' ' ' - " " 1 : : p ! j ; : ile ill toiifi ' Slltietfe A HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum. VOL.-VI. MDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, JANUARY 25, 1877, NO 49 , The Object of a Llfr. To eat, drink and be merry, becauee to-morrow we die The Master's talent to bury a gift laid Idly by j To scrape with grim persistence the grains of a golden store i To dig for a baro subsistence, ihat keeps the wolf from the door. But whether in purple and riches, we feed on the fat of the land, Or up to the middle in ditches, live hard by labor of hand, To wrestle for rnso and pelf, in a hunger of -v great and small. Whereas " Kverv man fi.r liii:iseif, and Oud, if T will, for n all,'' With greed tht carries pollution of base and pitiful iilruY',-. Can tills be the true solution, the cud and aim of a life? Xo. Surely sparks tele tial tho su.mhhn share with Ui, Uy instincts coarse mid beitial can uevei Vo stilled thus ! And surely within the portals, that bar their brighter spheie, They yearn for fellow immortals, though grov eling worm-like here. The helping hand to reach us, that guide - with tender care, The loving lesson to teach us, of a holier future tltfcre j To whisper how fair and ample the field we hus band below, To till of the great example, the Man of com passion and woe ; Of footprints left behind Him, who straightly walk with God, VTho bend their backs to labor, and bond their knees to pray Iu honest lovo for their neighbor, His one command obey j Who freely bear for others tho burden sorrow hath laid, Accepting all for brothers that need a brothor's aid Rejoice in the gain resulting from every mile stone passed, travel the 'road, exulting, that brings them homo at last. -(?. J. W'hyte Metritis, in Temple Ear. THE RAT'S TALE. He was a levee Rat. And be was being kicked, implied, dragged, jostled back ward nul forward, by the stevedore's men, like a ragged shuttlecock. Every one had a curse mid a blow for the " Eat," mid lie would, have suffered se verely had not a lady on her way to the steamer observed it and called the atteu tion of her tre. rt, tiie captain of the boat, to the unfortunate. The young Ti.it was rescued, and, at the lady's- re quest, taken on board the ship and his injuries attended to. " What is your name, little boy ?'' asks the lady, as she sees her protege taken 0 re of. "Dick." ".Are vou huu'-rrv, Dick ?" "Ki-tW !" "Only rather?" in a tone of disup- pointment. " ' Either,' " explains the cajytaiu, "in tliat tone, means " 'very.'" The lady takes a plate and fills it with cold chicken, stuffing, salad, bread and what not, adds u knife, and fork, and gives it to Dick. The kuife and fork are no nse to him. He squats on the deck, and eats with na ture's implements. He has no idea of gastronomic combinations. First he eats the chicken, then the stuffing, then tho salad, then the bread; and this done, takes a long breath, and looks up with a lcok that says more, as plainly as Oliver said the word. More he gets, from the samj kind hnnd, which he watches wuh dimly awakened feelings of delight, and tilled he takes his departure. The party remained on board till about six o'clock, and by the time it broke up everyone had forgotten the "Bat;" but as Mrs. Austen was crossing the levee, lie ran up, much to the annoyance of her companion, who had had enough of his company. " I say," says tho Eat. " Do you like him V" with a chuck of his thumb toward the steamer. " Captain Gilbert ?" " Ycb is he your feller?" " Get out, you scainp !" cries the gen tle man, indignantly. "Let him speak, Fred," the lady pleads. " No, Dick, I am married, and this is my husband; but Captain Gilbert is our kind friend. I crossed with him once, and he was very good to me when 1 was sick." " You'd hate for anything bad to hap pen him ?" "Why, of course! to him or to any one else." "Wot, to me?" " Indeed I would, my poor boy. Oh, Fred ! see how wistful he looks ! Mayn't I give him some of Charley's left-oif things ? I Lave a little boy at home," she goes on, seeing assent in her hus band's eyes " about your size." Ho they bid him follow them, and more wonders are in store for him. He sees Charley. He is taken up to the lady's own room, where the promised things are produced and tried on over his rags. Here lie stands, lost in admiration. The great broad bed, with its satin coverlet, iti lazy lace bound pillows, and snowy mosiruito bar held back by silken ropes of tli. same color as the little knots which, J'ere and there, light up the varied greens of the fern spread carpet ; the armoirs with their plate glass doors ; the dressing table all a-glitter with crystal and with gold, and a score of crincuia crankumn, such as he never before be . held j the pictures on the wall ; the ' flowers iu the balcony ; tha perfume of the place (no fixed odor, but a combina tion of all sweet things), bewildered the Hat. If he had ever heard of fairyland he would have thought himself there. He had never heard cf fairyland, or of the enchanters, giauts, dwarfs, genii, and nil the dear old myths which sur- round its beautiful princesses and the " exemplary third sons of its kings. A drunkard who would drop a dime as he staggered from the barroom was the nearest approach to a good fairy that DicaTlrnew. He gazed about him be wildered, and some dim sense of shame stole over him as he saw his own reflec tion m the looking glass doors. . tbi things " are selected. "Better not," says the lady. ' Put them on iu the morning. Conio here again about ten o'clock, and we'll see what can be done for you." He submits, and goes down reluctant ly, with two whole suits of Charley's left lilt clothes bundled up in a large hand kerchief and fifty cents iu his pocket. As soon as the hall door closes after him, the brute instincts of secrecy and evasion pull his jelly bag hat over his eyes and send him off at a run. Outside a barroom at the corner is a policeman. Here was a victim worthy of his " steal," so lie immediately gave chase, shouting " Stop thief 1" and firmer 1 his revolver at the fugitive. ' Our Hat gave in at the second shot, j and was walked off in triumph to the I station. j , Captain Gilbert spends the evening with his agent, and returns to the ship ! about eleven o'clock. . " Sony to say, sir," begins the chief : t.flleer, " that most of the men are j ashoro." "Without leave?" A shrugof liis shoulders is his answer. "Whose watch is it?" "Mr. Andrews'." . "Send him here. How's this, Mr. j Andrews ?" asks the captain, angrily. I " It's not my fault, sir. They don't go j over the gangway, They crawl over the ; aide, and on to the beams of tho wharf. ! It's impossible to stop them." I The captain knows New Orleans, and j being a just man, has no more to say. , It is very provoking ! He is going to j sail to-morrow, and those men will come on board drunk or stupid with the effect ! of drink. Home of them, perhaps, won't ! come at all. The weather for the last few days has i been oppressively hot, and now there is ! hope of rain. The sky is dark and low, and the fault evening breeze has gone j down. The captain goes to his cabin, which in on dock, and tries to read, but : the mosquitoes won't let him, so he gets i into bed, tucks in his bar, and sleeps the Bleep of a tired ninn. ! "Something makes him conscious that . tvvo bells (one o'clock) are striking. I hen he h ears a whisper : "Cap n! Cap u! close by his side. In an instant he has hi.s revolver ready, and is in tho act of striking a match when the whisper says: " Hush! it's me, Dick. Don't sav a word; don't light a match. Hush ! fs there a man named Phil Wood in your crowd ?" " Yes, a fireman ; but lie deserted last week." The captain whispers too. " Have you got specious aboard?" " Specious? Ob, specie, jou menu." " Wot 's that?" "Money." " I thought so ! Well, cap'n, Phil Wood and iie more is after that there specious, and they 'a aboard now." " Good God ! Why didn't you tell me before ?" gasps the captain. "P'licemau chevied me, 'cos I'd got a bundle that the lady give me. Took it away, he did, and locked me up," ex plains tiie Eat ; " but I got out." " On board row, do you say V" asks the optain. " Yes, and at work, too. Listen !" What tho captain her.ra sends him out of his berth with a spring. "Fire that," he says, thrusting a pistol into Dick's hand, " and run forward, shouting help as loud as you can j scream. Tiien he darts out on deck. I And no time to spare 1 The thieves j have overpowered and gagged the man on watch, have cut round the fastenings i of the hatch leading to the specie room, and already two boxes are out mid ready j for spiriting away. Dick does as he was told, and then rushes buck. Four of tho thieve3 are on deck, firing at the captain, who has dodged behind the cabin skylight, and is shooting steadily. Dick has five shots l.-A'l. I il. l .K....1 ..J..- it'll, ami UH'fe ite ui&ciiiuyi.'5 tmu iiult j rue other, witn nis eyes sum, as last us he can pull trigger. It is a brisk affair' while it. liitts; which is until the chief officer, doctor, steward and some others (aroused by Dick's shouts and the firing) come upon the scene. Then such of the thieves as can do so, jump overboard for their retreat forward is cut off. Three remain; one the leader dead, another with his thigh splintered, and a third with sevcrul balls in non-vital parts of his body. The first thing done is to release poor Mr. Andrews, whom they find still insen sible from the blow on the head which had put him torn du combat. By this time the police have come, and are search ing the ship, lest others of the thieves might be hiding. "What's that in the wheel house?" says the chief officer; "bring a light here. Ah! it's another of them; turn him over. Oh, Lord ! Captain, look hero ! Here's gratitude ! If it isn't that Eat that tho lady" "My God !" cries the captain; " I for got all about him ! Is he hurt ?" "Shot through the body, and serve him right," is Mansfield's reply. It struck tho speaker " silly," as lie after ward said, to see the sLpper fall down on his knees beside the "Eat," lift his head upon his shoulder, and, in a voice hoarse with emotion, say : " Are you hurt. Dick? Oh, Dick! Are you tad. j my boy ? Don't start. I'm your friend, j the captain, Dick speak to mo !" I "Is the p'lice gone?" he moans. ! "They sha'n't hurt you, Dick no one j shulL Oh, doctor, come and attend this i poor bravo little fellow. Any drop of I his blood is worth more than the lives of those scoundrels. Do your best for him, and send for all the surgeons in the city if they can help poor Dick I Poor little faithful chap!" The wounded thieves are carried off to the charity hospital by the police. Dick is taken to the captain's cabin, and placed in his bod. The ship's doctor does hia very best for him. The most famous surgeon in the city comes and looks grave. Captain Gdbert never leaves him. "Say!" Dick's voice has become very loiv and tremulous "was that there money yourn ?" " No ; but it was in my charge." " You'd a got thunder if you'd a lost it, eh ?" " I should have been ruined." " She wouldn't ha' liked that." " She ? Who do you mean, my boy ?' " The lady her as you was good to." The captain turned aside, and tried hard to swallow something which had never passed his lips. "Was it for her sake," he asked, "that you did this?" - ' She sed she'd hate to have anything bad come to yon," replies the Eat, " cos you was good to her when she was sick. Two nights ago I heard Phil Wood and his crowd talking about robbing a ship of specious. They sed they was going to 'tiee all the men ashore with drink, and there'd bo only one man forward be sides the cap'n. There was to ha' bin one put at the cap'n's door to knock him on the head if he came out I didn't know for sartin it was your ship, aud I was a-comiug to ask if you had specious when the p'licemau chevied me. " " Who was it that shot you ?" "Don't know. When I see the p'lice I crawled away to where you found me. I was skeard they'd think' I belonged to t'other crowd." The Eat is skin and bone, and nervous as a cat. He has lost more blood than he could spare from that slighter wound on his arm. He had so constitution to fall back upon, aud to hold him up while nature fights the shock and the fever which follow his more grievous hurt. Grievous, indeed! though the ball did not quite pass through his body ; better, perhaps, if it had. It has pierced the lower lobe of his right lung, and is lodged somewhere in the muscleB of his back. If he could sleep, or even be brought to remain quiet, he might have a chance. He cannot bo quiet ; whether it be pain, or whether it be surprise at such wonders as being fanned, having lemonade to sip, and so on, I cannot say. He :' s incessantly on the turn and on the watch ; nor will any drowsy syrup in the doctor's chest quiet him. When the lady comes early in the morning, the Eat 'is sinking slowly. His face brightens up as he sees her, and he begins to ask about Charley. "Oh, my poor boy," she says, "let us talk of better things. Let us talk of God." " God ?" he repeats, with a look of wonder. " Can it be that you have not heard of God?" " I've heard," Dick replies, you bet !" The lady stands aghast before this awful ignorance. He only knew the name of God iu curses ! " Wicked men take his name in vain, Dick," she says. " God made this world, and all that is in it; God is all that is good and merciful. God sent his only Son to save us." " He didn't savo me much," is the Rat's commentary. " He will save your soul, Dick. He called little children to Him, and wel comed them to heaven." " Was that afore the war ?" asks Dick, gravely. " Long, long before the war." " Well, things has got mixed since then. Ain't He coming no more ?" "It's no use, Jennie," says her hus band, who had followed her into tho cabin and overheard Dick's struggles with his first and only lesson in divinity. " these things cannot bo taught all "at once." " Oh ! but it seems so terrible," she cries; " and he dying ! If I could only teach him to sny a prayer !" "And do you really think that re penting a form of words which he would not understand, could do any good ?" asks her husband. "Xo. Let mo try if I can rouse a thought to work upon. So Mr. Austen takes his wife's place at the head of the cot. " Dick," says he, " tho doctors' tell me that unless there comes some change and they don't much expect any be fore night, you must die." " Will it " hurt bad?" asks the Eat, a spasm of fear passing over his pinched face. " That I cauuot eay. Some people die quite quietly go off in their sleep, as it were. Well, Dick ! what do you think happens then t" " The funeral," replies Dick, prompt ly. " Some has a fireman's funeral, and music; and some gets took off in the city van. Shall I be took off in the citv van ?" " No, my boy; I'll answer for that. Hut let us go back to the death. Where will vou go when vou dio ?" "Into tho coffin." " Your body will but your soul?" " Wot's that ?" asks Dick. "Pray for him, dear," says Mr. Aus ten to his wife, down whose face tho tears are streaming, " that is all you can do." t . " I say don't you cry like that," says Dick, when sha resumes her seat by liis Bide. Childlike, ho puts up his hand to withdraw hers from her eyes. He touches it with awe. It does not break or fly off, and nothing is done to him for his dar ing. Encouraged by such immunity, he ventures to give it a little pat, and 'then the face which he is watching intently is lit up with a smile through its tears. Into his unloved life into liis half sav ago mind, dawns the first idea of a caress .' He clasps the lady's hand and draws it down upon his heart. He draws it down and presses it there with both of his lit tle brown puds. Then he leans back with a, long drawn sigh and shuts his eye3. Three years have passed, and Capt. Gilbert's steamer is again at her wharf, and again Mr. and Mrs. Austen are go ing to lunch on board. As the lady is stepping down from the gangway, a well grown, handsome boy, in a blue' flannel kuickerbocker suit, and straw hat with the ship's ribbon, comes shyly forward. " Why, this is never Dick !" she ex claims. "Dick all over," says the captain, proudly. " Oh, Dick, how you have grown, and how improved !" " There was plenty of room for that," laughs the quondam Eat. Then the captain takes her aside and explains. "He's been at school ever since he got well, and he has learned more than other boys do in double the time. Oh, he's smart ! I'm educating him now for my own profession, and I believe ho could pass for a mate to-morrow." ; What name have you given him ?" asks the lady, drawing circles on the deck with the point of her parasol. " My own. My wife thinks as much of him as I do; and as we've no children of our own, why " " Captain Gilbert, you are a good man !" " A lucky one, anyhow," he laughs. This is the end of the Rut's tnle. Some scraps from a lunch table, kindly given, stood between a man and ruin; and the tender touch of a woman's hand saved a boy's life that's all. E-v-c-r-y Sight. " E-v-e-r-y night ! Here it is half-past one o'clock I It's a wonder you came home at all ! What do -yaw think a woman is made for f I do believe if a robber was to come and carry me off, you wouldn't care o-n-e cent. What is it you say?" "City council business must be attended to l" " City council business ? How do I know j-ott go to the city council ? Docs tho city council meet e-v-e-r-y night? They don't meet but once in New York. . Oh, yes out e-v-e-r-y night. Twelve o'clock one o'clock two o'clock. Here I stay with the children, all alone lying awake half of the night waiting for you. Couldn't come home any sooner? Of course you couldn't, if you didn't want to. But I know something; you think I don't, but I do; that 1 do. I wish I didn't. Where were you Monday night ? Tell me that. Hie marshal told mo the city council didn't meet that night. Now, what have yon got to say ?" "Couldn't get a quorum !" "Well, if you couldn't, why didn't you come home? Out e-v-e-ry night hunting for a quorum. 15et you wouldn't hunt me this late if I was missing. Where were you Thursday niglt and Friday night? There was a show in town, wasn't there ? Do you always put on your best vest aud a clean shirt to go to the council? What did you buy that bottle of hair oil for and 'hide it ? Oil for your hone, indeed t Who ever heard of hair oil f or a whetstoue ? So you think I didn't see you in the other room, brushing and greasing your hair, and looking in the glass at your pretty self ?" " A man ought to be decent 1 " He ought, ought lie? Yes, indeed, a decent man ought to be; a decent man will stay at home with his wife some times, and not be out e-v-e-r-y night. How comes it that the city council didn't meet but twice a month last year?" " Trying to work it out of debt !" " YeB, that's probable very; laughing and jok ing and smoking and swapping lies will work a debt off, won't it ? Now I want to know how much longer you are going to keep this night business ? Yes, I want to know 1 Out e-v-o-r-y night. City council, Freema sons, End Men, Odd Fellows, shows, hair oil and it's brush and brush until you've nearly worn out the brash and your head, too. What is it you say ?" " It helps your business to keep up your social relations !" "Ah, indeed ! You've got relations here at home, sir. They need keeping up some, I think ! What did you say aliout ' catching it ' the other niglit at a" euchre party ? Fellers, it's twelve o'clock, but let's iy.a while longer; we won't catch it any worse wheu we get home.' A pretty speech for a d-e-c-e-n-t man ! ' Catch it !' ' Catch it !' Well, I intend you shall catch it a little. What'n that you say ? ' If I wouldn't fret you so you would stay at home more !' Well, si', do you stay at home a few nights and try it. Per haps the fretting would stop. Out e-v-e-r-y night because I fret you so. What's'that, sir?" " I know ladies who aiu't always scolding their husbands !" " You do,' do you ? How come you to know them? What business had you to know them ? What rjght have yon to know whether other women fret or not ? That's always the way. You men thiuk that all the other women are saints but ronr wives. Oh, yes saints, s-a-i-n-t-s. I'll have you to know, sir, that there isn't a woman in this town that's any more of a saint than I am. I know them all, sir a h-e-a-p bettor than you do. You see the sugar and honey side of them, and thej- only see the honey and sugar side of yon. Now, sir, I just want you to know that if you don't stay at home more than you do, I'll leave these children to get burnt up, and, I'll go out e-v-e-r-y night. When a poor woman gets desperate, why, sir, she is desperate, that's all." Sulphur for Scarlet Fever. Dr. Henry Pigeon writes to the Lon don Lancet as follows: The marvelous, success which has attended my treatment of scarlet fever by sulphur induces me to let my medical 'brethren know oi my plan, so that they may be able to apply the sumo remedy without delay. All the cases in which I used it were very well marked, and tha epidermis on the arms in each case came away like the skin of a snake. The following was the exact treatment followed iu each case: Thor oughly anoint the patient twice daily with sulphur ointment; give five to ten grains of sulphur in a little jam three times a day. Sufficient sulphur was burned, twice daily (on coals on a shovel), to fill the room with the fumes, and, of course, was thoroughly inhaled by the patient. Under this mode of treatment each case improved immedi ately, and none were over eight days in making a complete recovery, and I firmly believe iu each case i't was pre vented from spreading by the treatment adopted. One case was in -a large school. Having had a large experience in scarlet fever last year aud this, I feel some confidence hi my own judgment, and I am of opinion that the very mild est cases I over saw do not do half so well as bad cases do by the sulphur treatment, and, as far as I can judge, sul phur is as near a specific for scarlet fever as possible. The Influence of Pictures. A room with pictures in it and a room without pictures differ by nearly as much as a room without windows. ' Nothing, we think, is more melancholy, particu larly to a person who has to pass much time in his room, than the blank walls and nothing on them; for pictures are loopholes of escape to the soul, leading it to other scenes and other spheres. It is such an inexpressible relief to some persons engaged in writing, or reading even, on looking up, not to have his Hue of vision chopped square off by an odious white wall, but to find his soul escaping, as it were, through the frame of an exquisite picture to other beautiful and perhaps idyllic scenes, where the fancy of a moment may revel, refreshed aud delighted. Is it winter in your world ? perhaps it is summer in the pic ture. What a charming momentary change and contrast I The King of Dahomey's Amazons. A correspondent of the Loudon Stand ard, writing about the preparations of the king of Dahomey to resist the Brit ish troops iu the event of a war for the liberation of the European captives at Whydah, says: Meanwhile the king is by no means idle. Bodies of troops are assembling at the various towns, while at Kana the whole flower of the Dahoman army is being brought together. Enids are being made upon neighboring towns in the hope of obtaining any stores of pow der or rum which may be there. Be sides this, when a few successful de scents upon helpless villages hove been made, the Dahoman warriors will be so filled with glory that they will rush on to certain death under their excitement. Troops have been known to "charge" a thicket of acacias, prickly pears, aloes and similar thorny shrubs when under this frenzy, coming out on the other side bruised and bleeding and often maimed for life. This they will do to show their "love" for the king, nud there is no doubt that nuder the influence of victory and trade ram they would make a des perate resistance. Still, their courage is but of an evanescent nature, and it re quires but a very few well sustained, steady volleys from our rifles to put to flight, or at least to cover, serious odds of dusky warriors. As to the fighting powers of the Ama zons, there can be no doubt that they will be equal to, if not surpass, those of the men. At the attack on Abeokeuta the ditch was filled with their bodies, as they fought like she devils, for perhaps of all objects an unsexed woman iB the most horrible of any. The "outside" and "inside" rival each other in their deeds of bravery, and many an Aniazo niau caboceer caresses the whitened skulls of those who have fallen before her arms, exciting the envy and jealousy of her less fortunate outside warriors, if a struggle does come off, hi which our meu are pitted against these far famed warrioresses, it is to be hoped that they will remember that bullets shot out of guns whoso triggers have been pulled by these " sisters of the lion" kill just as surely as those fired by their sterner (!) brethren. Even the Dahomans ac knowledge that their savage, fiendish actions in a fight almost cause a shudder in themselves, and if they should ever become pitted against white troops their frenzy will carry them to any lengths. Let them, therefore, not be treated as mero ornamental adjuncts to tho court of a savage king, but rather as the corps who are the " Old Guard " of the Dahoman army. May They Be Happ). , There is nothing more depressing or j mortifying to a young man than- to bo I jilted by a girl. His agony seems unen- durablo when she not only throws him j overboard but also ships a rival. His j case may become desperate if, after she j has named the happy day, and he has j boutrht the nucf. secured mtui? weddniar i raiment and engaged tho parson, she give3 him the slip and marries another j fellow. Some meu think of firearms or cold poison under such circumstances, but not so a St. Louis young gentleman named Hieklaud. Miss Jennings had consented to marry him. Tho day was fixed, was near at hand, the viands cooked, the wedding dress complete, and the minister notified. But tho very dav betore the expected wedding Jliss Jen- ning weut out at evening, married a Mr. Gather, and by midnight the couple w ere ! speeding away on their bridal journey. I Dul Mr. llickland despond and grow desporate ? He told the parson to bo on j hand just the same, forthwith proceeded i t' tho house ot las athanced, asaed m hoodlums and kuocKed down anil noaten, marriage the hand of Miss Havwood, ! but got awav from them aud took refuge .t T I.'. 'l 1 .1.1 t.ll . mere resnung, was aeceptou, loiu uio oiu j people to keep tho viands hot, fetched the parson, and, while Mr. and Mrs. Ga ther were hasting away, a merry company witnessed the wedding of Mr. llickland and Miss Haywood. The supper was the most elegant which had been lately nerved iu all that region, and love clasps his hands in joy over two wedded pairs instead of one. Mr. xlicliland is a pirn- osopher. May he and his bride live long and be happy. The Unknown Genius' Diary. J ahu art. Bless me ! Another year gone. That's tho forty-third I've wasted. This mwst not go on ; I must do some thing, oud I must show them that I can. Ha! ha! They will see. FEBiu'Aity. Hang it, it's February ! After all, it'H only a month lost. Still, a mouth is a mouth. Now for it. March. It seems to me I could do al most anything if I settled down to it. Now let's settle. Apritj. Well, I can't begin on the first. That would be rather too much of a joke. Mat. June. I fell in love last month ; and this month Jclt. August. September. I say, look here, you know ! time's getting on. October. I've settled down to it now iu sober earnest. It is to be no eph emeral work, to be read lightly, cast aside, aud forgotten. November. The friend I have read the first chapter to says it has all been done before. How is this ? How dare anybody presume to forestall me ? December. I see now that wasn't my line. Which is, though ? Next year ! "It Might Have Been." The Burlington Ilawkeye has this : Sometimes, what a dreamy, far away pic ture of the beautiful hail been it calls up in your memory, when you have loved a fair young girl with all the fervor and passionate ardor of a manly nature, when your very soul has caught the inspiration of her presence, and her facs has been for you the realization of all that was tender and fair a-id pure, and when the loss of this prize has swept over your heart liko a sirocco of agony, and left it dry and bitter and hard, ten years after, to look over as alley fence when hunting for your runaway boy, and see her in the back yard of a corner grocery, with a draggled calico dress' pinned up over a red fl innel petticoat, a man's hat perched on her head, and stretching a fl ipping shirt over a line, while she holds two clothespins between her teeth. Comuio-lorc Vanderhilt's Secfct. The great success of the late Commo dore Vanderbilt in steamboating and railroading, whereby he amassed a larger fortune than any other private person during a lifetime.'haa naturally awakened a strong desire to learn the secret of his uniform and most surprising achieve ments. The commodore himself, when questioned upon the subject during the latter years of liis life, gave various ex planations of it. To one young man, who was about entering upon the career of a Wall street broker, and who had sought his counsel, he said : " Sonny, don't never sell what yon haven't got," which was an excellent piece of advice for a stockbroking adventurer, notwith standing its defective grammar. To an other he said : "Sam, don't never put it into any man's power to ruin you." And this might be put in letters of gold over the desk of every one who takes financial riska, whether 'in Wall street or else where, and it would be an excellent maxim also for a politician, To another aspirant for fortune, who had asked his advice, he said : " Don't never buy what you can't pay for." These were, three admirable maxims for business, adds the New York Sun, and he probably acted through his long and successful career in strict conformity with them. He never speculated, nor made any rash ventures. But his favorite maxim, the one upon which set the high est value and most seriously inculcated upon those who were on the most inti mate terms with him, was a condensa tion of one among the wisest of the pro verbs of Solomon : " In all labor there is profit ; but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury." The commodore had probably never read this goldeu proverb, and he can hardly be said to have para phrased it in putting it into his homely advice: "Keep your mouth shut." This was what he said to his young grandson, upon whom he based his hopes of found ing a dynasty, only a few days before his own mouth was closed forever. He had been giving the young man some words of serious advice, and he ended by say ing : "But, above all, keep your mouth shut." He used to sav that he owed most of what was called his good fortune to the practice of keeping to himself what he meant to do until ho had done it. And this has been the rule of all great men who have done anything dur ing their lives to excite the wonder and admiration of their fellow beings. Tho Unfortunate Chinese. The San Francisco Alia says : We re gret to chronicle the outrages and coword i n i . ,,w,v.,..i;. 01linnmpn dnily-inl 0r public streets, tho publication of which places our municipal government and people in no enviable light either at home or abroad, We ask, iu the name of justice, why it is that these people arc beaten and mal trer-'.d'at high noon on our streets, and "no arrests" invariably recorded ? On Aew lear s clay tnese peoiue were us saulted aud beaten in different localities, ou crowded streets, in this Christian city, and we have not heard of an arrest. We give a sample : A Chinese boy, not over fourteen years of age, was attacked by a gang of street Arabs aud pelted with broken bricks, ono striking him in the mouth and cutting him terribly. He was knocked down and beaten in a most cruel manner. To add to the outrage, u crowd of men gathered and urged on the hoodlums. A well known citizen, pass- ing in a carnage, stopped ami weut to the assistance of the Chinaman, when he was ordered to stand ImoK and not mter- fere. " No arrests." Ou Third street a Chinamau was act upon by drunken in a saloon, out w as ejecieu ny me piu; prietor. A largo crowd collected, and when the Chiiiaman camo out ho con cluded to show fight, and went for one of his assailants armed with a door rug, which he laid over the scoundrel's shoulders until he beat a retreat. " No arrests." On Kearney street one of the j large plate glass windows of Ching Lee's store was demolished l.y a rocs weighing I ten pounds, which went crashing through the beautiful china wit ro exhibited in the window. " No arrests." Another China man was knocked down and beaten on Pacific street ut twelve M. " No arrests.' Fond of Oyster. The starfish is reddish, looking some thing like a sea spider. He is a connois seur and a glutton. Ho has the shape of a five-pointed star, from three to six inches from tip to tip, but sometimes grows to ten inches. The starfish travels in schools, although solitary feeders are occasionally to be found. His modus operandi is as follows : A school will settle down on au oyster bed. Each fish will taeklo au oyster and surround it with his feelers. 'When the oyster opens his mouth to feed the wicked starfish de- ; liberately sticks his feelers inside and pulls out the oyster. 'J.nen na eats it ana then tackles another oyster. A starfish can beat any man eating raw oysters. Last summer and fall they committed many ravages in the East river and at Oyster bay. Oystermen now are on the lookout for the starfish. They often rake over their bods and if auy starfish ore found they are raked off and carried ashore for manure. Sometimes schools of star fish are found three or four feet thick. Such a school will ruin an oyster bed in a few hours. Sometimes the starfish will sidl iu and spoil an oyster bed and then ko off and leave ono next to it untouched. In every oyster bed two or three are sure to be found. The starfish commits his devastations in the winter. They mostly frequent the East river, City island, Oyster bay and Cow bay. For War, Both Eussia and Turkey are eagerly buying up American revolvers and rifles. By the Colt machinery bought by Gen. Gorloff, already 3,000,000 rifles have been turned out. Eussia has imported 100, 000 Smith & Wesson revolvers and 20, 000,000 cartridges, to say nothing of the 400,000 cartridges manufactured daily in Eussia from American machines. Mean while Turkey has contracted in Ehode Island for 800.000 Martini-Henry rifles. y of which 250.000 have alreadv been shiu- i ped. and 100.000 more are readv for ax- j port, Frost Work. The frols have como with noisoless tread, The vangtlard of the snow t The sumach woars the robe of rsd, And all the forest learts, though dead, In gold and crimson glow. The exiled Hummer bu ds have flown, And o'er each empty nest Tho breathing winds make ceaseless roam-- A half umittored monotone, A sigh of vague unrest. Items of Interest. An exchange says a mon going homo from a dry lecture" ia a returning bored. A man lately inquiring for letters at a post-office was told there were none, upon which ho asked if there was not another post-office iu the place. I beseech you, says Horace Mann, to treasure up in your hearts these, my port ing woods : Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity. There are at present about 350 wells iu Canada capable of producing oil, but owing to the dullness of the market, only about 200 of these are in operation. There are fifteen refineries, chiefly ot London. Tho skating being now very good, toothache and cholera morbus have ap peared among the boys, just after school begins, in the nature of au epidemic, and threatens to sap tho foundations of our educational system. " Do you reside in this city ?" asked a man of a masked lady at a masquerade party the other evening. He felt sick when she said to him, in a low voice : " Don't be a fool, John, I know you by that wart on your thumb." It was his wife. A Paris journal says that Baron, tho singer, is of an unusual height so tall, indeed, that when he went the other day to consult a doctor about a severe cold in the head, tho physician said: "My friend, you must have got your feet wet last year." The litigation between tho trustees cf the Lick estate and the heirs has been amicably adjusted, the natural son of tho testator receiving $333,000, from which he is to pay 72,000" to other heirs in various amounts. The estimated value of tho property is $3,300,000. A divorce had separated Mr. and Mrs. Ivottmeyer, of Cincinnati. He called on her, said that ho had come to say good bye, and pretended to offer to shake hands; but when he got near enough ho disclosed a knife in his extended hand, and stabbed her to death, There is a remarkable difference in tho climato on the hills and in the valleys around Santa Eosa, Cal. In the valleys there have been sixteen severe frosts in succession, while iD tho thermal belt on ' the hills bordering on the valleys the tomato vines are not yet killed. A gentleman in a stage coach, passing through tho city and observing a hand some edifice, inquired of the driver what building it was. The driver replied : "It is the Unitarian church." "Uni tarian !" said the gentleman ; " and what is that?" "I don't know," said Jehu ; " but I believe it is in the opposition line." Highwaymen have been audacious of late near St. Louis, and two policemen, heavily armed, aud dressed liko farmers, were sent out to make a capture. They were assailed by robbers, as they had hoped to be; but otherwise their mission was a failure, for instead of capturing the gang, they were themselves stripped of everything that they had worth tak ing. The people of Los Angeles took a very unique method of preventing a threatened influx of Chinese laborers. A party of six hundred arrived there a few days ago and camped near the new depot. The citizens immediately started a report that the peculiarity of the cli mate causes tho nose to grow to a for midable length, and that the Indians in variably seize Chinamen by their elon gated appendage and wring their heads off. A few minutes before the time for the departure of the train the Chinese seized their baggage, dashed it from the cars, and stampeded over the hills and out of sight. Surprlsers Surprised. A Baltimore paper says : As Chorles Mules and his wife were in their home, the door was opened in answer to a knock, when in rushed pell-mell twenty masqueraders in the most grotesque and horrible costumes possible to imagine. Mrs. Mules was seated with a child upon her lap. Tho little one becoming fright ened screamed, and the mother, who recognized among the masqueraders many of her most intimate friends, male and female, vainly endeavored to quiet it. Mr. Mules owns an enormous New foundland dog, which at once bounded up stairs and made an attack upon the intruders. There is no record of any former panic where the means of egress were taken advantage of more quickly than on this oco ision. In two and three-quarter seconds the house was clear, and the street, for two blocks either way, was filled with flying figures of every descrip tion. A devil slipped on the ice as a harlequin ran over him followed by a clown. A negro crawled on hia hands aud knees under the steps of an adjoin, ing house, and other characters scattered in every direction. Mules says if they ever get that party together again he will be glad to see them, and will chain up the " purp." Festivals for 1877. Septuagesima Sunday January 28 Quinquageiiimi bhrove Sunday.. February 11 Ash Wednesday February 11 Quadrageaimi-lst Sunday in Lent. February 1" Ht. David Maroh 1 St. Patrick March 17 Annunciution Lady Day March 25 1'alm Hunday. March 25 Oood Friday . ....March 80 Faster Sunday April 1 ixw nunaay April 8 Bt. George f April 23 Rogation Sunday May 6 Ascension Day Holv Thursday. .May 10 Pentecost Whit Sunday May 20 Trinity Sunday May - 27 Corpus Christ! May 81 SLJohuliiiptift Midbumuier Day. June 24 Bt Michael Michachnan Day . . September 29 St. Andrew November SO First Sunday iu Advent Deoember a St. Thomas Deooniber 21 Christmas Day DscemUr 25
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers