The Darlington herald. (Darlington, S.C.) 1890-1895, April 22, 1891, Image 1
THE DARLINGTON HERALD.
VOL. I,
CHURCHES.
Presbyterian Church.—Rev. J. G.
Law, Pastor; Preaching every Sabbath
at 11$ a. m. and 8 p. m. Sabbath
School at 10 a. m., Prayer Meeting every
Wednesday afternoon at 5 o’clock.
Methodist Church. - Rev. J. A. Riee,
Pastor; Preaching every Sunday at 11$
r. m. and 8 p. m., Sabbath School at 5
p m., Prayer Meeting every Thursday
at 8 p. m.
Baptist Church.—Rev. G. B. Moore,
Paster; Preaching every Sunday at 11$
•. m and 8:30 p. m.. Prayer Meeting
every Tuesday at 8 p. m.
Episcopal Chapel.—Rev. W. A.
Guerry, Hector; H. T. Thompson, Lay
Reader. Preaching 3rd Sunday at 8:30
p. m., Lay Reading every Sunday morn
ingat 11 o’clock, Sabbath School every
Sunday afternoon at 5 o’clock.
Macedonia Baptist Church.—Rev
I. P. Breckington, Pastor; Preaching
every Sunday at 11 a. m. and 8.30 p. m.
Sabbath School at 3:30 p.m., Prayer
Meeting every Tuesday evening at 8:30
o'clock,
COUNT? OFFICERS.
Sheriff.—W. P. Cole.
Clerk of Court.—W. A. Parro.t
Treasurer. —J. E. Bass.
Auditor.—W. H. Lawrence.
Probate Judge —T. H. Spain.
Coroner —R. G. Parnell.
School Commissioner. —W. H. Evans.
Countv Commissioners. C. B. King,
W. W. McKinzie, A. A. Gandy.
{professional ilavtis.
w.
F. DARGAN,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
Darlington, C. H., 8. C.
Office over Blackwell Brothers' store.
g KEITH DARGAN,
ATTORNEY AT
Darlington, S. C.
LAW,
N
ETTLES & NETTLES,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW,
Darlington, C. H., S. C.
Will practice in all State and Federal
Courts. Careful attention will be given
to all business entrusted to us.
BISHOP PARROTT,
stenographer and t y p e-writer.
LEGAL AND OTHER COPYING SOLICITED.
Tistimony leported in short hand,
and type written transcript of same fur
nished at reasonable rates.
Good spelling, correct punctuation
and neat work guaranteed.
Office with Nettles A Nettles.
0 P DARGAN,
ATTORNEY AT LAW
AND TRIAL JUSTICE,
Darlington, S. C.
Practices in the United States Court
and in the 4th and Sth circuits. Prompt
attentioa to all business entrusted to me.
Office, Ward's Lane, next to the Dar
lington Herald office.
DARLINGTON MARBLE WORKS.
DARLINGTON MARBLE WORKS
DARLINGTON MARBLE WORKS
-ALL KINDS OF—
MARBLE MONUMENTS,
MARBLE MONUMENTS,
Tablets and Grave Stones furnished at
Short Notice, and as Cheap as
can be Purchased Else
where.
jy Designs and Prices Furnished on
Application.
HP AH Work Delivered Free on Line
of C. A D. R. R.
DARLINGTON MARBLE WORKS,
DARLINGTON MARBLE WORKS,
DARLINGTON, S. C.
ItreT fireT
I Represent Twelve of the most
Reliable Fire Insuiance Compa
nies in the World--Among
them, the Liverpool and Lon
don and Globe, of England, the
Largest Fire Campany in the
World; and the ACtna, of Hart
ford, the Largest of all Ameri
can Fire Companies.
HP " Prompt Attention to Basiness and
Satisfaction Guaranteed.
F. E. NORMENT,
DARLINGTON, S. O.
Office between Edwards, Nornyent A
(?o., and Joy A Sanders’.
LIGHTS.
A. little lamp can send but a brief and feeble
ray.
The great lights bravely beam, and their
radiance far away
Is the comfort of the nations and the further
ance of the day.
All men remember when the greet lights
were lit,
The day is kept in honer, and they name it
as they sit
And watch the guiding flame, thanking and
blessing it.
But the small and struggling lights which a
breath of storm might kill
Each fain to light a continent, but doomed
to smallness still,
Is there no one to praise them for their
service of good will*
Yes, one, the Lord of all, who is the source
of light,
He sees them where they burn in the black
ness of Earth's night.
And the larger and the less alike are pre
cious in His sight.
He is the secret source by which their flames
are fed.
From the beacon’s wide, white ray which
flashes overhead,
To the intermittent ray which the half-
spent tapers shed;
And to each he says, “Well done," which has
bravely sought to burn.
And when the dawn ariseth, and each is
quenched in turn.
Absorbed into the perfect day for which
pure spirits yearn;
Each little flame that struggled to make
the night more fair.
Shall And its place in Paradise and burn in
heavenly air.
And the Father of all Lights shall be its wel
come there.
—Susan Cooh'rfgt, (n the Independent.
DR, DAPS0N,
BY OPIE P. BEAD.
The following confessions of Zeb. W.
Teal were presented 10 me by the author:
It doesn’t make any difference where I
was born or where I was reared. I am
the proprietor of a grocery store, and by
a closeness that involved much self-sac
rifice I have managed to buy a home;
but this can be of no interest to Any one
who may read these confessions. I must
have been thirty-five years old before the
thought that I ought to marry some gen
tle and confiding woman occurred to me.
I had never goue into society and conse
quently knew but few women, and those
whom I did know had haggled so much
over the price of sugar or dried codfish
that the thought of marrying them was
a shock to my fancy. I was at that time
living in a large city and boafded at a
house situated several m ji e s from my
place of business. One day while going
home on a horse car, I noticed a woman
sitting opposite me. Of course, I noticed
women every day, but there was some
thing about this woman that especially
attracted me. Her face was not impres
sively handsome, but there was an intel
lectual cast about it, an evidence of cul
tivation that I could not help admiring.
I must have gazed at her, indeed,! know
that I did,but she did not appear to take
any notice of me. The next evening
when I started home, there she was again
on the car. I regaided I his as fortu
nate, but was compelled to content my
self with simply looking at her. Just
before getting off, I asked the driver if
be knew her name, but he said that ho
did not. The next evening when I
started home, I was disappointed in not
finding her, and I got off and waited for
the next car, but I did not see her.
One night I was suddenly taken ill of
pneumonia. One of the boarders was
dispatched for a doctor, and was in
structed to get the nearest one. Shortly
afterward the messenger returned with
the woman whom I had gazed at on the
car.
“Is it possible that you arc a doctor!”
I asked.
“It is not only possible,” she an
swered, smiling, “but it is an established
fact.”
“I am glad to see you again, at any
rate.”
“See me again!”
“Yes, for I was disappointed when I
found that you were tot on the car the
other evening.”
“I don’t remember having seen you
before," she replied. I was umeasonablo
enough to allow a sharp sting to enter
my pride. She had not even noticed
me. She felt my pulse, wrote a pre
scription and said that she would caff
again the next day. She came early at
morning and declared that I was much
better.
“Bull think you’d better come again,”
said I. “Pneumonia is a tricky disease,
yau know. I bad a friend that was pro
nounced cured, and the doctor ceased
bis visits and my friend died.”
“I have known a patient to die before
the doctor's visits ceased,” she re
sponded, smiling in a way half pro
fessional and half woman.
“But you don’t think that I am in a
similar danger, do you!” I asked, some
what alarmed, for courage was never
numbered among my virtue*.
“Oh, there is no cause for immediate
alarm,” she answered. “I will call again
to-morrow.”
“Can’t you come this evening!”
“That would not be neceeeary.”
••nui cau l you come any wayt j
rather like the society of doctors. ]
know a great many physicians.”
“What physicians do you know!” she
asked.
That somewhat stumped me. I had
never been sick before, and as I was a
DARLINGTON, S. C., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 1831.
w
humble if not a modest grocer, I knew
no doctors, but I was, as the Congress
men say, equal to the occasion, and I re
plied that I knew Dr. Prouty, Dr. Snell
and Dr. So-and-So.”
“I don’t know them,” she said.
Neither did I, but I was determined
to maintain my position. “Can’t you
come this evening?” I implored rather
than asked.
“I will come to-morrow mornimr, ”
she replied, and in a way so Unsenti
mental that I was almost angry, she
marched out. By this time I was really
in love with her, and in order to keep up
her visits, I was resolved to feign sick
ness; so, when she came the next day
and asked me how I felt, I answcrctl
that I thought I was worse.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she answered.
“But Ida know. I have a pain in my
side and feel shaky. By the way, I have
not asked your name. I wish to say that
I am a very peculiar man.”
“My name is Dapson,” she answered.
She came early the next morning, and
after taking my temperature, remarked
that I was so far restored to health that
further attention from her would be un
necessary.
“Doctor,” said I, “it is much better
to be oq the safe side. To tell the truth,
pneumonia runs somewhat in ou> family,
and the worst phase, is, that my people
have suffered most from the dread dis
ease after having been pronounced
cured.”
She sat down and laughed. “You arc
the first man I ever knew to regard with
friendliness an increasing doctor's bill. ’
“That’s all right,” said t, wincing a
little, for my economical nature shuddered
somewhat at the thought of paying out
much money and I was about to suggest
that the bill might he cut down, when
the doctor said: “It is an odd char
acteristic of human natme that men
should hate adoctoi'sbiil with so strong
a degree of warmth. Men who cheer
fully pay an undertaker shy at a doctor.”
“Probably they think that the doctor
causes both bills,” I remarked, attempt
ing to be witty.
“And thus contributes lo the support
of two Worthy vocations,” she quickly
rejoined.
“Yes; they render each other self-
sustaining. By the way, you arc coming
one more time, aren’t you?”
“I don’t see why I should.”
“But I do.”
“And why should I come?”
“Because I love you,”
“Why, what an impudent patient
you are."
“That’s all right. 1 love you and
want to marry you."
“To save your bill!” she archly
asked.
“Come, doctor, don't make sport of
me. Ever since I first saw you I have
loved you. I used to watch for you and
when you failed to be on the car, 1 was
grief-stricken. Now, after this confes
sion, won’t you agree to visit me uutil I
am able to visit you?”
“Your very peculiarity attracts me
toward you,” she said.
“Then I wish that my peculiarities
were stronger. I wish they were strong
enough to draw you to my arms.”
“Oh, what a trifling rascal you are, to
be sure. I don’t really believe that you
have been ill at all. It was merely a de
sign against me.”
“No, I was not aware that you were a
doctor. If I had known it I would have
been ill long ago. By the way, when
will you be ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“To be my wife.”
“I am not looking for a husband.”
“Yes, but the greatest treasures are
sometimes come upoo by accident.”
“You are quite philosophical for a
grocer.”
“Ah, but let me tell you, Miss Doctor,
that the grocery business requires more
philosophy than the medical profession.
The grocer understands the weakness of
the flesh.”
“I must go,” she said, arising.
“When shall I expect you?” I asked.
“You need not expect me.”
She did not come the next day, and 1
sent for her. She did not come until
night.
“I suppose you are worse,” she said
smiling.
“I am dying.”
“Then I can do nothing for you.”
“Yes, you can save me with the medi
cine of love.”
“With the medicine of nonsense.”
“Well, that is the formula for love's
tonic.”
“I did not come to be insulted."
"Nor shall you be.”
"Tell me plainly what you want.”
“I want to marry you.”
“But don’t you think that I prefer to
look higher than a grocer?”
“Possibly, but I don’t prefer to look
higher than a doctor. You suit me well
enough. Probably you don’t know it,
but at one time in my life I could have
married a seamstress.”
"That’s encouraging, surely. Could
you have married anyone else!”
“Yes, I think that a female barber was
once smitten with me. She did not say
so, but she shaved delightfully, and on
one occasion refused to charge anything;
and I confess that this was a strong pull
in her favor. If she had refused the
second time I believe that I should have
proposed."
“I don't know whether to love you or
be angry.”
“Let me decide. Love me.”
“All right, I will.”
“When will you begin?”
“Let me see what time it is,” she said,
looking at her watch. “A quarter past
nine. Well, I will begin at ten
o’clock.”
I could nOt help laughing At this. We
continued to talk; She Mid riot a word
of love, but looked at her watch occa
sionally.
“Isn't, it nearly ten?" I asked.
“Wants two minutes.”
“Do you love me now?”
“I will in one minute and a half.
How is the grocery business anyway?”
“Picking up all the time.”
“I bate never known many grocers to
get rich,” she remarked, holding her
watch open. “I knew one that—" She
shut the watch with a loud snap, and
looking affectionately at me, said- “I
love you.”
» • * * v
There are many mean people in this
world, and 1 think the very meanest is a
quack doctor, a fellow named Piddias C.
Jones. Why do I think so? I will tell you.
The other day, in speaking of my wife,
he said: “Dr. Dapson never had but two
patients She kilted one and married
the ether.”—Ariantaw Traveler.
fUn.
Sometimes in atiadcaman kic’rswhen
there is nothing to boot.
In Boston, it is said, there are people
who believe the bean to be ahead of rah-
bagA
When is a timekeeper not a time
keeper? Five timee out of ten.—Jew
el ere' Circular.
If a lovely woman smacks you on one
cheek you should turn her the other also.
— Wnehmqtm Star.
George—“Chapley is one of those fel
lows whd have more money than brains,
isn’t he?" Jessie—"Y r es, and he is not
rich, cither.”—Harper'e Bazar
One of the most amusing and harmless
of distractions that man is heir to is the
fancying what he would do if he were
somebody else.—St. Joseph Kewt.
“How old is the Hessian fly?” asks a
correspondent. Old as the American
Revolution. Washington made the Hes
sian fly at Trenton.— Terns Siftings.
“Did you realize anything in that gi
gantic watch-manufacturing scheme you
were interested in?” “Yes, I realized
that I was a chump.”—Chicago News.
JakeJimpson (after the engagement)
— “Shall J name the day, dear?” Cora
Bellows—“Oh, dear, no!” “Why not,
darling?” “You are too procrastinating,
Jake.”—New York Herald.
Young Mr. Dedbroke—“I want to
marry your daughter.” Old Man Sur
plus—“What for?" Dedbroke—“Well,
I don’t know exactly, but I hope it’s for
not. less than a hundred thousand.”
Natural philosophers who have devoted
much time to studying the subject warn
people to be mindful of themselves when
both the hour and minute hands of the
clock cover I. The dock might then
strike one.—Jeieelers' Circular.
Willie—“Well, I’ve seen all I want to
of this Delsarto business.” Johnnie—
"What is the Delsarto business?” “I
don’t know, but there’s a lady in there
calling on mamma who says she teaches
it. It takes her five minutes to sit down."
— Chicago Tribune.
The “Greaser” Poel.
Among the number of those who have
recently been invested at Paris, France,
with the silver palms and violet ribbon
of officer dc 1’Acadcmie, is Adolphe
Viart, the greaser poet. For over thirty
years lie has been greasing the wheels of
railroad cars and trucks at the station of
Vernon and Normandy, a writing poetry
by night. Possibly it is due to the fact
that his verses were mostly composed in
darkness and solitude that they are of a
mournful and pathetic strain.
It is probable that he would have re
mained unknown as a poet had not some
of his more well-to-do friends become
acquainted with his literary efforts and
subscribed the money necessary for the
publication of his first two volumes. One
bears the title "Dark Hours” and the
other that of “Lily Dreams.” Although
remarkable for their true poetic ring and
for their independence, they betray a
certain lack of knowledge on the part of
the poet, whose education was merely
that of an ordinary French public school.
It, is manifest from his works that he
is a man accustomed to solitude and to
commune almost solely with his own
thoughts.
He has recently retired, and no longer
laps the wheels of railroad cars with his
hummer or tills the axle boxes with srrease,
but resides in a little bit of a cottage at
Auberoyu in the department de 1'Eure.—
San Francisco Chronicle.
Hepi.
Hops ate first mentioned by Pliny, the
young plant being at that time used as a
vegetable, much os we use asparagus.
Not until the sixteenth century were they
used as an ingredient In making beer.
When their cultivation was first Intro
duced into England from Flanders, there
was a great outcry raised against it. The
people petitioned Parliament against al
lowing a “weed" cultivated “that would
spoil the taste and endanger the people,”
—St. Louis Republic. f
CONGO CARRIERS.
TRANSPORTING GOODS IN AF
RICA'.-! CATARACT REGION.
Expert Native Packers, Who Carry
Heavy Loads Long Distances—
Dally Markets Along the Trail
—Pay of the Carriers.
Matadi is to day the farthest point to
be reached ou the Congo Rivei by steam;
beyond is a succession of rapids and un-
navigable water extending from just
above the place for two hundred miles,
with the exception of a few stretches,
possible, however, of navigation, but at
great risk, and only with experienced
skill. This part of the country ktiowfl
as the cataract region. Further progress
into the interior is now to be effected hy
an overland march of two hundred and
fifty miles, until navigable waters are
again reached. Matadi has now assumed
vast proportions as a forwarding station
for the caravan service from this place Id
Leopoldville.
At present the only means is manual
transport; every pound of merchandise
and store? which goes into the interior
has to be carried on men's heads and
shoulders. The tribe? inhabiting the
lower reaches of the Congo, or cataract
region, are expert packers; from child
hood the boys accompany native caravans
from the interior to the coast, and thus
receive an early training as pack animals
by assisting their fathers and brothers and
masters by carrying light loads.
In 1889 upward of 60,000 loads, aver
aging sixty-five pound? each, were car
ried over the road from Matadi to Leo
pnldville. This trail is now well worn
between these points. From any of the
heights along the road a bird’s eye view-
shows the winding trail penciled on bill-
side and across the plains.
In the dry season, when the Streams
are easily forded and the carriers have
not to suffer the inconvenieuce and dis
comfort of the rain, the caravan road
seems almost one continuous line of the
natives, who tramp along always in sin
gle file. One minute a gang of thirty is
met, all trudging along with a swinging
gait. Each man carries seventy pounds of
wire and bales of cotton stuff, and the
next caravan to be seen may be partly
loaded with sections of boats and tools;
others will be carrying boxes of provi
sions, and occasionally a native trader
with a cargo of elephants’ tusks, or if on
bis return journey from the coast, he will
be weighted down with the various mis
cellany of propcity which old Chief Lu-
teto or Makoko have obtained from fhe
white traders in exchange for their costly
ivory.
At different points along the trail daily
markets are held, where the natives of
the outlying hamlets meet under some
spreading tree to exchange their peanuts,
palm nuts and oil, yams, sweet potatoes,
bananas, pineapples, dried snakes and
mice, and other African delicacies with
the hungry porter for his gay-striped
handkerchief, blue baft or beads. The
carriers are spare built individuals, but
their endurance is phenomenal. A dis
tance of one hundred miles is often tra
versed by them in five days, which is no
feeble task for a man nourished with a
fsw peanuts or bananas, and with a
seventy pound load on his head. He has
no smooth path to travel over. The
caravan trail leads through the stifling,
heated valleys, where he must often push
his way through the long, coarse grass,
waving twenty feet above one’s head and
drooping across the trail; and the steep
ascent, where the path winds un the
mountain sides and over the hill-tops,
adds not to the facility of his task; but
he trudges manfully along, halting in
some shady nook when tired, where he
enjoys a light luncheon of a few inches
of shrieveled snake and a banana or
two.
At nearly every brook or spring these
natives take a big draught of the de
licious cool water.and in the middle of th(
day throw down their loads and lie dowc
at full length and enjoy the soothiug
weed in some form or other, some by
smoking, others preferring to enjoy the
narcotic in the shape of snuff. This
latter habit is very prevalent among tht
people along the lower reaches of the
Congo. Nearly every one has his little
pouch of powdered tobacco-leaves and
ashes, and the clumsy habit of convey
ing the mixture tq their noses on the
blades of their big knives gives them s
ludicrous appearance, a? their whole face
becomes smeared with the brown powder;
this snuffy coudition is considered
“style.” They are good tempered,
friendly folks, and salute all straugers
with their greeting of “mbotc,” which
word, by the way, has a varied meaning.
Good-morning, good-afternoon, glad to
see you, sorry you have to go, very well
thank you, all right, good-bye, and
kindred expressions, can all be inferred
by the one word “mbote."
In the rainy season, when the streams
become swollen, whole caravansare kept
waiting until the flood decreases. Some
of the streams have to be crossed in
canoes, and over some of them swinging
bridges have been thrown, ingeniously
constructed of rattan cane and plaited
fibre.
Each gang of carriers is under a
“kapitn,” or head man. He gets one
man’s pay only, hut iu consideration of
the rpsnnnsibilitv he takes in eemurino
to deliver all tne loads to their destina
tion, he does not cairy a pack; if he
does so he receives double pay. These
kapitas are generally the older and more
influential men of the villages, usually
the chief and his relatives.
To look at these gaunt, lanky, half-
starved-looking beings, it seems incredi
hie that they can carry heavy loads over
Such distance! ’ Some of them will even
carry as many as one hundred and fifty
pounds and receive double pay. A car
rier receives, for the transportation of a
sixty-five or seventy pound charge Irom
Matadi to Lscpoldville, eight pieces
handkerchief—costing in England forty
| cents apiece—besides which he receives
' one extra piece of some co 1 ton stuff to
purchase food on the road. The use of
:oin is not yet known, except on the
-oast The moneys of the country are
:loth, beads, etc.
With the pay for their packing ser
vices these Ba-Uongo porters are able,
rfter a number of journeys, to have ac
cumulated enough ol the highly-prized
cotton stuff to enable them to add to
theif connubial bliss by marrying add!
tional wives, the mothers in law of
fathcis-in-law in that part of the world
require a goodly pile of brightly-colored
dress stuff, flint-lock muskets, kegs of
powder, beads, etc., for their daughter's
hand.—Frank Leslie's
POPULAR SCIENCE.
A committee composed of some lead
ing English physician? isgettiug to work
on the subject of hypnotism.
A curious experiment has been tried
it fl hospital in Nautec, France It was
the transfusion of goats’ blood ink)
three scrofulous children.
The acreage of the zoological gardens
in Europe ranges from about hall a dozen
to half a hundred acres, but hardly one
of them has room enough for its ani
mals.
Doctor Foveau de Courraellcs, of
Paris, France, alleges that he. has sue
ceeded in conveying by the electric cur
rent to diseased internal organs of the
human body the constituents of nicclira-
ments suitable for their recovery.
A well-known cmbalmer, Doctor Vick-
ersheimer, has produced a liquid so per
fect that it can be applied successfully
to game. An embalmed hare served af
ter having been shot six weeks was re
cently pionounced to be a? good a?
fresh.
At the International Congress of Hy
giene and Demography, to be held in
London, England, next August, especial
attention will be given to the, infectious,
contagious and other disease? communi
cable from animal? to man, and vice
versa.
A German physicist has photographed
electromagnetic waves in air. The
plates were exposed three hours, aud de
velopment brought out bright and dark
bands across the direction of vibration,
aud dark bands in the direction of vi
bration.
Mr. Fayo read a paper before the re
cent meeting of the French Aoadcmie des
Sciences in which he maintained that the
most precise of later geodetic and pendu
lum measurements of the earth’s shape
prove it to be an ellipsoid of revolution,
thereby confirming tho well-known
theory of Laplace as to the formation of
’the globe.
It is believed that an important arch
aeological discovery has been made at
Rome, Italy. Near the bridge of St. An
gelo, while constructing works for the
embankment of the Tiber, a column was
discovered bearing an inscription com
memorating games that were held every
one hundred years to celebrate the found
ing of the city, and also an ode written
hy Horace for the occasion.
The Paradise Fish.
The paradise fish, like the German
canary, is a product of cultivation, a?
there is no place known where it is found
in a wild state. It is a native of China.
There they are cultivated and kept in
aquaria as ornamental fish only. The
male is the larger of the two sexes,
measuring, when full grown, from the
mouth to the end of the caudal fin, three
and a half inches. Tho body is shaped
very much like that of the pumpkin seed
sunlish. Its colors surpass in brilliancy
any fish heretofore cultivated for the
aquarium.
The head is ashy gray, mottled with
irregular dark spots. The gills are
azurine blue, bordered with brilliant
crimson. The eyes are yellow and red,
with a black pupil. The sides of the
body and the crescent shaped caudal fin
are deep crimson; the former having ten
or twelve vertical blue stripes, while the
latter is bordered with blue.
The under surface of the body is con
tinually changing color—sometimes it is
white, at others gray or black. The
dorsal and anal fins are remarkably large,
hence tho generic name of the fish—
macro, large; podus, the foot or fin.
Both fins are shaped alike. They are
striped and dotted with brown and bor
dered with blue. The dull-colored
ventral fins are protected by a brilliant
scarlet-colored spine, extending three-
fourths of an inch behind the fins. The
pectorals, situated directly above the
ventral fins, are well shaped, but, being
transparent, show no color.—"Nature's
Realm."
The Union flag was first shown on '
'.January 1, 1776, at OambridjuL-Mau. 1
NO. 33. •
QUEER BUG TALES.
SOME CURIOUS BELIEFS RE-
CARDING INSECTS
Ants as Dig as Foxes — Fireflies.
Glow Worms, Hearhorses
and Beetle*—Fireflies
as Illuminators.
In the forests of Guitttft dwell some
very large and exceedingly ferocious
bla< k ants, which thrown up hills fifteen
and even twenty feet in height. They
will not hesitate to attack a man, and
tbe!i headquarters sro usually given a
wide berth. The traveler Midouet speaks
of having witnessed the destruction of
one of these fortresses and its inhabitants
in a way that was certainly extraordinary.
A Irench was dug entirely around it and
(Mad with dry wood, which was set tire
to simultaneously at all points. Then a
train of artillcfy sta? brought to bear
and the hill knocked to pieces with cm
non halls. The ants, seeking to escape,
were all burned in their attempt to cr<c •
the fiery gutter. On more than one nr
casintl tints hav done so much damage in
convents and elsewhere as to be formally
excommunicated by the Chtfteb of Rome.
In South Africa the hilt Of the whit*
ants, known as “termites,'' have often
been employed for purposes of torture,
the human victim being partly buried in
one of the heaps and left there until hi 1-
flesh was eaten from his bones.
A belief is, or used to be, current
among the Mormons, who suffered
grievously from the pest, that the locust
was a cross between the spider and the
buffalo, la China the popular notion is
that insects of this description aro
hatched by the sun from the spawn of
fishes that are left ashore by receding
waters. The history of the locust hav
iug been a series of the greatest
calauiites from which mankind suffered,
it is not surprising that they have In an
looked upou for ages with a superstitious
horror. By the Arabs this speech is pu'
into the locust's mouth “We are the army
of the great God, and we lay ninety nine
eggs, wefe the hundredth put forth, the
world would be ours." According to
the statement of these people, the locust
has the head of the horse, the horns of
the stag, fhe eyes of the elephant, the
neck of the ox, thfc breasf of the lion,
the body of the soorpion, the hip of the
camel, the legs of the stork,the wiugs of
the eagle aud the tail of the dragon. A
common belief in this country is that the
wing of the insect is always marke I
either with a letter AV, portending war,
or the letter P, promising peace. D>
odrus Siculus, who lived about 69 B.
described a tribe of locust eaters in
Ethiopia, who were accustomed to pro
cure their yearly supplies of food by sc’
ting much combustible material afire in
a valley when the swarms of locusts
passed over, so that they were stillled hy
the smoke and fell to the ground in va“
numbers, to be subsequently gathered in
heaps with salt and so preserved. Owing
to their peculiar diet these people never
lived to grow old, being eaten up by
maggots which bred in their t’.-’sh.
Locusts are much used for food in Africa
to-day. Flights of them are considered a
blessing by the natives in many parts
that the rain doctors are employed to
fetch them by their incantations.
In certain parts of Africa crickets arc
said to constitute an article of com
merce. People rear them, feed them in
confinement and sell them. The natives
are very fond of their music, thinking
that it induces sleep. Superstition? rc
garding the cricket’s chirp arc very va
ried. Some believe that it is ominous
of sorrow and evil, while others consider
it to be a harbinger of joy.
One of the most curious of insects is
the mantis or “rearhorse,” which is so
common in Washington. The popular
beliefs are familiar as to its powers of
prophecy and other supernatural attri
hutes. Presumably the notion as to it?
supposed sanctity is derived from its fi
vorite “praying” attitude. If a girl
takes a mantis to the junction of three
roads aud asks it from which direction
her lover will come it will respond truly.
When the insect kneels it sees an angel
in the way. Supposing that it alights
upon your band, you are about to make
the acquaintance of a distinguished per
son. If it injures you in any way,which
it does but rarely, you will lose a valued
friend by calumny. Never kill a mantis,
as it bears a charm against evil. In the
works of Piso it is stated that the mantis
changes into a green plant of two hand's
breadth. The feet are fixed into tho
ground first, it is said, and from these
roots grow, so that the animal by dc
grees becomes a vegetable. Although
this seems like an absurdity it is in real
ity not impossible that such a thing may
have occurred, for it is true that an in
sect will sometimes,under favorable con
ditions of heat and moisture, produce n
plant of crvptogamic. kind. From a cer
tain kind of caterpillar that burrows in
the ground an edible mushroom that is
very highly prized commonly grows. It
often happens that the chrysalis of a her,
or wasp, or cricket throws out a stem
and changes in every respect into a veu
etable, though at the root the shell nn ■
external appearance of the parent insee:
are still retained. Specimens of these
vegetated ammali are frequently brought
from the West Indies.
In the Argentine Republic a weevil
kv/iwn as 'he "diseaced hee’le” !r
great request for breast pins and other
ornaments The palm weevil of the West
Indies is regarded in that country a« i
great luxury, fried or broiled. It ie
eaten in the larva stage, in the shape ci
a big white worm, which is found in the
tendcrest part of the smaller palm trees.
The historic poem of Brazil makes the
astonishing assertion that these worms
first become butterflies and subsequently
mice. A similar dainty in Java is the
larva of a beetle which, in the shape of
a white maggot, lives in wood and so
eats it away that the hacks of chair.? and
portions at other furniture are often,
♦hough apparently sound, actually mew
shells.
In Sweden the church-yard beetle is
regarded as a messenger of pestilence axd
deaf 1 , and its appearance always excites
violent alarm. A species closely allied
is eaten by Egyptian women with a view
to acquiring plumpness. Another insect
regarded with .superstition here is the so-
called “death watch," which by the
ticking sound it makes excites a dread
and horror of the credulous sick pe.rson
in solitude of the night.
The poorer classes of Cuba and the
other West India Islands make use of
the brilliant fireflies native there for
lights in their bouses. Twenty or thirty
of the insects put into a small wicker
cage and dampened a little with watev
will produce a very comfortable illumiua
tion, quite sufficient to read by. Also
they are worn by the ladies for orna
ment, as many as fifty or one hundred
sometimes adorning a single ball dress.
The. insect fs fastened to the costume by
a pin run through its body and is only
worn so long as its lives, for it loses its
ight as soon as it dies. Perforated
gourds are commonly employed for lan
terns filled with the fireflies, which are
aroused occasionally by shaking, so that
they shall light up their luminous disks
as brightly as possible. The people of
Italy believe that glow worms are of a
spiritual nature, dwelling in graves, and
so they carefully avoid them.
The biggest insect of its kind in the
world is the Hercules beetle of South
America, which grows to be six inches
in length. It is said, whether truthfully
or not, that great numbers of those
creatures arc sometimes seen on the mam
nima tree, rasping the rind i-roni the
slender branches by working around
them with their horns until they cause
the juice to flow. This juice they drink
•o intoxication and thus fall senseless to
the ground.— Washington Star.’
Came Over in the Mayflewer.
It is a curious fact that historians in
general have entirely neglected to give
to posterity a list of the names of the
Pilgrim; who came on tho Mayflower.
Bancroft, Hildreth, Ridpath, the, stand
ard eneyclopa-dias, to say nothing of the
numerous biographical dictionaries, are
all faulty in this one particular. Decern
bcr26, 1883, the Boston Transcript gave
what purported to be a “true” list of
the passengers that landed at Plymouth
271 years ago; but it, too, was lacking
in one essential feature; the women and
children were not mentioned, and only
the surnames of the servants. The fol
lowing list has been prepared especially
for “Notes for the Curious,” and is from
Hotten’s “List of Emigrants to America
Between the Years 1600 and 1700.” The
annexed is the list as taken from the
work quoted above:
William Brewster and wife Mary,
Jasper Moore, John Howland, Desire
Miuter, William Latham, Love Brewster,
Roger Williams fnot he of Rhode Island
fame), George Soule, “a maid servant;”
Wrestling Brewstor, Elias Story, Richard
More (one “o”), Remember AUerton,
Mary AUerton, More, Edward Win
slow and wife Elizabeth, John Carver,
Katherine Carver, William Bradford and
wife Dorthy, Ellen More, Bartholomew
AUerton, Isaac AUerton and wife Mary,
John Hook, Dr. Samuel Fuller, William
Cutler (died on passage), John Crack
ston (both senior and junior), Captain
Myles (Miles) Standish and Rose, his
wife, Christopher Martin and wife ,
Solomon Prower, John Longmore, John
Mullens, wife and three children; Rob
ert Carter, Resolved White, William
White and wife Susanna, William Hol-
bcck, Edward Thompson, Giles Hop.
kius, Conslautiua Hopkins, Stephen
Hopkins and wife Elizabeth, Demaris
and Oceanus Hopkins, children of
Stephen and wife, the latter born at sea,
Edward Doty, John Billings, wife and
two children; Edward Leister, Francis
Cooke, Edward Tillie, wife and daugh
ter; Joseph Rogers, Moses Fletcher,
Thomas Tinker, wife and son; John
Rigdalc aud Alice, his wife; James Chil
ton, wife and daughter; Edward Fuller,
wife and son Samuel; John Turner and
two sons (names not given), Francis
Eaton, wife and son Samuel; John
Goodman, Thomas Williams, Digerie
Priest, Edmond Margeson, Richard Brit-
terige, Richard Clarke, Peter Brown,
Richard Gardiner, Gilbert Winslow (r«
turned to England ami died), John Al-
den and Priscilla Mullens. The last
two named were afterward married and
are the hero and heroine of Longfellow's
celebrated poem entitled, “The Court
ship of Miles Standish.”—St. Louis Re-
vuhtie.
Minnesota’s Legislature has discovered
that several men thrive handsomely iq
Minnesota hy breeding wolves and sell
ing their scalps to the State at $) apiece