Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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v" ? ' Christmas Chimes. Jf . "The meadows are brown, the hillff are all bare, *-v And up through the valley tho olear, orisp air v- Is singing a Christmas song. Like the song of tho sett in the purple shell, v-v If we list to its notes it will sweetly tell The Bcurel it's kept so long. It tells of a time so sunny ami fair Whou wo watched tho clouds of tho snowy air For the reincloers' tiny form. And saw in our dreams such pictures of light, As we lny through tho hours of the long, dark night, v Away lrom the clouds and storm. ' ~*_i ..i r. *_i ouvju piuiuiw 115 giuw iu miry cuius Whan told at tho hour that daylight pales And tho crimson west growa gray, When we Hat for the chitno of tiny bolls '.That nro hung iu tho shudo of haunted dells And am rune by goblin and fay. It rings on tho lionrt a tearful chango ? . . . . uia darkened time, so Had, so strange, When our dreams had lost thoir light. * It whispers and siu<;s to the leafless trees "Our secret that sighs in evory' breeze Till tho day wears into the night. O, Christmas chimes! Ye are merry und sad, Ye wound the heart and ye make it glad Wiih the music your ringing makes; And the weaiy heart tiiat litis dreamed so long Takes up tho thread of tho broken song Aud sings till it, quivering, breaks. THE RED LIGHT.' 'f-H A CHRISTMAS STORY. It was Christmas Eve. " XT rvf Ann nf V% a {>4 auI rv* r? L^rnn XI VV V/Ut VL tlic Al&UCll VIUADbUiaO JJ T CO of poets and romance writers, wherein the moon is always at the full, the snow always a-sparkle like pulverized diamonds, and the air always still and cold and clear, but a stormy twilight, with the snow driving steadily from the east, the wind raw and biting, and the sky?what you could see of it? ' black as ink. But it was Christmas Eve, all the same, and Bertha Hoopar's cheeks were as red as the bitter-sweet berries :in the woods as she sat, all wrapped up, in the train that was steaming northward, on her way to spend Christmas with her Aunt Almira Hiaririns. Christmas in th6 country! To Beri , tha, who had lived all her life in the t * brick walls and stone pavements of a city, the very words seemed to convey somewhat of cheer and joyousness. And Bertha, as she sat with her eyes closed and her little gloved hands safely nestled into a gray squirrel muff, beheld in her mind's eyes great ifires of logs roaring up wide-throated I chimneys, walls festooned with hemlock boughs and black green tufts of * mistletoe; and she had half composed 4 -a poem on Christmas and its cherished associations when the ruthless conduc. tor came along for her ticket. "How far are we from Montcourt station ?" she inquired, as she gave up h- tne me or pasteboard. M "Next but one, Miss," said the man, H -as he hurried on, with his lantern . under his arm. "Half an hour yet." F She had never been so far from B .New York in all her life before. The mdriving rain in which she had left her S^r>j-Chome had changed as they progressed Mkr' northward into the steady fall of snow, which fluttered around them like a white waving shroud. But Bertha j?>v\ Hooper cared little for this. Had not Aunt Aiinira promised to send Zeber ' <lee, her youngest son, to the station with the pony to meet her on the arrival of the six-forty train from New York? And was not Zebedee to have a lantern with a red glass i -door to it, so she could identify him at - once? She was very pretty as she sat in littie black velvet toque, with its curl^ ing pi ume of ,curdinal red and the I wine-red ribbon bow at her throat? pretty with the bloom and freshness of eighteen. She was dark, with large ii,'. hazel eyes, almond-shaped and long; ; lashed, a clear, rosy bloom on either y^ -cheek, and wavy dark hair hanging < i \ in silken fringe over her broad, low [ -v forehead. ^ : "Mont ? Court ? station !" bawled L the break man, putting in a snow9 powdered fur cap, and withdrawing it j. again as quickly as if he had been a W1.- ' -magnilied edition of the Jack-in-the-box, which children much rejoice at in holiday time. And Bertha Hooper V- knew that bhehad reached herdestin^L^'aliari. llvy Stiff and cramped from the length p | of time in which she had been sitting V?M- in one position, she rose up, with a steel-clasped traveling-bag in one hand and a dainty silk umbrella in the BS&R' ^it.hi>r linil mo/la ha* J ..... wmv U?1 . r? a J uu VIIO uwr. M All she could see when she stepped f M- *out upon the wet and slippery plat; ^ ' form was a blur of driving snow, [ yf through which the lights of the soli tary little country depot gleamed fltffivV.^fully; but the next instant something I * flaatioil u ? ..i_i? ' uwvnvu ?vm noiu nor V131UU 11KB ft friendly red eye?and beneath the rekftrtec-or over the station door she saw a | tali fine-looking young man, in a fnrtrimmed overcoatr, a aeal-skia cap,bet f ' jauntily on one side of a crop of chestnut curia, and a red-lighted lantern swinging from hit left hand, as he stood straining his eyes in the storn darkness, as if to catch sight of sod familiar face in the little crowd. 'Cousin Zebedee 1" cried Berth aloud, and she made one spring in the arms of this blonde-whisker* young giant. For had not she ar Zebedee played dominoes and fox-am geeso together, in the days when si wore blue ribbon sashes, and his ha was a closely-shorn mat of carroty-rec "Oh ! Cousin Zebedee, I'm so git to see you; and I hadn't any idea yc had grown half so handsome !" And she gave him a great hug, j the same time holding up her roseht lips for a kiss. But, to her infinite amazement, tl hero of the sealskin cap seemed a li tie backward in responding to h< cousinly advances. "I?1 beg your pardon," said h slightly receding, "but I'm afra: there is some mistake. My name not Zebedee and the lady for whom am looking is some years older tha you." Bertha Hooper started back colorin nnd confused, and as she did so, a fa comfortable-looking old lady can trundling along the platform in a India shawl and a boa of Russia sab worth its weight in greenbacks. "Charlie!" she cried, "I thought never should find you, Is the carria? here?" "All here and waiting, Aunt Eftie, responded the young man; but he sti hesitated a second as Bertha Hoop< stood with averted face and motionle: figure in the shudow of the buildinj "Can 1 be of any service to you'i he asked. /'If .you are expectin friends who have failed to meet yc ?? " "Anybody here by the name of Be tha Hoo-ooper?"' shouted a atentoria voice, and a tall, raw-looking lad wit a lantern?also lighted with red gla: ?rushed shuffling around thq corner Zebedee himself! red-haired an shambling and awkward as he ha been in the old fox-and-geese days. "Oh!" said he, catchiDg up his lai tern so that the scarlet bird's winj flashed out like a spit of flame?scarc< ly more scarlet, alas, than Bertha own face. "Here you bet I'm little late, for the roads is so all-flr? bad, and I couldn't start the pony ov of a walk. Come on. How de dc Be you very cold?" "Zebedee," said Bertha, clingin almost hysterically to her cousin arm, "who's that young gentlema with?with the other lantern?" "Eh!" said Zebedee. "That felli with the old lady in a patchwoi shawl V" -Yes." "It's Charley Harcourt, the squire son," said Zebedee. "'Just come froi furrin parts!" "Zebedee," said Bertha, with a cui ous little sound between a laugh ai a sob, "put me into the cutter, quid and drive me somewhere. I don care where! Because?" "Eh!" said Zebedee, staring hard t his cousin, as he packed the bulla robe around her before touching u the laggard old pony. "Because/' added Bertha, in a sp< cies of desperation, "I took Mr. Ha court for you; and I hugged him an kissed him." "Is that all?" said philosophic Zebedee. "He won't care." "No!" said Bertha, "but I shalL" "You ain't crvinc. be vou?" Zebedee, noting the quiver in h cousin's voice. "How can I help it?" wailed po< Ber tha. "Twarn't no fault o'yourn," sa Zebedee, consolingly. "Of course it warn't," said Berth * impatiently. "How was I to kno that every lantern at Montcourt hi a red glas3 door to it?" And poor little Bertha cried herse to sleep that night. The next morning?Christmas Da; all snowed up into gl6rious drifts e' erywhere?Mr. Harcourt drove ov to the Higgins farm-house. T1 young lady had dropped a fur glo^ on the platform, and Mr. Harcou relt it his-duty to rjstore it to hi And, moreover?here Mr. Charl< Harcourt hesitated a little?he hop< Miss Hooper would excuse him for b ing so stupid as to allow her to fane him her cousin. "I ought to have explained sooner said he. "No, you ought not," said Berth "The fa'ilt was all mine. "I don't recognize a fault an where/' said he. And if I am pa doned?" "Of course you are 1" said Berth rosier and prettier than ever. "In that case I am commissioned 1 my mother to ask your aunt*s perm: sion to take you over to heip us flnl j deessing the church in time for mor ing service. My horse is waiting." "May I go, Aunt AlmiraV" s& Bertha with sparkling eyes. 'k- V: * ) / '* *., * ;V y" > V ' ?y "Of course you may go," said Aun1 le Almira. What was the end of it all? There a, is but one sequel to stories like thii to when youth and bright eyes and hu3d man hearts are concerned. The next id Christmas eve Bertha Hooper and d- Charley Harcourt were married. But ie the bridegroom porsists in declaring ,ir that Bertha did the first of the loveL? making. id And Bertha only laughs.?Amy Ran>u dolph. The Mouso-Tower on the Khine. tit ^ This tower is situated on an island in the Bhine, and is supposed to have been erected during the middle acres le ? ? by some of the robber-knights that then infested Germany. The ruins ar have been covered with stucco and converted into a watch-tower. Ita e' name is popularly derived from the ^ legend of the cruel Archbishop JIatto *s of Mayence. According to the story, 1 as told In the well-known ballad of in Southey, the crops of tho district had | failed one year, and all tho poor people 1 l8 were starving. But the rich bishop ^ had granaries filled to overllowing, J 10 which he was holding in order to profit lQ by the advanced price of the grain. le Tho 1 ~ 1 ?- * AUU niDKViisu pcupio ueauugut LIIU bishop to give them food from his I abundant stores. To rid himself of their importunities, the bishop appointed a day for all the poor to come > to his barn and receive a portion of II grain. When they had all gathered in -T the building, the cruel prelate ordered 33 his servants to fasten the doors and ? set Are to it, thus burning the wretch'* ed beings alive. The next day a l8 whole army of rats were seen coming toward the bishop's palace. lie lied foi safety to this tower on the Rhine, r_ but they pursued him, swimming the ^ river and scaling the walls of thetowh er; and making their way into the 33 room where the terrified bishop was trying to conceal himself, they deid voured him alive. This was in the id year 970. A different story concerning the mouse-tower, however, is given a- j in Murray's Iland-book of- Germany. 53 This asserts that the tower was not b- built until the thirteenth century, 'a moro than 20Q years after the death of a Bishop Hatto. "It was intended, k1 with the opposite castle of Ehrenfels it erected at about the same time, as a >? watch-tower and toll-house for collecting duties upon all goods which g passed the spot. The word vianns is 's probably an older form of mauth, n meaning duty or toll, and this name, together with the very unpopular ob3r ject for which the tower was erected, k perhaps gave rise to the dolorous story of Bishop Hatto and the rats/' ?Inter-Ocean. 's " Q1 Fast Railroad Time. "It's a foolish statement," said Assistant Superintendent Howland, of id the C., B. & Q.t pointing to a paragraph cut from a railroad paper pub t lished in Chicago. "I refer to this paragraph, which somebody has mailed me with a big interrogation lu mark on the margin: 'A train on the West Shore run eighty miles an hour not long ago. The fast mail train on 0_ the C., B. & Q. regularly makes sixty r_ miles an hour on certain portions of l(j its run.' I am astonished that such a statement as this should appear in a aj railway paper. No train in America was ever run eighty miles an hour, nor no engine without a train. Of iri course our fast mail train doesn't make I3 sixty miles an hour any portion of its run, regularly or irregularly. A mile )r or two here and thereon a down-grade may be covered at sixty seconds to theitj mile, but that's all. I have run a train for twenty-two years and I tell you I don't want to ride eighty miles ^ an hour or anywhere near it on the best track the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy has, and we have just as good If roadway as there is in the United States. Eighty miles in an hour is practically an impossibility with our ' present locomotives and track. For 0r years I tried to beat the record beae tween Mendota and Galesburg, an hour and forty-six minutes for the T ? rt eighty miles, with two stops, but we couldn't do it. When they talk of their sixty miles an hour you tell ^ them they lie. Beats all the fast-rune ning stories that go around. The other day I read that a train in England regularly ran ninety miles an ,, hour for 470 miles."?Chicago Herald. Very Like a Tornado. ,a* what is a tornado"" a youthful seeker after information. Glancing nervously aroilnd the iT~ room to see if the coast was clear he said: "You-have often heard your mother blowing me up for bringing company by home without previously notifying is- her?" sh "Yes sir." n- "Well, that is as much like a tornado as anything I know of. But you id needn't tell your mother that I said so, however."?Neva York Journal. jp . %> - J > ' * r ' r'-'. v.\' r V ' f ' 'JY"';- V-\ "V V-y-rV *' ^; EXPLORERS IN A PLIGHT. Unexpected. Adventures in Little-known Regions. Dilemmas, Some of them Eiclioulous and Others Dangerous. It often happens, says the New York Sun, that explorers find themselves in lome unexpected dilemma, and, unless :hey are quick enough to immediately extricate themselves, the results are lometimes serious. Lieut. Cheyne's idventure with a polar bear in the irctic regions shows the advantage of teepicg one's wits about him in an jmergency. Lieut. Cheyne was an English oflicer in one of the Franklin search expeditions. Early one spring he was sent with a couple of sledgemen to examine the condition of some provision depots that had been laid down the previous fall. They took nothing with them I uuu u ittiii ana sleeping bags, rations I af pemmican and hard tack, and a jraall supply of tallow to be used a3 fuel in thawing their pemmican and boiling their tea. One morning, alter they had traveled about 150 miles from the ship, Lieut. Cheyne was awakened by something pulling at the corner of the tent. He lifted the tent flap just in time to frighten a big white bear, and the animal was in full retreat over the ice before Cheyne had extricated himself from his sleeping basr. The Dartv had mor? sf?Hnn?? wr?rir an hand than bear hunting, and they I would have let the animal go if it had not been suddenly discovered that his bearship had torn open the tallow bag and eaten every ounce of fuel. Here was a predicament. The men were iive days' journey from the Bhlp, the weather was terribly cold, and they could not eat the solidly frozen pemmican. It was necessary to get that tallow back, and so Cheyne, shouting to liis comrades to follow, set out after Ihe bear. The chase was an exciting and anxious one, but the animal was at last overhauled and killed. No time was lost in opening the creature's stomach, and the men returned to camp in triumph with all the tallow Df which the unfortunate brute had robbed them. ! TV..-J I 41 ' " AjunuK Inst winter me jam63 brothers succeeded in exploring a part of Somauli, in East Africa, where several explorers had been killed. The region has remained almost wholly unknown on account of the hostility of the natives. The bravery of the Messrs. James's escort rapidly oozed Dut as they advanced into the hostile country. They refused once or twice to go any further, and finally the brothers hit upon this expedient for infusing them with a little couraga A great noise in their own camp generally has an inspiring effect on the natives of Africa. The Jameses had their sentinels fire their guns at frequent intervals during the night. They report that this practice greatly pleased and inspired their people, who always felt more secure when firing. The young explorer, Thompson, two years ago, was considerably nonplussed by a lot of smart and suspicious natives whom he encountered near Mount Kenia in East Africa. He had a few tricks which he very impressivelv riprfnrmpil whan tlio Y t* uvu vuu luuaunauvo were unfriendly, and it was necessary to exhibit his great power as a wizard to induce-them to sell him food* He had two artificial teeth on a plate, and the feat that usually overcame all opposition when everything else failed was to extract these teeth. These Mount Kenia natives were very much pleased with this feat, but they said that if he could take out two teeth he could remove the others also, and they insisted unon seeinc tho pfiMpa show Finally they not only refused to sell hiin food, but threatened to attack him unless he took his teeth out, and he thought best to make a forced march one night to escape his too exacting acquaintances. Mr. Thompson's white comrade, Martin, had a more serious experience with some suspicious natives, and perhaps it served him right. He was telling a crowd of Wakwaft girls that h<? could do even more wonderful things than the leader had shown them. Holding out his hand he said he could cut his fingers off and put | them on again. One of the girls sudj denly sprang forward, seized one of j the extended lingers and cut it to the I bone with a native knife. She had | taken Martin at his word, and was determined to see the feat performed. Dr. Hayes stole a march on the Esquimaux who refused to take him and his comrades back to Dr. Kane in 9mith sound after the failure of Hayes's attempt to return to Upernavik in small boats. Hayes and his men fully expected to die.of starvation unless the Esquimaux, with their dog sledges, assisted them to retnrn north. The Esquimaux declined to make the long ourney in the growing darkness of the winter. One day two natives drove up to Dr. Hayes's hut with a sledge load of walrus xneat. They were on their way home after a long journey, and th?y accepted the doctor's invitation to tarry a while. Everybody ate heartily of the walrus meat, and then the natives, overcome with fatigue, laid down for a nap. Hayes and his men stole to the hut, barric.'ided the entrance, and then drove oil with the dogs and walrus meat. They had gone several miles befoie they saw the Esquimaux in full pursuit. The party waited for the thoroughly angry natives to come up, and then told them Dlainlv that they would never see their dogs and sledge again unless they agreed to go with them to Kane's ship. Finally a bargain was made, good feeling reestablished, and the poor fellows, together with some of thoir friends from a neighboring village, never rested until Hayes was back on the ship again. The "Thirteen" Superstition. In Paris there are streets where 12 does duty instead of 13; and the householders who thus ingeniously sought tn nirnnn.on-1 " * " *' - vv VIIV/UIIMCUII Ltttu WUU1U IlUb ior IQO world let the proper number be painted upon their doors. Some years ago Prince Napoleon tried to laugh his countrymen out of the superstition; but his efforts did not benefit his cause, for, with characteristic perversity, he used to invite twelve friends to carouse with him on Good Friday, whereby he gravely scandalized rightfeeling people, whatever their theological views. In Americ ; similar but less aggresive attempts have been made to correct popular superstition, and numerous Thirteen clubs have been established, the members pledging themselves to dine thirteen at table on every opportunity. In France, too, there is a Thirteen club, the headquarters of which are at Senlis; and even in Eng- | land there is a little coterie of thirteen I men who dine monthly at a house numbered thirteen, and pay thirteen shillings each for their dinner and 13 pence each to the waiters. Yet still the superstition is as lively as of yore all over Europe and America, and probably it will continue to flourish and to make people uncomfortable until the end of time. There are, in all likelihood, men and women who are even now undergoing vague uneasi ness because 1885 happened to he a multiple of thirteen.?Philadelphia Call. A Machine that Calculates. The calculating machine invente by Prof. Thomson appears to excel, in its ingenious adaptation to a variety of results, even Babbage's wonderful apparatus. By means of the mere friction of a disk, a cylinder and a ball, the machine is capable of effecting numerous complicated calculations which occur in the highest application of mathematics to physical problems, and I* its aid an unskilled person may, in a given time, perform the work of ten expert mathematicians. The machine Is applicable alike to the calculating of tidal, magnetic, meteorological and other periodic phenomena; it will solve differential equations of the second, or even higher powers or orders; and through this same won-; derful arrangement of mechanical parts, the problem of finding the three motions of any number of mutually attracting particles, unrestricted by any of the approximate suppositions required in the treatment of the lunar and planetary theories, is done by simply turning a handle.?New York Sun. Books for the Indians. The only written language of the American.Indians was in the form of hieroglyphics, but this plan of picturewriting was not much used among the tribes of North America. As the spoken languages of the tribes, however, have such a complete dialectic structure it was not difficult to give this a written form by means of the Homan alphabet. This has been done in many instances, and a number of grammars and dictionaries have been printed in different Indian dialects, besides many other books. Several newspapers are at this time printed among the civilized Indians of the West, and at misI. AW- T ? .1* 1 3iuu nvauuiia, m me jliiuiiui milguage. The Aztecs and Toltecs kept their historical and other records by means of hieroglyphics in a very systematic manner. An Odd Public House. A curious public house is among the latest attractions in Paris. It is called La Taverne da Bagne. The walls are hung with paintings representing the horrors of convict life, interspersed : with portraits of notorious Communists. All the waiters are dressed in i conviot uniform and wear the chains and boulels of the regular forcat The landloid is Citoyen Maxune Lisbonne, one of the leaders of the insurrection i of 1871.?London,Truth, v ? >; _ v/. yv . :yi Gentians. Shiv'ring liko children with thoir garments torn, All tho comely leaves of their roundness shorn, Crouchod in the bleached nnd sbudd'ring gross I iiud them to-day as I idly pass, Blue gentians. Children ot frost?of winds snow-kissed, Nurtured in travail?in sleet und mist, Budding und blowing in the chilling ruiu, With little of glndnessinnd much of pain, Poor gontians ! In pity I bend and guthor each one, Anil hold them up to tho pitying sun, To give them a glimpse of a fairer day, Before they shall droop in their quick way, Sad gentians. And I hold them closo to my eager face, And the tender lines of their being trace, And 1 count thoir goodnoss to come so late, When no flower is loft to bo their mute, Lorn gentians. Though tho year of my life wane droar and cold, May this kindness bo left, its hands to hold, Tlint. anmn 41 r\******* of 1 na ? *" >'! VM M .> kO.IUVt O.ft" May bloom as a tokun of summer time, Swoot gentians. ?S. R. AIcAIanus in the Current, HUMOROUS. All the rage?A mad dog. As a general thing, what a man sews he rips. The thermometer gains notoriety by degrees, so to speak. The man who is opposed to vaccination is probably to be pitted. Even the most inveterate toper ob- f jects to taking a horn with a bull. A young lady asks . "How can I remove superfluous hair?" Comb the butter. The man who said, "There is a garden in her face," was evidently using flowery language. The telephone is an arrangement by which two men can lin to each other without becoming confused. The king of Sweden and Norway is a poet. The dictum that the king can i ao no wrong appears to do exploded. "Round again ?" he asked, as the dun put his head in at the door. "Yes, and I'll stay 'round until I get square." "Using tobacco in one form," says a hater of the weed, "usually leads to thfe use of it in another." This is doubtless true, for when a man first takes snuff he must et-chew ! , "Why Johnny," exclaimed mamma, "aren't you ashamed of yourself, going about with such a dirty face ?" "No, 1 ain't," replied Johnny, with a conscious pride in the integrity of his intentions; "you'd like to have me taken for a dude, wouldn't you ?" I =============== Shying Ilorses Near-Sighted. "Why it is that shying in horses should be set down to an ugly disposition I don't know," said a prominent veterinary surgeon to a New York Sun reporter: "It roust be because horsemen don't know what else to lay it to. The fact is that it seldom is met with unless the horse ia nearsighted. I have tested scores of shying horses for near-sightedness, and in nearly all cases found what I expected. And now, when I am asked to give points on buying horses, 1 give this as one of the requisites: Never buy a horse which is near-sighted. There are, however, two exceptions to this rule. If the horse is to have a mate, then it doesn't make any difference about the sight. One horse can go blind if the Other is clear-sighted. If the horse is to be used for riding to HHuuie ue careiui mat no is nop nearsighted, for he will throw you sooner or later. "The reason why a near-sighted horse shies is very simple," the surgeon continued. "Of all animals the horse is the most gentle and even timid. - He sees a strange object and his susceptible mind magnifies it into a monster that is going to destroy him. A piece of white paper at the roadside in the night is a ghost and an old wagon in the ditch is a dragon. Every horseman knows that if you drive the animal close to the dreadful object, the horse cools down at once. It is supposed that it is because the horse makes a closer acquaintance with the object. That is true, but not in the sen8& in which it is generally understood. The animal has not been able to see it from a distance. He is nearsighted." Tlie Biter Bit, "Oh, ho I" exclaimed a suburban passenger to his milkman; "gqt a box of chalk under your arm, haven't you? Bought it in the city and taking it out . to the dairy, eh ? Now, Will you be kiud enough to tell me what you are going to do with it ?" "Certainly, sir, certainly," replied the milkman; "your wife tells my driver to chalk It down so ofteu that he has run out of crayon*, and I'm laying in a new supply. If you'll 'comeout to the farm I'!! show you your statement of account on the side I of the new barn.?Chicago Her aid.