X MMHM i i u 1-
' ': " " : T "
II Will I I in. I,
Bcuotco to politico, Citcrature, gricnlturc, Science, ilToralitn, nub (general 3ntclitgcuce.
VOL. 34.
iiau 'inn iiTA . U..WW1
m
Published by Theodore Schoch.
f.::tMs Two ilolhirs a year in advance and if not
pail 'o -fire th en 1 of the year, two dollars and fifty
eeuti will be charged.
Nj tvioer diseontinn-d until all arrearage are
pai l. "Tcwt at the option of the Editor.
ci At" rtis in Mils of one square of (eieht lines') or
jes, on a or three insertions St 50. Each additional in
f ertion. .";l cents. Lousier ones in proportion.
F A T.L KIN OS,
EtacutcJ in tho hi;hesi style of the Art, and on the
in ).-,t reasonable terms. ,
D
11. NATHANIEL C. MILLER,
Physician and Surgeon.
O Eeo and residence: Corner Main and Pocono Street,
Stkoudsburg, Pa.,
Office hours from 7 to S a. in., 1 to 2 and 7
to S p. in
Oct. 2,, lS7t)-tf.
J,
El. S2IITLL., 31. It.
S"'il door lcl."iw R'irneJt House. Residence
Cm 1 1t r we-t of Ili.'ksile Quaker Church. Office
b iir j to . a. m., I to " p. ni., 0 to p. in.
jl.iv" -'", 1 7u-tf.
D
I'ii) si ciua ami Surgeon,
STR01TD3BURG, Pa.
OTi rT"iir'y o.vnpie 1 ly Dr. Scip. Ursiden" with
.1. !?. Mii!r, mm (1 r V-lv th j fVrionian et!ice.
i ) ii . lion rs. 7 to 'J, 1'2 to S and 0 to i).
J.i if ! i, is; j. if.
D
'.i. t,. ::cik,
Narcuii Dentist.
f:"i in .Tas. ""Min ; -r's new hnilding.nearly opposite
l h i lU-i Kan . Gas adiiini.stercd fjr ex t acting
v i ! 1 -sir d.
Hir.M i-I. in. !. Jan.G,'7S-tf.
D
nvsici.ix, surisnax and aiwcheir.
tTi.- in S v.ni d U d"s n-v building, nearly op-pj-i:j
t'l-i i) -l ti.iic;. Jle-si deuce on Sarah street,
:,'iiu Fran';i:;i.
Aurust .V72-tf
D
VVC3) S. LEK,
Attorney at Iatv,
Oae door above the "Stroudnbarg House,'
Stroiids'.turjr, Pa.
Collections promptly made.
October 'J2, 1374.
IT A'otury l"ti!Jie,
Real Estate and Insnrancs Aprsnt and
COJVEYAMUER.
Tiila s'. iri? I and Coneey'incing in all its
branche.s c ireally and prompily attended to.
A z!::ioivlc lrmcn!f taken for other Stales.
OS:-, Killer's Crick Huilding, near theK.H.
Depot,
E VST STIiOUDSBURG, PA.
P. O. Rox ').
Septe.u'jjr 2 1S7G tf.
WILLIAM S. REES,
Surveyor, Conveyancer and
Baal S3tau3 Agent.
Parms. Timber Lands and Town Lots
FOR SALE.
0:75e marlr opposite American Houet
an 1 2 1 do'r o-ilow the Corner Store.
March 2), 1 7.J-tf.
DR. J. LANTZ,
SUR jSON & MECHANICAL DENTIST.
Still has his oiSee on Main rtreet, in the second story
f l)r. S. Walton' briek building, nearlv opposite th-r
Strau Wh ir,' IIojsc. and he flalers himself that hy eigli
tesii yenr eonstiiit practice and the most oarl"st and
ar fal attnti n to all matters pertaiutiiii to his pro
fssion. that h is f;i!ly able to pr1'.rm all operations
in the dental line in the most careful and skillful man
ner. Pperial attention sivtn to savintr the Natural Tcoth ;
a!. to the iiic.Ttion of Artificial Teeth on Knblx-r.
Go! 1, Yilvr, or Co.jtiuuous (iums, and perfect fits iu all
ce; i nsu red.
M .t !-ri !is know ths jrrwit fol'y and danger of en
fi.Tiii jMi-ir work to the inexperienced, or to those liv
n at a JistHnee. April 13, If.
Opposition toHumbuggery!
The un l -rsined hereby announces that he lias re
ru 'j b-.rsine.si at t lie old'stand, next door to Ituster'n
"i ehi iij; St. ire, .Main street, Si roudsburg, I'a., and is
fully prepared to aecoimiioJatu all in waut of
BOOTS and SHOES,
made in the latent styls and of Rood material. Itepair-
i'lS promotlv attentiAl to. Give me a ryll.
J'.'C.?, i73iy.j C. LEWIS WATERS.
PL
m fl P r'
PAPER DANGER,
GLAZIER AND PAINTER,
MONROE STREET,
Nearly opposite Kautz's Blacksmith Shop,
Stroudsburo, Pa.
The undersigned would respectfully in
form the citizens of ' Strondtbrg h nd vicinity
thut he is now fully prepired 10 do all kinds
ofIJaper Haninfr, Glazing and Paintinr.
promptly and at short notice, and that he
will keep constantly on hand a fine t-tock o
Paper Hanginsfd of all descripi ions and at
low priefs. The palronage of the puldie
is earnestly solicled. May 16, 1872.
TOB PRINTING, of all kinds neatly ex
' ecuted at this office
"blank mortgage
For snlr at tlii Office, i
am. u im yuAJiua
DAILY LIFE OF AN INDIAN.
BY JAMES PAUTOX.
During a westward journey the first in
dication which I met of my approach to an
Indian country was a mercantile house in
a Kansas town devoted to the sale of arti
cles used in trading with Indians, such as
blankets, beads, paint kettles and knives.
It was an extensive establishment, the busi
ness of which amounted, perhaps, to a quar
ter a million dollars a year. A member of
this firm, knowing that I was a stranger,
showed me a curiosity which was usually
kept in the iron s:ifeas a thing too precious
to be left around loose. It was a teaman s
sca?j, the hair being long, soft, silky, and
of a beautiful light browu color, parted in
the middle as when worn by its original
proprietor. The noble Indian who had rob
bed a lady of this her '-crown of glory," had
lined it with a piece of soft deer-skin, which
he had stitched with various colored silks,
and adorned with red and white beads.
The most sentimental lover of the red
man would have been somewhat shaken in
his faith, or disturbed in his feelings, by
the sight of this trophy. For my own
part, not being fond of our brethren, I re
garded it with unspeakable horror, and
could not but long for the day when a race
capable of capturing and clieriJiing such a
prize would no longer exist upon earth. I
tried to get it to add to the precious collec
tion cf our New York Historical Society.
lut the owner was insensible to my bland
ishments. It had been presented to him
by a young officer of cavalry, who had
taken it from an Indian lodge, and he could
not think of parting with it.
Resides," said he, "we want to keep it
here cn the frontier to fchow the sentimen
tal philanthropists."
This introduction to our red brother was
nt't calculated to give a favorable impres
sion of him. A day or two after, having
gone in the meantime some hundreds of
miles further west, I stopped at a town
near wl.ich a large Indian tribe were gath
ered to receive their annuity, and I discov
ered tlu.t most of the merchants and store
keepers were gone off to the Iinlian camp
to colh tt the debts owed to them by the
Indiar.s. I was astonished to learn that
the cred't of the Indians was good with
the wei-t rn storekeepers, who were iu the
halt of giving them credit for a w hole year.
"liut co the Indians pay?" I asked.
''Alu est always," was the reply. "They
always ii tend to p:ty, but occasionally a
gambler will make one of them drunk, and
win til I s money away before the Indian
knows w! at he is about. Rut as the mer
chants n ake a point of being on hand when
the India s receive their money, they com
nirnlv g t their share of it."
Tins.: were the two facts which I learned
about Ii dians on the frontier. They do
not aj p ar to harmonize. It is difficult
for us to understand how a people who
have a nse of honor, who pay their debts
and wl.o mean always to keep their work,
can also le capable of a crime so dastardly
as trarii g a scalp from a woman's head.
Rut to it is. The Indian, like the white
man, is : n inexplicable blending of weak
ness at d strength, of kindness and cruelty,
of nobili: v and meanness. The late Gen
eral Hois-ton, of Texas, was so fond of the
Indlsns tl at he joined a tribe, and I have
had the i easure of hearing him testify to
their an i:bb qualities and dignified char
acter. Cf late years the Indian has found
a d(f?t der in the famous poet of the far
west, Joa juiu .Mille, who expatiates elo
quently upon their s-imple habits, their gen
eral hospi'ality, and their lofty demeanor.
Recently, too, one of the Quaker gentle
men employed by the present administra
tion as a teacher of Indian children, has
written an account of his life and adven
tures among them. If any one wishes to
know what Indians are now, and how they
now live, he could not do better than read
the ''Quaker among the Indians," by
Thomas JJattey. It is a work of real value.
An Jndicn is a good deal of au aristo
crat in his ways. For one thing, he is not
an early riser, as he is very apt to prolong
his pleasures far into the night. Like his
brother aristocrats in Europe, he is a great
turner of night into day, and is seldom in
a hurry. When an Indian and a white
force are marching together, the Indians
are never ready to start at the appointed
time. When they are on the march alone,
they will sometimes dawdle away the time
till eleven o'clock : and if they do make an
early start, they will take a "nooning" of
several hours. In the winter the camp win
rarely be astir before nine.
hile the men lounge about dressed in
an airy morning cost ume of a single blanket,
chatting from lodge to lodge, the women
are busy preparing breakfast ; which is a
lively aud social meal. Each wigwam con
tains on an average about six inmates.
While they are at breakfast they sit on the
matting, tailorfushion, around the fire,
which is made iu a hole dug near the mid
dle of the lodge. A piece of board about
a foot long, or else a thick piece of hide, is
placed before each person to serve as a plate.
A steauiii-g kettle of boiled meat hangs over
the fire, from which the woman of the
house takes with her fingers a piece for
each member of the family, and places it up
on his board. She gives bread to each, and
commonly, in these degenerate times, a
mug of coffee. Knives aud forks are not
in use among them, and they tear their
meat to pieces with their teeth and fingers.
They are iu no hurry to get the meal over.
On the contrary, they prolong it and en
liven it by a conversation, and particularly
by funny stories, of which they are extreme
ly foud, and which some of them tell very
well. Having no newspapers and no books,
STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY, PA., FEBRUARY 15, 1877.
conversation plays a great part in their
lives, and this is one reason why they are
so liberal in entertaining strangers. They
dote upon hearing things strange and new.
But when a visitor arrives, no matter how
eager they may be to put him through a
course of questions, they never even ask
his business until he has rested and taken
food.
They arc not very particular about their
diet, and have scarcely any notion of clean
liness. They prefer buffalo, antelope, or
deer, but if they cannot get these they will
cat dog, wolf, pony, or mule. They are
vast numbers of small tortoises on the wes
tern plains, which the Indians eat with a
relish. They throw the tootoisc into red
hot ashes on his back. He dies without a
struggle, and is fit to cat in a few minutes.
After breakfast, if there is auy tobacco pro
curable, the pipe is introduced and passed
from mouth to mouth ; and during this
ceremony the women withdraw, aud the
men discuss some important matter.
Breakfast over, aud the smoking con
cluded, the Indians proceed to the business
of the da-, which has been talked over and
settled upon the evening before by the
chiefs, and announced to the whole camp
in the morning.
"An old man," says our Quaker author,
"walks out in front of his lodge, and, in
deep, stentorian tones, announces the plans
for the day, as agreed upon the evening be
fore." Perhaps the business of the day is to re
move the camp higher up or lower the
stream, to a place where there is better
grass or nearer fuel. Their wigwams are
so simple that iu an hour they can be taken
down put upon the backs of yonies and
mules, with all their contents, and th i win L
village carried olF. After a short march,
another hour su dices to erect the village in
a new place. The place only is changed.
There are the same people, the same lodges,
placed in the same order, all opening to
ward the East, and each chief is aain sur
rounded by his own people. While the
women are arranging the wigwams, the
men go about the routine of business as
though nothing unusual hael happen, d.
The business of the day may be a bufLl:t
hunt, which employs the whole camp, and
which is conducted under strict regulations.
They do not intend to waste butfalo, nor do
they ever indulge in mere lust of slaughter.
First, the active men of the tribe gj out
upon the plain and quietly form a ring
round a herd, and no one may chase a buf
falo past this ring on pain of having his
horse slu t down by the ring-keepers. To
this day ti e Indians chiefly rely upon the
bog and arrow to bring down the burly
monarch t f the prairie. The huutcr on
his pony gets as close as he can to the
animal, and usually succeeds in piercing his
heart with an arrow. When the master of
a wigman has killed as many buffaloes as
the women of his family can take care of,
his day's work in done and theirs begins.
The women skin the buffaloes, cut them
up, pack the meat upon ponies, convey it
to camp and cure it. The curing is done
by cutting it into thin sheets, aud drying
it in the sun upon poles ; it is then packed
in buffalo hides, in parcels of about a hun
dred pounds each. Commonly, the day's
work is over by three or four in the after
noon, when the young men and warriors
indulge in games of chance, accompanied
by singing and drumming, often continued
till daybreak the next morning.
"In large camps," says Mr. Battcy, "of
one hundred to two hundred lodges, seldom
a night passes without the sound of the drum
being continued until long after sunrise."
Indians, indeed, in nothing so much re
semble the aristocrat as iu their devotion
to sport ; so that in reading of their daily
life we are continually reminded of the
Prince of Wales, and the sporting squires
and lords of whom we read in English
novels. The girls and young women hive
their regular ball play in the afternoon,
when they put on ther best attire and play
games of ball in sight of the young wor
l iors, who are often captivated by the grace
and agility of the players.
Night, however, is the Indian's time for
pleasure. The children have their even
ing dancing fires, round which they dance
and play, drum and sing until very late.
The young men gamble aud the old men
gather in the wigwams, telling stories, talk
ing over the affairs of the tribe, and arrang
ing plans for the next day. They have no
notion for a regular time of going to led,
and the young children do exactly as they
like in this respect. One of the greatest
difficulties the white teacher experience is
to keep the children quiet at night. The
Indians are foolishly fond of their children
and rarely attempt to control them. If
the youngsters go to bed early, each wrap
ped in his blanket, they lie and talk awhile,
then eing, laugh, get up, go out of doors,
prowl about the camp, Stirling up ether
children, come back, poke the fire wrap
themselves up in their blanket again, lie
down once more, talk and sing, and so keep
it up until they are all tired out and drop
asleep. Our . poor Quaker schoolmaster
found the nights more trying than the
days. If one of the boys becomes unbear
ably troublesome, the usual way of bring
ing him to reason is this : On some occa
sion wl cn the principal men are together,
and the offending lad is. present, each chief
assails him iu turn with sarcastic remarks
to which he is obliged, by Indian etiquette,
to listen in silence and not to , go out of
hearing. This treatment is continued un
til the lad mends his ways.
They are a strange, wild people ; as wild
as the buffalo upon which . they subsist.
Unhappily , the men are not capable of sus
tained iudustry, and while they are acquir
ing this art, they will probably perish.
A BABY ELEPHANT.
A MONO rOREPAUGfl's FOURPAWS THE
COMFORTABLE WINTER QUARTERS OF A
GREAT COLLECTION OF WILD ANIMALS
HALF AX HOUR WITH A LION TAMER.
The Philadelphia Times of the 7th inst.
contains the following: Forepaugh, the
menagerie man, winters his animals in a
big barn on the township line, by the side
of a street for which I could learn and can
suggest no name but mud alley. Here he
keeps all the wild beasts that excite the
countrymen to wide-mouthed wonder in
the summer months. He has elephants
and camels,-tiger, leopards, bears, monkeys,
lions and all the rest of those four-footed
villains that challenge the admiration of
Young America. He has clephauts that
are more than a hundred years old, bears
that sit on their hind legs, a tiger that
stands on his head and winks, and lions
that would cat a man without waiting to
say grace. He has a sea lion that eats a
peck of fish and then swims around his
tank looking for more ; a hyena that gnaws
hi way out of everything that ho can be
put iu and has to be chained ; a whitc
wooled scoundrel, whose name I have for
gotten, who will look lovingly at you and
liek your hand and suddenly run his big
horn out of the cage and try to unfasten
your ribs ; a cageful of commonplace birds
that, being of no account whatever, make
more noise than all the'others put together;
a beautiful z---bra that will bite your fingers
if he gets a chance, and, failing in that, will
bite the iron bars of his cage ; a drove of
camals standing behind the elephants, that
look like their maids-in-waiting ; and (a
great curiosity) one of those foolish fellows
who go into the lions' cage and perform
with them.
A LION TAMER.
This man performed with the animals
this afternoon. He whipped the lions with
a horsewhip, pounded them with poles and
punched them with iron rods. He called
them hard names and sneered at them, and
got them terribly excited. They plunged
about the cage and over each other's backs,
till the box shook and itckcd and the bars
trembled. As soon as I liad a plan for
rapid retreat mapped out I began to inquire
about the man's history, with a view to
writing a little obitutary for him ; but
singularly enough he succeeded in dodging
the lions and escaped without a scratch.
You sit on a circus seat (may be you do)
and see this man go into the lions' cage.
He is dressed in spangles, and gilt, and
silk ; he bows, and kisses his hand, and
opei s the door ; the big lions look fright
ened ; he goes in ; displays every muscle ;
every posture is heroic ; he flourishes his
rod, and the lions crouch back in terror.
What a brave man ! What a hero ! But
come out here and see him in his shirt
sleeves. The lions are sitting quiet in their
cage ; savage enough, no doubt, but look
ing very demure and very wise; The tamer
faces the handsomest of them and gives'
him a wicked cut acrtss the face with his
whip ; then he hits another and another
(there are four in the cage) till he gets
them all wild, taking care to keep out of
reach
There's nothing courageous about
this.
A TRADE SECRET.
But about going into the cage. When
he gOcs in for exhibition he carries an iron
bar. This iron bar he has previously
heated as nearly red hot a3 he dares, with
out its heat showing to the audience. The
lions are afraid of it. It is not bravery,
but legerdemain that carries him safely
through the lions' cage. This is one of the
secrets of the trade, and I tell it to you in
confidence. If you have any ambition to
try it, take a cage with two lions, heat the
iron very, very hot, brace up your nerves,
put on your sternest look then go home.
From the sublime to the ridiculous.
Exit the lion-tamer ; enter the baby ele
phant. Last Wednesday night the stable
boy (how they do hustle these poor fellows
around !) gave the elephants their hay.
There were five of them five as contented
and happy clephauts as ever killed a keeper.
In the dead watches of the night, when all
nature was hushednnd the sea-lion made
unconscious ripples in his crystal tank, and
Germantown lay bathed in moonbeans and
yellow mud,' a change came o'er the spirit
of the elephantine dream. The biggest ele
phant of them all, an old girl with big cars
and a long trunk, tossed restlessly in her
sleep. She turned, coughed, she awoke.
She rubbed her eyes with the end of her
trunk, awoke her sleeping sister. She
whispered something iu her car.
"No !" said the sister.
"Fact," said the old girl.
"Why, how who well, I never !"
The child was born.
THE UABY.
A jolly, frisky, romping, bright-eyed,
gray-backed little elephant, no bigger than
a dog, with a wagging tail, a velvety trunk,
two big cars and four of the nicest little
elephant paws in the world.
I had a little talk with the baby, for
she can talk as well as anybody ; not with
her mouth exactly, but in other ways just
as plain. When I weut up to her she
greeted me with :
"Good afternoon." :
. ! She said this by lifting her little trunk
and taking hold of my hand as ; geutly as
could be. Then she asked :
"Have you anything in your pocket to
cat?". ' '
This by sticking the end of her trunk in
my two overcoat pockets, aud finding noth
ing there but a long article on the relation
of mind to matter. Then she said : '
"I like potatoes," and went to eating at
a little heap of them that lay at her leet.
i i ii ii i r in i i ii' 1 1 ii ii i
She is as gentle as a lamb and as graceful
and playful as a kitten. She has very lit
tle to do with her mother, but her violent
attachment to one of the gentleman ele
phants has given rise to some bold scandals
in elephantine eircles. She is about three
feet high, very little larger than when she
was born, and will be a week old to-morrow.
"I wouldn't," said Forepaugli, "take
twenty thousand elollars for that elephant.
She's the first one that ever was born in
America, aud she's as healthy as any of
them. Her mother's name is Basil, but I
haven't named the baby yet."
As elephants live to the respectable age
of a hundred and fifty or two hundred
years, and the biby is still very young, she
has a very good chance of living to see our
next President.
Nine Unchristian Characteristics.
In a little book written a good many
years ago by a member of the Society of
Friends the writer, in a very forcible man
ner, points tut who are and who are not
Christians. He says '-the following sorts
of men and women would no more pass for
Christians in God's account than chipped
and counterfeit money, when it came to
the. balance, did in men's accounts :"
As first All such, who in suits tf law,
by preventing justice or other subtV con
trivances, possess themselves of houses,
lands or goods that they had no right unto.
Secondly All such who, by violent rob
bing or private stealing, take that which
is not their own.
Thirdly AH such who detain the wages
of the hireling, c:r grind on the necessities
of the poor, by beating down the value of
their labor, until they cannot live thereby.
Fourthly All such who in trade or
dealing use1 light weights, short measure,
or any other kind of deceivablencss.
Fifthly All such who cast their burdens
on other men's shoulders and go free them
selves. .
Sixthly All such as either give or take
bribes to effect things that are not right.
Seventhly All such who take wages to
serve lord or master and are not faihful to
their trust.
Eighthly- All such as make rontrr?ct.t
and perform not the same, or engage them
selves by promises and have no regard to
their word.
Ninthly All such who, by evil reports,
whisperings or backbiting?, sow the seeds
of strife, create prejudice or quench charity.
We commend these homely truths to
general consideration. Had the author
penned them at this day he could not
possibly have defined more correctly some
of the pervading sins of this age.
Jink's Boy.
One night Jinks gave a boy an old pistol
and a summer coat to tie a billy goat to the
door bell of the residence of his mother-in-ktw.
The boy "persuaded" ten feet of
rope and that goat up to the front door,
tied one end of the rope to the bell-pull,
gave it a jerk and them "lit out." The
bell rang at a fearful rate, and the goat
was wrestling that door bell and rcpe jn a
frightful way, trying to get loose. Pres
ently the front door opened, form looking
like the ghost of Hamlet holding a candle
in its hand, stood there. The goat took a
running jump, head on, for the figure, and
struck it so hard that the form and goat
went clear into the hall after a lighted
candle and a pair of specs that started about
the same time for the back room. The
fight between Jink's niotli-er-in law and that
goat was terrible, but of short duration.
He got his horus fast in her bustle, pulled
the old woman out in the front yard, and
was backing out of the gate with her, when
a policeman cut the goat fo'oro, got stood
upon his head, and the old lady crawled
into the house.
The. steamer Fanny was coining down
the upper Mississippi, loaded with pig lead.
As she was going over a shoal place the
pilot gave the signal to heave the lead.
The only man forward was a greenhorn.
"Why don't you heave the lead?". "Is it
the lead, yer honor ? Where to?" "Over
board, vou blockhead." The man snatched
up one of the pigs of lead and threw it
overboard. The mate, in endeavoring to
prevent him, lost his balance and fell into
the river. The captain, running to the
deck, asked : ".Why don't you heave the
lead, and sing out how much water there
is?" "The lead is heaved, yer honor, and
the mate's gone down to see how much
water there is."
Kansas has 2,125 miles of railroad ;
its cultivated area is 5,0o.7,C07 acres ; its
yield of wheat, annually, is 14,G20,220, and
corn 80.70,403 bushels ; it3 sc1mm;1 popula
tion is 212,077, with :J,'J0() school houses,
erected at a cost of 61,000,253, and a per
manent interest-bearing school fund of
$2'J1,200,G3 ; it has 1,G.")3 church organiza
t?ons, with a membership of 11G,o(j8, own
ing 40 1 church edifices, whose total value
is 'reckoned at 8I.518.9Ui).-
A RECENT Amherst graduate, now a
settled pastor, was telling a retired mis
sionary that he entered college and the
theological seminary with the intention of
becoming a' missionary, when the old
veteran broke out with: "Ah! you
turned back after putting your hand to
the plow." "No," ho answered, "I just
took another plow."-
r l ' I
,i .... i i i i
- The colored American Jubilee Singers
earned 10,01)0 by their concerts in England
last year.' ,
' . '; .V . - '
ScncscEiBE for tlae Jefiteeoxlak. '
NO. 36.
b i i in 1 1 ii" i 1 1 1 i mi pi i 1 1 1 1 in ii 1 1 ii i i
in
ST. VALENTINE.
- Who was St. Valentine? Any one
is familiar with the Rev. Alban Bi
who
utler's
Life of the ISainfs knows well enough that
he was a clergyman in Rome at a time
when clergymen there had not a good tin.?
of it namely, in the third cetriury. Tna
end of him was, that ho was soundly club
bed, and then beheaded, from which it may
be inferred that he was a faithful man, anil
did his duty too courageously in the eyc-3
of the heathen of the city.
Any one who has been , in modern Rome
remembers the gate Porta del lpote.
Well, it used to be called t lie I'ortu
Valentin!, and for a very good reason,
namely, that in the church of St. Praxcdes,
hard by, the devout. Christian people pre
served all that the heathen people lei', of
the bones of the good man ; for the times
changed soon after his, day;. and Roman
clergymen got leave to do their duty, with
out being first clubbed and then beheaded.
But how did this severe life, with its
tragic end, become linked with lovers and
their letters? The fact cf the connexion
whatever the history may be suggests two
reflections:
(a) Any one who is a little famous, and
particularly a clergyman, may go dowir to"
posterity in connexions he never intended.
How could John Gilpin suppose that lit?
would be remembered only by that one day's
pleasuretrin ? Or the Vicar of Brav bv
his skill in keepicg his vir.arage, wh-j;hor'
Whig or Tory ruled? How could Mr.
Ilobson model fiverystahle keeper, in
Cambridge know that "Hobsbn's choice"
would be known where Hobson's conduct
would be forgotten ? The fact is, fame
seems to be sometimes an accident; and on
the whole, it seems the best thing to do
one's duty faithfully and pay no attention
to posterity's opinion.
(6) But it accords with the "Ctnoss of
things" that a clergyman's name shold bo
linked with lovers' day. Any love making
that dees not lead up to the parson,
minister, dominie, pastor, or whatever
name may distinguish the representative of
religion, is a waste cf time, or worse.
Wheu a spruce young man is attudinizing
before you, Miss Lucy, and making glib
love-speech'esf, simply for the fun of it to
himself, the sooner the exercises are cut
short the better ; and if he wishes to gain
your confidence, your affection and your
self, without the clergyman, he is a
scoundrel ; his Words may be honeyed, bat
they are poisoned ; you sliott'J no" mora
listen to him than to a demon from the pit,
if he could become incarnate and make lovo
to you. Please to take that as the honset
advice of a living clergyman, who wishes
you well, whethei1 yol are Lady Clara Do
Vere, or whether you earn your honest
bread as her maid, and arc simply called
Bessie.
But how did the Saint and the love let
ters come together? Here is the current
account of rt. About the month of Febru
ary, in old pagan Rome, when they clubbed
and then beheaded clergymen, among the
rites in honor of Pan aud Juno, one Wa3
the putting of young women's names in
boxes, from which they were drawn by
chance',' by the men. NoW the Christian
pastors, when their daj came, did not like
the proceeding, ami they tried to "shunt"
the people off that line by giving them at
the same time of the years a festival, which,
as it came about St. Valentine's anniversary,
they cullcd by his name ;ar.d for" the names
of women they ' substituted the names of
saints. But the people arc not readily
turned from any edd custom that has once
gained hold among them, and so the jolly
lottery continued, only under a Christian
name, and in time came to include both
sexes, the person' chosen being called by
the drawer "My Valentine," very much as
we say "3Iy Christmas box."
Whatever was done of old, in modern
times the eve of St. Valentine's day was
wont to be rn'af ked in England by groups
of youths and maidens drawing slips with
names on them, the youths taking tho
maidens' and the maidens the youths' slips,
each calling that one drawn his or her
Valentine. . Treats and gifts were given
by the men te their Valentines; hence tho
origin, as one can see, of the letters. The
caricatures and squibs are a later inven
tion and not an improvement.
Children1 in Baltimore.
A census of the children in Baltimore
between G and IS years of age, recently
taken by the policemen, has been compiled.
The number is 09,303 boys, 3 1,235 ; girls,
35O0I. Of there are 30,8G7 attending
public schools', 14,551) at private schools,
and 23,S27 who do not attend any schoi-1.
As to the latter, it is stated that a large
percentage of them have attended schools
several years before being old enough to
learn trades. So that there are probably
not more than 7,000 children between G
and 13 years old who have not been at
school.
Danville Insans Asylum.
From the Report of the Trustees of tha
above institution, we glean the' following
statistics for 1875 187G :
There were 2G0 patients on hand at the
beginnig of the yaar, 153 t.f whom were
males and 107 females SI males and 52
females wero admitted during the year.
There were discharged during the year 14
females and 7 females, recovered ; 7 males
and 0 females, improved ; 10 males and 13
females, stationary ; 10 males and 3 females
died;- leaving 181 males and 127 females
in tho Asylum at the close of the year.
The AlleMitown relief association haa
expesdsd $l,0iS.52.