?7v f: ' ? M i SI ffl fir H. F. SCIIWEIER, THE COlISTITTJTIOJf THE USIOH-AJn) TIE E&rOBOEMEIT OT THE LAWS. Editor and Proprietor. VOL. XXXII. MIFFIJNTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY,' FENNA., WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 1S7S. NO. 19. THE SWALLOW. (if all the bird that swim the air I'd rather be the swallow ; ind, nmmer dara, when days were fair, ti follow, follow, follow The hurrying ckrads across the sky, Aud with the singing winds I'd Cj. Mv eager wings would need no rent If I were but a swallow ; I'd scale the highest mountain crest And sound the deepest hollow. No forest could my path-way hide ; So ocean-plain should be too wide. I'd find the sources of the Nile, I'd see the Sandwich Islands, And Chimborazo'a granite pile. And Scotland's rugged Highlands ; I'd skim the sands of Timboctoo ; Constantinople's mosque's I'd Tiew. I'd fly among the Isles of Greece, The pride of great Apollo, And circle round the bay of Nice, If I were but a swallow. And view the sunny fields of France, Tbs Tineyards merry with the dance. I'd see my shadow in the Rhine Dart swiftly like an arrow. And catch the breath of eglantine Along the banks of Yarrow ; I d roam the world and never tire. If I OQuld have my heart's desire ! My Ministering Angel. We we.-e all at Long Branch. All, including Tom and his wife, Nettie and vour humble servant, Walter Byrne, Tom's cousin, and a wandering waif of a rich man, without occupation, home, or family ties. Xettie was Tom's wife's cousin. I had heard it said before I went down to Long Branch, on Tom's invitation, that Xettie had emphatically declared that she knew she should de test Walter Byrne, for she hated an i lie man, she despised a roving man, and rich yourg meu were always hor rid. Being gifted with a moderate amount of self-conceit, and accustomed to re ceiving rather nattering attentions from the fair sex, I stroked my mous tache and shrugged my shoulders, re solved that Miss Annette Raymond's detestation was a matter of profound indifference to me. The first time I saw her she was bob hing up aud down, holding ou to the bathers' rope. Tom was driving me over to his cottage, aud pulled up his horses. There's Xettie," he said, "in the broad straw hat and scarlet suit. Hal loa, Net!" A pair of saucy black eyes gazed at us, and a piquant, pretty face was visi ble under the straw hat. "Where's Amy?" shouted Tom. "Got a headache." Tom laughed as we drove on. "Amy won't bathe unless I am with her," he said; "she is nine-tenths afraid." While I was in my room, arranging my bachelor belongings, Xettie came across the garden in a crisp, pink mus lin, with her black hair loosely braided and tied with pink ribbons. She was more than pretty then, the most bril liant brunette beauty, not more than seventeen years old, slender, graceful and altogether bewitching. For three weeks we quarrelled about ten times a day. Xettie mocked at my lazy speech, taunted my stylish cos tumes, made fun of my neckties and my gloves, and gave me fully to under stand that I was a coxcomb. I bore it philosophically, but in my heart I ra ged. I was not accustomed to being treated in that style, but Xettie seemed to ignore my bank account entirely. We nearly came to a better under standing once, when Miss Xettie was carried out by the undertow, aud might have been drowned, if I had not been a powerful fellow and a good swimmer. 1 brought her home, all limp and sense less, aud she was very quiet all day,and almost begged my pardon for all former offences in her gratitude. But the next day she was worse than ever, and the dar after that 1 left. I wandered about aimlessly to the White Mountains, Xiagara, up aud down, until Octolier, when a party go ing to Europe tempted me, aud I sailed away from Xew York and Xettie. I w as not in love, but certainly I thought more frequently of those saucy black eyes.the sweet rippling voice and beau tiful face of Xettie Raymond than I had ever before thought of any woman's charms. It would be too long a story to tell all my adventures in the next two years, but it was just so much later in my life when I found myself traveling home ward from Florida, sick and wretched. We had been wrecked off the coast of Florida, and I was ill with fever con tracted in Xew Orleans, when I was tossed up, high and dry, in a suit of sailor's clothes, hurriedly snatched up as my sailor nurse aud myself dressed in the confusion, unconsciously appro priating each others clothes. My watch, purse, papers, were all in my pockets, but in the sailor's coat I found money enough to carry roe home, to such a home as I could command, a room in a boarding house. But I was terribly ill, and every day the prostrating heat was weakening to me. It was like insanity, the longing I had for a breath of Xorthern air, and so I sped on and over the iron road, looking more like a walking corpse than a living man. My journey was nearly accomplished when I sat in the traiu carrying me from Washington to Xew York, my last dollar spent, my rough clothes travel-worn and shabby, my life al most gone from me. I don't know exactly when I fainted, but I came to consciousness perceiving a fragrance of cologne water near me, and knowing something was held to my lips. I tasted wine, but I was too, weak to speak. Little cool hands ar ranged some soft bundle under my head, and then a fan stirred the air around me. I must have slept, and again l awoke. ery near me, on the next seat, I heard a sweet, low voice, saying: "We get off at the next station, and I hate to awaken that poor sailor for my handkerchief. I put it over his bundle for a pillow, and there is another on his forehead." A voice, pettish and familiar, an- swered : "Just like your impudence! Xow uiai common ieiiow will have your handkerchief! You are so horribly impulsive ! It is very forward and un- maidenly to have been fussing over a strange man, at any rate. You don't know how he may annoy you." Ixw and sweet, quivering a little, came a voice in answer : "He will never annoy any one. If ever death was written in a face, I saw it in his face." 'It is none of your business." "It is my business. You may scold as you like. It it is unmaidenly to stretch out a hand to a dying man for five minutes, then 1 shall never meet your ideas of decorum." And as if to prove her words, the speaker arose from her seat and leaned over mine. My head was lower than the hack of the seat, resting on the window sill, and my feet stretched out to the next space. I kept my eyes closed, and I knew the handkerchief upon my forehead was moistened again with cologne wa ter, just as the train stopped. The conductor shouted "Elizabeth!" and the ladies behind me gathered up their traps and departed. I could only see linen dusters and brown veils, as they walked down be tween the car seats, but I kept my seat. Elizabeth had been my own destina tion, for Tom had always a cordial wel come for me, and I longed to die where there was some friendly face in sight. But I kept on to Xew York, presenting myself to my old landlady, who had some difficulty in believing in my iden tity, but being convinced, nursed me as if I had been her own son. Tom came to see me when my lawyer informed him of my return, but the la dies had gone to the Delaware Water Gap (or the summer, and I was well pleased. Much of my faith in Amy's friendship had evaporated, aud 1 want ed my shaved head to be covered my emaciated face to till out before Xettie saw me again. I had my taste amply gratified, and rebelled when the doctor ordered a sea voyage to perfect my recovery. But he had his way, and it was sum mer before I returned home again, and accepted Tom's invitation to hiscottage at Long Branch. "We have concluded to take a cottage at Ixng Branch this summer," he wrote, "and want you to join us, if possible, in July." How can I describe Xettie Xettie Ravmond still after three years of separation? Beautiful as ever; anima ted, accomplished, she was fascinating to all. But the imp of mischief had not quite deserted her, th-Migh she was more dignified. She was not openly saucy as she had been, but could put stings into quiet, apparently innocent speeches, and I often winced under her satire. For I did love her then. Every hour added to my admiration my affection yet there was never in her manner one atom of encouragement on which to hang a rope. Although I had recovered my health and strength almost entirely, I was still sub-ect to attacks of headaches that prostrated me for hours conscious of nothing but terrible pain. The first one I had at I-ong Branch came on about three weeks after my ar rival, when I had walked too far in the sun. Tom was aione wnen i siaggereu into the house, nearly blind, and he put me down on a wide louuge in a lower room, darkened -the windows, and put cold water on my head. "Amy will be here presentlv," he said, "she has gone to ride with Xet tie. I'll keep Xettie out of your way, old fellow. She must be rather a tor ture to a sick man. Vivacity is all very well in its place, but I had as lief shut up a swarm oi niosquiiocs in a sic iwrai as Xettie." I made no reply, and lay mute and miserable until the carriage drove up. "Ill ? Walter ill ? " I heard Amy say in a low voice. "Go in, Nettie, and see if he wants anything." "You can attend to him," said Xet tie, coldly. "I have my dress to ar range for the hop." "Xettie!" this in a provoked whisper, "you are not going to let half a million of monev " "Hush!" was the sharp reply. "I wish he w as a beggar." "He would be very much obliged to you. - . ..... . i i . . But Amy little ureameu sne sjioke the truth. Xettie wished I was a beg gar! Why? Could it be tnat my wealth was the barrier between us, that as a beggar I might have, won her love ? My hM-t throbbed heavily as Amy opened the door of the room where I lay and came softly to my side. "Walter !" she whispered, and men stole out again. "He is asleep!" she said, and I heard her go up stairs. But presently there was a soft rustle in the room, and a ray of sunshine that had crept to a crack in the shutters was shut out. A perfume hovered about me. though the handker chief was not laid upon my head, and then a little choking whisper came to my ears.' 'Poor fellow. I can never torget ne saved my life once.' The soft rustle came nearer, and Xet tie was looking down at me, when I opened my eyes, She was startled, out only showed it by a raint nusn on eacn fair cheek. Her voice was quiet as she said: "Can I do anything for you?" "Won't you please fan me?" I said, after trying to think of an occupation that would keep her near me. Still she fanned in a hasty way and I said "You have not improved since last summer. You made a fan imitate the gentlest of summer breezes then " "I ? I never fanned you before !" "Once before," I said, "you fanned me, bathed my forehead, and pillowed my head on this !" and I drew out from my breast pocket a flimsy handkerchief marked "Annette Raymond." But Xettie was only bewildered. The gentle art of pity and charity I had cherished as a memory almost sacred, she had almost forgotten. "You did not recognize me," I said, "I am the sailor you thought dying in the cars last summer." "It cannot be possible !'" she cried. "It is true. Xettie," I continued imploringly, catching her hand as she was going to arise, "why must all your gentleness and pity be kept for beg gars? Can you not give one little cor ner to a rich man who loves you ? See bow I need you as much as I did last summer, when you thought I was a pauper and dying. Xow my heart is dying for your love, Xettie." She was trembling, blushing, yield ing, and I did not spare my pleading. With all the eloquence at my com mand 1 wooed her, and at last the little hand in mine struggled for freedom no longer, and Xettie consented to be my wife, my ministering angel for life. A Wise Horse. The writer has recently lost a horse of old age (34 years), that had some re markable traits. He was a white pony that came Into my service in December, 1855, at twelve years old. He was quite fast, having about a three-minute gait at his best. I used him principally as a run-alout horse, and driving him to the station when I went to the city. 1 taught him to go back to the farm alone, and very soon on arriving at the station it was only necessary to throw the lines over the dash board, and let, him find his own way across the track and among the trains. He never attempted to cross in front of a train in motion, but he would walk up near the track aud stand till the train the train got nearly passed, when he moved up nearer aud was ready to cross the moment the hind car passed him. Sometimes boys see ing him going along the street leisurly. would try to get a ride, but no sooner did he sec their movements to that end than he started off, on a smart trot, aud eluded them. A new aud shorter road having been opened to the station, and, before it was worked, passing through a narrow bar-way, I thought, judging from his habit of taking the off side of the road, that he might hit the buggy against the post in going through ; so I watched him on his return to see how he would get over the difficulty. He hit the off fore hub, stopped, backed up a few feet, hawed off, cleared the hub and went ou. He di J precisely as a good driver would have guided him. He delighted in tak ing short cuts, and often went across lots when the way was open. He crea ted much merriment one day, when a neighbor passed him while on a walk, just at a point where he might go some sixty rods across a lot and cut off a bend in the road. After the man passed him on a smart trot, he turned into the shorter cut and trotted briskly across the field to the road ahead of him, where he stopped till the man came up, and showed unmistakably by his manner, the pleasure he felt in the tri umph. He was perfectly true and al ways ready to do reasonable service, appreciated good treatment, but he highly resented any loud and boister ous yelling at him. One day when a new hand was using him to haul man ure on a cart, and talked loudly to him, he would not draw the load, and I went to him, spoke kindly, and he drew it over a difficult piece of ground to where it was to be left. When the man had unloaded, he attempted to drive the pony back to the barn, but he would not draw the empty cart foi him. When, in summer, he had been put at work that he did not relish after com ing home from the station, the next day he would stop under the shade of a tree till the farm bell rang for dinner, when he would come promptly for his rations. Although he was sent home in this way, probably more than a thou sand times, he never broke anything; often threaded his way between logs piled on both sides of the track; and he manifested a discretion in regard to passing trains, little short of human. Who can say, after observing the con duct of the horse under various condi tions, that he does not reason ? Power ot Imagination. In the year 1 789, Elijah Barnes, of Bucks county, assisted by his people working In hai vest, killed a rattlesnake, and soon after, having occasion to go home, took by mistake his son's jacket and put it on. The sou was a stripling and both their jackets were made out of the same cloth ; the old man being warm, did not button the jacket until he got to the house, when he found It much too little for him. He instantly con ceived the idea that he had been bitten by the rattlesnake and swelled from the effect of the poison. He grew very suddenly ill, and was put to bed. The people about him were very much alarmed, and sent for two or three phy sicians; one of them poured down bis throat a pint of melted lard; another gave him a dose of wild plantain ; the third made him drink hoarhouud tea, made very strong. Notwithstanding all, he grew worse, and to all appear ances was on the verge of dissolution, when his son came home with the old gentleman's jacket hanging like a bag about him. The whole mystery was a once unraveled and poor Elijah Barnes, notwithstanding his drenches of hog's fat, plantain and hoarhound, was well in an instant. During 1877 there were 8,159 horses brought to Chicago and disposed of at the public yards; also 1,096,745 beef cattle, 4,190,006 bogs, and 364,095 sheep. A Fool's Practical Joke. Clarence Xewcomb, sou of ex-United States Marshal and ex-Congressman Xewcomb, underwent an experience a few days ago which he will not soon forget. The sportive humor of a friend led to the perpetration of a joke which came near having a serious and fatal termination. Mr. Xewcomb had step ped into the vault attached to the office of Lonergan Thiel, of the detective agency St. Louis, where he is interest ed. The vault is used for the storing of valuable books, papers Ac. A gen tlemau who was in the office at the time closed the door UHn Xewcomb by way ofapracticnljoke. The door closed with a snap, and Mr. Xewcomb had some misgivings as he felt himself surround- with a darkness which was almost pal pable. His fears were increased by the recollection of the fact that, except him self and Mr. Thiel, no one was in pos session of the numerical combination by which the safe was unlocked, and that Mr. Thiel had stepped out a few minutes before. In the meantime the practical joker went out exulting in the funny plight in which his victim must find himself w hen he discovered that he could not get out. Mr. Xewcomb's jefiections were becoming more and more serious every moment. He could not hear any sounds from the outside, and wondered what had become of his friend. He tried to cry out, but knew that his voice, even if raised to its high est pitch, could not penetrate through the thick walls that surrounded him. He tried, but the reverberations of his voice in the narrow tomb were almost deafening. He pounded against the walls, bruising his hand in an attempt that he knew must be ineffectual to at tract attention. A strong and power ful man, he felt himself to be a hope less prisoner, almost without the slight est hope of relief. The tit king of his watch, plainly aud ible in the dense darkness, admonished him of the rapid flight of time. The in tervals between the seconds seems long er than he had ever known before. The quiet had become so intense, that he could plainly hear the leating of his heart. It thumped against his side, like the sound of a pile-driver, falling at regular intervals, and driving so he thought his be rial place deeper and deeper into the earth. He thought he could hear his blood as it was pumped out of his henrt and coursed through his veins. It reminded him ot the mur mur of a brook flowing through the woods and trickling over mossv stones. The action of his lungs had become sud denly and strangely audible. Respira tion was becoming difficult. The regu lar inhalation and exhalation of his breath sounded like a bellows that was being worked with difficulty. The la bored action of his lungs, constantly becoming harder and harder, brought to his mind the terrible question how much longer could he live in this con fined atmosphere. He calculated how much air was contained in these narrow walls, and how long it would supjiort ife. At the farthest it appeared to him that he could not live more than twenty minutes, and then he would have to breathe this vitiated air over and over again. He cried out again but stopped at the reflection that this was a useless expenditure of the very hydrogen on which he must deeiid for. life for some time to come. The silence began to be broken by a murmur, which he could not at first understand. The murmur gradually increased to a loud buzz, and then he realized that this must be caus ed by rush of blood to the head, the ef fect of his continued confinement. The buzzing increased toa roaring thunder. He felt himself stagger and then lost consciousness. At this moment Mr. Thiel came in hurriedly, having been informed of the situation, and unlocked the safe. Mr. Xewcomb had fainted ; but was restor ed by the free use of water, mixed with some stimulants. Luckily no bad ef fects followed the experience, and Mr. Xewcomb was completely restored in a few minutes. Parisian Defectives. Most important and valuable to the public safety is that branch of the active division of the police known as La 5u rete, whose, business it is to detect and arrest all malefactors. Though all the personality of that division have more or less to do with the criminal classes of the city, it is to this picked brigade alone that the work specially belongs. This branch is of comparatively recent creation, having been founded by the celebrated Vidocq in 1817. At first its members were chosen from among the liberated criminals and former convicts of the Capital, under the mistaken no tion that the best way of catching a knave was to set a knave to catch him. But in later days all this has been changed. The members of La Surete are now selected from men of the high est moral standing belonging to the force. Of unimpeachable respectability, almost invariably married men and heads of families, their private life con trasts strangely with their public func tions, which lead them through all the most hideous sinks of crime in the me tropolis. This chosen band, the army which holds in check all the male-factors of Paris, consists of one hundred and fifty persons only a singularly small number when one recalls the fact that the arrests executed by them amount on an average to over forty thousand annually. These men ate the trained bloodhounds of the law. The quick and keen sagacity wherewith they will seise on the slighest trace, the smallest indication, Is only to be equal ed by their courage, patience and perse verance in following up a scent. In glancing over the annals of this division of the Parisian police, one comes upon facts that makes the incidents of Gabo rilau's covels and the exploits of his hero, M. Lecoq, paie their ineffectual fires. It Is on record, for instance, how the discovery of a scrap of paper on which were written the words, "Two pounds of butter," led to the arrest of a dangerous burglar. Their quickness of eye is surprising. They are thoroughly well acquainted with the ttyle, so to speak, of every professional criminal in Paris. Thus, after the celebrated theft of medals from the Biliotheque Imper tale, the police had only to investigate the saw, the cord and the lantern left behind by the robbers to pronounce with certainty respecting their identity And when, after the murder of the Duchesse de Praslin, the then existing chief of La Surtte, M. Allard, was ad mitted to view the frightfully mutilated corpse, but his first remark was, "This is not the work of a professional, but of an amateur." The Inborn dramatic talent of the French nation makes it comparatively easy for the members of the detective force to disguise themselves, which they are often called upon to do. But re specting the motives and the style ot these disguises they are remarkably ret icent, being unwilling to confess that such a ruse is ever practised. Yet an experienced observer may sometimes detect amid the elegant promenaders at the Actresses' ball or the Bal de l'Opera the individual whom he saw in the morning selling oranges form a barrow or distributing advertisements, clad in a soiled blouse and a workman's cap. Xot long ago it was necessary to exer cise a strict surveillance over the move ments of certain personages who were stopping at one of the most fashionable hotels of Paris. Two police inspectors, one in the guise of an elderly and dis tinguished-looking gentleman, who gave himself out as a former ambassa dor, aad the other acting as his servant, took rooms at that hotel, and played their parts to admiration for a fortnight, departing at the conclusion of that time with their mission fully accomplished aud without having created the slight est suspicion in the minds of those with whom they associated. The comical part of the business was, that the in spector who played the part of the re tired diplomat bad become so identified with the character that on being after ward familiarly accosted by his friend and comrade who had acted as his ser vant, the became highly indignant and requested him to "remember to whom he was talking." A Remarkable Fountain. Taking a narrow path I crossed through some dense underwood, and all at once I stood on the banks of Wa kulla spring, Florida. There was a basin of water one hundred varus in diameter, almost circular. The thick bushes were growing almost to the water's edge, and bowing their heads under its unrippled surface. I stepped into a skiff and pushed off. Some im mense fishes attracted my attention. and I seized a spear to strike them. The boatman laughed and a.-ked me how far below the surface I suptosed they were. I answered about four feet. He as sured me that they were at least twenty feet from me, and it was so. The water is of the most marvelous transparency I drop)ed au ordinary pin in the water, forty feet down, and saw its head with perfect distinctness as it lay on the lnt tom. As we approached the centre I noticed a jagged, grayish limestone rock beneath us, pierced with holes. Through these holes one seemed to look into unfathomable depths. The boat moved slowly on, and aow we hung trembling over the edge of the sunken cliff, and far below it lies a dark, yawn ing, unfathomable abyss. From its gorge comes jxinring forth, with im mense velocity, a living river. Push ing on just beyond its mouth, I dropped a ten cent piece into the water, which is there 190 feet in depth, airi I clearly aw it shining on the bottom. This seems incredible. I think the water Iiossesses a magnifying power. I am confident the piece could not be so plainly seen from the top of a tower 190 feet iiigh. We rode on towards the north side, and we suddenly jierceived in the water, in which the fish were darting hither and thither, the long. flexible roots and wide, luxuriant grasses on the bottom, all arrayed in the most brilliant prismatic hues. The gentle swell occasioned by the boat gave to the whole an undulating mo tion. Deathlike stillness reigned around, and a more fairy-like scene I never before beheld. So great is the quantity of water here poured forth that it forms a river of .tsclf large enough to float flatboats laden with cot ton. The planter who lives here has thus transported his cotton to St. Markis. Xear the fountain we saw some of the remains of a mastadon which had been taken from it. The triangular bone below the knee meas ured six inches on each side. The In dian name of the fountain, Wakulla, means "The Mystery." It is said that the Spanish discoverers sprang into it with almost frantic joy, supposing they had discovered the long-sought "Fons Juventutis," or "Fountain of youth", which should rejuvenate them again. A Locomotive on a Dirt Road. Tho Farwell, (Micb.) Eegitter of a re cent date says : "Perhaps the most novel sight ever seen in Michigan was wit nessed here to-day, in the way of a railroad engine, steamed up, running through the woods on a common dirt road. This engine arrived, a day or two since, on the Flint and Pere Mar quette Railroad, from Pittsburgh, made expressly for their railroad north of the place, used for hauling logs to the Mus kegon River. After its arrival here, the question was bow to get the engine to its destination, some fifteen miles distant. Two hundred dollars having been offered for the job without avail, the managers conceived the plan of get ting up steam and trying the wagon road, which was put into execution. This morning steam was gotten up, and the engine started northward on the lenia & Houghton Lake State road at the west end of the town, with cheers and hurrahs from the assembled crowd. It moved off slowly and steadily without any apparent difficulty, followed by a force of men with levers, and teams with water to supply its wants." Blark Vespers. On Oct. 26, 1623, Blackfriars was the scene of a calamity which has come down to us under the name of the Black Vespers or Dismal Evensong. Three hundred persons, English, Scotch, Welsh and Irish, cheitly Catholics with a sprinkling of Protestants, had as sembled at the house of the French Ambassador, Count deTillier, in Black friars, for sermon and service, not in the chapel ol the embassy, but in the chamber occupied by one Father Red yate, a room sixty feet by twenty, on the third floor from the ground, sub stantially built of brick and mortar. Father Drury member of a good Nor folk family, and, although a Jesuit, much reflected by unprejudiced Pro testants, was to be the preacher. A presentiment seems to have shadowed his mind. Although ot a lively disposi tion, he had sat sad and silent all the day bel'oie. To the last he had wished to be excused, but was persuaded by his friends to keep his appointment. When he reached the room, a gentlewoman warned him that she did not think it safe, but then it was too late to retract. Clad, according to the custom of his order, in a surplice with a linen girdle, and having ou his head a red cap with a white one under it, the father pro ceeded to a raised chair in the middle of the room, crossed himself, ottered silent prayer, and then took his text from the gospel of the day Matthew xviiu emphasizing in particular the last part of the passage he had selected "I for gave thee all that debt because thou de 'iredest me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant?" ProiesUiith-m be in some way made out to be the wicked servant. So he was proceeding, when, in the midst of his sermon, at 4 P. M., the floor gave way, and crashed, with the bulk of the congregation, through that of the room beneath, down to the ground. A few persons, some twenty or thirty, remain ed on fragments of the floor which still clung to the walls, "lifting up their hands for help, and beating their breasts for life." Eventually they cut their way through the lath and plaster parti tion which divided them from another room in the ambassador's house. At the sound of the crash a crowd suddenly assembled as crowds do congregate, as if they had sprung up from the earth, in London, some coming simply to stare, others with spade and pickaxe to assist. For the protection of the French embassy, the recorder, Sergeant Finch, placed guards at heads of all the passages. The scene within was awful. AU night, by the light of lanterns and torches; and part of next day, the work of exhumation went on. Ninety fire corpses were dug out; among them those of Father Drury and his friend Father Redyate. Having first shut up Ludgate, and doubled the guards to keep out the crowd, the re corder and the sheriffs met at the em bassy to view the place, and a coroner's inquest was held. The verdict they brought in was "accidental death." but rabid Romanists attributed the catas trophe to Protestant conspirators, whilst rabid Protestants again cried, "God's judgment on the idoiatersl" For some time afterwards the officiating priests in Rotuan Catholic places ot worship in England used, after the benediction, to call for three Paternosters and three Ave 3Irias "for those who died at Blacktriars." Finn Poaching. Fish poaching is simple and yet clever in its way. In the spawning time jack fish, which at other jeriods are apparently of a solitary disposition, go in pairs, and sometimes in trios, and are more tame than usual. A long slender ash stick is selected, slender enough to lie light in the hand and strong enough to bear a sudden weight. A loop and running noose are formed of a piece of thin copper wire, the other end of which is twisted rouudand firmly attached to the smaller end of the stick. The loop is adjusted to the size of the fish it should not be very much larger, else it will not draw up quick enongh, nor too small, else it may touch and disturb the jack. It does not take much practice to hit the happy medium. Approaching the bank quietly, so as not to shake the ground, to the vibrations of which lish are peculiarly sensitive, the poacher tries if possible to avoid letting his shadow fall across the water. Some persons' eyes seem to have an extraordinary power of seeing through water, and ot distinguishing at a glance a fish from a long swaying strip of dead brown flag, or the rotting pieces of wood which lie at the Ix.ttoui. The ripple of the breeze the eddy at the curve, or the sparkle of the sunshine cannot deceive them; while others, and by far the greater number, are dazzled and see nothing. The poacher, having marked his prey, in the shallow yonder, gently extends his rod slowly across the water three or four yards higher upthe stream, and lets the wire noose sink without noise till it al nost or quite touches the bottom. It is easier to guide the noose to its distillation when it occasionally touches the mud, for refraction distorts the true position of objects in water, and accuracy is important. Gradually the wire swims down with the current, just as if it were any ordinary twig or root carried along, such as the jack is accustomed to see, and he therefore feels no alarm. By degrees the loop comes closer to the fish, till w ith steady hand the poacher slips it over the head, past the long, vicious jaws and gills, past the first fins, and pauses when it has reached a place corresponding to about one-third of the length of the fish, reckoning from the head. That end of the jack is heavier than the other, and the "lilies'" of the body are there nearly straight. Thus the poacher gets a firm hold for a fish, of course, is slippery and a good balance. If the operation is performed gently the jack will remain quite still, though the wire rubs against his side silence and stillness have such a power over all living creatures. The poacher now clears his arm, and with a sudden jerk, lifts the fish right out of the stream and lands him on the sward. So sharp is the grasp of the wire that it frequently cuts its way through the scales, leaving a mark plainly visible w hen the jack is offered for sale. The suddenness and violence of the compression seem to disperse the mus cular forces, and the fish api.es rs dead for the moment. Very often, indeed, it really is killed by the jerk. This bappeus w hen the loop either has not passed far enough along the body, or has slipped and seized the creature just at the gills. It then garottes the fish. If, on the other hand, the wire has been passed too far towards the tail, it slips off that way, the jack falling back in to the water with a broad white band where the wire has scraped the scales, Fish thus marked may notunfrequently be seen in the stream. The poachers observe that after a fish has once escaied from an attempt of the kind, it is ever after far more difficult of cap ture. The first time the jack was still and took no notice of the insidious approach of the wire gliding along towards it; but the next unless a long interval elapses before a second trial the moment it conies near he is away At each succeeding attempt, whether hurt or not, he grows more and more suspicious, till at last to merely stand still or stop while walking on the bank is sufficient for him; he is off with a swish of the tail to the deeper water, leaving behind him a cloud, so to say of mud swept up from the bottom to conceal the direction of his flight. For it would almost seem as if the jack throws up this mud on purpose; if much disturbed, he will quite discolor the brook. On a Locomotive The writer climbed aboard the engine of the Pacific express one morning at Harrisburg Pa., long before daylight and was assigned a seat on the fireman's box, which is on the left side of the engine. When the little round clock over the boiler showed four hours and twenty minutes the bell in the roof above tapped once, the engineer pulled back the shiuing lever a notch or two and slowly at first, then rapidly we puffed out into the night. To one un- accustumed the scene inside and out was a strange one and calculated to stir up somewhat feelings of awe and solemnity. It has often since returned in imagination and will not soon be for gotten. Inside the cabin the gloom of the night was partially relieved by a shaded lamp, whose flame flickered unnatural iy from the trembling of the engine. Opposite could be indistinctly seen the engineer, sitting always with his hand on the lever, watching steadily ahead. The engine roared and panted and at intervals the whistle gave a piercing shriek. Every few moments the fire man would swing open the iron door of the boiler's mouth, and while he hurled great chunks of coal into the wide receptacle that never seemed satis tied, there came from the fire a hoarse groaning and a glare that illuminated the cabin with blinding intensity. Out side was thick darkness; nothing could be seen save an occasional shadowy post flitting by like a weird ghost. Ahead was a deep, black void, which the bead light made only more visible, and from its depths occasionally gleamed a single fiery eye that coming nearer aud grow ing larger appeared directly In our way and about to dash into us, when a freight train would rattle noisily by. And on into this dark uncertainty we were rushing af a startling rate. The noise of the engine prevented conversation except at the stations; but during these intervals some facts were obtained which may be of interest. The amount of coal used on such a run as we were making over the middle division is varied by several conditions. Some of these are: the weather, a high wind having no inconsiderable effect on the speed of a train, and light snows and drizzling rains, rendering the track smooth and slippery, so that the wheels do not catch firmly, thereby Increasing the work of the engine greatly; the number of cars in the train ; and lastly, the kind of fireman and engineer on duty. An experienced fireman with a train of seven cars, will not use above sixty bushels of coal on the run of 116 miles. The fastest trains, and therefore the most difficult to run. are the Day express and Fast line east and west. Especial care is taken in selecting engineers for these trains, as there are very few who can take them through on schedule time. Each engineer has one particular engine, to which he is fre quently much attached and with the peculiarities of which he is perfectly familiar, so that when he is changed from one train to another be always takes his engine with him. There Is as wide a difference in the way an engineer drives his engine as in the way a man drives his horse. Some are very hard, others very easy drivers. Those who are counted the best and who make the most regular time, weigh carefully numerous things. Before starting the number of cars is taken and the air brakes set so that the momentum may be regulated readily. The state of the track, if wet or dry, aad the force of the wind are noted and the effect they may have on the time counteracted as far as possible. Experience has firmly im pressed on the engineer the locality of every grade and curve on his route. The way he strikes the grades Is, very im portant. The hard driver tikes very little account of grades and runs straight ahead, so wasting much power and often weakening his engine. But the careful one strikes them scientiflcal ly : he puts on extra force on up grades holds in a little on down grades, allow ing for momentum, and makes his best time on level stretches, thus, wasting no power and keeping up an equality of speed, which from a railroader's point of view, is highly desirable. By this scientific running the engineer of the fast line east has been known to make up forty minutes of time between Altoona and Harrisburg. The best government is that which teaches self-government. Pete Whetstone and the Mail Boy. Pete Whetstone, of Arkansas, was once traveling on horseback through the inteiior of the State, and called one evening to stay all night at a little log house near the road, where entertain ment and the postoffice were kept. Two other strangers were there, and the mail rider rode up about dark, Supper being over, the mail carrier and the three strangers were taken into a small room, furnished with a good fire and two beds, which were to accommodate the four persons fur the night. The mail carrier was a little, shabby, dirty, hard-looking wretch, with whom noue of the gentlemen liked thttideaof sleep ing. Pete Whetstone eyed him closely as he asked : "Where do you sleep to-night, my lad?" "I'll t bleep with you, I reckin," lisped the youth, "or with one o' them other fellers, I don't care which." The other two gentlemen took the hint and occupied one of the beds im mediately, leaing the other and con fab to be enjoyed by Pete ami the mail boy together as best they could. Pete and the boy both commenced hauling off their duds, and Pete getting into bed first, and wishing to get rid of sleeping with the boy, remarked very earnestly : "My friend, I'll tell you beforehand, I've got the itch, and you'd better not get in here with me, for the disease is catching." The boy, who was just gettiug into bed too, draw led out very cooly : "Wal, I rekin that don't make a bit o' difference I've had it now for near ly these theven years," and into bed he pitched along with Pete, who pitched out in as great a hurry as if he had waked up a hornet's nest in the bed. The other two gentlemen roared, and the mail boy, who had got peacable pos session of a bed to himrelf, drawled out "Why you must be a thet of darn fules mam and dad's got the eatch a heap wurth than I is, and they thiept in that bed last night when they w ere here at the quilting. The other two strangers were now in a worse predicament than Pete had been, jumped out as if the bed had been on fire, stripped, shook off their clothes, put them ou again, ordered their horses, and though it was nearly ten o'clock, they all three left, and rode several miles to the next town before thev slept, leaving the imper turble mail carrier to the bliss of scratching and sleeping alone. The three meu vowed to keep the affair a secret but it eveutuall v leaked out. One of the World's Wonders. The great four-fold water fall, the Fall of Garsoppa, on the west of India, near Houore, little known as it is, is one ol the wonders of the world. A writer says of it : "Difficult it is to con vey in words any picture of the stupen dous scene. There is the river, some three hundred yards in width, flowing through soft woodland, its waters split into many glassy currents, gliding round worn boulders ami islets, when instantly bed and banks are gone, and in their place are savage, terrific walls of gaunt rock plunging to depths one dare ot look into, down which the shuddering waters fall at four points nearlt" equidistant ou the irregular curve of the rim of the abyss. From the lip of the precipice to the dark pool at its foot is an accurately meas ured distance of eight hundred and thirty feet, and down this prodigious descent pour the four cataracts, each ar rayed in its owu robes of special beauty. First on the western s'.de is the Great or Rajah fall; a branch of the river runsovera projecting ledge, and no where touching the Titanic wall, which hollows in, descends in a stately un broken column, gradually widening its shining skirts into a black, unfathom- ablo pool eight hundred and thirty feet below. The precipice runs backward, curving in an irregular bay, on whose farther side tiie fall, uanied the Roarer, shoots slanting down a third of the way into a rocky basin that shoulders out, whence it boils out in a broad massive. cataract, plunging five hundred feet uto the sa u ; p I op;jsite its kingly neighbor. Leaving the bay next on thrf general plane of the precipice comes the Rocket fall, running impetuously over the brim and down the face of t!e stupendous wall, to which it only just clirgs with a road band of glistening foam-white water, speeding in quick gushes, in cessantly darting out myriads of watery rockets and vaporous arrows, and pour ing clear at hist a dense shining cur tain into its own rxxl. Last ami lov liest, La Dame Blanche glides down the grim colosal rampart in lapse after lapse of delicate lace-like veils, now blowing out in bright, misty spray, and again quickly gathering upthe white folds, and so stealing downward with a whisperiiigmuriuiir, till gently sinking in a sparkling shower into a pool whose ink-black surface is hardly rutHed. The exact depth scientifically measured is eight hundred and thirty feet. Business Maxims. Be silent wheu a fool talks. Caution is the father of security. Great bargains have ruined many. The sleepiug fox catches no poultry. Never take back a discharged servant. Xever seak boastingly of your busi ness. Do not waste time in useless regrets over losses. No man can be successful w ho neg lects his business. Word by word Webster's big diction ary was made. Speak well of your friends of your enemies say nothing. Give a foolish talker rope enough and he will hang himself. An hour of triumph comes at last to those who watch and wait. It is harder for the hungry man to wait when he smells the roast meat. It you post your servants upon your affairs they will one day rend you. Do your business promptly, and bore not a business man with long visits. Systematize your business and keep an eye on little expenses. Small leaks sink great ships. i-
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers