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RATTLESNAKE CHARMER. Ee Tells Interesting' Incidents of Hfo Dangerous Business. County, Now York ?He Finds HI* Strange Occupation a rroflt obla One. In a wild valley at the foot of a rocky and precipitous mountain, near the little hamlet of Long Eddy, in Sullivan county,. N. Y., is the home of John C. Geer, whose busi? ness is the charming of rattlesnakes. This eccentric individual who lives in this isolated spot is known throughout that part of the country as "the rattlesnake man." Though over sixty years- of. age, he is as active almost as he was twenty years ago, and for a. mountaineer, born and reared in that untutored coun? try, where people of any kind are scarce, he possesses a rare intelli? gence. A better Insight into his strange and dangerous business cannot be given than by the following story, told by himself : **I have been en? gaged in catching rattlers at the foot of this, mountain for many years., j Some seasons I get from two. to three hundred of them, manyot which I tame and ship alive to rau seumf?n New York and other cities. I kill a good many and extract the oil, for which I find a ready sale at from two to five dollars an ounce. The s'iins are worth from one to five dollars each, according to their size and condition. 1 ^mountain back of my house is fiimj.&allye^ with rattlesnakes; thousands of them live there in their lairs in; the crev&sses qf the rocks. One cay last year I started out be? low my house, and in two hours and a halt caught twenty-two rattlers and a black snake. I caught the snakes wjth a hook or snare and put them into a bag, in which I bring them home. Do they ever bite me? Weil, sometimes, but very seldom, as I know, what a rattlesnake's bite is, and am always, very careful how I handle them. Six or seven times they have been too smart for me, and have sunk their fangs into my hands, hnt Lam alive yet, and I have an infallible cure for the poison. The bites always leave a scar, though, as 'you wUl see by the bock of my band." This band has a number of small, deep scars, which look like a very pronounced pockmark, and these, the "rattlesnake man" declares, are the results of the bites he has re? ceived. The * 'infallible" cure which Mr. Geer used is composed by him? self. Certain it is, he has been called upon many times to save peo? ple who have been struck by the poi? son-laden fangs of rattlesnakes, and his remedy has never, failed to cure. No less weird and interesting than the man is his rude log house, which is always the home of from a dozen, to thirty or more of the venomous reptiles. These are kept in boxes, and many of them are very tame, actually seeming to be fond of their master. It does not take the old man long to subdue these wild crea? tures, and he often has them crawling about the floor while he smokes his pipe and meditates. He is fond of having visitors come to see his pets, though few persons can be persuaded to enter his den of rat? tlers and black snakes. This amuses the old man, as long association has taken away every vestige of fear of having them harm him, and he thinks no more of handling the reptiles than if they were playful kittens.? N. Y. Times._ ? Product of the Strike. The "bicycle, stamp," which was brought into existence in San Fran? cisco by the recent railroad strike, is likely to be much prized by stamp collectors. For more than a fort? night San Francisco was practically cut off from all railroad communica? tion, and a bicycle mail service was gotten up by the agent of a bicycle ?manufacturer between that city and Fresno, a distance of about twenty miles. It continued for four days, when the blockade was raised. Stamps and stamped envelopes were hastily designed, and several hun? dred printed, the stamps being sold at twenty-five cents apiece and the envelopes at 'thirty cents. Of the three hundred and eighty letters car? ried three hundred and fifteen were stamped and forty were sent in stamped envelopes. Used speci? mens are already commanding a high premium In San Francls<K>, the papers of that city say, as high as five dollars being paid for the stamps, while the used envelopes are expected to bring from five to ten dollars each.?N. Y. Tribune. ? Study of Oats Eyes. Mr. Lindsay Johnson, after exam? ining the eyes of one hundred and eighty domestio cats, as well as those of all the accessible wild mem? bers of the family, concludes that the natural shape of the catrs pupil is circular, though under various de? grees of light it assumes every shape flttto tue tfofle ttfa Btja1)gljiiit^tf?r 1 Bla Home Is In a WUd Valley In 8 call van HOW TO KEEP WARNT. Breathe Deep and Pull and Hold the Breath. I should like to call attention to an easy method of warming one's self when other and more common means are not available. It is a method that I suppose is well enough known to the profession, but probably not often used. I allude to warming the body by merely taking deep inspira? tions. On one very cold afternoon of last whiter, though walking briskly along, I was uncomfortably cold; feet and hands were very cold, and my ears so chilled as frequently to require the application of my heavily-gloved hands. In addition, the whole sur? face of the skin was unpleasantly chilled, "creeps" ever and anon run? ning up and down my spinal column and radiating thence over the body and extremities j In short, a condi? tion that every reader of this little article has doubtless many a time experienced. I then began taking an exercise often employed before with benefit; deep forced inspira? tions, holding the air as long as pos sible before expulsion. After a few inhalations-the sur? face of my body grew warmer, and a general sense of comfort pervaded me. Continuing, the next to feel the effects of the effort were my previously frigid ears. They grew agreeably warm, and within the time required to walk three blocks, at the. previous pace, bands and feet par? took of the general warmth, and I felt as comfortable as if the same, length of time had been passed by a glowing fire. The happy results obtained from this simple method are probably ow? ing to several causes: The cold, of course, chills .the sur? face of the body and contracts the superficial blood vessels, usually af? fecting first hands, feet and ears,1 and afterward the general-body surr face. Contraction of the blood ves? sels results both in less blood to the part and in stagnation of the cur? rent, thus rendering the tissues still less able to resist the cold. Deep forced inspirations not only stimu? late the blood current by direct muscular exertion, but also by com? pressing and expanding the lungs the flow of blood is greatly hastened through this organ, and on account of the increased amount of oxgen in? haled, this abundant supply of blood, is thoroughly oxygenated, tissue metabolism is increased and more heat necessarily produced. Many times unavoidable exposure, as in riding, driving, standing and the like, for a longer or shorter time In the cold, has been the cause of severe and even fatal congestive troubles, such as pleurisies and pneumonias, and a means of quickly stimulating the flagging peripheral circulation which a person, has al? ways with him, and which can be employed without moving a step, is one that ought not to. be neglected or forgotten.?E. B. Sangree, M. D., American Therapist. CHILDREN'S TOYS. A Caution That Applies In American - -Towns as In London, There are few persons who walk along the streets.of London whose attention has not'been directed to the exceedingly ingenious toys which are sold by the itinerant vendor's for* the delectation of children. One of the latest' of these is a hollow tube, of paper, furnished with a short piece of bamboo at one end, up to which it is coiled by the action of a very slight steel spring. On blow? ing into the bamboo'the coil is un? rolled and reaches forward nearly a yard. The sudden extension of this coil produced by blowing in it is a source of great amusement Toy bagpipes are also popular* contriv? ances These are not blown in the usual way, but the breath of the per? former is made to inflate a small india-rubber ball, which, once blown into, supplies sufficient air to^lay a few bars of any popular tune, Our contemporary, the Lancet, has called attention to the possible ! consequence of buying these toys, j which, it says, are presented to a ! child after haviug been inflated by I questionable breathy and perhaps wetted with the moisture of the still more questionable lips of tbeveudor. An infected mouthpiece, it says, has not unfrequently been known to be the origin of grave constitutional troubles. This Is perfectly true. Persons who vrould hesitate to drink out of a glass that has been used will buy and present toys of. this kind to their children, not knowing by whom they have been used, or by what dis? ease they may be contaminated. Among the impoverished makers and vendors, sore throats, diphthe? ria and contagious fevers in very early stages may be raging, and children may contraot fatal diseases even of a worse character than any ! we have mentioned by blowing and using these questionable toys. Sure? ly it is only necessary to call the at? tention of persons to the evil, for careful supervision would prevent the disaealcation of loathsome dis? orders \fy tee meau&^lAoidbto THAT LATCH KEY. The Ex-Boarder Used It and Got H'niself Into Trouble. Go luff to Look Up a Friend He Wm Con* fronted by a Btran?;ui-?The Cnpleas ?nt Experience of Being Taken for a Bnrglar. The bestowal of a latch key is a sacred trust not always appreciated by tenants. It is the commonest thing in the world for a boarder to walk off with his door key, thus re? taining to himself the power to enter a former dwelling at any hour of the day or night he pleases. Of course very few tenants hold on to their keys with any such possibility in view, but for the safety of herself and future tenants the landlady should be more particular than she averages at present in redeeming the means of entry to her household. A couple of nights ago a young man arrived from the west about eleven p. m.., and promptly betook' himself to look up an old friend, whose room his own had adjoined in a house on Forty-eighth street. ? The house was closed up for the night, so. the young man took out his erstwhile latch key, and, letting himself in, mounted to his chum's room: He was out, the gas was lowered, and without waiting to turn it up the traveler stretched himself on the sofa to wait, and in doing so fell asleep. When he awoke it was to find him? self face to face with the basilisk stare of a strange man, and with a revolver. The room had changed tenants, that was pretty plain, but it wasn't equally plain how he was to make clear that he was neither a burglar nor an assassin. "if you lay down that thing," he said, after a 'hurried explanation to the man with the revolver, "I'll call up the landlady and prove my case." With man and revolver in pursuit he did find the landlady's door, only to be confronted by a strange woman, who immediately went into hysterics. Then every other woman in the house raised her voice in hysterics, 1 and more men with revolvers gath? ered in the passageways, -until things began to look pretty blue for the young man. At last the final man armed to the teeth joined the boarders, and as he did so the poor excited traveler gave a cry of relief. J "Put down your firearms/' called the last comer, "and stop your shrieks. You were looking for Dick, weren't you? He's gone to Europe. The whole house here has changed hands. I'm the only one of the old crowd left. Good Lord, it's well I'm herel You'd have spent one night in jail, at least, if-I'd not been." "There," shouted the besieged man, flinging the key.at the scantily robed landlady, "there's the key of' this blank, blank, blankety blanked, shanty, and may I never again see; the key of this or any other board-1 ing place shanty as long as I live."??-! N. Y. Herald. FOLLOWED THE ENEMY. . An Incident of MacMahon's Cam-' paign Against the Austrlans. A good deal has already been writ-j ten around and about the memoirs; which Marshal deMacMabon penned for the perusal of Iiis family. A few1 unsatisfactory extracts from them; were published, here and there, after the marshal's death, and now a military paper, called the Sabretache, gives a few more. They relate to the battle of Magenta on the 4th of June, 1859, and to the' engagement at Solferlno, which took p'iace the 24th of the same month. The i marshal evidently bandied the sword better than the pen, for the news ex? tracts read like the baldest and most unpicturesque of reports. Refer? ring to Magenta, the marshal con? scientiously enumerates the orders I which he gave to the generals of his command, and enlivens the narrat? ive a little by alluding to the nar? row escape he had from falling, with his staff, into the hands of the Austrians, He was looking for Gen. Espinasse's division, and, while rid? ing along' a plain, descried on his left aline of Austrian light infantry. Owing to the mist, the French leader j was taken by the Austrians for one j of their own generals, and they pre? sented arms to him. MacMahon and his officers, seeing their danger, galloped away as fast as they could, but on the road from Magenta to Marcals met some of the enemy's lancers, who were after a piece of cannon left by the Austrians in a ditch. The French general at once ordered his escort to charge the lancers, who retreated, thinking that the attack was serious. The escort was commanded by Lieut. Dubouch er, who was rewarded for his bravery in following the enemy by the deco? ration of the Legion of Honor. This officer was subsequently killed at SoUerino. The extracts published with reference tp the last-mentioned battle only deal with a few cava|ry ctogesv^PaVisiHroT: London Tele WANTED TO GET MARRIED. The Story of an Old Negro's Mar? riage License. An old negro walked into the of? fice of Ordinary Ferrill, of Chatham county, and announced that he had come to get a marriage license. Judge Ferrill directed him to the clerk's desk, but it seemed there was some troubie about the financial part of the transaction, and the clerk sent him back to the judge. The old darky was fully seven feet tall, and, according to his own state? ment, was eighty-four years old. He carried an old musket almost as long as he was tall, was barefooted, and had his breeches rolled up to his knees. "I got no money, boss," he said to Judge Ferrill, as he returned; "but de rice-bud season done over now, an' ef you'll gi' me de license I'll le* my gun here w4d you 'til next sea BOD. It was apparent that the old fel? low wanted to get married badly, but the ordinary had not gone into the junk business, and the gun prop-, osition did not take so readily as the old man thought it would. He said his name was Bris toe Evans, and he lived on Mars' Elliott's place across the river. When asked what the woman's name was, he 'said: \ "She's a ma'ed woman, an' her name's Car'line." "But what Is her other name?" asked the ordinary. 1 'We can't give you a license unless you give us the full name." "I done clean fergot," Bristoe re? plied, but when he found he would have to give her name he said: "I'll walk arbuu' de block, judge, an' may? be I kno' it by dat time." With -that he started out with his gun, but was back again in about five minutes. It was Caroline Black. He knew he could remember it if he would just think. The license was made out and handed him. "How much I owe you, boss?" he asked. Judge Ferrill told him he would make him a present of it, and that he could take his gun home with him, as the ordinary had no use for it.. The old negro was profuse in his thanks and scarcely knew what to say. He bowed as he started for the door, and, turning to Judge Ferrill, he saidt "Please God, boss, I bring you de fust dozen rice buds I kill next sea? son." CaroMne, as Bristoe put it, is "no angel" herself, as" she is seventy eight years old?Atlanta Constitu? tion. _ IF Wfc ONLY COULD SEE. Possible Changes In Present Idea*" Were Our Eyes Stronger* Our best acquaintance with the wonders of the visible universe must always be held provisional. The organ wherewith We are aware of it Is an imperfect one, Insensible to the colors beyond the ted and the violet Which Certain Insects appear to perceive. Lightjtse? is" nothing but a vibration of what we call, without understanding it, the ether; and sight is a sense easily deceived and of very feeble range* It is probable that Only a slight exalta? tion of the power of the optic nerve would present the picture of the starry sky to us in a very different aspect. To our vision the waste of space appears astounding, much as the Pa? cific ocean seems far too large for its archipelagoeS; The boundless vault looks as though1 wasted In contain? ing at such enormous intervals the tiny specks that are its Worlds andf suns. Would it wear auything like so open an aspect if We had better or different eyes? To see the stars at all it is necessary to wait for the darkness of night; to be aware of those crimson fountains of glory streaming into space from the sen, we have to borrow the help of the moon's interposed disk. Since all heavenly bodies exercise an influence, gravitactory and other? wise, upon all other bodies, it is con? ceivable that a kind of vision may hereafter exist to which their mu? tual contact and interaction would be perceptible. We- see nothing now which is not of the nature to re? flect upon our retinas or to project upon them those light waves of which alone our light-sense can take any cognizance. The fish which dimly perceives a star through the water composed of oxygen and hy? drogen is uot in a much worse posi? tion for reliable astronomical obser? vations than a man, with his limited visual spectrum, at th'ebottom of his ocean of oxygen, nitrogen, and the new gas.?Sir Edwin Arnold, in North American Review. Keep Right on That Way. Our aim?-Tell the truth, though the heavens tumble. Our paper? Of the people, by the people, to be paid for by the people. Our relig? ion?Orthodox, with a firm belief iu Heaven. Our motto?Take all in sight and hustle for more. Our pol? icy?To love our frieuds and injure our enemies. Our object?To make an honest living and pay our jtffi't THE WHISTLING SNAKE. It Is Said to Blval the Whistling Spider. Two Very Remarkable Specimens of Nat? ural History?One Is Found In Aus? tralia, the Other In British New Guinea. The discovery by the Horn expe? dition to the McDonnell Ranges, in Australia, of a remarkable specimen of natural history called a "whis? tling spider," whose peculiarity con? sists in producing a whistling noise by the simple operation of drawing its foreleg across its jaw, seems at the moment to be outdone. Sir Wil? liam Macgregor, the administrator of British New Guinea, is now in the field with another extraordinary dis? covery?a whistling snake. In his latest report Sir William says that a large number of deaths occurred early this year in the. Rigo district of New Guinea from snake bite. The administrator points out that the island is Infested by a small species of black snake, which is very fierce. The natives declare that whenever a man goes near one it rushes at bim, uttering sounds which they describe as resembling a whistle. "Shortly before I was at the government sta? tion," writes Sir William Macgregor, "one of these reptiles attacked the government agent, but was killed before it did any harm. A little while before a boy of fourteen years was in the bush near the station when one of these snakes made a rush at him with the usual peculiar whistling sound. The boy. thought the noise emanated from some cock? atoos in a tree, and began to look for them. He'did not discover his mistake until he received a bite from the reptile, from which he died."? Scientific American. HE PAID HIGH. The Price of an Ungiven Kiss to a Madras Civil Surgeon. Kissing, as many people have found, is a comparatively costly amusement; but few people have had to pay so highly for an attempted kiss as an unlucky doctor of the Madras civil service. This gentle* man was driving in a dogcart with another gentleman's wife, and so far forgot himself, under the in? fluence of the lady's charms, as to ask her for a kiss. In some repre? hensible cases of this sort the indul? gence has been taken first and per? mission asked afterwards; but We* are glad to know that the Madras civil surgeon did not soar to such heights of wickedness as that. At any rate, when he asked leave to kiss her,- the lady very properly re? fused. Smitten by remorse, the erring doctor wrote a letter of apol? ogy to the wife; the wife laid the letter before her husband; the hus? band laid it before the Madras gov? ernment, and the Madras govern? ment called on the doctor to resign. All the clemency they could show him was to allow him to remain in the service a few months longer so a's to qualify for the lowest grade of pension. Who shall say that the' Indian government is not a paternal ruler? Or that the licentious east is not governed on the principles of the highest British morality? Stlii, It does1 seem hard on a nan io lose his profession, prospects ?ud career for the sake of a kiss, especially when, he has not even got the kiss,?St,: James's Gazette. Forgotten Quotations. What do we owe to Beaumont and Fletcher? Homely proverbs in plenty, from '-'Beggars should be no choosers" to "Discretion is the better part of valor," though wheth? er they or Shakespeare has a prior , right to the latter is uncertain. From them also we inherit many prettily-dressed bits of philosophy, in "Our acts our angels arc, for good or ill" style, and many stirring tags like "Deeds not words," and "Let's meet,, and either do or die." Burns uses this phrase in his great war song, and Campbell, who gave us "Distance lends enchantment," ' 'Aogel visits," 1 'Meteor flag of Eng? land," and "Coming events," etc., places it in "Gertrude of Wyoming." ?Cornhill Magazine A Tremendous Concussion. During the English naval maneu? vers two ten-inch guns were fired simultaneously on one of the vessels with startling effect. The glass that protects the helmsman and the windows of thccharthouseT of which the glass is one-third of an inch thick, were smashed to atoms. An inkstand, bottles and tumblers jumped six inches into the air and spilled their contents, but came down whole, and -men near the tur? ret were lifted off their feet by the concussion.?San Francisco Argo? naut _ The Editor's Plea. The wiud bloweth, the farmer sowetb and the subscriber oweth, and the Lord knoweth that we are in need of our dues. So come a run-, uin'; this thing of dunnin' gives us fife blu^^Jinitfgim'IIe (G&$ BRAIN GYMNASTICS, Wonders Bevealed by the Ad? vance of Psychological Study., The Acquirement of Skilled Blovemeai Means Change In the Cortical Porti en - of the Brain?The Fradical Ee ?alt and Application of This. Modern studies of the brain, says Modern Medicine, have placed in a very clear light the fact that in gymnastics, piano playing and skilled movements of all sorts, the training consists not simply in a discipline of the muscles involved, but is especially a training of the cells at the surface of the brain?the so-called cortical portion of the brain. In many cases of paralysis, the failure of the patient to recover the use of the affected muscles is the re? sult of neglect properly to train or ed ucate the muscles. The patient is; not always able to do this himself,', for the reason that after the injury/ involving the cerebral region has; been repaired the muscles are Often i left, in a state of such complete dis? ability that the patient is not able to command them by his will; that Is, . although the connection between the will and the muscles is restored, the muscle is too weak to respond;?not that the%muscle is unable to con? tract, but it is unable to contract and at the same time do the work required of it in moving the parts to which it is attached. In these cases passive movements are of the great? est assistance! The masseur should say to the patient (in a case invok? ing the lower extremities, for ex? ample): "Draw up your foot," and at tne instant when the patient make* l&e effort to draw up bis foot the maeseur should raise the foot for him, ?f give such assistance.as is necessary to* raise the foot, per? haps leaving the patient to suppose that he has ex.wted the movement; himself, thus gi\"iD8 him encourage-; ment and reston.,,J# confidence/ After this procedure kaa been, exe-, ! cuted for a few days, ifcwjU be no-t ticed in many cases thau l&eifft * I decided increase in the Vitom(i&J[ control of the patient over |!*r*J" fee ted part; and after a prolonged' course of treatment, reaching, iB necessary, over weektr or evem months, the patient- may be-able to-* control the paralyzed parts fa'a-very r j satisfactory manner, in like- man- - ner, the patient may even- r.ecwerr [ the power of speech after having: : I once lost it. If the patient is aMe? to understand the words spoken tit* ? him, although unable to utter tbem'i himself, in some cases it is possible to restore the ability to speak by calling his attention to the form as? sumed by the muscles of the lips and other muscles involved in artio- . i ulation, and directing him each day in executing these7 movements, just as a deaf person & taught. In a case recently reporte_l by* Ruchler. ' a patient by this means' acquired the use of more than a buadwdl words by only six weeks' practise?- after having been speechless, or n e<y for nine years, as the result" af* si stroke of apoplexy. \ _____________ -?!' . MILITARY BRUTALITY. The German Emperor's Attempts alt Suppressing It. The German army has long7Deehr notorious for the brutal raavn^rih?! which the private soldiers .wsre?< treated by the non-coramissionOcfr and other officers. The system was^ ! inaugurated by the Great Frederick, : and the military officers since his day seemed unwilling to allow it to' die out. Happily the present em? peror seems deteraiiied to have none of it. His imperial rescript on the subject forbidding any sdBcer to ' strike his men made some sensation when it was issued, though it wa&v commonly said in army circles thati it would sr?ou be a. dead letter. AV few recent cases proves the contrary. A well-known officer .was reseritlyr dismissed the service with igLtemlny for the offense of striking a rrraCd'im the ranks, the emperor personally' indorsing the order for his dismissal* with a severe aud cutting remark.' At Breslau a sergeant who was charged with ill-treating a soldier was tried for the offense by a council of war,, was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in a fortress, and when his sentence has expired to re? join his regiment as a soldier of the second class.?Scientific American. Reflected Light. Some months ago an English man? ufacturer made a number of experi? ments to determine the best method of illuminating his cloth mills. Gast jets, incandescent lamps aud arc lights were all tried and found want? ing, as they either failed to give light enough, gave too much light or oast heavy shadows. Finally a con? tinental idea was adopted. The walls of a room were painted white? and under each of a number of arc lights was suspended a reflector, which threw all the light up to the white ceiling, from which it was re? flected to the room below. This sys? tem was successful from .the outset, and has attracted considerable a> 'tS^TbV tajmr S&#u*-n- wmeTEf.