Fort Mill times. (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, October 13, 1910, Image 10
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HOW WE PUNISHED 1
THE SIOUX. I
By BUFFALO BILL. 9
"The only way to fight an Indian
Is to be more of an Indian than he
Is."
This was my answer to Gen. N. A.
Dudley when he asked my advice
about his great Sioux campaign of
1H74. You shall seo how successfully
we followed that advice.
Gen. Dudley was In command at
Kort McPherson, Nebraska. It was
It. the early spring of 1874. The
Sioux were on the warpath and had
h< <>n murdering the ranchmen, burning
small settlements, and otherwise
discouraging pioneers front coinlnn
\\ est.
1'he Hloux were clever In choosln ;
tn r time, for the spring flood i
wire out, and this made pursuit almost
Impossible. We located them
on the opposite side of the Platte
Kiver from us. The usually shallow
stream was a roaring torrent.
'1 lie fords were Impassable. The
bridges were swept away. No horse
could swim the river. Yet there wu
wore, helpless on one bank, while the
tS'oux were plundering at will on the
other. That was the situation.
Knowing tho country and Indian
customs,. 1 was pretty sure where tho
Sioux had their camp. It was on a
fresh water lake about thirty mllei
from the Platte. If we could str'k"
and smash that camp they would go
pelting hack to their agency on tho
Jump. But how to get to it.
Ordinarily, a bridge spanned a
bianch of tho stream In almost a
straight line from the place. But
when we got to the place we founo
It gone. 1 scouted alons shore.
About ten miles down stream 1
found r crazy footbridge that hac
Jield In spite of the freshet. It had
held because the waters foun 1 outlet
beyond each end of It. The br'dgu
was made of boards nailed across
fallen tree trunks. RlRky footing
for man. Never Intended for horsj.
Yet our only other chance was tf
ride for more than fifty miles south
to a place where a stronger bridgi
had once Btood. If that were stll.
t hPTO wn mi r? h *? 1 -
? ? v !! ?, ii i ci una. ll WOH1G
nu-an at host a ride of a hundred
miles before we eonid conn to s
point on the other hank opposite to
^ here 1 now stood. Then Jnrty
miles more to the Indian ctffnp.
Dong beTore that time the Siou*
would have been warned of our coming
and got safely away.
So, in despnir, 1 put my horse ai
the crazy footbridge. It wabbled
and heaved, and the waters swerved
up to its highest boards. A nasty
onngerous trip it was but I made it
Tnen 1 recrossed and reported tr
Gen. Dudley.
1 tolt' him 1 belioved he could get
his troopers across if the men went
single llle and slowly, and if eat I"
horse were ridden with lo??. e rein. A
prairie horse. If his rider doesn't try
to guide him. has an instinct lot
picking the safe spots.
At midnight we started across. I
went Hrst. The men gave the'r
norses free rein and the surefooted
beasts picked their way along that
perilous, swaying, flood-swept foot
pnth as daintliy as minuet cancers
One hy one the 300 riders, drencher
and muddy, reached the ?nr bank
Only one horse bad fallen olT. Hit
rider had tried to guide him. H
reached tne shore by swimming and
went bark to the tort.
We rode all night. As we nearer
the Indian ramp I went ahead nga n
Dudley forbade his men to spenk oi
even to strike a match.
Dismounting 1 crawled forwari
and came upon thj whole vil ag?
fast asleep. Back 1 went with 1113
renort hut ??-. ?i<u??
.... ..w w.iv DV/IUKI s laillt' U I
at dawn a few Indians had awaken
eo. Their dogs scented ua am
barked. Ill nn instant the Sioux weron
their feet and scattering over til*
plain. 'I he speed with which Indian
can get up and scatter would amuz
a flock of quail. We charged, sweep
Ing through the village and after ih
fugitives.
Hefore the bugles sounded the re
call we hid killed thirty-two of ?ht
escaping savages. Then we ha tec
to eat and to rest our horses. Tnk
lng up the pursuit again we caugh
up with the main band Just before
dawn. Hofore they could scatter w?
put fourteen more Sioux families in
to mourning.
Hack rushed the remainder tt
their agoncy. They had had enough
of fighting to last them a long tune
And the lesson we had given then
by "out-lndlanlng" them had morefToet,
1 think, thnn the fcrty-llv?
braves we (lowjed.
Our Real Army.
No nation ever did or ever can
maintain at all times a standing
army sufficiently great to defend itself
against all other powers The
strength and the dependence of every
government Is In her citizen soldiers,
and Is In exact proportion to their
bravery and effectiveness. The
"State Militia" or "National Quae*"
In our own country?the Auxiliary
Keaerve in Kngland. the l,nndwehr
and the Landsturm In Oermany?
stand behind and form the great military
reserve of ths regu ar armies of
these nations.?A-'my and Navy Life.
The estimated coat of a bridge over
tike Strait# of Dover Is 134,000,000^
PUNISHMENTS FOR PERJURERS.
Thrown Prom Cliffs, Branded with
Irons, Tongues Torn Out, Etc.
Perjury, besides being one of tbe
oldest offenses in the catalogue of i
crime, has always been very severely
punished. With the advance of civ- j I
llization, however, fiendish punish- {
ments have been replaced with more 1
Knmono If o 111 -i*' ??
? M.MUV, 11 ovin oo?cio jirnnuics.
In the days of the Roman empire . i
any one who committed perjury wm
thrown from a precipice, whilst the
Greeks branded their false swearers.
It la Interesting to note that when
the latter embraced the Christian religion
the punishment was altered
to that of having the togue cut out.
a sort of punishment wh.ch was considered
to Qt the crime in the early
centuries. i
In the middle ages some conn- 1
tries adopted the system of giving i
the perjurer the punishment for the i
crime he falsely accused another of. <
Thus if he swore a neighbor had i
committed murder, and the charge
was disproved, the perjurer would be i
sentenced to death, and the other
penalties of the penal code were ex- <
acted for the particular crime alleged.
The two greatest perjurers in the
history of the world were Titus
Oates and Arthur Orton, the Tlchborne
claimant. Oatee, who had
been dismissed from the ship ho was
serving on. turned lecturer, and.
finding that it did not pay, conceived i
the notion of inventing a popish plot
against the king, and reaping the
rewards that were always on offer
against traitors of the Roman religion
in England. ,
The story wns believed for a time |
and eighteen Catholics of rank were |
arrested and executed. Meanwhile (
the court conferred a lavish sum of j
money on Oates, who quickly hecame
the terror of everybody, for j
he had merely to point the finger of ,
suspicion at any one, to have that |
persort arrested.
However, he fell Into disfavor.
was himself arrested, tried for per- ,
jury and sentenced to imprisonment
for life. Refore entering the dun- ,
geon he was put in th^ pillory and ,
ifterwards public whipped all the
w?) from Newgate to Tyburn I
This extraordinary man. however,
had not reached the end of
Us career, for the accession of WI1- j
liam of Orange, once more brought
the Roman Catholic religion into disfavor.
and the perjurer was not only
released but a pension of $15 a week
for life was conferred upon him.
The Tichborne case, is. of course,
the beet known in the history of
English law, but some of its marvelous
features have not been emphasized.
How an uneduc.?teu man
could have hoodwinked a nether to
swear that he was her son. convince
a firm of astute lawyers of the same
fact, and, in short, obtain a following
of millions of persons, passes
human knowledge.
Fourteen 7ears' penal servitude
was a heavy price to pay for his
temporary success.?Tit-Bits.
The Marvels of Indian Magic.
A former French Chief Justice in
CLandermagaore. Jacolliot. gives an
account of several curious performances
that were displayed for his benfit
by a yogi named Bovblnda-Swami
on the terrace of his own house. Being
by no means credulous. Jacolliot
took every precaution to prevent deception.
Fine sand was strewn on
the ground in >rder to make as
e\ei a surface as possible. Jacolliot
was asked to stat himelf at a table
upon which ware a pencil and paper.
The fakir carefully laid a piece of
wood upon the sand, and announced
that whatever figures Jacolliot might
draw on the paper the piece of wood
would transcribe them precisely upon
the sand. The yogi stretched out
his hand, and the wooden piece im
mediately copied upon the sand the
most complicated and twisted figures
that Jacolliot drew. When the
Frenchman stopped writing the piece
of wood also came to a standstill.
The fakir stooo at a distance against
a wall, while Jacolliot laid the paper
and pencil in such a way that the Indian
could not possibly see what he
*as inscribing.?Harper's Weekly.
Chamois Maker is a Magician.
Most everybody uses chamoir. and
and everybody imagines it conies
from the graceful goats of the Swiss
alps. But St doesn't. It really
halls trom the cavernous depths of
tanneries of Peabody. in New England.
Peabody tanners make beautiful
leathers of sheep pelts. The
chamois maker is a magician of the
leather trade. To his doors he draws
sheep skins from the grent ranches
of Montana, or their possible future
rivals on th3 plains of Siberia, the
pampas of Argentine, or the ^elds of
A iiftirn lln 1 1 1
| aupu nuu. ?i o i / o iiiur hi ill u lllilB*
qnera.llng an brave Swiss chamois,
has a wonderful career.
Ten Tons of Diamonds.
Prodigious diamonds are not so
uncommon as Is generally supposed,
says Sir William Crookes In the
North American Review. Diamonds
weighing over an ounce (151.5 carats)
are not Infrequent at Kimherly.
I have seen In one parcel of
s'ones eight perfect ounce cystala
and one inestimable stone weighing
two ounces. The largest known diamond,
"the 'Culllnan.,, was found in
the new Premier mine. It weigna
no less than 3,0 25 -arats.
Not Really Ambitious.
The average man takes up so
much time talking about his ambition
that he has aot tlin to realize
pL?Atchlneon Qlobe. |
?v
THE HAPPY FARMER.
Many People Thin! He Has Nothing
To I)o but Enjoy Life.
A certain class of newspaper men
assert thnt a farmer is the most independent
man on earth, and that he
has nothing to do but enjoy life. That
when winter comes and the hllzzard'e
on the wing he toasts his feet in the
o.en and reads .Le local newspaper
and the only thins, that disturbs him
Is a banquet of mince piee and other
luxuries. It is a mistake. The industrious
farmer begins work long
hnfnro ?.? "
wvtv.v VIIC ouu IU111AS VI \iy.
With his aould shrouded in gloom
he proceeds to build a lire and soften
his boots with a sledge hammer. !
He then takes a lantern and shovels
his way to the barn and feedt the
h. gs. It is then time to feed the
newly arrived ?nlf, which seems to
delight in butting a pall of milk
over the tiller of the soil an.i he
only needs to he stamped to pass for
a package of oleomargarine. fie
crawls through a barb wire fence
and digs the hay out of the mow,
feeds the cows. cleans the
the Btable, gathers up the
frozen chicks. chases a stray
pig worth 25 cents, for four
miles and does not catch it. ("octors
a sick horse, freezes his flnge-s, gets
kicked by a one-eyed mule, and
v. hen the gloaming comes and quietness
broods over all the earth he
has a single half hour to meditate
and wonder how he will pr.y his
taxes.?Antwerp, N. Y., Gazette.
Heaven and Kansas Mixed.
Mabel, aged 4, had Just feturned
srith her mother from a visit to
triendB in Kansas. She was enthuastic
over her trip, it being the first
:lme she had ever been away from
lotne.
Upon being asked a question at
Sunday School the following Sunday
die was unable to answer and hung
ler head.
"Why, Mabel." said the teacher,
'where did your brother go when he
lied?"
Mabel looked up quickly. Her
yes brightened. "He went to Kanias."
she said.
"Oh, no." sa.d the teacher. "Didn't
he go to heaven?"
Mabel looked away in disgust.
"Oh, yes," she said; "1 always get
heaven and Kansas mixed."
Presence of Mind.
When Mr. Daniels wvni down to
the c'ub he left Mrs. Daniels with a
friend whoso abilities as a scandal
monger and misch'ef maker are preeminent.
When he returned he
Just poked his head into the drawing
room and said, with p sigh of relief.
"That old cat gone, I suppose?"
r or juhi an in.sx.ani mere was a
( ieadful silence, for as he uttered
the last word he eneountcie.1 the
stony glare of the lady who had been
Ir his mind. Then Mrs. Daniels
spoke quite calmly:
"The old cat?" she Bald "Oh,
yes, dear! I sent It to the cat's home
this morning!"?Tit-Bits.
Ills Falling.
"What an exasperating old miss
Rew Igious Is In the matter of borrowing
money!"
"Why, 1 thought he was well ixed.
t didn't suppose he ever had occasion
to horrow any."
Groat Scott! He doesn't. What I
mean is that it is exasperating to get
turned down every time you try to
borrow from him."?Chicago Tribune.
THE ENDLESS CHAIN.
Messenger?What's best after
eatin', Napoleon?
Napoleon?Cigaroot.
Messenger?What's the best after
cigaroot?
Napolean?-Eatin*.
In Chicago.
Mrs. Dearooru:?"What is that
hammer hanging outside of your
bureau?"
Mrs. Wabash:?"Oh, haven't you
ever seen that before?"
"No. I don't believe I have."
"Why. I cut a notch in the handle
every time I get a divorce."?Yonkers
Statesman.
Comforting.
Ella?I'm to he married to-mor
row and I'm terribly nervous.
Siella?I suppose there always la
a chance of a man getting away ?.p
to the last minute.?Brooklyt Life.
Times Have ChnngNl.
"Was Croesus a very rich man,
pa?"
"For his time he was, but to-day
be wouldn't be considered worth indicting."?Judge.
Laborers in an Ohio town picked
ip an empty nitroglycerine can and
isad it to heat water. Tea, you
L ueaaed right. It did.
CLUBS SHOW WEAPONS
Designed to drain Victim and Cut
Him Into Mince Meat.
Clubs were the weapons of primitive
and savage man. Aucieut specimens
from Mexico are beavy sticas
grooved along the side for the Insertion
of blade* of obsiuian?that is,
volcanic glass. The ciioux City is a
flat piece of wood, curving and widen
lug away from the grip and terminating
in a spherical head, which in
modern times carries a long spike,
while the blades of several butcher
knives are commonly Inserted along
the margin. The national museum ot
the United States possesses a .great
variety of these shocking weapons,
designed, as the frontiersmen say, to
"knock down the white man and then
to bruin him and cut him into mluce
meat." The Kiugbinill lsiauders and
ulucr i'olyuesiaus make dreadiul
slashing weapons by securiug rows or
iharks' teeth along a halt ot wood.
These weapons vary from a few
Inches to sixteen feet in length; and
it has been said that in all the range
of weapons devisea by mankind there
a nothing more blood-curdling to behold.
They show how the sword may
have been evolved from the club, even
by tribes unacquainted with the use
of metals. African weapons, again,
are exceedingly complicated, owiug
to the acquaintance of the uatlves
with iron. The standard club is converted
into a sort of tomahawk by the
addition 01 blades, or into a primitive
spear by the auuiuou 01 a
spud. The plain clubs in the African
area are used chiefly for throwing.
The small knobbed clubs, or "kerrles,"
such as are found among the
Ivallirs and other African tribes, are
generally used as missiles. Whereas
the club proper was -oon brought
to perfection among savage tribes,
and was long ago abandoned as a
weapon of civilized warfare, the missile?typified
by the thrown clubs, or
"kerries"?is still being improved upon
in boomerangs, bows and arrows,
crossbows and firearms. ? Chicago
News.
Squirrel Beat the Lightning.
The chipmunk does climb trees,
and that not rarely. His usual cry
may be represented as cheep, cheep.
Ills cheek pouches are very distensible.
1 have often removed as many
as ten or fifteen beechnuts lrom them.
Just how large a single thing he may
be able to tuck into them 1 cannot
?ay.
The red squirrel is a lively, destructive
ami pestiferous wretch.
There is no other animal of his inches
so full ot the devil.
Old Tom Weaver used to tell a
story that well illustrates the iinplshness
of the reu squirrel. One day
he was out in the edge of the clearing
when he heard red squirrel chattering.
screaming and whistling for all
he was worth. Weaver soon located
him in the tip top of a tall cottonwood
tree, lie was in high glee, twist
ing and turning and audaciously de
(ying '.he whole world.
A thunderstorm was approaching,
and soon out of a dark cloud a bolt of
lightning made directly for the tree
top where sat the squirrel. The red
Imp evidently saw it coming and he
darted down .lie tree, with the lightuing
after him. It was nip and tuck
is 10 which would get down first.
When within three or four feet of the
ground the squirrel gave a spring and
landed some distance from the foot
of the tree. The lightning went
straight into the ground.
"Chitter-r-r," said the squirrel.
"You don't catch me that time."?A.
vV. Adsto, in the New York Sun.
The Poker Only.
An old Scottish lady was being
closely cross-examined in court re
gurding a case ot assault, in which her
husband was alleged to have playeQ
a conspicuous part.
"And now, my good woman, tell the
court what sort of weapon it was your
husband struck you with."
"Who said h-> used a weapon?"
snapped the old irdy.
"You said so yourself when you
gave your husband in charge," ans
*\<-icu me ubiuiiisutiu lawyer.
"1 said nae sic ining, for the thing
tnai our John struck me on the heid
wi* was naething mair nor less th n
the poker." Afte: the laughter had
subsided the lawyer tried to show her
that it was not always well to call a
spade a spade. "Weel, weel," answered
the old lady, "ye may ca' a
ipade what ye lik \ but I'll mainteen
cae my deein' day that oor John
struck me wi' the poker, an' wl* naethleg
else." The old lady gained her
>oint~
Strategy.
"1 thought your bank wasn't going
to give any vacation ihis year?"
"It didn't intend to," replied the as
sistant cashier, brown from a long
outing, "but 1 pu' on an anxious look
and puttered over my books so long
Ibey insisted on my taking a rest."
"So they could expert your accounts?"
"Sure. And they found them In
loch elecant shane that when 1
itruck for a raise they had to give
it."?Philadelphia Ledger.
Carrier Pigeon Service.
8everal of the smaller Islands ol
New Zealand are without telegraphic
communication with the mainland. A
substitute has been found in carriei
pigeons. To send a message by a
pigeon costs twenty-five cents.
More Than Microscopes.
The human heart concerns us more
titan poring into microscopes, and it
*rger than can be measured by ch<
pompous figures of the astronomer.?
Stnsrsoa.
"OURS HOT HIT
Maraly a Chang of Words Wtll Solve
Earth's Problems.
"It Is mine!"
"1 tell you, you are mistaken; It la
mine!"
Divorce court.
Which is a terse way of putting tha
sad history of luauv >1 marriavH Uia.
agreement. over the things mine and
Untie ana tlie domestic misery that
follows.
The way to settle ^uch a disagreement
is for both parlies to say, "it
<s ours!"
Because of tbe struggle for utino
and thine tbe records of history ais
ml led in blood, nations have fallen,
barriers of hatred have been ratsed,
brother has lought brother. Envy, dissension
and dtvision have come be
cause men have contended lor that
which is not theirs, but "ours."
Organized bullishness in our uay
has manifested itseif in the great corporation
spiders that have spread
their webs far and wide, controlling
the avenues of approach, watching tor
victims with their many-faceted eyes,
gathering to themselves what is not
theirs, but "ours."
The world Is "ours."
Sky and earth ours.
Sunshine and shade outb.
Flowers and birds ours.
Fruits and fertile fields?ours.
And the Master of us 4.11 taught us
to pray, "Our Father."
Eadies and gentlemen: Everywhere
is Utvuoi tuis uuciu.it ol ours .11
the family, city, state, nation, world.
The solution of all earth's problems
Is wrapped up in the one saying
"Everything i? ours."
Models of British Ships.
Parafllne wax models of all proposed
British battleships are used by
the Admiralty for tests before the
keels of the ships are laid down, the
miniatures oeing tested in a great
tank. The models are from twelve to
twenty-four feet long, the tank being
four hundred feet long and twenty
feet wide. The models are made of
wax because it is a material which
does uot absorb water or chauge its
weight, so that alterations can he
easily made, and the material can be
uk-1 ted up <u>d used again. The American
naval authorities also have
models of their hulls constructed, but
these are much more elaborate than
the British, being formed of white
pine and tittea with rudders, false
kels, propeller shafts and all et cuter
as.
A Gunpowder Magazine.
Alore than a quarter of a century
has passed since Ned Kelly, the "ironclad
bushrangei of Australia," to
quote the title of a popular penny
dreadful, was hanged in the Melbourne
Jail. The northeastern district
of Victoria, which lie once terrorized.
uud which a humorist of the
period called "Kellifornia," is now
largely opened up and occupied by
farmers, according to "The Indianapolis
News." One of them received a
shock the other day. lie was burning
off some of the uense brush en his
land, when suddenly there was a tremendous
-xplosiot., and a giant gum
tree, nearly three hundred feet high,
was scattered into space. The Kelly
gang had hollowed out a portion ot
the trunk and usee it as one of their
secret receptacles for the storage of
gunpowder.
Human Life Sacrificed.
In ancient times the great engineering
works were costly in human lives.
The making of the Red Sea canal is
said to have Involved the loss of 110
man one nunurea anil twenty
thousand Egyptians. Buckle's cxami
nation made liim believe the number
to have been somewhat exaggerated,
but he gives it as still a guide to the
enormous waste of human life in those
days. The men who kept two thousand
slaves engaged for three years
bringing a singl stone from Eleplian
tine to the Pyramids did not care a
great deal so long as in the twenty
years in which one of the pyramids
was building there were forthcoming
the 360,000 men required for the
work.
The Finest Wood.
French walnut is the finest wood
that comes to this country. It comes
from Persia, but is prepared in
France. Its price has been as high
as $8 a pound ana as low as $2 a
pound. It is used principally for veneering,
for only the very wealthy
could afford to have chairs and la
bles of solid French walnut. Ma
1 hogany, wonde-ful as it is, rarely
brings such high prices. From $2 to
$3 a pound is a very good price for it
Ebony, if it is in a particularly largo
! piece, so that it will cut well, will
raft on hrino tw n r?r*n?>/l ?? * K a
wn.v.M i'i inf, f>' c* i'wiuiu ill luo r* uuu
market.
Lighthouse Moved.
; The feat of moving a lighthouse
without taking 't apart or dismantling
it in any way has recently been accomplished
at Ashtabula. The range
i light, weighing sixty live tons, .and
I standing sixty five fee' high, was
i placed on a lighter and towed along
the river, a distance of 7C.0 feet, and
then successfully placed on a new
site. It was raised by ths use of
f Jacks and moved on rollers to and
s from the lighter. Guy ropes held it
k in position while moving.
l Old Custom Survives.
In olden times, when a knight entered
a company of ladies, he removed
his helmet, to indicate that he conJ
sidered hirasel* among friends, and
? that there was no need to protect
> himself. This practice has survived
- in the custom of raising th i hat when
saluting a lady.
1
WHICH B THE HEWIEBT
Does a Pound ol Lead or a Poumf of
Feathers Weigh More?
The favorite question with the
school committee men of olden time
was. we are told?"Which Is the
heavier, u pouuu of feathers or a
pound of lead?' The lirst rash answer
used almost always to be, "A
pound oi lead. Then, of course,
Iroiu the older pupils would come the
reply, "Both alike."
If this question were asked to day,
the old-time querist might receive a
decided surprise, lor tne pound of a *
feathers could earily be proved to be *
the heavier. A simple experiment is
all the evidence needed.
With any accurate scales weigh out
a pound of lead, using oruinary shot
tor convenience, l'our the shot Into
one ol Lhc pans of a bulance. For the
lea t tie lb a light muslin bag will bo
tteuued, anil tare uiubt be taken that
leaders and bag together do uot
weigh more than a pound. When the
bag ot features is put iuto the other
pan of the balance, the beam will,
alter a few oscillations, come to rest
exactly level.
So iar the verdict "Both alike"
seems to be proved. But place the
balance 011 the receiver of an air
pump, with lead aud feathers tindlsturbed.
Cover the whole with the
glass oell jar, and exhaust the air.
Slowly the feathers sink, and the
lead kicks the beam. The pound of
feathers is heavier than the pound of
ICild
1 he truth is llml what we called a
pound was uot such iu fact; for the
atmosphere buoys up everything within
it 111 proportion to the bulk of the
object, and the feathers being of a
greater hulk thau the lead are supported
by the uir to a considerably
greater extent than the lead. Removed
from the supporting medium, their
true weight is made evident.
Charles Headc propounded a similar
Question in one of his novels. A Jewish
trader is made to ask. "Which is
the heavier, a pound of feathers or
a pound of gold?" After awhile he
explains to the satisfaction of his
audience ot aimers that the feathers
are the heavier.
Cold, he explains, is weighed by
troy weight, while feathers are
weighed by avoirdupois; aud as the
twelve ounces 111 a pound troy contain
only live tbcusand seven hundred
i.ud sixty grains, wnile the avoirdupois
pound contains uearly seven
thousand grains, the pound of feathers
is, of course, twuive hundred and
lorty gralus heavier than the pound
of enld
Nicavaguan Customs.
Among the uianx old customs of
Nicaragua, those relating to the dead
are the weirdest to the stranger. Soma
of these have been handed down by
tradition from the Indians, others
were brought over by the Conquerors
- and the two are so blended that it
is dillicult to tell which predominates.
As soon as the medico pronounces
one's illness fatal word is
sent to the village padre, who prepares
to administer the last sacraments
of the church to tho dying persou.
Placing the consecrated wafer
in the custodia?a vessel of solid gold
or silver, often resplendent with rare
jewels?a procession is formed and
marches through the street. A small
boy ringing a bel' rushes ahead to announce
the aproach of the sacred
presence, and after him follows a
band of music, often a single violin,
playing a dirge, li it be possible to
secure any soldiers, they surround
lite padre, who, dressed in brilliaut
vestments, is generally carried in a
chair, over which four men hold a
purple canopy. As the little cortega
moves down tne silent streets, every
one bares his nead and kneels, making
the sign of the cross until th?
last soldier has passed. Woe to the
sacrilegious stranger who falls to
show tins mark ol respect, and many
have been the instances where foreigners
/ere pulied from their horses
and even stotiea fo? neglecting to follow
this tin. -uonored custom.
Degraded Indians.
The last uiau . the Santa Barbara
Island was deported in 18f>3. Our
knowledge of these extinct Indians off
the California coast is derived from
the accounts ol the early voyagers,
from the missionaries who subsequently
settled on the islands, and
from the remains n. /heir refuse heaps
and the skulls and skeletons whicu
have from time to time been collected.
Some of the islands probably at
one ii..1 niid population approach
ing one thousand each, but In 1823
only about nine hundred were left on
Santa Barbara and Bit neighboring
islets; and by i875 ail had disappeared.
Although they manufactured a
certain number of domestic utensils,
these Santa Barbara Indians are described
by the missionaries as the most
degraded of all human beings, with a
morality lower than that of animals.
insects, especially firasshoppers, formed
a portion of their food, also probably
the larger varieties of earthworms.
The Smallest Book.
What is said to be the smallest
book ever printed has just been published
at Padua. Italy, by Salmin
Brothers. It is ten by six millimetres
In size, and consists of eighty pages,
each page con'aining nine lines
ninety-five to c ne-hundred that despite
their diminutive size, are pepfectly
visible. The book reproduces a
hitherto unpublished letter, Galilei'r
to Christina of Lorena (1615).
Stair Climbing Strength.
It takes eight times the strength to
go upstairs that is required for the
same distance on the level.
'