f
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher.
ELlt COVNtYTUli REPUBLICAN PARTY.
. Two Dollars jkb Akmum.
VOL. II.
RIDGWAT; PA; THUItSDAYrAIRlL 25, 1872.
m"' 4 "gNO; 8.
: : . . ;
POliTli Y.
ACCOUNT OF A ( URONKK.
A GHASTLY BALLAD.
Joe Bowers wae a coroner.
Of whom the scoffort wild,
That, like the horrid cannibal,
He made his dally bread
From the bodies of his fellow, m
Unnaturally dead.
' By night and day thin coroner
Wan always prowl in if ronnd
For subjects," suddenly played out,
Stabbed, polponed, shot or drowned ;
And where the cm nans wax, there Joo
JV'ould epcedily be found.
Joe had a buzzard's Instinct,
And a hyena's scent ;
' If auy one passed In his checks,
Joe for the body went ;
And corpses seldom jrot away
To any great extent.
Indeed, Joe trot so zealous
Ho couldn't bear to wait ;
But, with the sick he left his card.
As if to intimate
The folly of their struggle with
Inexorable fate.
Whether twas Joccph's cntorprUo
That made nrrlm Death fight hy.
Or vtto prevorsity induced
The people not to die ;
There came a tlmo when corpses ran
Particularly dry 1
Then bodies were btit rarely " viewed,"
' Post tnortems" Ml away.
Till " coroner's accounts" appeared
A beggarly array.
And Joseph trnnsiontly succumbed
To sorrow and dismay.
But soon he roused his drooping crest,
And cried, Away with woo I
Ha 1 Am I not a coroner
And used to play it low f
Shall my accounts be 4 cut' like this
To naught V No 1 Not for Joo 1"
lie hied to a tobacconist,
Full ruthlessly, I ween.
And bought some snuff, and mixed then with
Some nitro-glycerlne ;
Then fared forth with the compound
And a diabolic grin I
Ho met one of his neighbors,
A man whose name was Lynch,
With most capacious nostrils-Three-quarters
by one inch
And asked him quite politely.
To tuke a social pinch !
Into his nnsuppectlng noso,
A plenteous pinch Lynch drew
Boon felt the grateful stimulus.
And simply said, " Ca-choo I"
Ye gods 1 His shattered head Into
A thousnnd fragments flow !
From that day at a fearful rate
Tbo cafes multiplied.
Joe simded them out so rapidly
The town was tor rilled ;
And Joseph held the inquest
On overy one that died I
You may sneeze at this plain story.
But those who sneezed at Joe
Were apt to have a violent
Attack of vertigo.
That coroners are up to snuff
I all I wixh to show I Frank Clivg.
THE STO R Y- TELLER.
A PERILOUS POSITION.
In tho winter of 1858 I was mining,
or rather sojourning, and waiting for u
chance to mino in the spring, in tho
town of Omega, Nevada county, Cali
fornia. Snow fell in the town that win
ter to tho depth of eight feet. Three of
us were living in a cabin about half a
milo out of town near the head of Sour
Krout Ravine. We were in tho habit
of spending our evenings in town or at
the cabins of our brother minors, gener
ally remaining from home till ton,
eleven, or even as late as twelve o'clock.
. I happened to be in town the very
evening that the first big fall of snow
began. I saw that the snow was coming
down very fast, and knew before start
ing home that the trail would be hidden ;
but this gave me no uneasiness, as I
knew the course well, and could keep
within a few fods of the trail the whole
distance,, if not in it. When I finally
started home it was about ten o'clock,
and there wcro six or eight inches of
snow on tho ground, and Hakes coining
down us big us saucers. Knowing my
course, I rushed along, paying but little
attention to the trail, and was within
two hundred yards of the cabin, when
there was a sudden crash of breaking
twigs and brush under my feet, and I
felt myself sinking into an open spaco.
Instinctively I stretched out both arms
to their fullest extent and clutched the
snow with both hands.
Instantly, in fact before I had fully
settled into this posision, I knew where
I was, and fully comprehended the dan
ger of my situation. I knew that I was
hanging over tho old Brpokshire shaft
a shaft dug some years before to pros
pect the hill, and at least one hundred
feet in depth. It wus but two or three
rods below tho trail, and was covered by
a few pino and spruce boughs that were
thrown across its, mouth when it was
abandoned. I knew that there were
huge bowlders and sharp, jaggod rocks
projecting everywhere along the sides
of the shaft, and that in the bottom was
at least twenty feet of water, for, in
passing, I had once or twice pushed the
brush covering aside and dropped into
it pobbles and pieces of lighted paper.
I felt my body and legs dangling in
space, and without thinking of the con
sequences, made an effort to reach out
with one of my feet to see if I could
touch the wall of the shaft, I had ex
tended my leg some distance without
touching the wall, when, to my horror,
the dry and rotten covering of the shaft
began cracking under my arm on the
side upon which my weight was thrown
in the attempt I had made to leant
' something of my situation.
Carefully I swung back till I hung
perpendicularly over the fearful chasm,
the brush still cracking as I did so. As
each little twig snapped I felt that there
was that much less between myself and
death each little "rotten stick that held
was worth millions to me, and for a
tout beam under my foet I would have
given tens of millions. The snow fceat
down incessantly upon my head in im
mense damp flakes, and I could fuel it
gradually piling about my neck. Oc
casionally there were wild blasts of wind
- that roared among the tall pines and
swept tho light snow into my eyes. One
of these blasts took awuy my light felt
hat, and left my head exposed to the
beating storm. As I felt my hat going
I made an involuntary movement to
raise my orm to catch it, but instantly
the crackling twigs warned me to desist.
This movement, the slightest in the
world, cost mo half-a-dozen twigs, and,
as it seemed to nio, greatly weakened
my support. The snow melting on my
head and face trickled into my eyes and
almost blinded Aie. My hands and arms
seemed coming benumbed, and I began
to fear that I would lose my hold upon
the brush covering of the shaft. When
ever this notion took possession of my
mind I would extend my ams and even
my fingers till the joints of n. shoulders
seemed starting from their sockets.
By straining my eyes I could see the
dim outlines of our cabin on a little rise
of ground above me. I could see no
light, however, and concluded that my
partners had either gone to bed or
had not yet returned from a neighbor's
cabin a quarter of .a mile further down
the ravine, whithor I knew they had
gone to spend the evening. Once or
twice I shouted, but the effort caused a
orackling of tho twigs supporting me,
and I desisted, determining to wait till
I could hear the voices of my cabin com
panions returning, or see a light in the
little window of four small panes, which,
fortunately, was on tho side of the house
next to me ; so, too, was the door by
which they- must enter the cabin. I
thought of all this, and it gave me some
hope. Several times, as tho roaring
wind lulled for a moment, I thought I
heard the sound of voices and laughter,
and my heart beat quick with hope and
joy ; but the sounds were not repeated,
and doubtless wero.but the creaking of
some stormed swayed boughs, or the
chattcrings of somo distant coyote.
I now began seriously to fear being
completely covered in the fust-falling
and drifting snow. It seemed coming
down at tho rate of an inch a minute,
and already covered my shoulders and
was piling closo up about my mouth. I
daro not make the slightest move to rid
myself of tho drift which was about to
bury me. Should the snow get over my
eye I could not see the light in the
cabin, and could only call out by guess.
As so slight an exertion as calling out
in a loud tone set my rotten platform to
cracking, I did not wish to call for aid
till I wus certain it was near. As the
snow begun rising about luy mouth I
discovered that I could keep it away
with my breath. I saw that I still had
a chance of keeping my eyes free, and I
kept constantly at work blowing away
the accumulating flakes. This gave me
something to do, and was a relief to my
mind. So jealously did I keep guurd
that I wouldardly allow two flakes to
lie before my lips.
Thoughts of home, my friends, of the
little I had ever done in the world, and
of the jagged rocks lining the side of the
shaft, with the great pool in its bettom,
passed and repassed in my mind. In
this circle my mind seemed swiftly re
volving, dwelling but for a moment
upon any one thing. I would strain my
eyes to see the light in tho window till
they were ready to start from their
sockets. Sometimes I would see a sud
den red flash, and with a joyous throb
of my heart I would say, " It is there !"
but in a moment after I would groan in
spirit at discovering the flush was only
within my strained and weary eyeballs.
From straining my eyes and ears for
some sign of tho arrival of my partners,
I would full into my old circle of
thought, and round and round in it as
in a whirlpool my brain would whirl till
some moan of the wind or creaking of
trees would arouse me to thoughts of
escape from my fearful position.
Alter tho hrst tew ettorts I made
towards extricating myself, my whole
care was to remain as motionless as
possible, and keep my arms stretched
out to their fullest extent in order to
grasp for my support every twig within
my reach, were it no larger or stronger
than a rye-stalk. Time seemed to move
on leaden wings, and it appeared to me
that I must have been suspended over
the shaft for many hours. I began to
fear that on account of the storm my
partners had concluded to " turn in " at
the cabin of our neighbor. Tho moment
I thought of this it seemed to me almost
certain that such was the case.
My escape, I now began to think,
rested with myself. . I thought there
might bo before me a polo across the
shaft strong enough to bear my weight.
Slowly I begun rising my right arm, in
order to feel for some such support, but
a startling snapping of twigs, when this
extra weight was thrown upon my left
arm, caused me very quickly to desist.
" Great God '" I groaned, as I settled
back into my former position, "how
long is this to lust '"
Just at this moment I heard the sound
of voices. This time there was no mis
take about it. I heard tho loud, ring
ing laugh of my jovial partner Tom,
and heard bean-poker loving Bob say
something about a game they had been
playiug at " the other cabin. As they
came nearer I heard Tom say, "I won
der if Dan has got back from town."
They spoke in their ordinary tone of
voice, and this gave me great joy, as I
knew I could make them hear without
shouting too loudly. I hean-d them at
the door, scraping the snow away with
their feet, and that now was the time to
call for once they had entered they
might not hear in'e. " Tom !" I cried,
" Tom !" There was no answer, and my
heart felt cold witliin me. " Tom !" I
asriin cried, and this time to my great
joy both of the boys in a breath sung
out, " Hello ! " Tom ! I cried agaiu,
in as loud a tone of voice as I dared use,
" Tom. come here!" " D d if that ain t
Dan 1" cried Bob ; " what the d 1 can
be the matter '(" and both came as fast
as their legs could carry them down to
near where I was hanging. " Don't
come too near '" I cried, "for God's sake,
don't come too near ! I have fallen
through the brush over this shaft, and
it's just ready to break and let me down ;
get a rope, quick the windlass rope,
you know !"
Tom ran to the cabin, and in less than
a minute though it seemed an hour to
mo was back with tho rope. Both
wero rushing to tho shaft with the rope,
when I stopped tliptn,
"Stop right where you ore, boys!
Now listen, ir you will kill ino. Don't
come near the brush about the shaft, or
you will break it and let mo down.
Take hold of tho rope about twenty feet
apart rflid walk so as to bring it across
the shaft, so that I can reach it."
They did as I directed, and the rope
was soon against my face. I began
slowly to lift my right hand to clutch it,
but a crackling of the bush on which I
hung suspended startled me so much
that I had notthe courage to try and
grasp the rope. I thought of making a
sudden plunge for it, but feared I might
fail to catch it, when I would most cer
tainly break through and fall to tho
bottom of the shaft.
"What is the matter?" asked Bob.
" Can't you get hold of the rope?"
I replied, " No ; I will break through
if I even lift one linger."
" Take hold of the roie with your
teeth !" cried Tom.
. This was the very idea. " Hold the
ropo a little lower, said 1, " and I will
try lower yet there, hold on I"
" Have you got it '" asked Tom.
As well as I could, I answered " Yes."
" Now try for it with your hands,"
cried Bub.
As quickly as I could use my stiffened
riht arm I made a clutch at tho ropo,
and most luckily for myself got hold of
it. Had I missed it I would have been
precipitated to tho bottom of the shaft,
for as I clutched tho ropo the whole rot
ten pjle of boughs broke loose and drop
ped if to the dark pit below. After be
ing flagged somo distance from the
bluckVad yawning mouth of the shaft,
I still field the rope with both teeth and
hands,' and could hardly be persuaded
that I was yet out of danger. I was so
completely exhausted that I was un
able to walk to the cabin without the
assistance of both of my partners, and
it v as some weeks before my strained
shoulders were free from pain.
There may be more trying and peril
ous positions than that abovo described,
but if there are I beg to be excused from
" baying in."
Life's Brightest Hour.
Not long since I met a gentleman who
is assessed for more than a million. Sil
ver wus in his hair, caro upon his brow,
and ho stooped beneath his burden of
wealth. AVe wero speaking of that
period of life when we hud realized tho
most perfect enjoyment, or, rather, when
wo had found th.o happiness nearest to
bo unalloyed. " I'll toll you," said tho
millionaire, " when wus tho happiest
hour of my life. At the age of one-and-twenty
I had saved up $800. I was
earning $300 a year, and my father did
not take it from me, only requiring that
I should pay for my board. At the age
of twenty-ono I had secured a pretty
cottage, just outside of the city. I was
able to pay two-thirds of the value
down, and also to furnish it respectably.
I was married on Sunday a Sunday in
June at my father's house. My wife
had come to me poor in purse, but rich
in the wealth of her womanhood. The
Sabbath and the Sabbath night we pass
ed beneath my father's roof, and on Mon
day morning I went to my work, leav
ing my mother and sister to help in pre
paring my home. On Monday evening,
when the labors of the day wero done, I
went not to tho paternal shelter, as in
tho past,, but to my own house my own
heuse. The holy atmosphere of that
hour seems to surround me even now in
tho memory. I opened tho door of my
cottage and entered. I laid my hat up
on the little stand in the hall, and pass
ed on to tho kitchen our kitchen and
dining-room wero all one then. I push
ed open the kitchen door and was in
heaven ! The table was set against the
wall tho evening meal was ready pre
pared by the hand of her who had come
to be my helpmeet in deed as well as in
name and by the table, with a throb
bing, expectant look upon her lovely and
loving face, stood my wife. I tried to
speak, and could not. I could only clasp
the waiting angel to my bosom, thus
showing to her tho ecstatic burden of my
heart. Tho years have passed long,
long years and worldly wealth has
flowed in upon me, and I am honored
and envied ; but as true as heaven I
would give it all evory dollar for the
joy of tho hour of that June evening,
in tho long, long ago: Ieu lurk
LeJijer.
Sonography.
A hopeful philosopher thinks the time
may come when a man's words will be
made to write themselves down autom
atically as fast as they come from his
lips when a speech will yield a sound
picture, or a sonogram, that we may
gaze upon, as we do now a light picture,
and translate as we do now the notes
of music. Light, he says, is a wave mo
tion, and the chemist has found a sub
stance which the waves, as they dash
against it, can transform or transmute,
and so we have got photography. Sound
is a wave motion ; its waves are as break
ers lights are as ripples; the former large
and slow, the latter small and rapid.
Since we have got the substance that is
impressible by the little weak waves,
why should we despair in finding a sub
stance that will alter under the influ
ence of the great strong ones ? We can
make a lamp-glass ring with the voice
pitched to a certain note; soon we may
cause the same sound to vibrate a body
that will make a mark on paper while it
swings, and then we make another work
ing body vibrate to another sound, and
so on up the gamut. Thus we shall get
an apparatus which will mark the notes
of a melody each as it is sung ; and af
ter this it is not difficult to conceive a
series of vibrations, each attuned to
one of the few separate and distinct
sounds the human voice can utter. Here
will be an analogue to the photographic
camera. Placed flefore a speaker, such
an apparatus will sonograph all he has
to siy.
Women, under the name of " assistant
pastors," do missionary work for several
of the St Louis churches, and receive
compensation therefor.
THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE.
fctreania of Fire I sail In ft Prom the Ride of a
Jlfnnntnln-The Whole Country Shaken
Like a Pan of Dirt-All thellouaesCrnm
bled -Lund Ridge, and Water N poll a.
From tht Virginia (.) Unttrprln, March 30.
We yesterday met with and inter
viewed Mr. Frank Bell, Division Super
intendent of tho Western Union Tele
graph Company in this State, who was
at Independence, Inyo county.California,
last Tuesday morning when the great
earthquake occurred which shattered
that whole region, and which- shook us
up not a little in this city 300 miles
north of what would seem to have been
tho centre of tho great telluric dis
turbance THE FIRST GREAT SHOCK
came at 2:30 on Tuesday morning, and
was probably the most severe that oc
curred. Mr. Bell, who was sleeping in
tho second story of the hotel at Inde
pendence (a frame building filled in
with adobes), says that when the first
shock came it threw his pitcher and
wash-bowl, which were upon a wash
stand six feet distant, upon his bed,
whence they rolled to the floor and were
broken. After a few heavy sidewiso
lurches from south to north, during
which Mr. Bell was trying to climb out
of his second-story window, about half a
dozen perpendicular jolts came, which
seemed to lift the house to tho height of
several feet. Tho earth now settled
down to a steady, tremulous motion,
which sort of calm lasted long enough
to allow Mr. Bell to partially dress him
self, find his oveicoat and carpet-sack,
and get down Btairs and out into tho
open air. Hero he found tho startled
inmates of the hotel to tho number of
twent3'-fivo or thirty,
MEX, WOMEN AXD CHILDREN EX DESIIA-
MLLE,
all in momentary expectation of a repe
tition of the shocks. Frightened as all
were, one man still had sufficient com
mand of his wits to notico Mr. Bell's
overcoat and carpct-bag. " Hullo !" he
cried, ".here is a man who has packed
his duds and is going to leave the coun
try." The joke must have been consid
ered a good one in somo quarters, for
just at tho moment the earth laughed
such a luugh, and so shook its sides that
nobody cared to make another attempt
at wit.
From this time till nearly 7 o'clock
tho earth was never for a moment per
fectly quiet, and every few minutes
heavy shocks of a few seconds' duration
wore occurring. In all, there were moro
than fifty very heavy shocks, Tho first
shock cracked and threw down many
walls and buildings, but it was the
heavy succeeding shocks which leveled
everything. Tho brick Court House and
every brick adobe house in the tuwu and
throughout the country wero thrown
down.
PERILOUS POSITION 01' A CHILD.
When tho first shock occurred, Mr.
Harris of tho firm of Harris tfc Kline,
rushed out of his dwelling with his
family. After getting out ho found ono
child was missing and was rushing back
to rescue it when the whole building
fell. It was supposed that the child
was killed, but upon cutting through
the roof and removing a portion of the
wreck of tho building, it wus found and
rescued quite unharmed.
It would be useless to attempt to de
scribe the consternation which prevailed
throughout tho town during tho time
tho shocks were occurring; many sup
posed tho la-t great day hud come. The
shocks wcro accompanied with a great
rumbling, and the air was filled with
great clouds of dust indeed such quan
tities of dust filled the air that a cloud
was formed which was seen by persons
residing fifteen or twenty miles to the
northwurd.
THE SHOCKS WERE STILL COXTIXUIXa
when Mr. Bell left, and tho people were
so utterly demoralized that they did not
know where to turn or what to do. 'The
impression at Independence Was that to
tho southward the earthquake was still
more severe than in that place, and fears
were entertained that but little was left
of Cerro Gordo and other mining camps
in that direction. They worked an hour
and a half trying to get at Wells, Fargo
fc Co.'s-treasure box, buried in the ruins
of Nathan Iihine's store, and at last the
stage came off without it. Even as the
stage started there came one or two rat
tling shocks. All the adobe buildings
at Fort Independence wero laid low,
and a child killed ; the mother, also, was
seriously injured.
THE IXYO "IXDEPEXDEXT" OFFICE,
a frame building filled in with adobes,
was not thrown down, but the offico was
badly damaged evon a cooking stove
that stood in it being smashed to pieces.
8TREAMS OF FIRE ISSUE FROM THE
MOUXTAIX.
Fourteen miles this sido of Indepen
dence, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains,
is a large mountain called Black Bock,
the sides of which are covered with lava
and which is supposed to be an extinct
volcano. The settlers informed Mr.
Bell that during the time the shock
were most severe, flashes of light were
seen to issue from the top of this moun
tain and streams of fire ran down its
sides.
Thero are on the side of the mountain
throe old lava streams, but when the
stage passed along no one had yet gone
to see if any fresh flow had occurred.
Mr. Mallory, formerly of Carson City,
stated that he observed flashes of light
in other places in the mountains, but hi
was of the opinion that they were caused
by rocks striking together as they rolled
down the slopes of the peaks. In places
on the stage road there were encountered
ROCKS AS LAROE AS TWO-STORY HOUSES,
which had rolled from the mountains.
From Independence to Big Pine, a dis
tance of forty-five miles, there is not a
square yard of ground that does not
show cracks. Near Big Pine they found
a crevice across the road sixty feet wide
and six feet deep. Off the road, but in
plain sight, this crevice was two hund
red feet wide and over twenty feet deep,
and it could be traced a long distance,
running north-and south, parallel with
tho Sierra Nevada Mountains.
LAND RIDGES AXD WATER SPOUTS.'
South of Fish Springs Slough tho
wator spouted out of tho ground in
many places, and there wero still to bo
seen largo pools when the stage paBsed.
Here also ridges of ground from eight
to ton foot in height were raised up
acros the road. At Big Pine the heavy
dining table, with all it contained, was
overturned, and five shocks, were ex
porienced while the passengers wero eat
ing breakfast. .
r Between Fish .Springs and Bishop
creok, where formerly was a desert place,
thero now gushes forth a stroam of water
large enough to turn a mill. ' In othor
placeB streams and springs ore dried up,
and, in fact, tho whole country turned
topsy-turvy. At Hot Springs, ' while
severe shocks were, felt on tho surface,
tho mert in tho mines (200 foet deep) felt
flothing of theln. ' We have been told of
many other circumstances in connection
with this great earthquake, but have
not room to mention them. .
A Japanese Inn.
Tho evening was fur advanced when I
reached Fujisawa and rode up to tho Su
zukiya, once a porcelain-shop, now a
really excellent hostelry, where, to my
astonishment and delight, I found the
luxury of a table and a very hard,
straight-backed chair, such as our great
grandmothers sat in and wero content
ed, such as we, more effeminate, vote to
bo an instrument of torture. The room
was so nutty and tidy as to deserve a
few words of description. The sliding
panels wero covered with a smart new
paper, decorated with a pattern of fans
sprinkled over it with marvelous effect J
the tokonoma, the raised recess, which is
tho place of honor, was supported on
one side by a wooden pillar, composed
of a single trco stripped of its bark so
as to be perfectly smooth, and contained
one of those quaint zigzag sets of
shelves which have their origin in a
p'ioce of obsolete etiquette. When per
sons of rank used to meet together in
old days to drink and be merry, they
would lay aside their caps and dirks, the
man of highest rank placing his traps
upon the highest Bhelf, those of lower
rank not presuming oven to allow their
caps to tuke a precedence which did not
belong to them. This is said to have oc
casioned the invention of those shelves
which in lacquer cabinets must have
puzzled collectors at Christio and Man
son's. The mats and wood-work, which
are the pride of the Japanese household
er, were whito and now, the beams do
corated with carving of no mean taste.
One solitary picture, executed with won
derful freedom of touch and grotesquo
ness, represented, in a few bold strokes
of the brush, a group of husbandmen
sowing rice in the field, and on one sido
of the drawing was a distich running
thus
' Unelees.ven for driiir,
How happy are the frog, t"
Tho literal translation must plead my
excuso for the badness of the rhyme. I
was not a little puzzled by tho meaning
of the couplet until Shiraki camo to tho
rescuo and solved the riddlo.
" Sir," said ho pompously, " here is a
lesson of humility and content conveyed
in a parable. It is a fact which will
meet with the imperial assent, that frogs
are of no use in the world either as food
or even as medicine."
" Very good food," I objected, " either
in a cury as eaten at Hong Hong, or
with a whito buuco as at Paris."
Shiraki smiled a smile that was in
credulous. " Some insects feed upon
8inartwecd. However that may be, we
say that the frogs being useless, no man
interferes with them, and they aro al
lowed to live out their lives in undis
turbed poaco. So it is with tho farmers :
their position is lowly, but they have
none of the cares which haunt great
ness ; therefore they should bo content
ed, and the poet praises their modest
lot." The Cornhill Magazine.
A Pathetic Scene.
Tho first sense of sorrow I over knew
wus upon the death of my father, at
which time I was not quite five years of
; but was rather amazed at what all
the n.-ise meant, than possessed with a
real understanding why nobody was
willing to play with mo. I remember I
went into tho room where his body lay,
and my mother sat weeping alone by it.
I had my battledoor in my hand, and
fell a beating the coffin and calling
papa ; fur, I know not how, I had somo
slight idea that he was locked up there.
My mother catched me in her arms,
and, transported beyond all patience of
the silent grief she was before in, she al
most smothered me in her embrace, and
told me, in a flood of tears, " papa could
not hear me, and would play with me
no more, for they wero going to put him
under ground, whence ho could never
como to see us again." She was a very
beautiful woman, of a noble spirit, and
there was a dignity in her grief amid
all the wildncss of her transport ; which,
methought, struck me with an instinct
of sorrow, which, before I was sensible
of what it was to grieve, seized my very
soul, and has made pity the weakness of
my beart ever since, i.he mind in in
fancy is methinks, like the body in
embryo ; and receives . impressions so
forcible, that they are as hard to be re
moved by reason, as any mark, with
which a child is born, is to be taken
away by any future application. Hence
it is, that good-nature in me is no merit ;
but, having been so frequently over
whelmed with her tears before I knew
tho cause of any affhetion, or could draw
defenses from my own judgment, I im
bibed commiseration, remorse, and an
unmanly gentleness of mind, which has
since ensnared me into ten thousand
calamities ) and from whence I can reap
no advantage, except it be, that, in such
a humor as I am now in, I can the bet
ter indulge myself in the softness of
humanity, and enjoy that sweet anxiety
which arises from the memory of past
atuictions. mr uunara esteeie.
Peoria shipped 30,000 cir loads of
grain during the year 1871.
A Nevada Serial by Several Hands. ': '
Tho "Weclly Occidental, devoted to liter
ature, mado its appcaranoo in Virginia.
We expected groat things from
the Occidental. Of course it could not
got along without an original novel, and
so we made arrangements to hurl into
the work the full strength of tho com
pany. Mrs. F. was an able romancist
of tho ineffablo school I know no other
name to apply to a school whoso heroes
are all dainty and all perfect. Sho
wroto the opening chapter, and intro
duced a lovely blonde simpleton who
talked nothing but pearls and poetry
and was virtuous to the verge of eccen
tricity. She also introduced a young
French Duke of aggravated refinement,
in love with the blonde. Mr. F. follow
ed next week with a brilliant lawyer
who sots about getting the duke's es
tates into trouble, and a '. sparkling
young lady of high society, who fell to
fascinating tho duke and impairing tho
appetite of the blonde. Mr. D., a dark
and bloody editor of one of the dailies,
followed Mr. F. tho third week, intro
ducing a mysterious EoBicrucian who
transmuted metals, held consultations
with tho devil in a cave at dead of night,
and cast the horoscope of the several
heroes and heroines in such a way as to
provide plenty of trouble for their future
careers and breed a solemn and awful
public interest in the noyel. Ho also
introduced a cloaked and masked melo
dramatic miscreant, put him on a salary
and set him on the track of the duke
with a poisoned dagger. He also cre
ated an Irish coachman and placed him
in tho service of the society yottng lady
with an ulterior mission to carry .billet
doux to tho duke.
About this time there arrived in Vir
ginia a dissolute stranger with a literary
turn of mind, rather seedy however but
very quiet and unassuming, almost diffi
dent indeed. He applied for literary
work, offered conclusive evidence that he
wielded an easy and practiced pen, and
so Mr. F. engaged him at once to help
him with the novel. His chapter was to
follow Mr. D.'s, and mino was to come
next. Now what does this fellow do
but go off and got drunk, and then pro
coed to his quarters and set to work with
his imagination in a state of chaos, and
that chaos in a condition of extravagant
activity. The result may bo guessed.
He scanned the chapters of his predeces
sors, found plenty of heroes and heroines
already creuted, and was satisfied with
them ; ho decided to introduce no moro;
with all tho confidenco that whiskey in
spires, and all the easy complacency it
gives to its servant, ho thon launched
himself lovingly into his work ; he mar
ried the coachman to the society young
lady for the sake of the scandal ; mar
ried tlio duke to tho blonde's stepmother
for tlio sake of the sensation ; stopped
the desperado's salary ; creuted a mis
understanding between tho devil and
the Kosicruciun ; threw the duke's pro
perty into tho wicked lawyer's hands ;
made the lawyer's upbraiding conscience
drive him to drink, thence to delirium
tremens, thence to suicide ; broke the
coachman s neck ; let Ins widow suc
cumb to contumely, neglect, poverty,
and consumption : caused thn blondn t.n
drown herself, leaving her clothes on the
banlc with the customary note pinned to
them forgiving the duko and hoping he
would De nappy ; revealed to the duke
by means of the usual Btrawberry mark
on left arm, that he had married his
long-lost mother and destroyed his long
lost sistor ; instituted the proper and ne
cessary suicide of the duke and duchess
in order to compass poetical justicn ;
opened the earth and let tho llosicrucian
through, accompanied with the accus
tomed smoke and thunder and smell of
brimstone ; and finished by promise that
in the next chapter, after holding a gen
eral inquest, ho would take up the sur
viving character of the novel and tell
what became of the devil. This chap
ter was never published, but it created
such a flurry among tho contributors to
the Weelly Occidental as to quickly causo
the death of that sheet. Mark 'Twain.
Poor Frenchmen's Passion for Land.
A peasant, who hears of fields in the
market, will give as much as 100 an
acre for tho freehold of sterile soil out
of which it takes tho toil of Her
cules to make a living. Ho will work
fiersistently, stubbornly, almost savage
y, to wring every sack of potatoes and
barrel of course wine out of his sandy
fields and stony vineyard. To get more
out of the land he sacrifices others be
side himself. His willing wife slaves
and drudges like a London cabhorse,
and changes with hideous rapidity from
a young to an old woman, over the daily
task in all weathers. His children toil
more than is good for tho straightening
of young backs and the shapeliness of
tender limbs, in the service of that
Moloch of a farm. Up at earliest dawn,
busy till dark night, scraping and hag
gling, pinching and saving, tho whole
family struggle on, spending as little
as they can, making the most possible to
them. But, "tie vol non robin," might
bo the motto of the French peasantry.
These poor folks practico the severest
self-deuiul, and display an almost heroic
courage as workers, tor the emolument,
less of themselves, than of the notary.
Of the notary or of " his friend in the
city," who found the exorbitant pur
chase money for the meadows beside the
brook, who lent wherewith to buy the
cows, and the horse to replace old
Quatreblanes when he fell lame, and
who advanced the portion of the mar
ried daughter, established in the nearest
town as a petty shop-keeper. The in
terest is high ; but then M. Deslunettes
gently deplores that his invisible client
exacts a large return for tho cash lent.
and money, as the peasant very well
knows, is scarce. Ho J acques goes home.
and works furiously, and lives as hard
as he woiks, under the spur of his fierce
land-hunger, and loves the barren soil
which he could sell, and well, to-morrow.
only that he prefers to toil on, and so
much the better for canny, comfortable
M, Deslunettes. All tte Ytar livunU.
A young lady of Muscatine, while
making her toilet, set tire to her " cnig
non" with a curling-iron,
Facts hndJjF) iu Ves. '
Tho only steam-ploughing apparatus
in Rucoossful ' operation -in the ' Unitbd
States, it is said, is on a Louisiana planj
tation. . " ' "
Tho Chicago Ecening Pott introduces
its obituary of Prof. Morse with the fol
lowing 'appropriate; text: ;V.His line is
gone out through all thevcarth, and his
words to the end of fhe'workU''
An air-lootu has been, invented rby an
English man, in which the shuttle is al
most noiseless, thrown across the room
by the action lot compressed airv Bery
family can have an heir-loom now, ( .
Mrs. Ann Thompson, of West Union,
Iowa, is distinguished for patriotism;
She has stopped tho ponsion paid hr as
a war-widow, her son, aged fourteen, be
ing now able to support tho family. . ' '
A Connecticut paper says : " An un
happy and disgraceful ' family feud in
Danbury was brought to a tragic end
Saturday, by tho head of ono family pre
senting a son of tho other with an accor
deon. , ..-:!.
A remarkable coincidence was present
ed in connection with tho death of Jo
nas Parker, at Goshen, Maine, lately.
Three cousins of the. deceased,, residing
in different States, all died the same
night, and nearly all at tho sauio hour,
and each in a fit. (
A California Court' has granted a
divorce to a husband on the ground that
he was insane when he married. The
Judge has the immediate prospect of an
immenso business, and the Pacific Rail
way Company is making provisions for
an extraordinary travel westward daring '
the spring. ,,. ; i
The Danbury News moralizes thus of
the peacock : Vocally tho peacock needs
cultivation, but in attire it cannot bo im
proved upon. When it puts up itB awn
ing and sails around the yard there is a
comfort in looking at it that ia not ex
perienced in looking at a woman. - This
is probably because the plumage is in
herited. If any man has an uncontrollablo do
sire to elope with somebody, we recom
mend to his thoughtful consideration
the example of the Missouri man who a
few days ago ran away with his own
wife. In this particular case the man
made a mistake, the lady being in tho
disguise of a fancy ball costume, but (ho
result was the same. Ho had reason,
no doubt, to bless his luck that prevented
his falling into wicked ways.
A young man in Wilmington, Del.,
lately helped a feeblo old man over a
street croosing and soon after found
himself remembered in the old man's
will to the extent of $10,000. Ever
since this became known of course all .
the young men in town have been on
the lookout for feeble old men at the
corners of the crowded streets. It is al
ways a safo thing to pay particular at
tention to these tottering patriarchs,
although very few fortunes of $10,000
are to bo picked up in this way.
They have a way of extracting teeth
in Iowa which has its advantages and
its drawbacks. The victim of toothacho
goes forth into the woods, bends down .
a vigorous sapling, lashes tho offending
grinder thereto, and then lets the sap
ling spring up to its natural position.
This procssB ia economical and generally
effectual, but instances are recorded in
which the entire jaw has been extracted
or the individual landed bodily in a
neighboring pond after having described
a graceful curve over the top of the
grove.
With regard to those gold discoveries
in the Black Hills, Gen. Hancock who
is in command ot the Department of '
Dakota, has written a letter to an Iowa
paper in reply to many inquiries sent
to him, which ought to settle the minds of
all who had thought ot seeking; their
fortunes in tho new El Dorado. In the
first place he says the Black Hills are
within the limits of an Indian reserva
tion, and any expedition setting out for
that point will be unlawtul, and will bo
stopped by the use of troops ; and
futherniore no gold has been discovered
there.
One of San Francisco's largest cavar-
ansaries is entirely under the manage
ment of the fair sex. From the proprie
tress to the hall-girl, from the bar-tender
to tho boot-black, all connected with tho
establishment are women. The portress
es are muscular Germans, who handlo
the most mammoth " Saratogas deftly
and easily, while the clerk is a handsome
brunette, who parts her short black ring
lets on one side, and makes bright re
partees to ' the jokes of the drummers
and travelling salesmen who largely fre
quent the house. The bar-tendor can
make a cocktail better and quicker than
any other in the State, and drinks her
self every time she is asked to, which on
the average is about fifty times a day.
The landlady is fair, fat, and forty, and
has received offers of the hearts and
hands of more than 400 of her sometime
guest.
Haiti Journal of Health protests a cruel
error into which many, full in recoui
mendiug all consumptives to leave homo
and its comforts to seek health in distant
regions, such as Minnesota or the South
ern States. Dr. Hall does not deny that
climatic influences benefit consumptive
people, but much depends on the stage
of the disease and how far the comforts
and (uroundines of home can be provid
ed in the new home of the patient. It
js a cruelty, Dr. Hall contends, to send
away from home a patient for advanced
in consumption. In fact he believes that,
other things being equal, in any ordin
ary case of consumption, if a man has
money enough ,the chances of recovery
from consumption are better in a large
city than in the country with all its
boasted advantages of pure air, fresh
vegetables, luscious fruits, spring chick
ens, rich butter, and fresh hud eggs.
These things can be better obtained in
New York the year round in their high
est perfection than ai the farm-house.
After an elaborate summary of all the
needs of a consumptive, Dr. Hall con
cludes that New York is just as likely
to benefit a consumptive as even Minnesota.