s
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL. DESPERANDPM. ' ' Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. VIII. RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, FA., THURSDAY, APKIL 4, 1878. $0. 7.
- - - -- " - i- i ii . i
r
i
Fire.
" Bat ft week ii so long !" he said,
With ft ton of his curly bead.
" One, two, three, four, fire, six, seven 1
Seven whole days t Why, in six, yon know
(Ton said it yourself you told me so),
The great God np in heaven
Hade all the earth and the sea and skies,
The trees and the birds and the butterflies !
How can I wait for my seeds to grow?" -
"But a month is so long 1" he said,
With a droop of his boyish head.
" Bear me count one, two, three, four
Four whole weeks, and three days more ,
Thirty-one days, and each will creep .
As the shadows orawl over yonder steep t
Thirty-one nights, and I shall lie
Watching the stars climb up the sky !
How can I wait till a month is o'er ?" -
" But a year is so long ! he said,
Uplifting his bright young head.
" All the seasons must come and go
Over the hills with footsteps slow
Autumn and winter, Bummer and spring ;
Oh, for a bridge of gold to fling
Over the chasm deep and wide,
That I might cross to the other side,
AVhere she is waiting my love, my bride !''
" Ten years may be long," he said,
Slow raising his stately head.
" But there's much to win, there is "mnrh to
lose t
A man must labor, a man must choose,
And be must be strong to wait !
The years may be long, bnt who conld wear
The crown of honor, must do snd darel
Ho time has he to toy with fate
Who would climb to manhood's bigh estate !"
"Ah ! life is not long!" he snid,
Bowing his grand white head.
" One, two, three, four, five, six, seven !
Seven times ton are seventy.
Seventy years ! As swif c their flight
As swallows cleaving the morning light
Or golden gleams at even.
Life is short as a summer night
How long, 0 God ! is eternity !"
IIarper'$ Bazar.
Two Saints of the Foot-Hills.
BT BRET HAUTE.
It never was clearly ascertained how
lone they had been there. The first
settler of Bongh-and-Beady one, Low,
playfully known to his familiars as "The
Poor Indian " declared that the saints
were afore his time, and occupied a cabin
in the brush when he " blazed " his way
to the North Fork. It is certain that
the two were present when the water
was first turned on the Union Ditch, and
then and there received the designation
of Daddv Downey and Mammy .Downey,
whioh they kept to the last. As they
tottered toward the refreshment tept,
' they'vero welcomed with the. greatest
enthusiasm by the boys ; or, to borrow
the more refined language of tho Union
Recorder, "Their gray hairs and bent
figures, recalling, as they did, the linppy
paternal eastern homes of the spectators,
and tho blessings that fell from venera-
ble lips when they left those homes to
journey in quest of the Golden Fleece
oa Occidental Slopes, caused many to
bivrst into tears." The nearer facts that
many of these spectators were orphans,
that others had eujoyed a State's guar
dianship and discipline, and that a ma
jority had left their paternal roofs with
out any embarrassing preliminary
formula, were mere passing clouds- that
did not dim the golden imagery of the
writer. irora that day the oiiints were
adopted as listorical lay figures, and
entered at once into possession of nnin
terrupted gratuities and endowment.
It was not strange that, in a country
largely made up of ambitions and reck'
less youth, these two types of con
servative and settled forms should bo
thus celebrated... Apart from any seuti-
ment or veneration, they "were admirable
foils to the community's youthful pro
gress and energy. They were put for
ward at every social gathering, occupied
prominent seats on the platform at
every pnblio meeting, walked first in
every procession, were conspicuous at
the frequent funeral and rarer wedding.
and were godfather and godmother to
the first baby born in Bough-and-Beady,
At the first poll opened in that precinct,
Daddy Downey cast the first, and, as
was his custom, on all momentous occa
sions, became volubly reminiscent.
"The first vote I ever cast," said
Daddy, " was for Andrew Jackson ; the
father o' some on you peart young chaps
wasn t born then, he I ne i tnat was
'way long in '33, wasn't it t I disremem
ber now, but if Mammy was here, she
bein a schoolgal at the time, she could
say. But my memory's failin' me. I'm
an old man, boys ; yet I likes to see the
young go ahead. I reokloct that tbnr vote
from a snckumstance. Squire Adams
was present, and seem' it wns my first
vote, he put a goold piece into my hand,
and, sez he, sez Squire Adams, let that
always be a reminder of the exercise of
glorious freeman's privilege 1' He did ;
he I he I Lord, boys I I feel so proud
of ye, that I wish I had a hundred votes
to cast for ye all."
It is hardly necessary to say that the
memorial tribute of Squire Adams was
increased tenfold by the judges, inspec
tors and clerks, and that the old man
tottered back to Mammy, considerably
heavier than he came. As both of the
rival candidates were equally sure of his
vote, and each had called upon him and
offered a conveyance, it is bnt fair to
presume they were equally beneficent.
But Daddy insisted upon walking to
the polls a distance of two miles as a
moral example, and a text for the Cali
fornia paragraphers, who hastened to
record that such was the influence' of the
foot-hill climate, that "a citizen of
Bough-and-Ready, aged eighty-four,
rose at six o'clock, and, after milking
two cows, walked a distance of twelve
miles to the polls, and returned in time
to chop a cord of wood before dinner."
Slightly exaggerated as this statement
may have been, the fact that Daddy was
always found by the visitor to be en
gaged at his wood-pile, which seemed
neither to increase nor diminish under
his ax a fact, doubtless, owing to the
activity of Mammy, who was always at
the same time making pies, seemed to
give some credence to the story. In
deed, the wood-pile of Daddy Dowrey
was a standing reproof to the indolent
and sluggish miner.
" Ole Daddy must use up a pow'fnl
light of wood; every time I've passed by
his shanty he's been makin' the chips
rx t i i 11 1 1 ' 1
ny. cut wnat gera me is, iosi ids jine
don't seem to come down," said Whisky
Dick to his neighbor.
" Well, vou fool I" growled his neigh
bor; " 'spose some chap happens to pass
by thar and sees the old man doin a
man's work at eighty, and slouches like
you and me lying round drunk, and that
chap, feelin kinder humped, goes np
some dark night and heaves a load of cut
pine over his fence, who's got anything
to say about it? Say!" Certainly not
the speaker, who had done the act sug
gested, nor the penitent and remorseful
hearer, who repeated it next day.
xne pies and canes made by tne old
woman were. I think, remarkable rather
for their induoing the same loyal and
generous spirit than for their intrinsic
excellence, and it may be said appealed
more strongly to the nobler aspirations
of humanity than its vulgar appetite.
liowbeit, everybody ate Mammy Dow
ney's pies, and thought of his childhood.
"Take 'em, dear boys," the old lady
would say ; it does me good to see
you eat 'era j reminds me kinder of poor
Sammy, that, ef he'd lived, would hev
been ez strong and big ez you be, but
was taken down with lung fever at Sweet
water. I kin see him yet : that's forty
year ago, dear I comm. out o' the lot to
the bake-house, and smiiin such a beau
tiful smile, like yours, dear boy, as I
handed him a mince or a lemming turn
over. Dear. dear, how I do run on I
and those days is past I bnt I seems to
live in you again I" The wifo of the
hotel-keeper, actuated by a low jeal-
ousy, had suggested that she ' seemed
to live off them, " bnt as that person tried
to demonstrate the truth of her state
ment by reference to the cost of the -
material used by thvtld lady, it vts
considered by the camp as too practical
and economical for consideration. "Be
sides," added Cy Perkins, " ef old Mam
my wants to turn an honest penny in
her old age, let her do it. How would
you like your old mother to make pies
on grub wages, eh ? A suggestion that
so affected his hearer (who hod no moth
er) that he bought three on tho spot.
The qunlity of these pies had never been
discussed bnt once, it is related that a
young lawyer from San Francisco,
dining at the Palmetto restaurant.
pushed away one of Mammy Downey's
pies with every expression of disgust
and dissatisfaction. At this juncture,
Whisky Dick, considerably affected bv
his favorite stimulant, approached the
stranger s table, and, drawing up a chair,
sat uninvited before him.
" Mebbce, young man," he began
gravely, " ye don t like Mammy Dow
nev's pies ?"
The stranger replied curtly, and in
some astonishment, that he did not as a
rule, ' eat pie."
"Young man," continued Dick with
drunken gravity, " mobbee you re ac
customed to Charlotte rusks and blue
mange; mebbee ye can't eat unless your
grub is got up by one o' them French
cooks? Yet we us boys yar in this
camp calls that pie a good a oom-pe-
tent pio I
The stranger again disclaimed any
thing but a general dislike of that form
of pastry.
" Young man," continued Dick, utter
ly unheeding the explanation, " young
man, mebbee you onct had au ole a
very ole mother, who, tottering down
the vale o' years, made pies. Mebbee,
and it's like your blank epicurean soul,
ye turned up your nose on the ole wo
man, and went back on the pies, and on
lifir I She that dnndleil vn when vo wnz
a baby, a little baby I Mebbee ye went
back on her, and shook her, and played
off on her, and gave her away dead
away 1 And now, mebbee, young man
I would'nt hurt ye for the world, but
mebbee, afore ye leave this yar table,
YE Xlj EAT THAT PIE l i
The stronger rose to his feet, but the
muzzle of a dragoon revolver in the un
steady hands of Whisky Dick, caused
htm to sit down again, lie ate the pie,
and lost nis case likewise, before
Eough-and-Beady jury.
Indeed, far from exhibiting the cyn
ical doubts and distrusts of acre. Daddv
Downey received always with child-like,
delight the progress of modern improve
ment and energy. "In my day, long
back in the twenties, it took us nigh a
week a week, boys to get up a barn,
and all the young ones I was one then
for miles 'round at the raisin' ; and
yer's you boys rascals yo are, too
runs up tnis yer snanty for Mammy and
me twixt sun-up and dark I Eb, eh,
you're teachin' the old folks new tricks,
are ye ? Ah, get along, you 1" and in
playful simulation of anger he would
shake his white hair and his hickory
staff at the " rascals." The only indica
tiou of the conservative tendencies of
age was visible in his continual protest
against the extravagance or the boys.
"Why," he would say, "a family, a
hnll family leavin' alone me and the
old woman, might be supported on
what you young rascals throw away in a
single spree." "
There was little doubt that the old
couple were saving, if not avaricious.
But when it was known, throngh the in
discreet volubility of Mammy Downey,
that Pappy Downey sent the bulk of
their savings, gratuities, and gifts to a
dissipated and prodigal son in the East
whose photograph the old man always
carried with him it rather elevated him
in their regard. " When ye write to
that gay and festive son o' yourn,
Daddy," said Joe Bobinson, "send him
this yer specimen. Give him my com
pliments, and tell him, if he kin spend
money faster than I can, I call him 1
In vain would the old man continue to
protest against the spirit of the gift ;
the miner generally returned with bis
pockets that much the lighter, and it is
not improbable a little less intoxicated
than he otherwise might have been. . It
may be premised that Daddy Downey
was strictly temperate. The only way
he managed to avoid hurting the feelings
of the camp was by accepting the fre
quent donations of whisky to be used
for the purposes of liniment
" Next to snake-oil, my son," he would
say, " and dil berry-juice and ye don't
seem to pro-duce em h( reabouts whis
ky is good for rubbin onto old bones to
make 'em limber. . But pure cold water,
sparklin' and bright in its liquid light,
and, so to speak, refleotn of God's own
linyments on its surfiss, is the best,
onless, like poor ol Mammy and me,
ye gili Uie dmub-agxu from QYer-use,"
Praised bv the lips of distinguished
report, fostered by the care and sus
tained by the pecuniary offerings of
their fellow citizens, the Saints led for
two years a peaceful life of gentle ab
sorption. To relieve them from the
embarrassing appearance of eleemosy
nary receipts an embarrassment felt
more by the givers than the recipients
the postmastership of Bongh-and-
Beady was procured for Daddy, and the
duty of receiving and delivering the
United States mails performed by him,
with the advice and assistance of the
boys. If a few letters went astray at
. 1 ' 1 l . 1 Ai " 1 ... J L
liiis lime, it was easily nnnuiiKU vj uiis
undisciplined aid, and the boys them
selves were always ready to make np the
value of a missing money-letter and
keep the old man s accounts square.
To these functions presently were added
the treasureships of the Masons and
Odd Fellows charitable funds the old
man being far advanced in their re
spective degrees and even the posi
tion of almoner of their bounties
is superadded. Here, unfortu
nately, Daddy's habits of economy
and avaricious propensity came near
making him unpopular, and very often
needy brothers were forced to object to
the quantity and quality of the help
extended. They always met with more
generous relief from the private hands
of the brothers themselves, and the re
mark "that the ol' man was trying to
set an example that he meant well'
and that they would yet be thankful for
his zealous care and economy. A few, I
think, suffered in noble silence, rather
than bnng the old man s infirmity to the
public notice.
And so with this honor of Daddy and
Mammy, the days of the miners were long
and profitable in the land of the foot
hills. The mines yielded their abun
dance, the winters were singularly open,
and yet there was no drouth nor lack
of water, and peace and plenty smiled
on the Sierrean foot-hills, from their
highest sunnv upland to the trailing
faida of wild oats and poppies. If a
certain superstition got abroad among
the other camps, connecting the fortunes
of ltongh-and-lteady with Daddy and
Mammy, it was a gentle, harmless
fancy, and was not, I think, altogether
rejected by the old people. A certain
large, patriarchal, bountiful manner,
of late visible in Daddy, and the in
crease of much white hair and beard,
kept up the poetic illusion, while
Mammy, day by day, grew more and
more like somebody s fairy godmother.
An attempt was made by a rival camp
to emulate these paying virtues of rever
ence, and an aged mariner was procur
ed from the Sailor's Snug Harbor in
Han Francisco, on trial. But the unfort
unate seaman was more or less diseased,
was not always presentable, through a
weakness for ardent spirits, and finally,
to use the powerful idiom of one of his
disappo!nted foster-chi dren, "up and
died in a week, without slinging ary
blessin.
But vicissitude reaches young and old
alike. Youthful Bongh-and-Beady and
the Saints had climbed to their meridian
together, and it seemed fit that they
should together decline. The first
shadow fell with the immigration to
Rough-and-Ready of a seoond aged pair.
The landlady of the Independence Hotel
had not abated her malevolence toward
the Saints, and had imported at consider
able expense her grand-aunt and grand
uncle, who had been enjoying for some
years a sequestered retirement in the
poor-house of East Machias. They
were indeed very old. uy what miracle,
even as anatomical specimens, they had
been preserved durmg tneir long jour
ney was a mystery to tho camp. In
some respects they had superior memo
ries and reminiscences. The old man
Abner Trix had shouldered a musket
in the war of 1812, his wife, Abigail,
nad seen .Lady Washington.
Whether it was jealousy, distrust or
timidity that overjame the Saints, was
never known, bnt they studiously de
clined to meet the strangers. When di-
rectlv encroached urjon the subject.
Daddy Downey pleaded illness, kept
himself in close seclusion, and the Sun
day that the Trixes attended church in
the school-house on the hill, the triumph
of the Trix party was mitigated by the
fact that the Downeys were not in their
accustomed pew. " Ion bet that Daddy
and Mammy is lying low jest to ketch
them old mummies yet," explained
Downeyite. For by this time schism
and division had crept into the camp
the younger and later members of the
settlement adhering to the Trixes, while
the older pioneers stood not only loyal
to their own favorites, but even, in the
true spirit of partisanship, began to
seek for a principle underlying their
personal feeling. " I tell ye what, boys,"
observed Sweetwater' Joe, "if this yer
oamp is goin to be run by greenhorns.
and old pioneers, like Daddy and
the rest of us, must take back
seats, it's time we emigrated and
shoved out, and tuk Daddy with
us. Why, they're talkin' of rotation in
offlss and of putting that skeleton that
Ma'am Decker sets np at the table to
take her boarders' appetites away into
the post office in place o Daddy." And,
indeed, there were some tears of such i
conclusion: the newer men of Bough-
and-Beady were in the majority, and
wielded a more than equal influence of
wealth and outside enterprise. Fris
co." as the Downeyite bitterly remarked,
" already owned half the town. " The
old friends that rallied around Daddy
and Mammy were, like most loyal friends
in adversity, in bad cose themselves, and
were beginning to look and act, it was
observed, not unlike their old favorites.
At this juncture Mammy died.
The sudden blow for a few days seemed
to reunite dissevered Bough-and-Beady.
Both factions hastened to the bereaved
Daddy with eondolements, and offers of
aid and assistance. Bnt the old man
received them aternly. A change had
eome over the weak and yielding octo
genarian. Those who expected to find
him maudlin, helpless, disconsolate,
shrank from the cold, hard eyes and
truculent voioe that bade them "be
gone," and " leave him with his dead."
Even his own friends failed to make
him respond to their sympathy, and
were fain to content themselves with his
cold intimation that both the wishes of
his dead wife and his own instinots were
against any display, or the reception of
any favor from the oamp that might tend
to Keep up the divisions they bad inno.
oently crrated. The refusal of Daddy
to accept any services offered was
so unlike him as to have but one dread
ful meaning I The sudden shock had
turned his brain I Yet so impressed were
they with his resolution that they permit
tedhim to perform the lastisad offices him
self, and only a select few of his nearer
neighbors assisted mm in carrying the
plain deal coffin from his lonely cabin in
the woods to. the still lonelier cemetery
on the hill-top. When the shallow
grave was filled, he dismissed even these
curtly, shut himself up in his cabin, and
for days remained nn&een. it was evi
dent that he was no longer in his right
mind.
His harmless aberration was accented
and treated with a degree of intelligent
delicacy hardly 'to be believed of so
rough a community. During his wife's
sudden and severe illness, the safe
containing the funds intrusted to his
care by the various benevolent asso
ciations. waB broken into And rob
bed, and although the act wns clearly
attributable to his carelessness and
preoccupation, all allusion to the fact
was withneid irom mm in his severe
alllicnon. wnen ne appeared again
before the camp, and the cirenmstanoes
were considerateyexploined to him with
the remark that " the boys had made
it all right," the vacant, hopeless, unin
telligent eye tnat ne turned npon the
speaker showed top plainly that he had
forgotten all about it. " Don't trouble
the old man," said Whisky Dick, with a
burst of honest poetry; Don t ye see
his memory's dead, and lying there in
the comn witn Aiammy. rerhaps the
speaker was nearer right than he imag
ined. They took various means of diverting
his mind with worldly amusements and
one was a visit to a traveling troupe,
tnen performing in the town
The result of the visit was brief
ly told bv Whisky Dick. "Well.
sir, wo went in, and I sot the old man
down in a front seat, an djkinder propped
him up with Borne other of the fellers
round him, and there he sot as silent
nnd awful ez the grave. And then that
dancer. Miss Grace. Somerset, comes in.
nnd blame my skin, if the old man didn't
git to trembling and fidgeting all over,
as she cut them pidgin wings. I tell ye
what, boys, men is men, way down to
their boots whether ' they're crazy or
not 1 Well, he took on so that I'm
blamed if at last that gal herself didn't
notice him I and she tips, suddenly, and
blows him a kiss sol with her fingers 1"
Whether this narration were exagger
ated or not, it js oertain that old man
Downey every succeeding night of the
performance was a spectator. That
he may have aspired to be more than
that was suggested a day or two later
in the following; incidents. A. number
of tho boys were sitting around the
stove in the Magnolia saloon, listening
to the onset of a winter storm against
the windows, when Whisky Dick, tremu
lous, excited and ' bristling with rain
drops and information, broke in upon
them.
" Well, boys, I've got just the biggest
thing out. A 1 hadn t seed it myself,
I wouldn't hev believed it I"
" It ain't thet ghost ag'in ?" growled
Bobinson, from the depths of his arm
chair ; " thet ghost s about played.
" Wot ghost ?" asked a new-comer.
"Why, ole Mammy's ghost, that
every feller about yer sees when he's
half full and out late o nights."
"Where?"
"Whore? Why, where should
ghost be ? Meanderin' round her grave
on the hul yonder, in course."
"It'ssuthin bigger nor thet, pard,"
said Dick, confidently ; "no ghost kin
rake down the pot ag'in the keerds I've
got here." This aint no bluff 1"
"Well, go on I" said a dozen excited
voices.
Dick paused a moment, diffidently,
with the hesitation of an artistic racon
teur.
" Well," he said, with affected delib
eration, " let's see I It is nigh onto an
hour ego ez I was down thar at 'the
show. When the curtain was down be
twixt the ax, I looks round fer Daddy.
No Daddy thar I I goes out and asks
some o' the boys. Daddy was there a
minnit ago,' they said ; must hev gone
home.' Bein' kinder responsible for
the old man, I hangs around, and goes
out in the hall and sees a passage lead-
in' behind the scenes, jnow the queer
thing about this, boys, ez that suthin id
my bones told me the old man is thar.
I pushes in, and, sure as a gun, I hears
his voioe. Kinder pathetic, kinder
pleadin', kinder "
" jjove-makin I broke in the impa
tient Robinson.
"You've hit it, pard, you've rung
tne oeii every time I uut she says, 1
wants thet money down, or I'll
and here I couldn't get to hear the
rest. And then he kinder coaxes, and
she says, sorter sassy, but listen! n' all
the time, women like, ye know, Eve
and the sarpintt and she says, 'I'll
see to-morrow.' And he says, You
won't blow on me ?' and I gets excited
and peeps in, and may I be teetotally
blamed ef I didn't see"
" What ?" yelled the crowd.
"Why, Daddy on hit knees to that
there dancer, Grace Somerset I Now,
ii Mammy s ghost is meanderin round.
why, et's about time she left the ceme
tery and put in an appearance in Jack
son s Hall. Thet s all i"
"Look yar, boys," said Bobinson,
rising, "I don't know ea it's the square
thing to spile Daddy's Inn. I don't ob
ject to it, provided she aint takin' in the
old man and eivin' him dead away. But
ez we're his guardeens, I propose that
we go down thar and see the lady, and
duu oui ei ner intentions is honorable.
-r . i . . . -
xi sue means marry, ana the old man
persists, why, I reckon we kin give the
young couple a sena-oa thet won t dis
graoe this yer camp I ' Hey. boys ?"
It is unnecessary to say that the
proposition was received with acclama
tion, and that the crowd at once departed
on their discreet mission. But the re
sult was never known, for the next
morning brought a shock to Bonsrh-and
Beady before which all other interest
paled to nothingness.
. The grave of Mammy Downey was
found violated and despoded; the coffin
opened, and half filled with the papers
and aooounts of the robbed benevolent
association; but the body of Mammv
was gone I Nor, on examination, did it
appear mat me uotq ana anoien, form
of that female .had ever reposed in its
recesses I .
Daddy Downey was not to be found,
nor is it necessary to say that the ingen
uous Grace Somerset was also missing.
For three days the reason of Bongh-
and-Beady trembled in the balance. No
work was done in the ditches, in tne
flume, nor in the mills. Groups of men
stood by the grave of the lamented relict
of Daddy Downey, as open-mouthed and
vacant as that sepuloher. Never since
the great earthquake of '52 bad Bongh-
and-Beady been so stirred to its deepest
foundations.
On the third day the sheriff of Cala
veras a quiet, gentle, thoughtful man
arrived in town, and passed from one
to the other of excited groups, dropping
here and there detached but concise ana
practical information.
" les, gentlemen, you are rignt, jurs.
Downey is not dead, because there
wasn't any Mrs. Downeyl Her part was
played by Geo. F. Benwick, of Sydney
a 'ticket-of -leave-man,' who was, they
say, a good actor. Downey ? Oh, yes 1
Downey was Jem X ianigan; wno, in oz,
used to run the troupe in Australia,
where Miss Somerset made her debut.
Stand back a little, boys. Steady 1 'The
money?' Oh, yes, they've got away
with that, sure ! How are ye, Joe ? Why,
you're looking well and hearty I I ra
ther expected ye court woe, now s
things your way?"
" Then tney were oniy piay-actors,
Joe Hall ?" broke in a dozen voices.
"I reckon 1" returned the sheriff,
coollv.
"And for a matter o five blank years,"
said Whisky Dick, sadly, " they played
this camp I Scnbner Magazine.
Nationalities and Ages of the Popes.
The journal of the French Statistical
Societv publishes some curious statistics
concerning the Popes whioh may not be
without interest. Pins IX. was the
252d Pope. Of these fifteen were French,
thirteen Greeks, eight Syrians, six Ger
mans, five Spaniards, two Africans, two
Savoisieus. two Dalmatians; iingland,
Portugal, Holland, Switzerland and
Canada furnishing one each; Italy
provided the rest. Since 1523 all the
Popes have been selected from Italian
Cardinals. Seventy Bishops of Rome,
belonging, with very few exceptions, to
the epoch preceding the establishment of
the temporal power, have been proclaim
ed saints. The last ten centuries have
seen nine Popes judged worthy by the
Popes themselves of being sanctified,
Of the 252 Pontiffs, not including St.
Peter, eight died within a month of
their elevation to the Popedom, forty-
eight within a year, twenty-two were
seated between one and two years, fifty
four from two to five years, fifty-seven
from five to ten years, fifty-one from ten
to fifteen years, eighteen from Cttec-n
to twenty years, and nine more than
twenty years. Pius IX., in the years of
his Pontificate, surpassed in 187 all the
Roman Pontius except the bpanish anti-
Pope, Benedict XIIL, of Luna, who,
elected at Avignon in 1394, died at
Pensacola. near Valencia. 1424. In
respect of age he has been surpassed by
a very great number of his predecessors.
There died at the nee of ovor eighty-two
years Alexander XIII. (1689- 91) and
Pius VI. (1775-99); at eightytbres
years, Paul IV. (1555-69), Gregory
XIII. (1575 85), Innocent X. (1644-50),
Benedict XIV. (1740-58), Pius VII
(1800-23): between eighty-four and
eighty-six years, Paul III. (1534-49),
Boniface VIII. (1291-1803), Clement X.
(1670 76), Innocent XII. (1691 1700),
between ninety and ninety-two years
John XII.. Pope of Avignon (1316 -34),
Clement XIII. (1730-40), at the age
of 100 years.
A Ferocious Alligator.
In the Norman river, Australia, the
alligators are so numerous and daring
that they will not leave the steamers
Eath until they are actually disturbed
y the motion of the floats. As the
steamer Pioneer was on its voyage, a
Kanaka belonging to the vessel WaB
standing on the margin of the river
unfastening a rope, when he was charged
by one of these terrible saurians. The
people on board who saw the danger
cried out to alarm the man ; but before
he could make his escape the alligator
seized him by the thigh. The unfor
tunate man threw his arm round some
mangroves, and bo held on until assist
ance came from the steamer. Six men
quickly seized him, and then there was
a horrible trial of strength between
human muscles and the jaws of the alli
gator. The captain struck the brute a
blow on the head with an axe, which
forced him to let go his hold, and the
victim was dragged away. The alligator,
however, made another charge up the
bank, but was repelled with difficulty by
repeated blows of the axe. The poor
Kanaka's leg was taken off below the
knee. Medical assistance was near at
hand, but the excessive loss of blood
rendered recovery hopeless. The man
died within fifteen minutes after he had
reached the doctor's dispensary.
. Morphlomanin,
Morjhaania has become a great
scourge in Berlin Bince the introduction
of opium injections as a relief from bod
ily suffering and sleeplessness. Trades
people, merchants, judges, barristers,
soldiers, students, doctors and clergy
men become the victims of the habit,
and when the medical attendants are
called in it is too late to counteract the
evil. At first, these sub-cutaneous in
jections offer the quickest and easiest
means to allay pain and bring rest to the
sufferer. But to prove effectual in its
cure, the treatment must be continued
for a certain time: and during that
period the patient becomes so accustom
ed to these skin injections that they
become indispensable. When the medi
cal practitioner refuses to increase the
doses, the patient unable to sleep or
rest without the calming injection, pro
cures the necessary instruments ana ap
plies the remedy himself. Sometimes,
also, even after the patient has been
cured without any undue doses, and
when ho should dispense with the opium
injections, he delays doing so under the
plea that they make sleep and rest so
well. In fact, when once these sub
cutaneous injections have begun, they
can rarely be left off. Like drink, the
appetite for them inortaRet latil chroaio
drunkenness ensues,
FARM, HARDEN ASD HOUSEHOLD.
ltasliM ninta.
Tea. A French chemist asserts that
if tea be ground like ooffee, hot water is
pourod npon it, it will yield nearly
donble the amount of its exhilarating
qualities.
MANAGEMENT OF JiBOOMS. If brooms
are wet in boiling snds once a week they
will become very tongh, will not cut the
carpet, last mnch longer, and always
sweep like a new broom.
Rancid Butter. Butter that has be
come rancid may be restored by washing
it thoroughly in good new milk, and
then working it over with cold spring
water. Butyrio acid, which, when pres
ent, causes rancidity, is soluble in fresh
milk, and con be removed in the manner
stated.
Canned Cider.' Cider may be pre
served for years, by putting it up in air
tight cans, after the manner of preserv
ing fruit. The cider should be first set
tled and racked off from the dregs, but
fermentation should not be allowed to
commence before canning.
To Bash Holders. Window sashes
may be retained at any desired height,
by "boring three or four holes in the side
of the sash, and inserting into them
common bottle corks, leaving them to
project about the sixteenth part of an
inch. These will press against the win
dow frame and hold the sash at any
height required.
Camphor Ice. Melt slowly together
white 'wax and spermaceti, each one
ounce ; camphor, two ounces, in sweet
almond oil. one pound. Next, triturate
until the mass becomes homogeneous,
Then allow one pound of rose water to
flow in slowly during the opeiation
Then perfume with attar of rosemary,
one drachm.
Toads In the Rnrden.
Many persons have a loathing of these
really interesting, if . not Handsome,
little animals of the genns Bufo (Bufo
vulgaris). The toad is perfectly harm
less, and is often useful in gardens by
feeding on noxious insects. One
writer gives it as his opinion that they
are worth more per head to the horti
culturist than chickens, even allowing
that chickens did not scratch. Dr
Harris tells a very interesting story of
these insect devonrers, which W9 think
ought to put the reader in good humor
with them. He supposed the odor of
the squash bug would protect it from
the toad, and to test the matter he offer
ed one to a grave looking Bufo, under a
cabbage. He seized it eagerly, but
spit it out instantly, reared npon his
hind legs and put his front feet on top
of his head for an instant as if in pain,
and then disappeared across the garden
in a series of the greatest leaps a toad
ever made. Perhaps the bug bit the
biter. Not satisfied with this Dr,
Harris hunted np another toad which
lived under the piazza, and always sun
ned himself in one place in the grass.
He offered him a squash bug, which he
took nnd swallowed, winking in a very
satisfied manner. Twenty other fine
bugs followed the first in a few min
utes, with no difficulty or hesitation in
taking or swallowing, though, from the
wriggling and contortions, it appeared
their coiners did not fit well within.
Hone Stables.
Dark stables are an abomination nnd
should not be tolerated. There is no
necessity to sacrifice comfort, cither in
winter or summer, to secure enough
light. A horse's eyes are enlarged the
pupil of the eye is by being kept in a
dark Btable. He has the harness put on
him, and suddenly brought out into the
bright, glaring sunlight, which contracts
the pupil so suddenly as to cause extreme
Eain. To see just how it is to face a
right light after having been in tho
dark, take a walk some dark night for a
short time, till the eye becomes accus
tomed to the darkness, then drop sud
denly in some well-lighted room, and
you will scarcely ne able to see for a few
moments in the sudden light. A dark
f table is invariably a damp one, and
such stables we are not yet willing to
put either a valuable or working horse
in.- Give good ventilation, let the sun
shine and the air have a chance to effect
an entrance, and your stables will be
purer and more healthy.
Fat Ilarsrs.
There is a tendency at this season to
feed too much grain and get the horses
too fat. This is done at the expense of
muscle, because an animal kept con
stantly at work will not get "hog fat,"
the food going to furnish tissue and
muscle used up and destroyed. Not so
with an animal kept in a stall and given
no exercise, except, perhaps, that ob
tained while being led to water. The
amount of grain fed should be reduced,
and a plentiful supply of hay kept in
the racks at all times. When possible,
the horses should be given the free run
of the yard every doy. If only given
their liberty occasionly, they are liable
to run and jump to excess. Many valu
able animals have been lost by rupture
or a fall obtained through giving exer
cise to exuberant animal spirits.
Wettem Stock Journal.
Feedlns Fowls.
In a state of nature fowls run over a
great extent of ground before they get a
crop full. They pick np tnei'r food
gram by grain, and with it small pieces
of dirt, blades of grass and other things
that all help digestion. Placed before
the fowls in boxes filled with grain, the
birds do in five minutes that which
should be the work of two hours; they
eat a greedy fill, and, suffering unnat
ural repletion they have recourse to
drink ; the corn then swells in the crop,
and the sufferers, instead of walking
about cheerfully, hide in corners and
squat about, to the detriment of their
health. This applies to the equally
bad practice of throwing down the food
in heaps.
Sprains.
Between the bones of the ankle and
the wrist there are muscles. Wh n by
accident these are drawn out of their
places, what we call a sprain is produced.
When one is aware that he has suffered
this species of derangement, the first
thing to be done is to keeD the part in
jured perfectly still, and by no means
nse it in the least. The muscles left to
themselves will return to their places
gradually. Hops steeped in vinegar
and applied hot to the injured part will
quiet the anguish and restore wholeness.
But more important ttian any appli$
W9 V iuoi'
Items of Interest.
The more suits at law the less suits go
on your back.
A Kansas newspaper offers a premium
for the best poem on mud.
France smoked 150,000,000 cigars last
year, ana iz tons ot cigarettes.
In 1872 there were thirty-two circus
shows on the road. This year there are
but thirteen.
This is a world of second-hand goods.
Every pretty girl has been some other
fellow's sweetheart.
Bice is more largely grown and con
sumed as human food than any other
cereal. It is said to be the main food of
one-third of the human race.
Chicago has 2.800 liquor saloons for .
her 500,000 inhabitants, giving one sa
loon for every 178 paople, or one to
every thirty -five adult males.
The number of children lost daily in
the city of New York is very large. Over
thirty found temporary quarters ar. tne
police central station one day recently.
It costs just six cents to paste a
printed slip on a postal card and send
it through the mails. The sender con
tributes one cent and the receiver the
other five.
Josh Billings says lasting reputa
ehuns are a slow growth. The man
who wakes np famus sum morning iz
qnite apt to go to bed sum night and
sleep it all off.
In a New York druggist's window a
placard announces : " Ladies afflicted
with pale, faded eyes can now have
them tattooed black, brown, or dark
blue with India ink..
In Kentucky vagrancy is punished
with involuntary servitude, and a colored
offender was sold on the block at auction
for six months t the highest bidder at
Hickman, in that State, the other day.
It is when a man is carrying a pound
of honey on one nrrri, and a bag of egga
on the other, and leading a bulldog by a
string, and attempts to brush a fly off
his ear, that he feels ne man can be an
expert in all things.
Queen Victoria has seven palaces.
Three in London -Buckingham, St.
James, and Kensington. 'Her out-of-town
palaces are at Windsor, at Osborne,
Isle of Wight, and at Balmoral, in the
Scottish Highland!?.
There is no grove on earth's broad chart
Bnt has somo bird to cheer it ;
So Hope sings ou in every heart,
Although we may not hear it.
And if to day the heavy wing
Of sorrow is oppressing,
f enhance to-morrow's sun will briug
The weary heart some blessing.
Dr. C. B. Eddy of Finchville, Ky.,
who has recently imported from Canada
a drove of Berkshire hogs, has erected
for thorn the finest pen in the country.
It is made of heavy stone, and through -
it runs a hallway six hundred feet long,
traversed by a stream of water. Per
fect light aud ventilation have been se
cured, and the entire cost has been
820,000.
A fanatio Mussulman at Constanti
nople attributes the Sultan's disasters to
the fact that Baron Tecco, a former min
ister of Italy in that capital, fraudulent
ly purchased for a more song the
Prophet's sacred flag and sent it to
Turin. The flag certainly is in tho pos
sessism of the Boyal Museum of that
city, but its s-icred' character and magic
al value ure entirely ignored by its pres
ent owners.
A popular doctor of Utica while escort
ing a lady home the other evening, at
tempted to relieve her cough and sore
throat by giving her a troche. He told
her to allow it to dissolve gradually in
her mouth. No relief was experienced
and the doctor felt quite chagrined the
next day when the lady Bent him a pan
taloon button with a note Baying he must
have given her the wrong kind of troche,
and might need this one.
A f eorful catastrophe occurred at Par
ma, Italy. An artillery officer and six
men we.ie trying to uproot an old horse
chestnut tree by the use of dynamite in
the publio promenade when, owing to
the officer's carelessness, an explosion
occurred, killing the officer, two soldiers,
two children and another person, and
wounding sixty-three. Among the seri
ously wounded were four noblemen and
several gentlemen who were out for an
afternoon walk, ani were attracted to
the spot from curiosity to see the
experiment.
or flowers.
There were no roses till the 6rtt child died,
No violets, nor balmy-breathe-i teart's-eass,
No heliotrope, r.or, huds so dear to bees,
The honey-hearted suckle, no gold-eyed
And lowly dandelion, nor, stretching wide,
Clover and cowHlip-cups, like rival ses,
Meeting snd parting, as the yooug spring
breeze
Itnns gid ly races playing seek and hide.
For all flowers died when Eve left FaradUe,
And all the world was tlswerless awhile,
Until a little child was laid in earth i
Then from its' grave grew violets for its eyes,
And from us lips roue-petals tor us emues,
And so all flowers from that child's death
took birth.
Maurive F. Egan in Scribner.
The ancients had neither pen, ink.
pencil, nor paper; but their needs were
small and their necessities of publication
slight, so that their primitive methods
sufficed. They cut npon stone, and
sometimes blackoned the letters after
cutting; more generally and longest,
they used a scratching implement canea
the " stylus." For materials, they had
bronze, bras1, leaden sheets, palm-leaves.
skins, bark of trees, tablets covered witn
a thin sheet of wax, and as convenient as
the modern slate for erasure, and the
layers of tjie stalk of the papyrus. The
brittle papyrus would not endure fold
ing, and eo the book was a continuous
ralL
There is no nationality on the face of
the globe that can compare with the
Chinese as vegetable gardeners, with the
exception of the Italians. The gardens
of the latter south of this city are mar
vels of order and economy. This nation
ality is spreading its gardens over the
State everywhere, and day by day, dime
by dime, strip by strip, adding to their
moneyed and real estate possessions, in
At ' , a i . i . l il 1 - I.
tne vicinity oi Auuorq uicy uuro ucuuuw
well-to-do in a few years. As fishermen
they can make a living where t fieri
would starve. They are making little
spots of Paradise wherever a rich piece
of sod is found. They are frugal, ener
getio and hard working, and even the
Chinese find it difficult to keep np with
tt.em,--.&toramento Bee.