Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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EKLY EDITION- WINNSBORO, S. C., JULY 28, 1881. ESTABLISHED 1865. A SONG OF LIFE. in the rapture of life and of living I lift up my heart and rejoice, Anti I thank the great giver for giving The soul of my gladness a voice. In timtglow of the glorious weather, In the sweet-scented sensuous air, My burdens seem light as a feather They are nothing to bear. In the strengtit and the glory of power, In the pride and the pleasure of wealth, (For who dares dispute me my uiower Of talents and youth-tinie and health ?) I can laugh at the world anti its sages I an greater than seers who are satd, For he is most wise in all ages Whio knows how to be glad. I lift up my eyes to Apollo, Tito God of the beautiful days, And my spirit soars off like a swallow, Anti Is lost in the light of his rays. Are you troubled anti sad? I beseech you Cone out of the shadows of strife Come out in the sut while I teach you Tito secret of life. Como out of the world-come above it Up over its crosses anti graves. Tho' the green earth Is fair and I love it, We must love it as masters, not slaves. Come up where the dust never rises But only tle perfume of flowers And your life shall be glad with surprises Of I cautiful hours. Come up where tie rare, golden wite is A ppallo distills in my sight, And your life shall be happy as iniie Is, Anti as full of dielight. ALL BY ACCIDENT. There is a very tender period in the life of every one, known as youth. At this time it is that the mind, attracted ,And influenced by the things with which it comes most in contact. assimilates them to itself or grows into their like ness. The seeds which are planted at this season of the mortal year are full of significance. We all know of the bewild ering variety of their growth into time, and there aie many who claim for them a terrible relation to what is called eterni ty. Is it not strange, then, that at this momentous time the mind should nat urally incline to the trivial, the roman tic,the adventurous ? That then no char. acter should receive a more cordial wel come than the pirate, the robber, and the murderer, and that over their deeds should hang such a charmingly illusive spirit of heroism, generosity and love. Such, at least was my experience. And yet, out of all the varied forms which this fascination takes, mine was not to emulate their deeds, but rather to one of those whose lives are devoted t their destruction or capture-one of that sacreud nid ,nrIin; hiani, *1 nam.i~...., to whose ranks wfm courage, the expul sion generall A . In short, I had made up my if to be an officer of the law. Being favored with an unusual run of luck, 6r, iilhe public would have it, shrewdness and bravery, I had effected many captures which had -baffled - older heads and, stronger arms. Many notables were upon my list of prisoners,but there was one still at large who had eluded the ingenuity of the entire force, spring ing all the traps set to eitch him with out the usual accompaniment of being caught. I had him at close quarters once, but he escaped, bearing with him as a souvenir of our meeting an ugly blow on the forehead. Snell was his name. His daring had gained for him another, however, which innocence trembled to repeat, I still had hopes of catching the rascal and when I left for a short vacation in the country to recup erate my health, I was accompanied by a reaolve to dedicate a portion of my prospective strengtlI to his capture. --Thbre were other l'easons, too.. With thoughts of vacation rose vision visions of boyhood, of a girl, and an old man, Of previous vacations, in which tihe woods resounded with laughter, when the sky seemed bluer, the flowers bright or, and the days, oh, so short 1 simply because we wore together. ,Of promises, treasured for a time, and then buried under the loads of care and worldly wvork that stood ready to be heaped upon them. Of intervening moments, when work gave way to reflection, and the va cations returned like a hleaven, and the p~romises like a reproach. Such a time was this-full of conflicting thoughts, alternately urging and restraining; but I neced not say1. which prevailed. It was late in the autumn when I arrived at tihe old1 farm. Two aunts who lived there (and whose services were seldom called into requisition except in cases like this) expressed themselves in favor of a son son of unlinited enjoyment, of which I was to be tihe chief corner-stone. In the novelty and hurry of an ab~ruipt departure and arrival,you scarcely notice that while guldingi through the streets whore the hum of commerce is the song you hear, and men of care and business they whlo sing it, that it gradually broadens and sweetens and tihe discords wvhich you have hleard before have died away. While you p~onder and cogitate upon tihe phlenomnenon, the desire of a solution awakens you from your reverie, to find it in the fact that you in a short time have passed from the city te .he country. That thle music you now hear .is nature's, the robin is whisthing In tae air, tihe hlerds are lowing in the fields, tihe leaves are rippling and trilling through the trees,tho air is redolent with tihe music of the flowers, and that the sound of muffled and sultry contentment which blows upon you from tile distance is tihe rapturous and undefinable hai mony of the spheres Then came the farm, withm its multi tude of faiianntd home-like objects, the dinner for which I was so well pro pared by the ride, and the welcome, the genuiness of which was only part and parcel of everything I saw around me. And when after tea I found myself sitting on the porch with my pretty cousin, Minnie Emmerson, the light had fled, the leaves were stilled, and all was dark, save where, far away behind one of the hills raged a praire fire, which lit up the horizon like an exaggerated sunset. And so this is the little girl I left back in other days, with a halo of re membered happiness encircling her I Grown now to a beautiful woman. And I? Well-I with enough of the scars of life to do credit to a patriarch. Down through the interim came stealing the thoughts of that time, and the echo of the words into which they grew. Of the strange liking there had been between us, never quite understood by me. Why I should love her was an enigma. Why she should have preferred me-that was where I got out of my depth, and was content to live in hope of the fact with out any demonstration of the cause. It may be the look of grief I fancied in her face now was only the unconcious growth of thought which the years bring. . The appearance of a man who was con versing with my cousin as I approached the house suggested to me a train of thought which was at once disquieting and satisfactory. Perhaps lie was a lover, but it was not jealousy. A strange feeling was aroused in me in which ex ultation and triumph had a shire-a sort of premonitary herald of advantage. All this may have had nothing to do with a voice which seemed to whisper to me, "Be ware something you prize is in danger." However, I determined to know at this moment if my cousin still loved me. To see if time and absence had destroyed all hope of what I now saw was my only happiness. Of all the tricks in the' repertoire of that great prince in 'necromancy, Time, there is none more subtle, more difficult of detection, than that in which he cov- i ers the freshness and buoyancy of youth i with a premature aspect of age and staid ness. He calls all the powers of life to < assist him in it. Over the happines which knew no care. he casts the sober robe of reflection. In the eyes which 4 gleamed with youthful joy, he places the i ray of thought, and on the cheeks whose i freshness was borrowed from the morn iner. h1A to - 41- 1:-- -a -.4L anxiety.--but aL nu point is he more de lusive than when coloring our thought8 4 with a shade of undue maturity. Around I my life he had thrown the web of ro- I mance first spinning it along into a sort I of semi-reality of such engrossing excite- I ment that forgetfulness had stepped in as a barrier between me and the past. 1 With my cousin, the years had dealt I differently. The fresh country breeze I had kissed her checks until they blushed in protest (I rather admired the taste of the breeze), the sky, undimmed by the ] pollution of towns, had. communicated some of its blue to her eyes, and her long lashes drooped under eyebrows arched and pencilled by a greater than Art. And so, as we talked ever the old days -over everything but the words I would have spoken-I felt, yet feared to think so, that only in my own imagination ex isted the barrier. In speaking, however, of her aunts, of all their kindness to her, she intimated that it was now taking a mistaken turn. From this I took my cue, I had suspected that the man I saw with her was a lover, and,I now apprehended, an unwellhome one. This thought broke down my reserve; and when she told me -that her aunts, overcome by his profes sions and display of wealth, urged her acceptance of him, but that she believed him to be only an adventurer in search of money, of which she had a desirable amount in her own right, the words rushed unbidden to my lips :"Minmie, do I possess the right to frustrate this design?" It was not a rapturous wooing. Not such a one as the surroundings would have suggested. But as I spoke these words time was obliterated, and I stood once more with her beneath the trees, in youth, and her answer was the same as she had given then. "Minnie," I said after a little "would you mind introducing me to your friend?" "Certainly not," she said gaily. "I have an idea that lie is an old friend of mine, and I would like to renew his acquaintance. You must however man age it in this way : I will keep out of the way to-morrow all day to convey the impression that I have goneL ax4 'you will invite him here in the eyeniing. I will present myself at the proper time," "Why, what a mysterious affair I Your manner of greeting four friends is cer tainly unique." Next evening, when my cousin and Mr. Jordan wire sitting in the p~arlor, I walked in suddenly and-." "My cousin, Mr. Jor--" liere shie broke off suddenly on seeing me pull a revolver from my pocket, and, while covering Mr. Jordan with it, re quest him quietly to put on a pair of handcuffs I threw to him. Her astonish ,ment was still more intensified when I continued' i "I made a mistake, It was not Mr. Jordan with whom I had been acquaint ed. It was Mfr. Snell, the gentleman who now wears these bracelets with sitch a becoming grace, Hie Is very' fond of jewelry and will now have an opportuni ty of gratifying his passion for som time. This is rather a 'unique' manne of greeting one's friend, isn't it ?" All this time Mr. Snell, under cover c my revolver, was with many imprecation encircling his wrists with the handoufra and my cousin looked like a petrified em bodiment of the contending emotions. It was indeed Mr. Snell. A certail instinct had directed me to that conclu sion when first I saw him with my cou sin, although he was greatly altered an disguised. It was this impulse that, not ing that I was unrecognized by him suggested this simple and effectual trap Once more the press rang wit praises. I had, so the papers said, witi my usual unerring aim, followed Mr Snell to the country, and had effecte his capture while lie was engaged in win ning the affections of a beautiful heiress The fact was, of course, that I went t< the country in search of health in thi abstract, not as personified in the persoi of Mr. Snell. I acquired a large quanti ty of that commodity in a short time That Mr. Snell happened to be visitinE at the saie place, and knowing his pas sion for jewelry, I bribed him witt some, and that, in addition to som< other persuasives with which hi w'as equally familiar, but of whicli lie was not so passionately fond, I inauced him to return to town witl me. While all this, to the press, ma) have a deep air of premeditation, my readers have ben informed (strictly ii confidence) that it came about all by ac sident. That Job Was Lost. A young man who left Detroit for Deadwood in March, in the best of 2ealth, and with lots of good clothes md plenty of money, got home the other lay with his weight reduced twenty-eight ounds, his elbows and knees out to the veather, and his stomach entering upon three day's fast. He had no particular Adventures to relate and no apologies ;o make. All that ailed him was that he lidn't understand those far-Western )oople. He didn't realize that you have ot to take 'em on the run to bring 'em lown, and he consequently put his foot n it at every move. Soon after reach ng Deadwood, and while getting away vith a dinner at a rjlf51 :ard and a chicken and several other rnithological cognomens, and ended by Licking the crown out of his plug hat. low, the proper way would have been o pull out a popper and have popped hat stranger until the noonday sun vould have lighted up his whole interior, )ut the Detroiter let the golden oppor unity slip away and was whistled out of ho neighborhood. Then some one told him that he might itrike a job in the railroad offices. If he lad obeyed instructions he would have >een all right. He was told to slant his iat on his car, light a fresh cigar, and valk in on the magnate and say: "Hello! old 7x9-how's your bully lealth this morning? Have a smokel Bhet you will I How are all the boys, mnyhow? Glot a place here for a chai' who's up to snuff, and the strongesi orand at that? Come out and gulp something at my expense. Nothing nean about me, and don't you forget it, >ld pard!" Yes, ho lost the situation through hii wn obstinacy. He sneaked into the )flee like a sheep-stealer, put his hat or c hair, and faintly inquired if they would be so everlasting good as to inforn him if there wvas a one-horse vacancy tc be filled. They gave him the boss bounci inside of a minute, and after that nc bootblack would look at him. Then there was a provision dealer whc was sally in want of an assistant. Thi Detroiter was just the man for the placi -except that he wasn't. He was put or the right track by a hotel clerk, who cx. plained: "Now, this Jones is rather queer, ixi you must strike him right. You wan1 to go in and cuss him from his eyebrowvi to his toe nails, and when you gel through you can pretend that you tool him for old1 Smith, just around the cor ncr. He's a great cusser, and he'll taki to you like molasses to a shingle." That job was also lost, The Detrote: called at the store, explained that h< had heard so and so, and ended with wishy-washy request to be taken or trial-salary no object. Old Jones heeri him through and then called him a Mich Igan dish-rag, an Eastern mulberry ani ever so many other things, and tried t< hit him in the back with a barrel of Cli cage hard tack. It was the same in a dozen other cases and finally a prominent citizen of th< town took it upon himself to halt thi Detroiter on the street and say to him: "Say, boy, this ain't no town for you Hadn't you better get up and fly?" The Detroiter couldn't fly, but lhe had a gait of six miles an hour, up lill an< down. He also got a lift on a freigh train nlow and then, and lie has now re turned to a people whom lie can under stand and appreciate. "DoN''r weep my friend," said th~e pas tor to the sorrowYing wtetower, as he stoo beside his wife's cord~n. "Don't weep,uhi has gone to heaven." "Yes, I know sh has gone there," sobbed the afihoted umar "ao4l that Is wlhat makes it so hard to beai I know t'll never see her again.'' Following Ited Flag. "Look I Is it t splendid ? Only r twenty-five dolla not a cent more. Why, I am wild h delight. So de r lightfully antiqu regular Louis XIV. chair." "A regular no oh thing; It is in tensely modern, d very vulgar at - that." "Why, the man aid it was a Louis 1 XIV." "What man ?" "The auctioneor. :And you believ him ?" "He could have object in deceiving Me. "Well, he decei you without an object then." "You are alway running down my bargains," and theb was a tearful into nation in my wife'a voice as she threw herself petulantly o the so-called Louis XIV. chair. A sercam, a orasl and clear over one side careened Louis ., while my wife toppled over on th other side. I flow to her rescue and icked her up, and while she sat down the sofa to cry I examined the legs o ouis XIV. They were broken off, ani et I knew that my wife's weight was n sufliciently'heavy to do so mudh miso if. A nearer ex amination revealed e unpleasant fact that Louis XIV. damaged legs, which had been glu together, and the mending not having roved very strong, hence the accident. - "Well," I said te my wife, as I held up the two front log ," what are you go ing to do about it ? "Did I break it, you think ?" she said, half sobbing. "Yes, to be sure.' "Why, I am not o heavy. .1 never broke a chair befor " "Well, you broke his before, that is certain; here are th two front legs, and there stands (or rat' r leans) on its two hind legs, Louis XT . "I can't Imagine how it happened," and my wife gazed rtefully at the wreck of Louis XIV. "The problem is easily solved. Louis XIV. is old, without being an antique ; the legs were damaged and glued on, and they gave way. That's the unvar nished story. Take comfort ; you are not the first woman who has been oheat ed at an auction, and' you'll not be the last." "Twenty-five dollars thrown away. That man deserves to be hung." "Not at all. He did not tell you that the chair was new; on the contrary, he told you that the chair was old, and you might have known that the legs were shaky." "How was I to know ?" "Well, don't go to any more auctions and It won't happen again." who'had a passi.. wasted _n'(ing auc tions in divers ways and places. Line upon line and precept upon precept were utterly lost upon her; she followed the red flag as the soldier follows the banner which leads to death or glory. "Here," said my wife, as I reached the house one day hungry and tired, "don't stop to put your lint down ; I have a splendid set of Beauvais china to show you." "What sort of china is that?" "Don't you know? Why, at one time Beauvais pottery was highly esteemed. It wa deemed a present for kings and queens." "'Ah lo' "Oh, you need not say 'Ai i' " "Well, what must I say ?" "Admire it, of course. Can anything be more beautiful ?" "I can't see It." "Twenty-five pieces. I wish they had been more." "You need not;: I think you have enough cracked china." "You are the most provoking person I have ever seen. Here is a rare collec tion of which anyone might be proud." "Yes, il they were making a collection of cracked china, they might be. As a collector of cracked china, you are quite a success." My wife turned white as I held up piece after piece and showd her the long and the short cracks, the new and the old. She gasped out : "I gave thirty-five dollars for the B3eauvais ware and only to think of every piece being cracked." "Somewhat discouraging, of course, but you have this consolation, the ware is very common, very far from being Beauvais ; if it was a finer quality it would be painful in the highest degree to see it so utterly useless." "I purchased it at the sale of the Brit ish consul," sobbed my wife. "Who ever dreamed of his having anything so com Smon." "Well, you have the consolation of knowing that you have something which was used by the servants of tihe British consul." The Beauvais china remained a thorn in thelheart of my wife for many months. She laid it away in the back attic, which was devoted to the storage of unfortunate purchases, and jwlidh- now showed a strange med.y' 3110e was gradually ga thering enough to open a curiosity shop. There were chairs without backs and tables without legs ; there were ei'ackcd looking-glasses, china of every descrip tion, including pictures, 'ouips, dishes, vases, cuspadores-a thing neither she > nor I had any use for. There were queerly fashioned articles she called "antiquities," china dragons, glass unicorns, faded tapestry, broken Sfans (said to be genuiins Spanish), brass a jewelry, (purporting to be Soythian), i sofas with two legs off and two on, moth, eaten and faded, which were designated b~y a placard as having "belonged to the unfortunate Marie Antoinette." There -were broken bedsteads, one of which my iwife bought because Louis Phiillippe I had slept on it when in this country, but t which tumbled down the very first night . we attempted to doo the same, and the~ fragments were gatnered 'up and borne off to the retirement of the back attic. There were bld pipes all cracked and . broken, said to have historic associationm 3 -one having been in daily use by thai a omnipresent colored gersaon known ne o "Washington's nurse,' who die yearly ;in various p arts of the country, froir -, Maine to California, and will never coast "first in peace, first in war, and first in the hearts of his cointrymen." So fast did the articles accumulate that I devised a plan to get rid of them, and one day, when my wife was visiting her mother, I engaged a truck and two men and had the contents of the back attic carried off to anl auctioneer's estab lishment; then I looked the door and hung up the key as usual. The next afternoon, when seated at my window, I saw a loaded truck drive up to the door, and my wife came rushing in breathlessly. "I have just bought the greatest bar gain you ever saw in your life-a lot marked 'A, No. 1,' which I got for twenty-five dollars. I never saw any thing so cheap in my life. The men are bringing the things in now. Come and look at them." It was with a frightful misgiving that I accompanied her. My very worst fears were realized; there were the very same "antiquities" which I had paid three dollars to have carted away the (lay before. I looked at them dumb with dismay, while my wife rattled on: "I never saw so valuable a lot go off so cheap before. Only twenty-five dol lars for all of these antiquities. See this bedstead ; this was slept in by Lafayette when he was last in this coun try." "Why, did you not tell me that Louis Phillippe slept and dreamed in this bed stead when he was in this country?" "Ohl, no ; that's the one in the attic. What are you talking about?" " 'Well, this is the ono that was in the attic." "Folly." "I can prove it. Come with me to the attic." I rushed up the steps, followed by my wife. She seized the key and opened the door. She looked around her in a be wildered way; the antiquities had van ished-the room was empty I "Did you do this?" she said, solemnly, when her consternation gave her voice to speak. "Do whma.t ?" "Clear this room of the antiquities?" "I cleared the trad1 out of this room by sending it to auction, little dreaming that you admired it so much that you were willing to pay twice over for it." She burst into tears. "It's scarcely worth while crying over it," I said. "Let this be a lesson to you. It is a costly one, but we must pay for our experience, you know." Perfectly crushed by this last disaster, my wife could find no words to express her feelings as we walked out of the room. The articles were carried up stairs and locked in the attic, and there, covered with dust, they remain. Some times, when she looks over the papers, forgetting her experience for a moment, "I see there is to be a sale of Mrs. Do Garland's furniture to-day ;" or " there will be bargains at the sale of the estates of Courtland this morning. I think I will go." I simply say, "Remember the antiqui ties," and she becomes as meek as a lamb in an instant, the old war-fire dies out of her eyes, and she says nothing more about going after the red flag, on which is the dangerous announcement "Auction to-day." Is TlAs Enough ? The second anniversary of the death of the Prince Imperial of France occur red on the 1st of June. InParis it was celebrated quietly and with little demon stration. A somewhat smaller number of persons assembled in the Church of St. Augustin than last year, though the church was fairly well filled without being crowded. Baron Hausmann was, of course, there, and many other well known members of the Imp~erialist party, but the Bonaparte family, from soe cause unexp~lained, sent no direct repre sentative. Paul do Cassagnac was at Vichy, but lie forwarded a letter of regret, in whlich wvere these despairing wordls :" Our faithful adherents will bend the knee ill our churches to ask God whether .Hie has not yet disarmled His wrathu, and whether He wvill not soon shiow us some mercy. He has driven us from the throne ; He hlas taken the old golden-hearted father, the old Emperor; He has taken the young man with his brow of glory ; He hlas made us bow before the triumphant republic, and, as a supreme and last blew, He has sown terrible discord in our already troubled camp. My God I is this eniough ? Is it not too much ?" Oriental Nonsense. Calling on a giddy girl, who h1as noth-. ing uder heaven to do0 but to follow the fashions, I found her recliing on a lounge in her boudoir. She wore what is called a tea-gown, shaped not unlike a long, loose palotot, with elbow-sleeves, or angel-sleeves, looped and gathered ur: at the wrists. The material of the gar. ment was a combination of brocade ir gold and silver with silk gauze. Any tiling more Oriental could hardly b< found out of the Orient itself. Over hei bosom was a fichu of lace, laid over thu shoulders and crossing in front; a bunch of red flowers was fastened at her belt her abundant black hair was brushet back with a well-counterfeited negli gence ; the toes of her extended fee wore stuck into embroidered sandab~ and her stockings were a true flesh-coloi A glorious creature she looked, truly, a she lay there in her studied carolest ness of finery. But what I set out t say was that inconse was burning at h< sidle. Yes, fragrant smoke was risin lazily from an incinerating pastile in bronze dish, This is a new freak of t11 girls. The scent-.bottle is put aside, an rooms auyl elothes are perfumed wit incense. If the practice lasts long thi cannibal who eats a fashionable girl wi find her sinuoked through and through n Ik w ham. bnt a groat denal aniinua MAoney Order Departient. "Over $51,000,000 in hard cash passed through our hands last year," said Mr. William Plimley, the General Superintendent of the Money-order Department in the Now York Post-oflice, to a reporter a few days ago. " By our hands I mean the whole department. New York does about one-oightji of the entire business of America. I mn safely say that the system now in vogue is as perfect as we can reasonably expect it to bo, no matter how much polishing we give it. " It seems incredible that this vast af fair is so young in years. It was only sixteen years ago that C. F. McDonald conceived and started the idea of the Money-order Department into life. Be fore that it was only by the most elab orato care and lynx-eyed procaution that even small amounts of money could be sent from one point to another with any certainty of safe carriage ; but now its safety has become such an assured fact that people never consider the idea of losing their money at all, but simply make out an order and send it on its way. Who ever hears of a loss nowa days ? Mr. McDonald, the originator of the scheme, is now at its head. He is the chief of the money-order system in Washington. A recot recomnmeinidation of his in relation to the fees charged for sending money through the Money-order Department is a reduction from 10 to 5 cents on amounts not exceeding $5 ; and oi orders over $5, and not over $10, a reduction from 10 to 8 cents, and an ex tension of the limit of the amount that may be sent in any one case from $50 to $100. I am in favor of Chief McDon ald's recommendation, and think, though I'm by no means sure, that Postmaster James, now that le is in the Cabinet as Postmaster-General, will view it favora bly also." "'What is the smallest amount yon ever made out an order for?" Mr. Plimley considered a moment and then touched a little electric button on the side of his desk. This desk is a curiosity. It has a row of eight or ten buttons down each side, with a bronze plate over each oeti, setting forth in black letters exactly which clerk in an indicated department may be expected to answer. On the top is another long row of buttona, and at each end are more, eight or nine being grouped to gether on one plate in some instances. While the General Superintendent talked to the reporter yesterday his business went on as usual. He touched one but ton and in a moment a clerk appeared with a bundle of checks and immediate ly withdrew. Mr. Plinley signed two or three checks, touched a button and they were taken away by another clerk. He went right on and signed several third clerk'appened,~and 0 on tmroug'h the whole interview. Mr. Plimley now pressed one of the mystic buttons and in half a minute a uniformed clerk stood by his side. "What's the smallest money order ever sent ?" " One cent, sir." "Many of them ?" Very few. They were probably sent for a joke. Quite a number have been sent for five, ten and fifteen cents, but people in general fail to see the wims dom of paying a fee of ten cents for sending flive." "Very good." Tle c erk bowed aid withdrew, and Mr. Plimley turned to the reporter anl said: " The increase in the amount of money we handle will interest if not as tonish you. The nunher of money or ders issued during the fiscal year was 7,240,537 for the whole United States. This in money reached the enormous sum of $100,352,818.83. Over a hun dred millions passed in absolute safety through our hands. The fees paid to the Post-ofilco Department reached the aggregate of $916,452.80. For the trans action of all this an immense amount of correspoindence is necessary. We wrote nearly' 40,000 letters last year." " You spoke of the increase." "'True. If you are not tired of figures I will give you some more. In 1879 we h ad 1,161,378 transactions, amounting in money to $43,652,273.37. This was an increase over 1878 of 100,119 transac tions and $5,000,000. The next year, 1880, showed 1,351 ,095 transactions, amounting ini all to $51,231 ,749. 04. This was a gain over the previous year of 189,720 transactions, and $7,579,475. 67. T1he wvork is constantly increasing. The average of all the orders is $13." I')Tm Benton's Vanity. It was during Simon Cameron's first year in the Senate, 1816. Bonton was applarently wrapped in his own greatness and hardly recognized any of the young er Senators. Going up the hill to the Capitol one day, Mr. Cameron overtook the Missouri statesman,and never before having spoken to him, saluted him: "Good morning, Senator." "Good morning, sir,"rep~lied Mr Ben ton. "It is a pleasant day, Senator." "Yes, sir," "I hope," said General Cameron. "thai I shall have the pleaansure of hearing y'oi speak on the Oregon boundary question, I have heard many others, but wonk like to hear your op)inion of that mnas mre." *"Yes, sir," rep~lied Mr. Benton ; "y' will hear .me speak upon the Oreg' ' boundary quostion, and when, you d<( hear me upon that proposition, sir, yor L will see that I will annmhilate those wh< have spoken on either side like an ole t p~hant treading uponi a bed of p~ismires.' *"I cANNOT pay you this morning," sai -the customer to the milkman; "you'll 5 have to chalk it dews." "Cbalk it down?' . stammered the milkman. "Yes, chalk It a down. Why you look as if you dhidn'l r now what a piece of chalk is." Thn rmilkman blushed, andl picking up his canm 5 sadly took hiis whey from the door, p~ond' a ering on the uncertainty of human affairs, e IT is a mistake to let tea draw too long, (1 After it has steeped seven minutes in boil iing water' the virtue of it is adl out. Wha comes after that is the tanuin, which no e body wants to drink, or ought to, as it ii Il the samno quality that tans leather. Pout , off your tea from the loaves at the end 01 this time, if you want a perfect cup of tea. A Curious Case. Dr. Perfect a Surgeon of Hammer Imith, England, while passing the Pack iorso Tavern at Furnham Green, had uis attention attracted by a mob of persons assembled around the door of lie inn, who were loud in their execra bions against some1 person who was muspected of having murdered his brother, in corroboration of which lie was told that the bones had been found acar the premises where ho formerly resided, upon view of which a jury were iitting after an adjournmenii from the lay preceding. Two surgeons had been ailled to inspect the remains, and the writer had no doubt that every infor ination as to their character had been )btained. The investigation, so far as it had gone, had tended to show that a narket gardener at Suttoncourt farm had a younger brother, who, a few years before, worked for him, but whose con uct at times was so irregular as to give rise to strife between them. Ono winter night, when the ground was covered with snow, the younger brother ab iconded ; and when lie was missed the Dnsuing morning, his footsteps were tracked to a considerable distance, nor were there any other footsteps but his awn. Time passed on ; and, after a Ilps of somo years, no tidings had come of the plaec of his retreat. Some alter ations in the grounds surrounding the house having been undertaken by a 4subsequent tenant (for the elder brother had left the farm) a skeleton was dug up, and the circumstances appeared so conclusive that one brother had mur dered tile other that the popular clamor was raised to the utmost, and a jury imipanelled to investigate the case. After listening attentively to these details, tile writer says - " I ventured to request of the Coroner to be allowed to examine the beles, and, having disposed them in natural order, I found they represented a person of short stature, and. from the obliteration of the sutures of tile skull, and the worn state of the tooth, must havo belonged to an aged person. But what was my surprise, -when I reconi structed the bones of the skeloton, and found the lower bones of the trunk to be thoso of a female. I immediately colmnunicated the fact to the jury, and requested tilat the two medical men who had given their opinions should be sent Iiinocoiins~1Ieistalidonroi-,al~i mii report. I need not add that the pro ceedings wore ilstantly at an end, and an innocent man received all apology from all present, in which the Coroner heartily joined. It was afterward proven beyond a doubt that the spot where the blones wore found was an old gravel pit in which hordes of gypsies not only assembled, but occasionally buried their dead." In 1736 Jonathan Bradford, who kept an inil oil tile road from London to Oxford, was found guilty of the murder of Christopher Hayes, under tile follow ing circumstances ; Hayes was a gentle man of fortune, and oil his way to visit a relation, stopped for the night at Bradford's. At supper 110 supped with two other gentlemen travelers like him self-and unguardedly mentioned that hie had( a cnsidorablo sum of money upon01 his pe'rson. Ini due time all retired to their respective chambers, tile gentle men to a two-bedded room, leaving a canldho burning in thle fireplace. Some. hours after retiring, 0110 of thle gentle men, being awake, thought lhe hleard a dcelp groan ill the adjoining elhamber. He gently aroused hlis complanion, and they listened together ; and, it being evident that some 0110 was ill pain ill the next chanmber, they instantly arose to inivestigate. TIhiey found tile door of the next chamber ajar, and, as they entered, p~erceived at person~ 0on tile bed wlterinlg ill his blood, and1( a muan standing over him with a dark lantern in 0110 hand and a knife inl tile other. It was at once alparenlt that the murdered personi was the stranger with wh~om they hlad supped ill the evenling, andt that the man stand ing over himl was their host. They seized him at once, disarmed hlim of hlis knife, and charged hlim with thle murder. Bradford positively denied tile crime, an~d asserted thlat lie came thlere with thle. same humane intentions as themselves; that hearinlg the outcry, 110 had struck a light, armed himself with a knife for self-defene, and had but that instant entered tile room. These assertions of innocence were of little avail against su~ch a strong array of circumstances. Upon the trial, althoeughI Bradford still denied the murder, his conduct appeared to carry so miany indications of guilt Ithlat the Judge who passed sentence wr'ioto 111on-1tile mittimus :''Mr. Brad ford, either you or myself committed tis murder." Nothing cold be stronlger than tile evidence of the two gentlemenl who testified to finding Mr. Hayes murdered in hlis bed ; Bradford standing over hlim with a knlife and a light, and the hanlds whichl held themn bloody. The julry found the prisoner guilty without leaving the box ; and the landlord was hlanged shortly after. It afterward appeared, by a confession of tile footman of thle murdered man, made uipon his death-bed a few months after, thlat lie was tihe murderer of his master ; thlat; after stabbing him, he rifled hlis pockets, took away hlis money, gol watch and snuff box, and escaped back to his own room;s which .could have b~eenl, from the circumstances, but a few seconds before Bradford and his two guiests entered the unfortunate gen~tle man's chlamber,