HENRY A. PARSONS, Jr., Editor and Publisher. NIL. DESPERANDUM. Two Dollars per Annum.
1 ' - , , , , . -- :
VOL. XII. RIDGWAY, ELK COUNTY, PA., THURSDAY JULY 20. 1882 NO- 22.
V
Evening nt llio Farm.
Down irom the hills where the fresh breeze is
blowing,
Kicb with tho scent of the resinous pine ;
Pp.from low pastures where blue flog is grow
ing. Where, 'rrioiig the green grasses, brooklota
entwine,
Filled with the grasses, intent on honie-going
Flow-footed cows are all hasting in line,
Filling the air with their milking-time lowing,
While boldly their forms tho last sun rays
define.
Afar in tho west the red sun lies a-dying,
Gorgeous his couch as Aurora's gay bod ;
. Homeward in haste the late swallows are fly
ing, Dark float their forms 'gainst the sky's
mciing red.
Deep in tho wood the night birds are crying, J
Wails for tho day that is past and dead ;
High in the east where the faint clouds are
lying,
Cynthia glides on her way overhead.
TEE BELLE OF THE "CHESTER BELL."
" Tea, sir, in the old hulk that lies
totting there I've sailed many a long
year. She nsed to make splendid runs
between Bremen and here. A grand
clipper she was, a regular ccenn beauty
in them days. Ber name was the
Chester Bell, and she rode tho waves
just like a nutshell, tir. Her captain's
name was Tulliver, Tim Tnlliver; likely
you've heard of him. . I know sailors,
and pretty good seamen, too, that
change color at the very mention ot
that man's name. He was a tiger, sir,
a human hyeia, a bloodthirsty, bully
ing wretch, without having even the
saving clause of a bad temper. Why,
he could kill a man in cold blood tin
same as y..u'd relish a good breakfust
sir.
" Many's the crew ol fine, honest fel
lows I've seen shipped aboard o' her, to
be turned into hknlkicg hounds the
miDUte he'd look at 'em He'd a pretts
littlo girl tor a wile, strung to say
them eoit gen'ly gits such and soa;e
times she'd go to si a with him. If any
body could keep him iu order it wit
her ; but even she cuulJu't pr veut hi
cruelty o the men With fir&t-rat
seamen he was tyrannical, but, prea
Cesar I if a grtenhorn tbipped, let hin
look alive 1 He'd as lief take a belaj
in g-pin to him and knock him in th
head as eat his dinner. I've seen liiu
do it, too It was a young fellow tha
answered him back, and he just laid hi
face open from crown to chin. Oh, bu
he was a cruel man, t-ir I
"He often took emigrants to thi
United State squads of 'em. Tliej
gen'rally tot i-erved middling well. P
the captain his money and he'd giu
you the worth cf it so much for hi
due. One passage he tad tuber an ur,
common lot five hundred, I think
young and old a prutty decent Be ii
all Fact is, tbi s Ga man passengers,
even if they aix in the steerage, havt
their pockets pretty well lined. C m
mend me to the German emigrant for
honesty and thrift. There waB familiee
of two and fivo, and sometimes t. n and
twe've a good many handsome joung
girls among them, too.
" The paiticular passage of which I'm
going to speak, however, was in the
year '50 a gi eat year for clippers that
was. I was busy tarring some ropes
when a family came aboard that made
us all look alive. First, there was the
grandfather, in his old country dress,
with hair as long as my arm and as
. white as the foam of the sea under the
Vsun, He and his dame were as sweet
mannered and fine-looking as you mipht
i meet in a hundred years. Then came
the bGEF and daughters and grandchil
dren. It didn't seem as if they ought
to go in the tteerage along o' commoner
passengers; but tbey did, though they
bore themselves like gentlefolk.
T-en followed, sir, atwe-en two
young men her br ther and her lover,
we afterward found out a yonng gill
not more than sixteen or seventeen.
Well, that van the handsomest littlo
crft I ever laid these two eyes on, and
I've seen some fine-loosing women in
my day, hiving sailed from every port
in the world. She was that pretty that
we christened her on the spot thu
Bella of the Chester Bell.'
" Behind them came Captain Tim,
behaving his level best, and there
weren't many as could beat him for a
fine eye and a gallant bearing. He
teemed to be looking out for their com
fort ah, but the little beauty she was !
Quecus and noble ladies might well
envy the rod and white of her face, and
even the way sho walked and the turn
of her i.ead. It was a sight to see.
Her brother and her lover were both
right manly, hmdsonio fellows, too,
and dear enough they lored her, one
could see.
' Well, we set sail, having beautiful
weather for the first few days, and the
pretty German girl, sho would comoout
sometimes for an airing, generally fol
lowed by one or the other of them t wo
chaps I was always looking out o' the
corner of my eye, and I observed that
the captain was allays on hand looking
at her in the most adorning manner. I
wanted to tell her lover that it would be
better not to show his littlo beuuty so
much if be wanted to keep her out o'
harm's way, for girls iu mostly that vain
if that handsome I
'Came tho second week ont, and wo
bad bard weather. I was taking my ob
nervations right straight along, for 1
noticed Captain Tim was always mak
ing much of tho old gentleman and his
wife. The fools I I could a-told 'em
why he singled them ont. It wasn't tho
captain's place to be in the steerage,
longed to tell him 60. for I bad a pretty
kid of my own ut home; but I might
have paid for it with my life.
' There were but few passengers in
the cabin, one of them a consumptive
lady who had not brought her servant,
-How it was done I never knew, but the
taitiii managed to get this handsome
Kir to wait upon the tick woman
A 1 ;hty fond of money they muBt a'been
to let that girl go out o' their sih t and
fnto the company of a man like Captain
Tim.
" if ter a while I took notice that the
young fellgw who appeared to be the
pill's sweetheart grew pale and nervous,
lie was out on deck oftener, and his
face seemed to indicate uneasy, jealou?
feelings. I didn't blamo him. 1 wanted
to warn him for I could toll how it was
with him, poor fellow I If he taw half
that I did, I don t wonder not only that
he was suspicions of the captain, but I
thought it I was in his place I'd make
the captain answer for it. He did get
pretty well roused up one time ; but I
won't tell that part o the story till I git
o it.
" I knew something of languages
at any rate enough to make out even
the lingo of a German, They say it's
tho grandest language in the world; it
may be, but it's jaw breaking all the
lime. One day being down in tl'e
Iteerage I heard something that made
Axe open my ears. Just then down came
the girl. Ob, but she looked prettier
than ever. She had on a fine silk
apron and a pair of shining rings in her
littlo ear. Her hair was all fluffed up
and her face aglow, just like a wild rose
on a soft spring morning. The whole
family were op, after their spell of sick
ness, knitting and jabbering and laugh
ing, all but the girl's sweetheart, who,
tho minute he heard her footsteps,
jumped up like a shot had be?n fired at
him and went to another part of the
ship. I see that she looked after him
in that sort of way girls look some
times, when they know they can do
jnst what they please with a man's
In art, and I took notice that 6he seemed
flast re:l.
" When tho girl spoke, I heard tho
cap'ain's nnrne and then they all looked
anxious and pleased at tho same time,
a-king aiid answering questions. All
h! once a strange feeling come over me,
F diiln't know exactly what was my
duty, for I was as much afra d of Cap
tain Tim's ugly temper as any man
cmH be, but us I listeui-d an t listened
I cnldn't bear it any longer, and going
up to the j eople I said a few words in
heir own language. Well, I only gave
f.hero to understand that the captain hud
wife, but, puihaps I had better have
h-id ii v tongue, for they evidently did
not believe me.
FiiiCmg I could make no irnprss--ion
iipi n tU-m, I went after tho sweet
henit Htd let Liui know what I su-i-oeettd.
I never saw a man so fright
fully angry. Ha crew white as a sheet,
and tho terror and the horror made him
ghastly. Ho clinched his hands, and
ho veins s;ood swelled out on his fore
head, while bis 'Mem Gott 1' was enough
0 curdle oue'n blood
" Ihat ufternoon Captain Tim came
coward me, and I knew what to expect.
io I braced my nerves up and deter
mined that, please God, I wouldn't be
tfrairl of him.
No nerd to repeat his language it
was enough to shako the nerves cf a
jan of brass, He used all the oaths I
ver heard come out of a wholo ship's
irew's lips in ten voyages, and sworo
he d hovrt mv heart's blood that he'd
-end me to the bottom of the eea, and
neh like threats. I told him respect
ully, as a petty oflicT should always
ipeuk to his captain, that I had done
by the girl as I would by my own sister.
1 don't just remember exactly what I
said, but I think words was given, for
tie looked hard at me, as if ho wasn't
certain whether he quite saw through
my motives, and with one worse
threat than the last, and a mouthful
more of dirt? oaths he went oft'.
" But I could see a change in the girl
after that for I was always on the watch.
Sho smiled more seldom and her color
went and came too easy. Then her step
eiew slower, and she would go stand at
the side of the vessel and take long sad
looks at the water, a if she was in a
brown study. Pretty soon after tint
her eyes began to look heavy, and once
or twice I found her in an out-o' the-
way place crying and sobbing like a
baby Well, I didn't attempt to cm-
ion her she wouldn t a borne it for as
soon as ever she saw me she would fly
off like a scared bird. My heart felt
heavy for her, because I knew there
must bo a reason for it, besides the
growing weakness of the poor woman,
who was dying m the cabin day by day.
and praying only to see land before she
aid go.
" One night,, ah, sir, I shall never
forget that night the moon was at her
full, and sat looking at the reflection in
the water like a queen with a silver
crown on, ond a veil of white light float
ed away of! on the sea, so that it looked
like a bride waiting for her husband.
For the first time in many days I saw
the pretty German girl and her sweet
heart on deck together. X could not
koep my eyes from her; she looked for
all the world- like a sweet angel )U3t
lent out of heaven for a little. It was
my watch, and my duty to bid them be
low; but I don't know why it was, I
couldn't do it. They went forward
ar:d sat at the bows. There
were barrels there and planks atop, so
no one oould walk back and forth easily.
I couldn t hear anything thoy 6aid, oi
course, but I saw by tneir gemures
that they were talking very fast. Home
times he would go close np to her, and
she would put out her hand and push
him away, then cry as if her heart would
break. This went on for some time
when at the last she seemed to grow
calmer. I saw her throw herself into
his arms. I saw him kiss her again and
again ; tten she seemed to wrench
bertelf away, and quicker than I can
tell, over she went.
"Idont know bowl got there, or
how the whole ship seemed to swarm so
suddenly with life. I remember catch
ing at a dark body that was going over
her poor distracted brother, and his
falling baos into my arms dead as a Jog,
after giving a great cry. That scream
brought the captain and two mates.
The captain asked, angrily, what was
the row ?
That little German gir is over
board 1' I said ; and if I had any sort of
a weapon that was dead sure I'd have
laid him at my feet. He knew how I
felt, he knew, the scoundrell the villain I
His face changed, his very voioe was
different, as he ordered ' Bont ship.'
" One of the boats was down, and we
supposed, through some mismanage
ment, it swamped, for we saw nothing of
boat or lover or pirl; and so that wai
the end of that. It was a changed com
pany afterward. The shook killed the
poor sick woman, and she was buried
the same day, for sailors can't bide a
corpse on board ship ; but I declare to
yc u, sir, that though we put weights in
that, coffin, it stood up on end and fal
lowed us until midnight. I never saw
such a sight before ; I hope never to
again. There it was right after us, and
the sailors watched it with pale faces,
no one daring to say a word to tho cap
tain, who swore if any one bnt looked at
him.
" We all made as if the girl had
fallen overboard for the sake of the poor
creatures who were left. They conjeo
tured everything, as folks will who go
wild with grief. But I think her
brother understood, though he was sick
with brain fever all the rest of the voy
age. Her mother, poor creature, came
near dying herself, and I am sure her
heart mast have been nearly broken.
It was hard to see that fine-looking old
grandfather tottering round wringing
his hands and shaking his gray old
head, while tho tears run and run may
I never see the like again I
' 'Next voyage we shipped a green hand.
I never suspected till we'd been out
three days that it was the German girl's
brother. Then I knew he meant mis
chief. I told him 1 knew him, but he
begged so hard I kept his secret. How
often since I've wixhed I hadn't, though
it might have been no better for him. I
was sure there was going 4o be more
trouble, and it came soon. He didn't
know the ropes and I think tho captain
suspected who it was and kept on his
guard, for he was mighty careful not to
anger him. But ono day his tem
per gave way, and if it hadn't
a bin as it was I shouldn't much
blamed him neither, for I like
good seamanship as well as the next
man, and the German lad was as
contrary ai a mnle. The first thing we
knew the capta.n struck the man, and
the next they were struggling together
on the deck. Well, sir, we saw blool.
The captain had got at his kuifo and
run the poor fellow through tha heart
He never spoko after that, and none of
us could say anything, because the cap
tain killed him in self-defenso. I was
that horror struck that I vowed I'd
ni. ver step foot in that ship again ; and
never again I did, although Captain
Tim offered me double wages. Sir, ,t
was a God-cursed ship after that. Mis
fortune went wii h it every voyage, and
seemed to strike everybody but the
contain. That always seamed strange
to n e. He lost men and the own 'rs
lost money, but he always came off scot
free.
"Well, sir, I am coming to the
queerest part of my story. I was once
inspecting an insane asylum with a
friend of mine from the old country.
He wished to soe a case of raving in
sanity, being about to write a bofk in
which he wanted to describo something
of tho syrt. We had several cases,
when the keeper aid, pointing to a
donblo cell:
" There in tho worst subject in this
or any other establishment. He is an
old sea-captain, whose madness is so
alarming at about midnight that, in
spite cf all our precautions, we expect
every morning to find him a corpse. We
are obliged to keep him in this closet,
the walls of which are lined that he may
not dash his brains out. Ha has been
here nearly a year, and imagines that he
is pursued by a girl, and held under
water by her till his breath leaves his
body.'
" Well, the door wa3 unlocked, and
there, despite tho hideously-altered and
haggard face, I saw my old captain
Tim Tullive 1"
" Then," said I, speaking for the first
time, " at last God had smitten him."
" Well, I suppose that's not for us to
Ray," coniinuea the narrator, lor 1
haven't como quite to the end of my
story."
" Soma threa years after the littlo
German beauty threw herself over in
tho way I have told you, I was off
duty in a foreign harbor, and strolling
into a street I found a little shop pre
sided over by a woman who was the liv
ing image of poor little Gretchen I
believe 1 haven't spoken her name be
fore. 1 went in, and she stared at mo,
and I stared at her. I felt myself grow
pale, but she flushed rosy red, which
put me more in mind of Gretchen than
ever.. So I said to her in German, to
make sure, that she reminded me of a
lass I had once known.
" ' Oh ! she cried. I was sure I
couldn't be mistaken you were so kind
to me ono when I was on board that
dreadful Chester Bell.'
"'Then,' I said, completely aston
ished, and catching my breath, ' it is
really Gretchen 1 '
" Yes, indeed, I am really Gretchen,
and my husband is not yet at home ; he
has gone to look after our bit of land ;
but sit down, he will be back in a mo
ment ; no, no, come in here, dinner
will be ready before a great while.'
"I followed, like one in a dream, and
found myself in a neat, pretty little
parlor, looking out on a garden crowded
with flowers, and beyond that the
shingly beach, and further the deep
sea. In a corner at one side of the tiny
fireplace stood a wioker-cradle wherein
sleot a lovelv child.
"That's my little Gretchen,' she
said, with a hannv and proud smile.
I've Rot three nice children, the
eldest quite a lad
"'Then, please tell me, lor l am
nearly dying of curiosity,' I said, 'how
comes it you are here and not at the
bottom of tha sea ?'
' ' Oh, that was an awful night I" she
said, a shadow crossing her faoe. 'I
threw myself over because Jlans, who
was cruelly jealous, wouldn t believe my
word, for, you see the captain was very
wicked and I had found him out, and
Hans would not listen, which drove
me desperate, and I did not
care if I died. But the poor
fellow had suffered; for, though
hated the captain, I was too easy to
let him admire me But nans found
me, though I was half dead, and then
he kept the boat in the shadow of the
ship till all the rush and fright wls
over, for he said be would ruther die
with me in an open boat on the sea than
pat me in the power ot that bad cap
tain. And so wo should, perhaps, have
perished, bnt a ship came along in the
morning and picked us up; and Hans
would never go to America after that.
He found good friends and settled down
here.'
" ' Bnt your people V
"'Ob, thev all come ont h re all bnt
my poor brother we never knew where
he went ; so yon soe we were quite as
well off as if we had gone to America,
and I never thought to meet yon again
sir, never ; are yon still on that dread
ful ShlD?' .
' I told her all but' the traeio fate of
her brother, which I thought was better
suppressed ; but you see, sir, there was I
no real haunting, but the poor old cap
tain was -beset by his own dreadful
imagination and the sting of his con
science, for, no doubt in his heart, he
had willed to do murder and worse.
And so there yon have the story of the
Belle of the Chester Bell." Mrs. Ben-
son.
Sfcret Marriages in New York.
The Badger case (which has jst been
settled by compromise in New York),
says a letter from the metropolis, is very
remarkable in its character, the facts
being as follows s Jacob Badger recentlj
died in his seventy-sixth year. He was
a rich old bachelor, and had for many
years been at the head of aa opulent
shipping house. His heirs proceeded
to divide the property, when a claim
was made by a woaiun who asserted her
dower right as his widow. For thirty
five years she and ".John Baker " had
held connubial relations, their home
being in Brooklyn.1 "Baker" hal
always conduoted himself in an exem
plary manner, providing liberally and
enjoying the respect of the neighbor
hood. Every day he went to New York
and returned at night, and this uniform
lif j was only terminated by Lis sadden
demise. It was then learned that "John
Baker, 'of Brooklyn ,and Jacob Badger, of
New York, were the same, and the
woman was allowed a dower of $12,000.
New York contains many such instances,
which find protection in that mantle
which a groae city throws over society,
f well remember the flour dealer,
D,wiel Angerine, who always passed for
a bachelor. After his death, however,
it was learned that he had a family,
which had only known him under a
false name. I was also acquainted with
another bachelor business nitiii (the late
ii. N. Ferris), who kept his residence a
secret from even his clerks. Every morn
ing he appeared at the store, and at
night he left, but no one knew whither
he went, and his employes became so
accustomed to this mysteiy that it
ceased to be a matter of comment.
Eventually Ferris was taken ill and
died, and it was th n discovered that
he had a private establishment in an
obscure street, far uptown. It. G. Siihuy
lor, formerly tho noted railway con
tractor, also passed for a bachelor, until
his failure brought out the fact that he
uad a wife and family in which ho had
long been known by the name of Spicer.
I could mention a man of wealth and of
high family who passes iu the Fifth
avenay circles as a bachelor, bnt hit
triends have long been convinced that
he bus a wife somewhere in the city.
Home of theso secret marrnges occur
in the following manner ; Young men
seothoitnpossibility of supportiug those
helpless, high-toned city girls who wnt
a fashionable establishment, and hence,
going from one extreme to another,
ihey will sometimes marry the daughter
of their washerwomen, simply because
the latter can take care of themselves.
As such a marriage would distrebs their
fiiends, tuey keep it secret and pass for
bachelors, being thus enabled to retain
their position n society, ancli are
among the stra'ige features in metro
politan life. xVo man, however, can say
he marries beloiv nis station if his wife,
howover humble, is of decent character
and possesses intelligence. That false
notion concerning men marrying be
Death them has led to a vast extent of
mischief.
"Cranks" in New York.
A New York correspondent avers that
' two of tho prominent citizens of New
York are now generally known to be in
sane not hoiwiessly, perhaps, bnt posi
tively. One is a lawyer whote services
are so mnch in demand that he has been
paid a 50,000 fee within a year for
pleas in court since his reason went
astray. He holds a prominent pubho
olhoe. The otner is a bans president
and a most capable financier. He has
not walked a block in the street for six
years, for he imagines that he is a cherry
and if he is exposed the birds will eat
bica! In this delusion he is immov
able and accordingly he always rides
to and from the bank in a close car
riage, and never exposes himself out of
doors. On all other matters he is per
ieotly sane, and his counsel is taken in
the investment of nmuons on millions,
To a visitor from the ' province, it
must seem as if a good many New
Yorkers are insane. Nowhere have I
ever senn so many people who indulged
in that onnous habit known as talking
to themselves." About every tenth
person yon meet on the down-town
sidewalks practices this self oom
raunion. Every hour of every day vou
will notice men go hurrying by, lookiug
neither to the rignt nor lett, talking iu ex
cited tones and gesticulating violently. I
havo seen men in an omnibus carrying
on a lively dialogue with tnemselves,
and laughing vociierously at the "hits"
made, as unconscious of the presence
of others as it they were alone in the
moon. The same queer phenomena are
frequently seen in glimpses through
carriage doors men with faces all
aglow, swingin their arms and exclaim
ing in loud voices driving a sharp
bargain with a wholesaler, maybe, or
wildly and hopefully bidding for the
stocks that are to go up ten per cent,
to-morrow. '
Fob Sdnbubn. Bruise and then
squeeze ont the 'uioe from the stalks
and leaves of the common chickweed,
and add to it three times as mnch rain
water, catne me skin with this for a
few minutes morning, noon and night.
and wa h it off with pure water. Elder
flowers can be simiiarly treated and ap
plied, or they can be steeped in milk
and the faoe and hands washed in it.
Sour on am applied at night and washed
off in the morning will allay smarting
Buuuurn.
FACTS AM) COMMENTS.
Edward Barr, of Missonri, was at the
hetdof the late graduating cla ut
Wt st, Point,, with an average of 1,9114.5
ont of a possible 2,000. The father of
yonng Barr, who has thus graduated
with such distinguished honor, said to
his son, some three years since, that if
he would graduate with distinction
he would make him a present of $10,-000-
The inoentive had its effect, and
yonng Barr starts ont in life with edu
cated brains and a plethorio pocket.
James L. Loring, a civil engineer,
suggests that tornadoes be fonght with
cannon. He says : "It would be cheaper
to put an iron cannon in every town in
Iowa than it will be to pay the losses of
Saturday. If one of these clonds were
Been forming near a town the cannon
would tell the news to the next town,
and the concussion of tho air from a
succession of firing certainly ought to
effect the same result in Iowa that it
does on the equator."
The question of capital punishment,
whether it is for the best interests of
society to maintain or abolish it, ap
pears as far as ever from a final settle
ment. Several States have tried the
experiment of dispensing with the death
penalty, but there is no general agree
ment as ti whether human life within
their borders is more or less safe than
before, and a strong party in each seeks
to re-establish the gallows. The Swiss
republic has had very mnch the same
experience. Capital punishment was
abolinhed in that country some years
ago, but several ountons have gone
back to it, while others have voted to
keep on without it. On the whole it is
probably fair to say that public senti
ment in the laost enlightened countries
is just now so uncertain on this ques
tion that it seems almost an even thing
whether the movement against the gal
lows is to make farther progress or
yield to a reaction.
A Senate resolution calling for infor
mation a'jout pensions has brougnt
out some interesting facts. There were
close upon 270,000 pensioners on the
roll last September, wnen tue annual
statistics were male up. But about
twelve thousand pensions had lapsed
through not being called for during
ibree successive years, and hve thou
sand were th se of sailors whose resi
dences were not known. The actual
number raid was 252 351. thu amount
being 851,224.204. New York State
heads the list. To her 32 024 pen-ion
ers the trnnnal sum of $3,420,532 was
given, bit arrears brought the amount
np to $6,510,411. renn-ylvania's 23,-
2!12 penhioners required $5,74(5 802, aud
Ohio's 24,663 had $4,911 520. More
tiiau two million dollars each went tj
Indiana, lewa, Maine, Massachusetts
and Michigan; more than one million
each to Kansas, Ivontuohv, Missouri and
New Jersey. The Third Congress district
of Maine surpassed all others in the
amount it received.
The importance of agriculture as a
factor in our national prosperity can
bust be appreciated by visiting New
York city and observing the steamers
and ships from all quarters of tho globe
loading with products ot American foi
in a single week, recently, upward ot
$8,000,0u0 worth of agricultural prod
ucts were shipped abroad from Now York
alone. Among the experts of that wot k
were 2,120 barrels apples, 1,647 pounds
beeswax, bi.Wi barrels wheat Hour,
1,891 barreh corn meal, 481,252 bush
els wheat, 2.G52 bnshuls oats, 4G
bnshels barley, 2,023 bushels poas,
427 241 bushels corn, 13,517 bales cot
ton. 402 bales hay, 4'j2 bales hops, 10,
967 gallons lard oil, 1,02 gallons lin
seed oil, 3 993 barrels pork, 81)4 barred
beef, 1.0GO tierops beef. 5.548,291
pounds cut meats, 74,414 pound.
hotter, 070,151 pounds cheese,
3,654,680 pounds lard, 88 bar
rels rice, 677,620 pounds tallow, 439
hogsheads tobaouo, 1,226 packages to
bacco and 49,837 pounds manufactured
tobacco,
Although tho sanguine De Lessops
makes frequent announcements that the
Panama canal enterprise is in a most
flourishing condition, unprejudiced ob
servers who have been over the route
take a very different view. Captain
Belknap, of the United States navy,
who crossed the Isthmus a few weeks
ago, reporis that $200,000 has been paid
for a hotel to serve as offices, and 9 all,
000 more in fitting it np; that another
$200,000 has been, expended in buying
buildings and grounds for hospital use,
and that houses have been built for the
officials, but that the only real work yet
cone toward the construction of the
water way consists in tho clear
ing away of shrnbi and
trees from the track. (Japtain iialknap
found that intellig-nt residents of the
Isthmus region believed the project
feasible, but they agree in the opinion
that it wouli take a great deal more
time than the enthusiastic engineer oal
oulates npon. The captain's conclu
sion that people familiar with the Isth
mus, and expeo.ing returns for capital
invested, will not be likely to put money
in such an enterprise will only strength
en the' disinclination of Americans to
take stock in the scheme as now con
ducted.
Professor Reese, of Philadelphia, das
made an important discovery touching
the cffeoti of drowning npon the human
lungs. In aa autopsy of the body
of a woman, found drowned, it
it is reported that he found no water in
the lungs, nor any evidence of water
having been there, nor was a y found
in the stomach. It is also said that
the dead body bore no marks of abuse
and violence, and there was nothing
fonnd in the oesophagus to indicate that
water had crossed the woman s lips.
As the body was taken from the river near
the wharf it is presumed that the woman
jumped overboard, which leads Dr
Keese to inter that persons plunging
into the water, especially from an emi
nence, can come to death from suffoca
tion or shock without taking water in
wardly. It is well known by bringing
together the posterio r arches of the
palate sad pressing the root cf Ike
tongne against the palate both the
mouth and the nostrils are completely
oat off from the air tubes, as is done in ;
Jding the breath. It is quite con
ceivable that the shock caused by sud
den immersion in water nnder a tem
perature of sixty-five degrees might
induce this movement, and also cause
a musonlar contraction of lungs and air
tubes, precluding the passage of water
into the lungs of a person while drown
in?. The case investigated by Professor
Reese is of great interest to the medico
legal experts, and the correctness of his
conclusions will be tested by other ex
amination of the bodies of drowned
persons.
It is quite generally known that Soot-
land and Ireland with their uotatoes
and Germany and Italy with their
beans have been most prolifio in their
contributions to this country's drought
shortened supplies since last fall, but it
is not so generally known that Egypt,
or properly speaking the Levant, has
begun to furnish us in abundance with
that tseful garden product, the onion,
Of this valuable bulb, which is so in
separable from the dressing of a dainty
canvas-back duck or the ingredients of
a popular Irish stew, there have recent
ly been imported into this country from
Egypt 10.000 barrels. After the do
mestio crop has been consumed by
winter use or exported it has long been
the custom to import large quantifies of
onions from the sunny gardens of
Bermuda, Lisbon and Oporto, but
the Levant was never before called
upon. The cultivation of onions on
the eastern coast of the Mediterranean
extending from the western part of
Greece around to th9 western border of
Egypt is reported as a great industry.
It has been computed that the last crop
there was over 200,000 tons. It is
asserted that Levant onions keen better
and longor than tho e grown in any
other part of the world. This is an
important feature, for many onions are
needed in ships' supplies for long
voyage3 on account of their excellence
in preventing scurvy and other diseases
incident to lite on shipboard. In this
country it is remarked that tho con
sumption increases yearly. This is due
not only to the enormous increase of
the foreign elements, who always use
vegetables freely, bnt al-so to the en
larged nso in populous cities of the
c:ai-!-e parts of meats, in the prepara
tion of which the onion figures promi
nently. Story of a Bedstead.
It was night.
The board'nr house was wrapt in
tenebrous gloom, faintly tinted with
an odor of kerosene.
Suddenly there arose on the
yell, followed by wild objurgiti
fur Otis anathemas.
Then there wa a olankin? and rat
tlinsf, as of an ovortnrnol picket fe ue,
snd another yell, with more auathemas,
The fatted b iardirs listened, an 1,
ghostly clad, tip-toed along toBiiffum's
room, he of Buff im & Bird, second
hand furniture dealers. As they s:ocil
there there was a whiz, a grinding, a
rattling and a bang, and more yells
Thoy consulted and knocked on the
door.
"Como in "
"O en it."
" I can't."
Convinced that Btiffum was in hi : last
agony they knocked in tho door with a
bjdpost.
The sight was ghastly. Clasped be
tween two sturdy though slender frames
of waluut, Buffam, pale as a ghost, was
six feet up in the air. He couldn't
move. He was cught like a bear in a
log trap.
" What on earth Is it? ' they said.
Bedstead combination. New pat
ent I was tellin' you about," gasped
Buffuin.
His story was simple, though tearful.
He had brought it horr e that day, and
after using it for a writing desk, had
opened it ont and made his bed. He
was going peacefully to dream land
waen he rolled over and accidentally
tonched a spring. The faithful invon
tion immediately became a double
crib, and turned Buffam into
a squalling wafer. Then he struggled;
and was reaching around for the
spring, when the patent bedstead thought
it woul t show off some more and
straightened out and thot up iu the air
and was a clothes-horse. Baflum said
he didn't like to be clothes, and he
wiuld give the thing to anybody that
wonld get him ont. They said they
would try. They didn't want any such
nre-extinKUisiier as that for their trou
ble, but they would try. They inspected
it cautiously. They walked all around
it. Then the commission merchant laid
his little Soger on the top end of it.
The thing snorted and reared as if i
had been shot, slapped over with a
bang and became an extension table
for ten people. When they recovered
from the panio they came baok. They
iotina tue commission merchant in tue
oorner trying to get breath enough j
to swear, while he rubbed his shim,
Biffum had disappeated, bnt
they knew he had not gone far.. The
invention appeared to have taken a
fancy to him aud incorporated him into
the firm, so to speak. He was down
underneath, straddling one of the legs
with his head jamtnad into the mat
tress. Nobody dared to touoh it. The
landlady got a club and reached for its
vital parts, bnt could not find them.
She hammered her breath away, and
when she got through and dropped the
clnb in despair the thing swung out its
arms with a gasp and a rattle, turned
over twice and slapped itself into a bed
aain, with Buffam poaoefally among
the sheets. He held his breath for a
minute, and then, watching his oppor
tunity, made a flyicg leap to the floor
just in time to save himself from being
a folding screen.
A man with a black eye and cat lip
told the Waso editor about it ye ter
dny. Hn said be owned the catent and
B iff urn had been explaining to him how
it worked. YVap.
To some men popularity is always
suspicious. Enioyiug none themselves.
they are prone to suspect the validitv of
i, mono attainments wnierj command it.
1 lino's Cure.
Mourn, Oh rejniolng hert,
Tho hours are flying,
Each one some treasure takes,
Each ria some blosHOin broaks,
And leaves it dying ;
The chill dark night draws near,
Thy sun will soon depart,
And leave thee sighing j
Then mourn, rejoiolug heart,
The hours are flying I
Rejoice, Oh grieving hoart,
The hours fly fast,
With each eome sorrow dies,
With each some shadow flies,
Until at last '
Tho red dawn in the East
Bids weary night depart,
And pain is past ;
Rejoioe, then, grieving heart,
The hours fly fast t
HUMOR OF THE DAY.
Household hints Pokers and broom
sticks. "We'll shake once more for the qui
nine," as the ague said to the victim.
"Ida:" The best thing in bonnets
continues to be as in the past a pretty
face.
Woman's inhumanity to woman is
outbalanced by her insano devotion to
masculinity.
It didn't require much of a philos
opher to disoover that all rich widow?
are handsome.
An exchange thinks that Pittsburg
will never make a snocesi of glass
shingles. There is no chance for tho
carpenters to waste nails.
A New York doctor says there s and
unusual amount of oz'ine in the atmos
phere this year, bnt that's no excuse for
a man to steal a fellow's umbrella.
" What havo you baon doing since I
last saw you ?'' "I've been attending a
course of free leotures." 'A course of
free leohires 1" " Yes, I was married u
week after wa i art.:d."
A woman hai sufrgeited that when a
man breaks his heart it is all tho same
as when a lobster broaks one of his
claws, another sprouting immediately
and growing in its place.
" Yes," said Fogg, " I used to believe
everything; wai the most credulous
fellow alive. Bnt," he nddrtd, "since I
have had this conf ounded sore throat, it
is hard for mo to swallow anything.1'
They were talking a'.iout beauty, the
other evening, when Mikh S. remarked:
" Well, say what you will, homely peo
ple are almost always un'mually bright."
Miss B. (sottovoce): "Tuo egotist f
Littlo Bobbie, who talks slang for the
whole family, said to his father :
"There are fis.e.1 savs, ain't there,
ipa?'' To which hi fa' her replied,
Y s, Bobbie." And theu the young
rascal asked: "Ard they a'l wall fixed,
papa ?"
Daaf men make queer mistakes Rome-
times. ' Were you born deaf ?" asked a
of one whose hoariog was dread
fully affected. " No," was tho reply,
" I was born in Penn-i.au. ' " ishut tha
door! ' yelled the gr.eer to a deaf man
who had jist stepped in. "Iras bore.
"Well, it I am I'll do mytrading some
where elsa," aud away ha went in a huff.
A Minci'-s Luck.
Mr, Richard Knowles, a prominent
miner of the Gunnison country, in
Colorado, said to a reporter: " Whilo
I was yet at Laadvillo a man came np
thero from Denver named Dexter Jim
Dexter they called him - and he was full
of life and hpe, and had some moDey.
Doxter looked about him tot a while,
and finally bought a claim on Carbonate
Hill, which bad, at that time,
not been prospected very well.
He paid, I think, about 15,00,1
for it, and set to work putting in
machinery and sinking the shaft, which
was alreadv down soo:e 100 feet or more,
fie worked awav on the minn, people
laughing at him a good deal, but he
never onca lost heart. The mine hud
not shown up a single thim; . n the way
of mineral, and the shaft had been sunk
by that time several hundred feet.
Dexter did not know what to do. He
bad now spent nearly all the money he
had, and nothing was coming in. O ne
day in the early part of the year 1879
a party came to him and aked
him what ho wonld take for his
mine. Dexter told him, and a
bargain was made between them.
The price paid was, I think, $30,000,
some $5,000 mors tban Dexter had spent
on it altogether. He was mighty glad
to get the $30,000, and thought himself
well out of a bad bargain. He rushed
out to Carbonate h ll and ordered the
miners t i drop t'ueir tools and quit
work. This was about 3 o'clock in the
afternoon. He said : 'B jys, I have sold
this hole, and I don't want yon to work
another minute in it for mo. I will pay
you off right now and you can quit.'
Well, the miners had jast finished a
drill and were going to pla 'ea blast and
nnoov?r some rook, and they asked to
be Rllowed to nni-h it before they quit
work, , No,' said Daxter, come out, I
don't want you to work ano more; there
is nothing in the old hole.' They re
luctantly quitted and departed. Dexter
got his money aud was happy.
Well, the mine had been bought by a
stock company, and in a short time
they began work on it. N jv, young
man. what I am going to tell you is the
solemn truth," said the miner. ' Those
fellows went up there to that mine and
laid a fnse t the blu' t left by Dex er's
men an I touched it off. After the smoke
cleared away tbey went in to soj how
much, r.-cfc had been loosened, when
what do you th n'i'i Thero before tiieir
eyes they saw the richest body of silver
ore which has ever been seen since the
world began. At that time hundreds of
thousands of dollars met the gaze of the
delighted owners of the richest kind of
ore. Well, young fellow," continued
Mr. Knowles, ":htt mine was the cele
brated Kobt. 12 Lite, which bag made
everybody rich who has had . anything
to do with it since Jimmy D xter sold
it. Millions of dollars have b en turned
ont of it, and it is the greatest silver
mine in the world."
The United States has over 400 insti
tutions known as college university,