L
c ?a c c
.
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jb., Editor awd Publisher.
KLK COUNTY--TUB REPUBLICAN PARTT.
Two Dollars m Auntm.
VOL. II.
RIDGWAY, PA,. THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1872.
NO. 24.
POETIC T,
THE HORNY HAND.
O, toller with the moistened brow.
And with the horn? hand,
No matter If yon hold the plow.
Or at the anvil stand.
Your heart should Oil with loft; pride,
Your mission is so irrand.
" My father workoth hitherto,
And I work," was the word
Of II Ira whose speech was evor true.
Yet honor claimed as Ood.
'Tin truly loyal then to toil
With hammer, brain or hod.
Until some patient toiler rise
With cmnnlnR hand or brain,
No telescope can pierce the skies
No steamer cross the main ;
Nor distant ends of earth be linked
With telegraph and train. .
The barren earth Is clothed with bloira.
The desert bears the rose.
The darkest mine forsakes Its gloom
And all its wealth out-throws,
And wond'rous fabrics fill the loom
Where'er the toller goes.
No lordly palace-home can stand
On towering cliff or hill.
Without the mason's troweled hand.
Or builder's cultured skill ;
Yea, all the world of labor Joins
Each palace-home to fill.
The tollers not tho drones of earth
Are worthy of renown ;
Those are the men of noble birth
With hands begrimed and brown.
And they when reason has her reign
Will win and wear the crown.
The man whose ever restless brain
Or sturdy toiling hand,
lias reared two blades of nscful groin
Where one alone did stand,
Shall have his woll-doserved applause
From all, in every land.
All hall I then, to the homy hand.
And to the motstenod brow,
To those wh. at the anvil stand.
Or guide the cleaving plow ;
The day when labor wears the crown
Is dawning even now I
Utica lltraM.
THE STORY-TELLER.
TIMMS' STRATEGY.
A STORY OF TWO RIVALS.
Mapes was chivalrous by nature ; he
believed in " seeking the bubble reputa
tion, even in the cannon's mouth." His
enthusiasm was aroused by the recital of
stories of deeds of desperate daring;
while he had nothing but contempt for
even success won by crooked and indi
rect means. Timms, on the oontrary,
believed that there was policy in war,
and that the end justified the means,
particularly if the end was attained.
Companions from infancy, their lives
had been spent in competition for schol
astic and such other honors as the local
ity afforded, without even a momentary
break rn their friendship. But now, in
early manhood, they struggled for a prize
of incalculable value, with an ardor that
threatened a complete rupture of friend
ly relations.
The heart and hand of Eliza Reed, the
neighborhood belle, were to be won ;
and to these none others might aspire,
in the face of such formidable competi
tion as that of Mapes and Timms. They
alone each by virtue of his own per
sonality and position had a right to
lay siege to the heart of that variable,
irritable, imperious beauty, and for
months the strife between had gone on.
Each one had called into play all his
personal and social resources ; for the
local society had taken such an interest
that it was divided into two factions,
known as tho Mapesites and the Tininis
ites. And yet Miss Eliza could not be
brought to express a preference ; if she
rode with one to-day, she was careful to
walk abroad with the rival to-morrow.
Coquetry is delicious to a woman ; and
Eliza would not havo been feminine had
she been in haste to have made an elec
tion. Nevertheless, she did not intend
to miss her opportunity. She knew well
tho war could not always last, and feared
that when one of the aspirants for her
favor withdrew from the contest, the
love of the other, wanting the stimulus
of competition, would grow cold j hence,
she had made up her mind that, upon
the first favorable opportunity, she
would signify to Mapes that his suit, so
often pressed, was at last accepted. The
opportunity, it seemed, was not to bo
long wanting; for invitations were given
for an apple-bee in the neighborhood,
and Eliza found means to convey an in
timation to Mapes that she expected to
meet him there, and counted on his
escort home at the conclusion of the
frolic.
The appointed eveuing looked for with
such nervous anticipation by Mapes,
came at last. Ho fult that it was the
most important of his life, and arrayed
himself as only a rustio dandy can. His
way lay across a meadow, through which
ran or rather loitered a deep, but
narrow stream, spanned by a single log.
It was so dark when he reached this
primitive bridge that he was compelled
to feel his way slowly across. As he
progressed it commenced to swing light-ly-j-something
very unusual until he
reached the centre, when to his utter
confusion, it gave way, and ho. was
launched into the water. He scrambled
out, then suddenly the night became
luminous with that lurid light to which
people refer when they say, in speaking
of some profane wretch, "He swore
nntil all was blue." Whatever illumi
nating qualities this lurid light possessed,
it had no. drying ones, and Mapes was
forced to bid adieu for the night to all
hopes of plighting his troth to tho loved
Eliza.
In the rural districts Down East, in
early times, the good poople had such
habits of industry and rigid economy
that they seldom gave, or attended par
ties, unless such as were cloaked under
the names of raisings, quiltings, husk
ings, or apple-bees ; thus, the appk-bee,
fraught with momentous consequences
to Mapes and Timms -was but a social
party in disguise a few apple, being
pared, quartered, cored, ana strung in
tho early evening for appearance' sake.
As usual, Eliza Eeed was the belle of
the occasion. Good looks, entire self
possession, and keen, satirical wit
always assured her that position ; and
this night she Shone with unusual bril
liancy, until, as the hours wore away,
and Mapes came not, she began to lose
herself in pondering why, ana at length
she asked Timms :
" Is your friend Mapes ailing
". I guoss not," replied Timms ; " saw
him to-day. He wasn't complaining."
" He denies himself much pleasure,"
said Eliza, "in not coming here to-night,
for this is the place where we always
have a good time. Aunt Judy knows
how to give an apple-bee."
"You let Mapes alone," answered
Timms ; " he knows what ho's about, you
may be sure."
" What do you mean '(" asked Eliza.
" Oh, I mean," replied Timms, " that
Mapes is the prince of good fellows, and
gets invitations where the rest of us
don't!"
"Whore is Mapes to-night," asked
Eliza, now fully aroused.
" I don't know, for sure," answered
Timms. " He told me to-day there were
special reasons for his coming here, but
that he had an invitation to the rich and
aristocratic Squire Huntoon's, who is
celebrating his daughter's birthday, and
that he didn't know which way he
would go ;" and Timms turned away to
talk to tho next prettiest girl in the
room.
Petted youngwomen are seldom logi
cal or patient. When the party broke up
Eliza accepted Timms' escort to her
home, and, before they arrived there, she
had consented to become, with the least
possible delay, Mrs. Timms.
The next morning the engagement was
announced, and preparations for the
wedding commenced. Timms was ex
ultant happy Timms !
For a few days Timms was not much
seen in public perhaps for want of
courage to wear his blushing honors
openly ; perhaps for want of courage to
meet other contingencies who knows ?
But a man cannot make arrangements
for his own wedding from a fixed stand
point, and he was compelled to venture
out.
In a quiet and secluded by-way he
met Mapes. The meeting to him was a
Surprise; he smiled feebly, and extended
his hand. But Mapes, intent on busi
ness, strode squarely up to Timms and
planted a vigorous blow on one of his
eyes, which caused that gentleman to
measure his length in the dust. Timms
sprang to his feet, and showed fight ; but
another blow on the other eye sent
him again to grass, where he continued
to lie.
" Get up," said Mapes.
" You'll knock me down again," said
Timma.
" Yes," returned Mapes, " I will."
" Then I won't get up," said Timms.
" You're an infernal scoundrel," said
Mapes.
" I can't help your saying so," answer
ed Timms.
" You sawed the log," said Mapes.
" What log Y" asked Timms.
" You sawed the log," repeated Mapes,
advancing a step.
" Yes stop," said Timms : " I sawed
the log."
" Well, you needn't think," said Mapes,
" that after your marriage you're going
to tell that story, and make me a laughing-stock."
"I'll never speak of it," whined
Timms.
" Perhaps you won't," said Mapes ;
" but I'm going to swear you before I
get through. There's another thing:
you won the woman by your d
trickery, and I know it is in you to
abuse her ; so I'm going to swear you to
treat her kindly."
" I'll swear," said Timms.
" Hold up your hand," said Mapes.
Timms held up his hand.
" Now, repeat after me : I, Silas
Timms, solemnly swear that I will never
bring to the knowledge of any human
being that I sawed the log whereby
Daniel Mapes fell into the creek and
lost a wife ; and, further, that I will, she
consenting, marry Eliza Heed, and
always treat her kindly : so help me
God"
Timms repeated the oath, terhatim.
" Now, get up and go home," said
Mapes. "I don't think you'll be mar
ried till your eyes get out of mourning,
and by that time I'll be far enough
away. But don't think I'll lose sight of
you ; and if you don't keep your oath,
you'll see me." .
Timms arose from the ground, shook
off the dust, and walked away ; but when
he had secured a safe distance, he shout
ed back, exultingly ;
" Mapes, she's an angel."
In twenty years Daniel Mapes had
learned many things, and among them
this : Life is very much as we make it.
In other words, the world is like a mir
ror, and looks at us with the face we
present. It returns scowl for scowl,
and smile for smile. It echoes our sobs
and our laughter. To the cold, it is as
icy as the northern seas ; to the loving,
it is as as balmy as the isles of the tropics.
He had learned a still harder lesson ;
which was, to forget the griefs, the sor
rows, the slights, the wrongs, and the
hates of the past. The effect of this les
son was to make it appear that the lines,
to him, had fallen in pleasant places.
His rotund form and firm muscle bespoke
a good digestion, while a cheerful count
enance told of mental peace. A fair
woman named him husband, and child
ren called him father. A beautiful home
in the'Santa Clara Valley was theirs ;
besides which, Mapes had many broad
acres of land, as well as many head of
stock running nearly wild in the counties
of Monterey and San Luis Opispo.
Once .in each year the cattle that
graze on California's thousand hills are
gathered in bands at convenient places,
to be claimed and branded by the own
ers such assemblages being called rodtot.
Mapes had been down across the Salinas
Plain, in attendance upon a rodeo ; and,
being on his return, jogging along on
his mustang, he saw. far in the distance,
but nearigg him, an equally lone travel
ler. (Slowly the distance between them
decreased ; and, as they approached,
Mapes with California prudence slip
ped his revolver upon the belt which
sustained it, from his back, round to his
left side, bringing the hilt under the
shadow of his bridle-arm, and within
easy reach of his right hand. A near
look assured Mapes that fie had no oc
casion for weapons ; the coming man
was of middle age, but his look was
worn, weary, dejected, and hopeless in
ocal phrase, his manner was that of a
person who has " lost his grip ;" and
those who have met that terrible mis
fortune are never highway robbers,
" grip " being the very quality wanted
in that hazardous pursuit.
The travellers met with a long, inquir
ing gaze, when from their lips simultan
eously burst the words, " Mapes'"
"Timms." After a moment of mute
surprise, Mapes, spurring his mustang,
drew nearer to Timms.
So we meet at last. I have been
wanting to see you this many a year."
The movement seemed ominous, to
Timms, and he cried out : " Don't don't
shoot I I have no weapons I Besides, I
have kept my oath at least, as well as I
could. I never told the reason why you
didn't attend the apple-bee, nor ever
breathed a syllable about the sawed log
upon my solemn oath !"
"I wasn't thinking of the ducking,"
said Mapes.
"Don't como any nearer," returned
Timms. "I have always tried to use
that woman well ; but sue wouldn't be
used well. I have done my best to treat
her kindly ; but she wouldn't be treated
kindly."
" It is no use to go over the grounds
to me, Timms."
But," replied Timms, " you have no
idea what that woman is ; you wouldn't
blame me, if you only knew. She's
browbeat me till I ain't half a man."
" So I see," said Mapes.
" No, you don't see, replied Timms.
" You don't see half. Look at this scar "
taking off his hat, and showing a long
seam on his scalp ; that was done with
the skillet."
" You have suffered," said Mapes.
"Suffered I" returned Timms. "You
ought to have sworn her, too. If you
only knew how I have thought of you,
and of my oath to you, and now I have
borne blows, and been quiet how I
have been called a brute and a fool, and
kept silent how I have endured taunts
and sneers, hunger and discomforts, with
out a word of reproach you would for
give me ; you wouldn't harbor thoughts
of revenge."
" Thoughts of revenge !" returned
Mapes. " Let us dismount, and have a
settlement ; for I see my chance has come
at last."
" Mapes, would you take the life of an
unarmed man 'f"
" Timms, you're crazy ! Let me ex
plain. I have no wrongs to avenge. It
isn't for vengeance that I have 'wanted
to see you. I havo heard of you often
know all your life and experiences ; and
I have only wanted to meet you, to offer
you a home and friendship, employment
and opportunities for prosperity, here in
California. I owe you no debt but the
one of gratitude for the inestimable ser
vice you did me by that little job of car
penter work ; and that I mean to pay.
Come with me."
He took Timms' horse by the bridle,
turned him about without remonstrance,
and they travelled on in silence.
After a while, Timms raised his eyes
timidly from the ground, and said :
"Mapes, she's the devil!" Overland
Monthly.
Relic of a Famous Temple.
Dr. D. P. Li verm ore of Hallowcll, Me.,
has in his possession a very interesting
curiosity. It is a piece of the famous
Chinese Porcelain Tower, built at Nan
king, by the Emperor Yungloh, to re
ward the kindness of his mother. It was
begun in the year 1411 and completed
in 1430. The board of works was order
ed, according to the plan of the em ieror,
to build a tower nine stories high, ihe
bricks and tiles to be glazed, and of fine
colors, and it was to be superior to all
others, in order to make widely known
the virtues of his mother. Its height
was to be 322 feet ; it was of an octagonal
form, each side being 15 feet wide. Its
base was upon a solid foundation of
brickwork, 10 feet high, up which a
flight of 12 steps hid into the tower,
where a spiral staircase led to the top.
The body of the edifice was composed of
brick, the outer face of which was cov
ered with slabs of glazed porcelain of
various colors. It is a piece ot this glaz
ed porcelain that Mr. Livermore has.
The lowest of tho nine stories was 120
feet in circumference, but the tower de
creased in size to the top, and at each
story was a projecting roof, with a ball
suspended at each corner 144 in all.
On the outer face of each story were six
teen lanterns the light of which " illu
mined the thirty-three heavens, shining
into the hearts of all men, good and bad,
eternally removing human misery."
Each story formed a saloon, which was
finely painted and adorned with numer
ous gilded images. On the top of the
highest roof were two brazen vessels,
weighing together 1,200 pounds, and a
brazen bowl besides weighing 500 pounds.
Encircling the spire, which was 30 feet
high, were 9 iron rings, the largest being
63 feet in circumferense, and the smallest
24 feet, weighing 6,000 pounds. Sur
mounting the spire was a ball filled with
pearls and precious stones. The brilli
ancy of the edifice, acoording to the
Chinese annalist, would endure to hun
dreds of generations, a monument of
recompensing kindness to myriads of
years. Therefore, it is named Pav
gansz, or Recompensing Favor Pagoda.
For two or three centuries it bore the
appearance of having suffered by a
stroke of lightning, which the Chinese
attributed to a conflict of the god of
thunder with demons ; in pursuing them
to tho pagoda, they said, ne injured the
building. In 1856 the Taiping rebels
blew this magnificent monument of the
gratitude of a son for his mother's love.
to pieces with gunpowder, and its very
site .will ia time be forgotten. Kennebec
journal.
Over 40.000 canarv birds are brought
to this country every year, and probably
10,000 more are raised in this country
tor tne purpose ot sale.
Joaquin Miller.
A correspondent of the YrSka (Cal.J
Journal narrates the following in tegnrd
to the poet of the Sierras :
The poet's pedigree and place of birth
are gonorally known. lie has many
queer habits and eccentricities, but there
is enough of the noble and gonerous in
his composition to compensate for his
faults, whatever they may be. I first
saw him at the mines on McAdam's
Creek, California. He was then fresh
from the wilds of Oregon. His long,
tow-oolored hair reached to his should
ers, and, taken altogether, he was about
the greenest looking specimen around
the digging.
Literature was then as now his ambi
tion, and he kept constantly scribbling.
I was several times favored with a sight
of his manuscript, some of which I
thought had peculiar merit ; but most
of his writings neither gods nor men
could understand. He knew nothing of
the laws of versification, nor indeed of
the rules of grammar, and when told by
me that he must reconstruct his poetry,
observing a rhythmical arrangement of
words, and giving eaoh line a certain
number of feet according to the kind of
verse, his astonishment was great, and,
thinking by my amazed appearance over
his queer lines that I meant to disparage
his talents, ho indignantly snatched the
manuscript from the table, exclaiming :
"Oh, d n the rith-um and measure
ment 1 there's the ideas, and I know what
poetical license means."
His many eccentricities made him a
butt for all the rough jokes on the creek.
When smarting' under some of those
taunts, I have often seen his flushed face
express the keenest pain. Soon, how
ever, he found a most effectual way to
check such insults. He bought a long,
heavy Colt's revolver, which at full cock
he would level at the face of the person
attacking him, who, thinking he meant
mischief, thereafter would let him
alone.
In the year 1859 Joaquin worked for
Hurst & Co., on Cherry Creek. The ras
cally Hurst would not pay him, and
being a ruffian and a bully, attempted
to frighten him away. Joaquin again
resorted to the logical influence of his
revolver, and with the most satisfactory
success. He also mounted a horse be
longing to Hurst & Co., which he rode
off and sold, paying himself with the
proceeds, and thereby obtaining both
substantial and poetical justice. The
law, however, did not recognize such an
irregular proceeding, but rather consid
ered it in the light of a felony. Hurst
procured a warrant for his arrest, and
accompanied Sheriff Bradley, of Dead
wood, to put it in execution. Joaquin's
cabin -was then on McAdam's Creek.
The poet was smoothing his cherished
tresses when he saw the men approach
ing, and, reluctantly dropping the
brush, he leisurely started up the moun
tain. Not heeding Bradley's order to
halt, that officer fired two shots from his
pistol. Joaquin replied by shooting
twice at Hurst, who was still approach
ing the fugitive. Joaquin now com
manded Bradley to stop. The mandate
not being heeded, that officer received a
bullet through the thigh that just grazed
the main artery, which stopped further
pursuit.
The poet, thoroughly disgusted with
civilization, shook the dust of McAdam's
Creek from his feet, and in the pursuit
of liberty aud happiness we next hear
of him among the Indians of Pit River
Valley, where report said he went ex
tensively into the " horse business" with
poor Lo, until the Sheriff of Shasta
County mode him " more trouble."
A Fatal Lake.
A Lake Takbe correspondent of the
San Francisco Bulletin writes :
Some twelve or fourteen persons have
been drowned in this lake within the
past ten years ; none of the bodies have
ever been recovered. Superstition, ever
ready to weave a sensation from na
ture's laws, asserted that there was a
doubtful mystery in the non-recovery
of the drowned ; that, in fact, a mon
ster had its abode in this fresh water
sea, and that the bodies all passed into
his capacious maw. The true explana
tion of this mystery never has been
given. The non-appearance of the
bodies is due to three causes : - The first
is the great purity of the water and its
consequent lack of buoyancy. Drown
ing is very easy in it, lor this reason,
though I have not while swimming in
it found any more than ordinary diffi
culty in sustaining myseii. Tne second
and main cause is due to the great cold
ness of the water. Even at this, the
warmest season, the surface water is as
cold as the drinker desires it to be, but
it is warm there compared with its tem
perature at the depth of one hundred to
two hundred feet. It is as cold there as
the arctic heat of an iceberg. When a
body sinks in the lake to the depth re
quired, it is frozen stiff. The process,
of course, preserves it, so that the gas
which originates in tne oody from de
cay in other water is prevented, and
distension checked. The body is thus
kept in a state of greater specifio gravi
ty than the water in which it is sus
pended, and therebv prevented from
rising to the surface. The third cause.
lies in the great pressure of the pure
water on anything that is sunk to a
great depth in it. Corks placed on
deep sea nets are pressed down in a
week to half their sizo, and one of the
oldest residents of the lake expresses
the belief that by the time a man's body
has been suspended for a week at a
depth of about 200 feet (it is not likely
that it ever reaches the cavernous and
almost fathomless bottom of the great
lake), the compression of the water has
reduced its sue to that of a child's.
Doubtless the idea of unooffined suspen
sion in such a " world of water" is not a
pleasant one to contemplate, but to be
pressed into a solid mass and suspended
in a liquid coffin of ice temperature is
quite as pleasant as interment and
mouldering in tne ground.
The Lawrence Tribune thinks grapes
will be so plentiful this season that they
will be sold tor two cents a pound.
Brandy and Work.
At a recent meeting of the royal so
ciety, a paper on " Further expriments
on the effect of alcohol and exorcise on
the elimination of nitrogen, and on
pulse and temperature of the body," was
presented by Dr. E. A. Parkes. It con
tained a detailed description of experi
ments made on a soldier, a Scotchman,
who had been brought up on oatmeal
and milk, and who, at one time, had
been in the habit of taking more than a
fair amount of whiskey. As a soldier,
however, he bears the character of a
steady man in the enjsyment of perfect
health. Uis experience as to the enect
of alcohol is noteworthy. He com
menced the exercise and brandy period
of the experiment with a belief that the
brandy would enable him to perform
the work more easily, but ended with
the opposite conviction. The brandy
was taken in four ounce doses at 10 A.
M., 2 P. sr. and 6 P. M., in an equal quan
tity of water, and the work was chiefly
done in the two hours immediately suc
ceeding each dose, and from 6 to 8 A.
H. The two hours' work from 10 A. M.
to 12 m., immediately after the first four
fluid ounces of brandy was, he thought,
done equally well with and without the
brandy. The man affirmed that he
could tell no difference, except that, to
use his own words, " the brandy seemed
to give him a kind of spirit which made
him think he could do a great deal of
work ; but when he came to do it he
found he was less capable than he
thought." After the Becond four ounces
of brandy he felt hot and thirsty ; but
on the hrst two days he thought he
worked as well as on the " water" days.
On the third day, however, he had palpi
tation of the heart, and was surprised to
find he was obliged, to stop from time
to time, because, to use his own words,
" of his breathing not being so good."
The third four fluid ounces of brandy
at 6 F. M. produced on all three days
very marked narcotic effects ; immediate
ly after taking it he became heavy, felt
the greatest indisposition to exert him
self, and could hardly refrain from
throwing down his spade and giving up
work. He worked with no vigor, and
on the second evening thought his mus
cular power decidedly lessened. On the
third evening, as it was raining, he
could not dig, but took walking and
running exercise under cover. On at
tempting to run he found to his great
surprise, as he is a particularly fast and
good runner, that he could not do so ;
on attempting to run he had palpita
tion and got out of breath and was
obliged to stop, bo that, he stated, on the
next day, " it he had had his accoutre
ments on and been ordered to ' double,'
he could not have obeyed the order."
After coming in from work on each
evening, he fell into a heavy sleep, from
which ho was awakened with diihculty.
This lasted three or four hours, after
which he was restless and sleepless.
The man's own judgment was, at the
end of the trial, that he would prefer
to work without the brandy ; and, when
asked his reasons, ho mentioned " the
increased thirst, the heaviness in tho
evening, and the fluttering at tho
heart.
Ringing Rocks.
A Pottstown correspondent of the
Philadelphia Prats says :
In a February number of the Scientific
American a contributor says : " The so
norous stone near Pottstown, Pa., must
be of volcanic origin, known as trachyte.
An island in the West Indies, elevated
310 feet above the ocean, contains masses
of the same character of rocks. Living
stone, in his " South Africa," page 101,
speaks of the Bamangwato HUls of the
Bukoa Range, 700 or 800 feet above the
plains : ' The rocks, in falling, produce
a ringing noise, which leads many to
fancy that they contain abundance of
iron. In many places the lava streams
may be recognized.'" The sonorous
stone alluded to near Pottstown are
found on one of the hills northeast of the
town, known as Klingle Berg, or Ring
ing Hill. Owing to the romantio wild
ness of the spot, as well as the interest
and curiosity attached to it, it always
has been a favorite place for the young
people of the country round. Going outl
on an excursion of this kind, lately, we
might have failed to find the rocks,
which are so hedged in by evergreens as
to be invisible from the carriage road,
had not a band of school boys reached
them, troin the opposite side, a tew mo
ments in advance of ns. Suddenly, in
the midst of beyish voices, the rocks
spoke for themselves, some in the deep
est bass, others pealing out as clearly
almost as a silver bell. Scrambling
through the underbrush and evergreens
we nastily entered the scene of action,
with small bits of rock in hand, ready to
play our part.
We found the tall rock near the centre
which appeared to touch the others at
but one or two points to have the clear
est sound of all : another was specially
interesting from the print of a horse s
hoof somewhat indistinctly marked upon
it, while many were cracked and seamed
as from the action of heat, these latter
phenomena favoring the theory of their
volcanic origin. The ringing rocks
themselves cover an oblong space less
than an eighth of a mile from end to
end. They are so thickly piled together
and have been so completely washed Wv
rains that, except a little brown moss
here or there, not a particle ot vegeta
tion can be seen upon them. The whole
of the rocky region roundabouts, hew
ever, is thickly overgrown with trees
and underbrush.
The belief is gaining ground that
habitual drunkenness is a disease and
should be treated as such. A commit
tee of the British House of Commons
has lately made a report on the subject
and recommends the establishment of
reformatory institutions similar to that
at Binghamton, in this State. Much of
the evidence taken on the Bubject came
from America. It seems to be tolerably
certain that habitual drunkards are in
the coming time to be taken in hand by
.1 1-1 . ' J . 1 1
tne oiate, u necessary, anu irtmuju evu
cording to scientific principles. ,
Curiosities of Animal Life.
There con be no doubt, writes Mr.
Darwin, that dogs feel shame as distinct
from fear, and something very like
modesty, when begging too often for
food. A great dog scorns the snarling
of a little dog, and this may be called
magnanimity. Boveral observers have
stated that monkeys certainly disliked
being laughed at, as they sometimes in
vent imaginary offences. In the Zool
ogical Gardens 1 saw a baboon that al
ways got into a furious rage when his
keeper took out a letter or book and
read it aloud to him, and his rage was
so violent that, as I witnessed on one oc
casion, he bit his own leg till the blood
flowed.
All ftfiimftln fpol wnndnr. and marlv
exhibit curiosity, the latter affording
opportunity for hunters, in many parts
of the world, to decoy the game into
their power. Tho faculty of imitation,
so strongly developed in man, especially
in a barbarous state, is present in mon
keys. A certain bull-terrier of our ac
quaintance, when he wishes to go out
of the room, jumps at the handle of the
door and grasps it with his paws, al
though he cannot turn the handle. Par
rets also reproduce with wonderful fidel-
tv the tones of ditterent speakers, and
puppies reared by cats have been known
to lick their feet and wash their faces
after the manner of their foster moth
ers.
Attention and memory are also pres
ent in the lower animals, and it is im
possible to deny that the dreams of dogs
and horses show presence of imagina
tion or a certain skow of reason is also
present. Animals likewise profit by ex
perience, as any man realizes who sets
traps. The young are niucn more casin'
caught than the old, and the adults gain
caution by seeing the late ot those who
are caught. Tools are also used by some
of the higher apes. The chimpanzee
uses a stone to crack a nut resembling a
walnut, and the Abyssinian baboons
fight troops of another species, ond roll
down stones in the attack before they
finally close in a hand-to-hand encoun
ter. The idea of common property is
common also to every dog with a bone,
to all birds with their nests, and notably
in the case of rooks. Nor can a certain
kind of language be denied to the brute.
The dog communicates his feelings by
barks of different tones, which undoubt
edly raise in his fellow dogs ideas simil
ar to those- passing in his own mind.
hdinburgfy Uieview.
The Mormon Succession.
D. H. Smith, youngest son of tho
" Prophet" Joseph, is now in Salt Lake
City holding meetings on the subject of
the succession. The Salt Lake Trilrune
says :
This movement on the part ot the
Smith brothers is going to form a most
important part in bringing about a hnal
separation of church and state in this
country, inasmuch as the question of
successorship to Brigham Young is in
volved, and which we predict in advance
is going to be the one which will wreck
and split up into tactions the Utah or
ganization at the death of its leader.
The question as to who will bo the suc
cessor of Brigham Young is a perfect
mystery t the Mormon poople, and a
stranger cannot elicit anything from any
of them bearing upon that subject, and
it looks mere than singular that, at the
present stago of the game, the lineal de
scendants of the original founder of
Mormonism should now be in Salt Lake
City laying claim to tho control of the
Mormon Church.
That this subject is of the most vital
interest to the public here was demon
strated by the crowded state of the in
stitute again last night, among whom
was noticed not only portions of the
Smith family of jthe Brighamite per
suasion, but tho private secretary ot
Brigham Young himself, who was most
likely there in the interest of his master's
kingdom, a fact which betrays how
keenly the " frophet himseit is inter
ested in the mission of the Smiths to this
country.
Jleat In South Australia.
A. dispatch from Adelaide describes
the intense heat of part of January,
continuing for the unprecedented num
ber of twelve days, and states that, with
the exception of two or three hours on
the seventh night, when it cooled down
so far as to give promise of a change
which did not come, the thermometer
never fell below 82 deg., and ranged in
the day up to 108 deg. in the shade.
Business was brought almost to a com
plete stoppage. The houses got so thor
oughly heated in the day, that they had
no chance of cooling at night, and
sleeping, with many people, became an
impossibility. Even a cold bath was a
luxury scarcely attainable, tor the tem
perature of the waterworks water rose
to 79 deg. Toward the end of the
twelve days, those who could afford it
fled to the seaside. On the last night
before the change, almost every vehicle
in the city was put into requisition, and
the beach of Glenelg was crowded with
people, to the number ot some thousands,
many of whom spent a great part of
the night enjoying the comparatively
cool sea-breeze, and only returned to
town as morning approached. Those
who could not afford to leave their
homes sought relief by lying in the open
air, or as near to it as possible, and
many a cottage giving directly on to
the streets presented the singular spoo-
taole ot an open front-door with the
proprietor and his family lying about in
tne passage, in some instances me
males of the family fairly came outside
t sleep, and took what rest they could
upon the stones.
California is a State owning a great
deal of good sense and good taste. Its
latest evidence of these qualities is the
appointment of a professional arboncul
tunst, at a salary of (15,000 a year,
whose sole duty is to attend to the
planting of forest trees all over the
State. No better improvement than
this oould bo conceived and executed,
and it gives a hope for other and older
States that are becomiug pitiiuily bare,
Facts and Figures.
East Cambridge, Mass., is suffering
from an army of locusts.
There are eishtv Pullman palace cars
arriving at and departing from Chicago
every day. Tho 'amount of money ex
pended in their manufacture ranges
from about 10,000 to $30,000 for each
car, the average cost being about if lu,
500. The amount of capital, therefore,
invested in tho Pullman cars which ac
commodate the business of Chicago,
amounts to about $1,300,000.
The Grand Jury of a criminal court
in London recently indicted themsolves,
not as a nuisance precisely, but as a
superfluity. They expressed the belief
that the function ot a urana o ury is
fully "discharged by the inquires of tho
committing magistrate. In regard to
this presentment the common Sergeant
of the court very decidedly disagreed
with the Grand Jury, believing tne
existence of that body to be essential to
an effective administration of justice. It
is probable that in this instance the
hostility of the jurors to the institution
may have arisen from impatience at be
ing called upon to give the time and at
tention necessary for the performance of
the duties required of them in their offi
cial capacity.
"Crazy Black Dick," who died sud
denly at Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday,
was a man with a mission, notwithstand
ing he was insane. There is at Harris
burg a tangled network of tracks between
the two depots, over wnicn trains are
constantly passing. For years "Crazy
Dick," in all weather and under all cir
cumstances, made it his chosen work to
run along in front of every train that
started, warning every one to clear tho
track. Only once was he tempted from
his post, and then a railway engineer
gave him a ride to Pittsburgh. While he
was absent a child wa3 killed on the
track, and after that no inducement
could persuade him to leave. The rail
road men will find it hard to do without
his services, so freely and courageously
rendered.
At the Irst battle of Manassas, a Vir
ginian named Crocket Grayson was shot
in the head, the bullet entering the
temple, passing through the inner ear
and lodging in the bone back of the ear,
where it remained until recently, when
a physician extracted it. Upon boring
into the bone with a trefine the ball was
found so firmly imbedded that it had to
be clipped out with a chisel. Tho lead
removed weighed half an ounce. Mr.
Grayson went through tho operation
without taking Chloroform, exhibiting
great coolness and fortitude. Once dur
ing the operation he called a halt, and
after ejecting a mouthful of tobacco
juice, coolly laid his head on the tablo
and informed tho doctor that ho could
now " go ahead." He was doing well at
last accounts.
Tho Evansville, Ind., Journal says :
' A story reached us yesterday ot tho
death-bed confession of a man who,
about a year ago, pretended that he
woke up one morning and found his wii'o
dead by his sido. The man is reported
to have been steady in his habits, and no
word reaches us ot any disagreement
with his wife ; but, after about a year
of agony, he confessed to a woman who
was with him in his last hours that ho
had smothered his wife, and that ever
since she had haunted him her face
being continually before his eyes re
proaching him for tho murder. He ex
pressed himself as willing and anxious
to die, to escape the misery he endured.
Our own recollection of tho case is that
the coroner's jury returned a verdict of
death from heart disease on the testi
mony of the husband, but that no post
mortem was held, tho urgings of two
physicians to the contrary notwithstand
ing." A man who has lately visited the
grand pyramid of Cheops, wading in the
sand fourteen hundred feet before he had
passed one of its sides, and between five
and six thousand teet bolore he had
made the circuit, says, that taking one
hundred city churches of the ordinary
width, and arranging them in a hollow
square, twenty-five on a side, you would
have scarcely the basement of the pyra
mid. Take another hundred and throw
the material in the hollow square and it
would not be full ; pile on all the bricks
and mortar in the city of Now York, and
the structure would not bo so high and
solid as this great work of man. One
layer of bricks was long sines removed
to Cairo tor building 'purposes, and
enough remains to supply the demands
of a city of half a million o.f people for
a century to come, if permitted to use it
with perfect freedom. The pyramid of
Cheops was built 2.123 years before the
Christian era.
The Canadian Parliament has passed
a new patent law by complying with
the provisions of which American inven
tors will receive protection in Canada.
iiy this law all inventors or their assigns
may receive patents, provided a foreign
patent for the invention has not been in
existence for more than one year prior
to the application being made for one in
Canada. Improvements on existing
patents may also be patented. The for
eign applicant is obliged to elect his
domicile in some known place in Canada,
but this is a mere formality. The law
requires that the patentee of any inven
tion or his assignee shall begin to manu
facture the article in Canada within two
years of the date of the grant of the
patent unless a sufficient proof be ad
duced to the satisfaction of the Com
missioner that the patentee has been
unable to do so from causes beyond his
control, in which case the Commissioner
is empowered to grant a delay. Patents
will be issued for five, ten, or fifteen
years, at the option of the applicant, and
Eatents issued for five or ten years may
e extended for another term of five
years, but there is no provision for ex
tension after the fifteenth year. The
fees payable at the Patent Office are
reasonable, being at the rate of twenty
dollars for each patent for each period
of five years. When a patent is refused
half the fees are returned to tho applicant.