- J? Willi ) J !i . HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL DESPEHANDUM. Two Dollars par Annum. VOL. VIII. MDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PAT, THUItSD A y7 JANUARY 23, 1879. JlL,. Epigrams, i. A pompons attorney, while trying a cause, Wn quizzing a witness and looking for flaws. The witness, who owed him a personal gradge, Provoked him tin til he appealed to the judge. " I demand, sir," he oried, with a fiery-red face, " A little attention while trying this ease." " Your honor," responded the meek little man, "I'm paying as little as any one can." The Jadge, with a frown, Looked solemnly down On the eqnabble, and said, from the bench where he sat, " We want nothing bnt silence, and little of that." ti. Said young Romeo Batts to Miss Claribel Cntts, (As they'stood In a parlor resplendent with light), With a wearisome sigb, "Ob, I oannot tell why, Bnt somehow, I feel like a fool here to-night ." Baid Mies Claribel Cntts to Borneo Bntts, With a pitiless smile that she oonld not eon oeal : " Yes, yonr faoe would betray, I am sure, what yon say, For yon certainly look all yon say that yon feel." rn. "Ob, husband!" said Mrs. Op'jella MoMunn, As she gazed at her willful and passionate son, " Where that boy got his temper, I never could see ; I'm certain he never could takt it from me." "No donbt, my dear wife, your assertion is true I never have missed any temper from yon." Chicago Tribune. THE STORY OF TWO SINGERS. An Italian vessel had reached the shores of America. The passengers had landed. The wealthy had been taken to their hotels or their friends' homes in carriages. The poor folk, who still had some certain destination and some one to greet and meet, had been led away under friendly guidanoe, after many embraces and much gesticulation, or had taken cars and omnibusses for the purpose of reaching their homes and the welcome that awaited them. Some, poor and forlorn, were wandering vague ly about the Battery the prey of emi grant boarding-housekeepers and one, poorest and most forlorn of all, sat upon a bench under a great tree and wept silently. Sae was a woman. She was young and of the peasant class. Her husband had died npon tne voyage. She bad not a friend in America, and some thief had stolen her parse from tinder her pillow, as she slept between her little children in her berth in the steerage. She bad only a great bag, with a few shabby garments, and these two chil dren, and a pair of earrings, which she might, perhaps, sell for a little bread in all the world. As she stared out npon the water, which had swept away the body of her dead husband, and which still covered it, she was very miserable. " If it had been the Lord's will that I also should be buried in the sea," she sobbed. "J and my children." And she bent her head upon her bands; her eyes were blinded with tears; she saw nothing of what was going on just then. " Mother I" cried the eldest child. " Mother, look. The bad boy has car ried off our bag." The poor creature started to her feet. She stared wildly abont her. A boy was running away at full speed with the bag of clothes on bis back. Uttering a scream, she begau to run at fall speed. People stared at her, bnt did not know why she ran, or understand that the in terpretation of her cry was "stop thief." The boy outran her very soon ; hor breath failed her. She saw him turning a corner of the street, and regardless of the wagons, cars and carriages in her path, dashed across the road. There was a cry a crash ; a policeman strode out npon the crossing and stopped the vehicles, and the body of the Italian woman was lifted from the ground ; her black hair fell over her shoulders, her eyes were fixed, her face pallid, and the yellow kerchief abont her head soaked in blood. No one knew anything abont her. They carried her to the hospital ; thence to the morgue. Afterward she was buried where they bury paupers. When their mother ran after the thief, the little girls sat where she had left them, for awhile; each was playing with something. To amuse them their mother had given them her earrings two hoops of gold. They had their own little ears pierced, but as yet there were only threads in them. Their father had promised that, when he made his fortune, they should have gold earrings like their mother's. But their father was buried in the sea, and their mother was poor. It did not seem likely they should ever have eny of those nice things that they had been promised when they came to America. However, children are light hearted, and they were on land again and not stuffed into the steerage of the crowded ship; and they had no doubt that their mother would catch the boy with the bag. They played with the earrings and stared at the pedestrians and at the carriages, with no anxieties about their mother, until they grew hungry. Then the youngest began to cry. " Mother stays a long while," said the eldest " Let ns go and look for her, and teH her we want supper." And away they went, hand in hand, each clutching her earring. The eldest was a handsome girl of eight ; the youngest a little six-year-old beauty, wonderful to contemplate. They spoke only Italian, of comae. As they wandered on looking for their mother, and gro-ving more and more frightened at every step, there came marching up Broadway a military procession. The bugles blared, tho drums beat, the ban nera wived, a crowd of hangers-on tramped over the sidewalk. Bough men aud boys took no heed of the little girls, and they were at last separated. The eldest was helplessly pushed for ward by the crowd ; the little one, who had clang to the railings of a restau rant, was left behind. When the procession aud tha crowd bad pmad, tho still sat there, wpi,j bitterly. "What a beautiful child,"' said many, and one or two spoke to her, but she did not understand, and oonld not answer them. At last there came along the street an old Italian with an organ on his back, and a monkey perch ed upon it. He paused in front of the restaurant and held out his hand to the child. " What has happened to the pretty little girlf Has she lost herself?" he asked : and tbe child, glad to hear words that she oonld comprehend, told him her story. The old man listened kindly. " Dry your tears, pretty one," he said. " We will find your mother, and mean while, yon shall have supper with me and my monkey. See what a fine monkey. He will shake hands with yon. Pepa, shake hands with the pretty lit tle girl, and bow." The monkey pnt oat one brown paw and took off his velvet cap by the crown with the other. His pranks amnsed the child. 8he trotted along by the side of the organ grinder, and had macaroni with him in a dismal little room in a terrible old tene ment bouse. She had no donbt that he could find her mother for ber her mother and her little sister Franceses; for Bianca was only six years old, and at that age we are always hopeful. Bnt the old man who, after the frugal sapper, went about to do what he oonld to and the child's mother, soon learned the truth. He knew Bianca was the child of the poor woman who bad been killed ; and though he kept the knowledge to him self with a dread of mysterious evil, per sonal consequences peculiar to foreign ers who do not quite understand the laws of the land and scarcely to be wondered at he generously resolved to take care of the little girl, to whom he did not tell the truth. Bianca believed that her mother would soon come back, until she forgot her grief ; bnt the old man bought a little bit of black ribbon and suspended to it the solitary earring. " Never part with it," he said. "It is a memento of yonr mother, pretty one." He had a little poetry in his breast, as most Italians have, though he was only a poor organ-grinder. Every day when he went out with his monkey and his organ, he took the child with him. She held the plate, into whioh the patrons of this oheap concert dropped their coin. After awhile, he taught her to sing some little songs. Italian children can always sing ; and it ws no loss to him to have adopted this little creature, for he never made half as much before. The child brought him luck. One day a musician heard her sing, and offered to teach her to sing better. Her voice was full and rich. She studied carefully. Slie was beautiful and attractive. As Hhe grew np the old man began to see that he must no longer take her into the street. "Stay at home, pretty one," ho said. " Study at the school. A better fate awaits you than to sing be fore windows and catch pennies in a plotter. ' .... The girl was glad to obey. She work ed harder than ever to improve. She kept the poor place neat ; she cooked her adopted father's meals and made her own oheap garments neatly. Hope rose high within her, but, alas I misior tune was at hand. The old man made very little, now that his young singer was not with him. One day the monkey was killed by a larger one, ho threw it from the ropes where the two dangled together ropes swung from pulley lines fastened to the windows of the houses. Poor Pepa was thrown to the pavement below, and his neck broken. Bread grew scarce, and the old man, lamed with rheumatism, could scarcely carry his organ about ; and, at last, the hope that had inspired both perished in 8u hour. The kind musician died ; the free music lessons were over forever, and they could never pay for instruction. One day Bianca found her father, as she called him, actually ill, and their humble means of subsistence at an end for the present. "Forever," said Bianca to herself, "if I oannot earn his bread in his age, as he has earned mine in my youth. Surely, even my little knowledge of mnsio is of some avail." Sitting with her head upon her hands, ehd remembered the beautiful young prima donna who sang at the opera, and whose voice she had heard through the open window of a oertain great hotel. "She is said to be charitable," she said ; " at least, she would tell a poor girl if it might be possible for her to earn her living by her voice; where to apply; what to do." And, full of that ardent trust in human nature which is part of youth, she tied on her poor little hat. and made her way through the wretched streets in which she lived to the great thoroughfare in whioh stood the hotel which was the prima donna's home. "Can I see signora?" she asked timidly of a servant who answered her timid ring. " Well, it isn't likely, young woman," said the man ; " she's just going out to ride. Does she know you ?" "No," said the poor girl; "but" " Oh begging, or something, I sup pose," said the man. " No, you can't." " Let me be the judge," said a soft voice ; and a beautiful lady clad in vel vet swept toward her. " What have you to say to me?" she asked, kindly. And Bianca was about to reply when the suddenly caught sight of something pendent from a chain whioh the lady wore that struck her dumb. It was an earring a hoop of gold the mate to that about poor Bianca's neck. She re membered how her mother had given one to each of them to qniet them on that day when she sat desolate upon a foreign shore. Strange fanoies filled her mind. Gould this be Franoesoa? If it were, would she not despise tke poor organ-grinder's adopted child ? an ignorant girl, so shabby that the servants took her for a beggar. " Come' along with me, my child," said the beautiful young lady. "At least you are of my country. I know it by your acoent We have that tie. Come." She led her to her sumptuous apart ment, and olosed the door. " Now, let me know what yea came for," she said, smiling. Bianoa bent her head, trembling. "I obi tvt oraetfalog slss," tkt said, bnt I can only think of one thing now that hoop upon your chain. What is it? Where did yon get it? And you look oh! you look yon are like one mitered and panned. " This bit of gold," said the lady, "is all I have to remind me of my lost mother. I wear it for that. And be sides I have been told that it may be a means of of" She broke off and covered her faoe with her hands. ' 'Why did you notice the ring?" she said, " Of whom do I remind yon ?" " Of my mother, " said Bianoa. " My mother, who on the day of onr arrival in this country, left me with my sister upon the Battery. She was killed in the street, though I did not know of it for years afterward. An old man good and kind, but very poor cared for me. I never saw my sister again. I came to see you, signora, to ask yon what one oonld do with a good voice and love for mnsio, but with little musical education. I heard you were charitable, but Oh, signora, what does it mean ? As we sat on that bench on the Battery, my sister and I, onr mother gave us each one of her golden earrings to play with. See I I have mine yet." She drew it from her bosom. "Your name?" cried the prima donna. "Bianca," said the girl. " I am Franoesoa I " cried the other. 8he held out her arms, and the next moment the two girls sobbed upon each other's bosom. Franoesoa had been adopted by a rich man, who had developed her great tal ent by all the means in his power. And now she herself was winning fame and fortune. A great joy had come to her in the restoration of ber sister, and she took her at once and forever to her heart and home. And the old Italian, in the comfort of a luxurious home and the society of his adopted daughter, who soon followed in nei sister s footsteps, and became a great singer, found himself well repaid for his kindness to the orphan child, and ended his days in peace and happi ness. Flax Cultnre. The common flax is a native of Egypt or possibly the elevated plains of central Asia, bnt though no doubt a native of warm climates, the fiber attains its neatest fineness and perfection in tem perate regions ; the seed being richer in the tropics. Flax is more extensively and more successfully cultivated in Belgium than in any other European country, particularly in East and West Flanders, in which the most beautiful flax in Europe is produced, being em ployed for the manufacture of the famous Brussels lace, and sold for this purpose at $500 to $900 per ton. Im mense quantities of an inferior product are also raised and exported from Rus sia, especially from the countries bor dering on the Baltic The cultivation of flax was introduced into Ireland from the low countries before the close of the seventeenth century. Flax has been cultivated front time immemorial as a winter crop in India, but only for its seed, and not at all for its fiber. The estimated production of flax in Russia in 1868, was 193,000 tons; in 1869, 800,000 tons. Tn Holland there were in 1869, 66,272 statute acres under flax, producing 13,921 tons ; in 1870, 60,520 acres, producing 8,918 tons. In Belgium, there were at the latest official census, 142,612 acres nnder flax, producing 29,582 tons. In Prussia, in 1870, throughout the eight old pro vinces 846,300 acres nnder flax, while in Austria there were in 1871, 253,730 acres under flax, producing 44,523 tons. Iu Hungary, the yield was 18,150 tons. The average acreag&appropriated to the growth of flax iu France, is 160,550 statute acres, and about 15,000 acres are sown with flax in Egypt every year. Tbe entire produce in Ireland has never exceeded 64,506 tons (1864), and it has sunK as low as 12,929 tons (in 1871), loo acreage unaer nax in Ireland in 1864, was 301,693 ; in 1868, 206,446, and in 1871, 156,883. The acreage under flaXj however, is not always an accurate guide to tne produce, since in 1871. 156,883 acres produced only 13,612 tons of flax, while in 1872, 122 003 acres pro duced 18,920 tons. In 1872 there were 14,011 acres nnder flax in England. eighty-four in Wales, and 1,262 in Soot land. In 1870 the United States pro duced 13,567 tons of flax, of which quantity the State of Ohio alone raised 8,940 tons. Thirty-two States produce nax in large or small quantities. Words of Wisdom. He who is hasty fishes in an empty pond. He who knows himself best esteems himself least. Applause is the spur of noble minds, tne end ami aim oi weas ones. Innate rudeness, in spite of restraint, will betray itself Dy awkwardness. Tne secret pleasure or a generous act is the great mind s great bribe. To give good accounts of your com petitors inspires the belief in your own prosperity. Experience teacu.es us indulgence the wisest man is he who doubts his own judgment with regard to the motives whioh aotuate his fellow-men. Our eyesight is the most exquisite of our senses, yet it does not serve us to discern wisdom ; if it did, what a glow of love would she kindle within us. True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations ; it is eeen with white hairs, and is always young in the heart. Sin first is pleasing, then it grows easv. then delightful, then frequent. then habitual, then confirmed ; then the man is impenitent, then be is obstinate. then he is resolved never to repent, and then be is mined. A beggar knocked at the door, and nnexDeotedlv. tha head of the family opened it " Young man," said tbe latter, "I came here twenty years ago with two shillings, and washed dishes for a living, and now look at me." And he threw his chest out and beamed, si TArdied the bcrear. "can you dlreot n to anybody who has a lot of dJrtss to tJaas 1" A Congressman's Funeral. When a CJoncressman dies at Wash ington while Congress is in session, it is customary to hold the funeral servioes at the ospitol, as in tne recent instances of the late Representatives Hart ridge and Sohleicher. To give our readers an idea of the manner in whioh this im pressive ceremony is cond noted, we append the following description of the scene connected with Mr. Sohleiouer's funeral : The government in all its blanches. legislative, judicial and executive, met in tbe hall of tne nouse at iz o'clock. The House met and adjourned, and the Senate soon afterward receiving the formal message of the House, adjourned too. The House met at 8 o clock. The Speaker, with white sash over his shoul der, fastened by a rosette of black and white, took his seat before thronged desks and filled seats, and gave a single rap with his gavel. The swinging doors were pushed open. A tall, white-headed man walked in, so often the head of this procession, and behind him, two and two, came tne uenate, tne sergeant-at-arms, French, leading, a rosette of black and white for some inscrutable reason on his shoulder. The door-keeper turn ed. " Mr. Speaker." he shouted, as a man must to be heard one honored feet: Tbe Speaker arose. "The Senate of the United States," said Field, as the head of the procession passed abreast of him. "The Senate of the United States." said the; Speaker, like an echo, and his hammer fell with a single Bharp tap as the pausing procession moved on. House arose, and, tnrpugn its ranks, the Senate passed Before those seats in were the green chairs set right of the Speaker for the dioiary ana me teuerai executive, dud- cesnively there came the same simple announcement : " Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court of the United States ; " aud " Mr. Speaker, the President of tho United States ; " and each time the gavel fell the House and Senate arose ; and first, a fll i of men in silk gowns, rust lin? somewhat, and then another of men in overcoats, just from out doors, step ped to their seats. There was no announcement at the next approach. The doors were held back, and the doorkeeper advanced and tinned and walked before the pall bearers, with long white scarfs. Behind them men walked with a heavy burden, flower-covered, and behind them the dead man's delegation, the associates of his official life. The great audience rose. The coffin was slowly lowered. The mourners and the pall bearers sat in the seats left them. The gavel fell. The crowded ranks sat again, and the chaplain of the House, rising in the high marble desk, began : "lam tne resur rection and the life." Briefly the chaplain went from passage to passage of the simple service. There was an impressiveness in the bold absence of music, in the gavel and the mace behind him. the notebooks an 1 nenoila. of the official reporters below. Tt was, never theless, the Senate and House af Rep resentatives in joint session assembled. It was all soon over. No word was eaid. Men stepped forward and raised the coffin. Behind it the guests of the Honse followed in the order they had entered the President and the cabinet, the Supreme Court, and the Senate. The House adjourned. The public funeral was over. Hat Poisoning. An " Old Hatter " writes to the New ark (N. J.) Advertiser : In your paper of the 29th ult, there was an article headed "How Hatters are Poisoned." The men are afflicted with a nervous shaking of the hands and arms, and sometimes of the head ; and X have known instances where the teeth could be pioked out with the fingers. In many oases they are unable to get a cup to their lips without help. The afflic tion is called " The Shakes," and, as stated, is charged to the " carrot " used on the far. It is made by saturating nitric acid with quicksilver, to one part of which an eighth of water is used to wet tbe fur on the skins, and when dry a hot iron is passed over them, whioh gives the fur a yellow tinge called yel low carrot. This has been used ever since hat bodies have been made of fur, and until of late without any bad ef fects, and in some of the large factories the men are not troubled. I believe the workmen on fancy colors are exempt from them, although the same carrot is used only the ironing is omitted and is called whito carrot But I suspect the DiacK color Has mucn to do with, tbe trouble. The salts of copper are all poison, aim mey auouna in tne oust from the hats; especially in badly-ven tilated rooms, which are .where the " shakes " are found to prevail in tbe winter and disappear as the weather will permit of free ventilation in the spring. . :. The writer . has worked at the busi ness many years in the largest factories. has made the carrot and used it without being in the least, affected by it, and feels satisfied that,' some other cause must be at the. bottom of the trouble, The furs are now nearly all prepared in Europe, and some other chemicals may be used, but I think not I find in Ure's Dictionary of the Arts the same formula. The use of carrot on the fnr is to make its felt close and firm, whioh raw stock will not do. I would suggest to the doctor to see if arsenic may not do uie cause, Examine the verdigru used for it Nearly all the hats worn in the United states ace made in Newark, Orange, Danbnrv. : Nnrwulk an1 Rrmlrlina amounting to many millions of dollars yeany, and employing thousands of men and women, New York being the great center oi distribution lor all tne ooun try. There is a remarkable Jewish syna ffocne in tha anainnt nifv Pnm. with walls so thick with dirt as to be absolutely black. A local tradition sava that somewhere on its walls the name Jehovah in inimribad. and if Knl,'oAj - - . - wvuvini that if tbe walls are cleaned the name win be effaced. Tho tumultuous sea of Ufa swamps many ma with its bill0we, TIMELY TOPICS. The heretofore-regarded -worthless sage barrens of Nevada are found to be exeellent pastnrage for Cashmere goats. A single herder, near Carson, has a flock of 8,000. Tbe proportion of soldiers who can read and write in the several armies of Europe is as follows: Germany, 965 in 1,000; Sweden, 930; England, 860; Hol land, 750; Belgium, 700; France, 635; Portugal, 495; Spain, 490; Austria, 460; Italy, 450; Russia, 115; Turkey, 75. An Iowa paper reports that William H. Jones, of Lincoln township, 111., performed the feat of husking 128 bush els and sixty-five pounds of corn in eleven hours and a quarter. The corn was husked, weighed and cribbed in the above-stated time. A Rock Island man claims to have husked 125 bushels in eleven hours and a half, but it was guessed at It will sound a bit funny when the forty-nine Dakotas take their seats in the chapel of Hampton institute, near Norfolk, Va., to hear tbe "Faculty man " call out behind his specs: " Man-That-Looks- Around, Frank Yellow-Bird, Laughing Face, Man -That Hoots, One-Who-Comes-Flying, Lizzie Spider and Walking Cloud." The government will pay the institute $167 apiece for .one year's instruction. uring the year 1878 forty -eight noan railroads, with a mileage of miles and an invested capital of ,uuo, were sold or passed into s oi receivers, the totals for 8 being 132 roads. 11.623 728.463.000 of capital. In UiaC' JeTi6d one -seventh of the total mileage and considerably more than one- seventh of the total capital investment nave passed through the final stage of bankruptcy. Indiscriminate kissing does not gen erally have the very best results, as some of America s sensational court records go to show. The physicians of the late Princess Alice nave serious charges against kissing. They have in vestigated the cause of the peculiar virulence of the diphtheria which at tacked her family with such fatal results, and have agreed that the rapid spread of the infection was entirely due to im prudent kissing. A child with a sore threat ought not to be permitted to kiss any of its companions. Tbe proceedings of the brigands in Macedonia are such as to create in some districts a panic among the inhabitants. At Monastir the alarm, it is stated, has reached such a pitch even in the town itself that the shops are all olosed, and everybody keeps within doors from an hour before sunset The number of out laws and brigands, who are the terror of the country side, is estimated at not fewer than l.ooo. They spread far and near over the district, and not a singleplace is free from their depredations. Whole villages have been brought to rnin by their levies of ransom money, and they occasionally commit atrocious crimes. Skating on Artificial Ice. The whole interior of Gilmore's ear- den is to be floored. Besides the lumber 50,000 feet of iron pipe have been carried into tne garden. These are to be grid ironed across the whole floor and filled with a freezing mixture. Then the floor will be flooded and the whole surface transformed into a glassy sheet of ice for skating. Mr. T. L. Rankin, who for many years has been making ice artificially at tne soutb, bas tne enterprise in charge. The largo steam engine, now in the building, will pump the freezing mix ture from a tank 250 feet lonr. now building under the north gallery. Tke plan is to cover the wooden floor with a water proof material or tarpaulin which may be readily taken up. Upon this tne pipes will be laid. Joe, pipes and tarpaulin may easily be removed at any time, leaving a ball-room floor soon dried by steam. Professor Qamgee's rink of artificial ice in London measured 14i23 feet The ice lake in Gilmore's will have a surface area of over 16.000 feet. Tbe first cost will be larsre. but Mr. Rankin thinks the cost of mainte nance will be little. The garden will be warmed as it is now, and so rapid is tbe congelation from the use of the freezing mixture, that one of the features of the exhibition will probably be the spraying or flooding of the surface eaoh evening and the freezing of tho water iu twenty minutes. Tbe plan is to throw tbe garden open daily for all who may wish to skate, reserving seats for such as may wish to look on. Frank Swift has been engaged to attend daily and give lessons in skating, and he and others will give exhibitions of their skill. It is intended also to make a " speeding track " nine feet wide on the present course, on which long-distanoe skaters may show their speed and en durance. Before Mr. Vanderbilt would consent to this new enterprise he insist ed npon a trial experiment. A tank thirty-two feet long was built, in which tho pipes were placed. By forcing the freezing mixture through them with a hand -pump water was turned to dry ice inside of ten minutes, and when a fresh surface was asked for two buck etfuls of water thrown upon the ice became dry, hard ice in the same num ber of minutes. During the holiday week this pond was maintained, and so well satisfied was Mr. Vanderbilt with the test that arrangements were at once made with Mr. Rankin for the use of his appliances. Mr. Rankin says the lake will be ready for use three days after the floor is laid. Next summer Mr, Rankin will remove a portion of the piping to Coney island and establish there a skating rink, while another seotion will do duty at Long Branch, New York World, When Johnny was questioned as to "by iiis engagement witb Miss u. bad Deen broken off, ha rolled hia eyes, looked very much pained, and groaned. "Oh I she turned out a deoeiver." But he forgot to mention that he was the decoiver whom sho bad tamed eat CLAY ON CROWS. CshIm M. CIrjt K ! Ills Telce la Behalf r the Blrdt-WbKt Keeps From I s the Plasraea of Ksrpt. Caseins M. Clay writes to the Rich mond ItegUter as follows : I was pain ed to see in your journal lately an ao count of the slaughtering of the crows, without protest Nature seems to have provided for the greatest sum of animal life. First vegetables, then insects, and then high er animals, man standing at the apex. All insectivorous birds are the allies of man; without birds the human race would have a hard struggle for exist ence, and would perhaps be exterminat ed. Over all the world the great breeders of famine the locusts and grasshoppers are ruinous only where birds oannot exist The swarms of locusts, which the Bible tells infested Egypt, exist yet, and will exist until trees shall be planted or caused to grow in all places where grass grows ; tnen tbe birds will have come and destroyed the looustB. So the same law pre vails in interior Africa and . in tbe United States. All along the Platte river for hundreds of miles, wherever I saw a few trees and shrubs there were hawks hovering over to E ounce down upon and destroy the irds. The prairie chickens are de- stroyed by man. and between those two allies the birds are lost and the locusts spread ruin; every green thing is eaten, and men fly for life to other lands or perish I The phylloxera in France, a small in sect, has inflicted, by the ruin of the vine, more loss than tbe German war I Jn early years our State was full of woodpeckers and kindred birds. They ate some apples and other fruit; our fathers destroyed them. Tben our veg etables were fine and perfect; after the birds nave been killed we are overran with insects; perfect fruit and vegeta bles are now almost unknown. I believe that the quails or par tridges, though gramnivorons, also de stroy many insects. Whilst all our other birds feed mostly upon insects, every bird has his special habitat Tbe swallows, several species in Ken tucky, feed on the wing; the owls npon the tips of trees and leaves pinching off insects, often unseen by the natural eye. The wren and sparrow are very active feeders near and upon the ground, When the peas are sown I have observ ed the sparrows following tbe lines and picking up the pea bugs as they emerge from the ground. There are many birds which peck the rose bush and grape vines. All the woodpecker and sap sucker tribe eat bngs and not sap. For many years I have kept a box nailed to a tree near my library window; I feed about a quart of crumbs and hominy a day. Last winter I counted fourteen varieties eating them, among others, the beautiful red-birds, which, though naturally shy, have become almost as tame as the sparrows. I had rather a sportsman would shoot down and carry off a pig than one of these beautiful songsters I And now with this preface I come to the crows. For long years I have ceased my early war upon the crews. They are eminently insectivorous. The crow, when the weather is very cold, will eat the eyes of weak, prostrate lambs, other birds' eggs and young; take corn from the ground when it is first sprouted, and follow and eat the soft, half-digested corn from fed cattle in the fields. But for all this they should never be killed. In many lands the buzzard, as a scavenger, is protected by law. The crow is also a most active scavenger, but, as I said, is mostly in sectivorous. I dissected young crows in the nest, and never found a seed or grain of corn. I found bugs, beetles aud, above all, caterpillars. This morn ing, all over my bluegrass pasture, the mercury standing at twenty-eight de grees Fahrenheit, and a thin crust of frozen earth and a fine snow existing, there were thousands of crows feeding. They were eating grass and the eggs of grasshoppers. In France tbe government navs a price for the gathering of these eggs. Here the crows do the work muoh more effectively for nothing-. I have in mv life seen whole meadows stripped of blade and seed by grasshoppers. Who can say that tbe crows do not keep us irom iaminer Tbe announcement by your paper of the destruction of tbe crows struck me with the same sensibil ity as if one bad boasted that he had dried up all the wells and all the springs oi tne county i Bbouid 1 arouse the State to pass efficient laws for the pro tection of crows and other birds. I will have done more for my conntrv than all the politicians and warriors so justly made illustrious. A Chinese Review, A Chinese review has just been wit nessed and described by a correspondent of the Shangbae Courier. The men, clad in uniforms of red and blue, were ranged in two ranks, every tenth man hulding a bright scarlet flag, while a sergeant in tbe middle gave the time to the advance by waving a huge crimson standard. At the Bound of a horn, which resembled the humming of a gigantio bee, the battalion prepared to receive cavalry. Out popped a soldier brandish ing a puce, wmon be posed at an imaginary assailant, then uttering a shriek like an owl, he flourished bis shield, turned a somersault, and trip pingly retired to tho ranks. When everybody had popped out. brandished and poked his pike, shrieked like an owl, thrown a somersault, and retired, tho big horn hummed once more, the soldiers formed in square, and one of them danced gravely but energetically forward, throwing out bis right leg with a graoeful jerk ; then bounding back ward ho again dance I foaward, this time throwing out his left Then he jumped, he waltzed, and capered, he pranced, he turned head over heels, rolled himself well in the dust (which rose in clouds), stood on the back of his neck while he flourished his legs in the air, recovered himself, grasped! wildly with his arms at nothing in particular, made a grotesque courtesy to the vioe- roy and retired. With this martial iraoUeM tut MTiOw eooelndtd. Items of Interest. The national game Turkey. An unpleasant boy A plumber's " Bill." A useful boy A congressman " Frank." Hush-money The money paid a baby's nurse. Miners' wages are among the things that are made in vein. More horses are lamed from bad shoe ing than from all other causes together. In six years in Italy there have been 15,982 homicides and 14,563 arrests therefor. The close of the day is too light a garment for this cold weatber. New York Star. Gold is still found in quartz in Cali fornia. All yon need is to have some- ' body to pint it out The Chinese use orange flowers to scent their tea, also rose leaves, jas mine, and the blossom of the sweet plum tree. In the office of the department of tho interior at Washington, there are ninety-six clocks, 657 spittoons and 611 wasbstands. In this age of pedestrian fever tbe most fashionable performances would appear to be walking away with other people's money. The residents of New York oity con tributed during the last flecal year, to benevolent institutions in private gifts, over $2,000,000. The Esquimaux are afraid to die on a windy day, lest their souls should be blown away. They believe in the actual resurrection of the body. A Milwaukee astronomer says the earth is lop-sided. This is doubtless because of the unusual size and weight of the Milwaukee man's ears. WESTERN EDITORIAL. We do not belong to onr patrons; Oar paper is wholly onr own. Whoever may like it may take it. Who don't may last let it alone. A bankrupt was condoled with the other day for his embarrassment "Oh, I'm not embarrassed at all," said be; "it's my creditors that are embarrass ed." Corner loafers the New Orleans Picayune proposes to utilize by la beling them with the names of the streets they infest, for the convenience of strangers. Skating is a very healthful exercise. It not only puts in play all tbe muscles of the legs and arms, but it creates lumps for future phrenologists to feel of and report on. An official return shows that the num ber of condemnations for crimes in Prussia was, in 1878, 11,692 ; in 1874, 12,844 ; in 1875, 12,126 ; in 1876, 13,197 and in 1877, 14,849. There isn't much difference in spell ing "hero" and "zero," bnt you see how wide the difference is when yon discover that your ears are ready to drop off on the slightest provocation. ' A sailor ou board a vessel in the har bor of Zante having been struck by lightning, there was found on his breast the number 44, being an exact copy of the same figures on a part of the ship's rigging. "What's your occupation ?" asked a visitor at the capitol in Washington of a bright boy whom he met in tbe corri dor. The boy happened to be a page in the House. "I'm running for Con gress," was the reply. Jennie June says girls should! be taught to help themselves. Wo sat op posite to a delicate, blue-eyed, spirit uelle creature of sixteen, at the boarding-house table, and saw ber help her self to a plate of soup, a sirloin steak, a chicken's wing and drumstick, two baked potatoes, three plates of corn, two pickles, four hot ro s, a dish of macaroni, a quarter of a mince pie, a wedge of apple pudding, with sauce, and two dishes of vanilla ice cream. They do help themselves, Rockland Courier. Dumas as a Duellist. One night at the theater of S n Carlo, Naples, Dumas tho elder (the celebrat ed French novelist), found himself chat ting familiarly with a stranger who, when the play was ov:r, said to him patronizingly : " I have greatly enjoyed your conver sation, sir, and hope to see m ire of you. If ever you visit Paris call on me. I em Alexander Do mas." "Tbe deuce you are I So am 1 1 " re plied the novelist, with a roar of laughter. By tbe way, Dumas left Naples nnder peculiar circumstances. One fine morning he printed an arti ole in whioh he handled the Italian people in a manner more vigorous than courteous. At eight o'clock the paper came ont : by ten Dumas received thirty chal lenges : by noon, sixty. At one p. m. he called a meeting of tne 120 friends of his challengers, and said unto them : " Gentlemen, I leave Naples to-night. and therefore have not time to fight all your principals singly. Nevertheless I am anxious to give them all the satisfac tion that is in my power, so as I have the choice of weapons I. propose fight ing wiw pistois ; your sixty principals will bo collected into a group, and on re ceiving the word fire a volley at me and J. 11 blaze away into tbe crowd." 'Pith and PoInt.' Why don't soma venturous barber of the right stripe open a shop at the North pole? How strange it is that a plain, blunt man usually makes very pointed re mans. loo cream will be cheap next summer if the milkmen are willing aud the cows liberal. If a race-horse hadn't free use of afl four feet, its owner would more than likely forfeit the stakes. A mail-carrier's protest against dIb wife's scolding : " Oh, madam, letters have peace I" she stamped on him. Cultivate modesty, morality and mus taches. None are expensive, for fertilizers aro required ATei I