, , -
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL) DESPERANDTJM. Two Dollars por Annum.
VOL. IX. KIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA.,1 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1879. NO-37.
L : - ' ' I .. ' 1 - i -
Lyra Incnutntn.
Williin a cnstlo haunted,
An castles were ot old,
There hung a harp enohanted,
And on Its rim ol gold
This legend was enscrollci:
"Whatever bard wonld win me
To atrike and wake within me,
By one supreme endeavor,
A chord that sounds forever."
Three bards ol lyre and viol,
By mandate oi the king,
Were bidden to trial
To And the magic Btiing
(It there were suoh a thing),
Then, alter much essaying
Ol tuning, came the playing;
And lords and ladies splendid
Watched as thoso bards contended.
The flr9t n minstrel hoary,
Who many a rhyme had spun
Sung loud of war and glory
Ot battles fought and won;
Hut when his song was don.,
Although the bard was lauded,
f And chipping hands applauded,
Yet, spile of the laudation,
The harp ceased Us vibration.
The second chnnged the measure
An turned from fire and sword
lo sing a song ot pleasure
The wine-cup and the board
Till, nt the wit, all roared.
And the high hall resounded
With merriment unbounded !
The harp loud as the laughter
Grew huihed at that, soon after.
Tho third, in lover's fashion,
And with his soul on Are.
Then sang of love's pure passion
The heart and its desire !
And, as he smote the wire,
The listeners, gathering round him,
Caught op a wreath and erowncd him,
The crown bath faded never !
Tho harp resounds forever !
Theodore Tillon.
Humors of the Telegraph.
The majority of the reading, and all
of tho educated world are familiar with
the accented theories recording elec-
tricitv, and with the application of these
theories by which we have the tele
I'ranli. Hut coiupari'lively few have
lifted the veil of the temple and wit
nessed the peculiar results of its practi
cai w iking. And these nre the em
ployees ol the companies whose business
it is to control and make use of the
nivstrvious agency and " wonder-work-
in'! wires" for the convenience and hap
nines ol the public.
Ju tim lix-t.. ! y of the Western Union
eoiiijii; I recall but two instances ol
the known betrayal by operators ot the
contents ol important messages among
the millions ol opportunities anu in
liiipment offered.
In no other business are mistakes morp
common, or for many reasons so excusa
hie Kor instance, a Compositor or I
copyist has his manuscript to easily con
suit, and, to a certain extent, is mas
ter of his own time; but an operator's
time, esnecia v if receiving a message
is governed by the one at the other end
ot the line, and ne must uepeim iur i
piimev linon the correctness of his ear
and niemorv. Nearly every one has
r.',xii of the indignation of that father
who received a message that his sickly
daughter, who was absent at school.
"bad a child this morning," and tli
subsequent appeasal of his wrath upon
finding oft that the original message
read 'chill.1' not "child." Not long
ngo a eertain charitable institution was
considerably mystihed by a message ask
ing for the whereabouts of "Monkey
Wrench." The inquiry was instantly
changed to "Mother French," how
ever, upon being returned to the tele
graph coniDany for explanation, and
apology made for the unintentional
blunder. It was, I think, the same
operator who, in taking an Associated
Press article, innocently spoke of "Mrs.
Herman" as secretary of the treasury
a sudden advance in woman's rights to
which the secretary, Mr. Sherman,
would doubtless object. And a peace
ful family circle ought not to be sur
prised, us it was, by receiving the lol
lowing: "John is dead beat. Depot
this evening' when n correct transmis
sion of the dispatch would have rendered
it, "John is dead. Be at depot this
evening." I recall another family
agitated by the telegraphic information
that ' Brother lied last night." only to
ultimately find out that he had departed
life instead of truth.
Some tinio since a message transmit
ting the intelligence that "the Presby
tery lacked a quorum to ordain.'Vaused
a prodigious amount of ecclesiastical
wonderment and dismay on reaching its
destination by announcing that. "the
Presbytery tacked a worm on to Adam."
fVnniilent is unnecessary.
The worthy and sedate Dr. Blank, of
one of our eastern colleges, once accepted
an invitation to lecture in a western
city. His letter of acceptance, appoint
ing in early date, omitted to state the
subj' Ct of his discourse, and, to adver
tise in advance, the cdnmittee was
obliged to telegraph hirn, lequesting his
. . I .. . . . Tlin wm-a crtiiw.urhnt- natti
ished at his teply.but not thinki of
th'J possibility of a mistake, handed it
over to the only daily paper, which in a
highly eulogistic out misleading article
advised all its readers to hear Rev. Dr.
Blank deliver his celebrated andj ex
tremely humorous lecture subject : "A
Fiea for Activity." The Doctor arrived
too late to have the announcement
changed to what it shonld have been
A Plea for Activity "and the result
was a disappointed house and a grieved
lecturer.
Tue mistakes of the telegraph, often
provoking nnd sometimes amusing, are
occa-ionally in their results of great im
portance. . It was not long ago thit a
wheat speculator in Chicago made $60
000 by a small order being accidentally
changed to an immensely large one. I
believe he has made no complaint. Had
the market turned the other way though !
Some years ago the daughter of a well
known citizen of central New York,
named Jennie, had unfortunately, as the
father then thought, formed an attach
ment for a young m m named John. To
separate thpm the father sent her to
spend the winter with a married sister,
Mary, who resided in New York.
Spring approached and Jennie was ex
pected home on a certain day, but, in
btead, the father received a letter from
his son-in-law desiring that she might
remain a while longer o that his wife
could accompany him on a short south
em trip, and requesting an answer by
telegraph; whereupon the father sent
the following dispatch:
"Jennie may stay and Mary go, if she
wishes to very much."
The message as delivered in new i or
read: "Jennie may stay and marry
George if she wishes to very much."
The father immediately received tins
from Jennie : " A thousand thanks for
your permission ; John and 1 marry at
once, me telegraph stupiaiy mauo ins
name George, but of course you meant
John."
How it happened that John was so
wonderfully convenient is, probably,
not our concern, and we can only hope
that the father and Jennie have never re-
eretted "this mistake of the telegraph.
The hieroglyphicalcharacters supposed
to be writing in some messages handed
in over the office counters is sometimes
fearful and wonderful to contemplate.
The telegraph is only used in cases of
importance or emergency, ana uie mcor- i
rect reading of a single word in a con
densed telegram is apt to render it not
only valueless, but is liable to lead to a
serious misconstruction.
Business men especially should bear
in mind that a plain, clear chirography
not only lessens the liability to error,
but helps to hasten tho forwarding of a
message.
To illustrate the carelessness of some
men's writing i3 the story of that Eng
lish nobleman who wrote to a iriena in
India to " please send at once two
monkeys ;" but he wrote the two with
out crossing the t, and otherwise so
blindly that his friend mistook it for
1,000, and on the first boat came thirty
five monkeys, with a note saying the
balance would follow as soon as so large
an order could be filled.
The members of the press are not ex
empt from this carelessness of untrans
latable handwriting. I remember a
special sent by a metropolitan reporter
from a small town, describing an execu
tion. The sending operator complained
of the writing, and stumbled along
slowly and grumblingly, finally capping
the climax by saying the "doomed man
then arose, partook ot a hearty break
fast, and went out and buried himself
with his hfe." The city operator re
quested a halt, and after a long silence
and evidently niucn stuoy, was torn by
the sender to change the last five words
to " busied himself with his pipe."
Mentioning newspapers, recalls a mes
sage sent by an energetic Cincinnati edi
tor who had heard a false rumor of a
heavy rain and flood in the country edi
tor's vicinity, to the editor of a country
weekly. It read :
" Send us particulars of the flood."
The reply was quite prompt:
" You will find a lull account in
Genesis."
An operator gets accustomed to these
messages, and also to such as: ''Send
mp two daughters of an outcast;" or.
" We have no desperate men ;" for he
rightly concludes that the last-mention'
ed are either to or from some book-
dealer.
Why telegraphers, as a class, are so
seemingly careless and mirthful need not
ho discussed here. Perhaps the lively
character of the fluid with which they
are brought into constant contact is
transfused and causes this effervesen-je
of mental activity. One ol their honored
customs in the initiating of an operator,
fresh and verdant from some small coun
try place into his new position in a citv
office, with its babel of sounds and per
plexing rush and hurry, reminds one of
college hazing, or the sailor s baptize,
ment on his first crossing of the line.
The victim is requested to take t
"Bpecial." How timidly he sits nown,
and how nervously he sharpens his pen
cil to take for the first time in his life
press for the papers. How the instru
ment buzzes wiien he says " go ahead,"
and closes his key. He feels the watch
ful eye ol the duet, and he must not. lie
will not, tail in his hrst trial. And,
oh! what a dispatch for a newspaper!
It begins all right about a railroad acci
dent, but in some mysterious way this
connects itself with a temperance con
vention, which branches into a fire caused
by a walking match, with Congress call
ing upon Mexico toprevent the duel be
tween the polar expedition and the Pa
cific railroad which
He stops matters for an investigation
and wonders if it's he or the correspon
dent t lat is entirely daft. Then he rubs
his amazed Head, and looks cautiously
around and discovers that he seems
the sole object of interest to the others;
and if he takes good naturedly the roars
of laughter and the pointed questions
that greet him when he also discovers
that his wonderful dispatch originated
in the fertile brain, and by a clever switch
ing of the wires, was sent by the fastest
operator in the office from the other end
of the reorn to te6t him, he has taken
one long step toward fraternizing.
The all-night men while away the
tedious hours after the dropping of busi
ness with conversation and stories; and
the better the story-teller, and the
fresher his jokes, the more popular he
is. And how easy to dispose of a bore!
It is said that on one of the circuits be
tween New York and Chicago and in
termediate cities, the all-night men had
oniy to request one of their co-laborers,
who had no other fault than his long,
pointless stories, to relate something,
and then, unknown to him for
they had no desire to offend him
would cut him out of the circuit,
and have a social good time for an hour
or two. On readjusting the wires the
honest and solitary story-teller would
be rattling along, unconscious of his loss
of auditors, and perfectly happy in their
remarkable attention. remaps the
reader has in his youth told with much
enthusiasm a capital story to a sleepy
bedfellow to find, on nearing the end,
that his companion was sound asleep.
It's rather depressing.
A story, first told by a San Francisco
paper. I will venture to repeat here for
no better reason than because it is
strictly true. It often happens that tele
graphers are called into service at the
representation of a stage play, in which
occurs what is known as t" telegraph
scene," such as the one shown in Byron's
"Across the Continent," cr Boncicault's
"Long Strike," and at such times the
operator behind the scenes manages to
amuse himself by "talking" to the audi
ence, unknown of course to only those
of the fraternity who are present. The
drama of " Across the Continent" was
several years ago produced at a certain
hall, and for the manipulation of the
telegraph instrument which plays an im
portant part i the most exciting scene
of thP play, an operator, whom we will
call Frank, was engaged. His position
was such that he could see the audience
without being seen, and upon taking his
position he discovered in the auditorium
a brother operator from out of town,
Spicer by name, who bad that day ar-
rived. Frank is fond of a joke, so when
the time came for Bending the first dis
patch he loudly sounded on the machine,
How are you. SpicerP" The prof' s
sional car of Spicer instantly caught
the words, and, wondering who it was,
straightened up and stared at the stage
as if he- would give two dollars and a
half to know something more. .
"Spicer, how's your niammaP" quickly
followed from the instrument, and the
mystified Spicer confidingly turned to
his lair partner to express his astonish
ment at the most singular circumstance.
As luck had it the auditorium held quito
a delegation of operators, who knowing
Spicer and his great characteristic of
bashfulness, with one accord began to
look around the theater for him.
Spiocr had hardly began telling the
young lady about it when there came
another message :
"Aha! old Spicer! Don't fool that
co'iifiding creature with any of your nonsense."
This aroused the telegraphers to a
pitch of curiosity, and many of them
stood gazing about them as if their only
object in life was to discover Spicer.
And he felt that they saw him, and the
confusion which had been gradually
covering his features grew into mortifi
cation when he saw so many eyes leveled
at him, and at last culminated in his
hasty withdrawal from me meater.
But Frank sent a parting shot, for as
he faded from view ho heard
"Good-bvc. Spicer; but don't forget
her tendency for ice cream."
When it is considered that this scene
forms the climax of an exceedingly
thrilling point of the play, and Mr.
Byron is dramatically explaining with
wild gesticulations to the audience what
the instrument is supposed to be saying,
the modest Spicer's embarrassment can
be understood.
Hastily as we have glanced at the
brighter and cheerful side, there is now
room 'for the dark one. But messages
of sorrow and death burden the long
slender wires and trip through the cact
ing instruments, living dramas nre
constantly wrought througn their mute
agency, and of this perhaps they are
speaking when at the quiet of midnight
we hear from them that strange JEolian
music like voices from a spirit land, that
deep within us finds a responsive chord
thrilling and saddening us. Cincinnati
Enquirer.
Cartons Effects of Altitude In Lead
Title.
A letter from Leadvillc, Col., the great
mining town, says : 1 saw but very lew
cases of intoxication in the streets.
though the three hundred saloons in the
citv field out their best inducements.
was surprised at this, as one of the nota
ble effects ol the great altitude of the
place (10.300 feet above the lev 1 of the
sea) is that all fermented liquors intoxi
cate more q uickl v than a lower elevation
The boiling point, owing to the decrease
of atmospheric pressure is much lower
than at Chicago, and the a.cohol is
sooner vaporized and taken into
the circulation, producing intoxication
quicker.
The holiing point of water herd is
about l'JO degrees, instead ot 212 rie
giees. the effect of which in boiling
beans, eggs, potatoes, etc., is that it re
quires a long while to cook then in an
open vessel, and it is necessary to keep
the vessel well covered, or 'the water
will vaporize and escape before being
raised to the requisite degree for cook
ing. At this elevation much air is re
quired to fill and satisfy the lungs, and
breathing must be quicker in order to
properly oxygenize the blood. It is
said, too, that alter one has been here
some time, the coloring matter of the
blood becomes darker, being changed
from the peroxide to the sesquioxide. of
iron. With a person suflering under
any difficulty or disease of the heart, the
effect of any long continued exertion Js
to cause a dangerous degree ol palpiia-
tion, and even with persons entirely
wen. uie puise runs exiremeiv high.
There are other and notable facts con
cerned with this altitude. There are
few birds seen here perhaps for the
reason that flying is difficult in the light
air. The common house-fly. the slim
mer pest of our eastern housekeepers, is
unknown her ;. There are some of the
out-door blue-bottle variety here, but
they seem languid and tired. It is said
also that cats cannot live here. This is
probably owing to their delicate organ
ization being unable to resist the rigor
of the night air. So the "voices of the
night are not heard in this locality,
and the bootjacks are reserved for their
natural uses.
Another result of the lightness of the
nir is that, having so little density, it is
easy heated by artificial means. Our
nights are universally co'd so cold that
it is uncomtcrtabie to sit without a lire
but a few pine chips or small sticks wil
warm an apartment very quickly. At
Uie same time the sun's rays do not seem
to have the heating power that they do
in the lower elevation. This seems to
confirm the theory that there is no sub
stantial caloric in the rays of the sun
but heat is the result of chemical action
generated by the direct rays with the
element ot the atmosphere the direct
ness of the ravs and the density of the
atmosphere. While standing high upon
these mountains, even aj a distance lrom
any snowdrifts and where the air is still.
the summer sun has only sufficient power
to make the air refreshing and pleasant,
while you on the plains are sweltering
under a torrid neat, in tne shade ot
rock or two it is always cool enough.
The effect of the altitude is the same
as that experienced by ballonists, who in
ascending from the surface of the earth.
even on tho hottest days, soon find it
necessary to don their overcoats and
warmest clothing. In the night here
good supply of blankets is always neces
sary, and nearly every morning heavy
frosts are found, and sometimes thick
scales of ice are formed. The crests of
some of the mountains and many of the
deep ravines UDon their sides are still
full ol masses of snow xo corr pact that
one can walk over them without sink
ing. A day or two ago, in visiting a
mine close to the summit of Mount
Rrosa. T was compelled to cross a field o
snow, hanging over the edge, which
must have been a mile in length and
probably in places twenty feet in depth,
Rnttorflip are covered with feathers
hairs are hollow tubes. The surface of
Kio. ia envprpd with scales Ilk
those of a fish. A single grain of sand
would cover a hundred of these scales,
vet a scale covers cunareos oi pores
through these narrowopenings perspir
ation forces iuelf out, like water througl:
a sieve.
i J-.; tn.v.Ura. Buy a bottle ot Dr. Boll
Cough Sjrop the only thin to stop a back.
up " his now foaming horses. But furi
ous with rage and rum, in repiy ne
lashed the horses again and again and
dashed ahead. Indignation had now
taken tho place of fear with the young
lady, and she exclaimed : " I'll stop the
rascal if I have to mount- the box my
self!" But it was then too late to avoid
the collision. It came with a crash.
But, strange to say. the carriage stood
the blow and was only partially broken.
Not so the milk-wagon ; the force of
the carriage tossed it up on two wheels
and threw it entirely off the avenue,
spilling the driver and the milk-cans
r i Tit. -l u
arounu uruiuiBuuuuDij. oikm;
brought the horses to a standstill. The
plucky little Avondale girl at once
box. With eves flashing and with
clenched fist shaking in his face, she ex
claimed to the driver : " You brute, get
down from this box."
The driver, who a moment before had
been so defiant, appeared dumbfounded
at this display of indignation and cour
age on the part of the fair girl, and
meekly climbed, or rat her jell, oil the
box, over the wheel to the ground.
Now." she exclaimed, in a voice of
stern command, and one that meant busi
ness, " take off that hat!"
The astonished jehu puued oil his hat.
Then again the beautiful girl ex
claimed :
" Take off that coat, sir !"
And the coat come off, brass buttons
and all.
"Now, sir. put them in this car
riage !"
And he put tnem in tne carriage.
Then the fair damsel, tinting to her
escort, who was standing up in the car
riage witnessing the scene with wonder
and amazement, and filled with intense
admiration for the girl's pluck, said, with
smile, and in the sweetest tone of
voice : (
' Won t you please get up on the box
beBide me and take these lines P"
He. of course, quickly mounted the
box. took the lines, and they drove
rapidly away, leaving the drunken man
standing in the middle ot the road, hat-
lesfr and coatless, and looking like the
fool he was.
Arriving in the city the gentleman
drove directly to the theater, alighted
with his lady friend, and, sending the
horses and carriage to a stable, they
entered the theater. And not one lady
in tho audience would ever have sus
pected by her manners or appearanre
that this young girl had passed through
the exciting scenes described.
Thanksgiving'.
Many of our readers and they need
not bo verv old can recollect when
Thanksgiving day was an exclusively
New England holiday, and in winch the
others of the older States did not par
ticipate. As ew bnglandcrs migrated
westward, and helped to lound new
States, they "carried with them their
usage ot annually observing a day ot
thanksgiving, it is thus that the custom
has spread to other states, until now.
having been confirmed by the action of
recent president. thanksgiving has be
come no longer a parti a', but a national
holiday. It is well that this, originally
a farmer's holiday, lias a general observ
ance. It is most fitting tlat the farmers
of this broad land should! on one day in
the year, gather in their scattered child
ren, and in one ot the honest ot temples
home give thanks ftr that upon
which the prosperity of ;he nation rests
the abundant harvest. It is pleasant
to think upon Thanksgiving day in its
higher aspects, but not the less so in
its associations and its minor influences
Being emphatically a home holiday, it
more than all others aflVcts the homes
ot the land, not less the homes in towns
and cities than homes upon farms, and
long before the day n at hand the
thought that " Thanksgiving is coming
controls the movements in households
everywhere. The homethat is not upon
the farm is none the less to observe the
day ; it, too, is to have its " feast of fat
things," and the city housekeeper looks
to ner sister in the country lor a fatten
turkey " wherewith to make merrv."
A large share ot the demand for the tur
key, the bird that has become so essen'
tial to the thanksgiving feast, is sup
plied by those farmers whose flocks
number hundreds ; but aside from these,
the turkey plays an important part on
many small farms, and the bird, besides
"lurnishing forth" the material for
many a home feast, is in itself a cause
tor grateful thanks. Many a mother, to
help Uie lamiiypurse; many adaughter.
in pride at being independent ol !ier
father's hard earnings, to meet her per
sonal wants, looks to her flock of tur
keys; and as thanksgiving draws nigh
she counts and feeds her flock with
pleasant anticipation of the day in which
the hopes of many days will be consum
mated. Blessed be the observance which
touches so nearl v so man v human hearts.
Blessed be the day which brings joy to
so many homes which, to the wanderer,
wherever he may be, turns his thoughts
towards home. And when has the
American farmer had greater occasion
on Thanksgiving dav than nowtosnvr
Oh! give thanks unto the ird, for He
is guuu ami uia mercy enuurewi tor
ever. American Agriculturist.
The Bemedj for Overworked Bodies
What is the remedy for the drawn
face, tornid liver and dead stomach o
the man at the desk, at the counter and
pulpit? A little plajr would be good for
him perhaps, also a little blue pill at
first, but less and less pill and more p av
play pure and simple. We want less
of Wall street, more of seaside and
mountain. Let the man of many cares,
and a slave to them, strike for freedom,
shake off his cares and return to nature.
It is a chance between losing time in the
grave and losing time in play, which is
fitly named recreation. Many a man
thinks he has no love for fishing, but he
has. it Is latent in all men. The whi
of a reel and the bend of a pole will
wake it. It will wake the dead. What
is the loss of a day to the landing of a
bass, or even a pickerel P "The thoughts
of youth are long, long tho jghU." We
have used them vilely, but they survive
even in the time of erav hair and tha
evil days when we say we hav3 no pleas
ure in them. A day's, play is a day's
"ourney toward youth: it takes the
black out ot the blood, It jogs the liver.
If the man Freeman had gone fishing all
day and had a fisherman's luck, he
would not have killed his daughter; he
would have been too- sleepy to think of
it. With boys' weariness comes also
the boy's sleep. Men need to touch
earth, to breathe air, and air that has
not been breathed. Man is an animal,
whatever else and more he is, and must
observe the conditions of aninjal lite.
Cincinnati Commercial.
TIXELT TOriUS.
Charles Ar Sliowc, a Chinaman, be
came a tea merchant in Uoston thirty
years ago, married an American wife,
grew wealthy, and mixed in cultivated
society. Lately ho visited his native
land, and, on returning, says to tne uos
ton Herald:' " Every thing in China
seemed almost'as strange to me as it did
to me when I first Tamo to Boston." He
found few social changes, however.
Individual taste, if it leads to a devia
tion from the set forms of society, is
frowned down, and, so long as this feel
ing is prevalent in China, its people are
slaves to custom, opinion and usage."
With a propitious season next year's
wheat crop in the United States will be
a gigantic one. The crops this year and
last have been immense, but the high
prices that have ruled recently have en
couraged the wheat raisers to largely in
crease their acreage for next year, in
Illinois and Indiana the increase is from
fifty to one hundred per cent., and that
too when Indiana's crop tins year was
larger than that of any other State. The
season has been very favorable for seed
ing, and the Western farmers have im
proved it, and mean next year to be able
literally to supply the whole world with
bread.
Dr. Fisher, of the imperial German
postoffice, has just published a pamphlet
showing the comparative postal and
telegraph statistics. The letter post of
the whole world for 1873 amounted in
round numbers to 3,300,000.000 letters,
or about 9,250,000 daily ; and the num
bers have been increasing daily at an
astonishing rate. Thus in Japan the
number of postoffices in 1872 were 1,159,
and in 1876 it had risen to 3,540. Tho
number of separate articles which pass
ed through the Japanese post in 1878
was 47,000,000, of which 25,000,000 were
letters, 10,000,000 post cards, 9,500,000
newspapers. PoEt- cards were first
brought into use only in 1865, ftnd now
they are employed in almost every coun
try of the world. The parcels post has,
however, not yet got beyond the first
stage of its development. Tho number
of telegraphic despatches sent in 1877
amounted lor the whole globe to nearly
130.000,000, on an average of 353,000
daily.
A singular fact has been recently re
ported of the people of tho little visited
country of Annam, an independent
though tributary state on the south of
China. Tho natives of the country of
pure descent have tho great toes of etch
foot separated from the others like the
thumb on the hand, and can and do use
their toes in much the same manner that
the thumbs are used, though, of course.
to a much less extent, in the vicinity
of the seaport of Sargon, where foreign
intercourse has produced an admixture
of races, this typical characteristic of the
Ar.namese is gradually passing away;
but in the northern sectit ns of the king
dom, where the race has remained dis
tinct, it is rarely the case that a child is
born without flexible toes. That this
Ceculiarity is of great antiquity is shown
y the fact that in the Chinese annals ol
tile year 2300 B. C.. there is a description
given of the barbarian tribes that were
then to be tound upon the borders of
the Chinese empire, and among these one
trihe or race is mentioned as having this
peculiar formation of the big toe.
They have no civil damage act in Ger
many, but even there the necessity of
some restriction upon the sale of alco
holic liquors'to such as have not suffi -cient
discretion to use them properly
appears to be concedes!. In various dis
tricts, by authority ol general instruc
tions proceeding from the government,
the police have prohibited tavern keep
ers from selling or otherwise furnishing
to minors under the age oi sixteon, ap
prentices or persons mentally deranged
or weak, any distilled spirituous liquors
oi whatever description, and a similar
prohibition will apply to sales to con
firmed drunkards, whenever the names
of these latter have been given to the
liquor venders with a proper caution.
Disobedience of these orders will be
Eunishable by fine and imprisonment;
ut they are not intended to apply to the
sale of beer, the consumption of which
has never beea found to cause injury to
anybody. The police orders nre to be
posted in a prominent place in every
tavern. This news must make German
liquor sellers in America feel less perse
cuted and forlorn.
A Young Lady of Pluck.
A handsome and charming voting
lady, living in one of the suburbs of Cin
cinnati, accepted an invitation the other
evening to attend tho theater, and sug
gested toner escort that they should use
her father's horses and carriage to drive
into the city, which proposition was ac
cepted by the young man. During tho
afternoon the coachman of tha familv.
who had always been considered an ex
cellent one and a reliable m-'n, was dis
covered in an intoxicated condition. He
was remonstrated with, told that he
must "sober up," as his services were
needed to drive to the theater in the
evening. He replied to the reprimands
in an insulting, angry way. When
evning came and the young lady's es
cort had arrived, the carriage was or
dered at the front door, n hen the
coachman appeared it wts quite evident
that he was still laboring under a heavy
pressure of whisky. The young lady
expressed some fears of riding in the
carriage with him on the box, but finally
determined to risk it, and got in the car
riage, her escort following and sitting by
her side. They were hardly started on
the avenue when their tears were awak
ened. The driver commenced whipping
his horses in a violent manner, and
dashed on down the avenue at breakneck-speed.
The young lady remonstra
ted, but the drunken driveiy replied
with insulting remarks and drcve all
the faster. Her escort asked her per
mission to speak to the wild and reckless
"Jehu," and in positive tones told him
be must behave himself and drive cauti
ously. This interference from an out
sider seemed to infuriate the man, and
he lashed the horses all the harder.
Down the avenue they flew, the carriage
spinning on first one wheel, and then
another, passirg other vehicles with a.
graze, ano nuiiig me inmates ot the car
riage with fear. Just as they started
down a slope of the drive the young
lady and her friend discovered a milk
wagon coming leisurely up the road,
with the driver apparently asleep. Ou
they dashed, and both the gentleman
and lady thought they would strike the
wagon, and at the terrible speed thev
were going such a collision would be
either a breaking of bones or instant
death. The maniac driver was begged
for God s-sake to be careful and to " pull
Scenes In a Colorado Cattle Ranch.
A " Round Up." As in more primi
tive days the different herds ranged in
termingled over the public domain, so
do they now stray from ranch to ranch,
and at certain seasons of the year they
must be collected and separated. They
are distinguished by car-marks, and
more especially by brands, said brands
being conclusive and universally ac
cepted evidence of ownership. In Juno
and July, and in September and Octo
ber, "rounding up," or the grand col
lection and separation, takes place.
For each district a master or director of
the " round up " is chosen, whose orders
are implicitly obeyed by the working
force, consisting of from twenty to fifty
men, furnished by the ranchmen of the
district in proportion to their holdings.
They have two or three horses apiece,
and are accompanied by assistants,
herders, cooks, etc., etc. Starting from
a given point, taking a regular course,
and camping every night, they sweep
over the ranges. Eacli day they "round
up:" the horsemen scour the country,
and, with the skill coming from Ion is
practice, gather the cattle together. In
vain does the restive steer break away
and run back or aside, the skillful horse
man is ready tor him, the trained horse
" turns on a five-cent piece," and he is
headed off, and must yield to his fate,
and move on in the pre-ordained track.
The " round up " takes place sometimes
at a " corral," or largo inclosurc, some-
times on the open plain. -
" Clttino Oct." Only the first pur
poses of tho "round up "has been sub
served when the cattle are collected.
Next the cows and calves must be " cut
out," and we saw the " cow boys " ride
into the herd, single out the cow (with
calf following), and with f.reit skill ex
tricate her from the throng. The young
calves are, of course, not yet marked,
but the presence of one cow makes it
imperative to place that cow's mark
on it. Strayed calves, on the other hand
(called " Mauvrics," from an old
Frenchman in Texas who is said to have
added largelv to his worldly stores by a
systematic abstraction of these waif3
and strays), are sold for the benefit f
the associated ranchmen. " First catch
your calf," as Mrs. Glass would say.
Perhaps you may think that this is an
easy task; but you would find, if you
tried it, that you were never more mis
taken in your life, for the ease with
which the rancberos accomplish it has
only come with careful training and
long practice. The little animal runs
wonderfully fast, springs, turns and
dodges almost like a flash ; but the cow
boy never takes his eyes off of him, and
the trained horse, now well warmed up
and entering fully into the spirit of the
chase, responds to, almost seems to an
ticipate, every turn of his rider's left
hand nnd wrist. Meanwhile the latter
with his right arm is s winginghis noosed
rope or lasso, and in another minute lie
has thrown it exactly over the ealFs
rliead. Instantly the horse plunges for
ward, giving "slack "to the rope, and
allowing it to bo wound around the
horn of the saddle; then he moves on,
dragging the calf after him. and the
little creature is soon in the hands of the
men with the branding-irons, rhess
have been heated in a hot fire, and are
quickly applied, and in a few minutes
the ca f. now indelibly designated as the
property of his master, is again running
aliout. A. A. Hayes, Jr., in Harper's
Aliiyazine.
Iown a Chute.
A chute is laid from the river's brink
up the steep mountain to the railroad,
and while we are telling it the monster
logs are rushing, thundering, flying.
leaning down the declivity. They come
with the speed ol a thunderbolt, and
somewhat of its roar. A track of fire
and smoke follows them lire struck by
their friction with the chute logs. They
descend the l.ou icet oi the chute in
fourteen seconds. In doing so they drop
00 feet perpendicular. Ihey strike the
deep water of the pond with a report
that can be heard a mile distant.
Logs fired from a cannon could scarcely
have greater velocity than they have at
the foot of the chute. The average
velocity is over 100 fept in a second
throughout the entire distance, and at
tho instant thev leap from the mouth
their speed must be fully 200 persecond
A sugar-pine log sometimes weighs ten
tons. Wliat a missle! How the water
is dashed into the air! Like a grand
plume of diamonds and rainbows, the
feathery spray is hurled into the air to
the height of a 100 feet. It forms the
grandest fountains ever beheld. How
the waters of the pond foam and seethe
and lash against the shore.
One log,' having spent its force by its
mad plunge into the deep waters, has
floated so 'ns to lie .-t right angles with
the path of the descending monster.
ihe mouth of the chute is perhaps fif
teen feet above the surface ot the water.
A huge log hurled from the chuto cleave
the air and alights on the floating log.
You know how a bullet glances, but can
you imagine a saw-log glance? The
end stiikes with a heavy shock, but
glides quickly past for a short distance.
then a crash like a reverlicration of
artillery, the falling log springs 150 feet
vertically into the air, and with a curve
like a rocket falls into the pond seventy
yards from the log it struck. JVwdfcee
)-ey.) Republican.
Infallible Cure for Business luterrap
iions.
A merchant doing business near the
foot of Jefferson avenue used to spend
about half his time in explaining to
callers wny he could not sign petitions,
lend small sums, buy books or 'nvest in
moousimiB cmei prises, out mat time
has passed, and it now takes him only
two minutes to get rin oi the most per
6istent case, ihe other day a man
called to sell him a man of Michigan
lie had scarcely made known his errand
when the merchant put on his hat and
nam :
,
Come, and I'll see about it."
He led the way to a boiler shoo, two
biockB distant, wherein a hundred ham
mers were pounding at Iroa. and walk
ing to the centre of the shop and into
tho midst of the deafening racket he
turned to the agent and kindly shouted :
" Now. then, if vou know of anv
special reason why f should purchase a
map of Michigan please state them at
length."
The man with the maps went right
out without attempting to state " reason
the one," and tfie merchant tranquilly
returned to his desk to await the next.
Detroit Free Press.
The Western Union telegraph com-
pany sent 25,000,000 messages in the year
ending June jo, ibu. mine year De-
lore it km n.ovu.uw.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Philadelphia is to have
an elevated
rail i oad.
What
is homo without a walking
A solelcss spot. New Haven
match?
Register.
Large
numbers of mules are beina
si lipped from tho United Sta tes to tho
West indies.
Lager beer has been exported from
tho United Slates to London, in con
siderable quantities, of late.
The barrels in which oil is shipped
from the United States to Europe are
now sent back as ballast for the vessels.
Two men and two dogs killed, bv act
ual count, 1,000 rats in the space of two
hours at a slaughter house near Valleio.
Cul.
A child eighteen months old was re
cently stung to death by bees at Santa
Ana, Cal. He received seventeen stings
on his forehead.
A man is going to have his name
stamped upon 50,000,000 toothpicks.
That man's name will bo in everybody's
mouth. Mcriacn itecoracr.
When the dentists of ttiis countrv can
discover a way to null teeth without
making a man wish he had been born a
hen, life will lia'c twice as much hap
piness. Free I'rets.
A member of a London ladies' club
was requested to resign "for kissing her
brother in the dining-room." If she
naa kihhcu nun in mu uiouiu instead oi
the dining-room we presume there
wouldn't have been any fuss about it.
Keokuk Gate City.
A new disease, commencing with ner
vous twitcliings in the legs and feet, and
ending in gnat emaciation, has been
discovered by Philadelphia physicians.
who ascribe it to the habit of riding in
street cars instead of walking, and the
peculiar jolting motion of the cars.
A new and singular means of incen
diarism is reported by the Oolos. In a
village of Poland a cat was saturated
with kerosene by an unknown party,
and set on fire; the unhappy animal
rushed to and fro, spreading firo all
around, till it perished in flames, to
gether with a number of buildings.
London Its Grentness.
London is a vast world in itself. You
are impressed, when you find yourself
in it, with its immensity; as one is im
pressed by the vast reach of the ocean
when he steams over it day after day
without a glimpse of land or ttie sight,
perhaps, of a single sail. You feel like
a mere atom in this vast billowy tide of
human life. Cut up into smaller com
munities London would make a dozen
cities equal in population to New York,
lirooilyn, Host on, I'hiladoipnia, Balti
more, Washington, Buffalo, Cincinnati,
Chicago, St. Louis, New Orleans and
San Francisco! It contains more people
than our six populous New England
States, more than the whole kingdom of
Uenmark, more than twice as many as
Norway, nearly as many as all Scot
land. It is said to contain more Jews
than Palestine, more Catholics than
Rome, more Irishmen than Dublin,
more beotohmen than Edinburgh.
There are omnibuses running across the
ctty, by as straight a route as the cow-
path streets allow, which start before
five o'clock in the morning and barely
make two round trips before midnight.
And year by year the great city pushes
out its borders, encompassing villngo
after village of the outlying suburbs in
its spider web ot pavements, and water
mains, and omnibuses, and busy traffic.
The villas around its fringes, as Hare
says, seem to be constantly making an
ellort to get into the country and never
succeeding. Many neighborhoods in
the solidly built city still bear the names
bv winch th'-y were Known when they
were only little hamlets in tho fields,
miles from the city gates such as
Chelsea, Kensington, Camberwell, Bays-
water, ot. Johns Vo-)d, etc. it is
partly because of the absorption of so
many villages in the great metropolis
that it is tJllicted with such confusion
in its street nomenclature. If you wish
to visit King street it is possible for you
to explore ninety-four different streets
of that name before you find the right
one. If it is Queen street, your chance
of hitting the right one the first time is
just one in ninety-nine. Does your
friend live on Church street you are
confronted by one hundred and fifty
streets of that name besides the one you
want! Even of John streets there are
one hundred and nineteen, and of New
streets new a long while ngo in most
cases one hundred and sixty-six! it
becomes a necessity, in such eases, to
give the street a surname, so to speak
ns men begin to take surnames when
James nnd John and Mary became fre
quent in the same circle ol acquaint
ance. Streets are often designated,
therefore, by adding the name of some
well-known thoroughfare into which
they run, or the special neighborhood
to which they belong, as Queen street,
Cheapside; Kipg street. St. Jaines
square; Church street, looting; High
street. Marylebone. etc. And in any
case the initials of the general division
of the city are usually affixed to the ad
dress " E. C," tor East Center; "W.
C.,"West Center; "S. E.." Southeast;
.North, etc. uona company.
Thirteen Buys Without Food.
The steamship England reached New
York from Liverpool after a rough pas
sage. V lien a longshoreman descended
into the lore hold, winch was stowed
full of barrels, packed so closely as to
leave only a space of about three feet
between them and the deck, ho heurd
talking, and suddenly touched something
that his lantern showed to be a human
body. Soon alterward the sailors
dragged to the light a man, still alive and
conscious, but so reduced by starvation
that he was only a living skeleton, with
skin like shri veledparchment drawn over
his bones. The ship s physician trie 1 to
force nourishment down the stowaway's
throat; but he was too far gone, and
in half an hour lie died, it was evident
that lie was a foreigner, and when he
was first taken on deck an Austrian girl
from among the steerage passengers suc
ceeded in understanding a few words
that he was able to murmur. He begged
for water.said that he had tasted neither
food nor drink since the day the ship
sailed and that his name was " Harry."
That was all he was able to say. His
body was sent to the morgue. In the
narrow space into which the stowaway
uao squeezea nimseu lust beiore the
steamship sailed, he could only lio down
or crawi around over the heads of tea
barrels; but could not stand nor cou d
he sit upright. His clothing showid
that in his terrible hunger he had
gnawed it, as be had nlso gnawed bits of
wood from tha barrels.