Stye tmt0, Bl0ontficlif 13a.
STOVER'S MISTAKE ;
A STORY WITH A MORAt.
NEVER judgo a man by the quality
of his clothes. If a man is habited
in a garb filthy and ragged that is ono
thing ; but the simple garb of labor may
cover the best of men. Among the many
unfortunate mistakes which have been
mado in this latter respect is - the follow
ing, which happened within , my own
knowledge and observation :
Christopher Goodhue, at the ago of
forty, amassed a fortune in mercantile
pursuits, and had lost his health. His
physician told him he must leave the city
and quit his present business.
" Of course you must have employment,
and that, too, of a kind that shall exercise
your best business faculties. Now I
think, my dear Goodhue, I have just the
thing for you. You have been at
Walker's Falls, up in Franklin ?"
" Yes."
" Well, those large mill arc for sale
both the woolen mill and the paper mill,
together with a machine shop belonging
to them. The former owner is dead, and
his widow wishes to sell ; $200,000, lam
very sure we will buy the whole property.
You can pay that and yet leave enough
to make you independent. And then, if
you buy, you will naturally improve two
or threo excellent water privileges which
are now idle. Think of it, dear, sir. A
very healthy, salubrious and invigorating
mountain air ; a retired and delightful lo
cation ; game of all sorts ready to your
rod and gun whenever you wish relaxa
tion and recreation; and the very best
school in the country for your children.
Mr. Goodhue was taken with the idea ;
but, like a prudent man, he said he would
speak with his wife: lie did so, and the,
sensible woman, said : " Let us go from
the city. Oh, we can be so happy in free,
fresh air ; and not only you, but our chil
dren will be better and stronger."
So Chris. Goodhue went up to Walker's
Falls, in the beautiful villago among the
mountains, and bought the mills together
with all the unimproved water power,
and within two weeks thereafter he had
removed thither with his family, and
entered at once heart and soul, into the
work of improvement.
" Now, Molly," he said to his wife,
" you know I have come up here for
healthful exercise and shall hire men to
do the drudgery of close office work. We
must fix up around the house. I am
going" to dig and hoe and delve in the
garden, so you must make me a pair of
blue overalls and a frock. I must dress
for the work 1 do."
Mrs. Goodhue smiled, but the cheer
ful tone of her husband, already vimmy
and robust, made her heart glad, and she
and the girls set to work cheerfully and
merrily upon the clothing for the new
laboring man.
People were rejoiced when they knew
that a wealthy business man from the
distant city had bought the mills, em
ploying nearly two hundred hands, which
were the life of the place, and the good
and prosperity of other business depen
ded in a great measure upon their thrift
and successful management.
The principal store at Walker's Falls
was kept by a man named Kalph btovor,
lie had managed to work into the bulk
of trade through the partiality of the
former proprietor of the mills, with whom
he had shared the high profits on goods
sold upon orders to the employees of the
mills. He was an honest man. as the
world goes ; but with him honesty is poli
cy, and nothing more.
Ebcn Shackford kept the other proper
store, and when I say " proper store,"
I mean a regular country Btore, where
goods ot all kinds, qualities and varie
ties are kept, and where farmers can dis
pose of all sorts of transportable produce
Shackford was truly an honest and
upright man. With mm Honesty was
not so much a principle as a part of his
nature. He had not laid up money.
His trading was mostly connned to an
old run of customera among the neighbor
ing farmers, while those who had money
to pay for their goods had been monopo
lized by the more s-tirring mid scheming
Stover. ."
" I believe, said btover, " 1 must go
and see Mr. Goodhue, and make some
arrangement for securing his custom aud
his orders. I calculate his trade and in
fluence will bo worth more than a thou
sand dollars a year clear profit. He must
have got settled down by this time, and
ready for business. I wish I knew what
sort of a man he is. But I guess I shall
know how to tako him after I have stud
ied him awhile. I can read human na
ture pretty easily." ;
The trader was preparing to leave when
a laboring man entered the store, a man
habited in blue overalls and frock, and
wearing upon his head an old straw
hat.
" Mr. Stover, I think V said tho new
comer.
"That's my name."
The laboring man started at the ab
ruptness of tho tone. Ho was not used
to being answered in that way ; nor was
he used to hearing traders speak so to a
customer.' '
" I want to get a little, paint, sir."
" My boy will attend to you. I am
busy." .
" But, sir, your boy may be as igno
rant of tho compounds I require as I am.
I'm going to paint a floor, and I only
know that I want some yellow ochre,
some litharge and "
" I am not a painter, sir, broke in
Stover roughly. " My boy will put up
whatever you may want."
" Then you cannot accommodate a cus
tomer with the benefit of your knowledge
concerning the respective quantities for
a specified purpose.
" Knowledge isn't one of my trading
commodities. You will find that up at
the Academy. Here, John, if the man
wants anything sell it to him."
And thus speaking, Mr. Stover put on
his hat and left tho store, evidently
thinking that his customer, wbom he had
never 6een, was an itinerant laboring
man, or a farmer from tho back region,
who would want lo pay for his gooda in
poplar wood or old potatoes.
Ralph Stover went to tho mills, where
he found an architect and an engineer
from the city superintending extensive
alterations and improvements. But Mr.
Goodhue was not there. They thought
likely he was at his house. So to the
house Mr. Stover wended his way, where
he was informed by a lady that if Mr.
Goodhue was back from an errand on
which ho had been out, he would proba
bly be found in the garden.
Next he went to tho garden, where our
trader found a man in blue over
alls and frock, engaged in making a
flower-bed.
" Is Mr. Goodhue about here?"
" That is my name sir,."
"But I mean the man who owns the
place who owns the mills."
" I am the man."
" You I eh?"
Mr. Stover beheld the customer to
whom he had behaved so indecently at
his store.
" Really, Mr. Goodhue, I had no idea
I"
" If you have business with me sir,"
interupted Goodhue, respectfully, but
sternly, " I will attend to you, otherwise,
my time is precious.
" Upon my soul, Mr. Goodhue, I must
ask your pardon. I had no idea it was
you. But if you will give me your cus
tom, I think 1 could make it as much
for your interest as "
" Stop, sir," commanded Goodhue, with
a wave of the hand. " If I wish to trade
with you I will call at your store. I
suffer no man to inflict his begging for
custom upon me at home. Good day,
sir."
And while Mr Goodhue returned to
his work, Ralph Stover had read his man
well enongh to know that turthcr remarks
would bo worse than useless ; so he turn
ed moodily and unhappily away.
Mr. Goodhue found Eben Shackford
to be an honest, upright, conscientious,
accommodating tradesman; and with him
ho mado arrangements for the supply of
goods for himself and workman.
Shackford throve, and was grateful and
happy ; the laborers in tho mill obtained
their goods vastly cheaper than ever be
fore ; whilo Ralph Stover, in bitterness
of spirit, cursed the hour in which he
was led to insult a customer who chanced
to be habited in the garb of a laboring
man.
Accidents arising from druggists
putting up wrong prescriptions are so fre
quent that many persona now insist on
the on 9 who puts it up, taking one dose
of the mixture before leaving the store
We think this is a good arrangement and
will tend to make druggists careful.
USy " If righteous men are the salt of
the earth, why may not pretty girla bo
considered its sugar '(" inquired a gentle
man of a little girl. " Because wo are its
'lasses," she replied.
H " Solaced in durance vilo bv smiles
of connubial love." Translation Ilia wife
went to see him in jail, whore he was
sent for stealing. .
KcmarkaMe Indians.
THE Aha California thus describes
the peculiarities of a fragment of the
Piute tribe of Indians who live on the
Great American Desert a region about
one thousand miles long and three hun
dred miloa wide, and on which there are
stretches of one hundred miles withont
grass or water.
The " Desert Indian" is as much a re
flection of the country he inhabits us the
lizard or the horned frog. He is hollow
checked, thin, lithe, and active. His ne
cessities have rendered him superior in
endurance, quickness, sagacity, and intel
igence to all neighboring tribes. Two
months ago a " Desert Indian," carrying
express, traveled one hundred and twenty
two consecutivo hours.
Their upper extremities aro very slen
der ; they carry scarce any flesh, but that
employed in locomotion. Their life has
impressed upon them a wonderful physi
ology ; their capacity to eat and to starve
is truly astounding. Six months ago sev
en Indians, including a child six years
old, ate a horse that had perished from
drinking alkaline water, which weighed
not less than ono thousand pounds, irom
three o'clock in the afternoon to ten
o'clock on the morning of tho succeeding
day intestines, heart lungs, and liver ;
even the bones were crushed, and the
marrow taken from them. In short, at
10 o'clock next day nothing remained of
tho horse but the hoofs. So in less than
twenty'four hours they consumed per cap
ita, more than one hundred pouuds ot
meat. :
Another instance : About a year ago a
gentleman driving a number of horses
across the Desert lost thirty of them at
intervals, along the road. A party of
Desert Indians started in upon the road,
so fatal to the horses; and devoured every
one of them as they went, coming out on
tho other side of the desert as fat as seals.
They traveled in the scorching heat of
the desert irom seventy to eighty miles a
day, without difficulty.
It would seem that the Fiuto tribe of
Indians are in process of spontaneous
and natural extermination, independent
of any destructive effects from contact
with civilization.
The statistics of Europe and America,
procured in the most accurate manner,
and on the largest scale give or all the
births, 21 boys to every 20 girls. Tho
uniformity is complete, rigid, and unva
rying. For a number of years past in the
Piute tribe irom careful investigation, it
has been ascertained that threo boys are
born to every girl. Everywhere is ob
served a great deficiency in squaws among
them. It is mathematical, at this rate,
that ere long the Piute tribe will become
extinct from inherent causes.
For the last six years the ".Desert In
dians" have found it exceedingly difficult
to exist. Hare and rabits were their
great sources of food, and at one time
they fairly swarmed among the sage and
stunted vegetation of the desert. They
were invaded some ten years since, by
some epidemic disease, so that now only
a few remain.
A Wildcat Under the Dutchman's
Bod.
YY noted for its big wells, dry holes
and rattlesnakes, has a new and charm
ing feature of attraction in tho vast num
ber of wildcats or catamouuts, that are to
be found in the neighboring forest, and
which make night hideous with their
mellifluous notes when on a forage.
Near the headwaters of West Hickory
creek lives an humblo and honest agricul
turist by the name of Adam Goodman
who, after engaging in the perilous ocou
pation of an oil operator on the creek,
reformed and opened a keno bank, and
with the accumulation of several weeks
retired from business, out of the back
window (as a policeman entered the front)
and purchasing a few acres of soil began
to farm it. Mot having previously stud
ied Lvdia Thompson's work entitled,
"What I know about Farming,', his first
vear a work was not a success. His pump-
kins were devoured by potato bugs, grass
hoppers carried off his cattle, the weevil
got into his sheep, and the corn crop Jail
ed under the combined attack of the hoof
rot and murrain. To crown all, he was
himself attacked with hog cholera.
This was the situation on Saturday
night last, when from a dreamless uleep
he was awakened by an unearthly howl,
a crash of glass and tho striking ot
" heavy something" upon his breast. At
first he thought it must be a ""horrible
nightmare, caused by too rich viands, but
when he considered the fact that there
were no houses withiu ten miles of his
cabin, and the onlysuppcr he had parta
ken of was a couple of buckwheat cakes,
such reasoning seemed erroneous. All
was quiet, and finally thinking it must
have been an oil creek bedbug on a raid,
he dismissed the subject, and was pre
paring to settle into an all night's sleep,
when a scratchicg was heard beneath the
bed. Hastily rising, he jerked on his
unmentionables, and dropping on all
fours, began to claw beneath tho bed af
ter tho midnight intruder.
He found it, and in one-fourth of a New
York minute all tho clothes that were up
on him would not have made a bib for a
china doll. He finally fouud himself in
the corner partly scalped, with his lower
limbs looking as though ho had been
through a wool carding machine; while
at this moment with a spit and a growl,
a catamount disappeared through tho
open window. Such is the simple tale of
Adam Goodman. He now desires to em
igrate to some spot where the insects are
not so troublesome. His farm is a good
one, but he cannot stand the cats.
Melindy Wants to Marry.
UITE a large number of odd aud
amusing scenes frequently occur
with parties who visit tho Indiana Pro
bate Court for the purpose of securing
the necessary documents to legalize their
marriage But the other day a young
man, about twenty-one, accompanied by
one of the opposite sex. equally as young.
ascended tho main steps of the Court
house, and then on being directed to tho
Probate Court took up tho line of march
for its hallowed precincts. Reaching it,
he refused to enter.
Tho rustic maiden, who was anxious to
3 the. marriage programme carried to
a successful issue, looked upon him with
pleading eyes, and then taking him by
the hand in tho most tender manner, be
seeched him to enter the court and obtain
the license.
" Oh 1 como along Jake; what's tho
use backing out V fell in dulcet tones
upon Jacob's ear.
" Mehndv. 1 can t. Ihe old man will
give mo fits if I marry you.
" Haven t you told mo a thousand timca
that you would marry me in spite ot the
old man r
" Yes ! yes ! but there is "
"Is what?"
" Why tho farm."
" Yes. but. Melindv," reasoned her
lover' " hadn't we better wait till the old
man dies, and then I'll have the farm
sure ?"
" Dang his old soul, he'll live fiftyyears
vet : there's no die in him. Come along
now aud get that ere license ; 1 ain t
going to be put off any more."
. " 111 tell you what I'll do Melindy."
" Well spit her ont."
" If the old man holds out agin my
having you until Christmas I'll marry you
then farm or no farm.
" Sure ?"
" As sure's as my name is Jacob."
" Well let her go then till Christmas,
but if vou back out then, Jake look
sharp."
" I'll toe the scratch then, by Jingo
if the old man runs mo off the farm with
a double-barrelled shot gun, certain."
And Jake looked as if he would.
Thus reassured on being married by
Christmas, Melindy drew off with her
Jake, fully satisfied, donbtless, with the
postponement. But if Jake does prove
recreant to his promise we will wager any
amount of needles that Melindy will go
for him to use the vernacular ot the un
cultivated "like a thousand of brick."
A Cat Story.
TAUWJJi in Tuckahoe, there is a man
I of the name of Simpson, who haa
a flat roof on his house covered with tin
The roof got to leaking badly a few weeks
ago, and it happened to occur to Mr
Simpson that it would bo a good thing
to cover the whole Burface with the ma
terial out of which concrete pavements
are made, " so as to make her all tight
and nice'" said Simpson. A man was
accordingly engaged, and he covered th
tin with concrete to the depth of three
or four inches. The curse tof Tuckahoo
is cats. In warm weather millions o;
them assemble and hold ratification meet
ing and rehearsals and General Synods
out in the back yards and on the roofs
In Tuckahoo, last July, tho lieat waa
unusually intenso, and Mr. Simpson waa
exceedingly annoyed by the animated dis
cussion of cats in tho neighborhood,
The more he "shooed" them and flung
old boots at them, the more they yelled
Night after night it continued to grow
more terrific, and day after day Mrs
Simpson observed that the mysterioua
caterwauling continued during all the
hours of davlicrht. Simpson hadn't a boot
jack or a blacking brush or a rolling pin
or a cologne bottlo leit to throw at them.
At last, ono moonlight night, the uproar
got to bo so outrageous that Sunpson
arose from his bed and determined to as
certain what in the thunder all this
growling meant I It appeared to him
that the noise came from the top of tho
house. lie went up into tho garret and
i)ut his head out of the trap door. There
io fouud ono hundred and ninety-Bix cats
stuck fast, knee deep, in the concrete,
which had been softened four days. J. ho
minute they caught sight of Simpson,
the whole ono hundred and ninety-six
doubled up their spines, ruffled their
back hair, snaked their tails, and gave
one wild, unearthly howl which shocked
Simpson s nerves so much that ho drop
ped the trap door and fell down tho step
adder on the head ot Mrs. Simpson,
who was standing below dressed in a
thing with a frill on it, and armed with
a palnileaf fan and a bed slat determined
to protect Simpson to the , death ! Tho
next day the concrete was removed, and
the cats were dug out. But you ought
to have been present when Simpson in
terviewed the concrete man 1 There
were only four rounds, and then Simpson
got up off the man's prostfato body in
order to let him go and hunt lor some
good hair restorative and put a fresh
oyster on his eyes.
Couldn't See It.
IN Eric, Pa., there is an elderly gentle
who until recently was much annoyed
by visits from life insurance agents. One
day an agent named Wilson called upon
him, and in a glib manner commenced
enumerating the advantages of insuring
in a trustworth company.
" What a tho use of insuring my lite
said Mr. B. " If I die it won't do me any
good- I don't see the sense of it."
Wilson then proceeded tc tell him that
in case of his death his wife would re
ceive the amount of which hewaa insured,
and would thus bo placed beyond the
reach of want.
On hearing this Mr. B. became furious,
and shouted
" Oh' that's your game ia it? Well,
wouldn't I be a pretty fool to bo making
things comfortable for my wife's second
husband? Just after insuring I'd be
certain, almost, to get sick and die.
Then my wife would go among her neigh
bors and brag about the money she had
received from your company. Some other
blasted fool, hearing of her good luck,
would propose and marry her ; and then
he would take her on his knees and kiss
her ; and laugh over my stupidity while
they were spending my money ;
would be compelled to lie in my
and I
grave,
like a darned
fool, . unable to
say
a
word."
Amusing Snake Story.
"TyjRINGthe Florida war," said
1 the speaker, " I was with the
American army : Oue day I shouldered
my gun and went in pursuit of game. In
passing through a swamp I saw some
thing a few feet ahead of me ; lying upon
the ground, whieh had the appearance of
a log, it being some forty feet in length ;
and about one foot in diameter' So posi
tive was I that it waa nothing but a Jlog,
that I paid no attention to it ; the fact is,
1 would have sworn before a court of
justice that it was a log and nothing else.
You see, I had never heard of snakes
growing to such huge dimensions, and
the fact is, I never would have believed
it if I had. "Well," he continued, " be
tween me and the log, (as I took it to be)
waa a miry place, which it was necessary
for me to avoid. I therefore placed the
butt of my gun on the ground in ahead of
me, and springing upon it, lit right on
top of what do you suppose ?"
" A boa constrictor," said one.
"No."
" An anaconda," said another.
" What could it have been i
third.
said
" Just what I supposed it to
log," said the wag.
be a
Striking a Circle villi a Pencil.
Many people find their best efforts to
strike a circlo present the profilo of a
corpulent doughnut or a peach-bloom po
tato. Let such grasp the pencil between
the thumb and forcfiager, and resting the
thumb and the point of the pencil upon
the paper, rotate the sheet around the
thumb as a centre, and the work ia done.
For larger or smaller circlea lengthen or
shorten tho grasp. A few trials will ena
ble any one to strike a circle in thia man
ner with tolerable accuracy.