ME
I
liiiii
m)
ML
' r ... -
B. F. SCHWEIER, THf COH3TITUTI0H THI CHIOM ASD TUB I5F0KCZMEXT OF THI LAWS. Editor and Proprietor.
VOL. XXXI. MIFFLINTOWN. JUNIATA COUNTY, PEXNA.. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3. 1877. NO. 1.' J
TIE LOOM OF LIFE.
BT EBE9 B. BETTOBD.
All dsy. an night. I can bear tbe Jw,
Of tbe loom of life, and near and far
It thrills with iU deep and muffed sound,
A the tiniless wheels go alnays around.
Bnily. eeaelefslT gtl the loom
In the libt of day and the midnight' gloom.
Tbe wheels are turning early and lata,
And the woof is wound in the warp of fate.
Click, clack ! there's a thread of lore were in.
Click, clack! another of wrong and sin ;
Wbt a checkered thing will this life bo,
Wneu we tee it d trolled in eternity !
' Time, with a face like a mystery.
And hands as busy as hands can be.
Sits at the loom with it warp outspread.
To catch in its menhes each glancing thread.
When ehaU this wonderful web be done ?
In a thousand years perhaps, or one ;
Or to-mcrrow. WLo knowtth ? Not yon nor X,
But the wheels turn on, and the shuttles fly.
Ah. sad-eyed wearer, the years are alow.
Bet each one is nearer the end I know.
And some day the lat thread shall be woven
in.
God Ersut it be love Instead of ain.
Are we spinners of wool for this life-web say?
Do we f ornish tbe weaver a thread each day ?
It were better then, ob my friend, to spin
A beautiful tbreal than a thread of sin.
The Regulation Buttons.
AN ENGIXF.EE s story.
II was upon New Year's eve, In the
year 1S43, thirty Rood years ago, and a
U-rrible storm, driving snow and sleet
mixed together. I was a young fellow ;
I'd been married about a year. You
know the station Is a horrible place for
service. Let a storm come which way
it will, it always sweeps clean across the
square, that's as open and level as the
top of a table. In toward tbe town
there is a little cut with two tracks, one
or the other of which always chokes up
in the first hour of a drifting snow.
Just as you get through the cut, In the
third house in Garden street, behind
the old oil mills that we often cursed for
a nuisance, becauss we always had to
shut off steam going by for fear of the
sparks from the chimney catching In
the shingle roof, I lived w ith my Lou
ise, and Franz, just born, who Is super
intendent now over at Rudrich's.
So, on Sylvester eve, 1S45, I came
into the station with a heavy freight
train from Griesthal, after standing for
fourteen hours on the engine in a storm
at six below. I was frozen stiff as an
icicle, and glad enough to get hold of
something warm. It was getting dusk
already as I came in. and, through the
whirl of glistening flakes, saw the sta
tion with its hundreds on hundreds of
lights, like a huge Christmas box. A
poor Christmas box for me! There
were collected through the holidays a
regular town of cars, something like
live hundred of thenxaud they'd got to
be all made up so that everything could
be off directly after New Years. Hardly
had I got off my engine In the engine
lioue when up conies the station mas
ter, and says to me :
"Kauser is taken sick, and you will
have to take No. 3 in his place."
"Ten thousand thunders!" said I;
"but I hope it won't last till midnight,
for then 1 must be at home, or there's
ill luck for the New Year."
'Fiddlesticks!" said he; "only you
be sure to be on hand," and away he
was gone in the driving snow.
I thought I'd taken trie matter more
to heart than it was worth, and laid the
cold shiver that crept over my skin to
the uncanny blast that came snorting at
me as I came out with the engine. The
whole air was full of fine snow, and, as
the wreaths of it drove like white ghost
across the engine, I could hardly see
the stnokertack.
Of the light signals one caught only
ijow aud then a glimpse, red, white, or
green; of the horn and pipe signals,
what with the howling of the wind
about the cars and car w heels, and Its
singing In the telegraph wires, and the
rumbling of the cars and the whistling
of the engines, one heard only just
enough to be sure one had not under
stood them. Of the shouts of the men,
one could make just nothing but that
they shouted.
Then there were a couple of hundred
cars being shunted about in all direc
i tions at the same time; on all sides they
came looming like great shadows out of
the darkness and thick snow, and
straight vanished in it again. The poor
switch tenders, wet to the skin, up to
their knees In snow, sprung this way
and that between the rolling cars. You
know how a distributing station looks
or a winter night. G.id only knows how
'tis we're not all made mincemeat of In
the course or it, aud I've all my life
long been surprised when next morn
ing I haven't heard that this one or that
one was killed on the spot.
That night then, it was right bad,
and the punch, too, may have touched
the men's heads a little beforehand, for
the rangirg went at a fearful rate. The
cars flew so this way and that, and the
lights went by like fiashes.and every
where one heard the groaning and
clinking ol the buffers crashing to
gether, and the men crept aboHt under
and between the cars as if the wheels
were finger-bread and the buffers
downv Dillows. But before all there
w as a. wretched little assistant station
master I could not bear the man, be
cause he once came very much In my
way in a certain matter but I could
net help looking in amazement as I saw
his signal lantern everywhere, swing
ing in an iuch,swinglng horizontally,
swinging crosswise, up, down, behind,
before, and heard his shrill voice
through all the storm. And see, I'd
lu-t called to the man as I saw hira slip
through two buffers, that he ought not
to be so reckless, In a storm where one
could neither see nor hear a thing, aud
might slip down into the bargain. But
te laughed at me, and called out: "You
atend to your own work, Zimmerman,
M never mind me; we mustbethrough
behre midnight forward, forward!"
andiway he was gone.
I -eard him still giving the order
"Fortjrd!'- ronIr among my com
rades, id heard the car chains clink,
an J the sound what like was It?
nave you ever heard a butcher hack
through a thick bone with his ax?
and then a dull cry. and then, again.
only the cling and clang of the buffers
clashing together. A cold shud Jer ran
ver me: then I got the signal to ra
anead there was no stopping. "For.
waro, iorwara in a moment 1 was
far away at the other end of the yard.
where no one could know what had
happened.
But I did my duty still, ouly as If I
was dreaming, and when, a half -hour
later, we had got through and I entered
tbe engine house again, tbe boss said to
me: "Have yon heard, Zimmerman,
Assistant Station Master Porges has
been killed on the spot, crushed to death
between the buffers?"
I didn't ask many questions; my very
heart shuddered, and I don't know how
I took care of my engine and got on the
way home. A I passed by the stairs I
saw a group with lanterns standing
there, and something covered with a
cloak lying on the snow. I didn't stop;
I shivered all over; and I can tell you.
boys, I'd have given Heaven knows
what If I hadn't wished him to the de
vil half an hour before. I tried hard
to get that out of my head. I meant
nothing particular by It; 'twas a way
of talking common enough with us.
Among you young chaps It's worse yet.
and It would cure you if you once felt
the crawling Inside of you that I have.
Well, at last I made out to get thinking
of tbe warm room at home, where with
tbe felt slippers all ready, and Louise
and the youngster, and the sugar and
the lemons on tbe table, and the cat and
the tea-kettle singing, and by degrees I
begun to feel a litUe lighter.
Now, with all this thinking of this
and that, you'll readily believe I hadn't
paid much heed to wind and weather,
road or pathway; and all I knew was,
It was whirling and howling yet In tbe
air as I entered the cut by the old oil
mill, through which I might have seen
tbe windows of my house, if one could
have seen anything at ten paces off. I
went ahead on the right hand track of
the two in the cut, because that was the
freer from snow, and from that side I
could see my bouse sooner.
And, in truth, I went along quite
carelessly, for I was going from the
yard, and that was the In track, so no
train could come on me from behind,
and at that hour none were to be ex
pected in front. Besides, I must have
heard it coming.
Just as I was in tbe middle of the cut,
which lies, you know, in the curve, and
where that night one could not see a
car-length off, I heard a whistle behind
me, and right after it the clip aud clap
of the approaching train. I noticed,
too, that the engine was pushing the
train before it, because the stroke of the
engine was much further behind than
the rolling of the wheels. I thought:
"Ah! that is the reserve train of some
twenty pair of wheels that stowd yonder
ahead on the track, and that they are
shunting over to the freight house."
But all this passed only vaguely through
my mind, as one always thinks mechan
ically of his work even when his head
and heart arc full of other things. I say
vaguely; in reality I didn't feel the
slightest interest in it, for the train
must directly pass me on the other
track. But when the ping and ping of
the wheels on the hard frozen track bad
got quite close up, and I already heard
tbe coupling chain on tbe foremost car
clinking back and forth, and saw the
light or Its signal lantern begin to glide
by me on tbe snow, I parUy turned my
head to call out a "Happy New Year!"
to tbe fellows upon the train.
But there was no train on the track ;
and at the same instant I got a violent
blow In the back. The sparks danced
before my eyes slap! I lay flat on my
face on the track, and pung ! pung ! the
cars began to pass on over me.
Here the old engineer made another
pause. It was still as death in the room,
and faces breathless and rivetwl leaned
forward round the table.
You see, boys, when we sit this way
round the table, or stand on the engine,
our Ideas come along one after the
other, slowly and in some sort of order,
so that one can take a good look at 'em.
They even say that we engineers are
slower than other men, because all the
quickness Is gone out of us Into our en
gines. But, boys, In the second or so
between the blow and my lying on the
ground, I did more thinking than ever
I did before or since from Easter to
Whitsuntide.
First about home, the war:n room and
everything In it, and the New Year's
chimes and the going to church In the
morning; then the assistant station
master as he lay there under the cloak
on tbe snow ; and then I begun reckon
ing as distinctly as if I was giving the
orders for making up all tbe trains,
about the train that was passing over
me. How was it it was on the wrong
track, the one I'd been on, coming out
on the in track t And then aU at once
I thought, what before in the midst of
my cogitating I had forgotten the
outward track I had seen as early as
noon already deep buried in snow, and
that was why they were coming out on
the in track. Then I saw plain enough
the train as it stood ; there couldn't be
more than ten or eleven freight cars, all
ouro wn cars, they all went high above tbe
rails they would do me no barm. I lay
flat enough betweem the rails. But tbe
engines the ashboxes of the engines!
I knew all three engines that still stood
fired up at the station as well as my to
bacco pouch. The Wittekind" would
go harmless enough over me, even
though I bad been stouter than I was;
tbe "Herman," too, might be merciful
to me, at any rate, If it was carrying
little water and Are, and the sleepers
under me didn't stand up too much ;
but under the ".Sinus," one of the new.
low built elephants, I was a dead man.
Ay! dead? That would not be the
worst. I should be slowly crushed and
torn into shreds. What engine was It,
then, coming there?
All this, you see, boys, I had thought
between the blow and tbe lying flat;
but when I was once down all calcula
tion ceased, and it was Just by InsUnct
stretched myself out and held my
breath and made myself as thin as an
otter that's trying to get out from a
trap, and counted tbe axlea that passed
on over me. Every ping and pang spoke
distinctly out In syllables: "A wretch
ed death, a wretch-ed death!" And
now something heavy catches hold of
me! Xo, it is nothing yet It only
grazes me, and glides clinking Its length
along over me and off, striking a cold
chill to my marrow it Is a chain hang
ing down. But now I', comes! the
ground begins, at firs, gently, then
stronger and stronger, to tremble under
me ; it comes very slowly. Then I saw
at the side thit the rails and the snow
and the rolling wheel shadows over me
grew ever redder, redder. It was the
engine fire shining from the ashbox.
Now I felt it grow hot on my bare head
and neck. The sleepers yielded under
me; the rails groaned and bent; the
ground shook violently; it is on me. It
strikes me violently in the back God
have mercy on me ! Then rip, crack !
something on me gave way. Tang!
pang! rolling! thundering! stamping!
the engine passed over me and off.
From the free heaven once more the
snow cloud plunged down upon me.
How I got on my legs I don't know.
I stood there, I shook myself, and aaw
the red lights of the engine disappear
round the curve. They looked to me
like the eyes of a veritable bodily death.
Then I felt myself to see what the en
gine had torn loose; and, behold! the
regulation buttons were gone from my
coat behind.
I went to the -nearest switch tender
and got a lantern and looked for the
buttons in the snow; but when we were
sitting round the table at home, and 1
was very nervous, Louise, wondering,
said:
"Husband, what's Uie matter with
you? You tremble so, and don't speak a
word."
Then my senses and speech came to
me again, and I showed Louise the but
tons and told her the story, and, hold
ngabutton 'twixt my finger and thumb,
said:
"See, within so much of a horrible
death has your husband been to-night!"
I have the buttons yet, ana mean to
carry tbem till death comes In reality.
The old man opened bis coat and drew
out two buttons stamped with the king's
arms, which he wore secured by a string
about his neck.
I have told you the story because it
came np in the talk; but I don't like to
speak of it, because the agony of death
was In it, and that's something no roan
calls to mind willingly.
lad laws Outwitted.
Many years ago, when the white men
who hud seen the Rocky Mountains
might still have been counted, and only
a very few of the prairie Indians knew
the use of fire-arms, a hunter named
Fitzpatrick had one day got separated
from his companions, and was pursuing
his game alone in the wilderness, whenf
as ill-luck would have It, he was seen
by a war party of Indians, who imme
diately prepared to give chase. There
was not tbe smallest chance of escape
for him ; but the young hunter made a
feint of turning away, in order, if pos
sible, to gain time. He happened to
know that these savages, who s yet
were little acquainted with the use of
firearms, had several times, when they
bad taken white hunters prisoners, put
the muzzles of their rifles close to their
breasts and fired them, by way of exper
iment, to see what would come of it. He
therefore thought it prudent to extract
the bullet from his, and then continued
his flight. Tbe Indians followed and
very soon overtook him, and then they
disarmed him aud tied him to a tree.
One of the warriors, who, it appeared,
understood how to pull a trigger, then
seized the rifle, placed himself a few
paces iu front of the owner of It, took
aim at his breast, and fired. But when
the Indians looked eagerly through the
smoke toward where Fitzpatrick stood,
they saw he was safe and sound in his
place ; aud he quietly took out of his
pocket the bullet be bad previously
placed there, and tossed it to his ene
mies, who were all amazement. They
declared he had stopped the bullet In its
flitsht, that be was an Invulnerable and
wonderful conjuror, and, what was
more, that some great misfortune would
most likely befall the ttibe If they did
not set him free immediately. They
therefore cut his bonds and made off as
fast as possible, leaving Fitzpatrick to
go where he pleaded.
A Weaderfal Sara-leal EsssrlaMal
English surgical and physiological
students will find in the Gazette it Hop
iUauz interesting detail of an operation
of gastrotomy, attended so far with suc
cessful results, which has been per
formed at the Hospital de la Pitie, by
Dr. Verneuil. The patient, a lad of
seventeen, had inadvertently swallowed
a quantity of the solution of caustic pot
ash. This occurred In Febru-try, and
in spite of the most skilful treatment,
the constriction at the npper orifice of
esophagus became so complete that
death from Inanition must inevitably
have ensued without an operation,
which was accordingly performed on
the 26th of July.
The results will be seen from the med
ical bulletin of the 10th of September,
which states that the patient is In good
health, remains up ail day, and even
helps the hospital assistants In their
work; he has almost as much strength
and energy as be had before tbe acci
dent. His diet is composed of soups,
fine-chopped meat, mashed vegetables
and drink, which are injected through
a large elastic tube inserted In tbe in
cision made in the stomach. Under
this treatment he gained upward often
pounds in weight between the 18th of
August and the 14th of September.
At the moment of the injection of
food a flow' of saliva in the mouth is
produced, in the ejection of which a
motion curiously resembling the action
of chewing is remarked; he can distin
guish between warm and cold substan
ces, but otherwise all are Indifferent to
him. It is stated this is the first time
the operation has been successfully per
formed ; the last time it was attempted,
but unsuccessfully, was In 1849, by 3L.
Sedlllott, professor of the faculty of
medicine of Strasbourg. London Stan
dard.
TBi tree a ad Tts-ksam
Old Japan, as far as costume and so
cial observances are concerned, may be
compared with revolutionary Japan at
the theatres, where are played Intermi
nable historic dramas, wholly based on
the old state of things. Nothing has
been changed in the Japanese theatre,
except here and there tbe hours ; most
of the theatres at the capital, and all
those In the Interior, play from 9 A. M.
until dark. The theatres of tbe treaty
porta now play from 6 P. M. to one A.
M., so that atTokio one Is able to attend
the theatres at most hours of the day and
night. There the two-sworded Samurai
still walk the stage, and Tycoon' sol
diers still wear their hideous masks, and
Daimios in magnificent trousers, prece
ded and followed by their banners and
processions of retainers, still force the
people to prostrate themselves to the
dust, In contrast to the conservatism
of tbe theatres, the critical modern spir
it Is shown In the tea-houses which
stand near them. There a common carrl
cature sheet upon the walls, which dates
from just before tbe revolution, repre
sents a Daimlo's procession of Insects.
Tbe playing mantls.tbelocust, tbe grass
hopper, and tbe wasps are brought into
requlsIUon,given two swords apiece.and
made to bear heroic banners of corn
flower, poppy, and eonvulvulus. They
imitate the swaggering walk and arm
akimbo of the Samurai, and escort a
feeble cricket carried in a cage. This is
the Daimio, before whom an humble
cockroach, who figures the people of
Japan, reverently hammers his head
upon the ground as be beholds him
pass. Those Japanese who best knew
their countrymen before tbe revolution
will tell you that there always has been
a want of respeet, other than forced re
spect, among the people. Their atti
tude toward the Mikado seems to be the
only exception to their general want of
veneration, which is accompanied by a
total absence of religious fanaticism,
and I think must be added, of religions
reverence. Tbe only temple in Japan
inside of which I ever saw a crowd,
unless there was a wrestling perform
ance going on within the walls, was
that of Ataksa, in tbe capital. This
temple Is the centre of a sort of fair, or,
as the whole of Tokio resembles the
fair of St. Cloud more than it does any
thing else la Europe, the centre of a
fair within a fair the wax-work show
and big drum portion of tbe fair. Tbe
temple of Aaaksa is entirely surround
ed by peep shows and shooting-galleries,
and to always crowded, but more I
think, by sight-seeing country people
out of curiosity, than by the people of
the capital from religious motives. The
Loe Cboe Envoys were there at the
time of my visit tall, bearded, solemn
men, who seemed much struck by flnd
the place of honor In the temple occu
pied by a gigantic looking glass. The
mirror may properly find a place in
either Buddhist or Shinfoo Temple. The
doctrine of Pure Shiutoo informs us
that the Sun Goddess was enticed out
of her dark cave by a looking- glass ; but
in Buddhism a looking-glass symbolizes
the mirror of the soul, and the worship
ers are supposed to repair to it as to a
confessional. The young ladles with
paintedlipsand light blueorcrimson sat
in obis, who eye themselves approvingly
in tbe great mirror at Asaksa, )erha8
think that It has other objects at all
events, there is nothing in the temple
that "draws" so well. In a ghastly
representation of the Buddhist hell,
which Is moved by clock-work and
forms one of the most popular peep
shows outside the temple, the mirror
also figures, and on it their crimes are
shown to the dead as they enter hell.
As I have named this show, I may add
that. If It was regarded seriously by the
people, it would be evidence of the exis
tence of a degrading superstition. It
represents green devils with red
tongues, pounding people In mortars,
boiling them In oil, and frying them in
gridirons. In one corner an assistant
devil is engaged In tying the legs and
arms of men together, and another,
who stands by with a plumb-line and
crayon, marks a black line down the
middle of their backs for the guidance
of a third, who saws them deliberately
in half. As is seen, however, by the
attitude of the spectators, the represent
ation Is regarded by the Japanese as a
mere joke.
Traaafaalea ef Bleed.
Truly science has, as was said recent
ly by one of its eminent votaries, "its
romantic side." Iu history presents
not a few deeds of heroism and self
sacrifice; IU results have not seldom
been attained by suffering voluntarily
inflicted, and have now and then cost
the lives of willing victims. The young
Berlin doctor who, when a deadly con
tagious distemper was ravaging the
poorer households of that city, thought
he had discovered a method for Its cure,
and, knowing that its test might be
;atal, nevertheless boldly tried it upon
himself, and who, as he lay dying from
Its effects, jotted down his observations
of its action on bis system until within
nine minutes of bis departure from
earth, was a hero to whom Sir Philip
Siduey would have doffed his bat. A
deed scarcely less noble, as it involved
serious self-sacrifice, has Just been doue
at Manchester by a young English med
ical student. It appears that a weakly
young man had a leg amputated at the
hospital, which made bim so feeble that
he was not likely to recover. He was
fast sinking when the hospital doctor
declared that there was but one possible
way of saving him. Into tbe patient's
languid veins most be transfused a
quantity of warm blood from a vigorous,
living man. A young student, who
heard this, at once stepped forward and
offered his own blood for the purpose.
A pint of tbe vital fluid was thereupon
taken from him, and sent circulating
through, the arm and body of the mori
bund youth. Within two hours he re
vived, recognized people, and was pro
nounced on the war to recovery.
The young medical student to whose
unselfish heroism this good result wa
due may posssibly have worked even
bettor than he knew. It was long a
matter of discussion and doubt whether
this operation of transfusion could re
ally be performed so as to transfer the
vital vigor of one person to another. It
Is not at all a new idea, Indeed, for we
read of its having been tried on a cer
tain pope four centuries ago, three
young men being compelled to sacrifice
their lives In order that the decrepit
pontiff might thur, renew hlsyonth ; but
the experiment failed. The experiment
has been tried many times, and In dif
ferent countries; and for the past half
century the practicability of transfusion
has been generally admitted by the pro
fession. The difficulty is," to success
fully effect it; but It Is well known that
the blood of animals has been agaln'and
again transfused to the veins of human
beings with the best physical result.
Of course the idea of transfusion gives
rise to many amusing fancies. Can
you make an old man young, a cross
man amiable, a coward brave, a ner
vous man phlegmatic, by exchanging
the vital fluid In the veins? Is there a
modicum of sober truth In Edmond
About's funny conceit about the "nose
of a notary?" The blood of lambs is
sometimes used In the operation of trans
fusion : do the doctors And the patients
thereafter more lamb-like? How grat
ifying It would be If, by merely vivisec
ting tbe gentle denizen of the pasture,
and transferring iu blood to mortal
veins, we could transform the uncom
fortable tempers around us Into peren
nial docility I We fear, however, that
psychological results are not to be at
tained by this very material process.
Yery much w ill be gained, however. If
we can restore ruddiness to pallid
cheeks, and strength to a tottering body ;
if we can see the consumptive revive
under tbe circulation of healthy blood
yielded to him by the self-sacrifice of
another, as the fainting vampire re
vived under the moon's rays; and If
tbe effects of those horrible sudden
hemorrhages which "end in abrupt
death from mere loss of blood can be
obviated by a prompt transfusion. It
may not be that the fountain of perpet
ual youth is to be found welling up
from the heart of one's neighbor; but
tbe gift of health from one mortal body
to another has a certain -poetry about it
scarcely less pleasing to the f.incy than
tbe ancient fable, being significant of
human self-sacrifice, a noble emotion
in which the ancient fable was wanting.
AppUtonn' Journal.
KaalT-TakiBK Ladles.
It is not until we come to the reign of
Queen Anne that we find positive proof
of masculine noses uo longer enjoying
a monoM)ly of the piquant powder.
The feminine admirers of Sacheverell
contended as ardently for a pinch of
his "orangery," as second-hand beaux
bad once struggled to dip their Angers
iu Dryden's box. and carried their
idols' xrtraits in the lids of their
boxes. A lady writing In 1712, de
scribes herself as an insignificant crest
ure, who dressed not, took no snuff and
did no fashionable things. Lady Betty
Modish, who would accept no gift from
her lover save a snuff-box, assert",
"sincerity in love is as much out of
fashion as sweet snuff; nobody takes It
now ;" which may account for the femi
nine dissatisfaction expressed In the
lines:
'PrvHa aw Iwi. ib awwt aH -Hr
.uoO Mu. Bki Mik la a abrl..
A tlim-atid finws to mm h vnw4.
Tm feint, lis buxwd, baa as alL"
Steele inveighed loudly against the
impertinent custom fine women hail
fallen into, which performed coqnetish
ly or with a sedate, masculine air, was
in his eyes equally disagreeable.
He describes Mrs. Saunter taking
snuff as often as salt with her meals.
with such wonderful negligence that
an upper lip covered with snnfl
and sauce was presented to all who had
the honor of dining with her; while
her pretty niece made up for notoffend-
ding tbe eye to the same degree by
startling the ear with a nauseous rattle,
as she stopped her nostrils with her
Augers. He could bear with beauties
who manipulated the snuff-box for the
sake of displaying a pretty hand;" -but
thought Flavilla went a little too far in
pulling out her box in the middle of
the sermon and offering it to the men
aud women sitting near her; as well as
inviting the church warden to take a
pinch as she dropped her contribution
into the plate. Sir Richard declares
how truthfully, who shall say ? that a
learned lady of bis acquaintance, whom
he had vainly tried to talk out of the
evil habit, happened one day to have
a pretty fellow hidden in ber closet
when some company called. She made
an excuse to go to the closet for some
thing they had been talking about ; her
eager gallant snatched a kiss, but, be
ing unused to snuff, some grains from
her upper lip set him sneezing, much
to the astonishment of the visitors, who
thereby learned that profound reading
and very much intelligence could not
fill up her vaiant hours so much but
she was obliged to descend to less in
tellectual entertainments. All the Yetr
Around.
BUcki te at EsrKitlarate atasleea.
Well directed energy and enterprise
are tbe life of Amencan progrew); but
if there la one lesson taught more
plainly than others by the great fail
ures of late, it is that safety lie in
sticking to a legitimate business. No
man manufacturer, trader, or banker
has any moral right to be so energetic
and enterprising as to take from his
legitimate business the capital which it
requires to meet any emergency.
Apologiea are sometimes made for
firms who have failed, by recurring to
the important experiment they have
aided, and tbe unnumbered fields of
enterprise where they have freely
scattered their money. We are told
that individual losses sustained by
those failures will be as nothing com
pared with the benefits conferred on
the community by their liberality in
every public work. There is little force
in such reasoning. A man's relation to
a creditor are vastly different from his
relations to what is called the public
The demands of the. one are definite.
the claims of the other are just wbat
the ambition ot the man may make
them.
The histories of the honorably suc
cessful business men unite to exalt tbe
importance of sticking to a legitimate
business; and it is most instructive to
see that, in the greater portion of tbe
failures, tbe real cause of disaster was
tbe branching ont beyond a legitimate
business, in the taking bold of this and
that tempting offer, aad, for the sake
of some great gain, venturing where
they dm not know tne ground, and
could not know the pitfall.
b British Beerdlac-Heaae.
But the interior of the British boarding-house
Is also worthy of attention.
In the first place, It has existed through
such a lengthy though unknown period
of time ! The sojourner from the set
ting sun has never inquired when the
edifice was built; but to his eyes, ac
customed to frequent emissions or a shin
plaster architecture, it looks old enough
to be flt for pulling down ; and be has
even a vague, superstitious feeling that
its destruction would be an act of mercy,
setting free many generations of ghosts
which now tenant It, and permitting
them to And places of rest. Indeed, if
one may venture such a disrespectful
statement, tbe edifice has not borne its
years well. There Is a looseness and
also a a clatteriugness about Its Attings
which reminds one of machinery, and
sets one to marveling what unearthly
web and woof Is being woven by tbe
spirits of the invisible. There is a cer
tain chamber door hich rattles to that
degree that the occupant frequently
shouts "Cone In," when nobody is
there but a lost breeze which has stum
bled Into the house by some cranny and
Is fumbling in all direction to get out
again. That occupant proudly believes
that nothing in the world can out-rattle
his door, except his windows. These
last, especially when the wind blows
from the southward side, have an ague
which transports him with a mixture
of admiration and pity. He would caulk
them up with coats and trousers, only
that he has other uses for those articles.
Everything within the room corres
ponds with these symptons of senility.
An antiquarian would fall down aud
worship before a certain bleared and
tottering washstaud which has, to all
appearance, been in steady use for a
matter of Ave or ten centuries. A
shaky, worm-eaten bedstead, which the
Plantagenets may have bad the night
mare ou. would All the right kind of a
soul with pensive joy. This bedstead,
by the way, Is so lofty that. If the boar
der tumbles off it, he wUl dash himself
to atoms on the grimiest of carpets. In
to the composition of the bedding the
mere, sheer, complex, lui.-cellaneous
bedding there is at least one man who
has never dared to explore exhaustive
ly. He knows, however, that it con
tains not only springs and mattresses,
but also feathers. Furthermore, he
has noted that what should be a bolster
is simply a roll of threadbare blanket,
ambuscaded under the sheet. The cur-,
tains are of a yery venerable fabric,
matching in color the grimy exterior of
the building. In one corner of the
room (and only to be discovered by pul
ling Idiotically at the wall-paper) is a
totally improbable closet which smells
as though It might bave !een a locker
in Noah's ark, so strong is the perfume
of antediluvian bilewater. The A'hin-
tir.
Kreieki Heather.
The "b own heath" wa Scott's fa
vorite plant, and naturally occurs again
and again in the Ettrick Shepherd's
songs, perhaps never more beautifully
than in his exquisite poem to the Sky
lrk Then wtio the rlrmmins ennws.
Laim In t(. hwUlfr tin Ottv,
!'sk mil tay KelcotDe and bnl of km br'
III prose no one has emphasized its
cheerful appearance and fitness to the
localities It chooses better than Mr. Ku-
kin, and certainly no one ever drew it
with more exact delineation of every
curve and grace." When roaming over
a highland corrie, however, or marking
the sunlight fall on the granite bljcks
of Dartmoor, all but swallowed, as they
are in Summer, by the purple ocean of
heather that surges In upon their deso
lation, the traveler Is apt to forget that
there are more than one species of
heather in the kingdom. There are
seven (or, omitting Culluna, six) even In
England, while the whole family lioasts
some four hundred species, to say noth
ing of the Innumerable hybrids and va
rieties which our gardens produce.
Every one knows the common ling or
Leather, (CalUna,) which is the mint
widely distributed of the family, rang
ing, as it does, from Labrador to the
Azores, and spreading all along the
western coast of Enroe from the At-lantic-washe
1 side of Africa, which is
the original borne of the race. The
Switch heather proper (Krv-a ci'hctv.i) Is
somewhat thicker and taller than this
last, with reddish-purple flowers which
delight bees, while its tender shoots are
dear to the grouse and blackcock. 1'he
cross-leaved heath ( E. tetralix) once seen
is never forgotten. Fairies might have
modeled it in wax, as rising four or Ave
inches from the gtound, it hangs iu
delicately-tinted, rose-flushed flowers
over some boggy spot where the cotton-
grass flutters in the w iud and the plo
ver whir-ties against the bleating snipe,
hence kuown in Scotland as tbe "heather-bleat."
Whoever has euetrated to
the angry coast of the Lizard, either to
see its curious churches or to gather its
characteristics plants, must have recog
nized the Cornish heath (. wjans) a
soon as be set foot upou tbe magnesian
limestone, while the ciliated heath oc
curs In isolated spots iu the Cornish
peninsula, and Mackay's and the Medi
terranean heath are only to lie found In
the south-western districts of Ireland,
being iu truth outliers from the flora of
the Spanish Peninsula on the Continent.
All these heaths are fond of lonely,
wind-smitten localities, tenderly fling
ing their red and purple jewels over na
ture's desolations, and as the long Sum
mer days die out, rusting their sere and
withered flowers (which remain on tbe
plant even dead, and form the chief
characteristic of the family in a bota
nist's eyes) among snow and wet, de
termined to do their best to cheer the
waste places of the earth. Tbe Autum
nal holiday-maker never' fails to greet
tbe beath as the symbol of all that U
free and pleasurable in out-door life,
while to the Inmates of the Scotch shiel
ing heather stands in much the same re
lation for its economic uses as does the
bamboo to the Good er Malay. Kv, n
the gipsy and the tramp have reason to
bleai heather, as it helps them to a live
lihood by making brooms, IX they only
can obtain, or take, right of common
where it grows. And to many a moun
tain child the purple hillside is the only
flower garden he knows. But what a
garden ! reaching from horizon to hor
izon, itself the best of bedding plants,
requiring no care or expenditure, the
greener after the worst of storms, when
August's sun blazes most fiercely only
more purple and luxuriant, tbe home of
all that is elevated and purifying in
heart and taste. For "it is not the writ
ten poetry which affects us most, but
tbe unwritten poetry of our own youth,
and mine Is aU bound up with heather
and fern, and streams Aowlng under
the shade of alders." Com ill Mnyx
tint. Pretty es Jet.
To be pretty Is the great object of al
most every living woman, even those
who lecture upon the Impropriety of
doing so.
Brautiful women spend a great deal
of thought upon their own charms, and
homely women grow homelier through
fretting because they are not handsome.
Men, at least when they are young,
are very much like women in this re
spect, though they hide their feelings
better.
There is one comfort to the homely
ones however.
After you come to know people very
Intimately, you do not know whether
tbey are pretty or not.
Their "ways" make an impression on
you, but not their noses and ears, their
eyes and mouths.
In time tbe soul expresses itself to
you, and it U that which you see.
A man who has been married twenty
years scarcely knows what his wife
looks like.
He may declare that be does, and tell
you that she to a bewitching little
blonde, with soft blue eyes, long after
after she to fat and red, and forty ; be
cause the Image of his early love to In
his heart, and he doesn't see her as she
to to day, but as she was when be conrt-
ed her.
Or, being an Indifferent husband, be
may not know she to the Aue woman
that other people think her.
You bave known men who have mar
ried the plainest women, and think
them beauties; and you know beauties
who are quite throwu away on men
who Value a wife for her success as a
cook.
As far as one's effect upon strangers
to to be taken into consideration, beauty
is valuable, and very valuable.
So, if you have it, rejoice; but If you
have it not, he content.
Take care of your heart, your soul,
your mind, and your manners, and you
will make for yourself that beauty
which will render you lovely to those
who are nearest and dearest to vou.
Errors im Karrias;-
Many of the errors of life admit of
remedy. A loss in one business may be
repaired by a gain in another. A mis
calculation this year may be retrieved
by special care the next. A bad part-1
nership may be dissolved, an Injury re-!
error in marriage goes to the very root
and foundation of life. It has been said
that no man is utterly ruined till be has
married a worthies wile. And so
every woman has a future before her
until she to chained in a wedlock.
which to a padlock, to a wretched and I
an unworthy malt. The deed once done !
cannot be recalls). The wine of life to
wa-ted aud the goblet to broken, and no
tears nor toils can bring back the pre
cious draught. Let the young think of
this, and let them walk carefully In a
world of snares, and lake heed to their
steps, lest, in this most critical event ot
life, they go fatally atray. But here
we must guard against another error.
Many iople think tbey have made a
mistake in marriage, when the mistake
is only in their on behavior since
they were married. Good husband
make gutsl wives, and good wives; make
good husbands; and the scolding, or
intemperate, or slatternly partner often
has but himself or herself to blame for
the mi-ery that clouds the life and des
olates the home. Multitudes who feel
that their marriage was a mistake, and
who make their existence a lifelong
misery, might by a little self-denial and
patience, and forbearance and gentle
ness, and old-time courtesy, make their
home brighten like the gates of Eden,
and bring back again the old love that
blessed the happy days gone by.
Suppose the wife does not know quite
so much as you do. Well, you showed
fur great judgement when you thought
her the chief among ten thousand ! Or,
if your husband is not the most won
derful man In the world, it simply il
lustrates the wit and wisdom of the
young woman who once thought be
was, and who could not be convinced of
the contrary ! So, 'perhaps you are not
so unevenly mated after all. And if
one has had lie Iter opportunities since
marriage, then of course that one
should teach aud cultivate and encour
age the other, aud so both journey on
together. But if one has grown worse,
and has sunk lower than at tbe begin
ning, erhap even then patience aud
toil aud sunshine may bring back the
erring one to duty, lift up the fallen,
rescue the perishing, and save the hast.
How glorious for a wife to pluck her
husband from tbe jaws of ruin, and to
bring him safely to the heavenly home !
How blessed for the busbsnd to bring
back to the gates of Paradise the woman
who through weakness had b--en led
astray !
Tat eery ef Leasts
s i t
Dr. Karl Heiimann considers the cir
cumstances that a gas-flame does not
actually touch tbe edge ol a burner nor
a candl-flame the summit of a wick,
and that a flame never comes in contact
with a cold body, are due to the fact that
heat is conducted away by the solid body.
The flame gases are cooled for a certain
distance below their ignition point, and
the flame to consequently extinguished
within this region. The distance be
tween a gss-flame and a burner to con
siderably increased if the inflammable
gas or vapor streams ont under a high
pressure, or to mixed with a large
amount of non-inflammable gas.
A man twenty-seven years old has
just been sent to the Massachusetts
State Prison who has spent all but two
years and three days of his life In re
formatory and charitable institutions.
EI ERIE?.
Baldwin's new San Francisco hotel
has Ave miles of fire hose coiled on the
different doors.
It Is now proposed that the Prince
of Wales shall visit New Zealand and
Australia in ltTS-
Germany proposes a further reduc
tion of its silver currency by withdraw
ing the two- thaler pieces.
Ed want Fox of Titusville, Pa., has
recovered $95,iH)0 damages from the
Baltimore aud Ohio railroad by a it
years' suit.
In the four ports, New York.
Philadelphia and Baltimore, tbe amount
of sugar refined is about flt'tr thons.md
tons a month.
Queen -Victoria has granted medals
to every person serving on the steamers
Alert, Discovery. and Pandora during
the Arctic expedition.
Several large, white arctic owls,
rarely seen south of the St. Lawrence
river, have recently been shot near
Brums wick, Maine.
Another Mormon wife has followed
tbe example of Ann Eliza Young, bhe
to a Mrs. Thomas, of Ogden, Utah, an J
she sues for divorce and alimony.
The richest man In England, the
Duke of Westminister, bas a sister M
years old who to about to marry a com
moner two years older than herself.
Christianity to spreading rapidly
in Japan. At Tokio lu.UOU people at
tend the Missionary Churches on the
Sabbath, according to a native paper.
A citizen ot Harwinton, Conn., ha
in good condition for eating an apple
which he has kept for twenty-twoyear
by a proce-t w hich he diicovered by
aivident.
For a closely built wooden town
Plymouth, .Mass.. enjoys a wonderful
immunity from fires. There has been
no alarm since July 4tii, a period of
nearly live months.
The editor of the Uau.-horo' (Mtos.)
Democrat has a charmed life. Fifteen
attempts have been made to kill him.
and the last shot tired in bis direction
killed a boy instead.
A cautions residen: of Troy, X. Y..
mindiul of the contingencies of post
mortem extortions, has called for pro
posals from several undertakers for
conducting his funeral.
There is a hermit at Greenwood
Lake, New York, who lives In a hut
that to hardly largi enough to allow a
man to lie at full length or stand erect.
His article of furniture Is a powder
keg.
Hnssia has taken pity on Priuce
Milan since he pawned the sword of
bis ancestors, aud has sent him another
one 1,100 years old. No pawnbroker
with any respect for himself would
take that.
Tbe new 1j ton gun to le made at
Woolw-Iiii, England, will be 3i feet
long, with a calibre of 20 inches, will
throw a shot weighing 3,110 pound
and exhaim MX) pounds ot gunpowder
at eai.ii discharge.
No more Sunday trains in Canada.
The iHuulnion Government has issue-1
orders that no trains shall be run on
the Sabbath day except in case of great
emergency, and then only on dirm
order of t'te Government.
Mrs. ramelia Brown, wife of Gen
eral Jaeoh Brown, the victor with
S'ott at Lundy's Line, in the war of
1812, is still living. She is now ninefy
eight years of mre. and resides with her
daughter, Mrs. Evans, at Kye, N. Y.
Mr. Kobert Mickle, cashier of the
I'nlon bank of Baltimore, has probably
been a bank officer for a longer time
than any other man in the United
States. He entered the service of that
bank in 1S1!, and since .U has been
its cashier.
It 1 a costly honor to be Lor!
Mayor of London. It cost the last In
cumbent of the olflce about $33,xj i
maintain its dignity, which sum is said
to be $2.1 .untf less than it cost Sir S.
I.usk. The salare of the otlice Is
more than 21,0m).
The amount of me-it consumed ai.
nually per head in Spain is twenty-five
pounds; in Italy, thirty-three; Sweden
lifty-four; Prussia fifty six; Austria,
liity eight; Belgium, si&iy seven;
Frani-e. seventy-three; Met kieuburjc,
eig!ity-five; England, 2'li.
A mass of rock neighing 2,.'-"
pounds, recently came thundering
down a mountain side into the city ol'
D.-uver, Colorado, barely mi-sing a
house ami burying itself in a stable
Fo-tuuatcly no person was injured.
Tne sight was a frightful oik- tu tbe
Bjectaurs.
Mr. Adams. Kellogg, of Madi-ou
Parish, La., who received the award ai
the Centennial for growing the flne-t
cotton In the world, is a native of Ver
mont, who went South after the war,
and has become one of the most suc
cessful cotton planters. His plantation
is about twenty utiles below Vicksbur.
Charles Fenno ll"lt man. a noted
literateur of the old Knickerbocker
Magazine days, recently rerxirted dea!,
is still living at the age of 70, in the
stale lunatic asylum at llarrisburg. Pa.
and his insanity is lets obtrusive than
for many vears. It is now 'J year-.
since bU retirement trout tho world.
Few persons not familiar with
geography will believe that the PacinV
Ocean boundary of the I'ulted State
has a greater extent ot coast line tha-t
the Atlantic shore. The aggregate of
our shore line on the Pacific is 12,731
miles, while on the Atlantic it is ll,ts
miles, and on the Gulf of Mexico i St3
miles.
The Fairbanks family in Vermont
has furnished scales for the world, !
plied Vermont with two Governors and
raised St. Johnsbury from a hamlet to
the most prosperous village of North
ern New England, giving it a library,
academy, and atheiueutu. Their suc
cess to a shining illu-tratlon of the
value of rk ill and integrity in business
a flairs.
Some curious statistics, just pub
lished, show that out of a population of
3U,lti,rssj in France, there are 37.W7
blind, and 2'.,.r12 deaf and dumb; au
that in 9-V) inhabitants there to one
blind, and in 1,220 there to one deaf
and dumb person. Iu Paris aloi
there are 7.333 uiad people, while in all
France there are 17,123 wale aud 14,
fU female lunatics.
A colored child was recently born
in Bayside, Talbot County, Md., of the
tiniest proportion ever known. At
birth It was only about twelve iuehe
long, aud weighed one pound. The
only im perfection about it to a total ab
sence of thumbs, not having even a
place where thumbs ought to be. It
has long hair, coming down over the
shoulders. It to a female child.
This year's business in the Lake
Superior iron district ha been fairly
prosperous, nearly SWO.OOO tons of ore
having been shipped from the district
which is a gain of 100,000 tons over last
year. While prices bave been low as
compared with those of former years,
they have, as a rule, been remunera
tive to the mine owners. Nearly all
the mines will work during the winter.