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ite ill ifiito Jfak
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL pESPEttASTPUM. Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. IY. MDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, AWUST 27, 1874. NO. 20.
V
In Tlio Orchanl.
Iloro in the dour old orchard, .
O110 little year ago,
liobort and I together
Woro wnudoiing to and fro.
Only a year ! It is not long !
And tho birds are singing the sanio sn oot song 1
I aBked him, I romombcr,
Had he ever lovod before,
And ho closed my lips with kisBOS
Till I could not question more.
But who would have dreamed jthoro o'er could
be
A man so fickle and faleo as ho 1
Tho songs that I sang laist Bummor
Are turned to notes of woe,
And my heart hath learned a lesson
Unknown hut a year ago ;
And the days that then were sunny and bright
Socm suddenly changed to darkest night ;
And even this doar old orchard
Seems hardly tho placo to mo
It was wheu we wcro together
Undor this samo old troo.
Ah mo ! Is it only a year ago ?
IIow weary the days! the time, how slow !
THAT BLESSED WIND.
"It's an ill wind that blows nobody
nny good," says the proverb : and I
have no intention of disputing it. In
deed, I am quite convinced that such a
wind must be very ill indeed. But our
fine little infant hurricane of Septem
ber 8th was not one of theRe. Among
its many misdeeds, was one flirt of good
nature, which I make haste to record to
its credit, while every one else is charg
ing it with damages done.
All day long during that capricious,
windy, sunny, cloudy, and altogether
unreasonable day of Wednesday, my
dear little friend Bessie had been wan
dering about the house liko an unquiet
spirit. Seoing how matters stood, I
excused her entirely from all duties
of hospitality towards mo, her visit
rcss. " Lot me entertain myself, Bessie," I
said. " I don't like to have people
think that they must sit down and fold
their hands, and converse politely, be
cause I have come to see them. Make
believe, dear, that I am not here, and
do just what you would do if you were
alone."
Now I knew perfectly well that what
my sweet, blue-eyed Bessie would have
done had she been alone, was to just
sit down and cry those blue eyes almost
blind ; and I knew equally well that she
would not do it while I was there. But
I wanted to put her at ease.
The whole story was plain to mo, or
nearly all of it. I had seen too mucli
of her and Arthur Blake, over the way,
not to know that there was more love
between them than could be broken
into by outside storms without
making some, at least, temporary ship
wreck. Arthur was a fine young man,
handsome, honest and tender, with a
pretty fair portion of spirit and deter
mination. Ha was not one to make a
parade of his private feelings ; but I
had seen him watch my darling's grace
ful, soft ways with an unconscious
smile dawning on his lips, and a light
in his eyes that told a sweet tale to who
ever might look closely. And Bessie
the girl only breathed in him, it seem
ed. I believe she waked thinking of
him, and dropped asleep thinking of
him, and never ceased thinking of
him dreaming or waking. I used to
sigh, sometimes, seeing how utterly
her heart was iu his keeping.
But not u word had she told me with
those beautiful lips of hers. It was
through her transparent face and
actions that I learned all I knew ; and
more credible witnesses could not be
had.
Tho two were not engaged; that I
was sure of. I did not believe that
there even been any love-talk between
them ; that is, any that could be re
ported. What eyes, and actions, and
tones say is not to be put in words.
They were in that delicata, perilous
position, when the happiness of two
oving hearts is absolutely perfect, and
at the same time most easily destroyed
that silent understanding which
seems so sure, yet may be lost through
a look or a word.
Arthur Blake was going away, I had
learned. He had got tired of our coun
try town, nnd fancied that he would do
better to get into practice iu London.
There was nothing to bind him to either
place. Ho was quite free. His nearest
relative was an uncle, who would help
to settle him as a surgeon wherever he
should choose to live : and Arthur him
self had a little pioperty of his own, and
need not be iu any killing haste, or
afraid of taking a week's rest, and time
to look about
much had been told me that
v.rv Wftiiuesaav uiuiuiuu.
ou my way to spend tho day
with
Bessie.
'But Bessie?" I asked of my
fnvni nnf
T fine.v that they are off," was the
reply. " You know it wasn't an engage
moil t nnrlinrm nnlv a flirtation. At any
vntfi T snw Arthur walking out the other
day with Julia Raymond ; and, at the
same time, Charles Rivers was making
, ll nn Bessie. Arthur and Julia
massed the house, and saw them sitting
I went on in a troubled frame of
mind, thinking that tnis neauimu,
sunny-sailing little love affair, which
had been the delight of my eyes, was,
perhaps, running among the breakers ;
longing to interfere, yet feamg to,
since outsiders so often do more harm
than good. And the moment J saw
Bessie's pitiful smile, I knew that she
was being torn on the reefs.
" So Mr. Rivers came to see you the
other night," I said, as we sat together
in the afternoon, Bessie at one window,
I at another, looking out into the rainy
street, and listening to the rising wind.
v- Bald Bessie, keeping watch,
I could 'see, on the opposite house, not
to lose sight of Arthur when he should
i,m There would be so few
more comings home, for he was to go
the very next day.
tt t ict. m Ttivfira wouldn t come
here," she said, after a pause ; "I don't
care for him, but be seems to want peo
"Mav be he doesn t
mean it, but it's just as provoking as U
t6I was turning over a photograph al
bum, and stopped at a pictured face
that gave me a chance to say something
else 1 wanted to say.
" This is a good photograph of Miss
Julia Raymond ; she takes well ; hor's
is just one of those faces that look best
in a picture, because it is unchanging J
she has mere pretty features, but no
expression."
Bessie's face brightened a little.
' Some people admire her very much,"
she said, faintly.
' I don't know any one who does," I
replied, in a careless voice.
Then there was silence ; I saw Arthur
come home, walk up tho steps of the
house without even looking across tho
street, go in, nnd presently appear at
the window of his room directly oppo
site us. Bessie sat with eyes downcast,
her color changing from red to white,
her bosom heaving with the tumultuous
beatings of her heart, her poor little
hands all in a quiver.
The young man may have given a
swift glance across, but it was only a
glance. He closed one of his windows,
and, since the wiud was cow high,
closed the blinds too, all but one-half ;
ami then he disappeared. He had been
wont to sit there, and, with some pre
tence of reading a book in his hand,
keep watch on the girl over the way.
Both of them happy iu that companion
ship, though perhaps they did not bow,
even, to each other.
I looked at Bessie as tho last blind
was closed, and scarcely could restrain
an exclamation, so pale had she grown.
For a moment, she seemed on the point
of dropping out of her chair. But as
she did not look up, 1 kept silence.
Poor child 1 That shutting of blinds
seemed to her, I knew, like shutting
her out.
The wind rose, and beat the trees,
and twisted off leaves and branches. It
shook the windows, banged the blinds.
tore off slate from roofs, and carried it
about like feathers. Underneath our
window, it bent a street lamp off its
post, and scattered the broken niass
about. There was a roaring in the
chimneys, a crasti every moment, as
some shutter, skylight, or fence went
by tho board. From our sheltered win
dows wo looked out on the storm : I
with that interest which such freaks of
nature are calculated to inspire ; Bessie
with the cold listlessness of a creature
half senseless. She never said a word,
only glanced on a piece of paper that
lav on the window ledge.
Alter a while, 1 began to suspect mat
Mr. Arthur Blake was not so very far
away from the front of the house, as he
would have us think. A glimpse of a
coat-sleeve was vouchsafed me from be
hind the blind that was half shut ; and
I soon got a comfortable assurance that
not a look or motion of the pallid girl
at tho other window was lost on him.
While I looked, the wiud rose in one
of its most fearful gusts j it caught the
maple tree under the window, ana bent
its head to the earth ; it carried on its
wings leaves, dust, tiles, slates, every
thing it could catch ; it suddenly dash
ed in a pane of glass, and the next mo
ment it caught and carried out the sup
of paper on which Bessie had been
scribbling for the last half-hour.
She started up with a cry, and tried
to catch it back, leaning into the tem
pest without a thougt of its fury, wide
awake now, and as red as she had been
pale tho moment before.
" Oh, what shall 1 do if siio cried, in
distress. " I have been writing every
sort of nonsense on that. Oh, what
shall I do ? Cou d I get it by going
out, do you think ? I should die if any
one were to read it ! My name is writ
ten there."
The wind seemed fairly to laugh ns
it lifted the flutteiing slip of paper
straight up in the air, then lowered it
tantalizingly again, only to snatch it
away from the two outstretched white
hands that vainly caught at it through
the rain.
Some one besides mo was watching.
Arthur Blake was leaning from his win
dow (now open), and looking over with
eager eyes, that were mil oi aouei ana
questioning. And, he, too, watched
the floating atom on which, of course,
he had seen Bessie betraying tho wan
derings of her wayward thoughts.
Its my immovaDie Deuei mai mo
wind was reading that paper while it
held it suspended during the first min
ute. For all the woiid it looked as
though two invisiWd hands of an invisi
ble winged ere"1"'6 uelJ tno 8liP then,
with a whW and a whistle, darted
across tl" way fling it into the oppo-
SllS
.i-i ti , tr anil tl 4p oil - iww.
somebody's chimuu
or wrench
away a Bkyiigm. .
" Oh. wnat Buau x uu i . ,
. V"' : m;,i,ll of the room,
standing iu "What
with her nanus over u
8hi1i Loslip of paper was flung in at
wJn.lnw Arthur lilake giaspeu n,
lilD " V T 1
and disappeared a motneni. iumo
it was not what is called strictly honor
able, but, of course, he read every word
nf it.
It couldn't have taken him long ; for
in n limit, three minutes the street-door
of the house opened and out he came
tl.o sfnrm ! and. IU Spite of gust
and missilo, straight across the street
t nnr house. I heard a tremendous
peal of the bell, then a step com ng up
stairs. And all the time, there stood
T?io in thA mi.ldlo of the floor, with
her hands over her crimson iace, ami
her soft, trembling voice repeating
over and over the helpless exciamauou
What shall I do V
Tho rlnnr of the room was nung open
without a knock, and in stepped tne
young man, with the truant paper in
Lond his heantiful hair tossed and
drenched with rain, and suou a ngut
face as gladdened my heart to see.
" Bessie !" he exclaimed, ignoring
nl together.
"She uttered a cry, uncovered her face
one instant, covered it agiuu, u
ed away from him. .... . ,
Mv own little .Bessie I no nam
going to her. " How could you believe
fVint T Arpd for Julia ? She told me
that you liked Rivers j but it was false,
I know now. There, dear, I won't go ;
so don't break your heart. I couldn't
leave you 1"
I rose and withdrew from the room,
and neither of them asked me to stay.
Moreover, neither of them apologized
for leaving me to entertain myself one
full hour. But Bessie gave me an
awful hugging, when at last Arthur
went away, and between tears and
smiles, whispered, "That blessed
wind I
No matter what was writton there
what heart-breaking ploadings, what
confessions. The wind knew, and the
lovers knew ; and that is enough. So
much for the ill-wind that blew some
body good.
A Sea Story.
Is there anything, asks a writer, in
the sea-air that makes people of the
naval profession tell stories ? I don't
meau falsehoods necessarily, but stories
that one finds a difficulty in believing.
Why is it that all the most amazing ad
ventures are met with upon shipboard ?
Why does a man sco things upon a
crnise that he could never dare to say
he saw if journeying by coach, by train,
or on horseback ? Why should not land
serpents be occasionally met with
measuring half a mile from their head
to their tail, and rather more in the
reverse direction ? Why should sailors
have a monopoly of feeing people iu
their cabins at the very moment that
they are dying thousands of miles away
on shore ? And, above all, how are all
ships' companies persuaded to " wit
ness " things which nobody upon terra
firma could get a soul to corroborate ?
Tho last thing that has been thus testi
fied to by marine evidence is the de
struction of a ship's company by a
calamary. This is not, as you would
suppose, an epidemio, but a species of
gigantic octopus. It was floating on
the sea " in a huge mass of a brownish
color," much larger than the schooner
itself, and " seemed to be basking in
the sun," when the captain let fly at it
with his rifle. Then " there was a great
ripple all around him," and it began to
move toward tho becalmed ship. " Out
with all your axes and knives, and cnt
any part of it that comes aboard, and
the Lord help ua !" was a command
uttered too late. " we could see a
huge, oblong body moving by jerks
just under the surface of the water,
with an enormous train following,
which might have been a hundred feet
long." In another moment the ship
quivered under the thud of its collision,
and " monstrous arms like trees seized
the vessel, and she keeled over." For
a few seconds the schooner Pearl lay on
her beam ends, then filled, and went
down with all on board, save her
master, James Floyd, the narrator, who
was rescued by the steamer btratnowen,
the passengers of which had observed
the catastrophe through their glasses.
They are all unable to say exactly what
this marine monster resembled, but al
though I was not an eye-witness I feel
confident that it was "very like a
whale." Yet here we have names and
tonnage of the ships, longitude an'd
latitude of the place in which the inci
dent took place (it was in the Indian
ocean), and every particular which on
land would have established the
genuineness of the story. I believe
American sea-captains are favored with
at least as remarkable experiences on
their voyages as our Britishers, but the
ghastliness of this little anecdote seems
unique.
How They Kill Cattle in Texas.
The ordinary plan of drawing the
tecr down to the block and striking
him on the head with an axe is too blow
for the wholesale butchery carried on
here. About one dozen head are driven
into a Bmall pen. just sufficiently large
to hold that many closely packed, and
gate forced to behind them. The pen
has an open slat platform across the top
of it upon which two men are stationed
with poles and sharp-pointed knives
fixed on the end of them. With a
rapidity acquired by long practice they
plunge their spears into tne necks ot
the affrighted and struggling animals,
cutting the jngular vein, and each suc
cessively falls as if struck with an axe.
The blood spurts out in streams as if
from a dozen fountains, and in less than
minute the whole penful are down,
quivenngin the throes of death and
covered with blood. The door of the
pen leading into the rendering room is
then thrown open, and the animals
drawn out successively, and a knife
rapidly slits open the skin around the
neck and down the stomach. A rope is
attached to the npper part of the hide
by a clamp, to the other end of which
is a mule which leisurely walks off
down the yard carrying the skin of the
animal with him, and leaving the caw
tackle Hoists WBofiy "to'a"lovei wiin
of the immense caiarons, uu i"
T 1 m A 111.11 Vt U V . . l.lnn frt (A.
scribe the process it is in the seetnniB
and boiling mass, xuero wo
tv of these caldrons, each large
onn,iii tn lmld a dozen beeves.and tuey
aw irAnt. nnnstnntlv coins during the
killin g season. The tallow is drawn off
into large hogsheads and the remains of
these great goup-keuies are canicu uu
on what is called the " hash-pile," con
sisting of bones, horns ana ine animai
matter from which the fatty substance
has been extracted. Baltimore Ameri
can.
The Grasshopper Tlaguc,
ti.a intent writer on the subject of
the grasshopper plague seems to have
liad an extensive ncqumuwiutg
fyvaaaVinnner in Montana. Colorado,
rr-- -- . . - ,. i v-
Utah, and uaniorma. aooumiug iu mo
opinion, if the fertile lands of South
western Minnesota and Iowa had been
cultivated during tne pasi iwo years oy
experienced Western farmers, the story
would be different. Deep plowing
would have kept the grasshoppers eggs
out of the sun, and prevented their
hatohing by the million early m the
The crons would have had a
good start, and later on the young
i.nnnr could do them but little
injury. He thinks that it is folly for
any State to incur the expense of em
ploying a special entomologist to study
fuJ- l,oho nnil nnnoludes with the
...o.tmn that no agriculturist need
nlaffue of crasshop
JUDO J r-w ll
pers, if he attends to them carefully
Tj in;ww The omnion of a
man like this is of some value. He for
u;. .istomnnt with the fact that
old resident farmers, in territories that
i v, nr,itj .fl well stocked with
erasshoppers as Iowa and Minnesota,
have uttered bo cry for help.
Cloud-Bursts.
Tho Virginia Dally Territorial Enter
prise, Nevada, says : " The recent de
structive cloud-bursts in various parts
of this State have caused a feeling of
uneasiness in the minds of mauy of our
citizens. It cannot be denied that the
occurrence of a cloud-burst abovo the
summit of Mount Davidson would result
in almost incalculable damage to this
city and Gold Hill, and perhaps in the
loss of many lives ; but it is not likely
that we shall ever have a cloud-burst
here. We are, as it were, insured
against such a disastrous visitation.
Tho Palmyra mountains, lying twenty
miles to the southeast of us, are our
safeguard. All old settlers woll know
that all heavy rains which reach ns
during tho season when cloud-bursts
occur first visit and expend their fury
above these mountains. Leaving the
Como or Palmyra mountains, the storm
clouds move toward Mount Davidson,
often appearing to advance against a
strong northerly wind. Owing to the
configuration of the oountry and the
prevailing air currents, and perhaps to
the course of our rivers, all thunder
storms pass to the southward of 113 till
they reach the mountains named, and
after raging there for a time either pass
on to the eastward or chango their
course and move toward this city. For
many years we have observed this, and
all old settlers at all obserrant will
have remarked this peculiarity in the
movements of our summer storms.
When a storm is raging on the Palmyra
mountains, if the wind here begins
blowing from the northward, it is a sure
thing that the storm will come to us.
When we feel the under-current of air
moving toward the storm there is at the
same moment an upper-current moving
directly toward us, and on this como
the storm clouds. But that the heavy
clouds discharge the greater part of
their water on the Palmyra mountains,
we might have cloud-bursts here. Since
the discovery of the silver mines sev
eral cloud-bursts have occurred in the
Palmyra mountains, about the head of
El Dorado canon, but never one in this
vicinity. The course of our summer
storms across the bierras is such that
they are almost invariably carried to
the southward of us, and directly to the
peaks of the mountains mentioned
above. The so-called cloud-bursts are
simply the sudden condensation of the
vapor forming the clouds, caused by tho
meeting and mingling of two currents
of air. A current or Btratum of air
coldor than that carrying the clouds
causes them to suddenly condense and
fall to the ground. The reason cloud
bursts generally occur in the vicinity of
high mountains is because there are
found broken and contrary currents of
air. Doubtless there are powerful elec
trical changes uitj disturbances at the
point where the two currents of air and
the cloud masses meet, and doubtless
these aid in the sudden condensation of
the watery vapors. Be this as it may.
our people may console themselves with
the reflection that we are out of the
course of cloud-bursts. Long observa
tion of the track of our summer storms
and the experience of many years show
this."
How They Got Elected
The following is a
recent debate in tho
council :
passage from a
Cleveland city
Mr. Eggers I wish to ask tho gen
tleman a ques;ion.
Mr. North Certainly, put your ques
tion. Mr. Egger Didn't you go around
among the saicom on Sundays, spend
ing money for b:er before you were
elected ? (Applaise.)
Mr. North No sir.
Mr. Higgins I: I may be allowed I
would like to ask the gentleman from
the Thirteenth one question.
Mr. North Let her fly.
Mr. Higgins 1 would state that 1
have evidence shoying that when you
ran for councilman of the Thirteenth
ward you did go among the 'Germans
and spend money and drink beer on
Sunday.
Mr. North I wJl give you a thou
sand dollars if you will show that to be
the faet. I say it is false, in toto,
Mr. Eggors Didu't you entice sa
loon keepers and give some of them
five dollars and soaie more to use their
influence for you ?
Mr. North No. -'r
Mr. Eg.ta xi-?? Prove it.
..cHed. lou judge others byyolirKPilt
Peoplo arn -vi to do that. Be
cause you go - tuat you
think I do.
Mushroom Cities.
The Baltimore Gazette sav-; " To a
resident of a large East""- olt7 or to
tho Europaii ,it is a rjst singular sen
sation to coae, in America, npuu uuc w
those desertid musnroom oiuco wmuu
spring up in night and disappear in a
morning, xirougu mo nuuummo
Pennsylvania fliera are nunv of them
generally m'.nitg vOages, after
the mines have iuu out. Perched often
m tba tnn of a hieh mointain. the gun
ner or the cnrioB ty-huiler comes sud
denly upon themut of tie densest soli
tude. There sand tie houses in a
clearing filled with vild raspberry
bushes and viies ard small shrubs,
kiv Vmrfl. and desoUe, with hinge
ioa dnnrs and tuneless windows with
small trees growing up mruugu mo
floors, and the gaawir of wild animals
visible whereve: the fcor or walls were
.1 U Al
formerly grease siaiuo. uu mo uua oi
tin. watnrn railroads l,hese temporary
towns appear and aisijpeir, una in me
oil regions probably tore striking and
nvAtAntiniisfy. the f alloeing more dis-
W"W 1!
astrous man eisewuoi.--.
nvsTFus The qusuon
whether
Pononaian civilizatiorwil do to tie to,
roua sAttled in the neati'e by a couple
Ma md men. in reon, who pur
chased a can of oyste ana proceeaea
to eook them, tdj pwcea me can
upon their camp firedoing so without
the precaution of antilation. Then
nnmn a thunderbut, and the gentle
savages, oh, where eie they ? They
would hardly have eei recognized in
the frightened an pirboiled natives
xrVin vera raati headngtowaid the gro
cery store, desperately resolved to flog
the white man wu n sum wuu
thunder-box.'
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
IcelKil--How It. was Sctderi, nml bjr
Whnm-iV Woman's Whims.
Iceland was originally a free repnb-
lio, having been founded by those un
happy subjects ot Harold liaariager
(the fair-haired), King of Norway, who,
in the year 872, consolidated his king
dom, an'evont which was duly celebrt-
ted with grettt solemnities two years
ago. This, like the Iceland celebration
of tho present year, was called the thou
sandth anniversay ; but what a differ
ence 1 A more determined tyrant than
Harold never lived. Yet at the bottom
of everything good or evil in this world
there is usually found a woman. Good
wo must believe it to be moro commonly
than evil, of course, but exactly how it
worked in this particular case we can
hardly say, for tho tyranny of Harold
begot tho Republic of Iceland, gave
him a queen, and gave the Norwegians
in 1872 a chance to celebrato their mil
lenial (though why they should glorify
the event, since they have become sub
ject to Sweden, one can hardly see).
The case was a simple one. This fair
haired Harold, whom every woman loved
for that very hair and his well-known
valor, and who loved only ono of them,
and this one he desired to make his
queen, took a most wise course in his
love-making, if not in his kingcraft.
Being reminded by this proud object of
his idolatry that he was not a king in
fact, but only the chief of a number of
small kings or jarls, and that if she
wedded at all she weuld wed nothing
less than a whole king, he vowed that
he would never allow his hair to be cut
until there was no part of a king want
ing to him. And he kept his word, for
he conquered every little king or jarl
who set himself up to say he had any
rights of his own, and, having won the
famous battle of Hafens Fjord, he at
once cut off his fair hair, married his
wife, and drove numbers of the best
people of Norway to seek refuge in
some place " where men had nothing to
fear frem the oppression of kings and
tyrants." This place was Iceland. The
poor conquered jarls, with their follow
ers, fled to the sea, and, embarking in
their undecked boats, sought the rocky
island which they had never Reen, but
of which they had all heard. For it had
been familiar to the Northmen of that
period many years.
A wonderful people were those old
Northmen. They went everywhere.
All the ships of their fleets might have
been stowed away in the Great East
ern, but they swarmed over the ocean,
which they playfully termed " Tho
Pirate's Field," like bees in a clover
field. They cruised about with their
ittlo boats in the Baltio among the
islands of Denmark and Sweden, and
through the narrow fjords of Norway,
and won the title of Vikings, or men of
the inlets and secret places. A sea-king
was a very different thing from a Vi
king, for while a sea-king was a king in
reality, a viking was nothing but a
pirate, the one taking his name from
his landed right and rule, the others
from the vicks where they hid them
selves. As we all know, tho Vikings,
with 'sea-kings often at their head,
stole out into the sea and sailed far and
wide. They founded on the banks of
the Seine the Dukedom of Normandy,
and made a fool of the poor lung of
France. They bothered everybody
along the shores of the Mediterranean
until they had planted themselves back
sgain whence they had been driven by
Pompey the Great, on the borders of
the Black sea.
Tho unready Etheired had them al
ways buzzing about him, and they were
ever cruising about in the seas which
wash the shores of England, Scotland,
Ireland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys,
the Shetlands, and finally the Faroe
Islands, from which, still in search of
plunder, it was an easy matter to pull
away to the westward for a couple of
days in search of further adventures.
and discovered what we now call Ice
land. They found, however, nothing
there but some books and bells and
croziers which had been left there by a
band oi Irish monks, who had gone
there no doubt to do penance, and who
at once, when they saw the Northmen,
took themselves off as fast as possible,
either to America, as some people sup
pose, or home again to Ireland, as is
quite as likely, upon discovering them
selves still within reach of the merci
loss pirates, who respected no more a
jiristinn Driest than a French king.
pirates w uinuyvui iwjiouu u.okoxxmmw
are not agreed, nor does it matter
whether they ever do or not, any more
to iVKltiseScngton
whether Columbus was we ma.,'
and only discoverer of America. It is
enough for those who are not historians
to remember that the English won
Waterloo and that Spanish enterprise
opened a New World, and in like man
ner it is sufficient for us to know, as a
mere curiosity of history, that some
time in the ninth century the Northmen
got to Iceland ; that in ooo tney goi to
Greenland, and that in 1001 they gath
ered grapes on the mainland ot what
has by a singular freak of fortune come
to be called America. These old sea
rovers called it Vineland, because they
found grapes and made wine and grew
merrv there : and but for the savages
they found they might have founded
iSOSIOU and called It Durueuiugouuim,
What is Guano t
A f ter careful microscopical and chemi
nal ATnmination of the artiole of com
merce known as guano, Dr. Habel, an
eminent German authority, decides
that sea-birds have nothing to do witu
ita nrodnotion. It is. he says, an
annnmnlation of fossil plants and ani
mala whose organic matter has been
transformed into nitrogeneous sub'
atancn. the mineral portion remaining
intact. Treating guano with a solvent
aoid, he found that the insoluble resi
due was composed of fossil sponges
nnd ntVinr marine animals and plants
precisely similar in constitution to
till exist in those seas. The
fact that the anchors of ships in the
neighborhood of tho guano islands
often bring up guano from the bottom
of the ocean is certainly more in favor
of the fossil than of the common sea-
bird theory.
Tlic Story or Goldsmith Maid.
Tho "Maid "was a wayward child.
From tho date of her birth on the farm
of John B. Decker, in Wantage town
ship, Sussex couity, N. Y., in the
spring of 1857, to the age of six years,
she distinguished herself in many
ways, but never aa a trotter. She was
undersized, nervous and fretful, and
utterly refused to do hard farm work.
Mr. Decker, her owner, says he never
got any work out of her but twice, one
half -day in plowing corn and one-half
day in drawing stones. Once Rhe was
hitched to a harrow, but, after a short
distance, sho reared backward and en
tangled both her hind legs in the
cross-piece of tho harrow, and so in
jured those members, that when she
goes out for her morning walks, it is
said, she still shows signs of stiffness
behind, caused by this fall in early
life. From the tinio she was six months
old until Mr. Decker sold her, she was
used as a race borso, though without
her owner's knowledge. Tke boys on
the farm, of course, as boys do, were
anxious to know which was tho speed
iest horse, and at an early day they
found out that it was tho " Maid." And
so, after the "old man "had gone to
bed, they would take her out of the
pasture or stable whenever a race
could be made up, and run her on the
road after night. She beat everything
that could be brought to run with her,
so that.finally.none but the uninformed
from a distance could be found to bet
against her. Tho races were made up
at the country stores and lounging
places in the evening after farm work
was over, and the race ran the same
night after the "old man" had gone to
bed. No training, no grooms, no
iockevs. no weight for age just a man
or a boy in his barefeet, mounted bare-
i i 1 1. . - i '..
UHCK, Willi ma vueo uuggiug mo uiuic o
belly like a leech, was the stylo ; and
the " Maid " no doubt enjoyed it more
than she has some of her late races in
the trotting ring. One day, in the sum
mer of 18(53, two men were buying
horses for the army, and stopped all
night at Mr. Decker's, and in the morn
ing bought tho " Maid ot mm lor
$2G0. and started for home, leaving the
mare behind them. On their way they
met a Mr. Tompkins, who knew the
little mare, and bought her of them for
S3G0. The two men also knew her and
believed that she could be made a
trotter, but were willing to make $100
by their morning s bargain. The next
day Tompkins sold her to Altiu Gold
smith, an excellent judge of horseflesh,
of Blooming Grove, Orange county, N.
Y.. for 8(500. From him she took tne
name of Goldsmith Maid. He kept her
in pretty steady training under a driver
named William Bodine, to whom, more
than any other living man, should be
awarded the credit of first bringing the
mare out. The renowned Budd Doble,
who now drives her so handsomely,
had not then either seen or heard of
her. While in training for tho trotting
course she was so fretful and irritable,
so determined to run at every oppor
tunity, instead of trotting, so hard to
bring to a trot after breaking from that
gait, that Mr. Goldsmith many times
determined to give up the training and
sell her at any price, but his patient
driver maintained his abiding faith in
her, and assured his employer that she
was the fastest animal on his premises,
and would come out at last a great trot
ter, and finally persuaded him to keep
her. which he did until this driver so
brought out her points, that Mr. Gold
smith, in November, 1808, sold her to
B. Jackman and Budd Doble for $20,
000. These gentlemeu sold her to Mr.
H. N. Smith, for the sum of 837,000.
Mr. Doble still drives her. Sho made
her first appearance in public in August,
18G5.
Saving the Pipe.
The following plan for the prevention
of the bursting of water pipes during
frosty weather nas been invented in
England. It is well known that when
water freezes it expands, and that the
force exerted is so enormous that no
pipe can resist it. This invention is
intended to give the water a chance to
expand without bursting the pipe. It
attempts this by securing in the inside
of the metal pipe a space equal to the
difference of volume between water and
ice, so that when the water freezes it
occupies the spaco reserved for it, in
stead of exerting its force on the pipe
and bursting it. This is practically
carried out by passing through the wa
such a diameter that the space inside
it is a little more than a,.i -ae
ufvuiaiti AUMMvau- inmn. rnlinpr T.iitiA
crease in volu.. t n.n m.
the necessary space for expansion, for,
by compressing the air tubes it dis
places the air and takes its piace.
When the ice melts the tube again ex
pands, becomes filled with air, and is
ready for another froHt ; and bo on for
any number of times without requiring
attention.
A Worcester Rat Story,
This story is from the Worcester
(Mass.) Gazette: "Messrs. Clark,
Sawyer & Co., of this city, are much
. . I .? . . . i
annoved by ine depreciations oi a coi
onv oi large gray wuari rais, wuiou
. . . . . i i
were probably imported in craies oi
crockery. Some days since they set a
tran lor tnem. the trap peing ox wire,
in shape of a hemisphere, and holding
a Deck or more. JNexi morning, on go
ing to the trap, it was found entirely
filled with bits of straw and paper
which littered tho floor of the room so
full that nothing else could be seen,
On examination, however, six large
rats were discovered in the trap, and it
was aDDarent that after they were cap.
tured those outside had thus filled the
trap for the purpose of concealing
them. The parties in tho store sus
ranfA1 a. triplt nnd the trarj was cleaU'
ed and reset, and all the litter was r&
moved from the floor and piled at one
end of the room. The next morning
five more rats were found in the trap
and it was packed full of rubbish as
before. The stiaw and paper were
hmkAn in small fragments, and it was
apparent that the rats had gathered it
ami crowded it through the openings
in tho trap until it was full, and the
captured ones were entirely oonceaiod,
Kerns uf lulorest.
Milwaukee i3 now known ns Chie:ifio'a
left boot.
Horace Binnev nnd S.imunl Thatcher
are the oldest living graduates of Har
vard College, the former having been
graduated in 1797 and the latter in
1793.
It is only thirty years since the first
electric telegraph luio was established,
nnd at this time Uievo aro mvq
than a million miles of telegraph wiro.i
in use.
noro is the obitnnry noticn of nn
ofllco holder in Iowa : " Hurvey Jack-
boii, county treasurer, is dend. llo was
lenient with tho widow, nnd hia book"?
always balanced.
One of the Professors asked a strident
to give him an example of a nnxe.i
metaphor. Tho boy confidently spoko
out: "When my tongue shall forjet
her cunning, and my right eye clcavo
to the roof of my mouth."
When your neighbor's younsr hopeful
pauses iu frout of your house just utter
supper nnd hails Master Johnny with,
" Hy-ah yna-yua ? Comin' oui ?" you
realize the force of Got tho 'a declaration
that tho most dreadful wild beast m
the world is a boy.
The Marnuette Journal says a Clio-
colay farmer was in that city last spring
and purchased all the Luiubnrgiier
cheese ho could find. It now tran
spires that he planted tl'.o vholi of it.
with his potatoes, a small quantity iu
each hill, and ns a consequence his crop
has thus far escaped the raviges uf tho
potato bug. They go as far a urn
fence, get a scent's worth of the cheese,
turn up their noses in disgust, and bio
them away to other postures.
In 1851 Parker & Colter wcro eten -
sively in business in OJvmpia, Wash
ington Territory. One day Colter gave
84,800 to Charles Jcssnp, a friend, to
take to Parker, who was in S.in Fran
cisco. Jessup stolo the money mid
went to South America, whe re ho hid
from detection. Parker suspected t'.iat
Colter had helped in the theft, nud so
the firm was dissolved. It now t arns
out that Jessup, on tho strength of his;
stolen capital, accumulated an immenso
fortune in South America, nnd somo
years ago returned to his native place,
Westfield, Mass., to spend tho remain
der of his days. Recently hu died, :nd
left to his former friend whom ho
robbed, or his heirs, if their be any,
a clean 8200,000. In tho menu time
Colter was lost sight of nnd J. ssnp's
administrator is advertising for him or
his children.
Thoughts Tor S.iliirday 'i-;ht.
Waste not cither time, money, or
talont.
Prosperity is a blessing to tlia good,
but a curse to the evil.
Experience is a torch lighted iu tho
ashes of our delusions.
Tho tenderest heart loves best the
bold and courageous one.
Do we nil realize that in us is nil cle
ment wh.'ch will onMnst tho stars '?
Ho lives long that lives well, nnd
time misspent is not lived, but lost.
After forming a friendship you
should render implicit belief ; before
that period you may exercise your
judgment.
In my pursuits, of whatever hind,
let this come to my mind, " How much
shall 1 value this ou my death bed ?"
Sin is never at a stay. If we ;lo not
retreat from it wo shall udvnuco in it,
and the further on we go the moro wo
have to come back.
When anything is furbidden to bo
done, whatever tends or leads to i, nn
the lieans of compassiug it, is forbid
den at the same time.
The essence of true nobility is neg
lect of self. Let tho thoughts of self
pass in, and tha beauty of a great ac
tion is gone, like tho bloom froui u
soiled flower.
Time appears very short, eternity
near ; nnd a great name, either in or
after life, together with all eartliiy
Eleasures and profit, but nn empty
ubble, a deluding dream.
A Scotch minister, when nsked
whether ho was dyjng, answsred:
"Really, friend, I cam not if f am or
not ; for if I dio I shall be with God, nnd
if I live God will bo with inc."
Towns which have been casually
burnt have been built again mere beau
tiful than before mud walls afterward
made of stone, and roofs, formerly but
thatched, afterward advanced to bo
tiled.
,"' - -.rioBt and most obvious uf o
oi sorrow is to
seem that a certain shock is needed to
6trUCU6"a Ufflato iV '' "
'ot a Brave Indian,
In the Reo tribe of Indians with
Gen. Custer's expedition, a correspon
dent says, there is a mysteiious-lookin
individual clothed in a woman s irocit,
but weariug a warrior's scalp-braid and
accoutrements, no or sue is iuo
drudge of the camp does nil the cook
ing, brings all the wood nud water, and
looks alter as many pomes ns ins ot
her other duties will allow. Tho
braves look upon him or her with nu
air of superiority that caunct be mis
taken, and in none of the war dances or
other manly pastime is he or she-
allowed to take a rpart ; uut uie poor,
begrudged indefinite drag1 out a mis
erable existence, neglected and forlorn,
not even being allowed to rule with tho
column on the march, but being a per
petual straggler, geneially having to
lead three or four extra ponies belong
ing to the braves. I asked Bloody huuo
about him or her.
" The form of a man, but the heart
of a woman," he replied through an
interpreter, and then went on to explain
that the indefinite was a man, but had
not the courage to endure the tortures
a young man must subject himself to
before he can become one of the braves.
So he had to live with the women and
do a woman's work. Suffrage was not
extended to such as he.
" Why does he como with you?" I
asked of Bloody Knife.
" He wants to get rid of that frock,"
6aid tho interpreter, without putting
the question to the chief. " If he takes
a scalp, it comes off him,"