.. . . . . . c- - ' - . . .. .
: le if It fciiii ' IJitctfe
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum.
VOL. XI. RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THUESDAY, JUKE 30, 1881. NO. 19.
Goln Home To-day.
My business on tho jury's done the qnibblin
all is through
I're watched tho lawyers right and left, and
civpn mv vnrdiet trim?
I stuck so long unto my chair, I thought I
would grow in J
And if I do not know myself, they'll get me
there ag'in ;
But now the court's adjourned for good, and
I have got my pay,
I'm Ioobo at last, and, thank the Lord, I'm
going home to-day.
I've somehow felt uneasy like, since the first
day I came down ;
It is an awkward game to play the gentleman
in town ;
And this 'ere Sunday suit of mine on Sunday
rightly sets ; "
But when I wear the stuff a week, it somehow
galls and frets.
I'd rather wear my homespun rig of pepper,
.salt, and gray
I'll have it off in half a jiff when I got home
to-day.
The mornin' that 1 came away we had a little
bout ;
I coolly took my hat and left before the bIiow
was out.
For what I said was naught whereat she ought
to tako offense,
.And she was always quick at words and ready
to commence ;
But then she's first ouo to give up when she
has had her say ;
And sho will meet mo with a kiss when I go
home to-day.
I have no doubt my wife, looked out, as well
as any one
As well a9 any woman could to see that things
was done ;
For though Melinda, when I'm there, won't
set her foot outdoors,
She's very careful, when I'm gone, to tend to
all the chores ;
But nothing prospers half so well when I go
off to stay,
And I will put things Into snape when I get
homo r -lay.
My littlo boy I'll give 'em leave to match
him, if they can ;
It's fun to see him strut about, and try to bo
a man ;
The gamest, cheeriest little chap you'll ever
want to Bee I
And then they laugh, because I think the child
resombles mo.
The littlo rogue 1 he goes for me like robbers
for their prey ;
He'll turn my pockets inside tout when get
home to-day.
My little girl I cau't contrive how it Bhould
happen thus
That God ulioulil pick that sweet bouquet and
ilmg it down to us !
My wife, shu sus that han'somo face will
some day make a stir ;
And then I laugh, because sho thinks the
child resembles her.
She'll meet me half way down the hill, ami
ki-m me any way ;
And light my heart up with her smiles when
I go homo to-day.
If there's a heaven upon the earth, a fellow
knows it when
He's been away from home a week, and then
gets home again ;
If there's a heaven above the earth, there
often, I'll be bound,
Bomo homesick fellow meets his folks, and
hugs 'em all around.
But let my creed be right or wrong, or be it as
it may,
My heaven is just ahead of me I'm going
home to-day.
Will Cm-Won. in "Farm IalltvU."
DOLLY'S PARACHUTE.
"P-a-r par a-c-h-u-t-e. Uncle Har
ry, what's that ? a parachute ?"
"A big word for a little girl's tongue,
Dollie. Come, let me see if it has
twisted it crooked ?"
My six-year-old niece gravely put
forth the desired organ, and I as gravely
pronounced it sound and straight.
"But I want to know, Uncle Harry,"
she pernisted.
So I took the young lady on my lap,
and explained, as well as I could, the
mysteries of the parachute ; and the
beautiful brown eyes grew bright with
wonder at the new ideas thus presented
to her inquiring mind.
My story finished, Miss Dollie sat
awhile on my knee in deep thought ;
and then she got down, and trotted oil'
with a preoccupied, business-like air.
I loved a good cigar in those days I
do now for the matter of that and sit
ting smoking on the portico, with the
sweet summer breezes dancing around
me, and the woodland songsters filling
the air with music, I forgot Dollie
though I had promised to keep an eye
on her until suddenly startled by a
series of screams and outcries proceed
ing from the garden, a sure indication
that the mischievous little monkey had
got into some sort of trouble, as usually
happened on an average twice a day,
at least.
I threw away my beloved cigar, and
rushed out to the scene of the turmoil,
my sister closely following ; but neither
of us, I must confess, were prepared for
the siirht that met our view.
There was a tall grape-arbor in the
garden, composed of several upright
posts connected by long slats, nailed
longitudinally, and projecting a foot or
more beyond the uprights at eitner enu.
There were fifteen of these slats, a foot
apart, and on the end of one of the up
permost ones hung Miss Dollie.
She was suspended somewhat in the
manner of a penknife with the blade
partly open and the point turned down
ward : and as she swung to and fro,
filling the air with lamentations, her
poor little nose received many a blow
from the frautio plunges of her knees
and feet.
'Keep still, Dollie I" I cried out, my
voice full of laughter.
And then I ckmbered rapidly up the
arbor, ana piueitea the terrified child
from her elevated, impromptu swing,
landing her safely on the ground.
. "Dollie," said her mother, severely,
"haven 1 1 forbidden
"If all Uncle Harry's fault, bo it is 1"
sobbed Dollie, in doleful accents. "He
paid a person could jump off a high
place, and come down easy, if they had
a parachute, so I thought I'd try, and I
got his"
"Mine I" I cried out ; "I have none,
yon littlo goose I"
"You has, Uncle Harry ; yon take it
out to keep the sun off when you go to
draw pictures and to paint."
"Oh," said I, "I see ; yon mean my
artist's umbrella, little lady I That is
not a parachute at all."
"It's not an umbrella I" cried Dollie,
indignantly. "It's big, and strong, and
heavy, and you put it in a pipe, and
stick it in the ground. I got it, and
first I got on the fence and jumped
down, and I bumped so hard it most
took the breffout of me. Then I 'mem
bered Uncle Harry said the air must
get under it ; and so I climbed up the
arbor and jumped off, and and I didn't
go at all. Just look at my hoopskirt,
mamma it's all Uncle Harry's fault
just look I"
Mamma did look, so did the much
abused uncle, and both fell into fresh
convulsions of laughter.
It was the fashion in those days for
the little feminines, as well as the big
ones, to wear stiff, rattan hoopskirts.
Dollie had been very proud of hers the
first of its kind to her and now, alas,
having served as a hook to suspend its
owner in mid-air, it presented a woe
begone appearance rattans twisted and
broken, and trailing behind in a decided
peak.
Altogether, it was too much for my
gravity, and I lay down on the grass to
laugh at my ease, while my sister car
ried off the much-offended Dollie to
restore order to her dilapidated cloth
ing. It was some time before I recovered
sufficiently to go to the rescue of my
impromptu parachute, which, mean
while, was reposing quietly in a black
berry bush.
The next day was like many of its
predecessors warm and beautiful al
most too beautiful, in fact, for we were
getting tired of the hot sun and cloud
less sky, nnd felt that we could heartily
join in the cry of the drooping plants
for clouds and rain.
We had had three weeks of oppres
sively hot, dry weather, but to-day was
considerably cooler ; there was a brisk
breeze, and a few floating, fleecy clouds
gave some hope that a change of weather
was at last approaching.
"Lou," said I, to my sister, as we
stood on the porch together after break
fast, "it really looks as if it might rain
some time, and perhaps I had better
uot postpone my sketch any longer. I'll
go now ; and while I saddle Fleet, and
tret my portfolio and Dollie's parachute
ready, do you put me up some lunch,
like the dear, good sister you are. I
f-.hull not be back before night."
And thus it happened that an hour
later found me riding over the broad
prairie that lay on one side of the beau
tiful lake near which my sister dwelt.
There was a little town there, the be
ginning of one of those Western trans
formation scenes where the wilderness
becomes a city as by the strone ot a
wand.
The lake, as I have 6aid, was a beau
tiful thing to look upon; its shores
were bold and abrupt, in some places
rocky, and more like p. precipice than
the banks of a p3aceful sheet of water ;
on the side opposite the town, from
which point I desired to make my
sketch, a rank, dense growth of virgin
forest extended to the very verge of the
lake, forming a sharp contrast to the
scantily-wooded prairie that stretched
fur away behind it, and in fact, on
every side, leaving the lake and the
narrow belt of forest encircling it like
an oasis in tho desert.
It was a long ride around to the point
I had in view, but finally I arrived there,
and with a gentle sigh of satisfaction, I
tied Fleet to a tree, and settled myself
to the pleasant task of transferring to
paper, as best I might, some faint like
ness of the beautiful scenery.
I was an artist, not only by nature
but by profession, and I had come from
my far-away home not only to visit my
sister and her husband, but to carry
back with me materials for an ambitious
landscape painting that was to appear
on the walls of the Academy of Fine
Arts.
In a fit of laziness, induced bv the
oppressive heat, I had put off my work
until now, and found myself nearingthe
end of my visit without having taken
one step toward the chief object of my
lonrney.
.Mow, therefore, nnding myself at last
on the spot I had selected for my grand
sketch, I fell to worn in all eagerness.
absorbed utterly, as was my wont, so
that I soon became oblivious of every,
thing, save my task.
I forgot poor, patient ileet, waiting
for his dinner; I forgot my own lunch ;
I forgot that the hours were creeping
on until at last I returned to earth
sufficiently to rail at the heavy fog,
which had latterly been settling down '
over the lake, obscuring my view.
Next, I became alive to the fact that
Fleet, my favorite horse and my pet,
was snorting loudly and pawing tne
ground in a way that plainly indi
cated something amiss with him.
"Well, it is time to start for home,"
thought I, as I rose and stretched my
cramped limbs. "The fog is shutting
out the view. Whew I some one is
burning brushwood hereabouts ; my
nose sniffs it, my eyes weep at it."
I turned my face away from the lake,
and, good heavens 1 fog, brushwood
neither of these harmless things was it
that had gradually darkened the atmos
phere, and was causing my eyes and
nose to sting and smart. No wonder
that poor Fleet snorted and pawed the
ground, wild with impatience and fear.
The forest was on fire on fire in the
most alarming sense of the word I
It was not a slow, languishing fire,
creeping along the ground at a moder
ate rate, but a fierce roaring army of
fiery demons, leaping and dancing, and
rushing onward with almost lightning
speed.
I shall never forget the feeling of
horror and despair that overwhelmec
me,
as the imminent danger ot my
position was thus suddenly revealed to
me. I actually believe the hairs on my
head rose up and stood on end; certainly
they felt as u they did, in the first
ihook of surprise.
But that was over in a moment, and
collecting my scattered senses I took in
the whole situation at one rapid glance.
In front of me a bold, precipitous
bank, totally impassable on account of
dense undergrowth, even if it had not
been so steep ; the glistening waters on
the lake far below ; to the right, to the
left, behind me, one unbroken semi-circle
of flame fierce, crackling, roaring
leaping over the dry, parched under
brush, with a speed that even my fleet
footed Arabian could not hope to equal.
And if he could, what would it matter,
since the fierce flames imprisoned me
on three sides, and a precipice on the
fourth?
With a sinking heart I strained my
eyes to discover some loophole of escape,
some break in the advancing wall of fire ;
and an ejaculation of thanksgiving burst
from my parched lips, as, far away on
the left, I saw a little, dark spot in the
line of flame, and remembered that just
there a beautiful spring bubbled up in
the middle of the forest, making a pool
small and shallow, yet all-sufficient to
preserve my life, could I reach it before
the army of fiery demons should flank
it, and stretch an impassable barrier
between me and this, my one hope of
safety.
In one second I was on my horse's
back, and fleeing at a break-neck pace
toward that blessed spot of refuge an
oasis, verily, in that desert of fire. It
was fully half a mile distant, and though
my fleet-footed animal, seemingly im
bued with a full knowledge of all that
depended on his speed, flew over the
ground as even he had never done be
fore, I soon saw that the race was a des
perate one, well-nigh hopeless.
The hungry outcry and roar of the
flames, as they leaped and danced and
waltzed among the dry brush and trees
yet ever dashed forward on their irre
sistable course maddened my poor
horse with fear, and drowned my voice
as I strove to soothe him.
On and on he rushed, his eyes almost
starting from their sockets, the foam
flying from his mouth, and flecking his
sides with great white patches ; seldom
horse spurned the earth as did my poor,
frightened Fleet, during that awful race
with the demons of fire I
, But it was all in vain !
Before we could reach that one little
rift in the great, red wall, it was closed
up ; and then the unbroken tide of fire
seemed to dash onward with even great
er speed then before.
There was only one thing left for me
to do to gain a few moments' respite,
iu which to make my peace, as best I
might, with my God ; and I thanked
Him then that His hand had always
been my guide and support, so that I
had not that overpowering horror of
death that otherwise must have op
pressed me.
There was one little spot as yet un
touched by the flames, though they
were momentarily closing in upon it ;
and thither I fled, riding to its utter
most limits ere I dismounted.
Then I looked about me once more, in
last dying ellort of nope , it was so
hard to resign myself to meet so horri
ble a death. Behind me, to the right,
to the left, that terrible wall of fire , in
front, the lake, calm, beautiful, clear as
a mirror, glistening in the suiillght, two
hundred feet below mo ; and then look
ing down, close at my feet, I saw that I
stood on a projecting point of the elm,
overlooking a tangled mass of under
brush at least one hundred feet belosv
me.
The fire would be checked on its
rocky shelf I saw that at a glance ; but,
alas ! there was plenty of fuel to feed it
up to the very utmost edge, and its mad
career would be stopped too late to save
me ; for there was no spot of refuge to
which I could flee until its fury should
have passed.
Already I felt its scorching breath
on my cheeks as I stood waiting, with
my hand resting on my poor, trembling
horse ; and suddenly, . as he whinnied
Eiteously, the thought came to me that
e, at least, need not suffer so painful a
aeath as stared his master in the face,
I always carried a pistol, and now I
drew it out, and nerving my shaking
hand, raised it to his beautilul quiver
ing ear, but I lowered it again as for
the first time, I noticed that my clumsy
artists's umbrella still swung from its
accustomed place from a ring in the sad
dle. It had so happened that the spot
in which I had been sketching, when
hi mmed in by my fiery foe, was so cool
and shady that the umbrella was not
needed; so I did not remove it from the
saddle.
When I drew the trigger, Fleet would
fall, it might be, upon it ; he might not
live a moment or two, yet even for that
short time I did not choose that the
strong, heavy, steel ribs should have the
chanco of adding to his pain.
I detached it from the saddle ; and
even as 1 did so the sudden memory of
little Dollie's experiment that morning
ah. how far away it seemed 1 forced
a smile to my dry hps; and tOen followed
a thought, swift and startling as a
lightning flash.
A parachute, Dome called it ; and
why not use it as such now in my dire
extremity? It was very strong and
stout. I had some twine in my
pocket, with which to secure the ends of
the ribs to the handle, so that it could
not turn wrong side out.
With the resistance it would oner to
my descent, I felt sure that it was quite
possible to land in the. middle of the
brushwood a hundred feet below
with no more serious hurt than bruises
and scratches, or perhaps a broken
limb ; and surely these were light evils
in comparison with being burned to
death.
With eager fingers I knotted the twine
to the steel ribs, and secured the former
to the base of the handle.
The flames were almost upon me by
this time; so, with one long-drawu
breath, I raised my pistol once more,
and, with one quick, nervous jerk, sent
a bullet into the brain of my petted
steed.
Then, as he gave one wild shriek, and
fell lifeless at my feet, I seized the um
brella Dollie's parachute and leaped
eff the rock.
At the outset I fell bo rapidly that I
almost lost my breath, bnt in a second
I could feel that my descent was checked,
and then began a swaying, jerking mo
tion, that made my head spin.
Doubtless there was not more than
one or two moments intorval between
my leap from the lodge and my landing
amidst the branches of a small tree, but
it seemed as many hours.
When I climbed down to the ground.
scarcely believing yet in my wonderful
escape, I found myself with sound limbs.
My hands and face were scratched and
bleeding, my clothes torn to rags ; but
what cared t ?
The fiery fiends were leaping in dis
appointed anger, far above me, and now
could listen to their roar without a
tremor, save of grief at the loss of my
favorite steed.
Keeping along the shore of the lake,
reached my sister's house just as ser
ious alarm was beginning to be felt at
my prolonged absence, and a party
about to set forth in search of me.
"Dollie," said I, that night, as I took
up the dear little niece I had so nearly
parted from forever "Dollie, you were
right, after all. 'Uncle Harry's big um
brella is a parachute,' and if you had
not told him so he would never have
nown it, and so he would have been
devoured by the hungry flames. We
will make a beautiful glass-case, and put
the parachute away in it, and label it
'Dollie's Parachute. ' "
How Marhles are Made.
Marbles are named from the Latin
word " marmor," by which similar play
things were known to the boys of Koine
two thousand years ago. Some mar
bles are made of potter's clay and
baked in an oven just as earthenware is
baked, but most of them are made of
hard kind of stone found in Saxony,
Germany. Marbles are manufactured
there in great number and sen to all
parts of the world, even to China, for
the use of the Chinese children. The
stone is broken up with a hammer into
little square pieces, which are then
ground round in a mill. The mill has
fixed slab of stone, with its surface
full of little grooves or furrows. Above
this a flat block of oak wook, of the
same size as the stone, is made to turn
round rapidly, and while turning little
streams of water run in the grooves and
keep the mill from getting too hot.
About one hundred of the square pieces
of stone are put into the grooves at
once and in a few minutes are made
round and polished by the wooden
bio k.
China and white marble also are used
to make the round rollers which have
delighted the hearts of the boys of all
nations for hundreds of years. Marbles
thus made are known to the boys as
Chinas" or "alleys." Eeal China ones
are made of porcelain clay and baked
like China ware or other pottery- Some
of them have a pearly glaze and 3ome
are painted in various colors, which will
not rub oil because they are baked in
just as the pictures are on plates and
other tableware.
Glass marbles are known as "agates."
They are made l f bot h clear and colored
glass. The former are made by taking
up a little melted glass on the end of au
iron rod and making it round by drop
ping it into an iron mold, which shapes
it, or by whirling it round the head
until the glass is made into a little ball.
Sometimes tho figure of a dog, or
squirrel, or kitten, or some other object
is put on the end of the rod, and, when
it is dipped into .the melted glass the
glass Hows all around it, and when the
marble is done the animal can be seen
shut up in it. Colored glass marbles
are made by holding a bunch of glass
rods in the fire until they melt ; then
the workman twists them round into a
ball or presses them in a mold, so that
when done the marble is marked with
bands or ribbons of color. Ileal agates,
which are the nicest of all m'arbles, are
made in Germany, out of the stone called
aprato. The workmen chip the pieces
of agate nearly round with hammers
and then grind them round and smooth
on grindstones
Peanut Statistics.
The crop of peanuts which supplies
the entire country comes, for tho most
part, from Virginia. In a few of the
other Southern States the peanut has
been planted, but the yield in quantity
or quality is scarcely worth counting in
comparison with that of Virginia. Many
years ago the apanisn seed was sown m
Vircinia and it iructmed wonderfully,
the nut as it grows now being double
the size of the original seed. It is still
supposed by many that the esculent is
still a foreign importation, but this is
not so nor has it been for the past three
years. The receipts of tho peanut in
this city from n ginia lor the past three
years, from October 15 to June 1 each
year, here is as follows: 1878-79, 84,005
bags; 1879-80, 99,017 bags; 1880-81, 76,
443 bags. The total receipts in 1879
were 104,344 bags, and in 1880 127,402
bags. The average current price, as
given by a large importer, was: Hand
picked, 4 l-2o. to 4 3-4c. per pound;
choice, 4c. to 4 l-4c. per pound; lower
trades. 3o. to 3 l-2o. per pound. A
large quantity of shelled peanuts is sold
annually in this city for confectionery
purposes. To give an idea of the con
sumption throughout the entire country
the following figures are quoted:
Stock of bags on hand June 1:
1870. 1880. 1881
Virginia 28,374 50,885 130,250
New York city 24,000 85,000 20,000
Boston 8,000 8,000 17,000
Philadelphia H.0O0 17,000 20,000
Totals 81,374 119,885 187,250
The available surplus stock on hand
in Virginia, JSew lork, Uoston and
Philadelphia, Jane 1, 1881, iu excess of
the stock at the same time in 1879, was
102,882 bags, and in 1880, 67,371 bags.
The past winter was no cold that the
consumption of peanuts was much be
low the average. At the opening of
spring dealers found their stock nearly
all on hand; nor is mere any imeunooa,
in the opinion of prominent merchants
in the trade, that for the balance of the
year the market will be otherwise than
dull and weak. Neit I ork Herald.
Morse, who invented the telegraph,
and Bell, the inventor of the telephone
both had deaf mute wives. Little com
ment is necessary, but just see what a
man can accomplish when everything is
quiet, Lowell iwuen.
TIIE FARM AND JI0CSEH0LD.
Poultry Notes.
The number of eggs consumed in this
country is enormous, and has rapidly
increased for a quarter of a century.
As many as 10,000,000 have been shipped
to New York annually from Mon
treal alone, and it is computed that more
than thrice that number come east from
Ohio and the interior states. Eggs are
reported also as very scarce and dear
this winter in Great Britain, where some
400,000,000, valued at near 88,000,000,
are annually imported, mainly from the
Continent. It has been estimated that
the consumption in the United States
reaches more than 1,000,000,000 every
year.
Farm nnd Garden Netcs,
In reply to an inquiry as to how to
prevent a sow from eating ber young,
a correspondent of the Country Gentle
man recommends giving them "say half
a pound of pork or scraps from the packing-houses
or blood and waste from the
butchers two or three times before and
on the day they farrow. Since I have
adopted this plan I never lose any. Last
spring my man neglected one of the
sows and she ate up twelve pigs. This
spring she has ten, and is one of the
quietest and kindest of all the mothers."
Posey county, Indiana, claims to have
raised the largest cow in the world. Her
name is Lady Posey, breed mixed Dur
ham and Big English. Her measure
ments are : Greatest height, five feet
ten inches ; girth, eight feet nine inches ;
length, ten feet six inches, or including
tall, seventeen feet ; her form is good,
and, though not fat, she weighs 3,000
pounds. Hor color is red and white,
red predominating. Ago, six years.
Her present owner lives in Stark county,
Illinois.
Dr. Lyon Wayfair, perhaps the grea
est living English authority on food
said in the debate in the house "of com
mons on oleomargarine, that, as it con
tained the same fats as those obtained
from the cow minus the aromatic futs
which' curiously enough produced ran
cidity in bad butter he thought the
sooner it supplanted bad butter the bet
ter. He believed that it would do that,
but he did not think that it would sup
plant good butter.
Sassafras bushes may be eradicated by
plowing deep and harrowing. This
will bring the roots to the surface.
Plant corn or potatoes, and keep the
crop well hoed to kill any sprouts that
may appear. Two years of this treat
ment will thoroughly destroy them.
Fertilizing Orchards.
Professor Beal, who has been experi
menting with an orchard situated on
rolling land of a black, loamy nature
since 1873, reports these results : Around
some trees small circles were Kept culti
vated ; bnt these trees do no better than
those which grow m sod. A circle of
grass extending nearly out to the ends
of the overshadowing lines is of little or
no damage to the tree after it has grown
fifteen or more years and has become
well established.
Trees of this age left m gra."s without
manure, in our orchards, grow more
slowly, produce less fruit, of a smaller
size and poorer quality than trees which
have been well cultivated ; tho fruit is
generally in our experiments of abrighter
color when grown on trees left in
grass. When spread broadcast about a
tree, barnyard manure produces a good
effect about two years sooner than when
the manure is placed close to the tree.
Some trees were kept heavily mulched,
to others ashes were applied at the rate
of one wagon-load of leached, or two or
three bushels of unleached per tree, oth
ers were given a wagon load of barnyard
manure ; these applications were made
four years ago, and perhaps it is too
soon to arrive at conclusions, but as yet
the trees appear about the same, no
difference being visible in favor of
either of the above modes of manuring.
Where clear cultivation has been prac
ticed without fertilizers or mulch, the
fruit seemed to bo just as abundant and
of as good quality as in the three last
cases enumerated. Thorough tilling of
of the land has been one of the best ex
perimeuts, and has apparently produced
the best results. I have experimented
in thinning apples while they are small
and find it very profitable.
The Flower Garden.
Aside from the pleasure derived in
cultivating flowers, there is no doubt
that floriculture is a profitable occupa
tion. Towns and villages spring into
existence where a decade before was
only an unpeopled waste, and the shop
keeper, mechanic, or artisan is glad to
buy the surplus the farmer may have
from his overflowing garden. This I
know to be the fact in scores of instan
ces where the business of nurseryman,
market gardener, or florist was, as it
were, forced upon the farmer by his
village neighbors desiring to buy the
products of his garden. Here is a case
somewhat in point. The original pro
prietor of one of the largest seed houses
in New York, a shrewd Scotchman with
an eye to the main chance, emigrated
.1 1- . V 1. II - 1
from Scotland sometime auout me ue'
sinning of the present century, lie was
a nailer by trade, and was entirely ignor
ant of anything pertaining to seeds or
gardening ; but one day coming through
the Bowery, then half farm, half city,
he saw a rosebush in a cottage window,
It was a rose in a wilderness, for prob
ably there were not a score more in the
city then. He went in and bought it
for fifty cents, took it home, painted the
pot green, and placing it in the window
of his nail shop, quickly sold it for a
dollar. This Was easier work and bet
ter pay than nail-making. So he start
ed out daily, buying plants of all kinds,
always painting the pots green (a prac
tice by the way that modern science
would frown at) doubling his money
rapidity. From plants the transition to
dealing in seeds was natural and easy
so that in less than twenty years from
the time this humble Scotch nail-maker
had purchased his first rosebush in the
Bowery his seed house had become the
largest on this continent and he was
wealthy man.
Breeding Farm Horse.
We have encouraged the use of the
large imported horses of the better class,
because we have thought that one of the
greatest defects in our farm horses was
want of size : and this, it seemed to us,
could better be supplied by an infusion
of the blood of the draft horse than
from any other source. But we are cer
tain that in many localities quite as large
an infusion of this blood has been made
as will be profitable; and that, for the
uses of the farmer, better horses con be
Eroduced from these grade draft marcs
y the use of a stout, large, compactly
built thoroughbred horse, or a highly-
bred, well-formed and good-sized trot
ting stallion than by a further infusion
of the blood of the draft horse. Re
turning again to the Percheron blood,
we have no hesitation in affirming our
belief in its excellence, and that it is to
this blood, which at a very early day
was largely introduced into Canada,
that the horses of that section owe much
of the excellence that distinguished
them fifty years ago. Very many of the
very best sires of general purpose or
farm horses that we have ever had in
the UnitedJ States have been brought
from Canada, and evidently partook
largely of this blood. From that coun
try we have had tho Tilots, the Cur
beaus, the Columbuses, the St. Law
rences, the Eoyal Georges, the Napo
leons, the Normans and many other rec
ognized families of superior excellence,
which we believe derived their merit
mainly from the old Percheron blood,
brought over by the French settlers,
rather than from an imaginary scion of
imported Messenger, spirited in some
mysterious manner across the border
as a certain self-styled "horso authority"
in this country "has told us over and
ower again. And while, as we have said,
we think in many sections we have had
quite as much of the coarse, draught
horse blood introduced as will prove
valuable, yet we are clearly of opinion
that we can never get too much of the
genuine Percheron blood in any part of
our country, where the production of
hardy, useful horses is the object in view.
Heclprs.
Boll Jelli Cake. One cup sugar,
three eggs and beat them well ; one cup
flour, one even teaspoonful soda, one
even teaspoonful cream tartar.
Sora Milk Biscuit. One pint of sour
milk, one teaspoonful of soda ; add to
your flour a half cup of lard and spoon
ful of salt ; then mix the flour with the
milk. Make stiff enough to roll out as
pie crust ; cut them and put them to
bake in a moderately hot oven.
Washing Fluid. Ono bar of good
potash, two ounces of ammonia, one
ounce of salts of tartar ; put the potash
into four quarts of rain water (use por
celain kettles if possible) and soak slow
ly, not boil ; when dissolved remove
from the stove ; when cool add tho am
monia and Falts and put up in jugs or
bottles corked tightly. Soak the fine
and coarse articles to bo washed sepa
rately over night. The following morn
ing rinse out and use a half cake of soap,
cut fine, ono cup of fluid and two pails
uf soft water ; put fine pieces into this
cold suds and boil a few moments ; take
out, add a pail of cold water and put in
the coarse clothes to boil ; suds, rinse,
blue and starch as usual, and your
clothes will be beautifully clear and
white without rubbing. Wash colored
clothes in the water the clothes are taken
into from the boiler.
A Japanese Doctor.
Traveling in the interior of Japan has i
sundry drawbacks. The water is bad,
and there is a lack of such food as a
civilized stomach can digest. The
traveler is also assailed by myriads of
fleas, hornets, and a fly which biteslike
a mosquito. An English lady, while
traveling in that country being laid up
with pain and fever, produced by these
pests, sent for a native doctor. He was
an old-fashioned practitioner, whoso
medical knowledge, having been handed
down from father to son, led him to
look with suspicion upon European
methods and drugs.
Dressed in silk he entered tho pa
tient's room and prostrated himself
three times on the ground. Then sit
ting down on his heels he asked to see
her " honorable hand " and her "honor
able foot." Feeling her pulse and look
ing at her eyes through a magnifying
glass, he informed her, with much suck
ing in of his breath a sign of good
breeding that she had fever and must
rest.
Lighting his pipe he smoked and con
templated his patient. After again
n-akiLg an examination he clapped his
hands three times. A servant entered
carrying a handsome black lacquer
chest. Inside there was a medicine
chest of gold lacauer, fitted up with
shelves, drawers, bottles, etc.
Compounding a lotion :he bandaged
the patient's arm and hands, telling her
to pour tho lotion over the bandage at
intervals, lie then gave her medicine
for the fever, to be drunk in hot water,
and warned her not to use "sake" for a
day or two. As this is rice beer, con
taining seventeen per cent, of alcohol,
the prohibition did not compliment the
Japanese ladies.
On being asked to name his fee the
doctor, after many bows and much
sucking in of his breath, suggested that
half a yen (fifty cents) might not be too
much. The lady by giving mm a wuoie
yen (a dollar) called lorth lervent ex
pressions of gratitude.
Subsequently she invited lum to din
ner, and had her gravity nearly upset
by his noisy gulpings, gurglings and
drawing in of the breath. Uy these
performances, most distressing to a
European, but which Japanese etiquette
prescribes, he showed his appreciation
of the repast.
The States of the Union which have
more women then men are Aianatua,
Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, Mary
land, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
New Jersey, New York, North Carolina,
Pennsylvania, Ilhodo Island, South
Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The
greatest excess of females is in New
York where it is 71,000, and the least in
Louisiana where it is 3,000. The total
excess of women in these fifteen States is
300,000 they are minus 300,000 hus
bands. Think what the women may
save who, if married, might have been
compelled to support those husbands 1
HUMOR OF THE DAY.
Wagons are born tired.
Everybody should take a newspaper
but not from other folks' doorsteps,
A lover is like a tug-boat when he
goes out with a toe. Salem Sunbeam.
To be short in his accounts is, in.
a cashier, a crime J in a reporter it is a
virtue.
Will the coming man eat dried apples 1
Central City Item. If ho wishes to be
classed as a swell he probably will.
The man who has invented a flying
machine should make his trial trip now.
There have never been more flies out
than at this present time. Picayune.
The Brooklyn Eagle gives the follow
ing as a Boston lad's definition of his
stomach: " Something that goes across
the teacher's knee when I get licked." x
Ground for objection : "Me buy the
property, sor? Mo be a landlord and be
shot in tho back I Shure, there's to be
no more landlords ! we're all goin'to
be tinnants ?" Pitnch.
Wo warn newspaper men against a
counterfeit $100 bill now in circulation.
Probably no professional men handle so
many bills of that denomination as the
pencil pushers, and we hope our timely
warning will prevent any from getting
caught. Rochester JEwess.
An elderly gentleman says to a little
miss of seven : " Say, sissy, will yc
marry me 1" Tho child, taking the piv,
position gravely, curls up her mouth as
if considering tho subject. " Come,
sissy," says her mother, "will you marry
the gentleman?" "Yes, 'n., but
(aside) ma, I'd like a newer husband.'
FINANCIALLY nMnAMUBKED.
A man iu business oittu is,
You'll find, perplexed and harrassed;
But when he"s walking down the street,
With his best girl so trim and neat,
And ieo cream signs his eyes do meet,
With not a cent to stand the treat,
The girl niay look him in the phiz;
And at such' times he surely is
Financially embarrassed.
Yortkern Statesman
Some one has formed 1,051 English
words of not less than four letters from
tho letters in tho word " regulations."
The above item is having an extensive
circulation through the newspapers.
A glance at the word "regulations''
shows that it contains all the vowels
and six of tho most frequently used
consonants, so there isn't anything won
derful in the feat mentioned. Tho per
son who accomplished it could have
done more for humanity by sitting at
the forks of a road and acting as an
automatic guideboard. Neio Haven
Register.
A Taste of Maine Birch.
The traveler and camper-out in Maine,
unless he penetrates its more northern
portion, has less reason to remember it
as a pine-tree State than a birch-tree
State. The white-pine forests have
melted away like snow in the spring and
gone down stream, leaving only patches
here and there in the more remote and
inaccessible parts. The portion of the
State I saw, tho Valley of the Kenebeo
and the woods about Moxie lake, had
been shorn of its pine timber more than
forty years before, and is now covered
with a thick growth of spruce and cedar,
and various deciduous trees. But the
birch abounds. Indeed, when the pine
goes out the birch comes in; tho race of
men succeeds the race of giants. Ihis
tree has great stay-at-home virtues. Let
the somber, aspiring, mysterious pine
go; the birch has humble every-day uses.
In Maine the paper or canoe birch is
turned to more account than any other
tree. Uncle Nathan, our guide, said it
was made especially for the camper out;
yes, and for tho woodmen and frontiers
men generally, it is a magazine, a lur
nishing store set up in the wilderness,
whose goods are free to every comer.
The whole equipments of the camp lies
folded in it, and comes forth at the beck
of the woodman's ax ; tent, waterproof
roof, boat, camp utensils, baskets, cups,
plates, spoons, napkins, table cloths,
paper for letters or your j ournai, torches,
Candles, kindling wood and fuel. The
cauoe-birch yields yon its vestments
with the utmost liberality. Ask for its
coat and it gives you its waistcoat also.
Its bark seems wrapped about it layer
upon layer, and comes off with great -ease.
We saw many rude structures
and cabins shingled and sided with it,
and haystacks capped with it. .Near
a maple sugar - camp there was
a large pile of birch bark sap- .
buckets each bucket made of a
piece of bark about a yard square,
folded up as the tinman folds np a sheet
of tin to make a square vessel, the cor
ner bent around against the sides and
held by a wooden pin. When, one day,
we were overtaken by a shower in trav
eling through the woods, our guide
quickly stripped largo sheets of the
bark from a near tree, and we had each
a perfect umbrella as by magic. When
the rain was over, and we moved on, I
wrapped mine about me like a large
leather apron, and it shielded my clothes
from the wet bushes. When we came to
a spring Uncle Nathan would have a
birch-bark cup ready before any of ns
could get a tin one out of his knapsack,
and I think water never tastes so sweet
as from one of these bark cups. It is ex
actly the thing. It just fits the mouth, and
it seems to give new virtues to tne water.
It makes me thirsty now when I thin
of it. In our camp at Moxie we made a
birch bark box, to keep the butter in;
and the butter in this box, covered with
some leafy boughs, I think improved in
flavor day by day. Maine butter needs
something to mollify and sweeten it a
little, and I think birch-bark will do it.
In camp Uncle Nathan often drank his
tea and conee from a barb: cup; tne
china closet in the birch tree was al
ways handy, and our vulgar tinware was
generally a good deal mixed, and the
kitchen maid not at ell particular about
dishwashing. We all tried the oatmeal
with the maple syrup in one of these
dishes, and the stewed mountain cran
berries, using a birch-bark spoon, and
never found service better. Uncle
Nathan declared he could boil potatoes
iu a bark kettle, and I did not doubt
him. Instead of sending our soiled
napkins and table spreads to the wash,
we rolled them into candles and torches,
and drew daily from our stores in the
forest for new ones, Jtlantio Monthly,