In the Hammeok. An afternoon was ripe with heat As might the golden pippin be With winess if at hy foet h ropped now from the apple tree My hammock swings in lastly. The bonghs about me spread a shade That shields me from tho sun, but weaves With breezy shuttles through the leaves Blue rifts of skies, that gleam and fade Upon the eyes that only soe Just of themselves, all drowsily. Above me drifts the fallen skein Ot some tired spider looped and blown, As tragile as a strand of min Across the air, and upward thrown By breaths of heyflelds newly mown; Some glimmering it is and fine, 1 doubt thee drowsy eyes of mine. I have no care. 1 only know My hammock hides and holds me hore, In lands of shade a prisoner; While lazily the breezes blow Light leaves of sunshine over me, As back and forth and to and fro I swing, in in some hushed glee Smiling at all things drowsily. My Lady. A CONTRAST, My little lady all in white, Do you want to know, do you want to know, Why I sit at this tree-foot, out of the light? Are you sorry for me that God made me so? My bright little lady. Are you grieved that you oan jump and run, in your pretty frock and your dainty shoes, Just as you like, in or out of the sun, With lightsome feet and heart full of fun, While I sit still, as 1 cannot choose But sit still, my lady ? My old black frock burns hot on my back My worn old frock, bought long ago, When mother died—and work is slack, And I'd rather dross in my old sack Than stint the little ones. Do you know What hunger is, lady? Oh, 1 beg your pardon. Those gentle ayes Are filling with tears, fast filling with tears: You have left your swans unted; surprise Is meliing to pity. You're not too wise, Bat you'll be wiser when at my years, And you're kind, my lady. Yes, I'm older, grayer, sadder too; Oh, I've had my share, I've had my share Ot things unknown to the like of you God sces us both. What he bids me do 1 try to do. What he makes me bear 1 bear, my Isdy. It's hard sometimes. The hungerand pain, The children's erying—that's worst of all, Bat I do my best, and | don’t complain. There, I'm glad to see you smile again, Give me my oruteh. No fear I'll all Still, thank you, my lady. Although I crouch at the toot of thelree, And you o'er the meadow run and shout, There's the sell.same san tor you and for me, The same birds singing so merrily. '4is good to see you dance about, My merry lady. "Twould not make me happy to make you sad And { don't like pity, and God is kind. If 1 your park and your castle had, Rut no little sisters to make me glad, No ther to work lor—to my mind "Twould be dull, my lady. So we'll each of ns go our appointed way, Safe to the end, safe to the end. For some mast labor, and some must play. If you pass my door again some day, I'll be giad to see you my beautiful friend, My sweet little lady. “ Your curiosity is natural,” said the eount, smiling. *“ Itis true that I am under thirty; yet, as you see, my hair is whiter than snow. The change took face in the space of half an hour. hen I tell you that nothing but the will of an implacable enemy stood be- tween me and a horrible death during tl.at half-hour, you will be prepared for a startling narrative. * My cousin Angelo and myself were felivw-students at Padus. No two ivintives could have differed more widely in character than he and 1. “ Angelo lived by himself in a close, seeret way, and shunned society as a pestilence. I, on the contrary, never spent sn hour by myself when I could find any of my host of friends at leisure to receive me. The consequence was that Angelo graduated with high Lonors, while 1 fell in love with the beautifal daughter of Leonardo di ‘aorta. * Unsteady as] was b noble woman found enough in me to return my love. The knowledge of my undeserved happiness sobered me; I settied down to hard work to gain honor for her sake. “Those were happy days, signor. Youth, love and ambition made up for me a paradise that I would nol have exchanged for that of our traditional first parents. Like that, a serpent was not long in creeping in to poison its Lisppiness. * Pauline di Porta was seized with a disease that threatened her life. The solemn quacks who attended her looked wise, gave her drugs, and finally left her to die. “It was easy enough for them to say, ‘She will die, no human power can save her,’ but how was it for me to bear? My own death-warrant would have scemed a mild trial to confront beside the certainty that the woman of my love was to pass away from me, with the golden promise of her youth yet unful- nature, that “In my extremity I thought of An- gelo. He had been appointed to the rofessorship of chemistry in the ecol- ege, and had already earned a wide reputation for profound knowledge of the science. It seemed ible that in the resources of his learning there might be a chance for the dying girl. “J went to him and asked his aid. At first he refused. What were human life and human suffering to him, who lived apart from his kind in a gloomy »gotism of hisown? I could not arouse his Fy mpathies but [ did arouse his fewrs for himself. Idon't know by what Yiolenge I brought him to her bedside at £ “A curious change passed over his face as he gazed upon the sick girl. His duli eye lighted up, and a flush came into Lis sallow cheek. Was it her wasted beauty, or her weakness and suffering, that touched his cold nature? Whatever it was, it made a worker of miracles of him in her behalf. He watched her as a mother might a child, dministere¢ powerful remedies known only to himself, and in a week had cured her. “ When she had recovered. I went to him and humbly begged his pardon for the violence I had used with him; he looked at me with a strange smile. “¢1 have saved her Site he sald; * but for me she would have died.’ *‘I know it,’ I responded; “I very grateful to you, Angelo.’ ‘“*Idid not do it for you,’ he said; ¢]1did it for myself, Do you know the old tradition?’ he added, with sudden change of manner. ‘He who saves a lifeowns it forever afterward,’ **1 Jooked at him with a superstitious thrill; but he was smiling, and it pases awny. I pressed him to visit auline with me. I desired him to be the friend of my future wife, and I said am sc. ‘Don’t tempt me,’ he said, gloomily. ‘ Youcan’t tell what may come of it.’ #* 1 lnughed at his solemnity, which I upposed to be assumed in jest, and took him with me to her house. During the interval prior to the day set for our marriage, he spent a part of nearly ¢very evening with us, and I, like a blind fi ol, was pleased at his friendly interest in us. *‘ He rarely spoke when he was with ;mostly sitting silently in some ob- secure corner, apparently buried in thought. 1 should never have known that be had ever paid any attention to ug, but for what he said tome one night ns we were going home together. Sie aused abruptly in the road, and, layin iis hand on my arm, said, in a rr tone: Fo Salvatore do you really love that r 8 was startled, but I answered, quickly : * ‘Before my own soul, Angelo. ‘“* Strange,’ he muttered: ‘unstable minds like yours arenot prone to strong 0.1 be, I “Uns e I may return: offended, ‘but I know her value as ll as any man could know it.’ ‘* “Yes,” he answered, on, ‘even a fool must love that woman. VOLUME XIII ” ty NUMBER 30. Ying man might sacrifice his chanoes for er “The subject was not renewed be- tween us; but I did not forget the ocour- rence, and shortly after mentioned it to Pauline. She tad never liked my cousin from the first, and she appeared to find something to alarm her in what he'had said to me. ‘“Salvatore,’ she said, nervously, ‘your cousin is an evil man. He does not love yon, and would not hesitate to do you an injury. Avoid him. Do not bring him here in. Trust my woman's instinot. I have seen the serpent where you have only seen the eccentric friend, “1 laughed at her fears, but promised that if I could avoid Angelo without of fending him I would do so. But it ap- peared that some subtle instinet had revealed our thoughts to him; for from that day he shunned my society and never entered the doors of the Di Porta mansion again. 1 had not forgotten the debt of titude I owed him, but Pauline's fears had impressed me more deeply than I knew, and 1 was glad that he had chosen of his own free will to avoid us. “On the eve of our wedding, I met An- gelo by chance at the door of my lodg- in He was engaged in conversation with the lodge-keeper's daughter, » coarse, low-browed Catalonian girl. He turned sharply as I approached, and the girl retreated in haste. “He looked at me suspiciously, as if conversation. “The girl is row,’ he said; * sage by her.’ “Very good,’ I returned, laughing. ‘By the way, cousin, I am to be married to-moxrow ; wil you not be present? ** Salvatore,’ said he, layirg his hand upon my shoulder with a smile, ‘don’t count on any event until it is acoom- plished. My words seem mysterious to you. Well, come to my lodgings with me and I will explain.’ “His odd manner gave me a sense of undefined alarm, but I permitted him to take my arm and lead me to his lodgings. His rooms were on the top floor of an old building. The arched windows were shaded by masses of rank vines, and glazed with squares of stained glass, through which the moon was shining with 8 weird, blood-red hue as we en- tered the room. A feeble taper was burning on the table, and near it stood a bottle of wine and two ginsses. Evi- dently Angelo had counted upon my wished to send a mes- once in his life. He invited me to sitat the table, and took a seat opposite to me, where the red glare from the window lighted up his haggard features. filled the two glasses with wine. I no- ticed, incuriously, that he held his hand over mine an instant before he passed it drank. "And what is that future to be for vou, Salvatore? Not the idle dream of happiness you have cherished. It must be what I choose to make it. Your lite, Salvatore, is in my hands.’ ‘I stared at him speechlessly. Had the man gone mad? “‘In that glass of wine,’ he con. tinued, with a slow, deliberate accent, self. Iflso will it you must die, and the crime. I do not desire your death, which only the fear of death can ex- tract. 1f you refuse to comply you have but a half an hour to live. No human power but mine can save you, for l alone possess the antidote.’ “I looked wildly at his haggard face. What I saw there convinced me that he spoke the truth. “!What have l done to deserve this?’ ! cried. ‘What do you wish me to of *“* Salvatore,’ said he, with a harsh, vibrating voice, ‘ you forced me to the bedside of Pauline di Porta. You tempted me to visit her afterward. 1 warned you, but you would not heed the warning. It has come to this—I] love her. I love her well enough to sacrifice ny salvation for her. You must yield her to me or die.’ *“‘Then I will die where I sit,’ I an- swered, resolutely. ‘ Do your worst.’ “ He glanced at me with a haggard smile. “+ See what love can do even with one so weak as you,’ he said, almost mourn- fully. ‘See what it has done with an iron nature like mine! I pity you but I will not yield. I saved her life and it belongs to me!’ “*‘You are a madman as well as a villain,’ I said. ‘Thank God she is safe from you whatever happens to me! “ ‘Read that paper,’ he returned, without heeding my outburst. ‘It con- tains my conditions.’ “Iread it by the feeble light of the taper. It was a letter to Pauline, break- ing our Shgagemmt in insulting terms, and stating that I had left for Rome in company with my lodge-keeper’s daugh- ter. hen I had finished he said : “1 have bribed the girl to leave Padua. Copy that letter, sign it and go where you please in safety, so Lhat you neither see nor communicate with Pauline again. On these terms you are safe, not othe e. “T tore the paper into a hundred frag- ments. “‘You have mistaken your man,’ I said, sternly. ‘Sooner than budge a foot, sooner than disgrace my love with such cowardly dishonor, I will die twenty deaths—I will die proclaiming your crime in the streets.’ “1 arose and attempted to reach the door, but could not. The fatal poison had already paralyzed my limbs, ana I sank back into my chair with a groan. “‘ Reflect, Salvatore,” he exclaimed, earnestly. * With a long life yet left before you, there is time to forget Pauline and seek happiness elsewhere. Withadall the human things cease to be. But little time is left you to decide. It was ten o'clock when you drank the wine. It is now five minutes past the hour. In twenty-five minutes you will cease to breathe.’ “He drew out his watch and placed it on the table. It lay in a patch of the blood-red light from the window. I ced at it vaguely, and saw that its ds marked five minutes past ten. 1 watched it while the glender bars of steel moved over five minutes more of my life, and then gazed 0} at my de- stroyer’s face. It had faded to the color of ashes, and his eyes inet mine with a look of horror. Vile as he was he could not see me die unmoved. *' ‘Salvatore!’ he cried, ‘ ten minutes “I smiled at him in triumph. With the abyss of the hereafter yawning at feet my soul was calmer than his. There was a dead silence in the room, broken only by the soughing of the wind through the vines at the window. The poison seemed to be benumbing my senses. Through a mist that beclouded my eyes 1 saw Angelo’s face growin astlier ever moment, and the watch ying in the blood-red stain. I heard him ery out Bfuin in a piercing accent, * Balvatore, fifteen minutes past ten.’ Then I sank into partial unconscious- ness.” “Once again I heard Angelo’s voice as in a dream: ‘Salvatore, twenty minutes pas. ten.’ “Then there seemed to be a sudden confusion and a shrill outery from women's voices. In a hazy way I saw the Catalonian servant enter the room, followed by Pauline. I heard her voice in wild entreaty. I saw her kneeling at Angelos feet, and I saw his pale face bent over her in awful emotion. Then an arm was passed about my neck and a glass put tomy lips. Ina few moments more I recovered my senses and looked about me. The first object that I saw was the watch marking Sweniy.eight minutes past ten. The next was my be- trothed wife kneeling beside me. ts k God, you are safe!’ oried ‘Your cousin Angelo has saved your life as he did mine. May heaven reward him.’ 1 glanced at Angelo and our eyes met. *“* Yes," I muttered, ‘may heaven re- ward him.’ “* Pauline,’ said Angelo, in a low, hoarse voice, ‘leave us together for a moment. He will recover, 1 swear to you. Go, I have only a word to say to him! “When they had left the room he ap- proached me, and looking at me for a moment in silence: * ‘Salvatore,’ said he, with a writh. ing lip, ‘1 have lost my game-—lost] it through my love, The Catalonian sus. | peoted more than I told her. Her con- | soience smote her—and she hastened to {inform Pauline of her suspicions. | Pauline knows nothing of jthe truth. | She believes that she has wronged me, that you were taken suddenly ill, and | that I saved your life. I thought my- {selt invincible. 1 was, to all but her { voice. I loved her too well to deny her even my own chances of winning her, { Can you respect such a love? Can you { balance it against your hate of me, and i let what has passed be buried forever | from her knowledge? Salvatore,’ the i man's voice trembled and his eye grew { dim, ‘what I carry in my own heart | will revenge you amply; will you let | her keep her respect for me?” { “His misery melted every | feeling of my heart. | *‘Angelo, I said, with emotion, ‘she | shall never know the truth.’ “ ‘Thank vou,’ he muttered, wringing my hand. ‘You deserve the happiness which is in store for you.’ * With these words he left the room. On the next day he disappeared from the city and was never heard of again, “This, signor, is the history of the half-hour. The poison left no trace upon me, except this white hair. My wife believes that some sudden strange illness caused it. To me it is the re- sterner " most terrible period of my life. Ancient Musical Instruments. Some years ago Captain Willock, when engaged In bis researches among the supposed ruins of Babylon, found a pipe of baked clay about three inches long, which, by common agreement of antiquaries, is of Assyrian workman- ship. This little object can hardly be | less than 2,600 years old, and is proba- bly the most ancient musical instru. | ment in existence. It has two finger | holes, and when both of these are closed | and the mouth piece is blown into the | note C is prodaced. If only one hole is closed the sound emitted is E, and if both are open G is produced. Thus the notes of this instrument produces the | tonic,the third and the fifth —that is, the | intervals of the common chord, the notes which, sounded together, form what is {termed by musicians the harmonic triad. Here is at once established a certain | coincidence between our music and that | which must have existed during the Babylonian captivity—a coincidence which to be sure a priori reasoning | might go far to establish, but never so | { convincingly to non-scientific under- standings as does the evidence of this { insignificant pipe. The least observant student of theart remains foundamong | the ruined cities of the Assyrian and | Babylonian plains cannot fail to be, i struck with the evidence which they af- | { ford of a strong and widely diffused | i musical culture among the kindred | | races who inhabited them. The fre. i quent introduction in mural paintings | { and bas-relief of instruments of music, | { the representations of concerts and long | processions of musicians, the repeated | { allusions in the Bible to the musical | i habits and skill of the people of Baby i lon, all point to a singular development { of the set of music. In the opinion of { Rawlinson, the Assyrians were superior | in musical skill, as they were in every | form of culture, to the Egyplians them. i selves, and the Assyrio-Babylonian i music was, there is little reason to | doubt, an early and yet a highly aevel- | | oped form of the Asiatic type of music | =a type which possesses to this day | most extensive and most characteristic | developments among the slow-changing | nations of Asia. If we are asked for | more positive proofs of the advance of music among this nation, we point to the umistakabie, evidence afforded by | the constructional complication of many | of their instruments. We have from among the ruins of Nineveh countless i I ¢@ presentations of the harp, with string | | varying in number from ten to twenty- | | six; of the lyre, identical in structure, though not in shape, with the lyre of Greece; and of an instrument differing from any known to modern musicians. It was harp-shaped, wns held horizon- tally, and the strings, six toten in pum- ber, were struck by a plectrum held in the right hand; it has been 2alled the asor.from its resemblance to the Hehrew | instrument of that name. We nnd frequent representations of a guitar- | shaped instrument, and of a double | pipe with a single mouth-piece, and | finger-holes on each pipe. Besides these the Assyrians had musical bells, trum- | ets, flutes, drums, cymbals and tam- | rines. Almost every one of these | instruments, either in its original form | or slightly moditied, is in use to this day | by some one Asiatic or African nation. | The ancient Greeks adopted the lyre | and the double pipe; the former is still | used by the Abyssinians under thie name of kissar (Greek, kithara.) The double pipe the present writer has hiroself seen in use by the boatmen of the Nile. The | guitar of the Abyssinians is probably | identical with the long-necked guitar or | tambora depicted: on both Lgyprian and Assyrian monuments, and still in use all over the East and even in Hin- ostan. The ancient Assyrian harp is remarkable for not having the * front pillar” which completes the triangle in the European harp, and this apparent defect of construction is characteristic of every sort of harp employed in Asia at this day. On Assyrian bas-reliefs we | find representations of concerts, in which several of these instruments are | taking part. In one, for instance, we see seven harps, two double pipes, a drum, and the above-mentioned nsor.— New Quarterly Magasine, His Last Dollar, The other morning, says the Carscn (Nev.) Appeal, a stranger might have been noticed standing in the rear of the mint watching an olf woman pick up sticks. She must have heen about eighty years of age. Her old calico dress | was full of holes, her face wns as wrink- led as tripe and as brown ns leather. Every time she stooped to pick up a stick she was obliged to do so with a ainful effort. She raked over the dry eaves with palsied hands and all the worthless little pieces went into her basket. A heap of garbage and ashes occupied her attention for some ten minutes. The man who was watchin her finally walked up behind her an dropped a dollar into her basket and then stole away unnoticed. An attache of the mint, who was near, bailed him as he passed: “I say, aid you give a dollar to the old lady” * Yes, I did, although it was about the last I had. 1 can’t bear to see poverty and old nge combined. I had a mother once almost as old as she, and as weak and palsied. I feel for an old woman like that, and she can have a dollar from me, if it's the last I've got.” *‘Do you see that lot over there?” “Yes.” ‘With houses on it?’ “Yes.” “The houses and lot belong to her.” An expletive was all the stranger had to offer as he turned away and walked rapidly up Carson street. It was his last dollar. cm ——— The skull and horns of an uncom- mon] large mountain ram were found imbedded in a pe tree in Idaho. It is supposed that the beast was caught and starved in the tree when it was a sap- The Use of Oaths, The London Sandard publishes the | following summary of the declarations { of allegiance made by members of the | legislatures of the countries mentioned : i In France, since the abolition of the em- | pire on the fourth of September, 1870, no {oath or affirmation has been adminis | tered in any form to members of the | legislature of the republic. Nor is | there any formality which might be re. | garded as an equivalent, Under the empire new members made a declara- { tion to the following effect: *‘1 swear i fidelity to the emperor and the consti. | tution." But the name of the Deity was i not included. { The members of the German parlia | ment take no oath, nor do they make | any affirmation whatsoever, The mem- { bers of the Prussian, and most other state parliaments, take an oath of loy- alty beginning with the words: “1 [swear by God the Omnipotent and Omniscient,” and concluding with the i words, “so may God help me." To | this latter formula those who wish it | may add, “through Jesus Christ, to | eternal bliss, Amen.” Any one refusing to take the oath, or commenting upon it would undoubtedly be excludeu from the Prussian and other state parlia- ments. Inconformity, however, with the laws regulating the administration 'of'oaths in civil and criminal courts, an exception would be made in the case of persons belonging to recognized i theistic religious communities, who, | like certain Mennonite and Jewish | sects, regard the name of the Deity as {too awful to be invoked in the trans. { action of secular business. In these | cases a simple affirmation would be re- | garded as equivalent to an oath. The i omission of any cath in the German parliament is occassioned by the wish | to avoid the delicate question as to the { amount of loyalty due to the emperor, | in contradistinction to state severeigns, By the law passed on the 15th of May, | 1868] Parliamentary oaths were abol. { ished in Austria, and a simple affirma. {tion was substituted. The first para | graph of the standing orders of the A as- {trian reichsrath reads as follows: |“ New members, on entering either of | challenge, in piace of taking an oath, constitution, as well as of ail other their duties.” Upon the president reading words to this effect, the new member simply replies, “I promise.” Articles thirty-seven and thirty-eight that deputies, before they can tike their seats, shall make the following oath, Pennsylvania Farms, The road ran southeast for a few miles through rich bottom. lands. Here and there a small, snug farmhouse was sot in a space absolutely bare of trees; an enormous red.-roofed barn, ocorn- cribs, patent beehives, smoks houses and cider-presses huddled about it in a bare clayey yard. Outside were great orchards, dusky and cool in the hot moonlight, the gnarled trees soon to red. den with old-fashioned Baldwins and Rambos and knotty golden quinoes; beyond these the fields of A corn rolled over the low hills, the blades shining dark and green in the glare; or fields of oats, the wind sending gray ripples over them, or an ashy, feathery stretoh of buckwheat, mounting up the hillside. The farmer's wife, in her calico gown, her hair knotted in a little knob back from her sallow face, was usually in sight somewhere, and always at work. She was picking peas in the arden, or she was making soap in a yuge smoking ealdron hung over a fire near the well, or she was drawing great loaves of flaky bread from an oven, while innumerable pans of gingerbread, or cherry. pies waited their turn. There was the sluggish calm of physical lux. ury a The air was full of the odor of pigpens and drying meat, mixed with new-mown hay and honey- suckles, Roses, which were delicate nursiings with town florists, ran riot in feverish erimson over the barns and henneries; the endless lines of hills which walled in every landscape were fawn-colored with the early chestnut blossoms. * Tons of these nuts rot every year in this State alone,” boasted the doctor. “There are enough chestnuts wasted in our mountain ranges from the lakes to Georgia to feed all famishing India. This is the best fed country in the world, and old Pennsylvania is the best fed State in it." Our travelers were offered boarding in the hill farm houses at from three to five dollars per week. They found shelter in an old house which lay di. rectly in a gorge between two moun. tains; the creek, which ran brawling down the gap swept past on either side of it, and met afta, leaving iton alittle island, mnccessible only by stepping- stones, which were always coveied by high water. In all the sevenily years in which the owner had lived in the house it had not occurred to him to make a bridge of a couple of planks. ** It is a piace for a murder,” declared Mrs. Mulock. The house was gray and the fences gnawed with age. id Nit- tany, a ragged, stern mountain, inacoes- sible except to bears and ratliesnakes, frowned heavily down upon it; the stream was full of whispering voices; which is read aloud by the secretary of the congress, all present standing: “Do | you swear to observe, and make oathto | observe, the constitution of the Span. ish monarchy? Do you swear fidelity | and obedience to the legitimate Kingof | Spain, Alfonso XII? Do you swear | well and truly to behave in the mis- | sion confided to you by the nation, | and in everything secking the weltare of the nation? The deputies then. two at a t'me, ap-| proach the table of the president, and kneeling on his right band, he remain- | i i ing sitting, they place their hands on the | Gospels lying open before them, and | say, ** Yes, | do swear;" and the presi. | dent then answers: ** If you do so, may God reward you, and, if not, muy, he | eall you to account.” Tue president of the Italian chamber of deputies, seeing a new deputy in his place says: I invite the honorable gentleman to take the oath in the form following: ‘I swear to be faithful to the king, and to observe loyally the fundamental statute and the other laws inseparable welfare of the king and the country.'” The new deputy then, in | his place, stretches out his right hand, | and pronounces the one word, ** Giuro,’ | (“1 swear.” ee | “ Success With Small Fruits,” ! “1 just rolled out here from the gro- | cery,” said the little green apple as it | RE ————— chat with the banana peel; “1 am | waiting here for a boy. Nota small, weak, delicate boy,” added the little | green apple, proudly, but a great big | boy, a great hulky, strong, leather | lunged, noisy fifteen-year-older, and little as I am you will see me double up | that boy to-night, and make him wail | and howl and yell. Oh, I'm small, but | I'm good for a ten-acre field of boys and | don't you forget it. All the boys in | Burlington," the little green apple went on, with just a shade of pit : in its voice, “couldn't fool | around me as any one of them fools | around a banana." i “Boys seem to be your game," | drawied the banana peel, lazily; * well, 1 suppose they are just about strong | enough to allord you a littic amusement, | For my own part, 1 like to take some- body of my size. Now here comes the | kind of a man I usually do business with, 4 He is large and strong, it is true, ut—" And just then a South Hill merchant oon- | and the feels right good came alon the foot, banana peel just caught him by post turned him over, banged him down on & potato basket, flattening it out un- til it Jooked like a splint door mat, and the shock jarred everything loose in the show-window. And then while the fallen merchant picked up his propert from varios quarters of the globe, his silk hat from the gutter, his spectacles from the cellar, his handkerchief from the tree-box, his cane from the show- window, and one of his shoes from the eaves-trough, and a boy ran for the doctor, the littie green apple blushed red and shrunk a little back out of sight, covered with awe and mortification. “Ah,” it thought, * 1 wonder if I ean ever do that? Alas, how vain I wns, and yet how poor and weak and But the banana peel comforted it and bade it look up and take heart, and do weil what it had to do, and labor for the good of the cause in its own useful sphere. ** True,” said the banana peel, ‘‘you cannot lift up a two-hundred- pound man and break a cellar door with him, but you can give him the cholera morbus, and it you do your part the world will feel your power and the medical colleges will call you blessed.” And then the little green apple smiled and looked up with grateful blushes on its face and thanked the banana peel for its encouraging counsel. And that very night, an old father, who writes thirteen hours a day, and a patient mother who was almost ready to sink from weariness, and a nurse and a doctor sat up until nearly morning with athirteen-year-old boy, who was all twisted up in the shape of a figure three, while all the neighbors on that block sat up and listened and pounded their pillows and tried to sleep and wished that boy would either die or get well. And the little green apple was pleased and its last words were: “At least] have been of some little use in this great, wide world.” A Harsh Retort, During the last political Snipaign in Michigan a well-known jEwyer that State was addressing an audience com- posed principally of farmers, in Gratiot county. In order to win the confidence of his hearers, he said: ** My friends, my sympathies have ways been with the tillers of the soil. My father was a practical farmer, and so was my grand. father before him. I was myself reared on a farm, and was, so to speak, born between two stalks of corn.” Here the speaker was rudely inter- rupted by some one in the audience, who exclaimed : ““A pumpkin, by jingo!” a cold wind blew perpetually own the gorge. Butthe dootor and Sarah found Cashmere. They fished for trout, or went on law-defying hunts for wood- nearly perpendicu- lar wagon-trails fen by the charcoal half-tilled patches grou about the ip of these lonely hill ters, boots, calicoes, sugar and spirit- ualistie doctrines to all comers. —Har- That Decelving Hammock. “I've been a fool!” wled Harper yesterday, as he untied a parcel in his front yard and shook out a new ham- mock. *‘ Here I've been lopping around all through this infernal hot spell when I might just as well have been swinging in a hammock and had my blistered Any one can put up a hammock. All| ou've got to do is to untie about 50 nots, unravel about 500 snarls, and work the open side was meant to go up or down. This pussied Harper for full twenty minutes, but he finally got it right and iastened the ends to two con- venient rees. Then he took off his hat and coat and he didn't quite roll in. He was al with a the grass and came to a stop mo iI of his under the sma * Did you mean to do that?” called a boy who was looking over the fence and slowly chewing away on green The boy slid down and Harper move. It's the easiest thing in the world Lots of men would be willing to do it on a salary of ten dollars per week. The trouble with Harper was that he didn’t all his body at once. The upper half got into the hammock all ight ut the lower half kicked and thrashed around on the grass until the small boy, who didn't mean to leave the neighbor- hood until the show was out, felt called upon to exclaim: “You can't turn a handspring with you head all wound up in that ere net, and I'll bet money on it!” Harper suddenly rested from his la- bors to rise up and shake his fist at the young villian, but that didn't help the case a bit. He hadn't got into that hammock yet. He carefully looked the ease over, and decided that he had the plans too high. He therefore lowered the net te within two teet of the ground and he had it dead sure. He fell into it as plump as a bag of shot going down na well, He felt around to see if he was all in, and then gave himself a swing. No person can be habpy in a hammoe unless the hammoco as a pendulum motion. The hammock of Harper's was just getting the regular salt-water swing when his knots untied and he came down on the broad of his back with such a jar that the small boy felt called upon to observe: “That ain't no way to level a lawn-— you want to use aregular roller!” After the victim had recover:d con- sciousness he crawled slowly out, gently rubbed his back on an apple tree, an slowly disappeared around the corner of the house in search of some weapon which would annihilate the hammock at one sweep, and though the boy called to him again and again, asking if a min- strel performance was to follow the reg- ular show, Mr. Harper never turned his head nor made a sign.—Detroit Free ress. A Strange Facet. The thinker finds various things to speculate about while passing through life. It is singular that man, the biped, is the only animal that requires amuse. ment. No other animal on the face of the earth is driven to the base expe- dients to which man is compelled to resort for diversion. Man, the pleasure- loving biped, must needs kill time; and if the criminal law were to select out of the murderers those who commit crime for the sake of something to do, it would be found that a vast number of innocent victims were used as mere wax dolls or dummies, and that the sotual and pur- posed victim was poor old time, h the time of these human beings shoul be created and given into their hands merely for them to kill is a thing which the Creator thereof can alone explain. Now is the time when the gentle housewife beseecheth her husband to write “raspberry” labels for her canned fruit, which she proceeds to paste on her jars containing strawberries, and the argument will not take place until next winter when the company is as- gsembled for the feast.— Kokomo Tribune. Buenos Ayres, South America, has ling, leaving his head to be overgrown by the vi “ — Harper's Magazine. 40,00,000 sheep. COST OF THE WAR. Interestinig Ntatement Prepard ¥ DPepartanent. On the eighth of last June the United States Senate passed a resolution calling on the secretary of the treasury “to ommunicate to the Senate the amount of money expended by the United States for all pur # necessarily erowing out of the civil war, and specilying separ. ately the amount paid on the iad of the publio debt thereby incurred ; the amount of interest paid on such debt each year; the amount paid each year for pensions, including arrears of pen. gions; the amount paid to soldiers and sailors of that war under laws since its close; and that such infor. mation be brought down when enn. venient to January 1, 1880." That statement has now been printed, and it proves a very interesting and remark. able document. Itis divided into three parts, which are entitled ** Gross expen. ditures,” ** Expenditures other than for the war,” and ** Expenditures rowing Out of the War," and the footings o which are respectively $6 844 511,431 03, $654 641,522 45, and $6,150 029, 008 58, A study of tue statement in detail is, how- ever, of the greatest interest, some items of which are as follows: by the Bpenditure growing Agr aprtations, oul of the wa, Expenses of national loan and currency Premiums Interest on publio debt. ..... Subsistence of the army Quarntermaster’s department. Incidental expenses of Quar- termaster's department... Transportation of the army. Transportation of ofoers and their Clothing of the army Parchase of horses for eav. alry and artillery. .... cons Barmoks, quarters, ete Heating and cooking stoves . 448,731 46 Pay, mileage, general ex. penses, eto., of the army. . 78,084,720 47 Pay of two and three years’ volunteers . 1,040,102,703 08 Pay of three months’ volun. 381.41 209.48 85,542 3 336,793,885 3,025,319 345,543,880 126,672,423 44 81,070,846 59 B68 505 41 14,386,778 29 6,126,962 65 Pay, ete, of 100 days’ vol. BRBAERS ssn = ssn sssnasnn ss Pay of militia and volunteers Pay, ete., to officers and men in Department of the Mis. souri Pay and supplies of 100 days’ volunteers » Bounty to volustesrs and regulars on enlistment... Bounty to volunteers and their widows and legal heirs ....* Additonal bounty act of July 28, 1866 Collection and payment of bounty, ele, Ww colored soldiers, o10.... on ssnss Reimbursing States for mon. eys expended for payment ol military service of Uni $44,150 55 4 824,877 68 38,622,046 20 $1,760,545 95 69,998,786 71 268,158 11 9,635,812 86 Delmying the expenses of minute men and volunteers in Pennsylvania, Mary. land, Ohio, Indiana and 507,178 50 1,297,066 35 9,713,873 13 45,108,770 36 196,048 32 Expenses of recruiting Druitt and substitute fund... Medical and hospital depart. TOBE. co sist nnansransens Meodioal and surgical history and statistios Providing tor comlort of sick, wounded and dis charged soldiers Freadmen's hospital and asy- 2,232,785 12 BEEN a sae sass sens sans nasnie 123,487 40 Artificial lambs and appli- 509,283 21 4,663,681 71 55,933,932 83 10,218,472 08 23,608,489 32 76,378,935 13 3,128.906 681,587 42 29,800 00 8,546,184 76 170,998 88 Ordpancelservion. ....... : Ordoance, ordnance stores and supplies Armament of fortifications National armories, arsenals, Purchase of arms for volun. tears and regolars. «ooo Payment of expenses under reconstraction sols. ...... Seoret Servion. oo coos cress Medals of honor Support of National home lor Sisabled volunteer soldiers Publication of official records Contingencies of the army and adjutant-general’s de. partment .... cian einen Preparing register of volun. taers Army pensions Telegraph for military pur. poses Anintenance of gunboat feet i Koeping, transporting and supplying prisoners of war Constroction and mainte. Anos of stearn-rams Signal service. ... ..cocivns Gunboats on the Western FIVOIS cone sisssnsssnnnsns Supplying, transporting and ed arms and muni. tions of war to loyal oiti- gons in States in revolt against the government of the United States... .. . Collecting, organizing drilling volunteers Tool and siege tring Completing the delenses of Washington Commutation of mations to prisoners of war in Con- federate States. .... .. 2,726,608 75 1,015 45 407,429,192 80 2,500,085 80 5,244,684 32 7,660,411 69 1,370.730 42 143,797 66 3,239,314 18 1,649,506 57 29,001,666 57 702,260 00 912,283 01 and 320,636 62 4,162,848 39 Purchase of Ford's theater. . 88,000 00 Hondstones, erection of head- tones, pay ol superinten- dents, and removing the romain #8 of officers 10 na. {ional cemeteries Captareof Jefforson Davis. . Supp rt ol bureau of refugees and treedmen.... .oooee on Claims for guartermaster’s stores and commissary sup- plies Claims of loyal citizens lor supplies furnished during 1,080,185 54 97,031 62 11,454,237 30 $50,220 91 5,170,304 54 4,281,724 91 683,748 12 74,462,304 34 16,368,623 82 1,604,790 98 134,178,006 46 25,174,614 63 31,422,004 37 1,087,744 08 30,800,302 07 11,340,232 08 808,252 27 40,407,318 67 2,626,247 00 499,652 94 404,531 65 7.767.615 18 1,862,132 vl 8,128,766 21 2,614,044 77 6,500,043 00 2,821,630 10 271,309 28 889,025 38 Horses and other property Jost in military service... Fortifications to the Northern Pay of the navy Provisions of the navy Clothing of the navy ........ Construction and repair Equipment of vesse Surgeon’s necessaries Yards and docks Fuel for the navy Hemp for the navy Steam machinery. ....... i Navigation Naval hospitals Marine corps, pay, cloth ng, ote . Naval noademy Tempoary increase of navy Miscellaneous appropriations Naval pensions. .......... Bountion tO SOAMON. . ..v cv os Bounties for destruction of Confederate vessels... .... Indemnity for lost clothing... S————— A ss The Oleander Poisonous, It iis stated that the oleander is a deadly poison, and may frequently prove a treacherous fondling if not carefull watched. It is one of Jour most beauti- ful window plants when covered with its large rose-like blossoms, but in these blossoms the weapon of death resides. A case is recorded of a child having eaten a few flowers and bein isoned by the same. The annals o he Peninsular war states that * a num- ber of French soldiers went out foraging near Madrid, returned laden with the fruits of their search. Oneof the num- ber, with a view of securing some wood to make skewers for the mea cut a quantity of oleander bows, an having stripped them of the bark, u the wood in the meat. The result was, that out of twelve who ate of the roast seven died, and the rest were d T= ously il.” The poisonous principle is go subtle that its exhalations alone are sufficient to cause serious accidents, and even deatli, to those who recline or slee for any tio ¢ under their influence. It exists (qually in every part of the plant, bat it is considerably weakened by cul- tivation.— Mural New Yorker. * Charles Collins, who has been called the ** Colonel Sellers ” of the West, when in Philadelphia attending the Irish con- vention gave the Philadelphia 7¥mes an nocount of the manner in which one of the expeditions to the Black Hills was stopped. The wagons in advance num- bered about fifty, and there were aboot two hundred ns. They reached the Keyapaha river, but waiting awhile concluded they were stron enough to move on, and that the rest o the expedition would come through ail right. Altogether there was inthe ex- pedition about six hundred men. The two hundred forming the vanguard ae- cordingly started off without waiting for the others to come up. Meantime General Sheridan, who had his eye on the doings at Sioux City, found out the expedition had started, and issued orders to Colonel Lugenbeel, commanding at Fort Randall, to send out a sufficient military foroe, with an artillery piece, and capture all the men and burn their wagons. Sheridan himself has said since that he gave this order srely to intimidate other expeditions that might follow and not with any expectation that it would be carried out literally, Inresponse to this order Colonel Lu- genbeel dispatched one Colonel Walker, witha large force of cavalry and an ar- tillery piece. Walker sent out scouts and found where the expedition was Satnbing, They had got about half-wa to the Black Hills, and Walker strue the advance party of two hundred first, He came upon them when they were eating breakiast. A warm morning in May, every man in the party haa thrown his coat off and many their shoes and stockings, all of which were ieft in the wagons, along with their arms and baggage, ; n er rode up to where they were eating their meal and asked, in a very courteous manner, who was the leader of the ex- pedition, The individual occupying that position stepped forward. “1 would like to speak with yous moment,” said the captain, affably, and they withdrew to one side a little. “1 don't want to be harsh with you men,” said Captain Walker, *1 orders 3 overtake ou, and I wonld like to & DAMES 0 your party. The leader of the expedition, being completely thrown off Lis guard by the captain's courteous manner, over his book containing all the names. The captain Degen to call off the names and requested every man as he answered should step aside in a line. This they did. No sooner had they all got a few away from the wagons than he hrew a fi.e of soldiers between them and their vehicles, and also planted his artillery piece at the head of the line to rake them if they sttempted to move. “Now, the man who attempts to move will be shot where he stands.” said Captain Walker, He then ordered a detachment of the then to take hold of the wagons. There was a small ravine not far away, where the desoent was steep and precipitate. To this place he ordered the wagons, and all to be taken, thrown over in a heap and the torch applied. The men begged to be allowed to get their coats and vests and shoes. Cap- tain Walker bade them be quiet, and told them in that the first man who stirred would be shot. He refused to let them touch their garments. In their coat and vest pockets was their money, watches, letters from their wives and all their valuables. would he allow them to take. Before their eyes the wagons contai all these precious mementoes, as weil as their littie stores of money, the results of long toil and hardships, the little savings of years, wee taken and thrown in a heap down in the ravine. The act was one of so utter heartiessness and brutality that the soldiers themselves revolted from it. When Captain Walker ordered a sergeant to SPRIY the torch the sergeant refused point k. “ No, sir,” he said. ** You ean put me under arrest for disobedience to orders it Jou like, but I cannot do that.” nothe: man was ordered to do the work. The wagons, valuables and all were burned. tain Walker having done his work then ordered the men to the front and began the march. He walked them a distance of one hun- dred and forty miles to Fort Randall. Two-thirds of them were in their bare feet, and, as their route lay over a coun- try thick with prickly pears, by the time they got into Fort Randall many of them could barely walk. Not one of these A Wonderful Decade. It is not too much to say that no great invention which had not its beginni in the decade of 1840-1850 has ap in the past thirty years. In thal period occurred the most signal development of the applications of chemistry to manu- factures and agriculture; an enormous expansion of commerce by means of railroads and ocean steamships; the discovery of ether; and the perfection and diffusion of some of the most pre- cious contributions ever made to the welfare of mankind. In 1835 only 984 miles of railroad had been completed in the United States; in 1840 they had been nearly trebled. 8,818; in 1845 they had been nearly quadrupled 3,768, In 1845 Bosten was convected with Worcester, and Baltimore with Washington: from Philadelphia the traveler could go no farther West by rail than the Susquehanna at Columbia. In 1839, Ericsson broughtover the pro- eller to these hospitable shores. In #40 the Cunard line of ocean steamers was established, but for a time only “ gide wheelers" were to + The first regular ship, the Britannia, reached Boston after a trip of fourteen days and eight hours. orse's telegraph, after vain offers on both sides of the Atlantic, was at last subsidized by our own government, and in 1844 communication was opened be- tween Baltimore and Washington. “What hath God wrought!” signaled Morse at the capital to Alfred Vail at Baltimore. The news dispatches to the press * by eleoro telegraph ™ or by “magnetic telegraph” were Ineager, while public patronage was so timid that the witso delighted father in Baltimore who “wired” the news of the birthof a grandson to a postoflice official at the capital—'* as it the mail were too slow at twentv miles an hour. In April, 1840, Goodyear was in the debtor's prison (a lodging almost as familisr to him as his own home) in Boston. He had the year belore found the clew to the vulcanizing of rubber, but the process was not reduced to a certainty till 1844, At about the same time (1845-47) the McCormick reaper was confirming the independence of the new world of the old as a granary. As late as 1836.38 wheat had been imported into the United States from Portugal and the Baltic, The sewing machine devised by E lia Howe in 1843 wns patented in 1846, but the importance of this invention was not full realisd for more than a dozen ears afterward, y The daugerreotype dates from 1839, and in 1810 the enterprising Mr. Plumb began taking likenesses in Boston—with small success for some months. Five ears later his *‘ galleries” were to be ound not only in that city, but in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wash- ton, and even Dubuque, Iowa. inally, July 24, 1847 the patent was issued for Hoe's li htning press, with its ** impression cylinder,” the type re- volving on a circular bed, and a print- ing capacity of ten to twenty thousand impressior s an hour. ——T I A lawyer wrote ‘‘ rascal” on the hat of a brother lawyer, who on discover- ing it entered a complaint in open court against the trespasser, who he gaid had not only taken his hat, but had also written his own name in it. TIMELY TOPICS, ~The] Germantown hat our agricultural os, whic ive so many and oo Jolin Jor ast trotiing horses, m least a little for the t of the food which the noble animal is to eat. Premiums for well-grown hay, clean hay, hay from improved grasses, and weil-manszed hay fields, it thinks, would surely be worthy the attention of even a society. A wretched woman, brought lately to a London police court, proved to be the wife of an ex-officer of the army. She trate s an inebriste lum but it was explained that her con- sent was necessary and that she wouldn't give it. Ultimately her husband eame lor y The rate of increase in seventy-two cities in the Un during the decade is 34.80 rer oent. Denver shows the maximum rate—614 per cent, The gain in San Francisco is nearly half as much as that of Brook Francisco, 77,877 ; Pittsburg, 92,439, Total, 1,166,851. pleyers which will vantage to them the Agricultural statistics show that inthe last fifteen years the production of wheat and barley in the United States has doubled; that of corn, cotton and tobacco more than doubled; potatoes nearly doubled; bay sed more than one-third and oats about 140,000, 000 bushels. The increase in tern States. During the present gener- ation the corn-center has been transfer- red from the South to the West, and the wheat-center from the Middle Siates to the far West. production of tobacco increased 100.000. 000 pounds, mainly iz the South; while Texas and Arkansas have been the chief contributors to the increase of two and a quarter million pounds of cotion in the same time. In the former 157,000,- 000 were raised in 1870, and 500,000,000 in 1878; ix the latter 112,000,000 pounds in *70, and 318,000,000 in "78. Ever since the mutiny of 1857 the peo ple of British India have been disarmed, though generaily in yiliages bordering upon a forest one or two inhabitants are licensed to carry a matchlock, which, although useful in driviages hogs, isof small value in tiger slaying. This, therefore, becomes especially the busi- ness of the magistrate of the district. J uently, when a tiger appears in the ne ifubotlood, one or two officials itech their camp in his neighborhood, ut are thwarted for weeks by his cunning, and sometimes do not get him 2, my, 15% J ee m susp , An est — When once a tiger be- come a man-eater he seems to care only for man, and ou this account usually comes off rather short of food, and when killed seldom presents a pros- rous ap ce. Notone tiger in a Se Penrose. is a man-eater; but ge a as age, and it has often Lap) whole of the inhabitants will, after re- Ee 10 a ne ng h as frequently happened in Central In. dis, but is now rare. Increase in Value of Farm Lands. The publication of the report of the United States commissioner of agricul. ture shows that, in addition to the hounteous crops which the farmers will gain this year, they have also been made richer by the increase of about eight per cent., taking the a for the whole country, in the Brice farm lands, snd compared with the prices one year earlier. The timbered ds show a tendency to app in more rapidly than the cleared land. The following table will show the average increase in price of the cleared and timbered lands: Average incronse . 22328338582 - eNO oamo g RggeazEgs S2858838322888%82 8s zg EERE EE 28K EEEL2RARESERS8E2ERERY enEta ERE llounsunsnanasbnBR3sR28S Suicides. The frequency of suicide recalis an Napoleon. On one occasion a goldier of the consular guard committed snicide from a disappointment in love, when Napoleon issued the following order of the day: “The Grenadier Gobain had committed suicide from love. He was ir other respects an excellent soldier. This is the second incident of the kind within a month. e clause directs to be inserted in the order book of the that a soldier ought to know how to vanquish the pangs and melancholy of the passions; that there is as much true courage in bearing up against wental sufferings with con- stancy as in remaining firm on the walls of a battery. To yield ourselves to grief without resistance, or to kill our- selves to escape affliction, is to abandon the field of battle before the victory is gained.” The exposure of the of suicides to public gaze in France, it is said, had a powerful effect in diminish- ing the number of cases. Ir is weary of life let him start out of New York ons steamboat. Death by one's own hand is a cowardly under. thought to be |ass. To be ged and true # should: e be, inall the g % 2 He w 4 = gst ERE k g Es i
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers