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.'Alf IM / 11 HI/xAt MB \ an/? Uiih V"* | 'H'whx.* -:??; ./II oll ??> vrttvir.tiV (An niorHt'/ '-??!' i?*! T< > IM Jdl W luf, us vnb.iol ?^^r ...... u..,m..r. .,Kj,n ??> . ? ? ? I ? l'iJ!.*! JtLXL Independent Paperi BeVoted to ,the Intere?^. ,p*'1 ttxe .P^P^;:.-.:, ,; . ., y;? ,p?.^,.m . ? . _!-1-H-? , 1 ? - ? F ',' -:-?? . ' 1 ?-" "- llM" ' ' ' VOLUME III. ORANGEBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 1874. NUMBER "27? 8 ^P^?ANDi>ifi ath?ll Doth lifo nur vivo tlio touch of Death 7 Death's hand alone tho secret holds, Which aa to each one ho unfolds, "0 press to know with bated brcatb. ?wJ)teBHri tn^rftr "-?'''?P"1 bere, Conurcas that hopo to whloh wo cling; Bntatlll wp grasp at.anythmg. iT,<Ana BOmDtluioq hope 4nd sometimes fear. Sonio whisper that tho dead wo knew H?ver nround us while wo pray, .Anxious to t-peak. We cannot say; We only wish ft may bo truo. I *P0W^ Stolo who has thought, , i ? v As healthy blood flows through bis volus, And Joy his present lifo sustains, } And all this good has uorao unsought. ? ' ux?or more ho cannot rightly pray, Lifo may extend or lifo may cease; Ho bides tho issue, snro of peace, B?ro of tho host in God's own way. "Porfoctlon waits tho race of man ;. If, working out this great design, God cuts us oiT, wo must resign ? To bo tho tituso of His plsn." But I, for one, feel no such peace; I daro to think I havo In mo That which had better never bo ; If loHt beforo it cau increase. And oh 1 tho ruined piles of mind, Dally discovered everywhere, Built .but to crumblo in despair 7? r g I dare not think him so inkind. Tho rudest workman would not fling _ Tho frsgmonta of his work a*.. _,, If ov'ry useless bit of clay Ho trod on woro a sentient thing. And does tho wlsost worker take Quick human hearts, instead of stone, And how and carve them ono by ono, Nor heed tho pangs with which thoy break i And more; If bnt creation's wasto, Would He havo given us sonse to yearn . For the perfection none can earn And hopo tho fuller lifo to tasto 7 I think, if wo must ccaso to be, It Is a cruelty refined, To inako the instincts of our mind Stretch o\\\ toward eternity. Wherefore I wclcorao naturo's cry, As earliest of a lifo again, Whero thought shall never bo in vain, A ml doubt before the tight shall fly. itacmUlan'a Magazine. " SURPRISED." The evening train was just starting for its journey out into the solitudes of country wilds, when .a tall, handsome man of seven or eight and twenty 'darl?d frantically into tho depot and Bwung himself, after a perilous fashion, upon tho platform of the moving oars ! " Just saved myself ! " was his com plaoent remark, and he settled himself on tho velvet cushions under the lamp. "Yes?exnotiy just! " commented a gentleman who sat opposite. " I tell you what, Harry Kneller, I shouldn't repeat that kind of experiment very often, if I were you." " Well, you see, I was in a great hurry, l'vo been getting a. littlo^sur*. rise for my i?3?ej and" 'ntHaawJw^*rgw ehind time." "A eurpriso, eh ? " "You see," went on Mr. Kneller, confidently leaning over toward his friend, "she's exceedingly fond of fried bysters,"" and up in the country we never get any of that sort of thing." -' " So that's tho secret of the pail, oh?" said.Georgo Arden, laughing good-hu 'moredly. Mr. Kneller, on getting home, depos ited bis preoious burden carofully in the corner of the poroh aud walked in with a nonohalant air. "Well, Mattie!" as the blue-eyed woman came to meet him and put up a rosy month to be kissed; "supper ready ? " "Yes?nhd I'm so glad you come homo early, Harry, for Mrs. Evarts iB sick, and they want me to sit up with her to-night.'" "All right!" said Harry, good-hu moredly. " Go, by all means, my pet." And ne rubbed his hands, thinking gleefully of the fine field he should have |or his "surprise." " I will bo back before seven to-mor row, Harry." went on Mary Kneller a musical clinking among the ohina tea cups and saucerB, " and you shall have your breakfast in time for tho train." "Shall I?" thought Harry, nearly choking himself with soalding tea, in his strong sonse of tho implied joke. " Couldn't have happened better," he pondered, as ho toasted his slipper soles beforo the fire, while Mary was washing the china, and hovering about the apartmont "on household thoughts intent"? or Mr. and Mrs. Harry Knel ler woro young people of limited in come, and had not yet aspired to the dignity of "help"?"uo; it couldn't possibly havo happened better ! A fair field and no favor; and when Mattie oomes back to-morrow morning she'll find breakfast ready, fried oysters and all, or I'm uncommonly mistaken! Won't it be a jolly surprise?" " Good graoious, Harry ! what are you doing?-' ejaculated Mary, as her husband gave vent to a very audible chuckle. "What pletseB you so muoh ?" " Pleases me? Nothing !" said Harry, trying to look austere all of a sudden, and uttering, "I?I was thinking how lonely I should be without you, dear!" So Mrs. Harry Kneller tied a littlo white Cashmere hood over her brown ringlets, and enveloped herself in a proaigiouB Scotch plaid shawl, and tripped away uuder her husbnnd'a arm to Mrs. Evart'd abode, half a milo be yond. "Good-night, darling !" said Harry, stooping to kiss her rosy cheeks at the : door. "Good-night, Harry." "And! say, Mattie,"pursued Kneller, unable to repress a brief flash of exul tation, " don't bo astonished at any little surpriao I may have in store for you to-morrow morning!" " Surprise i" But Harry was off bofore tho disBylln bio had fairly passed Mary's lips. "It will bo jolly fun!" thought Harry. With the 11 rat gray dawn of tho ohilly winter morning Harry Kneller was up ? and stirring with a vivid romombranco of the lnurols ho was to reap by that morning's work. "Where are the oysters?" pondered he, carefully holding the skirts of hi? morning wrapper, eo that the fire should not endanger them. M Oh, I remem ber ! I left them out on tho piazza. And ho made a rush for the piazza. " Frozen, by J^pitMj! Juat myluok exactly ? 1 frozen like a rook. However, they're easily thawed out again, on a hot. are; and I'll put the coffee stowing t?oV I don't know just exactly what the regu lation rations cf coffee ^re. but if I fill the pot half full it crui't help being strong/', \ \\ ] 1 /? A Mr. Kneller made K liberal appor tionment of coffee,' filled up the pot with water, and placed it on tho net coals with u countenance expressive of Seat satisfaction ; while close beside it o pail of frozen oysters was exposed to the genial influence.of caloric. "They'll boil like ginger pretty soon," thought Harry. "And now [ I'll stir up a buckwheat or so?I -know where Mattie - keeps the bag of flour." "Stir up a buckwheat or so" sounds remarkably easy, but Mr. Kuoller found it a more difficult task than he had ap i prShondedi | | ? ?j| " I?don't?see where?the hitch? is," slowly soliloquized our hero. "It ought to foam over, with little bubbles on the top, at least Mat tie's always does. Perhaps the cold weather makes a dif ference. Halloo! I've forgotten all about the potatoes 1" Bat not a potato could be found, and Harry Kneller, with all the originality of a great mind, fell back on a pan of withered yellow turnips, four in num ber, which he put boiling in a prodigi ous iron pot, with the oover safely held down by a couple of flat irons. " It will boil all the sooner," thought Harry. " Nothing like an economy of heat. Now then for the oysters ! Tho frying pan was liberally anointed with butter and placed on the Are, and Harry began operations by impaliug a fat half-frozen oyster on the' prongs of a fork. "Th*y dredge 'em in flonr first," thought Harry, reflectively eyeing his his oyster; "and where the flour bar rel is, I'm hanged if I know ! Ah-h f there it is under the cellar shelf." And Harry plunged his oyster down into the white powdery depths, bring ing it up an oblong sphere of snow. " That's the time of day 1 Now, my fino fellow, cook away at your leisure, whilo I give your brothers white jack ets, too 1 This is certainly a remark ably fino flour. How, fragrant tho cof fee smells 1 _ Hero's, a little drawback? fryingvp*an" Bot big enough to hold the oysters! Never mind; we'll put them in first aud seo md series, like a volume of popular essays 1" ? Mr. Harry Kneller paused to wipe the streaming perspiration from his brow. Half-past six !? - Mary ~would Boon be homo?the "surprise" must really be accelerated ! " I really think th0 oystera must be done on one side how," said'Harry, eye ing the frying-pan scientifically and makiDg a dive at its contents with a fork, " Halloo ! why, they're as hard as bullets ! What on earth is the mat ter ?" He stared with discomfited eyes at tho - round, adamantine balls that he imagined juicy hoar tod oysters ! "I'm not bewitched, am I ?" he pon dered. "I've heard of money chang ing to dry leaves, but I never heard of oysters being transformed to stone ! It can't bo possible that?it is possible, and I've been and gone and done it! I've dredged my oysters in plaster of Paris that was brought for the garden, instead of the flour! Here's a pretty blunder ! All the oysters spoilt!? twenty-five of 'em at five cents apiece, and all through my stupidity !" And at the same moment tho spout of the britannia coffee-pot parted company with its main reservoir, and the coffee grounds, wn'or, and melting; metal poured into the flro in confused steam, ashes, and noise. While Harry Kneller gazed at the chaos with a ?'lim idea that it would be best to evaouate the kitchen property beforo the occurrence of any more dis asters, the two flat-irons, impelled by some unforeseen hydraulic pressure, flew up against the ceiling, ooming nois ily down among ohina cups and piled up plates, the pot cover following with noiso like tho report of artillery, and giving Mr. Kneller a smart rap. on the side of the head as it came down, which stretched him on tho floor, still holding the fossilled oyster out on the end of a toasting fork. While Harry lay prono on the kitchen oil-cloth, considering within himself whether ho were killed dead, mortally wounded, or not hurt at all, the door opened, and Mrs. Kneller rushed in pale and breathless. "Ho has shot himself?I knowbe has! He has committed suicide! Oh, Harry, my. own, own husband, speak to me ! Tell me you are not dead !" "No?I don't think I am," enunciated Mr. Kneller slowly, as his wife threw ! herself on her knees beside him, nearly strangling him with the fervency of her embrace. " Only I've smashed the i ohina, and fried the oysters in plaster of Paris, and melted the nose off tho coffee-pot. But I'm not dead, I thinkl" And while Mary assisted him to rise, in a little, hysteric tremor botween laughing and crying, he looked sheep ishly round on the ohaos and ruin that surrounded the death agonies of his ambition as a oook. " You see, Mattie," ho said, glanoing dolorotiBly down at his ash-bospriuklod habiliments, " I wanted to givo you a littlo surprise, and?" . "And yon havo entirely succeeded, my lovo," said hiB wifo, misohievously.1 "You're a splendid lawyer, dear, I'vo no doubt; but you'll novor succeed in life as a cook." "I wish you'd toll me one thing, Mat tie," he said that evening, as Mrs! Knollor handed him. his second cup of tea. "And what is that?" " Why didn't my buckwheat batter, foam over and bubble as yours does ? I, 'stirred if until my arm was. lame." t ' i My dear, "r said Mary, laughing, ? *dof< you suppose the buolc wheat batter didn't know the difference between you and .mo?" "Nonsense 1" if Of course it's nonsense," said Mary,' demurely, ."if you mean your attempt ing to fry oysters in plaster of Paris 1" .Aud Mr. *Knellor did not answer.?. Leisure Hours. ---m Fashion Notes. Corded jaoonet is the favorite mate rial for afternoon dresses. % Teils are almost entirely discarded during this warm weather. Embroidered "mule" slippers are, of course, for dressing-room wear only. - It takes a remarkably pretty foot, with a very high instep, to wear a shoe j with grace. The sun lists that the ladies are wear ing at the seaside, look liko inverted ! ohopping-dishes tied on tho head by u [ bit of blue ribbon. Very wide soarfs of China crepe, and of silk gauze, take tho place of over skirts, by being draped in a similar manner and tied at the back. Bustles are being worn again. Of those tho " pompadour " is the most in vogue, although there are many who are wearing full length hoops. The hats design d for croquet are Japanese shape, and entirely covered with white muslin, finished by a black Velvet bow in the center. Blaok grenadine over-dress, embroid ered in the long blaok India stitoh and made heavy with fine out jet beads, are among the most stylish of the season. To accommodate the high ruffs and collars, the hair is worn high on the head. Curia of all sizes from little frizzes to long tresses, aro arranged to mingle with tbo braids and coils. *It is very common now for ladies to have boots made of a P)0C3 of the mate rial of their dresses. The gay or brown linens are especially desirable for wear with linen costumes. Jabots are again in iavor. The most elegant of those are of Mechlin lace, arranged so as to form live or six shells,.! with loops of dolioalo colored crnpo in e;aQu.8uol], and a-hcWNkwBtWjiw^PQ^ " There appears to ho some Clmngo in the stylo of wearing the hair. Tho back braid is not worn' so low in the neck, and on top of the head a number of linger putts are arranged in a nioBt pe culiar manner. Even linen collars are made to stand at the neok, and are high at the back, with very small corners turned down at the front. For morning wear and trav eling, figured poro.de is being quite generally chosen. Striped navy blue cambric takes the place of tho figured and polka dot. The demand is greater-than the supply, as.the manufacturers are preparing their looms for fall fabrics, and refuse to make auy more of that style. The most popular night-robe is that with a sacque front and double yoke back. Tho most elegant ones imported for trousseaux have a square pompa dour yoke of tucks, insertion and lace, aud reach the price of 870. In the glove line the Swedish or Sax ony kid are the handsomest. Just now it is so warm, howov r, that even Lisle thread gloves are vetoed, and the old fashioned silk mihi are worn by those who care more for ease thau fashion. The belts with chatelaine attachments are no longer novelties, but oar designs show them the latest and most approved styles, with the exact methods adopted for fastening and holding them in posi tion, Designs for summer boots and slip 5 show a vast improvement on the unnatural and highly ornamented de signs of some previous season. These are shaped to the foot, ore suitable for walking, for mountain excursions, and seaside revels in the Band. For street wear, kid boots, buttoned or laced high, and with broad soles, are the popular styles. Low-cut shoos or ties will bo worn in the street later in the season. Canvas slippers, or toilet slippers, as they are called, are made of yellow canvas and trimmed with either black or blue braid. Royal Religions. Queen Victoria is tho legal head of the Episoopal ohnroh of England, and the Presbyterian ohuroh of Scotland. When she is in England her Presbyte rian'sm is prnotically called " dissent," nnd when she reorossca the Tweed into Scotland her Episcopalianism becomes " dissent" there. She has a morbid hatred of ritualism. The Prince of Wales is inolined to ritualistic ceremo nies, while his eldest sister, the Orown Princess of Germany, is a Lutheran; his brother-in-law, Lord Lome is a Presbyterian ; another brothor-inlaw, tho Crowu Prinoe of Prussia, is a Pro testant Lutheran; a sister-in-law, the Duchess of Ediuburg, is a Greek Catho lio: her husband is n Low Ohuroh Episcopalian; the other brothers and sisters are Episcopalians and Presbyte rians by turn, their particular creed de pending upon their residence for tho time being. Tho Prinoess of Wales is naturally bewildered with the mauifold religions of her royal relations, and olings to the faith she was taught in Denmark._ ?Iu some localities of Illinois tho nhinch-bug has already destroyed half of the growing corn crop. Eutire fields look as if they .had been drenched with soalding water, and great alarm is folt among the farming communities. AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS. Henry RI. Htnnley Sent Out by theNe?r York Hevnlil and London Dolly Tele 1 grapH to Finish 'Livingstone's Work. Wo are in the position ibis morning to nnnounco that - arrangements have' been I concluded between the proprior* tors of tho D.lily Telegrapb 1 and Mr. Bennett, .proprietor of tho New York aerald, under which an expedition will ut onco bo dispatched to Africa with the object of investigating and report ing upon the haunts of tho slave trad ers ; of pursuing to fulfillment the magnificent discoveries of the great ex plorer, Dr. Livingstone, and of 00m .pleting, if possible, tho remaining problems of Central African geogtaphy. This expedition has been undertaken by, and will be under the sole com -maud of Mr. Henry M. Stanley, whose successful journey " in search of -Liv ingstone,", upon the suggestion and at tho charge of tho proprietor of the Now Yi rk Herald, was tho means of succoring the illustrious traveler, and securing to Suienoe the fruit of his researches, while it enabled' our dis tinguished countryman to prosecute his latest investigations. Mr. Stanley will in a short time leave England fully equipped with boats, arms, stores, and all the provision neooessary for a thor ough aud protracted African expedition. Commissioned by the Daily Telegraph and the New York Herald in concert, be will represent the two nations whose common interest in the regeneration of Africa was bo well illustrated when the lost English explorer was re-discovered by the energetic American correspond ent. In that memorable journey Mr. Stanley displayed the best qualities of an African traveler; and with no incon siderable resources at his disposal to reinforce his own complete acquaint ance with tho conditions of African travel, it may be hoped that vetv im portant results will accrue from thus un dertaking, to tho advantage of science, hnmanity and civilization. ?-lAmdon Daily Iclcgraph, July d. Paris on Sunday. U On Sunday Paris puts on its garb of Biediroval gayetv and rushes madly to die races. An immense throng of vehi cles mako their way up the Champs Illy sees, aud from the Aro do Triom j>ho seem to cover the long and graceful 1 ?Hoy under tho blossoming trees like a' m of insects. All classes of tho pop ulation join in"the frequont carnival. Gambiers, duelists, and statesmen, ar tists and poets, dukes and legitimists, the whole corps, apparently, of the Legion of Honor, clerks, shop-keepers, students, minglo in the mad chase of pleasure, an \ don the cap of folly.' Of tho fairer, but not in this instance al ways the gentler sex, tho throng is no less conspicuous. Painted and daring faces dash by, from whose extravagant modes of dress the fashion of the world are governed. Close at their side d iichesses and famous * women, the loaders of Parisian sooiety, rich and languid mothers whose in I ants are at nurse in the deadly shambles of the suburbs, American matrons who are "educating" their children in Paris, English ladies who have forgotten the proprieties of Victoria's court. Vir tue and vice ride on together. The refinements of the nineteenth century, the delicacy of cultivated life, the charms of moral purity, are lost in me diteval folly. It is as if one were trans ported back to the city of Rabelais or of Henry III., saw Catherine de Me dici amidst her maids of honor, or the women of the Fronde and the League at their maddest exploits. In the Sun day evenings, lam told, ihe throngs of fashion fill the theatres to listen to plays from which modesty shrinks, at which virtue trembles. It is easy to conceive that in suoh sooiety dissipation and mad gayety lead to their natural results, that crime, remorse, despa'r, brood over tho scenes of fancied pleas ures. Paris teems with tales of horror ?uunatiiral mothers, frightful fathers ; the wretohed jhome, the sudden death, suspicions almost too dreadful to be told, fates harder than those of the vic tims of all common misfortune, are usual themes. There are rumors of fair American women who have pur chased titles at the loss of their for tunes, happinoss, and even their lives ; of American families who have ven tured within the oirole of Parisian gay el y, and been undone, It is certain that Paris is no safe school in which to completo an American education. Embroidery Workers. A writer in Chamber's Journal says : " The'great centre of Swiss embroidery is at St. Gall, aud tho day on which the work is brought is a festival; early in the morning tho young women arrive from all parts in their Sunday attire. After attend iug service in the ohuroh they collect in u largo room around a long table, where each receives a glass of white wine. They begin to sing one of their melodies in parts, while the master goes round the tables, examines the work and pays for it. If he refuses | any, and declines to take it, the dispute is decided by a syndic, who sits^ in the next room. When examination is over, the head of tho establishment throws a mass of embroidery patterns on the ta ble; each girl ohooses tho kind she. likes best; it in inscribed in her book, with tho prico agreed on, and the day when it is to be returned. They are very industrious; and by reasons of their gr<at frugality, aro contented with v??ry poor remuneration ; and be slight ly sewing their pieoes nf work together can have thorn washed at half tho cost. Iu Saxony tho wages are so low that it is wonderful how tho women can live upon them ; in Scotland it is said that many of the children receive only half penny a day, A small number in Nan oy,1 who7<$an embroider coats-of-arms and crests, earn three shillings a day; bat from ten tp twenty pence ia the ?SnT al 'wages. ,|t is a kind of work that en d?fege*s 'the' sight; ? and' as fashion reigns supremo, it not unficqiiently happens that a,style.is abandoned before the or ders are coniplefedt when the merchant profits by the smallest pretext to ?enise .the work from the ? manufacturers ; end in'this way the loss often faUs upon the Eoor woman, who: cah'soaroely'bny her read or clothes." " Cats"?After Victor Hugo." In the bnrlesquo novel which Pouch is now publishing, after tho French of " Fiotor Nogo" (Victor Hugo), the fol lowing remarks on cats appear in con nection with the passage of the hero through the streets of London at night: "Antoneroly, muttered to" himself ' Heigho !' and passed along the de serted Btreets." "He seemed, to be treading on the silent tombs of the nameless and the forgotten. ," He heard the march of oats through the darkness." "They rushed to an attack with load cries, springing up saddeuly from every quarter?areas, roofs, balconies, lamp posts, gutters, laaes, passages, courts, alleys, and thoroughfares. "They flew up the trees in the squares, and seamed madly round the crescents. " All their habits were nocturnal. " The feline rnle always is to appear unexpectedly. " How many tragic sights have been witnessed by the statues of the metrop olis ! " At Antoneroly's footsteps the cats fled, filling mews after: mews with their unearthly cries. "Quiet neighborhood?back Btreats. These words sum up the .whole of the Feline wor. " They live in purr-liens. "It is a quarrel of localities of fami ly against family ; tabby against tor toise-shell ; pussy-cat against pussy-cat. "All our attempts, our movements in legislation and in education, our ency clopaedias, our philosophies, our genius,, our glories, all fall before the Oats. " Gould its youth be trained ? " The Oat's-cradlo has even been a puzzle. *' They .love blind-alloys. ?trango blindness I "A-? colossal Kcalffe77?^jHHPTW Tittums, an inimeosureable rebellion,, without strategy, without plan, ohival rio and savage, appearing like fantastic blaok, shadows, tails of the past, the devastation of g'nss, tho destruction of flower-pots in back yards, the rain of squares, tho terror of invalids?such is the sleepless warfare. * /'Antoneroly passed' on among the vanishing shadows." The Duty of a Woman to be a Lady. Wildness is a thing whioh girls can not afford. Delicacy is a thing whioh cannot be lost and found. No art oan restore to the grape its bloom. Famil iarity, without love, without confidence, without regard, is destructive to all that makes woman exalting and enno bling. " Tno world is wide, tuesa thing? are small; They may be nothing, but they aro all." Nothing ? It is the first duty of a wo man is*to be a lady. Good breeding is good sense, Bad manners in woman is immorality. Awkwardness may be in eradicable. Baahfulness is constitu tional. Ignorance of etiquette is the result of circumstances. All can be condoned, and do not banish man or woman from the amenities of their kind. But self-possessed, unshrinking and aggressive coarseness of demeanor m iv be reckoned aa a state prison of fense, and certainly merits that mild form of restraint called imprisonment for life. It is a shame for women to be lectured on their manners. It is a bit ter shame that they need it. Women are the umpires of sooiety. It is they to whom all mooted points should be referred. To be a lady is more than to be a prince. A lady is always in her right inalienably worthy of respeot. To a lady, prince and peasant alike bow. Do not he restrained. Do not have im pulses that need restraint. Do not wish to dance with the prince unsought, ?feel differently. Be suoh that you confer honor. Carry yourselves so loftily that men shall look up to you for reward, not at you for rebuke. The natural sentiment of man toward woman is reverence. He loses a large means of grace when he is obligod to account her being to be trained into propriety. A man's ideal is not wonnded when a woman fails in worldly wisdom ; but if in grace, in tact, in sentiment, in deli cacy, in kindnes, she should be found wanting, he receives an inward hurt.? Qail Hamilton. The Crops in the North-west. It is qnito manifest that the advioes from different seotions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and Iowa indioato that the prospects for tho yield of spring wheat aro not so flattering as they were two weeks ago. In faot, it seems to bo conceded that tho vield of 1874 will bo far below that of 1873. Reports from all seotions indicate that th 1 corn orop looks as well as it did in 1872, nhioh was an unusually prolific year, and corn is really food for both man and boast, and thereforo, of tho very first importance to the farmer. The weather continues dry, nnd if tho corn has hereafter a suffi cienoy of rain, nnd tho country is not visited by tho early antumnal frost, tho farmers will mako on their corn what they will loso on their smaller wheat crop. The harvest throughout the north-west generally will at least be ton days earlier than it was in 1878, FACTS AND FAKQIEgr --Tomatoes wore"'first used ih this country an_nn edible in the year 1819, but they did not come into, gem oral use until more than twenty years subse quent to that date, ; moil ?A pair of old boots, ;^ bag of salt and a pound of copperas, if dropped iu'o a spring at the right "time "or the year, will go a good ways toward es tablishing a fashionable summer resort, ?Oshkosh, Wis., boasts of a woman 104 years old, arid, as it is popular to assign some reason for living so long, it is asserted*that .she: "never used, ker osene oil." ?Simeon Gray, of Fort' Hobe,1 Dela ware, shot himself because some one left a baby on bis. door-step; , How. much better to have picked up the in fant and softly handed it along to the houso around the corner. t, ?In order to make the lowlands in Louisiana safe for residents, 1,500 miles of levee, or 50,000,000 cubic yards of wall will, have ,.to be bnilt. The necessary repairs at crevasses alone are expected to cost 03,000,000, of which Unole Sam is expected to pay two-thirds. ?A writer in the Rural New Yorker says, that cows should be salted every morning, and in the stable, before fod dering, hut never after taking water. This is the practice of the best stock keepers of Switzerland,1 and ho thinks it quite i referable to Baiting thorn once or twice a week, or to keep it constantly within their reach. '?' " ?At a Frasbyterian churoh, in Sarato ga, a sermon was recently delivered on the Christian's; regatta toward^ the heavenly goal. He was described, as feathering his oar with precision,' turn ing the stakeboat of Ufa with all the resolution of faith, coming down the desperate course'of the homestretch with vigor,.fixing his oyo on the heaven ly Befereo arid taking good care not to imitate the disciple " Judos and break his scull. . ? iil ifliw ?A distinguished clerical gentleman of Wisconsin is somewhat noted- for parsimony, and for ''dead-heading" bis. way on lecture'fours, etc. He has been a great traveler, and at a social party in, Madison isvj conversation with , the hostess, ho Haid ; " Madam,1 do'you know that T. n\- Lcandor and Lord Byron, ~bwarn across tho~ Helles pont?" The lady eaid: "I havo no doubt but what you did, rather than to pay your fare on a steamboat." ?There is a Chine so establishment on camp street), near Julia, Now Orleans, that manufactures a peppermint oil; and the following placard can bo a can in its show-window : "The"PepperimnE Oil ' for Hed ake . Bellio7? *? Tlf Toth. " tits ?-.?!?*/?? this oil anny per eon ort to have a bottle in his pocket it will kure eny kino sickness ware it happen." ? Coioken down is said to form a beautiful cloth when woven. For about a square yard of the material, a pound and a-half of down is required.1-The fabric is said to be almost indestruct ible, as, in pla?e of fraying or wearing out at folds, it only seems to 'felt the tighter. It takes dye readily, and is thoroughly ?waterproof. There * ap pears to bo a good opportunity here for some ingenious person to invent ma chines to out and treat feathers. ?Canon Kingsley, in his recent work on "Health and Education," says: "Did I try to train a young man of science to be true, devout, and earnest, accurate, and daring I should say: Bead what you will, but at least read Oarlyle. It is a small matter to mo, and I doubt not to him, whether, you will agree with his special conclusions, but his premises and his method are irrefragable ; for they stand on fact and common sense." ?Some enterprising St. Louisans, with a number of Southerners, have negotiated for a tract of territory, which has been found suitable for the growth in large quantities of the trop ical plant, pita, the fibre of which Is claimed to be superior to iute or hemp. These gentlemen are of the belief that very simple machinery will prepare their plant for market, and that its manufacture will prove very profitable, now that the production of hemp is de creasing in this country. ?The Chicago Tribune has been ex amining into food adulterations in that city. The special Held selected has been au analysis of the groceries sold at the leading grocery stores it that city. Specimens have been bought from various establishments, in the usual course of trade, of sugar, coffee, tea, soap, syrups, cream of tartar, bak ing powders, etc., and they havo been snbjeoted to analytical te^ts by a skill ful chemist. The result shows that every artiolo tested is adulterated to a greater or lees degree. ?Many young people think .that an idle life nuist' be a pleasant one. But this is a sad mistake, as they would Boon find out if they made a trial of the life they think so agreeable. One who is never busy can nover enjoy rest; for rest implies a relief from previous labor; and if our whole time were spent in amusing ourselves, we should find it more wearisome than the hardest day's work. Recreation is only valuable as it unbends us; the idle can know nothing of it. Many people leave off business and sot He dowu to a lifo of enjoyment; bnt they find that thoy aro not nearly so happy as they were before, and they are often glad to roturn to the occupa tions to esoape the miseries.