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HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher . NIL DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. IX. KIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1879. NO. 36.
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V. it
The Children.
Do yon love me, little children?
Ob, sweet blossoms! that are curled
(Lite's tender morning-glories)
Round the casement ot the world!
Do your hearts olimb np toward me
As my own heart bends to yoa,
In the beaaty ot yonr dawning
And the brightness ol your dew?
When the fragrance oi yonr noes,
And the rhythm ot yonr feet,
And the incense oi yonr voioes
Transform the sullen street,
Do you see my soul move softly
Forever where you move,
With an eye ol benediction
And a guarding band oi lore ?
Oh, my darlings! I am with you
In your trouble, in your play,
In your sobbing aud your singing,
In your dark aud in your day ;
In the chambers where you nestle,
In the hovels where you lie,
In the sunlight where you blossom,
And the blackness where you die.
Not a blessing broods above you
But it lilts me lrom the ground;
Not a thistle-barb doth sting you
But I suSbr with the wound;
And a chord wiihin me trembles
To your slightest touch or tone,
And I famish when you hunger,
And I shiver whon you moan.
Can you tell mo, little children,
Why it is I love you soT
Why I'm weary with the burdens
Of my sad and weary woeT
Do the myrtle and the aloes
Spring blithely lrom one troe T
' Yet I love you, ob, my darlings!
Have you any flowers tor me T
I have troddon all the space.
Oi my solemn years alone,
And have never lelt tho cooing
Of a babe's breath near my own;
Bat with more than lather passion,
And more than mother pain,
I have loved you, little childien!
Do ) on love me buck aain ?
THE SOAP WOMAN.
It is doubtful if tlie judge would have
felt us much surprised to hear his wife
ayhe wits going to make a voyage to
Europe as to hear her say she was going
to mike soap. They had not been vitj
long married then, mid the judge wa.
not yet conversant with the full cata
logue of that thoroughly home-made
woman's accomplishments.' She had
been one of the live daughters of a
widow, left while her children were wee
bit girls in very straitened circumstances.
The way the mother reared them up to
a true and useful womanhood was a
marvel of perseverance, industry- and
coonomy. She managed to have them
well educated for the times, and saw
them all married into the best circles
and occupying positions of respectabil
ity and influence. Judge Manotte's
wife-was the youngest of the widow's
daughters, and it was thought she had
made the best match of the live. The
judge's place was the pleasantcst itf the
thrifty village, which has pince assumed
tho more ambitious name of city. He
had been gently born and raised, went
early to college, and from thence to his
profession as a lawyer. Manual toil
was a stranger to him, yet he was a man
of industry, in no sense given to profuse
ness of expenditure. lie approved and
admired his wife's general prudence in
housekeeping and spoke with pride to
his guests of the excellent food with
which his board was spread as the work
of her own hands. Mrs. Manotte might
have kept servants. I think the judge
would have been better satisfied if sSe
would have had a girl (all the ladies of
her position had one or more), but she
declared with decision, pretty early in
their wedded life, that she would not
be bothered with servants as long as she
had health to do her own work. The
exercise was no more than she needed
for her own benefit.
Mrs. Manotte had a will and way of
her own, as this little tale will bear
abundant evidence. The judge made
this discovery pretty early, lie could
doubtless make a moving; plea in a court
room, but he was aware he could make
no plea to move his wife when she was
fully bent upon a certain course. .
But yet when Mrs. Manotte, over the
breakfast tahlo of a fair April morning,
announced her intention of making a
barrel of soft soap, the judce looked as
if stricken with a sudden palsy. I doubt
he would have worn a more ructui
e had his best lawsuit gone against
m.
' And I hope you will help me all you
can," added the earnest woman, on
thoughts of economy, ashes and grease
intent.
" Indeed, I can render you no assist
ance whatever!" returned the judge, in
sharper tones than his wife had ever
heard him speak before. Her calm blue
eyes surveyed him with unruffled com
posure, but there was not in look or
bearing one symptom of wavering from
her purpose. -
" Then I must go about the job alone,"
she said quietly.
" I beg vou will do nothing ofthe
kind." continued tho judge, something
very like a frown contracting his brow j
"I am perfectly willing to buy all the
soap we need, and what use should we
have for the vile, sloppy stuff!"
" Soft soap was good enough for my
mother, and it is good enough for her
daughter," said Mrs. Manotte, with a
dignity approaching sternness. "I
shall make no vile, sloppy stuff, but an
article far more efficacious for cleansing
clothes and for vaiious household pur
poses, than anything - to bo bought at
stores. Are you aware how much
money we paid out for soap last year,
Mr. Manotte?"
" No," said the judge, "and it doesn't
matter."
" Indeed, I think it does matter," said
the wife. " However much money peo-
fle may have, they are never justified
n wasting it. So I hope you will call
at the grocer's as you go down this
morning, and see if you can procure
three molasses hogsheads "
"Three molasses hogsheads!" ex
claimed the judge in a tone of mingled
terror and dismay, "do you then pro
pose to manufacture the article by
wholesale? I shall next be invited to
peddle soft soap by tho gallon from door
to door."
The wife laughed gleefully at her hus
band's rueful apprehensions, and asked:
r
" Don't you know that I must set up a
leech?"
"A leech, in old parlance, nipans an
understrapper ol a doctor," said the
judge, moodily.
" Well, I mean a mash-tub," returned
Mrs. Manotte. "Perhaps two hogs
heads will answer, one for the ashes, the
other to hold the soap."
The judge went out without further
words ; his wife did not know whether
he would heed her request or not, but
rather thought he would. She was
right in this supposition. Within an
hour a dray dumped two hogsheads and
a tight barrel in the back yard. Mrs.
Manotte at once attired herself in a
short, stout dress, a long, black poke
bonnet, shut up the front of the house
and retired to the scene of her proposed
labors. She drew a pair of her hus
bandls old leather gloves on to her
hands, adjusted some blocks of wood,
and trundled a hogshead into position.
Then she arranged some bricks in the
bottom of it, and covered them with
straw, that the lye from the leached
ashes might be "clear as it trickled
through. She recollected when a little
girl of her mother putting her into tin
old family mash-tub, which served for
a score of years, and telling her how to
adjust the bricks and straw in proper
fashion.
Next she got a great hod and com
menced to fill the hogshead with ashes.
She worked with such vigor that a tre
mendous dust was raised in the back
yard. People going past in the street
outside sneezed and coughed, and won
dered what was going on at Judge Ma
notte's place.
But Mrs. M. was absorbed in the work
of the hour to utter obliviousness of the
fact that from the second story of the
mansion just across the area from her
own, curious and puzzled eyes were fast
ened on her and her movements. In her
wash-room two kettles set in arches
were heating the water to drench the dry
ashes. She had to climb into a chair to
pour each pailful on to the leech. Cer
tainly to unfamiliar eyes, her work
might seem strange and mysterious.
The Sequin girls, at the chamber
window opposite, with tatting and cro
chet, could at length contain their sur
prise and wonder no longer.
" Do let us call mother,"' one of them
exclaimed, "and see if she can unriddle
he mystery, and tell us the meaning of
the operations over in Judge Manotte's
back yard."
" I think the judge has got a wompn
to make some soit of compost for his
pear trees," said the other.
While the two girls gazed, a stiff pole
was plunged into the fuming hogshead,
and the mass vigorously punched and
shaken b the stout worker.
"She is a Hercules," they said.
" What muscle those women have. Mrs.
Manotte is a worker herself, and she
wouldn't hire a woman to sit still."
But now the woman disappeared for a
while, and when she next came in view
he had under her arm nn nugerandaxe,
in one hand a smooth billctol'wood, and
in the other a huge red hot poker. The
two girls gave a little scream at this
sight, but the worker heard it not, her
head enveloped in the black, poke bon
net. She proceeded to bore through the
billet of wood by means of the llaming
poker, while the smoke as it burned its
way made a dubious blue cloud about
her head.
" I declare, things are getting desper
ate down there," cried the youngest girl.
" I believe some infernal witch-work is
going on ; I will have mother called."
Mrs. Sequin was summoned. She was
a city-bred woman, first and last, and
the proceedings in Judge Manotte's back
yard were as mysterious to her as to her
youns dauehlor.-
" What tho woman is doing I don't
know," she said, ' but she works with a
will. I should like to get her to do our
spring cleaning."
" It is very likely you can, mother,"
said the elder daughter. "We will get
father to inquire of Judge Manotte about
tho woman if, indeed, she is canny."
Next there was a hole made by means
ot the auger in the lower part of the
hogshead, and the bored billet of wood
driven soundly in by aid of the axe,
vigorously wielded by the woman's
lusty arm, and a whittled plug placed in
the wooden spigot.
" What a great, stout creature," ex
claimed Mrs. Sequin. " She handles
tools like a man!"
Then more boiling water was dashed
into the ash-tilled hogshead till it stood
seething and full to the very brim.
And now all was silent and deserted in
Judge Manotte's backyard. In the af
ternoon, Mrs. Manotte, richly dressed,
was seen holding up her skirts, tip-toeing
round the great hogshead, as if in
specting the work to see if it had been
properly and thoroughly done.
At a very early hour th next morn
ing the Sequin girls heard noises in the
back yard, and sprang from bed to
see if the witch was at her work again.
Sure enough she was; they beheld a
huge kettle swung on a stout pole be
tween crotched stakes driven into the
earth, and a pile of blazing fagots be
neath it
" There is her cauldron ; I told you
so," said the younger girl. " And look
at the pails of black liquid she is pour
ing into it, and the foul lumps and bones
she is pouring from that greasy cask.
An infernal broth that must be she is
concocting."
"And there is another barrel with the
dark liquid dripping through the
spigot," said the older one.
." So there is," exclaimed the younger;
" when did she fix that? What a vig
orous creature! Stie would clean our
whole house in twenty-four hours. Let
us call lather. He knows most every
thing. I'll bet he can tell us wlmt all
this means."
So Mr. Sequin was brought to look
down on the soectacle in Judge Ma
notte's backyard.
" It beats the witehes in Hecate all
hollow," said the two girls in chorus, as
their paternal parent entered the room.
After quietly surveying the operations
below a moment, he burst out laughing.
"Why, the woman is making soft
soap," hs said ; " that is all ; I have seen
my old m nher do it fifty times when I
was a boy on the home farm ; and that
woman understands her business, too.
I declare I'll have her make up our
ashes. Soft soap is better for a hundred
purposes in a family than all your patent
cleaners found at stores."
" I wish you would, father," said the
younger daughter, "for it is firsUrate
fun to see h .r work; but what is she
throwing old bones into the kettle for?"
"That is the grease; the Ive will eat
them all up. She has got a keg lull of
scraps. The result will be a barrel of
good strong soft soap. Mrs. Manotte
is a prudent woman. She was country
raised ; her mother taught her to save
meat scraps for soap grease, no doubt.
This js the way all farmers do, and
make their own soap."
" But Mrs Manotte need not have done
this, as she is rich," said Mrs. S.
" Yes. and always -means to be," said
Mr. Sequin. " You know she does her
housework when she might have a
dozen waiters if she wanted them. Now
she has found a hand to work up her
ashes into soap."
" Mrs. Manotte is rather an odd wo
man," remarked Mr. Sequin. "I don't
think the judge is quite pleased with
some of her ways."
Three days after Mrs. Manotte an
nounced her intention of making soap,
she called her husband to see the result,
which was a hogshead of rich brown
liquid, smooth and thick, exhaling a
clean, alkaline odor, as it stood in a
sunny nook of the back yard. Tho
judge gazed at it solemnly as his wife
extolled its virtues and spoke exult
ingly of the " good luck " which had at
tended her efforts.
" As we burn the best of wood tho
ashes were stri ng enough without pot
ash, which makes soap biting and harsh.
I added a strong solution of borax,
which will render it softer for the hands,
and also increase its cleansing proper
ties." "How much do you call it worth?"
asked the judge.
" I do not purpose to sell it," said the
wife, "so you will not have the pleas
ure of peddling it out; but it will last
two years, and save forty or fifty dol
lars' "Is it possible!" exclaimed the
judge, with a humorous twinkle in the
corner of his eye. " I am lost in admir
ation and amazement of this achieve
ment. Couid I ever have Imagined I
should have a soap-maker for a wife?"
Mrs. Manotte laughed; she knew the
judge was rather pleased after all.
Though hjs wife dismayed and almost
shocked his propriety sometimes, he
had a certain quiet r ride in her prowess,
llo never knew her to make an essay
which ended in defeat: nothing she at
tempted "fell through.'? If she could
plan, she could also execute. A few
days later, as the judge was walking
home to dinner, he was aciosted by Mr.
Squine.
'Judge Manotte, will you have the
kindness to give me the name of your
soft-soap woman ? Our folks accident
ally saw her at work in your back yard,
and we want to employ her to make up
our ashes. She is a splendid worker
such activity and strength, vou don't
find many such in these days'
The judge was aghast at first, but he
soon rallied, and said : " I will send her
to you to-morrow morning, if you would
like," and Mr. Sequin went home to tell
his wife, " Judge Manotte's soap woman
will be on hand with the morrow."
The judge merely remarked to his
wife at the dinner table that Mrs. Sequin
wished her to call at her house, next
morning, and Mrs. Manotte thought
nothing strange of this. The ladies
were acquainted, and attended the same
church. Accordingly Mrs. Manotte
made ready at the time specified. The
judge's wife was a handsome, stylish
woman when dressed. Asshe approach
ed the door of her neighbor she noticed
the front part of the house had a decid
edly shut up appearance, and she had to
ring once and again for admittance.
Within the two girls were " peeping,"
and beheld Mrs. Manotte, " dressed so
grand " on the front step.
" How strange she should cal at such
iui unseasonable hour, they said, "I
never knew her to do tints before, and
wlien we are all in our worst clothes,
wilh the parlors shut up, expecting tho
soap woman. It is too bad ; how can
we let her in ?"
But tho bell rung again rather per
emptorily, Mrs. Manotte saying to her
self, "As they sent for me and I have
been at Home trouble to call at this hour,
why do they keep me waiting for en
trance in this unseemly style?"
"I must let her in," said Mrs. Sequin,
" or she may take ou"cnc., and Mrs. Ma
nolte is loo good a friend to lose, though
it is strange she should call at such an
untimely hour. Something particular
may bring her."
So a blind was hastily opened in the
parlor and Mrs. Manotte admitted,
while Mrs. Sequin excused delay by
saying they had some unusual work
claiming their attention that morning,
and told the girls aside if the soap
woman came to show her the ashes and
scraps in the area and set her to work at
once. Then she returned to the parlor
with Mrs. Manotte, who was unaccount
ably silent and rather stiff at length, as
she asked :
"Was there anything particulur you
wished, Mrs. Sequin?" and that lady
answered, "Oh, no, Mra. Manotte," as
she bowed her visitor out.
Mrs. M. walked homeward feeling
rather vexed.
"I thought you said Mrs. Sequin
wished to see me." she remarked to tho
judge in the evening.
" So Mr. Sequin informed me," was
the response, " then she did not see fit to
employ you?"
"Employ me?" echoed Mrs. Manott",
but the judge was inscrutable.
The very next day Mr. Sequin sought
out the judge and said: "Tour soap
woman did not come yesterday; just
tell me her whereabouts, if you 'please,
that I may seek her out."
" The boap-woman has informed me
that she went to your house yesterday
morning, but your wife did not say any
thing about wishing her services; I be
ieve virtually declined them."
'It is not so," said Mr. Sequin, "I fear
the woman is not to be relied on."
"I never knew her to break her word;
she is rather a wilful woman, but by no
means an untruthful one," the judge
said, with that sly twinkle in his eye
which his neighbor had learned carried
a meaning of its own.
Mr. Sequin went home and asked his
wife if 6he had had any callers yester
day? "Only Mrs. Manotte," was the an
swer. " and she came before nine o'clock
in the morning; I never knew her to
call at such an unseasonable hour be
fore. I thought something special had
brought her. but she did no errand."
Mr. Sequin roared.
"Why, she was the soap-woman,
wife," he said.
Then ne related what Judge Manotte
had just been paying to him and it seem
ed plain. The judge had played a prac
tical joke on his wife, he was fond of
such, but they were never instigated
by a malicious or vindictive spirit. She
proved herself a match for him in this
instance. One day at an hour when the
streets were fullest of people, she asked
her husband if he would "take some
thing to Mrs. Seguin for her?" and he
signified his readiness to do so.
" What is it?" he asked.
"Yon will find it od the area steps,"
she answered, quietly.
It was two buckets of soap ! His word
was given, and he kept it, as a man of
honor and a "judge " should do. So lie
came within one of being a soft soap
peddler.
Imitation Jewelry.
Some of the imitations are admirable,
it must be owned. A gold wafh case,
eighteen carats tine, costs fifty dollars;
another, fourteen carats fine, can be
bought for half tho money ; and a third,
four carats fine for ten dollars; and
nothing' but comparison reveals any
difference between the three to inexpe
rienced eyes. Bracelets in gold plate
finished in a dozen different ways, bur
nished, fretted, or faceted, cost less than
those of real tortoise shell, and would
deceive anybody when worn. Lace
pins, cuff pins, rings and earrings are
made at Attleboro: in Providence, and
New York, in the same patterns used by
the best jewelers, and, although not so
well finished in minor detail, have no
imperfections that can reveal them
selves to ordinary inspection. Until
very lately it was impossible to make
the variegated leaves used on lace in any
thing but'ood gold, bnfc they are now
produced in cheap alloys, and a method
has been discovered for applying enamel
to inferior gold.
In many cases, the stones used in the
cheap sets are real ; fine mosaics, am.
tliysts of great clearness, and excellent
onyxes being set in gold of a quality so
?oor that a whole set costs very little,
n other cases, even the stones are false,
and one enn buy a sot of what seem to be
initial onyx sleeve buttons set in goldfor
less than it would cost to cut the stones
if they were real. Second quality onyx,
having the upper layer of uneven tuick
ness is used in so je of the cheap seals,
and in others a blood stone is placed on
one side and a bit of glass on the other.
The seller who means to cheat is enthu
siastic over the beauties of the real
blood stone, and the innocent buyer does
not think to ask about the glass. Still
another deceit is seen in large seals of
pressed glass, apparently cut elaborately,
but really representing no more work
than a pressed glass tumbler; a micro
scope would betray the cheat at once,
but ordinnry buyers do not go about
armed with microscopes, and do not
wish toheohliced to do so. Diamond
pins with solid backs are of doubtful
perfection always, but some of the new
pins have a pit of silver foil set behind
the fragment of glittering glass that
serves for a stone, and are "more deeep
tive than the dull stones worn by some
men who seem to think that they will
be respected if they appear to have spent
three years' salary on an ornament.
As has been said, there is no way of
distinguishing between good and cheap
jewelry when worn, but there are a few
details to which buyers should look
sharply, unless they have perfect confi
dence in the house with which they are
dealing. Watch cases usually have the
name of the firm selling them engraven
on the inside, unless they are of poor
quality. Good bracelets: are as well fin
ished close to the hinges as anywhere
else. Fine brooches Jiave good strong
pins on tho wrong side. Engraved or
tooled surfaces are more deeply! indent
ed in gold jewelry than in that which is
plated, and burnished surfaces on cheap
goods are likely to be scratched, because
they are more carelessly kept than those
which are more expensive. There is a
very slight difference in the color of the
two classes of jewelry, but it only re
veals itself on comparison. Large size
is a danger signal in earrings, and false
diamonds ought to warn anybody from
buying by their setting.
The demand for the cheap jewelry in
creases almost daily, many of tho new
styles being so fantastic that even those
who are determined to wear them hesi
tate about paying much for them, pur
chase them in cheap materials and throw
them away when tarnished. This course
is expensive, but if a man or woman can
afford it nobody is injured by it except
the person who yields to the desire to as
sume the appearance of wealth that he
has not. But nobody wants to be elicit
ed, and he who buys cheap jewelry of ir
responsible persons is tolerably sure to
waste his money . Boston Transcript.
A Bird that Cries "Fa, Pa, Pa!"
Let me tell you about some qieer
birds that I saw in South Africa. They
are called " Hadeda" by the natives, and
are as large as crows, with long legs and
bills, and wings that are dark-green in
one light and golden in another. The
birds look like gentlemen in dress suits
with their hands folded undertheir coat
tails. Tho hadeda lives in marshy places,
but they are easily tamed to live in
houses, and soon go in and out as if they
were part of the family. And, indeed,
you might almost think they were part
ot it, for, when they cry, they say " Pa,
pa. pa!" quickly, like an impatient child.
Two of these birds that I saw were
very fond of the father of the family,
and would follow him about all day.
On Sundays they would even walk after
him into church unless he locked them up
at home. Once they actually did walk
into church, marching gravely up the
aisle, and taking their stand near their
master, who was the minister,-behind
the little lectern or reading-desk. It
was very funny to see these three solemn
figures standing there, and it was lucky
the birds did not think to call out "Pa,
pa, pa!" just then, for the congregation
laughed quite enough as it was. The
birds wouldn't go away, although the
minister told them to in a severe tone ;
so he had to walk out, and they followed
him into the open air. When he came
in again he shut the door close behind
him and so kept them out. M. Enanda,
in St. Nicholas.
The Inhospitable Family.
The other day a genuine tramp with a
sloruach yearning lor a picked-up meal
undertook to enter a yard on Winder
street. A large, fierce dog stood at the
gate to give him a hostile welcome, and
after vainly trying to propitiate the ani
mal the tramp called to a lad of ten who
was making a kite on the veranda:
"Hey, sonny!"
" Yes, I'm hay." was the reply.
"Say, bub, call offyer dog."
"No use eo use," replied the lad.
" Even if you got in here ma's waiting at
the kitchen with a kettle of hot water,
Sarah's working the telephone to git the
police, and I'm hero to holler murder!'
and wake up tho whole street." Free
Frew.
The midnight marauder should Lot be ban
ished lrom our dwelling any mors quickly
than should a cough or oold oi any kind be
driven from the system. Dr. Bull's Cough
Syrup quietly yet positively places all oolds
under its control. Price 25 cents.
FOB THE FAIR SEX.
Fashions ol the Season.
Bonnets. The bonnets now being
made are taken from nearly all periods,
and include all shapes, from the baby
bonnet to the broad, flaring brimmed
hat. From this it will be seen that
there is no particular fashion for hats.
Every lady can wear what best suits
her taste, or her purse, and is most be
coming. Nearly all bonnets have broad
ribbon tie strings; some are brocaded,
mixed with gold or silver; others plain
and flowered stripes ; and still others of
satin, striped with Persian figured silk.
Birds and feathers are used in enormous
quantities. Owls, parrots, pigeons and
even the little sparrows are not dis
carded. The latter dye easily and make
a very pretty trimming. Small feathers
of the most common kind of fowl are
Eurchased in great quantities, dyed
rown, black or in bright colors, are
sewed separately on large piece of thin
cloth, and made into elegant feather
bonnets. A black cottage bonnet is
made entirely of small black feathers
studded with black beads, trimmed
with a cluster of black tips and black
lace embroidered with jets ; broad striped
tie strings of plain atid brocaded satin.
The crowns of many of tho bonnets are
embroidered in variegated beads, jets
and silk, in many fanciful sh pes and
figures. Patterns for these embroidered
crowns and fronts can be obtained, and
ladies can easily make thoir own bon
nets. The newest style is to have the
strings at the top of the crown and fas
tened at the side with ome such orna
ment such as a bird's head or an arrow
of jet or steel. Face trimming is not
used, all brims being simply lined with
pl iin or shirred Satin or velvet. Many
of them are edged with gold braid.
Children's Gakments. Garments for
children are becoming more and more
simple. A paletot of stone-colored
cashmere with a plaiting of silk in the
back, the same shade, wili serve both as
a dress, and with the addition of a can
ton flannel underwaist as nn outside
wrap ; it is made long, loose and com
fortable. Others of dark plaid material,
gabrielle shape, with two narrow plait
in gs at the bottom headed with narrow
ribbon velvet. A pretty outside gar
ment for a child is made of light blue
cashmere ; the front loose and of square
shape, over which are short cutaway
fronts. The back is a very long plain
waist, to which the skirt is attached in
kilt plaits, finished with a broad blue
sash of light blue silk, raveled out at the
ends. The fronts .ire trimmed with a
mixed galloon, cream and gilt. The
garment is double-breasted nnd fasten
ed with large pearl-white buttons.
Stheet Dkesses. Street dresses are
the same as they were last season ; are
made short. Some are made without a
vestige of trimming on the underskirt,
and the overskirts are simply stitched
around the bottom. The plain pointed
basques are stylish, and have fewer
seams in the back than they formerly
.had. Overskirts are made full across
the hips. The latest are opened in front.
Mixed fabrics of silk and wool, flowered
and plain stripes and palm-leaf cloth,
will be much used this season for dress
trimming. The serviceable black silk is
brightened and made more dressy by the
addition of vests, cuffs nnd revers of
brocaded silks in colors of old gold, blue
rolkadot, crimson and torquoise blue,
n combination with such colors an old
black silk can be made to look fresh and
new.
Firms. Very simple nnd plainly
trimmed dresses may be made quite
stylish for evening by simply adding a
fichu. Those are made in various
shapes and of different material. For
elderly ladies there is the black net, em
broidered with colored siik, vest shape,
with ruflles of kilted Spanish lace in tho
inside, forming a square shaped neck.
Many handsome ones are of the same
shape, with white lisse and plaitingsof
Breton lace, one inside, the other re
lieved with loops of colored satin. More
simple ones are made of India mull, cut
in tho shape of half a square, the ends
extending to the belt, trimmed with two
rows of Valenciennes.
Stockings. Stocking.i are profusely
embroidered. Many ladies embroider
their own, buying stockings of a solid
color and embroidering them in differ
ent colors to match the dress. Much
spare- timo can be very pleasantly em
ployed in this way. In fact, if young
ladies will simply undertake to consult
ineir own tastes and gratify them with
their own handiwork they will be sur
prised at the increasing pleasure this
will afford and the economy it will
stimulate. New York Fa&hion Letter.
House Cleaning.
Beds should bo cleaned, mattresses
sunned and bed clothing aired. Win
ter clothing and blankets, which have
been paoked away for the summer,
should bo taken out, examined and well
aired. Where carpets have been on the
floor all summer, thorough sweeping is
all that is required to clean them. For
this a carpet brush is better than a
broom and a patent carnet sweener
than either. The carpet sweeper, how
ever, will not go into the corners of tho
room and these must be cleaned w .th
brush and dustpan. This troublsome
corner brushing is obviated by tho
modern fashion of leaving a strip of
stained floor around the edge of the
carpet. Where the floors are covered
with matting it is generally agreed to
be wisest to leave the matting down
and put the carpetoverit. The matting
keeps better on the floor than if taken
up and stored away, and at the same
time helps to preserve the carpet. Two
thicknesses of paper should be laid be
tween them. Newspapers will answer
for this purpose, but common brown
wrapping paper,such as grocers ute, is
still better, on account of its absorbent
qualities. When it is used the mat
ting will usually be found much cleaner
the next spring after the carpet is taken
up tli an when it was laid down. For
cleaning matting, damp corn meal or
wneat bran sprinkled over it and then
swept off is excellent. Soap should
never be used on matting, it yellows it
badly. When the mattinir is so dirtv s
to require washing, salt water will be
iound much better lor the purpose.
Every one knows how iron oastors on
furniture stain straw matting. There is
nothing which will remove the Rtain
without injury, but they may be pre-
veniea Dy placing tiny round mats of
straw coarse crochet cotton under each
roller. When depressions occur in the
matting an extra thickness of paper must
be put, in order to prevent the carpet
from wearing off in that spot. The new
patent tacks for matting, made in the
form of small stanles. are mnr h hnttr
than the old style. When a breadth of
uuuung is to re piercea turn both pieces
under for three or four inches and over
seam together on the wrong side. I
neatly done the join whl be scarcely ap
parent. Carpets which have been laid away
during the summer should be closely ex
amined for moths and well swept before
putting flown. Ingrain carpets may be
neatly mended by slipping a patch
under, taking care that the figures
match, and pasting carpet and patch to
gether with stiff flour paste.
Clothes which are to be laid away for
the winter should bo washed and rough
dried, but not starched, since the starch
has a tendency not only to yellow white
cloth, but to rot it as well. To preserve
the color they should be slightly blued.
Mice are apt to cut white clothes and
calicoes when laid away in a closet to
which they have access, especially if
any starch is loft in them. Grenadines,
buntings and summer woolens which
will not be needed in cold weather,
should be packed in trunks with cam
phor to preserve them from moths,
which, in a warm house, are frequently
as active in winter as in summer. The
English custom of laying sprigs of
lavender, or dried rose leaves among
linen is an exceedingly fine one. Phila
delphia Times.
The Story or the ' Resolute."
Never before, says a New York paper,
was there a vessel that had a more
wondrous record than the old Arctic
exploring ship Resolute, from the tim
bers of which a piece of furniture is to
be made for Mrs. Henry Grinnell, of
this city. Early in 1854 a court-martial
sat at Sheerness, England, to inquire
into the abandonment, on Sir Edward
Belcher's Arctic expedition, of the In
vestigator, the Resolute and the As
sistance. These vessels, with two others,
had been sent forth to search for the
lamented Franklin and his devoted com
panions, and their three captains, Bel
cher, Kellett and McClure. had been
obliged to return, not only witli no news
of the missing explorer, but without
bringing back their ships. The Resolute,
a stalwart and powerful sailing-craft,
had passed through many tlifficultis,
when she was finally fastened in the
floes of Melville sound, and believing
that she could never get away again, Sir
Edward gave orders reluctantly to
abandon the ship. Tho crew made
everything snug below and aloft; then,
one May day, in 1854, bade adieu to their
floating home, and returned safely with
their fellows to England. One morning
of summer, off the Labrador coast, an
American whaler named Hartstein spied
abark-rigged ship, strangely silent, lying
aground. Ho bordered her, and found
everything in perfect order ; every brace
trimmed, every rope coiled, with colors
flying at the mizen peak, but not a soul
on board. Presently he discovered that
this was the Resolute. She had drifted
for over 1,000 miles without starting a
rope, from Melville island through Bar
rows straits, through Lancaster sound,
round by Cape Liverpool, past Pond's
bus, down Davis' straits, to the shoals
of Labrador. The ice had melted, the
floes had opened, currents had taken
charge of her, and the lonely ship, with
none but the forces of the sea for her
pilot, and only invisible hands on her
wheel, had floated safely nnd soundly
past all the reefs and rocks which stud
so long a course, until such time as thiB
"seafarinsr man" made her out. He
brought this abandoned British vessel
into Boston harbor as sound as on the
day when she started from England.
Our government behaved nobly about
the Resolute. We paid Hart-stein his
salvage out of tho treasury. Then the
Wa3iiington authorities set riggers and
ship-painters to work upon her, tidied
her up inside and outside, and then sent
her ncross the Atlantic under an emi
nent officer, with the English flag at the
main nnd the stars and stripes aft, with
the compliments ol " Uncle Sam " to her
Britannic, majesty. The people of Eng
land were greatly pleased by this act oi
generosity on our part, and Queen Vic
toria went herself on board to receive
from our officers her ship, for which she
thanked them most sincerely. It is a
pity that this old wanderer should have
to be broken up; but it is eminently
proper that some sort of a memento
should come out of her timbers to the
widow ot the American gemtleman
who, at great expense, searched so often
for Sir John Fwwklin.
A Remarkable Suicide.
A'uother remarkable suicide has taken
place in Russia. AJ Nihilist of wide
prominence at Odessa and a former
student at the university, was recently
arrested and thrown into a jail, where
ho suffered so much from the filthy state
of his cell that he burnt himself to
death rather than endure the torture
any longer. Though he had been in the
cell many months, it had not once been
cleaned, aud so vile were tho odors given
out by the accumulated refuse that he
complained of suffocation, ciddiness and
fainting fits. He begged the keeper to
clean the place or urge on Iris trial, but
to no purpose. Still lie implored for re
lief, and ut last the governor of the jail,
wearied with his appeals, ordered severe
corporal pnnishment to be inflicted upon
him and that his hands be tied behind
his back witli a stout rope. In that
condition, and smarting from the blows
ho had received, lie was left alone
stretched out on the sloping hoards.
That constituted his only bed. He was
able after a struggle to get into a sitting
position, and there contrived wilh his
teeth to bite a hole through the glass
which contained the ril in a burning
lamp on a bracket above his head. The
oil soon cav.ght tire, and the prisoner
allowed it to run down over his body,
setting his clothes on tire. Without a
cry or a groa.i he lay down in the flames
to die. Soon the odor of his burning
flesh brought' oinoers to las cell, now
filled with black smoke and flames.
Not a word did tho prisoner utter, but
nxed ins eyes coldly on the keepers
while they put out the fire. He assured
the officers lie should have been content
to die on the scaffold for the sake of his
opinions, but that the inhuman tortures
of his cell he was unable longer to en
dure. His body at the surface had been
entirely carbonized, but he lived three
and a half hours after the flames were
extinguished.
A Philadelphia firm appends the fol
lowing notice to its advertisements
" N. B Customers from the country,
purchasing $5 worth ol goods from us
will be furnished with dinner on stat
ing they saw this advertisement." This
is a serious blow to the chromo business,
as the country customer will not hesi
tate to choose ice-cream and pie in pref
erence to chromos. Foster.
Let everything be taken at its face
value and men with cheeks of brass
would not go for much. Picayune.
In the Last Tew.
She sits, bent o'er, with wrinkled faoe,
Poor and forlorn'y old ; no graoe
Smooths the sharp angles of her iorm,
Long buffeted by life's slow storm.
All else around is fine afcd fair;
The stained light falls, a golden glare,
In seeming mockery on her loose, gray halt.
The preacher, faultlessly arrayed,
Tells how our hearts alar have strayed,
And how all souls should be content '
With those good blessings God has sent.
And one, of all that sell-poised throng,
Hnngs on his words nor deems them long,
And humbly thinks only her heart is wrong.
She meekly mumbles o'er the hymn,
Her eyes with age and tear-drops dim;
What can their gay world hold lor her
Tbis worn and weary worshiper?
Now, rustling down the aisles in pride,
They toss bright smiles on every side,
Nor does she know the hurts suoh lair looks
hido.
And still she sits, with tear-wet face,
As loath to leave that saored place j
The organ, with quick thunders riven,
Lilts her sad, trembling soul to heaven ; j 3
She feels a sense of blissful rest,
Her bony hands across her breast
She clasps, and lowly sighs: "God knoweth
best!"
One day, within some grander gate
Where kings and ministers must wait,
While the hopes humbly lor low place
Far lrom the dear Lord's shining faoe,
Above the chant ot heavenly ohotr
These words may sound, with gracious fires
" Well done, good, faithlul servant, come np
higher!"
C. M. A. Wintlow, n Good Company.
ITEMS OF INTEREST
Griswold calls a sick man an ill-looking
fellow.
There are more than S,0o0 retail cigar
stores in New York city.
The champion State for divorce suits
The matrimonial state.
Cincinnati has a new paper devoted to
the interests of lame animals.
Queen Victoria reads the great papers
of London every day before noon.
One touch of nature When you ge
your nose frost-bitten. New York News
In the United States theie is one
newspaper in every 5,660 of the inhabit
ants. One weekly newspaper in England has
reached the enormous circulation of
more than 600,000.
Vice is a monster of such hideous
mien, he who adopts it must be mon
strous green. Bvffalo Express.
Compositors are the most gentlemanly
and seli-contained of men. They neve
want a finger in the pi. New York Mail.
" I should like to see that gold mine,"
said Smythekins, as he watched them
counting quarter-eagles in the treasury.
New York Mail. ,
When he is twenty-one the boy is sup
posed to have outgrown the switch, but
that is just the age when tne girl begins
to need one. New York Star.
The man who knows just how a
newspaper ought to be run is always
ready to back up his convictions with
capital talk. New York People.
" When freedom from her mountain height,
TJnlurlcd her standard to the air,"
She saw a woman's hat the sight
Made freedom sneak away and sweare.
Toronto lJrapmc.
A rural editor has lost faith in the
luck of horseshoes. He nailed one over
his door recently, nnd that morning there
came by mail three duns and seven
stops and a man called with a revolver
to ask " who wrote that article?" Meri
den Recorder.
A workman on the railroad at Flor
ence, Itajy, was run over and killed.
His sweetheart laid herself on the track
to die in the same manner, but the train
only injured an arm, which was subse
quently amputated. Still determined on
suicide, she tore of the bandage and bled
to death.
A conscientious, observing daily news
paper man has perhaps a better oppor
tunity for studying human nature than
falls to tho life of most any other profes
sional, for the reason, if for none other,
that men expose their weaknesses in a
newspaper othce, whereas they would
hide them in the presence of a lawyer, a
physician or aclcrgyman. CamdenPost.
Young man, don't swear. Swearing
never wns good for a sore finger. It
never cured the rheumatism nor helped
draw a prize in a lottery. It isn't re
commended for liver complaint. It
isn tsure against liirhtninnr. sewing ma
chine ngents, nor any of the ills which
beset people through lifo. There is no
oecafion for swearing outside of a news
Daner office, where it is useful in proof
reading an 4 indispensably necessary in
getting forms to press, it has been
known, also, to materially assist the
editor in looking over the paper after it
is printed. But", otherwise, it is a very
foolish and wicked nabit. Wastongton
Republic,
k Yonng Marksman's Feats.
Captain Bogardus. champion glass
ball and rdgeon shot, gave an exhibition
at bt. raui, Minn. Alter ti c captain
had finished. Eugene, his fourteen-vear-
old son, took the stand, nnd for nearly
nan an hour neiu the audience in breath
less attention. Euirene is a youthful
prodigy, says the Qlobf. For one so
young liis feats have never been equaled.
With his little rifle, resembling more a
toy firearm than a dealh-dealing instru
ment, ho astonished the lookers-on by
breaking forty-seven out of fifty glass
balls thrown into the air, besides many
other odd and difficult feats. When
Dr. Carver gave his exhibition at the
fair grounds, last season, neople looked
upon them as remarkable and wonder
ful. But now comes a mere youth, who,
almost with a toy rifle, does equally, if
not more, difficult feats. Carver used a
large rifle, of which Eugene's is but a
minature copy. Eugene's shooting re
cord yesterday is ahead of anvtintr Dr.
Carver has done. Despite a strong wind,
he not only showed himself able to break
glass balls, but to hit half dollars, quar
ters, marbles, nickels, and evrn three-cent-pier
s. His quiet, impassive, re
tiring demeanor is also a matter of wo.
derment. Apparently unconscious ot'
performing any extraordinary feat, I 6
continues to load and fire his little piec,
in no way elated at his success. Eugett
is certaiuly a prodigy, and will, no doubr,
astonish the world with still more re
markable performances in his line.
I
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