VOL. LVI. HARTER, AUCTIONEER, MILLHEIM, PA. J C. SPRINGER, Fashionable Barber. Next Door to JOURNAL Store, MILLHXIH, PA. JgUOCKERHOFF HOUSE, ALLEGHENY STREET, B KLLEFONTE, - - - PA C. O. MOMILLEN. PROPRIETOR. Good Sample Room on First Floor. •VFre* Bass to and from all Trains. Special rates to witnesses aud jurors. 4-1 IRVIN HOUSE. (Most Central Hotel In the Cttyj Corner MAIN and JAY Streets, Lock Havea, Pa. S. WOODS CALWELL, Proprietor. Good Sample Rooms for Commercial Travelers on first floor. D. H. MINGLE, Physidau and Surgeon, MAIN Street, MILLHUM, Pa. JQR JOHN F. BARTER, PRACTICAL DENTIST, Office in 2d story of Toudinsoa'a Gro-- eery Store, On MAIN Street, MILLHXIM, Pa. BF KINTF.R, a FASHIONABLE BOOT A SHOE MAKER Shop next door to Foote's Store, Main St., B>t>. Shoes and Gaiters made to order, and sat isfactory work guarauteed. Repairing doue prompt ly and cheaply, aud iu a neat style. 8. R. PEAL*. H. A. McKi*. PEALE & McKEE, ATTORNEYS AT LAW, Offlc opposite Court House, Bellefonte, PS. C. T. Alexander. C. M. Bower. A BOWER, ATTORNEYS AT LAW. BELLEFONTE, PA. Office In Carman's new building. JOHN B. LINN, ATTORNEY AT LAW. BELLEFONTE, PA. Offlce on Allegheny Street. QLEMENT DALE, ATTORNEY AT LAW. BELLEFONTE, FA. Northwest corner of Diamond. HOY, ATTORNEY AT LAW. BELLEFONTE, PA. Orphans Court business a Specialty. C. HEINLE, ATTORNEY AT LAW# BELLEFONTE, PA. Practices In ail the courts of Centre County. Special attention to Collections. Consultations In German or English. J. A. Beaver. J. W. GepharL JgEAYER A GEPHART, ATTORNEYS AT LAW. BELLEFONTE, PA. Offlce on Alleghany Street, North of High. Y° CUM * harshberger< ATTORNEYS AT LAW, BELLEFONTE, PA jQ fc.K ELLER, ATTORNEY AT LAW. BELLEFONTE, PA, Consultations In English or German. Office In Lyon's Building, Allegheny Street. ""yPik HARTTWOS. W. . SEEDER. IJASTINGS & REEDER, ATTORNEYS AT LAW, BELLEFONTE, PA. Offloe on Allegheny street, two doors east of the olßoe occupied by tbe l&fce firm of Haiu Inge. dMY Skc WmMrn Jn^iuL THK OLl> FARMHOUSK. The easy chair, all patched with oars, Is placed by ihe cold hearth-atoue ; With wttohlug grace, In the old tire-place, The evergreeus are strewn, And pictures hang on the whitened wall, And the old clock ticks In the cottage ha. . More lovely still, on the window sill, The dew-eyed flowers rest, While 'midst the leaves on the moss-grown eaves, The martin builds her nest, Aud all day loug the summer breeze Is whisperiug love to the bended trees, Over the door, all covered o'er With a sack of dark green baize, I .ays a musket old, whose worth is told In the eveuta of other days; And the powder-flask, aud the hunter's horn, Have hung bealde It for many a morn. For years have fled with a noiseless tread, Like fairy dreams away. And in their flight, all shorn of Its might, A father—old ami gray; And the soft winds play with the snow-white hair, Aud the old man sleeps in his easy chair. Inside the door, on the sanded floor, Light, airy, footsteps glide, And a maiden fair, with flaxen hair. Kneels by the old man's side— An old oak wrecked by the angry storm. While the Ivv clings to its trembling form. THE TRUE RING. WANTED, a clerk at 650 WasUiug tou street. Tins was the advertisement that ap peared in one of the morning papers of a large city. Many a young fellow who had beeu seeking employment for weeks felt his hopes rise as he read it. Fred Baker heard it at the breakfast table the day after it appeared; his sister Louise said: "Oh Fred ! I for got to tell you that I saw in yesterday's paper that Mitehell & Tyler want a clerk ; that will be the place above all others for you. It is a splendid store. Of course you can get the place if you are not too late. You can take a letter from Uncle Horace ; his influence and and your appe&ri iuee settle the matter. I heard Mr. Mitchell wa* real fussy about his clerks, but I m sure he can find nothing to object to in my handsome, well-dressed brother, and the elder sister looked admiringly at Fred's fair face, smooth locks and well fitting suit. " Perhaps I'll call around there after a while." Fred said carelessly. "Please hurry and go now, won't you?" his sister said; "I'm afraid somebody has snatched up the place be fore this time." Fred fiuished his breakfa t in a leis urely way, put a few extra touches to his already careful toilet, lighted a cigar and sauntered forth. "Better throw away your cigar be fore you go in. Mr. Mitchell may ob ject to that," said Louise, who stood in the front door as he passed out. "He'll have to take me as I am," Fred said with a lofty air ; "all gentle man smoke. Ido not propose to be a slave to Idm or any other man." He called in at his uncle's oflic on the way and procured a letter of rec ommendation. Thus equipped, he felt coufident of success. Just behind him there walked witb bright step a boy of fifteen, a year or two younger than himself. This was David Gregg. He, too, had seen the advertisement, and was on the way that very minute to 650 Washington street. He was the eldest of a family of chil dren whose father had died at the be ginning of this long winter. David had taied hard to find employment, had im proved every moment in doing odd jobs for anybody, had studied the papers and answered advertisements until he was well-nigh discouraged. The places were sure to be tilled by persons who had influential friends ; he had none, for his father had removed to the city from the country only a short time be fore his death, and now, more because he applied for everything he heard of than from any hope of success, he had risen very early that morning, made the fire, and while his mother was prepar ing breakfast put himself in the neatest possible order to go to Mitchell & Ty ler's. When he appeared at the breakfast table looking so bright and neat, his mother thought he was a son to be proud of, the handsomest boy in the whole city, yet his face was actually homely as far as beauty of features was concerned ; his clo'hes were coarse, and he had no flashing pin, or gold cuff but tons like the elegant young gentlemau who now walked before him, What was the reason that among the large number of boys who filed in and out of Mitchell & Tyler's private office no one ot them had been selected to till the vacant clerkship? Mr, Mitchell, the senior partner ot the firm, had ask ed some plain, straight forward ques tions of them. " Where do you spend your evenings ?" "Do you play oards, go to the theatre ?" etc., for Mr. Mitch ell had declared to his partner, "If there is a boy in the world who has good habits and right principles, I'm going to hunt him up if it takes all win ter," so it turned out that many of the boys could not give satisfactory answers to the searching questions, and others, when Mr, Mitchell sounded their knowl edge of figures, were not ready-reckon ers. They came and went for one whole day, and as soon as the door was opened the next morning candidates came flock ing in like birds. And now it was Fred Barker's turn. He stood before Mr. Mitchell, his hat MILLIIEIM. PA., THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 14,1882. on. his hea<l, his eigar removed from liis mouth, it is true, but the smoke there of eurliug up iuto the merchant's face. He presented his letter of iu.roductiou. Mr. Mitchell read it, then aaked a few questions. Meanwhile his practical eye was taking it all in—tiie cigar, the im itation diamond, the large seal ring, the Hushing necktie. He knew in a twinkling where Fred Barker probably s]>eut liia evenings, and that it would bike more money to indulge his tastes than he could honestly earn. To Fred's astonishment he presently heard, "I do not think, young man, that you are just the one wo have in miud for this place," Then before ho know it he was bowed out. The next boy who was admitted did not advance with such an over confi dent air. He held his hat In his hand and spoke in a modest, respectful man ner. " Have you any recommedatioii ?" " No, Bir, I have none," David an swered, a little dejectedly. "We have uot been long in the city." "Well, you need none, if I can trust my eyes," Mr. Mitchell remarked to himself. The bright, frank face and the manly air of the boy impressed him most favorably; he was still more pleas ant when he drew him into conversation and learned what books he was lond of, and how ho was going on with his studies evenings, although he had been obliged to leave the high school and earn his living, Mr. Mitchell hat! very sharp eyes; he took note of the well-brushed gar ments, the shining l>oots, the snowy collar and culls, the delicately clean fin ger nails—even by such small things as these is character read—and above all, the look of sincerity and honesty sbiueJ from the blue eyes. " Well, David." Mr. Mitchell said as he got up and walked backward and forth, "what if I were to tell you that you can have the situation providing you will work a part of the Sabbath?" It was a most cruel test. The boy hesitated —just a moment—then he said while the color rose and his voice chok ed, " I should say, sir, that I caunot accept it." "Not even when your mother needs money so badly ?" " No, sir, my mother would not use money so earned. She has always taugtit me to obey Ood and trust him, come what will." " That has the true ring, pure gold," said Mr. Mitchell, bringing bis hand down 011 David's shoulder. "My dear boy, I want yon, and I do not want you to do any work for me on the Sal>- bath. I will pay you teu dollars more a month than the Inst clerk received, because I am glad to find one lx>y out of a hundred who remembers his moth er's teachings, aud fears to disobey his Lord." Brilliant Marriages. THE BIOOEOT PART of the city of Lon don is not the city at all,but the boroigh of Westminster, and the Duke of West minister, the lord of the fashonable "West End," with the richest rent-roll of any man in England, was quietly married recently at Holkliam, in Nor folk, the seat of the Earl of Leicester, to a young lady thirty or thirty-five years his junior. The bride is Miss Catherine Cavandish, youngest sister of the third Lord Chesham, who five years ago married the Duke's third daughter, and who is consequently both son -in law and brother-in-law to his Grace of Westminster. An older sister of the bride is the wife of the Earl of Leicester, at whose country house the ceremony took place. The Duke's first wife was Lady Constance Leveson-Gower, daughter of the Duke of Sutherland, and she died only eigh teen months ago, leaving eight children, whose noses will possibly be more or less disjointed by#his second marriage. Another brilliant marriage, which at tracted great attention in London a few weeks ago, especially among Cath olio families, was that of Lady Emily Pelham-Cliuton, sister of the young Duke of Newcastle, to Pr.nce Alphonso Doria Pumpbili, youngest son of the late Prince Philippe, whose magnificent palace and gallery on the COTSO surpass all the other private hou°es and collec tions in Rome. The Doria villa, beyond the Janioulan Hill, is one of the most charming of the suburban resorts of the forestieri in Rome's sunny winter weath er, and it was within its stone walls, more thau four miles in circuit, that Garibaldi made his heroic stand against the French mercenaries in 1849. Don John, the older brother, who lias held the title for six years, is about forty and yet unmarried, and he went on from Rome to act as his brother's best man taking also his niece, Donna Maria Massimo, daughter of the Duke de Rignano, to be one of the bridesmaids. The marriage service was celebrated by Cardinal Manning at St. Mary's Church, and after the cermony the relatives and special friends breakfasted with the bride's mother, who is still Duchess of Newcastle because her son, who sue - ceeded to the title at fifteen, is still • * ower young to marry. ' PUT in a few sunflower s<els for pro ducing an occasional feed for poultry next fall and winter. Au Inferior florae. The writer met the jookey Rutherford while dining at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg a short time after that huge |Mirtiug wranglo, and, iu the course of a conversation on turf matters, the astute prodder of horse-fiesli said, with a childlike and ingenuous smile: "Would you like to know the dead inside facts as to how that raco was won?" "Why, you rode the best horse, didn't you ?" we asked. "Not a bit of it," replied the jockey, with a grin. "The fact was that Ruther ford was only about tho fourth choice, ami was uot rated at more than eighth or ninth iu tho pools. True Blue, Katy Pease and Thatl Stevens all hod the call over Rutliy. But it happened that my horse was a 'bolter,'and to steady lxim and prevent his tlyiug the track I put blinders and goggkis on him. You noticed them, I suppose?" "There were two horses rigged that way," we replied. "Exactly; Stevens was a nervous critter also, and as loon as his trainer saw how the goggies steadied my horse he put'em on Thud too. The day before the race a big idea occurred to me. I got a oouple of pairs of magni fying lenses and quietly put'em in place of the plain glasses in the goggles of both horses. Catch on to the idea?" "Well, partly." "The only difference was that in Stevens' bridles I fastened the glasses with the bulge inside, so as to make them diminishing glasses, don't you see?" "Like looking through the wrong end of an opera glass, eh?" "Exactly. The result was that, while Rutherford was encouraged all the way by the course seeming only a couple of hundred yards long, the quarter flags apjieared ten miles apart to Stevens. You see, a horse can be discouraged just as well as a man. "Great scheme, that." "Well, I should smile, Rutliy thought he was in for a little quarter race, and it kept up his heart, so that when he had nearly doue the last mile and swung into the homestretch, and I called on him to let out his last link, he thought the Judges' stand was right under his nose, so he came home like an express train on a down grade; but Stevens, who thought he had about fif teen miles further to go, went all to pieces, as you remember, and almost lay down on the track, he was so meutally eave.l in, as it were." A New l.lght. A few days ago the patent oflice issued papers to Mr. William Calver of Wash ington, for a discovery which, if it pos sesses all the merits claimed for it, will be hailed with gratitude by both busy manufacturers and toiling housewives. The invention is no less thtin the pro duction of intense heat by a peculiar arrangement of mirrors. Calver was i>orn in Englaud, but came to this coun try when very young. For a numlier of years he resided in New York. Ho has been a citizen of of the district for up ward of ten years, and has during that time l>een absent much in Arizona, look ing after his mining property. He has beou looking for a long time for some method of working miues and reducing the ore by a more cheap process than that in vogue. By a happy chance, equally as singular as that which befell Newton, he stumbled on his discovery. The whole invention simply consists of an arrangement whereby the rays of the sun are reflected from any number of mirrors upon a common focus. Hap pening to direct the light from two ordi nary lcoluug glasses upon the same sur face he noticed that the resultant heat was about doubled. He proceeded witli his experiments, and succeeded in re ducing wood to ashes and metal to a liquid state by simply concentrating upon them the reflected light of the suu from 20 small mirrors with flat surfaces. The principle is an unexplained one. It has never hitherto been suspected that lapping one ray of sunlight upon another increased the heat. The model patented by Mr. Calver consists of a number of small looking glasses, arranged in rows upou a frame so fixed ttat they can be converged upon any one point. A work ing model, of which he has a number, was exhibited to a reporter in the yard in the rear of his residence. Forty in nocent, guileless looking 15 cent framed mirrors, each 3J inches, were arranged upon a frame propped up like an artist's easel, and bearing a striking resembl ance thereto. Facing the easel was the fragment of what was once a bain door, also propp ed up and partly covered with a worn and faded sheet of zinc that bore unmis takable evidences of having been burned through iu several places. It was but the work of a minute to converge the 40 mirrors upon a space 3 J inches by 3| inches upon the barn door, and then the revelations began. As each mirror cast its quota of sunlight upon the common store, the parallelogram of light grew whiter and more dazzling, until at last it looked like a patch of electric light. But little patience was required to await results. In less than 30 seconds a thin, curling puff of smoke gave evidence of the progress of the experiment. In a minute the board was bursting out in flames. The focus was then shifted upon the zinc. In a few momenta it began to turn color, then sliriuk as if anxious to get away where it was cooler, anil then, in loan than three minutes, the entire surface covered by the focus was literully melting, drop by drop. To melt zinc a temperature of oyer 700 degrees Falir, The most won derful feature übout the whole thing is the brilliancy of the light. Each mir ror julds not only heat but light. The 40 mirrors produced a light more bril liant than an ordiuary electric tight, A hand, held so as to intercept the focus, becomes as white as driven snow. A white handkerchief defies ordinary sight, and conveys but an impression of beau tiful, impossible whiteness. It is as hard to look at as the sun itself. The immense practical value of the inveu tion can be readily understood. Mr. Culver's forty mirrors boil water in less than no time. An egg placed in the water is done hard quicker than by fire. Meat and vegetables are cooked in 10 or 15 minutes. A half hour's sunshine any time between 9 a. m. and 4 p. m. in the summer will do the cooking for au or diuary sized family for a week if neces sary. By the mirrors engines can be run, wills dug. mines worked, oro melt ed and refined, every kind of cooking performed, and, in short, there is no variety of industry in which they can not succeas fully compete with mule power, steam or electricity. There are many curious tilings in connection with Mr. Culver's discovery. More heat can be gotten from the mirrors in winter than in summer, strange as it may ap pear, for the earth is then over 3,000,000 miles nearer the sun. Three thousand degrees Fahr. decomposes water, and this heat can be readily produced with the large mirrors, 1000 of which, one foot square, will run the largest engine in the world. In the West the process of concentrating the sun's rays will be of immense benefit. Statistics show that there are over 1,000,000 square ink of territory in the United States where there is, on au average, but one cloudy day in a mouth for eight mouth in the year. All the rest are clear. The heat produced by the thousand foot-square mirrors will do more work in 15 min utes than can be ordinarily done in a ilav, and a day's steady work will out strip a week's progress by other meth- ! ods. The heat mirrors will make ice as easily as they will melt steel, A few large sized ones will operate a machine large enough to usher into existence 100 tons of ice a day. It is the intention of the inventor to vigorously protect his patent and to shortly begin the manu facture of his mirror furnaces. Probably lie will make a lot of the smaller kind, convenient for tourists, which can be packed away in a trunk and yet large enough to do all the cooking for the party iu a few miuutes. The heat from the mirror can be thrown a long distance. Mr. Calversays he can make a heat powerful euough to melt the goddes of liberty on the cupola of the capital by putting bis mirrors several squares awav. The Went Indian Sugar Crop. The Jamaica Sugar crop is reported the largest that has been realized for many years, over three thousands tons having been sold in one parish of the island for shipment to Canada. Despite the long prevailing droughts, which have been general in the West ludies, and nearly two hundred fires in the cane fields of Cuba, the crop of sugar produ ced this season in the latter island has been finally fixed by careful compila tion at six hundred and one thousand five hundred tons, being an excess of twenty-three and three- quarters per ceui over the last crop. This will be welcome news to the world generally, but, as our owu sugar belt lies under climatic influences approximating those which have for some months been so favorable to West Indian cane fields. Louisiana planters may take a special interest in it. Tlio cane plant during the early stages of its growth requires but little moisture, and in Barbados, where sugar culture has been most care fully studied by Governor Rawson, any marked excess of rain during the first six months of the year is injurious bo h crop which is being reaped and to that which is to follow. The same is in a measure true of the Louisiana cane crop, which therefore, shows great fluc tuations in different years (as in 1877 and 1878, when the yield of the two sea sons varied about seveuty per cent). It is noticeable that the two largest Louisi ana crops—those of 1853 and 1861— were made in seasons which were ex traordinarily favorable to West Indian sugar planters, though a fine sugar sea son in the Antilles does not insure a similar one in Louisiana. The yield of the present crop on our Gulf coast will of course depend largely on the weather of the next three months, as it begins to ripen .in August or September and is usually not fit for the mill until Octo ber, and is sometimes reduced by severe November frosts. But as yet nothing calculated to mar the prospect of good returns has been reported. If we keep well and cheerful and the mind constantly active we never grow old. By and by we get to the end of the journey but we never grow old. Ha Spoiled the Box Trick. There are several ledgerdemain per formers at the various auction shops. The Magic Box trick is a favorite meth od of entertaining customers and col lecting a crowd, A few nights since the auctioneer announced with a worthy flourish of his jaw that he would render the great trick. He got out a number of boxes,filled them with handkerchiefs, and.h&ts and case knives,and allowed the audience to lock them up. Then tak ing an empty box he handed it to a tall man, evidently from a southern mining camp, and told him to hold it high over his heath "Now, gentlemen, I will cause a transformation to take place which de monstrates that the hand is quicker than the eye. I will cause the oontents of the locked box to appear in the box now held in the air, and to do it before your eyes." Just as tho crowd began to edge up close to detect the modus operandi of the per former, a small boy at the end of the counter called out in a squeaky voice "You forgot the socks!" Immediately the performer hauled down some socks and began to retail them to the crowd at three for two bits, after which he pulled some undershirts from the shelves and offered them at bed-rock figures, while the knowing ones laughed at the poor dnpe, who held the box in the air for about fifteen minutes. Presently the nature of the hoax dawned upon him. and hurling the box at the head of the auctioneer, he left the place amid a howl from the crowd. "His trick is to see who is the d—dest fool in the crowd," said the auctioneer, and the merriment was nnbounded. Last evening the hand-me-down per former attempted to repeat the trick, but with less happy results. After the pre liminary oratory he handed the box to a green looking man near him. As he leaned over the mineralogical person grabbed him by the collar and yanked him clean over the counter. Getting him over on the floor he steered him all over the place, and played with his head, using it to beat the floor with as if be supposed it was a drum-stick "How do yon like the box trick?" he shouted as he stood him on his head for the fifth tyne. The crowd howled with glee, for in the person of the animated old man thay recognized the party who had been fooled a few nights before. After pitch ing his prey in behind some old shirt boxes he strolled out remarking: "When anybody wants assistance in a box trick, send for Jim Black, Pueblo, I'm a boxer, myself." The Red Snapper. Probably tlio best fish added to the list of those that are edible within the past ten years is the red snapper. Ten years ago this fish was almost unknown here, though occasionally one was sent to market as a curiosity, and attracted attention because of its brilliant color. It was formerly eaten to some extent by the people of Cuba and the coast ot the Gulf of Mexico, but was never used as a food in this latitude until about eight years ago, and it is only within three or four years that it has become such a favorite with the general public, and one of the most popular for table use. In 1878 the first scientific description of the fish was made by Professor G. Brown Gould, of the United States Fish Commission. The fish is hard and firm, resembling closely the sheephead in flavor, and its best qualities are develo ped by baking. It is caught both on the east and west ooasts of Florida, and at different points in the Gulf of Mexi co. It is caught entirely by hand, with drop-lines, and affords much sport to the fisherman, as it is gamy, and when caught wull make a lively fight to es cape. These fish run together in large schools, and average about twelve pounds in weight. The largest one ever exhibited in New York weighed thirty-two pounds. The red snapper is not in market now, the season ex tending from the first of September to the first of May. Every year the quantity sold shows a steady increase. The average price last season was fif teen cents a pound. Woolen Mill Machinery Wears Out. Much new woolen machinery is re quired each year to replenish that which has actually been worn out. Excellent authorities establish the average life of the entire mechanical equipment of a woolen mill being twenty years, and as there are about 9,000 sets of machinery in use in the United States at the pres ent time, it follows that an average of 450 sets become worn out and has to be replaced each year. Four hundred and fifty sets of machinery means 1,300 to 1,500 cards, about as many self-operat ing spinning mules, 10,000 to 15,000 looms, and other machinery in propor tion. A 200 spindle mule costs $750, and one with 300 spindles costs S9OO. To replace the mules alone, therefore, which are annually worn out in the United States necessitates a disburse ment of over $1,200,000 per annum among the machinery manufactures,and to replace the cards and looms required for the same purpose costs a much larger sum. True civility is a form of good-will toward men. 'Everything is gained and nothing lost by civility,' Time-Balls. in bis abstract of replies to various questions touching the working of time bails, General Hazen says: "Three meth ods of constructing the ball are mentioned. The first is by making a light framework, either of wooden hoops or of iron or steel wire, and covering the skeleton with strong black canvas. The ball must be weighted, in order to drop instantly, the amount to be added being determined, if desired, by experiment. It is estimated that a ball should weigh from twenty to fifty or more pounds in order to move quickly, the weight varying with the diametor of the ball and its exposure to high winds. The second method of construction is that of the New York ball, which is composed of twelve thin vanes of sheet ooppei, disposed radially, half of them semi-circles, the rest crescents; by this device the visual effect of a solid ball is secured. The weight of the ball is 125 pounds. The third method of construction is illustrated by the Bos ton ball, which is made of rolled plate copper, one-eighth ot an inch in thick ness. It is four feet in diameter and weighs nearly 400 pounds. "The essential part of the apparatus is that which provides for the releasing of the ball at the right instant. There are four different plans described in detail. In all of these the ball is raised to the top of its staff by a windlass, or directly by hand, and held securely till within a few seconds of the time of release, when the releasing apparatus is applied, and the ball falls at the automatic giving of the signal by the clock. The devices described differ from each other only in the way the arm ature of the electro-magnet operated by the clock is connected with the hoisting apparatus, or the rope which detains the ball at the top of the staff till its release. AA New York the circuit through the clock arid electro-magnet is closed at *he instant the ball is released, while at Boston the bail is detained at the top of the staff by the electro -magnet, and tLe releasing of tnc armature, when the circuit is broken, causes the ball to falL The length of the line is an important tactor in determining the choice between an open or a closed circuit. The New York bail is dropped directly trom Washington over a line 24i' miles in length, the St. Louis ball directly from Glasgow, Mc. at a distance of ISO miles, the Boston ball from Cambridge, Mass., at a distance of four miles. The circuit in ail these cases is necessarily open to prevent interruption, the operating clock closing the circuit, but at Boston, by the use of a relay, a local circuit is used for the immediate dropping of the ball, which is a closed circuit. ••The percentage of failures in dropping the ball is variously estimated from one to five From the practical worfcmg of the St. L >uls ball, it is found that the number of failures m three months was two and a half per cent. The Boston ball tell seven months in succession with no failure, and tecords three failures in the last year. The leading cause of failure has been a break in the telegraph line. The New Yora ball has never been prevented from dropping by a high wind, but could not be hdfsted three times during the last win ter on accouut ot sleet. The Boston ball was not hoisted once each winter since its erection, on account of ice. At such times the failure to drop the ball is of not much importance, as usually on account of stormy weather the ball could not be seen Irom any great distance. Tne answers to the question upon the degree of accuracy possible in the dropping of a ball are in general devoted to a discussion of the ac curacy attainable by the daily signals from a a ell-t quipped observatory. This is estimated from leas than 0.1 in good weather to 1 or more in cloudy weather. The accuracy of dropping a ball, however, depends not only upon the accuracy of the clock signals, but also on the condition ot the telegraph lines and the adjustment of the working relays. Professor Pntchelt estimates that under ordinary circum stances, over a circuit of one or two hund red miles, a ball will be dropped within half a second of the truth, •♦The distance from an observatory at which it is possible to drop time-balla or control clocks depends wholly upon the possibility of 9ecunne constant telegraphic connection. Professir Langley would undertake to control clocks in any part of the United Slates if an uninterrupted electric current is provided. Mr. Hamb let would undertake to drop a time-ball at any point within 300 miles from the buildißg of the Western Union Tele graph Company, New York City, provided a satisfactory co npensation is given the company for the use of its wires. The sending of signals from an observatory by which a clock can be legulated is possible to a great distance from the observatory through telegraph connections." No doubt this is ail very ingenious, but the most practical part ol the suggestions seems to be involved somewhere in Pro fessor Laugley's electric current. No matter where time-balls were erected in great cities they would be seldom seen by anybody, as is now the case, and unless they could in some way be made to serve as media of communication between the astronomical clock and electric batteries scattered in all the homes and offices of the people there seems to be no special object to be gained by increasing the numbers of them. Nor is there any suf ficient reason for supposing that the aver age man is specially troubled as to the exact moment of time in any given hour, Doon or another. Again, lb ire is no earthly probability if all the world's time pieces were right that men themselves would be any more likely to "come to time," and the first and last study of man is not *'time-balls, )> but mankind. A Sly Trap. Mr. White, of .Newcastle, N. H., has a brood of chickens which have the run of a portion of the yard, the old hen being kept shut up. The chickens are fed with moistened meal in saucers, and when the dough gets a little sour it attracts large numbers of flies. An observant toad has evidently noticed this, and every day along toward evening he makes his appearance in the yard, hops to a saucer, climDS in and roils over and over until he is covered with meal, having done which he awaits developments. The flies, enticed by the smell, soon swarm around the scheming batr&chian, and whenever one pasaes within two inches or so of his nose his tongue darts out and the fly disappears, and this plan works to well that the toad has taken it up as a regular business. The chickens do not manifest the least alarm at their clumsy and big-mouthed play mate, but seem to consider it quite a lara. NO 37.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers