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HI 141 1
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher NIL DESPERANDUM, Two Dollars per Annum.
" , , , . ,, , , - - ' - . ' ' . Li fi ., fc . fc i.fci , .... . ,
VOL. IV. HIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1874. NO. 25.
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Eye and Heart.
From (he German
So many a one appears at sight
All full of love and warm of heart,
And then doth show, more closely known,
That love with him is but an art.
So many a one appear, at eight .
All still reserve and ley ojld,
But keeps his heart for him who Beeka
Its richest treasures to tmfolil,
!- -J I .
A.ftTOM OF THE HACK,
Ou the Bonthern t.hore of the Waal,
tli at powerful branch of tho llhine
which in the Netherlands loses its im
portance, and in the Katwyk sand hills
fluds nn artificial issue, lies the ancient
city of Nimegue. Ancient indeed, for
on the summit of the hill, covered with
houses built in the middle ages, are
yet the ruins of the Roman " burg,"
where in tho first century the Roman
legions kept their watch ; and in the
middle nges Nimegue was one of the
imperial free cities, endowed with
pervileges unci, as belong to an inde
pendent sovereign state ; while at the
close of t .e seventeenth century there
was signed tho treaty which put a stop
to ithp. grasping power of Fratice.and for
r ti'Lae at lea.;t gave peace to Europe.
Let us go back to the year 17C0. Let
us go through the steep streets, up to
the market place. What means that
crowd before the courthouse? We
pass the crowd, wa asoend the stone
steps, we enter the hall, we follow the
stream of men coming and going, until
we reach a door guarded by two hal
berdiers. We are allowed to pass. A
few windows give a gloomy light. The
marble pavement, the bare walls, the
dead silence, make us shudder. .We
look round ; iu the distance against tke
wall we percivo a large statue : it is
wm.u, in uu in b iu one nana lue scales.
It ia the enihlem of " Justice" of jus
tice ii marble. We advance a few
Bteps, and ilnd we are not alone. Un
der the Btutue in a table, long and nar
row, covered with a green cloth. Five
men are ssuted, facing us. They are
juugep. Aiicirwigs and dress 8how it.
T heir faces arc turned to the left. We
follow their direotion. We come a lit
tle nearer. We see another room open
ing into me court room. . It is dark,
Ateur me uoor wo caa discern some
thing like a raised platform, oblong ;
at the four corners are cranks. A hu
man being lies thera stretched out, the
hands, uud feet held by chains. Two
men sVaud by with crossed arms, one at
the iiead, ono at the foot.
" One turn more," says tho presiding
judge in a low voice."
Slowly the cranks move. We hear
the wrenching of the limbs. A shriek
loud and piercing; then another less
piercing ; then a gasping as for breath ;
then utter silence.
"Lonen!" cried the judge; bring
him to."
The cranks move back ; tho men
applied medicated water to the mouth
of the fiiinting prisoner. He opens his
eyes and looks uround. We have come
near enough to see all. to hear all.
What nn agony in those eyes I One of
the judges approacues him, looks stead'
ily at him. then say. with a voice where
in pity is mixed with stern conviction :
" Why not confess at once, Harrik?
To-morrow von will enter eternity.
Why not tell the truth?"
With a veica whieh can scarcely be
heard, ton man gasps out :
" I did it 1 I did it ! i was alone."
The judge gives a signal to the men,
holding up two fingers. The cranks
move, this time more rapidly ; shriek
upon shriek follows ; the cranks meve
on ; an unearthly yell is the last ; yet
we henr the cranks move till the second
turn is made.
" Oho turn more will dislocate," says
one of tho men.
"Looi,ea !" cries the presiding judge,
"and bring him into court."
We look on, though cold with hor
ror. We see the men unloose the
hands and feet. They take him np, and
carry the fuiuting prisoner in the court
room, where they lay him ou a sort of
le niug chair.
Consciousness returns after a few
minutes. Ka realizes that he is no more
on the v:ick. He sighs, and we hear a
faint " Thank God I"
The probiding judge speaks, in a
tone of impatient authority ;
" Harrik, what is the use of further
delay ? Why this obstinacy V Oilman
was there, and assisted you. Circum
stances prove it. Year end is near,
Why force us to increuse your misery ?
For the truth must come out. Your
confession must seal his doom as well
as yours. Come, now, Harrik, confess
at once : Oilman was there."
Thero is a eilence. We observe one
of the judges looking intently at the
doomed man; his eyes are moist, his
lips quiver. He leans back in his
chair, resting his head on his right
arm, aud with his hand trying to cover
the emotion of his pitying soul.
At last the victim gasps out : "I did
it! I did it! I was alone I"
Tho presiding judge frowns. ' To
the raok !" he says with a stern voioe.
They tuke him up. Arms and limbs
hang powerless. But they are stretch
ed on the rack, the chains fastened.
" Three turns 1" cries the presiding
judge.
Screams are of no avail. Slowly the
cranks turn ; we can hear the muscles
squeak, and there is a dull noise. The
cranks stop.
Dislocated I" says one of the men.
" Call the doctor," cries the presid'
ing judge, in a scnewhat anxious
voice.
The physioian approaches, the chains
are loosened, the dislooated limbs re
set. This takes some time. We look
at the live judges. The president is
agitated, the others indifferent ; the
youngest remains sitting, one handover
his face.
The physician has performed his
work, and with some stimulants re
stored the prisoner to consciousness.
The presiding judge has reoovered self
possession, and says in hia usual tone
of authority :
" Briug the prisoner into court."
Again the viotim ia carried to the
leaning chair. Again the judge ad
dresf es him in stern words. Again he
answers, but faintly this time, " I was
alone."
" To the rack I" exclaims the judge ;
and again the man take hold of the vio
tim; again stretch his restored limbs
and fasten them to the chains ; again
the cranks begin to turn.
This time no scream, no yell, but a
faint whisper I "I can no more."
The ludge who first interrogated him
approaches. " Confess, Harrik," says
he, " and all is right."
"Yes, yes, he was there! says the
viotim.
The crank goes slowly on.
" It was Oilman, was it?"
" Yes, yes I"
" He wore a brown coat, did he ?"
" Yes, yes 1"
"You swear it was he who aided
yon ?"
" Yes, yes ! for God's sake ! yes 1"
The crank 8 stop. The declaration is
written down, and a pen put in the vic
tim's fingers, who traces the semblance
of across under it.
The court adjourns. They have suf
fered, though not on the rack I They
leave. Only one remains.
When all are gone, he rises and
speaks a few words to the warden ; then
turning to the prisoner, he assists in
carrying him to the leaning chair. The
poor man looks thankfully up to his
sympathizing face. The warden enters
with a tray. On it is a strong cup of
coffee, and some refreshing food. The
man says thanks with a glance, while
the judge leaves the court room.
What I have written is no fiction, but
a simple narrative of what occurred in
the Court of Justice, at Nimegue, in
the year 1760. For the judge who
showed compas iaa was my grand
father, and he had good occasion to nar
rate it to my father, as you will see.
From my father I heard it more than
once, as an only son is anxious to hear
over and over what belongs as it were
to the family.
Yes, the merciful judge left the court
room, and went to his home. His wife
received him with love, and in the
blessed.atmosphere of domestio affec
tion in vain he tried to forget the hor
rible scene he had been compelled to
witness. In vain 1
Harrik was a man who always bore a
good character. The father of a numer
ous family, he had an enemy one who
with all his might and craftiness tried
to do him injury. This was known and
acknowledged by all the witnesses. In
all his troubles his next neighbor, Gil
man, had been his friend. Thin was
known and acknowledged by all the
witnesses. But one afternoon, when
the dusk of evening set in, and people
returned from their work, Harrik vent
ed his anger on the cause of his
troubles. From words they came to
blows ; a crowd gathered. Beside the
two men, a third man was seen was it
Oilman? The struggle was short. The
troubler of Harrik s peace fell down,
stabbed in breast and back aud side.
Harrik was arrested on the spot. But
where was the other man ? He was
gone.
"It was Oilman," said most of the
witnesses. " We knew him by his coat.
It was Gilman."
Others seemed to doubt. Gilman was
found at his home, busy with his do
mestio duties. He seemed very agita
ted ; but was it sorrow for his fiiend,
or was it consciousness of guilt ? In
court he protested his innocence, and
appealed to Harrik, who simply said:
" I did it. Gilman was net there."
But the many witnesses who insisted
that they had seen him and no other, as
well as the known friendship of the
two, induced the court to get the fiual
convincing proof from Harrik.
He was condemned to the gallows.
Yet one day, and the convincing proof
would fail. Hence the rack !
They had been successful 1 Oilman's
doom was sealed.
But the merciful judge had his
doubts. That night he was sleepless.
It was long past midnight, when he
was startled by the ringing of the door
bell. It was the warden. Coming into
the presence of my grandfather, he
said:
"Sir, the unhappy man is restless
more than once he has asked me when
ho was to die ? I told him ; then he
cried loud: ' O, Oilman! Oilman!' At
last I said: 'What about Oilman?'
Thn he said nothing. Just now he
stopped me in my found, and said:
jocnems, couiu you not go 10 me gen
tleman who was so kind to me ? I want
so much to see him. said I: But it
is late, Harrik it won't do!' Then he
began to beg me so hard, sir, that I
did not like to refuse. He has but one
day more to live, sir, and I saw you
were kind to him, wo I took courage,
and said I would go."
While the honest warden was talking,
my grandfather was already busy to
prepare himself for the visit. They
went through the silent streets of
Nimegue. up to the prison. The jailor
unlocked door after door, and ushered
my grandfather into the cell of the con
demned man. A sad sight it was! On
a stretcher lay Harrik, a wreck of hu
manity ; his tortured limbs powerless,
his face alone showing life. With
glistening eyes, he looked at my grand
father, who took a seat beside, and
claspiug his hand, said:
" What is it Harrik? What can 1 ooy
There was a moment of silence. The
man looked steadily at the merciful
judge. At last he said:
" You have been very kind to me,
sir. I have something to say, bnt I am
afraid, sir. The rack 1 The rack !
And as if all his torments returned
at the very thought, he gasped for
breath. At last he said :
" I cannot die with a lie on mv con
science I Blood enough I Blood enough t
But poor Oilman poor dear Oilman 1''
" Speak, said my grandfather " I
am no judge now ; J am only a witness
f .what you have to say. Gilman was
not there ?"
The man stared long, then he said,
slowly : " You were so kind to me, sir,
I thought you might have pity. Bnt I
am afraid I can no more bear the
rack."
"Speak and give yonr testimony,"
said my grandfather, " and I give my
word that it shall not be known be
fore "
He hesitated. The word was hard.
But Harrik understood him, and with a
look, almost of happiness, said :
" Gilman was not there, sir ; torture
made me tell an untruth. Gilman was
not there I"
" I thought so," said my grandfather.
" Now let me write down your solemn
confession, which you will sign, and I
shall attest with the warden ; then you
may be sura yonr friend will not suffer.
I shall take care of that."
The warden brought paper, pen and
ink ; this declaration was made, signed
Vy Harrik, and by the merciful judge
and warden as witnesses.
" Ik Jail, August 8, 1870.
" I, John Harrik, under sentence of
death, this last night of my earthly life,
in the presence of God Almighty and
two witnesses, do testify that my con
fession, made on the bench of torture,
was in consequence of unutterable pain.
Gilman was not here. I alone am
guilty. May God have mercy on my
soul. " John t Habrik.
" Witnesses : 0. W. V. M., Judge,
Joost Brand, Warden."
"Now, I can die in peace," said the
poor criminal. " Blood for blood, it is
just ; but Gilman will go free?"
"Be sure of that," was the answer,
and my grandfather left.
Years have passed. The skeleton
bones of Harrik has hanged on the
" gallows field," near the city of Nime
gue, probably alongside of other vic
tims of human justice ; the birds of the
air have fed on the flesh, the bones
have frightened the passer-by. Gil
man kept his flesh and bones, and lived
a good long life in comfort and ease.
A Wonderful Oil Well. .
The Titusville (Pa.) Herald thus de
scribes a wonderful oil well that has
just been opened:
"The road leading to the Parker
well from Petroliaisin moderately good
condition, and soon after leaving Cen
tral Point the traveler observes the
words ' no smoking permitted here ' in
conspicuous places. After about two
and a half miles ride the top of a hi)l is
reached, where a loud, roaring noise is
distinctly heard, and eighty rods furth
er on brings us in sight of the well. A
dense fog or mist envelopes the der
rick, engine house and tanks, while
fully one thousand persons are there
gazing on the wonder of Armstrong
county. The derriok has conspicuously
placed upon it, in large letters, ' Boss
Well." and Creswell City.' There are
two 250-barrel tanks full of oil; also two
1,200-barrel tanks, one of which is full.
Three dams, one below the other, catch
tne drippings ; and the rivulet beyond,
we are told, for ten miles of a circuitous
route to the Allegheny river, is covered
with oil. There are two two-inch pipes
connected with the well, one of which
is shut completely off, and out of the
ether flows a steady stream of oil with
iinmenno foroe. There ia no perceptible
intermission in the flow, and as it gush
es into one of the twelve hundred bar
rel tanks, the foam and spray envelop
the whole surrounding atmosphere in a
dense mist.
"A trustworthy ganger informed us
that he had gauged the well three times
since the stream was turned into the
1,200 barrel tank, and he found it doing
1,750 barrels, and he estimated the
leakage to be at least fifty barrels per
day. He further stated that in his
opinion the well started off out of the
two two-inch pipes at the rate of 2,500
barrels per day. He also claimed that
ul though this was almost incredible he
believed that if the full stream was
turned on now it would do at least 2,000
barrels.
" The well ia claimed to be the larg
est ever struck in the lower region. A
farmer walked up to us and offered to
sell bis adjoining farm of 100 acres for
$100,000, which ten days ago, for farm
ing purposes, would not have brought
81,000. The surveyors are at wcrk lay
ing out Creswell City.
" The Parker ' well stands two and
one-eighth miles due east of the most
eastern well on the fourth sand devel
opment, and about two and three-quarter
miles east of Petrolia. . The num
ber of wells drilling on this belt east of
the most eas'ely well on the McGarvy
farm are six, namely: Two on the Snow
farm, one on the Steel farm, the Gush
ford well, 1,000 feet deep ; the Craw
ford well. 300 feet deep, and the Pren
tice wel1, 1,450 feet deep. The latter
is half a mile due west of the Parker
well."
A N'aturul Curiosity.
The Providence Journal says: "For
the past day or two there has been in
this city a colored man who presents in
himself a queer physiological freak.
He is thirty-four years of age, thick
set, of medium height, of fair intel
ligence, and was born in Manchester,
England. He gains a livelihood by ex
hibiting himself to physicians. Hia
abdomen is naturally full, but at will,
without the use of his hands, he gives
it a wave-like motion, and it gradually
sinks as if being wound up, until it ap
parently rests olose against the back
bone, and he presents the appearance
of a man with no abdomen, and then in
the same manner he rolls it out to its
original form. He then drops from un
der his ribs a duplicate set of ribs, with
a breast bone, when the original ribs
and the duplicates can be distinctly
felt and counted, and the whole front of
the body is, as it were, iron-clad. Or,
at will, he apparently drops his heart
from its natural position some twelve
inches, puts it back and sends it to the
right side of the body opposite its
natural position, puts it back and sends
it to the lower pait of the body on the
right side, thus putting it in four dif
ferent positions. During these two
changes the two sounds of the heart
can be distinctly heard in either of
these new positions, and not where
they usually are heard. It seems to be
necessary, however, that after each
change it should go back to where it
belongs before being sent to a new
quarter. He also has the power to atop
the beating of his heart at will from
five to ten seconds at a time, the pulse
stopping at the same time. He seems
also to have considerable strength,
easily bending by a blow on the arm a
heavy iron cane which he carries.
Several of our prominent physioians
have examined him, from one of whom
we have obtained these facta, and pro
nounce him to be the greatest curiosity
in physiology they have ever seen or
heard of."
New York Rag Pickers.
The rooms above ground in Bone
alley, where the rag pickers of New
York exist, are used only for the ordi
nary purposes 'of ' living. Bnsiness,
which begins in the street, is here re
sumed only in the cellar, whence it is
transferred to the roof, and is finished
around the corner. Under the building
are a dof.en or more small vaults, ex
tending beneath the pavement, aud
lighted only by the narrow gratiugs
above them. The air in these vaults ia
impure to the last degree, and is damp
and chiling. There is neither floor
nor tiles in them, and their clay bot
toms are slimy and covered with mould.
Here, crouched upon tneir knees, tne
old aud vouuer are ' busv from seven
o'clook in the morning till noonday in
assorting the contents of their sacks,
which have been emptied upon tne
earth. These consist of cotton and
woolen rags, paper, lat, bones, crusts
of bread, old bottles and occasional
scraps of leather and metals. They
are separated and placed in little piles.
All this work is completed by twelve
o'clock, at which heur the bone dealer
arrives in the alley to make his daily
purchases.
Bones are brisk at present at sixty
oents per barrel.
The little heaps of cotton and woolen
rags are scraped together and trans
ported to the roof of the building,
where they are suspended upon lines.
They are usually quite wet, and the
object in hanging them np is to get rid
of the foreign matter that clings to
them and which wind and rain will re
move. They are not suffered to remain
long exposed, as too much heat would
dry them and reduoe their weight to an
unprofitable figure. On Friday or
Saturday afternoons they are gathered
in separate bales and bundles and
carried to the ragdealers in the neigh
borhood or to a large warehouse in
Third street, near Lewis. The prices
paid vary from time to time, but are
usually at tke rav: oi aoouc two and
one-fourth cents per pound for cotton
and three cents per pound for woolen.
At this rate the men, women and chil
dren engaged earn an average of about
eicht dollars a week.
Fat is sold to the soapmakers, the
usual price being about two cents ' a
pound. Bread crusts are eagerly pur
chased by Long Island countrymen,
who come after them with market
wagons and carry thim away as food
for hogs, for which purpose they have
a value of $2.50 per hundred weighr.
Emptv bottles of every description
make up no small share of a rag picker's
daily collection, both in volume and
weight. They are carefully pneked
among' the rags to prevent- breakage,
and ar sold at seven to eight cents per
dozen. The bottle merchant resides
opposite Bone alley, and his place of
business is a curiosity, ile receives
miscellaneous collections and assorts
them after purchase. There you will
find wine bottles which have contained
the choicest importations, with the
remnants of their labels carefully pre
served i ink bottles, glue bottles, mtv
ciluffe bottles and babies' nursing bdt
ties ; blue bottles and green bottles ;
the smallest of crystal vials and the
largest and most uncouth of all kinds
of German Seltzer lugs; patent meui
cine bottles, with the most astounding
names of miraculous liquids cast on
the sides. These make up the contents
of the shop. Broken glass is bought
heie at half a cent per pound.
Many of the rags that find their way
into the garbage barrels and the gutters
are pregnant with contagion. Heedless
or. thoughtless people have, instead of
destroying them by fire, thrown them
into the street. They are not cleansed
by the water with which they become
saturated, nor does tne nitu wuicu at
taches to them destroy infection. In
fact, the street produces precisely the
condition required lor tne earnest pos
sible germination of whatever seeds of
disease and death may be concealed in
them. Selected from tne grease, oones
and glass, jumbled together in the sack
of the rag picker, they are removed
from the vaults of the cellars to the
roof, for the purpose of drying, and the
air which fans them reeds the lungs
alike of the poor and the rich of the
factory girl and the millionaire's
daughter. Often, in the adjoining
tenements, some poor wretch dying
longs for a breath of fresh air in his
o'ose and overheated room, and prays
that the windows may be opened to ad
mit t'je breeze that he watches curling
the pmoke from the cnunneys and rust
ling the clothes drying on an adjacent
roof. The casement is opened, only to
admit the poisonous breath of the wind
that has rioted with the deadly rags and
comes to the rps of tne sunerer only to
cool them forever. Surrounded by
malaria arising from nlthy gutters,
panting under a heat that is simply an
incandescent stench, oreatniug an
aerial poison, they gradually lose their
hold on life, and sink away from its
noise and fever into the quiet and chill
oi the grave.
Murder by Boys.
At the Birmingham, Eogland, police
court, two iads named suiuvan and
Kelly, both abont sixteen years of age.
were charged with causing the death of
a boy named Earp. The three lads
went on the previous day to bathe in
the canal. The prisoners, who could
swim, induced Earp, who could not, to
accompany them into the middle of the
canal, where they deserted him. re
fusing to return and assist him even
when he was seen to be drowning,
Another youth, seeing Earp's danger.
stripped and swam to nis assistance
but before the body eonld be recovered
he was dead. The prUenera were re
manded until after tne coroners in
qnast, the magistrate remarking that
the were, to say the least of it, a pair of
disgraceful cowards.
Bleeding, at the Nose. The health
of persons subject to bleeding at the
nose should be improved by nutritious
food. Violent exercise will sometimes
bring it on. Plugging the nostrils with
lint or cotton wool soaked in a strong
solution of alum will be found to be
efficacious. Where persons are often
troubled in this way a regular practi
tioner should be consulted. Applica
tions of iced water to the forehead and
lace are also good.
The Locust In Mlnneseta.
The visitation of loonsts in Minnesota
baa proved a serious calamity. The
total damage, thus far done, consists in
a loss of about one-twelfth the usual
crop, or about the same as if the average
yield throughout the State were dimin-
shed one and a nan Dusneis ueiow tne
average per acre. Tne plague extends
over one-tenth of the cultivated area of
tho State, and involves about one-thir
teenth of the population.
The insects, we notice, are universally
styled "grasshoppers," which is incor-
reot, although the mistake, owing to the
confusion of names, is a natural one.
The principal points of difference be
tween the locust and the grasshopper
consist in that the latter is usually of a
green color and is more active by night
than by day. Grasshoppers, moreover,
do not associate together nor migrate
in large numbers, while their flight is
short and unsteady as compared to that
of the locusts, beside being noiseless.
The locusts which have appeared in
Minnesota are, wjien full grown, of
about an inch and a quarter in length,
and of a dusky grayish color, the heads
being reddish and the under wings.
when spread, of a coppery hue. The
eggs are gray, ovate, and about as large
as a wheat corn, and are deposited in
clusters in the ground and under the
grass and stubble. When hatched, the
insects feed on tne nearest vegetation,
and then rise in vast clouds, seeking
other pastures.
A Minnesota settler, who nas sunered
severely from their ravages, in writing
to the Miunea olis Tribune desoribes a
throng of the locusts a resembling a
huge snow cloud, often completely ob
literating the sun. The lower inseots
fly at a height of about forty feet from
the ground, and the others fill the air
above as far as the eye can reach. When
they settle on a field of grain, every
stalk is covered, so that the entire field
seems to' have suddenly turned brown.
They do not eat the grainjbut bite into
the tender stock and juicy kernel, and
suck out the vital sap, leaving every
particle of vegetation dead, so that
within a day or two the entire crop be
comes dry and withered. Their appe
tite seems especially directed toward
garden stuff and grain, but frequently
the voracity is auoh. that every living
green 'thing is devoured before they
ripe. Minnesotta farmers assert that
there is no remedy. Fall fires do no
good and water and frost are without
effect. Plowing up the ground where
the eggs are deposited or burning over
the grass where they are laid during
the spring, it is believed, aTe the best
known preventives. The worst enemy
of the locust, however, seems to be a
little red parafcite, which gets under its
wings and gnaws into the very vitals of
the insect. Dead loousts are found
covered with these worms.
Various portions of Europe and the
north coast of Africa have suffered
greatly from the plague both recently
and in the past. In France, during
My and June, when the inseots first
appear in the fields, all the women and
children turn out to hunt them. Four
persons grasp the corners of a sheet,
two in advance holding their ends close
to the ground and the couple in rear
elevating their corners, so that the
sheet is held at an angle of 45. In
this position, the cloth is carried over a
neid several times, the insects being
forced to rise, when they full upon the
sheet and thence are tumbled into bags.
Some idea of the immense numbers of
the locusts which may thus be de
stroyed, may be gained from the fact
that a single peasant, with a entomolo
gist's small net, has been known to
capture 100 pounds of insects in a day,
equal to about 80,000 eggs destroyed."
The Arabs drive ou locusts by making
great bonfires, produoing large quan
tities of smoke. In Algiers, the most
effective plan is said to be spreading
large nets over the insects early in the
morning after they have become gorged
and inert through feeding, and then
collecting them in bags and bury them
in lime. Leaving the dead bodies on
the ground is apt to breed infection.
Harrowing over the fields, where the
females lay the eggs, seems, however.
to be a widely followed plan of destruc
tion, as, if the eggs be scattered, the
sun aoon dries them up. Birds and
toads are excellent auxiliaries in dis
posing of the eggs after a field has thus
been gone over.
In Iceland,
Manners are simple in Iceland.
There is really no distinction of ranks.
.Nobody. is rich, and hardly anybody
abjectly poor ; everybody has to work
for himself, and works with hia own
hands. There is no title of respect save
Herra to the bishop, and Sira to a priest;
not even such a title as Mr. or Mrs., or
Esquire. If you go to call for a lady
you tap at the door and ask if Ingibjorg
or Valgerdr is in ; or, if you wish to
give her her full name, Ingibjorg Thor-
valdsdottir. or lhriksdonir, or iijar
nardottir (as the case may be) for there
is no title of politeness to apply. Her
name, moreover, is her own name, un
changed from birth to death ; for as
there are no surnames or family names
among the Icelanders, but only (Jims-
tian names there is no reason for a
wife assuming her husband's name, and
Bheis Thorvaldsdottir after her mar
riaere. with Gudmundr just as before,
while her children are Gudmundsson
and Gudmundsdotti.
House Windows. The more light
admitted to apartments the better for
those who occupy them. Light is as
neoessary to sound health as it is to
vegetable life. Exclude it from plants,
and the consequences are disastrous,
They cannot be perfect without its vivi
fying influence. It is a fearful mistake
to curtain and blind windows so closely
for fear of injuring the furniture by
exposing to the sun's rays ; such rooms
positively gather elements in darkness
whioh engender disease. Let in the
light often, and fresh air, too, or suffer
the penalty of aches and pains and long
dootor's bills which might have been
avoided.
" I believe my fate will be that of
Abie's," said a wife to her husband one
day. "Whv bo." inauired her hubband
" Because Able was killed by a clmh
and your club will kill me if you con
unu to go to it every nigm.
CHILD CRIMINALS.
The
Aiaoclatlom Which Caatt De
pravity In the Young.
The counterpart of Boston's white
eyed boy murderer, says the New York
Herald, has been found in the person
of Henrietta Weibel, whose dislike for
infants urged her to attempt their de
struction by lire. And so strong is
this dislike that the girl Booms incapa
ble of restraining it. Already on two
occasions she has been guilty of in
cendiary attempts, having their motive
in the wish to destroy infant life. It is
curious that a mania of this kind Mionld
develop itself in one who is herself lit
tle more than n child, the more so that
the natural tendency in young girls is
to love and fondle infants. But no
donbt the influence of the wretched
society in which the daily life of this
child was cast weakens, if it does not
destroy, the best natural impulses of
those who grow np in its midst. There
is something appalling in the reflection
that thousands are compelled to breathe
the vitiating atmosphere which exerted
so baneful an influence on the moral
sense of this poor child. Foverty and
neglect do not fail to leave their im
press on their victims, and wherever
the children of the poor turn they see
before them little but what is calculated
to degrade and brutalize them. This is
peculiarly the case in great cities, and
it is in these vast human hives that ab
normal developments of crime usually
occur. It would be difficult to imagine
a nature so perverse and cruel as that of
the boy murderer of Boston or this
child-hating girl growing up amid the
ereen fields. Something of the fresh
ness of the oonntry.steals into the child
reared in presence of the beauty and
generous bounty of nature, while the
fetid tenement, and dirty and repulsive
llevwav seem to exert a noxious in
fluence en the moral as well as the
physical characteristics of those who
grow up in the slums. Man is very
much the creature of circumstances.
He is mostly what hia surroundings
have made him. It is, therefore, chari
table to believe that under more favor
able conditions neither of the children
who have won unenviable notoriety
would have grown up so utterly devoid
moral sense as these have shown
themselves to be. Instead, therefore,
of condemning with too muoh vehe
mence the child-authors of these mur
derous crimes, society would do well to
seek to remedy, in so far as it may be
remedied, the evil which lies at tne root
of the demoralization which exists
among the children of the poor, the
victims of the slum. If these wretched
beings grow up as enemies to order
and society they are not much to
be blamed. So long as they are con
tent to squirm in the loathsome dens
into Which society an-1 civilization have
crushed them, or their own folly and
vice or the vices of their parents have
sunk them, society does little to improve
or ameliorate their condition. It is only
when crimes like the present call atten
tion to the seething mass, sunk in
misery and degradation, which is
packed out of sight in tenement build
ings and noisome alleyways, that the
prosperous and well-to-do rememoer
even theexisteuceof these unfortunates.
mav be an idle dream to hope for
the perfection of humanity ; it is at
least a noble one, but there is so much
that may be done in the direction of
elevating the lower classes in great
cities, that the most practical minded
would find ample soope lor the exercise
of a large philanthropy, even within
very limited lines of action. It is to
the spread of elevating influences
among the classes from which criminals
are chiefly recruited that we must look
for the suppression oi that worst re
proach to our boasted civilization the
child criminal.
Crop Prospects,
The statistics representing the aver
ages of the condition of the crops in the
Western States are interesting not only
to the commercial, but also to the con
suming public. Despite the numerous
pests, in the form oi insects, blights.
droughts and diseases, which seem late
ly more severe in their eHects than in
former years, the reports of the wheat
crop are very enoouraging. The ex
treme visitations of misioi tune to the
farmer t-re apparently confined to limit
ed regions. The sugar crop is remark
able for its favorable condition and
more extensive cultivation. The growth
of wool in the West has augmented and
shows the wisdom of the farmer in
comprehending that the new soil, al
though broken so few yeara ago by the
hardy settler, needs the benefit of the
rest and recuperation which results
from the policy of letting it lie in
pasture for a time. In fine, there is
reason for graduation on the im
provement in the science of agriculture
made manifest by the monthly reports
of the government.
Fixing Shingles.
Farm buildings frequently undergo
repair at this Benson of the year.
pecially are new roofs laid on barns and
out-buildings. It may be worth while
to state what is amply proved to be
a fact, that oiling or paiuting shingle
roofs at the time of laying the shingles,
pays. Dipping the butts into hot
whitewash is also reoommended to be
done aa the shingles are laid. There
can be no doubt of the economy of thus
protecting roofs from decay by either
painting, oiling, or whitewashing.
She Came. A pensive man in Wis
consin, while singing "uome. love,
come," beneath his Dulcinea's window
the other night, had love, musio, wind,
and everything else knocked out of
him by a something in a long white gar
ment that leu out oi acnamoer window.
It proved to be nobody but his girl.
who, in her anxiety to know who was
serenading her, leaned too far over the
window-sill ; hence the result. He
eavs when he sings " Come, love
oome," again be will keep away from
under the window, as njs system can
not stand many euou snooks.
The Philadelphia Steamship Com
pany recently paid t Mr. Brady $1,
000, with $150 costs, for the salvage of
the steamship Pennsylvania,
Items of Interest.
Nearly seven luindrnd infants nndor
one year died in New York aud Phila
delphia in one week, recently.
Two women, a mother and her mar
riel daughter, were recently cut in
pieces by a reaper at Dayton, Ohio.
In round numbers it costs the British
people $3,000,000 annually to support
the royal family, and one princess yet
to be married off.
A stout old woman in Detroit got
mad lately beoause a photographer
wouldn't let her fan herself while she
had her picture taken.
f He's a gentleman and a sculler,"
is a oompliment which, in the light of
recent event, cannot be applied indis
criminately to college oarsmen.
A Delaware man thrashed his wife
almost to death because their baby
didn't get a prize at the baby show, and
then he offered to trade the baby for a
pig.
This brief chronicle was written by
tbn editor of the Philadelphia Is.dger :
" Lowell Saturday. Two little boys
and a pistol. Now, only one little boy
and a pistol."
The girl who generally writes her
uame in a straw hat and marries a mil
lionaire through its influence hasn't
been hear d of this year. The million
aire was probab ly married before the
hat came out.
" Sakes alive, I would no more nRme
a boy Alias than nothing in the world.
They're alius cutting up some caper.
Here's Alias Thompson, Alias William,
Alias the Night Hawk, all been took
up for stealing."
A friend invited Horace Grrely to
call and see him, ending the invitation
with, " If I am not at home you can al
ways see my wife." "Oh," said the
philosopher, " I don't think it is well
to make a practice of that." And it
isn't.
The following letter has been re
ceived by Treasurer Spinner : "Please
sond me a new Bill or the worth of this
bill. I droop the letter on the floor
and one of my men had his dog there
and his dog chewed part of the bill to
peeces."
It is bad to be bitten and not know
what bites you. Austin, Texas, is im
menoely anuoyed by a gnat so email
as to be invisible to the naked eye ; an
insect with a bill so delicite and" gentle
that the bitten knows not his wound
until he finds himself pimply all over.
The head of the family is about to
eat an apple. Mother " Say, father,
give me a piece." Daughter" O,
lather, givo me a piece." Sju " O,
father, I want a piece." Niece "Won't
vou please give me a piece, too ?"
Father (disgusted) "Here, you all
take the apple and give me a piece."
Mr. Beecher having been represented
as being quite jolly, the Louisville
Courier-Journal is moved to say :
"The man who wouldn't be jolly at the
thought of being the chief proprietor of
the most beautiful and extensive scan
dal of the age must have a skin as
thick as the epidermis of a rhinoceros.
" In Gervais. Orecon. during a storm.
a large tree was struck by lightning and
cut completely on, as with a sharp in
strument, about four feet from the
ground. In falling the tree was thrown
forward ten feet, ruised high in the air,
and the butt driven into the grouud,
the shock shivering the Wrauches and
leaving the trunk standing upright."
To grow rich is not to make more
money, but to spend less, it one is
not accumulating money as fast as he
thinks he ought, the remedy, in nine
cases out of ten, is not greater exertion
to make money ' but greater care to save
Indeed, he who saves money sys
tematically, putting away a part, even
though it be a small part, of each
week's or each day's earning, ia rich
already. His means exceed his neces
sities, and that is wealth always.
An Invited Nose.
At one of the demi-French reunions
not lo'Ug since, a little scene occurred
which amused tne lew wno wiiuesdeu u.
About ten o'clock a m.usieur entered,
very correct in his " getting np," un
exceptionable in his demeanor, but a
gentleman gifted with a very consider
able nasal organ, xne oiu pnnnu
says, "A large nose never spoiled a
handsome face," and the stranger justi
fied the proverb.
Advancing to the mistress oi me
house, he made the formal reverence
which ceremony requires on a first visit,
then, taking a more familiar tone, he
6aid, " It has been very happy to ac
cept yonr invitation, madam ; un honor
of which it is quite unworthy."
This was said in a low voice, out bo
distinctly that it could be understood
by those who stood near.
The lady, wno, tnougn a very a-
tinQue person, is somewhat timid, be
cause still young, was Bomewnat em
harassed at this address, and, thinking
she had misunderstood him, replied:
"Excuse me, sir; were you say.
ing
I said, madam, that it was very
grateful for the invitation to your
soiree,"
The bystanders exchanged looks and
began to whisper; the lady became
more and more out of countenance.
"I do not understand yon, she said,
at length ; " of what arey ou Bpeaking? "
The gentleman did not speaa again,
but pointed, in reply, to the prominent
feature ia hia face.
"What! do you know? Oh, how
imprudent!" exclaimed the lady ; and
blushing from her chin to her eyes, she
concealed in her handkerchief a face
halt laughing and half embarassed. . ..
The explanation of this little mystery
soon came out. The hostess had met
this gentleman the evening before at
the house of her sister, where he had
made himself very agreeable, as was
his custom. On her return, recollect
ing her own soiree of the next day, she
wrote hastily the following concise note
to her sister:
" I have taken a liking to the ' big
nose. Give him an invitation for me.
Her madoap relative amused herself
by sending the invitation as it was, and
the gentleman responded to the joke in
a manner which brought the laughter
on Lig side.