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- HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. , NIL PESPERAJSTPUM. Two Dollars per Annum.
YOL. HI. HIBGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., T1IUHSDAY, JANUAIIY 29, 1874. NO. 48.
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"Keep a Stiff Upper LIp.
There has something gone wrong,
My brave boy, it sppears,
For I see yoiir proud struggle
To keep back the toars.
That is right. JV'hcn yoa cannot -
Give trouble the slip,
Then bear it, still keeping
" A stiff upper lip 1"
Though you cannot escape
Dienppoiutment and care,
The next beBt thing to do
Is to learn how to boar.
If when for life's prizos
You're running yon trip,
Get lip start again,
" Keep a stiff upper lip !"
Let your hands and your conscience
Bo honest and clean ;
Scorn to touch or to think of
The thing that is mean.
Hut hold on to the pure,
And the right with firm grip,
And though hard be the task,
" Keep a stiff upper lip !"
Through childhood, through manhood,
Through life to the end,
Struggle bravely and stand
By your colors, my friend.
Only yield when you must,
Never "give up the ship,"
But fight on to tho last
With "a stiff upper lip."
Phebe Vary,
MY FRIGHTS.
There are some people who aver that
they have never been frightened. As I
am far from being a strong-minded
woman, 1 cannot sny as much. Perhaps
I am too easily alarmed. I am, for in
stance, afraid of a cow. It may be very
silly, but I cannot help it. All the
pleasure of a country walk through a
line landscape has been often spoilt for
me because of cattle in a field. If I pass
through them without fear of being
tossed or gored, the recollection that I
have got to come back again remains
with me for the rest of the day. As for
a bull, I would rather never see the
. country than run the chance of meeting
with such a creature. A dog is thought
to be a very harmless animal a domes
tic animal and the "friend of man."
He is not, however, the friend of woman
r at least of a nervous woman like
me. I should be afraid to write down
how often I have been prevented from
calling at a friend's house by the pres
ence of a little poodle or terrier upon
their doorstep. I should as soon have
thought of disturbing an adder. The
Romans (a people quite remarkable for
. their courage ( used, I am told, to paint
i Cave canem, "Beware of the Dog," at
their front doors; but such a warning
would have been unnecessary in my
' V vvfsp" Every farmyard in the country
Y - 1MB a dog, and that is why I .don't like
farmyards.
' My widowed sister-in-law (the fat
. one) and myself once lived in such a
".y "place a whole summer, during which I
' lost more flesh than if I had been all
the time in a Turkish bath. From sun
set to sunrise I was in a perpetual
fright, from fear of robbers; and when
the days grew shorter, and the nights
longer, the place became insupportable,-.
ana 1 ncd from it. The usual nightly
programme was as follows: My sister-in-law,
who occupied the same apart
ment as myself, would fall asleep as
soon as her head touched the pillow,
and leave me, as it were, alone, a prey
to my terrors. She always reminded
me of the irritating bedfellow described
in ghost stories, who will not wake
while the apparition is peeping through
the bed-curtains at you, and who, when
all the .dreadful things are over, cannot
be persuaded that they actually oc
curred. If the wind was up, I at once began
to picture to myself a band of ruffians
effecting a forcible entry into all the
rooms below-stairs, and giving shouts
of triumph at the ease with which they
accomplished their purpose; We could
not afford to-keep a man-servant, and
even if we had done so, I should have
always imagined him the accomplice of
the burglars, or coming up-stairs upon
his own account with a carving-knife
concealed in a scuttle of coals, as I had
once read in a book. Our house pre
tended to no means of- resistance, and I
always placed the plate-basket and its
contents upon tho landing of the stairs,
in hopes that the gang might take what
they came for, and go away without
asking for my money or my life. On a
particular occasion, being unable to
sleep, I fancied that I heard the ap
proach of robbers up the stairs. Being
uo longer able to contain myself, I with
nn effort roused Charlotte, who, how
ever, pooh-poohed the whole affair and
dropped to sleep again, leaving me to
my fears.
However, one very wet and dark night
she got a pretty fright herself. It was
a little past midnight. The drip, drip,
drip of the rain was ceaseless, but for
all that, as I lay awake, I could hear
men's steps without, splashing in the
pools it made, as the wretohes walked
round the house looking fer the most
convenient point of entry. Then I
heard the back-door "go" it burst
open with a sort of muffled violence,
like the sudden outpoor of a waste-pipe
and then that "pit-a-pat" I knew so
well, of feet coming up the stairs.
. Then a pause of frightful significance.
" Cknilotte " cried I, in an agony,
"they are really here. They really are,
this time. Wake, wake 1"
" Rubbish," cried she. I am wide
awake, and I hear nothing."
"They are just outside the door,"
whispered I ; "they are listening at the
key-hole. Hark I"
" I certainly hear eaves dropping,"
was her heartless answer, (she was a
woman who enjoyed a joke, and her fat
sides wobbled with mirth at this one) j
" but it's only the rain from the roof."
"I tell yon," said I, solemnly, "there
are robbers in the
. Here something fell in the drawing
room beneath us with a hideous crash.
In an instant, and before I cpuld recover
from the "sort of collapse into which
this shock had thrown me, Charlotte
had flopped out of bed, seized the
lamp, ana was about to hurry from the
room. ' "No," said shepausing In the
doorway.; " it is better that they should
not see me, but that I should see
them," , .
It was certainly much better, con
sidering Charlotte's very slight attire,
that the robbers should not see her;
dud wny sue siionld want to see the rob
bers was quite unintelligible to me.
" Stop r cried I ; but the fatal deed
was done, and I was left in darkness.
Dreadful us it was to accompany her
upon such an expedition, it seemed a
thousand times worse to remain in the
room alone, and, trembling in every
limb, I hurried after her.
To reach the drawing-room, it was
necessary to pass through the dining
room. It was pitch dark, but I could
hear her breathing hard (for her stout
ness made her very short of breath) as
she made her way round the table that
occupied the centre of the room. Fear
lent me wings, and I hurried round the
other way to meet her, and rushed into
her arms just as she was feeling for the
drawing-room doorway. Directly I did
so, she uttered a shrill scream, and fell
on the floor in a dead faint. I had for-
fotten that the poor dear did not know
was pursuing her. and she verv natu
rally took me for the robbers, 'i sup
pose I fainted too, for the first thing I
remember was hearing a loud purr close
co my ear, winch proceeded from our
favorite cat, who, having knocked down
the fire-irons in the next room (which
was the noise we had heard), had come,
as it were, to assure ns that there was
nothing the matter. That was the last
night we spent in our country house,
and I remained in town for three whole
summers afterwards. Though fresh air
and "change," I was told, were indis
pensable, I resolved to do without them,
since one might just as well die as be
frightened to death.
In the July of the fourth year, how
ever, 1 received an invitation to the
seaside, which I really thought it safe
to accept. My host and hostess lived
at a place called Disney Point, a very
lonely spot, it is true, but one in which
no burglary had been committed within
the memory of woman. " There were
no bad people," wrotj my friends, who
were aware of my nervous peculiarities,
" within a hundred miles of them."
When I reached their house, I was in
clined to believe that this was the case.
A more beautiful and retired spot than
the little village in which they dwelt,
or one inhabited by a more simple and
inhosent set of people, it was impossi
ble to imagine. It was situated in a
wooded ravine, through which a trout
stream ran down to tho sea ; and upon
the hill-top between it and the ocean,
were the most picturesque church and
churchyard I, or anybody's eye ever be
held. From the house we could only
hear the distant whisper of the waves,
like the murmuring hum of bees, but
tney were giant waves, and the rocks
were torn and split with their fury into
weird and horrid shapes. It was the
grandest sea coast I had yet visited,
and all day long I sat beside it with my
sketch book, or merely watching the
white wrath of the breakers, and lis
tening to the thunder in the caverns at
my feet. I was not at all afraid of the
sea when I was upon the land. In
deed, I am not alarmed at anything
(notwithstanding what pome people say
to the contrary) unless there is a rea
sonable cause for fear. For instance, I
am not afraid at least I was not, until
the terrible catastrophe occurred which
I am abont to relate of supernatural
apparitions. When I announced my
intention, one evening, of going up the
hill to sketch the churchyard by moon
light, there arose quite a rude titter in
the drawing room. " Surely not alone,
Mary Anne 1 Let one of the girls go
with you," said my hostess.
" What is there to be afraid of in a
churchyard? No, I thank yon," said I,
proudly. "The miserable superstitions
of the country do not affect me, I as
sure you.
" But it is so lonely up there, my
dear 1" -
" What of that ? Solitude and still
ness are the accompaniments of such a
solemn scene. I had much rather go
there by myself."
I was resolved to exhibit my inde
pendence, as well as to do away with any
false impressions my excellent hostess
might have" received from Charlotte or
others with respect to my courage ; but
at the same time she need not have re
minded me that it was "so lonely up
there." I did not expect to find Disney
churchyard the centre of fashion, or the
scene of an excursion picnic at ten
o'clock at night, of course ; her remark
was officious and unnecessary, and at
the same time- it made my blood run
cold. However, when the moon rose,
so did I, and, sketch-book in hand,
toiled up to tho old church, which was
also, from its prominent position, a
landmark used by sailors, which taught
them , to avoid the rocks at Disney
Point.' Whatever might be the matter,
there tiw triwaya tt -wind -op-there, and
even in that still summer night it was
wandering about the grasses of the
graves, and whispering into the ears of
the stone statues of the church, which
seemed to grin in malice at its news of
storm and wreck to come. '
I seated myself on my camp-stool
just in front of the porch, and began
what I intended to be a hasty sketch,
just a few strokes, to be filled in at my
leisure, for I felt the situation to be
"uncanny," and already wished my
self at home. My fingers shook a little,
certainly not with cold, and, though the
architecture was said to be a "fine
speoimen of the perpendicular," it did
not appear so in my sketch-book."
Suddenly I heard a subdued sob; the
utterance, as it seemed to me, of some
poor creature of my own sex in distress.
It eame from an obscure corner of the
churchyard, where the graves were not
so well cared for and tended as the
others were a spot, I had been told,
where those were laid whom the pitiless
sea had drowned. When a ship was
cast upon the rocks yonder, it was rare
even for one of its crew to reach that
rock-bound shore alive; and alter a
great storm, whole ship's companies
were sometimes buried at once in the
chnrohyard of Disney Head.
I listened with beating heart, and the
sound was repeated ; and this time I
felt sure it was as I had supposed.
Doubtless, some woman had ome to
weep in secret over the grave of her
sailor son or husband. There was no
need to be frightened in such a case.
It might be that I should be able to
give her comfort. I rose, and .moving
towards the wreck-corner,' (as It was
called,) could dimly make out a wo
man s figure kneeling at the head of a
grave. In the presence of so great a
sorrow, 1 seemed to lose all selfish fear,
and ventured softly to address her. She
did not reply, not even so much as turn
her head, though I felt certain she must
have heard me ; and' since she was a
woman, and did not speak, I felt there
must be something wrong with her. As
I drew nearer, I beheld a spectacle that
overwhelmed me with pity, The un
happy creature before me was naked to
the wasit, and with her arms straight
down by her side,' was gazing on the
grave beneath her with a look of inde
scribable despair. She shed no tears,
but her eyes wore a look of hopeless
woe and yearning beyend all ordinary
sorrow. .
" Yon are killing yourself, my poor
woman," reasoned I, " to kneel there in
such a plight. The dead you mourn
can ask no such sacrifice as this that
yon should join them."
But again she answered nothing; and
then, to my horror, I observed that she
had dug another grave, at the head of
that she was watching, and was already
buried in it up to her waist 1 Was she
then bent upon committing suicide, or
was she herself an inhabitant of the
tomb, like those around her, and were
the graves indeed giving up their dead
at that witching hour of night, as I had
read of, but had not believed ?
In an agony of terror, such as even I
had never before experienced, I flung
down my sketch-book, and rushed from
the churchyard and clown the hill.
" What is the matter, Maiy Anne ?"
cried my amazed hostess, who was sit
ting up for me with her husband in the
parlor, as I tore into the room shriek
ing for help.
" Matter I" cried I. " There is a-poor
young woman, with nothing upon her,
half -buried olive in the wreck-corner of
the churchyard. She has already lost
her sight and hearing, for she took no
notice of me at all."
"Impossible 1" cried my hostess.
"But I've seen her, shrieked I.
" Not a moment is to be lost."
" Ah, bless you I we've seen her too,"
said my host, laughing. " It's the fig
urehead of the Bella. When the ship
came ashore, we stuck it up at the cap
tain's grave, by way of headstone poor
fellow ! She has not got much on her,
it's true; but I don't think she'll hurt.'
A Califoiuian Wonder.
The tract of oountry known as the
Slate Range Valley is probably one of
the most curious that southern Cali
fornia can boast of. It is there the im
mense deposits of borax were discovered
something like a year ago, and at that
time the whole lower or central part of
the basin was covered with a white de
posit, breaking away in some places in
large soda reefs, in others resembling
the waves of the ocean, and in still
others stretching out for miles in one
unbroken level, from which the sun re
flected its rays with a glare almost un
endurable. But one of the most sin
gular features in connection with this
section was the absence of rain or moist
ure; the days were ever sunny and
hot, the nights without dew and gener
ally warm. For more than five years,
it is said, by those who claim to know,
there had been no rain there, until some
three months since the spell was broken.
Suddenly, and with scarcely any warn
ing, rain commenced to fall, and for
thirty hours came down steadily and
unceasingly, unaccompanied by wind,
but yet a thorough drenching rain.
For two or three days it remained pleas
ant, when suddenly a water-spout was
seen winding its way through the valley.
It came in a zigzag course across the
upper end of the lake, striking the
range of hills on the east side, and
coursing rapidly along them. The
canyons and gorges were soon filled
with water, which poured from them ia
fearful volume, and spread itself out
upon the bottom. In a short time it
was over, and denizens of the place
now look for another dry season of five
years.
The Masked Ball.
Nioholas the First was very fond of
masquerade balls, and one night ap
peared at one in the character of the
devil, with grinning face, horns, and
tail, and appeared to enjoy his charac
ter very much. About three o'clock in
the morning he went out, and throwing
over him some furs, called a coachman,
and ordered him to take him to the
Quay Anglais. As it was very cold he
fell asleep, and when he awoke he found
the man had taken him in a wrong di
rection, for the Quay Anglais is one of
the most elegant portions of St. Peters
burg, while before him were only some
miserable houses. Nicholas began to re
monstrate, but the coachman paid no
heed to him, and presently passing
through a stone gateway, brought him
into a cemetery, and taking a large
knife from his girdle, and pointing it at
his employer's throat, said : "Give me
your money and your furs, or I will kill
you."
"And do you give me your soul," ex
claimed Nicholas as he threw off the furs
and disclosed bis personification of the
devil.
The Russians are very superstitious,
and the coachman was so terrified he
fell senseless on the ground, and the
emperor drove himself back to his pal
ace. Influence of a Dream,
The Troy Press says that the site of
the State Street M. E. Church, in that
city, was selected through the instru
mentality of a dream. Dr. John Lou
den, a prominent physician, who died
upward of fifty years ago, was a leading
member and worker of tho Methodist
denomination, and about the time it
was proposed to erect an edifioe.in the
vicinity of State street, the good doctor
dreamed that he saw a flock of wild
doves alight on the lots at the corner of
State and Fifth streets. The impres
sion of the vision was so vivid that the
doctor could not shake it off. He in
sisted that it was a good omen, and that
the church should be erected on the lots
above named. So strenuous was he in
this that he carried bis point, and the
old State street sanctuary was erected,
to give way in time to the beautiful edi
fice now located on the site of the old
brick structure. '
Story of a Seed. .
Once upon a time, ' awiy down in
Georgia, a man planted a little seed.
The sun Bhone warm on' it, and the
rain came and softened it, and it soon
began to sprout. ; Day and night 'it
grew, till it was high as a man's head.
Buds formed all over it, and one night
they burst into bloom. Beautiful cream
colored flowers they . were, something
like a morning-glory.
By noon the sun was too warm. The
beautiful blossoms shut their leaves and
hung their heads, and before night each
cream-colored flower dropped off. Where
each one had been was a little germ.
This little green germ grew and grew
till it was as big as an egg, when it
burst open and threw out a long
beautiful fluff of cotton several inches
long.
It was a cotton seed, of conrse.
Then a man a negro came and tore
the cotton from its boll, put it into a
basket with others like it, and carried
it to a room where were hundreds of
pounds of cotton. In the room was a
busy machine, and into that machine
the cotton was thrown.
This cotton, you must know, is full of
seeds. Very troublesome little fellows
they are. too. for they have no idea of
leaving their comfortable home and it's
very hard to get them' out. -
1 11 tell vou how the madLine docs it.
As the cotton goes in it comes to a roller
covered with wire teeth. These teeth
seize the cotton and draw it through a
sort of grating, so fine that the seeds
can't get through, so they .just stay on
the outside.
As the roller goes around it comes to
a brush rollei, which brush ts off the
cotton as nicely as any brush can do it.
Then the cotton is packed in a bale and
sent to the cotton mills.
Now tho Antfnn flint Cime from flm
little seed away off in Georgia is by this
time very dirty, and what do you sup
pose comes next ? A bath ? No; what's
good for boys isn't so good for cotton.
It gets a beating. It is laid on a sort
of net-work, and beaten with bundles of
twigs. The dirt falls through the net
work, and then the cotton is called
"batting."
But the cotton irom tne seed 1 m tell
ing about don't stop at batting. It is
very fine and nice, and it goes to the
carding-machine. This machine lays
all the threads one way by drawing it
through sets of wire teeth.
it comes out on to a roller, and is
taken off by still another roller.on which
it looks like a wide fleecy ribbon. But
it don't keep that pretty look very long.
It is drawn through a funnel, which
makes it small and much firmer. . It
isn't fine enough yet, however, and it
goes between another set of rollers. I
wonder if there s any thing that can t be
done with rollers I
hen it ' OOmoa nut nreMtfil iiulte
firm it is called roving, and is ready to
be spnn.
You 11 hardly believe me, but the
spinning is done on a mule!
It's a very peculiar mule, I must ad
mit, made of wood and iron, and carry
ing twenty-two hundred spindles. So
it spins twenty two hundred threads at
once, and is a wonderful machine, if it
has a funny name.
It spins the loose roving into a much
finer thread, slightly twisted. This
thread next runs through a gas - flame
to burn off the little fuzz, then over a
brush to take off the ashes, and then
through a hole in a brass plate just the
size ot the thread.
Then it is wound in skeins, and put
up in five or ten pound bundles.
After all these travels the thread has
a little rest before it starts through the
last machine the one that makes the
soft cotton into the solid strong thread
we buy on spools to sew with.
The skeins are wound on to bobbins.
and put on the machine Six of the
tine threads start together.
Look on a spool, and you'll read,
" Best six-cord cotton." That means,
as I said, that six of these threads are
united to make our sewing-thread.
But I must tell you how they go.
First over a glass rod, and through a
little trough of water; then between
rollers to press them tightly together.
Leaving the rollers, they go down,
twisting as they go, .to where a spool is
fastened. There it is regularly wound
on, a firm, smooth thread, while the
spool moves slowly up and down as it
winds, so as to make regular layers
of it.
Now the fruit of the little cotton seed
has become a beautiful spool of thread.
ready for a useful life. Before it goes
out into world it is ornamented at each
end with a round paper, gummed and
stuck on by some child. The last paper
is put over the end of the thread to
keep it from getting loose, and then . it
is put into packages of a dozen spools.
lou nave seen line thread, perhaps
as fine as No. 200, which we use on sewing-machines,
but what would you say
to thread No. COO, only one third the
size of that ? And how would you like
to see the cobweb thread actually woven
into lace?
At the great Exhibition in London
such fine lace was shown. And, almost
as wonderful, a pieoe of muslin woven
of thread No. 400. It was so delicate
that when laid on the grass and wet it
could not be seen.
Yonjknow how large a roll of batting
is. well, it can be stretched out to be
more than a thousand miles long. That
is thread No. 2100.
It seems too wonderful to be true,
but many fictions invented by poets and
story writers are not half so wonderful
as many common thiners that every dov
pass under our observation. .
Pleased.
A good story is told of a gentleman in
well, we will not mention the plaoe
who has been.unfortunate of late in his
finanoial affairs. While walking one
evening in a lonely spot he was met by
a ruffian, and told to " stand and do
liver." We must let the victim tell his
own tale: "I never was so pleased in
all my life. Tho idea that I had' any
thing to deliver was exceedingly grati
fying, and I thanked the fellow for the
compliment. It showed that all confi
dence in me was not lost, notwithstand
ing that little affair in stocks, and I felt
onoe more with Mr. Micawber that I
could look my fellow-man in the face.
It was very pleasing to know that, this
gentleman, thought I bad moneyf , '
The Snn's Might.
Prof. Proctor in a lnte lecture on the
sun, said : Now let us consider the
might that resides in the sun. If the
sun were a mere quantity of matter
very much larger than the earth, as we
see he is, there would still not be the
force necessary to tho sun as a ruler
over the earth. Let me give you an
idea of how large the sun is. 1 am in
the habit, in England, when I wish to
speak of the size of the sun, of inform
ing my audience that "this country
(England) in which we live, which seems
to us so large, is nevertheless small by
comparison with ' the earth, for . if the
earth were one inch in diameter Eng
land would be a small triangular speck,
which you could scarcely recognize. But
1 am at raid that to an American audi
ence that comparison would be im
perfect. In fact, I have heard that an
Ameiican traveling in England found
the country so small that he at once
sought the central counties, and was
even then afraid to go out in the eve
ning for fear of falling off the little
island. Laughter. We in England,
whether it be the natural courage of our
disposition or the effect of long habit,
are not troubled with that feeling. But
yet, even America is so small compared
with the sun, that if there were a spot
upon the sun as large as the whole of
America, it would be quito invisible to
the naked eye. Indeed, if an object as
large as the earth were placed immedi
ately before the sun, and there appear
ed as a black disk, it would neverthe
less require a large telescope to make it
visible; 107 times does the sun's di
ameter exceed that of the earth, and
the surface of the sun exceeds that of
the earth 107 times 107 times, or 11.G0O
times, while the volume of the sun ex
ceeds that of the earth 1,250,000 times.
But the mass of the sun is not so much
greater than the earth. It would ap
pear as though the body of the sun
were constituted of matter about a
quarter lighter on an average than that
which constitutes the earth, and the
result is that the sun's mass instead of
exceeding the mass of the earth 1,250,
000 times, only exceeds it 315,000 times;
but only consider what that means 1 If
this earth were to grow in density until
its mass were equal to that of the sun,
then a half-ounce weight one of those
which are used to balance our letters
would weigh 4 J tons. A man of average
weight would be drawn to the earth at
a weight of 20,000 tons. An object
raised from the earth a single inch
would, in falling that short distance,
acquire a velocity three times greater
than that of an express train. Such is
the might with whioh the sun rules this
earth.
George Washington's Hatchet.
Pnrann Weems, rector of Mt. Vernon
parish, and of course intimately ac
quainted with Washington, first told
the story of the little hatchet which, is
now known by every schoolboy. The
following is the story as told by the
parson :
When George was about six years old
he was made the wealthy master of a
hatchet, of which, like most little boys,
he was immoderately fond, and was
continually going about chopping
everything that came in his way. One
day, in the garden, where he often
amused himself hacking his mother's
pea-sticks, he unluckily tried the edge
of his hatchet on the body of a beauti
ful young English cherry tree, winch,
he barked so terribly that I don't be
lieve the tree ever got the better of it.
The next morning the old gentleman,
finding out what had befallen his tree,
which, by the by, was a great favorite,
came into the house, and witn much
warmth asked for the mischievous
author, declaring at the same time that
he would not have taken five guineas
for his tree. Nobody could tell him
anything about it. Presently George
and his hatchet made their appearance.
Ueorge, said his lather, "do you
know who killed that beautiful little
cherry tree yonder in the garden?"
This was a tough question, and George
staggered under it for a moment, but
quickly recovered himself, and, looking
at his father with the sweet face of
youth brightened with the inexpressible
charm ot all-conquering truth, lie
bravely cried out, " I can't tell a lie, Pa,
you know I can't tell a lie ; I did cut it
with my hatchet. " Run to my arms,
you dearest boy, cried Iiis lather, in
transports, "run to my arms glad am
I, George, that you ever killed my tree,
for you have paid me for it a thousand
fold. Such an act of heroism in my
son is more worth than a thousand trees
though blossomed with silver and their
fruits of purest gold."
Parson Weems had small idea, when
this little story shaped itself in his
head, that it was destined to descend to
posterity as it has.
A Minnesota Trout Pond.
A trout pond started in Minneapolis
last spring has become an attractive in
stitution. On visiting the pond a re
porter was informed by the proprietors
that they had already placed in position
for hatching 135,000 eggs, from which
they expeot to save 100,000 at least.
Already 15,000 have hatched out. in
forty-five days about the shortest time
on record. It will be remembered that
they procured from 1,000 to 2,000
breeding trout out of the streams abput
Lake City the past summer, and as soon
as the season opens again they will en
deavor to add as many more. This
number of breeders together, with the
young fry which will be coming alone.
will enable them to supply the markets
about here in a few years; but not until
the stock is amply sufficient will they
attempt it.
Laugh and be Health y.
The physiological benefit of laughter
is explained by Dr. E. Heoker in the
Archiv fur Psychiatre: Tbe comio-like
tickling camses a reflex s.otion of the
sympathotio nerve, by which the caliber
of the vascular portions. of the system
is diminished, and their nervous power
increased. The average pressure of the
cerebral vessels on the brain substance
is thus decreased, and 'this is compen
sated for by the forced expiration of
laughter, and the 'larger amount, of
blood thus called to the lungs. We al
ways feel good wheU we laugh, but un
til now we never knew the scjeatiflo
reason why. ; . ,
Remarkable Tale of Business Vicissi
tudes.
The January number of the Spectator
the well-known insurance review
contains the following story of an event
ful career, as related by its Hartford
correspondent:
One of the most striking instances of
the ups and downs of life that ever
came under the observation of your cor
respondent is afforded by the history of
a gentleman, now an agent for some of
our Hartford companies in a small town
in New York State. At the age of
twenty-three the man', now fifty-seven,
started in business as a country mer
chant, in which, from that time till
1857 eighteen years he was very suc
cessful, dealing largely in wool and
produce, as also in real estate, of which
lie was a considerable owner. Imme
diately after the bank crisis in 1857, he
enteied into the banking business as
half owner of the Bank of Canandaigua,
Canandaigua, N. Y'. In a few years he
became the Bole individual owner of the
Bank of Canandaigua, the Bank of
Ontario, the Bank of Canton, a Bank at
Cortland, four-fifths owner of the First
National Bank of Geneva, had a bank
ing office at Marathon, N. Y., one at
Herkimer, N. Y., and one at No. 139
Broadway, New York city, holding de
posits to' the amount of $3,000,000. He
also owned a fine private residence ;
$200,000 worth in the best business
blocks, and other first-class real estate.
Then came reverses and heavy losses,
and after paying to depositors $2,500,
000 from personal assets, in May, 1868,
lie was compelled to suspend, owing
$500,000 to 2,000 depositors, scattered
from Philadelphia to Omaha. Asking
for a little time to convert, not to com
promise, the circuit of creditors proved
too large, and he was put into bank
ruptcy, with $000,000 of assets to pay
$500,000 of liabilities with. But the
temptation to assignees and lawyers
was too great, and the circumstance too
rare, to allow an administration of the
estate for the interest of creditors.
There was a splendid chance for sharp
ers, and they improved it, so that debts
were only partially paid. Our hero's
wife surrendered her dower right in
$200,000 worth of real estate for the
small sum of $8,000 at the solicitation
of her husband, and a dwelling house
in New York city, purchased for a mar
ried daughter, was put in with the rest.
He has never asked any discharge from
his indebtedness, and is still pushing
the life and fire insurance business in
his native town, which ho himself built
up, in the hopes of yet paying the last
dollar. Is not this, on the whole, a re
markable history ?
Tho Sun's Crust.
Professor Charles J. Young caused
considerable discussion at the Ameri
can Science Association's meeting at
Portland, lately, by some unique theo
ries regarding the sun. The eruptions
which are continually occurring on its
surface render probable the supposi
tion that there is a crust of some kind
which retains the imprisoned gases,
and through which they force their way
in jets with great violence. Acoording
to Professor Young, this crust may
consist of a more or less continuous
sheet of descending rain that is, a
downfall of the condensed vapors of
those materials which we know, from
the spectroscope, exist in the sun. The
continuous efllux of the solar heat is
equivalent to the supply that would be
developed by the condensation, from
steam to water, of a layer about five
feet thick over the whole surface of the
sun, every minute of time. As this
tremendous rain descends, the velocity
of the falling drops would be retarded
by the resistance of the denser gases
underneath ; the drops would coalesce
until a continuous sheet would be
formed ; and these sheets would unite
and form a sort of bottomless ocean,
resting on the compressed vapors be
neath, and pierced by innumerable
ascending jets and bubbles. It would
have an approximately constant depth,
because it would turn to vapor at the
bottom as rapidly as it grew at the sur
face ; though probably the thickness of
this crust wjuld continually increase at
a slow rate, and its whole diameter
grow less. In other words, Dr. Young
would regard the sun as an enormous
bubble, whose walls are forever thicken
ing, and its diameter ever lessening, in
proportion to the loss of heat.
A Banditti's Banquet.
The history of the robbery cf Judge
Emmett's house by the gang of ruffians
just captured in their den in New York
city, and as told by members of the
Judge's family, shows that long impu
nity had made the robbers extraordina
rily bold. There were lour grown men
in the family besides the servants. The
robbers went to the room of each,
frightened him to silence wheu awake,
and then collected all the household in
the dining-room where one bandit could
. .. -.IT. . A 111..
guard all. When they entered the room
of Mrs. Emmett the concentrated stare
of four dark lanterns and four rough
men bidding her to arise did not fright
en her. One ot the men seized, her, by
ai.- a i. 1 1 11 TT1 1 L.
tne wriBb kj uiuu iicr. muuitu we.
ttir." she ftxclaimei. with unrli ilurn itv.
and determination that the robber
dropped her hand and all fell back a
Btep. "Are you men? Do, you. dare
, . . . . .
to J n suit a lady ?" she continued. One
of the robbers replied that they would
not bind her if she would promise to
make no alarm. She promised, and
suffering her to put on a wrapper and
slippers, they locked her securely in a
room adjoining that in which theothers
of the family were bound. After they
had blown open the safe and stolen
everything of salable value, they com
pelled a servant to show them the pan
try and wine cellar. They spread a
ft ast. at which thft.owners of the good
c'aeer were imprisoned spectators. As
Uiev ate and drank the banditti mock
ingly drank Judge Emmett'B good
health and ms iumny s. it was nearly
six o'clock when they departed. Neigh-
AAA. . " " .
h. on than ast ir and feveral of
them saw what they supposed to be a
gang of prize fighters triug to shove off
a large boat leu mgn ana ary iy me
falling tide.
Colorado's gold and silver crop this
,J year will amount to o,uuu,uw.
Gossip.
" Because I plainly express my
opinion of the conduct of others I will
not be called a gossip," said a plain
spoken lady friend. "Wrong-doers
must submit to that one penalty being
talked over ' by their neighbors. And
so great is my ownfearof popular blame
that I walk very straight indeed to
avoid it. Are not others similarly re
strained ? And is not Mrs. Grundy, the
much-abused, a benefactress, there
for ?" A popular journal aoquiesces in
this view of the matter. " Mrs. Grundy,
with all her busy interference, is com
monly in the right. When has she up
held a vice of any kind ? You may say
she has upheld some of the greatest of
evils, such as dueling, slavery, etc.
Well, Mrs. Grundy is conservative, it
muBt be conceded, and is not commonly
found in the front ranks of tho reform
ers; but if a proposed reform is really a
sound one, she is sure, very soon, to
take up its defence. It is very wise to
be conservative and slow, in order,
eventually, to be right, and, when Mrs.
Grundy has upheld that which you have
set down as an evil, it has been in pro
found conviction that it was rio evil at
all. It has been a mistake of judgment,
not of morals.
Mrs. Grundy, slandered dame as
she is, is almost uniformly on the side
of right doing. She condemns private
and public malfeasance; she deplores
drunkenness, gambling, incontinence,
extravagance, profanity, vice of all
kinds. She is sometimes a little too
fond of purely successful men, and yet
is not adverse to a rigid inquiry into
the conditions of the success; she is per
haps too little regardful of unfortunate
men, yet after all will, in a majority of
instances, understand accuritely the
cause of their misfortunes. If not al
ways charitable in her judgments, she
is an earnest admirer of charity. If
altogether too prone to give importance
to dress, and similar little things, and
too easily shocked at an offence against
mere conventionality, she yet always
approves what may be caueu minor,
but which, are yet nigniy important
virtues, such as neatness, cleanliness,
order, and propriety of demeanor." All
things considered, Mrs. Grundy does a
good work, and cannot yet be dispensed
with."
A Romance.
Having made an imprudent marriage,
the son of a wealthy English family was
disinherited, and doomed to poverty,
which killed him hefore his only son
had entered his teens. Left alone in
the world his unfortunate widow was
obliged to place the boy, then twelve
years of ago, under the care of a dis
tant relative -a sea captain who
grudgingly offered him a place on a
steamer in the East Indian service.
From the time of entering upon his du
ties on shipboard the widow's son was
treated like the rudest cabin-boy, with
a positive brutality of treatment by the
captain, which the lower officers were
not slow to imitate. So harsh, indeed,
was his lot, that the common sailors
commiserated him for it, and, the
steamer happening to be at San Fran
cisco in August last, one of them was
prompted to connive at his escape to
American soil in California. By the
same kind and humble friend he had a
hiding place and temporary home se
cured for him with a lady of well-known
benevolence in the southern part of tho
Golden City, who, after the departure
of the steamer, obtained employment
for him in a local drug store. Very
soon tho young sailor adapted himself
diligently and efficiently to his new vo
cation, his old sailor-friend having
promised to carry back the news to his
mother in London. And a druggist's
clerk he is yet, though in reception of
intelligence calculating to make his fu
ture life very diflerent from the past.
The very first letter from the widow,
after the arrival of the Indian steamer
in England, informed him that his
grandfather, the rich magistrate, had
just died, unrelenting toward the un
fortunate mother to the last, but leav
ing her son a fortune of 10,000. Ac
companying this motherly revelation
was an epistle from the lawyer em
ployed by the executors of the dead
man's estate, assuring the grandson of
his riches, and in a few more days the
former cabin-boy will receive money to
take him back to home and opulence
far different from that in which he be
gan his youthful exile.
Story of an Amazon.
Here is a story of an Italian Amazon
recently discharged from the army,
having served out her enlistment:
Julia Marcotti, the Amazon in question,
belonged to a numerous and poor
family, living at Ban Ambrozio, near
Turin, and worked in the mines of
Upper Piedmont, to which latter cir
cumstance her extraordinary physical
strength may, probably, be attributed.
She enlisted in 1866, at the time when
Italy was about to engage in the strug
I 1 " -Al- k J 1 - 1 UA.n- ,
gle with Austria, her motive being to
save her brother, wno was marrieu anu
had six children, from being obliged to
serve. Not only did J una penorm ail
a soldier's duties as well as her com
rades, but she fought in the first rank
... . ... . niA .1
at the battle of Custozza. and obtained
1 . , ... 1 1
the medal OI mimary vmur. yju iicui-
ing of the case, King Victor Emmanuel
sent for tae woman, Destowea upon uer
the Cross of the Order of the Crown,
and desired that she should be sent
home with a pension of 300 lire.
No Panic About That.
Clerking in a dry goods store isn't so
bad a business if yon can be at the
head. A Boston paper says that one
of Claflin's $8,000 clerks began January
1, 1874, in Boston, at $i3,uuu. une oi
Stewart's old $3,000 clerks doubles his
salary in a Boston house this year. A.
bid.bv a New York house with a $20,-
POO Salary for a cloak buyer in a Boston
hotute couldn't touch him. An old
Boston dry goods empleye has just
, . . W - - f ,
gone abroaa as a buyer tor a isew lorn
house at JMO.uuu a year hubuhm.
A New York firm is to-day trying to
tempt a Boston cotton goods salesman
mw iw -uiiujuv .
A worsted goods clerk in New York is
anxious to get back to the fold and his
old employers in Boston for $3,200
year,
v .
V