v...
V
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher
NIL DESPERANDUM.
Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. IV.
ItlDG-WAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1874.
NO. 38.
K
The Wedding Yell.
Dear Anna, when I bought her veil,
Her white veil on her wedding eight,
Threw o'er my thin brown bair its f'jfa
And, laughing, turned me to tl'4 ljght.
" See, BeBsie, eca 1 you wear m jRt
The bridal veil, foreBW'jyu f or veftr9
Bhe saw my face-her llkngh wag iiuhe(1
Her happy eyes we filioa wHh tear8
With kindly ',,,, e tnA trembling band
Bhe dre,ff ftWRy tue gnU7-y mjHt (
" Fogtve, dear heart 1" her sweet voice said
rtcr loving lips my forehead kissed.
'SV'e pescd from out the searching light ;
T!ie summer nipbt was calm and fair ;
3 did not see her pitying eyes,
I felt her Boft hand smooth my bair.
Her tender love unlocked my heart j
'Mid falling tears, at laxt I said,
" Foresworn indeed to me that veil
Xecanse 1 only love the dead ',"
ttha stood one moment Btatu(j-Btill
And, musing, spake b undertone,
" The living love mi-, colder grow .
The dead Is Buf a ith Go(j alone
0. W. Holmes.
THE II (DDES TREASURE.
At n fort ia Flcrida.dnring the Setni
uole war, a man named Richard Blount
lay wounded and dying. A keen ob
server might have discerned in the
emaciated features, well covered by
au iron-gray, untrimmed beard, tracea
of refinement almost effaced, it is true,
by the unmistasable marks of a turbu
lent, and perhaps criminal, career.
The eureon in charge of the stock
ade seemed n, man of warm heart and
teuder sympathies, which had not been
blunted ly familiarity with suffering.
Ho carefully tended the dying soldier,
doing all in his power, . by words and
actions, to soothe his last hours. This
kindness was not without results. Im
pressed by attentions to which ho had
long been unaccustomed, Richard
Blount taciturn and reserved by
habit, if not by nature grew more
communicative, and, at last, made cer
tain revelations concerning traneactions
of which no other living man had any
knowledge.
One ai ternoon, as the sun was setting
red end broad in a burning hose behind
the motionless painiettoes, and the
mocking-bird was pouring forth his
wealth of music hy the still bavous
where the alligator basked unmolested,
Richard, who wa j feeling stronger than
usual, after a, period of silence and
raentnl struglo with himself, said :
" Doctor, you've been mighty good
to me. fou are the first person who
has i.poheu a kind word to me for
ma'jy years.- I've led a hard life of it,
'nci very nicely uon t deserve any bet
ter than I've received, yet I can't for
get that I was once a better man aud
ur.ed to kind words from those who
Iftvcd me. And now, although I am
fjoth poor and forsaken, yet believe me
wheu I say that it is in mv power to
mako you as wealthy as your wildest
fuueies could desire.
" I was born in England ; I have not
a single relation now living, and to you
it can be of no consequence what were
(the early circumstances of my life. It
is enough to say that I was the younger
sou oi a good family, and was destined
to the church, lor which I was totally
unfitted. I was sent to Oxford, but an
insatiable thirst for adventure caused
me to run away. After various fortunes
in many parts of the world, in which
the cards were generally against me, it
was at last my luck to llnd myself
shipped with the crew of a pirate
echooner, and a motley set we were
Spaniards, Englishmen, Frenchmen,
.Italians, Yankees, Greeks men of all
races. Two or three years I sailed in
her, boarding and burning vessels in
the Spanish main. At length a rumor
reached the nest of pirates to which I
belonged that the English government
was about to take vigorous measures
to capture our vessels and destroy our
rendezvous. As we had for a long time
been very successful, without any
serious molestation, there was all the
more reason to believe the report. A
council of war was called, in which
words ran high. But it was decided
that, 3 our rendezvous was well known
and would most likely be attacked
firsthand we should be unable to defend
ourselves successfully against 6uch
forces r.3 could be sent against us, we
ought at ence to remove our possessions
and conceal them for awhile in some
unknown hiding-place. With us to de
cide was to net, and without further
delay the treasure, which was enor
mous, being the accumulated spoil of
many hard fights and seuttled ships,
was stowed in the holds of our vessels,
A little water, surgeon, if you'll be so
good.)
'So immense," continued Richard,
after a moment, " was the stock of dol
lars and doubloons and jewelry that no
other ballast was needed for the schoon
ers. When everything was on board we
set fire to the cabins on shore, and by
the glare of the burning houses dropped
down the lagoon and made an oiling.
We Leaded for the coast of Florida,
and, the moon being at the full, shoved
the schooners into an inlet, whose
whereabouts was known to one of our
captains, a native of Florida, born at
Key West, son of a wrecker, I think. It
was a very quiet part of the country,
without so many people as there are
about it now; and they aren't over
thick even now. We had sent some
men ashore in a boat in the morning to
find the exact entrance, and after dark
they lit a fire on the beaoh ; so we knew
just where to put the schooners. At
daylight we sailed a long way up the
bayou, winding about from bend to
brnd, with sweeps or tacking along the
shore, and blazing the trees as we went
along, until we came to a clearing in
the woods, where the trees seemed to
have been felled by a hurrioane. It
was gloomy and silent enough a soli
tude which we disturbed perhaps for
the first time. Here we made the ves
sels fast to the trees, and all hands went
ashore. We made tents of old sails,
and in a few hoars, to see the smoke
streaming up among the trees, and see
the boys capering after squirrels and
climbing after birds' nests, or flinging
sticks at the alligators, you would have
thought it was an old settlement."
After brief Interval of rest, Rimbarcl
went on s When the provisions and
everything else had been taken out of
the schoowora We hove out the ballast
(yon remembc r, it was dollars), and
carried it into the middle of the clear
ing. Each man put his share into an
earthern pot j his name, written on a
bit of parchment', was placed inside,
and his initials were scratched on the
outside, and it was then sealed up care
fully. The pots of gold and silver were
then burled in a circle in holes dug
tolerably deep in the ground, and every
man planted a small tree over his
treasure. Our common stock of treas
ures we next sealed up in a large jar,
and buried this in the center of the
circle and planted a good-sized tree
over this also.
" After we had seonred our valuables,
as considerable time had been lost in
'doing all this, it was decided that the
schooners should go off on another ex
pedition at once, and they put to sea,
leaving a few men under my charge to
look after the camp and the treasure.
Several weeks went by, and no news
came from the absent schooners. Our
stock of provisions began to run low,
and it was impossible to get anything
in that desolate maze of a morass over
grown with tangled forests and cut up
by muddy streams and bayous, es
pecially as we had planted nothing in
the clearing, and Lad not cleared any
more of the land, as wo expected that,
of course, the schooners would soon re
turn with a fresh stock. Wo had al
ways been so lucky that not a soul of
ns dreamed of any trouble. Anyhow,
the schoocers never came back, nor did
1 ever afterward get any clue to their
fate. They were probably captured
and burned, or more likely foundered
in a hurricane.
" The rainy season was coming on,
and before long several of our number
had fallen off with starvation and dis
ease. My comrades and I talked over
the situation, and finally concluded to
look out for number one, and leave the
treasure to take care of itself.
" Well, we had a ship's boat with us,
and one day, after putting a few mouldy
biscuits in our pockets, we took to our
boat and followed the bayou until we
came to the sea. Then we skirted the
coast until we reached a settlement,
and after that separated in different
directions, for there was no tie of
friendship to bind us, and we each
had a sort of dread that the others
might some way betray him. For years
after I wandered about the country
sometimes on the frontiers until I en
listed in the army, not caring much
what became of me, but half hoping
that perhaps I should be sent to
Florida, as turned out to be the case,
to fight these Seminoles, and so per
haps catch a chance to look up the
treasure we Lad buried in the lorest.
I never had had the ready money, nor,
I'm not ashamed to say, the courage to
go back alone to that spot ; but I got
this shot iu the leg, and here I am, and
much good that treasure has done me 1
But it don't seem quite the thing, you
see, that all that money and treasure
should be buried there and bo of no
use to anybody, and as yon are the first
and the last person that's been kind to
me these many years, I'll trust to yon
to see that I have decent burial, and
will tell you just how to go to find the
treasure. It's all truth I've been tell
ing you, and you needn't be afraid I'm
spinning you a forecastle yarn, but
just do as I direct you to do, and it'll
make you the richest man in the coun
try ; and I don't know who deserves it
better."
Richard Blount, after this, gave the
surgeon very minute directions as to
how to go in quest of the treasure. On
the next day the pirate died. As soon
after this as the surgeon could got
leave of absence, he made arrangements
with a friend to go after the supposed
mine of wealth concealed in the forests
of Southern Florida. He could not
quite believe the story, but the circum
stances under which it had been dis
closed, and the fact that money had
often been concealed by the freebooters
of the sea, made it suffisiently probable
to warrant chartering a small, light
draught schooner and engaging a crew
of blacks able to work the vessel and
willing to dig in the mud after gold.
It was only by a very close and tedious
observation of the coast that the mouth
of the bayou was found. On entering
it from the sea, the line of trees which
had been blazed was also discovered
with some difficulty and traced from
bend to bend in the dusky light of the
primeval forest.
Guided bv this clew, often but faint
ly distinguishable, the treasure-seekers,
after slowly sailing along the devi
ous mazes of the silent waters of the
wilderness until they almost despaired
of reaching the end in view, at last
burst suddenly upon a sort of clearing
in the dense mass of vegetation, over
grown with trees of younger growth,
arising from which a circle of larger
trees could be distinctly traced, with a
central Ehaft lifting its feathery tuft of
foliage far up into the blue sky. Tent
stakes and other relics of extinct life
were also visible amid the rank grass
which overgrew the soil.
U very thing, thus far, had proved ex
actly as described by Richard Blount,
and it was reasonable to suppose that,
as the story had been found to tally in
the minutest details with facts, it would
continue consistent throughout. It
was, tuererore, with renewed zest and
with the burning impatience which
tortures the soul when one is confident
of the result and sees the desired object
aimoBi in ms grasp, that the doctor
seized a pick-ax, and ordering his men
to follow suit, broke ground in the last
stage of the quest after a treasure
which bis fevered fancy pictured as
more and more colossal as the rapturous
moment approached when it would be
opened to view. Such was his impa
tience that he was the first to make a
discovery. The point of the pick, after
turning np the soft soil almost noise
lessly for some anxious minutes, at last
struck something hard with a most de
cided click. The next stroke the sound
was repeated, and at the same time a
bit of red pottery was thrown up. The
doctor, perspiring with excitement,
flung aside the pick-ax and, falling on
his knees, began to draw out the earth
with his bands, while every one stopped
hit work and looked on with breathless
expectation. It took but a minute to
bring to light an earthen jar, but on
trying to raise it they found it was
cracked in several pieces, and that the
bottom had fallen out. What was more
important, the jar was empty ! Here
was a disappointment, to be sure ; but
they would not yet give up heart ; there
were still many jars, and perhaps this
one was only a ' blind." But jar afti r
jar was turned up and all were found
more or less broken, and not a dollar
did one of them contain. Last of all,
the searchers cut down the central tree
and unearthed the large jar over which
it stood. This also, cro'vning disap
pointment of all, was iu the same con
dition and contained only earth-worms.
Baffled, but not quite disheartened, the
treasure-peekera, as a last resort, dug
several feet below whore the central jar
had been. They did not find the
treasure they sought, but they ascer
tained where it had gone.
They came to water, and thus dis
covered the solution of the mystery,
and what had robbed them of the gold.
They stood ou a inero alluvial crust of
oozy soil, under which the water per
colated at some depth below. The
moisture of t'ie earth had softened the
jars, and the weight of the treasure had
carried away the bottoms and cansed it
gradually to sink lower and lower, ps iu
a quicks and, until it had dropped into
the water and, of course, out of sight.
There was nothiug more to be done
but to abandon further operations for
the time, as such a result had not been
foreseen and the means for raising the
the money were not at hand. But the
following year the doctor returned to
the bayou with a pumping machine and
amplo apparatus for his purpose, and
after much labor was partially rewarded
for hia trouble.
Doubloons and guineas, vases and
caskets of precious metals elaborately
chased, the handiwork of skilled arti
sans of various races and ages, aud
gems of price, which had long lain
concealed in the slime of the forest,
again flashed in the sunbeams. But all
the lost treasure was not regained; some
of it eluded the closest scrutiny of
avarice and enterprise, and still lies
buried forever under the waters and
the sod of Florida.
Compulsory Education In England.
The effort in England to secure com
pulsory education does not meet with
success, or rather, it meets with many
obstacles. A woman brought her two
boys, aged respectively nine and eleven,
before one of the sitting magistrates,
and charged them with being " of such
a disposition that their parents could
not control them." On the next day
another woman nppeared, with a simi
lar charge against her son, a;ed eight.
It appeared that in both cases the
mother had been summoned two or
three times for not sending these chil
dren to school, and each time a small
fine had been inflicted. But the boys
would not go to school. The parents
could not make them go, and naturally
enough they did not like being repeat
edly punished for their children's will
fulness, so they took the rather in
genious device of trying to throw some
of the responsibility ordp the magis
trates who had fined them. But the
law had taken no cognizance of any
such offense as that of which these ju
veniles were accused. It was a crime
altogether new to the criminal courts,
aud the magistrate seems to have been
a little puzzled how to act. To dismiss
the complaint would have been to ren
der the compulsory clauses of the Edu
cation act nugatory, and also, if the
school board still insisted on acting on
them, to inflict a palpable injustice upon
the parents of such boys. A happy
thought, however, appears to have oc
curred to the magistrate and he ordered
the children to be sent to the work
house for a week, and to be brought
before him again at the expiration of
that time. It was a fortunate way out
of a difficulty, for it was the discovery
of a means of dealing with a case that
had to be dealt with somehow, and yet
one for which the law had made no pro
vision. But it is not likely that . can
often be repeated, since the p cign au
thorities must soon begin to object to
have the union houses converted into
reformatories. The question then
arises, How are such children to be
treated ?
The Introduction of Rice.
The stow rf tbfl first intmJnnKnn rf
rice into the United States is thus told :
A governor of South Carolina, it is re
lated, had been in Madagascar, and
seen the plant cultivated in its hot
swamps. He lived in Charleston, on
the bay, and it struck him that a
marshy spot in his garden might well
serve for a nlantation nf rina Tnaf.
then (1694) a vessel put in from Mada
gascar in distress, wnose commander
the governor had formerly known. Her
wants were liberally relieved. In grati
tude for the kindness Via ra.tirA tln
master gave the governor a bag of rice.
It was sown, and nrnrlnrerl nlinn.lnr.H-.r
The soil proved singularly favorable
ior us culture, rne marshes of Georgia
and South Carolina were soon covered
with riftA nlnnt.aHnnn A In v,avf s
- - .J, .M.gW
the crop was exported to England. In
ita, xuu.uuu uarreis were sent out from
South Carolina nlnno Tn 17fi1 fha
value of its rice eron was morn than ftl .
500,000.
A Bridal Dress.
The bridal drpsn nf Minn TTntiAw fh
bride of Col. VraH ClraiA
' XAMMV, TIIUHJ
Hnfin With nnint tana ntiAHcM ,1 I
order, and beautifully looped with
'"8o uiuooumo, i is quite high in
the neck, has long sleeves, and is to be
covered with an illmt inn vail a
, . , '"- fumv
lace jacket and a set of delicate Valen
ciennes, a coat oi blaok mantilasse,
mounted with velvet, an all blaok toilet
of silk velvet and jet, were noted and
deserve more special attention than
mer- ia now time to give them.
There was also & nlnin nrniir.n
velvet, with camels hair polonaise,
wuuuiou Wuu veivet, wnicn was exceed
ingly novel, original and stylish ; the
traveling dress of camels' hair, color of
seal skin j three blaok silks, one with
the train all profusely trimmed with
beads ; a cloak of matelasse cloth and
variety of other artioles, forming a
very complete and elegant tromeeau.
Love on the Yellowstone,
One of Galiatin's fair daughters, says
a Montana paper, while returning from
Wonderland, stopped with her com
panions at Yellowstone ranch. They
had been there scarcely an hour when
one of the proprietors gained the ear
of our heroine, and informed her that
hard by was one of the finest, largest,
and best raspberry patches he ever saw
or heard of. " Why, they could just
scoop them up," etc He urged upon
her the necessity of the berries being
plucked immediately, as they were dead
ripe, millions of them. She was de
lighted at the prospect of going
for, the berries, but when she ascer
tained that our hero was bent on acting
as ffnide, then her ardor became damp
ened. However, they started.
We bid adieu to any further descrip
tion of this novel love scene, as now
follows the conversation in which a
mountaineer wooed a former city bello,
whom two hours before he had never
seon, showing the absurdity of ihe
old "faint heart" and "fair lady"
business.
" Say, do you see them fences ?"
" Oh, yes ; they are nioo fences."
"Well, them fences is onrn."
" Whose ?"
" My pard's and mine half is mine
and half is his'n, and those fields is
onrn, too, and the house, and stock,
and chickens, and mortgage, and all on
the ranch is ourn half is mine and
half is his'n."
" Ah, indeed 1"
"Yes and you don't know how
much we got in the bank besides, and
if I was to get a wife you bet I'd get
more than half. And I suppose you
don't know that I am the best hunter
aud guide in the Rocky Mountains ?
Well, I am, and what is more I have
enough quartz to buy out all the post
offices in Montana and pay for running
them besides. Why, I have a fortuna
just in one mine alone. The boys tell
me it's a brass mine, but if it ain't brass
it's gold, sure, and if it ain't that it's
good quartz, anyhow, and don't don't
you think I ought to get married I"
"Most assuredly I do. A young
man possessing your wealth and good
looks should not hesitate a moment
about entering into matrimony. I am
surprised to think you are still single
Are you ?"
"Well, yes, I suppose so. But say,
do you see them granaries ? Well, I
just have enough grain over yonder to
last two years, and so you see I can
stand off the grasshoppers one year
anyhow. . And you needn't be afraid of
Injuns up here ; they don't come this
high up and say, don't you want to
marry me ? There, now."
" Oh, sir, why why this is so unex
pected, you know, and besides, I I
should deem it my duty to inform you
that I am engaged to be married to a
gentleman in the States. I regret that
your affections are not bestowed on
some young lady who is heart-free.
Please do not refer to the subject
again."
" Well, I woaldn't have done so
now, only I heard as how yon didn't
talk pretty to a nice got-up Bozeman
chap, .and told him you didn't want to
marry him nohow, and I supposed after
that I stood a good show of catching
yon myself. And and (raising his
voice) there's the raspberry patch over
there, and come to think of it I don't
think they are as thick now as they
used to be."
An-Amusing Suit.
An amusing lawsuit was recently de
cided at Fontainebleau, France, ac
cording to Solomon's principles. Mon-
bieur C possessed a turkey-hen,
which hatched out a brood of fourteen
little ones ; but unfortunately they soon
disappeared. Search for them was
made in vain ; but one day the mother's
oft-repeated calls were answered from a
neighboring barnyard. The police
were called to investigate, and on the
suspected premises found a cage con
taining ten little turkeys. Monsieur
C protested they were his ; so also
did. the owner of the cage. The matter
was brought into court, and the chicks
were summoned to give evidence, as
well as the hen belonging to the farm
er. This latter witness flew at the
young turkeys, and pecked them.
Then Monsieur C 's hen was sum
moned, and, spreading her wings, she
called her brood, and they joyfully
took shelter under her wings. The
court pronounced this proof of owner
ship decisive.
The Bursting of a Fly Wheel.
The Passaio Rolling Mill in Paterson
was nearly demolished by the bursting
of the flywheel, a mass of metal twenty
four feet in diameter, weighing twenty
seven tons. The beam that was going
through the rollers had dragged, and
it got across the " collar," throwing a
strain of 240 horse power on the Bpin
die that connects the roller with the
engine, breaking it and freeing the fly
wheel, which increased its velocity
from G5 to 300 revolutions a minute,
bursting at once. One of the segments
weighing three tons went through the
roof and smashed a large iron crane in
its descent. Another piece about the
same size went through the roof and
fell into the mill about three hundred
feet away, making two large breaks in
the roof. A nother piece fell on a cart
in the yard, demolishing it without in
juring the horse or the driver. Over
one hundred men were at work in the
mill, and their escape without injury
was miraculous.
A Good Look Ahead.
The New York Herald, in its investi
gation into the condition of the labor
ing men in that city, has developed a
sad state of affairs. The number of
day laborers in the eity it puts at 28,
541, with 150,000 mouths depending
upon them. Of these men not one
half have work now or can get it at
any price. In a few weeks, when im
provements stop for the winter, nearly
all of this large body will have nothing
to do.
With skilled labor the figures: are
nearly if not fully as bad. Few build
ings in compare ion with other years
have been erected, and the great cry of
skilled and unskilled labor is nothing
to do, and a horrible prospeot for the
winter,
HISTORIC JOHN SMITH.
The Trial and Tribulation of I he Dli.
coverrr of the Isle of Shonli.
The Isle of Shoals have a strange
and interesting, though somewhat con
tradictory history. There is no doubt,
however, that they were discovered by
John Smith in 1614. Prosaio as the
name now seems in consequence of its
extreme oommonness, John, of Virginia
fame, had a most romantic history. He
is chiefly known as the Englishman
whose life was saved by Pocahontas.
The story is none the less pretty be
cause it is untrue. Indeed, it is rather
the prettier therefor. I have always
noticed that the prettier a story is, the
more likely it is to be quashed by some
impertinent fact. Fortunately, John
does not need the Pocahontas bit of fic
tion to insure his illustrionsness. Born
in Willonghby in 1579 of eminently
respectabla parents, he grew weary of
school at thirteen, and sold his slender
effoots with a view of running off to
eea. His father kindly dying at this
time, and leaving the boy what was
called considerable property, he altered
his purpose. He went into a counting
house at Lynn at fifteen ; but having
no taste for trade, he acoompanied a
son of Lord Willoughby to France,
having in his possession but ten shil
lings, lent him by his friends, iu order
to get rid of him. His services having
been dispensed with at Orleans, he en
gaged as a soldier in the wars of the
Low Countries ; returning to his native
town at the end of four years. Then
he tried the life of a recluse, dwelling
in a neighboring forest and studying
military history and tactics, until his
restless spirit drove him again into the
world of events. He resolved to fight
against the Turks, and while on his
way to Marseilles he was robbed (of
what, it would be hard to conceive), and
must have starved to death but for the
succor of strangers. At Marseilles he
embarked for Italy. On the vessel were
a large number of Roman Catholic Pil
grims, who, when a fearful storm arose,
superstitiousiy believed that it was a
sign of Heaven's wrath at the presence
of a heretic in their holy company. So
they piously threw Smith overboard ;
but Smith sinfully refused to drown.
He swam to the Isle of St. Mary, a
mile distant, aud having been taken on
board of a French ship, he sailed to
the Levant. On the voyage they en
countered a rich Venetian carack and
captured her, the Englishman distin
guishing himself by his intrepidity,
and receiviug a large share of the prize.
Later he 1 raveled through Italy, then
joined the army of Baron Eissell in
Styria, which was struggling to relieve
a Transylvanian town besieged by the
Turks. By his ingenuity communica
tion was opened with the town, and a
combined assault made that compelled
the enemy to raise the siege. During
the war he was seriously wounded, slew
three noted Turks in single combat, per
formed sundry daring exploits, was
finallv mado prisoner and tsent to Con
stantinople as a slave. Falling into the
hands of a young and beautiful woman
he won her affections so completely
that she, fearing for his life, sent him
to her brother, a Pasha in a distant
province, frankly confessing her pas
sion. The brother, incensed at wiiat
he considered his sister's unworthy
attachment, set Smith to threshing corn
on his estate, and one day insulted him
so grossly that, regarding the viceroy
in the light of a brother-in-law, and
therefore a natural enemy, John brained
him with a flail. Putting on the dead
man's clothes, ho mounted a horse and
rode off without knowing where he was
going, or where he wanted to go. A
fortnight s weary wandering brought
him to a Russian garrison on the Don.
Kindly treated there he journeyed to
Transylvania.and was warmly welcomed
by his old companions-in-arms, who
gave him money to carry him to Eng
land. As usual, he traveled in a round
about way, and even went to Morocco
to take part in a civil strife that had
sprung up there, but refrained, from
disgust with both sides. When he was
only twenty-five he got back (1600) to
his native land, then much agitated by
the disooveries in the New World.
Easily persuaded to engage in the
founding of a colony, he set sail for
Virginia.
After countless adversities, whioh he
steadily overcame, after untold roman
tic adventures and narrow escapes,
he was chosen President of the colony,
and finally deposed by the Council and
company in England, who had been
disappointed in not realising their
golden expectations. Disorder and
disaster following his supersodure, he
was induced by the better part of the
colonists to resume his functions, and
he once more administered affairs with
wisdom. Tired to a degree of the
machinations and malignity of his per
sonal foes, he returned to Europe
(1609), and, five years subsequent, he
led an expedition to New England for
the purpose of trade and exploration,
at which time he discovered the Shoals,
He returned home the year following,
and iu niue or ten months re-emabarked
with the intention of effecting a per
manent settlement on the American
ooast. His old luck followed him. tie
met with disaster upon disaster ; was
chased again and again by pirates, and
at last taken by a Frenoh man-of-war,
really a pirate, and carried a prisoner
to Rochelle. He escaped to England ;
and the Plymouth company, in consid
eration of his services, made him
Admiral of New England. Smith spent
the rest of his life, uneventually, in his
native oountry, dying in London in his
52d year. He was the first to recom
mend the settlement of New England,
and did so much to that end that it is
entirely fitting a rude monument to his
honor and memory should have been
erected on Star Island. The monu
ment is frequently visited by summer
ers here, who have but a vague idea
what Capt. John Smith did.
Not long ago, during the diseussion
of the project of closing the cemeteries
of Paris and making one at Mery-eur-Oise.
an old lady of seventy-five years
became much distressed. One day she
was found dend, and near her body was
a note, saying that she could not bear
the idoa of being buried any where bnt
in Mont Parnasse, and hence bad killed
herself, in order to sleep in tho oeme
tery of bar choice.
THE CAPTURED 1IISD00 CniEF.
How II Became the Enemy of England
III Ferocious Cruelty.
A cable dispatch reports that the
famous Hindoo chieftain, Nana Sahib,
has been captured after his sixteen
years' hiding. He was the adopted son
of Bajee Rao, the deposed Peishwa of
the Mahrattas, and nnder the Hindoo
laws and customs he would have been
that ruler's legitimate heir. But the
British East India Company had made
it a rule not to recognize inheritance
by adoption, and on the death of Bajee
Rao an estate whioh he had held during
the pleasure of the company was de
clared lapsed, and the large pension
paid him by the British was discon
tinued. The claims of the Nana were
urged before Parliament, but in vain.
Thus he became the representative of
the native principle of inheritance as
distinguished from that of tho con
querors, of home-rule as opposed to
foreign domination, and indirectly of
the independence of the great Mahratta
nation, whose power had been broken
by the victoiies of Lake and Wellesley.
After the occupation of Gwalior by the
rebels in 1858, he was regularly chosen
by his people an lJeishwa or chief of
the Mahratta princes, and for some
time he kept the field agtinst the
British with a considerable military
force. But in the gradual break-up, of
tho mutiny ho was lost to sight. For a
few years rumors about him filled the
publio prints, and he was captured, in
fancy, over and over again, ins ad
herents strenuously asserted that ho
died of fever in 1859. out this state
ment was not believed.
At the beginning of the revolt he
lived in affluence near Cawnpore, culti
vating the society of tho English, copy
ing their manners, and professing for
them such devoted friendship that on
the first outbreak they threw them
selves npon his protection, He soon
placed himself at the head of the muti
neers of the district, massacred all the
parties of fugitives that fell into his
hands, and then laid siege to Cawn
pore, where the English maintained a
gallant defense for three weeks. After
losing nearly half their number the
starved survivors surrendered on prom
ise of a safe passage to Allahabad.
With a refinement of cruelty the Nena
allowed them to embark upon the Gan
ges before he disclosed his real pur-
Eose. They had hardly got under way
efore he opened fire. Some were
killed at once j three or four escaped ;
the rest, about four hundred in num
ber, were brought ashore the men to
be instantly massacred, the women and
childreu to bo spared awhile for the
most awful outrages and tortures.
They were kept alive for eighteen days,
and then, when Mavelock, hurrying to
their rescue, was within a few hours'
march, they were butchered with every
conceivable indignity, and a well was
filled with their mutilated bodies.
The subsequent siege of Lucknow,
where Outram and Havelock with a
handful of men held the city against
the Nona's army of 25,000 until re
lieved by Sir Colin Campbell, is one of
the most stirring incidents of the great
mutiny.
Who Was He ?
The young gentleman, says Max
Adeler, who writes to me from Rut
land, Vt., to ask, "Was Ariosto an
Italian or a Spaniard 7 has a very
creditable thirst for knowledge. Of
course the answer to the question de
pends to some extent upon where Ari
osto was born, and who his parents
were. If, for instance, Ariosto's birth
occurred at Mauch Chunk, Pa., he
could hardly be considered a Spaniard,
while if the piaoe of his nativity was
Hoboken, N. J., there would be a mani
fest impropriety in regarding him as
an Italian, particularly it his mother
came originally from Oshkosh and his
father from Tuscaloosa. And thero
would be hardly any doubt that he
could not be designated as a Spaniard
if he was born of an Irish mcthc-r and a
Hindoo father on board of au American
vessel sailing under the English flag ;
or in a Norwegian balloon, eight thou
sand feet high, of Esquimaux parents.
And I Bhould hesitate to regard him as
an Italian if his father was a Piute In
dian, his mother a squaw, and his
birthplace Omaha. Under the circum
stances, therefore, the nationality of
Ariosto would ceem to be somewhat
clouded with doubt, and as I know of
nobody who was present when he was
born, it will perhaps be better to write
to Ariosto himself ho was presont
when he was born, I believe and to
lay the matter before him. He is in
the spirit land somewhere, and the let
ter might be sent through a medium.
His Idea of It.
General Jackson, when President,
said to one of his fiercest newspaper
opponents: "Send me your newspa
per, I know that you are opposed to
me, but then l should like to see your
paper every day. I want to see how
many lies you can tell of me." " Gen
eral," said the editor, "I think 1 do
right in opposing you, and I shall con
tinue to do so with all the ability of
which 1 am master." He was a man
after Jackson's own heart, and he re
plied with an oath, " Sir, Bend me your
paper, for aside from your abuse of me
your paper is a good one. Besides,
I never uaw a newspaper in which I
could not find something worth read
ing." Just so. No man can pick np
any newspaper without finding some
thing of interest. You may take the
paper and tear it into fragments, and
in each fragment you will see some
thing to amuse or instruct you.
A man attracted attention in Troy by
his quiet demeanor. He seemed to see
something interesting in the buttons
on ladies' dresses, and in several in
stances was impertinent in his close ex
aminations. Finally he found a dress
from whioh a button was gone. He
seized the wearer, pulled from his
pocket a button and compared it with
tlioae left on tne dress, it matouea.
She was his prisoner. He was a defec
tive and she nad stolen the dress.
The Supreme Court ef Georgia has
decided that raffling ia a violation
of the itatuta against gambling.
RAVAGES OF A PESTILENCE.
How the Indian were Destroyed In
California In 1833.
The following appears as a commu
nication from Mr. J. J. Warner in the
Los Angeles (Oal.) Star :
I have read of the horrors of the
London plague, and of the more than
decimation by pestilenoe of the inhabi
tants of various parts of the world, in
different ages, and of the destruction
of mankind by the angels of the Lord,
and by destroying angels ; bnt I have
never read or heard of such a general
destruction of people by any angel,
good or bad, or by plague or pestilence,
as that whioh swept the valley "of the
Sacramento and San Joaquin in the
summer of 1833.
In the autumn of 1832 a party, of
which the writer was a member,
traveled from the mountain down
along the banks of the San Joaquin
river and up those of the Sacramento
to some distance above the confluence
of the latter with Feather river. The
number of Indiana living along and in
the vicinity of the banks of the rivers
was so much greater than I had ever
seen living upon the same area of coun
try, that it presented a constant source
of surprise. The conclusion was then
reached by me that there was no other
place on the continent, north of the
tropic, the natural productions of
which could support so large a popula
tion as was then living in the section
of country to which I have referred.
In tho latter part of the summer of
1833 we entered the northern extremity
of the Sacramento valley from the
Klamath lake and Pitt river counties.
We found the northern part of the
valley strewn with the skeletons and
fragments of skeletons of Indians under
the shading trees, around springs and
the convenient watering places, upon
the banks of the river, and over the
plain, where wolves and coyotes, wad
dling from tree to tree or over the
plain, their hides distended with un
natural fatness, had dragged ' and de
nuded them. From the head of the
valley to the American river but one
living Indian was seen, and he was the
most perfect personification of solitude
that was ever presented to my view ;
his wasted muscles, his eyes deeply
sunk in their sockets, as if there were
no brain within the cranium, emitted a
dull, vacant gaze, as if astonished to
behold a living human being, when he
believed that all, all were dead, and
he alone left, telling most emphatically
of his utter loneliness, of how he had
seen the destroying angel engaged in
his work of death on every hand, and
wherever his eyes were turned, until he
himself was prostrated, not killed, but
left to rise upon his feet and wander
about among the bones and festering
bodies of his folk. The dwellings of.
the Indians in the numerous villages
located upon and along the banks of
the Sacramento river and its tributaries
were void, and no foot-tracks but those
of fowls and wild beasts were to be
seen in the lonely villages.
As we traveled southerly the skele
tons were of a fresher appearance, and
before reaching the buttes, and from
thence southerly, the entire or partially
devoured bodies of tho Indians, in all
stages of decay, were ' so invariably
found in and about all the convenient
and desirable camping places that it
became necessary, m order to escape
the stench of decomposing humanity,
to seek our night s encampments upon
the open plain.
After crossing Feather river, those
villages along the Sacramento which in
the winter previous were each inhabited
by hundreds of Indians were uesoiate
and the abodes of ruin. The same ap
palling proofs of this dire calamity were
constantly presented to us as we
traveled up the San Joaquin. Neither
biblical nor profane history has por
trayed such mournful results of the
march of a destroying angel as were
presented to our senses as wo repassed
through, along by, and around those
silent and vacated villages, which some
ten months before we had seen swarm
ing with Indian life and resounding
with voices from huuareas 01 numan
throats.
Aronnd the naked villages graves ana
the ashes of funeral pyres, the skele
tons and swollen bodies told a tale of
death such as to us no written record
had ever revealed. From the head of
the Sacramento valley until we reached
the month of King's river, not exceed
ing five live Indians were scen.and here
we found encamped a village of Indians,
among whom the destroying angei was
satino- his creed of human victims by a
ghastly carnage. During the one night,
more than a score 01 victims were auueu
to the hosts upon which he had been
feeding. The wailing of that stricken
village during that night was inoessant
and most terrible. The sword of the
destroyer was a remittent fever with
which the victims were first stricken
down, to be finished by a hot-air bath,
followed by a plunge into a coia water
one. It was evident to us from the
signs which we saw that at first the In
dians buried their dead ; but when the
dead became so numerous that the liv
ing could not bury them, resort was
had to the burning of the dead bodies,
and when the living from diminished
numbers wore unable to do this, they
abandoned their villages, the sick and
the dying, and fled in dismay, only to
die by the side of the springs and pools
of water, and peneatn me snaae 01 pro
tecting trees.
Danger from Bad Flour.
From an investigation recently con
ducted in Petersburgh, Mich., into the
cause of the epidemio of cerebro-spinal
meningitis, with whioh the locality has
been afflicted during the past spring,
there appears ground for ascribing the
prevalence of the disease to some poi
sons in the blood 01 the people, ex
periments conducted many years ago
showed that grain anectea witn smut
was capable of produoing violent ill
neBB. Ergot of wheat is more active
even than ergot of rye. The examining
physician, in the present case, reports
that the crop of the first-mentioned
grain raised in the vicinity last year.con
tained much more smut than usual. It
is therefor) possible that the disease ia
due to consumption of bad floor.