I , Two Dollars per Annum. HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher NIX. DESPERANDUM, VOL. IV, WDGrWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1874. NO. 40. Wmt The Old Lore. In Tain mou tell ns time can alter Old lovea or make old memories falter, That with the old year the old year's life closes, Jho old dew still falls by the old sweet flowers, The old sun revives the new-fledged hours, The old summer rears the new-born roses. Much more a muse that bears npon her Itaimcnt and wreath and flower of honor, Gathered long wince and long sinoe woven, Fades not or falls as fall the vernal, Dlonsoms that bear no fruit eternal, By summer r winter charred or cloven. .No time casts down, no time upraises, Buch loves, such memories, and such praises, A.S need no grace of eun or Bbower, No saving screen from frost or thunder, To tend and hoiuie around and under The imperishable and peerless flowor. Old thanks, old thoughts, old aspirations, Outlive men's lives and lives of nations, Dead, but for ouo thing Vlnch survives The inalienable and n,ricod treasure, The old joy of powe, tu0 0& priQ0 o( peas. uro, That livos in light above men's lives. A. C. 8wu.bui.---. WHO WAS THE HEKO ? A Story for the Chll.lren. ' Wnsu't he a hero, papa ?" "Who, my boy Napoleon ?" asked "Mr. Wills, looking up from hi8 news paper. ' No, papa ; Tom Flowers," answered Henry. " Why, what has Tom Flowers done to earn that distinction?" asked the gentlemau. " Why, he took Arthur Baymond's part iri the fight yesterday with Chub, and Chub is ever so much bigger than hiir.." " But I thought fighting was forbid den at school now, Hariy," said tho gentleman. His son looked down and colored slightly. " So it is, papa," he said ; ' but boys can't get on without fighting." "Indeed, said the gentleman, dry ly; "Iwoinot aware they were such quarrelsomo animals." "Now, papa, yon are laughing at me," said Harry. " But if a fellow calls yon. names, what are you to do ?" " Strike him, I suppose, according to your theory," said Mr. Wilis. " Yes, there's nothing else you can rflo, unless you want to be called a cow ard," paid Henry ; " and I do hate cow ards," he added. ' I wish Arthur had vjot walked off, instead of fighting Chub, yesterdny. He'll be sent to Gov fcry for it, I know." " Then Arthur Raymond thinks it possible for boys to live without fight ing, I suppose," said the gentleman. " Well, you see, papa, fighting has been forbidden since that affair of Mar gin's," Baid Henry ; " and Baymond said ho wouldn't break the rnles. It is very cowardly of him, for we were not in the playground or near tho school at all." "What had C':ub done to Arthur that your code of honor demanded they should light ?" asked Mr. Wills. " Ho called him a liar, and Arthur ought to have knocked him down directly. He could have done it easily; but instead of that, he merely said he could prove to all the school that he had spoken truthfully." " And did he do so ?" asked his papa. " He will bung the proof to-morrow morning ; but of course the fellows won't notice it, for they've agreed to send him to Coventry for being such a coward. " " And does Raymond know this ?" " Oh ? yes, papa. We told him what we should do if he refused to fight ; but he stuck to it that it was not right to break the rules and walked off, and then Tom Flowers pitched into Chub lor his impudence, just to redeem the honor of the school, which Baymond had disgraced." " Disgraced do you call it? Well, I think that lad is an honor to the school," said Mr. Wills. " Oh, papa !" exclaimed Henry. "I mean what I say. I call him a true hero, "said the gentleman, warmly. " But, papa, all the boys said it was bo cowardly of him not to fight Chub." " But you say he was not afraid of Chub could have beat him easily, and yet he braved goiDg against the publio opinion of the whole school rather than break the rules." "Then you don't think ho was a coward, papa," said Henry ; " and you 1 1 not think he ought to be sent to C -ventiy, I suppose? " I hope, my boy, you will be brave enough to stand by him, though all tho rest should carry out their threat," said Mr. Wills. " To stand by those who have dared to do what is right, in epite of all opposition, is true bravery ; and I hope you, Harry, will be a hero of this type. It will be far more dif ficult, I dare say, than to act the part of Tom Flowers." For some time after Lis father left him Harry sat thinking over what had been said, and at length he resolved to stand by his friend ; but he did not know how difficult this would be until he tried it the nest day. As he was going to school the next morning Tom Flowers overtook him. He was full of self-glorification, telling what had taken place the night before, and that the school's honor had been ' trampled in the dust by Baymond's cowardice. Harry wanted to say some thing in defense of his friend some thing of what his father had said the night before, but somehow he could not. But when Baymond came in sight and the rest of the boys rather pointedly turned away, he went and met him. Have you brought the proof you said you would ?" asked Harry, want ing to say something. Yes, I have it in my pocket," said Baymond ; but he colored and sighed as he spoke, for two other boys had passed and taken no notioe of him. It was not easy to bear this silent con tempt of his school-fellows, although he was upheld by the consciousness of having done right. " Harry, you'd better join the rest," he said, a little bitterly. Thoy mean to send me to Coventry, I can see." " Are you sorry you did not pitch into Chub?" asked Harry. "You might do it, you know. Even now you could walk up to him, show him the proof, and then punch him. You're not afraid of him, are youl You're stronger than Flowers." "No, lam not afraid of him," said Baymond ; " but I'm not going to fight when it's against the rule ; it isn't right. If I get the opportunity, I'll let them see I'm not a coward, but it won't be by fighting." By tliis time they had reached the school and went in j but Harry received several threatening glances from his companions as he passed to his place. During school-time the quarrel was not mentioned : but no sooner had they got '.ico the playground than Harry was overwhelmed with reproaches. " What business had you to speak to Raymond ?" said one. " You're just such another sneak as he is," said one. " If you talk to him again we'll send you to Coventry as well, said a third. And this threat was taken up and echoed by b11 the rest. Harry had never yet been treated to this punishment, and was by no means inclined to covet it, especially when he glanced across the playground and saw Raymond sitting by himself with a book in his hand. To be shut out of all the games and be quite unnoticed was very hard to bear ; but he remembered his father's words, and, moreover, he could not help admiring Uaymond s action, although it brought no glory, but a great deal of annoyance. So he said, boldly, " Now look here. Raymond isn t a coward, as you make out. My father says it was brave of him to stick out and do the right ; and I'll stand by him, though you do send me to Coventry." If a bomb-shell had suddenly ex ploded in the midst of them, the boys could scarcely have looked more aston ished. " Wills is sure to do as we tell him," had been the universal belief un til now ; and that he should suddenly laro their greatest punishment was al most past belief. They thought they sould tease and worry him into compli ance with their wishes ; but in this they were mistaken. Harry had begun to think for him- .elf, and he lound that his com oanions' opinion of things was not al ways to be relied upon ; and, seeing what was right, ho determined to act upon it. " Raymond is no coward, he repeated, "and I shall stand by him. " Oh ! let him go," said one, in a tore of assumed disgust. " J? lowers is our hero. Ho will keep up the honorof the school." Flowers was not likely to forget his heroship or let others forget it either. He hectored everybody, and on tho slightest provocation threatened to fight, and still managed to keep up the ill feeling against Baymond, whose quarrel he had espoused. He and Harry were quite unnoticed out of sohooi, and very uncomfortable they found it, Public opinion is slow to change among boys, especially in a case of cowardice and hero-worship ; and their present hero. Flowers, was by no means willing to resign his place, although some of the boys could not but respect the way in whioh Harry and Baymond be haved, and were more than half con vinced that they were in the right, if they had only been courageous enough to own it. But ono day, as the old sore subject was again being discussed, on their way home from school, they saw a horse come tearing down the road, while just below a group of children were slowly crossing, under the escort of an old deaf woman. " Oh 1 the children I" gasped Harry. " Flowers, you are used to horses," shouted two or three. But Flowers drew back, pale with alarm at the thought of exposing himself to real danger. At the same moment Ray. mond threw down his books and dashed forward into the road just in time to catch the horse's bridle as he passed, He was draareed forward almost help less for nearly a dozen yards, but he still kept his hold, and at last managed to stop the horse and save me cnuuren. His companions were frightened when thev saw his dancer : but when the horse was stopped they raised a tre mendous cheer and eagerly pressed around him, ail their former feeling nuito foreotton. " ltavmond. lorgive us, saia one : " we've been making a great blunder all this time in saying you were a coward." " I'm sure we ought all to be ashamed of ourselves, for no one spoke up for you but Harry wills," said another, holding out his hand. itarrv looked most triumpnani, "Now who is the hero." he asked, "Flowers, who did the fighting, or Raymond, who did the. right, both in keeping the rules and saving the children ?" The boys were well pleased to change their heroes, many 01 mem cuangeu their opinions, too, and Harry was al most as highly thought of as Raymond himself, for standing by mm wnen an the rest declared him a coward ; and, from that day, to hold to the right in the face of all opposition became the settled principle 01 many in the school, Sine Hours in a Cistern. A little two-year-old child of Mr. W. Calhoun, living two and a half miles north of Decatur, III. fell into a cis tern, and the mother, who happened to i i i i.u .i . : see me cniiu iau, jiuupeu m uwr ., Mr. Calhoun, who is dealing in stock was away from home at the time of the accident, and there was no one on the place, and Mrs. Calhoun, being unable to set out. was compelled to stand in the water, waist deep, from 8 o'clook in the morning until 5 in the evening. The unfortunate woman probably would have had to spend the night in that distressing condition, where, no doubt. she and her child would have perished before morning, if, by her screams, she had not attracted the attention of some children who were returning from school. The school children heard her cries for help, but it was some time be fore they discovered and rescued the almost exhausted lady. AT BEECHElt'S ISLAND. A Thrilling Account of an Indian Kn- gaRement In 1908. Gen. Custer. In his "Life on the Plains," relates many thrilling .inci dents. Among these may be reck oned the fight of Beecher's Island, in September, 1868, by General Forsyth, in command of a company of fifty fron tiersmen, out after a band of Cheyennes on the war-path. Encamping one night on the Arickaree river, they found themselves surrounded by Indians in full war-paint coming upon them with exultant whoops. Fleeing to an island the men tied their animals in the center, formed a line around them, and pre pared to sell their lives as dearly as possible. The hre from the Indians, who were 900 strong, and armed with the best Spencer and Henry nlles, was so galling the men could not return it. Soon every horse was killed, and Gen eral Forsyth himself twice Wounded. Perceiving their success, women and children gathered npon the hills chant ing war-songs, the medicine-men went around encouraging the young braves, and the savages under Boman Nose formed in line and prepared to sur round the island. eeing that the little garrison was stunned by the heavy fire of the dis mounted Indians, and rightly judging that now, if ever, was the proper time to charge them, Boman Nose and his band of mounted warriors, with a wild, ringing war-whoop, echoed by the women and children on the hills, start ed forward. On they came, presenting to the brave men who awaited the charge a most superb sight. Brand ishing their guns, echoing back the cries of encouragement of the women and children on the surrounding hills, and confident of victory, they rode bravely and recklessly to the assault. Soon they were within range of the rifles of their friends, and, of course, the dismounted Indians had to slacken their fire for fear of hitting their own warriors. This was the opportunity for tho scouts, and they were not Blow o siezo upon it. "Now! shouted Forsyth. " Now !" echoed Beecher, McCall. and Urover, and the scouts, springing to their Knees and casting their eyes coolly along the barrels of their rines, opened on the advancing savages as deadly a lire as the same number of men ever yet sent forth from an equal number of rifles. Unchecked, undaunted, on dashed the warriors ; steadily rang the clear, sharp reports of the rifles of frontiers men. Roman .Nose, the chief, is seen to fall dead from his horse ; then Medi cine Man is killed, and for an instant the column of braves, now within ten feet of tho scouts, hesitates falters. A ringing cheer from the scouts, who perceive the eneot of their well-directed fire, and the Indians begin to break and scatter in every direction, unwill ing to rush to a hand-to-hand with the men who, outnumbered, yet know how to make such enective use of their rifles. A few more shots from the frontiersmen, and the Indians are forced back beyond range, and their first attack ends in defeat. Forsyth turns to Urover and anxiously inquires Can they do better than that, Urover ? " 1 have been on the Plains, (ieneral, since a Doy and never saw such a charge as that before. I think they have done their level best," was the reply. "All right," says Sands, Then we are good for them. Though repulsed, the fire was kept up by the Indians, and night found General Forsyth, with his trusted lieu tenant Beecher dead by his side, his surgeon Morus mortally wounded, and out of fifty -one men twenty-three killed aud wounded, his supplies exhausted, his medicine stores captured and his command one hundred and ten miles from the nearest post. Two men were sent out under the cover of night for reinforcements ; in the morning' the light was resumed, and on the third day, after trying to accomplish by stratagem what they failed to do by open warfare, the main body of the Indians withdrew. In the meantime the besieged men, having only horse flesh for food, managed to protect themselves and look to the wounded By the sixth day they were reduced to eating the putrid flesh of the de composing horses, which they tried to render more palatable by rubbing with gunpowder, and the wounds of tho men became infested by maggots and showed gangrene. The situation was desperate. On the morning of the next day the dark cloud on the horizon dissolved into reinforcements ; the strong men shouted, the wounded lifted their fevered forms, and in their de lirium echoed their comrades' hurrahs. When Colonel Carpenter reached the island he found General Forsyth affect ing, though with indifferent success, to read an old novel found in a saddle bag, keeping up bravely his reputation for making the best of things, and tho men plucky to the last. Of this en gagement General Austin says : "In all its details, and with all its attending oircumstauces, remembering that i orsyth s party, inoluding him self, numbered, all told, but fifty-one men, and that the Indians numbered about seventeen to one, this fight was one of the most remarkable and at the same time successful contests in which our foroes on the Plains have ever been engaged ; and the whole affair, from the moment the first shot was fired un til the beleaguered party was finally re lieved by Colonel Carpenter's command, was a wonaeriui exiuuiuuu oi uariug courage, stubborn bravery, and heroio endurance under circumstances of greatest peril and exposure." A Fish Stoby.A Marine City(Mich.) paper has this pretty little flslj story : "A sunfish that had been kept in a globe for upward of a year in the family of J. McElroy appeared to be sick, so much so that it was feared the pet would die. The fish was accordingly thrown into the deep water of St. Clair river, a . month sinoe, and disappeared under the surface. A few days ago the same fish was recaptured close in shore by some boys and returned to its glass prison, evidently well pleased with its summer vacation, and glad to get back home again." Maxim Worth Knowing-. Administrators are liable to account for Interest of funds in their hands, although no profit should have been made npon them, unless the exigencies of the estate rendered it prudent that they should hold the funds uninvested. When a! house is rendered untenant able in consequence of improvements made on tho adjoining lot, the owner of such oounot recover damages, because he had knowledge of the approaching danger in time to protect himself from it. A person who has been led to sell goods by means of false pretense can not reoover them from one who has purchased them in good faith from the fraudulent vender. Permanent ereotions and fixtures, made by a mortgagee after the execu tion of the mortgage upon land con veyed by it, becomes a part of the mortgaged premises. A seller of goods, cnatteis, or otner property, commits no fraud in law when he neglects to tell the purchaser of any flaws, defects, or unsoundness in the samo. An agreement by the holder of a note to give the principal debtor time for payment, without depriving him of the right to serve, does noi uisouarge mo surety. The opinion of witnesses as to the value of a dog that has been killed, is not admissable in evidence. The value of the dog is to be decided by the jury. Money paid for the purpose of set tling or compounding a prosecution for a supposed felony, cannot be re covered back by the party paying it. A day-book copied from a "blotter" in which original charges are first made, will not be received in evidence as a bowk of original entries. A stamp impressed upon an instru ment by way of seal, is as good as a seal if it creates a durable impression in tho texture of the paper. If any person put a fence on or plows the land of another, he is liable to tres pass whether the owner has sustained injury or not. A private person may obtain an in junction to prevent a public mischief by which he is anected in common with others. If a person who is unable from illness to sign his will has his hand guided in making his mark the signature is valid. Ministers of the Gospel, residing in any corporated town, are not exempt from jury, military, or fire services. A wife cannot be convicted of re oeiving stolen goods when she received them from her husband. An agent is liable to his principals for loss caused by his misstatements, though unintentional. All cattle found at large upon the publio road can be driven by any per son to the puolic pound. No man is under obligation to make known his circumstances when he is buying goods. The lruits and grass on the farm or garden of an intestate dessend to the heir. Money paid on Sunday contracts may be recovered. The Next United States Congress. The following table is given of the status of the next or forty-fourth Uni ted States Congress. The official vote and elections to take place next spring will change the figures slightly, al though net materially : XLIIId XLirth Congress, Congress, Dim. and Htites. lnd. Rep. Alabama 3 5 Arkansas 1 3 California 1 3 Connecticut 1 3 Delaware 1 Florida 2 . Georgia 6 3 Illinois 5 14 Indiana 3 10 Iowa 9 Kansas 3 Kentucky 10 Louisiana 6 Maine 5 Maryland 4 2 M-iora'-liusettn 11 Michigau 9 Minnesota 3 M-8i.ifl-.ippi 1 5 Missouri....' 9 4 Nobraska 1 Nevada 1 New Hampshire.... 1 2 Now Jen-ey 1 6 New York 9 24 North Carolina 5 3 Ohio 7 13 Oi'ocon 1 Dem. and Inti. Ktp. 6 4 1 1 1 9 13 8 1 1 10 3 "(3 6 4 i 13 'i 1 4 18 7 13 1 15 2 9 6 '8 3 2 2 3 15 1 7 n 2 3 1 's 1 Pennsylvania....... 5 22 l.tioile Island 2 South Carolina 5 Tennessee 3 7 Texas ti Vermont 8 Virginia 4 5 West Virginia 2 1 Wisconsin 2 6 Total 91 201 178 111 What Alcohol Will Do. The Sanitarian tells what aloohol will do, thus : " It may seem strange, but it is nevertheless true, that alcohol regularly applied to a thrifty farmer's stomach will remove the boards from the fence ; let cattle into his crops ; kill his fruit trees : mortgage his farm, and sow his fields with wild oats and thistles. It will take the paint off his building, break the glass out of the windows, and fill them with rags. It will take the gloss from his clothes and polish from his manners, subdue his reason, arouse his passions, bring sor row and disgraoe upon his family, and topple him into a drunkards grave, It will do this to the artisan and the capitalist, the matron and the maiden, as well as to the farmer : for in its deadly enmity to the human race, aloo hoi is no respecter of persons. All for Lore. Six years ago, in the town of East Lyme, Conn., a man went to bed. Oth ers went to bed at the same time, but, thouerh thev occasionally get up and dress themselves, this odd charaoter doesn't. His reasons are satisfactory so far as they go. He was hurt in his heart. He was crossed in that love the course of which always did run rough, So the disappointed, broken-spirited despairing swain groans upon his pil low, writhes between the sheets, and is led by las old mother. An Important Decision. In 1872 the Third National Bank of Baltimore was robbed by burglars, who rented the adjoining building, opened a nAmmiflninn fltnre. and drilled throueh into the bank, from which they stole 80,000, a considerable portion of this being special deposits. William A. Bond & Co., customers of the bank, had some $20,000 worth of valuable seenri- ties in the safe, which were stolen. These were deposited undor special agreement as collateral security for 6 . . r r.J.li. such sums oi money as me nrm migm borrow from the bank lrom time to time. At the time the bonds were stolen the firm owed the bank nothing, When demand was made for the bonds, or their value, the bank refused to pay, on the ground that they were kept in the safe at the risk of the owners, and subject to their order, inasmuoh as they were not at that time indebted to the'bank. Suit was brought in the Su- nerior Court for the value of the seen rities. Two questions were argued, namely : were those bonds held by the bank as collateral security, or were they, at the time of the robbery merely a deposit at the ri(k of the owners ? If no other obligations rested on the bank than to use liberal diligence in guarding the special deposits, did the manner in which they were kept raise such a pre sumption of negligence as to make the bank liable ? This last proposition in volved the most exhaustive inquiry into tho mode of constructing vaults ; the comparative merits of various burglar-proof safes ; the degree of caution that should be exercised in the employ ment of night watchmen ; the compen sation that should be paid to the watch man in order to release him from the necessity of engaging in other employ ment during the day, and many other incidental matters. The case was tried over a year ago, and the jury failed to agree. The rec ord was then sent to the Circuit Court for Howard county, and the jury brought in a verdict for 829,177.83 for the plaintiffs, the full amount claimed. The Author of Eso's Fables, Probably every reader has heard of the fables of yEsop, yet if questioned as to their authorship, how many could give any account ? The life of 35sop, as it is given be fore so many editions of his fables, is an invention of one Planudcs, a Greek monk of the sixth or seventh century. The same may be said of a large pro portion of tho fables which bear his name, scores of lables by the priests and monks of the first to the sixth cen tury are accredited to JEsop. It is so with many traditions. Of the real life of Aisop littlo is known with certainty. " The different traditions, opinions and conjectures of .iiisop by both ancient and modern writers would fill a large volume." Phedrus, Euripides, Plutarch, Plato, Aristotle, Gellius, and in fact nearly all of the ancient Greeks mention him. 'You have not so much as read iEsop," was a proverbial expression for ingno rance. jEsop flourished about B. C. 550, a hundred years before Herodotus, the most ancient Greek historian, and four hundred years after Homer. He was born at some town in Phrygia, and was by condition a slave, though probably he rose above that condition, as he be came an eminent speaker. Most writers also ascribe to him a deformed person. Perhaps it is on this account he got the name of Gelootopotos as he is called by Lucian. Indeed, it is not material whether he was bond or free, whether handsome or ugly. He has left us a legacy in his writings that lor -S.000 years has pre served his memory dear to us. And al though in this long period the circum stances of his life have been lost, his fables remaiu, and will continue to struct as they have in the past. There Is Hope. The statistician, and likewise the average woman all the way from fifteen years of age to the point when birthday anniversaries cease to be a time of cneer aud gratulation, may take at least a passing interest in a table recently printed in England to show the rela tions between matrimony and old age. Every woman has some chance of being married ; it may be one chance to fifty against it, or it may be ten to one that she will marry. But whatever that is, representing her entire chanoe at 100, her particular chance at certain defined points of her progress in time is lound to be in the following ratios : When be tween 15 and 20 years she has 14 per cent, of her whole probability ; when between 20 and 25 she has 52 per cent. ; between 25 and 30, 18 per cent. After ou years buo uas jobi o per .em. ui sho has lost c4J per cent, of her chance, but until 35 she has still fit n rant. Btween 3.". and 40 it is 3 J per cent,, and for eaoh succeeding five years is respectively 2, 1, J, and i per cent. Any time alter sixty it is one-tenth of 1 per cent., or one-thou sandth of her probability of a chance a pretty slender figure, but figures often are slender at that age. A Happy Woman, What spectacle more pleasing doth the earth afford than a happy woman, contented in her sphere, ready at all times to benefit her little world by her exertions, and transforming the briers and thorns of life into the roses of para dise by the magio of a touch ? There are those who are thus happy because they cannot help it no misfortunes dampen their sweet smiles, and they diffuse a cheerful glow around them, as they pursue the even tenor of their way. They have the secret of content ment, whose value is above the philoso- Eher's stone ; for, without seeking the aser exchange of gold, whioh may buy some sorts of pleasure, they convert everything they touch into joy. What their condition is makes no difference. They may be rich or poor, 'nigh or low. admired or forsaken by the fickle world ; but the sparkling fountain of happiness bubbles up in their hearts, and makes them radiantly beautiful. Though they live in a log house, they make it shine with a luster that kings and queens may oovet, and they make, wealth a fountain of blessings to the children of poverty.. A Disheartened Agent, A family named Kemper moved into a house in our row laBt week, writes Max Adeler, and Benjamin P. Uunn, the life insurance agent, who lives in the same row, was the first caller. He dropped in to see if he could not take out a polioy for Mr. Kemper. Mrs. Kemper came down to the parlor to see him. " I suppose," said Gunn, " Mr. Kem- per has no insurance on his life." " No," said Mrs. Kemper. liTTT.11 TIJ . .. UJ l ... ytoh, u uao u b-.it mux -.&. out a policy in our company. It's the safest in the world ; the largest capital, smallest rates, and biggest dividends." " Mr. Kemper don't take much in terest in such things now," said Mrs. Kemper. " Well, madam, but he ought to, in common justice to you. No man knows when he will die. and by paying a ri- diculously small sum now, Mr. Kemper can leave his family in alHnence. I d like to hand you, for him, a few pam phlets containing statistics upon the subject ; may I ?" " Of course, if you wish to." " Don't you think he can be induced to insure ? asked Gunn. "I hardly think so," replied Mrs. Kemper. " He is in good health, I suppose ? Has he complained lately of being sick ?" " Not lately." " May I ask if he has any considera ble wealth ?" " Not a cent." "Then, of course he must insure. No poor man can afford to neglect such an opportunity. I suppose he travels sometimes ; goes about in railroad cars and other dangerous places." " No, he keeps very quiet. " Man of steady habits, I s'pose ?" " Very steady." " He is just the very man I want," said Gunn ; " I know I can sell him a policy." "I don't think you can," replied Mrs. Kemper. "Why? When will he be home? I'll call on him. I don't know any rea son why I shouldn't insure him." "I know," replied Mrs. K. "Why?" "He has been dead twenty-seven years," said the widow. Then Gunn left all of a sudden. He will not insure any of the Kempers. The End of It. One M. Barthone, a widower, of New Orleans, with a young son and daugh ter, in 1859, married a beautiful Creole girl in that city and sent his children to school in New York. In about a year he was brought to death's door by poison, administered by his wife, who tied to Paris, taking much of her hus band's property. The lattor, however, recovered and at once sought for his children. He sought in vain, because the girl had married and gone, and the son, after leading a somewhat reckless life, had enlisted in the army and dis appeared. Tho father settled in Brooklyn, and after amassing a large property died, leaving the bulk of it in trust for his children. These chil dren, who are William Barthone of New Haven and a Mrs. Edwards of Newark, N. J., afterward appeared and received their parent's legacy. That parent also left a handsome sum with the city Treasurer of Brooklyn in trust for his runaway wife, who had so near ly, killed him. The children, some months since, learned that the Creole wife, after living some time in Paris, had returned to New Orleans, and that she bad died there in 1873. They therefore applied to get possession of the unclaimed legacy. Proofs of the Creole woman's death were produced, and after a lawsuit the money was handed over to the children. The German Army. The Landsturm bill in Germany is expected to divide the new force into two classes ; the hrst class to comprise all able-bodied men up to tho age of 42 who are not in the army, and the second to include the rest. The first class is likely to be organized into 293 land strum battalions on the model of the 293 existing landwehr battalions, which would add lvo.oUO men to the uerman forces. The number and strength of the landstrum squadrons are still un known. When the bill becomes a law the German forces, without the seoond class of the landstrum, which may not be organized at all for the present, will number from 1,700,000 to 1,800,000 m- . -l ..11 men. Jbarge as tnis ngure is, is naraiy represents the maximum aimed at. Russia will hencoioitn ennst i40,uuu recruits a year, and the conscription eives France 1G1.000 men. It is antioi- m P uul luo i.,:?u 7,.",.; "t oe. loa .BttUBUe,,' WA annual contingent of 132,500 men. How to Fix Them. Very often a screw hole gets bo worn that the sorew will not stay in. Where glue is handy, the regular carpenter makes the hole larger and glues in a large plug, making a nest for an entire ly new hole. But this is not always the case, and people without tools and in an emergency, often have to fix the thing at once. Generally leather is used, but this is so hard that it does not hold well The best of all things is to cut narrow strips of cork, and fill the hole completely." Then force the screw in. This will make as tight a job as if driven into an entirely new hole. Did Not Know Him. Gov. Bradley of Nevada got on the train at Elko, one day recently, to go to Palisade. The car was crowded, and he was compelled to perambulate the entire length of the i ....t,.... a anal flnn-l-mornin-r. my son : how-d'ye do to-day, sar?" said Thus she began tp carve oat her for ,.J ' "i : ji in. Unn Rha flniaVinil thA watIi ana learn- t.iia liAVArnni. in ma Kuuu-iauuiu to a big Missourian, who had generously given up half his seat to the stranger who had thus acoostea mm. - j.nut all right, my friend," said the stranger, but don't make yourself quite . ... . -w i familiar with me. if you please : I have heer'd of you before you're one them three-oard leiiows Dut you can i come it over me, not much. I've been thar myself, I have I Facts and Fancies. To cure deafness Tell a man you've come to pay him money. Publio spirit Readiness to do any thing which is likely to prove lucrative. Punch has discovered that the friends of the unfortunate live a long way off. When a man comes to know that he don't know everything, he then be comes wise. The Western Indians now prophesy that there will be no more grasshoppers for six years. What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment, and once in a man's life ? The letter M. A queer man The baker who kneads much, and yet sells everything he kneads himself. In preparing copy for the printer make hooks to your letters, bnt do not hook your ideas. Who is the laziest man ? The furni ture man ; he keeps chairs and lounges about all the time. The statement is made that lightning conductors made of straw have been tried with success in France. The youth who cried "Excelsior" didn't know that he was naming five out of every six saloons in the country. A Tennessee tailor has a shop on wheels. He only stays in a village long enough to clothe the people, and then jogs along. Two young ladies holding converse over a new dress " And doesitfit well ?" asked one. " Fit ! yea ; as if I had been melted and poured in." Cordelia Lessiur was a Lowell hero ine. She resoued a girl whose fingers had caught in the machinery of a mill, but in doing it her own arm was drawn in and torn off. She died from the hurt. Cheerful agent for life Insurance company " The advantage of our com pany is that you do not forfeit your policy either by being hanged or by committing suicide 1 Pray, take a prospeotus." "What makes you look so glum, Tom?" "Oh, I had to endure a sad trial to my feelings." "What on earth was it?" "Why, I had to tie on a pretty girl's bonnet -with her mother looking on." An old gentleman in Stowe, Vt., tells how ha broke off drinking. Every time he took a drink he would drop a shot in the glass, and as the glass filled up his drinks were smaller, and he stopped the use of liquor entirely. Nothing really succeeds which is not based on reality; sham, in a large sense, is never successful ; in the life of the individual, as in tho more compre hensive life of the State, pretension is nothing and power is everything. There are no millionaires in Turkey. When a Turk has accumulated anything beyond $9,000 or $10,000, the boss Turk of all crooks his finger at him, whispers, " Come down, honey," and the balance is handed over, or off goes a head, A wealthy Pittsburgh merchant is re ported as having said : " I always feel happy when I am advertising, for then I know that, sleeping or waking, I have a strong though silent orator working for me one who never tires, never sleeps, never makes mistakes, and who is certain to enter the households from which, if at all, my trade must come." A Co-operative Household. I have heard, writes a London corre spondent, an amusing account of the failure of a recent attempt to estab lish a confederated home in London. Five families possessing small incomes united in the establishment of a com mon home. A large house in the Bloomsbury region was taken for the purpose, and the arrangements for the regulation of the household were made with the utmost care and precision. There was to be a common dining-room in which all the meals of the household were to be taken ; and each family had a set of rooms which it waB to furnish and arrange as suited its own conveni ence. There was to be one cook for the whole household, and a couple of ser vants to do the other work. The ex periment was commenced, and for the first dav or two matters went well enough. Before a week had passed, bnw(.vr. it became evident that to govern a confederated home would be nearly as auncun o iubu-ikd nut i"u Parliament. The five families could never agree upon what they should eat and drink. The dinner especially was a standing subject of dispute, and the consequence was that the kitchen bo came a soeue of constant wrangling be tween the unfortunate cook and her ,;. five mistresses. Five bells would fre quently be ringing at the same time, and one family would complain that they were neglected and that another was receiving undue attention; Then the children of the different families would quarrel, and of course each mamma was sure that her darlings were not the cause of the disturbance. Before a week had passed the confed erated home became what the person who told me the story called a confed erated disoord, and had to be broken up. rf What a Woman Did. There lives a widow out West who never did anything useful until after her husband died and left her half a dozen children to take care of. She thought a great deal of her husband, but he did not leave her enough sub stanoe to buy him a gravestone, and this fact set her to work. She deter mined that the poor man's grave ahould have a respectable mark. So she got a marble Blab and went to worn on it, making a gravestone for the departed. She finished the work and learn r, i hhmw, ed the trade of a stone-cutter at the same time. She soon did some other marble work and offered it for sale. It b proved acceptable, and she was given a so permanent place in a marble yard, and It i. : ...... 1 ,. . .4,n' uanaa anrl is making regular artisan's frages and keeping her family in good utyle. Sometimes a husband does turn out a benefit to a woman, though she may not realiza his use until she loses him. of