B. F. SCHWEIER,
THE CONSTITUTION THK UNION AND THI ESfOKCIMXST OF THB LAWS.
Editor and Proprietor.
VOL. XXVIII.
MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY, PENNA., APRIL 22, 1874.
NO. 16.
Poetry.
The Kobin's Protest.
"At Ml as th bird.," yoa say
Ah, much jm know about It I
We're bny all the livelong ear ;
We can't got oo without it.
" It tan't nacn to bnild a ae.tr
Well, thea, suppose yon try It ; "
Just work a week, and do yonr beet
Tbere'd lot a bird come Biga it.
To don't know where to lad ale thief a,
5or how to weave them nicely, '
And tz tbe stirks and straw aad strings.
Each la ila place precisely.
Toe caa't aceompliah that email taak
With twenty times oar labor;
Then don't be hard that's all I ask
Tpoa yoar little aelfhbor.
While wife ie sitting, tfa rough tbe day
You'll hear my music ringing ;
She'd Ure to death. Tee heard her say,
If 'twere aot for my singlmr.
And when the little oaee have come,
I help about the worming ;
Each day fall fifty we bring home.
And never mind their equirmiaf .
1 ail oae month, and then away
Ae fast as 1 can sknrry.
With voices In my ear that any,
Gh father, harry, hurry 1"
Then, Just before they're taking wing,
1 must keep cioee behind them ;
It wonld be sack a dreadful thing
If some bad cat should dad them 1
There is the twilight concert too.
And that must be attended.
And now, it must be clear to yoa
Our cares are never ended.
For Urns we work the livelong day
Ton cant pretend to doubt it
Toa see there is no other way I
And that is all about it.
31isscellnn.
MUle People or Eastern Story.
There is a singular fascination to
young people in those mythological
anomalies of Nature the little men and
women of Eastern story and modern
allegory. The dwarfs of the "Arabian
Nights," the pigmies who, in the old
mythology, waged such sturdy warfare
against their foes the cranes, and the
live and interesting diminntive commu
nity of Liliput which Swift has made
familiar to every household, are attrac
tive playthings of young and even of
older imaginations. And now comes
the story that such a thing as a nation
of dwarfs is not only not impossible,
bnt has actually been discovered.
While the redoubtable Schlieman has
been digging up the flesh-pots of Troy,
another Teuton with a like enterprising
genius and good fortune in discovering
the marvelous, and a name even more
unpronounceable for it is Schwein
fnrth has been penetrating far into
Central Africa, somewhat to the north
ward of the scene of Livingstone's
operations, and there has, if we may
believe his solemn statement, . found a
race of sable "Pigmies." They are, of
course, not an amiable, civilized com
munity, as were Gulliver's diminutive
friends of Liliput, but wild savages,
black as Erebus, with big, fierce eyes,
and ferociously shaggy hair and beards.
To be sure, they are not very tiny, the
average height of the males being four
feet seven; but this is small enough to
make them a marked exception to the
rest of the known specimens of human
ity. They are very fond of hunting.and
even of engaging iu wars with their
bigger neighbors, whom they attack
with great zeal in large numbers; and
the enterprising doctor suspects them
of being cannibals. - He succeeded in
inducing one of the Akkas the name
of the pigmy race to go with him to
Europe; but little Tikkitikki, having
overfed himself with unaccustomed rich
food in Egypt, to the great loss of the
European curiosity-lovers, and the an
thropologists of Germany died on the
doctor's hands. It is conjee ted by
Hchweinfurth that the Akkas are the
aboriginal Africans, and he asserts that
they appear, from their hairy persons
and their decidedly monkeyish man
ners, to bring man a degree nearer to
Darwin's "missing link." Herodotus,
it seems, asserted that there was such
a pigmy race in the African interior,
though his account implies that they
were more wonderfully small than the
Akkas; and bis other statements about
eople "who nse their feet for umbrel
las," and so on, have given incredulity
to his statement about dwarfs.
Kcene at Lynchburg.
Returning from the bridge toward
the town I came to a wide street stretch
ing straight up the hilL On either side
were stone pavements, crowded with
negroes; colored children gamboled on
the flags; colored mammas smoked
pipes in the doorways of shops, where
colored fathers sold apples, beer and
whisky; colored damsels, with baskets
of clean linen in their stout arms.joked
with colored boatman from the canal;
colored draymen cursed and ponnded
their mules as they hurried down the
hills; and colored laborers on the
streets enveloped one in a cloud of
suffocating dust as he hastened by.
Towards the water sloped other streets
filled with roomy tobacco warehouses,
and with rows of unpainted dwellings;
half way up the hill a broad and well
built business avenue crossed at right
angles, and there, at last.one saw white
people, and the ordinary sights of a
city. The plaintive sound of a horn
was heard above the bustle of traffic; it
nia8 in the hands of a negro, summon
ing tobacco buyers to an auction. En
tering the warehouse, one saw hogs
heads of popular herb opened and in
spected, and heard the familiar jargon
of the auctioneer.
Turning once more towards the as
cent of the hill, I (came into an open
air market, which for picturesqneness,
vied with any in Italy or Spain. On the
curbing of the sidewalk, and even on
the stones in the middle of the square,
dozens of negro women were seated
before baskets containing vegetables.or
varions goods of trivial description.
One venerable matron, weighing, per
haps, two hundred pounds, had her
profuse chignon overtopped by a dilapi
dated beaver, and was smoking a clay
pipe. Many young women were cleanly
and nicely dressed, and had folded
back the huge flaps of their starched
sun-bonnets, so that they seemed to
imitate the head-dresses of the Italian
maidens at Sorrento; and hosts of col
ored buyers, market-baskets in hand,
hovered from one seller to another,
talking in high-pitched voices, and in a
dialect which Northern ears fonnd diffi
cult to understand. Leaving the mar
ket, and yet ascending, I came to
another broad street, lined with com
fortable dwellings, antLlooking up.saw,
still far above me, the 'Court-house,'
perched on the topmost point Scrib
ner's Monthly.
If it be true that woman's glory is in
her hair, then this is most emphatically
the age of her glory; but it shines with
borrowed lustre.
MY FIRST LITERARY VEX-TUBE.
I had always wanted to do something
to help my husband ; he was poor, and
his health was not good, and he had a
family of four to provide for. I could
churn and sell the butter for a good
price, and I could raise chickens and
sell eggs ; and the product of the gar
den was no small item, but I didn't like
slavish toil, I didn't want a freckled
face and sunburnt hands and a stout
waist.
It was easy work to write stories,
surely ; anybody could do that ; love
stories were always read with a relish,
and, judging from the abundance of
them, they were marketable enough.
I consulted no one. I wanted to sur
prise my husband some day ; I wanted
he should find himself famous as the
husband of the distinguished Mrs. ,
the new star that had arisen in the lit
erary horizon.
My children were very troublesome,
the baby was teething ; I found that I
could not write love-stories and hear
them crying, and fighting, and falling
and bumping their heads. I baked a
jar full of sugar cakes, and made some
molasses taffy, and drove a spike in the
joists overhead and put up a swing on
it, and did everything 1 could one day
that I might commence my literary
career on the following morning. I
likewise sent to a neighbor's to borrow
her little poor house girl to tend the
children and be company for them.
In the morning I went'to my bedroom
np-stairs to begin my work. I had laid
the plot of my story in the night, while
my husband was snoring obliviously by
my side.
My plot was beautiful. Gustavus Le
Claire, a runner for a city firm, was to
fall in love with a lovely girl, an or
phan, Melissa Melsina, the neice of the
landlady at the village hotel, where
(jrustavus had stopped for a few days.
His friends were to oppose the mar
riage, and use all their influence against
me proposed union, She was to pine,
and be sent away to her grandmother's:
letters were to be intercepted ; he was
to cut his throat with a razor, and be
discovered in time to be restored to
life. A tobacco firm were to employ
him as a runner on a new route that
wonld carry him away in an opposite
direction. In time he was to forget her
and marry another, and, at the close of
a long life, fall into abject poverty, and
lie assisted by his former sweetheart.
He was to recognize her by a mark on
her wrist, and she was to recognize him
by a lock of red hair that grew on the
side of his head. He was to die in her
sheltering arms, murmuring : "Thine
thine only 1"
I knew if I could grow inspired while
writing, that this plot wonld work a
thrilling tale, and my humble name
would become a househould word in
my native land, and my fertile pen
would be a resource of pleasure and of
profit.
I wrote two days, stopping to cook
the three meals, rising early, churning
after the family were abed, baking bis
cuit to save baking bread, spreading up
the beds instead of making them,
sweeping in a temporary manner, and
cuffiing the children instead of coaxing
them. All this I did with my brows
drawn in a thoughtful mood, and my
pencil sticking above my ear.
The third day I wrote, Harry, my
baby fell downstairs and struck his
forehead on the rough stone walL and
cut a gash through to the skulL An
Italian was in tbe kitchen with his little
shoulder-stand full of gay nick-nacks,
and Harry was hurrying down to see
them. After he had cried himself to
sleep, and I had recovered from my
faint and fright. I resumed the pen.
When be awoke he was unusually
fretful, and I tried to keep him with
m a T rrnvn him m v (dinners, and mv
comb and brush, and a little silver bell.
and everything that could possibly
amuse him for even a minute at a time.
Just when my story was reaching its
acme, the baby wearied of all things,
and kicked and cried most piteously.
How could I come down from the
delectable heights of fancy and tend a
mortal child, when the children of my
brain, my immortal darlings, clamored
for my undivided attention? The
thought was mortifying, aggravating
how could I soar with all these human
ties tugging at my heart ?
I looked all around me to devise a
newer plaything. A small mirror seemed
to recommend itself. I held it before
the baby, and he laughed aloud, while
the tears like dewdrops hung on his
long lashes.
"See a baby 1" I said, "see a baby !"
I sat him down on the floor and placed
the mirror before him, so he could bend
forward and look into it He shouted
in his rare glee. I resumed my story,
occasionally peeping over my shoulder
and saying : "He sees a baby ! sees a
baby!" ,
After while I looked around, thankful
I had fonnd a plaything that pleased
Harry, and I discovered him very de
liberately sitting on it, peeping over
first at one side then the other, to see
how nearly it adapted itself to his
ample proportions. The glass was
broken into a thousand of pieces, and
he sat there as delighted as a boy who
has mounted a fractions colt for the
first time. He crowed, he tried to tip
np his heels into the air, and he threw
back his head as though he was tossing
a flowing mane. I really believe the
little human baby, with a touch of the
bully spirit that often comes with ma
ture growth, thought he had that other
fellow down, and that after some fashion
or manner he was a little man victori
ous.
At last, after much tribulation, my
inm itnn was written, revised.
.GUUd .VJ , u .1 j " - '
copied, punctuated carefully, put into
an envelope wiuioue ruiuug w """b
u.i rtff Ttooannn it was a first
attempt, I affixed to it the modest price
ol ntteen dollars.
Elated by the success that I was sure
would attend my first effort, I wrote
another story, called "My Grandmoth
er's Prophecy." The grandmother was
a snperetitioufl ow iaayf aim, lunuwiug
a. i. - x. 4 UM whima art A nmnli psi et
ma ueiifc ui uci. nuimio, oaaw v"
over every event that transpired. One
of her granddaughters came Buuueuij
-a nncf -9 arrrrfl Yin1 r ill ft lil&CS.
utruii m uwii v -t5Du - r
and the old lady said that it was an in
fallible sign tnat sue wooia receive &u
a-A. Af a vri a CTtX Tl T1 A TTVVt,v1 I V- Tlie
VUCJX VI iuiir3u I a -
offer did come in a very droll, dry, bus
iness-like way irom a renovate um
widower in a blue silk cravat I thought
I made a splendid story of the incident
Oh, I seemed to feel tbe cool chaplet
L-tu4 hrnur and to hear
oi i ante uu my - -- - -
the chink of the yellow twenty-dollar
gold pieces in my numuw
velvet wallet ...
Life was very sweet to me in those
summer mornings and noons and nights.
I waited patiently until I thought it
was time for replies to come, and for
the newspapers to shout out the name
of the new star, already in the zenith.
Hadn't I for years felt the burning
desire to write 1 Hadn't I felt that I
was one of the anointed ! one of the
few set apart !
I don't like to be laughed at, and yet
i always enjoy a joke on myself as well
as on others. I'll put my hands ever
my lace while 1 tell it.
A peddler came along with a fine
assortment of Irish poplins. Now.
always had a weakness for lustrous
poplins. I am tall and slender. I knew
a dress of dark green poplin would fall
in such magnificent folds from my
waist down to my feet, that I wonld be
the admiration of all Lienox and vicinity.
l had felt a desire to help my poor
husband, Fudge 1 Wouldnt that be
inverting the order of marriage?
wouldn't that be making of myself the
strong oak, and of him the clinging
vine ? I, a free woman, able to earn
my own living by my pen, wonld none
oi this.
I bought the beautiful pattern, and
promised to pay for it as soon as I heard
from "my publishers." I said this with
a great deal of zest and satisfaction.
The dress was twenty dollars. I could
pay for that easily, and have money
left and how nice that would be. Not
another woman in Lenox could do such
things as that, they were all burdens to
their husbands. They leaned on them.
Well, well, no Italian sunsets were
finer than ours in Lenox ; no sunrise in
the tropics softer, or mellower, or more
delightful.
In a few weeks came a bulky enve
lope, accompanied by a letter. My
beautiful love story of "Augustus the
Kunner, and Melissa Melsina the Or
phan" came back to me, and the letter
read :
"Madam : We shall not be able to
use your story of 'Augustus the True
Hero.' We return you the MS3., etc.,
etc
Why wouldn't they use it ? Perhaps
an ill-disposed clerk had sent it back to
me ; or, maybe, they had organized
rings, and favored no new contributors.
I wrote back immediately, and asked
why they refused it I wanted they
should point out the errors, and if it
was not worth fifteen dollars, perhaps
they wonld pay me twelve for it ; and.
rather than miss a sale, and because it
was my hrst attempt, 1 was willing to
sell it for ten dollars. I didn't mind
making a little sacrifice. I could afford
to be generous. I received no reply.
I wrote again with a like result
I hoped a better fate for the "Grand
mother's Prophecy ;" but though I
waited long and patiently, I never heard
a word from it I presume it was con
signed to the waste-basket
The days were not so beautiful then.
My . star of hope had gone down the
sunsets and sunrises were very common.
I wondered wherein had ever lain the
burnished glow and the tender shimmer
on the hazy hill-tops, and the soft, ca
ressing touch that seemed to come to
my glad face in the twilight breeze that
dallied on the billowy meadows, and
shook the over-ripe roses nntil their
pale petals fell like fragrant flakes at
my feet
I took np the burden of life again s
it was a little heavy at first ; its task;
were often performed in tears, that fell
freely when I thought of my great mis
take. Though I shrank from facing
the truth, 1 could call my error by no
other name.
How I hated the sight of my green
poplin dress 1 It brought np such pain
ful memories ; and then it did not har
monize with my shawl, or hat, or veil.
What a mountain loomed np before me
when I tried to pay for it myself.
I sold butter and eggs, chickens and
berries, and cucumbers and radishes,
and took in washiBgs and boarded the
music-teacher, but 1 couldn't pay for it
all myself, and I couldn't trade it off.
It haunted me like the dead body haun
ted Eugene Aram.
At last, in a fit of despair, I cried
right out one night, and owned np to
the whole thing. I was very miserable;
I hid my face in Joey's bosom, and with
sobs that shook me like an ague fit, I
confessed the whole truth. It was very
humiliating, but Joey said it only made
me dearer to him than ever, and that I
must never play the strong oak again,
and keep secrets from him any more.
He said the public should never have
the opportunity of criticizing his dear
wife's pretty stories, that they couldn't
appreciate them; a greedy gonrmand of
a public never should tear from the
sanctity of home her precious name,
and flaunt it in the papers.
He paid for the ugly green dress wil
lingly, and the tender love-light in his
blue eyes, as be did it, was worth more
to me than all the huzzas and noisy
plaudits of a hollow-hearted public.
I never recovered from the humilia
tion. My soul is sick yet, when I think
of the bright dreams that for a few
months dazzled my eyes, and bewildered
and biasred my better judgment
Starting Tomato Plant.
As some persons may be in the same
plight the coming spring that I was
last as regards knowing how they are
to grow a few early tomato plants, and
have them stocky and first-class plants
in every respect, I will give the details
of how I managed to grow a few hun
dred to my entire satisfaction. I took
a small box, 12x20 inches. 6 inches deep
and filled it with good garden soil, and
put it on the kitchen stove-drum, and
let it stay there till the dirt was thor
oughly warmed through; then took a
stick and made marks an inch apart, 4
inches deep in the dirt, cross-ways of
the box; then scattered tomato seeds
quite thick along the rows and covered
them about i of an inch deep; then
took a newspaper and wet it and cov
ered the box to prevent the dirt from
getting dry on top. The box was set
on a bench near the stove after the
seeds were sown and the following day
set on the stove-drum again for the pur
pose of keeping np the heat in the soil,
being careful not to let it get too hot
In forty-eigbt hours from the time the
seeds were sown they had sprouted,
and many had broken the ground; a
few were near one-half inch high.
Rural New Yorker.
A Fan-Shaped City.
imifar.lrm ia a verf stransre city.and
unlike any other city in Europe. It is
in the shape oi a iaay b isu wucu
Five canals encircle the city in parallel
nno TtutofMi around the out
side. The streets cross these canals by
drawbridges. There are six nunareu
i i .Huclnff tliiu canals, and the
UllUjJCS WVDOtug
city is divided into ninety-five islands
by cross canals. Houses front on these
canals, and often have a wide quay.but
sometimes the houses rise from the
water's edge. These canals are filled
.. . 1 1 1 L .1
with ships ana smau oopw iurj
pass through the city and unload at any
point
Tn Saratotra countr. N. T., one grain
of Fultz wheat is reported as having
thrown out nine stalks bearing 378 ker
nels. Selected heads in the field con
tained fifty, fifty-three, fifty-eight, and
np to sixty-three kernels.
The Experience or a Maa Wht
Did Hot Bar Him Wife.
The other day Mr. Slocum I don't
know but what yon know him; he has
been deacon and selectman and squire
and pretty much everything in our Til
lage was reading out lond from one of
the papers about burying dead corpses.
The editor didn't hold with burying of
them,and said that burning or embalm'
ing was the proper thing. When Slo
cum had got through he said: "WelL
there's Mr. Cutter, now; he knows all
about embalming." And then he says
to me, "Cale" my given name is Caleb
"Cale," says he, 7ou've had expe
rience in embalming, haven t yon 7
Says I, "By gosh !I should rather think
1 had."
His remark set me thinking, and
that's how it comes round that I'm
writing my experience to yon. It's all
very well for people to talk about em
balming deceased corpses, but it's tbe
Christian duty of those that have tried
it and found what a plague they are, to
expose the hollowness of an embalmed
corpse. I've tried it, and there isn't
the least particle of comfort in the
thing.
It happened this way. My wife died
three years ago. Uied very sudden,
too. it was something about her liver.
There is a great deal of liver complaint
that people don't know of. There was
mv wife's cousin who came to visit at
our house ten years ago. He thought
he had the rheumatism, but I knew
better. "Hank," says I, "you've got
the liver complaint" "Liver be
hanged," says he. "How can a man
have liver complaint in his knees !
"The liver," says L "can break out
anywhere. I know liver complaint when
I see it and you've got it" Well, I
convinced him after a while, and he
took to taking some liver pills I dis
remember the name of them just now.
It was only two years afterwards that
he could walk as straight as anybody.
so yon see 1 was right
As I was saying, my wife died,
was remarkably fond of her, as any man
ought to be whose wile was an orphan.
and could bake the most beautiful pies
in our section of country. She died on
Monday, and that evening, as I was sit
ting on the piazza, along came Dr.
Sabin,
Most likely yon know the doctor. A
smart man; but s yon say, a little too
fond of the intoxicating element 1
knew him when he was in the army,
He was not an army surgeon, bnt he
was in the embalming business. When
ever he'd get a good paying corpse he'd
come over to my tent I was regimen
tal sutler and drank whisky in a way
that was really disheartening. Why,
I've charged that man live dollars a
drink, just to try to exert a good influ
ence over him, but he'd drink and
drink so long as he'd got a cent left
WelL I hadn't seen the doctor since
the war, and was really glad to meet
him again. He was looking very bad,
and was pretty well used up. He sat
down and told me what a streak of bad
luck he'd had, and wanted to know if I
could get him a job. Now, yon see, I
wanted to help him along for the sake
of old times, but the more I thought
the less I could see my way. All of a
sudden I happened to think about the
embalming bnsiness,and I says to him,
"Have yon done any embalming
lately V "No," says he; "for the rea
sen that deceased corpses are all buried
nowadays. I only wish I could get one
that the friends wanted to preserve,"
says he, "By gosh," says I, "I can
give you a job now, right off, embalm
ing my wife. She s laid out np stairs
at this very minute." "Done," says
the doctor. "And I'll make the pret
tiest job out of her you ever saw yet."
Ton see, I wanted to put a little
money in an old friend's pocket and
then I calculated the job wonld cost a
good deal less than a regular funeral.
The coffin would naturally be a dead
loss, since it had been ordered, and as
it wouldn t ht any of the children, who
were small enough to roll all round in
it I couldn't put it to any profitable
use. Still embalming her was cheaper
than burying her, so 1 told the doctor
to go ahead and do his best
WelL it turned out as handsome a
corpse as I ever saw. I was real proud
of it Her features were natural, though
she was so well done that she sounded
just like a piece of stone-work when
yon tapped her with a hammer or any
thing like that 1 paid the doctor ten
dollars, and he went away contented,
and I took my wife and set her np in
the dining-room just between the win
dows. Here my troubles began. The neigh
bors began to find fault, and said I
showed a sad want of feeling in setting
her np in tbe dining-room and showing
of her to everybody that came in. I
couldn't convince them to the contrary,
and so for the sake of avoiding strife
and contention,. I moved her into the
back hall after some of the yonng men
had begnn to talk about getting up a
subscription to buy a gallon of tar.
Things went along well enough for a
while, when one day I fonnd that the
children had got her into the back-yard,
under a tent, and was exhibiting her
for a cent a sight to all the children in
town. I just confiscated the money
and gave my boys a good thrashing.
"Spoil a spare child with the rod,"
says Solomon, "and when he is old he
won't depart from it." That's always
been my motto, and I try to live np to
it I put her up in the spare chamber
this time and locked her in. That night
I heard a tremendous fall up stairs, and
in the morning there was my wife fallen
over on to the washstand and all the
crockery smashed to pieces. She'd
broke off her nose and one ear besides,
and do my best I could not stick them
on again with glue or anything. She
always did stand very ticklish, and I
often regretted that I hadn't asked the
doctor to run a pound or two of lead in
her feet just to keep her right side np.
After this I stowed her up in the gar
ret but I couldn't get a hired girl to
stay in the place on account of her. I
thought one time I'd trade her to Bar
nnm, but happening to mention it to
some of the folks in town, they con
vinced me that it wouldn't be wise. I
always did hate disorder and violence.
The last thing I did was to put her
out in the cornfield last spring, where
she would be nseful in keeping away
crows, and looked real attractive be
sides. But the neighbors made an
other row, and I had to put her in the
barn.
I'd bury her gladly, only I split np
the coffin for firewood, and it seems ex
travagant now to go and buy a coffin for
a corpse that's been dead for going on
three years, while there are so many
charitable objects suffering for want of
the money. Sol keep her out in the
bam, and for what I see shell have to
stay there. I thought at one time I
could work her np for lime during our
whitewashing season, bnt writing to the
doctor about it he told me it was sac
rilege, because there wasn't any lime
stone about her, however much she
might look like it
I calculate, what with the cost of em
balming her, the things she's broke by
falling over on them, the cost of labor
in moving her backwards and forwards
for she weighs six hundredweight
easy the embalming has stood me in
at least thirty dollars. I could have
buried her for twenty and had none of
this bother besides. And' that s why 1
want to tell yon never to embalm a de
ceased corpse in no circumstances.
Never mind what the papers say. I've
had experience in the business, and if I
were to lose ten wives I'd bury them
cheerfully rather than be bothered with
an embalmed one lumbering np the
honse and fit for nothing whatever.
Sagceationa Aboat Coffee. .
If you buy your coffee already
browned, says a correspondent of the
"Country Gentleman,"1 always brown
it over. This develops a better flavor,
and increases the strength. The reason
is that the desirable qualities are made
available by the heat.lmt go biu kajr.iin
CTatliiallv. and niav be broticht out
again by heat as before. In conse
quence of tins, coftee should always be
browned, or browned over, at the time
it is wanted to be used. Then it is
fresh, with all the flavor and strenirth
develoed. It will benefit it to keep it
corked np tight after it is browned. It
should never be left exjxmed to the air
in this condition, as it will lone its
strength, and alworb odors that come
in routaet with it Hence the grocery
taint of the coffee of commerce, both
the browned and the unbrowned. as
Nrth have the proiK-rty of absorbing,
being good disinfectants. In purchas
ing iret the raw material. The browned
is often an interior or defective article.
colored to hide the defect. The lest
way is to get a sample and test it. If
good, secure a Quantity and keen in a
dry place and pure air, nsing it as
wanted. Mocha and Java are the hest
kinds. Grind coffee tine, or, letter.
pound it in a mortar. This crushes and
reduces it to a condition to take in
water the better, so as to extract its
subBtanee.whieh it will readily do when
finely reduced: else more or less of the
strength will remain unolitamed. J
coarsely ground coffee after it hatl
passed through the cotlee-pot, re-dned
it and iiuule a fair cup out of it. You
not only get all or nearly ail the streuirt h
but vou m't it readily, so that the taint
of the vessel is little perceptible; if the
vessel is ot stone or earthen, not at all
lo avoid lonir standing in the vessel
to settle, add the white of an egg and a
little water to the ground coffee before
it is Rtecved. and mix well: leave not a
dry dust. Let the quantity of water
and egg le sufficient to moisten, and no
more. If more is added, the egg will
cook: and as it holds the coll'ee, the
water cannot well reaeh lt.and vou will
have a weak cup of coffee tasting of the
egg. it is a nice tmng to apply the
eirir nronerlv: but when so done, it will
clarity the liquid, making it sparkling
and clear like wine. IS ever, never boil
coll'ee. When will people learn to heed
this important injunction T It has
been preached time out of mind, but
seems to do no cood. Look at the
amount of poor coll'ee that is made with
its strength (toiled away, what is not
eft in the coarsely ground mass. J he
letter part is readily thrown off by
lxiilintr the extractive matter, much
of which is objectionable, taking its
dace. Steep, then, as you would tea,
triiiirinir to the boilintr point but not
exceeding it. A few minutes will suf
fice, stirring in the meantime the sur
face occasionally, so as to expedite the
settling.
At the Springs.
The routine at all the springs is mnch
the same. Tbe hotel is nBually a roomy
building, surrounded by porches or
verandas, and stands in the middle of a
green lawn, dotted with the white oak
or some other of the superb trees
abounding in the Virginia mountains.
In the hotel the ball and dining-rooms
and the general reception parlor are
grouped; while in the small neatly
painted, one-story cottages, ranged in
rows, en oi -distant from the hotel, the
visitors are lodged. There is a host of
attentive and polite colored serving men
and women, ex-valets and ex-nurses of
the "before-the war" epoch, and thev
will tell you, with pardonable pride, "I
used to belong to ole Mars' ," men
tioning some name famous in the an
nals of slave proprietorship. Here,one
can thns establish the charm and seclu
sion of his own home, and combine
with it the benefits accruing from a
sojourn at a watering-place. Society,
which is usually very good, crystalizes
in the parlors of the hotels and in the
ball-rooms, where bands of colored
musicians discourse the latest themes
of Strauss and Gungl. When one tires
of dancing and of the promenades to
the "springs," there are the mountains,
and the strolls along the ridges thou
sands of feet above the level of the sea,
where the air is always pure and in
spiring. There is no gaming, save an
innocent whist party by some sleepy
old boys who lurk in the porches,
keeping ont of the strong morning sun;
there is no Mara toman route of carriage
and drag; no crowded street, with ultra
style predominant in every costume;
nothing bnt simplicity, sensible enjoy
ment and excellent taste, in the sunny
mornings the ladies and their cavaliers
wander about the mountain pathways;
dress does not exact homage nntil dinner-time,
and the children join with
their parents in the strolls and prome
nades, followed by the venerable
'aunties, black and fat, who seem in
dispensable appendages to every South
ern family having yonng children.
Scribner's Monthly.
Cereis, Jntlaa Tree.
This tree divides with the elder the
ignominy of leing that on which the
arch traitor hung himself, neither le
gend lieing worth the trouble of sifting.
It is a native of the south of Europe,
antl several countries of Asia from
Syria to Japan; and is a handsome low
tree with a spreading head, easily dis
tinguished among the Leguminous
order by its simitle glabrous, kidney
shiied leaves, and by its pnrple flowers,
which are produced abundantly in May
before the leaves, notoulv from the
young twigs,but from the old branches,
and even the main trunk. The flowers
are succeeded by thin brown pods
about six inches in length, which re
main on the tree all the year. These
are not generally produced in this
country (England) unless the plant be
trained against a wall; but in a warmer
climate they perfect their seed in
abundance, and afford a ready means
of propagation. The leaves are re
markable for their unusual shape, for
the pale bluish green of their upper
surface, and for their sea-green hue be
neath. The flowers have an agreeable
acrid taste, and are sometimes mixed
with salad, or made into fritters with
batter, and the flower buds are pickled
in vinegar. This species is known as
Cereis Siliquastrntn, from the conspicu
ous appearance of its seed vessels.
The reason American girls refuse to
enter domestic service is that they ob
ject to anything approaching menial
employment; what they want ia hyme-nial
Of What are we ilaele ?
"From dust thou art, and unto dnsl
thou shalt return." Our bodies are
composed of many materials. It ha
been said that all the metals iron.gold.
silver, etc., may be found in the blood;
that lime, chalk, clay, etc, also metal
liferous bases, may be fonnd in our
bones; and that each individual man is
an epitome of the universe. In him
are rivers, lakes, oceans, mountains,
forests, and something of everything
existing. Alan is at once a plant an
animal, a man and a spirit If he lives
true to his constitution, he comes into
close relations with nature and with
God. In our artificial civilization many
live months, if not years, without set
ting foot on the ground I They live in
dwellings warmed by artificial heat;
lighted by artificial light They breathe
i . .i i . , i
luipuro air: eat aruncuu ioou, eooaea
in the most artificial manner. In fact
when we consider the great mass of the
"best society," there is bnt little about
which is not artificiaL They have arti
ficial teeth, artificial complexions, ani
ficial calves, bustles and breastworks !
They are powdered, perfumed, crimped,
cramped and squeezed into such un
natural shapes that they may not be
classihed by the naturalist They are
nondescripts.
Now what is wanted for the healthful
perpetuation of the race, and for the
enjoyment of life.is that we should live
in harmony with the laws of our being.
We should keep close to nature; should
breathe the pure air of heaven; should
touch the earth walk on it work in it
Hence, the necessity of the garden.
There is something life-giving, as well
to the human as to the animal and the
plant h pntting our feet and onr hands
on mother earth. Is there anything in
the mnd bath the sand bath or a
bath in the earth? Tea, verily, in all
these.
There are Indians who dig a trench,
from two to three feet deep, in the
clean, soft, dry earth, and wrap a
blanket around tha agne-and-fever pa
tient and bury him in the ground, with
a ttibe through which to breathe, at his
nose. There he is left nntil he becomes
smoking hot the steam rising from
the ground like the smoke from a coal
pit when he is taken ont, washed off,
and wrapped np in dry skins, and placed
away in a wigwam to sleep. He comes
out it is said, free from the ague and
fever, or from rheumatism, skin dis
ease, or other infirmity which the
earth-bath and onr modern wet-sheet
pack is nsed to remove. When swine,
long confined in dry pens, on dry plank
noors, become constipated and burn
ing up" with fever and inflammation,
are let out they seek at once the
swamp, a mud-puddle, in which to
bathe and draw ont the disease and
the devouring fever-heat This is na
ture. Those who plow, spade, hoe, plant,
weed, prune, trim, and work in gardens,
are more likely to enjoy good health
than those who do not True, all may
not work in gardens, or on farms, bnt
all may walk on ihe ground. (Except
prisoners and lunatics, who are inhu
manly deprived of this blessing.) And
all may breathe pure fresh air. These
suggestions are made in the interest of
those who wish to live hygienically; and
we count a good garden one of the
means by which it may be attained.
Good taste demands that we
cultivate beautiful flowers. Good
husbandry demands, as a matter
of economy, that all who can shall have
a good garden. Good health also de
mands it. It is one of the civilizing,
not to say Christianizing, institutions.
Then hoorah for a garden, with peas,
beans, lettuce, beets, cucumbers.
squashes, melons, etc Strawberries,
grapes, raspberries, cherries, plums,
peaches, pears, apples, eta Whatever
else you have, or do not have by all
means have a good garden.
I'p m Tree.
A Canadian yonth has proved to his
complete satisfaction that Milton's de
finition of jealousy as "the injured
lover s hell" may be accepted, so far as
he is concerned, at least in the most
liberal sense. He became possessed of
the idea that his inamorata received the
visits of other admirers than himself.
and to satisfy his jealous suspicions he
concluded to take advantage of a dark
night and station himself in the
branches of a tree which overlooked
the window of the lady's sitting-room,
He had hardly accomplished this some
what dinVult feat before the curtain of
'the golden window of his silent
watch" were cruelly and closely drawn,
and his vigil was rendered fruitless.
As he prepared to return to the earth
he became aware, from the deep
mouthed hayings which greeted his
ears, that a large dog was anxiously
awaiting his descent, and for two long
hours he desperately, but necessarily
somewhat qnietlt, endeavored to induce
the animal to retire. Hut the dog was
as faithful as Byron's boatswain, and
the unlucky lover's smothered en
treaties and imprecations were alike un
availing. He was thereupon compelled
to select the most comfortable crotch
the branches of the tree afforded, and
resign himself to a night of dismal un
rest W ben the hrst streaks of dawn
enabled the half-frozen fellow to get a
glimpse of his tireless watcher, he
found, equally to bis disgust and relief,
that the dog was his own I The sudden
ness with which the baffled lover finally
reached the ground is said to have been
remarkable, and the soliloquy in which
he indulged shockingly profane.
laaaalty Asm Bar Anita.
Don Francisco Velasoner informed
me, in 1870, that he had a powderwhich
made the ants mad. so that they bit
and destroyed each other. I made sev
eral trials of it and found it most ef
ficacious in turning a large column of
ants. A little of it sprinkled across
their paths in dry weather has a most
surprising effect As soon as one of the
ants touches the white powder it com
mences to run about wildly, and to at
tack any other ant it comes across. In
a couple of hours round balls of ants
will be found luting each other, and
numerous individuals will be seen bit
ten completely in too,while others have
lost some of their legs or antennx.
News of the commotion is earned to
the formicarium and huge fellows,
measuring three-quarters of an inch in
length, that only come out of the nest
during migration or an attack on tbe
nest of one of the working columns,are
seen sailing down with a determined
airis if they would soon right matters.
As soon, howeverois they nave toncnea
the sublimate, all their statebness
leaves them; they rush abontjtheir legs
are seized hold of by some of the
smaller ants already affected by the poi
son, and they themselves begin to bite,
and in a short time liecome the centre
of fresh balls of rabid ants- The sub
limate can only be used effectively in
dry weather.
One can indse something of the pa
tience of Hoosiers from the statement
nf an Indiana naner that twenty men
handled over thirty-five cords of wood
to get at a rabbit, which escaped after
all.
Youths' Column.
Thb Miseries or Boyhood. Does
the boy hope, some cold winter morn
ing, to economize time by a hasty
toilet, and turn himself over for a wee
bit nap after the rising bell, there
comes a voice np the stairway : "O
Johnnie 1 John-n-i-e I" with lingering
persuasiveness. "Get right np. Tour
father says he wants yon to have all the
paths shoveled before breakfast
If little Jennie is np and ready for
breakfast that is all that is expected.
She has nothing more important to do
than breathing on the frosty panes to
get a view of Johnnie at work. Does
the boy get np early to get his skates
sharpened "Don't make that noise in
here t" Does he try on those idols of
his heart to see that every strap and
buckle is in order "Have not I told
yon times without number not to put
on your skates in the honse ? By next
spring there won't be a rag of carpet
lft flow does little Jennie manage
to keep her skates in good condition ?
hy, she appeals to the head of the
household. "Pa. can't Johnnie bore a
hole in this strap for me ?" "John, fix
yonr sister s skates ; and they re fixed.
if Johnnie tries to play in the house.
he is told to put away that top or those
marbles, asked if he can't keep qniet a
minute, and advised to take a book ami
sit down. On the contrary, just so soon
as he hurries home, and snatches np
"Robinson Crnso" or "Swiss Family
Kobinson, and becomes oblivious for a
time of his unhappy lot be is roused
anew to it by the paternal voice. "Come
Johnnie, put np that book, and go find
the cow. she hasnt come home.
Jennie, who is very busy putting her
refractory, doll to bed. wonders how
Johnnie nows which way to turn to
look for the missing animaL Perhaps
he catches a granddaddy-long-legs, and
repeats that familiar rhyme which com
pels him to point out the road Johnnie
must take. Johnnie being interrogated
as to that subject on his return, slings
his cap defiantly into the corner, in the
gronndsweil of his discontent snatches
np "llobinson Crusoe" again, mutters
something under his breath about 'girls'
and "geese," and is again absorbed in
his book. "Come now, Johnnie," says
the mother, "don't go to reading again.
It's eight o'clock." Five minutes
elapse. "Johnnie, did you hear me?
Jennie's gone np stairs." Five minntes
more on the desert isle, and a childish
voioe is heard at the stairs landing.
Ma, can't Johnnie come to bed ? I'm
afraid." "Now, Johnnie, I shant speak
to you again." A brief, a very brief.
respite. "Oh ! only to finish this chap
ter." "Ma I Ma I" louder and angrier,
"I'm coming down if Johnnie don't
come I Mayn't he come ?" Enter the
paternaL ''John, what are yoa np for
at this hour ? Shut np that book and
go to bed I Why, Pussie, why aren't
yon in bed?" "I want to kiss you
good-night," pleads the sweet little
fibber. "Bah ? she's afraid of the dark ;
that's the matter," defiantly retorts
Johnnie, going np stairs two steps at a
time. "I ain t neither. Can t he stop
plaguing me ?" "Come, John, let yonr
sister alone." That's all the sympathy
a boy gets I
Delicate Neujr. Nellie is my
neighbor. She wears pretty dresses of
soft material, gay ribbons and odd little
aprons, fanciful hats, and a great abun
dance of flowing, enrly brown hair.
A pretty little girl to look upon, I
have questioned to myself whether the
prettiness was all outside. A little
chance one day showed me.
Back of the honse where I live, just
round the corner from Nellie's home,
there live two more children. They are
brother and sister also, bnt not so for
tunate as Nellie and her brother that
s, they have not so many pretty things
about them. They wear old and faded
clothes, roll old hoops from barrels, or
amuse themselves with bits of sticks
and blocks or anything they can pick
np in their scanty yard
Neither tree nor shrub grows in the
narrow place round their home; no
flowers or green things whatever. Tet
all day long they play, happy and con
tented, with what they have.
Nellie went flying past the other day.
ribbons and curls streaming, with two
great bunches of red berries swinging
in her hand.
How wistfully the nonr little French
children looked at those red berries ! I
could see how much they wished they
had some.
Nellie saw toe. I knew the rapid
glance she took time to cast upon the
other children showed her the eager
longing upon their soiled but bright
faces.
Would she care? I watched her now
attentively to see what was the inner
adorning she wore.
While 1 was still looking and thiuk-
mg, back rushed the little girl, her
cheeks almost as red as the pretty things
she held in her hands, her little slippers
hardly touching tbe walk, and as she
came opposite tbe small house she
again turned her large gray eyes with a
very searching look at the children in
the door.
She did not stop, but I saw an earnest,
benevolent look upon her sweet face
that drove away the little bitter thought
I was entertaining of her. Still she
held close to her pretty berries.
I had dropped the matter from my
mind after a few moments ; the little
French children were out of sight when
softly Nellie came back round the cor
ner, past the high board fence at the
end of which tbe small bouse stands ;
and stepping along with a slow, light
step, she dropped both bnnches of ber
ries close to the open door, and without
waiting to see them picked np, rushed
away.
It was a very little thing, bnt it
showed me that Nullie had a pitying
spot in her little heart
I hope to see more of her. Children's
Hour.
Tbe Legend ! the Felt Hat.
There are is a legend among the hat
ters that felt was invented by no less a
personage than St Clement, the patron
saint of their trade. Wishing to make
a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre,
and at the same time to do penance for
sundry nnexpiated peccadilloes, the
pions monk started on his journey afoot
As to whether he was afflicted with
corns or kindred miseries, the ancient
chronicle from which this information
is derived is silent ; but at all events,
a few days' successive tramping soon
began to blister his feet In order to
obtain relief, it occurred to him to line
his shoes with the far of a rabbit This
he did, and on arriving at his destina
tion, was surprised to find that the
warmth and moisture of his feet had
worked the soft hair into a cloth-like
mass. The idea thus suggested he
elaborated in the solitude of his cell,
and finally, there being no patent laws
in existence in those days, he gratuit
ously presented to his fellow mortals
the result of his genius in the shape of
felt hat
varieties.
"Throwing mad" may miss the ob
ject, bat always defiles the thrower.
Never desert a friend. Ton may
some day get yonr deserts for so doing.
Ton will not anger a man so mnch by
showing that yon hate him as by ex
pressing a contempt of him.
The wife of a New TofY clergyman
receives all the marriage fees paid her
husband, as her allowance for pin money.
The manufacture of wrapping paper
from rice straw is now successfully
carried on at a new factory in Savannah.
Swiss Silk is reported to be super
ceding that manufactured by France
and England as the beet marketable
quality.
Two blast furnaces recently put into
operation in California, will, it is said,
supply the entire Pacific coast demand
for pig iron.
Commanding officers of British naval
vessels are no longer permitted to per
form the marriage ceremony on board
their vessels.
The following question is respectfully
addressed to the clergy : "Whether a
person who sits in the gallery of the
church is responsible for deeds done in
the body?"
It is pronounced an ominous sisrn
when a man who has been married
scarcely twelve months begins to be
tray an abnormal interest in the causes
of lock-jaw.
An amateur farmer wonders "why on
all this fair earth the ground is spread
bottom side np, so that it must be
turned over with a plow before crops
can be raised."
An ancient vagabond was arrested bv
the police in Paris, recently, who iu
subsequently ascertained to be a nephew
of Danton, the notorious leader in the
first t rench revolution.
Corn meal, heated and placed in ban.
is recommended as a substitute for hot
water bottles and snch like appliances,
for restoring warmth to the sick. It is
said to weigh less, retain heat longer,
and does not chill when cold.
The area of land known to be rich in
gold deposits in Colorado is about 7,200
square miles, lying in various parts of
the Territoryf on both sides of the main
range. There can be hardly a doubt
but that this extent will be largely in
creased in coming years, for new dis
coveries are constantly being made
upon the foothills and plains.
There is said to be a single arsenio
mine in Cornwall, the monthly product
of which is sufficient to destroy the
Uvea of five hundred millions of human
beings ; while, if the amount of white
arsenic contained in the adjacent store
houses were judiciously administered,
in suitable doses, to every living crea
ture, this globe of ours wonld be com
pletely depopulated.
Miss Kate Fields has been writing
some of her lively letters to the Tribune
this time from Spain. "Madrid,'
she says, "goes to bed at eight A. 51.,
breakfasts at one P. M., takes a siesta
before going to the bull-fight at four,
drives afterward, dines at seven, and
later begins business. There are those
abject enough to retire at night and
rise in the morning. They are shop
keepers and secretaries of legation pos
sessed of conscience. Conscience emu
lates the lark. It rises early."
A traveler writing of his Oriental ex
periences, says : "One of the most
pathetic instances of pure Orientalism
that ever came to my knowledge is re
lated as a positive fact While the
children of the Abeih school were play
ing together one day at recess, two
small girls fell into pleasant dispute as
to the size of a certain object play
thing, perhaps. One said, "Oh, it was
so very little !" and the other asked,
'How little?' Then the missionary
looked out of the window, and heard
her answer. "Why, a little wee thing.'
Then the other pressed her still further,
'Well, how little ?' to which the girl
replied, unconscious of the poetry or
the pathos of her comparison, 'As little
as was the joy of my father on the day
I was born !"
"I tell yon," says "Old Cabinet," in
Scribner's, "when a man who has been
surrounded with pure influences I do
not mean with austerity or fanaticism,
from which he would be likely to suffer
reaction when a man who has breathed
no atmosphere bnt that of moderation
and decorum looks back upon his own
life, and trembles at his hundred hair
breadth 'scapes from nttvr rut; , of one
kind or another, he cannot help won
dering what keep the unprotected
classes from going altogether and ut
terly to the bail. It was one of the best
saints ont of the calendar who declared
himself competent to commit any crime
under the sun of which he had ever
heard, and what it is that keeps the
average sinner from going straight
through tbe criminal list it is hard to
telL"
A new religious sect has recently
sprang up into existence in Bussia, and
in a marvellously short time hatl gath
ered hundreds of converts. The fair
sectarians for with one exception they
were all of one sex dwelt in the Rus
sian town of Porchov, and were named
Seraphinovski, from their founder and
teacher. Father Seraphinaa. Their
creed was implicit bebef in their rever
end leader ; their practice consisted in
catting off the hair. Women were eon
verted into crowds, and soon there
would have been little or no long hair
left in Porchov, when the police were
moved to inquire into the subject They
discovered that Father Seraphinaa had
a brother who dealt in coiffures, and
that monk and barber united to drive a
very pretty trade in the tresses sacrificed
by the devotees. The seraphio doctor
now lies in prison, with leisure to med
itate on the disadvantage of combining
religion and business.
The following explanation is given of
the origin of the word "filibuster." Tbe
river Yly, in Holland, is said to have
furnished the name flyboat, in English
in Spanish, Jiibote, or by softening
the first syllable, filiboteXo a sort of
small fast sailing vessel of about 100
tons burthen, which in the seventeenth
century were held in high estimation,
on acconnt of their fast sailing quali
ties. The buccaneers of the West In
dies, who began their depredations on
Spanish commerce in mere row-boats,
as they acquired the means of a more
formidable outfit selected these craft aa
best suited to their purpose. Hence
they became known in French as JilU
bustiers, aad in Spanish as filibusters,
an appellation gradually extended in
those languages to any kind of pirates.
By a still more extended meaning in the
United States this term has come to be
applied to designate any military enter
prise set on foot and prosecuted against
tbe government of any State or country
where no war exists, by mere adventur
ers seeking to overthrow snch govern
ment and destroy the domestio insti
tutions of its people for the enrichment
of the adventurers themselves.