( j: HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum. VOL. VII. RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 1877. NO. 2. 1 Cnnffi 4 2P S Better in the Morning. Tou can't help the baby, parson But still I want ye to go Down an' look in upon her, An" read an' pray, yon know. Only last week she was sklppin' round A pullin' my whi J.ei-ii V hnir, A climbiu' up to the table Into her little high chair. " The first night that she took it When her little, cheeks grc rod, When she kisRcdood-night to papa. And went away to bed Bez she : ' 'Tis headache, papa, Bo bettor in moruin' live In' aoniuthin' in how Rhe said it Jest made me want to cry. " But the mornin' brought the fever, And her little hands were hot, An' the pretty red uv her little checks Grew into a crimson spot. But she laid there jest ez patient Ez ever n woman could, Takin' whatever we give her Bettcr'n a grown woman would. "Thodnys are terrible long an' slow, An' she's growin' wus in each j An' now she'B jest a tlippln' Clear away out uv our reach. Every night when I kiss her. Tryiii' hard not to cry, Wie says in a way that kills mc ' Be better in muniiu'--bye !' " She can't gut thro' the night, parson, Bo I want ye to come an' pray, And talk with mother a little You'll know jest what to say Not that the buby needs it, Nor that wo make any complaint That Ood seems to think He's needin' The smile uv (he little saint." 1 walked alwig with the corporal To Iho door of his huniblo honiu, To which the silent messenger Before me had also come ; Ami if he had l eeu a titled prince, I would not have been honored more Than I was with his heartfelt welcome To his lowly cottage door. Night falls again in the cottage ; They move in silence and dread Around tho room where the baby Ei'.s panting upon her bed. ' Rocs baby know pupa, dnrlhigf" And she moves her little faco Willi answer that shows sho knows him ; But scarcu a visible tr.iee Of her wonderful infantile beauty Remains as it wus before Tho unseen, silent nu sstngcr Hud waited i t the d ior. " Papa, k ss baby I's so tired " The man bows low his face, i'ld two swollen hands are lifted li baby's last embrace. And into her father's grizzled beard rhe little red fingers cling, Wi'ile her husky whispered tenderness "ears from a rock would wring, ' y -is so Kick pupa l'ui.- don't Vi nt you to cry ;" The Utile hands fail on the coverlet " lie better in lnornia' bye !" And night around baby is falling, Settling down rttrk and dense ; Doc God need their darling in heaven That He must carry her hence ? I prayod, with tears in my vr!e , As the corporal solemnly knelt Wrlh such grief as never before H;s great wurni heart had felt. Oh ! frivolous mtn and women ! Do you know that around you, and nigh Alike from tho humble and haughty Goeth up evermore the cry : "My child, my precious, my dm ling, How can I let you die?" Oh ! hear ye tho white lips whisper - " Be better iu uioruin' bye !" ljtawk-r S. Conn, in Concord Monitor, THE FAIRY TOOTH. " One afternoon I was hurrying along the street as fast as tho snow and ice would let roe toward the residence of Miss Constance Howard, and had arrived within a few dooi1 of the house, when I saw a small, plainly dressed young woman cautiously descending tho steps, and then as cautiously, with eyes bent on the ground, advancing iu my direc tion. She wore no veil, and as she drew near to me I studied her face with pleas ure. It was such a bright, brown, hon est, innocent faco. "Well, sir, I was looking so earnestly at this bright, brown, innocent face, and not minding my steps at all, that I never saw a largo lump of ice directly in my pathway, and tumbling over it in the most awkward manner,- was precipitated into the very arms of ifte small woman, my tall hat striking her full in the face and then bouncing off into the street. I regained my perpendicular in time to hear a half-distressed, half-sharp little voice exclaim : ' Oh, my tooth 1' and see a pair of "peculiar gray eyes raised reproachfully to my face, as a pair of woolen gloved bauds went up to a pair of charming crimson lips. Before I could utter a word of apology and regret she had glided, slided or skated awty, and I stood looking like a fool, and won dering whether I'd better glide, slide or skate after her, when I saw something glittering on the ice at my feet. I stooped and picked it up a fairy tooth 1 You needn't look so horror stricken, Karl : it wasn't a veal one, of course, , Tisn't likely I could have struck the young creature so violent a blow as to knock a tooth that had grown there out of her mouth without knocking her down. It was a false one, but the tiniest I had .ever seen iu my life, false or real. I looked at it a niomeut and put it into my pocketbook. The first question that I asked Constance, when she came down into tne parlor to receive me, was: 'Who is the small woman who left this house a short time ago brown as a gyp sy, dark arched eyebrows, nose retrousse, mouth like a baby's, gray eyes, with a queer look in them, and woolen gloves ?" " ' Pray, how long did you look at her ?' said Constance. " Two minutes, ' answered I. " ' You saw a great deal iu two min utes, ' Bhe retorted, with, a disagreeable laugh. What a pnpit,iil traveler and , sight-seer you would make 1 You could 1 rush thiough a gallery of paintings, for instance, nnd rarry away as many in your i mind's eye as those, unfortunates who, not possessing your extraordinary j talent ' Don't chaff, that's a good child,' I ! interrupted. ' Who is she ? " 'one,- answered Uonstance, with a ettrl of her lip, ' is a young person, one of my Aunt Fidelia's favorites by-the-bye, I'm not included among them,' with a shrug of the shoulders and a grimace ' who comes hero every after noon, Sundays excepted, to teach my lit tle sisters their A B C's.' "Well, sir, I did nothing but think about the brown faced governess nnd the mite of a tooth all next day, nnd the next, an-1 nt last I determined' to find out where she lived and send it back to hor anonymously, of course. It was such a ridiculous thing for a man to carry around with him. If it had been a hand kerchief, or a glove, or a ribbon, or a flower but it wasn't. " How to find out where (die lived be came the question, solved for me by sheer good luck that very evening, when I went to call on Constance. "Miss Howard was not at home, but Mrs. Fnirinnn (Aunt Fidelia) wni, and had a message for me. " Tho very thing I' I inwardly exult ed, as I entered the room, with outward composure and dignity. You remember Aunt Fidelia ? A slim, keen, blue eyed, rather dramatic old lady, with ' no non sense about her,' nnd a very decided way of speaking. " ' Constance has gone skating,' she said. ' Her orders are that you follow her. I suppose you'll obey them ?' " 'Can't I stop and rest a few mo ments ?' asked I. " The old lady smiled. ' I haven t the slightest objection,' she said; 'on the contrary, I shall be glad to have you. I like you tis well ns I like any of them perhaps a little better, Have you any news (' " My news was exhausted in five min utes, apparently not at all to the disap probation of Aunt Fidelia, who, like most old ladies, delights much more in talking than iu listening, and who in five minutes more (I never could tell how she got there, but it was through no questions of mine) began to hold forth on the subject above all others I would have chosen the nursery governess. "Such a dear little thing !' she said, ' and so kind to her widowed mother ! a poor seamstress, unable on account of her delicate health to sew half the time. I can't imagine what Bhe would do if it were not for Daisy.' A nd do you know, old fellow," said Douglass, breaking off in his narrative to take a long whiff' at his cigar, and send a fleecy ring floating upward, "that if I had been asked to choose a name for her, that's the very name I'd have chosen Daisy. A bright, sturdy, constant, frank facedlittle flowers, making pleasant tho fields and meadows and road sides. Are yon smiling ?' Beg pardon thought y u were ; and I didn't wonder nt it. ' i'he girl is the life and light of tho humble place sho calls her home, and to the eyes ft her mother there is no sunshine like Daisy's smile,' said Aunt Fidelia ; ' and apropos of that, let mo tell you something oddtthat hap pened to Mi.s Russel a couple of days ago -unless you are sufficiently rested and wish to follow the skaters.' i "I assure you, my dear madam, I am j not sufficiently rested, nnd very much i interested,' I Raid. ' Pray go on.' i " The old lady went on. ' Daisy has i the loveliest tiny teeth in the world, but ' unfortunately last week she broke one of i the front ones. Away goes the child to I the di ntist. and has what was left of it pulled out, and then home to her moth- i I er, and smiles. "Oh, dear! oh dear!" j I cries the mother who is, as I told you i before, a weak, nervous thing " where ! is your tooth ? and where, oh ! where, is ! your smile V" You see, the tooth, Mr. ; Douglass, had taken Daisy's smilo with i it, and the poor girl didn't look at all I like Daisy. So the modest little thing, who hadn't given a thought to her looks herself, seeing her mother's distress, ' went directly buck to the dentist, nnd j begged hiin to tell her what to do. i " Have a false one iu its place," said he; " out it will take somo time to get up u permauenee, and vou say you must have something immediately. The only thing we can do is to find a tooth and fasten it in with a bit of wax to serve as a tem porally. " " 'Easier said than done, Mr. Doug lass. It took a long while a whole afternoon, iu fact to match Daisy's pretty teeth; but at lust it was done, and the dear little daughter went homo iu the twilight, and smiled again at her contented mother. Well, a day or two after, going from here, some stupid man siips on tho ico, falls violently against the child, his tall hat striking her straight in the. month, and out flies the "temporary." And now Mrs. Russel is pining for sunshine again.' " ' Who was the man V I asked. '"Why, what a silly question!' said Aunt Fidelia, sharply. ' How .should I know ? And as for Daisy, her near sighted eyes didn't rest on him an in stant, and she couldn't tell him from Adam. ' So, pour thing, after all her trouble, she's lost the tooth. Can't get another, becnuso sho isn't able to rec ompense the man for the time it would take to find one, and is obliged to go about with her mouth shut. You needn't say how dreadful for a woman; I'll say it for you, ' " ' The mother is a seamstress,' snid I; ' perhaps my mother, who is kindness itself, could help her to some work that would pny her well. Can you give me her address ?' " ' You're a good boy,' said the unsus pecting old soul; and scribbling it on one of her own cards, she gave it to me. 'And now I think you'd better go. Good-night.' "The next day after my highly satis factory interview with Mrs. Fairman was St. Valentine's day, and what I consid ered a happy thought flashed into my mind, and I instantly proceeded to put it into execution. I bought a pretty little tortoise shell box, laid the tooth in it on a bed of white cotton, in company with two or three small gold pieces to pay for the ' permanence ;' and wrapping the box in a sheet of rose perfumed pa per, on which I had written a verse or two what a time I had trying to nnd rhymes mouth ' ul ' tooth l s?ut it by one of our errand boys, with strict injunctions not to answer any questions, to the residence of Miss Daisy Russel. Judge of my astonishment when, in less than an hour, the box, minus the tooth, but still containing the coins, was re turned to me, with a note written in a hand which betrayed extreme agitation, and winch read thus: " ' MiBS Russet thanks Mr. Douglass for his kindness, and, while retaining her own property, begs to return the verses and other things sent by mis take.' "Imagine my feelings, my dear fel low. No, you can't imagine them; it's impossible. My cheeks, man as I am, nctually burned with mortification. I enme near flinging the money, or ' the other things,' as she called it, out of the window; but, on second thought, pock eted it instead. " How in the world had she found me out ? No doubt she knew, through the Hownrd children, there was such a per son, but m what manner had she discov ered that the sender of tho valentine and. Hubert Douglass wee identical ? What should I do to pacify the little gypsy ? how prove to her that whit I had done had been in thoughtless kindness? I made up my mind to call upon her. The affair could not be properly explained by letter. Embarrassing as an interview might prove, I must face the situation like a gentleman. And in half an hour after the box was returned, I was ringing at the door of the house where dwelt Miss Daisy Itussel. She opened the door herself, nnd peered curiously at me with her lovely near sighted eyes. It was evident she didn't know me by sight. " ' I would like to speak to you a mo ment, Miss Russel,' I said. ' I am Rob ert Douglass. ' " Her brown cheek flamed like an au tumn leaf with the light of the setting sun on it. She answered not a word, but led the way into a pleasant, but rather cir cumscribed sitting-room. "'I have come to beg your pardon,' I began, as soon as the door was closed behind us. ' I had no intention of wounding you God forbid I I know you found it hard struggling in this cold world, that you had a dear mother al most dependent upon you' (her face softened a shade when I spoke of her mother), ' and I never dreamed ' "'But the verses,' she interrupted, raising her eyes and darting a look of reproach at me (by-the-bye,did I tell you she had forgotten to send them with the 'other things?'), 'and Miss Howard? Oh, Mr. Douglass, it was cruel and un manly of you!' "' Miss Hownrd and I n re not on as friendly terms as formerly,' I answered ; which was true, as the count had made his appearance at the skating party. " ' Still, sir, I am only a poor teacher, and not in your circle at all, and they were too too ' And, by George ! she burst into tears." "Were they ' too too ?' asked Earl, with a smile. " Oh, there wus something about the happiness of the fairy tooth in being imprisoned in so lovely a prison us her fairy mouth, and some reierenee to a kis that's all !' "And quite enough," said Earlo, " taking into consideration that you had never beeu introduced to tho young lady." " Well, sir, when the little thing be gan to cry, I thought I should go wild. ' Miss Russel,' I cried, 'do do forgive nio ! Upon my word and honor, I re spect and esteem you with all my heart, and have admired you ever since the day I first beheld you the day I came near knocking you down.' "A smile beamed through her teius as she held out her hand and said : ' That's about thirty-six hours ago. But I'll de tain you no longer, Mr. Douglass. I bo- I lieve you are sincere in what you say.' i " ' And you lorgive me t asked. "' I forgive you. Good-bye.' : "'One moment more,' I begged. I ' Pray tell me before we part how you I discovered I wrote the valentine.' " She looked at me in great surprise, i ' I have heard of you often from my i pupils,' she said, 'and one day when we' j were out walking they pointed out to me I the honse iu which you live.' ! " ' Yes, my dear Miss Russel, but they ! knew nothing about the tooth, the box. or tho verses. ' "Still more surprised, she looked at me as she went to her desk and took from it the offending valentine, which iu her anger nnd hasto she had neglectad to re urn, and handed it to me. "By George! old fellow, in my ab sent minded way, I'd signed my name to it. There it was, bold and free littlo flourish at the end of the last 's,' and all 'Yours tu command, Robert Doug lass.' " Earle burst out laughing. "Just what might have been expected of the boy who came to school one morning with a tin pie plate under his arm instead of his slate." "So I did, by George! I'd nearly forgotten that," said Douglass, joining in the laugh. Then throwing away the end of his cigar as the strains of a waltz reached them, he added: "There's your dance." " But the end of the story ?" " You've heard the first chapter. The second nnd last is a very short one. Perhaps, not being entirely bereft of brains, you may have discovered that I was half'in love with Miss Russel when I went to offer her an apology for- trying to befriend her. Well, sir, I came away wholly in love with her, and that in tune she returned my passion may be inferred from the fact that we were mar ried three days ago, on the anniversary of the day I found the fairy tooth fairy in more senses than one, for it certainly enchanted me, and led me by force of that enchantment to where happiness and But don't wait another moment, my deor fellow. Off to your waltz, and when it's over, I'll introduce you to Mrs. Robert Douglass." A student named Talford, on returniug to his home in Missouri reoentiy from college in Indiana, became inBiuie on the cars, and leaving his Bachel of books in his seut, leaped from a train on the North Missouri railroad, as it was going at full speed. He was captured near Renick, Missouri, iu a dense thicket, and was taken to be a wild man, He is held, in jail for identification. Sew Cloths for, Spring Wraps. Dolmnns and scraf mantles will be worn in the spring, nnd the counters of J retail stores are already heaped with the new cloths to bo used for them. Gray, drab, cream, brown, and fawn shades are shown in variety for those wraps. There are rough fleeced earners hair cloths a third of an inch thick, yet of light weight, for warmer weather. They cost $4.50 a yard in stylish shades, are of cloth width (which is forty-eight inches), and can scarcely be distinguished from the heavier camel's hair cloths sold for $10 a yard. Basket woven cloths with checks of various sized are from $3.50 to $4 a yard. Fine Scotch cloths in gray mix tures are $4. 50. The most stylish of'all are the quadrille patterns of blocks, bars or dice chocks, made of finer twill and more glossy thou tho broadly twilled ground. The American twilled cloths are soft and pliable, cost only $2.50 a yard, and though not very heavy, they rival the Mcotcli and I- reucn goods m appearance. These will be made up in long dolmans of very simple shape, trimmed very simply with galloon and fringe. It wiil be the fashion merely to border Buch garments instead of destroying their shapely outlines by lines aud angles of trimming sewed on up and down the back or across the front and shoulders, ns has lotely been the custom. The fringes used for such wraps must be very thick nnd rich, ns thin, poor fringe destroys the effect of the garment. It is always best to buy fringes of good quality, as they wear, like lace, without changing greatly in style. Tho domestic fringes are fur stronger than those that are im ported. Tho beauty of the French fringes is in their design, not in wearing qualities. When purchasing fringe, the difference is easily told by breaking one or two threads of the fringe, when it will be discovered that the French fringe is very fragile. Bias brocaded silk bauds will also be used for trimming wraps as a heading for fringes, for collars, and for pockets. lazar. Whales on tho California Coast. Last week, says a recent number of the Monterey California), our Portu guese fishermen killed a large female whale, of tho California gray species, about sixty feet in length, being some twenty-two feet larger than has ever been lulled here before the average' of females killed being about forty-two feet. After cutting off the blubber, they found inside a nearly full grown male calf, which measured eighteen feet from the end of its nose to the tip of its tail, or fluke as the whalers call it; the circumference of the body at its center, nine feet; tho head about four feet in length; pectoral 11ns, three feet; breadth of tail, three and a half feet; and it had two ridges on the' .lower jaw. When brought on shore .it- atill had three feet of tlie umbilical cord attached to it. The whalebone on its upper jaw was Bof t and white; the tongue, large and soft ; the eyes, nearly full size, about as large as a cow's; anit tho skin was of a dark brown, mottled white. It had no dorsal lin. The females, when with young, generally keep oil shore when on their way down south, to bring them forth in the warm waters of the bays of Lower California, where thoy remain all winter and go north in the spring. The fe males, when with calf, nre dangerous, as they often attack the boats of the whalers. The writer ones saw a boat cut completely in two by tho flukes of one of these whales, and it looked as if it had been chopped in two by a dull ax; and several of the men were wounded Tho term of gestation is about one year. Formerly these marine monsters were so ! numerous in Monterey bay that whalers j wonld fill up lying at anchor. Often- : times they wonld be seen playing in the surf and rolling the barnacles oft' of their i sides and bncks on the sand beach an J odd way of scratching themselves. j Infectious Disease Propagation. j Iu view of the alarming prevalence of scarlet fever in many parts of the coun try, the following hints by tho J1ritih Madicat Journal are wholesome warn ings: There nre three common ways by means of which infectious diseases may be very widely spread. It is a very usual practice for parents to take children suffering with scarlet fever, measles, etc. , to a public dispensary, in order to obtaiu advice nnd medicine. It is little less than crime to expose, in the streets of a town and in the crowded waiting room of a dispensary, children afflicted with such complaints.' Again, persons who are re covering from infeetiors disorders bor row books out of tho lending departments of public libraries; these books, cm their roissuo to fresh borrowers, are cv.urces of very great danger. Iu all limaries, notices should be posted up informing borrowers that no books will bo lent out to persons who are suffering from dis eases of an infectious character; and that any person so suffering will be prose cuted if he borrow during tho time of his illness. Lastly, disease is spread by tract distributors. It is the habit for such well meaning people to call at a house where a person is ill and leave him a tract. Iu a week or so the tract is. called for again, another left in its place, and the old one is left with another per son. It needs not much imagination to know with what result to health such a practice will lead if the first person be in scarlet fever or smallpox. Dr. Hutton offers a warning on the reckless manner in which parents allow their healthy children to run into the nouses ot acquaintances wno nave mem bers of their families suffering from scar latina, etc, and states that he has seen the infection thus carried from the pa tient, and several families attacked. A French Story, One day, on the Boulevard Pere're, Paris, a mad dog started in pursuit of a velocipede, mounted by u boyof fourteen, named Dupraty, living in the Boulevard, No. 16. The chase was a terrible one, and ended in the fall of the boy. Hap pily it was in the iron of the velocipede wheel that the teeth of the mad bulldog closed. There ended the first .act of the drama. ,The second follows. In an impulse of pssionate joy at seeing her son saved fremi so great a danger, Mine. Dupraty pressed her lips to the wheel of the velocipede. Some hydro phobic virus had remained on the iron, and after an agony of a fortnight" the poop mother died, raging mad. Co-Operation in Farming. An important advantage of large farms that they enable the farmer to em. ploy more help and do the work by groups of laborers rather than by solitary individuals. It is a well attested fact that two men working together can and generally will do more than twice as much as one ; and three, four or more can work together with proportionate advantage. It is not only pleasanter but easier to work with others than to work alone. Every Northern farmer's boy knows how "lonesome " it seems to hoe or plant alone in a large cornfield ; how the work drags, and how tired the work er becomes. A dozen men and boys making twenty-four rows in a " bout," changes everything, a much smaller number can work with nearly the same advantage. Work of thiB kind should never be done by isolated laborers. They cannot accomplish as much alone, and the fatigue is far greater. Working in the same field with others is a stimulus and decidedly advantage ous. In harvest field with a self-raking reaper the binders see each other only occasionally ; but how the countenance brightens when tho turns come together and the driver of the reaper cheers and encourages nil. Raking nnd binding after a cradle, ns I remember it, was equally social work. There was a con stant strife between cradler and binder to see which should excel. Under this stimulus some of the largest days' work on record have been performed, and sometimes by men who were not good for much else. They needed the stimu lus of competition and were good for little without it. There are many more such men thau we think. Our Northern farmers, owning small farms, and mostly working them with lit tle help, live too isolated a life. The remedy is not altogether in farmers' clubs, granges and meetings nor social enjoyment during the season of rest. These are all good; but they do not reach tho greater difficulty the isolation of farmers in their fields and during the working season. " It is not good for man to be alone," not only ns to the neces sity of marriage, but this is nearly as ap plicable to the need for society and com panionship in work. Thousands of farm ers become insane some more and some less, and in a great majority of instances this aberration is the direct result of a solitary life. Farmers' wives suffer from this cause even more thau the men, espe cially where children keep the housewife closely nt home. Children are com panions only iu a partial sense. They stimulate the affections, but they are more or less duplications of their parents and do not demand the mental activity required by association with intelligent adults. Farm help is not usually so nearly on an equality in mental culture and intelli gence as it was forty or fifty years ago. It is quite rare that farmers nowadays seek, or seeking find, intelligent com panions in their hired men. I know many exceptions to this; but what I have written is the general rule. Farmers mistake in this, for no matter how ignor ant nnd thoughtless their help, they ought to make the most of it. This is not only a duty but their decided inter est. Any hired man will do more work and do it better for being treated as an intelligent . being rather thau as n slave j whose only use wus to dig and delve for j his monthly wages. This consideration ! should be more thought ot in inrimr more mougm oi m iiirniir help. Any man whom you cannot aff rd to associate with you cannot lOt nftbl'd tO ; hire at nnvprk.e intelligence and mon l worth are as important on the farm as anywhere, and if they do not command as high a price it only shows that they are not fully appreciated by farmers. After all, I suspect that tho true rem edy for the isolation of farmers is to be found in co-operation with each ther. " Changing works " used tr bo common in all new settlements, and it is a great mistake that this custom has ever beeu left to die out. The farm help should so far as possible be domiciled in separate houses built for their usp. This plan generally secures a better class of work men, besides the- further advantage of two distinct families on tho same farm. If possible, neighbors should build their houses iu clusters, and in all cases should live and act like neighbors. The German custom is to have small villages of farm ers, whose land often lies line, two or more miles distant. ' Our practical Y'an- kees scorn this way of doing things. I "It is too unhandy for the work." So j everything is hacrificed to convenience 1 for work. We labor harder and aceom- j plish more than the people of any other i c mutrv, but the effect is seen in broken : d iwn constitutions and prematurely old m m, and in our farming population tho effects of an almost complete isolation from social life. By-and-bye we shall learn that more is gained by co-operation than by isolation. Farmers will work together, and their wives will also. Tho baking for a dozen families may be done in summer by a firo in ono large stove or range, and a housewife will no moro think of doing the week's washing by hand with the present slow processes than her husband would of reaping his grain with a sickle, or thrashing his en tire harvest with a flail. llr. J. Country Gentleman. A Jewel of a Jeweler. A Russian princo invited a couple of charming young actress to a littlo after- noon luncheon, and between bright eyes and champagne found himself over head and ears in love with- oue of them, They separate as the hour for the even- ing performance draws nigh, and tho prince, still under the influence of tho bright eyes ana cnampagne nuves to the florist's and purchases an exquisite bouquet. This wasn't enough, and ho went to the jeweler's and asked for some diamonds ; they showed him some single stones, but he crio3 : " Give me a lot a handful !" A basket of brilliants is produced, and he sprinkles the bouquet wiin inem aDunuuuiiy, uuu uxives iu uio theater. Next rooming he goes to the bank, draws 200,000 francs and chives to the jeweler. " What do I owe yon for those diamonds?" "Two thousand francs." "Two thousand francs!" " Yes. I saw that your lordship waa somewhat exhilarated yesterday, and so took the libertv of civinc vou paste dia- lnonds." The prince reneoted. trie nau re covered from the effect of the bright . . . i , eyes and the champagne, and ie said " iou did quite right. ' Beaten by a Large Majority. The Detroit Free Pre says : A boy, aged twelve, whose uncle is a member of the Legislature, was permitted to make a trip to Lansing a few days ago in order to visit the State House. He came home chuck full of importance, and when his little brother ran to meet him at the gate William coldly waved him back and said : " I refer you to the committee on fish eries, bub, and how's my dog ?" His mother was glad to see him, and when she asked if he had enjoyed him self he replied : " Oh, I suppose so, though I now move to strike out all after the enacting clause." "What sort of talk is that, Willie, denr ?" she asked in great surprise. " Never mind the talk, mother, but move the previons question and bring on the pancakes." The hired girl came in with the dinner and wanted to know how he liked Lan sing. He looked at her with great dig nity and replied : " I now move to lny your petition on the table, Hannah, for future consideration." She got mad about it. and William slyly informed his mother that it was his opinion that Hannah's title should be made to conform to the body of tho bill He went out to see the boys after dinner, and a house painter asked him where No, G57 was. " We'll have a call of the House nud see." replied the boy. as he looked around. " Whose house?" asked the painter. " Or you can rise to a question of privilege," continued the lad. "I don't want no sass," said the paint er, who thought the boy was making fun of his red nose. " Of course not. Let's pass the bill to a third reading, or else go into com mittee of the whole and debate it." 'I think you need dressing down!" growled the painter, and he banged Wil liam into a snowbank and pushed a heap of snow down behind his collar. " Have the minority no riehts ?" veiled the boy, as he kicked the painter on the slim. He would have been wolloped had not his mother appeared. The painter moved away at sight of her, but called out : " I'll see you again, boy." " I refer the whole subject to father, with instructions to .report a bill to walk you into the police court," replied the representative, and he went in to tell his mother the difference between suspend ing the rules and rushing a bill, or re ferring it to the committee on cornfields till some one came around with the cigars. Little Things. A serpent's fang is a little thing, but death is its victory. A baby is a wee littlo thing, but a con stable, was once a baby. A lap dog is a little thing, but ho is a very silly thing besides. A cross word is a little thing, but it is what stirs up the elephant. The tongue is a little thing, but it fillB the universe with trouble. A star is a littlo thing, but it can hold this great world in its arms. An egg is a little thing, but the huge , .,i; i -,. :t i;(0 ,,(. ( n ; 1 . .. . . . but it a umut i 011115 u a uuu uiiuKl sends the schoolboy home howling. An oath is a little thing, but it is re corded iu the greut ledger in heaven. An orange peel on the sidewalk is a little thing, but it has upset many a giant. A kind word is a littlo thing, but it is just what soothed the sorrows of the set ting hen. A kiss is a very little thing, but it be trayed the Sou of God into the hands of his enemy. A word is a little thing, but one word has been many a man's destiny, for good or for evil. A spark is a little thing, but it can light tho poor man's pipe, or set the world to burning. The acorn is a. little thing, but the black bear and his family live in the oak that springs from it. A penny is a very littlo thing, but the interest on it from the days of Cain and Ablo would buy out the globe. ' A minute is a little tiling, but it is long enough to pull a dozen aching teeth, or to get married nnd have your own mother-in-law. Life is made up of littlo things. Life itself is but a littlo thing; ouo breath less, then comes the funeral. Josh JJil lingi. Tho Poor Sheep. The acuteness of the sheep's ear, it is said, surpaRses all things in nature that I know of. Tho ewe will distinguish her own lamb's bleat among a thousand, all bleating at the same time. Besides the distinguishment of voice is perfectly reciprocal between the ewe and lamb, who, amid the deafening sound, run to meet one another. There are few things which have ever amused me more than a sheep shearing, and then the sport con tiuues the whole day. We put the flock , into tho fold, set out all the lambs to the i hill, and then send the ewes to thera as j they are shorn. The moment that a j lamb hears its dam's roioe it rushes from the crowd to meet her, but instead of . finding the rough, well olad, comfortable ; mamma, wmcu it left an nou or a few hours ago, it meets a poor, linked, shiv ering a most deplorable looking crea ture. It wheels about, and uttering a loud, tremendous bleat of perfect de spair, flies from the frightful vision. The mother's voice arrests its flight. It : returns, flies, and returns again, gener- any ior hti or a uozeu uues, ueiore any reconciliation is perfected. Roger M. Sherman was arguing a ! case, and made a point which the judge did not at once see. Mr. sherinau, said he, "I would thank you to state i the point so that I can understand you." i : . .1 : i i . oi. - i - i i i jiouiK yujitoiy, nnerninu repued iu nis i blandest manner : " Ycmr honor is not probably aware of tho task you, ere inv pnsuiij ou me. Items of Interest. The day laborer must strike for hire WDgOS. Peaceful sleep is the sheet alienor oi health. There are ten printers in the United States Senate. A bit of nonsense One thnt will not check a horse. Houses will not go up while rents nre cottiug down. An incalculable weight The weight of indignation. It is often easier to pick flaws than to do better yourself. Raikoad agents are always ready to answer a fare question. Please keep your eye on the fact that medical men pronounce cigarettes a great promoter of consumption. Tho very shortest answer a lady can give to a proposal is NO, for it consists of only one letter, and nothing after it. Inducements nre offered by the land department of Florida for 50,000 weulthy Mennonites to immigrate to the grange groves. Gamblers in Virgina Ciiy have pre sented a petition to the Legislature to prevent ft man's wages from being at tached for n saloon bill of over five dol lars. The English society for the prevention of cruelty to nnimals obtained during the year 1876 2,698 convictions. This does not include convictions obtained by the police. A bullet fired by a hunter in Texas struck the surface of a lake at consider able distance, glanced upward, nud wounded a girl who was walking on a hill beyond. The rage for alcohol in the treatment of fever, introduced in England twenty years ago by Dr. Todd, has abated, nnd hospitals are rigorously cutting down wine allowances. The narrow gunge roads nre. gaining favor rapidly. Several are being built out of Cincinnati, and over ninety miles are already surveyed and will be built this year in Indiana. Au exchange remarks that in China it is customary to kill poets and cat them, which moves the Norristown Jleruhl man to add, " on account of their tender lines, we suppose." An old but still available Massachu setts statute has been discovered, which prohibits the extension of credit to stu dents in colleges. The penalty is a fine of twice the amount of the debt. " Pa, I guess your man Ralph is a good Christian." " How so, my boy ?" " Why, pa, I read in the Bible that the wicked shall not live out half his days; aud Ralph says he has lived out ever since he was a little boy." Bashful youth (at his wit's end to say something smart) : " Err I hope you er like this er weather, Miss Ga brielle," Miss G. : "Oh, no indeed; whatever makes you think so ?" B. Y. : " Er oh, only because er everybody says its delightful weather for the little ducks." Children must have love inside the house aud fresh air, and good play, and some good companionship outside other wise young life runs the greatest danger iu the world of withering, or growing stunted, or, at best, prematurely old and turned inward on itself. It is surprising how many of the world's most wonderful facts owe their discovery to trivial and unimportant circumstances. But for a piece of ice at the corner of the street on which a gentleman slipped up, should, perhaps, never have known that it was customary iu our best circles to put liglit colored basements into dark clored pautn. The London customs officers, it is re ported, seized twenty-seven gills of a peculiar fluid the other day, and on ex amination found it to be nicotine, tho product of two thousand five hundred pounds of tobacco sweepings, mixed with alcohol, which virulent fluid was to be used in transforming cabbage leaves into the finest Havana cigars. Fruit as a Medicine. The irregular eating of unripe fruit is well known to be unwholesome. Tho regular and moderate use of well ripened fruit is not so widely a' predated as con tributing to health. Residents in regions whore more or less malaria prevails have discovered that nothisg is a more sure preventive of its deleterious effects than a regular supply of fruit. But fruit will not only prevent disease, but in some instances it has proved one of the best medicines to cure it. Many years ago a chronic cough, which had excited a good of uneasiness, was cured by eating ripe raspberries, recommended by a medical writer of high authority as an excellent expectorant. Severe colds are more apt to occur on the first cool and clamp days of autumn than at any othe;1 seasons. We have often cured these diseases on the first attack by eat ing copiously of ripe watermelons. The beneficial effects of drinking freely of cold water on such occasions are well known. Watermelons supply a largei quantity than one could easily swallow in any other way. Country Gentleman. Vegetable Electricity. A botanical traveler in Nicaragua, de scribes through the columns of a Eelcian horticultural publication, a species of puytoiacoa wuwn is m the vegetable world the counterpart cf the gjtunotua or eleotrio eel. On attempting to Bather a branch of this plant the huud feels a shook -as If from au elecLrio machine i .and a-tfJmpass. is sensibly effected by proximity to the plant, the needle being nyiuiucu m pruporuou wj us nearness to the shrub, taking on a rapid gyratory movement when the instrument is placed in the middle of tho bush. There is, it seems, no doubt that the phenomena are due to an electrical state of the plant itself ; for, first, the intensity of the action varies according to the time of day, being slight during the night, and at its maximum au hour or two after noon j and, secondly, during stormy weuther it considerably increased, while in dry seasons it reaches its minimum, the plant remaining in a withered state until the arrival of rain. I -V
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers