HENRY A. PARSONS,
VOL. XII. BIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY, MAY 18. 1882 NO. 13.
Voices of the Sea.
Wakeful I lay at night and beard
The pulsings of the restless sea.
The morning surges
Bounded like dirges
From some far back eternity,
Whose spirits from the deep are stirred,
Awaking with the morning light,
Again I listened to the sea;
But with its surges
We heard no dirgos,
But only life's activity;
Morning dispelled the gloom of night.
At noon I sauntered forth to view
The throbbing of that living sea;
Still it was surging,
But only urging
All men to be both strong and froo
Strong In the soul with conscience true.
At closing day onco more I stood,
Gazing across that mighty sea;
Far ships were sailing,
The light was failing;
Time, lost in immortality,
Was tho reflection of my mood.
It is the mind, and not tho place,
Our moods and not a varying voice,
That fills with sadness,
Or thiills with gladness,
A soul whose onco great ruling choico
Reflects in all things its own forco.
WHERE SHE WAS.
" I don't care I"
"Well, I dono as I do I"
And they had been just six weeks
married, these two.
.Pretty Sally Masters and Will Gray
were poor people; he was a farmer, and
sue om wonted in a factory in Lynn
it wus like a new life to her to get
ont into the sweet country, but she knew
iiutmug ai an about larm work and
cared less; it was all knew to her, and
at first was very hard.
Then she had a quick temper and a
quick tongue, and Will was the only
son of a widow and had always had his
own way.
i ; i i . -
jxa luumur was aeau wnen ho mar
ried bally, or he could not have
nronglit a wife home to the lonely
farm, for it would not support three
people ns yet, though Will worked hard
to make it pay; audtbeyear before he
had received five hundred dollars from
a railroad company for the right to run
their road straight through his front
yard.
Ihis teemed afoitune to Will, ami
he thought very little of the roud being
vuy a iew roos jrora ms door, m com
parison with the nmnc-y which enabled
mm to unya woou-jot bordering on his
farm and a piece of meadow on the
other side.
but wLen Rally cama there eh a com
plained a proot deal of the nnisetlu
engines made, nrd scolded to think tlx
wagon never could come up to the door
for Mie was afraid (o trot the trick in
It, and the l ain lay on the olhcr side o)
Doth road and rnuw.iv.
However, a thiiig that can't be cured"
must lie endmcd. po she tet hcisolf li
ne endurance.
But ImMer-mnkincr and cookinor wrrr-
troubles to her, and to-day Will had
Crumbled tt tho MiRnlts in 'tl-.A hntt,,,.
and pushed his plate nwny at breakf ist
because the buckwheat cakes were Rnm
Sally hud been afraid they would froeze
in the pantry, so aha (set them on tho
nhelf above the stove, and they were
epoiiea.
TT -V - 1. j l i v i .
xiuw cue wisnea mat sue nad nad a
Home and a mother to teach her home
duties, instead of being an orphan ever
since suo could remember and worlrma
ao many years in footoxj.
Pnt Will never thought of that ; he
fancied a woman knew housework if
she did not know anything else, and ho
had to take a long drive to-day and
should miss the good breakfast he really
ueuusu , uiiu ne ien very cross.
He pushed his chair back and said;
"I can't eat those things."
"Very well, you don't need tol"
snapped Sally, who was gust ready to
cry, but would not show it for the
world,
- "I had ought to have some breakfast
to go thirty miles on, and I'm goin' over
to Mystio to day."
" I hope 'n trust you'll get somethin'
you can eat over there. I s'pose 'Phrony
snows now to masegoodtnings. '
" I bet she does 1" said Will, emphat
ically.
How 'Phrony was a pretty, bricht.
capable girl, Will's own cousin, and ho
iiaa never thought of marrvinsr her.
She was just like his sister, for till verv
lately Uncle Dan had lived on the next
farm, and the children had always
piayea logeiner.
But Sally had met Sophronia before
and after her own marriage, and in her
foolish heart had grown jealous of her
beauty and capacity to do all kinds of
home work.
This morning the mention of Mystio,
the village where Uncle Dan lived now,
was the drop too much.
Sally's face flamed and her eyes grew
dark.
" Perhaps you'd better staj to Mystio
when you get there, p-eein' things aint
to your likin' here 1" she said, with bit
ter emphasis.
"Mabbe I had, if yon can't learn how
to cook vittles half-way decent," was
Will's spiteful response.
"I'm sure I don't caret" she an
swered. Well, I dono as I do," he replied,
and walked across to the barn.
Sally was so angry that she flew round
the kitchen as if she stepped on air;
she was in one of those rages that
exalt the body with the passion of the
mind, and make any action easy while
the inner temper lasts.
It seemed to her as if she heard in
her own ears the boiling of her rage ;
she certainly did not hear out-door
sounds at all; it was accidental that in
stepping past the window she saw Will
drive off down the hard road without so
much as looking back to his heme. She
had not heard the sleigh bells at all.
If some one else had been there for
her to talk to, probably she would have
cooled down sooner; speech is a safety
valve many times to an overburdened
heart.
Jr., Editor and Publisher.
But she was all alone in the honnn.
and tho nearest neighbor lived round a
mil ont oi sigbt.
And as she flew round putting the
dishes away and setting back the table
in that bare, silent room, its only out
look sheets of dazzling snow, gray
woods, with here and there a d all-green
cedar, or a round, flat cjpress on the
barren hill-Bide, and one expanse cf
Btainless sunny blue above, her thouguts
ran riot.
She looked back to the time of her
marriage, and scorned herself for hav
ing believed Will ever loved her. Just
for a few hard words ? you ask. Yes,
only that.
" Words break no bones," the pro
erb says, but they break hearts, which
is worse ; and words mean very much
to a woman, though very little to a man.
Will, by this time, was whistling along
in the old sleigh, not thinking at all of
his parting with Sally, but of the feed
and flour he must buy in Mystio, the
price of cranberries and tho probable
weight of his pig it was so near kill
ing time.
But poor Sally, pitiable as well as
blnmable, for to have a quick, high
temper is worse for its possessor than
for anybody else, still brooded over her
trouble.
She blamed Will for his hateful
words, excused herself and pitied her
self for her lonely, motherless life and
inexperience, find planned a rrreat ruanv
things to sny and to do that should
show Will she would not be trodden on
and abused weakly and meekly. She
finished her active work, built up the
fire and sat dowD to her mending ; but
by this time she had come to tears she
felt so sorry for herself and they
dropped so last sne could not darn
Just then the Morning train thun-
dered by and spun out of sight round
sharp curve.
tone remembered that she must go
out to the barn and gather the eggs,
as she always did about that time she
was so airaid to cross the road unless
train had just passed.
She did not put on her hood, for the
day was so bright and her head was
so hot with anger and crying that the
cool air was refreshing but ran across
nastily; tliere were plenty of eggs
to-ciay, but she had no basket large
enongn to noiii mem. and to tier aston
ishment she found Will had not fed
either the cow or the pig; and her abated
anger rose to think that ho had gone off
:ti l i i
niuiiuub uumg uiu uarn worn.
" That's a little too much," she said
to herself. "I aint a-goin' to do his
chores for him, anyway I I've got
eiHugu to ao in tne house, and don'
suit mister at that. If ho thinks he'i
got a dumb slave to work ior him, he'
van took. I" here the cow lowed and
the pig took up his own gruntinsrcom
pluiut. They had heard her voice and
knew that there was a chance of break-
fas).
Bully had a tender, pitiful heart for
un jut temper.
"Poor critters," she eaid. " I dono
as I had ought to be usrly to them
'cai!BO he's ugly to me. I'll run over
and fetch a basket and fret mv hood
and mittius anyway. Pil feed 'em, but
I'm hound I won't clean 'em, so therel'1
and boiling over aain with fresh
wrath she left tho barn and slammed
the door behind her.
iuoantime ill went on his wav to
ulyatio, where ho arrived in due time,
did his errands and went to Unole
Dan's, where ho found a srood and
abundant dinner; and a plentiful meal
of chicken pot-pie, mashed potato,
boiled turnips, new rve bread and
baked Indian pudding put-him into ex
cellent humor, bo th' wnen rnrony,
who hail fcoeu iitiore too busv serving
and eating to talk, asked. "How's
bally ? he said, verv honestlv
" Why, she's well, real well: but she
got kinder put out with me this morn
ing, and I don't blame her a bit, for
begun it, kinder faultin' my breakfast.
and I guess I mado her mad; shouldn't
wonder."
I TTI VTT '11111 . .
uny, huh ' saia I'nrony. with an
accent of reproach that said more than
ner words.
" 'T would be strantre if she did know
about housework to once," said mild
Aunt dray; "the never had no mother
nor no folks bo's she could learn: ba
sort o' scitiy to ner, will; she s a lone-
some iittlo cretur, with nobody but you
to hold on to, ye know."
wills really kind heart beean to
trouble him; he went out again into the
street ostensibly to finish his errands,
but really to buy Sally a rose-pink silk
tie that would look so pretty in con
trast with her rich dark hair and eyes,
and perhaps cast a glow on her too
pale, smooth cheek.
1' or Will had an instinct of taste in
his nature, and knew very well how
pretty and retined-looking his wife was
even beside 'Phrony's less delicate and
more blooming beauty.
So he stepped into the sleigh and
drove off, thinking how he would
"make friends" with Sally, and how
that dimple in her cheek would come
and go, and how her lovely eyes bright
en wnen sue saw tne pink tie.
ine road seemed verv lonsr. for be
knew he had left home in a passion.
and now he was sorry. He got there
at last, just before sundown, and driv
ing into the barn was received with a
chorus from the cow and pig
jerus lonir lie exclaimed. "I
never fed tbem critters this morning 1
I did lose my head, that's a fact. Well,
I've got to tend 'em now. Wonder
Sally didn't. Mabbe, though, she
diunt come over, or if she did she
fetched the eggs and didn't look at
nothing else."
ery speedily he fed the hungry
beasts and put out his horse, resolving
to go in to supper and finish his barn
work afterward, for he was hungry.
There was no light in the house,
which looked rather cheerless, but then
Sally was frugal and sat far into the
twilight without a lamp, so he went on
and opened the kitchen-door.
A cold chili struck nun ; tne plaoe
was empty, still, nreiees; a rat ran
across the floor as he stepped in.
Nobody was there.
The low light of the setting sun struk
across the snow-fields with a wan glitter
into the bare room j the fire was out ;
the store oold. Behind the door into
1 . - 1 1 .. - . z
the shed hung Sally's hood and shawl,
and her mittens were on the shelf.
Sally must be in the bedroom, sick no
doubt.
With an anxious heart Will opened
the door into it. Nobody was there ;
the room was in its usual cheerless
order ; the bed white and smooth as
the outer drifts; the white-curtained
windows shutting out even that wintry
sunshine.
Probably Sally had put on her Sunday
cloak and bonnet, the same dark-red
velvet turban and jaunty, jet-trimmed
sack she had looked so well in when
they were married. Almost as if he
were afraid of seeing a ghost, Will
opened the closet door to see; there the
things hung against the wall, straight
and smooth, sack and shawl too, and
the toqae was on the shelf above.
Then he opened the tiny parlor, with
awful misgivings. The andirons shone
in the open fireplace; the wax fruit was
und3r its glass shade, between the glass
candlesticks on the shelf; and the big
Bible, the photograph album, the copy of
Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy all
wedding presents occupied the small
round table in the middle of the room,
and took a ghastly tint from the creen
paper shades and the wan light of dying
day.
Everything was as prim, as dull and
as musty as ever. Sally was not there.
There was but one room upstairs.
and either Bide of it a dark attic; ho lit
his lantern and searched there, but
found nothing.
Then he took a bee-line for the near
est neighbor's house, but though the
lamny were rail oi pity and astonish
ment and suggestion, he did not find
ms wife.
" Hev ye s'arched the barn?" queried
old Grandsir Phelps from the chimney
corner.
Will had not thought of that; so
Royal Phelps went back with him and
peered into every corner of the bin,
mow, harness-shed and cellar.
They found the eggs she had left in
the hay, but they did not find Sallv.
Then the two men went over the house
again, peered shudderingly down into
the well, and weighing the bucket with
neavy stones and lengutening the rope,
let it down till they heard the wood
strike hard against the rocky bottom
from whence bubbled up that living
spring. Nobody was there.
"You haint tramped around the lots
any, liev ye ?" inquired Royal Phelos
"Nowhere only tow'rdsyour house,"
uuHwereu win.
1-17-11 1 1 . a
veii, men, wnen mornin' comes
we Ism track her; for it snowed about
an hour arter breakfast, and there haint
ben no passin' onto tho road sence, for
I've ben a-choppin' 'long side on't the
una time to-day; and I took a bite
along so's not to stop ; I was boun' to
nnish, up to-day.'
But would that morning ever come?
It seemed not to Will ; he walked the
house while Royal snored in the rocker.
and recalled with despair and distress
how ho and Sally had parted in the
morning in anger ; parted now, it
seemed, for the last time.
He had not much imagination, but
he had enough to conjure dreadful
things about his wife's fate. All alone
there in the farmhouse what might
not nave happened ur, nioro proba
bly, had she not fled from him forever.
afraid of lus temper and his tongue ?
Ho blessed the shower of snow that
nad fallen in lus absence and must tell
I e 1 it : . 1. 1 . ii a
mo awry ui ner uigut ; ana lie made a
lew but very earnest resolutions as to
his future conduct toward her if. in.
deed, any future found them once more
together.
But morning came, and on no field
or road, not even on the railwav trunk
in cutlie direction, was there a foot
print except tnose of Will's old horsn
and the two men.
Sally's light feet had not traversed
that yielding service ; nobody had been
there.
Then Will broke down : without food
or sleep, oppressed by the awful mys
tery of his loss, as well as by the less
itself, he grew half-crazy, sobbed, raved
and tramp ed the house till RovalPhelp
at last went over to fetch his wife, with
the suge remark.
He s past my handlin' ; I cruess
women folks'd know better how to fetch
him to now."
So 3Irs. Phelps came over, made some
hot coffee and persuaded him to drink
it, set things to lights a little, and pre
pared to eet dinner : but Will still lav
on his face in the bedroom, as wretched
and hopeless as a man could be.
Suddenly a horse s hoofs beat on the
crusted snow up to the back door.
Will lamped up and rushed out. and
a man handed bim a telegram; he did
not hear, while he was opening it. the
bearer's explanation :
"It come to Taunton deepott for ve.
and the operator said 'was real import
ant, an' you'd giv' me a doller to fetch
if
Will did not answer; his brain reeled
as he read:
William Gray, Taunton. Your wife
is at Sbyms Station very ill."
Uau 1 go baclt to Taunton with
you ?" he said to the man, handing tho
telegram to Mrs. Phelps, with a light
in his eyes that told the relief he was
scarcely conscious of as yet.
KecRon you kin. for another dol
lar," and with a nod to the astonished
Mrs. Phelps Will was off, and in an
hour was seated in the train for Seyma
Station.
The story is stranee but true: when
Sally slammed the barn-door behind
her, she pulled her apron over her
head, and ran across the road, safe in
the knowledgo that the morning ex
press had passed. The light full of
snow dulled the sound of a special
freight train slowly rounding the corner
just at that moment, and Sally was
struck by the cow-catcher as she
stepped on the track, and was thrown
violently to one side.
Stunned by the blow, she lay on the
ground unconscious. She did not hear
the cry of the engineer, who had wit
nessed the accident; did not know that
the train had stopped, or that she was
surrounded by a group of strange men.
J. he engineer and one of the brake-
men entered the house and found it
deserted. No other dwelling was in
sight.
NIL DESPERANDUM.
To leave a woman lying insensible in
an empty house was out of the question,
and so at last, after calling in vain for
assistance, they laid her in the con
ductor's car to carry her to the nearest
station, some miles farther on.
When she regained her conscious
ness it was her. turn to f ael all those
pangs of regret and repentance that
Will suffered, and to make resolves of
her own, if ever she returned to live
up to them.
She could not move or speak when
the train stopped, and the men took
her from the car supposing she was per
haps fatally injured.
She did revive, however, but only
enough to whisper Will's name and
town in reply to persistent questioning,
ueiore delirium set in, and wnen her
husband reached the hospital where
they had taken her she did not know
him, and it was weeks instead of days
before she could go home.
In the meantime Will sold his farm
to Royal Phelps' brother, and bought
another close by Mystic, and two miles
from any railway. He knew that neither
he nor Sally would evff again feel safe
at tne old place.
So far, their first jnarrel has been
their last; the resolitions have been
well kept. Sally can make pot-pie and
rye-Dreaa, as wen asmany other things,
quite as skilfully us Cousin 'Phrony,
and she is so happy with her husband
and her baby that ijhe sometimes thinks
Will lost all his bod temrjer wlion lin
lound his wife at Ssyms. Youth's Com
panion. '
A Cat tin Ranch.
Many pens have essayed the task of
describing a catte rauch in the far
west ; yet the writer must confess to
total and radical misapprehension of the
subject, corrected only when he himself
crossed the plains and saw with his own
eyes. The idea is a difficult one for the
Eastern mind to fully grasp. It is
required that all preconceived notions
of what should constitute a well-regulated
stock farm must be abandoned and
a totally new set substituted. Fences,
green pastures, stables, the whistling
boy driving home the cows from the
meadow when the sun is casting long
snaciows, tne stone mansion embowered
in stately trees upon tho overlooking
hill this picture of rural beauty that
graces ten tnousand canvases through
out our land must be laid aside and
forgotten if we would contemplate
Western cattle ranch, He who would
successfully follow the business of cattle
raising upon the plains must keep ever
on the frontier, pushing farther on into
tho wilderness as civilization follows in
his wake. If he is pressed too closely,
ne must strike into a new country ' to
find a range." His judgment must bo
exercised with regard to several partic
ulars. Tho coup t ry ho selects must bo
lainy coverod with tbo natural ci bhhph.
with here and there patches of grease
wood, white sage or other browse to
serve as lood incase the grass is covered
by a fall of snow. He must further
assure himself as to the perennial
character of the stream or water-holes
upon the range, upon which tho cattlo
are to depend for or.e essential elpmfint
And, lastly, he should also see to it that
the country affords good shelter from
the winter winds and storms, spenre rl
by clumps of trees, bluffs or other
features of a broken country. With
feed, water and sheher assured, he feels
that a suitable range has been found,
and returns to drive thither his herd
Into a heaw freicht wasron is IobiIa,!
the whole ranch equipment, including
tent, bedding, cooling utensils, and
provisions to last pcihaps a year. The
mounted herders drive the cattle with
many a whoop and halloo, and the
procession strikes ont for t-V r
country. Owio loJiioepiain, making
a wagon road as they go, fording un
known streams, finding a wav across
deep ravines, often suffering for water,
and making many a dry camp, riding
all day long under the scorching 6un,
with alkali dust, stirred up by ten
thousand hoofs, blown into mouth and
nostrils, riding all night lensr around
the prostrate herd, and sometimes gal
loping away in the darkness to check,
if possible, the wild stampede thus for
months, it may be, the procession moves
on until the selected range is reached.
Here the cattle are turned loose to
explore their new home, to eat, drink,
wander and rest at will, to forget the
hardships of the long drive and to
prow fat upon the nutritious grass.
Meantime the site fur the ranch-house
is selected, a few ttees are felled and
logs cut, and a low, dirt-roofed log
cabin is quickly thrown together.
Several small fenced inclosures, or
corrals, and a branding chute are soon
completed, und the ranch may be
considered as established, No title to
the land is secured ; none is desired.
The sovereign American citizen simply
takes possession, fully persuaded that
it is his privilege to dedicate to useful
purposes the waste plaoes of our great
country. Lippincoit.
Digitated Stockings.
From time immemorial stockings
with toes have been used occasionally,
particulaily in the treatment of certain
foot troubles. Lately they have come
into more general use, and not a little
publio discussion has arisen over the
fashionable novelty. The London med
ical authority, lancet, is strongly in
clined to favor them as likely to con
duce to comfort, and spare many per
sons who now suffer from the develop
ment of soft corns between the toes, a
serious trouble. "They would also be
more cleanly than the stockings in
common, use, because they would nat
urally absorb and remove the
acrid moisture which accumulates be
tween the toes, and which it the gen
eral cause of offensive odors from the
feet. They will, moreover, give the
foot better play, allowing its phalanges
greater freedom of aotion. And, lastly,
a well fitted digitated sock or stocking
will remove a mass of material from the
toe of the boot, and, at the same time,
secure increased breadth and space for
expansion across the base of the toes.
The new stockings, supposing them to
be well cut and fitted, possess many ad
vantages." Patienoe, the second bravery of man,
is, perhaps, greater than the first, -
FACTS AND COMMENTS.
The writer of a report on English fao
tones and workshops has drawn a pic
ture which is anything but alluring of
London bakeries. He found that in a
great number of cases the staff of life
is prepared amid surroundings which
are as unhealthful as they are unappe
tizing, and that in some establishments
the arrangements are positively shock
Reports from Lonisana indicate that
the cane which was covered by the
floods is not so much injured as there
was reason to fear that it would be,
This is accounted for by the low tern
perature at the time of tho floods, which
retarded the growth of the young cane
instead of rotting and killing it. In
the regions which escaped inundation
the prospects for a large crop of sugar
are lavorauie.
Dr. Koch, a Berlin physioian, has dis
covered the secret nature of the parasite
which causes consumption. Matter
from the lungs of consumptives has
been found to be swarming with para
sites which are highly infectious. He
has propagated the disease artificially
and killed animals with the parasites
thus produced. And now if he will
only produce a parasite which will de
stroy the tubercular parasite, he will
have conferred a lasting benefit upon
the human race.
neep your eye on coins passing
through your hands and you may make
a strike. The rarest coin in the United
States is the double eagle of 1849, of
which there is only one in cxistenoe.
belonging to the cabinet of the United
States mint. The next in rarity is the
nan eagle of laia. it is said that the
king of Sweden, to complete his col
lection of United States coins, paid
$2,000 for a specimen. Only five of
these half eagles are in existenee. The
silver dollar of 1804 is rare and valua
ble. Only ten pieces of the kind are to
be found.
A peculiar business has been com
menced ia Texas, the breeding of ponies
tor tne use and pleasure of children
An 8,000-acre ranch in Bexar county,
has been fitted up for that purposo.
The owner has on it forty-five Shetland
mares and 100 Zacetecas ponies, a
Mexican breed, and he thinks that he
will succeed. The Zacetecas ponies are
spotted, cost no more than a goat, are
very hardy and well adapted to the sad-
die. They roam over the mountain
like nocks of sheep and are about as
gentle. In a short time every child in
the United States will be supplied with
a beautiful prize spotted pony accord
ing to tne owner ot the ranoh.
Jir. Charles Dudley Warner writes
from Palermo that brigandage is about
at an end in Sicily. The organization
of the brigands is broken up and they
are discouraged. "My own explana
tion of the change," writes Mr. War
ner, " is that the brigands have gono to
keeping the hotels in Sioily, and take
it out of the travelers in a legal but
more thorough manner. I might as
well say here, from considerable expe
rience in Sicilian hotels, that they are
on their way to be first-class. Their
prices are already first-rate. They have
only to raise the accommodation, the
food and attendance up to the prices
and they will be all right. The land
lords have simply begun at the wrona;
end."
A piece of good luck has befallen the
prisoners in jail at Council Bluffs,
feet eleven inches high in his stockings,
weighs 275 pounds and is only twentv
years old, has been added to their num
bers. As soon as they perceived that
his gigantio proportions were likely to
Bx the gaze of visitors to the jail, they
put their new comrade on exhibition at
ten cents a head. At the approach of
a visitor the giant retires from the cor
ridor to his cell and refuses to emerge
until the dime has been handed to
another prisoner duly appointed to col
lect the fees. With the funds thus
provided the prisoners purchase to
bacco and other luxuries to cheer the
dull routine of jail life.
An accurate little photograph of Mr.
Longfellow is given by a writer in the
Indianapolis Journal : "His dress was
scrupulously tasteful and beooming.
HisJiair and beard, Bet off against a
snowy collar and a coat of black, showed
silvery bright, but were in quantity
and texture much thinner and nner
than his engravings represent. The
features, too, were not so full and
rugged as in his portraits, but were mi
nutely lined with time, and of that pe
culiar pallor of complexion that comes
only of extreme age. Yet he was won
derfully agile in his movements, and
continually shifting positions some
times settling forward, his elbow rest
ing on the table, the head propped rest-
fully in his hand ; then, suddenly lean
ing backward, the entire figure assuming
an air of enviable languor."
Cincinnati has a strange hermit in
Edward Holroyd. He was once a part
ner in a large and successful dry goods
house, and at that time was publio
spirited, jovial and widely known.
Twenty years ago he retired suddenly
from bubiness, secluded himself in a
very handsome suburban residence, and
has never since been off the premises.
For months no human being sees him,
his orders to the family who live in tho
house being sent out from his room in
writing, and his food being passed in
through a wicket. The building is
going to ruin through neglect, and the
grounds are untended, but neither
through stinginess nor lack of means,
as his property has appreciated to $'-50,-000
in value, and he frequently gives
away money in charity. He takes the
daily newspapers, and seems to keep
informed as to what is going on in the
world, but will have nothing to do with
it, and lately refused to see one of his
former business partners. Many of his
old associates believed he was dead, so
completely had he dropped ont o!
notice, when a description in the En
quirer of his manner of existence called
their attention to him. He is now
eighty. The cause of his seclusion was
his wife, with whom he quarreled, and
who obtained a divorce, compelling him
to provide for her a separate mainten
ance. This soured him, and he vowed
to be done with human beings.
Electric Lamps.
If we examine one of the electrio
lamps in the streets we shall find it
consists of two rods, one pointing up
ward from the bottom of the lamp the
other hanging downward. The rods
seem to touch, and the brilliant flame
is exactly where they seem to meet.
Once a day a man comes around with a
bag of the rod3. He takes out the old
rods that were burned the night before
and places a new set in each lamp.
After he has gone about, as if he were
putting new wicks into the lamps, and
each is ready for its night's work, all
the lamps are lighted in broad day,
to see that every one is in
proper trim, They are allowed to burn
until the men have walked about in the
streets and looked at each lamp. If all
are burning well, they are put out till
it begins to grow dark. If one fails to
burn properly a man goes to that lamp
to see what is the matter. The rods are
made of a curious black substance, like
cnarcoal, that is called carbon. When
the lamp is out the two rods touch
each other. In order to light the lamp
they are pulled apart, and if you look at
tne name through a smoked glass
you will see that the rods do not
quite touch. There is a small space
between their points, and this space is
filled with fire. Look at the other
parts of the rods or the copper wires
that extend along the streets. They
have no light, no heat, no sound. The
wires are cold, dark and silent. If we
were to push the two rods in the lamp
close together the light and heat would
disappear, and the curious hissincr
sound would stop. Why is this ? Let
us go into the woods near some brook.
and it may be that we can understand
this matter.
Here is the brook, flowing onintlv
along, smooth, deep and without a rip
ple. We walk beside the stream and
come to a place where there are high
rocks and steep, stony banks. Here thn
channel is very narrow, and the water
is no longer smooth and silent. It bnila
and foams between the rocks. There
are eddies and whirlpools, and at last we
come to the narrowest part of all. Here,
tho once dark and silent water roars
and foams in white, stormy rapids.
There are sounds and furious
leaping and rushing water and clouds
of spray. What is the matter? Whv
is the smooth, dark water so white with
rage, so impetuous, so full of sounds
and turmoil ? The rocks are the cause.
The way is narrow and steep. The
waters are hemmed in. and there is a
grand display of flashing white foam
and roaring waterfalls, as the waters
struggle together to get past tho nar
row place.
It is the same with the elef.tiiVit.T
flowing through the large copper wires.
It passes down one wire into the other,
through the lamp in silence and dark
ness, so long as the rods touch and the
path is clear. When tho rods in the
lamp are pulled apart there is a space
to be got over, an obstruction, like
rocks in the bed of the brook. The
electricity, like the water, struggles to
get over the hindrance in its path, and
it grows white-hot with ancor. nnH
flames and hisses as it leaps across the
narrow space between the rods.
lhere is another kind of nlnntrin
lamp used in houses; it has a smaller
and softer light, steady, white and very
la these lamps, also, we have tomn.
thing like the narrow place in the brook.
They are made with slender loops of
carbon, inclosed in glass globes. The
eleotrioity, flowing gently through a
dark wire, enters tho lamp, and finds
only a narrow thread on which it can
travel to reach tho homo-going wire.
and, in its struggle to get past, it heats
tho tiny thread of carbon to whiteness.
Like a live coal, this Blender thread
gives us mild, soft light, as long as the
current flows. It seems calm and still,
but it is enduring tiio same fury of the
electricity that is shown in the larser
lamps.
lhis is the main idea on which these
amps are made: A stream of elec
tricity is set flowing from a dynamo
eleotrio machine through a wire until
it meet3 a narrow place or a break in
the wire. Then it seeks to get past
the obstruction, and there is a grand
putting forth . of, energy. , and in. this
way the electric force, although itself
invisible, is made known to our eyes
by a beautiful light. St. Nicholas,
A Strange Scene in the House.
The Washington correspondent of th
Chicago Times alludes to an odd scene
in the House of Representatives a short
time ago. Alexander H. Stephens was
allowed ten minutes, and he wheeled
himself around in the peculiar vehicle
in which he sits on the floor of the
House, and spoke in favor of pasing
eome bill which, would give the honest
claimants against the United States a
chance to have their claims considered
and paid. Mr. Stephens was very much
in earnest, and he gesticulated with his
gloved hund with such vigor and spoke
in euch loud, clear tones as seemed a
marvelous exhibition from such an at
tenuated, feeble and paralyzed body.
In his seat he wheeled himself all over
the open space in front of the clerk's
desk, and the members gathered around
him in a circle, so that it would have
appeared to a stranger iu the gallery,
who did not know what was going on,
that the members were looking at an
expert exhibition of a curious kind of
a bicycle. Mr. Stephens was applauded
when he finished.
A hungry rat devoured fifteen canary
birds in Cleveland, Ohio, in one night
recently, and in consequence grew so
corpulent that he couldn't escape .from
the cage. That rat was killed with
much promptness.
Don't shut every cranny and crack to
keep out the air from the rooms, bat
let the windows stay open for a time.
Two Dollars per Annum.
Tho Mountain and the Squirrel.
The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel;
And the former called tho latter Little Prig;
Bun replied:
Tou are doubtless very big,
' But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken in together,
To make up a year,
And a ppboro.
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
IF I'm not so large as you,
You are not to small Ml,
And not half so spry.
I'll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel trap.
Talents dilTorj e.ll is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack a nut.
- Emerson,
HUMOR OF THE DAY.
Why do ducks put their headslundo
water? To liquidate their bills.
"Anxious Inquirer." A vessel is
spoken of as she, because " she" has to
be managed by men, Rockland
Courier.
It takos 800 full-blown roses to make
a tablospoonful of perfume, while ten
cents' worth of cooked onions will scent
a whole neighborhood.
It is now the sparrows flutter
In the gutter,
And the housemaid, very utter,
Scrubs the shutter.
Puole.
A "three-year-old"' discovered the
neighbor's hens in her yard scratching.
In a most indignant tone she reported
to her mother that Mr. Smith's hens
were "wiping their feet on our grass."
Tho Rochoster Democrat thinks that
one of the saddest sights in the world
is to see a young man trying to treat
his sweetheart's email and depraved
brother as though he were his dearest
friend.
" I want one servant girl," ho said,
" Ouo maid, to onliT, so to Bpc'ak."
Tho f-niploymeiit n(,'Piit scratched his head,
And told tho man to call next week.
Next week ho camo as per reqnost
Tho clerk could furnish no such grade,
But quickly put his mind to rcijt,
Iiy iriving him ouo ready maid.
Courier-Journal,
A silver watch that had been buried
in a Maryland gvavo for twenty years
ii now keeping cood time. But the
practice of burying watches, even in
the vaults of a pawnbroker's mausoleum,
is not recommended.
A Pari photographer has invented a
process by which ho can lake a likeness
in the l-100th part of a second. This
time is not so short, however, but that
the average boy could change his posi
tion throe or four times durinc a
sittii g.
A Boy Lover's Tragic Deed.
A most singular and romautio case
of immature passion ended at St. Paul,
Missouri, in" a tragedy. For several
months Albert Drake, a well-connected
youth of sixteen years, had been in the
agonies of a first love with Miss Jennie
laulknor, fifteen years old. daughter of
a well-to-do and highly respeoted
family. The affair having assumed a
more dangerous form than a sohool-
mate attachment, the mother of the
girl forbade the youth the house and
further association with her child. She
had no further objection than their
youth. Young Drake asked the girl to
elope with him, but she declared her
intention to obey her mother. Having
broken the news to her lover in person
gently but firmly, young Drake acoused
her or having deserted him for a rival.
and they separated in mutual distrust.
XiiO IlljAU UtJ bUO Kll.. nuu IbVULhiUK
from school when she met the lad and
spoke pleasantly to him. He was white
with passion and made no answer, but
drew a pistol and fired it point blank
at her face. Although they wero only
a few feet apart his aim failed him. She
turned on her heel and ran down the
street. The boy ran after her, firing
as they ran, until a gentleman caught
the girl up m his arms and ran into a
house with her. Drake came quickly
upon the scene and demanded admit
tance, but was refused. In the mean
time a party was in pursuit of Li m and
he ran from them. In his flight he
fired a shot at himself without effect.
As tho pursuers woiro gaining he sud
denly stopped, placed tho pistol in
both hands, and luvinir the muzzle
against his forehead, fired, and fell dead
upon the street.
Both Saw the Ghost,
iu unoiui iut unit x i'ebtm," lately
published in England, the following
ghost story is specially curious as being
the only recorded example of a death-bed
apparation witnessed end heard by two
persons : W hen the English forces
were in possession of Martinique in the
seven years' war, Major Blomberg was
detiched from headquarters to a distant
part of the island, and there died of a
violent fever. The morning after his
decease a Colonel Stewart was surprised,
while in bed at headquarters, by the
appearance of Major Blomberg in regi
mental dres3, who, in answer to an
alarmed inquiry why he was not at his
post, said : " I died yesterday at 1 a. it,,"
aud then he delivered an earnest re
quest that his friend would, on his
return to England, attend the welfare
of his young son, then in the island, by
seeing him put into possession of an
estate to which he was entitled, the
deedB of which were secreted in the
private drawer of an old oak chest
in a house that he named in York
shire. He then disappeared. Colonel
Stewart directly called to Captain Moun
sey, who slept in the came room, and
auked if he had seen Major Blomberg.
It proved that ' he had heard aud seen
the same as the colonel. The other
officers laughed at the story, but soon
afterward came the tidings of the death
of Blomberg at the hour he had named.
At the residence of Jesse McCollum,
two miles from Canton, Ga., there is
growing a rosebush that was planted
since the war, in a flourishing condi
tion, which measures eleven and a half
inches in circumference, measured six
inches above tho ground.