Our Ships at Sea.
How many ot us have ships at sea,
Freighted with wishes, and hopes, and tears
Tossing about on the waves, while we
Linger and wait on the shore tor years,
Gazing alar through the distance dim
And sighing, will over our ships come in 7
Wo sent them awuy with laughter and song,
Tho decks were white, and the sails were
now,
The lrogront breezes lioro them along,
Tlio sea was calm and the skies were blue,
And wo thought as wo watchod them sail
away
Ot tho joy they would briug us some tuture
day.
Long have we watched beside tho shore
To catch the gleam ot a coming sail,
But wo only hear tbo breakers' roar
Or the sweeping night wind's dismal wail,
Till our cheeks grow polo, and our eyes grow
dim,
And wo sadly sigh, will they ever come in 7
Oh! poor sad heart, with its tmrden ol cares,
Its aims defeated, its worthless lilo
That has garnered only the thorns and tho
tares,
That is seared and torn in the pitiful strife
Alar on the heavonly golden shore
Thy ships are anchored lor evor more.
An Idea in Decorative Art.
"It's perfectly useless; the thing is
my bete noire—don't laugh, Elsie, I'm
not joking. If there is any such thing
as'the contrariness of inanimate ob
i'ects,' then of all inanimate objects tiiat
lideous black mantelpiece is tiie
most contrary."
Pretty Mrs. Van Schenck threw her
self back in her chair, gazing with min
gled wratli and disgust at the object of
her animadversion, a high wooden man
telpiece, painted black, and diversified
with various dull yellow streaks and
spots, fondly supposed by housekeepers
thirty years ago" to be a most faithful
imitation of marble. Fastened across a
portion of the front, and from thence
trailing to the floor, hung a strip of
mummy cloth richly embroidered with
a garland of poppies, but looking sadly
out of keeping, uepebding from the
high narrow shelf it was intended to
adorn.
"Now just look there, Elsie! Ove
and again I have tried to cover, drape
alter that detestable mantelpiece, and
each attempt has proved a more
wretched failure than tho last one.
I've blistered my fingers knotting
macrame lace, hammered my thumbs
till they were black and blue trying all
sorts ot devices suggested by all sorts of
people. I really dia think I should suc
ceed this time, and perhaps if the bor
der had been twice as aeep it might
have looked passably; but that narrow
strip half way between floor and ceiling
is perfectly ridiculous. Grace Alston
gave me the pattern. It was lovely on
her modern mantelpiece. How stupid
in me not to think of making it wiuer!
I believe the thing is bewitched."
Here she paused to take breath, and
meeting her sister's merry eyes, burst
into a ringing laugh.
"It does seem absurd to rail so, but
the whole room is spoiled, and it would
be so pretty but lor that frightful old
mantlepiece."
"I am sure it is lovely as it is.
Nothing can spoil the beautiful oak
floor and wainscot," replied Elsie Hor
ton, glancing around the spacious apart
ment of oblong shape, lighted by four
large windows, two on the southern
side, overlooking the sparkling waters
of Long Island Sound, and two facing
the west, where a dense pine wood at
no great distiuice from the house—a
huge old mansion dating from colonial
days—shut in the view and gave an im
pression of great seclusion.
The first glimpse of the room revealed
the fact that the pretty hostess wor
shiped at the shrine of decorative art,
though good taste fortunately excluded
the horrors of scrap vases, bedaubed
drain-pipes, and spatterwork tidies.
Nay, at this moment, brightly illumined
by the flood of sunlight pouring through
the windows, the apartment
might have given an artist a suggestion
for a most charming interior. The
floor and richly carved wainscot were
of polished oak, almost black with age:
handsome Persian rugs lay scattered
here and there; soft muslin draperies
shaded the windows; bits of rare old
china made spots of bright color on
bracket and table; nn easel supported a
fine old painting; Kensington art work
appeared in screens and chair cover
ings: and a quaint spindle-legged table,
nearly a century old, stood in one
corner.
Fit subjects, too, for any artist'
brush were the occupants of the room.
Mrs. Van Schenck, dark-eyed, dark
haired, and slightly flushed with exer
tion and wrath, formed exactly the
right contrast to her sister Elsie's
blonde beauty, as the latter leaned care
lessly back in a large easy-chair, her
white draperies, relieved by knots of
blue ribbons, sweeping over the dark,
polished oaken floor, and her violet
eyes sparkling with amusement at her
companion's vivacious tirade.
" I like to listen to you, Kate," she
said nt last. "It seems like tfw dear
old times before you were married to
hear you set off on one of those Don
Quixote tiltsagainst windmills. Now,
in the name ot common-iense, let me
ask why, instead of blistering your
fingers and hammering your thumbs,
you didn't have the mantelpiece taken
down, and another one put in its place?
You could have had something carved
jus', to match this beautiful old wain
scoting.
"My dear, that highly sensible sug
gestion strongly reminds me of Marie
Antoinette's equally pertinent query:
'Why, if the poor people cant get
bread, don't tliey cat cake?' You for
get that we're not rich enough to
gratify all our whims, and an oak
mantelpiece carted to match the wain
scot would cost a pretty penny, I as
sure yon. If only the original one had
been left! Harry remembers it per
fectly, and says people would rave over
It now. Great clusters of fruits nnd
flowers on the panels, connected by
drooping wreaths-exqui itcly done,
f9°' And they split it up. and burneii
xr 5 kindling-wood, the Gotim and
Vandals, when this 'new and elegant'
monstrosity took its place."
" But couldn't you have the lovely
Dutch tiled mantelpiece in the dining
room moved here at very little ex
pense?"
" Ah, my dear, don't pride yoursel
on striking out a brilliant idea. Did
not I suggest that to Harry long ago?
No, indeed, ho won't have this hideous
thing removed, because it was his
uncle's dying wish that it should be
kept here. I can't blame him either,
dear fellow. Old Mr. Van Schonck,
with all his eccentricities, wijs very
kind to him, and in his will left him
his whole fortune, but the wretches
who murdered him took everything,
stocks, bonds, and all —it was one of
his peculiarities to keep his property in
a portable form —and the will was
doubtless among them. The law gave
Harry the house—"
" Tell me all about it, Kate," inter
rupted Elsie. "You know I only had
the bare facts while I was abroad, none
of the particulars, and the three days I
spent at home before coming down to
you—"
"Were filled with descriptions of
travel, displaying your finery, etc. Yes,
I know. There isn't really very much to
tellj but, 'to begin at the beginning,'
I'll inform you how my bete noire came
to be the bane of my life. It seems that
thirty years ago old Mr. Van Schenck—
then a rich bachelor of fifty—fell des
perately in love with a beautiful girl,
whose father he had befriended. She
engaged herself to him, and he began to
remodel the house to suit her taste—
fancy the taste that would destroy a
lovely carved oak mantelpiece to make
way for that monster!—when an old
lover appeared on the scene; and she,
probably fearing that her father would
force her to keep her promise, ran away
with him. It was a terrible blow to
Mr. Van Schenck, an excessively proud
man. He stopped the repairs just where
they were, dismissed all his servants
except one old woman, and, in spite of
the entreaties of all his friends and rela
tives, persisted in up to the
day of his murder. This was the room
he always occupied. The bed stood in
that corner, facing the mantelpiece.
The mnrderers entered by one of the
western windows, and had doubtless
been hiding in the wood, watching their
opportunity. His eccentricities were
well-known in the neighborhood, and
he was reputed to be. immensely rich.
Only a week before Harry had been
here, represented the danger, and beg
ged him to have at least a trusty man
servant on the place. He obstantly re
fused, and the next news we had was a
summons to his death-bed. My hus
band reached here a few minutes before
dusk, and found his unclestill alive, but
unable to speak—the principal wound
was a deep gash in the throat. The old
man seemed terribly anxious to tell him
something, and made a motion of writ
ing on the coverlet, but his strength was
failine, the room growing dark, and
Harry could not understand. At last,
struggling to a sitting position in bed,
he pointed to the mantelpiece, gasped
' Kept, kept,' then the blood gushed
from the wound in his throat, and he
sank back on the pillows—dead."
"Horrible! horrible!" cried Elsie.
" Poor old man, how he must have
loved the girl, to think, even on his
death-bed, of preserving the one thing
she had given him time to prepare in
his home for her sake! Doesn't it lend
the uglv old mantelpiece a touch of
romance? No wonder Harry won't
a low it to be removed! I should feel
as if it were sacrilege."
' I don't want it removed either," re
plied Kate, slowly. "But"—with sud
den animation—" how I thou Id like to
cover it up, every inch of it!"
Elsie looked at her inquiringly.
" I'm half ashamed to tell you," con
tinued Kate, lowering her voice, " but
I believe I shall actually grow afraid of
that thing unless I can find some way
to change it. Of course it sounds silly
enough to say so now, sitting here in
this broad, bright sunlight; but it's
quite another matter when the dusk
comes stealing in, casting shadows in
every corner, and the wind howls and
shrieks around the old house. A week
ago I sat yonder at one of the windows,
watching for Harry, who was a little
Inter than usual. It had been a gray,
raw, chilly day, like a forerunner of
November, with one of those dreary,
moaning winds sighing through the
trees that always do make me dismal,
and I was troubled, too, about Harry's
business. I can trust you, Elsie, I know
ot old, so I will tell you the whole story.
He is on the brink of ruin. Hard times
have sorely crippled the old firm into
which he was admitted when he married
me, nnd Mr. Van Schenck was to have
advanced $ 100,000 the week he died to
carry them through to the first of Janu
ary. Harry lias always reproached him
self for his carelessness in discussing
the arrangements while walking witfi
Lis uncle in the wood behind the house.
He thinks the murderers may have
overheard them, and killed the old man
to obtain the money, for he was to have
delivered it to him the day after the
murder, and not a trace of that or any
other property could be found. With
this amount the firm would have been
safe; now, it is very uncertain whether
they can hold out. That's the reason,
Elsie dear, why we are obliged to stay
here this winter instead of going to
New York. We must either live on the
place or sell it —for since the murder no
body will rent it—and the old mansion
has been in the family ever since Long
Island was settled, so of course Harry
won't part with it until the last cent is
gone.
" But to return to the reason why I
am more than ever anxious to alter the
old mantelpiece—don't laugh at me
Elsie! .Just, a week ago I sat here
thinking of Harry's troubled face when
he left me in the morning, wondering
why he was so late, and listening to the
wind moaning drearily outside, when
suddenly I fancied I heard a loud, pierc
ing shriek; the windows rattlea vio
lently, the whole house seemed to shake,
and I heard, yes, I really did hoar, the
ringing, clinking sound of coins. The
noise appeared to come from the man
telpiece. I glanced toward it, and oh!
Elsie, every one of those horrible
streaks and spots, instead of being a dull
yellow, was the brightest crimson; they
looked like fresh blood streaming from
wounds.
" I would never have believed I could
have been so frightened; if my hair
didn't stand on end, it wns only because
my net held it too tight, and for one mo
ment I fully expected to sec the old
mnn's ghost on the heart-stone, roady
to protect the solitary memento of his
iove—for in my annoyance at my last
failure to remodel it I had been heartily
wishing it away. I sprang from my
seat and flew out of the room. There
in the hall stood Harry, who had been
carried on it) the train to the next sta
tion, and returned homo by another
wuy. Luckily it was too dark for him
to see my white, scared face, and he in
stantly exclaimed : "Come quick, Kate,
there is such a si range effect from the
sunset light.' We went down to the
ball, and he thr. w the door wide open.
I saw nothing but the same low gray
clouds, ttie same wan gray atmosphere
that had depressed my spirits all day
long.
" ' How strange!' he cried. '.Just as
I reached the steps the clouds suddenly
Kartcd in the west, and a blood-red
ght illuminated everything; trees,
walls, stones, were crimson in the glow.
I rushed in tp call you and now it has
van shed as instantly as it came. Hut
how pale you look, Kate! Are you illP'
You may imagine that I felt heartily
ashamed of my folly. And yet, scold
myself as I may. I never can be at ease
in this room when it begins to grow
dusk. I always have a horrible fear of
seeing those yellow spots and streaks
suddenly turn blood-red again. Of
course it's absurd; nobody knows that
better than I, but I can't help it."
Elsie sat looking thoughtfully at her
sisters's bugbear for a few moments,
then her blue eyes flashed with delight,
and clapping her little hands like a
child, she sprang from lier chair, ex
claiming, "I have it, Kate dear, I have
it; just the very idea. We'll change
the old mantelpiece completely with
out using anything but a little paint,
and, moreover, not anger the old man's
ghost by even driv ing a nail into the
beloved souvenir of his youth."
"l'aint!" asked Kate, doubtfully,
" I'm used to being helped out of diffi
culties by your brightideas, Elsie, dear,
but I don't see how paint—"
"Don't you?" interrupted her sister,
quickly. "Of course not, else it would
be your idea, not mine. Listen quietly,
then, to my superior wisdom"—draw
ing up her pretty figure with an air of
mock dgnity as she spoke—"and I'll
elucidate. You remember the pair of
Sorrento brackets I brougfit home, and
which you admired so much yester
day P"
" Yes; but what have they to do with
my bugbear?"
"Didn't you say the inlaid-work
looked like painting?"
" Yes."
"Well, then, here is my idea, my
brand-new, bright idea, ever so much
easier to carry out than my wise sis
ter's blistering of fingers and hammer
ing of thumbs. You see the long nar
row panel over the hearth?"
" Yes."
" And the two oblong panels, one on
each side, and the little square panels
above them?"
" Well, what in the world have they
to do with Sorrento brackets?"
" Wait a minute. You see, too, how
very deeply sunken they are in the
woodwork, much deeper than I should
think necessary, but just the thing for
my idea. I'll get very thin pieces of
wood to fit over them exactly, paint
lovely garlands of poppies, corn-flow
ers and wheat on the long panels,
charming little bouquets on the square
ones, then you can have the rest of the
wood ebonixed, and I assure you your
'bugbear' will be far from the least
pretty thing in your drawing-room.
Where's your yard-measure, Kate?"
and in a second her white lingers were
deftly taking the dimensions of the
various panels.
"The system of modern humbug had
begun thirty years ago, Kate. This
mantelpiece isn't half so substantial
as the work put into the oid mansion a
century before. Why, the centrnl panel
is really shaky; the wood has warped,
I suppose; perhaps it rattled a little
the other evening, and your lively im
agination made you fancy you heard the
chink of money."
" rrhaps so. I'm ready to admit
anything in sheer gratitude for being
delivered from the sight of those horri
ble streaks and splashes. You're a
jewel of a sister, Elsie, and Harry—
dear old fellow!—will be as delighted
as I am. I know he has been on the
point of telling me to have it taken
away a dozen times; then the recollec
tion of his uncle's last words stopped
him. I wouldn't have had it demolished,
much as it has tormented me, but your
idea will make a complete transforma
tion. Yes. it will be lovely. I can sec
it in 'my mind's eye' already."
" And you shall see it in reality in ten
days. I sha 1 begin as soon as I get
home to-morrow, and work like a Tro
jan to deliver you from your ghostly
visions. Such a funny thing for you
to be superstitious. Kate."
• •••••#
Mrs. Van Sehenck to Miss Elsie Hcr
ton:
"Oh, Elsie, my darling, I am the hap
piest little woman in the world, and all
through your 'idea.' Let me try
whether I can tell the story intelligibly,
for it all hnppmcd scarcely two hours
ngo, and I sit scribbling, while my lord
and master, like the king in Mother
Goose's rhymes, is ' counting out his
money.' I really feel giddy with the
sudden plunge from dread of approach
ing ruin to the possession of wealth be
yond our dreams: and just here let me
assert that I really did hear the chink
of money that ghostly afternoon.
"Harry brought the box of panels
down from the city, and after dinner I
pretended I could not wait till to-mor
row to try their effect, and begged him
to open it. I really only did so to divert
his thoughts from his business cares; he
looked so white and sad, poor fellow,
that I had little interest enough even in
laying my ghost. He hesitated a mo
ment, then said : ' I have something to
tell you, Kate: but it csn wait tilfwe
have seen Elsie's pretty work.' And
added under his breath, but I caught
the words: ' Trouble will come to her
soon enough, poor child.'
"We easily wrenched off the lid, and
Harry really seemed to forget his wor
ries a moment while admiring the
lovely garlands and bouquets. I'm so
glad you chose morning-glories for the
little square pnnela. I never saw any
thing so perfect as the way you have
grouped the buds and blossoms. The
mantelpiece iiad been painted dead
black, as you suggested, so we set to
work at oner, put in the side panels,
then the little square panels above
them—they fitted exactly—and after
gazing at the effect a moment, tried to
slip the center panel into its place. It
seemed a little tight, and one end sank
lower than the other. ' Will it stand a
blow, Kate?' asked Harry. ' I must
crowd this side down a little more to
make it even.' I wrapped the ham
mer carefully in flannel, and gave
it to him, saying: ' First try pushing; it
will never do to bruise the paint.' lie
did so, and suddenly shouted: 'Stand
back, Kate, the whole mantelpiece is
fjiving way.' Before the words had
eft his lips his end of the panel van
ished ; mine, which I bad been holding
to steady, swung straight out into tiie
room, nnd siich a clinking and rattling
echoed it. my ears, as a perfect Donne's
shower of gold pieces came rolliiig down
t.ie hearth-rug, glittering and flashing
in the lamplight, while wn stood en
veloped in a cloud of dust, staring into
what looked like a huge blacV hole.
After n few minutes the shower stopped
and we began to look about us. On
the hearth with the money lay some
dusty papers, bonds end stocks, Harry
said, and inside the black hole were
bags of gold coins, one of which bad
burst open, more papers, and among
them the missing will. Imagine our
nstonisliment, our delight! I can
hardly believe it now. It seems likea
fairy tale. And, oh! the relief of Harry!
He had been trying all dinner time to
summon up courage to tell me that the
firm was hopelessly involved, and
would be declared bankrupt ■ mor
row; every resource was exhausted.
Think of ft, Elsie; a few days more
an<i the house would have been sold,
the property lost to us f >rever. What
a narrow escape. Blessings on decora
tive art! I have been laughing and
crying by turns for the hist hour, and
Harry hasn't behaved much more
sensibly. We've had a war-danee
around my poor old bugbear.
Such a simpleton as I was to
fancy all sorts of ghostly horrors, and
run away when the dear ugly old thing
rattled its secret in my ears with every
gust of wind that blew! ft shall never
be taken away and split up for firewood
now, that's certain. What nonsense I
am writing! Nevermind; I've felt lit
tle inclination for nonsense during the
last few months. I have a right to in
dulge myself in it now. Poor Mr. Van
Schenck! lie tried so hard to tell Harry
the secret. lie had had a safe for silver
built in the wall when the mantelpiece
wits put up, and afterward used it for his
valuables. A spring hidden in the cen
tra! panel opened it. I wonder you did
not find it when you were taking the
measure and spoke of it being shaky.
Do you remember? Harry lias finished
'countingout his money,' and authorita
tively orders me to bed, saying it is long
past midnight, nnd no proper hour for
anyliodv but gliosts to be abroad; so,
unless 1 men i my letter to be like
Tennyson's brook, and 'go on forever,'
I am to close it at once. Like a good
wife, I obey. I am too lmppy to be any
thing but rfutifu!. Shall I confess that
I took a base advantage of the oppor
tunity, and asked my liege lord a short
time ago what, lie thought of my 'bobby
—as lie calls decorative art—now. His
answer I need not record; suffice it to
say it was perfectly satisfactory. Good
night, my darling. I can't find words to
express my gratitude, but if a pair of
solitaire diamond earrings as bright as
your idea- Another warning from
Harry; now I really must stop.
" Your loving sister, KATE."
—Harper's Bazar.
Hearty Old Age aad the Pause.
There was a glimpse of gray darting
up the steps, a quick, light latch rat
tling and a slam of the floor, and the
plain front of a small office on one of
the chief thoroughfares in the city had
resumed the quiet, modest air which
day in and day out suggests nothing
but repose and almost entire inactivity.
Yet through that door hod just passed
u spiendid specimen of old age and a
magnificent example of pluck and per
severance, while over the door was his
name; a name known inlovery city, vil
age and hamlet around the chain of
great lakes: a name the owner of which
has been a leader in the great business
interests of the northwest, a person
who Jess than five years ago w:ts a mil
lionaire and a worker.
Then ids office was not one room
plainly fitted, but a handsome suite of
apartments elegantly finished and fur
nished ; then he had stenographers,
accountants, telegraph operators, clerks,
messengers and porters; now his book*
are kept.'his errands are done nnd all
details of his work arc performed by
himself.
Now be is upwards of sixty years of
age, a poor man in dollars and cents,
but in good health, good spirits, energy
and ambition he is a Crcnsus. Five
years ago scores of superintendents and
managers reported nlmost hourly to
him for instructions; then lie insured
bis own property, risked thousands o
dolhirs daily in business enterprises;
paid out thousands daily foi wages and
made profits amounting to thousands.
Then he was a genial, energetic million
aire; now he is a sociable, whole-souled,
industrious and ambitious man. Then
he was—but here he comes, let's follow
tiim.
With his gray nnd well-shaped head
leaning in advance of a slightly stooping
, but firmly knit frame, be walks quickly
up the street and is just going to turn
the corner when," How are you? Any
thing new to-day?" and be lias stopped
| to speak to a new acquaintance. The
j answer is given, the old gentleman
| smiles, turns lightly on bis heel as lie
says, " Good day," and passes on, hav
ing made a Arm and old friend of the
new acquaintance. To gain a few sec
onds' time lie loses his dignity and runs
several steps to get ahead of a street car.
Just then he espies a customer three or
four rods away and actually shouts,
"Hello!" This from an old man and
one who was once a millionaire results
in a business transaction which brings
in something like $1.60 to the one who
shouted.
So lie goes through rain, wind and
sunsiiine. always on the qui vive, always
sociable, pleasant and with his eye on
themnin chance. His loss of wealth—
honorably lost —docs not seem to weigh
on his mind an instant. He does not
appear to realize that lie is old; he is
alike to all. young or old, rich or poor,
and, in brief, his condition is'pithily
described by himself as follows:
"You see, my boy, I have a good
stomach and take care of it. Never bad
the dyspepsia or any other ailment in
r r life."— Detroit free Brest.
Destructive Inflaenres,
Doubt!' • untless myriads of liv
ing creatures come into existence, of
which by far the creator part must be
destroyed. One aphis may be the pa
rent ol 5.004.900.000 individuals in five
generations, and when these are shal
lowed up by lady-birds and other ene
mies in mass, it is no minute individual
variation that can avert their fate. The
unchecked produce of one pair of her
rings would stock the Atlantic in a few
years, until thore was no room to move;
and when these are engulnhed by shoals,
as a mouthful for the Daianonlcra, they
can make as little struggle for their ex
istence as the grass can make thai the
ox licks up, or the vegetation of a dis
trict that is devastated by locusts. It
is the unwritten law of nature that one
race must die that another may live;
this other, in its turn, subserving the
same end, and so, constantly, until the
cycle be complete. Without this law,
against which there is no appeal, na
ture would be a chaotic impossibility.
The destructive influence* nre so pre
dominant that the carnage is indiscrim
inate and without struggle.— Content,
porary Review.
TIMELY TOPICS.
Forty per cent, of the Chinese of San
Francisco have been back and forth be
tween the United States and China four
or five times. Most of the Chinese go
back once in five years, and rarely any
one stays longer than eight vears contin
uously in this country. Many Chinese
merchants return regularly to spend the
Chinese New Year at home.
Bartlioldi, the French sculptor, says
there is no doubt that the great statue
of Liberty enlightening the world will
be ready for Its place in New York har
bor in 1883, the year in which New
York's great world's fair is to beheld.
This statue, when erected, will be the
largest in America. It was presented
to the United States by the French peo
ple, and Bartholdi is hard at work at it
in France.
The New York Bulletin makes a com
pilation of crop reports which shows—
so far as can be shown at this time—
that the wheat production of 1880 will
fully equal that of 1879. lowa and
Kansas will fall off, but their deficiency
will be fully made up by gains in Illi
nois, Ohio, Minnes")taand Pennsylvania.
If present promisesiiall he verified, that
will be the fourth successive great grain
crop in the United States—a continu
ance of prosperity almost if not quite
without precedent. •
Buckley is a Texas horse thief and
murderer, for whom the law officers
searched long and fruitlessly. A man
called on the governor, introduced him
self as a friend of the outlaw, and said
that lie was prepared to buy his pardon
by giving information against other
j criminals. The governor was inclined
| to make sueh a bargain, and Bent him
to the attorney-general, who recognized
him as none other than Buoki"y him
self. The rascal drew a long knife out
of his bootleg, but was overpowered
and locked up
The New York State fish commis
sioners are advocating the culture of
carp. The experiments at the govern
ment ponds in Washington have been
very successful, fish that were put in
there three years ago having grown
much larger than in Europe under the
same circumstances. They are an easy
fisli to raise. Any kind of a pond, no
matter how restricted, can be used
Providing that the water is not too cold
carp thrive, no matter how impure it
is. No natural water lias been found
too warm for them. They thrive on
plants growing in the water, on boiled
grain or even offal. A pond may be
dug in arable land and used for three or
four years as a carp pond, after which
the land may be again cultivated.
A correspondent of the I/cavenworth
Time • calls attention to the similarity
between the stand storm in Kansas and
on" in the island of Sicily, in the Medit
terranean, two days afterward, and be
lieves both wereof meteoric origin. The
Kansas dust was composed of brown
and black impalpable matter, and so
abundant that on the next day traces of
tiie deposits could be seen on the surface
of the ground, and on a north porch
sufficient to receive the imprints of a
cat's feet. The writer says: The near
coincidence of dates between the phe
nomenon in Sicily and here, with an ap
parent similarity in the physical proper
ties of the dust, might suggest a common
origin;
The act incorporating the New Yoik
world's fair of 1883, in celebration of
the treaty of peace between Great
Britain and the United States, provides
for the subscription of $12,000,000, which
js $2,000,000 more than the centennial
exposition estimate was based upon,
the commissioners of that celebration
limiting their financial operations to
$ 10.000,000. Tliis extra $2,000,000 docs
not by any means represent the increased
magnitude of the proposed exposition
over the last one held in the United
States, for it is confidently expected
that the receipts alone, owing to the
metropolitan location of ttie exposition
and its ready means of access to all parts
of the world, will be immensely greater
than at the Philadelphia exposition.
Besides this, the commissioners having
in charge the projected fair believe
there wiil be no difficulty in raising
the amount mentioned in the act., or
even more.
Women are doing a good work in
foreign fields under the direction of tiie
Woman's Union Missionary society,
whose ninetivnth anniversary was cele
brated recently at the Broadway taber
nacle in New York. In Calcutta and
Knjpore 1,102 women and .orl* are under
the instruction of one lady and her assist
ants. An orphanage has been estab
lished at Calcutta, when' more than
500 children receive care. Twentv-five
pupils arc now boarding at the mission
in Pekin, and there are also a large
number of day scholar*. Moreo\er,
village schools are being opened in
China. In Cyprus a school has been
opened for Greek girls, and about sixty
are in attendance In Allahabad. India,
where there are nbout 450 pupils under
instruction, the earnestness of the
women in their mission work has been
rewarded by a gift, of $4,000 from the
government.
Railroad Statistics.
T' ere are some 85,000 miles of rail
road in the United States operated h.v
some 600 different companies. There
are over 90,000 sut ons. On these lines
are 1,000 locomotives. 13.000 passenger
ears, 5,000 baggage, mail ana express
ears, and some 500.000 freight ears. No
reliable statistics show th 0 number ot
men employed on this 85.000 miles of
rond, but it is estimated that there are
about 40,000 engineers and firemen,
90,000 passenger train conductors and
brakemen, about the same number of
baggage, mail and express men, and at
past 50,000 men on freight trains. Add
station agents and clerks, train dispatch
ers telegraph operators, yardmen, foad
mssters. truckmen, watchmen, flagmen
freight laborers, machinists, car-build
ers and repairers, employees in round
houses and shops, and last, but not
least, presidents, general managers, su
perintendents. the auditor's depart
ment, treasurer's department, etc., and
wo have almost 1 ,000,000 men em
r'°;M in the railroad business of the
United States. Add to this the num
ber of men employed in the manutac
ture of railroad supplies, in car and lo
comotive works, in rolling mills, in cut
ting ties, elo., and. perhaps, wo could
bring the number of men who derive
their living from railroads in our coun
try alone to nearly 9,000,000.
Decoration day occurs to women 313
times a year. We omit wash day.-
Marathon Independent.
Strange Avocation*.
Haid a witness under cross-examina
tion: "I am an early-caller. I calls
diflerent tradesmen at early hours, from
one until balf-ast live o'cloek in the
morning, and that is how I get my liv
ing. I gets up between twelve and one
o'cloek; I goes to bed at six o'clock and
sleeps until tke afternoon. I calls the
bakers between one and two o'clock
the bakers arc the earliest of a,i."
What sort of a living he made is not re
corded. Five dollars a week, we should
say, would be the outside figure, and to
earn that he wouid need a couple of
scores of customers. The early-caller's
fee is well earned, since hut for his in
tervention his clients would often lose a
day's pay, if not be thrown out of work
altogether, by failing to keep time. Not
so deserving of encouragement are the
I " tup-pennies," carrying on their voea
tion in those quarters of London where
pawnbrokers and poor people abound
They are feminine intermediaries be
tween the pawnbroker and folks anxious
to raise a loan upon their belongings,
who, rather than transact such business
for themselves, are willing to pay two
pence for every parcel eon veyed to every
body's "uncle or redeemed from his
clutches. These go-betweens, it is aver
red, also receive a quarterly commission
from the tradesmen they favor with their
patronage; and so, one way and another,
contrive to make a comfortable living
out of their neighbors' necessities.
There are men in Paris, birds of a
feather with the chiffonier, who go from
hospital to hospital collecting the un
seen plasters that have served the turn
of doctor and patient; afterward pri
ing the oil from the linseed and dispos
ing of the linen, after bleaching it, to the
paper maker. Others makes a ooupie of
' francs a day by collecting old corks,
which being cleaned and pared, fetch
it is said, half a franc per hundred.
. A lady resident of the Faubourg St.
Germain is credit -d with earning a g >od
income by hatching red, black and
brown ants for pheasant preservers. One
Parisian gets his living by breeding
maggots out of the foul meats he buys
of the chiffoniers and fattening them
up in tin boxes. Another breeds mag
gots for the special behoof of nightin
gales; and a thud boasts of selling be
tween 30,000,000 and 40,000,000 of worm
every season for piscatorial purposes.
He owns n great pit at Montmartre,
wherein he keeps his store. Every day
| his scouts bring him fresh slock, for
which he pays them from five to t/n
| pence per pound, according to quality;
reselling them to anglers at just double
those rates, and clearing thereby some
thing over JCSOO a year.
This curious avocation is not unknown
in England. Some twelve years ago. we
are told, Mr. Wells, a fishing-tackle
maker of Nottingham, in ord -r to insure
a constant supply of bait for his cutoms
crs, started a farm for the rearing of
lobworms, cockspurs, ring-tailed brand
lings and other worms in demand
among the disciples of Walton, who
abound in the old lac town. To keep
his farm stocked, men and boys go out
at night collecting worms in the mead
ows and pastures, a moist warm night
yielding from 2.000 to fi.ooo worms. A
soon as they are brought in they >re
placed in proper!y-selected moss, fi< ,d
--moss for choice, to scour until thev be
come little more than skin—freshly
caught worms being too tender for an
glers to handle; while " when a worm
is properly educated, he is as tough as a
piece of India-rubber, and behave* as a
worm should do when put upon the
hook." When this condition is attained,
the worms are parked in moss and put
up in light canvas bags for the market.
This worm-merchant does not entire.y
depend upon the industry of his col
lectors, but breeds large quantities him
self in his own garden—the component
parts of his breeding-heap being n secret
he not unnaturally keeps to himself.—
Chambers' Journal.
An Earth Koek Aralanrhe.
A San Francisco correspondent of tue
Baltimore Sun writes: The sand-storms
through the great Colorado deserts aiv
as obstructive to the Southern Faribe
railway as the snow is to the Central
Pacific road on the Nevada summits.
Instead of snow sheds the Souihern
I'iu ifie railroad company is putting up
sand lences for many miles, which will
greatly lessen the evil. Never in
the 'history of the Central Pacific
road has travel l>een interrupted
for a week before last winter. Snow
sheds have been destroyed and track*
beneath landslides of great ex
tent • The company has given proof of
b< ing prepared for the emergency. Snow
plows and work brigad s sw.irmedon 2W
miles of track. Tliey seemed to * ring
out of the ground. But n< ar Alta,
on the California s.ope of the Nev.vias,
nn earth and rock avalanche oc
curred of such magnitude that the
army of shovel men stood aghast at the
mouth'# job before them. But a hy
draulic gold gravel sluieer smiled at it
" In forty-eight hours, without a pick,
shovel, or a barrow or a man to wield
them. I will nay to yon mountain mass
begone, slid it will vanish and leave no
sign!" And it was so. It was about
an hour's work to runke a flume ol
boards and tap a mountain stream 150
feet overhead and lead it to the spot
Then borrowing some hydraulic hose
and three-inch nozzles from gravel min
ers dose by, he had quickly several such
streams, under 150 leet pressure, play
ing with nitro-glycerine power on the
mass. Down came rooss. boulders,
tfiv.", stones and earth; 100 tons at a
roll tumbled down the steep declivity,
and good as his word, there remained in
forty-right hours not a hillock to bear
record of I lie wondcrous achievement.
Quick almost as thought the track was
replaced; the cars and engines appeared;
glad passengers, released from bondage,
made the welkin echo with joyous
cheers, and the next train wonders
where was the obstruction!
Parallel or Sexes.
Man is strong—woman is beautiful-
Man has science—woman has taste.
Man shines abroad— woman at home.
Man preventa misery—Woman relieves
it.
Man lias a rugged heait—woman a
soft one.
Man has judgment—woman baa sensi
bility.
Man is great in action—woman in suf
fering.
Man is a Iteing ot justice—woman an
angel ol mercy.
A guide and hunter known as Colo*
radoltlll at Fort Stekle, is astonishing
the far West by his wonderful pistol
shooting. A short time ago he broke
ninety-two out ol 100 glass balls with a
45-ealiber Colt's revolver. He challenges
the world to shoot with him at any dis
tance from ten to Buo yards.