Charity. Be than, oh ! man, In all thy way*. Oenerone aa lore, and like the raya That shoot from anna to warm the field ; let thy full aheaf, ita anhatanoe yield. Not with a stealth, but free an love, Aa God sends rain from clouds above To water flelda with penile ahowera, And teach the aeeda to buret in flower*. Bo all through life, oh, aona of man. Aid ye the heart in thia grand plan To wreath in amile* each careworn face. To plant within the aonl new prace Oive of Uiy store, though email it be, Aa (Vod give* life aiid health to thee. Oh ; hleet ia lie who givee with love Hia charity; and hiph above The angel* aing and gild hia name On the eternal Roll of Tame ! —l.rrnra (1. Riaaa A Conceit. O touch that roeebnd! it will bloom— My lady fair! A jvawiouate red in dim green gloom. A joy, a splendor, a perfume That elect* in air. You tonhed tuv heart: it pave a thrill J uat like a nxe That opena at a lady's will: !t bloom ia always you >, until You tod it close. IT ENDED WELL. John Jordan used to bo s good deal at our honse, talking with father about the lay of the land. John was a civil engineer, and the railroad he was lav ing out was to run through our orchard. This brought him at our house a good deal, and iu that way folks came to coupling our names together—and no bod v so provoked as I ! I beard at Fishervill and awsv np at Harerham that John Jordan had been seen at our door three days out of the week, for live weeks ; and nobody eonld believe that he came to see father. But I Jul at treat John with any kind of favor, let me tell yon! I was always quarreling with him because the rail road was to cut up the orchard— as if it was his fault, or as if I cared; but I wanted something to be disagreeable •bout. I was none too sweet to him, 1 assure von ; and sometimes Lucius and I would stroll off to a game at baok samnion5 amnion in the hack parlor, and leave ohn to the others : and sometimes when I saw him coming I would slip out, and when I returned, it would be pretty sure to 1* on the aim of Lucius. He always scowled when I came in with Lucius Glover, and I tnjoyed that; and once he had the impudence to ask, " What, in Heaven's name, do yon find to please you in that fop?" and I was so angry at his daring that the tears sprang into my eyes ; and at that he looked divinely sorry, and stammered, " I didn't know— I didn't know ii was serious !" and that didu't mend the matter, for it wasn't serious. Lncius had never said anything to the point, though he had dealt largely in sentimental enigmas ; aud, what" was more, I didn't know as I wanted him to; and I didn't like that John Jordan shonld take it for granted in this way. But I didn't understand why I didn't like it, thongh I've found out since. " Who said anything about serious ness ?" I snapped out. " I'm not one of the kind that asks a man's intentions if he looks at her ! I never want to know their intentions, and they don't usually have any, except to while the time away !" I answered, more forcibly than elegantly. " Very likelr not," said he, going back to some pfans he had unrolltd for father to see when he came in—" that is, men like Glover." "That's generous," said I, all in arms again. "I really should think that you and he were rivals." " And so we are," he answered, with out looking np. "I hate him because you like him." "I don't see why—" I began, awk wardly enough. " Perhaps you had better take a mi croscope to discover the reasons." If this is love-making, thinks I, it's an odd fashion that I'm not used to ; and perhaps for that reason I was some what vexed when father pnt an end to it. To tell the truth, after I had been listening to John Jordan, Lncics's small talk did seem small enough, and his sentiment weak enough. " It's small thanks you give me for keeping the fire alive for yon," I com plained. He turtle J back, with his hand on the door, all the mischief fading from his face. " I give yon instead," he answered. " that which naught enriches yon, but makes me poor indeed ! Why shonld I thank you for keeping the tire alive, when you mean that it shall die out untended at last ?" "Come, you are waxing sentimental," I cried, raking up the ooals. " You've mistaken yonr listener. Good-night" Well, about this time father had his stroke of illness, and was away from the bank—of which he was cashier, at a salary of fifteen hundred—for three months, with every prospect of being laid np the rest of his days ; and I can tell von, if it hadn't been for John Jor dan's board, we should have had short commons indeed. I began to be more convinced than ever that it was mydutv to marry Lucius, when he should ask me. Father got able to go out to the bank, and things began to get easier ; after that I lived in hourly dread of s second stroke, and the future wasn't alluring; unless I should niary Lncins—nor then either. They were to have a masquerade par ty at the Glovers'. I had borrowed a pink silk petticoat of Aunt Kitty's, the palest blnsh, and had draped over it a mist of Nottingham lace that we had had in the honse time out of mind, and had bought for bed-enrtains. It's aw fully cheap stuff, you know, with a mesh as coarse as a cabbage-net, but it made a lovely effect. " You look like morning blushing over the Alps," whispered my partner, in the grand right and left. " I've never seen it; have yon 7" I mocked. " Often," he answered ; and then I was sure it was Lucius, who had been abroad once. He offered his arm, and we stepped into a bay window, to look into the frosty garden illuminated by the mcon, and what do yon think h*e said next ? " I remember visiting some rich COUSIDS of father's in the city once; and all the time I had a consciousness that they hated to have their friends see me on the front steps in my shabby clothes that looked well enough at home; and when we were invited out one evening, I overheard them dis puting as to who shouldn't go with me, "in that old-fashioned blue silk," which I, in my ignorance, bad thought quite stylish ! You shall see what style is, one of these days, my friend," I promised them, mentally ; "you will not be ashamed of me when I'm Mrs. Lncins Glover!" for, up on my word, I was weak and foolish enough to make np my mir i on the way home that I would marry Lucius if he asked me, and let John Jordan take care of himself ! About this time Lydia Glover was at tacked with a sudden friendship for mc. Lncius usually came with her, and while he occupied himself with me, Lydia naturally fell to flirting with John; and more than once I caught my self answering Lucius absently, because I was trying to hear what John was saying to Lydia. Sometimes Lydia de clared she could stay no later, and Lu cius insisted that it was only the edge of the evening; and then John would get his hat and walk home with her. I know I had a queer sensation the first time this happened, which didn't im prove as I waited for him, hovering over the falling embers after Lucius had gone, on pretense of locking np the house. "Seems to me it takes you some time to walk up to the Glovers' and back," said I, when he came at last "Oh, you needn't have waited for me!" he vouchsafed; "I couldn't get away before. The Glovers have a fine place;" after a pause, in which I GHKI). lCl'ltTV!, pytitorond l*ropriot<>r VOL. Ml. couldn't think of any thing disagree able enough to sav, "1 wonder how 1 shall boar it whoa ! go there to see Mrs. Lucius ?" "That can't the person yon go there to see now," I assure.! hint. He laughed, and hummed the old fashioned round, " Oo to Jane Glover and tell her I love her And bv the light of the moon 1 * ill eouio to her." That'a what they call a cafe A. isn't it?" lighting Ins candle. Sou't sit up for me again when I go to Mia* Glover's, Sleepy-Eyes, for I may stay late !" " Don't let ns masquerade any long er." in the same half-whisper ; "I love you; I believe you love me, in spite of your dissembling. 1 think 1 have sur prised it in your faee sometimes. lie mr wife, sweet." The moment toward which I had been reaching had arrived, and found me un prepared. I was more wretched than a galley-slave, wheu I should have been most happy, I trembled like a reed in the wind, aud leaned on his arm for support. "I—l can not answer you to night." 1 said, temjKwiriug; "the music confuses me. 1 don't know whether I love yon—trying to laugh. " In a .lay —a week—oh, I ean't answer you before Christmas ; indeed, I can not !" I gasped. " I will wait throngh time and eterni ty if only it be the right answer at last!" he returned. And then lie led me to a seat, and somebody lent me a vinai grette. and the people asked what the matter was, and it seemed so ridicu lous to be so overcome by an offer, that I didn't tell them. If I had staid till the unmasking, yon know—well there, that's a subjunctive case that I*ll leave to your imagination. But the truth was, I wanted to get home and think ! And I did think, with a vengeauee! I thought all day and all night. I thought at church, at table, sewing en buttons. I had never made such an intellectual effort in mr life." Lucius came and wnt a* usual, without urging it further, or appearing anxious about the result. Everybody seemed to be moving behind a mist, through which John Jordan's face shone ont at times with an unutterable pathos in the questioning eyes. 1 wondered if he guessed at my dilemma. At last I went up to my sister Sophronia's, at Haverham, to finish my thinking. When I had been there three days, up came John Jordan in his own carriage. Well, when Sophronia's hnsbaiul came home to dinner, while he was carving, said he— " That's a great failure down at your place, Jordan * Now I had an iifta that the Glovers were made of money." " What do you mean ?" cried Sophy. " The Glovers failed ! Why, they gave a masquerade party only the other day, with no end of splendor." "That seems to be the cue of people who are tottering financially ; they're determined to make a figure," if only for the last time," langhed Sophy's hus band." " They're pretty badly cut np by it," said John. "Lncius looks ten years older. "Lucius?" repeated Sophy's hus band. "He used to be a spark of your sister's, Sophy ; didn't he ? But he's no longer a match, eh ?" Sophy shot a quick look at me ; John turned his head away; Sophy's hus band regarded his plate. But as for me, I had done with thinking ; I hod made up my mind to go home that very day, and tell Lucius I would marry him, for better or worse ! I had given Lncins encouragement, and if I refused him, he and all the world would think it was on ac.*onnt of the failure, and, of all things, I ean't bear to be suspected of meanness ! To be sure, I was going to lose the very things for which 1 hud led Lncins on ; bnt I deserved to ; if that was any comfort. Sophronia said every thing she could think of to make me stay, aud I vowed it was ont of the question. John said if I was set upon it and nothing conld persuade me, he would harness np and take me home. It was a trifle angenerons, perhaps, to oblige one lover to earn* me to his rival ; but I didn't thin\ of that, I was f-owhaorded by my own sacrifices. It had been drizzling for about an honr when we started, but John had a covered sleigh and a fast horse. You know bow short the December after noons are, so it was dark as a pocket before we got into Haverham woods, and it had left off drizzling and a smart rain storm had set in, und no make believe, and John's lantern gave abont as mnch light as a glow-worm. The railroad hadn't crept up as far as Hav erham Centre at that time, but it cross ed the road, half-way through Haver ham woods, where you would least ex pect it. where you find no hint of its approach, till it was thundering down npon yon, because the woods shut in the prospect, and the wind in the pines deafened you. Well, the horse went stumbling on through the slosh, and the noise of his feet and the sing-song of the sleigh and the storm roaring throngh the woods must have rendered it impossible to hear anything ; for while I was won dering who wonld buy the old Glover mansion, and if John guessed why I was hnrrying home, and what I shonld be married in, all at once there was a flash and a noise as if n battery had been discharged across onr path, min gled with shonts, and a pandemonium of bewildered faces--and then, oblivion ! They got us home somehow; I didn't know anything about it. We had both been saved by a miracle, bnt the poor horse paid the debt of natnre. I've learned to write and sew with my left hand since then, and I'm so used to my broken nose that I sometimes won der why strangers look so hard at me ; for, you see, I'm no longer a beauty. A very different kind of sacrifice had been required of me from that which I had reckoned upon. I believed that all which was necessary now was to send Lucius word that I could not think of imposing such a wreck as myself upon him till death should ns part. But Christmas eve, as I lay on the hair cloth lounge in the back parlor—for, in spite of my bandages and weakness, I would be in the thick of the family gathering—just before the lamps were lighted, John Jordan came in and bent over me with a bouquet of tea-roses. "As kind as ever," I murmured, put ting out my right arm instinctively, and hiding my tears against the sofa enshion. "I'm glad it WSR the right hand," said he, sitting down on s hassock, "because the wedding-finger is left;" and slipped upon it the biggest dia mond I ever saw. Look, it's like a pet rified tear—a tear of joy. " It was my mother's," he continued. " Will you wear it, and answer the question I asked you last month at the masquerade, sweet ?" " The question you asked me 7" I cried, " I thought—l thought it was only Lncius," I confessed, hiding nay face behind the tea-roses. "And how, may I ask, were you going to answer Lucius 7" " I was going to answer ' No.' Who would want a wife like—like me ?" "And / will not take 'No' for an an swer," said he ; and the church bells rang in the happiest Christmas-eve of somebody's life. Lazy husbands are known out West as stove watchers. THE CENTRE REPORTER. A TALK OF HORROR. IW V r kKraitr* was ICIfCHUtI l*arU During ih \\ ar. A moat important trial is about to come before one of the tribunals of the Seine, in France. A correspondent writes: " 1 Hiring the late war, under the Government of September, there were committed two of the most shock ing acts of inhumanity and barbarity that it is possible to imagine. A peacea ble citizen of Brittany was taken out and stoned, after which he was burned alive, and a .*rryen/ dr t illr of l'aris was drowued in the Bciue. There was still another case worth a passing no tice. There is an old saving that when one wants to get rid of his dog he be gins by accusing him of having dydro pholua. There was a moment when a neighbor could be gotten out of the way by calling hiui a Bonapartist. All ex-policcmau was chased by the crowd for this crime, ami took refuge in a house, but was again driven into the street. The rumor then ran about that he was mad, having been bitten by a mad dog, and a hundred persons pur sued him with sticks ami stones, killing him iu the street exactly as if he were a mad dog. But the most curious case of all was that of the guard Ymoenzim, which I give at length. On Sunday, the 2fith of February, IS7I, the l'aris iaus were out in their Sunday costumes enjoying the warm air which gave promise of an early spring. At; .im mense crowd had K.ulund m the FW.ce de la Bastille to see a company of the Nation d Guard salute a jed tlag raised upon the column of July. The entire city wore the air of a fete day, and everybody seemed to enjoy the warmth of tlio sun. From time to time a baml of rag mufti us passed bt armg a red rag and marching to the cadence of the M ir seillaise, pausing from time to time to cheer J.a Rtpubli'jue democrat lytic et tovialr. Suddenly one of these groups raised a cry of "Mouchard," twul it was soon shouted iu chorus throughout the place. On the side of the rne St. An tolne one soon saw a man in citizen's dress, tall, finely formed, and with a baudsome, energetic face, niuning away, pursued by the mob. This was the unfortunate Ex-Sergeut de Villa Yincenzini, who succeeded IU making a passage through the crowd ami iu cu t-Ting a shop. No. 205 rue St. Antoiue, kept by the widow (.'auehois. The ras cals who pursued him tore hiui from this place, boat him horribly when iu the street, and only raised him from the ground when the crowd began to cry " Hong him !" An attempt was made to hang him from the balcony of Pierre Onvrier, Boulevard Richard Le noir, but the mot) became impatient lie fore the knot could be made iu the roj>e which bail been hastily brought, anil it then occurred that it would be more amusing to drown him. He was hur ried to the Canal Saint-Martin, but a new difficulty here presented itself, and the crowd started for the river. Seeing that he was lost, Yincenzini tore him self away and threw himself upon his knees. His apj>eal for mercy was met by fresh insults and blows. Being un able to endure this martyrdom any longer, he cried : "Give me a pistof, and I will kill myself before you here, since yon will have mv life." At this moment a girl named Lacanal, who has just died at Saint-Lazore, where she was awaiting her trial, stepped forward and slapped the face of the wretched man, saying: "I condemn yon to be drowned." This summary judgment was applauded by the crowd, and once more the guard was pushed toward the river, followed by thousands of per sons. Arriving at the banks of the Seine, n charitable man cried that the victim knew how to swim. This had not been thought of before, lint the idea was act ed upon ami Yincenzini was strongly tied to a plank and then launched into the stream. t>o many persons crowded upon n canal lioat to see the dying struggles of the victim, that it gave way and a number were precipitated into the river. When this confusion arose poor Yincenzini was seen floating down the river, his gTcat strength enabling him to keep his hendalnivo water. He turned his eyes imploringly from side to side in seareh of help, but nt this moment the crowd began to stone him, and he was struck several times. At last he raised his head as far as possi ble, looked a!) Out this merciless crowd, and, seeing fur Ix-low him many men and boys with stones in their hands waiting for him, he gave np in despair. By an effort he made a plunge, turned over under the plank and iu a few mo ments brought lus terrible martyrdom to a close. His Eo-t- vras not found till three months alterward. About 20,000 persons witnessed his murder, and M. .Mm # alone tried to save Yin cenzini. He was badly maltreated, nud came near sharing the same fate. But although there was so many spectators no direct proof could be obtained for ti long time. One day the woman Lacanal was discovered, and several men have been arrt stcd who were seen throwing stones. Some of the participants have been already transjiorted,many were kill ed in June, and only abont half a dozen have been brought to trial. The wo man Lacanal aud two of the men have died in prison. Destructive Flood. Immense damago was dono in Slier brooke, Nova Scotia, by a freshet. The St. Mary's River was swollen by the rain and thaw. A couple of miles above Sherbrooko there is a natural dam of rocks across the river, beyond which, fur several miles, it is called Stillwater. The ice on this portion of the river broke up in coiiscqtK-nce of the freshet, and flooded the whole of the valley. On the left bank of the river, whore Slier brooke is situated, the scene is said t( bnflle description. The flood brought down thousands upon thousands of tons of ice, and great numbers of lugs. Whole trees were uprooted from the banks in the course of the torrent, the solid ice below the village remained firm, aud the flats upon which Sher brooko stands became a boiling sea. Boats and canoes were m demand. Every house was flooded ; the cattle were driven out of town by persons on horseback ; the women, children, and aged people were taken away in boats. Many families nbundoned their houses altogether, while others moved up stairs. Two bridges in the village and a largo bridge over the St. Mary's river are gone. A new vessel nearly ready for launching was destroyed and much timber carried away. The day after the flood the mountains of ice, and the logs, trees, and other debris became frozen solid, so that the village is now imbedded in a frozen sea. The ruin is indescribable ; it extends a mile and a half in length by a mile in breadth. In the event of a sudden thaw the vil lage will be quite destroyed. WNAT HE DID.—" Mr. Smith, von said you once officiated in the pulpit did you mean by that that you preach ed ? ' "No, sir, I held the light for the rn'iin who did preach." "All, the court understood you differently. They sup posed that the discourse came directly from you." "No, sir; 1 only threw light on it." "The rear admirables of the Navy" is good. CENTRE 111 EE, CENTRE CO.. FA., Till' Spring Colors. Spring m * inter ia uot urfrequedtly succeeded by winter in the spring, and it ia not t all unlikely to prove so this season. At any rate, notwithstanding the generally mild weather of February, spring styles and spring business are a little alow in coming, though it is quite believed that the latter will make up for its tardiness, wheu it doe* come, by being unusually active. Spring colors are foreshadowed in gloves, which the best authority has had prepared in pure Quaker grays aud browns. A study of these colors in a dozen different degrees of each shade is a les son for a lifetime, and would prove a revelation to many who think they know all about color. Commence with the silver gmy tremember we are talking abont gloves), and go through from the pure drab gray to blue gray, iron gray which is almost black, aud bronze gray which is almost brown. Of all these, the pure drab is the fiuest, the clearest, the choicest—one envies the Quaker ladies who have had it and the rarest shades of brown to themselves so long. Drab gray, or Quaker gray, is the most durable and economical of all colors in gloves. It looks exactly the same by gaslight, is delicate enough for evening or reception wear, ami can be used as a hack glove aftcrwurda. But do not confound gray with laven der. Many do this; and should you by chance ask our glove authority to match a lavender silk with a gray glove you would si t liis teeth on edge, and so disturb his equilibrium that he would turu you over to one of his subordinates, considering anybody good enough to wait upon a ladv who did not know gray from lavender. Next to these pure grays comes the wood anil nut browns, auit these in all their varieties are to be the livery of the spring, relieved with a dash of color or a gleam of white in the trimming of the bonnet or the square silk handker chief which it is now the faahiou to wear abont the neck. The most elegant costumes complct will consist of two or more shades oi these colors blended together in what may be called a minor symphony. Rum and Wife Murder. Thomas Lowndes murdered his wife Margaret in their tenement rooms, Williamsburg!:. Both were in liquor and were quarrelsome. Lowndes is a blacksmith. He receive 1 his wages on Saturday, went home, and he ami his wife were lx)th drunk in the evening. The next morning nt breakfast they quarreled, and lie went to u sahxiuuesr by and drank. lie returned to his rooms aliout I o'clock, and meeting his wife iu the narrow front nx>m caught hold of her and threw her to the floor. They struggled, and she fought him. He reached a worn sheath knife from the table and stabbed her three times, once on the head, once in the breast, and once in the abdomen. He sat down on a low sofa in the room ami watched his wife as she died. His sons, Tommy and John, aged nine and six, were with him. Ho gave Tommy money to get liqnor, and after drinking it he went to sleep iu the window leas little bedroom, and lay in a drunken stnpor for an hour or more. The boys did not leave the room while their father was asleep. Ashe aroused he asked Tommy where his mother was. The son xaid she was on the floor. He asked if she was dead, and shook the dead Ixxlv as though to awake it. He railed a Sirs. Armstrong who lives on the second floor of the some building. As she entered the room and saw the dead body on the floor she fainted. The husband then ran ont of the honse, took a drink of whisky in a sa loon near by and wandered *>ff. The police of the Fourth etroet station were informed, and an officer took charge of the dead body ami guard* I the rooms. The husband when arrested was locked up in a dark cell. Hi- refused to see any one, or say anything about his crime. He hugged one corner of his cell, and seemed utterly unconscious of what he had done. Valuable Discord jr. The Fir7i')iin (Nevada) /'nt>~r)>ri*r states that a lawyer of that city, named t'arson, has made a discovery which should also make his fortune. It says : "Carson, a few weeks since, by some cliauce, discovered a mixture, composed of very simple ingredients, which oper ated like magic upon any kind of grease —as an extractor of grease from cloth ing or any textile fabric. This fluid was found to possess the property of cutting oil and grease from machinery almost instantly ami in a most unac countable manner. The fluid applied with a sponge to nu engine, when cov ered with grease burned iu upon it, clears nil away as readily aa water would wash away so mnch mud. This was the original discovery, but in ex perimenting with it Carson ascertained that by the addition of another ingre dient the fluid acquired a new property. This Mas tho power to burnish all metals. A pieco of rusty and greasy hoop iron washed with a sponge dipped in the fluid at once assumes the appearance of a piece of highly polished steel. Carson assures us that tho fluid contains neith er acid nor alkali, and in proof of tins has no hesitation iu washing his eye with it. He says that tho ingredient which imparls a polish to rusty iron is a thing very simple and cheap, aud as serts that shonld lie name it, all would wonder that the never thought of mak ing this nse of it. The fluid first dis covered is now in use at several of our mills, where it is found to be just the thing for cleaning engines and other machinery." New Hampshire Polllir*. It is claimed, ami the result verifies tho claim, that in no State is the organi zations of the two parties so complete as in New Hampshire. The largest majority east in the State since 1852 was that of 9,115 given Mr. Lincoln in IKGO. The next yenr the Republican candidate for Governor had only 4,015 majority in a larger total vote. In 18(59 the Republican majority was 3,733, and the next yenr it dropped to 1.353, while in 1871 the Democrats, for the second time in nearly twenty vcars, carried the Htnte over tlio Republicans, having a plurality of 807. l'he next year the Republicans hud a majority of 1,119 on Governor, and In the fall gave General Grant 5,443 majority. Last year the majority dwindled to 228. To IMPROVE THE AITEARAVIE OF Fcmmxitx. Tako a soft sponge, wet with clean cold water, and wash over the article. Then take a soft chamois skin, and wipe it clean. Dry the skin as well as you can by wringing it in your hands, and wipe the water off the furniture, being careful to wipe only one way. Never use a dry chamois on . rnish work. If the varnish is ortAiit one, j and ha# given soul to the whole move ment. The churches of all of the priu -1 cipal denomination# are many of them large, and have for two generations wielded a powerful influence. The three principal religious bodies are I'resbvterians, Methodists,and Quakt rs. In Hillsborough the I'res byte run j Church numbers over four hundred communicants. The Methodists do not, 1 presume, fall far behind them. In one of the towna reformed, the Quakers have six hundred members. R-dtgioti is influential, aud hence the essential element# vrere at hand. Spring Fabrics. The fineness and daintiness of the new spring material# harmonize well with the purity and delicacy of color. Chene silks have reappeared, the small irregular vine or leaf shaded in wood color ujHni a pale gray or other neutral tinted ground. Hair-striped summer silks also show only a line of color -brown, violet, or purple upon an ash or creamy surface, and the old-time lustres or new twilled ehallieH, fine as the finest tamise | cloth, thongh varied with blue and bufl and mauve, and almost prettier than grenadine in black, still uxhibit an enormous preponderance of the soberer tints of the season. The only new fabric which the season has developed so far is nil gray anil brown, iu all the different shades of the so colors. It is a lovely, soft ma terial. very fine, and all wool. It is manufactured 111 what are known among tailors as " fancy diagonal " patterns, but is called " basket serge.' It is A very choice and desirable material for i spring suits, or for serviceable wear during the spring and cool days in sum mer. The price is one dollar per yard. In silks there is a decided effort to return to light'smoother, purer styles than have been fashionable during the past few years. Heavy gros grains, and other thick and apparently massive silks have been discovered to be charged not unfreqncntly with sugar or noma other ' starchy substance to inerease their bulk aud weight, and the fact haa discredite d all silks of that description. Pure black silks, so smooth as to ap proach taffetas 111 quality ; jaspers, which are in dark colors what chencs are in light ; leaf-tinted elienes, hair stripes, delicate and fine, added to tho ; mixtures in silk and wool, which seem 1 as if they hail been made to test the degree of rarity which dress fabrics could attain and live, present a striking contrast to the thick cords and rough- I nud-ready wool and cotton textures which have been considered "style" for the past two years. The Bothersome Flies. Tho following from an exchange may not be without value: Let 1110 give you a piece of my expe rience with the troublesome flies. My room, with a southern exposure, and tho window open day ami night, has been free from flies all summer, though in the adjacent kitchen and dining-room there linve been millions. I explain tliiH by tho following observations: 1. Flies hate light. You find them in ; dark corner#, dark passages, dark holes, never in blazing sunlight. 2. Flies hate a draught. They are | attracted by effluvia, and like el -se sir, i while wind beats them about and gives ; no promise of anything to eat. Set up a tent on the prairie, making a little oasis of darkness and dead air, and in an hour it will be full of flies. Where do they come from ? From down in the ■ grass where it is dark and still. 111 \ England I have seen multitudes in the 1 close lanes, overshadowed with trees I and branching hedge-rows, of which there are so many in that country. But yon never find them iu the open air and i i>f?ht. It. Flies like all kinds of dirt, jiartie nlarly decomposed orgnnic matter. A kitchen full of scraps and grease, a din ing-room with an unctuous cloth and steaming viands, a sick room, full of pestiferous odors and effluvia of every sort are their paradise. Where there is perfect cleanliness, flics, if they come at nil, will lie torpid, as they do in un occupied rooms during the hot weather, aud because there is nothing for them to eat in such a place, they will leave as soon as light and wind are intro duced. ISDAY, APRIL 2, 1874. An Even Exchange. Old Davis, of OMipee—the well known shingle and clapboard autocrat of thirty rears ago had a dog named Watch. The dog had become old and a nuisance. Davis hud threatened often to kill the brute, and had us often re lented. Oue day Mini Brown, the Con cord peddler, drove up to Davis' store, but Davis wanted to buy nothing. " Can't i sell you a clock ? Fve got them cheap as dirt, aud real good ones, too." "I haven't got any money." " Drat the money ! I'll take a fair exchange of anything." Davis scratched his head, whereat Brown continued: " Come, we'll have a trade, somehow. You've got to have one of my clocks. Now what have you got to exchange for it ?" " Fve got nothing but a watch." " Eh ! -a watch ?" cried the |>eddler, brightening up. " What kind of a watch ?" " Taint of course a very good one, or I wouldn't want to trade it off." " What kind of cases?" " I csn't say much for the cases, but the inside is iu good order, and it runs well. It'll let you know when feeding time comes sartin." " How'll you trade?" "I'll give you my watch for one of of your clocks, aud call it a bargain, without anv ifs and ands." "Done !' said Brown, and he selected a steeple-topped Connecticut clock and brought it into the store. " There's your clock. Now where is that watch of mine?" Davis went to the door, whistled aud called: " Watch, Watch ! Here, old fellow, you're wanted !" The dog came in with a bound. " That's the ' watch,' Brown. You'll find his iu'urds&ll right, and he can run like Sanebo, ami when it comes meal times, if he don't let yon know it, I'm mistaken in him." The peddler gasped and staggered, and he said something not quite proper to jKilito ears ; bnt he did not back down. He only said, as ho hitched the dog to the axle tree of his wagon, aud prepare,! to drive off : "Somebody will have to pay me for that clock be:or* night." And I opine that there are hundreds of people to-day in that si-ction of New- Hampshire, who have a firm belief that they helped to pay old Brown for that dock. Hew a Hundred Lite* were Sated. The explosion at the west shaft of the Iloosac tunnel was accompanied by a thrilling incident. John Greene, a blaster, left the office where Donnelly was engaged in charging the cartridges, not a minute before the explosion, with twenty-seven ixmnds of nitro-glroerine in a can, ready for charging the holes IK'IOW. He had reached the cage, some fifty feet from the office, at the time of the explosion, mid be realized that if he remained where he was, and a second explosion occurred, all the building* would lw demolished by the consequent explosion of the nitro-glycerine. Some told him to throw the can down the shsft; others shouted, " Drop it and rnu!" but he did neither. Dashing through the back door of the cage, he rushed to an old building jmmedi?tance from the machine shop, where he put down the can, and then returned to see what had booonie of his comrade Don nelly. He had just reached the ma chine shop door, abont 100 feet from the office, when the second explosion took place, but—thanks to his fore tbought without exploding the glycer ine. Greene was within a few feet of James Mullany when the piece of wo >d struck him with fs'al effect, but he (Greene i escaped uninjured. By his remarkable presence of mind, Greene saved the lives of i**rhaps a hnndml persons. Tho concussion wrenched doors from hangings inside the dwellings near the office, both the doors and win dows from the machine shop across the way, ami tore the whole side of the compressor building and boiler-house, strewing the fragments for a long dis tance in every direction. Mullany the blacksmith who was killed, was one of the best men on the work, and bad been employed there for ten years. He was asolxw, industrious man, much beloved by all who knew him. One Idea of Poverty, It was Bulwer who said in nine cases ont of ten poverty was onlv an idea Some men with ten thousand dollars a year suffer more fur the want of means than others with tnree hundred. Ttie icasou is, the rich man has artificial wants. His income is ten thousand a year, and lie suffers enough from being dunned for unpaid debts to kill a sensi tive man. A man who earns a dollar a ilnv, ami who does net run in debt, is the happier of the two. Very few peo ple wlio have never been rich will lx lieve this, bnt it in true. There are thousands nnd thousands with princely incomes who never knew a moment's peace, because they lived beyond their means. There is really more happiness iu the world among working people, than among those who are called rich— always providing that poor folks do not in a smaller way emulate the prodi gality of their rich brethren. Poverty is simply the question of the good or bad management of money in baud. Preparing SamUtonc There are numerous methods of pre paring artificial sandstone, of which tin* following seems to be one of the best: Fn m one to five parts of sand 1 are mixed with one part pulverized lime and one part cement, and a little w.it< r, .ust suflieii nt to slake the lime and . cement without formings mortar. This mass is pounded in thin layers, espe cially at the corners and on the sides, so that tin HO portions may adhere firmly together. The pieces are dried in the air and then placed in dilute water glass, where they stay two or three days. When dry they nro as hard as stone, ! and are suitable for cornices and orna ments. They are perhaps as good as the Ransom stone, winch latter is ninde from a mixture of cement, sand, and purified chalk. There are three differ ; out formula) for pr | ariug it, of which j the following is the 1 >••?>( : Cement, six parts ; elutriated chalk, twelve parts ; j title sand, six parts ; infusorial silloa, | one part. These stones soon harden. A FitßNCit SrieiPF.,—Most French* I men, when they commit suicide, like to do it in n way which will render them celebrated in the papers, such is the in herent vanity in their natures. A coachman living at Montmnrtre invited his friends to dinner recently, and on ' arriving there, instead of finding tlieir host at the head of the table, ruddy aud joyous, they discovered him dead, hanging on the bed-post. He had ♦ ken the precaution to provide broad, cheese and wine for his guests. If there be a class of human beings | on earth who may properly be denomi- I nated low it is that claßs who spend without earning, who consume without producing, who dissipate the earnings of their fathers or relatives, without being anything in and of themselves. Terms: 5'2.00 a Year, in Advance. IN BANE AttTLCX ATKOC'I TIEH, lullttbiM TrMlauul of Paopcr t.nns •lss In Pennsylvania. The Philadelphia Evening IlulteHn 1 publishes a lengthy and interesting de scription of the treatment of the insane poor in certain county almshouses in Pennsylvania. The Huttetin states i that terrible abuse* have grown up in this connection which only need ez (losuro to bring about a spoedv reform, and announces ita intention of publish ing all the facta that can be obtained concerning these ahus-a. A visit to one county jKJorhouao betrayed a U-mblo condition of affairs iu tLe Insane De partment. All sanitary measures were neglected, and a sickening odor prevailed in the department named. The insane pau pers were confined in wooden cages, Having only a small opening protected by iron bars, to admit air and light. The interior of the cagea were ©oyered with piles of dirty straw and filth, aud the atinosjihcre was indescribable. In cage No. 1 was an agricultural laborer, clad in rags. He was quirt and civil, bis derangement not being of a violent character. He hao ; por ters, 80; gloves for she pall bearers, porters, nndeitaker, and clergyman, S3O; undertaker's attention, $10; and the opening of the grave, $7, which makes up the total $475 that the under taker receives. If the funeral takes place at a church, the sexton receives $10; there is $1 extra on each of the carriages, The choir in-most churches is paid. In Catholic churches the organ, choir, and drapiqgof the church completer in black will be furnished for $1 iV>. " These expenses added, which are by no means unusual, bring the cost up to $635, and by no means includes a utimlier of important items which go to make up a fashionable fnnrraL Not the least of these ia the flower-. They are furnished as certainly M the eoffin, forming a very important part of what one might call the trousseau of death. These are, to bo sure, not all furnished by the family of the dead, bat they are in part. A moderate basket of flowers, such ss are lists! on these occasions, costs S2O, out of season ; aud one bas ket of flowers is scarcely perceived in the floral luxuriance which usually is seen. spring Stuffs. Camel's-hair, the most stylish fabric for over dresses, says n New York fash ion journal, is shown in various degree* of thickness, some of which are light enough for midsummer wear. Very handsome qualities of this poods woven in basket figures and in wide "diago nals" are sold for $2 a yard, and measure fifty inches in width; some very rough vet light eamftlVhair is a trifle more expensive; a novelty for $3 a yard is un twilled camel's-hair of light loosely woven threads; while the very lightest quality, with soarcelv more weight thsn sheer muslin, is sold for midsummer use nt $4 a yard; the new camel's-hair eh ale, exceeding all others in softness and fineness, is two vards wide, and $8 a yard. The oolors tkot prevail among such goods are natural shades, eern, cream color, darker browD, and various hcantifnl hues of silvery gray. From four nnd a half to five yards is the quantity sold for a jHilonaise. Casimir chevron is a qnaint fabric said to be of camel's-hair, but far more stiff and wirv; it comes in gray shades with re versed stripes, and cost* three dollars a vari. Bold kidnappers. A correspondent writing from the City of Mexico MTH: " Not long since a rich man. Honor Cervantes, was kid napped in the evening in one of the moat central streets. lie passed be t ween two file# of lounger# who politely —this is old Spanish politeness— opened to let him pass. He was put into a eoaeli nt hand and driven to the house of a well-to-do Spaniard, who kept a grocery store; this is also situated i.n tin- plaza, also, in a central part. Hn lie was plaead'fal n sort of a grave dug below the floor, and messengers were carrying his letters and arranging ransom. Hut his friends and Governor Montrel and the police were wide awake also, and after some days the letter carrier and others were caught, in cluding the owner of the house, the Spaniard Senor Hello, the head of the conspiracy. The victim was rescued alive, and in less than twenty-four hours this licllo and two others who were most guilty were shot at Bello'a doors, and afterwards hanged above the place of their crime, and exposed to the pubis • gnzo till the sun went down." Jennie Kissed Me. We find in a magazine a chapter on "Kissing Literature," which omits the gem of tie whole- Lander's playful and exquisite verso u the wife of his friend, who impnlsL !y kissed him for • tome prase he had given her husband : Jennie ki-sed me when we met, Jumping from llio ehair she sat in; Cupid, i nu w ho love to get Sweets into your tiook. put that ia ; flav 1 m ugly: say I'm old : ISav thai health" and wealth have missed me ; But add to that. when all is told. Jennie kieeed me. NO. 13. THE GREAT COLORADO DESERT. How M May Im Htrlolawd #r rno4 lata a Or.a I I train at lakM. HenaU* Junes of Novadahaa retired full reports of the result* of ft aiiti do exploration made ftt the np+um of 1 hioin-lf and a private citizen of Califor- j nia iiut summer for the purpose of as oertiiiuiXig the practicability of reclaim- 1 ; iog or submerging the Great Colorado , Desert by turuiug into it the water at . the Colorado or the Gulf of California. ' The report of Mr. J. J". James, the ueer of the exjxxli<<#, and elaborate . ( commentary uj*fß it by Mr. it. E. Sketch, au eminent civil engineer of ! Han Francisco, furnish the following very interesting information, much of which is entirely new : The exploration shows that the great- j est portion of the Colorado Desert and , the Mojave Valley and Death Valley, which lie north of it, are from forty to < one hundred feet below the level of the sea, and that this great desert, stretch ing from Lower California to Inyo eounty, iu the State of California, atul from the beae of the Coast Itange . Mountains to the Colorado rivsr, com prising an area about 300 miles long by 150 aide, may be converted intoa chain of lakes or irrigated by the method above mentioned; and also that a luge ! portion of thia "desert" really nonsuits wf extremely fertile aoil, being a deep 1 alluvium susceptible of the highest nl tivation. It is further shown that the < prevalence of what art- known as "sand storms," and hot desiccating winds and the deficient rain fall—the evils suffered hj the surrounding country and aa far north as the Tulare Valley of California . —are directly traceable to the existence of this desert from which, as from a great furnace, there constantly rises in the summer time a vast column of heat ed air without appreciable humidity. Thus the moisture of the rain-bear- ) ing clouds, which are blown northwest erly during the summer month* from the Gulf of California, is dissipated as soon aa they reach the borders of this superheated region, and prevented from reaching the dry but fertile plains of California beyond. The sheila fouxd on the surface of this desert prove that it has been at one time the bed of a sea, and at a subsequent period the bed of a fresh water lake. The shore lines of both sea and lake can still he seen and reoognixed in many places; and Mr. Stretch expresses the opinion that the Artec civilization of the adjaoeut region in Arizona (of which there arc so many traces) came to an end in eon seqnenee of the climatic changes oaused by the evaporation of these lakes m Southern California, after the Colorado nver had cat down its bed in the Great Canyon, so deep that iu course was di verted at Cohrille to a southerly direc tion. The question is suggested whether these desert lands cannot be reclaimed bv irrigation, and thua saved, instead of being totally submerged, as it la eon aidcred certain that covering them with vegetation would tend to prevent the evaporation of moisture and at the same time act as a precipitant for whatever moisture the atmosphere may carry; or whether both plana might not be combined. Senator Jones expresses the opinion that, although either course would in volve Urge expenditures of money, the matter is of such public interest as to be worthy of in vestigia ion by the Government, which alone baa the neces sary resources and appliance* at com mand for a thorough examination of the subject. If by such an examina tion the feasibility of the work should be demonstrated, private capital might be found to undertake it. He there fore proposes to bring the matter to the attention of Congress, with the view to having a survey male by the Govern ment. The late I hzrles Sumner. Chsrles Sumner was born in Boston, Mass., Jan. 6, IHII, received his early education at Boston Latin School, and graduated from Harvard College in ls3o. After a year of private study, he entered the law school at Cambndga, where lie formed an intimate friendship with his teacher, Judge Story. He was admitted io the bar in 1834. He was appointed reporter of the Circuit Court of the United SUtes, and in that ca pacity published three volumes known as " Sumner's Reports," and at the same time edited a law journal, enti tled the "American Jurist." During the absence of Judge Story lie acted as lecturer to the student*, and, not nn frequentlv. had entire charge of the law school, in 1837 he visited Europe, re maining there three yesrs. On liis re turn to Boston lie resumed practice, and in 1844—6, published an elaborate edition, with annotations, of ' Veaey's Reports," in 20 vols. Although he had always been a Whig, he took no activ# part in politics until 1845, when, on July 4th, he pronounced an oration be fore the municipal authorities of Bos ton, deprecating a war with Mexico, in sisting that peaceful arbitration should l>e substituted for the ordeal by battle in public, as it already was in private affairs. About this time he came out as a strong advocate of anti-slavery, and eventually separated from the Whig party to join with the Free Soilera, to whose candidates, Tan Bnren and Ad ams, lie lent support in the Presiden tial contest of 184 K. After the with drawal of Daniel \\ dxter from the Senate of the United State* l>y his entrance into the Cabinet of Mr. Fill more, in 1850, Mr. Sumner was elected to fill the vacancy by a coalition of Free Soilersand I>emoernts in the Massachu setts Legislature. Once in the Senate, he immediately took np amis against slavery, lii* first important speech being in opposition to the Fugitive Slave act. This course i vssjer*ted Preston S. Brooks, who assaulted him dangerously, .May 22, 1856. After his entire recov ery * in 1*39, Mr. Sumner's first inuxirt ant speech was a denunciation of the influence of slnvery on character, soci ety and civilization, which was subse quently printed under the title of "The Barbarism of Slavery." He was an ac tive supporter of Lincoln aud Hamlin, in the Presidential contest of 1860. I p to the time of his death he continued to hold his position in the United States Senate. At the close of the war he made his famous motion that the names of Federal victories should not be en rolled upon the national standard. The vote of censure of the Massachusetts Legislature which this action brought out, was rescinded just before bis death. Mr. Sumner had been an in valid for some jt'ars, and had, in vain, sought relief from liis sufferings. Withoit a Bfm, Rove. —The recent accident on the Great Western Railway of Canada, by which a number of per sons were burned to death, and others severely injured, might not have been so fearfully fatal had there been a bell rope on the train. A kerosene oil lamp in the forepart of a passenger ear fell and caused a Are. Tho wind fanned the flames, and there was no bell rope to notify the engineer. The conductor testified that the company supposed him .to have a bell rope, but that the station master at London knew him to be without one. California produces lemons weighing '24 ounces apiece. Item* of Interest. Tine population of Franca decreased cm• per csenElaat year. Defaulter* are now more elegantly culled " hypdOlOffgiea." „ I ore is an egotism of two. The first sigh of love is the last of wisdom. The way they bntioh np ilmsw la the back now a-days is sstoniabiog. A Keokuk butcher gives away a ohromo with svery ten pounds of meat. The wivae of Brwbam Voting ate the envy of Uaeiz MX. Theymratn always Young. The tariff on snuff is 50 bents a pound This makes it mighty expanaiva to sneeze. By industry a good fanner in Europe rata gat SSO a year tad a salt of clothes SH wages. Waste of wealth is sometimes ro > ferisvad ; waste of health seldom; waste I of time never. There are 25,000 women in the lowa , gran;."-*, etch of whom ie intrusted 1 1 with t vote. f A hungry panther recently tried to ' rob the V, o. mailt between Barktville ; and China, Tenn. 'The Parisian* are confident that the Column Vand'une will be done in time for the next Commune, ; Wetcfa for little opvrtunmi for tervfng or pleasing, and put little an noyaness oat of the way. Home vooaiiete take pride v 'n exhibit ing a fine falsetto voiee ; others In dis playing fine false of teeth. The Ohio women have eloeod up 836 saloons thus far. leaving tome i villages without a drinking place. A lad of fourteen it conducting a re ligious revival in Illinois, and is win ning ooaverta by the score. Gold hunters are leaving Oregon in large numbers for the Alaska mines. The mines have not yet been practically explored. Miss Nellie Grant's Bartoriou s owns a faro in Wisconsin, which be tilled until fhe death of bis mother made him heir to no English estate. A Montreal man said, "By tka Lord Harry 1" and a justice fined him $7 and coats How eoold a Yankee ever put np a stove in that country T "Ha naughty girl should hurt you, 1 like a g vcharged with keeping her light burning in the parlor nutil very late on Sunday night, in order to harrow the sensitive feel ings of an envions neighbor into the belief that she has really got a beau. How doth the little busy pig improve each ahining hour, and gather saugages all day from cveuy opening flower ? And when the shades of twilight fall he slumbers in his sty, or sings his pret tv evening him—" Root, little pig, or i die !" The Dieppe police, warned by sev eral recent calamities, have issued a notice to persons, requesting them, when a lady is in danger of drowning, to seize her by the dress and not by the hair, which oftentimes remains in their grasp. Ohio has some accommodating men within liet limits. For instance, Mrs. John Lane said to John the other day, "I'd hang myself if I didn't know ] more about business than that," and John accordingly went out and sus pended himself. .Speaking of the half-naked statue of Washington, which cost SSO,(MX), in the East Capitol Park, Grace Greenwood wittily says that his outstretched arm points reproachfully toward those glass cases in the Patent Offioe, where hang his much-desired habiliments. A worthy Quaker thns wrote : "I 1 ' expect to pass through this world but ■ j once. If, therefore, there be any kind ness I can show, or any good thing I can do to my fellow human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I will not pass this way l again." The King of Maaindy, in Upper Egypt, having died, was lately buried, his wives being interred alive with him. ' A number of prisoners of war were I taken to the immense gravj, their limbs ' broken, and tlnir mutilated bodies | flung on the dead king and his wretched I widows. John Bucks jumped from a New , York ferryboat the other day, leaving I behind him a letter in which he in - 3: quired, " Why should I live in this , world tied to a serpent's tongne ?" and when it is known that the serpent's ' tongue alluded to was whisky, nobody, we presume, will care to answer the question.