The Stopping of the Clock. Surprising falls tho Instantaneous calm, The sudden silonco In my chaiulK-r small; I, starting, lift my hoad in half alarm Tho clock has stopped that's all. Tho clock has stopped I Yet why have I so found An instant feeling almost like dismay? Why note its silence sooner than its sound ? For it has ticked all day. Bo may a life beside my own go on. And such companionship unlu oiling keep; Companionship scarce recognized till gone, And lost in sudden sleep. And so the blessings heaven daily grants Are in their very eomtuonoss forgot; We little hoed what answrrrtli onr wants Until it unswers not. A strangeness falleth on familiar ways. As if some pulse were gone beyond rival 1 Something unthought of, linked with all onr days; Homo cloek has stopped—that's all. (HeoTfje If. Ommur, in Yonth'* Com/sinioii. THE STORY OF A SCREEN. Tbc icvel beams of tho mellow May sunset were revealing every Haw and crack in tho cheap papering which cov ered the walls of the little garret-room where Mabel More sat busily at her sewing mochine, and a single pot of blue, velvet pansies in the high, nar row window ioado a spot of color for poor Mrs. Mere's weary eyes to rest upon, as she toiled at the floss-silk em broidery which was her whole occupa tion. The room was small and scantily furnished, but there was within its walls one relic of evanished days a black satin screen, mounted on a standard of gilded bamboo, and painted in deep rich oil-colors, with a scarlet flamingo floating upward against a background of reeds and grasses, while in the dis tance flamed a stormy snnset sky. " Mamma did it herself, when she was a girl at boarding-school," said Mabel More, to those who sometimes asked the history of this one remaining token of luxury. "We have kept it throngh everything. I would not part with it for its weight in gold." And then she would laughingly tell the tale of how half a dozen collectors of antiquities and esthetic furniture hail, at different times, endeavored to purchase the old satin screen. " One man wanted to buy it with a pair of tongs and a brass coal-scuttle," said she; " another one offered a broken set of Thackeray's novels and a fender; and a third bargained with a tote a-tete set of china, and a broken-nosed alabas ter statue of Psycho." For Malicl was a bright-eved, sweet- faced girl, who had a very keen sense of the ridiculous, and live I through the • hard realities of her life with the quiet fortitude of an inl>orn heroine. But after all the socond-hand dealers were nothing in resolution and j>cr*ist ence as compared with Miss Ann Azalea Harper, the daughter of the landlord from whose leaky and badly drained premises they had removed a few weeks previously. Miss Ann Azalea had a very fair idea of bric-a-brac treasured and she had cast her fine eyes upon this very screen. " It's worth a deal of money," said Ann Azalea to herself. " And it was ■ only this morning that Aunt Hepsy wa wishing for just such an old-fashioned ■creen." Now Aunt Hepsy was a rich old maid shrewd, crusty, elderly, and full of dis trust of all the smooth-tongued rela tives whose professions of love and re spect were so extreme. " A screen ?" said Aunt Hejsy. " Yes, I want a screen." " I'll paint yon one, dear aunt," said Ann Azalea. " Much of a screen you could paint !" ' ■aid the old lady, disdainfully. " I improved a good deal at l>oard ing-school," said Ann A/alea, meekly. " Anjt i the young lady, ignoring tlio cotlo nnil ill I its provisions. " Oli, Miss Harper!" " Jlut wo don't want tol>o fliorliitant, graciously wont on Ann Aznleu. " 80, sooner than ho at tho expenso of a law suit, I'll take some trillo or other in py. That screen, forinstanee," w ith her greedy eyes flxod on the pictured flight of tho sourlot'flumingo. " Ton dollars is a deal of money, nnd tho Hereon is an old-stylo thing, !>ut I wouldn't mind calling things even, just to ease your conscience, if-*-" " I couldn't—oh, I couldn't!" cried poor Mrs. More, tho tears coming into her eyes. "It was work I did as a girl. My own poor mother sketched in the green rushes and grass with hor own pencil, and—and if any cno is to have it, it is already promised to an old fam ily friond, wiio is to pay twenty-five dollars for it." "Very well," said Miss Harper, rising, with an ominous toss of her head. "Then, if you really mean lo swindle us—" '• Miss Harper!" "If you really mean to swindle us," severely repeated Ann Azalea, " I may as well stop at tho constable's on my way back and put on the distraint at once." Mrs. More clasped her thirf hands in a sort of nervous horror If i>oor Mablo, who hail gone out so buoyantly to carry homo her little parcel of finished work, should return anil find the minions of tho law in possession ! •' I am a selfish creature," she told herself, "to prefer my own inclination to dear May's happiness!" And so she told Ann Azalea, with a burst of tears, that the screen should bo hers. "I will send it to you—in tho even, ing," said she. piteously. "It you'll just wrap a bit of brown paper around it, I'll take it now," sug gested Mjss Harper, who believed firmly in tho ancient ailago of the "the bird in tho hand being worth two in tho bnsh." And HO the scarlet flamingo was car ried away in the triumphant arms of Miss Ann Azalea Harper. "After all," soliloquized she, "I got it for abeolut elv nothing. For pa said the old mahogany bookcase ho took off them was worth a third more than all the rent they owed; any one but a fool like that whimpering little MrK_ More would have known it perfectly well. And I'm are it'll suit Aunt Hepsy to a T I" While poor Mrs. More, sobbing bit terly before the empty place where her beloved screen had stood, felt a* if nil the sweet associations of her early youth had boon wrenched away. " Mother—dear mother ! why arc you crying ?" questioned Mabel, hurrying into the room. "Is yonr neuralgic hisnlache worse? Oh, mother! where is the old screen ? I have brought Miss Milman to see you about it. She says she will give you thirty dollars for it, if-" " I have sold it," said Mrs. More ; " for ten dollars. To our landlord's daughter. Or rather I have let her take it away in jwymrnt for the balance of the rent we owed them." "She has docoived yon, mother!" cried Mabel, coloring up with honest indignation. "Wo owed her notja single cent! Oh, dear, mother, if I had only lieon at home I" Miss Milrnan, a stout, short, grizzle headed lady, *tood still in the center of the room, looking sharply almtit her. "Don't fret, Alice More," said she. "Tears never yet did any good. You may dejend upon it, this woman's de ceit will yet recoil npon her own head. What is yonr landlord's name?" " Harper, - ' said Mrs. More. " Kl*?n ezer Harper.' "Oh!" said Miss Milman. And then she went away. " I think she grows more eccentric | every day," said Mabel, looking after the retreating figure of the stout lady. " Bich people have a right to be ec centric if they please," sighed Mrs. t More, still looking at the omjity place whore the screen had once stood. •'••• ••• • "Dear, Aunt Hepsy," said Ann Aza lea, radiantly, " I've come to wish you many happy returns of your birthday. And here's a little present—the satin screen I promised you." "Eh f said Aunt Hepsy. "My own worn," said Ann Azalea. " And I do so hope you'll like it." " Humph I" commented the old lady. " I've worked day and night to get it finished," said Ann Azalea, fervently. " Ann Azalea," aaid the old lady, sud denly becoming inspired with some de gree of animation, "where do you ex pect to go when yon die ?" "Dear aunt," aaid Ann Azalea, "I don't in the least understand you I" " Because you are telling a perfect tissue of lies, each one more outrageous than the other," said this painfully frank old lady. " The screen isn't your own work at all. The satin was painted by an old achool-friend of mine, fifty odd years ago. You cheat ed her out of it, tho day before yester day, by a regular pieoo of swindling that would have disgraced a mock auc tioneer. And now you may go and I carry it back to her—Mrs. More, No. 7 Lilac court—with iuy compliment*. And, Ann Azalea—" " Yen, aunt," said tho dejected young lady. " You needn't trouble to come back here again. If I adopt an heiress it must bo Homo one who is pure and good and truthful—not such a one as yon! And I'm rather disposed to think that it shall be Mabel More." And so Miss Ann Azalea Harper's grand scheme resulted in utter failure. The screen was borne ignominiouHly bock, and Mabel More is now her unnt'H adopted darling. And Papa Harper, instead of tenderly consoling his daughter, says, grullly: " It's all yotir own fault!" Indian Holy Pairs. In sailing down the flanges during the month of Katik, our October, one may pass in the course of a single day half a dozen holy fairs, each with a mul titude of pilgrims equal to the popula tion of a large city. All of them are rendered picturesque by the tents and equipages of the wealthy, tho variety of the animals and the bright coloring'in which the natives delight—those de scendants of the ancient Aryans of In dia, "in many respects tho most won derful race that ever lived on earth," as Professor Max Mtiller calls them. At night all these tents and booths are illuminated, so that the scene is hardly less animated by night than by day, ami all without tumult and disorder. Krery one <>f these localities is hal lowed by some mythological tradition, and tho firmest faith i-i reposed by the pilgrims in tho truth of those traditions. Ingrafted for hundreds, nay, thousands of yeans in the minds of the people, they have grown up with them articles of faith, strengthened with their strength. "Your words arc good, Sahib; your teaching is excellent,'' said some native head men of villages to a Christian missionary in Ondh, "but go and preach elsewhere. We do not want it. Our fathers' faith is enough for us. What should wo do in your heaven? You want n* to go there when we die. Wo hud rather be with our father* who went before us. What should wo do in the heaven of the Sahibs?" This is no fanciful picture. These are the very words spoken in Hindoostanee to an enthusiastic mis sionary by the simple villagers. And whnt could he say in reply? He felt the force of them, although ho did not allow them to paralyze his efforts. The religious me la* are attended l>v thousands of devotees on the same prin ciple that prompted the villagers' word* to the missionary. They were observed by their father-. Generation after gene" ration has attended them. Hindoo, or Moslem, or Christian the rulers may lie, but the melas are still the same, and, looking back into the vista of van ished centuries, we still see the same crowds, the same devotion*, the same amusement*, fond, clothing and attendant animals. When liritons were painted savages it was so, and now that Victoria, queen of England, is empress of India, it is so still. S tnetrenlh Ceti t"ty. __ •• Trail eexojanee." Home interesting scientific experi ments demonstrating the truth of the disputed phenomena of clairvoyance hare recently been made by Dr. O. M. Heard, of this city. The "sensitive" was a lady, the wife of a lecturer on mesmerism. A first ex|*'riment failed, but on a second trial the lady, whose eyes were covered with cotton and closely bandaged, was able to name actually card* drawn at random from a jack anil held by the doctor upon her forehead. Hlic also read the title-page of a volume which the doctor took from liis pocket. Other experiments with coarse print were equally successful, but she was unable to read flue print. Dr. Heard calls the faculty trance voyanco, and thinks that it may be de veloped to such a degree that the per son gifted with it can read entire page* of ordinary print held against the fore head. The lady, describing lier sen sations when in the trancevoyant state, says that an electric light seemed to be thrown forward from the back of the brain tijion the object held npon lier forehead, illumining it and enabling her to see it distinctly. A further study of this curious power of reading without eyes will no doubt be of great value to the development of the still rudimentary science of brain and nerve action. Bncb ex periment* as those of Dr. Heard are heavy blows at the theories of the mate rialists who claim that all mental action is a physical phenomenon dejiendingon the organs of sensation. What power is it, will they tell na, that reads coarse print when the eyes are practically blinded? There must l>e a faculty of perception in the brain quite independent of the organs of sight, which under cer tain rare condition* comes into play. What ia it that sees without the aid of optic nerve or retina? Here is a ques tion which opens a wide and interesting field for specnlation.— Nme York Tri bune. The first cotton mill in California is in prooess of erection. sciF.vrmc hciupn. Htonm engines on the average do not use more than ton per cent, of Iho power represented ly tho coal they bum. Tho friction of two bodies, one against tho other, produces heat. By rubbing together two piocoH of ice in a vacuum below zero, Hir H. Davy partially molt ed them. Wave lengths of tho sounds emitted by a man's voice in ordinary convorsa tion are from eight to twelve feet, ami that of a woman's voice two to four feet per second. The intensity of illumination on a given surface is inversely av the square of its distance from tho source of light. If the jsige of u hook, held twelve inches from a candle, be moved six inches nearer, tho light on the page is made fonr times stronger. The last application of the luminous paint promises to be a very serviceable one. Mr. browning, tho well-known optician of London, has hit upon the idea of coating compass dials with the pigment, HO that tho belated traveler or seaman need have no /ear of losing his way for want of light. There were sanitarians in the days of onr ancestors. So long as eight hun dred years ngo, in the time of ltichard 11., an ordinance was enacted forbid ding tho pollution of rivers, drains, etc.; another in the reign of Kdward 11. against selling " muzzled swine-flesh," etc,; ami in tho rcigus of Henry VI. and Henry VII. and Klizals-th, for the inspection and cleansing of sewers, against the slaughtering of cattle in towns, and again i the ovi rcruwding of dwellings. Itailroails. Steamboats and Telegraphs. Little does the world think what tre- mentions capital in required to carry on it* travel, traflic ami commerce. The i railroad net, woven all over the glolw, j consist* of 2'Ht.t mk milna. Aia. Aus tralia and Africa can claim only the | fourteenth part, the other thirteen* I fourteenth* l*eing n<"arlv equally
  • ]ia**enger ear* and 1,5(10,000 freight ear*. The capital invested in all the railriueU is estimated at 3*20,- 000,000. The commerce on the *eo* is carried on by 12,(100 steamer* and over loQ.Ooo sailing vessel*. The tonnage of these vessels amounts to over 2*',000,000 Urns. Telograpliic communication i maintained by 5oo,0((0 mile* of wire, of j whirh nbont five-eights fall to Eu rope, two-eight* to America and fully one-eighth to the subma- I rine teb gn]>h system. There are 10, Otto station*, from wliieh 110,000 ilia patchea are sent annually, or on an aver age of 150,000 daily. According to imp utation, Switzerland doe* the most tele . graphing, there I>eing one dispatch sent annually for every inhabitant. This i* undoubtedly due to the great annual influx of travelers and pleasure-seekers. Next conn's the Netherlands and tlieu Great Itritain. Kus-ia stands lat on the list, as she sends only forty Jive ! dispatches for every thousand inhabi tants. The transmission of letters by mail amounts in round numl>crs to , alsmt 4,000,000. According to the population* of the several countries, the Americans write by far the most let ters; next come the English: then Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, France, Sweden, Norwav, Spain, Hungary, Italy, Por tugal, Greece, Hussia, Servia, Hoti mania, Turkey. —Chiiigo Tribune. \ < hlnese llell. A traveler thus e* a represen tation of the punishment of the wicked after death, according to the Ituddhist theory, which he witnessed in the I suburbs of Canton : After a walk of about a mile we came to the temple of horrors. This is a hor rible place—that is, the scenes are hideous. The intention is to represent what a bart of "cake," we may be pretty -are of ndulteratioti in the shape of | chiorory, for the grains of chiocory arc softer and more open, and adhere without difficulty when squeezed. | Again, if we place a few grains in a saucer and moisten them with a little cold water, chiocory will very quickly Income soft like bread crumbs, while coffee will take a long | time to soften. A third test: Take a wineglass or a tumblerful of water and gently drop a pinch of the ground oof fee on the surface of the water without stirring OT agitating; genuine coffer will float for som' time, whilst ehiccorv or any other soft root will soon sink; and chicrory or caramel will can so a yellowish or brownish colcTr to diffuse rapidly through the water, while pure cfT<-e will give no sensible tint under such circumstance* for a considerable length of time. "Coffee mixture*" or "ooffee improvers" ahotild be avoided. They seldom consist of anything but ohicoory and caramel. " French cof fee," so widely used at present, is gen erally ground coffee, the lean* of which have l>een roasted with a certain amount of sugar, which, coaling over the lean, has retained more of the original aroma than in ordinary cotfee, but this, of course, at the expense of the reduced percentage of coffee due to the presence of the earamel.— Thq Satulanan. Suicide* at a (.ambling Kesort. The present proprietor of the notori -1 ons gambling establishment at Monte Oarlo holds a lease of this lucrative privilege which will not expire till 191 th The prince of thisanomalons little atate receive# as ground rent .">O,OOO francs |>er annum and a tenth of the profile of i the tables, liesides which bis little army of forty aoldiers in light-blue uniform and his twenty gendarmes in cocked hftts are clothed and maintained from the same aooroe. The nnml>er of sni rides last year traceable to lossea at the gaining tables is officially rc]K>rted as forty only, and the number of delin quencies attributable to the same canse as forty-seven. According to Mr. Poi son, however, a gentleman of high offi cial position at Nice estimates the real nnmlter of suicidea at abont three a week. It appeara that the local jour nals, for obviotts reasons, do not encour age the publication of these distressing details, and that it ie not nnnsual to re gard a suicide by means of a revolver as a lamentable example of the incau tious use of firearms, —ixmdos 7We- It will save many sleepless nights to know that the Russian of it, for " knout," is "connoot," and not " nowt." A BONANZA KINO. John W. Mnrkil, liar of Ihe Wmltfclr.t .■Urn In lh.-World. h) , oorr Work.d far H.I n lint. " Hero," said the speaker, a* he stood with a friend near a windlass by which ore wan hauled out of a mine on the Com stock ; "here I used to stand and tarn for a day. Beth Cook was my partner, and ho wan paid f'.t a day. Beth Cook in now a largo owner in the Htand ard mine ami one of the rich men of the Pacific coast." The speaker was John \\. Mackay, the bonanza king, one of the richest men in the world. He is a slender, tallish, well-knit man of forty-seven, with a clean, well-marked fa-e, showing decision and frankness. His hair and mustache are brown, ting'il with gray. If in eye is keen and penetrating, his skin is ruddy, whole some and vascular, tanned with Nevaik sunshine and steamed in the Turkish-bath temperature of the lower level of the CornsUxk lode. What impresses one about the man is that there is nothing wasted in 1 him; he is ail muscle and nerve, and I shows temperate and careful habits. When lie walks it is with the sure, agile tread of the leopard or the lynx -like one who may spring at any moment. There is a joyous element in the man, which would IK.* w inning were its owner only n ea'eilriver instead of the master ,of millions. He speaks with a half stammer, which at first impresses one a* being the slowness of a man who delib erates while he speak*. This is the bo nanza king a- ho stands at your side, looking out over the brow n N* vada hills. The miners come up and speak to him and call him John, and there is between them a sense of command* blended with comradeship, which upjK-ars odd toa metrojtolilan even. Forty-seven yearn ago,or thereat louts, John \\, Mackar w.is burn in Dublin. He came to New York in his youth, and gamboled around the City Hall in it* pastoral day a, and was not unhappy when a blase theater-goer pave him a cheek for the Park theater. Among other eight* he IIM >I to b>ok with win- der upon a fatnoua man striding up Nassau etr.-.-t fr un the old postofßee with a bundle of n< w-pajM-r- under Lis arm. This was James Gordon Dennett* then a curiosity even to boys, and the work which he was doing was build ing up the N' El dorado. About this time there went two others on the same errand, fine was an Irishman named O'Brien— " Billy" O'Brien, a* all California came to call him. Billy had a ]tartn*r —a strong-beaded, resolute New York lad, who came from the Broderi* k section of New York, and had in him all that immense capacity of doing and daring which gave Frederick national fame. Billy's partner is now known as .Tames C. Flood, of the " Flood A O'Brien firm." w hose phenomenal success was to make all the world wonder. Mackay w( lit hi* wax. as cveryliody did in those fpvcrih darn. He lived in mining camps, he slept on the ground, he pick- .1 and scratched and washed the gravel in running tr- am*: lie bad his tips and downs; hehaplaintance. He had found sumo good prospect* and they hal some money. A hard-liead