iiiiii
fwo Dollars per Annum.
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher-
NILi DESPERANDIiM.
VOL. X.
Filikla.
IThs Incident narrated In the following line,
etuallr occurred near Atod.N. T., nd the Innocent
Tlotlm of the Joke te lady nearly ninety ye.ni of
sr., (treatly belored and venerated In the com
mnnlty where sue resides.
A lndr of ape, and ezperienoe rare,
Snt knitting and rooking her old-time chair j
When on the cold wintry air there came to
her oar
Through closed window and doors, distinct
and clear,
The tell-tale cackle ot hens from the barn;
And laying aside her bright neitllos and yarn
She sinned, " Oh! to be young! But I'm not
too old now
To go hunting again for eggs in the mow.
For since the tar-time when but a wee girl,
No ladder e'er scared me or made my head
whirl;
That old dominio hen thinks her nest hid
away,
Bat I know her trick she has laid in the
hay."
So straightway she entered the barn's open
door,
'Where a ladder invitingly stood on the floor,
And mounting as fearless as any ball stair,
She climbed the steep ladder with dexterous
care,
One step at a time, one tound after round,
And a nest in the crisp, lragrant hay is scon
iound.
Now a solt faint peep from a corner is heard,
And she doubts it the voice can be chicken or
Beard again and again; after searching and
bother
The chickens appear and their fidgety mother ;
Fresh egs, ill-thnod chicks and hen well
secured
In apron all snug, the long-searching endured ;
To the mow's edge she comes, not dreaming
what work
Had been done by a peripatelio barrel of pork
Or what would have been pork in a day or
two more
(What a pity it had not been made to before) ;
Now a pig's not a dnuoe, tho' pig-headed,
tis true,
And has plans of his own and can cleverly do
A thing to surprise one as this rhyme aims
to show;
for while the lady was busied, piggie was
busy below.
Now the hen's silly cackle reached this phil
osopher's ear,
And h reasoned, " the barn door's now open,
to mil it m clear
Some oue has forgot it how else could that hen
Go in and come out? I'll try my luck then;
I Temember the sheaves nnd pile ol bwcet
wheat,
Some tew grains, perchance, are yet left to eat.
'Tis good lor my diet lor die-it 1 should,
One cannot alwayBeat corn be it ever so good."
So rousing himself from bis nest near the door,
A clear coast he oiecerns and the coveted floor.
To the inquisitive pig came disappointing
surprise
Scarce a giuin could he see with his black,
beady eves;
Twas all palmy stoied or transformed into
Ro'd.
For autumn had gone; t was winter and cold.
But bent on discovery, this acquisitive pig
Hound the bam Hour begins to snuff and to
dig
With liia long strong noBe soon the ladder he
spies
" Why, what is thiB ladder up here foi?" he
cries ;
"Of what use is it now, for the summer is
over,
And the fresh, cool grass and sweet-smelling
clover
Ai e spoiled for me now, for I cannot eat hay ;
I could eat it vilule growing in fields Tar away.
Now it's piltd above there lor somebody's
use,
An J nothing's lelt piggie save corn and
abuse!"
At the thought of his grievance he got mad
der and madder;
And somehow upset this most useful, long
ladder;
Or, it may be, to judge this poor beast with
due charity,
He assayed to ascend it himsell, for a rarity,
And ignorautly trying its wrong side, we sup
pose, A hard push he gives it and over it goes!
Unsuspecting and careless of the mischief now
done,
Like thousands of human ones under the sun,
He hastes in affright to get solely away,
While the poor lady above him is exiled in
hay!
The wintry halt-day is fast nearing its close,
That she has been there alone a long time she
knows;
It is strange she is missed not that no one
comes near her,
And vainly she cul s, she's so far none can
hear her.
Now it chanoed that the honsehold knew net
of her going,
But believed her still babied with reading or
sewing;
But the quietness there, too profound and too
long,
Hint surely what researoh proves, something
is wrong.
Long searching?, loud callings, prove quite to
be vain
In her chair only Bible and knitting remain
AU the house and the garden, hunted over and
over,
Notnceof dear grandma can any discover;
When at length from the barn, cries a well-
kpown voice,
At wniob all the household exolaim and ro-
joioe;
Girls, the ladder's fallen I guess the pigs
can tell how
Please put it up lor me, I am here in the
mow."
Bo the ladder is placed; " angels " ascend and
descend,
Like the angels of Jacob, and grandna attend.
Half laughingly, seriously, the chide her and
tell her:
" Until all mischievous pigs are packed down
in the cellar,
It is saler by lar, than to hunt eggs in the
barn,
To be in your own room with needlos and
yarn."
" Pllikia "Is a Sandwich Island ward meaning
" In a tight place," or, " In a oorntr "
S. P. WuUworth.
A RARE CASE.
Mattie's story was simple enough.
The orphan child of a former servant in
wealth; family, Mattie had shared
the lessons and the play of the young
daughter of the bouse, until a time came
when it was convenient to turn the hum
ble companion adrilt to work for her
self. It may have been a piece of the
ill-luck his neighbors ascribed to Drew,
that it should have been to his farm the
girl came as help to his sister, or it may
ave been a piece of his good-nature
that made him agree t3 take under his
roof this pretty lass, untrained for ser
vice and educated far above her station.
Drew's widowed sister, Mrs. Bankes,
who lived with him, and whose child it
was Mattie had come to nurse, amongst
other duties too numerous to mention,
, for there was but one servant kept
' Drew's sister exclaimed in despair
' when the farmer brought Home the
young, lady-like, delicate-looking girl.
" We want a strong, hard-working,
lass! This one does not know her right
band from her left. She is as good as a
lady or as bad and has never milked
a cow inner me: wuai were you Hank
ing of to bring her bereP'
''!.! that's inst mv luclr; well -a, a
must do the best we can with her. If
the steward had never mentioned her
to me, now but then he did mention
her.tnd here she is."
There she was, and there she stayed,
Apt to learn, willing to be taught
grateful for the real kindness she me1
with, Mattie was soon the best hand at
milking for miles round, soon devoted
to the baby. Three years passed quietly,
and then came the romance of Mattie's
life.
She was twenty that summer and
Adam Armitage, a grave man, was fully
ten years her senior. A great traveler,
member of a world-renowned scientific
society, a student and discoverer he
was, between two scientific expeditions,
refreshing heari and brain by a walk
ing tour throusrh the home counties.
Adam's walking tour ended at the
farm Drew had taken only a year be
fore, and the dwelling house it had been
found more convenient to .inhabit than
the smaller building on the old land
close to the road. Mr. Armitage found
the pure air of the Downs good for him.
He made friends with all the family.
To Mattie it was delightful to meet once
more some one with all the tricks of
speech and manner of the more refined
society amongst which her youth had
been passed. Little Harry followed
this new friend wherever he went;
Harry's mother called him a right-down
Eleasant gentleman ; the farmer called
im a good man.
They all missed him when he went
away. Mattie most of all ; but the fol
lowing summer saw him there again, a
welcome old friend this time, and no
stranger.
Drew, a keen observer of all that
went on around him. was not so much
taken by surprise as his sister was,
when one day, toward the end of this
second visit, Adnm and Mattie were
both mysteriously misting. A strong
armed courtiy lass made her appear
ance before night, bhe was the bearer
of a note from Mattie, confessing that
she nnd Mr. Armitage were married,
and hoping the servant sent might sup
ply her place so that no one would bo
1 nconvenienced. Drew might shake his
head and look thoughtful, but Mr.
Armitage was his own master, and it
w:ts net the first time a gentleman had
married a country lass. Besides, the
deed was done and past recall. They
had gone quietly to one of the churches
in the town from whence the sound of
bells flouted up to the farm, and had
been married by special license. Adam
had taken a lodging for his bride, and
there they passed one brief, bright week
of happiness; then one morning walked
quietly back together, Mattie blushing
nnd smiling, and looking so lovely and
lady-like in a simple dress that she used
to wear before she came to the farm,
that they hardly knew her.
Adam explained that he meant to
leave his wile for two days no more
in the care of her old friends; at the
en a oi mat time lie wouia return to
fetch her. There were arrangements to
make with regard to the scientific ex
pedition about to start immediately. It
would sail without him now, but it be
hooved him to do his best that his place
jbould be as well filled as might be.
There was also his mother to see, and to
prepare for receiving Mattie.
Maltie walked a little way with her
husband and the farmer along the
breezy uplands, and then Adam sent her
back, and hastened his own steps in the
direction of the little station at the foot
of the Downs. W hen he came again, he
said, laughing, that it would be from
8 station, and that he would drive
in a fly through the Stoncdene gate and
along the track, the only approach to a
carriage road leading to the farm.
Mattie went away smiling as he meant
she should do, and only p.iused now and
then to look after the two men as long
as they remained in sight. It was
natural that she should feel a little
afraid of this unknown lady, Adam's
mother, but that fear was the only
shadow on Mattie's path. It was an
idyll, a poem, as true a love story as the
world has seen, that had written itself
here in this out-of-the-way spot on the
lonely Sussex Downs.
On the third day they might look for
Adam to return, but that day passed,
and many another, until the days were
weeks, and the weeks months, and he
neither came nor wrote. Mattie remem
bered how when she had turned to look
back for the last time upon that home
ward walk, she had seen his figure dis
tinct against the sky for one instant,
and in the next lost it entirely as he
passed out of sight over the swelling
line of hills Just so she seemed to have
lost him in one instant out of her life.
And yet, she never lost faith and trust
in him ; never ceased to watch for his
coming again.
Drew after a time, either goaded to
the step by his sister's loud-voiced argu
ments, or prompted to it by his own
sense of what was due to Mattie, not
only took pains to ascertain that the
marriage was real enough, but fie
further pains of searching lor and find
ing the address of Adam Armitage in
London. It was strange how this girl
and her former master both trusted
Adam in the face of his inexplicable
silence; in the face of even a more
ominous discovery made by Drew when
in town the discovery that he had
never mentioned MaUie's name to his
mother, or alluded to Mattie at all. As
for Adam. Mrs. Arm.tage had declared
he was not with her then, and that she
could not give an address that would
find him; an assertion that confirmed
Mattie in the idea that he had started on
those far-away travels he had so often
spoken of to her.
As autumn passed and the evenings
grew chill with the breath of the coming
winter, Mattie's health seemed to fail.
The deep melancholy that oppressed her
tnreatened to break the springs of life.
In order to escape from Mrs. Bankes the
girl took to loneJy wanderings over the
Downs; wanderings that ended always
at Stonedene; until, with the instinct of
a wounded animal that seeks to endure
its pain alone, or from the ever present
recollection of the last words of Adam.
when he bad said it was by way of
Stonedene that he would return, she
besought the farmer to send away the
woman in cnargeoi tne House and allow
ber to take her place.
Dre yielded to the wish of the wife,
whDse heart was breaking with the pain
of absence, and the mystery of silence,
and Mattie, on this foggy dav had al
ready Jived months at Stonedene, on the
WaiCU aiwnjt jui me coining Ol ACam.
The fog increased instead of diminish
ing with the approach of evening.
Drew could not see his own bouse until
he was close to it; as he bad remarked.
the mystery of Mattie's affairs was not
more impe etrabie man tne veti hiding
all natural objects just then. When be
had put up the horse and gone into tea
RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, JUKE 3, 1880.
Mrs. Bankes, as she bustled about, pre
paring the meal that Mattie's deft little
fingers hart been wont to set out wun
so much quietness as wen as celerity,
did not fail to greet him with the ques
tion : " Well, how is she f "
" She" had come to mean Mattie in
tho vocabulary ot the farmer and his
sister.
" About as usual in health," Drew re
plied, lifting the now five-year-old
Harry to his knee; "but troubled in
mind; though, to be sure, that is as
usual, too."
' She is out of her mind," exclaimed
Mrs. Bankes, irritably. "Every one but
yourself knows that; and if you do not
know it, it is only because you are as
mad as she is or any one might think
so from the way you go on."
" Nay, nay," said Drew gently, as the
butter-dish was set upon the table with
a vehemence that made the teacups rat
tle. "There are no signs of madness
about Mattie unless you call her trust
in her husband by so hard a name."
" Husband! a pretty husband, indeed!
I've no patience with him, nor with
vou. either. As if it was not a com
mon tale enough! It would be better
to persuade the eirl to come home and
get to work again than to encourage her
in her fancies, while you pay another
servant here and times so hard as they
are."
" I was thinking to-day," the farmer
went on, softly passing his broad palm
over the blond head ot the child upon
his knee, "I was thinking as I came
along of how it stands written : "He that
loveth not his brother whom he bath
seen, how can he love God whom he
hath not seen?' "
At that instant the sbadowy form of
some one going round to the tront door
passed the window, against which the
fog pressed closely. Drew set little
Harrv on his feet and rose slowly, lis-
teninz with intentness and a surprised
look that made his sister ask what ailed
him.
" Rover the dog does not bark ; who
by the mercy of neaven, it is the man
himself!" cried Drew, as the door
opened with a suddenness that caused
Mrs. Bankes to drop the plates on the
brick floor. 1 or Adam Armitage stood
unon the threshold; Adam, pale and
worn, a shadow of his former self, but
himself unmistakably.
Adam looked around the room as
though seeking s om eone, smiled in his
old fashion at Harry, gave a half curi
ous, half indifferent glance to Eliza
Bankes, and then turned to the farmer.
" Drew," he said simply, " where is
mv wife?"
" Mrs. Armitare is waiting for you at
Stonedene. sir ; there was Bome talk of
vour coming back that way."
' ' Waiting !" Adam threw up bis hands
with a passionate gesture ; what can she
have thought?"
" She has thought you weregoneafter
all upon mat voyage, ana that your let
tcrs had miscarried. Sometimes she
has thought that you were dead, Mr
Armitage, but never" Drew broke
off and held out his hand : " We knew
you could explain what has happened,
sir." he concluded.
Adam drew his own hand across his
eyes, in the way a man might do who
lias lately been roused irom a bad
dream and has some trouble to collect
his.thoushts.
"That has happened." he said.
which, if it had not befallen me myself
and become a part ot my own experi
ence, I should find it difficult to believe
possible. A strange thing has happened.
and yet" here the old smile they re
membered so well broke slowly like
light over his fact " and yet a thing not
more strange, as the world goes, than
that you 1 say nothing of Mattie but
that you should have trusted me
throughout. I detected no mistrust in
your voice, no doubt in your eyes, not
tven when they first met mineiust now
They call mine a rare case, iriend; they
might say tne same ot your oenet in
me. But Stonedene, did you say?
Walk with me there, and hear my tale
as we go,
"This evening; and in this mist; and
you, sir, looking far from well," began
Eliza Bankes. " Mattie has waited so
long already that one night more will
make but little difference."
' One night, one hour more than
can help will make all the difference
between willlul wrong and a misfortune
that has fallen on "both alike." said
Adam. He would not be dissauded
from setting out at once, and in another
minute tiie two men were pursuing their
way through the driving mist, Adam
talking as they went.
After parting from Mattie he had
taken train to London, where arriving
in due course no drove in a cab toward
his mother s house in Grosvenor street
within a few yards of which his cab
oveturned and Adam was thrown out,
falling heavily upon his head. After
long interval, however, he opened his
eyes and recovered consciousness ; and
as he did so slowly at first, after a time
more fully, the astounding discovery
was made that memory was entirely
gone.
However, this state was one from
which, so said his friends, science could
at will recall him, and the operation
necessary to restore Adam to himself
was deferred only until his health ad
mitted of its being attended by a mini
mum of risk.
It was while Adam was in the state
above described that Drew had seen
Mrs. Armitage. A proud woman, she
was ill-pleased to bear he had married
a farm servant; for that was the one
fact that, stripped of Drew's panegyrics
upon Mattie's superior education and
refined manners, alone stared her in the
i ace.
Hastily resolving that there was no
need to embitter her own life by an at
tempt to recall to ber son this ill-fated
marriage, she did not hesitate to de
ceive her unwelcome visitor. Change
of scene had been ordered for the pa
tient, and before Drew called at the
house in Grosvenor street for the second
time Adam and his mother were gone.
It was in Paris, months after, tiiat the
operation was finally and successfully
performed, and then the first word of
Adam's was Mattie's name. The first
effort of bis newly-recovered powers
was to relate to his mother the history
of his marriage and to write to bis wife.
"God grant the suspense has neither
killed nor driven her mad!" he ex
claimed. It was to bis mother's hand the letter
was confined, and with that exclama
tion of his ringing in her ears, Mrs. Ar
mitage stood beside the brazier filled
with charcoal and burning in the ante
room of their apartment in the Champ
Ely sees. She was not a bad woman,
but the temptation was too strong to al
low this affair to unravel itself, and see
what would turn up. If the girl were
dead, why no harm had been done, and
this terrible mistake of her son's was
rectified at once. it tne otner aiterna-
ive were to prove true ana wattle nan
lost her senses, Adam would be equally
free from ber, or measures couia do
taken to insure so desirable a result.
Mrs. Armitage tore tne letter into pieces
and waited by the brazier until tne
fragments were charred - Adam askea
no awkward questions, and was not even
surprised at receiving no answer to his
epistle, since in it he nnd announced his
coming. The first day bis health ad
mittedit, he set out alone for England.
Such was tne story, wnen urew
had told of bis efforts to seek Adam.
and had mentioned that no letter had
reached Mattie, Adam was at no loss
to understand at once tne part nu
mother had played. But he never
spoke of it, then or at any future time.
ine nouse ooor-aii otwneuene biuuu
ajar; evening Had closed in now, ana
the chilly fog was still abroad, but the
figure at tne gate was dimiy aiscernioie.
Adam Hastened nis Bteps.
" For heaven's sake, sir. be careful !
the suddenness of it might turn her
brain," cried Drew, laying a detaining
hand upon the arm of his companion.
Adam gently snoon mm on.
" Suddenness." he repeated. " Ave.
it Is sudden to you and to Mrs. Bankes,
hnt. fnr me and for Mattie. whose
thoughts are day and night, night and
day full of each other, how can it be
sudden P"
Drew stood still end Adam went on
alone until his footsteps became audi
ble and Mattie turned her head to see
him standing at her side.
Adam had been right; no fear was
there for Mattie's brain. All excite
ment, all surprise and wonder came
afterward: at that first supreme mo
ment, and with a satisfied stgh, as of a
child who had got all it wants, Mattie
held out her arms to him with one
word
"Husband"
As Adam drew her to him it was not
only the mist or the darkening evening
that blinded Drew so that for a moment
or two he saw neither of them.
People say Drew s luck has turned
from the day Stonedene found a tenant
It is newlv done un and prettily fur
nished now; Mr. and Mrs. Armitage
come down there once or twice a year.
with their children, tor a breath of sea
air and to visit old friends.
Bells.
The history of bells is full of romantic
interest In civilized times they have
been intimely associated, not only witn
all kindB cf religious and social rites,
but witn almost every important Histor
ical event. Their influence in architect
ure is not less remarkable, for to them
indirectly we-prob&Wy -ewe all the most
famous towers m tne wor a. dbiih umiv
summoned soldiers to arms, a? W.ell as
citizens to bath or senate, or Christians
to church They sounded the alarm in
fire or tumult, and the rights of the
burghers in their bells were jealously
guarded. Many a bloody .chapter in
history has been rung in and out by
bells. On the third day of Easter, 1282
at the rineine of the Sicilian vespers
8.000 French were massacred in cold
blood by John of Procida, who had thus
planned to free Sicily from Charles of
Anjou. un ttie xn ot August, At.
Bartholomew's day, 1571, bells ushered
in the massacre ot tne Huguenots in
France to the number, it is said, of
100.000.
Bell founding attained perfection in
Holland in the sixteenth and seven
teenth centuries, and the names of
Hcmorry. Dumery, and the Van den
Ghens stand as the princes of the art
Bell ringing by rope is still a popular
art in England. Tho first regular peal
of bells sent to England was in 1456
bv Pope Calixtus III. to Kine's college
Cambridge, and was for 300 years the
largest peal in that country. At the be.
ginning of the sixteenth century sets ot
eight bells were hung in a lew euurcne"
The great bell at Moscow, Cznr Kol
okol. which, according to the inscnp
tion, was cast in 1733, was in tbe earth
103 years, and was raised by the Em
peror Nicholas in 1836. It seems never
to have bten actually hung or rung, hav
ing been cracked in tne mrnacc. it stand
on a raised Dlatform in the middle ol i
square, and is used for a cliaoel. It
weiehs440.000 pounds; height. 19 feet
inches: circumference, 60feet9 inches
thickness. 2 feet: weight of broken piece,
1 1 tons. The second Moscow bell, the
largest in the world in actual use,
weighs 128 tons. The great bell at
Pekin weiiths 53 tons ; Nanking, 22 tons
Oimulz, 17 tons ; Vienna, 17 tons; Notre
Dame, 17 tons; Erfurt, one of the finest
bell metal, 13 tons. The Kaiserglock
of Cologne cathedral, lately recast
(1875) weighs twenty-five tons.
The Force of the Wind on the Body,
It is doubtful whether attention has
been sufficiently directed to the part the
force of wind plays in producing altera
tion of the blood-pressure in localities
of the surface. In full health this mav
be an unimportant consideration, the
skin being stimulated to a proper dc
gree of tension, and the underlying ves
sels suffering no compression; but, in
the case of persons of low vitality, this
" bracing " may not oecur, or almost in
stantly BUDsiae, ana congestion oi deep
organs may men De mecnamcaiiy pro
duced bv prolonged exposure to thi
force of a strong wind. Sometimes
numbness and even paralysis of the
nerves may result from the same cause
In the old coaching days facial paral
ysis was a well-recognized result ot
sittins with the face to the onen win
dow. In the more rapidlv moving rail'
way carriage of to-day the angle of in
cidence and reflection throws the cur
rent of air on the passenger sitting one
seat removed from the window, or the
current of air strikes the back ot the
carriage, and is passed round behind
the necks of the passengers, as any one
may demonstrate with a lighted match.
In all these instances It is the force as
much as the temperature of the jet of
air which produces the results some
times experienced from "sitting in
draught." The question arises whether
this little fact, taken in connection with
others, mav not hereafter be found to
throw some new light on the nature of
a "cold" and Its moroia phenomena,
Perhaps, after all. "cold-catchinir " is.
in part, at least, a process in which the
blood is forcibly dnvenuut ot a parucu
lar area ol tne sunuce, wnue tne
vitality of its nerve is diminished by
mechanical depression. A small jut of
air, playing continually on a limited
space, will give some hyper-sensitive
individuals a severe " cold." London
Lancet.
New York city consumes 1.600 bus.bpls
ot potatoes per (lay.
. T t i.i .
The Country Weekly.
At the banauet elven by the Wheel-
tt ( W.Va.) Sunday Leader in honor of
its sixth birthday, A. O. Bunhell, editor
of the Dansville (N. Y.) Adverser, re-
ponded substantially as louows to tne
toast "The Country Weekly; next to
the city daily the first power in the
land :"
In the first place, the country weekly
is older than the city daily by nearly
one hundred years We cannot be ex
pected to take a bacK seat ior a junior i
Secondly, the country weekly has edu
cated the most brilliant and versatile
editors and the most profound writers
who ever gave character to the city
dailv. Can't stand below a scholar ol
ours!
Thirdlv. the country weekly outnum
bers the city daily many times over,
and we would like to see the majority
giving way to the minority in a repub
lican countrv like ours. Bad precedent!
Fourth 1 v. the country weekly is An-
teoss multiplied indefinitely. At thou
sands of events it touches the people, its
mother earth, and its strength is thereby
nnnt.innallv renewed and absolutely in
exhaustible. It defies the Hercules of
the citv daily to lift it from the ground
to its death.
Fifthly, it molds pvblio opinion as
no city daily can. ine city eoicoriai,
be it never so brilliant and powerful,
comes from afar, nnd in a sense is vague
and unreal as its author is unknown and
intangible. Whereas, the writer lor
the countrv weekly knows, and is
known by nine-tenths of his subscrib
ers, who are are his champions through
think nnd thin.
And so we might go on to thirtecntuiy ,
but what's tho use ot sparrng a deaa
man P Those who believe in punish
ment after death may indulge in this
nrohtless pastime. L;t us look around
for something still alive. Perhaps the
pulpit or the platform or the school
house, the idol3 of the people, would
like to compare notes with the country
weekly. It will take just one minute
to dispose of those, for it can be easily
shown that tne country weemy suoor-
dinates them all. It hns a larger con
eresation than the minister, a wider
range ot subjects than the orator, more
attractive and more practical lessons
than the nedaeoeue. The fact is, we
cannot bring to mind just at this mo
ment anv peer ol tne comntrv weekly.
ti . ' .ui um:- .a
Uul, seriously, we moiousuij uencvo
in tne country weekly, an i our ueiri
reioices in the glorious estate to which
it has attained. Yet
" No Minerva-born thought is this
countrv Dress.
Springing lorth from some brain in the pride
ol its prime,
A itod from tho flrat in its panoplied dresa,
But the slow-going, slow-growing triumph ot
titno.
It represents the work of many brains
for many years. Its power for good or
evil is not computable, wnue we re.
in its glory and its strength, we
tremble iu view of tho responsibilities
which have-grown with its growing
power, and in conclusion? tKUiyi hands
with the citv dailv. we echo the senti
ment of a lamented journalist recently
dead : "The press ot America is its hope
its prophet and its guardian woe be
tide press and nation too, if the former
tails ot its opportunity and its trust
The Printer,
B. F. Taylor once paid the following
tribute to the toilers at the case: The
printer is the adjutant of thought, and
this explains the mystery ol the won
derful word that can kindle a hope as
no song can that can warm a heart as
no hope that word " we," with a hand
in-hand warmtn in it, for the author
and printer are engineers together, en
eineers indeed! When the little Cor,
sican bombarded Cadis at the distance
of five miles, it was deemed the very
triumph of engineering. But what is
that range to this, whereby they bom
uard ages yet to ber
There at the " case " he stands and
marshals into Hue the forces armed for
truth, clothed in immortality aud Eng
lish. And what can be nobler than
the equipment of a thought in sterlin
Saxon Saxon with tho ring of spear
on shield thereon, nna that comnus
sinning it when we are dead, to move
gradually on to the " latest syllable
recorded time." This is to win a vie.
tory from death, for this has no dyin
in it.
The printer is called e laborer, and
the office he performs, toil. Oh, it is
not work, but a sublime rite that he is
performing, when he thus sights the
engine that is to fling n worded truth
in itrandor curve than missile e er be
fore described fling into the bosom
of an aee vet unborn. Ho throws off
his coat indeed ; we but wonder, the
rather, that he does not put his shoes
from off bis feet, for the place whereon
he stands is holy ground.
A little song was uttered somewhere,
long ago it wandered through the
twilight feebler than a star it died
upon the ear. But the printer caught
it up where it was lying tbero in si
lence like a wounded bird, and he
equips it anew with wings, nnd he
sends it forth from the ark that had
preserved it, and it flies forth into the
future with the olive branch of peace ;
and around the world with melody,
like the dawning of a spring morning.
How the type have built up the
broken arches in the bridge of time
How they render the brave utterances
beyond the pilgrims audible and elo
quenthardly fettering the free spirit
but moving not a word, not a sylla
ble lost in the whirl of the world
moving in connected paragraph and
period, down the lengthening line of
years.
Some men find poetry, but they do
not look for it as men do for nug
gets of gold ; they see it in nature's own
handwriting, that so few know how to
read, and they render it into English.
Such are the poems for a twlight hour
and a nook in the heart; we may lie
under the trees when we read them,
and watch the gloaming, and see
the faces in the clouds, in the
pauses; we may read them when the
winter coals are glowing, and tbe
volume may slip from the forgetful
hand, and still, like evening bells,- the
melodious thoughts will ring on.
A ton of cold or silver contains
29,160 66 ounces. A ton of gold is worth
$602,875. A ton of silver, at the present
rate per ounce, is worth about $32,000.
A cubic foot of gold weighs 1,200 pounds,
and is worth nearly $3C0.O00. A cubic
foot of silver weighs 000 pounds, and is
worth about f 10,000. rue value ot go id
coin, bars and bullion in circulation in
the world is estimated at $3,500,000,000.
This would make in a mass a twenty
five (cot cube.
TIMELY TOPICS.
Fortv ner cent, of the Chinese of San
Francisco have been hack and forth be
tween the United States nnd China four
or five times. Most of the Chinese go
back once in five years, and rarely any
one stavs longer than eight years contin
uously in this country. Many unineae
merchants return regularly to spend tho
Chinese New Year at home.
Bartholdi. the French sculptor, says
there is no doubt that the great statue
of Liberty enlightening the world will
be ready for its place in New York har
bor in 18H3, tne year in wnicn iNew
York's great world's fair is to be held.
This statue, when erected, will be the
largest in America. It was presented
to the United States by the Freneh peo
ple, and Hart bold i is bard at work at it
in France.
Buckley is a Texas horse thief nnd
murderer, for whom the law officers
searched long nnd fruitlessly. A man
called on the governor, introduced him
self as a friend of the outlaw, and said
that he was prepared to buy his pardon
bv giving information against other
criminals. The governor was inclined
to mnke finch a harcain. and sent him
to the attorney-eeneral, who recognized
him as none other than Buckley mm
self. The rascal drew a long knife out
of his bootleg, but was overpowered
and locked up .
The New York Bulletin makes a com
pilation of crop reports which shows
so far as can bo shown at this time
that the wheat production of 1880 will
tully equal that ot 187'J. lowa ana
Kansas will fall off, but their deficiency
will be fullv made up by gains in llli-
nois.Ohio. Minnesota and Pennsylvania.
If present promise shall be verified, that
will be the fourth successive great grain
crop in the United States a continu
ance of prosperity almost if not qui te
without precedent.
The New York State fish commis
sioners are advocating tho eulture of
carp. The experiments at the govern
ment nonds in Was hineton have been
very successful, fish that were put in
there three years ago having crown
much larger than in Europe under tho
same circumstances. They are an easy
fish to raise. Any kind of a pond, no
matter how restricted, can bo used.
Providing that the water is not too cold,
carp thrive, no matter how impure it
is. No natural water hns been found
too warm for them. They thrive on
plants growing in the water, on boiled
grain or even offal. A pond may be
dug in arable land and used for three or
four years as a carp pond, after which
the land may be again cultivated.
A correspondent of the Leavenworth
Time i calls attention to the similarity
between tho stand storm in Kacsas and
ono in the island of Sicily, in the Medit
terranean, two days afterward, and be
lieves both wereof meteoric origin. The
Kansas dust was composed of brown
i VOfwlr liYiTnlr,Vln mittpr nnrt fi
abundant that on the next day traces of
the deposits could be seen on the surface
of the ground, and on a north porch
sufficient to receive the imprints of a
cat's feet. The writer says : The near
coincidence of dales between the phe
nomenon in Sicily and here, with an ap
parent similarity in the physical proper
ties of the dust, might sug,.; est a common
origin.
The act incorporating the New York
world's fair of 1883, in celebration of
the treaty of peuce between Great
Britain and tho United States, provides
for the subscription of $12,000,000, which
is $2,000,000 more than the centennial
exposition estimate was based upon,
tho commissioners of that celebration
limiting their financial operations to
$10,000,000. This extra $2,000,100 does
not by any meansrepresent the increased
magnitude of tho proposed exposition
over tho last ono held in the United
States, for it is confidently expected
tliHt the receipts alone, owing to the
metropolitan location of tho exposition
and its ready means of access to allpaits
of tho world, will be immensely greater
than at the Philadelphia exposition.
Besides this, the commissioners having
in charge the projected f:tir believe
there will be no difficulty in raising
the amount mentioned in the net, or
even more.
Women are doing a good work in
foreign fields under the direction ot the
Woman's Union Missionary society,
whose nineteenth anniversary was cele
brated recently at the Broadway taber
nacle in New York. In Calcutta and
Raj pore 1.162 women and girls are under
the instruction of one lady and her assist
ants. An orphanage has been estab
lished at Calcutta, where more than
500 children receive care. Twenty-five
pupils are now boarding at the mission
in Pekin. and there are also u large
number of day scholars. Moreover,
village schools are being opened in
China. In Cyprus a school has been
opened for Giteic girls, and about sixty
are in attendance. In Allahabad, India,
where there ore about 450 pupils under
instruction, the earnestness of the
women in their mission work has been
rewarded by a gift of $4,000 from the
government.
Bailroad Statistics.
T, ere are some 85,000 miles of rail
road in the United States operated by
some 600 different companies. There
are over 20,000 slat ons. On these lines
are 13,000 locomotives, 13,000 passenger
cars, 5,000 baggage, mail end express
cars, and some oou.ooo lreight cars. No
reliable statistics show the number ot
men employed on this 85,000 miles of
ro:.d, hut it is estimated that tiiere are
about 40,000 engineers and firemen,
20,000 psssengcr train conductors nnd
brakemtn, ubout the same number of
baggage, mail and express men, and at
least 50,000 men on fivij:ht trains. Add
station agents and clerks, train dispatch
ers, telegraph operators, yardmen, road
masters, truckmen, watchmen, flagmen,
freight laborers, machinists; car-builders
and repairers, employees in round
houses and shops, and last, but not
least, presidents, general managers, su
perintendents, the auditor's depart
ment, treasurer's department, etc., and
we have . almost 1,000,000 men em
ployed in the railroad business of the
United States. Add to this tLe num
ber of men employed in the manufac
ture of railroad supplies, in car and lo
comotive works, in rolling mills, in cut
ling ties, etc, and, perhaps, we could
bring the number ot men who derive
their living from railroads in our coun
try alone ty nearly 8.000,000.
NO. 15.
Clothed In White.
Clothed in white ft happy ohildjat play.
1 lor face all radiant as the hnos of morning
With Tairy step ho trod;
creature lovely as tho flowers of May.
Who could bewitch at with her ohildish
scorning,
Or ml ns with a nod.
Clothed in white with blossoms in her hair.
A maiden whom to love appeared a doty
A spell around her hung;
A sense ot all that nature makes most fair,
That tilled with rapture all who wateheil
her beauty,
Or heard her silver tongne.
Clothed in white she heard the wedding
chime, Blushing beneath her erown ot orange
flowers, As her soft answer flows
Like mnsio, with no pretence of the time
When o'er her lite, which love so fondly
dowers,
The shadowy grave will close.
Clothed In white her form we seem to see
Shine in the glory of a now existence,
Delying time and nfcht,
And from all earth born memories set tree;
While wo, like travelers toiling in the dis
tance, Yearn for the coming light.
Tintlty't Magattnt.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
A display of American plants is to be
held annually in Hyde Park, London.
" My work's dun," remarked the col
lector as he started out in the morning.
Marathon Independent.
Two Iowa men h.-.da ow race the
other day on a bet of $50. The best
time was seven minutes.
The latest London fog: First pedes
trian " Is your lantern out?" Second
pedestrian I don't know; l li tcei."
A Cuban ciar manufacturer made
for the King of Spain 1,000 cigars, for
which he received $1,000, ana refused
to duplicate tho order.
In the six New England btatca there
are nearly 2,000 divorces every year,
and within twenty years me numoer
has fully doubled.
Hie cuttle on a thousand hills
Contribute to the milkmun's wealth,
So does the water from the rills
That's Blipped into the cans by stoulth.
The Canadian senate lately rejected,
by thirty-two to thirty-one, the bill
legalizing marriage with a deceased
wile's sister or a deceased brother's
wife.
A man who offered for five dollars to
pu' any one on tho track of a paying in
vestment, seated an applicant between
the rails of the Bo3ton and Albany rail
road. Rocliester Express.
VW4"'
VI J VI A U U - -- . . w .
M"' inniiioilitra tn tn r F lYiinfl m on
men ot aniH"'""VD "f V ' T "
wlm nrn niMiniea Willi 1UUK1UK HI a
buzz-saw without
feel of
it with their finger
Sentinel.
This is the season when the
sward in the front vard is kenl smooth
and unobstructea, ana yet a man win
btumble on the lawn mower during the
next few months more than in any other
part of the year. Keokuk Gate Ciiy.
The Auichkoff palace, the residence
of the czarevitch, is now connected
with the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky
theater by the telephone, and the czare
vitch and his wiie listen to the music
without having to go to the theater.
That which takes the conceit out of a
rising young statesman as quick as any
thing is to be caught in the act of going
for a cent's worth of yeast in his native
village. He feels like p tting himself
in the hands of his friends. 1'icayune.
A man had $110 with which he was
told to buy 100 cattle. He went into tho
market nnd found he -ould buy cows
nt $10 each, sheep nt $3 each and pigs
at titty cents a head. He bought 1U0
animals with his $100. How did he
make up his assortment?
An old miser, who was notorious for
seif deninl, was one day asked why he
was so thin. "I do not know," said
llu miser; I have tried various means
for gettins? fatter, but without success."
'Have jou tried victuals?" inquired a
friend.
When a man comes limping into bis
place of limine s late in the morning,
and presents the general appearance of
having had bis spinal column si-altered
by a railway accident, his friends need
not be alarmed ; lie has been working
in the garden. Albany Argus.
A report to the annual conference oi
tho Mormons says that the Mormon
population of Utah is 111,620, that the
church iu that Territory has lost 600
members and gained 1,500 in a year,
and that the church receipts in that
period were over 1,000,000.
A colored man at Danville, 111.,
offered to drink all the whisky that a
barroom party would give him. The
effort killed him, und the widow sued
those who had supplied the beverage
for $15,000 damagts, but a jury cut
down the valuation of the drunkard to
$15 X
The summer days are here, and the
perspiring editor dreams of green fields
and babbling brooks and solt bretz:s
laden with the fragrance of J une roses
and awakens to the sad fact that there
is such a thing as a composing room
and a horde of printers hungry for
"copy."
A tuird-of-o-century plant is attract
intr miif.h attention in Greenviiie, Miss.
Thirty-three years ago a lady, now iiv
. ' Si IM.. ....... .-..Ki.la.t nml Dili
plant was in bloom and some of its
liowcrs graced the wedding breakfast.
The owner has carefully tended the
plant ever since, und this season it has
hr-t into flower lor the first time Biuce
the wedding day.
There is long grade on tne xerre
Haute and Logtmsport railroad In In
diana. A heavily-loaded freight car
broke loose from a train and Biarted
down this incline. It gained a frightful
rate of speed, and was going in the di
rection lrom which a lust passenger
train was soon to come. A dreadtul col
liEiou was thus Imminent. A locomo
tive was quickly sent in pursuit of the
runaway. The chase was most excit
ing. The engineer, by ioicmg a speed
of sixty miles an hour, finally overtook
the freight car, fastened to it, and drew
it in a reverse direction, lust in time tj
prevent a disaster,
s desire to
jwiieuon vine
mo
Q