ONE 031 LAR PER ANNUM INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
TOWANDA:
£t]nrs&an fflornins, September 2£, 1857.
©rigiual |)ottrn.
For the Bradford Reporter.
TO J P
BT CHUNK.
I think of thee ! those orbs that roll
In yon soft sky so blue and bright,
tiring nightly to my pensive soul
One heavenly dream of lost delight.
At eve the stars come back to Heaven,
And sparkle happier than before ;
To me. alas! no joy is given,
I weep to think thou'lt come no more.
ft,>ll on. resistless Time! thy wing
Shall never change the spirit's bliss ;
And if I could, I would not ttiug
Away a dream of jy like this.
Yet when my shattered bark hath passed
The waves of life's dark ocean o'er,
If thou, loved one .' art found at last,
In Heaven I'll rest, and weep no more.
Pi s r 111 aneo us.
HUGGED BY A SERPENT.
I was brought up near the Canadian line iu
Vermont. My father owned a large farm,
though lie was au irou worker by trade. I
think he made some of the best rifles ever
used. Not far from his farm was quite a lake.
We used to enjoy ourselves at fishing and
shooting, for we had one of the best sailboats
ever put into fresh water. We knew there
were plenty of snakes about this lake, especi
ally ou one part of it—a wide piece of flats,
where the water lay most of the year, and
where the tall grass and reed^grew thickly.—
It was a sort of bay, making up into a cove
on the opposite side from the farm. We had
seru some large snakes in the water there,
find had trieil to shoot them as they swam
t tlfir heads up, though 1 never happened
■<, get one ot them in that way. I am sure I
lut some of them, but they managed to get
away into the grass ; and I had no desire to
follow them, es|eciajly into such a place.—
Most of those that I saw were the common
black water snake, but they were not all alike.
Some of the iargest ones had a light colored
ring round the neck ; and I was told, by those
who knew, that these latter were by far the
strongest u-ic* most dangerous.
llowev I WAS destined soon to have my
eyes opened. One afternoon I saw a floc kof
black ducks fly over the house, and I was sure
tliey lighted on the lake, so I seized my dou
ble barrelled gun and ammunition, and started
off. When I reached the lauding I saw the
ducks away off by the opposite shore, lat
once cut some green boughs with my knife ;
and having rigged up the bows of a small flat
bottomed scull we kept ou purpose for such
work, I jumped iu aud started off. There was
a hole in the steru through which we could
put the oar, and tires scuH the boat without
sitting nji in sight, so from where the ducks
were my contrivance had the appearance only
of a simple mass of boughs floatiug along ujiou
the water.
I Lad {rot near enough for a shot, and had
drawn in the scull, and was in the act of tak
ing up my gun, w hen the ducks started up.—
A- (juick as possible I drew one hammer and
let drive. I hit two of them but they didn't
fall into the water. They fluttered along un
til they fell among the tall grass up in the
cove. Tlte water was kw, and the place was
dry where they were. 2 {Killed up as far as I
could, and got out and waded up. I knew
very near where one of the duels bad fallen,
and very soon had my eye on it. As I ran up
to take it I saw the head of a black snake
pop out and catch it by the wing. I saw only
the head and neck of the reptile, and had 110
idea how large a one it was ; or, if I had,
probably I should have done just as I did, for
1 had no idea of fearing such a thing. 1 had left
my gun in the boat, and had nothing to kill the
chap with, but as 1 took the duck, I just put
lav loot upon the thief's neck.
The ground was moist and slimy, and the
snake had his body braced among the roots of
the stout reeds; he took his head out from
nnder my foot about as quick as a man could
comfortably thiuk. I thought I'd ruu back
to my boat aud get my gun, and try to kill
tin-, fellow ; and I had just turned for that
purpose, when I felt something strike my legs
as though somebody had thrown a rope aronnd
it- I looked dowu and found that the snake
had taken a turn around my leg with his tail,
and was in the act of clearing his body from
the grass, I dropped the duck and gave a
kick, but that didn't loosen him, so I
tried to put my right foot upon him, and thus
draw my leg away ; I might as well have put
&)' foot upon a streak of lightning.
And hadn't I been deceived 1 I had forgot
ten the proportionate size of the head of spe
des of the black snake. I had expected to
a snake four or five feet long, but instead
of that he was nearly eight feet and a half
h'ill, 1 hadn't yet any fear, for I supposed that
w heu I put my hands on him I could easily
take him off, for I was pretty strong iu the
ar, os. In a few seconds he had his body all
c 'ear, and it was then that the first real thrill
6 'iot through me There he held himself by
the simple turu arouud my leg, and with his
hack arched iu aud out he brought bis head
J Q5 t on a level with mine. 1 made a grab for
him, but missed him ; and then as quick as you
snap your finger, he swept his head under
u, y arm, clear arouud my body, and straighten
apHnd looked me in the face again. I gave
a other grab at him, and another, as quick
8s I could, but he dodged me in spite of all I
c onld do.
I felt the snake's body working its way up.
Ue turn of the tail was turned to my thigh,
na the coil around ray stomach commenced
0,, en About this time I began to think
J cre might be some serious work, and the
THE BRADFORD REPORTER.
quicker I took the snake off the better, go
I just grasped him as near the head at possible,
by taking hold where he was round me, and
tried to run him off. But this only made it
worse. The fellow had now drawn himself up
so high, and stretched out so, that he whipped
another turn about me. His tail was now
around my left thigh, and the rest of him
turned around my body ; one of them being
just at the pit of my stomach and the other
one above it. All this had occupied just about
a half a minute from the time he first got the
turn round my leg.
The snake had now his head in front of my
face, aud he tried to make his way into my
mouth. What his intention was,l canuot surely
tell, though I always believed that he knew
he could strangle me iu that way. He struck
me one blow in the mouth that hurt me con
siderable ; aud after I had got him by the
neck, and there I meant to hold him—at least
so that he could not strike agaiu. But this
time another difficulty arose. The moment I
grasped the snake by the neck he commenced
to tighten his fold about my body. It
wasn't over a few seconds before I discovered
that he'd soon squeeze the breath out of me
in that way, and I determined to unwind him.
He was in this way ; the turn around the thigh
was from left to right ; then up between the
legs to my right side, around the back to my
left side, and so on with the second turn ;
bringing his head up under left arm. I had
the snake now with the left hand, and my idea
was to pass his head around my back until I
could reach it with my right, and so unwind
him. I could press the fellow's head down
under my arm, but to get it around so as to
reach it with my right hand, I could not. I
tried ; put all my power in that one arm, but
I could not do it. I could get the head just
under ray armpit ; but here my strength was
applied to a disadvantage. Until this momeut
I had not been really frightened. I had be
lieved that I could unwind the serpent when
I tried. I never dreamed of what power they
hd. Why only think, as strong as I was
then, and could not put that snake's head
around my back. I tried it until 1 knew I
could not do it, and then I gave it up. My
next thought was of tny jack-knife ; but the
lower coil of the snake was directly over my
pocket, and I could not get it.
I now for the first time, I called out for
help. I yelled with all my might, aud yet I
knew the trial was useless, for no oue could
easily gain the place where I was except with
a boat. Yet I called out, hoping against hope.
I grasped the snake by the hotly and pulled
—I tried to break. This plan presented itseif
with a gleam of promise ; but it amounted to
nothing. I might as well have tried to break
a rope by bending it backward and forward.
A few minutes had now passed from the
time when I first tried to pass the snake's
head arouud my back.
His body had become so elongated by his
gradual pressure around my body, that he had
room to carry his head around in a free and
symmetrical curve. He had slipped from my
grasp, and when I next caught hiru, I found
that I was weaker than before ! I could not
hold him ! The excitement had kept me
from noticing this until now. For a few mo
ments I was in a perfect frenzy. I had leap
ed up and down, cried out as loud as I could,
and grasped the snake with all my might.—
but it availed me nothing. He slipped his
head from uty weakened hand, and made a
blow at my face, strikiug me fairly upon the
closed lips.
liut the moment of need was at hand. I
felt the coils growing tighter and tighter
around my body, aud my breath was getting
weak. A severe pain was beginning to result
from the pressure, and I saw that 'lie snake
would soon have length enough for another
turn. lie was drawn so tightly, that the cen
tre of his body was no bigger than his head !
The black skin was drawn to a tension that
seemed its utmost ; and yet I could tell
by the working of the large hard scales upon
the belly, that be was drawing himself tighter
still.
" For God's sake I gasped stricken with
absolute terror, "what shal I do ?" What
could Ido ? The enemy for whom I had at
first held so little thought, was killing inc ;
killing me slowly, openly, and I had no help !
I, a stout strong man, was actually held at
the deadly will of a black snake. My breath
was now short, faint and quick, and I knew,
that I was growing pnrple in in the face. My
hands and arms swollen and my fingers numb
ed ! I had let go of the snake's neck, and he
now carried the upper part of his body in a
gracetnl curve, his. head vibrating from side to
side with an uudulating motion of extreme
gracefulness.
At length I staggered ! I was losing my
strength rapidly, and the pain of my body was
excruciating. The snake's skin, where it was
coiled about me, was so tight that it seemed
almost transparent. He had found me, or I
had fouud him, in a state of hunger, his stom
ach free from food, and his muscular force un
impaired. A second time I staggered, and ob
jects began to swim before rae.
A dizzy sensation was in my head, a faint
ncss at my heart ? The snake had now three
feet of body free. He had drawn himself certain
three feet longer than before. He darted his
head under my right arm, and brought it up
over my shoulder, and pressing his tinder jaw
firmly down there, he made a sudden wind
that made me groan with pain. Each moment
was an agony ! each second a .step nearer to
death.
My knife ? Oh, if I could but reach it !
Why not ? Why not tear it out ? My arms
were free 1 Mercy ! Why had I not thought
of this before, when my hands had some
streugth in them ? Yet I would not try it. —
I collected all my remaining power for the ef
fort, and made the attempt. My trowsers
were of blue cotton stuff, and very strong ; I
could not tear it. I thought of the stitches.
They might not be so tenacious. I grasped
the cloth upon the inside of my thigh, and gave
my last atom of strength to the effort. The
6titches started ; they gave way*! This re
salt gave me hope, and hope gave me power.
PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA GOODRICH.
" RESARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANY QUARTER."
Another pull with both hands, and the pocket
laid bare. With all the remaiuiug force 1
could command with hope of life, of home, of
everything I loved on earth in the offort, I
caught the pocket upon the inside and bore
down upon it. There was a cracking of tho
threads, a sound of tearing cloth, aud my kuife
was in my hand 3.
I had yet sense enough to know that the
smallest blade was the sharpest, aud I opened
it. With one quick, nervous movement I
pressed the keen edge upou the teuse skin,
and drew it across. With a dull, tearing snap
the body parted, and the snake fell to the
ground in two pieces. I staggered to the boat
—I reached it aud there sank down. I knew
nothing more until I heard a voice calling my
name. I opened my eyes and looked up. —
father stood over me with terror depicted on
his countenance. I told him my story as best
I could. He went up and got the duck I had
taken from the snake ; the other one he
could not find ; and also brought along the
two pieces I had made of my enemy. He told
ine he heard me cry out, and at once started
off in the large boat after me, though it was a
long while ere he saw my boat. I had
laiu there over half au hour when he fouud
me.
When we reached home the snake was meas
ured, and found to be eight feet and four inch
es in length. It was a month before I fully
recovered from the effects of that hugging, anil
to this day there is something iu the very name
of snake that sends a chill of horror to my
heart.— National Magazine.
Beware of Drifting.
Few people form habits of wrong doing
deliberately and willfully They glide into
them by degrees and almost unconsciously,
and before they are aware of danger, the
habits arc confirmed and require resolute and
persistent effort to effect a change. " Resist
beginnings'' was a maxim of the ancients, and
should be preserved as a landmark iu our day.
The Baltimore Sun has a good article on the
slight beginnings of which eud iu fatal
ruin :
"It was ouly the other day that a man
fell asleep on the Niagara river. During his
slumber the boat broke loose from her moor
ings, and he woke and was shooting down the
rapids directly towards the cataract. In vain
he shrieked for help,in vain he tried to row the
boat the current. He drifted on aud
on till Tiis light craft upset, when'he was borne
rapidly to the brink of the abyss, and. leap
ing up with a wild cry, went over and disap
peared forever.
" In the great battle of Gibraltar, when
the united fleets of France and Spain attacked
the imprc! aable fortress, one of the gigautic
flouting 1 atterics broke from her anchorage
and began to drift directly into the hottest of
the British fire. The thousand men who form
ed the crew of the unwieldly mass vainly
strove to arrest its progress or divert it from
its path. Every minute it drifted nearer to
the English guns, every minute some new part
took fire from the red hot shot, every minute
another score of its hapless defenders were
swept like chaff from the docks. The most
superhuman efforts failed to prevent its drift
ing with its human freight to inevitable death.
" A ship was wrecked at sea. The pas
sengers and crew took refuge ou a raft, the
boats having lieen stove iti the attempt to
launch them. For days and weeks these un
fortunates drifted without oar or sail ou the
hot broken tropical ocean. At last their pro
visions failed, and then their water. Still they
drifted about, vainly looking for a sail or hop
ing for a sight of land. The time had now
come when that fearful alternative became in
evitable—death from starvation or feeding on
human flesh—and they were just beginning to
cast lots for a victim when a vessel was seen
on a distant horizon. Tliey abandoned their
terrible design ; the stranger would approach.
The ship came towards them ; she grew near
er and nearer. Tliey strove to attract her
attention by shouts and by raising their cloth
ing ; but the indolent look-out saw them not.
Tliey shouted louder and louder ; still they
were not seen. At last the vessel tacked.—
With frantic terror they rose in one body,
shouting and waving their garments. It was
in vain ; the unconscious ship stood steadily
away. Night drew on, as the darkness fell
the raft drifted and drifted iu the other direc
tion till the last trace of the vessel was 10.-t
forever.
"So it is in life. The temperate man who
thinks he at least will never die a drunkard,
whatever his neighbor may do, only wukes to
find himself drifting down the cataract, and
all hope gone. The sensualist,who lives mere
ly for his own grailication, drifts into an cmns
eulcated old age, to be tortnred with passions
he' cannot grat fv, and perish by merciless
agonizing diseases. The undisciplined who
never learned to eoutrol themselves, who are
spendthrifts, or passionate, or indolent or vi
sionary, soon make ship-wreck of themselves,
and drift about the sea of life the prey of
every wind and current, vaiuly shrieking for
help, till at last they drift away iuto darkness
and death.
" Take care that you are not drifting.—
See that you have fust hold of the helm. The
breakers of life forever roar under the lee, and
adverse gales contiuually blow on the shore.
Are you watching how she heads ? Do you
keep a firm grip of the wheel ? If you give
away but for one moment you may drift hap
lessly into the boiling vortex. Young man
take care ! It rests with yourself alone, un
der God, whether you reach port triumphant
ly or drift to ruin."
BATHING RECOMMENDED.—A western editor,
on hearing observed that persons in a drown
ing condition suddenly recalled all the transac
tions of their past lives, wished that a few of
his delinquent subscribers would take to bath
iDg in deep water.
i®- To produce the " locked jaw*' in a
lady ask her
An Hour's Struggle with Poison.
I was spending some days, not many years
ago, in a beautiful little country village, and in
a family that had more than common attrac
tions to one who loves domestic life as well as
myself. The little circle had in it more of
real interest than I have often seen developed
in the same number of persons.
The father of the family—almost too young
to feel yet that he was entitled to that houora
ble appellation—was a fine, frank-hearted
young mechanic, with a wide world of bouud
iug life in his veins, au energy that, when ful
ly aroused, drove everything violently before
liirn, and a warmth of disposition that won liira
more friendship than it had then given him of
the goods of this world.
His wife, to whom he had been married
some four years, was singularly beautiful.—
They had two children—the one a laughing
brown-eyed and brown-haired little fairy of
three years. Her name wus Eveleen. The
second was a crowing, laughing, blue-eyed,
plump little beauty of less than a year, promis
ing to have all the charms of the older at her
age.
I was sitting one afternoon in a quiet little
room with my feet upon two chairs, reading a
pleasant little book, in a state between asleep
and awake—my host away at his shop, a hun
dred yards off, and my pretty little hostess en
gaged iu her household labors—when I was
thrownjout of my indolence by a scream that
brought me to my feet like an electric shock.
It was a woman's voice, ami had in it an ex
cess of agony thut cannot be indicated in words,
so loud, that it rang over that quiet little vil
lage, aud brought every one forth to ascertain
the cause.
I sprang to the door that separated the sit
ting room from the dining apartments, and saw
the whole at a glance. The young mother
stood at the door with her first born—our dar
ling Eveleen—in her arms dying. A brief
and hurried word from the servant told me the
sad story. The little girl had accompanied a
child uncle up stairs, and while the attention
of the older child was for a moment turned
away, she seized a bottle of corrosive subli
mate in alcohol, and had taken enough to take
awav twenty such lives. The little thing had
tottered down stairs, and the mother had met
her at the landing with the empty bottle in
her hand, and the poison oozing from her
mouth, and the child all unconsciorts of the
fearful thing she had doue. Was it any won
der that terrible shriek rang out over the qui
et village, and that already the occupants of
every house near were rushing toward the spot
where the mother stood f
But a few moments could possibly have
elated since the poison was taken, and yet the
effect was already fearful. After the first
shriek of terror, the mother had quieted to a
calm despair for the moment, and stood with
the child in her arms, making no effort for its
relief, and indeed it seemed hopeless, for al
ready the subtle poison seemed diffused through
the frame : the brown eyes had lost their lus
tre, the face was blackened us iu after death,
and the teeth were tight set in a convulsive
spasm that evidently would not pass awav. I
examined the little lost darling for a moment,
saw that it was hopeless, and then turned
away, unable to bear that mother's agony.—
The little door was already half-filled with vil
lagers, and sobs, and moans and lamentations
over the fate of the dying child, were heard
iu every direction, mingled with quick and hur
ried questions as to the manner of its occur
rence, and vain attempts at answering, which
added an oppressing confusion to the sadness
of the scene.
The little play fellow uncle, who had been
up stairs with tne child, had run instantly to
call the father and but a few moments elapsed
before he sprung into the middle of the group.
He had been to!d all and asked no questions.
I had time to remark that his eye was very
stern and that his lip wus very firmly compress
ed. Others, too, marked it, and I knew after
wards that a murmur ran round the circle of
(lowestrange it was that he betrayed no fed ng.
He reached out his hands and took the
child from its mother. Its eyes were closed
now, and a white ooze coming from between
the blackened lips. Was ever death more as
sured '( I saw him open the eyelids, and heard
him give a sigh of relief. He told me after
wards that the eye was not shrunken, and so
death had not began, lie then attempted to
open the mouth, bnt the teeth were tight set,
and they resisted his efforts, But with a force
that seemed almost brutal he wrenched the
teeth apart, and opened the mouth.
" Shame," cried one of the bystanders.
The father did not heed them, bnt motioned
to a neighbor to take the child iu his arms.—
He did so.
" Bring me the egg basket," he spoke very
sternly, almost without opening his teeth, to
the servant.
" What do you want of it ?" " What can
you do with it ?" "He is crazy !" and many
such remarks followed, but the basket was
there iu a moment.
He seized one of the eggs, broke it, iusert
ed his fingers again between the teeth, and
wrenched them open by force, though they
shut with so convulsive a motion as to tear the
flesh from his fingers, aud poured the albumen
into the throat. There was a slight strangle,
nothing more, and the spectators were horri
fied at the action.
" Don't, the child is dying !" said one.
" Flease don't hurt the little thing—it can't
live !" the mother found voice to say, laying
her hand upon his arm.
" Mary, be still I" he answered sternly, while
bis teeth were relaxing from their clenching,
and his face was as hard as if he was entering
a battle ; " and dou't any of you meddle with
me, keep off !"
The bystanders involuntarily obeyed, with
many harsh remarks upon his cruelty—bnt he
did not heed them, and went on. Another
and another egg was broken, and still there
ws6 no sign of life. Then the whole body of
bystanders broke cot into a load murmur, and
cries of " brute !'' " Let the child die iu
peace !" "He is crazy—take the child away
from him !" were heard around him.
He desisted for a moment from bis efforts,
and turned with a fierceness which had before
been altogether foreign to his nature—but no
one who saw him afterwards forgot it.—
" Fools !" he hissed, " inind your own business
and leave me to mine f Take her away will
you ! Try it !" and he went on. emptying egg
after egg down the apparently lifeless throat.
The mother could bear this no longer. Her
first born was being toftured to death before
her eyes in its death, and she imploringly flung
herself ou her kuees before her husband's fa
ther, who had that moment arrived.
" 0, father, do stop him I" she gasped ; " he
will obey you ; do stop him. He is torturing
that poor dying child I"
The grandfather started forward a step to
interfere, for he, too, thought the proceeding
an outrageous one ; but he stopped aud said,
" Mary, let him alone. The child will die if
he does not go on. It cannot do more than
die if he does. I would not say a word to him
for the world. The child is his ; let him use
his pleasure."
There was a silence then. In a moment
more there was a quiver of the eye-lids, con
vulsive movement of the chest, and the teeth
lost their tension. The fatner seized his child,
turned her face downward, and the poison be
gan to flow from her mouth. Again and again,
as the retelling ceased, he repeated the experi
ment—the life returning still more, and the
face losing its blank color every instant.—
More than twenty times albumen had been ad
ministered, and more than half those times fol
lowed by the expulsion of the poison when the
eyCs opened, the father desisted, the little suf
ferer lay just alive in his arms ; exhausted,
little life terribly shattered, but saved!
Then—when the necessity for exertion and
determination was over—when the physician
had been summoned, and they knew that dar
ling little Eveleen might live, after many weeks
of struggle between life and death ; when the
relieved friends had acknowledged that they
had wronged him first ; when the beautiful
and sorrowful wife had blessed him through
her kisses and tears ; and all kuew that under
God ouly such almost fie.ee determination
could have saved the c'lild—then the father
sat down, unnerved, and wept like a child.
Not as in " Little Sister Evelyn " did the
poison do its feurful office. Eveleen is alive
to-day, and her brown eyes are opened upon a
womanhood. But there is no hour in my life
that brings so thrilling a recollection as that
of the young father's struggle for the life of
his child.
SPF.AK KINDLY TO YOUR MOTHER.— Young
man, speak kindly to your mother, and court
eously, tenderly of her. But a little time
and you shall see her no more forever. Her
eye is dim, her form is bent, her shadow falls
toward the gfaVe. Others may love you fond
ly ; but never again while time is yours, shall
one's love lie to you as that of your old, trem
bling, weakened mother has been.
Through helpless infancy her throbbing
breast was your safe protection and support ;
in wayward, testy boyhood, she bore patiently
with your thoughtless rudeness ; she pursued
you safely through a legion of ills and mala
dies.
Her hand bathed your burning brow, or
moistened your parched lips ; her eyes lit up
the darkness of nightly vigils, wathing sleep
less by your side as none but her could
watch.
O, speak not her name lightly, for you can
not live so many years as would suffice to
thank her fully. Through reckless and impa
tient youth, she is your counsellor and solace,
to a bright manhood she guides your step to
improvement; nor ever forsakes nor forgets.
Speak gently, then, aud reverently of your
kind mother ; and when you, too, shall be old,
it shall, in some degree lighten the remcrse
which shall be yours for other sins, to know
that never wantonly have yon outraged the re
spect due to yonr aged mother.
Post OFFICE ANECDOTE.— TheNewburvport
Herald tells the following Post Office anec
dote :
A lad at the delivery.
Postmaster " Well my lad, what will you
have?"
Boy—" Here's a letter, she wants it to go
along as fast as it can, cause there's a feller
wants to have her here and she's courted by
another feller what aint here : and she wants
to know whether he is a going to have her or
not.'"
Having delivered his message with great
emphasis the boy departed, leaviug tho Post
master so convulsed with laughter that he could
make iTo reply.
STRAYF.D, AN ELEPHANT.— Last week an ele
phant strayed from the Zoological Gardens,
Regent's Park. The wanderer was last seen
near the prcciuct's of a lady's crinoline. If
the gentlewoman can put her hand on the
animul, so that it may be restored to the own
er, she will be thankfully rewarded.— Punch.
" OF all styles of literature," saysSwellum,
" Commend me to that of the New York Led
ger, as most affecting to sensitive minds. On
Sunday last I noticed our chambermaid on a
back j)orch reading one of its iuiiuitable roman
ces, so deeply affected that tears as big as wal
nuts chased each other down her checks. I
really felt for her."
MCCARTT of the Bradstown (Kentucky)
Gazette, says that an) good looking young ia
dy cau get him by applying soou, provided she
can support him in the style to which be has
been accustomed—three meals a day, a nltg
of tobacco per week, and a cleau shirt for Sun
day. We hope they won't all speak at once,
it might embarrass the young mau.
t&~ Which are the two smallest insects
mentioned in the Scriptures? The widow's
" mit" aud the wicked " flea '
vol.- XVIII. —NO- IG.
Chinese Sugar Cane.
SCUAR OR SYRUP MAKING—A variety of
methods may be adopted for trying a few hills
of the cane. The simplest we hare heard of
is, to crush the cnnes by beating and rolling
cm a table or board with a common rolling
pin, catching the joice in pan, and boiling it
down in a kettle.
Another : Cat np the canes Terr in
a straw cutter, and pot them Into a kettle of
water and boil out the sweetness. After boil
ing for a time, the pieces are put into a strong
bag, the juice pressed out., and the whole li
quid boiled down. Both the above were tried
lust year.
Others will, this year, use the common su
pir-crushing mill, one of which may be foand
in most stores where sugar is sold. Where
these are used, it will be necessary to crush
the joints first by heavy blows with a hummer
and then run them through two or three times,
moving the rollers nearer together ench time.
A wooden crusher may be made by taming
out two wooden rollers, say 8 by 10 inches in
diameter. These may be placed together in
two pieces of plank, and a heavy long crank be
fitted upon the end of one of them. To keep
them close together, a hole may be made edge
wise through the planks, and a tapering wedge
driven in over the two ends of the upper rol
ler Driving this in will bring the roller
down. It will be necessary to have a long
crank, made strong, in order to get power
enough to press out any considerable portion
of the juice. It will be also necessary to break
the joints first with a hammer. Asa matter
of coarse, none of these simple contrtivance
will extract ull the juice, but they may be
adopted where but a small trial is contemplat
ed. Iron rollers and coi siderable power is
requisite for conomical extraction of the juice
in any hot limited experiments.
BOII.IXO THE 3TRCP.
For the smaller experiments alluded to, the
juice may be boiled down in a common brass,
or e*en an iron kettle. It is important to
put the jnice to boiling as soon as extracted
as it soon commences souring on exposure to
the air. In all cases, a little milk of lime, or
lime water, should be added to the juice, using
about a spoonful of slacked lime mixed with
half a pint of water, to four or five gallons of
the juice.
The first heating should be slow until most
of the scum is removed, when it may be some
what rapid, but as the juice thickens, the fira
must be lessened, to avoid burning. When a
new portion of the liquid is to be added to
that already boiling, its should first be boiled,
and skimmed in a sepernte kettle, and be add
ed hot. The liquid should be skimmed as long
as any scum rises. It will perhaps be advisa
ble to add half of the lime after the main
scum is removed, nd the remainder when the
liquid has become entirely clear.
The degree of concentration requisite cau
be judged by trial. A little of the syrup can
from time to time be taken out and cooled.
The boiling should be continued until the
syrup becomes quite thick and ropy. It it
yet a mooted point whether the syrup will
ervstalize by simply boiling down. And any
one can readily try the effect of condensing
a little of the syrup over a slow fire until it
becomes a thick mass, and then set it aside to
cryslalize, if it will do so. A specimen of
thick syrup, made at Hampstead, L. 1., and
sent to us last Fall, was left in a tin box with
cover fitting loosely, and after drying several
months, distinct crystals of sugar collected up
on the bottom and" sides of the box.
Tiyp OF CUTTING THE PLANTS.
The point of maturity at which the canes
will yield the greatest amount of saccharine
(sweet) material has yet to be ascertained.
The experiments thus far made, indicate
that this period is just when the seeds are ri
pening, which is indicated by tl eir assuming
a black gk 8->> cjlor, but before tl ey become
hard and fully ripe. If cut at this stage, the
seed can be saved without injuring the yield
of juice. The heads or seed panicles may ko
taken off with a foot or more of the upper
stalks, at this part contains very little sweet
juice. As soon as the stalks ore cut, strip off
all the leaves, which may be saved for fodder,
and crush the canes and boil the juice at once.
The steil may be stripped off and cleaned
at leisure. This can be done with a scupper
or hatchel, similarily to broom corn. On a
large scale, it can be taken off by running
through a common threshing machine, or with
a flail. The seeds are tender, however, and
liable to be injured for planting, by too rough
usage.
As to the future value of the Chinese Sugar
Cane, there will be abundant experiments ou a
large seale this year, to settle the poiut con
clusively. These we shall study carefully, and
give the result. It is therefore useless to dis
cuss that matter at this early date. On this
subject any information of practical import
will be gladly received, whether favorable or
not.— Americm Agriculturist.
CARF.FUL COOK. —" Bring in the oysters I
told you to open," said the head of a house
hold, growing impatient. " There they are,"
replied the Irish cook proudly. "It took me
a long time to clean them, but I've done it at
last, and thrown all the nasty inside into the
road."
teg" A pretty foot is generally an indica
tion of a pretty face, for the reason that " til's
well that ends well."
% t&~ What evidence have we that Cowper
was poor ? He " Oh'd for a lodge in some
vast wilderness.''
tOT A lady ; a sensitive plant that thrives
only in the centre of a crinoline fence. Rare
ly seen excepting by the most practical eyes.
tQ? The Albany Knickerbocker cautions four
black cats that are continually serenading in
the back shed, that there ie a Jansage Jrep
two doon to the rijht !