Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. IV.
lilDGrWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, MARCH 10, 1874.
NO. 3.
NIL DESrERANDUM.
TIio Path.
Backwards I look along my path,
A pleasant path by lawn and lea.
The thrush and linnet sing no more,
No longer hums the summer bee.
The flowers are fled : the leaves are dead
On shrub and tree.
Forward I look nlonn the path
That I, alas 1 have still to tread.
A dreary waste, vague shapes of pain,
Are there, that fill my soul with dread.
Bettor thnn trace that wofnl space,
15o with the dead.
Upwards I look beyond the way
That I. forlorn, have still to go s
The cool dews fall from golden stars
That glide where tempests never blow,
Nor sounds of signs ascend the skies,
Nor tear-drops flow.
ISAAC rESKITII'S THASKSGITIXG.
The clock linil just struck three. It
was no trifle of bronze or ormolu ; nei
ther wns it one of those quaint old sen
tinels of dark wood and tarnished gild
ing that you sometimes encounter on
antique stairways, keeping ghostly
guard over the tread of generation after
generation. It was a trim, compact
little clock, hanging where its dial, like
nu eye, seemed to look through the
four deep-set windows of the circular
Btono room and wntch the tides as they
swung back and forth, murmuring dis
contentedly around the solid masonry
that upheld the lighthouse. A strange
place, a dreary, desolate place, it seemed
prison-like in its isolation and terrific
in its frowning strength. Yet even
there the grace of woman's presence
cast its visible sign and token. Upon
the pine table a vase of late autumnal
flowers glowed in velvety carmiue and
gold, and a, round hat decorated with
the scarlet winjj of a tropical bird lay
beside it.
Lucy renrith was looking from one
of the windows n slender, pretty girl,
with touches of faint crimson on either
cheek, anil violet gray eyes, where the
deep lights seemed to swim. Her black
stiff dress was very simple ; but there
was n flutter of vivid Fcnrlet ribbon at
her throat, and a bunch of coral-red
berries in her shining brown braids,
bearing silent witness to the genuine
love of the picturesque that exists in
every woman's heart.
" I don't think the sea is very rough,
father."
Isaac Penrith deliberately folded his
newspaper insido out, and commenced
on a- new column. He was a hard
featured, rugged old man, with iron
gray hn'r, and n brow where the
wrinkles stood out like knotted cord.
Lucy stole across the stone floor and
put her dimpled l'acebetweu the printed
page aud her father's spectacles.
"Now, father, you will row me
across. Oh, father", I never can spend
Thanksgiving evening in- this dismal
place, and I promised them at tho farm
house !"
" Rash promises are better broken
than kept," sententiously answered old
Isaac.
"But it was not a rash promise, fa
ther. All the young people are to be
there, and Philip Martin"
She stopped abruptly, checked by
the dark frown from that corrugated her
father's brow.
"Philip Martin ! I tell you, Lucy,
I'll hear no more idle nonesense about
that boy. It was Phillip Martin whose
father tried to bo keeper of the light
house in my stead a bad, black-heart-,
ed man and tho boy is a branch off the
old tree, I'll go bail. And "
But Lucy was crying, with her head
on her father's shoulder. Isaac's heart
relented within him.
"I'm a cross old bear, I know," he
made haste to utter, "and I ought to
be a little kcerful what I say. Don't
cry, little one, there ! I'll row ye cross
if ye say bo ; tain't near dark yet, and
it is rather hard on a young gal like
you to live in this stone dungeon year
in aud year out. I wish I hadn't told
Sam he could have the day to himself.
But never mind; I'll be back long be
fore lightiu' time."
Lucy brightened up like a rose after
a shower.
"Ch father I am so glad 1 I do so
want to go."
She tripped backward and forward,
adjusting the round hat with the scarlet
wing, folding the brown shawl, and re
arranging the coral berries in her hair,
while old Isaacs, with his fur cap on,
and his hands in his coat pockets,
watched her with a proud, amused
sense of proprietorship.
"She's more like one o' them foreign
birds with plumage like fire, and little,
glanciu' ways, than she is like a human
critter," thought the light-house
keeper.
"I know I am goin' clean agin all
rules and regulations, leavin' the place
alone; but 'twon't be but for a few min
utes, and I don't like to disappoint the
gal, her heart's so kinder sot on't I I've
got to bo father and mother both to the
child-Mind she's a good gal and a pretty
one, too, if she does happen to be
Isaac's Penrith's darter."
"111 carry the flowers over, father,"
said Lucy, removing them from the
vase, and wrapping a bit of paper round
the damp stems. "Theie is not much
left in the farm-house garden, aud
they'll help to make the Thanksgiving
table gay. Now, father, I'm ready !"
And as Isaac Penrith pulled the shell
like little boat out to sea, with the long,
steady, vigorous strokes that betokened
his daily habitutiou to life on the deep,
he fell into a musing remembrance of
the far away Thanksgivings of his youth,
with their rains of red and golden
leaves, and the odor of sweet fern in the
pastures, and the old red farmhouse
among the bleak New England hills I
And unconsciously the roar of the
green translucent tides became the wall
of wind in upland forests, and Lucy's
blooming face opposite him seemed her
mother's smiling out from the mists of
years.
Nor was the salt drop on old Isaac's
cheek the spray from his steadily dip
ping oar.
Lucy Penrith sprang lightly to her
feet, as the keel of the boat grated
softly on the smooth shining sand of
the beach,
" You will walk up to the house with
me, father. See how high the sun is I"
Isaac stopped and secured his boat to
a heavy projecting rock by means of a
loop of heavy rope.
"I'll go," he said, briefly, adding
within himself, " and if Philip Martin's
there, I'll bring her back with me again.
I doa't like his father's son."
The old brown house stood a little
way back on the beach, with a smooth
stretch of silvery sand in front, and a
cluster of black green cedars in the rear,
tossing their plumy hands about in the
blustering salt-scented gale, and a
group of merry-makers, young and old,
in theirThanksgivinghaoiliments, were
on the porch awaiting the arrival of the
new comers.
" Oh, Lucy, we thought you never
were coming 1" said a bright-eyed little
damsel, whose hair was blowing about
her face like a mist of rippled gold ;
' what made you so late. And Phil
Martin"
Lucy's appealing, frightened glance
stopped the half-uttered sentence short;
but Isaac Penrith had caught its mean
ing. " Lucy," he said, drawing his daugh
ter aside as the group hurried merrily
into the house once more, where a fire
of drift wood blazed redly in the huge
old-fashioned fireplace, and the "old
people," in caps and brass-buttoned
suits, were purring around the genial
glow"Lncy, is there anything be
tween you aud and Dorr Martin's
son ?"
She colored and turned her face
away, while the tears sprang to her
eyes.
"Tell me," he urged, sternly grasp
ing her arm ; " I will have no more
half confidence. Has he asked you to
be his wife ?"
" Yes, father."
"And you what answer did vou
make?"
"Father," simply answered Lucy,
with her violet eyes raised to his, "I
love him."
" Child," answered Isaac Penrith,
"conquer this idle folly as best you
may. I never will give my daughter to
Philip Martin ! So now you know
my will and determination in the
matter."
He turned abruptly away, releasing
Lucy to - the demands of half a dozen
pleading bird-voiced girls, while ho
himself briefly declined the kindly
honors of hospitality that beset him on
every side.
"I must be goin' back, friend?," he
said ; " "I wasn't fairly right to come
over, but Lucy was so set on't, and I
mustn't lose no more time. By the
looks o' tho clouds'we'll have a stormy
night, and the Lord help them that are
out to st a along this cruel shore I"
And so he bid the revelers a " Good
night, and looked his last at the ruddy
glow of the drilt-wood fire, and Lucy's
sweet face, flushed by its radiance or
something else ns she stood adjusting
a late rose in Barbara Cliffe's gold-niistr-d
hair.
" I'll walk down to the shore with
ye, neighbor Penrith," said old Truman
Cliflv, pulling on his dreadnaught coat.
" Somehow, I'vo been a sailor so long
I can't bear to keep indoor wheu the
wind is blowin' up like it does now."
The late autumnal sunset was frin
ging the overhanging clouds with a sul
len lire such fire as burns itself out in
stormy reflections, leaving a truck like
bloody footsteps across the tides the
winds were moaning sullenly along the
barren shore, and the distant thunder
of the ground swell sounded like the
bass chords of Nature's organ.
" You're right, Isaac," said Truman
Cliffo. "It's goin' to be an awful
night ! . There's mischief in them
clouds, and if ever there was murder in
the sound of the breakers, it's there to
night. Why, what's the matter ?'
.For Isaac Peurith had uttered a cry
that made the old sailor's blood grow
chill iu his veins.
" The boat ! " Merciful Father, the
boat has gone !" .
It was true ; the loop had somehow
become loosed, and the little bark was
rocking somewhere on the waves, be-
youd sight or sound.
" Truman, I must have your boat as
quick as possible. The sun is nearly
down, but I can reach the light-house
yet before lighting time !"
tie spoKe in a husky voice, wniie tiie
beating of his heart seemed like the
strokes of a muffled drum.
Truman Cliffe turned a white, dis
mayed face towards his old companion.
" Our boat is down to Kilooran, with
Jared and his girls ; they won't be back
until to-morrow morninM"
There was an instant's silence, and
then Isaac spoke, still in the same
hoarse, unnatural voice.
" Is there no other boat that I could
get?"
" There s Hugh Donnelly s down to
the Point -trot that" srtwQjrtiles off!"
Til go for it." -
Truman stopped him, as he was turn
ing blindly toward the shore.
' No, Isaac, your lame and stiff, and
I am a good walker. Keep your
strength for the hard rowin vou 11 have
to do, and I'll be back as quick as mortal
man can go and come. Sit down on the
rock, old friend, and rest you're
trembling like a leaf."
Isaac Penrith obeyed, mechanically,
and dropping his head upon his hands
he sat motionless, while the bloody
track upou the waves grew purple and
more indistinct, and the far-oil thunder
of the ground swell seemed to utter
menaces in his ear.
Two miles away ! and the brief twi
light was already setting in ! How
siowiy irumau dine plodded along;
and yet those idiots on the shore had
always called him a swift walker. He
would go himself and he started up
only to sink back again weak and help
less.
" I have no strengthleft," bethought.
" I must wait. I must wait for that
snail to creep along the sands. They
were right ; it will be a fearful night at
sea 1 And there is no light in the light
house to warn homeward-bound ships
off the reef!"
As he closed his eyes he could al
most see the stately ships drifting upon
their death, and going to pieces alone
ii i i ,-i j i
mo Kuu&eir rucus, wime ineir crew were
looking out ia vain for the red signal
star of danger 1 He could hear the
creak and groan of shivering timbers
the crash of mast and yard-arm the
shrink of human creatures I He shud
dered convulsively,
" And I shall be a murderer I O,
God I why did I desert my post ? "
And in this moment of agony and re
pentance, Dorr Martin's mocking face
rose up before him, full of evil exulta
tion. " He always said I could not be trust
ed, and he was right."
Dorr Martin's triumph was the bit
terest drop in tho bitter cup that Isaac
Penrith drained to the dregs that
stormy night 1
" The sun has set the hour of grace
has passod," he muttered to himself.
" I will not live to have widows asking
me where are the husbands who perish
ed on those reefs I will not look little
children in their faces and hear them
wliisper that I murdered their father 1
I will not see Dorr Martin triumph in
my ruin 1 No ; better a quiet grave at
the bottom of the sea, than a life of re
morse and dishonor 1 My little Lucy
had better mourn me dead than live
to blush for me ! Good-bye, my fair
haired darling I I thall never see your
bonny face more I "
How the wind blew his gray, uncov
ered hair abont, ns, murmuring a faint
half-forgotten prayer, he crept down to
the beach, going to seek his death
where the cruel, white fringed waves
writhed along the shore. An instant
he paused, to look a lust adieu to the
world, the sky, the fnr-spreading shore,
when all of a sudden a wild shriek
broke from his parched lips.
For, like a red star, traling its
glory along the tumultuous Bea, the
light of tho light-house streamed upon
his vision ! Tho danger signal the
steady finger of the fire held up to bid
a hundred crafts " beware 1" the bea
con for which many au anxious helms
man was gazing out into the night 1 He
waR not dreaming, his senses were not
benumbed, yet the light was all iu a
blaze in its huge crystal lantern, aud
he was guiltless of the weight of crime
and misery that had so nearly weighed
him down.
When Truman Cliffe rowed up to the
shore an hour afterward, he found Isaac
Penrith kneeling on the wet sand, with
forehead against the chill white rock.
" Well, I say for't !" ejaculated Tru
man. "You hain't been to the light
house aud back, 'cause you hain't got
wings, and none but a bird could ha'
done it I Who lighted up ?"
"I don't know. Give me the oars,
quick, Cliffe."
Truman started, but made room for
the keeper, aud gave up the oars. Not
a word was exchanged between them,
as Isaac rowed with giant strokes, and
the little boat danced over the troubled
billows swift aud light as a flouting leaf.
Nearer and nearer glowed the gigantic
star, elwser and closer its glory seemed
to shine, until at length Isaac Tenrith
sprang upon the stone ledge, aud rush
ed two steps at a time up the first stair
way, and into the lantern-room.
"Philip Martin !"
"Mr.JPenrith 1"
" You you lighted the signal ?"
" I did. 1 came over to bring Lucy
to shore, and found the light-house
empty. Of course I concluded some
thing was wrong, so I went on duty my
self until I should hear from you.'"
Isaac Penrith wrung the young man's
hand.
"Philip if if there had been no
light on the reefs all this night your
father would have been keeper to-morrow,
and I should have been a ruined
man !"
Tlae deep color rose into Philip Mar
tin's cheek.
" If I had been a villain, Mr. Penrith,
I should not be Philip Martin !"
" God bless you, Philip ; God bless
you !" murmured the old man. " I
snail never forget this kindly office you
have done me !"
" But Lucy ?"
" Lucy is over at Cliffe's. Take the
boat Philip, and go join her. Truman
is below. And Philip "
" Sir ?"
Tell her well, tell her what you
like !" The old man smiled faintly as he
saw the warm flush deepen on Martin's
bronzed chetk, and the next moment
he was alone.
Philip knew that tho coveted prize
was his at last, and the little boat flew
bnck over the waves almost like an
enchanted bark.
And throughout all the length and
breath of the rejoicing nation that night,
there was no Thanksgiving half so fer
vent as that breathed in the light-house
when the signal star threw its fiery
lines far out to sea, and the fog and
mist brooded like a phantom over the
face of the great deep.
The Fish.
The fish of the United States are un
surpassed in flavor in the world.
Sportsmen who, with rod and line,
have whipped European waters, say
there is nothing like them there from
the Norway fords to the Guadalquiver.
Africa and Asia are both poor in this
respect. Even iu China, where fish is an
abundant article of food, and is found
in great variety, the flesh is coarse.
The salmon of the Scotch lochs afford
the nearest approach to the cucculence
and tender delicacy of our mountain
trout and the flaky tenderness of our
salmon trout. Then there are the
white flsh, the bass, the shad, and an
innumerable multitude of others. We
have but one rival, and that a prolific
but small one. It is the French sar
dine when fresh. This delicious fish,
in a few years, will cease its rivalry,
however, if reports are true from the
coast of France. At present the sar
dine fisheries employ twenty thousand
men, women, and children on land to
prepare the fish for market. Each year
shows an advance in the price and a
diminution in the catch, any in no great
time overfishing will have produced its
usual consequence a failure of the
fish.
A Wonderful Animal. A Western
paper publishes the following notes :
"Lost or strade from the scriber a
shepe all over white one leg was black
and half his bodyT-all persons shal
recieve five dollars to bring himv He
was a she gote."
According to an Ohio mathematician,
one man dies from the use of alcohol
every seven minutes, .
Hnmlln.
One of the purest celebrities of the
famous pchool of Alexandria, in which
city she wns born about the year 370 of
the Christian era, was Hypntia, the
daughter of Theon, the celebrated
mathematician. She was taught geome
try and astronomy by her father.
Meeting the fnmons philosophers of the
day, and attending their schools, she
acquired the fundamental principles of
other sciences. After a journey to
Athens, then the brilliant centre of
Grecian civilization, whither she went
to increase her knowledge, she returned
to Alexandria so lonrned that the pro
fessors of the schools and the mayor of
the city called her to occupy the pro
fessorship of philosophy, made illus
trious by celebrated men, and recently
held by Plotinus. To her beauty,
purity, and enchanting eloquence she
added, a profound knowledge of
philosophy and the sciences. She mar
ried Isidoius, the philosopher, nnd wns
on intimate terms of friendship with
Licenms, the Bishop of Cyrene, nnd
Oreites, the Governor of Alexandria,
who, although Christians, had a just
esteem nnd admiration for the fair
pagan. It is supposed that on account
of his friendship for Hypatia a strug
gle ensued between Oreites nnd Cyril
lus, tho Patriarch of Alexandria. A
fanatical partizau of the Patriarch, a
school- teacher named Hyerax, who was
also a personal enemy of Hypatia, hav
ing been killed, one Peto, a reader in
tho Church of Alexandria, spread the
report that Ryerax had lost his life at
the instigation of Oreites and Hypatia.
Placing himself at tho head of a mob,
he surrounded Hypatia's house, drag
ged her to the church called Cesaree,
and .there murdered her without pity.
This odious murder, disgraceful to the
Church of Alexandria and Cjrillus, was
committed during Lent, in the year
415, A. D., during the reigu of Theodo
sius the younger. The fact that her
murderers were not punished points to
tho complicity of tho Patriarch.
Hypatia left a largo number of works,
which were burned during the great
fire which destroyed the library of
Alexandria. Among these was a trea
tise on Astronomy, a commentary on
Diophantus, and nn essay on the conical
divisions of Appolonius.
A Remarkable Speech.
Tho following extract from a speeech
made iu the House of Lords by Lord
Chesterfield, about tho year 1749, is very
appropriate to the circumstances of the
present day:
" Luxury, my lord, is to bo taxed, but
vice prohibited, let the difficulty in the
law bo what it will. Would you iay a
tax upon a brench of the Ten Com
mandments? Wordd pot such a tax be
wicked and scandalous? Would it not
imply nn indulgence to all those who
could pay the tax ? Vice, my lords, is
not properly to be taxed, but sup
pressed; and heavy taxes are sometimes
the only means by which that suppres
sion can be obtained. Lnxury, or that
which is only pernicious by its excess,
may very properly be taxed that such
excess, though not strictly unlawful,
may bo made more difficult. But the
use nf those things which are simply
hurtful in their own nature and in every
degree is to be prohibited. None, my
lords, ever heard in any nation, of a tax
upon theft or adultery, because a tax
implies a license granted for the use of
that which is taxed, to all who are wil
ling to pay for it. Drunkenness, my
lords, is universally, aud in all circum
stances, an evil, and therefore oughtnot
to be taxed, but puuished. So little,
ray lords, am I affected with the merit
of that wonderful skill which distillers
are said to have attained, that it is, in
my opinion, no faculty of great use to
mankind to prepare palatable poison;
nor shall I contribute my interest for
the reprieve of a murderer because he
has, by long practice, obtained great
dexterity in his trade. If theii liquors
are so delicious that the people nre
tempted to their own destruction, let
us, at least, my lords, secure them from
their fatal draught, by bursting the
vials that contain them. Let us crush
at once these artists in human slaugh
ter, who have reconciled their country
men to sickness and ruin, and spread
over the pitfalls of debauchery such a
bait as cannot bo resisted." -
Kegular Eatln?,
Half the girls in the laud become
dyspeptio before they are out of their
teens, in consequence of being about
the house and nibbling at everything
they lay their eyes on that is good to
eat ; whereas, were they to eat but
tl ree times a day at regular times, and
not an atom between meals, they might
enjoy perfect health. To digest a full
meal and pass it out of the stomach re
quires not less time than fiva hours.
If a porson eats between meals, the
process of digestion of the food already
in the stomach is arrested, until the
last which was eaten is brought iuto
the condition of the former meal ; just
as, if water is boiling and ice is put in,
the whole ceases to boil until the ice
has been melted aud brought to the
boiling point, and then the whole boils
together. No wonder that dyspeptics
are cross and peevish! How can they
be otherwise, since a disordered
stomaoh is the source of so many
pangs ? Yet they deserve puuishmeut
for neglecting to obey the laws which
Nature renders imperative if health is
to be preserved.
An Appeal. Tho following persua
sive and encouraging note was attached
to a baby left on a door-step in St.
Louis : "Sir: Please accept this orphan
child. If you should despise the gift,
give it to some one who will appreciate
it. 'From the little acorn the mighly
oak towers above.' This waif may yet be
a Washington." Now the. gentleman
and his wife thus appealed to already
had of their own eleven possible Wash
ingtons (or Martha Washingtons)
and might have passed the little
stranger over to the police ; but they
didn't do it. They saw the arithmetical
loveliness of the number 12, and kept
and comforted the small unit.
The weight of a simpleton should be
in the neighborhood of two thousand
pounds.
The Way of Iho Morid.
There was once a pleasant village in
a thrifty New England State there are
scores of such to-day. Tho boys at
tended district school, helped on the
farm, in the store, and up at the mill ;
the girls went to school too, when their
mothers could spare them, rode down
hill on the boys' sleds in winter, helped
with the housework in summer, and
frolicked, boys and girls together, at
apple-bees, corn-huskings, quilting
pnrties, nnd picnics all the year round.
By and by two of the boys, the son
of a farmer and tho son of a minister,
went to the city; They were tired of
country life, and determined to see tho
world. They were good, smart boys,
and everybody prophesied well for
them. They would take honest coun
try blood into the great city, the world
would hear of them, and their native
village be proud of them.
And so at first it seemed. The boys
were received with favor, obtained tiie
confidence of their employers, and rose
rapidly until they were placed in posi
tions of honor and trust. This good
news traveled back of course to the lit
tle New England village, and became
the never-ending subject of conversa
tion. The boys were the heroes and
exemplars of the modem spirit of en
terprise and progress ; and while the
girls who were left behind fretted at
the necessity which chained them to
their homes, numbers of the boys were
goaded by taunts at their want of
" smartness " to try their own luck, and
were lost in the great maelstrom.
But our two young adventurers con
tinued to justify tho good opinion of
their townsfolk. Their fame spread,
wealth came to them, substantial evi
dences of which were Reeu in sundry
additious to tho farm-house, in a new
four-wheeled vehicle for Sunday church
going, in divers silk dresses 'of quiet
style but rich material, city-mado bon
nets, and such a fitting out ns the par
sonage had not seen in all the days of
its existence.
When the boys, now men, returned
after a long absence for a brief visit
they were received with due honors. A
meeting was held in tho meeting-house,
speeches were maile, everybody shook
hands, tho old people cried, the young
women presented bouquets, and every
thing went merry as a marriage-beil.
In fact marriage bells followed. The
sou of the minister had wedded the
daughter of a city millionaire, but the
farmer's sou returned to wed the only
daughter of the richest man iu his na
tivo town. This put tho climax to their
prosperity. Boys were sent to them to
be taught tho art of success ; money
rolled in upon them they were now at
the head of great business houses of
their own orphans and widows begged
them to take their funds, invest and in
crease them.
What is it that makes the apple rot
when it has reached perfection ? What
is it that puts a limit to prosperity aud
says to tiie waves of ambition thus far
shalt thou go and no further ? What is
it iu poor human nature that thus pre
pares its own downfall ?
One day a great bubble burst ; one
day a great wrong was detected. In the
ruins of these events we find two smart
boys ; two rich, greedy, unscrupulous
men ; hundreds of ruined families ;
thousands of miserable, wrecked men,
women and- children. . One finds a
refuge iu a foreign land, the other in a
back street ; neither dare go home to
receive curses instead of blessings.
Sahara in the Past.
Dr. Zittel, the geologist who accom
panies the expedition of Rolffs in its
researches through the Sahara, iu the
latest of his letters on the characteris
tics of that desert, establishes, with
great clearness, says the Vail Mall Ga
zelle, aud by more than one distinct
proof, the theory that it is the dried-up
basin of a former shallow sea. The fine
quartz sand, in particles never larger
thnn the head of a pin, which forms at
once the main feature and the danger
of its surface, is not produced from any
formation in or near it, and must have
been carried to it by some foreign
agency.
The real surface of the desert is a
bare, dry, chalk plateau, at first exami
nation resembling that of the Swabian
Alps, but in reality of a much more re
cent origin. Above it rise here and
there tho isolated peaks called by the
Arabs " witnesses." The tops of these,
where several are visible, are invariably
in a plane, showing that they are the
fragments of an ancient surface, the in
tervening spaces of which have been
washed away. If tho question be asked
by what, there being no ground what
ever for supposing torrents or glacial
action, the answer can only be by the
constant beating on it of waves dissolv
ing the softer portions.
But a more interesting point to many
geologists will be Dr. Zittel's comments
on the splinters of flints which are pro
duced in great quantities round certain
peaks by the cutting process of the al
ternate slight dews and frosts which the
expedition has found to be common in
the winter nights In the Sahara. These
fragments lie around in profusion, and
to a careless observer might appear not
unlike some of the ruder flint chips of
the first part of the stone age. But Dr.
Zittel, who has made a study of the lat
ter, took pains to examine some thou
sands of these natural clappings of
flint, and found but a single one which
an experienced eye could take to re
semble those which have attracted so
much notice in Europe. Hence he con
cludes that the Sahara flints afford a
fresh and very strong indirect proof of
the production of -the others by the
human agency to which science has al
ready assigned them.
Consideration. A firm in Cleveland.
O., whose store was recently destroyed
by fire, sent a check for one hundred
dollars to the police fund, and were
surprised to have it quickly returned.
with a note, in which the Secretary of
the Police Board said : " The Board
considers the duties discharged by
the police force at the time of the un
fortunate conflagration, through which
your firm and others suffered so
greatly, were simply suoh as they are
paid for by the eity at large, and it
deems it unjust to the private citizen
to take money from him by reason of
iiis misioriuiie.
Tho Kurnel's Room.
How Squire Skagft got Skinned by the
"Plmroali Men."
"You see," said the Squire, pitching
his voice to an exegetical altitude, "it
wuz sorter this way. Last Chnseday
wua a week ago, I sailed down from
Gwinnett to Atlanty with (even bngs of
cotton. Arter I sold 'em, I kinder loaf
ed roun' lookin' at things in general,
an' feelin' 'jest as happy as you
f)lease, when who should I run agin
mt Kurnel Blasengnme, Mo an' the
Kurnel ised to be boys together, nu'
we wuz as thick as five kittens in a rag
basket. We drunk outen tho same
goad, an' we got the lint snatched out
en us by the same bandy-leggeA school
teacher. I wuz gitten as lonesome as a
rain'crow, afore I struck up with the
Kurnel, an' I was glad to see him
dumed glad. We knocked ronn' town
right smartually, an' the Kurnel inter
juced mo to a whole raft of fellers
mighty nice boys they wuz, too. After
supper the Kurnel says :
" 'Skaggs,' says he, 'lets go to my
room whar we kin talk over ole times
sorter comfortable an' undisturbed
like.'
'" 'Greeable,' says I, an' we walked a
squar or so an' turned into a alley an'
walked up a nnrrer par of stars. The
Kurnel gin a little rap at a green door,
au' a slick lookin' merlatter popped out
an' axed us in. He wuz the durnd
est perlitest nigger you ever seen. Ho
jest got up an' spun aroun' like a torn
cat with her tail afire. The room wuz
as fine as a fiddle an' full of picturs an'
sofys, an' the cheers wnz ns soft as
am's wool, an' I thought to meself
that the Kurnel was a lugsuriaut cuss.
Thar wuz a lot of mighty nice fellers
scattered roun' a laflin' an' a talkin'
quite soshabel like. Aperient, the
Kurnel wuzent much sot back, for he
sorter laffed to himself an' then he
says :
'" 'Boys,' said he, 'Ihev fetched up
a fren', Jedge Ilightower, this is
Squire Skaggs of Gwinnett, Major
Briggs, Squire Skaggs,' au' so on all
roun'. Then tho Kurnel turns to mo
au' says :
"'llocly, I wuzent expectin' com
pany, Skaggs, but the members of the
Young Meu's Christuu Sosashuu make
my room their headquarters.'
' I ups an' says I wuz mighty glad to
meet the boys. I used to be a Frema
tiv' Babtis myself afore I got to enssin'
tho Y'aukees, an' I hev always had a
sorter hankerin' arter pious folks.
They nil laffed an' shuck linn's over
agin, nn' we sot thar siuokin' nn' chaw
iu' just as muchuel as you please. I
disremember how it come up, but pre
sently Major Briggs gits up nn' says :
'"Kurnel, what about that new parler
game you got out the other day ?"
"'Oh,' says the Kurnel, lookin'
sorter sheepish, ' that wuz a humbug.
I can't make no head nor tail outen
it.'
" 'I'l bet I kin manage it,' says
Judge nightower, quite animated like.
" 'I'll show you how, Jedge, with
pleasure,' says the Kurnel, an' then he
went to a table.unlocked a box an' tuck
out a deck of keerds an' a whole lot of
little whotyoumaycallems, similarly to
horn buttons, some white an' some
red."
Squire Skaggs paused and supplied
his tireless jaws with a fresh quid of
tauacco.
" It ain't no use to tell vou any more.
When them fellers got done larnin' me
that game I didn't have money enough
to take me down stairs. I lay I looked
a leetle wild, for when the Jedge closed
the box he sad :
" 'We hey had a pleasant evenn'i.
Squire. You'll find the Kurnel waitin'
for you on the steps, an he 11 give you
your money back."
" 1 a:ut never laid eves on the Kur
nel sence, an' when I do thar's goin' to
be a case for the Kurriuer you mind
my words. I seed Kufe Lester next
day you know Rufe; he's iu the
Legishitur now, but I used to give him
pop-corn when ho wuzeu't so high I
seed nute an he sed 1 wus tuck iu by
the Pharoah men. Tuck in ain't no
name for it. Derned ef I didn't go to
the bottom au' git skinned alive." Sa
vannah, (Ga.,) News,
The Evils of Using Tobacco.
The following article, taken from the
Country Gentleman, thrillingly sets
forth the fearful results of using te
bacco: First experiment, a hog was
shut up in a tight pen, aud his only
food was one-half pound of tobacco a
day. In one week he had lost four
pounds. Second, a mule was placed in
a stall without food. Two plugs of to
bacco were placed before her twice a
day. She grew gradually restive. On
the third day one plug was forced down
her throat, when Bhe tore the experi
menter's ear with her teeth, showing
tiie bad ellect tobacco lias on one s dis
position. It was then found necessary
to hiuzzlo her so that sho could not
open her mouth. At tho end of eight
days sho died. Third, a dog was nailed
up in a tobacco hogshead. At the end
of four days he was taken out much re
duced. Fourth, another doer was in
closed in a tobacco bnrrel and rolled
clown a steep hill. Within two years
that dog went mad! Truly these are
Satan's nets! I could cite plenty more
of such experiments. We all know
that a single drop of the oil of tobacco
placed on the end ot a dog's tail will
kill a man in a minute. Of four men
lately killed on the Erie Railway three
were 'smokers, and the father of the
other an inveterate chewer of tobacco.
On the bodies of the two men washed
ashore after the late storm on Lake
Michigan, papers of tobacco were
found. In my own neighborhood, a
very distressing accident, by which, a
most estimable lady, the mother of
seven lovely children, broke her leg,
was occasioned by a pair of runaway
horses running into a fence that sur
rounded a field of tobacco. Miss Chloe
Flatfoot recently died in the county ad
joining mine at the age of 118 years.
She had both chewed and smoked over
100 years, and as she had no disease
till the time of her death, it is only fair
to suppose that it was tobaceo that
killed her. For so long a time was
Satan spreading his nets for her. But
why multiply examples ? You know
how it ia yourself.
Items of Interest.
Iiot's wife got into a pretty pickle.
Somd sny that the northern pole is a
bear spot.
The wicked drop orange peel for the
good to kick at.
Panio times even nffeet bales of cot
ton. They are frequently hard pressed.
A certain man has a watch which he
says has gained enough to pay for itself
in six months !
The rector of Trinity parish says the
wealth of that corporation is greatly
over-estimated, and the actual income
last yenr wns only a half million.
An exchange asserts that Vanderhilt
believes in plain talk, aud when one of
his clerks contended that ' Worcester"
was prouounced "Wooster," Van. paid
him off.
When they find a man in Washington
who hasn't a plan of his own for the
solution cf the financial problem, they
drown him in the Potomac. No one has
been drowned there yet.
Nothing mean about them. The De
troit Free Pre tells us that an Eaetern
man was lynched there the other day,
but tho lynchers, finding that they had
made a mistake, sent the body homo in
a very nice coflin.
Illinois is having a hard time of it by
rensou of wolves. Seven of the animals
were seen on one farm in Scott County
in one day; 150 sheep havo been killed
by them iu Ogle County; a railway
train ran over and finished one wolf at
JacKsonville.
The quarrel about the kiud of re
ligion that shall be taught to children in
reform schools has extended to Minneso
ta, nnd tho Senate of that State has
passed a bill providing that minors
shall bo educated in the religious faith
of their parents.
J. A. Van Pelt, the reformed saloon
keeper, and comrade of Dio Lewis, is a
man of large frame, broad, square face,
and straggling black beard. Ho wears
a sack coat made of velveteen. He is a
success at a frightful ; example, but a
dead failure as a speaker.
"I see," said a young lady, "that
some printers advertise blank declara
tions for sale; I wish I could get one."
"Why ?" asked the mother. "Because,
ma, Mr. G is too modest to ask me to
marry him, and, perhaps, if I could fill
a blank declaration he would sign it."
The Missouri State Grange is dis
cussing the utility of establishing ex
change nnd discount banks to assist
farmers iu holding their products, as
well ns manufactories of agricultural
implements, and depots nnd ware
houses where grain can bo stored until
the market justifies a sale.
A good wife is like a snail. Why ?
Beeauso Bhe keeps in her own house.
A good wife is not like a snail. Why ?
Because she does not carry her all on
her back. A good wife is like a town
clock. Why? Because she keeps good
time. A good wife is not like a towu
clock. Why ? Because she does not
speak so loud that all the town can hear
her.
Tho vestry of a church in Somer-
ville, Mass., is used for a parish school.
A twelve-year old girl was a scholar,
and st unruly that sharp punishment
was iniiicted. While the building was
deserted during the next recess, sho
took a red-hot coal from the stove aud
dropped it iuto a waste-paper basket.
Tho church narrowly missed destruc
tion. Thackeray tells a story of a street
crossing sweeper, who, when his day's
harvest of coins were gathered, stepped
into his private cab around the corner,
when his man in livery speedily drovo
him to his lodgings iu Belgravin, where
he took off his eye-patch, rags, and
wooden leg, arrayed himself in evening
dress, and went and dined sumptuously
at his club.
It is alarming to find that the " pood
Mrs. Brown," whom Dickens sent to
everlasting fame in " Donibey & Sou "
for her infamous treatment of children,
has still her imitators in London real
life. For stripping little children whom
sho meets in the street, and turning
them adrift in the cold with scarcely
any covering on their bodies, Mary
White, alias Mayno, against whom
there had been previous convictions,
was lately committed for trial.
It has long been known that the
simplest method of sharpening a razor
is to put it fcr half au hour in water
to which has been added one-twentieth
of its weight of muriatic or sulphuric
acid, then lightly wipe it off, and after
a few hours set it on a hone. The acid
here supplies the place of a whetstone by
corroding the whole surface uniformly,
so that nothing further thun a smooth
polish is necessary. The process never
injures good blades, while badly-hardened
ones are frequently improved by
it, although the cause ol this improve
ment remains unexplained.
Disappointed Lovers.
In New Haven two Students ventured
to call upon two sisters with whom they
had a slight acquaintance. They were
invited to the sitting-room, where a
beautiful domestic scene presented
itself. The mother was reading aloud
a useful historical work, and her two
daughters were industriously sewing
while listening. The youths were seat
ed, when the reading began again, and
was continued without auy signs of in
terruption. In vain did the love-struck
students seek to catch the eyes of their
adored; in vain were all their manifes
tations of impatience. The monotonous
reading flowed on for two hours or
more, when the disappointed aud dis
gusted visitors made a burst for the
door.
Comparative Health op States.
A comparison of death rates in twelve
States shows that Indiana is the
healthiest, then Vermont, Ohio, Rhode
Island, Illinois, New Hampshire, Vir
ginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Cali
fornia, Massachusetts, and Louisiana,
The death records are, however, no
safe guides. In but few of the States
are they kept with regularity and pre
cision, and it is possible that if regis
tration were as correct in Indiana as in
New York, the two States might change
places in the list.