HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher.
NIL. DESPERANDUM.
Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. V.
RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1875.
NO.
2.
Doubtful John.
Now John, it is in honest name,
As very well you know j
There's good John Smith, and good John
Brown,
And small Johns in a row.
But there's one John we temperance folks
Have put our ban upon
A sly, suspicious kuid of elf
And that is demi-John.
" I'm euro it might contain, dear sir,
Good vinegar," say you.
" Or water from the fountains pure,
Or ruuning stream j" that's true t
But who'd believe your word, I pray.
While you was trudging on,
With no companions at your aide
Except a demi-John V
This John has a capacious mouth,
So vory deep and wide,
He often swallows fortunes up
Before he's satisfied.
Then, boys, I tell you what it is.
My word depend upon,
You'd better not bo introduced
Tu doubtful demi-John.
THE SWEEP'S STORY.
" Svi-thee-eep I Svi-theo-eep !' Don't
sound much like sweep ? No, it don't;
but then one has to have one's regular
cry, os folks may kuow us by. Why,
listen to any of them in the morning
about the street, and who'd think it was
creases as this one was a-hollering, or
Yarmouth bloaters that one; or that
" Yow-hoo!" meant new milk? It ain't
what wo Bay it's tho sound of our
voices. Don't the servant gals as hears
us of a morning know what it means well
enough when the bell rings, and them
sleepy abed? Oh, no, not at all. But
there's no niussy for 'em, and we jangles
away ut tho bell, and hollers a good 'un
till they lets us in ; for, yon see, it comes
niit'ral when you're obliged to be up
yourself and out in the cold, to not like
other folks to be muggling it in bed.
lint, then, it's one's work, you know,
nml I dunuo whether it was that or tho
sutt as give me this here hoarse voice,
which nothing clears now most likely it
was the sutt. How times are altered,
though, since I was a boy ! That thero
climbing-boy act o' Purlyment made a
reg'lar revolution in our business, and
now here wa goes with this here bundle
' canes, with a round brush at tho eml.
like a great, long, screw fishing-rod, you
know, all in jynts, and made of the best
Malacky caue, so as to go into all tho
inns and outs, and bend about anywhere,
till it's right above tho pot, and bending
and swinging down. But they're poor
tilings, bless you, and don't sweep a
chimbley half like a boy used. You
never heers tho rattlo of a' brush at the
top of a chiinbly-pot now, and the boy
boy giving his " Hillo hallo hullo
o-o-o I" to show as he'd not been sham
ming and skulking half-way up the flue.
Why, that was one of the cheery sounds
as you used to hear early in the lnorniu',
when you was tucked up warm in bed;
for there was always somebody's chini
Hey a-being swept.
Puts me in mind again of when I was
a littlo bit of a fellow, and at home with
mother, a3 I can recollect with o nice,
pleasant face, and a widder's cap round
it. Hard pushed, poor thing, when she
took mo to Jon Barkby, the chiinney
sivecp, as said he'd teach mo the trade if
she liked. And there was I, shivering
lining Hiuu oi iienmu morning, wueu sne
was obliged to take me to Joe ; and we
got there to And him sitting over his
nrextuss, and lie arst mother to have
some. But her heart was too full, poor
thing, and she wouldn't, and was going
away, and Joe sent mo to the door to let
her out ; and that's one of the things as
1 shall never forget no, not if I lives to
be a hundred my poor mother's sad,
weary face, and the longing look she
gave me when we'd said "Goodbye,"
and I was going to shut the door after
her such a sad, looking look, as if she
could have caught me up and run off
with me. I saw it as she stood on the
step, and me with the door in my hand
that there given door, with a bright
brass knocker, and brass plate with
"B;irkby,Chimney-sweop," on it. There
was tears in her eyes, too ; and I felt so
miserable myself I didn't know what to
do as I stood watching ier ; and she
came and give me one more kiss, say
ing, " God bless you!" and then I shut
the door a little more and a little more,
till I could see the same sad look through
quite a littlo crack ; and then it was close
shut, and I was wiping my eyes with my
knuckles.
Ah ! I have often thought since as I
shut the door a deal too soon ; but I
was too young to know ull as that poor
thing must have suffered.
Barkby want a bad sort ; but then,
what enn you expect from a sweep ? He
didn't behave so very bad to us little
chummies ; but there it was up at four,
and trapes through the cold, dark streets,
hot or cold, wet or dry; and then stand
shivering till you could wake np the ser
vants an hour, perhaps, sometimes.
Then iu you went to the cold, miserable
house, w.th the carpets all mp, or p'raps
you had to wait no one knows Tiow long
while tho gal was yawning, and knick
kuick:kuicking with a flint and steel
over a tinder-box, and then blowing the
spark till you could get a brimstone
match alight. Then there was the forks
to get for us to stick the black cloth in
front of the fireplace, and then there was
one's brush, and the black cap to pull
down over oub'a face, pass under the
cloth, and begin swarming up the
chimney all in the dark.
It was very trying to ft little bit of a
chap of ten years old, you know, quite
fresh to the job; and though Barkby
gave me lots of encouragement, without
being too chuff, it seemed awful as soon
as I got hold of the bars, which was
quite warm then, and begun feeling my
way, hot, and smothery, and sneezy in
my cap, till I got my head such a pelt
against some of the brickwork that I
began to cry; for this was the first high
chimbley as I'd been put to. But I
chokes it dowu, as I stood there with my
little bare feet all amongst the cinders,
and then began to climb.
Every now and then Barkby shoves
his head under tho cloth, and "Go
ahead, boy," he'd say; and I kep on
going ahead as fast as I could, for I was
ofeored on him, though he never spoke
very gruff to me; but I had heard him
g and cuss awful, And I didn't want to
put him out. Bo there was I, poor little
chnp I'm sorry for myself even now,
you know swarming up a little bit at a
time, crying away quietly, ami rubbing
the skin off my poor knees and elbows,
while the plaoo felt that Lot anil stuffy I
could Lordly breathe, cramped up as I
was.
Now, you wonldn't think as any one
could see in the dark, with their eyes
close shut, and a thick cap over their
face, pulled right down to keep tho sutt
from getting up their nose-you wouldn't
think any one could see anything there;
but I could, quite plain; and what do
you think it was ? Why, my mother's
face, looking at me so had, and sweet, and
smiling, through her tears, that it made
I mo give quite a choking Bob every now
I anil men, lor 1 was new at climbing, and
I this was a long chimbley, from the
housekeeper's room of a great house,
j right from underground, to the top.
Sometimes I'd stop and have a cry,
I for I'd feel bent out, and the face as had
i cheered me on was gone; but then I'd
hear Bnrkby's choky voice come mutter
I ing up tho floo, same as I've shouted to
lots o boys m my time, " Go ahead,
boy !" and I'd go ahead again, though
at last I was nobbing and choking as
hard as I could, for I kep on thiuking as
I should never get to tho top, and be
stuck there always in the chimbley,
never to come out no more.
"I won't bo a sweep, I won't be a
sweep," I says, sobbing and crying; and
all tho time making up my mind as I'd
run away first chance, and go home
again; and then, after a good long
struggle, I was in the pot, with my head
out, then my arms out, and the cap off
for the cool wind to blow in my face.
And, ah ! how cool and pleasant that
first puff of wind was, and how tho fear
and horror seemed to ge away as I
climbed out, aud stood looking about
me; till all at once I started, for there
came up out of the pot, buzzing like,
Barkby's voice, as ho calls out " Gj
ahead, boy !"
So then I set to rattling owny with my
brush-handle, to show as I was out, and
then climbs down on to the roof, and
begins looking about me. It was just
getting daylight, so that I could see my
way about; and all seemed so fresh aud
slrunge that, with my brush in my hanil,
1 begins to wander over tne roofs, climb
ing up the plates aud sliding down
t'other side, which was good fun, nud
bore doing two or three times over.
I Then I got to a parapet, and leaned look
: ing over into the street, aud thinking of
what a way it would bo to tumble; but
j so far off being afraid, I got on to the
i stone coping, aud walked along ever so
far, till I came to an attic window, where
I I could peep in and Bee a man lying
I asleep, with his mouth half open; then I
climbed up another slope and had an
other slide down, and then another, and
another, till I forgot all about my sore
knees; and nt last sat astri Je of the high
est part, looking about mo at tho view
I had of tho tops of houses as far as I
could see, for it was getting quite light
now.
All at once I turned all of a horrible
fright, for I reckelected about Barkby ,
and felt almost os if he'd got hold of me,
aud was tlirashiug mo for being so long.
I ran to the first ehimbley-sttick, but that
wasn't right; for I knew as the one I
came up was atop of a nlnte sloping roof.
Then I ran to another, thinking I should
know the one I came out of by the sutt
upon it. But they'd all got sutt upon
'em c-very chiuibley-pot I looked at;
and so I hunted about from one to an
other till 1 got all in a muddle, and
didn't know where I was, nor which pot
I'd got out of. Last of all, shaking aud
trembling, 1 makes sure as I'd got the
right one, and climbing up, I managed,
after nearly tumbling off, to get my legs
in, when putting down mf cap, I let my
self down a bit at a time, when leaviug
go, I slipped with a regular rush good
ness knows how far, till I came to a bend
in the chimbley, where I stopped short
scraped, and bruised, and trembling,
while I felt that confused I couldn't
move.
After a bit I came round a little, and,
wliiivmerinir imil evvinrr tn mvself. T
gan to feel my way about a bit with my !
toes, and tnen got along, a little way
straight like, when the chimbley tok
another bend down, nnd stiffly nml slow
ly I let myself down a littlo and a little
till my feet touched cold iron, and I
could get no further. But after thinking
a bit, I mado out where I was, and that
was, standing on tho register of a fire
place; so I begins to lift it up with my
toes as well as I could, wheu crash it
went down again, auu there came such
a squealing and screeching as mado me
begin climbing up again as fast as I
could till I reached the bend, where I
stopped and had another cry, I felt so
miserable; and then I shrunk np and
shivered, for there came a roar and a
rattle that echoed up the chimbley,
while the sutt came falling down in a
way that nearly smothered me.
Now, I knew enough to tell myself
tliat the people, being frightened, had
fired a gun up the chimbley, while the
turn round as it took had saved me from
being hurt. So I sat squtitted up quite
still, and then heard someone shout out,
"Hallo !" two or three times, nnd then,
"Puss, puss, puss!" "Ah, that's it, is
it?" I thinks; and being a bit of a
mimic, I sings out softly, " Miau, mi
yow," when I could hear voices whis
pering a bit, and then the register was
banged down, as I supposed by the
noise.
Only fancy sitting in a bend of tho
chimbley, shivering with fear and half
smothered with heat aud sutt. while your
breath comes heavy and thick from the
cap over your face ! Not nice, it ain't ;
and more than once I've felt a bit sorry
for tho poor boys us lVe sent up chitn
bleys in my time. But there I was, and
I soon began scrambling up again, and
worked hard, for the chimbley was wider
tlian the other one. Last of all, I got to
the pot, aud on the stack, and then again
I had a good cry.
Now, when I'd rubbed my eyes again,
I had another look round, and felt as if
I was at the wrong pot; sol scrambled
down, slipped over the slates, and got to
a stack in front, when I felt sure I was
right, for there was black finger-marks
on the red pot; so I got up, slipped my
legs in, and taking care this time that I
didn't fall, began to lower myself down
slowly, though I was all of a twitter to
know what Barkby would do to me for
being so long. Now I'd slip a little bit,
being so sore and rubbed I could hardly
stop myself; and then I'd manage to let
myself down gently; but all as once the
chimbley seemed to open so wide, being
an old one, I suppose, that I couldn't
reach very well yith my back and elbows
pressed out; s, feeling myself slipping
again, I tried to stick my nails in the
bricks, at the same time drawing my
knees 'most up to my chin, wheu down
I went perhaps a dozen feet, and then,
when there was a bit of a curve, I stuck
reg'lar wedged in nil of a heap, nose and
chin together, knees up ngainst the
bricks on one side, and my back agaiust
the other, and me not able to move.
For a bit I was so frightened that I
never tried to stir; but last of nil the
horrid fix I was in came upon me liko a
clap, and there I was, half-choked, drip
ping with perspiration, and shuddering
in every limb, wedged in where oil was
as dark as Egypt.
After a bit I managed to drag off my
cap, thinking that I could then see the
doylight through the pot. But mo the
chimbley curved about too nineh, and all
was dark as ever; while what puzzled me
was, that I couldn't breathe any easier
now the cap was off," for it seemed hot,
and close, and stifly, though I thought
that was through me being so frightened,
for I never fancied now but what I was
iu the right chimbley, and wonder d
that Barkby didn't shout at me. But all
at oueo there came a terrible creeping
fear all over me a feeling that I've nev
er forgotten, nor never shall as long as
I'm a sweep. It was as if the blood iu
my body had run out and left mo weak,
and helpless, and faint, for down below I
could hear a heavy beat beat beat
noiRe, that I knew well enough, and up
tinder me came a rush of hot smoke that
nearly suffocated me right off; when I
gave such a horrid shriek of fear as I've
never forgot neither, for the sound of it
frightened me worse. It didn't sound
like my voice at all, as I kept on shriek
ing, and groaning, and crying for help,
too frightened to move, though I've often
thought since as a littlo twisting on my
part would have set me loose, to try and
climb up again. But, bless you, no; I
could do nothing but shout aud cry for
help, with the noise I made sounding
hollow and stifly, and tho heat and smoke
coming up so ns to nearly choke me over
and over again.
I knew fast enough now that I had
come down a chimbley where there had
been n clear fire, and now some one had
put lumps of coal on, and been breaking
them up; and in the fright I was I could
do nothing else but shout away until
my voice got weak and wirv. and i could
do nothing but cough and wheeze for
breath.
But I hadn't been crying for uotlung,
though; for soon I heard some one shout
up the chimbley, and then came a deal
of poking and noise, and the snioke and
heat came curling up by me worse than
ever, so that I thought it was all over
with me, but at the same time came a
whole lot of hot, bad-smelling steam;
and then some one knocked nt the bricks
float) by lily Kail, HUH X llUltlU U UUZ-
zing sound, when I gave a hoarse sert of j
cry, aud then felt stupid and half
asleep.
By -and-hye there was n terrible knock
ing and hammering close beside me,
getting louder and louder every mo- I
menfc; and yet it didn't seem to mattei j
to me, for I hardly knew whnt was going !
on, though tho voices came nearer and ,
the noise pl'duer; and at last I've a bit i
of recollection of hearing somo one say, j
" Fetch brandy," and I wondered '
whether tliey meant Barkby, while I J
could feel the fresh air" coming upon me. I
Then I seemed to waken up a bit, and j
see the daylight through n big holo, i
while thero was ever so much broken
bricks and mortar between mo and the I
light; and next thing I recollect is lying
upon a mattress, with a fine gentleman
leaning over me, and holding my hand
in his.
"Don't," I says in a whisper; "it's
all sutty."
When I see him smile, and he asked
me how I was.
" Oh, there ain't no bones broke," I
says; "only Barkby, him as some on
you called ' Brandy,' '11 half kill me."
"What for ?" says another gentleman.
"Why, coming down the wrong cliim
bley," I says; and then, warming up a
bit with my wrongs, " but 'twarn't my
fault," I says. " Who could tell t'other
from which, when there warn't no nuni-!
bers nor uothink on 'em, and they was '.
IU1 in i iyi , m, iwi juu U1UU K JLJJUW illlil 11,
come down, and him aswearing acause
you was so long? Where is he?" I says
in a whisper.
One looked at t'other, and there was
six or seven peoplo about me; for I was
lying on the mattress put on the floor
close aside a great hole in tho wall, and a
heap o' bricks and mortar.
" Who ?" says tho first gent, who was
a doctor.
"Why, Barkby," I says, "my guv'nor,
as sent me up number seven's chim
bley." " Oh, ho's not here," says some one.
" This ain't number sevon, this is num
ber ten. Send to seven," he says.
Then they began talking a bit, and I
heard something said about "poor boy,"
und "fearful groans," and "horrid
position, " nnd they thought I didn't
hear 'em; for I'd got my eyes shut,
meaning to sham Abram when Barkby
came, for fear he should hurt mo. But
I needn't have shammed, for I couldn't
neither stand nor sit up for a week arter;
and I believe, arter all, it's that has had
something to do with me being so husky
voiced. Old Barkby never hit me a stroke;
and I believe, arter all, he was sorry for
me. But a sweep's is a queer life even
now, though afore the act was passed
some poor boys was used cruel, and
more than one's got stuck in a flue, to be
got out dead.
A Knowing Dog,
There was a panic in a Paris street
over the conduct of a magnificent re
triever in front of the window of a dealer
in picture frames. He jumped, yelled,
barked, tried to throw himself through
the glass; und he was mad, of course.
They were about to kill him, but a
philosopher interfered. It seemed to
him that all those eccentricities of the
dog had relation to a portrait in the win
dow. So it proved. All this was joy at
sight of the portrait of a lady. That
huly lived in Marseilles, and the dog had
been stolen from her many months be
fore. Strange chance to find his way
home by the picture placed there casually
to exhibit the frame.
Interesting Facts la Physiology,
Why do we feel drowsy after eating
heartily f Boconse while the stomach
is in action a great proportion of the
blood is drawn toward it, and no the
blood is withdrawn from other parts of
the body, they fall into a state of
languor.
Why does tho milky or nutritious
matter separate from the innutritions,
upon admixture with bile ? Boenuso tho
bile contains an-oily matter which repels
the watery milk of nutrition. , Tho pan
creatic juice also enters through the
same duct with bile. Butitspreeise use
is not understood. It is a fluid much
liko the snlivary secretions of the glands
of the mouth.
What becomes of the nutrition when
it has entered the vessels of the circula
tion ? It is sent through a largo vein
into the heart, entering that organ on tin
right side, from which the heart propels
it into tho lungs, mixed venous blood,
and the venous or blue blood is sent into
the lungs, taking with it the milk, the
formation of which we have traced.
How is food itigested in tho stomach ?
It enters the stomach in the form of
paste, produced by the action of the
mouth; and directly the food enters, the
gastric juice, which is formed by glands
embedded in the coats of the stomach,
trickles down tho sides. This is a more
powerful solvent thnu the salivary jnico;
it is like the same kind of fluid, only
much stronger, and it soon turns the
food from a rough and crude paste into
a grayish cream (chyme). The cream is
passed toward the door which leads out
ward from the stomach (pylorus) ; but if,
in the midst of the cream, there are any
undissolved particles of food, it closes
upon them nnd they return again to tho
stomach to be f urther changed.
How is the nutrition taken away from
tho bilious residue? Tho muscular
threads (or bands, as we figuratively call
them ), called the alimentary canal or bow
els. This cauid is some thirty feet iu
length, and is folded in various layers
across the abdomen, and tied to the edge
of a sort of apron, which is gathered up
and fastened to the backbone. All along
this alimentary canal those muscular
hands are pushing the digested mass
along. But on tho coat or surface of the
canal there are millions of littlo vessels
called lucteals, which look for tho minute
globules of milk as the pass aud absorb
them. Thero is an immense number of
the little vessels, all busily at work pick
ing up food for the system.
A Cold Winter Years Ago.
The winterof 1841 wasfuinoHS tlu-ough-out
New England os being much colder
than any which had preceded it. Prob
ably no year since could furnish testi
mony for cold either so intense or pro
tracted. Tho suw, which covered the
whole country as early as the 13th of
November, was still found tho next
April covering the fences. The Boston
l'ost Jioy, lorjniuiiay i, reports a tent
,on the Charles river for the entertain
ment of travelers. The Bsston Xcica
Letter, for March 6, tells us that "peo
plo ride every day from Stamford, Conn.,
to Long Island, which is three leagues."
Even as far east as New London, we are
tld tkat "the ice extended into the
Sound as fur as could bo seen from the
town;" and that "Fisher's Island was
united to the mainland by a solid bed."
On March 28, tho Boston Xcw Letter
reports that tho people living on Thomp
son's Island hud crossed over to Dor
chester to church on the ice for tho fifteen
preceding Sundays.
As late as tho lith of July a letter from
Now London, Conn., reports on tho east
sido of the Connecticut river a body of
ice ns largo as two carts can draw, clear
and solid, and adds very artlessly that
" it might lay there a mouth longer were
it not that bo many resort out of curiosity
to drink punch mado out of it." On tho
17th of July snow was still lying in a
nias in the town of Ipswich, Mass.,
nearly four feet thick.
But the most marvelous record of that
season is the statement mado by Alonzo
Lewis, nuthor of " Tho Annuls of
Lynn, Mass.," that "Francis Lewis,
tho signer of the Declaration of Indepen
dence, drove his horse from New York
to Barnstable, tho whole length of Long
Island Sound, on the ice."
A Very Xatural Mistake.
Max Adeler offers this: Always cork
up your catsup bottles tightly. Going
out on the steam cars the other day, wo
observed a man place a bottle of tomato
catsup, neck downward, in the rack
above his seat. Presently a friend came
in, and in a few moments tho friend,
who was cleaning his nails with a knife,
introduced the subject of a third terra
for Grant. The discussion gradually be
came warm, and as the excitement in
creased the man with the knife gesticu
lated violently with the hand containing
the weapon, us he explained his views on
the question. Meantime tho cork jolted
out of the bottle overhead, and the cat
sup dropped down over the owner's head
and coat and collar without his perceiv
ing the fact. Directly a nervous old lady
on the opposite seat, who caught sight
of the red stain, and imagined it was
blood, instantly began to scream " mur
der " at the top of her voice. As the
passengers, conductors, and brakemeu
rushed up, she brandished her umbrella
wildly, and exclaimed: "Arrest that
man "there ! Arrest that willin t I see
him do it. I see him stab that other one
with his knife till the blood spurted out
Oh, you wretch ! Oh, you willinous
rascal, to take human life in that scandal
ous manner, I see you punch him with
the knife, you butcher, you 1 aud I'll
swear it agin you in court, too, you
awdacious rascal !" They took her into
the rear car and soothed her, whilo the
victim wiped the catsup off his coat.
But that venerable old woman will go
down to the silent grave with the con
viction that she witnessed in those cars
ono of the most awful and sanguinary
encounters that has occurred since the
affair between Cain and Abel.
The county of De Kalb, 111., voted
thirteen years ago, through its super
visors, a bounty of $100 to each volun
teer in the Eighth Illinois cavalry, and
paid $05 to each of eight hundred and
forty men. The survivors and heirs of.
these have now brought suit for " bock
pay " with interest, and, should they win,
the county will be forced to pay claims
amounting to $50,000,
HOUSES OX FIRE.
A Few Hints for thone who 1.oi their
Presence of Allnd at a Fire.
The burning of a tenement-house in
this city, says the New York Times,
furnished a striking example of tho man
ner in which ordinarily courageous peo
ple lose all their presence of mind when
in danger of death by fire. We have
all heard the story of the woman who,
finding herself cut off from hopo of es
cape from a house in flames, threw her
baby out of a fourth-story window, and
carefully lowered the pet kitten to the
ground with a rope made of blankets.
It is rocorded also that a clergyman in a
couulry town, awaking in the middle of
the night to find his chnrch half burned
down, risked his life in heroic efforts to
save the lightning-rod, quite forgetting
that there was much more valuable prop
erty to be extricated from tho general
ruiu. When the great fires occurred in
Chicago and Boston, hundreds of per
sons seemed so complet ely to lose control
of their senses that they would have
rushed into the flames had they not been
kept back. The "night of fires" iu
Paris in 1871, when the torch of the in
cendiary was applied in a hundred
streets at once, drove many persons out
of their senses. The horrors of the ter
rible entaatropho of Fall lliver, still fresh
iu tho minds of our readers, were largely
duo to tho temporary madness which foil
upon the operatives who, iu their haste
to escape from whnt they feared was ono
impending death, rushed headlong upon
another. People who would display
great firmness and bravery in the midst
of peril by water, or amid the terrors of
a railroad accident, are powerless to save
even themselves, not to speak of others,
in presence of flames.
In tho recent disaster in this city, two
children lost their lives by suffocation.
Their father ond mother, with a third
child, occupying an adjoining room,
awoke to find everything enveloped in
smoke, nnd at once ran out of doors. A
moment's reflection would have con
vinced the hapless father that ho should
have aroused the other children, and that
all should have left the house together.
But he seems to have lost all recollection
of them until he had been in the street
for some time, when, suddenly aroused
to a sense of their danger, he bravely
rushed into the flames in search of them.
His efforts to reach them were vain, and
he would hove lost his own life had not
the policemen and firemen taken cour
ageous risks in going after him, ond
dragging him back to the fresh oir. All
other occupouts of the house, on the
floors above this unfortunate family,
were saved, although they did not awake
until almost surrounded by the flames,
which burst up through the planks be
neath them. Wliile the fire was iu pro
gress, half dressed people, who had
escaped, refused to take shelter, despite
tho intense cold, and were with the
greatest difficulty restrained from rush-
lug liAtvs muawUw UULl ItlC, U1U iLllnt.il u-
bly perishing there. The samo lack of
presence of mind, the same apparent in
sanity when danger is near, was displayed
at the burning of the weaving factory in
Brooklyn. Fire, which broke out among
a quantity of waste jute in the cellar of
the factory, spread rapidly to the upper
steries, cutting oft' flight by the stair
ways for somo seventy work girls. A
pnuic ensued, and there was danger of a
repetition of the Fall lliver calamity,
when some one discovered that escape
was possible by jumping to tho roof of
an extension, which was not more than
six feet from the windows f the second
story.
Even this easy menus of exit did not
servo, however, to lessen tho panic, and
many of tho girls were severely cut nnd
bruised in their frantic efforts to get out
at tho windowH. Those who remained
calm nnd obeyed tho firemen wore res
cued without tho slightest injuries.
An ounec of prevention is, of course,
worth a pound of cure, nnd it would
naturally be much wiser to avoid reck
lessness in heating houses, even when
the weather is unusually cold, than to
drill for action in case of a sudden ca
lamity. The large number of destruc
tive fires during the past few days has
doubtless been in some measure duo to
the cold weather. Overheated stoves
placed too near thin and combustible
wnlls, are the causes of ninny so-called
"mysterious conflagrations." It is im
possible to secure proper caution among
the numerous inmates of crowded tene
ment houses, or great blocks in which
various shops and factories are situated.
Tho "trial by fire" is one which may
come to all with hardly a moment s
warning, ond which demands coolness
and jnstant action. The chances are in
ut least ninety cases in one hundred in
favor of the escape of those who are in
a burning building, if they do not fran
tically rush into, rather than away from,
the danger.
Wanted the Law.
A farmer called at the house of a
lawyer to consult him professionally.
"Is 't squeer at home ?" lie inquired of
the lawyer's wife. Ho was answered
negatively. After a moment's hesita
tion a thought relieved him. " Mebby
yourself can gi' me information as well
as t' squeer, ns ye're his wife." The
kind lady promised to do so if she found
it in her power, and the other proceeded
as follows: " Spoaze ye were an old
white meor, an' I should borry ye to
gwang to mill with grist on yer bock, an'
we should get no farder than Stair hill,
when nil at once ye should back up, and
rear up, nnd pitch up, and kneel down
backward, and break yer darned old neck,
who'd pay for ye ? Not I darn me if I
would !" The lady smilingly told him,
os she closed the door, that as he had
himself settled the case, advice would be
superfluous.
Frozen in His Seat. The Denver
AY-it', to show how cold it gets in
Colorado, says: There was no more tlian
the customary stir at Los Vegas, the
other day, when the stage-coach, with
four passengers inside and a corpse for a
driver, came tearing iuto town. The
driver, though frozen dead, was sitting
bolt upright, with an awful grimness of
face and a death-grip on the lines.
" Why don't you hold up your head iu
the world as I do?" asked a haughty
lawyer of a sterling old farmer.
"Squire, "replied the farmer, "see that
field of grain. The well-filled heads
hang down, while those only tliat Rre
empty stand upright,"
MARRIED LIFE.
Its Jars and Its Troubles A Hit of Advice
from a Nuprcme Court Jurigr.
In denying the preliminary application
of n wife to enable her to bring a suit
for divorce against her husband, Judge
Donohue, of tho New York Supreme
Court, gave some very sound ndvice to
married peoplo who are troubled with
"incompatibility of temperament."
The case, whose abrupt termination af
forded the occasion for these remarks,
appears to have been a very frivolous one.
1 e " cruel and inhuman treatment "
complained of by the wife seems to hnve
mainly consisted of o?easiouul exhibi
tions of boorishness on the part of tho
husband. On one occasion ho was bored
with her piano playing, nnd attempted
to summarily stop tho annoyance by
closing the lid of the instrument. His
wife resisted, and got her fingers
pinched. At another time he refused to
budge from tho two chairs ho occupied
before the window to enable her to re
move some pet birds which were hang
ing outside. A third specification re
lated to the violent ringing of the door
bell at night by the defendant. Acts like
these were the head nnd front of the
husband's offending, and yet they were
deemed snfliciout to warrant a demand
for alimony and an allowance for couusel
fees, to enablo the wife to prosecute a
suit for divorce from bed aud board.
There seems to have been evidence
enough in the case to secure n verdict
from any female jury that the husnond
had behaved like a " brute." But then,
had his wife's temper nnd conduct no
share in making him so ? It was very
wrong to close the piano on his wife's
fingers, but wa3 it quite right to insist
on compelling a man to listen to music
that he did not wunt ? Is it wise to make
a man's homo so disagreeable that he
must either seek quiet and repose out
side of it, or resort to force to secure
them inside ? As to tho pet-bird episode,
it would be interesting to hear iu what
kind of tone the wife asked her husband
to sit on ono side ; and before condemn
ing without reserve that moroso nnd
surly person, it might be only fair to
give him somo credit for a dim feeling
of regret that the woman ho had courted
in days gone by had love to spare for her
canaries, but none for him. Again, whv
should n wife's nerves be jarred by her
husband's ring at the door-bell, even if
were lato ot night There nro women
who find more melody in that sound than
is contained in all tho seven-octaves of
their pianofortes, or all the artless trills
of their pet canaries. Was it not partly
her own fault that the plaintiff in this
case found the midnight ring so dis
agreeable to her nerves 1
We submit these points less with refer
ence to the litigant Thompsons thnu to
tho scores of married couples whose
" difficulties " are fairly illustrated by
the complaint in the case in question.
The old-fashioned theory of mutual obli-
J -w ni6l, A...t,U iH it k"uii
ileal lost sight of in these days. Men
are too apt to carry their business faces
and their business thoughts homo with
them, and so bring nothing but coldness,
hardness, and reserve to the society of
wife and children. On the other hand,
women are not ready enough to make
allowance for the wear and tear of our j
commercial life upon the nerves ond
temper of the man who has to bear the
bmut of the struggle. It is to a very
largo extent for their wives' nnd children's
sakes that men aro tempted to overtax
their energies, and to make themselves
prematurely old, iu the endeavor to get
rich or to maintain a certain social posi
tion. There are many things that cloud
a man's brow and sour his temper, about
which ho cannot take his wife iuto his
confidence. She would probably not
understand them if he did, and tho at
tempt to translate these troubles into
definite speech is to many men a more
acute pain thau to simply enduro them.
Women may have noticed tho fact that
the boiling kettle continues to bubble
for a littlo after it has been lifted from
the fire. In the same way tho active
brain of tho hard-worked professional or
business man will, in spite of himself,
run on tho affairs of his office after he
has come within the precincts of home.
A wiso wifo will make allowance for the
occasional gruffness whose source she
cannot understand, and will moke it her
businoss to smooth out the hard lines of
the troubled face, and gently to allow
the soothing influence of a pleasant home
to work its gradual but certain cure.
Of course, deeper than all faults of
heedlessness or want of heart is the
radical moral error of forgetting what
the marriage covenant is. As Judge
Donohuo reminded the sensitive Mrs.
Thompson, people take in marriage
" certain duties on themselves, and un
dertake to bear the infirmities of hu
manity wliich each possesses." Whether
"for better or for worse, for richer or
poorer," is expressly convenauted or
not, the conditions are distinctly under
stood, nnd married poeplo aro as ob
viously bound to accommodate their
tastes and tempers to each other ns they
are to respect the inviolability of then
neighbor's property. They have no
right to subject their children, if they
have any, to the demoralizing influences
of a contentious home, or to the shame
inseparable from a broken marriage
bond. They have just as little right to
weoken the tie which holds society to
gether by treating the marriage vow as a
thing terminable at the caprice or the
vindictive impulse of either of the parties
to it. There has been a great deal too
much twaddle talked and published
about the sentimental side of this ques
tion. On tho stage, in the court of jus
tice, in the church, even, we have had
too many exposures of the morbid an
atomy of the minds of vain or vicious
people, who chafe under the ties of
matrimony. It is about time that the
simple and imperative duty of married
en and women should be a little more
insisted on, and as a contribution to
what is in danger of becoming a rather
scanty department of literature, we com
mend Judge Donohue 's brief remarks to
public attention.
During a recent revolution at La Paz
Bolivia, the troops all got drunk, and
went through tho streets firing at ran,
dom, right and left. Several young
gentlemen were killed in their houses
and a young lady was shot through the
lungs. Every house closed its doors,
and such a state of terror was never be
fore seen in the city.
Items of Interest.
It U eaiier to live within an iuconv
thau without on?.
It is said that fewer Americans nro in
Paris tins winter thau for many years
past.
"An infallible cure for consumption "
That's what a French doctor says of
the meal of oiir Indian corn.
Advertising pays. A Dubuque, Iowa,
man who advertises largely was thereby
discovered by a wife whom ho deserted
years ago.
Tho only way some people can keep
their names untarnished ii to make
Bridget spend about half her timo scour
ing the door plate. '
At tho Kancho de los Loureles in
Texas, a wealthy stock raiser, at his an
nual branding of calves, stamped his
mark on 10,000 head.
An Ohio stoneworker recently died,
nnd his lungs were found to contnin
numerous pebble-like concretions of
particles of Bera stone.
Mt. St. Elias, which, from actual
measurement, is now stated to bo tho
highest peak on the Americun continent,
exceeds 10,000 feet iu height.
A Western paper has discovered that
"some change seems necessary in tho
collection of taxes." Tho samo thing
holds good in payment of them.
Herr Driesbach, once so well known
as a lion tamer, has sold his farm ot
Wooster, Ohio, and has gone to hotel
keeping at a Utile railroad station.
The centennial of Ethan Allen's cap
ture of Ticonderoga is to be celebrated
by the citizens of northeastern New York
and Vermont. The anniversary is May
Being consonant with each other.
John Pulnsksoboiskwinchhiski nml
Julia Soloskiminniewinniehiski worn
married at South Bend, Indiana, last
week.
Tobacco chewing has ono advantage,
especially where the man is much in tho
hsuse and spits freely upon the carpets
those carpets will never be moth
eaten.
A Minnesota Dogberry has decided
that stealing rails from a fenco is not
stealing nt all; that n fence is a part of
the reality, and reol estate cannot bo
stolen.
They have determined by experiments
iu France that trees are killed with great
rapidity by very small portions of com
mon gas escaping from the pipes und af
fecting tho soil.
A huly recently sent a fur cap to n fur
establishment for somo repairs. She ex
plained her wishes iu the following note:
" I won't mi kape mendid whar tho mises
uored it in gud ship."
More people have been frozon to death
this whiter in tho United States than aro
likely to be struck by lightning this
year. Twenty deaths from cold aro ro-
pUll&U HMu. ,
Mr. Mitchell, of Sterling, 111., while
under the infiueueo of intoxicating
liquors, attempted burglary and was
fatally shot. Mrs. Mitchell, has since
compelled each of tlu'ee saloon keepers,
who sold hun the liquor to pay her ljfi500
damages.
There is nothing like testing an appar
atus to see if it works well. A New York
boat builder constructed a man-trap for
thieves out of a brace of pistols, and
wliile fooling about it inserted two or
three pounds of shots and slugs into his
legs. He knows it's a good contrivance
nov.
Bailreod traveling in Massachusetts
must bo regarded as wonderfully safe, if
we are to rely on the published slatn
ment that ottt of 42,000,000 passenger.'!
carried over the railways of that Stats ut
1874 only one person was killed i.ud
seven injured, except by personal care
lessness.
Under the terms of a bill introduced
into the Wisconsin Senate the parties to
bribery at elections or at political con
ventions may suffer a penalty of five
hundred dollars fine, one year's im
prisonment and disfranchisement and
disqualification for office for a period of
ten years.
The teuaut farmers of England are as
sessed for income tax upon a basis of
00,000,000 per annum, and tho entire
rental value of agricultural land is about
110,000,000. The capital represented
by tho agricultural interest is over 800,
000,000, a sum exceeding the British
nationid debt.
A log of wood containing a scaled bot
tle has just been picked up at Havre,
France. It was one of several thrown
overboard from the Prince Napoleon, in
its Arctic expedition, to test the force of
currents. The writing it contained was
perfectly legible, although the log had
been drifting since 18C0.
Heavy damages are sometimes recov
ed against railway companies in England.
Not long since a seed merchant, nameel
Maldeh, got a verdict against the Great
Northern railway for $40,000 damages
for injuries inflicted in a collison. A
motion was made the other day for a new
trialVra the ground that the damages were
excessive, but the Court of Queen's Bench,
sitting in banc, expressing the opinion
that the company should paya large sum,
it was agreed t give the plaintiff a check
for $25,000.
The Crops.
The report of the Commissioner of
Agriculture of the United States for
January states that the aggregate crop of
wheat is larger than ever before, exceed
ing 300,000,000 bushels. Bye, ninety
eight per cent, of last year's crop;
products, 14,891,000 bushels. Oats
product, 240,000,000 bushels, a decline
of nearly 30,000,000 bushels. Potatoes,
106,000,000 bushels, about the same as
1"73. Hay product, 25,500,000 tons an
increaso of 500,000 tons. Buckwheat,
same as last year, 9,000,000 bushels. In
comparison of prices of farm products
for the last seven years, corn, is taken us
an example, and production and prices
thus stated: In 18G8, 906,000,000
bushels, valued at sixty-two cents per
bushel; 1809, 874,000,000 bushels,
seventy-five cents; 1870, 1,094,000,050
bushels, fifty-four cents; 1871, 991,008,
000 bushels, forty-eight cents; 1872,
1,092,000,000 bushels, thirty-nine cents;
1873, 932,000,000 bushels, forty-eight
cents; 1874, 854,000 bushels, sixty-live
cents.