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THE TRIBUNR - jm II?; f) VOL. II.?NO. 10. BEAUFORT, S. C., JANUARY 26, 1876. $1.50 PER ANNUM. Haunted Lodgings. 1 Dear lovo, I feel your face 1 Close, close to mine, though wo are far apart, And seas between throb like eome wicked heart; It purifies the place. . I hoar your low robes glide 1 Now in, now out; some angel it may bo Bearing a blessod memory to me ; And bright at eventide. Thoso stars, which are my fanes, Your deep, deep eyes shine iu my lonely ' room, l Gilding the airy castles of its gloom, ' And glittering on itB chains. I know that you are true ; ] These are not baseless images I see ; Perhaps your dreams are reaching out to me; I As my heart yearns for you. 1 Dream on, though yoars go by ! | Rise not. sweet lovo. from tllA nninrihtr tbomo, Let me bo over plodding in yoor dream, And yon dream on for aye. A BLUE JACKET'S PERIL. A STORY OF '98. In tlio year '98, my great-grandfather, Sir John Hastings, was the possessor of considerable property in the north of Ireland and resided in an old fashioned, tumble-down manor house not far from a well known watering place in the county Donegal. My grandfather, Arthur Hastings, then a midshipman in the royal navy, had contrived to obtain a short leave of absence for the purpose of paying a visit to his parents on his ?J. r_ ?- ? -t ? " i icvuiu nuui u uuwti ui mumo monins duration; and he had not been many days in his old home before he determined to while away a portion of the time, which hung heavily enough on his hands in that not too lively abode, by indulging himself with a little of his favorite pastime, deep-sea fishing. Accordingly, one beautiful morning, when there was scarcely a ripple on the water, he got three of his father's tenants, fishermen, to pull him out in their boat to a place where he would be pretty sure of a good dafy's sport. When they had left laud behind at some distance tliov suddenly descried a largo vessel in the offing, which young Hastings assumed to be one of the English gunboats which cruised about in those waters in that perilous time. The midshipman thought it would be good fun to pnll out to her and board her, with the chance of finding some old friends among her officers ; accordingly ho gave the order to pull with a will, and before very long they found themselves under the bows of a strange looking man-of-war, about whose appearauce there was something strikingly un-English. Hastings began to feel rather uncomfortable, and the men looked blankly at each other; but before they had timo to turn the boat's head in the direction of home they were greeted by a shrill volley of words in a tongue which Hastings, knowing somewhat of the language, recognized to be French ; a bit of bunting, as to the nationality of 1 /> i - T ? < waa&vu bucio i/uuiu UU ilU pUBtJXUitJ QUUOl) I was quickly ruu up ; and amid roars of j laughter from the Frenchman's deck at f the trap into whioh they had so unoon- i sciously fallen, the unfortunate boat's ? crew looked up aud found a perfect ( chevaux de frise of muskets leveled at i their heads. The fishermen's blood 1 was roused; and I think they would 1 have made a gallant effort for liberty | and home had not Hastings in a few 1 words showed them that the slightest f resistance would be nothing short of in- f stant death to all four. He himself 1 stood up in the stern sheets, and after a ( short parley with the French captain i surrendered himself and his men, under ( protest, as prisoners of war. They were 1 taken on board the St. Pierre, for so 1 was the French vessel called, their boat t ftllt flilriff. on/1 4V?<vr? * MUV4 vuuju tuoj U*U bUC UVDb i thing they could do under the circum- ] stances, made friends with their captors, t and were consequently very well and i courteously treated. The French com- t mander assured Mr. Hastings that he ? r'te believed his story?in fact, were truth of it not so apparent, he would ? have been under the painful necessity of < executing him as a spy. He was indeed denote that he could not set M. Hastings ] and his men at once at liberty, but, as a t naval officer of a rival power with which 1 unhappily Franoe was at variance, M.* 1 Hastings would easily understand that the exigences of warfare forbade it. 1 That night, a little before midnight, < the Frenchman weighed anohor, and < with all canvas spread and a steady i breeze on her quarter made for the port J of Brest. They had fair weather for i their voyage, and the Fronah and Irish ] character harmonized wonderfully, i though, with the exception of young ] Hastings, the men did not understand a < word of each other's language. Indeed, < had it not been for the thought of the 1 despair into which the poor wives and i children at Home would be plunged 1 ' when the empty boat drifted in with < the returning tide, they would rather I have enjoyed their trip than otherwise, < However, it wa% fated that matters i were not to go on quite so felicitously, i A few honrs before they expected to < sight Brest, the man on the lookout ! signaled a sail on the weather-board, i The captain looked first through his i telescope, and then exceedingly grave. The stranger was a man-of-war, a threedecker, with the British flag flying, and apparently bearing straight down on them. Should the present wind continue she would be alongside in a short time. Flight was oat of the question so the St. Pierro was quickly liovo-to and orders given to clear tho decks ant run out the guns ready for action Hastings afterwards said that althougl all his sympathies were on tho othei side, still, when he saw tho French sailors bustling about stripped to the waist, ho and his companions being thi only idle hands on that busy deck, it was all he could do to refrain from help ing them. At last, by tho time their preparation.5 were completed, tho English vessel was so close that by the aid of the glass thej could count the men on her deck. Thei Captain de Condigny walked up to tin young midshipman with outstretckod hand. "By right you should have no kindlj Feeling towards us," he said; "but you ire sailor enough to know that I have simply done my duty?what would have been yours had our positions been re irersed. I think you bear me no ill-will, ind you will at least admit that wo havt lone all in our power to tighten yoiu situation. Now, adieu; we shall have sharp work presently, and you and your men must go below; it would bo both laucerous and imnolitie for von ?-> l->r seen on our deck. If we do not meet igaiu, you will not think of me as an memy. Adieu." And the gallant old Frenchman shook the lad warmly by the hand. Before the latter, with his three companions, was half-way down the ladder which led ? the cockpit, boom went one of the Englishman's guns, carrying away a portion of tho St. Pierre's rigging, and ayiug two of her seamen dead on the leek. Boom?boom! went the St. Pierre's guns in answer; and then the iction began in earnest, and tho cockpit was soon full of tho dead and dying. The fishermen, who in ail th?"ir lives ind never beheld such a scene, crept with white faces into a corner, their ilothes red with tho blood which spout}d from the severed arteries of the wounded men. Hastings, half su Ablated with the stench of blood and powler iu that nartrow space, had taken up lis position on a water barrel, just under he port through which the little current if air in that stifling polluted atmosphere nanaged to creep. The surgeon, whose lands were full enough, looked up from lis work?the amputation of a sailor's irm which had been smashed into atoms iy a musket ball?and said dryly : " You had better descend from there, ny friend, in cose of accidents, for I ihall not have time to attend to you." The remark was well-timed, for scarcoy had Hastings vacated his seat than? lang?crash?smash !?came a cannon iall through the port, smashing the larrel into atoms, mingling the water villi the othor liquid with which the loor was already saturated, until the irimson sea rose above the men's aukles, tnd saving tho surgeon a job by putting hreo of his patients out of their niise y. He looked up with a grim smile. " Mille tonnerrea, monsieur, but yours vas an escape! Look there ! He is a letter operator than I; he does his vork cleanly?he 1" he said, pointing to ho tlireo dead bodies. At last Hastings could oontain hitnlelf no longer. Boom?boom! went he guns overhead, and wilh every monent the carnage increased. The at nospkere of the cockpit became opjressive and sickening, the stench so oul that he was determined, come what night, to have one breath of fresh ah, ind at the same time, if possible, discover in whoso favor the battle was beng decided. So ho ran quickly up the adder and arrived on deck just as the >rave old French captuiu was carried jast dead, with a bullet through his )rain. The English were evidently gaining the day, and the direst confulion reigned on the Frenchman's dt ck. Foung Hastings was on the point of going below again, when a horrid sight net his view. A sailor fearfully wounded, the outer wall of his chest beiug iteraily torn away by a round shot, was ying, still alive, close to the bulwarks ; wo sailors, almost naked, presenting a Kjrriuu nppcarunoo irOUl 1116 DlOOd UUil >owder with which they were besmeared, it a signal from the second officer, adranoed, and lifting the quiveriug body >f their unfortunate messmato, proceeded deliberately to throw him overboard, rhe Irish lad, with a cry of horror, iprang forward to the rescne, but an ifficer stopped him, saying firmly : "It must bo so; the men are already panio stricken, and such sights make ,hem worse; at furthest ho could only ive a few minutes, and it is more merciful to put him out of his agony." The men then raised liim and with all iheir force threw him over the side; but the wretched creature, with an amount >f vitality whicV iu his condition Hastings would have decmod impossible hod lie not seen it, clutched at a rope hanging over the ship's side with the des perato tenacious gripe of a drowning nan. Tt was a hideous sight! The poor wretch hung on, his face livid and listorted with agony, his eyes starting Dut of his head, and tho blood welling from tho wonnd in hisohest. They tried IflflllAAAfluf nlltr tn aKol/n A* WO H11UUC/ U1U1 UU i ai length an offioer stepped forward with a autlass in his liaud, and, tending over the side, out the rope across, and with m awful despairing cry which made itself heard above the booming of the guns and the yells of the sailors tho miserable creature sank beneath the waves. 3iok with horror the boy, unaccustomed as yet to the active duties of his profession, turned to go below, when?ping? ping! a bullet s-truck tho fleshy pait ol his arm, and tho limb fell nervelese^a! his side. His friend the surgeon quickly extracted the wicked little bit of lead, and with a grace which only a French man oould assume under tho circumstan ; ces presented it to him as a souvenir o , his sojourn on board tho St. Pierre; thei I he bound up the arm, and half an- hou . afterwards tho French ship, commander 1 loss, with more than half her ore\ r dead or dying, struck to tho Englisl t commander. > Tho officers of tho Invincible? sucl 3 was the name of the British vesselb boarded their prize, and on going belo^ - tho first sight that mot their eyes wa the four Irishmen, who on the entranc* 3 of their countrymen rose, scarcely abl< i to contain their joy at this unexpecte* r dclivoranco. i But you may imagine their hoiTO i when, instead of being welcomed witl L open arms as they had expected, thei story was received with incredulity ant ' suspicion. They implored to be takei i before the English captain, and their re > quest was complied with ; but unhapil} i for them that individual was of a ven different stamp from that of the courte ous French commander. He was on* s of those tyrannical,hectoring, blustering bullies who some years ago were rathe: > too frequently to be met with in tin royal navy, who, having as a youngste: i himself tasted weoviled biscuit and tin > rope's end pretty freely, had determined , when his day came, that life should no l be one whit sweeter for his subordinatei than it had been for him. Added t< : these amiable qualities he had tho bit i terest contempt aud hatred for his neigh bors on tho other sido of the channe I ?in fact, the name of Frenchman hat i pretty much the same effect on him as i . bit of red flug on a bull, and as foi xriaumeii, 1 m not sure that lie did noi i hate them rather more cordially. This individual went through the forn i of hearing their defense, growling t< himself the while, and when they hac finished ordered them, with a few choic< i nautical expletives, to bo put in ironi , until the next day, when they would be tried by naval court-martial for the capi tal offense of high treason and lest i majcste, in having joined cause with the enemies of his most sacred majesty George III. Arraigned they were accordingly, anc in spite of all t at poor Hastings coulc say?in spite even of the exculpatory evidence of the French officers, wliict Captain Iluluier, not comprehending, sneered at?they were found guilty and condemned to be hung, all four, from the yard-arm ! You can imagine the consternation ol the unfortunate fellows, who had indeec faileu from Scylla into Chnrybdis. Ii vain did the unhappy Hastings protest against the injustieo of the proceeding, stating that notwithstanding the wouno he had received, which was one of the points on vuicn special stress was laid by liis accusers, despite the suspieiouf appearance wbioli he and his companions by this time necessarily presented, he had the honor of wearing his majesty's uniform and serving his country as truly and faithfully ^s any man cu board. To each of these asseverations the only answer ho received was : " You lie, sir!" until, half frantic with indig nation and despair, he and his companions were sent back into irons till their seuteuoo could conveniently be curried into effect. The first lieutenant, who was the oulj soul in that great sliip who evinced tin smallest compassion towards them, luckily happened to pay the unfortunate prisoners a visit in the course of the day, with a view to their safe custody, Though strictly against orders, he could not refrain from speaking to young Hastings, who had a blight, attractive face, and asking him how on earth ht found himself dans cettc galere. Bj dint of cross-questioning in the con- st of conversation it camo out that not onlj had the families of Hastings and Ash burtons?the name of the first lieutenant ?been connected in olden times, bul that ftetnallv Hastinors' lrintlioi' lin.1 in. terested herself in obtainiDg for thif same Ashburton his commission in tin royal navy ! There was no donbt thai Mr. Hastings was bona fide the persor he represented himself to bo ; so Ash burton went to the captain and terrified the old sea bear into granting a reprieve, solely against'his will, until the prriva of the Iuvincible in port. Accordingly when the man-of-war anchored off Spit head, Hastings obtained permission U bo confronted with the offioers of his owr ship, the Hornet, then opportunely stationed at Plymouth, and in additioi his father and othor relatives hurried t< the spot, so that there was no lack oi evidenoe sufficient to satisfy tho crusty old captain that for once in his life li< had jumped rather too hastily to conclu sions. His conduct was moreover se verely censured by the admiralty, "in ; asmuch as through his rashness and per , tiuacitv a verv oromisinc vonnc office] was nearly lost to bis majesty's service.' A London Trick. ' The 1 itest dodge in London, when the water supply is not yet permanent ; is the following : A scamp enters i ; dwelling house toward noon, and scarei the females by announcing that the mail , has burst, and that he is sent by th< water company to see that all water ii | immediately cfrawn from the cisterns Every available tub, pail and utensil i _ immediately requisitioned, for the fel ( low tells them that they will not have i drop of water for the next forty-eigh hours. While the servants are bus; , fulfilling his orders he pockets ever valuable within his reach, and flnall; vanishes, after ordering all fires in th< p honso to be put out. k In the East Indies the ladies of thi , country are subjected to the labor o - building railroads and keeping them ii running order. f Hook Learning. ' Oliarles Francis Adams, Jr., has written a letter to the Quincy Patriot on ^ tho subject of tho education derived from the readingof miscellaueousbooks. Mr. Adams, who is one of tho trustees of the public library of the town, Rays that four fifths of the book education we have is acquired from miscellaneous reading. Schools and school teachers have nothing to do with it; but it is homo acquired. He couRiders the r<*ad. ing of books, in itself, tho poor man's university. In referring to circulating and public libraries, and the kind of literature in most demand, ho says that * " three-fourths of the demand is always . for tho most vapid and sensational book." In closing his letter, he says : " Most assuredly, parents ought not to ' turn their children loose in any library. ' In our library there is now no excuse ^ for their so doing. Before tho cata~ logue was published they might have excused themselves on the ground that * they had no means of selection ; and tho r catalogue was prepared with that very ? consideration in view. It was intended ^ to lay open to any person sitting in his 3 own house the whole contents of the J library, for his own uso and that of his family ; it is in fact put at tho disposal of every resident of Quiney an almost ) complete collection of the standard works in the 1 ngnage, for all practical j purposes, just as much at his disposal . as if he owned them. It put the library into the dwelling houses. Under these 3 circumstances, it was hoped that a great F improvement would be noticed in the character of tho books called for. How far the hope has been justified I cannot now say, but there is certanly yet great j room for improvement. Tho great ma^ jority of the books borrowed are borrowed by young people, and still, apparently, unassisted in their choice by 3 any one. I am very confident that a j competent trustee, who could give his ' whole time to the library, and do uoth iug but examine and purchase new books, and advise those who come there, . especially the young, what to read and . how to read it, could be much more for the higher education of Quiney than is done through the whole agency of our high school ; nor in saying this do I j mean to siiy anything derogatory to tho high school either. This wo cannot ex1 pect. We ought, however, to bo fairly . able to expect now that parents and those 1 engaged themselves in the work of education should realize what a largo part ? in the work miscellaneous reading plays, and so try to givo some direction to it." A Female Jiinirod. [ A Canada letter describes the extra\ ordinary hunting exploits of a Nimrod in petticoats, who has lately been astonishing her neighbors by her bravery . and endurance. Four years ago Mrs. Williamson, who is said to be a bright i looking, neat, lrdy-like woman, below i the medium size, conceived an idea that l it would bo a profitable business to capture joung moose and rear them un. til they became of a salable age. In the | season of 1873 she, with her dog, made > her first hunt for them, and after one or two unsuccessful tops, during each of ' which she traveled from daylight to ? dark over a distance of from twenty to , thirty miles, she succeeded in capturing > two, and triumphantly returned home , with them. The next season she captured three, and the past season five. I When about five months old, they have r all been sold. The Indians have a say! ing respecting moose calves well illns 5 t rating their rapid development in their r powers of locomotion, which is: "One s day old, it takes a man to catch them ; r two days old, it takes a dog to catch - them ; three days old, Satan can't catch t them." As an illustration cf the kind t of stuff Mrs. W. is made of, it is said . that last season as she was traveling ? through the forest unarmed she saw an j immense wildcat, which her dog drove t to tho top branches of a high tree, i where ho apparently felt safe. Mrs. W., . after vainly endeavoring to dislodge him I with stones and sticks, proceeded to , climb the tree after him. Resting on a I branch below him she tried for some 1 time to cudgel him, which only served - to make him growl and make niove? ments as if intending to spring on her. i However, sho at last got a square blow r at his head, which stunned and brought i him to tho ground, where the dog ) speedily put an end to him. Shortly f afterward a beautiful cat skin was r brought to town. Before the law against 3 moose killing came into operation Mrs. - W. snared ten largo moose, and it was - not an uncommon occurrence for her to - tako her gun and shoot eight or ten - partridges at u trip. The Wealth of the Koth?chl(ds. It is stated by an eminent foreign publicist that the wealth of the Rothschilds bos reached the enormous sum of $3,400,000,000. In mentioning this foot, 9 the London Timen says : The f igniti? canco of these stupendous ligures may 9 bo rudely conceived by comparison, but 8 there is nothing in the history of private 1 wealth with which they can be com9 pared. The capital of the Barings, the 8 estates of Lord Dudley, the Marquis of ' Bute, and the head of the family of 8 Grosvenor belong relatively to a humble category, to which the city of ? New York has contributed the fortunes of Astor, "Vanderbilt, and Stewart. The P financial resources attributed to the f Rothschilds can best be measured by V contrasting them with the funded debts 0 of the richest oountries on the globe. It will thon bo found that the capital of this house, as estimated by M. Burnonf, a is abont equal to the whole funded debt f of Great Britaih or that of France, and 1 considerably exceeds the national debt of the United States. The Fiend of Bremerhaven. A correspondent of the ProvideDoe Journal writes as follows: In the autumn of 1868 I went up from southern j Europe to spend a few months in the gay capital of Saxony. Those of our , nationality in Dresden are very clannish, live in the same part of tho town, give ( parties and dinners and germaus as at homo, and mix little with foreigners, bo 1 that once one commenoee to move round in the circle, one soon meets all who < compose it. Among tho many whom 1 ' met at the American clnb, at parties, i dinners, and at his own house, was an American gentleman known to us as Wrn. Thomas. He was a large, stout j man, weighing possibly two hundred i and fifty pounds. He wore a heavy red beard and mustache, and always ap- j peared in public with heavy gold spec- j tacles. Ho was a quiet sort of a person, ( never taking the lead in anything, but j still interesting himself in everything that was going on, and a good member . of society generally. He lived at the j time with his wife, a charminc little ? black-eyed womau, and family, in a * handsome suite of rooms, on the corner * just nbovo the club, and used frequently to entertaiu in a quiet, pleasant way, 1 those whom he counted among his more c intimate friends. Among them I may ^ say I was numbered, and so often found i my way through his hospitable door, c He lived, he said, in North Carolina, and at the breaking outof the war found t himself obliged to go into the Southern 1 army. He was in a North Carolina reg- e iment during the summer campaign of 3 18G2, and at Malvern Hills was wounded j in the arm. It was in the evening, as he cat with some comrades around their r c irup fire, that a shell exploded in their c midst, killing nearly all, and wounding , him, as I have said. He was sent to the ^ rear and finally discharged as unfit for f active service. He went then to Wilmington, bought all the cotton he t could, ran the blockade successfully, k took his cargo to Liverpool, and sold it c, at an enormous profit. Then he immo- ^ diately invested his money in United : States bonds, which were then at their lowest figures in the English market. Afterward they trebled on his hands, & and between the cotton and the bonds 1 ho made from $150,000 to $200,000. He 1 married afterward a Southern lady, who ? hod beon educated in Europe, and by 1 her had several children. He had not the appearauce of one who had followed < the sea, and I should be surprised if it 1 should be proved he had ever command- i ed a vessel. A sailor, as a rule, never 1 gets rid of the effect of the salt air in t his ways and habits and appearance,and I never was able to discover that Tliom- ( an was in any manner different from the ] rest of us Thomas was the last person ? among us in Dresden whom one would ( select, as a man capable of doing such a t deed as he certainly did at Bremerhaven. ? He was a jolly good fellow, as the world would say, yet quiet, and in fact, rather lazy. That he was not insane when he 1 designed the plot for blowing up the ves- ! sel, I cannot believe. It is so entirely different from what the man was from . his character as his friends knew it, that * I am unwilling to believe he was wholly ' accountable for what he did. He was in his family an extremely affectionate 1 man, and his wife and children were as ' tenderly cared for as wife and children ' could be. It used to be remarked 1 among tis that Thomas was unusually 1 dovoted to his wife, and not a whim of ' hers was ullowed to go unsatisfied. 1 Business Views In Boston. The Boston Globe has been having ? "talks " with several business men, and e says the opinion of all thus far seen is , that the centennial year is to bo a much { brighter one in business circles than the past. Although few look for a great re- . vival, the feeling is general that there is j to bo a steady improvement for the bet- ! ter. That the people generally are ex- . amiuing their affairs, and giving their earnest attention 10 learn how to do I linftinA&a ft-Q TOAII lira wiiViin means, and to avoid driving ahead ou 1 " luck " in the future as too many have done in the past, is considered as one J of the best signs of the times. A promi- ( uent dry goods merchant of keen ob- ' servation and long experienoe says : 1 " Let business alone ; it will revive if ' every one who has work to do will do it, < and mind his own business." He was 1 aware, of course, that there had been, * and iu fact is still a stagnation in busi- ' no8s ; and the principal cause of this was the illegitimate method of conducting business, by too many nowadays, both public and private. He thought much of the si agnation in business was duo to this endless croaking, this growling about what the rising generation is going to do. " Talk about failures," he said, " why show me one of any amount in the dry goods trade.* There have been fewer failures in the dry goods trade tho last year than for twenty-five years back." Tho dry goods business was never on a better basis than during last year, and it never was on a better i ii 14 - - i? .1 t? : l i 11 tin in Lijn.ll lb in bU-Utt^, lUf JIUWB 11BYU * touched the bottom and were never { safer. Ho thought the centennial would bring trade from abroad. Tne I tide of travel next year will be this way 1 and not to Europe, and of oonrse if the < Europeans come here they will leavo ? some money. ' William A. M. Chompson, of Quartz j Valley, Gal., recently started for his j homo in Iowa, which he left twenty-five i years ago. During all the time, hta < family, consisting of a wife and nine t children, heard nothing from him. He < is ow seventy-four, and returned to find i the home o role unbroken by death, but 1 enlarged by the addition of fifty grand- i children and three great grandchildren. 1 0 Items of Interest. Nevada has a population of 00,540. Utah has one Gentile to five Mormons. Fifty thousand Hebrews carry on business in the United States. If Alaska is annexed to Washingto Territory, the latter will have an area 540,000 square miles. The piano voted to a popular In* dianapolis man at a ladies' relief bamar was immediately seised by the sheriff to satisfy a debt The yield of salt in Miohigan this jrear was 1,026,977 barrels, being 200,)00 barrels greater than that of the most successful previous years. A Tennessee court has decided that a teacher has the same right as a pliant ? enforce obedience from a child, and ?n, therefore, inflict corporal punishnent when necessary. A live dog was recently put un(ler the ufluenoe of chloroform and dissected jefore the physiology class of j the Attioa Ind.) high school, in order to show the nrculation of the blood. Two ex-members of the United States Souse have lately sought work in the locument folding room, at Washington ; vork whioh includes the wheeling of nail matter in a barrow to the post>ffice. Wendell Phillips said in a recent tem>erauco speech: "You can't make a icense law loose enough, but what 111 itrangle every grogshop iu Boston, if . rou will make me superintendent of >olioe." Now piok almanacs. They are dead ipe, and ore worth about two and a-half tents a pound, rag measure. None genuine unless branded "1876." Ask rour druggist for that kind and take 10 other. A man died recently in the hospital at lan Antonio, Texas, whose body was jovered with large spots, and whose lesh became one mass of putrid matter, le had all the symptoms of the oldime plague. In Canada, as well as in the United ItateH, the year has been marked by a nat-erial decrease in immigration. In [873 266,354 immigrants were entered, iud in 1874 140,837. This year not more ban 85,000 have been registered. A doctor and a military officer became t enamored of the same lady.- A friend iskod her which of th8 two suitors she intended to favor. She replied that "it vas difficult for her to determine, as hey were both suoh killing creatures." A party of Chinese miners, engaged )n a placer claim near Wagontown, Montana, where recently put to sleep by i dose of morphine administered by tneir 500k, who absconded with the treasure >f the camp. One of the victims did not iwaken thereafter. The latest fraud is a man who makes i regular business of deeertmg his wife ind children among strangers. The latei usually gave them money and needed irticles, after receiving which the family oins the husband and they repeat the fame in some other place. A courageous goldfish saved the Benlingtou Hotel, at Bennington, Vt., from turning. A lamp exploded and set fire o the table, the heat cracked the globe xjcupied by the goldfish and the water rot out the fire. The hero-fish, alas I 'ell a victim to his own devotion. A French chemist asserts that salt done answers all purposes for packing x>rk, provided all animal heat has left it before salting. No saltpeter should be i8cd, as it induces scurvy. The brine thould be as strong as possible, and oold water is capable of dissolving more salt lian hot water. A workman of Oolumbns, Ohio, tried o pass over the Soioto river " hand over land " on a wire of an unfinished bridge, iut shortly the wire began to cut his lands, and though he made desperate itte-rmts to return, the uain counselled aim to let go, and he was dashed to pieces on the rocks, fifty feet below. The calculating criminals are the Messrs. Hattenbock, of Sioux Oity. convicted of engaging in the lottery business. The judge offered them their shoice between paying a fine of $600and $300 costs, or going to jail for thirty lays, and with the remark that $400 a month each and board was as muoh as they could earn onteide of prison, they accepted captivity. A Masonic Joke. One of the most amusing developments which have been made in Boston came to light not long since. A local paper says: It appears that a French: ... /~ii i T i;. i / l Liicii i y v>xittiiod xia^tu uniOy nan iujluicu ru [i dependent Masonio lodge among the "boys," and has run the affairs of the lodge to suit himself. He asserted his right, as a worker in the Scottish Bite, bo organize a lodge entirely independent af the Grand Lodge of Boston, and having found two or three to help him in his plans, succeeded in making fiftythree persons believe in his pretensions; He initiated the men into various " degrees" for a fee of 910, bat the charter irhich he promised to supply did not some. Differences arose between himjelf and the brethren, and finally, on suspicion of being an impostor, Lararliere was arrested and held for trial, ft is doubtful how near correct the man a in his claims, but that he ia not wholly gnorant of the secrets of Masonry seems svident The members whom he initiated assert those of other lodges rsjognized their signs, grips and passwords as all right. Lag, arhere says the whole affair is a conspiracy, and be will expose the misoreants of toe Grand Liodge in his statement in court.