HENRY A. FAKSONS, Jr., Editor asd Publisher,
4 VOL. II. RIDGAVAY, PAV THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1872. NO. 4.
fc r POKTJi v.
A Sl'MMEH-UAY MOIVU.
liV (JKr)H(ll M AC UONAUi.
The iiiuro nwnke like ur-mtliiiK dove,
Wtrti onUprcad wing if giity :
Her toaOtery clouds clone In above.
And roof a inbcr day.
"So motion in the derpn or vlrl
No trembling In tho leaves !
A ftllUccntfnitwent pvervwhrr,
TluititelthorlanlM nor grieve.
A til in of slicoU'd 1 wr gray
y lint a In tin or.tti hue ;
White-win Kd ff-im'Cwh-avu their way
tlt'hind tu ffo; Ku iUHbhu'.
hraam on, liiiuni on, O ilremnydtiy
Thy vo:y chmtln a'edrramn;
Yon child in dreaming far away
lip n not where h wenm.
Till! STOIIY-TELLBR.
THE BROTHER'S REVENGE.
A correspondent of the Philadelphia
l're writes the history of a tragedy on
the Plains in the Far West :
Riding out abovo Julesburg, n rook
was pointed out to 1110, at the foot of
which had been enacted a tragedy, the
mere recital of which made my blood run
cold. The place was in a deep canyon,
surrounded by high bluffs, and there
was a loneliness and silence in the frovn
ing rocks that oppressed every visitor,
mid made them glad to hasten their de
parture from the gloomy dell. Many
years ago two young men came from the
East, and ascending the Missouri, en
gaged in the fur business. They were
bosom friends, and prospered in nil their
undertakings; money flowed into their
coffers arid they became wealthy ; still
they stayed in the West that had been
so generous to them, nnd finally deter
mined to make it their permanent
home. Ono of tho young men had a
sister, who lived at St. Louis, where the
partners went annually to sell their furs
and divide the profits of their business.
The girl, infatuated by the tales of ad
venture told her by her brother, longed
to visit the great West, and begged ro
hard that her brother hnally consented.
For a whole year she lived at the hun
ter's I audio on the head waters of the
Missouri, and when the time came for
tho partners to go down the river and
sell their furs, the brother was sick and
ould not go. The girl was loth to
leave her brother, but ho urged her to
go home and see their mother, saying he
would soon bo well and follow after her.
Intrusting his darling to his friend and
partner, the two set out in a Mackinaw
boat, well manned and provided with
every comfort. The brother grew worse
and the summer wore away before he
was able to travel. In the meantime,
tho partner returned, bringing him news
from home and a division of the annual
profits, which were larger than ever be
fore. The brother, pleased with tho
manner in which their business had
been uiaungod, readily yielded to the
suggestion of his partner to delay his
visit home, devote the winter to active
operations, and go down in tho spring
with furs. All went well until mid
winter, when the brother received a let
ter from his home that nearly crazed
him. The letter was from his mother,
and gave a long, circumstantial account
of the ruin and seduction of hia beloved
Nina by his partner. Tho girl had con
fessed every thing, nnd told how he had
seduced her while bringing her home
down the Missouri, and then abandoned
her. Tho poor girl, unable to bear her
shame, had become a maniac, and soon
would be a mother. Tho first impulse
of tho brother on reading this letter
was to seek out at once and kill the
villain who had ruined his family, but
li thought the momentary suffering in
flicted by a ball not enough punishment
for such a scoundrel, and so devised a
plan for revenge that no Indian could
have outdone for cruelty. Keeping the
receipt of his letter a profound secret,
he went on with his business ns usual,
and every day met his partner on the
same terms of friendly intimacy as for
merly. When tho skins were packed
and all in readiness to go down the
river the brother went to Fort Benton
and there had executed a will, leaving
tho name of the person wlio made it
blank, after which ho returned to his
camp on tho Jefferson Fork. lie then
represented that on tho Platte great
irohts were to be made in the iur trauo,
A ,trnindiil tn lim 1111 ,, mi' flint indtnilll
.itiiv l.ni.ii lifi ri.!ur.li,., liOTT ulinillll
their bouts at the mouth of tho
tho Missouri. The induce-
li.if it thnv tjtimjl nil na rn-
ii.rtiilil nut til, liuli a licimili I
- .... . i
ii.: tit.- 'IM. I
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assented to proposals so
ur iiiu uuvuuuigc ui uuiij, i
pv iu'f nnf. fulfill, with them I
hi, lf n ru i-Tir ttia t,;,,t u,ii, I
used on the lniirnev. 1 nev 1
many days, and hnally came I
ilnu'ii wliiuli fliov fiillnw- I
lirl.il an, i.D nritnnoii ni fitlifil 1
i , uiuuui ilia iui iiiui iu ai- i
; i , l . i i i
v lull, iutA tli.i l.nlir much I
uioiti iiiiuu iiiiii, iiu Becureiv nuu
1, llllli. .UULi 11 1 1 VI L 1 1 1 1 1 MUNIIU 111,11 I
II rOCH. AL 111HL 1.I1H TlMTTTllir T.nniifrriT. I
. 1 . ili i.l I II 1.1
it was some cruel joke, but when tho
brother produaed the letter and read it,
tho poor man knew but too well his tiino
had come. He confessed all and asked
t) be shot, but he Lvotlior had another
jute in store fur his victim. Oqolly en
camping by the. rock, he sat down to see
his partner starve to death. On the
third day the ill-fated man signed the
ileed bequeathing all his property to the
injured girl, and the brother attached a
iictitiqus name as witness to the instru
ment, by the terms of which he was
made the executor of his partner's estate,
lie then wrote letters saying he had
fullen very ill of -fever on the plains, and
if he did not recover those letters would
be delivered by his beloved partner. All
this the infuriated brother compelled
the poor man to do, and then quietly
awaited the end. Day by day the part
ner grew weaker and the brother gloat- I
ed over his misery, often reading to him
the letter from his mother.
Tho poor man promised to marry tho
girl and make all the reparation in his
power to the family, but the brother
was deaf to entreaties. At last the part
ner dwindled to a skeleton died and
the brother, after burying his victim's
emaciated corpse in the snnd, resumed
his journey to St. Louis. There he gave
out that" his partner had died while on
his way through tho ltocky Mountains,
and in proof of his assertion delivered
the letters. The will was also proved,
and the girl beeamo the dead man's heir.
Two years afterwards tho brother was
shot by Indians, and before ho died con
fessed what ho had done. Some hunters
visited tho place and dug up tho skele
ton, around tho neck of which still was
tho chain by which the poor man when
living had been fastened to tho fatal
rock. The spot is still pointed out to
travellers, and the talo told of how the
brother, day after day, eat his meals in
the presence of his wretched prisoner, but
would not givo him so much as a crumb
or a cup of water to slake his thirst.
Always Begin Right.
We once knew an old Friend who had
but one piece of advice to young begin
ners : it was, " If thee'll only begin right
all will go well." We havo often thought
that there was more in the recommen
dation than even the good Quaker saw,
for there is scarcely anything to be done
in life to which the adage, "begin right"
will not apply. Success is but a syno
nym for beginning right.
Who, for example, is the healthiest,
the early-riser or the sluggard r It is
the man who begins tho day right, by
leaving his bed with the sun, and inhal
ing tho fresh air of morning, not the one
who remains till eight or nine o'clock in
a closo chamber, sleeping a dull, stupe
fying sleep. Who gets through his day's
work the earliest '( Tho early riser. The
man of business who is at his store soon
est, is always best prepared for tho cus
tomers of the day, and often, indeed, has
sold many a bill before his laggard
neighbors were about. Sir Walter Scott
used to have half his day's writing fin
ished before breakfast. A shrewd ob
server has said that a Lite-riser consumes
the day in trying to recover the hours he
lost in tho morning. Mind and body
are both freshest early in the day. The
lawyer should think, tho minister study,
the author write, the valetudinarian
walk or ride, and tho mechanic or far
mer bo nt work as early as possible.
Nor is this all. The great bulk of en
terprises that fail owe their ruin to not
having been begun right. A business is
undertaken without sufficient capital,
connection, or knowledge. It ends un
favorably. Why '( Because it was not
begun right. A young professional man,
wlioso probationary period of study has
been spent in pleasure rather than in
hard reading, complains that he cannot
succeed. Why, again 'i Because he has
not begun right either. A stock compa
ny blows up. Still why ? Ten' to one,
tho means employed are not adequate to
the end, or else it was started with inef
ficient officers, and in either case it was
not begun right. Two young house
keepers break up their guy establish
ment, the lady going home, perhaps, to
her father's, taking her husband with
her. Why They did not begin right,
for they commenced on too large a scale,
forgetting that the expenses of a family
increase every year, and that, in no event
is it safe for a man to live up to his in
come. An inventor starts a manufac
tory, in which his improvements in ma
chinery are brought into play ; but after
a while he finds himself insolvent ; his
factory is sold ; another reaps where he
lias sown. Why 'i Alas ! like too many
others, ho has undertaken more than ho
has means to cany through ; he did not
begin right, and his ruin was the conse
quence. But, ubove all things, life should bo
begun right. Young men rarely know
how much their conduct, during their
first few years, affects their success. It
it not only that older persons in the
same business form their opinions of
them ut this time, but that every begin
ner acquires, during these years, habits
for good or ill which color his whole fu
ture career. We have seen some of tho
ablest young men, with every advantage
of fortune and friends sow the seeds of
ruin and early death by indulging too
freely in the first years of manhood. We
huoo seen others, with far less capacity,
and without any backing but industry
and energy, riso gradually to fortune
and influence. Franklin is a familiar il
lustration of what a man can do who be
gins right. If ho had been too proud to
eat rolls in the street when he was a poor
boy, he would never have been Minister
Plenipotentiary to the Court of France.
Always begin right! Survey the
wholo ground before you comiuenco any
undertaking, and you will then bo pre-
Iiared to go forward successfully. Neg
oct this, however, and you are almost
sure to fail. In other words, begin right.
A good commencement is half tho bat
tle. A false first step is almost certain
defeat. Begin right
Fire Without Flame.
An experimenting Detroit chemist
took a piece of threadbare cotton cloth,
smeared it with boiled linseed oil, and
placed it in the centre of a chest filled
with paper and rags. Although the
room was not tight and tho weather was
cold, there was a smell of fire about the
room in eight days. Unpacking it tho
experimenter found the rag half charr.
ed. Jn April ho made a similar experi
ment with a pair of painter's overalls,
which he rolled up with pine Bhavings
and crowded in next to the roof-boards
of a'loft. In a week tho smell of sinoke
alarmed a workman in tho next room,
and the overalls were found to be. on
fire. And during the hottest weather
a handful of old cotton rags, not smear
ed with oil, became hot enough when
hung up in a tin box in the sun to light
matches which he had placed among
them. These facts show the necessity of
caution in putting away rags, especially
those that may be saturated with oil,
benzine or other inflammable substances.
Exchange.
Dickens's Humor.
The humor of our go. id Genie seems,
when we begin to uu.nyze it, averyBim-
)lo matter merely tho knack, as we
lave before said, of seeimr crooked of
posing every figure into oddity. A tone,
a gesture, a look, the merest trait, is suf
ficient ; nay, so all-sufHcicnt does the
trait become that it absorbs tho entire
individuality ; so that Mr. Toots becomes
a Chuckle, Mr. Turvcydrop incarnate
Deportment, Uriah Heep a Cringe ; so
that Newman Noggs cracks his finger
knuckles, and Carker shows his teeth,
whenever they appear ; so that Trad
dlcs is to our memory a Forelock forever
sticking bolt upright, and llegaud (in
Little JJorrit) an incarnate Hook-nose and
Moustache eternally meeting each other.
Enter Dr. Blimber : ' Tho Doctor's
walk was stately, and calculated to im
press the juvenile mind with solemn
feelings. It was a sort of march ; but
when tho Doctor-put out his right foot,
ho gravely turned upon his axis, with a
semicircular sweep toward the left ;
and when he put out his left foot,
ho turned in tho samo manner toward
tho right. So that ho seemed, at every
strido ho took, to look about him as
though ho were saying, ' Can anybody
have tho goodness to indieato any sub
ject, in any direction, on which I am un
informed ':' " Enter Mr. Flintwinch :
" His neck was so twisted that tho knot
ted ends of his whito cravat actually
dangled under one car ; his natural acer
bity and energy always contending with
a second nature of habitual repression,
gave his features a swollen and suffused
iook ; ami altogether he had a weird ap
poaraneo of having hanged himself at
one time or other, and of having gono
about ever since, halter and all, exactly
as sonio timely hand had cut him down."
This first impression never fades Gl
obalises us long as we see tho figure in
question.
Akin to this perception of oddity, and
allied with it, is the perception of the
incongruous. Never did tho brain of
human creature see stranger resem
blances, funnier coincidences, more side
splitting discrepancies. This man was
for ull the world like (what should ho
say ?) a pump, the more so as his feel
ings ran to water. That man was a
a spider, such a comical spider " horny
skinned, two-legged, nioney-getting, who
simn webs to catch unwary Hies, and re
tired into holes until they were entrap
ped." Yonder trips the immaculate Peck
sniff, " caroling as ho goes, so sweetly
and with so much innocence, that he on
ly wanted feathers and wings to be a
bird."
Here, as elsewhere, tho wholo power
lies in tho incongruity of the wholo
comparison, in tho reader's perfect
knowledge that Pecksniff is a humbug
and an impostor, and that there is no
thing bird-like or innocent in his na
ture. Tho vein once struck, thero was
nothing to hinder our good Genio from
working it for ever. His path swarmed
with oddities and incongruities ; Wag-ner-liko
ho mixed these together, and
produced the Hoinunculus, Laughter.
And just as the perception of oddity
and incongruity varies in men, varies
tho enjoyment of Dickens. Quiddity
for quiddity tho reader must givo as
well as receive ; and if the faculty is not
on him, ho will turn away contemptu
ously. A weasel looking out of a hole
is enough to convulse some people with
laughter ; they see a dozen odd resem
blances. Other people, again, walk
through all this topsyturvy land with
scarcely a smile. Life in all its phases,
greut and small, seems perfectly congru
ous and ship-shupo ; much too serious a
matter for any levity. St. l'aith Maga
zine. A Plea for Tolerance.
A large and varied survey of the
miseries of mankind has led me to con
clude that every man is a being much to
bo pitied. One cannot bo angry with
men, or bo otherwise than tolerant of
all their errors and shortcomings when
one thinks that most men have teeth
that some men shave that we have to
get up and go to bed (both of them de
testable operations) every day that
there is hardly any place, however re-'
mote, in which there is not more than
ono delivery of letters in the course of
the twenty-four hours that any human
being, however foolish, can annoy any
other human being, however sensible
(though thousands of miles should se
parate thcni,)by informing hiin abruptly
in a brutal telegram, of all the unpleasant
things that can happen that ploasures
are taken in such largo doses as to be
como rathor like poisons, dinners lasting
sometimes three hours that wo have to
live with creatures, very liko and yet
very unlike ourselves, who are strangely
attractive to us, and whom we fondly
and vainly endeavor to manage (they
every day in these times becoming
more unmanageable) that children will
scream at the top of their voices and
wear out shoes in tho most reckless man
ner that most of our abodes are but
vertical continuations of sewers that
there is no good weather anywhere ; it
it always too hot, or too cold, or too
rainy, or too shiny, or too misty, or too
dazzling that old ladies will have the
windows up in a railway carriage when
the wind is south, and young ladies tho
windows down when the wind is east
that thero is such a thing as public
speuking, and that no one can say or
write anything with reasonable brevity
I say again that a male human being
in a creature whom one cannot regard
but with the utmost pity ; and even his
Blight aberrations from perfect virtue are
results which may naturally be expected
to follow from the adverse circumstances
that surround him. il.iemUlait Ma
gazine. '
Ixiiiax Record of Time. There is
no word in the Indian language' for the
word " year." Indians reckon time by
the return of snow, or the springing up
of flowers, and the flight of tho birds
announces the progress of the seasons.
The motion of the sun marks the hour
of the day ; and these distinctions of
time are not noted in numbers, but in
language and illustrations of highly
poetical character.
Tu Those About 1o Marry.
My advice is to marry as quickly as
possible, for nono but those who are, un
happily, versed in such matters can be
awaro of the manifold minor, to say no
thing of major, evils which a long en
gagement entails. The position of an
affianced pair, after a time, becomes al
most ridiculous. Premature congratula
tions aro poured forth by some over-en-thusiastio
friends, whilo others cease to
believo in tho reality of an ultimate set
tlement, and become suspicious of the
sincerity of your professions, and almost
personally affronted at your delay. Then
the difficulty of sustaining, with appro
priate effect, the character of an en
gaged man is something enormous.
I say nothing of tho difficulty which
a ludy in that delicate position has to
encounter, for wc all keow that they ex
perience but little difficulty in making
themselves perpetually agreeable at
least before marriage ; but with regard
to a man, think of tho amiable and ex
cusable deceptions ho is forced to be
guilty of tho real distaste, but profess
ed pleasure, with which he accompanies
" the beloved object" to tho festiuo board
of some oppressive family friend, where,
for two mortal hours at least, he has to
sit, the observed of all observers, next to
the idol to whom ho has been paying un
ceasing devotion for the greater portion
of the daa, and to whom now ho has to
make himself agreeable having ex
hausted every scrap of news, every con
ceivable subject of conversation ! Ho
is afraid to venture upon any tender
aside, for fear he should be thought silly ;
or to keep much to generalities, tor fear
he should be considered slow.
I have, indeed, remarked engaged
couples who have been content to sit in
blissful silence, wrapped in contempla
tion of their approaching happiness ;
but such a state of quiescence is rarely
observable, andean scarcely be preserved
for an indefinite period.
One of my earliest recollections of
such a couple is when they were sitting
in this slate of tranquil calm, and form
ing a very limited hand-in-hand mutual
assurance company of their own ; but
their example is scarcely to be quoted,
as the partnership was shortly afterward
dissolved forever, and tho lady and gen
tleman aro at present thousands of miles
apart, and each belonging to another
firm.
It is impossible for a man of business
not to sympathize with on eminent phy
sician, who informed Ms futuro wife that
ho hud no time for courtship ; but that
if she would marry hiin, and bo ready
on a certain day, he should bo happy to
meet her at tho church and make her his
bride. Temple, liar.
Saturday Xlght.
What blessed things Saturday Nights
are, writes some one in the Trilmne, and
what would the world do without them V
Those breathing moments in the trump
ing march of life ; those little twilights
in the broad and garish light of noon,
when the pule yesterdays look beautiful
through the shadows, und faces " chang
ed " long ago, smile sweetly again in the
hush ; when ono remembers " tho oKl
folks at home," and the old-fashioned
fire, and tho old arm-chair, and the lit
tle brother that died, and the little sister
that was " translated."
Sat urday Nights make people human ;
settheir hearts to beating softly as they
used to, before tho world turned them
into war-drums, and jarred them to
pieces with tattoos.
Tho lodger closes with a clash; the
iron-doored vaults come to with a bang ;
up go tho shutters with a will; cKck
goes tho key in the lock. It is Saturday
night, and business breathes freo again.
Homeward, ho ! The door that has been
ajar ull tho week gently closes behind
him ; tho world is shut out. Shut out ':
Shut in, tho rather. Hero are his trea
sures after all, and not in the vault, and
not in the book save tho record in the
old family Bible and not in tho bunk.
Maybe you aro a bachelor, frosty and
forty. Then, poor fellow, Saturday
Night's nothing to you, as you aro noth
ing to anybody'. Get a wife, blue-eyed
or black-eyed, bnt abovo all, truo-eyed
get a little home, no matter how little,
and a little sofa, just to hold two, or two
and a half, and then get the two, or tho
two and a half in it, of a Saturday Night,
and then read this paragraph by the
light of your wife's eyes, and thank God,
and take courage.
Tho dim and dusty shops aro swept
up ; tho hammer is thrown down, the
apron is doffed, and labor hastens with
a light step, homeward bound.
" Saturday Night !" feebly murmurs
the languishing; as sho turns wearily
upon her couch, " and is thero another
to come '(" .
" Saturday Night, at last !" whispers
tho weeper above tho dying, " and it is
Sunday to-morrow, and to-morrow '."
Rewarding Honesty.
Tho Detroit Five Preen, of Wednesday,
gives this : Yesterday morning a lady
from tho East, who crossed from the
Great Western depot to tho Detroit and
Milwaukee road to go West, dropped
her pocket-book in the depot at Windsor,
and made outcry enough to scare every
one within a block. A ragged little
boy, with his hair sticking up through
an old hat, and his toes pooping out of
his boots, came forward with tho pocket
book, which he had found. It contain
ed, as the Lidy informed the ruib-oad of
ficials, $7,000 in bonds, $7,000 in notes,
and $ 1.0(H) in greenbacks, making its
cash value to' her as good as $15,000.
She was, of course, well pleased with
the boy's action, and asked his name,
ago, tho circumstances of tho family, and
finally opened the pocketbook to To
ward him. She hunted all through it,
found two ten cent shinplasters, and,
handing them to the lad, told him to al
ways remember that a good action was
sure to bring a good reward. The boy
jerked off his old hat, thanked her, and
ran off to buy ten cords of -wood and a
barrel of flour and other stuff to last his
widowed mother until spring. He'g
going to look for pocketbooks all the
rest of the winter, and when he finds
another, he's going to hand it right
over probably.
Prof. StoweN Mistake.
An exchange gives the following amus
ing anecdote of Rev. Prof. Stowe, hus
band of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe :
Whilo visiting at a little town in
Massachusetts, last summer, Prof. Stowe
desired a friend to secure a horso and
vehiclo to tako himself and wife to a
town nine miles distant, where ho do
sired to consult some genealogical re
cords. His friend said that ho would do
his best, but fl,at thero were no decent
turnouts in the village. A littlo in ad
vance of tho hour appointed, Dr. Stowe
noticed a phaeton at tho door of his host,
and, hastily summoning his wife, entered
t and started on his journey. To his
surpriso tho horso was a very fleet one,
and tho phaeton exquisite, with its silk
and sating linings, ivory finishing and
easy springs. Bowling along on his
journey, the doctor expressed his great
delight, and announced his intention of
securing tho etablishnicnt for tho season.
Arriving at his destination, ho fastened
the horse and went to work upon tho
dusty records at tho town hall. He had
been thus engaged for nearly an hour,
when he was suddenly interrupted by
tho abrupt entrance of his host at the
town whence he started, who exclaimed :
" Dr. Stowe, have you been stealing a
horso and phaeton '("
To the astonished doctor it was then
revealed that ho had by mistako taken
the establishment of a newly-married
Episcopal clergyman, who hud come to
call upon the doctor's host, and who was
astonished, an leaving, to find his beauti
ful turnout a wedding present gone,
and replaced by an old worn-out horse
and chaise that had been brought thero
by the livery stable-keeper for Dr.
Stowe.
A stem chase ensued, but the doctor
was not captured until ho had reached
his destination, as stated, whence, after
mutual explanations, he drove home in
the old chaise. Tho comment of tho
Episcopal clergyman on the case was
this:
" This comes, Dr. Stowe, of not attend
ing the church where tho command
ments are read every Sunday."
A Japanese Carousal.
A correspondent in Japan writes the
following : " On the west coast, during
our homeward journey, the Governor,
who had accompanied us for two days,
managed to let us see an Aino dance.
We seated ourselves in our tea-houses,
the sliding doors on one side were all re
moved, and tho Ainos, under a Japanese
officer, assembled in a littlo yard adja
cent, and were directed to dance and
sing for our entertainment. The feast
commenced by a generous distribution
of said (rice whiskey) to thorn to warm
them up to their work. They drank
prodigious quantities of this before man
ifesting any excitement, but when it be
gan to work they cut some eccentric
capers in a wild style, singing songs
that appeared to have been buried for a
hvng time low down in their stomachs.
Their dance consisted of hopping, bow- J
ing, clapping their hands together, and
then striking their tliighs and breasts.
Ono of their songs was translated to us,
when it appeared to bo a song of thanks
to the Japanese, from whom they had
learned how to make saki, and were
wonderfully indebted for such civilizing
influences. During the singular per
formance they imitated birds and beasts
quite well ' in drinking they were pro
vided with peculiar shaped sticks ; theso
they laid first across tho bowl, then
raised the whole to their foreheads. We
felt conscience-stricken at having been
instrumental in inflicting upon theso
poor wretches tho duty of indulging in
such a drunken orgie as this proved to
be, and imagined from the amount of
liquor that they drank, that they would
bo " off duty" for a week ; but early
next morning, when we rodd out of
town, wo found them all apparently in
tho best of spirits, waiting to sec us pro
perly off on our journey."
A Curious Incident.
Mr. Fluuddin, in his narrative of a
residence in Persia, relates a curious in
cident which occurred while ho was at
Ispahan :
" The Persian servant of a European
had been stung by a scorpion, and his
master wished to apply ammonia, the
usual remedy in such cases, but the man
refused, and ran off to the bazaar. When
he returned ho said he was cured, and
appeared to bo so. The European, rath
er surprised at this almost instantaneous
cure, questioned him, and found that he
had been to a dervish, who, he said, after
examining tho wound and uttering a
few words, had several times touched it
with a littlo iron blade. Still more as
tonished at tho remedy than tho cure,
tho European desired to sco tho instru
ment by which tho latter was said to
havo been effected. At the cost of a
small pickech ho was allowed to have it
for a few minutes in his possession. Af
ter a careful examination, finding noth
ing extraordinary in the instrument, he
made up his mind that tho cure was a
mere trick ; that tho dervish was an im
postor; that the scorpion sting had not
Iienetrated, and that his servunt had
loon more frightened than hurt. He
throw tho blade contemptuously upon
the table, when, to his great surprise, he
beheld it attach itself strongly to a knife.
Tho quack's instrument was simply a
magnet. But what power had the load
stone's attraction over venom '( This dis
covery was vey odd. Incredulity was
at a nonplus, and yet the man stung by
the scorpion was cured, and he who had
cured him was in great renown at Ispa
han for tho treatment of that sort of
wound.
A remarkable fact in connection with
good ventilation is that men will eat
more when they have plenty of fresh air
than without. Dr. Reid mentions 'that
men in largo manufacturing establish
ments have struck for higher wages
when a gook system of ventilation hag
been introduced, as their former wages
were insufficient to procure the increased
amount of food demanded, by their im
proved appetites,
Abont flag Measurements.
The following articlo from tho Journal
f Applied Chemistry (New York), will bo
interesting to those who live under the
gas light. The writer says:
Tho custom Df paying for gas by the
cubic foot, without regard to its illumin
ating power, is like buying all cloth at
a uniform price per yard, without any
questions as to the fineness of the wool.
No one, would like to pay as much for
shoddy as for cassiinere, and yet shoddy
gas is tho principal articlo now furnish
ed to customers, whilo tho price actually
paid calls for tho best gas" that can be
made. It is really surprising that a
monopoly of such a monstrous charac
ter should bo permitted to maintain
itself so many years in an enlightened
community, and tho cause must bo
sought for in tho want of confidence in
any legislative enactment to correct tho
evil under tho corrupt government that
has afllictod our city during tho past
few years. Tho peoplo havo preferred
to bo heavily taxed rather than to get
into any altercation on the subject; but
now that honest days begin to havo
dawned upon us, it seems to bo a good
opportunity to appeal for more light to
those who sell that commodity in the
shape of gas. Tho city companies should
bo oonipelled to furnish gas of a prescrib
ed density and fixed caudle power.
Some of the London companies pride
themselves on keeping up the illuminat
ing powers of their gas to tho maximum
standard of fifteen candles, and in twen-ty-two
English works the gas from the
best coal ranges from twelve to fourteon
per hour It is difficult to say what tho
average in New York may be, but from
some observation made by ourselves
with Bonson's photometer we aro dis
posed to put it, in cold weather, at be
low ten candles. Besides tho loss to tho
consumer in the amount of light afford
ed by a poor gas, thero is another differ
ence which tells in favor of tho company.
Assumin g r'.iu specific gravity of the poor
gas to be .", and that of a rich gas 7i30,
tile former will pass through tho burner
much faster than the rich, and increase
the bills of the consumer from U0 to oO
per cent, without any corresponding in
crease in tho photometic power of tho
gas. There, ought to bo a fixed stnmd
ard, say sixteen candles, prescribed by
law, and an inspector appointed to see
that tho companies comply with it, and
in case of any breach of contract a heavy
penalty should be imposed. It is not
darkness that wo want, but light, and
for the sake of tho thousands of poor
sewing women nnd wprkinginen some
thing should bo dono to save money and
eyesight. Let' quality, not quantity,
govern in this matter. " We have plenty
of gas, but not enough of light.
The Late Eclipse.
A gentleman who writes' from Bom
bay, tho station at which Professor
Lockyer, of tho British Eclipse Expe
dition, viewed tho itceent eclipse, writes
to Suture as follows : "It docs not hap
pen more than once in u lifetime to see
such a glorious and magnificent sight as
that from which I havo just returned
that is, tho total eclipse of the Bun. I
have seen many eclipses before, but
never anything 'to equal this. I was
engaged to go wifch the Morgans to the
top of tho hill to see it. Got up ut six,
and found it a lovely morning ; rode up
to Morgan's, about half a mile, carrying
with ino glasses, smoked glass and sun
hat. Got thero beforo seven and found
the eclipse already begun. Got out two
mirrors and watched tho hole in the sun
grow bigger and bigger. It began from
tho top, ami wo all went off to tho
highest point on tho hill, from whenco
wo could see all Ooly and the mountains
around. When tho eclipsg got so far,
the cold on the mountain grew much
greater, the gruss was so wet that no
one's boots kept it out, tho feet and
hands grew cold, and with your back to
tho sun the light over the country was
like tho twilight or tho earliest dawn.
Gradually the lower streak got thinner
and thinner, until at last thero shone a
light like the famous limo-light, and in
a moment or two that went out, and
tho sun was totally concealed; many
stars were visible, tho wholo country
looked dark that is, half dark, like
moonlight tho crows stop cawing, and
for tw minutes and a half tho total
eclipso lasted, a sight I shall never for
get, and then tho limo-light again ap
peared at tho bottom rim of tho sun,
and gradually more and more of hiin
uppearod, the crows began at once,- and
tho cocks began to crow, tho shadow
now was inverted, and by degrees got
small, until at nine o'clock the eclipso
was over. I cannot but suppose that the
scientific men must have had grand op
portunities of observation, nnd that to
day's pencil will carry home many a
description. Anything more beautiful,
more sublime, or perfect it would bo
impossible to conceive."
The Test for Burning Oils.
Pour a small quantity of oil in a saucer,
or other shallow dish, and pass a lighted
match near the surfaco of tho oil. If
you detect any small bluish flashes, or
puffs, or if the vapor takes fire, then in
either caso tho oil is unfit for use. Bo
Bure and havo tho dish and oil at as
warm a temperature as they would bo in
the Bhade on a hot summer's day. Re
cently, in a single month, three women
were burned to death in tho City of
Pittsburg by kcroseno explosions. Wo
have before us a sample of the oil used
in ono of these casos, and any person
familiar with kerosene can tell instantly
that it has been adulterated by the ad
dition of benzine. On tho application
of a match, as above described, it takes
fire as instantaneously as gunpowder.
The oil was purchased for a good article,
but if this simple test had been applied
its true character would have beon'dis
covered and the life of the wife and
mother would have been Baved. JCx
ehange. The contested will caso of tho late G.
Dainin, Esq., of New Orloans, still pro
gresses, and causes some tall swearing
among the contestants.
Facts and Figures.
Hartford women propose to estublish
an insurance company.
A quondam governess to the children
of the King ef Simn is lecturing in Bos
ton. '
The O'Briou I'ioiw, Iowa, goeg forth
to the world from a wooden printing
press.
Tho best customer of the shaving cup
of an Aberdeen, Scotland, barbor is a
woman.
A resident of Indiana is reported to
have had seven wives all named Mary.
Like Byron, ho had "a fondnc for the
name of Mary."
Kansas brags of a pumpkin vino with
100 branches, measuring in tho aggre
gate, l,;5(i8 feet, and bearing pumpkitis
five feet fivb by six feet six.
An able-bodied North Carolina negro,
tho other day, swallowed two dozen raw
eggs, shells and all, and washed them
down with a pint of raw whiskey.
Clarksville, Pike County, hafh a
young gent with a hole in his back, and
a young lussio who exclaims, " I did it
with my little pistol." Kantoi City
Times.
Michigan University fenialo Sopho
mores haze good-looking Freshmen by
blindfolding and then kissing them.
Wo shouldn't think that was capital pun
ishment. A microscopic examination of flesu
from the body of a young lady who
died at Urbanu, 111., from eating ham,
revealed fifty thousand trichina to the
square inch.
A drover who sells his cattle by live
weight, always gives them as much wa
ter as they will drink before driving
them on tho scolos. That is his way of
watering stock.
A woman in Iowa compelled to go to
tho Poor Houso wlio is 103 yuars of ago,
has raised a largo family, and is tho
mother of a wealthy citizon who refuses
to support her.
A Philadelphia woman who had
broken her leg was so modest that she
would not permit tho surgeon to set it,
and there being no female doctor 'around,
mortification ensued which resulted in
death.
Swindlers tried to seduce a AVrsioi
man on a railroad train into betting
that ho could open a patent padlock
which they carried about. Ho took the
bet and opened tho lock w;ith a slodge
hammer.
Tho Supreme Court of tho United
States having decided that a husband
can recover damages for tho loss of his
wifo proportioned to her usefulness and
capacity to earn- money, .a Boston ma
whoso spouso perished in a recent rail
way accident was allowed by the dis
criminating jury exactly six cents.
Mrs. Mary Mjrtler.who rode from Exe
ter to Pottstown, Pa., on horseback, to
attend tho funeral observances of George
Washington in that borough on the 12th
of January, 1S00, is stilljving at Mount
Airy, Berks County, aged ninety-two,
but looks and acts and talks liko a young
thing of sixty or thereabouts.
They claim to havo a clergyman in
LowelL Mass., so familiar with the hymn
and tune book in uso in his church that
if any page of tho book is mentioned
he can tell what tune is thereon, and all
tho hymns set to it, and if tho namo of
any tune is mentioned, ho can tell what
page it is on, and repeat tho first lines
of the corresponding hyunw.
Tho Norwich Bulletin, says, next to
Massachusetts, Connecticut has the
largest deposits in sfwings banks of any
of tho New England States. The
amount on January 1, 1871, wus $55,
207,705, and now niupt exceed 110,000,
000. In tho six New England States
theso deposits now exceed $275,000,000,
and perhaps reach $:J00,000,0()0.
Prof. Silversmith, of Chicago, has in
vented a machine for making coppertypo
by cold pressure process. The value of cop
Xer is about three times that ot' ordinary
typo metal, but the typo mado by this pro
cess, it is said, will lust ten times as long ns
tho old cast type. It is a curious fact
that hardly any improvement has hither
to been made in the manufacture of type
for the last three hundred years.
A handsome young gentleman walked
into tho Adams Express office tho other
day, and desired to express a package of
letters to n ludy, to whom ho desired to
return thorn. '" What aro they worth ?"
asked tho clerk, who, in making out hig
account, desired to know what was the
risk. Tho young gentleman hesitated a
moment, then clearing his throat from a
certain huskiness, replied, " Well, I can't
say exactly, but a few weeks ago I
thought they wero worth about four
hundred thousand dollars."
There is an obsolescent proverb to tho
effect that shoemakers' children alwavg
go barefoot. The significance of this is,
of course, that mechanics and profession
al men aro slow to give themselves or
their families tho benefit of their special
avocations. The proverb is strikingly
corroborated by some vitality statistic
that have rocently been elaborated by a
loarnod gentleman at Berlin. These
show that of all classos of mankind the
shortest lived are the doctors. Thero i.s
another fact developed by these figures
that conveys a grim sarcasm ; among
the classes whose average of longevity is
tho greatest are military men. The in
evitable inference is that to destroy hu
man life is healthy ; to save it, fatal.
To young men going to college or
desiring to go there, the question of eoi
penso is sometimes an important one.
The last number of the College CVurat
has an article .on thig subject, in which
it gives figures showing what student
at Yale, have actually paid for their tui
tion and subsistence. In the class of
1871 there, were those who lived on $250
a year, and others who spent $2,500. It
depends mainly on the students them
selves, of course. It is easy for young
men to spend a large amount of money
if they have it at command ; and, on
the other hand, an indigent and am
bitious youth can approximate to the
scale of expenses of an aacient philoso
pher to a surprising degree, if he tries.