Centre Democrat. (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, June 05, 1879, Image 3

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    MARY CLEMMKit ON GRANT.
Frt'in th In depend not.
A man never lived who personally
possessed in a less degree the qualities
which inspire enthusiasm. The fact
that the euchantment of distance and
the manipulations of politicians have
lifted him into a hero in the minds of
those who know him least, only prove
how marvelous are th.e powers of the
human imagination.
Fatally, for such glamour, I know
Grant well. It was my misfortune to
live for eight years in the very tliiek
of his civil administration. It was
impossible that I should be mistaken
in its character. An Administration
more corrupt never cursed a country.
This was true while Grant himself
was, at least, negatively an honest
man. He did not nick and steal him
self, though lie harbored and trusted
thieves. He had that overweening
love of money, of all that money
brings, that nearly always marks tln*
man deficient in the native power of
money-winning. Such men poverty
makes sordid. The man of substance,
the natural money-getter, the sons of
inherited fortune, are the ones who fill
his imagination, nmke his choeu so
ciety, if not his trusted friends.
Such men were always nearest and
dearest to Grant. Stolid as he .-••••m d,
stubborn as he was, all discovered the
unerring nerve in him which thev l ad
but to touch to hold him forever—the
nerve of his inordinate self-love. Its
all altsorbing activity did not prove
him to be by nature selfish beyond his
kind. Condition and circumstance
had quickened it to preternatural
a cut en ess. The man put oIF, batfl.-d
by fortune, is the man whom sudden
success overcomes. He is the man
who never learns the highest and
finest use of jnawer. As President of
the United Suites such a man was
Ulysses Grant. The sycophants, the
place-seekers, the place-keepers who
surrounded hint, despite his reputat >n
for pugnacity, found it perfectly easy,
by feeding his vanity,to hold this man
in thrall.
They told him that he was " the
greatest soldier that ever lived that
he was the final star in the triumvi
rate that was to blaze for all jiosterity
—Washington, Lincoln and Grant—
that empire was in his destiny, and
that he was to live and reign " chief,"
if not of Europe, of the United
States. It was as agreeable as it was
natural for him to believe all this, to
gloat ami swell with self-importance
in th belief. lu its full acceptance In
left this country, expecting as his right
that all Europe would " uncover" ami
bow before him, the chief of the west
ern continent, over whose United
States he was yet again to reign and
rule to their ruin. As I have written
before, Grant's tour through Europe
and around the earth was decided
upon and prearranged by the manipu
lators of his " third term " before he
left the White House or the city of
Washington. Among many letters
received from men since I wrote first
of Grant as a candidate for the third
term, is one from a Presbyterian clergy
man in a city of lowa. He addresses
me in that curious tone of mingled re
spect, condescension and authority in
digenous to the Presbyterian ministe
rial mind when directed to one of that
portion of the human fumily whom
even St. Paul evidently did not al
together understand, dispite his assump
tions and very excellent advice.
The clergyman tells me that I
" should have said less about Grant or
a great deal more."
I differ from the clergyman, as I
should, doubtless, in his conduct of
"prayer meetings," though I myself
" never" speak in any meeting what
soever. Deficient as it may In- in
quantity and quality, I seem to have !
said enough about Grant to have stir
red considerably the minds of my
brethren. Ix-t me now confiws to
these perturbed beings, including the :
Presbyterian minister, that I say as
little as possible about Grant, not
wishing to talk alsnit him or nhout
any man whom it is beyond my jwer
conscientiously to praise. The clergy
man points triumphantly to the fact
that Hamilton Fish's praise of Grant
has great weight with the public mind. •
Well, the "public mind" would be
less moved by such praise were it as
well acquainted with Hamilton Fish
and Ulysses Grant as I am.
Hamilton Fish is a gentleman by
inheritance, birth, breeding—the m-nt
of a gentleman Grant ever hail in his
Cabinet. A family more refined and
praiseworthy than his never graced ,
public life in Washington. Amid a
crowd of plebeians and pretenders,
their grace and simplicity wns as con
spicuous as it was solitary. Yet
Hamilton Fish himself is a man of
the world —a hon virnnt. While he
far transcended Grant in inherited
finwe; in, in fine, life-long associa
tions ; in all that makes a gentleman ;
the tone of his nature, his intellectual
habits, were not of that higher quality
which suggested damaging compari
sons and put his chief to alwolute dis
advantage, as did the personal and
mental characteristics of Carl Hchurz
and Charles Sumner. The unity of
at least one side of the natures of Fish
and Grant begot familiarity, if not
sympathy between them; while the j
su|>eriority of Fish on the other gave
him a mental ascendancy over the
President never habitually achieved
by any other member of hi* Cabinet,
(jonsidering what for years their rela
tion was, it would have been a
strange, not to say disloyal, act for
Hamilton Fish to have spoken in
other than terms of personal praise of
Ulysses Grant. It was less honorable
in him that, in praising Grant, lie
shouhl have dropped disparagement
upon the name of Charles Sumner.
I heard from Charles Sumner's own
lips the entire tale of his personal as
sociation with Grant, and of Hamilton
Fish's personal part in the affair.
After making due allowance for all
human infirmity in the three men,
one inevitable conclusion remained—
that the mental arrogance of Sumner,
if such he felt it to be, was less insuffer
able to Grant than the immeasurable
moral and mental superiority of
Charles Sumner himself.
Nothing so unerringly marks the
intrinsic fibre of a man's nature as the
quality of the men whom ho chooses
us his nearest companions. The strong,
crude, narrow forces of Grant's mind,
fought instinctively the the broader,
higher ideas of great men. Their
simple admission put his own at dis
count.
Mighty in the brute force that holds
ami propels armies through seas of
human blood, he was a selfish boor in
the use of the finer weapons of mind
and spirit that make and unmake the
peace, the purity, the prosperity of a
nation.
The people have but to know and
to remember the character of the men
lifted and held in place by this man—
that their abuse and degradation of
political power made the administra
tion of Grant memorable as the most
corrupt in the whole history of the
Government —to make it ini|o.-sihlo
that a like administration lie ever re
peated as a national nffliction. The
rejKirt has been brought back from
India that General Grant will refuse
the nomination. Why? Not except
ing his friends and admirers, does no
body believe it. Whv? Simply lie
entire everybody who Knows the man
knows that he not only will accept a
third nomination, but that he expects
it. S> blinded is be by adulation, by
lust for perpetual ]w>wer, by the Mat
tery and promises of the toadies and
office seekers whose future importauce
hangs upon his re-election —which by
day and by night they are manipulat
ing—he can no longer see that his one
chance of honor with |x#terity lies in
his speedy retirement as a solJier. Ist
itiin in such retirement make the rejic
titioo of the failures, the mistakes, the
sins of his civil adini*tration, forever
impossible, and the tarnished repute
of the Executive may yet 1m; covered
by the lustre of the soldier's name.
The New York Herald, which, the
world knows, is so devoted to his fame
that it has sent a polished Boswell to
proclaim it round the entire circle of
the earth, yet declares that, if General
Grant wishes to per|etuate it undi
minished, unclouded, upon his return
he will retire, crowned with a soldier's
fame. There is certainly oue pen that
will never follow him into such retire
ment with one line of reproach or ac
cusation.
But let no man assume to arraign
tnc for writing the truth of a man
who, standing at its head, yet through
self-love, allowed the Government of
his country to be administered on the
lowest plane of selfish greed and cu
pidity.
Neither Grant, or any man politi
cally or personally identified with him
in Washington, should ever IK; made
President of the United States. Sure
ly the nation is not so p<s>r in manly
honor, in exalted personal probity,
in Executive worth, that it can find
no man "available" as a possible
President outside of the hungrv
"hacks" and "hummers," political,
who have lieen perpetually |M**ing and
masquerading for the Presidency for
the last five years.
I love my country, love its people;
best of all, love its honor, I cannot
live so close to its heart to see it dis
honored —accursed as 1 have seen it—
by the men who assume to govern it,
without consecrated protest.
I do not overestimate the force of
any won! of mine. It may drop far
short of its mark ; it may reach but
one human mind; but wherever it
falls, it shall lie the priceless seed of
truth.
Germans and European Thrones.
During the last fifty years all the
newly created thrones in Europe, or
those in which the male hereditary
succession had from any cause ln|sxsi,
have been filled by princes of German
dynasties. A Prince of the House of
Snxc Coburg was elected ruler of the
newly formed kingdom of Belgium
shortly after he had refused the title
of King of the Hellenes, which lind
becu offered him. Princes of the same
house married the Queen of Portugal,
Marin II de Gloria, in the year IK3H,
and Victoria, Queen of England, in
the year 1840; and their sons have
become the heirs to the thrones of
those HtAtes. All attempts to fill the
thrones of Hpain and Roumania with
rulers not proceeding from German
dynastic* have proved a failure. Both
King Amadou* I of Savoy and Prince
Couza, a born Roumanian, were, after
a brief period of rule, compel led to
leave the countries of which they had
become sovereigns. The throne of
Greece was first oeeupb-d by a Prince
of the Bavarian dynasty, Otho I; and
after his dethronement by George I,
n Prince of the Hloswic-Holstein-Hon
derburg Gluckshurg line. The present
ruler of Koumania is a Prince of the
house of Hohensollern Siginaringen,
and the new Prince of Bulgaria U also
of German origin. Fifty years ago
the privilege of filling vacant or newly
! created thrones belonged almost cxelu
! sively to France and Austria ; several
| thrones in Italy were held by Hotirboris
j and Hapshurg* only twenty years ago.
I'RKAtHISU IIY TFFFI'IIONE.
I.IBTENINO TO A l'ltKAf'ltKß AT A IIM
TAftCi: OK THIRTY-MIX MII.KH.
Krnm ManrhMil-r (Fn* )Oii*ri|i>n, April t!>.
A nutiiberofgentleman—elcetrieiaiiH
and others —met on Hunday morning
at the office of Mr. F. C. Warhurton,
Hujerintendent Kngincer Lam-a-liicr
and Yorkshire Railway Company's
Telegraph Department, Manchester,
1 for the purpose of witnessing an intcr
c-ting experiment with the telephone.
Their object was, in fact, hy means of
this instrument to form part of the
auditory of the Rev. Dr. Sb-llor, who
was conducting his usual service at the
Square Congregational Church, Hali
fax. One of the ordinary conducting
wires of the railway telegraph was
u-ed. It was fitted at the Manchester
1 end with four of Rcll'stelcphonc*, while
at Halifax the wire was extended to
Dr. Mellor's chapel, and connected with
one of Mr. Ismis John Cror-ley's pat
! cnt telephone transmitters, which is a
modification of the microphone of Prof.
Hughes. The arrangements at Hali
fax hud bis-n carried out by Mr. Km
not (Messrs. Hlakey Brothers A Km
not). The distance lietwccn Man
chester and Halifax as th<- wire goe
is about !!•> miles. Precisely nt 10-30
o'clock the service commenced with
the singing of a hymn, which was re
produeed through the telephone ablest
perfectly, the sonorous voire of Dr.
>1 •!lor Jieing heard above that of the
congregation. Afterward there was
prayer and the usual lessons ; but we
puss at once to the sermon, which was
regarded as the crucial te.-t of the in
strument. The result wa*, on the
whole, very encouraging, though it
was made evident that much remains
to Is- done before this mode <d" rom
munieation I* jicrfectcd. The chief
draw hack to the succes- of the cxjs'ri
ment was the induction caused by the
transmission of massages along the
telegraph wires, the wire in con motion
with the telephone gathering in the
sound and drowning the voice of the
-|a-aker. Thi* difficulty, however, will
lie overcome. When the wire* were
at rest Dr. Mellor's powerful tone*
were heard quite distinctly, but the
articulation was not so char, and it
was rarely that whole scntcm** could
Is-heard. A down or twenty consecu
tive words might lie caught, and the
n-st were lost, owing, doubt leas, to a
way which the preacher seemed to
have of lowering Lis voice at the end
of a sentence. In order not to expose
it to the gaze of the congregation, the
transmitter or microphone wa- placed
in the pulpit, almost at the reverend
gentleman's feet, *<> that when he lean
ed over the pulpit or turned his head
in a particular direction, hearing was
rendered difficult. Had the instru
ment ls*-n placet! before him it is un
questionable that but for the unhappy
trick which the conducting wire had
of gathering in sounds from the other
wires, every word would have Iwen
distinctly hoard. The experiments
will Ik- prosecuted further, and it is
hoped, in course of time, to introduce
the telephone a* a means of communi
cation between the railway signal box
es. It is obvious that it will have for
that purpose many advantages over
the telegraph. After the service, con
versation was carried on between par
ties at Halifax and Manchester, and
the hearing wa* perfect. We may
mention that the telephone is nn insti
tution in Dr. Mellor's chapel, it having
for some time been in successful opera
tion between that place of worship and
the residence of nn invnlid lady, about
three miles distant. The transmitter
u*i was the same one which the tele
graph wire was connected on Hunday
Making I,umber from Straw.
H fxMii* Journal af o Comm*tf,
Mr. S. 11. Hamilton, of Hu-hnell,
111., ha* discovered a process for mak
ing hard wood lumls-r out of common
wheat straw, with all the effect of
polish and finish which is obtainable
on the hardest of black walnut nml
mahogany, at a* little cost a* clear pine
lumber enn lie manufactured for. The
process of manufacture as explained by
Mr. Hnmilton is a-follows: Ordinarv
stniwboard such a* is manufactured at
any pajier mill is used for the purjKise.
As many sheets are taken as is requir
ed to make the thickness of the )uinl>cr
desired. Those sheets are passed
through a chemical solution, which
thoroughly softens up the fiber and I
completely saturates it; the whole is
then pressed through a succession of
rollers, dried nnd hardened during the
passage, as well a* polished, and comes
out of the end of the machine hard, dry
lumber, ready for use. It is claimed
that the chemical properties hardening
in the fiber entirely prevent water soak
ing, and render the lumber combusti
ble only in very hot fire. The harden
ed finish on the outside also makes it
impervious to water. The sample ex
hibited could not he detected. It is
susceptible of a very high polish,
and samples of imitation of marble,
mahogany, etc., were shown, which
might deceive the m*t experienced
eye. Not only doe* Mr. Hamilton
claim a substitute for lumber in sash,
doors and blinds and finished stuff,
but also a substitute for black walnut
and other woods in the manufacture
of all kinds of fine furniture, coffins,
, qte., ami also nn excellent substitute
; for marble in inarhlo top tables, mari
! tie pieces, bureaus, etc. He claims
that it will not warp in the least.
MISS Ml I.O( k'S (AltFKit.
j From l ln* Christian Union.
Kite wan obliged to write for her
daily bread, and that she might forget
liow miserahle she was, she wrote a
great deal. Of course, with nil this
practice and with her vast cxjH-rienee
in sorrow—for her pen was actually
dipped in tears—she wrote latter and
better, (ill finally this retiring, grief
stricken woman awoke to find herself
famous. Her first novel, 'The (>gilvies,'
was very successful, and was published
in lHlli, when Miss Muloek was only
twenty-three, but Iter great master
piece, "John Halifax, Gentleman,"
did not uppcur till 1807. In 1871a
pension of sixty pounds a year was
awarded Miss Muloek.
All this fame and unqualified suc
coss doubtless assuaged her grief and
helped to make ]jfo endurable ; hut to
one with such a loving lu-art and such
quick sympathies, bereft of a home and
without a relation, her life was still
very sad and lonely. Hut in 18fi"
< 'aptaiu (ieorge Lillie Cruik, an officer
in the Knglish army, who had been in
the Crimea, met Mis- Muloek, and al
though some years her junior, ad dress
<•<l her and sueeecoded in winning Iter
hand. They have proved most con
genial companions, and their married
lite has been all that they could wish,
with hut one exception. The woman
whose love fur children amounted al
tno-t to passion, ami who wrote
"Philip, my King," has been denied
the happiness of fis-iing baby fingers
upon her eln* k or of ever hearing
herself railed Mother. This is a se
vere sorrow, hut even this pain has
been partially assuaged. Strangely
enough, one dark, rainy night, while
-he and Iter hu-hand were -peaking of
children and of the jov and brightness
they bring to so many dwellings, there
came a loud ring at the Is-ll and then
a furious knocking. <)n opening the
door, lying upon the -ill, they found a
ba-ket enclosed in many wrappings.
When they were removed, they dis
eovc-rvd a lovely little babe only a few
hours old. The child wa* wrapped in
! one roll after another of India muslin,
and on its breast was pinned a note
begging Mr-. Craik to l>e kind to the
little waif thu* brought to her door,
and a— uring her that no mean blood
flowed in its vein*. Tenderly she lift
ed the little thing in her loving arms,
and her heart o|*-ii<*l a- warmly to
take in the j**ir little deserted "crea
ture. Fhev called the child Dorothea,
(Jodgiven, and she is now their legally
adopted daughter whom no one can
take from them, not even the parents
who so cruelly deserted her. The lit
tle girl is most tenderly attache*! to
tUe only mother and father she has
ever known. Mr*. Craik's happy
home i* in the vicinity of Richmond.
I>et us boric that she has left all her
sorrows behind her. and that while she
lives no pain or grief shall ever again
cross her peaceful jiatb.
Mark Twain's Hrtrw.
" Gentlemen, thi* horse of mine was
tough-bitted, and he went so fa*t that
I had to guide him by electricity—
hod to hnve wire lines nnd keep a
battery in the wagon all the time in
order to stop him."
" Why didn't you stop him by hol
lering whoa?" t inquired.
".Stop him hy hollering whoa?
Why, I couldn't holler loud enough
to make that horse hear me. He
traveled so fast that no sound ever
rea<-bed him from lichind. He went
foster than the sound, sir. Holler
whoa-a! and he'll be in the next town
lie fore the sound of your voice reaches
the da-li loard. 'Travel fat?' I
should snv he could. Why. I one*?
started from Virginia City to Meadow
Crock right in front of one of the
most dreadful rain storm* we ever had
on the Pacific mnt. ' Wind and
rain?' Why, the wind blew eighty
milra nu hour, and the rain fell in
sheet*. I drove right before "that
storm for three hours—just on the
edge of fliat hurricane and rain for
forty mile*."
" Did you pd drenched?"
" Drenched? No, sir! What did
I keep a fast horse for? Why, I tell
you, I drove right in front of that
rain storm. I could lean forward and
let the sun shine on me, or lean back
ward nnd feel rain and eatch hail
stones. When the hurricane slacked
up the horse slacked up, too, and
w lien it blew ftistcr I just said ' Git
up!' to the horse and touched the bat
tery, and away he went. Now, I don't
want to lie about my horse, and I don't
ak you to believe what I say, hut
when I got to Meadow Creek my linen
duster was a* dry a* powder. Not a
drop of Vain on the wagon scat, either,
while the wagon box was level full of
hailstones and wntcr."
w
Where the lost Crrtiflrate was Foaad.
A man bought some of the lift gov
ernment certificates at the Cincinnati
office, nud missed one after retiring
from the window. He could find it
nowhere. "Give me a dollar and I'll
get it for you," said a boy. The of
fer was accepted. The Isoy yanked
another urchin oat of the line, and
choked him until he opened his mouth,
from which the hidden certificate
dropped out.
A. It. hikl the (treat American Teaser,
From CnjrftAl.
The. Springfield liejniblicnn, nnont
| the pussage in the Hcuatc the other
• lay between Blaine and Bayard—or
rather the (terminal assault of the
former upon the latter —observed that
Bluine is t'a-1 earning the reputation
l of the tir<-at American Teaser. It is
worth while to remark that the /{f/tub
liran, founded hy Ham. Howie*, honor*
ably perpi'tnates the memory of that
liohle fellow and splendid journalist
under the management of his worthy
son, and therefore i* hostile to Blairo- ;
unlike the Tribune, founded hy Hor
ace Greeley, which, having fallen into
the hands of Jay Gould, quite natu
rally admires the hero of the Little
Hock and Fort Kinith infamy, and
worhijm the author of the Mulligan
; correspondence. Hut this not to the
]*iint. The ufl'air between the two
senators mentioned has provoked an
unusual volume of comment, the gen
eral drift of which is in the direction
of amazement at the temerity of Hlainc.
Keasouing simply from the vulnera
bility of Blaine himself, ami upon the
| logic of the proverb touching residence
in gin** houses, nothing could he more
natural than astonishment at the utter
abandon with which that remarkable
person rushirs into personal strife.
Upon such premises it would appear
that no man in the United State*
ought to fight shy of inquiry into js-r-
MIIIUI record ; for no man now promi
nent, unji*s we except Robeson, is
handicapped with such an utterly
wretched and absolutely miserahle
fiersotial record as he is. Living, as
lie docs, at the mercy of his fellow
senators, his impertinence i* so absurd
that it ceaww to lie offensive and be
comes ludicrous.
Hut if you take second thought upon
it, the reckless truculeuce of Blaine,
nisi, ad of being a phenomenon, is
really the most sensible course he
oouhl adopt. There is no reason why
he shouhi refrain from iuvitiug per
son ml recrimination, for his own rec
ord is a- bad already a* a record can
lie, and nothing that Hayard or Thur
man, or anybody else could say in re
i tort or recrimination, could make it
j any worse, either in fact or in ap
1* a ranee. Under those circumstances
Maine stands in the attitude of a man
who ha nothing to lose. On the oth
er hand he can fairly assume that the
association of his name with those of
Thurman ami Hayard, even though it
Is- the association of conflict, must
tend to elevate it in the general esti
mation. It is related that a certain
Knglish nobleman once tamely sub
mitt.*! to a rank affront from a gam
! liler at Newmarket; the nobleman
wa* one of the boon comjaraion* of the
Regent, afterwards George IV., and
that spirited prince demanded to kuow
why liis friend had not resented the
indignity, adding: "If you don't chas
tise the fellow, I'll go and kick him
rnvself!"
"I Is g you, sir, to do nothing of the
kind," replied the nobleman. "That
fellow would give a thousand guinea*
to lie cha-tiscil by me ; to be kicked
| by the heir apparent would make his
! everlasting fortune!"
I will not say that the degradation
lof Hlaine is such that the kick of a
, gentleman would be a lioon to him ;
but bis behavior sometimes amounts to
a sort of paroxysmal desperation, or
hysterical hardihood, calculated to
suggest a much.
Hear to Eirrj Heart.
frtm lh (WlrmU
I)r. Lilienthal recently stepped into
: a sehisil room during a recitation in
geography, and was invited by Uie
teacher to ask the class a few ques
tions. He courteously complied.
" What is the capital of Michigan V
" lauising," was the prompt answer.
" What is the largest city in Michi
gan ?"
" Detroit."
" Where is the great University of
Michigan locate*! ?'
" At Ann Arbor."
" What is the capital of Pennsylva
nia r
" Harrisburg."
" What is the largest city in Penn
sylvania ?"
" Philadelphia."
" What building is there in Phila
delphia that is dear to the heart of
every patriotic American citizen ?"
That was a poser; the class was
troubled, hut made no answer. The
doctor repeated the question.
"I know," said a little fellow on n
back scat, a* he stretch**! up his arm
to its length.
"Tell us what it is then, my boy,"
said the doctor.
" The Mini," was the confident
answer.
A Frightful Jump.
Peer, who jumped from the suspen
sion bridge at Niagara Falls, a few
davs ago, wore a rubber life preserver,
to lessen the depth of bis penetration
into the water; a sponge over his
mouth and nostrils, to prevent the
water from being forced into them, and
thick cloth over his feet and legs, to
Erotect them from concussion. A
rasa wire, attached to his shoulders,
was reeled out as he fell, with just
enough tension to keep him in an
upright position. To strike the water
flatwise would be certain death. Pan
dropped 19*2 feet in four seconds. lie
was exceedingly nervous just before
the feat, and it was thought that
bis courage bad given out.
Wild Life In Ihi- South.
Three instances recently mention# 1
by the Houtherii pajs-r* chow that ail
the superstition ha* not yet lxscu rub
bd out of the negro. AM lie ctill
keo|M memoranda of household ex
js-nse* by ineanc of notches cut into a
)'ie Stick, so he ctill fcarc the old bov
with-horn*. A few day* ago the
colored Meth<*ii*u of Macon unuerbrnk
to bring aliout a miracle that would
cure Minerva Jlrown, one of their
number of lite. They met at the wo
man's bedside and prayed hy turn* for
nine hour* consecutively. During that
time the sister was quiet, though she
had previously been contorted a* often
as once an hour. As soon as the pray
ing hand went away she fell into a
j worse state than ever. The exjieri
ment will lie tried again. Another
story eom<* from Raltirnore. Le.*t
. week Husan Smith, a large colored
! woman, aged about sixty years, died in
that city. Her family and friends
i followed the coffin to the cemetery last
j Thursday. At the grave the )if was
torn from the coffin and the face of the
dead exposed to view. All present
, then gathered close around and watch
ed one of the deceased's son* raise the
liody from the coffin and carefully
turn it over, face downward. While
this was going on the bystanders kept
their heads uncovered, mumbling an
unintelligible prayer and going
through strange motions of the body.
They held charms in their hands.
Hill, the old grave-digger, was greatly
shocked. The darkeys refuse to tell
why they buried Mrs. Smith face
downward. Still another is from
Boorwboro', Maryland, relating to Si
mon Summers, deceased. After the
burial of Summers his widow became
impressed with the belief that unless
changes should be made in certain
matters connected with the interment
a gr<at calamity would come upon the
survivors. She accordingly had the
grave and coffin opeuod and the
changes made.
A Sinimlar liream.
Falrfi.ld, 'Ms ) Chrotkl. .
Two voung men, residents of Nor
ridgewock, met one morning and one
said:
" Charles, I dreamed last night that
you were a Judge of the Supreme
Court of Maine, that I wi- a minister,
and that you called on rac to open
your court with prayer."
Just thirty years after this Rev. Dr.
Charles Allen, late President of tho
State College, happened to step into
the Supreme Court room in Augusta.
Judge Charles Dan forth tiockoncd to
him and asked him to open bis court
with prayer, and, heboid, the dream
of thirty years was verified. Rev. Dr.
Allen is now pastor of the Methodist
church at Fairfield.
THE other evening at a convivial
gathering where all the guest* did not
happen to be of the same political
opinions, as they sat down to dinner
one said to the company:
"Gentlemen, I should, before we
begin dinner, make a little explana
tion of one of my peculiarities. It
sometimes hspficns that when I have
a little wine on l>oard I take it into
my head to jibe people who are not of
my way of thinking in politics. I as
sure you thnt I mean nothing serious
by such an action, and thnt if I should
appear to IH> rude you will make a
little allowance and not lay it to my
j account."
As he seated himself Another guest
a man seven feet high and with a hand
like a jambon dr Oiurinnali, arose and
said as courteously:
"Gentlemen, I too should make a
little explanation of one of roy pecu
liarities. It sometimes happens that
when I have a little wine on board
ami some one begins to iibe me for
my way of thinking in polities I take
it into my head to wring his darned
nock or pitch him out of a second
story window. I assure you that I
mean nothing serious by such an ac
tion, and that if I should appear to
lie rude vou will make a little allow
. ance and not lay it to my account"
Not a word of politics was spoken
at the table that eveniug and all wcut
inerrv as a marriage bell.
DEATH AT A CIRCTA.— An old man
named .Samuel Widenien, whose resi
dence wo* in Clearfield county, and
who had been swindled out of consid
erable money by some of the showmen,
followed the rascals to Milton, and
while making search for his man
through the side shows in company
with Constable Riascl of Milton, firfl
dead. Up to the time he dropped a
corpse he seemed to be in g-od health,
somewhat excited, it is said, because
he had seen the man who had wronged
liim in the tent, Mr. Jacob Hartranft,
landlord of the Broadway House,
with whom the unfortunate man was
during his stay in town, took the dead
man to his former home.
A lUMKRt iT's KxAHri.lt.—Hon-
Scott Lord, formerly Democratic Rep
resentative of the I'tira (New York)
district in Congress, received a fee of
• 100,000 from Cornelius J. Vander
hilt for his services in contesting the
will of his father. This nut Mr. Lord
on his financial pins, and he returned
to his former home in (teneasee, and
]*id, principal and interest, all his
iiast indebtedness, from which the
hank rapt law bad given him a release.
This is an example many others in the
country might follow with profit to
their wronged and suffering creditors.