.
: - i!
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher.
VOL. V.
NIX. DESPERANJUM.
Two Dollars por Annum.
1UDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA. THUltSDAY, JUXE 17, 1875.
NO. 17.
Ilj'-niuMtyp.
There's a little mischief-maker,
That in stealing lrnif our bliss,
Sketching pictures in a dream-land
That are nover koou in ibia.
J-hing from the lips the treasures
Of the priwent while we nigh
Yon may know this mircliief maker,
l'Vr Iiim name la by-and-bye.
Ho in nutiii! by your heartliBtonos,
Wirli t in hIv, bewitching glanco.
Whixu'ring of the coming morrow
As the social hours advance
L' itoring, mid our calm refactions,
Hiding forms of beauty nigh ;
Ho's a smooth, doccitfnl follow,
This enchanter, by-aud-bye.
on may know him by his winning,
By his careless, sportive air;
By Ilia sly, obtrusive presence,
Tlmt is straying everywhere j
By trophies that he gathers
Whore his somber victims lio,
Tor a bold, determined fellow
Is this conqueror, by-aud-bye.
Whon the calls of duty haunt as,
And the present Beema to be
All the time that even mortals
Snatch from dark eternity,
Then a fairy hand Beema painting
Pictures on a painted sky,
For a cunning little artist
Is the fairy, by-aud-bye.
"By-and-byo," the wind is singing,
"liy-aiid-bye," the heart replioa ;
But the phantom just abovo us
Ere we grasp it over Hies,
LiHt not to the idle charmer,
Scorn the very specious lie
Do not bolieve or trust in
This decoiver, by-and-byo.
IX A TUEL.
" That
Mavhew,
will do nicely," said Ruth
receiving her last package
through tho cur window from Mr. Per
kins on the platform.
" Write ns how you got along, Ruth.
If your aunt can spare you a spell m the
Hiimmor we'd be glad to see you hum
agin. Oh, my ! here's Mis' Curtiu with
a bunch of posies from her garden.
Hurry ! hurry ! you'll bo late, uuro's the
world, Mis' Curtiu."
Thus spoke tho group tit the depot in
niimi cuorus as tho locomotive, everv
pinto burnished and dazzling, which Lad
siuiniered quietly lor minutes, started,
iiuiuuug u jei-King wrench. to tlie curs,
and thou the loner snuke .if n. rnn'n rrl,l,,i
smoothly away.
" bhe takes it lirst-rato," commented
Mr. Pcrkijfrftfwipiug iiis brow with a red
OandauarTiandkerehii.'f.
'men ho climbed into his rusty carry-
jy, in ii ji ij u juifTK wmto norse; tlie
niiiers returned oioiig uie vitiligo street
to resumo separate avocations, nnd the
event ol tlio ilay was over. Ruth May
new nan uepaneu irom mo homo of her
youth, nud tho placo would know her no
more forever.
The straggle had been a hard one, but
Biio bore it well, as ALr. I'erkms averred,
She did not look once nt the white house
on the hill where death had robbed her
of parents nud shelter, because even her
fortitude could not bo trusted to witness
the Smalls moving in. What, was be
fore her f. Life with Aunt Harriet in a
closo siek-chamber, slave of an invalid's
apriees, nud grateful for daily bread.
Oh, the long dreary years, -with nothing
um oui ago m auvaneo i
She took a small pocket-mirror from
lier bag, nnd gnzed pensively into its
iieptns. xiio reiiected image was by no
means unattractive. She was not as
young as sho had once been, yet her
features were good, her complexion
fresh, her eyes clear, aud her physique
robust. Moreover sho was carefully nud
becomingly atl ired, and her chignon was
of the latest style. Nevertheless a sigh
welled up from her heart when she gazed
iri the ghns, not altogether in unreasonable
dissatisfaction with her present appoar
nnce; still the past had had disappoint
ments, aud tho i'uturo with Aunt Harriet
was without promise. Awoy back in tho
vista of summers sho beheld herself, a
fanciful girl, building cloud-castles out
of the sunset glories. Ouo springtime
was brighter nnd more fragrant than tho
rest; arouud it still bloomed flowers of
regretful memories, blossoms without
earthly semblance in the cold, bleak
climate whero Ruth lived, because
sprung from tho richest sources of hu
manity. A brave young missionary had urged
a heedless girl to go with him to the not
countries among the heathen, nud the
girl, to whom tho world seemed a vast
treasure-house lavish of gifts, had
ilouted her young niis-ionary, nnd he
had silently departed without complaint,
to return .no mpre. Then Ruth had
shed tears in secret, bitterly remorseful
tears, nnd turned her back capriciously
on tho well-to-do farmers of hor ac
quaintance. "Got n cinder in yer eye?" inquired
a sharp voice iu our traveler's ear.
Tho latter awoke from her reverie with
a start, wid turned to her questioner
with a guilty blush suffusing her cheek.
She, Ruth May hew, of middle age,
caught looking in the gloss. Her inter
locutor was a brisk, bright little old lady
in a faded shawl and an antiquated bon
net of the coal scuttlo pntteru. She car
ried on her arm a black silk bag which
seemed to coutaiu unlimited stores of
snuff nud peppermint drops. Eucircling
her withered old throat was a necklace
of beautiful gold bend3 delicately
wronght. These beads, an heir-loom in
hor family, descending to her through
long generations, had been worn by her
since early youth, and so much of super
stition is associated with such relics in
the mind of the possessor, that the old
lady would have dreaded immediate mis
fortune had sho lost tueni. Such was
her child-like faith in her fellow creatures
that she never dreauiod of partiug with
hor treasures.
"I cau get it out quick as a wink,
child," f-he continued, eagerly, settling
her spectacles, and spreading out a toft
silk handkerchief, with the intention of
applying it to Ruth's eye.
" No, thank you. It is nothing," said
Ruth, hastily popping tho glass Lack
iuto a hidiug-plaoo.
- Thus foiled, the old lady relapsed into
silenoe, although she could not remain
quiet long. She jerked her head about
quickly to observe different objects with
ft BpftJ'row-lii motion, and beooming
absorbingly interested iu Ruth, sho
peered at trimmings, eveti testing tho
quality of a ribbon furtively with a
critical loreunger anil thumb. Ago hac
chiseled wrinltlna l'nmimai'nltlji fi..aK.m
in the intelligent face, had whitened tho
scanty lmir, and robbed the sunken
mouth of teeth, yet tho vital forces
soemod unimpaired. She was like
queer little gray bird hopping along to
pecs a crumb of information every
where.
"I wonder who sho is, nnd whero
she's goin'?" pondered the old lady, her
busy brain having unsuccessfully twisted
Rnth around the whirling wheel of
minute investigation. Then she bobbed
up abruptly, and skipped into the seat
beside the object of her interest with an
apologetic, "Uuess I'll change my place
if you don t mind, and get out of tho
draught from that winder. Old folks
have to be kinder koerful about
draughts."
Miss Mayhew graciously assented, and
ner neighbor was delighted with the
success of her stratagem.
"Live iu these parts?" small beady
A I T n . . '
eyes twmiuing an over ner companion
interrogatively.
' Yes. Have you come far ?"
"Far? I guess sot -I left my darter's
uomo iu -Aniiianny ilay alore yesterday,
1 ve seen sights of things. My son-in-lnw,
Marthy's husband, is a lumber
morchant, you know, out West. Yes,
the winter s been cold, some. We had
Bible classes nud lectures, nnd once
tiiere enmo a panornmy of New York,
Jabez took mo. Hev voi been there ?
Most as good as seeing it for yourself,
the panoramy was. Come home alone ?
Law, yes 1 Made my way right along
as easy as could be. I stopped over
night nt Montreal, in Cnnady, nt n great
hotel, and tho clerk gave me a snug lit
tle room, so's I felt real to hum. There's
a big bridge the Victory bridge, they
coil it there. I see it. I've been a good
piece on me urauu xurk railroad,
too."
Tho old lady had traversed all this
distance safely, enjoying every hour of
the journey, nud she was now turning
ner iace nomewaru to a iarru nestled
among the hills.
" My son lives iu tho other side of the
house, and does nil the chores about the
farm. T take care of myself," sho ex
plained, with tho curious simplicity of a
nature that confided nil its private
uffairs td strangers, never dreaming of
doubting that their interest equaled her
own iu discussing their personal his
tory.
Ruth's sympathy was nroused. This
sympathy cost her dear. Three hours
later she was standing nlona on the
crowded platform of a largo railway
terminus, whero locomotives dashed
frantically about, nud anxious passen
gers vociferated loudly, with her own
train disappearing in the distance, nud
a string of gold beads in her hnnd.
It happened thus : Ruth nud her new
frieud hobnobbed delightfully. The
old lady was particularly pleased to dis
cover that among tho many good things
prepared for the other's journey by
friendly hands were crisp turn-overs,
generous slices of dried-npxile pie, nud
doughnuts.
" Seems like hum," she declared, with
a sigh of satisfaction. " Couldn't git
nny cake nor pie in Cnnady. They said
they had plenty of beef aud beer, but I
don't need nothin' quite so hearty."
Born of the same race, subjected to
tho same influences of a harsh, cold
climate, the English resident of Canada
supplies generous fuel for the ninchinery
of life, while the Yankee native of New
England most grudgingly lubricates the
busy inech nism of his economy, at the
same time extorting the greatest possi-
blo amount of labor from his slave the
body.
I he train paused nt a Rtation, nnd a
young man strolled into tho car. Miss
Jiuth s attention became instantly cen
tered in him. It was not because of tTie
beauty of his black mustache that she
observed him, nor his oily ruglets,
flashy waistcoat, and resplendent watch
chain. It was simply because Ais evil,
snaky eye, wandering carelessly over
tho passengers, pounced on tho uncon
scious old ladv. " lou will bear wnteh-
ing.
thought tho younger woman.
Then she talked wnmingly of thieves
nnd pickpockets, nt which ih3 old lady
looked simply bewildered.
The trow rushed into a tunnel, a dark,
chilly hole that seemed to open & yawn
ing niouth, in itself stationary arid soul
less, to ingulf life nnd motion. A tiny
blue flame crackled; the old lady had
lighted a bit of tallow candle, using her
hand for a candlestick.
I git scared in these tunnels," she
said, aud held the candle so that Ruth
and herself were framed in a vivid radi
ance. The former, keeping her eyes stead
fastly fixed on the snaky young man
seated bohind, detected a stealthy move
ment of his hand toward the old lady's
nock, where hung the family gold beads.
A sudden draught (emanating trom the
snaky young man) flared out the candle,
a s'cnflla and rush ensued amidst con
fused exclamations, nnd Miss Mnhew
launched into active combat with the
foe.
"Thieves!" she shrieked.
"Oh. murder!" gasped theold lady,
first receiving a blow over the held that
crushed her bonnet awry, and then feel
ing as if a great many shawls htd tum
bled over her.
"What is the matter ?" echoed on all
sides iu the terrible darkness.
"Oh, oh!" screamed Rutb again.
"The wretch I The scamp! Help me
to hold him. -He is twisting my hand
horribly."
"Let me go," growled the snaky
young man, and giving himself a serpen
tine screw, adroitly eluded the nervous
clutch of his captor's fingers.
"He's gone! Do catch him," 6he
panted.
The wildest commotiot ensued.
Everybody else feeling that it devolved
upon each as men and brothers to do
something, and succeeding only in cre
ating inextricable confusion. None of
the passengers had the vaguest idea
what had happened. Each nan grappled
with his neighbor, suspe'ting him of
soma deadly villainy in that obscure
night i
"I have got him," cried cheerful voice
from the door, proceeding from a stont
and valiant traveler, wh), indeed, held
in an iron crrin a elendej, writhing form
that indignantly rebellet against his as-1
sanlt. But when the light dawned to a
comforting brightness again thOrstout
gentleman was found to liuld captive an
innocent nnd much-injured newspaper
and pop-corn boy, who had entered the
car just iu the nick of timo to bo made
prisoner, while the thief slid noiselessly
awny to vanish forever. Then each
pnssenger was morallv certain that the
thief hud crept past tiui while ho was
pursuing the respectable trentleman
opposite, aud the newsboy was surest of
all that he had been propelled iuto their
midst by somo unseen power on the
platform. The inevitable result of so
much excitement was a chilling doubt if
Miss Mayhew's alarm had not been only
a woman s scare alter all.
"Look at her for yourselves." shesaid.
indignantly, reading skepticism on every
suie.
The old lady's nppenrnnce was certain
ly dilapidated nnd battered, while her
beautiful bends were lyiucr in her lap,
Ruth replaced them preparatory to her
getting out nt the crowded terminus
whero sho changed cars. The old lady
uutt-erea awny almost before the tram
had stopped, and whon sho had been
gone fully live minutes Miss Mayhew
rattieu the beads ou tho noor with a suu
don crash. The thief had weakened the
clasp iu his efforts to secure them.
Something mnst be done. In vain she
appealed to selfish men ; they were not
going to lose their places. Much good
but vague advice was volunteered about
keeping the necklace until sho could
forward it somo time, which sho cut
short with a decisive :
"I will do it myself."
The emergency required prompt no
tion, nnd sho was equal to tho emer
gency. Without a momeut's hesitation
she rushed out.
"How long do we stop?" she in
quired of a brakeman, who exhaled hot
oil from his very countenance.
" Twenty minutes," replied the brake
man, surely iucited by the evil ono.
Where, oh, where will that brakeman
go when he dies ? Was his conscience
deadened ns well ns his outer ear bv the
din of his life ; or did he view with in
difference the possibility of nny future
state being worse than the pnndemonium
of his present existence ? Our traveler
was immediately beset by a crowd of
clamorous hackmen desirous of driving
her out of her wits, if not to the end of
the earth. Escaping this snare, she fell
into another of bnbie3 and dusty parents.
liow many tender innocents sho upset
in her haste, thus increasing the general
uproar, Kuth, nlthough naturally hu
mane, never knew.
Everywhere a hopeless blockade of
baggage, trunks and struggling humani
ty everywhere insane panic of hurry iu
the fear of being left behind. The be
wildered womau could not approach
within ear-shot of the perspiring ticket
master, whose suffused faco glared
veiiKefully throucrh his pieeon-hole ns
he snapped short the incoherent ques
tions of distracted passengers. If she
could only ascertain whero tho old lady
naa gone i
" Which is the Locust Valley train ?"
she asked of a baggageman who was
pausing to take breath after lifting a
Saratoga trunk of gigantic dimeiwions.
I he basTtracreman. with naroui&mg do-
liberation, rested his great hnids on his
hips, thrust a quid ot tolwcco into his
cheek, stared nt his inKrlocutor, nnd
said :
"Hey?"
Miss Ruth repented her question with
tho energy of despair.
here do vou wnut co go I inquir
ed tho baggageman warily.
And then it lcame a painiuuy evi
dent fact that where Miss Mayhew want
ed to go aad where she was going were
two widelv sundered mnttors, lor she
beheld Jx tram in motion. To rush
toward it, to signal blindly as if the iu-
nsate monster would stop : to be held
buck from jumping on board in a gentle
manly fashion, and then to be left gaz
ing blankly iuto space that was her ex
purieuce. A voice came buck on the
wind ;
"I will keep your things for you."
To inveigh bitterly against the deceit
fulness of brakemen was nu impulse
which our unfortunate lady checked with
true dignity of character.
"I will fiud tho old lady at all events,"
she decided, "even though she should
prove the proverbial needle iu that hny
stnek of a depot."
There never were so many trains look
ing exactly nlike, nnd apparently headed
in the same direction, with their engines
prancing aimlessly np nnd down. Oh,
tho satisfaction of nt length beholdiug a
familiar old faco, spectacles on nose,
beaming behind a window. Miss May
hew dashed frantically forward, waving
the necklace aloft. Tho old lady started,
felt instinctively at her throat, and be
gan to fumble no less frantically nt the
closed sash. Varnish and springs defied
her. Horrors !
The train, after dnwdling any length
of time, at this inauspicious moment con
cluded to move. It was a pleasant sight
to behold Miss Mayhew rftciug along the
platform, casting diguity to the winds, '
and the old lady on the verge of apo
plexy within the cor iu her efforts to
raise the window. How the people
stared, to be sure ! But Miss Mayhew
did not care. Sho was long past person
al sensitiveness; and when the sash
finally yielded, just as she reached tho
extreme edge of the platform, she threw
in the beads, and retiriug, seated herself
on a carpetbag to burst into tears. Her
courage completely failed her; the weak,
silly, feminine sobs would come.
A gentleman hnd approached to claim
the carpetbag. He was tall, bronzed,
and bearded, nnd he wore a scarf about
his throat of some curious Eastern fab
ric. Miss Mayhew, the tension of ex
citement having snapped, was left as
weak as an infant. Hor pocket had been
cut, and her portemonnaie was gone.
Had sho, in securing her companion's
safety, fallen a victim to the snaky young
man herself? She now rose, making
some confused apology for the condition
of her late throne, the carpetbag.
"Ruth Mayhew!" exclaimed the
stranger. "I cauuot be mistaken.
Surely you wear my gift, the little
brooch, silver and pearls."
With a startled expression of wonder
she looked up into his face, and read joy
in the eyes of hor once young mission
ary. The locomotives shrieked, and the
human tide surged to and fro, yet these
two saw nothing of the confusion about
them, He was journeying towaid the
white house ou the hill, which wi to be
his first ilgrimnge in his nntie lnnd,
and woidd have missed her hadsho not
pursued tho old lady with te gold
beads.
"How did you recognize nv?" said
Ruth Mayhew, flushed nnd tninlous,
all tho independence of later years ut
terly gone. i
" I should have known yomnywhere
in the world," said tho lie v. Jim Ather
ton, from Algiers.
JJntre nous, I believe he Tcnlled the
familiar brooch before he diil the wear
er. However, that is none ofcur affair,
since she was perfectly sntisfid with the
reply. The result of this meting was
that Aunt Harriet lost her nuso, and the
foreign missions gained a clierful, earn
est worker, after all.
Flocking to the Cty.
A correspondent of a cit; paper tells
nbout tho great desire on the part of
young men to leave the ionntry nnd
flock to the city. Tho ciy is full of
palaces, he says; but nil heso do not
contain millionaires. Iated, many a
one among them is the wihess of pecu
niary struggles which woild amaze the
farmer, nud from which heainy be thank
ful ho is spared. Close skeletons do
not all congregate among what are called
the poor; they hold hijp revel in tho
proud avenues of this fai' city as well ns
in its meaner streets.
The great cities, it mils bo confesred,
offer, as a rule, great ai vantages; but
they demand, too, grat capital. A
young man going iuto than first should
choose a timo when badness is alive,
not dead; when, there If a demand for
more, instead of thousaids clamoring
for the one chance. Tbn, to succeed,
nud avoid shipwreck in great financial
and commercinl centos, ho must be
possessed of unusual eiergy aud judg
ment and patience; mist have au un
swerving sense of prcbity aud nu un
shrinking devotion b the fulfillment of
all contracts nnd obligations. Those
two opposite qualiies, boldness and
caution qualities wiich all men do not
possess are also hdispeusable, in the
long run, to city success. Boldness
enough to underiate operations suf
ficiently vast to meet tho largo cost of a
great business caution enough to ad
minister this business so as to keep in
check tho temptatbns to enter into
doubtful transactions or to contract with
those unworthy tho fullest confidence
and trust.
But if young men loave their countrv
homes without those high aspirations
which nre to consummate iu tho great
merchant's or the yreat editor's career,
nnd nsk simply to Ind an obscure place,
jogging along evnly with the noisy
crowd, 1 should 6till say: "Better stay
at homo; there nto many rough jolt's
even in what is called jogging along in n
big city. There stands more thau one
scholar here, mensnvinir ennds lieliinrl
tho ooivuter 01 a rotau store; nnd more
than one New York car conductor built
for himself a higher place in his castle
than ho has found. Better remain nt
home and fit yourself into an honorable
and useful placo there, rather than rush
impulsively to the great city, to find
numberless others, equally worthy,
lamenting their fallen lot, or staudiug
altogether idle."
How It is Done.
A certain noble lord, relates a con
temporary, remarkable for tho careless
ness of his dress, went personally to pay
his tailor's bill. Being unknown by
sight to the new manager, who received
the money, that worthy mistook him for
n servant, nnd, having cast his eyes over
the account and receipted it, he handed
tho supposed servnut a sovereign, nt the
same timo delivering himself nfter this
fashion : " Now, there's a sovereign
for yourself, and it's your own fault that
it's not two. But you don't wear out
your master's clothes half quick enough,
lie ought to have had double the nmouut
iu tho timo ; nnd I tell you it's worth
your while to use a harder brush."
With a queer smile his lordship an
swered : " Well, I don't know ; I think
my brush is a pretty hard ono, too his
lordship complains of it, anyhow."
"Pooh! Hard? Not a bit of it. Now,
come, I'll put you up to a wrinkle that'll
put many a sovereign into your pocket.
Look here," fetching a piece of wood
from the shelf behind him, "you see
thot bit of a stick ; now that's roughened
on purpose. You take that and give
your master's cont a good scrubbing
with it nbout the elbows nnd shoulders
every day, nnd give tho trousers a touch
about the knees, and you'll soon wear
'em out for him, and, as I say, it will be
a good five pounds in your pocket every
year. Wo shnn't forget you, don't be
afraid." "You nro very kind," quoth
his lordship, with a comical grin. " I
will impart your instructions to my
valet, though I fear for tho future, while
he remains in my service, he will not be
nble to profit by them, ns I shall not
trouble you with my custom. I am
Lord . I wish you good day. "
Forests and Rainfall.
The question of the influence of for
ests on the hydrology of a region is ono
that has been warmly discussed. Some
men of science Becquerel, for example
hold that forests increase the amount
of water received by the soil, while oth
ers Marshal Vailiant among them as
sert that forests diminish the quantity.
Some sivans, such as M. Mathieu, sub
director of the Nancy school of forestry,
have endeavored, by way of experiment,
to get together such faeti as might, if
they did not set tho question at rest, at
least clear up somo points and supply a
portion of the experimental data needed
for" a full explanation at some future
time. M. Mathieu undertook to ' deter
mine the amount of rain water received
by tho soiU of two neighboring districts,
one of them covered with timber and
the other arable land; and to find out
whother, in consequence of the covering
of trees which interrupts the rain water,
tho soil of the woodland is as abundant
ly watered as that of the open." His
conclusion is that timbered soils receive
as much and more rain water than tl
open country.
The Kansas people have tested the
qualities of grasshoppers as an article of
food and pronounoe them, after being
boiled in water to cletn them, and fried
ia butter, to be quite palatable, and even
good eating, like small fish.
A Touching Story.
A very touching and beautiful story
comes from the East concerning the
Priucess Marcelino Czartoryskn, who re
cently died in Oallicia. Her little grand
son fell ill nnd his life was despnired of.
The dowager in a sublime prayer asked
God to take her life in place of that of
her grandson. By a sort of miraclo the
child was saved ; almost immediately the
princess was attacked by a malady of
languor of which it was impossible to
ascribe any natural cause.
" It is a debt I owe to Heaven," she
smiled, faintly. A few days later, upon
a radiant afternoon, she had herself
rolled out in her easy-chair on the lawn,
and gave orders to have all the doors
and gates of tho garden openod so that
everybody might enter. When tho vil
lagers heard of it they at once left their
tasks. Old men aud women, young
men Bud maidens nnd little children,
pressed nbout the dying priucess, who
had long been like a mother to them,
for she held the old-fashioned notion
that the people are the family of tho
sovereign. Then began a most touching
ceremony. The children came first.
Drawing the youngest one into her nrms,
she embraced it, saying: " Let this kiss
fall ngaiu upou you nil, my dear friends."
Then she gave to each child a medallion,
bearing the evangelical words : " Lovo
one another." After the children came
the young girls and women. To each
of them sho gave n little case containing
implements for needlework nnd n chaplet
nnd au image of the blessed Mary. To
tho men she gave an ebony cross, aud
for each gift nud recipient sho had ap
propriate words, When sho had extend
ed 1 er last present she was so exhausted
that her sou and daughter-in-law, who
stood by her, wished . to . have her
wheeled back in the house, but she said
no. She then bogged tho people to re
cite in aloud voice the Dominical orison.
Then at n sign from her hand they nil
knelt, nnd their voices iu fervent tones
broke out in the recital of the Lord's
Prayer. As the amen still echoed iu tho
air sho felt death invading her heart,
and, whispering " Marcel," tho name of
her grandson, tho child was brought,
aud as he was being carried to her lips
her head dropped upou her breast, nnd
without n sigh she rendered her soul to
God. So much for a scene thn soems
taken from a poem an ideal state of
society that one can hardly reconcile
with the present.
The Digger Indians.
The wigwams of the Digger Indians
are built throughout of redwood bark,
and are round in shape, which con bet
ter be explained by saying that they are
iu the shape of a bowl upside down,
with a smaller ono placed also upside
down on top. There are no windows,
and nsidn from the aperture' for en
trance, which is nbout two feet Bqinre,
and a small opening at the top to allow
uim oiiiuko il ; lvj,
iug to this con'cal-shnped inelosure. To
cuter one of these huts it becomes nec
essary to get down uud ciawl iu. Once
inside a straue pight greets the eye.
The majority of both sexes go perfectly
naked, aud, being scrupulously particu
lar, each one does his or her own cook
ing. They sleep in a circle in hollow
places iu the ground, with feet to the
center. Their cooking apporatus, which
consists of good-sized rocks hollowed
out, is in convenient reach, and tho
Digger need not rise to prepare his
breakfast. The food consists of bread
made from acorns, which aro first
buried, then roasted, then pulverized,
aud lastly mixed up with water and
baked. This bread is said to be very
nourishing. Their mode of preparing
squirrel, hare, etc., is to take them just
as when killed, pound thera to a jelly,
nud then ronst them. Another nrticle of
food, very common with them, is known
as the "fish worm." Tho Digger is an
inveterate gambler, and his principal
game is very simple, consisting of hold
ing both hands behind him, in one of
which is a stick, while another bets he
can tell in which hand he holds it. It
is stated that they scorn cheating, and
after the bets nre made, never change
the stick from one hand to the other.
Their money consists of little round
shells with a hole in tho center, which
one of their number is selected to manu
facture. No counterfeiting is ever at
tempted. Each shell represents about
half a cent of American money, and is
taken by their tribe as greedily as gold.
Tlie Interior of the Ocean.
The popular ideas with rpgard to the
sinking of bodies in the sea have usually
been quite unscientific. Some have
theorized to the effect that, in the case
of ships which founder nt sea, they sink
to a certain depth and then float about
until broken to pieces or thrown upon
banks beneath the Bea indeed, a book
was some time ago published, sustaining
this idea. Others, ngain, argue that the
buoyant forco of the water at great
depths is enormous, and due to tho whole
Cressure of the water above, and that all
odies which are lighter than water at
the surface will, if suuk to tho bottom
and detached from the sinker, shoot up
ward with a great velocity, or, in other
words, that the density of the water in
creases directly with the depth.
Now, it is proved by the most reliable
investigations that, though the pressure
increases with the depth oven to the
amount of fifteen pounds upon every
square inch for every, thirty-four feet iu
depth the density is not thereby in
creased sensibly, owing to tho incom
pressibility of the water, so that, in
reality, neither the buoyant force nor
the resistance to tho motion of any body,
is sensibly augmented from the surface
to the bottom.
At the depth of 3,000 fathoms, for in
stance, the pressure upon a square inch
is nearly H.uuu pounds, but the column
of 18,000 feet of is only shortened about
sixty feet. The density is thus but
slightly increased, but the effect of such
enormous pressure upon compressible
bodies as air, wood, eto. is to con
dense them into a emallor bulk, by
which they may bo rendered hoavier
than weter, aud will sink of their own
weight. A piece of wood cannot sink to
the bottom of the ocean, but a very
Blight extraneous force will bring it to
the surface.
Toledo has no publio pound for cows,
and cows have to be privately pound
ed with hoc handles and dray stakes.
John Todd's r.efonnaUin.
It not ii'ifrequently hnppons that
wh'n prayer1', and entreaties, nnd shame,
suffering,' and de-rmdatiou, have failed
to check ft man in hu down-hill course,
some incident Heeminxly changes tho
whole currmit of his li te. I have
such an incident in mind. You mny
know my hero us John Todd. A few
yet living will kuow hiiu by another
name.
John Todd hail sunk very low. Once
ho had been gay, hntidnome, and happy.
When he mndo Mary Soniers his wife,
there was not a young man in our villngo
whoseprospect seemed brighter. But
the demon of drink seized him. It was
a gradual growing of appetite, nnd a
gradunl going down. Wife nud children
were neglected ; true friends were for
saken ; the low nnd tho debased were
his chosen companions, nnd poverty nnd
want fell upon his household.
For months and years his friends tried
to save John Todd. They expostulated,
they prayed, they begged, they reasoned,
but all to no avail ; nnd at length thoy
gave it np.
Ouo night, quiveriug and shaking,
with not a penny in his pocket, John
Todd entered his dilapidated home, and
asked his wife for liquor. Sho told him
there was not a drop in the house. He
cursed her savagely, and then com
menced to search, professing to believe
that she had liquor hidden awny some
where. At length, away back on one of
the shelves of a small locker over tho
tire-placo lie found a bottle, the contents
of which smellcd like rum. As ho raised
it to his lips his wife, who had been
watching him, sprang forward and dashed
tho bottle from his hand, shivering it
upon the hearth.
With n fierce oath John Todd smote
his wife to tho floor, dtipine upon the
broken glass, nud then staggered awny
to his bed. Ho would not go out again,
for he had no money.
On the following morning his oldest
child, n girl of twelve years, came to his
bedside. .
" O, papa, do you know what you did
last night ?"
He had a dim recollection, but made
no reply.
"You knocked poor mamma down,
and cut her badly.
" Aye, child, she sho "
" She saved your life, papa. That was
poison in the bottle you were holding to
your lips a most dreadful poisou."
"Poison, child?"
"Yes; dont yon remember what
grandma sent over for mamma to kill
bugs with ? It was corrosive sublimate
and alcohol." .
Johu Todd sank back upon his pil
low, and did not get up until noon.
When he arose he was very weak and
tremulous. Ho dressed himself aud
went out into the kitchen, where he saw
his wife stauding by the fireplace, with
a nnpkin bouud around her head. He
went to hnv side, nud laid his hand upon
her shoulder. She turned and looked
into his face, but he did not speak. Ho
only kissed her, and then went out.
Only kissed her 1 What did it menu ?
Mary Todd caught her hands over her
heart to crush back the sudden, surg
ing hope. It were madness to hope
now. And yet, with tho impress of the
kiss upon her cheek, and with memory
of the look that had accompanied it, she
sank upon her knees and wept and
prayed.
John Todd went away into the woods,
where he wandered until nightfall, aud
with the last gleaming of the setting
suu ho was upon his knees, his palsied
hands reverently folded, speaking a vow
to Heaveu that his home should be once
more happy if he could make it so.
Out of tho darkness of desolation,
even in the midst of ruin, comes tho
nngel of hope nnd promise to the
stricken home. Mnry heard, nnd saw,
and took heart, and gave her smile and
blessing to the work.
That was twenty years ago. John
Todd has kept the faith from that day to
this. He is beloved, respected, nud
honored wherever he is known; nnd a
happier woman than his wife is not to
bo found anywhere. Ledger.
A Lawyer's Epitaph.
At tho sixteenth annual commence
ment of Columbia College law school,
which was recently held, diplomas were
conferred upon two hundred and ten
students. In his address to the gradu
ating class Professor Dwight counseled
them to refrain from nil trickery, nnd
disabuse their minds of the idea that
sharpness was legid ability. Ho remark
ed : If the truth were told of somo
lawyers, their epitaph would read :
" Here lies , who for fifty years was
nn expert iu legal finesso, outwitting his
adversaries, hoodwinking his clients,
and making use of confidential commu
nications for his own advantage; he en
tered hundreds of snap judgments, and
abounded in legal devices, submitting to
many rebukes from the court with be
coming composure, making no rash re
ply, but refraining from any expression
that would interfere with the future per
formance of similar acts; he amassed a
large fortune and died; his gratified
heirs have erected this monument to
suggest to those of his generation that
never knew him that he once lived,
though those who have experienced his
favors will not fail to remember him."
To such an epitaph as this who would
be bold enough to add : "And of such
is tho kingdom of heaven."
All Fro ai Tags.
It is stated in Let Mondcs, that one of
the wealthiest English velvet manufac
turers, Mr. J-dstar, worked his way into
success by years of patient labor in search
of a way to utilize silk rags. He began
by buying up all such waste at less than
a cent a pound, and up to the year 1864
he had expended the immense sum of
81,300,000 in fruitless efforts to find a
process. Nothing daunted, however.
he continued his experiments, and within
the past ten years has discovered a
method of converting such refuse into
velvet of the finest quality. He now
carries on this industry in .Eugland, in
au establishment which employs some
four thousand workmen, and hundred
of travelers are also employed whose
sole business is to buy the silk waste,
and this they do in all parte of the globe.
The factory is said to have cost nearly
$3,000,000, '
Tho Rattle of Bunker Hill.
Apropos of tho Bunker Hill centen
nial, Oliver Wendell Holmes has written
a long poem, iu which he gives ns tho
story of the fight ns told by an old lady
to her grandchildren. She is pictured
as a young girl living in a town ndjncent
to Bunkor Hill, who goes into the villngo
church steeple with others to witness tho
bnttle, and vividly describes the assaults
nnd retreats of the " red conta " iu their
endeavors to forco the "rebeln" out of
the fortification; tho burning of Charles
town, nnd tho final retreat of the patriots
" like the swimmers from n wreck. (Jn
her return home she finds on tho floor of
the house a youth bleeding from a
wound in the chest, but we will let her
finish the account to tho children :
"Who the youth was, what his name was, whuro
the place from which ho came was, ,
Who bad brought him from tho battle, and had
left bim at our door,
He could not speak to toll us ; but 'twas cue of
our brave fellows,
As the homespun plainly showed us which tho
dyingjsoldier woro."
" For they all thought he waa dying, as they
gathered round him crying
And they said, 'Oh, how they'll miss him'.'
and, 1 What trill his mother do ?'
Then, his eyelids juBt unclosing, liko a child's
that has been dozing,
He faintly murmured, ' Mother !' nnd I saw
his eyes were blue."
"Why grandma, howyourwiuking!" " Ah,
my child, it sets me thinking
Of a story not like this one. Well, ho some
how lived along ;
So we came to kuow each other, and I uureed
him liko a mother,
Till at last he stood beforo me, tall aud rony-
cheekod, and strong.
"And wo sometimes walked togothor in the
pleasant Bummor weather
" Please to tell us what his name was ?" "JuHt
your own, my littlo dear
There's his picture Copley painted ; wobocamo
so well acquainted,
That in short, that's why I m grandma, and
yon children all are here !"
Items of Interest.
Wispers of summer The street sweep
ers.
More peoplo die from hate than from
love.
A defective memory overlooks a multi
tude of sius.
There is no philosophy that can con
vince a man to the contrary when ho
knows he is hungry.
London market gardeners pay $200
per acre yearly reut for lands they culti
vate, and their average profits nro ftOOO'
per acre.
" Heaven's Own" is the nnmo of n new
Nevada town where a railroad pnssenger
saw n woman pinning her husband to tho
feuco with a pitchfork.
Aro tlie.se soui.'a nil una oucnt V in
quired ft lady of n juvenile salesman.
"No, ma am, they re all teu cents, repli
ed the innocent youngster.
An English publishing firm has adopted
the singular device of giving copies of its
new books to tho public libraries to cre
ate a demand among readers.
The army worm in Alexandria, 111. , is
destroying crops at a fearful rato. Ono
form of 150 acres of corn was destroyed
in a few hours, although forty men
fought them.
The largest lumber raft on record was
towed down the Missouri river the other
day. It was fourteen strings wide, six
teen cribs long, nnd twenty inches deep,
containing over one million feet.
The petition against couveutual insti
tutions, raised in England, issnid to havo
borne 117,000 signatures, nud to mensuro
three quarters ot a mile in lengt h. 1 or
ty thousand signatures were obtained in
London alone.
Mattrass, a Chippewa chief, was put
in his little bed iu the St. Croix valley,
Minn., last week. Ho was one hundred
aud oue years old, nud might have been
older if ho had not smoked tobacco and
(bank fire-water.
An encouraging sign of growing pros
perity among the Italian people is found
in tho increase of deposits m the savings
banks from 9-1,000,000 francs iu 1855, to
445,000,000 in 1874. The increase is iu
the part of the country north of Rome.
A verdict has been rendered at Auburn
N. Y., in favor of a man who recently
sued the New York Central Railroad Co.,
asking damages for being ejected from a
drawing-room car, mto which he had
gone because there no seats left iu tho
ordinary cars.
A man in Nevada, shot bv robbers, re
covered consciousness in time to hear
one of the rascals say, "Had we better
shoot him again '(" to which another re
plied, ' No; I guess the cuss ia dead."
He wisely kept quiet until they nail do
parted with their booty.
When a Denver husband misses tho
wife of his bosom at meal timo r.owndnyf,
he don t yell forthepolice, or rush wound
the neighborhood asking everybody if
they have Been Mary Jane. He just
walkes down to the auction room, jiuts
his head into tho door nnd sings out :
Mary Jane, them beans is biled 1"
In the First Lodge of Jeruslaem, it is
said, the master is an American, the past
master an Englishman, tho senior war
den a German, the junior warden a na
tive, the treasurer a Turk, the secretary
a Frenchman, the senior deacon a Persian,
and the junior deacon a Turk. There
are Christians, Mohammedans, and Jews
in the lodge.
They have a way of doing things at
Pottsville which may bo fun for lookers
on, but it is death to the lawyers. A
party of Germans had a suit at court
which went against them. They be
came so enraged at this that they chased .
their lawyer into the sheriff's office, and
he only escaped from them by jumping
out of a window.
The chairman of the vigilance coni
mittee; who was instructed to duck an
obnoxious citizen, thus reported to his
constituents : "We took the thief down
to the river, made a hole in the ice,
and proceeded to duck him, but hu
slipped out of our hands and hid under
the ice. All our efforts to entice him to
come out failed, and he has now had his
start om hours,"
V