gill HENEY A. PAKSONS, Jr., Editor, and Publisher. ELK COUNT Y flfjS REVUHLtCAN i R T Y. Two Dollars ter Annum. VOL. I. RIDGWAY, PA., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1871. NO. 43. 1 THROUGH LIFE. We slight the gifts Hint every season bears, And let them fill unheeded fioin our grasp, In our great eagerness to reach and clasp The promised treasure of the coming years j Or else we mourn some great good passed away, And, In the shadow of our grief shut In, Refuse the lesser good wo yet might win, The oifercd peace and gladness of to-dny. 8 through tlio chambers of our life we pass, Aud leave them one by one and never stay, Not knowing how much pleasantness there was In each, until the closing of the door lias sounded through the house, and d'ed away, And In our hearts we sigh, " For evermore." BEGINNING U- THE WILDERNESS. BY MRS. F. VT. GILLETTE. Early one soft, mellow twilight in the May of 1823, a small birch canoe floated noiselessly into a little curve of the Clin ton River, (it was not the Clinton then, for that was the Anglo-Saxon christen ing ; but I have not been able yet to find for it an Indian name,) and anchored in that forest valley, at the base of a heavily-wooded hill. One of its occu pants a man of something more than thirty years, with a face bronzed by ex posure to tho wind and sun, but gleam ing all over with the sunshine of a great, heroic s)ul sprang quickly to the shore, and lifting out a beautiful young gin, seaiea ner upon tne bans, ana pro ceeded to fasten the chain that held the canoe to the body of a large tree close to the water's edge. Then he led tV.e little woman carefully up the hillside, as tney reacnea tne top, they lound a large, broad flat of heavy oaks, and saw that they could stand upon the verge of tne mil ana look through the openings in the wood, far over the broad, deep, blue stream, that wound, unobstructed by mill-dam or race-course, along its forest-shaded and hill-guarded valley bed. Standing there, this sturdy Eng 'lishman exclaimed, " Linda, this is the spot ! This is our home 1 How beauti ful we will make it! How like my bltsied boyhood's home in Old Eng land I" and suddenly the sweet home tenderness so flooded his good, warm heart, that the tears brimmed his eyes as if it had been indeed a child ; but soon he found her a pleasant, mcsssy seat, and saying cheerfully, " Now rf st, while I run down and get our trap?," he hur ried away, return'ng in a moment with a small basket of cooking-utenuls, aud a not very large bundle of clothing, aud a couple of Indian blankets. It required only a short time to kindle a fire and prepare the supper, and by the time they Lad eaten, the moonbeams looked in upon them, golden aud silent, and the whipporwils sang all through the long, deep, woodland arches. These two this brave Englishman and his little French wife, scarcely more than a child had floated all the way from the Huron waterj, with never the sight of a white man's face, past the In dian villages on the banks, stopping at mid-day iu a little bend of the stream, and eating their lunch of cold fish and hard bread ; camping at twilight by the river side. The large, white fish that Fred caught in the liver was cooked over the Are, made by a fallen log ; their lodge was entered through avenues of grand old tree", and roofed with the clouds and the stars. And now, after this long, wear!s3me and yet pleasant wandering, Fred D.ibyell has found the spot his heart yearned for the spot that could be wrought into the broad fields and the wooded pm'ks that make the beautiful English homesteads for Fred Dabyell, iu his thought of home, was English to the heart's core. Fred Dabyell was the brother of the heroic Capt. Dabyell, who was killed in the Fontiao conspiracy. He had been sent to Detroit on official business before the war of 1812, and after the ratifica tion of peace in 1815, he conoluded to remain and try his fortune in the West ern World. M. De La Motto was one of the few white men who, with the frioud ly Indians, established the French set tlement of Detroit under the direction of Louis Frontenac, then Governor of all New France ; and here, just eighteen years before our story opens, was Linda De Li Motte born. She had been reared iu a world of dauger, but in a home of love ; and believing thoroughly iu Fred Dabyell's protestations of tenderness, and his promise of fidelity and protec tion, she had put her hand in his, and come away from everything of civilized life to found a home in the wilderness. All night Fred talked in bis sleep about Euglish hedges and English homes to the Indians and the new coun try. All night Linda fancied sho heard the light tread of dark feet as they passed over the fallen leaves, and saw great, wild eyes looking down upon her. Toward morning, Fred was wakened by the barking of a dog. Springing up, he cried, " Linda, that's a white man's dogl God has led us to a friend !" and he dashed down the hill toward the wel come sound. But Linda, called, " O, Fred! take me." Then he turned, ran back and said, with a sort of petting ac cent, natural to his voice, " Getting a coward, is she 't Well, we will go down to gether." Going down the hill on the further and southern side from the river over a narrow, level space, and climbing to the top of another and higher hill, they saw, at a little distance, a large St. Ber nard dog watching by a rude log chapel. The chapel was surmounted with a cros?, while over it floated the Fleur de Lit of France, and the stars and stripes of the new colonies. In the doorway, just under the cross, stood an aged Jesuit priest; his hair, parted in the middle of the broad, deep forehead, fell away in ripples of snow far down his shoulders ; his face was fair and childishly innocent, and with the glory of the breaking dawn upon it, it looked almost divine. To the little French wife, this chapel in the wilderness this Jesuit priest under the cross was home, was rest. With a glad cry she ran forward, and kneeling at his feet, reached up her clasped hands for his benediotion. Sur prised, as though some sweet, fair face I from the vine-clad hills of Lorraine had looked up to him at the confessional, he yet, without a word or a hasty gesture, placed both hands on her bowed head and gave her his blessing ; and as her husband came up and lifted her to her leet, the put st said, kindly, " Children, come with me," and he led them to his own log cabin, not far from the chapel. rattier Mesnard readily prepared a breakfast of " Sagamittee," a kind of broth, made of fish boiled in water, and tne Hour of corn. Their drink was clear, cold water from the woodland spring As they ate, the lather told them that he remombered having seen Fred in De troit, as he had been many times there ; and that Linda's father and mother he had known and loved in far-away France, so that Fred's words of the morning seemed to be true, for God had truly led them to a friend. Fred wanted the land on the south side of the nver, and that was very ensily arranged between him and Father Mesnard and tho Indians ; and although they must meet the " Council at Da troit, before the matttr could be wholly arranged, enough could be done so that Fred could select six hundred acres of unbroken wilderness ; and before noon he had struck his first blow for a home, on the spot where he built their camp-. hie the night betore. The cabin was built of rough, unhewn logs, the windows and doors made of twigs interlaced into a sDit of lattice work, and fastened to the house by hinges made of bark. Primitive indeed was this new borne, and primitive too was this beginning of housekeeping, al most as much so as the life of Adam and Eve iu the Garden of Elen. And yet, although in the very heart of the wild erness, separated entirely from the white race, Linda Dabyell was V(ry happy during this first summt r of house hold care. Love brightens everything it touches, and Linda loved her husband, and her great love filled the wildwood, and all the strange, new world with bloom and song. She had, too, a nature sd sympathetic, that it gave to every Indian woman, man, child or baby, a kind word and a helpful deed ; and this brought her in return much rude tender ness. Then there was the good Jesuit, always faithful and affectionate and wise. But this first summer, peaceful and full of beauty as it was, was also full of fearful tragedy. The Ojibwa Indians, living and holding the lands on the north side of the river, were not as peaceful as the OttawaB. They were not at peace1 with them cither. In early summer they were very kind to Linda, because she nursed their brave young chief in her own home through an al most mortal sickness, caused by a fearful struggle at her own door with a power ful Ottawa. But toward the autumn they began to look savagely upon her because she bestowed the same care upon an Ottawa youth who had killed an Ojibwa near her house, and being him self severely wounded in tho deadly strife, had crept, coverod with his own blood and the bl jod ot bis lallon toe, to her threshold, where the good mission ary and Fred had taken him up, sup posing for many minutes that he, too, was dead. This hatred did not break out at once. But ona November evening Linda sat alone by her hearth, having fastened her door as firmly as she could against the heavy wind that had come up at night fall, and lighted her pine knots and placed one in each corner of the chim ney, wishing their gleam might go out through the lattico window and door and beacon her husband home through the darknes3. Fred had been gone since morning, a thing so unusual tor turn that Linda was nervous with nnxiety. She had said to herself a hundred times that evening if Father Mesnard only come they could certainly find Fred. But the father did not come ; he had gone on his yearly mission to the upper lakes, and Linda knew if Fred had lost his way, or if some calamity had overtaken him, that she was left wholly to tho fearful mercies of Indians and of wolves. As she sat in her loneliness and anxiety, the door burst suddenly open, and the young Ojibway chief, whom she had so kindly cared for, too'c her in his arms, put his hand over her mouth, and said, in his broken Euglish, as he ran with ner to the chapel, "Ilistl young chief no hurt. Young chief take care." lie carried her into the chapel, closed the door, and seated her under the cru cifix. Then he stepped back, crossed his arms over his breast, and looking 'up to the cross, said, " No come here. White squaw no Iraid. " lie went across the chapel toward Linda's home, and climb ing up over the logs looked out of a small opening beneath the roof. Linda heard footsteps among the fallen, frozen leaves and branches, and soon the crackle of fire and the loud wild whoop of the Indians sounded through the .heavy darkness. Creeping to the young chiet a side, she saw ner home in names, and several savage looking Ojibwas dancing and screaming around it. Sud denly the clouds parted, and the moon light broke around them in full splen dor, and as it fell over the shining metal that pointed the cross upon the top of the chapel, one of the Indians saw the unusual brightness, and pointing toward it he fled down the hill followed by the others. As they went, the chief turned toward her, lifting her with one arm while he lowered himself with the other and tried to tell her how he had just got back from a long journey, and having discov ered the intentions of his tribe or a por tion of them when it was too late to de feat them, he had come himself to defend her or to die in the attempt. Then he carried her back to the cross, placed her under it and going to the door sat down against it as though he would save her with his life. Toward morning he went noiselessly out, but Lindaknaw that his Indian ear had caught the fall of ap proaching footsteps, and she was ready to die by those savage hands when the door agein opened and Fred and Father Mesnard came in, followed by the faith ful chief. Words could never tell how happy Linda and Fred were, nor bow tender was the voice of the missionary as be fore the cross he ottered up his gratitude for his little wife's safety, nor how the dark face of the young chief brightened at the sight of so much joy. ' This was Fred and Linda Dabyell's beginning in the great Western wilder ness. Would you know its close P . Not many years ago, Fred, somewhat bent and feeble with his journey of eighty winters, but young yet with that warm, fresh stout-heartedness that blessed his early life, and Linda, many years young er, but with her hair all silver, and cheeks where life's red rose had faded to the white these two together, as in that early time, stood upon the broad veran dah that encircled their large stone mansion built upon ' the spot where the first cabin stood and looked across to the top of the other hill where the chapel ence was, but where now was a sunken grave with a white cross at its head, and down the hillside, over the river, and across the valley, to a large, flourishing city; founded upon the land that he, Fred Dabyell, bought of the In dians on that long ago May morning. In that city lived their oldest son a thriving lawyer, a man honored and be loved ; they spoke of him as they stood there, and the daughter who, with her husband and children aroand htr, kept ths care in their own beautiful Home a home that answered to thur early hopes. They talked about their youngest and their idol their brave Mesnard who, like the father they both loved, had built him a rude chapel on the Rocky Mountain summits and hung above it the flag of his country and the cross, of his Master. And 'they remembered, also, that mellow twilight, when they floated in that little birch canoe into the river bend below them. As they stood there, the calm, peaceful joy of the present en folding them like softened sunshine, and the past lying out so brown and golden to their vision, dear, good grandpa Dabyell as we all call him reached his feeble haud to his old wife, and drawing her close to him, said, " We were climbing the hill then, Linda, love." And "Linda, love" leaned her pale face, still beautiful with its sweet tenderness, against his shoulder, and re peated, in her low, broken voice : "And now that we have wandered down, We'll sleep together at the loot, John Anderson, my Joe." Ladies' Repository. Strange Delusion. The Woodford (Ky.) Weekly has the following singular story : A young lady named Miss Nellie Stay was tried before Judge George on the 27th inst. for lunacy. There was no evi dence showing her to be a lunatic, but her own statements clearlhowed her to be a monomauiac. Sho seemed to be firmly under the impression that she was married to Mr. Alexander, of Woodburn Farm, in March last, in Lexington j and again she would say that &he had been told that she was the child of Mr. Alex ander, and that her true name was Nel lie Alexander. We did not learn which of the Alexanders she claimed to be des cended from, but she seems to think that the late II. A. Alexander had left her a foitune, and asked to use his will. Upon other subjects she spoke rationally and intelligibly, and gave a very connected account of her life. She was partly raised and educated at the Orphan School at Midway, and taught school recently in the neighborhood of Spring Station. The only relative she has that is known is a half brother in Louisville. So seemed to be vary well educated and ac customed to refined society; appears to be delicate, of nervous temperament.and is prepossessing in appearance. The jury in the case found her a lunatic, and that shhad become a lunatic within the last year ; was about twenty-thrje years of age, and had no estate. Homely (Jills. How did that homely woman contrive to get married 'i is not unfrtquently re marked of some good domestic creature whom her husband regards as the apple of his eyes, and in whose plain face he sees something better than beauty. Pretty girls who are vain of their charms are rather prone to make obser vations of this kind ; and conscious of the f-ict that flowers of loveliness are often left to pine on the stem, while weeds of homeliness go off readily, is no doubt in many cases the bottom of the sneering question. The truth is, that most men prefer homeliness and amiabil ity, to beauty and caprice. Handsome women are sometimes very hard to please. They are apt to overvalue themselves, and in waiting for an immense bid occa sionally overstep the market. Their plain sisters on the contrary, aware of their personal deficiencies, generally lay themselves out to produce an agreeable impression, and in most instances, suc ceed. They don't aspire to capture par agons with princely fortunes, but are willing to take anything respectable. A "Horsj" Advertisement. The following advertisement of a " horse restaurant" keeper is published in a Nevada paper : Live stock faster than anybody's, and all trained to respect woman's rights also children's yet warranted to get away from anything else on the road. Buggits, broughams, barouches, . hacks, sulkies, road wagons, hearses, and every kind of vehicles for slow or fast travel with horses to match. Funeral turnouts cheerfully furnished, and guaranteed to make the proper impression. Bloated aristocrats from abroad taken on to any road, and warranted ahead of any stage or any other conveyance for money. No complaint is ever heard from stack fed in this stable. More hilarity' than was ever known in any other collection of dumb animals since the procession from Noah's landing. No hay ropes about this establishment everything is turned loosa ; the key to the barley sacks hangs dangling within the reach of the humblest horse iu the stable, and no pains are spared to make the guests of the establishment distinguish the differ ence between this and the desert waste. Do Solo's Treasures Perhaps. Here 5s a tough but readable story from the MemphiB Avalanche of Nov. 23 : A decendant of one of De Soto's fol lowers, Senor Jose Munoz, by the mer est accident, found in a blind closet, the existence of which was only brought to light by the tearing down of a part of an old mansion on a bluff near Memphis, with tho view of rebuilding it in a more modern form, a parchment which set forth in substance that, at a point near that city, was deposited in the earth a helmet containing a diamond, a sap phire, and a ruby of immense value, to gether with an order of knighthood and a sum of money ; that this treasure was the property of one Jesus Munoz, who had been the scientific adviser of De Soto, but having fallen under suspicion of practising witchcraft, had anticipated his doom by suicide, first confiding to mother earth, with certain incantations, the -wealth that weuld suffice to ransom a prince, when princes were worth ran soming. Upon the strength of this information a party of leading, citizens was at once organized to investigate the matter. It was about ten o'clock when the adven turers landed from their skiffs on Presi dent's Island. Placing his theodolite exactly in front of the venerable tree, Captain B proceeded to lay out his first angle indicated by the parchment scroll. To the surprise of every one, the "distance" brought the party to a lone ly epot on the shore of the river, where, in a gulch, worn by the mad freaks of the storm in times gone by, were the re mains of a boat of a fashion that no workman has designed on the North American Continent for more than two hundred years, although the same de scription of vessels still navigate the coasts of South America, and are still built by the descendants of the same Spanish people who first brought to the knowledge of the world our Mississippi. The boat had been constructed from a single log, and was about forty-six feet in length of keel. The wood had almost been transformed into coal by some strange atmospheric cause, and the truth of what we say can be verified by a piece of this antique bark, which was brought from the spot by our reporter, and is now on exhibition at this office. From the ruined stern protruded an iron which had once secured the rudder upon which was still visible the initals " F. & I." Whether or not this is the remains of one of De Soto's boats it is impossible to de termine with certainty, but Professor Dillington was decidedly of the opinion that the wood of which it was composed had been exposad to the action of the elements for more than two centuries. The inference was irresistible. In the course of ten minutes the workmen had excavated a pit about three feet in diam eter and two in depth. Just at mid night, by Captain B 's time, the spade of McGowan struck some metallic substance it proved to be ancient hel met, the upper part of which was cor roded, and eaten away by the rust of years. Fashioned as it had been to re sist the stroke of lance, sword, and battle ax, it yielded to the first blow of the modern and homely spade. It was cleft in twain, and as the light from the lamps flashed down upon its oxidized surface, from the interior was flashed back three wondrous rays of radience, diamond pure, sapphire blue, and ruby red, all beauti ful and dazzling, while gazing down wtrds the awestricken tamperers with what man uses or examines at his peril saw three gems of fabulous size and lustre, lying upon a faded and decayod order of nobility, and within the rusted head harness of a knight, who laid his lanee in rest for the last time before any city on the North Amerian Continent had any existence. How it Ft els to bo Poisoned With StryeliiiinCi- A man in Harrisburg recently attempt ed to commit suicide by taking a grain of strychnine. The skill of his physician having saved his life he narrates his ex perience for the benefit of science. He says : " In course of five minutes I began to feel slight cramps in the calves of my legs. The cramps increased in intensity and extended to the feet and thighs, causing the most intense pain. I at tempted to rise from the chair, but fell to the floor with convulsions in the low er extremities. Unsuccessful attempts were made to bathe my feet in hot wa ter, each effort to raise me bringing on a violent paroxysm, in the last one of which I thought my jaws had become unhinged, 1 was now perfectly para lyzed from the hips down, and suffering the most excruciating pains, which be gan to extend upwards ; the muscles of the shoulders and neck soon being con siderably convulsed, the forearms still being free from pain. " 1 now prepared for the final strug gle, which I knew must be near at hand, as I had become rigid from the neck down, save the forearms. The convul sions of the muscles were becoming fear ful, and the torture awful to endure. My hands were drawn in to my sides, with the fingers drawn apart, and slight ly bowed, and the jaws became rigid. I felt myself raised as if by some mighty power, and fixed immovably, with only my feet and head touching anything. I became unconscious of everything ex cept my own agony, which was now be yond all description. I could feel my heart fluttering, and my brain beating and throbbing with an irregular motion, as though at every beat it weuld burst from its confinement, Every joint was locked, and every drop of blood seemed stagnated. I remember thinking it could not be long thus, when I must have lost consciousness. " I remember nothing more until I felt a sensation of relief, as though the garments of death, which had been drawn over me, were now being drawn back. Those terrible cramps seemed to be descending to my lower limbs. A feeling of relief stole over me, and I be gan to be again conscious. , " From that time I resumed conscious ness, when I was entirely free from cramp, with the exception of a little in the feet. I had but one attack of cramps afterwards, which was immediately re lieved by a dose administered by my wife the doctor having left for a short time and when ho returned I felt that the poison wai. completely neutral ized." Ho is not likely to try strychnine again. Fanners What Should They Know I Whether it is that as a class farmers have not kept up with the rest of man kind in what might be termed book learning, or that they have been slower to grasp the ideas and adopt the fast ways of the world, and thus the mind associates the business of farming with the recollection of years agone, it re mains the same indisputable fact that farming is thought to require a smaller amount of knowledge than any other pursuit in life indeed, we are not sure but this opinion prevails largoly among farmers themselves. How few there are among them who will admit that an ed ucation will assist them in their busi ness j are they not much more likoly to sneer at auy information derived from books, and to argue with the old man who couldn't see that his young neigh bor (who had a year or two before moved into the country and commenced farming) with all his books and papers, did any better than himself, with simply his experience and practical knowledge to guide him'r1 overlooking the fact that the young beginner's books had ac tually brought him in a short time to equal the farmer in success, and that if he, the farmer, had but added the expe rience of others (which be could- have had by reading) to his own, his store of knowledge and qualifications for success would have been largely increased, and perhaps rendered unapproachable to his amateur neighbor. One reason for the growth of this feeling against reading, especially at the South, is found in the apparent unprofit ableness of farming. We say apparent, for you will see it is not real when you consider how little actual capital how little actual brain is usually required to support in moderate comfort otttimes a very large family. This apparent unprofitableness has also the effect of driving most of the ac tive minds of the country into tho cities ; the allurements of wealth and apparent ease of life therein persuading young men that in the city they will surely find a more profitable sphere-of ac tion. Alas ! Alas ! They do not see that the effect is taken for the cause that if the Sinie amount of tnergy and brains that is required in the city were applied to farming, success would not be wanting and that this rush for the city, this drain upon the country,naturally robs it of an essential element of success ; that it is only the superior and better informed mind, so to Bpeak, of the city which makes this apparent difference in suc cess. If, indeed, tho young man cannot be educated at home, then by all means let him come to the city, if ' only long enough to get a good practical business education. For this much he will cer tainly need in farming if he goes into it as he should, that is with a view to suc cess. Do not suppose for a moment that a little common sense with a sturdy frame added to his wordly possessions, are all that a farmer has need of as in every other occupation, the more cultivated brain you bring to your assistance in farming the better will be your chance of success. In no employment is there more knowledge required. In other lines men may often confine their scope of know ledge the manufacturer, for instance, of boots, of cloths, of cutlery, of machin ery, &.O., may require to know only what appertains to his particular production j but tho farmer produces grain and hay, butter and best, pork and cheese, wool and cotton, &c, &o. He should know how much of each to provide for, and how best to dispose of them afterwards ; he should know how to feed his stock to the best advantage, and what breeds of stock suit his purposes best. Perhaps he needs to know something of timber, of building and repairing, to say nothing of his medical necessities; construction of drains, qualities of soil, properties of fertilizers, &j. In short, the farmer might well be a merchant.manufacturer, physician and chemist. Then do not say a farmer need not be educated fully as well as for any other business of life, for by neglecting his education you simply curtail his advantages and lessen his chances for superiority and success. He needs to be something more than " a hewer of wood and drawer of water." Georgia Home Gazette. Turtles lu Brazil. The immense size of Brazilian turtks may be imagined when the statement is made that the flippers and feet of one in crawling over the sand leave a track of two irregular grooves, three or four feet apart, as though a great wagon with immense cog wheels had been driven over the ground. It is an easy matter to And a turtle's nest by this track. She comes out of the sea and travels far up on the beach to lay her eggs in the sand, digging a hole a foot and a half or two feet deep for the nest. Professor Hartt, who was in Brazi.'. with Professor Agas sis, says that he saw a turtle deposit one hundred and forty-three eggs in one of these nests. The eggs are all laid at one sitting, then covered up closely with the sand and left to hatch. The eggs are rather larger than hen's eggs, round, and covered with a tough white skin. The Brazilians eat the eggs and also the flesh of the turtle. The creature is cap tured in a curious way. Two persois go behind it, and taking hold of the shell, turn the animal on its back, in which position it is at the mercy of its captors for it is impossible for it to turn over on its feet again. The hunters are obliged to creep up behind it cau tiously, for as soon as it is alarmed it thrusts its fore paddles into the sand and throws it behind, so that if the pursuers do not quickly close their eyes they are likely to be blinded. Fireproof Materials, Mr. II. J. Runadell, iu a Washington letter to the Cincinnati. Commercial, giv ing an account of an interview with Mr. Mullett, the supervising architect of the Treasury Department, elicits some inter esting opinions as to the lessons from Chicago, especially tho following, relat ing to fire-proof materials : "Iron," said Mr. Mullett, "I mean cast iron, absurd as the statement may appear, will not resist as much heat as good sound oak timber of the same di mensions. Firo expands the iron and warps it, and it breaks very easily. In deed, if oak timber should be treated by any of the processes, of liquid silicate, it may be considered almost a fireproof ma-1 terial compared with cast iron. As for stones suitable for building purposes, as I told you before, there are few that are fireproof, though some approximate the necessary conditions, and, except in se vere conflagrations, may be generally de pended upon. Granite, marble, and sandstone are not to be trusted, as they soon perish by exporure to tho heat, as has been shown a thousand times. But I am strongly in favor of liquid silicate as a preparation for wood to be used for building purposes. My attention was directed to this material some years since, but I have not had an opportunity to investigate the subject fully. I be lieve, however, that it merits taore atten tion than any other suggestion that has been made public, and may yet prove one of the most practical solutions of the question of non-combustible construc ture that has yet been offered. Whether this or some other process for making wood non-combustible is the more de sirable, I am not prepared to say. I am, however, decidedly cf the opinion that any process by which wood can be ren dered non-inflammable at a reasonable cost would not only be an inestimable blessing to the public, but its use should be rendered imperative by law." " Well, Mr. Mullett, do you still think that brick is the only fireproof material!"' " I looked into th at subject at Chicago with much interest. Now, it is very hiird to make an absolutely fireproof building ; but I believe that a building, properly constructed of bricks that ure well made, and of iron or non-combustible timber, protected by fireproof shut ters ond door, will resist the fiercest con flagration. Itsmernber, I say fireproof doors and shutters, not iron. To make an absolutely fireproof structure, how ever, well burned and homogeneous brick must be used. The walls must be of sufficient thickness, and should be built with an air space to prevent the transmission of heat. The joists should in no case be carried into the walls, but should be supported on corbel courses of brick, aud connected with the walls only by wrought iron anchors. The windows and doors to bo protected, as I have said, with fireproof shutters, and the roof to be of slate or motal. The use of roofs composed of coal tar, or other similar substances, Bhould be prohibited by law in cities. Ordinary iron shutters are scarcely more fireproof than those of wood. They heat rapidly, warp from their fastenings, and admit the fire to the interior, and are in fact a means of facilitating the conflagration by ob structing the efforts of the fire depart ment. I see no reason, however, why fireproof shutters should not be produced at a prico that would place them within the reach of all." " What do you think of dry pressed bricks '(" " I never had much experi ence with them, and I don't believe in them. They are certainly not so good as the ordinary kind. A very littlo ex perience with brick will show that tho more thoroughly the clay is tempered the better the bricks are. One great trouble in obtaing good brick is in the indipositiori of brick makers t teuiner ..heir clay enough." " What do yon think of terra cotta r" " Terra cotta is a material to which I do not think sufficient attention has been given in this country, though in Europe many beautiful and durable specimens have beeu produced. I feel confident that it will be found, if properly made, one of the most desirable articles for the use of an architect in the erection of fireproof buildings. It should be used iu a legitimate manner, and not as an imitation of cut stone." A Xejrro II ink on the White Folks' Plan. Sam Johnson, of New Orkans, was a great authority on the levee, and ono day he called his satellites together and addressed them on tho importance of adopting a fiscal policy more nearly re sembling that which had raised to opu lence their Caucasian neighbors. "Nig gers," said he, "if you want to get rich you must save your money. You must have a bank. Dat's de way de white folks dots." These words fell on a pro pitious soil. The project went into swift execution, and the earnings of the week were promptly forthcoming. "Niggers," Bays bam, "I'll be de cashier; you must 'posit de money wid me, and when you want any you must draw onto it. Dat's de way de white folks does." All went merrily for a while, and the depositors were highly elated about " de bank." But' by and by there began to be trou ble not with the deposits but with the drafts. It was found easier to get funds into this model institution than to get them out again, and Sim was compelled to face the angry customers and explain. " It's all right," says he ; de bank's only suspended, and in a few days she will 'again resnme;' dat's de way de white folks does." This expedient lasted but a little while, however ; suspicions of ioui piay aay oy day increased, and the storm was about to burst on tho head of the great operator, when he found it ex pedient to gather once more his infuri ated depositors, and " face the musio " frankly. " Niggers," said he, "dar ain't no use a moufin about it. Da money's spent, and de bank's broke, and dat's de way de white folks does !" Partou is ungracious enough to remark that many Amerioan ladies, were they sentenced to be hanged to morrow, would ask as their first ques tion, " Have I a banging dress r" MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. Clara Louisa Kellogg is said to have closed a contract to ting twenty nights in San Francisco for $10,000 in gold. The Burihan Ambassador will have a pleasant reception at Buckingham Pal ace. Ho is the bearer of a gold necklace weighing ten pounds, as a present for Queen Victoria. Tho tedious routine of flirtation, intro duction; courtship, engagement and mar riage was successfully gone through with by an Arkansas couple in tbirty six minutes. " Indian Joe," a Piute modicine man, well known among the whites, was stcned to death by his tribe, having failed to restore to health two sick In dians. The practice of medicine among Indians evidently has its unpleasant features. During a lira at Portsmouth, recently, a person whose residence was burned was awakened by a parrot calling the servant's name and Bcreaining "fise." They barely hjid time to save their clothes and a portion of their furniture, and but for Polly might have been burn ed to death. It was so cold in Chicago last week that the papers state everything froze up except the coal-bin. The editor of the Pont says, " Our stove frcza up so that wo had to soak its feet in hot water this morning before we could get it to draw." A Yaukeo would ask where the hot water c imo from Y The Helena Daily Montan i Herald, in view of the approaching leap year, pub lishes a list ot' eligible old bauhelors in Helena, and follows with thirty or forty genuine names of citizens who are in the main, it says, " in a good state of pre servation." The daring editor proposes to supplement the list with another of " all the old maids and marriagtble young ladies in Helena." . Here is a mother-in-law of at least two-husband power: A man whosa home is in Wisconsin hns been working at Negaunee, Mich., for some months. A week or so since he was taken danger ously Bick. He sent for his wife to come and care for him. Now, the witVs moth-, er is Bick, too, and she sunt this despatch to her languishing husband : " Dsar Tim, mother is sick ; Do the best you can. your body homo." I can't loive her. If you die, send Doctor O'Lsary says that a girl can die of too much love as well as from too little. " If you ever see one of tuosj turtle-dove pairs who are always 'my loving, 'my dearing,' 'my ducking,' each other," says the doctor, ' you may set it ilown that ono or the other will die of heart disease or consumption within I hree months, and it is almost invariably tho woman who dies. Those women," he .adds, " who always scold and speak crossly to their better halves they never have the consumption or die of heart disease." This is tho oflical report of a Califor nia vigilance committee : " We, the five hundred emigrants, quietly marohed to the Justice's Court and demanded tho prisoner. They refused to give him up. We, the five hundred emigrants, took bim, tried him, condemned him, and bung him on the same tree he had mur dered his victim under. Farewell, vain world,' were his last words, as the mule walked away and left him there. We, the hve hundred emigrants, follow ed tho mule." This is the way a Western editor wel comes a new-born contemporary : " We are sorry to receive JNo. 1 ot tho Coman che County World. The World is badly printed, aud has a sickly, poverty-strick- i n appearance. Mr. John Smith, its publisher, is an idiot. If the 'leading men ot Comanche County are responsi ble for the foundation of this paper, they ought to be sent to the Penitentiary. We trust that Mr. Smith will stop the pub lication of this paper and save his money." There aro large numbers of very dd and poor persons along the coast in the .New Iuglaud btates. Many ot the men followed the sea in their early man hood, and a largo number of the women are widdows of Bailors and fishermen who barely got a living in their b.'.st days. Nantucket furnishes a noteworthy oxample of these elapses. In the poor hous3 of that town thore ure fourteen persons rangiue; from seventy-one to eighty-nine years old, whose aggregate ages amount to 1,139 years. A lady in a town not a thousand miles away was considerably anuoyed by hens who pecked the loose plastering from the wall. So one morning, while washing dishes, she thought she heard her fowls pecking as usual, and, dish cloth in band, she hastened to open the door, and, giving her rag a warlike flourish, she uttered a tremendous " shoo- o-o 1" Imagine her dismay at behold ing, not the hens but a stranger, who, titer wiping from bu tace the drops ot dishwater with which he had been sprinkled, said in a perfectly calm voice, "Well, mum, if you've got any more spare rags, I should like to sell you some tinware for 'em." A correspondent who has seen, Miss Nilsson in New York, speaks of the gaunt, straight figure ; the strong, pale face, with the hollow cheeks and the beautiful smile blooming on her (lips the kindly gray eyes ; the majestio toss of the head, and the gait as firm and bold as a man's ; but says that person ally she is a very charming woman. Her manners are decidedly French ; sho is a thorough-bred Parisian. She is per fectly easy, natural, and very graceful. When a gentleman is presented to her, she don't nod her head, as an American lady would, but gives her hand with a frank, pleasant smile,as if she had known him eve, ever so long. You are imme diately at your ease. You will be prompted to say whatever comes upper most in your mind, and she will look at you astonished with her fine, grey eyes, as if to say : " You dazzle me with your brilliant intellect." She Is full of theso artifices, which makes you think her, after haying been in her company half an hour, the bimplest, the frankest, the most charming woman in Christendom,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers