Be
DEFERRED HOPES.
One year ago, on budding bough
The robin gaily singing.
The laughing stream, the budding flowers,
The fine green grass blades springing,
Found me with sorrow as my guest,
And Fear and Pain attendant ;
I had but tears wherewith to greet
Spring, and his train resplendent.
as she closer came, ¢
To me with lips all sm
I could but lend a willi
To accents so beguili
“Fear to ignoble souls
“Come, let us laugh at tr
Another year thy hopes shall
Fulfilled in measure double.”
Ah me! Ti
As then the
As then the ro
From budding bough i
And Spring! I hear he
In far-off cadence trilli
Her light foot
Faintly my du
ous voice
rkened door
.
Hing.
But still grim Sorrow is my guest,
And doubt and Fear attending
Proffer the bitter br ing cup
Of pain and care unending.
Then here's to thee, thou c
Thou dear, familiar Sorrow !
This tear-wet bread together share
To-day and e’en to-morrow.
1stant friend !
And after that, the bitter end,
And then—the rest eternal !
© God, forgive the weary soul
That asks no joy supernal ;
That only craves surcease of pain,
And fret, and strife, and wee
That only longs for folded har
Closed eyes and dreamless sleeping.
Julia Schayes.
RECOMPENSE,
Straight through my heart this fact to-day,
By Truth’s own hand is driven,
God never takes one thing away
But something else is given.
I did not know in earlier years
This law of love and kindness :
But without hope through bitter tears
I mourned in sorrow’s blindness.
And ever following each regret
For some departed treasure,
My sad, repining heart was met
With unexpected pleasure.
I thought it only happened so—
But time this truth has taught me ;
No least thing from my life can go
But something else is brought me.
It is the law, complete, sublime,
And now with faith unshaken,
In patience I but bide my time,
When any joy is taken.
No matter if the crushing blow
May for the moment down me ;
Still back of it waits Love, I know,
With some new gift to crown me.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox.
HANGED ABOARD SHIP,
Fat of a Mutinous Son of [44 St cretary
of War.
“ “To hang from the yardarm !"
“How well I remember that dread
sentence | I heard it pronounced on
the first day of the winter of 1843. I
was a boy then in the United States
Navy, and the impressions those
words and the scene which followed
made upon me have never faded from
my memory.”
Thus spoke John WW. Davis, a vet-
eran of the late war, as le tapped his
club on the pavement and talked about
his early life as a sailor. © He wasa
policeman in Washington then, but
since those days has become an inven-
tor and spends much of his time
abroad. His whole life has been a
romance that mn intensity of action
and occurrence ontrivals the wildest
freaks of the imagination. I met him
not long ago, looking older and more
serious than when he was a conserva-
tor of the peace at the national capi-
tal. He is a man of much intelligence
and recalled again in an interesting
way the death sentence which was so
indelibly photographed on his mind,
and continued his story :
“About one hundred miles trom St.
Thomas, the Somers, of the United
States Navy, ‘lay to’ on the afternoon
of December 1, 1842. There was in-
tense excitement on board. The offi-
cers paced the deck doubly armed and
with anxious looks upon their faces.
The crew went about their duties sul
lenly, speaking to each other only
under their breath. Three men were
to be hanged to the yardarm, and
nreparations for the execution were be-
ing rapidly made. The death penalty
on the high seas on an American man-
of-war has seldom been pronounced in
the history of our navy. But the most
notable and dramatic case of capital
punishment ever on its records was
made up that afternoon and evening.
“The vessel had left New York on
the 13th of September of that year for
the southern coast of Africa. It had
been cruising for nearly three months
in the West Tudia waters on the look-
out for slave traders. The ship was in
charge of Commander McKenzie, who
had the reputation of being a brutal
martinet, and who was exceedingly un-
opular with nearly every soul on
iy In those days whippiny was
allowed in the navy, and McKenzie
delighted in having the cat o’-nine-tails
vigorously apphed for the most trivial
offense. *
“For more than two months we had
cruised about without an adventure to
disturb the quiet routine of life ‘aboard
ship.” One day late in November
Midshipman Spencer was seized, dou-
bly ironed and sent into the: hold.
There was not even a hint of the
causes which led to the arrest, and all
sorts of rumors flew thick and fast
among the crew as to what was going
on and what was likely to happen to
him.
“Young Spencer was a fine-looking,
good-hearted, jovial, dare-devil sort of
a young fellow, with good impulses,
but a mischievous temperament.
There was not a malicious bone in his
body. He was the son of John C.
Spencer, the Secretary of War at that
moment in Tyler's cabinet. His
father was a man of great ability and
influence. He had occupied many im-
portant positions in the State of New
York, and had been on the frontier in
the war of 1812, In [816 he served
in Congress, and was one of the Dem-
ocratic leaders in that body for two
i turbed crew.
the affairs of the United States bank,
then one of the most important mat-
ters before the National legislature.
He was a very popular and important
citizen before he was called into the
Tyler cabinet. The summary arrest
of the son of a cabinet officer, and a
very distinguished and powerful one at
that, only added to the general con-
sternation that bung like a pall over
the crew as soon as he was placed in
irons. Later in the day a man named
Small, captain of the maintop, and
another named Cromwell, who was
acting as boatswain, were arrested,
doubly ironed and sent below. The
next day four other sailors shared a
similar fate. Then it became noised
ed for mutiny, and would soon be
hanged from the yardarm.
“Naturally there was great excite-
ment on board. The officers cast sus-
picious glances at the nervous and dis-
1 The sailors avoided each
other as they went about their duties
and spoke only in whispers, and then
only when unseen by the alert, suspi-
cious officers of the day.
“Three days of this wearing sus-
pense continued, during which both
officers and men were restless and ex-
cited. On the afternoon of the third
day anumber of the officers met in the
wardroom as a court to try these men
for their lives, the men charged with
mutiny. The trial was a farce. They
simply called in a numberof the ship's
crew and examined them as to their
knowledge of a conspiracy to seize the
vessel. Their statements and even
their opinions were taken down, and
all sorts of rumors and theories were
made togweigh in the balance agaist
the accused men. Neither Midship-
man Spencer nor any one of the pri
oners was permitted to face his accus-
ers, Neither were they informed of
the charges against them in detail nor
were they granted an opportunity for
statement or explanation. The offi-
cers were apparently so frightened that
they neglected every legal form and
simply accepted anything they could
get against the accused as testimony,
whether it was rumor, statement or
opinion of any kind. I was too young
to be called as a witness, but I kept
my eyes and ears open and no phase
of the tragic event escaped me.
“The purser’s steward was the chief
witness against Spencer and his com-
panions. He had caused their arrest
by informing Lieutenant McIntosh,
our executive officer, of the conspiracy.
Spencer, he declared, approached him
on the subject of seizing the ship. For
a time he pretended sympathy with
the intended mutiny and claimed to
have secured a fuil list of the men en-
gaged in the movement. He declared
it to be their intention to seize the ves-
sel, turn it into a piratical craft, fly
the black flag and rob all the mer-
chantmen they could run down. The
steward’s statement was the only basis
for the arrests and trial, and on his
statement were built the wildest fan-
cies from some members of the crew.
The trial naturally ended in a ver-
dict of guilty, and the awful sentence,
“Death at the yardarm,” was commu-
nicated not only to the prisoners but to
the men, few, if any, of whom believed
it just.
“On the Ist day of December, four
days after the first arrest, three ot the
accused received th: summons, “Pre-
pare for death,” followed by the order,
“All hands on deck to witness the ex-
ecution,”
“While this order was being obeyed
a dramatic scene was going on below.
Midshipman Spencer, with the air of
perfect composure, was telling the Cap-
tain of the plan he had formed to seize
the vessel. He denied the statement
that he intended turning it into a pi-
ratical craft, but acknowledged that for
certain acts of cruelty committed by
the commander, he had intended to
take the ship and return to the United
States. Small, the captain of the
maintop, also made practically the
same confession, but Cromwell protest-
ed his entire innocence of any part of
the scheme. Both Spencer and Small
also assured the officers that Cromwell
had nothing whatever to do with it.
The tribunal refused to revise their
the men were brought on deck for exe-
cution. The crew were already assem-
bled and swod about with blanched
cheeks and sullen looks. Old tars
who did not know what fear was al-
most broke down during the solemn
scene then passing before them.
“The signal for death was to be the
firing of a gun, and the condemned
men were not kept waiting long for the
final moment. All three bore up man-
fully under the terrible ordeal of prep-
aration, and died game. They were
allowed to bid their friends a hasty
goodby, and as they went about their
last earthly pleasure it was plain to
see on the faces of every one the uni-
versal opinion that a great crime was
about to be committed. The vessel
‘lay to,” while all hands, breathlessly,
and in many cases tearfully, awaited
the final signal. There was very little
eeremony in preparing them for death.
Caps were drawn over the faces of the
doomed men, and late in the atternoon,
on one of those hazy days so common
in a tropical climate, the boom of a
cannon from the ship's prow rolled out
over the water and the three men were
swung from the yardarm and strangled
to death.
“Tt was a horrible sight !
“I shall never forget it. The scene
often comes back to me and the im-
pressions it made on my boyish mind
can never leave me. The look on the
faces of the crew at the moment of
death or the temper they displayed in
the days following the execution will
never vanish from my mind. Before,
at the time and after the terrible pen-
alty had been inflicted, the officers
walled the deck doubly armed and
with sharpened cutlasses in hand
ready to cut down any one who ex-
pressed an opinion adverse to the inhu-
man work of the day. The bodies
were allowed to hang for some time,
and while they were swinging to and
years, drawing the committee report on ' fro Commander McKenzie made a
about that these men had been arrest- |
judgment, however, and all three of
spread eagle speech to us about the ne-
cessity of rigid discipline and the ter-
rors of the crime of mutiny. His re-
marks had uo other effect than to in-
crease the hatred of the men toward
him. No officer on land or sea was
ever more thoroughly despised.
“After atime the bodies were cut
down and hastily prepared for burial. |
No one who has never witnessed a
funeral at sea can have any concep-
tion of its awful solemnity. It is sad
enough when looked upon in the sun-
light, but at night it is ghastly solemn,
and nearly all sailors are superstitious
about dropping dead bodies overboard
after dark. Commander McKenzie, as
if to add to the terrors of the day and
still further menace the crew, decreed
that the burial services should take
place at night. The bodies were
shrouded, placed upon the tilting
board and all the preparations care-
fully made for the last scene. The
services for the dead were read by the
flickering light of the battle lanterns
and a deathlike stillness hung like a
pall over the ship. At a gtven signal
the three bodies were droppe | into the
sea as the Somers headed towards St.
Thomas, as if to leave behind as
quickly as possible the scene of a hid-
eous tragedy.
“In all my lifeI never witnessed so
solemn an affair. It often passes be-
fore me and I see the execution and
burial of these men in my dreams. I
have traveled nearly all over the world
and have seen a great many sad sights
but of all the scenes that was ever set
by the brutal t lents of men to wring
the heart strings this death and burial
of young Spencer and his companions
was the most agonizing.
“A day or two afterward we ran in-
to St. Thomas, and all of us breathed
a sigh of relief. Almost immediately
we set sail for New York and arrived
there on the 14th of December. As
soon as the news of the mutiny and
the execution was given out there was
great excitement all over the country,
and hundreds of people flocked to the
docks to get a sight of the vessel which
had but just had such a fateful experi-
ence. The execution of Spencer and
the other two men aroused a great deal
of indignation, and his father, with
bitter in denunciation of the cruel act.
It was then held, and still is, by those
who were on the ship that the men
should have been brought back to the
United States as prisoners and properly
tried. Full opportunity for defence
and explanation should have been
given them, and the indecent haste
with which they were hanged was one
of the worst features of the whole
affair.
“The feeling against McKenzie in
political circles was very bitter. A
court of inquiry was called for and
then a court martial was ordered for
his trial. It was composed of his
brother officers, who evidently felt the
necessity of standing by their comrade
in so important a matter of discipline.
After sitting for forty days in trying
the charges against him he was ac-
quitted. The friends of Mr. Spencer
then endeavored to have him tried for
murder in the courts of New York,
but the judge decided that the civil law
could not reach the case. McKenzie,
I believe, afterward met a violent
death. At any rate he never got over
the odium of having hanged these
men.
“In looking back over these events
[ have not revised my temper of that
day and I do not believe any man who
witnessed the execution has. My
opinion is that the hanging of those
men was nothing more nor less than
murder." —New York Herald.
Fired Him Out,
The Shamokin Dispatch of the 5th
inst. records the following: “There
was quite a surprise party on Spurz-
heim street last evening, and a small
sized man came out suddenly through
a door helped by another man's foot.
A certain conductor, who is employed
on the Reading road, has a very pretty
little wife, real plump and cute, and
this fact 1s known to another conductor
on the same road, and it seems that
No. 2 has been quietly dropping in and
spending the evening with the plump lit-
tle wife, while her husband was out on
the road. Last evening her hubby, as
usual, was out on the road, and con-
ductor No. 2 thought he would call.
He did so, but in some manner hubby
got home very unexpectedly and com-
ing into the house suddenly he saw
his little wife real close to the condue-
tor and the conductor's arm around
her waist. As was to be expected
there was a row at once and it kept
getting warmer and warmer until the
husband, who was the bigger man,
grabbed the gay deceiver and fired him
out neck and heels. Then silence set-
tled down around the house and the
shutters were still closed and no signs
of life were inside. It is supposed the
hours of night were whirled away in
argument and sleep came this morning.
He Gor Ovr or 11 Prerry Wen! ,—
A friend brings a good story from
New Orleans at the oxpense of Mrs,
Frank Leslie. At one time Mrs, Les-
lie was a very beautiful woman; indeed,
her charms of today are well preserved,
but it is violating no propriety to say
she is no longer young, Upon the
occasion of a visit to New Orleans,
which by the way is her native city, a
young Frenchman, who was a reporter
on the Times Democrat, was sent to in-
terview her. Ile wrotea very brilliant
description of the noted lady, and af-
ter its publication called to see her.
Mrs, Leslie received him graciously
and expressed herself as being delight-
ed with the article, ‘only,’ she added,
‘why did you say that *Mrs, Leslie is a
lady apparently 45 years of age? I'm
sure no one would take me for a day
over 35." The reporter looked dis-
trozsed for a moment. and then a
brightidea struck him,when he replied:
‘Oh, Mrs, Leslie, that must have been
the fauit of the electric light.’
thousands of others, was exceedingly
Plucky Ola Hickory.
A Queer Entry on the Records of a
Tennessee Court.
On the records of the court of Sum
ner County, Tenn., for the year 1795
there is thia:
“The court thanks Andrew Jackson
| for his brave conduct.”
There is no information concerning
what Mr. Jackson did to deserve
thanks in this form, at least at the
court in question, says William Hosea
Ballon in the New York Herald.
“01d Joe Guild,” aprominent lawyer
and State character, who died a few
year ago, removed from that county to
Nashville. He used to relate that
when he grew up and became a Jack-
son man there were still magistrates
living of the 1795 period. Of them he
inquired concerning this entry. It
seems that the county court had the
trial of misdemeanors. A gangof
bullies defied the court, juries and sher-
if and persisted in terrifying the sur-
rounding country. They were indicted
by the grand jury, but came into court
and declared that they would not be
tried, that it was against the laws of
nature which governed the conduct of
gentlemen and protected them from
such undignified prosecution. By the
next, term of court Jackson had been
chosen district attorney. On his arriv-
al he hitched his horse, carried his sad-
dlebags into court and placed them
beside him while he perused the dock-
et. The first thing he did, to the
amazement of every one, was to call
the cases of the bullies. The entire
gang came into court and declined to be
tried, repeating their accustomed argu-
ment. Mr. Jackson remonstrated and
assured them that there was no way to
avoid a trial; that the law must be
obeyed, no matter whom it hurt; that
it was no respecter of persons. The
bullies became boisterous and threaten-
ing. Instantly Jackson puiled his
pistols from his saddlebags and a free
fight began in the court-room. The
leadership of the young lawyer inspired
the people present who were in favor
of the enforcement of thelaw, and they
joined with Jackson, whipped the entire
crowd of bullies, took them into court,
where they were tried, convicted and
sentenced to the full penalty prescribed
by statute. That was the last of the
bullies and the occasion of the unex-
plained entry on the records of the
court of Sumner County for 1795.
Samuel B. Morgan, who built the
State capitol of Tennessee, died some
ten years ago. He had in his posses-
sion a merchant's books of account.
In these were the purchases of An-
drew Jackson for five years after 1790.
An examination of books show that
the only purchases made by Old Hick-
ory of this merchant were powder, lead
and whisky.
Mr. Morgan used to relate that he
once witnessed a cock-ficht shortly at-
ter the battle of New Orleans. Jack-
son was present, sitting on his horse,
while some follows down in the pit
awkwardly tried to heel the chicken.
Jackson became first uneasy, then
mad. He leaped from his horse into
the pit, brushed the fellow aside, and
heeled the chickens after the most ap-
proved fashion. Then he returned to
the saddle and witnessed the fight.
Jackson was originally a backwoods
specimen of the rawest type, but he at
once evolved into perhaps the grandest
man that everlived, having no equal in
the ball-room, no peer in his politeness,
courtesy and admiration for women.
The same 1s largely true of the Ten-
nesseean ofto-day. 'Takehim trom the
farm, array him in fashionable clothes,
put him in the ball-room or in society
and his thoroughbred blood instantly
manifests itself, exhibiting in him only
the refined man of the world. Jack-
son’s letters, which remain, are in many
respects more interesting than Wash-
ington’s. hey exhibit a man abso-
lutely devoted to his family, from whom
notjthe smallest thing cone ning them
escaped, and whose every interest was
his. No man ever wrote in the same
spirit, and his social letters are models
from which Chesterfield might have
learned much in politeness. Nothing
escaped him. To show how the men of
his time worshiped him the incident re-
lated by [Willoughby Williams, “Old
Man Willoughby,” of years ago, will
suffice. When Lafayette visited Jack-
son, in 1825, he rode in a carriage
with General Hall, while Jackson was
on horseback. Great a man as Lafay-
ette was, the people all looked at Jack-
son and confined the expressions of ad-
miration to him.
The duel between Jackson and Sevier
seems to have escaped history and bio-
graphy. Sevier was Jackson's equal as
a soldier, and during his Indian fichts
of over a quarter of a century he never
lost a battle, hecanse he always charged
into the natives when in a body, and
the Indian could only fight with a tree
in front of him. In 1796 Sevier was
the first Governor of Tennessee, and
fortwelve years. During his first term
Jackson was on the Supreme bench of
the State. The two men had difficulty
about a military election, both bzine
candidates. On the day when Jackson
arrived at Knoxville to hold court Se-
vier came also, mounted a block in the
square, denounced Jackson in unmens-
ured terms, calling him all the names
in early vocabulary. There could be
but one result, and that evening Jack-
son challenged him. Sevier accepted,
and then came a question as to where
the fight should take place. Jackson
wanted to fight on the Cherokee reser-
vation and Sevier in Virginia. Asa
result letters passed between, in which
the word coward had the most frequent
use, Finally Jackson started for Vip
ginia and notifled Sevier, Ile reached
Virginia first and remained several
days awaiting the arrival of his oppo-
ent, Sevier not appearing he started
for home, meeting his rival on the way.
They met in the road, exchanged
several shots, neither one being hur
when friends interfered. They neve
forgave each other, and there is still a
tradition that this was the most dis
| out
I and literature is
graceful episode in the history of the
State.
————
T he Difference.
Since the sun rose in Eden on that
first, perfect being, our much-maligned
grandmother Eve, woman has been a
mystery to man. Every adjective,
with variations, has been employed to
extol and condemn her. History bears
the inconsistency of her nature
built on her moods.
(Governments have heen made and re-
made by her glances, and kings and
princes have sacrified thrones and
honors for her caprices. There is no
mystery about a man : no changing,
varvine lichts and shades, Te is not
a spectrum of vivid rainbow hues nor
kaleidoscope of bewildering combina
tions. He is a plain, simple sort of an
animal} one man differing from anoth-
er, vet each taking color from but one
predominant trait. :
In the animal kingdom man is a
specialist. He is recognized as an ob-
stinate, or cunning, or ambitious, as
an indolent, or energetic, or a penuri-
ous, or generous man. A woman is
all these and more. A man is an in-
strument of one string. Learn to play
upon that and you own that partienlar
music box. A woman isa harpof a
thousand strings, and while the master
hand may draw forth harmony that
beats the music of the spheres, the
~mateur can develop a discordant
crash of sound that swallows peace
and hope, desire of life, and faith in
love at one tremendous gulp. A
shrewd, tactful, industrious woman,
after one weeks’ opportunity for prac-
tice, can find the particular chord
which moves the particular man. But
men spend whole lives and go down to
unsatisfactory graves never having
learned to play correctly a solitary bar
on that rare instrumen!, a woman.—
Washington Post.
Appetizing Salads.
Nothing is more pleasing to the appe-
tite on a warm day than a well-made
salad, which, with thinly-sliced bread
and butter and cold coffee or tea, forms
a most appetizing lunch. An excellent
salad is made of cabbage: Chop very
fine first, remove the core as if left in it
willimpart a bitter taste. Take alump
of butter the size of an egg and melt,
place in a saucer and mix with it one-
half teaspoon cach of mustard and salt
and onefourth of a teaspyon of black
pepper: when all has been mixed
smooth, pourinone cup of vinegar and
set it on the stove to boil: when it has
boiled up good stir in two eggs weil
beaten, stirring it constantly; when
cold pour over the chopped cabbage.
It is a good plan when making chicken
salad to boil the chickens one day and
prepare the dressing the next, as the
meat can be left to harden and thus
produce better salad. Chop the meat
of one large fowl, bing careful to re-
move all the skin and fat. Add to it
the same quantity of white celery chop-
ped fine. For the dressing beat togeth-
er two tablespoonfuls of melted butter,
two teaspoonfuls each of mixed mus-
tard and salt, and one teaspoon of white
pepper. Beat to a cream and stir in
the yolks of eight eges well beaten;
set on the fire and when it comes to a
hoil add one-cupfnl each of vinegar
and sweet cream; after it has
pour over the chicken. When ready
to serve garnish with celery tops.
This dressing may also be used for
potatoe salad. Slice cold boiled pota-
toes very thin to cover the bottom of a
salad bowl, pour over a little of the
dressing, then another layer of the po-
tatoes and so on til! the bowl is full,
If liked a little grated onion and chop-
ped parsley may be mixed with the
potatoes.
cooled
The Tras Woman.
From an artistic point of view there
Is a great diversity of opinion as to
what constitutes even physical perfec-
tion in women. No two great master- |
pieces of sculpture or painting agree on |
the outlines, much
of beauty.
their women above the angels. This
is rank nonsense. Some of the old
masters kept themselves to facts.
Homer's women were strong, vigor-
ous and modest.
marked individuality.
Chaucer, who dwelt with people as
hie found them, gives us in the “Pri-
oress’ a womanly woman. She is com-
posed of flesh aud blood, and as gentle
as she is strong, refined and earnest.
Shakespeare gives us the greatest
variety of women, no two being alike,
Ophelia, Juliet and Imogen, Lady
Macbeth, Constance and Cleopatra, Por-
tia, Beatrice and Rosalind, all as dis-
tinct as day snd night, yet each perfect
in her way, even in her imperfections.
While he paints his characters in strong
colors he is the champion of gentleness,
tenderness and modesty. To him the
true woman was something more than
a doll, a plaything, an ornament. [He
gives all his women missions in life,
and shows how it is possible for all, no
matter what their rank and station, to
so live and so act that the world will be
the better for their having lived, —
Pittsburg Gazette,
A —————————————
A GLANCE AT THE CAMEL.—A cam-
el’s hind legs will reach any where—over
his head, round his chest, and on to his
hump; even when lying down an evil
disposed animal will shoot out his less
and bring you to a sitting posture. His
neck is of the same pliancy. He ‘will
chew the root of his tail, nip you in the
culf, or lay the top of his head on his
hump. He also bellows and roars at
you, whatever you are doing—saddling
him, feeding him, mounting him, unsad-
dling him. To the uninitiated a camel
going for one with his mouth open and
gurgling horribly is a terrifying specta-
cle; but do not mind him, it is only bis
wiy. I heard of one or two men having
a leg broken from a kick at various times
but it was the exception and not the
vale, for a camel is really a very docile
inimal, and learns to behave himself in
most trying positions with equanimity,
through I fear itis only the result of
want of brains.—Count Gleichen.
less on the lines |
Poets are given to exalting |
( The Greek dramat- |
ists all gave their women distinct, well |
£1! Soris of Paragraphs,
—A man who lives near Lima, 0,
wears his long beard in plaits.
—The only cross-eyed cow in the
country is owned by George Williams,
of Comley, O.
—California will have the largest
grape crop this year ever grown, and
Spain reports the same prospects.
—At the funeral of a young man
named Rice, at Shamokin, Northunber-
pall-bearers.
—The number of visitors last vear to
Shakespeare's birthplace was 16,800,
Americans constituting one-fourth of
the number.
—The Stradivarius violoncello which
belonged to Davidow, thie violinist, is
reported for sale and the price asked is
£5000.
- -A great many people down in Chin
used strawberries as a dentifrice. It is
said to be elegant for the teeth, as the
sand takes off the tartar.
—A regular customer in a Philadel-
phia restaurant pours mayonnaise dress.
ing over his boiled cabbage, which he
eats for lunch every day.
—At a fancy dress ball held recently
in Paris a lady appeared with a minia-
ture Eiffel tower on her head, a vard
high, set with diamonds. 7
—An infirmary for dumb animals
covering 100 acres was recently opened
at Bustleton, Pa. The patients will be
principally horses and dogs.
—Chinese commissioners are examin-
ing American systems of electric fire
and police alarms with a view of intro-
ducing them in Chinese cities.
—A deaf and dumb life insurance
agent down in West Virginiais running
all the other agents out of the country,
Men know a good thing when they sce
it.
—>Sarah J. Mackin,a widow of Johns-
town, who lost all her earthly possessions
by the flood, has just been awarded a
pension and back pay amounting to
$5,966.
—A whale, it is reported, was driven
ashore on the coast of Labrador, which
had a dozen wraps of chain about his
body and a big anchor to tote around
with him.
—The vicinity of Stroudsburg, Pa.,
is one of the most honest sections in the
country. In proof of it, George Rhein-
fels has an umbrella he has carried for
over 40 years.
— While Pete Woodall was lying in
the grass back of his home in Kunz-
ville, O., in a drunken stupor, a rooster
picked quite a large hole in his cheek.
The doctors fear he will die of blood
poisoning.
—A family in Lancaster county,
Pennsylvania, was poisoned by eating
fish which had been ignorantly rolled in
cornmeal that had been mixed with rat
poison. All will recover.
—Somebody put a lighted fire-cracker
in a letter box in Allentown, Pa., on
the Fourth. Tt was found by the post
man on his rounds, but luckily the fuse
was imperfect and it failed to explode.
—The family of W. F. Strouse, of
Shamokin, Pa., have odd luck in birth-
days, His wife was born on Christmas,
his second daughter on St. Valentine's
Day, bis third on the Fourth of July
and his only son en Thanksgiving Day.
--The cape dam, near Ellenville, N.
Y., owned by the Del. & Hud. C. Co.,
and which confines the waters of Cape
Pond, has been removed and the pond
drained. The citizens of Ellenville feel
that there is now no danger from that
source.
| —One of the inmates of Altoona,Pa.,
[jail night before last proved to bea
| musical genius. He took off his shoes
[ and, with one of them in each hand, pro-
ceeded to render “Call Me Back Again,’
[ with the latest variations, on the iron
| bars of Lis cell.
|
—C. A. Bell, a dime museum mana-
| ger in Wilkesbarre, was washing two
| rattlesnakes in a bathtub the other day,
| having been assured that they were
| fangless, when one of them bit him on
| the hand. A doctor cut the bitten part
| away.
|
—=It is said that Cullman county, Ala.
is the only level, arable and fertile tract
{of land in the Southern States in which
| there are virtually® no negroes. In a
census population of more than 15,000,
including an area of over 1,500 square
miles, there are only 14 negroes.
—-A big fire cracker was dropped in-
to the water at Devil's Lake, Mich., by
the side ofa sailboat loaded with people,
and when the cracker went off it blew
such a hole into the boat that it sank.
The occupants of the boat were all
saved, ringing wet and hopping mad.
—The “Julius Pam” diamond, which
is valued at from £15,000, £20,000, has
arrived in London from Kimberly. It
weighs 24} carats, It is longish in shape,
and exquisite color—a pure blue white.
The only larger diamond in existence is
the Imperial, but it is inferior in quan-
ity to the “Julius Pam.”
——A man named Cole fell asleep while
sitting in a cart in Alcona county, Mich-
igan, the other day, and when he
awoke both his jaws were broken. His
head, while he slept, rested upon the
side. of the cart, and the horse walked
under a chute, which caught the man
an the jaws. h
—Thousands of tons of culm, which
have been accumulating for thirty
years, are now being rapidly consumed
by the steel mills, electric light and
other works, in Scranton. The railroad
companies also use large quantities in a
compressed state on their mogul engines.
The Scranton steel rail mill consumes
300 tons of culm daily in turning out
700 tons of rails.
—A man down in Markam, W. Va.,
nearly died of thirst the other day.
He will drink nothing but rain water,
and as they had a dry spell, his supply
aave out. He could not be persuaded to
drink anything for a week, but his
neighbors got tired of his foolishness
and held him down and poured water
down his throat. He was pretty far
gone, but is getting along nicely now.
land Co., four young ladies were the