Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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ITI -WK I TRI-WEEKLY EDITION- WINNSBORO., S. C.. FEBRUARY 2.18. & GO'LDER WEDDING. There is a time beneath New England skies When the late autumn, as it loth to go, Lnger@ along the hills with sunlit eyes, And odutstretched hands over the vales below. A golden hake doats round her like a rnist, The air Is soft and balmy where she strays, And lo I ai her last, richest partiuj gift, She brings the glorious indian summer days. So in these lives of ours there comes a time, After long strife with care, and self and sin, When the soul rises by a power sublime, And to God's rest and sunshine enters in; Where calm and quiet, and the peace of God, And love divine, after lon, patient years, Sit Jubilant upon the radilant brow-, And life has no more place for griefs or fears. To these, love-crowned by fifty happy years, Their golden weduling brings still t arer gifts Than blessed the glad, br.ght days of long ago, For now God's sinile their souls to heaven uk) lifts, And In life'd blissful Indian sumer time, So rich in heartfelt Joy, they can await, With reverent trust, their Heavenly F'ather's will, Till safe lie leads them through'trie goelden gate. NOT VERY ANGRY. Grandma Harris was wrappmg up the delicious golden balls of her own make of butter in fragrant snowy linen cloths, antd mentally co'culating what the butter anti cottage cream, and the four pair of fat chickens, and the half domen pumpkins, and the four barrels of apples ought to bring in the market when grand-father went to town in the big .wagon the next day. And just as she had about decided that, with good luck, they ought to be able to buy the piano for Bessie by Christmas, there came a step alongside, and she looked up, to see Frank Merri vale, tall, handsome, with his fall over coat wearing a rosebud and a spray of bovardia and his soft felt hat pushed off his forehead. "Oh, it's you, is it, Frank?" grandma Harris said, patting a butter-ball lov !ngly as she laid it beside a dozen others in the long shallow basket. "It is I, grandma. "What are you doing? "Give me a taste. "Don't you know I used always to help you get the- butter ready for mar ket ? "I haven's forgotten how to tell if it is salt enough." "Of course you haven't forgotten since you have been such a find city aentleman. "Much you care for anything down here in the country nowadays." She twinkled him a look from behind her silver-rinmed glahses, whose ro guishness slowly changed to bolicitous concern as, for the first time since her "buy" had been home to the farm for a month's visit, she noticed a paler look nshe liketi to seu Uu his race, annt a certain unhappy look in his eyes. "What's the tnatter Frank ?" she fin ished auudenly, laying down her last pat of butter, and looking steadily at him. He answered her looi with a little forced laugh. "The matter-with me? "Why, bless your old soul, grandma, there's nothing whatever the matter with me. "Don't I eat and sleep like a plough man ?" "Do you, Frank? "Honor bright, dear-isn't there any thing amiss with you ?" "Not physically, at all events," he said gaily. Tuen, as suddenly as gravely, he ad ded "1 don't mind telling you, grandma it's-Lulu Carroll I "Iidu' O1%roil I "Has she been tormenting you, my dear Frank ? "Tell me the whole truth ; now, mind," she said solemnly. "'.there's not very mueh to tell," lie said, v~ith another constrained little laugh. ''she doesn't care any thing whatever abut me, and I can't help~ maling a fool of myself over her." GIrandima Uarri' covered her butter. rolls over eare~fully, and then went on "She dosein't care for you ias much as you care for her ? "Js that it ?" "That's exactly it." "Did she tell yoai 5o ?" "Not in so many words, but all the same I1 have been made aware of the fact," "BIlut, Frank, ir- -" He looke:1 coaxingly at herb but she saw the paleness on his dear face was . even more pronounced than before, as lie gently interrupted her "D~on't let's talk about it, p~lease. "I didn't me'anto mention her name to a living soul. "I'd rather endure my sorrowv ini si lence, since it seemse to me that Lulu Carroll has it in her power to wreck my life for me. ,"I felt sure she loved me- -but she don't. "And flbat's all there is of it." And after that, grandma Harris went on counting her eggs in silence, while Firauk leaned augainist theoshelf and look ed at her, Andi then after a few minutes he went away, and graindma took off her specta cles and wipedl the tears from her dear old eyes-her Frank wvas the apple of her eye, and his happiness or misery delighted or wounded her to the very. core of her motherly heatt. "I daresay lhe's no wvorso than other men," she dlecidled after damner that day. "They mostly do fall in love with the girl that is likeliest to lead tuem a pret ty gait. "I'll put on my brown cashmere 'and just run over and see how sister Carroll is getting on, and borrow Lu'u's cream cake recipe. "Frank's very fond of that cream cake of hers." And so when Lulut Carroll came down from her own room into the sunny cosy aitting-room shbout- three o'clock thiat same afternoon she found her mother and Mrs. Hlarris enjoying a most corn fortable chat over their bright knitting needle.. *She w~as such a prett~y girl, slender and graceful, with big brown eyes and * wavy golden-brown hair. Granidma didn't wonder a bit that * rlank cared so much for her. "Oh, it's Mrs, Harris," she said laugh. Ing, and showfug her pretty white teett and her dimples. "Yes, it's me, sure enough." "I wanted your cream-cake reci pe, dear, and there seemed a good cha n< for me to get away for an hour or so, so I thought I'd run over myself after it. "Frank's very fondgof cream-eake ; he won't get much of it either, poor fel. low." Lulu was copying her recipe, but Mrs. Harris's keen eyes did not fail to s6e the little ilush of oalor that surged up to the girl's forehead at mention o Frank Mor ivale's name. "How's that ?" Mrs Carroll inquired, interestedly. - "Why, didn't you know lie was going back to town next Tuesday ? They don't over have any such cream-cake there, you don't suppose ?" Lulu folded the neat little paper up and handed. it to Mrs. Harris, who put it carefully away in her pocket. "Yes, Frank's going back to the city this week, and I don't suppose we shall see much of him after thiy." biss Lutlu laughed, and shrugged her pretty shoulders. "One would think Mr. Merrivale was going to emigrate to (he South Sea Is lands," she answered. "Ho mitsht almost as well be going there for all the nearness to town will do us." The air of mystery about the old lady was having a most electric effect. "Do tell, Mrs. Harris," Mrs. Uarroll said, laying her grey yarn stocking down. "If you'll both keep it a dead secret, I'll tell you. "Frank's going to be married." A momentary silence followed, only broken by the tick-tack of the oight-day clock in the corner, and the silvery lit tle click of grandma Harris's needles. Then, although Lulu felt that her very pulses seemed stopping, that for her the sunlight was for ever to be gloomiest shade, she managed to utter a strange weird little laugh. "You don't say Frank is going to be married ? "That is indoed news. "Tell him I congratulate him." Mrs. Hariis peeped innocently over her glasses at the sweet pale face. "Just so I felt, Lulu-you and Frank had been such good friends-and that's why I think you ought to be told first. "Sakes alive I "It really can't be four o'clock al 'eady-and me with a mile and half to walk, and aishort-eake to make for tea." And the little old laday bustled off, while Lulu put on her red and brown alanket shawl and her little Derby hat writh1 tIho . *z Va amL rU5snei Out III to the crisp IN ovember air-somewhere, mnywhere to be all by herself, wheroshe sould try to realize all the sudden an guisli and confusion that had come )pon her. '-IL cannot be I "Frank lerrivale to be married-oh, it nan't be true I" And as she walked slowly through the apple orchard, rustling the fallen leaVea as she trailed thiough them, the big tears ran thick and fast from her lad eyes. Frank Morrivale lost to her-and she loved him so I She had been so sure of him, so sure by when she condescended to ocase her coquetries upon him she could whistle him bank to her feet. To be married I With his nandsome face, his pleading voice, his passionate eyes-and not to her. Witb a heart-breaking little sob she leaned her face on her hands, and cried its only a wonian can cry when she real - is.s that her true-love is gone for ever, and that iill through her own fault. YWhen she heardi rapid footsteps com ing up the same narrow path by which she was going down through the or nnard-footsteps she knew so well, that thrilled her with aealous pain, f or she recognized them before she had the uourage to lit herflace, all tear-stamned, flush and wiattul, yet prettier than ever to F'rank lilerrivafe, as he passed her with onty a smaile on his lnce as he courtcoudly, yet coldly, raised his hat to her- and was pasmg en. For just one second it scemed to her that her temples, her throat, all her putnes would burst:, with the concen trated agony of the mon.enut; should she-dare she "Frank I" she sid, scarcely above her breath, in ai strangely timid pitiful way. .lie turned inistauf sy. ".Did you speak 'f" "Frank I Is it true ?" "T1ruo ? Is wvhat true, Lului ?" She trembled perceptibly. "Don't hesitate to tell me-don't put off the news-I know I deserve to be punished so--but-you might have known It was I who loved you better thanany other girl could. "Oh, .ierank-i know it is dreadful for mue to speak so-but I must-I shall (lie if I thmnk you don't know how much I love you--even if youi don't want me." He looked astonished. "'I don't understanld you, Lulu." He~r lovely eyes flashed him a piteous, reproachful glauice. '-Frank I"--bitterly-" don't seek refuge behind a pretence of ignorance. "i know, and you know, what.I mean, but," and she began to sob in a wholly unheroine-l ike manner, "you might have known how much I loved you." And then, F'rana's eyes suddenly be gan to slhme with a glad glory that had never been in them before, and lie re membe-red wvhat grandma Harris hadl saId to himn when he started off "Take my advice, boy, and If you happen to meet Luiu, dlon't lether thhik you're inconsolable." ".Lulu I tell mnc that again-say it again-you love me I" "I do-I do-i-i. do', -I~ank, but it's too hfto now, siince you're going to be married so soon." "I married, darling ? ''Not that I kno* of, until you have promised to have me. "Will you, Lu?" And with her head on his breast, Lu. ln told him all that grandma H~arris had "I understand It all plainly enoug it was a loving little stratagei to ca Cupid, Lulu. "Besides, am I not going to be n i ried ? "Say-aren't we? "I don't think we're very angry grandma Harris, are we ?" , And Mrs. Frank never makes a ore cake for her liege lord but that blesses the (lay his grandmother -6v for the recipo. Ventifttloh of Stables. Various suggcstions regarding this important matter are being made agricultural and other journals, rpmi iug the writer of a careful study of subject that was forced upou'bim I years ago. That Winter was v severe, ad frost and snow hermetic, sealed alt the crevices of his cattle bat so that little air wias. admitted unlet door or window. was oyened,'and t was at the risk of violent and daiger drafts, accompanied by sudden o extremo cange of temperature. Mid-wintor the hair on the cattle caine dead, aud was rapidly carded very much to. their disfiguration. TJ was very truly attribated to bad i which, after considerable study, % completely changed by a very sim and inexpensive arrangement.. A v tilator from a warm stable can remt foul air us fast as fresh air is suppli, so when the ordinary vertical air bo made. the remedy is reduced to I simple question of so admitting fr air as to introduce it freely to all pa of the stable without making a currei This 'was done by the expedient of a L the entire length of the cattle stalls I feet), about one foot square iuit made of common lumber. This open< to the outmde air in two placea; at ou a wooden damper was put in to reguli the supply. The bottom of this l wias pierced with 3,000 one-half in holes, through which air passed readi: but with no effect of draft or chill. T catt e in this stable stood with th< heads facing a central alley, and the b was over this, hung to the ceiling, so the cool air was showered down, t animals had it to breathe before pas-ed under or behind them. As so as this was in operation a marked chan was apparent. The cattle freshon up, and in a few days new hair env where the old had worn off, and nev since has there been any sign of de hair upon them in Winter. This hr income 01 pure air, drawn high abo the surface of the ground, coupled wi the use of dry earth as an absorbei has so puritied these stables that aftea long stay in them, no perceptible od affect3 olothing. Iudeed U .atall smeln remans, while no evil. e leo's i sult from a constant change of air whi introduced as speoitlied. Fiesh air the vital elom nt of health, and on V* lulls of our dairy count'e the bapp from November to May is ordinari anple for all demands; it is, up to t present writing, not controlled by ai combinations, or likely to be locked i by a ring, but in many and many stable (and house as well,) it is as cai fully economized as if there was a ri of using it ali up with n1o chance getting any more. A cow cannot gi wholesome milk without pure air, well as pure water, but thousands little of either on farms whore fr winds blow, and' b'ight springs bubb simple because no thought is giveu venltilatiou, and it is easier to let t herd drink from a yard pool than conduct water to lheim. 56aRke With RIO. In a stairway on Woodwvard aven sat a man who looked the picture saidness, and every now an d then: j-ulledt out a red handkerchief wi many holes and renta in it and wipi tears from his eyes. By and by a pe estrian halted, and asked: "BSay, atrainger, what ails you?" "Oh, I dunno. I guess I feel sad." ''You shouldn't feel bad on N< Year's day. It's the day on which brace up and swear elf." "That's just the point!" replieri t: man, as lhe brought out the haandki ohief, "I haaven't anything to swear< from." "Don't you drink?" "Not a drop." "Nor smoke, nor chew?'' "Neither one; nor do I ewear, gui ble, bet nor lie." "Well, you nmt be a pretty go' man." "Oh! "I amn-I, am! I'm too go The rest of you can resolve to-day n to rob or steal again. You can swe off on wh'sky and tobacco and lay pla for economy, but I've got to plod rig alon'7 in the old1 track." "Can't you think of one single poi for reformation?" "Not a point-not a one. I've here for a whole hour trying to find a single weakness, but I can't do Stranger, it makes me sad, and y, .must excuse these tears. When realhze inat I am so all-fired good I half inclined to commit suicide-" "I'll tell you of a point, old1 man." "Will you? Thanks! thanks! What it?''" "Why don't you res:,lve to get ye hair cut, wash your face, clean out ye nails, and put on a clean shirt?" "Why don't I?' I will! Thank Heav there is a show for me after all! Im r as good aw I thought I was. Yes,.a ill do it. Shake with me. You ha probably saved my life, and my gra tude is unbounded." And then he cried some more, 11 they were tears of joy. Thea "winter carnival" at Montreal 1883 attracled large crowds frein all pa oi Canada and the Unitedi states. It I gan with a parade and a curlung mhan and continued durmng the week wILh varicty of winter sports. A conspicut object in Montreal was an Ice palace, bi in the center of Dominmon bquare, le v constructedt of blocks of lice, anad measom nearly 100 feet rqatare, ' At each of I four coruers was 'a towver 80) feet ha and a toner in the centre 82 i4 square rose to a height of 100O feet, 'j crysta structure was atinunated at nlj by eletro lihthi I-- A New Engipdd iluaIing Bee. teh When the guests haye all arrived the iar- boys go to work and pull great armfuls of haiy from the mow, which they pread around the heap of corn. Tihon each at seats himself by his favorite girl, draws , a bundle of husks into the hay between she them, -and the husking begins. Work me is by no means nuffered, however, to interfere with play.. Tiko morry .joke goes aroqind; the stoleia'niitteu travels A bout the circle and back to its owner a at last. 'al' to pull the id-husk fro. a darkpdd oar, she must for the feit a kiesto the lad nearest or quickest wo to snatch it. As fast as the ears are re -ry moved from the husks they are thrown Ily into separate piles, one for euch party, on lis opposite sidos of the heap;-and there is aa his sure to be a deal of pleasant rivalry to )us see which, side will have the larger heap ud of corn when the husking is done. It in is wonderful to see how fast the moun ti taut of unhusked corn I- lowered, oiff l though' the farmer an1 his boys keep ir, briging fresh basketfuls and pilling ias them on the heap. A port eat storm of >ie the golden ears keeps raining on each )n- pile of corn. As the supply of material ye fails the contest waxcs warmer. The i. girls throw off their hoods and shawls, he and the boys fling aside their overcoats. shi The warm blood of health rushes to rts each cheek, and the faster the hands ily It- the brighter (o the faces grow, and the o0 last few ears are scrambled for, by the l, contending sides, and with shouts of Ad merriment the husking is finished. The oh victorious side is first served with re Ito freshments. Great palefuls of dough ox nuts and "frittert" and slices of snowy y, cake, pie cut in generous pieces, cider Lie and apples, nuts and horne-made candy Sir are passed around. The "'old folks" :x come stamping in by twos and threes, as and are immediately assailed with con he ieting stories of individual prowess and it associate achievement. and then stuffed ge with good things to stop their laughing. )d By 11,80 o'clock the festivities are over le and the merry company disperses two er and two. The* farmer takes down the td lanterns, closes the big barn and retires 0 to the kitchen to emoke his pipe and ye th calculate, how many bushels of corn he it, will have when it is "off the ear." Ia A Hur Inqutiry. -M mer the bar of 'a .n M chigan avenue saloon the other day is and whisperingly inquired; e '"Partner, what is the population of 1Y the United tatesVi ly "Hlar. on to 50,000.000, I believe," 10 was the reply. 7 "It's over 40,000,000 any how?" lp "Oh, yes.' a "You'll bet on that9" I'd like nothing bettor than to put up $10 on it." of ''Well, you'll have a chance. There's Ve a chap (town in the shoo store who as claims that we haven't got 35,000,000 et population, and heis blufflg everybody. 8c I'll bring him up if you'll make a but 0, and tako him down a peg." to ''Bring him along." le The stranger went away and returned to with the bluffer, who had no sooner entered the saloon than he called out: "Where's the man who says this c.UUniLy hastf IJve 40,000,000 popula so dion?" of The saloonist modestly replied that 20 he was the man, anti in less than a th minute the two ten. dollar bills wera id put into the hands of the first caller. d. "There's a new map in the store across the way which has the last census flg ures on it,'' said the saloounist, and all .went over to see the matter settled, y The figures showed that the beer to seller ha-d won by a large majority, but nothing on that map, nor above, below ic nor behind it couhi tell wnt had be .~ come of the man who held the stakes, gf Indeed, it was only after the one who had lost had also slipped o wry that any body realized that they were confede rates. Then the victim started out with a club to hunt the world over and a- reduce the population by one, but his Egypaianu K~unting. d. The Egyptians of the present-Kopts ot as well as Arabs- ruu abouit with bare ar feet. The ancient Egyptians, on the us contrary, who are now only to be seen ht in a dried condition in museums, pos sessed a very good method of knitting at stockings as is shown ini .hie collection at the Louvre, in Paris. In the grave at of a mummy there were found a pair of ue knitted stockings, which gave the suir it. prising evidene, firstly, that shorl au stockings, resemnbling socks, were worn 1 by the ancient E;4yptians ; and secondly, a that the art of knitting stockings had already attained great perfection in an cient E'gypt. These curious stockings Is are knitted in a very clever manner, and the material fike wool of sheep, ur that might once iave been white, is now ur brown with age. The needles with which the work was done must have on boon a little th'er than we shotuld ot choose for the same purpose, and the ir, knitting is loose and elastic, 'The stock ye ing is begun just as we make the do ti- sign, only in the simplest maniner, with single threutd ; but in the continuation ut of the work it is not simply plain, but fanciful. The usual border of the stock ing which Drevents the rolling tip of tne work, is narrow, consisting ot a row of ~or turned loops ; and the cirole, the nicely rts shaped heel, which is a little different e. from our method, show a. very skilful hand. iBut in the point of the stocking Sthere is a characteriptie diflereneo be Stween the Egypdlan stockings and our ltmodern soeits, While ours end in a as rounded point, the Egyptian stockings ed .run out in two long .tubes of equal ho width, like the fingers of a glove. '.Li's hj, strange shape is made to suit the san et dals, which are furnished wito a strap, he fastened about the middle of the sandal; ~ht and as the btrap has to be jaid over the stookin& theo division is noeded. Didu's Want Advice From atraugers The atternoon of Thanksgiving day m op that dreary, hazy, nonpareil charact hen the sflitient glnries of a soft liall rain were slowly fading into the autuin tints of a blue norther that came streaki down front the bald sumnits of the R cl hlountains, and cast its chilling shado, on the shingle roof or the City Hotel Brenham, Texas. Our scene opens this famous hostelry. Five solitary drummers were lyti around the stove, and in plcturesq groups, but in obedience to the natui instinct all drutamers seem to have impart afnctitions expansion. to i truth. They had been lying so much a professional capacity that it was a tr( to them to have a little go as you plea lying watch with each other on genei principles. The subjects under diseti eton, or rather under prevarication, we fishing, hunting and fluid sports gene ally. They told such fearful lies that ti very stove turned red, which stove ti( had surrounded as completely as if was a country merchant who need< goods. Tho youngest commercial emissary I the delegalion was a youth named Le, Jacobson, who was raiding on T, xas #he interest of a Baltiuore house in ti boot, shoe and clothing hue. He d not join the conversation, and there wi really no reason for him to do so, the sacred caliso of truth was sufferir abundant mutilation as it were, at the halm of the other inquisitors. rite reasc Levi Jacol'son did not volunteer to hel was because there were other topics n which he could do better. If they ha tilked about the drama, or of feinal loveliness, lie would not have been foun without something to say, for was lie n< a critic and a master of the masher l1e prided himself on being one of ti knowing ones; but having lived all I life In cities or on the road he was som< what lost when the talk was of qui trout, deer, and of the rival merits < choke boro, centre fire, 10-calibre, etc etc., etc. Snipe were mentioned, and some on made an allusion to that hackneyed ol practical joko about catching snipe In sack, never supposing for a monicut the there was any one alive on earth who di not know the joke. Jacobson, howevei was ignorant, as he demonstrated by t marking that "these snipe must be stupid like that ostrich war, to put their head i a bag." It was nuts to the other drunmmers find at last "the most innocent man on th road." A snipe hunt was at once proposed, Mi Jacobson to take the leading role an carry the sack and the lantern. tow' 18 liac 'It 0loc Il jaro creeks, through woods ' - swamps. unt they came to wihat the u. - said was j good snile ground, Jacal. on was placu in a path with a lantern it, one hand an the sack i" the other. 'The rest of th p)art.y were to scatter out for some distance mnd then to gradually cloeo in and returi back to Jacobson, driving the eipe befor them. 'ite leading nian in the coupan was instructed how to kill the snipe who: le c-tptired the full of the hag, and ho% to set his trap and wait for more. Thei the other <trummers wsent howling out int, the darkness in pursuit of snipe. Mr. Jacobson waited. Ilolding the sack made his aims acLe Bullfrogs croaked. Jacubson continued to wait. Owls hooted. The night grew on apace and founi Jacobson still waiting for the snipe t4 come out of the darkness. It was midnght. Aiund the same stove four sohitar tirumnmers were gathered. Themiy wer. full of mirth and gayety, and tbea Laughed loud and long. buddenly thie laugh died away on thel: lips, the merry joke was chopped of! In it utteranice and an unripe pun was hastiy thrown under the stove by the long lggedl drummer, for there In the (door way stood a raggcd and mud stainet remnant- all that was mortal ot Jacob ion, the snipe hunter. le said: "My vrenda, you thought do was a good joke, but 1 vas acquaintec rith dot joke sefen years ago. I staye< aut vith dot bag there just to see it yet was so mean as to blay dose tricks on I itranger, andt I vants nodings more t< dlo with you." lie refused all overtures lookingt to ward a reoncihuation, and wont to bet swearing he would leave the plaoo 01 tho next day's evenIng train. He stayec in hIs room all of the next morning. Th jo)ke got over town. Mr. Moses Sole iiuons, a leading merchant of the place tnought it was decidedly wrong to hay treated Jacobson so badly, and called 1< auake his acquaintance and extend hij ;i mpathies. When he was admitted to Mr. J.' room the latter said: "Vat you vant,? Guess you wouinl lk to go bear-hunting vithi me and a floui tack; or do you vant to have some fu dIriving jack-rabbits Into a mosquito not Mr. Solomons explained that he hai lieard that the boys had treatcd Mr. Jacolt ion rather roughly. and that lie had threat used to leave the city without showing hi iainples. Ie merely called, he saId, t say that the citizens should not be blamed and to advise that Mr. J should chang tuse Intention and prosecute his business a .1 nothing had happened. "I don't vamnt any advice from strangers [ vas treated padly In this town, and. eaves It right away. There vas no shon k~emans In this blace." Mr. Solomons has a great deal of p~rmd *n the socIal and finananclal standing a the peopioeof Bronhamn When Mr. Jacobson was dragged fron inder Mr. Solomnons it was found necos isry to adjust his scattered Abrahamm iountenance wIth about a yard of court. alaster. Hie is now travell'ng In Wester, Gouiisiana, and he tells the merchants wil whom he does business that, he was ru )ver by am hand-car on the Central Railroad --The foundation ston'o of the mas rilficont (Jhurchi of the $aviour at Vielr na, which has been under construotio for tweinty-six y'iars, and is the exprem 5101n ef a national thanksgiving for Lb presrvqjon of a mionarch's life, is block of marble, quarried on the Mourx of Olives, Jerusalom. Theim churoh wi noot #1.875.000. A Mounbatn On Fire. A correspondent wittes, calling at r tention to a curious pheromionon which, or although well known in the immediate 111district In which it exists, will be niew l to many readers. He says, ''I hap 3g pened to be makinq a tour a few days ago through the Rhoudda Valley in at wales and as I was, pasking the Owm an Park Mountain I noticed what at a little, distance appeared to moe to be a small bonfire about half-way up its side. Not ie seeing any one in the vicinity of the al fire, curiosity prcmpted me to climb the to' barren lill too4 ai * i was beiniburihed. 10 A ftee struggling thiough a gooV4hl IR of mud and over marshy giound, I at. reached the fire ; when, to my surprise, se I found that the fiames wore not caused al by the burning of rubbish or any other s- visible substance. The fire flanmed up re through about three squai e fees of bar ren earth, which was hot and parched, Ie except whoro covered with what at first y seomed to be boili&,g water. Upou closer It examination I found that only the wa d ter near the contre of the fire approached anything like boiiing heat, the rest n bouig in some places lukewarm, and in ri others quite cold. I wassorely puzzled n at first to account for this difference of ic temperature in the water, for it all ,d boiled and bubbled with equal violence. is As I happened to have a walking-stick is in my hand I drove It into the earth aR two or three inches away from any spot Ih from which fire issued, when, to my a astonishmnt, flamos sh A up from this p newly-made hole at eait a foot high. I a repeato I the experiment two or throo d times with the same result. It soomed a R though a fierce fire existed under t this small patch of ground. The thing It that puzzled me most was the nonexis teuce of any cracks or holes in the 0 ground except those which I had my a self made. The earth belched forth fire without cpening its mouth. I had not been many seconds at this spot be foro I discovered that I was to leeward of the flame, for I was half sulocated by a sulphurous, gassy stench. which 0 escapod from the flumes. I shifted my I ground, and after considerable delibera". a tion como to the conblusion that this t extraordinary phenomenon was caused by the continuous escape of subtorran can gas through a deep fissure nI the rocks. Subsequent inquiries in the neighborhood proved that my conjec ture was right. Tuo inhabitants of the district say that the gas ascends through a fissure in the rocks from a seam of coal several huudred feet below the surface, and that it was set on fire mauy L years ago by some unkuown person, and has burned continuously ever since. I also learned that this is not a uiniquie phonomenon in the district. A smaller ior 2nom~.ieara fhe io~ Yiiad li6i -Rhoudda Valley. I could not, however, tspare tio to uscertain the trath of this statemout. To witness the earth on liro is, no doubt, astonishing, but it can hardly be compared with the plie nomenon which a fellow-traveller in formed me exists near Aberdare. Near inat to w the gas from a seam of coal lorces itself up through a fissure iu tie rocas, and through tno surface of the earth and tile waters of a stream, It has been repeatedly lighted, when a largo spot on the water through which the gas bubbled scormed to be on tire, just as the ground appeared to me on Uwn Parki Mountain. My iuformant, lowiver, atated that in tie formwer in stance the discharge of gas was inter mittent, and that, consequently, the tire went out at intervals, whereas, so far as I.. could learn, the lire on the , mountain has been burnirg for some thing like forty or fifty years, and has in that time materially uicreased in b'dy and force, indeed, so strong is it nowv, that considerable diffilty, I should imagine, would be experienced in extinguishing it, It certainly forms a notable feature in the landscape at -night, and gives a kind of weird aspect to the scenie. T1hue inhabitants, how e ver, seem particularly attached to their curious night-light." Storing Ice. Th'e ice shoukil he cut Into rectangular iblocks of equal size ; a convenient size Is 10s24 or 12xl8 inchcs, according to the thickness and weIght. A cake of the lat - ter size eight inches thick, will contain one I cublc foot and weigh about fifty-six s pounds. The larger uian of the same I thickness will weIgh nearly 100 pounds. s 'ihe mass of ice should be solia and with - out any air spaces im it. As the blocks , re brought in evenly cut they arc fitted Sclosely but as the cutting cannot be done exactly to rule, there wIll be some Epaccs here and thore between the blocks. As the blocks are built up, some spare pieces a should be broken finely and the dust swept with a broom unto the crevices and packed e down with the edge of a broad chisel fitted -on to the end of a broom handle. Every s tier should be well packed In this way be ,fore another Is begun. if this is well done, Ice may be kept two or three years I in any welhl-made joe-house, and will - waste very little an one season. At least, - one foot of dity sawdust should be placed B on the floor for the lce to rest upon. The a house shioukt be filled in the coldest,, dryest weather, and It should be loft open a day or two before it is filled, If the weather is very cold, the blocks will freeze, and the whole mass become very solid if the packing is well done. If inside packing [is used, this should be put in as the ice is built, up -and trodden down firmly, and each tier of the Ice should be swept clean as it is finished. Miore than half the fail. f uros in keeping loo are (tue to noglect in the packing of It. normnous uu. The Armstrong cannon recently m~ade for the Italian man-of-war Italia costs 2 $72,000, while the oorresponding gun 1 to be made by Krupp will cost 0180, 3 000. This enormous difference is partly -explained by the different modes' of manufacture, and partly by the fact t nat the steel bore of the Krupp can -non will be all i one piece, while in a the Armstrong cannon it is in two: -pkies, a form which has been proved . does not in the least weakent. he gun. a The Italia will be furnished with three *t other guns like the. one just tried at ii Spezia, but rather more powerfuil, the result of recent imaprovemnawte, NEWS IN BjRIEF -Thorn are now 28.1386 volumes in the New Jersey State Library. -Gambetta's braln weighed a few grains loss.than forty-six ounces. -The reserve in the treasnry at Washington has fallen to Ices than $111, 000,000. -The Washington mine at Port Oram is worked out and has been abau doned. -Millionaire Vanderbii check fox fourteen co*nto has been i e burnA -Mr. Chapin, the Speaker of the Now York Assembly, is only 81 years of age. -A fox was recently discovered asleep m an old crow's nest in a high pepper idge tre3 near Middl town, tI)na. -Millionaire Ta: jr, of Colorado, has been granted a divorce from his wife whom he gives $300.000 in hard cash. -Colonsl M. IA. Jlark, the president of the LouisvilleJockey Club, is urging the organization of a national jockey club. -For the first time within living memory the Potomac is frozen solidly across from 'Washington to the Virginia shoro. -A rich and eccentric Californian has paid seventeen different John 8tnths in the State $300 each to change their names. -Suicide is said to be increasing in Prussia, the figures having risen from 13 per 100,000 population in 1869, to 18 in 1880. -The butter tree was discovered in the central part of Africa ; from its kernel is produced a nice butter which will keep a year. -There is an 8,000-acro aich in Texas entirely devoted to the breeding of ponies for children. --The Duke of Now Castle is at Jacksonville, Florida) taking a rest from travel, -Twenty-five thousand dollars are to be expended this year in improvements to the Oil Uity. -An almost inexhaustible supply of emery stone has been discovered near Schimersville, Pa. -The Erie car works have in their yards 10,000,000 foot of pino lumber to bonade up into cars. -The total cost of fencing the land in most of our States exceeds the oost of all the buildiugs." -Two years ago there were but seven cotton mills in the Dominion ; now there n1ro twe.ty-one, with an aiggregate capi 1o xesii ikT1y U ~ffriii z Now York are 83 cents per acre. The nimuaual taxes that fences occasion is $1.12 per acre." -Tho now railroad construction of this year im reported at 10,b21 miles. makmig the total in the Uuited States it the present time 112,631 m les. -Railway Pretident Garrett has pro selited the Johns Hlopkins Hospital at Baltimore with a marble bust of A1 ioula plus, executed by Mr. Kcyser in Rmo. - The ajnuaber of arrest maude by the Mayor's police of Pliuladolphia, during 1882 was 46 130. The stwlen property recovord was vadued at $88, 768 40, of which sum $31,817 35 was credited to the Detectives. -At a steiie graphic exhubition in Paris twonty-four iilurent systems of short-hand were on viw. Among other curiosities therem was a post cardt eon tann 44 000 words -The age for marriageoof a European prince is from twenl.-fur to for ty ; for '* primccss, from eighteen to twenty Dighit. There are at present thirty-one marriageable princes, and only twenty four marriageable princesses. --1t is said that Mrs. Frank Leslie with a number of artists and personal friends, will make a tour of the South, She will herself write the descriptions, which the artis's will illustrate. -Three thousand London policemn followed the remains of one .of their number to the grave one dlay recently. The London force now consists of 12, 000 men, not counting special officers. -Texas has $1,000,000 lying idle in hier treasury, but is -unable to apply it to the reduction of her debt, $5,000, 000, because her creditors ask $1.40 for the bonds, and she is unwilling to pay that premium. -The assertion is made that from an annual cotton crop of 6,600,000 bales seed can be obtained to yield $100,000, 000 worth of oil. It is assumed that avery 400-pound bale gives 1,200 pounds of seed. -Gray squirrels are so troublesome, in Connecticut that the farmers have in vited sportemen to exterminate them, and they are being killed in great num bers, A par ty of three recently bagged 105 squirrels in a day. 'l.he Judge in one of the courts of Vic toria, .iritish Columbia, when a Chinese witness was being sworn, said that ihe had not yet met a Obiuaman who could noet write, and complimented the witness on the neatness of his characters. --The total exports of petroleum and petroleum products from the United states during the eleven months which anded on November 80th last wvere $41, $l70,160, against $44,415,678 during the Lirrsponding period of the preceding year, -The report of the Census Bureau shows that men in the United States spend more money in dress than women, l'he figures are $498,000,000 for men iad $817,000,000 for Women. The aver ig'e Is $4L5 a year for mon and $27 for women. -There wore 9 tons of postage stamps, 52 tons of envelopes, 118k tons of -pos tal cards and 17 tons of naewspap Ir wrappers sold at the New Ygrk Post riffle in 1882. The snni altogether deo rived from postage at that office was $4, 288,5,29. -Twenty-four thousand oggs of the Bilk-worm weigh 1*und FoR 7p9 pogadas of mulberry ets guyenty punda of c0o0096s are oOau4 0 nund)red-ooons dtt ~~m$o j4l silk, 0ne poud vkO6s~omt~ , smgl ' hea 8,0