-i. ..i i . .. .. , , , . ., ,. i. .i( ..,',r."jj,. . ... . i . ..I . i . " 1 HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum. VOL. IY. MDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THUKSDAY, MAY 28, .1874. NO. 13. Victoria Grey. A giddy young girl was Victoria Oroy, One proud, and determined to have ber own way; And r&ther than bend, She would lose her beet friend She was one upon w hom one could never da peud. That she thought horsfalf charming was plain to be seen By her confident manners and satisfied mien ; Bho was one of that kind That one often will find, With a small, selfleh heart and diminntivo mind. Victoria Grey had a passion for dross, Tho' taste and good Judgment she did not pos sess ; On the street she would flirt, And sweep through tho dirt, With thirty-six yards of light silk in her skirt. She had many lovers, it may bo a score She had promised to marry a dozen or more ; All felt happy and gay At tho confident way They wcro treated and loved by Victoria Grey. Augustus Van Quirk was her fortunate flame (Victoria loved his euphonious name,) A weak little fehow, Whose whiskers were yellow, With little white hands and a voice rather mellow. ITe took her to operas, dances and plays, He courted and wooed her in various ways, Ho whispered a store Of affectionate lore That blighted the hopes of the dozen or more. Thoy were married at last, 'twas a famous affair, Made brilliant by presents of real plated ware 'Twas a transient display, The talk of a day, And this was tho end of Victoria Grey. Tive yoars have paseod by, and Augustus Van Quirk Has never been guilty of going to work ; Just over the way Is a small sign to-day, " BoAnmNa Mrs. Van Quirk," (net Victoria Groy.) THE QUARREL. They hung, heavy plumes of purple, over the little gateway iu that bright afternoon the 1st of June. A chari table breeze swept one scented bnnch of bloom a bit aside, just out of the reach of a little brown hand that had a moment ago ruthlessly stripped off half its blossoms. Eut the owner of tho hand had al ready turned about, with a toss of her black curls and a flirt of her pink cali co dress, that scared the butterflies, and before the branch swung back she wes hastening up the trim garden path, and flinging back a sharp speech over her shoulder at a tall, sunburned young fellow who, with a vexed light in his eyes, stood iu the gateway watching her. "Oh, it don't matter what I think ! Indeed, I don't think at all. You may take whom you like to the next May dance you won't take me " It was such a pretty shoulder over which these words were caBt, and there was such a rosy flush of anger on the round cheek half veiled in curls, that it is no wonder John Armitage took two or three steps in pursuit of tho speak er ; but he stopped, drew himself up with sudden pride, and said one re proachful word. "Nancy!" The one addressed wavered a little in her retreat, then resumed it with in creased celerity. "Will you stop and listen to me ?" the young man queried, his rising indigna tion somewhut modifying his tone of appeal. " No !" and the pink calico swept the myrtles on either side of the walk fas ter yet. " Veiy well," was the angry response, as he ho had pleaded turned toward the gate. " But mark my words : you'll De eoriy lor tins before these bushes here " brushing tho low sprays sharp ly aside " are out of bloom I Now good-by." Nancy, peeping from behind a cur tain after his retreating figure, cried". Perhaps the soliloquy will tell why. "Well, it's all over between ns now. any way. it a his fault, too. He d no busiuess to tako any one olse to the May-dance when I couldn't go. I shouldn't wonder if he's gone down to Sarah Anderson's now. They'll be en gaged next thing, and she'll crow over me finely. He'll try to make me jeal ous " here Nancy had a spasm of cry ing. ." See if I won't make him jealous first !" The way she would do it became ap parent the next afternoon, when, dressed in a jaunty blue suit that set off well her creamy complexion, dark curls, and tinted cheeks, she started for the village. The dainty blue silk parasol was lowered a little as she came to the pretentious block of buildings opposite the hotel, upon one of which hung the sign, " Dr. Miles Gray. Office hours from 8 to 10 a. sr., from 3 to 5 p. m." But the face of the building was blank, and the office curtains lowered ; so, with an impatient exclamation under her breath, Nancy went on to the post office, where, getting no letter, she turned discontentedly toward home. The Fates forbade her. She had not accomplished a quarter of the distance before tho light roll of wheels made her turn her head and start perceptibly. In a moment more young Dr. Gray, whose natty top-buggy was the envy of all the men, and wnose fascinating smile had won the hearts of all the women, had drawn up his horse at her Bide, and leaped to the ground, and had asked, eagerly, " Miss Evans, may I have the pleas ure of driving you home ?" The color brightened in Nancy's cheeks, the light in her eyes, as she as sented with a charming smile ; and in a moment they were slowly bowling along the road, and the blue ribbons were blown against the doctor's broad cloth. Dr. Gray was young, handsome, not deficient in brains, with pocket money enough, to prevent him from baing tragically earnest iu his profession, and very much in love with the coquettish bit of womanhood by his side. As for Nancy, she was a little, afraid of the gray eyes that could be quizzical as well as admiring, and of the smilo that sometimes curled the corners of the black mustache. But Nancy was minus a lover just then, tho doctor was a "catoh," and so she laughed and chat tered as the bay horse trotted along. The farm-house came in sight too soon, and the doctor stopped midway in a speech to inquire, " Won't you take a longer ride 1 It's such a beautiful afternoon 1" Nancy demurred, as in duty bound. " I don't know. I guess it must be 'most tea-time." The doctor laughed, and held his watch before her. It was precisely four. ' Oh, well, then" began Nancy, somewhat confused. " But aren't these your office hours ?" " Confound my office hours 1" com mented the doctor to himself. Aloud he said, "I'm sometimes obliged to break through my hours. I'm going now to see a a patient on the outskirts of the town." So they drove on. The " patient" could hardly havo been in a critical state. The doctor, leaning back in the carriage, let the lines lie loosely on the horse's back as they paced slowly through shady wood roads smelling of pines, while the warm breezo fluttered light curls across Nancy's arch black eyes, and the blue silk parasol had to bo held up to keep the sun from her rose bud of a face. The doctor had a lurking fear that Nancy was rustio and ignorant, but ah I she was so pretty 1 How far they rode in this lazy way, wholly rapt in conversation, is not known. How far they would have rid den is uncertain, if Nancy had not sent a mischievous glance straight into the gray eyes, and inquired. "Why, where does that patient of yours Jive t The doctor laughed frankly, coloring nevertheless. "isee you understand the 'ways mat are oars ana tuo tncKs mat are vain pretty well, Miss Nancy. And now I don't dare to tell you what I was going to before you spoke." " What was it ?" queried Nancy, curi ous and conscious. "It was," said the doctor, bending nis own lace closer to the curl-shaded one at his side, " that I wish I had the right to keep you with me alwavs. Miss Nancy, will you look at me will you let mo t It was well that the doctor did not guess why, amidst Nancy's bright blushes, her lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears. She had made up her mind to accept the doctor, but in this decisive moment the thought of John Armitage sent a pang, cruel in inten' sity, tnrougii ner heart. Then came the memory of their yesterday's quar rel, and Nancy faltered, with a Strug gling smile, "I I dou't know." She did know when, in the late twi light, she and the doctor walked tocreth- er into the dusky sitting-room at home, where her father was dozing and her mother knitting, to ask their consent and their blessing. "Dear me!" said the good farmer, rubbing ins eyes. Two seen pieces of news in one day 8 cur us hereabouts, I heerd ou'y an hoursence that Johnnie Armitage is a-goiu' to Texas to kinder farm on his own account. I sorter thought, too, that he an' Nanoy fancied each other, but here she's wantin' to marry another man. It's cur'ns !" Nancy had taken her hand from tVie doctor's arm and had sat down in the window. She heard, mistily, com ments and congratulations : she an swered questions, langh'ed at jokes. She walked down to tho gate with the doctor when ho left, and stood there under the lilacs, his arm about her, re plying to his tender talk ; but when he was gone, leaving a farewell kiss on her lips, she rushed up stairs and threw herself on the bed in a perfect agonv of sobbing tnat sue could hardly stiue in the pillow. The story of the next week is hack' ueyed. Such happenings are too com mon. Nancy came and went like the ghost of herself, but the whole village was gossiping over her engagement, and her evidences of trouble were as cribed to the " queerness of a girl just engaged." Little tired Mrs. Armitage ran over across lots one afternoon to tell the Evanses that John was going Monday, and she guessed he would manage to get over and bid them good by ; and cried because her pet son was going away, and was cool and sharp to Nancy, evidently suspecting that she was the cause. Perhaps light natures suffer most overwhelmingly. Often in those beau tiful June days Nancy, all alone in some shadowy, grassy place, with sunbeams shimmering above, would wonder in a dim, childish way if she should not "die when John went." Only one hope was left : John was coming to 6uy good-by. Oh, if she could only let him know how it really was ! But'how could she ? and she would look down despairingly at the little gold circlet on her finger. Sunday afternoon John finally came. Nancy, sitting in the parlor with the doctor, caught a glimpse of the well- known figure at the gate under the lilacs again. For a moment the room whirled around, and she was deathly white ; then she rose mechanically, say ing that she must bid Mr. Armitage good-by, and went out to the doorway, where John was greeting her parents, and warding off the Newfoundland with a laugh. lea," ho was replying, as Nancy came up, "they say there s a pretty good chanco out there for a young fel low with health and energy How do you do, Miss Nancy ? and I've always been enterprising ; so I mean to try it." .Nancy stood pulling the rose vines in pieces while for half an hour the others talked crops, politics, and prospects. She could not have spoken for her life, though she longed to speak as a con demned criminal longs to ask mercy. Not once did John turn his obstinate auburn head to look at or speak to her, and at last he rose to go. He inter rupted himself, while detailing particu lars about grazing lands, to say " good by," while he just touched her hand. If he had looked at her, the miserable pathetio look of appeal on her childish face would have gone straight to his heart ; but he did not dare to look, and turning away abruptly, walked down the garden path with the garrulous old farmer hobbling by his side. Nancy had just time to escape her mother's eye by running up the stairs. She dtd not faint ; but God forbid that girls should often know such misery as she snnered then 1 When she at last joined the dootor, as in duty bound, tho stunned look in her face was pitiful. She " was not well," she said, in answer to his alarmed queries. It was Nancy who proposed that they snouid go to church that evening. In the comer of the hi eh old new. with her veil hiding her face, she could at least bo quiet, and ore hour more of ellurt would have been insupportable, Mrs. Armitage was alone iu her pew. and cried silently all through tho ser vice. Nancy's heart so went out to the poor woman that, when they met in the aisle, she pressed her hand lm pulsively, saying in a quiok whisper, "Mrs. Armitage, I'm sorry for you I" " I don't want any of your sorrow I" was the sharp response " It's fine to talk ; but you and I know well enough who's the cause of all. One word from you would stop it now if you were ' sorry enough I ' Poor Nancy 1 The clock was on the stroke of eleven that night when her lover llnally took his leave, and she was free to pace the moon-lit sitting room lrom end to end with set lips and wide, glittering eyes. She did not cry. She felt as if she were going crazy, and in her desperation she did not care if she did. Hour after hour passed, and still she paced there, till her rigid face showed whitely in the first faint gray of morning. "Oh, would he go? could he go ? would nothing happen to stop him ? Scarcely knowing what she was doing, Nancy slipped through tho door, and hatless, trailing her dainty blue skirt through the dewy grass, ran across lots to the Armitages . It was all still and dark and dewv. She heard the village clock strike three as she paused on the outskirts of the old-fashioned flower garden behind the house, and shrunk behind a hedge of blossomy macs, whese potent odor sick ened her. Her mind was in a whirl. She did not know why Bhe was there, or wnat she snouid ao. ne was in deadly fear lest some one should dis cover her, yet she could not go away. For half an hour she cronched there shiveringly, never taking her eyes off John s window, but starting every time the curtain blew. Suddenly a step on the garden path startled her so violent ly that she scarcely could suppress a scream. It was probably some of the work-people oh, if they should boo her 1 A hasty peep through the bushes showed her that it was worse than that; it was John himself, striding straight toward the gap in the hedge, and wear ing a most unpropitious face. Nancy. iu blind terror of discovery, crawled on her hands and knees close under the lilacs. He had passed, he was almost by, when a bird that Nancy had dis turbed new out with loud chirpings. One end of the loosened blue sash had caught on a stiff bough, and the color arrested his eye. Two strides brought him to the spot, and he stood with fold ed arms looking down at her a moment before his amazement found vent in tho exclamation, "Nancy I" He had never seen such utter aban don and agony of shame as that with which the poor little maiden hid her face and cowered in the wet grass, with the cry. " Oh, what shall 1 do ? Don't speak to me I Go away I " and burst into a storm of tears. For answer he gathered the little wet figure in his arms, smoothed the tum bled curls, tried to warm the icy hands, and did not dare to question, while he soothed her in his tenderest way. xaKe me nome, said jancy, as soon as she found strength to speak at an. " I shall do no such thing," was the decided answer, as John's disengaged hand lifted her face so that he could see it, "till you tell me why you came, Nancy, I couldn't help hoping a little when I saw you here. Don't make me give it up ! I thought my pride would support me through any thing, but I'm afraid it won't," he ended sadly. "I'm so glad it won't," breathed Nancy, in tones of heart-felt relief. " But somebody '11 Bee us. Take me home, John, and I'll tell you all about it." now different seemed the way home. with John at her side. But Nancy was in no hurry to " tell all about it." She only said, nerviously, holding John's hand in both hers, " Tromise mo you won t go away 1" "An, but I want another promise first." Nancy looked back at the plumv hedge whose shelter they had left, and said, with a half smile, " You see the lilacs are'nt out of bloom yet, John ; and I am sorry, as you said I'd be 1" "And the doctor? asks the critical reader. Ah, Nancy is no model cf Christian maidenhood. She is only a faulty young girl, erring and loving and Buffering, playing her part in one of the tragedies that are played every where in the springs and autumns, in the time of snow-drifts as well as in the time of lilacs. A Terrible Situation. On the Southwest coast of England, far out in the Atlantio ocean, are the Soilly Islands, a group of rocks and reefs, with habitable isles interspersed, On one of the rocks farthest out in the ocean is situated the Bishops Rock lighthouse. It is a lonely plaoe for men to abide, and the loneliness was more fearful on the morning of April 14, when the violence of a prevailing gale made the keepers tremble for their lives. Struck by enormous waves in quick succession, the massive stone building swayed to and iro so violently that every article within fell from its plaoe. One wave reached the lantern with such force as to break a great lens in several pieces, aud another caused other damage to the lighting aparatus. The keepers state that although the water is 180 feet deep by the rock, sand from the bottom was found heaped up on the lighthouse gallery, STARTING A NEWSPAPER. What It Csf to Try the Experiment In New Yorlt City. There being several projects for the establishment of new papers in New York, a city journal gives us some idea of the cost oi such an experiment : " In order to be really successful. four-cent morning journal should have a circulation of u&.OUO, with an addition al weekly circulation of 60,000. It conld not hope to have a daily circula tion equal to that of the &'un or that of the Herald. JNor are present indica tions such as to lead the organizers to expect that they could rival the weekly circulation of the old straw berry-seed' ling Tribune. During its first ytar, such a journal would hardly reach a Circula tion of 20,000. Its value, inolnding the worth of the Associated Press franchise (about $100,000,) and presses and typo, would be about ssuuu.uuu. in the da of Raymond and Greoley the Times and Tribune were estimated at that price. Shares of the present Timet) and Tri bune havo. however, sold for 811.000. The last purchase on the World was of one-fourth the whole establishment for $100,000. With such circulations as we have mentioned a paper should have from sales and subscriptions a yearly in come of $500,000. Its expenses would bo about as follows : Printing paper at 10 cents a pound, $2oO,OOU ; presswork, Bullock, etc., $30,000 ; composition and stereotyping, siuu.uuu; publication saia ries, $20,000; ink, etc., $10,000 ; editors and reporters, $80,000 ; telegrams, SoO.OOO ; correspondence, $50,000 ; advertising, $10,000 ; gas, $5,- 000 ; rent, $12,000 ; interest, $42,000 ; office sundries of all kinds, $25,000 making a sum total for a year of $684,- 000. The expenses would be more like' ly to be above than below this est! mate ; but at these hgures they are greater than the income from sales, by $184,000. This sum must bo made up by receipts from advertising. The usual price for transient advertising is 20 cents a lino. Railroads, steamship companies and theatres pay low prices ; so that after deducting agents commis sions, the rate is reduced to an average of about 12 cents a line. Au ordinary newspaper column, say the length of one in the l imes, contains, after deduc ting for spaces, about 250 ratable lines, the value of which at 12 cents each would be $30. As even at our low esti mate, it would be necessary to make np a dehciencv of about six hundred dol lars a day, it would be demanded of the publishers that they should daily fill about twenty columns, or about three pages of tho paper, with advertising. Whrni they had done that they might begin to expect pronts. now easy a ia to lose or to make money in metropoli tan journalism is evident from the fact that one column at the average rate of advertising is worth nearly ton thou sand dollars a year. It must bo remem bered, too, that the rate of expense per sheet decreases with an increaso of cir culation. For instance, after the type is set, the composition for sixty thou sand papers costs no more thau if only ten thousand were printed. The same may bo said of editorial expenses, of rent, of interest ; the additional expense for an increase of circulation always be ing for ink, paper and presswork. There are journals that make a profit on circu lation alone. Weekly editions of daily journals are 'lsually inexpensive, and advertisements in them are very prout able. Profits from weekly advertising would go to decrease the deficiency be tween expenses and reoeipts spoken of above. They can hardly be estimated. Chinese Trust. In all plaoos in China you may see a string of coolies rushing through the streets carrying loads of money. There is not a policeman to be seen, except occasionally at the gates or in time of trouble. You may see a shroff with a lot of dollars in a flat tray, examining them intently as they pass, click, over his thumb; sometimes a posse of idlers, consisting of chair-bearers, coolies, cooks and servants, all looking on. There does not seem to bo even the sus picion that anyone might attempt to kick the tray over and bolt with what he could get in the scramble. Why, even in that nest of iniquity, Hong Kong, you may see at that most com fortable of bailding, the Oriental Bank, a lot of Chinamen counting and exam ining, perhaps, thousands of dollars that are being paid to them, and some of the greatest scoundrels unhanged passing constantly : perhaps they think the men in the streets would most like ly be honest enough to catch them, but it is rather doubtful if they dare. Money and valuables are exposed in a way that would never be dreamed of in England ; and the similarity of dress, the narrowness and crowded state of the streets in China, all would aid in the escape of a robber. Twelve Years in China. Wisconsin Railroads. The Milwaukee" Wisconsin referring to the railroad war in that State says that telegrams from various sources in dicate that there is not much bad feel ing on either side. The legal fare, three cents a mile, is tendered in some cases, and the company refuses to ac cept it. The conductors do not attempt to eject the passengers, for that would be very foolish, but carry them to their destination for nothing. They tem porarily ride as " dead heads." Their names are taken by the conductors, and the attorneys of the company will prob ably commence suit against the indi viduals who refuse to pay the fare de manded. This, of course, will subject the individuals to some annoyance and expense, inasmuch as in this way the State will have in no form to bear the expense of the judicial proceedings, as it would should the Railway Commis sioners commence the suit. rT,Min.n T Mat a OTTO fTV the Sun, an old New Yorker day before yesterday; he had use leu one party ,o join another. Savs I. " What made you change ?" Says he, "It's perfect ly natural 1 should ! do so. Says I, "Whvsn?" fiava hn. " Dnn't a man always, when gets tired of lying on one side, turn over ou the other side ?" Says I, " Good day sir. " Appearances Against Him. The history of English law contains few more startling judicial tragedies than that to which the statute against murder owed so much humane amend ment as to make thclflnding and posi tive identification o' the slain person essential to the conviction of the mnr dererer ; and as the same remarkable case had a peculiar moral and social significance for the young lovers of all times, who, in their passionate devo tion to each other, are altogether too apt to disregard the fortunes of every body else in the world, it may be re called appropriately for modern read ing. Upon the death of Mr. George Per kins, a widower of considerable prop erty in London, it was found that his will appointed a brother of his, living near Epping Forest, the sole guardian of his only daughter, and directed that said guardian should inherit the whole fortune devised in case his young ward should die either unmarried or without children. Implicit confider.ee in his brother, who was a midale-aged bach of limited means, had, of course, in spired the dying man to make such a will ; but a number of family relatives pronounced the document an extra ordinary piece of servile fatuity, and darkly hinted that harm would ensue from it. This feeling caused an alien ation between the occupants of the Epping Forest residence and the afore said prophets, and mado the latter the bitterest prosecutors of the dead man's brother in the.strange and tragio suc ceeding events, which have been de scribed as follows : Uncle and niece were both seen one day walking together in the forest, but the young lady suddenly disappeared, and the uncle declared that he had sought her as soon as he missed her, and knew not whither Bhe had gone or what had become of her.' This account was considered improbable, and ap pearances being clearly suspicious, ho was arrested and taken before a magis trate. Other circumstances, hourly coming to light, rendered his position serious. A young gentleman in the neighborhood had been paying his ad dresses to Miss Perkins. It was stated, and generally believed, that he had gone, a few days before she was miss ed, on a journey to the North, and that she had declared that she would marry him on his return. The uncle had re peatedly expressed his disapprobation of tho match, and Miss Perkins had loudly reproached him with his nnkind- ness and abuse of his authority over her as his ward. A woman named Margaret Oaks was produced, who swore that about 11 o'clock ou the day on which Miss Perkins was missed she Hua paooins tlnouU iko loicsb Ulld heard the voice of a young lady earnest ly expostulating with a gentleman. On drawing nearer the spot whence the sound camo, Margaret Oaks testified that she heard the lady exclaim : " Don't kill me, uncle, ion't kill me I" The woman was greatly terrified, and ran away from the spot. As she was doing so she heard tho report of fire arms. On this combination of circum stantial and positive evidence, coupled with the suspicion of interest, the uncle was tried, convicted of murder, and almost immediately afterward accord ing to tho customs of those days was hanged. About ten days after the execution of the sentence upon the uncle, the niece reappeared, and, stranger still, showed by the history she related, that all the testimony given on the trial was strictly true. Miss Perkins said that, having resolved to elope with her lover, they had given out that he had gone on a journey to the North, whereas he had merely waited near the skirts of tho forest until Jthe time appointed for the elopement, which was the very day on on which she had disappeared, ner lover had horses ready saddled for them both, and two servants in at tendance on horseback. While walk ing with her uncle, he reproached her with her resolution to marry a man of whom he disapproved, and after -some remonstrances, she passionately ex claimed : " I have set my heart upon him. If I don't marry him it will be death to me ; and don't kill me uncle, don't kill me!" Just as she proclaimed those words she heard a gun fired, at which she started, and she afterwards saw a man come from among the trees with a wood-pigeon in his hand, which he had shot. On approuching the spot ap pointed for a meeting with her lover, she formed a pretence to induce her uncle to go on before her. She then fled to the aims of her lover, who had been waiting for her. and thev both mounted their horses and immediately rode off. Instead, however, of going to the North, they re tired to Windsor, and about a week afterwards went on on a tour of pleasure to France. There they passed some months bo happily that in those days, when newspapers were scarce, when there was no regular postal com munication and no telegraphs, they never heard of their uncle's sad fate until their return to England. Ascent or Sap in the Bark of Trees. M. Faivre has recently performed a series of experiments on the mulberry, hazel nut, and cherry laurel, which he considers goes far to prove the fact that the substances which supply the food of plants have an ascending motion in the bark, i or the purpose, he made perfect or imperfect annular incisions through the bark, or detached pieces of the bark, to which buds were attached, or removed entire cylinders of bark from the trunk. The result of the ex periments was that the buds always continued to develop when the com munication remained uninterrupted with the lower portion of the trunk ; while when this communication was completely destroyed, the buds invari ably withered away. If the bud was separated by a perfect annular incision, it withered the more slowly the greater its distance from the incision ; and in these cases the starch disappeared en tirely from the portions of the wood above the incision between it and the bud. When entire cylinders of bark with buds on them were removed, the buds continued to develop, and even produced braoohes bearing leaves. A BARON IN DISGUISE. The Florida Hotel Keeper who was very Badly Deceived. The people of Jacksonville, Florida, are having their fun over one of their hotel keepers. The story is told as follows : A rough-looking man entered the hotel and wrote his name upon the register. His face and hands were sun burned, and his eyes looked bloodshot. The watchman thought that he detect ed a smell of whisky about his clothes. A gray flannel shirt, torn coat, dirty breeches, and scaly brogans were all that the visitor wore. The watchman gazed at him a few seconds, as if un decided whether to kick him out or al low him to remain. " Could I have rooms placed at my service?" inquired the hard-looking customer. Watchman hesitated. Ho eyed the applicant very closely and smelled of him. There was a taint of liquor in the air. " Oh, you wants a room, do yon, old fellow ?" the watchman said. " Well, just step here a moment, and keep your hands in your pockets while I run up stairs and see if the landlord will assign you one." " There's a man down stairs wants a room," the watchman said. " Who is he ?" inquired the Deaoon. " A drunken old Irishman," was the reply. " What does he look like ?" was the interrogatorv. "Look like?" repeated the watch man. " He's the worst looking Irish man that I ever saw, and he's drunk." " Well, slap hjm in No. 40. I guess that's good enough for him." " I guess that it's better than he ever had before," answered the watchman as he closed the door. Down stairs he dashed. The bag gage was all safe. The Irishman stood facing the register with his hands in his pockets. " This way, old fellow," the watch man exclaimed, again mounting the steps. The old Celt followed him. No. 40 was a cramped apartment in the top of awing of the hotel immediately over the kitchen. The carpet was dusty, the noso of the wash pitcher was broken, and the furniture generally was not calculated to please a fastidious taste. " Is this my room ?" the Irishman asked. " Yes, this is your room," replied the watchman. "Well, then," said the Celt, "I must tell you that this won't do. I want a larger apartment, one that is well furnished and with sooparier ac commodations." " Oh, you do, eh ? I suppose you would like the ladies' parlor. You can consider yourself mighty lucky to get this room. If I was the proprietor I would hoist you into the hay mow." The old Irishman stared at the watch man in perfect surprise. It was some seconds before he could catch his breath. "I'm greatly obloiged to ye for your impertinence," he said, ' but if I cawn't find accommodations here I must go where I can find them." " That's right, old fellow, you better go to the Grand National. That's the place for such slouchy old roosters as you." And the indignant old Celt walked down three flights of stairs followed by the equally indignant watchman. As the old man was about to pass out the front doors he met a half dozen hard fisted companions about to enter. "Hold on, boys," he said, "This is too aristocratic for oos." Tho National is the place for such slouchy ould roosthers as oos." And they went to the other hotel. Two large express wagons loaded with trunks traveled in in their wake. The whippoorwills laughed at them as they passed under the water oaks shading the public square, and tho stars shone brightly as they disappeared under the portico. Whet the Bun arose the landlord came down stairs with a fine appetite. " Good morning, Kingsbury," he said. " How's your drunken Irishman this morning. Is he up yet ?" "No sir," replied the watchman. " No. 40 wasn't good enough for him. He wanted the bridal chamber, and I made him dust." Here the Deacon stepped to the reg ister, and began to read the list of ar rivals. Suddanly his eyes dilated. A flush overspread his countenance. Put ting his forefinger upon the book he shouted, " Here, here, Kingsbury. What's this ? Look here." The watchman looked at the finger. It pointed to the name of ; Sib Geokoe Gobe, England. : " Oh, good Lord," he exclaimed, " that was the drunken Irishman 1" Sir G eorge is a western hunter who visited Florida with troops of retainers, dogs, guns, etc., and scattered his money briskly. On Shares. A good story, and all the better in being true, is told of one of our citizens, who let a piece of ground to a man on shares. The man would hire the lot, but the owner, doubtful of get ting any money of the tenant, proposed to let it upon the promise of receiving half the products. Occasionally du ring the summer he passed the spot, and was pleased with the cultivation it was receiving, and with its goodly show of vegetables. Harvest time came and passed, and he heard nothing from his tenant, till, in response to a hint, the latter sent to him one water melon and three shriveled cucumbers. In dignant at this shabby treatment, he called upon the man, and asked him what it meant. "Why, you. see, 'squire," replied the tenant, "the pesky boys stole all of your half, but the melon and cucumbers." A man in Maine has discovered the advantage of a large family. He has twenty-two children, and recently, when he made arrangements for mov ing from one school district to another, thus transferring his school tax, his old neighbors offered to pay him some thing to remain among them. His sew neighbors, however, offered to remove him free of expense, and eo prevailed. Items of Interest. Amateur entomologists have found 71 different species of butterflies in the Sierras. Swinging is said by the doctors to be a good exercise for health, but many a poor wretch has come to his death by it. It is stated that over 500,000 Circas sians have emigrated to Turkey since the conquest of their territory by Rus sia was completed. A large coal merchant in England, who is a teetotaller, declines all orders from brewers or distillers, for fuel to be used in their business. There are said to be about 1.500 miles of narrow gauge railroad in the United States and Canada, and over 1,200 miles in process of construction. A pugulistic Irishman, being bound over to keep the peace on all British subjects, remarked : " Tho saints help the first foreigner I meet." Worse than gunpowder. During the last ten years, $20,000,000 of property haf been destroyed, and 30,000 persons killed or injured, by tho use of unsafo oils. Bobbs complains that his wife is an inflationist. She blows him up every day, and makes him circulate uutil he actually f eols that he is beyond re demption. A girl in Liverpool wants to know who has got her young man. She hasn't seen him since the evening she told him there had been poetry in her family for several generations. It is estimated that it takes a domes ticated fly a two-billionth part of a second to wink, while an industrious mosquito can do it in one tenth of that time. Corrections solicited. The instructions to the police force of Alexandria are : " Don t arrest the Mayor or any member of the Common Council for intoxication, but assist them homo and say nothing about it." A Boston servant girl, who thought she heard a burglar in the house, jumped from a window across an alley more than ten feet wide into a window of another building, the other night, and there was no burglar round, after all. A bill has been introduced in the Canadian Parliament to make each news- Eaper writer responsible to the law for is articles, so that if an editor could prove that he had not written a E articular article he would not be lia le to punishment for it. Joseph Harrod, formerly of Portland, Maine, but now of New York State, claims that ho introduced the tomato in this country, raising the first plant in fmm Reeds given him by a iriend who brought them from Cuba. He ex pected nothing more than an ornamen tal plant. The Massachusetts Anglers' Associa tion, having become convinced from the result of their investigations that smelt during tho spawning season are not healthy food, since they then are full of parasities, have procured the passage of a law to prevent taking them at that time. San Francisco is shortly to witness an exhibition on a grand scale of the electrio light, which, it is said, will be so intense as to be visible at a distance of 200 milos. The machine for the pur pose has been imported from Europe, and will bo run by a steam engine of four-horse-power. A well-known and respectable Bos ton man, who wanted to be funny, ran up to a lady at the Parker House whom he mistook for one of his friends, on Sunday evening, and pulled her hand kerchief out of her pocket. He was arrested instantly and taken to the lock up, but on explaining matters was re leased. Three hundred barrels of wine, ready for exportation, were recently confis cated in Paris. The contents of the barrels on examination were found to be a small quantity of alcohol or wine, which was even wanting in some of the barrels, water, carmine, cochineal, tinc ture of logwood, sulphate of alumina, potass, aniline, fuchsine, &o. Birth-Place of Columbus. Tradition makes Cogoletto, a small town a few miles from Genoa, the birth-place of Columbus, and there i3 an inscription which marks the house of his reputed birth. It may be true, and it may be false for, in this land of tradition and superstition, it Is as easy to fabricate a tradition as an inscrip tion, and credulity is ready to believe that it is as old as Adam. The house of his father was in the suburbs of Genoa, as is shown by the deed. He, himself, says he was born in Genoa, an expres sion which may well mean the territory, and not the city, of Genoa. There is, therefore, some color for the tradition, and it is not worth while to dig deeper to find doubts. He was a Ligurian, and nothing could be mor,e likely to sharpen his curiosity, and suggest a life of adventure, than to look out from these rocky highlands, upon the Medi terranean, washing the fields at its base, and covered with the little, but daring and enterprising corsairs of the Levant, the Grecian Archipelago, and the African coast. How time sets things right I Brought home in chains, robbed in his lifetime of his honors and his profits, and the name of another given to his discover ies, time has written his name " with iron and lead in the rock forever." His jealous and triumphant enemies, as well as his royal patrons and enterprising followers in the path of discovery, are remembered ; but when we call them up from the land of shadows, there is al ways in the midst of them, and before them, the great Genoese with a glory about him, in the light of which they shine with a pale ray. So it will be forever. He went on, when every other would have given up in despair. He gave a New World to the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. But Castile and Aragon, and all the progeny of their descendant commonwealths, are dwindling and fading away, and a race, nearer akin to the old Ligurian " the world-seeking Genoese" is, from year to year, de voting the New World to the great com monwealth of freedom and mutuality.