IIP' I
r in i .
HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher.
NIL. DESPERANDUM.
Two , Dollars per Annum' ;
VOL. XI.
RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1881.
NO. 39.
A Thanksgiving.
I bring my hymn of thankfulness
To Thoe, dear Lord, to-day j ,
Though not for joys Thy name I bless
.. And not for gifts I pray.
The griefs that know not man's redress
. Before Thy feet I lay.
Master 1 I thank Thee or the sin
That taught mine eyes to see
What dopths of loving lie within
The heart that broke for me J
What pntienco human want can win
From God's divinity.
1 thank Thoe for the blank despair,
When friend and love forsake,
That taught mo how Thy cross to boar,
' Who bore it for my sake,
And showed my lonely soul a prayer
. That from Thy lips I take.
I thank Theo for the life of grief
I share with nil below,
Wherein I lern tlie 8040 relief
Sly brother's heart to know,
And in the wisdom taught of pain
, To soothe and sharo his woo.
I thank Theo for the laoguid years
Of loneliness and pain,
When flesh and spirit sawed in tears,
But scattered not in vain ;
For trust in God and faith in man
Sprang up beneath the rain.
I thank Thee for my vain desires,
That 110 fulfillment knew ;
For life's consuming, cleansing lires,
That searched mo through and through,
Till I could say to Him : "Forgivo 1
They know not what they do."
What fulluofa of my earthly storo,
'Vhat Hliiuo of harvest sun,
What ointment on Thy feet to pour,
What honored raco to run,
What joyful song of thankfulness,
Here ended or begun,
Shall mate with mine, who learn so late
To know Thy will is dono 1
Rose Terry Cooke.
THE
MISSES TEMPLETQN'S
TEAPOTS.
"Well, ef it don't beau all ! I'm
struck all of a heap 1"
"An what's more," pursued the
striker, leaning a little farther from his
wagon, and speaking through tightly
shut teeth, as if thereby the sound
would be prevented from passing be
Tond the listener, " there ain't no
backin' down, as yon might think. If
ever yon seen a f nee sot, you'd 'a seen
it this mornin; an' she lookin' back all
the time, too, as if I was carryin' her to
the vault in the lower graveyard. I de
clare I'd just, about as soon. I hain't
got over it yit."
" lint, for the land' sake, why didn't
Dianthy stop her?"
"Past stoppin'. These still folks,
when they do take the bit between
their tenth, don't stop for 'whoa.' Di
anthy wasn't up, nnther. Yon'd ought
to hev seen her when I druv up with
Lncindy. Sho caine higher speakin'
out when I handed in that hair trunk
than she's done for ten year. But I
guess the town '11 be in an uproar
when it knows, lb ain't agoin' to allow
it."
"How '11 it hender it, Lamson, I'd
like to know?"
' Don' know," said the first speaker,
"but there's got' to be a way found.
Why, this mornin' Jliram come out, an'
his wife, too. They're good sort o
r Iks ef they do run the town farm, an'
Hiram sez : Now, Miss Templeton, I
told you before, an' I tell you now agiu,
'taiu't no use. You ain't a pauper, and
you jest can't an' shan't change off.'
' I've settled it,' sez she, hard an stiff
as Dianthy herself 'You're bound to
keep Lucindy, an' ef I chooseto change
place with Lucindy, it's nobody's busi
ness but my own. Ef you won't let her
go, I'll stay here whether or no. Town
ineetin' ain't till spring, an' I've made
op my mind. There ain't nothin' but
death can change it.' Lncindy dim
np to the Beat before Hiram could inter
fere, an' I druv off, an' how they'll settle
it I can't say, but there she is. The
last words I heard her say was: 'Hiram,
there's no peaco for ma anywheres but
here, an here I mean to stay.' "
"She's out o' her mind," said old
Hubbard, picking up the rake dropped
in his first surprise " There'll have to
be a special meetin' called, an' I'll see
about it this very day."
" Better let folks manage their own
affairs," returned Lamson, gathering up
the reins. "I don' know as I'd a druv
her over if I'd undeibtood exactly
what she wanted; an' then agin I don'
know. But I will Bay I thought I'd
like to see how Dianthy would take it.
It beats me. Chloe Ttmpleton in the
poorhouso, an' them Templetons 'ith
money enough to buy you 'n me out this
minute." '
'"Twouldn't take no great to do
that," said old Hubbard, returning to
his work, astonishment still predomi
nating in his leathery face; and Lamson
drove on, the tall figure of a woman
appearmg in the open doorway of a
house above, as if she had been watch
ing the interview, - and were half dis
posed to speak. . Hubbard made a step
forward as if uncertain whether to speak
or not, but retreated suddenly as the
door shut with a bang. "Templeton
temper," he said, shaking his grizzled
head; " but who'd 'a thought Chloe had
any of it ? I cal'late she got desprit, an'
struck out for any kind 0' a cliange, an'
I don't wonder nuther;" and with an
other shake he settled to work, pausing
at intervals to ejaoulate, " Well, it
beats me 1" ...
gHalf way . up Breakneck, so towering
and assertive a hill that anywhere but
in New Hampshire it must have been a
mountain. Even now its claims to that
title were not to be disregarded. Year
after year the .selectmon threatened to
labor no longor on a road more and
more given over to gullies and sudden
email laud-sJ'ies and big stones, which,
appearing, mrsteriously Ju the wav.
could never be accounted for save by
diabolio agency.- Year after year the
two or three farmers who tempted
rroviaenoe dj a permanent wrestle with
the thin layer of soil barely hiding the
granite below, gathered to work out the
road tax, the patient oxen painfully
marking out the deep furrow on either
side, and pondering why human beings
should make so much evidently useless
wort both 10 men and oxen.
Why Isaiah Templeton had chosen
Breakneck pastures, when river mead
ows fat with corn and wheat lay be
low, he never told, but the choice had
been made. Half way np the hill. A turn
in the road, and between two rocky
pastures, where sweet-fern and brake
disputed place with every root of grass,
a strip of land, every stone long ago
laboriously removed, and entering into
the well-built wall on either hand. On
the pasture side raspberry bushes
and wild grapes and rambling vines
in general had it all their own way,
but Isaiah Templeton's life-long fight
with weeds had not been unavailing,
ond Dinnii his oldest born, piirouHiJ
them with an even greater vigor and
determination, affirming that hud every
farmer done his duty half as well
Canada thistles would have been con
fined to Canada, and daisies havo be
come an extinct species.
Diantha, Althea and Chloe strange
names for the three middle-aged women
in the weather-Btamed house with
sloping roof, where mosses grew in
spite of Miss Diantha, and on whose
sides a faint red still lingered, though
sixty years had passed since it first
showed bright against the dark wood
behind and above it. Whatever latent
poetry in the rusty little farmer had
prompted the names had died with him,
Watts' hymns being the nearest approach
to such frivolity tolerated by either
Diantha or Althea, two grim and deter
mined females, with faces as hard as
the stones that made up most of their
patrimony, and who, through Miss
Chloe's girllod,had carefully repressed
the tendency to sentiment less sedu
lously hidden then than now.
Years had thinned Miss Chloe's hair,
sharpened still more the nose sharp in
the beginning, tipped it with a frosty
red, and printed crow's-feet about the
faded blue eyes, always a little per
plexed and troubled always gentle and
apologetic, and filling with tears as
quickly as in her silent and sensitive
girlhood. Life held small leisnre.
Books were a waste of precious time,
and more and more butter and cheese
the chief end of woman; and thus Miss
Chloe's sentiment found no outlet save
in the flower bed, which, in spite of
Miss Dianthy's arguments, held its
place under the south window, and in
summer filled tho little sitting-room
with a perfume altogether out of place
in those upright quarters.
In the old hair trunk, well hidJen
between towels and pillowcases, lay Miss
CI l.o's chief treasure a time-worn
copy of Mrs. Hemans, bearing on the
fly-leaf in cramped letters the inscrip
tion: "To Miss Chloe Templeton, from
her well-wisher, Josiah Green."
Something more than a well-wisher
Josiah would willingly have been, but
Miss Diantha had set her face against it,
and Josiah, after a short period of de
jection, married pretty Sophy Downer,
and slept now with his fathers in the
old graveyard. For years Miss Chloe
kept the little book folded in tissue
paper and laid away, but with the fune
ral took it out as if death Rave a right,
unelaioiable before, and read and wept
over it at night, the only time when
fcharp ears and eyes and tongues gave
her respite from continuous observation
and direction.
For both Diantha and Althea quarrel
ing was as their daily food. What cue
wanted the other did not, and all day
long the hard voices sounded from
kitchen or pantry, Chloe cringing as
they rose and fell, but silent os years
had taught her to bo. Miss Althea pre
ferred " salt risin's;'' Miss Diantha,
" hop 'east, strong"o' the hops." Miss
Althea demanded pumpkin pie without
eggs; Miss Diantha pronounced them,
in that condition, "not fit. for pigs."
Miss Althea demanded Orange Pekoe,
steeped; Miss Diantha, Oolong, boiled.
Miss Chloe in her private mind clung to
Young nyson, but would have drunk
gall and wormwood rather than make
any difficulty in fact, may be said to
have done 60 in any ease. Miss Diantha,
as eldest, threw out the Orange Pekoe,
rinsed the teapot viciously, with expres
sions of deep disgust at the fatal blind
ness of any creature who would drink
such stuff; and stood guard over the
stove until the tin teapot cave out the
rank steam sho loved to sniff.
With many desires for revolt, none
had yet come ; but one morning Miss
Althea, having watched the operation
up to boiling-point, both for herself and
teapot, determined upon active meas
ures, and suddenly seizing it ran across
the road and threw it with all her force
over the fence bordering the "gully
wood road," where, bounding from
stone to stone in the almost sheer
descent, it lay at last in the brook be
low. Miss Diantha, for the moment speech
less, poured out, as breath returned, a
torrent of rage on the triumphant Mies
Althea, who took down an earthen tea
pot from the shelf and proceeded to
scald it.
" As sure as I'm a living sinner, I'll
break it if you put it on the fire," said
Miss Diantha, a new grimness in voice
and eye.
"Try it," said Miss Althea, defiantly.
"I calculate you'll find more'n one kind
o' tea kin be drunk in this house. I've
stood you some years too much, an' as
fast's you break, I'll buy. You hain't
forgot the will, an' that all expenses
has got to be equally shared by the
three, or as many as lives. It '11 be a
leetle hard on Chloe, but then she's
used to your imposin' on her, an' a grain
more won't make much difference."
" Sisters," Miss Chloe began, in an
agony of tremulousness and apprehen
sion, "for mercy's sake I Oh, dear!
how can you ? Why don't we each have
a teapot, an' why didn't I think of it
before? There's one for each, and a
caddy apiece too the little ones grand
father brought home. Oh, don't look
that way, Dianthy, an' Althy too To
think that we're all sisters, an' alone in
the world ! For pity's sake !'
, "Be still I" said Miss Diantha, im
peratively. " An' now, Althy Temple
ion, you hear my last word to you.
When you say you're sorry for this
morning's work I'll say baok, an' not
before. The will's fixed so't We can't
split nor divide, an long as we live
there's got to be three in the house.
Well, I wouldn't split if I could.
Folks '11 ask, an you kin tell. I'm
done."
Done, truly. Eight years had passed,
and not one word had Miss Diantha
been heard to speak. If direction wa3
needed she wrote on a slate and handed
it to Miss Chloe, who acted as mediator
and interpreter. ' Confident that a day
would end it Miss Althea had gone her
way, missing more than she would have
told the war of words which, after all,
had been only wovds a family privi
lege never destroying a certain family
feeling holding its place under all
assaults. But as day after day went by
without a sign she, too, grew more and
more determined, and if an occasional
opasm desiro or th o
Eerhaps abetter state of things visited
er, she put it sternly away. Daily the
two faces settled into harder and harder
lines; daily Miss Chloe's eyes 'grew
more apprehensive.
The three caddies she had filled at
once, the time for some decisive action
on her part seeming to have come at last
beyond any question, and daily she
took down the three teapots, hidden
for years in the recesses of the upper
sheif of the china closet one old blue,
the last piece of a set long ago scat
tered or destroyed; one a tiny Wedg
wood, a great-aunt's property, and last,
the bronze-colored earthen their mother
had sometimes used. The three had
each its own place on the stove, and
curious neighbors, who had heard there
was "something beyond the common
goin' on at the Templetons' " looked at
them with suspicion as in some way ac
countable for the difficulty and at last
with a shake of the head as the silence
refused to yield. The minister argued
and pleaded, tho deacons came singly
and in a body, exhorting and threaten
ing suspension of church privileges,
and the parish was in a ferment, till a
new cause for discussion arose in
another quarter, reverting to this,
however, with surprising constancy.
By degtees Miss Althea had grown
almost as silent as the elder sister,
whoso life Beemed a black shadow, dark
ening even the sunshine of summer or
the golden light of autumn on the hills.
MiBS Chloe grew more haggard every
day, and her forlorn blue eyes, red
rimmed with much crying, brimmed
over for months, as she looked appeal
in gly from one to another. Anything
was better than this hard, grim silence,
and the two faces always with averted
eyes.
"Oh, why didn't I think of these
three teapots before?" Chloe moaned
to the old minister. " Such an easy
way out of all the trouble; an' there I
let it go on, an' now I shall always be
responsible."
No argument availed against this con
clusion, and no length of time proved
sufficient to overthrow it. Months ran
into years at last, but time seemed never
to deaden the continuous self-reproach
of this Templeton, who had absorbed
the conscience of the whole generation,
aud who sought vainly to reconcile ir
reconcilable forces.
"When an irresistible wave encounters
an immovable rock, what is the result?"
bad questioned Leander Lamson, home
from Dartmouth, and overflowing with
Sophomorio logic; and old Lamson,
after a pause for reflection, answered:
" Tarnal smash for whatever comes be
tween." Miss Chloe had come between, and
her looks indicated something equiva
lent to "tiraal smash '
Lucinda Wetherbee, once the owner
of a small but profitable farm, had
"signed" for her brother, a luckless
scamp, who fled to the West when the
nnal crash came, leaving Lmcrnda at
sixty to lace it as she might. The end was
the town farm, where the poor creature
went for life, too crushed by the sud
den cessation of all the small activities
that had made her world to think of
other methods. Her mind failed par
tially, and she appeared periodically at
houses she had been accustomed to
visit, complaining that the society at
the town farm was not what she had
been accustomed to or expected, and
that " she'd come to stay a spell an' git
the taste out of her mouth."
When Miss Chloe had made the ar
rangement and agreement to exchange,
she refused to tell, answering every in
quiry in tho same unvarying words:
"We thought we'd each hev a change."
She took up her life on the hill as if
born to the place, and, to the astonish
ment of every one, Miss Diantha ac
cepted the change with no break in the
immovable silence. Bat when the select
men appeared and appealed to her to
end the scandal and go in porson for
the sister, who had banished herself in
tho hope of bringing about peace, she
listened till even old Lamson had said
his last word.and then.having written for
a few moments, laid the .slate on the
table and left the room.
" She's got a dumb devil," said Dea
con Piper, as he read slowly;
" 'Chloe has made her own bed, and
she can lie in it. She chose to go, and
she can stay. If yon will not have her
any other way, I will pay her board.' "
Miss Althea went to the town farm
but once, fury of anger possessing
her as she crossed the wretched thresh
old, and venting itself in words that
brought terror to every one within hear
ing distance. Underneath the storm
hurt feeling and affeotion really lay, but
Chloe had passed beyond any power of
interpreting the perverse and tumul
tuous manifestation. She lay back in
her chair with closed eyes, her patient
face a little more patient, and slow
tears falling one by one.
" When Diantha comes for me, I'll
go back," , was all she would say, and
Miss Althea, worn out with her own
vehemence, went unwillingly away.
The winter went by, Miss Althea
waiting upon Lucinda " by inches," as
the neighbors said, as if in this way to
atone for past lack toward Chloe. The
reluotant New England spring came
slowly on, and in the " Devil's Gully,"
by the mill, . faint green showed here
and there between the linirerinsr drifts.
The road to the town farm, seldom used.
had been almost impassable, but Hiram
at Intervals had brought word that
" Jliss Chloe was about the same, fur's
he could see, but maybe her own folks
could tell better." The hint passed
without notice till one evening in early
April, when a messenger rode swiftly
up Breakneck and burst into the house
where the three sat by the dim lamp,
Lucinda keeping up her monotonous
flow of words, the two sisters silent.
"She's dyin'," he said. "The doc
tors said she might livejill you got
there."
' "Who?"
Miss Althea had risen, and stood now,
fierce and rigid, clutohing the fright
ened boy as she spoke.
"Miss Templeton," he said, strug
gling away. "Hiram told me to get
you a team."
"Run, then," Miss Althea screamed.
" The fastest Viall's got. Tell him to
be quick."
JjUClnda traxol InK luud Ctrinir.
"Be still, you fool I" rang out Miss
Diantha' s voice, with its old sharp com
mand. " I'm goin' on the hoss," and
snatching her hood she ran to the
gate, climbed from the long-disused
horse-block to the horse's back, and
with dangling stirrups and flappinar
rein she held her place by sheer will, as
the frightened animal tore down the
hill and through the village street, still,
as speed slackened, urging him on over
the lour miles between ner and the
chance of speech. Up hill and down.
through thick wood and between low
meadows, the rush of tho swollen river
drowned in the clatter of hoofs, and at
last the faint, twinkling lights of the
farm. The horse stood with drooping
head and streaming flanks as she slid
from his back, and pushing aside the
startled and curious group about the
door went up the stairs and toward
the room to which Hiram pointed.
She passed swiftly in, the doctor and
attendant were motioned out by a hand
so imperative that none could cainsav
it, and Diantha, bolting the door, turned
to the bed, and after one loots at the
motionless form upon it, fell on her
knees and buried her face in tho cover
let. " I thought you'd feel bad, Dianthy,"
Miss Chloe said, the words coming
faintly, and as if from some remote dis
tance. "I thought you'd come, an' I
held out an' waited. There isn't any
time now, but, Dianthy, you must prom
ise me one thing. You must go home
and let by-gones be by-gones. I want
you to be good to Althea."
Miss JJiantha raised her lace, white
and set, as if death had touched her,
too. She lifted her hand as she knelt.
"Don't, Dianthy don't !" Chloe
cried, trjing toiise.
" .before you that I've killed, 1 swear
it," said Miss Diantha, solemnly. "I've
held my tongue for spite, an' I'll hold
it now for punishment. The last word
I sav to livm soul I ear to yon now,
Chloe Temploton."
"Oh, Dianthy, don't 1" wailed Miss
Chloe, falling back on her pillow, end
ing with this last appeal tho long en
treaty of her life. When Miss Althea
entered with the doctor, the elder sister
sat motionless and silent by the bed. In
silence she pointed to Miss Althea as
the ono to make arrangements, and
waited till nothing further remained to
be done. In silence she rode home, and
shut herself into her own room, ond
there she remained till the hour for tho
funeral, servicos, held in the oTd church
on the common.
From every quarter the people flecked
in. No such opportunity had come for
years of seeing all the actors in this vil
lage tragedy, and iuiss JJiantna laced
them oil with a composure that made
the more sensitive shiver, and moved
many to fierce anger. The old minister
broke down as he tiwd to tell the gen
tleness and patience of the soul that
had passed beyond need of human
words, and for an instant there was an
ominous rustle, as if then and there
judgment must be had on those who
had lain on it a burden too heavy to be
borne.
Miss Diantha stood by the grave
until the last shovelful of earth had
been lain on, then turned and walked
home, stopping for a moment at tho
village store. hen Miss Althea and
Lucinda returned her door was shut,
and no sound was heard from the room
until next morning. But as thev made
preparations for tea Miss Althea saw
tbut the three teapots and caddies had
been removed, and that an earthen one
and a tin caddy filled with Orange Pekoe
stood on the lower shelf, and knew that
by thU sign Miss Diantha had spoken,
and renounced her will once lor lor all.
Years followed. Lucinda lingered,
unchanged in look, and clinging more
and more to Miss Althea, who had aged
suddenly when Chloe died, and who
made oontinuod efibrlo to break Miss
Diantha's silence. But though a cer
tain wistfulnoss seemed at times to
show itself, she only, when appealed to,
shook her head solemnly, and retreated
to her room. What secrets the old
walls knew, who can tell ? What sor
row and late repentance I But none
knew till a morning came when,
alarmed by the long silence, Miss Althea
went in to find her with wide-open eyes,
but powerless to move from the floor
where she had fallen. In the open
drawer of the old bureau lay Miss
Chloe's Bible, the worn volume of Mrs.
Hemans, and near them the broken
fragments of the three teapots, each in
a folded napkin. ,
A week of quiet waiting, and then in
the hours between night and morning
Miss Diantha suddenly lifted her head,
" I thought you'd come, Chloe," she
said, and with the words was gone.
When her .will was opened they
found, first, a legacy of one thousand
dollars " to Hiram Steele and wife for
kindness to mv sister Chloe," and then
an order that on the plain tombstone
erected for her should be simply the
words: "Diantha Templeton, aged
seventy-three. ' I was dumb. I opened
not my mouth for shame.'
And so at last people knew that the
scorn and indignation, never quite lost
even in the long years since Miss
Chloe's death, had been acoepted as
i'ust punishment, and that Miss Diantha
tad known sorrow, and left this last
message of tacit confession and repent
ance, rper' ISatar,
Many Uses for Apples.
However we may esteem other fruits
the apple is the main reliance in late
winter or early spring, as there is little
else in the way of fresh fruits. For
cooking no fruit is equal to the apple,
which is susceptible of being served 'in
a great variety of acceptable forms,
some of which are here suggested.
Apple sauce is the form in which the
fruit most frequently appears. To make
the best requires the best apples.
Select high flavored fruit, such as the
Rhode Island Greening or Spit
zenberg; pare and slice in thick
slices, and put, with the needed
quantity of sugar, in a dish with
a tight-fitting cover. Some have
a dish made for the purpose, but a tin
pail with a good cover will answer. Set
in a moderate oven and allow it to stew
slowly until thoroughly done; good
apples will need no water. Apple sauce
so prepared is far superior to that made
iu tho usual way. Next in popularity
to apple sauce is
Apple Pie. Stewed apples half an
inch thick, between two flabbv crusts,
is a caricature on apple pie. The apple
pie is made with sliced raw apples, in a
very deep plate, and as few plates are
deep enough the sliced apple should
be heaped up in generous measure.
It is a mistake to spoil good apples with
much seasoning. Cloves and allspice
overcome the natural flavor ; a very
little cinnamon, or minute bits of dried
peel of a sweet orange develop it. In
many families sauce and pie end the
changes, whilo they ore really but the
beginning of the list.
Baked Apples. Either sweet or sour.
Many have a notion that sweet apples
are the only kinds for baking. They
are indeed excellent, when sour ones
cannot be had. But for the perfection
of baked apples, Rhode Island Green
ings are required.. Remove the core,
fill tho cavity with sugar, sot in a bak
ing dish with a little water, and bake
rather briskly, and just before they are
eaten pour over them a liberal supply
of cream. Apples so treated are better
than most of us deserve.
Apple Dumplings. That person is
not to be envied, whose recollections of
childhood does not include apple
dumplings" such as mother used to
make." That kind will never be found
again, but a fair approach to it may be
hoped for. Hers were both boiled and
baked, and wo never could tell which
were best. Isn't the making of tho
crust for boiled dumplings a lost art?
Well, we can manage baked ones, and
thero is less risk of failure, and conse
quent danger to the digestion.
Apple custard is not to be omitted.
Pare and core the apples, stew in very
little water until tender; pour over them
a custard made in tho usual manner,
and bake until the custard is done.
Housekeepers find it difficult to select
a pudding-dish large enough for this.
Apple fritters are much liked by many.
Rather large slices of apples are sprink
led with sugar And cinnamon, allowed
to lay for an hbur or so; they are then
dipped in a batter of flour atiu eggs and
fried in abundance of very hot fat; for
these a wire frying basket is very con
venient. They aro drained for a few
minutes, ond served hot. U for des
fert, they are dusted with powdered
sugar when served, but if, as many pre
fer them, to be eaten with meat, the
sugar is omitted.
knows Betty. All the clean bits and
fragments of bread are dried crisp in
tho stove oven with the door open, then
oiieJ, and breadcrumbs are alwavs at
hand. Sliced apples, breadcrumbs,
sugar, cinnamon and a deep pudding
dish. A layer of apples, tuar, spice.
rumbs; apple- sugar, spice, crumbs':
and so on nntil tho dish is full. Bakci
Pax-Dovy on Apple Slcmp. Since
wood fires and the oldbake-pan or skil
let, with a cover to hold coals on the
top, went out of fashion and use, an
"apple slump has not been possible.
An imitation ia made in a deep pan, and
baked in an oven, but it is only a
baked apple pudding. Probably the
real thing can still bo found in the
lumber camps, and in the few other
localities where wood is the fuel, and
the open fireplace has not given way
to the stove. The apples are quartered:
the bake-pan is lined at the sides with
a crust; apples are put in, packed sol
idly, some spice is used, and sufficient
molasses, or part sugar ond part mo
lasses, to sweeten; a top crust is put on,
gashed to let the steam escape; the pan
is set on the coals, and the coals put
on the cover. Eaten hot with butter 1
Who can ever forget it ! The side crust
baked before the juice came from the
apples; it then became partly pene
trated with syrup; the apples were done
to a rich crimson mass. Talk about
apple meringues and such flummery
Here was richness ! American Agricul
turist. The Five Tenors.
A story is told in most Parisian green
rooms of " The Manager and the Five
Tenors." The manager had engaged a
French operetta troupe to perform in a
city of South America. He was the
most polite and generous ol managers.
He offered high terms, promised his
Eroteges a benefit apiece, made the
est arrangements for their comfort on
the voyage ont, and at last had the sat
isfaction of steaming off with them all.
The day when they started was a fine
one, and as soon as the shores of France
had faded out of eight the company, to
keep up their spirits, began to sing on
deck. But very soon they stopped, and
five gentlemen were seen to stare at
one another with consternation, They
were all five tenors. "Why, how is
this?" cried one. "I was engaged as
the only tenor." "That is my case,
too," chimed in another, and so said
they all. The manager had slunk down
into the cabin during this altercation,
but he was called np again, and was re
quested to furnish explanations. "Calm
your minds," he said, in a cheerful tone;
" you are five tenors now, but I calcu
late that four of you will be carried off
by the vomito negro as soon as we land,
and I promise that the one who survives
shall be my only tenor." London Daily
News, , . ' '- 1
A man, being tormented with corns.
kicked his foot through a window, and
he pane was gone instantly.
FACTS ASD COMMENTS.
Cyrus W. Field proposes to erect a
memorial window at Williams collego to
the late President Garfield.
Senator Morrill, of Vermont, now
seventy-one years of age, is the senior
member of the United States Senate,
and the youngest is Senator Aldrich of
Rhode Island, now forty years of age.
Some one has taken the trouble o
collect statistics of the existing pawn
brokers in the United British Kingdom.
Their total number is 4,372, and during
a single year they take in, it is esti
mated, some 200,000,000 pledges. Re
turns made by 731 pawnbrokers repre
sent a business of 32,500.000 pledges,
and the total of 200,000,000 is calculated
for these returns.
In order to make marching easier for
the German soldiers, their feet are
wrapped in linen soaked with lard. But
on the march, especially where the
boots are too big, the sticky mud will
pull the boots off. During a parade
before the emperor, not long since, the
boots came off by tho hundreds, and a
fatigue party had to be sent out to pick
up the footgear.
A New York man has a bee farm on
the top of his house, within a few rods
of the postoiliee. The bees have to fly
to Central park to get at the blossoms
to collect their honey. They come
straight home to their hives, and know
the spot where they are placed. It is
said that the bees being so much above
the streets ore not disturbed by the
noises of the city.
Mrs. Campbell, the wife of Alexander
Campbell, founder of the Christian
church, of which;President Garfield was
a member, is a striking-looking woman
of eighty years. Her hair is as black,
her eyes as bright as in her youth, and
her mental activity is remarkable. She
reads ond writes often until past mid
night, and is now engaged upon a vol
ume of reminiscences of her husband.
Mr. Whittier's days at home in Ames
bury, Mass., are devoted to h;s books,
with the exception of one hour in the
forenoon ond one hour in the afternoon.
During these intervals he ia always to be
found at the postoiliee or reading the
Boston papers in a book store, the
townspeople watching with real rever
ence tie tall, slender, white-haired
poet. He occupies two furpished rooms
in a pleasant home on Fiicnd street,
Amesbury, and his life therein i3 that
of a student simple and hardworking.
There recently died in Oregon a mule
that has a history that would fill a smal
book. Ho was forty-six years old, and
had been in the service of the govern
ment for the past thirty-six years. He
was known all over the coast as " Old
Tom," and has been at different times
stationed at almost every garrison on
the coast. His funeral was attended by
the quartermaster's department iu force,
and his body interred with a feeling of
profound sorrow at the loss of this old
timer. A monument has been erected
over his grave.
The agricultural bureau est imates the
wheat crop of the United States for the
current year will bo 881,479,200 bush
els. The yield of 1879 was 458,000,000
bushels; that of 1880 is now set at 498,
500,000 bushels. The decrease this
year from last is therefore 117,000,000
bushels. On an examination of the
table by States it appears thai there was
a loss, as compared with 1879, in every
Western State from Ohio to Colorado,
excepting Texas. Oregon and the Ter
ritories alone show any considerable in
crease. Formers will get more for their
grain, but consumers will have to pay
more for their flour.
It would astonish people in the coun
try to know to what on extent fortuue
lelliog is carried on in New York city.
A fortune-teller, calling herself Madam
Do London, was arrested a short time
ago for swindling, for the business is
contrary to a law which is seldom en
forced, it is estimated that between
fifty and a hundred of these adventur
esses, for most of tbem are women, get
a living by that business in New York.
And most of the fools who allow these
harpies to swindle t'.'era are women,
says the Christian at Work, and many
are women who dress well, too, and
move in a pretty fair sort of social
circle. They can hardly be set down as
ignorant, for thoy keep np with the
times, so far as reading goes at least,
But they believe in fortune-telling just
as firmly as the hopelessly ignorant, aud
are duped in exactly the same way,
Asiae irora me omections to it as a
fraud and imposture, the whole business
of fortune-telling is an agent of immor
ality that ought to be sternly suppressed,
A Sea Serpent Story,
A good sea serpent story comes from
Madras in the shape of reminiscences of
Captain Taylor, when lying at anchor
at lauie bay some years ago. One day
an " enormous monster," about 100 feet
in length, was seen advancing with
snake-like motion round Green point
into the harbor. The head appeared to
le crowned with long hair, and the
keener-sighted among the observers
conld see the eyes and distinguish the
features of the monster. The military
were called out, and, after peppering
the object at a distanoe of 500 vards.
and making several palpable hits, it was
observed to become quite still, the
boats ventured off to complete the de
struction. The " sea serpent " proved
to be a mass of gigantio seaweed, which
had been undulated by the ground
swell, and had become quiescent when
it reached the still waters of the bay.
Probably if mariners would attack the
" monster " in the same manner, when
ever it is seen, we should hear little
more of tbo sea serpent. '
The annual mail of the world contains
2,300,000,000 letters, and its telegraphic
dispatches aggregate 111,000,000 in
79ar.
Tho Frojr ond the Lily,
I.
In arching woods of piuo mid oak,
Through which the cheerful sunlight broke,
A pond loDg lay, by soft winds swept,
And on its bosom lilie3 slept.
A story of this pond I'll tell,
Of homely frog and lily-bell.
II. ."
Twas In the summer month of June,
When robin chirped his merry tune.
That lily spoke to frog so free:
"Oh, could I only leap like theo'
But hero I am so still and lone,
And dull as any old white stone.
III.
The frog then said to lily fair:
"Just see me jump so high iu air;"
But down he came into tho flood, ;
And stoppod not till he Toaahed the mud.
IV.
Tho day was fino, tbo sky serene;
A boat upon tho lake was seen.
A man caught froggy by tho throat,
And threw him in the fatal boat.
The lily plucked by maiden fair, 1
Was placed upon her golden hair.
JIonAL.
The richest man may lose his gain,
Tho poorest one may rise to fBm;
Be not puffed up with self-deceit,
Tho boaster always courts dofoat;
Nor proudly say what you can do,
But be mode&t, gentle, pure and truo.
i. n. t.
HUMOR OF THE DAY.
The saddle horse knows enough
of
arithmetic to carry one.
"I find that with light meals my
health improves," paid the Esqnimau;
and down went another candle.
A little heat that can't be beat, the
window open wide; a little breeze, a
little sneeze, and you're the doctor's .
prido.
The Commercial Bttlktin says the man
who does not advertise has it done for
him finally, under the head of " failures
in business."
Vassar college has one small girl who
will iu the hereafter be heard of in tho
woman's rights societies. She de
scribed " straw'' as being a hollow thing
with a ten-cent man on one end of it
and u twenty-cent drink on the other
end.
"You can't add different things to
gether," said a school-teacher. " if
you add a sheep and a cow together, It
does not make two sheep or two cows."
A little boy, the son of a milkman, held
np his hand and said : "That may do
with sheep ond cows, but if yon add a
quart of water it makes two quarts of
milk. I've seen it tried."
A ypung gentleman who is very par
ticular about the getting up of his linen
wrote a note to his laundress, and at
tao Eame time sent one to the object of
his affections. Unfortunately, he put
the wrong address on the envelopes
and posted them. The woman was puz
zled, but not in the least onended ;
but when tho young lady read, " If yon
rumple up my shirt-bosoms and drag
the buttons eff the collar any more, as
you did last time, I shall have to go
somewhere else," she cried all the even:
iog and declared she would never speak
to him again.
A Colorado Sunset.
Standing upon the margin of a lovelv
lake in the boeomjsf the nestling moun-
tains above the beautiful village of
Georgetown, in Colorado, one can see a
sunset more brilliant and beautiful than
was ever looked upon in the East, and
which is only equaled by the virgin
reach of reddening light which mellows
into twilight shadows on the pluiua. I
saw it on a summer evening when all
nature was hushed in stillness. The
fireflies shot through the growing dusk
like sparkling lourics in Egyptian
night. Overhanging forest and swart
and blackened crag were reflected
in the green waters of tho lake.
Tho sun hovered, as in a fascinated
spell, above the mountain tops, while
rays of golden light, rlusned with crim
son peek and turret on nature's battle
ments, it seemed to glow and expand .
like an opening rose, until it became
full-blown, and cast its arrowy pencil
ings for miles across the sky like a
mighty flame. Then, as if ashamed of
its boldness, it drew a veil of grayish
mist about its face and blushed beneath
it. The mist changed into a cloud
shaped like a crescent, with ragged
fringes flecked with gold, and in its
wonderful aspect recalled tho legends of
Mohammed's banner, red ond lurid be
neath Asian skies. Even as I looked it
changed. The darkening scarlet waa
transformed to ruby brilliancy. Long
lines of pallor whitened on the parti
colored surface, side by side with golden
lances, which seemed to flash from the
glowing orb like dissolving rays. The
enamored sky for one feverish instant
caught and mirrored all the colors of
the rainbow. Then again it darkened
flushed and paled and drawing the
hovering draperies of the night about
it, sank out of sight. The stars came
ont. The night-hawk poised on swoop
ing pinion, shrieked above the forest
solitude. The leafy murmur of the
moaning pines took up the refrain and
awoke the spellbound senses into life
and action. The charm was gone, but
the beauty lingered on the fancy like a
beautiful memory. Omaha Herald.
, Slates.
Last year the capital stock invested
in the slate trade in the United States
was nearly 810,000,000, and the produce
wa 600,000 equares, Pennsylvania
alone producing 320,000. The largest
quarry contains sixty acres and employs
vjuu men. it was opened in 1855 and
in 1880 turned ont 40,000 squares. The
most durable slates are from Pennsyl
vania and Maine, ?nd are dark bine and .
blue black. Green, red, purple and
variegated do not keep color well, and
the red kinds are the most expensive. :
The London Economist estimates the
importation of food into Great Britain
at present as forty per cent, of the to
tal imports tff the country.
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