V,.
ifte
ifiili
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher.
NIL despeiiandum;
Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. IV.
KIDGAVAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1875.
NO. 51.
Jnt .n (J o(l Lends.
Jn t ax O.i.l lna 1h mo, I wo.ild go
1 wo.ild not BHk to choose my way j
(.'oiitout with what He will bestow,
Assured Mo will not let me stray,
Sj a-i He leads my path I mako
An I step liy stop I gladly take,
A child in Him confiding.
Just as Ood leads, I am content ;
To rest me calmly in His hands j
That which He has decreed and scut
'J'liut which His will for me commands
I would that He should all fulMl,
That I should do His gracious will
Iu living or hi dying.
Just as Ood leads, I will resign ;
I trust nie to my Father's will s
Whon reason's rays deceptive shine.
His counsel would I yet fulfill.
That which His love ordained as right,
Bcforo Ho brought mo to tho light,
My all to Him resigning.
Jut as God leads me, I abido,
Iu faith, in hope, In suffering true s
His strength is ever by my side
Can aught my hold ou Him undo ?
I hold me firm in pa'ionce, knowing
That Ood my life is still bestowing
The best in kindness sending.
Just as Ood leads, I onward go,
Out amid thorns and briars seen ;
Ood does not yet His guidance show
But iu the end it shall be seen
1 1 jw, by a loving Father's will,
Faithful and true, He leads mo still.
A COLORADO CANYON.
Adventure of Mnjnr Powell and his Pnrlj
In nne of Them.
By the 2Gth of July, says Maj. Powell,
we found our boats ouce more in a bad
condition; they had been beaten so
much nguinst the rooks that they were
leaking badly, so we lay over a dny for
repairs. About ten o clock, Bradley,
To well, II iwluud, Hall and myself start
ed up n side canyon to the cast for the
purpose, of climbing out to a pine forest
above w'ir we hoped to obtain some
pitch for our b wit-t. We soon came to a
pool of w,itjr, then to ft brook, which
wim lixt in th"i sands below; passing up
tho brook th'i canyon narrowed, the
walls closed m and were often overhang
ing. At last we f ouud ourselves in ft vast
amphitheater with ft pool of deep, clear,
cold water on tho liottom. At iirst our
way seemed cut off, but we soon discov
ered n little shelf, along winch we
climbed, and, passing beyond tho pool,
walked a hundred yards or more, turned
t the right and found ourselves in an
other amphitheater. There was a wind
ing cleft at tha top reaching out to the
country above, nearly two thousand feet
overhead. The rounded, basin-snaped
bottom was tilled with water to the foot
of tho walls, and there was no shelf by
which wo could pass around to the foot;
if we swam acrois, wo met with a face of
rock a hundred feet high, over which a
little rill glided, aud which it would be
impossible t climb. We turned back
and examined the walls on either side
carefully, to discover, if possible, some
other way of climbing out. In this
search every man took his own course,
and wo were soon scattered. I almost
abandoned the idea of getting out, aud
was engaged in searching for fossils,
whon I discovered, on tli9 north, ft
broken place up which it might be pos
sible for ma to climb. The way for a
distance was up a slide of rocks, then up"
an irregular wall by projecting points
that formed steps anil gave hand-hold,
aud then I reached a little shelf, along
which I walked, and discovered a verti
cal fissure parallel to the face of the wall,
and reaching to a higher shelf. This fis
sure was narrow, and I tried to climb up
to the bench, which was about forty feet
overhead, though I had a barometer on
my back, which rather impeded my
climbing. The walls of the fissure were
of smooth limestone, offering neither
foot nor hand-hold; so I supported my
s.'lf by pressing my back against one
wall aud my knees against the other, and
in this way lifted my body, iu a shuffling
manner, a few inches at a time, until I
had niado perhaps twanty-five feet of the
distance, when the crevice widened a
little and I could not press my knees
against tho rocks iu front with sufficient
force to give me support in lifting my
body. I tried to go back, but this I
could not do without falling, so I strug
gled along, sidewise, farther into the
crevice where it narrowed. By this time
my muscles were exhausted and I could
climb no longer, so I moved still a little
farther into the orevice, where it was so
narrow and wedging that I could lie in
it, and there I rested. Five or ten min
utes of this relief and up once more I
pushed, till I reached the bench above.
On this I could walk for a quarter of a
mile, till I reached a place where the
wall was again broken down so that I
could climb up still farther. In an hour
I reached tho summit.
Hanging up my barometer to give it
a few minutes to settle, I occupied my
self in collecting resin from the pinyon
pines, which were found in great abun
dance. One of the principal objects of
the climb was to get this resin for the
purpose of smearing our boats, but I had
no means of carrying it down. The day
was very hot and my cout had been left
in camp, so I had no linings to tear out,
but it had occurred to me to cut off the
sleeve of my shirt and tie it up at one
end, and in this little sack I collected
about a gallon of pitch. After. taking
observations for altitude, I wandered
back on the rocks for an hour or two,
when, suddenly, I noticed that a storm
was coming from the south. I sought
shelter in the rocks, but when the storm
burst, it came down as a flood from the
heavens not with gentle drops at first,
slowly increasing in quantity, but as if
suddenly poured from an immense
( basin. I was thoroughly drenched and
almost washed away. It lasted not more
than half an hour, when the clouds swept
by to the north, and I was in the sun-
- shine again.
In the meantime, I discovered a better
way of getting down and started for
camp, making the greatest haste possi
ble. On reaching the bottom side of the
canyon I found a thousand streams roll
" ing down the cliff on every side, carry
ing with them red mud. Traveling as
fast as I could run, I soon reached the
foot of the stream, for the rain did not
reach the lower end of the canyon, and
tnt yttM wm running dowa a tUjr bed
of sand; and although it came in waves
several feet high and fifteen or twenty
feet in width, the sand soaked it up and
it was lost. Wave followed wave and
rolled along nnd was swallowed up, and
still tho floods came from above. I
found I could travel faster than the
stream, so I hastened on to camp and
told the men thoro was a river coming
down the canyon. We carried our catnp
equipage from tho bank to where we
thought it would be above tho water,
and then stood by to sec the river roll on
to join tho Colorado.
Near tho foot of Cataract canyon tho
walls suddenly closed iu, so that the
gorge was narrower than we had before
seen it. The water filled it from wall to
wall, giving no landing-place at tho foot
of the cliffs; the river was very swift,
tho canyon very tortuous, so that wo
could see but ft few hundred yards
ahead. The walls towered overiiead,
often overhanging so as ti almost shut
out tho light. I stood on deck watching
with intense anxiety, lost the way should
lead us into danger, but we glided along
with no obstruction, no falls, no rapids,
and in a mile nndj A-lialf emerged from
the narrow gorge "into a more open and
broken portion of the canyon. Now that
it is past, it seems a very simple thing
indeed to run through such n place; but
tho fear of what might be, made a deep
impression upon all of us. Shortly after
wo arrived at the foot of Cataract
canyon. Hero a long canyon valley
comes down from the east, and the river
turns sharply to the west in a continua
tion of tho line of the lateral valley. In
the bend on the right vast numbers of
crags, and pinnacles, nnd tower-shaped
rocks are seen. We called it " Mille
Crag Bend."
On the 29th of July, we entered a
canyon with low red walls. A short dis
tance below its head wo discovered the
ruins of an old building on the left wall.
Th;ro is a narrow plain below the river
and the wall just here, and on the brink
of n rock two hundred feet high this old
house stood. Its walls were of stone
laid in mortar with much regularity. It
was probably built three stories high:
the lower story was yet almost intact,
tho second much broken down, and
scarcely anything was left of the third.
Great quantities of fliut drips were found
on the rocks near by, and many arrow
heads, Bomo perfect, others broken, aud
fragments of pottery were strewn about
in great profusion. On the face of the
cliff under tho building, and along down
the river for two or three hundred yards,
there were many etchings. Two hours
were giveu to the examination of those
interesting ruins, when we ran down
lifteen miles further and discovered an
other group.
The principal building was situated on
the" summit of tho hill. Parts of the
walls were standing to the height of
eight or ten feet, and tho mortar still re
mained in some places. The house was
in the shape of au L, with five rooms on
the ground floor; one in the angle and
two in each extension. In the space in
the angle there was a deep excavation.
From what we know of the people in the
province of Tusayan, who are doubtless
of the same race as the former inhabi
tants of these ruins, we concluded that
this was a "Kiva" or underground
chamber in which their religious cere
monies wero performed.
Tho sandstono through which this
canyon is cut is red and homogeneous,
being the samo ns that through which
Labyrinth canyon runs. The smooth
naked rock stretches out on either side
of the river for many miles, but curiously
carved mounds and cones are scattered
everywhere, aud deep holes are worn
out. Many of those pockets were filled
with water, and in one of these holes or
wells, twenty feet deep, I found a tree
growing. The excavation was so nar
row I could step from its brink to a
limb of the tree, and descend to the bot
tom of the well down a growing ladder.
Many of these pockets nre pot holes, be
ing found iu the course of little rills or
brooks that run only during the rains
which occasionally fall in this region,
nnd often a few harder rocks, which evi
dently assisted in their excavation, could
be fouild in their bottoms. Others
which are shallower are not so easily ex
plained. Perhaps they are fouud where
softer spots existed in the sandstone,
places that yielded more readily to at
mospheric degradation, and where the
loose sands were carried away by the
winds.
Just before suudown I attempted to
climb a roundod eminence, from which
I hoped to obtain a good outlook over
the surrounding country. It was formed
of smooth mounds piled one above an
other, and up these I climbed, windiug
here and there to find a practicable way,
until near the summit, when they be
came too steep for me to proceed. I
searched about for a few minutes for a
more easy way; what was my surprise at
finding a stairway, evidently cut in the
rock by human 'hands ! At one place,
where there is a vertical wall ten or
twelve feet high, I found an old rickety
ladder. It may be that this was a watch
tower of that ancient people whose
homes we hatl found in ruins. On many
of the tributaries of the Colorado I had
before examined their deserted dwell
ings. Those that showed evidence of
being built during the latter part of their
occupation of the country were usually
placed on the most inaccessible cliffs.
Sometimes the mouths of caves had been
walled across, nnd there were many
other evidences showing their anxiety to
secure defensible positions.
Probably the nomadic tribes were
sweeping down upon them, and they re
sorted to these cliffs and canyons for
safety. It is not unreasonable to sup
pose that this orange mound was used
as a watch-tower.
I stood where a lost people had lived
centuries ago, and looked over the same
strange country. I gazed off to great
mountains in the northwest, slowly
covered by the night until they were lost,
and then turned toward cam). It was
no easy task to find my way down the
wall in the darkness, and I clambered
about until nearly midnight, before I
arrived there.
The London Telegraph gives its
countrymen a very bad name when it
says: The most brutal, the most coward
ly, the most pitiless, the most barbarous
deeds done in the world are being perpe
trated by the lower classes of the Eng
lish pceploi
The Indian Question.
Tho New York Tribtmr, in discussing
tho report of the Indian commissions of
tho United States, says: Five years ngo
the condition of, tjiese very men, nnd the
enmity existing" between them nnd white
settlers, was hold to bo so desperately
hopeless, that iu the popular belief the
only chance of relief for them nnd us
was thnr wholesale extermination a
creed still openly professed by ft large
body of respectable people. Tho In
dian was held to be.iv miserable incubus
on the body politic, nnd given over with
out compunction to the robberies of
ngents, or the murders of military com
manders, such ns those who olio lino
morning disposed of the unnecessary
Piegan women and children. There has
been a great and wholesome reaction of
feeling iu this matter; religious bodies
have taken hold of the Indian problem
zealously, and tho result is that large
bodies of the Indians havo been brought
into a partial stato of civilization by
these religious teachers, and thnt the
nation has been forced to see that it is
possible that they should bo so brought.
But the development is recent. The Iu-
I diau iu the best case is still in his non
age; ho requires long and friendly en
couragement before he take his new rnle
fairly upon him; it requires that he
should change his whole habit of mind
nnd body. For the Apache brave to
turn his back on the buffalo, to come
out of tho solitude of his wigwam and
go to work and trailing with other men,
is as much of n wrench to him physi
cally and mentally, as it would bo to our
respectable brokers nnd bankers were
Wall street emptied into the Colorado
desert, nnd they forced to earn their
livelihood by rod and gnu. It is just at
the crisis when the Dakota and Cherokee
is making this effort, with, it must bo
acknowledged, an unhoped for energy
and persistence, that it is proposed to
withdraw from him all government aid,
nnd to leave him to stand alone. The
proposal to bring the wild tribes into a
condition of self-support by furnishing
them with means of work, either bv ir
rigating the land of tho reservations or j
as herders of cattle and sheep, it at once
more reasonable and just. The state- I
ment, however, that these Sioux are be- '
ness and the high living furnished them
by the government will nmuse any one
familiar with the payment of rations. An
incomo of one hundred and sixty dollars
per annum is not certain to induce gout
in the feet of the recipient, especially
when but a small portion can be expend
ed on his stomach, nnd so large n por
tion often sticks to the hands of the dis
burses. Measurements of Ancient Cities.
Nineveh was fourteen miles long.eight
miles wide, and forty-six miles around,
with a wall one hundred feet high, and
thick enough for tliree chariots abreast.
Babylon was fifty miles within the Walls,
which were seventy-five feet thick and
one hundred feet high, with one hundred
brazen gates. Tho Temple of Diana, nt
Epliesus, was four hundred and twenty
feet to the support of the roof; it was
one hundred years in building. The
largest of the Pyramids was four hun
dred and eighty-one feet in height and
eight hundred and fifty-thres feet on tho
sides. The base covered eleven acres.
The stones nre about sixty feet in length
and tho layers nre two hundred nnd
eight. It employed 350, 000 men in build
ing. The labyrinth of Egypt contains
three hundred chambers 'and twelve
halls. Thebes, in Egypt, presents ruins
twenty-seven miles around, nnd contained
350,000 citizens and 400,000 slaves. The
Temple of Delphos was so rich in dona
tions that it was plundered of $50,000,
000, nnd tho Emperor Nero carried away
from it two hundred statues. The walls
of Rome were thirteen miles around.
A SilTer Mine.
A newspaper correspondent asked
Senator Jones, of Nevada: How nre we
to nccount for the fluctuations in the
shares of the Nevada mines ? Are they
honest ? The Senator said: It is easily
explained, and the quotations are per
fectly honest. You can see. When we
dig into a mine we come to a " face " of
silver bearing quartz. Now, it is proble
matic whether that face is two feet thick
or fifty. I, inside, take my chances, and
say I will give 1,000 a share for that
mine; but, upon digging in, it is dis
covered to be only a few inches deep,
whereupon I offer to sell my $1,000
share for 8500, pocketing the loss. This
naturally goes on until we reach another
face. The lead proves to be a profitable
one, and my $1,000 may give me a divi
dend of $5,000; and so these enormous
fluctuations are really in great measure
due to tho real risks and uncertainties of
the mining business.
" Probabilities" on New Year's Day.
A St. Louis girl describes the misery
she endured receiving New Year's calls.
Among other things, sho says: " I think
the first one dropped in ' about nine
o'clock. ' Came early,' he said, ' because
he had to go out to the western part of
the town.' First ho imparted the start
ling intelligence that the weather was
inauspicious for calls, but he didn't be
lieve it would rain, though he confidently
looked for snow. Then he remarked
that there were but few callers on the
streets, but he supposed they would
come later in the day. Then he took a
gloss of wine and a plate on his two
knees, spreading his feet to bring his
knees together. Then he wished me
many happy returns, and then he left as
another entered. Over and over again
the self -same platitudes, and lefore night
I felt like a signal service bureau, nnd
was so stuffed with weather that I was
sick."
Lent. Lent begins this year on the
10th of February, much earlier than it
has done since 1869. This will bring
the high festival of Easter this year on
the 26th of March, which is within six
days of the earliest period upon which it
can ever possibly occur. On some years
Easter fulls as late as tho 25th of April.
Some years there as many as nine Sun
days between Epiphany and Ash Wed
nesday, but this year th:;re will only be
five Sundays intervening between the
jubilee of Epiphany and the solemn fast
Of IrtUt.
AltOTJT STEAM BOILERS.
A 1'rnrllrnl Knninrrr Tells as why they nre
Wcnkcnril nnd Explode.
Safety and the production of a large
quantity of dry steam nre the two essen
tials of a good boiler, said James Whit
ney before the New York Society of
Practical Engineers, but these two re
quirements are antagonistic to each
other, and the best boiiers ore the result
of a compromise. If we could have n
perfect hollow sphere of metal, we would
have theoretically the strongest form of
steam generator, and in the infancy of
steam engineering some spherical
boilers were made in England, and con
tinued in use nearly to our own time.
But it is possible to bring the fire in
contact with only a small portion of the
surface, and hence we have little steam
for a good deal of fuel. The form,
therefore, is changed to a cylinder, with
the firo underneath nnd playing upward
ngninst the sides. This affords a greater
heating surface, but tho ends do not
boar the same relation to the pressure as
the sides, and must be stayed by braces
thut shift a portion of the strain on the
heads to other portions of the shell. If,
now, our fire is started under the boiler,
the lower part heats faster than the upper
part, nnd consequently expands more.
Tins bends the lower part outward on
the arc of a circle, which, although im
perceptible to the eye, is the result of
an irresistible force. This expansion of
tho lower part of the boiler brings a
strain upon the upper pnrt; when the
boiler if allowed- to cool it resumes its
original form. At each change of tem
perature, therefore, there is a to and fro
movement of the lapped edges of the
plates where they are riveted together.
Tho final effect is that the plate
cracks along the line of its least resist
ance. In some boilers the fracture mny
be along a bine of rivets, and be entirely
hidden from any possible view. But if
the riveting be extremely good tho min
ute bonding to nnd fro is more apt to
occur iu one plate close to the over
lapping edgo of the plate to which it is
riveted, and when the crevice opens to
the interior of the boiler, any acid in the
water will act chemically to increase it.
This is termed " grooving " by the Eng
lish engineers, nnd is not confined to any
particular type. For if, instead of
placing our fires beneath the cylinder,
we extend a large cylindrical flue tlirough
the cylinder or shell of the boiler, we
simply change the locality in which tho
effects of this alternate expansion and
contraction are exerted. The flues are
fixed in the ends of "the shell, and are
hotter than the shell, and of course ex
pand more. Being confined against the
ends, the flues bend upward. If we put
on a steam drum in which the otherwise
waste heat from the escaping products
of combustion may dry the steam from
its contained vesicles of vapor, we ac
complish an increased eaomrmy of fuel;
but by adding a vertical cylinder inter
secting a horizontal one, we have au
additional joint between portions subject
to quite different temperatures, and at
which ' grooving " is liable to occur. If
the joint is made with angle iron, in
which the grain runs parallel with the
sharp corner iu the angle of the iron,
tho danger is much increased, and this
has led American engineers to discard
tho English plan of using angle iron in
steam boilers. The new and better sys
tem is to make the joint on u curve hav
ing a radius of about four inches. The
ends of the shells or cylinders of boilers
nre often fitted in their places with nngle
iron, but the same objection liolds ns in
tho filling of the domes. As a rule,
sharp nnd rigid corners should be avoid
ed between plates liable to unequal ex
pansion from heat. This gradual de
terioration of boilers from the cause in
dicated is one of the most insidious of
all the causes of explosions, nnd it is
one that is inherent iu all modifications
of the cylinder typo. Skill nnd good
judgment may reduce the danger but
cannot wholly obviate it.
Evergreens In Orchards. '
A correspondent says that the theory
of planting evergreens among fruit trees,
for protection, is wrong. They impover
ish the ground, occupy space, and shade
the fruit trees. Fruit from slinded trees
is always inferior iu quality. To pro
duce a fruit bud, the sun must thicken
tho sap to a glutinous liquid. Without
the rays of the sun, buds will form only
to produce leaves. The most perfect
fruit is found on the outside of a tree ;
and therefore, to give lights the penolo
gist trims aud thins out the branches.
This explains why wall trees produce
such uniformly large and excellent fruit.
A belt of evergreens around an orchard
may be beneficial, not because of the
heat that is supposed to emanate from
them, but because they break the winds
aud still the air as, sweeping winds often
dry up the vital sap of both evergreen
and deciduous trees.
Alternate heating and freezing are de
structive to vegetable as well as to nni
nial life ; because the heat starts the sap,
nud the frost freezes it. Tho freezing
swells the sap, nnd lifts the bark from
the wood, the channels of circulation are
straiued and destroyed, and the part so
affected dies. Well matured wood is
not apt to suffer from cold. ,To save
tender trees, let them finish their season's
growth before cold weather ; and to has
ten maturity, give a dry bottom and
light and air in abundance.
Some evergreens supposed to be ten
der (the rhododendron, for instance) will
survive the whiter better on the - north
side of a building, unprotected, thim on
the south of the same protected and shel
tered from the rays of the sun.
Fifty-four generals' widows draw pen
sions from the United States. A corre
spondent of the Chicago Pout says:
" When the pension paid the widows of
brigadier-generals, fifty dollars a month,
was offeree! the widow of brave General
Meade, I am told she very emphatically
declined to receive it, because it was ltss
than that paid Mrs. President Lincoln.
Of all the women who served in the vtiar
in various capacities only one was pen
sioned for physioial disabilities, and tlat
was Mrs. Isabella Fogg, of Maine, w!no
was seriously injured by a fall in Louis
ville, engaged in hospital' work. Slie
died here last summer."
"I said happy New Year to the
judge," says a ruffian in Charivari,
" And did he give you nothing I" " Yea
PKIS0N LIFE IN ENGLAND.
The Fruinle Prlunn nt .Mlllbmik IIovt ilie
Convicts Hprnd Their Time.
A correspondent of the London Daily
News gives the following sketch of a
convict s daily life iu the female prison
at Millbank :
By half -past seven the cell must lie in
nppie-pie order, nnd nil the clothes taken
off the bed, neatly folded up inside the
quilt, nnd placed at the foot of the bed
stend. Then comes breakfast, consisting
of a piece of bread and a tin of cocoa.
From Monday to Saturday a pound of
bread is daily allowed to each prisoner.
On Sunday twenty-two ounces is the
allowance, but, per contra, on this day
the prisoners dine luxuriously off cheese,
of which three ounces is served out to
each on returning from divine service.
Half nn hour is nllowed for breakfast,
nnd from eight o'clock to nine is devoted
to labor. At nine, the prisoners file out
down the corridors into the chapel,
where they sit on bare benches, with
the assistant matrons planted here and
there on high stools, keeping a wntehful
eye over the silent congregation. Pray
ers are over in time for all to be back in
their cells at half-pnst nine, when there
comes another hour's work nt knitting
or the mnking of articles of clothing.
At half-past ten the straw bonnets,
guiltless of ribbon, nre donned, the ugly
yellow clonks nre put on, nnd all, being
first marshaled nnd counted in the corri
dors, march into the yard for "exercise."
" Exercise " means marching round and
round the yard in single file, whilst the
warders look on, Nobody speaks a word
or looks to the right hand or the left,
but for sixty minutes all plod round and
round, a silent, sad and sullen company.
This performance over, the prisoners re
turn to their cells and get to work again,
sewing or knitting, till one o'clock.
At one o'clock they dine, tho rations
being carried up to the wards by relays
of the prisoners themselves. The allow
ance is served out to each in her cell by
the assistant matrons. On Mondays and
Wednesdays the prisoners dine of mut
ton, of which each gets three ounces,
with a few spoonfuls of gravy, the char
acter of which may be inferred from the
fact that it is "flavored with one-half
ounce of onions, and thickened with
one-eighth ounce of flour, and with
bread left from the previous day." In
addition, each prisoner has three-quarters
of a pound of potatoes. On Tues
day the fare is bread, and a pint of soup,
containing eight ounces of shins of beef,
one ounce of pearl barley, three ounces
of fresh vegetables, and three-quarters
of a pound of potatoes. On Thursday
the dinner consists of three-quarters of a
pound of potatoes, and an equal quan
tity of suet pudding, containing one
ounce and two pennyweights of suet, six
ounces of flour, and four ounces and
fourteen pennyweights of water. On
Friday and Saturday the fare is beef and
potatoes, three ounces of tho former to
three-quarters of a pound of the latter,
which is rendered further appetizing
by the addition of gravy made in the
same generous fashion as that of Mon
day. On Sunday comes divine service,
and bread and cheese again, and then
tho muttop, tho soup, the suet pudding,
and the beef in clue aud unalterable
order. At two o'clock on the afternoon
of week days work recommonces, and is
continued till half-past five, when "sup.
per " is indulged in. Supper consists
of the remains of tho day's allowance
of bread washed down with a pint of
gruel, the component parts of which
are two ounces of oatmeal, one-half
ounce of molasses, and two ounces of
milk. At six more work, which is car
ried on till eight o'clock, when three
quarters of an hour's leisure time is al
lowed for reading. At a quarter to nine
bed-making begins, and by nine all lights
are put and darkness reigns throughout
the always silent cells. These hours are
the same in winter with the exception
that the prisoners rise half-an-hour loter
and go to bed half-an-hour earlier.
The Erie Railway Opera House.
The New York correspondent of the
Troy Time writes that it is a question
what will become of the Grand Opera
House, and says: " Perhaps it might be
turned to a religious service, just as the
old Chatham street chapel was formed
out of a disused theater. There is
hardly a church in Eighth avenue at
least within a mile of this spot and
hence it might thus afford excellent ser
vice. It may be added iu this connec
tion that the railway company has now
possession of nearly all of Fisk's real
estate. It was conveyed in tho niuo-
mimon surrender made bv Jay Uoulu,
who had the control of it. This includes
the opera house aud tho row of cottages
which reached down almost to Josie
Mansfield's former palace. It is a very
fine property, but cannot be rented ex
cept ut a loss. Fisk's management of
the opera house" was very adroit. In
making the purchase all that he paid
down was taken from the Erie company,
and then he let the building to the com
pany at $75,000 a year, reserving the
opera house for himself. As the latter
was estimated at $25,000, it made an
annual rental of $100,000. The company
did not need this grand building. It
was simply a plan of Fisk's to unite
business and pleasure. To increase his
glory he assumed command of the Ninth
regiment. All was going well till his
death. The company has resuaied the
down-town offices which Fisk vacated,
and the grand establishment now stands
empty. It is offered to tenants in con
venient sub-divisions, and the financial
office would make a good banking-room.
Fisk expended $60,000 in. safes, and his
other alterations were at an expense of
about $150,000 all thrown away."
The Centennial.
The people of Philadelphia, in their
practical way, are pushing the work
of the Centennial exhibition. A report
has been submitted to the President by
the director announcing that twenty-four
nations have already expressed a desire
to take part in the exhibition. The
building of the industrial palace is going
on in Philadelphia with earnestness and
skill. One of the first acts of the new
Spanish king is the appointment of a
.nobleman to be chief of the Spanish
commission in place of Castelor, who
1. -1 1 J ..... ...1 1. U I... I 1.
nave no place m the new govern
ment
THE SILVER MINE MANIA.
To.ilrey Poor To-uiorraiv n f nrringe
nnd
I.ncrs nnd Finery Next Iny
Things have been in such a whirl
hereabouts recently, writes a San Fran
cisco correspondent, that one hardly
knows who he is or what he is, whether
a millionaire or an ordinary individual,
as millionaires are now therule.and "or
dinary people " the exception. I never
before so thorouglily realized how re
spectable it is to bo poor. It is posi
tively so; for wealth not a common
matter of a few hundred thousands, but
millions is as glibly discussed as if the
people had been cradled iu gold and sil
ver. The big fortunes that have been
made here lately ore realy astounding,
and to listen to how so and so made a
hundred thousand yesterday on an in
vestment of five thousand, how the
" ring " must have cleared a couple of
millions so far this week, is like reading
the " Arabian Nights. " You can't most
always tell, cither, who has bceu specu
lating; in fact, it is almost impossible to
find anybody who has not, Iiigid busi
ness men who frown at stock speculations
nre "in"; ministers, the servant girls,
the clerks, the lame, the halt, the blind,
are nil in stocks. They hear of such
large profits from small investments that
they cannot resist. I know of not one
but fifty instances where poor people,
from an investment of a few hundreds,
have been raised to affluence in a day. The
cook in our house camo to mo a day or
two since to nsk me to plnzo take enre of
her money. Supposing she had a few
mouths' wages I consented, whereupon
she brought me a bag containing five
thousand dollars. "Hello, Bridget,"
said I, "where did you get all this?"
" Made it in Ophir, your honor. I
bought it at twinty dollars and sold it to
day at three hundred dollars, aud here's
tho money, sir. " I looked nt her. She
didn't look much like a stock sharp.
Said I, "Bridget, who got you into
stocks ?" " Me sister, sir, who lives wid
Mr.. Brown, the broker; and she heard
him say nt the table, when she was wait
in', that Ophir was bound to go up, aud
she tould me, sir, and we put our money
together nnd bought it, and to-day we
sold it nnd got the money." " And did
your sister make an equal amount '"
" Yes, sir, just the same. On the spur
of the moment I wns about proposing a
partnership n three-handed game, Pod
gers, Bridget & Mary the business to
be conducted jointly, by Mary with her
ears, Bridget with her tongue, and self
as manipulator, it is needless to say,
Bridget and Mary furnishing the capital.
I confess I felt myself very small.' There
was that imromantic, slightly pockmark
ed, pug-nosed Bridget, with not half the
brains I ought to have, nor one fraction
of the opportunity, had made more
money in proportion to her requirements
and capital in a few days than I, with all
my supposed knowledge of business ana
chances, could in a life-time. What a
swell Bridget would cutiu the ouldcoun
thry with her five thousand.
I know a broker whom I heard yester
day bid sixty-seven dollars a share for all
the stock of one mine, for his own per
sonal account, Amounting to over two
millions, who two years ago was merely
a curbstone broker and appeared on the
street with his coat buttoned up to his
chiu because he had no shirt; whose
whole wealth at home was a straw mat
tress, one chair, one stool, n few tin
plates, a fork or two, and a wife cooped
up in one miserable little room to help
hnn enjoy all this splendor, and go
hungry, as she did. I saw her yesterday
in a splendid crimson-lined clarence,
going down town, with tho tallest hat
and a feather that brushed the Hies from
the carriage-top; such a camel's-hair on
hex arm 1 and such lace trimming ou her
dress ! and generally and minutely got
up regardless ! but withal, n lady born
aud bred, and she carried it like a queen.
I stopped and looked at the whole pic
ture, and I mused; I may safsly say I
felt glad. " What a change !" I said to
myself ; " that's right, my little woman;
you havo had it mighty rough, and you
just go it now; just take your revenge on
the goddess tor uer previous scurvy
treatment." What a glorious satisfac
tion to a man to see the woman ho has
dragged down to poverty, nnd who
shared his lot unmurniuringly (what an
awful long word), by his own energy, his
own hands nnd brains, placed, in a brief
period, to the top of the giddy pinnacle
of prosperity to that summing up of all
earthly bliss to a woman, a better car
riagejthau any other woman's, wider and
finer lace flounces, a set of furs uu
equaled, and a camel's-hair that makes
people turn around in the street and look
after her. Lives there a woman with
soul so dead, who, to herself, has not
said, "Tins is happiness. They are
poor, weak creatures, aud have their lit
tle failings. These ore harmless. There
is no sin in all that. If we fellows do no
worse, then we are a great deal better
than I have any reliable account of.
The Wales Coal Miners' Strike.
The coal miners' strike in South Wales,
a correspondent writes, collapsed almost
as soon as it began. It was forced on
the men against their own better judg
ment, by the trade union delegates, as a
kind of assertion oi the authority of the
union. But as soon as it was seen that
the masters were not to be frightened in
this way, the men lost heart and threw
over the delegates. The shopkeepers of
the district also applied a strong in
fluence against the strike, by refusing to
give credit, .between midsummer 1871
and the end of last year, colliers' wages
were increased by from fifty to sixty per
cent, ihe subsequent reductions have
been at the rate of about twenty-five per
cent., and nave evidently not yet reached
their lowest point, though they will
doubtless not sink back quite to then
former rate. The price of coal has in
the course of the year fallen about thirty
per cent., and wages nave in every du
trict have reduced. The lowering of
wages has also extended to iron manu
factures. The puddlers and iron-workers
have had to submit to three successive
reductions. These make a total reduc
tion of some twenty-six or twenty-seven
per cent. The production of iron in
England has fallen from 3,383,000 tons
and 35,a'Jl5,00U value in 1872, to 2,487,
000 31,225,000 value in 1874. There
can be doubt that the development of
the American iron trade is, iu a large
degree, the cause of this decline in
cngiua proauouoni
Cupid Crying.
Why is Cupid erying so ?
Because his joalous mother beat him.
What for? For giving up his bow
To Celia, who contrived to cheat him.
The child ! I could not have believed
He'd give his weapons to another.
He would not, but he was deceivod ;
She smiled ; he thought it was his mother.
Hems of Interest.
" Hanging isn't played out iu New
York." No, but the art of hanging has,
judging from tho last exhibition.
The Maysville liullctin sagely remarks:
The season for slaying hogs nnd sleigh
ing girls is nt baud. The difference is,
the girls like it, nnd the hogs don't.
Tho New York Tribune, has sent
$7,500 to Kansas aud Nebraska, the re
sult of its dollar subscriptions, aud
claims that it will increase this amount
to $10,000.
Only a military despot will be oblo
to govern Spain, and it is a new illustra
tion of tho poverty of that wretched
country that it does not possess, so far
as is known, even a good despot.
"I will my Bon should learn thegerman
just so good as english then a man who
know two Languages know more as
another who knows only one," wrote n
fond Burlington father to his son's
school teacher.
Baggs got up too early one morning,
and began to scold the servant girl. His
little six-year-old, who had been listen
ing attentively during the conversation,
broke in with: "Father, stop scolding;
you needn't think that Jane's your
wife."
A little child of James Doran, of
Bridgeport, died suddenly ft few days
since, and liis mother, while viewing the
remains lying in tho coffin, was so over
come with grief that she dropped dead,
and both mother and child were buried
in the same grave.
Sharp little Katie Doyle, of Pittsburgh,
got out of patience with her bashful
lover's backwardness, and so brought
matters to a favorable climax by saying
to him : "I really believe you are afraid
to ask me to marry you, for you know I
would say yes."
Au editor bemoans the calamities of
tho present year in tho following touch
ing strain : First that Beecher business,
then the grasshoppers, then the Demo
cratic victories, and now an increased tax
on wlrisky ! My goodness, what is this
country coming to 1
A Scotchman, 80 years old, nnd nenrly
denf, wns naturalized recently in Knys
ville, Utah, the judge descending to
shout his interrogatories into the old
man's ear. When asked if he intended
to obey tho law, he answered, iu his
native Scotch dialect, that "it wasna
worth while for him the dae otherwise
noo."
The most extraordinary instance of tho
application of the proceeds of theft is re
ported from Montreal, where a letter.
earner on prooaiion mow h rrjjiicu
letter containing six dollars, and used the
contents to insure himself iu one of the
companies that guarantee the honesty of
their poncy-noiuers in responsioie posi
tions. Lady Dudlev. whose jewels, estimated
at $250,000 in value, were recently stolen
at a railway station, is a sister of Lady
Morduuut, defendant in a lamous divorce
case. Lord Dudley was made an earl by
the wliigs for satisfactory votes. His in
come averages $1,500,000; but last year,
owing to the great increase in the price
of coal, was $5,000,000.
All who handle money must occasion
ally get hold of counterfeit bills, for the
Note Fruiting Bureau at Washington
makes the startling admission that seven
out of tho nine denomiuotions of the
national bank notes have been counter
feited. Nor is this the worst yet. It is
further asserted that the makers of
spurious notes are getting more expert
every year.
A little five-vear-old boy in Indiana
said to a judge who had called at his
father's : " Are you going to your store?"
"I haven't got any store." "Are you
going to your mill?" "I haven't got
any mill. "Are you going to your
shop?" "I haven t got nuy shop."
" W ell, then, how do you make money I
" I make it bv mv brains." " Well my
papa makes money and he hasn't got any
brams.
The British Postmaster-General is
charged with an net of petty tyranny.
A number of the lower 'rated emloyees
signed a memorial (which, under the re
gulations, they had a right to do) asking
for au increase of pay. Lord John Man
ners replied that they must withdraw
their request, which is done. He cliarges
them with insubordination, and then
dismissed those who signed. For this
act he is being severely criticised.
One of the boys, just.before'returniug
to Cornell tho other day, sent a young
lady friend of his a cake of Lubiu's
finest variety of toilet soap, with the re
quest that she would draw no inferences
X . 1. itl 'PI,..
m receiving burn a KUL-, no
man was somewhat astonished the next
day when he received a letter from the
young lady containing the present of a
tine tooth comb, witn tne requeBi mat
he would draw no inferences therefrom.
Sunset and Sunrise.
TIia sun sets nn some retired mendow.
wlinra nn limine is visible, with all the
glory and splendor that it lavishes on the
cities, and perchance, as it nas never set
before where there is mil a soniary
marsh- hawk to have its wings gilded by
it, or only a musquash to look out from
his cabin, and there is some little black
voiiiA.l l.rnnlr in Hia midst of the marsh.
just beginning to meander, winding
slowly arouuu a aecaying stump. o
walked in so pure and bright a light,
gilding the withered grass and leaves, so
softly and serenely bright, I thought I
una never named in sucn a goiuen nooa,
i, . , a- mi
wiinoui a rippie or a murmur w n. xue
west side" of every wood and rising
ground gleamed like the boundary of
Elysium, and the sun on our backs
gleamed like a gentle herdsman driving
us home at evening. So we saunter to
ward the holy land, till, one day, the
sun shall shine more brightly than he
has ever douejAall perchance shine into
our minds amlil'arts, and light up our
whole livs with a great awakening light,
as warm n& serene fcnd golden m on a
bank aida in nuVttmai