University of South Carolina Libraries
r ~ ■' 1 1 ~ 1 I SCIENCE AND THE OTSTEB) ■e Waa fm Urttw ■HmlT^AnlAetol (fella**. [VtMl th« PhilMUlphia Record.] TIm <9#ar has of lata yaaia, froai ita fraat aeonoiaio Taliw, attraotad the at tention of eeiontiflo men of alleoantriea, and eapaoially 4n tbk oonntrj of the John H UniTeimitj, made tka fliat aacoBadfcl at tempt in fha artifloial imprafnatlon of the egga of the oyeter. A aingla oyeter laya about two millions of yellow eggs, which are found in the fills of the pa rent They soon commence to mows about by moans of delicate motile fila ments that almost oorer them, snd then srohstched snd called fry. They are now Independent—free swimming crea tures, hot shortly esase to rove about snd attach themselves to the bottom, tbs shell, one-eighth of an inch in diameter, being easily discernible. At the end of the first year they reproduce, bat do not attain their perfect else for three years. The inonbation of oyster egg* is the great business of the future, snd in afew yean, probably, the dealer can go to » hatchery and order 500,000,000 sprat, more or leer. The present difficulty ia notin the fertilisation bat in beeping the young alive, and to this end experi ments are being made in various parts of the world. Another important question affecting the flavor and, oonseqneLtly, tbs sale of the oyster is its food. Every epicure knows the difference between Blue Points, Shrewsbury and Virginia oysten, and the supposition is that their food is 1 he oause of the difference. Professor T<eidy, President of the Philadelphia Academy of Science, says that the oye tor, probably, naturally feeds upon the zoospores of certain slgw, snob as those of tbs sea cabbage (tf/va latissi- i/<a). This, in his opinion, might give the animal# the green color that they often possess, particularly in the soft parts. So many oysters have been rejected bpr buyers who were afraid of the green tint that the matted has been investigated by two French natnrsl- ists, who .took perfectly white oysters and fed them upon water containing so abundance of a green microscopic plant (Naricula ottrearia), and they assumed the green, coppery hoe that was sup posed to be poisonous. Oysters are sup- irased also to contain the green coloring matter of plants called ohlorophyl, found in a number of animals. Tbs most care ful tests were made chemically with the spectroscope snd otherwise by various scientific men, snd in no esse was the green color traced to metallic matter or found in any way poisonous. "Is it true,” asked the skipper’s com panion, "that star fish roll on oyster beds?” “I can't swear to it," was the reply, "bat among istermen it’s s gen eral belief tliat sea stars get together in bunches of four or five hundred snd 1st the sea or ground swell roll ’em up shore onto the beds, where they break up and go for the isters. They kill thousands of boshels of ’em every year. The way they work is to dose over the shell snd torn their stomachs inside out and suck the eritter right in. They’re one of the worst enemies the isters have. It’s as tonisUn’,” he continued, "the number of egge isters lays and how few grows up. I hoards gentleman say that out of 1,000 isters about 460 lays eggs, and say each laid 1,000,000, we’d haye forty odd million young. But he eatd, on an aver age, only 400 or so of these grew to per fect sbe, so for every later as is eat over 1,000,000 gik killed.’’ ^ ^ Professor Mobins says the productive ness ‘of the oyster is 7,000,000 greater than that of man, but its capacity to mature 679 times less. The European oyster is far below its A»>*i*b>*»« cousin, and about England extremely rare. In 1870 a email bed was discovered at the mouth of the Thames, near WfaitesUble, about sixty feet long and twenty wide, and within forty-eight hours seventy-five vessels were anchored over the spoi The bed is now defunct. The beds of Cancels, on the Normandy ooaat, are yet rich, though the following figures show the earns destine : in 1849 they yielded 62,000,000; in 1869 the number was only 18,000,000; in 1881, 9,000,000; in 1888, 2,000;000, and in 1886, 1,000,000. A rage for the artificial culture of oysters swept over Europe several years ago, promoted principally by Professor Costs, of Paris. In the spring of 1868 he dis tributed in the bay of St. Brieux shells snd hshvy fagots over s space of 1,000 heotasn (one heetaer equals 21.4fli sores), and on these spread 8,000,000 mother oysters. In the autumn all the fagots were, of eourse, covered with young oysters; for if these oj stale were ss fruitful as the Helstein oysten there *ere 182,000 young oysten to every square mater. The boldest Mp matte us were exceeded. It waa thought that beds, sad people already eommenefcd to oatoolate, according to the price which oysten bnoght at that tfana, how many ntilfona of franc* would be yielded by this harvest of theses. Capitalists went tato partnership with fisherman and started srtiflrtsl oyeter beck, but the rich harvest of marketable oysten failed everywhere because the iTualai portion of the young oysten had been destroyed by qoktaand or clayey deposit, by want rftoodorbysnaarin,. At present tha oatowng and raking of young oysten k only rtnsnrfuQy osrried on in a law Pken on tha French ooaat whiob are ; on a large the bay of Areaehou, north of Among the penengen on tin train eve# the T^anaing Ned tha other day wm an old man with a sore eye ends ■gneehy vokaandaattgneeh. The train had seassaly left tbs capital sHy whan ha ssaght tha soudnotor’a arm, and askad if the next station was Livonia, "Vo, sir; livonia k fifty miles down the road," waa th* reply. Atokemos tha eld gent asked the sanaqnestioat jp| received about the same reply. At WWiametownr he ap pealed to the pnmangne and refusing to be convinced he poshed hk head pot of the wfodow sndlost hkhai. As tha brskamsn snnooneed Fowlerville tha old msn suddenly stood op and asked: "Did I understand yog to aay IA vooiar • ■? ' "Vo, air; Livfinia k still beyond," wps He doubted it, and going ont on tipi platform he got 4 cinder in the well fyo and wm presently oaable to see at ati. A kind-hearted mag lent hint a handker chief; and whenlhe train reached How ell he waa able tb run down theoondno- tor and repeat hk former inquiry. "Vo, air— no, sir I” sharply replied the official—"Livonia k still further on. Is your ticket ftw Ltvoniaf - "No; Fm going beyand.” "Then what are you ao anxibtu aboutf” "Wall, fhs last time I coma through Livonia there was a~ little red-headed man behind a pile of staves with s club in hk hand, and jkt around the earner of a pile of shingles was a big bald- headed man with a rook in his fist. They was daring each other to come out, but the train hustled along before the climax come. I was kinder thinking, you know—that is, I was kinder in hopes that by the time we got there this morn ing the little red-head would have g<>l k dander up'’hulT to ssD in." "How long ago was this ?" '"Boutfix weeks.” • "Ton’d better go off snd soak yom head I” snapped the official as he walked ewsy. "Yes, maybe I had,” sighed the old man as h* sat down. "I’d do it in a minit if I knew ’twonld help my eyes We’re gittin’ cl ns down to Livonia now, and tb* way my eyes are I couldn’t tell red-head from bald-head nor make ont who was on top. I wonder where the soakin’ place, is on this oar.”—Detroit Free Prett. TALES OP A STAGE ROBBER. I ““ l ~’W#SBP«8SS rortrLAB NS. Lilia AS**m with sLl > Marta Valiev—LaacMas Ovar Theaa- r*v Maklaa -MS a The popular belief that it brave man to rob s stags k mdaly dis pelled by John Ifanhall, a highwayman nowin jail in Reno, awaiting trial stopping tha Siam Talley compelling the paungan to give np their valnatfea. Harebell k not a formidsble-losUof ann, but ha has nsvartheleas a reckless air about him tbkt makes a man whom ha threatens to ■hoot fed that he k likely to keep hk wood. Since his arrest, being reason ably certain that ha will peas the next ten or twenty yean in some prison, provided always that hk eerear k not out short by lynchers, he has devoted much of bis timiflb reminiscences of hk adventures on the road. It k sus pected, now that he k a| bay, tint be takes some delight in easting ridicule upon his numeroos victims, but the opinion also prevails that there k some ground for it. Every man who has had experience with stage or train robbers shows the effects of hk fight for years afterward. "Talking abont brave men,” Stage Robber Marshall said one night in "the idea that it takes a man of great nerve and (boring to rob a stage iaagreat mistake. I can take the softest tender foot yon ever saw, and after fixing him np in the right-style ao the people in the stage will know his profession the minute they set their eyes on him, I’ll bat I can scare the life out of the best concord load you ever see. This notion that we hurt people or threaten to hnrt them, and tbit we are rough add all that, is all nonsense. We iust lav for the A >**w Wheat Field. Onr Consul at Buenos Ayres believes that the Argentine Republic is to be one of the great grain-producing countries of the world. He estimates the wheat crop of this year at 19,500,000 hnshels, more than half of which will be surplus for export, snd adds that the surplus corn will amount to 5,000,000 bushels. The number of sores devoted to agriculture has more than doubled in the last six years, y*t there are less than 2.000,000 acres under cultivation in the fourteen Provinces, ont of 800,000,000, the great er part of the remainder being used for grazing cattle or sheep. The republic baa a climate tbnt ranges from the sut)- tropical to that of Northern Canada. Experiment seems to prove that the pampas are remarkably fertile under cultivation and admirably fitted for cereal crops. Exploration in Patagonia has revealed rich meadows snd valleys capable of snstsining millions of tattle snd sheep. The fertility of these lands will make them hereafier, in the Conanra^^w^n ion, the granary and garden of the republic. Several setthF meats have recently been made on the Atlantic coast of the Province, and the inhabitants are raising wb-*it. We aometilufee forget that Pstsgoni* lies in the latitude of the northern half of the United States, while the climate of the more important Argentine Provinces is that of the United States below Mason snd Dixon’s line. Tbs republic has ouly 2,600,000 inhabitants, and moat of these are Indolent “and conaervstive. The number of immigrants increases an nually, however, jmd the wealth of the IRthk bay ths young oys- iM^pndaead by mother oyutoa on nai. oral bads are ought oo in lime. It .may be. therefore, that Consul Baker is jnstified in making the predic- t ion that at some time, although not in the near tatnre, the republic will con tend with the United States for a divi sion of the export trade in grain. ii - —- - -gp- - - - - - At West Point, once, General Sher man, accompanied by the Commandant of Cadets, wss making an inspection tour of the barracks. He wasn’t look ing for contraband goods, but while in one of the rooms he got talking about his cadet days, snd "When I wss a cadet,” he said to (he Commandant, "we hid things in the chimneys during the summer months. I wonder if the boys do so still.” (It was then in Jane.) So saying, he stopped to the fireplace sod reached np tbe (jbimney. Rattling down at his toueE catoe a board, fol lowed by a frying pan, a bottle (empty), and * suit of citizen’s clothes. The faces of tbs cadets who occupied the room was a study. But the General only laughed, and taming to tbe Command ant said: "This is sp exceptional case, Colonel. No need of reporting these young men.” A Crrr’s Pnoran.—Scarcely more than fifty per cent of the population of Chicago wm born in the United States. No lass than 94,000 of the present inhab itants of that city have poured in from the various States of the German em pire. Th* Bohemians number 12,000; the Canadians, 16,000; Danes, 8,100; French, nearly 2,000; Irish, nearly .50,000; Hollanders, nearly 8,800; Itoli- ana^ l,400riforwegiana, 8,700; Swedes, IfijOOO; Poles, 5,700; and Swiss, 2,000; with a sprinkling of Ruaaisns, Hnnjpui- ans, Spaniards, Portuguese, and mu of almoat every other rasa and nationality country’s soil and mineral deposits will e f ,uinl J bo developed in the oonrR at ^ th»t we would hove to kiU Stage in a lonely place, snd when the leaders heave in sight we level our guns and maybefire a ahot or two in the ah .to maifti the horses jump and rattle the driver a little. Then when all hand* are looking out of thefeiodewe, with their eyes popping out of their sockets, we yell, ‘Hands up I’ Nine times out of ton that’s all we*bave to say or do. The fellers in the coach get ont of their own accord, snd we jnst stood them up in a row, and whlle one'bf us holds the others go through their pockets aAd take what few little‘keepsakes they hap pen to have handy.” "Why, I’ve been in rnore’n a dozen hold-ups, and in only one case were there more’n two of ns. When the things got into the papers, though, it was alway said there were a dozen fierce’ highwaymen, all armed to the teeth, and that they shot tbe stage and the pas sengers’ clothes all fall of holes. Why, a year ago last winter, my pard and I was walking along the monutain road, not thinking of anything in particular, when along came a couple of tenderfeet in a carriage. Before we could catch our breath, one of them threw up both hands, knocking the other's hat off, and hollered, ‘For God's sake: don't shoot!’ "Well, now, we hadn’t any idea of shooting at all, and didn't know those fellers were in those parts; bat when they sort o’ reminded us of our business by commencing to unbnckle their watches and weasels, why, we just took them in charge, of Course, and told the tenderfeet never to let us catch them on that road again for it was onr’n. They thanked ns so warmly for sparing their lives that I felt a little nneasy about it. "I and my pard had robbed the Sierra valley stage three times now at the same place. I’ll tell yon how it was done. Pard had a Wihchester and I had a pair of Oolts in my belt, bnt the job was done every time with an old powdered ball pistol that bad no load in it, amTwouldn’t have gone off if there had been one, for I didn’t have any caps. Pard would fire his Winchester as close to the ears of the horses as he oonld without dropping them, and I would swing the old blnn derbuas in the air and boiler. Every time it happened just the same. The chaps climbed out, begging that there should be no bloodshed, and we would say there wouldn’t be any if the yield was Bobbed and passengers give up their arms, their watch's mid money, and than dance for me. They thought I had any number of pards back in the rooks, and they didn’t dsn say ‘peep.’ Well, of ooorae, that's the great advantage we have in our business. W# sear* them to begin with, and then they aee everything double. One man is faat m good m fifty in this lino. "He Amt need to be e hero, either. He jost wants a little nerve and an impeifoos sir. If I had always worked alone Pd have been a rich man to day, and 1 wonldnt be here either. I made my grqei mistake when I oommenoed working in partnership. It will ruin any msn in my profession. If I ever get ont of this sarape I'm going to jump the country. The business isn’t what it used to be_fMrs ago. It's too easy. It makes me sick sometimes when I think of th* tenderfeet I’ve robbed. I ought to have gone into the •rain racket long,before this.” AN A Chinese Protest. INDIAN A NT FBuTMT AGAIN BT TBE ACTION OF MANC*. An Orange brower. •* A letter in the Boston Transcript says : As luok would have it, during the war the Tankee found hin way to Florida, saw the possibilities, and after the war was over returned to Florida and set himself to work to solve the problem' of making some money out of the wild orange groves. Ho out all the trees in the sour grove* that were not wanted; and budded the stock with sweet fruit, which plan proved a suc cess, fruit appearing in from three to four yean. He qniokly perceived the value of this and other fruits which need tropical snn, and set the boom agoing that has already attained immense pro portions and is increasing annually, The -orange may be called the staple product of -Florida, so generally is it cultivated. Almost every enterprising planter has his grove, which is very tenderly cared for, as on this he expects to depend for a good inoome when it Lovoladt 1$ the ohm of a town whan two roughs oat Moot- sia«« to pieces white his wife indekOA tipod by pleading for Ms Ufa. A somebody if we-didi^t get enough to pay for our trouble. Every mother's son of them would give up things that we’d never have thought of looking for or de manding. There was only jnst my pard and I, bat the passengers would think they conk) see some of our men behind every tree, snd we’d holler onoe in a while some command to the boys in the woods to be sure snd hit the right ones if they fired. » "Oh,Lord!” Marshall said with a pro digious laugh, " it breaks me np when I think of one feller who fainted dead sway once. We’d jnst got them in a row good when this fellow’s knees commenced to knock together, and he kept getting out of line. I finally thought I’d scare him and the rest of them a little, so I hollered, pretending to be giving orders'$T the boys hidden behind rooks and treori * " ’Boys, boro a hole in this galoot ih the light overcoat on if he moves an inch, or any of the rest of them.’ "Just tben a big foliar, the second one /tom the limber-legged chap, had a chill like, and his teeth came together with such a noise that the other feller thought somebody wm cocking a rifle, rad with a whoop ha dropped in a dead faint. The rest of them thought ho had been shot dead. Thev war* too scared to that there had para no report of a gun. Well, we came pretty near overdoing the thing that time. ThOy all got so faint and tick that it wm bald work to find their valuables. It is a groat con venience to a stage robber to have th* pasaengen hand their staff right oat "Speaking shoot WMpooa, why, I have robbed stages op ia California and over in Utah without any weapons at all Too don’t need any. m bat a traamthatI era toko asald-fMltiraed tin and hold up the boat stage kail the! over tome, over the moontohm The driver it generally m bad]* friahtaaad m any of than. . . -4— The Chinese government baa ad dressed a circular letter relative, to An- nam to all foreign powers. The text of that document, recently delivered to Mr. Frelinghnysen, tbe Secretary of State, by the Minister of China at Wash ington, is as follows ; * Annam has been a dependent State to the Ta Tring dynasty for more than two hundred years, the ruler of the former sending tribute to the latter and receiving from the latter his investiture. Some twenty years ago, when the north ern portion of Annam was disturbed by rebels, tbe Ts Taing dynasty sent troops across the frontier to quell and disperse them. This occupied a space of up ward of ten years and cost the govern ment many millions of dollars in ord& to stminonsly protect and defend the government of Annam. Now France invades that country without oause, and, availing herself of the opportunity of the death of its king, has enforced the Hue treaty, in which there is a provision that "China most not interfere with the government of Annam.” This shows that France refuses to recognize Annam as a vassal to China. The foreign powers from these facts can with equity distinguish which government is in the vffong and which is in the right. If France desires to maintain friendl) relations with China, why should we not disouse Ihe matter amicably? If she in sists upon invading the northern part of Annum, where onr troops are stationed, this indicates that ahe ia determined to break the friendly tie, and onr troops there cannot remain with folded arms, but must meet them in the field. We, therefore, send this communica tion to nil foreign powers, showing that in the event of the friendly tie being broken the canse-of the rapture doe? not come from China. BUMHnra TBAlRti BT TBLEtiBAPH. Ctari** Mtortfe IS**, which wm fins Pst Isis PnpUcc M Year* A«c- gels into owned By non-residents, merchants, clerks, and even by mechanics who can not afford to spend all their time wait ing on an orange grove. Such persona hire their work done for a small snm, especially where they have not enough money to go and do all they want to dc, such as biuld a house, ete. The gro>v is cared •for by some of the resident*. The orange tree is a very prolific bearer seldom having an off year. Fifteen thousand oranges have been picked from a single tree in one serson. This is very extra, however. The prosperity which Florida is enjoying is dne largely to the pnsh rad enterprise of the Tankee-. Wo have said enough about the orange tree for the present We can tell yon much al*out other trees, and what they will do in Florida, such ss tbe peach tree (which ripens its fruit in early May), also the La Conte pear, Japanese persimmon, strawberry, and other trees, grapes, figs. etc., but we fear we have already trespassed too much upon vour valuable space, though vou would be Mtonished if you knew bow many there are who look easterly for information on Florida. It has been onr pleasure to already have posted many, rad advised many to stay at at home, their funds being too small. station a man whom 1 imagined was by - , , this time a bonanza king, as he went Magi, grorg—MS. way t »zaikg i>adly, puts out Ms Jong, Westward years rao. white, bony band to him and whispers It anuBS stkanoe that an immense trade should be done in this country in importing eggs. One would suppose that t&e domestic farms of an immense country might produce enough for the consumption of the population, whereas tost year no Iom 182,000,000 eggs were imported. In^MM the number of foreign eggs re ceived St the Custom House 000,000. tfi the following yrar it had increased to 140,000,000; tost year 182,- 000,000 represented. the number im ported, and it is expected that this year’s importation will reach fha raonaooa total of 200,000,000. What are oor hens at home doing? „ It m currently reported that a rich young lady of Erie, Pa., is going » marry Hamilton McCormick, of Chi- oago. We deem it our sokmn duty to stem the bride that her prtegSMtivo husband is tfaf ffiveptor of | threshing "Th* first train of ears that wm ever ran by telegraph,” said an old rail road official, to a New Tork Sun re porter, "waa in 1860, between Turner’s Station and Fort Jarvis, on tbe Erie Railway. The road wm then called the New Tork and Erie. In that year the road wm opened between Piennont mid Elmira. It wm only a single track, of course. Charles Minot wm the general superintendent A telegraph line had been put np along tbe line, rad other reads were nsing tbe telegraph in their business, but none of tbe managers of railroads had ventured to utilue it in the matter of train signals. "Engineers rad oondnotora. pere afraid of the telegraph. Trains were rati entirely by the printed time tables famished to the engineers rad conduc tors, on which were indicated the places where a train going in one direction must wait for the arrival and passing of another. No matter how long this wait happened to be there the engineers would wait. Under this system passen gers were frequently detained boors on sidings and switches. ■ "Whan Baperintohdehi HmbF came into power he urged the use of the tele graph in running trains, bnt he could not induce any engineer to start a train from a station where the passing place was marked on the time table before the other train had passed. They said the telegraph might err in reporting a train late, mid that.there was always a chance that the two might meet on the way. "One day in 1850 Minot was s passen ger on a west-botmd train. Upon its arrival at Tamer’s Station he received s telegram saying that the east-bonnd train was six hours behind time. He de termined to settle at onoe the anestion of the value of telegraph signals in run ning railroad trains. He telegraphed to the agent at Port Jervis that he intended to ran the west-bound train tb that sta tion on the time of the overdue train, and ordered him to let no train leave Port Jervis until the train from New Tork arrived there. He requested the agent to telegraph back to him how he understood the instructions. The answer was all right, and the Superin tendent gave orders to go ahead. ‘‘The engineer declared that he would not leave Turner’s until the arrival of the other train. Minot ordered the in subordinate engineer to dismount from bis engine. This order the engineei' had to obey, snd the Superintendent at once took charge of the throttle lAmself. He ran tbe train not only to Pori Jer vis, but as far west as Narrowburg, where the train wm compelled to wait only a few minutes for the passing of tbe delayed train. This snccemfnl experi ment waa the death blow to the old sys tem of railroading. It was followed at once by the adoption of telegraphic sig nals on all the railroads of the country, and advanced railroading at least a quarter of a century. "When the late Col. D. C. McCollum 1/eosme General Superintendent of the Erie, about thirty years ago, Charles Minot having been promoted to the Presidency, he originated a system of rales for the running of trains by tele graph, which were adopted by nearly all the roads in the country. The regular telegraph orders are very simple, and only through gross carelessness can they fail to secure complete safety, or to facilitate train movements.” ^ 3 The Country Doctor. “Doctor, he’s awake now.”* The old doctor slowly lifts himself, nnkinks his stiffened joints, kicks his legs out to straighten ont his trowsen, shuts his big bone-handled knife, brushe* the shavings from his shiny clothes, and goes to the bedroom. The sick man slowly turns his head toward the door- la Incident at flettysfcurfw "Here’s where I Mina to grief,” a Twelfth Regiment man, m he stood upon Seminary Ridge. "How did it happenF* wm naked. "Well,” aaid he, "if yon wish Pll toll yotij but I fear I may be wearisome. I always had the unenviable reputation of talking too modi, rad on that 1st day of July, 1868, my propensity to be too loquacious came very near ending my career. Ton see they brought ns np to th* brow of this hill on the double-quick, snd we found we had a beautiful chance to gets cross fire on a brigade of ’Johnnies’ that lay down therein the open field. We pep pered them awhile, rad then our boys began to about ‘Forward!’ rad ‘Charge!’ I don’t think the order came through the regularly constituted channels. It wm a sort of spontaneous and voluntary movement on the part of the men, who were brim full of fight on this occasion. Tbe Colonel rad Adjutant Both tried to find out ‘Who gave the order?’but all we knew about it was that everybody in tbe regiment was shouting ‘Forward!’ The advraoe was inevitable, so our offi cers placed them? elves in our front snd sway we went like a whirlwind. We had captured and driven in all but about -twenty or thirty of the rebs, after jl ■light resistance, rad my propensity to talk wm so strong upon me that I couldn’t help telling the ‘Johnnies’ that were banging behind all about our good treatment of prisoners, etc., rad thus I didn’t notice when the regiment went bock to its old position. When I came termy sensei I found I was alone. I concluded I would go back, snd so in formed them, but they very emphatical ly ordered me to remain. "Now, something had to be done, so I quickly determined to take my chances of instant death rather than perish by the slower method of disease and star vation, and I informed them in not very elegant terms, modes of expression I do not now use, that they might go straight to a very warm country. Then I ran, and the faster the bullets came the faster I ran, till after a while a shot from off to my right came and struck me in the left groin, and down I went O, yon needn’t langh ; the ballet struck me in front, I’m happy to say, and I’ve never regretted the decision I made in such hurry,” "What became of you after ward ?” was asked. "Well, I lay there unable to move, till nearly dark, and had a good chance to review the- Com federate army, as most of it swept over me. Artillery wheels and horses’ feet came uncomfortably near, but I escaped death—providentially, it always seemed to me. Abont sunset the ‘Johnnies’ osr ried me back to tbe Pennsylvania Col lege, bnt it would make too long a story to tell yon all my experiences there, will only say that from that point, lying near an open door, I could aee many of the movements of the Johnnies, inclnd ing the formation rad advraoe of Pick ett’s division, snd could hear the yell of the rebs as they swept forward, and then the glad hurrahs of our boys when the charge was repulsed. There were fif teen of us wounded men at the College —the other 700 were Confederates—and we cheered, too, when onr boys did, nntil ihe Johnnies threatened to kill us if we didn’t stop. I shall never forget the four terrible days I passed there— days of alternate hope rad fear—nor the joy I felt on tbit morning when gray coats went away snd bine costs appeared. But Fur-getting back into my old habit of talking too mneh. Please ex cuse me. I’m apt to forget myself when thinking of those days.”—Boston Journal. NOTES AND COMMENTS. hoarsely: "Well, doctor?” which is a sick man’s favorite form of asking how his doctor thinks he is getting along. The old doctor raises the bins paper curtain and slowly draws a chair dose to the bed. ■ "Oh, you’re looking ever so nmoh bettor to-day. We’ll have you out hoe ing potatoes in a day or tire.” Kind-hearted, warm old doctor! Dear old coward, who never fights disease, bat surrenders st its first approach, and labors lovingly to smooth the way to death ! Blessed old bungler, who gives no dying man the warning that would turn his latest hoars to btuinees cares and save hk heirs a world of worriment He Had Been "Ont West.” I had supposed that tbe far West a new Garden of Eden, rad that Cue had Bnt if he k nabob he k traveling incog., rad hk conversation k not calculated to stimu late Western exenrsions. # He wore shabby tdster, long bate rad a pensive, searching expression of sympathy. He greeted me as an old acquaintance at onoe. —i— —-— Eating. _ Edward Payson Weston, the pedes trian, k in the habit, by hk own ac count, of giving wholesome advice to the British aristocracy abont their diet He occasionally dines at the tables of the groat, rad makes comments on the viands somewhat in thk style: A young lady who sat next to him, and to whom he wm a perfect stranger, expressed s desire for beef well done. "Excnse me, Mks, bnt you’ll get no more nourishment ont of that than ont of chips and shavings.” Mr. Weston k not without hopes that he will eventually reform the dinners of the peerage, and persuade "our old nobility” that half-cooked meat, and a walk of 500 miles in 100 days make the summit of human bliss. Mens. —The Philadelphia Press says the theory that the intermarriage of deri mutes will produce a race of deaf mutes doesn’t rest on a substantial They are mutes beosoM they are deaf. The organs of speech and hear ing exftt m in other persona. The mute husband k deaf from on* oaoM; tha are that the wife k daaf froas an- (use. Tb* children of sooh a prir.o^t og to th* ruin of rtverrion and the tendency of nature to repair wbare there k the material to work a core, are likely to hear as wetl x M anybody, rad, basting, they will not "Well,” I queried, "how do you like the West?” "I like it just well enough,” said he, "to remain in the East the remainder oi my days. I tell you, the East k good enough for ray man who hasn’t a lift and death dkpute with the law on hand, In the East a man above the average in smartness ora get along; but go West rad you find no drones. Every man you meet k on the dead ran for wealth anf^gron must ftey up late, rise up early rad bolt your meals to keep up with the stragglers in the prooeMion. There’s lots of money West, rad big wagM. I have just oome from Colorado, where I got |10 a day for driving a mule team. But-” . "That k a very good salary for that kind of labor ?” "OhI itk, k it? Well, you go out there rad see. Why, my friend, I have paid $1.50 for a cup of coffee, 82.75 for a glass of beer, snd $4 for a horn-handled jack-knife with one blade. I have been in the mountains with a party whan a chew of tobacco wm pot up at a raffle, at a dollar a chance, and if the winner of the tobaooo finally got away with it, he had to dodge the contents of the re volvers of tbe party apd keep ont of sight for a week. Talk about th* West to me I It k a good plaoe to die in; but to five from this time out where the sun rises early, and there k no corner on the luxuries of life I” Hi who reoeivM a good , never forget it; fie who does one should new rcm»mher it „ , , ... , Tkeui h no um for money equal to that of beneficence; here the enjoyment {ran. on reflection, rad our money k / most truly ours when it cosses to be in ( on* possession. . ' Evnur subscriber tor a country paper bra do much for the paper by becoming a reporter for it That would greatly , help the editor in getting out a readable •beet. The trouble with the average subscriber k that be k not content with being * reporter. He wants to write the editorials. - . . , A mch miser has a niece whom ho proclaims to be bk unique heiress, bnt who has never seen any of.Us money. Your nicoe k twenty years old,” says a -rietxl, "you ought to do something oward getting her settled.” "Well,” plied the mker, niter reflection, "I ” to l*" ill.” A Meechant, after satisfying himself that * certain enstomer did not intend to pay his bill, sent him a receipt for the foil amount By return mail be re ceived tbe following note: “Uster have my doubts about you bein’ a gentleman, bnt I am satisfied on that pint There k a great difference in men. One tfyne I owed a fellow a bill, and after dnnnin’ me nearly to death he sent me a receipt for half of the amount, rad blamed if be didn’t finally make. me -pay the other lialf. But yon have done tbe square thing by me, an’ I am much obleeged to you.” How moOh on the money recovered by injured persons from railroad com panies and other corporations by suit st law k held by the plaintiffs for their own benefit f Not a large part, if the pay ments made to lawyers are generally as great as the sum demoded by counsel _ employed in tbe Harrold case. Major Harrold recovered $30,000 from a New York elevated railroad company, snd hk counsel, Mr. Chsunoey Shaffer, refuses .to take a fee of $10,000 and $5,000 for expenses, assorting that $25,030 would !! hardly compensate him. ” The money rcoovered- k held by a trust company, • and, as the question abont Mr. Shaffer’s fee has been taken into the oonrts, it is difficult to see now wherein Major Har. rol' 1 k an* better off than be was before ’ it SEE HAS NEVER BEEN supposed tO have any intimate connection with lum ber, but the Northwestern Lumberman asserts that a great deal of the l>eer which k sold k "doctored'’ with hem lock bark. Immense quantities oi hem lock bark are sold to brewers, who use it to give poor beer the appearance and taste of good beer. It is regarded as a great discovery because it can be made to take thcTplaoe to a certain extent of both malt rad hope. It is not poison ous, but on the other hand it contains nothing that ministers to nourishment. It adds the pungent, bitter taste, and gives the dark, reddish color to the liquid. It would seem as though the unfortunate beer-drinker were beset with dangers on all sides, wbich he conld avoid only by sinking hk thirst with water. • - — _ ■ — The Seventh Regiment of New York formed for tbe Evacuation Day parade in closer column of companies on Fifty- first street, right resting on Fifth avenne. Thk brought the right companies along side of William H. Vanderbilt’s boose. The absence of any flag or decoration on the house was oonspicnons. A hurried whisper ran through the ranks as Mr. Vanderbilt made hk appearance at the window. Then nearly 300 men of tbe third, second snd seventh companies broke ont in a stentorian sing-song tone which oonld be heard two or three blocks away: "One, two, three. Vanderbilt— where—k—yonr—flag?” Mr. Vander bilt’s. face expressed considerable aston ishment and he left the window ab- raptiy, When Senator Beck visited his ola but to venture there to gain the wealth ^ Scotland in 1875, while strolling : of a Monte Cristo. i I met at the Union through the fields be met an ok! school. "Ton don’t rememl>er me, he said to him. "No,” said Seal—The large advance in the price of sealskins lately reported from tha London marfcat wm explained by th* aoBoanoamant that tha oatoh of soak tbk year had bora very small. The Bra Frandaoo Chronicle desks ’that thk k th* fact, rad asMrts that the, Alaska (kmpray, which k permitted radar ita Imm from the (OMxnmsnt to hill 100,- 000 soak annually, hM killed more than 90,000 thk yaar. through mate. Donald? Donald, " I don’t know your face. But I caught a six-pound salmon to-day in the frith, rad whenever I have done that before, something has happened. I don’t |pow yon by sight, bnt you're either John McPherson, who left ns thirty years agon*, or yon’re Jim Beck. Now, which k it?” "Sure enough,’ cried the Senator, "it's Jim Beck.’ "Weel, Jimmie, they tell me that the Americans are going to elevate yon to the Hcmse of Peers. Is it so? Come along home then and we'll x est the fish. An American lord to'good enough Scotch salmon.” for a Harried la Earope. After Fisk wss killed rad Stokes was sent to prison Josie Mansfield went to Europe.' There she attracted the atten tion of a rick lace maker, who married her. A couple of years ago, says a news paper correspondent, I wm over in France, and one day while walking through the gardens of St. Cloud who should I encounter but Josie, leaning on Che arm of her husband. He was a stout, portly mu, much the build of Fisk, sod looked to me like a Russian rather than a Frenchman. Josie was elegantly snd most richly dressed, but in plain Mack rad Isoes. She had grown thinner, had lost the flesh that for a while made her lode gross and sensual, and wm radiantly beautiful Her husband k enormously wealthy, I am told, rad k demoted to her. "* Tee Hasty. Ym, some people are too hasty. Now * wealthy Chicago family charge! a ser vant girl with stealing a diamond pin a yasr or two ago rad the Court sentenced the culprit to three yean in the Peniten tiary. But recently, in moving a large pkto-glass mirror, that diamond pin was found By a workman and handed to the mtetieM of the home, who rat down and wrung her hands and cried, and aakad: "Vbat fort* I done T Steps ar* bring taken to release the prisoner, bow that sorrow hu put ita Nate on bar |ra* and bittorneM hulan- tarad har soul Tea, indeed, son* pe* pi* are too haaty,