ftfiili' mi
fill
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. YTT. HI DG WAY. ELK COUNTY, 1A THURSDAY, JULY 12, 1877. yo- 21
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Arier Marriage.
We used to walk together In the twilight,
He whispering tender words so sweet and low,
As down the green lanei when the dow wag
falling,
And through the woodlands where the birds
were calling,
We wandered in those hours so long ago.
Bnt now no more we walk In purple gloaming
Adown the lanes my love and I ah, me ;
The tit.. - ; r..,i for such romantic roaming
He holds the babr while I'm getting tea.
We used to sit, with lamp turned low, together)
And talk of lore and it divine elTocts,
When nights were long and wintry was the
weather
Far noblor he than knight with knightly feather,
And I to him the loveliest of my sex.
Now, oft when wintry winds howl round the
gable,
Immersed in smoke, he pores o'er gold and
stocks,
The fact ignored that Just across the table
The loveliest of her sex sits darning socks.
Oft when arrayed to suit my hero's fancy,
I tripped to meet him at his welcome call,"
IIo looked unutterable things his dark eye
glowing
In fond approval at my outward showing
Hi taste in luces, drosses, jowols all !
Now if perchance we leave the honse together,
When friends invite or prima donna sings,
He scans my robes, bought new for the occa
sion, And foots the bills and looks unutterable
things !
Oh, bygone days ! when seventeen and single,
He called me angel as lie pressed my hand !
Oh, present time! wherein that self-same fellow
So that same angel, grown a trifle yellow.
Calls out : " Matilda, do you understand?"
Ah, yes ! 1 understand, one thing for certain,
Love after marriage is a beauteous myth,
Which they who once have passed behind the
curtain,
Turn up their noses disenchanted with !
MAKE YOUK OWN WAY.
David Rpeerswas tnking his afternoon smoke.
Ferhaps the long clay pipe looked a little in
congruous with the handsomely furnished room
and the massive silver plate on the mah igany
side-board. But. for that matter, he was an
incongruity a little, common-looking man, not
very well dressed. Certainly a very wide con
trast to the liaudsome, stylish-looking young
fellow who interrupted his reverio lv a very
frank and noi-v:
Good-pvcmng, uncle. Can I talk awhile
with von V"
"That depends, Robin, on what you're gaun
to talk aboot."
" You know, uncle, that Aleck Lang and I
have long boon friends."
I have heard bo; I don't know it."
' Well, ho have. To-day Aleck Ciime to tell
me that bo is going into the carpet-weaving
business in Kilniarn nek. He intends to buy
Thomns Blaoliie ont."
" He'll need some bawbees for that."
" His father will help, and he asked me to
Join him. What do yon think about it?"
' Ffovr long have you been wi' Hastie?-'
" Five years."
" Vii'l ho.v much have yon saved?"
" Well, to tell the truth, uncle, nothing at
all. Wli it with Jessie marrviiig last year and
I'-sa this, ami the presents I had to give, and
other tneni i, my savings all went away."
" Humph
"I tlio i'lit, perhaps, that as the busiuess
was su ih an old one, and as both the Langs
would be interested in it. you would lend mo
two thousand pounds for such a wonderfully
good chance."
" I have made it a rule never to lend"money
to yonng men."
" A vt rv nnliind mlo when it touches me,
unele. You were never unkind to me before."
" 1 nm not unkind to you now either.Robiu."
"Oulv two thousand, uncle! And such a
chance ! '
" Guid heavens, hear the lad! 'Only twa
thousand !' Did ye ever earn twa thousand
pounds? Did ye ever save twa thousand
pounds? When ye have, Robin, come to me.
and I'll talk wi' ye about lending ye ;hat sum."
" But, uncle, the thing is not a new venture!
it is sure to pay."
" It is gaun to have new masters; an' men at
sixty are na sae sure about things 'paying' as
lads of flve-au'-twenty are."
So the young man ' went away much disap
pointed and not a little angry; but other friends
looked more favorably on the plan.
The A'2.000 were borrowed, and Robert Rae
and Aleck Lang bought the old-established
carpet-weaving house.
Tho fir t year the concern, in spite of falling
prices, did very well. Robert's share of profits
not only gave him a good living, but paid his
iuterest. and allowed him to lay by nearly 100
toward clearing off his borrowed capital and
the next year tilings were still brighter.
In the fourth year of the enterprise Robert
I! ic called again on his uncle.
' (iuod-eveiiing, nnele."
" Good-evening. Robin. How's business ?"
" l'ust-rato. I don't come to-night about
business."
" What for, thon?"
" I am going to be married. I wanted to
tell you about it."
That's a mair kittle risk than Blackie's
business, Robin. '
" I think not. nnele."
' Wlia's the lassie ?"
"Jessie Lorimer."
" What fortune has she?"
" Just her beauty and her noble nature; she
is of good family, too, and has had the best of
In "ntiotis. Why, undo, she can do 'most
a o Uiing ; aiuts, draws, plays the harp, sings
5i'.:: an angel and"
" I'm fared pue'U be a kind o' matrimonial'
luxury, Robin. But she's a bonuie lassie ; I
ha'e seen her. Yet I doubt if she's fit for a
puir man s wife."
" You'll come to the wedding, uncle?"
" Surely, surely."
It was a very grand wedding, and David
Kpcers made quite a sensation by giving the
bride a check for 500. Indeed, Jessie seemed
to have quite captivated the old bachelor, and
he soon began to spend a great many of his
evenings in her pretty home.
Three ears passed happily away.
In Robert's home there had been tome
Cleasant changes; and his uncle danced a pretty
aby Jessie occasionally on his knee, or looked
admiringly and wonderiugly at his own jree
namesake" iu the cradle, Down at the mill
tilings were apparently equally prosperous.
All the looms wore at work, and the very wel
fare of Kilmarnook as a community-was s nsi
bly connected with the business of " Lang A
Rae's Carpet Mill." But a great doal of this
success was only apparent, for it hung upon
chances entirely beyond the control of the
yonng partners in it.
They had been compelled to borrow largely,
and had big interest accounts to meet, and a
great deal of their paper being from houses
unknown to local bankers, had to be cashed at
very heavy discounts. All these things were
much against tlicni, yet so great was their in
dustry and eneriry that they might have turned
them all into " happy circumstanoes," and won
in spite of the odds against them, if yarns had
not suddenly taken a tremendous and quite
uulooked for fall.
This, of oourse, was followed by a number of
failures, in most of which they Buttered.
Not all their efforts could now gather together
their numerous lines of enterprise, and they
found it equally iuipossib'e to curtail them,
and so, after a few months of desperate,
anxious struggle, the firm becamo bankrupt.
Old David had lo-g foreseen, and resolutely
refused to meddle iu the inat'er. A coolness
had, therefore, grown up between uncle and
uephew, and when the end came David was uot
among thoia who offered hoLwt and Aleck
I advice and svmnathv. Tlie vonnir mpti twttmvnfl
j well. They "surrendered everything, but credi
iors am not tail to stigmatise as msbonnratilo
and unhuainess-like and speculative and rirky
the nature of the trade done by the broken
firm. Aleck at once sailed for Sydney, where
he had a brother, and Robert took' his wife and
children to her father's, whilo he endeavored to
find a situation. But week after week passed,
another winter waB approaching, and nothing
had been done.
Once again David was interrupted. This
timo it was his pretty niece Jessie. His face
softened wonderfully when he met her large,
tearful eyes.
" Oh. uncle," she said, " we have sorb need
of yon."
"My puir little woman, sit down and tell
Davie what he can do for you."
Jussio's tfllo was soon told her tears told it
best.
Robert's heart bad quite failed him ; they
were almost penniless, and they had worn their
welcome out at her father's.
" Then you'll come here, yon and Robert, and
Jessie, and wee Davie ; au' we'll see what your
man is tit for. If he canna find his feet wi' a
wife like you, I'm sorry for him."
Ho the next day the family moved, with their
small belongings, to David's' house, very mneh
to the annoyance of Mistress Janet, David's
housckoepcr. This lady, indeed, soon made
things so unpleasant that it vyvs evident to all
parties there could be no delav in a decision,
and Robert, almost in desperation, eBolved on
trying hiB fortune in the new world. David,
Iiressed by his housekeeper's grumbling and
y his affection for his nephew, knew only of
one other way he could advance Robert money
for a new effort.
" But it would be the ruin V tho lad," he
said, thoughtfullv. "I'm doubting if he's
learned his lesson yet ; he e'en go to school
again."
So he praised Robert's Buggostion, and offered
to pay the passage of the whole family and
give him 4)100 to start life with. The offer
was accepted, and iu a few days they were on
the ocean, not one of them aware of the real
interest and affection which followed them.
"But they'll write to me," said David to
himself. " They'll write, for they ken I ha'e
plenty o' siller."
Once on a new track, all Robert's energy re
turned. Provided with a letter to the pro
prietors of the Mattatoot Carpet Mills, he found
his way there, and readily obtained work. A
part of his hundred pounds was used in fur
nishing a little cottage, at d Robert enjoyed a
degree of peaco and comfort to which he had
long been a stranger. The next spring a lucky
event gave him a special prominence. A large
mill in the neighborhood" imported some ma
chinery for weaving a peculiar kind of rug, and
no one" could be fonnd in the locality able to
make it run smoothly.
Robert beard of the dilemma and offered his
help. The loom was familiar to him, his suc
cess easy. Ho had fonnd his place, and he
knew it. Day by day he mado bis skill and
energy felt. He rose to be overseer business
manager partner. Still be varied very little
the quiet simplicity of his home. Jessie and
he had found how little they really needed for
happiness, and so, vear bv vear, whatever thev
saved was invested in land which grew in value
while they slept and worked at other things,
and ten years after Robert's first investment lie
found himself, by the simple growth of tho
village, a very rich man. Jut about this time
David sent them a very urgent request to come
and see him, and as he offered to pay all ex
penses, it was accepted. The old man was now
Hearing eighty, yet he was wonderfully hale
md bright, and met them at the steamer, np
oarently little older for the ten years that had
.ilapsed since he bid thein "good-bye" on the
verv same spot. Ho liked Robert's way at the
first glance.
" He has the look of a man wi' siller, an he
bears himsel' well."
Another thing made a still more favorable
impression on David. Robert was not anxious
to speak on business.
Indeed, David had at last to speak bluntly :
" You'll ha'e done weel, I suppose?"
"Very well."
"You'll no be needing ony help now? I
have money Iving idle."
"Thank you, uncle ; but I have tlO.000
Ivingidle myself. I thought of investing it here,
it I can rind just the machinery I want."
" Y'ou're going to manufactuiing again?"
" Yes ; I know all the his and outs of the trade
there is a good opening iu our town. Yes, I
am thinking about it."
" You'll no be wautiug a partner, eh?"
" If I can get the right kind."
"Would I do?"
"You. Uncle."
" Well, yes, laddie ; an' you needn't scorn at
me. I'll put a hundred thousand to vour fifty,
an' we'll ca' the firm ' Rae & Hpeers.' '
" Y'ou could not leave Scotland, uncle."
" Was I thinking o' sio a daft thing ? I'll
trust my interests i' you hands. I'll ha'e my
full rights, mind ; an' you shall ha'e a fair
allowance for doing my wark as well as your
ain. We'll put everything on paper, and I'll
hold you strictly to the bargain."
The proposal, made half iu barter, finally
assumed a very real shape, and it was agreed
that when Robert returned to America, ho
should start a now manufacturing firm under
very different auspices to bis first venture.
But the past was only onco alluded to, and
then David introduced the subject.
"You'll bo thinking, Roluu, very likely, o'
the day when I wouldua lend you tho thou
sand pounds."
"Y'ou were quite right, uncle ; no man ought
toborrov money until he knows the difficulty
of making it and of saving it ; young men
can't know these thii.gs ; they belong to ex
perience. "
"Y'ou had that lesson to learn then, Robin,
an' I thought ye might as weel learn it o' itber
folk as o' me. One fool whiles teaches anither
fool, an' both grow wise thegither. Sandy
McClure lent ye that twa thousand, and lie was
nane the wnur o' the lessons ye gave him.
There would be fewer young fools if-there
were mair wiso ciders."
Bo Robert s visit was a great success, and
the old man shed the last tears he ever shed
on earth when ho bid the children good-bye.
" Yon take care o' wee Davie for my sake,
Robin," he said, tenderly, holding the lad
proudly by tiie hand, " for when I'm no longer
to the fore, you'll let my name stand i' the firm,
till he's ready to take my place; so then I bo
hundred thousand will aye be in David Npeeis'
name."
And to-day the house grows and prospers,
though old David has long been gathered to
his fathers. Robert's early failure has brought
forth a late and splendid success.
On the Rampage.
There was a great big woman who
came into a business office in Baltimore
recently and asked for a geutlemau whom
she presumed held out there. He was
in, aud after a few words had p:vssed be
tween the pair she thought she would
whip him anyway, aud forthwith she be
gan to carry out her avowed intention.
Off came her bracelets, then her earrings
aud breastpin, and she pronounced herself
ready, like Pelhnm, for " either issue. "
Then she pranced around lively. Over
went the table, and a chair was thrown
against the washstaud with damaging
effect, by which time the object of her
wrath had made his escape, and she pro
ceeded forthwith to demolish another
occupant of the office, but he, with Fal
staff, agreed witli himself that the better
part of valor i discretion, nnd lied.
Then the woman g.it mad. Furniture,
bo rm mid ink stands and such trifles, in
one confused muss did not appease her
wrath, and she sailed iu to take the win
dow glass out of the sash, which she did
with tine dramatic) effect, produced and
aided by oaths quite loud aud shrill,
which woke the neighborhood to wild
excitement aud brought the police to the
rescue. A hack was called, and tho irate
female having been bestowed within,
started homeward with the avowed inten
tion of knocking seven kinds of grace
"ont'n" her lniaband, and. the end is
uot yet.
Kwnrs at the St. John Fire.
The second day of the fire which
partially destroyed St. John, N. B., the
firemen were so exhausted and food and
drink bo scarce, that they asked for
nourishment at any door they chanced
to pass,
Hour after hour went by and yet no
nrtntement of the fury of the fire fiend.
The revivals of the infernal regions
seemed to have been visited upon this un
fortunate city. Human power was un
availing to stay the awful doom that
swept from houre to house, laying one
homo niter another to ashes, driving
families of little children into the streets.
The sick, the aged and infirm were
obliged to seek refuge in parks or any
open space that was considered reason
ably safe by those who kindly assisted
them out of the burning buildings.
A panic seized the people. No spot
seemed safe from the infectious foe. Men
reeled in the streets who were known to
be of temperate habits, and followed the
crowd even to the verge of scorching,
eager to see whose house would be the
next to go. Food was not to be had for
the poor outcasts. Even the pantries of
the few rich whose houses were spared,
were soon emptied for those who came to
their doors to be fed.
It seemed as if the elements had
leagued with the fire fiend to prolong
the torture until the city lay in ashes.
The wind tore the dust from the streets
into the air. and combined with hot
smoke to blind the multitude, who
waited in agony for the flames to spend
their fury. There was a great deal of
intoxication. Men drank to sustain
their strength and to drown their Buf
ferings. Along the principal business streets, a
crowd of loafers, or human vultures,
would pour into liquor and cigar stores
to help themselves. Those in charge
who were trying to save tho property,
would throw out box after box of cigars,
aud bottle after bottle of liquor to them,
and beg them to go away and make room
for them to work.
When the jail became in danger, the
prisoners were all in the main corridor
wnitiiiff to know their doom. A young
man called there to speak with a prisoner
on busiuess. He was not permitted to
enter ; but spoke through the bars.
Ellis, the forger, asked him " if they
would be allowed to roast alive." The
jailor stood waiting orders, and when one
end of the jail caught fire it was reported
that a number were set free. This ter
rible suspense must have been a sore
reminder of their offenses and possible
penalties. They acted like a lot of
caged animals, so this gentlerrnn said.
(Jil l Graduates' Frocks.
Margaret E. Sangslee, in the CliHstian
fittelligencc, tells the school girls what
they should wear, as follows:
Now, we are not in sympathy with
that rigid economy which would impose
ott girlu the wearing of calico on com
mencement day. Calico is too plebeian
to suit our ideas of the fitness of things,
in that relation. It is suitable for the
laundry, the kitchen, and the every day
business of the household. She who
sweeps, she who bakes, she who goes to
a picuic, she who sits on the verauda
with her mending of a summer morning,
is neatly and appropriately dressed in a
calico gown. Elaine, in her faded silk,
was not so pretty or so picturesque os
some lily maids we know when they
came down to breakfast on a blithe Juno
clay, arrayed iu graceful prints, with
bows of ribbon at their neck nnd a spot
less apron tied around the waist. But
the prints aud the apron would not
please us if worn to church or to an
evening company, or on the crowning
day of a young girl's hopes, at the recep
tion of her diploma. Something more
is needed, then, to meet tho require
ments of fastidious fancy. That some
thing is not far to seek. A white dress
of plain muslin, simply trimmed, is
within the reach of every school girl,
and rich in her youth and beauty she
needs nothing more elaborate. The stu
dents of the most conspicuous and influ
ential seminaries should set the fashion
in this particular.
Words of Wisdom.
He who talks only of himBelf is soon
left without an audience.
Resist it as firmly, despise it as proudly
as we may, all studied unkindness, no
matter how contemptible it may be, has
a stinging power in it which reaches to
the quick.
The silence of a person who loves to
praise is a censure sufficiently severe.
Adapt your food to your constitution
and employment.
A passionate temper renders a man unfit
for advice, deprives him of his reasou,
robs him of all that is great aud noble in
his notuve, makes him unfit for con
versation, destroys friendship, changes
justice into cruelty, aud turns all order
iuto confusion.
The man who is trne to himself will be
true to tho rest of mankind.
The man who is taught in the school
of experience will never forget the les
sons learned there.
Whenever the wandering demon of
drunkedness finds a ship adrift he steps
cm board, takes the helm aud steers
straight for the maelstrom.
Fruit Protectors,
The cheapest and best of these I ever
employed was a tame hawk, says a cor
respondent. The summer before last it
was tethered by the leg in the strawber
ry quarter, with a large 6tone for a perch,
and neither nryself nor others ever saw
a bird near the fruit. The black birds
nnd thrushes got so accustomed to the
s'ght of him that they perched on the
wall a bit off, flapping their wings, and
uttering that peculiar 'to-whip" which
they often give iu the presence of dan
ger' ; but they ventured no nearer. The
hawk was tam but never familiar with
any one, except ft black cat which had
been brought up in the same basket with
it. It was fed with birds caught in the
net on the gooseberry quarter, and it
uiade nucomniouly short work of them,
but did not deign to pick the bones
which the cat, in a general way, polished
off. Tho hawk which was singularly
timid when it got dark, was last winter
killed by a rat, during the night, in one
of the greenhouses where it took shelter,
TIIE ORIGIN OP MONTENEGRO.
Karly History of the Hrnve Herbs Who Kc
Tolled front the Turks nnd Curried a.
I'rlntlnn Press Into the JHonnlnln with
Them.
It is sometimes said in relation to in
dividuals that the world does not know
its greatest men. It might at least as
safely be averred, in speaking of large
numbers, that Christendom does not
know its most extraordinary people.
The name of Montenegro until the last
two years was, perhaps, less familiar to
the European public) than that of Mexi-
eo, and little more than that of San
Marino. Aud yet it would long ere this
have risen to world-wide fame had there
been a Scott to tell tho marvels of its
history or a Byron to spend and be spent
on its behalf. For want of the vatea
sacer it has remained in the mute, in
glorious condition of Agamemnon's pre
decessors. I hope that an interpreter
between Montenegro and the world has
at length been found in the person of
my friend Mi. Tennyson, aud I gladly
accept the honor of haviug been invited
to supply a commentary to his text. In
attempting it I nm sensible of this disad
vantage that it is impossible to set out
the plain facts of the history of Monte
negro (or Tsernagora in its otfn Sclav
onic tongue) without begetting in the
mind of any reader strange and nearly
all are strange to the snbject a restless
suspicion'of exaggeration or of fable.
The vast cyclone of Ottoman conquest,
the most formidable that the world has
ever seen, having crossed the narrow sea
from Asia in the fourteenth century,
made rapid advances westward and blast
ed, by its successive acquisitions, the
fortunes of countries the cliief part of
which were then among the most civi
lized, Italy alone being excepted, of all
Efirope. I shall not here deal with the
Hellenic lands. It is enough to say that
Bulgaria, Serbia fas now known), Bos
nia, Herzegovinia, Albania gradually
gave way.
Amoug the Serbian lands was the
flourishing principality of Zeta. It took
its name from the stream that flows
southward from the mountain citadel
toward the lake of Scutari. It comprised
tho territory know as Montenegro or
Tsernagora, together with the 6eaward
frontier, of which a niggnrdly and un
worthy jealousy had not then deprived it,
and with the rich and fair plaius encir
oliug tiie irregular outline of the inhos
pitable mountain. Land after laud had
given way; but Zeta ever stood firm
under the Baiculd family. At last, in
1478, Scutari was taken on the south,
and in 1483 the ancestors of the still
brave population of "Herzegovina on the
north submitted.to the Ottomans Ivan
Tcheruoiveitch, the Montenegrin hero of
the day, hard pressed on all sides, ap
plied to the Venetians for the aid he had
often given, and he was refused. There
upon he, and his people with him, quit
ted, in 1484, the Bnnny tracts in which
they had basked for some seven hundred
years, and sought, on the rocks and
amidst the precipices, surety for the two
gifts, by far tho most precious to man
kind their faith and their freedom. To
them, as to the pomaks of Bulge ria aud
the Bosnian Begs, it was open to pur
chase by conformity a debasing peace.
Before them, as before others, lay the
trinoda ncccasita the alternatives of
death, slavery or the Koran. They were
not to cue, lor tney had a work to uo,
To the Koran or to slavery thev pre
ferrcd a life of cold, want, hardship and
perpetual peril. Such is their Magna
Uiiurta; ami, without reproach to others.
it is, as far as I know, the noblest in the
world.
To become a center for his mountain
home Ivan had built a monastery at
Cittinje, and declared the place to be the
metropolis of Zeta. What i3 most of all
remarkable in tho whole transaction is
that ho carried with him into the hills a
printing press. This" was in 1484, in a
petty principality; they were men worst
ed m war and flying for their lives.
Again, it was only "seven years after the
earliest volume had been printed bv
Caxton in the rich and populous metro
polis of England, and when there was no
printing press iu Oxford or in Cam
bridge or in Edinburgh. It was only
sixteen years after the first printing
press had been established (1468) iu
Borne, tho capital of Christendom; only
twenty-eight years after the appearance
(1456) of the earliest printed book, the
nrst born of the great discovery.
Then aud there they voted unani
mously their fundamental law, that in
time of war against the Turk no sou 6f
Tsernagora could quit the field without
the order of his chief; that a runaway
snouid ue torever ttisgraced ana ban
ished from his people; that he should be
dressed in woman's clothes and pre
sented with a distaff; and that the women,
striking hTln with their distaffs, should
hunt the coward away from tho sanctuary
of freedom. Mr. O'ladxtone, in the
London Nineteenth Century.
The Flag.
On the occasion of the celebration of
the " Centennial of the Flog" by the New
York Historical Society, an interesting
paper concerning the origin of the flag
was read bv General Hamilton Schuyler.
Among other reminiscences, it was men
tioned that the stars and stripes, as a
flag, was first displayed iu battle by Col.
Peter GansevoortatFortStanwich, since
Fort Schuyler, near the city of Rome,
m New lork, when besieged by St.
Leger and attacked on the ninth of Au
gust 1777. The blue of the union of the
flag was made out of Captain Swartwout's
clouk, and the white stars aud stripes
out of pieces of his shirt 6ewed together,
aud the red stripes were furnished by
the scarlet cloak of one of the women of
the beleaguered garrison, such cloaks
being much worn at that time in this
country. Paul Jones, in command of
the Banger, demanded aud received
from the French admiral iu Quiberon
bay, coast of Brittany, tho first salute to
the titars and stripes ns adopted 100 years
ago, gun for gun, it having beeu before
that event the usage of Europe t j salute
the flag of a republic with four guns
less than were fired to salute the flag of a
crowned potentate. When the flag was
first adopted by Congress iu 1777, it was
the design to add a new star and stripe
whenever a now State was admitted to
the Union. But iu 1818 Congress de
cided that only a star be added. There
are now thirty-eight, including one for
Colorado recently admitted to the Union,
The Mosques of Constantinople.
There are mnnnnes in Stamboul that
rival St. Sophia in magnitude and splen
dor. The Mosque of Suleiman is con
sidered one of the most glorious monu
ments of Osmanli architecture. The
court facing the entrance is surmounted
on three sides with colonnades, which
are covered with twenty-three domes,
A fonntain with a cupola stands in the
center of the court ; the minarets spring
from the four corners of an outer cjTirt.
The effect is very striking and elegant.
Attached to this mosque are numerous
endowments three schools, four acade
mies for the four sects of tho faithful,
aud another for the reading of the Koran,
a school of medicine, a hospital, a kitchen
for the poor, a resting place for travel
ers, a library, a fountain, a house of
refuge for strangers aud a mausoleum.
Several of the imperial mosques are as
richly endowed. Mohammedan charity
begins at mosque, and all good Mussul
mans are very much at home in their
houses of prayer. The fourteen great
mosques aro built upon the self same
plan. Tho mosques measure 225x205
feet, and are inclosed on the entrance
side by a forecourt, aud iu the rear by
a garden or cemetery. Besides these
imperial mosques there are about 220
others, built by individuals of inferior
rank, and 300 or more chapels, some of
which are chiefly frequented by women.
The Doves' Mosque, or the Mosque of
Bajazct II., in Stamboul, has a special
charm. Tho building was completed in
1505. The court is exceedingly beauti
ful. You enter by gates elaborately
decorated in arabesque ; the cloister
that surrounds the court is inclosed by
a range of columns of porphyry nnd
verde antique, with capitals of white
marble ornamented in arabesque. In
the center of the court is a marble
fountain under a canopy, and sheltered
by a cluster of fine trees. As you enter
the court, you hear the roar of wings,
and for a moment the air is darkened
with the sudden flight of myriads of
doves. These birds the offspring of a
pair purchased from a poor woman by
Sultan Bnjnzet, aud presented to the
mosque are as sacred as was the ibis of
old. A grave and reverend fellow, with
a huge turban, sits .under the cloister
and sells grain to the faithful and the
fickle. The former feed the doves for
charity ; tho latter for fun. While the
fountain is knee-deep with swarming
birds and the trees clogged with them, and
all the eaves of the cloister lined, and even
the high galleries of the slender minarets
not unvisited by these feathered der
vishes, you throw a handful of wheat
into the court, and, like a thundercloud,
the whole tribe swoops upon you with
tho .rush and the roar of a Btorm.
They crowd one another, and heap them
selves together and stand on their heads
in their eagerness" to get a morsel of
grain. In a moment some one enters the
court, and the birds take flight, stirring
the wind in the cloister a ad filling the
air with soft, floating down.
The Digestion or au Ostrich.
All our fond old beliefs are disappear
ing one after the other. Nero was, it
now appears, a rather estimable monarch
than otherwise; Bichard tho Third had
a great number of good points in his
character, and now we are informed that
the digestion of the ostrich is by no
means what people imagined. The bird
is generally considered capable of enjoy
ing life heartily on a diet of tenpenny
nails and copper bolts. Ia fact he is
supposed to possess tho happy faculty of
assimilating any substance, whether hard
or sott, without the trouble of mastica
tion. Whether this theory holds true
or not in regard to metals and stones, it
now appeal's to be a complete delusion
in respect to the bird's digestion of flimsy
TT' A- ,
nines, nis interior economy may oe
capable, perhaps, of con
knockers into food, but it
converting uoor-
is altogether
non-enechve with lace and hue linen,
This novel fact iu natural history is es-
tablished by a correspondent of Land
and Water, who, about eight months
ago, brought home au ostrich from
Bueuos Ayres. The interesting pet was
duly established in a garden, where he
had the run of everything, including tho
green crops and wall nails. Perhaps
these supplies fell short for a time, or
the bird may have wished to vary his
diet. At all events, he began to commit
depredations on whatever garments were
placed out to dry on washing days in the
garden. The cook's Sunday cap was the
first article missing; afterward other ar
ticles vanished, the final theft being that
of three lace collars. Soon after partak
ing of this light meal that feathered
yournet began to show signs of indispo
sition, and, iu spite of the best medical
advice, he gradually wasted away, until
death relieved from fiu'ther suffering.
On a post mortem being held, it was
discovered that the lace collars, coupled
with two baked potatoes, had proved too
much for the bird's digestive power.
His death was thus duo like many hu
man misfortunes to the love of dainty
dress. Iu a primitive state of society,
such as ostriches are accustomed to,
strings of beads generally fulfill the
purposes of lace collars, and beads are
digestible enough by ostriches. How,
then, was tho poor bird to have known
that the means which serve civilized
belles for the enslavement of nieu are
not equally innocuous ? For the future,
when it is said of any man that " he has
the digestion of an ostrich," it will be
necessary to understand that the simile
only holds good in regard to substantial
articles of dietary. i . . 3
;.';':' 1
. -: A School Girl's Fate.v
Mary Ella Harrington, a Boston school
girl, went to visit a friend iu Newton,
and her family never saw her afterward.
Her movements after sho lwted from
the Newton friend could not be trace I
A few days after hpr disappearance her
mother received this note, written in a
masculine hand : " I send you this so
that you needn't worry for me. I havo
found a friend and I am never corning
back any more, at least for a good long
while. My friend is writing this because
I have burned my hand." The police
searched thoroughly for the girl, "but did
not find her. This was last fall, oud
public interest in the case was thorough
ly aroused. Her body was found in tho
river at Lowell, the other day, and the
truth seems to be that she was murdered
by the man who sent the note, whoever
tie is,
ABOUT SLEEP.
How Many Hours ore Needful In Different
('uses.
It is often said, " better wear out than
rust out." Very true, if one were com
pelled to choose between the two; but
what necessity is there for doing either ?
Our Americau people are certainly in
little danger of "rusting out," and such
a nervous, wiry, restless people may be
too tough to wear out easily. The num
ber of long-lived persons to be found in
almost every town would indicate that, as
a people, we are hord to kill. But it is
not the loss of life that is to be appre
hended from the hurried, energetic way
in which our countrymen rush into and
dash through everything they undertake
as the wear and tear of the nervous
system.
Too little sleep is an evil injurious to
old and young which is little noticed by
those who should have carefully guarded
the health of those under their influence.
Those who frequent places of fashionable
amusements parties, balls, theaters or
concerts are invariably kept up late,
aud on reaching home are wakeful from
the unnatural excitement, the miserable
practice of late suppers, and the tea and
coffee, if nothing stronger, that is pro
vided. But, though they seek the bed
at most unseasonable hours, if they are
people of business or compelled to attend
to household cares they canuot afford to
regain lost sleep by late rising; or if
young, and with no cares that are impe
rious, a long sleep after the sun is up is
not half so refreshing or healthful as if it
was secured iu the night the natural
time for sleep.
Some foolish king once said; "Six
hours are enough for a man, seven for a
woman, eight for a fool." How many
mothers with young children obtain
seven hours of quiet sleep ? If by chance
they and many others could secure eight
hours they ought not to be charged with
folly. The amount of sleep supposed to
be necessary to secure good health and
steady nerves depends mucn upon tue
nature of the occupation through the
.lay, but still more upon the constitu
tion. Some are so nervously active that
they consider a few hours' rest sufficient;
ami even iu sleep they find no respite in
their dreams. If one expostulates with
them for giving too few hours to rest
and sleep they will assure you that they
need no more, and that they are as fresh
aud bright iu the early morning and
through the day as they would be if they
had "wasted" double the time in bed.
Such people are sure to pay heavily in
later years for the rest of which they
robbed their youth.
A sleep which is but a pretense half
sleeping half waking is iudicative if
some unnatural strain upon the nerves.
A healthy, sound sleep, which gives per-'
leer rest to all the functions 01 the brain
and the entire nervous system, will re
store the vigor used up through a -day of
active mental or physical labor, and
mind and body thus refreshed and
strengthened during the hours of dark
ness will spring up elastic with the first
blush of morning light eager for renewed
work, which after such a healthful sleep
becomes a pleasure.
Infants need a 1 the sleep they can be
induced to take. Sleeping anil eating
are nil that can be expected of them.
Their rapidly developing bodies demand
this and if healthy will secure it, and oil
the way up from infancy, through child
hood, there is littlo fear of their sleeping
too much. Hut when the body is fully
matured, from seven to eight hours, ac
cording to the nature of the daily avoca
tions, is a fair supply for good health if
taken at the proper hours for sleep.
after the " early to bed, early to rise "
rote. There are exceptions to this rule,
of course, occasionally, after some season
of great excitement or exhaustion, such
as cannot always be avoided.
Mental labor demands more sleep than
physical lahor; but from mature youth
to past middle age more than eight hours
iu bed is debilitating. If some peculiar
temperaments and some avocations re
quire more than that amount of sleep,
better a half hour or an hour even in the
middle of the day. When old age draws
uear more sleep will bo required, of
course.
As a general rule if the body and miud
have full exercise through the day, if the
supper is light, aud the evening is spent
iu a happy, quiet and sensible manner;
if one retires to a well-ventilated cham
ber, and keeps it so through the night.
a sound and healthy sleep will be the
natural result almost as soon as the head
touches the pillow; on the contrary, if
the evenings are spent in work or amuse
ments that require late hours, the same
excitement which compels that will fol
low one to the bed, aud fevered, fitful
dreams will be the result, from which
one rises more languid and weary thau
when he retired. Voonsockct Patriot.
The Great M'all or China.
Kalgan commands one of the passes
through tho great wall of China. It is
there built of large stone, cemented to
gether with mortar. It tapers toward
the top, being twenty-one feet high and
twenty-eight feet wide at the foundation.
At the most important points, less than
a mile apart, square towers are erected,
built of bricks. It winds over the crest
of the mountains, crossing tho valleys at
right angles, blocking them with fortifi
cations. The Chiue.se estimate its
length to be about three thousand three
hundred miles, but iu parts more remote
from Pekin the wall is of inferior con
struction. There is nothing but a dilapi
dated mud rampart, as Colonel Preje
valsky saw it on the borders of Ala-slum
and Kansu. It is said to have been built
upward of two centuries before Christ,
to protect the empire against the in
roads of the neighboring nomads ; but
the periodical irruptions of the barba
rians were never checked by this artifi
cial barrier.
Never Despair. One of the Scotch
judges rather noted for his light treat
ment of serious punishments had once
sentenced a man, convicted of sheep
stealing, to be hanged on the 28th of the
then onrrent month. The prisoner when
being conducted out of the dock, turned
round to the judge, who was buBy ar
ranging his papers previous to leaving
the court, aud cried out : "My lord, my
lord, I haena got justice here the day !"
The judge looking up from his occupa?
tion with a twinkle of grim fuu ia his
eye, consolingly answered 1 "Weel, weel.
my man, ye'U get it on the 28th."
Familiar Voiced.
Down in the deep, tip in the sky,
1 see them always, far or nigh.
And I shall see them till I die
The old familiar faces.
They have long forgotten mine
But 1 remember every lino,
The old familiar faces,
Ah 1 nothing e'er replaces
The old familiar faces.
And all day long, so close and neAr,
As in a mystic dream I hear
Their gentle accents kind and dear
The old familiar voices.
They have no Bound that I can roach
Bnt silence sweeter is than speech ;
The old familiar voices !
Nothing my heart rejoices
Like the old familiar voices.
Items of Interest.
Slaves of the ring Engaged maidens.
A beastly storm 'When it rains cats
and
dogs.
Ho that would put money in his fob, must do
the work or boss the job.
Nevada's the place to live iu everybody
mines his own business out there.
Crockery dealers alwayB delight In seeing
other people do a smashing business.
Thus far In 1877 thirtv-seven persons havu
been executed in the United States for murder !
The mind wakes from its ambrosial dreamsof
flowers and spicy zephyrs and noetic Bunsots to
the consciousness of a first boil.
A New Englander writes homo from tho
Black Hills that there are as many wise men
going out every day as there are fools coming
in.
If any potato bug believed that the fashion
able color thiB year was to be yellow, he hnB
been badly disappointed. It is green paris
green.
After a boy is tired -out hoeing potatoes,
nothing seems to rest him more than to dig
over a few square rods of green sward in search
of bait.
A politician who was a great stickler for
equality in all things, perceiving two crows fly
ing side bi side, exolaimed: "Aye, that is just
as it should be ; I hate to see one crow over
another."
The longest sentence on record was con
structed bv a Western udi;e. He sentenced a
murderer "for life, and afterward slapped two
more years to the sentence because the prisoner
called" him "no gentleman."
" It is the last straw that breaks the camel's
back," as the fellow murmured when his girl
said she would have cake with her ice cream,
and the consciousness dawned upon him that
he had only twenty cents in his pocket.
At tliia uptiann nf the vear there is something
discouraging to the heaven born genius which
despises conventionalities, in the spectacle of a
man who wears a winter hat and endeavors to
secure the recognition of his friends.
An Irish gentleman parting with a lazy
servant woman was asked, with respect to her
industry, whether she was what is termed afraid
of work. "Oh! not at all," said he ; "not at
all; she'll frequently lie down and fall asleep by
the very side of it.1'
Now is the time for lovers to get spoony over
ice cream, she taking a few pretty dabs at his
vanilla, and he borrowing a taste of her cho
colate. This process inspires confidence in the
day when they will be throwing corned beef
aud cabbages across the table.
The song of the jail bird is in many bars.
Herald P. I. Man. 80 is the song of the soap
maker. Detroit Free Pre. So is the Bong of
the toper. Socfwuter Democrat. 80 is the
song of the Mississippi pilot. -A'cmi 1'orA;
traphic. So is the song of the mosquito.
During a late storm 0110 of Burlington's best
young men was struck by lightning. Bnt
fortunately escaped serious injury. The bolt
struck one of the points of his standing collar,
hut long before it could get down to the young
man's neck the electric fluid cave it up and
curled up exhausted, about half way down the
collar, used up.
Musings by the Blue Danube.
A war correspondent writes: Notwith
standing the fatigue of the day, I have
sat quite late in my solitary room writ
ing this letter. There is no postal ser
vice between here and Constantinople.
All letters are sent privately to the Brit
ish consul at Varna, who forwards them
to the English postmaster at Pera. It
is a beautiful moonlight night, and there
is a hush everywhere like that which
precedes the storm. From my window
I can hear the low, sullen swash of the
swollen Danube, and can see the dull
outlines of the Turkish gun-boat lying
above the town. Anon it will move
down to where its mate is patrolling for
Russian pontooniers, and will steam
back before daybreak. I am told that
the Turks have thirty thousand troops
here, armed mostly with Henry-Martini
rifles. They all appear to be good sol
diers. I saw one of the best regiments this
evening that I have seen in Turkey. It
was composed of stalwart fellows with thei r
heads sluived in the Mussulman style, with
the tuft of hair on the apex for the an
gels to seize them by aud lift them from
tho battle-field to Paradise. There is a
strangeness in my situation, which I can
not help realizing. It is indeed odd,
that I have traveled seven thousand
miles, to sleep here to-night in this his
toric spot the advance position and cen
tral point of the great war, and under
the very nose of a Russian battery. I
am the only bona fide American news
paper correspondent lying on this edge
of the Danube to-night, and that is
something. I shall sleep some, I know,
for I am tired and well nigh worn out
with sight-seeing and excitement. But
it will not be the sleep of one who gath
ers the drapery of his couch about him,
and lies down to pleasant dreams, for I
can't dismiss the unpleasant reflection,
that at least two of those somber guns
in that Russian battery over the river
are pointing toward the second story of
the Hotel Islah-hane.
Possibly a Good Speculation.
A California millionaire, whose daugh
ter will shortly marry a French count, is
to pay the groom $100,000 cash down,
before the ceremony takes place, that
being the price demanded by the conde
scending foreigner for consenting to
share his title with an American born
young woman. The figure seems high,
but the investment may uot prove to be
such a bad speculation after all. A good
mauy of these European couuts turn
out to bo very clever cooks or stylish
hair-dressers, aud should the ambitious
papa's mine incontinently peter out , or he
get swamped at tho stock board, a first
class foreign artist in victuals or hair
will be found mighty handy to have
about the house. Such fellows com
mand fabulous salaries in San Francisco
when times are flush, and they are al.
ways able to make a pretty good living
when they are willing to set about it.
They are a little - too "much given to,
beating their wives, however, when the
day of adversity comes, to make desira
bio sons-in-law as genera rule,