IS
h
B. F. SCHWEIER,
THS CONSTITUTION TH1 UNION AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS.
Editor and Proprietor.
VOL. XXIX.
MHTLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY, PENNA., DECEMBER 8. 1S75.
NO. 49.
S? it!
I
MOTHER'S OLD ETCHES.
Bow sweet to my eight wee my mother's old
alienee,
Aa prompted bv hunger. I entered therein
The kettles sod eauee-pans they looked so be-
wuauiig,
And s hslo of glory surrounded the tin.
The beg of old Jarsthe coffee-mill br it.
The tes-nrn sod caddy on shelf just abore ;
The Jar of nice pickles, snd all the good rio
tuaia.
And the juicy mince-pies which so desiiyl
lore.
The tender-crnat pies, the spky mince-pies.
The sweet, juicy pies which so dearly I lore.
My mother's old kitchen wss always the haven
Where in childish distress I pot in for relief;
And the tablets of memory will ever be graven
With the pastry eoof osteons that smothered
my gnez.
How eager I'd teaae. while mother waa malrinv
A squirrel-shaped pattie, or sometimes a
uore ;
And with lips that were watering, I'd watch
while Hwae baking
The joky minoe-piea which so dearly I lore.
With my alphabet plate, and the naitie nnan it
I'd haste to the door-atep that fronts to the
street;
Nor sweet-cake, nor puddine, could win my
heart from it.
Though luscious with spices and everything
And though ainoe my ohilhood I've been roving
around
O'er life's stormy billows, I return like the
dove.
To net in the old kitchen till turmoil is o'er,
And partake yet again of the piea that I
love
The tender-crust pies, the spicy minoe-piea.
The sweet, jukw pies, I so dearly still love.
The Black Doctor.
AX.NIK EOBKBTSON XOXOX.
"On coming into contact with certain
person?, we experience a certain amount
of shock and jar. Is it not true ?
"Often such an introduction of spirit?
is pleasant, and makes the blood more
hearty in its course through this poor
machine, the body, which we abuse like
a beggar for some years and fly from
one eventful day with great disgust and
shuddering.
"Again this contact is like a blow
from a hammer on a finger nail. We
are slightly stunned by it, and feel a
numbness and tingling, the result of a
ort of strike among the workers in the
workshop of the brain, which creates a
revolution not always short-lived.
"These encounters are frequent, and
are not to be avoided by running away
from home."
The speaker, a man in the middle
years of bis life; strictly pale, with a
shrinking nature which went much
against him in the profession he had
chosen he was a physician and sur
geon pushed back the damp black hair
from his forehead with a nervous hand,
and looked at us seriously with a palroi
wonderfully black eyes. Eyes with
copper linings that emitted now and
again, strange yellow gleams as one
may observe the eyes of a black cat to
do, when she winks in the dark, or sits
blinking at the sun.
Such eyes looking earnestly into ours
rapidly made converts of us to his doc
trines. Strange influences were at work
on us every hour in the day of that
there could be no doubt, So much ac
knowledged, the doctor assumed the air
of a teacher; and leaning back in his
great shagreen study chair, prepared to
disseminate information to us in any
shape. As we were all cut out and de
signed for doctors, six hare tn-eca rem,
crack-brained youths, with diseased
patrimonies and small expectations we
were nearly all quite ready to listen to
a full-fledged doctor's experiences, and
to profit by his wise reflections, seeing
in him a person of probity and success,
as he was by far the most successful
surgeon for miles around, although
comparatively a stranger at Progues
burge and the neighborhood about
there, having settled only in the early
fall.
He had been Introduced to the college
by Skinker, our demonstrator of anato
my, a fat little man with a wild mess of
coarse, red hair and a foxy beard.
Before the lectures, or after them, it
was not unusual for some of us, or all,
to drop into the doctor's cosy oflice to
tell stories and listen to his. lie was a
man of rare ability as a story-teller,
and was sometimes uncomfortably re
alistic, and gave more than one of us
students, rather bad dreams by his
manner of reducing odd adventures,
and pschychological facts into a narra
tive shape.
Poor Bob McMasters! How well I
remember his actual horror of the
"black magician," as we called Brixton
among ourselves.
Bob alwavs sat on the outside of the
circle of listeners; his girlish yellow
locks tossed back in a heap from his
white temples, a frozen stare in his blue
eyes and his hands working nervously
with his watch-guard.
Bob was a queer fellow, at best; a
quiet little chap, who was remarked for
his writing letters home all day Sunday
as sure as the day came, and taking long
walks alone, lie was the meditative
kind, and it was rather strange how the
boys let him go his way unmolested.
It is, and has been the fashion from
the days of Esculapius down to the
present, for students to play uncon
scionably foul jokes on each other, and
to get up cabals, much more often noted
for the wit there Is in them, than the
modesty or elegance. Our fellows were
no better than other embryo doctors
were worse, perhaps, in many ways
but it was understood among us that
McMasters was not to be played in any
shape. He was a gentleman every
Inch, and although older than some
others, he was totally inexperienced in
tricks of any kind, and had been raised
at home like a girl. This could be seen
by the way he kept his needles ami
threads in a little worsted pocket, and
the dexterity with which he mended
his clothes and kept track of his linen.
He had a little snuggery all to him
self in the boarding-house, preiernng
to be alone, even if in less cheerful
quarters and as a special favor, I was
often asked in to his den. Card pic
tures adorned the walls; little knick
knacks of brackets and sponge bags,
cushifl covers and shoe cases leant a
cheerful, homely air to his miserable
little chambers and made the boys re
spect, if they could not emulate him.
I found him one night actually darn
ing his hose with a monstrous needle,
taking a long time to the threading of
it very careful to make a regular wo
man's knot in the thread and careful to
put the knot underneath.
"Why, Bob, old chap," I said slap
ping him on the back ; "you don't mean
to give yourself curvature of the spine
in this sort of style, surely; come, leave
that to the women folks, and lett go
over to Brixton's for an hour. The
other fellows are going; don't sit mop
ing here; if vou ever expect to make a
sawbones of Bob HcMasters for heaven's
sake don't try to spoil his hand by giv
ing it woman's work and confounded
tomfoolery."
"Not tomfoolery by any means," said
Bob, quite Coolly.
"A hand that is not delicate enough
to sew, and fashion foolish little things,
or fine and sensitive mooch to hnlil a
darning-needle, surely cannot be ex-
pecieu ui menu a gash in a baby's leg,
or take the leg off if need were."
"Oh, I don't know, Bob; Brixton's a
first-rate articulator, and he was bred
for a blacksmith, I believe. lie isn't a
fine hand by a long shot."
"I shouldn't be surprised to hear that
he had been a butcher, not the least,"
Bob said, with a very pale face a mark
01 nis earnestness, always.
"I can't get It out of mv head. Hor
ace, that this Brixton is a horrid hum
bug a cheat a mountebank and Jug
gler. His chiefest skill I fancy is to
conceal the fact of his ignorance. I am
surprised that poor old Skinker hasn't
seen to the bottom of him before this.
He has never imparted anything like
useful information to us while in his
rooms; now has he?"
"Well, no; I can't say that we've
learned much from him."
"That's it. His talk is rambling,
incoherent, like himself, and I some
times detect in his eyes expressions
which might come frem the heated,
and diseased brain of a madman. It's
true. I don't like his study, with its
crucibles and retorts, jugs aud experi
ments, and I don't particularly fancy
the man himself. So, if you'll excuse
me I'll not go over to-night. I believe
I'm not far wrong in the fancy I've
taken that the doctor returns my dis
trust with interest. He doesn't like me.
You know that foolish, strange little
couplet beginning,
I do not like you. Dr. Fell," fcr, fee
I leel exactly so toward this doctor. I
can't tell any reason I have no reason,
only such as he often quotes to us.
When I met him first I shivered aud
felt as if I had trodden bare-footed on a
snail. Our nature's are antagonistic!
that's all."
"Then I wouldn't trust the doctor,
Bob," I said cheerily, going out. "Your
nature is about good enough, old man,
and it's direct opposite must be that of
a devil. Good-bye, I ain's afraid of his
crucibles, you know, and it amuses me
to hear him harangue."
I left Bob sitting with his heels under
hiin, sewing very much as the suscepti
ble tailor in the Arabian Nights tales
used to 6it at bis window oggling his
lady love, who brought about his ruin.
This fancy made me laugh at the door,
and I can't forget Bob's expression.
llis pale race ami stern eyes followed
me down the gloomy old stairs, and
into the quiet little stretch of road lead
ing to Brixton's den.
Uiggins, Topoff, Reed and Seaford
were there smoking like pirates, and
Brixton was up to his elbows in experi
ments. He looked anything but charm
ing in his long, black, muslin gown, his
damp, black hair standing about his
pallid face, his white, dog-like teeth
gleaming from beneath his black mous
tache. 1 fancied he looked a little dis
appointed when I came in alone. Bob
and I always dropped in together.
"Here I have an instrument my own
invention, Master Horace for testing
the condition of the human heart. Let
there be the least flaw or speck In that
beautiful little gem in which poets seat
the emotions which is all lel-de-rol,
by the way and this ingenious little
creature searches it out out at once.
You grasp this wire which is attached
to a Sectrum and condenser under this
lamp just above this small piece of looking-glass,
and should the heart beat too
rapidly a pressure immediately fills this
small tube with a fluid which I have
here in a small receiver. Or, if too
slow, the temperature sinks and the
lamp grows dim. should the heart
grow tired of working and take a sud
den notion to cease labor altogether,
then the fluid falls to the bottom of the
receiver, the wire grows cold and the
lamp goes out. What do you think of
it?"
"I think it is a fine thing for you,
doctor, if you can convince the scien
tists of the eflicacy oC your machine."
"Hard-headed old mullets, those sci
entists," Seaford said, enveloped in a
cloud of whity blue smoke. "It takes
a lot of successful manipulations to
convince them of the value of a thing.
Thev are dead against new inventions
which they have not invented.
"Yes; a man must be shut up as a
lunatic now who dares invent anatomi
cal wonders," Brixton said with a rest
less gleam in his eyes. "As if a disor
dered braiu could have conception of
intricate machinery such as this, and
produce an instrument with a motive
and a power. This has not been tried
fairly, you see. Your medical student
has generally a wonderful digestion,
and a perfectly sound organism. This
should be applied to a diseased heart."
"Where's MeMasters," some one sug
gested. "I've heard him say often that
a sort of heart disease ran through his
family. This would be a capital way to
prove whether or not he has received
his share of a disagreeable legacy. He
has so many times brooded on it, and in
fact has expressed himself to me, that
he would give a great deal to know if
his heart was all right."
That was true enough. We all knew
the story of how his poor mother had
died in her chair, holding an unread
letter in her hand. It seemed to me
that such a shock as this might have
tested the soundness of a devoted son's
heart perfectly. I, for one, thought
the doctor's curious machine a grand
humbug, and had no faith in it one way
or the other, and had begun to have
very little in the doctor.
Several davs after this, I overtook
McMasters during one of his solitary
walks.
I spoke good-humoredly to him, de
signing to walk on, as I had never in
truded myself on his privacy, or sought
to become his companion ouly when it
pleased him.
He called after me:
"Don't run away from me, Woolsey;
am I so bad a comrade that you prefer
to be alone?"
"On the contrary Bob, you know I
fancied that you liked to take your little
rounds, unattended. You know I am
extremely fond of your company al
wavs." "I believe you, dear old boy, I think
rou are. I like to think my own
thoughts often, and often I should like
to think yours. Now, why did you not
mention to me this instrument of Brix
ton's which vou saw the other night?"
Bob looked at me with such serious
eyes that I colored highly as many in
nocent yersons have been known to do,
looking guilty when under suspiciou
for dread of suspicions being fastened
upon them.
"Why, really Bob, I never once
thought of it; it was an absurd affair
altogether, and I took no sort of stock
'Will you swear to me, Horace, that
rim were not afraid to broach the sub
ject to me. Was not that it?"
Again 1 coioreu, anowtug uvw
tive McMasters had always been about
thi. .Truw-txl infirmitv this horrible
thing which must always have been the
ghost of his boyhood and manhood ;
the bulk of his every bad dream and
nightmare.
"Afraid I Why should I have been
I answered calmly.
"Don't get whimsical Bob. in hea
ven's name;" I said with a lightness I
was far from feelinr.
"I forgot all about the machine di
rectly ; and you know I've not had the
best of news from home lately, and my
thoughts wander there incessantly. My
mother is not well, and I am thinking
ui running aown lor a aay or two."
ies; you ought to go home at once,
if that is the case." he said feelingly.
"But do you know, Horace, I've half
a mind to try this thing? Not that I
think anything could result from it,
though. I am curious about inventions
of ail kinds; I dream at times that I
shall get a saw-mill or something of the
sort out of my own head, and I oulv
want to take a look at this thing over
at Ttrivtftn'a I f : I r i
want me to try it, but I don't know.
It couldn't hurt me, you know, if there
is nothing in it."
"But let us suppose that the instru
ment wm obey the doctor, aud answer
his expectations."
"Well " he said, neelin? the tender
bark from a small piece of stick he car-
nea, -i see now, woolsey, why you
never mentioned it to me. But I have
no scruples about subjecting myself to
uw wu i mans: you all the same,
however."
I did not fear the machine, mind; I
stood more in fear of Bob's imagina
tions, his quick, nervous temperament.
I said no more, and seeing that be had
said all he wished, I left him.
I was on my way to the post-office,
and getting further bad accounts from
home, as I had feared, I immediately
returned to my chambers and made a
few hurried preparations for leaving.
I bad but a few moments in which to
catch the night express, and left a little
note for Bob as a good-bye. I scrawled
on the back of an envelope:
"Dear Old Fellow: I'm off. Shall
be back Monday next, I hope. Look
out for yourself, and let the 'infernal
machine' alone. "HORACE."
This I left on Bob's table, telling
Uiggins to call his attention to it.
My mother had bettered considerably
by the time I saw her, and being anx
ious about my class, not to Sfieak of a
queer feeling I had abont McMasters, I
got back Sunday night instead of Mon
day, as I purposed.
The news that met me was astounding
truly. The keeper of a mad-house in
the interior of the state, with two doc
tors, had come in search of Brixton,
who it seems had been in the asylum
for some years, confined at times as a
dangerous lunatic. He was also lucid
for long intervals, in one of which he
made his escape, cut his beard, changed
his name, which was in reality Plesch
man, aud settled at I'roguesburge as we
have seen. There was no doubt at all
about his madness. He raved f uriously,
and became almost unmanageable at
sight of his keeper and had to be chained
down.
Bob was all right though. lie laughed
over ray note of caution, but said he had
made up his mind to test the instrument
fully, and should have done so had not
events interfered to prevent it then.
"The doctor's effects were scattered
broadcast," he said, "and I made off
with his invention. I shall keep it as a
curiosity as having been the creation of
a mad-man's brain, but there is, of
course, nothing it."
He threw off a napkin which covered
it, and I examined it with some curi
osity. It looked devilish enough, and I
again advised McMasters not to have
anything to do with it.
As he betrayed a faint annoyani, I
dropped the subject at once, and the
napkin was replaced. Tuesday being
letter day for the students, every man
Jack of us were busy with our own
personal anairs all day:
I had not seen Bob since dinner.
Topoff said he had gone to his room
with his portion of the mail, and had
not been seen since; not even at the
tea-table.
Uiggins and I ran up to his little den
at about a quarter to seven, leaving the
others at cribbage below.
We rattled away loudly at the door,
giving a porter's double knock every
two seconds on the thiu panels.
I shudder now to think of how that
unheeded knocking echoed through the
ghiomy old house.
"Oh, he's asleep or dead," said Uig
gins in his rough way, shaking the
knob. "I know he hasn't gone out.
Bob, old chap, look here, you know.
You want to come out of this. What
game are you up to now?"
Suddenly my teeth began to chatter
in wild affright aud I never came so
near being frightened to death in my
life by my own emotions and convic
tions
"Don't knock again. Will," I said,
let us break open the door. Come,
all together, now."
The fastening gave away and the lamp
on the table flickered and flared in the
rush of cold air we let in.
Bob sat upright in the chair at the
table; his left hand holding the wire,
his eyes open and fixed on an open letter
which lay beside the cursed thing.
He was stone dead, and was now
quite cold. Past all help from us,
though all that mortal knowledge could
do was done.
What hail caused his heart to cease Its
throbbing? Was there method in the
lunatic s madness, ana nau ue reauy
invented a thing worth a moment's
thought?
We both glanced at the open letter,
on which the kindly blue eyes had
looked their last, and we couia not neip
seeing what its nature was.
It was written by the woman this
man had loved with all the ardor of bis
passionate nature, and it was simply a
request that he would permit her to
withdraw her pledge. She had discov
ered too late that she loved another too
much to make it safe or honorable in
her to keep her promise to him,
Xow, whether this cold and cruel
letter came to his heart as a death blow,
or the black doctor's fatal machine had
proven too true to its purpose, or, that
vivid imagination which characterized
our friend had assisted him to compass
his ewn end, we shall never know.
Strange, he should have died, sitting
up, with a letter before him, just as his
mother had died, three years before.
I had the melancholy satisfaction of
destroying the "infernal machine" and
casting its nones to tne aogs. ear uy
it, among a litter of matters, lay my
caution to poor Bob; the yellow enve
lope, on which I had written those few
words, each one of which now pierced
me like a knife.
Might not some faint premonition of
all these things have moved Bob to his
dislike of Brixton?
I believe murdered men know their
murderers from the hour they first look
into their eyes. -
To maxb a Retset CrSTARD. To
lukewarm new milk add suflicieut ren
net to curdle the milk, then set in cold
water on ice, and serve by dipping out
carefully so as to break the curd as
little a possible. It is better to prepare
it in the same dish you wish to send to
the table, grate a little nutmeg over it
and eat with sugar, and, if you have it,
twe cream. It is better to prepare but
short time before using it.
ask, Asakergrta, nd SaBTrwa.
Mask arrives in its natnral condition
in small poncbes, packed tins or cad
dies, and often horribly adulterated.
Down right fictitious musk is also sent
to this country, the emptied pouches
being red I led with abominable trash
concocted for purposes of fraud bv the
"Heathen Chinee" and other child like
Orientals. A great quantity of genuine
uiubk, However, comes lonquin, irom
Central Asia, and from the Indian Ar
chipelago. The extraordinary petma-
nence of this perfume is well known
A handkerchief once scented with it
may be washed a dozen times and
stored away for several years, but
when taken out the scent of the musk
deer "will cling to it still" and display
the power falsely ascribed to the rose.
Other instances of the endurance of
musk might be given such as the fa
mous one of the apartments of the Em
press Josephine at Malmaison, from
which no quantity of scrubbing, paint
ing, and fumigating could remove the
subtle penetrating odor. Ambergris,
of which sundry tins are for sale, is
another enrions animal product, a se
cretion of the sperm whale, still known
an perfume, and sold at a large price in
Mincing Lane, but much fallen from
its mediaeval celebrity as a condiment.
We do not much care for dishes
"drenched with ambergris" truffles
being good enough for the gourmands
of these degenerate days. Saffron, too,
has fallen from its high estate, and is
no longer prized as of old as medecine,
condiment, perfume, or dye. In the
good old time saffron and almond mink
were the sheet anchors of the "master
cooks," of snch luxurious monarrhs
as our Richard II ; but except in bouil
labaisse and baba cakes, saffron is
now rarely met with on our tables. So
highly was it esteemed in the middle
ages that tremendous edicts were ful
minated against sophUticators of the
popular condiment. In Germany
notably in Nuremberg Safranscliao
or saffron inspection was established,
and adulterated gaods, whether holden
"knowingly" or not, were burned, to
gether with the proprietors. At one
time it was largely cultivated around
Saffron Walden in Essex. All the
Year Hound.
ea ajaalBara.
Old age finds no keener outdoor
pleasure than to revisit the seashores
familiar to it from childhood. Then
memory and reflection summon the past
to their silent sessions, as the man.
cheered, it may be hoped, with all of
love and deference which should accom
pany old age, watches at evening the
fishing-bouts hoist their sails to pass the
harbor-bar ere the tide falls, and so,
with, their large brown spread of can
vas, sweep majestically into the night.
The grandchildren, it may be, play
around ; their father walks up and down,
unfolding to bis approving wile in the
intervals of his cisrar the plan of his great
work Ob Dimorphism, which is to waft
liim on to fame. All things around hiin,
the aged man ponders, are full of hope
and innocent enjoyment, each looking
on to some higher stage, some blessing
to blossom in the future. Has not this
reflection a comfortable bearing on his
own years, which are fast nearing their
earthly farm? And if the inestimable
boon be further granted him of knowing
1 1 1 "i f liSa life liua ii 'it . I liumt liur hAan
spent uselessly and selfl shfv, if he be
conscious of a good fight not unfairly
fought, if not a lew memories of kindly
deeds beset him, of efforts made not
whollv in vain to carry out the law of
love in his dealings with others, if
peaceable thoughts and pure fancies and
righteous deeds and helping words have
been the diet on which he has fed his
soul, who would not envy him this re
trospect or life, mellowed by the sea's
freshness, and with each hard outline
softened by its gracious influences ?
Then, turning from the past to the pres
ent, the sea spread out before him. with
its sails mysterious! v sinking below the
horizon to seek another world, must
needs remind him of the numberless
philosophers and poets who have loved
to view in it "that immortal sea which
brought us hither," as well as the sea
which rounds our little life, the un
known waters on which, when our an
chors ave once weighed, we must dark
ling make our voyage. The sea is thus
the latest, as it was our earliest, instruc
tor. Its vastness, its brightness, its
union of perpetual agitation with cen
tral peace all these qualities are now
but symbols of the future state, as they
served in youth for the work of lancy,
or of encouragement and solace in man
hood, from this world s sea old age
thus insensibly passes to the "sea of
glass like unto crystal before the
throne of God. Finally, in order that it
may strengthen the man about to sutler
this "sea-change" in a higher sense than
aliakesieare ever dreamt, the notion of
trustfully waiting is also inherent in the
sea. Lowell seldom wrote grander
words than when he thus dwells on this
aspect of the sea and the home beyond :
The dronpiof M-wel beam, la nlrht abynaed.
Far and am far the wave'a receding h-cki.
5or donbta. fur all the darkaeea aad the mitt.
That the pale abepberdeea will keep her trret.
Aad anorewar lea af ala aer loaaleeced local.
Aad, tboaffli Ihr heattn watera far withdraw,
1, luo, caa wait aad feed ea be of The
And f ihe dear recarrenee of Thy law,
bare tbat Ihe partiaf grace tbat aaniaf aaw."
deltas;.
Clay is the material most commonly
approved and used for modeling. It is
wet with pure water, carefully freed
from all foreign substances, beaten and
worked to a proper state of fiimness,
and is then ready to take the shape of
the ideal formed in the artist s mind.
With the simplest tools or home man
ufacture, made of ivory or bone or box
wood or rubber or cedar, of witn ins
bare fingers, the artist fashions the
plastie material, and touches and re
touches it a thousand times, until the
image before him is the counterpart of
that in his mind's eye. Sometimes he
works all day on the corner of a mouth
to get it just right, and then puts the
model away dissatisfied, but takes it
out again and continues bis labor till,
at last, some happy touch makes the
whole complete. Very careful is .he to
keep the clay moist, and for this he
sprinkles it through a fine hose with
water, and covers it in intervals of
labor with a rubber cloth, that its plas
ticity be in no wise diminished.
Whether the figure be finally draped
or not. It is modeled naked, so that
severity and truth of form, upon which
the excellence of sculpture so much de
pends, may be made perfectly sure.
The other day we stood beside the
modeling stand or an artist whose in
imitable groups are familiar to every
cultivated eye in the land, and watched
bis skillul hand as it worked the veins
into an oak leaf. "My talent is patience
said he; "I never weary of working at
my model till it suits me. The fault
with novices in the art is that they ex
pect fine results too soon ; they do not
keep their clay moirt enough, and they
are not patient."
Modelers in clay are we all. The
tools with which we work are simple
enough ; they are the duties, the pleas
ures, the crosses, tne Durdens of lire,
made to our hand, waiting to be nsed.
The ideal to be wrought out must be in
each individual heart. By education,
by discipline, by correction, faults must
be removed from the character, which
is the plastic material on which we
work. The drapery is the body. If
the shape beneath is perfect, the dra
pery will be easily adjusted to it, for as
spencer savs, "SonI is form and doth
the body make." Patience must pre
side from the beginning, middle, and
end of the work. The clay must be
kept overmore plastic with the love of
truth and purity. .Nothing will harden
It so quickly as vice and prejudice.
And we must work till our life's end
on the corners of the mouth, on the
lines about the eyes, on the curves of
the brow, ou the pose of the head, till
the Master appear and pronounce the
"Well done." Tbat his eye may ap
prove, the form beneath all the drapery
must be modeled in the severe and
naked simplicity of Truth and Virtue.
To many of ns is given the "modeling
or characters other than our own. it
is in our power by judicious training,
by the power of love, by the inspiring
influence of example, to work out nat
ural defects in the clay, and to Impress
on it images of beauty ; to fashion it in
fair and graceful outlines, and make of
it a vessel unto honor. "Like clay in
the bands of the potter" are the hearts
of our children in ours, and we are,
whether we are conscious of it or not,
molding their destinies. What skill,
what wisdom, and above all, what
patience we need !
UsTSit SwTerclKaia.
The Bank of England clips every
lighteovercign that comes into the Bank.
The weighing of every sovereign is ac
complished quickly; they weigh 3,000
in an hour with one machine. Mr.
Palmer, the Deputy-Governor, informed
the House of Commons Select Com
mittee of last session on hanks of issue,
that last year the Bank of England
weighed coin to the amount of 2.,l(Ki.-
0U0, and rejected 0,000, or about 3t
per cent., as being light gold, t or this
last amount the Bank paid the value,
making a deduction for the deficiency
of weight, which is generally about 3d.
or 4d. per light sovereign. It was stated
to the committee that boxes of correctly-
weighed gold, sent by the Bank ol Eng
land to Scotland, frequently came back
without having been opened, and Mr.
Palmer stated that there is then some
reduction for light weight. He ex
plained this by adding that the mere
shaking of the sovereigns on the journey
will make a slight difference. There is
a point at which every sovereign be
comes lighf; and many sovereigns turn
that point on the journey. Jlr. Hodg
son, M. P., a bank director, stated that
in a box of 5.0UU sovereigns the number
which would be found to have turned
the point would generally he about
eight if they have not been disturbed ;
and he added : "You are aware that the
sovereign which is in your pocket at 8
o'clock in the morning is not the same
sovereign at 12 o'clock at night." After
this rather alarming announcement it
is satisfactory to find Mr. Hodgson
stating also that the charge for light
weight on the eight deficient sovereigns
would be about 2d. per coin, making
only I'M. on the box of i.3,0U0; so that
savs he, "it really amounts to nothing.
Lund'M Timet.
The Peaer er Water.
It has been oliserved by the ablest
writers in the service of geology that the
power of water as an agent of denuda
tion and subsequent transportation of
matter is, without any doubt, the great
est now in operation. The smallest
streams carrv with them a proiiortion
of the soil through which they flow,
and when a union of their waters in
creases their volume and velocity, ami
consequent powers of erosion aud trans
portation r a river, the enects on mat
ter through which the channel U formed
will be very marked. Lyell estimates
the quantity of solid earthy matter
brought down annually by the waters of
the Mississippi to be three million seven
hundred and ntty-eight thousand four
hundred cubic feet; and this is exclu
sive of the vast quantities of floating
timber ami other vegetable matter which
are continuously beiug borne off the up
lands by the tributary streams.
A vast quantity of the alluvium finds
its way to the Gulf and Is deposited on
the submerged plateau of mud at the
outer edge of the delta there forming
the foundation or that great alluvial
plain seaward. But a vast quantity also
is deposited in the bed of the great river
itself, and this proo-ss of filling up has
tor ages assisted in the formation of the
great alluvial plains or bottom lauds
that stretch southward rrom St. Louis
tor one thousand miles along the river,
and are in width from thirty to eighty
miles, and represent those inexhausti
bly fertile lauds of which the Eondon
correspondent wrote in l!Xj6 :
"There is no system. Ihe rarmcr
scratches the ground and throws iu the
seed, and his bountiful harvests come
up year after year without further
thought or trouble. Thousands of cen
turies have made the soil for hiin, ami
it defies him to make too heavy demands
upon it. It gives him all he asks and is
never known to disappoint or fail."
Haaralfleeait Balle.
Although rhetoricians hesitate a little
to denominate the "bull" a figure of
speech, yet the frequency w ith which
it occurs, the danger which every one
is under of perpetrating one, ami the
cousinship it sustains to hyerbole, all
combine to give it a half assured osi
tion in the list of figures. Coleridge
defines a "bull" thus: "It is a mental
juxtaosition of Incongruous ideas, with
the sensation, but without the reality,
of connection." Jerrold's tipsy ser
vant, after long fumbling at the door
with his key, finally declared that some
scoundrel had stolen the key-hole, a
drunken notion which approached the
nature of a bull. The bull is not con
fined to the Irish. Many of the best
come down from Greece and Rome. It
was a Greek who heard that a goose
lived 20U years, and bought one to see,
who shut his eyes and looked in the
glass to see what sort of a corine he
would make; aud who, having a house
for sale, carried round a brick as a spe
cimen. But the Irish have acquired a
reputation for "bulls," and must keep
it. It is suggested that the IrUhmau
speaks a foreign language, and so is not
so accurate as an Englishman; but this
does not account for the odd mistakes
sometimes made by those Irishman who
never knew a word of Critic. Perhaps,
after all, the best explanation is that
offered by an Irishman : "Sure it must
be in the climate. If an Englishman
was born in Ireland, he would make
just as many." This piece of uninten
tional richness was good, but not quite
so racy as the conductor a Dublin mob,
who had a spite' against a banker, ami
tried to ruin him by burning i.'20,ou0 of
his bank's notes.
A rarer list is given, comprising,
among others, the Irishman who stole
chocolate, and he aud "his ould 'oman
made tay of it;" the waiter and the
restaurant guest : "Tay or coffee, sir?"
"Tay." "Got no tay;" he who played
at cards, and, inspecting the pool,
missed a shilling. "Here's a shilling
short! Who pnt ! in?" and the two
prominent members of the Irish bar,
one of whom knocked the other dowu,
and told him he would make him be
have like a gentleman ; but the other,
rising with Irish valor; "I defy you,
sir? no, sir, you could not do it,"
Neither are the lovers forgotten. "I
will never speak to you more," said he
with extreme vexation. "Keep your
spake to yourself, then," said she, "I
am sure I can live without it, or your
company.
'I'm sure so can I, then,"
was the wrathful rejoinder. The poor
ft How whose eyes "hadn't gone to
gether the whole night for thinking of
his darling," and he "could not sleep
at night for dreaming of her," keeps
company with him who desired an
affectionate daughter to marry hiin,
and see if he did not "beat her mother ;"
and with him who wanted a meeting
contrived with his inamorata when
neither of them "knew th9 other was
present." The Hibernian paterfamilias
is also displayed who wanted the chil
dren kept iu the nursery while he was
at home, although he "would not object
to their noise if they would only keep
quiet;" in company with the beggar
woman, who was the mother of "six
small children and a sick husband."
This worthy lady was probably a near
relative or her whose son Bill "jiist
made two chairs and a fiddle out of his
own head, and had plenty of wood left
for auother." Here are also the physi
cian who, in a case of Infanticide, could
not determine "whether the child was
alive at the time of its death or not ;"
and the woman who fell into a well and
was thankful to "Providence and an
other woman" for assistance in getting
out. The man who lamented the fright
ful mortality, since "there were people
dying this year whoneverdied before ;"
the man wt o, after an illness, "was
sick for a long time after he got well,"
on account of the doctor's doses ; he who
would rot fight a duel because of his
unwillingness to "leave his aged mother
an orphan;" together with the poor
boy who complained that his parents
treated him as if he were "their son by
another father and mother;" all are
here, and the list is very appropriately
closed by the account of the Irishman
who was riding a mule, when the hind
foot of the latter became entangled in
the stirrup, "Be dad, if you're going
to get up, it's toime for nieself to get
down." Jtf.icfrefA's Jf.jAf and Mirth of
LiUmtute.
Bex) Luteal a.
Conversation is more frequently
spoiled and ruined by bad listening
than by bad talking. Two persons or
several", may engage, in the discussion
of a subject with which each is well ac
quainted, and each may possess com
mand of language and fluency of dic
tion, but if one of them is an inatten
tive, uneasy or impatient listener, the
conversation become confused and ir
regular, often Irritating, and either of
itself breaks up altogether, or is aban
doned with a mutual or general sense
of relief on the occurrence of any in
terruption from without. There are
various classes of such offenders, exam
ples of each of which may not seldom
be met with in a single large party.
The least blameable, and the least em
lmrrassing, but ofteu sulHciently so to
distract the best talkers, and to hinder
the process of discourse, are the ner
vous and fidgety, who, although per
haps desirous ami intending to give at
tention to the subject under treatment,
are unable to control physical restless
ness while others are speaking. This
manifests itself in various ways by
wandering of the eyes, movements of
the limbs, arrangements of the dress,
taking up aud putting down books and
other objects, and often by very un
gainly tricks practiced by an astonish
ingly large number or sensible, well
educated, and otherwise well conducted
people. Ihe presence or a single
person of this temperament in an audi
ence is notoriously sufficient to annoy
and discompose even eminent public
speakers, and often sioiis a speech or a
sermon. It is not to be wondered at
that, in the closer communication of
social intercourse, it should prove very
frequently the stumbling block to con
versation. iwr! linnr.
The Xeweat raraa of riekpweket.
The last clever pickpocket on record
is a little girl of about twelve years old,
for whom the police are diligently look
ing out. Her victims have been up to
this time country ladies who are visit
ing the metropolis, or foreigners.
Presently when she grows bold enough
to attack London ladies, who are dis
trustful to disinterested kindness from
strangers, then her career will meet
with a check. She is a nice little girl,
clean, pleasant faced, bright-eyed looks
for all the world as if she was "a model
scholar. "0,pleae ma'am, I suppose you
didu't know there was a black sHt on
your nose?" Lady, with a concern for
appearances, esecially wheie cleanli
ness is concerned, replies, "O no, I did
not," in a tone of alarm, mingled with
gratitude, having instant recourse to
her handkerchief, thereby . revealing
the exact locality of her pocket, and
leaving it a prey to the thief. The n'ce
little girl is very sympathizing, offers
her aid, and scrubs the face of the
victim with well assumed earnestness.
The face is clean a, id the imaginary
black routed at last the lady offers her
thanks, possibly substantial ones, but
meantime the cute young person has
managed to possess herself of the con
tents of the pocket, with the watch, or
any loose trinkets, which hang conve-
vieutly exposed to view. Jiia Cor.
BestoraUaa ar Lire After Freeslws;.
A friend residing iu Baltimore had
in his possession a small alligator,
which hal been sent him from Florida.
Its habitation was a tub partially filled
with water, kept outdoor. Duringone
of the odd snaps of the past Winter, in
the night the water became completely
frozen, imprisoning the reptile in the
Ice, with but a small portion of his
body protruding therefrom. To all ap
pearances the animal was as dead as
one of the stuffed specimens seen in a
museum collection. Ihe want or time
precluding an effort for its extrication
in the morning, it was allowed to re
main frozen, and was soon forgotten
in in the maze or the cares or tne day.
For fortv-eio-ht hours the rent ile thus
- i
remained frozen and lifeless, at the end
of which time, being thawed out, vitality
became visible, and in a short time it
was animated as ever, with no evidence
of having in the least suffered by the
prolonged frigoriHceonanement. Here
is an instance in which the vital spark
seems not to have been extinguished by
the freezing, nor the animal's organism
to have been mutilated, but that vitality
merely remained torpid or dormant
during the freezing, and ready to re
spond to its functions whenever the
animal's organism returned to its nor
mal condition.. American Artisan.
Artiflrlal Waste.
Bulwer says that poverty is only an
idea, in nine cases out of ten. Some
men, with ten thousand a year, suffer
more from want of means than others
with three hundred. The reason is,
the richer man has artificial wants. His
income is ten thousand, and he suffers
enough, from being dunned for unpaid
debts, to kill a sensitive man. A man
who earns a dollar a day, and does not
run in debt, is the happier of the two.
Very few people who have never been
rich will believe this; but it is as true
as God's Word. There are thousands
upon thousands with princely incomes
who never know a moment's peace,
because they live beyond their means.
There is really more happiness in the
world among working people than
among those who are called rich.
lonrr colcmj.
" thould leep ." I was very
much struck with an answer I received
the other dar from a little boy who
was visiting me. He had been playing
a long while, and was very tired, one
of bis playmates, 1 am sorry to say.
was not a very good boy ; he ma not
mind his mother, and sometimes ut
tered words I do not wish ever to hear
from children's lips ; but he was a gen
erous, merry kind of a boy for all that
and waa aaite a favorite.
"(am afraid. Charlie," I said, "that
Willie Kay is naughty: he is a very trou
blesome child. Now if yon were his
moiner, wnat wouiu you no wiui uimi
"I should keep him !" answered Char
lie, looking np in my face fearlessly.
"Would you keep a naughty boy,
Charlie f Does be deserve his mother's
kindness T"
"Yes. I should keep him faaid Char
lie again, shutting his lips firmly to
gether as if that was all he hail to say.
"But, Charlie," I persisted, "do you
think a naughty boy like Willie Kay
onght to be kept by a good kind mo
ther.! he is disobedient and unruly in
every way."
"Now. auntie." replied the little boy
"now auntie, do yon tlnuk be tould
be good if his mother did not keep
him I should keep him and try to
make him better."
Here was his answer. How many
mothers art npoo little Charlie's reso
lute reply, "1 should keep him." "He
is my boy ; God gave him to me. He
may be undutiful and disobedient
sometimes ; but 1 ehalt keep aim work
with him aud for him. pray with him
and for him, still hoping and never,
quite despairing."
Yes, children, the mother is the last
to give up her child : through evil
and goook report, in times of sickness
and sorrow and trial, and even in
crime, she will shield, she will love
him, and pray for him. aud keen him
alwavs in her heart.
Aud does not the blessed Sanour
show the same patience and love to as
all, His children, for whom He died t
Does He not wait "that tbey may
bring forth f rnit t He intercedes for
ua, send blessings and mercies and
trials, all to bring us back to Him. He
will not let ns go until we prove wholly
recreant. Let us pray tbat. as little
Charlie said, "He will keep us." and
at last receive us into His Heavenly
habitations.
If I could onlu 9t JIT 17 mother. "It I
could only see my mother!"
Again and again was that yearning
cry repeated
If I could only see my mother:
The vessel rocked, aud the waters.
chased bv a fresh wind, played musi
cally against the side of the ship. The
sailor, a second mate, quite youthfut,
lav in his narrow bed, his eyes glazing,
his limbs stiffening, bis breath failing.
It was not pleasant to die thus, in this
shaking, plunging ship ; but he seemed
not to mind his bodily comfort; his
eyes looked far away, and ever and
anon broke forth that grieving cry
"If 1 could only see my mother
An old sailor sat by. the Bible in his
hand, from which he had been read
ing. lie bent above the young man. and
asked him why he was so anxious to
see the mother he had so wilfully left.
O ! that s the rrasou. he cried in
anguish ; "I've nearly broken her
iieai t.and I can t die in peace. She was
a good mother to me O ! so good a
mother! She bore every thing from
her wild boy, and once she said. 'My
son, when yon comh to die you will re-
memiier this.7 0!il 1 could only see
my mother !"
He never saw his mother. Tie died
with the yearning npou his lips, as
many a one has died who slighted the
mother who loved hiin.
Boys, be good to your mothers.
What's the nuttier with this Story.
X rite suite little buoy, the son of a
grate kernel, with a rough about bis
neck, flue up the rode swift as eb dear.
Altera thyme, he bad stopped, at a
gnu house and wrung the belle. His
tow hurt hymn, and he kneaded wrest,
lie was two tired too raze his fare pail
face. A feint mown of pane rows from
his lips. The made who herd the belle
was about to pair a pare, but she
through it down and with awl her
mite, four her guessed would knot
weight. Butt when she saw the little
won, tiers stood in her eyes at the site.
Ewe poor dear ! W hy due yew lye hear?
Ah yew dyeing? Know, he sade, "I
am feint to the corps." She boar him
in her alms, as she aught, too a rheum
ware he might bee quiet, gave him
bred and meet, held cents under his
knows, tide his cboler. rapped him
warmly, gave him some sweet drachm
from a viol, till at last he went fourth
hail as a young hoarse. His eyes shown
his cheek was read as a flour, and be
gambled a hole our. it. Sic kola.
"Good Morning T. Don't forget to
say "good morning!" Say it to your
parents, your brothers and sisters, to
your children, or your fellow-work
men ; and say it cheerfully and with a
smile ; it will do you good, and your
friends good. 1 here is a kind of an
inspiration in every "good morning"
heartily and smilingly spoken, that
helps to make hope fresher and work
lighter. It seems, reallw seems to make
the morning good, and to be a proph
ecy of a good day to come at r it.
And if this be true of the "good morn
ings" it is so also of all kind, heart
some greetings. They cheer the dis
couraged, rest the tired one, aud,
somehow, make the wheels of life run
more smoothly. Be liberal with them,
then, and let no morning pass, how
ever dark and gloomy It may be, that
you will not help at least to brighten
by your smiles aud cheerful words.
Kern to your Vocation. "Pickle,"
said Dick, the bull-terrier, to the
pretty little Skye, "as long as you keep
to your tricks and winning playful
ways vou are charming; bat when
you come to the gate after me, putting
in your snnu, suarp pipe, anu spoiling
my deep hoarse bark, you look posi
tively silly ; excuse me, but true
friends must be faithful."
"Dick, dear," said Pickle, "that re
minds me of something 1 have often
thought of telling you; aa long as you
keep to guarding the house, and fright
ening the beggars, you are highly re
spectable ; but whoa yon try to come
sprawling on my lady s lap, in imita
tion of me, you nave no idea now ioo
lish you look. Excuse me, but one
good turn deaerven another, and 'true
friends must be faithful.'
steady Jfeaey.
Keep ready money on hand if vou
can. No matter if it is only a little sum.
If it is only sufficient for the current
expenses, it is a great convenience to
say the least. Any one who has tried
and compared the credit with the cash
system, will readily admit the correct
ness of the above remark. When you
buy for cash you generally get things
cheaper get better weight and measure
and all ttie favors the dealer can ex
tend :o his patrons. On the - hronic
credit system, the matter is usually re
versed. If you try to avoid credit by
borrowing, you improve matters very
little, if any. Hence we give this ad
vice, "Turn an honest penny" whent
ever you can, and always have snfficien
moneyon hand to meet your small engagements.
ICWS H BRIEF.
Georgia imports wagons annually
to the extent of $jO0,0W).
The Emperor of Brazil respectfully
asks for eighteen mouths' vacation.
Green Lake. Colorado, has been
stocked with U0,000 mountain and salmon
trout.
A bear weighing 400 pounds was
captured on Chocura mountain at New
Hampshire a few days ago.
Mrs. Foster of Muscatine, Iowa,
has a beard three inches long and a
heavy, glossy, black moustache.
Thrifty little Rhode Island has only
480 paupers out of i."ti,2:W souls, and
has $40,000,000 in saving banks.
W. F. Gill of Boston has the original
manuscript of Poe's poem. "The Bella."
the baud writing is as clear as print.
The aspiring city of Denver is
erecting a watch tower, eighty feet
high, from which to observe ami give
nonce or Ores.
The Kentucky tobacco crop is re
ported as being in an excellent condi
tion, with an acreage 200 per cent bet
ter than lat year.
At Sauk Centre. Minn., after five
lawyers hail been engaged in a lawsuit
for two weeks, the plaintiff was given a
verdict for 73 cents.
There are sixty stores en Broadway.
Bostou.that have given up iris and taken
to kerosene. That's one way of dealing
with a monopoly.
The Indiana Supreme Court has de
clared unconstitutional the State law re
quiring legal notices to be published in
German newspapers.
An Indian canoe that will hold liX
men easily, is to be sent to the centen
nial from British Columbia. It is GO
feet long, 8 wide and 4 high.
We milk 13.000.000 cow in this
country, keep 3,000 creameries and
cheese factories, ami have a cheese and
butter product of fl"i0,000,000.
The trial of Piper the murderer o f
little Mabel Young iu a church steeple
Boston, last summer, has been again
postponed, this time till January.
North Carolina will be represented
in the centennial by 70 varieties of
pine timber, nine boxes of minerals,
and over 100 varieties of herbs ami
roots.
There are in the United States
seventeen establishments where loco
motives are built, thirty-six-cai-wheel
manufactories, and ninety-two car-
nops.
A tall siirnal post. The officers- of
the Coast Survey have erected a weather
signal on the summit of Mount Shasta,
California, 14,400 feet above the level of
the sea.
Non-navment of taxes in Massa
chusetts disfranchises the delinquents.
u Koston, zj.uimj names have been
dropped from the voting list for failing
to pay up.
1'nfavorable reports are received re
garding the ravagws of the hog cholera.
wnicn is taking off thousands of swine
in Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, and other
v estern states.
A small terrier in Mcriden, Conn.,
a year ago lost part of his tail, which is
now growing out again at right angles,
so that he carries behind hiin a kind of
stove-pie elbow.
The office of the Territorial Enter
prise, recently burned in the great lire
in Virginia city, Nevada, is the one in
which Mark Twain commenced his
newspaper career.
Business is recovering In Lawrence,
Mass., and the worsted dress goodsmills
are being run night and day. Now for
more over-production .alter the usual
American fashion.
Ex-Treasnrer Spinner is in doubt
whether he ought to accept the present
of a clock tendered him by the em
ployees of the Treasury Iepartmeiit,but
his gratitude is just at deep.
Emily Parker, the English swim
ming champion, is coming to this
country to exhibit herself. She will
perform at variety theatres in a glass
tank, aud be billed as the lady frog.
Two owls attended service at the
Episcopal church in Georgetown, S. C.
last Sunday. They took up positions
on the reading desk and communion
table, and behaved with great propri
ety. A snake was killed in Arkansas re
cently which measured twenty feet lonsr,
twenty-four inches around the girth,
three or four inches between the eyes,
and which made a track of eight and
three-fourth inches.
The National Gold Bank and Trust
Company of San Francisco will go into
liquidation. The liabilities of the insti
tution have been reduced to $Him),iniii,
and the depositors and stockholders will
probably be paid in full.
A mineral bureau has been estali
lished at Alexandria, Virginia, for the
purpose of collecting Sieciinens of ores
found In different sections of the State,
and of ultimately developing mines
which are believed to exist.
The Pioneer Chicory Factory, Yolo
county, Cal., is in full operation. The
proprietors cultivate this year 400 acres
of chicory, 75 acres more than ever lie
fore. The crop is unusually fine: and
the result will be at least 400 tons of
chicory.
George Metzger, of Carlisle, Pa.,
now in his ninety-fifth year, is the ol
dest person w ho has served in the le
gislature. He was a member during
the years 1313 audi It. He is said to
retain his powers of body and mind al
most unimpaired.
A curious basket picnic and ball was
held recently in Leavenworth Moun
tain, Colorado. It was held in a sub
terranean chamber, and the cards of
invitation stated that dam-lug would
be continued until ten boxes of wax
candles bad been consumed.
Some planters in the San Joaquin
valley, California, have been experi
menting in cotton culture, and have
raised from one-quarter of abate to four
bales per acre, 500 pounds to the bale,
on land that was not irrigated. An opeu
ing for "Chinese cheap labor."
The increase of the number of in
sane committed from San Francisco the
present year is 25 per cent, over the cor
responding period last year. During
the year 1874 the number committed
was I'J-k while for the nine months of
1375, ending Sep. 30,the number reached
210.
The first child named after George
Washington was probably the son of
Nathaniel Appletou, an ancestor of the
present Boston Appletons, who was
christened in Oi-tober, 1775. His grand
father. Key. Irr. Nathaniel, of ( am
bridge, was the second to receive the de
gree of D. D. from Harvard, in 1771, his
predecessor being Increase Mather.
Sheep raising in California has its
attendant excitement. Mr John Max
well, living near Blairstown, Iowa,
recently received from his son In Cali
fornia, the skins of 7 panthers, i black
bears, 14 lynx, 1 brown bear, 2 cubs,
and 2 gray foxes. Mr. Maxwell's son is
in the sheep business, and these pelts
were the troph ies gai ned w h i le gua rd i n g
his flocks
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