"/lb kerning, imd the Days are
Loag."
1 Li < sSresw el other days;
In golden laxnry shone the wheat,
In tangled grasnness shook tho maise;
The squirrels ran with nimble feet,
And in and out among the trees
The hang bird darted like a flame,
The catbird piped licr melodies,
Purloining every warbler's fame;
And then I heard the triumphal song,
" 'Tis morning, and the days are long."
They scattered roses, strewed the palms,
And shouted down the pleasant vales;
I beard a thousand happy psalms,
And, langhing, wove a thousand tales
Ot mimic revelry and joy j
They mocking well the worldly great—
Kaek tanlkscd girl and barefoot boy,
Dear simpers ot my early late—
And then again the roolinn song,
" Tis morning, and the days are long."
Far winding past the storied town,
The river ran through bosky groves;
Its floods we sailed our vessels down
FuM-treighted with a myriad loves ,
Our souls went floating to the gales,
With scarlet leaves and shreds ol bark;
We named them cutters, schoonuis, sails,
And watched them lade in shadowy dark;
Ihen down the water flowed the song,
' 'Tts morning, anil the days aro long.''
Oh, morning, when the days aro long,
And yonth and innocence are wed,
And every grovo is lull ol song,
And every pathway void ot dread '
Who rightly sings its rightlul proiso,
Or rightly dreams it o'er again,
When cold and narrow aro the days,
And shrunken all the hopes <>( men,
He shall reawaken with his song,
II 'Tis morning, and the days arc long. "
There palpitations, wild and sweet, j
The ttanlls ot many an old delight,
And dimpled hands that lightly meet.
And hearts that tremble to unite,
ArisApon the early morn,
Pass down the lovely vulee and stand,
A picture ola memory born,
The mirage of a lotus land—
A land where once we trolled tho song,
Th morning, and the days are long."
—B. 8. Parktr.
A Controversy With Cupid.
"Little wretch! I bate him. We
have never had a moment's peace since
he took possession of the house," de
clared Polly Patten, with a stamp of
her foot.
The "he" referred to was not. as
might be supposed, a tramp or a sheriff's
officer, not even a poor relation, or an
Irish butler, or a heathen Chineo. Not
at all. The object of Polly's wrath was
a personage lifted up, as it would seem,
by virtue of his position, above human
criticism as above human rules, a myth,
an unknown entity—no other, in fact,
•than ttte little god cupid himself. He
and nis machinations had of late
wrought changes—woful ones, Polly
thought—in the constitution ol the Pat
ten family; and to her imagination
represented ali manner of discomfort
and discomfiture, the alteration of plans,
the blight of hop^s —innovations and
cross-purposes without end. She felt
toward him a good, honest, hearty hos
tility, as one may toward an opponent
of flesh and blood, as she sat in tier bed
room, inveighing upon the subject to
her special friend Susan Gilmore. who
was perched beside her on the broad
window-sill.
"Ob, it's all very well to laugh," she
went on; " but just wait till you try it
yourself. All last year was given up,
vou know, to marrying Helen. Her
trousseau, and her presents, and her fur
nishing—nothing else was thought of or
spoken of for twelve long months. The
house was choked with Tier things. We
all worked our fingers to the bone.
Nobody could turn round without find
ing a woman and a sewing machine at
bis back. We never even pretended to
hear ourselves speak. Well, just as it
was all over, and Helen comfortably off
our minds, Lizzie must needs set up a
lover and a long engagement John
Shaw, too, of ail persons! Now I may
bt dull, hut in the name of common
sense why John Sbaw, of all men in the
world ?"
" Lizzie knows, I presume."
"Well, perhaps she does; still, it is
provoking. Every morning of his life
John Shaw looks in for half an hour on
down town. He and Lizzie
absorb the parlor, of course. is
all right, no doubt; but. as it happens,
that particular half hour is precisely the
one which I used always to take to tidy
up the flowers, water and trim, fill the
vases, and make the room nice for the
day, and the want of it puts me out
dreadfully. I sit and twirl ray thumbs,
and scold to mother, and she never will
agree with me. • Lovers are privileged,'
she says."
"Of oonrso they are. Don't be a
spoil-sport, Polly. It's their turn now.
Tours will come."
"Never! But there's more behind.
What do you say to Eunice's indulging
in an engagement too?"
"Not really?"
"Very really indeed. John Norman
ia the happy man this time. Two
Johns, you observe, by wxy of making
the confusion greater. So they sit in
the dining-room every evening, while
Lizzie and her John occupy the parlor."
" And where do the rest of ypu sit?"
"Echo answers. We sit wherever
we may. Mother takes her mending
basket upstairs, and has a student
lamp on the round table in the upper
entry. Papa shuts himself up in tuat
dreadful little close ' den' of his, or
the office. I observe that he
business there of evenings much
oftener than formerly—because there is
no comfortable plaoe for him at
home, no doubt. Jim makes a point
of being out. As for Amy and me, we
sit on the back stairs, or in the but
ler's pantry, or any other odd corner
which nobody eho wants." Polly
laughed, but there were tears in her
brown eyes, and a very mutinous look
about the pretty mouth, which John
Norman, while in process of " sampling
the family," to borrow Polly's own
phrase, had once likened to beautiful
Evelyn Hope's, of the true "geranium
ted.
"As If all this wasn't enough,"she
went on presently with a half giggle.
half sob. " here is a letter come to-day
from Fanny Allen —our cousin, you
know—and she is engaged too; and she
proposes to make us a visit, and her
young man means to ' drop along,
forsooth, while she is here. Now whore
are they to sitP I can't imagine, unless
they take the air-chamber of the ftir
i nace. The front steps are quite too cold
at this time of the year. Or I might
have the trunk-room cleared out for
them; I hadn't thought of that before."
"Polly, you are ridiculous. Your
oousin will manage that for herself —
see if sho doesn't. They will take walks,
or something."
"Oh, if tliey only would! If the
whole lot of them would ' take walks.'
and keep on walking, and never walk
this way, how comfortable it would be!
Sue, you are abominably tolerant about
such matters. That miserable cupid!
I wyli I could hold his wings in tho
candle and burn them off. lie never
flies in but to do mischief Bomewhero.
How peaceful and happy we all were
together before this sort of thing be
gan!"
"Tako care: he will hear you, and he
is a revengeful creature. I believe him
to be the original 'little pitcher with
long ears,"' laughed Susan.
"I don't care if he does hear me,"
asserted Polly, defiantly.
Has cupid ears? Certain it is that
matters grew iworro rather than
better for Polly from that day forward.
Fanny Allen came, and in duo time
her lover, according to programme,
and with the latter a cousin,
Mr- Olhnicl Oliphant, a suc
cessful merchant, just home from China
for a brief visit. Ilis return was 'not
purely for business purposes. Mr. Oil
pliant was on the look-out for a wife;
and with the prompt decision of a mer
cantile man, he elected Polly Patten for
that position on a two days' acquaint
ance. A flrm believer in the faith that
" faint heart never won fair lady," and
" nothing venture, nothing have," he
offered himself at the end of the week,
and quite undiscouraged by Polly's dis
mayed "no," sat resolutely down and
traced his parallels, resolved to gain by
siege what lie had failed to win at nroup
by assault. This complication set the
seal to Polly's discontents.
"For just imagine what a state of
things it makes, she tald her confi
dante Sue. " There they sit —the three
sets of ninnies—one in the parlor, one
in the dining-room, ono in the'den,'
from which poor papa is turned out bag
nnd baggage; and there is that abomin
able Of O! (never did man have such
suitable initials) looming like doom or
a thunder-storm all day long, deter
mined to get me by myself, and ' culti
vate my acquaintance.' How can he
make me care for him, lie says, if lie
j never has the chance to see me alone?
It is the most embarrassing, abominable
condition of affairs. I seriously medi
tate running away to teacli school—or
something. Home is growing unbeara
ble."
" Why do you dislike Mr. Oliphant so
much? He seems to mo vtry pleasant—"
" Suo! When he teases the life out of
me! I declare she is blushing. Are you
turning iraitor too?"
" Not in the least —I don't know what
you mean, that is. What I wanted to
tell you was that we're going to have a
ymi ng man of our own also. My brother
.Jack is coming home next week."
" How coherent! I declare. Sue, you
make me suspect something. Jack?
He's the one who's been so lonjj; in Ger
many, Well, I hope you'll enjoy him;
but pray keep him to yourselves. I've
had enough of young ipen, Johns espe
cially. I never want to see one again as
long as I live —I think. Gracious!
there's that tiresome O. O- strolling up
and down in hopes of catching me as I
come out. I declare it is unendurable.
Good-by, Sue. I'm going home by the
back door, if you don't mind." And
catching up her bonnet, Polly vanished,
while Susan Gilmore, with a guilty look
in her eyes, andapnirof red, red cheeks,
tied hers on, and issuing sedately from
the front door, encountered Mr. Oli
phant, and presently, under his escort,
walked up the street. " After all." she
thought to herself, " if Polly can't like
him, and doesn't want him, why not?"
Why not, indeed? It was unanswer
able-
Another fortnight passed. Cousin
Fanny and her Eanr* went away, but O.
O. still lingered. Polly gave an excla
mation of despairing disgust when she
learned his intention; but, after all, he
aid not prove the nuisance sho had
feared. He bad other friends in town by
this time, other engagements, and did
not haunt the Pattens' house every day,
and ali day long, as at first. Polly heard
of him often at the Gi(mores'. She saw
little of Sue in those days; Hue was oc
cupied with her brother, just returned
after his long absence. Mindful of Polly's
interdict, perhaps, she was in no haste to
present him to her friend—a fact which
Polly was disposed to resent, when, a full
week after his arrival, she was at last
brought fare to faco with him. She
liked John Gilmore at once. He WAS
quite different from the other Johns, and
not at ail formidable, Polly thought—
tall and spare, quiet in speech and shy in
manner, wearing spectacles, too, but al
together vory "nice." What a myriad
of diverse meanings may be included in
that word, beloved of girls, " nicel"
In John Gilraore's case it mennt that
he did not talk nonsense to Polly, and
yet that he seemed to like tho nonsense
she talked; at least he brightened under
it always, and it made him laugh. He
never bored her with sense and long ex
planations, but she was never in his
company without finding herself after
ward thinking about things which he
liad said, and looking up little points of
information suggested by bis talk. He
was so kind-hearted, too—always so
kindl He didn't sneer at her diatribes
against love and lovers; and he seemed
to understand and be a little sorry for
her. left out in the cold, solitary in the
midst of the elsterly cirole onoe so one
in interest and so closely united. Here
was a genuine friend at but, the reflected
—a friend of her own; and comforted
thereby for her losses, she grew a little
more tolerant of the happiness of other
people; and even when, a little later, a
great wave of surprises and sudden
changes broke over the home and ail in
it, still the tolerance continued.
For, first, John Norman had a part
nership offered him in Houth America,
and he and Eunice had to be got ready
at two months' notice to sail to their
new home. And while Polly was toil
ing over the hurried preparation which
was all that Ume mado possible, Susan
Gilmore, her one special friend, called
one morning, and with a burst of emo
tion quite unwonted in the staid Sue,
confided the lactr that she was engaged
—engaged to O. 0.. whs wns the loveli
est. dearest man that ever was, though
Polly had been so nnkind as not to find
it out—a fact sbe (Sue) was very glad
i of now—and they were to be married hi
six week*, and sail for China directly
afterward. And would her dearest
Polly forgive her, and promise to lore
O. O. all she possibly could, just lor
her sakeP
"You too?" was all Polly's reply.
But she put her arms round Sue's neck
with a tear and a sob, and all was
smooth between them. Sue, who had
dreaded the interview, was aranzed at
Polly's forbearance. A chancre had evi
dently come over the spirit of her dream.
Trials, wo arc told, nave a chastening
effect on the character. Was it her
trials which were thus blessed to Polly P
After that all was bewilderment and
confusion dire till the two weddings
were over. Eunice nnd John departed
the dny after theirs, and a lull fell upon
the weary household. Mrs. Patten
went upstairs to lie down. Polly, who
Bighed for fresh air, departed for a
walk with John Gilmore, who missed
his sister so much, poor fellow! and
Amy. the cadettc of the family, pre
pared to celebrate their newly recovered
freedom by adorning and making beau
tiful the dining-room, now rescued
from courting purposes, and restored
again to the common use of the house
hold.
A busy afternoon indeed did little!
Amy make for herself, but it was a
merry one, and she sang as she worked.
Every vmso In the room she filled with
violets and wild flowers, or" apple
blooms from the just blossomed
orchard. The curtains were pulled
to exactly the ideal angle, the
chairs regrouped, all the horrid
look taken away, Amy thought, :is (
if the room were mesnt only for two, j
and for no one else. It wjis dusk when
she finished, and curling up in the sofa |
corner, sh'' awaited will: im patience
Polly's return—Polly, who had hated
the love-making as much as she Ind, j
and would be so pleased. Polly was the
one person in the house of whose sym
pathy Amy tell quite sure.
She was long in coming, hut she came
at last. Amy heard her step on the
porch, and witli it another step, louder,
firmer. Surely that tiresome John Gil
more was not coming in to spoil every
thing this first pleasant night. No: he
had come to see papa. Amy heard him j
tap at the door of the "den," while !
Polly ran upstuirs. lie emerged as she i
came down; there was a long confab
bing in the entry; but at last the front i
door shut with a delightful emphasis, 1
and Amy jumped up from the sofa to en
joy the effect of her surprise.
"Come in—oh, do come in!" shecried.
" I want you to see if the dear old room
doesn't look lovely. I've been all the!
afternoon doing it, so that it might i>c i
nice for our first evening. Isn't it pleas- j
ant to have a room to sit in ajrainP Aren't |
you glad that the wedding is over, and '
all theftiresome love-making, and we can
have cozy little times at home like other
people? Why, Polly, how queer you
look! Don't you like it? What makes
you do so?"—for Polly, half tearfully,
was kissing and fondling the child.
" Oh, I do. Amy darling. I do like it
very much."pleaded poor Polly, "but —
only—my pet, I'm afraid you'll he very
disappointed; hut John Gilmore is com
ing here this evening to see me. and I'm
afraid I shall have to ask you to let us
have this room."
"John Gilmore! Good gracious!
Polly Patten"—with almost a shriek—
"you're not engaged to him? You don't
mean that?"
" Y-e-e-s," faltered Poliy. "Oh. Amy
dear, don't look so distressed!"
" I will look distressed; 1 have a
right to," cried Amy, with a burst of
sobs. "After ail you said! A man
named John, too—three .Johns in the
family! Oh! Polly! And yon who de
clared you hated men named John!
Well, alter this, I never, neveT will be
lieve in anybody again."
" Amy. dear, I talked a great deal of
nonsense. You must forget it. I didn't
know." But Polly urged in vain. Amy
pushed her hand aside, and rushed awsy
to console. herself as best she might
with a hard fit of erying, and Polly,
convicted, repentant, hut by no means
unhappy, was left behind.
So ended Polly's controversy with
cupid. She was vanquished, as Pollys
are opt to be in such warfare; but there
are defeats which count for more than
victories, as we all know, and this may
have been one. I regret to say that she
never formally apologized for her incon
sistency, and she took possession of the
dining-room every evening without the
l ast apparent perception of the selfish
ness of the proceeding. Amy w s
greatly scandalised, but eui bonol To
each his turn. Little Amy's will come
some day, and then she too will forgive
and understand.— Harper's Bator.
Death la the Coal Mines.
The report jf inspectors of anthracite
coal mines in the Schuylkill region re
lating to casualities in the mines is a
ghastly list. In IK7B the killed num
bered eighty-seven and the injured 247.
In 1879 there were 113 killed and 337
injured. Of the fatal accidents, twelve
deaths were caused by explosions of
fire-damp, seven by blasts and other
explosions of powder, fifty-five by fall
ing coal, slate and rock; twenty-two
by cars and mine wagons, and seventeen
in miscellaneous ways. The ways in
which some men meot death are strange
Indeed. Patrick Casey was caught by
a rush of coal in a shute and carried
with it to a point where a plank caught
him by the neck and choked him to
death. Griffith Watkins, a boy, left his
place in the breaker and went to get a
drink of water. As be was passing the
bbiler-bouse a runaway car crushed
through the side, struck him and killed
him. Charles Dreshman, a miner, aged
twenty-two, who was engaged shovel
ing at the mouth of a shute, was found
lying dead, with one leg down the shute
and a small quantity of loose earth lying
on him. No indications of what killed
him could be found, but it waa sup
posed that his foot slipped Into the hofe,
and he imagining that he was about to
fall to the bottom, was literally fright
ened to death.
Living la <}aiet.
A rule for living happily with others
is to avoid having stock suhjoots of dis
putation, It mostly happens when peo
ple live much together, that they come to
have certain set topics, around which,
rom frequent dispute, there is such a
growth of angry words, mortified vanity
and the like that the original subject of
difference become a standing subject for
quarrel, and there is a tendency in al)
minor disputes to drift down to it.
Again, if people wish to live well ti>
f tether, they must not hold too much to
ogio, and suppose thai everything is to
te settled by sufficient reason. Dr.
Johnson saw this clearly with regard to
married people when be said:
" Wretched would be the pair above all
means of wretchedness who should be
doomed to adjust by reason, every morn
ing. all the minute details of the domee
tie day."
WOHDKBFVL LEADVILLP.
further I'mli of latwMt About tb* Fa
moiit Milter City o Colorado.
Colonel Elisha W. Davis, a member
of the Pennsylvania legislature, said to
a Philadelphia Time* reporter, on re
turning from a trip to Leadville, Col.:
" Two years ago a little tumble-down
shanty or two stood on the site now oc
cupied by Leadville, a city containing
to-day nearly forty thousand inhabi
tants, and which I do not hesitate to
predict will have one hundred thousand
Mficoplo before the end of another year."
" Talk about the wonderful rise of
San Francisco and other places," con
tinued Colonel Davis, " but think of
Leadville in comparison with any of
them and you'll acknowledge that it
must get the palm. With its fine
banking concerns occupying elegant
buildings and doing a very large busi
ness: four daily newspapers—three Re
publican and one Democratic —not ex
celled in enterprise and general features
by any other papers outside of Phila
delphia and New York; several flour
ishing weekly journals; three first-class
theaters: numerous fine churches, in
cluding Episcopal, Methodist and Uo
! man Catholic; whole streets full of busi
ness structures that are the architec
tural equals of those in many of the
large Eastern cities, and a fine post
office building now being erected of
brick and stone—it is already a city of
no little importance. Except in the
outskirts, it is not scattered like many
other mining towns, hut is compnctly
l built up—more so than Harrishurg, of
which, I think, it is the'equal, if it does
! not go beyond that city in population.
I Nearly all the temporary wooden-truc
| lures have already given place to sub-
I stontial buildings 01 stone and brick,
i Any quantity of good bricks can be
j made there, suitable clay being found
lin the immediate vicinity. Leadville
looks just as much like an Eastern city
as does H&rrisburg.
"The city is 14,000 feet aliove the level
of the sea, nnd all around it in the dis
tance loom up snow-capped peaks.
During my stay of three weeks there,
however, I have perceived little, if any,
; difference between its climate and that
iof Philadelphia. Nevertheless, the soil
| thereabouts is not suitable for farming
; to any considerable extent, and the pi r
, manency of the settlement mast de- end
' upon the supply of the surrounding sil
ver mines, which for many generations
will be inexhaustible. Thelocation of
the city on a gradually sloping mountain
is such that during a thunder-storm the
people can see the iiphtning flash below
them. Snow remains all the year on
the surrounding peaks. It is amusing
! to see how strangers in the city are de
i ocived by the apparent distance of these
' mountains. I started one morning to
I take a stroll to the base of one of them,
! supposing that it was about two or not
more than three miles off. Judge of my
astonishment upon being tola that it
was not less than twenty miles away.
The journey was postponed. Another
day, as a waggish friend and myself
were out walking, we came upon a little
spring, run or brook, less than a ysrd
wide. My friend slopptd at its edge,
and. after appearing to measure it with
his eye, proceeded to divest himself of
his garments,
j "What are you doing?" I asked, in
surprise.
"Going to swim across, of course,"
was the reply. " I've been fooled enough
I on Leadville distances: hut alter this
I'll try to make due allowance in ray
calculations."
"Take it all in ail, the cost of living
; in Leadville is no more than in Phila
delphia, while the remuneration for la
bor is from two to three times as large
as it Is here. Beef is cheaper and better
there than here. The only supplies that
command a higher price there are vege
tables. Day laborers ram from 93 to $4
a day; carpenters, $4; miners, from 44
to $4.50, and other workmen in like pro
portion. Any plucky man going tnere
with a little capital ought to get rich if
he minds his business. The entire sur
rounding country abounds in mineral
wealth, chiefly silver and iron. The
fact that lead fs found in large quantities,
combined with these, ores. gave the city
its name. Sliver, however, is the most
abundant, and, of course, the chief
treasure sought for. Anthracite coal
was recently struck, and the supply
promises to be very great. Every trade
and profession flourishes. Undoubted
ly leadville will be the center of the sil
ver mining business for the next twenty
five years It is now by tar the largest
town In the State.
"The popu 'at lon is not so heterogenous
as Philadeiphians might suppose. The
majority of the people are of American
1 birth, recruited largely from New York
State and the oil regions of Pennsyl
vania. New Yorkers are getting hold of
all the big mines. Several mines, in
eluding the Robert E. Lcc, Pittsburg
and Crysollte, have been paving at the
rate of $lOO,OOO a year lor the last six
months. If Leadvlllehae done somuch
with no railroad nearer tlian thirty-two
miles, what may be expected when the
road now running from Denver to Rnenn
Vista will be finished as far as leadville?
Indeed, it is probable that the Denver
and Rio Grande road also will soon be
extended to Leadville, opening up traf
fic along the Arkansas river. At pres
ent passenger travel and battling must
he done by means of singes and wagons
between Leadville and Buena Vista.
There has been no robbing done, how
ever, since Judge Lynch hanged two
fellows last fall. Indians are not feared
as there are none nearer than the Gunni
son country, thirty miles distant, and
they are fast disappearing from there."
The Unman Bar.
Imagine two harps in a room, with
the same number of strings, and each
string perfectly attuned to a correspond
ing one in the other. Touch a string in
one, and the corresponding string in the
other will give out the same sound.
Try another string and its correspond
ing tone will be sounded. So with all
the strings. So with any combination
of string*. It would not matter how
you played the one harp the other
would respond, as regards pitch and
quality, would be almost perfect. Now
substitute for one harp the human ear,
and the conditions would, according to
theory, be the same, except that the re
sponsive mechanism of the ear is much
smaller thßn that of the responsive
harp. In the car there are minute cords,
rods, or someihlag in such a state of
tension as to be tuned to tones of vari
ous pitch, sound a tone, its correspond
ing rod or cord in the ear will respond,
perhaps feebly, but still with energy
enough to excite the nerve-filament con
nected with it; Utc result Is a nervous
current of the brain, and a sensation of
a tone of a particular pitch. fToed
Words.
TIMELY Torm.
Mr. Ernest Hart, the eminent sani
tary writer, would like to ace the tea
pot banished from the breakfast table.
For young people, dyspeptics, and la
borers, he thinks nothing eaual to hom
iny porridge. Bread ana butter and
oocoa is a vpry good breakfast for work
ing people, he thinks. Tea is a nerve
stimulant, and on that account, he says,
out of place as a breakfast hcverago.
Comparatively few persons know how
the White House at Washington got
its name. It was given to it because
of its color. The building is con
structed of freestone, and nftcr the
British burned the interior in 1814 the
walls were so blackened that when it'
was rebuilt it was found necessary to
paint them. Ever since at Intervals of
a few years the wholesffructure receives
a fresh coat of white paint. The cum
brous title of executive mansion was
very naturally dropped for the short and
literally descriptive name of White
House, and now only figures in official
documents and correspondence.
The unreasonableness of mankind is
pretty truthfully illustrated in the fol
lowing item from the Builder and
Woodworker : When a man's house is
building, he never tiiinks the carpenter
puts in one-third enough nails, and
frequently, and with biting sarcasm,
asks him it he doesn't think the house
would stand if he ju*t simply leaned it
up against itself and saved all his nails?
Then, a few years afterward, when fie
tears down his summer kitchen to buila
a new one, he growls and scolds, and
sarcastically wonders why that fellow
didn't make the house entirely of nails,
and just put in enough lumber to hold
the nails together.
The sewing machine branch of the
machinery trade is becoming of great
importance in the United States, very
nearly 4,000 skilled artisans being cm
ployed in the sewing machine factories,
fhe following figures show that an ex
tensive export trade is being carried on
under this head: Germany, $539,000;
England. $405,000; Mexico. $153,000;
Australia. $110,000; Colombia, $93,000;
Cuba, $08,000; France, $11,000; Vene
zuela. $30,000; Brazil, $2l 000; Argen
tine, $18,000; Scotland, $16,000; Pern,
$15,000; Central America, $12,000;
Belgium, $10,000; Nova Scotia, $11,000;
Hawaii, $8,060; Porto Rico, $9,000;
! Quebec, $7,000; other countries, $29,-
! 000; total, $1,661,000.
A Philadelphia firm some years sine*
| inadvertently failed to return the value
iof certain paper boxes in which their
I imported goods were enclosed. The
| value of the whole invoice was $63,-
! 322 66, on which duties were paid to the
amount of $15,985.67. The luty on the
boxes would have been $326 02. * A gov
ernment detective alleged that under the
act of 1867 the whole invoice of goods
could be forfeited, but he magnani
mously offered to "settle." The im
porters went into court, and the ease,
after eight years, was finished the other
day, the jury bringing in a special ver
dict entirely exonerating the importers
from any fraudulent intent and limiting
the damages to the amount of duty on
the boxes and in interest thereon.
When General Grant had completed
I his trip through Florida, he gave the
I New York TVtMcne's correspondent his
conclusions as to the future of that State.
" I think," he said. " that Florida has
a bright prospect. Her productions will
be a monopoly; and besides her oranges,
pinccpples and semi-tropical fruits and
vegetables, she will in time produce the
sugar for the consumption of the entire
country. Then site grows the finest
long-*tapie cotton, the best of tobacco
j for cigars, and her timber is ol Immense
| value. Then, when the swamp land is
cleared of the timber, there will remain
the choicest kind of a rice country. The
soil, while apparently harrcn, is suited
to the climate, and there are extensive
beds of material for fertilization that
will not only supply the needs of the
I land, but will be an article of export.'
The work of the Bible revision com
mittee, so far as concerns the New Testa
ment is now substantially ended, and
the revised text will probably be form
ally and finally published during the
coming summer. No more apt occasion
could he selected, for the present year is
the fifth centenary of the publication of
Wycliffc's translation of the Bible,
printed in 1380. The work has been go
ing on simultaneously iu England and
this con .try. The appearance of the
new version will be one of the summer's
sensations. A change that will strike
the ordinary reader is the arrangement
by paragraphs, according to sense, in
stead of the chapter and verse plan of
the King James translators. Work on
the Old Testament will hardly be com
pleted tiefore 1883.
" See ine bny his soul for two cents,'
was the remark of aw irkman at Spring
field. Mass., ah..lit a man for whom he
had worked, who was esteemed a gener
ous public giver, and hart eonae into the
shop to get seme work done. The man
laid a two-cent piece on the counter and
turned away. The visitor soon saw the
coin, and, after hastily looking about
the room to see that no one was looking,
picked up the money and put it in his
pocket. When he came to pay for bis
repairs he was charged twenty-seven
cents. As h* had generally paid but
twenty-five cents for the same work he
inquired what the extra two cents were
for, and, after some urging, be was
gently informed that it was to pay for
the two cent* he hart picked Dp. He
seemed sli at once to havs important
business at home.
An English impostor of the gentler
sex lias been unmasked at Chelmsford,
alter being petted and fed by the benevo
lent since 1854. under the impression
that she was so ill of paralysis that she
could not leave her bed without help.
During all this time she had subsisted
on the charity of the townsfolk, and fre
quently the prayers of the church have
been requested in her behalf. But all
This time, too, when no one was looking
on, or likely to enter her dwelling, the
"paralytic" woman could deftly leap
out of bed, dress herself swiftly, cook a
substantial meal and eat it with a relish.
At last, after a quart* rof a century o,'
deception, she has been found out.
Some prying neighbors invaded ber
privacy at time* when they were not
expected, and fojnd her not only out of
bed and dressed but making a hearty
meal.
An Ohio paper of a statistical bent
publishes the following item descriptive
of an incident which might wall have
taken ows even If It did not: There
was so much spitting of tobacoo Juice at
bis lecture in Hamilton, Ohio, tbatPro
feasor Proctor took notice of it and mad*
a mathematical calculation in regard v,
It. " I jet us suppose," continue p ro .
feasor Proctor, " that the moisture ex.
truded in this unpleasing war in Ohie
in the course of a year would, if uni
formly distributed, correspond to th*
addition of a film of moisture no thicker
than a postal card over the entire State
Then if tiiereare hut 2tK) postal cards ta
the inch there would in 1,900.000 years
be formed a sea about 110 yards dee*
over the entire State. And as in the
course of my lecture I had occasion ta
speak of the earth's future during 2,500 .
000,000 years, it would seem to follow
(dreadful thought!) that the sea would
rise over Ohio and neighboring Stat/*
of equal sallvarv potentiality to a height
of nearly 200 miles! Noah's flood ww
nothing to this."
Some of the recent executions in Rus
sia recall a very striking incident of tb
reign of Peter the Great. The nihilism
of that period was represented by th
revolt of the Strelitz (Archer) guard
which Peter quelled and punished with
merciless severity, beheading a man for
every turret on the Kromlin wall, which
overlooked the place of execution. Th>
headsman being fatigued with th
butchery, Petei himself took his plaoi
and struck off twelve heads with hit
own hand. The thirteenth was a hand
some young soldier nicknamed r > r ,
(eagle), who, pushing aside hi- j,r>do
censor s h- adh-ss corpse, cried, with
laugh. "Come, brother, it's my tun
for an audience with the czar now
Peter, struck with this reckless ga.iat
try, pardoned and promoted hirr
Some French writers have endeavor"
to throw a coloring of roman* c ovrj
the incident by making its hero tlv
czar'a unacknowledged son, but the n
sportive ages of the two men render this
all but impossible.
The Study of Saturn! History.
Beasts, birds, reptiles and fishes, eon
sidered as forming one group, con
stitute but a comparatively smaii see.
tion of the world of animals. Creature*
allied to the snail and oyster, but a.. v
different kinds, exist in multitude
which are known to us. but doubt leu
also in multitudes a* yet unknown
Worms form a division so varied in ns
ture, and so prodigious in number that
the correct appreciation ol one to an
other and to other animals—their ci.vssj
fioaiion— forms one of the most diffif u :
of zoological problems. Cora'.-forminjr
animals and cognate forms, togctb's
with star-fishes and their allies, com
before us as two other hosts, and y,
there are other hosts of other kinds to
which it is needless here to refer. Yet
the whole maas of animals to which
reference has yet l>een made is exceeded
(as to the number of distinct kinds) by
the single group of insects. Every
land-plant has more than one species ol
insects which lives upon it. and the
same may be probably said of at lean
every higher animal—and this in addi
tion to other parasites which are not is
sects. The lowest animals have not j*
her n referred to. but the numlrercf their
undiscovered kinds which may exist it
the ocean, and in the tropical lake? and
j rivers, may be suspected from the rari
i ety we may obtain ucrc. in a single drey
of stagnant water. Recent researches,
i moreover, liave shown us that the
depths of the ooean, instead of (a
i wc supposed) lifeless as well as still and
dark abysses, really teem with animal
life. From those profound recesses at*
creatures have been dragged to light
forms which were supposed to hare
long passed away and become extinct.
And this leads to yet another consider
: ation. It is impossible to have a rDu
plets knowledge of existing animaj
i without rveing acquainted wiin so matt
of the nature of their now extinrt pre
decessors as can be gathered from tt
relic* they have left behind. Sot
i relics may be bones or shells imbeddee
in muady deposits of ages bygone, and
which deposits have now turned to roci
or may consist of but the impress of
their bodies, or only a few footprints
Rich as is the animal population of the
world to-day, it represents only s rear;
i naut of the life that has been; andsmxl
as our knowledge may ever be of that
j ancient life (from imperfections in ib
rocky record), yet every year that
knowledge is increased. What increa#
may we not also expect hereafter, whm
all remote and tropical regions lia
bsen explored with the care and pati
ence already bestowed on the deposits
which lie in the vicinity of civiliwi
populations.
. A Floating Island.
Says the Johnsville (Oregon) \tiltw-
Among the many natural curioitire
of this county it f* not generally knows
that there is a "floating island." I?
in the "Siskiyou*." lying iike a pearl is
the great mountain chain, is Squaw lake,
a beautiful short of water, now utilised
by a mining company as a reservoir
For many years the lake had been *
vorite and delightful resort lor fishing
parties, and contained, nearly in us
center, an island comprising about on?
acre of ground covered with luxuriant
grass and a growth of willow and alder.
It was never dreamed that tlie pre tty
little island was not terra firmn. but
wlien the bulkhead across tlie outlet o!
the lake dammed up its waters the island
rose slowly until it had been eieTatcd
fully sixteen teet above its original love;
It would be a question for Uk> natnralik
rather than the geologist to dotermin?
the age of this floating island, a? it i?
evidently made up entirely of decayed
vegetation. Perna.si at some rrnset?
period the roots of a tree, uptorn by the
mountain storm, drifting out into tf*
lake formed the nucleus from which th?
island has grown, but it seems singuisj
that it should have remained anchored
and unchangeable in its position.
He Knew the Legtslster.
Many a horse has been seduced iron
a pasture into a stable by a hatful of
oats held iuat beyond hi* now; recently
a noble redman was beguiled by a simi
lar operation. Indian John, the n in
nebago chieftain from Shawano, ap
peared in the Wisconsin legislature,
with a petition, and, at the suggestw"
of some gtaeeiesa wag. waddled up ts
Assemblyman Naber, who bad the floor
and was apostrophizing narrow-guag?
railroads, and grasped his outstretched
hand. Of course there was a roar of
laughter and applause, in the midst
which the sergeant -at-arms held up •
nickel before the Winnebago chieftain
face, and slowly backed toward the
door of the lobby. John followed ts
the very exit where the nicket was be
stowed upon him and the door was
•lammed la his face.