1
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL IV, RIDGAVAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1874. NO. 30.
Sorrows of Werther,
Werther had a love for Charlotte,
Buch as words eould never titter.
Vou:d yon know how first l:c rout her f
Bl u vas cutting bread and butter.
Charlotte was a married lady,
And a moral man was Wertlier,
And for all the wealth of Indies
Would do nothing that might hurt her.
80 he eigbed and pined and ogled,
And his passion boiled and bubbled i
Till he blow his pilly brains out,
And no moro was by them troubled.
Charlotte, having gep.n his body
Borne before her on a shutter i
Like a well-conducted person
. Went On (cutting broad and butter.
THAT BAT WINDOW.
I suppose I am what you 'would call
an old fogy. Yes, I am undoubtedly
on oiu logy, and 1 think you will agree
with my verdict upon myself when you
hear a little about me. Well, then, to
Begin : i am an old bachelor of sixty,
and I live in a small village on a cer
tain prosperous railroad, near enough
to a certain prosperous town to allow
me to run in every day to my bnsiuess,
I enjoy life after my own fashion, anc
am friends with every one, only I some
times half suspect people think me t
foolish old bore : but I am not so fool
ish as some suppose, for I consider
l ve escaped some portion, and a pretty
large portion, of the bothers of life by
not marrying, which is a very clever
thin g to have done on my part.you must
conioss. xiij uome is just as snug and
vjomfortable without a wife to worry
rao, and my stag parties are a great
cleal more cosey than stiff dinners,
where one's better-half (honor to the
laoies) tits grumpily at one end, not
allowing a wretched", ignorant man to
say a word regarding anything, but
severely frowning upon him if he
chance to ask, merely for information,
you knov.'.how he is to help the dish in
front of him, and what it is, anyhow.
JNow I am privileged to discuss my
own tlinhes, and to say to Charles my
waiver, occasionally :
ry weorge, unaries, nere is some
thing to surprise us. What is this con
coetion, anyhow ?
ihen nil my crouies can disouss the
nisii and wonder with me, and there
elands Charles grinning delightfully,
nj- . i. 1. l
i-tm jxwiti ujuuieiib ue explains
" Nothin' in this wide world, massa
out vollevan. Had it a dozen times
aiore. only you forgets."
uuevuu is supposed to mean
" Vol ea vent." And so you see I am
very swell in my tastes.
But how I do digress. It is my pur
puse.io ion you me story of a person
very different from myself, but who,
Btrange to say, exerted for a time quite
a happy influence over my life.
1 suw her every morning on my way
tu uiwii, ana j. someumes spoke to tier,
vc inrcw ner a kiss, or Drought her
Duncii oi nowors, and sue and I were
great friends. There she used to sit in
the bay window of our picturesque
station, with the pink and blue bnwn in
her haii, aud those bright eyes of hers
gazing out at a fellow, enough to set
him wild. Her hair was one mass of
golden curis, and her complexion deli
cate as a wild rose, and her name was
Kathie Kathie Ellis and she was the
telegraph operator for our depot, you
must know.
1 wonder if people noticed how
friendly she and I were ; but I do not
care ir they did.
One morning in June I brought Ka-
buia u uimquei oi pink rose-buds from
my garden; and as I placed them upon
her desk I noticed a similar floral offer
ing ry their side.
"Some one is beforehand with me. I
CIAA 0" '
Click, click went the wires.
"Yes, but bolh are so pretty," and
np went the blue eyes, and the dainty
-woo t,mut,i uu my onering enjoyabiy,
uieii me sweei voice said :
" How kind everv one is to me !"
"As though they could help it I"
I replied gallantly. And then she
plucked a flower from my bouquet, as
she always did, aDd placed it with the
uiuBi, uuiniy coquetry possible m the
button-hole of my coat. Just then I
glanced toward the window of a car,
Btationed for the moment at the depot,
and I saw some one laughing immoder
ately ; a good-looking fellow enough,
but excessively impertinent.
"Who is that young scamp?" I
asked, aud Kathie looked up hurriedly.
"Oh, sir!" she said, "it is Cousin
James laughing at my awkwardness."
" Cousin James !" I repeated.
" Your cousin ? Where did he come
from? I never heard of him before."
"No, sir: he only came home last
night from Nevada. He's ever so rough
and rude, being out in that wild region,
and it's real unkind of him to laugh so
at me," and she shook her finger at
him playfully. I resolved that moment
but, dear me ! it sounds bo foolish
to tell what I resolved upon after all
my asseverations about matrimony.
Well, to confees the truth, I was never
in such imminent danger as then.
The train containing Kathie's cousin
had sped away, and I, too, was soon
off,
" Good-by, Kathie," I said ; " you
wouldn't mind, perhaps boing an old
man's darling?'
" Foolish fellow I" said the pouting
lips, and then I was cff.
I considered this enooura&enient.and
"went into town and hinted to my part
ner, when I arrived at my office, that
scraping my hands together in embar
rassment notwithstanding one was a
great deal happier single, matrimony,
after all, was not suoh a bugbear.
Soimmins that's the name of my part
nerlaughed heartily. He is the fath
er -of six children and two sets of twins.
Then he slapped me on the back, and
eaid :
" What's up now, sir ?"
"A blonde's np, sir ; young, bloom
ing, and sweet-tempered," I replied.
" A pity, sir, for you must go Ea6t,
and leave her for awhile. Here's a let
ter just received, which requires one of
ns shonld undertake the journey, and I
cannot leave my family."
" A most unfortunate time for mo to
get away."
" TruU to the lady's constancy, old
fellow I Here's a chance to test wo
man s faithfulness."
" She's very much in love with me,
x replied, " and i d trust ner any
length of time." Scrimmins laughed
then. 1 am sure I don t know why
but he is one of those men who are al
ways laughing at everything and noth
ing, so I smiled disdainfully upon him,
and didn t mind.
That night I departed from my vil
lage bound eastward on my business
trip. I visited liathie in ner window,
of course, before I left, and I asked her
what I should bring her from Boston.
"Only yourself, back safe again
she said in a trembling voice. " There
are so many accidents on the cars nowa
days. Oh I what, what should 1 do
one were to occur and they should sud
denly telegraph book that you you
were injured. I resolved then and
there to get Kathie the most expensive
present my purse would allow, and
went on in the hall-past seven express
a blissful man, even though I was an
old fogy. L took my trip to Boston
and, arrived there, I bought the most
extravagant ring I could find. I never
even once thought of what my dainty
relatives would say to my marrying a
telegraph operator, so self-abnegating
was my Jove, and n was nil ior nothing
yes, absolutely for nothing, as I must
tell you. That ring reposes in my
bureau drawer to this day, and upon it
is marked, " To be delivered to my
niece, xaoiiua strong, alter my death
by her to be sold, the money accruing
tneretrom to do expended tor the re
generation of the Hoodoo Indians.
most worthy charity." Tabitha is an
old maid, but ehe is a most charitable
creature, and that diamond will be
rightly expended in her hands.
When I returned from Boston, which
was two weeks afterwards, in the even
ing, I arrived at our station in a great
state of excitement. I caught my bag
5 1 J t Al 1 ,
ana rusnea ior me uay window.
" Kathie, dear," said I.
Click, click, went the wires.
xnere ain t no jvainie nere. ex-
claimed a nasal voice.
"Dear mel but that gal's a pesky
"ji.atnie goner assed i. "is is
she ill ?" I peered at the person I was
addressing, and made out in the dark a
tall, spare individual in spectacles and
screw curls.
" No, she ain t ill nuther. She's ben
married.
" Married ?" I shrieked.
" Yes, married, and she's gone out to
JN eevaddy to live.
" Cousin James I 1 exclaimed.
" He warn't no cousin o' hern, man
alive. That was one o' her jokes. She
was engaged to him two years ago, and
they've kept company four years or
more.
" Heavens I She was a mere h ild,
Four years 1 You mistake."
i-suaw, now, i am t no croose.
Kathie s thirty if she's a day. Look
nhere, old gentleman, you needn t to
leel bad, lor you am t the only one
taken in. There's ben loads inquirin'
ior Kathie, and l ve ben called " dear
est " and " sweetest " ever so often.
You see she didn't expect to be off so
soon, but 1 m glad she s gone, I m sure.
for now we shall Bee work in this office
if I ain t greatly mistook."
X retired in disgust, listening a
went to the familiar click, click of the
wires, which seemed to-night to possess
a nendisn sound.
I never glance toward the bay win
dow now, carefully avoiding it on every
occasion, l even complain if it as an
unnecessary ornamentation to our un
pretentious country depot.
1 nave given more stag parties than
usual lately, and am gaining immensely
in popular favor that is with the men.
especially the Benedicts ; but as for the
women, bless you I 1 avoid them as I
would the plague I
Poisoned by Lead.
At Lennoxtown, in Scotland, recent
ly, a lady's death was caused by lead
poison contained in soda water. She
ad been in delicate health, and had
been in consequence ordered to drink
freely of soda water. She did so, and
shortly afterward manifested all the
symptoms that would attach to a pa
tient suffering the effects of poison,
Suspicion eventually fell on the soda
water. A bottle was sent for analysis
to Dr. Wallace, Ulasgow, with tee re
suit that the aerated liquid was found
to contain lead in the proportion of
lOths of a grain in a gallon. The el
feet of that is stated in the following
sentence in Dr. Wallace's report : "Or-
inary drinking water is considered
dangerous if it contains 1-10 of a grain
of lead per gallon, and some authorities
consider even 1-20 of a grain deleteri
ous to health if the water is used con-
inuously for a series of weeks or
months. In the case referred to the
patient drank this soda water fo the ex
tent of six or seven bottles daily, swal
lowing in the same time no less than
three-eighths of a grain of lead.
Gone. Colonel Congreve, the cele
brated inventor of the destructive Con
greve rocket, was a musical amateur,
and one day accompanied Mme. Yes-
tris, the greater singer, to view a monu
ment that had been erected to the mem
ory of Purcell, the composer. The
Colonel read aloud the epitaph with
good emphasis and modulation : " He
is gone to that place where alone his
harmony can be exceeded." Vestris
immediately cried out, " La, Colonel 1
the same epitaph will serve for you by
merely altering one word, thus : "He
is gone to that place where alone his
fireworks can be exceeded."
That house is no home which has a
grumbling father, a scolding mother, a
dissipated son, a lazy daughter, and a
bad-tempered child. It may be built
of marble, surrounded by garden, park
and fountain ; carpets of extravagant
costliness may spread its floors ; pic
tures of rarest merit may adorn its
walls ; its tables may abound with
dainties the most luxurious ; its every
ordering may be complete ; but it
won't be a home."
Bayard Taylor writes from Ioeland
that he offered an Icelander a piece of
money for some small service, and the
man laughed and ran, away I
In n Bursted Balloon.
While the balloon is on the ground it
is customary to close the neck of the
machine by means of a handkerchief
tied in a slip-knot, in order to prevent
the admixture of the heavy lower
stratum of atmospheric air with the
more buoyant carburetted hydrogen in
side the balloon. Directly the balloon
ascends the prudent aeronaut slips of
the handkerchief. Our aeronaut did
no such thing. The assistant may have
been unaware that the thing eught to
be done. He cried out gleefully that
we had risen to the altitude of one mile
that we were just over Fulham
Church, and that we were about to oross
the Thames. Just then I heard a sharp
crackling report, probably like that of
a mnsket-shot, above my head. The
balloon had burst. It could scarcely.
under the circumstances, have done
anything but burst. The gas in the
machine had become rarefied, and had
rapidly expanded. It could not escape
from abovo, the valve was closed ; it
could not escape from below, the neck
was closed. So it went to smash, just
as an inflated and air-tight bag of paper
goes to smash between the palms of a
Bchoolboy's hands. So we fell, as
stone falls, lialt a mile. When we as
cended it had appeared to me that the
earth was sinking beneath us. Now
the globe fields, houses, lamp-posts,
chimney-pots seemed to be rushing
up to us with literally inconceivable
rapidity. There was in particular one
tall church steeple, which, by the celen
ty of its approach, appeared to be hor
ribly anxious that I should be impaled
on its apex. It could not have beeu
Fulham Church ; but whatever and
wherever was the edifice, it was there
ruehing up at mo ; and I declare that
the grotesqueness of. the position of im
palement all legs and wings, like a
cockchafer distinctlv and visiblv oc
curred to mo. I declare also, sans
phrases, that there arose before me no
panorama of mv earlv life or of mv
Dygone acts and deeds, as bucn pano
ramas are said to have arisen before the
eyes of persons rescued at the very last
instant from hanging or drowning.
Yet I do plainly and literally remember
several things : that I heard a voice cry
witn an oatn, "juet go i" and "Cut I
cut !" and that a knife was thrust into
my hand : and it seemed afterwards that
the assistant and I had pitched out all
the ballast in the balloon bags and all
and that 1 had cut away the grapnel
or ancnor irom the side of the car.
That I had done so was plain from two
of my fingers being jagged across by
tne unite. What becamo of the grap
nel we never knew ; but if it had fallen
in a populous street it would in all
probability havo killed somebody. The
neavy bags of ballast, too, must have
fullen like stones. Meanwhile the
term is well-nigh inappropriate, since
mere was scarcely any "while to be
mean the aeronaut, who looked like
a sailor, had not lost his presence of
mind and not been idle. He saw at a
glance, this brave little old man al-
tnough he had been forgetful in the
matter of the slip-knotted handkerchief
wherein our single chance of safety
lay. ue jumped out into me shrouds
of the balloon ; cut the cords which at
tached the neck of the machine to the
hoop : and away to the very top of the
netting flew the whole of the exhausted
silk body of the sausaae. Then it
formed a cupola of the approved um
brella pattern it formed a narachute !
It steadied instantlv. There was no
collapse, and down we came swiftly but
easily, in a slanting direction, alighting
among the cabbages in a market-garden,
Fulham Fields. George Augustus
The Canada Thistle in Missouri,
The foothold which this formidable
weed to farmers is getting in Mis
souri, ought to attract attention. In
England, the thistle ia held to be so
noxious, as to be a common enemv to
the whole population. No farmer.
undowner, or gentleman will pass one
growing on the roadside without stop
ping to cut it down with his pocket
knife ; and it is the habit in some com
munities for landowners to carrv a
pocketful of salt, with which to salt
the fresh stump, as an additional se
curity against its sprouting up again.
Even cutting and salting, however.does
not always destroy the life ol the stub
born plant ; and the only sure method
of extermination is to dig up each plant,
dry it in the sun and burn it. Plowing
under scarcely makesany impression on
it is generally said amongst farm-
era, that a lodgement of the Canadian
thistle on a farm, impairs its; value to
the extent of five dollars per acre.
Five years ago it was comparatively un
known in Missouri, but now its purple
heads and thorny leaves can be fre
quently seen along the railroads,
whence it is generally creeping into the
adjacent fields. When the seeds are
ripe in the fall, they are borne abroad
on the down which supports them, and
scattered far and wide. If the plant is
to be kept down it is too late now to
keep it out relentless war will have to
be waged against it. not onlv bv land
owners, but by county courts, and even
by the State. The legislature ought to
enact a law, requiring railroad com
panies to keep the margin of their
road clear of it ; county courts ought
to pass orders, instructing road over
seers to out down or rip np all the
plants along the publio highway once a
year; and farmers and landowners
ought to carry the same prooess into
their fields.
Crazy from Wealth..
A singular case of suicide recentlv
occurred in Gessenay, near Berne, in
Switzerland. The man, who killed
himself, had by immense efforts, in
which be was seconded by his wife,
who was even more avaricious than
himself, succeeded in amassing a con
siderable sum of money. Not long ago
he was informed that a legacy of ?5,000
francs had been left him. This piece
of fortune gave him the mvrtal blow, a
profound melanoholy seized him, and
ha fear of death from hunger haunted
hi aa day and night. To avoid this fear
ful prospect, he stealthily left his house.
went into the neighboring forest, and
hung himself to a pine branch. He
left 100,000 franos.
The Wild Sheep of California.
I have been greatly interested in
studvintr their habits during the last
four years, while engaged in the work
of exploring these high regions. In
sprinor and summer, the males form
separate hands. Thuy are usually met
in small noons, numbering from three
to twenty, feeding along the edges of
glacier meadows or resting among the
castle-like crags of lofty summits : and,
whether feeding or resting, or soaling
wild cliffs for pleasure, their noble
forms, the very embodiment of muscu
lar beanty, never fail to strike the be
holder with liveliest admiration. Their
resting places seem to be chosen with
reference to sunshine and a wide out
look, and, most of all, to safety from
the attacks of wolves. Their feeding
grounds are among the most beautiful
of the wild Sierra gardens, bright with
daisies and gentians and mats of
blooming shrubs.
These are hidden away high on the
sides of rough canons, where light is
abundant, or down in the valleys, along
lak3 borders and stream banks, where
the plushy turf is greenest and the
purple heather grows. Sweet grasses
also grow in these nappy Alpine gar
dens, but the wild Bheep eats little be
sides the ppicy leaves and shoots of the
various shrubs and bushes, perhaps
reiishiuz both their taste and beautv.
although tame men are slow to suspect
wild Bhoep of seeing more thau grass.
When winter storms fall, decking their
cummer pastures in the lavish bloom of
snow. then, like blue birds and robins.
our brave sheep gather and go to warm
er climates, usually descending the
eastern flank of the range to the narrow
birch-filled gorges that open into the
sage plains, where snow never falls to
any great depth, the elevation above
the sea being about from 5,000 to 7,000
fee. Here they sojourn until spring
sunshine unlocks the canons and
warms the pastures of their glorious
Alps.
In the months of June and July they
bring forth their young, in the most
solitary and inaccessible crags, far
above the nest of the eagle. I have
frequently come upon the beds of the
ewes and lambs at an elevation of from
12,000 to 13,000 feet above sea level.
These beds consist simply of an oval
shaped hollow, pawed ut among loose
disintegrating rock chips and sand,
upon some sunny spot commanding a
good outlook, and partially sheltered
from the winds that sweep passionately
across those lofty crags almost without
intermission. Such is the cradle of tho
little mountaineer, aloft in the sky,
rooked in storms, curtained in clouds,
sleeping in thin, icy air ; but, wrapped
in his hairy coat, nourished by a warnl,
strong mother, defended from the tal
ons of the eagle and teeth of the sly
cayote, the bonnie lamb grows apace.
He learns to nibble the purple dais-y
and leaves of the white spirsea, his
horns begin to shoot, and ere summer
is done he is strong and agile, and goes
forth with the flock, shepherded by the
same divine love that tends the more
hopeless human lamb in its warm cra
dle by the fireside. Overland Monthly.
Blowing It Out.
Judge Pitman's chimney has been
foul for some time, and when he men
tioned the fact at the drug store. Mr.
Squills said he could easily clean it out
by exploding a little powder in the fire
place. The idea seemed to Pitman to
be a good one, and lie bought almost
ten pounds of powder in order to do
the work thoroughly at the hrst blast.
The men were busy gravelling his roof
that day, and just as the Judge was
about to touch off the charge, a work
man named Snyder, leaned over the
top of the chimney to call to the man
be! ow to send up more tar. Then the
Judge lit the slow match. The view
which met the eye of Mr. Snyder as he
went up was a fine one, embracing as it
did, Cape May and Omaha and Constan
tinople and Baltimore aud the Sand
which Islands, and when he got enough
of drinking in the scenery, he came
down in the river, apparently with the
intention of exploring the bottom.
When he was fished out he was glad to
learn, not only that the Judge's chimney
was thoroughly clean, but that it would
need about four cart loads of bricks to
repair damages. After this the Judge
will clean his flues with a brush fasten
ed to a clothes prop.
Imparting Disease.
It is not rften that dogs are instru
mental in the spreading of small-pox,
but an instance showing how the dread
ed disease was imparted in this manner
has just come to light at Yonkers, N,
Y. Not many hours subsequent to the
death of a man named Van Orden from
the loathsome malady indicated, and
which occurred in that city a few days
since, a neighbor's dog found its way
to the bed from which the corpse had
been removed, and indulged in a roll
on the covering. On returning home
the brute was fondled by its mistress,
the result being that she soon after
wards developed unmistakable symp
toms of the contagion. The infectious
dog was then summarily shot, and the
patient has since recovered. Another
illustration of the facility with which
the pestilential disorder can be trans
mitted may be cited in connection with
the same case. It seems that the wife
of Van Orden, fearing that the health
officer would order the clothing worn
by her deceased husband to be burned,
concealed a bundle of it in the house of
a friend, and as a consequence the lat
ter was attacked with a mild type of
small-pox, which ultimately yielded,
however, to prompt medical treatment.
" My father was a farmer berore me,
and I thank God that I am a farmer
born." Such was the soft soap with
whioh a well-known Western lawyer ex
pected Ito soothe the Grangers with on
the occasion of meeting them just be
fore an eleotion. It reminded a speaker
of the Illinois orator who addressed a
rural audience : " Gentlemen," said
he, " I am proud to be one of you. My
father was a farmer, and I am a farm
er born. Yea, I may truly say I was
born between two rows of corn." At
this junotuie a tipsy agriculturist at
the further part of the house hicoough
ed out : "A thiol pumpkin, bv thun
der I',
A LOYE STORY.
Mlnlnterlng to Rick Soldleri Beneficial
Effect! of Chicken Soup.
We were sitting in our room at the
Glades Hotel, in Oakland, Md., one
day, says Don Piatt, with a charming
lady who had dropped in on a visit.
Ono of our windows looked into that of
another room so placed by the projec
tion of the main building that half of
its interior oould be seen. We were
looking at and admiring a little chubby,
blue-eyed two year-old, white as snow,
who was pulling a bouquet to pieoes
and toBsing out the fragments, or clap
ping her little hands with delight as a
train went thundering by.
" These rooms," said our fair visitor,
"have some very tender associations for
me."
"Why so ?" we asked.
" Well," she answered, " during the
war the greater part of the hotel was
seized by the Government as a hospital,
and we were crowded into a few rooms.
My sister and I had this. In that room
where that little beauty is were two
Union officers, one sick of the fever and
the other of a wound. It was hard to
tell whether they were slowly dying or
slowly getting well. I never saw such
ghastly skeletons to be alive. We were
'secesh,' and not modest about it either,
but still our hearts ached f or the poor
young men, so ill, perhaps dying, so far
from friends and relatives."
" It bothers one to know how this
should be a hospital," we said, " it is
so far removed from active opera
tions.
"It was thought," she answered,
" that the mountain air of the glades
would be more favorable to reooverv
than elsewhere, so this was made a hos
pital. One day one of these officers
dragged himself to the window, and
under the impulse of the moment my
sister asked if we could do anything
for them, and he answered, gasping for
breath, that a little chicken soup would
save their lives. Chickens were rare in
those days an army is hard on poul
try. The men will work all night, after
marching during the day, to secure a
few chickens ; so that while the hos
pital nurses and physicians had an un
limited supply of actual luxuries in the
way of wines, potted meats and canned
vegetables, they were without anything
iresn.
" We knew where a few chickens were
hid in a collar, by a neighbor, and we
coaxed one out of tho owner, and after
a deal of vexatious trouble for at every
turn we were met by a fixed bayonet
and an insult we cot the soup readv.
and as the guard in the hall would not
permit us to approach our patients, my
sister attempted to hand the bowl to
the officer in the window. Just as he
was feebly reaching for it, and she
stretching herself half out to give it to
him, a harsh, ugly voice below cried
aloud. Look out there poison.' She
nearly dropped herself, soup and all.
Drawing back, she hesitated for a sec
ond, and then she took the spoon and
began eating the broth. ' Oh ! bother 1'
cried the officer, don't waste it that
way l m not afraid : and sa she eave
him the soup. It seemed to revive
them, and they continued steadily to
improve, as day after day we supplied
them with chicken broth until the cel
lar was empty. During this time we
sat at the window talking, and we sang
to tnem sang sly Maryland, and all
the Southern songs we knew, until thev
were well enough to leave the hospital
and return to duty. They both seemed
sorry to go, and forced on us a quanti
ty of hospital stores and some coffee,
wnicn last we needed Badly. Then one
gave a ring, and the other a brooch, as
tokens of their kind feelings."
" And did they never return ?
" One did not, for, poor fellow, he
was killed in the very next battle in
which he was engaged. His companion
wrote us about it. and the writer insist
ed upon opening a correspondence with
my sister ; and soon nis letters grew
into love letters, and after a time they
were engaged. Nearly a year subse
quent to this, our patient got leave of
absence, and came on to be married.
tie put up at a hotel, and. will von be-
lieve it, our own brother, who was in
tue uonfederate service, and knew
nothing of my sister's affair, led a band
of guerrillas at night into town and
captured his intended brother-in-law
from his bed. This not only deferred
the marriage, but deprived the young
xuiuwr ui uis pruiuouou, mac
had been promised for gallant services
in the field. It was really aggravating,
for exchanges had almost ceased, and
it looked as if the lovers would have to
wait until this cruel war was over ' be
fore they could be united. Procuring
passes, we went through the lines and
appealed to Jeff Davis. Jeff said he
would put my brother's prisoner in his
sister's keeping. They have been hap
pily married these many years. He is
brevet brigadier-general now, and it all
came of our nursing the enemy in that
room."
His Patience Explained.
I have heard the story of an incident
at one of the Richmond hotels, which
made me laugh, although all readers
may not see anything funny about it.
A Boston man and two Virginians sat
at the same table. The Boston man
was shocked to hear the Virginians
call the colored waiter "a black rascal"
and "nigger." Sure, he thought, the
spirit of slavery is strongly upon this
people. He was careful to call the
waiter "his friend." when ordering
dishes, and to speak to him in the
kindest and most polite manner. Not
withstanding his honey speeches and
bland smiles, he noticed that the waiter
brought the Virginians altogether the
best dinner.
When the Virginians left the table,
the sympathetic, but rather poorly-fed,
Boston man, hastened to get the ear of
the waiter. "Here were those two
men, who insulted you and swore at
you, and talked rough, yet you brought
them a much better dinner than me,
who spoke to you most kindly and
politely; how is this?" "Well," re
plied the Afrioan, as he cast a sly
glance around, and wiped the perspira
tion from his forehead with the corner
of a napkin. " I know these men talk
sorter rough like, but they gives me
money, and you don't 1" The Boston
man retired with a slight feeling of disgust.
A Hundred Dollar Outfit.
If a girl has but a hundred dollars to
get herself a wedding outfit she should
buy a white muslin if it is summer, a
white alpaca if it is winter, and make
it herself. Then she should manage
out of her money one good black silk,
at two dollars per yard, or an alpaca at
seventy-five cents per yard, a linen or
brege suit, a striped polonaise, and
blaok silk skirt and two cambrics ; or
for winter one dark English print and
one delaine. Of course, if the black
silk is achieved the black silk skirt is
omitted, and the striped polonaise may
or may not staud in the place of the
more useful alpaca.
The possibilities all depend upon the
cleverness of the girl, her faculty for
making a little go a great way, and put
ting her own intelligence, her own
ideas, and her own fingers' to use.
If she is very smart she ought to
have twenty-five dollars left for a hat
(straw or felt), shoes, gloves, and out
side garment underwear having been
previously made by her own hands.
it used to be considered disgraceful
for a girl not to have a handsome stock
of uuderclothtng, neatly stitohed and
embroidered by her own deft fingers,
and there is no excuse for it now. It is
easily obtained piece by pieoe, is in
finitely more satisfactory than machine
made and store bought, and is valuable
as giving her an experience in indus
trial art.
Five hundred dollars is the average
spent on bridal outfits, and those who
think that a large sum must remem
ber that the whole of it would not pay
for many a wedding dress, or for any
one out of dozens of articles which go
to form " fashionable " bridal trous
seaux. A velvet cloak or a lace shawl
might easily cost as much, and an ele
gant India scarf (an indispensable)
twice that sum; so that prospective
brides who have made up their minds
that five hundred dollars will buy
"everything " must be prepared to de
cide between what they want and what
they decide to get, and not sacrifice too
much to point lace, which is only fit for
a dowager, and a train which has to be
out off at the third time of wearing.
If a sensible girl is going to settls
down . into a plain farmer's wife, and
does not want a white dress at all, has
no use for it and does not know that
she ever shall have, she should provide
herself with a nice gray or wood-brown
all wool suit or poplin if she prefers
and can afford au Irish poplin have
hat and gloves to match, and white
silk or crepe necktie, with a sprig of
orange blossom in it instead of a
brooch. This will be tasteful enough
for the most fastidious if it is well
made, and useful and economical
enough for the most saving.
A Iiattlesnake Story.
If it will not fatigue you, I will tell
you a snake scene of the olden time,
said an old Tennessean. A neighbor
with a wife and one child built his
cabin on a fiat rock among the cliffs.
The rock furnished him with a substan
tial floor, impervious to floods but not
to snakes. Upon this rock Peter built
his cabin : his winter fires were built
in the centre of the house ; the chim
ney stack of rocks and mud protruded
through the roof and carried off the
smoke. The fires being kept during
the winter upon this floor, early in the
spring thawed the snakes. He and his
wife and child occupied their only bed
in a corner, elevated some two feet
from the rock. Just before day he was
awakened by the crawling of snakes
over the bed, and their hissing all over
the house. He soon became satisfied
that his cabin was infested with snakes.
It was dangerous to attempt to walk
aoross the rock floor to the door, as he
could not avoid being enveloped by
snakes, so he whispered to his wife to
cover up her head and that of the child
with the bedclothes, and hold them
down, and remain in that condition
until his return, as he was going to es
cape through the roof of the house and
bring her relief by morning. He thus
escaped, and alarmed the neighbors,
who assembled at the break of day,
with guns and ropes. They examined
the situation and found that the floor
and bed were covered with snakes.
They got to the roof, made an opening,
let down ropes that had "running
nooses," and after great care and diffi
culty they were placed under the arms
of his wife, and she, holding to her
child, they were safely drawn up, and
thus saved from destruction.
The rattlesnakes herd together and
lie dormant under the rocks and cliffs,
and this rock happened to be their win
ter headquarters, and being thawed by
the tire that night, took np their line of
march. There were upward of a hun
dred slain that morning, and found
among the embers of the burned cabin.
I do not know how it is now, but I
know that sixty years ago this was an
awful snake country. But I suppose
that tho snake, like the bear, the pan
ther, wolf, and Indian, has retired be
fore the approach of civilization, and is
now seldom seen.
Xlght Work.
"Aye maister," said a Cornish miner
in Colorado, " it be true a hard loife,
but we nns are brought up to it like,
and begout the danger we'll enjie it
some loike o' you the air 'bout you.
Aye, it be, maister, dark, but don't
think'ee we cawn't tell 'e day from
noight. Aye, can we, and make a
moighty differ atween 'e noight and
day. No man can sleep 'e same in the
day as noight ; he cawn't fix it up no
how, an' we do know when noight oome
on to e' minute, when e' sun go down.
But worst o' all be what we nns calls e'
dyin' hour o' the night ; its fro three
or four o' momin'. There'e best o' nns
gins 'e hammer a slight pop an' feels
his strength a goin'." Experience in
the mines proves that curious fact that
there is a "dying hour" between three
and four o'clock in the morning ; and
though one would think day and night
the same in this Egyptian gloom, the
miners find a vast difference.
At Richmond, near London, the ants,
red and black, and without wings, have
suddenly assumed the character of a
plague.
A London Five Tolnts.
Whiteohapel, says the Danbury man,
is but one of the boundaries of a seo
tion of London of which Petticoat Lane
is the heart. It Is but a lane crooked
chough and slimy enough to be a snake.
Its entrance from Whiteohapel is ap
propriately flanked by two low rum
shops, from whose several doors escapes
a coti vivial stream that is not in the
least inviting.
I was particularly warned by friends,
newspaper articles and guide books.not
to venture within- its precincts unless
under the guardianship of a policeman.
With a feeling of almost hysterical ex
ultation, Englishmen had dwelt upon
the striking cuteness of English pick
pockets, and Petticoat Lane became
especially known to me as the place
where the stranger lost his pocket-handkerchief
at one end and found it hang
ing up for sale at the other. I thought
I should like to see my handkerchief
thus expobed for sale, and intensely
wondered who would buy it. I didn't
think I could afford to.
It was late in the afternoon when I
got into Petticoat Lane, and for full
three hours I kept up a ceaseless tramp
along it and through the narrow and
noisome alleys and courts leading out
of it.
There were seoond-hand shops in
abundance, meat stalls and groceries iu
every direction. The lane itself had
about eight feet of roadway, and from
a foot to two feet of sidewalk.
There were bloated women and one
eyed men, and deformed children, and
repulsive dwarfs among the dirty horde
who lounged on the walks or loitered in
the streets. A striking peculiarity of
the tenements was in the size but few
of them exoeeding two stories in
height. There were no half-dozen
flights of crazy stairs to climb or fall
down. No fourth, fifth, or sixth story
window to topple out of and injure the
pavement.
The houses were of brick, defaced by
age and dirt, and the first floors to all
of them were either on a level with the
street, or a foot or so below it. There
were an abundance of courts and alleys
adjoining, and in them the pedestrian
found much difficulty in making his
way. Some of the alleys were so nar
row that four people could not walk
through them abreast, and when their
smallness was considered, it was really
wonderful the amount of stench they
contained.
I found boys and girls here in the
full enjoyment of happiness, nnd acting
dreadfully natural. It brought the
tears to my. eyes to see seventy-five of
them helping to raise a kite to the un
bounded exasperation of the boy who
had hold of the string, and when a half
dozen of them came rushing by me
with a dead cat attached to a cord, I
felt too full to breathe. And I took
every care not to breathe until they got
by.
Petticoat Lane is the home of the
costermongers whom we meet in the
more respectable thoroughfares at all
hours of the day and night.
But it is of a Sunday that Petticoat
Lano shines forth in its happiest light.
At the hour of noon on that day it is
the busiest. All the shops are the
busiest ; the costermongers fill the road
ways ; and those who feel that they ha70
received a call to go into business, un-
aocompanied by sufficient cash to rent
a store or buy a cart, plank down their
stock on the narrow strip of pavement
which forms the sidewalk, and sing out
the attractions and advantages of their
goods at a lively rate. Tho people in
their holiday attire, consisting princi
pally of a breastpin, flock about and
among the venders, bickering about the
prices, chaffing each other, and getting
in everybody's way. 1 don't under
stand, really, why this neighborhood,
so abounding in elements of vice and
contention, is yet so free from distur
bances. In my three hours among its
lanes and courts I saw neither a row
nor a policeman. Of course, at home,
I should not expect to see both of them
at once. Perhaps it is beoause the po
lice here are so efficient that their sim
ple reputation is enough without their
presence to keep down the turbulent
mass.
And the simple secret of their suocess
is that they have the full respect and
sympathy of all respectable people, and .
thus backed up, are almost omnipotent
in maintaining order.
A Startling Crime.
The crime perpetrated near Henry
villo, Ind., says the New York World,
was one of the most horrible that a set
of blood-thirsty criminals could con
ceive. The victim, August Gardner,
appears to have been a perfectly peace
able man. In very straitened circum
stances, with only $5 in his pocket, he
was, according to his statement made
just before dying, walking to Louis
ville, where he hoped to get employ
ment. The three wretches who over
took him, after robbing him of the lit
tle money he had, tied him to the rail
road track to be run over and killed by
the cars. Was not the man drunk
and asleep on the track ? and did he not
invent the horrible story to excuse his
own fault and create sympathy ? are
questions which at once suggest them
selves, and they were the first ones put
to the dying man by the physician who
went to attend him. But on inspecting
the track at the spot where the man
said he was laid, the ropes were found
still tied fast to the cattle-guards, the
ends that were fastened around the rail
having been cut off by the wheels as
they passed over. The crime was per
petrated in the middle of the dark,
rainy night, and the victim lay bound
to the rail for half an hour, struggling
and shouting for help before he "heard
the cars whistle." Then he lay still and
" shut his eyes." His left leg was cut
off, the train passing over the rest of
his body without crushing it. When
a crime so hideous as this is committed
it seems as if the populace should not
wait for the regular authorities to hunt
down the perpetrators. Every man in
the country should come to the help of
the officers of the law,
A Chicago gentleman has sued the
Times of that city for $100,000 damage
to his character. The Timet asks him
to knock off the cyphers, take a dollar,
and call it square.
L.