2
With nil the gravity ho oould possibly
command the young man began :
" She says sho will have me."
" What do you moan ?" thundered the
old bachelor ; " who says she'll have
you ?"
" Nobody but Hose."
" Hose Addison !"
" To bo sure. I thought there was no
(diance of my getting anybody else, nud
as you advised me to offer myself' to
her"
I forbear to repeat the expression of
amazement and consternation that es
caped the old gentleman's lips. I cannot
describe the awful look ho gave his neph
ew. I
" But you have not been such a fool !" j
he exclaimed, a moment after.
" I have followed your advice "
" My advice ! You arc a blockhead !
I didn't mean it ' You shall never marry
her !"
" 0, uncle ! why did I misunderstand
you?" said Frederick, with a pitiful look.
" It will break poor Huso's heart, for the
confessed she loves me, and now that she
expects to become my wile "
The old bachelor was softened, lie
seemed to remember that Rose was a
worthy girl, although poor. Then, when
Frederick excused himself fur misunder
standing his uncle, by praising Rose's
character, and declaring that ho thought
her every way his equal, except that she
had no such kind uncle as Uncle Philip
the old gentleman's anger evaporated,
and his determination to marry Frederick
moro advantageously gave way altogether.
In short, he was so taken with the lover's
eloquent description of Rose's virtues and
charms, that he slapped his shoulder, and
calling him a " lucky dog after all," gave
his consent to the marriage he desired.
Frederick lew to Rose with the joyful
news. I need not describe the scene
that followed, nor need I dwell upon the
happiness which crowned the wedding
day.
Our hero waited until the honey-moon
was over, when, relying upon the strong
attachment which his uncle had conceived
for the aimable and charming Rose, he
good-humoredly confessed the " witch
craft he had usefl" in bringing about the
three refusals, at which the old gentlemen,
had been so mortified and enraged. The
latter pretended a little displeasure; but he
was inwardly so delighted with the amus
ing narrative, that he never mentioned
the subject afterwards, except to laugh at
it heartily, and extol his nephew s shrewd
ness and humor, which he had mistaken
for awkwardness and ignorance of the
world.
The old gentleman has now attaiucd
to the dignity of two hundred and twenty
pounds, and so far from complaining of
'' falling away" on account or the vexa
tions and misery of bachelor life, he de
clares that he was never so happy as at
present, with Fred, to take care of his
estates, and Rose to oversee the comforts
of his household, and a little Fred and a
littlo Rose beautiful children to dandle
upon his knees and amuse with wonderful
stories, in which he himself takes infinite
delight.
K2f The Prussians are wonderfully
well informed of every thing that goes
on, even to the smallest details, in "the
country they are invading. Somo days
ago a regiment of Uhlans entered a vil
lage through which the French army had
passed four-nnd-twenty hours before.
Tho French, says the I'ull mull Gtizcl.c,
had with great difficulty obtained three
thousand rations from the country peo
ple. Tho Prussians required twenty
iivo thousand ; they were told that it was
impossible to comply with this demand,
and that by completely despoiling tho
inhabitants it would bo impossible to col
lect more than one-quarter of what was
claimed. The commandant pulled souio
notes out of his pocket and looked through
them. " Whore is Schultz?" he asked.
" Here I urn, commandant," replied an
honest follow, reddening with pride at
finding himself known to so powerful a
person.. " You have three cows, a hun
dred hens. I know where you have hid
den your outs ; you withdrew your Hour
yesterday. Re so good as to fetch all
that, and bo quick about it." Thus the
commandant called all the inhabitants
one after the other, and proved to them
that he was as well ucquuiuted as them
selves with their resources. It is need
less to add that the twenty-five thousand
rations wero mado up in an hour's time.
Tho Prussians net in this manner every
where, thanks to tho skill and number of
their spies ; and this explains how such
great numbers always seem well pro
vided with food.
Chinese Justice.
IN China, lawyers arc unknown, and no
one is permitted to appear for a pris
oner except by favor of a magistrate. Each
official is thcrcforo tho exponent of the
code as he reads it and precedents are sel
dom regarded. Some of the magistrates
arc brutal ignorant knaves, while n mi
nority arc able, clever men who would
not disgrace a civilized bench. The ad
ministration, even of tho written law is
therefore very uncertain, whilo justice in
in many cases is a mere matter of chance.
Among tho better class of mandarins
the writer enjoyed the acquaintance of
one whose reputation for both just deal
ing and mother wit stood very high, lie
resided in tho Peichih-li province, nnd
was much esteemed in tho neighborhood.
Upon a certain occasion two men one of
whom sold tea-oil and the other rice,
came before him to decide a dispute re
garding the proprietorship of a measure
made of basket work. It should bo men
tioned the Chinese produce wicker ware
is of so close a texture that it will almost
contain water without leaking, and easily
carries any viscid substance such as oil
or molasses. Well, the oilman's story
was that he had lent this basket-work
measure' vhich he had used only a lew
times to the riceman a few weeks before,
but that he now refused to return it.
The riceman, on the other hand, declared
that he had never borrowed the measure
at all--ho had purchased it new some
mouths previously, and it was never used
for anything but rice. An examination
of the measure simply showed that it was
coated with rice dust. Tho magistrate
asked if they had any witnesses, and
each brought a shopman who confirmed
his own master's story. It was a ease of
" big lie., somewhere, without doubt.
After hearing both sides the magis
trate thought awhile and said : "Well as
the evidence on both sides is equal, the
only thing I can do is ask the measure
itself who it belongs to. Put it cm the
floor in front of me." All the people in
the court laughed and were extremely
tickled when he said, " Measure ! ( whom
do you belong to ?"
Ofcourso the measure did not reply,
so the question was repeated, the magis
trate adding, ' If you don't answer I will
give you tho bamboo !"
Silence being still preserved, he gave a
sign to the executioner who turned his
mouth downwards, and administered
twenty-five vigorous blows. The people
grinned more than ever at this, and
laughed loudly when he repeated the
twenty -five blows, bidding tho executioner
'lay it on well for its impertinence."
When this hail been done the magistrate
said, " Well, there is no getting anything
out of it, take it away!" and, getting up
from his seat, wajked over to where the
measure had been placed, stooped down
and examined the ground, and then re
turned to his chair.
Addressing the parties, he said: "I
pronounce that the measure belongs to
the oil man and that tho riceman is no
better than a thief. Give tho oilman his
measure, and give tho other man fifty
blows with the bamboo well laid on."
Tho sentence was immediately carried
out to the great inconvenience of the
rogue, nnd it was perfectly just. It ap
pears that tea-oil carried in a basket
work vessel deposits a very Sue seed in
the interstices, and when dry and the ar
ticle is violently beaten they ofcourso fall
out. Some of these seeds were in tho
rice dust which fell from the measure
under tho bambooing it received, so that
ofcourso the story that it had never been
used for tea-oil was a falsehood.
Tho penalties of giving a wrong de
cision places Chincto magistrates at times
in queer positions, as if it can be shown
that they have decided contrary to evi
dence, they are liable to the same flog
ging which they dispense with so liberal
a hand to those beneath them. Not only
is the sentencing magistrate himself thus
liable, but the superior judge who con
firms a wrongful sentence or appeal, is
equally so.
Tho means used to secure prisoners be
fore trial are generally barbarous and re
volting to everyone with any feeling of hu
manity. If a supposed piratical junk be
captured the unhappy crew are lashed to
gether in couples, the wrists and elbows
being tightly secured with leathern cords
behind the back, while the ankles, simi
larly secured, are drawn up to the wrists
as far us they will come. In this posi
tion tho prisoner is absolutely helpless for
any purpose whatever, nnd tho difficulty
of movement is increased by his being
tied to a companion. When, ns is some
times, the enso, a nest of thieves is hunted
down nnd tho soldiers capturing theni
nro too few to net as eflicieut guards,
they will actually nail their prisoners
down to the cart in which they convey
them by the hands. Of course, in these
cases, the innocent suffer with the guilty,
and great is the torture which these
unfortunates undergo. As for tho tor
ture "legally" inflicted on prisoners, and
on witnesses, a long essay would bo ne
cessary to detail them at length. It is in
cases of this nature that tho terrible dis
tinction between Chinese " law" and
Chinese "justice" becomes apparent.
Thero arc, of course, many Chinese of
ficials who posess some feelings of hu
manity, nnd discountenance a resort to
torture as much ns possible. Even with
them the stick or bamboo is in constant
requisition, and nobody loses in diguity be
cause ho happens to meet with the " mis
fortune of a flogging. Hie bamboo is in
fact tho mainspring of Chinese adminis
tration, and there is no conceivable (or
inconccivablc)oflence which is not duly
" ticketed," so to speak, with so many
blows. Singularly enough, responsibility
in official matters decreases according to
the rank of the offender tho lowest grade
clerks in an office where a mistake occurs
receiving tho heaviest punishment. If,
for instance,nscal is affixed to a state doc
ument in tho wrong place, or upside
dow.i, the " keeper" of the seal is heavily
visited, while the mandarin who may ac
tually have affixed the seal gets off with a
lighter penalty. Should any military op
eration be delayed, or fail, owing to a
question of the authenticity of the orders
from such a cause, the clerk who wrote
the document was put to death.
A Talc of Horror.
Last week's Sajrinaw (Michigan")
AV
public says :
It has been known for some time that
a dirty, wretched old man lived outside of
the city, a mile or so, in a filthy lit
tle cabin, entirely alone, and that ho was
a hermit. No one ever jflftit near him,
for it was said he wasTijpcian.
His only companion ujj a skeleton
looking dog. lie came iiito the city
sometimes to beg, and wwuld piteously
implore for money, stating that he was
starving. Sometimes he would gather
rags and scraps of paper and sell them.
Everyone supposed him to be wretchedly
poor. Ho had an evil look, and mothers
would remove their children when they
saw him eouiiug. One day last week,
however, a child, a son of Sir. Abraham
Skiuner, went out alone to fish in the
stream, and happened to wander on until,
before he knew it, he came to the hovel
of tho old man. At first he was fright
ened, but seeing no one around he plucked
up courage and went nearer. Every
thing was sileut He went and peeped
through a crack in the side of tho hut.
He almost screamed at what he saw,
for lie beheld the old man bending over
a bag of money that he was eouuting.
There were other bags beside him con
taining largo quantities of money. Mr.
Skinner's son was so terrified that when
he attempted to move he stumbled. Like
lightning the old man ran out and seized
him. " 11a!" he screamed, " I've caught
you, have I? You saw me, did you?
Weil --now you'll pay for it." And be
fore Mr- Skinner's son could say a word
the old monster, with an awful laugh,
drew out a knife, and (oh, horror!) cut
the child's tongue out. Then he chopped
off his fingers. "Now," he said "now
you can go, for you can't tell." The
poor boy ran off overcome with au'onv,
and ran to his father's house only to
"ii
n l ( -.
them with consternation. What was the
matter with their child? lie could not
speak in tell them ! He couhl not write,
for his lingers ero cut.
Still tho poor boy, after efforts
most horrible pain, managed to fix
of the
: a peu
1 finders,
oil between his bloody stumps oi
and wiolo ihe awful tale ! A party was
j immediately organized, and hastened to
the miser's dim. Ho was at tlie door as
they approached and fired a revolver six
! times at them, wounding two of the party
; seriously. Mr. Skinner returned the
! fire, and the aged villain fell, with a
I piercing yell, mortally wounded. ' My
money ; my money: lie nioauea, my
beauiif el money, nnd he crawled to his
bags of gold and sank upon them a
corpse ! Over $10,000 was discovered,
which was presented to the Pnnrhoitsu
and other charitable institutions. The
event will never be forgotten by our citi
zens. Tho child is slowly recovering.
The miser was buried tho day after, and
tho hut was torn down.
--
Lc" 'Connecticut has nine pin-factories.
One of these concerns make 7,000,000
pins a day, or 2,191,000,000 per year.
An Ingenious Safe.
A London correspondent says :
A stranger in Threadncedle street,
standing in the narrow throughf'are,
shortly b'eforc ten o'clock in tho morning,
would have his curiosity aroused by the
number of well-dressed men whom he
would sec eu.ering a silversmith's shop,
and in a few miuutes reappearing with
small 1 Japan boxes under their arms.
If by further chance it so happened he
was at the same spot between five nnd six
o'clock in the evening, he would proba
bly observe the same young men return
to deposit the same Japan boxes on the
counter of the same shop. The explana
tion is simple. The boxes which con
tain the unbanked securities and cash of
merchants and brokers, are locked up for
tho night in the silversmith's strong room,
built in au excavation of sand rock far be
low the surface of the street and upon
which falls when closed up for the night
a considerable flow of water ; the mer
chants pay a rent for the use of this se
cure depository ; and acting no doubt
upon this idea, a Mr. Strcctcr.an extensive
jeweler, intends to give the wealthy po-
scssors of costly jewels the opportunity of
using his " Chatwood Safe," with its
hydro-pneumatic envelope and patent
water level gauge. This safe stands on
"the floor of his shop, and is open to
daylight. It rests upon a foundation of
many details, and of sufficient solidity to
sustain more than ten times sixty tons
tho weight of the safe itselt which is
incased in concrete, embedded in which
is a water-chamber, connected with an
apparatus and air tubes, to give timely
warning of sinister assaults. Resides this
security tho safe is burglar-proof, engi
neer proof, gunpowder proof, chemical
proof, miner proof, and expert or dexter
ity proof. It can't be fused, melted,
wedged, or bored, nor can the lock of the
door, which weighs six tons, be picked
or tampered with by the most skilled
manipulator, without bringing down on
himself a detector.--The key consists of
four parts, each in the posession of dif
ferent persons, so that danger is averted
in that direction ; while, supposing the
whole key to be lost the wards of tho
lock aoYutted of no fewer thau two thou
sand variations, and a new key could be
made that would rentier tne oiu one pur-
f'oetly useless. Granting, however, the
possibility of a successful breaking in the
safe, it would require sixty hours to ac
complish the feat; and, as before stated,
tho first blow, nay the merest scratch of
the operator would at once be shown by
tho index of a patent water gauge level.
The inventor is relieved of a good deal of
anxiety in the protection the sale affords
for his own valuable stock, and already
many wealthy clients havo secured space
in it for the safe-keeping of their jewels
and title-deeds
Wnnted to Ihit Couldn't.
In an interior town in old Connecti
cut lives an odd character named Ren.
llayden. Ren. has some good points;
but ho will run his face when and where
be can, and never pay. In tho same
town lives Mr. Jacob Pond, who keeps
the store at the corners. Ren had a score
there, bill to get his pay was more than
Mr. R. was equal to. One day Ren made
' his appearance with a bag ami a wheel-
barrow.
I ' Mr. Rond, I want to buy two bush
I elrf of corn, and I want to pay you the
casn lor it.
' Very wei
up stairs, am
;nys R. And
puts up the
so they go
corn and
15.
1 j;en take-!
it down, while Mr. L. i-tops to
his windows. When ho got
iw old Ren some ways from
close up
down he
the door makin
" Hallo, lion
way lor Lome.
You said
you
wanted to
pay cash ior ( hat corn.
Old Ren sat down on one handle of his
barrow, and cocking h!She:'.d on one side
'-aid : ' That's ail tru
want to pay you the ca
i, Mt.
-h for
Rood, I
tho cirti,
do
but
i I can't '
' ITT On Tuesday of last wee!:, says the
1 T itusvillo JFernlJ, a wild cat entered the
I house of Elliott Walters, who resides at
i Wilsou'sMill, ou Toby cieek, in Knox town
ship, about soven miles north ot t lanon,
IJ . 1. - .I'l.l ?. J l.n .1'.. r.,,,1
I aiKl IOOK ayOLUl ClllKlXlUMl UJUtutu u, mill
i was about to commence devouring it whon
it was frightened away. Tho parents had
j gone out to gather in potatoes from a lot
I and left tho babe wrapped up, sleeping ill
its cradle. A little girl was sent in inter
they had been absent a short time to seo
about tho child, and when sho opened tho
door, waw horrified to seo a largo wild cat
with tho infant behind tho stove. Tho
littlo thing was crying piteously, and in a
short time would havo been killed and de
voured by the savago boast. On tho alarm
being given tho wild cat escaped through
tho window, but has since been seen in that
neighborhood.
Thc Story of a Faithful Iforse.
ANY years luro th
lived
on the
in the
janks of tho Rrandywinc,
State of Pennsylvania, an ok.
ticntleiuan. who poscssed an old
Quaker
faithful
servant. This servant was a horse, and
his name was Charley. Now Charley
had trotted before the family chaise for
many a long year, to the village post of
fice, to the Sabbath day meeting, and
upon all kinds of errands. Old Charley
was ever ready to be " hitched up." Not
one trick had he shown, nor had he oneo
proved unfaithful, and grandfather always
rode him upon such errands of business
as he might have about the farm. The river
divided the farm' and it was nt times
necessary to visit tho lot on the other
side; there was a bridge a mile and a half
from the house, but there was a good
ford just down by the bank which was alj
ways used when the water -was not too
high. One day in the spring time grand
father had to go over the river, but the
freshet bad come, the banks were over
flowed and the ice in great cakes and
fields was coming down with n rush, so
he mounted old Charley nnd set off by
way of tho bridge. Arriviug safely on
the other side, he spent some time in the
business which had brought him over,
and it was nearly sundown when he got
ready to go home. He looked up toward
the bridge, said it was a long three miles
around and that he believed he would
try the ford, " Old Charley can swim,"
he s.iid as he rode down to the bank of
the stream " and it is but, a short way
over." Charley looked reluctant, but af
ter considerable urging he entered the
stream. In a moment he was striking
out bravely for the opposite shore, but in
another moment a great cake of ice came
pounding along, overwhelming both man
and horse. They both rose, but grand
father had lost his seat, but as he was
swept along by the powerful curreut, he
eauglit the drooping uraiicii or a large
sycamore tree, nud was soon safe from
immediate danger. The riderless horse
pursued his journey towards the house,
and soon reached the shore. Here, np
bearing to miss his familiar friend, he
looked around, and, as it seems discovered
bis master clinging to tho branch of the
tree; immediately and without hesitation,
turned around and swim boldly for tho
tree, and beneath the branch he stopped
and permitted my grandfather to get on
his back, and then, although quite ex
hausted, he started at once for home.
The whole scene had been witnessed by the
whole family, nnd they got ready with
boats and went to meet the nearly fam
ished horse; he was caught by the bridle,
when near the shore, and tho old gentle-
man
tion.
relieved lrom Ins perilous posi-
A Talking Jlachiue.
german named Faber has inveuted
a talking machine which is now on
exhibition in London. A writer says of
it that ho listened to its strangely distinct
utterances of various words and phrases
in English, French and German, com
prising many characteristic elements in
the pronunciation of each language. It
also spoke Italian. An examination of
the mechanism after tho removal of the
face or mask displays working lips behind
the sham lips, a v; ry flexible tongue, and
altogether a queer mouth of wood nud
India rubber, surrounded by rods and
tubes which in the sounding of somo syl
lables jift, mil-, xl show pretty clearly
a movement resembling that of the natu
ral organs. The voice is controlled by
two sets of keys, and tho breath supplied
by a pedal-worked pair of bellows. Some
of the keys serve only to alter the pitch
of the voice; the others'' fourteen in num
ber, are used singly or in various combi
nations for the several vowels and conso
nants ; thus R 1 can bo converted by one
auxiliary key into M N respectively and
by another into P and T. Tho French
nasal vowels require a peculiar appara
tus for which the mask :u always replaced.
The machine, is a very curious one, but
will prove impractical. le. The world is
already full enough of ' talking machines,'
and those we have -are littlo profit. Their
disadvantage is they do not get, out of
order as readily as tho manufactured ar
ticle. I'lTA yoi'iig man, who was suspected of
nuudcr was tried and acquitted at Fremont,
Iowa, the other day. IJeforo the trial it
was as much as tho officers could do to pre
vent tho people from lynching him ; but hf
tor tho speech of the couusol .there was mi
entire chango of fooling. Tho cries of exe
cration gave place to deafening cheers, in
the course of which tho liberated man was
earned o.T in triumph by the very men who
had threatened to nuu dor him two hours
previously.