9w ft i)
il i' ! j'i'v!
B. F. SCHWEIER,
THS CONSTITUTION TUX CNIOS AND THB ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS.
Editor and Proprtatoav
VOL. XXVIII.
MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY, PENNA., MAY 20, 1874.
NO. 20.
Poetry.
THE KIBl AXD THE BOSK.
lie was the lord of Merlintower,
And I na bat of low degree;
She had her beauty for her dower,
Nor other treasure needed she :
He came, when hawthorns were a-fiower,
Aud strove to steal mj love from me.
iU ! she was sweeter than the wind
That Lloweth over Indian Isles;
An April bright, than Jane more kind.
Fawn-wild, and full of winsome wiles.
Aiji I, alas ! had learned to find
My only life beneath her smiles.
He sent my love a ruby rare.
That might have graced impe rial brows.
No gem bad I. To deck her hair
I sent her but a simple rose;
And prayed her, on a night, to wear
Tue gift of him whose lore she chose.
Come, queen of all my heart's desire!
Crown me or slay ! My soul is stirred
To challenge fate. My pulses tire
Of fears a chill tremor. Sings the bird
if hope for him who dares aspire ?"
A lover's scroll, and wild of word !
We watched her coming, he and I;
With utter dread my heart stood still.
The moon's wan crescent waned on high.
The nightingale had sung his fill.
In the dim distance seemed to die
The echo of his latent trilL
The flower-trailed gate, our tryst of old,
Gleamed whitely 'neath the clustering bloom
Of the dusk-starring jasmine. Cold
His shadow fell; a ghostly gloom
I.urked where it lay. Oh, heart o'erbold '
Hast thou but hastened utter doom ?
A still cold smile slept on his face.
That all my hope to anguish froze;
Then, in the silence of the place.
We heard her flower-pied porch unclose.
And in her hair's silk soft embrace
There nestled warm a ripe red rose !
Harper's Bazar.
VtE LAY I'M DOVS TO SLEEP.
BI LOC13E CHASDLXB MOUL.T03.
We lay us down to sleep.
And leave to God the rest;
Whether to wake aud weep.
Or wake no more be best.
Why vex our souls with care ?
The grave is cool and low;
Have we found life so fair
That we should dread to go?
We've kissed love's sweet, red hps,
Aud left them sweet and red.
The rose the wild bee sips
Blooms on when he is dead.
Some faithful friends we've found,
but those who love us best.
When we are under ground,
Will laugh on with the rest
No tak have we begun
But other hands can take;
No work beueath the sun
For which we need to wake.
Turn hold as fast sweet Death.
If so it seemeth best
To Him who gave us breath
That we should go to rest
We lay us down to sleep.
Our weary eyes we close;
Whether to wake and weep.
Or wake no more. He knows.
Xrwnpsner.
. What do voa read, kit lore ?
Hum. Ward, word, wards.
The familiar author of "Linguistic
Notea and Queries," in Tlie Oalaxy,
informs the public, in the latest issue
of that magazine, that an intelligent
correspondent has requested him to
point out a hundred great books, the
reading of which will secure a man
against dullness. Mr. White explains
that the "dullness" here referred to is
"that lack of mental stimulus, that
seeming emptiness of life, which makes
men listen to gossip and to scandal
with pleasure, and even read newspa
pers with a complacent consciousness
of well spent time."
There is some valueless matter is
every issue of a newspaper. This is
according to the nature of things, and
can never wholly be remedied. Bat
when Mr. Richard Grant White de
fines "dullness" as the "lack of mental
stimulus which makes men read news
papers with the complacent conscious
ness of well-spent time," he simply
convicts himself in a sentence of what
his diffuse writings have already sub
stantially convicted him, of being a
narrow dogmatist with a hobby; a man
who, as the bard puts it, "has lived long
in the alms-basket of words," and who,
in masticating this beggar's dish, has
forgotten reason, no less than civility.
A well-conducted daily newspaper is a
sarer antidote against this dullness,
this lack of mental stimulus, than any
boon that ever was or ever will be
written. It is an efficacious antidote
for a greater number of minds than can
be influenced in equal degree by any
book. It will prove a mental stimulus,
a healthy, correct stimulus, more days
in the year, than any book that ever
was planned or will be consummated.
This for two reasons: A newspaper is
the exhibitor of every day's existence
and every day's progress of the world;
and it is the intelligent we do not say
profound commentator upon this pro
gress. Any human being who reads
this astounding daily record, which
constitutes seven-eighths of a great
newspaper, and peruses the daily eom
mant, which, professiag to be nothing
more, constitutes but one-eighth, and
does ot derive from this a healthy
mental stimulus, must be feeble
minded, or incapable of reflection upon
events because too much engrossed
with accidentals of forms; because too
much given to linguistic notes and
queries, perhaps, and therefore poorly
adapted for making notes and queries
about matters more important for his
soul, his mind,and his body. Chicago
2 imes.-
Uod Hera for Caffe.
Some persons disapprove of coffee,
and doubtless there are constitutions
for which it is inappropriate. But
there is high medical authority in favor
of its general use, particularly amongper
sons predisposed to sluggishness of the
kidneys, or to gout or rheumatism, or
devoted to sedentary pursuits. Some
one has computed that a cup of well
,lo .v iu li 1 non tains from six to
ten times as much solid nutriment and
three times as much nitrogenous matter
as does the same quantity of ordinary
broth. In hot summer weather it is a
most refreshing and invigorating drink,
taken either hot or cold.
"I come to steaL" as the rat observed
to the trap. "And I spring to embrace
you," as the trap replied to the rat.
THE HISISTRY OF POLITE-XEMS.
"Kitty going to join the ministry
Well, if that isn't a good joke. She must
think she is a woman's lighter," and
Harry Franklin threw his bat np in the
air, and gave a laugh.
"That isn't the kind of ministry I
mean," answered Kitty, shyly, while
tears began to come in her gray eyes.
"I mean the ministry of politeness'
"And pray what is that. Miss Woman's
Rights r demanded Harry, with another
laugn, lonaer and more disagreeable
than the first, while he threw a handful
of grass he had pulled to give the pony,
standing at the door, over Kitty's hat
and curls.
"No wonder yon ask, Harry," said
his mother, who had come out on the
porch in time to hear the last few re
marks ; "for it is very evident that you
don't know. Even Bob, waiting pa
tiently for ns to iret into the nhmtnn.
knows more of it than you do. He never
would have thrown the grass over
Kitty's hair when she wss just going to
ride. If you really wish to know what
it is, m tell you. Part of it is Kit's
patiently taking the grass out of her
nat, ana snaking it from her hair, with
out calling you a horrid old thing,' and
asking me to make you behave. That's
right. Kit," she said, turning to her
daughter; "silence is the next best
thing to the 'soft answer.' If we learn
not to say disagreeable things, it is
easier to say agreeable ones. And now
who is going with me down to the cars
to meet papa ?
"I am." Harry answered, immediately
Kitty was only human, and for a mo
ment the new profession was forgotten,
as she said, hastily :
"Ton went yesterday, and mamma
said I might go to-day. I think it is
real then she remembered, and snd
denly stopped.
Her mother noticed it, and, always
quick to help fcer children in any tri
umph over self, said at once :
"I'll take you too. Kit. this evening.
for I promised. Harry can go because
he was so patient in not speaking first."
Harry drew his brows together, for
he olten confided to Kitty "he would
rather take a whipping than have mamma
chaff him. The "chaffing" did some
good, however, for he helped his mother
in the phteton, then absolutely waited
till Kitty got in before he took a seat
in the ramble. He met his reward in a
bright smile of approbation from his
mother, a smile he valued in proportion
to its scarcity ; for harem-scarem Harry
was always in some mischief.
After they had been driven for a few
moments down the pretty avenue of
trees that led to the gate, Mrs. r rank
lin looked down at her little daughter,
sitting on the seat by her, and said :
"What makes yon think of the min
istry of politeness. Kitty dear ?"
"I was reading something about it
the other day in that little book you
gave me, and I thought I would try to
be polite."
"The Bible doesn't say anything
about being polite, broke in Harry, in
his usual abrupt style. "And if it isn't
in the Bible we needn t do it
"But it is in the Bible. Harry."' his
mother answered him. "What else
does this mean : 'Be kindly affectionate
one to another with brotherly love, in
honor preferring one another V What
else does the Golden Rule mean T Why,
I could go on for half an hour repeating
verses that mean that we must be polite
to each other.
"Bat people need not be polite to
their family, ttarry said.
"Ah. my boy. you never made a
greater mistake than that There is no
place where politeness is more needed
than in one's own family. We are mnch
more apt to be conrteoua to strangers
whom we do not feel intimate with than
we are to our home people ; and it is a
mistake, for we are less thrown with
them, and so less likely to be made un
comfortable." "How does it make yon uncomfort
able, mamma?"
"Suppose yon were to ask me, 'Can't
I drive Bob now, mamma ?' and I was
to answer you, 'No, you shan't! wouldn't
that make you feel badly ?"
"Yes'm it would ; 1 wonld think it
was speaking to Kitty," Harry an
swered, with a sndden burst of thought
fulness, that made Mrs. Franklin and
Kitty both laugh.
"But if 1 said, 'I am afraid to have
you drive now, Harry, for Bob is very
tricky, and we are going down hill,' yon
would not feel bad, though you would
not be allowed to drive any more than
if I had answered you roughly. Do yon
seeT"
"Why, yes. So it does make a differ
ence, Harry said, "i never inougui
of that before.
"One reason thst families don't get
on smoothly and happily together is,
that they are not particular enough
about these little acts of courtesy and
kindness that make life go so much
more smoothly, Ion and Kitty would
be much harmier together if you spoke
t- each other as you speak to papa and
me."
'How do you mean, mamma? Kitty
asked.
"Why, if you said, 'Please, Harry,
don't touch that, it will break,' instead
of 'You musn't touch my things !
Mamma, please make Harry behave I
Kitty looked conscious, for she re
membered having used those very
words early in the morning, and used
them in a very cross tone, also.
"You wouldn't speak that way to me."
her mother continued. "You would
have spoken pleasantly and amiably,
and I would have been a great deal
readier to listen and do as yon asked."
"And you, too, Harry," Mrs. Franklin
said. "Who was it I heard yesterday
saying, "Go away, and leave me alone ;
I don't want to be bothered by a girl ;
what can a girl know about making a
kite?' and five minntes after, when I
passed, the same person said to me in a
pleasant manner, 'Please, mamma, help
me hold this paper till I paste it' Kitty
could have held it better than I could,
for her fingers are smaller, and would
go id places where mine would not go,
and she would have been interested,
and stayed to help yon, while I had to
go away in a few moments."
"But it is different, somehow,
mamma."
v AifFawnt TTarrv : therjrin-
ciple is the same. What would you
111 Ilia ll A wero w oj i.uu v.
when your papa asks me for another
cup o'f coffee, "I can't give yon any
more ; I'm tired of pouring out coffee
for you, you are such a bother ?' "
Tk. hil,lHin hnth lanffhed at the idea
of their gentle mamma saying such a
thing, and saia tnat uiey womu muu j
very queer.
"It would not be a bit worse than for
you and Kitty to speak so to each other.
There is just as much necessity for the
little people in our home to be comrteous
to each other as for the big people to
be. If you only take care of the tone
of your voice, it is so much easier to be
polite, for you would not be likely to
make a very disagreeable remark in a
bright, cheerful voice wonld yon ?"
"No, indeed," the children answered.
"That is so mnch the case." Mrs.
Franklin continued, "that when yon
only hear the voices of people talking,
you can usually tell whether they are
saying pleasant or disagreeable things.
An angry voice is like a railroad whistle.
warning you to get off the track, and if
any one is wise he will heed the warn
ing. If you get into a habit of speaking
to each other in a cross voice, you will
find that presently, even though you
feel kindly, you cannot speak so, and
then, children, you will feel so sorry
for it, and it will be too late to alter the
tone of your voice. I have gone into
people s houses sometimes and heard
them speaking to each other in cross or
sulky tones, and then they wonld come
into the room where I was and speak to
me as sweetly and pleasantly as a May
morning ; but I could not enjoy it, be
cause I felt that it was their company
voices that I heard, not the real honest
tones of their heart So, above all. be
polite to your own family, for there is
not much temptation to be rude to
people yon meet formally. Bnt there
is your papa coming to meet us, and we
must hurry. We will talk some more
about the ministry of politeness another
time. N. Y. Observer.
Fatal Omeas.
Not a few old families pride them
selves npon inheriting certain omens,
whereby they are warned of death's ap
proach. Some are warned by a me
teor's light,som by melancholy strains
of music floating from the mansion to
die away in the woods. A mysterious
knocking, never heard at any other
time, tells the lords of Bampton that
one of their race is bound for the si
lent land. A stamping by unseen feet
on the palace floor predicates a death
in the family of the ducal house of
Modena. A sturgeon forcing iu way
up the Trent toward Clifton Hall, is a
sign that the Cliftons of Nottingham
shire will have to pnt on monrning.
For some days before the death of the
heir of the Breretons, the trunk of a
tree is to be seen floating on the lake
near the family mansion. Two giant
owls perch npon the battlements of
Ward our Castle when an Arundel's last
hour has come. If a Devonshire Oxen
ham is about to die. a white-breasted
bird flatters over the doomed one's
bed, A local ballad relates how on the
burial eve of Margaret, heiress of the
brave and generous Sir James Oxen
ham, a silver-breasted bird flew over
the wedding guests just as Sir James
rose to acknowledge their congratula
tions. The next day the bride fell
dead at the altar, stabbed by a dis
carded lover. Howell saw a tombstoue
in a stone cutter's shop in Fleet street,
in 1632, inscribed with the names of
sundry persons, who thereby attested
the fact that John Oxenham, Mary, bis
sister, James, his son, and Elizabeth,
his mother, had each snd all died with
a white-breasted bird fluttering above
their beds. A family of Loch Ranza,
Arran, know when one of their kin is
about to die by an invisible piper play
ing a lament on the hill side. When
death purposes visiting a McLean, of
Lochbary, the unwelcome caller is
heralded by the spirit of a battle-slain
ancestor ringing the bells on his fairy
bridle, as he gallops twice round the
old homestead. As a rule, death-announcing
phantoms are of the feminine
gender. No Lady Holland expects to
shuffle off this mortal coil until she
has seen a shadowy counterfeit pre
sentment of herself. The Middletons,
of Yorkshire, as becomes an ancient
Catholic house, have a Benedictine nun
to apprise them of a reduction in the
number of Middletons. A weeping,
moaning, earthly sprite warns the
Stanleys of the death of a distinguished
member of the family. A hairy-armed
girl, called May Moullach, brings the
like sad news to the Grants of Grant;
the Bodach-am-dun, otherwise the
ghost of the hill, performs the office
for the Grants of Botbemureus, and
most old Highland families boast their
own familiar banshee, whose wailing,
screaming and weeping tells them the
head of the house must make room for
his heir. Lady Fanshaw, visiting the
head of an Irish sept in his moated
baronial grange, was made aware that
banshees are not peculiar to Scotland.
Awakened at midnight by an awful un
earthly scream, she beheld, by the
light of the moon, a female form at the
window of her room, which was too far
from the ground for any woman of
mortal mould to reach. The creature
owned a pretty, pale face, and red
dishevelled hair, and was clad in the
garb of old very old Ireland. After
exhibiting herself for some time, the
interesting spectre shrieked twice and
vanished. When Lady Fanshaw told
her host what she had seen ho wss not
stall surprised. "A near relation,"
said he, ''died last night in this castle
We kept our expectation of the event
from you lest it should throw a cloud
over the cheerful reception which was
your doe. Now, before such an event
happens in the family and castle, the
female spectre yon saw always becomes
visible. She is believed to be the
spirit of a woman of inferior rank,
whom one of my ancestors married,
and whom he afterwards caused to be
drowned in the moat to expiate the
dishonor done to our race." If all
banshees originated in the same way,
the less the proprietors of such things
brag of the matter, the better. All the
Year Jiouna.
Embraiaery Workers.
A writer in Chambers's Journal says:
"The ereat centre of Swiss embroidery
is at St, Gall, and the day on which the
WOrHl IS uroujCllfc IS i.TBli.ln, rani iu
the morning the yonng women arrive
from all parts in their Sunday attire.
After atteuding service in the church
they collect in a large room round a
long table, where each receives a glass
of white wina, They begin to sing one
of their melodies in parts, while the
master goes round the table, examines
the work, and Davs for it If he refuses
anv, and declines to take it the dis
pute is decided by a syndic, who sits in
tue next room. ucu iiicciuuiunu
is over, the head of the establishment
throws a mass of embroidery patterns
on the table; each girl chooses the kind
she likes best; it is lncribed iu her book
with the price agreed on, and the day
when it is to be returned. They are
very industrious; aud, by reason of
their great frugality, are contented
with very poor remuneration; and by
slightly sewing their pieces together,
can have them washed at half the cost
In Saxony the wilts are so low that it
is wonderful how the women can live
upon them; in Scotland, it is said that
many of the children receive only a
halfpenny a day. A small number in
Nancy, who can embroider coats-of-arms
and crests, earn three shillings a
day, but from ten to twenty pence is
the usual wages, il is a kiuu or wors
that endangers the sight; and as fash
ion reigns supreme, it not unfreqneutly
happens that a style is abandoned he
fore the orders are completed; when the
merchant prafiu by the smallest pre
text to refuse the work from the manu
facturer; and in this way the loss often
falls npon the poor woman, who can
scarcely buy bread and clothes."
Wakeialaea fram Overwark.
A symptom of mental exhaustion.
indicative of a very good degree of
mental strain, is persistent wakeful
ness. The physiological cause of this
condition is well understood. During
excessive labor of the brain there is an
increased flow of blood to the working
organ, the vessels of the head and neck
become distended with blood, as is
shown by the flushing of the face. If
this condition of distention is long con
tinued, the vessels are apt to lose the
power of contracting when mental ac
tivity is diminished. Hence arises the
impossibility of fulfilling the physical
conditions of sleep, the most important
of which is the diminution of the flow
of the vital fluid to the brain. Some
extraordinary instances have been re
corded of prolonged wakefulness as a
result of mental overstrain. Boerhave
mentions that when, on one occasion,
intently engaged on a paticalar study.
he did not close his eyes in sleep for
six weeks, bur Gilbert Blane was in
formed by Gen. Pichegrue that for a
whole year, when engaged in active
campaign, he slept but one hour in the
twenty-four. These and other similar
cases, have probably, been uncon
sciously exaggerated, for people often
sleep without having an af ter-conscions-ness
of the fact It is certain that the
continued deprivation of any considera
ble part of the normal amount of sleep
will be seriously detrimental to health.
Dr. Hammond, in his work on sleep,
mentions the case of a literary man in
America who, for nearly a year, while
intently engaged in a favorite study,
restricted his period of rest to four
hour a day, and frequently less.
At the end of that time the overtask
ing of his mental powers was manifested
in a curious way. He told the physi
cian that thongh still able to maintain
a connected line of reasoning, he found
that as soon as he attempted to record
his ideas on paper the composition
turned out to be simply a tissue of ar
rant nonsense. When in the act of
writing his thoughts flowed so rapidly
that he was not conscious of the discon
nected nature of what he was writing :
but as soon as he stopped to read it
over he was aware bow completely he
had misrepresented his conceptions.
If the language happned to be at all in
telligible, it was sure to have no rela
tion to the ideas he wished to express.
Thus, wishing to obtain a book from a
friend, he found that instead of the re
quest, he had written the prayer of
Socrates, as given by TUto.
Sir Isaac Newton, in the later years
of bis life, suffered greatly from wake
fulness. The fact, well known to every
medical man, that persistent sleepless
ness is frequently the precursor or
initiatory stage oi several most intracta
ble maladies, physical and mental, al
ways invests the presence of this indica
tion of mental overstrain with grave
interest But a continued course of
excessive mental labor generally mani
fests itself on the mind itself iu various
ways, all more or less premonitory of
approaching collapse. The brain-worker
begins to perceive an unwonted want of
clearness in his ideas ; work comes
gradually less on him ; he is alarmed
at sudden awkward failures of memory;
a feeling of surfeit or disgust will steal
over him in the midst of work ; he be
comes unable to fix his attention, and
latterly feels as if all mental energy was
crushed out of him.
If these warnings of an overwrought
brain, now speaking distinctly with the
tongue disease, are disregarded, the
wonder frequently is not that the inevi
table retribution follows, but that it
should have been so long delayed.
What particular form the Nemesis shall
assume, whether of physical or mental
disease, will be determined by accidents
partly of personal habit and tempera
ment and partly of inherited predispo
sition. It is noteworthy, however, that
the common opinion that excessive
mental occupation gravitates toward
insanity does not appear to be verified
by facts. Indeed, one of the foremost
of living physicians doubts whether
alienation of mind is ever the result of
overstrain. It is to physical, not to
mental derangement, that excessive
work of the brain generally gives rise.
Insanity, he points out, finds the most
suitable material for its development
among our clod-dish uneducated classes;
while the worst forms of physical dis
ease are originated and intensified by
our educated, overstrainning brain-
workers. Chambers Journal
The Grave af Tlsnonr.
There is s grim irony in history, says
David Kerr in bis "On the Road to
Khiva," which loves to reduce the
world's conquerers to their humblest
level; and the "seven feet of land"
allotted to fierce old Hardrada have a
sad significance stilL Hannibal had
the burial of an outcast and a slave.
Cortes found not even a tomb in the
empire which he conquered. Edward
III. died lonely and neglected, robbed
in his last moments by those whom he
had loved. The bones of Cromwell
were disinterred to rattle on a jibbet
amid the jeers of all London. Napo
leon's world-wide conquests gave him
only a barren rock to die npon. And
so, too, with the man whom we now
look npon. Thirty-five years of eon
quest triumphs unparalleled in his
tory, millions of slaughtered enemies,
the throne of Central Asia, the homage
of half the world, have left him only
this narrow cell in an obscure corner
of the city which he made the wonder
of the earth.
"A llttl. spot nlMtk aim mm.m aot muMo all.
tmm wall to anw mm great to ala mm odc ins great
was mall."
And over his dust the descendants of
the men whom he conquered march in
triumph, trampling out, foot by foot,
the last remnants of the race which
swept their forefathers from the face of
the earth. To me at least there are
few pictures in the whole gallery of
history more touching than the last
scene of the great destroyer. Perse
cuted and huuted like a wild beast, the
indomitable man has triumphed over
all opposition, has returned victorious
from thirty-five bloody campaigns, and
wasted Central Asia with fire aud sword
till "a child may carry a purse of gold
unharmed from the east to the west"
From the shores of the Bosphorus to
the peaks of the Himalaya, the name
of Timonr is a terror to all that breathe;
but all this is not enough. Aged,
wounded, broken, lame of one hand
and foot, with twenty-seven crowns
trampled in the dust beneath him, the
terrible guerilla is still untamed and
un tameable. Yonder, behind the
peaks of the Thian Suae, lies ancient
China, with its rich rice-fields still unwanted-
and iU 300,000,000 of popula
tion still unmassacred. Forward with
the Tartar standards ! Bat swift as is
his march, the flight of Death is swift
er; the blue hills of the Syr-Daria are
still in sight when the great conqueror
falls to rise no more. At the touch of
that cold hand a momentary twinge of
repentance flits for the first time across
the fierce spirit Slowly and wearily,
the hand that once hewed men down
like thistles traces its first and last con
fession of remorse : "It may be that
Allah is wroth with me for what I have
done; wherefore I would fain have ei
piated my sins by exterminating the
moiators oi Vuina. vtnat a picture i
The mightiest intellect of the age.dimly
conscious of something higher, some
thing better, than it has ever known,
and seeking a cure for its restless long
ings after the Unseen only in fresh
murder and fresh devastation. Peace
be with him. He has learned, long ere
this, what it was that he sought in
vain npon earth; and it may be that He
whose mercy is high as the heaven
above the earth has had pity even upon
him.
Eataacliac Alllaaees.
Even royal yonng people, now days,
marry "for love;" why then should not
the son of Macallum More f London
society is all agog at the prospect that
the Princess Louise will ere long be
come the sister-in-law of a manufac
turer's daughter. These are sad days
for the old families, when the descend
ants of the Campbells of Inverary "go
into trade," when the sons of Dukes
marry their wives out of the "Black
Country," and a connecting link is
made, by a marriage knot, between
Majesty and Manufacture. vLnrd Wal
ter Campbell's engagement with Miss
Milne is likelv to become the text of
many a Tory homily and sage shake of
the squirearchies I head; hut the burden
of the refrain will be, "I told you so."
The Tories have long distrusted his
auburn-haired Grace of Argyll. He
has U-en but too pluiuly playing with
the dangerous fire of radicalism; what
incouoclastic crimes he has been sup
posed to Iks contemplating there is no
distinct assertion, but the whisperings
have lieen gloomy aud forelxMling.
h i,... i, r ...j l . j.jo ..!
. ii til, i-ni i ui xv. i ii v , um uriiftim-
ded the Queen's fourth daughter, Ar
gyll seemed to have liecoine grappled
to the tin one with hooks of gold. The
iilood ot .Macallum More was deemed
not unworthy to mingle with that of
royal Gnelpli. But this latest develop
ment of ducal radicalism has fairly
taken away the breath of the West
End. A "swart son of toil" will thus.
perhaps, become the grandsire of a
hereditary noble; at least, the self
made Milne, who used to eat his daily
"snack" of bread and treacle between
work, down iu the iron country, and
who even now is quaintly iingrauimati-
cal in sieech aud proletarian in man
ner, must sit at the groaning Itoards at
luverarr and sin his old port and cura-
coa, elbowed by lMu-liesses and Count
esses on either hand.
But the grand old times when the
sons and daughters of Kings and nobles
were wont to le disuoscd of bv deeds i
of sett lenient and handed over with!
the allowances and trousseaus as a
mere matter of notarial Itargain, have
pretty much passed away. There are
few of the younger generation of Eu
ropean Princes and l'riucvsses who
cre thus diplomatically disMsed of.
The Czarow itch loved the Czarevna
liefore his brother, her first atlianced,
died; Prince 11 itniliert was long despe
rately and vainly in love with his
cousin, the pretty Princess Margnerita,
leiore he could get the paternal con
sent; the marriages of the Prince of
Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the
Princess Alice and the Princess Louise
were all notoriously love matches, as
were those of the Ring of Greece and
the late King of Spaiu. The satirical
reMrt of liismarck s sim-ccIi, on lieing
consulted alioiit the marriage of Lord
Walter Camplell with Miss Milne,
might verv well Ihj true. Royalty has
descended in a large degree of late
years to the uustilted condition of pri
vate families. As long as royal alli
ances are no longer fraught with con
sequences of war and (ea e, of the rise
and fall of thrones, the modern Cop
hetua may, if he likes, marry the irre
sistible lH-ggar-iiiaid. Dukes ami dow
agers will be shocked; questions of
court etiquette and precedence may
ltccouie embarrassing; the base-born
bride may be uncomfortably reminded,
now and "then, of the inevitable tur
gidity of her blood; but it maybe hoped
that domestic felicity will to some ex
tent make np for the petty annoyances
of blue-blooded indignation. The sons
of Argyll, in becoming tradesmen and
the sons-in-law of self-made men, have
taken a courageous course; who knows
if theirs has not lieen the first wedge
liich is to bring down the old barriers
of social prescription aud exclusive
ness, aud the beginning of a new era in
British society t
About Banaef.
"What bonnets are there for old la
dies ?"' asked a customer of a millinery
magnate in New York. "We have
none," was the reply; "you mnst go to
Boston for those; in New York all la
dies are nnder forty." But where, in
Boston ? No recognition of age ap
pears in any head-gear that has yet
been exhibited; for old and young, big
and little, plain and pretty, there are
the same small hats in fantastic ar
rangement of colors, or glittering with
jet fringes and embroidery, to be
perched on the top of braids and puffs,
or pinned to the back hair. They are
exceedingly pretty off, but hideous on
ninety-nine out of every hundred heads
to which they are appended. Fashion
does her best to destroy the beauty of
old age and of childhood, taking the
dignity from one and the simplicity
from the other, making a tragic specta
cle of the wrinkled face, unshaded and
crowned with braids and flattering
finery; and a ridiculous puppet of the
dimpled baby arrayed in -the same
style. And now another misfortune
has fallen upon a large class of our
city children. They go to balls and
their dresses and dancing are reported
for the newspapers. The baby belles
of five or six years have their names in
full, their clothes catalogued, and
their waltzing praised. They dress
like their elders in puffed and orna
mented silks, and some of the little
creatures wear diamonds.
Aineriraa Homes.
The strength of the American repub
lic is in the universal desire to own
a house. It is molding all the people,
native and foreign born, into one ho
mogeneous mass. The ownership of a
home is something of which neither
the Irish peasant nor the German la
borer has, in his own country, any con
ception, but it is here the goal of his
hopes and desires. Education comes
next ; it is a something the need of
which is not felt until the adornments
of home are thought of. This desire
to own the roof under which one sleeps
is distinctively an American character
istic, and seems by nature adapted to
the growth which is raising us in im
portance in the scale of nations. It is
the link which connects the man with
the government ; it adds to his interest
in the making and execution of the laws,
and identifies him with the nsages and
customs of the people. It is the ele
ment which gives the people of Switzer
land their unity and power, and the
lack of it causes nine tenths of the an
rest in Ireland. No feeling is stronger
than the attachments of home, and no
nation whose people possess this as a
common sentiment can lose its liberties.
Kaivaa Prayer.
He who steadies himself between two
ships will certainly be drowned.
Shame is worse than death.
He who weeps from his heart will pro
voke tears even from the blind.
A lean horse and a hero in a strange
country each look amies.
When you go to law against the
Emperor, God himself should be the
judge.
The wise man strikes twice against
one and the same stone.
You may praise the Russian a thous
and times, but bis eyes will still be blue.
The reverse of handsome, according to
Usbeg taste.
Young men may die ; old men must.
The over-licking tongue soon makes
a wound.
He who fears the sparrow will never
sow a millet
When the ass bears too light a load
he wants to lie down.
The spoken word cannot be again
swallowed.
He whose heart is full soon finds s
loose tongue.
smoke rises only from large blocks of
wood.
A living mouse is better than a dead
lion.
Him whom God has marked the pro
phet strikes with his wand.
He who is on horseback no longer
knows even his own father. (Or lue
armed man on horseback spares not his
nearest relation.)
V hen yon die even your tomb will be
comfortable.
Men speak to each other by words ;
animals by signs.
Man is caught by his tongue ; an ox
by his tail.
Xhat which is taken in with the milk
only goes out with the souL (Faults
contracted with infancy disappear bnt
with death.)
The open mouth never remains
hungry.
Do not fasten up your garments until
you see the water.
Time does not bow to you ; yon must
bow to time.
When the parson visits you, don't be
overjoyed ; he will soon begin to beg.
The Siberian Elepbaat.
This animal has before now been
fonnd entire, with his coat of hair in
tact imbedded in the ice masses and
snow hills of his native fastnesses, but
perhaps the Chinaman, at work in
clearing the Union Pacifio of snow,
have come npon something equally re
markable in the frozen defiles of the
lofty Sierras. This object is of a rich,
dark glossy color, and has the general
shape of the tadpole, though far ex
ceeding that incipient croaker in its
iroportiona. It measures in extreme
ength some six or eight feet and is
provided with three massive legs, one
of which has its place of attachment
near the caudal extremity. At the other
or anterior portion of the body are two
of these heavy locomotive appendages,
separated by several feet from each
other, and since the creature is inno
cent of anything which could be called
neck, its mouth, which we need not
premise is enormous, liberally yawns
from shoulder to shoulder across nearly
this entire space. When opened, as it
was without much difficulty by the now
eagerly excited Mongols, it disclosed a
wonderfully perfect row of teeth of the
finest ivory, alternating in color between
black and white. Passing the hand
lightly over these ornaments of the
mouth, they gave forth distinctly marked
sounds, which to the peculiar ear of the
Chinese seemed repulsive, but which
it is said would hardly be so regarded
by the musically cultivated occidental
auditor. Before the great month closed
a line of marks was discovered, which
although to the chinamen signifying
nothing.it was thought might give some
German investigator a clew by which to
evolve out of his consciousness some
explanation of the creature. The near
est letters of ours which bear any like
ness to these lines would form the word,
"Pianoforte."
Akeal Thambs.
Man would not be what he is without
the thumb. This fact has been so im
pressed upon ns from our school-days
that we are not likely to forget it
Without the thumb for a lever we
would be unable to hold anything
tightly, and most of the inventions of
our era would be useless, not to speak
of the enormous general power that
would be lost Let ns accept the fact
of having thumbs, then, and be thank
ful aad rejoice over our Darwinian
friends, the apes. We did not know,
however, till we saw it in print recently,
that the thumb represented intelligence
and affection. Born idiots frequently
come into the world without thumbs.
Infants, until they arrive at an age
when intellect dawns, constantly keep
their fingers folded above their thumbs,
but they soon know better, and as the
mind develops, recognize the dignity
and usefulness ot the despised digit
At the approach of death the thumbs
of the dying, as if impelled by some
vague fear, seek refuge nnder the fin
gers, and when thus found are an al
most certain announcement of the end.
So, in leaving this world, it wonld
seem that our hands. In their last de
sire for movement, assume, with our
growing unconsciousness, the same
suggestive position in which the hands
of the new-born babe, with faculties all
dormant Arst shape themselves.
A Relic af the Oldea Time.
Mr. Frederick Johnson, of Salem,
has discovered an interesting and curi
ous relic of old Botetourt of which, in
a private letter, he gives the following
account We hope he will secure it
from Mr. Page to be placed in our
clerk's office among the many old and
interesting documents there. Mr. John
son sent us an impression of the seal,
which is now at the clerk's office :
"I found in the hands of Mr. R. W.
Page, a few days ago. a very curious
relic of old Botetourt It is a silver
county seal with a handle of wood, of
which I send you an impression, show
ing that it is the old colonial county
seal, having the crown and Indian with
his bow and arrow for a vignette. Mr.
Page proposes to place it in the ar
chives of the Virginia Historical So
ciety in Richmond, but thinking the
Clerk's office of Botetourt court fully j
as suitable a depository, I am going
to try and prevail on him to let me '
have it for the last named purpose. He ;
told me that he got it with a lot of i
scraps of old silver about four years
ago can't now say who he got it from !
and was reminded of it by noticing
one of my articles published in the
Herald as to some of old Botetourt's
antiquities." f-'incasfle Herald. I
The Baroness Burdett Coutts does
not confine her charitable actions to
England, bnt is about to build lodging
houses for the poor in Dublin and Belfast
Youths Column.
A Grexx Cocstbtmaw. Years ago,
into a wholesale grocery store in Boston
walked a talL muscular-looking, raw
boned man, evidently a fresh-comer
from some back town in Maine or ew
Hampshire. Accosting the first person
he met who happened to be the mer
chant himself, be asked :
"Yon don't want to hire a man in
your store, do you?"
"Well, said the merchant I don't
know ; what can yon do r
"Do I" said the man, "I rather guess
I can turn my hand to almost anything.
What do you want done ?"
"Well, if I was to hire a man, it would
be one that could lift well a strong,
wiry fellow ; one, for instance, that
could shoulder a sack of coffee like that
yonder, and carry it across the store
and never let it down.
"There, now, captin," said our coun
tryman, "that's just me. What will
you give a man that can suit you ?
"1 tell you," said the merchant, "if
yon will shoulder that sack of coffee.
and carry it across the store twice and
never lay it down, I will hire you for a
year at 81 00 per month."
"Done," said the stranger ; and by
this time every clerk in the store had
gathered around and were waiting to
join in the laugh against the man, who,
walk in to the sack, threw it across his
shoulder with perfect ease, as it was
not extremely heavy, and walking with
it twice across the store, went quietly
to a large hook which was fastened to
the wall, and hanging the sack npon it
turned to the merchant and said :
"There, now ; it may hang there till
Doomsday ; I shan't never lay it down.
What shall I go about, mister ? J ast
give me plenty to do sad S100 a month,
and it's all right"
The clerks broke into a laugh, but it
was out of the other side of their
mouths; and the merchant discomfited,
yet satisfied, kept to his agreement and
to-day the green countryman is the
senior partner in the firm and worth
half a million dollars.
Quick wit good sense, and s willing
ness to work were the foundation of
this man's snccesa. One cause which
prevents half our yonng men from
"rising in life," is a disinclination to
work. They are afraid of doing them
selves that which was appointed for
another to do, and so "tight shy" of
their own and the interests of their em
ployer. To succeed, one must make it
his duty to do all he can for the good i
of the concern in which be is employed ;
eye service will surely be detected, as
real service will as surely be discovered,
appreciated, and rewarded. Young
men, if you wonld be promoted, make
yourselves worthy of it by honest ser
vice. J
Jim and Carlo. My horse and my
dog are nearly of the same age. They
have been brought up togother. They
always had a great liking for each other.
They often eat out of the same dish,
sleep together in the same barn, and
play together in the same yard. I have
known them to chase each other for
hours, leaping, skipping, and dodging,
like boys playing tag. Then they will
rub their heads together, kiss and fon
dle each other, like two loving children,
or a mother with her duling in her
arms.
Sometimes carlo goes to the pasture
and stays all day close at the side of
Jim, following him about the field
where he is feeding, wagging his tail,
looking so loving and kind, that he
seems to say, I am happy to be with
yon. I won't leave you.
If Jim is hitched to the carriage.
Carlo always leaps for joy ; but if he is
compelled to stay at home when Jim
goes away, he cries hard, and feels very
bad. And finally, he has learned to
ride on horseback, taking the reins in
his mouth.
I could tell you a great many other
things about these two friends, how
they love each other, and never quarrel
or hart each other. Bat I must tell
yon of two little brothers who live not
far away. They, too, are nearly of the
same age, have been brought up to
gether, sleep, and eat, and play to
gether. But it sometimes happens that
they do not perfectly agree. Sometimes
they do not seem to prefer each other's
society to that of all other boys ; and I
have known them hurt each other at
play, or in a quarrel.
Now what shall we think of this? Are
horses and dogs better than children t
Yes. sometimes. Though children know
the most can talk and learn to read,
and know they have souls, and must
give account to God, still they are
sometimes less leving and kind to each
other than horses and dogs.
Thb Mother's Last Lesson. A
mother lay dying. Her little son, not
knowing ot the sorrow coming to him,
went as was his custom, to her chamber
door, saying :
"Please teach me my verse, mamma,
and then kiss me good night I I am
very sleepy, but no one has heard me
say my prayers."
"Hash V said a lady who was watch
ing beside her. "Your dear mother is
too ill to hear you to-night" and com
ing forward, she songht gently to lead
him from the room. Roger began to
sob as if his heart would break.
"I cannot go to bed withont saying
my prayers indeed, I cannot"
The ear of the dying mother caught
the sound. Althongh she had been in
sensible to everything around her, the
sob of her darling aroused her stupor,
and, turning to her friend, she desired
her to bring her little son to her. Her !
request was granted, and the child's i
golden hair and rosy cheeks nestled be- I
siue tue coiu iace oi uis ujiug muiuer.
"My son," she whispered, "repeat
this vene after me, and never forget it :
'When my father and mother forsake
me, the Lord will take me up.' " The
child repeated it two or three times,
and said his little prayer. Then he
kissed the cold face, and went quietly
to bed.
In the morning he came, as usual, to
his mother, but found her still and cold.
This was her last lesson. He has
never forgotten it, and probably never
will, as long as he lives.
Word Sqcarr.
A musical instrument
A name.
A surname.
Name of one of the Patriarchs.
Answer: H O R N
O T H O
RHEA
NOAH.
Leather made from the skin of the
white whale, it is said, is now a regular
article of manufacture at some of the
villages in Canada. It is both fine and
durable, and shoe thongs made of it are
said never to break.
A venerable Boston lady thinks apple
dumplings are the best vegetable pills
for a gnawing in the stomach.
v nineties.
Gilt frames Our jail windows.
Man respires, aspires, conspires and
expires.
Good company and good conversation
are the very sinews of virtue.
He who can take advice, is sometimes
superior to him who can give it
God never sends an angel to afflict a
human soul, but another follows in iu
foot-steps to heal and bless.
A Maine inventor is said to have pat
ented a poly-morphons article of furni
ture, combining a wardrobe, bedstead,
dining-table, and easy chair.
Two pairs of stairs are necessary to
every newspaper office in North Caro
linaone for the editor to go down as
the caller comes up the other.
A firm faith is the best theology ; a
good life the best philosophy ; a clear
conscience the beet law ; honesty the
best policy, and temperanoe the best
physio.
"I'm not in mourning," said a young
French laxly, frankly, to a querist ; "but
as the widows are getting all the offers
now-a-days, we poor girls have to resort
to artifice."
Forty-three newspapers are now pub
lished in Constantinople. Sixteen of
them are dailies, with a combined circu
lation of but 20,000. There is also a
Turkish ladies' newspaper.
A Frenchman professes to have dis
covered, by experiments npon himself,
that coffee taken npon an empty stomach
renders the mind abnormally clear and
the temper unnaturally bad.
A new invention consists in making a
cape weatherproof, water repellent and
inflatable, so that while it affords the
usual protection for sailors and seafaring
people, it is also a life preserver.
Enthusiastic pedestrian "Am I on
the right road for Stratford Shake
speare's town you know ? You've often
heard of Shakespeare?" Intelligent
British rustic "Yes ; be yon he ?"
We like boys who try to help them
selves. Every one ought to be friendly
to them. The boys of energy and am
bition who make a manly effort to do
something for themselves are the bone
of the country.
A Boston paper wonders why a mem
ber of Congress, who recently spoke
with so much feeling of the "hay seed
in his hair," and "oats in his throat,"
forgot to complete the diagnosis of the
case by alluding to the rye in his
stomach.
Ii is the easiest thing in the world to
be happy if men and women could only
think so. Happiness is only another
name for love, for where love exists in
a household there happiness must also
exist ; where love exists not even
thongh it be in a palace, happiness can
never come.
Thoughts seem occasionally to have a
life of their own, a life independent ;
sometimes they are even stronger than
the thinkers, and draw them relentlessly
along. They seize hold of outward cir
cumstances with their strong grip. How
strangely a dominant thought sometimes
runs through a whole epoch of life.
"Hawthorne," says Joaqnin Miller,
"speaks of Lord Houghton as the witti
est man in England- But he is a vast
deal more than a wit He is a man
brimful of sympathy for all men, and
for yonng artists in particular. A peer
of the realm, he is yet as good a demo
crator republican, as you please as
ever cast a ballot in America."
Medical students who are about to
pass through the ordeal of exuninatiou
may advantageously, perhaps, copy the
reply of a French student, who was be
ing examined by a famens physician in
Paris. He described to the perplexed
aspirant for medical honors a disease
culminating by degrees to the most
dangerous symptoms, and asked "What
wonld you then prescribe, or do ?" The
student after a slight hesitation, re
plied, "I should send instantly for you."
He got his diploma of course.
We cannot look, however imperfectly,
upon a great man without gaining some
thing by him. He is the living light
fountain, which it is good and pleasant
to be near ; the light which enlightens,
which has enlightened, the darkness of
the world ; and this not as a kindled
lamp only, bnt rather as a natural
luminary, shining by the gift of heaven;
a flowing light-fountain, as I say, of
native original insight, of manhood and
heroic nobleness, in whose radiance all
souls feel that it is well with them.
The real mesalliance is that of souls ;
and ever, as more than one young man,
without home, or birth, or fortune, is a
marble column which sustains a a tem
ple of grand sentiments and grand
ideas, so you may find a satisfied and
opulent man of the world, with pol
ished boots and varnished speech, who,
if yon look not at the exterior but the
interior, that is to say, at what is re
served for the wife, is nothing but a
stupid joist, darkly haunted, violent by
impure and debauched passions the
sign-post of a tavern.
The Orientals are very fastidious
about writing, and calligraphers enjoy
a high reputation among them. It is
said that each letter of the Arabic al
phabet requires one year's practice be
fore the writer is able to execute it in
the thoroughly approved fashion. A
fine hand is the first and most impor
tant and sometimes the only sign of a
good education. Fine specimens of
writing are often gilded and framed to
hang up in rooms, as we nse pictures,
which are forbidden to them. The prices
paid in Persia, Turkey, Egypt for
specimens of the writing of famous
scribes are often fabulous.
John Pye, the veteran engraver, who
recently died, at the age ot ninety-two,
was famous for his reproduction of
Turner's engravings. The London
Spectator declares that he was "the
most complete engraver of landscape
that ever lived," and adds that this is
not enough to say, for it would fall
short of a true definition of the man, or
of his rank and position in the art-world.
He was not merely a practitioner of
consummate skill ; be was the apostle,
and latterly one of the few remaining
representatives, of a great principle in
art that is, chiaroscuro, the principles
of which "John Pye spent his long life
in illustrating and expounding, but
which are little more than a terra in
cognita io most art-students of our
day. Black and white were to Pye bnt
the raw material with which he Lad to
deal His black was printer's-ink, and
his white was paper, while his chiaros
curo comprised the whole resources of
a subtile language, in which he em
ployed these simple elements to express
and to describe the wondrously illumi
nating quality of light 'White is not
light 1" he would exclaim ; 'but light is
made by gradation.' He maintained
that there is a complete scale of light
with as many delicate modulations in
it between the two extremes of white
and black, as there are in a scale of
music
4
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M
I
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n
l V
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