..1- i . I
It" I I
I !
I (Uitit .''V
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher.
NIL DESPERANDUM.
Two Dollars
n it mi . '
ltlDGAVAY; ELK COUKTY, PA., THURSDAY,1- NOVEMBER 14, 1878.
-NO. 39.
VOL. VIII.
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per Annum. , '
UnkH of Life.
4 boy and a girl stood hand in hand
Beside the window pane,
And gazed far out on flooded laud
: And dreary, falling rain.
; . . The maiden's features, fotm and faee
' Were crowned with every girlish grace.
In boyish words he told her this,
And begged the favor of a kiss i
While inst above them, all the time,
The clock sent forth its rattling rhyme.
And murmured, with a tireless tick,
Be quick 1 be quick !
A youth and maid stood there onoe more
; Beside the window pane,!
A dream of beauty as before,
And watched the falling rain.
Her hand npon his shoulder lies
' He looks on her with love-lit eyes,
And murmurs, " It were perfect bliss
To gain the gift of hand like this."
She pauses then as if in doubt t
.While still the clock again speaks out,
jAni murmurs, with its cheerful tick,
Be quick I be quick i
Yet once again we find thom here ;
But this is in the winter time ;
The forms are bent, and on their hair
Are frosts of age like winter's rime,
But still the eyes look on in lovo,
Beholding glories far above.
His arm again her form draws nigh,
" Ah wife," he says, " we soon muBt die (
We've struggled on through world and
weather.
God grant that we may die together 1"
The clock chimes in with doleful tick,
Be quick 1 be quick!
Once more the window greets the sun ;
No forms now stand its panes beside,
Their smoothly gliding days are done,
And there two coffins, side by side,
Enfold the fond and faithful forms
From summer's rains aud winter's storms.
The pastor prays with saddened sound,
Wuilo weeping mourners gather round.
" They loved each other well," he sail,
" Nor will we part them now. though dead. '
And on each coffined face the while
There Becmed to dawn a loving smile,
As mourners trod with muffled sound
And bore them to the burial ground.
While overhead, with monrnfnl click,
The dock moaned out with tireless tick,
To quick f be quick !
. Edgar Jonts.
A Modern Romeo and Juliet.
If you had gone with me into a cer
tain cliutch in Elltown on a certain
' Sunday, followed the highly respectable
nsher tip the softly-carpeted aisle, set
tled yourself comfortably in the corner
of the proffered seat, and glanced np at
the organ and choir behind the ltev.
Speecham's desk, your attention would
probably have been attracted, as was
mine, by an undeniably attractive f ub
ject. A girl in a dark gray dress am
hat, with a dash of color like the breast
of a bird in the latter, and a cbarmuif
poise and quick motion of the head to
carry out your thought. A slender,
graceful girl, with wRrm red dimpled
cheeks, full red lips that gave the chio!
expression to the face, and were con
stantly clanging that expression by
curves and quivers, steady blue eye's
and a strong forehead and chin.
It, at the end of the first hymn, you
bad.been unable to tell what she had been
singing about, it would not have been
because you had not been watching her
all the time from under cautious eye
lids; and, afttr the reading, you would
probably have found yourself as I did,
old bachelor that I am, wondering what
the girl was thinking about.
First she pulled off one neat little
gray glove, rolled it into a ball and
threw it into the book-rack in a very
impetuous manner, and when the qniet
little Mr. Speecham gave out the hymn
she glowered at him savagely, then shut
her lips tightly, making a straight soar
let line that surely was not called out by
the sentiment, " Blest be the tie that
binds," etc
After the benediction had been pro
nounced, and the people had been
sufficiently awakened by a terrible blast
from the organ to walk mechanically out
of the chilly church into the bright sun
shine outside, I saw my morning puzzle
slip by Dr. Speecham, join a middle-
aged lady of the highly respectable sort,
and go out with the crowd. As for me,
I betook myself to a humdrum boarding
house with a dim feeling of regret that
I was no longer young.
Now, all this is simply a prologue, as
it were, to the little drama which I
found out afterward, and started out in
the beginning to tell you under the title
which has, I believe, been used for a
similar purpose already by some one.
Having given the introduction in due
order, the curtain will now rise on the
first act of the play.
Pioture to yourselves a Sunday after
noon, slowly waning into evening ; a
large gothio house, with a great many
portiooes, and on one of them my puzzle
Juliet, and the middle-aged lady, whom
she addresses as aunt, sitting vis-a-vis.
Juliet looks up now and then into the
elderly lady's face as ehe speaks to her,
but oftener, it must be confessed, glances
dreamily beyond over the wide slope of
lawn at the side of the house.
Auntie Gray, impressively, Now,
Juliet, I am very sure you would find
your feelings changing toward Dr.
Speecham if you would only stop think
ing of that wild haruni-ecarum Hal
Lane." ("H'm," thinks the maiden,
" it is a good thing you don't know who
I am thinking too much of.") " It isn't
he most violent love that lasts the
longest, and, besides, it is dangerous to
trust too much to the feelings. The dear
doctor is a good man, and he wonld re
strain your sudden impulses and freaks."
Juliet's lip curls suspiciously, but she
says nothing.
Auntie Gray resumes, "You do like
him, don't you, Juliet ?"
" Yes, auntie, I respect and like Mr.
Speecham, but that isn't loving; and I
don't love him."
A sudden viviil blush finishes the sen
: tenoe, for as she looks up she has the
horror of seeing that reverend gantleman
standing at the end of the porch, having
come over the lawn as usual to take tea
I nd walk to church with them, after a
custom of some years standing. The
instant she glances np, he makes a ges
ture of silence, so much sterner than
any she has ever seen him make beforo,
that sho is literally astonished into com
plying. " There it no need of your blushing
like that over a man that you only like,"
drones on her aunt, in a state of sweet
unconsciousness ; but before she has
finished speaking, the man who has un
intentionally played eavesdropper has
disappeared. He is late in coming to
tea that night, but when Juliet comes
down from her room, in answer to the
bell, she finds him chatting quite the
same as usual, though she cannot help
noticing that a change has come over his
countenance.
There is a certain young artist, Bex
Gant by name, only son of one of her
aunt's intimate friends, who has for
some time made his home with that
worthy lady. and. thanks to his unfail
ing fund of conversation, and the ease
that belongs to a society man, tea passes
off comfortably in spite of the abstrac
tion of two. for the aunt is still sweetly
serene. As the time for service draws
near, Juliet says : "I think I will not go
out this evening, my neaa acnes." uuc
Mrs. Gray answers quickly: "Why,
my dear, you forget your solo." She
can't quite understand the expression of
the minister's face, he almost looks
gratified at her suggestion, but her aunt
will not hear to it, Knowing the Head
ache to be a subterfuge, so she goes
away to get ready.
When they leave the door, Bex, not in
the least comprehending her looks and
gestures, goes off dutifully with Mrs.
Gray on his arm, leaving Juliet as usual
to Dr. Speecham. Several times dur
ing the walk she thinks she will intro
duce the topic that is uppermost in both
their minds, but he guides the conversa
tion so easily and skillfully on other
subjects that she has no opportunity,
and, after all, what can she say ? In
Ihe sermon that evening, notes are dis
carded, and the speaker preaches a ser
mon straight from his heart that electri
fies and touches as none of his rhetori
cal, flowery discourses have ever done ;
and, most of all does it touoh a sober
girl on the platform behind him, who is
not at all the restless puzzle that she was
in the morning. She makes np her
mind that she will speak to him about
the matter on her way home ; but,
again the question suggests itself, what
con she say, since she has already told
him, without being asked, that she
didn't love him. She is saved the
trouble of answering, for, after the ser
vice, the conversation is taken up as
skillfully and easily as before, and one or
two beginnings in that direction are
nipped in the bud, so that almost before
she knows it, they have reached the gate,
and he has bidden her a quiet good
night and gone home, just the same as
utual.
Juliet walks slowly up to the house
with many and conflicting thoughts.for,
lit e many another girl, she is et odds
ibout some things of which she says
ittle.
She only stops a moment in the par
lor to say, " Auntie, I guess I will go
right up to my room and rest my head.''
then she goes on up the broad stair
case, through the long corridor and into
lier room, locks the door and sits down
wearily in a chair to think. She sets
np an imaginary self on a stool of re
pentance in front of her and apostro
phizes it as follows : " You little goose I
why don't yon love that minister ? He
is a genuinely good man, and there
are mighty few of them." Then she
falls into a reverie, but soon proceeds:
" You ought to be ashamed to care any
thing for Rex Grant ; you know he don't
oare for you." Here the other self
grows indignant,and speakn up : " What
of the evening you went boating, and
the walk from Cable's hill, and " But
at this juncture she becomes disgusted
with both selves, and rudely interrupts
the dialogue by getting up and taking
off her wrap and hat.
Then she lights the gas and sits reso
lutely down to read, but after reading
one page over some six times without
the leaet idea of what it means, she
tosses ihe book into the farther coiner
of the room, turns out the gas again,
raises the low French window and steps
out upon the balcony. It has been a
delightful afternoon, and she remem
bers, as if it were a long time ago, the
soft sunshine and swaying shadows;
but toward dusk the air had grown
oppressive, and now the moon is put out
by clouds that are gathering and scurry
ing across the sky. She drops wearily
down in a rustic chair, puts her folded
arras on the balustrade, and leaning her
cheek upon them looks out over the lawn
and thinks. The brisk breeze blows over
her face, and lifts her hair, and she
thinks in earnest now; of many an even
ing boating, of walks, and talks, and,
oh, of a thousand things ; and under all,
like the current that bears drifting rose
leaves, flows the fear that this artist who
has grown into all her life so olosely will
go out into the world and forget her.
The current of that fear grows strong
er and swifter, until finally she finds
that the breeze, grown to a gale, is
moaning around the corner of the house
and in through the open window behind
her with a lonesome sound that she can
not bear ; and she rises impatiently and
shuts the window down and herself out
with the night. She has hardly done
this wnen a laminar odor greets her
senses, and, presto ! the scene chancres.
for the odor is unmistakably that of a
cigar.
She stands perfectly motionless, and
looks down in an opposite direction
from where she has been looking, and
there, pacing up and down the walk
slowly, is her artist, with that masouline
comforter between his lips. There is an
old saying about his satanio majesty,
but she adapts it to the case in hand, as
she thinks in her ignorance, and quotes
to herself, "Think of angels and you
hear the rustling of their wings."
She hardly dares breathe as she
watches this bright being, probably for
fear of frightening him away. But he
walks np and down without even a
glance at the baloony, and presently
she breathes freer, but still she watches
and he walks, and in the meantime the
clouds are growing heavier. Presently
she hears a low rumbling of thunder,
and at the same instant Bex tosses
away his cigar and comes straight over
to the baloony. Striking a tragical
attitude, he lifts his face to her and
sighs ont :
" Bright angei, thou art as glorious
to this night, being o'er my head, as is
a winged messenger of heaven but
you had better open the window and go
within, for there is a shower coming up
and you'll get your wings wet. Besides,
you've been out too long already." . ,
" Thank you, sir ; I will go in imme
diately, since yon have watched me so
long as to grow tired of me," and she
turned in a very dignified manner to the
window, quick as love always is to take
offense at nothing, and secretly not a
little vexed that he has been walking np
and down there so long and not spoken
before. But the unlucky window closes
with a spring, and is fast. One or two
frantio efforts to lift it, and she stands
still
A low, amused laugh from below.
" You don't mean to say the window is
looked ? Well, that is too good. Say
yon are sorry for being indignant at
nothing, and I'll run up and let yon in."
"The door is locked too," says the
disconsolate Juliet; and this wicked
man, straightway seeing the comical
side of the affair, goes off into a long,
low laugh. But he is stopped by an
other heavy roar of thunder, and in a
moment more he has thrown off his hat
and is olimbing hand over hand up the
wooded vine that grows against the side
of the house, and twines over the bal
cony. As he olimbs he says, in a jerky
way, not at all dramatic, " With love's
light wings did I o'erperch these walls,"
and getting over with a great scramble,
tears a very unromantio rent in his ooat.
But, as lie stands beside her, all that
is ludicrous dies out of his manner, and
he takes both her hands in his own in
that caressing way that she thinks, poor
child, is peculiar to him, and looks into
the drooping face.
It is dangerous to stand on a baloony
on a summer night alone with a girl
that loves you, and that yon love, un
less you mean to make her aware of
your feelings. Any resolves in the way
of firmness are apt to melt into nothing,
and float away ont of reach.
" Juliet," he says, in a tone that is a
little constrained, "are yon going to
marry the minister."
Just a little whispered "No" for an
swer, but it makes him happier than
such a word is apt to make a man on
such an occasion.
" Why not ? " a little more hopefully.
" Because, Bex, I don't love him."
A Budden pressure of the hands that
hold hers, and then Bex draws her,
shrinking and trembling with a rapture
that is half joy, half pain, to his breast,
and says words that are like a benedic
tion to her.
Few men make love well, as regards
eloquence ; but words that are common
place enough in black and white can
easily blossom into a marvel of beauty on
a summer night with one who loves you
devotedly to listen.
The storm gathers faster, the thunder
mutters loader, the wind shakes the
trees, and Juliet has no idea how long
these sounds last, when a great drop of
rain falls on their face (it could hardly
fall between them).
" That says I must let you in ; I hope
I haven't kept you out too long al
ready." " I hope you haven't," she answers
demurely.
He turns to the window, takes out his
jack-knife, and shivers one of the panes,
which are, fortunately for Mrs. Gray, of
a fanciful shape and rather small, reach
es in to the spring and raises the win
dow, and they both step inside, just as
the rain begins to come down in torrents.
"Juliet," calls the cautious voice,
not of the garrulous nurse, but of her
aunt, as they light the gas and open the
door. Bex slips an arm about her and
they go down the hall, and, leaning over
the railing, look down.
Auntie Gray is one of those restless
sort of people that are always prowling
around the house in nervous dread if
there is a storm in the night ; and there
she st nds in wrapper and slippers
with a night-lamp in her hand, calling
softly to know if Juliet's windows are
down, and if she thinks it will be a very
severe storm.
A sudden impulse comes to Bex ;
he tightens his arm about Juliet, and
draws her down the stairs. When they
stand in front of the astonishei woman
he says coolly, not at all minding
Juliet's burning cheeks: " May I have
her for my wife, auntie ?"
" Well, well !" she cries, looking from
one to the other in a dazed way as if to
find out what it all means, "if that
don't beat all I What a blind old fool
I've been,- to be sure. But Providence
always does provide some way," setting
her lamp down carefully, so as to hold
up both hands, in her surprise. " Here's
dear Dr. Speecham asked me to marry
him, and I wouldn't do it, because I
thought you loved, him, and I knew,
being a man, he couldn't help learning
to love you. There, there I and she
breaks off with a little sob that is half
strangled by Juliet's arms about her
neck.
So the curtain falls on our little drama.
Let us hope this " love cn a baloony "
may prove to be of the right sort that
will last through life ; that none of them
may ever take poison ; and that the
stream that often has its rocks and shal
lows, sharp curves and rapids, may in
this caso, in spite of the old adage, run
smooth."
He Got Another Bill.
An Tnrliftna man had a 5 national
note chewed np by his dog. He sent
fa nt (Via nnta to the treas
urer of the United States and wanted a
good one in return. Treasurer uuniian
refused to return a good note, there
nnfhincr in dhow that the Other
fragments might not be sent in for
another new bill, me inaiana man
then sent the two fragments back again,
pinned to an affidavit he had made
a notary publio.as follows : " Personally
appeared before me this day, , who,
being by mo duly sworn, makes oath
nf the bank-bill
hereunto attached was totally destroyed
by bis dog ; that he aeteoiea nun u ww
act and rescued these remnants, taking
them from the dog'a mouth, and that
the remainder of this bill was chewed
and swallowed by theaforesaia aog, aim
thereby 'totally destroyed. Subscribed
k c This being
considered sufficient evidence or the
dog's voracity and tne inauus mu.
veracity, tne treasurer
note.
TIMELY TOPICS.
The recent inundations of the Nile
destroyed 250 human beings and $2,500,-
000 in property. , .. .
Lost year bankrupt liabilities in Eng
land were oyer $325,000,000; assets
about $30,000,000:
The garments belonging to the Moors
who die from cholera in Morocco, instead
01 being burnt, are sold by auction in
the public market.
While the funeral cortege of a respected
Milwaukee citizen, Dr. Meiurod Bisoh,
was on its way to the cemetery, a bull
rushed at it and incontinently broke up
the procession, bntting and overturning
the mourners' carriage and injuring the
hearse so much that the coffin had to be
removed to an omnibus.
The miners and the farmers in Cali
fornia have begun a controversy of great
oonsequenoe. The mining operations
in several counties have ruined great
areas of farming land by choking the
rivers with debris, which causes them to
overflow and cover the alluvial valleys
with mud. Test law suits have been in
stituted. Hundreds of thousands of peasants in
Italy are without work, and those who
are employed are glad to labor twelve
hours a day for nineteen cents and food,
which invariably consists of dry black
bread at ten a. m., and aqua-sale soup
at the close of the day the said soup
being a bowl of hot water salted and fla
vored with a few drops of olive oil. .
Great droughts like that which has raged
over India and China this year, produce
a sort of disease among the inland fishes,
and they die by millions. Nor will any
but the most intelligent and enterprising
of the Hindoos gather the carcasses with
which to fertilize their fields, and thus
the vast and valuable deposits of phos
phate manure along hundreds of miles
of river banks, is wasted. ; '.'."'
James Hill entered the 'Frisco swim
ming tournament for " the longest swim
under water." Spectators watched his
mud-colored, sprawling body as it tug
ged from stone to stone under the trans
parent, green water of the bay. After a
long while the swimmer dropped to the
bottom and laid prone, back up. Every
body thought it was an antic of some sort
and stood still until some sensible person
dived down and pulled ont the apparently-drowned
professional. Much rubbing
and pumping gave life back. - ' 1
The wonderfully joined twin babies
from St. Benoit, Canada, who .were ex
hibited in New York, LaveTjebu critical
ly examined in Philadelphia by Profes
sor Pancoost. They are separate to the
hips, but have only two legs in the ag
gregate. The Siamese twins were a dis
tinct pair, so are the colored twins called
Millie and Christine, but the professor
says of the Canadian babies: "They
have separate lungs and hearts, the union
beginning at the edge of the ribs, and
forming oomraon digestive and genera
tive organs."
The Toronto Mail of a recent date re
lates an incident which befell Mr. John
O. Howard while duck-shooting on the
St. Clair flats, a marsh preserve of some
36,000 acres. A large black duck went
soaring over him some forty or fifty
yards in the air, and he fired at it with
such true aim that it fell directly upon
him. He tried to dodge it, but his boat
was too small to admit of his moving far,
and he was struck fair in the back by the
falling duck. The blow knocked him
senseless in the boat. He instinctively
seized his prey and saved it, but was
confined to his bed for two days from the
effects of his injury.
Country Girls and City Girls.
Referring to a disoussion which has
been going on between two young la
dies of Beading and Lancaster, Pa.,
concerning the relative merits of country
girls and city maidens, the Philadelphia
Times humorously settles the matter to
its own satisfaction thus :
It is a matter of regret that neither
side has gone far enough with the die
CHSsion as yet to have settled any im
portant points of the controversy, but it
looks to an impartial observer as though
a city girl's strong point is ice cream,
while the country girls declines em
phatically to be left on the subject of
ginger-bread. When it comes to mak
ing a choioe between the country girl
and the city girl, however, the impar
tial observer never hesitates a moment
he selects both. There is no reason
why he shouldn't, and he shows a lively
knowledge and appreciation of lovely
human nature in doing so. There is
nothing in natural things to make a city
girl any sweeter than the country girl,
or the reverse "There is something in
pure air, but it' doesn't curl the hair
like a hot slate pencil or give attraction
to the eyes like a, bright mind, and yet
there is no more of God's noble work in
the silken-robed girls of the city par
lors than in the calico-draped girls of
the country kitchens. Intelligence
and grace are not new, as was so much
the case in other years, confined to the
centers of population ; there are noble
hearts and minds, and beautiful and
useful women everywhere in this land,
and, while we love the country girls,
we also love the city girls ; it'a impossi
ble to spare either kind, as the world is
new made np. Hadn't the discussion
now going on better be deoided both
ways ?
One night last week, at a party in
Toronto, a young man was frightening
some of the young ladies by a daring
exhibition of a revolver, when the wea
pon was accidentally discharged, the
bullet entering the young man's aide,
inflioting a serious wound. We have
said a great many harsh things about
these young men whose revolvers con
tain more than their heads, but we re
tract everything now. At last a revolver
has been found that knows which man
to shoot. May his tribe increase.
Burlington Hawkey e.
Clioate Before a Jury. " " '
The power with which Bnfns Choa'e,
the eloquent Massachusetts lawyer,
controlled the minds of a jury, is depict
ed by E. T. Whipple, who says, in
Harper' t Magazine
In jury trials hia main object was to
influence the wills of the twelve men
before him. He addressed their un
derstandings ; he fascinated their im
aginations ; he stirred their feelings ;
but, after all, he used all his powers
in subordination of that one primal
power which dwelt in his magnetic
individuality, by which he subdued
them, bringing on that part of their
being which nttered its reluctant " yes "
or "no," the pressure of . a stronger
nature as well as of a larger mind.
As an advocate, he thoroughly under
stood that men in the aggregate are not
reasonable beings,' but men with the
capacity of being occasionally made
reasonable, if their prejudices are once
blown away by a superior force of blend
ed reason and emotion in other words,
by force of being. His triumphs at the
bar were due to the fact that he was a
powerful man, victorious over other
men because he had a stronger manhood,
a stronger selfhood, than any body on
the jury he addressed. On one occasion
I happened to be a witness in a case
where a trader was prosecuted for ob
taining goods under false pretenses.
Mr. Choate took the ground that the
seeming knavery of the accused was due
to the circumstance that he bad a de
ficient business intelligence in short,
that he had unconsciously rated all his
geese as Bwans. He was right in his
view. The foreman of the jury, how
ever, was a hard-headed praotical man,
a model of business intellect and integ
rity, but with an incapacity of under
standing any intellect or conscience
radically differing from his own. Mr.
Choate's argument, as far as the facts
and the law were concerned, . was
through in an hour. Still he went on
Bpeaking. Hour after hour after passed,
and yet he continued to speak with con
stantly increasing eloquence, repeating
and recapitulating, without any seeming
reason, facts which he had already stated
and arguments whioh he had already
urged. The truth was, as I gradually
learned, that he was engaged in a hand-to-hand
or rather in a brain-to-brain
and a heart-to-heart contest with the
forerrau, whose resistance he was de
termined to break down, but who con
fronted him for three hours with defi
anoe observable in every rigid line of
his honest countenance. " You fool I"
was the burden of the advocate's inge
nious argument ; " yon rascal I" was
the phrase legibly printed on the fore
man s incredulous face. But at last the
features of the foreman began to relax,
and at the end the stern lines melted
into acqniescence with the opinion of
the advocate, who had been storming at
the defenses of hta'mind, his heart and
his conscience for five hours, and had
now entered as victor. He compelled
the foreman to admit the unpleasant
fact ' that there were existing human
beings whose mental and moral consti
tution differed from his own, and who
were yet as honest in intention as he
was, but lacked his clear perception
and sound judgment. The verdict was,
"Not guilty." It was a just verdict,
but it was meroilessly assailed by mer
chants who had lost money by the prison
er, and who were hounding him down
as an enemy to the human race, as
another instance of Choate's lack of
mental and moral honestv in the de
fense of persons accused of crime. The
fact that the foreman of the jury that
returned the verdict belonged to the
class that most vehemently attacked
Choate was sufficient of itself to disprove
such allegations. As I listened to
Choate's argument in this case, I felt
assured that he wonld go on speaking
until he dropped dead on the floor rather
than have relinquished his clutch on the
eoul of the one man on the jury whom
he knew would control the opinion of
the others.
Utilizing Street Mud.
Belgium, like China, has too many
mouths to feed to allow of her neglect
ing any honest means of turning a penny
by husbanding the resources of a small
and densely peopled country. M. Peter
mann, the director of the government
agricultural school at Gembloux, has
been trying, not unsuccessfully, to make
the best of what moBt of ns regard as an
unmitigated annoyance the slimy, te
nacious mud that besmears the pave
ment of our crowded thoroughfares.
Ten tons of this uninviting product be
ing duty transported to the State model
farm and deBtributed in fifty heaps on
the tnrf of the biggest meadow, the offi
cial's next care was to subtract a pound
of mud from each heap, to mix, dry and
sift the samples. Having thus, as it
were, shuffled his cards and insured per
fect fairness of treatment for his fifty
pounds of representative mud, Mr.
Petermann next took out his blowpipe
and cupels, his assay tubes and case of
reagents, and proceeded to subject the
raw material to a strict and searching
analysis. Street mud, it is evident by
the result of M. Petermann's examina
tion, would be worth having on a farm,
if only the farmer lived near enough to
a great town, or the cost of railway or
canal transit were sufficiently low to ad
mit of its being cheaply put upon the
land. There was water, but not mush
only forty-two parts in the thousand.
Lime there was, and a little potash, and
almost exactly the same amount of soda,
and, oddly enough, as much magnesia
:ti the soda and potash together. Oxide
of iron there was, combined with alumi
na, and there were four aoids the oar
bonio, the chloric, the sulphuric and the
phosphoric. There were 640 parts of
useless, inert, insoluble bulk mere
sand, gravel, flint and clay. There were
288 parts of organio matter, and for the
sake of these fertilizing agents it was
considered worth the cost of transfer
ring the sorapinga of the town pave
ments to the pasture and arable hand of
the model farm at Gemblonx poor and
hungry land, it may be remarked, but
which yet repays the care and skill that
have been expended on its cultivation.
Ctoasell'i Magazine. ; . 1 . .. :
Surprise is one of the principal' ele
ments of wit. Thw is why it always make,
a man laugh when he sits down on a pin.
FAKM, GARDES AUD HOUSEHOLD.
Relatione r Fertility to Block tirMftmH.
' Barnyard manure is but the hay,
grain and roots fed to animals, deprived
of that portion of their substance used
to make flesh and bone, milk and wool,
with the wastes of the system added,
and the whole mixed with the refuse of
the yard and stable. In practice we
find that the dung of animals contrib
utes to the growth of crops 1 ecausa
it is composed of the substance of tbose
crops. And since the quality of the
manure depends on the food consumed,
the manure from grain-fed animals is
more valuable than that produced from
feeding roots and hay alone, as grain
(the seed of plants) contains a far larger
proportion of the more important ele
ments offertility than the Btemor roots
of any plant.
Investigations by Law es and Gilbert
upon the comparative values of manures
produced from different foods, showed
that, when reckoning the manure made
from feeding a ton of hay at $10, the
manure from a ton of .
Clover is worth.$15.00
Oat Straw 4.50
Wheat $11.00
Indian Corn... 10.50
Barley 0.88
Potatoes 2 33
Mansolds 1.66
Wheat Straw...,
4.16
3.50
43 3S
80.65
10.50
11.50
Barley Straw.. ..
D'o't' Ootton-s'd
Cake
Linseed Cake...
Malt
Oats
Swedes 1.41'
Turnips 1 83
Carrots 1.83
The most remarkable fact in this ta
ble is, that tho cotton-seed is worth
more for manure, after having served its
end as a nutritious food, than its first
cost. This is due to its unnsual rich
ness in potash, phosphorio acid and ni
trogen, whioh are removed by digestion
in small part only, its more valuable
nutritious portion, the fatty ingredients,
having little commercial value as plant
food. Indian corn, our most promiuent
grain food, also gives a high value to
the resulting manure. ' But in selling
any of these for food, we only obtain a
price corresponding to the amount of
digestible material that the animals ab
stract from them, nothing being allowed
for the increased value of the manure
heap which is derived from their con
sumption. Now with every cargo of corn, oats, or
barley, shipped abroad, we send out of
the country, away'' from our farms, an
amount of fertility equaling nearly half
the entire proceeds of the grain, for
which we get no return ; and iu oil cake,
more fertility than its selling price
would purchase. Where does this fer
tility go to ? The grain and oil cake go
to Europe, to make beef and mutton for
the great English and other markets,
and the manure resulting from feeding
it enriches foreign soil. Indeed, it is
largely to the feeding of cattle and sheep
for beef and mntton, that Eaglish farm
ers owe the great fertility of their high
ly productive lands. ,
In the light of these facts, is it not
better for Southern farmers to convert
their refuse cotton seed iuto beef and
mutton, and in selling the latter get as
much or more, than they now obtain for
the former? while still preserving to
their lands the great amount of fertility
whioh is removed in the seed of the cot
ton, and which they now give awoy !
for the present and increasing demand
In American meat abroad-, it is well for
our farmers, East. West, and South, to
consider the feeding of grain for beef
and mutton, as a means of ready profit
in the sale of meat, and for retaining the
fertility which they are now sending
over the sea in almost numberless car
goes. Farmers who cannot afford to
or cannot conveniently raise grain for
Btock food, should consider that in every
ton of grain purchased and fed, a large
percentage of its cost is retained in the
manure heap, perhaps saving the ex
penditure of just so much money for
commercial fertilizers. With a proper
Btleotion of animals, and with proper
feeding and care, the beef, mutton and
pork produced, ought at least to pay the
cost of food and labor, leaving the re
sulting manure as so much clear profit
on the investment in stock, buildings,
etc. American Agriculturist.
Household llDll.
To Clean Painted Walls. Use ox
gall fluid.
To Keep Door Hinoes from Creak
ing. Bub them with soap.
To Keep Milk Sweet. Put in a
spoonful of grated horseradish.
Eancid Butter. Bancid butter may
be sweetened by being washed in lime
water.
To Prevent Mold orf Black Ink.
Gloves in black ink will prevent mold
from collecting on it.
Greasy Silk Bibbon. Bub magnesia
or French chalk on greasy silk ribbon,
hold near fire, and brush off grease.
Stains is Light Goods. Chloroform
is very useful in removing great stains
from light silk and poplin. Freneh
chalk is also very good.
To Clean Black Cashmere. Wash
in hot suds with a little borax in the
water ; rinse in bluing water very blue
and iron while damp. It will look
equal to new.
To Bestore Colors, Etc. Hartshorn
will restore the color of woolen garments
without injury. Turpentine removes
grease or paint from cloth apply till
paint can be scraped oft
Fof tly and often in skimmed milk: when
it seems clean put it in clean skimmed
rnui, squeeze again, lay it on sheets of
stiff naner. draw nnt annllnna anil eAcroa
with finger, cover with stiff paper and a
ueavy weight, , , r . i
Feeling) Potatoes. All the starch in
potatoes is found very near the surface;
the heart contains but little nutriment.
Ignorance of this fact may form a plaus
ible excuse for those who cut off thick
parings, but none to those who know
belter. Circulate the injunction, "pare
thin the potato skin."
To Beuovb Ink. The following
methods are said to be infallible : "To
extraot ink from cotton, silk and woolen
goods, saturate the spots with spirits ef
turpentine, and let it remain several
hours ; then rub it between the hands.
It will crumble away without injury to
the color or the texture of the article.
To extraot ink. from hnen. dip the. stain
ed part in hot tallow ; when cool, wash
the garment in soapsuds, and the ink
will disappear."
Items of Interest.
The greatest strike of the day Twelye
o'clock.
The first iron boat waa built in the
year 1844.
. When a grasshopper eats it is only
simple hopper-ration,
An Antwerp silk factory was estab
lished in the year 1604.
A quotation for Thanksgiving "So
fowl and fair a day I have not seen." ,
A culinary paradox A good square,
meal usually costs a pretty round sum.
When you get a corn on your toe don't
think you can knock it off against a
fence rail. ' '
A new Krupp cannon sends a ball
through the heaviest armor plate at
eight miles.
There Isn't much difference between
a man who sees a ghost and a man who
swallows a bad oyster, so far as their
looks are concerned.
Jn 1794, under Washington's adminis
tration, and when the population of the
United States numbered 4,000,000, the
American army numbered 3,629.
"Blow, blow, thou winter wind f
Thou art not so unkind," as the mule
that kicks behind, and lands one, d'ye
mind ! where he will the gutter find.
First student (angrily): "If you at
tempt to pnll my ears, you'll have your
hands full." Second do. (looking at the
ears): "Well, yes; I rather think I
shall"
The Chinese have a law that any
military offloer making his house a place
of gambling, shall - be cashiered and
forever debarred from holding public
offioe.
Josh Billings suggests that many a
young poet might be ablo to collect his
scattered thoughts if he would look into
an editor's waste basket early in the
morning.
"Do for gracious sake, waiter, take
these nut-crackers over to that man,"
exclaimed a nervous old lady sitting
opposite a party who was bursting hick
ory nuts with his teeth. " No, I thank
you," he said, politely returning them,
mine are not false teeth."
Great men are said to become so by
aiming high and' wasting no time on
small things; but, although a man may
be way up-in the hay-loft of fame, there,
are times, generally just before a rain,
when he tenderly remembers the first
first little corn he ever had.
how they did it.
They were sitting side by side,
And he Bighed and she sighed.
Said ho: " My darling idol."
And she idled and he idled.
Said he: " Yonr handlask, so bold I've grown.'
And she groaned and he groaned.
Said he: "Yon are cautious, Belle."
And she bellowed and he bellowed.
Says he: " You shall have your private gig."
And she giggled and he giggled.
Said she: " My dearest Lnke !"
And he looked and she looked.
Said he: "Upon my souT there's such a weight. '
And she waited and he waittd.
Said he: " I'll have thee if thou wilt'.'
And he wilted and she wilted.
Facts for the Curious.
The greyhound runs by the eyesight
only, and this we observe as a fact. The
carrier-pigeon flies his 250 miles home
ward by eye-sight namely, from point
to point of objects which he has mark
ed ; but this is only our conjecture.
The fierce dragon-fly, with 12,000 lenses
in his eye, darts from angle to angle
with the rapidity of a flashing sword,
and as rapidly darts back, not turning
in the air, but with a clash reversing the
action of his wings, and instantaneously
calculating the distance of the objects,
or he would dash himself to pieces. But
in what conformation of the eye does
this consist ? no one can answer.
A cloud of ten thousand gnats danoe
up and down in the sun, the minutest
interval between them, yet no one
knocks another upon the grass or breaks
a leg or wing, long and delicate as they
are. Suddenly, amid your matchless
admiration of this dance, a peculiarly
high-shoulderd, vicious gnat, with long,
pendant nose, darts out of the rising
and falling cloud, and setting on yonr
cheek, insert a poisonous sting. What
possessed the little wretch to do this ?
Did he smell your blood in the mazy
danoe ? No one knows.
A carriage comes suddenly npon a
flock of geese on a narrow road, and
drives straight through the middle of
them, A goose was never yet fairly run
over, nor a dnck. They are under the
very wheels and hoofs, and yet somehow N.
they contrive to flap and waddle safely
off. Habitually stupid, heavy and indo
lent, they are nevertheless equal to the
emergency.
Why does the lonely woodpecker,
when he descends his tree and goes to
drink, stop several times on bis way,
listen and look round before he takes
his draught ? No one knows. How is
it that the species of ant, which is taken
in battle by other ants to be made slaves,
should be black ants ? No one knows.
The power of judging of actual dan
ger, and the free and easy boldness
which result from it, are by no
means uncommon. Many birds seem
to have a correct notion' of a
gun's range, and while scrupu
lously careful to keep beyond it, con
fine their care to this caution, though
the most obvious , resource would
be to fly right away out of sight and
hearing, which they do not choose to
do. And they sometimes appear to
make even an ostentatious use of their
power, fairly putting their wit and
cleverness in antagonism to that of man
for the benefit of their fellows. We
lately read an account, by a naturalist
in Brazil, of an expedition he made to
one of the islands of the Amazon to
shoot spoon-bills, ibises and other of the
magnificent grallatorial birds whioh
were most abundant there. His design
was completely be filed, however, by a
wretched little sandpiper that preceded .'
him, continually uttering bis tell-tale
cry, which at once aroused all the birds
within hearing. Throughout the day .
did this individual bird oontinne his
elf-imposed dnty of sentinel to others,
effectually preventing the approach of
the fowler to the game, and yet manag
( ing to keep out of the range of his gnn,