Mi V V U V VlVfV HI
B. F.CIIWEIER,
the ooisTmrnoi-THE unoi-uro tee eupoeoemest or the lavs.
r , , r, ! ' I - 1 V ,
Editor and Proprietor.
VOL. XXXII.
MIFFLINTOWX, JITNIATA COUNTY, PENNA., WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 1878.
NO. 13.
KISS ME, DARLWG, EES VI PIRT.
i ; j
Bt ETHEL HOLMES.
Eim nie, daihug, ere we part! 5
Weary years may glide away
Era we meet ill mini aad heart
A we meet and part to-day.
Many a Borrow lauuoh bis dart
At the hearta estranged for aye !
Vara may come and steal afstu
O'er the road we walk, apart ;
Years all full of g iff aud paiu
Leaving but a bitter smart,
Ou the spirits once so proud
Groping sadly with the crowd,
SuVry locks may crows, thy brow
Ere we me t as once we met !
Once thy lore was true, bnt now
Well, my heart would fain forget
all it ever felt. I know
Jt wi.l bold thy image yet.
BUU in memory of days
Iilesed days of sunny bliao
, Woeu on brow, and lip, and face,
I hare pressed my burning kins
Let once more my hps touch thin
Ere we bow at other shrine.
Ki me, daiiiu;, era we part.
We may never meet again,
Stili my oonstant yearning heart
Clings to thee in blua or pain.
Eim me rnce, perhaps twi:l be
All I'll ever auk of thee.
The Hiding Place.
Grandfather was dead ! Over and over
again, the thought he must die had
made rue cry uiy eyes nearly out, for
though he was eighty, he "a not too
old to love. And now it happened, and
was all over, and I sat in a kind of
miserable dream, listening to Lawyer
Curdle asking nie
Where grandfather had kept hi
will?
Had I not been told ?
' " Did I know
A will in uiy favor, leaving every
thing to nie?
Ot course I knew of it !
'Grandpapa wanted to tell me," said
I. "but I would not let him. I could
not bear to think of his being dead,
hoped he would not die before I did."
'In legal " matters, ladies are little
.short of idiots," said Mr. Curdle.
"I grieve to distress vou, but I sup
pose you know there's a rampant old
fury down stairs, who claims this place
and everything in it who is really
vour srrandfather's sister and who, if
there is no will found, can turn you
' out of house and home.
"ou know your grandfather was
onlv a stepfather to vour mother. Tou
were not actually related at all.
"Come now: plain speaking Is ne
cessary if we find the will, you are an
heiress; if not.a leggar." .
"Nothing could make me that," said
I ; "nothing while I have ten Augers.
But he had roused me at last.
Where had grand father told me the
will was?
I tried to think.
Xo, he had not told me.
I had put uiy hand over his mouth,
and said
"Grandpa don't. I shall cry myself
to death if vou die, so I shan t want
anything."
And he said
"Well. well. 1 know you are not
waiting for dead men's shoes; I know
that, my child and some other day,
some other dav."
And the next morning he was found
dead in his bed the very next niorn
in?. "You see it is somewhere," said I,
"else grandpa would not have mention
ed it."
"You don't think he had destroyed
it. and was about to make a new oue,or
anvthinirol that sort?" asked the law
yer.
"Xo," said I, "I think not. I'll
try to remember w hat. he said exactly.
Oh, this was it, I think
"'Beulah, it will be very important
when I come to leave you that you
shall know about my will. I have
made one and hid it in the most inge
nious place.
"Then I stopped him. That's all."
"Utter insanity," said Mr. Curdle;
"utter insanity."
He was usually very polite, but I did
not wonder that his equanimity was
disturbed when I went down stairs and
saw the person w horn he had described
as a "rampant old fury."
She was a very old woman, with hair
that w as still bright red, and a long,
sharp nose.
She was talking at the top of her
voice, apparently to no one in particu
lar. "Lawyers, lawyers," she was saying;
"all alike the world over. Didn't send
nie a word of my poor brother's death;
not a word, not a line; so that I should
not come to claim my own.
"Left it to that girl, eh t Humbug!
She's no relatiou to him ; she's no rela
tion at all. Margaret Boker had a lit
tle girl already by her first husband
when she married him. This is that
girl's child.
"Xo blood relation none. Xo, no.
My brother and I haven't been friends,
I know, but its all the same if he hasn't
left a w ill and I know he didn't all
his property is mine!"
She took snuff and scowled at me
furiously.
I shrank away, and began to feel how
important it w as that the w ill should
be found.
I searched eagerly enough now.
I turned back carpets and shook ou
curtains.
I rummaged every desk and drawer,
trunk and box in the house.
All in vain. '
At last even Mr. Curdle acknowl
edged that further search was hope
less. "A man should confide his , will to
his lawyer," said he; "a lawyer's box
is the only safe place for it."
"Xo doubt this old woman has em
ployed some one to steal your grand
father's will from its yery Ingenious'
hiding place, and the result it that you
area beggar." , ." i
'You are ridiculing poor dead grand
pa, and calling me names," I said,
bursting into tears.
"My poor, foolish child!" aaid Mr.
Curdle, "why didu't you hear what he
uautosay at least? Together, you
nave uiaue a nice mess of it."
We had certainly 'as I acknowledged
w hen old Miss Humphries took posses
sion ot the homestead, and I found that
I was no longer mistress of the dear
old place that I had not even a right
mere, Dut w as an interloper.
W hen, to crown all, she came to me
as I lay weeping on my bed, and said
in ner harsh nasal tones
"Beulah, sit up and etopcry iug. I'v
got something to tell you "
I sat up and wiped my eves.
I considered her an enemy, and one
never wishes to weep before one
enemies.
'Providence is Providence, Beulah
JAore,- saw sue; "you oughtn
to renel ag'm it no, vou oughtn't,
1 ou ought to be contented iu the con
union you've been called to. But I'm
not a hard-hearted woman ; I'm w il-
ling to have you stay with me. You
can help nie in the w ork, yon know
"I don't keep servants a lazy idle
set, eating you out of house and home
"A young girl like you can be useful
if she's grateful and willing, so I'll
keep you, Beulah M jre." .
I was only fourteen years old, but I
knew as well as I know that I .should
nave preferred service anywhere else
But as she spoke, a thought darted
into my head.
Grandfather had certainly spoken of
hiding a will somewhere.
If I stayed and rubbed and scrubbed
and dusted diligeutly, I should discover
t if it ' was above ground, and not
stolen, as Mr. Curdle believed.
, Ah, how delightful to discomfit her
at last. ,
IIow well worth the hard fate and
the hard work I knew I should iiave to
endure.
Yes, even her unpleasant company
could be borne with this eud in view.
So I said, taking care not to speak too
eagerly, that I would stay, and I gave
myself a year to find the w ill iu.
A year is an eternity at fourteen.
That very day, eld Mis Humphries
began to show me my position by turn
ing me out of my pretty bed-room, and
sending me into a garret with a sloping
. . . . . x .
roof.
I had had a pretty carpet, white cur
tains, a -book-case, Turkish chair, and
dainty bed, all w hite and pink, and
toilette service pink and white also.
I had never done any work, except
putting this room in order, for we had
two old servants besides a man.
Xow I scrubbed floors and washed
windows, and dishes, and had no time
to read or sew, or wander in the woods,
or enjoy myself in the garden.
Miss Humphries sent all my school
girl friends from the door when they
asked for me, and it was after a long.
hard fight, that I obtained my books,
my sewing basket, and my few window-
plants, with which to make my garret
more home-like. :
My black suit became shabby.
I felt ashamed to go to church, and I
knew not where to procure other cloth
ing.
I was very miserable.but all the while
I never forgot my object.
Xot only did I continue my search
all day, but at night I often pattered
about the house in my bare feet.
I had found many curious places
where a will might hava well been hid
den.
For instance the posts of grandfath
er's bed had a hollow space in them,
covered with a carved cap, shaped like
a pineapple which came off.
And behind the carved wooden man-
tlepiece in his room the original house
was a huudred years old, they say, and
ery curious there was a receptacle
that might have concealed fifty wills.
The old woman never suspected me.
Besides, she was half the time asleep,
nodding in her chair.
She had a delight in seeing me at
work, and set nie tasks as hard to me as
those the malevolent fairy put upon
poor Graciosa were to her.
Wherever I was sent I went.
Who knew where the will might be?
But now the year I had given myself
was nearly over, and the malevolent
fairv of my existence had ordered me
to whitewash the cow house and I had
greed to doit with a feeling upon me
that endurance was almost at an end,
that hope was almost gone, that I must
leave the place if I starved.
Xo wonder I was thin, and had lost
my fine complexion.
The lime was mixed and the brush
was found.
"Put it on thick, Beulah," said my
task mistress; "we don t want any of
the boards to show. Why where's
vour stick?"
"I can't find one to fit, 7 said I, dis
consolately. "Oh, I can reach.I think.'
"You can't," said she. "The idea of
whitewashing with a short brush. Go
nd hunt a stick. W hy I know where !
there's one in your own room. 1 saw
it to-day."
"That's dear grandpa s cane," said 1.
"I don't care. Get it," said she. "It
is only a stick, cane or not."
"1 won t use tnal iu sucn a way,
said I ; "grandfather's cane, that he
used to walk w ith every day that 1
used to ride ou w hen I w as a baby.
Dear old cane, that seems part of him,
wouldn't use it so for worlds."
"Sentimental nonsense," said the old
woman. "The idea ; v nen i am aeau
they can do w hat they like w ith my
umbrella, I'm sure. Get the stick."
"I won't'" said I. '
"Then I will, and you'll use it," said ,
she. ' ; '.
Away she went to the garret, and
down she . came with the thick and
heavy cane, .with neither curve nor
carving on it a sort of pale grey wood
polished like glass.
"Here's the stick," said she, "and
you'll see my word is law here." t.
I never stirred.
"Tie that stick on the whitewash
brush and go to work," said she.
" "I won't," said I.
"You won't."
"Xo."
"You're a pretty big girl, Beulah
More," said she, "but if you don't I'
whip you."
'"I dare you to touch me," said I.
She lifted the stick.
I'm not sure whether she would
hare struck me, or whether it was only
in menace; but 1 caught it.
"Give me my grandfather's cane!'
I cried, and pulled. - , ''
She pulled also.
In a moment more a queer thing hap
pened.
The cane parted in the middle, and
the old womau flew one way and
another. -
he lay on her back, bemoaning her
self.
I, younger and lighter, picked myself
up at once.
But I held ou to my half of grand
father's cane, and shouted wildly for
joy, for iu an instant I saw that the
cane was not broken, but that it was
made iu two halves, and that the one
I held was hollow. ' ,
Something protruded from it.
All I saw was a bit of stiff, crackling
parchment, but I knew as well as ever
I did anything, when I "drew it out
that I had found grandfather's will 'at
last.
She knew it, too. ,
She" scrambled up, as I flourished
over my head, and flew at me.
I am not sure that my life would have
been safe had she caught me.
Terror, as w ell as joy, lent w ings to
my footsteps.
I flew out of the garden; down the
lane, and up the road to the oflice of
Mr. Curdle.
There, iu my old frock, w ith white
wash daubed over it, I appeared, breath
less and voiceless, grasping in my hand
dirty and hardened with coarse work
the proof that I was heiress to a for
tune.
When I went back to the homestead
it was as its mistress, and 1 never saw
old Miss Humphries again.
She had returned to tier former
dwelling place, leaving many anathe
mas behind for me.
They never hurt me.
I found the other half of the dear old
cane, and rejoined it to its mate.
I loveU it before; naturally I loved
it more than ever then, and still keep
it as a talisman.
Oa a Coffee Plantatioh.
Coffee culture is very interesting,
and the growing crop is very beautiful.
The trees at maturity are from Ave to
eight feet high ; they are well shaped
and bushy, with a glossy dark-greet
foliage, and planted eight or nine feet
apart. I he flowers are in clusters at
the root of the leaves, and are small
but pure white and very fragrant. The
fruit has a rich color, and resembles
mall cherry or large cranberry ; it
grows in clusters, close to the brandies,
and when it becomes a deep red is ripe
nd ready to be gathered. The trees
are raised from seed, and do not begin
to yield until the third year. In Cen
tral America they bear well for twelve
or fifteen years, although, in excep
tional cases, trees twenty years old will
bear an abundance of fruit. The tree
is particularly beautiful when in full
bloom or wheu laden with ripe fruit.
The process of preparing coffee for
market is as follows : the ripe berries
when picked are at first put through a
machine called the "despulpador,"
which removes the pulp; the coffee-
grains, of which there are two in each
berry, are still covered w ith a sort of
glutinous substance which adheres to
the bean ; they are novr spread out on
large "patois," made especially for this
purpose, and left there, being occasion
ally tossed about and turned over with
wooden shovels until they are perfectly
ry. They are then gathered up and
put mto the "retnlla," a circular
trongh in w hich a heavy wooden wheel
hod with steel, is made to re
volve, so as to thoroughly break the
husk without crushing the bean. The
chaff is separated from the grain by
means of a fanning mill, and the coffee
is now thoroughly dry and clean. After
this, it is the custom of some planters
to have it spread out on long tables and
carefully picked over by the Indian
omen and children, all the bad beans
being thrown out. It only remains
then to have it pnt into bags, weighed
and marked, before it is ready for ship
ment to the, port. . On some of the
large plantations this process is greatly
inplified, with considerable saving in
time and labor, by the use of improved
machinery for drying and cleaning the
coffee
Cant Afford to Take Any Chances.
Sarah's brother Bill was on the ave
nue recently watching the flyers. Ha
looked a bit lonesome, and a boy friend
added more burden to his feelings by
asking:
Say, Bill, w hy don't the family go
riding anD take yon along?"'!
"Dad hain't got no time." '
" A nd y our mother ?" .
"She hain't got no nice cljthes."
"Well; there's Sarah."
"Yes, but she's skeered to go riding
'fraid she'll be tipped out."
"'Spon the cutler is upset never
hurts anybody," persisted the boy.
Yes, but when a gal La. walking
along," slowly replied Sarah's brother,
her beau cantt tell whether she wears
Xo. 3 or Xo. 6 shoes, kase her dress
hides 'em ; but when she goes out in a
sleigh on a curve, you you under
stand?" '
There was a long and solemn pause.
The first boy at length timidly ventured
to say:.
What does she wear?"
Sevens fit her snug," rejoined Bill;
and 'tween yon and me her head is
level on this business. -This Is the
fourth time she's been engaged, and
she cant afford to take any chances !"
. "Use great prudence and circumspec
tion in choosing thy wife," said Lord
Burleigh to his son ; "for from thence
will spring all thy future good or evil;
and it is an action of life like unto a
stratagem of war, wherein a man can
err but once."
Shoetinc
- Besides the stars we' see on a clear
night, there are countless bodies mov
ing through space, which even the
most powerful telescope fails to reveal
till they come either in the orbit of the
earth or of Tu'afuiospbere. These are
what are called meteorites or shooting-
stars, and it is important to distinguish
clearly between the two. Ihey are
alike luminous from the same cause
that of friction from passing throng!
the atmosphere, though but few people
have ever seen a meteorite falling. The
number of shooting-stars, is iulinitely
greaterthan is usually supposed, for ob
servers with telescopes often see them
flash across the field in dimensions too
small to be seen with the naked eye
We know that ' shootiug-stars undergo
combustion in passing through our at
mosphere. AVhat becomes of the debris
The snow of the Alps, far away from
furnaces, contains globules of iron, and
dust that has quietly accumulated in
exposad places contains them also. , It
is supposed they represent some of the
debris. Though we may grumble at
our atmosphere in bad weaiher, we must
recollect that it at least does this
burns' up these bodies that are peltin
down upon us at a rate 100 times great
er than the missile of an Sl-ton gun
they would be at any rate aw kward for
us.
In looking at the knowledge accumu
lated with regard to shooting-stars, the
fl rst point to notice, lVofessor Ball says.
is that certain great showers are peri
odical, and always come from the same
parts of the heavens. According to the
constellation from which thev appear
to come, they are called Lyraids'erse-,
ids, Orionids, Leonids, Ac. 'The infer
ence from these recurring periods is
that the orbit of the earth cuts through
the orbit in w hich a mass of these is
moving. With this fact of recurrence
it must be noticed that certain comets
are periodical, and from a comparison
of their supposed orbits with those of
groups ot these bodies, a connexion be
tween them is inferred, w hatever may
be the origin of the comets, which is
not yet known. Meteorites, on the con
trary, are never known to come from
the direction of a comet path. If a me
teorite is carefully examined, it is seen
to be a fragment of some rock, and that
of one close! v analogous to our earth's
volcanic rocks. If we consider in turn
the volcanic source from which they
could have come, we see the sun would
have force enough to drive off frag
ments: but it is hardly likely that there
are solid rocks there to drive off. Jules
Verne is right. Professor Ball says, in
calculating that a body driven up from
the earth with a force equal to six miles
a second would not return. From Ce
res three miles a second would be suffi
cient. Examining all the planets in
turu, it seems improbable that the me
teorites originate from any of them. It
seems much more likely that they w ere
n former times of greater volcanic ac
tivity driven up from the earth itself,
nd thev again, after the lapse of ages,
meet the earth ill its orbit. The theorr
that they come in from unlimited space
is. Professor Bail thinks, highly im
probable. ' '
Royal Funerals In Ancient Times.
It is a mere matter of course tiiat the
first king of modern Italy should be
buried with every imaginable jtoinp,
ud in the capitol of his country. It is
said that Victor Emmanuel himself, as
well as many of his family, would have
preferred that his bones should rest
somewhere among the well-known hills
of Piedmont. But the Italians bad a
right to insist upon a more public fuu
eral; and the Italians only resemble all
other young nations in attaching great
importance to this question of funerals
Far away into the remote and almost
pre-his'toric ages we find the kings and
great men of the earth more solicitous
about the place where they should be
buried after death than about their
habitations while alive. It is not re
corded of Abraham that he ever bought
either house or land from any man,
either for himself or his posterity to in
habit. But when Sarah his wife died
n Hebron, the patriarch "stood up and
bowed himself to the people of the land
and communed with them," that they
should persuade their countrymen to
sell him the cave of Machpelah, which
as "in the end of his field." The
people answered that the stranger was
mighty prince among them : '"u the
hoice of our sepulchers bury thy dead ;
none of us shall' withhold fiom thee his
sepulcher." Their offers, however,
ere not accepted, ond the "prince"
insisted on paying four hundred
shekles of silver for the cave and the
field, which "were made sure unto him
for a possession of a burying place" ac
cordingly. It was to th is tomb that the
remains of Jacob were taken with im
mense pomp and ceremony all the way
from the land - of Egypt. With the
same anxiety shown by his fathers, the
patriarch had charged his son not to
bury him in the foreign country, but to
take him to the cave of Hebron. The
leave of Pharoah was therefore asked
and granted, "and Joseph went up to
bury his father; and with him went all
the servants of Pharoah, the elders of
his house, and all the elders of the land
of Egypt." All the house of Joseph
also went on this pious expedition;.
and there went up with him both
chariots and horsemen, and it was a
very great "company." The body had
been previously embalmed by-the skil
ful royal physicians, and after this pro
cess, which then took forty days, had
been accomplished, the Egyptians all
mourned three score and ten days for
the father of their savior. As for Joseph
himself, the very last words recorded
of him are his imposition of an oath
upon all the children of Israel that they
should carry his bones from Egypt into
the land of Canaan. '
The Sovereigns of Egypt, as they are
the earliest of whom we have authentic
record, were also the most scrupulous
and extravagant in the choice of their
pulchers. The enormous masses of
the Pyramids' were5 built up as a prepa
ration for the day of funeral :t and al
though we know not yet what were the
actual ceremonies accompanying their
interment, it is fair to suppose that they
were not unworthy of the place and oc
casion, it took 50,ooo men as mucn as
twenty years at least to rear the Pyra
mid or Cheops; and we may assume
that a people who had thus been com
pelled to labor at the mere material
works would be made to exhibit some
extraordinary spectacle of erief and
mourning w hen the despot was at last
lam wuuin nis great mausoleum.
Xeither the Greek tyrants nor the
itouian Kings were burled with an
great ceremony beyond the burniug of
ineir amies aim uie carrying or their
ous is in soiemn procession. et the
sa.nie solidity in which the Konian
masons delighted'' distinguished the
royal sepulchres; and as late as in the
regn ot Agustus these monuments still
stood on the banks of the Tiber, exposed
to the destructive floods in which tha
wayward river often indulged.
The Great American rails. -
The relic-hunters are a feature of Xi
agara. Iu addition to the numerous In
dian stores in the village, one meets
blind woman, a lame man, or a crippled
child on every corner and every turn
I shook them all off except a one-eyed
maii w ith a scar on his nose. He made
up his mind that 1 was his meat, and he
headed me off from the Goat Island
Bridge and asked :
"Any specimens?"
v"Xo,sir." y ' ' ."' '
"Any rock ornaments?"
, "Xo, sir." ' -'
"Any toy canoes?".
"Xo, sir." .. 4 ;-.
"Any bullets from the battle field of
Luudy's Lane?" ,
"Xo. sir." . . ' , ,
"Any bead work?"
'Xo, sir. 7 . -
"Any pea shooters for the children ?'
"Xo, sir."
. "Any Indian pipes?"
"Xo, sir." ;
"Any canes?"
"Xo,'sir." ' i
I worked past him on the bridge
and while I was viewing the rapids he
came up and asked ;
"Any tobacco-pttuche ?" .
"Xo, sir.".
"Won't you please buy something'
he entreated, scratching the scar on his
nose. -
"Xot a pennyworth, sir! I came here
to view the grandeur of Xiagare, to
feci awed and puzzled, to drink in all
that's solemn and magnificent in the
cataract and if you follow me on that
island I'll murder you!"
I was walking down the Island, when
I heard a hard breathing behind, and
lo ! there was that one-eved man strain
Wan't to buy any relics?" he asked,
as he came up.
"Xo, sir." :
'Want to buy any " 1
It was my first murder, and it makes
me shudder to think of it. It is no tri-
lliug thing to brain a one-eyed man
with a scar on his nose and throw his
body over a cliff, and I'm sorry 1 did it.
I see now that it was my duty to have
permitted him to bore me to death.
A Double Hurprise.
While Mr. and Mrs. Enright are
agreed upon most all other subjects they
do not exactly agree as to how tramps
should be treated. That is, they didn't
until yesterday, nis heart was tender
enough for him to say :
"Every time you feed a hungry per
son yoH lay up treasures in heaven."
"I can't have them annoying nie, and
I won't!" was her spunky reply.
Does it annoy you to have a hungry
man asK lorioou?" ,,
"Yes, it does."
"I'd lie only too glad to feed andcon-
erse with a score of them," he contin
ued, "I'd like to ask them of their past
id future intentions; find out If they
realize that there is another world ; put
new and better thoughts into their
minds.. Oh! Hannah, be good to the
unfortunate!"
"I'll fix you old man !" she said to
herself as she leaned back to rock, and
she meant to do it. Xext morning,
when he had been gone an hour, a
tramp called and asked for a sand witch.
The fellow was invited Into the parlor
to warm and wait for dinner. At ten
'clock there were three In there. At
eleven there were seveni naif an hour
later seated two more. About noon,
while waiting for her hnsband to arrive
nd ask them of their future hopes and
fears, and chuckling oyr her scheme,
she heard one tramp call outi '
"Letgomyha'r!" 1
"Give it to hira I" shouted a second.
"'Rah, for me!" screamed a third.
and then the crashing and smashing
rowned their voices. The whole crowd
fought across aud around the parlor,
out into the hall, and twoor three were
being dragged down the front steps as
Mr. Enright came up. .
'"Xother of us. Go for him !" yelled
big tramp, and the good man was hit
on the ear, pitched into the snow, and
didn't come to until a dozen camphor
bottles had been collected. He entered
the house leaning on his wife's arm.
hey stood in the parlor door and gazed
on the panorama. It was gorgeous.
How much treasure iu heaven no
vou think lias been placed to our credit
this morning?" she mildly inquired.
He slowly reached for the camphor
bottle, took" a long sniff and replied :
Hannah, let us leeu the poor we
are the poor !" ..
flauutes of Funt Men.
People would not wonder why news
paper paragraphists and humorists were
such savage creatures if they knew how
poorly the paragraphists are remuner
ated. Our most famous , newspaper
riters draw comparatively slim sala
ries. . mere is caiun, oi tneiew iom
Commercial Advertiser he gets $25 a
week and the glory consequent upon bis
ork. Williams, of the ornstown
Herald, gets 30 a week and glory;
Burdette, ofthe Burlington Havlc-Eye',
gets $30 a week. and, glory; Goldsmith,
the P. I, man of the ew lork Herald,
ge's $35 a week and glory ; Lewis, of
the Detroit Free Prest, has an annual
salary of $1,800 and glory i' Criswell,
of the Oil City Derrick, and Borbank,
of the Xew Orleans Picayune, draw $25
week and look to glory for what else
is required to keep the wolf from the
door. Hereafter let us not chide the
poor paragraphists. Let us deal tend
erly with the bruised reed.
The Beautiful Blue Danube.
The Danube, from its source to its
mouth, In an air line, is 1,000 miles, but
the stream is so tortuous that its actual
length is 1,820 miles, and it traverses
nearly 23 degrees of latitude and 5)
degrees of longitude. The Danube and
iu tributaries drain an area of 300,000
square miles. -
At Belgrade, the capital of Servia, it
receives the waters of the Save, and then
pursues an easterly course, constituting
the boundary between Austria and Ser
via, until it reaches the Transylvania or
Eastern Carpathians, at the extreme
western end of Roumania.
Its course through this range is eighty
miles and the pass offers a great obstacle
to navigation. The river is narrowed
to less than half its breadth above, and
in seven different places there are rapids
and whirlpools, of which those in the
so-called Iron Gate, below old Orsova,
are the most violent.
At this point, oppo-iite the small village
of Tithevixlha, the stream Is narrowed
from the width of a mile to about 180
yards, and with a depth, as far as can be
ascertained from the violence of the cur
rent, of from 800 to 1,000 fathoms. The
mountains on either side are very lofty,
nearly 5.CO0. feet. high, those on the
Austrian side being 1,000 feet higher
than those on the opposite bauk. The
mountains rise nearly sheer for about
3,000 feet above the stream, and where
not perpendicular rather overhang the
water; When the river is low, the
sharp, craggy points of ' subaqueous
rocks begin to show themselves above
the stream, and between these the pas
sage is most narrow, winding and shal
low, and in fact can only be passed by
steamers built especially for the purpose
of light draught of water, four padd
wheels and immense power, and even
these steamers make use of a channel
cut through the ledge.
Having passed the Carpathians, the
Danube takes a southerly course, form
ing the boundary between Roumania
and Servia for a short distance, and then
becoming throughout the rest of its
course the boundary between Roumania
and the Turkish province Bulgaria.
Below Widin it takes a turn to the east,
which it pursues until it reaches a
point thirty two miles from the Black
Sea. Then It takes a sudden turn to
the north, flowing In that direction for
one hundred miles, to the junction with
the Sereth, near Gaiatz. Then it turns
again to the east, receiving the waters
of the Pruth, which marks a part of the
Russian frontier. 1 -
After flowing east about forty miles,
in the vicinity of Ismail and Tdltches it
is divided into several branches. These
wind sluggishly through the low and
dreary alluvial country known as the
Delta of the Danube, and empty the
waters of the great river into the Black
Sea by three principal channels the
Kilia, Sulina, and St. George and four
lesser ones. The most northerly of
these the holia is the boundary at
this point between Bulgaria and Kou
mania, and Is twenty-five miles distant
from the Kussian boundary line.
the rapidity of its current In its
upper course, its tortuous winding.
the shallowness of the water in the
portion which flows through Hungary.
ana in tne outlets into the iilaek tea.
and the reefs, rapids and whirlpools
which mark us course at many point
have rendered the navigation of the
Danube so difficult that its commercial
use has not been fully developed.
An Hour with the Insane.
Yes, sir, I'm the light of the world,"
said a hatched-faced, emaciated man in
the city hospital for the insane on
Ward's Island, Xew York. And he
looked at the superintendent, seemingly
expecting some acknowledgment of the
truth of his assertion
Getting from the doctor a nod of re
spectful assent, the patient continued :
'You know, doctor, that I have been
skiuned - alive here buried alive,
scalded alive. You know it doctor.
My bones have been taken out of my
body one by one. My head has been
screwed off and screwed on again."
"Why did they take your head off"
the doctor inquired.
Oh, you know, doctor. You know
well enough," the patient replied, re
proachfully. "You know that my
head is the uioou and my skin is the
stars. Where w ould you get your light
at night, I should like to knov if it
wasn't for me? Doesn't my blood sup
ply light for all the street lamps in tliat
big city over there ?" . As he said this,
he waived bis hand toward the opposite
shore, where the thousands of little gas
jets glimmered through the darkness.
'Once," he coutinued, "my head was
as big as our friend, the doctor's, here.
Xow, see how thin it is." Aud as he
stroked his poor, shrunken cheeks, his
head dropped, and he looked unuttera
bly sad.
'Yes, but," said the doctor, trying to
rally his patient, ."if your skin is all
taken off and your bones are taken out.
ow is it that there is anything left of
you? '
The patient did not raise his eyes
from the floor. As the doctor was raov-
ng away, the poor. fellow mumbled in
answer that he supposed his body was
repaired as fast as it was destroyed.
"That's a curious case," said the doc
tor. " "It is a mixture of mania and
melancholia." ' '.''- '' '
A stout built,' excessively nervous
man, with black hair and beard, was
next visited. He fancies that he has an
electric battery on him, and that his
enemies hold the Wires and use them to
draw away his thoughts.
"They came again last night, doctor,"
said the patient. "They came and took
my lungs out." ' .'--
This case reminds you of the patient
possessed of a similar hallucination de
scribed in Charles Reade's "Terrible
Temptation." ' Another fellow says
that he has a doctor in his body, who
moves about to physic and torture hira.
"Can yon feet-him to-day?" Dr.
Macdonald Inquired. ' '
"Oh, yes," was the reply, "lean feel
his shoulder pressing here,"anj he put
his hand to his left breast.
'"Then,' Where's his head ?; asked the
doctor.
The patient felt all over his body and
about his throat, and then shook his 1
bead, saying, "I don't know where h
head is to-day."
A very remarkable patient is an el
derly man, an ex-college professor, who
is hard at work on a translation of
Horace, with copious foot notes. He
talks so learnedly and logically, that
you wonder whether he haa not been
confined by mistake. But presently he
tells you confidentially that Charles
Dickens wrote "Bleak House" for the
sole purpose of injuring him, and if you
should say anything about poison, he
will immediately tell you that his whole
system has been ruined by being inoc
ulated with the poison contained in the
lead of the water pipes. He admits that
he is insane, but says tliat he is care
fully studying, his case in connection
with the lead poisoning theory, and
has hopes of getting the poison out of
his system. .''
Where the Birds Go.
The prevailing decrease in the num
ber of insectivorous and other small
birds is an established fact. . Various
causes may be assigned for the diminu
tion, but it seenies to us the grand one
is the inevitable tendency of civiliza
tton to annihilate all forms of wild life
It Is sometime said that boys destroy
large numbers of birds.. It is our ob
servation, however, that boys wantonly
destroy very few birds. The Incipient
hunter, being anxious to attest his de
structive skill, will, sometimes shoot a
bird, but the popular disapproval tliat
follows the act generally cures him of
his ambition to destroy anything not
legitimate game. In some of the Mid
dle and Southern Mates, large numbers
of robins and rice-birds (bobolinks) are
annually destroyed by hunters. In
these places such buds are.game, being
captured and consumed with every con
sideration of profit that attends the
killing of pigeons and partridges. We
are not aware that the general habits of
the community are anywhere directly
opposed to the existence of common
song birds, and others not generally
regarded as preper objects for destruc
tion ; the fact that certain varieties of
these birds in a measure recognize man
as their natural protector weighs
against the proposition. The few birds
ciptured for scientific purposes hardly
affect the general number of individ
uals. The indirect efforts of civilization
are strongly prejudiced to the existence
and multiplication of birds. The de
struction of forests deprives birds of
their natural haunts; the relentless
scythe, that searches out every nook
and corner of the grass lot, frightens
them from our fields; the constant
modification of physical relations, ef
fected by thorough tillage, destroys the
meansof sustenance of certain varieties
In general terms, the earth, to support
more men, can sustain only less birds
Strange as It may at first seem, certain
mechanical inventions are eminently
deadly to birds. The tendency of birds
todash into a bright light is well known
One morning this year 143 dead birds
were found lodged upon a lighthouse
near Xew Haven, Conn. We cannot
tell bow many hundreds, after striking
the light, fell dead into the water that
night. . Over iioQ birds w ere also found
one morning this season ou board a pro
peller in Long Island Sound, many, if
not all, of which were killed by flying
against the head-light and smoke-stacks
More than these, the pilot of the steam
er Continental, at Hell Gate, found one
night this season the deck covered with
dead small birds. They were swept off
in heap, and in the morning over 7M
were counted ; and this was only a part
of them. Bird laws will accomplish
something in behalf of the harmless
leathered tribes; but it looks as if the
time is coining w hen our native song
birds must be domesticated to be pre
served.
Italy's fifteen.
Princess Margherlta of Savoy now
graces the throne of united Italy at
queen ; and there never was a royal
lady welcomed to her dignity with
greater enthusiasm and more genuine
affection by her subjects,
Her father. Prince Ferdinand of
savoy, Duke of Genoa, the youngest
brother of King Victor Emmanuel,
married Princess Elizabeth of Saxony,
in 1850, and a daughter, the present
queen, was horn to them at I uriu, on
the 20th of Xovember, 1851. Sixteen
years later, on the 20th of April, 13C8
the wedding day of her parents-
Princess Margherita married the Crown
Prinee Humbert, and resided with him
at Xaples, until Ro.ne became the capital
of united Italy in 1S71. At Xaples ber
only son, the present crown prince,
was born on the 11th of Xovember,
1SC9.
In Roine the representative duties of
a queen of Italy devolved upon Princess
Margherita, and it was a charming
sight to see, on occasions of state and
ceremony, her graceful form at the side
of the stalwart Re Galantuomo. Her
private receptions at the Quirinal were
the delight of Roman society. Queen
Margherita inherited the northern
beauty of her German mother blonde
hair, and an exceedingly fair complex
ion, both so much admired by the Ital
ians- for contrast's sake, even In the
times of old Rome. Her slender figure
is endowed with infinite grace: her con-
versat on is very animated, and carried
on with ease Indifferent languages.
Qi'een Margherita received a most
careful education, is well read, and
made Italian history her special study.
She has an appreciation and critical eye
for the works of art that surround her,
and patronizes rising talent In an unob
trusive and generous way. All her
tastes, likings and occupations are of a
thoroughly womanly character, and
thus endear her not only to her imme
diate surroundings, but to all classes of
her subjects, who look op to their queen
as to a model of grace and womanhood.
She Is devoted to her first born son,
and has often had to be called from the
nursery to receive visitors of state and
foreign grandees.. Some years ago it
was feared that a serious chest concplaint
might possibly shorten her days; but
fortunately the apprehension was re
lieved by her subsequent recovery. She
now enjoys perfect health.
-A-Hnjral Dud.
The history of the rein of Isabella,
mother of Alfonso, the present King of
Spain, can be briefly told. It was storm
and scandal from the very beginning.
Ministry after ministry followed each
other one, the conversative miuis'ry
of 1853, continuing in power only forty
hours. In 1S63 the trouble grew worse,
aud a serious revolution was threatened.
The Queensu3pected her brother-in-law,
the Duke de Montpensier, and one
of the claimants to the throne in the
right of his wife, and a great iutriguer,
with having aroused this revolution,
aud one of her last acts was to "invite"
him to leave Spain. It was too late,
for, If popular rnraor is to be trusted,
the Duke had already with his ample
funds placed Prim and Topete in a posi
tion to make their demonstration suc
cessful. With the Queen safely out of
the country, and her return made a
moral impossibility, the Duke, who had
given in bis adhesion to the provisional
government, and been allowed to return
to Seville, began an active canvass for
the vacant throne. At one time it gave
every promise of being successful, so
strougly was it supported by almost the
whole of the Liberal party.
But destiny had not done with the
too clever house of Orleans. A tragical
incident supervened upon his candidacy
and put him as thoroughly out of the
race as he had helped to put his royal
iister-in-la.it. .Qa the 14:h of January,
1870, the brother of the nominal King,
Don Frauds, Don Ueury de Bourbon,
Duke of Seville, used toward the Duke
of Moutpeusier, in a letter addressed to
Serrano and instantly published, terms
so abusive that a hostile meeting was
expected atouce to result from it. Mont
pensier, however, allowed it to go un
challenged. On the Ith of March, in a
Letter to the MontpensierUts," Dou
Henry repeated the insult iu a more ag
gravated form, vailing tit i reiicU duke
a "Jesuit couspirator" against the peace
of the country and the happiness of the
people, aud a "bloated Freuuh pastry
cook." Montpensier had now no issue
left in such a country but to fight, and
on the 12th of March, 1870, the royal
cousins met at Dehese de Carabanchel
almost at high noon. Don Henry won
the choice of pistols and ground, and
the first shot. Moctpensier's second
bullet struck the prince's pistol, and,
breaking it to pieces, tore his coat.
Montpensier's seconds thought the duel
might end here, but those of Don
Henry, Senor Rubio and another Re
publican deputy thought otherwise.
He has got my rang?," said Don
Henry, quietly, as they faced each other
for the third time. The Spanish prince's
bullet missed, but Montpensier's struck
him in the head, and he fell dead. "My
God,. what have I dune?" explai ned.
the Duke, as he bent over thedea-I man.
and he mutterwd iu French some In
coherent words about "protecting the
family." Though the duel had un
doubtedly been forced Uhjii the Duke
of Montpensier, rumor hinted that the
imperial diplomatists of the Tuileries
had helped to foment the quarrel iu
order to destroy Montpensier's chances
for the crown. If so, they merely helped
to draw upon the Tuileries the awful
catastrophe of the German invasion !
So strong was the feeling awakened
against the French duke who had killed
a Spanish prince, and who furthermore
was the representative of Guizot's un
forgotten iuLfigue, that the son of Louis
Philippe instantly became the best hated
man in b;iain. Popular he never had
been. He was accused of parsimony,
though he hid immense wealth, of
alternate arrogance aud subserviency,
of au incorrigible passion for plots, and
of an unmanly hereditary trick of de
serting his associates at a pinch. His
chances for the throne euded with the
shot which slew his coutiu. What pros-
pects there may have been of the eleva
tion of the German Prince L ?o;Id of
Hohenzollern, it is idle now to discus).
They are wrapt iu the war clouds of
1S70-71. On the ltith of Xovember, 1S70,
the Duke of Aosta, the second son of
Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, ob
tained 191 out of 311 votes, Montpensier
receiving only twenty-two. Immedi
ately after the fatal duel with the Duke
of Seville, Montpeusior had left Spain,
court-martial having sentenced him
toamonth'sbanishment from the capital
and to pay a flue of 3d,000 francs to the
family of the dead prince, whose sous
declined to receive it.
How she Sultan Marries a Daughter.
The marriages of priiiccses, on whose
expenses, as the liattl ilaiuayoun or
stated, no saving could be affected,
deserves special notice. If one of the
Sultan's daugiklew has atuiued the age
at which Turkish girls are generally
married, the father seeks a has'im l for
er among the nobles at his court. If
young man especially pleases her, he
is given the rank of lieutenant-general,
nothing lower being ever selected. The
chosen man receives, in addition, a
magnificent fully-furnished palace, and
sixty thousand piastres a month, pocket
money; and in addition, his father-in-law
defrays all the- house-keeping ex
penses. The bridegroom is not always
over and above pleased at being selected.
If he be married, he is obliged to get a
divorce he must not have a wife or
mistress In addition to the princess;
and moreover, he is regarded as the
servant rather than the husband of his
wife. The sultan himself announces to
him his impending good fortune, and it
is his bounden duty to bow reverently,
kiss the sultan's feet, and summer a
few words about tha high honor, the
unexpected happiness, etc. He then
proceeds with a chamberlain, who bears
the imperial Hatt to tha sublime porte.
military band precedes him, and
soldiers are drawn up aloDg the road,
who present arms. At the head of the
stairs the bridegroom is received by the
grand vizier, conducted by him Into a
room where an tne ministers are assem
bled, and the Hatt is read aloud. .This
ceremony corresponds to the betrothal.
, -
..Mind is nourished at a cheap rate;
neither cold nor heat, nor a?e itself, can
Interrupt this exercise. Give, there
lore, all you can to a possession which
ameliorates even in its old age.