The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, May 11, 1886, Image 6
5 ?
f The Washington correspondent of the
liouiaville Courier-Journal fears that
?iquor and labor are goings to make the
orthodox parties a good deal of trouble
in the near future."
It is said that by the simple use of
citric acid or citrate of silver, sea water
may bo made a good, wholesome mineral
drink. Now, if by some easy sort of
manipulation earth could bo made into
good food, a man could work his
way through ufa without having to
struggle very hard. J
The Surf's London correspondent writes
that the cry of something to do which
now goes up In England is as much from
the rich as from the poor. The aristocracy
and the nabobs arc at their wita'
ends for novelties in which to kill time.
Perhaps Burns hit it when he wrote: * '
" But gentlemen and ladies worst
v With downright want of work are curst. ,
Great rivalry as to speed exist among
the sailing ships that annually take grain
and flour to England from Oregon and
California. The distance is 18,000 miles,
and three crack ships competed this
year, the winner the Lucknow, making
the voyage to Southampton in 100 days,
and the second best reaching Queenstown
in 116 davs.
A deplorable result of the unwarrantable
corruption of the word "fire" to
xnaae it synonymous witn tne vera
"eject" is detailed in a Western newspaper.
A hotel clerk left written instructions
on a slate for the porter to
build a fire in one of the guest's rooms,
'Tending: "Room 40?fire at 10:30."
"When 10:30 o'clock arrived the matterof-fact
porter went up to the room and
"fired" the occupant of room 40 into the
street, in spite of his expostulations.
The dairymen in Italy are improving
their facilities and butter to such an
extent as to become formidable rivals to
the Dutch in the export trade with
India, China and other Oriental customers.
Italy has a much longer butter
producing season than Denmark, and
threatens to supply French markets with
large quantities, thus forcing French
and Danish butter upon the English
buyers, reacting upon the American export
trade in butter, which has already
suffered considerably from European
competition, the value having fallen
for ten months of this season to $2,654,183,
against $3,407,799 for same time
last year, and in quantity from 19,910,957
pounds in 1884-85 to 1,953,047
pounds in 1885-86.
The superiority of American fun Is acknowledged
by an editorial writer in the
London New*. He holds that there are
only two kinds of American humor to
which the Englishman objects. The
"jokes about courting between lovers
coated on a snake fence, or about Sundayschools
and quaint answers there given
to Biblical questions, leave us cold." He
declares that in literature, when Englishmen
want to be even hysterically diverted,
they must, as a rule, buy their
fun from the American humorist. 1 'We
are not at present," he says, "a boisterously
comic lot of geniuses, and if you
eee the tears running down the eyes of a
fellow-countryman reading in a railway
carriage, if he be writhing with mirth
too powerful for expression, the odds are
that he has got hold of a Yankee book.
jx is unsme 10 rccommena any writer as
very funny. "No man can ever tell how
his neighbor will take a joke. But it
may safely be said that authors who
really tickle their students are extremely
rare in England except as writers
* ?? the stage."
Y A Big Stud of Iron Horsea
"If you want to see what system is,"
eaid a railroad man, "step into the office
of our superintendent 01 motive power
and machinery. In his charge are nearly
700 locomotives, all in use or in repair
shop, and in a moment he can tell you not
only where every locomotive is, but the
name of the man running it, the amount
and character of repairs put upon it since
ita TMirohftsn. number nf miles run since
it was put into service, cost of repairs
per mile run, etc. He has a full history
of every locomotive. More than that,
he complies every month a summary of
his report which embraces locomotive
Serformance on thq whole road
uring the previous month and scattered
over more than 4,000 miles of
\ railway. The report shows the number
of miles run in the different
branches of service?passenger,
freight, gravel, wood and ' switching;
the cost of fuel, of oil and
waste, for enginemen and firemen, for
round house service and for repairs. It
. show8 the cost in detail per mile run and
the number of miles run to the ton of
coal, pint of oil and pound of waste. In
"" all the wide range of railroad reports and
tabulation I know of no system so
thorough and admirable as this in the locomotive
department.
"How much does it cost to run a
locomotive? Well, more than you would
think. If a locomotive were starting out
on a hundred-mile run and you were
asked what the cost of the run would be
to the company, the chances are that you
would say about $10. But it costs a little
more' than 20 cents a mile to run a locomotive,
on an average. Nearly eight cents
of this is for fuel, seven ana one-quarter
cents for pay of engineer and fireman, a
half, cent for oil and waste, and more
than four and one-half cents for repairs.
A ton of coal will run a locomotive
twenty-four miles, a pint of oil will run
eleven miles, and a pound of waste one
{hundred and . twenty-three miles. The,
jlocomotives of a railway like the Northwestern
run half a million of miles a
month."?Chicago Herald.
i; r.-< >v? r.-i rxri-V&W'tjilflR VV- .?
.. ' ;* : ' . : , r- . .. ; . ; s .? ; '
'
Ortr the B?a?
? or the m in a sunn j land
Bomo <Mi9 lu thinking of i?o?
1o huara tho Rurf on a ahore of sand.
The imow is falling on me.
Over tho sea, over the sea,
Surely he's thinking of me.
Over tho sea where the palm-trees bend
And liiies nod in tho sun,
Lives there ono who is nearer than friend?
My "greatly beJ<- d" one. i
Over tho se.., over the sea, .
To-day he's thinking of mo.
Over the sea till tho roses come;
Then back he will speed to me,
To bear ino queen to his island homeTo
our homo beyond tho sea.
Over the sea, over tho sea,
To-day he is loving me.
?Rev. Win. B. Oleson in Independent. I
A Moment of Temptation;
1
"I can't stand it any longer, Dolly.
I'll go out and perhaps something will
turn up." i
"It's a cold night., Robert."
"Cold, yes, but it's not much colder ]
out than in. It would have been better :
for you, dear, if you had married John
Tremain."
"Don't say that, Robert. I have never i
regretted my choice."
"Not even when there is not a loaf of
bread in the house for you and the chil- 3
dren?" i
"Not even now, R/ucrt. God has not
forsaken us. Perhaps on Easter day the i
tide will turn."
"It's been Lent all the winter with us,"
said Robert bitterly. "Day after day I l
have searched for employment. I have i
caii2d at fifty places and received the '
same answer evervwhere."
A curley-headed boy crcpt up to his 1
mother's knee. ]
"Mother," he pleaded^ "wont you
give me a piece of bread? I am hungry? '
just a little piece, mother."
"There is no bread, Jimmy darling," i
said the mother, with an aching heart.
"\yhen will there be some?" asked the i
little one piteously.
Tears came into the mother's eyes.
She could not speak.
"Jimmy, I'll bring you some bread," t
said the father hoarsely, and ho seized
his hat and wont to the door.
His wife alarmed, laid her hand on his
sleeve. She saw the look in his eyes,
and feared that he might be driven to
some desperate step. "Remember, Robert,"
she said solemnly, "it is hard to
starve, but there are things, that are
worse."
He shook her off, but not roughly, and :
without a word went out.
Out into the cold streets that would be i
their home ere long, for the rent would i
soon be due and $hen even the shelter of
the cheerless room in the poor lodging <
house would be denied them. Robert
Bruce was a mechanic, competent
and skillful. Three years since he lived
in a country home, but in an evil hour he
removed to the city. Here he vainly 1
hoped to do better. For a while he was
successful, but he found his lodginghouse
a poor substitute for the pretty
cottarre that had been his countrv home.
He saw his mistake, but was too ^roud
to go back, though his wife pined to do
so.
Then a time of great depression came
and business seemed suspended. "Work
ceased for Robert Bruce as for others.
If he had been in his old homo he could
have turned his hand to something else,
or at the most have borrowed of a neighbor
till better times, but now he felt
hopeless.
When ho went out on the 6treet he did
not know how hfi WHS fft lcnnr? hi a nrnm_
ise to little Jimmy. He was absolutely
penniless, and had been so for three days.
There was nothing that he was likely to
find to do that night.
"I will pawn my overcoat," he said. ;
"I cannot see my wife and children
starve."
"It was a well-worn overcoat and the
night was raw with the blustering winds
of March. He was so weakened by fast'
ing that he was shivering even while
wearing it, and needed something much <
wanner. I
"Yes," he said, "it must go. I don't <
know how I shall get along without it, <
b^t I cannot hear the poor little ones cry
for bread." i
He was not in general an envious man,
but when he saw the slick, well-fed citi- i
zens buttoned up to the chin in warm
overcoats coming out of their grand
homes, while his children were starving,
he had some bitter thoughts of the inequality
of fortune's gifts. Why should
they be happy while he was so miserable?
There was a man just passing with his
hands thrust deep in the pockets of his
OM
ouo^gj uvuwai. i.?oio woo n JOIIJ
smilo on his face. -He was doubtless
thinking of a pleasant circle at homo.
Robert knew him as a rich cabinet-maker,
whose ample warehouse he often passed.
He applied to this man only two days before
fer employment and had been refused.
Just as he passed Robert Mr.
Grimes drew his handkerchief from his
pocket. As he did so he did not perceive
that his pocketbook came with it
and fell on the pavement. He did not
perceive, but Robert did.
His heart leaped into his mouth and a
sudden temptation entered his mind. He
bent quickly down and pioked up the
pocketbook. He saw that his movement
had not been noticed.. . Mr. Grimes went
on unconscious of his loss.
ir'i > ^ : '; -
'This will buy bread for my wife and
children," thought Robert instantly.
A vision of the comfort the money
would bring into that cheerless room
lighted up his heart for an instant, but
then ho was not dishonest. Conscience
spoke. The money was not his, much as
he needed it.
\
"But I can't sec my wife and children
Btarvc," he thought. "God has sent this.
He dropped it in my way?it will 6ave
their lives?a life is worth more than anything?God
will forgive me."
But all this was sophistry and he knew
it. In a moment he felt it to be so.
There were some things worse than star
nation. " Dolly had said so the last thing
before he came out. Could he meet her
gaze if he returned with food so obtained.
"I've lived honest so far. I wont turn
thief now," he said.
He hurried after the owner of the
pocketbook with Jimmy's cry for bread
sounding in his cars. It was with a sublime
effort that he stepped forward and
placed his hand on the tradesman's
shoulder and extended the hand that
held the pocketbook.
"Thank you," said Mr. Grimes, turning
round; I hadn't perceived my loss.
I'm much obliged to you."
"You have reason to be," said Robert,
in a low voicc. "I was very near keeping
it."
"That would have been dishonest,"
said Mr. Grimes, his tone altering slightlv.
"Yes, it would; but it is hard for a
man to be honest when lie is penniless
and his wife and children without a
crust."
UCnrnln 'rr.rv. ..?.< -f .11 A i ?
UU1V/IJ juu auu JUUI lauiiijr ittC UUt 111
that condition," said Mr. Griuics earnestly.
"Yes," answered Robert, "it is too
true. For two months I have looked for
work in vain. I applied to you two days
ago."
"I remember you now. I thought I
r.nd seen you before. You still want
work V
"I should feel grateful for it."
"My foreman left yesterday. Will you
take his place at twenty dollars a week?"
"Thankfully, sir," cried Robert, trembling
with joy.
"Then come to-morrow morning, and
take this for present needs."
He dre- a note from the pocketbook
and put it into Robert's hand.
""Why, this is a twenty dollar bill!"
cried Robert in amazement.
"I know it. The pocketbook contains
n thousand dollars. But for you I would
linve lost the whole. If I find you deserving
I will give you twenty more as
a bonus at the end of four months."
"God bless you!" said Robert in a
choking voice. "Good night,"
"Good night."
Colly waited for her husband in the
cold and cheerless room.
An hour passed, and there was a step
on the stairs. Could it be that her husband
was coming up with that light elastic
step?
She ran to the door eagerly.
Yes, it was he, and he carried a huge
basket in his hand.
Jimmy danced at the sight of it. "Oh,
it's bread, isn't it, father?"
"I should say so," cried Robert radiantly.
"What do you call this?"
He heaped on the table the crisp rolls,
the golden pat of butter, the delicious
links of sausages, the packages of tea and
sugar and coffee, and some rosy apples
for the cl.Ildrcn, which made their eyes
sparkle.
Soon a man appeared with a sack of
coal: a briirlit fire warmed th? room, jind
there was a guy and merry laughter about
the little table that night.
The next week they moved to more
comfortable quarters. Mr. Grimes proved
a firm friend and Robert has an account
in a savings bank. He thanks God for
the dark hour in which he resisted temptation.?New
York Journal.
Are We Losing Oar Teeth!
Man's dentition has to be judged from
our experiences made in the mammalian
nr.A??M IIam aa ~11 14. * J J
^iuup? ntui/Cj mat ui uiij II# IS U fCUUC6U
dentition. True, we do not know the
definite stages by which it was attained
in man, any more than we do in the case
of the anthropomorphoids, and all the
other apes of the Old World, but we
shall not hesitate to maintain that the
ancestors of man possessed a fuller number
of tect'i, as long as deductions are
justified from the observations of facts.
Our teeth have decreased in number during
the course of our geologico-zoological
development; we hsve lost on either
Bide, above and below, two incisors, two
premolars, and one molar. By this we
transfer ourselves back to those periods
from which the jaw of the otocyon has
been preserved. Baume, our eminent
odontologist, in a recent work which we
have repeatedly referred to, has successfully
followed and pointed out cases of
atavism or reversion in the human jaw.
by tracing cases of ''surplus" teeth?and
certain dental formations met with in the
jaws in a large percentage of cases?back
to those portions of the jaw in the animal
ancestor? of man which have disappeared
in the course of ages.?Popular
Science Monthly.
. Saratoga ij/making grand preparations
for a grand demonstration next autumn
to commemorate the surrender of Burgoyae
to Gates.
if . : V ' \ / \ '
MH$$'' 'V'Vv->,J
1 >V^ " '"' .. ' ' ' ' 1 V-'
"The Sinking of the 'Alabama.'"
From the account, in the Century, by
John Mcintosh Kell, the second officer in i
command of the Confederate cruiser Alabama,
we lake the following: "When
the firing ceased, Captain Semmgs order- j
ed me to dispatch an officer to the Kearsarge
to say that our ship was sinking,
aud to ask that they send boats to save
our wounded, as our boats were disabled. ^
The dingey, our smallest boat, had escaped
damage. I dispatched Mastersmate
Fullam with the request. No boats /
appearing, I had one of our quarter bouts | 1
lowered, which was slightly injured, and .
ordered the wounded placed in licr. Dr.
Gait, the surgeon who was in charge of
the magazine and shell-room division, .
came on deck at this moment and was at
once put in charge of the boat, with orders
to 'take the wounded to the Kearsarge.'
They shoved off just in time to
save the poor fellows from going down
in the ship. ,
"I now gave the order for 'every man
to jump overboard with a spar and save
himself from tuc sinking ship.' To enforce
tlio order, I walked forward and
urged the men overboard. As soon ns
the decks were cleared, save of the
bodies of the dead, 1 returned to the ^
stern-port, where stood Captain Scmmca
with one or two of the men and his faith- j
fid steward, who, popr fellow! was doomed
to a watery grave, as he could not <
swim. The Alabama's stern-port was j
now almost to the water's edge. Partly
undressing, we plunged into the sea, and
made an oiling from the sinking ship,
Captain Semmcs with a life preserver and ^
I on a grating.
"The Alabama settled stern foremost, j
Innnfllinrf lu>r l\nura ^
MV4 uvno 111 UiU , ill! I ^
Graceful even in her death-struggle, she
in a moment disappeared from the face ,
of the waters. The sea now presented a (
mass of living heads, striving for theii (
lives. Many poor fellows sauk for the \
want of timely aid. Near me I saw a ^
float of empty shell-boxes, and called to
one of the men, a good swimmer, to examine
it; he did so and replied, 'It is the
doctor, sir, dead.' Poor Llewellyn! he
perished almost in sight of his home.
The-young Midshipman MalRt swam to (
, me and offered his life-preserver. My
grating was not proving a very buoyant
float, and the white caps breaking over
my head, were distressingly uncomforta- ,
blc, to say the least. Mafiit said: 'Mr. .
Kell, take my life-preserver, sir; you are
almost exhausted.' The gallant boy did
not consider his own condition, but his
pallid face told me that his heroism was
superior to his bodily suffering, and I refused
it. After twenty minutes or more
I heard near me some one call out, ,
'There is our first lieutenant,' and the
next moment I was pulled into a boat, in
which was Captain Semmes, stretched
out in the stem-sheets, as pallid as death,
lie had received during the action a
slight contusion on the hand, and the
struggle in the water .had almost exhaustr?rl
Vlim Tlinrn
nuu aisu acTcnu ui our |
crew in the boat, and in a few minutes j
we were alongside a little steam-yacht, .
which had come among our floating men, J
and by throwing them ropes saved many
lives. Upon reaching her deck, I ascertained
for the first time that she was the
yacht Deerhound, owned by Mr. John
Lancaster, of England. In looking
round I saw two French pilot-boat* engaged
in saving our crew, and finally two
boats from the Kearsargc."
Advice to Stoop?Shouldered Feople.
A stoopiag figure is not only a familiar
expression of weakness or old age, but it
is, when caused by careless habits, a di- i;
rect cause of contracted chest and de?
fective breathing. Unless you rid yourself
of this crook wliile at school you will |
probably go bent to your grave. There
is one good way to cure it. Shoulder
braccs will not help. One needs not an
artificial substitute, some means to develop
the muscles whose duty it i9 to hold
tho head and shoulders erect. I know of
but one bull's-eye shot. It is to carry a
weight on the head. A sheepskin or
other strong bag filled with twenty or !
thirty pounds of sand is a good weight. .
When engaged in your morning studies,
either before or after breakfast, put the
bag of sand on your head, hold your
head erect, draw your chin close to your
neck, and walk slowly about the room,
coming back, if you pleise, every minute
or two to your book, or carrying the
book as you walk. The. muscles whoso
duty it is to hold the head and shoulder ?
erect are hit, not ??ith scattering shot,
but with a riile b?li. The bones of the
spine and the intervertebral substance |
will soon accommodate themselves to the ;
new attitude. One year of daily practice I
with the bag, half an hour morning and [
evening, will give you a noble carriage,
without interfering a moment with you
studies.?Halt1 a Journal of Health.
Japanese Athletes.
Dr. Oswald says that the superiority of
Oriental athletes is not so much in their
absolute muscular strength, which they
can hardly match against that of the
hnlkv na ?n
uu AAA vruaw bUliUiCU
would call their "staying povrers." In
Ohasaka, Japan, a German traveller saw '
a pair of rough-and-tumble wrestlers fight
with short pauses for six hours and thirty
minutes, and only quit after their knees 1
and elbows were flayed and their faces
battered out of all resemblance to human
orunte??ncea. . j 1
' rV;: i
THE "ALABAMA."
rho Confederate Cruiser's
Last Engagement.
low She Was Sunk by tbe "Kearsarge"
Off the French Coast.
From an account of "Life on the Ala)ama,"
by one of her sailors, in the Ccnury,
we quote the following: "We got
iverytliing ship-shape and left Cherbourg
or our last cruLse on a bright Sunday
norning, June 19th. "We were escorted
>y a French armored vessel, and when
11 i
nv guu uuiaiuo wc couiusecinc ii.enrsarge
iwaiting us, about four miles away.
Captain Semmes made us a short speech
vhich was well receivcil, though it seemed
)dd to me that an American should apical
to an Englishman's love of glory to
inimate him to fight the speaker's own
countrymen. But we cheered, and the
French ship leaving us, we steamed
straight for the Kearsarge. There is no
loubt that Semmes was flurried and coranenced
firing too soon. "We were, I
should say, nearly a mile away, and I do
lot think a single shot told. The enemy
circled around us and did not return our
5re until within seven or eight hundred
pards and then she let us have it. The
Srst shot that struck us made the ship
reel and shake all over. I was serving 011
>ne of the thirty-two pounders, and my
sponger was aa old man-o'-war's man,
who remarked, after a look out of the
port, 'We might as well fire batter pudflens
as these pop-guns: a few more biffs
like that last and we may turn turtle.'
He had scarcely spoken when a shell
burst under our pivot-gun, tilting it ou1
af range and killing five of the crew.
wnat is wrong with the rifle-gun?' was
asked. 'We don't seem to be doing the
enemy any harm,' while with slow precision
came the crash of the heavy shell ol
theYnnkcc. One missile that seemed a;
big as a haystack whizzed over our heads,
taking a section of the port bulwarks
away, fortunately missing a man thai
was handling shot. lie only remarked
that he believed the Yankee was firing
'steam-b'ilers' at us. Another shell
struck us amidships, causing the ship tc
list to port so that our gun weighing
three tons raced in, pinning one pooi
fellow against the port-sill. He died before
we could get him clear. This was
the missile that sunk the Alabama.
'She's going down!' was the cry, and al
was confusion. Another shell struck
about the water-line, and the vessel reelec
like a drunken man. The dead anc
wounded were lying about the deck,
which was red with blood. Our officers
did their duty and the men at once be
gan to get up the wounded. The cuttei
and launch were in the water, and th<
officers were trying to keep the men back
till the wounded were all in; but certainly
many of them were left, for I saw several
on the berth-dcck when I went below,
and the boats were then full and
pushing off. When it was certain thai
the ship was sinking, all order was at ar
end. I had ?10 and a watch in a locker
between decks, and I ran below, bui
they were gone.
" 'All hands on deck?ship's goinc
down 1' was called, and I had just got
on the upper step of the forward companion-way
when the water, entering th(
berth-deck ports, forced the air up and
almost carried me off my legs. I cast
my eye6 around for a moment. Old Gill,
with his head crushed under the carriage
of the eight-inch gun, was lying there,
his brawny hands clinching the breast ol
him liimnpr Jn?f. n<S fhn wofnr *
the storn I went over the port bulwarks.
I was a good swimmer, and had not beer
in the water five minutes when a French
pilot-boat came running past, and i
brawny fellow in petticoats and top-boot*
dragged me out of the water."
The Thirteen Superstition.
Some of the fashionable people of Bos
ton axe firm believers in the supcrstitioi
which is opposed to thirteen at table
this often leads to awkward complica
tions, for their dinner parties are fre
quently arranged for fourteen. Whcr
this is the case and one o* tho -ruests can
not attend, and docs not apprise th<
hostess of this fact until the day of th<
dinner, great exertions are made to obtain
the one necessary to make up th<
original number, and many ladies accepi
short invitations in order to help theii
friends out of their dilemma. When th(
ope desired cannot be found, it is ofter
convenient for a member of the family tc
be indisposed. This, of course, make:
the number of diners even, but it is
doubttul if it prevents any of them fron:
dying within the year.?Boston Budget.
The Part He Forgot.
The following colloquy occurred ir
the court room in this city the present
week:
Young Attorney?Have you stated al
that you remember of the conversatior
which you had with Mr. Blank?
Witness?Yes, sir.
Young Attorney?That, then, was the
whole conversation, was it not?
Witness?No, sir. I do not think ]
remember all.
Young Attorney?What part of. il
don't you remember?
The witness* answer was lost in the
laughter that ensued at the attorney'i
expense.?Elmira QaxelU.
. J . % y%.. \ ,
... ^
The Town Cow.
One of the most annoying things that
the country people has to contend with
(says the West Union (O.) Defender) is
the ordinary town cow. When the farmer
leaves home he puts in the bottom of
his sleigh or sled a bountiful armful of
hay. This answers the twofold purpose
of a scat and to keep the feet of himself
and the good wife warm. Ho arrives at
town, unloads his wife in front of some
store, and proceeds to hitch his team at
some point about the public square. No
sooner is his back turned than a dozen
starved cows immediately surround his
sled, and before he can say "Jack Robinson
with his mouth open," every straw in
I his sled lias gone through the gastric
orifices of the aforesaid cows. We noflPPfl
nno nnrfinnlorlw
. v.vvw |/I?tvivui(iiij vaiuxui J.V11VSW tiio
other day. After hitching his team he#
took his hay and carried it into the courthouse
yard. He was going to have the
deadwood on that bunch of hay and departed
for a saloon with a grin on hi?
face. We watched the proceedings witb
considerable interest. He was not out
of sight until three or four long horns
opened the gate and proceeded to the
pile and chewed it up. Clubbing these
lean kind does no good. In fact they
rather enjoy the fun. You can take a?
ordinary stick of cord wood and bounce
it from off their carcasses fifty feet high
and they will turn around and smile at
you. They don't even grunt when you
have hit them hard enough to stave intheir
ribs. Such punishment seems only '
to act as a tonic; it whets their appetites
( and makes them enjoy the repast which
the farmer has hauled to them from his
home many miles distant. And after it
is all over just notice the peculiar look
they give the man who came to town sitting
on a pile of hay, as he departs for
home on the bare boards 1 The town
' cow is a nuisance, but at the same time a
necessity in all rural villages. A "borne
without a mother" would not be a more
lonesome spectacle than a rural village
' without its herd of lean long-horned,
st.limn.f.nilpd nr\wo
( Canned Goods.
In the testimony brought forward h.
the recent Kolyer-Thurber case, much
' light was thrown by expert; and othei "
witnesses upon the methods, in some instances,
of the canning trade. Besides
the copper boiling and zinc soldering
^ practices, other reprehensible modes of
manufacture were testified to. One wit|
ness, who said that he had been in the
^ canning business for thirty years, gave a
simple means of distinguishing spoiled
' from wholesome fruit. It is understood
that when air can get at the contents ol
. the can decomposition will ensue. The
wholesomeness of the goods, therefore,
' depends entirely upon the air-tight condition
of the can. The witness asserted
that when a can is perfectly air tight
there will be a hollow in the heads?that
^ is, they will cave in. If they are level,
. and spring back when pressed upon, they
^ are known to the trade as "spring bottoms"?that
is, air has got in and the
t contents are in a state of fermentation.
The cans have been badly soldered 01
sealed up. If the "spring bottoms"
' stand long enough they become what is
known as 4'swell-heads"?that is, the
bottoms have become convex and s^rell
out, a condition due to the generation ot
. gases by the process of fermentation. Id
nr/lnr tn onll
vv wvt* viivou ^UUU3 Uliav;rupuiuui!
[ dealers resort to what witnesses called
"reprocessing." That is, the dealers
. make a hole in the head of the can, heat
the fruit and solder it up again; or, as
this trick is easily detected, shrewder
' manufacturers melt open the original
t vent-hole, heat the fruit and then resoldcr
the can at the old place. This leaves
^ no mark, and therefore removes all evidence
that the can has been tampered
with.?New York Commercial.
Hair for Wigs.
The hair for making wigs comes from
all carts of the world. Thp. natural
blonde comes from Norway and Sweden.
Dealers in the south of France supply
great quantities of dark hair, and thou- ^
sands of pounds of black hair are brought
from Italy to New York every year.
China sends us the cheapest hair, but
it is rather coarse, and is used in manufacturing
low-grade theatrical wig9
and back-pieces, braids and bangs foi
ladies' street wear. By bleaching and ^
dyeing, Chinese hair can be given any
color that is desired. But it assumes
auburn shades best, and an enormous
quantity of it hns been used. The
Swedish hair is rarely longer than
twenty-two inches, and when received
hero it is always dirty and teeming with
insects. French hair is generally clean,
but the Italian hair, which comes to
New York in 100-pound bundles, is ex
1 ceedingly filthy, and the workmen who
clean it before it is purchased by the
^ wig-makers sometimes contract diseases
from handling it. Dyed hair is called
1 "dead," and becomes harsh after being
worn a short time. Chemicals are used
to give it a glossy appearance. Besides
the human hair large quantities of yak
j. and angora goat hair and jute fiber are
used.
t A gentleman rode up to a public house ^
in the country and asked: "Who is the
i master of this house?" "Iam, sir," rei
plied the landlord, "my wife has been
dead about three weeks."