HI 7 ' muse Willi HENRY A. PARSONS,, Jr., Editor and Publisher. . r NIL DESPERANDUM. , , Two Dollars por Annum. VOL. VII. RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THUBSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1877. NO. 33. i. 7 r Wc Cannot Be Alone. I thought to be alone, So loft tbe busy world, with all its life, Its Joys, its griefs, its cares, its bittor strifo, And to the woods I strayed one sultry day, Where solitude and silence would have sway. For oh, I longed for both ! No friends craved I, Nor usoIobb words to speak of sympathy ; So, in the grand old woods I Bought relief, Where utter loneliness and silence, brief, One short hour could bo known. j I thought to be alone, But found the woods alive. Each doll and glen As full of bustle as the haunts of men For there small insects chirped in perfect gloe, And leaves kept rustling in each tall old tree ; With sjnaps the grasshoppers rubbed loud their rings, And wild birds sang, and bees were noisy things. "Those woods have too much sound and life, ' I cried, "To soothe my heart," so left its shadows wide For other realms unknown! I thought to be alone, Bo turned my steps toward the great, wide sea, And sat upon the bench, for majesty And solemn stillness broodod o'er the spot Full well I knew. But ah ! I quito forgot That ebbing tides flow never silently, And dancing waves will murmur of the sea ; ThcBe often roll, and swell, and crush, and roar, As madly leaps the surf against the shore, Where silence is unknown. Alone? No more I moan, But turn, with tearful eyes and drooping head, Besolved earth's busy paths I now would tread Without a murmur. Jest, and laugh, and song, No more should fret ! I would myself prolong lUo tumult work, and sing and pray, And strive, by doing good, to drive away The morbid gloom that solitudo would crave Which God forbids for feel we gay or grave, We cannot bo alone ! A GOOD TURN. It was not intended in tlio Magilvray family that Miss Alice of that, name should marry Eugene Descamps. Not tlmt young Eugene was not good enough for the saiil Miss Alice, but that, being exceedingly pretty, bright and attract ive, she might do batter, as the phrase goes, and the Magilvravs were greatly in need of her doing better. Iu their old days they used to be somebodies ; now, owiug to disaster, poverty, ill lnek, and lack of enterprise, they were no bodies. If Alice, the flower of the fam ily, should have a success matrimonially, it would bring her much less lovely sis ters into connections where they, com paratively speaking, might do well, and her brothers where some sort of business chance might meet them. Mrs. Magil vray li.'giiiled many a tedious hour in speculations on the advantages that would follow a brilliant marriage on Alice's part ; she saw her other girls in the splendid dresses and jewels that their wealthy brother-in-law would give them; she saw her ow u homo made yearly more delightful by the delicate but expensive little attentions of Alice herself ; and she saw business chances absolutely throwing themselves at the boys' feet. It all depended upon Alice's yet meeting this millionaire of a lover in pome before she became fatally entangled with auy body else ; and here she was now fancy ing herself iu love with that Eugene Descamps, who, having nothing but a profession, wnld probably never be able to give her any thing but a living. And every time she saw them parting at the. gate, or glancing across the aisle in church, down would go all of Mrs. Magilvray's dreams, like Aluaschar's tray of glasses. "I don't know why I should be ex pected to bring up the family," Miss Alice would cry. "If the girls' want to marry well, I'm willing. Let them mar ry themselves. To marry Eugene would be marrying well enough for me. If vou'd told me about it before, ma, I'd have tried never to look at Eugene ; but it's too late now." ' How is it possible," Mrs. Magilvray would exclaim, rolling up her eyes, and in her most tragic manner, tor my daughter to talk to me iu such an uu maidenly style as that?" " I don't know any thing unmaidenly in saying it's too late to think of one husband when I've given my promise to another," Alice cried, as well as tears and auger would allow. "Maybe I never can marry him; but I never, never, never will marry any body else. So there, ma !" " You unnatural, nudutiful girl " " I should think it was a reproach to be a girl," cried the sauce-box. "You had better call to mind that whoso mocketh his mother," said Mrs. Magilvray, in hollow tones, "the ravens shall pick out his eyes, and the youug eagles shall eat them. " Then the naughty girl laughed. "I don't believe you have it right, ma," 6he answered. " Maybe it's the eagles come first. Anyway, Eugene will never let any ravens get ut my eyes. I love him. And you would love him too, ma, if you knew him." And the little minx's tears being gone, she kissed the severe and awfnl matron, bending her head back under her arm to reach her mouth, with a gay sweet im pudence that none of the other childreu would have dared use, and skipped from the room in a happy peal of laughter, presently to be heard warbling out, " Oh, I shall marry my aiu love," as if that settled the business. " You know perfectly well, ma," she said, when they were talking over the same untiring theme again, "that if Eugene's nucle had left his money to him instead of to that Institution for the Blind Feejeeans as he always said he meant to do after he found Eugene, and as he educated him to suppose he would you'd have never said a wort." "Possibly not," replied Mrs. Magil vray, with dignity. "But he didn't. And the circumstance remains to be con sidered that we are all poor, and that Eugene is poor too, and that vour good looks and good manners are the only hope we have of improving our condi tion; for what," said Mrs. Magilvray, "will Maria do, with her squiut, or Ella, with her teeth like a row of grave stones ? And so it is the very depth of ' selfishness in you to think for a moment of merely gratifying yourself, and mar rying so as never to be able to help your family." " The very depth of selfishness for me not to sacrifice my whole life I" And then there were tears again; for, in fact, little Alice's whole life, between her naturally joyous temperament and her daily Reverses, was quite resolved into April weather of sunshine and showers. It was only that afternoon that, as Alice was parting from Eugene, just be tween daylight and dark, he added to a different class of remark some other ob servations. " By-the-way," said he; "the greatest joke of the season hap pened at our honse last night; the house was broken into." " Oh, Eugene ! burglars! Oh, Eugene! did they attack you ?" "Attack mo? no; they attacked uncle's old desk there, burst open drawers and compartments, found secret places that I never knew before, and left them open, and cleared out much as they came, I fancy, except for the old silver tankard that the directors had over looked. Battered up the house a little; but as that belongs now to the Blind Feejeeans, I don't feel the active in terest I might if it were mine. I was just going to move out, though, any-way." " Oh, it's a wonder they didn't kill you, dear !" she cried, still dwelling on the danger. " Kill me ? I slept beautifully through the whole, and I should never have known it but for Bridget's cries this morning, and I ran down to find her howling over the open desk. It was a great joke, the idea of robbing mo, as I should have told them, if I had seen them." Alice went home trembling; and, as she never kpt anything to herself, took the occasion at once to make herself tremble again with indignation at her mother's scorn of burglars so stupid as to try and rob Eugene Descamps, and at her sisters' satirical amusement. Perhaps she trembled still more when, three or four days afterward during whose space she had not seen Eugene the door-bell rang, and that young gentleman was shown into the Magilvray parlor. " Mrs. Magilvray," said Eugene, standing hat in hand before the Itomau woinau, "a week ago I should not have dared ask you for the hand of your daughter Alice." Mrs. Magilvray was slowly dvawing herself up to one of her awful heights. "But," continued Eugene, "thanks to a heaveu-directed burglar, who found, some nights ago, in a secret compartment of my uncle's old desk, his latest will which, being of no use to him, he politely returned to me I am now to be put into possession of my uncle's estate " " Oh, the blessed burglars I" cried Alice, wi'h clasped hands instantly turned upon by her mother. " Of my uncle's estate," continued Eugene, " which the Institution for the Blind Feejeeans has relinquished into my hands without a contest. Under such circumstances," said he, with a sedate elegance of manner that only self-reproach could have translated into sarcasm, " I feel that it isuot impossible you may find in me the qualities you desire in a son-in-law." "I am confident, Mr. Descamps," said Mrs. Magilvray, " that you can not hold me blameworthy if, with Alice's beanty, and sweet temper, and accom plishments, and attractive " " Oh, ma ! ma 1 you needn't cry up wares in this way ! cried Alice, with a burning face. "Tell him he's welcome to take such a baggage " "And the sooner the better," cried Eugene, catching the reddened little maid in his clasp, and holding her fast. "I should be the last person to blame you, Mrs. Magilvray, for setting a higli value on what I find to be beyond price." And there the Roman melted; and Mrs. Magilvray tried to lift her eyes benedictionwise, aud stammer out some thing nbout blessing little children, and only succeeded in tumbling over into a hysteric. It was some weeks later that Alice came into the parlor with a little long Hat tin box in her hand. " It's Eugene's bonds," said she. " He's juBt left them at the door to take care of. He only ne gotiated them yesterday, and got home too late to deposit them in the bank. It frightens me to death ; but he's been telegraphed for, and has no time to go to the bank this morning either, and so ho leaves them here on his way to the station. I sha'n't sleep a wink. What would you do with them, ma? Just think ! Bonds in our house !" " I should sit up all night and watch them," said Maria. " Put them between the mattresses," said Mrs. Magilvray, with the air of hav ing solved every problem, and having been used to the presence of a hundred thousand dollars' worth of bonds in the house as mere pin-money. And between the mattresses Alice put the box, having first taken tho precaution to tie one end of a cord in the little padlock, and the other end about her wrist. It was a little after midnight that Alice woke wide-awake with one of those starts in which you are sensible of an unseen person's neighborhood. She sat straight up in bed and put out her hands; one of them fell on a lump of ice. It was Maria's face stone-cold with terror. She too was awake. "Oh, Alice," she contrived to whisper in a ghastly whistle, " there's a man in the room I" At the same moment Alice felt a sharp tug at the string round her right wrist. There was a man in the room. He had been searching the house over for the box, having never lost sight of Eugene from the day of the will's prov ing ; he had come at last to the room of the sleeping girls, and had turned his bull s-eye upon them one instant mat long enough to detect the string round Alice's uptossed arm. His sharp wits taught him the truth; he had taken hold of the string, and was gently following it up to the box. when he tugged in the wrong direction, aud iu a breath Alice's shrieks had filled the house, and she had SDrunar out of bed and was pursuing mni, as full of valor as a tigress dofending her young. The burglar had the box, but she hail the string a stout whip-cord. She wound it round and round her wrist as she ran, and iu another moment she had doubled on him. and had both her little hands upon the box ; anil if he wanted to carry it off. it could only be by carrying her, for she clung like a limpet. There was no shrieking then ; it was a struggle in dead silenoe Alice too intent, the thief too cautious. "Come now, little one," he said, hoarse ly, at last, "no more of this. It's no use. 'Twas mine before 'twas yours. You'd never have had any of it if I hadn't sent him back" the will fair division !" A blow of his fist on her temple or from the butt of his pistol would have finished her and left him free; but somehow he had hesitated in giving it, thinking to shake her off, and the moment of his last hoarsely whis pered word, Mrs. Magilvray an awful sheeted vision, in a night-cap that would have terrified a ghost issued from her room, holding aloft a kerosene lamp, and the three boyo burst upon the scene with orange-wood sticks and the old queen's-arm, and there was nothing for the uninvited guest to do but to make conge, which he did at onco; and Alice was picked up in a dead faint, but still clasping the box. Eugene came back that night, and he was speechless and cold with horror when he found to what he hail exposed his darling. And Alice was ill with a raging fever, and with that housebreak er's face sealed upon the space before her eves a dark and pallid face strange ly evil and strangely beautiful, with the straight lineB of its features and the brilliant blaze of its eyes, but with a great scar running like a gash along the cheek. She did not even know she saw it at the time, but now it seemed to hang before her like a mask, just as when the light of her mother's lamp first fell on it; and turn which way she would, she could not escape its evil glance, its dark ana beautiful fascination. " Oh, it is Satan's own I" she would crv. " Lucifer looked just so ! Am I always to see it ?" The doctor said it was a hallucination owing to nervous shock, ami that it would take a long season for her to re cover entirely, if she ever did. But youth is a great deal stronger than doc tors are wise, and before as many months as he had prophesied years, Miss Alice was about the house again, as gay as ever, only very tremulous, when night time came, and unwilling to be left aione in t he dark a minute. It was a month or so after Alice's wed ding that an officer waited upon her one morning with the request that she should go to the city prison in order to identify a party suspected of breaking open the Wamsutteag bauk on' the same night that Mrs. Magilvray s house had been entered and the little flat tin box so near ly made away with. If Mrs. Descamps could identify the scamp, he could be detained ; otherwise they would be obliged to let him go. the officer had told Eugene. " If he could be identified as the wretch with whom Mrs. Descamps had the struggle," he said, " it would bo a benefit to the community." "is he so very bail? she sum, shiv ering. "Well, ma am, he has been, the officer replied. "Just now he's been playing off. We found him at a trade. with some custom, and he begged hard to be let off and left to lead an honest life. That's his blind. Oh, he's a bad uu I It 11 only take a half hour " Uu, itiugene, l can t go ! sue ex claimed, shrinking back and covering her eyes. " I couldn't be the means of keeping him and, oh ! I couldn't see that mce again, it would drive me wild." "It made au impression," said the officer. "You're the very person we need, Mrs. Descamps. I haren't the power to force you to go with me, except as a criminal witness, but I can bring the prisoner here. "That would bo objectionable for many reasons, said Jiugene. " i will go with you, dear, and perhaps it would be really be6t to make the enort. And sure that it could only bring back all her old trouble of two years ago should she see that evil face in its dark beauty and with its gash-like scar, Alice put on her hat and cloak, and stepped into the carriage with Eugene and the officer. It was a strange contrast that was pre sented by Alice's entrance into that dark place where that group of fettered fierce looking men, with their generio coun tenances, were defiled before her under their guard ; the brilliant, beaming young wife, with her shining hair, her shining eyes great, innocent eyes her 6nowy brow, her blooming cheek, the sweetness on her trembling lips, taking the one sunbeam that slanted through the place on her golden brown velvets and furs and plumes, like an aura of sue cess aud happiness. She felt it herself, " Oh, what have they done to be shut iu here ?" she cried, and she burst into tears. " No, no !" she said, looking up with streaming eyes. " I do not see a face I ever saw before." In spite of the evasion, she told the truth; the tears in her eyes hindered her seeing a single f .ice among them all. They selected one man from the rest and brought him nearer. " Have you no recollection of this lace V they asked, The dark and evil beauty ot that face. with its gash-like scar! Perhaps the evil wus wearing off it ; perhaps that was only a look of yearning petition for mercy he had been mercnui; ne could have taken her life. And then, was it not to the return of that will that she and Eugene owed everything? "Oh, don't! don't! don't!" she cried.turaing and burying her face on her husband s arm. the very personification of the repulsion of innocence from vice. " I told you I never saw one of them before; what more do vou want ?" And the man went back to his trade, for there was nothing to hold him, " I'm living a new life," he said to him self the night of his return, as he filled his pine in freedom. " But one good turn deserves another,and I'll be blamed if I ever let them know that poor Jim aud me broke open the old desk iu the old house, after we'd forged that will aud the names of the dead witnesses, so'i to get hold of the bonds after the young man got bold of em. J lm was a master hand. Well, that squares accounts, and now the past's wined out like an old slate. But she's plucky, and she played it well, and a beauty, too aud God bless hei-J! Uod bless her 1. Au old writer asks: "Oh, Death where is thy sting?" The world's col lection of literature may be searched, but the same question will never be found addressed to a wasp. FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD. Recipe. Potato Crust for Meat Pies. One teacupful cream to six good-sized pota toes boiled and mashed fine, and salt and flour enough to roll. Handle as little as possible. Pbkserved Quinces. Pare and core quiuces; take tne cores ana skins and boil them an hour, then strain the juice throngh a coarse cloth; boil the quinces in the juice till tender; take them out, add the weight of the quinces in sugar to this syrup; boil and skim till clear, then put in the quinces and boil three hours. ArriE Omelet. Pare, core and stew six large tart apples. Beat them very smooth while hot, adding one spoonful of butter, six of sugar, and a little nut meg. When perfectly cold add three eggs, yolks and whites beaten light separately. Pour this into a hot, deep, buttered baking dish, and bake till of a delicate brown. Corn BreaiI. Mix two cupfuls of sifted cornmeal with two cupfuls of sour milk; add one tabiespoonful of sugar. one-half teaspoonful of salt, one table- spoonful of melted butter or shortening, and one egg. Beat well, and lastly add one-half teaspoonful of soda dissolved in one tabiespoonful of boiling water. Bake in a quick oven. , Bread Pudding. Take a pound of stale bread; boil a quart of milk, pour it on the bread, and let it soak one or two hours; theu rub it quite fine with the hands. Beat up four or five eggs,and add them to it; also a tabiespoontul of cin namon, or any other kind of spice; two cupfuls of sugar and a little chopped suet, or quarter of a pound of butter. Bake or boil it two hours. Pot-oheese. Scald sour milk until the whey rises to the top; pore it off or skim out the curd and place it in a cot. ton cloth or bag, hang it up to drain len it drain five or six hours ; do not squeeze it; after the whey had all drip. ped out put tho curd in a bowl, salt to taste, and work in well with your hands butter and a little cream; mold into balls or pats; keep in a cool place. Molasses Candy. One quart of good molasses, one tabiespoonful of vinegar half cupful of sugar, tabiespoonful of butter; boil; stir most of the time; drop a teaspoonful in cold water if it hardens it is finished; at the last stir iu a tea. spoonful of saleratns, first dissolved in a little hot water; one tabiespoonful es. sence of lemon; pour into buttered tins. When cool enough "pull it white. Flour your fingers occasionally. To Make Salt Codfis Balls. One- third of a salt codfish and six potatoes; the codfish to be the best of its kind (Isles of Shoals fish preferable), and the potatoes ripe and mealy. Put the fish a gallon of water and let it come to the boiling point. Boil and peel the potatoes. Chop the fish fine and mix with it tho potato mashed in half pound of butter, half teacupful of milk, and two eggs. Make with the hand into oblong balls, roll in flue bread crumb, and fry in boiling lard. Remove each cake care fully with a skimmer, and serve at once while hot. Tomato Catsup. Cut one peck of ripe tomatoes in halves, boil them in pocelain kettle until the pulp is all dis solved, then strain them well through a hair sieve and set the liquor on to boil, adding one ounce of salt, one of mace. one tabiespoonful of black pepper, one teaspoonful of red pepper, one table. spoonful of ground cloves, five of ground mustard; lot them all boil together for five or six hours, and stir them most of the time. Let the mixture stand eight or ten hours in a cool place, add one pint of vinegar, and then bottle it; seal the corks aud keep in a cool, dark place. What the Birds Accomplish. The swallow, swift and nighthawk are the guardians of the atmosphere ; they chock the increase of insects that would otherwise overload it. Woodpeckers, croopers and chickadees, etc., are the guardians of the trunks of trees, warb lers and flycatchers protect the .foliage. Blackbirds, thrushes, crows and larks protect the surface of the soil; snipe and woodcock, the soil under the surface. Each tribe has its respective duties to perform in the economy of nature ; and it is an undoubted fact that, if the birds were all swept from the earth, man could not live upon it, vegetation would 1 -i- 7 i 1 I 1 wiuier aim uie, insects wouiu ueuomo bo numerous that no living thing could withstand the attacks. The wholesale destruction occasioned by the grass hoppers which have lately devastated the West, is undoubtedly caused by the thinning out of the bird", such as grouse, prairie-hens, etc., which feed upon them. The great and inestimable good done to the farmer, gardener and florist by birds is only becoming known by sad experi ence. Spare the birds and save your fruit. The little corn and fruit taken by them is more than compensated by the vast quantities of noxious insects destroyed. The long-persecuted crow has been found by actual experiment to do far more good by the vast quantity of grubs and insects he devours than the little harm he does in a few grains of corn he pulls up. He is one of the farmer's best friends. Farmer's Advo cate. Arrangements for a Barn. M., Cortland, N. Y., writes: "lam about to build a horse barn. Will it be injurious to the horses to keep hogs un derneath them in the basement ? Could it not be ventilated to carry off the odor. and in what way ? What is the best plan for supporting the middle cross-beams to prevent sagging, without posts ?" Reply. There would be no objection to hogs in the basement if the barn floor is tight and there are ample spaces for ventilation at the top of the basement walls. The hog-pens may be kept clean which would prevent any trouble. To support the middle beams use a truss, similar to an ordinary bridge truss, in the floor above, thus suspending the beams instead of holding them up with posts. This may be done in each bent. The truss timbers should meet at each side of a post at the centre of the beam above the barn floor, and the beam be low should be Jielil to the foot of the post by a strong iron strap, passing through them aud the post. The size of the truss-timbers may be eight by six inches, or ten by five. A Condensed History of Hloinionlsm. 1793 Sidney Eigdon, born in St. Clair, Pa. 1801 Bngham Young, born in Whit- inghara, Vt. 1805 Joseph Smith, born in Sharon Vt. 1823 Joseph Smith, hving with his father in Ontario, county, N. Y., has his first visions. 1827 Joseph Smith claims to receive sacred oracles from an " Angel of the Lord." 1829 Sidney Rigdou associates him self with Smith. 1830 Book of Mormon printed, as dictated by Smith. 1830, April C inrst Mormon ennrcu regularly organized at Manchester, N.Y. 1831. January Smith leads ms 101- lowers to Kirtland, O. 1831, August Smith dedicates the sito of a Mormon temple at Indepen dence, Mo. 1832. March Smith and Kigdon sus pected at Kirtland of counterfeiting and tarred and feathered by a mob. 1832 Brigham Young joins the Mor mon church at Kirtland. 1835 Twelve Mormon apostles or dained, Brigham Yonng for one. 1836 A largo and coBtly temple dedi cated at Kirtland. 1837 Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kim ball sent as missionaries to England. 1838 The Mormon church in Ohio obliged to flee to Missouri, and there as sumes a defiant and lawless attitude. 1838 The Mormons driven over into Illinois and settled at Nauvoo under a favorable charter granted by tho Legis lature. 1838 Smith begins the practice of polvgamv. 1843 Smith claims to have received a revelation sanctioning polygamy, 1845 The heads of the church repu diate this revelation. 1844: Smith killed by a pistol shot in a not growing out oi internal uissen ions. 1844 Brigham Young elevated to the presidency after a fierce contention with itigdon. 1845 The charter of Si.iuvoo revoked by the Legislature and the Mormons prepare to move. 1811) JNanvoo bombarded lor three days by the anti-Mormons. 1847 Brigham Yonng plants his ban ner at Salt Lake. 1848 Salt Lake City founded. 1849 State of Dcseret organized, but Congress withholds its. recognition. 1849 Congress organizes the Mor mons' district into the Territory of Utah, and Young appointed governor by Presi dent Fillmore. 1850 Young throws off the authority of the United States. 1832 Polygamy formerly sanctioned by the church. 1854 Colonel Steptoe appointed gov ernor of Utah and arrives at Salt Lake City with a small military force, but abandons the enterprise. 1856 President Buchanan determines to put tho Mormons down. 1857 Alfred dimming appointed governor and sent out with a force of 2,500 men to back him, Colonel A. S. Johnson in command. 1858 Peace arranged. I860 United States troops withdrawn from Utah. 1877, August 29 Death of Brigham Young. The Capture of Uyenns. The following modo of tying hyenas in their den, as practised in Afgliauistun, is given by Arthur Connolly, in his Over land Journal, in the words of an Afghan chief, the Shirkaroe Synd Daoud : " When you have tracked the beast to his den you vake a rope with two slip knots upon it in your right hand, and with your left holding a felt cloak before you. vou go boldly but quietly in, The animal does not know the nature of the i danger, and therefore retires to the back of his den, but you may always tell where his head is by the glare of Ins eyes. You keep moving on gradually toward him on your knees, and when you are within distance throw the cloak over his head, close with him and take care he does not free himself. The beast is so frightened that he cowers back, and though he may bite the felt, he cannot turn his neck round to hurt you, so you quietly feel for his fore legs, slip the knots over them, and then with one strong pull draw them tight up to the back of his neck and tie them there. The beast is now your own, and you cau do what you like with him. We generally take those we catch home to the krail, and hunt them on the plain with bridles in their mouths, that our dogs may be taught not to fear the brutes when they meet them wild." Hyenas arwalso taken alive by the Arabs by a very similar method, except that a wooden gag is used instead of a felt cloak. The similarity iu the mode of capture in two such distant countries as Algeria and Afghanistan, end by two races so different, is remarkable. From the fact that the Afghans consider that the feat requires great presence of mind, and an instance (being given of a man having died of a bite in a clumsy at tempt, we may infer that the Afghan hy ena is more powerful or more ferocious than his African congener. An Invasion of Bears. More wild bears than have ever been known since the swamps have been set tled by white men are reported to in habit the bottoms of the Mississippi valleys this year. These carniverous plantigrades are particularly fond of suc culent food, and the juicy corn as it ripens in the field is an especial object of affection. So strong is Bruin's appe tite for it that the -planters of Coahoma aud Tunica counties, Mies., have recently beeu compelled to place guards around their C(jmtields to protect them from destruction. A medium-sized bear, with an ordinary appetite, has been known to cut down and destroy two acres of grow ing corn in a single night. They go on their foraging expeditions in the night time, and entering a cornfield they squat on their haunches, shuck an ear of com and proceed to masticate it with an ap parent relish equal to their bipedul ene mies. When their appetite is satisfied. they cut off corusalks below the ear by the armful, aud. walkiu-' erect, ciu-rv Uheir booty through fields, over fences aid into dark recesses of the swamps iu tuucuiunoo io lueir niumg-piaces, An American Stage-Conch. It would not be difficult, in the vicinity of New York, to make arrangements for running a line of stage-coaches strictly on the American plan. Any of the part ly opened streets in the upper portion of the island would do for a starting place, and a rough bridge, in imitation of those in use in the unsettled portion of the Southwest, might he thrown over Spnyten Dnyvil creek. The route could then be laid out along some of the least frequented country roads, and some of the low-lying places might be filled in with corduroy. Then one of our Western stage-coaches, with six mules at full gallop, and a driver who wos accustomed to guide them with the lines in his teeth and a rifle in his hands, would tear along the road, with all the clatter and bang and wild excitement that you could get on a road down near the Mexican border. The mules would be of the kind that no driver could stop between stations, ond if he could keep them in the road it would be all that would be expected of him. At certain points there would be armed men. ambushed by the road-side, whose duty it would be to fire at the stage as it passed, and as each of the passengers would bo required to carry a rifle, very pretty sport could be had by peppering tho bushes as tho stage dashed along. At other points, the stage would be stopped, and each passenger carefully robbed by highwaymen. This part of the exercises might bo made very effec tive. The valuables taken could be re turned on application to the ktiige office, or they could be kept as perquisites by the obliging attendants. Sometimes the services of Indians or Mexicans might bo obtained, and an at tack on the stage by a amall party of these would give variety to the proceed ings. Refreshments, such as are found at the stations on the prairie roads, would be furnished at the stopping-places, and many persons tie thus allorded oppor tunities, which they could not otherwise obtain, of eating the crust off an im mense lump of dough, hastily baked over a hot fire, and put on again after tho departure of each coach, to be re crusted for the next load of passengers. Some pork and beans, and hot fried cakes, could also be served, if thought necessary. Miners would be hired to play cards in the coaches and nil the cards, knives and revolvers necessary could be furnish ed by the company. By careful attention to these and other details, a line of coaches might be es tablished, which should represent, with accuracy and fidelity, some of the char acteristic methods of travel in our own country. And it is scarcely necessary to say that this would be a great education al boou to people like tho citizens of New York, who will soon begin to be lieve that there are no stage-coaches ex cepting those modeled and run upon the Euglish plan. Scribucr's "Brie -a-Brae." Pearls of Thought. Faith is necessary to victory. Wine has drowned more than the sea. Modesty onco extinguished knows not how to return. Honor is like an island, rugged aud without a landing place; we cau never more re-enter when we are once outside of it. To assist our fellow-creatures is the nobl et privilege of mortality ; it is, iu some sort, forestalling the bounty of Providence. Party spirit is like gambling a vast number of persons trouble themselves about what in the cud can be beneficial only to a few. Philosophy has not so much enabled men to overcome their weakness, as it has taught the art of concealing them trom the world. ' If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be os tedious as to work ; but when they seldom come, they are wished for. Of the acts of cowardice, tho meanest is that which leads one to abandon a good cause because it is weak and join a bad cause it is strong. They who have experienced sorrow are the most capable of appreciating joy ; so, those only who have been Eick, teel the full value of health. Men of humor arc, in some degree, men of genius; wits are rarely so. although a mnn . of genius, amongst other gifts, may possess wit as Shake speare. It is as difficult to win over an enthu siast by force oi reasoning, as to per suade a lover oi ins mistress lauits ; or to convince a man who is at law of the badness of his cause. Man was born for action; he ought to do something. Work, at each step, awakens sleeping force, and drives out error. Who does nothing, kuows noth ing. Rise I To work ! If thy knowl edge is real, employ it. wrestle with nature; test the strength of thy theories; see if they will support the trial. Act ! A Lone Widow's Device. An amusing ttory comes from France, where, according to tlie tale, an agri culturist recently died, leaving a wife, a horse, and a dog, A tew moments before his death he called his wife to him, and bade her sell the horse, and give the proceds of the sale to his rela tives, aud to sell the dog and keep the money thus gained for herself. Soou after the death the wife went to the market with the horse and dog, and exhibited them, with the announcement that the price of the dog was one hun dred dollars, and that of the horse one dollar. The passers by stopped aud stared, and judged the woman mad. more especially as she informed all would-be purchasers that to buy the horse it was necessary to buy the dog first. At last a . curious passer-by con cluded the bargain ; after which the skillful woman handed over one dollar to the family of her deceased husband, and retained one hundred dollars tor nerseit, thus coutriving at the same time to carry out the letter, if not the spirit, of the wishes oi her husband, and to se cure the largest sum of mouey for her s,elf. Items of Interest, Iu a camp meeting near Guerneville, Cal., a house of three stories was made of a hallow tree, the cavity being thirteen feet in diameter. An apothecary asserted in a large com pany " that all bitter things were hot. "No," replied a physician, "a bitter cold day is an exception." Somebody painted a pet Spitz dog in Bethlehem, Penn., with alternate car mine and green stripes. The dog is not yet mad, but its owner is very. A marriage is probable between the ex-prince imperial of France and the Princess del Pilar, sister of the king of Spain. She is sixteen years of age. The aggregated exports of petroleum oil this year are 121,000,000 ngainst 84,000,000 gallons last year. Over a million gallons are daily exported from New York. One firm in New York, engaged in the manufacture of matches, consumes per annum 700,000 feet of white pine lumber, 100,000 pounds of sulphur and 150 tons of straw board for boxes. The Potter Journal says that the farm ers in that part of Pennsylvania havo discovered that the thrush will not only eat the potato bug, but that it soon suc ceeds in exterminating that pest. The young man whose heart stood still every time through the long summer he thought of ice cream at fifteen cents a plate, is now ready to lie down and die as lie smells oysters at fifty cents a dish if the dim distonce. TnE bi.-h.sias I.OVEB"S r-ARTIXO. Without thoo I am poor indeed, but with thee 1 am rich: Oh ! wonldt thon make my heart to bleed. Ufcloved Tzazkoskovitch. Tzizkorkovitch Ehihelankfjfl, Ah from her arms he tore, Enrt two suspender buttonB off, Which rolled upon the Uoor. " Keep them," he cried in piteoiiH toue, " Ana tbink or me, my love, 1 hen, turned and madly lied his own Hkobenkifraulenstov. A Black Hills Character. A Black Hills paper says : Oue of the biggest, meanest and most over-bearing fellows in the Hills is a fellow called " The Colorado Lion." He is a gambler, a swindler, a robber, a road agent and a murderer, and not a week goes by that he doesn't shoot or stab some one, gen erally without the slightest provocation. He used to walk into a hotel or dance house, aud, holding a revolver in either hand, order the crowd to " git." If any one hesitated or showed resistance he became a target, and was soon under ground and forgotten. . He would saun ter up to a band of half a dozen miners working a claim a'nd insist to have first staked it, and if they did not Buy him off he would out with his levolvers and blaze away. - Ho had courage and a steady hand, and Deadwood feared him more thau all the Indians in the West. He left here two weeks ago under a cloud, and it is probable that he will bo shot on sight if he returns. Fifteen days ago. when "The Colorado Lion" was k'iug bee aud had everything his own way, he took a little wain up the creek to raise a stake by blackmail ing a miner or two. . He was armed ns usual, had stowed away the usual amount of whisky behind the deer-skin shirt, and there wasn't the least doubt iu his mind that he would come back to town with increased wealth and a safe hide. He finally halted at a claim being worked by three men, one of whom is au old fireman from Chicago named Jed Sweet. He is an undersized man, about forty-fivo years old, and a hard worker. When the Lion halted before the trio he roared out : " Yere, you coyotes, what or' jo woikiu' my claim fur ?" They protested that they were the original stake-drivers, but it was his plan to claim priority of ownership, and he continued : "This is my claim, and vere's two revolvers what backs me ! Either jnmp out or buy me off !" He had his weapons in his hands, but that fact did not prevent the old fireman from reaching out aud knocking him into a heap by a blow between the eyes. The Lion was hardly down before tho trio disarmed him, and then kicked, cuffed and pounded him till he was hardly better than dead. Some friend in town concealed him, aud patched him up as well as possible, and two days after Ins humiliation, the defeated Lion skulked out of. Deadwood to start imcw somewhere else. Shopping In Venice. Shopping is quite a feat in Venice. A lady who sets out on a shopping expedi tion may well prepare herself for doubt ful and hostile encounters. Having found the object sought, she demands the price. The shopkeeper mimes a sum of one-third more to double the value of tho article. The customer starts back with a curious sort of shriek, which com mences on a high key. ascends silently, and then suddenly falls, a sound express ing incredulity, contempt, anil astouiFii meut, and after nu iustaut of silence oilers less than halt the sum demauiito. The same howl of indignation is then repeated by the shopkeeper, only an octave lower. He protests "that the amount asked is in reality too low; that from anxiety to please the Signoia ho had mentioned his very lowest rate." The purchaser then offers half of tho first required sum. Auotner nowi oi derision from the shopkeeper, who, how ever, drops perhaps a fourth of his price. The customer takes up her parasol and departs. Once outsido' she calls out a slight advance on her offer. The pro propretor invites her to enter again, and proposes that they shall "combinari," i. e., combine, and endeavor to meet ou common ground. The customer repeats her ultimatum. The shopkeeper declares that " at Buck, ruinous rates lie might as 11 i t.: Tl, In J 1, WCll VIUOD 11IB OUIMJ. AUG 1UU, iVTCIl patience, and quits this timo without looking back. After she is some paces from the door the shopkeeper sends a small boy, kept for the purpose, after her, or calls himself from the door : " Tho Signora can have it this timo," he says sadly, but he can never sell again so cheap, He folds it up and hands it to her with a graceful flourish, saying with a courteous bow, "Servo aa " (literally, her servant), in which the clerks and eveu the small boy join in chorus. Uala.ru.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers