I'll swear the ‘queer’ stuff wasn't sub-
The Hardenened Sex.
markable appearance. He didn't know
= All Sorts of Paragrephs.
Bellefonte, Pa., August 30, 1889.
BE STRONG.
Be strong to-day ; the world needsmen
Of uerveand muscle, heart and brain,
To war for Truth and conquer Wrong.
The fight is on; the foes combine;
The order passes down the line:
“Quit you like men; be strong.”
Be strong; the world hath also need
Or feet to ache and hearts to bleed,
Burdens there are to bear along;
But, thoug!: the end we may not see,
Tis not the meanest destiny
To Lear and to be strong.
Be strong, but not in self. Go whence
The breathings of Omnipotence
Shall sweep the nerve-strings full and
long.
And from their impulse shall arise
Those deep, celestial harmonies
That comfort and make strong.
And Patience, too, must come, to rest
Within thy striving, throbbing breast
That thinks to-morrow all too long;
Thus filling out in breadth and length
The perfect echaracter—for strength
Unbridled is not stong. i
Yes, Right must win, since God is just;
Our hardest lesson is to trust,
But His great plan still moves along.
To-day is but the chrysalis :
That Liolds to-morrow; feeling this,
Be patient and be strong.
Each hath his mission. If it be
My lot to toil but aot to see
The fruits which to my toil belong,
I know One whose all-seeing eye
My humblest task shall golrify,
And he shall make me strong.
— Walter Taylor Field, in Chicago Advance.
QUEER OLD DOBBLES.
It was back in the ’58 or 59 that
Dobbles made his first appearance in
Red Star gulch. Rich seams had been
struck, and the boys were making
money pretty rapidly. As a natural
consequence the influx of settlers was
great, but the newcomers were all young
or middle aged men—all except Dob-
bles.
“Queer Old Dobbles,” as he came to
be called almost from the day of his
appearance in the gulch, excited only
curiosity at first. He seemed hard of
comprehension, in fact, very simple-
minded, and never spoke except when
directly addressed. He appeared about
camp at all hours of theday and night,
until it became a mooted question if he
ever slept at all. Though he was con-
tinually wandering, or “prowling,” as
the boys termed 1t, nothing of value
was ever missed in connection with his
visits to different portions of the camp,
and he soon became regarded as a
harmless and mild type of lunatic.
The winter came, and one ofthe cold-
est winters for many years it was, too.
bat for a wonder old Dobbles survived
it all right, when not less than half a
score of men gave upthe ghost through
freezing during those long, cold months.
When the spring had come again
the gulch was once more a delightful
spot to live in. The climate was dry
and healthy, and there seemed to be
vigor and new life in the very air.
Every one appeared to feel the reviving
effect of spring’s advent except old
Dobbles.
“How did you come through the
winter, old man!” the miners would
ask him, and the queer old fellow, al-
most as much of a stranger as when he
first came to Red Star, would shake his
head mournfully and say :
“Poorly sir, poorly; my cough is
getting worse every day.”
And, as if in verification, his words
were followed invariably by a tre-
mendous fit of coughing.
“Consumption,” the boys would say
as they turned away trom old Dobbies;
“poor old fellow, he won't see another
whole winter here. He'll ‘pack his
dust’ and go before the Eternal when
cold weather comes again.”
A syndicate of Eastern capitalists
bonght five or six adjoining claims that
gave promise of great production, and
by summer time the company had over
100 men hard at work. Improved ma-
chinery brought vast amounts of
precious ore out of the soil of the Red
Star gulch and every claim that promis-
ed gold mm abundance was speedily
staked out by fresh arrivals who came
by hundreds. :
Maurace Tellson, a dashing black-
‘whiskered, athletic-looking fellow, who
stood over six feet in his long boots,
had been selected as the superintend-
ent of the “Marjorie,” as the big claim
of the eastern speculators was styled.
Tellson had come to the gulch a few
weeks previous to Dobbles’ first ap-
rearance. He was not particularly
well liked, for he was distant and in-
clined to be overbearing; but he was
a fluent talker when he wanted to be,
a dead shot and thoroughly “game,”
qualities which insured him respect if
not esteem.
Wages were paid to workers on the
“Marjorie” on the first day of every
month, and Tellson personally super-
vised the paying off. Gold and silver
coin were the only forms of money ever
seen in the Red Star region in those
days, and even that would not have
been available were it not for a little
bank which had ‘been started about
two years earlier at Payson City, forty
miles distant from the gulch. Natur-
ally enough the work of bringing the
coin on from the bank was also per-
sonally superintended by Tellson, who
devoted three days to the round trip,
always accompanied by an ample
guard, for the “rustlers” were perni-
ciously active in the vicinity of pros-
perous frontier communities in those
days.
The reason why the company pre-
ferred to pay in currency rather than
in “dust” was that payment in the
latter commodity involved more or less
waste overpayment. The miners
would unquestionably have preferred
the dust, but were forced to content
themselves with Tellson’s way of do-
ing business. But during the summer
complaints came in faster and thicker
that much of the coin was
in other words, spurious and counter-
feit.
“That's curious,” said Tellson, when
one of the men brought his grievance
to the superintendent; ‘the bank
wouldn't play such a trick on me, and
i al and desertion.
stituted for good on the way home. If
thie money was changed—and it cer-
tainly appears to have been—it hap-
pened after we got here with it, and
without my knowledge.”
Another pay-day came around, and
several thousand dollars more of the
worthless currency got into circulation,
despite the great vigilance exercised by
every one concerned.
Excitement and indignation grew to
feyerish proportions, and ou the follow-
ing morning strange stories got afloat
about the gulch. It was said that a
solitary horseman had galloped into
camp late at night, that he had gone
straight to old Dobbles’ cabin, had re-
mained there for upward of an hour,
and then had galloped off again at a
break-neck pace. The visit of the
mysterious stranger coupled with the
circulation of spurious money assumed
a dark import in the minds of the
miners when these rumors became gen-
erally known.
About 9 o'clock in the forenoon old
Dobbles, apparently feebler than ever,
strolled into the vicinity of the Mar-
jorie. The men regarded him with the
blackest looks, which he did not seem
to notice. Ile tarried for several min-
i utes, speaking to no one, and spoken to
by none. At last he turned to go,
when as if by common impulse, the
miners roughly seized him and threw
him to the ground.
Old Dobbles lay as if dazed, and ask-
ed no explanation. Twenty or thirty
men bounded off to his cabin, and
came back a few minutes later with
several small bags of specie. The
storekeeper, who had been attracted
to the scene by the unusual proceed-
ings, examined the bags one after an-
other, and pronounced the coins all
bad and spurious.
“Up with him! Short life and a
speedy journey for the rascal!” shout-
ed the infuriated miners.
More dead than alive, old Dobbles
was dragged for the distance of a half
mile out upon the Payson City road,
where there was a convenient tree for
hanging. The store-keeper brought an
empty barrel upon his shoulder, and
on the head of this the old man was
made to stand. In a few momentsa
halter was tied around his neck, and
the other end swung over a low pro-
jecting limb of the tree,
The proportions of the crowd had
steadily increased until there were hun-
dreds of men upon thescene. Maurice
Tellson was there, and evidently re-
lished the summary justice to be ‘dealt
out to this poor infirm wretch. “I
hope they'll make a quick job of it,”
he said to those around him.
The scene that followed wasa wild,
indescribable one. Cheers went up
from hundreds of throats as it became
evident that their victim had but a few
minutes to live. Old Dobbles was seen
wildly gesticulating for silence, and
gradually the noise subsided sufficient-
ly for him to make himself heard.
i he beganin atone that was
weak at first, but strengthened and be-
came clearer as he went on. “I have
alittle story to tell you before I go to
that place above. 1 had a daughter
once, as good and pure a woman as
any that can be found outside of heav-
en. She was dutiful to me and my
one ambition was to see her happy in
life. There never was a cloud upon
our little horizon until a man came in-
to our home one day whom I have
cursed ever since,
“Men, it was the old story of betray-
My poor darling,once
innocent in the eyes of all men, and
still innocent in the eyes of misguided
love, left my roof and followed that
man. Sometimes she would overtake
him, only to be repulsed, only to follow
him again and again, in the blind hope
that sooner or later he would relent and
take her to his heart once more.
Old Dobbles paused and looked
around him. Only his eye saw a eloud
of dust up the Payson City road, a
cloud that dimly enveloped the forms
of approaching horsemen.
“Well,” demanded a burly miner,
“what's this to do with us ?”
“Let me finish,” answered the old
man, “and then do your will with me.
As my daughter became an outcast and
a wanderer, so I, too, left my lonely
home and followed in her footsteps as
best I cciiid. Never once did I over-
take her, but many times I nearly
found her only tobe eluded. Her two
ruling ideas were to join the man she
loved in spite of her wrongs and to es-
cape the presence of th: parent on
whom she had visited so much sorrow.
“I followed Ler west into the min-
ing camps, but never succeeded in ex-
actly locating her. I came to Red Star
Gulch and discovered, not her, but the
vilalin who had brought all this
wretchedness on me and mine. . He
has found prosperity here, here where
his past is unknown to you. To-day
he received a letter from my Jennie
and crumpled it up in his hands. I
was following him and picked it up.
My poor little girl is in Payson City
vow pleading that she may join him.
Dobbles paused again, his voice
choked by sobs, and casta covert glance
up the road. The cloud of dust was
coming nearer. A few minutes would
suffice to bring the horsemen to the
tree. But none except the old man
saw this, so absorbed were the rest in
his words.
It was plain that he was carrying his
hearers with him, when Maurice Yell-
son broke in impatiently :
“Who 1sthis man you accuse ? Come,
out with it, old man.”
“It is you I” shouted old Dobbles,and
immediately subsided into a fit of
coughing.
“You lie!” yelled Tellson.
boys, up with the old rascal.”
3ut there was a division of opinion
whether the hanging should take place.
Pistols were drawn and it looked as if
sides would be formed, Dobbles alone,
“queer” — |
of all the crowd, seemed perfectly calm
| as he stood spon the barrel, awaiting
i the decision of his fate.
| “Hang him!” shouted the Super-
-intendent again. “Then as many of
‘you as like may go to Payson City with
me, and if the old man’s words are
“Come,-
true, use me as you are about to use
him.”
This brought back to the miners the
real issue at stake, and several of them
reached forward to seize the rope and
swing the alleged counterfeiter into
space. But the horsemen had arrived;
they wore blue coats and at their head
road a sergeant; beside him a man in
plain clothes.
“Stop!” thundered the officer. “We
want that man,” and the troops drove
straight through the astonished crowd.
“Why, it's McCausland himself}
exclaimed the man in plain clothes who
had borne the sergeant company.
“What in the world are you doing up
there, Mac ?”
And to the astonishment of every-
body, except the newcomers, old Dob-
bles straightened up and looked wond-
erfuily energetic and supremely happy.
Those near enough heard him say :
“They had me up as the counterfeit--
er, and I am afraid they would have
hanged me if I hadn’t known you were
coming before sundow, and so endeavor-
ed to hold their interest until you got
here. You see, they went to my hut
and found that coin which I had seized
in Tellson’s cabin unbeknown to him.
Really it did look like a clear case
against me, didn’t it?”
“It certainly did,” assented the man
in plain clothes, “and I'm mighty glad
we got her when we did. You wouldn't
look nice, Mac, dangling from a tree in
this wild west country.”
“See here, Dobbles, or Mac, or what's
your-name, how about that darter of
your'n in Payson City?” demanded
one of the miners who had listened to
the above dialogue with a great deal of
curiosity, but not with very much
clearness of perception.
Old Dobbles laughed heartily in a
way he had never been heard to laugh
before in the camp, as he answered :
“My name is McCausland—Captain
McCausland, of the United States se-
cret service. I have been here the
greater part of a year, trying to make
out a case against Tellson for passing
counterfeits here and elsewhere, but he
is one of the shrewdest fellows I ever
came across, and it's been a long hunt.
A little while ago I got ‘into Tellson’s
place on the quiet, and siezed several
bags of the ‘queer.’ Then I wrote to
my friend here, Joe Barker, also of the
secret service, who was waiting to hear
from me in Payson City, and he was
the man who came to the gulch to see
me last night. When he left he prom-
ed to bring the troops to assist me to-
day, and he has saved my life by doing
so.”
“But what about your darter in Pay-
son City ?”” persisted three or four ofthe
men, who did not even then compre-
hend the situation. “My daughter,
gentlemen,” responded the captain, who
seemed suddenly to have grown young-
er, “was simply the creature of my own
fancy, and I think I owe my life to a
clever bit of acting. I never had a
daughter and yet she saved my life.
Strange, isn't it?”
But while the captain was talking
Barker had not been idle. Tellson was
making off across the country as fast
as he could go on foot, but the younger
detective, with the assistance of some
of the miners, overtook him and
brought him back.
The ex-superintendent and counter-
feiter hadn’ta word to say; he was
tied into a saddle,and the detectives and
troops started back to Payson City with
their prisoner by sundown.
“Don’t forget your poor old Dobbles,
boys,” cried McCausland as he gallop-
ed out of the camp that evening amid
cheers from hundreds of throats.
And they never did. The tale of
“Queer Old Dobbles” and his long and
patient hunt for the counterfeiter is one
that the new generation of miners there
are never tired of hearing.
Seen ———
Loves to Fondle Bank Notes.
John Dawson, of Cleveland, Ohio, is
a middled-aged man who is intelligent
and rational on every other topic, but
is a thorough crank on the subject of
bills of large denominations. He is
well known among bankers, brokers
and merchants, and knowing his weak-
ness for large bills they save them for
him, as they generally know what days
Dawson makes his rounds. He walks
into a bank or office and says, “Any
large bills to-day 2° Ifthe cashier hands
him a $100 bill he is delighted, but if
the bill should happen to be of a $1,
000 denomination he goes wild with
joy. This is his mode of procedure :
He takes the bill into his hands, fond-
les it, looks at it with longing eves,
places it in his vest pocket and walks
up and down the room for about five
minutes. ITe then takes the bill ou® of
bis pocket and with a “Thank you,
sir,” he returns it. Ie devotes a day
or two every week to this sort of thing,
and the more money he can handle and
place in his vest pocket the happier he
1s. In all other respects Dawson is as
rational as any man in Cleveland,
Mistaxey Axvmow.—“Will you
pass me the butter, please?” asked a
seedy-looking stranger of a snob at a
restaurant table.
“That's the waiter over there, sir,”
was the supercilious reply.
“I beg your pardon,” returned the
stranger, “I did make a mistake.”
“You're only adding insult, sir!’
broke in the snob; “nothing could in-
duce me to believe that you mistook me
for a waiter!”
“Certainly not,” returned the strang-
er, “I mistook you for a gentleman !”
ne ——
A Harp Heart SorreNep.—Young
lady—“Father, this isscandalous! The
idea of a man of your standing coming
home in this condition I”?
Old gentleman—*“Couldn’t (hic) help
it m’ dear. Met zee young feller I
wouldn't let you marry, an’ (hic) had |
some drinks wiz him, and he's such a
good feller I said he (hic) could marry
you right off, m’ dear.”
“Mercy! Where is he ?”
“Dunno, m’ dear, P liceman took
‘im off’ (hic) in wheelborrow.”
Heart-Rending Experiences of a Well
Bred Young Woman.
“Oh, girls!” exclaimed Susie Inswim,
as she rushed into the room and sank
into a chair, “you have no idea of what
an afternoon of it I have had,”
“Why, what was the trouble 2’ cho-
rused the maidens.
“I've been shopping, you know, all
of the afternoon.”
“Yes, yes.”
“Well, there have been crowds and
crowdseverywhere, and every one is so
selfish and rude that I'm just worn out
and sick.”
“You poor thing. Tell us about it.”
“I think it's just a shame that peo-
pie can’t be arrested for being rude and
mean. You know I started out hright
and fresh this afternoon and rode down
town in a street-car;and it wasso crowd- |
ed—Tladies in every seat but one,and a |
horrid old gray-headed maa in that,
who only: looked up from his paper
when I came in, and never offered me
his seat nor stirred until a miserable
old Irish woman with two big baskets
got on, and then the old man got up |
and I tried to slip ifto the seat, but he
stood right in the way bowing that hor-
rid old woman into his place. She was
lame, too. Wasn't it too mean?”
“Shameful! Shameful!”
“Everybody was so rude and selfish,
You know there was a bargain sale of
lace handkerchiefs at Bait & Ketchum's
and when I got there such a crowd of
women as there was around that count-
er. I was so afraid that the best bar-
gains would be gone, and not one of
those selfish women would budge an
inch so that I could get up nearer. I
elbowed and pushed and squeezed my
way into the jam, until I was almost
crushed, and no one seemed to have
the least consideration. I hit upon the
most noveliidea of forcing my way along.
It was so funny. Some woman would
be in the way and I'd want to get by
her, so I'd stick my elbow against her
side quick and real hard, and when
she'd turn around to see who it was
I'd slip into her place. I managed to
get up to the counter before all the bar-
gains were gone, but such pulling and
hauling as I had to do to get there was
terrible. I was completely tired out.
I didn’t suppose a crowd of lacies could
be so rude and selfish and inconsiderate
as most of them were in the crush
around that handkerchief counter. Then
the vulgar hussy behind the counter
was rude, and I only asked a few ques-
tions and was quite a long time decid-
ing, and she had the impudence to ask
me if I would please make a selection
as quickly as possible, as so many la- |
dies were waiting. As though I didn’t
have the right to take as much time as
I liked after I once got to the counter.
I stood there twice as long then just to
spite her and the crowd of women be-
hind me.”
“Where else did you go?”
“Oh, lots of places. It was just as
crowded everywhere. Women, women
all around. I declare I was actually
ashamed of my scx to see the way they
acted. At the post-office there were
lots of people waiting, and when I step-
ped out of the line to try and crowd my
way in ahead of a little snip of an im-
pertinent woman, because I was in a
hurry, she wouldn't move a bit, and
when I tried to get back into my old
place the line had closed up, and I had
to drop back to the foot of the line.
And the line was most all women, too,
without a grain of decency or polite
ness. Isn't it just too awful to think
that our sex can be so rude and hard-
ened ?”
Tsn't it 1?
And each of the other girls told of
similar heart-rending experiences, be-
fore they all fell to discussing the life of’
it that that poor, dear Mr. Wallywally
would lead when he was marrid to that
snippy little Van Dander girl.
His One Garment.
Boys in the North Carolina Mountains
Are Not Exactly Dudes.
One who has not lived there can
never appreciate the picturesque and
peculiar lives of North Carolina moun-
taineers, says the Washington Post.
The railroads, the war, the incursions
of revenue officials, have tended, how-
ever, largely to obliterate these racy
and racial peculiarities. A well known
Washington merchant tells the follow-
ing story on himself: He was born
clear up in the mountains near the
Tennessee line. His mother died
when he was two months old, and his
father and grandmother “raised” him
by hand in their lonely cabin on a
mountain clearing, miles trom the
nearest neighbor. He was clad in a
single flowing garment of the Mother
Hubbard style, made of homespun tow-
cloth, which was lengthened as years
added length to his limb.s
He never saw a girl until he was 16.
That year a terrible drouth struck in
and his father had to go ten miles
down the “cove” to get his corn ground.
So he yoked up the steers and threw
several bags of corn in the bottom of
the cart. The bov, in his peculiar
garment, climbed in and sat on the
bags. He was going to a new and far-
oft country, and everysight was a won-
der. Arriving at the mill he watched
with curious interest the corn making
its way from the hopper into the heart
of the stone and then spurt out in
warm white jets into the trough. He
went outside and saw the water pour
over and turn the huge overshot wheel,
and peered with a sensation of fear in-
to the dark, mossy cavern into which
the wheel was forever retreating.
On arising at a little distance he spied
a cabin, and shortly wandered over
through the brush in its direction. A
rail fence stopped his progress a couple
of rods from the doorway, and he lean-
ed over and looked. There, sitting
outside the door on a bench, were two
girls. One was spinning wool and the
other knitting. They were the most
beautiful things he had ever seen, and
he nearly died right there. They saw
him and burst out laughing at his re-
what to do,jbut thought it was probably
the proper thing to stare at them and
laugh back, which he did with interest.
The mutual entertainment kept up for
ten minutes, when one of the girls
laughed so hard she rolled off the
bench. He thought that was queer,
but just then he felt something cold on
his legs.
He turned around. As he did so
both girls shricked with laughter and |
ran into the house. He found that the
cold thing on his legs was the muzzle |
of a bull calf that was chewing away
vigorously on what was left of the rear
of his dress, which had been shocking
ly mutilated by the animal during the
few minutes he was staring at the girls.
He has segn more girls since and
bears their elie with greater equani-
mity,
rience with the bull calf and the girls
will never be effaced from his memory.
Petree comma —
Never Saw The Like.
Cheering Items of News from the Forme
ing Regions of Southern Kansas.
From the Kansae City Times.
Every one who comes to Kansas
City from Kansas these days has his
own particular stock of stories to tell
about the wonderful crops in that State.
Among the Sunflower pilgrims who
landed in the city on Saturday was
Charley Barrett, the good-looking and
talkative traveling passenger agent of
the Missouri Pacific. He had spent
four or five days in southern Kansas,
and his mouth was going at the rate of
500 revolutions a minute about crops,
when he was flagged by a 7%mes man
on Main street.
“Wheat!” he exclaimed, “you never
saw the like! The farmers down in
souther Kansas had to rent the public
roads to get room enough to stack the
wheat. Wasn't room enough in the
fields to hold the stacks. I saw one
"
“How is the fruit crop?”
“Fruit! You never saw the like!
Apples as big as cannon balls growing
in clusters as big as haystacks. I saw
one apple that Pe
“Don’t the trees break down ?”
“Trees! You never saw the like!
The farmers planted sorghum in the
orchards and the stalks grew up like
telegraph poles and supported the limbs.
I saw one stalk of sorghum that was
two feet; y
“Ilow is the broom corn crop 2”
Broom corn! You never saw the
like! There hasn't been a cloudy day
in southern Kansas for a month, Can't
clondup. The broom corn grew so
high that it kept the clouds swept off
the face of the sky as clean as a new
floor. They will have to cut the corn
down if it gets too dry. Some of the
broom cornstalks are so high that——""
“How is the corn crop ?”
“Corn! You never saw the like!
Down in the Neosho and Fall River
and Arkansas bottoms the corn is as
high as a house. They use step lad-
ders to gather roasting ears.”
“Aren't step ladders pretty expen-
sive?”
“Expensive! Well’ I should say so;
but that isn’t the worst of it. The
trouble is that the children climb up
into the corn stalks to hunt tor eagles’
nests and sometimes fall out and kill
themselves. Fourteen funerals in one
county last week from that cause. I
attended all of them. That is why I
am so sad. And, mind you, the corn
is not more than halfgrown. A man
at Arkansas City has invented a ma-
chine which he calls ‘The Solar Corn
Harvester and Child Protector.” It is
inflated with gas like a balloon and
floats over the corn tops, and the occu-
pants reach down and cut off the ears
of corn with a cavalry sabre. Every
Kansas farmer has a cavalry sabre,
and i
“Do they make much cider in Kan-
sas?”
“Cider! You never saw the like!
Oceans of 1t! Most of the farmers in
Crowley county have filled their cisterns
with cider. A proposition was made a
few days since to the Water works
Company of Arkansas City to supply
the town with cider through the mains,
but the company was compelled to de-
cline because they were afraid the cider
would rust the pumps. They were sor-
ry, but they said they would have to
continue to furnish water, although it
cost more. I saw one farmer who
“How is the potatc crop 2”
“Potatoes! You never saw the like!
A man in Sedwick county dug a potato
the other day that was so big he used
the cavity it grew in for a cellar. I
saw one potato that——"
“The people must be happy over
their big crops ?”
“Happy! You never saw the like!
Iknew men in the Arkanass valley
who were too poor this time last year
to flag a bread wagon, and now they
have pie three times a day. One fel-
low that 1
But the reporter, just at this point,
had a pressing engagement elsewhere.
te —————————
A Dericare Wav.—“What makes
you so thoughtful to-night, George?”
asked Nellie.
“Well,” said Georgo, as he threw his
eyes up to the ceiling and took a fresh
hold upon her'slender waist, “I was
thinking that it your mother was will-
ing to become my mother-in-law I would
like it very much.”
“You would ?”
“I would, indeed.” .
“Then, if it would afford you any
satisfaction, I ean inform you that T
am quite willing that she should, and
that she is also quite willing to act in
that capacity in a quietand unostenta-
tious manner.”
And thus, under the silent stars, the
arrangements were contluded by which
two lives hitherto running apart are to
be blended into one, and a youth hith-
erto his own master is 10 stoop under
the yoke of a mother-in-law.
—
—Los Angeles is to build a sewer {o
the ocean at a cost of $6.000,000.
He is also one ofthe best dress- |
ed men in Washington, but that expe- |
i
{ —DMyriads of small black rats infest
| the cornfields of Texas.
i
—The oldest wheelman in America is
: John W. Arnold, of Providence, R. I.
He is 78.
|
| —Carriage horses, only fairly well
| matched, in Buenos Ayres bring” $5,000
a pair. s
|
| —A Detroit lady had her pocket pick-
led of agold watch while at a Sunday
| school picnic the other day.
—A man and his wife, of Kent, Ind.,
are in jail for stealing a neighbor's roos-
ter and selling it for 12 cents.
1
!
| _ —In the last two years the Duke of
, Portland has won more than £65,000,
, or about $330,000, on the races.
—A Georgia moonshiner who was re-
| leased from jail on Friday was found at
| work at his still on Saturday and again
| arrested.
|
—At Waterville, Wash., squirrels ara
[so plentiful that they entor people's
| houses and eat the crumbs from under
| the tables.
i —An important industry of Paris is
| the manufacture of toy soldiers from
| sardine boxes and other tins that have
been thrown away.
|
—There are still over 10,000,000
square miles of unoccupied districts in
various heathen lands, where mission-
aries thus far have never entered.
— Whittier, it is said, falls asleep in
his chair when visitors begin to praise
his poetry. Earthly honors grow less
valuable to him as the years wane.
—An Addison county (Vt.) farmer
has a colt that has learned to ring the
farm bell by catching the rope in his
teeth and prancing back and forth,
—A projected canal across the upper
part of Italy, connecting from the "Ad-
riatic to the Mediterranean, would take
six years to build and cost $125,000,000.
—North Dakota will be the first State,
as a State, to make provision for a sys-
tem of manual training. Forty thous-
and acres of land are set apart for that
purpose.
—The French Council of Hygisre
has just forbidden the use of blue paper
in the public schools, elaiming that it
was making France a near-sighted na-
tion.
—A Chattanooga man stole a steam-
boat and took an excursion up the river.
Not being an expert navigator he ran
into a snag, sank the craft and narrowly
escaped drowning.
—There are 100 acres of land in Car-
roll county, Ga., for which no owner
can be found. Gold has been found on
the tract, and a number of people are
anxious to secure a title to it.
—A band of brigands has been terror-
izing Macedonia, which, upon final cap-
ture, was found to include several priests,
a Greek Archimandrite, the Superior of
a monastery, and three “ladies.”
—Pretty Miss Stella Cox, at 22, has
married Nathaniel Patterson, a Seneca
Indian, whose face is as coppery as the
full moon. Miss Stella was a ‘Washing-
ton girl, but the wedding was at Versail-
les, N.Y. =
—The Royal Meteorological Society
of England is making a collection of
photographs of lightning flashes. On
each photograph is noted the time of tha
flash and the interval between it and the
thunder.
—-Appleton Webb, of Waterville,
Me., lost his gold wateh while fishing
in Paolin pond four years ago. The
other day it was returned to him by a
fisherman, who discovered it lying on
the bottom of the lake.
— While some boys were playing on a
plot of grass at Ballston, N. Y., on
Thursday, one of them discovered and
captured a live snake which has two
heads, each head having two eyes and a
mouth, also a tongue. "The little reptile
which is about six inches long, is of the
black snake breed.
—A new use for rabbits has been
found by the physicians of the Birming-
ham, England, Lunatic Asylum. A
number of wild rabbits have been turn-
ed loose on to the fields adjoining the in-
stitution, so that the inmates will
be amused by seeing the rabbits run
about, and to divert the minds of the
patients is one of the great objects of the
institution.
—The sheep is usually considered a
stupid animal, but his environment in
Colorado has brightened even his dull
wits. Purchasers of sheep that have
been brought from that State say that
the animal h-1ds his head more erect
than those which come from other States.
and say that this habit is caused by the
sheep being in constant peril of ‘being
assailed by some wild animal, =
—Henry Manweiler, an Omaha real
estate agent, has brought suit asainst
Paul Lambrecht, a well-to-do-farmer of
McArble precinct, for $45, balance due
for getting him a wife. Manweiler
says he was to get $50 for his service,
but enly received $5 on the delivery of
the goods. Lambrecht admits employ-
ing Manweiler on this delicate mission
and that he married the girl Manweiler
secured for him, but maintains that the
priceis exorbitant.
—A Baltimore street has a rat whose
action has gained for it the title of the
religious rat. He is seen at night, and
only when there are services either in
Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church or
Broadway Baptist Church. He seems
to be in a very placid humor when there
named. But when the two congrega-
tions are worshiping at the same time,
as the case Sundays nights, he becomes
uneasy and keeps up a constant running
between the two. :
— Pedestrians on Eighth street, Phil-
adeiphia, were amused by the sagacity
of a dog. The animal was trotting up
street when suddenly his muzzle fell to
the sidewalk. He stopped, looked at it,
and after a few attempts again got his
head in the cage. But just as he started
on his trot it fell off a second time.
This was repeated four times. Then the
dog, apparently realizing that it was be-
yond him to fasten the muzzle, took it
between his teeth and ran on, his looks
indicating the pride he felt in mastering
the difficulty.
is service in but one of the churches .
=
——