The Milllieiui Journal,
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY BY
R. A. BUMILLER.
Office in the New Journal Building,
Penn St., near Hartman's foundry.
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MILLHEIM, PA.
y B. STOYEBT
Auctioneer,
Madisouburg, Pa.
-yy H.RKIFSNYDER,
Auctioneer,
MILLHEIM, PA.
JOHN F. IIARTER,
Practical Dentist,
Office opposite the Methodist Church.
MAIN STREET, MILLHEIM PA.
JQU. D. U. MINGLE,
Physician & Surgeon
Offlic on Main Street.
MILLHEIM, PA.
GEO. L. LEE,
Physician & Surgeon,
MADISON BURG, PA.
Office opposite the Public School House.
GEO. S. FRANK,
Physician & Surgeon,
REBERSBURO, PA.
Office opposite the hotel. Professional calls
promptly answered at all hours.
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Physician & Surgeon,
WOODWARD, PA.
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Journal office, Penn st., Millheim, Pa.
and other legal papers written and
acknowledged at moderate charges. j
J. SPRINGER,? |
Fashionable Barber,
Havinq had many years' of experience,
the public can expect the best work and
most modern accommodations.
Bbop 2 doors west Millheim Banking House,
MAIN STREET, MILLHEIM, PA.
L. SPRINGER,
Fashionable Barber,
Corner Main & North streets, 2nd floor,
Millheim, Pa.
Shaving, Haircutting, Shampooning,
Dying, &c. done in the most satisfac
tory manner.
Jno.H. Orris. O. M. Bower. Ellis!L.Orris.
QBVIS, BOWER & OR VIS,
Attorneys-at-Law,
BELLEFONTE, PA.,
Office ia Woodjngs Building.
D. H. Hastings. W. F. Reeder
JJASTINGS & REEDER,
Attornejs-at-Law,
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Office on Allegheny Street, two doers east of
the office ocupied by the late firm of Yocum A
Hastings. _____
J C. MEYER,
Attorney-at-Law,
BELLEFONTE, PA.
At the Office of Ex-Judge Hoy.
C. HEINLE,
Attorney-at-Law
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Practices In all the courts of Centre county
Special attention to Collections. Consultations
in German or English.
. A.Beaver. J. W.Gephart.
"GEAVER & GEPHART,
Attorneys-at-Law,
BELLEFONTE, PA.
Office on Alleshany Street, North of High Btree
■GROCKERHOFF HOUSE,
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Ratesmoderaf* tronage respectfully solicP
■lie BUtotni journal.
R. A. BUMILLER, Editor.
VOL. 59.
The Bug Man.
The proverbial straw had broken the
metaphorical camel's back. The pati
ence of Charlotte Brautome, usually
equal to the exigencies of the occasion,
was exhausted. The twins, as a mat
ter of course, were the culprits. They,
however, with the complacency natur
al to boys of six or thereabouts, were
indifferent to the tempest of despair
which raged within their sister's breast.
They had considerately refrained from
adding deceit to the guilt, but had con
fessed, fully and unreservedly,to rilling
the canary's nest, to tearing a jacket,
and 1-ising a hat down the well, t) eat
ing the strawberries that were saved
for supper, and to catching their most
faithful hen with a fish-hook. The
fish-hook represented the straw ; Char
lotte the camel. She could have borne
anything better than downright cruel
ty developed so early in one of her own
blood. She never was a boy.
"And a man was here," said Popsey.
"A big man," volunteered Wopsev,
the other twin. "And ' e asked us a
bout everything,and we said our moth
er wasn't very well and our si3ter was
an old maid school ma'am."
Charlotte winced. Where had he
picked up that expression ? Aud had
it come to that ?
"You must not talk to strange men
about mother or me. What did he
want ?"
"He wanted to see you."
"Me ?" Visions of tramps, of spy
ing burglars, only they had nothing to
"burgle," as Popsey had said one day,
came into her mind. "How did he
look ?"
"He was beautiful." "lie was dread
ful," said the twins in duet.
Further questioning dieted these
facts : He was young ; he was old ; he
was short ; he was tali ; he wore
spectaclis ; he wore a mustache, and
was a bug-man. In the last and
crowning fact the boys agreed.
Practice had made Miss lirantome a
tolerable clairvoyant, so far as reading j
those two small minds was concerned. I
She jumped at the conclusion that
some wandering naturalist chasing au
elusive bug had chanced that way, aud
gave the subject no more attention.
She had other things to thinE of than
"bug-men" or any men, and the prob
lem of how to provide a new hat for
Wopsey and how to instil remorse into
the hearts of her charges drove other
thoughts away.
Sitting down on the low door-step of
the house that bad been home to her
for six and twenty years, she tried to
reason it out. The sun was yet high,
the days were at their longest. Behind
her flowed the tireless river ; in front
of her across the prairie, the hills were
green. In the field of rye oyer the way
gleamed a white wooden cross. Her
grandfather, in whose veins flowed
some of the blue blood of France, had
bought a home in ttiis western country
when the remnaut of an Indian tribe
had still property to sell. The deed of
sale provided for the preservation of
iheir little burying-ground. The
grain grew thick around, but the tiny
village of the dead was never disturbed
by spade 01 plough.
Old Pierre, however, hacf never pros
pered. Neither did Pierre the younger;
and one night, when riding home, his
horse shied in the moonlight and threw
him with his head against a stone ; he
left BO legacy but the home- stead and a
debt to his wife and children. There
was a gap of twenty years between
Charlotte and tne twin babies, and she
really had a third infant on h'er hands,
for her mother was nothing more use
ful than that after her husband's death
She was not feeble-minded exactly, but
painfully gentle—strange and unac
countable.
Charlotte shouldered her burdens
with A brave heart. Her French ac
cent—for Grandfather Brantome's
blood had never filtered through Canada
—brought her employment in a school
town near by. The long walks back
and forth kept the roses blooming in
her cheeks, the boys were good—some
times—and she, being busy,was happy.
It requires leisure to be successfully
miserable.
The burying-ground tvpihed to her
the "daily martyrdom of private life."
And now, looking at it, her heart grew
light. The new hat would cost but a
trifle. Surely there were more straw
berries ripe in the gardeu, the canary
would lay more t ggs, the jacket could
be mended, and old Speckle had prov
ed superior to the flsh hook. But what
could the boys be screaming about ?
"The bug man ! the bug-man I" they
were shouting,trotting toward her with
all their might on their little
feet. It was certainly strange. Why
should a stranger call twice ? That he
should come once was not surprising—
but twice ?
"We showed him your photograph,"
said Popsey, "and he said you didn't
look like an old maid a bit. "
MILLHEIM, PA., THURSDAY, JULY 1885.
"And lie sal<l," went on the other
teirible infant without a pause,
"wasn't we proud to-have such a sister;
he wished he had, and then ho had
such a lot of bugs ho puts them to sleep
with medicine and sticks pins through
'em, and he has a gold watch and he
let us wind it up, and we told him to
come again somo more and here he
is ?"
Charlotte was speechless, but in seme
way she found herself rising to her feet
to greet a gentleman who was taking
off his hat to her ami bowing with a
grace which even Grandfather Bran
tome would have approved.
"Miss lirantome, I believe."
She acquiesced in silence.
"1 am gathering materials for an his
torical work, and was directed to you
for information concerning the antiqui
ties of this region. And I might as
well say now that I have references
and all that sort of thing."
"Then you are not—" She stopped ;
he smiled.
"No, lam not exactly a bug man,
as these little fellows have called me,
although I must plead guilty to a slight
leaning in that direction. Y"et just
now I would joyfully part with the
biggest bugs of my collection if in ex
change I might examine your grand
father's papers."
lie was so gracefully genial that one
could no more be absurdly dignified
with him than with the golden robin
singing on the Indian cross.
"Will you walk in ?"
"I will sit out here instead if you
will permit me to do so."
So Popsey and Wopsey dragged a
chair and then stood motionless and
wonder-eyed listening to the talk of
discovery and adventure. They did
not understand it very well "until the
conversation turned to Indian lore.
Indians and bears they could compre
hend. Then the mother, attracted by
a strange voice, drew near the door in
her mel tncholy, waveriDg way.
"The postmaster's wife thought that
La Salle was an Indian chief," Char
lotte was saying, "and she had heard
of Father Marquette,but supposed him
the priest down at La Paz."
"I met a woman the other day who
thought a herbarium was a bug," re
marked Mr. Duncan. Then they
laughed.
But everything comes to an end.
The boys began a dumb show behind
the stranger's back to indicate to their
sister that they were perishing for huu
ger ; so she let the conversation lag in
order to end the call.
"Come to-morrow and see the papers
if you like," she said. "It will be Sat
urday, and I shall be at home to answer
questions."
lie thanked her and withdrew jump
ing over the rail lence which skirted the
held of rye, in order to get a nearer
view of the cross, on which not one,
but a dozen, golden robins were hold
ing a vesper conclave. And the tea
kettle was soon singing in the Bran
tome kitchen a song as gay as that of
the robio9, and Charlotte was not her
careful self as she picked the strawber
ries for tea.
"Half of 'em green," said the dis
gusted Wopsey. " 'Spect she's thiuk
ing of the bug man."
*******
It certainly was astonishing how
much consultation the Brantome man
uscripts needed. And, too, Mr. Dun
can required so much assistance. It
was "Miss Brantome, will you kindly
read this list while I copy it ?" or,
"Miss Charlotte, really I can't make
out whether this is an eor an i," all
the while. Granfather Brantome
would have begun to iuquire as to mar
riage settlements and Scotch pedigrees
had he been alive to see those chestnut
locks, innocent of bangs, and that dark
mustache in such dangerous proximity.
It was the old story—two young heads
bending over the same page. .No word
of love had passed. All was on a
strictly business basis,the history of the
missions of the Northwest the objec
tive aim.
But at last there was no excuse for
lingering any longer. The hills across
the piairie were red and gold, the rob
bins had fled, and the grain around the
little burying ground had been cut and
stowed away.
Charlotte was walking home as usu
al. Far away in the road two moving
dots appeared, which develoyed into
the tw'ns as they came nearer. Tears
were cutting briny furrows down their
not very clean cheeks. Hysterical sobs
alone came from their mouths as they
tried to speak, but finally the sisterly
intuition eliminated these words from
! the chaos :
"Mother has runned away 1 She said
she would if we didn't stop pounding,
and we didn't, and she has runned I"
That poor mother ! She had made
the same threat a hundred times before
bul had been pacified.
"Which way ? Tell me quickly,"
thinking of the river, so tireless and so
cruel.
A CAPER FOR THE lIOME CIRCLE
"She tunned up the railroad track."
No more words were needed. Back
of the garden was the branch railway
fiom La Paz. The evening train was
nearly due. Leaving the twins to tod
dle after as well as they could in their
exhausted state, she ran. Ran ? She
Hew. The bright invalid shawl was a
beacon. Mrs. Brautome sat upon the
track idly playing with some yellow
flowers. Charlotte knew her patient
well.
"Mother," she said, "it is late and
the boys are calling, and you must feed
the chickens."
The mother shook her head, Per
suasion was no persuader. Then Char
lotte scolded. Aliko useless. Then,as
a last resort, she used a gentle force.
A failure. Sit there and pull those
yellow flowers to pieces—that the poor
unbalanced one would do -nothing else.
In Heaven's name what was to bo
done ? Those who have had experi
ence know the streugth of the insaue.
The train whistled for the crossing a
mile away, and just then (some guard
ian angel guided him) James Duncan
Jumped the feuce, a wet handkerchief
in his hand.
Blessings upon the medicine which
subdued the bugs ! It subdued this
poor woman in a moment and he had
lifted her out of danger before the train
rushed past. Then he explained. lie
had been copying the iuscriptioo on the
Indian's tombstone as the boys went
screamiug by. lie gathered from their
incoherent words what the matter was.
The chloroform idea was simply an in
spiration.
"How can I repay you ?" asked wet
eyed Charlotte, as the party, boys,
mother and all, were walking back.
"By matting over to me Pierre Bran
tome's manuscripts—and his grand
daughter. I can never write the his
tory without her."
"Well," softly, "in the cause of sci
ence—perhaps."
And this is how it came to pass that
the boys marched up the church aisle
before the robins came again, with
Charlotte and the bug-man.
The Hero Was blain.
One of the farmers who succeeded
iu backing his wagon into place at
the City Hall market yesterday morn
ing had several errands to do around
the neighborhood, and he left his son
of fourteen on the vehicle to make a
sale of five or six bags of potatoes.
The old man had scarcely disappear
ed when a bill distributor came along
and threw into the wagon the first
chapters of a sensational serial. The
boy grabbed for the "fly" and began
to devour the literature in chunks and
hunks, and of the hait-do zen people
who came alomg aud asked the price
of his potatoes be answered only one,
and him so absent-mindedly that no
sale was made. In about half an
hour the old man returned.
Ed at the back end of the wagon and
took in the situation, and then asked :
"George, what you got ?"
"Story."
"What about ?"
"Injuns."
"Do they kill anybody ?"
"They are after a feller and I guess
they git him."
"He's the hero I s'pose ?"
"Yes."
"Don't sell any taters, does he ?"
"No."
"I thought not, but I reckon I'll
soon know the reason why !"
With that he leisurely climbed over
the tail-board, reached for the boy and
the shaking up that youth received
will make him dream of earthquakes
for many nights to come.
"You don't want any more of
that," said the old man, as he finished
business and dropped the "fly" over
board. "The Injuns not only over
took the hero but they slew him in
the most fatal manner, and don't you
forget it ! Now you git up'n gallop
and sell these 'taters 1 "■— Detroit Free
Press.
Thejfancy in boudoir furniture is to
have the wall paper, window curtains,
portiers and carpets to correspond in
color, while the chairs, lounges and
fauteuils are upholstered variously in
plush of different but harmonizing col
ors, tinsei shot, moyenage brocades of
several kinds and many fancy chairs of
cane or bamboo, gilded or painted and
cushioned with plush; or iute velours,
tapestry finely fringed in Louis XIY or
Louis XY styles, and all sorts of fancy
| plush covered tables, stands, etageres
and low bamboo five o'clock tea tables
and sofa tables, not to speak of the
Japaneese screens and cabinets and
bookcases, small desks and otner pretty
objects and conveniences that mark the
individuality ot a woman of taste and
refinement.
Hints to House Furnishers.
SPECIALTIES FOR SPRING.
Streets and stores are alive with lus
tres and splendors of spring.
Th 3 house cleaning craze is at its
height, and the furnishing centres teem
with novelties of the latest order.
The modern parlor resembles an ill
uminated mosaic,* each article of furni
ture and bric-a-bric differing in color,
form and combination from every other
artistic confection or trifle the room
contains.
Stylish and serviceable portiers,piano
and table covers are made of rich wine
or brown shades ofNonpareil yelveteen,
with border bands of the broche varie
ty, the pattern being outlined with gold
or silver braid or tinsel cord.
An item of interest to the "Lords of
Creation" occurs in the occupation by
Max Stadler of his new sore, corner
Grand Street and Broad way, New York,
and the illustrated catalogue and price
list of all classes of clothing furnished
by this enterprising dealer, on receipt
of name and address. Garments of per
fect style are sold at figures which
scarcely more than cover the cost of
materials and manufacture. Such are
the facilities vouchsafed at the great
centers of supply.
Literary News.—The Saturday Eve
ning Post, ot Philadelphia, now com
pleting its sixty-fourth year of continu
ous publication, has recently received a
surprising impetus in circulation by or
iginal popular improvements, under the
talented management one of the most
successful newspaper men in the coun
try. The management announce their
cordial desire to renew intercourse with
all old friends, and to obtain the ap
proval of myriads of new ones, who
will nturally wish to enroll themselves.
In order to facilitate this purpose they
will send a beautiful souvenir free to
applicants who furnish their address to
the publication oflice, 720 Sausom St.,
Philadelphia, Pa.
Diphtheria has been so prevalent that
the best treatment should be known.
The patient absolutely requires extra
ordinary nutrition and general stimu
lant to resist and overbalance the slow
fever that consumes the strength and
also to counteract the deadly growth of
tatal fungus in the vital passages. Im
mediate use of Duff's Pure Malt Whis
key fills these grand essentials, ana will
produce wonderfully magical results
when faithfully prescribed. No case of
failure has ever been known. Protect
the patient from exposure and harmful
excitement,but stick tenaciously to the
remedy until recovery is complete.
Every new subsciiber to "Straw
bridge & Clothier's Fashion Quarterly"
gets one volume of Musicalßric-a-Bric,
Instrumental selections; or,one volume
ofMusical Bric-a-Bric,Vocal selections.
Pretty cover, clear type, full sheet mu
sic. The "Quarterly" is the cheapest
ladies' magazine in the world. The
Spring number contains 120 illustrated
pages; colored plate of Paris Fashions :
cut paper pattern Supplement; complete
original Novelette, by Robert Grant ;
new Waltz by Sousa, leader of the
Marine Band; etc. Cut this out,enclose
50 cents, mention your choice, instru
mental or vocal, and send to Straw
bridge & Clothier, Eighth and Market
Streets, Philadelphia.
SIDNEY EARLE;
A Precocious Writer.
Asking the Commissioner of Pen
sions to Retain Her "Papa."
The personal mail of Commissioner
of Pensions Black is very heavy, and
frequently contains some curious com
munications. A few days ago the
General re eeived a letter from a little
girl of fourteen years, whose father, a
Republican, is President of the Board
of Examining Surgeons in a Western
town, and she was afraid he would be
removed. She said her father was in
the army, that he brought home with
him after the war a disease from which
he had not recovered, and which would
ultimately prove fatal to him ; that he
was a good "papa," and she asked
General Black not to discharge him.
She inclosed a postal card addressed to
herself, and said : "My papa does not
know lam writing this letter. If he
did he might not like it ; so if you
grant my request please make a X on
the back of this postal card. Nobody
but me will know what it means, but I
shall know that my papa will not be
discharged."
The letter received General Black's
personal attention. "I have received
your little letter." he said in reply,
"and have read it with interest. I will
file it carefully away, and when I come
to take up for action the matter of the
reorganization of the Board of Examin
ing Surgeons at I will give it
just as careful consideration as I would
like to have given to a letter from my
own little girl, written under the same
circumstances. If your papa is a good
man, a good surgeon and a faithful
ficer of the Government, 1 will try and
keep him."
Terms, SI.OO per Year, in Advance.;
A VILLAGE FIRE.
(Correspondence of the Lewisburg Chronicle.)
DOWN EAST, June 2d, 1886.
Did you ever see a fire in a country
town ? If you have not,you have miss
ed much that goes to make life'memor
able. Probably you have been to the
circus, to see the animals, or, may be,
you are an open and avowed sinner and
went to see the show, and stayed to see
the concert thereafter, and didn't care
who knew it. But no man's experience
can be counted completetill he has seen
a New England village fire. He may
have been to the circus, he may liaye
gone to the theatre when he was in the
city that time, he may have participat
ed in Decoration day services, been at
a Sunday school celebration when a
thunder shower came up, or, even,as
was once my high priyilege,he may have
seen a riot between two or three hun
dred Irish and Italian railroad natives.
These things are all very well in their
way, but lump them all up and they
will not make a shadow to the hurrrah
that surrounds a fire "down East."
The town was as quiet as a grave
yard. It always is. The irregular
street is fringed with elms, and the
green window shutters on the white
cottages set in the apple trees, looked
as pretty as a picture. At Amasa
Gray's house all was quiet and serene.
Hannah, his wife, was in the garden
planting onions. The two small chil
dren were making mud pies in the loam.
Amasa, himself,was a mile away build
ing a stone fence. Hannah had been
in the garden sticking onions, in that
graceful position one must necessarily
assume when you 'stand up to it,' and
she was facing the white-washed barn.
Presently she rose up slowly, and
thought she smelled something. It
wasn't onions, though they were pres
ent. She looked around, and her heart
leaped into her throat. Out of every
crack and chink in the neat white
painted kitchen, black smoke was pour
ing. She ran to the house just as a
window burst out and the red flames
swept up. Nobody will ever know how
it happened.
Hannah screamed 'Fire.' The neigh
bors heard it and the yell became gen
eral. If there is anything that can put
more vitality iuto a country town than
the cry of fire I want to know it.
There was no mistake in location .the
smoke, black and rank, curled up over
head. The first on the ground was
Aunt Betsy Sawyer, of the general
shape and build of an ordinary shock of
cornfodder. Aunt Betsy was 'doing'
some preparation in the kitchen when
she heard the cry, and she rushed out
with a huge iron spoon in her hand,and
she'did not lay it down until two hours
1 iter, when she allotted,as she sat down
at home.that she was all 'done up.' One
of the sights of the hoar was that spoon
being flourished around. Deacon Jas.
Johnson had been reading the Weekly
Clarion and Farmer's Friend on the
back porch,with his iron bowed specta
cles on his nose. He threw his paper
down, upset the chair, and 'lit out' for
the scene of action in his shirt sleeves.
When he got there he tried to get in at
the front door, and seizing the glisten
ing brass knob tried to open it outward.
He struggled and twisted and pulled
but it wouldn't come. Finally he gave
one mighty pull, and, as the knob came
off, the door opened itself. It is curren
tly reported by people who were there,
and had personal knowledge of the fact,
that Deacon James actually swore at
the door. There was never anything
done about it in the church, although
it was talked over. The sisters often
refered to it at the 'teas' as an evidence
of the possible blackness of a man's
heart though he does occupy shining
places in the chuicli. It was too well
established for denial that Bro.Johnson
did say, just as he gave the knob the
last mighty yank that brought it off,
and burst his vest down the back at the
same time, 'dod gasi it,' and those who
heard it said that he said it as if he
meant it. Miss Mehitable Ann Jones,
the village dress maker,was in the very
act of putting herself together when
she heard the cry. She has never been
known to appear en dishabille before,
never; but she started to the (ire with
that wiggle-waggle run that nobody on
earth has but an old maid. She had on
her wrapper, but all her fixtures were
back iu her room, and she looked like a
pillow slip with a lath inside. She had
on odd slippers and red stockings, ;and
carpet rag garters. This valuable piece
of information is due to the fact that
en route Miss Mehitable fell down. Ar
riving she did sigual seryice by squeal
ing 'Fire' at x the top of her voice.
The storekeeper was counting eggs
when he heard the yell of Fire. He
dropped the two handsfull of eggs on
the floor and, as he afterward graphi
cally expressed it, 'let them and the
store go to thunder' and tore down the
street.
A countryman coming into town in a
two horse wagon saw, from the of
the street, the crowd and the fire, and
he larrupped his horses into a run to
get there. They got frightened aud
ran through the crowd and over the hill
at the other end of town, but just as
they cleared the brow he took one look
backward and was seen no more. The
blacksmith stopped in the middle of a
NO. 26.
NEWSPAPER LAWS
If subscribers order the discontinuation of
newspapers, 'he publishers may continue to
send them until hit arrearages are paid.
If subscribers refuse or neglect to take their
newspapers from the <fliee to which they are sent •
tlteyare held responsible until they have'ttled
the'bills as d ordered them discontinued.
If subw'rlbtu s move toother phicus witiumtln
forming tiie publisher, and the newspapers nro
sent t u Ihe former place, they are responsible.
ADVERTISING RATBS.
Iwk. 1 mo, 3 num. Amos, "lyca
1 wpiare *2 00 ♦1 00 $& 00 A 0 $H (0
Ijeoliiinii 400 AOO 10 00 Ift AO IS 00
U " 7 00 1000 Ift 00 30 00 40 00
1 •' 10 00 lftUO 2ft 00 45 00 75 00
One Inch makes a square. Administrators
and Kxecutors'Notices 4i2AO. Transient adver- •
tisements and locals 10 cents per line for first
insertion and 5 cents per line tor each addition-
ul Insertion*
horseshoe nail and put for the field of
action. Jones' deg, seeing him go by,
took him for some sort of malefactor
that should be bitten on general prin.
ciples, and he took out a quarter sec
tion in the rear of Vulcan's unmen
tionables, but 'little he recked ' and he
sailed around the corner with the pieqe
(lapping like the tail board of an express
wagon.
In less time than it takes (to tell it
the whole village was there, all except
one old woman who was paralyzed and
an old man laid up with inflamatory
rheumatism.
And the fire itself! llow a fire can
eat iuto an old dried out house, in a
dry season, when it gets a start once.
It was crackling and waltzing around
the roof like mad, while the crowd yell
ed and raced around it below. Brother
Johnson, when he got the door open,
ran in and brought out the coal scuttle
and poker, depositing them on the oth
er side of the street, and returned for
an old time rocking chair. Bill Jones
pulled a what-not up by the roots and
brought it-out and dashed It to smithe
reens in the middle of the road. The
blacksmith had rushed tip stairs and
seized a cradle, brought It to the head of
the steps, bearing it before him like a
shield, and just then two men grabbed
the loosely fastened stair carpet and
brought carpet, man and cradle in a
heap to the bottom, all at once. The
half grown boys had removed the front
steps, making it a good four feet from
the ground to the floor, and when the
bureau went out the drawers went in
their several directions, and IlaaDah's
'things' went their way. Just then
Amasa Gray himself showed up. He
had been running a mile to get there,
with his arms flailing in the air, and
when he burst into the crowd he inquir
ed, 'What's the matter?' I wonder
whether he'lhought it was a clam bake
or a donation party ?
He didn't wait for an answer al
though the storekeeper volunteered the
gratuitous information* that 'The
house is afire,' but he dived into the
cellar and grabbed what came first and
brought it up. It proved to be a keg,
half full of last year's sour kraut, un
dergoing the third and final necessary
putrefaction. Dashing it on the board
walk he went in again and brought up
a crock of soap grease. Others follow
ed and pegan pitching out canned fruit
and milk crocks and the belongings of
the underground part of the* domestic
economy of every household. Squire
Calnoun, essaying to go down, was hit
on the head with an empty flour barrel
and knocked over. He was promptly
hauled out from under the shower, and
he remarked that,'old and all as he was
he could lick the man that done it.' In
the rear, the oid cat was removing her
family from under the wood shed to
the currant bushes, and she was trying
her level best to take the last two in
oue mouthful. The boys had upset
several necessary outbuildings,and had
knocked off all the palings, and pulled
the young plants up by the roots. It
was a uoble effort to save property.
When the roof fell in there was a dis
mal howl from the crowd and the last
act was oyer. The fire that last hap
pened in the village occurred, by the
town records, in 1790, when the Blue
Hen tavefu burned, and I will just Ven
ture to assert that it will be 1790 years
to come before another house burns
down if the traditional ounce ot preven
tion can put it off. As a result of the
high pressure of theday there were sun
dry direhappenings. Johnson took cold.
Aunt Betsy Sawyer's "doings" turned
to a crisp on the stove. While Mrs.
Williams was at the fire with, as she
expressed it, "every doo? in the house
open, "a flock of chickens took possess on
and not only ate the heart out of a lot
of custard pies on the kitchen table bnt
went to roost on the piano. Miss Me
hitabe was so ashamed of herself that
when she went out the week following
she put on an extra dab of powder and
more things. She said when she heard
of distress she was going if she wasn't
dressed up. The preacher gave them
a good round dose of the fire at the
next prayer meeting, and warned the
youthful sinners that, if they went to
any more evening parties, they should
remember Amasa Gray's fifty years
to C3me, when there is an open ques*
tion to be settled, as to the age of the
deceased, some old man will say he
knows the Governor was only sixty be
cause he was but ten years old when
Amasa Gray's house burned up. And
now, if you have never seen a New
Englaud fire, you have at least read a
bout one. M.
—— 1 ™
Catch, a Weasel Asleep.
[Chicago Times.]
Two of the bidders for the Govern
ment envelope contract, on their way
from Holyoke to Washington, were
talking over the situation with much
assumed candor. It was readily a
greed that, as the bids had been reg
istered, there could be no risk in com
paring notes ; so each promised to
mark his bid on paper and pass it o
ver. Both scratched away,the papers
were exchanged,and both were blank!
Each weasel counted on the somno
lent condition of the other.