) c
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher.
NIL DESPERANDUM,
Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. IV.
IIIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1874.
NO. 7.
The Infinite Presence.
I gaze aloof,
On the tissned roof
Where timo and apace are the warp and woof
Which the King of Kings
A a ourtam flings
O'or 11 le dreadfnlneRs of eternal things,
But could I see,
As ia truth thoy be,
The glories 'jf Uoaven that enoompiws me,
. I should lightly hold
The tipsued fold
OS that marvelous curtain of bine and gold.
Soon the whole,
Like a parched scroll,
Shall before my amazed sight nproll j
And without a screen,
At ono burst be seen
'She Fresonoe wherein I have ever been.
Oh ! who Bhall bear
The blinding glare
Of the Majesty that Bhall meet us thore ?
What eye may gaze
On the unveiled blaze
Qf tho light-girdled throne of the Anciont of
Days ?
Christ us aid 1
Himself bo our shado,
Tl int to tho dread day we be not ftsmayed.
Whitehead ,
THE STORY OF JEFFREY,
Eclipses, comets, and extraordinarily
'high tides can be predicted with aoou
raoy ; there even seems to be a proba
bility that in time tho weather will also
strike its flag to science, and that
means will be found of disentangling
the conflicting influences which send an
aneroid up and down. But in the art
of foretelling tho probable current of
public enthusiasm there is no sign of
progress. Tho keenest observer of hu
man nature can no more guess whether
the career of uy particular suitor, war
rior, espl.owr or criminal will simply
appear m the newspapers and excite no
more (Mention, or will be generally
takja up as a matter of national im
portance, than the merest tyro can. It
tvns more than a million to one that
-Robert Jeffrey's wrongs would remain
unnoticed, or raiRO but a feeble and
passing notice. He became a popular
idol, however a representative victim
of the press-gang system, and the tyran
nical customs which naturally grew out
of -it, and so a very curious story has
been hn.uded down to us.
In 1807 a privateer, named the Lord
Kelson, was fitted at Polperro, in Corn
wall, England, a place famous for its
.hardy race of smugglers, the entire
population being brought up to look
upon coast-guardsmen as natural ene
mies, who might be killed with as good
a conscienoe as though they wore
Frenchmen.
The profits of privateering were often
greater even than those of smitfrfling,
and the Lord Nelson had no difficulty
in gathering together a first-rate crew.
Amongst them was a man who had been
brought up as a blacksmith, but had
found both excitement and profit in an
occasional sea-trip, and indeed was as
good at the tiller as at the forge, per
haps a trifle better.
The name of this amphibious Cor
nishman was Robert Jeffrey, and his
career as a privateersman was a short
one ; for tho Lord Nelson, at the verv
K'jiiiuicuuciui'ui tn ner cruise, was
forced to put into Falmouth, where
she was boarded by a press-gang. It
was a perier-Uy illegal proceeding , the
press-gang had no more right to take a
man out of tho Lord Nelson, than you
or I have to break into a house and take
tu piate-DasKet. liut at the com
mouuuiiitm oi tins pentury private
rights ware very iittlo respected where
mU j.iun,, odr u!B was concerned, un
less the porson whom it was proposed
. ? -"'u pieucy oi money or politl
oai muueuee. Robert Jeffrey had
vt iVir' nu1 118 was carrietl n board
tl. M. S. Keoruit, and converted into a
man- A-war's man quite against his
will,' and in defiance of his clear and
undoubted protection.
viiiuHuuuuor oi uie itecruic was a
.young omeer ut that time, well-known
in me navy as a reckless, self-willed,
passionate, man, the foibles of whose
natui e vere forced and exasperated by
deppocic powers and drinking habits.
j" 1 ais normal tlurst were not enough.
ie was now sent to cruise in the Ca
ribbean sea, where the heat of the sun
whetted it to such an extent, that he
was seldom or ever sober, the mildest
vocation mat no used to quench it
being spruce-beer, of which ho kept a
cask ulways on tap in his private
ajL-juro no uaa ueen on noard many
1 . r 1 i i . i
uuys, jenreys prohciency as a smith
was discovered, ana lie was made arm
orer s mate. So that there was a fair
cnance of his making his enforced trip
pretty comfortably, and returning after
a few months to his native place, with a
ljuuueiiui oi prize-money after ail.
But an uufortunato group of circum
stances gt in the way. The captain
was not the only thirsty man in the
snip ; His armorer's mate, for example,
occasionally had a drought upon him,
which waa considerably aggravated by
the extremely hot weather, and the
small allowance of water served out
daily, for the ship ' was.running short
of that treasure, which we never prize
while we have. During this state of
affairs, J effrey was'sent toexeoute some
job in the captain's room, and being
left alone with the barrel of spruce
beer, he began to ogle it. " There was a
drinking' cup, "which had Ebeen used,
lying very .handy ; the captain was on
deck ;no one .could see him ; he was
very thirsty 1 ' He snatched up the'eup,
aud desisted from his work, a moment
to draw off half a pint and toss it down.
Very good it was, and very refreshing;
if stolen waters are sweet, what must
purloined epruoe-beer be ? Presently
another drink was taken, with equal
success. A third, however, was spoil
ed by the thick and wrathful voioe of
the captain, who had come below un
heard, unnoticed, in time to witness
this outrageous act of daring presump
tion. It would burn a hole in the paper to
write down Captain Lake's remark upon
the occasion, beventy years ago all
gentlemen swore a little; naval officers
swore very much, increasing ia vehe
mence as they rose in ran: ; men in
liquor swore, as at the present day,
hardest of all. You may imagine,
then, what the language of a drunken
sea-captain must have been when he
saw his beloved spruoe-beer flowing
do wn the throat of a oommon armorer's
mate.
That audacious wretch was clapped
in irons presently, while his Infuriated
commander, having refreshed himself,
returned to the deck, which he paced
with unsteady Bteps, revolving in his
mind what punishment would be suffi
cient for a crime so heinous. It ought
to be something unusual, startling, ap
palling as the act which it avenged.
Suddenly his eyes caught sight of a
small island, now turned into a jewel
by the rays of the sun, which was
sinking in the west, and the inspiration
came.
Lieutenant I" ho cried,
"Sir r
" Man the gig pud send for that fel
low I hare had confined."
It was done, and then, to the lieu
tenant's horror, his superior officer
ordered him to take the prisoner, land
liim on thfl barren rnMr nnrl lnouo
1 him.
I'll have no thieves on board
ship," he said.
my
The captain was evidently tho worse
for drink, and his lieutenant hesitated.
" Do you hear me, sir I" thundered
tho astonished commander, and disci
pline prevailed.
Deeply as he loathed the act, tho
lieutenant had no option but to obey )
tho crew, though they murmured, dul
not mutiny, and Robert Jeffrey was put
uBnuru wiuioub ioou or ariuK. He had
his knife, and one sailor gave him his
handkerchief, and another a long stick
which he had thought to throw into the
boat as they shoved off, for tlio de
serted man to signal with. By this
time the sun had sunk, and when the
boat returned to the ship it left the
poor fellow behind, alone, iu tho dark
He fully believed that the captain only
meant to frighten him, and bore up
pretty well tluovgu the night with that
idea. But when the morning dawned
the Recruit was a mere speck in the
distance, which slowly but surely
passed away beyond the heriiou. Then
the unhappy man realized -that he was
a castawny,
rtu. - T ! . . .
auo xvecrun, inaeea, naa caugut a
favoring breeze, which earned her
quickly to Barbadoes, where she joined
tho squadron under Admiral Sir Alex
ander Cochrane. Her officers and crew,
mingling with those of other ships,
spoke freely of the affair, which pres
ently reached the admiral's ears, who
sent for the captain, questioned him,
and finding the story true, severely
reprimanded him for his brutality, and
ordered him back to rescue the man.
Tho island upon which Jeffrey had
been so barbarously loft was one of the
Leeward group, a "desolate rock called
Sombrero, and the Recruit got beck to
it just a fortnight after the event. A
careful search was instituted, but all
that was found was a pair of trowsers,
not Jeffrey's, and a tomahawk-handle,
no trace of the missing man being dis
coverable. This result being reported on the
ship's return to Barbadoes, Sir Alex
ander Cochrane felt satisfied that the
man had been rescued by some passing
vessel, and let the matter rest for the
time. But a good many formed a c if
ferent opinion and suspected that
Jeffrey had come to some violent end ;
and when the squadron returned to
England the affair was taken up by
people at home, and made so much
noise that, after two years htfd elapsed,
the captain was brought to a court
martial, condemned, and dismissed the
service. This, however, instead of ap
peasing the public excitement, only in
flamed it the more, by tho authentic
details which were brought to light iu
tho course of the court-martial. The
illegality of the man's having been
pressed at all tho veniality of his of
fense, especially considering tho cir
cumstances of thirst caused by short
allowance of water in so hot a climate.
and the ready temptation to appease it
placed directly in his way, combined
with the inhuman cruelty of his
abandonment to stir the public indigna
tion. Meetings were held, articles
written, petitions signed, urging the
propriety of endeavoring by all means
to discover what had become of
tho missing man ; and Sir Francis
Burdett lost no opportunity of keep
ing the question before tho Govern
ment, iu the House of Commons.
Illegal pressings, keel-hanling flog
gings to death, were not so very un
common in the navy at that time as to
account for tho usually indifferent pub
lic's espousing Robert Jeffrey's cause
so warmly ; but it did so, and mado a
representative man of him.
The first authentio news came from
George Hassel, mariner, who deposed
on oath before the Mayor of Liverpool
that he had just returned from Beverly,
a town in Massachusetts, and that a
man was living there who was nick
named the Governor of Sombrero,
whoso real name was Jeffrey. Where
upon this Jeffrey was communicated
1 1 ' and in due time a letter in reply
purporting to come from him was re
ceived, giving a full account of his ad
ventures. When the Recruit had quite disap
peared, he remained for sometime over
whelmed with despair, but after a
while he grew calm, and felt very hun
gry, so he explored his island to see if
there was anything to eat nnon it. but
could find nothing except birds, which
flew away, as birds will, when he tried
to catch them. At last he discovered
an egg, but, alas I it was an election
egg a very good missile, but not edi
ble. Soon, however, the paDgs of hun
ger gave place to the severer sufferings
of thirst, which he tried to appease by
swallowing the sea-water, and that of
course made matters worse.
But heaven, more merciful than man.
sent him a shower of rain, which lodged
in the crevices of the rocks, and in
flicted the'punishment of Tantalus upon
him until he thought of cutting the
quills, of which there were plenty
strewn about, and suckinsr ud the pud-
dles as we moderns do sherry cobblers.
In addition to hunger and thirst, he
ortrlriiA1 i.liA flfrnnv nf ItswtA A a fawn A ;
ships were (constantly passing, but
failed to see his signals till the ninth
day, when some one on board the
Adams, an American schooner, notioed
Jiim waving the stick to which his hand
kerchief was tied. The master, John
Dennis, sent a boat, and brought hlrd
off in an apparently dying state, so ex
hausted R9 to be unable to speak.
With oare and kindness, however, he
recovered, aud was carried to Marble
head, in Massachusetts, where he sup
ported himself by his trade of black
smith. This oiroumstantial acoount satisfied
people at first, but when the lotter was
shown to Robert Jeffrey's mothor she
pointed out that rtot only was it written
in a strange hand, but that it was not
oven Bigned by her son, who could
write well enough, and was very un
likely to make his mark, as the man
Vno vouched for the genuineness of this
rspiBtle had done. The objection natural
ly carried weight, and many people sus
pected that the evidence of George
Hassel and of the letter had been got
up by the captain, who was anxious to
prove the man alive, and so escape
from the odium which. aUaohed to him.
Finally a Bujp Wfta sent to Dring tuis
professing Robert Jeffrey to England,
where he arrived in due course, and
proved to be the right man safe enough,
a certain Bhyness and diffidOniJo which
he felt in the presence of the gentle
men who had drawn up his report be
ing the cause of his making a crossMn
stead of signing it.
He landed at Tott'imcuth in the Oo
tobe? of 15i0, three years after the
event which had caused him to become
a public character. The Admiralty for
warded him under the charge of a navf.l
officer to Polperret where tho entire
population recognized him, and his ar
rival was made the occasion of great
public rejoicing.
But before Bottling down in his native
place, he accepted an offer from the
manager of a London theatre to exhibit
himself for a certain number of nights,
and as it became the rage to go and see
"Jeffrey the Sailor,' ho made rather a
good thing of it. These profits were
presently swelled by a sum of six hun
dred pounds, which was paid him by
the family of the captain in acquittal o'f
all claims he might have against that
officer, who was still liable to civil ac
tion, and in the excited state of public
opinion was likely to be cast in heavy
damages.
After the lapse of a few months.when
he ceased to " draw," Jeffrey returned
to Cornwall with money enough to pur
chase a coasting schooner ; married,
and, it thi3 were fiction, would have
lived happily forever afterward. But
the story being a perfectly true one,
Robert Jeffrey was subject to all those
ills which afflict ordinary mortals who
have never been the subjects of popular
sympathy or curiosity.
He failed to make his schooner pay,
and he died early of conottmption, leav
ing hii wife and daughter in great poverty.
Tew York Milk Trader
The milk trade of New York city and
its vicinity is a very large one, and
gives employment to a great number of
persons, besides forming an important
portion of the traffic of seven lines of
railroad. In order to give a clear idea
of this trade it may be interesting to
show the plan of operations between
the producer and the consumer. The
milk dealer first arranges with the
farmer or dairyman as to tho price to
be paid to him per quart, delivered at
the station of the railroad, and the
probable quantity to be supplied daily,
after which the former has to pay the
freight to this city, and provide means
to transport it to his customers. In
numerous cases the dealer will agree to
take from the farmer the whole of his
production, and in these instances the
trade is sometimes uncertain, and often
unprofitable. When the weather is hot
or the winter severe, there is often a
greater demand for milk than the farm
era can supply, and the dealer is coin
pelled to buy the required extra quan
tity from speculators ; and iu these in-
tsiuuces $o lias oiten ueen reiusea lor a
can of 40 quarts. Should the weather
be cool, or a large number of con
sumers be absent from tho city, the
supply will exceed the demand, and the
dealer will often be unable to sell his
extra stock for even SI per can. which.
in some instances, is lower than he pays
the larmer, and he also loses the co"st
of freight. Before a farmer can enter
upon the work of supplying a milk
dealer he requires some capital, as it is
necessary for him to have a double r
triple set of cans, and in some instances
four or five cans for every 40 quarts of
milk he sends to market. First he
must have one can to hold the milk.
Tnis is filled on the day prior to being
sent during the night to market. This
can is held the next day the day of ar
rival by the dealer, and returned to
the milk depot the next night, at the
same time when removing the following
day's supply, and is forwarded to the
farmer by the returning train. The
can has then to be thoroughly cleansed,
and placed for a time in a running
stream to cool off, so as to be fit for the
reception of milk. Should there be. the
slightest particle of old milk or cream
left in the can the probabilities are that
the whole can of new milk will be
spoiled. Where streams are not con
venient ice is often used. Meanwhile
the milk has to be sent to market, and
cans are thus detained, others must
take their places. As each can costs
from $4 to $5, a capital of about $100 is
necessary to send even five'eans, or 200
quarts of milk, to market daily. Some
large dairymen have over $1,000 thus
invested in cans alone, and many have
lost a large amount in consequence of
cans having been lost, stolen, or misap
propriated by the consignees and others.
Tlie total daily supply from all
sources is between 9,000 and 10.000
cans, averaging 40 quarts each, and the
revenue to the railroads from freight of
milk alone aggregates about $6,000
daily. About 2,000 cans of milk come
in on private wagons, or ate supplied
from oows in the city and suburbs.
There is scarcely a fashionable ca
price that doesn't do good to some one.
Thus the ornaments of white and black
i'et which have become the voguo in
'aris have restored prosperity to the
working classes of Venice, who were
in a state of great distress before the
revival of the taste for jet trimmings,
KILLED BY RiTUESXAKES.
A Iloime Full of the Reptiles Burned
with the Corpse of Its Owner,
A distiller named Jones, who lived
with his family near the lower bench of
the Big Smoky Mountain, Tennessee,
had been annoyed a great deal by the
revenue rangers last fall, and de
termined to change his lpcation and
business Id a more secluded Bpok
To carry out this purpose he selected
the head of a deep gorge some four
miles distan t, walked iu with cliffs, where
during the winter, assisted by some of
his friends, he erected a log building.
As soon ps the cold weather wes over
fttid the spring fairly opened, the still
and othei things necessary were moved
to the place, and the work of violating
the revenue law ws resulted. Several
" .uina " were made, and Jones began to
congratulate himself that he had at last
found a refuge beyond the prying eyes
of the Government hirelings, where'he
could pursue his avocation in peace
Tho still-house being some distance
from where his family lived, Jones
rarely visited them more than once in a
fortnight. Everything went on well
enough until about four weeks ago,
when he failed to appear at the accus
tomed time. .
Nothing was thought of this for a
day or two, but when another week
elapsed without tho return of Jones,
the family became alarmed, and they
thought that he had been captured by
rerenue jayhawks and carried to Knox
ville or some other place where violators
of the law are occasionally .convicted
and punished. The alarm was given
through the sparsely settled neighbor
hood. A small number of men gathered,
and accompanied by Mrs. Jones and her
son, a youth of ten or twelve years of
age, they started up the gorge in the
direction of the still-house.
On reaching the building they found
the door closed and fastened, and no
sign of Jones or any one else eonld be
Seen. Mrs. Jones called the name of
her husband several times; no response,
however, came back to relieve her anxi
ety. But upou attempting to force an
entrance they were greeted with those
peculiur notes of warning which the
ear of tho East Tennessee mountaineer
never fails to recognize. The door was
at once broken down, and a sight met
them that caused all to start with fright
and horror.
Tho form of the distiller lay upon
the floor, with eyes starting from their
sockets, the features horribly distorted,
and body swollen to twice its usual pro
portions, while the whole interior of
the building was alive with rattle
snakes, some in coil and ready for bat
tle, but the larger proportion stupid
and inert, as though they had been im
bibing liberally of the illicit fruit of
tho still. The mother and son fled hor
ror stricken from the place. A consul
tation was had, and it was impossible
to secure the body of poor Jones with
out incurring fearful risk, it was de
termined to reclose the entrance and
other apertures and fire the building,
which was done. The party stayed un
til the house was entirely consumed,
aud nothing remained but the now use
less still and the calcined bon3 of the
miserable distiller.
It is supposed that Jones had built
his manufactory close upon aden of the
deadly reptiles in the overhanging cliff,
and that attracted by the heat, or pos
sibly the fumes of the whisky, they
found their way into the buil.ing in
large numbers after he had closed the
door and laid down to sleep.
The Corn Crop.
The August returns to tho U. S. De
partment of Agriculture from New Eng
land show a general improvement in the
corn crop during July, though it is still
backward. Maine averages 92 per cent,
of a full crop ; New Hampshire, 98 ;
Vermont, 97 ; Massachusetts, 101 ;
Rhode Island, 100 ; Connecticut, 107.
It is very promising in portions of the
Middle States, but in other parts it
was injured either by drought, or ex
cess of rain.
A decline is noted in New York, it
averaging 94 and New Jersey 91 ; Penn
sylvania and Delaware have both risen
to 1 per cent, above tho average of the
South Atlantic States ; Maryland aver
aging 96, shows the crops damaged by
drought, especially on stiff soils ; Vir
ginia averaging 90, also shows a decline
from the same cause and from insect
ravages ; North Carolina 91, it lost 1
per cent. ; South Carolina and Georgia
have risen to 10 per cent, above the
average ; Florida 102, maintains her
July average ; Texas declints from 106
to 102.
A Deadly Spring.
A writer in the Colusa (Cal.) In
dependent says : " About one-half a
mile over a mountain from Bartlett
Springs there is what is called the Gas
Spring. This is probably the greatest
curiosity of the mountains. The water
is ice cold, but bubbling and foaming
as if boiled, and the greatest wonder is
the inevitable destruction of life pro
duced by inhaling the gas. No live
thing is to be found within a circuit of
100 yards near the spring. The very
birds, if they happen to fly over it, drop
dead. We experimented with a lizard
on its destructive properties by holding
it a few feet above the water ; it
stretched dead in two minutes, it will
kill a human being in twenty minutes.
We stood over it about five minutes.
when a .dull, heavy, aching sensation
crept over us, and our eyes began to
swim. The gas which escapes here is
the rankest kind of carbonio, hence its
sure destruction of life ; also, quench
ing of flame instantaneously,"
Theodore Geer, a crazy man of De-
witts ville, N. Y., nearly cut off his
thumb with a chisel last winter. It was
roperiy dressed, and the wound
ealed. Lately Geer got the idea that
the piece of thumb should not have
been put on again. So he took an axe,
and chopped it off. Then he looked at
the stump for a moment in reflective
criticism, decided that ' it was still too
long, and cut off another piece. He is
now perfectly satisfied with the job.
Somebody defines flirtation to ha at.
tention without intention,
The Old Letter.
1 found it this i ruo'rniu'g where it had
blown with tud dr'ie'i JaiWedj Under the
pVuSb, faded and creased and yelldty H
Flanders laee, and written in & fine
cramped hand, with school-girl flour
ishes and queer, old-fashioned d's.
"tinkn .TnTftf fit rani " You say Ton
have lost all love for me since last
flight, at the ball because I flirted With
the doctor's flo'ri.
" Oh. Johti, I meant ho hansi ; yotl
do not know I was always such A nilly
little thing, and it is so pleasant to be
told one has bright eyes and a sweet
voice I When you passed me without
speaking, I thought my heart would
break.
" Only forgive me, and 1 will be so
good you won't know it is Olive at all
-yoti will think it ia some one else.
Emrria aud Henry will go to the Son
cert to-night, but I shall be aloue, and
watch for you at the south window. I
shall always now be so discreet, so pro
per, so careful ; and I love you, John.
Olive Wilde."
No ope would suppose that the little
old maid, who lives with her brother
on Bleedker street, was ever young and
girlish and impulsive enough to hafe
written that letter; but here is her
name in full, on the faded margin,
I saw John pass yesterday in his
family Carriage with his fleshy, comfortable-looking
wife And his four rosy
children, a Wealthy, portly, lofty old
gentleman. Perhaps Olive saw him,
too, knitting by the same south win
dow where she had sat and watched in
vain twenty years ago, till the sky and
her life darkened together.
Little things make mountains of diffi
culties to lovers, and John never came.
He married some one else, and per
haps soon forgot entirely the saucy, af
fectionate, coquettish Olive Wilde,
whose bright oddity had chiefly at
tracted him.
Women do hot forget so easily as
meti.
Olive thought of him when the morn
ing colored tho bit of sky at the end of
the street ; when the evening clouded
the south window ; when her parents
died ; when her brother and sister mar
ried ; through every joy and sorrow of
her life she carried this ono memory.
Poor Olive I if there was anything
harder than to get a fixed idea in her
head, it was to get that idea out again
when once there.
She never saw any one she fancied,
peihaps no one eVer fanoied her. Her
freshness and vivacity (she had no
beauty) were soon gone. The red in
her cheeks and the " light in her eyes
began to fade. She ceased to take any
pains with her dress.
The Slate Trade of tho Nile.
In 1870 or 1871 Sir Samuel Baker, the
well-known English traveler and ex
plorer, entered the service of the Khe
dive of Egypt for the period of three
years, at a salary of $50,000 per annum.
He was ordered to suppress the slave
trade of the White Nile and to re-establish
the Government of the Egyp
tian Viceroy in the Nile basin of Cen
tral Africa. His expedition to that
country was partially successful. He
reclaimed much territory, which was
added to the dominions of the Khedive,
and he captured many slavers and re
restored their victims to liberty.
But notwithstanding his glowing and
self-congratulatory accounts of briliant
victories, it may well be doubted
whether Sir Samuel Baker succeeded in
seriously crippling the slave traffic. It
is true that he had a great deal to strug
gle against. The feeling of the Egyp
tian people is strongly in favor of the
continuance of the slave trade, which is
regarded by them as a domestic neces
sity and as a source of commercial
profit. Nor was the suppression of the
traffic the main object in view with the
Khedive.
Sir Samuel Baker has very recently
written a letter expressing his surprise
that Abou Saood, the great slave hun
ter of the White Nile to whom he at
tributes much of his trouble on the ex
pedition should have been appointed
by the Khedive to be the right hand
man of Col. Gordon, Sir Samuel's suc
cessor in the present expedition. Ac
cording to this letter, Abou Saood is a
most unmitigated rascal. He is the
son-in-law of the head of a Cairo firm
of slave hunters, Agad & Co., and every
year he leads an armed force of 2,500
cutthroats on a slave hunt from Khar
toum in the Soudan. He massacres,
plunders, and burns through the inte
rior, and kidnaps tho women and chil
dren to sell them into Blavery.
Home Luck.
A young lady in San Francisco is en
gaged to a gentleman who, through his
recklessness, has well nigh caused her
death on several occasions. About
three months ago this young man, when
on the point of separating from his
affianced until the next evening, made
a mistake in his selection of overcoats
in the hall, and, finding a revolver in
the pocket, he drew it out and com
menced toying with the weapon. It
wag acoidently discharged, as a natural
consequence, and the young lady re
ceived a severe wound in the arm. This
mishap retarded the courtship for a
time, but the maiden finally recovered,
and the current of true love was glid
ing very placidly again, when she ac
cepted an invitation to ride out with
her lover. The couple had scarcely
started when the horse ran away, the
buggy was capsized, and the young
lady was thrown down a bank, sustain
ing a fracture of the leg and severe
bruises. This accident will again defer
the culmination of this disastrous
courtship for several months longer.
With patienoe and the exercise of much
prudenoe, however, they may be happy
yet.
What to Do. That was shrewd ad
vice of a learned lawyer to a pupil :
" When the facts are in yonr favor, but
the law opposed to yeu, come out strong
on the facts ; but when the law is in
your favor, and the facts are opposed to
you, come out strong on the law."
"But," inquired the student, "when
the law and the faots are both against
me, what shall I do ?" " Why, then,"
said th lawyer, " talk around it."
FROPERTI 15 LOSDOJf.
he Vast Poneion of (He Noblfltj- lit
the MtlrrtpolU.
Hh$ h tfity " of London is a mere vil
lage, right in the tlO&tt d( a vast wilder
ness of houses, says Mai'k Twain
like the central square of a cheSti'
board ; and, as the hordes that inhabit
it daily dwell miles away on the out
skitts, it has a ridiculously small
population In the night compared to
what it has in the day time 800, 000. in
the day and 80,000 at night.
Anybody, a Tncchanic, or anybody
else, who rents or owns n house, has a
vote that is to say, a man who pays
rates, or taxes for there is no law hero
which gives a useless idler the privilege
of disposing of pnblio money furnished
by other people. The " City " has its
own police, and its own government.
7he rest of the metropolis is composed
of a grent hive of once separate villages,
which still retain their own names at
Charing, Holborn, etc. but they are
welded together into a compact mass
of houses now, und no stranger can tell
when he passes out of one of these
towns and into another.
The estates of the nobility are stristly
entailed, and cannot be alienated from
the family. The town property which
those great landlords own is leased for
long terms from half a century up to
ninety-nine years ; in Scotland nine
hundred and ninety-ninoyears. I was
visiting a house in the West End, the
quarter where dwelling-house property
is the most valuable. My host said he
bought the lease of the house he was
living in (a three-story brick, with
basement) twenty years ago, for seven
thousand five hundred dollars, when it
had forty-one and a quarter years to
run. Every year he has to pay one
hundred and fifty dollars ground rent.
But in these days property has so
greatly advanced in value all over Lon
don, and especially at the West End,
that if this lease were for sale now it
would require something like a fortune
to buy it, and the ground rent would
be placed at one thousand dollars a year,
instead of the one hundred aud fifty
dollars tho present owner will go on
paying for the next twenty years. The
property belongs ts the Duke of Bed
ford, and when he reflects upon what
that property will hare soared to, ten
or fifteen years from now, and still pay
ing him only the trifle of ono hundred
and fifty dollars a year, he probably
wants to go and dig up his late ancestor
and shake him.
This house is one of seventy-five just
like it that surround a beautiful square
containing two or three acres of ground
ornameutal grounds, large old trees,
broad, clean-suaven grass-plots, kept
scrupulously swept free from twigs,
fallen leaves, and all other eye-sores.
His grace the Duke owns all those seventy-five
houses, and he owns the orna
mental square in the middle also. To
each house he leaves a key that will
open any of the numerous gates (there
is an iron railing all around) to the
square, and nobody can get in these but
tho occupants of the seventy-five houses
and such persons as they choose to in
vite. They do a deal of croquet. The
seventy-five pay a small sum yearly to
keep the square in repair.
it was a pleasant clay, and we walked
along down the street. Every time we
crossed a new street my host said :
' This property belongs to the Duke
of Bedford also all these stately blocks
of buildings both sides of the street.'
isy-and-by we came to another orna
mental square like the other, and sur
rounded by large dwellings.
" Who owns this square and these
houses?"
" The Duke of Bedford."
We turned and walked about half a
mile in another direction. Still the
same. . All the way it was, " This all
belongs to the Duke of Bedford ; this
ornamental square is his ; this is the
statue of the late duke ; all the smoky
statues we have seen represent dukes
of the lino, of former generations. We
are pretty well tired out by this time,
else we might go on till we could show
you the great Covent Garden Market
one of the sights of London."
"Who owns it?"
"Tho Duke of Bedford."
" I suspected as much. Does he own
tho property around it ?"
" He does."
Does he own any in the country ?"
" Whole counties.
I took a cab and drove about seven
teen miles, or such a matter, to my
hotel. No candels in my room no
water no towols. I said to the land
lord, " I have a very seiious notion of
complaining to the Duke of Bedford
about the way you keep this hotel."
He said, " What has he got to do
with it ?"
I said, "He probably has a good
deal to do with it ; I suppose he owns
it ?"
" Well, he don't do anything of the
kind ; I own it myself."
The item was worth something, any
way, and so I entered it in my diary :
" London is owned by the Duke of
Bedford and a one-horse hotel-keeper."
But I found afterward that the Duke
of Portland, the Marquis of Westmin
ster, and other noblemen, own as large
ly here as Bedford does. Indeed,
Westminster is much the richest peer
in England perhaps the riohest man
in the world. His income is some
twenty thousand dollars a day, count
ing Sundays. But what it will be next
year or the year after, baffles arithme
tic, for the old cheap leases and ground
rents are constantly running out, and
the property being let at more than
quadruple prices. The Duke of Port
land owns the huge piece of ground on
which the British Museum stands.
It is no hardship here to own real
estate, for the taxes on it are trifling, as
they are also on foreign wines and
luxuries which only the well-to-do in
dulge in. The revenues come from
the manifold things which Tom, Dick
and Harry of the great middle and
working classes have got to have and
cannot do without.
If any carriage upsets or injures an
other carriage in the streets of St. Pe
tersburg, or if any passenger is knocked
down, the horses of the offending vehi
cle are seized and confiscated to the use
of the Fire Brigade.
Items of Interest.
This is called Ministers' Leap Year
bocauso the vacation month, August,
hau five Sundays.
Phineas Battle, who committed sui
cide at Orange, Mass., gave .$10,000 to"
tho Universoiist church of that town.
A wealthy English widow, whose
passion is small feet, offers to marry
the man who is over five feet tall and
can wear her shoe, number three's.
Talking of Goldsmith Maid, it may
be woll to state that she is seventeen
years of age, is owned by nenry N.
Smith, of New York, who says ho won't
sell her for one hundred thousand dol
lars. Fifteen hundred persons aro em
ployed at Key West in making cigars.
More than half of thorn ore Cubans.
This industry has raised the place to
one of the most prosperous communi
ties in the South.
A beggar posted himself at the door
of an English chancery court, and kept
savinir. "A nennv. please, sir I Only
a penny, sir, before you go in." " Anil
for what, my man?" inquired an old
country gentleman. "Because, sir, the
chances are that you will not have ono
when you come out."
"Papa, do you think Beech "
"Hush, Johnnie." " But, papa, don't
you think Beech " "Didn't yon
hear me tell you to stop your noise, sir?
I won't have you talking about these
things. Go in and get your face
washed." And Johnnie, with tears in
his eyes, wants to know why papa won't
tell him whether beechnuts are ripe.
The South Kensington Museum, in
London, has cost the nation since its
establishment $5,958,549. A corres
pondent writes : " Those who have
visited this matchless museum will
know that I understate rather than
overstate its actual present value, when
I Eay that if its contents were disposed
of at auction to-morrow, they woukl
not bring less than twenty millions
sterling."
Hamburg, Conn., has recently had a
curious love affair. Two brothers
courted the same girl, and she engaged
herself to the younger, but as the time
set for the marriage drew near, the
youth had difficulty in obtaining a cer
tificate. Meanwhile, . tho girl trans
ferred her affections to the older one,
and, he having armed himself with a
certificate, they were married on tho
very day set for the marriage with tho
younger brother.
A Romantic Story.
Excellent material for a sensation
story is furnished by the following well
established facts : Victorine Lafour
Qade, young, beautiful, and accomplish
ed, had a great number of admirers.
Among them was a journalist named
Jules Bossouet, whose chances of being
the successful suitor seemed to be the
best, when suddenly Victorine, contra
ry to all expectation, accepted the hand
of a rich banker named Renelle. Bos
souet was inconsolable, and his honest
heart ached all the more when he learned
that tho marriage of his lady-love was
unhappy. Renelle neglected his wife
in every possible way, and finally began
to maltreat her.
This state of things lasted two years,
when Victorine died at least so it was
thought. She was entombed in a vault
of the cemetery of her native town.
Jules Bossouet assisted at the ceremony.
Still true to his lovo, and wollnigh be
side himself with grief, ho conceived
the romantio idea of breaking open the
vault and securing a lock of the de
ceased's hair. That night, therefore,
when all was still, ho scaled the wall of
the cemetery, and, by a circuitous
ronte, approached the vault. When he
nad broken open tne door ana entered
the vault he lighted a candle, and pro
ceeded to open the coffin. At the mo
ment when he bent over the supposed
corpse, scissors in hand, Victorine
opened her eyes and stared him full in
the lace. Me uttered a cry and sprang
back ; but, immediately recovering his
self-possession, he returned to the cof
fin, covered its occupant's lips with
kisses, lifted her out, and soon had the
satisfaction of seeing her in the full
possession of all her faculties. When
Victorine was sufficiently recovered
they left the church-yard and went to
Bossouet's residence, where a physician
administered such remedies as were
necessary to affect the complete re
covery of the unfortunate woman. This
proof of Bossouet's love naturally made
a deep impression on Victorine. Sho
repented her past fickleness, and re
solved to fly with the romantio Jules to
America.
There they lived happily together,
without, however, ever being able to
fully overcome their longing to return
to their native land. Finally, their
desire became so strong to revisit tho
scenes oi tneir youth that they decided
to brave the danger attendant on a re
turn, and embarked at New York for
Havre, where they arrived in July,
1830. Victorine, in the interim, had
naturally changed very greatly, and
Jules felt confident that her former
husband would not recognize her, In
this hope he was disappointed, lie
nelle had the keen eye of a financier,
and reoognized Victorine at the first
glanoe. This strange drama ended
with a suit brought by the banker for
the reoovery of his wife, whioh was de
cided against him on the ground that
his claim was outlawed.
Duelling. Duelling is to be legal
ized in Germany, and " Councils of
Honor " are to be formed, to consider
personal difficulties between officers in
the army, to adjust them if possible,
and if not, to officially authorize a duel.
Officers fighting under suoh circum
stances, will not be subject to criminal
proseoution. This regulation may seem
of questionable propriety, but there
can be no doubt, that it will have tend
ency to diminish the number of duels.
It will probably be the determination
of this counoil of honor to prevent all
duels, if possible, by effecting a com
promise, and not to give permits au
thorising parties to fight it out, except
in very rare cases. As it is, officers
haying personal controversies will in
sist upon settling their grievances with
sword or pistol, but hereafter they will
be compelled to refer their difficulties
to the counoil of honor for arbitration,