ET BLAIR.
'VOLUME 26.
TITMI
O'VEII, UIE WIT.
Gone in-her-childlike purity.
Out from the,golden day ;
Fading away in the light so sweet,
Where the silver stars and the sunbeams
Over the silent way.
Over the bosom tenderly
The pearl-white hands are pressed ;
The lashes lie on her cheek so thin,
Where the softest blush of the rose hath
been,
Shutting. the blue of her eyes within,
The pure lids closed to rest.
Over the sweet brow lovingly
Twineth her sunny hair
:She was so fragile, that love sent down,
From kis heavenly gems, that soft, bright
Crown,
'To shade her brow 'with its waves sc brown
Light us the dimpling air.
'Gone to sleep with the tender smile
Froze on I•esilent lips
By a farewell kiss of her dewy brfath,
Cold in the clasp of angel of death,
tst-fair-bi ,
Whose bloom the frost Piped.
Robin,hushed in your downy bed,
Over the swinging bough,
Do you miss her voice from your, glad duet,
'When the dew in the heart of the rose ,is
Till its velvet liThs, with the essence wet,
In orient crimson glow?
--Rosebud, under your shady leaf
Hid from theamny filar,
Do you miss the glance of the eye so bright,
Whose blue was heaven to your timid sight?
It is beaming now in a, world of light,
Over the starry 1,14 ?
nea.rts, where the darling's head hath
lain.
Held by love's shining ray,
Do you knov7 that the touch of her gentle
hand
Brightens the harp in the unknown land—
That she waits for us with the angel band,
Over the starry way?
atliscellantons I,lpding.
MY DULL SCHOLAR.
Not long since I read an article in one
,of our magazines on the subject of com
.mon school studies which greatly pleased
:me. By many the writer was doubtless
Aleemed'Utopmn ; but I believe in him,
.and in reading his essay I was reminded
of many incidents in my own experionce,
.one of which I will relate :
fi NV rite . of many years ago, for I am an
4ild man now, and of • the scholars who
.came first under my tutelage I have know!-
' edge of but three living. / graduated
at Harvard,. id as my purse was empty
I was forced to seek employment at once,
and the employment to which I aspired
was that of a teacher of youth. I had
hoped that I might find a school near
Boston ; but the .best schools sought men
of more .exgrienoe than I could show. A
friend of my father secured a school in
the far away region Down-East, and I
took it. , It was in the central district of
the town of Deep Palls—so named from
the cataract of Spring river, which there
tumbled and roared and spurted beyond
the thus far-power of man to curb or uti
lize. VeLtare—some men had 'built mills
below and midway of the falls, but their
.1111yric had been swept away by a breath.
'lll3 fre sh !ts of spring and autumn laugh
-441 to set r.l the handicraft of puny man
opal the verge of their favorite vaulting
place. Still the village was a thriving
one, and I found my school much better
than I had anticipated.
.1 had come' \ froni college with a firm
belief in the "Cramming process." I bad
been subject to it, and I deemed that all
who would wear academic honors must
aindmgo the ordeaL I took position in my
pedagogue's desk, and viewed the two
score boys and girls before me as so ma
ny half bushel measures, each of which
must hold its sixteen quarts of mental fa
bulurn. I had no scale else. So many
pages of arithmetic—so many pages of
grammar—no matter how many or how
few—each member of the class must bolt
the meal, and be expected to digest it.—
The bright-eyed, keen-faced, parrot-nosed
boy, whose memory was a thing of self
poised power, retaining impressions as
does the plaster of the moulder, was my
especial delight, and I held hint up as a
pattern. He carried away the rewards
of merits, and others were scolded and
punished because they did not commit
their lessons as he did. My brightest
boy—my especial delight—the boy who
could stqff and cram and remember every
thing to which I directed his mind—the
boy whom I exhibited on examination
day—was William Howther. I called
him my prodigy. And I say now there
was something wonderful in hiipower of
memory. As a simple book scholar—for
reflections of the printed thoughts of oth
ers-1 never saw his superior:
• My dull scholar was Teddy Drake.
hral scholars more stupid than Teddy, but
not one that fretted me more ; for he
seemed to possess capacity which lie would
not apply. He would not commit his
lessons as I wished. He was careless and
forgetful:' His grammar he thumbed and
'twisted without- committ) any oil:it - re --
page of it to memory ; and even his arith
metic he did not carry to please me. I
had put him into the class of algebra.—
He worked out all sums that fell to his
class, but not by algebraic formulas. The
signs and rules of the science be could
not—l thought he would not commit ;
but the most difficult problems he was
able to solve through his ov)
But I deemed this stupid. Said Ito him,
after he had worked outa very difficult
firoblem by supposition, ignoring the al
gebraic signs and forms entirely : •
"My boy, this may answer very well
- but the tir - 11 -le w fr
ottrg.
now, but the time witcome
blems will be presented which cannot be
solved save by the rules which you now
neglect."
And he looked up at me in his frank
and honest way, and replied ; .
upon me I shall be able to conquer those
outlandish signs ; but they stick me now."
The boy's answer provoked me. I
wanted him to swallow and digest the al
gebra as a whole, and he, would not. Up
on the fly-lqaf of his book I saw a picture.
I looked at it, and found it to be a rough
but_exceedingly_life-like sketch of a horse
harnessed to a tip-cart. . I asked him
when he did that. He confessed he had
done it in school—he had done it when
he should have been studying the symbols
of indeterminate quantities. I 'sternly
asked him what he meant by it ; and he
had the effrontery to tell me that he had
been trying to find some way to ease the
draught of his fathe 's cart-home ; and he
. -
even had the atidacity to attempt to point
out to me how he thought to make the
improvement by raisi'g the line of draught
to a point parallel with the horse's shoul
der.
One day, when Teddy should have been
stud 'in ! . _ his En fish , ammar, I detect
ed-him-working-npon-somet is
kulk: That day his grammar was a
itunentable tallure ; but with his knife,
and a bit of pine wood, and a few bits of
goose quill, he fabricated a most ingepi
osis fly-trap.
I need not give another instance; these
two will suffice. I tried to make Teddy
Drake swallow and digest the same quan
tity and quality of mental food that Wm.
Howther took so easily and naturally;
and failed. While William was at
home poring over books, Teddy, was a
broad at play in the woods or by the riv
er, sometimes with his fishing rod, and at
other building tablature windmills upon
the brook that ran through his father's
pasture. •
At length came examination day. The
school committee and most of the parents
of the pupils were present. Wm. How
ther and e Xeddy Drake were in the same
class. The former answered every ques
tion promptly, while the latter stumbled
over propositions that seemed simple e
nough. I praised the smart boy and de
nounced the dull boy., I did it in the
presence of our visitors, and I did it un
sparingly. I hurt the feelings of Teddy,.
and I also hurt the feelings of his parents;
and from thence Teddy attended my school
no more; and I prophesied that he would
grow up to be a dolt.
At length I left the school and returned
to Massachusetts.
After a lapse of years I visited Steep
Falls again ; and where I had left a qui
et village I found a populous and busy
town. The water which had aforetime
spent its aimless fury in the roaring cata
aract had been led around an adjacent
hill by a canal, upon which had been
erected mills that gave employment to a
thousand men and women. And here,
too, were manufactured "Drake's patent
loom," and Drake's patent gang-saw."
asked Who the Drake was that invented
these grand achievements of machinery.
"The same man," answered our cire
rone, "who invented our canal and util
ized the :water of our river—the.same man
who has, by has own genius and unaided
will, brought our town up from an ob
scure village to a first-class municipality,
and who has made employment for two
thousand people. It is Theodore Drake."
"Theodore ?" said I. "Has he been
here long?"
"He was born here."
"Did they used to call him Teddy ?"
"Yes."
And this was Teddy Drakemy dull
scholar of other years! But I was not
surprised. As I before remarked, I, had
learned something during the intervening
years. I called upon Mr. Drake, he knew
me the moment he saw me ; and he re
membered the old time only pleasantly.
I had no need to ask his forgiveness. He
saw the shadow upon my face, and he
quickly cheered it away. I spent several
days at Steep Falls, and my home during
my stay was with Teddy Drake. He
showed me through the mills, and he not
only explained to me the principles of
his new machinery, but he led me out and
showed me how he had bent and trained
nature to serve his will.
"I could never have forced this water
to run up he said to me with a
smile, as we stood upon the brink of old
falls," nor could I have coaxed the same
water to flow otherwise than furiously.
over this cataract; but selecting a track
which the flood might traverse of its own
will, and in obedience to its own natural
laws, I have succeeded in guiding it hith
er and making it useful. You see the
point as applied to the mind of the Bohol.
a.r ?'
•I saw and acknowledged the force of
the, illustration.
may add that I found Wm. Howther
serving Drake as confidential clerk and
book-keeper, upon a fair salary. He was
an accomplished accountant, and was cor
rect and prompt in his clerical duties.
Remembeetbo poor
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A FAMELTNEIWSPAPER.e.DEVOTED TO: I'. LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. ETC.
WAYNESBORW 4 FR.
Friends of my; Youth.
nen. : 9f my you h, where areryo
Together we gaily ' lianclied builife-barks
upon the then joyous s stream of 'life. The
banks bloomed ,
as a fairy
dream, and' flowers" scattered their beauty
all around us. The was serene and
smiling; the weather was pleasant and'
calm. ; But you' lire gone, and Mai left
alone; and yod have not told me whither
~eu~sv~E _ departed Asa; rocking .
bark le i.lowly &rifting doWn the tide; and
itlerie - SIM - floitif: - No merry—vciices—of
cheering song mark her course as in days
agone, when ye *ere by my side to mark
her progress and guide her motions. No,
no ; alone I seem to liv-ea-nd—all—else
seems dead and dying.
Friends of my youth, where are ybu ?"
Ab, me! along the banks of the winding
stream, thOliranclies'of the weeping wil
low point to' the spot where your frail yea
el-sank-beneath-tlie-billoweof_thezaging.
sea. 0 God I I see it all. You sleep be
neath the angry waves where you are
still and Silent. Was there none to brave
the storms for you? Was there none to'
throw the friendly rope, or launch the
life-boat and haste to your rescue ? Was
there none with power sufficient to wrest
_your_name_from_dark oblivion ? Was
there none to raise a monument, or set a
simple stone, to tell what truth, what
worth, what beauty rests beneath the dark
and chilly wave? And the winds and
the waters sigh sadly to my listening ear
"none."
Friends of m y 'youth, :where are you'?
When the sun is gone, and the birds are
• • • : and the
midnight hour comes sadly on, and , the,
waves of the stream lie silent and peace
ful at ray feet, I often fix my weeping
eyes upon those watery graves ; I seem to
view your own happy ,spirits • rising up
froth your coral beds, bringing
,with you
the joTs and delights of other days. ''Tis'
- that - I - check-the-rising gigh,bru sh-away
the tear, and bid the plaintive moan be
gone, and the joyous song return. But
the morning dawns and my sainted visions
quickly depart. I stretch my aching hands
to hold them ; but they've gone, and lam
left again, sad, comfortless, alone.
Friends of my youth, where are you ?
A sweet, gentle whisper comes o'er the
rolling wave, "Not lost, but gone before."
0 joyous. words ,My heart is filled with
delight and pleasure. The hour will come
when I shall .meet •you again, taste the
raptures of your delicious joys, and share
the glories of your heavenly home. If
cheerless and lonely I must roam yet a
while, yet I know where is ONE who can
grasp the rudder with a master's' skill,
and can pllot ray vessel safely through
every storm, around every shoal, over ev
ery breaker, into your peaceful, stortuless
harlet. .
Friends of my youth, I have found
you! High in yonder realms of light ye
live and are joyous and happy forever.—
Sing on your rapturous songs, roam your
vine trailed, hills and mountains, and
sweep your'golden lyres ; and through the
mist that rises from the Jordan of death
I catch a glimpse of the light you have
placed "in the window for me," Far a
way; by. faith, I see the towering domes
and lofty spires of your heavenly city.—
Soon you'll hear the trumpet of the look=
out angel announcing my frail bark in
view. Then meet me on' the wharf of
glory, when we'll join our voices in, one
united song, "Home at last! Home at
last l—Editor Straeburg (Pa.) Free Press.
A Lump of Brown Sugar.
Do yo lt eat brown sugar because it is
cheaper r If you do, buy a microscope,
and examine a lump of the next you take
home. ,"Astonishment" will be hardly
the word to express the feelings you will
have at the result. Lest you may not
get the microscope, allow us to describe
what you can see. _Under a powerful
glass, there will be seen myriads of hor
rible monsters as large as beetles, and
having the appearance of crabs. Four
dreadful legs, with claw pinchers at the
ends of them, joined in four parts as with
armor, and bristling with sharp pointed
spears, are in. front of the monster, and
his head has a long pyramidal form in
two joints, with five finger tips at the ter
minus where the mouth should be.' The
body is oval-shaped like that of - a crab,
only upon the rims of an inner circle up
on the back there are twelve more of
those long, sharp spears, with two at the
tail, and four snakelike teneacula, exceed
ingly fine in the articulation, and no doubt
intended, like puss's whiskers, to be feel
ers, to warn the animal of danger. The
reverse side shows • the ugliness of the •
beast even more than the obverse ; but it:
also shows the wondrous , mechanical ge
nius of the maker of it. Each limb is
padded with a mass of muscle at the base
of it, which gives the impression of iin
mouse power, and over the muscle there'
is a ease of armor through which it shows.;
These creatures are eager, restive, and ra
venus; always falling foul of each other,
or attacking great clumps - of sugar, as
large in reality as a mathematical point
With the pincers attached to the end of
each proboscis they take hold of and tear
each other, repeating in their small way
the enormous tragedies of Ten nysons prim
al monsters. A. spoonful of this raw; coarse
sugar was dissolved in about 'three times
the quantity of water, when; as with 'a
conjuror's rod, animal cules , sprang to the
surface and floated there, swimming about
and up and, down, like the' beasts that
wriggle in soft Water tubs, and finally turn
into inosquitas. They ean be' seen with
the naked eye, but not in their entire hid
eousness. It has !been proVed that in eve
ry pound of refined, raw sugar, there are
one hundred thousand of these aeari.
A well4iresQed dog wears a collar and
pants in the summer.
:1.10!77,,,.r4.; THURSDAY, AUGUST 7,1873.
I 4.7
BY KATE PUTNAM OSGOOD.
Hem: in the heart of the hills, I lie,
Nothing but acte 'vist, earth and sky--
{ An amethyst Mid ari emerald Stone "
Hung and hollowed for mO alone !
It is a dream,. or catiit be; -
That there islife apart from`me?—
A larger world than the circling bound,
Of light and color that lap me round?
prorsily, gully, through my brain,
Like some recurrent, vague refrain,
A world of fandy comes and goes—
Shadowy pleasures, bliado % y woe:.
Spectral toils and troubles seem
Fashioned out - Of this foolish dream:
Bound my char Med quiet creep
Phantom creatures that laugh and weep
Nay, I know they are meamngl
Visions of utter , idleness,
Nothing was, nor'ever will be,
Save the hills and the heavens and me.
A Custom worth Imitating.
Mr. C. C. Fulton, one of the ptpprietors
of-the-Baltimore-American,_in_nne_of_his
interesting letters from' Europe, has the
following remarks on German temper.
ance ;
"No one here invites• or urges another
man to'drink . with him or at his expense.
Men sit down and drink together as a
general rule, but no man pays.for what the
other' drinks unless he is too poor to pay
es as.each, play desire, and when ti e wai
ter comes . for the money each pays for
what he bits' drank. According to our
system, if a half dozen men sit down to
drink, each one must treat in his turn, and.
thus each must drink six times, whether
he desires it or not. It.is thus that drunk
ards are nucdcau-d-fortunes-acquired—for
tavern-keepers. If it was not for our sys
tem of 'treating,' excessive drinking would
not be so col - Union ; and inebriate asylums
be as unnecessary its they are here. Noth
ing stronger than beer or wine finds any
sale, and even this is drank in modera
tion. It is not gulphed down, but drank
slowly, or rather sipped, whilst eating.—
If you desire to offend a German you
could not accomplish it more successfully
than by insisting 'on paying for what he.
has drank oreaten at the same table with
you. "Do you wish to insult me?" would
be the exclamation that would greet you
on the introduction of such au American
idea at the social board in Germany.
I am Dying,• Egypt, Dying.
,
It was at the' battle of Cornefix Ferry,
in Nicholson county, West Virgins, that
General Robert 'Lytle, a member of
the Cineinnai press, who had risen not on
ly from printer to editor, but from private
to-General, was kilted far in advance of
his command while gallantly leading an
assault upon our lines.' His horse bore
his corpse into our lines, and the steed
and his dead rider were both captured.—
So soon as it was known that the author of
that rare itoeln, as familiar and as great
ly admired , North as South, "I am Dying,
Egypt, Dying,',' lay
_dead in the camp,
officers and men crowded around to take
a last look at the poet-soldier Who had a
chieved se great a literary triumph.=
There was no rejoicing over the . death of
this fallen enemy ; but there, was in truth
something on each soldier's cheek that for
the moment washed away the stains of
powder. Tenderly they took him up and
when the battle was over an escort of
bongs., appointed from the leading Con-
federate officers, bore him back to his own
camp, under 'it: flag'of truce,' 011 it rudely
constructed bier, with his martial cloak
around him. In life he had touched that
chord of human sympathy which makes
all the world akin—and in death its har
monious vibrations silenced all resent
ment and thrilled iherhearts alike of both
friends and foes with a nobler passien
than hatred or revenge. —.Richmond En
quirer.
A. FATHER'S ADVICE TO A. BRIDE.-
Said a young , husband, whose business
speculations were unsuccessful; 'My wife's
silver tea, set, the bridal present of a rich
uncle, ' doorned'ine to financial ruin. It
involved a hundred unexpected expenses,
which in trying to meet, have wonderful
ly made me the bankrupt I am." —His is
the experience of many others, who, less
wise, do not. knew what is the goblin of
the house, working its destruction: A sa-:
gacioue father, of great wealtkexceeding,-
ly mortified his daughter by ordering it
to be printed on her• wedding cards, ".No
presents, except those adapted to an in
come of $1,000." Said he, "you must not
expect to begin life in the style I am able
by many years of labor to indulge; and
I know of nothing which will tempt you
to try more than-the well-intentioned but
pernicious gifts, of rich friends." Such ad
vice is timely. If ,other parents would
follow the same plan, many young men
would b;.; spared years of incessant toil
and anxiety ; they would not find them
selves on the downward road because their
wives had worn all their salary or expen
ded it on 'the appointments of the house.
The fate of the poor , man who found a
lynch Pin and felt obliged to make a car
riage to fit it, is the fate of the husband
who finds his bride in , possession of gold
and silver, yaluables and no Large income
to support: the owner's gold' and silver
,•
style.
"Hans,", said a Datchmap to his urchin
son, whom he had just been thrashing for
swearing at his mother; "vat's dat you're
tinking so wicked 'bout in de corner dere?"
"I aint tink nothin',fader." You lie, you
little vagabond you, You tinks py d—n
and I'll rip you for dat!" ,
D"AY•D'$"$ All.
,A Father Stabs a Crippled Child
One-day -recently-a-respectably-dressed
man carried a well-grown child, muffled
up and apparently sick, into French's
Hiifel, in this City. Be placed the child
on' the stairs and began to talk to it in a
very unkind and rough way. The atten
tion of the guests was attracted, and they
gathered around.
"You are able to walk up stairs by
yourself," the man said, "and I wont car,
ry you."
"Oh,-oh,Lthe -child-sobbedda_calTy_
me; • please, pa, do. You know ever since
I was run over by the car, and lost both
of my feet, I can't walk up stairs by my
-elf
"That's all stuff," the• man answered;
"get up at once or I'll make you."
The poor child began to sob worse than
- before; - and - the - brutal - rnan - gave - it - a - se
vere thump over the side of the head.—
The child moaned piteously. The indig
'cn . of NWT;S 7 . - fid - ers was
nation oft e I ystaraers was excited, ant.
one of them said to the man, "Is that your
child ?"
•
"What's that to you ?" the man an
swered, "I wont tell you."
He's—my—father,' the child sobbed,
"and—he—killed— my•—mother—just-i—
-as—he's—going—to—kill—me."
-- Theman doubled - hig st - as - though — lie
was about to 'give the child a savage blow.
One of the bystanders interfered and said,
"Say, if you don't stop this I'll call a po
liceman. I never saw such, a brutal fath
er in all my life."
The man began to fumble in - his pock
ets, and the child cried out :
"Take care ; he's got a knife. He's a
going o 8 is • you
Sure enough, the man produced a knife
and opened it. The crowd slipped off one
by one, except two.
"Bring an officer," one of these cried to
a' friend.
"If I am to be arrested," the man said,
"it shall be for something," and therenp
on plunged the knife into the body °film
child. The child shrieked,."Prn murder
ed, I'm murdered 1" and a crowd rushed
to the spot. The man quietly raised the
child in his arms, and removing his hat,
said :
"Gentlemen, this is a wooden child.—
I'm a ventriloquist, and any little offer
ing you, may be pleased to mhke will be
very acceptable."
CHARGE IT.-A simple little sentence
is this, to be sure, and yet it may be con
sidered one of the most insidious enemies
with which people have to deal. It is ve
ry pleasant to have all the little commod
ities offered for sale in the market, and it
is sometimes hard to deny one's self of
the same, when they can be obtained by
just ordering them and saying "charge it."
But the habit of getting articles however
small the expenses nifty be, without pay
ing for them, keeps one's funds• in a low
state most of the time. "I have not the
money to-day, but I should like the arti
cles very much," says a young man who
happening into a store sees something
which strikes his fancy. "Never mind,"
says the gentlemanly clerk, "you are good
for it."• "Well I will take it, and you
may charge it." And so it is that an'ts
are opened at one place and another, till
the young man is surprised at his liabili
ties ; which though small in detail, are
sufficiently large in the aggregate to re
dive his cash material when settling day
comes. In many instances, if the cash
was required, the purchase would not be
made, even had the person the money by
him ; but to some, getting an article
charged ,does not seem like parting with
an quivalent. Still, when pay-day comes,
as it always does, his illusion vanishes,
and a feeling is experienced of parting
with money and receiving nothing in re
turn.
A THormirr ABOUT RICHES.—We have
frequently wished we were rich; but ob
servation has changed the bent of our de
sires somewhat. The conduct of some of
our wealthy men leads us to believe that
no wealth is better than to acquire it as
many do. It is a fearful thought that a
strict account will be required in refer:
ence to the way and manner in whcih it
is acquired, and more fearfully important
how we use it after it is acquired. If it
comes honestly, and is held by us only in
trust, for He who owns all things, and is
used for his'glory and the good of others,
it is well; but if acquired by overreach
ing and overbearing, and comes through
dishonest means, it will not atone that we
feed the poor and help the needy, and
even give it all away in deeds of charity.
But it acquired by false means, and then
used to gratify our own selfish desires, it
is a double crime in, the sight of the
world's Creator and owner. We often
hear the worshippers praying for the poor;
that is well, but we seldom hear a prayer
for the rich. We think he needs divine
help to enable him to bear, the almost
crushing load that follows him.
FIVE STEPS TO THE GALL OWS.—A man
who had committed murder, was tried,
found guilty and condemned to be hang
ed.
A few days before his execution, be
drew upon the walls of his prison cell a
gallows with five steps leading up to it.
On the first he wrote disobedience to
parents.
On the second step, Sabbath breaking.
On the third step, gmbling and drunk.
enness.
On the fourth step, murder.
On the fifth step was the platform on
which the gallows stood.
`This poor fellow doubtless wrote the
history of many a,wasted and lost fife.'
The proper way for ladies to get the
right tangle on their hair is to till it fall
of corn meal and let the chickens scratch
it
The Beit SoCiety.
o_con:tpany,_ or good company," was
a motto givedby a 'distinguished man to
all his young friendi. lt,was a motto he
had always endeavored ;to follow as far
as lay in his power,, and it was, a very
wise one. The directions , of the Bible are
many with regard to evil com pay, and
all through it we are taught tdsltun such
society, lest we get a snare to our souls.
_Another man, of high position in the
world, .made it a rule to !associate with
high minded, intelligent men, rather than
with fashionable idlers ; and he said - hi
had derived more intelleettial ' improve
ment'from them than from ail the books
he ever read.
Sir Fowell Buxton o • • spo .e o tie
great benefits he bad derived from his vis
its to the Gurley fatally..
Their words and - example stimulated
him to make the most of his powers. "It
has given a color to my Whole life," he
saitt ---- Speating ' th-uni
versity, he remarked ; "I can ascribe it to
nothing _but my visits to this family,
I
where caught the infection of self-im
provement."
Surely, if our visit-have such an influ
ence upon our characters for life, it should
be a matter of serious importance to us in
what-families-we allow-ourselves to_be in -
'timate. Boys and girls form attachments
very easily, and often with very little fore
thought. In this as in all things else,
you should not fail to take advice of those
who are older and wiser, and never, nev
er choose for a friend one against. Whom
you have been warned by those who dear
ly love you. •
:reran pecTle-whese-very prosen
seems to lift you up into a better, higher
atmosphere. Choose such associates when
ever it is in your power, and the more you
can live in their 'society the better, for
both mind and heart. "He that walketh
with wise men shall be wise; but a com
panion of fools shall be destroyed.
Josh Billings on the Pprcupine.
The porcupine iz a kind ov thorny wood
chuck.
They are bigger thau-ssrat and small
er than a calf.
They liv in the ground, and are az prik
ly all over as a chcattktj.wrr, or a case
ov the hives. '
It iz sed thet , they hav the power ov
throkring their prikers like a javelin, but
this is a smart falsehood.
An old dog won't tuch a porcupine en
ny quicker than he would a phire brand,
'but yung dogs pitch into them like ur
chins into a sugar hogshead.
The konsequentz ov this is that they
git their mouths philled with prikers,
which are bearded and can't bak out.
A porcupine's gnat when it enters goes
klean thin and comes out on the other
side ov things. This iz a way they have
got.
The porcupine iz not bad vittles, their
meat tests like pork and beans, with the
beans left out. •
They have a cute way of stealing ap
ples known only to phew.
hay seen them run under an apple
tree and rolling over the fruit which had
fallen from the tree, carry uph on their
prikers a dozen ov them.
I hav told this story to people, but nev
er got envy to beleave it.
Porcupines hay got a destiny to phill ;
it may be only a hole in the ground, but
they kan phill that as full as it will hold.
TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE.—The Phila
delphia Press denounces the law requir
ing the payment of postage by newspapers
on their exchanges, and repealing the act
allowing the people to receive their pa
pers inthe counties where published free
of postage, as a tax on knowledge, unjust,
injudicious and uncalled for. The Press
says:
"If the Government were poor in re
sources, and really needed the petty addi
tion to its revenues which these virtual
taxes on knowledge will yield, no one
would complain—neither the newspapers
nor their readers. But its revenues were'
unnecessarily large before, and it would
have better become our national law-ma
kers to have still further reduced the in
ternal taxes, instead of imposing this ad
ditional burden, which, besides crippling
all the weak country papers,
will extort
a few paltry cents annually from nearly
every person in the United States.
PnEvErrriox OF SIINSTROKE.—The true
preventive of sunstroke will be found 'in
the copious use of cold water, as it is also
the best restorative after a sunstroke has
occurred. This sad affliction for human
ity so common every year in New York,
is simply the fruit of carelessness. It is
needless that it should occur. Take a
handkerchief, dip it in cold water, and
wring it out. This placed in the crown
of the hat, and its moisture renewed from
time to time, will be found an e ff ectual
protection. A sponge woulJ answer e
qually well, and would keep moist long
er. Persons necessarily exposed to the
rays of the sun in summer should drink
a glass of water from time to time, and
also bathe the bands and face iu cold wa
ter. Were these directions generally fol
lowed, sunstroke would be almost un
known.
Mothers' often spend 'more time and
money fitting 'a dress to. their forms
than they do fitting the minds of their
chirdren to take hold of life, and to distin
guish the good from the injurious=-the
flowers from the weed. As if the dress
worate-day and thrown off to-morrow is
of more imptrtance than the soul which is
to live forever.
A policeman asked a. diva/ken Etbiop,
who he could scarcely see in the dim light
of a cell, "Are you colored ?" "Colored ?
No; dis yer chile born so."
$2,00 PER YEAR
„ NUNBER 8
Wit and urnor.
A pleasant trip—going to Have:Annii.,
Corn starch pudding ain't good for
Shirt bosoms. • ' •
What is lovely woman's favorite .line
in the bietionary ?
..The last word.
A bachelor says, young, married cou-,.
pies are apt to give themselves heirs. 00.
A Maryland man owns a pair of hors
es forty years old. He calls them 2 40e.
easy weiirht"—Fnr_a_worn
"wait" until she is thirty-six, and nut get
married after aIL
A man named Tease went to see a lady`;
named Cross,: and teased her until. she! ,
consented to by Cross no more.
A New Bedford man found a long-list
brother , recently, by reading over t&pits
es of cures in a patent medi.ein,... almanac.
A man in Detroit wants to know wheth
er, because his name happens to 'be Rifle,
the neighbors have any rrght to call his
_offspring_a *son of a gun.
Their is a woman in Duluth who 'weig
360 pounds. At a little distance it is (lift\
ficult to tell which is the larger of the two,
the town or the woman. •
Au editor in Frederieksburg, Va.,. was
asked by a stranger fit it was possible that
Fitt e town ke .t u s four news sa i -rs ' and
the reply was, 'No, it . takes fotir newspa
ere to keep up the town'
.A.' gentleman in Mobile sent'out sever ,
al bills to his customers. One was return
ed with the following written on the mar
gin : "He is gone' where your bill cannot
_re,ach_lxim—_Send—another_onAreproo
paper." •
"Where did you get that turkey ?" said
a colonel tl t a.recruit, who came into camp
with - "Stole 'ivaa:the la
eft4ic, r said ..the colonel,
triumphantly liliy; ; hoys may. steal ? but,
they won't
Man is no sooner made than he is , get to ,
work; neither greatness' nor 'perfection
can privilege a folded hand.
our
more cheerfully we go'abOut our: I?iis
so much the nearer we come to our Para
dise.--Bishop Hall.
The same mille.that killed a mini' at
Lexington, Ind., was permitted- to haul
the widow to the funeral. Several' mar
ried women have been trying to purchase
that mule, but the widow • will not part
with the beast, as she thinks of marrying
again herself.
An Indianapolis woman recently gave
birth to a child during her husband's ab-
sence, and just before his return "the ,
neighbors" borrowed two other babies and.
placed them in the bed' with the little'
stranger. When the father asked to see
'his child, the coverlid was turned down';
and, although he 'must have been-initnenie
ly surprised, he coolly turned to his wife •
and asked, "Did any.get away?' ,
An unscrupulous lawyer, when prt a
mining excursion,. was descending a deep.
shaft by means of a rope, which heleld.,
tight in his band. .He called out to a
clergyman who stood at the top : ",As,yett:,
have not confined your studies to geom.-,
phy, but know all things from the surface.
to the centre, pray how far is it from this.
to the bottomless pit in the infernal re
gions ?" "I cannot exactly ascertain the
distance," replied the divine, "but let go ,
your hold and you will soon know."
A rural maiden in Illinois is anirious,to ,
dispose of herself by lottery, as many oth
er maidens are, though on a different plan.
This girl's plan, if carried •out, might. be
made rather profitable; but we doubt who
ther it can be carried out.' She proposes
to sell about 100,000 tickets at $1 a piece
reserving the right to reject-the holder
of the lucky number on the payment of
$5OO. This project, we should say, has pot,
the requisite thickness. We advise mai
dens to select some other way of making
a fortune. Taking in washing noW'woald
be more honest and quite as rapid.
A colored minister, preaching at dux
North Methodist Church Shelbyville,
tucky, a Sunday night recently. said some- .
thing, as we learn from the Sentinel; Ivor-
thy of appearing in print. With his long'
kinky locks and bony fingers and eyes
rolling fearfully, he wildly clothed at the
air, and exclaimed :
"Bredren and sisters; if yer want to go.
to Louisville, yet have to pay yer way ;
if yer want to go to Simpsonville, yer got
t , l pay yer way ; if yer want to
. go to .
Frankfort, yer got to pay ;
But here stands the great ;higgospet car,
An' God done pay yer far,
But yer won't get on and ride up thar,
• CHOICE Woniss.—We let our blessings
grow mouldy and , call tnem curse&
We fear men so much because we. kat'.
God so little. , • . •
Do the duties of ii;:clay.suni leaVethe
cares of to-marrow till they
If, as atheists affirm - , - ereattOn wine by
chance, what a sublime chance it was.
The sourest temper-must , sweeten, in
the atmosphere of continuous good humor.
He Who caresses thee more than he was
wont to do, has either deceived thee or is
about tO'do it.
, We way judge of men by their. conver:
sation towards God, never by God's did•
peusation towards them).