TIMELY TOPICS. There is hope for Charley Ross yet. fn New York the parents of a fourteen year-old boy, who lost him when sepa rated eleven yenrs ago, recovered hiiu after ho had been lost ail that time. Tho boy had had availed expttie Church, at Sandy Ala. lie deserted her and went to live In an adjoining county. When told of : his perfidy, she prayed that he might be punished by instant death. It chanced that at exactly that hour he was killed by the fall of a tree. believes that her prayer caused his death, and is : crazed by remorse. j Great excitement has been caused throughout Australia by the discovery of the Temora gold field, near Sydney. The rush of people into the township, says the Sydney Morning Herald in creases daily, men arriving even from Victoria. The great drawback to the field is the want of water for puddling purposes. Gold is being struck very freely. The Bible society of England was founded in 1780, just 400 years after the f first translation of the Bible into th {English language. The American Bible society was organized in 1816, under the If patronage of the Rev. Dr. Goodenough, J. of New Jersey. From these two socie- R ties, established within '2OO years, have g; sprung thousands of auxiliaries. In ■ seventy-five years they have published II 160,000,000 copies of the Bible. I The secretary of the Iron and Steel as- I sociation reports 697 blast furnaces in ■ the United States, with an annual ca ff paclty of 6,5n0,f00 tons of pig iron; 38-2 K rolling mil's, with an annual capacity I of 4,000,000 tons, the capacity of the rail I mills being 2,150,000 tons; eleven Bes ■ semer steel works, with an annual ca ■ pacity of 1,7ft('.000 tons, besides ll,80 I miscellaneous works. A resident of Germantown, Pa., has ■ In his possession an int resting relic of ■ a public benefactor. This is a silver ■ tankard weighing twenty ounces, which ■ was the property of Gabriel Wilkinson, Bthe first marb e mason of Philadelphia, ■ who died 148 years ago. He hung the Btank&rd from the pump in front of his Bmarble-vard for the benefit of thirsty Bpassers-by. It would not be safe for the Bpresent owner to hang that silver tank- Bard in such a conspicuous place—even B In Philadelphia. [ An odd proof of the inexorable ob ■ atinaoy with which the Englishman up- R* holds ancient isndmarks, or customs or Rj laws, even when they oppress himself, R is seen in the recent vain tff.rt to pro ■jpaote a bill doing away with the gates ■•nd bar 3 which obstruct traffic and Btransit in the most crowded parts of ■London. Portions of the metropolis, as Ball American travelers have noticed ■ with astonishment, nre thus barred at Bertain seasons of the years, while other Bplreets arc reserved for the passage of ■livened equipages alone, the ducal ■ owners of the estates in which these Bphoroughfares lie thus showing their ■ proprietary rights. The proDerties of Bthe dukes of Portland and Bedford are Bin this way made exceptionally ob- Bptructive to the business of the ordinary Beiti/sns. But ordinary English citizens, Bthouvh numbered by ligions, will bear ■Any discomfort for generations rather interfere with an old custom. i Thirteen of the widows of Brighanr ■Young still live in the Lion house at Salt Their shares of the estate were Bn2 1.000 each, according to the will, but Bfey threatening litigation they obtained only tho income from their || jk®perty; but that is sufficient to give exccl.rnt tare in the old home, jHfith servants, horses nnd §75 a month Kb money. Louise, one of the daughters Bpf the prophet by Emcline Free, the ■jtosl intellectual and intelligent of the eajs that all of her lull brothers Hhid sisters have renounced polygamy; * majority of Young's forty-seven Hkldren are Motmons. Speakingof the as it used to be, she says: ■We lived very happily. My fathers band had a good deal to do with HR. He tan ght ns to love one another. morning wives and children met ggkfi the parlor, where we had prayers and ■Bilging. People have oPen asked me i BOW in the world father knew all his ■Rhiidren and wives, but I can tell you If one was missing at prayers he it, and found out where he or she Our house was like a great hotel, B 1 ! we the guests. Our father was a manager, and very practical in his household affairs. Bpur rooms opened on to a long hall, like onr ' in the hotel here, but larger, and BBhen we wanted anything from sisters, or wives, we went into this Bpuom or g One Havana (Cuba) paper which an- Bpounced the loss of the steamship Vera Hpruz, off the Florida coast, was fined ■Kfioo because the government bad Bwdered that no mention be made of the ■faaater until further particulars be re- MAJOR JOHN ANDRE. A Krw Ntorr of Ilia rawtnrr~.Nl! men Nnlil to llnve Keen Knwmt| in it, John Paulding, David Williams und Isaac Van Wart have their names on the Tarrytown monument as tbo cap tors of Major Andre, hut it iH claimed that three others assisted, whose de scendants thus tell the story: The smallest schoolboy knows that Benedict Arnold had mndc terms with Andre to surrender West Point to the British, and had prepared dispatches for the British commander in New York, giving detailed information of tho condi tion of afl'airs in the department thutthe traitor commanded. It was while re turning to New York as a private citizen on horseback that Andre was captured and the dispatches found. The spy was eventually executed. The men wiiose names are mentioned in the foregoing in scription are the historical captors, and were so recognized by act of Con gress A reporter of tho Herald having made inquiries among the old residents of the county, has gleaned some infor mation of an interesting character which lias been handed down from their ances tors. From Caleb Van Tassel, of King's Bridge, Henry Romer, of Pleasanlviile, and Alexander Van Wart, of Tarry town, the following history of the cap ture was obtained: On the eventful day, Paulding. Williams, Van Wart, James Homer, John Yerks and Stephen Van Tassel were sent to guard the roads against cattle thieves. Paulding had been a prisoner for several months in the British camp and had escaped four days previously, and was attired princi pally in British uniform, the rest being dressed in ordinary rural style. Pauld ing and his two companions stationed themselves on the Albany road aud the other three took chargj of th White Plains road, which branched off the Albany road half a mile northward and led eastward, each party being stationed about half a mile from the forks of the two roads, and being in a straight line over a half a mile apart. About ten o'clock in the morning, while Paulding and his companions were sitting on a rock, playing a game of cards known as " seven-up," they saw Major Andre coming down the road. He stopped at the brook to water his horse, and Pauld ing's party approached him. Paulding, who was the spokesman, said: "Good morning, stranger. Which way are you going?" He thought he had found a cattle thief, but when the man spoke like a gentleman and said he was going to White Plains "on important business for General Arnold," Paul ling's opinion was changed, and ho quickly replied that he guessed he had missed the road. The man seemed to be a little.confused, and Paulding said: "Which party do ou belong to?" "To your party," said the man. " How do you know which party I belong to?" said Paulding. "lean tell by your dress,"said tt.e nan. " I suppose, then, you belong to ill ower party?" said Paulding. " Yes," said the man. " Then we must detain you," replied Paulding. " I cannot be detained," was the an swer. "My business is urgent." " What business have you with the lower party ?" "Oh, I belong to the ether party," ttie man said, and exhibited n pass signed " B. Arnold,"requesting the safe passage of " John Anderson on import ant business." Paulding and his party held a brief consultation on the propriety of detain ing him and were in doubt. Andre, seeing this, started his horse forward and had gone about three rods when Paulding commanded him to halt. The man stopped and begged to be allowed to proceed, but Paulding said that as he was going toward the lines of the lower party, he should take him into custody. The man then offered Paulding's party his gold watch, which was a curiosity to the ruralists, to let him go. They refused the bribe. Then he offered to secure for them any amount of money they might name if they would concea him and communicate with such parties as he directed, and then liberate him upon the receipt of the ransom. This they declined and ordered him to dismount Upon searching him they found nothing, and were some w hat in doubt about their right to interfere, when Paulding commanded him to take off his boots. The man then turned pale. In his stockings were found the dispatches from Arnold. "My God," said Pauld ing. "he is a spy I" On making this discovery they started for North Castle, near White Plains. They went to the forks of tho road, and turning into the White Plains road with their prisoner they met the Romer party, to whom they imparted the information already given. It was agreed between the six men that And** shout 1 be deliverd to Colonel Jameson, at North Castle. It was then about noon, and they stopped for dinner at the Landrine place, and Andre was placed in a room under guard, and the room in that bouse, which is still standing, is called " the Andre room." To Colonel Jameson's camp the prisoner and the evidence against him were delivered. His watch horse and property were all sold, and their value divided among the six men. Soon after Andro's arrival be wrote a letter to Arnold, and Colonel Jameson sent a messenger with i to the traitor, to whom it was delivered, the old tradiiion says, while he was eating dinner with General Waihington, near Tarrytown. Upon reading it, Arnold hastily left the table, saying he had im portant business "to attend to over the river," nnd departed. Taking a small boat below Tarrytown and rowing to tho British s!oop-of-war Vulture, he was never seen again in the American lines. The trial end execution of Andre are well-known historical facts.— New York Herald. A Lonely Grave. That afternoon I found something I had never seen before—a little grave alone in a wide pasture which had once been a field. The nearest house was at least two miles away, but by hunting for it I found a very old celhir, where the child's home must have been, not very far off, along the slope. It must have been a great many years ago that the house Jiad stood there; and the small slate headstone was worn away by the rain and wind, so there was nothing to be read, if indeed there had ever been any letters on it. It bad looked many a storm in the lace, and many a red sun set. I suppose the woods near by had grown and been cut, and grown again, since it was put there. There was an old sweetbrier bush growing on the short little grave, and in the grass un derneath I found a! ground-sparrow's nest- It was like a little neighborhood, and I have felt ever since as if I belonged to it; and I wondered then if one of the young ground-sparrowß was not always sent to take the nest when the old ones were done with it, so they came back in the Bpring year after year to live there, and there were always the stone and the sweet-brier brush and the birds to remember the child. It was such a lonely place in that wide field under the great sky, and yet it was so comfortable too; bt the thought of the little grave at first touched me strange ly, and I tried to picture to myself the procession that came out from the house the day of the funeral, and I thought of the mother in the evening after all the peopb had gone home, and how she missed the baby, and kept see ing the new grave out here in the twi light as she went about her work. I suppose the family moved away, and so all the rest were buried elsewhere. I often think of this place, and I link it in my thoughts with something I saw once in the water when I was out at sea; a little boat that some child bad lost, that had drifted down the river and out to sea; too long a voyage, for it was a sad little wreck, with even its white sail of a hand-breadth half under water, and its twine rigging trailing astern. It was a siliy little boat, and no loss except to its owner, to whom it hod seemed as brave and proud a thing as any ship of the line to you and me. It was a ship wreck of his small hopes, I suppose, and I can see it now, the toy of the great winds and wnves, as it floated on its way, while I sailed on mine, out of sight of land. The little grave is forgotten by every body but me, I think; the mother must have found the child again in heaven a very long time ago; but in the winter I shall wonder if the snow has covered it well, and next year I shall go to see the sweet-brier bush when it is in bloom. God knows what use that life was, the grave is such a short one, and nobody knows whose Jjjtle child it was; but perhaps a thousand pccn a great change in the demand for horses in this coun try. Formerly nearly every one bred in relation to speed and endurance. Now a large proportion of farmers breed with a view to increasing size and streugth. This change is not the result of caprice. There tins been a steady, increasing de mand for heavy horses, and a corre sponding f uling of! in the demand for light ones. Fashion has had little to do In the matter. Heavy horses are wanted because they supply an existing want. From present appearances It will be many years before the supply of heavy horses will equal the demand. Tin country is now well snprlicd with horses. At no time in its history, per haps, were there as many horses to a given number of inhabitants as at pres ent. Small work horses are low, hut heavy draft horses continue to be high. The importation ot Clydesdale and Perc heron-Norm an horses increases every year. The first that were brought over were regarded as very uncertain ventures. At present they are of no doubtful value. The importers of hoises from France and Scotland have suffered none of the reverses of the importers of short-horn cattle. With rare exceptions they have become rich. From present appearances we shall soon be sending Clydesdales to Scotland and England at£ Normans to France and Belgium. The value of heavy draft horses was recog nized in the old world before It was in the new. Now that their worth is ap preciated here all persons having team ing to do seem anxious to procure them. Large horses are less liable to ir.juries from the swinging of the poles of wagons than small ones. Their hones are firmer, and they are commonly more hardy. I/trge hones are more noonomioal as respects harness, stall room, feed, and work required to take care of them. In ail t4ie countries of Eastern Europe heavy horses havs taken the place of light ones In general farming operations. That American farmers will soon generally employ heavy horses In field work seems certain.—iSot'eabAo American. St. Bernard Bogs. The breed of Bt. Bernard dogs is a very old one indeed in its native Swit zerland. The monks of the order of St. Bernard, when they first settled in their monastery to tarry on there their work of self-denying mercy, found that tlioy eouiil hardly go on with it unless they cou'd find some band of efficient help ers; accordingly they began to search out and train certain large, powerful dogs of the country. Experience soon proved that the worthy fathers had chosen their friends uright; constant companionship with mendevelopid in the dogs an intelligence which fell little short of reason; firm hut gentle discip line showed him to lie capable of the most complete self-restraint; he ex hibited u vast capacity for attaching himself to individuals; his perfect tem per made him a safe and trustworthy guardian for a woman or child. Thus year after year the St. Bernard lived on in his mountain home doing noble work there. The chief reason, perhaps, why he has so quickly made his way in general society is his singular aptitude for family life. In spite of his immense size, he is, most essentially, a house pet; he is a born gentleman in all bis tnstcs and habits; a very little training will give bim the most perfect manners; bis heavy body renders bim not at all averse to sedentary hours of dozing and medi tation upon a hearth-rug; bis fine, placid temper makes bim an excellent children's playfellow. He is also, by nature, a friend of man and a lover of man's company; that what enables bim to do, with such generous free-will, bis work of mercy among the mountain snows: and that is what causes him, in domestic life, to be never so happy as when he is sitting in a room filled with people, or lying close to his master's side. His extreme sociability is, at times, somewhat cf a trial to his neigh bors, for if for any casual reason be is banished from the house for a while to sbed or stables, his loud and prolonged lamentations and his angry, impatient barks cause the air for no small distance round to be filled with anything but sweet harmonies. There are two distinct breeds of St. Bernard dogs—the rough and the smooth. The monks prefer the smooth, because in their mountain excursions the movements of these short-haired dogs are, of course, less impeded by con gealed ice and snow banging about them in stiffening clots and lumps than those of their thicker-coated brethren; but in other countries they enjoy about equa popularity. There is certainly a great charm for the touch of master or mis tress in passing the hand through a rough St. Bernard's coat; rough though it is called, it is like fingering a vast mass of the richest and finest silk. On •he other hand, if be is taken out for a winter country walk, he comes home with a dress of plastered mud thnt his smooth relation would never have to wear. A St. Bernard dog Jshould be from twenty-eight to thirty-one inches high, and should measure in length, from muzzle to tip of tail, some six feet; bis color should be a tawny orange mixed with white. In the smooth breed a white collar round the neck is regarded as a mark of good family and pure blood. In the rough breed the orange should be of a very deep hue. The points of a real St. Bernard are immense, very strong, wide paws, huge limbs, deep lips, a broad head, large drooping ears, brown eyes, which, though not very big and full, atone for their want of size by their depth of thoughtful intelligence, and a long curling tail, which is always in active, talkative ' movement, at d which, when its owner is in high spirits, imperils greatly the safety of glass and china on bracket or side hoard. To these marks of aristocrnrv are added, by some people knowing In the breed, dew claws on the bind feet. but judges differ as to whether these latter are or are not indispensably necessary. For a dog of his size and strength, the St. Bernard needs eareful feeding; if overcrammed. or allowed to overeram himself, which ho will do, like all the canine f..mily, he is liable to had attacks of indigestion.— Harper's Weekly. Mask. Musk is a concrete substance found in an animal having a near affinity to the deer tribe, a native of Thibet, China and Siberia. The musk deer is n timid ani mal. ond'rnrely appears during the day; consequently the musk collectors watch and surprise it at night. The best musk comes from China, and to be genuine it should be purchased in the natural pod or bag, as it is very often adulterated. The Bengal musk is inferior, and that from Russia the worst of ail. The hair on the pod of the best musk is a fawn color; that on the inferior a dirty white. A variety of musk is found in the muskrat of Canada, an animal about the rise of a small rabbit. Musk is of a bitter taste, and of an odor more pow erful than anything known ; substances in its neighborhood become strongly infected by't. end when once perfumed with it, long retain the scent. It has been known to affect chests of ten placed at a considerable distance, even though both had been packed tip in leaden boxes, for which reason the Eut India company gave an order not to import musk and tea in the same ships. Many persons dislike the odor It has the property, wben employed in very small quantities, of augmenting the scent of other suboanctt, without im parting Its own. Darwin says "Man, only, fun whistle." Dsrwln certainly never lived ant where nssr a raiiroad crossing.— B tulmsville Hi. rail. The Vocal Power of Light and the Htatno of Menimon. It is quite possible, says the Boston Journal, that a singular phenomenon connected with the famous statue of, Mcmmon at Thebes, which has been the cause of much speculation for centuries finds a scientific solution in the paper read by Professor Alexander Hell, on the production and reproduction of sound by means of light, before the American association for the Advancement of Science the other evening. The discov eries, Mr. Bell stated, were made by Mr. Summer Tainter and himself. Their researches show that all classes of mat ter, with scarcely an exception, are sen titive to vibrations of light. They have found this sensitiveness in all metals, rubber, paper, wood, mica and silvered glass. The only substances which failed were carbon and thin microscopic glass. When the vibratory beam of light falls upon these substances they emit sounds, the pitch of which depends upon the frequency of the vibratoiy change in the light. By means of this quality of light they have spoken about HOO feet apart and they believe there is no reason to doubt that the results will Jbe obtained at whatever distance a beam of light can be flashed from one observatory to another. As is well known, the peculiar vocal powers of the statue of Memmon arc noticed at sunrise, or soon after. The sound resembles the twanging o a harp-string or the striking of brass, and in the lap of the statue is a stone, which, on being struck, emits a metal lic Bourn'. It is said that similar sounds have be< n produced from stones by the sun's rays, and several of the scientific men attached to Bonaparte's army in Egypt have stated that they frequently heard such a sound, always shortly after sunrise, apparently issuing from one of the roof stones of the temple of Karnak. Another observer says that in a neigh boring temple he heard repeatedly a sound like that of a harp-string from some stone above him. This occurred at noon and he supposed that at this time the stone became exposed to the sun, and the sudden expansion from its warmth produced the sound. It has been held by some writers that the wonderful attribute of the statue was due to the jugglery of Egyptian priests, but this theory has not been ac cepted. It would seem, however, that the chance observations of scientific men in Egypt, corroborated by the scientific discoveries of Professor Bell, furnish the true solution of a mystery which has greatly interested the learned world.Jand that the " sweet Memmonian sound," as Pe Quincy terms it, is due to a beautiful natural law, the knowledge of which has just been clearly revealed, and of which science proposes to take nuvantage as a material agent in prac tical life. Whether the ancient Egyp tians were cognisant of this curious law of matter, and placed the metallic stone in the lap of the statue, lor the purpose of producing sweet harmonies, is a question for the learned to puxzle over. Japanese l.ife. The Jnpanee is the cleanest of man kind. Cleanliness is, so to speak, more than godliness with him. Though he has no soap, he washes all over at J least once a day—he worships hut once a week. His candles are made of vege table wax. He uses a oottcn coverlet, well stuffed and padded, for bed-cover ing and mattress. A sort of stereoscope case—made of wood—makes bis pillow He resorts to that, and so do bis wife and daughters, that their carefully ar ranged hair may not be disa-ranged during sleep. No bead-covering is worn by the Japanese. No nation dresses the hair so tastefully. Usually it is with the men shaved in sections. They are coming now to wear it in European fashion. They are adopting all Euro pean customs. On levee day I saw the reception at the mikado's palace in Yeddo. Every one presented bad come in European full dress. That dress does not become the Japanese figure. He locks awk ward in It. His legs are too short. The tails of bis claw-hammer coat dragon the ground, and the black dreas trousers wrinkle up and get bsggy around his feet. His European fashioned clothes have been sent out ready made from America or England, and in no case did I notice anything approaching to a good tit. Yet be smiled and looked happy, though be could not get his heels half way down bis Wellington boots, and his hat was either too large or too small for his head. He always smiles and looks pleasant. Nothing can make him grumble, and he has not learned to swear. He is satisfied to be paid his cue, and never asks for more. As a New York cabman be would be a veritable living curiosity.— Harper's Yuut s Ptopl*. A Basse that Worked bat Oaee. Aheddin Pasha, minister of foreign nffairs, presented himself the other day before the sultan in such a seedy coat lhalhjs majesty could not refrain from kUjUffsMng to him that it was only decent he should put ou his best clothes when te wa- going to see his sovereign. Aheddin replied humbly that ha had put on his very beat. Whereupon the sultan directed oneoi his secretaries to give an .rdi r on the imperial tailor to rig tlu pa-lia out completely. Abaddin accord ingly ordered thirty-five coats, thtrty five waistcoats and the same number ol every other garment. Since then the mean attire of functionaries who have ■ ailed at the pa I*oa has been quite striking. bu none of these imitatoft hit as yet excited the sultan • commia r* lon. The mtn we ourht to "no"—The best who endeavors to borrow mon-y. A Literary Ctrleslly. The following rather curio in piece of composition was placed upon the black board at a teachers' institute, and a prize of a Webster's dictionary offered to any person who would read and pro nounce every word correctly. The book was not carried off, however, as twelve was the lowest number of mistakes made in pronunciation: "A sacrilegious son of Belial, wlie suffered from hronctiitis, having ex hausted his finances, in order to make good the deficit, resolvsd to ally him self to a comely, lenient and docile young lady of the Malay or Caucasian race. He accordingly purchased a cal liope and coral necklace of a chameleon hue, and securing a suite of rooms at a principal hotel, engaged the head waiter aa his coadjutor. He then dispatched a letter of the roost unexceptional calig raphy extant, inviting the young lady tea mitinee. She revoltel at the idea, refused to consider herself sacrificable 0 his desires, and sent a polite note of refusal, on receiving which, he procured cirbine and a bowie knife, and said he would not now forge letters hymenial with the queen, went to an isolated spot, severed his jagnlar vein, and discharged the contents of his carbine into his ab- Qomen. The debris was removed by the coroner." Tue mistakes in pronunciation were made on the following words: Sacrileg ious, Belial, bronchitis, exhausted, finances, deficit, come'y, lenient, docile, Malay, calliope, chameleon, suite, coad utor, caligraphy, matinee, sacrificable carbine, hymenial, isolated, jugular and debris. A Female Faster. The Meaford (Ont .)]Monitor, of a re cent date, says: There is within a mile 01 Meaford a young woman whose achievements, not undertaken for the Btke of notoriety or profit, are more as tonishing than the forty days 1 water diet of Dr. Tanner. The young woman is now under Dr. Maclean'scare, and from him the profession may learn more iof the case by-and-bye. About a year ago last February this young woman gave up eating, not on account of ill health, but simply because the felt no desire for food, and for six months thereafter she took absolutely nothing but a cup or two of buttermilk once or twioe a week, with i.n occasional drink ol water. At the end of six months she began eating, and ate regu arly and heartily for about six months, when she again repeated her fast of half a year under like circum stances. A little over three weeks ago— not having yet broken her second fast she was piaced under Dr. Maclean's pro fessional care,