallant John C. Brown, ( 0 Tennessee, who with his four brigadier was put hors de combat on the memori t ble day. Strahl, Gist and Carter wer killed. Gordon charged into the tow , and was captured, and Brown, the majc b general, was severely wounded. rt "D. P. Smith." In a letter to the News and Courier, Ger Capers writes as follows : "I will be much obliged if you will giv " it a place, and make mention of Gen. Gist ' gallant death, falling in advance of hi brigade while leading the assault wit " his accustomed coolness in battle. Th last I saw of him in the field was just be ' fore we encountered the full fire of th batteries. He rode down our line, an , returning I kissed my hand to him as h - passed me. Frank Trenholm, andaga lant courier named Nallon, were wit 1 him. He waved his hat to us, and in r< . sponse to the cheer the men gave hir g said: 4I know the 24th will do its dut i to-day.' He gallopped on to the right an was soon lost in the smoke of battle, and * never saw him again; for, though hi body was brought to the hospital ths niorhf m \r u'nnnH nrotrontoH mo frnm UI6,IW "'J TFVV4HV* 4"^ ^V.N r ing the manly form of my friend and ga 6 lant commander. Lieutenant Colonel Je: ' se Jones, of Colleton, the lieutenant colon< 6 of the 24th S. C. V., was dying of hi '1 wound on the same bed with me, and se\ ?- eral of the men, and for a few momenl p we all forgot poor Jones' sufferings, whe r he wrote on a piece of paper his sense ( i our loss in Gen. Gist's death. Col. Jone s was wounded in the throat, the ball pas ing down the trachea. He was leadin ? the right wing of the 24th when he fel 0 "Colleton sent no more faithful son t , the field than Jesse Jones. I have alwaj ' thought the tribute he paid to Gist wf the highest manifestation of respect. H r could not speak, and was suffering the a< onies of slow strangulation, and yet, whe s Capt. Gardner, of the General's staff, cam ' in to tell us that his body was in the yart k Jones' eyes filled with tears, and he st up and wrote a few words, expressive < ? his love for Gist and our loss in his deatl a "Poor fellow! after suffering excrucia - ing pain for forty-eight hours he died i f peace, and was buried near our Generals near the field where he fell. r "I mention these facts for your informi . tion, my object being to honor the mem< T ry of the gallant dead, and to claim fc 9 Gist's brigade at Franklin a full share < honor due to the Army of Tennessee o ? that memorable day." 1 PATMOS NOW. i Before the Christian era the name < f Patmos only occurs in a few passages < t ancient writers, and or its history, if had one, nothing is known ; it was whe j it became the place of banishment of S John the Divine, and the scene of his ap< calyptic vision, that it once for all attrac ed the attention of mankind. At th present day it is one of the least accessibl of the iEgean islands, for owing to its r< mote position and the unproductiveness* !) ? fr* f'/l? I T"W\ O + Art tvt AWCl A1TAM f All aK f Vl Al'i no sun iiu oicauicio cvci luutu men * Long before we arrived, the monastery < ' St. John, which is the most conspicuoi l building in the island, had been in sigh l crowning the summit of a high hill, like r vast sombre castle, with the white hous< , of the town clustered round it; behin - this rose the peak of Hagios Elias, whic r reaches the elevation of more than 80 f feet. The seata, or village at the landing . place, has a very peculiar aspect, for eac [ of the small two-storied houses of whic j it is composed resembles a square, flat-to; ped box, as white as whitewash can mak it. This mode of building prevai | throughout this island, and, as we.aftei wards found, in those that lie to theSoutl ward of it. * In shape Patmos may be roughly d< 1 scribed as forming a crescent, the horns ( 3 which face Eastward; but its outline i f broken by innumerable promontories er } closing landlocked creeks, so that, whe 3 seen from above, it presents somewhat th t aspect of a strange polypus. Its lengt 0 from North to South is about eight mile: ? and its area is rugged and broken; but th most marked peculiarity is that it is a 3 most divided In two in the middle, for i . this part, within a distance of little moi j than half mile from one another, are tw j isthmuses only a few hundred yards wid< and rising but slightly above thesea-leve t On the Southermost of these the scala i situated, while between the two stands th * steep hill on which the acropolis of th Hellenic city was built. The narroi 1 waist thus formed serves for a boundar 3 line to determine the domain of the mor 3 astery, for while the Southern half of th i island belongs to the monks, the Norther * part is the possession of the civil commi a uity. At the time of the foundation ( , the convent no women were allowed t pass this limit, but within ashorttim 3 the restriction had to be abaudoned. Th ! soil of which the island is composed i r everywhere volcanic and very barren, an its coasts are flanked by red and gra rocks, which ever and anon break int quaint pinnacles. The absence of rur 3 ning water is shown by the numerou ' wind-mills, and there are only three o four wells in the whole area ; the want c these, however, is made up for by cisterns and the inhabitants are never obliged t a import water, as sometimes happens i : Santorin. The male population are chiel ^ ? i x t r* _ t . ..l * iy employed in me sponge nsnery, wnio i is carried on in many of the Sporadet s The island is most commonly known b; j its mediaeval name of Patino, in lik manner as Astypalaea is still called Astrc palaia, and Carpathos Scarpanto.?Correi J pondent of the Academy. 3 ?*? i Do Birds Fly Down ??I see, in a bad 1 number of St. Nicholas, that one of you 1 young correspondents appeals partly to m i in regard to birds tiying down. But al f who have written seem so well posted tha 3 I doubt if I can add anything to thei 3 knowledge. * However, I have seen a California email l a wood-dove, and a. humming-bird fl; 3 downward ; but in slow-flyers, with larg ) wings and heavy bodies, the wings ar i used more or less as parachutes in goinj . down; in other words, the birds sprea< I their wings, and rely upon gravity. This t ' I have noticed in the sand-hill cranes in 1 their migrations along the Sierra Madres. : A flock, of say a hundred, will mount upward in a beautiful spiral, flashing in the sunlight, all the while uttering loud, discordant notes, until they attain an altitude of nearly a mile above the sea-level, j" Then they form in regular lines, and soar i away at an angle that in five miles, or so, will bring them within one thousand feet ' of the earth. Then they will stop and 1" begin the spiral upward movement again until a high elevation is reached, when, * away they go again slidijg downhill in the air, toward their winter home. It is very evident that a vast amount of muscular exertion is saved in this way. In some of these slides that I have watched through a glass, birds would pass from r three to four miles, I should judge, without flapping the wings.?C. F. Holder in St. Nicholas. ? Asthma in Cagb Birds.?Canaries are n -ri.? A? i-1 - J ?i.L ? t :^ oueu irouuieu wnn a wnraziug iu ujo n chest, which, from its resemblance to what e is known as asthma in human beings, is K given the same name. It is not, however, 3? asthma, but an affection of the lungs. ac The cause is not far to seek. Canaries can '' bear great extremes of heat and cold, delf" icately framed though they be; but they ^ cannot stand sudden transitions from one n to the other. When they are kept in a r" room where the temperature is very va0 riable. perhaps close to a draughty win^ dow during the day, with hot, vitiated atmosphere from burning gas in the even? ing, and later on the other extreme of cold, }I we must not wonder if the lungs are affected. It is, therefore, important that ? care should be taken to prevent such a state of things, and this is best done by " hanging the cage below the middle bar of 3' the window, or, what is better, standing it on a table some distance away, and then, e when the gas is lit, the cage can be covern ed over and put on the floor in one corner >r of the room, as the temperature will be much more equal there than higher up. If such a plan be adopted, the so-called u asthma will be prevented; but if it is found, a little tincture of aconite is the ,e best remedy, say a drop to a teaspoonful ,s of water divided into two doses.?Scienentific American. e The Wrongfulness of Funeral Eulogies.?Eulogizing the dead over their ? new coffins has become one of the fine d arts. The time was when it was not safe .e to call a preacher to deliver a discourse as J" a parf of the obsequies of a doubtful " character?he would preach to the living, 3" and might point to the evil things of the n dead man's finished life. What good is % there in it? The family know that such ^ glowing eulogies are false. Even quite miifa imtinop nannlo Irnnur that tho nrpfloh. . 4Uire Juuijk ....... ...? f _ * er is not telling- the truth. The neighbors? all know it. The effect is evil In two dircc-H tions. It is* the obliteration of the line? l" between right and wrong. A young pe$fl jjj son hearing a defective character highly? , and wholly extolled concludes that mor-H 19 al teachings have no real basis?that evil? is just as good as good. Secondly: It? :a 'breaks down confidence in and respect for? nf the ministry, and for religion itself. One? 31 of the most cruel and grasping raisers we? -s ever knew was sent flying out of his? 3" greedy den up into the heavens, flinging? p glory and melody from his feathers as he? J* flew?result: all the contempt and hat? 0 red justly due to that old man was cast? 's upon the church which thus eulogized? 8 him and justified him.?Interior. H ****** I '* How to Keep Out op Debt.?One of? n our merchants who was out on a collect-? Le ing tour a few days ago, tells us that he? saw a practical exemplification of living? iXL hard to make ends meet without going in? 31 debt. The gentleman with whom he stop? ped for dinner, just over the line in Ches-H l~ terfield county, S. C., owned several hun? ? dred acres of unencumbered land, but, ow? ing to a bad crop year, had gotten in debt a? hundred or two dollars, and he and his? l" wife knowing how soon a mortgage will? 3" eat up land, had resolved to "live hard"? )Tf until they could retrieve their wasted for-? " tunes and get out of debt. The gentle? n man's wife told him they had not bought? a yard of cloth of any kind in over two? years, and that they were living on plain? bread and meat and rye coffee, and all? 3f growing fat on it. This is a great deal? >f better than to "mortgage the homestead"? it and then live high ou long credit prices? n until the land is all gone, and wife and? t. children without a home. A good man}? are doing this.?Monroe (A7-. C.) EnquirenM t- ? ?? H e Hearsay Evidence.?An eminen? I? Lord Chief Justice who was trying ? 2- right-of-way case had before him a wit? rf ness?an old farmer?who was proceeding? ^ La LA/) 4 4 IrnAtiro^^l IU Itfll Ult5 JUIJ liimii lie iiau nuuncu if the path for sixtyyeer, and my feythei is tould I a9 he has heerd my granfeythel t, zay " "Stop," said the judge; "wc a can't have hearsay evidence here." "Not|" ?s exclaimed Farmer Giles. , "Then how d dost thou know who thy feyther was h 'cept hy hearsay?" After the laughtei '0 had subsided the judge said: "In courts ?- of law we can only be guided, with wtwj h you have seen with your eyes, and notEh ing more nor less." "Oh; that be blow J- ed for a tale!" replied the farmer. "I ha' e got a bile on the back of my neck, and I Is never seed un, but I be prepared to swear r- that he's there!" This second triumph i- on the part of the witness let in a torrent of hearsay evidence about the footpath which obtained weight with the jury, )f though the Judge told them it was not teais timony of any value, and the farmer's pari ty won. - ? ? ? ? ? Canine Scent.?Careful experiments h on the sense of smell in dogs have beei 3' made by Mr. George J. Romanes, who has ,e communicated the results to the Linnean Society of London. He finds that not on,n ly the feet, but the whole body of a man e exhale a peculiar or individual odor ^ which a dog can recognize as that of hit master amidst a crowd of other persons ; that the individual quality of this odor 13 can be recognized at great distances t< e windward, or in calm weather at great dis? ranees in any direction; and that even powerful perfumes may not overcome this y odor. Yet a single sheet of brown paper, when stepped upon instead of the ground e and afterwards removed, was sufficient to n prevent Mr. Romanes' dog from following l* his trail. II ?> ? 0 The Oldest 'Tree in Europe.?The A I nlrlnot tron nn rannpH in Vnmno ia nasprtpfl - U1UCOU U?;c UU * VVU* v* IU ^<M?V|#W e to be the Cypress of Somraa, in Lombar? '9 dy, Italy. This tree is believed to have? " been in existence at the time of Julius? y Ciesar, forty-two years B. C., and is there? 0 fore 1,911 years old. It is 106 feet in? height and twenty feet in circumference? 13 at one foot from the ground. Napoleon? ,r when laying down his plan for the great? >f road over the Simplon, diverged from a? 5i straight line to avoid injuring this tree? 0 Superior antiquity is claimed for the im? P mense tree in Calaveras county, Californ? [m ia. This is supposed, from the number of? 11 concentric circles in the trunk, to be 2,o6o? ' years old. ? y -- ?? - H e Deadly Electricity.?Three or four? of us were watching an English sparrow? picking up his breakfast the other morn? ing. He finally got a large piece of crack? er and flew up to the electric wire over-? k head to eat it. He alighted on a space? r where the insulating covering had mef? e with an accident and been stripped off? 11 and his feet had no sooner touched the? t wire than down he came, dead as a stone? r When we picked up the body it had a? pulpy freling, as if every bone had.beeii? I, broken. It was a striking proof, evefi oq? v I a small scale, ot the vindictive current? e which buzzes and flashes and leaps ovtfB e and around us, ready at the slightest pn^H ? vocation to strike a victim with thechilH| i of death.?Detroit Free Press. MH