Sfe
Iflli
filiate.
1
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher NILi DE8PERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. IX. RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1880. NO. 51.
rooms of the Week.
SUNDAY.
Lio still and rest, in that serene repose
That on tliis holy morning come to those
Who have been buried with the cares that
make
Tho sad heart weary and the tired heart ache.
Lie still and rest
God's day ot all is boat.
MONDAY
Awake! arise! Cast off thy drowsy dreams!
Red in the east, behold the morning gleams.
" As Monday goes, so goes the week," dames
say.
Kflroshed, relieved, use woll the initial day;
And see! thy neighbor
Already seeks his labor.
nfflUATi
Another morning's banners are unfurled
Another day looks smiling on the world;
It beholds new laurels lor thy soul to win;
Mar not its grace by slotlimlnoes or sin,
Nor sad, away
Send it to yesterday.
WEDNESDAY,
Hall-way untothe end the week's high noon.
The tnorning hours do speed away so soon !
And when tho noon is reached, however
bright,
Instinctively we look toward the night.
The glow is loBt
Once the meridian crost.
Till IISDAT.
So well the week has sped, hast thou a friend
Go spend an hour in converse. It will lend
Now beauty to thy labors and thy lile
To pause a little sometimes in the strife.
Toil soon seems rude
That has no interlude.
FRIDAY.
From feasts abstain; be temperate, and pray;
Kast if thou wilt; and yet, throughout tho
day,
Noglcot no labor and no duty shirk ;
Not many hours ate lelt tlieo for thy work
And it were meet
Tnut all should be complete.
SATL'llDAY.
Now with tho almost finished tusk make
haste;
So ncur the night, thou host no time to waste.
IVst up accouuts, nnrt let thy soul's eyes look
For flaws and errors in lile's ledger-book.
When lib.irs cease,
How sweet the sense ol peace!
Ella U heeler, in Chicago Tribune.
A NIGHT IN AN AVALANCHE
Contrary to all arrangements and ex
pectai ions of the dear old uncle who
hart reared' me, I had not got further
.linns in life than to a third-class clerk
ship in the State department at Wash
ington, ami this only because I could
write :i tine hand, and mnkc fancy eupi
tals said my disappointed uncle.
I believe uncle wag thoroughly
ashamed of my getting into the depart
ment at all. He would a hundred times
over have preferred that I had been a
farmer. Hut, when the hard times came,
and when the hard times got harder,
and the old farm, going under a mort
gage, was only rescued by my sn vines as
a third-class clerk, uncle sank his shame
in Ins gratitude, and my fancy writing
wis ridiculed no longer.
Still, it was weary work, reading and
copying endless dispatches of the chief
clerk to our consuls in Europe, and all
that without any apparent hope oi ever
becoming chief clerk myself. One day
I was copying adispatch of the secretary
to the consul at Z . It was to the
effect that from that day on he would,
in accordance with his request, be al
lowed $1,000 a year for clerk hire.
"He will want a clerk, then, of
course," I said to myself, " and if I could
secure the situation, I might be happy
Btill." I didn't want promotion so much
as I wanted a change. That evening
the dispatch of the department, copied
in my best hand, left for Europe, accom
panied by a private note of my own to
the consul. As a specimen of my writ
ing, I referred to the inclosed dispatch,
and informed the learned consul that I
could speak the German language, hav
ing learned it evenings during my stay
in Washington. Perhaps the last re
mark, and not niy tine writing, settled
the business. Clerks who can speak
foreign languages are in demand with our
consuls.
In six weeks from that day I had
peeped into the great cities of London,
Paris and Brussels, and was now stand
ing at the clerk's desk of the American
consulate at Z .
The business was not burdensome.
With the office open but five hours a
day, we were happy. I had beautiful
times so did the consul.
Among the Washington letters last
winter was one from our worthy com
missionerof pensions, asking the consul
to investigate and furnish evidence that
certain widows and minor daughters of
United Stales pensioners living in his
district had not married, and thus for
feited their claim to further aid from
the government.
All the certiticates, except 1,004, were
indorsed, and ready to be returned.
'This pensioner," said the consul to
Ins chief clerk one morning, "is proba
bly either dead or married, and I am
determined to hnd out which. It is not
so wonderfully far from hero to tho vil
lage of Bleiberg, and if you have an in
clination you may take the next train
and go there. Come back by Saturday
and, of course, make the expenses as
trilling as you can."
I had long wished for a stroll ot some
sort into the magnificent valleys of the
Carinthian Alps, and here seemed my
opportunity.
I was twenty-five miles still from
Bleiberg when I transferred my hand
vaiise and myself from a second-class
railway car into a first-class mountain
diligence.
It was a wonderfully beautiful valley
I was to asf end to Bleiberg. There are
no finer mountain prospects anywhere.
It seems to me sometimes that all the
ornamental work ot the creation has
been expended on Switzerland and the
Tyrol.
Usually, when in the mountains, J
ride outside with the driver, or up in
the imperial, perched like a leather bon
net on the top of the vehicle. I deter
mined fully to do so at this time.
How capricious is the mind of man, I
reflected, on entering the little station,
and seeing a young lady in a velvet
jacket and gray kids buy inside coupe
No 1 for Bleiberg. In a minute and a
half I had changed my mind, and was
the owner of coupe ticket No. 8.
I helped my traveling companion to
her scat, fixed my own precious baggage
into the box behind, and then pro
ceeded, naturally enough, to occupy in
side seat No. 3. There was but one
passenger besides myself. In twenty
minutes the two occupants ot that
mountain diligence were tolerably ac
quainted. We spoke, of course, in German.
What struck us both ns very singular,
however, was the great similarity of
our German pronunciation. Miss Shel
ton Miss Margot Shelton, to bo more
explicit for I had seen her name on the
ticket ns I passed it to the conductor
was perfectly certain I was not a Swiss,
much less an Austrian, and I was
equally confident my fair companion
was not it native to the Alps. Her Ger
man bore too strong an accent for that.
I afterward learned she had thought my
own a little curious. Once, just for the
sport of the thing, I shouted something
to the driver in English. How aston
ished I was to hear Miss Shelton add to
it a phrase as English as my own 1 We
held breath to explain, and in almost no
time at all discovered that we were both
Americans. Strange discoveries fol
lowed they always do. Miss Shelton 's
father had been a volunteer captain in
our army, and I myself had been within
a rifle-shot of him when he fell at Vicks
burg. Her mother, a native of Bleiberg, took
t'jis only daughter and returned to her
old home, stopping at the solicitations
of friends, first for months, and now it
had been yenrs. In a moment I recalled
what had been puzzling me for an hour.
I had seen the name Shelton before
somewhere.
Who was pensioner 1004 but Elsie
Shelton why had I not thought of
that? wile of Captcin Shelton. killed at
Viekshurg in June, 1863. How ex
tremely singulart we both exclaimed.
Mrs. Elsie Shelton. I was soon informed,
whs not remarried.
The object of my journey was accom-
flishcd. I might return home at once,
did not, however. Besides, Miss Shel
ton insisted that I should go on and
visit pretty Bleiberg, her mother and
herself. I was easily persuaded.
Why had the consul's letters not been
answered ? I asked, as we made a turn
in the road. "Oh," said Miss Shelton,
"mother and I were both coming next
week to Z , to visit a relative there,
and so she proposed answering in per
son. Besides she is not so poor that
she cures dreadfully whether Uncle
Sam stops the ten dollars or so a month
or not."
By noon the church steeple of Blei
burg was in sight, and in an hour the
driver blew a shrill note or so on his
horn, the villagers hastened to the win
dows of the houses as our four panting
ponies passed on a rallop, and the little
old postmaster lifted his blue cap, nnd
cave us a salute all round. Mrs. Shel
ton was living with a friend, then ab
sent, in a substantial two-story stone
house not far from the post.
" Tl is is Mr. ," said Miss Shelton,
laughing, as she presented me to her
mother, "a real American; and, just
think, he has come to ask, mamma, if
you are married." The good-lookin"
embarrassed little widow soon un
raveled the nonsense with which Miss
Margot was seeking to overwhelm us.
and I was welcomed not only as nn
American, but as one who had been at
Vicksburg.
When the dinner was over I strolled
out through one of the loveliest situated
villages of the Alps. The view down
the valley we hnd just ascended was en
chanting. Behind the pretty town, and
edged by a green meadow sloping up
ward, was a forest of tall dark firs and
above this an alp, angling up the side
of a steep mountain, known to all tour
ists as the Rigi of the Kernthal.
It was only the 25th ot February, but
the sun seemed as warm as in midsum
mer. The grass, so wonderfully green,
was high enough for pasture, nnd
violets and daises peeped out every
where. It was "dangerously worm, in fact."
muttered the little postmaster in the
blue cap, as I handed him a letter to
post to the consul at Z , saying every
thing was well, but I couldn't possibly
be back on Saturday " dangerously
warm, because there had not been so
much snow on the mountains in fifty
years as now, and already people began
to hear of avalanches falling out of
season."
Bleiberg, however, is safe enoueh, I
thought to myself, as I glanced up the
sides of the old peak where, sure enough,
there were oceans of snow and ice glis
tening in the sunshine. But it was a
mile away, and between pretty Bleiberit
and it swept, like a dark veil, the forest
of tall fir trees.
" I don't like it it's too warm and
there's no telling," continued my would
be pessimist of a postmaster. " I
haven't lived in those regions well nigh
to fifty years for nothing. Snowing all
winter, and hot sun und daisies in
February, aren't natural. It means
avalanches to somebody somewhere."
I had almost forgotten that, as I left
the house of my fair entertainers, I was
informed that it was carnival-day in
the village, and that at three o'clock I
must be on h.md to see the procession.
It was already after three, and I hurried
back to be offered a good place to see
from, at the upper chamber window of
Miss Margot, where, joined by her
mother, we awaited the boys in striped
trousers and masks, and the men with
music and flags. It was a novel sight,
as the long procession filed up the road
and approached the house where we
were waiting, ine contrast or the
bright colors of the costumes and flags
with the green foliage and the greener
grass at the road-sides ; the comparative
silence, disturbed only by the echoing
ot the notes of musio from the lofty
rocks; the seeming diminutiveness of
everything of the men, of the thread
like roads, of even the houses and trees,
as seen under tiie shadow of the tower
ing mounUins all added inipressive
ness to the thing.
There were possibly a hundred per
sons in tne procession, with a score of
boys following at the sides, and all the
villagers looking on. Suddenly the
musio ceased; there was an awful whiz
zing in the air; a cry of ' Avalanehe!"
"Avalanche!" and an instant roaring
and cracking, as of falling forests. In
ten short seconds an awful flood oi
snow, mangled trees, ice and stones
passed the house like the swell of a
mighty sea. Everything shook. The
procession disappeared as if engulfed by
an earthquake. Houses, right and left,
tumbled over, and were buried in one
siDgle instant. The air, cooled for a
moment, and again bot, wan rent with
the screams of the mangled. An awful
catastrophe had befallen us ; the wrath
of the mountains was upon the village I
For a moment we stood paralyzed
speechless. My first impulse was to rush to the
street, and to drag my companions with
me; but there was no street. Even the
garden had disappeared in a foam of
snow and ice We thought of the back
window at the embankment, but as we
tore it open, a single glance toward the
mountain told us the horror was but
begun. "The forest 1" we all shouted
in a breath. It was gone, all gone, as
if mown by a mighty reaper, and masses
of other snow seemed ready to slide.
The white brow of the mountain still
gleamed in the sunshine, and seemed to
laugh at the desolation. Another whiz
zing, a roar, and with our own eyes
we saw the side of the mountain start.
Instantly and together we sprang down
the steps into the lower room. There
was a roll of thunder, a mighty crash,
and then all was darkness. We were
buried alive beneath an avalanche.
What my first thoughts were I am un
able to recall. I only remember our
fearful cries for help ; how we shouted
separately, and then united on one word,
crying together again and again, our
only answer the silence of the grave.
Every soul in the village, probably,
hod been killed, or, like ourselves, had
been buried beneath the snow and ice of
the mountain. It was only after we
had exhausted ourselves with vain cries
for help that we meditated on helping
ourselves. We had not been injured.
Wc remembered that we were in the
little sitting-room down stairs, the win
dows only of which seemed broken in,
and filled with snow, ice and stones.
The stairway was also filled with snow
nnd the debris of crushed walls. Above
us all was desolation.
The furniture in the room seemed all
in its proper place. We could move
about, but it was becoming terribly
cold, and we felt the sleepy chill, that
dreadful precursor of death ty freezing,
overcoming us. Once we were certain
we heard voices above us, and again we
shouted t try to tell them we were still
alive. We listened ; the voices were
gone we were abandoned to our fate.
For hours wo had alternately shouted
and listened, until we sank down in de
spair. It must have been midnight
when, in our gropings about the little
chamber, our hands came on a wax
candle. In a few moments we had
light light to die by.
Hours went by. I don't know whether
we were sleeping or freezing, when 1
started at hearing a voice cry, "A light!
a light!" I sprang to my feet, and again
the voice cried, "A lieht!" In ten min
utes three . half-frozen, half-insane
human beings were lifted from the
grave into the gray light of the morning.
A hundred noble souls had labored the
long night through, seeking the buried.
Every man and woman, from every
village in the whole valley, had hurried
to the scene, and was straining every
nerve to rescue those to whom life
might still be clinging. " We were
among the last taken from the snow and
rocKS, which had lain upon us thirty
feet in depth. Did those brave rescuers
wonder that we knelt to them and
kissed the hems of their ragged garments?
Beautiful Bleiberg is no more. Half
ot those whom, we saw dancing along in
the procession of the carnival, in the
bright sunshine, steep among the violets
on the hill-side. The snow and the ice
and the black bowlders from the moun
tain, ami the dark fir-trees, still lie, in
this summer of 1879, in one mass in the
valley. We all left as soon as we could
travel. I went home to Z .
My chief has resigned, and I am now
acting consul in his place. Should the
Senate confirm all the new appoint
ments. I expect to remain as consul.
Miss Shelton thinks also of remaining,
and when Americans wander to Z
they will find the latch string of our
home at the consulate on the outside of
the door.
One word nnd I nm done. Mrs. Shel
ton has lost a part of her pension so
much of it as was allowed for a minor
daughter. I have so reported it to the
commissioner at Washington. Harper's
Montllly,
Shocking Cruelty to Children.
Christian Sehaeffer has been sent to
jail in Philadelphia for almost starving
his two children. The story came out
through the attempt of Josephine Chris
tian, aged fourteen, to end her life by
jumping into the Delaware river. She
was rescued by a passing boat. Sehaeffer
is a miserly, repulsive man of thirty
live. He has lived for several years with
his two daughters in a dilapidated little
shanty in Salmon street, not far from the
Bridesburg arsenal. Dirt, inches thick,
carpeted the floor. The only ventilation
was from a door and a window, three
of whose panes were stuffed with old
rags. They had no visitors or friends,
for the lather allowed no intercourse
whatever with the neighbors. They
never went to school or to church. The
man's only means of livelihood was
catching stray dogs, which he would
kill and boil and render the fat. He
compelled his children to live on the
meat of the dogs he caught. From their
infancy he had taught them to use the
ftit for butter, and they do not know the
taste of real butter, fie made consider
able money from selling the dogs' bones
and skins, but never spent a cent ex
cept for rags to cover his children's
backs or to protect them from the cold
when all three lay down at night in the
one miserable bed, made of rough boards.
At meal time their dog meat was poked
out of an old iron boiler and they sat on
boxes to eat it, The girls often contem
plated suicide. They were put in the
hands of the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children.
in Astonished Frores6or.
A former president of a New England
college, after getting a seat in a h.Tse
car, noticed one of the freshmen of his
college curled up in front of him, and
exhibiting obvious signs of vinous ex
hilaration. A close inspection revealed
the fact that the state of inebriety was
not hastily put on (like a bat) but had
been worn closely (like an undershirt)
tor several days. For a few moments
the president surveyed the under-grad-uate
with an expression of mingled com
miseration and disgust, and. finally he
exclaimed, "Been on a drunk!" The
half conscious student rallied his stray,
ine senses, and with a gleam of good
fellowship in his eye, somewhat un
retpectedly ejaculated, "So hie
have 1 1"
Spring brings the blossoms. Autumn brings
the truit and also eolds, etc, lor which noth
ing superior to Dr. Bull's Cough Syrup has
ever bean offered to the public. It always
ouie. Prios U eenta.
Some Interesting Figures.
In an interview at Chicasro with
Robert P. Potter, the well-known statis
tician,who has been appointed by Census
Superintendent Walker to havo charge
of the collection of statistics concerning
the debt, wealth, and taxation of the
United States, Mr. Potter said: The
facts which I have collected eive a sort
of comparative view of the growth of
the three sections ot the country, and
bear especially on the economic changes
that have taken place in the past decade
in the East, West and South. In 1860
the population of the nine Eastern
States (including New York and Penn
sylvania) was 10,594,300; the nine
W estern btates (excluding Ohio), 6,752,
368; and the thirteen Southern States,
10,359,016. By a careful estimate I find
that at the close of 1879 the Donulation
of the Eastern States had reached 14,
303,000; that of the Southern States, 14,
305,000, and that of the Western States,
14,655,000. Thus, while the population
of the South probably increased 4,025,-
884, and that ot the Eastern States 3,808,
706, the nine Western States have in
nineteen years gained 7,902,633 an in
crease nearly equal to the aggregate in
crease of the Eastern ana Southern
States in the same period. The increase
of population on the shores ot the great
lakes withi l the past quarter century is
without a parallel in history. I have
made a series of investigations of the
manufacturing populations of the West
ern States (Ohio omitted), of the thir
teen Southern States, and of the six New
England States, including New York,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Having
ascertained by the census figures of
1850, 1860 and 1870 the actual growth of
the manufacturing population of each
State, the percentage of growth for e'sch
decade was easily found out: then by
taking the average decennial growth
between 1850 and 1870 for the increase
between 1870 and 1880, 1 have arrived
at the following approximation :
Eatiern TVettern Southern
S la tci. Statei. Slaict.
Number engaged
in manufactur
ing in 1850 696,661 58,947 109,866
Number engaged
in manulactur-
inginl860 900,107 113,045 131,979
Number engaged
in manulactur-
inginl87i 1,273,808 360,621 186,470
Probable numeri
cal increase tor
decade ending
1880 461,055 633,892 71,919
Probable number
engaged in
man n iacturing
in 1880 1,734.863 994,512 258,389
From this exhibit I find that the
manufacturing population of the nine
Western States increased from 58,947 in
1850 to 994.512 in 1880; in the Eastern
States from 696,661 in 1850 to 1,734,863
in 1880, and in the Southern States from
109,88 to 258,389.
Thirty-Four Kenrs in JailT
An official record, recently published,
of the leading incidents in tne nefarious
career of one Mr. Anthony Matek, an
Austrian thief of considerable renown
in the Cislcithnn provinces ot the Dual
Realm, is not uninstructive. This per
severing but unfortunate pilferer has
just attained the ripe age of sixty-eight,
thirty-four years and eight months of
his existence having been spent in one
or another imperial jail, .while the
monotony of his solitary confinement
has been relieved at different limes by
his receiving 16,600 stripes with rods and
370 blows with sticks. These latter
castigations were imparted to him dur
ing his term of army service. Military
regulations opposed themselves, it
seems, in a violent and arbitrary manner
to his confirmed habitof seeking uncon
sidered trifles in his comrades' pockets ;
and vengeful martinets, deaf to his pla
that "congenial eccentricity covers a
multitude ot sins," decreed no fewer
than six several times that he should
"run the gauntlet." The fact that he
has survived those terrible ordeals bears
convincing testimony to tho vior of his
constitution. The value of the articles'
stolen by him is appraised in the official
register of his adventures nnd mishaps
as not amounting in all to 300 florins, or
less than $150. His last sentence but
one eight years' imprisonment with
hard labor, which he had worked out
only a few weeks ago was incurred for
the annexation of the Austrian equiva
lent to eighty cents. No sooner was he
free than he publicly relieved a lady of
her purse, containing sixty cents. For
this imprudent feat he has just been
condemned to another six years of penal
servitude, making up a total ta e of torty
yenrs and eight months' laborious seclu
sion for the acquisition of an amount
representing an income for that period
of about $3.75 per annum ! The strictest
honesty could hardly have paid him
worse.
A Depraved Small Boy.
A fearful example of criminal pre
cocity is afforded by a case which re
cently came before the assize court of
St. Peter, in Martinique.. A boy named
Emilien Dema, aged eleven, was accused
of deliberately murdering Paul Sarpon,
a child of three and a half years. The
following extracts from Dema's exami
nation will show the horrifying cold
bloodedness with which he admitted
the commission of the crime. On being
asked how he despatched his victim he
answered : " I killed him intentionally.
got him to come and play with me.
He followed me and we played together
at first, and then I led him near theedge
of a cliff, and pushed him over. I next
jumped down after him, beat and kicked
him, bit him in the neck and finished
him off with a stone." Wishing, as he
said, to assure himself of having really
" finished off" Sarpon, this young mon
ster stated that he then dragged the
body into a pool of water and effectually
prevented any return of life bv placing
a heavy stone on the head. The presi
dent of the court inquired of Dema why
he had taken the child's life, to whicb he
replied : " Because I hated him for hav
ing me punished by my mother." On a
question being put as to whether he felt
no regret or pity on seeing the murdered
boy struggling in the agonies of death,
the prisoner, who seemed greatly sur
prised at such a query, answered decid
edly, "No," and added, on being fur
ther interrogated, that not even the fear
of the police would have deterred bim,
as his desire was to "killPauL" The
child criminal, who had given his evi
dence throughout most impassively,
displayed no fee ling ol any kind on being
sentenced to the maximum punishment
of twenty years' imprisonment in a
house of correction. Ualignani's Mes
senger. Arizona contains 73,000,000 acres of
land, 6,000,000 of which are surveyed.
FOB THE FAIR SEX.
Manner ot Making Monrnlns Dresses,
The simplest designs used in making
colored dresses are repeated in those
worn as mourning. The coat basque,
the round overskirt very simply draped,
and the short round skirt, is the model
for most costumes. For the deepest
mourning a broad habit of crape is
used lor trimming the basque and both
skirts, dispensing with all flounce-like
plaitings on the lower skirt. The cus
tom of covering the entire basque with
crape, also all that part of the lower
skirt visible below the overdress, is
confined to widows, and is not even for
them so generally adopted as it formerly
was. There is a tendency to lighten the
unwholesome heavy mourning attire
lately worn in the somber English
styles, yet to retain its simplicity and
nun-like plainness; thus the neck of the
dress is worn very high about the
throat, the sleeves are tight and with
out cuffs, the Bhoulder seams are short,
the bust is not draped, and the beauty
of the corsage depends upon its fine fit.
Crape, however, is worn but a few
months, and lustreless silks are chosen
for dress from the first period of mourn
ing. While paniers, sashes, fussy drap
ery, flounces and open throats are, of
course, avoided, yet a dinner dress of
mourning silk and crape is fashioned
very much as a colored dress of silk and
brocade would be. Thus the short
basque and the front breadth are covered
vith English crape, and the flowing
train is of the rich silk, with perhaps
some panel revers of crape down the
sides, and a knife-plaiting of the same
on the edge. Very rich and appropriate
suits for the street are made of Henrietta
cloth or of imperial ser-ge after the
models in use for cloth costumes this
winter; the basque is coat-shape and
double-breasted, with a deep collar,
cuffs and square pockets of crape. The
skirt lies a full straight back breadth
without drapery, and is widely bordered
with a band ot bias crape, while in front
is a deep round apron, much wrinkled,
and tailing quite low, yet disappearing
in the side seams where the full straight
back begins. The wrap with such a
suit is a long coat-shaped garment made
of the material of the dress, warmly
lined, perhaps with fur, or else with
wadded silk or flannel. There are also
figured cloths that are used for wraps
with mourning dresses, and many of
those have a deep collar and wide cuffs
of black fur. A border of fur is not
liked for mourning cloaks, as used in
that way the fur is only a showy trim
ming, and not for comfort, and detracts
from the severely simple look given by
the deep collar and cuffs. Sealskin
cloaks are now worn in the deepest
mouvnins. and furriers select those of
the dtirkest hue for this purpose. The
large circulars of cashmere cloth with
fur lining are worn ns carriage wraps
by ladies in mourning. Harper's Bazar.
News and Rotes for Women.
Mrs. Grant says that the prettiest girl
seen in all her travels was at Reno,
Nev., railroad station.
Allegra Eggleston, a young Brooklyn
artist takes a portrait by only looking
at the subject for a few minutes, and
then draws a picture that every one re
cognizes.
Manchester. Ennland. has a soeietv
of women painters, to which the other
sex is not admitted, not even at the
yearly exhibition.
Miis M. E. Gage, daughter of the
poetess, has established a ladies' ex
change for mining stocks in New York.
A generous Iowa lady. Mrs. Cordelia
Miller, has civen 830.000 to the Garret
Biblical institute, at Evanston, 111.
Madame de Witt has mat comnleted
her history of Fiance, which is the
sequel to her father's (M. Guizot) his
tory.
The widow of G. P. James, tb e nov
elist, is living at Eau Clare, Wis. She
is now eighty years old, and is well
eared for by her sons.
A London correspondent writes that
American nationality is accepted in
England as a nrosunintion in favor of
a lady singer's success.
There are nine ladies on the London
school board.
Princess Alexandria, wife of the
Prince of Wales, is somewhat deaf, and
lias ordered an American audiphone.
Lady Burdett-Coutts latelv eave a
tea party to over two hundred London
cabmen and their wives as a means to
induce the cabmen to treat their horses
with kindness.
The ladv nrincinal of a Michiomn
school lias resigned her position to com
mence the study of medicine.
The American Sundav school, ot New
York, has been presented with $100,000
by Mrs. J. C. Green, of that ciy, the in
terest only to be available. This is to
be devoted to "the development of Sun-dav-school
literature of a high merit."
Mrs. Gladstone and Lady Roseberry
attended all the Gladstone meetings
at Edinburg, and sat in front of the
platform listening attentively to every
word and occasionally nodding assent,
which sight was said to be very pretty
and interesting.
There was married recentlv in De
troit a damsel who had been several
years employed in a large manufacturing
establishment. Her marriage had been
for some days a subject of pleasant con
gratulation by her employers and fellow
employees. One day one of the pro
prietors, who always wears a " bed
t ick" apron in the factory, said to her,
" . if you will wear this apron on
your wedding-dress when you arc mar
ried I will make you a present of $50."
"Yes," added the foreman, "and I'll
giver you $10." The girl accepted the
challenge, wore the apron, and pocketed
her $60.
Gambetta says that " if girls are not
educated ud to the level of the renubli-
can ideal the republic will fall down to
their notion of what it ought to be."
That tho best advisors he ever had, not
alone at to the conduct of his private
ine, dui in pontics, were good women,
whose minds were emanciDated from
sacerdotal tyranny, and it was of vital
importance to the commonwealth that
the fullest justice should be done to the
girlhood of France.
The sultan has ten servants whose
special duty is to unfold the carpets for
liiiii wnen ne is going to pray, ten to
take care oi his nipes and cigarettes.
two to dress his royal bail and twenty
to auena to his most noois clean shirts,
There are a multitude of other attend
ants about the Dulace: indeed, it la
stated that boo families and about 4,000
fersons live at his majesty's expense,
leisan extravagant housekeeper; the
annual expenditures of the palace are
mentioned as nearly $14,000,000,
TIMELY TOPICS.
An idea of the condition of the United
States navy is given by the report of the
House naval committee, which savs that
of the 142 vessels of the navy forty-eight
are not capable ot tiring a gun, eleven
steamships are laid up for repairs and
eight others are out of service, leaving
only sixty-nine cnpable of doing naval
duty. The navy is also short in guns,
having only 850 pieces in the whole
navy, of which less than forty are rifles,
all the others being smooth bores,
which are out of all comparison with the
modern gun for effective service.
It is somewhat hard to maintain a
free reading-room in New York. The
number of articles stolen from the
Cooper Union is giving the managers a
great deal of trouble. Not only are the
ordinary books stolen, but it is found
next to impossible to keep up the sup
ply of Bibles on the desks, ns they are
Ptolen as fast as distributed. The br.iss
rods that keep the papers in place are
constantly stolen for the metal, and even
the worthless rubber checks given at
the door are stolen instead of being
given up as the person passes out. Two
years ago there were 2,000 checks, now
there are but 450. Twenty-five hundred
persons enter the free reading-room
dai'y. Ileieafter persons desiring to use
this immense reading-room will be
obliged to make application for admis
sion to the librarian.
It is the habit in Scotland as in
America to sell insurance tickets, with
railroad tickets when the traveler de
sires them. The cost of these insur
ance tickets, good for one day, is
but a penny, nnd the company agrees
to pay n certain sum in case of death
within the twenty-four hours, or a
certain sum weekly in cose of in
jury. It is rather remarkable that there
should not be a single insured person on
that fated Dundee train, but so the in
surance companies assert. This brings
up a suggestion of improvement in the
method of giving tickets for this pur
pose. There should be some method
by which the friends of the deceased
could find out whether or not he had
been insured. Almost every one on tho
train that went into the Tay might have
been insured, yet there is no way of find
ing it out. Many of the bodies have
been swept out to sea nnd if they nre
ever found it is doubtful whether an in
surance ticket on their persons would be
decipherable.
The autopsy of the remains of the
woman who starved herself to death in
Cincinnati did not reveal any materially
diseased condition of the stomach. The
fact that she lived for thirty days with
out usine any nourishment whatever
would justify the conclusion that per
sons possessed of strong will power, and
having tho hallucination or delusion
that they are suffering with some or
ganic disease or bodily disorder, may
live until the body is entirely consumed.
This lady was possessed of great power
ot will, and she had a delusion that she
had no stomach, and therefore made up
her mind that she would not take food
or drink; and continued in this condi
tion until there was a general exhaus
tion of the nerve-centers and mental
faculties, when she went quietly into a
calm sleep and died without a struggle.
The pathological condition of the pas
sages leading to the stomach all being
normal, with no obstruction, Bnd all the
organs in a healthy state readv to per
form their various offices, would war
rant tho conclusion that this lady would
have lived a great many years if she
could have been induced to partake of
sufficient nourishment to sustain lile.
An account of a case of clear grit,
physical endurance and sullering from
pain, which stands without a parallel,
comes from Ontonagon county, Mich.
The story runs that a woodman named
James Irwin left Rockland for his forest
home at uvs V leux Desert.on snow t hoes
over an untraveled road through the
woods, which was covered with two or
three feet of snow. A short. distunee
out he stopped to build n fire, a id while
engaged in chopping some fuel he cut
one oi his feet. Failing to appreciate at
mm; me i: a Li-m, 01 ins injury,
ho continued on his way, and
when out about twenty-fire mill's from
ivocKiana ne discovered that his wound
was a serious one and rennired tlia
offices of a surgeon, and as there was no
physician at Luc Vieux Desert, he re
traced his steps toward Rockland where
ho could get one. His foot rapidly e-ot
worse, so that he could not bear his
weight on it. Alone, on an unbroken
trail or road, heavy with snow, with a
crippled and painful foot, his horrible
position can be imagined. It was a case
of life or death with Irwin, so falling on
ma Miues ne commenced crawling on
" all fours " and alter thirty-six days he
was found within three miles of Rock
land, having crawled twenty-two miles
in a most deplorable condition, nnd
barely life enough left to stir. The
wounded foot had to be cut off. and
it was thoueht he would lose the
other one, which was frozen. For sev
eral days he had dothing to eat. A man
wuo wou d undertake to acenmn inn
what Irwin did was not turned out of
a common mould.
Words of Wisdom.
When a man is wrong and won't ad
mit it, he always gets angry.
The best part of beauty is that which
a picture cannot express.
Art must anchor in nature, or it is
the sport of every breath of folly.
Conscience is the voice of the soul;
the passions are the voice of the body.
All other knowledge is hurtful to him
who lias not honesty and food nature.
A merry heart doeth got i lie a medi
cine, but a broken spiri; drieth the
bones.
Let no man presume to give advice to
others that has not given good coumel
to himself.
Beauty and death make each other
seem purer and lovelier, like snow and
moonlight.
Hatred is so durable and so obstinate
that reconciliation on a sick-bed is a
sign of death.
Somo one has said oi a fine and honor
able old age, that it was the childhood
of immortality.
Circumstances form the character;
but like petrifying matters, they harden
while they form.
Life is made of little things, in which
smiles and kindness given habitually are
what win and preserve the htait and
secui t comfort.
Jnst One Little Song, Love
Como, sing that song I loved, love,
When all life seemed one songj
. For I am stricken now, love,
My strong arm is not strong.
Then sing the song I loved, lore,
Yon know that one sweet song.
Aye, sing that one sweet song, lovej
Love, just that one sweet song.
For lile is none too long, love
Ob, love is none too long.
Then just one little song, love;
Love, (ust one little song.
I know you love the world, lore;
Nor would 1 deem yon wrong.
But, when above my grave, love,
Next year tho grass grows strong,
Then sing that song I loved, love;
Love, just one little song.
No tears or sable garb, love;
No sighs to break your song.
But when they bid you sing, lovo,
And thrill the joyous throng,
Then sing the song I loved, love;
Lovo, just 0110 little song.
Joaquin Miller, in the Parisian.
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Over 1,000 cheese factories areopcrated
in New York State.
The Boston Post considers a judge's
position a trying one.
A California paper says that it is now
considered a well-settled point that the
production of raisins in that State will
be made profitable.
English authorities state that, out ol
every five loaves of bread eaten in Eng- '
land in 1860, three must come from the
United States and Russia.
Turkev's territorial loss is estimated
by a German authority as a territory
almost as large as Prussia proper, with
a population of 11,000,000.
A pork packer nt Indianapolis has
shown great inventive genius in get
ting into a scrape. He has invented
machinery which will scrape 7,000 hogs
a day.
A new steam hammer in the establish
ment of Messrs. Park Bros. & Co., Pitts
burg, weighing fifteen tons, and costing
$60,000, will, it is said, be the largest in
the countrv.
An agent of the Mormon Church has
been down in Mexico looking for a good
location in which to make a Mormon
settlement. It is to be hoped that he
will find one.
Over $22,000,000 was expended in
New York city last year in the erection
of new buildings, which is in excess of
the amount expended for new buildings
any year since 1871.
A few years ago, when an unprcce
dentedly cold night left a litt'e skim of
ioe on the pools in Jerusalem, the Arabs
declared that it was a miracle by which
water had been turned to glass.
Henry Nelson, of New Orleans, is
ninety-eight " too old to be fooled
with, lie says. But some boys amused
themselves by tormenting him, until he
shot off the arm of one of them.
Mrs. Harris was ill, at Miti-I.i A. Ind.,
nnd deliriously insisted on geti lug out of
bed. The husbnnd tried by persuasion
to keep her quiet, and then losing his
patience, killed her with an axe.
On a recent voyage from Honr Kong
to San Francisco the captain of the ship
had one son washed overboard nnd
drowned nnd another born to him, so
he landed with as many as lie started
with.
The Smithsonian institute has sent a
commission to tho Pacific coast to make
a complete collection ot all the fish found
in the sea, lakes and rivers of California
and the neighboring States und Terri
tories. It is said that there is one cow for
every four persons in this country, and
if tho wells and springs were to fail
some of us would bo put on short allow
nnce of milk and crenm. Norrislown
Ilcrnhl.
The Suez canal receipts are reported
to have decrrnsed in 1678 8323.200 from
ttiose ot 1877, nnd 1879 showed a still
greater falling off. A bout three-quarters
f the vessels passing through are
British.
Mrs. Blessersole think) fire-escapes
very proper tilings to Lave. She says
it is well enough to give a fire a chance
to escaoe from a building, if it will; if
it won't, why then put it out, of course
Boston Transcript.
" n.ind words can never die." How
bitterly does a man realize that terrible
truth when hesees all the kindestwords
he ever saw in his life glaring at him
from his published letters in a breach
of promise suit. Ilawkcye.
There are about 00,000 Mennonites in
America. They have 500 meeting
houses. They abstain from taking the
oath, do not infli t punishment, do not
accept public office, and never go to
law. They are nearly all farmers.
M. Say, the Frenchman of leisure
who. on pleasure bent, started around
the world in a private yacht recently,
but was driven into the Chesapeake by a
storm, concluded that his yacht is too
small for the undertaking, and so has
ordered a $200,000 ship from a Balti
more firm.
According to the developments of a
lawsuit in Buffalo, the business of manu
facturing glucose is a very profitable
one. It is alleged that the shares of
the Buffalo grape sugar company, the
original value f which was $100each,
are now worth $20,000 each, and it is
said the concern makes from $30,000 to
$40,000 per week.
Although to-day there nre as manv
beards in the House of Commons ns in
any assembly in tho world, twenty-five
years ago there was but one. It be
longed to Mr. Muntz, member from
Birminghnm, who did tho public a ser
vice by persuading the government to
adopt the perforating machine in the
manufacture of postage stomps. Mr.
Muntz shaved until he was forty, when
his brother returned from Germany
with a fine beard, which the M. P. de
ter nined to emulate. "H. B.," the
famous caricaturist, was soon at "the
nian with the beard," as every one called
Muntz, and represented him in a cartoon
as "a Brummagen M. P." In this por
trait he carries a stout stick, which has
special prominence, the reason being
1 hat an irrepressible practical joker, the
Marquis 01 watenord, was supposed to
have laid n wager that he would shave
Muntz; iienee the cudgel to defend Mm
sell fim dUbarbament. Mr. Maul
died, very wealthy, in 1857.