w - j . ' HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL DESPEKANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum. VOL. VIII. KIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THUKSDAY, MAY 30, 1878. NO. 15. V i 1 i i s If We Would. If we would but check the speaker When hesolls a neighbor's fame, If we would but help the erring Ere we uttor words of blame ; If we would, how many might we Torn from paths of Bin and shame. Ah I the wrongs that might be righted If we would but see the way 1 Ah, the pains that might be lighten'd, Every boar and every dav, If we would but hear the pleadings Of the hearts that go astray. Let us step ontside the stronghold Of our selfishness and pride; Let us lift onr fainting brothers, Let ns strengthen ere we chide t Let ns, ere we blame the fallen -Hold a light to oheer and guide. Ah, how blessed ah, how blessed Earth wonld be if we but try Thus to aid and right the weaker, Thus to chock eaoii brother's sigh Thus to walk in duty's pathway To our better life on high. la each life, however lowly, There are seeds of mighty good ; 8 till, we shrink from souls appealing With a timid, If we could," But God who judgeth all things, Knows (he truth is, "If we would." THAT VOICE ! A day in June, 1903, and one of the . loveliest early summer days the world ever beheld a cloudless sky, golden bright sunshine, soft fragrant air, joy ously sweet songs of bird, faint musical murmurs of brooks and plashings of fountains, delicately green grass, linger ing violets, and budding roses. On the lawn in front of the elegant mansion of Leon Fishback, Esq., a fiarty of young people are playing "Fol-ow-foilow-follow-me' a game some what resembling (so their mothers and grandmothers tell them) an old game called " puss in the corner," played a quarter of a century or more ago, only in "Follow -follow " the players, instead of beckoning to eaoh other, beckon to a group of metallio balls, around which they stand in a circle, and he or she who E roves to have most magnetio force the alls follow with a rush, while the re mainder of the players rush as wildly in their efforts to secure the place 'left vacant by the flying'one. At this moment the balls are rolling pell-mell, helter-Bkelter, knocking against each other with a pleasant ring ing sound, after a pretty, fair-haired maiden, whose little feet, clad "'in slip pers all gleaming with silver and gold, ... flash in the sunshine beneath lier blue . satin Tuikibk trouserlets as she springs lightly over the greensward amid the exquisitely modnlated laughter no one shouts loudlv in this refined twentieth century of her merry companions. In the back garden, on a green clover sweet grass plat, stands a broad, deep basket of newly washed, snowy white linen, and a hanging-out machine, planted firmly in the middle of the plat, is industriously raising and lowering its wooden arms, grasping the various Eieces in its wonderfully constructed ands, and hanging them upon the stout no-clothes-pins line, which is slowly revolving around it, and to which they alhere without further trouble. In the dairy the rosy-cheeked dairy maid is reading a love poem whilo the automatic milker is milking the beauti ful white cow that stands just outside the door; in the kitchdq. the cook is indolently rocking to and fro in a low rocking-chair, watching the " magic rolling-pin" roll out the paste for her pies, ready to stop its pendulum-like movement tue moment the crust is smooth and thin enough; and a small servant-boy, with his hands in his pock . ets, lounges against the wall in one corner near a tall stool, whistling softlv to himself as be waits until the pair of enoes tne eiectrio biacking-brnsli is pol ishing thereon attain the proper degree of brilliancy and mirrow-likeness. This is a prosperous place, this domain of Leon Fishback, Esq., and Leon .fishback himself is a tall, handsome. energetie.positive man of one-and-tbirty a bachelor, who gives a home to his widowed sister and her four half orphan ed children, and in return is taken care of by her, with the assistance of the old .housekeeper to tell the truth, with a great deal of assistance from the old housekeeper as well as any brother was taken eare of by any sister. Still.people.as people will especially - people with grown-up single daughtei s . wonder mat ne has never married. It was not for want of opportunity he had done so oh, no indeed 1 for a dozen lovely girls, half a dozen more or less charming widows, and several ladies of neither class, had, since his coming into the property of his unole and godfather jjeon f ishback, Hen. (whose ashes in a solid gold casket stood in a sort of shrine. made of a hundred rare woods, in the south drawing-room), intimated to him, in every way that the shrinking sensi tiveness of womanhood would allow. their perfect willingness nay, anxiety to assume tne rote oi mistress of the Fishback mansion. But Leon had walked calmly among them, dispensing hospitality, kind words, and gracious smiles with the strictest impartiality, distinguishing none by the slightest preference, until a few weeks V i. ... i a : . . l T Ji t i vciiwc uui uenuiuui o uue nay wueu ulb young guests merrily called, "H ollow lollow-follow-me." to their hichlv nol. ished admirers on the closely shaven WWII. Then came to visit his sister an old school friend, Laura Beardsley by name, who had been residing in a far 'distant State, but with whom the sister had kept up a warm correspondence ever since they parted at the college door the day on whioh eaoh was publicly hailed with loud acclamations as " Mistress of Arts." Miss Beardsley is a lovely woman of eight-and-twenty summers, looking at least five summers less, with an excep tionally sweet voice, aa exceptionally bright smile, an exceptionally graceful figure, and exceptionally winning ways. And to this bewitching woman has Leon Fishback, the hitherto apparently un impressible bachelor, devoted himself sinoe the moment he took her slender little hand in his and bade her welcome to his home. And it is bv her side he loiters, un tempted by the merriment without, in the deep, pleasant, vine enwreathed bay-window of the librarv aa the fair-haired girl comes flying across the garden, pursued by the tinkling uauB. Laura starts from her seat with blush, and, leaning from the window, entreats, Coax them awav. Bella. dAr. They are dancing on the flower bed." And as the girl obediently turns and speeds in the opposite direct ion, she draws back her pretty head, and looking at her companion, says, How much Bella is like her sister Teresa that is, when xeresa wasomy sixteen I " Is she ?" asks Mr. Fishback. " Why, don't you remember ?" says uue iauj. "I do not," replies Mr. Fishback, with emphasis. Miss Laura makes two interrogation points of her silken eyebrows, opens her mouth to speak, thinks better of it, closes her red lips firmly, and turns to the window again as the Follow-follow-follow-me ers stop playing and gather in a group, with their eyes fixed upon a small asrial car, gayly decorated with nags, which is gently ewavrog between heaven and earth, as it slowly descends toward the lawn. In a few moments it touches the ground, and a handsome young man leaps out, and is greeted with many exclamations of pleasure and surprise. " Your brother Reginald," says Miss Beardsley. "So soon returned from London ? Why, he only started a few aays ago. " Yes; flying ship American Eagh fastest of the Air Line. I heard of her arrival just after breakfast this morning. when it was shouted by the telephone at tuo nation Deiow. "Thirty miles away 1" " Oh I that's nothing. We expeot to be able to hear news from a hundred miles away before many years are past." "May I not be in the immediate vicinity when that news is shouted 1" says the lady, with an involuntary move ment of her pretiy white hands toward her pretty rose-tipped ears, "for I should expect to be deaf for evermore-" "Never fear, my dear I mean Miss Beardsley. Such a misfortune as that shall never occur, even though you should chance to be at the very side of the shouter. Edison is at this moment perfecting an instrument that begins to deliver its messages in a moderately loud voice, which increases in volume as it is carried forward, until it reaches the most distant point it is intended to reach, thus maintaining an even tone all along me route, juow glorious all these JtSdi sonian inventions are I" he continues. with a glow of enthusiasm, "and what humdrum times our ancestors must have had withont them.! Why, they are the very life of the ago. There's the phono graph, for instance bnt I bear pardon: yon are looking bored. I can not expect you to take as much interest in these scientific subjects as I do. Is not Regi- aiu coming this way t " He is not." answers Miss Laura, de murely; "he is still holding Bella's hand, and totally ignoring all the other welcoming hands extended to him." " 'Ah 1 the old, old story that is ever newr" quotes Mr. Fishback, as he peeps over the shoulder of his fair guest at the new arrival; and then, sud enly rising huu conironung ner, ne exclaims; " You must have heard that storv verv. very often, Laura forgive my calling you so, but you used to permit it in the days we went blackberrying together some ten years ago; and forgive me again, but, upon my word, I cannot help asitmg you, impelled as I am by some mysterious power, why have you never married ?" A blush rises-to her cheek, but she looks up in his face calmly, and replies: " I don't remember the blackberry epi- soues, ana i nave remained unmarried because I vowed when a voung girl never to marry unless convinced that I was the first and only love of the man whose wife I became." " Laura, I have never loved another." "Mr. Fishback, you forget my old friend Teresa, the sister of the girl to whom your brother xteginald is now making love on the lawn." " Good heavens ! Laura, how mistaken you are I" " 'Twas with her you looked for black berries. I never knew you to find any not with me, sir." "Laura, how blind you were 1 I sought her society only to be near you, I declare, upon my word nnd honor, I lingered by her side for hours and hours in the hope that you would join ns for a moment or two during the time, and when you did, ia that moment or two was concentrated the joy of the whole day. You were so proud, so cold, so reserved, I did not dare to approach you save through your friend; and " "And you did not bury yourself in seclusion for two years after she jilted you and married Frank Huntington?" she asks, as he pauses. "Great heavens! how preposterous! Laura, I swear " But, as he is about to swear, enter a procession of small nephews and nieces and attendant friends, the leader of whioh carries an odd-looking box. "See, uncle I" the bright-eyed little fellow calls out as he approaches. "I found this old phonograph on the top shelf of your closet, where I was look ing for your fishing line to play horse with, and it talks like everything." With this he begins to turn th metal crank, and a voice a somewhat shrill young voice, the voice of Tares ut,r of Bella whilom friend of Laura Beardsley begins to speak: . "Yes, Leon, my own. I will grant your impassioned prayer, and breathe the words you long to hear into this magical casket, and then, when you are lonely or inolined to doubt me. iealous one, you can call them forth to bring back the smiles to your dear face, and oy kj your uear Heart, i ao return the ove you so ardently avow, and I will marry you when mamma gives her con sent Until then no lips shall touch the lips made sacred by your kiss, no hand shall clasp the hand that wean your lovely diamond ring. Bat. oh. Leon dear, try to like Laura a little for my sake. I know she is all that you say she is affected, cold-hearted, haughty and uisagreeabie (1 am just naughty enougn to be pleased when you tell me her beauty, so much admired by others, particularly Frank Huntington, fades into utter insignificance beside that of your own little Teresa) but, my Leon, try, oh ! try, to tolerate her, for, strange as it may appear to yon, disliking her as you do, l am quite iond or her. Hood night, beloved. Dream of Tessa." "That" something or other "phonograph I" said Mr. Fishback; "I thought I destroyed it long ago." as he angrily snatched it from the hands of the small discoverer. " What did our humdrum ancestors do without these glorious inventions ?" murmured Miss Laura, as she quietly fainted away for the first and only time in ner me. " If ever you go prowling around my room again, continued Mr. Fishback addressing his unfortunate nephew, and supporting Miss Beardsley with one hand, while he flung the tell-tale out of the window, where it broke into a dozen pieces as it touched the ground with a shrill ear-splitting shriek "I'll apply the double back action self-acting spank ing machine until you roar tor mercy." The procession, considerably demor alized, started on the double-quick for the door, and Mr. Fishback, looking upon tne inanimate torm he held in liis arms, cried out, as he struck his fore head with his clinched hand, " She will never, never look at me again I" But she did, and, what's more, she married him a month after. And oh. the marvellous progress toward perfeot womanhood in this wonderful twentieth century ! although they have been man and wife for some twenty years, she has never once said to him : " That voice r Harper a Weekly. . Japanese and Chinese. Feminine dress and fashions in Japan are quite distinct from those of China; the barbarous custom of crushing, the foot is unknown (as also are high-heeled boots,) and small well-shaped hands and feet are characteristic of Japanese wo men. They continue, however, to black en their teeth and shave their eyebrows when they marry, although the present empress has set her face against these time-honored observances. The Japan ese in general affect a simple style of dress, wit ho at gaudy colors or ostenta tious ornaments; except for fastening up the hair, even women wear no jewelery, and do not, like their Aryan sisters, pierce the cartilage of nose or ears in order to insert metallio rings. Japan seems to be a country where men never lose their temper, where women and children are always treated with gentle ness, where all the people bow and beg pardon of each other if they happen to jostle accidentally, where popular sports do not inflict suffering upon the lower animals, where a paper screen is suf ficient protection against all intrusion even that of burglars, and where clean liness takes such a high rank among social virtues as to be carried almost to ludicrous excess. Japanese manners are certainly very different from our own; but even according to such a standard as is generaly accepted in Europe, the Japanese are a thoroughly well-bred people. And " manners are not idle ;" urbanity, gentleness, Bnd consideration for others are not mere superficial quali ties; when such national characteristics are found combined with courage, ener gy and intellect, they may surely be ac cepted as evidence of an advanced civili zation. Foreigners, after living in the interior of Japan for a considerable time, on returning into " civil'zed socie ty," have even stated that the manners of their own countrymen appear to them vulgar and almost brutal, accustomed as they have become to a courtesy singular ly free from servile or mercenary con siderations. The readiness of the Japan ese to adopt what seems to them worthy of imitation in foreigners is regarded by some as indicating a lack of originality and independence. But if they imitate, it is not without discrimination, and their willingness to accept what is new ind strange, when convinced of its merits, seems rather to indioate acute intelligence with remarkable freedom from prejudice. The Chinese have just succeeded in getting possession of the only railroad in China, and have at once proceeded to destroy the obnoxious in novation. The Japanese railways are being steadily improved and extended, so as to compare creditably, nnder na tive management, with any railways in the world. The Fortnightly Review. A Shl ty Match. One of the episodes of the long feud between the Clan Gregor and the Ool quhouns of Luss a quarrel that ended in the proscription of the MacGregors in 1608is connected with a match at shinty. Two sub-sections of the Clan Alpine, who had some cause of disagree ment, had settled the vexed question, and, to celebrate the renewal of perfect friendliness, the clansmen of both fami lies agreed to meet and spend some time in merrymaking. One of the chief events was to be a shinty match between the men of each family. That their visitors and kinsmen might be royally entertained, the hosts organized a foray into the Oolquhouns' country by Loch Lomond side, and carried off many head of fat cattle. Next day, in a level glen among the hills, the MacGregors, men, women and children, were assembled, the men armed for the time only with the sturdy clubs to be used in their game. The ball was thrown up. sticks rattled. all the shouts and cheers of the game were heard, when suddenly, high above the noise of the players, rose a shriek of the women, as from all sides of the glen advanced the hated uoiqunouns. The clansmen, though surprised and unarmed, at once formed up, back to. back, and with their clubs prepared to meet the swords of the foe; but tough ash and cold steel had hardly met when, with screams of fury, a naked dirk in each hand and a bundle of claymores nnder each left arm, the women of the clan out through the Oolquhouns, and brought to their husbands the broad swords that soon swept the men of Luss back again to Loch Lomond side. Bel gravia. - A newspaper in Eureka, Nev. , declares that a silk hat draws attention to the wearer in that rude town, a cane giver rise to ominous mutterings, eyeglasses cause the gathering of a mob, and kid gloves lead at onot to a lynching. The Bearer. If there be only one speoles of beaver, it is very widely distributed throughout the world. In America it extends al most as far south as the Gulf of Mexi co. It once existed in the British Islands, where, however, it has been long extinct, and it has become rare in Europe, in many parts of whioh it was once common. ; It nas also become rare in the United States, disappearing rap idly as civilization , advances, but it is still abundant in - the wide region of lakes and rivers which lies to the north and west of the settled parts of America. Considerable numbers are also found on the banks of the Obi and other rivers of Sibsria, and in Eamtchatka. The beaver is usually at least two feet in length from the nose to the root of the tail, the latter being of oval form, about ten inches ia length, fully three inches in breadth, and scarcely an inch in thickness. These dimensions are, however, sometimes exceeded. The general form of the animal is thick and clumsy, thickest at the hips, and then narrowing abruptly, so that it seems to taper to the tail. The head is thick and broad, the nose obtuse, the eyes small, the ears short and rounded. The fur consists of two kinds of hair; the longer hair is comparatively coarse, smooth, and glossy; the nnder roat is dense, soft, and silky. The incisors, or cutting teeth, of the beaver are remark ably strong, and exhibit in the highest de gree the distinctive characteristic of the order to which it belongs the front of hard enamel, whioh in the beaver is of a bright orange color; the back of the tooth, formed of a softer substance, is more easily worn : down, so that a sharp, chisel-like edge is always pre served, the bulbs being also persistent, so that the teeth are continually grow ing, as by their employment in gnawing wood they are continually being worn away. Each foot has five toes; those of the fore feet are short and not connected by a web; those of the hind feet are long, spreading out like the toes of a goose, and webbed to the nails. In accordance with thia remarkable pecul iarity the beaver in swimming makes use of the hind feet alone, the fore feet remaining motionless and close to the body. Another characteristic, to which nothing similar appears in any other rodent, is the large horizontally flatten ed tail, whioh, except at its root, is not covered with hair, like the rest of the body, but with scales. The food of the beaver consists of the bark of trees and shrubs and the roots of water lilies and other aquatio plants. In summer it eats berries, leaves, and various kinds of . herbage. There is reason to think that it never, as has been supposed, kills, or vats fish. Like some other rodents, it .avs nn stores of pro visions for winter ; but these in the case" of the beaver consist chiefly of bark, or the branches and even the trunks of trees. Its extraordinary powers of gnawing are exerted to cut down trees of several inches in diameter both for food and for the construction of its won derful houses and dams. A tree of eighteen inches has been found cut down by beavers, though they usually exhibit a preference for sma ller ones. When a large tree is cut, the branches only, and not the trunk, are employed in their architectural operations. These are very wonderful, although the state ment, at one time commonly made, that beavers drive stakes into the ground, has no foundation in fact ; and some of the particulars which passed current along with it were equally fabulous. Still, they are marvellous builders. A recent English writer, in speaking of the wonderful constructions raised by their industry, says : " Truly Canadians may be proud of the beaver. Its works give a stranger who sees them for the first time the idea of human intelligence, industry and forethought. Their dams, even mistaken for the works of man, are constructed with an amount of skill whioh leads the visitor to form a high estimate of the local engineer ; and if he investigate more closely the habits and modes of life of these extraordinary animals, he will find in their domestio habits, in their foresight in providing food for the morrow, in the way they regulate their water supply so that in the highest freshet and the most pro tracted drought they are on the one hand neither delnged nor on the other re stricted in supply, in the construction and fortification of their lodges, and finally, in their system of government, which drives the drones out of the com munity, and regulates the size of the different households and villages accord ing to the supply of wood tnat can be obtained and stored for winter use, he will find in all their mod of life a sagacity, a foresight, an intelligence, and a system of organization which elevate them above some race of savage men. Their influence on the features of the country constitute another paral lel with man. Many small lakes and wild meadows are the work of past gene rations of beavers. First of all the small brook is dammed ; by and by this dam becomes solid, and forest trees take root and grow on it ; as other outlets of the water occur they are closed by these in defatigable workers, till at length the pond assumes the proportions of a lake, buu remains ior au time to attest to their powers. The meadows are formed by the draining of the lakes. The beaver has left more permanent and enduring monuments of its existence on the sur face of the country than the aboriginal inhabitants of Canada have left or are likely to leave." The houses or lodges of beavers ar almost without exception grouped to gether neat the edge of the water, the mud being scraped away from the front so as to secure a sufficient depth of water to allow of free egress even during the most severe frost The winter stores of the animal, consisting of piles or heaps of wood, are always under water, and at such depths that they can not be locked up by ice. When the depth of water Is not sufficient a dam is con structed, by the side of whioh the lodge is placed. . These dams are sometimes 300 yards in width, and always convex toward the current ; , frequently they extend on both sides beyond the natural ohannel of the stream, i Ia their build ing, beavers interlace j small branches with eaoh other, scouring them to the larger with great ingenuity. A beaver kapt in confinement has been known to exhibit his building instincts by weaving twigs into the wires of his cage. A beaver's lodge resembles in shape the snow houses of the Esquimaux, be ing nearly oircular in form and half as high as they are wide. The average height is about three feet, and the diameter six or seven. These are the interior dimensions, the exterior meas urement being much greater on account of the exceeding thickness of the walls, which are continually strengthened by their owners with mud and branches, so that during the severe frosts they are nearly as hard as solid stone. The beaver is a social animal, and each lodge will accommodate several inhabitants, whose beds are arranged about the wall. Generally the beavers desert their huts in the summer-time, although one or two of a group of houses may be occu pied by a mother and her young off spring. All the old beavers who have no domeptio ties to keep them at home take to the water and swim up and down the stream at liberty until the month of August, when they return to their homes. There are also certain individu als, called by the trappers let paresseux, or idlers, which do not live in houses and build no dams, but abide in subter ranean tunnels like those of the common water-rat, to whioh they are closely allied. These paresseux are always males, and it sometimes happens that several will inhabit the same tunteL The trapper is always pleased when he finds the habitation of an idler, as its capture is a comparatively easy matter. The beaver is easily tamed, but natural ly no wooden cage will keep one con fined. "Madame Rachel." It is not many years sinoe the name of Madame Rachel, "Arabian Perfumer to the Queen," achieved a somewhat unenviable notoriety on both sides of the Atlantic. Those who remember the tribulations of the too credulous Madame Bonodaile, a middle-aged lady, who was inspired by the "Arabian Per fumer" with the hope that, for a certain considerable sum down, she would be made "beautiful forever' will not have forgotten that Madame Rachel came to dire grief, and, despite her oriental title and supposed miraculous lore, was igno miniously cast into prison. But the "beautifler forever" of the vain and foolish womankind of London is, it would appear, fairly irrepressible. Once more London is agog with her doings; once more she is the central figure of a cause celebre. It is amazing that so old and so notorious a swindler, with the prison brand upon her name, should still be able to dupe respectable ladies, and, emerging from her durance, should again set up, with signal suc cess, as a conjurer of youth and beauty to faded cheeks and waning charms. This Madame Rachel is well known to be a proved and convicted impostor. The utter uselessness of her cosmetics and washes has been demonstrated before the world. Moreover, she is known to have obtained money under false pre tenses, to have held on to jewels against all right, and to have led a most shame ful career of fraud and deception fof years. Add to this that she is grossly ignorant, unable to read or write, and that thus her assumption of mystical, Eastern lore is so absurd that the won der is she was not long since laughed out of conceit of it. Her last perform ance only affords one more sad illustra tion of the inveterate gullibility of weak women in their mania to cling, by any means and at any risk, to the external advantages of youth. A young married lady, the daughter of the great singer Mario, was caught in the net of the "Arabian Perfumer " by the thinnest of devices. She was told that by the payment of two hundred pounds she would be provided with certain washes which would preserve the beauty of twenty till she was sixty. A momentary glimmer of reason prompted her to ask Madame Rachel why, if she could achieve this marvel for others, she did not make her own person an example. The sly old woman was ready with her answer that, though she seemed only sixty, she was really eighty-five ! This seems to have ex tinguished all doubt in the mind of her customer. The first installment paid, a "wash" was given and need. The result was appalling. The victim found her face breaking out in a horrible humor. But her anxiety was appeased when Madame Rachel told her she had only to go on with the wash to not only cure the humor, but become as fair as the lilies of the field. Then the viotim, unable to raise the cash to meet the demands of her aged benefactress, gave up her jewels, which the "perfumer" lost no time in pawning. Meanwhile, the bargained-for beauty came not. At last the lady, driven to despair, did what she ought to have done before she told her husband; and he at once caused Madame Rachel to be indicted. Appleton't Journal. Fashion Notes. Among the new accessories to the toilet is the matelot or square sailor collar. Stocking manufacturers not to be be. hind the times have succeeded in intro ducing bourette effects. Mitta form no unimportant part in the valuable accessories of the toilet, and fans are made to correspond. The rich falling collars of to-day are copies of the paintings of the old French school. The new kilt-plated skirt and plaited blouse are stylish for street or house attire. Wash goods, such as prints or per cales, will be trimmed with solid colors in bands. ' Many sleeves of elegant dreeses have no trimming, because separate cuffs are fashionable. The coat is one of the most popular ooque tries of the season, and is becom ing to all ladies. Woolen batiste dresses are favorites with Parisian ladies, and are becoming iasmonaoie here. - Easy elegance, withont either soanti ness or drapery or an excess of flowing loias, is tne present iasnion. Printed costumes and polonaises are worn above plain, skirts by both grown FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD. Ponltry Notes. It is a fact well known to poultry rais ers that the first eggs are always the best for hatching, and are also much truer to their breed, showing all the finer points as well as developing sooner, and approaching the nearest possible to per fection. The chicken cholera was very bad here last spring, and I will tell your readers how we cured it. For every forty fowls we took a piece of assa'oetida the size of a hickory nut, broke it in small pieces and mixed it in about a pint of corn meal, wet it thoroughly with boiling water.and placed it near the roosting place, so that the chickens could eat of it the nrst thing in the morning. If they were not too near dead to eat, a cure was certain, Correspondence Ohio Farmer. A successful turkey-raiser feeds the chicks during the first eight days on eggs boiled hard and minced; during the second week he adds to this bread crumbs, chopped with parsley and onions; during the third week he keeps back the eggs, and only continues the bread and the vegetables; afterwards in stead ot the bread he gives moistened meal, boiled peas. and. above all. millet, of which young turkeys are very fond. When the birds are sickly they are easily cured by making them swallow a pepper-corn, their bills being carefully opened to avoid hurting them. The cleaning and disinfecting of the poultry house should, of course, be done oftener than semi-annually, but a regu lar thorough cleaning out is in order al wavs. After removinor all the utensils and fixtures (and they should all be movable), carry out all the dirt and filth that can be swept and shovelled. Then follow with a good coat of white wash; go over every point of the surface, floor and all. Then clean out all nest boxes, pour a little coal oil in the corn ers, then whitewash them, together with perches and everything in or about the house, and put everything in place again. Now make a fire on the floor, if it be an earthen one, as it should or in an old iron pot or kettle, if it is not, and burn half a pound each of rosin and sulphur in the house, keeping all doors and win dows closed as tight as possible. When the fire is burning well, throw some shavings or rags, saturated with crude carbolic acid, on it, and thus employ the fumes of this best of all disinfectants. When all is thoronghly done, open and ventilate the house, and it will be ready for its occupants, and be sweet and wholesome. The house should have such a cleaning up three or four times each year. It is some trouble, but it will pay. Recipe.. . Pumpkin " Pie. To two : quarts of stewed pumpkin mashed through a wire sieve add one pound of sugar and six well-beaten eggs; bake in a rich paste, without cover. Potato Douohntjts. One pint-bowl of mashed potatoes, one pint-bowl of sweet milk, one egg, a piece of shorten ing as largo as an egg, one large table spoonful of yeast; set to rise in half the milk; cloves; mix thin, and cover with a cloth till cool, after cooking. Hot Rolls. A nice breakfast ar rangement, where there are no dyspep tics in the family, is to take a quart of sifted flour, one and a half cupfula of sour milk, two spoonfuls of thick cream, a teaspoonful of soda; stir up quickly and dip into roll-bakers, well-buttered, or cup cake tins, aud bake in a quick oven. They are very palatable and easily made. Hominy Bread. This is easy, quiok and nice. Two eggs; salt to taste; two cupfuls of boiled grits or boiled rice; one cupful of meal, one tablespoonfnl of butter or lard, and sweet milk enough to make a thin batter. Bake in the dish in which it is to be served: help with a tablespoon. The Virginia name for that soft kind of corn bread w "Pudding Bread." Country Gentleman. Corn 1 ebf Soup. When the liquor in which the beef and vegetables were boiled is cold remove all the grease that has risen and hardened on top, and add tomatoes and tomato ketchup and boil half an hour thus making au excellent tomato soup; or add to it rice, or sage, or pearl barley, or turn it into a vegeta ble soup by boiling in the liquor any vegetables that are fancied. Several varieties of soups may have this " stock" for a basis, and be agreeable and nutri tious. Corned Beef. Select a nice piece of fresh beef, rub over it sufficient salt to "corn " it, but not to make it very salt. Let it stand two or threedays, judging of the time by size of the meat. Then wash thoroughly in cold water, and put ting in the pot, cover with cold water and boil gently till quite tender. Add such vegetables as are desired, like the old time-honored " boil-dish.' Judge of the quantity of vegetables by the strength of flavor desired in the soup to be made from the water in which'the whole is boiled. When done, dish beef and vegetables, and serve hot. Baked Beans. Soak a pint and a half of dried beans over night. In the morning pour off the water, cover with freshwater and boil till they craekopen, or are tender. Then put them with the water in which they were boiled into a deep earthen dish, adding a little salt, and if agreeable a tablespoonfnl of molasses. Put on top of the dish one half pound of fat and lean pork, which should be scored or gashed across the rind. Bake four hours, and longer if convenient. It will be better for it, only bake slowly. Keep nearly covered with water till two-thirds done, then allow it to dry away. The first United States cent, issued from the Mint from 1777 to 1791, and now called the Franklin penny, bore on the center of its obverse a sun-dial shone upon by the sun with the word "Fugio" on the right and the date on the left. "mind your business" being inscribed in the'exergue. On the reverse a oirole of thirteen rings representing the orig inal number of states, each nng bearing the name of a state on some varieties. On some the larger circle incloses a smaller ineribed "the United States," while on the others the order is reversed and the words read "States United," with e central legend, "Wa are one." Items of Interest. Bluht people often say sharp things. A lady in New York sang three hours on a stretch. An important suit the first jacke and trousers. The more suits at law, the less suits go on your back. February is the most impeounions -month; is is always short. When may a ship be said to be in love t - When she wants a mate. The Western Union T legraph Com pany owns over 200,000 miles of wire. A gamecock drove his spur into a child's head, in Bullet county, making a fatal wound. A correspondent writes to ask what it is proper to wear at picnics. We should eay " clothes." iCdison has been asked to invent a machine that will cause a carpet " to get up and dust." . The coast of Florida has but one Mns quito Inlet, but the interior of Florida has a musquito-bar for every bedstead. A New York dancing master has added his to " one of the few immsrtal names," etc., bv waltzing for sixteen hours. It must make Longfellow and Tennyson siok to think of what labor and study it cost them to become famous. Close imitations of silver dollars are made of block-tin, bismuth and pulver ized glass. An immense number of these bogus coins are in circulation in the West. They imitate exactly the true color and ring, and are about right in weight. "That's our Jeremiah," said Mr. Sheldon; " he went off to make his own living by his wits." "Well, did he sucoeed ?" inquired a friend. " No," said the old man, with a sigh, signifi cantly tapping his head, " he failed for want of capital." The man who advertises in the news papers to send directions that "will ena ble a person to make $200 a uionth, owes his washerwoman for three months' washing, and was seen a few days ago trying to borrow five dollars td pay a week 's board bill. Fish in Germany are seldom broiled; they are boiled. The size of a fish that need not be returned to the water when caught iB fixed by law. Thus a salmon must be sixteen inches long, a perch five and an eel fourteen. Germans do not fish for sport as a rule. A growth of human hair, the longest on record, is among the curiosities to be seen at the Paris Exposition. It came from the head of a Norman girl, Merlot by name, who lived with her mother in the extremest poverty. It is seven feet long, of an exquisite golden color, luxuriant, ana silky. An Illinois farmer has told his rat story. He was going out to his corn crib the other morning, he says, when he saw a large rat with head erect, car rying a full sized ear of corn in his mouth, while at the same time his tail was wrapped around another large ear, whish he was dragging behind him. Mr. Edison, who has within a twelve month made his name a household word in the scientific, social, aud business world, was married in 1873 to Miss Mary Stillwell, of Newark, New Jersey, They have two children a little boy four years old and a little girl aged two nicknamed " Dot" and " Dash," .'Iter the characters in the Morse alphabet. A couple of young men were out fish ing the other day, and on returning were going past a farm house, and felt hun gry. They yelled to the farmer's daugh ter : " Girls, have you any buttermilk?" The reply was gently wafted back to their ears : " Yes ; out we keep it for our own calves." The boys calculated they had business away -and they went. Pretiy Parsees. A correspondent of a New York paper writes from Bombay: A day or two after my arrival I accepted an invitation to attend the exhibition exercises at a Parsee school and witness the distribu tion oi prizes. The visitors were Par sees, Hindoos and a few Europeans; the pupils were girls, some fifty or more, of ags varying from eight to twelve years. All were bright-eyed and intelligent, and nearly all were pretty as pinks brown-hued pinks, I may say, as the most of the complexions had a brunrtte tinge. I do not remember ever to have seen a more pleasing lot of juvenile faces than on that occasion, and all through the exercises I continued tc admire the galaxy of budding beauties. Each head was covered with a gold-embroidered cap, and the rest ot the costume was quite Oriental loose trousers, with a white or embroidered frock. As the ex ercises were entirely in Guzerat, the language o' the Parsees, I cannot say much about the sentiments expressed. The recitations and songs were delivered in a manner worthy of any school in America or England, and with a cool ness and self-possession highly com mendable to the tiny ladies that gave them. As each little miss I don't know the Parsee name for miss came forward to receive her prize, she bowed gracefully and marched oil to her seat with all the dignity ot a princess. A Starling's Mimicry. Mr. H. O. Forbes sends ns the fol lowing instance: In the grennds of a friend in the neighborhood of London, a colony of starlings had for many years built their nests in the trees in boxes placed there for their accommodation. The children of the house all quite young then a lew years ago at whose presence the birds showed not the slightest alarm, were constantly playing about close to the nests, and ot course constantly calling eaoh other by name. There was only one girl in the family, . called Maggie, and aa she was a great pet, perhaps her name was oftener men tioned than those of the others, lie that as it may, her father was one day greatly astonished by hearing bis daugh. tier's name pronounoed in exact imita tion of the voice of one of her brothers, whom he knew could not be near. For a moment he was puzzled, but close at band, on the bough of an acacia tree, he detected the mocking bird a com mon starling in the act of deception, whioh he oontiuued to praotioe often afterward. Nature, JJ
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers