Democratic watchman. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1855-1940, March 21, 1890, Image 2

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    Deworralic Wada
Bellefonte, Pa., March 21, 1890.
THE THREE LEAVES.
On the green hills “of Ireland the shamrock
still grows, 5 : 1
And the faith which it emblems in Erin still
glows, S { 5
As changeless that faith and its courage in
ue,
As the beautiful trefoil fresh kissed by the
ew—
Fresh Kissed when the morning is young on
the hills
And the sweet-throated throstle its matin lay
trills.
Oh, beautiful shamrock, thy story is old!
But thy children, no matter how often ’tis told,
Will hin more proudly and hold thee more
ear,
As the sad words embitter the fast-falling tear,
For their hearts to their country are fastened
by bands,
As strong as the steel links which fetter her
hands. :
No matter how gloomy the present may be,
The brightness of sunlight is shining in thee.
Though the faith and the courage thy tyrants
espise,
Thy hes leaves still look unrebuked at the
skies;
And green on the turf, in weal or in woe,
The shamrock of Ireland forever shall grow.
T. A. P.
THE MATES STORY.
A night or so ago, after toiling at
the pen until something past the hour
of midnight, during a momentin which
I had paused to rest from my incessant
writing, my eye caught a glimpse of a
huge bundle of halt forgotten MSS. and
old printed papers.
Listlessly picking the bundle up and
carefully blowing off the dense incrus-
tation of dust, the accumulation of
many years, I inadvertently opened an
old paper, black with age, which con-
tained the following curious tale.
As I have good and sufficient reasons
tor supposing the story to relate to one,
in particular, of my ancestors, many of
whom, in the old whaling times, plow-
ed both the northern and southe:n
seas, as captains, I carefully made a
verbatim copy of it and will again be-
queath it to a wondering world :
About two years ago I left the service.
I was tired of it, and as I wanted some
more exciting work, and as that was
only to be found at sea, I shipped
aboard a whaler as first officer. We
were unlucky—someway 1 bring no
luck anywhere, but storm and wind—
and being born in March my whole
life has been lived in March, and we
were nearly empty.
We were cruising up here to the
north, on and off,and thinking of mak-
ing for home, as the weather had
changed, and the ice forms precious
quick in these latitudes when it once
begins. The captain naturally wanted
to hang on to the last for the chance of
another haul.
One bright atternoon, just after eight
bells, I made up the log, as part of the
first officer's duty, and carried it to the
captain's cabin,
knocked at the door, and as no
body answered, walked in. ,
I thought it odd the captain hadn't
answered me, for there he was, sitting
at his desk, with his baek to me,
« writing.
Seeing he was employed, I told him
I had brought the log—a record of a
ship’s doings, vessels spoken, knots
made, etc., during each twenty-four
hours—Ilaid it on the table behind him,
and, as he made no reply, walked out.
I went on deck, and the first person
I met was the captain.
I was puzzled, for I could not make
out how he could get there befere me.
“How did you get up here?” 1 said;
- “T just left you writing in your cabin.”
“I have not been in my eabin for the
last half hour,” the captain answered ;
but T thought he was chatfing, and
. didn’t like it.
“There was some one writing at your
. desk just now,” I said; “if it wasn’t
you, you had better go and see who it
was. The log is made up. I have
left it in your cabin, sir,” aad with that
I walked rather sulkily away.
I had no idea of being chaffed by the
gi to.vhom I had taken a dis-
ike. :
“Mr. Stowell,” said the captain, who
.saw I was nettled, “vou must certainly
have been mistaken ; my desk is Jock:
ed. But come, we'll go down and see
about it.”
I followed the captain into the cabin.
‘The log was on the table, the desk
was closed and: the cabin was empty.
The captain fried the desk—it was
locked.
“You see, Mr. Stowell,” he said,
laughing, “you must have been mis-
takens the desk is locked.”
I was positive. “Somebody may
‘have picked the lock, ”” I said.
“But they couldn’t have closed it
,again,” the captain suggested ; “but to
satisfy you I will open 1t and see if the
contents are safe, though there is not
much here to tempt a thief.”
He opened the desk, and there—
stretched right across it—was a large
sheet of paper, with the words ‘Steer
N. W.,”" written in an odd, cramped
hand, as if written while:the vessel was
laboring in a heavy sea.
The captain looked at the paper,and
then handed it to me.
“You are right. Mgr. Stowell;
somebody has been here. This is some
hoax. IfI find the lukber I'll have
him keelbhauled for this, if he freezes
for it.”
We sat there sometime longer talking,
and trying to guess what could be the
object of such a joke, if joke it was.
1 tried to identify the back of the
man I bad seen sitting at the desk
writing with that of any of the crew.
I could not do it. It 1s true I had
not looked very attentively at the figure,
but still I was under the impression
that the coat was brown, and the hair,
which appeared under the cap, seemed,
as I remembered it, to have been
longer ana whiter than the captain’s.
Not to appear to suspect any one in
particular, the captain determined to
have up all the crew. We had them
up, one by one. We examined them
and made all those who could, write
KSteer N. W.,”” but we gained no clue,
The mystery remained another mystery
of the seas.
That evening I sat drinking my grog
with the captain in the cabin during
the second officer's watch. We were
neither of us inclined to be talkative.
We smoked in silence, and each of us
was buried 1n our own thoughts.
I tried to think of home, of my
brothers in the navy, and my sisters
and parents ashore, and the pleasure it
would be to see old England again;
but still iny thoughts always wandered
back to that mysterious writing, I
tried to read, but I caught myself fur-
tively peeping at the desk, expecting to
see the figure sitting there.
The captain had not spoken for some
time, and was rapidly succeeding with
considerable success in en: eloping him-
self in an impenetrable cloud of smoke.
At last hesuddenly looked up and said :
“Suppose we alter her course to north-
west, Mr. Stowell ?”
I don’t know what it was; I cannot
hope to make you understand the weir-
ed feeling to my mind that followed his
words ; it was a sudden sense of relief
from a horrible nightmare. I was
ashamed of the childish pleasure I felt,
but I could not help answering eagerly,
“Certainly ; shall I give the order 2”
I waited no longer, but hurried on
desks and altered the course of the ves-
sel.
It was a clear, frosty night, and as I
looked in the binnacle at the compass
before going below 1 felt strangely
pleased, and caught myself chuckling
and rubbing my hands briskly together
at what I cannot say—I didn’t know
then—bnt a great weight had been tak-
en off my mind.
I went down to the cabin and found
the captain pacing up and down the
small space.
He stopped as I eame in, and, look-
ing up, said abruptly :
“It can do no harm, Mr. Stowell.”
“If this breeze continues,” I answer-
ed, “we can hold on for thirty hours or
80, but then I should think 2
“But then we shall find ice. How's
the wind 2” i
“Steady, north by east, sir.”
We sat down and finished our grog,
which tasted better from my having been
out in the bitter air on deck.
I had the morning watch—the first
mate’s—to keep next day.
I was too restless to sleep after it, so
I kept on deck the whole of the day.
Even that did not satisfy me. I was
continually running up the ratlines into
the maintop with my glass, but every
time I came down with disappointment.
No ship or wreck was in sight; for
that was what I had brought myself to
believe would be the ultimate outcome
of the strange direction, “Steer N. W.”
Lhe captain was &s unquiet as my-
self.
The captain plainly expected some-
thing to happens but as to what it
was to be he made no open conjecture.
The second officer, Mr. Sornberger,
I believe, firmly believed us both crazy ;
indeed, I often wondered myself at
the state I was in.
Evening came, and nothing had
turned up.
The night was bright, and the cap-
tain was determined to lay on under
easy sail till morning.
Morning came, and with the first
gray light I was on deek.
It was bitterly cold.
Those only who have seen them un-
der similar circumstances can form any
adequate idea of the delicate and beau-
titul tints of the morning skies in those
northern latitudes. The beauty ofithe
scene was simply ravishing. But I
was 1 no humor to appreciate any of
these marvelous beauties of nature.
I had something else of more vital
importance to think of just then.
There was a ruist and a thick frosty
haze of a deep white hanging low down
on the horizon. I waited wmpatiently
for it to Lift. It lifted soon, and I couid
pot be mistaken—beyond it I could
dimly eee the glimmer of the ice field.
I sent below to call the captain, who
came on deck directly. ¢
“It is no mse, Mr. Stowell,” he said,
“you must put her about.”
“Wait ome moment,” I said, “wait:
one moment, the mist is lifting mmaore, it
will be quite elear directly.” :
The mist was indeed lifting rapidly.
Far to the marth and west we conld see
the ice stretching away, as far as the
eye could reaeh, in one unbroken field,
I was trying to see whether there ap-
peared any break in the ice tothe west,
when the eaptain seizing my arm with
one hand and pointing straight ahead
with the other, exclaimed :
“My God! there is a ship there!
The mist had risen like a curtain,
and there, eure enough, about three
miles ahead, was a ship seemingly firm-
ly packed in the ice.
We stood looking at it in silence.
There was some meaning, after all]
in that mysterious warning, was the!
first thought that flashed through my:
mind. !
“She’s nipped bad, sir,” said old
Capen, who, with the rest of the crew, |
was anxiously watching our new dis- |
covery. !
I was trying hard to make her out
through my glass, when the flash of a
gun, quickly followed by the dull report, |
proved that she had seen us.
Up went the flag, union down.
We needed no signal to know her dis-
tress. :
The captain ordered the second offi-
cer, Mr. Stornberger, off in one of the
quarter hoats.
I watched him as he made his way
over the ice, with a few of the men, to-
wards the wrecked ship, while the rest
of the boat's crew rowed “off and on”
to await the return. :
They soon returned with eight of the
ship’s crew.
It was a dismal account they gave of
their situation.
They might have sawed their way
out through the ice, but the ship was
so strained and injured that she would
not have floated an hour,
The largest of their boats had been
stoved 1n by contact with an iceberg,
while none of the others were really
seaworthy.
They were preparing, however, to
{ to her reproaches.
take to thiem as a last precarious resort,
when the welcome arrival of the Edna
—our ship—put an end to their fears.
Another detachment was soon
brought off, and the captain with the
remainder of his crew, was to follow
immediately.
I went down to my cabin and tried
to think over the singular fate that had
made us the preservers of this ship's
crew.
I could not divest myself of the idea
that some occult or supernatural agen-
cy was connected with that piece of
paper in the captain’s desk, and I
trembled at the thought of what might
have been the consequence if we had
neglected the warning.
The boat coming alongside interrupt-
ed my reverie.
In a few seconds I was on deck.
1 found the captain talking to a fine,
old, sailor-like looking man, whom he
introduced to me as Cap. Squiers.
Capt. Squiers shook hands with me,
and we continued talking for some time.
I could not take my eyes off his face ;
I had a conviction that I had seen
him somewhere—where, I could not
tell.
Every now and then I seemed to
catch at some clue, which vanished as
soon as touched.
At last he tarned around to speak to
some of his men.
I could not be mistaken—there was
the same long, white hair, the same
brown coat. He was the man I had
seen writing in the captain’s cabin !
That evening I and the captain told
the strange story of the written paper
to Capt. Squiers, who gravely and in
silence listened to our conjectures.
He was too devoutly thankful for his
escape out of such an imminent and
terrible peril to question the means by
which it had been brought about.
At the captain's request he wrote,
“Steer N. W.”
We compared it with the original
writing.
There could be no doubt of it.
It was in the same odd, cramped
hand.
A New Feature at Church Fairs.
The" church fair—that peculiarly
American institution—has often afford-
ed newspaper humorists an opportunity
for the manufacture of poor jokes of an
endless variety. The solitary oyster in
a gallon of soup, and the one strawberry
in a quarter section of cake baked by a
graduate of a normal school cooking
class, have each in turn furnished a sub-
ject for sarcastic jest; but it has been
reserved for the town of Millbury, Ohio,
toadd anew feature to the entertainments
of the churéh fair which may result in
the marring of domestic happiness and
in the airing of a scandal in the divorce
Courts.
In an evil hour the trustees of the
Millbury church decided to offer a lau-
rel crown to.the woman in town who
should receive the largest number of
votes at so much a vote. Among the
contestants was a married woman ; and
two of her most ardent and enthusiastic
supporters were a school teacher and a
physician, neither of them her husband,
and the teacher himself a married man.
Both of these men threw their whole
souls into the contest—and their 10 cent
votes into the ballot box, Millbury
was at that time, in common with more
pretentious places, suffering from the
grippe; and the doctor was, therefore,
unusually busy. But his patients be-
gan to notice that he was strangely ab-
sent-minded when visiting: them, and
on several oceasions when his preserip-
tions were taken to tke drug store the
druggist was puzzled to find sandwich-
es in among other ingredients: “The
votes for Mrs. 8., to be taken every
hour.” The school children also noticed
a change in their teacher, their exam-
ples in arithmetic each having ten cents
as common denominators,
So the contest went on; and when
the eventful evening came for the clos-
ing of the balloting arrived the excite-
ment in Millbury was at blood heat. The
1 stores closed an hour earlier than usual
and an “Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company’
that had been billed to appear that night
avas forced to close the doors of the
Town Hali ani walk to the next town.
‘When the votes were counted it was
found that Mrs. 8. was far behind in
the race, and that the crown had been
won by an unmarried woman. Party
feeling rose high and even the celebrated
Judgment of Paris could not have pro-
voked more discussion and heart-burn-
ings:among the geds and goddesses of
Olympus than did the counting of the
votes. But it was the school teacher
who suffered the most. When his wife
discovered the part which he had taken
in thecontest she was the embodiment
ot a woman scorned. All that night he
was compelled to lie awake and listen
‘When he went down
stairs next morning he found no fire in
the kitahen-stove, and a note.on the ta-
ble stating that his wife had gone to her
mother’s. The wretched man then went
to the graeery store and sought to drown
his sorrows in corn whisky, which, next
to Foraker, is the strongest product in
the State of Ohio.
The physieian did not fare much bet-
ter. He had, it is true, no wife; but
he had a deadly enemy in the defeated
woman’s husband. 1f the latter's wife
had won the prize he might have been
mollified butdefeal brought humiliation
and he determined on revenge. Loading
his gua with No. 2 bird-shot he started
out next morning to call upon the Doc-
tor. The latter suspecting such a move,
had hurriedly left town; but the avea-
ger followed in close pursuit. As the
members of the “Uncle Tom’ Company
were wearily plodding along the turn-
pike they heard the sound of firing, and,
| looking back, saw a wild eyed man run-
ning at full speed, while behiad another
man kept blazing away with an old
army musket. Fear and fleetness how-
ever won the day, and the "doctor
escaped.
At the latest accounts Millbury was
all broken up. The trustees of the
church had seen their folly, and were |
negotiating for a counter-attraction in |
the shape of “Rev.” Sam Jones, whose |
flippant treatment of serious subjects is !
expected to divert the attention of the
congregation from the comsequences of
their own folly.— Philadelphia Record,
New York’s Plutocrats.
Origin of the Fortunes of the Astors,
the Vanderbilts and the Lorillards.
John Jacob Astor had his store in
Vesey street, in the building in which
Dr. Halleck lived. Fitz Greene Hal-
leck, the doctor’s sor, was one of As-
tor’s clerks. Old Astor got his start in
life by hiring out to a furrier to beat
furs—keeping the moths out of them—
at a dollar a day. He was economical
and saving, and presently began to
buy cat furs and muskrat furs, and
when he had accumulated a lot of
them he took them io England and
sold them at a large profit. Then he
established his own business here and
extended his connections westward
and northward until he became the
largest dealer in the country.
Commodore Vanderbilt was at this
time running a -‘perry-auger’’ (peri-
agua—a small ferryboat, carrving two
masts and alee board) between Quar-
antine Station and the city, and was
becoming very popular with boatmen
and others who were thrown in his
way. Fulton & Livingston owned an
exclusive charter to run steamboats be-
tween New York and Albany, and the
monopoly was paying immensely. Two
old Jerseymen then started an opposi-
tion line, but as they could not run di-
rect between New York and Albany
they got around the difficult by going
from New York to Jersey City, and
making that the starting point for Al-
bany. They encountered all sorts of
difficulties, however, the monopolists
going so far as to willfully run their
boats down and otherwise crippling
them, and they were threatened with
bankruptcy.
One of the proprietors was at New-
Dorp one day, when he asked old Mr.
Guion if he knew of a man competent
to take hold of their line and make a
success of it. “Yes,” said Guion, “I
know such a man. His nameis Cor-
neel Vanderbilt. Hell take your
him to.” “That’s just the man I want,”
was the reponse, and in a little while
the bargain was conclued and Cornelius
Vanderbiit took charge of the line. The
monopolists tried every possible means
to Diovan the line from doing business
in New York, and at last put a Sheriff
on board with instructions to arrest Van-
derbilt if he should attempt to move the
steamer from the warf. Vanderbilt got
all ready to go and then stood by with
ar: ax, and when the wheels had begun
to revolve and there was a good strain
on the hawser he up with an ax and cut
the hawser and steamed away’ to Al-
bany with the Sheriff on board. A
continuation of the vigorous policy fi-
nally broke up the Fulton & Livingston
monopoly and established the opposition
line on a profitable basis. :
Vanderbilt's daughters were a wild
kind of girls. They were perfectly at
home everywhere on Staten Island and
were very popular. I used to see them
in a grocery store over there sitting on
the counter swinging there feet and
talking to the young fellows who were
chaffing them.
The Lorillards had a snuff and tobacco
business, and they made a good deal ‘of
money out of it. There were three
brothers of them—Jacob and Peter and
George. Jacob had a butcher shop up
near the Bowery Theater. Peter that
was the Dutch of it; it came to, be
Pierre after it had been transplanted in-
to French soil a few months ; Peter, and
George were the snuff and tobacco deal-
ers. After they got wealthy, nothing
would do but old Lorillard must have a
carriage and a coat-of-arms. “Who'd
thought it—snuff bought it.” This
made the people laugh, and so he chang-
ed it after a while, putting on in place:
‘Quid rides,” which means : “At what
do you laugh ?” His tobacco store was
in Chatham street.—N. V. Times.
The Liar's Reward.
Pittsburg is enjoying a boom in real
estate just now, and the competition for
choiee lots runs high. ’
Mz. Bilbus owned a lot on the corner ot
Fifth avenue and Madison a week or
two ago, but he does not own it new.
This is how he happened to part withit:
Two men walked into his office one
afternoon and one of them said:
“Mr. Bilgus; I believe?"
Yes, sir.” : '
4#J understand you want to sell that
lot on the corner of Fifth and Madison.
‘What will you take for it ?”’
“I don’t know that I am anxious to
sell. that lot,” said Bilgus; “still I
might, if T could get what 1tis worth.
“Weil, what is your price?”
“That property is sorth every cent of
$30,000, and I don’t know but what I
ought to ask $35,000. Do you want to
buy ?”’ :
“Qh no,” replied Bilgus’ visitor,
taking a memorandum book out of his
pocket and putting down some figures.
“My name is Gerrish; I’m the new as-
sessor for that district, and I merely
wanted to get at the value of your pro-
perty.”
Bilgus smiled a sickly sort of smile.
“I waz only in fun,” he gid, presently.
“I don’t suppose I could get more than
$18,000 for the ot if I had to sell it,
and the man who would offer me $20,-
000 would be snapped up so quickly it
would make his head swim.”
The assessor smiled just a little, but
went on making memoranda
“Say,” exclaimed Bilgus, jumping
up, “don’t put that lot down at more
than $18,000. I’ll take that for it, ‘pon
my honor I will.” :
“Very well,’ said the assessor, “I'll
take it for that. Here is a certified
check for $500 to bind the bargain.”
Bilgus was speechless now.
“I thought you were the assessor,” he
gasped, presently.
“Well, can’t an assessor buy pro-
perty ?"’
Bilgus kicked like a dozen mule:, but
it was no go. Mr. Gerrish had his wit-
ness to prove that Bilgus had offered the
lot for $18,000, and rather than defend
against a threatened law-suit the unhap-
y man made out the deed.
" The real estate was worth $25,000
easily, but I am sorry to say that Mr.
Gerrish told an untruth when he said he
was the new assessor.— N. V. Sun.
——What you need is a medicine
which is pure, efficient, reliable. Such
is Hood's Sarsaiparilla. It possesses pe-
culiar curative powers.’
boats to the mouth of hell if you want
Starting Out Right.
A young girl who occupies a minor
position in the clerical department of a
large railroad company, declared one
day, in a passionate tone, “I'd give any-
thing in the world if I were out of the
X, Y and Z offices!”
“Why,” asked her friend. knowing
that the position was fully as good as
she could expect to hold.
“Because I've started out wrong and
I can’t get right.”
“I thought when I began that I could
be on friendly, sociable terms with the
men in the office, and have nice, easy
times with them as we worked together
day by day. But, oh, it hasn’t turned
out as I thought it would, at all! They,
treat me in a familiar, slap-you-on-the-
back kind of way that humiliates me
constantly. :
“When I come in the morning they
say, ‘Jennie, what have you got that
thing around your neck tor?’ or they
ask if I didn’t forget some of my hair-
pins. And when I try to resent it, they
only laugh at me. I am fairly degrad-
ed in my own eyes, and I can’t help it
because I've started out wrong.”
There is a lesson here for the vast
army of girls and young women who
are privileged under our liberal require-
ments, to go out into the world and earn
their own livings.
Itis hard for a girl who has lived a
free and unconstrained life at home,
entertaining her male friends, usually
in her mother’s presence, and always
with her sanction, to realize that the
same unstudied atmosphere should not
prevail in a publie office.
She does not take into account that
she has not the accustomed background
of home and parents to countenance her
innocent gayety. The proverbial inch
is given, and the ell taken, and, often
when it is too late, she finds that the
charmed circle of womanly sanctity,
which is every girl's birthright, is trod-
den down and obliterated.
Her name is bandied from one pair
of masculine lips to another, her ac-
tions openly commented on, the details
of her dress discussed. She finds her-
self treated as a sort of anomalous crea-
ture, not a man, and not commanding
the respect and deference due a woman.
It is monstruous and humiliating, and
once allowed, is nearly irremediable.
Girls, earn your independence, if
you must, or will ; go as wage-earner
into the office or the shop, but carry
with you thatsweet and womanly re-
serve which is at once your charm and
your safeguard. Be sure that you
“start out right.”
Hardening the Braii.
While we were waiting at the depot in
a small town in Arkansas, a colored wo-
man came up and asked if any one of
the six white men wasa doctor. One of
them proved to be, and she rolled her
check apron 1n her hands in a fussy way
and asked if he wouldn't “jist step ober
to de cabin an’ see what ailed her ole
man.”” He found that he had time, and
said he would go, and two or three of us
went along to see what we could see.
As we drew near the cabin the woman
halted us and said :
“Tze bin all'de doctah he’s had, an’
I’'ze willin’ to allow dat I might her
made some mistakes. When he was
fust tooken I gin him turnip seed tea.
‘Was dat right, doctah ?”
“] guess so.”
“Later on I changed to a poultice of
wild onions. Was dat right?”
“Tt might have been.”
“Den I soaked his feet in hot water
wid wood ashes in it, an’ put a
mustard poultice on de back of his neck.”
“Yes.”
“Den he allowed he felt wuss, an’ so 1
changed de mustard to his stomach an’
soaked his head. He dun complained
ail the mawnin’, an’ now Ize got mus-
tard on his feet, a poultice on’ de mid-
dle, horse radish on his neck, an, he’s
takin’ sassufras tea to warm up de in-
side.”
“Well 1”
“Wall, if dere’s been any mistake,
doan’ let on to de ole man. Just skip it
ober,” .
We went in and the doctor examined
the patient and found he had a broken
rib, and told him what to do for it. As
we left the cabin the woman followed us
out and exclaimed :
“Fo’ de Lawd, doctah, but what bless-
in’ dat you dan come along! I was dun
doctorin’ de ole man fur softenin’ of de
brain, an’ if I hadn’t cotched you to-day
I was dun gwine to try to harden ’em up
by mixin’ sand wid his porridge !”—
New York Sun.
Your Mother Tongue.
“I was walking along the street the
other day,” says Dr. Holland, ‘when I
met an elegantly dressed lady and gen-
tleman upon the footway. AsI came
within hearing of their voices—they
were quietly chatting along the way—I
heard these words from the woman's
lips: ‘You may bet your life on that.’
I was disgusted. I could almost have
boxed her ears. A woman who deals
oanly in superlatives, demonstrates at
once the fact that her judgment is sub-
ordinate to her feelings, and that her
opinions are entirely unreliable. All
language thus loses its power and signifi-
canee. The same words are brought in-
to use to describe a ribbon in a milliner’s
window, as are employed to do justice
to Thalberg’s execution of Beethoven's
most heavenly symphony. Let me in-
sist upon this thing. Be more economi-
cal in the use of your mother tongue.
If a thing is simply good, say so; it pret-
ty, say so; if fine, say so; if grand, say
so; if subhme, say so; if magnificent,
say so; if splendid, say so. These
words have all different meanings, and
you may use them all on as many differ-
ent objects, and yet not use the word
perfect once. That iz a very large
word !”?
A writer in an eastern journal,
talking about church choirs says, they
have becom= the training schools for the
comic opera stage. “The deacons may
not believe it possible, but a glance
at the history of the most popular sou-
brettes and prime donnas shows that
they graduated from church choirs.”
——An English doctor reports over
thirty cases of headace and facial
neuralgia cured by snuffing powdered
galt up the nose.
All Sorts of Paragraphs.
—Talmage always gets pay in ad-
vance for his lectures.
— Maine expects to make $4,500,000
on the sale of ice this year.
—There are now nearly 50,000 mem-
bers of the Farmers’ alliance in Kansas.
—A minister of Sedalia, Mo., preach-
ed a sermon recently against gum-
chewing.
—A fashionable hotel has been open-
ed at the foot of the Great Pyramid, in
Egypt.
—-The new Ccrnell register shows a
total of 1,306 students, of whom 157 are
wonien,
—Henry Cunningham, of Clark coun-
tv, Il, has just sold a hog that weighs
935 pounds.
—It is stat ed that the advertisements
in the Century Magazine amount to
$18,000 a month.
—Education in Russia is at a low ebb.
Only twelve per cent. of the population.
can read and write.
—In Denmark most of the girls are
trained in agricultn e, which is there an
important industry.
—The Prince of Wales has become a
very regular attendant at the sessions of
the English Parliament.
—The English government proposes
to make seven hours the legal day for
clerks in the departments.
—President Harrison prefers fine clar-
et to the best brand of champagne. He
also likes a sup of Irish whisky now and
then.
—A giantess is being exhibited in
Osaka, Japan, whois fully eight feet in
height. Shes said to be only sixteen
years old.
—J. W. Keith, of Holliston, Mass.,
has just had removed from the calf of his
leg a pin which he swallowed sixty-five
years ago.
—There are now on the rolls the
names of 10,567 pensioners on account
of the war of 1812, which énded seven-
ty-five years ago.
—Two hundred women of Colby, Kas.
have demanded of the council that the
paint be removed from the windows of
billiard halls.
—Justice Lamar, of the Supreme
Court, will deliver an address at the
commencement of the Boston Universi-
ty law school, June 4.
—Father Jerome, of the Benedictine
Order, has compiled a prayer Book for
the Sioux. ‘Lt will be printed in the
Sioux language.
—A surgical operation has been per-
formed on that delight of the cartoonist,
Ben Butler’s drooping eyelid, and it
doops no longer.
—Mr. Gladstone has had six private
secretaries, each of whom now holds a
political post. Their salaries aggregate
$50,000 annually.
—-The mildness of the winter season
in England is supposed to in some way
account for the unusual northerly mi-
gration of anchovies,
—~General Cialdini, who, with Garj-
baldi, conquered Naples for the king-
dom of Italy, is suffering from an incur-
abla disease at Leghorn.
—4“There is a lady living on the east
side of the river,” says an Augusta, Me.
paper, “who is’ in her seventies and is
cutting a new set of teeth.”
—A statistician calculates that the
total tonnage of the world, steam and
sail, is, in round numbers, 21,000,000
tons, of which 50 per cent. is British.
—The last surviving signer of the
Texan Declaration of Independence,
Colonel S. W., Blount, died at bis home
in St. Augustine, Tex., a few days ago.
—Miss Regina Rothschild starts from
Port Townsend, Washington, to encir-
cle the globe in sixty-one days. The
citizens subscribed $3,000 for her ex-
penses.
—A number of maids in St. Louis
have appealed to the mayor to interfere
in their behalf to prevent the widows
from capturing all the marriageable
men.
—Natural gas is now used in 104
steel works in this country, but the sup-
ply shows signs of failing, and com-
panies are thinking of returning to the
old fuel.
—Cut-glass is becoming the fashion
for toilet articles instead of silver. One
reason is that the silver requires con-
stant polishing, while the glass is easily
kept in order.
— Burial reform'in England contem-
plates the prohibition of leaden and oth-
er solidly-constructed coffins. It is
proposed to use wickerwork or papier
mache receptacles.
—Mrs. Cordollo, of Pomona, Cal.,is a
great-grandmother at the age of fifty.
She married when fifteen years old ; her
daughter when seventeen and her grand-
daughter at the age of sixteen.
—One of the keepers in Bushey Park,
England, lately discovered two fine
bucks lying dead in a ditch with their
horns locked together. Both animals
had received severe body wounds.
—A one-legged negro in Egbert coun-
ty, Ga., has produced the first bale of
cotton every season in that county for
several years. He is prosperous, and is
accumulating a handsome indepen-
dence,
—R. O. Pate, a citizen of Hawkins-
ville, Ga., is the proud owner of a Unit-
ed States currency note dated Septem-
ber 26, 1778. It is a thirty-dollar bill,
and was issued by the Congress at Phil-
adelphia.
—Not a Friday passes but what some
ship sails from some port for some other
port. Yet thousands of intelligent peo-
ple prefer to believe that no sailor goes
to sea on Fnday. Why, Columbus
sailed on Friday.
—By the use of the phonograph it is
now possible for a man to sing at his
own funeral. Captain Frank Cunning-
ham, of Richmond, Va., who has sung
at 395 funerals, means to have his voice
heard in melody at his own obsequies.
—The Chanute (Kas.) Blade tells of a
farmer living near that town who sold a
butcher a beef for two cents a pound,
agreeing to take a quarter for family
use. In setiling up the butcher charg-
ed the farmer regular rates and the con-
sequence was that the farmer owed the
butcher $2.
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