HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher-
NIL DESPEKANDTJM.
Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. XI.
EIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 1881.
NO. 7.
The Peanut.
A large and healthy peanut
Lay cozily abed,
And it chucklod, oh, go gleofullyl
And to itself it said:
" There's a great big world before m
And my mission yet to do;
And up I'll bo and doing it,
Ere the sun has dried tho dew.
" There are greedy boys to conquer,
And .hungry girls as well;
What a world of power I've hid Jen
Within this little shell.
Though they slay me in tho battle,
Though they crush mo like a worm,
Though they bako and crunch my body,
If I can I'll make 'cm squirm."
And the small boy grabbed that peanut
And ho cracked it 'tween his teeth,
But when ho would have swallowed it,
It choked him e'en to death;
And the peanut's work was ended
It had fallen in the strife
It had dune its mission nobly,
Though tho doing cost its lifo.
AN APRIL FOOL.
Helen was our beauty; there is no
contradicting that. A haughty, high
spirited beauty, almost dark enough for
an Asian; but so perfectly made, with
such a glow on the olive oval, such a
ruddy ripeness on tho full lip, such a
luster in the great dark eye. And, like
most beauties, she felt as if the world
was made for Ciesar.
Of course, none of us in tho little vil
lage group ever thought of denying her
supremacy. In fact, we all admired her
too much for that, although I doubt if
any of us loved her. 5nt we all took a
certain pleasure in seeing her arrayed
to suit her beauty; and many was the
scarf and ribbon and rose given her,
like timid offerings at a shrine, from
Clara and me, and, for the matter of
that, from Maria and Emily, and all the
rest of our girls except perhaps Jane,
who had not so lunch to give and
who never indulged herself in fineries
a little Qnuker-like body in her gray
gown, with her light hair put back
smoothly from her white forehead ; not
pretty in most eyes at nil, but always so
fair and pure to me. Helen, however,
looked at Jane with a lofty disdain ;
which Jane appeared to think all right
and natural, fur little Jane shared our
popular feeling thnt Helen's movements
had something to do with keeping the
earth in equipoise. And, in fact, I ha.vt
often noticed since that anybody with
some one -rait of pronounced mental or
physical superiority, well sustained bj
a bad temper behind it, can role all the
world it bin reach, just as Helen did.
We were, the most of us, better oil',
as the phrase goes, than Helen, so fai
as money was concerned; for she v. as
only Mrs. Knowlo's companion, ond
except little Jane, who was an orphai .
and had just enough' income to dret
herself meiigerly and pay her board a'
Aunt Elt-oy's, we all had our happy
homes. .lane had set out to lit herselt
for teaching. She played rather von
dorfully, and she could have spoken to
you in one or two different languages, it
she had not been always so shamefaced.
As for Clara and me, we were the hoi
dens of the village. Maria was the flirt
and Emily was the religieuse. She and
Mrs. Knowles used to have the most
marvelous mornings together, talking of
albs and chasubles and altar pieces and
candlesticks, which somehow made
Emily rather interesting to the rest of
us, although Cousin Stanhope laughed
at us aiiout it, it lie didn t laugh at lier.
Cousin Stanhoiie, be it understood.
was tho light of our eyes in that moun
tain hamlet, so tar as connection with
the outside woild went. He was, in one
degree or another, tho cousin of almost
all of us, for we were all more or less
distantly related. He had a position in
the state department at Washington
that allowed him some leisure ; and, as
we were not a great way from his head
quarters, he often ran up for a Sunday
and brougl us news of that great world,
anil oecav ',!.iii'y brought some one of
the peoi'.- figuring on its scenes now
and then an atta'ho cf one of the lega
tions ; once in n while a traveling for
eigner ; once, indeed, a South Sea island
chief, who boldly asked Helen to go
back with him to Otaheite. A primitive
savage Stanhope called him ; but, if
that were true, the primitive savage was
a very calm and noble gentleman.
" I don't know how you can say so,"
Helen remarked, as we were talking him
Dver on Aunt Elroy's piazza, our usual
phice of congregation, one bright spring
morning, April Fool's day, as we had
learned, to our cost, iu a series of Stan
hope's jests through the niuil. " A great,
swarthy barbarian ? I biippose it is be
cause I am so dark myself; but I have
no affinity with your dusky-skinneJ
people."
I saw Dr. Malatestata lower his book
from his own dusky face and look at
her curiously a moment.
"Being a blackamoor myself," contin
ued Helen, "what I admire is my
antipodes."
" Little Jane, for instance," said I.
"No, indeed. That colorless mor
sel 1 A yellow-haired Norse, some de
scendant of one of the old Cimbri, a
blue-eyed and red-haired Spanish
grandee. He would like me, too," said
Helen, laughing and putting up a great
dropping curl, " on the same principle.
I expect to fall in with him yet."
" Or fall out with him," said I.
" Nothing less than a Spanish hidal
go, with a string of titles as long as his
rent-roll."
" Then I suppose a poor, swarthy
Roman doctor noud never hope to find
favor with those of your way of think
ing, Miss Helen ?" said Dr. Malatestata,
in his smooth English, to which the
slightest accent in the world was like
sauce piquante to flavorless meat.
"Oh," said Helen, coolly, with her
finest air of insolence. " I did not no
tice that you were there, Signor."
"But you will notice the hidalgo,
with the string of titles and the rent
roll ? Well, hidalgos are often poor."
"Then I should have no use for
them," said Helen.
"Do yon mean to 6y, Miss Helen,
that you would not marry a poor and
untitled man? What is the matter
with you American girls ? What better
title is prince than doctor ? I fail to
see the secret of it. There is a legend
in my land that once the Roman purple
was put up at auction. Diavolol Is
all this beauty for sale, too, to the high-
est bidden"
Helen stared at him a moment, an
swering nothing.
" By the way, Clara," then she said,
entirely ignoring him and his remarks,
" did you see the Spanish lace cape Mrs,
Knowles gave Emily ? I should have
liked it myself; and, indeed, it was not
expensive.
" She made a real April fool of Helen
with it," said Clara; " for when she un
folded it, Helen thought, of course, it
was tor her.
" And I had just began to thank her,
when she turned it over to tho nun.
However, it is the only time that I ever
was made an April fool," said Helen,
with her most superior gesture; "and
defy any one to do it again.".
" hy, Helen I How you forget !"
exclaimed,
" Little Jane has made vou
one every
year since she has known
you."
Oh I Little Jane I Her fooleries I
Sweetmeats under vour breakfast-plate I
Yes, if you count that, little Jane has."
"And will next year too, 111 be
bound," said Dr. Malatestata. "At least.
she would if " And I was thankful
that he wheeled his chair owav and
round the corner of the gallery, for a
knew he was coiug to sav. " if nature
had not been before her; " and if he had
said it Helen would have had her foot
on all our necks before peace could have
been declared.
Dr. Malatestata was Cousin Stanhope's
last importation an Italian gentleman
who was visiting America, a graduate of
some wonderful old university, who per
haps might settle down and practice in
America if he had inducement, Cousin
Stanhope said, with a laugh, and who
had found his way to the Italian lega
tion at Washington, where Stanhope
had met him. It was quite unfor
tunate for him that he fell on the slip
pery pavement and broke his ankle; but
Stanhope, who had taken a fancy to
him, hud brought him up to our village
as soon as he could be moved, and had
installed him at Aunt Elroy's, where he
was waited on by inches, Aunt Elroy
outdoing herself in fancy dishes, and
little Jane now and then venturing lest
he might be homesick to let him hear
his native tongue again, while she spoke
a little of her timid Italian with him,
half 6ure that he was laughing at her,
but willing he should laugh if that di
verted tho poor gentleman any from the
nain in his ankle.
"As if it wouldn't make him home
sick," said Helen, high and mightily.
But it didn't seem to do so. He used
-o watch little Jane a good deal. Per
haps it amused him. When she came
baek.with her basket on her arm from
Aunt Elroy's errands among the poorer
people of the mountain (and she was
always sure to have one or two cases of
want ;n reserve as her own property),
he would ask her a swarm of questions
and apparently derive infinite entertain
ment from her answers. But he was
occupied the most part of tho time with
notes that he seemed to be collecting
and arranging for a book.
" yingutar person !" said Helen, in
her sweetly scornful tone. " What
could Cousin Stanhope have been think
ing of to bring him here ? He hasn't
even the manners of a gentleman."
" Why, Helen !" came a chorus.
" I think he is a consummate gentle- i
man," said Aunt Elroy.
"Just about as much of a gentleman
as Jane is a lady," continued Helen.
" Look at her now, bringing in the
eggs. She hasn't a soul above her
hens."
" She gives every egg to the poor and
sick peoplo up tho hills."
"Goody! goody! Just my ideal of
an old maid. Scanty gown, puritanic
collar, plain hair, generally drab. Well.
there must always bo one such in every
circle.
" One such !" I cried,
were a dozen such."
"I wish there
" Oh ! well," said Helen,
quarrel over little Jane,
small, dear."
we won't
She's tco
It was lovely April weather up our
hillsides. Everything was blossoming
into May. All lifo and the future seem
ed to our hearts as bright as the bloom
ing world was. Wo passed the time in
one long picnic Mother and Aunt
Elroy and Uncle John and Mrs. Knowles
and all climbing the mountains, catch
ing the brook trout and broiling them
on our wood fires, and coming back
with our arms full of flowers. At least,
wo all did but little Jane. She said she
had not the heart to leave their lodger
alone in his condition to the mercies of
Old Sally ; and she used to do her little
gardening around the house, and carry
her pensioners our flowers of the day be
fore if we had left them with her, and
be back again at short intervals. And
the last I saw of her one day she had
her davenport on tho piazza and wns
writing away at his dictation, as if there
were no such thing as May breezes and
flowers and mountain rambles, and life
were good for nothing except to make
it pleasant to his swarthv, lean, ill-
favored foreigner. But it was only
Jane's way with ever' body.
"iuat is ono o the troubles with
her," said Helen. "She hasn't any
identity. She forgets herself in the
next person always. A bit of white
glass that is all she is." And there was
such an assumption of authority in
Helen'sayings that, after a few repe
titions, one was apt to take them as
gospel. Only Dr. Malatestata never
did; and his polite way of looking over
her and through her as if she were a
transparency or did not exist at all, was
the only way he had of moving Helen.
And that did move her. Presently I
thought I saw that Helen had deter
mined to change it; and although she
did not care a sou for him himself, she
could not brook a rebel within her
dominion, and she meant to make
him care for her. Iu the full flow
of admiration long received her
pride had sailed upon a smooth cur
rent, without an obstruction. This ob
struction 'of the oblivious Italian doctor
caused a disagreeable commotion in the
tide. What made me first think of it
was Helen's picking to pieces a bunch
of yellow blossoms she had brought in
from the woods, and as she passed the
doctor in his chair scattering a rain of
them all over him, and then looking
back with a laugh that showed her
glittering teeth and brightened nil the
carnation on her olive cheeks and the
luster in her eyes. Well, she was too
beautiful for anything but dreams. The
doctor must have seen what I thought
where I sat in the window-frame, for
presently he snid to me: " Too brilliant
for use, is it not ? As for me, I prefer
What was it Miss Jane read to me to
day?"
"You mean
" ' A creature not too bright and good
For human nature's daily food ?'
That would be Miss Jane herself,"
said I.
"St. Jane," said ho.
" I suppose," 1 said, " that one sees a
plenty of such faces in Rome ?
" As Miss Helen's ? Plenty."
" I always thought Helen looked like
a Koman ladv.
" Like a Roman peasant girl," said
he.
But I knew better than to repeat his
words.
" So your peasant girls have that
golden tinge under the carmine?" I
usked him.
" All of them."
In a day or two Helen, who often
came over to Aunt Elroy's, where she
saw a group of us, when Emily and
Mrs. Knowles were having one of their
seances; was standing by a pillar of the
gallery, twisting a budding vino about
herselt, and a humming bird came dart
ing along, and hovered a moment, just
as if he took her mouth for a blossom.
We all exclaimed and laughed, even the
doctor; and when the next moment a
saucy robin in the black-heart cherry
tree gave forth a burst of his music.
mid Helen opened her lips and answered
it in delicious trill on trill, we felt as if
the scene was something ideal.
"You could lmrdlv do better tlinn this
in Italy," said I to the doctor.
The robins take you for one of
themselves, Helen," said Aunt Elrov.
"It is one of tho wise birds," said the
doctor. " He wants another song from
you, Miss Helen, as I, indeed, do too."
Ana then Helen sang again. She had
been chary of her songs before; but
after this ou always knew when Helen
was coming by the music that ushered
her, and where she was going by the
sweet Bounds that went dancinc after
her.
" How can he help falling ather feet ?"
said I to Cousin Stanhope, on one of his
Saturdays with us.
" Ho is lame," said Stanhope.
" Nonsense !"
"And then I should have fallen in
love with her myself long ago, if it had
not been for her temper."
" ion, Stanhope f
" Yes, I; and if"
" If what ?"
" If I had not fallen in love with
somebody else."
But just then the doctor, who had so
far improved as to bo able to use a
crutch, came down the garden-path and
took Stanhope off with him. I saw lit
tle Jane gaze after them intently a mo
ment; and 1 wondered vaguely if she
were too fond of Stanhope, and I felt
vaguely disturbed and unhappy, and
went home and practiced a sonata till I
was tired out.
How fair and sweet Jane was in those
June days, as they came I There was
such an unspeakable tranquillity about
ler. i never looked at her without
thinking of perfect, placid dawnings.
What a complete ladv Jane is. I
said to Stanhope once, as we were walk
ing in the wood.
" That is because her temperament is
so quiet. It gives her manners repose,"
he answered. " 4 All her ways are pleas
antness and all her paths are peace.' "
And I knew I had no right to be vexed
with him for speaking so. Who could
lie blamed for loving Jane?
" Ouly I never could see," added Stan
hope, " how any man could fall in love
w ith Jane. I should as soon think of
kissing a statue. But then, I suppose,"
he said, looking half askance at me,
" when one is iu love with somebody
else " And he stopped, because two
people were slowly coming through the
wood, although they were not observ
ing us. It was Dr. Malatestata, who
could now walk tolerably with his stick,
and Helen, whom he had met.
" Yes," he was saying, " I have quite
recovered so far that I shall be able to
resume my journey in a short time.
And, Miss Helen, shall I tell you ? When
I go homo I hope to take a wife there
with me."
"Why iu the world should Helen
think he meaus her?" whispered Stan
hope. " Look at her !" Tor Helen had
suddenly averted her face, and, thrust
ing her hands out before her iu a beau
tiful forbidding gesture, had cried:
" Oh, no, no, no ! I could never leave
America !"
Dr. Malatestata stopped short in his
walk, in blank amazement.
" I beg your pardon, Miss Helen," he
cried. " You misunderstand me," hb
said. "Believe me, I had no thought of
asking you." And then he drew himself
up proudly. " I was about to tell you,"
he said, " that I am the promised' hus
band of Miss Jane."
But at that time Stanhope, .who had
been in the secret for some time, could
not forbear a moment longer, and burst
into a roar of laughter.
And then such an angry man as
Malatestata was may I never see again,
when he began adjuring Stanhope in
foreign tongues, while the latter leaned
against the tree and laughed on.
" At any rate," said Helen to me.that
night " the fact remains that I refused
him. He didn't misunderstand mo."
Well, it was the loveliest little wedding
that we had two weeks later on Aunt
Elroy's broad gallery, with all the
flowers and vines and birds. And a
grand Italian gentleman came up with
Stanhope, too, who treated us all like
nobles, and delighted Emily and awfd
Maria. The doctor would have his
wheel-chair present, for he declared
it had been the best friend he ever had;
ond he looked at Jane in her white
muslin and jesamines, as if it were too
much that any of us should touch her.
And then he took her off on the journey
over the continent; "for we will see
America before we go back to our homo
in Italy," he said.
So letters came to ub from Niagara,
from a shooting season in Colorado,
from Mexico, from Californian ranches;
then from the islands of the Pacific
seas, from Japan, from India; and Jane
was going to her home by way of the
Red sea and Egypt and the Mediter
ranean. " Just think of our little Jane !" said
I. " She is putting Marco Polo in the
shade."
" It's about time he settled down to
his practice now, though," said Aunt
Elroy, not meaning Marco Polo, but the
doctor. "I declare, what a gap it
makes in life to have Jane gone; and
now Mrs. Knowles and Helen too. I
wonder if Helen is having the triumph
ant time she hoped for in Rome." For
Mrs. Knowles had gone to Rome, and
Helen had been buoyant with expecta
tion. " Are you speaking of Helen ?" said
Emily, coming up with on open letter
from" tho post. "She has seen some
very pleasant people. She has been a
guest at a grand villa, been present at a
superb festival in the country and been
received by a prince and princess. Do
you want "to read about it V" And this
was what Helen had written on that
page:
" It was just a morning of mornings,
this April day; and Mrs. Knowles and I,
having left the city and come up here on
the Apennines, were taking our stroll
a stroll where we crushed tho violets at
every step when we saw that the vil
lage was all aflame with flowers and
banners, and tho people decked out like
a scene in a theater, and there was music,
and there were throngs of children, with
garlands, and I don't know what and all.
It was the home-coming of the prince
and princess, they said. And we had
time to hear no more; for, as we stood
just inside the gates of the lovely gar
dens, we stepped aside, to let the low car- I
riage, with its four cream-colored horses,
dash by. And all of a sudden there was
a cry, and the horses were pulled up,
and two people sprang out of the car
riage. And oh, Lnnlyl I had reason
to remember, all in a rush, that it was
April Fool's dav, and I the merest fool
that ever was I, who had actually re
fused this man ! For who do you think
the prince was but Prince Malatestata?
And the princess was our little Jane !"
Independent.
Pearls of Thought.
There is a right and a wrong way oi
rubbing a man's mind, as well us a cat's
back.
The law can never make a man honest ;
it can only make him very uncomfort
able when ho is dishonest.
Even the weakest man is strong enough
to enforce his convictions.
What reason, like the careful ant,
draws laboriously together, the wind of
accident collects in one brief moment.
There's a sort of human paste that
when it comes near the fire of eathusi-
asm is oulv baked in harder shape.
No story is the same to us after the
lapse of time ; or, rather, we who read it
are no longer the same interpreters.
Angry and choleric men are as uu-
gniteful and unsociable as thunder and
lightning, being in themselves all storm
and tempest ; but quiet and easy natures
are like fail- weather, welcome to all.
Men do not often dare to avow, even
to themselves, the slow progress reason
has made in their minds; but they are
ready to follow if it is presented to
them in a lively and striking manner,
and forces them to recognize it.
If tho memory is more flexible in
childhood it is more tenacious iu mature
age; if childhood has sometimes the
memory of words, old age has that of
things, which impress themselves ac
cording to tho clearness of the concep
tion of the thought which we wish to
retain.
He that gives good advice builds with
one baud; he that gives good counsel
and example builds with the other; but
he that gives good admonition and bad
example builds with one hand and pulls
down with the other.
Man being fallen from his natural
estate, there is no object so extravagant
as not to be capable of attracting his
desire. Ever since ho lost his real good,
everything cheats him with the appear
ance of it even his own destruction,
though contrary at this seems both to
reason and nature.
An Indian Boy's Love-Letter.
A love-letter picked up on the floor
of a school with Hampton's views on
co-education need not inevitably shock
even pedagogic sensibilities. Written
in an unknown tongue, however, with
only the names to betray it, a transla
tion by the private interpreter, seemed
only a proper precaution. If I confide
it to the gentle reader, the Indian lov
ers will be neither the worte nor the
wiser, while some others may find in it
valuable suggestions for similar corre
spondence. Normal School, February 3, 1879.
Miss : I said I like you
and I want to give you a letter. When
ever I give you letter, I want you to
answer me soon. That's all I want, and
I will answer to you soon after. When
you give me letter, it raises me up. It
makes me heart-glad, nister-inlaw.
When I talk I am not saying anything
foolish. Always my heart e y glad. I
want you lot me know your thought. I
always like you and love you. I am
honest about what I f.ay, I always keep
in mind. I want always wo smile at
each other when meet. We live happy
always. I think that's best way, and
you think it is and let me know. And
I say again, when I give letter, keep
nicely and not show to any one. Jf
they know it, it no good way. They
take ui away, find that is the reason
don't show it. Hear me, this all I am
going to say. I like you, and I love
You. I won't say any more. My whole
h?art is shaking hands with you. I kiss
you. . Your lover. .
. Harper't Magazini.
It is better to be blamed for doing
your duty, th.in praised for not doing it.
A Dear Chronometer.
Meanness not infrequently resembles
the
Vaulting ambition which oe'rleaps Itself,
And falls on tho other.
An excellent illlustration of this " o'er
leaping" is furnished by a certain trans
action of John Jacob Astor with one of
his captains. The story is told by a
writer m tho Boston Transcu'pt:
The captain had sailed six voyages to
China without a chronometer, depend
ing on " dead reckoning" and "lunars;"
just starting on his seventh voyage, he
suggested to Mr. Astor that it would be
safer to have a chronometer.
" Well, get one," said the merchant.
The captain did so, and entered its
cost in his account current. When As
ter's eyes fell upon the item he drew
his pencil through it. The captain ex
postulated. Said AV. .ir: " I told you
to get one; I didn't say I'd pay for it."
The captain sovered his connection
with Astor then and there, and went
into Wall stieet, engaged with other
owners, and before night was in com
mand of as fine a ship as ever floated in
New York's beautiful bay.
In three days she was ready for sea,
and set sail. At tho same time Astor's
ship, under the command of a new cap
tain, set sail also. They had a race for
Hong Kong, but the captain who, as lie
used to put it, had discharged John
Jacob Astor, by keeping the men at the
braces, took advantage of every puff of
wind and won by three days.
Then there was lively work. The
ship was loaded iu the shortest time
possible, and before Astor's vessel,
which had arrived meantime, was half
loaded, our captain weighed anchor,
and with a full cargo of tea set sail for
Sandy Hook; arrived in good time; got
his ship alongside the wharf and began
hoisting out his cargo, which was sold
by auction on the spot.
This glutted the market, for the
consumption was comparatively small
in those days, and when Astor's ship
came in prices had fallen.
Two days later, as the captain was
sauntering down Broadway, he met his
former employer.
"How much did dat chronometer
cost you 1" asked the latter.
" Six hundred dollars."
"Veil," said Astor, "dat vas sheap.
It cost me sixty tousand dollars!"
Tho merchant and the captain have
long since paid the reckoning, but that
chronomoter is still a good timekeeper
and a treasured relic as woll.
Weather Prophets.
Speculations about the weather are
not wholly useless ii we are to accept
the testimony of Professor J. Hyatt,
who has been engaged for a long time
in sudying the relations between the
phases of the moon and the rainfall at
certain stations. It has long been
known that when the moon is full tho
sky is most likely to be clear. This is
not only the testimony of sailors and
farmers, but also of eminent astrono
mers and scientific men. It appears
that the rays of tho full moon have the
power to dispel clouds, and it therefore
seems not unreasonable to suppose that
the moon exerts an appreciable influ
ence upon the weather. Professor
Hyatt's observations have led him to
divide the lunar month, of about twenty-nine
and a half days, into eight pe
riods, or octants, of three and two-third
days each, and he has found that every
luu.-tion is apt to acquire its character
as regards rainfall within the first oc
tant, or within throe and two-thirds
days from tho time of the new moon. It
also appears that the same kind of
weather, as regards temperature, cloudi
ness or rain, is apt to occur on or about
tho same day of the week, or more ac
curately, nt the same stage in the lunar
quarters. A number of instances are
given, extending over a considerable
period of time, which seems to bear out
tho truth of theso conclusions with re
markable accuracy, and it would seem
that if seven-tenths of an inch or more
of rain fulls within three and two thirds
lays of the new moon, tho entire luna
tion is very likely to be a wet one ;- but
if very little rain falls during that time
the remaining seven-eights of the luna
tion will probably bo dry. These ob
servations verify tho old saying that
the first three clays rule the month. As
a result of observations conducted at.
two localities, extending over a period
of three years, the rule has been found
to hold good in at least eleven cases out
of twelve, and they would doubtless
hold good for all places in the hilly
country between the Appalachians and
the Atlantic, not too near either the
sea or the mountains, hucn conclu
sions ar only reliable for places simi
larly situated, since peculiarities of
location, elevation, tho prevailing di
rection of tho wind, etc., necessarily
affect the result, and these character
istics must bo studied for each place.
The distribution of rainfull is very ir
regnlar throughout the year ; two or
three dry or two or three wet lunations
are apt to be grouped together.
Inaction.
Great evils result from physical in
action. It is well known that through
the whole human system strength and
development come only by exercise.
Every unused muscle shrinks iu size
and loses its force, Knd the man cr wo
man who lives chiefly a li e of passive
repose will gradually lese the power as
well -8 the desire for activity This,
however, is by no means the whole of
the evil involved. The connection be
tween the mind and the body is verj
intimate, and the mental faculties can
not obtain their full power, nor the
character attain its highest excellence,
unless the body be kept in healthful
condition by salutary exercise. Pure
air and regular physical exertion are
necessary in order to think clearly, to
decide wisely, to reason acutely, to
plan with discretion, and to execute
with vigor. Strength of will depends
largely upon strength of muscle, and
he who is weak and flabby in the latter
will in all probability be feeble and ir
resolute in the fomer.
Accounts from Foochow China
speak of two natives who had been
steeped up to their necks in quicklime
for counterfeiting " cash," the smallest
of Chinese coins. Both speedily died.
TENXY SOXGS.
Extent ol Tliclr al The Ktnil Thnt Tnke
Hem.
The demand for war songs is con
stantly diminishing, ond it is only dur
ing exciting political campaigns that
they sell well. A New York paper says
of the penny ballads : There are about
11,000 penny Rongs, and over 50,000
copies are supplied to the trade every
month. Some of theso date back as
far as 1798. Sometimes when a new
song comes out, 2,000 copies will be
Bold every day for about a week. Such
has recently been tho case with the
"Bogie Man," "Mary Kelly's Beau,"
" Wst! Wstl Wst!" and many numbers
of the Harrigan & Hart series. Mary
Kelly's beau describes his lady love as :
Littlo Mary Kelly,
A darling, all m all,
Makes artificial Howevs
On JSroadway, to Wall.
The continued popularity of the
songs dating as far , back as 1798 and
thereabout is due to tho fact that they
are mostly Irish rebel songs, and huve
their interest preserved by the agita
tions in Ireland. During the present
troubles in Ireland the demand has
been larger than ever before. Among
these songs are somo of Tom Moore's
best Irish melodies, such as " Aveng
ing and bright fell the swift sword of
Erin," and " Forget not the field where
they perished;" songs by Bryan Maguire
and Maurice O Connell, and tho famous
" earing of the Green. There is
also a steady demand for the old Chris
tin minstrels' songs, the most popular
of which Reem to bo the plot of "II
Trovatore," and the verses "I come
from Alabama," ending with :
I had a dream tho other night,
When everything was still ;
I dreamt I saw Susanna
A comiii' down the hill.
The buckwheat cake was iu her eye,
The tear was in ler month.
Sin s I, Susanna, don't eiy,
I n) comiii' from the South.
The most popular modern penny
songs are those written by Tony Pastor,
Harrigan & Hart, Pat Rooney, J. K.
Eiumet, Sam Devere, Tom Barry and
George S. Knight, and brought out at
their variety shows. When a song has
been received with more than usual
favor at these performances it is with
held from publication for a short time
until its success is widely known. Then
it is published and eagerly bought up.
One of the most popular of PatRooney's
songs describes the " Cats in Our Mick
Yard" who play "Pinafore" every
night u"d have walking matches on the
fence,
T'h"V sing alto, basso, and tenor ;
Oil, they ought to bo feathered and tarred !
Oil, they are worse than llavcrly's minstrels,
Yes, the cuts in our bin U yard!
Emmet tells of a mau who wants to
reform things so thoroughly that
Streets would bo all paved with bretzels,
Hchweizer kase grow on der trees,
Ile'd make it a holiday alwavs,
I'nd peelilu should take of dcro ease.
Ile'd give every pour man his rights,
He'd make the rich folks shell out,
Ile'd make all deni l'.it heebies thin,
Und make all dem thin heebies stout.
Ono of the most popular songs was
sung bv Adah Richmond. It is en
titled " When Charlie Plays the Drum,"
and the first verse runs as follows ;
I'm in love with such a charming littlo man,
A musician iu tho military band,
And 1 lovo him better far than gold or wealth,
When I seo him iu his uniform no grand.
The lirst time tiiat I met him,
Witli lovo I was struck dumb,
And in v heart was in a flutter,
When Charley played the drum.
" Tho Donkey," words and music by
.Tas. Bradley, has been sung with suc
cess all over tho country. The donkey
seems peculiar in many respects. Brad
ley describes somo of his peculiarities
in the following verse :
I've got a donkey; ho stands six feet high;
I'll sell to the man that wishes to buy,
lie drinks Seltzer water whenever he's dry;
In a nice on the turf he has never proveil shy.
He makes good time about one mile a day;
I'll mutch 1 ii in again any stallion or bay.
He" fought ti r country; he's been through
the war;
I feed him on herrings, hay-rope and tar.
" I've a Baby in Kalamazoo" has also
had a largo sale. Sarah Bernhardt
comes in for the following tribute :
Have you seen Sarah ? Ain't die a teaser ?
None could bo fairer than Miss Sarah 13.
I'rog'ir s and poodles, claret and noodles,
And a lot of 1'itzdoodles; oh, parly vous qui.
Among the sentimental and pathetic
songs the best known are "The Little
Oreen Leaf in our Bible," " Baby
Mine," and " Cradle's Empty, Baby's
Gone." The last-named sells quite"as
well as the best known comic songs.
It was written and composed by Harry
Kennedy. The following is the refrain:
liuby left her cradle for the golden shore,
UVr the silvery waters she has Down;
Gone to join the angels, peaceful evermore.'
Jmpty is the rrailh-: baby's gone.
Fresh-Water Spring In the Atlantic.
Ono of tho most remarkable displays
of nature may bo seen on the Atlantic
coast, eighteen miles south of St.
Augustine. - Off Mantanzas Inlet, and
three miles from tdiore, a mammoth
fresh-water spring gurgles np from the
depth of the ocean with such force and
volnnio as to attract the attention of all
who come in its immediate vicinity.
This fountain is large, bold and turbu
lent. It is notieeuble to fishermen and
others passing in small boats along near
tho shore. For many years this won
derful and mysterious freak of nature
has been known to the people of St.
Aucrustine and those living along the
shore, and some of tho superstitious j
ones have been taught to regard it with
a kind of reverential awe, or holy hor
ror, as tho abodo of supernatural influ
ences. When tho waters of the ocean
iu its vicinity are otherwise calm aud
tranquil, the upheaving aud troubled
appearance of the water shows unmis
takable evidences of internal commo
tions. An area of about half an acre
shows this troubled appearance some
thing similar to the boiling of a washer
woman's kettle. Six or eight years ago
Commodore Hitchcock, of the United
States coast survey, was passing this
place, and his attention was directed to
the spring by the restless upheaving of
the water, which threw his ship from
her course as she entered the spring.
His curiosity becoming excited by this
circumstance he set to work to examine
its surroundings, and found six fathoms
of water everywhere in the vicinity,
while the spring itself was almost
hornless. 8tvctiai (Qa.) Nevi.
HUMOR OF THE DAY. .
Cast thy money upon the newspapers
and after many days it will return to you
fourfold.
Sunday may be a very solemn sort of
a day, but there's a sadder day comes
just before it. Steiihnnville Ilwald.
Favorite music for a soldier A march
Fcr a hunter A schottische. For a
horseback rider A galop. Waterloo
Observer. -
A member of the Colorado legislature
in addressing that august body began:
" My fellow-statesmen." His bill passed
unanimously.
James Gordon Bennett has paid out
30,000 for music in Pau. But that's all
right. He got his money from pau.
Louisville Journal.
Tho New York Dispatch says that the
best way to raise chickens is to chuck a
fish-hook loaded with a kernel of corn
over your neighbor's fence.
A candidate whose principal support
ers are tavern-keepers and shoemakers,
proudly alludes to them as members
of the" bar and bench. Philadelphia
Chronicle,
The mnn who took a seat in the or
chestra when his ticket was for the sec
ond balcony, felt badly at having to
change. In fact he was moved two tiers.
Boston Post.
" Why, I'm so glad you've come. Did
you know that I've been worrying about
you, John, all the evening?" "That's
jnst what I married you for. It is pleas
ant to think that there is some me home
worrying about you." Somehow this
view of the matter didn't exactly coin
cide with her idea of marital amenities.
" The digestive process of a mosqui
to's stomach is so slowly performed that
when the insect has dined on a human
being, it continues for forty-eight hours
to (xhibit blond corpuscles." Not if
tho human being gets a good square
whack at him with a tow 1 he doesn't.
He merely exhibits a spot on the wall.
liostn I'ost.
A Hartford man sent a pair of trousers
to his tailor to be repaired. The tailor
found SnIOO in a roll in the pocket and
returned it, receiving the tha.dis of the
owner thereof. AN hen we send i. pair of
trousers to our tailor to be reconstruct
ed and he finds S?:!(I0 in the pocket and
returns it, wo always tell him to keep
the trousers for his honesty, which is
the best policy. XorrMown Herald.
Washing Awny the Earth.
No particle of sand which goes down
into tho sea ever comes back. Yet tho
particles leave tho surface of tho earth
every second and are earned, suspended
in tho waters of moro than twenty
thousand rivers, out into the oceans.
There are more than a hundred streams,
classed on the maps as livers, in Louis
iana alone. Each one of these has
several hundred creeks, brooks and
spring branches tributary to it. Each
brook or sjiring branch, with its count
less rivulets.clasps the hil lsides and drags
down the sunaees thereof down into the
brooks down into tho creeks down into
the rivers down into tho ocean. And
there the atoms rest pat ion fly; each
atom waiting for its listers and its
cousins and its aunts still lingering in
tho fields and on the hills, yet creeping
toward the gullies and thence to tho
sea. This process has been going on
since the time when "the world was
without form and void;" whereby tho
primeval rocks were disintegrated and
spread abroad in fertile fields; whereby
the fertile fields are slowly beingwashed
back into the oceans; whereby the bot
tom of the oceans is being prepared to bo
elevated again to the light and to form
other fields whereon cotton and wheat
or semething or other will grow. This
is the very apotheosis of "demnition
grind." He who originated that phrase
spoko more scientifically than he knew.
Life, animate and inanimate, is simply
a grinding down of the higher parts and
the distribution thereof in the hollows.
The final outcome of earth, aftei millions
of years, must be something in the
nature of a largo billiard ball whirling
through tho sky, with nothing in the
world on it except a smooth, dead sur
face. A Remarknbltt Fact.
One of the most remarkable instances
of phosjihorescent light appearing on
living creatures is found among tho
herous. Among the keys and the ex
treme end of Flo ida these birds are
found in countless numbers. Mullet
fishermen and sportsmen have often no
ticed peculiar dim lights standing mo
tionless over tho water among tho
mangrove thickets. They were discov
ered, however, to depend on the pres
ence of the birds. hen they were ap
proached in the dark, the flapping
of wings as a crane flew away
would be the last of the
lights. The writer has examined many
of the birds, especially the Ardea Hero
dias or great heron, and found on the
breast a spot ubout as large as the open
palm where the feathers aro covered
with a thick yellow powder, that is easi
ly shaken off and evidently exudes from
the body at this spot as a hecreti- u, dry
ing into a powder when exposed to the
air. The bird stands motionless in the
water, and thU f.pot is undoubtedly '
used for or accomplishes the end of at
tracting the smaller fishes within reach
of the bird, aud if it is a decoy it is a
mst remarkable provision of nature.
Thread from Wowl.
The manufacture of thread from wood
for crochet aud sewing purpose, has, it
is said, recently been started is the mid
dle of Sweden. - Ic is wound iu balls by
machinery, either by hand or steam,
which, with tho labeling, take one min
ute and twelve seconds, and the balls are
packed up in cardboard boxes, generally
ten in a box. Plenty of orders from ail
parts of Sweden have come in, but as
the works are not in proper order, there
has hardly been time to complete them
all. The production gives fair promise
of success, and it is expected to be very
important for home consumption.
A novelty in the form of a lace pin is '
a golden fishing-rod and silver line
looped over the rod, with a gold fish
danglmg from the end,