HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL. DESPERANDUM.' Two Dollars per Annum. VOL. XI. HIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA.; TIIUESD AY, NOVEMBER 10, 1881. NO. 38. Utile Dancing Leaves. Little danci'Dg leaves In the garden bower, Which among yon grieves Not to be a flower? " Never one I" the light leaves say, Dancing in the Bun all day. Little dancing leaves, Roses loin to kisa youj From the cottage caves Nestling birds would miss yon We should tire of blossoms so, If yon all to flowers should grow I . Little dancing loaves Grasses, ferns and sedges, Nodding to tho sheaves Out of tanglod hedges What a dull world would remain If you all were usoful grain t Littlo dancing leaves, Who could do without you? Every poot weaves Borne sweet dream about you. Flowers and grain awhilo are here; You stay with us all the year. Littlo dancing leaves, When through pines and birches The great storm-wind heavos, Your retreat he searches; now ho makes the tall trees roar t While you only dance the nioro ! Little dancing leaves, Loving and caressing Ho most jny receives Who bestows a blessing. Dance, light leaves, for dancing made, While you bless us with your shade I I.uvy I.arcom, in St. JVfcAcIcin. THE KEEPER'S DAUGHTER. A lighthouse on a rocky coast. Out side, thunder, lightning, wind and rain, and greitt black waves dabbing up against tlio rucks at the foot of the tower. In side a winding flight of stairs leading to an octagon-shape d room containing the plainest furniture. The occupants, a girl of eighteen, tall and lithe, with black hair hanging iu massive braids to her waist, and luminous gray eyes under straight black brows. Her dress of gray waterproof cloth was short and scant, and hung in wet folds about her limbs; and strangest of all girdles, a coil of rope encircled her waist and trailed one end on the floor. By her side a boy of fourteen years, with his blue blouse open at the throat, and a faded plush cap-on his dark curJs. These two were bending over a man who lay in all his magnificent length on the floor. A picturesque-looking man, with fair haii clinging in dripping masses to his fore head; a curling golden beard and a virile firm throat, and one mfrbt be persuaded that the clot-ed lid J with theii Inn si fringes covered a pair of steel blue eyes. " Kf kin he's a goner, Liz," said the boy, us he paused in his vigorous rub bing of the man's hands. The girl was forcing some liquor from a tin cup between the blue lips, and did not answer directly; but when their patient gave the faintest possible sigh, she exclaimed, joyfully: " See, Neddie, he breathes I Now work fast," whereupon they both fell to rubbing him at a great rate. When Allen Mclntyre opened his eyes be looked about him confusedly. The odd lhtle room, the girl with her black braids, and the boy looking so like her that oue would at once recog nize the relationship; the drenched con dition of all three, and the strange langnor through all his frame what di 1 it mean I He closed" his eyes wearily, and then the boy spoke up in this biulf fashion: "You came near going under, cap'n, but L zzie pulled you cut." Then Mclntyre remembered all, and languidly raised himself into a sitting posture. "It is too wild a night to be afloat . in a little craft like that," said the girl, nuking a gesture seaward, where a tiny boat had broken up an hour beiore. "It was fair when I left the shore," replied the man. "I ventured further than I intended. Then the wind went down, and I could only drift until the storm arose. I have a recollection of a fierce rush of wind and wave that upset my boat, and a blow on my bead, prob ably from some part of the boat as I went over." " Yes," said the boy, 11 there came a flash of lightning, and Lizzie and I, looking out, saw tho boat capsize. So Lizzie caught a rope and ran, and I after her." "We're used to that sort of thing eh, Lizzie?" Lizzie nodded, and the boy continued, animatedly: "You see, my father keeps the light, but he is sick now, so Lizzie and I tend the light we always do when father is sick or gone to the mainland and we've pulled out more than one fellow more than half dead. Why-" "Never mind that, Neddie," inter rupted his sister, gently, and the un spoken repioof in her voice had the ef fect of making the lad look somewhat shamefaced as he went back to the first part of his story. " Well, sir, we ran down the slope at the side of the cliff out there, where the waves were tearing up like 10.000 wild horses. And every time, it lightened we could see you bobbing aroundout there like a piece of cork. We were afraid of your striking against the ledgos, so Lizzie fastened one end of the rope about her waist and I held the other while she went straight in and 6truck out for you." . Mclntyre uttered a low expatriation and turned his gaze from Neddie to Neddie's sister. The boy wagged his head proudly. " Ah," said he, with gleaming eye, " that's nothing for our Liz to do I She caught you, and I pulled you both in. But you're monstrous heavy I I thought we'd never get you upstairs." 3 MclnfyYe laughed as he rose rather doubtfully to his feet. " I feel a trifle shaky," he said ; and then, " It. is easy to see that you are brother and sister. I am Allen Mcln tyre, at your service, Miss Lizzie," and he oowed in a fashion that gave the lie to his . declarations of ehakiness. "Of course I realize that you and your gal land brother hero have rendered me a great servioe one for which you shill not go unrewarded, although I can never hope to fully recompense you." . Lizzie raised her head haughtily. " Sir, such work as we have done to night we do not for wages. If you feol strong enough, I will walk with you to the house. I think the storm is passing over. We live a quarter of a mile from the light. Our accommodations are Elain enough, but there is no other ouse on the island." " Oh, I am as good as'new, now," said Mclntyre; "but will you leave this boy here all alone." She smiled. " Ned is not afraid, and he can tend the light as well as I." " Very well I will go with you." He waved a smiling adieu to the boy, and followed his guide down the narrow stairway. Two days later a small sailboat put out from the island, which, when it returned, brought Mclntyre's luggage. Lizzie's father, who was laid up with an attack of rheumatism, had taken a fancy to the young man, who expressed a desire to spend a few weeks there at any price they might charge. Captain Clyde straightway ordered Neddie off in his new boat to the mainland for the gentleman's traps. Tho youngster obeyed this order with alacrity, for the good-humored ease of the stranger, to gether with his evident appreciation of "our Liz.," had wrought favorably on our Neddie. Even the maiden aunt, who kept the house, smilei frostily at the prospect of this pleasant addition to their family. Mclntyre, who had been wandering about three or four hundred miles from home in search of a quiet place to spend the summer, congratulated him self on having drifted to the very place. " Although it was an expensive stylo of drifting," he remarked, with a smile, as he inclosed a bank note in an envel ope, to be sent to the owner of the little craft which had slipped him out into the waves abreast of the lighthouse. A week later, as he sauntered shore ward, there came to his ears a wildly sweet strain of melody. As he listened in amazement, for he had seeri no musi cal instrument about the place, ho be gan to realize that it was a part of Strauss' artist life waltzes that he heard a strain that he often whistled. He stepped round the jutting of the cliff, ami there, leaning against tho granite wall, was Lizzie, her chin dropped care lessly on a little red violin, as she diew the bow across the strings. She flushed bke a guilty thing when she saw Mc lntyre. " You whistled that the other day," she faltered, " and I liked it so much it haunted me all the time." Ho stepped forward. "Why, Lizzie I Is it possible you play like that without notes '?" "I don't play much now," she said, drawing her dark brows over her eyes. "A party of ladies and gentlemen came here to visit the lighthouse once and overheard me playing. I heard one of tho ladies say : 'The idea of a girl with a fiddle !' So I thought per haps it didn't look well." "Not look well, indeed!" and he laughed in merry scorn. " Why, child, did you ever hear of Camilla Urto ?" "No." " Well, she is a lady, and she makes the most exquisite music on a fiddle and thousands of people go to hear her Why, Camilla Urso herself would listen with pleasuro to your music, Lizzie," said Mclntyre, extravagantly. " Who taught you to play V" "No one. This violin belonged to my father, and ho learned me how to tune it. I pick up tunes that I hear, but I never heard anything half so beautiful as the tunes I hear you sing and whistle." Mclntjre smiled; his repertoire of music consisted of snatches of operas, waltzes, redowas and German airs, which had dimly associated in his mind with nights of brilliant gayety; and he wondered dreamily how this pure minded, healtuy-souled girl would look upon the elegant dissipation carried on by the set of which he was a favorite. A sudden glow wormed his heart as he thought that not one of the fine ladies who hud swung languidly through the mazes of that very waits of the great composer's could have rescued him so bravely from the jaws of death as Lizzie had Lizzie, who stood there so quietly, with her little violin hanging from her breast, and her fingers straying lovingly over the strings. " Tell mo about Camilla Urso," she said, presently. " Did you ever hear her play ?" . " Yes, indeed I I have a paper in my trunk containing a little sketch of her life, which you may read for yourself, and which will tell you better than I can of her talent." For a moment Lizzie's eyes met his own, a look of shame and distress gath ering in them. " Mr. Mclntyre, that will be of no use I cannot read." " Lizzie I" Her violin slipped from her grasp and would have fallen to the ground had not Molntyre caught it, and she cov ered her face with both hands. "But Lizzie," persisted her com panion, in some perplexity, " I do not understand. There are good tmblia schools in the city, and surely your lather must nave Known that it was his dutv to give a girl like you an education, to say nothing of ffeddie, wno is growing up such a splendid young fellow." " It is very kind of j ou to say such things of Neddie and me ; we are com mon people, and ours is a common life. Neddie did spend two years with our uncle who lives in York State. Ho went to school there. But father doesn't think much of book learning. Aunt Jane never had time to help me, and Neddie is too restless to keep still long enQugb, l suppose."; cue oonttnued quaintly, "You who" live out in the world look at these things in a different way ; but I know of many who are just where I am. Why, there is a whole family on that island, pointing to a tiny speck away to the eastward, " who cannot read or write. Once in three months, perhaps, they go to the main land. I scarcely ever go. I suppose I shall always live here, and I am con tentedI think," and a look ot doubt gathered in her eyes ; V at least I was. But lately I have wished so muoh that I could read and had books for it is so lonely here in the winter." "Well, dear child," said the young man, gently, this gives me the priv ilege of paying my debts, doesn't it?" "Your debts?" echoed Lizzie, in sur prise. " Certainly. Did you not fish me but of the water a week ago? Well, now you shall put your six feet of driftwood to some service. I will teach you to read and to write." ' After that Mclntyre proved the roost faithful of teachers, and his pupil made steady progress in her lessons. Neither was the violin any longer in disgrace. Lizzie played to attentive ears while learning a deeper lesson than either at first realized. Mclntyre was the first to wake up. He was a man of the world, and understood himself, or thought he did, thoroughly. Accord ingly he started one morning for a stroll along thw beach to think it over. " As the case now stands," he solilo quized, as he lit a cigar and threw away the match, "it is either Lizaie or the world; and I confess the. world has charms for me." His gaze wandered absently over the swelling waves; and lingered on a far off sail that dipped and rose, dipped again, until it sank below the horizon. His lip curled involuntarily as he thought of tho delicate ladies in his set, and how wretched they would make the poor girl's life in their own high bred fashion. Ho but would they, though?" A faint amusement lingered in" his face as he recalled Lizzie's rather sta-.ely carriage and stately dignity that redeemed her from being common place. He laughed out. " It would be fan to see her among all those peacocks. Poor Lizzie I What a shame that she has been neglected I If she had received half the advantage! of any one of my acquaintances she would have surpassed them all. Well, well, it is high time I returned home. I have been here six weeks. Yes, I will go away to-morrow and forget her, as she will forget me." So saying, Mclntyre threw away the end of his cigar and started into a brisk walk i long the shore, coming directly upon the object of his thoughts, who was pacing to and fro, drawing primitive music from her violin. She wore a scarlet jacket over her gray dross, and a white handkerchief tied over her head and under her chin. His heart throbbed faster at the sight of her. "Fooll" he muttered, "to think I could leave her. Now, then my man, " ' lts all for love, aad tha world woll lost.' " Lizzie greeted his approach with a mile, but played to the close of the strain before she spoke. It was a little German air that he had taught her. " Is that right?" she queried, as she finished. " I cannot tell you." Then, meeting her look of astonish ment with his own earnest gaze, he said: " Lizzio, will you care very much when I go away from here ?" Her eyes dropped, the red blood dyed her cheek and brow for a moment, and then faded away, leaving her quite pale. " I think it will be well for you to go," she said. "And why, Lizzie, will you tell me? You need not fear to tell me anything," he added, as she hesitated. She looked away from him, and her voice was almost inaudiblo as she an swered: " Because because Oh, I cannot tell you I You know " "I have thought of going, Lizzie; but I realized to-day that I cannot leave you ever again, dear." He put one arm about her, but she drew away from him, trembling from head to foot. " Don't, Mr. Mclr tyre I I want to remember you kindly, and I cannot it' you use such language to me." " For heaven's sake I" he cried, in as tonishment, " tell me, have I said any thing wrong to you? Is it wrong to love you ? If that is a sin, then I am the greatest of sinners " " I do not forget that you are a gen tleman, and I but a poor, ignorant girl, who knows only what you have taught her " "But, Lizzie, I ask you to be my wile, and you have not answered me. I do not boast when I say my suit would not be rejected in most families of high standing where I am known." "Ah, that is the idea," she exclaimed, hastily ; "if, as you say, you do care for me" she stammered a little over the words, "you would soon grow weary of my stupid ways. I should shame you every day of your life, and your grand friends would wonder at your choice, and I should die of homesickness." " With me, Lizzie ?" "Yes, even with you!" smiling and blushing as she met his eyes. He laughed he was so sure of win ning her and kissed her mouth. " Well, sweetheart, I will live here then, and turn keeper of the light after your father. Will that suit you V" "Don't deceive yourself, Mr. Moin tyre. We would not be happy together, and think bow terrible it would be bound together forever." He laughed exultantly and with a great deal of amusement. "Faith! I think it would be a mighty pleasant thing. Come, Lizzie, you can deny mo no longer. Do you not see that your own happiness de pends upon your answer? Now kiss me, dear, and tell me that you will take the life you were so brave to save into your own keeping." He drew her gently toward him, but she facei him suddenly, with great tears trembling on her long lashos. " Do you think it costs me nothing to refuse you you who have made my life so beautiful these few short weeks ? I am rude and ignorant such a wife would burden and disgust you in time. It is for your good that I refuse to ac cept what seems like a heaven to me." And then, swift as a deer, she flew along the shore, leaving Mclntyre to struggle between anger, amusement and wounded self-love. - All that day he tried to speak with Lizzie alone, but she gave him no opportunity. At last, in very despera tion, he tapped at the door of her father's room. Captain Clyde was again suffering with rheumatism, and the young man found him in the easy chair, while Lizzie hovered about him. " Captain Clyde," said Mclntyre, as he blocked the doorway with his broad shou'ders to prevent Lizzie from escap ing, ' I wish to say a few words to your daughter in your presence, since she re fuses to grant mo that privilege else where." " Say on, my lad, she would be proud to hear whatever jca have to say to her." " Well, Lizzie, I will go away from here to-morrow, and stay as long as you bid me. When the time is up I will re turn to claim you for my wife. You shall see that this is no idle, passing fancy." His eyes, grave and sad, rested on the girl's flushed face, and the bluff cap tain's eyes widened in amazement. " Speak out, gal," he commanded. "Have you anything to say to this young man, who woes you like a gen tleman ? Shall he come or no ?" And Lizzie answered, with downcast eyes: " If he comes one year from this time, and still cares for me, I will be ready." " And is that all, Lizzie ?" he said, stepping toward her with outstretched arms "No, I'll be bound!" said the old man, with a sly twinkle in his eyes. " When I went courting, my little girl used to kiss me." And reaching over he gave Lizzie a little push that sent her into the arms of her lover; where upon they all laughed, and Lizzie, after kissing Mclntyre, shyly slipped from tho room. A whole year passed by, and not un happily to Lizzie, who had faithfully endeavored to improve herself. She spent the winter " on the mainland," with some friends. She studied, read, watched the people about her, and, never coarse herself, despite her com monplace life at home, she fell easily into tho new groove. Although not un happy, the girl's cheek was paler than of yore, and her eyes held a wistfulness that had grown in them since parting from her lover, for occasionally this thought crossed her dreams for the fu ture: " He may not come at all he may forget." But Alien McTr.tyre was truer than most of his kind; for the early fall brought him again to Lizzie's house. While he waited in the old-fashioned sitting-room, tho door was opened hesitatingly, and who was this before him? Allen had left a young gypsy, magnifi cent in her way, witk coal black braids aud flashing eyes, etscarcely the figure for a drawing-room h her short gown and thick coarse shoes ; a daughter of the sea, sun-browned and fearless. But this was this Lizzie? A graceful woman in trailing robes, and the shin ing hair braided and coiled about her h 'ad, resting in a coronet a queen might envy, above the low broad brow. Paler than of old, her eyes downcast but shining softly through their happy tears, her month smiling triumphantly. Was this Lizzie ? Why. not a woman in all his brilliant throng he remem bered could comparo with her, Every sunnier a handsome gentleman and his dark-haired wife visit the light keeper's home ; and every fall they return to their stately home in a far away city, where the lady doe the honors of her grand house with a grace that charms all. And yet Allen Mclntyre laughingly accuses his wife of " fishing for him." Preparations lor a Scandinavian Mar rfage. Preparations for a wedding feast be gins weeks beforehand, and are so ex tensive that M. Du Chaillu was utterly amazed at the quantity of solids and liquids that ho saw stored against an approaching marriage feast. Invita tions to weddings are sent out woll in advance of the happy day, so that the guests may prepare for two or three days' absence from home; and the poorest person invited is never without a weading garment. The happy couple eat, drink and dance with everybody; and it seems never to have occurred to the people to inquire how they do it. There is a limit to the endurance of the native head and stomach, and this generally is found on the third day; then the guests, on bidding good-bye to the bride, tender their wedding pres ents, which always consist of money, and are deposited, without being ex amined, in a box which the bride wears at her side. How many American girls will wish only to themselves that a similar custom might prevail here can not easily be estimated, but all of them will understand why there are but few bachelors in the land of the midnight sun. Long as are the wedding festivi ties, those of Christmas far exceed them, for feasting and fun are industri ously kept up from Christmas-eve to Twelfth-night, and quaint and charm ing are some of the attendant ceremo nies. Harper's Magnr'ne. Twelve Good Recipes. For preserving the complexion Tem perance. To remove stains Repentance. For sweetening the breath Truth. Eaiy shaving soap Ready money. For improving the voice Civility. For whitening the handd Honesty. . A beautiful ring The family circle. To keep away moths Good society. For improving the sight Observa tion. The best companion to the toilet A good loving wife. To become prosperous Advertise your busines in your home paper. To get to heaven Always pay the printer's bills promptly. FACTS AID C01MENTS. In view of the number of land slips which have lately taken place in various parts of Switzerland, it is proposed to organize a Swiss Land Slip commission, with subcommissions in every canton, whose duty it will be to inspect locali ties where land Blips are likely to occur, to devise means to prevent their occur rence, and to warn persons whose lives may be imperiled. The late Dr. Holland, the author, would seem to have met the usual ex perience which authors undergo. His "Titoomb Letters" were refused by two prominent Boston publishers, and a New York publisher refused even to look rit them. He carried them to Mr. Scribner who asked him to read speci mens from them. At the end of the third he agreed to take them, and they attained an issue of 60,000 copies. To 'discover spurious greenback or national bank notes, divide the last two figures of the number of the bill by four, and if one remains the letter on the genuine will be A; if two remains it will beB, if three, C; and should there be no remainder, the letter will be D. For example, a note is registered 2461 ; divide sixty-one by four, aud you will have one remaining. According to this rule, the letter on the note will be A. In case the rule fails, be certain that bill is counterfeit or altered. The agricultural distress in England has in a curious way led to the discus sion of the Biblical injunction against work on the Sabbath day. It has so happened that several Sundays have come as pleasant days, preceded and followed by days of inclement weather. The crops were in such a state that every hour counted, but so strong was the Sabbatarian feeling among a large number of tbe people that tens of thousands of farmers conscientiously refrained from work ' on Sunday, although by so doing they sacrificed in the aggregate an immense amount of money. It was only in 1830 that the first cheese from America crossed the Atlan tic From September 1, 1880, to Sep tember 1, 1881, the quantity of cheese sent across fiom New York has been 127,311 boxes, but the gradual diminu tion of the export for the last four months has caused great uneasiness among the hotel keepers and restaura teurs of London. Of late years, rows upon rows of gigantic American cheeses might be seen piled up on the shelves of the dining hall of every great Lon don dining house. More there than here clerks and commercial men are cheese devourers, and the bread-and-cheese lunch and bread-and-cheese supper are the ne plus ultra of epicureanism to these classes of consumers. In one of the surveying parties of the Macon and Brunswick extension in Georgia there were nine boys Of tlieso eight were graduates of some university with diplomas in their pockets. They were working for about 81 a day, and en gaged in the hardest of manual labor cheerful, ambitious and rather proud of tbeir hard and rough work than other wise. " This group of boys," remarks the Atlanta (Ga ) Cnnntilution, " is oue of the signs of the times. Snch a thing it would have been impossible t) find in the olden days. The sons cf rich men graduates of universities wore then seldom found at manual labor. At last, however, labor is made honorable in tin South, and no man stands higher there than the man who lives by the sweat of his brow." China seems to retain a monopi ly in Chinese tea and canton matting. The late commissioner of agriculture be lieved he could enter the United States in the race with tho former, but so far the success l not promising. In re gard to canton matting, an enormous amount is shipped to tbe United States every year, with no attempt to make any of it in the United States. Indeed, it has been' difficult to ascertain pre cisely what plants are used in the matting manufacture. It has at length been found that it is made of a kind of galingale, or sedge gnus, another sedge being used for finer work. These sedge grasses are gathered wild from swamps or damp places, by the poorer classes, and sold to the factories. The yellow coloring matter is made from the flowers of Sophora Japonica, a tree now com mon in Amerioan gardens. The blue is obtained from a sort of wild buokwheat. It is not yet known what plant they use for the green dye, though its vernacular name is "Lam lip. Mr. Scoville, the brother-in-law and counsel of Guiteau, the assassin of President Garfield, wrote to General B. F.Butler.requesting his assistance in de fending the prisoner at the forthcoming trial. Owing to previous engagements General Butler was unable to accede to the request, but in his letter of declina Hon speaks as follows: " If the trial was set for a time when I could possi bly devote myself to this case, 1 should very carefully weigh your application before I refused it. . I hold it to be a part of the chivalry of my profession that no lawyer within the circuit whore he praotloes ought, without good cause, to refuse to stand for a man whose life is in danger before a court of justice, whether his. personal belief might be that the accused was innocent or guilty; and, of course, tbe amount of compen sation in the case ought not to beoime a make-weight in the question. The admirable example set by Otis, one of the Sons of Liberty, in faoe of popular prejudice, defending the king's ofil cers for shooting down the citizens of Boston in King street (now State street), has been the rule ol my pro fessional life and ought to be the guide of every lawyer." The governor of Michigan, following the lead of Nebraska and other States, set apart the 28th day of April as a time for tree planting in that State. The growth of this enterprise on the part of State governments, says the Christian at Work, must be looked upon as an encouraging sign, indicating as it does, a new interest in the subject of tree planting and growing. It is indeed high time some such measures were taken to keep the supply of val uable woods from being entirely consumed. A few years ago we seldom heard a word to the effect that not only walnut, but even maple, hickory, ash, etc., would be scarce. Unless proper protective measures are taken in a short time they will be entirely unable to supply the demand. It has been ascer tained that a forest of mixed wood on medium soil grows about a cord cf wood a year on an acre of land. If much more than a cord is removed from an acre in a year, the production is reduced. But to keep the production from diminishing, it makes all the dif ference in the world what trees you take away, whether you take those which are beginning to decay, or those which are in the rapidest growth. It is only by the best judgment in thinning out that the capital of growth can be kept whole after a forest ha3 become well established. SCIENTIFIC LSOTES. The'precision of modern engineering is forcibly illustrated by the recently accomplished feat of picking up a long unuRed ocean cable from a depth of 2,000 fathoms. The scientific engineer ing which locates a fault with so much exactness and so readily finds a mere thread two miles under the sea must add much to the security and value of ocean telegraphio property. In his address at the York meeting of the British association Professor nuxley predicted that fifty years hence, or in the centennial year of t he associa tion, whoever undertakes to record the progress of paleontology will note tbe present time as the epoch in which the law of succession cf the forms of tbe higher animals was determined by tho observation of paleontolgical facts. Experiments by German scientists in ascertaining the peculiarities of the electric light, establish the fact that it is not only healthier than other methods of illumination in leaving the air purer, but that it increases tht power of the vision in some respects, especially in distinguishing colors. Red, green, blue and yellow are made much more distinct and marked under this light than by daylight. When the earth in which a plant grows is much warmer than the air the plant grows very thick, ceases almost altogether to increase in height, and finally shows deep transverse rifts which make further growth an impossi bility. These effects were produced by M. Prilleux, who used a large dish of earth, in which he planted tho seeds, and kept the earth ten degrees warmer than the moist air of the chamber. The Moniteur Indmlriel, in an article on tho influence of temperature on the resistance of steel, states that it is the presence of phosphorous which is the main cause of tho variation in strength. Iron, whih contains none ef it, main tains the same breuking strain in various temperatures, and gave only a blight variation of the limit of elasticity. It follows from this that one of the best means of avoiding the breakage oi wheels, tyres i-nd axles of cars and loco motives is tho employment of pure steel free from phosphorous. On a Diligence Road to Mexico. In Mrs. May Hallock Foote's " Dili gence Journey in Mexico," in the Leu- lury Mngminti (recently Scribner), occurs the following: Thus far we hud met no vehicles except the two-wheeled carts drawn by oxen wheels wi hout tires, hewn out and showiug the eepa ratestrokts of the ax, but mauy humble travelers on foot, trotting into Mexico with back-loads of market stuff. Fruits and vegetables were carried in a four sided hamper or cage called a hu-ieni. made of osiers; often it was filled with live fowls, the tail-feathers of the cock gayly fluttering through the bars of the cage, or was divided into compartments, wiin eggs below and fowls above. Y met huge masses of pottery ineeu iously wcven together with the cords of the agave, and towering perilously above the bearer's head ; rolls of matting, wooden trays, bundles of sugar cane, caniotn ta kind of sweet potato), and to matoes wrapped in green leaves. A pair of live bens never came amiss. swinging by the legs from a disengaged hand, or tied to an available coiner of the load. Whole families were en route, even to the laby, rolled in t ne end of the long cotton scarf which the Indian mother wears over her head, or bus pended in its folds at her back. I do not think a stranger procession could be met with on the high-roads of this century. Steadily climbing, the country grow ing poorer andwilder, we pass many heaps of stones supporting the fatal cross the place of a murder making a mate appeal to the traveler to pray for one cut off in his sins. We enter tho mountain passes, dark with pines and firs, and ascend to the battlefield of Las Cruces, on the divide which sepa rates the valley of Mexico from that of Toluca. We pass the monument to Hi daleo, and I ask with shame who was Hidalgo, and am answered: " He wts cur Washington this is our Bunker Hill ! " It was hereon the 80th of October, 1810, that Hidalgo with his Indian insurgents, armed chiefly with slings, bows, clubs, lancea and machetts, met the troops of the Spanish government, under Colonel Truxillo, and drove them back upon tbe capital. The loss of th Indians must have been frightful; in their ignorance of the nature of artillery, they charged Truxillo's guns and " tried to stop the mouths of them with their straw bats, until hundreds hod perished by the dis charge." After the battle a sad train of Indian women went up on the moun tain to bury their dead, and the many crosses that were raised by their hands gave the spot its name. Life has its compensations : A deaf man never bears the evil that's said about him. . . . CONFIDENCE MEN. How They Opnrnte lli-lwcrn New (York nnil Pbltndelphta. A Philadelphia letter to a New York paper says: J. he bunko men wno operate between this city and New York have been reaping a harvest of late. The leader of the gang has in foar instances represented himself as a nephew of Anthony J. Drexel or a member of the well-known banking bouse of which Mr. Drexel is the head. One of the victims was Mr. Evan Ran dolph, an experienced business man, whom ho swindled out of $110. The second was Mr. Hazlehurst, a leading member of the Philadelphia bar, whom he caught for 82 4(10. The third was Mr. J. A. J. Sheets, a prosperous lumber merchant, who lost $2,900 by his confidence in the scoundrel. The fourth victim is no less a personage than the Hon. George Sharswood, chief- justice of the supreme court of Penn. sylvania. In the latter case, however, the amount involved was only 810- The story of this operation was given to your correspondent as follows : As I was strolling up uroadway, in New York, a well-dressed young man addressed me by some name not my own, which I do not recall, and seemed both confused and incredulous when I told him that ho was mistaken. He, however, apologetically said that I bore a striking resemblanceto the gentleman who he supposed me to be, and that he wouid be grateful if I would tell mm who I was. I cave him my name, and he left me with every mark of courtesy. I had not gone much further when an other gentleman, youthful, well-dressed and of remarkably pleasing manners, crossed the sidewa'k toward me, and. extending his haiid, addressed me bj name and professed to be delighted to have met me. His face did not seem unfamiliar to me, but I could not re call his name, and I supposed my puz zled lock led him to relieve my mind, as he said: ' Ah, I see you don't remem ber me. I am v. A. Drexel, Jr. i nave been studying art in Paris, and returned only last week.' He then asked many questions about the welfare of promi nent Philadelphians, with whose names, occupations and social standing he seemed thoroughly familiar, lie also conversed very interestingly on art matters abroad, mentioning incidentally that he had been an extehsive purchaser for the account of his uncle's as well as himself. We walked uptown, chatting thus pleas antly, and not a suspicion that my com panion was not what he represented himself to be entered my mind. At length he mention u that be bad just received a very expensive painting from Paris one for which Belmont s and Vanderbilt's agent had bid against him, . but which ho had bought for DO.UUU francs. 'It was a very steep price, and I don't know how father and Uncle Tony will like it,' he said. He then invited me to look at his treasure, which, he paid, was only a block or two away. Nothing was occupying me paotioularly at that time, and I consented. Taming down one of the cross streets we came to a handsome brown-stone house, into which we entered after tinging the bell. While we stood on the steps my com panion told me that he had drawn the grand prize, 11,000 francs, in a lottery designed for tbe benefit of some Pari sian art association, and was only wait ing in the city for the mom y to come to hand. Ho then would go to Phila delphia and visit his relatives. The door was opened by a liveried porter, and we were admitted to a saloon parlor that seemed to have been turned into an office. Mr. Drexel introduced him self to the gentlemanly individual who occupied the desk, and said that he had brought me,mentioning my name, to see bis famous picture. The gentlemanly individual was sorry that the picture bad just been sent to Philadelphia, and he showed the express receipt in con firmation. Apologizing for the disap pointment, my companion made a move as though to go away, when the gentle manly individual, after a brief consulta tion of what seemed to be a book of entry, suid : 'Mr. Drexel, 1 received the remittance of your giand prize, 11,000 francs, this morning. Here is the money,' and he counted out what seemed to be that amount. The gen- -tlemanly individual then suggested that it would be well to take some tick ets in another lottery drawing for the benefit of some other art association. , Drexel was willing. He said he patron ized such schemes for the benefit ot art, and always turned his prizes over to deserving artists. I had scruples against such methods, but he insisted, and I handed him $10. Then they brought out a numbered chart, and gambling implements. I saw at onoe that the whole thing was a trick and device, and I repossessed myself of the 10 which I had given my companion, and which was lying on the table, and made my way out of the room without opposition. The pseudo Drexel came along, and agreed entirely with me in my estimate of the character1 of the place. I still had confidence in him, losing it only after suits hod been brought to reoover money falsely so obtained." The World's Shipping. From statistics recently compiled in regard to the shipping of the world, it appears that, omitting vessels ot less , than fifty tons measurement, Europe possesses forty-two tons to every 1,000 inhabitants; America, forty; Australia, seventy-nine; and Asia and Africa only two tons per thousand. Liverpool, with ' a tonnage of 2,647,373, ranks as the most important port in the world; fol lowed by London, with 2.330,688; nan gow, 1,432,304; 'New York, 1,153 670 tons. The nine leading ports of Great Britain have a tonnage of 8,724,123, while the first four ports of this coun try have only 1,076,940 tons. Twenty years ago this country carried sixty-ux per cent, of its foreign trade in Ameri can built and American registered ves sels, but it has gradually declined until now it is less than righteen per cent. The gross tonnage of Great Britain and Ireland amount , to about 12,000,000 tons, and including that of the colonies the British flag proteots 14,000,000 of the world's tonnage of 27,000,000.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers