The Shadow of the Worktngman.
Behold yon swiftly flying boat!
tn conscious might it steams along;
With graceful line* and powerful Irnmn,
It proudly bonra its tiring throng.
To distant lands it plows its way,
And to tho many wealth doth bring;
Its tidings trom tho absent friends
Are welcomo us the smiling spring.
Xou see it cleave tlio restless wave,
And know old ocean's spare 'twill span;
But, cast o'er all, can you behold
1 The shadow of tho workingman!
See, on the locomotivn rush
With headlong sfieed o'er iron mud,
Like living, breathing monster, whom
Some unseen powers onward goad,
Through cities, towns, and shady dells,
' O'er gurgling streams and woodland glades,
It speeds you on with clang and roar;
Ay, 'nenth mountains' gloomy shades,
■With case it quickly bears along
' I'ilgrims of every tribe and clan;
Bui o'or each fleeting view dost see
shadow of the workingmau?
Come, gave tt|K>n this mighty pile,
" The spire of which in elnndland dwells;
KBUMVI by tho sinking sun's lust ray,
® A* gently chime the distant belts;
Come view its grnndly-minisive walls,
" Its pillars, halls and arches true,
Which are so neatly, deftly wrought,
? Without one flaw to meet the view.
P'er all this blended strength and graeo
b As round it zephyrs gently fan,
Can you not aee, in outline bold,,
t The shallow of the workingtnati?
Co seek tho lofty mountain bight,
- And there behold the glowing scene—
The forest, field and waving grain,
* The rippling lakes, the meadows grocn;
Each lieautyof the prospect view,
t All thronged with busy, useful life,
Where once tho gloomy wilds were seen,
i Where savnge rsrels once wero rile.
Co, look upon all earth's broad lace,
■ Keplefe with art and nature's plan;
And there, in bold relief you'll sco
The shadow of the workingman.
Kujcne V. t'isk.
My Ride on a Star-Route.
A Tit IE SKETCH.
I wished to go fourteen miles north.
Ward. Hv cars I nmst go three sides
of a square. The trip, and waiting at
depots, would take from 11 o'clock a.
in. to 4.20 o'clock p. m.
"For the accommodation of two
small post-offices, a stage, a poor affair, ;
runs direct," said mine host.
The freshness of a summer morn
ing. the hilly road, the changing views, i
the trees, wild flowers and singing
birds were a delight, even in thought-!
and I saiil at once:
"The stage."
While breakfasting, the next morn
ing, the clerk came in and said in a
low voice;
"The stage is here, ami your trunk
is on, but finish your breakfast, tin
driver will wait."
I went out soon, but no stage was
to be seen, and I asked if it bail gone
for other passengers.
"This is it," said my more laughing
than smiling host
Such another nondescript vehicle
may I never see. One |wjor, old. white
horse, an express wagon, the back seat
of which ha<l been taken out to make
room for my trunk, and the packages j
of all forms and sizes, for the driver
proved to lie an express messenger
and universal errand l>y of the farm
ers along the route. I hesitated. My
trunk was on, and the morning air
fragrant. So, with help, I cliinlted on
the wheel, and pitched into the wagon,
and took possession of the one seat, and
planted my feet upon what seemed an
empty bag, but which proved to have
the honor of being the I'nited States
mail, and to contain two packages (one
of which, as I got out with the rest
•while the mail was changed, I saw
contained exactly two postal cards and
four newspapers).
"Where is the driver?" I asked.
"When he found out he was to have
a lady passenger he went in to empty
and rinse his mouth out," was the an
swer.
He came, out at the ell>ows, patched
at the knees, with vest and linen
spotted with tobacco juice. I turned
my head away, as sitting down beside
me, he took up the reins and said:
"(Viang, g'lang, g'lang!"
This oft-repeated word alone broke
our silence, until out of the village he
stopped at a stone trough, lierieath
Some trees, to water his horse. On a
bough a robin was swaying, ami
warbling his sweetest notes, ending in
a long twitter. The driver, who was
standing at his horse's head, t>x>k some
crumbs from his pocket and held them
out. The robin flew down and ate
them from his hand. With a clear,
smooth voice, the driver quoted Words
worth's
"Thou *rt Un bird that man lores heat.
The pious bird with anarlet breast,
The bird, who hy some name or other,
All men who know thee call thee brother."
He scattered more crunilw on the
\ atone, buckled the check rein, mounted
l\ the seat with:
1\ "Good-by, my little friend, be here
I to-morrow, g'lang, g'lang!"
f . The delicate act, the cultured voice
\made me look at him. I lis face was
li peart and clean shaven; his features
regular and refined; his eyes large,
clear and very deep blue; his hair a
brown gray; his hands small and, had
the nails been clean, would have been
handsome.
"Who run ho be?" I said to myself;
to hi in 1 said:
"That bird seems to know you."
"lie is always waiting for the male,"
ho said.
"And always get something, I
fancy."
"Always. 1 rarely have a passenger
and so talk to the birds and squirrels,
g'lang, g'lang! 1 regret I haven't a
better horse g'lang —as my constant
urging must annoy you, g'lang,
g'lang!"
"Yon do not whip him."
"Never. Hut 1 often think Sancho
I'anza's ltosinante, like tho Wander
ing Jew, is still on earth.
"And this is he?"
"This is lie without a doubt!"
Just then he drove through a piece
of woodland full of music, lie said:
"How truly Mary Huwitt voices
one's feelings in her poem:
'Conic yo into tho Hummer woods! But no
mortal pen can
Tell hall tho Bights of Itoauly you may
soe.' "
I loved to hear him talk. His
language was pure, his anecdotes re
fined, his quotations from standard
authors were frequent, but brief and
to the point.
"Who can he be!" 1 asked myself
again and again. At farmhouses he
stopped to give packages, from a
mended scythe snath to a geld brace
let. Ami whenever a good woman
ran out and railed, he took her wishes
lit a note Itook, with all the courtesy
and bearing of a thoroughbred gentle
man.
I tMik the liberty to glance at the
Itook. The writing and spelling
showed hint to be a man of educa
tion.
"Will not so many stops prevent
your making time?" I asked.
"Oh, no! lam not obliged to be at
until 12 M., and I started two
hours earlier than the old driver did."
"In order to oblige the farmers
along the route?" 1 asked.
"In part; but l'ope says, 'Self-love
and social an- the same.' 1 love the
morning air. I love to speak a word to
the g'>"d people, to break the dead
monotony of their work-day lives bv a
bit of stirring news. Truly .these hours
on tie- road are the pleasantest of my
life."
"You are never lonely?"
"Never! With led and nature r;ui
one l>e lonely ? "
A gentleman, with a line pair of
blood horses passed up. and they ex
changed cordial greetings. The driver
said:
"A woman, who had worked in the
family of that gentleman's father for
many years, he took rare of the last
ten years. She had liecome helpless
and nearly blind, so when sho died
last month she was past mourning
for. After she was made ready f<>r
burial and laid in the parlor, a well
dressed stranger called to see her. He
was told she was deal. He said he
hail not Itcen east for thirty years, and
would like to see her. He stood a few
minutes looking upon her. ami then
!<ent tlown and kissed that cold,brown,
wrinkled forehead, and left two great
tear drops on it, ami with a choking
voice said:
"My mother's dearest friend!"
After a moment the driver turned
to ine and said:
"Do you suppose those friends knew
each other when they met?"
"I am sure they did." I said.
"It Is a question I often ponder.
My wife died when she had just passed
into full and beautiful womanhood.
She had touched her thirt "th year,ami
I was but a little older, in the vigor
of my manhood. She is now in the
freshness of her womanhood with the
eternal freshness of heaven. If, as
Milton has it. 'From the lowest deep a
lower deep still opens.' so, from the
highest bight a higher bight must
rise; and she, who was purity itself
must ho purer now. And we grow
like those with whom we mingle, and
she, so lovely here, has lteen for
twenty-seven years the companion of
angels! How glorious she must be!
Will she can she know me there?" •
Almost rny first question on reach
ing my friend was:
"Who is that driver?"
"I have not tho honor of his
acquaintance!" sho laughingly an
swered.
"I haver* I said.
>o soon as the post-wagon drove on,
I started for the post-office.
"Will you please tell me who that
flriver Is?"
The postmaster gave his natnn and
said ho was once an editor of ■ ,
naming one of the Itest papers In one
of our largest cities.
"He Is a man of elegant culture,"
I said.
"Ho Is that. I don't know of any
body that ran touch a mutch to him.
Ho hits boon through college and been
to Europe, ami has boon acquainted
with a good many distinguished
men,"
"What has brought him to this?"
"Drink."— Mrs. Lucy K. Har\ford.
Scenes In Holland.
When we fin ally got through the
various locks and impediments into tho
canal itself, we soon saw that the artis
tic promise of the land would need
much careful looking after if one would
have a moderate fulfillment thereof.
It is but fair to say that the canal was
evidently never intended to charm or
amuse to any intense degree, but to be
simple and solid and direct. It is no
small, mean runnel of a waterway,
but a gixxlly wide and deep thing
that a ship can get about in com
fortably. If one must come down to
figures, 1 will venture to say that I
fancy it is some hundred and odd miles
in length. Suflleient for the day, how
ever, was the fact that it would take
us to Alkmaar, and that along its
rush-fringed banks wore pictures pass
ing ever before us of trim sleepy vil
lages and skirts of towns, fat farm
steads, juicy pastures, sleek cows, and
rosy-checked milkmaids with .sleeves
rolled above elbow so tightly that the
lusty arm below would be more than
rosy, it would be a dappled carnation.
There were the teaming polders 'and
the jaunty windmills in rich profusion
and variety, and all the familiar ob
jects of a pleasant Dutch landscape.
On the forward deck of the boat was a
gixslly pile of market baskets and
Itoxes, and mounting to the top of the
heap, we sclectixl a soft basket—first
making sure that it didn't contain
eggs as a point of vantage and a
sketching seat, and then we remarked
to the panorama !>eforc us, as Byron
did to the ocean, that it might "roll on."
Not that we felt unduly flippant or
heedless; the occasion was too serious
for that.
The further north one goes in Hol
land. the more one's attention is ralh*d
to the rapid increase of swirling orna
ment as a feature of domestic and civic
architecture. Even on the better
class of farm houses, and more notably
on the more pretentious country
\il!as skirting the canal, the gable.s are
fashioned in most fantastic shapes of
curve and scroll, and the general im
pression of riotous lines meandering
aliut the gables is further enhanced
by startling effects of painting and
gilding. tVe touchrs lat a few of the
little dorks and landing place* along
the waterway, and not*l many delight
fully quaint bits of color, as well as
lots of amusing characters and inci
dents. back-grounds of cottages rich
with downy, velvet-surfaced tiles and
mottled brick, splashed with moss and
stain and lichen, taking every tint that
a fat humid air knows so well how to
paint if it has plenty of time. The
window frames would be paint"*] a
dazzling white, the curtains of s(x>tb-ss
dimity, the shutters and doors of
brilliant green, the cow shsls and out.
houses of shiny black pitch, and often
the trees would have about six feet of
the lower trunk (tainted a "forget-me
not" (cheap sort of) blue. Lots of
flowers, plenty of flax en-haired children
and blue-eyed girls, lots of ducks and
geese, any numts-r of cats.
We noticed the prevalence of female
labor in a "longshore" sort of way
about the various landings. It would
!• a strapping rosy dame with sleeves
well tucked up who would deftly catch
the hawser, and bandy lively compli
ments with the deck hands of the
steamer. They handled the lighter
freight to and fro, kicking almut the
tuls of butter, and "shying" the (found
ing bullets of elastic Dutch cheese in
tine manly style. They gave them
selves curbms "sea-<Iog" kind of airs,
too. that lent them a certain charm of
their own. Hnrjvr't M>i<jmiur.
Ilenry Day's Real Kstate Sale.
The Washington correspondent of
the Boston Adrcrtuwr has some inter
esting gossip about the ownership of
the Rodger* house, near the White
House. Henry Clay used to own the
lot on which at stands. He was es
pecially devoted to Ids Ashland farm
and the livestock upon it. One day
old Commodore John Rodger* came
home from the Mediterranean with his
naval vessel full of live stock which
he had picked up abroad. The cargo
included one line Amlalusian jackass.
Clay wanted it for his farm. All his
offers were rejected, until one day the
commodore said, in joke: "You can
have him for your lot rp|x>*ite the
White House." "Done;" was Clay's
reply, and the animal was shipped off
to Kentucky. The commodore built
the now historic house, which Secretary
Seward occupied during the war-
Here T'ayne endeavored to assassinate
him on the night when President Lin
coln was shot. The lot Is now valued
nt 140,000.
SAC It Kit HOOKS.
The ttlblc as Known to lII* Anrlenti,
The following brief sketch of the so.
crisl books of the World is from a Bible
class lesson by Prof. 11. A. Ford, in a
New York mission Sunday school:
Certain religious Instincts, as the
Consciousness of a Supreme Being, of
a life beyond the grave, of future re
wards and punishments, of a sense of
sin and the need of sacrifice, are com
mon to humanity. So idso, wherever
a nation lias had a literature, its reli
gion lias usually based upon sacred
hooks—there is the assertion of a writ
ten revelation. Every great religion
has its Bible.
The best known of these books, save
th Jewish ami the Christian, is the
Koran of Mohammed. The title of
this means "The Beading," from the
Arabic verb for "to read." Other
names are A1 Kitab, or the book; A]
Moshaf, tin- volume; A1 Dhikr, the ad
monition or reminder; and Al Forhan,
or the salvation. The ill suras or
chapters of the Koran were professedly
given to Mohammed "luring t lie twenty
three years of his residence at Mecca
ami Medina, bv the angel (Jabrh-l in
numun form, as an Inspiration from
Aleah, or the Almighty. They were
written upon leaves, bits of leather or
paper, shoulder-blades of mutton and
whatever else w as at hand, ami thrown
(ooscly Into a box, from which they
were taken a )car after the prophet's
death and put together with >-qual
looseness ami disregard to connection
of topics, in volumes. The chapters
near such titles as The Cow, The Fig
I'he Star, The Towers, The Congealed
Blood, ami the )ik\ giving soim; hint
of contents. Each begins thus: "In
the name of fjod, the merciful, tlx
compassionate," ami a note is made of
the revelation at cither Mecca or
Medina Not only is tlx- (xxl <>f Un
christian* recognized, but also Jesus,
but not as the Son of <;<!, anil Abra
ham, Jacob and Mary and the Old
Testament worthies. The style of the
Koran is <>f singular elegance and
beauty, constituting it the classic of
Arabic speech. It is the text book <>f
Moslem faith and likewise nf civil gov
ernment in ;ill the Moslem countries.
Copies "if it arc greatly reverts! anil are
sometimes written in gold and jewels.
It Is never hell by the ls-lievers below
the girdle or touched without previous
purification. Nothing is more hateful
to the Mussel man than t<> see a copv in
the bands of a giaour <>r infidel.
A much more ancient collection of
writings is the Y"*la*. the oldest lxik*
in the Hindoo literature, and dating
far back <>f the time of Christ. Tin*
oldest hymn of the oldest lxx>k, tlx-
Rig-Veda, is thought to date from
B. C. 24N). The Cpanishads, or treat'
i.scs of theology, arc later, and are ul
most the only ("art of the Vol.is now
read. The four divisions of Uie Yedas
contain in all 1 •' 1t hymns, which every
Brahmin must barn by heart. They
are recogniz<*l by the Laws of Mann
which form tlx- tcxt-lxxik of Brahmin
ism. They were written in twelve
books ten to nine centuries before
Christ. The mythology of the Hin
doos is comprised mainly in two great
epic poems, the Ratnavana and the
Mahabharata, containing respectively
50,0(10 and 120,000 lim-s. and together
filling eighteen large Volumes. These
are now almost exclusively read as the
sacred booksof India, with the Puranas,
of similar character but much later date.
The Shasters or Shastras ("books") Is a
general term for all the authoritative re
ligious and legal works of the Hindoos.
The Buddhist sacred l>ooks are also
very numerous, but 1 tin"! no name for
them except the "l'itchas," or Buddhist
scripture, in the Pale language, found
in Ceylon.
The Zend-Avesta (I. e„ the text <>r
scripture with a zend, oreoinmen
tarv) Is the bible of the an
cient I'arsee* or (Ire-worshipers. It Is
supposed to have been written in Bec
tria or eastern Persia. 1250 to 1300
years before Christ, by Zoroaster or
Zarathustia I'nlike most other sa
cred books, it is not a lxxly of divinity
or dogmatic religion, but it is a liturgy
a collection of prayers, hymns, invoca
tions and thanksgiving* to many dei
ties. It is a manual of worship, to le
recited by the priests in public, and
read privately by tbo laity. The
Budde-Nesch is a later Ixxik of the
same religion, and details the I'arsee
doctrine from texts now lost.
The religion of Confucius, tho prin
cipal faith of China is taught in the
five and four luniks of the Kings
"King." in Chinese, means simply a
web of cloth, or the warp that holds
threads of cloth in their place. The
five Kings contain history, poetry and
the rites of religion. They seem to
hnve leen In existence liefore Confu
cius, whose last years were devoted to
it# editing. His own teachings are
otherwise embodied in the four Kings,
which were promulgated after his
dofctli. The last of these includes the
works of Menclus, another Chinese re
former. Taoism, or the religion
founded by Lao-tze, in tho same age
with Confucius, resin upon the book*
called T*e-lao, or "Old Teacher," and
the Tav-te-king, which specially repre
sents tlxs notions of the illustrious
Lao-tze. It is an interesting fact that
the Tae Ping rebel* „f mi;:{ id.
though not professing to be Jews or
Christians, t"xjk our Bibbs for their
lx>ok, ami claimed that if their insur
rection succeeded it would be suixsti
tuti-d for the writings of Confucius
and Lao-tze.
The ancient Egyptians hail forty
two saerisl bioks, in five classes, con
taining hymns in praise of the gixis,
instructions in morals, religious rites,
the education of priests and related
matters.
The (ireck and Roman mythology
had no sacred Ixeiks, unless certain po.
etical works may be taken for such.
The two Eddas set f. irth the mythol
ogy of tlx- Norsemen, or ancient
Scandinavians. They originated in
Iceland, tlx* poetic or elder Edda com
prising thirty-si-vcn religious poems of
religious and heroic history, and tlx
younger or prose Edda giving a full
synopsis of the Norse mythology. The
term "Edda" means "great grand
mother." Roth these oollci ti"ii-> date
long after Christ.
This is a pretty full list of Hie lxxiks
of saeri*l or si-mi- ai p-1 character
known to the world, exc. pt tlx- Bible
of tlx* Jews and that of the Christ
ians.
Centennial Fun.
I luring the Centennial exhibition tho
I'nited States building vvxs tlx- scene
of an amusing blunder which, however
taught oix- lady the necessity of
caution. The government had dressed
a number of wixxb-n statues, so carved
and painted as to resemble soldiers and
sailor* in the various uniforms of the
army and navy. N> life-like were
these "dummies" that hundreds
paused to admin* them, and among
others the ladies. "Just see that one
tlieri-'" said one of the iadx---. "Why,
I should almost think it alive!" and
she poked the n->se of the sup|xi*cd
"dummy." Imagine her consterna
tion when it deliberately turned around
and walked stifl'y away. She had mis
taken an army officer f..r a "dummy."
In machinery hall was exhibited a
machine for ventilating mines, it.
sent a powerful current of air through
a pipe six inches in diameter. A mov
able nozrle, funrxl-sh.ipi*!, enabled tlx
iH.v-ojK-rator to turn the current in
any direction. A flag w.u* hung up at
a distance of fifteen t'**t from the
machine. Si strong w.ts the current
of air when directed against tlx- flag,
that it would bang otu at right angles
from the pole as if M .un by a gale.
Tlx- mischievous Ix.y, not content to
blow the flag, soiix tinn > -nt a breeze
among the sjev-tators. A man with a
broad-brimmed hat and long brown
hair was leaning ovir the railing and
peering at the machine. The Ixiv
sent a current against the flag and
then tuim*l the blast, which acej
dentally fell full upon the unfortunate
stranger. Tlx- result was an unlook
ed-for catastrophe; the bat and brown
locks went sailing away and left bare
a bead as smooth and round a* a
pumpkin. The man ran after his
truant bat and wig; the loy dropped
the nozzle and fled, thinking, doubt
less, that a severe penalty awaited
biiii for having scalp**! a man with
a gust of wind.
Theatrical Tricks.
Curious as it may seem, it is not
generally known by the theater audi
ence that the "perilous leaps," "terrific
scaling of precipices," and other similar
feats which fall to the lot of the hero
and heroine of the play, are in alnxvst
every case performed by a "dummy,"
Thus, it is not the prima donna who,
as "Am in a" in "La Sonnamluda,"
walks In her sleep across a trembling
bridge at the back of the stage, nor in
'The- Bomance of a I'i>or Young Man'
is it the baling man who takes a fly
ing leap from a low er, but in each case
a carefully dressed "dummy." whose
Itones are not particularly precious.
They tell this story of a "Mazoppa"
|>erfonnance in the old days, which
shows how this theatrical trick some
times results: A celebrated star was
playing the piece and had a circus
rider made up to look like him to do
the riding. Of course the audience
supposed the rider to tie the star. In
those days the runs up the mountain
were elaborately arranged, and tho
flight of the wild horse w a* a startling
incident One nighk the horse fell
with the rider, crashing from the flics
to the stage. The curtain was rung
down, and presently the star was led
Iwfore it, staggering as though badly
injured, and said that, in spite of tho
fall, he would endeavor to finish the
piny. And he did so, au\|fl frantic
applause. The poor wretch of a rider
lay in the hospital for fourufccks.
The Mary of Life.
Hay, wlmt it lif? Tn to lie Ixirn;
A helplmw Ikilm! to |frw!t the light
With * xlmrp w*il, iu if tb rnorri
Foretold a cloudy moon and night;
To weep, to sleep, and * iij. ajfain,
With sunny smile* hot ween—and thenT
And then a|*/■• the infant grows
To ho a laughing, uprightly hoy,
Happy doapito hi* little woe*.
Warn hn hut of hi* joy!
To tin, in ahort, from two to too,
A merry, moody child—and than*
And then in noat and trousers clad,
To learn to any the Itntxlogne,
And break it, an unthinking lad,
With mirth and triuichinf alJagog;
A truant olt by field and fen,
And rapture butterflies—and then?
And then, increaaeil in strength and h *#,
To he, anon, a youth full grown;
A hero in Inn mother'* eye*,
A yonng Apollo in hi* own;
'1 o imitate the whvs o| men
In faahairiahle ain—and then?
And then, at laat, to la; u man,
To fall in love, to woo ami wed'
W ilh aeething brain to (scheme and [ ian
'I o gather gold or toil for bread;
lo aue for fume, with tongnc and pen.
And gain or loae tlie prize—and then?
And then in gray arid wnnkiod eld
To mourn tin- speed of lib- doeline;
'lo prai'ie the arena* of youlli hebeld,
And dwell m memory of lang rne;
fo dream awhile with darken'*! ken,
'Then drop into his grave—and then"
Jihn <i. Sair.
IT .Mi EM TAKAGIMTIIS.
Lo tied An Indian wedding.
Pawnbroker* prefer customers with
out any redeeming qualities.
Some persons are an artiil i;t] that
they i-ven talk of their mind# being
made nji.
The ilemarirl for napkin rinmade
of wc*] grown at Walter Scott's home,
A Idiot-ford, is proving a great drain
upon the f rents .f Maine.
1 alk about your hop pmdueing re
gion*' our old-fashioned arm-chair
with the 1 rent-pin attachment holds
over everything of that quality.
A I'ettis county (Missouri) woman
is the mother of fifteen girl-, all living.
Vnd the news that a military college is
to l.e established near her home sets
the old lady alsiut crary.
"Why do you carry your pocketlrook
in your hand?" asked a Philadelphia
husband of his young wife. "Oh,"
w as the quiet reply, "it is so light I am
afraid it might jump out of my juxk
< t."
The latest m w - from Ecuador is that
the last government lasted just five
minutes. The inhabitants are now
clamoring for a fresh one every hour;
but many liberals think this too long
a term to lie consistent with jierfect
freedom, and a st'p toward despotism.
It is figured that there i< twice the
profit on hens that there is on cows,
and it's just as easy to keep patching a
picket fence round a hen-yard and
light your neighbors who own gardens,
as it is to fix up pasture walls and hunt
over the country for stray animals and
settle for the damage they have done.
Von Kalkhrenner. the noted pianist,
used to pride himself on the particle
which preceded his name, and paraded
it on every occasion. "Ik* you know,"
he once said to an acquaintance, "that
the nobility of my family dates fr<>iu
the crusade? cine of my ancestors ac
companied the Emperor Harbarosso *
-On the piano?" asked the other.
I'resenlnr Tower of Sell,
It is well known that in soil where
lime al"winds, dead l*liiv* are fossilized
in a few years, or even a few months,
after burial. In soil when- there is no
lune, there are sometimes other ele
ments which often preserve the fea
tures of a buried body unchanged for
many years. The philosophic Hamlet,
musing by an old grave over the fact
that man turns into dustyand dust into
earth, exclaims:
"lm|>eri*l l'*w, <Wd and turned to clay
Might atop a bole to keep the wind away!
Hut what would have l>een his mus
ings if he had stood lieside the disin
terred body of his father and seen brow
and form appearing as natural as w hen
be gave "the world assurance of a
man V" Vet this might have tieen. for
there are numerous cases on record
where bodies disinterred for removal
after years of interment, have bten*
fottnd to be as w ell preserved as if they
had been only a few days dead. Gen
eral Washington's features were quite
perfect w hen hi* body was taken up to
be put in the sarcophagus, where they
now repose. The same was true of
General Wayne, when his Imdv was re.
moved forty years after death; and of
Hubert Hums, twenty-one years after
burial. Hut It seents almost incredible
that the body of John llampden, who
w as disinterred 200 years after death,
should have loen in a similar state of
preservation. Hut Lord Nugent re
cords the fact. His word Is MOt to be
quest ioned. Possibly the most remark -
able fact of all these cases is that the
bodies crumtded to a heap of dust soc
after expouur