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. 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