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HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher . NIL DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum.
. '., ; . ' "' " ' 1 " " 1 - - I,- -,.. i i i.. -..I ., ' 1 '-" ,
VOL. HI. EIDG WAY ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, AUGUST 14, 1873. W- 24-
Moral Song on Money.
Money is not happiness ;
Wealth may coexist with gout j
Buys the physio, ne'erthelcss,
Which you can't he cured without.
3Ioney is not mutton no (
Money is not beer or wine j
But to lock it is to owe
Grievous hills, or not to dine.
Money occupies the purso j
Happiness is in the mind ;
Else its state is the reverse
Woo with indigence combined.
HappincK8 you purchase through
. Money that you wisely pcnd.
Money is the means unto
Happiness, and that's tho end.
Who cmi keep a conscience clear,
Who can have a mind at rest,
That of ruin lives with fear
Ever gnawing at his breast t
Others' happiness your own
W ould you ronder if you could ?
'Tis by money's aid alone
You cau do your Species good.
Happiness he may, below,
Find, with money who abounds j
. None else can until they go
To the Happy Hunting-grounds.
Money when a man decries,
Ten to one his bond is duo,
Aud that presently he trios
Out of cash to swindle you.
. . THE VASA D'AGUA.
One very hot evening, in the year 1815
the curate of San Pedro, a village dis
tant but n-tew leagues from Seville, re
turned very much fatigued to his poor
home, where his worthy housekeeper,
Senora Margarita, about seventy years
of age, awaited him. However much
any one might have been accustomed to
distress au'l privation among the Span
ish peasantry, it was impossible not to
be struck with the evidence of poverty
in the house of the priest. The naked
ness of the walls, and scantiness of the
furniture, were the more apparent from
a certain air about them of better days.
Senora Margarita had just prepared for
her master's supper an olla porida,
which, notwithstanding the sauce and
high-sounding name, was nothing more
than the remains of his dinner, which
she had disguised with tho greatest
skill. The enrate, gratified at the color
of tin's savory dish, exclaimed
" Thank God, Margarita, for this
dainty dish. By San Pedro, friend,
you may well bless your stars to find
such a supper in the house of your
host."
At the word host, Margarita raised
her eyes, and beheld a stranger who
accompanied her master. The face of
the old dame assumed suddenly an ex
pression of wrath and disappointment.
Her angry glances fell on the new com
er, and again on her master, who looked
down, and paid with tho timidity of a
child who dreads the remonstrances of
his parent
" Peace, Margarita ! Where there is
enough for two there is alwnys enough
for three, and you would not have
wished me to leave a Christian to starve?
He has not eaten for three days."
.'.'Santa Maria I he a Christian ! He
looks more liken robber 1" and mutter
ing to herself, the housekeeper left the
room. During this parley, the stranger
remained motionless at the treshold of
the door. He was tall, with long black
hair and flashing eyes ; his clothes
wero in tatters, and the long rifle which
ho carried excited distrust rather than
favor.
" Must I go away ?" lie inquired.
The curate replied with fin emphatic
gesture
" Never shall he whom I shelter be
driven away or made unwelcome; but
sit down, put aside your gun, let us say
grace, and to our repast."
" I never quit my weapon. As the
proverb says, two friends are one. My
rifle is my best friend, aud I shall keep
it between my knees. Though you
may not send me from your house till it
suits me, there are others who would
make me leave theirs against my will,
and perhaps headforemost. Now to your
health ; let us eat."
The curate himself, although a man
of good appetite, was amazed at the
voracity of the stranger, who seemed to
bolt rather than eat almost the whole of
the dish, besides drinking tho whole
flask of wine, and leaving none for his
host, scarcely a morsel of tho enormous
loaf which occupied a corner of tho ta
ble. Whilst he was eating so vora
ciously, he startedat the slightest noise.
If a gust of wind suddenly closed the
door, he sprang up, and leveling his ri
fle, seemed determined to repel intru
sion. Having recovered from his alarm
he sat down again and went on with his
repast. " Now," said he, speaking with
his mouth full, " I must tax your kind
ness to tho utmost. I am wounded in
the thigh, and eight days have passed
without its being dressed. Give me a
few bit of linen : then you shall be rid
of me."
" I do not wish to rid myself of yon,"
replied the curate, interested iu his
guest, in spite of his threatening de
meanor, by liia strange exciting conver
sation. 1 am somewhat of a doctor.
You will not have the awkwardness of a
country barber, or dirty bandages to
compluin of, as you shall see." So
speaking, he drew forth from a closet a
bundle containing all things needed.
and, turning up his sleeves, prepared
nimseu to uiscuarge me amy oi a sur
ceo ii.
The wound was deep, a ball having
passed through the stranger s thigh,
who, to be able to walk, must have ex
erted a strength and courage more than
human. " You will not bo able to pro
ceed on your journey to-day," said the
curate, probing the wound with the sat
isfaction of an amateur artist. " You
must remain hero to-night. Good rest
will restore your health and abate the
inflammation, and the swelling will go
down."
I must depart to-day, at this very
hour," replied the stranger, with a
mournful sigh. There are some who
wait for me, others who seek me, he
added, with a ferocious smile. "Come,
have you done your dressing ? Good :
here am I light and easy, as if I never
bad been wounded. Give me a loaf,
take this piece of gold in payment for
your hospitality, and farewell." The
curate refused the tendered gold, with
emphasis. " As you please farewell."
So saying, the stranger departed, tak
ing with him the loaf which Margarita
had so unwillingly brought at her
mistress's order. Soon his tall figure
disappeared in the foliage of the wood
which surrounded the village.
An hour later, the report of firearms
was heard. Tho stranger reappeared,
bleeding, and wounded in tho breast.
He was ghastly, as if dying.
" Here." said he. presenting to the
old priest some pieces of gold. " My
children m the ravine in the wood
near the little brook."
He fell, just as half a dozen soldiers
rushed in, arms in hand. They met
with no resistance from the wounded
man, whom they closely bound, and,
after some time, allowed tho prieRt to
dress his wound ; but in spite of all his
remarks on the danger of moving a
man so severely wounded, they placed
him on a cart.
" Basta," they said. " he can but die.
He is the great robber, Don Jose della
Ribera," Jose thanked the good priest
ly n motion of his head, then asked for
a glass of water, and as the priest stoop
ed to put it to his lips, he faintly Baid,
" lou remember f
Tho curate replied with n nod, and
when the troop had departed, in spite
of the remonstrances of Margarita, who
represented to him the danger of going
out iu the night, and tho inutility of
such a step, he quickly crossed the
wood towards the ravine, and there
found the dead body of a woman kil
led, no doubt, by some stray Bhot from
the soldiers. A baby lay at her breast,
and by her side a little boy of about
four years old, who was endeavoring to
wake her, pulling her by the sleeve,
thinking she had fallen asleep, and call
ing her mamma. One may judge of
Margarita's surprise when the curate
returned with two children on his
arms.
Santa Madre ! what can this mean ?
What will you do in the night? We
have not even sufficient food for our
selves, rtnd yet you bring two children.
I mnst go and beg from door to door
for them and ourselves. And who are
these children ? The sons of a bandit
a gipsy ; and worse perhaps. . Have
thev ever been baptized
At this moment, the infant uttered a
plaintive cry. "What will you do to
teed tho buoy ? Wo cannot allord a
nurse ; we must use a bottle, and you
have no idea of the wretched nights we
shall have with him.
"You will sleep, iu spite of all," re
plied the good curate.
' O I auuta ALaria, lie cannot be more
than six months old 1 Happily I have a
little niilk here : 1 must warm it, and
forgetting her anger, Margarita took
the infant from the priest, kissed it,
and soothed it to rest. Slie knelt be
fore the fire, stirred the embers to heat
the milk quicker, and when the little
one had enough, she put him to sleep,
and tho other had his turn. Whilst
Margarita gave him some supper, un
dressed him, and mado him a bed for
the night of the priest's cloak, the good
old man related to her how ho had
found the children, and in what man
uer they had been bequeathed to him.
"Oh ! that is fine and good " said
Margarita ; " but how can they and we
be tea?
The curate took the Bible, and read
aloud "Whoever 6hall give, even a
cup of cold water, to one of the least
being my disciple ; verily I say unto
you, he shall not loso his reward.
" Amen 1" responded the house
keeper.
The next day, the good father ordered
the burial of the poor woman, aud he
himself read the service over her grave.
Twelve years afterward, the curate of
San-Pedro, then seventy years of ago,
was warming himself in the suu in front
of his house. It was winter, and there
hud been uo sunshine for two days pre
viously. Beside him stood a boy, ten or twelve
years old, reading aloud the daily pray
ers, and Irom time to time casting a
look of envy ou a youth of about six
teen, tall haudsome, and muscular, who
labored in the garden adjoining that of
the priest. Margarita, being now blind,
was listening attentively, when the
yougest boy exclaimed "O! what a
beautiful coach ! " as a splendid equipage
drove up near the door.
A domestic, richly dressed, dismount
ed, and asked the old priest to give
him a glass of water for his master.
" Carlos," said the priest to the
younger boy, " give this nobleman a
glass of water, and add to it a glass of
wine, if he will accept it. Bo quick I "
The gentleman alighted from the
co.ich. lie seemed about fifty.
"Are the children your nephews?'
inquired he.
" Much better," said the priest ;
" they are mice by adoption, be it un
derstood." "How so?"
"I shall tell you, as I can refuse no
thing to such a gentleman, for poor and
inexperienced iu the world as I am, I
need good advice how best to provide
for these two boys."
" Make ensigns of them in the king's
gutrds ; and iu order to keep up a suit
able appearance, he must allow them a
pension of six thousand ducats."
" I ask your advice, my lord, not
mockery."
"Then you must have your church
rebuilt, and by the side of it a pretty
parsonage house, with handsome iron
railings to enclose tho whole. When
this work is complete, it shall be called
the church of the Vasa d'arua, (Glass
of Water). Here is the p)an of it ; will
it suit you ?"
What do you mean ?"
" These features this voice means
that I am Don Jose della Ribera.
Twelve years ago I was the brigand
Jose. I escaped from prison, and the
times have changed. From a chief of
robbers, I have become the chief of a
party. You befriended me. You have
been a father to my children. Let them
come to embrace me let them come 1"
and he opened his arms to receive them.
They fell on his bosom.
When he had long pressed them, and
kissed them, by turns, with tears, and
half uttered expressions of gratitude, he
held out his hand to the old priest.
" Well, my father, will you not accept
the churoh?"
The curate, greatly moved, turned to
Margarita, and said " Whosoever shall
give, even a cup of cold water, to one of
the least, being my disciple; verily I say
unto you, lie snail not lose his re
ward." " Amen I" responded the old dame.
who wept for joy at the happiness of her
master, and his children by adoption, at
whoso departure buo also grieved.
Twelve months afterwards, Don Jose
della Ribera and his two sons attended
at the consecration of the church of San
Pedro, one of the prettiest churches in
the environs of Seville,
A Fatal Familiar.
In Jersey City, according to the Jour
nal, there is a physician who has won
considerable fame from the successful
cures ho has made both in medicine
and surgery. For some years past, the
doctor says, whenever one of his pa
tients dies, no matter where he is, what
time, day or night, a small white but
terfly comes directly to him, and flits
about until it has attracted his notice,
when it departs. The moment the doc
tor sees the little winged messenger of
death, he is at once made aware of the
demise of his patient ; and if at night
the notice comes to him, he invariably
remains in his office in tho morning in
order to give a certificate of death. The
first time the doctor ever saw this but
terfly was a few years ago, while he was
looking at the body of a dead child,
which was very dear to him, and the
butterfly alighted on the breast of the
child, aud thero remained, slowly rais
ing its wings up and down, uutil the
body was closed up in its littlo coffin.
A few evenings since, while- the doctor
was attending a patient in Clark place,
the butterfly entered the window, and
commenced flitting about tho doctor's
head; he looked up at it, aud one of the
ladies in the room, thinking it annoyed
him, said, " Oh, leave it alone ; it will
soon burn its wings by the blaze of the
gas." " No it won't," said tho doctor ;
" it has come on a mission, and will
soon disappear. I have just lost a pa
tient, and in tho evening I shall be
called upon for a certificate of death."
Sure enough, the next morning, the
father of the child that had died the
night before called upon the doctor, and
notified him of tho lss of his little oue.
This is only one of many instances
where tho doctor has received this
strange visitation, and kept a record of
the circumstances, besides that of call
ing the attention of those present to the
fact of the butterfly-warning of death
among his patients.
An Awkward "Catch."
A man named Gilsey who, by strict
economy and seveie industry, had suc
ceeded in getting his family a little
place, free of incumbrance was fishiug
in Still river, near tho Beaver brook
mills, ou a Sunday afternoon. After
sitting on the bank for a couple of
hours, without catching anything, he
was gratified to see, on a flat stone in
the water, a snapping-turtle sunning
itself. The butt-end of tho turtle was
toward him, and he thought ho would
capture it ; bnt whilo he was looking
for a pluce to step, the turtle gravely
turned around without his knowledge,
aud when he got in reaching distance,
and beut down to tako hold of what na
ture designed should be taken hold of
while handling a snapping turtle, that
sociable animal just reached out and
took hold of Mr. Gilsey's hand with a
grasp that left no doubt of its sincerity.
The shrieks of tho unfortunate man
aroused some of the neighbors, but
when they arrived it was too late to bo
of any benefit to him, or even to them
selves, for they just caught a glimpse of
a bareheaded man tearing over the hill,
swinging a small carpet-bag in one
hand, aud they at once concluded that
it was a narrow escape from highway
robbery. However, it was not a carpet
bag ho was swinging it was that turtle,
aud it clung to him until he reached
the White street bridge, when it let go;
but the frightened man did not slacken
his gait until lie got home. When ho
reached tho house, the ludicrousness of
the affair burst upon him, and when his
wife looked at his pale face, and bare
head, aud dust-begrimed clothes, and
asked him what was the matter, he said.
" Nothing was the matter, only ho was
afraid he would be too late for church,"
and appeared to be much relieved to
fin I that he wasn t.
Novelties iu Fashions.
Over-tkirts deeply pointed on the
sidea and clinging to the figure are worn
abroad. They are made of twilled India
silk, China crape, or az-y soft, flexible
fabric, are edged with knotted fringe.
or else lace or insertion, and are worn
over white muslin or tulle dresses.
Raised embroideries in colored silks
and wool are favorite trimmings on
French dresses of foulard and other
silken fabrics. Every hue of the flower
and leaf is represented, instead of the
modest designs now wrought iu one
color, tone upon tone. Embroidered
laces are also announced as a garniture,
used specially by Worth on very dressy
toilettes.
There is an effort abroad to bring
into favor what is called the Restoration
sleeve, viz. : a close sleeve with a largo
puff at the top. This is unbecoming
as it gives an appearance of too great
breadth, and destroys the graceful slope
of tapering shoulders.
Fish as a Diet.
Dr. Merryweather says ; "A fish diet
is a great bumanizer of the tempers of
mankind. Its consumption tends won
derfully to render them more kindly to
one another, and consequently tames
the passionate disposition to crime. As
carniverous animuls are always the most
fierce and violent, so become human
beings who have carniverous stomachs.
Could such stomachs have an occasional
respite by the consumption of fish, the
world would be all the better for it. I
speak as a medical man, and firmly as
sert that many maladies would be miti
gated, and, perhaps, annihilated by such
a process
A gentle being at Marion, Ind., lately
caught a sandhill crane, hung it up
alive by its heels all night, then plucked
off most of its feathers, and advertised
an ostrich for exhibition.
Toads Living Without Eating.
The notion that toads can live with
out material food is both more generally
believed and better supported than that
touching the jewel in its head. Numer
ous accounts, apparently well authenti
cated, relate the finding of toads en
tombed in the centre of nged trees
when cleft open by the woodman's
wedge, or enclosed in chambers of
chalk or stone until disinterred by the
miner, but still alive, and seemingly in
good health. Their presence in such
places was accounted for, in the case of
the trees, by the supposition that they
had eithei climbed, or been dropped by
some bird of prey, into the hollow
trunk ; and, being unable to extricate
themselves, had been gradually shut in
by the growth of wood overhead. In
the case of chalk or stone, it was be
lieved that the egg had been washed by
floods through some minute crack or
crevice into on already-existing chamber
in the mine, which egg had hatched in
due course, and produced the interest
ing recluse in question. Both of which
suggestions seem possible explanations
of the mystery.
So persistently, indeed, have such
stories been repeated, that Dr. Buck
land, formerly Dean of Westminster,
determined to put the matter to the test
by enclosing sundry toads in blocks of
stone and wood. For this purpose he
had twenty-four holes excavated in two
blocks of stone twelve of them in a
block of coarse oolitio limestone, and
twelve in a block of close-grained sili
cious sandstone. The holes were circu
lar those in the limestome were twelve
inches deep by five in diameter, and
those in tho sandstone were of the same
diameter, but only half the depth.
Each cell had a groove at the top, fitted
to receive a circular plate of glass, with
a slate over it, and when closed was ren
dered impervious to air and water by a
coating of soft clay.
In each of the twenty-four cells an
unfortunate toad was pluced and sealed
down on a given day, having been first
carefully weighed, and the blocks of
stone were buried in the earth three
feet deep. ..On opening the cells, thir
teen mouths after, all the toads in the
smaller cells were found dead, aud
muoh decayed. The greater part of
those in tho oolite were still alive, aud,
stranger still, more than one had actu
ally increased in weight 1 But in at
least one of such cases of increase the
cover of the cell was found to be slight
ly cracked sufficiently so, perhaps, to
admit small insects out of thesurround-
ing earth. All the" survivals were then
buried again, and at the end of the sec
ond year they were also dead.
During tne last incarceration tney
were frequently watched through the
glass cover of their cells, and always
appeared to be wide awake with open
eyes, and iu no state approachiug tor
por ; but on each successive examina
tion they wero observed to be growiug
" fine by degrees and beautifully less,"
until at last they died of sheer emacia
tion.
All those confined in trees in the
same fashion were dead at the end of
the first year, and much decayed. The
cells were in apple trees, on the north
side of the tree, five by three inches
large.
That the toad does "live on the vapor
of a dungeon" appears therefore to bo
conclusively disproved. Aud such
aerial toads seem to be as much crea
tures of the poet's brain as the flower
eating serpents of the same great writer.
JJtlgravia.
Jeremy Got His Wife.
Mr
Jeremy White, one of
Oliver
Cromwell's domestio
chaplains,
sprightly man, and one
wits of the'eourt, was so
to make his addresses
of the chief
ambitious as
to Oliver's
youngest daughter, the lady Frances,
The young lady did not discourage him :
but in so religious a court this gallantry
could not be carried on without being
taken notice of.
The Protector was told of it, and was
much concerned thereat ; he ordered
the person who had told him to keep a
sharp lookout, promising him, if he
could give any substantial proof, he
should be well rewarded, and White
severely punished.
Tho spy followed his business socloso
that in a little time he dogged Jerry
White, as he was generally culled, to the
lady's chamber, and ran immediately to
tho Protector to acquaint him that they
were together.
Oliver, in a rage, hastened to the
chamber, and going in hastily, found
Jerry on his Knees, either kissing the
lady's hand, or having just kissed it.
Cromwell, in a fury, asked what was the
meaning of that posture before his
daughter Frances ? White, with great
presence of mind, said
" May it please your highness, I have
for a long time courted that young
gentlewoman mere, my lady s w,oman
and cannot prevail ; I was, therefore
humbly praying her ladyship to inte
cede for me."
The Protector, turning to the young
woman, cried :
" What's the meaning of this, hussy
why do you refuse the honor Mr.
White would do you ? He is my friend,
and I expect you should treat him as
such."
My lady's woman, who desired noth
ing more, with a very low courtesy, re
plied :
" If Mr. White intends me that honor,
I shall not be against him."
"Sayest thou so, my lass?" said
Cromwell; " call Goodwyn ; this busi
ness shall be done presently before I go
out of the room."
Mr. White was gone too far to go
bock ; his brother parson came ; Jerry
and my lady's woman were married iu
the presence of the Protector, who gave
her five hundred pounds for her por
tion, which, with what she had sav.d
before, made Mr. White easy in his cir
cumstances, except that he never loved
his wife, nor she him, though they
lived together near fifty years afterward.
To Take Stains out of White Mab
blb. Take one ox-gall, one wine-glass
of soap lees, one-half wine-glassful of
turpentine ; mix and make into a paste
with pipe-clay. Put on the paste over
the stain, and let it remain for several
days. If the stain is not fully removed,
a second application will generally
prove Buwcient,
The rrcrcutlou and Cure of Cholera.
In response to a request signed by a
number of physicians of Tennessee, Dr.
Chas. K. Winston of Nashville has writ
ten an interesting review of the cholera
epidemics of that city and the treatment
adopted by him. Respecting tho pre
vention of the disease, Dr. Winston
writes :
"Can this be done? I affirm that it
may. If it were not for this fact oholera
would be substantially the most dread
ful of all scourges. If every family
would establish a strict police, call the
roll three times daily, observe the rule
of personal cleanliness, see that all
filthy places were cleansed or disinfect
ed, eat aud drink prudently, keep regu
lar hours, and exercise moderately,
cholera could not bo developed in its
active form. I affirm, further, that if
under such circumstances the premoni
tory symptoms should occur, and which
I do not deny, then, and in that case,
if tho party shall bo required to lay
down and keep still no cholft-a in its full
nature can be developed.
" The ordinary healthy human body
has the power of excreting the morbid
cause of the cholera, aud I would agree
to insure any number of persons, if
they would observe the above rules.
This is a fact of great consequence, and
ought to bo insisted upon ut each visi
tation of the dreadful scourge. It should
be placarded nnd posted upon the door
of every dwelling. And if any member
of a family should at such a time say 'I
am sick, require him at onoe to lay
down and stay there until he can say 'I
am well.' The materia) tnorbi of many
diseases may not bo shunned or turned
aside. We cannot shun measels, small
pox, or scarlet fever, but we may avoid
cholera iu the way to which I have now
referred.
"Suppose, however, the disease can
not be avoided, can it bo successfully
treated? I affirm that it can."
Tho doctor then describes his treat
ment in terms intelligible only to the
medical reader. He concludes as fol
lows :
"Iu conclusion, let me sav guard the
people against nostrums and cholera
syrups of all kinds, especially peppers
which injure the tone and ultimately
upset the stomach. A little spirits of
camphor nnd laudanum, together with
a box of mustard and three or four ten
grain doses of calomel, are all that is ne
cessary. With these, and laying flat on
ttie back, any one may bid denunce to
cholera.
Balloon Yoy ages.
Tho longest balloon voyage on record
was made by M. Nadur's great balloon,
Le Geant, which ascended from
Paris iu October, 18C3, with nine pas
sengers, aud descended the next day,
in a gale ot wind, near Nienburg, Hau
over, having traversed seven hundred
and fifty miles in seventeen hours. The
descent was of a perilous character, aud
several persons were injured by jump
ing from the car. The balloon rose to
an altitude of 15,000 feet. On Novem
ber 7th, 1836, the celebrated English
aeronaut, Charles Green, accompanied
by Monck Mason nnd Robert Holland,
left London in a balloon, and landed
the next morning near Welberg, in the
Duchy of Nassau. Tho time occupied
in the journey was eighteen hours, and
the distance traveled upward of hvo
hundred British miles. Tho greatest
height attained in this voyage was 12,
000 feet. In 1849, Arbau, a French bal
loonist, mado the passage of the Alps,
going from Marseilles to Turin, four
hundred miles, in eight hours. Mr.
Coxwell, the English aeronaut, and Mr.
Glushier, the eminent meteorologist,
made a number of high ascensions to
gether. The most remarkable of these
took place September 5, 1852, when
they attained the greatest altitude ever
reached by man. Mr. Glashier esti
mates this to have been between 30,000
and 37,000 feet, or about seven miles.
His last observation, made before the
greatest elevation was reached, showed
un altitude of 29,000 feet. Ho then be
came insensible, and so remained for
the space of about seven minutes, the
balloon meanwhile ascending until it
was checked by Mr. Coxwell, who seized
the valve-rope by his teeth, as his hands
were helpless. September 15, 1804, M.
Gay Lus8ao reached a height of 22,977
feet, his ascension having been made for
scientific purposes. Blunchard claimed
to have ascended to a height of 32,000
feet, and Margat, Garuerin, Robertson
aud othej's have claimed to outdo this,
but iu most cases their balloons were
too small to have been able to carry
them so high, Messrs. Rush and Greeq
ascended to an altitude of over 25,000
feet.
A Boy With a Big Head.
A few days since, says the San Fran
cisco Chronicle, a woman entered a hat
store on Washington street.accompanied
by a boy about ten years of age. She
said the boy was her son and she want
ed a hat for him. The hatter glanced
at tho boy's head and was dismayed at
its size. lie tried several hats, but
nouo would fit. Then he measured the
lad's caput and found it to be twenty
eight inches in circumference and
eighteen inches from ear to ear. To fit
such a head it would require a nine and
three-eighths hat, and the largest size
known to modern hatters is seven and
three-eights. The woman said her
name was Hickok, and that the boy was
a native of Philadelphia. At birth, she
said, his brain-box was of unusual size.
The lad is of weak and puny frame, and
one arm is partially paralyzed.
A Strange Murder.
At Jezi, in Italy, a few days ago, an
old woman, named Capanori, announced
that she had found her husband s body
in a ditch at the bottom of a rocky emi
nance, from which he must have fallen
by accident. Suspicion, however, fell
upon her, and she was arrested. She
confessed that she had caused her hus
band's death by pushing him over the
cliff while he was at work. He had
fallen into the ditch and had been
drowned. Maternal love had prompted
the commission of the murder. She
had been told that the only way in which
she could have her son restored to her
from the ranks of the army was to be
come a widow. In order to do this it
was necessary to kill her husband.
The Granges.
The new secret society of tho
'Granges of the Patrons of Husbandry"
has developed itself with a suddenness
and strength which is very remarkable.
The general idea of the order was origi
nally suggested by a community ot
Scotch farmers in North Carolina, club
bed together for the purchase of all
needed supplies from first hands, and
at wholesale prices. It was not until
18G8 that the thougiit oi torming an ex
tensive organization upon this model
began to make headway among the
farmers of he West. Gradually the
thought was developed into action, and
the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry
became the wide-spread and powerful
league which we now find it. women,
as well as men, are admitted to the
privileges of tho granges. Members
admitted to the firRt degree are known
respectively as laborer and maid ; to
the seoond degree as cultivator and
shepherdess; to the third degree as
harvester and gleaner; and to tne
fourth degree as husbandman and mat
ron. The fifth degree is conferred only
in the State granges, which are com
posed of masters and past-masters of
the subordinate granges and their
wives, who are matrons. Those admit
ted to this degree are called members of
the Pomona or Hope grange. The sixth
degree is conferred only upon members
of the council of the National grange,
which is composed of masters and past
masters of State granges and their
wives, who have taken tho degree of
Pomona. Tho emblem of this degree
is Flora (charity). The seventh and
highest degree is conferred only upon
members of tho national senate, which
comprises members of tho council who
have served one year in that body. The
members of this degree are charged
with the secret work of the order. It
thus appears that the secresy of the or
der, except as regards the seventh de
gree, is only a transparent veil. And
there can be little doubt that the secret
work of the seventh-degree members
will include the execution of whatever
political plans may be adopted for
carrying out the general purposes of the
order.
The Blouse Dress.
White linens, with stripes or polka
dots of black, blue, or scarlet, are the
favorite materials for pleated blouses
this summer. Among stripes fine hair
lines are chosen ; polka dots are about
the size of a pea, and are placed quite
far apart. Such liuens cost sixty cents
a yard. Sheer linen lawns are also used,
and bought in the same designs for
thirty cents. Entire dresses of linen
lawn are made by this pattern, with
prettily ruffled skirt and over-skirt ; the
model is also excellent for Bummer
prints and percales. Undressed gray
flax linen makes useful blouses for
morning and country wear, and has
certain air of style when worn with
black skirts of silk or alpaca. The Eng
lish standing collar with turned-over
points in front, and square shirt cuff
with broken points, are used for gray
blouses. Sailor blouses are of blue
linen, or else navy flannel, with squaro
collars, ou which white anchors or stars
ore wrought. Very dressy blouses of
thin white muslin have bauds of em
broidery or the Valenciennes insertion
let in between the pleats. Black Brus
sels and guipure net blouses are also
very stylish with silk skirts. A baud
of black velvet ribbon, with narrow edg
ing on each side, is placed down tho
middle of each box-pleat ; others have a
pull between the pleats, and colored rib
bon is run through tho putt.
The over-skirt is a full, long, ample
round over-skirt, stylishly draped. The
over-skirt is of the dark material of the
lower skirt, but variety is given to tho
wardrobe by having the upper skirt
and blouse of the same liaht fabric
with a dark skirt beneath. Tho imper
feet remnants of eight yards of any
pretty muslin may bo utilized, and
graceful over dress made; this quantity
will not be sufficient for a ruffle ou tho
edge, and a bias fold is used instead,
Insurance Suit.
A curious insurance case has arisen
in connection with the destruction o
some furnace patterns owned by D. B,
Montague fc Co.. of Springfield, .Mass.
in tho recent burning of the Norton
Furnace Company's works. The Union
thus explains it:
" Mr. Montague sent orders to the
company to insure his property, and
they accordingly placed two policies
one for Slot) aud auotner lorfc-juu botu
in the Springfield Fire and Marine,
After two annual renewals had been
paid, the property was burned, and ou
applying for his insurance, Mr. jvion
tague found that ho could get nothing
on the larger policy because the prop
erty was described as being kept in
stwre-house, which was not burned,
The $150 policy insured the patterns
' kept either in the store-house or Ion a
dry.' and was of course collectible. Tho
larger policy should have been written
the same way, as the patterns were not
kept in the Btore-house two weeks dur
ing the year. Now. as Mr. Montague
told thecompany to insure his property,
and as they informed him that they had
done so, he proposes to hold them re
sponsible. The company, in turn, de
otare their ignorance of the state of the
case, and as the agent was ordered to
write the policies to completely protect
the property, they will bring suit
against him to recover the amount of
the loss. The sum is insignificant, but
from the principle involved of the pecu
niary liability of agents, the case will
attract great attention."
Suicides.
A writer in a French medical journal,
who has examined about 900 judicial ac
counts of suicides in Paris, thinks him
self warranted in assuming the follow
ing conclusions : Philosophical, or pre
meditated suicide, takes place usually
during the night and little before day
break ; accidental or unpremeditated
suicide, takes place during the day, be
cause it is then that the occasional
causes arise, such as quarrels, bad news,
losses, intemperance. &a. At every acre.
too, men chose particular modes of com
mitting suicide. Thus in youth he has
recourse to hanging, which he soon
abandons for fire-arms-; in proportion
as vigor declines, or old age advances,
banging is generally the mode.
Facts and Fancies.
A man at Do Soto, Iowa, lately swal
lowed several of his teeth while playing
croquet.
The Treasurer of Lyons county, Min
nesota, kept the funds in the drawer of
a sewing machine, and $357 was drawn
from it without his knowledge.
A telegram from Mons, Brussels, says .
an explosion of fire damp occurred in
a coal mine at Framieres. Five miners
. ... - i .t
were killed and several mjureu.
A fli!n.000 libel suit has been com- .
menced against tho Chicago Times by a
young lawyer whom it called a shyster,
and eleven more suits are to follow.
Irate party to bus-driver " Why
didn't you attend to my hail 7 us-
driver, with dignity and a "pulling
team " " 'Cause I had my hands full of
reiu."
An Indiana man, who shot another,
and afterword repented, wrote to his
victim that if he would only getwrll ho
would give him $10,000. Tho wounded
person expressed a willingness to get
well at any price.
Mr H. O. Rotherv. Registrar of tho
High Court of Admiralty of England,
has been appointed British Ageut for
tho Settlement of the Fishery Questions
between the Canadian Dominions and
the United States.
Tho Houston (Texas) Mercury ex
presses the opinion that it is necessary
for tho better security of our borders
that wo should possess a slice of Mexi
can soil, and that the people Hre ripe for
any niovo that tends toward its acqui-
stion.
A vouiiof "man" in Hudson, Mich.,
asked to accompany a young lady home
from church. She declined his com
pany, nnd ho walked behind her and
spit tobacco-juice upon neroress. aiura
then tho police have paid him much at
tention. A rural correspondent of the Oilman's
Journal, in describing a belle of tho oc
casion, says she " wore a showy white
dress, enlivened with pink, which was
in harmony with her jolly good nature."
Pink ponH-natured harmony is a desir
able quality.
A Maine eirl who was awakened tho
other night by the flash of a light in her
room, jumped outof bed and discovered
a burglar creeping on all lours tlirougn
the hall. Sho screamed ana turew a
bed-wrench at him, and he scampered
down stairs and out of doors.
Earl Russel has obtained a return
showing the number of persons tried for
murder in Ireland during the last six
months previously to the 9th of May
last, and tho verdicts returned. Thero
are nine cases in the list. In five of tho
trials the jury disagreed ; in tho other
instances the verdicts wero tor man
slaughter."
Hon. Charles Francis Adams has ac
knowledged, in a letter to a Western
man, the reception of a card containing
what is denominated a platform of the
Farmers' and People's Anti-Monopoly
party of Livingston county, and says :
1 see but littlo to object to and a good
deal to approve. But at this day it is
not profession that is so mucn wanted
as practice."
This is the Nellie Grant bathing suit
which has become bo fashionablo at all
the seaside summer resorts: A Gari
baldi waist, with sailor collar ; a short
skirt attached to the waist by a belt
and trousers ; hempen shoes and a chip
hat tied down with a broad baud of rib
bon. Ash gray, bound with scarlet,
and blue with white are the favorable
combinations.
The consumption of potatoes in Sar
atoga is large. At the Lake House it is
the fashion not ouly to nibble a gooaiy
quantity of this delicacy (fried, of
course) while there, but to carry some
away for future consumption. It is said
that tho proprietor sold no less than
thirteen thousand packages of fried po
tatoes to the visitors of Saratoga in the
season of 1872.
A civil service committee in Washing
ton asked an applicant for a clerkship
what was tho distance of the planet
Saturn from tho earth. The candidate
answered that he was unable to state
the distance in miles, but did not think
it was sufficiently near to interfere with
the performance of his duties as a clerk,
nor to beget in him a desire it meddle
with the rings.
Stephen Chase, living near Fort
Wuyne.Ind., recently discovered a large
tree lying directly across tho railway
track. He procured an axe, and had
partly removed tho tree, when the axo
slipped and cut deep into his foot, ne,
however, bravely continued his work
uutil tho track was clear, just in time
to prevent tho destruction of a passen
ger train which was approaching.
The Dubuque Telegraph presents a
new platform for the "new party" of
Iowa. It goes in for free commerce, free
banking, a uuilorm national, currency,
payment of the debt at par in green-
. 1 . 1 1 J. 1 -1 - A I -
DacKS, tne rigui oi niuor iu snare iu ino
profits of labor and capital, retrench
ment and economy in Government ex
penditures, low taxation, and opposition
to vested rights. The name suggested
for tho party is the Democratic Re
publican." A young lady of Nashville is changing
her views somewhat relative, to the
question of matrimony. She says that
when she "catno out" in society, she
determined bhe would not marry a man
unless he was an ipiscopauan. Time
passed on and she did not get married,
and then modified her views, and con
cluded she would marry no man who
was not a Christian. That young lady
is still unmarried, and says now that all
she is looking for is a man that don t
drink whisky.
A silent, but veritable revolution has
taken place in English fashionable
world. Hitherto it had been the prac
tice when friends or acquaintances
were about leaving town to call on one
another and leave a card with the let
ters in pencil, P. P. C. At present, if
that missive be left by the owner, and
no departure takes place within eight
days, no umbrage is to be taken ; but
if a fortnight or a month elapse, and
there is no prospect of the departure,
the p. p. e, is to be accepted as a notice
to quit all visiting a decision as defin
ite and unchangeable aa the laws of the
Medes and, Persians.