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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.