Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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MANNING, CLARENDON COUNTY, S. C., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2, 1889. OSEPH F. RH AME, ATTORNEY AT LAW MANNING, S. C. JOHN S. WILSON, Atorney and Counselor at Law, MANNING, S. C. F. N. WILSON, INSURANCE AGENT, MANING. S. C. A LEVI, ATTORNEY AT LAW MANNING, S. C. Ai"Notary Public with seal. WLM H. INGRAM. ATTORNEY ATLAW, Office at Court House,. MANNING, S. C: M CLDNTON GALTJCHAT, PBACTICES IN COURTS OF CHARLESTON and CLARENDON. Address Communications in care of Man ning ThEEs. JOS. H. MONTGOMERY, ATTORXNEY AT LAW, Main Street. SUMTER, S. C. par-Collections a specialty. W. F. B. HAYNswoETH, Sumter S. C. B. S. DINxINs, Manning, S. C. 11AYNSWORTH & DLNKINS, ATTORNEYS AT LAW, MANNING, S. C. DR. G. ALLEN HUGGINS, DENTIST. - OFFICES - - MANNING AND KINGSTREE. --.Orrc Drys Kingstree, from 1st to 12th of each month. Manning, from 12th to 1st of each month. -OrnICz Hous 9A. M.tol P.M. and2to4P.M. J. BRAGDON, REAL ESTATE AGENT, FORESTON, S. C. Offers for sale on Main Street, in business portion of the town, TWO STORES, with suitable lots; on anning and R. R. streets TWO COTTAGE RESIDENCES, 4 and6 rooms; and a number of VACANT LOTS suitable for residences, and in different lo calities. Terms Reasonable. .. ESTABLSHED 1852. Louis Cohen & Co. 284King Street. CHARLESTON, S. C. Izporters, Wholesale and Retail Dealers in Dry and Fancy Goods. --0 arSamples and prices cheerfully sent on application. Orders entrusted to mewill receive my prompt personal at tention. Will be pleased to see my friends from Clarendon County. ISAAC M. LORYEA, With Louis Cohen & Co., CHARLESTON, S. C. Wm. Burmeste & Co. HAY AND GRAIN, Red Rust Proof Oats, a Spe cialty. Opposite Kerr's Wharf, CHARTESTON S. C. Max G. Bfyant, Jas. M. Tzw-D, South Carolina. New York. .Grand Central Hotel. BRYANT & LELAND, P~opururols. Columbia, South Carolina. The grand Central is the largest and best kept hotel in Columbia, located in the EX ACT BUSINESS CENTER OF THE CITY, where all Street Car Lines pass the _door, and its MENU is not excelled by any in the South. THE BEULAH ACADEMY, Bethlehem, S. C. B. B. THOMPSON, Principal. Fall Session Begins Monsday, Oct. 29. -0 Instruction thorough, government mild and decisive, appealing generally to the student's sense of honor and judgment in the important matter of punctuality. de portment, diligence. &c. Moral and social mnfluences good. LOC A T I ON F INE. Tuition from $1.00 to $2.00 per month. Board in good families $7.00 per month. Board from Monday to Friday per month 33.00.to$4.00. .r For further particulars, address th Principal. J. G. DINKINS, M. D. R. B. LORYEA. J. G, Dinkins & Co., Drugists and Pharmacists, PURE DRUGS AND MEDICINES, PERFUMERY, STATIONERY, FINE CIGARS AND TOBACCO. Full atock of Panrs, Ons, Gr.Ass Vamusans and WmITE LD, also PanT- and WHITEWA8H BRUsHEs. An elegant stock of SPECTACLES and EYE GLASSES No charge made for fitting the eye Physicians~ Prescriptions carefully compounded, day or night. J. 6. DInkinS & ~ o., Sign of the Golden Mortar, EANNNG. S. V. PNEUMONIA A GERM DISEASE. Said to Be Infectious but Not Contagious. Fresh Air and Exercise. And now the theory is held that pneu monia. too, is to he classed as a germ dis ease. The anthority for this opinion is Dr. A. G. Siebert. a German-American physician of New York. one of the most competent authorities on the subject in America. and an indefatigable investiga tor on modern scientific methods of the causes of pneumonia. and especially the degree to which the weather furthers this disease. "It is my belief, certainly," said Dr. Siebert. -that pneumonia is an infec tion, though not a contagious. disease. People to not take it from each other, but they may takc it from the same place. In my practice, as a very com mon thing, in the same family, two or more would have it. In a Bavarian prison, out of 500 inmates, sixty-two died of pneumonia in one year in one ward. Not another ward was touched. Dr. Emumereich was the physician attendant. He ordered the floor of this ward to be torn up. Beneath it there was found a filling of refuse, impregnated with moist ure in the proportion of 27 per cent. to the whole mass, from the washings which had dripped through the boards. The rub.ish was analyzed under powerful microscopes, and in it were discovered miasns, which a few years ago Dr. Friedlander had pointed out as being found constantly in the lungs of people who had died of pneumonia. This is one inication. The infectious diseases begin with a sudden chill. So does pneumonia. Pneu nonia lasts generally from seven to nine da s. disappearing with a crisis and a profound sweat, and when the crisis is past, the patient, though weak and ex hausted, is otherwise perfectly well. This is the character of fever and the in fectious diseases. Again, among people exposed even to the severest conditions of winter weather in the open air pneumo nia is a thing almost unknown. The Arctic explorers in the extremes of ice and snow and. in pure air had no pneu monia. They had many other diseases, though, incident to cold and hardships. Pneumonia occurs in summer as well as in winter, proving that cold is not an in dispensable cause. All physicians of much practice have found cases of pneu monia originating in the same house at different times of the year, and it is fre quently the case that those who have it once have it again. The latter fact is well known. An explanation of this, which is at least allowable, is that the locality is the cause of the disease rather than special susceptibility in the people attacked by it. -Pneumonia is a house disease, as is the c,-se: according to my belief. with inflammatory rheumatism and diphtheria. In the warm air of the house the system is made sensitive to the cold, but trie cold is only the producing cause. It prepared the coddled lungs for the pneumonia poi son which had its real origin in damp and dirty rooms or cellars. "What is the cure? Well, the steps to' the cure have unhappily advanced but little. But the relief and the prevention rer-no medicine and plenty of fresh air. If you have consumption, a dangerous cold, or the fear of pneumonia. I should say, if you cannot fresh air anywhere else, go to the Arctics for it; but get that, at all events, if you want to live. A con sumptive who followed my advice lived two years longer than any expectations baa been held that he could live. What was the advice? No medicine and a voy age. in September down the Atlantic oast, with directions to keep on deck as long as was up, rain or shine, and to sleep with the porthole open, except when it rained. His friends prophesied that he, being seemingly in the last stages of con sumption, would come back in three weeks a corpse. In three months he came back with an added weight of fif teen pounds. He lived two years longer, pursuing the fresh air regimen. On his deathbed he told me that the open air ad given him those two years. His was a genuine case of tuberculosis, too." "W ha~t, then, is the connection between the weather and the cause of pneumonia, if. as you believe, pneumonia is a germ disease" "N poison can enter the blood except though a raw surface; and it is onlyv wvaere the respiratory tract has been irni tate l that the poison germ can enter the lungs." '-What weather, then, prepares the lungs for the reception of the poison "Whenever you find three things huiditv, cold and a wind of over fifteen milis an hour-look out foi- pneumnia. Ferur is oneumonia's carnival mnonth, ad twv :ietumd statis:ies. I have comparedl the w'eather constituenlts for each day for a s;ace.of three years. with 000 cases of onemonia occurring dm-ing that time. in.this c-omparison the facts are that regua al.- on the dlays of humidity. col and highi wind the pneumonia statistics reach the: top mark. This is not theory: there is the record. The worst pneumoaac count is not necessarily on the coldest das, for with extreme cold there i~ very' probably no extrhze humidity. It is the two to:ethler that ravage. D~ry cold makes no such score. Consumptiv-es who thrive well in the high and dry cold of Davoes, Switzerland, in winter, suffer most in May.' '-Chicago Times. A Good War Horse. At a dinner not long ago one of the guests. remarked that Bavarian horses were celebrated for their general worthI lessness. lie said that a dealer sold one to a German officer during the Frinco Prussian wvar, and wvarranted hinm to be a goods war horse. The soldier coine back afterward in a towering passio1nl uI said said thne dalr. " Why, there is not a bit of -go' in him. and yet you warranted him as a good war horse." "Yes. I did; and, fby George! he is a good war horse. He'd sooner die than run!" -Exchange. nlax Dressing in Chil. Senor Isidoro Errazuriz. the Chilian immigration agent in Europe. has been ordered to offer free passage to Chili to twenty Irish fanilhies who are expert in the act of dressing flax. It is said the plant gr'ows wild there in abundance, that it is of excellent quality, and that if a few people who understand preparmng the staple for market are once estabb'shed there the industry will soon .be of great inmpoanc.-Bostonl Transcrnpt. Shortly "f tr his first election to the presidency lie received a pleaant letter froin a iu girl living in a sn::ll town in the s:ae of New York. The (mail told him that she had seen his pictur-. and it was her opillion, as she e';.resed it in he'r artcs. war. thatl he -would he a hcttcr lk :'an if he would let his beard grow. 1r. Lincoln passed that New York town on hi-vray to Washing -toli. and his first thought on reaching the place was- aoxuit his little correspond ent. In his bri'f spcch to the people he made a pl-asing reference to the child and her charming ite. --This little lady,. aid he, -saw from the first that great io -rovement might be made ini my per.1on:. Ii t araIe. You all se- that I am not a: ver: handsome mal. and, to be honest with you, neither I nor any of my friends ever boasted very much about my pemrsoal beauty." He then p:ted his haud over his face and continued: "But I intend to follow that little girls advice, and if she is present I would like to :ne ak to her." The child caine for ward timidly, and was warmly greeted by th lresident-elect. He took her in his arms and kissed her affectionately, expressiug the hope that lie might have the pleasure of seeing his little friend again sometime. - Shortly after this Mr. Lincoln. for the first time in his life. allowed his beard to grow all over his face. with the excep tion of the upper lip; and this fashion he continued as long as lie lived. In speaking of the incident which led him to sport a full beard he afterward :e marked. reflectively: -How small a thing will sometimes change the who) aspect of our lives. "'-Ward H. Lamon. Under Italian Skies., We 'pass in sight of three seasons. Around us is the crisp air and golden sunshine of autumn. Beneath us hun dreds of feet the rills of spring murmur their way toward the sea. Above us the frosts and snow of winter keep their cold and beautiful silence, except when they speak with the white tongue of an ava lanche. Sometimes the delicate ever green trees of an entire mountain side have been covered with rain that froze as it fell, and the whole gigantic hill flashes in a corrugated cloak of silver. Away beyond and above this a higher mountain will hold up its mighty drifts to fraternize with the white clouds. We are rushing along among mansions fit for the gods. The leople that we see at stations and in the coaches are becoming more and more stubby and swarthy. The guard of the train-a kind of conductor and brake man in one-looks exactly like the tourist from Italy who wanders along our street at home in the early morning and ex plores the ash barrel with an iron hook. Women doing their washing in the road side streams are snmll and ill-fnayrM . These mountains seem to have borne dwarfs. A fev' soldiers in shabby uni forms look too small to participate in a grown up b tle, and make us wonder at Magenta and Solferino. Beggars spring up out of the earth, undressed in the carefully arrayed rags of professional poverty. An old gray haired woman is plor: ing in a barren looking field with. a pair of cows--the yoke twined about their horns. People talk to each other in a queer dialect of French and Italian, broken and ground together.-Will Carleton. 4a-ots by Skillfal Archers. In the days when the buffalo wvas found in vast herds on the western plains, there were Indians who, while riding at a gliop, could send an arrow through a bufalo's body. Remarkable as this shooting was, yet it did not equal that reached by the archers of ancient times. Mr. Dixon, in his history of Gairlock, Scotland, says that the MacRaes of that district were such skillful 'archers that they could hit a man at the distance of 400~ and even i500 yards. Hie instances the' killing of a serving man at 5300 yards and of two men killing several McLeods at 400. Lest .the reader should discount the distance- of the range, the author men tior-s s.everal wonderful shots made by Turks. In 1794 the Turkish ambassador shot an arrowv in a field near London. 415i yards against the wind and 482 yards The wxeretarv of the ambassador. on hecaring the exzpressions of surprise from stheangh gentiemen present, saidl the sutnhad shot 500 yards. Thiis was the greate-t. 1.erformnance of modern days,~ but a pitir, standing on a plain nar Con;.tat inopl!e, recorded shots ranging up to sei yards. Sir iRobert Ainshie. British ambassador to thte sulime porte, records that in 1798 lie was pr;-ent whent the sultan shot a m-irow. i;. yards.-Y\outh's Companion. :mduiaians in thec Uit-td States. A s.-ries of articles on different nation alities ini the United States~ forms onet of the uiiqi.ue features of the currenlt vol umie of The Chautanguan. In a late number Albert Shiaw discusses -the Scan dinavim::, and give-s the following in his valuable computnuion of statistics: More eole have left Norwav, Sweden mnd Djenmark during the lust seven years to make their homes in- thle United States than during tie ent ire previous existe::ce of our counitr. With one-fortieth of the whole population of Europe the Scanidi nviar. countries furnish nearly one twenty-fourth of the aggregate Europeean eigration of the United Stt durin the six deerdes froma 1820 to 1880O. Since 1880 we have admitted in ro- ;d inmbers 4,000.000 European recruts 1-> our shores, of whom about 500,000) have been Scandinavians. That cst ade weare during the current do caedrawing 12 1-2 per cent. of oatr new foreign poptulation from a group (;f kini dred ina;ions which have only 2 1-2 ier cent. of the population of Europe.-Pub lic Opinion. Mrs. Langtry's Moonstone. Mrs. La~ngtry is particularly partial to the moonstone, and owns one of the most beautiful of its kind known to conneis seurs. It is large and of oval shape, almost transparent, and flashes the colors of tie opal under certain lights. Its beauty is enhanced by a setting of small diamonds, which brings out its tran sparency, and its owner asserts that she always sueceeds best in her play when she wears this ornament, which is used1 as a pin amid lace ruffles.-Public Opiinin. The Grandest Instmnent en Earth. Professor George Davidson, of the United States geographical survey, accompanied by several friends, -isited the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, Saturday evening, by invi tation of Professor Holden. The night was a splendid one for observation, but owing to the fact that 117 persons were also on the mountain, it being visi tors' night, no length of time could be spent at the great telescope, as that is al ways the great attraction for visitors. It was the first peep through the 86-inch re fractor that Professor Davidson enjoyed since the completion of the observatory, and to say that he was pleased with the experience is only half putting it. "Yes, sir, " he said the, other day, when spoken to about-the-matter, "it is the greatest and grandest instrument on earth. I am not at liberty to divulge just now what I saw and what has already been accomplished by the astron omers on Mount Hamilton. That glory is for the astronomers themselves, and when they do make public their discov eries, which I hope will be soon, it will astonish the astronomical world as much as any one else. Some of the discover ies they have made are, in fact, so novel and wonderful that Professor Holden and his assistants are really timid about an nouncing them to the world until they are entirely satisfied that they really do exist and are not illusions of Some sort. Im portant discoveries have been made in all of the departments-nebula, double stars, planets, etc.-and questions which have been subjects of doubt and specula tion for generations have been entirely put at rest and accounted for. The tele scope exceeds my most extravagant hopes and imaginations, and the only way to beat it is to build a bigger one, put it on a higher mountain and in a clearer at mosphere, all of which would be a diffi cult combination to get together. "-San Francisco Bulletin. Death and Burial in China When the Chinese wish to declare the extreme vexatiousness of any piece of work they say: "It is more trouble than a funeral;" the obsequies of a parent being reckoned the .most maddening affair in human experience. Infants are buried summarily, without coffins, and the young are interred with few rites; but the funeral of the aged, of both sexes, are elaborate in proportion to the number of the descendants and to their wealth. When a childless married man dies, his widow may perform all the duties of a son toward him, may re main in his house and may adopt children to rear as his heirs and worshipers of the family manes. If his widow proposes marrying again, a young male relative may. with the consent of senior members of the" clan, undertake the services ex pected from a son apd-inherit the estate When one is about to die he is re moved from his couch to a bench or to a mat ozi the floor because of a belief that he who dies in a bed will carry the bedstead as a burden into the next world. He is washed in a new pot in warm water in which a bundle of incense sticks is merged. After the washing the pot and the water are thrown away to gether. He is then arrayed in a full suit of new clothing that he may appear in hades at his best. He breathes his last in the main room, before the largest door of the house, that the departing soul may easily find its way out into the air. A sheet of spirit money, brown paper hav ing a patch of gilding on one surface, is laid over the upturned face, because it is said that if the eyes are left uncovered the corpse mdy count the rows of tiles in the roof, and that -in such ease the family could never bifild a more spacious domicile.--Adele M. Field in Popular Science Monthly. Norway's Land and People. The forest land in Norway is in extent as compared with the nirable land as thirty to one. Of course the exportation of timber is one of the chief resources of the country, but the woods are well pro srved, a forester- resid'es in every district, and no waste or destruction'of such valu able possessions is allowed, as has un f.rturnately taken place in America. The hnd that is cultivated, except in a few favored spots, seems poor, and the people themselv-es have, evidently, few of the luxuries of life. There are not many villages. Norway differing from Sweden in that respect ;dho farmhouses are scat tered, and the dwellings of the peasants are usually small wooden huts, and often are ruinous. But, though povei-ty is great, there is no beggary. We have never been im ortuned for alms, nor have fees been ex pected for trifling sei'vices, as in Italy or the rural districts of England. The peo ple have a somewhat sad, or rather a subdued look, such is~solitude often gives. The women, with handkerchiefs pinned over their heads, look at us with grave ees. The little whiite haired children ever shout after the- passing carriage, or play nmonk-ey tricks to earn a cent. They are a gentle and quiet race, civil and pleasant spoken, but not jolly and talka tive like the Germans. Their voices are of a peculiar melody-a musical rise and fall in the pronunciation of their words, which has been analyzed by the students of such peculiarities, and which it is im possible for a stranger to imitate.-Cor. Snu Francisco Chronicle. A Popular Summer Fashion. That suitable garm'ent for a tropical climate-the light woolen shirt-is fast making itself -popular in our tropical summer weather. But the mandate of foshion still is that the woolen shirt is 'not gentlemanly" in town or on the cars-the two places where it is most needed. A gentlemanly dress will never offend the sensibilities of others. A neat flannel sirt is certainly less offensive than the sweat soaked handkerchiefs with wvhich the wearers of laundered linen try to hide the wvilted i-ag that was once a glossy and heat inclosing collar. A :ari full of gentlemen with pocket hardkerchiefs used as bibs is a ridiculous commentary on slavery to a foolish fash ion.-Ncw York Evening World. Willow and Oak.. Thle willow which bends to the tempest of tel escapes better than the oak which resifs it; and so in great calamities it sontimes happens that light and frivo louw spirits recover their elasticity and presence of mind sooner than those of a SOME EXPLODED SUPERSTITIONS. How Mariners Catch the Albatross and Make Pillows with the Feathers. "I was much interested," said an old sailor to a reporter, "by an article on the superstitions of sailors. But I must con fess that I was no less amused than in terested. All the old time superstitions and beliefs which have chiefly owed their existence to the exaggeration of the poets were resurrected, so to speak, and laid to the charge of the sailor of the lres'nt day. Nothing could be more absurd. The sailor of today is no more supersti tious than the average landsman, and as a rule a great deal more practical and matter-of-fact. Go on board ship and study the rigging and fitting. There is not a rope rove in a block or.a plank laid without the most precise calculation and forethought. A sailor never sits down to do a job, from making a becket for e buoket to splicing an eight stranded wire rope. without first having worked the whole thing out in his mind. -There's but one way of doing things,' you'll hear the old bo'sun say, 'and that is the right way.' '-The fellow that said in that article that a sailor won't allow an albatross to be kilied for fear of ill luck, had evidently never rounded the Horn. Why, when I. went to sea first I was full of that 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner.' When we neared Staten Island I looked with all my eyes for the bird. When one did appear sailing majestically along without flapping its large wings once in half an hour, I felt a chill of reverential awe and stood with my mouth wide open, a whole pan orama of Gu.stave Dore's illustrations of the poem flitting through my mind. ' "What are ye doin' ther,' suddenly yelled the mate. 'Is.that makin' sennit? If I've to speak to ye agen I'll make ye straddwle that spanker boom for a week. Here, jump down into my room an' get my lishin' lines; d'ye hear? Skip.' And the mate's heavy sea boot emphasized his words. When I returned to the deck with the lines, 'Here,' says he, 'git aft there, you lazy lubber, and catch an albatross. I promised that wife of mine that I'd bring her an eider down piller this v'y'ge.' "Catch an albatross!' I echoed, para lvzed with terror at the thought. 'If ye don't skip an' hold yer jaw I'll- Here, give me that. you booby.' And the mate took the line from me and led me aft to show me how to catch al batross. This is a very simple operation. An ordinary strong hing line is pro cured and a strong hook attached to the end imbedded in a piece of tempting fat pork. It is paid out astern, a piece of cork keeping the line afloat. No sooner does the albatross erceive the delicious morsel than he makes a downward swoop. Why, you never saw a prettier sight than the elliptical sweep the huge birds make, their wings stretched out as stiff as a board. Never a flap, sir. One Wsjt dashes up the water near the bobbing pork and tnen the 1l J w hrco around again and drops in the water. In a moment the bait is swallowed and then the fight begins. I have seen four men find it a hard job to haul'in an albatross, for it extends its wings and catches the wind; and sometimes they won't rise, but stretch out their wings and hold water, and then something goes, the hook or the line, maybe. -'But they generally get the big birds aboard. They kill them there and skin them. The wings they use for orna ments, and the heads are hung over the stern and allowed to drag in the water, which soon leaves the skull as clean as a whistle. The softer feathers are used to make pillows or beds, but the skins make beautiful fur cloaks. You see, after plucking the feathers out a lovely down remains on the skin which looks, for all the world, like white fur. Why' sir, I, have at home two of the prettiest curly' headed little rogues of girls you ever saw,! and they each have a coat of albatross fur. They're the envy of every one in that quiet little country town in the east. "There isn't much superstition about that, is there? Why. I've caught as many as twenty albatrosses on a voy-age. Of course, there are many captains who will not allow them to be caught for hlU manity's sake. Others, again, like to catch them, and attach a piece of tin or wood, with the name of the vessel and the latitude and longitude on it, to tihe leg, then let them go. '-Thea, again, in t'ie article referred to, tile sea gull is spoken of as a weather prophet. Now, I don't see why what is really true should be caXed a -sailor's su nerstition.' There never was anything truer than the English notion tha~t these birds take tothe land before a southeast! or southwest wind sets in. These winds' always bring rain to those coasts, and long before they break the sk-y is overcast and thle air moist. It is just such weather that draws tihe earthlworms from their holes, and whlat more delicious dish is there for a sea gull than tile dainty earth-, worm? Why, the fields~ are covered with~ sea gulls at su~ch times, and yet a putrely natural occurrence is called a saiior's su perstition. -'Another superstition that on my first voyage I found was exploded among sailors w'as the belief that the stormy petrel never rests, andl that its appearance indicates a coming storm. There is no doubt they are renmarkably restless little creatures. but they rest on tile wvater and plume their feathers the same as any other birds. As to their appearance in dicating a storm I've niever given the thing much notice; but this I know, and that is, that I have seen them flying around the shlip in the calmest as well as in the stormiest wveather. -No, sir, tile old superstitions don't affect modern sailors very much. Steam boats and short passages~ have done awvay with muchk of tile romance of sea life and wvithl it its superstitioni. In old times. whe1ln a ship took thlree years to o.'ke a voyage, the simple hearted sailor e:.add welcome as a break to the monlotony the appear ance (f the sea birds. H-e could not find it in his heart in kill the creatures which spoke to himt of land and its usoxciations. He wanted company, and tile birds af forded it to him, and he graduidly came1 to look upon these birds as comrades and thought it a sin to kill thlem. And so, what had its origin in tile sailor's kind ness of heart hlas come to be cal led a superstitiont by men whlo do not know sailors as they are at sea, but as they ap pear on shore--thoughtless, ignorant creatures. "-Alta California. . There is no joy like the joy of resolved virte-O. Dewey. Excuses W10eh Singers Make. Do I think there are many such fraud ulent excuses? Yes. lots of them. What is more, many a minor performer bears the brunt of a-hitch or failure to shield the leading performers. It is an old say ing that a bad workman blames his tools. It is a good deal that way with singers and musical performers. I remember a case in point when the great Nilsson was the real culprit. She sang here just he fore the great fire in a concert of which I was the director. A flutist had to play an obligato accompaniment to an aria which Nilsson was to sing. With char acteristic 'egotism she refused to attend the rehearsal. At the performance she sang in an entirely different key to that which the flutist had practiced. There could be but one result, and that a fail ure. Nilsson threw down her book in a fret at the feet of the terrified flutist. who was pulled over the coals and roundly condemned by the audience. Poor fellow. he was not to blame; it was Nilsson's fault. A few days later she was to take part in the production of "The Messiah." I told Max Strakosch. the impresario. that 1 should ii t.ist -on Nilsson's presence. at the rel:ear: .1 or not be responsible for a break ia the performance. In this case she cane like a lady, and everything went off smoothly. It requires a good deal of tact to get along with such peo ple. Some primna donnas are the em bodAnent of gentleness and courtesy so long as you stroke them the right way. When you stroke them the wrong way the fire flies.-Chicago Times. Lincoln's Merciful Nature. Mr. Lincoln was by nature singularly merciful. The ease with which he could be reached by persons who might profit by his clemency gave rise to many not able scenes in the White House during the war. Upwards of twenty deserters were sentenced at one time to be shot. The warrants for their execution were sent to Mr. Lincoln for his approval. He refused to sign them. The commanu.:ng general to whose corps the condemned men belonged was indignant. He hur ried to Washington. Mr. Lincoln had listened to moving petitions for .mercy from humane persons who, like himself, were shocked at the idea of the cold blooded execution of more than a score of misguided men. His resolution was fixed) but his rule was to see every man who had business with him. The irate commander was admitted into Mr. Lincoln's private office. With soldierly bluntness he 'told the president that mercy to the few was cruelty to the many; that executive cleiency in such a case would be a blow to military dis cipline, and that unless the condemned men were made examples of .the army itself would be in danger. "General," said Mr. Lincoln, "there are too many weeping widows in the United States now. For God's sake, don't ask me to add to the number, for, I tell you plainly, I won't do it!" - le believrthat kind words were bet ter for the poor fellows than cold lead, and the sequel showed that he was right. -Ward H. Lamon. How Tennyson Talks. Tennyson is now in his 78th year, his locks are thinning fast and there are fewer dark ones than there were even three years ago, but his wonderfully noble eye has not lost its luster. Most likely he shifts a clay pipe into his left hand that he may grip you with his right. This pipe is his calumet of peace, his secret charm for abstraction, his in cense to the gods. At morn, at noon, at night, alone or accompanied, the pipe is his half way house between meals and the sure precursor of a night's repose. The Tennysonian costume is seen at its best in here and does not seem so much an affectation. He thaws but slowly, even in his own room, but the magic of a third pipeful sets wagging that masculine tongue and nether jawbone, and if the topic stirs him he will pour forth fine rolling periods in the sturdy old English accents which modern superfine cockney schooling is polishing out of existence. As the conversation warms his puffs come fast and thick and the soundl of the pipes waxes more and more warlike. Not the bagpipes nor the pipes of Pan, Lut the "church wardens," as we call the long clays, for Tennyson has a lordly wim never -to smoke the same pipe twice. When the charge is exhausted he breaks the shank, drops it into a cistern like vase and fills a clean one from the box supplied by his wholesale dealer. St. Louis Republican. Good Advice for Scribblers. Disabuse yourself especially of the b~e lief that any grace or flow of style~can come from writing rapidly. Haste can make you slips'hod, but it can never make you graceful. I can hardly think that there is any autograph in the world so precious or instrctive as that scrap of paper, still preserved at Ferrara. on which Ariosto wrote in sixteen different revisions one of his most famous stanzas. And then Balzac; do you know how he used to compose? The story is too leng for repetition here, but his ow!n words give some idea of his great patience and carefulness: "I work ten hours out of the twenty-four over the elabocation of my unhappy style, and I am neve r satis fled myself when all is done." "Spare no wealth that you can p~ut in, and tolerate no superfluity that can be struck out." Remember the Lace demonian who was fined for saying ta in three words which might as wel! hae been expressed in twvo. Do not thra a dozen vague epithets at a thing inth hope that some one of them will fit, but study each phrase so caiefully that the most ingenious critic cannot alter it with o.;t spoiling the whole passage for every ivbut himiself.-Doruiestic Monthly. Bclles of Normandy. In the towns and villages of Nondy one finds a high average of female beauty. The rural belle of Normandy is a bruniette. without being of the extreme type. Hecr eyes are brown, rather than black, her hair may be either black or dark auburn, and her cheeks are inclined to be of a warm, rosy hue. Judging the Normandy woman in comparison with those of England or America, I should say that while the former average high, there is too great a sameness about the type to present the fascinating variety one meets with in either of the other two countries named.-Thomas Steveus in Courier-Journal. DWELLING IN CLIFFS. The Queer Domloiles of an A1aska Tribe of Esqulmaux. In pre-historic times, human beings often dwelt in dens and caves of the earth, as much for safety from their numerous enemies as for shelter. Cave towns were even excavated in the sides of cliffs with what must have been, considering the rude tools employed, an enormous expenditure of labor. The evidences of this custom are nu merous in Asia Minor, in Italy, and in our own Southwest Territories. To day the most notable instance of cave houses, on this hemisphere, at least, is to be seen on what is termed King's Island, to the Southeast of Cape Prince of Wales in Behring's Sea, on the west coast of Alaska. This small island is an elevated ta ble land of basalt. Its shores consist of nearly vertical cliffs, fronting the sea, and ranging in height from fifty to seven hundred feet. The island is inhabited by a tribal family of the Mahlemoots, or Esquimaux, about two hundred in number, who gained a sub sistence by walrus-hunting, seal-hunt ingand whaling. They pursue the creatures in kyaks or canoes,which they are very expert in launching through the surf, and navigating in rough wa ter. The summer houses of the islanders are so many little platforms attached to the face of the sea-cliffs, and coin posed of whale rib bones, or shoulder blade bones, fastened by thongs of sinew to large pegs of bone driven into the interstices of the basalt.. The platforms are guarded around the out er side by a rail, and are large enough for the family to lodge upon. They thus serve at once the purposes of a habitation and a sentry-box, from which the hunters may keep a look out for walrus and seals. Fires are kindled on them, and all the ordinary affairs of life are pursued often at a height of a hundred and fifty feet above the ocean swells, which thunder on the rocks beneath. Not even a bird, a bank swallow or an eagle could have a more airy habita tion. Like the eagle, the King's Islanders have placed their eyries on the cliffs, to serve as lookouts for their prey. The oddity of these singular habita tions does not end here, however, since these platform houses are but the sum mer abode of the hunters. The winter houses are even more remarkable. To escape the winter storms the islanders have excavated caves in the shattered and. seamed basalt-in many cases caverns of considerable depth and size. During eight months of the year these cave dwellings constitute comfortable retreats from the inclem ent weather and also serve as store houses for the rude wealth of the fam fifty such cave-houses, corresponding to the number of families and to the platforms-of summer. In some cases the platform-house is at the mouth of the cave-house, so that the shift from. summer to winter quarters can be easily and speedily effected. It is difficult to conceive of the character of such a life, on the face of a crag, with the ocean surges beating far below, and the open sky all around. What must be the thoughts and ideas of a child, born and nurtured amidst such strange surroundings! Youtk's Companion. THE CHINESE ARML. Good Material, But Undisciplined ad Badly Organized.. "I see that some of the people who have been recently in China credit that nation with considerable improvement of late in military matters," says an army officer who has traveled some what extensively in the Flowery King dom. "There would have to be.won siderable more improvement than, seems likely to occur, however, before the army would ever be entitled to a high standing in a military point of view. I am not speaking of fighting. The Chinese certainly fight well There seems to be a total indifference. to death and danger on the part of as Chinaman that comes, I suppose, from their fatalism and their peculiar re ligious views. "But in the art of war, as the civil ized nations understand it, they are away behind the Caucasian race, and I don't see how, under Chinese customs, they can ever catch up. Take the one exercise of markmanship. They have; competitive matches, to be sure, but,. while the poorer marksmen are pun-, ished, the best are rewarded with only: the same kind of a square'silver medal, that Is worn by a General's dog. "The pay of the rank and file is tol erably large measured by the standard: of wages in the country, but the men. are paid very irregularly, and serious trouble on that account occurs not in-: frequently. 'The officers are unedu cated, and are willing generally to act. as menials for their superiors in the hope of promotion, which depends on oaprice. They are generally dissipated, idle fellows. given to opium smoking in spite of the regulations which for bid it. The non-commissioned officers are hardly distinguishable from the. privates. The soldiers are employed: for various duties other than military and are badly armed. The Govern ment has procured costly weapons, such as repeating rifles, but these are not kept in good order, and the waste fulness and official corruption of the Government has impaired the spirit of the army as it has every thing else I ever saw in China."-N. Y. Mail and Ezress.__ -A fellow went to Newport for his health-to pick up a little-and picked up enough to send him to State prio