I f
mm
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr,, Editor and Publisher.
NIL DESPERANDUM.
Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. III.
MDGWAY, ELK COUNTY,
PA.,
THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 1873.
NO. 23.
Willi
In Sun nnd Shade.
"We walked together on the sand:
The lazy tide was fretting j
The wind blow sweetly from the land (
The summer sun was seeing.
lonely and long the white beach lay
Beneath the sunset's flushing ;
The breakers, near aud far away,
All their while tumult hushing.
A cruel wreck npon the shore
Spoke of the storm's wild doing :
We dreamed no tempest, evermore
Couli! Wight our summer's wooing,
One str.r was trembling into light,
Iu- that wide heaven showing ;
Oufj thought within our hearts that night
Exceeding sweet was growing.
Vie walked, and spoke as lovers will,
In voices ha shed and tender, jfcy
Of hopes the future should fulfill.;
Of blessings Heaven would render!
I walk the lonesome beach to-day :
The tide is still returning;
The fishing boats at anchor stay ;
The sunset fires are burning.
But tides may ebb aud tides may flow ;
And breakers flash and thunder)
Unheeding of them all I know
He sleeps their tumult tuider :
He sleeps-nor sin nor acting &ge
Shall chill his youth's endeavor :
The years of God his heritage
Forever artf forever.
THE CIURQE OF THE LIGHT BRI.
GADE.
A Page frooi History.
The story of the Charge of the Light
lgadeof ?aIWava, has been told
?kie; Writer in a meazine gives us
tie story again as follows :
r i P"1"6" stood thus when
g?n' beariu tu0 "fourth
oraer. Ue Russians were clustered
on the two hills, the English andFrench
cavalry stood looking on, Lucan was in
Jhis usualjnervous irritable state, when
the gallop of a horse was heard. A tall,
Blender youg officer, with trim figure
ana black moustache, was coming down
a steep descent at full speed, with a
white envelope stuck in his belt ; and
every eye was on him in a moment.
It was Captain Nolan, in his scarlet
shell-jacket, a little forage cap set on
one side pf his dark curls, his face full
of Jy dnd eagerness.
An audible murmur went through the
ranges :
xJ9,rd,era cornel Nolan's the boy
that 11 show us the way to move." For
Nolan was well known and universally
beloved.
In another moment he dashed up and
saluted; then handed his letter to
Lord Lucan. The cavalrv general tore
it open with the nervous" haste charac
teristio of every movement of his lord
ship. "When he read it over his coun
tenance changed. Then his lordship
oroe out, something in this style :
" Why, good heavens, sir 1 what can
he mean? With the little force at onr
command we can barely hold our own.
Tniinli 1ABD 1 Ti i " ,-
re iiuruuto. xi, is periectiy sui
cidal. How can we advance ?"
. Nolau's eye began to blaze. He had
just come from the high ground whenco
the whole Russian position could be
seen at a glance. Knowing that his
order contemplated t,h A
of the Russian columns nnd saving the
Kuua m me reuouois, ne was impatient
vi uie pragmatical cDjection of this cap
tious old man.
In a stern disiinct tone he spoke to
Lord Lucan :
" Lord Raglan's orders are, that the
uavairy snouiu atcack immediately.
"Attack, sir?" cried Lucan angrily.
"Attack what ? What guns, sir ?"
Nolan threw his head bank inrlior.
nnnt.lv nrtrl lmifoil 1 , n
liidge, where the Russians were busily
of :.. i i J
nun i-ijlil'j, iu mini away rue enp
tured guns. The group was standing
mo iigui) oi me entrance to tne north
valley.
"There, my lord, is your enemy," he
said, " and there are your guns."
The captain forgot that he was talk
ing to an excited and impracticable
man. Wrongheaded Lucan chose to
fancy that he pointed to the end of the
"valley, and with all the obstinacy of his
nature kept to the error.
" Very well, sir, very well," he said
angrily. " The order shall be obeyed.
I wash my hands of it."
He wheeled hishorse, nnd trotted off to
where Lord Cardigan sat in front of his
brilliant lines, gnawing his gray mous
tache and chafing over his inaction.
Then said Lucan :
"Lord Cardigan, you will attack the
Russians in the valley."
The earl dropped his sword in salute.
" Certainly, my lord; but allow me
to point out to you that there is a bat
tery in front, a battery on each flank,
and' the ground is covered with Russian
riflemen."
" I can't help it," said Lucan snap
pishly ; " it is Lord Raglan's positivo
order ttiat the Light Brigade is to at
tack the enemy. We have no choice
but to obey."
Then Cardigan bowed his head.
"Verv well, my lord," was all he
said. Then turning to his staff, " The
brigade will advance," he said quietly.
sage of arms with the divison command
Jl I... MA i. lli. T : 1. 1 1 .
tier, Jl Ull 11UUCU J1 tAJ bUO JUlgUlr J Ji 1 tuio
himself, where he was cheerfully talk
ing to his sworn comrade and friend,
Captain Morris, of the 17th Lancers.
Now that he had maintained' his posi
tion as mouth-piece of the commander-in-chief,
against the impudent fault
finding of Lucan, he felt happy. His
beloved cavalry was to be launched at
last on its glorious mission against the
Causeway Ridge, and already D'Allon
ville was preparing to assault the other
flank of the Russians.
Who can wonder that enthusiatio
Nolan told Morris that he was going to
see the brigade through the charge? It
was his privilege to do so, and his
heart beat high with hope. Little did
he know of the extent of pig-headed
stupidity natural to the two members
of the English aristocracy who re
spectively commanded and led that
charge.
A clear sharp voioe was soon heard
in front of the brigade now formed in
three lines. Lord Lnoan rode away to
the " Heavies," nnd Nolan galloped
round the rear to the left of the brigade,
as the sharp voice cried 1
" Light Brigade forward trot
mnrch 1 "
In a moment the front line was away,
as steady as if on parade, at a rapid trot
following an erect gentleman, mounted
on a chestnut thoroughbred, and wear
ing tight scarlet trousers and a blue fur
trimmed jacket, the front a perfect
blnse of gold.
The erect gentleman was as slender
in figure, ns alert in gesture as a boy of
twenty, nnd yet thnt man was fifty
seven years old, and the Earl of Cardi
gan himself.
But hardly had they started, when
Nolan uttered a cry, of astonishment
aid rage.
" Good God! are the fools going to
chnrge down the valley ?" he shouted.
Then setting spurs to his horse, he
dashed out of his placa and galloped
madly ncross the front, waving his
sword.
"Where are you going, my lord?"
he shouted. "That is not Lord Rag
Inn's order! Change front to the right.
This way! This way! The batteries on
the ridgel"
Lord Cardigan was as hot-tempered
in his wny as Lord Lucan. The audacity
of an officer presuming to cross his
front was enough.- For that officer to
address his brigade was an additional
insult. He spoke not a word, but point
ed grimly forward with his sword. No
lan's words were lost in the thunder of
hoofs, and all that was seen was his
figure crossing the front and wildly
gesticulating, pointing to Causeway
Ridge.
Then the Russian batteries opened.
There was a flash, a boom, and a second
flash in the air, a little cloud of white
smoke, and n loud spang! as the first
shell burst in the faces of the trotting
line. Poor Nolan threw his arms up
with a fearful shriek, and fell back in
his saddle, stone dead, struck through
the heart. With a low groan of rage
the rushing korsemen quickengd their
pace and dashed on, at a wild gallop,
into the valley of death.
The secret hi Balaklava perished with
Nolan.
Cultivation of Lobsters.
An interesting account of some re
cent experiments in the breeding of
lobsters is presented by a correspond
ent of the Boston Journal of Commerce
the locality of the trial being on the
New England sea coast, which is cele
brated for lobster fruitfulness, even if
its shores are sandy. It appears that
the lobster conservatory consists of an
inlet from the sea which has been en
closed by an embankment. The space
enclosed contains thirty acres, and gates
are provided to permit the tidal move
ment of the water.
"Last summer some 40,000 lobsters,
of every age and condition, were let
loose in the pond. Many of them were
in the soft shell state, and many were
unsaleable on account of a lost claw, or
other mutilation. Food, in the shape
of refuse from the fish market, was
ireely supplied to them : aud a eate
was put up at the entrance to prevent
tneir escape into tne sea.
When the ice had covered the pond.
holes were cut and lobster traps were
put down. Good, sizeable hard shell
lobsters were nt once caught, and two
things were proved : First, the water
was deep and pure enough to keep the
nsu auve, ana seconaiy, tne nsu were
healthy, for they had taken their hard
ened shells, in the usual manner, and
new claws had grown in the place of
those lost. In the spring, eels, perch
and a great many other kinds of fish
were taken from the pond in liberal
quantities ; and now that the spawning
season is well advanced, the farm has
reached its final and most critical stage.
Some 15,000 good, marketable lobsters
have been taken out and sold. Every
thing is favorable so far.
The experiment is a very important
one. If it succeeds it will introduce an
entirely new system of lobster fishiDg,
and do much to prevent the destruction
of the natural supply. Nor is this all :
for the same pond can be made to yield
perch, flout ders, eels, smelts, and other
fish in great quantities, at no additional
expense.
The Modern Roman.
The Roman is frugal ; he wastes
nothing. When he kills even a chick
en, he saves the blood and makes it into
puddings. Gold-finches, tomtits, and
little fiishes about half an inch long
are not neglected as useless, but are
collected in sufficient quantities to fur
nish a meal. He eats with relish the
lowest description of food ; roasted
chestnuts, during their season, are his
daily bread. In summer, large coarse
looking gourds, baked till they are soft,
and in winter the seeds which are
washed from them, furnish a considera
ble article of consumption. Woodpeck
ers, magpies, jays, hawks, owls and
other birds of prey, tortoises, every
fungus that can be gathered which is
not poisonous, thistle roots, dandelion,
shoots of the hop plant, and wild aspa
ragus do not want for purchasers in the
Roman markets. Prejudice alone, and
not reason prevents us from following
the Roman example in this respect.
He is independent in his habits, par
ticularly when belonging to the middle
or lower classes of society, and wants
but little assistance from others. He
can cook his own dinner, fetch his own
wine from the shop, arrange his own
room and mend his own clothes. He is
always a much better manager and
housekeeper than his wife, who gener
ally seems conseious of her inferiority,
and entrusts all domestic arrangements
to her lord .and master.
He is civil, good-natured and oblig
ing, lie is accuBtomnea to an inter
course with strangers, and thinking
himself, to a certain degree, their supe
rior, is amused, not annoyed, by their
oddities. He was trained to gentleman
ly habits while we were yet painted
savages. He still bears marks of this
historical fact.
The citizens of Sioux City. Iowa, are
so well pleased with their Mayor that
they have recently presented him with
a $1,200 solitaire diamond ring,
Mow Two Financiat Giants Llvei
Commodortt Vdhderbilt's breakfast,
writes a correspondent, would do for an
anchorite a cup of coffee, plain toast,
and the white of nu egg. His dinners
are equally frugal. He taken tho tllr
every day, rain or fllirio. He keeps no
Into nodi's. Compnny or no company,
he moves off to bed at ten. He prefers
the society of a few friends to a hot
soiree. The simple Moravian nirs of
his boyhood, played by his accomplished
wife on the piano, is sweeter music to
him than the crash and fury of the
opera. In his business he is cool, col
lected, and self-reliant. The fume,
fretting, and wasting of exciting busi
ness is done by others, and not by him
self. He never sells what he does not
own, nor buys what he can not pay for
and, if he will, lock up. He reads men
with the intuition of a prophet. He
locks his business affairs iu his own
bosom, and, he says, " changes his
mind when he chooses without being
accused of vacillation." He touches
nothing that he does not control. He is
at nobody's mercy ; nobody can betray
him, sell him out, buy h'im off, or in
any way thwart his plans. At the fu
neral of Horace F. Clark was Moses
Taylor. He is over sixty, one of the
hardest-working men in New York next
to Stewart, Astor, Vanderbilt, doing
more business than eny other man in
the city. He is rugged, hearty, full of
the vigor of youth, and seems good fer
a quarter of a century of rough, tough
toil. He runs one of the largest banks
of the city. He is more than President
he is autocrat of the concern. He has
been for years his own book-keeper,
and should anything happen to the
books of his business down-town, he
could duplicate them from under his
own hand. He has kept a record of his
business since he was a boy, and san
show you the profit and Iobs, day by
day, for fifty years. His style of busi
ness has preserved his health and per
petuated his fortune. His great point
nas been to make money. Morses, fast
liv.'ng, eating and drinking, hot liquors,
yachting, ocean and mountain travel
ing, seven by nine rooms at fashionable
watering-places, races, and clubs, have
no charms for him. Mr. Taylor takes
his recreation in this wise : He rises
early ; takes a bath ; eats a simple
breakfast, and is down to the bank be
fore the clerks. He is never excited,
never in a hurrry ; is self-possessed and
master of the situation. Business over,
most men find recreation in a quiet
game of billiards ; in a dash over the
waves at Saudy Hook ; a little speed
over the road, where the rivalry is suffi
cient to make the bottom of a horse
worth gold. Not so Mr. Taylor. The
man who has made twenty dollars in
Wall street spends half of it for a coaoh
to ride up town, and a dinner at Del
monico's. Mr. Taylor, worth $10,000,
000, rides up town in an omnibus, takes
a frugal dinner takes a bath goes to
bed and has a refreshing sleep gets up
writes down the business of the day
until ten, and then goes to bed. A mau
who wants to see Moses Taylor in the
evening won't look for him in the con
cert hall, theatre, or club-room. He will
find him in his own room, second story,
front, pleasantly and cheerfully at work
till bed-time. The prevailing style of
Dusiness is entirely unlike these speci
mens. The voung business men on the
street copy J"im Fisk, Horace F. Clark,
and men of thnt stamp. They are pre
maturely old. Boys of thirty are older
than their fa'.hers at sixty. Breakfast
at eleven heated lunches, with abun
dance of drink rushinginto wild spec
ulations. This takes the hair off of the
top of their heads knocks their under
pinning out gives our boys incipient
paralysis, and makes them walk round
the streets with canes. "I can't sleep
nights ; I get very little sleep after 12
o'clock ; I get up at three to get a bath,
and read and lay round."
If He Had but a Thousand.
A Georgia paper, the Atlanta Herald,
advises a man who has $1,000 to estab
lish a hennery near that city, nnd de
picts his glorious prospect thus, af
fording a most remarkable instance of
counting one's chicken's before they
are even laid : " With $300 he can pur
chase 1,000 good hens ; an additional
$50 will buy him 100 cocks. Let him
then rent a good piece of grassy land
near the city, and expend $10 in fixing
up chicken coops, nests and fencings.
If he can then with the balance of his
money purchase a cheap horse and a
second-hand wagon, he is ready for
business. His hens will furnish him at
a low estimate an average of 600 eggs a
day the year round, though, for certain
purposes, let us say, fifty dozen per
clay. He can secure steady sale for
them at nn average of 17 cents per
dozen, or $8.50 per day, or, in round
figures, $3,000 a year. The food of
these fowls may be liberally put at $250
per annum, and, with the little garden
patch, which should be cultivated, the
bee-hives, which should fringe the
house, the cow, that should be carefully
attended to, the man and his family
could easily live on $1,000 a year. Put
ting his rent at $200 cash per annum,
ne would have profits of $1,500 quite
a handsome thing. 1 The man with a
thousand dollars,' is really affluent, if
he only knew it.
A Cheap Bridge. B. B. Choate. of
Springfield, Vt., has invented a sus
pension bridge, which is a novelty as
well as a convenience. It consists of a
single wire stretched across Black River
and a car that will contain two persons
that travels back and forth on the wire.
The East end of the wire is the high
est, ana tne momentum of the car
serves to carry it across, a distance of
two hundred feet, in fifteen seconds.
Returning, the car travels to the centre
of the wire, without help, and from
thence is drawn up by a cord attached
to the car, the entire trip occupying
only thirty seconds.
The skirt promenade costumes are
now worn very close to the figure and
made without any fullness about the
hips. To produce this dresses are now
heavily fringed or have lead sewed to
the bottom of the skirt. Ia front the
skirt is cut off sufficiently shott to ex
hibit the shoes, and at the back train
considerably. This, we are assured, is
the very latest French fashion,
the (iiiiMren's Cough.
The Children linre It nnd the llemilt In
the Family.
When our ehildren eftme down with
the -whooping-cough the other day, says
a correspondent, wife and I did not
mind it much nt first. But I am satis
fled now that the whooping-cough is no
joke. Wife asked Mrs. Higginnon, a
denr old disciple of catnip tea and bone
set, what was good for the whooping
cough ?
" Children got it ?" she inquired.
" Terribly," replied Mrs. L.
"Dear little hearts T' ejaculated the
kind lady. " They couldn't have it in
better time. Jes let 'em have a little
lickrish to eat, and they'll get oyer it
lovely."
This made wife nnd me glad. Three
weeks of the best time to have whooping-cough
in have gone by and ourlittle
ones are still wrestling with the disease.'
We comfort ourselves with the belief
that the " good time " can't last much
longer, and that little Johnny, who has
got it the worst, is certainly going to
" get over it lovely." For a fortnight
wife nnd I have not slept a wink. It is
not a trifling task to take good care of
seven children when they are nil afllict
ed simultaneously with the whooping
cough. They will kick the clothes off.
The thought has come over me with
?ingular force frequently during te Inst
ortnight, as I have stumbled around to
the various cribs in the night-time with
a bottle of ipecao in one hand and a
glass of ice-water in the other, that, in
the language of the poet, " this world's
a wilderness," a vale of tears, ns it were.
My shins nre beautifully variegated in
blue, purple, and yellow tints, accord
ing to the date of the bruise. 1 notice
that jams on the shin follow a regular
law. When you first fall over the chair
the place looks red and irritated ; then
it changes to a dark azure ; by Wednes
day a little purple begins to be mixed
in around the edges ; and finally it as
sumes an affros tinge. I watched the
development of this law with much in
terest till the bruises got too much con
fused to date them accurately. My east
shin now bears a striking resemblance
to an old map of the United States, with
the Chicago fire, " showing the burned
district," just below the knee, and the
Boston fire a little lower down. The
most discouraging thing, though, about
a' tour through the whooping-cough
that is, when it's a "good time to have
it" is the joy with which all your
friends seem to be inspired when you
tell them, with a haggard look, that all
your children are down with it. Mine
is a heart that naturally craves sympa
thy. 1 yearn for it. But not since my
wedding day, eight years ago, have I
been congratulated so much ns I have
since my seven children took the
whooping-cough. Every time I go home
to my dinner I tell Samantha of some
good friend whom I have met, and who
says " there never was a better time to
have the whooping-cough." Snmnntha
sheds a sickly smile, strangles a little,
and tries to look encouraged. Just
about this time Johnnie explodes, grabs
his little waistband, all the rest set up a
whoop, aud for a moment my usually
quiet home reminds one of a Modoc
stronghold. The grandmother, " Aunt
Jane," wife, and I go back to the table
and talk it over, nnd wife says, " Good
ness knows, I'm glad the little dears
didn't catch it at any other season."
And so I struggle on from day to day,
the constant recipient of hearty cou
gratulatious that my children are so
fortunate as to have the whooping
cough at this season of the year. Some
times I think to myself that few people
are blessed with so many dear children
and so much seasonable whooping
cough. And yet I am convinced that if
the number of children in my family
had been less the whooping-ceugh
might have got the best of us, even in
this dear, delightfully , opportune
whooping-cough time.
A Chapter in Cheese.
The following story of a lost heir is
told by a Tasmanian paper, the Com
wall Chronicle:
" About seven years ago, in the city
of London, a cheesemonger died, leav
ing cash to the amount of 100,000 to be
quarrelled over, fought aud disputed
for, by the reputed heir-at-law. Ad
vertisements were inserted at different
times in the English newspapers, nnd
many a claimant a la Tichborne was
forthcoming. The lawyers, however,
were not satisfied that any of the nu
merous claimants were the 'right men,'
and what has just transpiredd proves
they were correct in their judgment, as
the 'right man' has turned up in the
person of the deceased cheesemonger's
brother, George Hutley, who arrived in
this colony about forty years ago. He
was discovered by F. Stevens, a Vic
torian barrister, splitting up in the
ranges of that colony, taken to Mel
bourne, shipped on board a stealer,
and brought to Launceston, and then
taken to Hobart Town, where he was
identified as the veritable Georce Hut-
ley, who arrived at Tasmania some forty
years ago. Alter all the necessary doc
uments are procured to prove, without
a shadow of a doubt, the man's identity,
he will proceed to England to claim his
inheritance."
A Dog Suit,
The Hon. Caleb Cushing brought a
suit in the District Court of Washington
against Thomas Kelly, the owner of a
dog living near him, claiming $1,000
damage on the first count and $3,000 on
the second count. He set forth that
the defendant did wrongfully keep a
dog, which was used and accustomed
to bark continually by day and night,
ana tuat on baturday he did then and
there allow the 6aid dog to bark inces
santly from early in the day throughout
the whole ?ay and night following, and
thereby hindered and prevented the
Elaintiff from studying and transacting
is lawful business by day, and de
priving him of his sleep during the
night, so as injuriously to affect his
health and the peaceful use of his
property, for all of which Mr. Cushing
claims $4,000, as aforesaid. The Court
gave judgment that the nuisance would
have to be abated by the removal or
killing of the dog, and that Kelly de
posit a collateral of $25 to secure the
abatement of the nuisance, which sum
would be forfeited in case of failure,
reeuliur People in the Mountain.
A Rockbridge correspondent of the
Richmond WMff says that in the moun
tains of Amherst, thef-e live alld mote
and have their being a curious class of
people. Generally ignorant, or rather
without book learning, they live hard,
work hard, and one would suppose,
must die hard, on about the poorest
land in the State of Virginia. Away up
among the hills and hollows, with fre
quently nothing but a bridle path to
tlieir log houses and patches, they raise
more children, dogs, and cats, than any
people on God's green earth, and, with
out any of what people in the more
cultivated portions of the State call
comforts, they seem ashoppy as the day
is long. But I started not to write of
them, but of the "Hermit of Otter
Creek, whose nearest neighbor lives
half a mile off from him. His name is
Larkin Noel, aged about seventy years
a little weasel-f need, dried-tip old man,
with a head as white as snow, and a
voice piping and shrill. Some fifteen
years ago he went West and stayed two
years, but not liking it came back and
"squatted" on a patch of ground in the
mountains, on Otter Creek, eight miles
from the canal. Here, under an over
hanging rock, he patcked himself up a
cabin, not ten feet square, and only
high enough to stand up in. There ia
no floor to it but the hard earth ; no
bed or bedding, unless a pile of old rags
can be called the latter. A frying-pan
aud coffee-pot are the Btock of coeking
utensils, and that is everything his
cabin contains. He cultivates a small
patch of tobacco and corn, and makes
enough to buy his coffee, aud on it and
corn bread he lives. Here for twelve
long years, with no neighbor nearer
than half a mile, alone in the solitude
of the mountains, Larkin Noel has
lived, and when asked why he did not
go to his relatives nnd friends, why an
old man like him lived off that way
where he might die and no one know
it, his only answer is, " Because it suits
me." Imagine that answer given in the
shrill, piping tone of age, the old man
in his rags peering at you with his
bleored eyes, from under his elfin locks,
and you have Lnrkin Noel, the Hermit
of OtterCreek. He isnot a misanthropic
hermit, but very cheerful nnd talkative,
and seems to have no other reason than
the one he gives for his way of life. It
is not necessity, for he could go to his
people, who, though poor, are kind, and
would care for him. It is simply be
cause "it suits him," and his way of
life truly illustrates the saying that
"one-half the world know not how the
other half live." Next to Larkin comes
his one-armed sister-in-law, who lives
within a mile or so of him. Though
she had but one arm the right one
having lost the other by accident, she
does a full day's work for a man in the
corn field, among the horses and cattle,
aud in the kitchen. " She ain't much
for pretty, but she's bully for work,"
Larkin remarks, and truly she is.a won
derful creature, and, though homely
aud unlearned, her stern devotion to
duty in the hard struggle her and all her
people have with nature for a livelihood,
puts to blush the whining and whimper
ing of many strong young men of our
State, who say they "can find nothing
to work at," and I could but wish some
of the over-nice young ladies, who
shudder at the sight of a broom-handle,
could see this sturdy, one-armed woman
going through her daily tasks without
a murmur, that they too might realize
the full force and meaning of General
Lee's oft-quoted: " Duty is the noblest
word in our language."
Not very far from Jordan's Amherst
Furnace two old maiden ladies live and
work a poor farm together. They say
their brothers left home, leaving their
father only to them, and he worked
them like men. Sp they are used to it.
They make fair crops of oats, corn, and
tobacco, and have the nicest, neatest
garden in the county. They 'tend their
own horses and cows, and do all the
farm work, and live alone and are cheer
ful and happy. But I have given you
enough about the curious people of the
mountains of old Amherst, and can only
hope I have let your readers look in
upon a hitherto unknown land, right in
the heart of Virginia, and that it may
stimulate writei s more able, and with
more spare time, to "work up" the
many strange and interesting features
of Virginia life and society, in nil its
different forms and phases.
Insects.
It is the season of insects. Farmers
come in contact and often in conflict
with them. Sometimes they destroy
tlieir friends among the insects, believ
ing them to be their enemies. It is
well to learn one from the other. To
this end we recommend careful observa
tion of the habits of all insects found
on the farm or in the orchard, so far as
the farmer may have time. We com
mend this kind of study to the young
people especially. The boys and girls
who attempt to make a collection of
every species of insect on their respec
tive farms, and to name tbem or learn
their names will have found at the end
of the summer that they know a great
deal more of the world about them than
they did before. There are books
which furnish directions for collecting,
preserving, pinning, &o. the specimens,
and plenty of entomoligists who will
gladly name what cannot be named by
the collector. Gather the insects.
Have a large-mouthed vial with alcohol
in it in your pocket, and every new in
sect you see drop therein, remembering
where, npon what plant, and when you
found it and what it was apparently
doing.
A Gentleman's Description of his Wife's
Temper.
Monday. A thick fog, no seeing
through it.
Tuesday. Gloomy and very chilly,
unseasonable weather.
Wednesday. Frosty, at times sharp.
Thursday. Bitter cold in the morn
ing, red sunset, with flying clouds, por
tending hard weather.
Friday. Storm in the morning, with
peals of thunder ; air clear afterward.
Saturday. Gleams of suashine, with
partial thaw; frost again at night.
Sunday. A light south wester in the
morning ; calm and pleasant at dinner
time; hurnoane and earthquake at night.
The Magic Hill.
At Apolda stands the Oldwives' Mill.
In nppearanoe it is much the same ns a
huge coffee mill, only that it is worked
from beneath instead of from above.
Two large beams form the handles by
which the mill is turned by two stout
serving men. Old women are thrown
in at the top, wrinkled and bent, with
out hair and without teeth, and they
reappear below quite young and trim,
with cheeks as rosy as an apple ; one
turn does it crick, crack it goes, ex
citing the very brain only to listen I
Yet when those who have become young
are asked if it is not a painful process,
they answer: "Painful! on the con
trary, it is quite delightful I"
A long way from Apolda there lived
once upon a time an old woman. She
had often heard of the mill, and as she
had been very happy in her youth, she
one fine day suddenly determined that
to the mill she would go. It was slow
work, for often she had to rest on her
way, and sometimes she was stopped by
a fit of coughing. By degrees, how
ever, she gradually got over the dis
tance, and at last she stood before the
mill.
" I wish to be ground young ogain,"
she said to one of the serving men, who,
with hands in Iris pockets, was quietly
sitting on a bench, puffing rings of
smoke into the still blue air.
" What a journey it is to Apolda !"
she said.
" And pray what may your name be ?"
said the man, with a yawn.
"Old Mother Redcap."
" Sit down, then, on a bench. Mother
Redcap," and the man went into the
mill, and, opening a thick book, returned
with a long strip of paper.
"That's the bill, my boy, is it?"
asked tne old woman.
" Not a bit of it," replied the other.
" Grinding costs nothing at all, only
you must sign tins paper.
" Sign 1" screamed the old woman
" What ! sign my poor soul away, I
suppose ? No, no ; never will I do
that I am a pious woman, and hope
one day to reach heaven."
" It's not quite as bad as that," said
the man, with a grin. " This paper is
only a list of all the follies you have
committed during your life. Yoa will
find it quite complete to the very day
and hour. Before you can be ground
young again you must pledge yourself
to commit them all over again, just in
the very same order as before exactly
as they stand here. To be sure, con
tinued he, glancing down the paper,
" Were s a pretty good list, .Mother lied
cap ! From sixteen to six and twenty,
every day one, except Sunday, when
there's two ! Then it seems to have
been a little better till the forties.
Then'it came thick enough, I must say !
Toward the end, however, it looks pretty
much as usual.
The old woman sighed nnd said :
" But, children, it would never repay
one to be ground young again at such a
cost I
" No, I (fdmit it never would." replied
the man. " Very few, indeed, could it
ever repay, and so we have an easy time
of it. Sevea red-letter days in a week!
The mill is always still at least of late
years, it was a trine more lively long
ago."
' " Now, couldn't wo just strike out a
few things T pleaded the old woman,
with a tap on the man s shoulder.
" anppose we only say three things.
wouldn't mind doing nil the rest over
again, if it must really be so, only let
just three be struck out.
" No, no, replied the man, "that is
quite impossible. All, or none.
" Here, then, take back yonr list.
said the old woman, after some thought.
" 1 don t care a pin about your stupid
old mill, and she went her way.
wnen sue reached home the good
loik came to look at her, and, in sur
prise, exclaimed : " Why, Mother Red'
cap, you come back older than you
went. So there's no truth in the mill,
after all?" She coughed a little dry
cough, and answered : " There is a great
deal of truth in the mill, but I was
frightened ; and after all a little more
or less of this life what does it
matter ?"
Solvent Indeed.
According to the Cincinnati Commer
cial, during the early part of June a
Mr. John a , Sr., hied a petition in
bankruptcy in the Uuited States Court
in this city, and accordingly the usual
notice was afterwards sent to him, to
appear in court on the 12th day of June,
to "show cause why the proceedings
should not be dismissed. It seems
the notice was served on John S , Jr.
son of the petitioner, and was returned
with the following endorsement :
" United States District Court,
Southern District of Ohio, U. S. A
My answer to the within is, that I ney
er applied for bankruptoy. I had no
need of it. I am not worth a dollar and
don't owe a dollar ; therefore I am sol
vent. I vote a straight ticket ; am op
posed to tho stealings in the United
States Congress, because they give me
none of them. I accept no free passes
on railroads, no free ball tickets, no
free dinners, no treats in saloons, and I
seldom go into lsdies' society for fear of
being contaminated and corrupted.
pay as I go, sleep soundly, work every
day except Sunday, then I go to church
sometimes. J ohn a , J b.
The Western Railroads.
Western papers, which have been in
the habit of publishing the railway
time-tables gratuitously, nave dropped
them since the roads announced that
there would be no more dead-heading
on their part. The recent action of the
Western roads has created much in
terest. The general passenger agent of
a leading road told tne writer of this.
that a grand mistake was made when
editors' tickets were cut off that the
papers did for the roads advertising
that was worth ten times the amount of
the tickets, and was the cheapest and
best advertising the roads ever had. It
is now generally decided in the West,
that if the. roads receive a line of men
tion in the papers they must pay for it
the same as others. If the papers ad
here to this rule, they will find that the
cutting off of dead-head tickets hai
been a good thing for them. The roads
will have to advertise to secure, bus
mess, and advertise largely,
Facts and Fancies.
The new Slaats Zeitunn printing offioe
in New York cost $800,000.
TTnrtford proposes to erect a $50,000
monument to the memory of its first
settlers.
A mine of superior sealing wax is the
latest mine-ralogical discovery in Ken
tucky. A well-bred Calif ornian shot a fellow
boarder dead, at Vallejo, for drinking
out of the water pitcher.
A Fountain County flnd.1 man went
into a mill-pond to rescue a dog ; and
then both went over the dam to death.
The Washington Headquarters at
Morristown, N. J., will soon pass into
the possession of tho New Jersey His
torical Society.
The defalcations of E. S. Mills, late
President of the Brooklyn Trust Com
pany, have caused the concern to sus
pend payment.
The Boston Journal says that money
is so easy in that city that it is hard to
make a loan of a large amount at any
thing above five per cent.
A woman in Richmond, Va.f turned
her mother, who is more than ninety
years old, out of doors because she is
bid, useless and expensive.
Four hundred and fifty Germans are
on their way from Russia to the United
States because of having been declared
liable to enforced military service.
Illinois farmers are attempting to ex
terminate the Cannda thistles, by cut
ting them off near the ground and plac
ing salt on the stum" to kill the root.
Iowa larmer8 complain ot a scarcity
of laborers. Three dollars a day will
not bring them help enough to attend
to their crops. And yet the city is full
of idlers.
Two trusting young men in Michigan
were lately inveigled into an out-of-the-
way place to see a big snake, and tnere
robbed of such valuables as they carried
about them.
The property of the Alden type-set
ting and distributing machine was sold
by auction recently for $9,500. The
inventor has sank half a million dollars
in his failure.
In a few weeks the fall and winter
fashion 8 will be announced. The usual
predictions regarding their great novelty
and beauty are made, and fashionables
are on the qui vive.
A centle parent at Greencastle, Ind.t
lately broke the arm of his seven-year-old
boy with a club, because ho took a
piece of candy without leave and divided
it with his baby brother.
In Vienna, there were in one day
sixty-two cases of cholera, forty-two of
which had proved fatal. In one hotel
there had been forty-two cases, and the
hotel has been closed.
Two nnnarentlv resneetable Indies
were arrested in Montreal, a few days
since, while attempting to steal flower
pots from a cemetery. They placed
them for concealment in an umbrella.
George Francis Train is laid up at
Hamburg iu Germany with chills and
fever contracted while imprisoned at the
Tombs. He has been confined to his
bedroom there for weeks, and his con
dition is represented as precarious.
It was found impossible to pen a
locked door in the jail at Springfield
the other day, even with the assistance
of a locksmith, and au old burglar, who
was in custody, was appealed to try his
hand. He opened the door in a very
few minutes.
Tommy was as bright as usual on his
first night in the country last week. He
did not like his pillow over much, and,
on feeling it over, announced his ver
dict that in the country tuey sold tne
soft ends of feathers, and retained the
quill part for home consumption.
There is a bank president in New
York who was contemplating a trip to
Europe during the summer, but who
found that this would deprive the clerks
of their usual vacation. He generously
remains at his post, taking the place of
each one in turn as he goes for a period
of recreation.
A sea-horse has been secured for
the Manchester aquarium. The Man
chester Examiner says: "With the
head, neck and body, of a horse, it has
a tail like a lizard, which it entwines
round seaweed or a bit of natural rock
work. In this position it waits with
remarkable patience for its food.
As an exemplification of the economy
of labor in manufactures, the making
of railroad bars is a most striking one.
No manual labor except supervision of
the machinery is used. The shapeless
lump of heated iron is seized, passed
through thirteen sets of rolls, and is
turned over five times for side rolling
without a stop. The time occupied is
thirty seconds, and there is a completed,
perfect rail.
The Philadelphia Press says that if
the money which our people spend in
going to Europe were expended at
home, in planting trees, in improving
streets, and in building up manufac
tures, we would soon have a country
more worthy of being seen than Europe,
and the Europeans would come to visit,
us. Enough money will be spent in
Europe this year to build manufactures
in Illinois thnt would increase the value
of corn 10 cents a bushel.
A novel strike has occurred i Lowell,
Mass. About 100 girls employed in the
stitching and mending room of the
hosiery department of the Lawrence
corporation left the mill because the
agent would not give them the privilege
of having the windows of their room
open at the bottom. One objection to
the opening of the windows at the bot
tom is that the employes are in such a
case more liable to neglect their work
in looking out. The strikers returned
to work.
The young ladies of Vassar College
have a daily allowance of 126 pounds of
steak for breakfast and 200 pounds of
beef or mutton for dinner. The fair
students consume between 270 and 850
quarts of milk daily, and from 75 to 100
ponnds of butter. Half a barrel of
sugar, 6 pounds of coffee, and 3 or I
pounds of tea are used every day.
During warm weather they have ice
cream twice a week, and each time one
hundred quarts is the allowance. The
quantity of fruits, vegetables, &c, cor
respond to these figures.