Aiken courier-journal. (Aiken, S.C.) 1877-1880, November 15, 1877, Image 1
>ji v
Peace.
it i ta»o* oHxjrxr.
•» • , - • -
The king on cumbered of hit crown.
In cot content, can lay it down ;
The bird far faring from her nest,
Some kindly spray may rook to rest
The lark led on through upper air,
At eve forgets his journey there ;
And th’ eagle's eyes on glories far,
Ere long recede from sun and star.
" The leaves which people lofty trees;
The snow—shed foam of th’ over seas ;
>JThe rain that rings along the sky,—
Together meet and lowly lie.
’ v < hon too, O Soul, striving to soar
' - 5ach flight beyond the flight before,
P Shalt, past the vexed years that yearn,
,-To hujjjbler haunts of Peace return.
—Scribner.
\
V
ilittl
s
V«I,. III. NO. 151.
OI.D NKUIKS. VOI.. VII. NO. ifot.
AIKEN, S. C., THURSDA
m-
re and Death.
^wther?” “A battle, my child,
ptgest lance may fail,
lest eyes may be beguilded,
V.-'toe stoutest heart may quaiL
^tere 5»e foes are gathered on every hand,
And rest not, day nor night,
$nd the feeble little ones must stand
* In the thickest of the fight.”
“What is Death, father?” “The rest, my
. andTitrt/o are o’er,
' of God, who, calm and mild,
need fight no more ;
r away the demon band,
LOf battle cease;
and spear from the falling
is an eternal peace.”
lie, father! I tremble and fear
i yield in that terrible strife. ”
lie crown must be worn for heaven, dear,
i the battle-field of fcifo.
ly child, tho’ thy foes are strong and tried,
He loveth the weak and small;
lie Angels of Heaven are on thy side,
And God is over all.”
The “Revue dcs Deux Moucles” con-
is several “ Incidents in the War of
Mexican Independence,” from which
re select the following thrilling scene.
IA captain in the insurgent army is giv
ing an account of a meditated night
attack upon a hacienda, situated in the
Cordillera, and occupied by a large force
i&nish soldiers. After a variety of
details, he continues :
Having arrived at the hacienda nn-
perceived, thanks to the obscurity of a
moonless night, wo came to a halt under
some large trees at some distance from
the building, and I rode forward from
my troop in order to reconnoitre the
place. The hacienda, so far as I could
see in gliding across the trees, formed a
huge, massive parallelogram, strength
ened by enormons buttresses of hewn
stone. Along this chasm, the walls of
the hacienda almost formed the continua
tion of another perpendicular one, chis
elled by nature herself in the rocks, to
the bottom of which the eye could not
penetrate, for the mists which incessantly
boil up from below did not allow it to
measure their awful depths. This place
was known in the country by the name
of “the Vcladero.”
I had explored all sides of the build
ing except this, when I know not what
scruple of military honor incited me
to continue my ride along the ravine
whinh. the rear of the hacienda.
Between the walls ana tne
there was a narrow pathway about six
feet wide; by day the passage would
not have been dangerous, but by night
it was a perilous enterprise. The walls
of the farm took an extensive sweep, the
path crept around their entire basement,
and to follow it to the end in the dark-
. ness, only two paces from the edge of a
erpendicular chasm, was no very easy
’ ask even for as practiced a horseman as
; nyself. Nevertheless, I did not hesitate,
xb*bat boldly urged my horse between the
walls of the farmhouse and the abyss of
* the Voladero. I had got over half the
*' distance without accident, when all of a
sudden my horse neighed aloud. This
neigh made me shudder. I had reached
a pass where the ground was but just
wide enough for the four legs of a horse,
and it was impossible to retrace my
steps.
“Halloo?”! exclaimed aloud, at the
risk of betraying myself—which was even
less dangerous than encountering a
horseman in front of me on such a road.
“ There is a Christian passing along the
ravine! Keep hack.”
It was too late, at that moment, a man
horseback passed round one of the ! been in the country,
lest mine, in a moment of terror, should
precipitate me with yourself to the bot-
tom of the abyss. ”
i I marked in tot, that «* colonel
- - - ’ j already held his pistols in his hands.
! We both maintained the most profound
| silence. Our horses felt the danger like
■ ourselves, and remained as immovable as
J if their feet were nailed to the ground,
i My excitement had entirely subsided.
‘ ‘ What are we going to do ?” I demand
ed of the colonel.
“Draw lots which of the two shall
leap into the ravine.”
It was in truth the sole means of
solving the difficulty. “ There are nev
ertheless, some precautions to take,”
said the colonel. “ He who shall be
condemned by lot shall retire backwards.
It will be but a feeble chance "’cape
for him, I admit; but, in sh«^ V a
chance, and especially one in ^ f
tho winner. ” *
j “You cling not to life, then,” I cried
I out, terrified at the natty froid with
: which this proposition was put to me.
^ | “ I cling to life more than vourself,”
TERY OF LIFE. sharply replied the colonel, for I have a
mortal outrage to avenge. But the time
is slipping away. Are you ready to pro
ceed to draw tho last lottery at which one
of us will ever assist ?”
How were we to proceed to this drawing
by lot ? By means of the wet finger,
like infants, or by head and tail, like
the school-boys ? Both ways were im
practicable. Our hands imprudently
stretched out over the heads of our
frightened horses might cause them to
give a fatal start. Should we toss up a
piece of coin, the night was too dark to
enablei us to distinguish which side fell
upwards. The colonel bethought him of
an expedient of which I never should
have dreamed.
“Listen to me, captain,” said the col
onel, to whom I had communicated my
perplexities; “ I have another way. The
terror which our horses feel makes them
draw every moment a burning breath.
The first of us two whose horse shall
neigh ”
“ Wins!” I hastily exclaimed.
“ Not so—shall be the loser. I know
that you are a countryman, and snch as
you can do whatever you please with
your horse. As to myself, who but
last year wore the gown of a theological
student, I fear your equestrian prowess.
You many be~able to make your^ horse
neigh—to hinder him from doing so is a
very different matter. ”
We waited in deep and anxious silence
until the voice of one of our horses
should break forth. This silence lasted
or a minute—for an age ! It was my
! horse who neighed the first. The colonel
i gave nc external manifestation of his
I joy, but no doubt ho thanked God to the
very bottom of his soul.
“ You will allow me a minute to make
my peace with Heaven ?” I said to the
colonel, with failing voice.
“ Will five minutes be sufficient?”
“It will,” I replied. The colonel
drew out his watch. I addressed to
wards the heavens, brilliant with stars,
which I thought I was looking up
to for the last time, an intense and a
burning prayer.
“ It is time,” said the colonel.
I answered nothing, and with infirm
hand gathered up the bridle of my
horse, and drew it within my fingers,
which were agitated by a nervous tre
mor.
“Yet one moment more,” I said to
the colonel, “ for I have need of all my
coolness to carry into execution the fear
ful raanceuvre which I am about to com
mence.”
“ Granted,” replied Garduno.
My education, as I have told yon, hail
. jeu in the country. My childhood, and
.buttresses, which here and there oh- part of my earliest youth, had almost
•tructed this accursed pathway. He ad- : l) een passed on horseback. I may say,
I trembled in my without flattering myself, that if there
was bathed in a wa<1 any one in the world capable of exe-
, cutiug this equestrian feat, it was my
self. I rallied myself with an almost
danced towards me,
middle; my forehead
sweat.
!For the love of God ! can you not re-
|?” I exclaimed, terrified at the fear-
Lsituation in which we both were
issible !” replied the horseman,
How voice.
^recommended my soul to God. To
?nr horses round for want of room,
back them along the path which we
had traversed, or to dismount from them,
these were three impossibilities which
supernatural effort, and succeeded in
recovering my entire self-possession in
the very face of death. Take it at the
worst, I had already braved it too often
to be any longer alarmed at it. From
that instant, I dared to hope afresh.
As soon as my horse felt, for the first
time since my rencontre with the colonel,
the bit compressing his mouth, I per
ceived that he trembled beneath me. I
placed us both in presence of a fearful strengthened myself firmly on my stir-
doom. Between two horsemen so placed ru P H , to make the terrified animal uu-
both upon this fearful path, had they derstand that his master no longer trem-
been father and son, one of them must Wed. I held him up with the bridle and
inevitably have become the prey of tho the hams, as every good horseman does
abyss. But a few seconds had passed, a dangerous passage, and, with the
and we were already face face—the bridle, the body, and the spur together,
unknown and myself. Our horses were succeeded in backing him a few paces,
head to head, and their nostrils, dilated
with terror, mingled together with their
fiery breathing. Both of us halted in a
dead silence. Above was the smooth
and lofty wall of the hacienda ; on the
other side, but three feet distant from
the wall, opened the horrible gulf. Was
it an enemy I had before my eyes ? The the same manoeuvre. All on a sudden I
His head was already at a greater dis
tance from that of the horse of the
colonel, who encouraged me all he could
with his voice. This done, I let the
poor trembling brute, who obeyed me in
spite of his terror, repose himself for a
few moments—and then recommenced
love"of my country, which boiled at that
period in my young bosom, led me to
hope it was.
“ Are you for Mexico and the insur
gents?” I exclaimed, in a moment of
excitement, ready to spring upon the
felt his hind legs give way under me. A
horrible shudder ran through my whole
frame. I closed my eyes as if about to
roll^to the bottom of the abyss, and I
gave to my body a violent impulse on
the side next the hacienda, the surface
unknown horseman if ho answered me °f which offered not a single projectien,
in the negative. not a single tuft of weeds to check my
“Mexico e, Insurgente—that is my descent. This sudden movement, joined
password,” replied the cavalier. “lam to the desperate struggles of my horse,
the Colonel Garduno.” was the salvation of my life. He had
“And I am the Captain Castanos !” sprung up again on his legs, which
Onr acquaintance wan of long stand- 1 seemed ready to fall from under him,
ing, and, but for our mutual agitation, bo desperately did I feel them tremble,
we should have no need to exchange our I had succeeded in reaching, between
names. the brink of the precipice and the wall
“ Well, colonel,” I exclaimed, “ I am of the building, a spot some few inches
sorry your are not a Spaniard—for you broader. A few more would have en-
peroeive that oue of us must yield the abled me to turn him round, but to at-
pathway to the other.” tempt here would have been fatal, and I
Our horses had the bridle on their dared not venture. I sought to resume
necks, and I put my hand in the holster’s my backward progress, step by step,
of my saddle to draw out my pistols. Twice the horse threw himself on his
“I see it so plainly,” replied the hind legs and fell down upon the same
colonel, with alarming coolness, “ that spot. It was in vain to urge him anew,
I should already have blown out the either with voice, bridle, or spur ; the
brains of your horse, but for the fear ! animal obstinately refused to take a
single step in the rear. Nevertheless I
did not feel my courage yet exhausted,
for I had no desire to die. One last and
solitary chance of safety suddenly ap
peared to me like a Hash of light, and I
resolved to employ it. Through the
fastening of my boot, and in reach of
my hand, was passed a sharp and keen
knife, which I drew from its sheath.
With my left hand I began caressing the
mane of my horse, all the while letting
him hear my voice. The poor animal
replied to my caresses by a plaintive
neighing; then, not to alarm him ab
ruptly, my hand followed by little and
little the curve of his nervous neck, and
finally rested upon the spot where the
last of the vertebr® unites itself with
the cranium. The horse trembled, but
I calmed him with my voice. When I
felt his very life, so to speak, palpitate
in his brain beneath my fingers, I leaned
over towards the wall, my feet gently
slid from the stirrups, and with one vig
orous blow I buried the pointed blade of
my knife in the seat of the vital princi
ple. The animal fell as if thunder
struck, without a single motion; and
for myself, with my knees almost as high
as my chin, I found myself on horseback
across a corpse. I was saved ! I uttered
a triumphant cry, which was responded
to by the colonel, and which the abyss
re-echoed with a hollow sound, as if it
felt that its prey had escaped from it. I
quitted the saddle, sat myself down be
tween the wall and the body of my horse,
and vigorously pushed with my feet
against the carcass of the wretched ani
mal, which rolled down into the abyss.
I then arose, and cleared at a few bounds
the distance which separated the place
where I was from the plain ; and under
the irresistible reaction of the terror
which I had so long repressed, I sank in
a swoon upon the ground. When I re
opened my eyes, the colonel was by my
side.
ADRIFT ON THE ATLANTIC.
Words of Wisdom.
People do not lack strength ; they
lack will.
To live long it is necessary to live
slowly.
Felicity, not fluency of language, is a
merit.
Our pleasant vices make instruments
to scourge ns.
Letters which are warmly sealed are
often coldly opened.
A wound from a tongue is worse than
a wound from the sword ; the latter af
fects only the body, the former the spirit,
the soul.
A man’s fortune is frequently decided
by his first address. If pleasing others
at once conclude he has merit; but if
ungraceful they decide against him.
No grandeur can there be in life, no
noble prospect can stretch out before us,
unless we pitch the tent high up, or un
less we keep the lofty places of our
spiritual estate as peaks of vision for
frequent visits.
No man can force the harp of his own
individuality into the people’s heart;
but every man may play upon tho chords
of the people’s heart who draws his in
spiration from the people’s instinct.
The pleasures of the worlA are deceit
ful ; they promise more than they give.
They trouble us in seeking them ; they
do not satisfy us when possessing them
and they make us despair in losing them.
There is no funeral so sad to follow
as the funeral of onr own youth, which
we have been pampering with fond de
sires and ami titious hopes, and all the
bright berries that hung in poisonous
clusters over the path of life.
Russia’s Wheat Harvest*
Among the latest news items from Eu
rope is a statement that the wheat har
vest has almost entirely failed in Russia
—that is, in the middle and southern
states. But there is an abundant pro
duct of wheat in central Siberia, which
is not the sterile and frozen country that
is generally believed.
A Russian merchant, whose name
(Siberia Koff) indicates tho country of
his nativity, taking advantage of the
enormous product and ridiculously low
price of grain iu Siberia, has arranged
for the dispatch of a large quantity of
it from the mouth of the Yenesei, in the
northern part of Asiatic Russia, to the
port of London, Siberian com being
given in exchange for foreign manufac
tures, which are scarce and excessively
dear in that remote part of Russia, the
transmission by sea being comparatively
cheap.
If it be asked why this Siberian grain
is not sent to the Russians at the seat of
war, who greatly require it, the fact is
that several thousand miles lie between
the Arctic Ocean into which the Yenesei
discharges itself and the ports of the
Black sea. The delay, cost and distance
render such transmission almost im
practicable. ^
A Night’s Strange Journey.
A party of young men crossed the
Grefansee, Canton Zurich, to Fallandel,
Switzerland, a few days since, to witness
the consecration of a new church. On
arriving at their destination, they fas
tened their craft with a long chain to the
jetty, and after going to church, and
eating a good supper, washed down by
copious libations of beer, they went
down to their boat. It was already dark,
bo they made the best of their way
homeward. The journey was long and
tedious. On and on they went, but the
harder they rowed the less progress
they seemed to make. They were in de
spair; some of them thought they were
doomed for their sins to remain forever
on the lake. When dawn broke, the
crew were well nigh spent, two of them
lay in the bottom of the boat, utterly
exhausted. They looked round, they
looked twice, they looked thrice, before
they could realize the fact that they had
forgotten to unloose their boat from the
chain, and that they had been rowing
for their lives the night through within
a few yards of the newly consecrated
church.
A Captain’s Htory of Eleven Bays of suf
fering—>IIis Schooner Wrecked In a
Hurricane—I.lvlng on Potato Pulp.
“The Moero,” said Captain Gnesar
Doucet, of the lost schooner Moero, to a
New York Sun reporter, “ with a crew
of five, and laden mainly with fish and
lumber, sailed from Yarmouth, Nova
Scotia, for Martinique on the 29th of
August. We had perfect weather until
the 15th of September, when we met a
gale from the east. It carried away some
of our smaller sails. At daybreak on
the 16th the gale had abated, but in
creased during the day, aud at midnight
it was a hurricane from the southwest.
The Moere was capsized and lay on her
beam ends. The masts were under
water. The sea swept over us—we wenf
all on deck when the schooner was cap
sized, and wo had to cling to the rigging.
We cat away our weather lanyard—the
rigging was torn away by the sea—and
the schooner righted, full of water.
Then we lashed ourselves to the stumps
of the masts. We were lashed when
daylight came and showed us that the
schooner was even more water-logged
than we had supposed her to be. The
day passed, and we dared not cut our
lashings. We suffered from hunger and
thirst, and saw before us only a slow and
torturing death. On the 19th, the gale
abating, we cut our lashings and began
to do what we could to clear the schoon
er. On the 20th, the gale subsided, the
sun shone, and a light breeze came from
the east. We bailed out about two feet
of water from the hold, and then lay
down on the deck exhausted at sundown.
We slept, though we were drifting, we
knew not where, on a hopeless wreck.
In the afternoon of next day we fished I
a barrel of potatoes out of the hold. The
mate, with a bit of tin scraped a potato
into a tin cap that one of us had saved,
nng gave me the first taste. I believe I
never tasted anything so sweet. The
potato scrapings and juice were both I
food and drink, and I swallowed them I
greedily. Then the other men were!
helped. So we fed ourselves on the I
next day. On the 22d, having no sparl
left, we rigged a jury mast out of the iibl
traveler, and took the staysail for a sail.f
Then we steered as nearly as possible
westward. We had no compass, an<3
steered by the sun in the day, and b;
the moon and stars at night. So w<
drifted on, for the sail made scarcely
difference in our progress, hoping for
rescue. We" contrived to get anothej
barrel of potatoes, a barrel of fioiir aa<
a box of codfish out of the hold. Thi
flour .was useless, but we used the pota
toes as before, and the codfish. Our
suffering from thirst, of course, was
terribly increased by the codfish. On the
25th we had grown so weak that we
could only crawl about tho deck. We
drifted for four days, and at sunset on
the 28th we saw the smoke of the steam
er Ayreshire curling up in the horizon.
In our joy, we were almost beside our
selves. We steered so as to cross the
steamer's bow. She came swiftly toward
us, and soon her captain hailed us and
took us on board. ”
unG
A Wounded Officer’s Letter.
Lieut Henry Romeyn, of the Fifth
infantry, who was wounded in the fight
with the Nez Perces Indians, has written
a letter, dated October 8, to a friend in
Adrian, Mich., in which he says : “I
was shot through the right lung, the
bullet striking two inches below the
nipple, breaking a rib where it entered
and again where it came out (about two
inches from the spine), and for about
eighteen or twenty hours my life hung
by tL“ merest thread. In fact I did not
expect to get off the field, and turned
over all my things to one of the men
near me. But fom ©.C, the brave allows
dragged me off, lying on' iilpir faces to
do it, as the Indians, from tlii^covc -,
picked off every man who rose up.''- /Ve
were acting as ‘mounted infantry,
came into action mounted, but my ho:
was shot in less than two minutes, anj
got a couple of hits in the way of sp
balls, etc., which, however, were ‘ on
the ring,’ and did not count. We
about 100 miles from the nearest p<
on the Missouri river, where we can
sure of water for steamers, and the
will be a hard one, but I hope to
through all right. Am pretty well
out, but there is some ‘grit ’ left, a
that and an iron will counts for
thing, I’ll come out all right.”
Geography of Flori i.i,
The geography of Fieri . is mu|
and of special interest. It
beautiful rivers and lakes, ab'
fish of excellent quality.
of the State is level, the hi?
nence in the State is not over
and while some of the land
and undulating, like a western
the most of it is a dead level.
State contains 59,268 square mile
87,931,530 acres. It is the same
tude and is thermal with southern
fomia, Madeira, Egypt, Persia, Ari|
Hindoostan, Thibet and China,
average breadth of the peninsula
miles, and is fanned by the gulf
on one side and the trade winds oil
other, and thus, with so slight a brj
every portion is exposed to the bff
purifying influences of almost con]
oceanic winds, and from all these [
graphical peculiarities has result
pleasantness and salubrity of cli^
and a power of vegetative prodt
so wonderful as to be almost incre
A Peculiar Snuff Box.
A San Francisco doctor has an|
snnff box lined with gold, and bt
on the lid a minatnre landscape I
inches long and an inch and a half |
and consisting of 9,000 nieccA of
They are so small and are
so artistically that the genj
that of a delicately finis):
ivory. The box is saij
presented by the Empi
her surgeon, whose
gave it to the present <
760, or perhaps a few more ; in all, I
haps, 1,000 or 1,100 Turks were puif
of combat. The Russians had left i
times the btimber behind them ;
am qnite unable to explain it oij
other ground than that at last th(,
sians were so terror-stricken tha
were unable to ran, and so were
and killed without very much tj
It was a difficult task, no doubt, {
mount that hill in face of tho 1
the first instance, but a more
task to descend it again in safd
once those Turks returned and J
Pleasant Homes.
At a recent meeting of the
ence Congress in Aberdeen,J
Mr. John Forbes White read j
titled “ How can art bo bestl
into the houses of persons o|
come ?” He attempted
there is not a room of the
chanic that might not be
ful home. This result couj
plished, he said, by the
house using their eyes,
learn to enjoy beautiful
them in every-day life,
relation of the parts of
harmony of form and col
tion of light and shs
subtlty and simplicity
0Wtml
877.
$2.00 per Annum, in Advance.
IM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Farm Notes.
Underdraining is a measure of farm
[mnomy, and it is in every way import-
it that it should be done economically,
made to needlessly cost twice as much
it ought, it will pay only half the
rofit it should, and the farmer is pro-
[ortionately discouraged in his good
fork. By being careful to dig when
ground is in tbe best condition, doing
jnnch as possible with horse-plows
a .aw: «"> “ 8t °! ” at ;? g
derdramo may r<xluc .“ 1 ‘ 0
allest possible amount.—i\,*T a
’orker.
Farmers who hold back their wheat,
ay and other products, because they
ill not sell for the prices they think
|hould be obtained, are generally in the
md losers. They do not take into ac-
unt the risk they incur by withholding
Iheir crops. There is no truer axiom
[ban that a “ bird in the hand is worth
wo in the bush.” As a rale the most
uccessful farmers dispose of their crops
soon as they are ready for the market,
,t current prices. The mind is then re-
ieved of anxiety and all chances cl loss
e removed, with the doubtful chance,
t is true, of higher prices.—German-
own Telegraph.
The writer of this has produced the
est results in the feeding of plants by
e use of composted muck and barn-
ard manure well rotted, and it is made
in this wise : A layer of muck is put on
the side of the compost heap, and
upon this a layer of barn-yard manure ;
upon this another layer of muck, and so
on alternating muck and manure, until
the heap is four or five feet high. The
manure is used iu about tbe proportion
of one to three of the muck. The whole
pile gradually heats and • rots together,
so that without further stirring over, if
the heap is made in early autumn, it will
be in the best of shape to use in the fol
lowing spring.—Detroit Free Preat.
Speaking of the winter preservation of
cabbages, the New York Herald says :
“ The winter sorts should be left in the
ground as late as they can be pulled up
by the roots, which in this climate will
be about the end of November. Place
in trenches, leaving a space six feet wide
between them. Have the ground level
where the cabbages are placed, so that
they may pack nicely. Pack the head
close together, leaving the rootsugfS^.
the weather grows colder, egy^face be-
ally with earth : il-v^-u’irtifby the time
weeft.tl-e iront® •'^ywill have a covering
five or-’X inches of soil. The roots
1 still be partially exposed. If it is
ssary to cover a large quantity of
ages, a more expeditious method is
a furrow, in which place the heads
e cabbages and then turn in the soil
em. As this covers them up with
at once, it is not so good as the other
which has the great advantage of
aying the final covering as long as
«t will permit. Good cauliflower and
coli may be had as late as January,
lacing unmatured heads in a light
'ar or cold frame. ”
A Florida Beauty.
Says a Florida correspondent: I le-
member one evening in August gazing
listlessly shoreward at the little Spanish
villas scattered along the beach while
the cool influences of a Florida breeze
laden with the scent of a large orange
grove on shore exerted itself in behalf
of Morpheus. Thus occupied, I was not
made aware of any one’s approach until,
catching the sound of a paddle gently
applied, I just turned in time to see the
sharp bow of a little prow glide along
side my boat, and with the grace of
Venus a black-eyed little beauty gath
ered the painter of her prow in her hand
an J enraug lightly into the bow of my
cork-like which scarcely felt the
intrusion, fo textrou^J ™s it accom
plished. I quickly saw from . the basket
she held in her hand that she H*-' 1 a
“shell girl ” of the Spanish rtU?©, many
of whom realize a handsome little income
from their shells, which they gather in
great quantities and sell them to
strangers in the city. Slipping toward
me with an easy grace, feho deposited her
basket on the seat beside me, and, kneel
ing in the bottom of the boat, proceeded
o sk illfully select her prettiest speci
mens, which was quickly accomplished,
and which were soon before my eyes,
held in a palm I was silently admiring,
and trying to decide which were the
pinkest, the shells or her hand. Of
medium size and graceful as Hebe, black,
glossy hair and big lustrous eyes, a com
plexion of a dark, creamy brown, and
head as flney poised as that of the most
aristocratic ball room belle. Over her
shoulders was thrown a light, gauzy
mantilla, and she wore a skirt of some
light material. The feet were bare, the
canseof which I assigned to the inability
of her shoemaker to provide a covering
small and delicate enough to cover the
dainty specimens before me, upon which
glistened the sparkling drops from the
bayou, that reminded one of pearls.
cased in a casket of pink silk.
being.
in
Fraudulent Failures.
Register Fitch’s record of bankruptcy
New York during the past two years
s a document of much interest. The
ailures during that time represent debts
f $40,000,000. The register says it has
ecome the “ almost universal practice ”
in New York to get np the biggest kind
of frauds in business failures. We knew
tho fact pretty well before, says a corre
spondent, but the register gives figures.
Imagine a firm failing for $500,000, and
having $50,000 assets, and the members
continuing to live just as extravagantly
as before the failure took place. Mr.
Fitch also says there is more actual
swindling by parties going into bank
ruptcy than has been accomplished by
rotten savings banks and fraudulent life
insurance companies. His list fills a
whole page of the lletald. Let me
gather just a few cases to show the
astonishing difference between liabilities
and assets. They are taken at random
from the list. Of course the names of
the parties need not be given :
A Wild Man in Nebraska.
The Fremont (Neb.) Tribu
to us with an article giving.*^
discovery of a wii4 rctanji^' a& ' v -cinity.
Two young men heating water
fowl when tln-w - e u P on tbi8 8traD 8 e
just emerging from a
recs and nnde»b*ush when
aught sight of him. He was
u in the most primitive style, con-
s.sting of a woolen shirt. He had a
stick in his hand, which he swung around
his head, as if striking at something he
saw in the air, and uttering the while a
sharp, unearthly noise. Like a wild
animal, he was constantly on a sharp
lookout, nervously looking this way and
that, as his ear detected the least un
usual noise, or his eye noticed the shak
ing of a reed, or anything that was the
least extraordinary. After a few mo
ments he squatted on his haunches
under a tree and began to dig in the
ground with his hands and the stick,
and occasionally carrying something to
his mouth, which he seemed to be eat
ing. The boys became more interested
in the strange being than in the object
of their hunt, and crawled cautiously
toward him until near enough to satisfy
their curiosity. He was digging roots
and feeding upon them. As nearly as
they could judge from appearance, he
was about forty or forty-five years of age,
of strong and bony frame; his hair was
so long as to fall in snarls over bronzed
and dirty shoulders; his beard, like his
hair, long and shaggy, and his entire
body covered with hair which could not
have been less than an inch long. His
complexion must have been originally
light, as his hair was of a lightish brown.
After viewing him a short time, they
concluded to retreat. After going a few
steps, tho monster sprang up and stared
intently at them. Becoming frightened
he sprang into the Platte, crossed over
to Little Island, and disappeared in its
thick underbrush.
It is
notices that'
waif from home.? 7
Habit, with i^tiron sinews, clasps and
leads us day
Our consul at Liverpool sends word
that American poultry, alive or defld,
will find a market there.
When you hear a man say: “ Life is
but a dream,” tread on his corns and
wake him up. Life is real.
A kiss by telephone is said to be
something like starting out for a clam
bake dinner and gettinflywtbing but
fog.
The total number of. human beings on
the earth is computed at 3,000,000,000,
and they speak three thousand and sixty-
three known tongues.
Joseph Hansen, a traveling salesman
for a New York house, has, during the
last year, killed seven robbers and
burglars. He admits it himself.
The courage that can face the cannon’s
mouth without flinching is of a high
order, but does it outrank that required
to look a cold cook-stove in the face
about five a. m.?
A gross insult has been offered to the
American flag, and that too, by an
American. This outrage was no less
than seizing the glorious stars and stripes
for a board bill in New York.
A baby was born at Benton Harbor,
Mich., recently, which weighed only a
pound and a half. It was perfectly
healthy and natural, except for its
diminutive size and the very aged look
of ii& fa® 6 , and seemed likely to live, till
one day it >T.as taken suddenly sick and
soon died.
WHAT THE TRUE POET TEACHES.
He teaches love to suffer and be pore.
That virtue conquers if it but endure.
That noblest gifts should serve the noblest
That be^H richest who the most befriends;
That through life’s journey, dark or bright tne
day,
Fate’s not unkind, whatever men may say,
If Goodness walks companion of their way.
Mr. Agassiz says that in certain
Amazonian tribes, on the day of his
marriage, while the wedding festivities
are going on, the bridegroom’s hands are
tied up in a paper bag with fire-ants. If
he bears this torture smilingly and un
moved, he is considered fit for the trials
of matrimony.
A very tall, thin man said that he
“ had a cold in his head, origins tin flpi'Tn
wet feet.” She looked at
from head to foot and back aMU'in, as
measuring the distance the
travel, and then ejaculaf
me! you must have-got your leet wet
i~-J time last year.”
f A writer in the New York Evening
I {W-says that Mr. Sumner, who was fas-
i tidibusly exact in all matters of official
; etiquette, once said in his (the writer’s)
of the | presence that “ the proper address of a
member of Congress is simply ‘Mr.
Smith;’ of a Senator, ‘Mr. Senator;’ of
a cabinet secretary, ‘Mr. Secretary,’ and
of the President, ‘ Mr. President;’ and
the proper pronoun for them all is
if
!cld had to
Gracious
‘ you.’
An imperial prince was born Septem
ber 23 to the Emperor of Japan by one of
his twelve subordinate wives. Yaniguara,
a daughter of an ancient and influential
house of the old Kioto nobility. By a
traditional law of Japan the mikado has
twelve wives in addition to the legitimate
empress, to provide for contingencies of
non-succession. No disgrace attaches to
the position, and the purity of the un
broken descent for nearly thiee thousand
years is owing to this custom. But in
the present state of opinion there are
many objections to the custom, and
probably it will not be continued after
this reign. If the present empress had
children the custom would be abolished
without delay. . «
Case No. 2.
Case No. 5 ....
Case No. 6
Case No. 7
Case No. 8
Assets.
Liabilities.
$70,000
00,000
06,000
100,000
108,000
117,000
116,000
... 10,000
235.000
260.000
305,000
435,000
512,000
870,000
4.000
1,000,000
*1,364,000
Toads in Tight Places.
Many instances are reported of the
discovery of toads immured in a prison
of solid rock, whore they have seemingly
been confined for ages. The circum
stances relating to such cases have not,
however, been noted by witnesses whose
account could be accepted by scientific
men as thoroughly conclusive. An in
stance of the kiud has been recently re
corded iu La Nature, which is regarded
by that journal as entirely authentic.
In the building of a new chateau in
the Department of Aisne, materials from
the old chateau were used as much as
possible. This building dated from the
end of the seventeenth century. Oue
piece of stone had iu the middle of one
side a large moist portion ; it seemed
otherwise sound. The stone was sawn
to remove the moist exterior (the mois
ture was attributed to a flow of water
into the stone of the old building), and
was pnt in position in a window. Time
went on, and the stone (much to the
builder’s disappointment) did not dry,
but presented a villainoas contrast to its
surroundings. It was at length decided
move and sacrifice it, in order to
out the cause. , On sawing right
_e_ moist part, a ~
Saved by His Cap.
Prince Andronikoff, a Russian general
appointed to quell the insurrection in
Georgia, thinks there is nothing like
leather. Late in September he invited
to his headquarters the principal officers
of his detachment and the government
officials of the Alazinski district. At
midnight he went to his study, and while
on his way back to the main saloon hap
pened to pass through a dimly lighted
room looking upon the garden, close to
the door of which he espied a mau in
native costume standing in the gloom.
Andronikoff advanced toward the
stranger to ask him his business, but
before he hail moved many steps the
man sprang out upon him and struck at
his head with a dagger, which, impeded
by tho leather peak of his forage cap,
inflicted only a trifling wound. Although
half-blinded, the general closed with his
assailant, and wresting the weapon from
his hand endeavored to make the man
prisoner, but the latter broke away
from him, ran into the garden, and, fa
vored by the darkness, effected his es
cape.
A Serious Mistake.
An amusing story comes from Milan.
A young girl, about to be married, re
ceived from an acquaintance, as a wed
ding present, a little package, which,
when she opened it, found it to contain
bank notes for several hundred francs.
Full of gratitude, she hastened to pay a
visit to so generous a friend, and over
powered her with thanks. The friend,
amazed at so much gratitude for a pres
ent which she knew to be only a book,
began to suspect something, and going
to the drawer from which she had taken
tho gift, found that she had made a great
mistake, and had given to the young
bride a large sum of money, which, from
its being made up in a similar manner,
she had mistaken for the package con
ing the lit^^hj^jp She hastened to
brid^was obliged
with them
been don
A Lawyer’s Downfall.
The New York correspondent of the De
troit Free Press writes : Ludlow Street
jail is a famous place lor men who have
had to come down in the world. One of
the latest additions to its population is a
gentleman who lived in noble style on
Fifth avenue only a week ago. He owned
and occupied one of the “mansions of
the elite,” and all his friends thought he
had barrels of money. The name of the
gentleman is Griswold. He is a lawer r
and before the mishaps that brought
him to Castle Ludlow, he stood pretty
well up in the profession. He made a
specialty of recovering from tho treasury
excessive duties paid by importers, and
the business was' so profitable that he
amassed qnite a fortune at it. The
house he occupied was thought to be
worth $130,000. Tho furniture was es
timated at $70,000. He gave fine dinners
occasionally, and was reputed a million
aire. But it seems the million was all
air. There wasn’t much substance in it
anyway. Mr. Griswold got into trouble
the other day. Parties holding judg
ments against him insisted on having
them satisfied. The sheriff took pos
session. Then a marshal came along to
see about another financial unpleasant
ness of the same sort, and tho sheriff
could not let him in. A red flag flying
from one of the parlor windows caused a
great sensation in the fashionable neigh
borhood. Next, a man who had
loaned money to Mr. Griswold and
tqken a chattel mortgage as security,
made a charge of crookedness in the
transaction and obtained a warrant.
That was what led to Mr. Griswold’s
visit to Castle Ludlow, and his detention
there by the hospitable warden and his
men at arms. It is really a sad case,
and I have no desire to make light of it.
What has become of the fortune that the
Fifth avenue lawyer was supposed to
have amassed, nobody seems to know.
Cause for Thankfulness.
On one occasion Charles Dickens was
upholding the tlieory that whatever
trials and difficulties might stand in a
man’s path, there was always something
to be thankful for. “Let mo in proof
thereof,” said Dickens, “ relate a story.
Two men were hanged at Newgate for
murder. The morning arrived ; the hour
approached ; the bell of St. Sepulchre’s
began to toil; the convicts were pin
ioned ; the procession was formed ; it
advanced to the fatal beam ; the ropes
were adjusted round the poor men’s
necks. There were thousands of motley
sight-seers of both sexes, of all agee, -
men, women and children in fr
scaffold, when just at that
time a bull, which was being'
Smithfleld, broke its rope
the mob right and left, scatt^Hg people
everywhere with its horns. Bhereopon
one of the condemned men tuntfe^ to his
too equally unfortunate companion, and
quietly observed : ‘ I say, Jack, it’s a
good thing we aiut in that crowd I*”
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