- ' - :l! i ' ' . r. 1.:. JM S 3 mm m 1 ,, t 4 .. : K L K COUNTY- TltK REPUBLICAN i'A R T Y. ' " ;i i ! r HENRY A.' PARSONS, Jr, Editor and Pumusiimi "Two -Dqtt4H,8 pek Aknum 1 1 j. i 'a i-' vol; i. , : JIIDGWAY, PA;, THURSDAY,' AUGUST 3, 1871. ! NO. 22. mm m a. : ; : ; : , mm ira i si I'll in 1 7rT"TT ' LOVE AT SEA. ' ' "' Foam-i-rested waves, from morn lo ulght, .. That met nil round the deep lilue sky, With here ana there n nail in sight, Wlilch came, then mulshed to the eye. Our glUterlnK wnke shono fur behind, A path of silver reaching back ; With shrill volco snug the suit sea wlud ; Tho petrel hovering In our truck. I.lnfccd arm in arm, Trticu skies were Inlr, We trod tho deck with thoughtless aim, Or sometimes, idly seated there, Watched the Jai'r sails which wcut mid cumo. O", Razlne down along the deep, Wu marked the long, dark indolent swells, And saw the bounding porpoise leap, And heard ou board the hull-hour bills. . Oil I what to ua was Time's swift flight Or 3'irue itself, beyond a name Y Oh I "lint to us tho noon or night, To whom nil seasons were tho same? For love possessed our souls, mid drew Ills rosy veil before our eyes, And, Steeped in bliss, our souls looked through Tho open gales of Paradise. Left far hchlnd the new world lay; Dim, distnnt, shadowy, and vast, Tho old world rose before our way, Kuplcte with records of tho past. What tlmo fair Hesperus, rlslnjr, gleamed Iu crimson deeps where sank the breeze, Tho red sun from the far west seemed To drop into the purple seas. And ou the farthest verge of night Kose tho full moon, like some pale uuu, Her face nil wot with tears, and white, When the sweet vesper hymn is done. Or sailing on from high to higher, Dy skirts of silver shining clouds, , Bhe seemed at times a ball of lire, That struggled in tho tall dark shrouds. On our side, spanned with quivering light, The phosphorescent ocean lay, And ou tho other, lost to sight, Tho shadowy waves stretched far away. And sometimes, like a silent ghost, Dim outlined on the dark night sky, Some fair ship, from a foreign coast In distant seas would pass us by. Oht soft, still night; oh! calm, rich days, To which my thoughts like currents bend, In whose bright wake my fancy plays, There is uo voyage but hath its cud. One morn I woke to scent tho brcezo That over English downs had swept ; And round our prow In sluggish ease Tho waters of the" Mersey slept. W. F. C. WHY LUCY ELLEN DID NO! MAKIIY. Why didn't Lucy Ellon Marigold get married ? Hedn't any chances, eh? Now jest you let mo tell you how it was. Ltnoy Ellon was pretty enough; that wasn't the trouble ; but you see them Marigolds, they're sort of queer. Now I don't go for ter say but she's as well off single as inerried ; there's two sides ter every thing ; according to my thinking, I'd as soon be single and my own mu Iress, as like Miss IloUyhock, who's al ways a-lugging round a baby iu one hand and a-doing of the work with t'other; or like Miss Smilax you've heern tell of young Smilax, how awful sweet he was on her while they were a courting? Law, bless you, how naturs do change after gitting themselves iner ried : 'twasn't more'n a fortnight afore he changed his tune ; she'd no more durst ask him for sixpence than you durst put your head into a lion's mouth. To be sure, it's different with a man ; if ho don't marry, who's ter mend and make for him ? Who's ter coddle him up, and flitter and encourage him like 'i Who's ter help him put the best foot for ward, when thiygs kind of hitch ' If I wus asked, I'd jest advise all the men to marry, and all the women to stay single. However, that's nothing ter do with Lucy Ellen, that I see on, though ter be hure she's took my advice, but no credit to her, no more than if she'd took the var ioloid when it was round. Maybe you've heard of her gran'ther, Elder Marigold 'i The folks set a heap by the elder hereabouts, though he was the out spokenest man that ever preached ; for iustaiice, there was Deacon Thrift, used to Hvo out on the turnpike ; the deacon was mighty close-fisted, you see, and some folks went for ter say that it was worso'u that However, the elder got wind of how the deacon hed sold six foot of wood to Widder Hood for a good cord, aud the next Sabbath the elder ho gits up in the pulpit and preaches about the widder and the fatherless though mercy kuows Mrs. Hood hedn't uo children, and was a sight better off than the deacon and elder put together ; but that wasn't no kind of reason why she should be cheated out of her eye-teeth, which they wore false ; and so tho elder he goes for ter say a-loaning way out over tho pulpit-oushing and pointing fast ter oiie place aud then to auotber m " I dou't care who it is, or where he sits whether in the gallery or in the body of the meeting-house, or in ths tUaronf uuu, the man that 41 sell six foot of W0')d for a good cord is worthy of fire &ud brimstone, and I'm afonrd he'll git his deserU." I've beord as how the dea con made restitootion ; but that's noth ing ter do with Lucy Ellen as I know of, only the elder was her gran'ther, and as likely a man as ever give out a psalm; however, she didn't inherit nothing iroui him, except a yoke of stoers and some farming stuff. Ihe fact was, the Marigolds might hev been somebodies instead of nobodies and nothings, if Harsh Marigold htdu't married as he did, instead of nierrying as he ought to hev done, though it don't become me to say who . he ought to hev married. Marsh, you see, was named after his mother's family the Marshes over the river yonder ; they were fust cousins ter the Swamps aud the Boggs, rich as mud could make 'em, Wa'al, you see, Marsh he spoiled it all by going and merry ing the slackest piece of flesh and blood that ever handled a broom, jest because she hed a pretty face on ter her. Goodness, luany's the times I've laughed till I hed a stitch in my Bide to hear old Dr. Heartsease tell about them highsterics of hers. You see on day she was took vtry bad in ouo ; tho fact wa?, it was about hnying-time, and thoro was plenty ter do, and Bhn wanted ter shirk it and go off visiting her own folks ami leave Tildy ter do the work, find she knew Marsh would Bend her if he thought she was poorly ; so away she goes working herself into a hishBterio, or convulsion or; something, jost as well as she know how ter manulnctur em; ana she dial know better'n most folks, for she'd been with a woman who'd hed 'em real. So Marsh ho Baddies up old Flyaway and brings Dr. Heartsease, and the doctor he takes a pinch of snuff deliberate like, and looks at her tonguo, and feels her pulse, and finds out as how she's a-play-ing 'possum tho worst kind ; and s.iys he to Tildy, says he, " Jest brinj? me up a Dig pitctier ot b'iling water of Viling water; b'iling hot, remember ana a tin tunnel I ' Whatever in the world are you going for ter do, doctor?" says Tildy. "f over you mind, Tildy, says lie. " I'm going ter cure her up ; you jest run and bring ine a big pitcher of b'iling hot water mid a tiu tunnel." Then, while Tildy was gone for 'em, says he ter tho patient : Now, Miss Maricold. if you uon t come out ot that there tit of yourn" (and he spoke mighty stern like,) "my treatment is, in such cases, ter pour the oiling not water down tho patient's throat through the tin tunnel." And, bless you, sho come right out of it aforo the b'iling water and the tin tunnel got up Btairs. " I feel better now," says she ; " but ain't that rather severe treatment, doc tor ?" for, you see, she believed he meant to do it. " In severe cases," says he, " we use severe measures ; and then ne took another pinch of snuff and said good-by, and Marsh sent her over to see her folks that afternoon for fear she'd hev a re lapse. You see, Lucy Ellen hedn't no chance ter grow up s she'd oughtcr ; since sho was a child she heerd her mother net out, and tell all sort of white fibs such as how Marsh wanted her ter hev help, and she herself wouldn't hear to it, nor bo bothered with a Servant about tho house, a-putting their fingers intor the jam, and a-stealing of tho clothes off one's back, when Lucy Ellen hed heerd her father say that he couldn't afford it noway ; and how Mr. Marigold wanted her to hev a -Leghorn bonnet and French flowers, but, tor her part, she thought it would be a wicked folly when so many heathen hedn t auy thing but a fig leaf, when Marsh hed only said that she might hev her old straw whitened and pressed over, and Lucy knew that the heathen d never git any thing better if they looked ter her ; and then she'd tell how Marsh wanted ter buy another horse, when Lucy knew ho hed ter sell Flyaway to pay off part of a mortgage. Oh, 1 tell yiu, they were the greatest cases for stretching of the stocking out of all kind of shape, so you'd hardly hev know'd what it was in the first place, and, of course, Lucy Ellen got ter be a chip of tho old block. When she and her mother 'd got up their bonnets all by theirselves, they'd make folks think they'd bought 'em over ter Shopville, and all that sort of deceit. They used ter make as though they hed plum-cake for tea regular, and Damson preserves was common as dirt, and green tea was a drug, and loaf-sugar no great shakes. But, gracious, you couldn't hev got the young fellows ter believe a word of it ag'in Lucy Ellen ; she'd jest bewitched 'em out of their senses witu ner Drown eyes ana ner blushes, and her airs and graces ; they'd 'a kissed the ground she walked on, but she jest amused herself, and then flung 'cm over, as her mother did aforo her. And she wu a pretty piece, for all her silly notions ; for, you see, she looked a sight higher than any of the neighbors' sons. Bless you, I doubt if there was a match ter please her in all the country round, she hed such a mind ter be a fine lady, and not bring the water ter wash hor hands; she thought it was down right vulgar ter work for your living, or ter be seen doing it ; and you might know whon tho Marigolds was house cleaning, for there wasn't a blind left open ; and washing-flays you mignt nave pulled at the bell till all was blue afore you'd raised any body, fcnd they hung their clothes in the attic. But one day she got her comeupance. You see, every spring tho court comes down here, and a heap of lawyers along with it tine-looking gentlemen, with kid gloves.on their hands, and a lot of notions in their heads, and bags full of papers and things. Wa'al, ons morning there comes a young Mr. Barrister along with them, as handsome us a pictur, an l with manners like silk, and any number of persons ter look ter. The moment he clapped his eys on Lucy Ellon he was a lost man. Law bakes, tho pains be took ter git mterduced to her ! I heerd tell us how ho lost several cusea that term, and his clients was mighty cut up. But Lucy Ellen, she always seemed ter go uiion the principle that the more bother plie put a feller ter the better he'd like her for it ; and I gue68 she hed the rights of it. Ho sho lmug lclt like sxty, and iest flirted with him ull across the court- room, ana on ine M.reei wnu ner eyss, till, bv-and-by, ho cornered her one day, and rot downright acquainted. It was all along of her being run away with by young lleuben fleets pony, xou see, ho was a-takine bef out ter drive, and ieBt eot out ter tho post-oilica for. half a minute, When wnisa i ua wem me pouy like mad. Mr. Barrister, he was jest a-coming out of the court-house with a witness, and be seed his chance, and "went for that heathen Chinee" of a nnnv. and stooDed bini lest US JjUOV JS1- lea was on the pint of losing her senses and being throwed out of the carriage. Wa'al, of course, after that they couldn't Btand on ceremony no more ; he'd saved her life, and sprained his own arm, and nothing ter do but ha must come up to ?a Marigold's and bo made much of.and Lucv Ellon" bound ud bis arm in cold baths as tender as a sweetheart; and everv dav ha bed ter so aud report him. self till the arm first all right. And then, after thev'd irot him into training, he went of his own will, jest like a pifcuo of ujucmuery mat naa once got au impetu ous. He used ter slip out of court be tween tho calling of ; hii). cases, and clip over to Marigold's place, Mid he a chat along with Lucy Ellon in th6 best par lor, that always mado you sneewj t:r go inter it, or out in the porch, whore she Was mostly sitting, sewing like a lady in her muslin gowns, and curls, and neck laces, and whatnots that the other young fellows hed given her. . Oh, I tell you.he was that much in love with her that the Marigolds thought it was a sure thing though he'd never said nothing in par ticular; and I heerd tell as how Miss Marigold hed begun to stone tho raisins for the wedding-cake, and looked at owiss muslins and delusion lace over to Shopville. i But there's many a hole in the . skimmer, and one of 'em was big enough fof Lucy Ellen's . beau ter slip through.; It was eDOupli uiuko your heart bitr with envy and wish yourself young agin, with a blush iu your cheek, and a tortune in , your eyes, to see ner and Mr. Barrister together, a-walking to meeting, and a-lditering along the way, and a-hanging over the gate in the twi lights, and a-sailing oil at sunset ou tho river. Wa'al, . we can't be young but oust, i How he usad ter look at her.with bis soul in them great eyos of his'n, and every word uho said was law and gospel to his ears. Them was heydays for Lucy Ellen, and they might hov lapped over ter this time if sho'd hed a proper res pect for the truth, and not 'a tried to de ceive and hoodwink him as was honest as daylight with her, and would have thought all the better of her for being capable and doing her duty. But there, it was the woy she was brought up : "as tho twig is bent the tree's inclined." ' It was second natur for her ter make be lieve, and I don't know as she could help it, no more'n she could help looking like an apple blossom. Dear, dear 1 now every body was a-taiking about what a handsome couple they'd be, and what a match it was for Lucy Ellen, and a-look-ing forward to the wedding fixings, and ter dreaming on the .wedding-cake, ana a-planning it all Out for her, as folks do I Ileusedter bring her books of verses, and read 'em sitting on the door-step at Lucy Ellen s feet,- and she thinking of goodness kn'ows what, for I doubt if sho understood a word of 'em, though she mado believe mighty natural and pret ty : sho knew how. Ouo day whon ho drove her over to Shopville, he asked what number of glove she wore. . .. "The last pair I bought," said she, was sixes." Aud so they wore. They'd got by mistake, you see, in among the sevens, and she'd hed to sell 'em ter Hitty Haven for half price. So Mr. Barrister, he goes and buys tho handsomest pair of sixes, tho color of the lilock bushes, and all perfumed up, and Lucy Ellen she thanks him in her pretty, innocent way, and puts 'em out of Bight ; and soon as ever his back's turned, over she skips to Shopville, by herself, and gits a pair of sevens ; .and when he comes ter walk ter meeting with her next Sunday, says she, smiling up at him sweet as musk : " I shall never put on my boautiiul gloves, Mr. Barrister, without thinking of you." " I wish they might last forever, then," said he. And I'll be bound that Lucy Ellon's heftrt gave a great thrill of pain and delight, jest as mine did when her father cut there, that s nothing to do with Lucy Ellen, only I'll be bound she thought he was going for to say something worth hearing. But he never did say anything nigher to it. She's got them Ulock sixes hid away among her finery ter this day, dreadful witness es of her folly. . Perhaps she keeps 'em as a kind ot reminder ot her sins as penance, you know though, goodness knows, she's suffered for 'em. Wa'al, I sometimes think troubles is sent for our advantage, ter learn us things we wouldn't hev no idee of without 'em. Now if Lucy. Ellen bed merried Mr. Barrister, and things hed gone on smooth, and sho'd 'a lived in grandeur all her days, she'd 'a gone on deceiving and making believe to the end of the chapter, without ever Boeing the harm or seeing what she was a-doing of; but ono day comes along this here disap pointment, n ni sort of fctirs tho soul up, aud sets it ter wondering what it's all for ; aud she goes to thinking and re flecting about herself, and the upshot is that Lucy Ellen Marigold isn't the same girl to-day that she wag the last time she set eyes on Mr. Barrister. You see the term of court was drawing ter a close, and Mr. Barrister he was us doep in love as ever, when, the last day, he went over to Marigold's placo, round by Farmer Knowles's cider mill, and up the lauo where the wild roses grew, that led by Mis MoriKold'g kitchen windows ; uud going by, natural enough, he looked in, without a thought of doing anything unhandsome, or peeking whore he wasn t wanted ter, and thero, with her sleeves rolled up over her white round arms, with her cheeks like twin rose3, eyes like jewels, stood Lucy Ellen, ironing away tho week's . washing for dear life, and bumming a love-song. Of course she didn't see him, though he stood stock still for a full minute, drinking iu the lovt'liinisj nd the deftness of her. Then be walked around to tho fore-door and pulled the belt, t Thero was some delay ui answering of the door, and then Miss Marigold herself opened it, smiling like summer. j " Wouldn't Mr. Banister walk in ? So glad to see bun." I Mr. Barrister went in, heart as light as a feather, and his mind made up, I dou't doubt, to ask Lucy Ellen to be lisn. ' , , , " Can I seo Miss Lucy ?" said he. 1 "'Ahen '." said she, a-coloriug and clearing his threat, " Lucy Ellen will be in presently, J gfiesa ; she stepped out a while ago ter make a call up to Square Tendoui's. I'rn expecting her back any moment." i Cau't you see the poor younrr man's face at such wonderful news, the eyee big ; with, aatonWiment and pain ? 1. 1 wonder which he believed at the fust mo ment, bis own ear or his own eyes ? " Miss Lucy has gone out, has Bhe ?" be said, taking up his hat and looking queer. " Yes. Oh, don't be thinking; of go ing, Mr. Barrister ; she left word behind that she'd be back in a jiffy," (pushing open tho blind) "ana i was to Keep who called.. There, 1 do believe she's coming now; no; but she'll be back before long, depmid on't" And then sho foil ter tell ing him big stories about the marshes and the swamps, nna poo oi goiu teat was said ter be buried on the place, no body knew where, and it didn't matter ; and Mr. Bai rister jest answered " No," and " Yes," and " Ah," without hearing a word of it all, till Miss Marigold be gan foe to think him. the miserablest company iu the world, when, by-and-by, the fore-door opened, and in came my lady, Lucy Ellen, flushed and beaming, dressed in her good clothes, with her sunshade and her violet gloves. ' Oh, Mr. Barrister,'' she cried, have you been here long ? How glad I am ter see you I" And then she stopped and changed color at the strange, strange look in hor lover's eyes or tho eyes that hed been hor lover's an hour ago which hed took a terrible sadness. " I am coins away," said ho. then. " I wish ter bid you gOod-by, aud to thank you for for much pleasure and many many hospitalities." " ut you will come this way ag in, and come up ter see us ?" said Lucy El len, lightine up, thinking he only want ed a little encouragement. ," We hev not lo3t you altogether ?" " INo, JVliss Lucy, I shall never come this way ag'in. You hev lost me alto gether, if that is anything i and I I hev lost more than any one; I hev lost niv faith in womanhood." And then he took up bis hat ag'in, and bowed himself out, and they never set eves on him ag'in. And them's jest the reasons why Lucy Ellen Marigold never got merried. , Who the Healthy Girls Are. Girls, whose ages range from twelve to eighteen, have an ideal standard of size, and if by chance nature determines otherwise, it is punished for its presump tion. What corsets cannot effect, arsenic, slate-pencils, chalk and vinegar can ; and when all theso aids are brought into requisition, tho saints are rewarded by pallid cheeks, puny physiques waists that a hand can almost span. The mother knows that in the hour her little girl modestly requests that " the hooks or buttons be setback for mamma, eee, can run my hand between my ' dress waist and myself, and I do feel so untidy with such a bag hanging round me," that tho warfare has begun, and until tho day of her decline, the apostle's in junction, to "keep the flesh in subjec tion, will be scrupulously obeyed, .be tween the eras of swaddling-band, and corsets and crineline, there used to bo a peroid of a few years, when arms and limbs could climb trues and scale heights like their I'rogm'-ors, mentioned by Darwin, and muscle; sinew, and blood bade fair to hold their own. The little bareheaded, tanned girl of ten, astride a hridleless and saddleless horse, or pad dling down the stream on a raft of her own constructing, had a season of pure animal enjoyment, and it was thought enough if she grew plump and rosy, was early to bed and early to rise, and could sins' the " fives " to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Sho must have been fur in her " teens," or out of them, bo fore sho caught a glimpse of tho model young lady, with tapered waist, pinched feet, fastidious appetite, aud a general air of languor prevading every move ment? and utterance. - bhe looked upon the lay-figure with admiration, and forthwith commenced remodeling her self, but with indiffrfrent success. " As the twig is bent, the tree is inclined." Nature had a good start, and she would not yield to art without a hard struggle. The few robust women of fifty to-day are ttie ones whose young lives were free and careless as tho birds, whoso clothing never fettered limbs nor pressed lungs, whose impulses and instincts wero never checked or kilU-d outright by Mrs. Grundy's .strictures. Woman i Journal. Tho Traveller's Tree. This is the name given to a treo which grows in Madagascar, so called because the lower parts of its stems contain pockets or receptacles, wnicu m the driest seasons are filled with pure water, The weary traveller is sure to find re freshment by puncturing these pockets with a spear, iho botancal inline ot tho tree is Urania tpcchwi.-.. From a solid trunk varying in higjit Irom ten feet up ward, and similar in appearance, though not nature, to that of tho southern palmetto, Rprings up a bunch of stoma, each about six or eight feet Ions:, and each supporting a leaf of the same length and some ten or twenty inches wide. The leaves, wheu dried, form the thatch of all the houses on tho eastern side of island, making a perfectly wate-proof covering, while tuo etoms nre used tor partitions and sides, llio bark ot the treo is very hard, and, unlike that of the palmetto, is easily .stripped oft Iroin the interior soft parts. For large bouses this bark is cut in pieces of twenty or thirty teat long a:td twelve to eighteen inches wide, aud theentiro floor covered with tho sanu, fis well joined B3 ordinary timber. The green leaves are U3ed by traders in place of waterproof wrapping Darter for nackayes : bv the women fur L 1 E r ' ' V " table cloths, and the heavy pieces cut out of them for platos at ; meals, while certain portions are even firmed into drinking vessels and spoons. But tho chief peculiarity of this remarkable tree is that, while standing iu the forest, the stems always contain a large quantity of pure fresh water, of which travellers and natives make use iu the arid seasons, when the wells and streams ari dry. To obtain it, a spear is driven a few inches deep in the thick end of the stalk, at its l unctions with the trunk, aud then withdrawn, when the water flows out abundantly. As evey one of the twenty, thirty, forty, or more stalks cin.give from a pint to a quart of water, a large amount is contained in each tree. " Social cataclysms," says the Chicago HqiuHUan, " are the effects of the opera tion of that principle of natural selection by which all nature, animate and inani mate, is pervaded." The Louisville Jour nal is in raptures over the information. The Corns Isliyul and the. Gold Hunters. A San Francisco paper tells tho fol lowing: Tho swarthy, hoavy-bearded, short-haired, . thickset buccaneer who fabricated the tale of hidden treasure at Cocoa Island has probably accomplished more than he originally intended. With each succeeding year the yarn has sus tained embellishments. The 'original buccaneer, like Washington's body ser vant, has grown into many. Tho secret he has told has also been credited to buccaneers innumerable. According to a careful estimate a larger num of money has been expended iu .bunting the treasure than the treasure itself the loubloons, ingots and jewels ia sup-. osed to be worth. Hundreds of thou ands of dollars have beon wasted in profitless . searches,, and not evon the color ot gold has been discovered. .Eu ropeans and,people of the Eastern States have finally come to the conclusion that the buccaneer bequeathed the tale with malice aforethought, and that it really has no foundation in fact. Bat we have those in California who scout this theory. They will succumb to the thinnest min ing excitement and start on prospecting expeditions upon the slightest provoca tion. : We also have a credulous class ; a class who will accept Munchausen stor ies for truth not only accept, but relish them and pay for the enjoyment. The Cocos Island treasure-seekers belong to this class. They exhausted their means a few months' ago, but are now recuper ating for a fresh start. In view of the foregoing facts information relative to the island is of special interest. During conversation with a gentleman who returned from the island with the last ex pedition, our reporter learned something of its characteristics. Cocos Island is iu the Pacific Ocean, about six hundred miles west-south-west from Panama, in lat. 5 deg. 30 miu. north. A majority of the newspaper accounts have spoken of the island as being very low and sandy. This statement is incorrect. Tho island is 2,000 feet high nnd is accessiblo in only two places. There is but one solo anchorage, and here a small patch of beach is found. The island, according to our informant, is four miles across and twenty miles around, and is of vol canic origin, ileavy timbers, a tpecies of cedar, is found iu considerable quan tities. The greater portion of the island is hilly, and is covered with a heavy growth of vines, weeds and grass. The vinos form barriers at soino points which it is almost impossible to penetrate. An immense amount of rain falls upon the island, preserving its mantle of green all tho year round. Our informant has visited the island several times at differ ent seasons of the year, and ulways saw' more or less rain. When tho storms pre vail the island presents a beautiful sight. Torrents of water dash over the seared hills, forming lovely cascades, and wind their way through the ravines to the ocean. At one timo 100 cascades were visible from a high bluff and some of these wero of sufficient magnitude to render them truly grand. Whilo the island is constantly green, and contains an abundance of fresh water, our in formant assures us that it does not pro duce any edibles. Wild hogs are found, but they are decreasing in numbers and do not seem to thrive. The pleasure seekers have not made any attempts at cultivation, but have devoted their en ergies to the main question. The little beuch is perforated with shafts, and tho hills and valleys abound in shafts tho number runs into the hundreds. Some of the excavations in solid rock are over le hundred and fifty feet deep, and surely could not have been accomplished without a large outlay of time, labor and money. This rock contains iron pyrites, but no trace of gold, silver or other precious metal has. been found. It is now uninhabited. Such is Cocos Is land, the laud which has attracted at tention for centuries past, and bids fair to hold its peculiar sway for centuries to come. Auother pleasure-seeking ex pedition is iu process of organization in this city. Tho riumago of Birds. I The differences of color and plumage, according to the sex of the same class of birds, are very remarkable. As a rule, the male bird has a more ostentatious plumuge than the female. But this rule Laa its notable exceptions. Peacocks, pheasants, grouse, birds of Paradise, and perhaps hardly to be mentioned iu such gorgeous company our owu black bird, have very dull aud unconspicuous mutes; yet the female toucan, bee-eater, parroquet, macaw, and tit are, iu almost every case, as gay and brilliuift as the male. This anomaly has been explained by recent naturalists by the influence of the mode of nest building. The true principle, with very few exceptions, seems to bo thut, when both sexes are of strikingly gay and conspicuous color:), the nest is secreted, or such as to conceal the bitting bird, whilef whenever there is a striking contrast of colors, the mule being gay and conspicuous, the feiuald dull aud obscure, the nest is open, kuJ the sitting bird exposed. This import ant theory is best iilustratud by a fuw exuuipks. Wu will first take suiue of those group i of birds iu wliku the female is conspicuously colored, aud iu most cases exactly like the male, hi boiuo of the most brilliant specimens of the king fisher spuuies, the female exactly resem bles the male. Kingfishers mostly build thoir nests iu a doep hole in the ground. The male and female of the showy mot mots are exactly alike in color, and their nest is in s hole under the ground. ' Puff birds are often gayly colored. The sexes are exactly alike. . The nest is in a slop ing hole in the ground. - The barred plumage and long crests of the hoopoes urn oniumon alike to tha male and fa- !mule, and the nest is iu a hollow tree. The borbets are all very gayly colored ; aud, what is remarkable, the most bril liant patches are disposed about the head and' neck, aud are very conspicuous. The male and female are exactly alike, and the nest is in a hole of the tree. The same remarks apply to the ground cuckoos, save that they build a domed nest. In the great parrot tribe, adorned witu the most brilliant ana varied colors, the rule is that tha sees are exactly alike. All build in holes, mostly in trees j but sometimes in the ground, or in white ants' nests. If, on the other hand, we take the cases wheu the male is gayly colored, while the female is much less gaudy, or even quite inconspicuous, we find a totally different system of nost biulding. Take, for instance, the chat terers. These comprise Borne of the most gorgeous birds in the world vivid blues, rich purples and bright reds being the most general colors. Tho females are always obscurely tinted, and are ofteu of a greenish hue, not easily distinguished among the foliage. In tho extensive families of the warblers, such as thrushes, flycatchers and shrikes, as also in tho case of the pheasants and grouse, the males are mostly marked with gay and conspicuous tints, while tho females are always less pretentious, in the matter of external beauty, and most frequently are of the very plainest hues. Now, through out : tho : whole families the nest . is opcu ; and hardly a f single instance can bo mentioned ' in which any one . of ' these birds builds a : domed nest, . or , places it in a .hole of a tree, or underground, or in any place where it is effectually concealed. In these facts, the larger and more power ful birds are- not -taken into considera tion; because, with .these brilliant col ors are, as a rule, absent, and they de pend principally on concealment to se cure their safety.. The apparent reasons for this difference ' in the color of the plumago of the sexes of different species is very naturally explained. We have seen that when the female bird has been iu the shade as regards rivalling her lord . and master in the way of " fine feathers," tho oest was always an open ono. The female bird, while sotting on her eggs in an uncovered nest, would be much exposed to the attacks of enemies ; and any modification of color whioh might render . hor more conspicuous would often lead to her destruction and that of her : nestlings. Those birds, on the other hand, who, male and fenialo, can boast equally attractive plumago, build their nests in holes and crevices, and have, therefore, much lees to fear upon the score of discovery. Once a Week. . ' Tho Ardennes Dog. The dog of tho Ardennes accompanies the flock when it leaves the pcnfold in spring, ouly to return wheu the winter's snow drives the sheep home again for shelter. Each shepherd possesses ono or two of these dogs, according to the size of his flock, to act as sentinels. Their office is not to ruu about and bark, and keep the sheep in order, but to protect them from outside foes. When tho berdtman has gathered his flock in some rich valley, these white, shaggy mon sters crouch on tho ground, apparently half asleep ; but now and then the great sagacious eyes will open, and, passing over the whole of their charge, remain for a while fixed on the distant horizon as though they followed a train of thought which led them away from earth so sadly do they gaze into the infinite. But let the mountain breeze bear to his nostril the scent of the hated wolf, or bis quick ear detect an unknown noise, then is the time to see one of these dogs in his glory. His eyes become black with fierceness ; his hair stands erect ; his upper lip becomes wrinkled, showing a range of white, formidable teeth, while a low growl alone escapes trom bis throat. V hen his keen facul ties have detected the whereabouts of his foe, he rushes forward with a bound that overleaps all obstacles, and a bark that echoes from all the surrounding Ullli!. Every dog of the like breed who may be near, takes up the note, and rushes gleaming through the brushwood to join in the attack. Tender as tho child hood he protects, woo to him who dare lift a band on ono of the little ones with whom he has been brought up. It is not he who buys him is his master ; it is he who ted him when a pup, who pet ted and shared his pittance with him ho it is who has his love, and who recip rocates his faithful affection. Overland Monthly. A Lndy Killed While Praying at tho Bedside of Her Children. The St. Josoph, Mo., Gazette gives the following particulars of the death by lightning of Mrs. Lovell and Mr. Blake mau during a terriblo 6torui iu that vi cinity. The house in which the persons named were killed is situated about five miles southeast from St. Joserih. It is three stories high, with three principal rooms and a ball on each floor. When the storm commenced Mrs. Lovell was up stairs iu a bock room reading from t'ae Biblo to her little daughters. The windows of the room having been blown open, sho took her children, ran down stairs, passing from the hall into a bed room, put the children ou the bed, and kueeled at the bedeide. In this position the lightning struck her, causiug instant death. Mr. Blakeman was iu the hall aud the same bolt killed him. Several other persons were more or le3s injured, Mrs. Lovell was the wile of John S Lovell, of Warren 'county, ' Va. Her husband is now in .Virginia CLty Mon tana. The two daughters, with; whom she was kneeling iu prayer are aged re spectively 9 and 6 . years. They wero nmtured. . . , Liquid Gold. , ; Ouo of tha prettiest sights the human eye ever rested upon is pure gold in its liquid state. We saw iu the. Brunch Mint, yefcterday, a jar containing several gallons of the liquid, partially precipi-. tatod. The liquid is the oolor of, pure sherry wine, and greatly magnifies thai which is precipitated u tha solid state Looking through tho side of the jar et the gold which had settled on the' bot tom, it presented a splendor and 'mag nifioence such as we never witnessed even in the most brilliant sunset; an ap pearance not unlike that which, one would imagine the vault of heaven would present if inverted and lined with solid gold and lighted by a sum mer sun. The assayer had his eye peel ed while we were examining the jar. Varson lieguter. MISCELLaKLuDM items. Halifax County, '. Va., boats 'em all. A lady of that county, who, year before last, was the mother of three boys at a time, none of them living, was, week be fore last, the mother of four boy babies all hearty and kicking-and every body "doing well." . ., .,.) , , By the' late Texas Election law, any person in that State making a bet or wager upon the result of an election is debarred from the privilege of casting a vote. A similar law has long been in forco in other States, but betting on elections has not been stopped. ; 1 A California paper having accused the Memphis Appeal of telling a false hood, the LouiBville Courier-Journal re marks : " It is comparatively safe, when there is half a continent between you and a Memphis editor, to tell him that he lies, but it is death under any other circumstances.". i i ., :, ' , The Nakomis (111.) Advertiser tells s strange Btory of a horrible adventure of two young men near Okaw. They were wutohing in a thioket for deer to visit a salt lick, when one of the hunters was attacked by an immense snake, which coiled ' around his arm and bit him in Buch a manner that he died in a short time. r , , There is a great excitement reported in Udd Fellows and Masonic circles ot Indianapolis. ' It seems that an. old door-keeper of various lodges was led by his wife to connive at her secreting her self in an alcove where she Could see and hear all that was going on, aud the re sult was that Mrs. Pillbean learned all the forms, ceremonies, and sublime mys teries of Odd fellowship, and having thus started on the upward traok, was initiated by her perfidious old husband into the three tirat degrees ot masonry. Some men show most wisdom in mat ing blunders. -'A ' Western, journalist seems to have been wiser than he knew, when, drawing upon his memory for po etical quotations about woman, be de livered himself in his newspaper as fol lows: , , . , , O, womau, In thlno hours of ease, ' Uncertain, coy, and hard to please j , But seen too oft, fumiliar with her face, . We first endure, then pity, then embrace.' It is doubtful if Scott and Pope, so es sentially un'ike, could, with the greatest care, be again so happily combined to present an old subject iu a new light. ' A young lady writes from Leaven worth to the Chief of Police in Kansas City as follows : " There is a man in your place named Johnny Bascombe, who is in love with me, and who was driven away from our house last week by my old father, who drives away every one who comes to court me. Please, lor my sake, nnd out Johnny and give him my picture, which I enclose to you, and tell him that I will stick to him, father or no father, and if you ever come up here I will come to see you and thank you. Just tell Johnny that his Julia sent him the picture, and he will know it all." The police official is puz zled to know what to do about the mat ter. The ex-Emperor of the' French seems to endure his fall and exile with forti tude, if not with complacency. The English papers chronicle Mb movements with almost as much particularity as they do their Queen's. - Their accounts show that he spends his time in driving and walking about, seeing sights, and making and receiving calls. On the 4th of July, he visited, in company with the Prince Imperial, the royal arsenal at Woolwich, where all the latest im provements in ordnance were exhibited to him, together with the process of manufacturing the new thirty-five ton guns. It is said that his health is better 'than when he was Emperor, and that ho is gaming nesh. Thero are some salt wells near Brand enburg, Kentucky, which have been a source of astonishment as well as revenue to their fortunate proprietors. The first was discovered accidentally of course, as is usual in such cases ; and when it was found that this yielded brine suffi cient to manufacture from eighteen to twenty barrels of salt per day, others were sunk with equally satisfactory re sults. But the most extraordinary part of the business is, that it was soon found that all the wells yielded, in addition to tho brine,, enough gas to supply with fuel the two furnaces and boilers re quired by each well, together with a surplus which the people of Branden burg intend to utilize for lighting their town. "" ' 1 The Titusville Herald tells this story of a shoemaker's luck ! ' About twenty five years ago Mr.- Robinson (the pre&mt owner of the famous Kobiusou farm, near Parker's Lauding, which has yielded thousands of barrels of oil aud dollars to its owuer) sold 100 acres of the f.trin to a shoemaker named Grant, residing in the vicinity, for $100, to be paid iu boots and shoes for bis (Robinson's) family. Within the last two years this tract has proved the most valuable1 oil' territory, an-. Urant, as well us Kobtnson, JM3 not only been made wealthy from its oil, but still receives a handsome revenue from' the 'same." A fewweeks -ago Mr. Robinson received the lost -'pair of boots on tus contract, the $ 100 worth ot leath er having just been used up.' In the English and American armies efficiency of Bight is one of the manifold qualifications in the recruit ; but a pair of spectacles in the German ranks causes no greater surprise than a pipe does. But for the spectacled rank and file, where would have been the millions fit men whom Moltke undertook to place within a fortnight on the Rhine f Re moved from ' study and in-door duty, and put to active outside work, the power of vision in a short-sighted person will improve. , ,,' , The Saturday Review' adds that -with the spread of education by -books .to lower and lower strata of te social mass a practioal solution of the problem how to utilize short sight in war will have to be faced in real earnest, as the necessity of the case bag forced it upon the Germans.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers