nrC AAAA lllV A rrfOV A A
pi igoifigi .aca in ypwipm
B. F..SCHWEIER,
THI COXSTITUTIOS TH1 TOI05 AUD TH1 I5F0&CIMEXT OF THB LAWS.
Editor and ProprUton
VOL. XXX.
MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY, PENNA.. AUGUST 30. 1876.
NO. 35.
WHAT I UYI FOE.
I lira for those who lore me.
For those I know are true.
For the heaven that emilea above ma,
And await my spirit, too ;
For all human ties that bind ma.
For the task of God assigned mi.
For the bright boars left behind me.
And the good that I can do.
I hve to learn their story,
Wboe suffered for my sake.
To emulate their glory.
And follow in their wake ;
Bard, martyrs, patriots, sages.
The noble of all ages.
And tune's great volume make.
I live to hail that season,
By gifted mind fortold.
When men shall lire by reason.
And not alone by gold
When man to man united.
And every wrong thing lighted.
As Eden was of old.
I live to hold communion
With all that is divine.
To feel there is a union
Twixt nature's heart and mine.
To profit by affliction.
Grow wiser from conviction.
And fulfil each great design.
I live for those who love me.
For thorn who know me true.
For the heaven that smiles above me,
And awaits my spirit, too ;
For the wrongs that need resistance.
For the cause that lacks assistance.
For the future in tne distance.
And the good that I can do.
The Mothers Stratagem.
One sunny morning a few years afro,
Jan Kammerick came up from tbe cabin
of his barge which his men were
slowly working through a lock near
the quaint and ancient city of Antwerp
and set his huge Dutch feet upon the
deck. His first act was to bellow fero
ciously at the good-natured fellows who
were doing their best to get the barge
through without even so much as even
scratching the fresh paint on her sides;
his next was deliberately and cruelly to
kick a small moon-faced boy who was
lying on his back, and looking up at a
carved wooden figure whose grotesque
head grinned from a side rail.
Many of the loungers along the banks
of the lock knew old Jan Kammerick
for a mean and cruel Flemish boor, who
maltreated his wife, his children, his
bargemen, and who sometimes flew
into sTich terribh? fits-ef-wtger that he
thrashed his own sides with his round
fists. You may see people just like him
in some of Tenier's paintings, men
with low, cunning faces, small, twink
ling, greedy eyes, thick lips; men with
broz J shoulders and stout limbs; men
who seem always ready to get down
and hunt on all fours, like the animals
they so much resemble. Xo one in
Antwerp not a market-woman oa the
shore of the Scheidt, nor a bargeman
on river or canal liked the choleric
and brutal Jan Kammerick; many times
the wretch had narrowly escaped a
ducking at the hands of a mob because
of his cruelties; and on this occasion,
seeing the poor child who was kicked
begin to cry and to crawl "away toward
a refuge uuder a pile of rope, every one
shouted :
"Jan Kammerick! Jan Kammerick!
you are a mean, bad man, and no one
will be sorry when you come to harm !"
or "Jaii Kammerick ! you shall be com
plained of to the iudge oi the district !"
Tbe women shook their fists at him,
and the men muttered that the boy
must be taken away from his cruel
father and cared for. Kammerick's
poor wife, who was washing her pots
and kettles on deck, looked as if she
inwardly sympathized with the people
onshore; but she trembled, and dared
say nothing.
Jan was in such a dreadful temper
that the cries of the people on shore
made him more furious still.
'It's none of your business," he
shouted, "how much I pound and kick
this brat! He is good for nothing but
whittling and breaking knives. If he
carves any more of his pudding faces
out of my boat rails, I'll send him
adrift- Then you will have what you
want! Then, neighbors, you will have
a pauper on your hands; and when you
feed him in your kitchens, he will carve
doll puppets out of your table-legs."
Then he vanished down the hatch
way, followed by the maledictions of
the bystanders.
"If I were you," cried one of them to
the boy, "I would run away."
The barge went on through the locks,
and the boy still crouched in his cor
ner. The tears yet dimmed his eyes,
but he had already forgotten his bruises.
There was no resentment in his heart
toward his wretched father. His mind
was filled with a thousand beautiful
and fantastic images, delicate fancies
which he now and then sought to em
body in bit of wood that he laboriously
carved with clumsy knives or chisels.
He longed to be free from the rude work
which he was compelled to do upon the
large barge, and to study, that lie might
become a great sculptor in wood. When
the barge passed near eome of the curi
ously adorned old houses of which there
are so many in Antwerp houses whose
windows, whose roofs, whose arches,
whose doors were richly and profusely
adorned with carvings of birds and
foliage, of beasts and dragons, of mysti
cal figures from mythologies, or comical
transcripts from every-day Dutch life,
he studied them carefully and with
passionate adoration. He had never
been allowed to go into the streets, and
ook at them for hours at a time, as he
could have wished to do; for old Jan,
who plied to and from a little village
on the banks of the Scheldt, at some
distance from Antwerp, would never
allow his child to go on shore during
any of their tri-weekly visits to the
city. He yearned for a sight of the
' grand churches of which his mother
had told him cathedrals In whose sol
stillness he could stand undis
turbed all the day long, drinking In
beauty at every pore. The harshness
and hardship of his life, the beatings of
his unnatural father, would have been
as nothing to him if he could have been
allowed to learn something of art. But
old Jan not only refused to allow him
to work, but had thrown into the river
many beautiful images of saints, of
birds, of dragons, which the child had
carved by stealth when the bargeman
was not near, and had then offered to
the boor, asking him to sell them and
buy tobacco for himself with the money.
"Xo child of mine shall waste his life
over such mummeries," said old Jan.
While the boy was musing bitterly on
his 1 -t, his mother, who had finished
washing her pots and kettles, came to
him, and while she wrung out her dish
cloth with her lean and blistered hands,
she said, in a low voice:
Jan, boy, you are small and feeble,
but you are now thirteen, and I think
you would be brave and resolute. The
good soul down-stairs" (she always
called Father Jan good soul, because
she knew that he was an old brute)
"the good soul has made up his mind
that you are to be a bargeman, and he
is stern, as you know. Now do not
speak we must try a new way to get
you launched into the world."
Here the mother's tears began to fall
fast, and she thought of the beatings
which she ra!ght receive if she carried
out her plan. "My child, you must
leave us; you must run away!"
Tbe boy's eyes flashed ; he rose, and
limped toward his mother.
"Xevert" he said. "I cannot leave
you, motherkin ! Leave you with that
man!"
"Listen, child !" she said. "We will
try a little way which the good God has
put into my head. ,You will be a ge
nius, my sou-one of those great people
who can express just what they want
to say. You will carve your thoughts
in wood In stone, perhaps. To-night,
when the barge stops near the lock, I
will muke an errand for your father on
shore. I will give you a few pieces of
money out of tbe sum which we have
saved for Bertha's dowry, and you shall
fly. Your father will notbunt for you ;
his heart is hard, and he will say he is
glad you are gone."
The boy looked at his mother with
wonder in his eyes. But there was no
longer any signs of tears in t.iem. A
new fire lit them up.
"Go," she continued, "to Gasker
Willems, in the little street near St.
Andrew's. There take a chamber, and
may God be with you. Xow and then,
perhaps, I may come to see you. But
it is better that I should not, and that
your father should think you gone
away, no one knows where. But :now
listen earnestly in a year from thjs.
day, toward sunset, I will bring your
father to Saint Andrew's church. It
was there that he first saw me, twenty
years ago; there by the great carven
pulpit, which you, poor child, have
never seen, but which will delight your
eyes. Jan, one year is not a long time,
but you have already done much, and
perhaps, before twelve months have
passed, you will bave done a noble
work. Meet us, then, by the pulpit in
St. Andrew's Church a year from this
day, at tbe sunset hour. Bring with
you some delicate carving as an offering
to him, and at the same time say that
you wish to return to us. Perhaps his
heart will have been softened by your
absence;" and the good little mother
almost smiled, and looked very wise,
through her tears.
"Motherkin," said Jan, "I will obey
you." .
Then the poor child began to tremble
at the thought of going out alone into
the world. But his courage came to
him finally, and he kissed his mother
again and again.
"If anything dreadful happens, I will
let you know," said she, "but father
Jan must not hear from you, nor tee
.. . . - i ,
you, until a year irom mis uay.
"Farewell, then, motherkin," said
the child; "farewell for a long, long
year. By the carved pulpit in St. An
drew's, in a twelvemonth !"
They took their farewells then and
there, lest old Jan should suspect them,
if they were crying toward evening,
At night-fall, as the barge approached
the lock again, after its station near a
market all day, the mother went on
shore to get a pail of clear water; old
Jan followed her, storming and threat
ening, as she knew he would, because
supper for the workmen was not ready.
The boy took the little bag of clothes
and the money which his mother bad
prepared for him; as the boat grazed
the side of the lock he jumped out, and
was soon lost to view in the crowd.
Two hours later, he had been received
at the bouse of Gasker Willems, in the
little street near St. Andrew's Church.
He slept in an old carven bedstead,
whose head-board was a pictured his
tory or the destruction oi i-naroan s
host, whose feet were griffin's claws,
whose curtain-posts were lovely angels
with uplifted faces angels whose very
silence seemed eternally to praise uod.
CHAPTER II.
A year brought sad changes to old
Jan Kammerick. At first, when he
heard of his sou's flight, he ascribed it
to meddlesome neighbors, and his rage
knew no bounds. He stoutly insisted
that he would never try to bring back
the vagabond wood-hacker. He would
not hear the bov's name spoken. Some
times, when he saw that the mother
looked paler than was her wont, and
that she wept silently when she was
polishing her pots and kettles, his con
science smote him. But he never would
have been really sorry if misfortune
had not come upon him One of his
bargemen, whom he had once beaten,
scuttled the barge and fled. Jan and
his wife bad a narrow escape from
drowning, and, had it not been for
friendly aid, would have lost all their
Dots and kettles. Young Jan had been
sent away to Brussels by the good Gas
ker Willems, a few days before this, and
knew nothing of it until many days
afterward. He was busy with his art,
in which he made astonishing progress.
The next misfortune which befell oid
Jan was the loss of his little house on
the banks of the Scheldt- A fire burned
out the interior, and cracked the stone
walls. Old Jan bad not money enougn
to rebuild it. Then his limbs began to
fall him: they shook and trembled,
The neighbors said : "It is because be
kicked and beat bis son !" And old J an
himself began to be of their opinion, j
He bad now only a small barge; was
obliged always to live In it, and was
very paor and discouraged. Sometimes
his heart was softened toward his pa
tient wife, and be would say
"You will be the first to be killed by
my poverty. It would have been better
for you if I never had seen you In St.
Andrew's Church."
Then she would answer: "Xo, in
deed ! Our fortune is yet to come out
of that church, Jan."
She said this so often, and with such
emphasis, that one day be looked at ber
curiously and said :
"Why, Anneken,whatdoyou mean 7"
"To-morrow," she answered, we shall
see. Jan, it Is many a year since we
have taken a holiday. We are as good
as the rest of the world ; let us live our
youth over again ; let us stay in Ant
werp, and at sunset to-morrow let us
visit St. Andrew's Church, and stand
by the pulpit where
"Stuff!" the old man was saying,
when the mother put her hand upon
his mouth. He no longer threatened to
beat her; his punishments bad sobered
him ; his heart almost yearned for bis
lost son.
"By the carven pulpit," continued
the mother, "where we may say a
prayer for our lost son."
Well, if you will bave it so, Anne-
ken," he answered, almost gently.
In the Xetherlands there are many
churches filled with rare and exquisite
carvings, with altar-pieces, shrines,
pulpits; vestries, fonts and sacristies
laden with a wealth of intricate work ;
done in wood by skilful hands; and in
Antwerp the richest specimens oi this
curious labor are to be found. In the
great Cathedral of St. Jacques, where
Peter Paul Reubens, the painter, lies
buried, there are hundreds of rich and
fantastic carvings, out of which the
fancies of the elder artists peer curi
ously at the prosaic present. Sometimes
the birds are a little too odd to be real,
the dragons are almost too funny for a
cathedral, and the flowers and leaves
are not constructed quite in accord
ance with botany; but, on the whole,
you feel that if things in nature are not
like those in the carvings, they at least
ought to be so charming, so droll, so
satisfactory are they !
In St. Andrew's Church, of which
young Jan's mother bad so many ten
der memories, stands a large carven
pulpit, of peculiarly daring design for
artists who work in wood. It repre
sentB"Trocky crag-near the seashore.
Just beneath the crag lies a fishing-
boat, in which stand the figures of the
AposJes Andrew and Peter. Behind
them, on the right, their fishing-nets
hang upon a tree. The apostles are
looking earnestly at a figure of the
Savior, which stands in an attitude as
if beckoning them ; as if saying, "Fol
low me, and I will make ye fishers of
men. Two of the cleverest artists in
the Xetherlands gave much time and
Ulent to this delightful carving. Van
Hool did the foliage, the nets, the rocks;
Van Gheel the figures of the apostles
and the Saviour. The latter figure
seems to have genuine inspiration in it,
the sculptor has wrought marvelously,
bringing effects out of stubborn wood
rarely obtained before. When light
the last ray of the declining sun, re
flected through the stained glasses of
the church, and softened to the delicacy
of summer twilights falls gently upon
this group, the sacred figures seem to
have all the supreme finish of marble
nay more, they appear to live !
So thought the good mother Anneken,
as on the appointed day, one year from
the time when she had sent forth her
child into the world to give his genius
scope, and to escape from his hard
hearted father, she led the feeble and
now quite subdued old Jan Cammerick
into St. Andrew's Church. As the cou
ple came in view of the pulpit, memo
ries, endearing and solemn, came to
tbem; the spectres of their vanished
youth rose up before them, not in mock
ing shape, but as good spirits, come to
cheer them on their path of lire, uid
Jan remembered how he had seen the
fair maiden standing near the pulpit,
with her hands folded, and ber eyes
closed in prayer, and how he had sworn
to win her for his wife, lie was glad
he had come into tbe church, and then
he thought of his son.
At that moment there was a joyful
cry from the mother, and young Jan,
wonderfully improved in voice, in man
ner, and in health, rushed into her
. www 1 1 t
arms. A nunurea Kisses, anu nan a
hundred words sufficed for them; for
the good little mother bad kept herself
informed of all her son's progress.
through the medium of old Gasker
Willems. But the father was aston
ished beyond measure. He stepped
back, trembling; and shading his eyes
with his hands, be looked long at the
youth.
"Heyday, son !'' he said ; "we thougnt
we bad lost you ! But here you are back
again, and no word of repentance r
Old Jan tried to be severe, Dut ms
voice softened at every word.
"Father," said the youth, "I bring
you a peace-offering."
Just then Gasker wiuems came noo-
bling up, bearing a large box, which
he placed upon the cathedral noor.
Young Jan opened it, and took from it
a piece of wood carving.
Quickly!" said Gasker Willems,
after he had been greeted; "look at
this before tbe beadle sees us, for it is a
lime when many stroll into the church
Quickly, and then let us all go to my
house."
Young Jan stepped to a point near
the pulpit, where the light still fell
with some sharpness, and held up the
carving. Then the astonished parents
saw that it was an exact reproduction,
on a tiny scale, but done with surpass
ing finish, of the pulpit before which
they stood at that instant. But this
was not all. In front of the miniature
pulpit, stood a maiden, with eyes down
cast, and band folded in prayer; and
near ber, watching her reverently, with
parted lips and expectant air, was a
brave young bargeman, exactly like
those one may see every day on tbe
Scheldt. In this carving old Jan and
bis wife saw the story of their first
meeting told, as the mother had so often
told it to her sen.
"Father," said the youth, "this, and
another like It, have been my year's
work. The fellow to this has been sold
to a prince for a large' sum of money;
and the prince wishes to help me to
study until I can help myself more.
But I shall not need him; and neither
mother nor you will ever work more,
for the prince's bounty, with my future
work, will be enough for us all. Father,
will you take my offering?"
Old Jan bowed bis head, and took
the carving. He set it down upon the
cathedral floor, and took his son to his
arms.
"I was an old brute ?" he said ; "how
did I ever become such a scoundrel?"
On the way to Gasker Willems',
where the party took supper, the good
mother told the husband of ber strata
gem to help ber child. Old,. Jan said
but this: "A good wife is a good
thing; but I have not merited one!"
Gasker Willems, who was bringing
up the rear with the carving in his
arms, said :
'Say, rather, that you nave meniea
nothing, like tbe rest of us; but that
God is good, and moves In a mysterious
way; and that your tough heart could
nly have been softened by the strata
gem which He sent into the mother's
mind !"
Well, well!" said old Jan, "I must
try and get grace enough to thank Him
properly." St. Nicholas.
This Spirit f 1775.
John Howe, of Marlborough, in 1775,
a quiet farming town, was cobbling a;
a pair of shoes which he bad promised
should be done within an hour, when
he beard that the British were march
ing to Concord. Being a man of his
word, he kept at his work, notwithstan
ding the excitement. ' He had just
finished the job when Polly Smith, the
young woman who kept tbe house
where he was boarding, ran into the
shop.
"John! John!" she cried with glow
ing cheeks and flashing eyes, "you
ought to have been off to Concord an
hour ago. Every other man in the
village has got there by this time !"
"'Twouldn't be any use for me to go
anyhow ! I haven't got any bullets,"
said John.
"Come into the house and run some
then," replied Polly.
"I haven't got anything to make 'em
of."
"Oh, I'll find something for you to
make 'em of," and Polly darted into
thebdlise.' " " ' " "
Seizing every spoon on the dresser,
she immediately returned to him.
"Here, take these," she said' "and if
you wan't more I'll get 'em for you."
In those days all the spoons in com
mon use were made of pewter.
John was soon supplied with balls.
Taking his old gun, he started on the
long walk of fourteen miles, through
the woods, to Concord. Whenever he
passed a house the women and children
cheered him.
Reaching Concord, he fonnd the
British were just starting from what is
now the agricultural grounds, on their
retreat to Boston.
A wounded "red-coat, lying beside
the road, begged John as he passed by
to put an end to his misery.
'Xo," said John, "I ain't quite a
brute, but I'll change pieces with you,
and leave you to the women."
Exchanging his old gun for the ene
my's new musket and amunition, he
joined In the pursuit and did good ser
vice on the way to Cbarlestown Neck.
John Howe enlisted at Cambridge tor
the war and fought at Bunker HilL
He was in most of our important bat
tles of the seven years' contest and
never came home until the British sailed
for England. Being hardy, faithful, and
zealous, he was frequently chosen by
Washington for dangerous enterprises.
He was one of the most useful men in
the army, and on one occasion saved
Washington's life. At the end of the
war it was Colonel Howe who returned
to Marlborough.
Polly Smith, during these years had
been spinning, weaving and knitting for
the soldiers. She was the first person
Colonel Howe sought. When, however,
he returned her spoons they were of
silver and marked "Polly Howe."
The decendants of John and Polly
are among the most highly honored in
our country.
There are a great many kinds of suc
cess. One man aevotes tne wnoie oi
his life to the amassing of wealth. He
aims at the miser's success. He wants
money and he gets It. In order to get
it he gives up his family. Nothing In
the household is so dear to him as money.
For the sake of money he gives up
friendship, and high and honorable in
tercourse, and public spiritedness, and
generosity, and liberality. He gives
himself up to money making and money
saving. And when he has become
rich there is for him no honor that
comes from public spirit, no pleasure
that friendship affords, and no joy of
the family. His better feelings are all
dried up, and he stands like a mummy
in a king's tomb in Egypt. With bis
money-bags and priceless jewels around
him, he is bondaged in his own success
behind which he is forever grinning,
There is many a rich mummy, and
there are many live monkeys that go
past him and wish they were just like
him young men who do not know
bow to look inside and see what is the
realitv and secret of life. I am ashamed
of men who thus slander human nature.
Other men seek pleasure-success.
They say : "My life is keyed to p'.eas-
ure, and I mean to have it." If they
seek it as the end and aim of their
lives, they will probably get it; but
they will gn nouung eise.
Others seek power and success and
may gain the success which they seek,
bnt they will lose other things. hat-
ever men seek they may have; but they
must have it with its limitations, with
its results, and with its bearing upon
their eternal destiny.
Tbe last lot of Mennonites that ar
rived at Dufferin, Manitoba, brought
out with them for their friends who
bad preceded them, nearly $200,000 in
gold, tbe proceeds of the sale of their
real estate in jtiusssia.
tarle af Dr. ralk.
The possession of Supernatural power
has been attributed to those Jewish
doctors who have mastered the secret of
the Kabbala,and the character of the
Thaumaturgos Is by no means new
in JewUh history. A gentleman prop
erly invested with those miraculous
gifts made bis appearance in Ixndon
during the latter part of the eighteenth
century. This Baal Shem, this master
of the mode of uttering the Ineffable
name; this holder of an extraordinary
faculty, which was said to have proved
highly valuable to him, was known in
everyday life as Dr. or Rabbi de Falk
He came from Furth, where his mother
bad died in straitened circumstances,
and had been buried at the expense of
the congregation. De Falk himself was
without means when he reached this
country. Whether he owned among
his secrets tbe grand one of the trans
mutation of metals, or followed had
privately some incrative occupation,
like a common mortal, we are unable to
state. But by all accounts, soon after
his arrival in London, De Falk was seen
to be in possession of considerable
funds, and one of his first cares was to
remit to the congregation of Furth the
amount of the expenses incurred for
his mother's funeral. Usually De Falk
was well provided with cash ; but occa
sionally be found himself in absolute
need, when he Hid not disdain to seek
advances on his plate from a pawnbroker
in Uoundsditch. The bolts and bars of
tbe pawnbroker's strong room were
insufficient to confine there Dr. Falk's
valuables, when be summoned them
back to bis own closet; but he always
honorably acquited his debt. One dav
shortly after having deposited some
gold and silver vessels with the pawn
broker, the Kabbalist went to tbe shop
in question, and laying down the dupli
cate with the sum advanced and exact
interest, be told the shopman not to
trouble himself for tbe plate as it was
already in his possession. The Incredu
lity with which this statement was re
ceived changed into absolute dismay
when it was ascertained that De. Falk's
property had really disappeared, with
out displacing any of the articles that
surrounded it! Rabbi De Falk lived
in Wellclose Square, where he kept a
comfortable establishment. He had
there his private synagogue; and he
exercised great benevolence toward the
deserving. He is described as a man of
universal knowledge, of singular man
ners, and of wonderful talent, which
seem to command tne supernatural
agencies of spiritual life. Instances
are given of his extraordinary faculties,
by respectable witnesses of his day,
who evidently place Implicit faith in
the stories they relited. Dr. De Falk
was a frequent guest at Aaron Gold-
smid's table. One day, it is said, the
Baal Shem was invited to call on one of
Mr. Goldsmid's visitors, a gentleman
dwelling in the Chapter House in St.
Paul's churchyard, to hold conversa
tion with him in a friendly manner on
philosophical subjects. "When will
you come?" asked the gentleman. De
Falk took from his pocket a small piece
of wax candle and, handing it to his
his new acquaintance, replied "Light
this sir, when you get home, and I shall
be with you as soon the light goes out."
Xext morning the gentleman in quest
ion lighted the piece of candle. He
watched it closely, expecting it to be
consumed soon, and then to see De
Falk. In vain. The taper, like the se
pulchral lamps of old, burned all day
and all night, without the least diminu
tion in its flame. He removed the magic
candle into a closet, where he inspected
it several times daily for the space of
three weeks. One evening, at last, Dr.
De Falk arrived in a hackney coach.
Tbe host had almost giveu up all ex
pectation of seeing De Falk, as the
taper, shortly before the advent, was
still burning as brightly as ever. As
soon as mutual civilities were over, the
master of the house hastened to look at
the candle in the closet. It had dis
appeared. When he returned he asked
De Falk whether the agent that, had re
moved the candle would bring back the
candlestick. "Oh yes," was the reply ;
it is now in your kitchen below,"
which actually proved to be the fact.
Once a Are was raging in Dake's Place,
and the synagogue was considered in
imminent danger of being destroyed.
The advice and assistance of De Falk
were solicited; he wrote only four He
brew letters on the pillars of the door,
when the wind immediately changed
its quarter, and the Are subsided with
out doing further damage. When Dr.
De Falk made his will, for not all his
knowledge could save him from the
fate of ordinary mortality, he appointed
as his executors Mr. Aaron Goldsmid,
Mr. George Goldsmid, and Mr. De Sy
mons. He bequeathed to the Great
Synagogue a small legacy of GS 16s.,
and and an annual sum 1 12s. to who
ever fulfilled the functions of Chief
Rabbi. To Aaron Goldsmid, De Falk,
in token of his friendship, left a sealed
packet or box, with strict injunction
that it should be carefully preserved
but not opened. Prosperity to the
Goldsmid family would attend obedi
ence to De Falk's bequests; while fatal
consequence would follow their disobe
dience. Some time after the Habbal-
Ist's death, Aaron Goldsmid, unable to
overcome his curiosity, broke the seal
of the mysterious packet. On the same
day he was found dead. Near him was
the fatal paper, which was covered
with hieroglyphics and cabalistic fig
ures. Sketches of Anglo Jewish History,
Haaared Wltkwwt Warraat.
The Sacramento Bee says: In the
olden time in Plumas county, a man
was arrested for murder, tried, convic
ted and sentenced to be hanged. The
case was taken to the Supreme Court
on appeal. Finally a decision was filed
affirming the court below, and directing
that the defendant be resentenced to
death.
In those days the Sacramento Union
was about the only paper circulating in
that remote county, and whatever ap
peared in it columns was taken as being
undoubtedly the fact. 'The number
containing the Supreme Court's deci
sion arrived at the county seat, and the
sheriff saw It, and concluded that the
matter was settled finally. So walking
into the jail he addressed the defendant
with, "Well, the Supreme Court has af
firmed the judgment in your case; It's
printed in the Sacramento Union."
"Is it?" said the prisoner; "that's
rough, but I guess IH have to stand It."
"Well," said the sheriff, "I have to
hang you ; you've been here a good
while, an expense to the county, and
the sooner the thing is over the better."
"There is no use being in a hnrry,"
said the prisoner; "give a fellow a
chance to get ready."
"How will the first of next week suit
you ?" asked the sheriff.
"Oh, what's tbe use of all that hurry ;
call it the last of the week."
"Well, we will split the difference
and call it Wednesday afternoon," said
the officer.
This was acquiesced in by the party
in interest, and at the appointed time
be was taken out and hanged.
At the opening of the District Court
at the following term, Judge K. H.Tay
lor, now of Virginia City, who was then
on the bench, inquired of the clerks If
the remittitur had been sent down, and
being advised in the affirmative, said:
"I guess we had better have the priso
ner brought up this morning and re
sentenced." He was rather surprised
when the Sheriff innocently informed
him that the law had already been fuily
satisfied, and tbe criminal had been sent
before a court whence there could be no
appeal.
A Tale Meatlaaxl.
A party of troopers entered the house
of a widow and demanded and received
refreshment. A well-grown lad, the
widow's son, waited upon them, the
widow hospitably offering to their
wants all she had to command.
"And how do you live in these troub
lous times, Goody?" asked one of the
mercenaries, with an air of kindness.
"Well, I thank Heaven," answered
the poor widow, "my good man left me
a cow and a garden, with that bit of
field. I do not complain."
"Indeed!" ejaculated the ruffian.
"Corporal Speidgelt, what say you to
try and see if Heven helps her without
a cow?"
"Ach ! mein Gott ! der garten is en
ooff! Mit it some verlachon ha ! ha!"
and the fellow laughed. "Kill der
schuchtern macben (the cow) and spoil
ter milch and ter kase (cheese) !"
Ay," quoth the fellow with a hoarse
laugh ; "and so it will. So, Goody, here
goes, with the honors of war ta-ra!"
and he drew bis sword.
'What are you going to do ?" cried the
youth, springiug forward with tears in
bis eyes aud terror in his face.
"Strike the brat, Bob!" said the
trooper, as one smote the boy ou the
mouth, while the trooper passed his
sword through the gentle breast of the
generous home-feeder (the poor cow)
and to add to this devil's deed, mowed
down all the kale in the garden. The
troopers then departed.
Widow and child were at once desti
tute of every source of existence. She
soon sickened and died, heart-broken,
and the boy wandered away, and was
not seen or heard of many a year after.
During the wars In Flanders, a party
of soldiers were one afternoon seated
around a camp-fire, and flushed with
wine and victory, were relating some
deed of tbe past, till they seemed to
take a turn in vieing with each other
in the atrocity of their details.
'I once starved an old dame by merry
Carlisle," said a trooper noticed for his
ferocity and courage. "I killed her
cow, and, egad ! destroyed her greens.
She said Heaven would keep her, and,
faith ! 1 longed to know a miracle. But
she died ha ! ha ! she died !"
"And do you not repent of that deed ?"
cried a young trooper, leaping to his
feet, with wrathful brows.
"Repent! Bah! what the devil
should I repent for!" asked the other
contemptously. "Sit down and laugh
tt the joke."
"Do you stand up, you marauding
dog !" shouted the soldier; "for in the
name of that Heaven she trusted in,
you shall repent it! That woman was
my mother !"
And, unsheathing his sword, he
struck the ruffian-soldier on the check
with his flat, and instantly swords
were crossed.
Twice, thrice did the avenging son
pass his sword through the body of the
destroyer of the poor widow's living;
and turning him over with his foot, as
the other lay writhing In the pangs of
death, added :
"Had you but repented that deed, I
had left you to God ; but as you repented
not, know that Heaven avenges her In
A Taaaa-Bs.
When the day dawns, and we rise to
find the sky clear and the bright hours
all before us, bow loth we are to lie
down upon our pillow again. There
are so many thing to do such pleas
ant things, some of them ; our friends
are coming, or we are going to visit
them ; then there is a walk or a drive
or a little feast in prospect it seems so
pleasant to be awake. But when the
day has gone, and the night has come
again, we are generally ready for it.
We are, at best, tired with our frolic or
our pleasure. Ten to one we are dis
appointed in something; some little
unnleasant incident has marred the
brightest hour: some skeleton had
taken its seat at the feast, or peeped
out of a secret closet. It is so delightful
to fling off the finery it rejoiced us to
Dut on : to Dut out the light and lie
down, courting slumber.
So, though in the heyday of life we
dread that long, quiet slumber, no
doubt those who live to be old hail it as
their best friend. The loves and hopes
of early live have ended In disappoint
ment; their dear ones have left them
alone: the life that at first seemed so
sweet has changed to bitterness, and
all the sweetness is with death. Just
as we wearily climb the bedroom stairs
with our tired feet, so we will climb
ife's last steps. We have danced and
1 oiled alternately; we are as tired of
our joy as of our sorrow, and we bail
repose eternal as we hailed the repose
of night when life was all before us
IaaraalMS Tax ft.
A theft, small In proportion, but
amusingly ingenious in its conception,
took place a short time ago at the Grand
Hotel, Paris. An elegant looking gen
tleman, lodging at the well-known es
tablishment, and giving his name as Sir
James X., Bart., went into a fashiona
ble bootmaker's shop on tbe Boulevard
des Capucines, and ordered a pair of tbe
very handsomest boots that could be
made ; no expense was to be spared, and
the boots were to be sent home on a cer
tain day by ten o'clock, as the purcha
ser was to leave for Marseilles by the
12:40 train. After that he went to
another bootmaker on the Boulevard des
Italiens, and ordered a second pair of
boots precisely similar to tbe first, which
were to be sent home on the same day
as the others, but at three o'clock, as he
was to leave for Brussels at five. Punc
tually at the appointed hour bootmaker
Xo. 1 appeared with his boots. Sir
James tried them on, and found them
splendid, admirable, not in the least
dear, but the left boot hurt him a little.
Would not the bootmaker take it home,
put it on the last.and stretch it slightly ?
He could bring it back the next morn
ing, as Sir James was obliged to delay
his departure for twenty-four hours ow
ing to pressing business. Of course the
obliging tradesman complied with the
wishes of bis aristocratic customer, and
walked off with his solitary boot. In
the afternoon bootmaker Xo. 2 entered,
and the same process was repeated, only
this time it was the right boot of which
the customer complained, and which the
bootmaker carried off to stretch. The
next morning the two luckless trades
men met face to face, each with an odd
boot, their charming and aristocratic
customer having taken his departure by
the night train for London with the
other'.patr.
A ftaark Stary.
Lewis tbe English novelist tells the
following old shark story in his "Jour
nal of a West India Proprietor." The
incident occurred on his voyage to the
West Indies, whither he had gone to
take possession of an estate his father
had left him : "While lying in Black
River Harbor, Jamaica, two sharks
were frequently seen playing about the
ship. At length the female was killed,
and the desolation of the male was ex
cessive. What he did without her re
mains a secret, but what he did with
ber was clear enough ; for scarce was
the breath out of his Eurydice's body
when he stuck his teeth in her, and be
gan to eat her up with all possible ex
pedition. Even the sailors felt their
sensibility excited by so peculiar a
mark of posthumous attachment; and
to enable him to perform this melan
choly duty more easily, they offered to
be his carvers, lowered their boat, and
proceeded to chop his better half in
pieces with their hatchets; while the
widower opened his jaws as wide as
possible, and gulped down pounds upon
pounds of the dear departed, as fast as
they were thrown to him, with the
greatest delight, and all the avidity im
aginable. 1 make no doubt that all the
time he was eating, he was thoroughly
persuaded that every morsel that went
into his stomach would make its way to
his heart directly ! 'She was perfectly
consistent,' he said to himself; 'she
was excellent through life, and really.
she's extremely good now she's dead !
And then
ruble to ennresl hw pstn.
He Biffh'd ud s.aUuwed. aud .uja'd and
.w.llow'd.
And .uia'd sod .walh'w'd again.
I doubt whether the annals of Hymen
can produce a similar instance of post-
obitual affection. Nor do I recollect
any fact at all resembling it, except,
perhaps, a circumstance which is re
corded respecting Cainbletes, King of
Lydia, a monarih equally remarkable
for his veracity and uxoriousness, and
who ate up his queen without being
conscious of it."
Aa Ezpeaaive Cabbac.
Mr. Samuel Smooth lost a very valu
able pocket-knife, one which he prized
highly not for its intrinsic value alone
but as a memento of a respected and ab
sent friend. In the bar-room of a vil
lage tavern one day Samuel was bit
terly lamenting his loss. "I'd rather
a gi'n a dollar'n to 've lost that 'ere
knife. It was one'at Xick Anderson
guv me afore he went away." "What
kind of a knife was it. Sam? "It was
a three-bladed, buckhorn-handle knife,
with a rtreak o' silver on one side, just
like a little door plaie." John Maston
touched Samuel on the arm, and led
him apart, "Sam is this your knife?"
Ay, sartin !" cried Samuel, with a
brightening face. "Don't you see it's
jest as I said it was buckhorn-handle,
door-plate, and all?" "les, Sam. I
see. Of course, if it s yours, 1 11 give
it up." Samuel received his knife joy
fully, and then said, "It's a little rusty
but never mind that '11 rub off. Of
course, John, 111 do the fair thing. I
don't s'pose you want pay for finding
my knife, but I'll stand treat. But say
where on airth did ye find it?" "I
found it in my cabbage-patch, Sam !"
That was two years ago, and Sarauci
Smooth hasn't got done with paying
for the finding of his knife yet.
Aa Iatelllceat Ariresa.
A good example of the way society
plays have lowered the standard of ac
quaintance with dramatic literature
among the profession is shown in the
following true anecdote :
Mr. Gottbold, of Pittsburgh, had last
year among his stock a ladv of fair dra
matic talent, who aspired to hold
prominent position. When Mrs. Agnes
Booth came along King John was
put up. The cast was, as usual, posted
in the greenroom, and this lady went to
inspect it.
The room was unoccupied; but Mr.
Gotthold happened to be standing in the
doorway, and noticed the lady's close
examination of the cast.
"King John," she muttered to her
self, "I've never been In that ;" then
perceiving her manager, she turned and
inquired who wrote "King John."
"Madame," said the manager, drawing
himself up to his full height and look
ing down at her with great dignity,
"Shakespeare."
'Good gracious," exclaimed the lady,
"has that man written another play ?"
Arcadian.
KIW3 D BRU7-
Key West gets $2,300,000 a year for
her cigars.
It is estimated that there are over
2,000 actors in America.
The bank of England has in Its
vaults $143,000,000 in gold.
There are four hundred religious
journals in the United States.
A Texas man makes $1,000 a
from each acre of an ou ion field.
year
A band of masked men have robbed
a passenger railroad train in Missouri.
The number of "Switzerlands of
America" has run up to twenty-six
this season. -
Lightining struck a Pennsylvania
oil well and increased the flow of oil
from 10 to 80 barrels a day.
France last year nsed 600,000,000
postage stamps, as against 21,232,605
in 1840, and 546,708,380 in 1869.
The type-setting of the Baltimore
Daily Xeas is now done by women and
a woman is on the editorial staff.
Xine hundred American boys, be
tween the ages of twelve and twenty,
are engaged In amateur jourualism.
The copper mines of XewfoundlanJ
are proving quite remunerative, and
large deposits of lead have been found.
General Tom Thumb recentlv ex
changed his sloop yacht Maggie B. for
a solitaire diamond, valued at $3,000.
Captain Andrew Johnson, oldest
son of Ex-President Johnson, is a can
didate for the State Legislature in Ten
nessee. Hamilton College has been pre
sented with a clock 245 years old. It
was brought from England in liiol by
John Eliot.
Mr. Blaine has accepted the Maine
Senatorship. His health is improving.
He has declined to take the proposed
trip to Europe.
Postmaster James, of Xew York
City, refuses to rent boxea to lottery
dealers, or to hand over remittances, ail
according to Congress.
Work has been resumed ou the
Mormon temple in Salt Lake City. The
corner-Stone was laid in 1851, and the
walls are now fifteen feet high.
Colorado produces $15,0(10 in silver
for every twenty-tour hours, $10,000 in
gold, and $1,000 in other minerals, or
$2,000 daily, equal to 'J,4'.k,000 yearly.
Cumberland Falls, the Niagara of
Kentucky, have a perpendicular de-si-ent
of G7 feet, and tiie roar of the
water can be heard at a distance of 12
miles.
Dou Manuel de Laver.ley Custanza
who recently died in Paris at the age
of thirty-two. left a fortune of $50,000,
000, derived principally from Mexican
mines.
It sometimes pavs to be civil to a
poor clerk in a hotel dining-room. Miss
Melissa Elder, who occupied that posi
tion in Atchison, Kan. has fallen heir
to $500,000.
It is understood that Mr. Edwin
Booth's residence will in the future be
in Chicago, but his professional duties
will keep him elsewhere the greater
part of the year.
Mr. Longfellow lias been chosen
oet and ex-Governor Seymour orator
lor tne Centennial celebration of the
surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, ou
October IS, 1877.
Plenty of work for missionaries
yet. Africa has a population of 20t,
0OO0OO human beings, but a few hun
dred of whom have ever dreamed of
such a thing as Christianity.
Tbe Boston Citv Directorv, which
has ju.-t been publi-lied, contains 120,-
308 names, a gain of 2,552 over la-t
year. In preparing the volume, 27,343
names were erased aud 32,382. added.
The French oyster plantations
have proved wonderfully successful.
those at .Morbitian, which in 13.2
yielded only 8.S28,0t.0 oysters, last year
brought up 2,28i,h0O and have pro
duced this season 27,214,000.
A number of prominent Boston
laities have purchased the Old South
church building, and if they cannot
raise the amount reuuired to purchase
the land in sixty days, will take down
the building and re-erect it elsewhere.
Much interest is manifested in Xew
Orleans in reports that native quick
silver has been discovered on the bank
of the Mississippi, a lew miles below
that citv. The Xew Orleans Athen
a-urn has appointed a coiiiiui-sioii to in
vestigate the reirt.
In England theatres are leing con
verted into skating rinks, while on this
aide of the Atlantic the reverse is the
case, the large rink at Newark, X. J.,
being now m the course ol transforma
tion from its present condition to that
of a first-class theatre.
London has 2558 miles f water
mains distributed through 670 streets.
The total length of the metropolitan
streets is 1500 miles, but two-thirds of
the streets are without mains, while in
the principal thoroughfares as many at
six mains run parallel.
There are said to be in the United
States 252,14f manufacturing establish
ments, employing 2.0.iJ,U'.K hands, and
producingannually $4232.324,445 worth
of goods. There are 40,1111 steam en
gines, and 51.018 water wheels, with a
combined force of 2,31t,145 hors
power.
A depression in thn old cemeterv
at Cherry Valley, X. Y., marks tbe
spot where a trench w.i dug for the
bodies of the lorty Revolutionary mar
tyrs who were massacred by the Tories
and Indians under Brant and Butler,
in 1778. A monument is to be erected
to their memory.
The postal card manufactory in
Springfield, is running ten hours a day
turning out about 500,000 cards per day
and is 3,500,000 behind its Trders. The
number of cards printed during the
quarter ending July 1, was 38,OuO,0oO,
an increase of nearly 10,000,000 over
the corresponding quarter for 1875.
Joliet is excited over the desertion,
by a man and his wife, of a family of
six small children, and the old man,
aged 50 years, eloping with a girl of 20
years, and the woman, aged 47 years
eloping with a boy 17 years old. The
children, the eldest of whom is only 7
years old, are being taken care of by
the county.
The Western Texas pajiers are still
hammering away for a new State of
West Texas. 1 lie an Antonio ueraia
claims that the original founders of the
Texas Republic stipulated that Texas
should be divided into four additional
States whenever any section possessed
sufficient population for admission, and
hints that this time has now arrived.
Mrs. Robb, of Corpus Christi, is
fairly entitled to her name of the "Cat
tle Queen of Texas." he owns "5,000
acres of land, Inclosed by twenty-three
miles of fence, on which 13,000 beeves
per annum are fattened for market--Her
husband, who died some years
since, refused an offer of $110,000 for
one brand of his stock, which has been,
largely increased since.
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