To Summer Land, My bird bas flown to summer land Be still, sad heart. O'er stream and forest, field and sand, To southern seas of summer land, My bird has town. My bird sings on where roses bloom Be still, sad heart, "Mid orange groves, where grasses plume, Far, far south of winter's gloom, My bird sings on. And 1 am lett "mid foe and snow Be still, sad heart. With heart so cold, ab, none can know Save those who wait In land of snow, Alone! alone! O, happy bird, by summer sea, Sing on, sing on, And send an echo back to me O'er field and forest, stream and sea, Of thy sweet song, " An echo, only this to say, Sing on, sing on, That, guided by thy song some day My chastened soul shall find its way To summer laid. ~~ [New York Observer. REIFSKY. I tse a THE COUNTESS BY EVAN EVANS. An ugly, muggy, chilly evening, in spite of the fact that it was midsum- mer; bat then I Lad found that weather jn St. Petersburg was not to | be depended on. The deserted, save when the death-carts rattled along of their ghastly burdens. struck ten, and I was burryving home sireots vnmind ful =—or rather to my den—to write my “special” to an American daily. respondents’ letters are generally bailt Cor- upon a frail foundation of truth, but | now, in these cholera times, 1 could hardly find enough, to depict the horrors I saw time, or on every side. a little longer than usual, so that I might go more deeply into details, fur | the benefit of my horror-loving coun- trymen, and I was in haste, | city most infected with the awfal plague, where the air seemed recking with infection, but being pretty well seasoned, I did it much. As I hurried saw, standing under a lamp, whose dim rays shed light but a fow feet around it, a woman dressed in white. not mind along 1 As I passed her she stepped forward and sald, with a tone of recognition *1 have been waiting for you.” 1 paused, and to my surprise recog- nized my beautiful friend, the Coun- toss Reifsky, the toast of a hundred ball-rooms, who had been flirting with | me fast and furiously for some weeks | ~why I could not imagine. With reproof in every accent I ex- claimed ; “Madame, what are you doing here in this deadly atmosphere, and alone, at this hour?” “I have been waiting for you she repeated, simply. “How in the name of wonder did she know I was coming this way wh n I did not know it myself?” I asked myself. 1 assumed a severe air. “You most not stay here.” “No; I mean to take you with me to the final meeting of a which 1 Tonight we band, and I want yon to be there to society to belong. describe the affair with your versatile pen to your great American people. You know we Nihilists are so misrep= resented. away; you will come to no Perhaps you do not enjoy being with a “suspect.” Tonight the far-reaching grasp of the Czar himself would find it hard to reach me, and I shall you beyond his power, too. must hurry.” place Bat we through the desertod streets until we came to a small, low building, showed not a ray of light. Hero she tapped softly. The door swung back on noiseless hinges. Along a dimly lighted hall we went to another door, which opened in the same quiet fash. fon, and we stood in the dezzie and glittor of a ball room, In my business suit | ought to have Lolt embarrassed, but I did not, for | was too much impressed by the scene before me, It reminded me of what I had known In my younger days as “phan. tom parties,” at which youth and maiden draped themselves in shoots. Yet that memory should not have given me a fo,ling of repugnance, for of those happy days I had the ploas- antost recollections. As I looked closor I recognized the fact that these people were masquerading in grave- clothes—mocking the destroyer which held the city in its grasp; aud a great horror filled me, 1 heard a low, musical laugh from the woman at my side. “Monsieur does uot approve of our mnsquerade? We laugh at death whieh were | The city clocks had | words strong | I had delayed writing | was : | obliged to go through that part of tho | very | dis | No, you need not shrink | harm, | Come it in whatever fushion It by pestilence or in Siberian mines, we do not foar it. Swift or slow, it mats tors not (0 us.” “Yous, madame; 1 have heard that you Nihilists, if I must class you nraong them, care not how swift be the death to which you consign your victims.” “I see you do not approve of our methods, but von dee we know of no other way more honorable. With us we must send death it is always quick." “Not always. work surely,” Bombs don't always A gleam in my fair stantly, and she continued: “Now, in the case of the lale prime minister-~when his fate we decided —" was sealed, I caught her arm, not knowing what damaging revelation she might make. “Countess, you are insane. In your country walls have ears.” “Monsieur, these walls are guarded. the dance.’ ’ Never, so shall I forget that evening. Noble and | artisan met on equal Social ground, distinctions seemed for the time being Brain, mon cause were the passports to obliteraied. wit, and a com- this brilliant socie ty. Words were spoken which would condemn a Si- No much, beyond a man to | beria for a lifetime. one seemed notice me very | | to | ! courteous recognition, and as I looked | among the guests, I saw my brother correspondent and compatriot, John McPherson, why was also clad in a business suit, and who also seemed, like myself, a visitor. The flew | somewhat uneasily of hours past, my neglected letter, but could not drag my reluctant feet away from the fascination of the scene. The | weird were the strains, musie grew faster, and more My feet fair- ly ached to tread to their measure, but | something held me back. The hour the burned dim, still the dancers kept up The ond fell, now wailing, now entreat- ing; I feit I must yield to it. My grew late, lights i i | i | i i { their dizzy whirl music rose beautiful countess put her white arm on mine, I felt ler warm breath | sweep me choek, “Como with me; SOTTOW, | little forget toil and Name and fame are worth Together we should be for. ever happy.” I looked into her great seductive { brown eyes, and almost yielded, bat before my vision came the little prim= girl 1had left in a New England village. 1 saw her as I had bidden her good.by, and I pushed my rose-faced emptress back, i The arm fell, the music stopped with a crash, the decorations white faded, the smiling faces vanishod— changed in an instant—and with a cry of horror I saw death | €Very countenanee. written on Iheard a hissing : | | in my ear: “When yoa are racked with pain {upon a cholera bed, remember a a Nihilist's revenge.” The floor swam. At the door I side the gray dawn I turned and fled. MePlierson. had we met turned to see where were, and 1 recognized the grim walls of morgue. An hour later Mac and I were } | counted among the plague victims, | | hurried to the pest Louse, | throngh, almost by a miracle: he | pror fellow, found a nameless grave. Some weeks inter, when notice of the death of the | of my strange adventure. I accounted for McPherson and my self being honored to such an extont In this way, because we had both written letters home exposing some Nibilistic plots, and even then I had : : : : other article in my pocket. revenge. I did not tell the little girl at home of her brilliant Nihilist rival. I never like to shatter a faith.—[Frank Leslie's llustrated. Interior of the Mormon Temple, The interior of the Temple has an alr of mystery about it. Up to date none but the faithful have been ad. mitted to its sacred precinets, and as none of the inquisitive Gentile report. ors are allowed to enter, the newspa. per descriptions of the inside are jo- accurate, and chiefly the result of the imagination of the ubiquitous scribes. As a matter of fact there are portions of the interior which are as sacred as wae ‘The Holy of Holies” inthe days of the Temple constructed by the wise son of David. may, | | apartments, the larger one being 57x the end justifies the means, but when | | ment is, it is mediocre when compared | with some of those on the upper floors. ! | One companion’s | eyes warned me I was on dangerous | ground, but it was gone almost in- | safely But we 1ziss the music and | | long as memory lasts, | With | upon I thought | | growing, was a { throngh to the other Oats | broken: [| the | i { know anything about the hole or the | water, for trees do not “know” I pulled | I looked | | over the piles of papers which had | Half relonctant, und wholly fasci- accumulated in my absence, I read the | nated, I allowed her to lead me along | Countess | | Riefeky on the 17th of Jaly— the day that | water below was perfectly natural, : letters and material enough for aie Hence the | The basement is divided info soveral J4 feet, containing a baptismal font. | The floor is tiled with marble, polished perfection, | to the highest degree of while the ceiling is of a sky=-blue tint. | The font is of bronze, aml, Jike in the Temple at Jerusalem, rests on the backs of that | i | i twelve oxen, also of bronze, which stand witn thelr faces | to the cast, west, north and south. Grand and linpreesive as this apart in particular is deserving of so ecial mention. and gold is this magic chamber, while the floor is of blocks of wood not more than an inch square, brought from all portions of the world by the aries sent out by the church mission. Another apartment adjoining is stiil more beautiful, used, and the effect is to dazzle the The tapestries are all of the White and gold are eye. purest white, and are rare and costly, All finest onyx, delicate in tint, and in that the sight would the basing and ewers arc of the such profusion drive a dealer in this product insane To be permitted to look for vOear envy, an of the magnigeent work is said to be worth a hour { one’s life and a trip across the world. The beehive is the emblem of the church, together aud the “Holiness Lord." of window has this design, for In the basement ull the fixtures, with clasped hands to the door molto Every handle and all having been specially made the pur pose. including the locks on the doors, the On the first floor they are of plated gold, on bolts and hinges, are of brass, the second plated silver, on the third old silver, and above that of bronze. I'he wood work is of oak, all seasoned i ‘ : ANd Massive in appearance. The cost of the temple is a question which even the most astute follower of Brigham hesitajes to answer, It has been estimated all the way from #6,- The figure is believed by those who are in 000.000 to £12,000,000, Intter a position to know to be tie eorrect one.— [Harper's Weekly. —— ey Do Trees “Know! It is sometimes hard to understand how the rcots or shoots of plants are able to do what they do in their ap. parent search for water or light, without special consciousness or intel. | ligence; and yot we know they possess | no such qualities, There are few farmers who have not seent the sprouts of potatoes in their cellars find the way to the knot hole in and extond their a board, growth through it in search for sunlight. The following case, recorded by a Califor ria paper, tells what a root did; The root of a tree followed the brick easing of a sower until it reached a high brick wall in which, several feet above the level on which t he root was small hole leading side. For this hole the root made a ‘bee line.” passed the through it and ran down on other side, where finally it found the water it sought, The questions are asked by the jour- “How did the tree know of the hole in the wail? How did it know of the water ou the other side?” nal which records the case, The answer made by a botanist is a very simple one. The tree did not any. But they send ont their roots Those which find nutrition thing. in every direction. moisture snd grow and | thrive; and those which find none die and waste away. The rootin the case in question was probably turned upward by the wall, 80 that its discovery of tho hole was purely accidental. Bat once through aperture its discovery of the The roots of trees do “know not or their own consciousness, but as a result of countless ages of growth in { their Kind—how to push on in the di. rection of water.— [Youth's Compan lon, The Milky Way, During the last few days Professor Barnard, of the Lick Observatory, lias been engaged in photographing in dee tail the Milky Way. When the plates are finished, which will nt be for three years, it is expectod that the facts revealed by them will rove lutionize the old conceptions of this remarkable phenomenon. The text books declare that the Milky Way probably contains 20,000,000 suns; but Professor Barnard estimates that the camera will record the presence of at least 500,000,000, with the certainty that there must be a sill larger nume ber which are not visible.—[New York Tribune. There are 2754 lects now spoken. Co— languages and dis Resplendent in blue | { suflering | Chinese districts there is consternation A Province in China Devastated by the Insects. Queer Efforts Made by the People to Dispel the Scourge. The great Province of Klang-Soo, China, is being devastated by locusts. Consul Jones, at Chin-Kiang, sends the State Department an account of the curiousefforts made by the afflicted sections to dispel the scourge. Some of the striking as the suggestions offered to the Kausas people when they were from a similar visitation some years ago. When the make their appearance in one of these mothods resorted to are as locusts among the unfortunate peasantry, who assemble in the fislds with wild clamor and din of armed with long bammboos with streamers attached, and vainly endeavor to drive ofl the terrible in | gongs, invaders who are settling down myriads and devouring their crops be- fore their eyes. Every leaf and twig is covered thick, giving the appea:- ance of some hideous yellow fruit or plant, There is a curious and widespread belief among the Chinese in the ex- istence of a “king” locust—¢« Wang," he is called of colossal size and quasi | who hovers supernatural character, invisible in the upper regions of the air, direeting and controlling the mi- Al some places the leading officials have grations of the different swarms. publicly sacrificed and made offerings to the Ki he iocaiities, 1g of the locusts in order that | might be influenced to spare their | “] know of few sights," writes the | Consul, “more extraordinary than a The air drift- | circling, crossing and recrossing, swarm engaged Iz pairing. is filled with clouds of locusts ing, with a faint, whirring noise, and get- ting on the ground in Sousands and | The thickly with them; you cannot make a couples. ground is carpeted | step without crunching heaps of them | under your feet, while thousands | ) : more star. up in patiering volleys against your legs, hands and face.” The eggs are in holes dril by the female an inch or more deep in the ground, The time Quised for hatching depends entirely on the temperature. In hot weath, er the new brood begins to make its | At | bleck | making extraordinary | deposited iy appearance at the end of a week. this stage they are very small, and active, bounds by means of their muscular | bind legs. They are greedy feoders and grow rapidly. By the eighth or ninth day wings have budded and the color begins 10 chanze, yellow spots about three weeks or a month they are fall grown. appearing, ud in The destruction, by suitable meas ures, of this formidable pest, involv. | ing ae as it does, the prevention of fam. | ines, fever epidemics and riots, is a! One consiantly boars of mandaring losing matier of grave public concern. their buttons and being disgraced as | the penalty of remissucss or failure to | destroy the enemy. Consul Jones says the Chinese con- sider that the visitation of 1he locusts is a “calamity from heaven, and that there is no help for it.” Chinese re- | cords chronicle many instances of (he | appearance and the calamities inflicted by the locusts in former times, but they have no peculiarly effective meth. ods of destroying them. The Govern. ment usaally proclamations ordering out the soldiers and ene couraging the them. The latter are given a bounty for their destruction. The soldiers are issuce farmers to destroy used against the locusts, with their officers at thelr head, as against an adverse army in the field, Instead of a gun or a lance, however, each soldier is armed with a coarse hempen bag, attached to a bam. boo pole, which, with wide-open mouth, is waved back and forth among the swarms until filled, when they are killed and the action re- newed, The farmers use large brooms made of bamboo twigs and other bushes, 1 and each armed with this weapon goes forth to slaughter. When killed and collected, they are paid for by weight, which 1s at the rate of four cents per pound. The locusts’ eggs are dug up and paid for on a similar scale. Odd Facts About Beasts and Birds, Perhaps no birds spend more of their lives on the wing than parrots and pigeons, the latter being also among the most graceful and rapid of the inhabitants of the alr. In New Zealand a species of parrot is found that, finding its food entirely on the ground, Lias lost the power of flight, It differs from the rest of the family . 4 | A LOCUST PLAGUE. | kind of stiff down. { LO | geese only in this particular, and in being almost voiceless. Among recent breeds of pigeons Is the parlor tumbler, which has not only lost the power of flight, but has very nearly lost that of walking as well. [1s queer motions when it attempls to walk have given it its name, the tumbler. ““As thick as the hair on a dog's back" expresses nothing in Mexico, for the Mexican dog is utterly devoid of hair on iis back or anywhere else. The hot climate bLaving rendered it superfluons, Mother Nature kindly divested him of it. Nor does “the little busy bee improve each shining hour” in that country, On the con« trary, it soon learns that, as there is no winter there, there is no necessity of laying in a store of honey, and de- generates juto a thoroughbred loafer, ““As big ss a whale” might be rather small, as there is a species of the cetacean genus hardly three feet long. ‘As cunning as a fox” would have sounded idiotic to the of Kamchatka. in discoverers They found foxes | : | large numbers, but so stupid, becaure | they had never before seen an enemy, that they could be killed with clubs. The ¢“birds of a feather” that «flock together” do not belong to the penguin | family, as the$ are entirely destitute of feathers, having for a covering a Another penguin peculiarity is that it swims not on but under water, never keeping more than its head out, and, when fishing, coming the surface at such brief and rare intervals that an ordinary observer | would almost certainly mistake it for | a fish, Ducks swim the world over, but do not. Ian South America a | . i a A { domestic species is found that eannot { excel an ordinary ben in aquatic sce complishments. It has lived so long in a found it aquatic tastes and abilities entirely. is only where wells that country waler in has lost its “As awkward as a crab” does not apply on of the South Islands, for a crab is found there that soe dea | not only runs as fast as any average { man, but climbs trees with the case of a schoolboy. - —— — Where Is Camp Jackson? One gentleman who visited St Louis this spring after an absence abroad of nearly thirty years asked to be taken to Camp Jackson, where, as he ex- plained, his son was shot during the “inte unpleasantness.” “To tell you the truth, I really don't know where Camp Jackson was,” his guide explained. +I have lived here a good many years, snd heard Camp Jackson spoken of repeatedly, but never had the curiosity to inquire as to its exact location.” “l can find it easily enough,” was the reply. “It's in the woods on the Olive street road, five six blocks west of the old cily limits at Nine- or teenth street, “There are no woodson Olive street | within four or five miles of Nineteenth street,” the guide promptly explained, “and if you are right as to location, { Camp Jackson is the site of some of the bost residences in St. Louis, with several merchant millionaires residing in them.” Inquiries proved that the visitor | knew more about the topography of the city than his guide, for what was Camp is now a thickiy-settled residence-section, three or four miles east of the city limits, and with tens of thousands of houses beyond it.~ [Lippincott Jackson during the war A Whale-0il Crullers, Somebody mentioned crullers, “Well, [ reckon you never tasted real erullers,” said an old follower of the sea. «lpn the days when whales were plentifal and great rivalry existed between the New Bedford sailors i’ was customary for the captain of a vessel to offer his crew a barrel of flower, about twenty pounds of sugar and a barrel of oil out of the first whale caught. How that prize used to make the old salts work! And when they got the whale the e>ok was called in and there were crullers «ill you couldu't rest. Never tasted whale-oil crullers, you say? Then you never will. The whale busi. ness 18 almost done for. Whales are getting scarcer every year. They had no protection, and man has nearly ex. terminated them.—[New York Tri bune. Sts — _— A Small Dividend. “I hoar your venture on the Stock Exchange was not very successful. Didn't you got anything out of jt?" “Oh, yes, I got experience and the sympathy of my friends. -_— The earliest library was that of Nebuchadnezzar, Every book was a brick engraved with cuneiform ohare actors a | ==Yes, but what Tho Seal Man, Bay, In a hut of mean egtate A light just glimmers end then Is gone, Nature Is seen to hesitate, — Put forth and then refrsot her pawn; Bav, in the alemble of an eye Haughty is mixed with poor snd low ; Bay, Truth herself is not so high jut Error laughs to see her vo; Bay, all that strength failed in ite trast; Buy, all that wit crept but s span; Bay, "tis a drop spilled in the dust, — And then say brother then say man! ~{ Dora Reade Goodale, in Lippincott, - — w— HUMOROUS, The rose that all are praising is now the shad roes. It possess the prophetic gif; seer, doubtful if a blind man can he is no is Men who never fske a stand any where else frequently have to take one in a street car, He-—1 think Miss Trill would make an excellent sailor, She—Why? He— She likes to venture on the high C. Is Miss Trip & girl of means? Phipps I am trying to dis. it is yes or no she cover whether means, This Am The 3 ) And the poor ones wring their bands, lifference still | DE Woes rnch ones ri What nonsense it is to say a man is inclined be bald, When a man is becoming bald it is quite against Lis Lo inclination. Chipper—I often hear people speak know about slow poisons. Do you what they are? Lipper—Yes, meals served at the average boarding house. Friend —Going to try for a prize es- Medical Stu Yes (Got a man bunting a subject for me say this term, Sawyer? dent (lowering his volee)—'Sh! already. Miss Hart—Which do you think is the millier, the bride or the Mr. Oldbatch~ The That's Low he happens to usually groom? groom, of course, be a groom. Engagement times will soon be here, Ana now the prudent Jover Endeavors to get back that ring, That he may use it over. He—Deali me, don't you know, Miss Sweetbrier, that when the electric caw struck me it knocked me silly? She— Poor fellow, how long ago that must have Lappened. +This chicken* JT 0 0 timidly., “That is a Plymouth Rock, sir, said the frowning landlady. «Ah! Thank vou, ma'am. I knew It was a rock of some kind.” “Well, Brown my dear, how would Farmer for a husband? He sweel on you late. “Perhaps so, father, but his hair that—" “True, trae, my child; but you should recollect that Le bas very litte of it.” fait You seems uncommon ly?” is 80 red - i — Queer Diet of a Dog. Mr. Morgan, of Kentish Town, wondered for a long time why his garden remained desolate, notwith standing all the pains and seeds he lavished upon it, and why his wneigh- bor's dog was always so plamp and fat, until he discovered the cause and effect to be that the animal was inordi- nately fond of tulips, hyscinths, or chids, and other flowers, and was in the habit of visiting the floricultural preserves and cating up all the blooms he could reach. Ho did not care about grass or boxwood, or any of the com- mon sorts, but the moment he saw Mr. Morgan plant a black tulip ora rare orchid his eyes sparkled with the feast in store, and the moment the plant blossomed Le devours ed it, stalk and all. For three years this went on. The dog was insatiable. Ho was a kind of walking botanical garden, and still had always an appetite for more. Mr. Morgan dared not kill the dog, Lecause he might be [sid liable for its walue, which, of course, would not be taken at his own appraisement, so ho sned Mr. Hall, its owner, in the Bloomsbary Thomas | County Court, for the damage done to the garden, — [London Telegraph. One of Nature’s Economies, Birds with long legs always have short tails. Writers on the flight of birds have shown that the only use of a bird's tail Is to serve as a rudder during the act of flight. When birds are provided with long legs these are stretched directly behind when bird is flying and so act as a sort radder. Nature is economical never provides two orgems for same purposs, so when legged birds began to use their steering apparatus nature cut wile and made the leg rudder manency.~[Globe- Democrat. The turquoise was regarded by : Mexicans as a magic sions, and worn as an amulet, ' TH HE TTI; fo 3
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers