Port Royal standard and commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, May 18, 1876, Image 1
St^
VOL. IV. NO. 24
Rest in the Graie.
Rest in the grave!?bat rest is for the weary,
And her slight limbs Were hardly girt for
toil;
Best is for lives worn oat, deserted, dreary,
Which have no brightness left for death to
spoil.
We yearn for rest, when power and passion
wasted
Have left to memory nothing bat regret;
Bhe sleeps, while life's beet pleasures, all untested,
Had soaroe approached her rosy lips as yet.
Her child-like eyes still laoked their crowning
sweetness ;
Her form was ripening to more perfect
grace.
Bhe died, with the pathetio in completeness
Of beauty'8 promise on her pallid faoe.
What undeveloped gifts, what powers untested,
Perchance with her have passed away from
earth;
What germs of thpught in that yoang brain
arrested
May never grow and qnicken and have birth!
Bhe knew not love, who might have loved so
truly,
Though lore dreams stirred ner r&ncy, iam;
and fleet;
Her sours ethereal wings were budding newly,
Her woman's heart had scarce begun to
beat.
We drink the sweets of life, we drink the
bitter,
And death to us would almost seem a boon;
But why, to her, for whom glad life were fitter,
Should darkness oome ere day had reached
its noon ?
No answer, save the eoho of our weeping,
Which from the woodland and the moor is
heard,
Where, in the springtime, ruthless storm
winds sweeping
Have slain the unborn flower and new-fledged
bird.
Miss Marchmont's Romance.
Several years ago Helen Marchmont
feed I wf re schoolmates. We were reared
amid the brown hills of New Hampshire,
far up toward the spires of the
White mountains.
At sixteen, Helen was the belle of the
Tillage, the liveliest at ail oar merrymakings,
and the admired of both old
and young. Indeed, in my whole life, 1
have seldom seen one more beautiful
than Helen Marchmont, at the time of
wh<ch I speak. Traces of her loveliness
yet remain, but so marred by years and
sorrow, that few who knew her then
would recognize her in the pale, sad
woman of to day.
Before Helen was seventeen she had
many offers of marriage from young
men highly esteemed by her friends, but
sh# encouraged them not; her whole
affections were given to Arthur Richardson,
the only son of a poor widow who
resided in our vicinity.
He loved Helen with his whole soul, ,
but he could not brook the idea of taking
her from a home of comfort, if not
of luxury, to the stern life of toil and
poverty which lay spread out before ;
fa Many and fierce were the struggles
bet ween love and reason; but his
pride conquered every other feeling, and
it all ended in his espousing the resolu- i
tion of going to sea. A brother of his
dead father was largely engaged in the i
India trade, and this uncle gave him
the supercargo's situation on board a
merchant vessel which traded between
Hew York and Singapore. It was very
hard to leave his widowed mother to her
loneliness; very hard to part with Helen;
but Richardson had before him the
prospect of carving his way to fortune,
and the thought of what should come
afterward buoyed him up through the
solemn parting. His heart was full,
but he left his native village without a
sigh or a tdff.
"Helen was very grave and quiet for
some*months after his departure, but
soon her natural sunshiny disposition
emerged from the cloud, and again she
11 ! #- J : J
was 6Lie UIO tUIU UL1UD VI bUO TUIOQC.
Arthur had been absent two years ; and
one fine September morning, as Helen
and I were picking over the ripe
whortleberries we had gathered on the
mountain the previous day, the yard
gate opened hurriedly, and in another
moment Helei was in the arms of her
lover! He had returned for a brief
visit of ten days; then he was to go
away once more, to be absent eighteen
months only, and then?the happy
blush on Helen's cheek spoke eloquently
of what would take place.
While he had been away Arthur had
prospered. A little more of successful
labor, and he would give Helen a home
of luxury and gratify her every wish.
The morning of his departure arrived.
. When he came to bid her farewell, he
put into her hand a package, saying :
"Dear Helen, I want you to wear
this to please me. It is my choice, for
it is just the color of your own bright
hair. And some serene Sabbath day I
shall come home to find my darling in
the dress brought her from beyond the
sea." And folding her to his bosom
with many a passionate kiss, Arthur
Ri^iardson went away once more. When
Helen opened uie pacjutge duo iuuuu
amid the folds of tissue paper a piece of
soft, glistening brown India satin. She
laid it away carefully ; and although I
often questioned her as to when it was
to make its app& **nce in our little
church, she always siuiled quietly and
evaded the subject. But I knew very
well that she intended it should be her
bridal robe, and she would not have it
made nntil near the time of Arthur's expected
return.
The probationary eighteen months
rolled away?daily was the good ship
Sarah Jane expected to arrive in port.
The Sarah Jane was expected on
Tuesday, and by Saturday night we
might look for Arthur in Milville. Railways
were things unknown, or comparatively
so, in our region, and the journey
from Boston must be performed in an
old fashioned stage coach. Saturday
came?a clear, cloudless day in April,
and by special invitation I went over to
pass the time with Eelen, until^Arthur's
arrival. She was flushed and smiling, a
little anxious, but very happy, and so
bsantiful 1 Z oould scarcely keep my ad
\.NDA
'
miring eyes off her faoe all throngh the
oool bright afternoon, and when, at
eventide, she arrayed herself in the
brown eat in, and with a crimson shawl
around her stood by my side on the eastern
piazza awaiting the coming of the
stage, 1 coma not reirain irom clasping
my arms around her, and exclaiming :
" Dear Helen, how beautiful you are!"
She smiled her own swoet, gentle smile,
as she replied :
'" I am glad of it, Mary; glad for his
sake."
The sun set?the shadows deepened
and thickened. I remember that the
wind, which had been all day a western
zephyr, changed to the east, and blew
up cold, white columns of mist from the
river; and the blue translucent heavens
were clothed in the vestments of purple
gray.
We both went down and leaned on the
gate that opened upon the highway. Not
a doubt crossed her mind; she looked
for bis coming with the tender faith with
which a child waits its mother's goodnight
kiss. The lumbering old coach
came slowly up the hill.
" But he was lost"?
"So we all supposed. But it turned
out quite differently. He returned about
twelve months ago. The ship in whioh
he expected to sail to New York was
oaptured by a piratical craft, and Arthur
Richardson was thrown into a Spanish
dungeon, from which he did not make
his scape for ten years; and then he
was taken to Australia by the.captain of
an immigrant ship. There he labored
inoessanUy to retrieve his shattered fortune,
writing often to Helen letters full
of love and trust, which, of course, owing
to her change of residence, she
never received. Aiter three years he
found himself a rich man, and without
delay he set out for the States. He
visited Milville, to find only his mother's
grave, and to hear the tidings that
Helen had wedded a gentleman in the
city, whither she had gone at the death
of her parents. Heartsick and reckless
of himself, the wanderer took refnge
in the far West, and engaged in trade.
Coming about a year ago to the city to
purchase a supply of goods, he met her
in the street. A recognition ensued?
explanations and revelations ; and a
happy wedding was the result."
But the coachman's cheery "Good
even, girls," fell on ears that heard not,
for as the vacant stage rattled by a cold
trembling seized upon Helen, and it required
all my strength to support her
into the house.
From that hour hope was dead in her
heart. She gave up all! But contrary
to the expectations of every one, just a
year from the day she had expected to
be wedded, she rallied, and in time she
was once more able to move about the
house.
Two years afterward, Helen, by the
death of her parents, was left alone.
Mr*. Richardson had died some months
previously. There was no tie to bind
Helen to Milville, so she disposed of the
old homestead. Arthur Richardson
never came back; the vessel in which
he sailed was never heard from after she
left Singapore, and in all probability his
grave was mkbe in the ocean depths.
Though many wealthy and gifted men
bowed before Helen Marchmont, she
remained faithful to her first love. And
every Sabbath, in memory of this lost
love, she wore his parting gift?the
brown satin dress.
Two years ago, while I was a visitor
at Mrs." Greene's house, I remembered
the story of Miss Marchmont, and has
toned to inquire of my hostess concerning
the beautiful heroine. A smile
lightened up the lady's face as I mentioned
the name.
" Miss Marchmont no longer exists,"
she said.
"Dead!" I exclaimed, shocked by
her reply.
"Not dead, but married! and more
then that?she is the wife of her first
and only love t"
Tim Pira Trl/it
xuv vgn ?**vw
"Procure a large egg?Brahma eggs are
the best?and. 011 the large end draw a
cross with a lead peneil, and on the opposite
end draw a smaller cross in ink.
Place the egg?after showing the children
the marks, and permitting them to
examine it carefully, so they will knew
it the next time they see it?upon the
head of the oldest boy present, or if
there is a grandfather present with a
bald head, balance the egg on his head.
Then let one of the company take a large
book and see if he can strike the egg
hard enough to break it. To the suppiise
of everybody the egg will be suppressed
at the first blow. Then you can
show the person on whose head it was
bfJanced the two orosses marked upon
the shell to prove it was the same egg he
saw in its entirety, but he probably will
be too cross to have much interest in
the matter. This is not a very difficult
trick, and can be#quite easily learned,
but care shonldbe exercised in the selec
tion of the egg.
A Great Moral Lesson.
A long chap, with a piping voioe, enhired
a saloon and gaining the attention
of the half dozen loafers therein congregated,
he said:
44 Gentlemen, how many of you will
drink at mv expense?"
441 will, was repeated by the seven
in chorus.
44 This proves to you, gentlemen,"
continued the vagrant, putting down a
nickel for his own beer, 44 how little can
be depended on first impressions. You
love me now, filled with anticipations of
j a square drink. Your anticipations will
be blasted, and then you will hate me.
Ijet this be a great moral lesson to
ff
yon.
They put him out in a hurry, but the
great moral lesson was there just the
fame.
A Radical Change.?The Norwich
.Bulletin says: There have beer some
radical changes in the last century. A
hundred years ago they kissed a lady's
hand ; now you kiss her lips?that is,
of course, if you happen to be behind a
woodpile and nobody is looking, and you
don't want to disappoint her. It may
take a hundred vears to get from her hand
to her mouth, out we never felt that the
fnma was miaspert,
FOR'
RD -A
BEAUFORT, ?
SPRING CATTLE DRIVING.
Extent of the Western Trade?1Thle Season's
" Drive"?Almost a Halt million
Texas Beeves Coming to market.
The live stock trade of the Southwest
has become a matter of millions. The
herd is king. Drovers and "cow-boys"
go about with a masterly swagger, and
are the most popular as well as the best |
envied class to be found. While the
averager herd runs from two to three
thousand head, there are those that
number from twenty-five thousand to
seventy-five thousand, and the owners
of such, like Abram of old, may be set
down as decidedly "rich in cattle." It
is now getting to be the time of year for
the annual "drives" from Texas into
Kansas and Colorado, preparatory to
marketing beeves for the Eastern trade.
From April until November the " trail "
fairly swarms. The cattle have been
"rounded up" as soon as the young
grass begins to start, and assorted according
to their brand. This is necessary
because while feeding through the
winter they roam at large, and the herds
stray apart and get mixed. After the
"round up" each drover takes his own
to a separate " range " or pasture. Then
the process of " cutting out" takes
place. This is the selection of suoh as
are designed for the market. The next
step is to get the " long-horns " upon
the road or " trail.'' When once upon
the way they follow on without much
tronble. The createst danger is from
" s taupe ding " during storms, or
through the efforts of highwaymen, who
often take this method to steal cattle.
A herd of two or three thousand upon
the trail often presents a fine sight,
' tramping in Indian file, and stringing
out for a distance of a mile or more over
the prairie.
When the cattle are fairly upon the
trail they are allowed to feed along
leisurely upon the spsing grasses. The
distance to be made in these " drives "
is generally from 250 to 350 miles, and
it takes from thirty to forty days. When
they reach the vicinity of a shipping
point they are often herded out several
weeks until good prices prevail; then
they are hurried forward to Kansas Oity,
Chicago, St. Louis, and other points.
Middlemen are always on hand, and
herds frequently change hands en route,
and more commonly at the shipping
point. Then there are numberless commission
agents who undertake to
negotiate sales. The most of these are
located at Kansas City, which figures
largely in this trade. Her stock yards
are a busy scene from June to December.
In 1871 there were received 120,827
head of cattle ; in 1872, 236,802 ; in
1873, 227,169 ; in 1874, 207,069, and in
1875, 169,391. While the number last
year was less than previous years, the
cattle were better and brought a higher
prioe. The total receipts of the past five
years have been over one million head,
a large share of which were reshipped
or driven to Chicago, St. Louis, and
points in the Mississippi valley, for
beef.
The annual drives from Texas run
from 350,000 to 500,000 head. All of
these do not go into market, but work
their way across the plains into Colorado
and Wyoming. The stockmen in these
Territories give a good deal of care to
breeding and improving the quality of
cattle. The old buffalo ranges have
gradually been encroached upon, and
stock thrives and fattens so well that the
herds now graze over a large portion of
the plains, and the principal shipping
points ^re in the very midst of what was
not long ago designated as the Great
American Desert. The numerous springs
and creeks are found to give sufficient
water, and the buffalo grass throughout
the entire year is sufficiently nutritious
to keep the herds looking fat and sleek.
It is now ten years since Texas cattle,
or " the long horns," began to appear in
large numbers on the Northern markets.
Since 1867 over 3,000,000 head have
been driven into Kansas, and shipped
to Chicago and St. Louis. Large numbers
also have been herded in western
Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming.
In looking over our future beef supply,
good judges place the number of
cattle now in Texas at 3,500,000, with
half as many more upon the Western
plains, distributed as follows : Western
Kansas, 450,000; Colorado, 600,000 ;
Nebraska, 375,000 ; Wyoming, 200,000 ;
New Mexico, 150,000.
Revelations by the Microscope.
There is a story that an eminent microscopist
hfid a bit of substance submitted
to him to decide what it was. To
an unaided eye it might be a morsel of
skin which a baggage smasher had
knocked off the corner of a smoothly
worn hair trunk. The savant appealed
to his microscope. Entirely ignorant of
this tiny bit of matter, except as he had
taken counsel with his instrument, the
wise man declared that it was the skin
of a human being, and that, judging by
the fine hair on it, it was from the so
called naked portion of the body, and,
further, that it once belonged to a fair
complexioned person. The strange facts
now made known to the man of scienoe
were these: That a thousand years before,
a Danish marauder had robbed an
English church. In the spirit of the
old fashioned piety the robber was flayed
(let us hope that he was killed first), and
the skin was nailed to the church door.
Except as tradition or archaeological lore
had it, the affair had been forgotten for
hundreds of years. Time, the great
erodent, had long ago utterly removed
the offensive thing. Still, however, the
/.Un./.V. VikM f n if a mftrtfl nf flip
UUUIUU UWA UVAV* ?v V-* -
great shame, for the broad-headed nails
remained. Somebody extracted one,
and underneath its flint head was this
atomic remnant of that ancient Scandinavian
malefactor's pelf, that fair
skinned robber from the north.
John Cottrell, of Clark county, 111.,
drove his two stepsons, aged seven and
ten years, out into a cold snow storm.
They started, scantily clad, for an uncle's
residence fifteen miles distant. The
younger was exhausted when half the
journey had been made, and fell down
in the road. The other tried to carry
him, but could not; and then laid him
under the sh^T of a fence, and
trudged on until he came to a house
wher-) he was taken in. The seven-yearold
was dead when found.
r no
iND 1
5. C., THUKSDAY,
Going Home.
The damp air came chilly up, from tne
river late in the afternoon; says the
Reading (Pa.) Eagle. Around the bend
at the Wyomissing, near the cave at the
mill on the opposite side of the Schuylkill,
an aged colored man was sitting on
stone, eating an " evening" meal that
had no doubt been begged from a
neighboring farmhouse. The stranger
was a type of the real, genuine Southern1
slave. His hair was gray, his focm
rather bent, his little eyes encampe4 in
a cluster of wrinkles; his nose brpaiS,
and an expression of honestmidndness
of heart, geniality that could a | be bid,
but that burst resplendent' rough a
cloud of sorrow that seemedll '.mantle
him from his old black hat to the well
worn boots on his feet.
"My name is Henry, sah, Uncle
Henry dey used to call me when I was
livin' whar I was raised," was the reply
he made to the reporter's question.
"Dat was down in Georgia, sah, a
long time ago. I'm been gittin' around
de Norf since de war, but I'se gwine to
try to go along home agin, if Ifeftn, before
dese old bones wear out aapTdere's
nuffin left o' me."
"Want to go back South again, do
you?"
"Yes, sah. It kind o' creeps in my
bones to go home again. I call it home,
but it's a long ways off. Was born
thirty miles below Savannah, and belonged
to Oolonel Higgins, Colonel
Archibald Higgins, of the Pine Hid
plantation. Ever been dar?"
Uncle Henry was told " no."
"I'm been to many places in God's
garden, sah, but now, in my old years,
I dun no airy a place like de old home
down dar. When General Sherman
done gone away from Atlanta, massa
was killed and de darkeys was freed.
I cum Norf wid my son, but he's dead,
sah, and dars no mo' room for me heah.
I've got ohilern livin' down dar some'ers,
least dey was livin' when we cnm Norf."
"Can yon sing 'Way down upon the
Suwanee river,' Uncle Henrv?" The
old man's eyes fairly sparkled and
glistened in tears as he replied :
" Dat good old toon, how oonld I ever
forgit it ? No, indeed, not me forgit!
Dat was writ years ago, sah, but when I
sing it now, away from old home, I
'magine it was writ fo' me right now.
Oh, I tell you, massa, dares plenty
darkies in de world singing dat old toon
what's jes' like dis here old uncle, got no
home, and wishin' dey was back again
wid maffea and missis. Swanee ribber,
far, far away "? And the aged traveler
wiped away tears with his coat sleeve as
his memory ran back in the years that
are past to the happy days he spent
among the sugar cane and cotton in the
sunny land of Georgia. It was a sad
picture and one not met with often.
He spoke of many other good old songs
the darkies used to sing, and would
have continued his story further hadnot
the shades of evening suggested a
departure. Uncle Henry was "helped"
along, but whither he drifted, or
whether he will ever reach " dat good
old home " he spoke of, is hard to tell.
" Geod-bye, sah, de Lord bless you's
all," were the last words he said as our
carriage left him far back in the twilight.
Hints About the Fashions.
A pocket slung over the shoulder is
the latest novelty in little girls' fashions.
Hats are either worn low on the forehead
or else very far back on the head.
Black satin ties are taking the place
of white batiste ones for gentlemen in
fnll dress.
Gentlemen's white vests are cat qaite
low this season, while the woolen ones
are high.
An odd pair of stockings has a wreath
of gay embroidered flowers winding
aronnd the leg.
Some elegant silk stockings have a
large bonqnet of gay flowers embroidered
on the instep.
Bed spreads, with pillow shams to
match, are made of white guipure lace
and colored satin.
Pocket handkerchiefs, neckties, and
breakfast caps are all seen in creamcolored
muslin.
Cream colored batiste neckties, hemstitched
in the pointed ends, are worn
with dark toilets.
A novelty in camisoles for boys is
made of white linen, with colored linen
| collars and cuffs.
Black velvet pockets suspended from
the waist are to be worn this summer
with light dresses,
The fashionable colors for gentlemen's
underwear for the summer are light gray
and light brown.
The suits of larger girls have over
skirts, which are merely large aprons
shirred to form a fan behind.
Turbans and straw sailor hats will
both be worn by school girls from ten
to twelve years of age.
A handsome fan is made of white
ivory and white satin, the satin being
covered with black silk lace.
Basket suitings, cream, blue and
French gray are very fashionable for
little girls' and misses' dresses.
Silver necklaces in the form of flowers
and leaves, with the same kind of a
pendant, are quite new.
Pretty fringes are made in color, the
upper twist of the tassel of chenille;
the tassel itself is of silk.
Coral jewelry is increasing in favor of
late, as it looks very pretty with the
cream lace, so much worn.
Waists with three plaits back and front,
will still be worn this summer for cambrio
or calico dresses.
The new chatelaine has three chains,
one with a tablet attached, one with a
pencil, and one for the fan.
Lace scarfs for the neck are generally
about two yards and a half long, and
three-eights of a yard wide.
Among the favorite suits for spring
and summer for gentlemen and boys are
some of dark blue flannel.
The new striped stockings have the
stripes only half way round, and only
from the instep half way up the leg.
A new fringe has a deep net heading
tied so as to form small shells; to each
shell are attached three silk tassels.
The newest dog collars and portebonlienrs
are made of several strings of
very small beads, either gold or silver.
Chemises to be worn with thin summer
dresses have no sleeves, only a band
across the shoulders, with laoe on either
aide.
u o miv
MAY 18, 1870.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.
The Fourteenth of April. 1776?Washing,
ton's Arrival In New York City.
One hundred years ago Gen. Washington
arrived in New York, coming by
way of Providence, Norwich and New
London, and transferring his headquarters
from Boston to New York city.
Gen. Oharles Lee had been in New York
' since the fourth of February, and had !
done much toward fortifying the city,
erecting batteries up the Hudson and
, East rivers as far as Houston street, and
throwing up entrenchments at Go wanna ;
and on Governor's island. Sir Henry
Olinton had looked in on the city and
sailed away again with his squadron, and .
it was not until July 9 that Gen. HoWe
landed his troops on Staten Island.
The aggregate American force in the
city ana vicinity was 10,000 men, of
wnom only 8,000 were fit for duty. :
These troops were without pay, and ,
many had neither uniforms nor arms.
When Washington first came to the
city he made his headquarters at the De
Peyster mansion, 180 Pearl street, oppo- ,
site Cedar?a part of which was standing
until quite recently. There he re- !
mained until May 23, when he went to (
Philadelphia on a summons to confer
with Congress. Returning, he went to .
the Kennedy House at No. 1 Broadway,
a -3 All - n r, I
wnere ne remameu uuiu mo viuj woe
evacuated in September. There were no
holidays then at headquarters. Gen. '
Washington writes of himself:
"I give in to no kind of amusements 1
myself, and consequently those about me ;
can have none, but are confined from ;
morning until evening, hearing and
answering applications and letters."
Though Mrs. Washington and the
wives of the other generals were here,
there vms little social intercourse. The '
wealthy people of the city were nearly ,
all loyalists, and would rather have wel '
oomed Howe than Washington. "We ,
all live here," writes a lady of New ,
York, " like nuns shut up in a nunnery.
No society in the town, for there are
none to visit; neither can we go in or
out after a certain hour without the .
countersign." Another correspondent ;
writes: " When you are informed that
New York is deserted by its old in- '
habitants and filled with soldiers from 1
New England, Philadelphia, Jersey,
etc., you will naturally conclude the en- 1
virons of it are not very safe from so 1
undisciplined a multitude as our provin
cials are represented to be; but I do believe
there are very few instances of so 1
great a number of men together, with
so little mischief done by them. They 1
have all the simplicity of plowmen in '
their manners, and seem quite strangers 1
to the vices of older soldiers."
As Gen. Greene one day passed '
through the Commons (now the City 1
Hall park) he saw a youthful soldier
training a provincial company of artil- !
lery. The boyish captain was only
twenty years old, but he was frill of fire
and vigor, and showed no little knowl- :
edge of military science. Greene stop- "
ped, admired, and invited him to his '
quarters, subsequently giving him an ;
introduction to the commander-in-chiefThe
boy soldier was Alexander H. Ham- '
ilton. Every New Yorker knows his
subsequent story.
New York at tins time was a tory city. '
Its leading men generally thought it was ;
safer to adhere to the king. Its business :
interests were averse to change. The
committee of safety had opposed the
entrance of the Continental troops, and !
had advised, that they be kept within the .
limits of Connecticut. Lee had assured
them that he would respect their wishes, '
but at the some time added:
*111 the British ships of war are quiet, '
I shall be quiet; but 1 declare solemnly 3
that if they make a pretext of my pres- 1
ence to fire on the town, the first house J
set in flames by their guns shall be 1
the funeral pile of some of their best I
friends."
In a letter to Washington the fiery
Virginia soldier said that he found the
provincial Congress of New York " wofully
hysterical." The committee of one
hundred, organized the year before,
embraced not only all the leading patri- ]
ots of the city, but some w&> afterward ,
became decided tories. Isaac Low was
chairman of the committee, and its lead- |
ing members were John Jay, John Al- ,
sop, Philip Livingston, James Duane, ]
Isaac Roosevelt, Samuel Verplanck, ,
John Morton, Leonard liispenard, Nich- j
olas Hoffman, John Broome, Nicholas
Bogart, Alexander MoDougal, John ,
Lasher, James Beekman, John Morin
Scott, Comfort Sands, John Lamb, Peter ^
Goelet and James Desbrosses.
p
The Centennial Chorus. i
Over twelve hundred applications [
have been made by singers who are willing
or desirous to take part in the J
chorus on the opening day of the Centennial,
and on the fourth of July. Be- ;
tween eight hundred and nine hundred
will be selected. The rehearsals are not
open to the publio. For the opening
exorcises there will be the cantata composed
for the occasion by Mr. Buck, to j
which words have been furnished by
Mr. Sidney Lanier, the S anthem poet,
the "Hallelujah Chorus" from the
" Messiah " and Wagner's grand " Cen ;
tennial March." A far more elaborate
?^11 Via nn f.tlA
pru^iauiuo wiu uo ^vuvu^v. ?
fourth of July. The best talent has
been selected from the various musical
societies. An organ is to be placed in
the north transept of the main building
as an accompaniment for the grand
chords; and it is also stated that a
second organ will be plaoed at the western
end of. the building, and a third at
the eastern end.
I
Arranging It,
The wife of George I. AmsdeU, a
wealthy Albany brewer, obtained a divorce
from him in 1870. She was grant- v
ed $50,000 alimony, of which $20,000was
paid in cash, and the rest in a mort
gage. In 1874 they were remarried, and' :
the wife gave back the mortgage. In .
1875 they were ready to part again, i
The wife began a suit to recover the i
mortgage. Mr. John T. Hoffman was I
made a referee in the case, and he has !
decided that the second marriage was <
null and void, as Mr. Amsdell had no
right to marry again while his divorced
wife lived. Therefore a new mortgage i
must be given to her, and the -arrearage .
of intaraat paid. <
m
HP?
1ERC1
$2.00 per
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
Iti First Meeting In Philadelphia?The Selection
of George Washington at Commander-in-Chief
ef the Army.
In September, 1774, the delegates
from eleven provinces assembled in
Carpenters' hall, the State house being
occupied by the Assembly. The venerable
Peyton Randolph was choeenpresident,
and the man of truth, Charles
Thompson, secretary. There was much
hesitation as to whether the Congress
should be opened with prayer or what
form of prayer would suit Quakers,
Churchmen, and Presbyterians. Mr.
Duohewas finally chosen to open the
session, and, in full oanonicals, read the
usual petitions and the thirty-fifth
Psalm. The news of the cannonade of
Boston had just reaohed the Assembly.
" It seemed," writes John Adams, in a
Letter to his wife dated September 18,
1774, "as if Heaven had ordained that
psalm to be read on that morning."
When its sublime invocation of God's
help in extremity had been read, Mr.
Duche broke into an extemporaneous
prayer, which brought tears into the
eyes of every man present, and made
them one by an electric tympathy.
Charles Thompson afterward related
that a profound silenoe ensued after the
prayer, so deep was the sense of responsibility
upon each man present.
The members of the Congress were
entertained by the gentlemen of the city
at a grand banquet in the State house,
at innumerable stately feasts at private
houses, and finally by the Assembly in a
public dinner, where the first toast was
the king, and the next Mr. Hancock.
John Hanoock comes early to the front
as a most noticeable figure against the
background of this blurred' and confused
time, not only from the steadiness
ol his loyalty when so many paused irresolute,
but from a certain dramatic instinct
in the man which lifted him to
the height of every occasion as on a
pedestal.
Young Colonel Washington, from
Virginia, also a delegate to the First
Congress, was totally lacking in any apprehension
of stage effect. It was
wholly owing to the simplicity and sad
sobriety of his manner that he made (in
an artist's view) so magnificent a figurehead
for the new republic. His steady,
alow habit of motion, his tacitnrnityjand
grave, unsmiling reserve, belonged, his
contemporaries tell us, to his previous
life in the backwoods as surveyor and
soldier. The pretty young girls of
Philadelphia complained that the Virginian
colonel listened to their lively
sallies without a smile ; but the simple,
sorrowful gravity appears to us to befit
the leader of a revolution which was as
yet a bloody experiment better than
courtly grimaces and a fluent smile.
A writer gives an incident of the day
(June 15, 1875) npon which Colonel
Washington was elected by Congress to
the command of the army. Dr. Bush,
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John
Langdon, and Thomas Jefferson gave a
dinner to him that evening in an inn of
fashionable resort somewhere npon the
Cray's Ferry road. After dinner was
over Jefferson rose, and, with a few significant
words, proposed the health of
"George Washington, Commander-inchief
of the American armies." Washington
had bowed and opened hislipe to
make the customary courteous reply,
but as bis new title was given to mm ior
the first time, he lost color, a solemn awe
crept into his face. "At that moment
he suddenly realized, as we did," says
Dr. Bosh, "the awful responsibility of
our undertaking, and all the insuperable
difficulties which lay before us. The
shock was great The guests had all
risen and held their glasses to their lips
ready to drink. Each one slowly replaced
his glass without touching a drop,
ind thoughtfully sat down. For some
moments the solemn silence was unbroken."
It was, of a surety, a time
for prayer rather than the drinking of
toasts.? Harper's Magazine.
How the Oyster Grows.
Mr. Frank Buckland thus explains the
manner in which the oyster builds his
shell:
The body of an oyster is a poor, weak
thing, apparently incapable of doing
anything at alL Yet what a marvelous
bouse an oyster builds around his delicate
frame. When an oyster is first
born he is a very simple, delicate dot, as
It were, and yet he is born with his two
shells upon him.
For some unknown reason, he always
fixes himself on his round shell, never
by his fiat shell, and being once fixed he
begins to grow; but he only grows in
summer. Inspect an oyster shell olosely,
and it will be seen that it is marked
with distinct lines. As the rings we ob
? i _t. - M _
serve in tlie section 01 tne tran& 01 a
tree denote years of growth, so do the
markings on an oyster tell us how many
Sears he has passed in his "bed" at the
ottom of the sea.
Suppose the oyster under inspection
was born June 15, 1870, he would go on
growing up to the first line we see well
marked; he would then stopfor the winter.
In summer, 1871, he would more
than double his size. In 1873 and 1874
he would again go on building, till he
was dredged up in the middle of his
work in 1875; so that he is plainly five
and a half years old. The way in which
an oyster grows his shell is a pretty
sight. I have watched it frequently.
The beard of an oyster is not only his
breathing prgan?i. e., higdapgs?but
also his feeding organ, by WHn he conveys
the food to his complicated .mouth
with its four lips.
When the warm, calm days of June
come, the oyster opens his shell, and,
by means of bis beard, begins building
on additional story to his house. This
he does by depositing very, very fine
particles of carbonate of lime, till at last
they form a substance as thin as silver
paper, and exceedingly fragile. Then
ne adds more and more, till at last the
new shell is as hard as 4he old shell.
When oysters are growing their shells
they must be handled very carefully, as
the new growth of shell will cut like
broken glass, and a wound on the
finger from an oyster shell is often very
dangerous.
Just about this season of the yewuj
good many women imagine that thaV
know bow to whitewash a calling as waL
m any man who avnjr wort boot*
.t r>- . - 1
% * T?
AL.
- ? *
'>f;. T j4*"*
Annnm. Single Cepy 5 Ceils.
Grandma and Jo.
Our grandmother, dear, has enow white hair,
And aha Jovee to ait in her easy chair;
And Jo loree to olimb on grandma'a lap,
To play with the strings of her snow white
cap.
And grandmother's voice Is broken and slow,
And sweet are the words she says to Jo.
If grandmother ever had any oars
She has laid it down out of sight somewhere;
And now all she does is to say her prayer
And sit where the sunshine gilds her hair, '
And play and whisper to little Jo
As the shadows of evening oome end go.
Being so near to the heavenly shorn;
Grandmother never seeps any mo^fe
At twilight she fanoise lost loved ones bilfi
Sweet voiced from chamber, parlor or hall.
Perhape the last strain of some heavenly
nhnlr , ,
Falle on grandmother's ear ss she sits by the 'v .
fire.
Bat she only kinase dear little Jot
And whispers: "Soon, littls sweet, we shall
know;
" But Charlie, Willie, Grandpa and Jack,
I am almost sure, ohOd, are ooming back."
ileus or merest.
11 Let no single man eeeape " is the
leap year motto of the ladies.
Sunday boots squeak worse than every
day ones. So do Sunday OhriatjanB.
Over $18,000,000 are invested in various
enterprises of the grangers in the
United States.
Paris proposes to name one of her
streets "Feb. 20/' in honor of the late
Republican victory at the polls.
A tract of 7.000 acres of land on
Maple river, Dakota, has been purchased
by Eastern capitalists for a great
wheat farm.
They tried to get rid of the pastor of
an Illinois church by reducing his salary
to $200 per year, but he took the motiojx
kindly and replied: " Why, I lived
through last year on $75 in cash and a
bag of meal!
The mayor of Fordwich, England, is
dead, after an uninterrupted tenure of
offloe for twenty-eight years. It is the
rule in the borough, if any person refused
to aooept the office of mayor, to
pull down his house.
The price of cattle in Texas is about
as follows: Yearlings, $4 and $4.50;
two-year olds, mixed, $6.60 and $8;
cows, $7 and $9; beeves, $14 and $15.
But large herds are often gathered upat
figures much lower than these.
In Anoka, Minn., recently, a six-yearold
girl was overheard telling her playmate
that she had attended s church sociable
the evening before, and that a little
boy had kissed her while they were
engaged in a play, but she said: "That's
no harm, 'cause it was our preacher's
boy, you know."
An old Scotch laird, at an election
ball, had attiredjbimself in splendor for
the occasion. The candidate, wno vu >.c *
going round, of iX)nrseT^6i9HML^oi?ili- .
ties, said: " I dinna ken
so braw." " Na,H said the ohRJjI&P.
"and I daresay ye'll no ken me for^E*>\ ?
other seven years I"
. \
" Toxophobia" is that peculiar state
of mania which makes a person believe
that he is being poisoned. The number
of persons affected with this curious dementia
is much larger than would be
supposed. In at>out sixty cases recorded
in an English medical journal, only
two were obviously insane in other rer
speots. y
Thus talks an old farmer about his
boys: " From sixteen to twenty they
knew more than I did; at twenty-Ave *
they knew as much; at thirty they were *
willing to hear what I had to say; at
thirty-five they asked my advice; and I *
think when they get to be forty they
will acknowledge that the old man does *
know something."
The editor of the St. Thomas (Clan.)
Times says that he found two young fox *
cubs that he placed under the care of a
cat, and that not only did the.oat adopt <*
them, but the old fox oomes to the door *
every ninht to leave food for them. One fZ
night the fond parent left seventeen
chickens that he had contracted for at
the residences ol neighbors.
"It does not speak well for the intelligence
of the public," says the London
Lancet, " that the stamp duty on patent
medicines dining last year yielded an
increase ol?id,849. over the produce of
the previous year. It is ecarocly credi- *.
ble that the passion for consuming un'?
/.wmKKm nt nnlrnnvii dmfffl
A11VVI1 l^uauuuoa V* m.-yw ??
should be so strong as the thriving trade
in nostrums indicates."
"Yon see, some people has good luck,
and some people bad (luck. Now, I
remember once 1 was walking along the
street with Tom Jellicks, and he went
down one side of it and I went down the
other. We hadn't got morefa half way
down when he fonnd a pocketbook with
3216 ft it, and I stepped on a woman's
dress and got acquainted with my present
wife. It was always so," he said, with a
sigh, " that Tom Jellicks was the luckiest
man in the world, and I never had
no luck."
During a recent performance at a
Paris theater, a man and his wife had a
quarrel on the stage?the woman hi a
rage of jealousy, the man trying to pursuade
her that she was too suspicious
and too passionate.. Both wete acting
with great spirit, when the wife moved
her arm too near wcandle, and'her muslin
dress was in flames in an instant
Both actors kept their presence of mind,
however. The husband extinguished
the Are, and, proceeding with his part,
interpolated: "You see, my dear, fwas
right; you ai a ready to flare up for the
least thing."
Caution.?" How had you the audacity,
John," said a Scottish laird to
his servant " to go and tell some people
that I was a mean fellow and no gentleroan?"
"Na, na, sir," was the candid
fsnswe*, "jrouli no catch me at the like
o' thai X ays keep my thoughts to
I myMl'i"
V ^