The free citizen. (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1874-1876, October 16, 1875, Image 2
S. A. WEBSTER. Editor and Proprietor.
VOLUME IT. ORANGEB?RG. SOUTH CAROLINA. SATURDAY, OCTOBER Ki, 1875.
A Weekly Paper Devoted to Temperance, Literatur? and Politi?
NUMBER 10,
TIMELY TOPICS.
THK clay pits mar New Brunswick,
N. J., yield annually wine 2.1."),duo uins
ol'clay, worth over $1,000,000.
Tm: Phoenix Cotton Factory, near
Baltimore, on the Northern Central Bail
way, was sold" ninler the hammer, last
week, l'or sic?.uno. Besides the mill
proper, the sale included machinery, tene
ment and storehouses, and 1M(> { acres of
ground.
Tnt". British Airlie expedition will
winier at a point only loll geographical
miles from the north pole, and the explo
rers expect to start upon their important
mission in April. All that, science and
experience can suggest has been done to
make this expedition a success.
RXi'EKl.MKNTfi prove that codee can he
raised iii every positon of California where
the soil is congenial. California plants
produce twenty-two shoots, whiie those
td' Europe produce hut one. Thc Cali
fornia soil is believed to he more favor
able, as, unlike those of European coun
tries, it needs no irrigation.
MOKE stoves arc annually manufac
tured, by a single Albany finn, than are
made in France ami England combined
for thc same period. They employ i??O
men and a half million of capital, and
their business last year amounted lo
$1,(1(10,(100. They are running to their
fullest capacity to till orders, foreign and
domestic.
PENNSYLVANIA has passed a new law
to cover cases of abduction like that ot
Charlie Boss. The law imposes a tine
not exceeding live thousand dollars, ami
imprisonment at hard labor not exceed
ing fifteen years, on conviction of com
plicity in harboring, or concealing, or en
ticing away, any child, either within or
without that commonwealth.
THE population of the original thir
teen states of the Union h'i-1790, thc
period of .the first census, together ivith
that of Maine,"Vermont, TC?i?fifolcyiand
? Tennessee, which w?fe formtjd* 'fto?ti'^t?i?
original thirteen, ami admitted* to the
Union subsequent to 1700, was only
3.929,214. Tlie population of tho same
slates, in 1870-our last census-was 10,
070,800; showing a gain of 10,041,195
from 1790 to 1X70.
PETltOLEUM and arson are not the only
enemies of the Underwriters. Sparks
from a lighted pipe have caused lite de
struction of many a superb steamboat,
causing a fearful loss of life, as well as of
valuable cargoes. A gentlemanly smoker,
who throws down a cigar st ump carelessly,
is often the " unknown cause " of many
fires. Cannot insurance companies de
vise greater care in this matter, and thus
avoid many heavy losses?
THK .Sinthern Pacific railroad is meet
ing with much opposition. The change
of guage, according toa report just made
to the Memphis chain her of commerce,
cuts Kentucky. Tennessee, Arkansas,
North Mississippi, Virginia ami Mary
land, out of all diance to n participation
in its ad vantages. But can that he justly
called a Southern Pacific railroad which
excludes two-thirds of thc population of
the Southern states from all participation
in its benefits ?
IT appears fron: a statement just issued
by the Statistical Bureau that in the fis
cal year ending June, 1874-tho last,year
of which tho Bureau has made up full
returns-that ?mr domestic exports
amounted, in specie value, to over $569,
500,000. For the samo period of the pre
vious decade, that ending .Tune .'JO, 1864,
the special value of the exports was but
$768,5000,000-an increase of more than
three-fold insten years.
FflOM thc discussions ol' the Associa
tion ol' the Boards of Trade in England,
we gather the pregnant fact, that not
withstanding the balance of trade with
the world at large is in favor ol' Eng
land, it yet frequently happens that gold
is exerted to meet balances against her
at particular periods. Another fact is
also demonstrated, ?md that is. that gold
is a commodity which goes where it is
needed, and where it will bring the best
P"<*c- _
THE state railroad tax assessors of
Tennessee have just completed their la
bors at Nashville, under the law, just
enacted, which makes railroads liable to
a tax for both state and county purpose*.
Thc railroads were all allowed to choose
between being taxod IA per cent, on
t heir gross earnings or 40 cents on the
$100 on the assessed value of their prop
erty lying i" the state. Nine embraced
the former proposition, including the
Memphis and Char?fes?on, while fourteen
refused the li per. cont, alternative
gome denying ute right of tho state to
VMS their roadfli It ie estimated that the
laxes derived from all lines of railroad
in Tennessee will aggregate $100,000.
Tm; arguments in favor of a Southern
Cacilie railroad, of proper gauge, may he
briefly stated, as follows: Such a road
can only lie built with government aid;
lie government need not risk anything
in granting thc aid required to build it;
it can he built at less than a third of the
expense of the existing liue, ?uni eau be
operated proportionately moro cheaply ;
it will furnish milch the shortest transit
across the continent; it will not be liable
to the snow and ice barriers of Hie nort h
ern route; it will open the best, part ol'
our western territories and states to set
tlement: it will increase loreign immi
grai ion and attract foreign capital ; and,
finally, it will be ol' incalculable advan
tage to the trade interests of the whole
country -by breaking up a formidable
monopoly, and greatly reducing J he cost
.1 transport?t ion between the eastern
ami western divisions of the continent as
well as between tho Atlantic and Pacifie
oceans.
OHE sources ol' wealth, says the New
York Exprew, are remarkable. The
poid and silver products of the. United
States in 1874 waa $72,000,000. Of this,
California furnishes 820,300,000, Nevada
$30,452,000, Utah $5,000,000, Colorado
$4,191,000, Montana $3,489,000, and
Idaho $1,8SO,000. Nearly all ?if this
went abroad to pay for imports. Gold
and silver, adds the editor, are au im
portant source to wealth; hut compar
ing their yield with sonic other produi ts,
the mistake is found. Thc United
Stales corn crop is wortli four times :is
much as the gold and silver crop, and
the wheat crop five times as much ; the
cotton crop more than three times as
much, and the hay crop lour times as
much. California, with all its poid
would be a poor state but for its wheat
crop? Carlysle is right. Let us plant
potatoes and corn, by all means, and do
not busy ourselves too much digging for
gold. _____ . -
THE report of the Massachusetts bu
reau of statistics shows that the annual
surplus earnings of the families of me
chanics, as indicated by the earnings of
.'{97 families, is $24.72; of these 497 fam
ilies, ?S ran in debt, 92 earned a surplus
of $9.86, lit) a surplus of $20.20, 71 a
surplus of $32.48, 3* a surplus of $57.77,
1(5 a surplus of $49.01, 4 a surplus cl
?lO?.Hn, 4 a surplus of $129:35, li a sur
plus of $172, and 1 a surplus ol $228.70
and of $27?.8(J. The wages of two fam
ilies were over $1,600, (54 between $900
and $1,(500, and 331 from $300 to $1,000.
The average earnings of the whole were
?7(52, and the average expenses $738. ( If
2?0 families, however, the seale pf wages
ranged from $500.to $800, with a propor
tionate scale of expenses, leaving an
annual average surplus of $5.13 to $20.25*
Only one workman in a hundred owns
the house in which his family resides.
THE failure of the Bank of California
is now known to have been precipitated,
in large part, by thc unprecedented ship
ments of gold from San Francisco from
January to July. Thc shipment of gold
for thc first six montlisof 1874 footed up
$2,311,400; for the same period in 1875,
it. reached the startling sum of $18,207,
400! No such amount of gold had ever
beeil shipped from that city in the Maine
period. In fact it was more than thc
market could liear. Even during the
London panic in 1806, no such volume
of coin disappeared. Hence the incon
venience. But thc coin movement bo
gan to fall off in July, and has been still
less this month to date.
PERIODS of financial depression, arnott nt
ing sometimes Lo panics, have pervaded
all nations. Of thc cause no satisfactory
solution can be made. For more than
I wo years past England has been subject
to this depression. It seems to be
greater now than at any previous time.
Heavy and disastrous failures have ad
ded to thc trouble, ?md hence capital is
unnecessarily cautious, and thereby a
great existing evil, without apparent
cause, has been great ly aggravated. The
same state of things, toa considerable ex
tent, exists on the continent.
? . A I,ATI: London letter gives this report
of tlie. condition of monetary affairs
there : "The official minimum is atil 2 jier
cent., and in open market the best billa
are taken at 1J to J J per cent. The
supply of money seeking employment is
very large, and there is but little pros
pect of any diminution. There ie just
now, owing to thc timidity of the public,
a great demand for sound dridend-pay
ing securities. These have been forced
np in value to a point which yields to
tho investor but a small return of inter
est ; but as safety is every consideration
i with the public, it is nccessai y to Ix;
content with small profits. Among these
;
ure United States government and iir.it
mortgage railroad bonds. These are
quoted at high prices. S?coriU-rn?e se
curities cheap and much neglected.
THK president ?if the. Continental in
surance company of New York, in a con
vention of insurance men held last week,
jinnie the astounding statement, thal the
losses Of insurance companies in this
country are six times greater than in j
England; that in his own company, he
thinks twenty percent, of the losses paid
are for fraudulent claims, saying nothing
of claims that are fraudulent and not
paid ; that legislatures often do all they
eau to help swindlers of insurance com
panies; thal the law courts "generally"
strain the law in favor of incendiaries,
and that the honest part of the com
munity hus to make up for those bur
dens on the coin patties. This cannot be
said to form an agreeable picture for
contemplation.
THK consumption of Brazil coffee in
this country is enormous. During the
season of 187-1 it was 10.3,751 tons, or au
average of 8,64ti tons per month. This
waa the largest consumption ot Brazil
coffee in the United States that was ever
known, with thoexception of that of 1870,
when 108,502 tons were consumed. ' Thc
coffee trade is now on ti firm
footing, and the consumption stead
ily increasing, especially in this ?oun
: try, where it is about one-fourth
of that of the entire world. It is worthy
of note that thc world's consumption of
coffee is nearly, if not fully, 4*25,000
tons, or '.)it5,00O,000 pounds! The people
of the United States consume more coffee
than any other people on the gloltc. The
main source of coffee, supply is Brazil,
but Java, Ceylon, and the West Indies
furnishes a considerable quantity. The
yearly value of thc coffee crop is esti
mated, by an Amsterdam authority, at
first hands, at $125,000,000, .and this
amount is considerably reduced before it.
flows back from the consumer.
THK September report of thc deparat
mcnt of agriculture says of the cotton
crop:- Could it be thorough-ripened, its
aggregate would exceed any previous
crop,and the yield per acre would be one
of the best, notwithstanding the losses
by the overflow of bottoms and the
saturation of heavy flat soils. Such
losses have proved less than the usual
damages by drongtli and insects, .while
thc raina have greatly benefitted thc
crops on drier and higher sails. Nearly
t everywhere corn is late in maturing front
one ti? two weeks. In general a high
condition is still maintained, the average
being one per cent, higher than in
August. The state averages are:
Maine ----- 107 New Hampshire - loo
Vermont ----- os.Massachusetts - - MW
Connecticut - - - 108'New York - - us
New Jersey - - IlllPennsylvania - ins
Delaware - - - 1001 Maryland - - - .ins
Virginia - - - I eJ|North Carolina - inf.
South Carolina - - 87|Georgia - - - Ul
Florida .... sa!Alabama - - - - lin
Mississippi - - - 1161 Louisiana - - S3
Texas - - - - Sill Arkansas - - - - Uti
Tennessee - - - - It-liWesI Virginia - - in
Kentueky - - - UKItOhio -. U7
Michigan - - - - 101 Indiana - - - - sa
Illinois .... II.Y\Visconson - - - - ito
Minnesota - - - "'.''Iowa - - - - wi
Missouri - - ? tn Kansas - ... mu
Nebraska - - Kl California - - - S."?
Oregon ... - UKI
DIRECT Trade with South America,
from Southern ports, is certain sooner or
later to bc accomplished. At the present
time there is no regular and reliable com
munication with Venezuela, and hence
they are uaw importing steam engines
from England. Our hold upon Brazil
has sensibly diminished since thc failure
of a Baltimore finn that was engaged in
exporting provisions and manufactures
thither in exchange for Brazilian coffee
and other products. This circa instance
will result favorably to the ollbrts of the
Mississippi Valley Company iiicstablish
Direcc Trade, in that portion of t he world.
Their ships will have the. advantage, too,
of a shorter distance from New Orleans
to South America, and all the. gains of
interior wutercommunication. Even the
Philadelphia North American confesses
that the interests of the people of the en
tire country will he directly or individ
ually benefited by Direct Trade between
Southern |K>rts and South America, the
enterprise hoing really National and not
local.
THE SECRET or HEALTH.-M. Robing,
au eminent French chemist, announces
to the French Academy of Medicine Iiis
belief that life exists only in combusto?
which occur* in our bodies-like that
winch takes place in chimneys-leaves a
detritus which is fatal to life. To re
move this, lie would administer lactic
iteid with ordinary food. This acid is
known to poHsesB tho power of removing
or destroying the intrttstntions which
form on the arteries, cartilages, and
valves of the henrtj and, as buttermilk
abounds in such acid, and is, moreover,
an acceptable kimi of food, ?ts habitual
use, it js urged by M. Bobing, "will free
the system from these cnuse:- which in
evitablv cau?c death between the seventy
fifth and ODO hundredth year.
MAN NOT I)K(? KN KU ATI Nt?.
rite ?Modera Ktr.V|l(llll1 UH Kit; MM 111?
lilian ul 'iii mi-..mils ol' Vi-ars Also,
lin- Hoiliit, KiisllNhiiinii Kiifgei'
'limn Ills Aii?-?s<oi-?.
There never was a delusion with les* evi
lencc for it. ex copi a permanent iinpre.s
.ion among mankind, which is often the
.csu lt. not nf accumulated experience,
nit of an ever renewing discontent with
.he actual .state of things. There is not
ihe slight's* evidence anywhere that man
?vas ever lugger, stronger, swifter, o
nore enduring under Inc saine cundir
ions of fond and climate than he is now.
As to the bigness, the evidence is pos
itive. Modern Egyptians are as big as
the mummies who were conquerors in
their day, and modern Englishmen sire
lugger. Then' are not in existence a
thousand coats ol' armor which au Eng
lishman regimen) could put on. Very
few moderns can use ancient swords, he
cause tho hilts ?ire too small for their
hands. Endless wealth and skill wert!
expended iii picking gladiators, omi
there is no evidence that a mau among
them was as hig or as strong as Shaw.
No skeleton, no statue, no pictures, in
tlicates that men in general were
bigger. The .lews of to-day are as largo
?ts they were in Egypt, or larger. The
people of the Homagua have till the
hearing and more than the size of the
Hornau soldiery. Nb leal is recorded ns
usual with Greek athletes which English
acrobats could not |jcrforih now.
There is no naked savage tribe which
naked Cornishmen or Yorkshiremen
could not strangle. No nice exists of
which a thousand men similarly armed
would defeat au English, or (.{orman', or
Russian regiment of equal numbers.
Nothing is recorded of our forefathers
here in England which Englishmen
could not do, unless it ht; some feats of
archery; which were the results ufa long
irai liing of the eve continued for genera
tions. The most, civilized and luxurious
family that ever existed, the European
royal casts, is physically as hig, headily,
and as powerful as any people of
whom we nave any account that science
can accept. Theirs' French man in
ptesaf's Gaul in all hoddy conditions,
and with an increased power of keeping
alive, which may he partly owing to
improved conditions ot living, hut is
probably owing still more to developed
vitality. There is no evidence that
even the feeble races are feebler than
t'.iv-been inc after Llielr first acclimatiza
tion)
The bengalee was what we know him
twelve hundred years ago, and the Ulli
namen was represented on porcelain
just ax he is now before the birth of
Christ. No race over uni I ti plied like
the Anglo-Saxon, which has had no ad
vantage of climate, and till lately no
particular advantage ol' food. Physical
condition depends on physical condi
tions, and why should a race better led,
hi tter clothed, and better housed than it
iver wa.- before dejgenerato I Because, it
sats oom instead of berries? Compare
the California and the Digger Indian.
Because it wears clothes*.' Tho wearing
>f clothes, if burdensome-which thc ex
perience of army doctors i n India ns to
thc best costume for marching makes ex
cessively doubtful, they declaring unan
imously that breeehless men sillier from
varicose veins, as men wearing trousers
lo not-must operate as a permanent
physical training. You carry weight
Fialiitually. Because they keep" indoors?
Coin pare English professionals with Tas
manian savages, living in identically the
.ame climate, but living out ol'doors.
Tho conditions of civilization not only
lo not prohibit Capt. Wehl?, who would
linvf out-walked, out-swum, or strangled
my Herman that Tacitus ever romanced
iboiit, hut they enabled him to live to
seventy instead'ol'dying at forty-live, as
two thousand years ago he, then probably
i slave bred for the arena, would have
lour.
That the human race, even under ?.he
best conditions, advances very little in
phydcal capacities is true, hut then it is
I nm also that those conditions are not
fatal to the most powerful of the old im
proving forces, the survival of the titlest.
Still an advance is perceptible in vital
|H?w(r, and we question whether a Greek
swimmer would ever have crossed from
Dove: to Calais, just, as strongly as wo
question whether the ancient world ever
posse***(I a horse which would lum
iichierod a placent Epsom. Why should
men '.row feeble i;i civilization any more
than torses.-London Spectator.
Thc (nui in orchil l'rosperlt y of Prance.
A financial jolt mal publishes some in
formation respecting lue commercial s'u
ttation! of Prance before and since lb
war, tillich prove to a certain extent
what Macaulay said about no form ol
government hindering the march of.pro."
pcrity. Wealth iii England steadily in
creased under Elizabeth, .lames I
Charles. I, Cromwell, etc., nor haven jun
visional government lind-a republic prc
vented the development of the resources
of this country. The total commercial
movement, exports and imports, for 1871
(which will prove inferior to that of
1876) ?mounted to 7,f>,J.r?,7(i4,(K)(i francs
-say ?:*l)0,'*l*0,()00-exceeding that ol'
186U ls; about Kr?n,00l),000, when thc
Empire'was at the height of its prosper
ity, and when Alsace ?uni Lorraine he
longed to France. The railways are con
sequently doing a larger business. The
Western'line has improved ii,OOO francs
a mile; thc Northern, 7,000 francs
Lyons, 9,000 francs; th;- Eastern, 14,000
francs; the Southern, 10,900 fiancs. As
far as P.-Aris is concerned there are fewer
failli rcs, and the theatrical _ receipts
sign of luxury-show an increase i f
7,000,0041.francs over those ofel8li0. In
spite of restless jnolitieinni-? flood-* and
other partial disasters, there can be no
tlvjtlbfc U) m France lifts fcuthim- to wm
|>la?n ut', and tliiit she lins inure limn rc
covered that material welfare which is
supposed to have unnerved her under the
immoral ?iud luxurious empire. There
is. of eourscj a dark side tu this brilliant
picture mu alluded tu by the financial
writer, to wit. the extra burden- with
which t!ie country is saddled.
Deep Tilling; and I ndi r-Di ainiiig.
Intelligent ami observing tillers of the
soil in almost every oeetinn of the conn
try where the drouth has [irevailed to
any considerable extent during thc past
season, have been strikingly impressed
with thc surprising advantage to the
growing erops arising from thorough
drainage ol' heavy soils in connection
with deep tillage and abundant fertiliza
tion ol' lite seed-bed. W hen the water
line of a heavy soil that is disposed to lie
wet, is sunk by means ol' a system ol'
thorough nnderdraining, say thirty or
more inches beneath the surface ol' the
soil, if the seed-bed be broken tip deep,
the finely comminuted soil will retain a
much larger iiunntitv of moisture in
dry and liol weather than if there were
no undcr-drains. Astin- soil is deepened
hy under-draining ?ind deep plowing, thc
capacity to absorb moist ure from the at
mosphere is greatly augmented. Ilene??,
in a dry season, if the seed-bed bc bro
ken nil deep, the roots of growing plants
spread farther ill every direction I li rough
tlie soil : and as the mellow earth will
absorb a much larger quantity of moist
ure than if the cut ire st rata were one sol ld
mass, every growing plain is. in a great
measure, fortified against the trying in
fluences ol'hoi and e!rv weather. Under
draiiiing and deep ploughing, in numer
ous instances, have been the means ol'
saving large crops from utter ruin by
protracted drouth. I lenee, many farm
ers have been led to appreciate the ad
vantages ol' under-draining and deep til
lage where the soil was heavy, tis they
have never done before. It will pay well
to liuder-draiu wet html and to plow it
deep, whether the growing season is to
he too wet or too dry.
Dull Life in Portugal.
A writer on Portugal life says: The
huger of the country towns have streets
full of gentlemen's bouses, and here veg
etate front year to year families who are
just rich enqugli to live without working.
To live," Iiiileeu, as the Portuguese do in
such towns need cost lau little. A large
house, with a plot of cabbages,*a kan
yan! behind it; willi whitewashed walls,
tloors tinearpcted, a dozen wooden chairs,
one or two deal tables; no fireplace, not
even a stove, either in silting or bedroom;
no curtains lo the windows, no envers to
the table-, no pictures on thc walls, no
mirrors; no tables pleasantly strewn with
hooks, magazines, newspapers, and ladies'
work; no such thing visible as a put of
mit Howers; no ran- china, nu clocks, no
hrony.es-noni- of thc hundred trifles and
curiosities with which in our houses we
show our laste or want ol' it. hut which
Bittier way give such ?tu individual char
acter and charm to Knglish humes. All
these negatives describe the utterly
dreary habitations of the middle-class
Portuguese. Foroceupations the women
do needlework, gossip, go to mass daily,
?ind look out of window by the hour.
Kxccpt the one short walk to church at
fight o'clock in the morning, a Portu
iruese lady hardly ever appears in the
streets. A s to the men, they lounge about
muong the shops, they smoke inn?mera -
Ide naper cigarettes, they take a "siesta"
in th?- heat of thc day. If there is any
ut nsh i ne they stand in groups at the
street corners, with umbrellas over their
heads; in winter they wear a shawl over
lheir shoulders, folded and put on threc
cornerwis'e, ns a French or Knglish wo
man's shawl is worn- for this is a fashion
in Portugal, and the Spaniards laugh a
good deal at their neighltors on the score
:)f their being a nation who invert the
line order of things. In these towns
there is never any news, and if two men
arc seen in eager discussion nf some mat
ter of apparently immense importance,
ind if om- happens to bc near enough to
iverheilr the subject of conversation, he
?i'm that one ol' them is plunged in de
spair or killing with enthusiasm at a rise
ir fall of a half-penny in the price bf a
(mund of tobacco. There are not even
fashions for them to think about; young
men and old men dress alike, but tin
younger men wear exceedingly tight
hoots, iiml when they " take their walks
abroad" it is obvious that they do st) in
considerable discomfort. The young men
however, have one occupation more im
portant even than wearing tight boots
that of making the very mildest form ol
love known among them. The process
indeed, is carried on in so platonic a tuan
ncr and w ith so milch proper feeling that
I doubt if even thc strictest Knglisli
governess would find anything to object
to. Tin- young gentlemen pay their ad
dresses by simply standing in front of tin
housestiecupied by the objects of theil
affections, while thc young persons ?1
[|ll?stion look down approvingly front tin
II poer windows, arni there thc mattel
ends._
AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS.-A com pa
ny has been formed in Berlin which pro
poses to found at ('boa, thc most south
urn province of Abyssinia, a pcrmanen
settlement, in order tosend out Kcicntilii
expeditions into tin- unexplored porfi?!
nf Africa, and to develen the commerci
nf.the country. The objects of the com
puny are, however, supposed to be mon
commercial than scientific.
-Only nine ]>orsoiis out of a hundrct
are insane from hereditary causes. Tin
jim-jams finstance, are inure read-head
itary than hereditary.
MOODY and Snakey will (noan In
ward ly when they return to Chit Aro nm
lind tho Mibln bn?iabml ?'ivn? Hiv pUb)i<
FACTS AND FANCIES.
-A tree in Ceylon is said to huvc
been standing more than two thousand
years. The Buddhist priests sell it?
leaves as a panacea for sin, and it is a
real bonanza to those pious teachers.
- It is snit! that the game of chess was
invented by a tender woman, more than
two thousand years ago. She was a
(jileen, and played the first game with
the teeth sin? had extracted from one ol
her slaughtered enemies.
Hans Tam mer, an Austrian, is exhi
biting in Paris a canine quartet. He
has four ?logs, and he has taught each
dog to bark in two notes, and each dog's
notes are di li?rent from those of the
other dogs. He thus commands eight
notes, and gives " IJQ donne mobile"
and some other pieces.
- While a couple of women were dis
cussing, the other day, the merits of a
certain physician, one (d' them asked
the other what kind of a doctor he was,
.' Sure. I dunno," was the reply, "but I
think it's an alpaca doetor they call
him."
-Chateaubriand said, "Mme. Chat
eaubriand would not dine later thau
live. I was never hungry till seven.
But wc com promised and dined at. six,
so that we could neither of us enjoy it;
and that is what people call the happi
ness of mutual concessions."
-It will hardly !>e necessary to tell
the name of the facetious party who
went into a village ?Irv goods store tho
other day, and was observed to be look
ing about, when the proprietor remarked
to bim that they didn't keep whisky.
" lt would save you a good many s'?>ps
if you did," was the stage-driver's quick
reply.
-A tramping printer on the route be
tween New York and Newburgh, is ac
companied by his wife. When asked
the other ?lay by a country editor, why
he carted her around with him, re
marked that she took him for better or
worse, and. having had a good taste ot
the latter, was endeavoriug to i td out
where the better came in. t
-".lob printing?" exclaimed m old
lady, thc other day, as she peep over
ber*spectacle?, nt the advertising re of
a country paper, "Poor Job It ly'vo
kept bini printing, week after week, ever
since I In nit to rend; ami if ho-wjjjKs'*
the patientest man that ever was, he
never could have stood it so loni;, no
how!" *
- I was acquainted once with a gallant
moldier who assured me that his only
method of courage was this: Upon tho
first tire in an engagement he lmmedi
ttely looked upon himself as a dead
man. Ile then fought out the. reuiain
ler of the ?lay perfectly regardle . of all
manner of danger, as becomes a dead
niau lo be. S?> that all the life or limbs
lie carried back to his tent he reckoned
ts clear gain, or, as he. himself expressed
t. "so much ?nit of the fire."-Sterns.
How to Hold Fertility of the Soil.
Gypsum attracts. It is not only a ma
nure tn itself, but it attracts the atmos
phere that comes in contact with it,
which is abundant on windy days, but it
catches and holds the fertility of the
ground that in some soils escapes. Lime
will also ?lo this-sii will clay. Clay,
iriednrid powdered, is an encellent thing
to put on a barn-yard, or to cover a com
post heap with, or work through the heap;
lenee wc use gypsum or lime in our sta
des or privies. Gypsum is best; it has
the most attraction, besides other proper
ides. A little should be kept by every
larmer for use, even at high cost, as the
nenefit is sometimes more important than
the high price. But we waste our manure;
ive not only permit its strength to escape,
but we are glad to get it out of the way.
The same recklessness extends to the
land. It is well our land lins a good pro
portion of clay to hold its strength.
We must conserve. The time is not
tar distant when we shall bc compelled to
lo it. Already there arc symptoms of
lack in our soil; we donut rnise ns heavy
.:rops ns we used to-here and there a
fie hi, here and there a farm is less pro
btet ive. It is not so much that weneed
plaster here in thc west to hold the
strength of the soil, as to use it to ab
itract it from the atmosphere, and to
?ive the ammonia of our barn-yards and
stables. For this let. us always keep a
itt le on hand. Let us save and improve
mr manure and thus stive our farms.
Rural World.
Tm; FAST MAH, TRAINS.-A feeling
nts prevailed among commercial men
iince the establishment of the new fast
nail t rains that their interest? were being
tacriliced to those of the morning news
wipers by the post-office department.
The idea got abroad that mercantile tat
ers were delayed until morning,and that
die time of transmission to the west was
hereby increased instead of diminished
tnder the new arrangement. A numhor
if merchants and publishers of evening
?ewspapers met at No. 17 Brondway yes
terday, and Major Bangs addressed the
issemblagc, explaining the system of
railway service ol' the United States very
'tilly, and said that the etty could not
Kiss'ibly be better served than it is nt.
iresent. The morning train? from this
.ity had been arranged to catch most of
he through trains in the west. Ilms
?verything combined to render a lust
ivening train of no practical SyalUe.. In
-dunning thc new service all theso things
ind lieen carefully weight* , the principal
,bieet being to accommodate tlffo largo
?lies which arc the distributing agencies. .
Should any now considerations of un por
u?ee be Offered to the department Major
liaiiir? promised that care would bo taken
o Rive them thc attention ibey might