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HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor end Publisher, Nit, DESPERANDtJM. Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. IX. BIDQWAY, ELK COUKTY, PA.,' THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 1879. NO. 5. ""
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THE HOSTLER'S STORY.
BT I, T. TROWBRIDGE.
' - ' What amused us most at the Lake
house last summer was the performance
of a bear in the back yard.
He was fastened to a pole by a chain.
which gave him a range of a dozen or
fifteen feet. It was not very safe for
visitors to come within that cirole, unless
they were prepared for rough handling.
He had a way of suddenly eatohing
yon to his bosom, and picking your
pockets of peanuts and candy if yon
carried any about you in a manner
whioh took your breath away. He stood
up to his work on his hind legs in a
quite human fashion, and used paw and
tongue with amazing skill and yivaoity.
He was friendly, and didn't mean any
harm, but he was a rude playfellow.
- I shall never forget the ludicrous ad
venture of a dandified New Yorker who
came out into the yard to feed bruin on
seed-cakes, and did not feed him fast
enough.
He had approached a trifle too near,
when all at once the bear whipped an
arm about him, took him to his embrace,
and " went through " his pockets in a
hurty. The terrified face of the strug
gling and screaming fop, and the good
natured, business-like expression of the
fumbling and munching beast, offered
the funniest sort of contrast.
The one-eyed hostler, who was the
bear's especial guardian, lounged leisure
ly to the spot.
"Keep still, and he won't hurt ye,"
he said, turning his quid. "That's
one of his tricks. Throw out what you've
got, and he'll leave ye."
The dandy made haste to help bruin
to the last of the seed-cake, and es
caped without injury, but iu a ridicu
lous plight his hat sma-hed, his neck
tie and linen rumpled, and his watch
dangling ; but his flight was the most
laughable part of all.
The one-eyed hustler made a motion
to the beast, who immediately climbed
' the pole, and looked at us from the
orosspieoe at the top.
"A bear," said the one-eyed hostler,
- turning his quid again, "is the best
hearted, knowin'est critter that goes on
all-fours. I'm speakin' of our native
black bear, you understand. The brown
bear aint half so respectable, and tbe
grizzly is one of the ugliest brutes in
creation. Gome down here, Pomp."
Pomp slipped down the pole and ad
vanced toward the one-eyed hostler,
walking on his hind legs and rattling
his chain,
"Play ml as a kitten I" said the one
eyed hostler, fondly. "I'll Bhow ye."
He took a wooden bar from a clothes-hof-e
vrxr bv, and made a lunge with it
at Pomp's breast. .
- No pugilibt or fenoing-master could
- have parried a blow more neatly.
Then the one-eyed hostler began to
thrust and btrike with the bar as if in
downright earnest.
"Bather savage play," I remarked.
And a friend by my side, who never
misses a chance to make a pun, added :
Tes, a decided act of bar-bear-ity."
" Oh, he likes it I" said the one-eyed
hostler. "Ye can't hit him."
And indeed it was so. No matter how
or where the blow was aimed, a move
ment of Pomp's paw, quiok as a flash of
lightning, knocked it aside, and he
stood good-humoredly waiting for more.
"Once in awhile," said the one-eyed
hostler, resting from the exercise aud
leaning on the bar, while Pomp retired
to his pole, " there'd a bear of this spe
cies that's vicious and blood-thirsty.
Generally, you let them alone and
they'll let you alone. They won't
' run from you maybe, but they won't
go out of their way to pick a quar
rel. They don't swagger round with a
chip on their shoulder lookin' for some
fool to knock it off."
" Will they eat you ?" some one in
quired ; for there was ring of spectators
" around tbe performers by this time.
" As likely as not, if they are sharp
set, ai.d you lay yourself out to be eaten,
but it aint their habit to go for human
flesh. Boots, nuts, berries, bugs and
any small game they can piok up, satis
fies their humble appetite as a general
thing.
Tbe one-eyed hostler leaned against
the pole, stroked Pomp's fur affection
ately, and continued somewhat iu this
style:
" Bears are partio'larly fond of fat,
juicy pigs; and once give 'em a taste of
human flesh why, I shouldn't want my
children to be playin' in the woods with
in a good many miles of their den I
"Which reminds me of Old Two
Claws, as they used to call him, a bear
that plagued the folks over in Ridge
town, where I was brought up wall,;as
much as forty year ago.
" He got his name from the peouliar
shape of his foot, and he got that from
trifling with a gun-trap. You know
what that is a loaded gun set in such a
way that a bear or any game that's curi
ous about it must come up to it the way
it p'ints; a bait is hung before the muz
zle, and a string runs from that to the
trigger.
"He was a cunning fellow, and he
put out an investigatin' paw at the
piece of pork before trying his jaws on
it; so instead of gettin' a bullet in the
head, he merely had a bit of hia paw
shot off. There were but two claws left
, on that foot, as his bloody tracks show
ed. "He got off; but this experience
seemed to have soured his disposition.
He owed a spite to the settlement.
"One night a great row was heard in
my uncle's pigpen. He and the boys
r ushed out with pitchforks, a gun ana a
lantern. They knew what the trouble
was, or soon found out.
"A huge black bear had broken dowu
the side of the pen; he bad seized a fat
po rker, and was actually lugging him
oflf in his arms I The pig was kicking
aul squealing, but the bear had him
fast. He did not seem at all inclined to
give up his prey, even when attaoked.
Hi looked sullen and ugly; but a few
jabs from a pitchfork, and a shot in the
buouI der, convinced him that he was
mak ing a mistake.
He dropped the pig and got away
before my uncle could load up for
another shot The next morning they
examined his tracks. It was Old Two
Claws,
But What sp'ilt him for being ,
quiet neighbor was something that hap
pened about a year after that.
" There was a roving family of Indians
enoamped near the settlement; hunting,
fishing and making moccasins and bask
ets, which they traded with the whites.
" One afternoon the Bed-Sky -of -the-Morning.
wife of the Water-Snake-
with-the-Long-Tail, came over to the
settlement with some of their truck for
sale. She had a papoose on her back
strapped on a board: another squaw
traveled with her, carrying an empty
jug.
- " Almost within sight of Gorman's
grocery, Bed-Sky took off her papoose
and hung it on a tree. The fellows
around the store had made fun of it
when she was there once before, so she
preferred to leave it in the woods rather
than expose it to the coarse jokes of the
boys. The little thing was used to such
treatment. Whether carried or hung
up, papoosey never cried.
"The squaws traded off this truck,
and bought, with other luxuries of
civilization, a gallon of whisky. They
drank out of the jug, and then looked at
more goods. Then they drank again,
and from being shy and silent, as at
first, they giggled and chatted like a
couple of silly white girls. They spent
a good deal more time and money at
Gorman's than they would if it hadn't
been for the whisky, but finally they
started to go back through the woods.
" They went chattering and giggling
to the tree where the papoose had been
left. There was no papoose there I
" This discovery sobered them. They
thought at first the fellows around the
store had played them a trick by taking
it away; butby-and-by the Bed-Sky-of-the-Morning
set up a shriek.
" She had found the board not far off,
but no papoose strapped to it, only
something that told the story of what
had happened.
" There were bear tracks around the
spot. One of the prints showed only
twoclawB. '
"The Bed-Sky-of-the-Morning went
back to the camp with the news ; the
other squaw followed with the jug.
" When the Water Snake-with -the -Long
Tail heard that his papoose had
been eaten by a bear, he felt, 1 suppose,
very much as any white father wouldhave
felt under the circumstances. He vowed
vengeance against Old Two Claws, but
consoled himself with a drink of the
fire-water before starting on the hunt.
"The braves with him followed his
example. It wasn't in Indian nature to
start until they had emptied the jug, so
it,bappened that Old Two Claws got off
again. Tipsy braves can't follow a trail
worth a cent.
" Not very long after that a woman in
a neighboring settlement heard her
children fcream one day in tbe woods
near the house. She rushed out, and
actually saw a bear lugging off her
youngest.
"She was a Biokly, feeble sort of wo
man , but such a sight was enough to
give her the strength and oournge of a
man. She ran and caught up an axe.
Luckily she had a big dog. The two
went at the bear.
" The old fellow had no notion of los
ing his dinner just for a woman and a
mongrel our. But she struck him a
tremendous blow on the back; at the
same time the pup got him by the leg.
tie dropped the young one to detenu
himself. She caught it up and ran.
leaving the two beasts to have it out
together.
"The bear made short work with the
our; but instead of following the woman
and child, he skulked off into the woods.
" The settlers got together for a grand
hunt; but Old Two Claws for the
tracks showed that he was the scoundrel
escaped into the mountains, and lived
to make more trouble another day.
"The child 1 Uh, the child was
scarcely hurt. It had got squeezed and
scratched a little in the final tussle; that
was all.
" As to the bear, he was next heard of
in our settlement."
The hostler hesitated, winked his one
eye with au odd expression, put a fresh
quid into his cheek, and finally resumed :
"A brother-in-law of my uncle, a man
of the name of Bush, was one day chop
ping in the woods about half a mile from
his house, when his wife went out to
carry him his luncheon.
"She left two children at home, a boy
about five years old, aud a baby just big
enough to toddle around.
" Tbe boy had often been told that it
be strayed into the woods with his
brother a bear might carry them off,
and she charged him again that forenoon
not to go away from the house; but he
was an enterprising little fellow, and
when the sun shone so pleasant and the
woods looked so inviting, he wasn't one
to be afraid of bears.
" The woman stopped to see her hus
band fell a big beech he was cutting,
and then went back to the house; but
just before she got there, she saw the
oldest boy ooming out of the woods on
the other side. He was alone. He was
white as a sheet, and so frightened at
first that he couldn't speak.
Johnny,' says she, catching hold
of him, what is the matter ?'
" A bear I' he gasped out at last.
' Where is your little brother ?' was
her next question.
" I don't know,' said he, too muoli
frightened to know anything just then.
"Where did you leave him?' says
Bhe.
"Then he seemed to have gotten hia
wits together a little. A bear took
him I' said he.
" You can guess what sort of an agony
the mother was in.
" Oh, Johnny, tell me true I Think I
Where was it ?'
In the woods,' he said. 'Bear
come along. I run.'
"She caught him up and hurried
with him into the woods. She begged
him show her where he was with his
little brother when the bear came along.
He pointed out two or three places. In
one of them tbe earth was soft. There
were fresh tracks crossing it bear
tracks. There was no doubt about it.
It was a terrible situation for a poor
woman. Whether to follow tho bear
and try to recover her child, or go at
once for her husband, or alarm the
neighbors; what to do with Johnny
meanwhile all that would have been
hard enough for her to decide even if
she had had her wits about her.
"Bhe hardly knew what she did, but
just followed her instinot, and ran with
Johnny iu her arms, or dragging him
after her, to where her husband was
chopping.
" Well," continued the one-eved hos
tier; "I needn't try to describe what
followed. They went back to the house,
and Bush took his rifle and started on
the track of the bear, vowing that he
would not oome back without either the
ohild or the bear's hide.
" The news went like wildfire through
the settlement. In an hour half-a-dozen
men with their dogs were on the
track with Bush. It was so much trou
ble for him to follow the trail that they
soon overtook him with the help of the
dogs,
" But in spite of them the bear got
into the mountains. Two of the dogs
came up with him, and one, the only
one that could follow a scent, had his
back broken by a stroke of his paw.
After that it was almost impossible to
track him, and one after another the
hunters gave up and returned home.
At last Bush was left alone; but
nothing could induce him to turn back.
He shot some small game in the moun
tains, whioh he cooked for his supper,
slept on the ground, and started on the
trail again in the morning.
Along iu the forenoon he came in
sight of the bear as he was crossing a
stream. He had a good shot at him as
he waa climbing the bank on the other
side
The bear kept on, but it was easier
tracking him after that by his blood.
" That evening a hunter, haggard, his
clothes all in tatters, found his way to a
baokwoodman'shutoverinWhite'svalley.
It was Bush. He told his story in a few
words as he rested on a stool. He had
found no traces of his child, but he had
killed the bear. It was Old Two Claws.
He had left him on the hills, and came
to the settlement for help.
" The hunt had taken him a round
about course, and he was then not
more than seven miles from home. The
next day, gun in hand, with the bear skin
strapped to his back the carcass
had been given to his friend the back
woodsman he started to return by an
easier way through the woods.
" It was a sad revenge he had had,
but there was a grim sort of satisfaction
in lugging home the hide of the terrible
Old Two Claws. .
" As he came iu sight of his log house,
out ran his wife to meet him, with what
do you suppose ? little Johnny drag -gicg
at her skirts, and the lost child in
her arms.
" Then, for the first time, the man
dropped, but he didn't get down any
further than his knees. He clung to his
wife and baby, and thanked God for the
miracle.
"But it wasn't much of a miracle,
after all.
"Little Johnny had been playing
around the door, and lost sight of the
baby, and maybe forgotten all about
him when he strayed into the woods and
saw the bear. Then he remembered all
that he had heard of the dancer of being
carried off and eaten, and of course he
bad a terrible fright. When asked about
his little brother he didn't know any
thing about him, and I suppose really
imagined that the bear had got him.
"But the baby had crawled into a
snug place under the side of the rain
trough, and there he was fast asleep all
the while. Then he woke up two or
three hours after, and the mother heard
him cry; her husband was far away on
the hunt.
"True this story I've told von?"
added the one-eyed hostler, as some one
questioned him. " Every word of it I"
, ' But your name is Bush, isn't it ?" I
said.
The one eye twinkled humorously.
"My name is Bush. Mv uncle's
brother-in-law was my own father."
"And you?" exclaimed a bystander.
"I," said the one-eyed hostler, "am
the very man who warn'i eaten by the
bear when I was a baby I" Youth's
uompanion.
Tbe Cause of a Mine Explosion.
Some peouliar features of mining
casualties were developed at a coroner's
inquest on the bodies of William Crone
and Thomas Tiernay. who died from in
juries received by an explosion of fire
damp, at tbe Lower Bausoh Creek col
liery, near Pottsville, Pa. These men
were working with safety-lamps on the
bottom level of the mine, 1,900 feet
below the surface. The vein in which
they worked made no gas, but another
beneath it, with about nine feet of slate
between, gave forth gas in quantities so
great as to force up the solid slate-covering
in the centre of the breast, the
Eressure of the strata above, of course,
elping. The movement caused a
rumbling and cracking, which the meu
thought came from the roof, and they,
together with tbe fire -boss, James
O'Neill, and a miner named Jacob
Imsohweller, were watching that part,
when tbe noise became so violent that
they ran into the heading, fearing that
the roof would falL The roof, however,
remained undisturbed. Tbe men had
scarcely left the breast when the floor
heaved up. opened, and a volume of
gas poured forth, whioh at once filled
tbe whole place. O'Neill and Imsoh
weller, fortunately for them, darted
into the passage leading inward from
the breast; but Crone and Tiernay en
tered the "intake" passage. Crone,
knowing that a strong current of air
would force the flame through the
meshes of his lamp and set fire to the
gas, shielded his lamp as he ran, but
Tiernay neglected this precaution. The
gas ignited from his lamp, and a terrible
explosion followed. Crone and Tiernay
were so badly bumed that they died in
a few hours, while the others, being
behind the explosion, whioh always
takes an outward course, were only
slightly injured by being dashed against
the coal. The wood-work of the mine
was shattered for a distance of 100
yards, and a boy named Grady reoeived
fatal injuries from a door which fell on
him. The mine was then being in
spected for the third time that day (the
explosion occurred at noon); and 16,676
oubio feet of air per minute was then
passing through that portion of it. The
jury returned a verdict that "the de
oeasedcame to their deaths from the
effects of an explosion caused by run
ning through the gas with their safety
lamps against, instead of with, the air-Current,"
TIMELY TOPICS.
The sacred right of petition hts been
vindicated to the extent of 10,167 peti
tions introduced in the House of Rep
resentatives during the Forty-fifth
United States Congress. They relate to
all sorts of subjects, and oome from
private individuals, aliens, corporations,
literary, scientific, and labor-reform
societies, boards of trade, State and
Territorial legislatures: in fact, from
almost every branch of trade and in
dustry. Under the rule of the House
petitions are not presented in open ses
sion, but are placed on file, and as a
general thing are never heard of.
Sixty-nine libel suits for one libel 1
Ambiguity has been the death of one
poor paper in Marseilles, France. The
Nouvelliste, of Marseilles, stated some
months ago that the tax receiver of St.
Etienne had embezzled $10,000. The
proprietor must have had more than
one " bad quarter of an hour " when he
discovered, as he very quickly did, that
there are sixty-nine St. Etiennes, towns
or communes iu Franoe, Every one of
the tax receivers of these places brought
an action against the pnper, whioh has
been ordered to pay $20 damages to
each collector, besides $40 flue.
A "first exhibition ciroutar" of the
Melbourne International exhibition of
1880 has been received. It contains
long lists of commissioners and commit
tees and the " system of general classi
fication," apparently based to a con
siderable extent upon that of Philadel
phia. The president is tha Hon. Wm.
John Clarke, member of the legislative
council at Melbourne. Applications for
space should be Bent in cot later than
June 80, 1879. The recaption of ex
hibits will commence June 1, 1880, and
none will be admitted after August 81.
The exhibition will remain open for six
oalendar months, commenting October
1, 1880, and closing March 81, 1881.
Full particulars can be obtained from
James E. Denison, No. 123 Collins
street, West Melbourne, who will act as
general agent for American exhibitors.
A subject of more than ordinary in
terest is now under consideration by a
committee of tbe Medico-Legal society,
and it is deemed probable that the re
sult of the research and report of the
oommittee will be the passage of a law
providing for the verification of every
case of supposed death occurring in
New York city. The wisdom and ne
cessity of such a law, the Herald re
marks, can hardly be questioned by any
one who has given the subject any care
ful thought; and so thoronghly is it
acknowledged by Europeans that in
every principal country of Europe legal
cognizance is taken of the possibility of
syncope being mistaken for death. And
in nearly all, if not all of the principal
cities ou the continent there is an officer
of the law whose duty it is to decide in
every case of apparent death whether it
is or ia not real. In England and Amer
ica, however, no protection is afford
ed by the statutes against the possibility
of a live person being buried.
Au original character, well known in
the Latin quarter, has just died in Paris
at an advanced age. Pore Boyer, as he
was called, fancied he was an unappre
ciated genius, and amused himself in
inventing new systems which were to
renovate society. He set up a new re
ligion, one article of which and the
one that roenred the most adherents
was to make every other day a day of
rest. He habituated himself to eating
only ou alternate days, and used to
argue that by sleeping twenty-four con
secutive hours and then working for a
like period, the same sum of labor
would be produced with a saving of food
and the time lost at meals. Daring the
late war Pere Boyer invented a number
of means for annihilating the Prussians,
and never pardoned the war depart
ment for the indifference it manifested
toward his Greek fire, whioh he called
the " prnssovore." He was the author
of some songs, whioh were sung in their
time by the students, and of a poem
called Le droit de boire," whioh, un
fortunately for him, he never found a
publisher to bring out. Like many
other philanthropists, he died in a
state of utter destitution.
A New Astronomical Wonder.
At the last total eclipse of the sun.
many astronomers busied themselves
chiefly with observing the corona whioh
had excited so muoh interest and specu
lation at previous eclipses. This is the
D ime given to the bright light seen out
side of the moon's disk when the body
of the sun is completely hidden by it.
Opinions were divided as to its cause;
some observers thinking it proceeded
from the sun's atmosphere, or from lu
minous gaBes which shot far above its
surfaoe; while others imagined it sepa
rated from the sun altogether, and due
to other causes in the depths of space.
atom the ooservaiions made, and
from photographs taken, it is now be
lieved to be simply the reflected light of
the suu. This reflection is supposed to
be due to immense numbers of meteor
ites, or possibly, systems of meteorites,
like tbe rings of Saturn, revolving about
the sun. The existence of suoh meteor
ites has long been suspected, and ob
servations now seem to justify a belief
in their existence. Their constant fall
ing into the sun is thought to be one of
the methods by which its beat is main
tained without loss.
Relief From a Corn.
Soak the foot in warm wnfar tnr a
quarter of an hour every night; after
each soaking, rub on tbe corn patiently,
with the finger, a half dozen drops ok
sweet oil; wear around the toe during
iuo ujr iwo iniciuiesBeB ot Duokskin,
with a hole iu it to receive the corn,
and continue this treatmnnfc nnfii tha
oo rn falls out. If you wear moderately
YnnflA fihnaa if will Ha m tr, . V .1 -
years, before the corn returns, when the
same treatment will be effininnt in f
days. Paring corns is always danger-
uuo, utxjiue maruug mem iaae deeper
root, as does a weed cut off near the
ground; but the plan advised ia safe,
painless, and costs nothing but a little
attention, JZecAari,-
Whoppers.
It was at a miner's cabin in Tennessee;
a dozen or so of rough, uncouth, unkempt-looking
fellows sat over a stove
iu an atmosphere redolent with cold oof
fee and tobacco.
"Talkin' about your stories," said a
grizzlv, gray old fellow, removing his
pipe from between two shaggy masses
of tawny hair, while his companions
gave each other significant glances
talkin about your Btories, why, y've
all hearn ou Bill Hess, him as was
killed in '76, a moonshining. Well,
Bill an' me wus old cronies. A year
afore the war Bill, he swalled of a
Eeaoh pit. It trubbled of him a kinder,
nt no one thought muoh on't; but
Bill's appetite it got stronger and
stronger, till at last he'd eat and de
vour of every think as what he could
lay of his hands on. An' the mystery
about the affair wns, that the more
Bill he would eat, the thinner did he
become.
It wus six years arter that yes, it
wus seving years when one day Bill
he wus took with a gripin' an' a groan
in'. Snakes 1 how he kicked and yelled ;
seving men couldn't hold of him. No
doctor wus in the parts where we wus.
Well, he had conwulsions, an' he had
'em right smart, too, I tell yer, and the
f urst think we kcowd, up came a small
cherry tree "
" I thought as 'ow he swalled of a
peach pit ?" some one asked.
" Well, so he did, and he disgorged of
a peach tree about three feet high did
I Bay cherry ? well, that wus a Blip of
the tongue with bloomin' peaches on
it. And arter that Bill's health cum
back to him, and he wusn't afflicted no
more."
I've got a story to beat that," ex
claimed a young, sprightly-looking
miner, with a merry eye and a clear
complexion. "Me an' Bob Jones we
wus a travelin' in '58, just about the
time that ere accident happened to Bill
Hess, and Bob he got a cinder in his eye,
which kinder annoyed him. It got wuss
and wuss, till the poor feller hadn't no
peace or comfort. One day, says Bob
to me, says he: ' Pete, somethink is
the matter with that ere eye,somethink is
the matter. It feels like as what it wus
gettin' bigger and leavin' of my head.'
" I looked at it, and sure enough there
wus a raisen-like sort of think on it.
Still it trubbled of Bob. Day by day,
that raisen-like sort of think growed and
growed, until it wouldn't let the eyelid
shut. Mind ye, all this time Bob could
see just as well as ever, if anythink, bet
ter than nor before. The raisen-like
sort of think growed and growed for
two years, when it had growed three
inches out of Bob's eye. It was just
like a bush, with tiny branches and little
bits of leaves. Well, to make a long
story short, one night Bob turned over
on his faoe iu his Bleep, and in the
mornin' he found a little maple tree
lyin' alongside of him, and the pain in
his eye and the bush wns gone. That,
there," pointing to a sapling just out of
the door, is the tree which growed of
the cinder what Bob Jones caught in his
eye."
A Suicide's Letter.
The dead body of an unfortunate
man, Hood AlBton by name, was found
on the 3d of March under a tree at Bav
St. Louis, Miss. It was discovered
that he had destroyed himself by mor
phine, and that he left behind him a
pitiful and deeply interesting letter.
He was evidently a man of culture, and
the letter said he had once been a jour
nalist On the 2d of July, 1863, he was
struck on the nead by a piece of shell at
the battle of Gettysburg. He recovered
to all appearances and was thought to
be quite well. In his letter, however,
Alston declares that he has since been
conscious that he has always been
hovering on the dangerous edge of in
sanity. He has felt on particular and
frequent occasions an almost irresistible
impulse to kill people, and always pre
ferentially those who were most dear to
him. To avoid this he has fled often
from the presence of a wife and chil
dren, living in California, whom he
tenderly loved; but has never had the
moral strength to oonfess his fears and
cause himself to be placed under re
straint. At last the accumulated
agonies of his apprehension, and the
horror of his seoret was too much for
him and he Blew himself. The case is
singular and suggestive. How far Al
ston's madness was, as represented by
himself to himself, real and how far
feigned we shall probably never know.
Perhaps, as some writers would have us
think of Hamlet, he was sometimes sane
and sometimes otherwise. But were
his fears lest he should take the life of
others incident to his lucid intervals, or
did they only present themselves when
his mind was off its balanoe and so con
Btitute the characteristic and proof of
his insanity ? The question is a puz
zling one, and, like the problem of
Hamlet's lunacy and the inquiry whether
it is genuine or simulated, may invite
endless discussion while leaving the
issue forever in the sequel to be
-Bmotnerea Dy surmise." A'eui York
Evening Post.
A Custom of the Country.
The massacre recently perpetrated bv
the king of Burmah, at which over
eighty of his relatives lost their lives,
frightful as it appeals, is merely one
more example of a custom bo universal
in the East that it may almost claim
rank as a reoognized institution. The
natural commencement of every Oriental
reign is the slaughter or disablement of
all possible pretenders to the throne;
and the annals, not merely of Burmah,
but of Persia, Turkey, Afghanistan and
Bomara teem of instances too frightful
for quotation. As recently as the close
of tbe last century, a Western traveler
found one of the royal princes of Persia
going about with a bandage over his
eyes, and on questioning him was told,
in a matter-of-course air whioh made the
statement doubly horrible, that as his
eldest brother would certainly put out
his eyes on mounting the throne, he was
teaching himself to dispense with the
use of them." The Turkish sultan,
Mahmoud, famous for hia destruction
of the Janissaries in 1826. owed his
elevation to the fact of his being the
only member of the royal family left un
slaughtered; and the multiplied butcher
ies ot Mehemet Ali are still fresh in
tiw; vuv p (rAWUWVIUU,
Curious Method of Catching Quail. -The
following passage, from a work
called " Sport and Work on the Nepaul
Frontier," describes the mannerof cap
turing quails in the East Indies: Trav
eling one day along one of the glades I
have mentioned as dividing the strips
of jungle, I was surprised to see a man
before me in a field of long stubble,
with a cloth spread over his head and
two sticks projecting in front at an ob
tuse angle to his body, forming horn
like projections, on which the ends of
his cloth, twisted spirally, were tied.
I thought from his curious antics and
movements that he must be mad, but I
soon discovered that there was method
in his madness, He was catching quail.
The quail are often very numerous in
the stubble fields, and the natives adopt
very ingenious devices for their cap
ture. This was one I was now witness
ing, overing themselves with their
cloth as I have described, the projecting
ends of the two sticks representing the
horns, they simulate all the movements
of a cow or bull They pretend to paw
up the earth, toss their make-believe
horns, turn round and pretend to scratch
themselves, and, in fact, identify them
selves with the animal they are repre
senting; and it is irresistibly comical to
watch a solitary performer go through
this a I fresco comedy. I have laughed
often at some cunning old herdsman or
shekarry. When they see you watching
them they will redouble their efforts, and
try to represent an old bull going through
all his pranks and practices, and throw
you into convulsions of laughter.
Bound two Bides of the field they have
previously put fine nets, and at the apex
they have a large cage with a decoy
quail inside, or perhaps a pair. The
quail is a running bird, disinclined for
flight exoept at night ; in the daytime
they prefer running to using their
wings. The idiotic-looking old cow, as
we will call the hunter, has all his wits
about him. He proceeds very slowly
and warily; his keen eye detects the
conveys of quail, which way they are
going, his ruse generally succeeds won
derfully. He is no more like a cow than
that respectable animal ia like a onoum
ber; but he paws, and tosses, and moves
about, pretends to eat, to nibble here,
and switch his tail there, and bo on
maneuvers as to keep the running quail
away from the unprotected edges of the
field. When they get to the verge pro
tected by the net, they begin to take
alarm; they are probably not very cer
tain about the peculiar-looking "old
cow " behind them, and running along
the net, they see the decoy quails evi
dently feeding in great security and
freedom. The V-shaped mouth of the
large basket cage looks invitingly open.
The puzzling nets are barring the way,
and the " old cow " is gradually closing
up behind. As the hunter moves along,
I should have told you, he rubs two
pieces of dry hard sticks gently up and
down his thigh with one hand, produc
ing a peouliar crepitation, a crackling
sound, not sufficient to startle the birds
into flight, but alarming them enough
to make them get out of the way of the
"old cow." One bolder than the others,
possibly the most timid of the covey,
irritated by the queer crackling sound,
now enters the basket, the others fol -lowing
like a flock of sheep; and once in,
the puzzling shape of the entrance pre
vents their exit. Not infrequently the
hunter bags twenty or even thirty brace
of quail in one field by this ridiculous
looking but ingenious method.
How Yassar Lost a Pupil.
A letter from Poughkeepsie, N. Y., to
the World, says: At the beginning cf the
term one year ago a young lady from
New York entered the freshman class of
1878 at Yassar college. She was then
sixteen, of slight figure, brown-haired,
pretty, and a young person of buoyant
spirits, who speedily became something
of a character among her fellow-students.
It is said, however, that the faculty
found her intractable and subjected her
to a course of mild disoiDline whioh she
did not like. She had entered the col
lege under peouliar ciroumstances. Her
father had endowed a scholarship
there at a cost of 88,000, and she was
the first to receive its benefits. Finally,
muoh of what was considered infelicitous
in the girl s ways was overlooked by the
faculty, and under the new order of
things matters moved along more
smoothly.
Just before the last holiday week she
was again, however, in open rebellion
against the authorities. She expressed
a determination to accompany a fellow-
Btudent to the latter s home in the West
to spend the holidays. The head of the
oollege protested with emphasis; but
wnen the time arrived the young rebel
went on her proposed trip and returned
iu due time and resumed her studies.
In the meantime she was corresponding
with and meeting in Poncrhkeensio everv
Saturday, when the young ladies are
permitted to leave the oollege to do
their shopping, the young eon of her
father's partner in New York,
ihus matters stood up to a recent
Friday, when the young woman was
missing. Inquiry discovered that, with
the assistance of two of her chums, she
had quietly paoked her wardrobe and
stolen away. The young man had a
carriage iu waiting for her, and on her
arrival they went to the residence of Dr.
Elmendorf, of the Second Reformed
church, in Poughkeepsie, and were mar
ried. Then they were driven to the
Nelson house, where they remained
until Saturday afternoon, going then to
New York. Dr. Elmendorf, it is said,
was induced to perform the ceremony
only by the presence of a gentleman of
high standing in this city, who accom
panied the couple to the house and
vouched for their oharaoter and tbe regu
larity of the proceeding. The father of
tbe bride and groom are in business to
gether, the former being a wealthy manu
facturer of a proprietary bitters."
The two girls who assisted hia dangh
ter in making her escape from the ool lege
have been expelled and sent home.
A confidence operator was caught iu
the act of cheating a man at cards, and
boldly insisted that by so doing he was
only obeying the scriptural injunction
When asked how he made that out, he
said: "He was a stranger, and I fcv
him in."
A case ia sometimes gained through
penury suu euuienmes per jury,
ITEMS OF LNTEREST
A horse-race Colts.
"Branch-houses" The florists.
There aro fifty substitutes for coffee,
and 129 for tea.
The lighthouses of the world are esti
mated at 2,814.
One-third of Chioago'a population is
German, or of German origin.
The man who was lost in slumber
probably found his way out ou a night
mare. Many of the provincial cities of China
have populations of from 500,000 to
1,000,000 eaoh.
We suppose no one would oare to do
without a tongue. But, after all, it is
only a matter of taste.
Young ladies think they Miss it by
not, and many a married lady thinks Bhe
Mrs. it in being married.
The Erie canal was commenced in
1817 and completed in 1825. The main
line measures 863 miles in length, and
oost about 87,200,000.
The Pekin (China) Gazette, the oldest
daily newspaper in the world, was first
issued about A. D. 1350. It is still in
existence, and is an official journal.
A FACT IN ASTBONOMT.
If the moon were like some men,
Every night she'd be sublime,
For iUBte&d of quartering then
She would be full all the time.
On the Atlantio ocean, during the
prevalence of a heavy storm, the ex
treme altitude of waves above the inter
vening depressions or hollows was found
to be forty-three feet.
New Mexioo has 1,000.000 head of
sheep, valued at $1,500,000; Colorado
950,000 head, valued at 81,000,000; Wy
oming territory 225,000, valued at $450,
000. The difference between the thermom
eter on a July day and a meadow lark is
that the latter rises three hundred feet,
while the former goes up nearly a hun
dred degrees, above nothing. N, Y.
News,
Two lovers at the gate ;
Thoy linger, linger, linger;
He binds tbe ring of fate
The ring of love and fate
With a kiss upon ber finger.
Somebody.
One lover at the grate;
She lingers, lingers lingers,
"Heighoi this ring of fate,"
Bhe says, "I've seen of late
Upon six others' finders. "
Louisville CourUr-Joumah
Foolish Every-day Questions Askin
the orange peddler, "Are they sweet?'
Inquiring of your friend Smith as to
what the weather is going to be in the
future time, certain or indefinite. De
manding ' What's the news ?" with the
expectation of getting any answer other
than ' O-o-h, nothing." Hailing Tom,
Diok and Harry with " How d'ye do ?"
" How are ye ?' as though you cared a
rush how they did or how they were.
Boston Transcript.
The American Agriculturist, in an in
teresting article on the Texas cattle
drive, says: "The cattle go to the river
for water at noon, with the exception of
a few, whioh remain behind to take care
of the calves. One cow may often be
Been watching twelve or fifteen calves,
wLile their mothers have gone with the
remainder of the herd to drink. After
the return of the herd the watchers '
take their turn. This interesting fact is
vouohed for by several old ranchmen."
David Crockett once visited a me
nagerie at Washington, and, pausing a
moment before a particularly hideous
monkey, exclaimed: "What a resem
blance to the Eon. Mr. X. 1" The words
were scarcely spoken, when he turned,
and, to his great astonishment, saw
standing at his side the very man whom
he had complimented. "I beg your
pardon," said the gallant colonel; "I
would Lot have made the remark had I
known you were near me, and I am
ready to make the most humble apology
for my unpardonable rudeness; but"
looking first at the insulted member of
Congress, whose face was anything but
lovely, and then at the animal compared
to him "hang it, if I can tell whether
I ought to apologize to you or to the
monkey I"
The Custom of "Treating."
"Treating" constitutes one of the
chief perils attaohing to the custom
of -imbibing spirituous liquors, and
there are now few persons who
could not, if free from its shackles,
restriot the indulgence of their thirst to
a decent moderation. A man meeting
a group of his friends just as he is bent
on obtaining his afternoon allowance of
" sherry and bitters " must, if he does
not violate usage, and if he wishes to
do what ia expected of him, ask them
all to join him. Suppose the whole
party to number seven. Seven drinks
are poured down seven throats, willing
or unwilling. What is the immediate
result of this hospitality? Six other
individuals feel themselves mortgaged
with an obligation to equal it. There
may be a little chat, and then some one
Bays; " Ah, let's have another drink I"
Then seven more drinks are poured
down seveu throats. More talk. An
other happy thought by another mem
of the party. Seven more drinks de
scend the seven throats. More talk.
A fourth inspiration by a fourth partici
pant. Some one who has done his fated
duty tries to beg off ; has business to
transact ; ought not to drink any more.
His objection is vetoed by the asking
party, who is already slightly stimulated
perhaps. "No shirking ole feller,
oome on I" Bepetitiou of the gulping
act by seven performers. Every one
feels the mellowing influence by this
time. "Charley," says No. Six affec
tionately to the genius of the bar,
"giv's 'Bother I - All hands round!"
Encore the feat of seven men swallow
ing seven drinks. No. Seven's .turn
bas arrived. The happy relief is near.
He happens to be the least experienced
of the party. He is already full of bliss.
His words are few but expressive. " Set
'em up again, hio I" Up they go, and
then down they go seven more drinks.
Let us see. Seven times seven are
forty-nine. And all because one man
felt like taking a little ' sherry and bit
ters." Perhaps he goes home to his
dinner afterward. Perhaps he don't.
Perhaps he fails to see his wife and
mother-in-law until the next day. Such
is life in a country where " treating " is
tbe ouBtomww York Herald.