r ' HENRY A. PARSONS, Je., Editor and Publisher. ELK COUNT Y THE RET UBLICA JV PARTY. Two Dollars txa Anjjcm. VOL. II. RIDGIWAY, PAV THURSDAY, APRIL 18, 1872. NO. 7. Mi ? If POETfi Y. TWO MEADOW M. Down In tli. pasture meadow. Two footlets bare and browu, Deep In the pointed clover. Pronging the grasses down, Eyoa that were sunny and nancy Curls of a tawny gold A smile of rippling sweetness, And a rooutn half shy, half bold Hp chafed the straw-colored millerv- U laughed at the lowing klne Heir of a limitless kingdom Was thin princely boy of mine. Down In tho pasture meadow. Under a tinted sky, Hopeful, and proud, and loving. We stood my wife and I. We watched the merry monarch,' As h. stored his hat to the brim With marguerites white and golden Watched till the west grew dim. The 8itmmerdied with its clover, Tho daisies withered away . Tbe Lesson of Life we am learning, And its text is hard and gray. Down In the meadow of marble-, A ht ad ! tone cold and white Marks where our boy is sleeping His dreamless sleep to-night. THE STO&Y-TELLE II. MISS GEBMAIXE. BY JUSTIX M'CARTIIY. I. In some purls of the suburbs of New York city, the Bloomingdalo . region, among tho rest, are quaint, picturesque, and even romantic-looking old homes, cottago-built, ivy-clad, flower-surrounded, imbedded in gardens, and so sepa rated from the ou,ter and busy world as to seem no part of it. One of these, which had been tenanted by successive generations of the Oermaine family al most, since the days of New Amsterdam, was understood to be quietly offered for sale some t wo or three years ago. Tho family had run itself out, both in wealth and in numbers. It had dwindled down to a widow and a daughter. Then the widow died, and the daughter of eighteen was leit alone in the world Her health was somowhat delicate ; her means were small. She was ordered by her physician to seek a warmer climate for at least two winters, and she had made up her mind to sell the old home where she could no longer live without the ever renewing of recent griefs. Buyers ought to bo easily found for so pretty and picturesque a place, and could have been found readily enough if things, were done in proper business fashion. But Miss Isabel Oermaine would do nothing in business fashion. Offer after offer she peremptorily re jected merely on seeing tho proposed purchaser. " Oh, no, Mr, Rowan," sho would say, her eyes filling with tears. I couldn't give my darling mother's house to him" (or to her, as the caso might be). " I couldn't have him" (or her) " wading in dear father's, library, sleeping in dear mother's room ! It can't be. I would rather never sell it, and do without tho money somehow." Mr. Rowan did not very well see how the money could be done without, but it was no use his talking. The young lady would not sell the house to any one whose looks and manner displeased her. Many and many an eligible offer did Mr. Rowan bring almost to a con clusion, until Miss Germainc got a . glance at the other party to tho pro posed bargain ; and then the thing was at an end. Mr. Rowan was a buildor and ahouse ' decorator, whose principal premises were somewhere in Fourth Avenue. lie had always looked after the Oermaine house, attended to its repairs and redec .orations, kept its gas-fitting in order, :and in every other way been its practi cal business man ever since he startod 'in business for himself. His father had been gardener to Dr. Oermaine, the grandfather of our heroine. Mr. Kowan had prospered as the family of his fath er's patron decayed and declined, but he always felt the same interest and affec tion in the house and its occupants now its one occupant. He it was" who looked after every thing for Miss Ger ma'ine, from the ordering of her mother's funeral to tho selling of her houso. His manner to the young woman was still ; somewhat as if he were a mere house- decorator, or a land-steward, and she : a lady of great fortuno and powerful patronage. The autumn was drawing on, and tho Hectors insisted that Isabel must soon leave New York and go either to Flor ida or Algeria. Tho houso was not sold. Miss Germaiiiti had just refused ah ex cellent , offer, because the gentleman waking it had let fall a hint that he proposed to turn her father's library in to a billiard-room. She grew pale, look ed at Mr. Rowan ; and he knew the thing was at an end. " I dare say," he mildly pleaded, when the gentleman had been bowed out, " he could easily be induced to give up that notion if you only askod him, you know, and lust explained how you feel, and-" 11 Never !" was the young lady's elo quent reply. Its tone was, at least, as '. decisive as that of M. Rouher's famous " Jamais !" and there was this difference, ' that Isabel was in a position to keep her ' word, wluireas M. Rouher was soon out t of all condition for maintaining his. , But that was a day of destiny. The purchaser was at hand. The hour came, ' ' aud with It the woman. An English lady, with one daughter, saw the place, 4 cams straightway in, and opened nego- tiation with Miss . Oermaine herself. . The lady's husband Mr. Alsager, was about to live in New York as the head of - the American branch ot a London bank ing house. He and his family had been staying at first in one of the fashionable hotels in tha city, and his wife detested the way of living there. Then they took a furnished house on Murray Hill, and kis daughter abhorred that She would have a lawn, a garden, and a house that was not new, and all these attributes woro combined in Isabel's old home. The elder ludv was fair, sweet, and sympathetic; the daughter was fair, plump, pretty, and with a winning manner charmingly mado up of the af fectionate and the imperious. Isabel was especially touched by the fondness of mother and daughter for each other. They seemed liko tenderly attached sis ters. When they heard that Isabel's mother had lately died, their tone and manner to Isabel grew moro friendly and sweet than ever ; and Miss Oer maine observed, with a swelling heart, that the yousg English lady instinctive ly threw her arm round her own mother and clung to her as if the bare thought of a possible separation had affrighted her. The elder lady turned upon her and smiled a sweet, reassuring smile ; and Isabel loved them both. A basis of negotiation was soon agreed upon. " Papa will do anything we like," said Miss Alsager. " And I have only myself to please," said Isabel, with a sigh. As the house would need some new decorations to suit the taste of tho com ing owners, Miss Oermaine earnestly recommended Mr. Rowan, and mention ed his long connection with the family. Mrs. Alsager was only too glad to have troublo taken off her hands ; and Isabel ventured to make an appointment for tho day next but one, when Mr. Rowan could be present, and everything could be arranged. Tho next day but one, at tho appoint ed hour, Mrs. Alsager and her daughter Alice were at the place. They were shown into a room in which thoy could hear the notes of a piano. It was a large, low-roofed room, with folding doors that stood partly open. The au tumn sun shone upon tho room whore tho strangers stood, and left the smaller apartment on which the folding-doors opened partly in shadow. But Mrs. Al sager and her daughter could see that in the smaller room Isabel sat at a piano, and that a handsome young man with dark curling hair stood bosido her. She was playing some sud, sweet air some air that spoke vaguely, yet with pene trating conviction, of separation and farewell. In a moment Isabel rose and advanced to meet the visitors, yet not so quickly but that the mother and daughter had exchanged speaking glances. They thought they could understand thiit scene. Miss Oermaine did not show tho slightest embarrassment. " Mr. Rowan has coov" she said. " I have boon try ing to amuse him ;" and she smiled rather a wan smile. " Mr. Rowan '." repeated Mrs. Alsager, in a tone of surprise ; and she looked round for the elderly builder.' " Not Mr. Rowan, the father," said Isabel, " but his son ;" and she formally fircsentod the youug man to the two adies, who, fresh from England, bowed rather coldly. " My father says he begins to distrust his own judgment in modern household affairs," said yeuug Rowan, " and ho al ways insists on one of us taking his place when anything new has to be look ed after. don't agreo with him. I only wish I had as good an artistic judg ment even by training as he seems to havo by instinct. But he will have it so, and so 1 have taken the liberty to come to-day instead of him. If you will allow mo to show you over the house, Mrs. Alsager, I shall bo happy to take your instructions, and to offer any suggestion with your leave that may occur to me." His manner was as cocl and easy as though he were a gentleman of fortuno showing his now house to two or three friends; yet in all the business details of the inspection he deported himself sim ply as the skilled artisan taking orders and giving experienced suggestions. Mrs. Alsager disliked him at first, mere ly because she was a little shocked to see a young lady on such familiar terms with a house-builder's son. But his manner was very good neither con strained nor in tho least degree intrusive his taste and judgment seemed per fect, and he was certainly very hand some. When young Rowan was taking his leave Isabel shook hands with him in the warmest manner, and said, in a low tone, "I shall see you again to-morrow i" "Every day," ho answered, "if you will allow me, until until you go." Tho words were spoken by both iu a low tone, but without the least attempt at secrecy. Mrs. Alsager and her daughter exchanged lightning glances of wonder. " Mamma, how strange !" Miss Alice exclaimed, when tho two were in their carriage together. " I do believe she is in love with him the son of a builder, or gas-fitter, or something." " My dear, I almost thiukshe is. What an odd country .!" " She teems a perfect lady." " She U a perfect lady. I am told that there is no better family here than hers. And I never met a more agreeable and lady-like girl in my life." " Nor I. I like her immensely. But how can sha go on so with him Y Isn't he a very handsome young man 'f V Very. He would pass off for a gen tleman anywhere. A strange country ! It will be long before I understand it ; but I am inclined to like everything." The details of redocoration and alter ation required many interviews between Mrs. Alsager and young Rowan. The elder Rowan sometimes came, and was always the respectful, commonplace man of business, in whom one could not help of feeling confidence, but whom certain ly no one could take lor a genueman. The more Mrs. Alsager knew of the younger man tho more she hkod him. He had been educated at Harvard, he had read a great deal ; he could talk French, and could convorse about Taine and Ruskin and art : he could play the piano ; yet he nover seemed to dream of being above his business. Even Alice after a while became quite reconciled to him. Both ladies crew very fond of Isabel. Mrs. Alsager insisted that until she was ready to leave the house not a hand should be put to alter any of its arrange ments, nor should the new owners nor any of their servants enter it excopt as visitors. This, at least, spared Isabel some pangs. To the last tho old home was to be tho sumo. She could nover see any change in it except such change as Fate inexorable had already made. Isabel was to go to r londa, accompan ied only by hor maid, a Swedish girl, who had lived with her since they both wero children. These last days were very sad. Isabel was loaving the home of her birth, her childhood, hor affec tions the homo which now seemed like tho sacred grave of her dead father and mother. The doctors assured her that a warm climate would restore her health ; but sho sometimes fancied sho felt a pre sentiment that her own grave would bo made in the South, and she thought it might perhaps as well bo so, although she yearned to lie near her mother in death. Yet she always showed an out ward, cheerfulness and courage. Her one great consolation was so purely sen timental that practical minds would scorn her for it the thought that tender and kindly hands would care for the places that had been hers, that the sweet voices of loving women and tho pure breath of an affectionate and happy household would gladden the old rooms so dear to her. Was there no thought of sadness, no grief of parting, no gleam of hope in her which had another source 'f Tho idea that had shot so quickly into tho minds of Mrs. Alsager and her daughter when first they saw young Rowan with Isabel had never occurred to him. He saw Miss Oermaine sweet and friendly to him, as she was to his father and to every one. IIo saw that no idea of social separation ever seemed to express itself in her manner. But she came of a great old family, and his father was only a better sort of a working-man, and he himself aspired to no thing higher than the succession to his father's business. It never occurred to him as possible that Isabel could care for him. Now that his father had mon ey and sho had none, his spirit and man hood would have repelled such a thought moro utterly than ever. As Isabel Oer maine could not love such a fellow as he, would he allow his soul to entertain, even for an instant, the thought that money could buy her 'i But he loved her, mado her his idol, consecrated his thoughts to her, confessed his love to himself, and was glad in the knowledge of it. He came to see her for the last time before hor journey South. They were friendly, sad, and in a certain sense con fidential. But each kept a great thought back from the other. " Would you mind doing me a little favor before I leave you ':" he suddenly asked. " Surely I will do anything you wish. What is it ?" " Only to sing me thnt song once more." She looked up at him with sad and speaking eyes. But he was looking down ; had almost turned away. She sat to the piano and played and sang iu low, sweet tones tho air we have already heard her play. Tho evening was setting in ; the room was growing gray in the dusk. The voice of t lie sing er became fainter and fainter, as deep ening emotions and memories poured in upon her, and once it seemed as if she were about to break down. But she rul liod bravely and went on to the end. He spoke not a word but " Thank you and good-bye." Iu tho gathering durk she hardly knew that he was going un til he had gone. She looked eagerly round, found that sho was alone, and broke into tears. II. Tho air of the South, and perhaps her removal from scenes overshadowed by melancholy association, did wonders for Miss Oermaine. A few months made a marked change. She grow stronger and stronger every day. She had received many letters from the place she still called her home. Mr. Rowan the elder wrote to her from time to time, and told her with some apparent pride of the kindness Mr. and Mrs. Alsager had shown to his son, and how the latter was a frequent visitor at their house. In ene letter he mentioned the fact that he ex pected his other son, Eustace, home soon from Europe, where he had sent him for education in Germany. Isabel had but little , memory of Eustace Rowan, and soon forgot this piece of news. Both the Alsager ladios wrote to her several times. At first they too mentioned Frank Rowan often, and spoke warmly of him ; but of late his name seldom appeared in their letters. In fact, after Isabel's departure, Mrs. Alsager, seeing that Frank Rowan was in education, manner, and nature a true gentleman, had, so far conquered her English prejudices as to ask her husband whether they might not invite him to dinner. Mr. Alsager, who had made all his own way in life for himself, only re plied, " Good gracious, my dear, why not, if you liko iff" So that Frank Rowan dined there once, and then of ten, and was much liked by all. Isabel had made up her mind that she would pay a visit to New York, and was actually writing to Mrs. Alsager on the subject, when a bundle of letters came in. Tho first was from Mr. Rowan. Af ter telling her many scraps of unimpor tant news, it wound up with these words : " You will have heard, no doubt, of my son's approaching marriage to Miss Alsager. It's a great honor, and one I nover looked for. But the boy is a good boy, well brought up, and like a gentleman ; and I am well pleased with the prospect, as I am sure you will be." 'W ith trembling hands, and doing her best to keep her Hps steady, Isabel open ed Miss Alsager's letter. It was very kind and affectionate. Toward the close it assumed that she had heard from Mr. Rowan all about the approaching mar riage. " My dear, in your country we English unlearn our nonsense, and find that a man is a man. Twelve , months ago I should have thought any one mad who talked of such a thing. Now I am reconciled to it ; to-morrow, perhaps, I shall even rejoice. The lad is a perfect gentleman, and he and she are immense ly fond of each other. You ought to take a deep interest in it, for it is indi rectly all your doing. Had we not seen you and your house it would never have come about, Now caa't you follow the example t I shan t " say what I onoo thouirht about vou. but 1 do know Home body, and I wish you would como up and let me give you away. Isabel lot the letters fall. So this, then, was the end : and he Lad never loved her nover ; ad that last night she had so nearly betrayed herself I Oh, how she loved him that night, and long ed that he would but speak 1 That night, and always for years and years at least ! And ho had never loved her all tho time ! In the full, deep misery of tho knowledge there was to her but the one consolation that sho had not be trayed herself that her secret was and ever should be her own. She disciplined her heart for that night wrote two let ters of reply and congratulation (in which, however, she could not force her self to mention Frank Rowan's name) ; and announced that sho was soon about to leave Florida for some other climate, she was not yet certain where. When bIio had sealed these letters she felt as if she had signed her farewell to lifo and hope and all that would have made life worth the having. She left Florida in a few days, and crossed the ocean to Europe, and for a whole year was utter ly lost to the friends who gathered un der tho roof ot her old home. HI. Twelve months had passed away, and at the door of the old home stood Isa bel once again. She had grown weary of her life in Europe, and she now be lieved herself cured of her idle love. So she had returned to her own couutry ; and driven partly by friendship for Mrs. Alsagi-r, partly by a nameless impulse, sho went to the old house. She stood for a moment at the little side gate so familiar to her, then opened it and went in. It was a beautiful evening of early summer, and the grass and the garden looked friendly and winning to the eyes of poor lonely Isabel. Their very friend liness overpowered her, and she had to stop for a moment in order to get the tear-drops out of her eyes. As she stood she saw twp figures seated on a bench under a tree, a young man and young waman. She knew Alice's fair hair and graceful figure, although tho girl's face was turned away ; and her heart beat with a cruel pang as she saw the dark curls of tho yoling man. His face too sho oould not see ; but nobody could fail to perceive at a glance that these two were a young married pair, Isabel determined to crush a weakness that seemed shameful and selfish to her, She would go up and frankly offer her congratulations. . isut suddenly tho young man raised his head ; Bhe saw his face, and it was not tho face of Frank Rowan ' It was like him that is, somewhat like but it was not he ' Alice now was nestling in his arms. Surely this must be her husband, yet as surely it is not r rank Kowan ! Isabel felt the blood mount to her forehead, and her eyes grew dim and the tears seemed to flicker and become en veloped in a mist. Sho had not been seen by the young married pair, and she avoided them and hastened to tho house. Tho door stood open, and, unseen by any one, she entered the old familiar room where the piano used to stand. A piano was there still, and the tolding-daors wero nearly closed. Isabel was about to ring the bell iu order to make her presence known, when she heard two voices in the adjoining room ; and she could not move troin where she stood ; the sounds and words had a fascination for her. Sho seemed to have no choice left ; she could only stand and listen " My poor Frank," said the voice of Airs. Alasger, " 1 am so grieved about you and about her ! But, you foolish boy, why didn't you speak out in time i" " I don't know I hadn't the courage ; and even if I had, what would have been tho use '( She never could have loved me ; I know it." It was the voico of Frank Rowan which spoke thus : " How would your brother have got his wife if ho hadn't at least given Alice a chance for accepting him ' Do you think she could have proposed for him '(" " Eustace is a better fellow than I am every way ; and then Alice was always near and you were so kind I But it was different with s I moan with me and now I have lost her forever." " Frank," said Mrs. Alsager, speaking in a very grave tone, " do you know, I always suspected that in her heart Isa bel Germaine loved you :" "Oh, Mrs. .Alsager, don't torture me for nothing. It can not be. If it were so, why should sho have gone away in such a manner ; lelt us without a word to let us know where even a friendly line might reach her ':" " That very thing is one of my rea sons. I can't tell why, but I have often thought we wero not clear enough in explaining about Alice's marri tse. I took it for granted that your father had explained everything, he took it for granted that I explainod, aud we neither of us did ; and I fear we made a sad blunder of it." " But what could that have had to do with her sudden disappearance '" " Don't you understand V Can't you guess r"' " I don't understand ; I can't guess." " Suppose she thought it was you, and not Eustace, that was to marry Alice?" 1 here was a sudden sound as if Frank had sprung to his feet, and he ex claimed, " Oh, Mrs. Alsager, if I could only be lieve in that, I would search the whole world for her until I found her 1 And I would bring her back or kill mvself be fore her eyes ! What is life to me with out her i Isabel could endure no more.' A sud den inspiration seized her. She turned to the piano and played a few hurried, aud tremulous bars of the old and fam iliar farewell air which he knew so well, There was a cry in the next room, a crash, a flinging back of folding-doors. and Mrs. Alsager and Frank rushed into the room, and Isabel wag nearly faint ing witn emotion nan shame, half joy when the young man caught hor in his arms. No more of the storv needs to be told but that tho Alsagers found tho old home too small for them, as their daugh ter Alice and her husband wero always to live with them. So they discovered anether place not very far away, and they made arrangements to resell the old home to Frank Rowan for his young wife and himself. Nor does the tale need ay particular moral, excopt per haps, that in announcing by letter an approaching marriage it is always safer to mention the exact names ot tho per sons about to marry. An Improved Double Rail. Iu a late issue of the Amnrkan Rail way Time, T. U'illis Pratt has given a description of ' a new and improved double rail, by means ot which a contin uous rail is secured, having as great a width of top and bottom surface as pos sible, without greatly exceeding in weight per linear yard the best solid or single rail in use at the f resent time. The double rail has two necks spread somewhat apart, thus giving a better support to the top surface, and securing less projection from tho vertical and solid parts of tho rail, than in any of the ordinary patterns. The bottom of tho double rail is 25 per cent, wider than any of tho usual patterns, and therefore will not sink so rapidly into the cross ties, and thus their wear and tear will be diminished. Tho double rail, with its groat lateral width, will preserve its line either straight or curved much bet ter than those, of tho single or compound pattern. Tho two parts not being fitted to each other by grooves, or in any other of the modes by which one part is brought in contact with tho other, there will be less strain upon tho rivets and bolts, and consequently a more compact body ot rail will be maintained. The two parts being exactly alike, less ex pense will be incurred in tho manufac ture, and greater facility attained either in hrst laying tho track or in repairs. This improved double rail is laid on the tie thus: Two equal and similar rails are placed side by side, enclosing in the hollow parts between them a core or tongue of wood. This core is intended to exactly fit the hollow parts of the rail, and to be of sufficient thickness to keep the t wo side pitces a quavter of an inch or more apart at the top and bot tom flanges. The whole is to bo fasten ed together with screw-bolts or rivets, whichever may be found best in prac tice. Tho side pieces are to break joints at one-half their lengths, and tho wood en core at equidistant intermediate points. Splicing or fishing pieces of iron to be used, if necessary, at each point on the outside surfaces in the hollow of the rails. This eombination is, in fact, a double iron rail ; being two distinct rails placed side by side, and kept from contact with each other by the wooden core, and yet bound together by the bolts or rivets, ihus are secured the qualities of a continuous rail with suf ficient stiffness or rigidity, combined with the elasticity imparted by naving the parts pressed against a wooden sur face. Beauty of Old People. Jlen and women make their own beauty or their own ugliness. Lord Ly tton speaks in one of his novels, of a man " who was uglier than he had any business to be;" and if he could but read it, every human being carries his lite in his lace, and is good-looking or the reverse as that lifo has been good or evil. On our features the fine chisel of thought and emotion are eternally at work. Beauty is not the monopoly of blooming young men and of white and pink maidens. There is a slow-growing beauty which only conies to perfection in old age. Grace belongs to no period of life, and goodness improves the longer it exists. 1 havo seen sweeter smiles from a lip of seventy than upen a lip of scy enteen. There is the beauty of youth and the beauty of holiness a beauty much more seldom met, and more frequently found in the arm-chair by the tire, with grandchildren around its knee, than m the ball-room or promenade. Husband and wife, who have fought the world side by side, who have made common stock ot loy or sorrow, and aged togeth er, are not unfrequently found curiously alike in personal appearance, and in pitch and tono of voice just as twin pebbles on the beach, exposed to the same tidal influences, are each other's second self. He has gained a feminine something, which brings his manhood into full relief. She has gained a iuas culine something which acts as a foil to her womanhood. The Hunting Spiders. Amongst the spiders called the hun ters, and the vagrants, some seize the prey like the lion, or the tiger, with the aid of few or no toils, by jumping upon them when they come within their reach. We hade often observed a white or yel lowish species of crab-spider a tribe so called because their motions resemble those of the crab, which lies in wait for her prey in the blossoms of unbellifer ous and other white-blossomed plants, and can scarcely be distinguished from them ; which, when a fly or other insect alights upon the flower, darts upon it betore she is perceived. There is a very commau black and white spider amongst the vagrants, which may also be seen in summer on sunny rails, window sills, etc. When one of these spiders, which are always on the watch, spies a fly or a gnat in the distance, he approaches softly, step by step, and seems to measure the interval that separates him trom it with his eye ; and if he judges that ho is within reach. first fixing a thread to the spot on which he is stationed by means of his fore-feet, which are much longer and larger than the others, he darts upon his victim with such rapidity, and so true to an aim. that he seldom misses it. Whether his station is vertical or horizontal, is of little consequence he can leap equally weu irom timer, anu iu an uirccuoiis. Lady Plllnla-A Pcn-amMuk Sketch. Lady Pillula was nearly eighty years of age, with tho withering marks of time deeply written on her features and her mittened hands, l et no small nerve and vivacity remained in hpr frame. She had nothing to do, so sho took med icine. With little of interest in those who wero about her to attract her at tention, she fixed it on herself, and that part of the body which became the solo and specinc obiect ot her regard was hor intestines. It is affirmed by physicians that one can by nervous concentration of thought upon one spot in the body in duce or aggravate a local morbid action. This was Lady Pillula's peculiarity. Her passion was pills. Of these she was at once an artist, a connoisseur and a miser. Vast collections of empty pill-boxes lum bered her room. Sho took pills before she rose in the morning, before break fast, at 11 o'clock, A. II., at 1. She took Holloway as an appetizer for lunch, and counteracted the ill effects of that un timely meal with the celebrated anti bilious pills of Cockle. Her dinner was inaugurated with three boluses of rhu barb and concluded with oloe. Her nocturnal podophylhn was never preter mitted. Sue scanned the newspapers every morning for one purpose, tho dis covery of new pills ; while her sister, Lady W., sought tho columns of fashion- able intelligence, and Lord .perusod tho stock lists, she was busy registering the latest novelties in pillular invention. On tho first occasion of her reading the advertisement of tho notorious Revalen- ta Arabica, headed " No moro Pills or any other medicine," the announcement proved too much for her, and she fainted. She only recovered upon tho exhibition of a whole box of " Brandreths." One form of pill she abhorred, namely, tho minute globules of Homeopathists. These she condemned as utterly un worthy of a trial by any adult interior. iho most agrocablo surprise you could pass upon hvc was to present her with a not ui new pills. She would take them tiie same evening, and pronounce on their qualities next day with the precis ion and 'gusto of a connoisseur. Indeed, tho mania affected her morality. She became morbid in tho pursuit of her fancy ; invading her sister's boudoir or even Lord W.'s dressing-room in tho hope of finding some stray box of her oondiments. It a visitor happened to carry such specifics with him or left them in his room, Lady Pillula took tithe of them. She had several times been nearly poisoned. Once she swal lowed a number of buckshot which an incautious sportsman had turned into an empty pill-box on unloading his gun. In another instance some glass beads met with a similar accident. One item of comfort to bo extracted from this strange but authentic caso, should not pass unmarked. Mot with standing tho vast numbers of portentous patents, irom tho exhibition ot which ? ii. . . liinunicraoie consequences were pieagea to ensue, Lady Pillula's organs seem to be contrived to resist them all. It was only affected by blue pill in unusual quantities, or prescriptions administered uy uvi punLuittu , luu uuiiiiieBsiie&H 01 most patent pills was a constant source of vexation to her, though it amply tes tified to the simplicity of the materials with which people are gammoned. Lord . used to amuse himself occa sionally at his sister-in-law's expense. Ho asked Savory or Corbyn for the lat est inventions, and brought home boxes of them. He himself slyly mixed some rare and monstrous compositions, rang ing from pitch to beeswax or bread, and was entertained to find that the old lady placed some of these high in her stand ard ot excellence. W hen, however, he twitted her with hor credulity, and with the perils to which she was exposing herseii by her unreasoning addiction to such fraudulent devices, she replied upon him rather sharply, " Lverybody takes pills of some sort. she said. " Some swallow opinions wholesale without knowing much of what is in them. Some people take their priest's prescription as if it wero certain to contain a specific for their souls. Others take their political ideas from po litical quacks and gulp thorn with the most credulous simplicity. I have seen you take tor granted any pill the editor of the Chime makes up for you of a morning, and havo known you to bo tho worse ot it. uthor people, here she looked wickedly at her brother-in-law, who took a turn at speculation now and then "swallow the lies ot promoters and stock-jobbers and suffer a good deal more than I do tor their temerity. Af ter all, I would rather be deluded any where than in my braius. JSu the Author oj Uinz liaby. Expert Carving. Hue, who by extended explorations of a section ot the habitablo globe scarcely known save by its name, between Tar- tary and (J lima, gives many extraordin ary accounts of customs and manners peculiar to the people, which strangely contrast witn our civilization. On one occasion he came upon a Mon gol encampment. Being kindly received, no purchased a sheep of a native. " k Mongol butcher slaughtered the animal with such surprising despatch as to as tonish tho good Catholic Father. But the climax was when, with a lonz knife, the butcher drew out the entire skele ton from the flesh without fracturing or doing violence to a single bone. They are so expert in that particular art, which amounts almost to a science, knowing as they do each bone, its name and exact position the frame of an ox or any other animal is treated in the same manner with unerring facility, As Turks use neither knives nor forks, they have the skill to jerk out the bones ot a towl when placed upon the table. with similar adroitness, leaving the body in its original form. Their knowleds of anatomy, however, falls immeasura bly below that of the Mongols, who practice dissections on worthless carcases for the purpose of ascertaining how they are constructed. A little girl in Milwaukee was lately frightened to death by the noise of a mill into which she ran. Fact 8 and Figures. A company has paid 50,000 for the privilege of boring and raising oil on ands ot tho (Jhickasaw .Nation, north ot Texas and west of Arkansas. Fresh salmon is considered high-priced at twelve cents a pound in San Francis co at this season, but they have to pay fifty cents a pound for halibut. They have a haunted house in Henne pin, Minn. It hag been vacant for a long time, but every night the upper windows are brilliantly lighted. A man named Atcheson Wells- while wading in the river at Brownsville, Tex as, stepped into a quicksand, and van ished from sight in a second. A new way of sinking wells. A local of an Indianapolis paper says that he does not depend upon journalism for his daily bread, but raises hens. Which moves an envious rival to ask whoso hens he raises. An inventive genius of Kalamazoo has succeeded in bringing out an eight-leg ged steam walking machine that can hitch to and walk off with any amount of tonnago that wheels can roll. A negro was rescued in good condi tion in Charlottesville, Ya., on Friday evening, after lying at the bottom of a well, covered with about fifty feet of earth and stones, for nine hours. Before we have had scarcely a breath of spring the annual croakers are pre dicting only half a crop of peaches. According to them' we have had only half a crop for many years, but that half crop has served a very good purpose. In Michican University, a tall eirl bv the name of Miss White, whom the stu dents call AUia Longa, has solved every problem in tho mathematical course, in cluding one which has remained unsolv ed by the graduating classes for fifteen years. It was said by a looker-on that when President Grant introduced his cabinet to the Japanese embassy thero was no hand-shaking. "The Americans snap ped their heads in the usual jerky way, but tho Japanese gave them tho grace ful sulam of the Last. An Oriental only knows how to bow." Madame Thiers, wife of the President, has iriven her decision against womeu being adorned with hair that grows not trom their own scalps. JUadamo believes that Paris rules the world of Fashion, and that the wife of the supremo execu tive rules the fashion of Fans. We wish her success in her endeavor : it will re lievo the purses of men and tho heads of women. The ballot which it is proposed to in troduce in England will consist of a piece of paper bearing an official stamp. and having on it the names and de scriptions of all the candidates. The voter, after erasing the names of the can didates for whom ho does not wish to vote, will fold it so that the names can not bo seen, and after exhibiting tho of ficial mark on the back, will deposit it in the ballot box. They have a resolute old fellow up in Washington Connty who, because his property was placed in the hands of his son, to prevent his squandering it upon drink, took to his bed and stayed there day and night for twenty years. He was determined that if his son had his property he should take care of hiin. Ho has been in good health all this time, but ii waited on liko a child. An Aintralinn tianer erives a very sim ple remedy for all forms of sore throat, and one which it asserts is certainly em cacious. It is wearing a soft old silk handkerchief next the skin and c,loso around tho neck, especially during the night. A common sore throat is said to be relieved in an hour by this appbea tion ; a serious caso requires a day to be cured. Such a remedy is so simple that every one may easily test it without danger or difficulty. Piceon-flyine is one of the popular sports of Belgium. The breeding and training of birds are carried on in the most systematic manner, and matches are frequently instituted for various dis tances from one to nine hundred miles for trained birds of different ages. At some of the railway stations in Belgium large numbers of those birds may often be seen in charge ot a single man, wno has instiuctions for letting them loose at certain distances from their homes. The Sacramento Dee says a box run ning the full length of the front of the telegraph office in that city hag hereto fore furnished a tempting seat tor the habitues. It is now covered with zinc, which has boon conuected with the bat terieg that were contained in the box. A person Bitting upon the box without touching his hands thereto will not feel tho electricity, but if his hands drop on tho box, or he puts them thereon to as sist him in rising, he receives such a sud den and astonishing shock as sends him an unbelievable number of feet toward the lofty roof and to the adjacent river. Any good day a person may see some of these unfortunates, unexpectedly struck by this domesticated lightning, describ ing a fifty-feet parabola in the air. Mr. Joseph Sullivant, of Columbus, Ohio, a well -known naturalist, publishes an account in the Ohio State Journal of the capture of tho Bannari astuta, or ring-tailed cat of the Rio Grande region. It was taken in Fairfield County, Ohio, and was said to have been accompanied by a second specimen. The occurrence ot this animal so far north is vory re markable, and it may bo a question whether it had not been brought from Mexico or California, and escaped from confinement. It is an animal very much sought after as a pet, being clean in its habits, and readily becoming very tame and affectionate ; indeed, it would seem to be quite a desirable animal to domes ticate and keep about the house as a protection against rata and mice. Some years ago a specimen of this game ani mal was brought into the ' Smithsonian Institution, having been captured in a hen-coop near the city. It was in capi tal condition and in lull fur ; but it had evidently escaped from captivity, aa shown by iba marks oi the rubbing of a collar around the neck.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers