Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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\ - The Journal. 9. G. ALEXANDER, Proprie'or CAMDEN. SOUTH CAROLINA. Hnntinr the Ostrich. A letter from South Africa tells how Captain James Fewsmith and Thomas Harxod went ostrioh hunting: The friends rode to the top of a ridge, halting and taking a careful survey of the country before them; the result was one that awakened hope and delight. Less tbau half a mile distant was a ridge parallel with the one on whioh they had halted, and between the two ran a valley several miles in extent. Near the middle of this two ostriches were grazing, while a gentle breeze was blowing from the east. Instead of separating and attempting to flank the birds, the horsemen rede at a leisurely gallop in the direction of the eastern end of the valley. This was narrower than the Up^UCilO UUCUiU^) T U1UU iiuu?iviu w* fered the very best chance in the world for the birds to escape, for they conld speedily dash through it into the open |j|B oonntry beyond, where they would be MM safe against harm during that after jaoao,.ft --f nti i Tirli -Tm"i n j aions that the ostrich gives an exhibition of stupidity which approaches the marvelous. The sight of the hunters making for the eastern opening of the valley seemed to give the ostriches the belief that their enemies were trying to cut off their only avenne of flight, and instead of tnrning the opposite way, they instantly started on their long, swift trot toward the point at which the hnnters were also heading with much the start of the birds. The two ostriches displayed still more marked failure to "grasp the sitna tion." The singular chase could not have lasted long, when the birds, running almost side by side, must have seen that the horsemen were sure to reach the opening ahead of them. But not only did they refuse to turn backbut they also failed to swerve in the slightest degree from their course on which they had started: they simply increased their speed and, with their ungainly necks outstretched, struck a two-minute trot and sped away for the most dangerous point on the horizon. As the pursuers were quite certain of their game, they now slackened their gait somewhat, and each fired a shot. The bnllet of Captain Fewsmith went throngh the brain of his bird, which ran a few steps in a wild staggering way and then went down, its head plowing qnite a farrow in the sand. Leaping from his saddle, the captain harried forward and cat the throat of the ostrich, so as to end its sufferings. It was almost at the same instant that ^flsrrod discharged his rifle, and seeing the bird acting strangely, he* was confident of having inflicted a mortal woond, and was scarcely behind the captain in springing to the ground to dispatch his prize. 4 Bat he had made a slight mistake, or when he had plaoed himself directly - ? ^C 1m o*\/^ liia Ill irIIU JUaULL V/L bUO UiAVl nuu uoiu uta hunting knife ready to give him the finishing touch, the ostrich seemed to brighten up. Before the gentleman suspected his intention he delivered a terrifio kick whioh tumbled the hunter over on his back, as if struck by a falling tree. The ostrich is capable of kicking with such force as to kill the panther' or jackal, and he V?w rr Kio fnnf. fnrtuo*/! uucd JLV UJ uuivn aug uau *vww *va n mam, the same as a man. In the present instance Mr. Harrod fell so quickly that Oapt&ia Fewsmith ran forward in alarm. Assisting him to his feet, he was found to be little injured, although he declared, with a grim smile, that he know more about ostriches than he ever did before. The bird kept on trotting straight away until he vanished in the twilight and was seen no more, while the hunters were glad enough to go into camp and wait till the morrow. There are different methods of hunt ing the ostrich. Every sohoolboy recalls the pioture of the bushman awkwardly disguised as one of the birds, who is thereby enabled to approaoh close enough to a herd to bring dotvn several with a bow and arrow. In other cases the hunter lies in wait and uses *?- poisoned arrowy In North Africa the game is pursued on horseback, the chase being kept up for several days until the bird is literally run down and is unable of going further or making resistance. Sometimes a herd is forced into the water, where it is an easy matter to knock them in the head. The European horsemen prefer to conceal themselves near pools and springs where the bird is in the habit of coming to drink, so as to shoot him unawares. The value of the ostrioh, of course, lies in its plumage. These feathers are very oostly, it rarely happening that more than two dozen marketable ones can be obtained from a single bird. March or April is the best season, * as the os inches have recovered their molt and I the feathers are elastio and vigorous. I It is neoessary also that the feathers J should be pluoked from the body of the bird before it gets cool or they will be found to have lost much of their glossiness and disposition to curl. Lee Poy Foon, renowned for his iabnlous wealth, wa3 buried in San Franm'sco the other day in the midst of a din that rivaled a Fourth of July cele- i bration. He was president of one of the Six Companies. He owned an immense plantation in China, stocked with 2,000 slaves, three wives and seven children. Foon was the riohest Chinaman in America, a A Su mmer Son?, The littlo birds, trill oat to the morning, and make the new day with your sweet matins ring! Ob, quivering dew-drops, do ye twinkle a warning? My wild pulBes throb?the little birds sing. Oh, heart, my glad heart 1 Oh, heart, my mad heart! What laughs in the snnlight that gilds the hills And hides by the brook where the long grasses ehake ? Listen, wild winds 1 'Tis the name'of my lovor Hush! Whisper it softly, or my fall heart mnst break! ?Scribner. What the Train Brought. With a roar and a rattle the 6 o'clock express train rushed across the bridge that spanned the narrow river on the Derwent farm, near Concord, and Alice Derwent, the farmer's pretty, dark-eyed daughter, stood on the vine-shaded porch, looking after it with an unconscious sigh. " So many come by you, so many go by you, out into the great, wide, beautiful world/' she thought, as she gazed v^fley iarm^fiS^t out through the bre^k in 1(lEe_&roling blue mountains, from whenoe a trail of white smoke came floating baok. " I wonder if you will 6ver bring me anything ? ? ?? ?wnw9 Ar mnaf T lioa mv or OUirjr LUU arraj * muww A Mfv J life out to the end, shut in by these quiet hills?" "Supper ready, mother?" called out the hearty-looking farmer, halting in the glow of the bright firelight on the open hearth, as he came in from foddering the stock, followed by his eon Thomas, who was the living, breathing "image of his sire " " To be sure it is," replied his bustling little wife, who had just such eyes and hair as bonny Alice, and just the same sweet smile. "Isn't it always ready, father, when the train goes by ? Come, Alice!" "Alice ia. out there looking for ber fortune, mother," said Tom. "It is coming by that train. I knew all about it." Alice smiled tnd shook her head at her saucy brother, as she took her se.it at her father's side. Little did any of them think how many a true word is spoken in jest, or that the fortune which the evening express was to bring the daughter of the house was even then nearing their hos pitable door. " I've worked like a beaver all day ong, Martha, and Tom has kept pace with me, and we both said as we came home, that we were too tired to eat. But this is comfort I It would be hard to see anything much pleasante? than tiiis nice, tidy kitchen, and just as hard to find any of their Frenoh cooks that can beat you and Alice, n&y dear," said Elibu Derrcent, glancing thankfully at the blazing fire, the table laid so neatly, the tempting meal of batter-cakes and maple syrup, wheaten bread and golden butter, and a large platter of cold corned beef and vegetables that was placed before the two hungry men. Mrs. Dorwent poured out the teastrong, hot and fragrant. " Squire Seaton, up in the big house yonder, don't often get such tea as this, with all his staff of servants," said Tom, looking across the valley to the brick aud freestone palace of the one millionaire of the village. " Poor man!" sighed Mrs. Derwent. ' I do pity him! His wife and daughter dead, and his only son so wild and willful and a wanderer all over the world. Only last week he told me, with tears in his eyes, that he had heard of his boy, and that he had been seen lately in Leadville, intoxicated and poorly dressed, in a gambling saloon. Yet when he wrote there to him?and wrote kindly?he had disappeared. If it was our Tom, Elihn, I should just break my heart. Tom, if you ever do grow unsteady and run away like Philip Sea ton, you Mill give your mother her death-blow. Remember that 1" " Thank God, it isn't Tom, Martha! I'm sorry, too, for the man and for the boy. Mr. Seaton owns that he turned him out of his houee in New York in a fit of anger, and that the boy swoije he would never enter his doors again. ? J JLSav* bCUI^U VU WVIU OIUCO juu cce, ttUU so? Why Martha, what on earth is that T* Farmer Derwent might well ask the question and rnsh from the tea-table to the door, followed by his wondering wife and children. A procession of four of his neighbors was coming tip from his garden gate. At the gate stood a horse and a light express wagon, and from the wagon the fonr men had lifted an inanimate body and were bearing it toward the honse. " The 6 o'olock express has run off the track, a mile or two up the valley," said Deacon Jones, as he and his two sons and his brother-in-law reached the porch with their senseless bnrden. " Ever so many people hurt, but able to go on as soon as they got righted. But this poor fellow is so nearly dead that we thought we had better bring him here, being as it was the nearest honse, and send for the dootor. We knew that your wife oould nurse him back into health again if any one oould, Mr. Derwent." "You're right there, neighbors. Bring him right in," said the farmer. His wife led the way to her best bedroom, next the parlor. Tom sprang on the back of his swift sorrel oolt and set off for the dootor. Half an hour later the supper-table was cleared, the supper dishes were washed and put away, and Alice Derwent sat pensively by the kitohen fire, while her mother and father were busy with the doctor in the spare-room; and . 1 I Tom, hurrying to and fro on their errands, stepped once or twice to inform her that the stranger was young and handsome, bat was dressed like a laborer, and that the dootor said " it was a near ohance whether he lived or died." Two weeks passed on. The doctor came and went each day; the neighbors far and near volunteered their services ?all except Squire Seaton, who lived his usual secluded life in his great mansion, buried in hisbookB, and knew nothing of the stranger who lay at death's door. 'Poor boy! Alice, I wish you would go in and sit beside him awhile," said Mrs. Derwent, on the first evening of the third week of illness. "He is asleep now. If he wakes you can call me. If we only knew his people I would send for them. I fear he will not la6t long." Alioe crept in and took her place in the nurse's chair. Tears of pity dimmed her eyes as she looked at the wasted figure in the bed?the pale, thin. the fast-closed eyes, the, hollow ternt)les under the wawis'fcrnwn hftir. . "Iwifch his mother or father wo aid CGifte 1" she said, aloud. Tho heavy lids opened. Two deep blue eyes looked at her \mploringly. ? "My father!" whispered'the sick man. "Bring him?tell him?I was coming?Seaton?Beaton?" The faint voice died away?the eyes again were closed. Alice stood an instant like one struck dumb. She had never noticed the re; semblance before; but now she could trace the firm lines of the old squire's countenance in that pale, pinched face. 'Sleeping still? That is a good sign," said her mother, coming in, ready to resume her place for the night. Alice hesitated a moment. Never before had she acted by or for herself in any matter of moment. but tne sound oi voices mignt arouse the slumberer. Her father and Tom had gone on a household errand to the village; there was no one else to consult. Finally, she threw on her waterproof, drew its hood over her head, and sped cross the valley to Squire Beaton's house. Even the well-trained servant wore an astonished face as he ushered this mysterious visitor into his master's study. Squire Beaton looked up from his book, and his usual pallor increased to a ghastly hue as he listened to the breathless girl. "My son?ray boy?my Philip at your father's house? And dying, you fear? Asking for me? Coming to me? Wait, child! Til go with you, of course ?I'll go to my poor boyl But?the room is turning round?I think I must be going blinuT' ' Alice sprang to his side. The gray head fell on her shoulder. Tenderly she smoothed the silvery hair away from the high forehead and bathed the pale face with the cold water and fragrant essenoes which the frightened servant brought. The old man revived, to find her ministering to him thus. And it was almost like father and daughter that they took their way across the valley together, he leaning on her arm and listening greedily to all that she could tell him of his long-absent, long mourned son. " It is my father's voice I I hear his step! I Bhall get well if he will only forgive me !" said the invalid, greatly to Mrs. Derwent's surprise, as the house door softly opened to a stranger's touch. He struggled up from his pillows, resisting her attempt to soothe bim. "Father, I am sorry?forgive me!" ne earn in a nrmer voice, as aace entered, followed by the aged man. And then Squire Beaton came feebly but swiftly into the room, and he held his son to his heart, sobbing aloud with gratitude and joy, while Alice drew her bewildered mother into the kitchen and told her of her expedition to the house of the lonely millionaire. Joy seldom kills; and there is a revivifying power in love and happiness combined far beyond the skill of all earthly physicians or the virtue of all earthly drugs. So it happened that ras the spring months deepened into summer Philip Beaton, strong and well once more, stood beside bonny Alice in the porch one evening to see the 6 o'olock express flask by. ?'At Leadville, when I was utterly reckless, and utterly penniless, too, a letter from my father reached me," he said, in a low tone. "It was so kind, so sad, that it seemed to turn me from my evil courses on the moment. Just as I was?in the rough garments of a miner?I set off to return to my atner, use tne proaig&i son. ana uou led me here!" There was a long silence; the sun sunk ont of sight behind the circling monntains; the first chill of evening was in the air, "In my anger I Bwore that I would never enter the door of my father's home," the young man went on. " But it was not this home I Here I may enter, purified, repentant, forgiven, if only the good angel of my new life will go with me. Will she, Alioe?" He took her hand. " But your father I" stammered Alice. " I am only a farmer's daughter! And you?" " I am not worthy of your love in any way. But my father begs you to be his daughter, Alioe. Say yes I" She did say it. And so the greatest fortune of her life?the brightest hap pineea of both their lives?came on that evening train,?Margaret Blount, FOB THE FARM LND HOME. Work Id ibe (rchard. The deepest plowicgfin tho orchard ^ should have been done n autumn, or in very early spring whje the trees are dormant. After tne I growth of the trees has commencec let the plow ^ run shallow. A sharj lookout should also be kept for the ergs of the caterpillar, which form a: ring round the r shoot, usually several hundred glued r< * " * - in-i - ?? 1l. togeiner in a mass, iuui uu wo nwjg and see that it goes tqthe fire with &e 11 next of the brnsh. Infections infested 0 with the canker worm ^e tarred paper, or troughs filled witi oil or gas tar, o should be put on immediately and seen o to daily. KalRlngr Calve*. fc A writer in the Anerican Dairyman gives his way of bringing up a calf as j. follows: Take the calf from the mother t at two or three days old. Learn it- to drink mrlk^ .Skim ailk" is best, if not sour#!. '"it makes bone more rapidly. ? Have it the natural warmth of the cow's milk when drawn. Give two quarts In the morning, one at noon and two at night the first two weeks. Increase the J feed as the calf gets older, as jonr 1 judgment dictates. At ten weeks old stand eight--nnartB at a meal, if he can get it, and will grow propor- ] tionately. Should scour, which he. ( will if not fed regularly, or the feed is . too hot or too cold, or the milk is sour. or the call was not healthy from tbo start, give him a pint of hay tea after every meal tintil cured. If it is a spring calf keep him in the barn until the middle of September. The hot sua of summer months is detrimental to calves. See that his bed is oleaned every day, and use good, clean straw for bedding, but never swamp hay of sawdust. Have a box of wheat bran where he can lap it from the commencement; also fresh I water. He will soon learn to use these; also a wisp of coarseu upland hay. The first winter give roots, apples; indeed, you may give sliced apples when three months old. Do not feed oorn meal the first year, and always feed the milk clear, and after nine weeks you need not heat it, and it is not absolutely necessary to feed it after that age if not convenient, but feed shorts until at least six months old. Veal calves should have all l.he milk they can take until six weeks old. After they make bone and the cutlets lose their fine flavor it is no longer veal in its true sense. In conolusion, let me eay, oommence to train calves the firs; week; give them a name; they will learn it; teach them to lead and all you wish them to know; they will not forget it. Farm and Garden XoteB. It is usually the case that bad] treatment makes a cow vicious. The surest way to secure an annual supply of peaches p-to plant afowtrees each year. John Norton, a Michigan farmer, says tile draining doubled the value of his heavy land. Scions, it is claimed, carry with them the bearing year of the tree from which they were taken. By growing deeply-rooted crops as part of the rotation the subsoil is made to contribute to the general fertility. Much of the success in fruit growing hinges upon watching for and effectually fighting the many insect enemies. I Keep the harrow going in the spare time all summer. Not one farm in a dozen gets all the harrowing it needs, and on no farm is the harrow ever used too much. Marshall P. Wilder says: The importance of properly thinning out fruit trees when bearing rebundant crops is more and more apparent. To produce fruit that commands a good price in market has become an absolute necessity. This is seen especially in that intended for exportation?apples of good size, fair and properly packed, commanding ih the English market fully double the price of those which had not received such oare. Charcoal is not a fertilizer. It is almost indestruotible, and wholly insoluble in water. It is of great value as a disinfectant and deodorizer, absorbing ivrt/ia ifa Vxnllr ammnniupnl UiUU r iituwo vnu vum v* muau*vuh?vm? gas, and acts as a store house of ammonia and moisture, giving them out as needed by plants. Its mechanical action is to lighten the soil, and it tends to purify it and keep it sweet. Plants take their c?rbon from the air by their leaves, and not from the earth. HoitKeholU Uinta. Lampshades of ground glass should ! be cleansed with soap or pearlash; these will not injure or discolor them. < Satin shoes may be oleaned by rubbing them with blue and stone flannel, ' and afterward cleaning them with < bread. i Gold lace may be cleaned by nibbing 1 it with a soft' brush, dipped in rook 1 alum burnt and sifted to a very fine powder. ' The best tomato for pickling is the ( size of a large walnut. It should be of 1 good healthy green, with one side just 1 beginning to show a tinge of red. J If j on'heat the gad iron before put- * ting meat on it to broil, yon will find it 1 au improvement over the nsnal way of c putting it on o ,ld. 1 A good addition tj soup is made by catting bread in little eqnarea and frying them in batter till they are browned t on every side. About three minutes j before the soup is taken from the fire e add the oread, so that it will be fla- f vored with the soup, but will not be 1 soaked so it will orumble. 1 a A cool reception?An ice cream tea- , tival, 1/ ?a?????? ? PEARLS OF THOTTflHT. ! It is with happiness as with watohes, le less complicated the less easily aranged. w There are more fools than sages; and *? nong the sages there is more folly * lan wisdom. ' o Discouragement is of all ages; in ?( onth it is a presentiment, in old age a ^ amembrance. v True goodness is like the glowworm, ^ i shines most when no eyes save those ^ f heaven are upon it. B Hope is like the sun, 'which, as we 8 urney toward it, casts the shadow of f ur burden behind us. E There is three ways of getting out of a sorape?write out, back out, and the i iest way is to keep out. t TTT1 5..1L ll- - L V wnen aeaio, me great i?cuayiier, t ias come, it is never our tenderness 1 feat we regret, but our severity. < The influence of trusting children is * lometimes the most subtle oil that can )e thrown on the troubled waters of ifo. i The first dawning of a woman's life is nore liko the aurora with its strange Itful flashes. The phenomena have ever been satisfactorily explained. Our illusions fall one after the other, like the parings of. fruit; the fruit is experience; its savor may be bitter, still it contains something that strengthens. Twenty-three Days In an Open Boat An able seaman named Michel Villa has arrived at Liverpool from San ~ I iL. .1 f'ranciSCO. viua was uueui mtj urew ui the British ship Milton, which was burned at sea whilst going from Shields to San Franoisco with ooal. From his statement it appears that the vessel's cargo caught fire. So fierce did it burn that there was nothing left for the crow but to make arrangements for leaving the ship. There were three boats launched in charge respectively of the master (Captain M'Arthur), the chief officer and the second office. In the captain's boat were eight persons, including the captain's wife and two children, the remaining two boats containing eight and sevon of the ' crew respectively. The captain gave each boat the course to steer, and told them all to keep together. The mate's boat was a large one, but not so good a sailer as the other two, so that she was soon out J ??J TT7V?a*> nUnn^AMAil f hni y? UIBIUUUUU* TTUOU aUBUUVUCU VUDU vessel was some 1,800 miles from San Francisco, and 1,400 miles from the nearest shore. Day and night succeeded each other without bringing any change or even hope to the shipwrocked people. Villa was in the vessel's gig, which contained seven menand the boat was too small to admit of any thorough sleep being obtained. , Ten days had passed since they left thiir vessel, and the two fragile craft were still in company. For the first week a biscuit"^ day was doled out along with some preserved meats, but the second week it was found necessary to curtail this supply to half a biscuit per diem per nan. The tenth day was the last Villa and his comrades saw the captain's boat, as, when the following day dawned,she was nowhere in sight. Two days later the gin! lost the southern trades and encountered * i - ii -3 L5-1. -.1. ~ 1.^,1 D&a weainer, uunu^ wuiuu uuo uau tu lay to before the sea. This danger passed, although while it lasted the poor fellows expected each succeeding hour to be their last. On entering on the third week the allowance of biscuit was further reduced. Ou the nineteenth day the provisions and water gave out, so that the men were faced with death from starvation or thirst. Weakness was now gradually but Barely overcoming them, and every moment made their condition worse. When twenty-three days passed their hearts were gladdened by the sight of a vessel's light, the first craft they had seen since their own had become the prey of the fire. The oars were got out, and the men pulled as desperately as their weakness would permit. They blew a foghorn which they had in the "boat, and also burnt some oakum saturated in tar. The vessel answered by putting out a binnacle light. The new-comer, which proved to be the Cochin, of Greenook, baoked her yards, and soon had the seven shipwrecked men on board, and was again on her course for San Francisoo. Agriculture lu Italy. - * 11 5? T1.1_ 1 A report on agriculture in xiaiy uy Secretary of Legation Beauclerk has lately been presented to the British parliament. Real agricultural progress has been made in some parts of the oountry, but a sad amount of misery exists among the rural laborers. The land is burdened with an overpowering taxation, and, while the main remedy balked of is education, the demands are for relief from moral and physical suffering. "Knowledge without means," ?avs Mr. Beauclerk, "is of little use. * ? - When the great mass of land-owners have hardly enough to live on, how ran they lay ont money in improvements? For small proprietors and renters it is impossible, while there are few large estates, and even these are jradually being split up by the abolition of entail and the constant sublivision of property consequent thereipon." A Boy's Cooplet. I Said a teaoher to a class in oomposi , iion, "MaKl a rhyming couplet inolud t mg the words nose, toes, corn, kettle < jar, two, and boil." There was silence i or a little while, and then a little boy j leld up his hand in token of success. < 1 Bead the couplet," said the teacher, md the boy read: 1 A boil in the kettle's worth two on your nose, ? tnd a corn on the ear is worth two on your toee.' 11 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS. Pint in a Bible. It was an old Bible, a family Bible, a ell-worn Bible?the Bible of an old idy who had read it, and walked by it, ad fed on it, and prayed over it for a )ng life-time. As she grew older and lder, her sight began to fail, and she Hind it hard to find her favorite verses, lut she conld not live without them, so rhat did she do ? She stuok a pin in hem one by one, and after her eath they counted one hundred and ixty-eight. When the people came to ee her, she would open her Bible, and eeling orer the page after her pin would i lay, "Bead there," or "Read here;' ,nd she knew pretty well what verse vas stuck by that pin and what by this >in. Bhe could say indeed of her , >recious Bible, "I love thy command- f nents above gold; yea, above fine gold; hey are sweeter than honey and the ( loneycomb." ) Iteliziom Xewo and Note*. Dr. Passavant eays that last year j 200,000 Lutherans had emigrated to i this country, and this year the number will be at least 300,000. Of the 425 graduates of the Western 'emale seminary, at Oxford, O., fortysix have gone as missionaries to foreign fields, and seven more are under appointment. The Presbyterian board of foreign missions has appropriated ?b~iu,uuu tor its work during the year to end May 1 1883. The board is sending out about thirty new missionaries. The Churoh of England schools educates at the present moment 1,500,000 children, while all the board and denominational sohools together have io them only about 1,357,000. The jubilee fund of the Congregational union of England, started last year at its semi-centennial, is reported to have reached $700,000. It is to be used to pay chapel debts and supplement salaries in the smaller parishes. According to the latest reports the American Sunday-School union has established since its organization 69,846 schools, with 447,380 teachers and 2,969,037 Boholars. More than two and a half million dollars have been expended in misainnarv effort, and more than seven millions have been circulated by means of grace. The Reformed (Dntch) church has now in the foreign field nine missionary stations, 101 out stations, sixteen missionaries, thirteen native ministers, thirty-nine catechists or preachers, thirty-seven ohnrches, with 2,625 communicants, five academies, ninety day schools with 2,210 scholars, and four, teen theological students During the year the native churches have contributed ?3,233. The receipts durirg the past year were only $58,184, much les< than had bera^oped for. One hundred and tgdMMhrt ebimH<5S "fBffW? tocefflTrfbute.---' Two-Handcd Swords. The claymore, once famous in Scottish history, was a very long sword, with a hilt so large that it oould be grasped by both hands of the warrior who wielded it, and when this tremendous weapon was swung around by any of the brave "Scots, wha ha' wi' Wallace bled, Scots, wham Brace haa aften led," there was every reason for the opposing soldiers to want to get as far away as possible. Long two-banded swords were in nse in various parts of Europe during the middle ages, but it is from Scotland that we have heard the most about them. Some of the German swords used by the mercenary soldiers in the French, religious wars were enormous twohanded weapons, with sharp points jagged edges and great spjkes near the base of the blade; but these heavy swords were used only by soldiers who were uncommonly strong and skillful; for any awkwaidness on the part of a man swinging such a tremendous blade was apt to inflict as much i injury on his companions as on the .. t a. 1 ??? enemy. Dome o 1 me iuug dwuiud ui the middle ages were used more for show and ceremony than for actnal service. The sword of Edward the Third, which is preserved in Westminster Abbey, is seven feet long and weighs eighteen pounds. This, it is said, was carried before the king in processions, and was probably never used in any other way.?St. Nicholas. Poison in Dye. In Troy, not long since, a child, while I playing with some water color paints, looked about for a palette, and seized a small book?attracted by the bright green color of its oover. He mixed the paints on the cover of the book for some time. Then he was suddenly taken with convulsions. Physicians who were hastily summoned declared that hehad been poisoned. They administered antidotes, but the child went into convulsion after convulsion, and it was only after three days' incessant labor that the physicians saved his life. The child's wealthy parents afterward had the physiciais invesligate the man ner of its being poisoned. They dis covered that the dye with which the brightly colored book was covered contained the poison. In wetting the paints on the book cover the ohild had innocently wet also the dye, and soon transferred some of the poison to its own lips. There was a comical side to bhe investigation, although it was no consolation to the parents?the book fvas found to be a report of the society [or the prevention of cruelty to chiliren 1 m In Sicily the total quantity of sulphur J innually melted is estimated at 390,000 j: ona. J f in ??wmmmrn The Farmer. Let the wealthy and gnat Boll in splendor and state; I envy them not, I declare It; I eat my own lamb, 1 My chicken and ham, I shear my own fleece, and I wear it; I have lawns, I have bowers, I have fruits, I have flowers, The lark is my morning alarmer; So, jolly boys, now Here's Godspeed the plow, Long life and success to the farmer. PUNGENT PARAGRAPHS. The original Boar-head?The balloon* at. If a musician enjoys himself without 'measure," can he have a good time? Hanlan has won $80,000 by his skill vith the oars, and that is good scalier* ship. Paris green is the fashionable color [or buckets, but it's bad taste for carrant worms. It is a terrible come down for a man to fall oat of a balloon and be obliged to walk home. A correspondent wants a care for laziness. Let him try nitro-glyoerine placed underneath his rocking chair. A dynamite mine in Russia is not nearly so destructive as a brand new ten-million dollar silver mice in Colorado. ? . ^ - : jiuu 4tJ!!^*f?h^lijfpay as you gol" exclaimed the landlord, as he caught an impecunious boarder trying to skip away. "H'm!" ejaculated Fogg. "So they say this play is taken from life ? I should say rather that the life is taken (torn the play." "Does poultry pay?" asked' a stranger of a city dealer. " Of oomse," was the reply, "even the little chiokens shell out." Old Crusty, who two prehastty daughters, says he has kept a bulldog for years for the express purpose of distributing the meal. " Who was the meeaest man?" asked a Sunday-school teachdh " Moses." "Very well; who was the meekest woman?" "Never was any." Physiology?" Wot' ar, what have people got'noses for ' asked a child of her mother, who tad seen better days. "To turn up at poor folks, my child," was the cynical response. Persons with boys in the family shouM know that the boys havo a platform, and that they always stand on it. It reads: "Scolding doesn't hwtx ping doesn't lasiTfcmg, kill they dar'snt.' Ever? little drugstore nasa sod*, wator fount, Which eimply raises ructions with a fellow's bank accoint. .For ho meets hia girl at twilight, when he's coming home from biz, And ho sweetly has to ask her if sho'd like to hear it fiz. "Eocr man," exclaimed the physician, as he approached the patient'j bed, "he S9em3 to be snffering from neuralgia'' "You're mistaken," said the sick man. " Her name isn't neuralgy, it's Sophia, and we've only been married six months." J. M. S.: "Can you give me any reoipe for preserving fence posts. Please reply in your next issue." We can't do it. We have asked several ladies, and all of them say they never tried it, believing that it would take too much sugar, and that the thing wouldn't be much of a delicacy anyway. But they say if you want to know how to fix tomatoes or can gjeen corn, they can Hood you with information. "Is Mr. Vanderbilt in?" asked a centleman of a person who was lounging a at the entrance of the officers' apartments at the Grand Central depot, New York. The latter regarded his interrogator with a look of mingled pity and contempt as he answered: " In ? Well, I should say so. Lake Shore stock was 98 three weeks ago and now it's 112. He's in about $500,000 if he's in a cent." SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS. Porous woods saturated with creosote, become more valuable than hard and costly timber. No fewer than two German expeditions will come to this country to observe the transit of Venus next JUecemoer. It is thought possible that certain organs situated at the base of the wings of flies, and on the caudal appendages of the cockroaob, are of use in detecting odors. The height of the atmosphere has been estimated by Dr. A. Berber from the phenomena of refraction. By two I different methods of working out the ! promlem, he obtains a result of 117.4 and of 119.7 miles respectively. In all departments of scienco the microscope is rapidly gaining favor as a means of investigation. In a recent paper H. Beinech claims that its use in ohemical analysis is not only increasing, but that in some respects it surpasses the spectroscope in usefulness. A >'ovel Industry. A novel but profitable industry in mountains of North Oarolina and East Tennessee is that of collecting roots (mostly laurel). The roots are shipped to Philadelphia and Boston, and used for the manfacture of door-knobs and The roots freauently weigh U4M1 ? # w _ from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty pounds. There is a oonstant demand, and good prices are paid for J them by the ton. J The fear of spontaneous combnstion I prevents vessel owners accepting the I high prices offered for freight on bitu- fl minous coal to Japan. As much as $5 i ton has been offered.