The Scranton tribune. (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, August 05, 1896, Page 9, Image 9
THE SCBANTON TEIBTTNE WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 5, 1890. TERRACE BUILDERS OF OLD MEXICO AMtlcr Race of Prehistoric Architects ' , ,', Discovered. slayers. A young lady stappsd up to HONORS BESTOWED BY QUEEN . .VICTORIA. nd asked to see epys' Diary. "WedasVt keep them," said the youth blandly, "bat we have th Cxoelator." Extremes asset. and the salesman In this same book store who wrote down aa order for tits T" arhi at Markua I'Relius could scares' toast of a college education. He was a ooili bred youth, however, but unacqualntea FOUND IN NORTHERN MEXICO Sloan Where Now There It Not a Hssdful of InhabitantsNot a Ar rowhead Found, Hut Some Rude Implements and Pottery. J. W. Mitchell. In New York Herald. . To the vanished races ot the mound builders, the cave dwellers and the cliff dwellers, American archaeologists will henceforth have to add another class of prehistoric architects In tho peopling of the western hemisphere the terrace builders of Northern Mexico. This dis covery was the result of an expedition sent out this winter by the United States bureau of ethnology Into Northern Son ora, the most northwesterly state of old Mexico. The expedition did not go primarily to look for prehistoric ruins, but that Is "another story," and the finding of these remarkable remains in a region hither to considered barren of ruins of any tort was strange and Interesting enough to alone have repaid the labors of the party. Imagine a great stretch of country, big as any one of the New England states, a maze of black frowning moun tain ranges, broad alluvial valleys and scattered buttes of fantastic shape; a land that Is a garden for a few short weeks In spring and a fiery furnace for the balance of the year; a region where the scattered ranches may be counted on the Angers of one hand and the In habitants themselves scarcely know the trails from one to the other; and then fancy almost every butte and mountain wrought more or less completely Into terraces, like to the hanging gardens of Babylon after ten centuries of drought, Snd you have a fair Idea of the land of the terrace builders. But this description must not be taken amiss. The monuments to the Industry of this vanished people, when taken singly, are neither magnificent nor stu pendous. Neither do 'they Indicate any great amount of engineering skill more than Is necessary to lay a very excellent quality of rubble masonry with the ma terial generously quarried by nature al ready to hand. But, taken In the aggre gate, the work Is enormous, bespeaking a swarming population and a social con dition which it is hard at this time-to appreciate or understand. To account for them, however, it is not necessary to resort to any wild or romantic theories. Too many such myths have already been exploded by the practical, painstaking ethnologist of today. The idea of a distinct and mysterious race to account for the mounds of the Ohio and Mississippi val leys, has long ago been settled In the negative by that hardest of field-working scientists, Major Powell, while the same hand, seconded by the researches of Frank Cushlng and others, has traced back the genealogy of the Pueb los to' the time when their ancestors peopled the cave and cliff houses of the Manchos Canyon and the Canyon du Chelly, and still later Carl Lumholtz has found the wild and scattered fragments af the same race still Inhabiting dwell ings of the same sort in some of the most inaccessible mountains ot Old -Mexico. - A LOST RACE. So It may be safe to suppose, for the present at any rate, that the vanished architects of the terraced mountains in ' Sonora were the progenitors of some of the peaceful tribes that were struggling to hold their own aglnst their fierce No madic neighbors, the Plmos, the Apa ches and the 'Serl, when the country was first opened to settlement by the Span lards. But none of the tribes then ex isting had any records or traditions con necting it with the terraced mountains, and there Is, so far as known, no men tion even In the Spanish records of these strange antiquities. Teri years ago, when Bandalller was carrying on his Interesting researches among the ruins of New Mexico and Arizona, he penetrated a short distance Into Sonora, but, finding that the ancient Pueblo ruins characterized by Casa Grande, Qulvlra, and by the modern Znnl had disappeared entirely, he re turned to report the country barren of ruins of any sort. This region being cut orf on the north by the forbidding waste of the Arizona desert and on tho west by the even more desolate shore of the California gulf, untouched by rail roads and scantily watered throughout. It Is little wonder that other scientists were willing to take the pioneer's word for It and that region remained a terra incognita to the ethnologist. The expedition 'which ut length brought these hidden ruins to light was in charge of Professor W. J. McGee, chief archaeologist of the buren of eth nology, a scientist of national reputa tion, and a conscientious Held worker, but.one whose fame among his associ ates is based almost as much on the ec centricity of using no periods after his Initials as upon the number of mono graphs he has written. With the party was Wlllard Johnson, of the United States Geological Survey, as topogra pher, and, through the courtesy of Pro fessor McOee, I was Included In the offi cial capacity of photographer. A Mexi can driver, whose chief characteristic was a mortal fear of Serl Indians, and a Papago Interpretcr.whose strong point was his unlimited capacity for eating and sitting still, completed the outfit. The first of the terraced mountains visited was a comparatively small one, overlooking the very ancient and sleepy town of Caborca, an isolated, dusty speck of town, whose only claim to fame lies in having been the scene of the now almost forgottoit massacre of Crabbe and his hundred American fili busters, almost half a century ago. This Caborca Trinchera Is a fair specimen of its sort, though not large. All of the ter raced mountains are known as "La Trinchera," the Entrenohed Mountain, by the local population, and they calm ly speak of their entrenched mountain as though the name were distinctive and there were no other in existence. But they have lived so long in its shadow that they do not regard it with amy more interest than any other part of the landscape. The only interest it has for them is to furnish ready made "melates," or grinding stones. And this may account for the scarcity of imple ments of any sort on the various moun tains visited, for they must have served from time immemorial , as treasure houses ot -worked Stone for the wander ing Apaches, PI mas and Papagos, all of whom have, at one time or another, had their range over this .territory. ' ' . V POOR DEFENSES. . "' As a matter of fact, the term "en trenohed mountain" la misleading. The terraces, except in few cases, do hot seem ' particularly adapted for pur- poses Of defense. The Caborca moun tain to s ragged butts of black basalt COLONEL MALCOLM. C. B. INew Peer. Queen "Victoria's annual list of birth day honors Includes many prominent men In England ad her dependencies. Three peers were created. They are the Marquis of Oranby. Mr. Heneage, and Colonel Malcolm. The marquis Is the eldest Bon of the Duke of Rutland, and was born in 1852. He was educated at :ton and Trinity college, Cambridge. with scattered Veins of hardened vol canic ash. It is perhaps three fourths of a mile along the backbone, from end to end, and a third longer at the base. It rises about five hundred feet above the valley, the land it over looks being a rich alluvial plain, covered for the most part, With a ragged waste of giant cactus, mesqulte. ironwood, cut's-claw and every other horned, splned and prickly thing that grows in this inhospitable region. In the few spots where the land has brought un der ditch, however, it is fertile and pro ductive, and the same may be said of the valleys overlooked by every one of the Intrenched buttes. They would seem to have been a comparatively re tired and sheltered aerie for a peace ful agricultural people who planted their crops In the valley, but felt the need of a retreat from predatory foes. The most conspicuous of the many pieces of work on the Caborca Mountain Is a long and strongly marked wall run ning almost the entire length of the mountain side, two-thirds of the way from base to . summit At the south west end this work gives the Impression of a defensive structure. The wall Is from four to six feet on the outside of its points of greatest height, and the flat terrace formed by filling In behind this rough masonry Is protected by a wall two feet high at the outer edge. It Is at this point that the work Is approach ed by a fairly marked trail, that be comes quite a well defined and graded road fifty yards' below the wall. The road approaches the wall at a sharp angle, and on entering the break doubles bark on itself at an equally sharp' angle In the other direction, so that with the aid of a rude sort of bas tion thrown out.from this point the en trance Is fairly well protected. This is one of the points that gives the strong est color to the theory of defensive in trenchment. HOUSE CIRCLES. The side of the mountain Is seamed with several deep gorges, and the ter race and its sometimes accompanying wall cease at these breaks, but on the points overlooking the gorges there are small terraces, with circles of rock two or three feet high,, like sentry boxes. These may have been stations In which the defenders might command the ap proach, or perhaps only "house circles," like scores of others scattered all over the terraced portions of the hill. These "house circles" at Caborca are largely confined to' the upper parts of the hill and far above the main wall. The rings of stone, which we came to call "house circles," seemed to have been either mere wind breaks, or else simply a foundation on vn',on to rnlon a imjer structure of thatch, skins tr matting. They were from eight to twelve feet across and from two to four feet high, A few had the remains of a fireplace in side, and occasionally a bowlder "In polished to a glassy smoothness, similar polished to u glassy smotohness, similar to the paint grinding stones of the Pap agos today. ' . r Doth at Caborca and at the Greater Trinchera of San Rafael Allmlta the southern slope was the one which had received the createst attention In ter racing. Whether the exceedingly steep northern face had been neglected In each case because of Its natural de fenses, or whether it had been too steep to admit of terracing for living pur poses, It la Impossible to say. However, whether Its original purpose was for defense or merely to eult the exigencies of the peculiar domestic economy of the ' terrace builders, the Trinchera of Caborca is a remarkable piece of work, and where it the only one of the sort would be worth a long Journey to see. But tt Is fortunate that It was the first which we found, for be side that of Allmlta it dwindled into Inslgnlfloencei The Trinchera of Allmlta Is larger al most by half In every way, and as a work of barbaric man Is Blmply as tounding. From a distance the side of the mountain looks like the rough side of a washboard, terrace rising above terrace In regular lines from the bottom almost to tho top. Some of them are but fifty or one hundred yards long, others a mile and a half, following the contour of the hill over gully and ra vine, and fairly making the whole mountain seem a gigantic piece of ar tificial work. . 1 The mountain itself Is of irregular form. At the east end and at the west It rises to a sharp peak, the two con nected by a saddle perhaps two hundred feet lower than the rest, but on this Is some of the most remarkable work on the mountain. One of the structures that distinguishes the saddle Is an ob long stone house or corral thirty feet long, with walls eight feet high and a protected gateway of the main wall at Caborca. There are two or three simi lar structures, but smaller, a little higher up on the slope of the south peak. But Just where the saddle Joins the south peak Is the most extensive piece of masonry on the mountain.- It Is the retaining wall of a great terrace from ten to twenty feet high and about 100 yards long. The wall of big lava blocks Is about a yard thick, and behind it is filled in even with the top with smalt stone the size of a man's first, making a terrace from twenty-five to thirty feet ibroad,. on which are numerous house rings and two well holes that might have been reservoirs except that there is Ho remnant of a lining that would enable them to hold watr. b. v. p. rrrzoBiuux icr. New BaroMt In 1886 he was private secretary to Lord HallBbury and again from July, 1886, to March, 1888, when be was sent to parlia ment by the Milton division of Leices tershire. Mr. Heneage is the eldest son of a. F. Heneage. late or Hinton Mall, Wragby, Lincolnshire. He. la M years old, was educated at Eton, and was one of the life guards for six years. Ho These two depressions were, In fact, the only suggestion of either a reser voir or food cache found on any of the intrenched hills, but at the foot of the great Allmlta mountain there were the remains of an ancient conduit or irri gating ditch that, after skirting the base of the hill for a mile or more, dis appeared In the drifting sand and tum bled rock heaps of the open country. Half a mile west of the great hill of Allmlta Is a smaller cone known to the Mexicans as Trlnchertta, or tho little intrenched one. It too, has a number of terraces and some "house circles," but it seems chiefly to have served as a natural art gallery for all the tribes of the region. From halt way up Its slope to the summit it Is a mass of. picture writings, chipped into the black vol canic bowlders with the flint and obsi dian tools of the natives. Some of the drawings are evidently recent, of the past decade or two. These are all the familiar animal fissures of the Apaches, looking like the first rude drawings on a schoolboy's slate. But the older carv ings, some of them all but weathered out, are the work of a more cultivated race. They consist of highly conven tionalized animal forms and regular hieroglyphics, much like the ancient Azteo and the Mass inscriptions of Yucatan. Photographs and drawings were made of the most striking of these for future comparison and study. NO ARROWHEADS. The strangest feature of these strange hills, however, waa that although we spent days in searching over them from end to end, not once did we find a single arrowhead. There was importd stone in plenty, varieties found nowhere "in place" In the vicinity, and. there were evidences that this stone had been wrought, for there were many piles of spawls and splinters. But of finished spearheads, save a broken white quartz spearhead at Caborca, we. found not one. Neither waa there a single vessel ot pottery nor a piece of baked clay big ger than one's hand. But of minute pottery fragments there waa an- in credible amount. The ground for yards in some places waa covered almost an inch deep with pottery chips and spawls of worked stone, which might have been gathered up by the cartload. There were also a few hammer stones, stone mortars and pestles, but all more or less injured. It looks as though either In the general exodus of the rightful owners they have swept off every Implement of any value. to them, or else the mountain had been looted by the victors and by the wandering tribes that have since passed over It. As to the evacuation of the whole group of terraced hills, there would seem little question that it was by force of necessity In the face ot a savage and pitiless foe. Through many' of the broad valleys over which we passed there were ancient village sites, even more ancient, perhaps, than the aerial houses on the mountains. It is possible or even probable that the peacefully in clined tribe of Indians, slmillar In many respects to the Pueblos of today, and skilled in Irrigation, as Is shown by the ruins of numerous ditches made these plains their home and there cultivated their crops. Driven to seek a more se cure retreat by the inroads of the Apa ches, Serl, or some other fierce 'tribe of nomads, they probably maintained themselves for a time in their system of mountain terraces, trusting to Prov idence and the caprice of the enemy to get some small return out of their crops, which they still planted In the valleys below. But pushed finally to extremity, either by continual persecu tion, or some generai, sweeping raid of the enemy, they seem to have forsaken the broad valleys of Sonora and vanish ed. Whither? Perhaps It was to the north, to become a hardy, desert roving tribe, like the Pa page, moving from temper alle with the shifting rainfall, and wringing subsistence from from na ture where the sand llsard had a strug gle for existence. Or perhaps it was to the south, to seek a miserable exis tence among the moat ' Inaccessible cliffs In the wild mountains of south western Mexico. It Is more than likely that the Serl themselves, were they In a communi cative mood, which they are not, could throw some Interesting light on the passing of the Terrace Builders. THE LAND OF USED-TO-BE, Good-night, dear love, ' tnay all your dreams be fair And hasten not to waken and to weep; For tender happiness and hope are there There In the sweet and silent Land of Sleep. Dream on, dear heart, and linger once - again In that fair land of days of long ago. Live for a little while those momenta when We knew the Joy we ne'er again shall know. Recall those hours and once more live in them. In that vague realm where Memory is king. His scepter Joy, and love his diadem, Where earthly winter is not, only spring. Wake not, beloved, for night is every where, And dawn will never break for you and me. - , Good night, dear love, ni'ay all your 4 reams be fair ' Leave not, my sweet, the Land of Used-to-Be, London Fun." RIGHT HON. B. HINSAO& INew Fw.J sat in parliament from 18(8 to 1868; is a Liberal, and ' was returned for Great Grimsby in 1880 and 1885. He went back to parliament as a Unionist in 1888. Colonel Wlngfleld Malcolm, C. B., is the son of the late John Malcolm, of Port allock, and is tt years old. He was edu cated at Eton and at Christ Church college, Oxford. - Hs sat for Boston in STAR SHOWER C0MIN0. Meteoric Display Dae Aug 10As troaomers Fix the Date of' the Earth's Contact with the Fragmea tary Plaaets Which Harl Their ' Pieces at the Istruder. Frees the Times-Herald, Flaming meteors will bombard the earth about Aug. 10. The sky will be veined with streaks of light as the stars shoot through the atmosphere, but the siege will be raised before the meteoric combatants get within hailing distance.' Some of the meteors Joining in the fu sillade may hurl the chips from their shoulders to the earth. None of the shooters, however, will come nearer this planet than seventy-five miles, though they may leave a few reminiscences of their visit behind them. Astronomer have scheduled the me-' tsorio shower for Aug. 10, but, though they . have Inside information, the ar rangements may be upsat at any mo ment. The earth is doing the best it cart to hasten the event by traveling toward the stresm of meteors at the rate of eighteen miles a second. In fact two of the advance agents of the heavenly visitants have already made their ap pearance.' One was seen by Professor W. R. Brooks of the Smith observatory, Geneva, N. Y., last Tuesday, as It was taking: a peep at the moon. This was supposed to be a free silver meteor which had deserted the earth for a new love. Part of another meteor fell to the earth on Wednesday In Mexico, with such terrific force that It penetrated 700 feet through rock and soli. A clear at mosphere will be all that is needed to enable everyone to see the futile bom bardment of the stars. But thousands of meteors will shoot toward the earth in th4 day time, thua Interfering with a continuous performance. August and November are chosen every year for the threatening but harmless f usllade. The most brilliant meteoric shower only occurs . every thirty-three years, and Is not due until 18M or 1899. The August display Is only a sideshow compared with the shower which takes thirty-three years to get here; Observers will get plenty of chances to wish, however, whenever they see a shooting star within the next three weeks. EARTH INVADES THEIR SPACE. The metoers travel In- their own cir cle around the sun, and would never think of threatening the earth H. the latter did not plunge right through the ring. This stream or ozone of meteors travels round the sun in a direction al most opposite to that of the earth. Con sequently the latter Infringes on the ter ritory of the nieteors at certain periods and a shower of flaming stars follows. The meteoric stream Is a vast ellipse, having no beginning and no end. Pro fessor Herbert A. Howe, of Chamberlln University, Denver, says the meteors travel In parallel paths, like drops in a rianstorm. Sometimes August is not favored with a brilliant shower of shooting stars be cause the belt Is not so dense In some parts as In others. Sometimes there are gaps in the stream and only a few hun dreds of stars fall. The earth strikes the belt again in November, and a bright shower Is usually seen between November 11 and 13. The August me teors are denser about the 10th of the month. The meteoric river Is so broad, however, that it takes the earth a month to get through it, and shooting stars may be seen from July 18 to Aug ust 21. It was one of these meteors on the edge of the stream that sent a re minder to the Santos Reyes mine In the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, last Wed nesday. A huge piece of meteoric iron struck the mountain side and carried away cliffs before tt burled itself 700 feet in the earth. ' It also destroyed a miner's cottage and killed his two children. Although the stream travels at the rate of twenty-six mites a second it takes It 100 years to make one revolu tion. These shooting stars never strike the earth, but only Impinge on its at mosphere. So swift is the motion of a meteor thst It flames into lnrandes cense when ' encountering the higher strata of air, skirting the globe at a safe distance, though sometime fling ing a souvenir to the invader of the stream. IS A BRILLIANT SIGHT. The great meteoric shower which oc curs every thirty-three years is one of marvelous brilliance and beauty. Pro fessor Howe says that when the earth struck the dense part of the stream No vember 12, 1882, the ncgiors of the south ern states were struck with terror and thought the world was coming to an end. The falling stars were as th ick as snow-flakes. Another' brilliant dhiplay was seen In the heavens In 1866 and the next Is expected In November; 1S89, though a bright shower may be seen In the fall of 1898 as a forerunner of tho great bombardment ' The dense part of the moteorlo stream Is 2,000,000,000 mile long and consumes two years in parsing' a-given point. i. PrbfesSor B. Wl Burnham is awaiting the advent of the meteoric visitors In his observatory in Fifty-first street. "We may have fine display in Chi cago' about August 10," he said, but it is largely dependent on the clearness of the atmosphere and whether the earth strike the dense part of the meteorin LBWIS STIVER. M. P. New Baronet From the Chicago Times-IIearld, parliament -from 1860 to 1874. In the latter year he was defeated, but was reseated - on an investigation and re signed in 1878. One of the queen's hon ors was the gift of a baronetcy to Rob ert Unlacke Penrose Fitzgerald. Mr. Fitzgerald comes of good old Irish stock. . He was born in 1839 and was educated at Westminster School and at stream at night If this happens dur ing the daytime hundreds of shooting stars will waste their brilliance, as we shall not be able to see them. Even at night some of the meteors only appear as brilliant stars which die out quickly. This Is because they travel straight to ward our line of vision. We only notice those particularly which cross the line of vision. August is not (rated to os brilliant a sight as that which occurs every thirty-three years. Then there are .thousands ot shooting stars In the Bky. We may expect a bright shower in 1898 nd a splendid bombardment by meteor in November of the following year." HOW LEAD PENCILS ARE MADE. The Graphite Is Itednccd to Dnst and Compesaded with tierman Clay. From the Chicago Record, . The "leads" of lead pencils are made of a mixture of German pipe clay and "black lead," which Is not lead, but graphite. But the first pencils were made of real lead, and the name has clung to "lead" pencils ever since. Graphite, or plumbago, is nearly a pure form of carbon and most of the pencils made in 'this country use the graphke mined at Tlnonderoga, Vt, where tho only graphite mine of any consequence In the United States is located. The graphite is taken in the lump from the mines and caried to the reduc ing mill, where It is ground or pulver ized in stamp mills under water. The fine particles of the graphite float away with the water through a number of tanks, collecting at tho bottom of these reservoirs. It Is packed In barrels In the form of dust and sent to the factory, where tens of thousands of lead pencils are turned out every day. The pulverized graphite Is so fine that it really Is a dust, dingy in color and smooth and oily to the touch. It Is di vided Into various grades of fmenes by floating; it on water from one tank to another. The coarse dust sinks to the bottom of the first tank, the next finer to the bottom of the second tank, and so on down the line, the finest powder for the finest pencils settling In the last tank. , In another series of tanks the Ger man pipe clay, which Is mixed with graphite to secure the different grades of pencils from very soft to extra hand, Is graded in the same way, by floating. The finest clay Is mixed with the fin est graphite, end the hardness of the pencil is secured by Increasing the pro portion of clay In the mixture. . For the medium grades, seven parts by weight of clay ar.e mixed with ten parts of praphlte, The mixing Is done under s grind ing, mill, similar to that used for mix ing paint, and water is added to facili tate the mix. The grindlng-stones ere about two feet in diameter and only the upper one revolves. After the graphite and clay are ground together the mixture Is put In canvas bags and the water Is squeezed out under a hydraulic press, leaving a miss's the consistency of putty. This plastic material Is placed in the form ing press, which is a small iron cy linder, in which a solid plunger or piston works up and down. A steel plate, having a hole the size and shape of the "lead," Is put under the open .end of the cylinder, and the plunger, pressing down, forces the graphite through the hole, making a continuous thread or wire of graphite. ' As long as this thread Is moist It Is pliable, but it becomes brittle when dry, so it is handled rapidly. It Is cut Into ' three-lead lengths, straightened out and then hardened in a crucible over A coal fire. The leads, when taken from the crucible, are ready for the wood. - Pine Is used for the cheap pencils, an ordinary quality of red cedar Is used for the medium-price pencils, but noth ing but the best Florida Key cedar is put Into the best pencils. . The saw mills In Tampa, Fla., cut the cedar into blocks about seven In ches long, and these are sawed Into strips wide enough for six p-nclls, but, as pencils are made In hnlvs. each strip Is only thick enough for half a pencil. When the strips are received nt th factory they are run through a ma chine .which cuts In each one six grooves, round or square, and at the same time smooths the face of the wood. Both strips are grooved alike, for, unlike the Kuropean-made pen cils, the American made has the lead equally In each strip. The filling of the strips Is done by girls.. The first one takes a grooved slip of wood in her left hand and a bunch of lead;) In the right. She spreads tho leads out fan shape, and with one mo tion tills the six grooves with leads. Next to her sits another girl who takes the filled snip, and quickly and neatly lays on it another grooved strip, which has Just been coated with hot glue by a third girl. The filled mid glued Btrlps are piled Up on each other and put in a rrrss, where they are l;ft to dry. The ends of the strips are evened off under a sandpaper wheel, nnd then the strips are fed Into A machine which cuts out the Individual pencils, din pes them, and delivers them, smooth and ready for the Color and pollBh In six streams. 1 The coloring Is done In liquid dyes, after" which the pencils are sent through the varnishing machine. Then follows Taa marquis or oranbt. Uew Fmt. By the Courtesy of B. H. Koblsaat. Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He has been a member ot parliament since 1874. An other new baronet is Lewis Mclver, who is a retired East Indian civil servant. He was born in 1846. In 1885 and 1886 he was a Liberal member of parliament and was beaten In the latter year. He now represents the south division of Edinburgh, the stamping and finishing, all done by automatic machines, and finally the fin ished pencils are packed around the oval, grooved blocks, tied, papered, and shipped out. The pencils are counted at various stages of the making, and the counting Is done In a way as simple as it is accu rate. The "counting board" is a board on which two strips of wood are fas tened the length of the board and about four inches apart. . in each strip are 144 grooves. The workman grasps a handful of pencils and rubs them over the board once or twice, leaving a pencil In each groove. In this way he counts a gross ot pen cils in a few seconds, and does it with out a mistake, for only 144 pencils can be placed on the board at one time, and If any grooves are empty the workman notices the mistake at once. CULLED ANECDOTES. As the C. and O. train was pulling out of Covington for Cincinnati, an Irish laborer, with his regulation tin dinner can and clay pipe, stepped into one of the passenger cars, and, putting his pail on the floor, ensconced himself in a comfortable seat, with his pipe in one corner of his mouth. A moment later the brakennan came in and, looking around, espied the Irishman. Leaning over, he tapped the man on the shoulder and said: : "If you want to smoke, go forward to the smoking car." The Irishman looked at him cooly for a moment, and replied "I'm not schmoklnf, man." " you've got your pipe in your mouth, haven't you?" "Faith, yes," replied the son of Erin, "un I've got me fut In me boot, but I'm not wolkln'." II I! II A good story is told of an English family living in Norfolk county, who possessed tho euphonious name of "Bug." As that term in England Is never mentioned in polite society snd signifies a minute insect noted for its power of Jumping, the family of that name did not appreciate its unique ness. Upon coming into possession ot some money they at once petitioned to have it changed to "Howard.". Their request was granted; but, alas for them, the bugs of that portion of the country were henceforth known by the more re fined title of the "Norfolk Howards." II II II ' A doctor, who had a great dislike to tobacco in any form, managed, In his hurry at the railway station, to get Into a smoking compartment. A young men feat opposite, puffing away at a huge cigar. After eyeing him for some minutes the gentleman at last addressed him: "Young man, as a medical man let me warn you against smoking. Ex peilence has proved to me that of every ten men suffering from epithelium and paralysis of the tongue, nine of these have been caused by tobacco." "Sir," exclaimed the youth, "exper ience has proved to me that of every ten men suffering from block eyes, nine of 'them have been caused by people neglt-ctlng to mind their own business." II II II when Pala went tq Australia he ar ranged to deliver n series of lecture!, and he was fond of telling an anecdote about one of his platform experiences there. "I was describing to my "audience," he said, " in my very best Kngllsh the coronation of Her Majesty. I had seen the procession from the corner of Par liament street, and was telling how the young glrl-qUeen drove by In the state llness of childhood's simplicity, the dig nity of sovereignty already seated upon her pale young brow, with heaving breast, 'A hectic flush upon her blanched cheek.' I was saying, 'her sweet, pallid Hps slightly parted, a teardrop tremb ling on her quivering eyelid all showed' 'Bosh!' suddenly murmured a buxom old dame In the front row, and my In spiration was gone.'.' The Westminster Budget tells a char acteristic story of the kute Rev. Peter Mackenzie, of London. Many years ago, after delivering a lecture In a village near Sunderland, he waa returning to his host's house along a lonely road, when he was accosted by a robber. The latter was a believer In the right of might and requested Mr. Mackenzie to turn out all the cash he had got. "Well, my dear man," replied Mr. Mackenzie, "you know I am big enough to thrash you. If It's money you want. I'll give you r"rlf a crown." The robber would not accept this very charitable offer. Mr. Mackenzie "doffed" his coat nnd gaw him what tl.e man Is now pleased tn call " a dashed good hiding." That thrashing did the men a great service, for he afterward Ifft the paths of vice and became one of Mr. Mackenzie's many converts. "B0OKMAM" GOSSIP. Here Is a (rood story for the enemies of Philadelphia. A prominent lawyer of that verpntiile city was narrating to a younger advocate some of the delays and compli cations of a chancery suit in which ho was engaged. "Bleu me!" said the Junior advocate, "I never heard of anything parallel to thst except Jarndyce vs. Jarmtyce." The other at once looked thoughtful, and pretty soon, pleading an engagement, went off. The next morning he came Into the younger man's office with an air of great vexation. "Look here!" he snld. "Why can't you remember names accurately? Here i've spent the whole nlfht trying to find that case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce that you mentioned, and there Isn't any such case In Pennsylvania law reports, at all!" II II II - He was a callow youth, fresh from col loee. and as he was supposed to know tt all, he was considered an acquisition In the retail department of a well-known book store in New York. Ills first custo mer shook the confidence of his proud em- with the ways u business, who, when asked If he had sn Balllnger' Guide lying about, replied. "No.;" ttiea reflec tively. "I can't say I remember having seen it In stock." - II II II 8. 8. MeClure. the enterprising pro prtctor of MoClure's Magazine, meditates a very hr.jortant ntw departure. He thinks that the putollo are beglnnla; to be wearied of black and white, and pre poses to make experiments In colored Q lustratlons. For this purpose he has sr. ranged to publish a life of Christ which will probably be written by laa Heelers or Mr. 8. R. Crockett, in his magaslae. and he is travelling In Egypt and Pales tine making arrangements for the pl turea An immense sum Is to be sunk 1 the hope of securing thoroughly satis factory reproductions. If Mr. MoClure succeeds, no doubt others will have to fol low In his track, and a new terror will be added to magazine publishing. QUAY AND CAMERON. Ooe Story About Eacl of PeinrylTula'a Two Picturesque aod laterestlag SeoitortCameron'i Nerve, From the Washington Post. Politics make strange bedfellows, says the old political saw. An Instance of this Is seen In the fact that a Pitts burg Democratic newspaper, which, until since the Chicago convention, was a strong gold standard advocate, is now supporting Bryan and the Chicago plat form and quoting from Senator Don Cameron's rare speeches in favor of free silver to make good its new position. "Don Cameron," said a Pennsylvania admirer, "has more nerve than his fa ther, Simon Cameron, ever had, though he was by no means deficient In that necessary political article. For In stance, In the campaign of 18TI Penn sylvania voted for governor in October. General John F. Hartranf t was the Re publican nominee. A tight was made against him by the self-styled "better class Republicans," the kind since de nominated as Mugwumps. Old Simon Cameron and some of his advisers be came frightened. A meeting to consid er the advisability of substituting some other person for Hartranft was called to meet at the Continental hotel, in Philadelphia. In the midst of It when old Simon and the rest had about come to the conclusion to retire Hartranft and put up somebody else, Don, who was not In the confidence of the meeting and had not been invited to attend it but who had learned what was going on, strode Into the room. With soant ceremony he addressed the meeting in this fashion: " 'You are talking about taking Hart ranft off the ticket. If you do I will beat whoever you put up. You can put up him (pointing to Wayne MaoVeagh, his brother-in-law), and I will beat him. Or you can pu up him, even (pointing to his father, Simon), and I will beat him. Good-day.' "With that he turned on his heel and left the room, without waiting to hear the reply of the meeting. Hartranft re mained on the ticket, and was elected, and four years later at Cincinnati waa Pennsylvania's candidate for the Pres idency. It waa a great exhibition ot nerve by Don." Matthew Stanley Quay. Pennsylva nia's other senator, is on the executive committee of the Republican national committee. It is said that he could have been chairman of the executive committee had he so desired. As It is, he will undoubtedly have the confiden tial ear of both Major McKlnley and Mr. Hanna, at least till November 3, no matter how it may be after that Senator Quay began his career as a legislator as a representative In the Pennsylvania legislature for the term of 1865-'7. At that time and until the adoption of the new constitution In 1874 the legislature had the sole power of granting divorces. Quay's first aot as a legislator was the Introduction ct a resolution to divorce Henry Lord Me Connell and Mary Wilson McConnell. This resolution passed both houses un der suspension of the rules with in two hours after It had been introduced by Mr. Quay, and became a law by ths immediate signature of Governor Cur tln. Of course, there is a stovy. Henry Lord McConnell was a captain in the Union army stationed at Harris burg, In 1865, about the close of the war. He was a handsome, showy fel low, but as nothing was known of his antecedents he gained no particular so cial position at the Keystone capital. Mary Wilson McConnell was the daugh ter of Andrew O. Cuvtir, governor of the commonwealth, fclie was In 1866 but a school girl of seventeen. She was attracted by Captain McConnell, and one afternoon yielded to his pleading and went with him to the office of a Justice of the peace and was married to him. Then she returned to the gov ernor's mansion to tell what she had done, and try to reconcile her father. He, however, took another view of the matter and his daughter never saw Captain McConnell again. Governor Curtln was not only a power In hi owmstate, but he possessed a great In fluence at Washington. Captain Mc Connell was speedily ordered away from Harrlsburg, and dropped out of sight and this story. The marriage was kept as secret as possible, and never In fact became gen erally known in the social circles of the Btate cpaltal.. So when Mr. Quay of fered his resolution there was not half a dozen members of either house who had the remotest Idea who the parties were. Quay had been military secre tary to Governor Curtln during th four years of the war, and knew how to di al with the legislature. Mrs. McCon nell had repented of her hasty and Ill advised act; McConnell had gone no one knew whither and none cared, so he never returned, so that there was non to oppose the divorce. Miss Curtin, al ways a social favorite, subsequently married Into a wealthy family In an ad joining state. COIfSTUVfJ THE COST. From the Philadelphia Times. In wages alone the loss to wage-earners would be Incalculable. Under the free sli ver policy the worklneman of today must receive Just double the wages now paid him to enable him to earn what tie is earntnK now. One .dollar under the free silver syrlem would purchase for the wage-earner In the necwsarlcs of life Just one-half what a dollar purchases for him today, and who Is reckless enough to as sume that employers would double the whips of labor under a degraded money system that must paralyze business, cre ate the profountrt distrust and greatly lexsen the opportunities for employers to mSka their capital profitable? As a ruts employers would be much less able to pay fair wages for labor under the ehear money system than they are todey, and the wage-earner must know that when business Is staggering tinder paralysis the first to sviffer Is the worklnrman by the reduction of wages, and when business Improves he Is th last to gain th aVa tage ot it