VOL. LVI.
HAKTER,
AUCTIONEER,
REBERSBURG. PA.
J C. FCPRINGER,
Fashionable Barber,
Next Door to JOURNAL Store,
Millhkih, PA.
HOUSE,
ALLEGHENY STREET,
BELLEFONTE, - - - PA.
c. 6. McMILLENi
PROPRIETOR.
Good Sample Room on First Floor.
Bus# to aud from all Trains. Special
rates to witnesses aud jurors. 4-1
IRVIN HOUSE.
(Most Central Hotel Id the Cltyj
Corner MAIN and JAY Streets,
Lock Haven, Pa.
8. WOODS CALWELL, Proprietor.
Good Sample Rooms for Commercial
Travelers on first floor.
JQR. D. H. MINGLE,
Physician and Surgeon,
MAIN Street, Millhkim, Pa.
JOHN F. UARTER,
PRACTICAL DENTIST,
Otfiee in *2d story of Touriiusou'i Gro
cery Store,
ON MAIN Street, Miltheim, Pa.
BF kintf.R.
a FASHIONABLE BOOT A SHOE MAKER
Shop next h>or to Foote's Store, Main SL,
Boot*, StK-es and Waiter* made to order, and sat
isfactory work guaranteed. Repairing done prompt
ly and cheaply, aud in a neat style.
S. R PKAI.B. H. A. MCKIK.
PEALE &; McKEE,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW,
Office opposite Court House, Bellefonte, Pa.
C. T. Alexander. C. M Bower.
A BOWER,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Office to Carman's new building.
JOHN B. LINN,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Office on Allegheny Street.
QLEM.ENT DALE,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Northwest corner of Diamond.
P U. MASTING*,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Office on Allegheny Street, 2 doors west of office
formerly occupied by the late Arm of Yocum A
Hastings.
C. HEINLE,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Practices in all the courts of Centre county.
Spec al attention to Collections. Consultations
In German or English.
F. REEDER,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
All hus'ness promptly attended to. CoUectlon
of claims a speciality.
j. A. Beaver. J W. Gephart
JgEAVEK & GEPHART,
ATTORNEYS AT LAW.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Office on Alleghany Street, North of High.
A. MORRIStfN,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Office on Woodrlng's Block, Opposite Court
House.
S. KELLER,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Consultations In English or German. Office
In Lyon's Building, Allegheny Street.
JOHN G. LOYE,
ATTORNEY AT LAW.
# BELLEFONTE, PA, 4
Office in the rooms formerly occupied tef tts
late W p. Wilson.
Sir Ipilliriti Soutrmtl
CLOUDS.
Soft and Aecoy clouds alcove me
Scarcely seem to move at all.
Yet arc rolling, drlftlug, shifting,
Free from ev'ry sort of thrall.
Sun-lllumlneil, gray and silver,
Banked against the azure sky—
On such couches bathed tu nectar,
Might the gods from heaven lie.
Twisted iuto shapes fantastic,
Frowuing cliffs aud lowers high,
How 1 oft have gazed upon them
With a beauty-raptured eye!
Those light forms, so freely floating,
All my soul with longing till,
Kill U with a languid longing,
That is out of reach of will.
Fill It with a restless longing,
For what things I know uoi well;
Fill It with a mournful longing
That no words can ever tell.
TIIE INVISIBLE 1.1 HI..
Having decided to finish the year in
Italy, I looked around me for a dwelliug,
to be had upon reasonable terms. I"
found what I wanted in the outskirts of
the ancient city of Lucca, one of the
loveliest spots on the peumsula. The
house was quite new, and in every way
desirable, while the rent asked for it was
absurdly low. I questioned the agent
in regard to this circumstance. Having
my money safe, he could afford to be
truthful.
"There is nothing against the house
itself, but the grounds have the reputa
tion of being haunted. Strange sounds
are said to be heard near that ledge of
rock in the park youder. We Italians
are superstitions, signor," he added,
with a bow, "but I presume to an
Americau a ghost is no objection."
"So litttle," I replied, laughing, "that
I am obliged to you for the opportuni
ty of making the acquaintance of this
one."
Such superstitions are common in
Italy, and the agent's story made very
liltle impression on me.
During a tour of inspection around
the premises I came upon the rock m
question. It consisted of two walls of
granite, perhaps 20 feet in height,meet
ing at an oblique angle, covered over
their greater extent with wild vines. It
struck me as an exceedingly beautiful
nook, and appropriate for my hours of
out-door lounging.
On the following morning, provided
with a book and a cigar, I went thither,
and disposed myself comfortably in the
shade of an olive. I had became absorb
ed in the volume, when I was startled
by the sound of a voice near me. It was
evidently that of a woman, wonderfully
soft and sweet, singing one of the bal
lads of the country. I could distinguish
the words as perfectly as if spoken at
arms' length from me.
I sta: ted up in amazement. I had no
visitors, and my only servant was an old
man. Nevertheless, I made a thorough
exploration of the neighborhood, and
satisfied myself that there was no one in
the grounds. The only public toad was
half a mile distant. The nearest dwell
ing was directly opposite, across a level
plain—in sight, but far out of ear-Bhot.
In a word, I could make nothing of it.
'I observed that when I left my origi
nal position under the olive, the voice
became instantly silent. It was only
within the circumference of a circle of
about two yards in diameter that it was
audible at all.
It appeared to proceed from tbe angle
between the two walla of rock. The
minutest examination failed to reveal
anything but the bare rock. Yet it was
out of this bare rock that the voice is
sued.
I returned to my former station in
downright bewilderment. The agent's
story occured to me, but even now I at
tached no weight to it. I am a practical
man, and was firmly convinced that
there must be some rational explanation
of the mystery, if I could but discover
it. The voice was certainly that of a
young girl. But where was she? Was
the old fable of the wood nymph a truth
after all? Had I discovered a dryad em
bosomed in the rock? I smiled scorn
fully even as these fancies ran through
my head.
For more than half an hour the sing
ing continued. Then it ceased, and
though I waited patiently fqr its renew
al, 1 heard no more of it that day
When I returned to the house I made
no mention of the matter, resolving to
keep it to myself until I had solved the
mystery.
Tfie next morning at an early hour I
returned to the spot. After a tedious
interval the singing began again. It
went softly and dreamily through one
verse of song then ceased. Presently I
heard a deep sigh, and then in a slow,
thoughtful tone, the voice said:
"Oh, how lonesome it is! Am Ito
pass my whole life in this dreary place?"
There was no answer. Evidently the
person was only soliloquizing. Could
she hear me if I spoke, as I heard her?
supposing her to be a liviug at all. I
determined to hazard the experiment.
"Who is that speaking?" I asked.
For some minutes there was no reply;
then in a low, frightened whisper, the
voice said:
"What was it! I heard a voice."
"Yes," I answered ; "you hear mine.
1 spoke to you."
"Who are you?" asked the voice trem
ulously; "are you a spirit?"
"I am a living man," I returned.
"Can you not see me?"
"No," answered the voice, "I can
MILLHEIM, PA.. THURSDAY, MARCH 23,1882.
only hear you. Oh, where are you!
Pray do not frighten mo. Cotno out of
your concealment and let mo see you."
"Indeed, I don't wish to alarm you,"
I replied. "I am not hidden. I am
standing directly in front of the spot
whence your voice seems to come.'
"You are invisible," was the tremb
ling answer. "Your voice comes to me
out of the air. Holy Virgin! you must
bo a spirit. What have I done to de
serve tlna?"
"Have no fear of mo, I entreat you,"
I said, earnestly. "It is as much of a
mystery to me as it is to you. I hear
you speak,but you are otherwise invisi
ble."
"Are you a real living being?" asked
the voice, doubtfully. "Then why do I
not see you? Come to me. I will sit
here. I will not fly.
"Tell me where I am to come," I
said,
"Here in my garden iu the arbor."
"There is no arbor here," I returned,
"only asolidroek out of which you seem
to be speaking."
"Saiuts protect me," answered the
voice. "It is too awful. I dare not stuy
here longer. Spirit or man, farewell."
"But you will come again," I pleaded
"Let me hear you speak once more.
Will you not be hear at the same hour?"
"I dare not—but yet your voice
sounds as if you would do me no harm.
Yes, I will come."
Then there was utter silence—the
mysterious speaker hail gone. I return
ed home in a state of stupid wonder,
questioning myself if I had lost my
senses, and if the whole occurrence was
not a delusion. I was faithful to my
appointment with the voice on the fol
lowing morning, however. I had waited
but a few moments, when the soft,
trembliug accents broke the silence,
saving:
"I am here."
"And I, too," I answered; "I am
grateful to you for coming."
"I have not slept the whole night,"
said the voice, "I was so terrified. An
I doing wrong to come?"
"Are you still afraid of me?"
"Not exactly, but it is so strange."
"Will you tell me your name?"
"I don't know—Lenore. What is
yours?"
"George," I answered, imitating her
example and giviug my tirst name only.
"Shall we not be friends, Leuore?"
"Oh, yes," answered the voice with a
silvery peal of laughter. Evidently its
owner was getting over her fears.
"Don't be offended, Ueoxge. It is so
strange —two people who cannot see
each other and perhaps never will, mak
ing friends,
"I will solve the mystery yet, Le
nore," I answered, "and find out what
you are. Would you be gh/1 to see me
in my proper person?"
"Yes," she replied, "I should like to
sec you."
"And 1 would give a great deal to see
yon, Leuore. You must be very beau
titul if your face is line your voice.
"Oh, hush!" was the agitated answer.
"It is not right to speak thus."
"Why not? Do you know, Lenore,
that if this goes on, I shall end by fall
ing in love with you, though I never
see you."
"You are very audacious," was the
reply. "If you were really horo,before
me, I should punish you for it. As it
is, I am going now."
"But you will come again to-morrow,
Lenore?"
"If you will promise to be more iis
creet, George, yes."* -
As may be imagined, I did not fail to
keep my engagement with my invisible
friend. For many consecutive days
these strange meetings continued. As
absurd as it may seem, the voice was be
ginning to make a powerful impression
upon me. I felt in its soft toucs the
manifestation of a sweet, refined wo
man's soul.
True, I had make no progress towards
unraveling the mystery. Nevertheless,
1 was confident that through some in
explicable dispensation of Providence 1
had been permitted to hold communion
with a real, liviug woman, from an un
known distance. She ha i net yet told
me more than her first name, and I did
not press her for more as yet. Her only
answer to my question as to where she
was, was "In the garden." She did not
seem capable of grasping the fact that I
was not invisibly near her. She seemed
content with matters as they stood, and
for the present I could do no more.
I made no one my confidant as to my
daily occupation: first, because I knew
that I should be regarded as a madman
upon my mere statement of the facts,
and, next because I shrank from having
an auditor at my mysterous conferences.
Will it be believed? I was in love with
the invisible girl—in love with the
.voice! Absurd, of course, but lam not
the first man who has fallen in love with
a woman's voice. Besides I was confi
dent that it was only a matter of time
before I should see tne girl in person.
One day, towards the end of summer,
we had been talking, as usual,and I had
said: "My stay in Italy is nearly over,
Lenore."
"Ah," was the quick reply, "you will
leave me, George."
"No, Lenore." I answered, "not if
you wish me to stay."
"How can I help it, George, whether
you go or stay? I have never seen you—
-1 never KHALI HOC you. What am Ito
you?"
"All the world, Louore," 1 aiiHwored.
"Ours has been a strange experience.
Without knowing each other an people
ordinarily do, we have yet been dose
friends. You are more to me than a
friend. I love you, Lenore."
There was a quick, suppressed cry,llo
other reply.
"Be truthful, Lenore. Toll me your
heart. If you love me, trust me to dis
cover your whereabouts and come to
you. If you do not, say it and I will
spare yon the pain of meeting me, and
let us never speak again."
There was a pause; then she tremu
lously said:
"1 have never seen you. but my heart
tells me to trust you. I know you are
good and noble, and I am willing to
leaye my -fate 111 your bauds. Yes,
George, 1 love you."
Even as she said the words she utter
ed a cry of alarm, Then a gruff man's
voice spoke:
"Go to your room, Leuore As to
this villain with whom you have been
holding these meetings, we shall soon
tiud him and punish him as he deserves.
Search for the rascal, Antonio, and briug
him to me."
There was a quick trampling of feet
and the sound of crushing shubbery, as
if the men were breaking through it,
Then another man's voice spoke:
"He has disappeared, your excel
lency."
"Very well, we shall dud him yet. He
cannot escepe me. Thiß is a tine piece
of business, surely—the daugh
ter of Couut Villani holding secret
meetings with some common vagabond.
Lenore shall take the veil."
"Yes," I cried, "the bridal veil.count.
1 shall pay my resjiects in person to
day."
Then leaving them to get over their
astonishment as best they might, I re
turned to the house iu high spirits.
The name, Count Villaui, had given me
the clew to the whereubouts of Lenore.
The dwelling of which T have spoken as
situated across the plain and opposite
the rock, was the residence of Couut
Villaui. I had met the old gentleman
in the city aud formed a speaking ac
quaintance with him. As neither of us
had mentioned our private affairs, I had
110 means of connecting his daughter
with my invisible girl.
That afteruooti I presented myself to
the count, and after amazing him with
my story, which a few tests convinced
him was true, formally proposed for his
daughter's baud. As my wealth and
social position were well-known, he
offered no objections and his daughter
was sent for.
As she entered the room. I saw that
my idea of her hail been less than true.
I had never seen so lovely a woman,nor
one who has so perfectly embodied my
highest conception of grace and beauty.
Her dark eyes, still wet with tears, met
iniue enquiringly.
"Lenore," said I, "I have come as I
promised."
"George." she cried, with a radiant
smile, "is it you?"
"Are you disappointed?" I asked, "am
I what you expected?"
"You could not be more " she an
swered naively, "you are no less."
"Now that we meet as solid and mate
rial beings," I continued, are you wil
ling to ratify the contract we made when
we were only voice, Lenore? Your
father gives us permission."
It may be supposed that I received a
satisfactory answer, when the good
natured count found it discreet to turn
away his eyes during my reception of it
As to tne strange circumstance which
was th 3 means of uniting us, a series of
tests revealed a remarkable acoustic
property in the rock, by which persons
standing in certain positions with refer
ence to it, were able to hear each other
with ease, more than a quarter of a mile
apart. It is a matter-of-fact solution of
the mystery, but Lenore and I are none
less grateful for the good oflices of the
rock.
Fertiliser Experiment*.
Nitrogen is the most costly ingredient
used in commercial fertilizers, and the
most diflicult at the present time to ob
tain. It would be wasteful, therefore,
to use a greater quantity than is really
needed, and such waste is exceedingly
costly to the farmer. As it is found
that less nitrogen is required, the price
of fertilizing has been gradually drop
ping in market, and this gain is greatly
to tlio benefit of the farmer. It enables
him to buy more, and to use more with
a fair prospect of obtaining a profit.
One objection to the use of guano, he
believed, was that it contained a larger
percentage of nitrogen than is needed
and consequently a larger proportion
than farmers can afford to p%y for it. A
saving of one per cent in the amount of
nitrogen in a ton of fertilizer will cheap
ed the cost about four dollars. The most
profitable way to use fertilizers is in
connection with stable manure, the fer -
tiliz :r b6ing compounded in such away
as to make the manure and fertilizer to
gether just meet the wants of the crop
to be grown. Exactly how the nitrogen
is taken by plants, is not explained, but
it is evident that soil which is well filled
with the tops and roots of clover and
other plants contains a large amount
of nitrogen that the growing crop will
in some way appropiate.
How the Spanish Ladies Nhoot.
While her Majesty was at Madrid the
great banker and railway contractor,
Salamanca, gave a hunting party in her
honor at his seat, near All>ecete. All
the royal family except the young Queen
whose health is not satisfactory, went.
Prodigal expense was gone to by tie;
banker to receive them worthily. The
hunt was a battue of easy butchery.
This is how the august, royal and noble
personages hunted. The Comte de Sal
amanca has a forest in his domain.
Large spaces are cleared in it. In the
centre of these spaces pavilions or stand
houses like those one sees at race
courses are erected. They are beauti
lully painted and adorned with sylvan
trophies. The royal family was taken
to one of these stand-houses and its diff
erent members piesent took up their
stations according to the order of court
ly precedence. The courtiers stood on
the steps behind. Those who were least
distinguished were higher up. In front
of each to whom a gun was given there
was a forked support on which to rest
the muzzle. But no courtier was to fire
until his betters in the front row had had
enough of sport.
A band of guitar players had a
tribune lx> themselves and played lively
airs. The musicians were dressed like
Figaro in "The Barber of Seville."
Then tHbre were wood rangers, whip
pcrs-in, Huntsmen and sylvan guards,
tbe nobis of whose horns contrasted
sharply with the frivolous music of the
guitars. While the former instruments
were blowing loud blasts a herd of deer
rushed before the pavilion, followed by
dogs. The King, his mother, sisters,
Prince Philippe of Braganza, fired. The
ex-Queen knocked down two stags; the
ex-Princess of the Asturias, four, and
the other two Infantas three each. When
this herd had swept by the ex-Princess
of the Asturias got on horseback to be
ready to follow the second herd, which
she and the King chased tlirougli the
forest. They hod small fowling pieces
slung to their holsters and sometimes
took flying shots. I daresay the whole
scene was picturesque and stirring.
English or American taste would be
shocked if Queen Victoria aud her
daughters, or the ladyhood of Fifth ave.,
indulged in sport of this kind. Span
iards like to see their senoras aud sen
oritas intrepid huntresses. It is a sign,
they say,of old race when a woman hand
les a fowling-piece deftly. Shop keep -
era' and aitisans daughters have few
opportunities for using guns. Velasquez
painted the beautiful little Coudessa de
Haro, daughter of D>n Louis de Haro,
equipped for a battue or butchery such
as was organized the other day at Al
becete for the delectation of the Queen
Mother and the Infantas. She had on a
inousquetaire or cavalier gray felt hat
and feathers,a steel cuirass damascened,
a farthingale, strong-soled buskiu9. and
a gun in her baud, which she manipu
lated in a soldierly manner. This por
trait, which I saw eight years ago, is
still before my eyes, so vivid was the
impression that it made on me. There
is nothing theatrical in the Condessa,
who is a pocket Diana. She moans to
do business with her gun. A French
lady when she goes out to shoot has an
opera comiqne look. If high heels are
the fashion she wears them, although
they are detestable for walking over soft
ground. One sees that she has not the
taste for sport and only thinks of it as
affording an opportunity to appear in a
new, striking, original and saptivating
toilette.
Six Thousand Years Old.
The Ashmoloan Museum, at Oxford,
eoutains one of the oldest monuments of
civilization in the world, if. indeed, it is
not the very oldest. This is the lintel
stone of a tomb which formed the last
resting-place of an officer who lived in
the time of King Sent, of the second
dynasty, whose date is placed by M.
Marietta more than six thousand years
ago. The stone is covered with that
delicate and finished sculpture which
distinguished the early periods of Egyp
tian history, and was immeasurably
superior to the stiff and conventional art
of the latter ages of Egypt which we are
accustomed to see in our European mu
seums. But it is also covered with
something more precious still than
sculpture, with hieroglyphics which
show that even at that remote period
Egyptian writing was a complete and
finished art, with long ages of previous
development lyiug behind it. The
hieroglyphic characters are already
used, not only pictorially and ideo
graphlcally, but also to express syllables
and alphabetic letters, the name of the
King, for instanoe, being spelled alpha
betically. In the hands of the Egyptian
scribes, however, Egyptian writing
never made any further progress. With
the fall of what is called the Old Empire
(about B. C. 3500) the freshness and ex
pansive force of the people passed away,
Egyptian life and thought became fos
silized, and through the long series of
centuries that followed Egypt resembled
one of its own mummies, faithfully pie
serving the form and features of the
past age, and of a life which had ceas
ed to beat in its veins. Until the in
troduction of Christianity the only
change undergone by Egyptian writers
was the invention ot a running hand,
which in its earlier and simple form is
called hieratic, and in its later form
domotic.
Drugged Again.
"Well, Catharine Davis ?"
"I'm not well, at all, sir; and what
lady would be after passing the night on
the hard benohes here!"
"Catharine, you are charged with
drunkenness.
"Then the charge is false, sir. I was
no more drunk than that stove."
"But you were arrested while trying
to make a speech on the street, ami you
couldn't walk down here."
"Well,your Honor,l wasn't drunk. On
my way home I stopped into a grocery
to buy some soap and the clerk offere d
me a glass of cider. In five minutes
after drinking it I was as crazy as a
loon."
"Do you think the cider was drug
ged?"
"Of course it was."
"There wasn't any drug in this, was
there?" continued the Court, as he held
up a whiskey-bottle taken from her
pocket the night before.
"Bless me, I never saw it before 1"
she gasped.
"But it was taken from your pocket.'
"Then some one put it there to con
vict a poor woman who lost her hus
band by a tornado nineteen years ago.
Oh, sir, if yon only knew how I had
struggled.
"I do know, Catharine. Yon have
struggled with the officers at least four
time* in the past year."
"But I was drugged, sir."
"That's the fourth time you've told
that same story. Come, Catharine, you
must go up."
"For one day. sir?"
"No—for thirty."
"Then I'm a dead widow, sir. I can
never stand the disgrace of it. Can I
send out and buy some poison ?"
"Brjah will fix all that Please fall
back into the corridor, and I hope this
will he a lesson to you."
Bijah gave her an apple, promistalher
his photograph, and so cheered her up
that she forgot all about the poison, and
entered the omnibus singing "The Jug
I Left Behind Me."
A Pennsylvania Stage.
0
'•All aboard for the Liniestoue Ridge
Limited Express!" Travel between New
port, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and
New German town, Pennsylvania, a dis
tance of thirty miles, is conducted by
means of the primitive stage ooach. The
order to board came from the lusty
lungs of Zaek Rice, wtio comes of a
family of stage drivers, his father, Zach
ariali Rice, Sr., and his brothers before
him having driven the same route for
"nigh on to forty years or more." The
"expre a s" is an uncouth, box-like ve
hide, with blood-red panneled siles
running gears the color of yellow ochre,
and an enormous leather boot in the
rear for s'oring mail pouches, Saratogas
and other luggage. Sixteen passengers
can be packed like herrings into the
coach which is sometimes dragged by
four horse® and sometimes by two. Five
miles toward sun-set New Bloomfield is
reached, a country town, with a popu
lation of seven hundred and sixty, which
requires four newspaper to keep it alive—
a Hreculean task that none but news
papers could accomplish.
Not long ago a reorganization and
election of officers of the People's Freight
Railway Company occurred. This oom
pany was chartered by the last Legis
lature under the old Constitution, and
is one of the many projected lines from
New York to the West. The surveyed
route crosses the Delaware at a point
near Trenton, N. J., and passes through
the counties of Bucks, Montgomery,
Berks, Lebanon, Dauphin, Perry, Hun
tington, Bedford, Somerset, Westmore
land, Allegheny and Washington, in
this State. By reason of the fact that
over fifty thousand dollars were expen
ded in grading a portion of the road the
charter has been kept alive. The fin
ancial crisis of 1873 stopped work, but
recently new life has been infused there
in. The officers eleoted are H. H.
Bechtel, president;* Jacob L. Markel
secretary; James H. Graham, Jr., soli
citor; 0. H, P. Ryder, George F. Ens
ruinger, W. F. Sadler, Hon. James H.
Graham, H. H. Bechtel and John M.
Smith, directors. The name of the com
pany was changed to "The Pennsylvania
Midlaud Railway Company." The cor
poration rights and franchises under the
charter being very liberal, negotiations
for their sale to Issac B. Hymer, of
New York and Council Bluffs Railroad,
are now in progress.
The work of locating the South Penu
svlvania Railroad, which runs parallel
with and crosses and recrosses the Peo
ple's Freight from Marysville, on the
Pennsylvania Central, through Sher
man's Valley to the Broad Top regions,
is how being vigorously prosecuted by
two corps of engineers. Naturally the
excitement among residents along the
proposed route, many of whom have
never seen a locomotive or heard its
soporific shriek is intense.
Again to the westward twelve miles
"bj the same primitive mode of locomo
tion. passing en route through a fertile
valley, bustling villages and one of the
most reliable agricultural districts in the
State, where the farmers invest five dol
lars for rearing palatial barns for hous
ing crops and protecting stock to one
dollar expended on their private res
dences the little village is reached. A
tramp of a mile to the northward and the
solitary traveler stands amid the almost
buried ruins of an old fort erected by
the early settlers of Cumberland (now
Perry) county in pre-revolutionary times
to which with their families they could
flee for the better protection of their
lives from the o't-repeated and oft-time
deathly assaults of the aborigines, upon
whose domain they were encroaching
and battling for supremancy. as is attest
ed by the mounds in the vicinity which
mark the graves of the Indian braves.
The fort were erected in 1740 and was
of unusual dimensions for its day. Its
site was on a bluff commanding a good
view of the surrounding coutrry and is
on the farm of Andrew Troy. It was
fashioned after the block houses in
vogue at that early day and surmounted a
deep excavation which has been nearly
filled np with stones and other debris
hauled from adjacent fields.
Within sight of the fort stood the old
Presbyterian kirk erected by the Scotch
Irish and German settlers in 1766. As
the neighborhood was but sparesely set
tled at the time of which I write the
people came many miles to worship God
in the rude s ructure dedicated to the
advancement of His kingdom on earth
The local antiquarians are antagonistic
in their description of the kirk, yet ail
agree that it was a log structure, quaint
and curious. The first pastor was Rev.
John Linn who died in 1820. It is said
of Mr. Linn that he exerted a most
wonderful influence througout the entire .
western end of the county in his day
and generation, and as he moved among
his parishioners in later years was in
variably spoken of as "one of those hills
nearest Heaven." The lemodeied chrn oh
stands on the site of the old kirk, and
although its situation in midwinter ap
pears bleak and desolate in the extreme
it is one of matchless loveliness in the
spring and summer time, when its flow
ers come shyly out in all their aesthetic
beauty; when its sloping banks and
briad avenues aie carpeted in delicate
emerald and wooded by oaks which
tower above all surroundings Kke Cyclo
pian giant. It would seem that here,
if anywhere on ear*h the worship of
God c >uld be oonducted in all the beauty
and simplicity of holiness. The ohurch
edifice overlooks an old graveyard, in
whicji repose the remains of mahy who
were identified with the settlement of
the oounty, not a few of whom bore his
toric names. The oldest engraved head
stone bears the inscription: "Martha
Robertson, died December 22. 1766,
aged 81 years," although there are many
more antiquated.
The Demon in the Skj.
One of the most interesting sights in
the sky, and one which can be watolied
without a telescope, is the variations in
the light of the star Algol, whose Arabic
name means the Demon. It is some
times called the Winking Demon. This
wonderful star is now in a good po
sition for observation, being nearly
overhead at nightfall. It is the brightest
of the little cluster called the Head of
Medusa, which, according to the old fa
ble, Perseus carries in his hand as he
hurries to the rescue of Andromeda. For
a little over two days and a half Algol
shines as a star of the second magnitude.
Then its light logins to fade, and in
about three hours and a third it sinks
to the fourth magnitude, glimmering so
feebly that a casual observer would bs
unable to distinguish it from the faint
stars in its neighborhood. Thus it re
mains for 18 minutes, and then begins
to brighten again, and in the same time
that it takes in growing dim, attains its
former brilliancy. From one minimum
to another is two days 20 hours and
nearly 49 minutes. There will not be
another minimum visible on this longi
tude early in the evening until February
18 at 8 o'clock and 24 minutes.
The fact that a star thus brightens
and grows dim at regular intervals is in
itselt wonderful,but it appears all the
more wonderful when we are told that
Algol is a sun, probably larger than ours
having an enormous dark body revolving
around it at tremendous speed. Some
astronomers think that this mysterious
body will fall into the star, produc
ing an outburst of light and heat that
would be fatal to any living beings who
might exist within millions of miles of
that distantsun. Such a catastrophe would
be visible to us in the sudden increase
of splendor in the star.
Fugitive Inks. 1
The aniline violet pencils now exten
sively used in this country, as well as
inks made of the same coloring matter,
must be understood to produce writing
of a very fugitive character; well enough
perhaps, for amatory correspondence,
which, in order to be in character with
the feeling that prompts it, is possibly
better to be of a somewhat transient
kind. It is, however, different with
most writing, and permanenee is com
monly recognized as an essential charac
teristic; and, as we have said, this quali
ty does not belong to inks of the aniline
violet series. A druggist whom we know
found out this to his cost. He labeled
some of his bottles with purple ink of a
most telling brilliancy, but some time
after was much surprised to find that
not a trace of the writing was to be seen.
The light effectually bleaches the aniline
and we have noticed that exposure in a
damp place produces the same eifoot.
NO 12.