X 1 ' m 4 i i '1 v f- m SJwwik HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher NIL DESPEItANDTJM. Two Dollars per Annum. - "' . -,. , ... , . , , . , . ., , . t .... - '.. . s , .,, , , , , , 'VOL. V. RIDGAVAY,ELKOIJNTY, THURSDAY, SETTOMBEU1g7 1875. NO. 30. Weeded. Some quick and bitter words we said, And then we parted. How the sun Swam through a sullen tea of gray ! A chill fell on the summer day. Life's best and happiest hours were done i Friendship was dead. How proud we went our separate ways, And spake no word and made no moan She braided tip her flowing hair, That I had alwys called so fair, As though she scorned my loving tone, My word of praise. And I? T mntchrd her scorn with scorn. I hated hi-r with ail my heart, Until we chanced to meet one day t She tnrned her protty head away ; I .aw two pretty tear dro( s start, Lo ! love was born. Some fond, repenting word I mid, She aueweied only with a sigh ; But when I took her hand in mine A radiant glory half diyiue Flooded the earth and filled the sky. Now we are wed, and never quarrel any more. MRS. JOXES' ELOPEMENT. Mr. Jones came Lome that afternoon feeliug cross and tired. Business had been dull, and the clerks had been pro voking. When he fell out of sorts, as he did that day, a nice supper and his wife's company were the bent antidotes he knew of, and ho hoped to have them effect a cure in this case, as they often had in other instances. But Mrs. Jones was out, the girl said. She had boon busy all the afternoon in her room; she didn't know what she was doing. About an hour ago she had put on her bonnet and gone out, and had charged her to tell her husband, when he carno home, that she should not be back until late in the evening. '" ' Gone out on particular business,' she said," added Bridget. "On particular business," growled Jones. "I'd like to know what particu lar business she has. I should say it was a wife's business to stay at home. Sho knew, of course, that I was coming home completely tired out, but that doesn't intorferewith her pleasure in the least. Sho can enjoy herself just the same probably all the more because I am out of the way. I wish I knew where she's gone." He weht up to her room to see if she had worn some of her best clothes. "Because, if she has," reasoned Mr. Jones, " she's gone off to have a good tinio with some oue she cares more for than she does for me." Mr. Jones' brow was black as any thunder cloud at the thought. He was in precisely the right frame of mind to niaite mountains out of mole-hills. But she liudu't worn any of her new messes. " It can't bo she's going to a party, then," concluded Mr. Jones, "or she'd have rigged up more. It must be she's going somewhere else and wants to keep dark. It begins to look mysterious. A woman don't generally go off in this way without saying something to her hus band, and wear her old clothes, without its meaning something, I've observed,' said Mr. Jones, solemnly, to the Mr, Jones in the glass. "I'd like to know what it all docs mean, anyhow." It whs just at this juncture that Mr. Jones discovered a letter ou Mrs. Jones' writing desk. It was a freshly written page, beginning : " Dear Edwahd." Mr. Jones' hair raised on end when his engle eye caught the sight of that name. Whut awful thing had he dis covered ? Could it bo that his wife was in the habit of writing letters to gentle men ? Perhaps sho had gone out to meet one now. He read the letter through without stopping to take breath from beginning to end. . It read as follows : Deab Edwakd : I have read your touching appeal over and over, until every word of it is stamped upon my heart. It has caused me to right a terrible battle with myselt. I love you, and there is no use for me to deny it. I cannot deceive myself nor you by so doing. But my duty is to stay with n y husband. I loathe himI despise him ; he is a tyrant but he is my husband, and, as such, I suppose he has a claim upon me in the eyes of the world that you have not. But, my darling, I love you, and I have come to the conclusion to cast my lot with yours. I will do as you wish me to. I will meet you ut the ouk trea to night at ten o'clock. I hope I shall And here, at the bottom of the page, the letter broke off very abruptly. The other side of the page was blank. " Great Jehosuphut !' That was the awful word that broke Mr. Jones' lips when he had finished readinc. Tt. wna the nearest to swearing of any word he luuiugen in. a ever he felt justified in using it ho diil now. His face was a sight to bUiold. It was full of anger, aud surprise, and complete bewilder ment. "She loves him, does she ?" he ejacu lated, faintly. "And I'm a tyrant, am I ? The wretched creature I She loathes me, aud despises me, does she? I'll show bet a thing or two. Let me see ten o'clock, and I'll learn your Dear Edward ' something he won't forget. I'll go out this blessed minute and get a couple of omcers, and we 11 wait for you.' I fancy we'll surprise you a little. Great Jehosophat 1 and she's actually been deceiving me all the time, aud let ting some other man talk love to her, and coax her to elope with him I I can't believe it, and yet I can't doubt it, for here it is in her own handwriting. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it in black aud white. Dear me I I wonder if I con bear np under the awful blow ? What will folks say f I shall be ashamed to meet anybody. It's awful awful 1" and Mr. Jones wiped his face with his handkerchief and looked the complete picture of grief. Mr. Jones was so "struck all of a heap," to use his own expression, by the terrible intelligence that he didn't stop to reason over the matter. He never once thought that dear Edward " couldn't by any possibility have received this letter, since it hadn't been sent. He only realized that she was going to meet her lover at ten o'clock. "I'll be t' --. my lady," said Mr. Jones, siguiUwiit , ; atting on his over. coat preparatory to setting out in searoh of the proper officers. " I'll be there and 1 11 give your Dear Edward something he didn't bargain for. I'll Dear Edward him I" About nine o'clock Mr. Jones and couple of officers came up the road stealthily and Feereted themselves be hind a clump of bushes near the place whero the two main roadj crossed each other. " Now you mind what I say. "said Mr, Jones. " I'll go for him, and you keep out of the way till I'm done with him. I'll make him wish he'd never thought of such a thing as making love to other men's wives, see if I don't. I'll pommel him I '11 trounce him within an inch of his life, the contemptible puppy!" and Mr. Jones struck out right and left at his visionary rival in a way that made ine omcers titter. They waited auA waited and kept waiting. The tea o'clock train came in. whistling shrilly. And still no sign of either man or woman for whom they wore waning. Presently Mr. Jones bade them listen; he hoard steps down tho road. The night was dark, and they could not see a rod off. But he was right in thinking he heard steps. Some one was coming. "It's him, curse him," muttered Mr, Jones. " Now you lay low, and mind wnat i say. juon t come till! tell you to. I dare say I shall half kill him, but you Keep ou, ami l ll take the consequences if I do kill him completely. Great Jeho- 1. -At T A . . 1 . Mipuut i jusi yearn to get my nanus on the wretch." "He's close by now," whispered one oi tno men. " I see him," answered Mr. Jones, in an awful whisper. " Here, hold my hat. I'm going for him, and may the Lord have mercy upon his soul !" Accordingly, Mr. Jones "went for him." He made a rush at the tall, black ngure coming leisurely up the road. He gave it a punch in the stomach with one list, and another in the ribs with the other fist, snorting like a wild bull. He was too excited to talk intelligibly at first. The unsuspecting recipient of such extraordinary greeting seemed half inclined to run at first, but, on second thought, seemed to think better of it and turned upon his assailant. " Take that, and that, and that 1" cried Mr. Jones, who had got so he could utter words a trifle more coherent ly by this time, dealing blows right aud loft. " Bun away with ny wife, will you ! You old villain, I'll learn you to swoop roand the Jones family trying to break it up. Take that and that ! and oh, great Jehosophat !" Mr. Jones' tune suddenly changed ; the victim of a husband's righteous wrath had brought his cane to bear upon his foe and was doing good work with it. " Smith Dobson 1 help I help !" shrieked Jones, as the cane fell upon his head and shoulders in unmerciful blows. " Murder 1 help 1" The officers came to bis assistance, and succeeded in securing the stranger. "I'd like to know what this means?" he demanded. " I supposed this neigh borhood was respectable, but I should think you've all gone crazy, or else turned highway robbers." " We'll let you know what it means," cried Jones. " I don't believe you will want to run away with Samuel Jones' wife again." " la that you, Samuel Jones ?" asked the prisoner. " I thought your voice sounded kind of familiar before, but you bellowed so I couldn't make it out. Are you insane or idiotic or what ?" " Lord bless me, if you ain't U-.cle Joshua 1" said Mr. Jones, faintly. He felt small enough just then to crawl through a knot-hole. " I'm awful sorry that this has happened, but I couldn t help it. I didn't know it was you. You see Amelia's fell in love with some fel low and I came across a letter this after noon that she had written to him, saying she'd meet him here at ten o'clock, and I got these men to help me and we waited for hini, and I thought you were the man 1" " Fell in lovo with another man and promised to meet him here at ten o'clock ? Stuff and nonsense!" exclaimed Uncle Joshua, indignantly. " You were al ways the biggest fool ! You're crazy !" " But I tell you I saw her own letter," exclaimed Mr. Jones. "I ain't crazy now, but I shouldn't wonder if I was be fore long." " i ou ve lost all the sense you used to have, and that wasn't enough to brag of," said Uncle Joshua, rather uncom plimentary. " Come along to the house and we'll ask Amelia what it means." Uncle Joshua led the way, with a pain in his stomach, caused by Mr. Jones' euergetic attempt to teach his supposed rival not to meddle with the Jones family, and Mr. Jones followed in his vakewitha sore head and a very black eye. There was a light in the sitting room. Mrs. Jones was there. " See here, Amelia, exclaimed Uncle Joshua, bursting in like a thunder storm, " you're fool of a husband says you've fell iu love with some one, and that you wrote him a letter saying you'd meet him at ten o'clock to-night and run away with him, and he says he's seen the letter. Now I don't believe a word of it, but I d hko to have you explain, if you can." " I never wrote any such thing," de clared Mrs. Jones, indignantly. " You did I" exclaimed Mr. Jones. "It's no use for you to lie about it, Amelia. You've broke my heart, and you did write that letter. I found it on your desk, and here it is. It begins Dear Edward."' "Oh, I know all about it now," cried Mrs. Jones, beginning to laugh. "O dear me ! You see, Laura Wade and I agreed to write a story, and I have got mine half done, and went over to read it to her this afternoon, and when I got there I found that I'd lost a page of it. I must havo left it on my desk. It was about a woman who was going to elope my story was and she wrote that she would go with her lover, and then, when she thought it all over, concluded to stay at home and do her duty. The page that was missing was tho one. that had tho letter ou it that she wrote to her lover. You found it, and thought I was going to run away 1 O dear, I never heard of anything so funny I O dear mel" and Mrs. Jones laughed until the tears ran (town her cfieeks, "I can't see anything very funny about it," said Mr. Jones, feeling rather sheepish. "How was I to know you were writing stones I ion ve no busi ness to spend your tittle in that way." " That's so, growled Uncle Joshua, whose stomach began to feel sore and bruised. " You're a fool for writing sto ries, and Jones is a fool anyway I" Which was poor consolation for Jones. The story of the whole affair leaked out, and he will never hear the last of Mrs. Jones' elopement. A Spnnky Sister. The Boston Globe says : One of the liveliest exemplifications of that veritable old proverb, " when a woman will, she "will, and when she won't, she won't," is now furnished for the edification of the people of Mount Pleasant. A middle aged lady, by common consent accorded the possession of a good shore of temper, had for years dwelt in tolerable quiet with hor brother, a man of twenty-eight years. For her brother she ever mani fested a sisterly affection, cautioning him constantly against tho wiles of womankind, .lint a short time ago her sweet dream of peace was rudely broken. The terrible tidings came that her brother had married the daughter of the landlord ; and straightway, after giving her brother a lecture on the baseneps of his conduct iu deserting her, she an nounced her intention of not paying any rent, since her brother ought to "stand" her expenses, and should do so whether he wanted to or not. This decision, which was very strictly adhered to, naturally caused a great deal of trouble to the landlord. After trying for three months, he was obliged to take legal means to eject her, and proceeded to place her, bag and baggage, ou the side walk. But the irate lady was not so easily disposed of. She made her preparations to stay on tho sidewalk till winter, if she couldn't get back to the room. Her story was told to a crowd of gazing bystanders, and her presence on the sidewalk became almost unendurable to the neighborhood. Some of the peo ple in the vicinity offered her lodgings. bhe not only refused this, but would not take any food, remaining in her glory on the street all night. tier self-im posed fast was kept up, together with a recital of her story during the morning, and after dinner time, which she re fused to notice in the customary way, she was arrested on a warrant for ob structing the sidewalk. The lady made no objection to going with the officer to the station, but reiterated with the greatest emphasis her determination not to eat and not to go anywhere voluntarily except to the room from which she had been ejected. The courteous captain at Mount Pleasant station very politely furnished his lodger with a nice supper. She refused to eat, and persevered in her determination to fast. As the brother, of course, cannot undo the past which has resulted entirely from the folly of the woraau herself the conclu sion of this episode of "woman s wrongs," will be interesting. The Prince of Peddler. The following is a literal repetition of the address of a man who is selling some cough mixture up in tho Eleventh ward : " Good morning, madam. Excnse me. but I must show you something that you woum not miss for a good ileal I it s m that box (showing a small tin box). In that box, madam, is life and health! It is simplo but potent; cures colds, cures everything ! You're a female womaii, madam, and female women have sick ness, ituow all about it. Been married twice myself! Never sick? That's it! That s just it ! You don't want to be sick ! This compound will prevent it. In that box is wigor ! Can t afford to to buy such things ? That's it ! That's the story everywhere! Now look at me. I'm worth $100,000 to day! But I ve got 815,000 worth of this stuff on my hands, and I cau't trust ueents. All thieves. Sez I to ma, sez I, 1 I'll just put it on the market myself, I will.' An' 1 m doing it I Some folks can t buy such things. Some can. Some cau savo : some can't. Cost s me 810 a week to live : can't help it. Rented a big house for 850 a month near here, but my wife wouldn't come, because she's got all her teeth out ana the new ones not in vet I She's iu Peori, 111. She's coming on, though. Aud, as I just remarked, madam, you re a female woman, and female women lias sicknesses. You must have this medicine ! It's good for colds! There's wigor in it .' Don't want it? Strange! It's life ; its health ! Ah, well! I'll call again. Good morning." Didn't Waut to Leave. There is a story told of a young lady coming to New York on one of the Eng lish steamers not Jong ago She had been educated in Europe, and was re turning to her relatives and friends after an absence of six years. The voyage was remarkably pleasant. Pleasant weather, a smooth sea, thoughtful friends and gallant gentlemen all combined to im press most strongly upon the young lady the pleasures and enjoyments of a trip across the Atlantic in midsummer aboard a paragon steamer. When the steamer was comiug up to her dock at New York the fair maiden was observed standing on deck crying bitterly. And she told them frankly that she cried because the voyage was over ; because she was home; because sho had to leave the ship, and she didn't want to ! Such a girl ought to marry a sailor. Not So Bad. While there are a good many people out of work it would seem that in New York State, at least, those who are em ployed are able to by by money. The statement of the New York savings banks shows not only that these institutions are iu a sound condition, holding twenty millions more assets than they owe, but what is of equal importance, the gain in deposits in the six months since January 1 was over twelve millions of dollars and the increase in the number of depositors thirty-six thousand. This last feature is especially gratifying, for it proves that mo u poxm are in the main by people m modi'iati) circumstances, and are really (savings. The increase in deposits for the six months is the largest since 1872. It is an excellent and encouraging showing. His Deaf Acquaintance. We were coming down White street this morning, when we overtook an old gentleman iu a cart. The vehicle was springless, and as it jolted over the stones every revolution of the wheel was a hail storm. We nodded ti him, and he nodded back. ' "A nice day," we suggested, in a raised voice. Hey ?" he screamed. "A nice day," we roared. " O, yes," he shouted. "A good corn day. How's business pretty good ?" "Very good," we answered. "Hey V' "Very good," we yelled. " Glad to hear," he said, and then re lapsed into silence, and we hurried on, as people were showing altogether too much interest in our efforts to be heard. " What do you think of that feller over in England who walks on the water ?" he suddenly exploded. We had to fall back with the pace of the cart. " He's a wonderful chap," we said, in hopes that would satisfy him. " Hey ?" ' He's a wonderful chap," we yelled. "So he is. How do you s'pose he does it ?" " He wears rubber clothes and a hatchet," we suggested, at the top of our voice. "What kind of clothes ?" People were raising their windows now, and we were beginning to feel desperate. " Rubber," we roared. "O, rubber, eh? and that keeps him up, eh?" "Yes." "Hey?" "Yes," we shrieked. ' " Yes, yes ? Yes what ?" " You asked us if it was rubber that kept him up, and we said yes," we ex claimed, in a key of voice that brought the merchants aud their customers out on the walk, in spite of the rattle of the cart. "What's that? I didn't quite make out," he shouted. Then we went out on the roadway and took the horse by the head and brought the whole establishment to a standstill, and then we explained just what we had said. Ah, I see. it's a wonderfnl thins." he said, and then added: "It must have been the cart comer over the stuns which kept me from a hearin' of you ; but I was afraid at first that you were sick and couldn't speak up." we are not of a particular demonstra tive turn, but when we again notice an acquaintance in a springless cart ou a pavement we shall step down the first cellar way and take a position back of a barrel until he is out of sight. Dan bury Neivs, The Massachusetts Schoolinarm. A writer in the Providence Journal says : If theie is any one thing which can add to the KORt of n. Silver Knrinnp itinnni. . " - ' ' rji..Q V 1 ,, ,, over ana aoove what Aiayneld provides, it is me pleasure oi sitting opposite to a iuossaeuuseiis scuooimarm. cue is not " heftv nlwsieallv. hut, nor ova in nlnoi and bright. ' You know at once that she is a sensible girl, for her dress is plain to be exact about it, a little prim ; she has made up her mind to have a good time, and, once for all, to fall in with the odd ways of the Rhodo Islanders, and at uuy rate to ue interested m anil to en joy, if possible, a shore dinner. She starts out with excellent intentions and with, many good qualifications. She certainly likes the novelty of the affair ; she is hungry, and if there are not too many Massachusetts folks about, not fastidious. But after all she is in a di lemma. Like a shrewd girl, as she is, she furtively glances at the nearest gen uine Rhode Islanders she sees at the table. She thinks she has got the hang of it. We, the Rhode Islander, give her au assuring glance, and manipulate a dozen clams or so, that she may compre hend the necessities of the case. Then she "pitches in." She takes out a few clams, ranges them around the edge of her plate, talks a little, looks np to the Rhode Islander, as we would say, "that's the ticket," and when her clams are stone cold she minces them up with her knife and fork and swallows them. How ha8 the Rhode Islander labored with that maiden. With what pantominio art and assiduity has he pointed to the boiling melted butter ; almost choked himself by the rapidity with which he has eaten his clams, and all to no avail. The envi ous table stood between them, and fifty ears were within whisper reach. To think that some Massachusetts fellow was to pay seventy-five cents for that girl's dinner, and she losing all the cream of it, though sooth to say not her tem per, which would have been excusable enough, when the Rhode Islander, only by changing places with the up-country chap, might have bestowed much needed and usefnl information, and ntiinvcwl V,;D own dinner quite as well. A Lesson for Both. A Melbourne widower with something of a family and a eoodlv bank &wmnt. advertised for a wife over a fictitious signature. Several answers were re ceived, among which was one that par ticularly pleased him. The chirography was delicate and cracefnl. Hia laTiunn.ra ckaHte, and the uignature, like his own uuuuouH. Atter a unci anu mutually agreeable correspondence, a time and place were agreed upon for meetino. At. the appointed hour the gentleman was wuuiug in a private parior at a certain fashionable hotel, and shortlv nftorwnr.l a lady entered, thickly veiled. She came in trembling, and did not venture to look np until the voioeof the gentleman, in respectful greeting, fell upon the ear, at which she started convulsive!? raian.l her eyes to the face of her swain, and men uiierea a suppressea ory a cry the tone of which struck upon the gentle man's ear with a sound not uufainiliar. He lifted the veil and looked upon the scaredace of his own daughter, whom he hail supposed industriously pursuing her studies at a school in a town soma distance westward fi 'ora Melbourne. The young lady has since been installed as housekeeper in the paternal mansion, and her nana in nnt likelv tri nilvorfiiut for wife again until this daughter is married. THE STORY OF A WAIF. A Kamnntln Episode In ibe History of a New York Asylum for Children. These rows of little chairs in Mrs. Webb's nursery, says a New York corre spondent writing of the famous "Soot land Yard," in that city, have to me a fascinating interest. Hard, common little chairs they are: but I know that. hod they speech and intelligence, they would have many a story to tell, many a romance oi real me, begun in this room. at least equal in interest to the wonder ful romances of fiction. What stories could be told of the waifs who, one time or another, have sat in these little chairs; or, who, one time or another, have slept in tne snowy . mtie boas we eaten a glimpse of through the half-open door of the dormitory I Of the newly-born infant, a fresh burden to the starving Earents picked np by the passing po cemen, half frozen in the snow, wrap ped in a newspaper and nothing more now grown up to be a strong mon or woman I Of the sweet babe, born in sin, hoartlessly deserted by its fashiona ble mother, adopted and cared for by Borne poor, unfashionable, big-hearted mother who has learned to love it as her own 1 Of such a child, perhaps, in after years reclaimed by its legitimate mother, unpolled by remorse, and, let us hope, her better natnre ! Perhaps, of such a child not reclaimed, but now grown up to maidenhood, passing her days in a public institution of charity, while the mother lives in wealth and luxury, indif ferent as to the existence of the child, except inasmuch as the existence of the child may lead to her own exposure ! It being my purpose to close the presont sketch with some fair example of the ro mance that is to be found hi our New York "Scotland Yard," and this last case offering some of the best material for that purpose, I do not know that I can do better than to select it for my illustration. The heroine nowa comely, dark-eyed, olive-complexioned, graceful girl of fif teen when a baby, was given by a veiled lady to a New York policeman, who re ceived with the child a large sum of money. The lady, who is the daughter of a wealthy Staten Islander, had secret ly married a Spaniard, a worthless fol low her music teacher, I believe. By the advice of her parents, who refused to have anything to do with him, or with her as long as she lived with him, . she bribed hor husband to leave her and go to Europe, where he died a little while afterwards. During his absence the child was born, but the fact was kept as secret as the marriage of the mother, and, outside of the immediate family, so remains to this day the policeman alone, it is said, knowing hor name. Tho lady is married again, and has sev eral children. The policeman, on receiving the babe and the money, resigned his position on the force and went to Utica, where he bought a cottage, and brought up the child as his own. The girl soon showed her disposition to be self-willed, wild and impetuous. When but nine years old, she became a reader of romances that gave her a longing for adventure, and a suspicion that she was not the po liceman's child having entered her head, she ransacked his desk in which he kept his private papers, and found enough there to satisfy her that she was right. She demanded the name of her mother, aud it being refused, she threatened to go in search of her. The ex-policeinan tried to pacify her by promising to toll her idl one day, when she should be old enough and discreet enough to know now to act in the matter ; but the girl was full of romantic ideas, and, putting her threat into effect, ran away from the cottage. She came -to New York, aud applied, without success, for an engage ment on the stage, and to Mr. Barnum for a position as rider in his circus. Then, being found destitute in the streets, she was brought by an officer to the police central office and given into Mrs. Webb's care. Her reputed father was telegraphed for by Superintendent (then Inspector) Walling, and came on to take her home, but she refused to go with him, and upbraided hini bitterly for withholding from her the name o'f her mother. Mrs. Webb took charge of her for several davs, trying, with but little success, to induce her to be rea sonable. After a while the girl seemed to have been won by the matron's kiud ness ; but it turned out that she was only trying to got tho matron to relax her watchfulness. One day Mrs. Webb took her over the building, showing her, among other tilings, the prison cells, in one of which was confined, at the time, oue of the Westchester masked burglars. The foolish child, attracted by the rather handsome face of tho robber, began a secret correspondence with him, hiding iu the sugar-bawl, that was sent him on, his breakfast-tray from the matron's room, little notes planning their flight together from the police central office, which ho duly answered through the same mcilium. But Mrs. Webb, instead of the young lady, happening to empty the sugar-bowl one morning, found a note from the burglar to the girl, the discovery of which, of course, upset all the plans of these strangely paired con federates. The burglar was convicted, and is now serving out a term of years in Sing Sing. The young lady is an inmate of the juvenile asylum near High Bridge, where, by submission and good beha vior, she is trying to win over tho ex policeman to the fulfillment of his con ditional promise to tell her the secret of her birth. At Work. The New Orleans Picayune says that " never before in the history of Louisi ana have so many white men taken active part in the practical details of agricul ture, and it is at least a singular coinci dence that seldom if ever before has there been a crop so promising in all respects " as that now on the ground. It concludes that white men can endure field labor in that climate. Chabacter. Punch has the following tern : " A notorious gentleman who has been in jail is reported to said that he had left prison, after having served his sentence, without any stain on his character. Very likely. Some characters are of such a color that they never show the dirt." Detroit Free Press Currency. Whtrever three or four thieves are banded together there may yon find a "rifle team. . Only one more month in which to hang over the gate and tell the story of their Bad but lasting love. ''Thus far and no father" as the child in the foundling hospital remarked when he was five years old. If the Cuban war lasts ten or fifteen years longer people will begin to imagine that there's really some sort of trouble there. A Wisconsin woman envies Queen Victoria's position solely because she could have as many as three new calico dresses per week if she was a queen. The editor of the Providence Press wears a kid plaster on his bald head, and the flies have " Resolved, that some folks are born mean and can't help it." I'ears and years after the Erie canal has been filled np and planted to corn some contractor will present a fraudu lent claim probably for furnishing tho tassels to the com. Vermont is bragging of snow a foot deep in some of the mountains, but such talk should be stopped. It discourages paper collar makers and doeBu't do the woild at large rtny good. New York is shocked at the idea of sixteen persons living, eating and sleep ing in a room 12x14. We should think that some of the unfortunates would go and buy a brown stone mansion. Mexico has ji law which won't permit a man with a wooden leg to marry unless he informs the girl of the fact. And the girl always responds: " You are ju?t as dear to me as if you had fifteen wooden legs." Bridal Cooing at Niagara. There is no place like Niagara for flirtations, "for men may come and women go, but they go on forever." There are so many loving little brides here every week, who seem to take an especial delight iu " spooning " before folks and making their marriage known. The rush and roar of the rapids drowns the sound of the billing aud cooing of these loving couples, but their example is contagious. When one young man sees another holding a pretty girl's hand, and whispering oonumdrums iu her willing car, he feels very much like going off and doing the same thing him self. It grows rather monotonous after a time to hear nothing but "George, dear," or "Oh, ducky," and "What, love !" as one meets these happy pairs at every turn. It annoys me to over hear remarks not intended for my ears, but here it cannot be helped. The other evening a young West Point graduate and a Brooklyn belle strolled out near the point by Luna Island where I was smoking my cigar, and having effectually cut off my retreat, they em barrassed me after this fashion : He I'm going away to-morrow. She No I So soon ? He Clara, I am (smack). Do vou love me ? She Oh, you dreadfully wicked fel low. The crimp is all out of my hair. now couiu you f Aud then tho wicked fellow proceeds to show her just "how he could," and then he threatened to throw himself over tho falls if she didn't promise to love him. Of course she promised, and instead of going away tho next day the dreadfully wicked "lientenant" is here yet. Thore will be a wedding in Brooklyn bv-and-bve. mid rnnnno iha presents will bo some " curiosities from Niagara. How She Cured His Jealousy. The Sacramento (Gal.) lice tells a story which may be serviceable in teach ing an excellent plan for the curing of attacks of the green-eyed monster, as follows: There is a man in Sacramento who is so affectionately fond of his wife that he is jealous if a man looks within forty-five feet of the direction iu which she may happen to be. The other day a gentleman spoke to her, aud he threat ened suicide. His wife was dispatched for a bottle of poison, consisting of a little water colored with licorice, and la beled with a glaring poison label out side. When he threatened to take some of it, and actually poured it into a wine glass, she screamed for help, and ran out of the room into another room, where she could watch him through the keyhole, and saw him coolly open the winuow auu throw it out. She then rushed back, apparently frautio with grief, and implored him not to do the rash deed. He merely pointed to the glass, and, lying down on the floor, be gan to kick out his legs like a jumping jack. She told him she was determined to share his fate, and swallowed the rest of the licorice water, whereupon he be came frightened, called the neighbors, confessed he only played off, and said if she only survived he would never trouble her again. Then she explained the ruse, and he was 60 mortified he tried to buy up tho silence of the neigh bors, uut me story was too good to keep. He is now thoroughly cured. For His Mother. . A ladv residing in T.niioinrrl.nv i.n,'i ed a passing oar, with her little sou, the omer morning, to see him safely on the horse car for a trip to Troy. He stepped On board, and scrambled fnr tlin frnnf. of the car. As he was eoincr. his moth er Said : " Why. aren't vnn rminortn Vitm your mother before you go ? " mi ii - .... - . . j.ue iiuie lenow was so delighted with the prospect of a ride, and in such a hurry, that he hastily rejoined, looking back excitedlv " Mi", ftmulrint you kiss mother for me?" And of iuioo iuu.aaauugt!iBuuuiuU i Keep irom smiling. Too Much. As a resident of Detroit had reached tho sidewalk on his way dowu town his wife appeared at the gate and called : "Charles! Charles! I want money to buy a pair of shoestrings." "llaven t got it, lie replied, as he turned about. "But I must havo two or threo cents.' she protested. "Two or three cents !" ho echoed' as he started oil'; " do you think I'm going to the bank and fool around and sign a check for two or three cents? You'll have to wait till next week I" Items of Interest. Two children in Cedar Rapids were nearly killed by chewing green card board. Deposits of silver of extraordinary richness at Rifle river, Mich., are re ported. A clergyman at Pittsfield, Conn., has declined to marry a couple because the groom couldn't repeat tho Lord's Prayer. An exchange defines a club to be an organization effected by men for tho purpose of paying dues and securing the Erivilege of buying liquor at a particular ar. The city court of Louisville recently decided that newspaper men have aright to carry deadly weapons, if deemed necessary for self-defence while in the discharge of journalistic duties. Sugges tive. The lost we have heard from Ben Butler, says the Boston jVctrn, is his reply to a man who asked him what he was going to do in the coming campaign ? "I'm going to see if the d fools will let me alone." Iu Nevada the law imposing a tax of 8400 every three months on every gam bling place has been sustained by a su preme court decision. The effect, it is anticipated, 'will be to close the small E laces and extend the business of tho u-ge ones. "What is ratio?" asked a professor of a student, who replied : " Ratio, sir ; ratio is proportion." " And what is pro portion ?" " Proportion, sir : why, pro portion is ratio." " And pray, sir, what are both together?" "Excuse me, sir, I can answer but one at a time." Bees have become so numerous and ag gressive in Brownesville, Texas, that en ergetio efforts have become necessary to rid the place of them. They took pos session of stores where sugar and molas ses were kept, stung everybody who tried to drive them away, and stayed un til smoked out. A Pittsfield (Mass.) paper tells of a directory canvasser who stuck his head into Senator Dawes' office, the other day, aud asked: "What business is carried on here, sir ?" Tho Senator looking up from his law book, replied: " Writing recommendations for office," and resumed his work. In the Canary isles the vine ran out, and that was the end of Canary wine. Then they raised cochineal, and now the soil is exhausted for good qualities of that article. So they have tried tobac co, and that will iu future be their great crop, and they will apparently produce an article finer than ever before known. Rosie Cotterman, aged ton, a little German girl of Bloomington, III., brave ly stood in the way of an infuriated cow till sho had put four or five smaller chil dren over a fence. Her clothing was almost all ripped from her and she was badly bruised, but the mayor aud polico force, as they descended from the lamp posts and telegraph poles, were loud in praise of her courage. As a proof of the confidence of wild fowls, it may bo well to note that a pho tographer at Alexandria bay, on the St. Lawrence river, this summer, photo graphed a ruffled grouse on her nest, placing the instrument within a few feet of hor. After her eggs had bocomo hatched some workmen proceeded to build a summer kitchen near the nest, but took great care not to disturb her, and in course of time she becamo so tame that she declined to leave her nest. The extent to which black silks are weighted in the process of dyeing is in credible. " A silk dyer " writes to tho Scientific American, inclosing a skeiu of block silk, one-half of which, he says, is silk, the other half being chiefly iron added in the bath by chemical agents. These silks will not wear well ; but as silk is sold at retail by measure, and not by the pound, unless adulteration adds to the length it is difficult to see who is the gainer by this fraud. How are we to tell weighted silks ? An amusing story is told of Governor Bagley, of Michigan, who is a good Sab batarian. He was lately iu Detroit on Sunday, and, passing a billiard hall with some friends, heard the balls clicking as if it were a week day. He politely in quired of the proprietor if ho made a practice of keeping his hall open on Sunday, aud was astonished when tho man replied : "No, governor, not as a general thing; but if you and your party wish to play a quiet game I guess I can fix it for you. A. P. Rogers, of Anoka, Minn. , writes to the Pioneer Press in regard to tho history of William Morgan. He states that his father was a missionary iu the wilderness of northern Maine from about 1830 onward, and visited all the settle ments in that district ; that one day he came upon a cabin in the woods inhabit ed by a solitary man ; he subsequently often saw this man, whom he thought he knew, aud whom he eventually recog nized as Morgan. He had known Mor gan earlier in life. Morgan finding him self reoognized left the neighborhood secretly. The schooner Wyoming, of Glouces ter, MiUs., on a trip to the banks was at tacked by a swordfish in the night. He struck the vessel with great force, and succeeded in putting his sword through one of her planks some two feet, and after making fearful struggles to extri cate himself, broke his sword off, leav ing it fast in the planking. It is fortu nate that he did not succeed in drawing out his sword, as the aperture would un doubtedly have made a leak sufficient to sink the vessel. As it was she leaked badly, requiring very active pumping to keep her free from water. A Well-Deserved Correction. Justice Shallow " Mary Hopkins, I distinctly saw that youthful ruffian you are nursing look at my cherry trees this morning. I warn you that should I ever catch him picking one cherry I will give him three months' hard labor and four years in a reformatory !" Rev. Samuel Maudlin And wo will flog him three times during that period, for I take thought for his soul !" M. II. "Thank you very much for yer kind ness, gentlemen ; leastways, I should say your worships ; I really bbg pardon I made a mistake wbeu I called you gentlemen I" ityn,