SALLY 8hall I do this, sir, and shall I do tha Shall I go in, sir, and shall I go out Shall it be bonnet, or shall it be hat, sir? State your opinion; I'm sadly in doubt, Shall I go riding, or shall I go walking? Shall I scoept it, or shall 1 refuse? Shall 1 be silent, or shall I keep talking? Give me your advice, I cannot well choose. Thus do we pander to others’ opinions, Wearing +1. garb of Society's slaves; Fashion's nt.and we are her minions, Robbing ves of the freedom it craves, sir? Ought I to visit Lier, ought I to cut her? Shall I be {ric dly, or shall I be cold? Shall I look bo.ddly, or peep through the shutter? Shall I give silver, or shall I give gold? 'W hat will be said if I stay from the dinver? Will they proclaim me a saint or sinner ? 1f not the former I go not at all. Thus do we pander to others’ opinions, Wearing the garbof Society's slaves ; Robbing our life of the freedom it craves. Why not go forward, andaunnted, unfearing, Doing the thing that is lawful and right? Caring not who may be seeing or hearing Shunning the darkness, and courting the irht, Surely, if conscience forbear to upraid us, Well nity we lan gh atthe verdict of fools; God is our guide-~for his service he made us— Not to be ruled by the makers of rules. Pander no longer to others’ opinions ; Wear not the garb of Society's slavesy Be not of Fastion the pitiful minions; Reb not vour life of the freedom iteraves, HR RRP SRSA IN PARTNERSHIP, and Pedro Valencia h a fragrant buckeye by the roadside awaiting the arrival of the stage, then due at the village of Campo Seco. It was the twilight of a warm summer's day, and the cool breeze which had sprung up seemed to have freshened the perfumes of withering wild flowers and dr ng grasses. The twolmen stood i watchful under the shadow anging foliage, occasionally pg impatiently down the road, w: their position, sloped pre- for a considerable distance, an abrupt turn at the foot of and then descending a deep into the bottom of which the sun never penetrated, “There she comes!” It was Martin who spoke. Pedro bent forward and listened intently. muring canon floated the creaking of wheels and the jingling of harness. Jack stood bene: heard, followed by the hoarse voice of newed exertion. Pedro turned and found himself face to face with a hood- ed form armed with a double-barreled ghot-gun. He expressed no surprise, buckeye sank into the red earth of the bar & by the roadside, and lifting a ,un- ny sack similiar to that which covered the upper portion of his companion’s body, drew it over his head. Drawing grossed the road and disappeared in the ¢haparral. Martin stood close in the shadow of the buckeye, The stage crawled lazily out of the on. er occupied the box, and the nger was a woman. When the icle had approached within ten yards of the buckeve, a shrill whistle sounded and two men with leveled shot-guns stood in the roadway. The leaders of the stage team sprang away to the right, would have dashed down the bank 8p their fright if the driver had not gkillfully reined them in. “Halt!” “Halt it is,” the driver zeplied; **but you might as well put down them Gat- lings—they’re dangerous, an’ might go off; begldes they skeer this young lady.” “Shut yer jaw an’ throw down that box.” commanded Martin, advancing with his gun leveled, while Valencia ped the reins of the nigh leader, “Which box do you mean?"’ inquired the driver. “Wells Fargo’s; an’'if you give us the wrong one you'll never drive over this road again.” tended, and a heavy blue box, bound with iron, and padlocked, was flang into the road. Martin examined it closely, tioned Pedro away from the horses, and quick about it, too.’ had disappeared, ' When the stage the partners struck canon. “Purty heavy box," remarked Pedro, “Yes, I reckon we've called the turn this time. If sand I’m goin’ to quit the business,” Martin answered. The two men struggled fn silence through the chaparral, crossing precipi- rous guiches and climbing steep ridges, until they reached the head of a gloomy canon, thickly overhung with young pines and chemisal, Here they deposi- | ted their burden, and tearing away a | huge bowlder from the hillside, revealed | a cavity that had evidently been prepa- | red for the reception of the booty. They | hastily thrust the box into the cave and ! rolled the stone back into its place, | care{ully effacing every trace of their | work. On their return to Camp Seco, they found the town in a fever of excite- ment over the bold robbery that had occu: ied almost at their very doors. The sheriff and a posse of determined citizens were scouring the country in search of the robbers, and the people | were anxiously awaiting the result of | the search. Not the least suspicion attached to the partners, who were re- garded by the citizens of Camp Seco simply as gamblers of the ordinary character. They retired that’ night weary with their labor, but exulting in the knowledge that their enterprise had yielded them the handsome profit of twenty thousand dollars, “A Jresiy night's work,” mut. tered Pedro Valencia, as he curled up in his bunk, after parting with Martin —'3 pretty good night’s work, Twen- ty thousand dollars! My share is ten {onanal This will ik me back to rango tations are cheap enough there, ta Maria! but I'll live easy after thus. I'll pass for a gold hunter and rich ranchero’s no. lars! That's a good deal, but it isn’t as much as twenty thousand. Why shouldn’t I have it all? He’s onlv a Gringo anyhow, and if he gets halt a chance he'll cheat me out of my share. ty thousand dollars in Mexico is a big ile, Let mesee, I can fool this Yan- ee thief, and I believe I'lldo it, I'll take the box out of the cache and hide it somewhere else, When the row about this robbery cools down, and the Gringo talks about dividing, we'll go to the place where we hid the box, and we won't find it, say some thief has watcued us and stolen our money. The Yankee won't {| know any different. { the time comes 1'll disappear. I might | thousand, i night.” And the robber arose, and dressing | himself, placed a revolver in his belt, and I'll have it this very { and stole forth into the night. “It’s the best job I ever did.” | cabin. “Twenty thousand dollars! My i share is ten thousand. Ten thousand | dollars, I'll quit cards; I'll be an hon- | est man; I'll get out of the State; I'll go { back to Missouri, buy a farm, and set- i tle down. I'll live easy the rest ob my life,” . i A smile of satisfaction overspread his | countenance as these thoughts flashed { through his mind, { “They'll never suspect me. They'll { think I made my money in the mines, Well, 1 did make it in the mines, didn’t I? It don’t make any difference how 1 made it, and I don’t care how honest { my neighbors think I've been. Ten thousand dollars! It won't be long be- fore 1 make it twenty thousand. I I hadn’t taken that Greaser in on spec. [ could have handled the job just as well without him. Beside, what does he want with so 1 money? It'll never do him any gol. l buck it off at monte, [1 wish" Jaci Martin arose and went to the door, He looked out. “Starlight,” he muttered. Returning to his seat, he puffed at h pipe with renewed vigor. “Now, that treaser,” he thought, *“*wouldn’t think nothing of cutting my throat for that money. Ill gets me in door, 80's he can get away with the swag, 1 won't t him. If he does the square thing I'll divide—if he don’t I'll keep the twenty thousand and he can whistle for his share. I'll hide the box in my own cache, and I'll hide it to-night.” In a few moments Jack Martin was | creeping through the pinesof Lame Hog | Gulch. He was armed to the teeth, and he knew a short cut to the canon where the stolen treasure was buried. Jack Martin crawled noilselessly through the brush on his bands and knees. The | pines, through which the night winds | sighed in ghostly cadences, shut out the | dim light of the stars, and the vicinity of the cave was as dark as the interior of a cemetery vault, The robber had | almost reached the place where the box | was buried, when his quick ear detected the presence of another person. He | paused and lay flat upon the earth. “Somebody is after that box,” | muttered. i A curse and a peculiar grunt of a { man who 18 endeavoring to lift a heavy | burden broke the stiliness, | ‘It’s that Greaser,’’ thought Martin. | “Well, if he thinks he is going to swin- dle me he is mistaken. His life ain’ worth the powder I'll burn to send him to perdition.” At this moment the man in the bush or 3 i811 the Ci 5% the ri rus he had been displaced. He dragged t box out of the cave. There was sound of crackling twigs and the noise | of jingling coin as the box was dragged i {16 the through the brush. Then a dark form crawled out of the thicket and strug- gled down the canon, dragging the box | behind him, Still Martin did not fire, | although the mark was a fair one. He even put up his pistol and followed his doubly dishonest partner, It was a long tramp-—the fixed stars were sink- ing low on the horizon when the Mexi. can reached the spot where he intended ! to hide the ill-gotten treasure. He had | scarcely disappeared over the summit | of the ridge after placing the box in the new cache, when Martin sprang from his place of concealment and disinterred In another hour the treasure had been reburied and Martin was sneaking homeward in the gray dawn, exhausted and sati fied with his night's work. A month rolled by. The excitement | engendered by the robbery of the Cam- | po Seco stage had subsided to a still hunt by Wells, Fargo & Co.'s dedec- tives, The partners, with hypocritical earnestness were talking of a division of the spoil. A night had been named for unearthing the treasure. Both men 1 1%, Fron tin was playing, his sarthy face filled with rage. “Jack Martin, I wal to see yououts side,” he hissed betwin his set teeth, Martin exchanged & faro chips for money and arose, Theerisis had arri- ved, The departures o the two men was scarcely noticed bghe other play- | ers. Suddenly they we startled by a | pistol-shot, followed alpst Instantly by | another, that rang outn the night air with deadly distinctnesi As the crowd rushed to the door, aman staggered | into the room and fell 3adlong to the floor. The bleod was ouring in tor- | rents from his side, an the pallor of | death was creeping ove his dark face, 1t was Pedro Valencia, | “Who shot you, Pedrd”’ inquired one of the gamblers, | “I did.” Alleyes wei turned to the door, in which stood Jek Martin, a | smoking pistol in hishand.’ ‘“That { knife,” he continued, *% proof that I { shot him in self-defense. { As he spoke, he pointd to a murder- ous bowie-knife which gdro clutchea in his right band. Thaedying robber raised himgself by a migly effort on his elbow, and regarding hisartuer with a | look in which importentage was min- | gled with hate and mall, gasped his denunciation: “Jack Martin—and —robbed the stage. money from-—{rom HOU mn 7? With a gurgling groan the Mexican sank back upon the flor, the blood | | gushed from his nose andnouth, and in | another instant he was del, The part- nership was dissolved. | On the trial for the nurder Jack ! Martin told the whole stor, and he told it truthfully, notwithstading the ad- | vice of his lawyers, wh expected a heavy fee in the event of iis acquittal. ! He confessed the robberydetalled the double play of himself ad Pedro, and testified that when the liter on that | fatal night accused him I removing the treasure from the plee where he Pedro) bad hidden it, he dmitted the fact, When be refused tidivide, Mexican had attacked hx with th knife, and in self defence b had kille his partner. This version { the affai could not be disputed, anda verdict o not guilty was rendered. But Martin had not vealed hiding place of the tweny thousand dollars. On his trial forrobbery pleaded guilty, and was sntenced ten years in the State prisa. He car- ried Lis secret with him, ad although | his term has long since expiad, the spot where the money was burid has never been discovered, notwithsandiug the fact that hundreds of men hve seéarch- ed for it in every directia for miles around Campo Seco, Aflehis release, Martin disappeared, and its supposed that he quietly and secretl} unearthed | the treasure and fled withit to some | | distant retreat, where he my be living | at the present time a highy respected | i { m—robbed the H stole the— | ®. Twenty | the the § the he | to tin, i ots sons A CMON SIL irish Fun, Sn Any one in want of light asl amusing literature, illustrating nations] manners | and customs cannot do better thas study the reports of Irish police cases, Never mind what the offence may be, some comic element is sure to beintroduced by either the bench, the bay or the ac- cused; while very request all join in the promotion of harmless mirth, At Blarney the other day, thee laborers were arralgned for nearly murdering a sheriff's officer on the high roel. Indeed, had it not been for the Inletvenvion of his wife, who happened to bd with him, they would have made a conplete job of it. Bat it was all a misike; as he lay on the ground nearly squseless, he heard one of his assailants sal: **Bedad. now, he's as dead as a herrig, and it's the wrong boy we've kilt.) For all that they did not cease from maltreat- ing him until, a hight being ruck. his | identity was fully establisisd, Then they all apologized like gadlemen for their little blunder, and the ‘untoward incident’ was at an end so fir as they wera concerned. When giviig his evi- dence the plaintiff stated fiat he had presented a latch Key at tie rascals when the affray began in thehope they would mistake it for a revoyer. Just in court he produced not ody a revel ver but a swordstick, and wien one of magistrates exclaimed “Why, you're a regular armory?’ I§ blithely answered, **Yes, your honog 1 intend to be just that for the rest of my life.” Another witness, being askd why he | did not intertere to save the plaintiff from being killed, replied: 'I'd have been Kilt myself entirely if I Idn’t run for the police.” In short. all concern ed appeared to regard the bmtal out- rage as quite a pleasant litle joke, $he wii | although perhaps carried a trije too far. and, when on the night selected for the | a a Ruoocking out History) i ———— ss— the head of ihe canon, each was prepa~ | si red to play his part. The bowlder was There isa wide spread belef among | rolled away, and the Mexican, thrust. | Americans that the Declaratia of In- | ing his band into the cave, gave veut to dependence was signed on the! ‘Fourth | .a well simulated cry of dismay, of July.” The writings (f John! “The box is gone!" he cried. Adams and Thomas Jefferso), as well | “Gone!” echoed Martin, **You lie, | the printed journal of the Catinental | you Greaser, you lie. It must be there,” | Congress, bear out this idea but a re- | “Feel for yourself," the Mexican an. | cent investigation by the chieflibrarian | swered. lof the Boston public libraly shows | Martin, apparently trembling with | that wehavealong been laboridg under | agitation threw himself on his knees @ mistake, The declaration vas read and reached into the cave. Then he | and agreed to on the 4th of Jdy, but it arose, and, grasping the Mexican by the | was not signed. It was ordejed to he arm, exclalined: | suthenticated and printed ddring the “Where is the box? You know where afternoon, and on the folloying day itis, Don't go back on me, Pedro-- | copies were sent all’ over the vountry. we're partners—we’ve risked our necks | On the 19th it was resolved that the together to get this money, and it ain't | declaration be engrossed on pirchment right to beat me this way, It's a joke | and signed by évery member.| On the | on me, ain't it?" 204 of August nearly all of the mem- | “I've played no joke on you, Jack, bers signed it. Thornton, lof New Somebody followed us when we carried | Hampshire, did not sign unt] Novem. off the box, that’s all, and they've stolen | ber4 of that year, and McK sh did not the money—that’s all there is about it. | sign until 1781. Of course ndone pro- We'll have to stand up another stage, | poses to change the day of oud celebra- Jack. Maybe we'll bave better luck | tion. It is & fact that our ence next time | was announced to the world ch the 4th This explanation seemed to sat sfy | of July, and that is enougl. The Martin, aud the partuers returned to | signing of the document was of less im- Campo Seco. For a week they pretend. | portance, i to plan her, | ) BINGULAR Aap . Tom Thumb it ay ence to his " Moderation is commonly fitm, and firmnoss is commonly sucoessil, We have faults enough of and need not be too seyere own, those Island of Key West, A traveler writes that on a recent sunny day I sat in the bow of a south. ward bound gulf steamer. I espled a small black speck on the horizon, then bought at Altoona and tells me how he worked on the reservoir which new fur nishes that city with water ; how he took contracts at so much a yard for A Pratuistoriec Race, Forty miles from BSabinal, on the eastern side of the Rio Grande, lie the Querera. The foundations, made of coral reefs of* Florida, numerous white house very vvarm in the glari is the city of Key Wes! runs up alongside the do ':, where there 18 4 mass of warm look: 2 humanity, waiting to extend to th warm reception. A wiik streets convinced sunshine, through the at everybody ind is warm. me looks warm, feels war A glass of water taken on a small table proves to be warm, and I am annoyed to find it warm, an hour I find a suitable room wherein to locate. which has one door and four and one-fourth windows (three-fourths of the fifth window belongs to another room) and all wide open. Why they are open I do not know, unless it is to let the warm air in, as il seems as warm inside as out. 1 endeavor to keep cool, bat find that every effort I make to that getting thoroughly warmed up to the situation, The city of Key West is built on the key of that name, which is one of the largest of the group of islets, or keys, which extend from the southern j of the mainland way southwest out i There are only a few small keys west of 1t, and it is the farthest south, being the most southern point of Uncle Sam’s possaisions. Its latitude degrees 32 north, The Key i seven miles long and four wide at it broadest point. The surface is and flat, and the highest elevation sixteen feet above the sea level, Al- though the whole key is covered with grass and scrub, but little of it 18 cul. tivated, as it requires a pick-axe to turn The cocoanut tree is the most interesting, with its long fan-like branches swaying in the wiad, and the fruit nestled close to the trunk of the tree in large bunches, Desides the ¢o- coanut there are a few bananas and several varieties of the cacti s3int DLL fut in 0 5 £4 18 24 The lowest temperature ever re- was 41 degrees. Jack Frost never covered the island with his white mantle, The town itself is quite odd. The building material 18 wood, and as to shape and style there are none, The buildings may have the appearance of a house, barn, stable, hayshed, woodshed, or anything; but they are all occupied as dwellings, The houses may be epect- ed on any part of the lot, and many on one lot in some places. They are not afraid of getting close together. The large majority of the inhabitants are Cubans, who were dissatisfied with their pine, hamas, and last is the Americans, who number about one thousand in fourteen thousand population. One hotel two or three boarding houses are the wholesale business is nearly all done in the auction rooms, especially in the live of fruit. The chief industry is the manu- facturing of cigars made of Havana tobacco, and the Cubans have #hat branch of business to themselves. There are more cigars made here than in any other city in United States of its size. The Conks are employed in sponge fishing along the Keys to the eastward. Ro i 1 i the Nolay lialiavs, A traveler in Europe writes; there were hard-working men and women in the train with me from the moment of leaving Paris. 1 marvelled how easily they assimilated themselves to their hard circumstances. There was am- ple space. as the passengers were not many, and when tired they would stretch out at full length or half length, or in the most crooked and twisted and cramping positions, and sleep and snore as though on the softest of bed. Pos sibly their own was no better at home. Possibly their rooms were too smail to admit their full Jengt! r sitting or standing. When gry they would run into the hittie resauraunts at the stations and get a bottle of wine and a loaf of read for a few sous, and on these would feast with entire satisfac. tion. But I have no doubt they would enjoy a meal of many courses, artistic- ally cooked, as well as the lords of the 1and through which we pass, and whose villas are one where the miserable huts and cottages of workmen are thous ands. After leaving Macon, which is the junction of the Marseilles and Italian routes, many Italians entered the train. Some munched dry bread and drank wine ; and the insinuating odor of gar- i eithe Piedmonte are They talk volubly to each other and sing duets from Italian operas with voices not the worst 1 have ever heard. They are in cordoroy suits and have tremendous hob-nailed boots on their feet and to their knees, They smoke pipes con- Two brawny men of stock of matches, I offer a “vestal’’ to the olderone of the two and he re sponds with a “Tank you.’ I look at him in surprise, and he says: “1 know you Inglesi by your bag.” And he points to my tourist's knap- sack. speak English, and he .eplies : “In America. You Americano ¥'* 1 Pennsylvania,” he shows me a mining store book of a firm in each place, and whose names were well known to me, with entries of all kindg and his name *“John Rod ** inscribed thereon, “But you are not John Rodgers in Italy 7’ 1 say to him, no ; here 1s the name in Itali- he tnrns on the last page of books, . ‘G "ry w fovanm ou of others, § driven from place by the decrease of milk and honey for every one ; how he he had been working in the mines ness was depressed there and ceased operation and how he was again going back to his family, Polar Bears It 18 no uncommon event for a polar bear to grow! along the ice-floes of the sea-coast, which is its favorite whik, village ; and, if the dogs see it, or smell it, it is very apt to be brought to bay near by, and then killed by some of the native hunters, who have been alarmed by the noise and outcry. A fair cn the open ice with a polar bear somewhat dangerous for if severly wounded, it may tear the hanter to pleces, The Eski iom wound any dangerous animals, YT a very brave people—that is, | brave—they generally go so close that, unless some accident with the firearm happens, the animal, whether ir musk-ox, is usually killed at ] shot. I once found an old hunter, however, in my cam Hudson’s bay whose hair and sc been taken completely off by of a wounded bear he had end to kill ; and once fi big bear with too hasty an aim, hoping save of his dogs that the bear had under its paws. He only wound- ed the huge animal, whi nstantly charged him, and was only d bya lucky shot just as it was close upon the hunter. Toolooah told polar bears cl and perpendicular that tl conld not w them wilhou in the wall of ice niches wherein to p their hands and feet, and ¢ in some instances, an ice-wall high that the hunters dared net attempt to climb it on account of the danger of slipping off and killing themselves, A British explorer in the Artic regions says that he once climbed to the top of an iceberg and there found a big white bear sleeping away inquiet possession. The bear, on discovering the party, jumped over the perpendicular side of » joe mounnain, fifty one feel, into the sea, and swam to the nearest land, which was more than twenty miles The polar bears live on seal and walrus, crawling stealthily up to the former on the ice-floes and hem while of the walrus oung are thus caught, for : ‘ us is twice as big as bruln, ordi t MELT 0 Bei for, being TT Y rst Toolooah to one seen sleep natives Lt culling it folie Yen. Away. § |! 5 I oles An Irate firide, “1 have urgent and important busi ness. ’’ said a young lady . when told by an officer at Essex Market that Justice Duffy did not wT Sum. monses and warrants on days. She carried in ber arms a large bundle, which she placed on the bench, and proceed to open it. when Justice stopped her. “Its wedding “1 want to show it ¢ ped in receive callers fx Sun ¥ the FY Mik rnoon., The dress. maker didn't inake the dress right at all. It's a great deal too large me, 1 look like a slob in it," and she was on the verge of tears. “What can 1 do about | Justice Duffy 1n bewilderment, «I want to have her arrested for false pretenses, She guaranteed that dress would it me, and I paid he: fore I tried it on.” “What does your mother say aboul Te mani for asked 3% the bee “Boo-boo-boo, she-she sa-says it f- fits we." «I think I understand the case,” re. i Justice Duffy. “Go home and vou will look like wedding.” a ——— marke slop cry fright at ths el songs have Two Lives “Songs,” said a favorite ballad singer the other day to the New York Jour- nal. *‘are a good deal like ladies’ bon. nets, You've got to keep changing the style all the time. A good song which becomes popular has two lives. When it first comes out and begins to catch on you hear everybody humming it, and when the bootblacks and newsboys take it up and start to whistle the tune ils popularity is assured. After a while people begin to get tired and you hear a groan when some fakir strikes up the air. When a few years have rolled around though and when you spring the song on the public again everybody be- gins to applaud. 1 tell you there is no story takes a man’s mind back like an old soug revived. 1 remember a good worried a good deal by a hand organ threatened to shoot me for singing ‘Ben I saw that man in the audience and when 1 sprung the song on him for an encore I saw the water come into his He may have cried because he hadn't shot me when he threatened to, ———————— A AID OI S00 Notd Women Defenders, The valor with which the women of Saragossa aided in the defense of their city against the French, still lives in the hearts of Spaniards, Two thousand and maidens of Madrid have reat things can yet be accomplished by the women of Castile, in holding a tobacco against the armed forces of the town military and cvil—to say n of the minor one ot i aati se and Snot ad urniture The cause of this out. ligious purposes, The stones are not hewn, but are Jail up in good shape, The land in the vicinity shows evidence of cultivation, At many places along the Rio Grande the ruins of these stone houses can be seen, often accompanied by evidences of cultivation of the sod. The houses were always built on a knoll or point commanding a view of surrounding country, and where there were many of them they joined that the whole would form a fort affording protection against neighboring savages, Almost every water-course and hundreds of gulches and valleys where there is no wal tain the ruins of these houses and ] tages, The rock used is always malpe- ris, or a kind of hard sandstone, A large hole was dug in the center of every village, haps to hold water, but there 18 no cer n it, and it is more lkely that they were used in reli gious rites, Large quantities of broken pottery are found about these villages, and in the few places where excavations have been made many articles have been found, and en skeletons, Urious Lire »% in diam- f tha ri : Va, oe diang o thelr dead, hide are Excavations ix ROW, {ft} i ALAS never found by mount i, but y walter A great deal of broken pottery is over the hills near this ch appears to bave been the one in that section. Ten miles on the divide, a wagon-load of petr! oyster shells could be picked up. T part of New Mexico abounds in petr cations of various kinds. Itis no 1 common sight to see trees three feet in diameter and fifty feet long petrified and often crystalized. The crystals— red, yellow, black white—are often very beautifal and would make hand. some ornaments eastern parlors, The petrified forest all tered bull will south Rhnsdodendron creek in Arizona has been written about 80 much that many have the mistaken idea that all the petrifactions are cone tained in this forest, ‘etrified trees are found for 250 mi of Sunset, Arizona. Major Stevenson, of the United States geological survey, has done good work here for the past two years in develop- ing the history of the Pueblo Indians, He has just shipped five car-loads of pottery, blankets, weapons, agricultu- ete., ete, illustrative of the manners, customs, and general civilizat { these people, but this work does not tell us of the people who swarmed over this country before the time of the Pueblos, who do not num- ber over 17,000, while the former people ies east ral implements, 8, won o must have numbered hundreds of thous. ands, and were probably identical with the mound builders of the western prairies and the cave dwellers of Arizo- na. coms sssmasss a AI A 57 5 fitstory of the Alphabet, The most ancient of books, a papy- rus found at Thebes, now perserved in the French National Library, supplies the earliest forms of the letters used in the Semitic alphabet. The stone tab- lets of thelaw could have been possible to the Jews only because of their po- 93 of an alphabel, and thus the modern philological science ig & common origin to the alphabet which is in daily use throughout the world. The nineteenth century before Christ is held Taylo by we the approximate date of t belie writing, and from that graw by degrees, while from Egypt, the home of the Jews during their long captivity, the knowledge of the alpha. bet was carried in all directions where alphabets are now found The Aryans are thought to have been the first to bring the primitive alphabet to perfection, and each letter and each sound may be traced by Taylor’s care- ful analysis through all the changes that have marked the growth, progress and in some instances, the decay, of different letters of various alphabets, | It is an interesting fact that the oldesy | known "A BC" in existence is a child's | alphabet scratched on an ink bottle of vlack ware, found in one of the oldest Greek settlements in Italy, attributed to the fifth certury before Christ. The | earliest letters, and later ones, are known only by inscriptions ; and itis | the rapid increase, by recent discovery, of these precious fragments that has in- spired more Stligemt reseaich and quick. ened the zeal of learned students in mastering the elements of knowledge of their origin and history throughout Mie world, As late as 1876 there were | found at Cyprus some bronze plates In- | scribed with Phoenician characters, { dating back to the tenth and even the | eleventh century before Christ, { Eachepoch has its fragments, and | the industry of English explorers, the perseverance of German students, and the genius of French scholars, have all contnbuted to group them in their chronological order, Coins, engraved gems, inscribed statues, and, last of all the Siloam inscription, found in 1880 at Jerusalem on the wall of au old tunnel have supplied new materials for the Mavens. From the common mother of
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers