1 . HENRY A. r ARSONS, Jit , Editor axd Pi-em she it elk co u jv r r r n n epujilic a x r a n r r. Two Dollars ter Anstjm. VOL. I. RIDGWAY, PA., THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1871. NO. 17. (M if ( ; THE PHILOSOPHER AND HIS DAI (HI TEIti A Bound canic booming through tie air " What is tbnt sound f" quolU I. My blue-eyed pet, with golden liair, Mado answer, presently, " Vujin, you know It very well Tliut sound it was Saint Puncms Bell '' " My own Louise, put down the c.u, And come and Bland by nie ; I'm sad to hear you talk like iuat, Where's your philosophy i That sound attend towr-'t I tell Tbnt souud was not Sai-.t l'uncrns Bell. Sound Is the nnme t-J sage selects For the concision term Or a long '- of ell'ccts, Of wh'- that blow's the genu. The filowiug brief analysis (ihows the interpolations, Miss. The blow which, when the clapper blips, alls on your rriend, the Bell, Changes its circle to ellipse, (A word you'd better spell.) Aud then comes elasticity, Restoring what it used to be. Nay, making it a little more, The circle shitls about, As much as it shrunk in before The Bell, you sec, swells out; Aud so a new ellipso is made, (You're not attending, I'm afraid.) This change ol form disturbs '.he air, Which in its turn behaves In like elastic fashion there, Creating waves on waves; Which press each other onwaid, dear, Until the utmost Amis your car. Within that car the surgeons liud A tympanum, or drum, Which has a little bone behind Muflcus, it's called by some ; Those not proud of Latin Grammar Humbly translate it as the hammer. The wave's vibrations this transmits On to the Incus bone. (Incus means anvil, which it hits,) And tliis transfers the tone To the small os orbicularis, The tiniest bone that people carry. The stapes next the name recalls A stirrup's term, my daughter .loins three half-circular canals, Kach tilled with limpid water ; Their curious liuing, you'll observe, -Made ol the auditory nerve. This vibrates next and theu wo find The mystic work is crown'd ; For then my daughter's gentle Mind First recognizes souud. Bee what a host of causes swell To mako up what you call the ' Bell.' " Awhile she paused, my brlglit Louhe, And ponder'd on the case ; Then, settling that lie meant to tease, She slapp'd her father's iiicc ; " You bad old man, to sit and tell Such gibbcrygosh about a Bell !" WAS THERE EVER SUCH IXCX ! From Chamber? Edlnbtiroh Journal. CHAPTER I. REFORM. William Fassil lived with his eraiicl mother and his sister Ju. at Hilton, near litigate, lie was a clerk in the Ad miralty, and had to go up to London in the morning, and hack to dinner in the evening, which he did not mind. He called the railway carriage his nnoking- l'OOUl. William Fassil was thirty, the grand mother eighty, Ju. twenty-three, the in termediate generation being dead. On Sunday afternoon it was William Fassil's delight to take a long walk, if only he could find a companion; and the friend who most commonly came to his rescue was Tom Chatteris. Tom was not such good company on one of these afternoons as usual ; he libtened well enough, bo does a. horse ; but he did not seem to take in meaning with words. At last he said : " Look here, old fellow, I want to speak to you seriously." " About the weights in the Cambridge shire, I suppose," replied Fassil. " Take my advice, Tom, and never bet on an otacr horse till his number is up." " I mean to improve upon it, and let them run unbacked altogether. Don't look astonished ; as a fellow must give up betting some day, and I prefer doing it before 1 am quite smashed." You. I thought you were always on winners." " No doubt I have had better luck than the majority of backers, but that does not make a pennyworth of differ ence. A man always increases his ex penditure when ho wins, but he never reduces it again in proportion when ho loses. Upon my word, though it sounds CDntradictory, I am certain that it pays butter to lose steadily from the first, than to start successfully, even if you win on the average." " There is a good deal of truth in what you say, Tom," replied Fassil : " but how on earth did you ever come to difcover it V " Well, William, the fact is I want to marry your sister Ju. There, the murder's out !" Fassil, who was forging ahead at the vte of four miles and a half to the hour, stopped so abruptly that his hat shot over his forehead. " What !" he ex claimed, t Tom continuod bashfully. " I dare say it sounds queer to you, who know more about me than most other fellows do, and a terrible deal more than Ju. dons. It is true I am not worthy of her ; but there would bs precious few marriages if if men were expected to b j as good as girls are." " It is not that," said Fassil j "but the idea of your marrying AndJu.!" And picking up his hat, he walked on co gitating. " I havo sold my hunter aud my hack ; I have paid all my debts; I have given up my chambers, and taken quiet lodg ing at Sydenham, where some of my people live ; and I have looked into my affairs boldly b jfore mentioning the mat ter," said Tom. " Then you and Ju. are not actually engaged 't" " Not precisely j but it is all right if I can manage to board, lodge, and clothe her. That is the worst of it ; I find that I have been living, like a fool, on my capital, and have only five thousand pounds left. I must do something ; and the question is, what aro I fit for '( I doubt whether I should make n trncn par on j besides, I left the university wuhout taking a degree. It is too late o start educating one's self for a law yer or doctor at thirty. Do you think 1 could get a secretaryship ' As for couipetitivu examinations I never knew but little, and havo forgotten that little long ago. " My dear Tom," said Fassil gravely. " we have always been friends, and I do not know any man I would sooner havo tor a brother-in-law ; but wo must look the thing squarely in the face. Ju. has nothing ; she is entirely dependent upon me, and I live up to my small in come ; so that she will be able to bring you notning to holp. ' " I knew that, old fellow." " Well, then, it is absolutely nccoes- sary that you should, as you say, have some other source of income than the interest upon live thousand pounds. It is true that J u. is an excellent manager, itnd makes niy salary go a uiarveloiiB way; but then, think what your habits have been I CIIAI-TER II. A rr.ODIOIOUS ACORX. If you suppose that by draining a country you can get rid ot Wul-o -the-wisps, you had bettor answer those ad vertisements in the 2'imcs which are ad dressed to gentlemen with small capital at their own disposal, and you will be speedily undeceived. One of these misguiding imps proposed that Tom Chatteris should devote his life to poti chomanie ; another, that he should be come a manufacturer and retail vender of ginger-beer ; while others, less harm less, sought to transfer his remaining cpital iDto their own pockets, on pre texts so transparently fraudulent, that Tom, with all his natural tnsto for speculation and sanguine belief in "good things," saw through them at once. He likewise tried for vacant secretary ships of Beveral public companies, but found that the directors gave those posts to their own nominees, and only adver tised for the sake of appearances, lest the shareholders should suspect them of jobbery. By the cud of a couple of months he was heartily sick of bootless correspon dence, and bothering his friends for testimonials to no purpose ; and started off one day alone, to walk away a fit of the bluts, eschewing the high roadj, and following rural footpaths. One of these brought him into ft wood on the crest of sonio uudulated ground ; and a3 it was now the last week in October, the foliage was very finely tinted ; for the year is like a dolphin itsbrightest colors cjino out when it is dying. Tom Chatteris was always affected pleasantly by beauty in any form, and tho scene cheered him up, and inclined him to tako a more sanguine view of life than he had started with. "After all, how jollily we might live iu an Australian or American clearing ! I wouder if Ju. would consent. She might not like the idea ; but I um cer tain the would enjoy herself when she got used to it. She would ha giving up nothing, except her grandmother, and William will look after ber. What is the best I enn expect iu England ' To sit ut a desk all day, and never cross a horse again ; while as a squatter, my life would be perpetually in tue saddle. By Jove .' I will go over to-morrow and put it to her." A rash vow which was never to bo kept. But the making of it did Tom good, for it represented a feasible, practical plan. All was uncertain and surrounded with difficulty at home ; but if Ju. would consent to colonial roughing it, their future was clear, dis tinct, simple. So he cheered up, like the lost traveller who couies upon a land mark ; and, instead of hurrying on at the pace he had started at, he began to pause where the gaps in the wood af forded him glimpses of the fertile coun try spreading for miles beyond. A splendid oak, some three hundred yards oil', seen at the end of tho ride, attracted his particular attention it was so lofty, so wide-spreading, aud its leaves were so much thicker than those on most trees of the same species round about. Tom was sadly materialistic, even in his most romantic vein ; and as the day was warm for tho time of year, it immediately occurred to him that it would bo pleasant to smoke a pipe un der that oak, and meditate upon his new emigration scheme. But he had hardly gone far enough from home to sit down and rest yet ; would it not bo better to continue his walk? Curiosity decided this question; for while he was looking toward the tree, he fancied that one of its lower boughs shook ; and as there was not a breath of wind stirring, he wondered what was the cause, and went toward it to ascertain. The motion was not repeated ; per haps it had been only fancy. But stay what was that dark object dimly show ing through tho leaves ' A queer growth of wood surely. Tom sauntered quietly up to w ith twenty paces of the oak ; aud then suddenly sprang into a run, for the object took a human form ; and presently he found himself immediately under the body of a man, who was hauging by the neck from a rope attach ed to a bough, which spread convenient ly above. By raising his baud, Tom could have touched the peudent booti, which were in good repair, and well blacked. Tho rest of the clothes were respectable, though running to seed ; and a chimney pot hat, which lay on the ground, was a gentlemanly hat. But Tom did not want to touch the boots, for to pull the legs of a hanging niau is not the best way to resuscitate him. Neither did he spend time iu examining his apparel ; the little matters I have mentioned were apparent at a glance. Ou the contrary, he swarmed up the tree, which was hap pily eaBy to climb, and lay out on the bough with the readiness of a sailor. In tho early and sanguine dayj of his secretaryship-hunting, Tom had provid ed himself with a penknife of a super fine quality, with which to operate on goosequills he had expected to wear down by the bundle, and with this he now proceeded to cut away at the rope. The blade, though unused and very sharp, wag exceedingly small ; the rope, now, and hiri and thick. It was u terribly long operation, mill seemed ft hundred times longer than it wad. For tunately, the weight at tho other end helped tho incision by stretching tho gap, and when n strand was half cut through, it tore the rest of it. As Tom lay there on his stomach, with his left arm nround the bough, his right arm sawing and hacking, his head and shoulders leaning over, he noticed a de cided kick in one of his legs, and a motion in one of the arms of the hangee which could not be due to the swaying motion given to him by the operation going on overhead ; and the sight gave frantic energy to the cutting. When tho rope was three parts severod, tho rest tore out, and the body fell lumpily to the ground, the feet striking lirst, so that it remained erect whilo you could count two, and then tumbled over with a dead thug. Tom dropped down beside it in a mo ment, and proceeded to looso the slip not from about tho neck. There was an ugly deep red mark, showing the pat tern ot the rope, all round, and the face was not pleasant to look upon. The starting eyes, tho protruding tongue, were calculated to reappear in dreams whenever the digestive organs wero out of order for years. When Tom had turned tho body on its back, and raised tho head a little, he wondered what to do next, but chafed tho hands and the chest, while ho pon dered ; and ns he was thus occupied, he had the satisfaction of seeing tho chok ing look disappear. Whether, indeed, this was a sign of death or recovery," he could not tell, but it made tho face very much less unpleasant to behold. He had never in all his life felt a greater sense of relief than he did now on hearing the sound of wheels. Run ning in the direction, he came, after sixty yards, to a lane, masked by under wood ; in the l.me was a dog cart, just passed. " ni I dog-cart, nhoy ! stop !" he cried, and it stopped. The dog-cart con tained a neat gentleman in a frock-coat and spectacles, who drove, and a smart, adolescent groom, who folded his arms. " Is it Mrs. Bunny thrope V" asked the gentleman, as Tom ran up breathless. " No ; it's a f dlow I've cut down. Are you a medical man '(" "Yes." " What luck ! Came along ; I think he is alive." The groom took the lines ; the doctor accompanied Tom to the body under the oak. " Is ho alive '(" OElicd Tom. " O yes ; his heart is beating. But ho must be properly attended to us quickly as possible." 'ihey carried him to the dog-cart easily enough, but it was another matter to haul him up ; however, it was managed. " Where am 1 to dtivo '" asked the doctor ; and Tom, who had the one vir tue of promptness, named his own lodg ings, regardless of consequences. CHAPTER III A TLUNQE IX A XEW DI RECTION. The spot whero Tom Chatteris had temporarily located himself was not 60 thickly built over then as it is now, and they got homo pretty quietly ; but the few peoplo who did boo them showed interest. In front, the doctor, driving fast, and tho groom, kneeling; on the seat ; behind, Tom and a Body, which, with tho assistance ot tho groom, he was preventing from rolling cfl' into the roid. When they arrived, the landlady be-, camo hysterical ; but Tom, ignoring her, had his churge carried up into his own room, laid on his own bed, and there properly treated. 1 int, the patient recovered, and then he went to sleep. Sterne tells us that we water a ilower because we have planted it; imagine, then, tho interest felt by Tom in this individual (declared by the tail of his shirt to be S. P. Col lins), for whoso take he had ruined a penknife, slept on tho sofa, and possibly incurred a doctor's bill. "Isuppose I ought to thank your"' said 8. P. Collins. " Wi ll, perhaps it would be tho cor rect thing to do," replied Tom, foj, buy ing prepared himself to check an over powering bur-t of gratitude, he was taken bback. "Exactly," continued tho unhanged one; "and yet you might give a man credit for knowing his own mind. You dou't suppose I placed myself in the position iu which you found me for the Biiko of testing your agility, or intruding on your hospitality, do you '( However, you meant well. But when I think that 1 had got over that lirst horrible choky feeling, and had floated into deli cious insensibility; and that now I have got to go through it all ugain I wonder if laudannm is better !" "Well, you ore a cool hand!'1 ciied Tom. " Why '(" replied Collins. " You have stopped my making a certain journey by one route, I must try another." " Don't talk such infamous nonsense. Oco may commit a crime in a moment of impulse, and bo deserving, perhaps, cf more pity than blame; but to uiedi tale on it beforehand is unpardonable. Oh, I don't want to split hairs, and listen to casuistry; if people were ut terly selfish, and believed in nothing, and killed themselves directly life was a bore, the world could not go on. You owe mo nothing for preserving your life, but you do owe me a lot for saving you from a crime. " Ah ! it is very well for you to talk, young man ; but you do not know what hope deferred is; to bee Fortune just within your grasp, and never be able to seize her ; to be neglected, laughed at, when you hwio you have reason on your Bide." Tom, who had set his heart on effect ing a cure, encouraged him to talk. The man was an inventor, who had the bad luck of his tribe one of his discoveries had been discovered already by some body else ; others had made the fortunes of those to whom bo had intrusted the working of them, while he himself had received a mere pittance. Ho, at last, when he had perfected a machine which would save manufacturers of a certaiu description full ten per cent, on their outlay, he determined to work the patent himself. As he was a poor man, how ever, ho had to start on borrowed capi tal ; and just as he was on the point of success, the lender of the money came down upon him J either mistrusting the speculation, or anxious to secure tho profits for himself. There was no help for it ; tho bills wero duo, the debtor had not got the money to meet thorn with, and the creditor refused to renew. The poor mechanician felt as if late wero against him, and in tho poignancy of his despair, determined to put an end to himBelf. " Well," said Tom, in a fever, but how much are these bills for that are out against you ?" " With interest, fifteen hundred pounds." " That would set you quit ) free ':" " Quite." " And how much more would start yonr invention fairly, so that it might begin to pay ';" " If I had another thousand, (success would be certain." " Well, look here," cried the imprudent Tom ; " I have only got five thousand pounds iu tho world, so do not hurt mo without getting any good yourself. But if, on going over tho matter care fully, there really seems n good prospect of making the thing pay for an expendi ture of two tliousand.five hundred, we will get into partnership." . It was a wonderful thing to see how the light of hopo and triumph flashed upon Collins's face as ho heard these words. " Como, come to my lodgings," said he, " and I will satisfy you. Oh, I can bear the journey to Loudon well enough, never fear." Tom Chatteris knew nothing whatever about mechanical contrivances, but he had a certaiti amount of general intelli gence ; and Collins's explanation of his model was so lucid that it becauio evi dent enough that, supposing ho was right about the present Btatu of that description of machinery, he had im proved upon it very considerably. He supported his views of the case by let ters from well known firms consenting to give his patent a trial, and authoriz ing him to send them the novelty when ready ; and he also had account books and other memoranda showing tho state of forwardness in which his little manu factory was when silenced for want of the sinews of trade. In short, a good deal lees would have sufficed to determine Tom, whose impul sive and speculative nature had caught fire nt tho other's enthusiasm. Neck or nothing, he went heart and soul into the affair, sold out threa thousand pounds, took up tho bills, and provided Collins with the means of completing his orders as soon as possible. He was a little damped on Sunday, when ho went to tho Fassils. Ju., in de.od, was pleased enough to learn that he had at last heard of ' something ;' but whin he was off with her brother for tho hebdomadal walk, he got rarely croaked at. "O Tom, Tom," said William Fassil, " I would not have believed Buch a green trick possible ! To cut down a madman who hango himself, is all very well, but to go into partnership with him after wards !" " Of course, it Bounds queer, if you put it in that epigrammatic way," said Tom ; ' but I believe it is a real good thing for all that." " Well," said Fassil, " you certainly always were the most wonderful fellow to fall ou your legs I ever did know ; that is one comfort." CHAPTER IV. SAFE VV TO THE SURFACE. I am so sorry to bs unable to say, or even hint, what Mr. Collins's invention was, or to what branch of industry it applied. If I were to do so, very many people might name names, and Mr. S. f. uollins would not like hu real one divulged iu connection with that suici dal episode. He olten confesses, indeed, that at one period of his life he was, for a short time, in a terrible state of sus pense ; but he does not intend to be taken literally. You must, therefore, take Tom Chatteris's marvellous piece of luck on trust, and without verification ; for the success of the Bcheme in which he had embarked with a gambler's des peration was never in doubt from the day thut Collins completed his first order ; and Tom embarked the rest of his capital and all his time iu the affair. At the end of a twelvemonth, he was in a position to marry Ju. Fassil, who likes the north, where they live, and is gradually developing a fine pity, which is nearer akin to scorn than love, for all people who are not rich. But she is very charming in her own set, and an angel at home. Tom chuckles inwardly to notice her unwitting adoption of the pursy hauteur, but refrains from quizzing her, for that particular manner pays in their neigh borhood. A goose who kept her head down in a flock where all tho long necks were erect, would run tho chance of be ing stifled. As for Tom himself, he has developed into a capital man of business, so far as action aud energy are concerned ; though, of courso, if his partner died, tho best thing he could do would be to take to farming, or some congonial pursuit ot that kind. He hunts twice a week, keeps a good table, believes in his wife to any extent, plays at no game but whist, and never exceeds half-crown points. He patronizes the local races, but re mains in his carriage, and does not go near the ring. He gives no very high moral reason for this prudeut conduct. " Well, the fact is," says he, " it does not do to tempt Fate ; and I have had such a tremendous windfall, that I have niobt probably exhausted all the luck due to me during the whole of my nat ural life." The grasshopper haying become some thing too much of a burden in Utah, the ingenious Mormons have contrived a machine to make it hot for him. It is drawn by two horses, outs a swath through the 'hoppers rod wide, and makes bash of all that lie in its way. Industry of our Rich Men. Tho New York correspondent of the Troy Timet writes : Having referred to industry os tho chief necessity to sweeten existence, let me add something upon tho laborious habits of our leading business men. Many young men look forward to the time when they shall bo released from labor, and they havo a notion that the rich men of this city lead what is called an " ea.y life." This idea is very erron eous. Our successful men not only have been, but continue to be, hard workers. It is true there are persons who have in herited wealth, and thereforo yield them selves to indolence and dissipation, but their experiences quickly prove the truth of the old saying, that the fool and his money are soon parted. Our rich busi ness man work because habit has become second nature, aud they would be miser able if they wero idle. We have no rich drone?, for a drone would never become rich. Lot us look at the industry of a few of onr self-made men. Hero iu MOSES TAYLOR, who is about threo score and ten, and is estimated at five millions. Surely such a man, one might say, ought torcBt. So far from this, however, ho is almost as busy as over. Ho was noted as an activo and far-sighted merchant, and ever since ho retired from trade, ho has found enough to do in tho vast field of finance. Mr. Taylor is President of tho City Bank, which is one of the heaviest of our Wall street institutions. Ho would be ex tremely miserable if he did not visit that bank every day, and spend an hour in overlooking its operations in n manner which some men would call laborious. After this is done, one may meet in the Wall street crowd that form, lithe and erect, and that penetrating countenance, which seems as much ou the alert as when he was a poor cltrk. Four o'clock fiud.j him at his home, with a racked brain and a weary body, but a fino din ner restores his tone, and after an hour of social small talk and a drive to the park, he retires to his private- cfiice aud enters into a deep aud vexatious calcu lation which continues until" bedtime. Do you inquire what it can bo which thus drives a rich man so intensely ' I reply, ho has ft large number of vacant lots which should be covered with Iioudcs, and the architects' plans and the build ers' contracts aro to be examined. He has shares in bmks, in gas companies and in other slocks, nil of which must be looked after. And if he does not finish his work us rapidly as each day brings it before him, it would soon ac cumulate in a very burdensome manner. Such, then, is the life of a five million man. THE COMMODORE. Ha has worked hard for mere than sixty years. Of late ho has abated the intensity cf his implication, but still labors from fivo to six hours a. day iu a very close manner. lie has just com pleted the greatent railway depot for travellers in this city, and this is a mate to tho great freight depot in St. John's Park. Tho Commodore muni work to Bavo liiniBelf from sheer misery. Idleness would be to him the greatest of misfor tunes. Ho is also determined that his children hhall be working men. Tho largest part of his property will come into their hands, aud he knows that it is only industrious habits that can keep them in its possession. To tuch a man as the Commodore tho idea of retirement is repulsive Activity is his life, and businesi is an elysium. Eich day brings its excitements, either of loss or of gain, and at its close be feels tho pleasure re sulting from exercise of the faculties both of body and mind. STEWART. It is well known that this man is a marvel of indiiBtry. Liko Vauderbilt, he is about seventy-five, but he looks much younger thun tho former. Van derbilt may have felt the impelling con Bciousness of a family to sharpen his ap plication, but Stewart has " neither chick uor child." Ho works iu simple obedi ence to his nature, which demands it. Stewart and Vandeibilt aro the great exponents of two departments of busi ness, the one being u merchant pfince aud the other a railway king. 1 Uo not know that they havo ever met, and tho greatness of this city is shown by con taining two such men without collision of interests. It is the opinion of good judges of character, that if Stewart had beeu brtd to military lii'o he would have been the greatest general of the ago. What would not havo beeu accomplished by such method and such industry':' Having reached old iige, and with a property estimated ut from thirty to fifty millions, he must still do his day's work. Glass as a Xon-l'cuductor of Heat. Glass, says the Journal of the I'degraph, is practically a non-conductor of heat as well as of electricity. A practical ex ample of the latter may have been seen iu the use of glass as an insulator, a non conductor, for telegraphic purposes. It is difficult to draw the lino of non-conduction, but tiad conductors of heat are practically assumed as non-conductors. The question of conduction is purely one of degree. Let two rods of equal siza and length but one of copper and the other of glass be brought together, and have at their extremities a small weight or marble attached by wax. Apply a spirit-lamp to tho ends, touching each other so that the heat b3 equally ap plied ; in the case of the copper, owing to its being a good conductor, the wax will rapidly melt aud let the weight drop ; while in the case of the glass, ow ing to its being a very bad conductor, a very long time must elapso before Buch result can happen. Some queer developments are being made in the case of the convicted Han Francisco murderess. The labors of her physicians and lawyers in attemptiag to save her, she has already paid twenty thousand dollars for, aud she is now sued by the physician for two thousand dollais more. A woman standing on the edge of a felon's grave, with a suit for debt being urged against her, is a condi tion of affairs that embraces a painful contrast. The Devil's Elhuw Snnke. . A gentloman who has been stopping in our midst for some timo, gives au ac count of one of tho moit terrible scenes over recorded in tho annals of this coun try. Whilo steaining up tho placid waters cf tho Ocklawaha river ho wit nessed a conflict which mado his hair stand on end, never to be forgotten. Af ter rounding Sickult's Point tho stream widens and deepens, and tho water o& this bend always looks troublod and black. Suddenly the steamer encountered a sea of alligators, floundering and splash ing in every direction. Their bellow ing shook the foundation of the waters. The captain says that he never heard or witnessed such a scene before, and never wishes to again. Before the speod of the little steamer could be checked they found themselves in the midst of these terrible monsters. To back or go ahead was impossible Tho passengers endeavored to drive them away by shooting, and the hands on board bent them with hand-spikes, yet they seemed more determined to obstruct tho passage of the boat. The situation every moment became critical, and the crew aud passengers more alid mora exhausted, and the destruction of the boat s.-emed inevitable. Already threo colored hands had been devoured by these terrible monsters Bnd several others wounded. Several planks wero torn from the hull, and tho steamer was with difficulty kept from sinking. Just at this period a source of relief came. A huge serpent appeared, making his way from the lakes the same, it is supposed, that wa3 seen at " Davil's Elbow " last fall. The alligators soon disappeared, fol lowing tho sea devil, or whatever you may call him, and tuch lighting never was witnessed. At a point below, whero the river suddenly narrows, it soon be came blocked with dead alligators, and the water was red with blood. It is difficult to account for tho number and sudden appearance of theso animals, but the latest theory may throw boioo light ivpon the subject. It is believed by many that there is a large subterranean passage of water between tho head vaters of the Oehlawaha, and tho wuter3 of the Okeechobee lake, and that these monsters have found their way here in grout num bers, and if not soon exterminated will obstruct the navigation of the Oehla waha 1'ilatlu Flu.) Herald. About Words. It has been calculated that our lan guage, including tho nomenclature of tho arts and scienci s.con tains 100,000 words ; yet, of this immense number, it is sur prising how few are in common use. To the groat majority, even of educated men, three-fourths of these words are al most as unfamiliar as Greek or Choc taw. Strike from tho lexicon all tho words nearly obsolete all the words of special arts or professions all the words confined iu their usago to particular lo calities all the words which evon tha educited speaker uses only in homeo pathic doseE and it is astonishing into what a Lilliputian volume your Brob dingnaian Webster or Worcester will have shrunk. It has been calculated that a child uses only about one hun dred wcrds ; and unless ho belongs to tho educated classes, he will never em ploy more than three or four hundred. A distinguished American scholar esti mates that few speakers or writers use as many as ten thousand words ; ordin ary persons, of fair intelligence, not over three or four thousand. Even the great orator who is able to briug into tho field, in the war of words, half the vast array of light and heavy troops which the vocabulary affords, yet contents himself with a far less imposing dssplay of verbal force. Even the all-knowing Milton, whoso wealth of words seems amazing, and whom Dr. Johnson charges with using " a Babylonish dialect," uses only 8,000 ; and Shakespeare himself, "the myriad-minded," only 16,000. These facts show that the difficulty of mastering the vocabulary of a new tongue is greatly overrated ; nnd they show, too, how absurd is the boast of every new dictionary-maker that his vo cabulary contains so luany thousand words more than those of hid predecess ors. TUe Lakeside Monthly. Xulloiiiil Customs. The traveller who lands at Calais from Dover, and stops there over night, is put into a bed having a hard rouud bolster, surmounted by a huge tquare pillow, very different from anything of the sort he has before seen, but which ho is des tined to find perhaps to his great dis comfort wherever he goes iu France. Here is a French fashion. The traveller who enters Switzerland it matters not where has honey placed before him the first time he breakfasts or takes his tea. He has not been treated to honey before in any adjacent country iu which he hag travelled, not, at least, uutil he has spe cially ordered it ; but now it is placed before him whether he cares for it or not, and it continues to appear, both at breakfast and tea, so long as ho contin ues his sojouruiugs in Switzerland. Here is a Swiss custom. One who crosses from France to Germany exchanges cus toms in regard to the time of clay for taking dinner and the time of nisrht for retiring to rest. The Frenchman eats but little in the morning or through the middle of the day, reserving his dinner until the close of the day. The German dines at midday. So much is this his practice, the very word for dinner sig nifies "mia-day's meal." And even fashionable Germany goes to its even ing's entertainment atOJ o'clock, v. M., and is at home and in tied before thu night has barely begun in London or Paris. Here are German habits. The more one travels, the more, of course, he ooserves ot these national peculiarities. He finds them existing not merely in such outward matters as those iust indi. cated, but in every department of life. So numerous, so deeply rooted, so widely prevailing are those peculiarities as to tLamp menaceaDiy tne national charac ter. Correejiondent AVw York Etangelint. JIISCELLASEOUS lTEEf, Tho books in the library belonging to the British Museum occupy twelve miles of shelving. The house of the Rothschilds will cel- ebrato its centennial this year, having b::en lounded in 1 u 1. A North Carolina fishing party had an hour's fight with a large bald eagle and were nearly whipped. The total amount of currency lost r worn out while in circulation will ex ceed $6,500,000, or 1 j per cent, of the whole issue. A physician asking a renewal of a note, gave as a reason : " We are iu u horrible crisis ; there is not a sick man in the district." The pigeon-killing industry is bo thriv ing in Wisconsin that from 10,000 to 30, 0UO birds are daily forwarded on tho midnight trains East. The palm, palmetto, India rubber. magnolia, and North Carolina pine, are among tho ornamental and shade trees of Los Angelos, California. They have at Wells, Minnesota, a cheese factory which is claimed to be tho largest m tho United States, and is ot course " three thousand cow power." Thoso owning trout ponds should keep ducks away from them. One able-bodied duck will kill and eat ten trout a day, and an ordinary flock will clean out n pond in a year or bo. A Providence merchant s . ves hie um brellas by cutting a Biuall pi oe out of the handle, which he carries in his pock etbook, ready to prove property at any time. At Victoria West, in Cape Colony, Af rica, by a rain spout, about one hundred persons were killed and thirty buildings wero swept away m a low hours i'obrn ary 17. , An Iowa merchant groundlesjly ac cused a respectable lady of stealing u pair ol shoes. Her IiusDind. sued hint lor slander, and seized his stock and store under attachment. To removo ink epotj, put thu article sttined over a warm flat-iron, slrotch it well, then squeeze a tew drops ot lemon juice on it, aud the spot will disappear at once. Wash immediately in cold wa ter. A couple out in Portland, Oregon, who found themselves divorced lately through the machinations of the wifit's mother, did the best thing possible un der tho circumstances promptly got mm l ied again. A curious fact, which throws a great deal of light on the character of Louiu Napoleon, is that he never opened the highly important reports which his con fidential military agent nt iljrlin, Uol. StollVl, sunt him from 180G to 1800, and in which that keen-sighted observer pre dicted all tho calamities which befell the imperial armies iu 1870. These reports were found in the private cabinet of the emperor at the Tuileries with the seals unbroken. Tho Indianapolis Journal asserts that Indiana has within her limits a field of coal which for extent and value is un equalled in the world. So extensivo is the coal field of Indiana that thousands of acres of land, containing tho best quality of block coal, and convenient to the railroad, can be purchased at rates very little higher thau the ordinary pri ces of agricultural lauds iu the same vi - cinity. The Indians of Peru have a tradition of an immense treasure buried in that country. They say that Atahualpa's great roservoir of gold, a temple with rooms full of tho metal, never was seized by tho Spaniards ; that it exists still, and that the secret of its existence is kept by a family or tribe of Indians who relig iously guard the treasure for the day when the heir of the Incas shall resume bis ancient throne. Another instance of the purchase nd s.ilo of a wife has been revealed in Eng land. The woman, who applied to tho stipendiary magistrate lor a relief, said that the purchaser, who had recently deserted her, bought her of her husband twenty-five years ago, ratifying the transaction by standing in thut gentle man's shoes for a few moments. Two young men of Ypsilanti, Michi gan, met at tho house of a young lady, to whom both had been attentive. To settle tho matter she dismissed one suit or. He, with a very unbecoming and dog-iu-the-maugcr spirit, threw the fa vored one out of the house aud chased him down the street, shooting at hiut with great frequency till he was arrest ed. It is announced on excellent authori ty that more thau half a million pounds of willow leaf wero made up at Shang hai last season, and palmed off as green tea. The willow leaf as prepared can not be distinguished from green tea by tho eye ; but to cover the difference in taste, it has to be mixed with tea before baing sold. It can be produced at a cost of about four cents a pound, and can bu used in the proportion of twenty to for ty per cent, of the whole mixture so that it is easily soen what profit the " little game " can be inude to represent to the seller. A new btyle of brogan shoes has beeu produced, made principally of elm wood, in Massachusetts. The sole is divided at the ball of the foot and reunited by a hinge of solo leather of suitable thick ness, two inches wide, so as to give free play to the toes. A portion of the up pers is made of leather, but they uro toed and heeled with wood. They are, however, shaped in the modern style, and not like the sabot of France, which is all wood, and turned up at the toe, " Heathen Chineo " style. In the fast enings copper rivets are made use of, and all the parts where the wood and, leather unite are packed with india-rub ber. These shoes will cost less thau a dollar per pair, and are a modification of the European wooden shoe ; but it is doubtful whether they will be found a good as the English clog, which is one of the most comfortable of foot cover ings when properly made, when the. ground is covered with snow or mud.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers