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VOL>XLIX. CAMDEN, S. C., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1890. ' NO.,20.; r : ? THE BOOK Or LIFE:. ) Our lii t's a book?a different page Is turned each day; ' The mysteries the next conceals None dare to say. The binding of Life's book is Hoj>^ j With Faith en wove; The golden rim about its leaves Is human love. And each event, each deed of ours, Itself prints therein blurred type, Sin; while virtue stamps In letters clear. Each noble act performed is marked in blue and gold; But all unjust or wicked deeds Black lines enfold. A bright, illuminated scroll ' Adorns each pago ; T*Y?r tr?mntAfinn wa with^nn 1 From youth to ago. Our days its numbered folios are, And Death its clasp. The power to mate this volume fail* Is 111 our grasp. 80 live that when all. work is doao And laid aside, Our children's eyes may look upon The Beck with pride, Thai, void of shame or haunting fear, It may be read, iVhc-n, haply, ive may rest among The honored dead. ?Lee C. Harby, in Ladies' Home Journal. AH ENGINEER'S STORY. ET S. T BURDICK. I was running the "Old Black Hand"' on the M. C. & L. Railroad. Let mc see! It was just sixteen years ago. If jou ever traveled on that road in those days, no doubt vou remember the "Old Black Hand." She was a fine engine?an M. Baldwin patent?au c:glit-w heeled driver, and I loved her as the seaman loved his craft, or n turfman his horse that wins him the race. I had ruu on the road for three years and was perfectly familiar with the line from oue end to the other. About six months previous to the time of which I write, an accident had occurred on the E. Creek trestle, ten miles east of C. The trestle was 600 feet in length, and the greatest depth was near the west bank, sixty-two feet. The station man had fallen from the trestle after the night train had passed and from appearances, when found next morning, had been instantly killed. The next night after the accident as I was stepping on the foot board?I ran the night express?the Superintendent came to me and told me in a few hurried -wurd.T that hcrvrauted tc place HU?OM. : man and a young girl on my engine, and he wished me to make some pretext to stop at th*> E. Creek trestle and let them off without letting the conductor know they had been on the train, and at the same time be enjoined on me perfect eecrccy, and positively forbade me asking any question whatever. This strange proceeding on the part of the superintendent puzzled rae greatly. He was a inau about fifty years of age, and well kuowu as u thorough business man, and one of unspotted integrity, and by far the largest stockholder in the road. Why he should place these parties on my engine aud desire to keep it a secret from the conductor, who, like myself, was only an employe of the company, I could not for my life imagine. There was a iarge crowd in the depot at the time, as is usually the case in large cities, and he passed the parties up to me without being observed. Time was up; the bell rang, and the train moved out into the darkness. After trying the gauges, aud aranging things about the engine, I sat down opposite my two passengers and took a survey of their persons. The man was perhaps sixty years old, i hair and beard as white as snow, sharp gray eyes filled with energy and an iu- i describable sad expression of countenance that bespoke deep sorrow. His i form ~ns slight, yet well proportioned, j and his movement was quick and nervous. i The girl was perhaps seventeen years ! of age, with eyes as bfack as night and a i well-poised head covered with shining coils of hair of the same sable hue. She resembled the old man in the general I contour of form and feature, and no doubt they stood in the relation of parent ' and child, and aa her face partook of the ! same sad expression, it was to be presumed" she was a sharer of his sorrows, ] whatever they might have been. As ten miles on an express train, running at full speed, is a short ride, and I i knew wc were neanng the E. Creek trestle, I rose to my feet and placed my hand on the lever of the throttle valve. My compauion seemed to understand , the movement perfectly. The old man cast a sharp glance at me and then at the girl, adjusted his cloak, and peered out into the darkness. I then shut of! the steam with one shove of the lever, whistled "down brakes," and theu commenced a series of short, sharp toots as though to frighten some animal off the irack. The train slowed up, and in a moment more stood still. The conductor jumped off at one side of the train, and came forward with his ! lantern, and my passengers got off at the j other. I assisted the girl to alight, and as her J k. warm hand rested one moment in mine a | W thrill like that caused by an electric machine ran through ruy veins. one pressed my nanus ana jeit id uiv ; grasp a small card, which I hastily thrust j into my pocket. The old mau wrung ray hand and then 1 the two hurried out into the darkness. I ran forward on the track; in a moment turned and came hack; met the con- , ductor just ahead of the engine, told j him I thought I saw something on the track, hut that all seemed right. This satisfied him, and in a moment more the train was on its way. We passed slowly over the trestle: then I let on steam and brought the train tinder such spe?d that we could make the time at L., thirty miles ahead; then took the card from my pocket, and on it was penciled in a small, delicate hand: "Mention this to no one, and I will be your friend." I turned the card over and over, but that was all, and 1 could do nothing but wonder and surmise with regard to the matter. I pictured iu my mind all sorts of stories aud trains of circumstances that could have brought such an event about, but all to do purpose. On returning to C. the next night I met the Superintendent on the platform. He looked at me in an anxious, inquiring manner. I knew his meaning and nodded that all was well aud passed into the office. The next week I wa3 surprised at receiving almost double pay, which wages continued as loDg as I remained on the road. Time went on for about six mouths. ana 1 couia gee no ciew ro me mystery, but I invariably kept a sharp lookout as I neared the E. Creek trestle?for what reason I could not tell, as I certainly could not expect to see ray two former passengers at that point agaiu, but still some unknown attraction compelled me to look. =. It was now in the early part of the winter of 1857. The night was exceedingly dark and stormy, auu it had been sleeting all day, aud everything was covered with ice. AVe left C. live min- j utes late, being delayed by the storm, and were ruuniug unusually fast to gaiu time. ! For once I did not think of the E. creek trestle until the headlight Hashed on the icy roof of the small stationhouse situated about 300 yards from the creek. In a moment I was on my feet looking ahead. I had unconsciously shut off the steam, and had my hand upon the whistle cord. Did I see something on the track or was it imagination? Iu a momcut I had whistled "down brakes," and not an instant too soon, I for the glare of the headlight revealed a broken lantern, and a few feet further on a female form lying prostrate across the rails. I sprang to the reverse lever, and throwing my whole force into the movement, reversed the action of the engine, and then let the steam on with a jerk. A sharp, Imsing sound ensued, and in a moment the wheels wese spinuiug around in an opposite direction amid 1,000,000 sparks that fit the scene with a brilliant glare. In a moment I had passed along the running board and was now on the "cowcatcher," one foot firmly planted on the farthest bar. my left, hand grasping one of the strohg iron ribs, aud my body forward with au arm extended toward the inanimate form we were so rupidly approaching. The wheels crushed the lantern into a thousand atoms, and were withiu a foot, of the white, upturned face. I lowered my hand nearly to the ground and braced myself for the shock. What if I should miss my hold? I set iny teeth and threw my whole energy in the movement. A sudden clutch?a terrible strain on the muscles?and the prostrate form was beside me on the pilot Then everything seemed to whirl around for an instant, and all was oblivion. When I came to myself I found myself on a lounge in a small, neat room, and an old man and a young woman bending T nf nnrin rprnrnized as i#vc*r me, mi\jjlx jl .iv 0 ? my two passeugers of six months previous. In attempting to move I found I was seriously injured, aud the old man directed me to keop perfectly quiet, telling me ray arm was broken, audi was otherwise badly injured, but I had, nevertheless, saved the life of his daughter, for which he tendered me the most ardent thanks. His daughter testified her gratitude in a glance far more eloquent than words. Ere I had recovered from my illness the old man had rehted to me the story of his eventful life. Some years be fore he had been a wealthy merchant in a neighboring city, where Mr. R., the present Superintendent of the railroad, was also engaged in business. In the financial crash of 18?Mr. R. became embarraased and was on the verge of ruin. Mr. Collins?that beiug the old man's name?assisted him out of his financial difficulty. In time he removed to C.f became a heavy stockholder in the road, and finally became Superintendent of the road. Meanwhile, by one of those inexplicable revulsions in the tide of fortune, Mr. Collins had experienced the most severe reverses, and his fortune had literally taken to itself wings and had flown away; aud added to the loss of fortune was the still greater one of the death of a dearly beloved wife. In his extremity he came to C. aud called upon his former fnend. Mr. R. received him cordially, and made him maGy offers, eveu proposing to advance him a sufficient sum to set him up in business. All these offers the old man refused, and finally accepted the position as station mau at. the trestle work, which position had been made vacant by the accident first alluded to. The duties were light, mainly consistnoccinnr nvpr tllP hriflcrf! aftel' tllC lug ii. ? passage of each train. In connection with the station was a small, neat cottage, which the station man occupied, and where, removed from the cares of business life, the broken merchant made his home in contentment and peace. The conductor of the traiu of which I was engineer had at one time been very intimate in Mr. Collins* family, and he and the daughter were engaged to be married. At this time he was supposed to he quite wealthy aud moved in the best circles of society; but wheu reverses j visited the family of his betrothed, instead of coming forward manfully, as a devoted lover, his visits to the house ceased and ."g'g'nier.t vas at one.' broken off. j Ami not only that, but when bantered by his coinp&nioDS he declared his iutentions had never been serious, and that he had only flirted with the young lady to kill time, and looked much higher in his selection of a wife. Amanda, for this was my heroine's name, was of a sensitive nature, and felt the matter keenly, aud bitterly resented the gross injustice done her. When, in company with her father, she was about to step on the train on the night of our first meeting, she observed with terrible trepidition that the conductor was none other thau her former suitor, and desiring to avoid contact with him, the arrangement was perfected of which the reader has already been made acquainted. Ou the cveniug of the storm Mr. CoP~ lins was ill, and his daughter had volunteered to take his place and cross the bridge. While returning she missed her * f ?? 1 t 1 A looting ana icu, suiKing uer loieucau against tlic rail and rendering her quite insensible. The light reflected from the engine on the broken lantern, which she had dropped in her fall, had first caught my attention, and was fortunately the providential meaus of saving her life. In lifting her froru the track, which I had succeeded in doing not a moment loo soon, 1 had fractured ray arm near the shoulder, and the pain of the occasion had caused me to faint dead away. My fireman shut off steam, and rescued us froni our perilous situation, and carried us into the cottage where wc had beeu properly cared for. Fortunately a passenger on the train was a good engineer and took charge of my engine until I was able to resume the "care of it myself. Of course before my convalescence I had fallen desperately in love with ray fair Durse, and if the reader were to visit our little cottage to-day, he would hear her say, as she bends over me with our little boy in her arms: "My dear, why don't you cross yoar t's and dot your i's?" And T nn tr? of mt rrentlo "um * %,r ?j o wife and say: 'Move* mind, my love; the printer will fi\ it all right even if he does scold a little. '?Columbus (Ohio) Press. Bismarck's Drinking Capacity. Bisnmrk's promotion to the grade of Honorary Colonel of the Seventh Regiment of Cuirassiers gnve currency to a story far too interesting to be overlooked. Following the custom in vogue in the German nriuy, as soon, as he ' was promoted he went to inspect his regiment, and the officers iuvited him to the traditional "dinner of welcome," a meal which usually wound up with an enormous consumption of liquor. The officers of the regiment, every one of them giants, all promised themselves a rare bit of fun at the figure their new Colonel would cut on receiving the.hugc tankard fi.'led with champagne,which had to Be drained to the last drop to the health of th? regiment. They said among themselves that Bismarck, a diplomatist and no military man, would never be able to accomplish the fear. "And we," they added, "will show him how to do it." But they reckoned without their host. Whcu the cloth was removed the servants hrnnrrht the "hisses, several bottles of champagne, and the said tankard, whiph they tilled to the briui and placed with some ceremony in front of the illustrious guest. Put on hi? guard by some roguish glances which he saw directed toward him, Bismarck begun to see that he would have to maintain the reputation which he gained as a student. Rising, then, at a given moment, he proposed a warm toast to the welfare of the regiment, and?presto!?ho emptied the taukard at a single draught, although it contained almost as much as two bottles of champagne. He then resumed his seat and began conversing in the quietest possible manner, as if nothing out of the ordinary way had happened. But his hosts could not take their cye3 off him now, for lie had grown considerably iu their estimation. What was their astonishment, a fow minutes later, when, in the calmest voice, he requested that his little jug might be refilled. The excitement increased to delirium!?New York Tribune. Sold His Whisker to a Covetous Friend. There is a leather-dealer, in a small city in New York, who is' noted for the leugth and luxuriance of his side-whiskers, says the Brockton Shoe. At one time, an acquaintance said: "Lethergood, I would give $2U for your whiskers." Within au hour, the acquaintance was approached by a man whom he failed to recognize, but who called him by name and thrust into his hand a package neatly tied in white paper. Something familiar in the strauger's voico roused his curiosity, bot he was told to open the package. He did so, and found a mass of brown, criukly hnir, and with it a bill which read as follows " to Austin Lethergood, Dr. To one pair whiskers, as per agreement, $20." Ouc look at the smooth-faced stranger was enough. It was the leather ...... n/kA??nirtfnn/ia n<ll t A/1 ntif 1\i C JIMU. l uu uuiunruiuuuv> VUU I&UJ wallet and handed him a "XX." A Pet Rhinoceros. The most unique pet?rivaling even 1 he famous elephant Jumbo, which was the delight of all the children in Eng. laud and the United States?is that possessed by some Singhalese children. It is nothing more or less than an immense rhinoceros, with great plntes of tough, thicic hide like some armored ship. He is just such a fierce fellow as has often killed scores of daring hunters who have ' penetrated the jungles. The big fellow, however, is as gentle as Mary's little | iamb. Through some mysterious kindj ncs3 his rough nature was subdued aud J lie permits the greatest familiarities. | Little dark-skinned children plav tag [ over his big back or squirt sweetened | juice into his capacious mouth without , causing anything but a gruu'; to issue from his fcrocioiw-lookiog mouth.? {Neio York Journal. I ICELAND/ r ~ 0 I the northern republic GRAPHICALLY DESCRIBE!). f- ^ Geysers, Destructive Volcanoes. Mud Lakes and Barrens of the Islands ? Domestic and Commercial Products of tho Laud. r * It is an interesting fact that Detroit includes in its population an illustrious representative of the sturdy race of Norsemen who people the far off Island of Iceland. His name is Ludvig von Dolcke, who is not only the hardy and stalwart _mau ivho would be expected to come froth sucTi TTtrtcak and xaggEiT~country, but an unusual accomplished linguist, a close student of affaire nud events nmnnH __ him,a physician of established reputation, a rare cntertaiuer and it man of faultless manners. /' "There is no country," said Dr. von Dolckc to a representative of the Free Press, "so little understood and so generally misunderstood as the Republic of Iceland. It is far from tlie regular beaten paths of civilization^ being situated, according to popular opinion, within the region of eternal snoiv and ice, has been, until within a compiratively 6hort time, unattractive to all bit the most venturesome of travelers, it is a large island geographically belonging to the western hemisphere, situated 650 miles north and west of Norway, 500 miles north of Scotland and 160 miles east of Greenland. It is of volcanic origin, is irregular iu shape, the coast being frequently ^ j; MOUNT IIJ&CLA. indented with fjords, or bays, and its area is 41,000 square miles, or about the size of your State of Pennsylvania. "The natural scenery-of Iceland is the grandest and roost^ppalling to be found in the world. In* the interior are vast, valleys, deep abysses formed of extinct craters, plains of brimstone,honeycombed rock and imtncnafc fields of lava which have filled the beds of lakes and transformed fertile dales into stony deserts. These tracts arc thoppands of square miles in extent,"Utterly /destitute of life, and the fearful silencc*of .these barrens is only broken by the hissing of hundreds of thousands of hot springs and the constant subterranean thunder of smoking volcanoes. The whole surface of Iceland bears the traces of fearful volcanic eruptions, arid the most appalling of calamities from its fiery monsters are liable to be reported to us at auy time. "Hccla, which stands isolated in the centre of the island, and visible from the sea ou clear days, is 5100 feet in hight, with a circumference of twenty-live miles. It is well known to you as one the three grunt volcanoes of Europe, the others being /Etna and Vesuvius. But Hecla is by no means the most furious ou our island, although jt has erupted thirteen times in the past century. Other spasmodic volcanoes are the destructive bkaptar-jokul, Oraeia, Arabia, katlugia and the ITofs. Each of these latter named mounts have been the centres of terrible eruptions. They arc kuown to us as slumbering volcanoes, and for tha treason arc all the more dangerous, as men are tempted into a fanciful security around their basis, and the character of their frowning neighbor is only proclaimed by a sudden outburst of floods of hot water, ice. stones and mud which sweeps mau aDd liis property to destruction. "The lava field of Brideamurk. twenty miles long, fifteen miles wide and four hundred fect high, occupies what was once a fertile aud thickly inhabited plain. "About 1853 occurred the worst eruption in the modern history of Iceland. For years a wide fissure on the side of Skaptar had emitted flames and smoke, but there was no realization of the pentup* fury which was contained. The winter had been a mild ccc?a sure indication of ail approaching eruption?but the people who inhabited the fatal dales aud plains around did not heed the ivaruing. In one day, without any premonition, Skaptar seemed to split and from it issued a stream ot lava which flowed eighty mites to the sea, tilling lakes ami rivers aud sweeping every thir.g before it. It was a mile wide when it was confined to the dale of Skaptar, and 500 feet deep, but when the plains were reached it would spread out in vast seas. This stream was three years in the proeessof cooling. At the same time the vobauo emitted such gSm&ar , CASTI.E ?'OX DOr.CKF. (ICELAND). i clouds of dut and ashes that it spread to J ihe Azores aid even to Scotland, where 1 the suow vns blackened in one night. There were 1200 lives lost and hundreds of thousams of ponies, cattle and sheep killed in t'is eruption. "Towad the centre of the island are eneountccd hot springs, boiling mud 1 lakes aucJsulphurous jets of steam,which 1 indicate lainly the molten condition of J the cnrtl underneath. In this district ' are the treat geyser and the marvelous ' Strake geyser, noted as among the ' wonderof the world. Like their companions in tho Rocky Mountains, they are spamodic in their action. When in ' process of eruption the Great geyser a throwsa column of hot water from a ? " . I spout sixteen feet in diameter more than 350 feet in the air. "Strange as you may regard it Iceland actually has a summer. It commences in June, though the days grow longer from the early part of May. "From the 1st. 2d or 3d of June to the 10th, 11th or 12th of July we have summer indeed, and the sun shines day and night. Then in the winter, which lasts from October to April, from the early part of December to within ten days of New Year's we are never visited by the sun, and if it was not for the 'nord hyset' (aurora boreal is), which by some strange dispensation of Providence constantly illuminates the northern sky, we would he in perpetual darkness. We have gentle rains in summer and heavy falls of snow in winter. "The snowfalljs, rarely less than nine to eleven tfvefing all 8m"H hn""'" ' rTfft^inC sleighing by your snow vehicles in Detroit a perilous undertaking. Our sleighs aro made very low with broad runners, and the box is canoe-sbaped to form a ruuner if the crust i3 broken through. Our wheeled vehicles are also made low,with a similar box, so that in the spring or fall wKftftlo normif r\f fmnaimrf-flfinn nvpr luv; WUtWW |/UI mib V? - bare ground, and the box forms aruuner for snow diifts. "The tomperturo of Iceland varies greatly with different seasons, owing entirely to certain conditions. In summer we may say that the average temperature is sixtj^seven degrees, and the extreme uinety degrees, while zero would, perhaps, be a mild estimate for winter. The cold is often so intense that the mercury in the thermometers congeals. I have seen by a spirit thermometer a registry of 127 degrees below zero, which is rather chilly even for Iceland. "No great dependence can be placed upon Iceland's summers. The Gulf Stream lends its balming influence to the action of the sun, but it may also be the very cause of many of our cold summers. Icebergs float down west of Iceland in summer and striking the west branch of the Gulf Stream, and also the prevailing southwest winds, are brought back to our southerly shore and left stranded there to keep us company, frequently during the entire summer. They are very unwelcome visitors and have caused us many famines on account of their chilling influence upon our crops. " How our people have advanced in the face of such fearful elemental foes as those which constantly confront us is a marvel to me. Do not think me extravagant in my assertion that the Icelandic people are distingjuisned for their intelligence, and there is scarcely a person UDon our isle who cannot r?ad and write the language. Iceland now lays claim to 110,000 population, this marking a steady decrease during the past eighty years, caused by psstilence (small-pox), famine, the fiery upheavals of nature and' an emigration which is constantly upon the increase. In my opinion, if you will allow mc 10 any so uuw, invau uiskuruiug elements in my native country will eventually depopulate it. The proposition to transplant Icelanders in Alaska, formed (; * '*vTFIF. SOMMIT OF TJ1E SKAPTAIt. under Presideut Cleveland, was a good one. By the way, it is not generally understood that the ' Islcndcktunga ' or 4 Norcsmaal' i3 the oldest of any language in all Europe. It is owing, perhaps, to to the fact that it has had less friction with other tongues that it is so remarkably well preserved. The people valuo knowledge and seek after it. ''There are but two divisions of peoplo there?the Normnus, or Fricdmcn, and the Bodesmcn or Boender. The Fricdracu are all members of the nobility, if you will call it so, and members of this class believe that they have no equals on the earth except Americans. Anyone of this class is placed within reach of the highest honors of government, and they believe that ?'> people who do not enjoy tho same possibilities arc their equals. The Fricdmcn dc no manual labor, and either own land or else belong to one of iim <rentlcr professions, such as ministers, physicians and musicians. A very few merchants and no tradesmen belong to the upper caste. Rut Bodesnion are in no sense slaves. They are paid according to law, and if thev work land they give their respective master or mistress one-tenth ef their lnlaor. They are strictly free and enjoy freedom of religion, freedom of speech and absolute personal liberty. By personal liberty, however, we do not include the right to move from one place to another without permission, because if they become impoverished away from home they would become a burden uoon a strange community. A child, until it is seventeen years of age, cannot leave home. There is an absolute equality among all members of the Friedman and the same may be said of the Boendcr. The latter are very humble to their superiors, and are profuse in humility wheu they salute masters or mistresses. "There is but one city in Iceland which is worthy of the name. That, as you well know, is Iieykjavick or Reikiarik. You must not laugh when I tell you that it contains but 10,000 inhabitints. Remember that it has a very long lume. All other collections of houses ind inhabitants are known as bvers or lavns, such as Friederikhavn, Christianslavn, Sundsvalleshavn, The familiar Icelandic appellation for villages is kjodstaadt,' or place of merchants. "The domestic animals of Iceland are be reindeer, the most useful of our servile mimais. It was introduced in Iceland ibout 300 years ago and is used for all kinds of work. It i9 of an affectionate nature aud easily trained to the reiu and can be gaided by, words; a tew scrub cattle; some pigs; curious long haired dimuuitivc statured ponies who seem to live and thrive with nothing to cat, and many sheep. Mutton is the staff of life in Iceland, an 1 its wool, which is very abundant ha / at times controlcd the European w<. ol market. "The commercial products of Iceland are fish, wool, mutton, moss, creosote, pumicestone, sulphur, salt, down horses and wild birds' eggs. The domestic products are rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, kale, beets, various other varieties of garden truck, apples, plunis-nnd berries, the latter in enormous quantities, particularly whortleberries and fcnborries, cherries, strawberries and sloes. Pears are very few and small, nnd we rarely. see a peach, letnon or orange, nnd those which are impfir>.d to us ore considered great luxuries. Grapc3, though not native to the island, art grown, but never ripen, nnd arc prc( served in the green shape. "One peculiar feature about Jcelaub is that such a tbiDg as native wood fuel is unknown. But wc are uot entirely without wood for fuel and for building pur* poses. Our wood supply was to me, when I was a boy, a matter of much wonderment, and since I have reached man's estate I am still puzzled about it. It comes to us as driftwood, but where it first enters the great and ever-flowing ocean stream, which is discharged below Iceland, 1 shall never know. The quantity of driftwood upon the southern ,shorc of Iceland is so extensive that patrols are constantly kept along the shore to recover it. Some of the timbers are in shape of tree-trunks broken off by the winds, some sawed off by the hands of men, some hewed into beams, some, which by its shape, once formed a portion of the hull of a vessel, all floating up up to furnish a people with wood, who would otherwise be obliged to depend upon turf and brown coal for fuel. This is a curious fact and one I do not remember of over reading about in the numerous descriptions of Iceland. "One of tne most extensive industries of our people, and certainly the most historical, is that of the catching and preserving of fish. Of these we have many varieties, the more important of which caught in salt water are the clip-fisk, roed-spactter, fluuder, torsk, herring ind tunger, while our short, furious and icy cold rivers abouud with . laxsan, salmon, eels, caip, pikrellcn and many other unimportant varieties. There are many ways of catching fish, some of the meth: ods being peculiar to Iceland. We.uso nets, hooks, spears and harpoons and-also huge baskets, woven of water, willows, of a flat and round structure which "fish swim into, but by the .peculiar mesh, aro caught by sharpened sticks and held captive. One of our methods for catching fish will sound very improbable to you. In fact, if you discredit many of the fish stories related by your townsmen here, I do not know bow you will characterize this story. An ordinary boat, about fk 811 feii TITE GREAT GEYSER. twenty feet long, is provided on one side j with a wide board which stands at about 1 quarter angle from the edge of the boat | into and some distauce beneath the ! water, reaching the entire length of the boat. This board is made very smooth, j polished, and is sometimes painted white. In the night the boat is rowed slowly in such a direction that the northern light shines and glistens upon the board. Fish ' jump for the board and shoot over its edge into the boat, sometimes filling it to j its utmost capacity in one night. This ; fishing apparatus is called by us a frucju baad. "The familiar saying may be true that Lucifer requested permission to try his hands at creation, and that from the I fragments left by the antagonism of tire and water, the unused and useless remnants of the volcano and earthquake he made Iceland, but I will guarantee that he is very much disappointed over the civil condition of the people. There is not a lawyer in the whole land and no need of them. Every one there is his own law-maker and law-giver. The general code of law and liberty is so simple that it can be readily comprehended and understood by less cultivated people than the Icelanders are. "Theft is almost unknown upon the island, but in case we have a thief a council is held by some chosen men, either the folketing or landting. I personally know of but two instances of this kind. Une man?an inborn Icelander?aunng a very severe winter, while sick and disabled by ft broken arm from work, had stolen four sheep. lie was tried, as you term it, by a jury of thirteen men, and it was found that lie acted to save his poor family from starvation. It was decided that he acted from necessity, and lie was furnished with food, fuel and medicine as punishment. The other case was that of a stranger, a shoemaker by trade, who had ample means of subsistence, but had stolen seventeen or eighteen sheep. He was tried nnd found guilty of enriching himself with the property of others and was sentenced to pay for the sheep?to pay 5500 crowns into a fund for charitablo purposes and to leave the country binder pain of being beheaded. "We have jails but they are unused and the hinges of the doors arc rusty. Civil disputes are rare, but adjusted by arbitration;* no sheriffs, constables or policemen arc to be supported. Our written law "regulates lishing, hunting, marriage or inheritance. We live simply, drink moderately and hold ourselves up to the world as a people worthy of imitation by couutries larger, richer anil more intelligent than we ?re." An African Ruler. The dignified looking individual shown in the accompanying sketch is a model ~ African sovereign, He is lord of 17,000 square miles of some of the finest country in south 'Africa, rich in gold, silver, copper, iron, asbestos, and capable of ' " sustaining countless heads of cattle. . -'.r. 3X7 A This country lies to the north of tho colony of Bechuanaluud, with the Boere for neighbors on the east and the Chiefs Kliama and Lo Bengula on the north. Since Barthoen?for such is his name? came to the throne he has effected n moral revolution in his country. Ho has encouraged agriculture, , induced thousands of his people to embrace Christianity and has strictly prohibited the liquor traffic in his dominions. A Wig: for Every Day. "So you do not believe that Mr. H? ? wears a wig?" he naked. "Certainly not." "Where's your proof?" "Look at his hair?smooth, glossy and natural." "Very good wigs are made nowadays." "Well, did you ever see a wig grow?" "Not exactly." "His does, if it's a wig."-- _ - - t<Art"Tou-Buro of it?" * ... . '.'Of course I am?that is, sure thothis hair is his own, for I have seen biih on the day when he has had his hair cut. I have seen it grow day by day until it needed cutting. In fnct his hair is wonderfully vigorous. Hardly a day pesse3 that I do not sec H and once I remarked to him how rapidly his hair grew. , " 'Do you think it's too long?' he said. ! " 'Well, yes, I do, a little,' I answered. " 'I'll get it cut this afternoon,' ho said. "The next morning I met him and his hair was cut and trimmed almost too closely. Where in the world did you get the idea that he wore a wig?" "My dear young innocent," was tho ! reply, "wigs are so skilfully made now I that one can't detect tneni. xi una j a wig for every day in the month. | When he wants to have his hair cut ho | puts on his shortest wig. The next day he puts on a longer one and so on step by step, as his hair grows. Finally his | hair gets too long and he has it cut? that is, he goes back to the short wig aud begins all over again. Seeing is not believing."?Neio York Tribune. A Setback for McAtkln?. JIcAtkins (very tiresome)?"Want to hear something funny?" Old Crusticus?"Not I've heard it before." Writing on Iron. An invention by which writing can bo transferred from paper to iron is tho work of a Boston man, who has invented a hard ink with which he writes (backward) upon ordinary paper. This paper is placed in a mould, melted iron is poured in, and when the hardeucd iron is removed it is found that, while the heat burned away the paper, it did not affect the ink, but left the impression of the writing moulded into the iron. This discovery was made by noticing one day that the printing on an ordinary handbill that by accident had fallen into tho mould was faintly transferred in this way. _ "I should think, Mr. Owe lot 3, that you would be afraid to marry me. I am so old and have so much money that people might misjudge your motive." "3Iy sweet Angeline, I love you so, that I would willingly marry you though you were three times as old and had twice a3 much money."?Boston Times. Bishop BIyth, of Jerusalem, says thcro arc now in Palestine nearly 70,000 Jews, whereas in ISS3 there were only 23,000, aud iu 1841 only 8000,