University of South Carolina Libraries
TRI-WEEKLY EDITION. WINNSBORO. 8 C.. MARCH 27, 1883. ESTBLISHD8 ..9 So1848A C 291 3 A close-Fisted ICconom1ist. 'rie farmer sat in his easy Oain lietween tihe fire and tile lalnpIt ht's glare ilis face was ruddy anti full an fair; Iis three siplI boys in the climney nook Conne1d the lines of a picture b6>k ils wife, the pride of his holuo an heart, laked te biscuit and tuade tie tarl, Laid the table and drew tle tell, Peflt,y, SWIAY, Silently; r1red and wearv weak and faint, kte bore her' trils without conplaint, I:e Many another householdt saint Con1tent all selfish bliss above 111 tie patient Ministry of love. At last botWeen tile qlou(ii of Fint9ke That wrea(hied his 1 is-the farmer spoke: "There's taxes to raLe and int'rest to pav, And if there Hootld one a rainy day 'Twouli be mighty landyi i'min bountd to say. '' have something put'by., For folki mnat, die; Al' there's funeral t Ils, and( grave-stones to buy E-:nough to swanp a mnan, purty nigh; i1-:skics, there's Edward ani' Dick an' Joe To be p irov<lt for when we go to, if Twer you, Plil tell you what 'd dil; 1'<i be savin' of wood as ever I couctI-' Extra fires don't dio any gootd I'I be savili' of soap, atil savin' of lie And run up some candkes once in a wille, I'dI rather be sparin' of coff.e.anti. ten, Vor sugar la high, An' all to buy, A nti cider Is good enough drink for te: I'l be kind o'eareful atiout nay clothes Anti look out sharp how the money goes (ewgaws Is useleys, nater knows, Extra trimmni' '8 tihe bane of women. I'd sell the best. o my cheese an' honey, An' eggs is as good, nigh 'bout as amey; An' as in the carpet you wanted new I gitess we can ntake the olti one du; And as for the washer an' sewin nahine, 'ihemn imooth tonoued agents'ao pesky iean, You'l better gil rid of 'en slic an' clean. what do they know 'bout women's work? Do they calkilate women was mate to sitrk? l)ick and Edward ani ittle Joel bat in the corner lit a row; 'ihey saw their p-itient mother go On ceaseless errand j to and fro; They saw that her form was bent and thin, Her temnples gray, her checks sunk In; They saw the quiver of lip and ltiun And then, witu a wrath lie coula not smother, Outapoke the youngest, frailest brother: "You talR of savn' wood andti le An' tea anid' sugar all the while, Hilt you never talk of savmn' mother!'' Tihe Carthage of To-day. No one would think of going to Tunis witi,out visiting its ancient neighbor Car thage-mighty Carlhage, once mistress of the seas ; and rival of Rome im the domina. tion of the world; now but a heap of rtnns. It was a drive of a few hours over at sparsely inLabited country, end we were well satleed to qp.cept the proffered con p-anionship of an elderly Vrench gentle man and his daughter, who, like ourselves were pilgrims and strangers. For the gentleman was courteous- and agreeable as most French gentlemen are-and well informed, and the daughter was young and pretty and vivacious. "Barety lies in numbers," he had said, half apologetic aly, after niking the proposition as we ait at breakfast that morning; "and like wine, in thie," and be drew cautiously fron his pocket a slivermounted revolver, aeconpanlyin1g the act witit sundry hints and iods atid low-voiced a'1usions to the mi4ecurily or the country, and the necessi ty of being weil arnimed. Americus pr , duced its fellow, and America niade up the coiplimenit wih tin old flintlock pistol that we had picked up so1iewhere in Al aeria for its antiquity and rare workinan ship. To be sure, it wasn't loaded, ani jimnably wouldn't have gone off if it had been; hut that was all tile hotter for her, Then we sallkd proudly off, confdent ot being auble to vatiqiiah any trocp of marau ding and murderous, Arabs that fortune might send in our way. In parenthesis I may add that our dou.' phty valor met with no foenan worthy of its powder. The roads were - ad, as one never inds in Alge. ria, but they lay through a wonderoily fertile coutary of olive orchards and lux uriant fields of whenmt and barley and flax, and were bordered with flowers of myriad htues -the delicate, star-shaped .aphodel. the crinson anendne, ground lilac ani purple elover, and a thousand thers. The iiogt -xeiting incident of the trip was the stpigat a well-kept cafe where they kept uenlume lemnonadeo; and the only Arabs we eneountered were ithe small boys that followed us pertinaciously atnong the rumned temples of Carthage with old coins anmd hits of porphtyry to sell. Mlr. F'isk, tile U. S. Consul-General, (nay have not, been so far wrong when he had sid the (lay before : "Why, I woul far rather trust myself in the city' or preclnets of Tlunis alter nightfall than in sonie of the disatricts of Detroit, I kigow of. Pagan anid Chtristian, Roman, Vamnd', .3 BZantine, Ar-ab and Tin-k have successively contri buted to despoil .l.h a onace midghty city of her proudi monttuments and( blot, out lier anicieat glory from the memory of mhan. History asstumes that Uarthage was set tled b)y a band of PI.mniciana iavagalors soe3.000 years ago, inore or less. .My thology goes more int the detail of ro mtance and tells how the beautiful princess Dido. of Tyre, tied from the wrath of her b)rothier Pygmah;on after he had slain her hutsband, taking with her 80 devoted fol lowers ; how the stopped at the island of Uyprus a'id cairiedi off 80 maidens to fur.. nisht them with wives; how shte landed ou the north coast of Afriea, ehtered hito a treaty with te natives, and bought fronm themi as mtuch land as could he inclosed within a bull's hide1 ; andi how she then cuit the hide into the thinnest of strips, and so mcelosed a space of 22 stadia, on .which she built her city anud called it Byrsa, or Bull's Hide, which afterward became (Iathage. A few vestiges remain of Qtueen Didlo's Palace, which occupied -a lofty eminence overlooking the sea, whence she watched the (departure of .Maeas and his Trojans as sho siabbed herself upon the funeral pyre she had erected to the mem ory of her husband. Thie site of thle state ly palace is occupied now by a lhttle chapel ?rected b)y the Fr'ench to the memnoff of (Louis iX., who died thereabouts when on his last, crusading expedhithon against the aracen. Theo enclosure in which the bapel stands is encircled with walls int bich have .been built numerous fragments sculpture and Romain inscriptions found the vielmity, and a munsoum im the same closure contains a good mnany ancient ics in the feorm of rings, necktlaces, ages, coinsg andl the like. Just below chapel .are a few stones which mark site of the temple ot, . &culaplus, ich was the scene in the third Punie ;of the heroic conduct of the .wife 01 drubal who, when her poitroon hus ddeserted his post and surrendered to Romians, set tire to the temple where were besieged, andf with her children its little band of defenders, perished e flatnes. Where stooii the ainphl rie, sained with the bloodlof Chtrisian re-It was there that St. gerpetua er companions were thrown to wild s-therq 1s onic an ellpticl excava anid no relies remain to tell that Christianity, In northern Africa, and boast 4d.of the proudest names In the Christian 6hurch. In fact, the only remnant of past ages that remains in any degree ef preser vation are the immense vaulted Roman or Ituuic cisterns. The beautiful pillars of marble and porphyry, and the massive stones of the forum and theatre, and the temples of Apollo, Diana, Minerva and other pagan deities have been carried ofl to build Tunis and other cities, or to en. rieh foreign museums; and nothing :ow remaine of Carthage but excavations and shapeless mased of masonry and heaps of debris of broken bits of marble and pot. teryi The Etropean nation that gets pos session of the regency of Tunis will find a riOh boon. The country is luxuriantly fertile throughout, and those who have traveled over it affirm that in the hands of ah industrious and enterprising people it wotild become one of the most beautiful countries in the whole world, and of the greatest agricultural richness. - It has a sea coast of nearly 500 miles, with an area of 70,000 square miles and a popula. tion of 2,000.000. The country is nhab ited for from 100 to 250 miles from the sea, generally by a peaceable and indus. trious people ; the interior is well watered, and it ppssesses a good many large and important towns. The regency is an hereditary beylik and, though nominally - under the suzerainty of the Porte, is governed absolutely, by the bey. It has no copstitution or legal code. The Koran answers for both. In all im portant matters justice is administered by the bey in person. The business is con ducted In the simplest iuanner. Com. plamant and defendant present themselves, each relates his caso, and the bey adjudi. catps thereon. Sentence is immediate. In the case of debt it is imprisonment; foi criminal offenses the tastinado or the axe, according to the degree of the crime. I Is said that such implicit confidence iE placed in the judgmeut and integrity of the bey that it never enters into the head of an Arai) that he has.been unjustly con victcd. An example of the style of ad. ministering justice may be furnished in a recent 'ease. An Arab had assassinated his father-in-law. The fact was well sus tamed, and he did not himself deny it. He was taken before the bey, who alone has the right to pronounce sentence of death. The facts were briefly stated. The accused said not a word in defense or extenuation of the deed. A simple gesture of the hano by the bey, which signified "Go," and the case was disposed or. The instrument of punishment stood ready, aud the condemned walked to the block and the sentence was executed without a word or motion of resistance. The hearing, condemnation. and execution lasted just twenty minuteb. Of coursethis summary style of meting out Justice applies only to the subjects of the boy. Foreigners are judged by their cnnfuin rw nsatfledl?Magia. trates, and the usual Eiropean formalties of trial are maintatnpd. It may be a question, however, whether the Arabic method does not attain the ends of justice q'iite as surely as the European. Second Hand Furnituro. The best furniture Is not by any means always the dearest at the outset, for purchasers must always pay the iicreased price for the latest fashion and for ornamentation as well as (some times even more thain for real excellence of workmanship, which is the only expenditure that can be defended on economical grounds. There is a striking resemblance of the cost of following the fashion in the prices given for old fur niture. A few years ago, within the memory of most of us, old oak chairs and oheats could be picked up for the worth of the wood they were made of. At the time every one who bad money to spend, spent it on gilt and ormulu and gandy damask, and since the old furniture is well made,it wvas very cheap. But now a rage has risen for old oak. Fancy prices are asked, and given for tihings that twenty years ago went for an old song, and only the wealthy can now afford to sit on the chairs that our grandImothers relegated to the back par lor. Seond-hand furniture is of ten pre ferable to new. The warps and started joints are plainly visible if bad wood has been some time in use; no more warp ing will take place and the price, in compauison with that of new, is often much less than thie amount of wear and tear would indicate. There are circumstances that give to old furniture a distinct excellence, quite apart from the existonco of a fashion of buying it. It was made by hand, generally theo same man worked on each piece throughout, acquiring a special interest in every department and think ing ino trouble too great to make it more perfect. It was sold eftenest in the immediate neighborhood, perhaps to a friend of the maker, and we may well believe .that in this ease special pasins would be taken to produce the best possible value for the money. These old chests were bought as a mar riage portion, filled with the clothes of the bride, and they were handed down from mother to daughter as good as when they were new. We have changed all ~that. Not only would daughters scout the idea of beginning housekeep ing with their mother's furniture, but they expet to purchiase several new sete of furniture during their own lives. We do not even wish our furniture to last too long. It has almost as little indi viduality to the purchaser as the maker. Much of our modern machinery, is cut by machinery. One makes legs and a se%iond backs, while a third glues them toget her for a chair and passes it on to a fourth, who stuffs the seat. Often It pasees through eight or ten hands be fore it is ready for sale. The result is a good many chairs, all about equally good, but none very good, It is scarce possible to feel deep interest ini the tenth part of a dozen chairs, except in so far as they are a means of subsistence antl yet this wholesale manufacture lowers prices, so that manufacturers oi a smaller scale are almost driven off o the foeld. I. Datbre. advances time opinion that earthquakes have probaNly their maximum rate of -decurrence at. the new and full moon and their minimum at the the inlt0e medhiate quarters of the lunation. Tus number of farms in the United States has increased fifty-cue per cent, In the past ten year. Preparing to Mash. ''here was to be a grand Ball, and a gilt-edged barber parlor was crowded, and the reporter was compelled to wait his turn. As he perched himself in a conven tent seat, one ot our Be6t Young Men had just comfortably bestowed himself la one of those luxurious racks on which the skinning operation is conducted, and the reporter naturally bent his lalchion glance upon him. The inundation of soap and the slow movement of the glancing blade were both old songs to the man of news, who was bearded like the pard, and the tiny fountains of blood which appeared 6coasionally were equally old and familiar sights. Then came a deluge of water and a brisk friction with a towel, and the face of the Best Young Man shone out shiny, clear and red: And now comes the oporation which caused the regards of the reporter to be fixed with fearful Intentness. The artist produced a bottle containing a milky I quid, and with his soft palm distributed it smoothly over the shining face, giving it a soft, pearly glow, whitening as the liquid dried, This was rubbed in and toned down by a gentle application of a second fluid, the aromatic oder of which proclaimed it bay rum. A soft towel dried it off again and the barber, seizing a box of prepared chalk, coated the face until it wore the smooth white ness of alaba-er and resembled a newly kalsomined ceiling. The ghastly effect of this was removed by a gentle rubbing with the operator's soft hand. The result of the treatment thus far left the face with an enameled look, and the owner had, un der the gaslight, a creamy complexion Ruch as W heeling smoke never permits ; and here the reporter expecteci the opera tion to cease. But no; going to his dres ser, the 'barber produced a comb and a stick of pomade ; the [ormer was inserted under the pale moustache and the latter softly dabbed over it, giving to it a warm color of deep brown. A little touch of cologne diesipated the odor of the cosmetic and more evenly distributed it over the moustache. a soft brushing and a little waxing completed the decoration of the mouthpiece. What next? Those pale eyebrows did not correspond and must be made to do so. A small tooth brush, dipped into brilliant ine, darkened with blacK pomade, was deftly passed over the brows, which were then cologned and neatly orushed, giving the owner a wonderfully jinproved look. Then came the eye lashes. Very import ant teatures are they and great care was bestov.ed upon them. The pomade pencil was again brought into reQuisition and a hue delicate line was drawn on each lower lid, jast away from the lash. Then the lashes were touched up with the pencil andjihe subjqt onened.&.pair of eyes that seemed twice as large and (lark as before, while the penciled brows ga've character as well as beauty to his altured visage. Was this all? Tihe barber opened another draw er, took out a bottle and dampened his n,ger with us contents. The finger was then passed over his subject's lips and presto! they lost their paleness and wore a rich ruby redness that Hene might have envied. The finger again sougt the bottle and then caressed his cheek, and lol on their pale ramparts health set her rosy banner s. "Yes, I'm very, very beaut,iful i" this Grosvenor seemed to murmur to himself, as he threw an approving glance into the mirror and then vacated the chair. "Do you go through that often " asked the reporter, as lie took the emp!y chair. "0, yes, sir," replied the tonsorial art lst, "especially on party nights. Have it lone, sir ?" "How much ?" "Twenty-five cents." "Gimme a ten cent shave." Whant rheo Teloanopo D)Id for Astronomy. The foundationa of physical astronomy were laid in the invention of the telescope. ECvery one has heard of the emotion which filled Europe at the ar,nouncement of the discovery of an instrument which had the power of making distant objects appear as if they were near. It was at that time that Galileo, having only learned that, such an i-nstrumnent existed, discovered its arrangement, constructed one, turned it toward the sky, and, with this aid, fertil ized by his genius, naade a series of magis terial discoveries. Tnese discoveries be longed pie-eminent,ly to physical astrono my, and from its first courses. It we ex cept the sun and moon, which have a very senible diameter, aind admiit of some 01) servations without the aid of the telescope, all the stars appear to the eye only as brillhant points, andl admit of no studies except of their motions. Therefore, an ast,ronomy wiltout, the telescope wouild nlever have pernitted us otherwise than as a matter of probability to consider the planets as like.the earth in form, constitui tion and office. But when It was seen that these brilliant and almost biasing points were resolved under the telescope into well-defined disks, showing indica tions of continents, clouds and atmos phieres; when satellhtes were perceived around these globes playing the same part to them as the mo.n plays to the earth then probabilities gave place to a clear certainty. 'Telescopes, then, are the in struments by means of which the constitu tIon of the solar system has been deiluitoly unveIled, and the earth has been assigned its part and its rank in the system 01 the planets. Thme discovery of the spots on the sun and of Its rotation completed the conception of the solar system and pre pared for the theory of Its formation. [Here is marked a well-determined phase in the history of human ideas respectin.g the universe, and it is echaracterlzed by thai great name of Galileo. Was it possible at once to go boydnd this?i W as it, possible to question the st ars in their turn, and inquire If, like the suin, they hnd a sensible disk, spots, a rotation, and planets revolving around them; was it possible, in abiort, to extend to the stel lar universe thie notions we had already acquIred concerning the solar system?i The methods in use did not permit this. Permanent lack, Ink.-V anadium Ink is really the only permanent black ink known. The basis of this wri ing fluid is rare, and what little there Is in the stores of supplies of chemical materials is very costly. Hoirever, there has of late been a quantity of it discowrsdim Ceylon, ahd it is probable that It will be found worth working for the money which it is certain brIng, both here and abroad. street car *iquette. An old man, poorly dressed, entered a horfe car and looked around him for a seat. It was so hour when many persons wore returDing from their work down tbwn, and the car was olled with the usual assortment ot passengers. None of them seemed to see the old pnan, who appeared to be feeble, greatly fatigued, and in fear of being thrown down by the motion of the car. Pretty soon a woman who had been lookiag over a written paper, appar ently a bill for goods bought, raised her eyes and saw the ok( man. With hardly a moment's hesitation she arose, touched him on the arm, and iAd 'Take this seat sir." The old ran accepted the seat, thanked her and seemed very krateful. No one In the car appeared to notice the woman's act. The men who had seats allowed her to stand. "Did you see that ?" we asked the con ductor. "The woman give the old man her seat? That's common enough now--a good deal mora'n it used to be. I guess the older a people grows the more respect they have for old age. I mean the older a country is. China is the oldest of all ot 'em, they say, and there's no place where old men and women are treated so well as among the Chinese. It's a part of their religion. What you don't see very often," the con - ductor went on, after stopping his car to take up a fat women with a market bas ket, "is one women give her seat to ano ther woman. When that happens you can put it in the papers. It ain't very common to see a woman move closer to another passenger in order to make room for another woman to sit down, or to see her take her child in her lap, or even take a bundle from the seat at her side, till the conductor comes along and asks her to do so, and then she generally looks at him as though she had been grossly insulted, and at the other woman as though she had been the willing cause of the insult. Until the conductor stirs her up, she is to all ap pearance unconscious that anybody is staniing up, and she looks straight past the standing wotnan, and seems to be tak Ing a languid interest in the fronts of the buildings she sees through the windows in the other side of the car." "Do women remember to thank men oftener then they used to for seats given to them?". "I've been on thi& road a good many years," the conductor replied somewhat earnestly, "and I never saw muny women take a seat from a man without expressing their thanks in some way. A woman don't get up ou the seat and have the car stopped, and. call in the conductor- and driver to hear her make a apeech of grati tude to the noble being who has sacrificed so much to er n.neer c .n . And sliq don6 nctounoie him and tell hitu he has done a big thing, and that if he ever hap pens to be going past her residence lie must come in and be introduced to her husband and stay to dinner. But she usually says, 'Thank you' she inclines her head in acknowledgment of his politeness, which is quite as much as he deserves. 'he men who are al ways saying that they have spent the best part of their lives giv lg seats to women in street cars, and have never been thanked1,are the ones who never see a woman standing until they are within one block of the corner where they're going to get out, and then they yield up their seats with a great show o~f gallantry. They wouldn't be satisfied if every woman who took their seats after they were through with them should for ward.to their residences rolls of engrossed and illuminated parchmcnts setting forth their deep obligations." Tiho Violia G,sa Rocket. A traveling theater manager in a email town out West was taking tickets at the door, when a man appeared with a violin ease in his hiandi, and said he telonged to the orchestra. He was passed in. Another chap a)pearedl with a fiddle-box and went inito the house. At brief intervals fiddler after fiddler appeared and entered, The manager became suspicious. Hie took a look in side. There was not a soul in the or chestra except an old pianist; but lie saw the last fiddler passing a violin-case out at a window, opening on as alley, to some new candidate for admission. As many of the bogus violiinists as could be picked out were bounced. Another Line-looking man approached, with a richly-dressed woman, for whom he bought a ticket. In abhout an half an hour lie returned with three umbrellas under his arm. "Is the show over?" he inquired. "No." "How long?" "Two hours." "Indeed! Well, I've come to take my wife home You've no objec tion to my stepping inside until the performance concludes?" "You' can't go in," said the manager. "Why not? I'm waitimg for my, wife.', "Can't help that. You must bya ticket." "It is ontrageous that I canniot stana insidie to wait for my wife." "You can't work that umbrella racket with me." said the manager. "You just wait till I ever let my wife go to see your darned old show again." With this erushinig retort on lisa lips the man departed with hisa umbrellas. The moon shone bright. ly all the time. The Habit of Fafnting. -a There is not so much fainting in pubIliO as there was thirty'years ago. Sound health, which necessarily se cures thei firm nerves and muses, is the surest preventive of faintness. An exchange remarks that the majority of vigorous men go through all kinds of severe and painful experience without fainting, while delicate men and women swoon at trifles. American women, who used to faint continually -- in crowds at bad news, at scones of dis tress--now faint comparatively seldom; and the fact is ascribed to their re linquishment for the most part, of the habit of lacing, to their increased ex ercise in the open air, and their bettor physical conditions, Not one Ameri can faints to-day, where, thirty years ago, twenty-five women fainted and the diminution of the disorder, always the result of direct caiuses, is an unmis takable evidence, which other things corroborate, of the marked anieliora tion of tne health of the highly organ ized, extremely sensible, but flexible and enduring women a on"r complex raee, A 100.000 Pioture. A correspondent trom Itome says, as 1 entered the door I saw a crowd of people 'gathered around a railing on the opposite side of the rooir., gazing silently and in tently straight at tlhe wall before then. Then 1 knew that the Madonna was there. With a feeling of mysterious awe skin to that which one feels when going to look on the face of the dead, I approached and looked on the great picture. It is painted on a panel porfectly circular in form and about the size of an ordmary barrel head, and is set in a massive,elaborately wrought gilt trame five or six inches wide. . The Madonna is represented as standing thouih only a half length is hown In the picture. 1he wears a robe of grayish-blue material gathered loosely across the bosom and fa ling In ample folds over the left shoulder. Her hair is combed smoothly down over the-temples and back from the face, and is mostly covered by a veil of a green color, worked in silver threads, and failing with the hair in graceful waves be hind the shoulders. As to the face, I almost hesitate to speak of it; for no words can convdy any adequate idea of its divine beauty. And yet if I had never heard of it, I don't think 1 would have seen anything extrardinary in it, because I would only have given it a casual glance, and one marked peculi arity of the picture is that you can't see it at a glance. It does not at once rivet the attention and impress you deeply as most great masterpieces do. To appreciate it at all at its true worth, it is absolutely necessary to study it long and earnestly. But after looking at it awhile its trans cendent beauty began to dawn upon me, and the longer I razed the more and more beautiful it became, but gradually, very gradually, like the slow coming of perfect day from the first faint streaks of ight in the east. lefore I left I was completely under the influence of its magic power, and I felt to my inmost soul that it was the finest work of art that I had ever look ed upon. I studied it for an hour or more and while 1 was standing there a number of persons, men and women, came up quietly and looked at it, making various comments with bated breath and then passig on, most of them evidently dis appointed, though only a few so in express terms. I think none of them saw its full beauty. Tho bead is nobly shaped and gracefully i poised and the brow is smooth and serene. Tne face is oval in form, with delicate, clear-cut features lit up- by a soft, radiant light. The eyes are cast dowa and the orhs are only partially visible from under the drooping lids. The most expressive single feature is perhaps the mouth, the under lip of which is slightly drawn in one side. The predominant qxpression of the whole is that of deep, r_igurous, but subdued and pensive joy, mingled with a modest but inapproachable reserve that gives to the face Its peculiar character of noble digity. Still I don't thhik it is a higbly idealized face. I think I have now and then seen on the female countenance in real life evanescent .expressions just as lovely. I Italian Murderers in Priso,. A few weeks ago an Italian newspaper I published an account of a visit paid by j one of its correpponients to the convict prison of Porto Ferralo, in the Island of Eiba, where Passanante, who tried to murder King Humbert in 1878, is conflned. Passanante's life was spared but the exis tence he leads is no better than living i death. He is secured to the wall of an I almost dark cell by a chain five feet in a length which Is riveted to an iron ring around his ankle, and which does not al low him to take more than one step in I any direction. During the first two years t of his imprisonment the wret,ched man lay all day upon his mattress since then lie has been released once a day for half an hour to walk about his cell, but he never goes into the open air. fle is watchedt night and (lay by three wardens, who sur vey lis movements through a peop-hole in the door, but who are forbidden to speak to him or to answer his questions. He has become imbecile. in contignous cells are two other at,rocious muirderers R'signol, a Frcnchman, who committed fifteen murders at Turin, by waylaying people at night, stabbing them, andt throw lng them into the River Po, after rifling their clothes, and Cipriani Ia Gala, lormn erly the chief of a gan,r or brigands. ll>e ignol, who is described as a colossais. was first sentenced to death, but Victor Emnan nel comnmutedl the sentence, and. the mur derer showed his sense of this favor by killing the two carabineers who were conveying him to Porte Ferralo, after which lie nearly made his escape. He has been seven years in what is called stretta custodUa ; but Cipriano hi Gals, his neigh. bor, who Is dreaded by all In the prison, from the Governor downward, as a most dangerous scoundrel, who would stir upsa revolt of all the convicts in the prison if he were let out his cell, has been living since 1862 chained in a sort of stone box, where there is net enough light to read by. All those gloomy dietails, when they were p)ublishedl, produced considerable excite ment in Italy, and it was asked in many quarters whether there had been any real mercy In sparing the lives of Passanante, Itossigt,ol and Cipriano la Gala. The se verity with which these men are being treated is excepti-mal; but that thereC should be any neLd for such severity ap- t pears to show that it would have been kinder to the men to have p)ut them out of their misery long ago. French Wine. The French vintage of 1882 was 70,. r 000,000 gallons less than that of 1881, and 860,000,000 gallons less than the average vintage of the lest ton years. The Minister of Agriculture, however, finds consolation in the fact that the t districts invaded by the phylloxera show a marked improvement, and that the a decline is most conspieuous in those dis. I trots which wore visited by heavy rains at a critical period. At the same time< there can be no doubt that the situation< of the wine-growers in France is a sari-< eus one; for, whereas, up to. the year< 1877 the Imports averaged only 13800, 000 gallons, while the exports averaged I 80,000,000 gallons; the Imports for the I last few years have actually reached ani average of 160,000,000 gallons, wale { the exports have declined to,50,000,000 1 gallona. A Bank of England Story. The irst person I met on entering the Bank of England was a venerable porter in a quaint uniform, which dates back I think a hundred years or more; it left a green-and-buff impression on me, but I 3annot accurately describe its details. rhe porter led me to a room where the xecutive officer of the bank was to be found. This officer, Mr. Gray, Is entitled "Chief Accountant," and his position cor responds very much to that of cashier of yne of our banks. Mr. Gray, who sat at 4 is desk surrounded by a corps of busy 3erks, and who is a gentlcnan of the 4 most courteous and unassuming manners, 1 gave me a cordial welcome, and under his guidance I visited every department of The bank and had everything which 1 did J iot understand explained to me. The laphal of the bank is fourteen and one- 4 xalf millions sterling; its -irculation in the g iands of the public about twenty-Livo mil tons sterling; its deposits, on no portion r >f which is interest paid, average in these 4 lays about thirty-two millions sterling. Nith hs customers it has two kinds of secount, deposit and discount. I was t old that in order to get a discount at this oank it was absolutely necessary to have 6 deposit account, but it can hardly be I )ossiblo that a banking Institution with uch an enormous working capital, amount ug te nearly $290,000,000, is ever obliged j o buy paper in the open market i order o keep up loans. The baik discounts no nll having over three months to run; the mallest city bill which it disc%unts is one inandred pounds; smaillest country bill, wenty pounds. It circulates no smaller 'ote than five pounds, but this seems to be the only limit to denominations; in a rame in the buildin is a cancelled note if the Bank of England for a million Pounds sterling, and, if I remember 'ightly, the banker poet Rogers had hang ug in his library a cancelled note of the tame institution for .60,000. 1 I have heard that a note tor ?10,000 6 nce had a singular history. It was paid 8 ut to one of the directors of the bank vho soon after lost it tinder such circum. lances that lie was satisfied, and sue ceded in satislying the bank, that it liad alien Into the fireplace and been de- b broyed. lie was given a new note, for vHich he returned a proper receipt and e ;uarantee. Alany years after the original ti iote was.presented for payment; the bank a indeavored to disown it, but could not, b or it was genuine and i the hands of an e anocent person, and the bank had to pay L. It was ascertained thatt, inatead of )oang burned, it had been carried up the fi ,hinney by a draught, and had found a il afe lodgment in some cranny in the flue. lere it had remained until alterations in he house uccussititted 0- removal of the Ihimnucy; thon it was discovered by a i vorknan, who regarded it as a legitimate lud, and who presented it for payment. t tight here I may as well relalo another c Aory of the bank, of which there are nany, both in print and as legends, but of ij vhieh I will let theRe two servo an specl niens. A sewer workman, while poking 'r iroutid under ground, found that by rais ne a llagstono he could penetrate into the iullion room of thl bank. Amazed at he discovery, lie pondered over it and inally concluded that he would utilize it t o his pecunlury benefit without bteaing. ae therefore wrote to the directors asking vbat reward lie would receive if lie should neet them at any appointed hour of the ilght in the bullion room and thus levcal a o them a niode of ingress of which they t vere entirely ignorant. Tney named a um which would make him independent a or life, and to their overwhelming sur irise he kept his promise by popping up brough the sewer, for which lie received on thousand pounds or so. This is sup. osed to have happened long ago. Tur,,oman Horseaonsip. A Turcoman dismouinted from hin horse, , white one. Animals of this kind are I arely seen in the district, an evil repute r .ttachmg to him. Thle hgreman wanited i ,(drink of water, and mneautiously lot go he bridle. The steed forthwith etarted w, ntienutly to gallop) across the plain, k. runaway horse is a serious nuisance in country like t.hus, and everyone feels i, 0 be0 lia duty to aid the master of the fu :itive beast in recovering his property. Lhex whole of us, 60 m number, strove to lead off theo truant. F"or ai couple of miles ve rode in a straight line, but the runaway muentcumb)ered by weight, ani having a ~oed lead, gave us a long chase. I was onlalletely tired of the matter ; andi be ides knowing that we had a long journey iefore us, I did unot care to blo0w inmy horce uru.ner, so I drew up on a slightly rising round, and watched t ho hunt. F'rom vhiat I saw of the remaindier of it, I amn -of pinion that Tfurcomen horsemen would carcely doe well "acrous country," for ~ tough thcy will hang alongside their hxor, r e, stand in one stirrup, and sling them elves under the belly at full gallop, they lo not cire for ieapjinig. I saw many a >ne come to grief at the broad irrigatIon renohes. The coun try as so flat that the curase are nevem taught to jump. A wVasianugton Letter. An autograph letter of IWashiington, wned by Mrs. Lucy Woods, of Stauin on, Va., has .just been inado public. 4 :twa written to the citizons of Shop Lerdstown, October, 12, 1790, ini re3 ponse to a formal address tendered by hem to the first PLesident on his an iouncement of lisa determination to etire to private life, and runs in part I a follows: -Thalt beneficent Providence vhicho hitherto lha preserved us',i peacej .nd mnerease3d our prosperity will not, I rust, withdraw its protecting hand, vnile we on our part ondeavor to merit continuanee of its favors. E~qually u,rsuaded am I that no inconvemniee vill result from my retreat to the walks I f private life. The good sense of my ountrymen will always discern and an never be at a loss to choose a fit haracter to administer the executive fovernment of these United States, I t has been my good fortune through he course of my civil and military imploymento to have :met the approba. .ion of my countrymen, my wishes will >o consummated aida I shell have fondc he nly reard T evar hast In view91' VanderbI's Chriatmas Glft. While Mr. Vanderbilt was passing through the Park, in New York, a small boy attempted to oross the road in front Af the flying horses. The boy in his ittempt to avoid the horses fell over in Uhe road, but was not hurt, Mr. Van. lerbilt was frightened. He felt so glad vhen he saw the lad safe and sound hat he who had just been preparing to -ush on, in the hope that he had. not >een recognized, pulled up anod beckon id the boy to him: "Here, Johnny," he said, here's a lollar. Don't you try to cross the road hat way." "Why, sir, I was running for a doctor, Father told me to hurry up, 'cause he .ad to go out and mother's all alone-" "Why does your father go out on hristmas Day? To the rum-shop, I up >ose?" said Mr. Vanderbllt frowning. , ir. -eather works on the rail ond, and if. he misses a day he gets ocked." "Even Christmas?" "Yes sir, Mr. Vanderbilt don't let up 1o nobody 'cause its Christmas." "ke works for Vanderbilt, does he?" "That he does, and more's the bad nck of it, as he says." "Why?" "Well, you see, mother's sick, and Ather has been staying up nights with or, and then he'd take a nap, and twice .e got late to the switch and got flned a uarter each time." "How much does he get a day?" "Ono dollar, sir.'' "Sevonty-flve cents a day? Oood lod! and a sick wife at that," thought Ir. Vanderbilt, and his heart misgave in. Was this right, after all? "And 'hat sort of aiChritmas dinner will you ave to-day?" he asked. "We don't get none. Father ain't at ome and mother'r sick. The money's ot to go for to buy medicine, you see ir. This is hard and no mistake. "Will you take me to your house?" sked Mr. Vanderbilt. "Yes sir; it's right here, air," said the oy. It was a picture of devolatibn, but leanly; no carpet, but a good substan at cottage, a small sprig of firo, a wom 11 sitting -n an easy chair, thin, pale at cheerful. When Mr. Vanderbilt Utered, the woman exclaimed: "Why, your not the doctor, sir?" "No, my good woman, but I came ,om him; he is very busy. Now, what the matter with you?" "Weakness, sir." "What from" "Well, sir, I hate to say, but I think ta from want of food." "I thought so," and Mr. Vanderbilt arued around and put a $50 bill in an nvelope an4 also his card, "In half an hour open this and send around to the store. You will flud a rescription that ivill do you good. 'hore is also a card in here. Send your oy to that address to-morrow, and I'll ive him something, too. You shan't Larve any more." Before the sick woman could say any king he was out and off. but as he rode nck to' his palace his face looked the icture of good pature. He smiled and oghed to himself so that people turned round and exclaimed: "What can be bie matter with William H.?" When nybody looked at him he did not pale, Iud the rattle of his wheels ov.er the ard road made rythmio music to the >yous beating of his heart. It was the 1orriost Christmas day Mr. Vanderbilt as spent this many a year. Effeet or Mun,iin. From an acorn weighing a few grains, tree will grow for 100 years or more, ot only throwing off many pounds of iaves every year, but itself weaghing any tons. If an orange twig is put ii a large box of earth, and that earth i weighed when the twig becomes a roe, bearing luscious fruit, there will ec nearly the same amount of earth. rom careful experiments made my afferent seier.tific men It is ascertained hat a very large part of the growth of tree is derived from the sun, from the ur and from water, and a very little rum the earth ; and notably all vego atlion becomes sickly unless it is freely iposed to sunshine. Wood and coal re condensed sunshine, which contains bree important elemants equally essen ial to both vegetation and animal life nagnesia, lime and iron. It is the iron a the blood which gives one the dura >iity necessary to bodily vigor, while agnesia is-important to all of the tis uos. Thus it is that the more persona re out of doors, the more healthy and igorous they are, and the longer they vill live. Eivery human being ought o have an hopr or two of it, and in the arly forenoon in summer. In Excenoont Kumor. Early in the year 1835 an amusing col. oquy took place in the senate between lenry Clay and Jaimes iunchanan. The atter, when a young man, belonged to the ederal party. Hie was defending him. elf against the charge of disloyalty during he war of 1812. To prove his Ieoyalty, 10 stated that he entered a company or rolunteers at the tIme the British attacked 3altimore, or at the time of the battle of fIorth Point, ang marched to ilaltimore. 'True," he said, "lhe was not In any en gagement, as the British had retreated be. ore he bad got there. Mr. Clay-"You narched to Baltimore, though?" Mr. 3uchanan-" Yes. ' Mr. Clay-'"Armed und equippedi" Mr. Bluchanan-" s'' bir. iay-" Will i,he Senator from Penn ylvania be good enough to inform us vlether the British retreated In conse inence of his valiantly marching to the elief of lialtimore, or whether he marched o the rehief of l)altimore ia consequence if the B3ritish having already retreatet 1" ['as colloquy, with its unlooked for our ling, was greatly enjoyed by the eate' ad galleries, and put both in excellent mumor. BTxNH CEBM.,-One quart i#1R ialf box of golatine, sugar to te Miix well and pus on to boil, then add te well-beaten yo$ks of three g and/ itir tuttil it hiel ens, When d10fia vor to taste with tmnilla, and pu& t Into noulds. '