CATCHING LADY NHUUULKRN. How the Rnalnrw la Maunr<| on the Can adian lliirdrr A Imily Hrtrrtl v*s lix laerlrlire with Ihe IVr ikrr Nex—Women the llolileat and Moat Itanriiloua Siiinu- Klera-Mome of tho llrvlrra llioy Itraort to. Going to and fro on the regular ferry boats anil observing the ladies who crowd the unper decks, one is astonished at the clumsiness ot feminine fashions— the prevalence of ultra huge hoops, the ungraceful drapery of shawls and the bulkinesa of the tournure in contradis tinction to the sheath-tike slimness oi apparel which has so long been the pre vailing style. It is noticeable, too, that these very respectable ladies are of all ages, single and married, some very handsome, others quite ordinary in ap pearance. They scent to shun observ ance, and sit in remote corners. They have, too. a Hushed, disheveled look, as if they might be refugees from the fever district. Sometimes they are shadowed by a plain respectable looking woman, past tlie boundary of youth, who seems to take a deep interest in them. Each rest less matron or maiden passes under her surveillance, though unaware of the fact, until the landing is reached, ami a sudden tap upon the shoulder is followed by a low-spoken "Come with me," as in exorable a command as theedictof fate. Who are the much be-olothed victims? They are one and all smugglers; excel lent people, belonging to the best Cana dian or American families, but as intent on defrauding the government out of its tariff as if the object were the most rncr torious in the world. Women are na tural smugglers. They enjoy the perils as well as the profits of outwitting n government detective. There isa smack of outlawry about the business that is delightfully romantic, and not the least bit wicked—so the dear creatures argue. The woman who confronts them with the fact that they have smuggled goods aliout them is a government detective,several of whom are employed to watch the ladies and compel them "to render unto Ca>sar that which is Cmsar's." A repre sentative of the Free Press had a recent opportunity of a momentsVliat with Miss liar iet Thompson, the new employee of the Canadian government, who is only interested in goods passing from Detroit to Windsor. " Have you been long in this business. Miss Thompson?" was asked hy way of prelude "About two months only; it was en tirely new to me. but I think I under stand it thoroughly now." " About bow many do you average on your daily trips?" "I do not make daily trips—some times I am at Chatham or at Sarina, and I have an office where ladies are searched. It is my business to assist them to disrobe—gently, iftlu-y will, but forcibly if they resist. It is not a F feasant business, I can assure you, but have my duty to perform. Some of the ladies are very nice. Tho younger ones will cry and wring their hands, and sometimes faint; they hate to give up the goods and are so ashamed at being caught." "Where you find smuggled goods, do you keep them ?" "No, we compel the smugglers, if we can, to tell what they paid for them. They can then keep the goods by paying us what they originally cost. We ap praise them ourselves if they give false prices. Sometimes the Detroit firms make out bills of lower value, or furnish the parties with bill heads, which they | 611 up to suit themselves. These we es timate at our own tlgures and release the parties on payment." "What class of goods do the smug- j glers give the largest preference to?" " White and gray cottons, heavy ' colored drillings, fancy knitted goods and that class. The duty on such is j about twenty-five per cent. The goods arc bulky and hard to hrndle; that is why they are so i-asily detected. The I Indies pin whole pieces of cotton about them, sometimes folded in their shawls or disposed about their skirts, and it makes their movements very nwkward. I brought one young lady in here the other dny who won l a very large bustle, composed entirely of American laces. She cried and pleaded, hut had to pay us Ike value of the whole lot." "IJow is it about the Canada side— do the Detroit ladies smuggled from here?" "(III! I have nothingtndo with that; it is for your government to attend to that. But our goods are principally .laces, kid gloves, riblmns and small arti cles that are easily secreted. A lady can wear a pair of kid gloves, and carry a new umbrella in her hand, and swathe | herself in laces, and no cne will be the ] wiser. Tim French women are said to be expert in carrying plaited straw across without detection. I could tell you some funny stories of shrinkage in dry goods of ladies who rome in liere plump and who went away very much attenuated. One stout lwfy inventoried one piece of white cotton, four pairs of embroidere hose, several yards of black cashmere, one dozen pocket handker chiefs and a pair of children's shoes, be sides linings, buttons and trimmings. She was nearly dead with tli wecight of the things, but when we took her intotl.e ] office she gave us a sight of trouble. I was obliged to take the things almost by main force, until she saw there was no help for it, and it cost her pretty severely in the end. " Will they not recognize you as being in the employ of the government if you frequent the boats?" " No: they never see me watching them; besides, there is nothing about me to attracts attention. I nm not in nuiform, nor do I ever seem to lie watch ing them. " How it is aliout the male passengers? Do they never smuggle?" "Yes; hut the custom-house officials can lie much more peremptory with thetn. They are not In my line; it is only the ladies I am commissioned to watch." " Is the situation lucrative?" "It pays very well. I have a regu lar salary and a commission on all revenue derived from my work. It is an ungracious business, but perfectly re spec table. If I a aa follows: Ido not intend to make a spir itual application of these words iu the liberty which I nllow to myself in this pulpit to preach what relates to the eon duet of life, ranging froni the conven tional standard which excludes inary tonics from the pulpit. I will to-night follow in the direction of your thoughts, and speak on the use and abuse of ath .otio exercises. A man is at a discount if lie has not the right sort of body. There can be no healthful or wholesome action of the mind or the moral percep tion lithe physique is enervated. There have been great men with weak bodies, but no man is at his best without physi cal strength. A man like John Ran dolph, Irritable and excitable, is bril liant for a "short head," to borrow a sporting phrase, but he cannot last. '1 lie rule in. to weaken the body is to re duce the mind, and nrcn great with fee ble bodies would be twice as great with strong ones. A Keats burns out; pro ducing at twenty works which should have been deferred until he was thirty or forty. There must he an equation of mind and body and a proper balance kept. There cannot bo any happiness without health. But we go to work in many ways to systematically break down health. Send ing children early to school is one of the most effective of these methods. "Child hood abhors quiet as nature does a vac uum," says one, but children arc put in school and kept quiet; it puts an extin guisher upon tic in and lays the founda tion for future misery. The crying shame of our times is the weight and restraint we put upon children. Busi ness nien here have no rest; they go like heads UIIOII poles, bent forward. As a foreign lady said, men run in New York. We do not walk enough; the street ear is an enemy to health. Muscle is not to he cultivated at the expense of brain. Cairy physical culture too far and the brain is drawn upon. Men like Ir. Winship, all muscle, frequently die sud denly. There is too much muscle in our colleges now. The boating men cannot learn anything else, as I see. Their snorts show the character of people. In their Olympic games we se the su|ieriority of the Greeks over the Romans. The latter, in their gladia torial contests, showed the in fernaldepth of barbarism in which they were sunk. The Greeks had no tremendous test of endurance for six days; no gate money or bookniaking. They offered no prize of money value alter the first few contests, but gave the victor in afoot race a sim ple wreath of myrtle. How different from the knightly tournaments of the middle ages or the bull baiting and cock fighting of our forefathers! But bru tality is not alisen! from our sports. We are not content, as the Greeks, to have contests in running or wrestling only, hut must see men prove their endurance by walking. I have had that universal human interest in walking matches to know how the score stands. I seethe good in pluck and tremendous endurance and cannot help admiring it. The ever lasting hold on which keeps men up to their work is to be admired whorevci seen. But when their railing out f all tin* forces of human nature is allied with gnmbling and betting [we see how bru talizing it is. Such a scene as that in front of the Hcrut tlieni out if you can. outdo them if you can't.—/foium Trantcripl. FLOODING TIIE HA IIA HA. Important*, of U> Itraulti to IJo ObtalnrS. tKrofu llarjxr'a Vwkly.J Two plaiiM have been net Iwfore the public with regard to tho great project of flooding the immense basin of Ha hara, known an El Juf, which is now generally conceded te be the bed of it former inland sen. One of these plans is so fur in actual operation that pre liminary surveys are now in progress under tne direction of M. Ferdinand de Leaseps, to test the feasibility of cutting a canal from Cabea, on the coast of Tunis, to let the waters of tho Mediter ranean into tho great central depres sion. Reports from these parties are very favorable. They find the soil free from serious obstacles to engineering work, generally sand, to a great depth, resting on a calcareous foundation. 'I hey entertain no doubt that the work can he more cosily accomplished than the ex cavation of the Hues canal. The other plan is that of reopening the ancient outlet of the inland sea to the Atlantic, at a place called lioe.a Grande, or Great Mouth, and thus till ing with water the vast depression of El Juf, which lies far below the level of tho ocean. This busin, irregular in shape, extends frotn within twelve iniles of the sea-coast to as far south as tho region of Azawod and Walata, to the north of T imbue too. Tho greatest length of this depression is given at about 800 miles, and tho greatest breadth at about 120 miles, altogether covering an area of about 00,000 square miles. The breadth of El Juf is much greater in tho south, but toward the northwest it seems gradually to get nar rower, terminating in the great channel which in former years connoted it with the Atlantic ocean. There cannot be any doubt but that El Juf at one time formed part of the Atlantic ocean, and that the connection existed within his toric timeH seems char enough. Upon the cause which led to the drying tip of the El Juf sea the classic writers ore not very clear. It is recorded by Di odorus Hindus that, according to an cient tradition, a lake called Hesjx ndes, in the portion of the Sahara now oecu pied by El Juf, was suddenly dried up. Arab traditions point out that several depressions in the Hahara were covered with water in A. D. 081, but, since the year 1200, the water gradually disap peared. * The imixirtanee of the advantages to le gained by the accomplishment of this vast enterprise can hardly lx> over estimated. Hondan has a population of aliont .'lß,<.Kk),(too <.f the most intelligent and energetie of all the African races. They have successfully been brought nnder the influence of Carthagonian, Roman, Egyptian, and Mohammedan civilization. They have formed them selves into imlejiendent states, and pos sess numerous walled towns of com mercial imjiortanoc. They have estab lished laws and education, ami stamped out many of the worst forms of pagan superstition. They cultivate the soil, ami carry on several branches of manu facture with remarkable success. The people of Koudau receive their supply ol European merchandise across the Hahara from the porta of Morocco, Al geria, Tunis, and Trijxili a system of communication with the outer world which baa existed for thousands of years. Caravans proceeding by any of these routes con only make one journey a rear, traversing about 2,000 miles of mountainous and difficult country be fore the nearest market of Sotiihin is reached. These paths, formerly used by the merchants of antiouity, now serve the Arab caravans. Notwithstand ing all these difficulties, the annual val ue of the trade between tho northern ports and Houdan amounts to about I M.OtSI.OdO. An easier mode of transit would evidently lead to a large develop ment of this trade. Tho distance trom Cape Juby to Timbnrtoo, on the Upper Niger, is alxnit twKI nnles of level couutry, thus being 1,200 miles shorter than the pres ent routes. On the line proposed by Mr. Mackenzie there are no less than forty-two stations, with plenty of water. Ho thinks that caravans could make three journeys a year by it with greatoai ease than oae by the present roads*" 1 Therefore, without any outlay whatever for roads, an annual trade of id 2,000,000 would soon he established. To attain this object all that is necessary is to form s commercial station at Fort Hi j Bartholomew, Capo Jnby, where the climate is equal to that of Madeira and Canary, obtain the protection of the Ilerlcr chiefs of the Western Hahara (under whose protection the present trade is carried on), and place agenta in ' the princi|l towns on the road to Tim hnrtoo. The road to Central Africa would then lie procticallv opened to commerce through a healthy country, and frojp a point within nine days' sail of Euiopean shores. With the Hahara flooded, direct navi- { ;tion with Europe would be eatab ished. And thus will also !e opened a morn extensive market for American goods. We have heard of the desert lieing made "to blossom as a rose;" it is eertainlv a fascinating idea that s vast and arid waste is to lie coveml by a portion of the waters of the mighty Atlsntio. And if this opening up of the interior of Africa to civilization and commerce is to atxitish the African slave trade, with all its attendant hor rors, then do we most eormstly wish it a hearty Godspeed. Lurk and Labor. ff tne Ixty who exclaims, "Jut my Inokr was truthful, he would say. "Just my laziness I** or "Just my inst tentiou 1 Mr. Colxlen wrote proverb* aliout " Luck and 1 r on character. Luck slipa down to indigence Labor strides upward to independ e.— Watchman. Perishing on the Plain*. The dangers incident to travel aero**' the track less alkali plains of the West, 1 unless the traveler is familiar with the route and well prepared for a journey, j an- well understood, yet people are found | who undertake the hazardous ex peri . ment, and many leave their bonea to | whiten on the sands of the desert as a i ; eon-oquenec of their raslines*. As Deo MAlcolm, who arrived in town on \ Thursday from his home in Tulare county, was crossing the Han Joaquin if) ' plains, he found D. man lying in the f | sand nearly dead from thirst He was i unable to stand or articulate, his tongue | . was so swollen as to protrude from bis j mouth several inches: his eyes were j wild and glassy, and Ids mind wander ing. Deo moistened the man's lips and poured water on his face, but failed to ! restore Idm to consciousness. Jf<- then S placed him in his wagon, administering ! the water from time to time until he rear-bed an alkali pool some eighteen 1 miles distant. The watr-r being unfit to drink, Deo Ux leading locomotive of each train would be at Han Francisco before the rear had left New York." A day's rainfall of one-tenth of an inch spread over the United States represents ten thou sand millions of tons, and would take, lie state*, more than all the puiniiing cngine* which supply Philadelphia ( hit ago and other large cities, depend- 1 ing more or less on steam for portable wnter. working day and night for a cen tury. to put it back to tlie height to which it was raised by the sun before it fell. It has been found liy careful ex- i periment that the effect of the heat of a vertical sun in the month of March, acting on a square foot of the earth's surface, after having lost a portion of its energy through absorption by our at mosphere. i* equivalent to 0.131 horse, power; and other problems with equally startling results can lx- readily flamed from this and other accessible data. i, The Moment of Fear. lost four aides-de-camp < during the short lime he was in Egvnt. tine of them, ("rolsier, appearing to Sa no loon to lack the proper degree of Isdilnes* a! the proper moment, lie hurst out ngairt him in one of his violent and humiliating attack* of abuse and contempt The word coward escaped him; Crolier determined not to survive it; he sought death on several occasions, but did not succeed until the siege of JBPF. lie was in attendance on Napo-< tßsin tlie trenches there, when such a ' Wliarp lookout wa* kept by the garrison that if an elbow or feather showed ilselj hlkjvc or beside tbem it was immedi- ' ntely grazed by a bullet. Troisier ! watched his opportunity and jumped ujKin the platform. "Come rtnwn, I ; command you!" cried Napoleon, in a voire of thunder; but it was too late; lite victim of lib severity fell at bis feet. Murat. the chivalrous braver of all dan- j ger. bad also his monfent of fear, which lost him the countenance of his general I until displeasure could no longer resist j tlie brilliancy of his achievement*. It I was at the siege of Mantua, in the first Italian campaign, that Murat was ordered to charge a body of troop* that ; I were making a sortie from the garrison. He hesitated, and in his confusion de | dared himself wounded. He was re moved from the presence of the general ' and in every way discountenanced. Ir. Egypt he was sent out on the most dis tant and dangerous services; in short, he more than reconquered his character •-before tlie battle of Ab>ukir, on which occasion Napoleon himself was obliged to declare he was superb, The brave i Marshal 1 anno one day severely re l primonded a colonel who hid punished I a young officer lor a moment of fear, j "That mar," said he, ' is worse than > n poltnwm who pretend* l.e never know* j ear."— Chamber*' JonrmJ. What a Single Dean Can Pmdnrr. The history ola single bean, acci dentally planted in a garden at Soulli brhlgv, Mas* . is traced by a newspaper correspondent, who figured out its pro duce for three years. The bean was planted in a rich, loamy soil) and when gathered In the autumn its yield, a* eounled. " was 1,516 perfectly developed beans from a single stalk. Now. if a single bean produces 1.515 bean*, and each lean produces 1,515 more, the sum total of the second yaar's product would he 2.895.885. equal to 1.195 pounds. 597 quarts, or 8.390 army rations, equal to eighteen and five-eighths bushel*. Thi* would bathe product of the second year. Now. If we plant this product ami the yhld I* the same, we have a product of 5.908.058,800,685 beans, equal to 1,371.- BMO tona, or 49,871,57)1 bushels, or 548,- 750.008 soldiers' rations. This third planting would give the steamship Great En*tcrn ninety-two ftill freights." Few beans, however, start so well as this one did. A Rhyme of the Time. Mi* TVlln* Kudorn Von Blorky She 'liiln't know ehi-ken Irom Virki-y; "Ik'l Ipwltli a/id t.muk she omul fluently •pask, Hut her knnwlndga of poultry WM murky. She could tell tlic great uncle of MOMS, Ani ;gi u*l oo*cef j superseding all other kinds in the markets of Ger many. Women are archers by nature. Tho bent of their inclination is to bend ix-aux. —Sew York Mait. The entire population of Paris, whether floating or permanent, is counted offi cially every month. It is proposed to erect a statue to Lay fayette in Ifruid Mail I'aik, Baltimore, at a cost of $ Hi, ooo. Truth is the most powerful thing in the world, since fiction can only please us by its resemblance to it. The cotton factors of New Orleans be lieve there will be 250,000 more bales re ceived there this season than last. Hundreds of Esquimaux have been starving to death, owing to the wanton destruction of walruses by whalers. "A Fraud in Silks," is the -tartling head line in an exchange. Ah! Went back on you. did she?— Rtyidand Courier. Quite a brisk demand for American windmills has sprung up in the British colonies. West India islands and South America. The greatest evils in life have had their rise from something which was thought to !K> of too little importance to be at tended to- Anybody is apt to be mistaken, but a boy neveg but on<*> attempts to pat a short horned bull on the head. —Scvo York ExprcM. .The barber's razor took hold, of his beard with a vengeance, when he look'-d up and said, apologetically, " My dear sir, I tarn' 1 to get shaved—not to get a tooth pulled!" An article is going the rounds headed, " Abuse of Tobacco." There is no help for it. Tobnnco must take its si/arc of abuse if it isn't strong enough to help itself.— Honor Sf rUincl. The St. Petersburg Qlo/x says that 11.Ml persons were incarcerated in the Central prison at Moscow during the summer, 10,477 of whom were con demned to exile in Siberia. The man who fell off the fence into the brambles was much nettled by the occurrence. "We hope thistle be ap preciated," say* a punster. Weed havs said the same thing. Louisiana's temperance alliance give the amount of liquor drank in the Stats at f 42.000.000 yearly, or $*.000,000 mors than the value of the combined cotton, sugar and rice crops. If you want to convince a boy of six teen that this world is all a blank just kindly inquire about these days if he is going to block out a pair of ehin whis kers for tl.e winter season.— fYet FYcm. That was an observing little feilow, il he was but six years old. who said: " Pap. 1 wish you d quarantine against Tom Jones coining here every night to see Jennie. It's got to be too epidemic." A Chinaman in Paris committed sui cide because his tormentor* had cut off his Queue. He fastened the cherished braid with pins to the place where it ought to grow, and jumped into the river. The sum received by Rowell, the win ner of the node*trian match in New York, equalled $5.90 for every "lap" around the track—a lap being equivalent to one-eight of a mile. He made about $3 every minute of his walk. Wm. Har.left, of Portland, ttrcgon. in the shadow of fatal illness concluded to shorten the fight over his estate some what by burning $22,000 in greenbacks. He soon began to mend, however, and is now as mad as he ran be to think ha got well. Now, then' lit* woodland oollonadao The wit tiered bannerets ol Jans Float downward to Ui* lowly bladsa I hot igb the summer's parting boon. Kmn man? a lowly tnsadow nook The thistle float- it* snowy flakes. And eotnelb to lbs Isithtul oook A growing hint of Imckwheat rakss. Foster* Uosrtlt. A commercial Iran ler at Marseilles, Fnuire, having refused leave to his maidservant to take his daughter to ths skating rink, they did not appear next morning, and on the bed roc/o being burst open both were found suffiwatetC A note in the maid's writing said: "You shall no longer have your daughter; I take her to a better world." Their ages were twenty-six and fourteen. Caries* Fact*. Man has the power of imitating al most every motion but thai of flight. To effect this, he has in maturity and health sixty bones in his head, sixty in his thigh* and legs, sixty-two in his j arm* and hands, and sixty-seven in his trunk. He has also 434 muscles. Ilk heart makes sixty-four pulsations in a minute, and Umrefbra 9.H40 in an hour, ] and W. 160 in a day. As to the speed of animated beings, sine and construction seem to have little influence. The sloth t i* by no means a small animal, and yet I it can travel oniy fifty paces in a day: a worm crawl* only five inchta in fifty i seconds, but a ladybird can fly twenty 1 million times ita own length in lee* than ' I an hour. An elk can run a mile and a half in seven minutes; an antelope a mile in j a minute; the wild *M of Tartar baa speed even greater than that. An cagla M can fly eighteen leagues In an hour. A f x lolcnl winds travels sixty to seventy miles an hour.