L i i i -- ' .V,. - :l-. i ftilili . - i i ' t u'.iv; v ; ' " . - . , - , i - , - , . ' 'iii. ' - . : HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. ! NIL DESPERANDUM Two Dollars per Annum. VOL. VIII. RIDGrWAY, ELK COUNTYy PA. THUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1878. NO. 18. i Deacon Babbitt's rhonograph. Deacon Babbttt wii progressiva and enlightened In his ways ; Be perused the Seieru Monthly and the Review, on rainy days; Bad a cabinet of I (Wills, and tome bird securely stuffed, la hie wood-house chamber study, where hi pipe was dally puffed, ft would make an old-time farmer stare around as in a dream To see the deacon churn and plow, and cot his hay by eteam ; "Pitdh his hay and thresh hie barley with "machinery alone, And call his help to dinner with a patent tele phone. Thns the deacon bought each patent that could work or walk or sing, Till he heard the papera raving of the very latest thing: A machine to bottle language, or a song, a sigh, or laugh ; Then the deacon he got craty to possess a phono graph. "Why," nold he, " Jest think of storin' np for a fu ture generation A prayer-rueetin' or conference, twould be their sure .alvatlon ; Or good old hymns ; these modern ones are joet as I ght aa chaff. Thur's no usetalkiu', I must have a patent phono graph." And no one knows how much it cost the deacon had bis way And on bis study table stood the phonograph one day. The deacon loaded it with hymns and pious odds and end, Then d inned Ms lint mid sought the street to call lu sundry liH-uds. THE EOTS IKTFJIVIEW IT. Jehonldttb, the oldest sou, had toitght his brother Green, And thry culled in the hired man to view the new machine ; They danced and snng and turned the crank with uncouth sour and laugh, Not knowing of the mystic powers of that same phonograph. They could not tell the purpose of the tinfoil on the drum ; They threatened angrily to kick the thing to king dom come. "It canuot dig, or plant, or sew, or do a single thing" Then they had a war-dance round the room that made the study ring. THE DSACOIT BETOBHETH. The dencon found the elder with the work before him ),ftad, But he made him leave his sermon at the forty Second head, r And down the street, his smoking-cap disported In the wind, His funnv-tlHured morning gown spread gaily out behind Together they sought Deacon Smooth, a man of solid sense. Conservative in politics, religion and expense ; Just the opposite to Babbitt be stuck to good old ways, And he laughed at all inventions of these evil mod ern days. But Deacon Babbitt walked erect with triumph In his eye, " Be would show 'em an Invention that would make all skeptics fl ;" And he told thrm he bad bottled good old " China " and " Mllbauk," And hegueeied they'd stop their laugbln' when they berd him turn the orank. On tbe table In the study all so simple and se rene, Stood the very unpretentious, but remarkable, machine. Then the deacon he explained to them the dia phragm and drum ; Grasped the handle, saying promptly, "Just yon bark to what'a to come " " I wouder what the derned old hog baa been a- buyln' now?" The deacon dropped the handle, while the sweat stood on his brow. " The thing is out of kilter, but I guess I'll try agin." " O, Kelser, don't you want a dog ?" and "Betsy likes her gin." The elder donned his smoking-cap and at ted for the door, But Deacon Hmooth winked slyly, saying would like soti'e more ; Bnt Babbitt gazed on the machine with looks of dark despair, ' Then said he guessed he'd try again ; he knew hie hymns were there He grasped the handle firmly, caring nothing for the noise Of half a dozen dancing fiends with voices like his boj-B ; Or shouted songs in melting tones of 11 I'm your (i:iruug aatie," And " Whoop it up, my hearty boys," " Farewell to Mary Blaine." But Deacon Smooth bad stood all conservative and grand, Until the w tr-dance came along, and then he raised his hand And smote the phonograph a blow that laid it on the fljor, A niasB of wheels and broken springe, a thing oi lilo no more, Tho elder ran "down tho stairs, bis fingers In his eats, Repeating Scripture to himself to quell his rising fears, And sayiug mildly to himself, " When a man de serts bis sphere And penetrates to hidden things, he'd better stand in fear." But Decon Babbitt, good old man, will raise hta head no more, lie sits and gazea sadly at the wreck upon the floor, And tries to understand in vain (without an ezplan atlbn) How some way in the management he lost the com bination. The boys at noon were curious about the new ma chine. But the deacon told them to " Shut np " with such a wrathful mien, That not a word leaked ont about the fatal morn ing's spree, And Deacon Smooth, conservative, has scored a victory. Uiica (. Y.) Republican. WILD STKAWBERRIES. a" ''More strawberries ?" said Mrs. Wylde, with a perplexed contraction of her brows. "Yes," said old Fhillis, the cook. "I've made two short-cakes an' a pie, an' dar ain't nigh enough left to fill de big glass dish for tea." 'Dear me I" said Mrs. Wylde, "what shall we do ? Lisette is dressing, and Maude never could endure the sun. Barbara" to a slender young girl who was eurled up in one of the deep window-seats, reading "you'll have to go." Barters Wylde roused herself out of an Arcadian dream of Dickens' Little Nell, and fixed a pair of big blue eyes on her mother's troub'ed face. "Go where, mamma ?" "Down to the south pasture lot for wild strawberries. The ground is crim son with them there, and " Barbara Wylde scrambled down ont of her high perch. "Mamma," said she, "what a nuisance all this is I I don't believe Captain Ell wood Severn is worth all this trouble. I don't believe he'll fall in love with either Maude or Lisette. And I think preserved gooseberries are quite good enough for him." "Hold your tongue, child I" said Mrs. Wylde, sharply. "Take the basket and go for tha strawberries at onoe." "But it's so hot, mamma I". "Put on your broad-brimmed straw flat." "And I haven't finished my novel," pleaded Barbara, with her mind revert ing longingly to Little Nell. "Nonsense," said Mrs. Wylde. "You ! read too many novels, a deal, for a child of your age." And Barbara disappeared, Unwillingly enough, into the apple orchard, across which a sinuons path, bordered with buttercups and red clover, led direct to the velvet slopes of the "south pasture," where the ripening fruit of . the wild strawberries shone like tiny rubies along the course of a little musical brook, aU fringed with reeds and alders and tall growing ferns. i "Strawberries, indeed I" said Barbara to herself. " It's dreadful to , be the youngest of a family of girls, and have to pick strawberries for one's elder sis ters beaux." And she pushed the vellow curia ont nf her eyes, and went to work in lugubrious earnest, popping we largest and sweet est of the berries into her little round rose-bud of a month, staining her dress as she knelt down to seek the shy trea sures nnder the clustering green leaves, and crimsoning her hands with the haste she made. " I wonder which of 'em hell marry?" said Barbara to herself, as she paused a minute to listen to a robin which, Cerchedon (he boughs of a feathery elm eyond the brook, trilled out his bar carolle of glad music "Lisette is the prettiest, of course, and he can't know what a dreadful temper she's got. Bnt Maude is literary, and has read all the new books, and can talk so well. Gentle men like intellectual ladies. I wish" with a sigh "that I was intellectual." And our little maid fell to work at the strawberries again for full five minutes. And then she shook her basket, and peeped into its depths with eyes of azure despair. "Not half full," said she to herself; "not a quarter full. Oh, aear me I how I wish some one would come to help met And there is some one stretched provok ingly in the shade under Squire Dallas 'b big oak by the stone wall where the sweet briers grow. People have no business to lie in the shade when other people have to be working hard in the sun I And I do believe it's Squire Dal las's new hired man, and he ought to be at work in the hay-field instead of lying there under the trees with a book. And, " Barbara added, surveying the distant faineant with rebolute blue eyes from beneath her upli ted hand, "he shall work ; he shall help me 1" "Young man I" she called out. The robin trilled, the brook made a cool, tumultuous splashing over the mossy stones that formed its bed, and no an swer came back to Barbara save the flutter of the leaves in the hazel copse under the hill. "Young man, I say 1" she called out again, this time with a certain accent of the imperious in her voice. The recum bent figure under the oak tree straight ened itself np at once, and made has.e toward the stone wall that separated Squire Dallas's domains from Deacon Wyl tie's south pasture lot. "I beg your pardon," said he; "bnt did you call V . "Of oourse I called," said Barbara, thinking within herself how tall and straight and darkly handsome Squire Dallas's new hired man was. "Don't you think, young man, you ought to be at work ?" "At work ?" repeated the Spanish browed stranger. "Well, perhaps I ought," "There's no 'perhaps' about it," said Barbara, brusquely. "Of course you ought. And since you don't choose to work for your master, you may as well be working for me." "My master?" "Squire Dallas, of course," said Bar bara. "Dear me, how stupid you are." "And how, may I venture to ask, did you know who I was?" he questioned, in an amused sort of way. "Ob, it didn't require any great ex ercise of brilliance tor that," responded Barbara, -with a little nod of the head. "I know Squire Dallas has got a new hired man ; and if you're not he, who are you ?" "That is the question," said the stranger gravely. " But we mustn't stand talking here," went on Barbara, in a business-like sort of way. "Take the basket and go to picking strawberries just as fast as ever you can, because we're to have com pany at our house I'm Barbara Wylde, you know, young man and I must get back with the berries for desert as quick ly as possible." "All right," said the stranger; "I'm tolerably quick at this sort of thing, I believe." "I hope you are," said Barbara in tent on extricating a tiny rose-pricker from the point of ber stained forefinger "and at other things too. Because, if you're not, Squire Dallas won't keep you." "He won't eh?" Barbara shook her head. "The last man went away because he couldn't en dure the squire's driving ways," said she. "Oh, I was to sorry I He was nice. He used to lend me books and things over the fence, and he taught district sohool in the winters. I used often to come here and talk with him over the stone wall, because, you see, it's lonesome up at the house if I do have two grown sisters. Lisette is cross with me if I ask to borrow any of her books she has a dreadful temper, has our Lisette and Maude is too intel lectual to trouble herself about a slip of a girl like me. Grown sisters are dread ful," with a solemn shake of the head. " And I suppose you are not grown," said Squire Dallas hired man, with a curious gleam of amusement around the corners of his mouth. "No," said Barbara, "I am only sixteen, and I haven't got trains to my dresses yet. Bnt perhaps when the girls get married, and one of them is sure to marry this Captain Severn Oh, take care, you're tipping all the berries out upon the grass! Squire Dallas won't keep you a week if you're aa clumsy aa that" But tbe hired man luckily succeeded in righting the basket before its crim son contents were irretrievably lost. "It's all right," said he. "see bow rapidly it is filling up. But suppose this Captain I forget that you said his name wast''- " You mustn't forget things," said Barbara. " Squire Dallas never will be suited with that. He's a very particu lar old gentleman. - I mention these things, you know" with an air of mild patronage" because yon seem like a nice, respectable young man, and I should like you to keep th$ plaoe, " "I am much-obliged to you," said the stranger, hurriedly putting a straw berry into his mouth. " Now you are eating the strawber ries," gid Barbara, severely. "You shouldn't do that" " One or two is of no oonsequenoe," apologized Squire Dallas's hired man. " But I was going to say, suppose this company gentleman--?' " Cap twin Severn, his name is," in terposed Barbara. " Yes suppose that Captain Severn shouldn't fall in love with either of your grown sisters?" "Then he'd be a very great disap pointment," cried out Barbara, "be cause Lisette is six-and-twenty, and Maude says shell out her throat sooner than be aa old maid." ', ' " Ho might fall in love with you," sug gested the young man, regarding his pretty companion with a sidelong glance from beneath his long lashes. " With me I" repeated Barbara. Me I a little girl that wears dresses without trains, and isn't out of her scales yet I Now, I tell you what, young man, you are talking a great deal too much and working a great deal too little. Per haps, if you're very smart with the ber ries, I'll bring you one of Phillis's tarts, and put it on the stone fence to-night. Phillis does make the deliciousest straw berry tarts I" " That would be delightful," said the stranger, promptly. Barbara gave a scrutinizing glance into the berry basket. "I begin to think we've got almost enough," said she. , "Not yet," pleaded her companion. "Yes," nodded Barbara. "And mamma will be in a hurry, and Maude will scold dreadfully if I'm not there in time to do her back hair." " It strikes me," said the stranger, with a half smile, " that you're a good deal like Cinderella in the story books." Barbara considered the matter for a second or two. "So I am," said she.' "I never thought about it before 'f but I do be lieve I am a little like Cinderella. But, dear me I there's no glass slipper for me. And as for you, young man," re lapsing all at once" into the Bevere Men tor again, " you had better get back as fast as possible to your work ; and don't let Squire Dallas catch you loitering again, if you've any regard for your place." . The stranger stood with doffed cap and attitude of chivalrons attention. "But you'll not forget the strawberry tort?" said he. " Certainly not; if once I can get old Phillis's back turned long enough to steal it out of the milk-room," said Barbara. "And off she tripped, with rosy stained lips, golden hair floating reck lessly in the wind, and light elastic feet bowing down the buttercups and red clover as she went ' " Dear me, chile," said Phillis, as she came into the kitchen, rosy and breath less with the haste she had made, " what a time you's ben I" " Not half an hour," cried Barbara, flinging away her hat, and splashing hei face with cool water out of. the bucket. " Has he come, Phillis ?" "De company young man, miss?' said Phillis. "No, he ain't An' Miss Lisette she's a-scoldin' 'cause you ain't ben to arrange de roses for de big bokay in de middle ob de table; an' Miss Maude she done can't fix her hair to suit her; an' dar's de missus callin' now. Bun, Miss Barby, run 1" " There, mamma, I told you so I" said Miss Maude Wylde, the " intellectual" member of the family. " It will be an inconvenient crowd if Barbara comes to the table." " Let her wait," said Lisette, serenely. " But I won't wait I" flashed out Bar bara, her blue eyes glittering with in dignation. "I will come to the first table. After arranging the roBes and gathering the wild strawberries, and Mamma, is it right to keep me in the back kitchen all my days!" " My dear ! my dear I" remonstrated Mrs. Wylde, " you are forgetting your self." " And I do so want to see Captain Severn I" added Barbara, resolutely choking down the big sob which rose to her throat. "What nonsense I" said Lisette, the dove-eyed beauty with the rippling hair and the complexion of rose and snow. "As if Captain Severn would ever look at you I" " But I may look at him, I suppose ?" cried indignant Barbara. "And I'm sixteen years old, and you've no right to treat me like a baby." "Children 1 children! don't get to quarrelling," said Mrs. Wylde. " And Barbara can sit just here behind the tea-urn, and I dare say we shall have plenty of room." "There I" said Barbara, with a tri umphant grimace at her sister. " Horrid little spoiled child !" said Maude. Barbara always geta her own way," commented Lisette. "Hush!" said Mrs. Wylde, authori tatively. "Here comes your papa up the laurel walk with Captain 8evern." Lisette peeped from behind tbe folds of the fluted Swiss ourtains, Maude ran to the Venetian blinds of the bay window, and Barbara climbed with sixteen-year-old agility into a chair to peep over her sister's shoulder. " Oh, good graoious !" cried she, dropping from her aerial peroh with startling suddenness. " What is it ?" said Maude. "It's Squire Dallas's hired man I gasped Barbara. " What I" said Lisette. "I I don't mind about the first table," said Barbara, turning pink and white, like a York-and-Lancaster rose 5 "I'd rather eat in the kitchen with Phillis." And away she darted like a scared young doe, before any one could stop her. , , . " Go away I" said Barbara, indignant- lv She had cried until her eyelashes were all glittering and her cheeks stained with tears, to say nothing of the crum. pled state of her sash ribbon and whit muslin dreat, and now aha sat crouched under the shadow of the great flowering almond bush, as if aha would fain re treat utterly out of the world of sight and hearing. r - ' . , Captain Severn vOod inm0TDla P" fore her, with folded arms and question ing Spanish eyes. , , " I shall not go away," said he, un til you have pardoned me." How can I everpardoiryoTi,v flashed out Barbara." ,f You have imposed upon me, you have practioed on my creduli ty. "" You asked ine to' help you gather strawberries and I helped you." " You allowed me to suppose that you were Squire Dallas's hired man." "I claimed no identity, one way or the other," pleaded Captain Severn. "I was trying to find my way by a short-out across the fields to your father's house, and sat down under the oak tree to rest And when you called me I came, like a true knight of old. Now if you can con vict me of any serious offense in all this, I stand ready to ahide the consequen ces." "You never, ntver, will be able to forgive me," sobbed Barbara, again re tiring behind the end of her blue sash. "Little Barbara," said Captain Sev ern, falling on his. knees, as if it were the most natural aad eonventional thing in the world to do, "will you forgive met" .,. ... . .... , . . And what could Barbara say' but "Yes?" i iiiaro.r; Captain Severn insisted upon his strawberry tart that evening, according to agreement and they ate it together, he and Barbara, like two school-children, out on the lawn, while Maude yawned behind a book, arid Lisette acidly won dered ' what on earth Captain Severn could find to amuse him in the chatter of a child like Barbara." And when the red leaves of late Octo ber choked up the little stream beside which they had gathered wild straw berries, there was- wedding at the Wylde homestead, and the bride was not Maude the intellectual, cor the love ly Lisette, but little Barbara. . "Dar's no acoountin' for true love," said old Phillis, as she stirred the wed ding cake. Harper' t Bazar. . Fashion Notes. The prinoesse dress model has the back quite plain, Basques and overskirts are in demand for laandried suits. . Grenadine dresses have the skirt ap pended to the polonaise. Afternoon, dinner and evening suits all have the skirts trained. Suits with vests and overhanging jackets are made of musli j. . Princcsse dresses have a gradu.1 tap ering off to the extremity of the train. Oriental combinations are fashions ble. Dress skirts of the solid shades in linen and percale are worn with fancy' ecru overgarments. ' For young ladies the new mantelette is pretty. The back is out round, and extends just twelve inches below the waist The mode materials for indepe dent garments are Sicilienne silk, India cash mere, and Summer camel's hair cloth, light and dark. The Summer wraps are very hand some, and quite novel in style and finish. The dolman mode, that presents draper ies in place of sleeves, is preferred by married women. The Marie Stuart bonnet is much'ad mired; the shape is cottage, coronet front, and arched brim. The modified Gainsborough is much liked, and par ticularly by young ladies. Kich grenadine dresses are trimmed with side-pleated flounces, arranged closely together and stitched on by ma chine. Lace fluted and bands of pas sementerie, also bands of galloon, both beaded and plain, are fashionable. - There are many pretty ideas in dress garnitures. The simulated style of trimming is one of the observed peculi arities of the season. For example, the front breadth is made extremely long, and then shirred so as to represent an apron. Misses' suits are made almost exactly like ladies' costumes, with the exception that they are very simply trimmed. The polonaise or princess dress is draped with a scarf, the skirt with tunique is draped, and the waist has a small basque. Satin buttons are used; they are frail, but when new look very handsome. Buttons of all kinds are employed as dress embellishments. Moulds covered with dress fabrics are passe. Evening toilets are often beautified with silver rimmings; galloons with silver threads, tlver tassels, and fringes are used. 1 A Quite an Old Mann. The ripest old Missourian living is Mr. Christopher Mann, of Independ ence, who has reached the great age of one hundred and four. He is the father of twenty-eight children, e'ghteen of whom are still living. The eldest, a son living in California, is seventy-eight He has been twice married, his second wife, now fifty-two, still living. He is grandfather and great-grandfather to about one hundred and fifty children. He is well-to-do, his land being worth $100 per acre, and his dwelling house covering nearly half an acre of ground. The first hat ha ever wore was purchased with wild turkeys; his first pair of shoes were bought when he was fifteen years old; his first boots, when he was twenty three. His folks lived on corn ground in a mortar, the distance to mill being so great and Indians so troublesome that a trip was seldom made. Sticks were used to prepare the ground in whioh corn was to be planted, as no hoes, spades, ploughs, or narrows were to be had in those days. He has stood " turn as guard " many a time in Ken tucky while others were inside a stock ade or house attending divine worship. He waa in St Louis seventy years ago, when it contained one brick house. In 1843 he flr t saw Kansas City, the total number of houses at that time being bnt one frame shanty. Ho baa seen General George Washington and other celebrities of the revolutionary war; knew Daniel Boone intimately; waa a soldier in the war of 1812, was a volun teer in the Black Hawk war, and bad three sons in the Mexican war; he waa also aoout for the government and com mander of a militia company during tbe lata war, . farm, garden and household. teed! Horses. Owing to the small size of the horse's stomach, this animal should never be allowed to fast for any long period if it can possibly be avoided, since experience teaches that at the end of a few hours his stomach is empty, and the whole frame becomes exhausted, while the appetite is frequently so impaired, if he is kept fasting for a long period, that when food is presented to him it will not be taken.. If a horse is required to travel a long distance, and the journey must be accomplished without stopping to bait, it exhausts the horse less to increase the pace up to his best average gait than to permit a slow gait consum ing a much longer time in going over the ground, and on an empty stomach. In other words, if two horses are driven fifty or sixty miles, under similar conditions as to the weight they have to draw, and the one is taken at the rate of six miles an hour, which will keep him fasting from eight to ten hours, while the other is traveled fast enough to do it in six or seven hours, the latter will be less exhausted than the former, though even in this latter case the horse would be all the better for a feed in the middle of the journey, the time devoted to such baiting being easily made up by the increased energy that would be supplied by the grain. The human stomach will bear hunzer far better than that of the horse, and if the driver feels his appetite pretty keen, he may rest assured that the animal be fore him is still more in want of food. The poor feeding of horses necessitates the careful study of the peculiar consti tution of each animal, to ascertain whether the average quantity and quali ty of food, which will suit the majority of horses doing similar work, will be enough or too much for him. As in the human subject no inflexible rule can be followed in all cases. The require ments of hones vary, not only jin con stitutional differences, but also in the work for which they are designed. Again, some washy animals pass their food through them so quickly that they do not absorb from it one-half the nu tritive elements contained in it Such horses, however, must be fed largely, if they are kept at work, while those arti cles of food must be selected for them which have a tendency rather to confine the bowels than to relax t hem. Care and watchfulness are absolutely necessary in the economical management of horses, and to the acquirement of such remun erative results as will alone make their ownership profitable. The shiewd, keen owner of horses, who depends upon his own investigations, soon learns that some animals will perform an amount of labor far greater than others, while thriving under a fur less quantity of food; hence he soon determines which to retain and which to dispose of, leav ing to tbe careless and indifferent indi vidual the ownership and feeding of the unprofitable specimens. American Cultivator. Acrlcaltural Aphorlsine. Plant-food for a paying crop must be already in the superficial soil cultivated, or else it must be furnished to the soil directly, or a good crop cannot be har vested. Plant-food deposited deep in the soil must be brought to the surface, or within reach of the roots of crops by deep ploughing, to render it of use to the farmer. Plants can only live and thriv6 on food containing the elements of which they are composed, and animals are de pendent upon this law of nature. There fore, to learn how to feed - plants and and animals properly, first learn the elements of which they are composed, and the relative quantities of each, and then supply food containing the propor tion of these elements, whether one or more kinds of food be required. Food must be various; for this aim. Air plants have little or no ash. The carbon in burning unites with oxygen and passes into the air as oarbonio acid gas; and the nitrogen in them is vapor ized and lost as ammoniacal gas, there fore a large quantity of Spanish moss ignited, leaves an insignificant quantity of ash. The bulk of the forest is oarbon, and absorbed in the form of carbonio acid gas from the air. The earthy matters me, potash, soda, eta, are derived from the soil ' through the roots of the trees. - The essential oils of tea, coffee and of some other plants and fruits are largely generated in the processes of drying cooking or roasting. Whence come the ethereal and power ful essential oils in the processes of fer mentation and distillation, if not formed from surrounding elements? They do not reside in the natural grains. Nature's chemistry is more subtle, far reaching and more constant in its opera tions than our highest education can bring us to conceive. All the elements obtained from the earth by plants must be in the soil at the time of growth in due and sufficient proportions. lightning-rods are a perfect protec tion to buildings when properly con structed and carefully erected. Ta Make a Wall Packet. Gut out from pasteboard two pieces, one for the back, twelve inches wide and twenty inches high in the middle, and sloping in deep curves to the sides, where it is but thirteen and a half inches high. The bottom is ont in four, scallops, and an inch and a half above draw a line where the bottom of the pocket is to come. The pocket is twelve inohes square. Lay these pieces on some bleaohed muslin and mark around them with a pencil, but do not ont away the margin until after the ornamentation is applied. Arrange on the front a bouquet of ferns and surround this with a light wreath, and place a small pretty leaf in each cor ner. For the back place a tiny bou buet in the upper point and a leaf in each of the others. Arrange an initial of the smallest ferns found in the oenter. When all is oorreotly placed and fasten ed spatter. Arrange leaves or ferns aoross the bottom before spattering. Apply the muslin to the pasteboard and bind each piece with scarlet dress braid. Stitch the front to the back firmly on the line previously drawn, and lace the pocket to the back with scarlet braid. A Terrible Storm Cloud. The recent tornado in the West killed a number of persons and destroyed a large amount of property. In some lo calities the effects of the whirlwind were appalling. A most terrific storm struck the farm of William Bran, a German, about three miles south of the village of Barrington, a suburb of Chicago. The storm cloud was observed first by Henry Stofel, the hired man, who was at work near the house, advancing from the southwest, bounding over the ground and accompanied by an almost indescrib able noise. When it got within about 200 yards of the farm house, it struck the ground with a deafening noise and seemed to rest there for a moment It then rose in the air about fifty feet, car rying with it a mass of earth, trees, sticks and debris, and, as it approached the house, it again descended, striking the side cf the building, literally lifting it up, whirling it over and over, tearing it to pieoes and scattering it in every di rection. The work of destruction took place in the air, at a height of about 150 feet Stofel ran towards the house when he saw the storm coming, taking with him a little son of Mr. Brnn, but the tornado struck him when within about ten rods of the house, throwing him and the boy in opposite directions. Sto fel struck the ground about thirty feet distant, on his back, and lay. there stunned for several seconds. The first thing he saw was the house going np, and he was obliged to hold on to the shrubbery with might and main to keep from being aucked into the vortex of the storm. It was over in a few minutes, and Stofel got up to see what had be come of Mrs. Brnn and the children. The boy who was with bim was picked up alive, but badly hurt, in a lot a short distance away. In a pasture about one hundred rods off, one little girl was found with her head torn from her shoul ders and her clothing entirely stripped from her body, which was fearfully dis figured. Another little girl was found lifeless in the yard, where both the chil dren had been playing when the Btorm struck. Nearly every bone in the little one's body was broken. Mrs. Brnn was found dead abi.ut fifty rods off in a northeast direction from the house. She is supposed to have been alone in the house at the moment the storm struck, and consequently was carried up with it and must have suffered a fearful death. Mr. Brnn was at Plane Grove, about four miles distaut, when the storm arose, and seeing the direction it took, started with all speed for home, but was met half way by neighbors who told him the sorrowful tale of his loss. The grief of the Btrong man was heartrending as he went hither and thither through the ruins calling for his wife and children. A Woman's Conscientiousness. , Tbe Haverhill (Mass.) Gazette has a correspondent who tells the following story: Perhaps the reader has noticed, while journeying upon the Boston and Lowell Railroad, at Willow Bridge, Somerville, a plain but substantial neat brick house upon the hill, only a mo ment's walk from the station. Its doors have not been opened for twelve years. Twelve years ago one of the brightest and smartest mechanics to be found in our bustling city young, handsome, whose only apparent fortune was his daily wages, of which he was very care ful, saving all he could for the one bright object of his life, which was to marry her whom he hod won, as soon as they could get money enough to com mence housekeeping. She was con scientious to a fault, brought up in the most puritanical of Puritan families, good, pure, and beautiful. One bright morning iu spring he invited her to take a drive in the suburbs. They halted after about an hour's drive in front of this house. He asked her how she liked it Of course she wished it was theirs; they could be so happy if they only had a home like that He invited her in. The house was just completed, and very nicely furnished. Judge of her surprise when he quietly informed her that the property was his, that he owned it. She was completely dumbfounded, and, of course, wanted an explanation. How, when did he come in possession of so much property ? He tried to avoid the question, tut she was firm. He finally told her that he drew 820,000 in some lottery scheme, and with its funds built and furnished this home for her. She turned upon him as though he was the veriest gambler, vowing then and there that she would never be his wife until he cave back the property which he had gained by what she termed unlawful means. She scorned all enorts 01 his to oocupy the house. They separated : parted at the door, which has not been opened since. The furniture remains the same to-day as when they left it twelve years ago, except what ago has done. Both are wanderers on the face of the earth, both lives blasted. Adulterating Wheat. The Miller gives an account of a new trick where one would think it impossi ble to make a point For iatance, good honest wheat is good the world over. But it is not so good when it has gone throngh the hands of a manipula tor who ot7 it. The practice is now followed to a considerable extent on the Continent It is stated that wheat, which in its natural condition would weigh one hundred and twenty three Dutch pounds, by the process of oiling will gain tix pounds, or from ten to twelve per cent, in weight more than there really is of wheat The gain on the part of the dishonest seller Is from twenty to twenty-five shillings per ton. The apparent increase in the speoiflo gravity is obtained by an outlay for rape oil of about four pence. Wheat thus treated can never be made into good flour. The practice is not confined to wheat alone, but is applied to all grain sold by weight Of oourse the adulter ation can be easily detected. But wheat oiled in this way is really a handsomer grain in appearanoe than when no such application has been made. It has been possible to adulterate flour and sugar. But who ever heard before of a process for adulterating wheat before milling ? In this country, where wheat is so cheap, it is not likely that the cheat will be very extensive. But in times when the price is extremely hish. if there could be a gain of say five dollars per ton as in Europe, there might be a great deal of ouea wheat. Items of Interest. Bice is a grass, a native of India. . Salt water is about four per cent salt. Carrier pigeons fly thirty to forty miles per hour. An ounce of gold upon silver wire is capable of being extended more than 1300 miles in length. In a ohild the head is equal to a fifth part, and in a full grown man to an eighth of the height of the individual. - "My son is a great mechanical ge nius," said a lady, speaking of her son. " He has made a fiddle out of his own head, and he has plenty of. wood left for another." Instead of sitting up nights and wear ing the down on her oheek off on some fellow's vest, an Indiana girl has during the last year made six hundred dollars by cultivating broom corn. In a very large hen's egg, weighing 1,000 grains (rather over two and one quarter ounces), the shell and mem branes will weigh about 100 grains, the white about 610, and the yolk 290 grains. The average weight of a hen's egg, shell and contents, is about one and three quarter ounces. The British colonies of -Australasia have a population of 2,500,000 souls; a -revenue of $80,000,000; a commerce of $475,000,000 annually; herds ageregat- . ing 7,000,000 head of cattle, and 63, 000,000 head of sheep. Less than twen- five years ago the colonies were penai settlements for the convicts of England . When migrating, birds adopt a tri angular form of flight, because it is the . most favorable for cutting the air, and also because the birds are thus con stantly supplied with a fresh leader and as the bird at the point becomes fatigued, his place is taken by one of the other birds, who gives way in his turn to another, and so on througn tne wnoie band. The chemical principle of the sun's rays is more active, relatively to heat and light, during the spring than at any other period of the year. As summer advances, this power diminishes and luminous force increases ; whilst with the autumn both light and the chemical force are subdued, but the radiations of heat increased. Thus the conditions of the light of seasons vary to suit the necessities of vegetable life. Must it not be exquisitely romantio to be on your knees before one of Eve's lovely daughters, heaving up a torrent of delectable sentiments between her glowing, parted lips, Aising roses on her cheek by the acre, briuging tears of ecstasy to her eyes, and at the critical moment, when she is on the point of swooning blissfully away into your arms, to hear her anxious mother cry : "You, Sal, hev you fed them 'ere hogs?" Chicago Com. Adv. The term "grass widow," is said to be a corruption of " grace widow," the former expression being merely a bar barism. " Grace widow," is the term applied to one who becomes a widow by grace or favor, not of necessity, as by death. It originated in the early ages of European civilization, when divorces were but seldom granted, and wholly by the Catholic Church. When such a de cree was granted to a woman, the papal receists stated, Viduca de gratia, which, when interpreted, is, "grace widow," In the law of the French it would read, Veuve de grace, or "grace widow," veuve meaning widow. Dogs on the Buttle Field. The suggestion of the Wehr Zeitung is that a raoe of dogs should be at tached to armies in their campaigns, or at least to the corps of ambulance service attending upon them, and that after every battle the dogs in question should be sent forth to range over the field of battle in search of those wretch ed wounded soldiers who have not been killed outright but who have hidden themselves in some refuge, and after figuring in the list of "missing" men too often perish miserably before any relief can find them out It seems that the idea of employing dogs in this way is by no means a new one, bnt was brought forward two years ago at Dres den, where some dogs qualified for this Eurpose were shown in an exhibition, ince that time experiments have been made by means of crossing the St Bern ard with other races with a view to obtain ing the most suitable breed, and a very satisfactory result is said to have been arrived at by the German fanciers. Tbe precise mode of employing the animals on their beneficent mission is described in tbe Vienna paper, which explains that the dog is furnished with a-leatber collar and plate, having marked npon it his number and the division of the army to which he is attached, and the Geneva Cross. To this collar is suspended a small leathern bag, containing pencil and slip of paper, and even a little lan tern in case of his being sent out at night The wounded man, npon being found, opens the bag and writes hia name if he can upon the paper, together with the nature of his injuries, and on the return of the animal to the ambu lance assistance is sent under its guid- ance to the spot where the sufferer is ooncealed. Land and Water. Words or Wisdom. Keep aloof from quarrels ; be neither a witness nor a party. Truth is violated by falsehood, and it is equally outraged by silence. The tongue three inohes long can kill a man six feet high. Deprive yourself of nothing necessary to oomfort but live in an honorable simplicity and regularity. There is an old German proverb to the effeot that a great army leaves the country with three armies an army of cripples, an army of mourners and an army of thieves. Liberal of cruelty are those who pam per with promises; promises destroy while they deceive, ana the hope they raise is dearly purchased by the depend ence that is sequent to disappointment Our suooess in life generally bears a direct proportion to the exertions we make; and if we aim at nothing we' shall certainly achieve noth'ng. By the re mission of labor and energy it often happens that poverty and contempt, disaster and defeat, steal a march upon prosperity and honor, and overwhelm of with abame. 1 J.