Fooling the Jnggler.
An inquisitive reporter in New York,
has hod an interview with Miss Haidee
Heller, half-sister to the late Robert
Heller, the well-known conjuror. We
make wis extract: " Robert was very
much interested in all foreign oonjuring.
I remember on the Btreet in Hong-Kong
one day he discovered a little, sleepy old
Ohinaman at a corner doing the ring
trick, and doing it better than he could
himself. He stoppod, paid tho Ohina
man to give him a lesson, and the fol
lowing day hunted up the Ohina con
jurer and showed him combinations and
improvements on his own triok that
made the pigtail on his astonished head
vibrate with admiration."
" And about tho Indian jugglers T "
" I could tell you a hundred stories
of those strange creatures. Robert used
often to mystify them and expose their
trioks, to their great rage. We were
lying off some miles away before Mad
ras, on the steamship Sumatra, which
had broken her shaft just as we left
Madras for Ooylon, when a boat put off
from shore with a party of natives to sell
us fruits, and among them was one of
their most famous men of mystery. He
came on board, aud it Iwas suggested
that he should perform there.
"Spreading some sand on the deck,
he planted in it a mango seed, from
whioh he produced a mango tree some
eighteen inches high.
u Then be did some surprising things
with a venomous oobra, whioh he car
ried rolled in the cloth about his loins,
concluding with a very clever trick, in
whioh two pigeons, one black aud one
white, whioh were made to vanish at
will, to change from one basket to an
other. The captain urged Robert to
do something to bother the man, who
was very conceited about himself.
M So Robert suddenly asked to look at
one of the pigeons. lie took tho white
one. With a movement like lightning
he pulled the head off the bird. He
held the head in one hand, the quiver
ing. straggling, dying bird in the other,
aud then threw them overboard.
" The commotion was frightful. The
poor native shrieked and cursed, and
gave vent to his rage in the choicest
Bengal eee.
"The mighty white magician looked
with merry eyes at the juggler's dis
tress. Then when the row was at its
height and I began to feel nneasy abont
the issue of the prank, Robert suddenly
raised his hands—oh, those beantifnl,
white, wonder-working hands. He mys
teriously beckoned, as if summoning
the dove from its watery grave, and
pointed upward. (No one had looked
overboard after the first dart of the bird
into the water). Tnere was the white
dove ciroling round and ronnd in the
air ; in one moment it alighted on the
bit of carpet before its despondent
owner, unharmed. Games gave way
k. profound salaams and prayers that
the great white magician might never
die.
" And how did he do it ? Why,
simply by having in his hand one of his
stage properties—a white dove's head
which had figured in a hundred tricks.
Quick as thought he hsd turned the
living dove's head under his wing. As
we were so fsr from land, though set
free, it returned to the ship."
desk as a Fertiliser.
I was recently shown s grapevine thst
promisee to cover one side of the Bcotts
ville (N. T.) floor-mill. The proprietor
stated that the original owner drove to
Rochester forty yearn ago with the hams
of twenty sheep, but, fancying the price
offered too lew, brought them home and
hung them in the attic. A few years
since the present owner fonnd yo olden
mutton still unmarketed, and ordered it
hnried at a proper distance from the
vine that now displays such remarkable
vigor. Deceased animals are often used
as a fertiliser with satisfactory results,
being quartered and buried near fruit
trees and vines. The distance at which
the roots of trees will receive such nour
ishment is with dwarfs from ten to fif
teen feet, with standard apples, fifty to
100 feet, or sometimes further, depend
ing on age and vigor.
Two yearn ago I buried a large dog,
supposed to be affected with hydropho
bia, eighteen inches deep, near fruit
trees and plants, expecting them to be
fertilised thereby. The year following
I set a row of monarch strawberries
directly over the place of burial. All
the plants over the decayed body, and
near it on either side, died after repeat
ed planting; those next nearest were
feeble, bnt those adjoining these were
vigorous. This wss sa I had anticipated.
I have known large apple trees to be
destroyed by the application of fertilis
ers in exoees. The latter case was where
manure had been composted regularly
on all the soil occupied hy the roots, bnt
not high abont the trunk.
The poetry of fruit-eating is msrred
by the knowledge that the plants or
trees have been nourished by the de
eayed bodies of mad dogs and distem
pered cattle; but the facts of the case
tend to dispel such sentiments. In
stances are recorded where vegetables
seemed to be flavored offensively by
odorous fertilisers, bnt 1 think anoh
flavor wss received by actual contact
with the fertilizer, and not by anything
absorbed by the feeding-roots. Flesh
is reduced in nature's laboratory to the
pure elements before it is available as
plant-food. The moat economical method
of utilising the dead bodiea of animals
wonld be in burying in the compost
heaps, were it practicable.— Charles A.
Vrtrn, Monro* county, N. Y.
A Cheap Lightning Bad.
The discovery of an extremely simple
and cheap means to protect houses from
being struck by lightning has recently
been announced in a French agricul
tural paper. This consists in the use of
bundles of straw attached to sticks or
broom-handles and placed on the roofs
of honsss in an upright position. The
find trials of this siirple apparatus was
made at Tarbes, Haotea-Pyrcjieos, by
some intelligent agriculturist*, and the
remits were so satisfactory that soon
afterward eighteen communes of the
Tarbee district provided all their homes
with these bundles of straw, and there
have been no accidents from lightning
since in the district. Probably such a
"protector" would answer as well as
any—in case the houses were not struck.
There are a good many lightning-rods
that won't bear thst test.
A NINUULAR CASK.
A Maa Hwallawa Ilia galar Team an*
Mlavvaa I* Heath After Maraa Weaka af
Aaaar.
One evening recently Levi Wagonsel
ler, aged thirty-eight years, ana em
ployed in a cotton factory, entered a
restaurant in Philadelphia to got sup
per. Whon about half through the meal
he suddenly felt something sharp and
pointed going down his throat, causing
him intense pain. For a moment ho
thought ho had swallowed a large and
jagged piece of bone, but patting hiß
hand to his mouth instinctively on feel
ing the pain ; he found that his false
teeth wore missing, and he knew that it
must have been they which had gone
down his throat. The teeth were three
in number. They wero fastened to a
silver plate, and had !>oeu in his mouth
for many years. Recently the hooks
holding tliein in place had worn loose,
and the artificial teeth had annoyed
him by foiling from his month several
times. Plate and all had gouo down
his throat, and he could feel them
lodged againßt his breast. Alarmed and
suffering intensely, Wagonseller went
to his home, which wan in a suburb of
the city. He could cat no solid food,
and for two days took nothing into his
stomach. On the third day ho man
aged to force down a littlo breed and
milk. On this day the sufferer went to
the University hospital to 800 Dr.
Agnew, who, after examining him,
seemed to have little hope of saving his
life.
Wagonsoller then on mo to Philadel-
I hia to stop at hia sister's bouse to re
ceive treatment from her physician, Dr.
Stewart, who was called upon to viait
the patient on the fifth day after the
occurrence. He advised him to tako a
swallow of gin an the readiest means of
dislodging the teeth, which still re
mained in the throat. The patient fol
lowed his advice, and almost immediate
ly felt the teeth going down. Bat this
only led to a worse result. The teeth
moved down and lodged about one inch
and a half al>ove the entrance to the
stomach. Hail they passed into the
stomach, according to medical au
thority, the chief danger in the case
wonld have been over. But lodging as
they did the patient could swallow noth
ing, not even milk or water. It was ab
solutely impossible to get anything
down his throat. Milk was recommend
ed, but when ii would be poured down
as soon as the gloss would lie removed
from his lips it would oome back, exud
ing from ears, eves, mouth and nostrils.
The strangest of all was what followed.
The man lived for seven weeks without
swallowing a morsel of food or a drop of
water. Kven the jnice of an orange he
oonld not swallow. From a stout,
hearty man, weighing probably 190
pound*, he dwindled away to a mere
skeleton. Hia hands became horrible
to lock ut by reason of their loss of flesh.
Strangely enough, too, all the time the
man, who was perfectly conscious and
rational, ha<l no appetite, no craving
for food. The smell of victuals, he said,
made him sick. From the time he went
to his sister's house, four days after the
accident, he had not stood on his feet,
lying alternately on a bed and in an in
valid's chair. This poature be kept, at
the recommendation of hia physician,
until from lack of food he became so
weakened that there was no option in the
matter, and he bad to lie all the time.
Operations with an instrument was sug
gested by his physician, but this his
sister would not consent to, unless as
surance could be giveu that it would re
sult in saving bis life. This, of course,
the physician oould not promise, ami
no such operation was tried.
After being for over seven weeks with
out food Wagonsoller died, death re
sulting from inanition, or, iu other
words, starvation. To the very last he
had no appetite for food. The day be
fore his death he began to get short of
breath and told hia relatives that he felt
himself dying. Bp to the last hour he
retained Lit senses and talked freely
about hia case, instructing his relatives
to have a post-mortem examination
made upon hia body. In aooordanoe
with his request the examination was
made by Dm. Stewart and Agnew. The
plate, with the teeth in it was found
about one inch and a half above the en
trance of the stomach, tho hooks firmly
imbedded in the flesh. There were
marks at certain intervals in the throat,
showing the progress of the piste as it
passed downward, the prints of the teeth
being in several places plainly visible.
Had the plate, which was abont two
inches long and an inch wide, passed
into the stomach, in the opinion of the
physicians it wonld have dissolved and
the man's life been saved. As it was,
the piste passed down the throat in a
transverse form, ami once lodged at the
farthest point, displaoement was im
possible.
The Havener's Companion.
A good (dory is told of ex-GOT. Ma
goffin, of Kentucky. who in a good
talker and liken to do most of the talk
ing himself. Recently, in making the
tourney from Cincinnati to Lexington,
te nbared bin aent in the oar with a
bright-eyed, pi cannot-faced gentleman.
The governor, after a few oommouplaee
remarks, to which bin companion amiled
and nodded anaent, branched into a de
scription of tbe aoenen that he bad wit
nessed in different part* of tbe conn try,
grew eloqneat over the war, described
with glowing npeeoh the horaeraoea be
he had witnessed, talked learnedly of
breeding, and told thrilling atoriee of
bia battiea with the Indiana in the
Northwest. The honra slipped rapidly
away, and when the train waa ncaring
Lexington the two exchanged car da ana
parted with a cordial ahake of the hands.
The governor drove to an inn, and to a
number of friends he remarked that the
ride had never aeemed so abort before.
"Then yon mmt have had pleasant
company aboard." " Ton are right. I
met a gentleman of unusual intelligence.
We oo ti versed all the way over. Inever
waa brought in contact with a more
agreeable matt." " Indeed I Who was
he t" asked his friend*. "Wait a min
ute; I have hi* card," and tbe governor
felt in his pooketa and prrxlneed the bit
of paatcboard. "His name is King."
"Not Bob King?" shouted a doaen In
cme breath. " Tea, gentlemen, Robert
King: that is the way the card reads,"
waa the protid reply. A roar of laugh
ter followed. " Why, governor, Hob
King is as deaf aa a poet; be waa born
deaf and dumb 1"
Terrible Tragedy In a Farmer'* Family
The Morriatoum (Tonn.) Ditpatch
says; The small country town of
Hneadville, Hancock county, near here
and away from railroad oommnnioation,
has wituesaed a tragedy that exhibit* a
carious phase of justice. About eight
miles from the Tillage there lived a few
weeks ago a family of well-to-do farmers,
called the Eppersons. The family con
sisted of the father, mother, four sons
and two daughters. The father was a
good man, but was occasionally under
the influence of drink. At sucii times
he was dangerous, surly and unmanage
able. There had been some talk a Unit
the relations of the man and his wife,
bnt it was generally believed that thero
was nothing serious between them.
A short time since Epperson came
home one day under the influenoe of
liquor, and at once began to quarrel
with his wife. In a few moments they
came to blows, and he was beating her
very severely. At this juncture Joe,
one of the sons, ran in, and soeing the
state of things, went to the protection
of his mother. He was a deformed man,
having been born with only one arm.
As he interfered in the flgbt the father
turned from bis wife and attacked Joe
sayagoly, declaring he would kill him.
Being hard pressed, Joe whipped ont a
knife and commenced cntting his father.
In a few minutes the old man fell to
the floor. In the meantime bis eldor
brother had entered the room, and see
ing Joe engaged in a deadly conflict
with his father, determined to take his
father's part. He, therefore, Jdrow his
pistol, and leveled it at his brother.
Before he oould Are his mother ran be
tween Joe and the pistol, and received
the ball in her breast. The son flred
ngain, and this time struck his sister in
the knee; and once again, this time
giving a boy brothers flesh wound
The fracas was stopped here by the
condition of the fi.ther and mother. In
a short time tho mother died, having
been shot by her eldest son. Before
dying, she bogged that her slayer should
uotbe prosecuted, lis he had killed her
unintentionally, and she did not blame
him for interfering for his father. The
futher died also, having been killed by
his second ron. It is said that before
he diod he also forgave his slayer, say
ing that the son was right to take the
part of his mother. The sister, who hail
boon shot in the knee by her oldest
brother, died also.
Of course the terrible tragedy created
intense excitement, even in this com
paratively law lens county. A sort of
preliminary trial of the men was had,
and they were acquitted of any blame
in the matter. The aon who killed his
father was held to have acted purely iu
self-defense, and the son that killed his
mother and sister was held to have done
so accidentally, while interfering to pre
vent the commission of an unlawful act.
Tbey were therefore put at liberty and
have been at large ever since.
It ia doubtfnl if the matter will ever
come into court again. Tho sons ex
press great sorrow over the affair, but
are known to be pretty desperate char
acter*.
Paying for Vermin
If * man pay* bis keepers for vermin
•o much a tail, he will very probably
pay for a good deal that baa not been
been killed ou bia own land. But as
vermin wander a good deal, if they have
been killed in the district, it come* to
much the same thing. If trappers on
any estate are paid so much a bead for
what they may capture, they are very
apt to borrow dead vermin from neigh
boring trapper* who may be merely paid
wages without any vermin allowance.
There ia no better sport than a good
rat hunt, with two or three ferrets and
s couple of ahaqi terrier*. Home time
ago I went over to a stackyard built near
a small stream; the bank* of the stream
were honey-combed with rata. We put
in tho ferreta, and the rata bolted, taking
headers into the stream like frogs. We
bad a couple of trout landing nets with
long handles, and as the rats swam down
the stream we ladled them out for the
terriers. Altogether, in stream and
stacks, we killed some thirty or forty
rata, and left tliem lying about. The
farmer himself happened to be away oa
that particular day; but afUr we were
gone one of the farm servant* collected
the rata, took them to his master, who
paid for rata, and got the reward. This
was fair euough. But that same morn
ing theae same dead rats were carried
over to a neighboring farm, and the
floor of an old barn was salted with the
dead rats. After dark the man tnrned
out with a lantern and some sticks, shut
the door of the barn, and kicked np a
row. The farmer came out to see what
was the matter; the man opened the
door, showed him the straw turned
over, all the rat-boles stopped and a
sooro or two of dead rata. He also paid
for them. I don't know if these particu
lar rats earned any more money. But
if any of the netguboring trappers were
working on tail money, he probably
would have the last pull out of them.
Fifty years ago the black rat (now ex
tinct) was very common in houses. It
lived all over the house—" up stairs,
down stairs, and in my lady'a chamber
—like mice; not like tba gray rat, which
is mostly con fined to the drains and
lower story. An old gentleman used to
pay his aon (a mere boy) eo much a tail;
sometime* the old gentleman thought
the tails were a little dry and abriveled,
and suspected they were not fresh
caught—in fact, tails that he had seen
before; so, when produced, he took to
throwing I hem in the fire. The boy was
a clever rat-catcher, and the rata were
getting scarce; so, when be caught
them, he cut off the taila merely, letting
the old rat go to breed. Ho much for
paying by taila I— Kn§Uh Paptr.
A Cure far Madness.
There are at present 1,500 patients in
the lunatic asylum on Blao,k well's island,
New York. The annual report of the
superintendent of that institution, just
issued, shows that the number of patients
discharged during 1878 far exceeds that
of any previous year, and this increase
is mainly attributed to the daily exer
cises recently Introduced to divert the
minds of the patient*. The gymnasium
in Amusement hail is considered the
most useful adjunct in accomplishing a
permanent cure. The ball baa been
fitted np with every facility for gymnas
tics, and the patients see greatly delight
ed with this exercise.
An Old-Tlme Censplracy.
Hfxly years ago there WM dragged
into the light of a London afternoon a
woo-bogono and squalid lot of men,
known in history ever siuoe as the Osto
street oonspirators. They had formed,
after a series of deliberations in tho
lowest of pot-houses in different parts of
the Britisu metropolis, a plot to assassi
nate at one fell swoop tho whole of his
majesty's ministers, whose heads, sev
ered from their bodies, were to be
brought away in a sack provided for the
purpose. Tho 23d of February was
fixed for the accomplishment of this
terrible crime, as it wan known all over
London that on that day a dinner, at
whioh all the cabinet officers were to be
present, was to be given at Lord Har
rowby's house in Orosvonor square.
Tho lead or of this band of assassins was
Arthur Thistlewood, who was the son of
a substantial farmer in Lincolnshire,
and had borne the king's commission
both in a militia and a line regimont.
Bnt ho was an inveterate gambler, and
soon got rid not only of his own bnt bis
wife's fortune. He was dismissed the
service and imprisoned for six msnths
for sending a challenge to a superior
officer. The conspirators hired a "loft"
in Oato street, jnst off Edgware road,
where thev assembled that day to await
the signal. After they had murdered
the ministers, they wore to scatter
hand-grenades about the street, sot fire
to the Bank of England and the cavalry
barracks, and aee what followed. For
tunately, however, the ministers got
word of the designs of Thistlewood nd
his gang, and the lwnquct was postpon
ed; but the Archbishop of York, who
lived next door to Lord Harrow by, hap
pening t< have a dinner-party that self
same evening, one of the conspirators on
guard, seeing the carriages roll toward
the mansion, hastened to give the signal.
He was closely followed by a party of
the foot guards, under the com
mand of Lord Frederick Fitxelarence,
and by u detachment of the household
brigade, under Lord William Lennox,
who is, by the way, the only surviving
participant of that day. The oonspira
tors, all save one, were captured, and
numbered nine persons. The leader
alone escaped. When the officers were
swarming up the ladder leading to the
roof, Thistlewood ran a sword through
the heart of one of them, jumped from
a window, and gof away; but the next
day he was captured in bed by a Bow
street runner, who thus gained a reward
of (5,0C0. These conspirators were the
last prisoners confined in the Tower of
L union. Koch and every one of them
was soon after beheaded; but to this
day no one has ever discovered the
identity of the "man in the mask," who,
in the absence of the regular hangman
—he declined to perform the task of
decapitation—cut off the beads of the
strangled corpses.
A Thirst for Knowledge.
Bdward Egglenton, writing in Sorit
ner of "Home Western Bchoolmasters,'
tolls thia anecdote:
"While tho good Presbyterian min
istcr wan teaching in our village, he was
waked up one winter morning by spoor
bound boy, who bad ridden a farm horse
many mile* to get the ' master' to show 1
him how to 'do a sum ' that had pax
xled him. The fellow was trying to
educate himself, but was required to be !
back at home in time to begin his day's
work an nsunl. The good master, chaf
ing bin handn to keep them warm, sat
down by the boy and expounded the
' sum ' to him no that be it
Then the poor boy straightened himself
up ami, thrusting his hard hand into
the p'K'ket of his blue jeans trousers,
pulled out a quarter of a dollar, ex
plaining, with a blush, that it was all
he could pay, for it was all he had. Of
course the master made him put it back,
and told him to oome whenever be
wanted any help. I remember the
huskineaaof the mir.iater's voice when
be told us about it in school that morn- 1
ing. When I recall how eagerly the j
people sought for opportunities of edu
cation, I am not surprised to hear that ;
Indiana, of all the Htaies, has to-day |
<>no of the largest, if not the largest,
school fund."
Later on, speaking of Mrs. Dnmont,
a famous teacher of her time, Mr. Eg
gleston says:
"I can aee the wonderful old lady
now, as she was then, with her cape
pinned awry, rocking h r splint-bottom
chair nervously while she talked. Full
of all manner of knowledge, gifted with
something very like eloquence in speech,
abounding in affection for her pupils
and enthusiasm in teaching, she moved
tia strangely. Being i ifatuated with
her, we became fanatic in our pursuit of
knowledge an that the school hours
were not long enough, and we had a
• lycenm ' in the evening for reading
'compositions,' and a clnb f r the atndy
of history. If a recitation b- came very
interesting, the entire aclu >1 would
sometimes be drawn into the d. enmrion
of the snbjeot; all other lessons went to
the wall, books of referenro were
brought out of her library, horr* wre
consumed, and many a time tfa-i school
session was prolonged nntil irknea*
forced ns reluctantly to adjourn."
ChryataTs " Xylophaale*,"
A pink-cushion—A rosy cheek.
The ink-quell—A pieoe of blotting
paper.
A continual atoning will wear away a
drop.
A blister la not the only thing a man
haa at hia tongne'a end when be pnta
the wrong end of a cigar in hia month.
A year-old baby with a powerful pair
of lanes it often the cause of a dire
domestic conflict—a regular Crymcan
war, as it wars.
The man who is, was and might have
been just M bad as he possibly oould
be, becomes worse when he strikes a
nest of wood been.
When a man commences to bore yon
by expatiating on a metaphysical sub
ject while yon are trying to write a col
umn editorial, you feel all over like a
sensitive tooth when a dentist is digging
around it.
We oannoi understand why a dentist
persists in asking questions of a pa
tient whose mouth is Sited with a nap
kin, a sheet of rubber, amend clamps,
three Angers and that horrible instru
ment of torture, the revolving drill
IfackmnXck Republican.
" Keep Year Heath Mat"
Dr. Elsberg lectured in Hew York on
"The Throat." At the ontset he
showed his andienne that be had not
come to talk about cough mixtures and
suoh abominable practioes as wearing
fur mufflers about the neck in cold
weather. He took it for granted that
his bearers were men and women pos
sessed of common sense, and deairou*
to increare their knowledge of the an
atomy of the throat and of the mechan
ism of its organs. To begin with, he
undertook to explain the mechanism of
deglutition or act of swallowing.
Physiologists, he said, had studied the
mechanism of the process of swallowing
for hnndrel* of years, and not nntil
very reoently was it fully understood.
The anatomy of the small voluntary and
involuntary muscles of the throat were
exceedingly difficult to study, and nntil
tho invention of tho laryngoscope much
had to l>e aooepted on mere tbeorv. But
by the aid of this simple little instru
ment the whole interior of the throat
could now le explored and as easily
studied as the nose, month and eyes.
Tho workings of the vocal cords and of
all the muscles of the larynx used in
speech and song could be seen as dis
tinctly as the strings of s violin and the
fingers of the performer. It was curi
ons to study the mechanism of the epi
glottis—a switch at the junction of the
windpipe and the gullet, which being
under the control of nerves which act
with lightning rapidity, leaves the
track open for the air to get to the
lungs, or upon the notioe of a hundredth
part of a second flies back and leaves ■
passage (or the smallest quantity of food
or drink to pass into the gnllet and so
on to the stomach. Mr. Elsbcrg thought
that "vocal bands " would be a better
name for the muscles known as the
vocal cords, as they were attache! on
three sides and free to vibrate on one
only. He exhibited a curious picture
of a pair of diseased vocal oorJa which
were so affected that they made the
owner speak or sing in two tones at the
name time. This patignt was cured by
the help of the laryngoscope, and was
present in the audience.
The lecturer strongly improved upon
hi* audience the importance of keeping
their mouths shut except when they had
something of value to say or something
good to eat. Oue man, he said, bad not
long ago published a whole volume on
thia anhject, in which be took the
ground that if hntnan l>einga would fol
low the example of the lower animala
and keep their months shut they would
be freed from a great many of the ilia
to which the flesh ia otherwise heir.
Many diseases of the throat were
brought on by talking and vulgarly
breathing through the month in the
cold open air when the mouth ought to
tie shut; and as for snoring, there was
no excuse for it. He had once invented
a muzzle to be worn by habitual snore rs.
Children when firstborn always breathe
through the narca, which were the
natural passages. Breathing through
the month was an acquired habit, and a
very bad and dangerous one.
la the Open Polar Sea.
Captain A. B. Tuttle, the Arctic navi
gator, from observations made during
several voyages, concludes that during
a considerable part of the year there is
a warm climate within the open polar
sea -sufficient to prodnce tropical fruits.
In the ice banner on one of his trips he
found bone* and tusks of the mastodon,
which in 1875 he carried to the Centen
nial at Philadelphia. They were so
large that some naturalists thought the
animal to which they belonged must
have been forty feet in length. He also
found some bard wood in the shape of
troughs imbedded in the ice. Tbey
looked like feeding troughs, and the
edges had the appearance of hav
ing been gnawed by animals. In
sailing west he struck the north
part of the coast of New Siberia,
where he found a race of people that he
thought no one had ever seen before or
heard of. They spoke an unknown
tongue which sounded like Hebrew.
They spoke a few words of Hawaiian and
the Esquimau language and with these
and the aid of signs they oouyeyed the
idea that they came from the north.
He was s little acquainted with the Es
quimau langnsg". having passed four
winters with that people, living on raw
walrus, whale blubber and bear meal.
During one of theae winters, which was
without daylight, he made a journey of
!W0 miles in the dark. During his ad
venturous career he has met with many
disasters, the most serious of which wsu*
an encounter with a polar bear. He
bail both arms and both legs broken and
lost one finger off his left hand, another
being so badly lacerated by the teeth
of the animal that it is sadly out of
shape. He also lost four ribs, which
were completely torn from his body,
which bears the marks of wounds which
it seems almost incredible thst any liv
ing man could receive and live. * The
polar bears attain an incredible site,
some being reported tojreigh as much
as 8,000 pound*.
Why fblMßm'i (teals Hiff Fire Rat-
" Why dom the mantle of onr nation
al costume have Ave buttons, neither
more nor tees? Tbta number *M not
Seed npon capriciously nor beranae of
faahion. We Chinese wear it solely that
we may keep tn eight something to re
mind u* of the flee principal moral
virtues which Confucius recommended
to na so earnestly. These are : Jen, y,
ly, to.ho and sin ; that is to aay : Jen,
humanity ; y, justice ; ly, order; tohe,
prudence, and sin, rectitude, upright
ness. Ton will perceive Mist humanity
stands before all the other virtues.
When one has humanity be knows and
feels that the unfortunate are to be re
spected ; he does not add trouble to
trouble, sorrow to sorrow or misfortune
to misfortune,"
Why ladies'gloves have sis buttons.
Neither was our number fixed upon
capriciously. It reminds ns of our six
cardinal principles recommended so
earnestly by Worth, These an slam,
bang, whang, boo, doo and boo; that
is tn say, slam, never be out of the
fashion; bang, always, if possible, be
the first m it: whang, daru the expense;
boo, stick to long trains, high beefs, sod
above all, corsets, till they kill you;
doo, marry rich; and boo, many any
how. Ton will perceive that boo stands
before all the other principles, —Jbe
York Graphic,
' American
The tastes of the A-nerioaa
•nova Id their selection of amei fr
their home*, era a peculiar end intereit
m tadj. " The Port Offlo* Oii le,"
whiob (five* a lUt of ell tho portodlvM
tn the country, furnishes the
v 'W tome queer com peri* iu by soy
one who lie* the patience to nuke tie
ueoesanrv investigations. We have fl ret
a natural speculation m to who sslectel
the name of At, a town in Fulton coun
ty, Ohio, or the name of AlamoJj, m
Missouri. Indeed, the aniqne name*
are themaelvea a curiosity. Why for
instance, should there be only one port
office in the United States celled Alice
or Acorn Hill (title* frequent and natur
al), while there are aix placee called Ava
and ten called Avoca ? And why when
there are twenty Aurora*, should there
be only one Rainbow, that in Connecti
cut ? Do not a people who select Ark
port, Arkvil) and numerous other " Ark "
compounds, Noah and two Ararats, re
member the whole story 0 f the bow of
promise ? Coming to facta which seem
to show a lack of invention, or at leasts
laziness that shirks new selections, it is
noticeable how many towns borrow their
names from the next door. There are
seven hundred and fifty "Wests," six
hundred " East*," seven hundred sod
eighty " Norths" and six hundred
"Souths," and besides theae there are
seven hundred ana twenty-one towns
beginning with "New," one hundred
and seventy-five beginning with "Cao
ter," one hundred and forty with " Mid
dle, "one hundred and twenty " Littles "
and one hundred and two "Bigs." It
shown something of the American choice
of language that there are one hun/lred
and two " Big " places and only eight
teen that begin with "Great " Wnile
there are thirty-seven places thst begin
with " Cold," there are only four thai
begin with " Hot"
In trees the oak ha* had the greatest
influence. There are one hundred and
eighty places named for it. Those that
follow it are, in order, pine, cedar, ash,
maple, cherry, elm and walnut " Fjt
est' fixes its name to sixty-six towns; and
while there are sixty-eight " Blooms,"
there are only four " Blossoms -an
other evidence of choice in words. Ani
mals have had their influence, too.
Reckoning " Deer " and " Buck " as
the same, they are most numerous, being
one hundred and five. Next after them
come "Elk*," after which there are
seventy-one towns named. The "Eagles"
and " Beavers " each number fifty-four.
After them come wolf and then boar. In
oolors, green is far the most abundant;
and after it arc white, brown, black and
then bine. Nature makes a claim to
ninetr-two "Glens," forty-one "Coves,"
four hundred " Mounts " and one ban
dred and seventy-five "Springs." And
there are one hundred and seventy-five
" Saint#,"
Hamming-Bird*.
A* an illustration of the luxuriant d -
velopment of tropic*] natore, and tfa
obangtwacd varieties consequent upon
natural selection, Mr. Wallaoe give* *
detailed aooount of the family of the
hummingbird*. Theee beautiful little
creature* are found only in America,
and are a)moat exclusively confined to
the tropical tone. There are 400 differ
ent specie*, Ibe largeet about the star
of a swallow, and the smallest scarcely
larger than a humble-bee. They live
npou honey, which they extract from
flowers, but require also a certain pro
portion of insect food. In Juan Fer
nandez, ibe humming-birds, which be
long to a Chilian species, form a vety
good illustration in the changes through
which they have passed, of vahatKm
and natural selection, the factor* in those
change* lieing abundance of food, and
freedom from the competition of any
rival specie*.
The tongue of the humming-bird i*
tubular and retractile ; it ia very long,
and is capable of being extended far be -
yon 1 the beak, and rapidly drawn back,
so as to *nck np honey from the nec
taries of flowers and capture small in
sects. Been in its familiar haunts poised
on rapid wing in the vivid aunlight. the
humming-bird gleams like a jewel with
the iridescent hnee of the amethyst, the
ruby and the sapphire ; but like the
parrots ol its native forests, the baaie of
it* brilliant coloring is green, not a
soft, silky green, such as adorns the
parrot'* neck and breast, but a bright,
dazzling metallic hoe, which seem* to
reflect every varying gleam of the rao
ahine.
The flight of these little creatures u
inconceivably rapid. " The bird," Mr.
Wallace says, •* may be said to live in
the air—an element in which it perform*
every kind of evolution with the great
eat ease, frequently rising perpendicu
larly, flying backward, pironetiiug or
uauciug oft a* it were, from place to
place, or from one part of a tree to an
other, sometimes descending, at other*
•mending."
Indfan Hand Annihilated.
A Portland (Oregon) dispatch say*:
"Information baa been received at Lew
is ton, Idaho, by messenger from the
Lower Weiser, mat the settlers in that
locality, some three weeks previous!*,
bad organised to porana into the Sal
mon River mountain* a band of Indiana,
who. after being disponed by Oeoeeal
Howard last summer, bad raided that
country, driven off a took, and killed a "
man named Man Jay and two others who fl
£ armed them. They alao killed Dan M
I rooks and hi* companion while sleep- "
ing in their camp, and made their cacapa
into the moon tains between Payette and
South Fork, on Salmon river. Three
Indiana were reported to be returning
toward Payette, when the settlers or
gan tied to intercept them. They pro
ceeded serosa to Payette, and eoon found
signs of Indiana. They quietly n
oonaoitercd and made a discovery of
their camp. Awaiting a favorable oppor
tunity when all were in camp and net
in the least expecting the near p mesne*
of the white men, they surprised tee
Indian* and killed thirty six of their
ntimber, and only two or three arc
known to have escaped death. An ex
■ruination of the belies disclosed toe
fact that they were Indians who had
been fed by settler* at their houses be
fore the Bannock war, when they pro
fenced great friendship few the whites,
bat who, on the first outbreak, fled
from the valley and went to Malbmra,
and were afterward knows to be with
the hostile* in Umatilla oonuty, Ore-