A Gray Feather.
Aa eagle I rom his flying,
Piscoed with an at row, dying,
Fell irom his sky-won place;
His golden eyee last glaring
That were wont to bo garing
Full in the sun's flerce iace.
Prone on the ground, so lonely,
He that to reach sought only
Height and peak lor bis rest,
• Saw that the shalt whose speeding
~ Gelt him Inllen and blooding,
Still remained in his breast.
Aye, and more cruel oven.
The very force that had given
The arrow power to fling
Its sharpened death-dart thither,
Was a simple chance gray leather,
Plucked lrom his own gray vjing.
I.ot tall some time, unnoted,!
Perchance, as far as he floated,
A speck in the distance dim;
Yet vigilant hunter lound it,
And on to his arrow bound it,
And sent it home to him.
A word thus, as a leather,
May tall, none noting whither,
An idle moment's breath;
Yet a stranger's hand n ay take it,
And pieree his heart who spake It.
Until it bleeds to death.
—Mrs. Clara Doty Bolts.
•
"All's Well That Ends Well."
. "A valentine?" cried Julia, coming
upon the scent just as the letter fluttered
to the floor, and picking it up and read
ing it. " A mighty queer valentine, I
must say! An outrageous one—an in
sulting one. I can't think what Osric
will sayand she turned to find two
lovers in each other's arms. But let
Julia or Osric say what they would,
never was valentine so welcome before
as the letter that came to Evelyn on
that snowy February morning, and no
gilded and embossed wreaths of roses
nnd Cupids surrounding little looking
glasses, set there to show the reader the
smiling face of the writer's true-love,
ever told half the good news that this
did, insulting and outrageous as Julia
called it when she spoke of it to Mrs.
Black—singular and unhcard-of, as Mrs.
Black called it when she spoke of it to
Mrs. White.
Lovers, however, might well have
sent the standard valentines in all their
glory to Evelyn, for she was one of
these sweet brunette beauties that they
tell as are to be found nowhere but in
America, and that touch all hearts
alike; the tea-rose-tinted skin; the hazel
eyes; the hair just singed, as one might
say, from brown to chestnut by the sun;
the lithe and rounded figure; the dainty
little foot; the whole face lighting with
its smile as if a sunset flame shone over
it. and never half so lovely as in tears.
But tills beauty of bers had a hard
time of it in all those things that
heighten and dimin : sli effect, for, a poor
little teacher on Inlf-naid lessons in a
few houses, and obliged to dress herself
and her mother, and pay drugg ; sts' and
dot tors' bills and other little incidentals,
she never had such a thing as a com
tiletc outfit at oi.ee. She had been the
nappy owner of but one silk dress in her
life, and that had been tuned and
turned again, turned wrong side out,
turned bottom side up, and was still
doing service as her best, in a condition,
she was wont to say, that would have
brought her a premium for patchwork
at any county fair. "There never was
any one so unlucky as me," she said.
" And I do like pietty things so! But
always, if my bonnet is just to my
mind my shoes are sure to be shabby,
and hy the time I get n new cloak my
gown is it sight to see. Why haven t
we any rich uncle in No Man's Land,
motner mine? Why doesn't the last
will uii<i testament of some old lover
of yours turn up, and bless ns with the
wealth no longer of any use to him?"
" I never had any lover but your dear
father," the mother wnu'd reply ; and
then, sitting in the fire-light, sue would
go over the old, old story of iter early
love, in which, nlthough Evelyn knew
it by heart, she always seemed to find
something new.
"We have a pretty good time, don't
we. darling little woman?" Evelyn
would say, as they made ready for bed,
still by the fire-light only—" we two to
getlur—if Osric is as close as a nut. and
Julia doesn't dare say her soul's her
own?"
"Oh yes," her mother would sigh,
doubtfully. " It's—it's— I don't com
plain. I suppose it's well enough now;
nut the future! Oh, Evelyn, my dear,
if you should lose your classes, if you
should fall ill, just think what it would
be to bo entirely dependent on Osric!
He would make pcor Julia's life a bur
ten to her."
" He does now."
"He would make us feel the bitter
ness of every morsel of bread wc eat."
" Well, he does that now, too."
"No; for your parlor-dusting and
china-washing and brief-copying, and
marie and painting lessons to his chil
dren, are some equivalent. He would
turn away the other girl, and you would
have the whole work to do."
*' Well, it wouldn't kill me. Don't
let us borrow trouble, little mother. I
know w hat you mean, and I'd rather do
all the work forever than marry Mr.
Bryos."
' i don't see how you can be so
wrong-headed," murmured the anxious
Httle mother. " I'm sore Mr. Bryce—"
" Weighs *50."
" Weil, what if be dors? How fool
ish y u are! He's very—"
" Cross eyed"—with ber worst grim
•Oflu
"Not the least that ever wis. It's
only a little oast that is pecui ar and
pleasant."
And at that Evelyn went off in a peal
of laughter wbicfaabesuddeniycliecked
on hearing the manly loot of her I
brother-in-law mount the stairs, prob
ably to inquire the cause of the commo
tion, for little went on in his house into
which he did not inquire; nnd if there
was one thing more than another that
Mr. Osric Carlsen hated it was the
sound of Evelyn's laughter. He bad
never liked it, in Csct, since the day that
re proposed to her, and his false teeth
came down, and in his awkward pre
dicament he bad struck abrarkttand
his wig came off, and her sudden nnd
ifinrpreMible laughter had sent him
hacti!} and indignantly from the loem,
to be consorted by Julia, who met him
on the way, and accepted him, with his
b ree little girls, out of hand.
After the marriage it wan not till
Julia was thought to be dylnjt that
Evelyn and her motlier were invited to
the house, and while they were with
her their own house that had never
bran insuied, and their few bonds that
had never been registered, were burned
together, and of course they had to stay.
But Osric dismissed the nurse and the
second girl the next day, and Evelyn
did the work, and succeeded in getting
her classes, and attending to them be
sides. At the end of every week she
paid her board to Julia; she considered
that her work in the house was a fair
return for her mother's, in her poor
health and old age; and they kept out
of the way in their room together all
they could. As for poor pale Julia, she
was a nonentity and a shadow, sick a
part of the time and with no spirit at
any time; she knew that hoihe was not
a happy place, but she could not bear to
blame lier husband, and gradually came
to join him in blaming Evelyn, who
might make tilings very different for
everybody if she would only marry Mr.
Bryce—Mr, Bryee, wliose half million
was at the feet of this young beauty for
her .to pick up and enrich them all;
Mr. Bryce, who had met her at the
house of one of her pupils, who had
made Osric's acquaintance purposely to
gain an ally in his siege, ami concerring
whom neither Osric nor Osric's wife, nor
Osric's mother-in-law in fact, ever after
ward gave her any peace; for the one
saw business opportunities for himself
the other saw peace in the house, and the
third saw kindness, escape and lilierty.
"Now what's the use, Julia!" Evelyn
once exclaimed. " Marry the man? I
can't! I won't! How can you want mo
to?"
, "The idea." said Julia, "ofletting
such a chance as that slip through your
I fingers!"
"The idea of not selling myself!"
"Of letting that artful widow, that
Kate Grey, outgeneral you and %>me in
the mistress of those millions!"
" It's only half a million."
"Only half a million!"
" Well, we'll stick to the truth. And
Mrs. Grey is iiis cousin, and loves him
to distraction. I don't see why. Hut
she always has. She's welcome."
" How can you be so unnatural, when
you might do so much for your family?
You'd marry him soon enough," cried
Julia, through her angry tears, " if his
name wasl'ierrcGillancl"'
And then Evelyn rose and left the
room swiltly. But where should she
go? There was no corner of the house
where she couid be alone for a single
sob; for Osric was here, and his chil
dren were there, and one does not at all
times wish even one's motlier to see the
tears with which she has no sympathy.
There was always all out-doors; she
threw her shawl over her head, and inn
out into the street. It was a pleasant
summer night. She moved nlsng
quiekly, thinking only of walking awav
from her trouble—the trouble of an old
love for the handsome, headstrong hoy
who had been the friend and companion
and lover of all her ycais, who had re
monstrntrd with her one day when lie
heard that Osric was calling frequently
at the house, and storming with resent
ment at the gales of laughter with
whieh she met every sentence he uttered
about it. had marched out, only to meet
Osric in the hail, in tin' ac.t of taking
from his pocket a little solitaire ring,
which l'ierrc hadn't a doubt was lor
Evelyn, and of which Julia, she used
to turn it on her finger, never had a
doubt tiiat it was not area. stone. And
Pierre had left the town for the Pacific
coast that night; and if she had wished
to write to tell him of his absurd mis
take, she had no address, and she only
knew lie was so much as alive by now
and then catching a rumor of him'nt his
work laying out some, railway up under
the clouds of the mountains of Peru.
But she di<l not wish to write to bin?;
the man who would think for a moment
that she would become Osric's wife de
served nothing of her-had only made
haste to seize his opportunity to leave
her, she felt. And crying forlornly to
herself, she was hurrying along, she
knew not where, when ail at once she
founo herself stopped hy an insolent
man, and a couple of wretches barred
the way. catching her hand, pulling her
shawl, leering in her face, while her
checks burned, and her lieart stood still
and her voice failed her at their ribal
dry. And never was she so giad or
thankful in her life as when a giant form
loomed before her. and a couple of pow
erful blows sent the rascais spinning into
the gutter, and Mr. Bryce had tucked
her little arm under his, nnd was taking
her home in safety, and no questions
asked. How kind he was! How good
he was! How rich he was! 1* rom that
moment she knew she was going to
marry Mr. Bryce.
But Mr. Brycc was very gentle about
it. When he had her promise, lie seemed
to be content witli that, and to be will
ing to let her learn to love him before
lie demanded more But she couldn't,
try as she would. The iden grew more
and more repugnant; only the sight of
her mother's happiness in it made Iter
hope that the love might come when
needed. Yet, nlthough that happiness
of her mother's was something very
touching for hor to see, nevertheless, in
ail her tremor and terrors, she could
never help laughing at the sudden re
spect and deference that Osric began t >
pay her.
" So you are really going to marry my
cousin?" said Mrs. Grey, when he
brought her to call on Evelyn, and iefl
her at the door.
" I suppose so," said Evelyn.
"You suppose si, | Don't you know?"
asked the pretty widow, nestling in her
laces.
"I have promised to marry h m,"
said Evelyn, then, looking up in the
sudden hope of softie help, some sym
pathy, and remembering how unreason
able that was to iiopo for from his
cousin, who loved him herself, people
said, although how she could, as Evelyn
said to herself, with a sort of shudder,
was a mystery.
" You have promised," repeated Mrs.
Grey. " And you are the kind to keep
your word, I suppose. Tell njp—l have
a right to know—would you marry him
If he were a poor man P" said Mrs. Grey,
imperiously.
"I should marry him now, rich or
poor, since my word lias been given,"
replied Evelyn.
"That is not answering my question."
"I will answer it. then, when you tell
me what right you have to ask it."
Mrs? Grey hesitated. " Everv right
-r-every right," she cri d then, with
sudden swift emphasis. " The right of
years of waiting, of patience, of nope
less devotion. 1 have the right at least
to demand that the woman who wins
where I fail shall give him some por
tion of the love I would have la vis lied."
"I am very sorry for you,' said Eve- ,
lyn, simply, after a moment or two of
silence had followed this outbreak. " I
— I wish he did love you!" Apd then,
as Mrs. Julia was coming into the room,
she dashed by her and ran out, unable
to control the tears she could not boar
to weep before this woman.
"I ciune to pay my compliments to
your siHter," said Mrs. Grey, coolly, to
Julia; " but she seems to regard her
approaching marriage as Anything hut a
subject for compliments. lam sorry
she is so unhappy in it. I suppose
there is another attachment P"
"Oh, dear me." drawled Julia, who
never had more than half sense, as their
old nurse used to say," we don't consider
her old affair with i'icrrc flllland ol any
consequence—"
"Pierre?" asked Mrs. Grey, gently,
with an air of interest in Julia s conver
sation. And when the carriage came
round for her she knew all Julia knew.
"A very lovely girl," said Mrs. Grey,
as her cousin, who had not gone in
with her, took the seat beside her again
in the carriage. " But I can't congratu
late you, 119 I could not congratulate
her. She is in love witli another man
—a young Pierre Gilland, a civil en
gineer on a Peruvian railroad, who had
always expected to marry her, but who
left her incontinently on supposing she
was going to accept the ring of that lit
tle wretch who is now her brother-in
law. Dear me, what a fool thut woman
is!—the sister of your pretty Evelyn.
liow fortunate you are not going to
. marry the family!"
"Humph!" said Mr. Bryce.
But when he returned that evening,
and found Evelyn still excitedly ready
, for tears at a word, and obliged to go
early to bed with a sad headache, he
. went round for a little comfort from his
cousin Kate; and every time that Evelyn
, seemed to shrink from him, and show
; him the coldness that she could not
help, he inv iuntarily sought with his
cousin tlie sympathy he had found witli
tier before.
At Christmas-time lie gave Evelyn
1 some pearls that made Julia's eyes
fairly run over with drops of ecs'asy,
and at New Year's some diamonds, over
which Osric bung gloatingly. But
1 Evelyn gave tliem back, and begged
1 him to keep them till by-and-bye. "You
mean," he said, "that you don't love
me well enougli to take them now?"
1 " I think." she said, " that 1 may
care more for you if I am not so loaded
with obligations.' I#et your cousin
Kate keep them for me." And then,
looking up. in a sudden boldness, she
added : " Why did you not marry her?
She would have made a ix'tter wife than
—than nnybedy. And she— she is very
fond of you."
" Marry my cousin Kate! Why, the
thought never entered my head. A man
doesn't marry the women of his family,"
lie pxclnimea. " I mean to marry you."
I But the thought had entered his head
now. And the next time lie came into
j the presence of pretty Mrs. Grey, he
I could not avoid looking at her and re
j membering Evelyn's words. Yes, yes,
he thought; Kate was very fond of him.
And she would make any man a fine
I wife. II only Evelyn were as fond!
j For the rest, that little speech of
Evelyn's was like leaven, and leaven
will work. He Watched Kate when he
I gave her the jewels to take care of till
he could give them to his wife, nnd it
slowly began to dawn upon him that
here was a woman who adored him, and
lie was passing her by to marry a child
who adored somebody else! and some
times then it used to occur to Evelyn
that Mr. Bryce was growing a little
tired of hr indifference, a little vexed
at her aversion. Still, troth was plight ed,
■ vows were pledged, the engagement w.-w
public and the marriage had been fixed
for the first of March.
" Oil, mamma!" broke forth Evelyn,
as she threw open the window to air the
room one morning, and looked out upon
the (lying snow-squalia, "only a fort
night more and 1 am in Tetters."
"You silly child." said her mother,
pulling up her slinwl. " Fetters, in
deed! You'll hate a lovely valentine
to-day, I dare say. with a diamond in it,
: if you call that fetters."
"St. Valentine's day! So it is. Oh,
what a dreary, dreary thing! As if
- there were any happy iovers in the
I world! Oh, I wish— I wish this snow
were falling on my grave!"
" Well, Evelyn," said her mother
then, severely. " if you are going to con
tinue feeling this way. the sooner you
put an end to tilings the better. I will
see Mr. Bryce myself this very day."
j "No. My word is given. I shall not
break it. He is very kind," she sobbed.
| " I—l know I shall r>e ail right in time,
only I—l cannot help—" And, without
I finishing her sentence, she thrust her
I head, where the hair was always hr< ak
i ing into sunny little rings, out into the
j falling snow to cool and bide her face.
To cool her face? What sudden
i flames were those that* swept up over
j throat and cheek and forehead ? What
i was it, who was it, she saw below
j there ? Why did she spring hack, and
| dart from the room, and take the stairs
; ala bound, to throw open the front door
; and be clasped in a shower of snow and
| the embrace of a great dark fellow who
[ would not let her go ?
| "Oh, Pierre! Pierre!" she was wliis
[ pering, clinging to the stranger.
" And the ring wasn't for you after
all, my darling! She wrote and told
[me— Mrs. Grey, the trump! What a'
fVretoh I was! What a— Bless mv
soul! what's this ?"
She had sprung from liiro, and was
wringing her Panda at a safe distance
"Oh, I mustn't! you mustn't.! 1 can't
—1 mean—oh, I mean, Pierre! Pierre!"
she cried, "that I am going to marry
Mr Bryce!"
" Not now!"
"Yes. yea; I have promised—"
"Mail!" cried the postman at the
open door, in which the snow was driv
ing. and which they had both forgotten,
end a letter fell at tier feet.
Pierre picked it up. "A valentine, I
suppose,"he bitterly s.id. "Probably
from your Mr. Bryce. Evelyn! Evelyn!
do you mean that I have come home to
emptiness, to desolation, to—"
She had opened the letter mechani
cally, and had run her eyea over it, not
really auite conscious of what she did.
She whirled it toward him. "See!"
she said, with a wide staring gaze.
" Read it! I don't believe I can under
stand it. Perhaps I tun —a little —out of
my head!" Ann lie read aloud:
"'Mr DEAR— I know you will not
feel badly when I set you free from your
obligation to mo by telling you what I
have not had the courage to do before,
that, by vour advice, I shall marry my
cousin Kate this evening, but married
or single, shall ever remain your Mend,
. "' WAI.TKR. BKTCE.' "
The lottsr fell to the floor, for Evelyn
WM under the capes of that great coat,
held close to the beating heart, there.
"Where's your cloak Pierre was
whispering. " Where's the little moth
er? Here's the carriage at the door. '
They are going to be married this eve
ning. Let, us get the start of them by
being married this morning. Who ever
in all time before had such a glorious
valentine?"—/fdrper's Barar.
Diamond Making.
A New York paper says that trying to
make diamonds will be—at least until
they have been made—an interesting
subject to the majority of men. The
late effort of James Mactear, of Glas
gow, to pioducc diamonds artificially
is by no means the first that lias been
made. The earliest experiments of any
importance were recent, however—only
tifty-two years since. I.atourand Gan
nali, the French chemists, then pre
sented pure pieces of cryHtalizcd earlion
to the academy of sciences, and caused
thereby the greatest excitement, thereby
supposing that the secret of muking
diamords had been discovered. The
result proved that the small crystals,
although transparent, brilliant nnd
harder than quartz, would neither scin
tillate nor refract rays of light suffi
ciently to render them valuable. Not
withstanding that they were composed
of the same material an diamonds, they
hud little beauty. They were sub
mitted to the heat-test, as Maetear's
crystals were, but like his, they under
| went no perceptible change. Chani-
I fiigny, director of a celebrated diamond
' firm in Paris, pronounced them genuine;
: whereupon followed tin great diamond
! panic (ISBBI, which affected the whole
j commercial globe. A few years later
| the French savant. Dcspretz, again
startled the world by annnum-jng that
in- had produced artificial diamonds.
His method was to fix a cylinder of
l pure carbon to the positive pole of a
j weak Danioll pile, and a platinum wire
! to the negative pole, and then to plunge
both poles into acidulated water. In
two months the negative pole was cov
ered with a black coating, which was
sent to Gaudin (Mare Antoine) to be
tested on hard stones. Mixed witli a
little oil, the black particles would
polish rubies, and as the diamond alone
will do this,.Gaudin did not hesitate to
declare the particles diamond-dust, a
conclusion generally accepted al tlip
I time by men of science. The question.
| "Can diamonds be made artificially?"
is still open, and many chemists feel
sum that it will ere long be answered
in the affirmative by experiments abso
lutely successful. "They have already
been produced in material, though not
in properties It is thought that these
may be obtained by cutting the crystals
| differently from what they are now out
' Such a discovery would not be much
i more remarkable than the discovery
made by Enguiner (M 56) in producing
I tarols, and perfected l>y Coster in mak
j inft pianos on the Koh-i noor. The
j effect of such a discovery may be eon
jjcotiired by reference to the diamond
I panic of It would revolutionize
values, nnd create a prodigious eommo
-1 tion in both hemispheres; but the com
motion would abate in due time.and gcssl
i would unquestionably result. The
value of all the diamonds in royal treas
| uries. in mercantile, titled, and private
j bands, and elsewhere, is stupendous.
| It has been estimated at live billions,
j °r according to the French numeration,
; $5,000,000,000. To destroy capital to
that amount would upset for a time the
world's commerce, were the capital
active. Rut the capital locked up in
i diamonds is wholly dormant.
The Marriage of (treat Men,
Robert Burns married a farm girl,
j with whom he fell in love while they
J worked together in a plowed field.
Milton married the daughter of a
! country squire, nnd lived with her but
I a short time He was an austere liter
ary recluse, while she was a rosy, romp
ing country lass, who could not endure
the restraint imposed upon her; so they
! separated. Subsequently, however, she
returned, and they lived tolerably
happy.
Qu<-tn Victoria nnd Prince Albert
| were cousins, a rare example in the long
; line of English nionarclis. wherein tin*
i marital vows were gaeivdly observed
, and sincere affection existed.
Shakespeare lovcJ and wedded a
: farmer's daughter.
Washington married a woman with
two children. It is enougli to say she
was Arorthy of him, and they lived as
I married people should live—in perfect
harmony with each other.
John Adams married the daughter of
a Presbyterian clergyman. Her father
objected on account of John being a
lawyer.
John Howard, the great philanthro
pist, married iiis nurse. She was alto
gether beneath him in social life and in
tellectual capacity, and. besides this
was tifty-two years old while he was but
twenty-live, lie wouldn't take "No"
or an answer, and they were married
and lived liappily until she died, which
occurred two years afterward.
Peter the Great, of Russia, married a
peasant. She made an excellent wife and
a sagacious empress.
Humboldt married a poor girl because
lie loved her. Of course they were
happy.
It is not generally known that Andrew
Jackson married a lady whose husband
was still living. She was an amiable
woman, and was most devoutly attached
to the old warrior and statesman.
A Hermit's Fight With a Hear.
A bear story, ol which a hermit is the
hero, is recounted in a letter from Bush
kill, Pa., to the Philadelphia Prrmt.
O™ man Sheldon has no companions,
and his lonely cave is several miles
from any house in the midst of a forest.
He has no weapon save a knife which
lie manufactured by rubbing an old file i
on a stone until ft became sharp. A
short time ago the hermit went out in
sesrch of firewood, nnd was absent from
his cave about an hour. When he re
turned he was amazed to see a large
black bear crouching in one corner of
iiis underground abode. Before he
oould get out of the cave, however, the
bear sprang toward him, dealing him a
hard blow on the shonider. Sheldon
drew his knife and struck bruin in the
neck, bnt the wound only infuriated the
beast. He again attempted to retreat,
bnt the bear renewed the attack. The
hermit then endeavored to deal him
another blow in the neck with the
knife, but the weapon glanced and sev
ered one of the animal's paws. Shel
don succeeded in getting out of the
cave, where the struggle was renewed,
the hear getting him In hia embrace and
nearly bugging the breath out of him;
but the old man waa plucky, and drove
the knife into the monster's heart, kill
ing him instantly. As ths bear fell
dead, Sheldon fainted and was found
unconscious, several hours later, by a
party who had set out from ths village
to visit bis oavs.
TIMELY TOPICS.
At Rheims is the largest champagne
establishment in France. In one vast
sub-cellar are deposited 1,000,000 bottles 1
of the raw whine, and in another part of
the town are some 3,000,000 bottles.
"Hie wine is treated most delicately, and
thousands of men. women and children,
veiy carefully trained, are employed in
the process, to complete which requires
three years
A strange disease has appeared in the
• ast end of Ixmdon. It is an affection
of the eye. known in the affected district
a* " the blight." and not familiar to the
i native- oculist. it is virulent and
dangerous, not seldom destroying the
sight if not promptly taken in hand.
Several weeks ago there wen- sixty-nine
cases of this disease in Whiteehapel
alone. The epidemic is supposed to be
a foreign importation.
A singular and yet very sensible gift
is that of liOthnr von Faber, the well
known German lead-pencil manufac
turer. He has just presented the sum
of 125,000 marks to the city of Nurem
berg. the interest on which he requires
to be paid annually to some intelligent,
skillful, and in a!! respects worthy me
chanic, for the purpose of establishing
him in an independent business. The
recipient must He of respectable family,
a resident of Nuremberg or Stein, and
must have attended the school* in one
• of those towns.
An Idea of the condition of the United
| States nary is given by the renort of the
, House naval committee, which says that
of the 142 vessel* of the navy forty-eight
are not capable of firing a gun, eleven
steamships are laid up lor repairs and
eight others are out of service, leaving
only sixty-nine capable of doing naval
duty- The navy is also short in guns,
having only 250 pieces in the whole
navy, of which less than forty are rifl<*s,
! all the others being smooth bores,
wliieh are out of all comparison with the
modern gun for effective service.
A man may be able to keen poverty
1 from his home if lie be president of a
j railroad company. H. J. Jewett. presi
j dent of the Erie railway, has a salary of
$40,000 a year; Tom Scott, president of
1 seven railroads, draws $lOO,OOO salary,
¥24,000 from the Pennsylvania road
| ion- . J. W. Garrett, president of the
j Baltimore and Ohio, has a nominal
salary of $4,000 a year. There are u,-
j day fifteen general managers ot railways
j in the United States whose salaries run
I from $lO,OOO to $15,000; nine general
| superintendents, with a salary of $7.000
| to $lO,OOO yearly, and a number of ofli-
I eers in the same rank who rroeive over
, SB,(SSI
It is'somewnat hard to maintain a
| free reading-room in New York. The
numlier of articles stolen from the
| Cooper Union is giving the managers a
| great deal of trouble. Not only are the
I ordinary books stolen, but it is found
| next to impossible to keep up the sup
; ply of Bibles on the desks, as they are
| stolen as fast as distributed. The br iss
i rods that keen the papers in place are
j constantly stolen for the metal, and even
i the worthless rubber cheeks given at
I the floor arp stolen instead of being
given up as the person passe* out. Two
I years ago there were 2.000 checks, now
j there are but 450. Twenty-five hundred
I person* enter the free reading-room
i dai'y. HeieafVer persons desiring to use
| this immense reading-room will be
obliged to make application for admis
j sion to the librarian.
The Ixindon Buiitling N>WH says that
the extraordinary den and for Italian
marble lias raised a question na to bow
i long the quarries are likely to hold out.
According to a report of the French
geological commission there yet remains
a considerable surface and depth of the
true I'enteliean marble untouched, but
I no specific statements are grim on this
heap. At Carrara a dreadful waste of
material goes on. A late traveler was
assured on the-pot that hundred* of tons
are needlessly thrown away through
I sheer carelessness and the elumsiness of
! workmen. Mueh of this exquisite ma
! terial is removed in enormous masses
j for the decoration of commonplace edi
| Hces. The Italians are at length btsom
| ing nlive to this. The quarries have
been worked almost without intermis
sion since the days of the Roman eni
' perors. A little community of sculp
tors is established around the quarries,
, and the artist's chisel is plied almost
side bv side with the marble mason's
saw. The marble goes everywhere.
It is the habit in Scotland as in
America to sell insurance tickets, with
j railroad tickets when the traveler de
, sires them. The cost of these insur
i ancc tickets, good for one day. is
but a penny, and the compnny agrees
| to pay a certain sum in case of death
| within the twenty-four hours, or a j
certain sum weekly in case of in
jury. It is rather remarkable that there
should not be n single insured person on
that fated Dundee train, but so the in
surance companies assert. This nrlngs
up a suggestion of impgDveuient in the
! method of giving tickets for this pur
! pose. There should be some method
by which the friends of the deceased
could find out whether or not he hod
been insured. Almost every one on the
train tiiat went into the Tay might have
been insured, yet there is no way of find
ing it out. Many of the bodies have
h*-n swept out to sea and if they an
ever found it is doubtful whether an in
surance ticket on their persons would be
decipherable.
A romance of mining life comes from
-Santa Cruz, near the Patagonia mines,
on the line which cuts the United States
from the Mexican province of Sonora
Since the establishment of the Patago
nia it has been found necessary to pro
tect Santa Crur. from the Apache In
dians, and cavalrymen now tak*- care
that the surrounding country shall not
be molested. Rut Santa Cruz has bad
a wild history. Along the Pacific coast
it is known as •'tue indestructible
Santa Cruz." Then* is not a family in
town that has not lost a father, mother,
brothers or sister.-. When one Rduarao
Gracia saw that the place hereafter
would have protection he left Santa
Cru* for the Apache country to seek
his brothers and sisters, who' had been
carried away into captivity. He foufhl
that one of the brothers and one of the
sisters hail died, but the others were
living. Both had married among the
Apaches, and in answer to the prayers
of Kduanlo that they should return
with him to Santa Cruz they pointed
toward their dusky offeprings and shook
their beads.
It is Interesting, and t> many people
It may be profitable to know the cons
punitive value of diff. rent kindsof vr„rw* H
for fuel. Hhellhark hickory in r<-g;,rdM
a* the highest standard of our form,
tree*, and calling that 100, other tree,
will com pare with It for real value , I
fuel lor house purpose* ItM f(,]] fJW ,
Shell bark hickory, 100; pignut hickory
tf2; white oak, 84; white ash, 77- (\,l'
wood, 75; scrub 0ak,73; white ha/,.
72; appletree, 70; red oak. 07; whip. '
beach,os; black birch, 02; yellow oak
00; hard maple, 50; white elm 58- r ,,j ■
cedar,9o; wild cherry, 95; yellow pin,
54; chestnut. 52; yellow poplar si'
butternut and white birch, 43; white
pine, 30. It in worth hearing in mind
that in wood of the same spot !<•* there i<
si great diio rencc, according to Use
in which they grow. A tree that grow..
| on a wet, 1..w, rich ground will be
: solid and !em durable for fu.j, and
I therefore of less value than a tree of t|,
I name kind that grows on a dry and p<
j noil. To the ordinary nurclmaer oak i
i oak and pine is pine; hut for house u,,
the tree grown on dry upland, 'and
! standing apart from all others, is worth
! a great deal more.
1 Although to-day there are at many
j beard* in the IIoue of Commons as in
I any assembly in the world, twenty-fiv,
I years ago tliere was but one. It be
longed to Mr. Munta, member from
| Birmingham, who did the public a mt
i vice by persuading the government to
adopt the perforating machine ir, tl •
manufacture of |K,tage stump*. Mr.
Munts shaved until he was forty, when
i hi* brother returned from Germany
with a fine beard, which the M. P. d< :
termined to emulate. "H. U.," the
famous caricaturist, was soon at "the
man with the beard," as every one called
Muntz. and represented him in a cartoon
as "a Brumniagcn M. I'." In this por
j trait lie carries a stout stick, which In
i special prominence, the reason Is ing
j that an irrepressible practical joker, the
, Marquis of Waterford, was supposed u.
j liave laid a wager that he womd shav,
Muntz; hence the cudgel to defendhiiu
: self from disbarb;uncnt. Mr. .'dun;/,
1 died, very wealthy, in 1*57.
The autopsy of the remains of the
woman who starved herself to death in
I Cincinnati did not reveal any matria,,y
I diseased condition of the stomach. Tie
i fact til at she lived for thirty days witl,-
out using any nourishment whatever
! would justify the conclusion that per
} sons possessed of strong will power, and
having the hallucination or delusion
| that they are suffering with some or
ganic disease or bodily disorder, may
] live until the body is entirely consumed.
This lady was possessed of great power
of will, and she had a delusion that she
• had no stomach, and therefore made up
her mind that she would not take food
] or drink, and continued in this eondi
' tion until there was a general exhau*-
; tion of the nerve-centers and mentv
faculties, when she went quietly into a
calm sleep and died without a struggle,
j The pathological ooadition of the pas
sages leading to the stomach all being
! normal, with no obstruction, and •>.. the
| organs in a healthy state ready to p<r
i form their various offices, would w.ir
-1 rant the conclusion that this lady would
i have lived a great many years if sh"
i could have been Induced to partake cd
sufficient nourishment to sustain life
An account of a case of ciear grit,
physical endunqp-c and suffering from
pain, which stands without a para!/.,
comes from Ontonagon county, Mich.
The story runs that a woodman named
James Irwin left Bock land for his for<*i
home at Igw Vieux Desert,on snow shoes
over an tintraveled road through th<-
! woods, which was covered with two or
thro; feet of snow. A short dislan
j out he stopped to buiid a fire, a.td whi>
' engaged in chopping some fuel he cu'
one (d his feet. Failing to appreciate :it
: the time the extent of his injury.
!he continued on his way. and
when out about twenty-five mil"* from
Rockland he discovered that his wound
j was a serious one and required the
offices of a surgeon, and .is there w.n r, >
physician at Lac Vieux Desert, he r< -
I traced his steps toward Rockland where
lie could get one. His foot rapidly got
1 worse, so that he could not bear hi
weight on it. Alone, on an unbrok' n
I trail or road, heavy with snow, with .*
crippled and painful foot, his horrih
| position can he imagined. It was a c.w
of life or death witii Irwin, so failinc > n
bis knees he commenced crawling cr.
; " all fours " and after thirty-six days he
was found within three miles of Rn, k-
I land, having crawled twrnty-two mil, ■*
in a most deplorable condition, and
barely life enough left to stir. Tli"
wounded foot had to be cut off. ar d
it was thought he would lose to
other one, which was frozen. For sev
eral days he had nothing to cat. A m*n
who would undertake to accomplish
what Irwin did was not turned out ot
a common mould.
wj He Dismally ttroaned.
_ In this country, no matter where, re
side two lawyer*, no matter whom
Suffice to say these lawyers are young
genial and deep in legal lore, and a.*
such are occasionally sought after in
criminal cases of small import. A very
short lime ago, no matter when, profc*
sional duties called them befoie a cer
tain justice of the peace in the county.
One was to prosecute and the other de
fend. The ease was conducted with
skill and ability, and the court, una, -
customed to such, beamed witii deep
admiration upon the young lawyers,
and was happy. The time arrived for
the prosecuting attorney to deliver his
speech, and lie waxed eloquent on the
subject of carrying concealed weapons,
and made moving appeals iratiie name
of the law that visibly affected the
court, who wept muchly and mentally
vowed vengeance against the culprit.
All at once, however, and for some un
accountable cause, bis eloquence sud
denly ceased- His left leg seemed to be
troubling him beyond measure, and he
affectionately grasped R with both
hands and groaned dismally as he cast
an appealing look toward the door, as it
tie drained above all earthly thing* to
bo on the outside All at once the mys
tery was cleared up. An Innocent re
volver serenely glided out of the pants'
leg on the floor. The young attorney
was incontinently floored and the
court, who had been revolving in his
mind the propriety of sending for ail
the doctors in the neighborhood. was
astonished— wiped his eyes and ahem'd
ominously. The young attorney wss
unable to offer any excuse, and the court
promptly fined him twenty-five dollars
and cost, and hereafter lie will be more
careful.— Vickt&urg (Jft**.) Ih raid.
ft is said that ttiere :a one cow for
every four persons in this country, and
If the wells and springs wrre to lail
some of us wouhl le put on short allow- t
anee of tniik and creaui
thru hi. %