IllWi Hil tin ft ft M M. -v v n i m i B. F. SCIIWEIER, THE COUSTmJTIOS-THE TTUI05 AFD THE ETTOECEMEIIT 01 THE LAWS. Editor and Pi-oprictor. csmrk hwlvtiYR m im mim r vol. xxxn. THE ROOTS OF THE RflSTS I ...w,J ....... . . . rr. The leave are fading and falling. The wind are rough and wild. The bird haTe oeaaed their calling. Rat let ue tell yon, my child Though day by day as it closes. Doth darker and colder grow. The roots of the bright red rones Will keep alive in the snow. And when the winter ia over. The boughs will get new leaves. The birJs come back to the clover. The swallow back to the eaves; The robin will wear on his bosom The vest that is bright and new. And the liveliest wayside blossom Will shine with sun and dew. Sit, when some dear joy loses It beauteous summer glow. Think bow the roots of the rones Are kept alive in the snow. Mrs. Bland. Kippling Beach some three years ago had the advantages of quiet an. 1 seclu sion. It vi as an out-of-the-way place on the sound, which I believed then I had almost discovered. There was a modest, countrified hotel, where food and niusquitoes might be had at a min imum of cost. With two weeks' holi day and an exceedingly moderate sum of uiouey to devote to my pleasures, after due consideration, I had selected Kippling Beach lor my fairing. As a third cletk in the bank, my vacatious were few and far between, and 1 had . determined to make the best of the oc casion. When Mr. How land, the as sistant teller, whose business it was to pay the employees their salaries, had given me my check, he had casually asked me where I was going, and I had expatiated on the charms of RippUng Beach, and its being one of the lost places on Long Island. Visitors at the Eeaeli House were. though goodish people, not congenial 1 was indifferent, however, to society Boatmen and fisherman were my boon companions. 1 had been a week at Kippling Beach when I became ac quainted with Mrs. Bland. This lady was a late arrival. How I came to talk to Mrs. Bland 1 can hardly tell. I rath er think that, hearing the lady express a desire to see a city paper, I had hand ed a Times, and in this way some com monplace conversation had commenced. A certain pleasant way the woman had and a fairly-bred manner, a disinclina tion to indulge in tittle-tattle with the rest of the boarders, made her society rathwr agreeable than otherwise. Mrs. Blair was diminutive, had a graceful figure, and dressed in quiet taste. Though Mrs. Agnes Bland was fully thirty, she impressed me with a certain childishness of expression, in which vague description I trust I am not par aphrasing Mr. Bret llarte. The lady's eyes were of a pale blue, without fixity of glance. Xo ODe would ever have been rude enough to even attempt to stare M rs. Bland out of countenance. It would have been, apparently, too easy a thing to do. Without having evasive eyes, they seemed 6ubdued and the least bit furtive. An immense vol ume of fair, blonde hair which she wore in one big braid, added most es sentially to her charms. For any trait of fixity of purpose in Mrs. Bland's regularly oval face, the only indication of it was a slight wrinkling of the fore head between the eyes. Such furrows had, however, no permanence. You might see such little winrows on a child's face, when some passing matter lor a brief moment had engaged its scattered w its. Conversationally, Mrs. Bland was fairly amusing. Educated she was not ; but having a good amount of intuitive perception, her remarks were eleur and defined. It was the day after I had given her the paper, w hen I said to Mrs. Bland, "Has your budget failed to reach you ? It is one of the annoyances of an out-of-the-way place. Mails are dila tory, or come in batches." What do you Know about my mail?' asked Mrs. Bland, the little wrinkles roughening her forehead. "Why, Mrs. Bland." I replied, "if you do not receive many letters, at least you have a famous collection of news papers coming to you every day at least a dozen." "How do you know that ?"' "The only grocery man iu the little town, who sells me fish Looks, is the postmaster. 1 go there early in the morning, before the mail is sent to the hotel. The grocer generally runs the whole mail, before me, into a bushel baskets, prior to handing me my occa sional correspondence. I see Mrs Ag nes Bland on ever so many journals. Have I the honor of addressing a lady correspondent a literary woman ?" "Xonsense! what an idea. -My hus band sends the papers to me. It is delicate attention on his part. In rend ing them time passes away during his absence." . . . . Then there is a Mr. Bland, I said to uivself. , - ''I expect Mr. Bland will be here Iu a few days. I hope you will like him. He is a great fisherman. Xow, I no tice you carry a fishing pole to the water-side every morning and bring back nothing. My husband has sent his Ashing tackle down, so if you wantany hooks or lines I can spare you some. Youcoti.e here every season, J" J ,u not?" "Xo; this is the first time in my life. Good morning, Mrs. Bland, and thanks for your offer." "Good morning, sir but excuse me a'moment. Would you kindly look at this bill of mine the office clerk has sent me? I am an idiot about accounts. Here are some items which I have no doubt are correct, with express char ges on some trunks and things paid for bv the office, and the string of figures puzzles me. Then the handwriting is so bad. Would you, now, just make the addition for me? Oh, I a ni not afr-dd of your looking at the bill. There are no sherry cobblers on the Re count, and one does not trust muslin dresses to seaside washerwomen." Mrs. Bland Lad hanging from her -vv. .UCllTOC .lln .. . nierous rattling appendages here and ".ere v, as a aaiuty gold pencil. With as nreftv Him.vUj . j - intu mine nanu as ever I saw, she bent over and offered her ....: uucuiauou was so simple that 1 ran it over in my mind without the use pcucu, and gave the total. It umereuaiewcenu.the advantage be ing in Mrs. Bland's favor. stft. - i. is a trine in error. Mrs. Bland "'t People are honest. It should ue fa.o, instead of $28.G5." "I i i . . - .v. mum reiuemuer tne D"ures pray set them down. It willgive r. uiauti so much pleasure to know I have my bill exactly right. . He is such a strict man of business." "Willingly," 1 replied, d I wrote at the foot of the hill "$2$.G7. Korrect." thanks, said Mrs. Blaud. "What a wonderful bead you have for figures. She scrutinized the billcloselv. "Ami what a queer way of making sevens !" "Oh, iu the bank I am iu 1 do little else than add up figures for hours at a time. There is notliingqueeraboutmy sevens, as I always cross them. Then they do not look like ones. Iu a great many banking houses iu Xew York that is the rule. Scientific calculators always use the crossed seven." Ah, inJeed. if you want to see a ludicrous 5 or 3, look at mine such wormy, twisting things. Look" and Mrs. Bland drew the numerals. "They are quite ludicrous, iudeed,' I said. "There, make your 3 this av. ana uon t bring the tail of your i be low the hue, like a French 5," and I made the figures. I nanks for the lesson. I w ill de tain you no longer. 1 must go now and pay my bill f 28.67, you say r" vv uii a bow I left Mrs. Bland, and. hurrying to the water side, got my boat and was 08 after blue fish. I had bet ter luck than usual, and brought home that afternoon some fine blue fish and wheat fish. 1 had the best fish cooked for sup(er,a portion of w hich I sent to Mrs. Bland, who seemed to partake of it with relish. I was not idiot enough to think, though it was three years ago, that the lady was esj.ecially pleased witn me for the attention, but in the evening, a fine moonlight one, Mrs. Bland lingered on the veranda. I was smoking a cigar, sitting at the bottom of the steps, within hearing distance of her. "You very kindly offered me the use of Mr. Bland's tackle. Xow, you have uot congratulated me on my luck," I said. "1 do, 1 do," said Mrs. Blaud quick ly, with a certain amount of expan- siveuess. She rose from her chair and held out her hand, and it fairly trem bled. I was surprised. What possible sympathy could there exist between us. I did not care to have even a parsing flirtation w ith her. How the deuce had my fish called for so marked an expres sion on Mrs. Bland's part? Five blue fish, which would weigh thirty pounds, not counting the wheat- fish, and a dab or so," I said, in the most commonplace way. "Yes, yes," said Mrs. Bland, appar ently absorbed. "But I have broken my squid, my best one, and I would really like to borrow a hook or so from you to make another. Could you really lend me some hooks until I seud to Xew York?' "Willingly. Wait here a moment," and Mrs. Bland rose and went down the hall to her room. Just then David.the colored w aiter, came iu w ith a tele graphic message for Mrs. Bland. She returned at once, and took the message, read it under the hall lamp; then she went to her room. "David," I asked the waiter, "I did not know that you could telegraph to such an out-of-the-way place as this?" "It ain't ofteu that it is done, sir. The telegraph station on the road is fourteen miles from here, but you can get messages sent by the coach tiio' Mrs. Bland's messages conies on horse back with a man a-kiting!" It was none of my business how Mrs. Bland's messages came, though now 1 remembered that on her hotel bill were quite a number of charges for tele graphic messages. In a moment more Mrs. Bland was down stairs, holding in her hand quite a number of large hooks. It was not my fault, but the lady had taken up w :1th the package a small fly hook, which, as she opened the parcel, punctured a rosy first finger, so that a drop of blood started. "I am so sorry I said, "'may I not tie- this handker chief around it?" "What, with the hook in my linger? Pull it out. Xo fuss, please." Here Mrs. Bland's face looked rigid, and the wrinkles between her eyes made a se ries of arching. 'But, but," I exclaimed, really dis turled, "I can't pull it out. Can you bear the merest cut w iti my penknife?' "fan I ? Xonsense ; of course I can," aad she held out a taper white finger, and I felt my heart sink w ithin me as 1 made a careful probe, and, fortunately extricating the barb, drew out the hook, w hich I deliberately put in my pocket-book. "Would Mrs. Bland faint now?" I asked mjself. "A glass of water?" I said anxious ly, "What for? To dip mv finger in? Ridiculous ! 1 will put tt in my mouth. You will excuse mv sucking my thumb like a baby while I talk. There, it is all over now, young gentleman. I cov er scream at a mouse or go into hyster ics over a caterpillar, and do not blink at lightning." "You are a verv brave little woman then. Here, take this telegraphic mes sage which you have dropped." and I handed the message to her. "I heard the waiter tell you I re ceived ten messages a day. Xow, cau you put that together with my dozen newspapers?" -I cannot do not care to. It is not any of my business, Mrs. Bland; I'm not curious," I replied. "Well I am very much so and my business'is to-ah !" here she opped, for David just then rang a bell, which meant that the stage coach with the passengers from the railroad was com ing This coach stopped at the Louse MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY, PENNA., WEDNESDAY, first, then continued on its Journey to a small tavern further up the coast "You were saying, Mrs. Bland pray continue." "All I can tell you is this, sir, that iu that coach you w ill find a man you nardly expected to see. Go and look. With that Mrs. Bland fanned herself quite composedly, and went to her room I went to the coach, uot understand what the woman meant. Some three w omen got out of the vehicle, followed by an old gentleman, who had to he helped out evidently an invalid. On the box by the driver was a man, who, as I approached, lit a fuse, and with It his cigar. His face I did not recognize, I then felt some little curiosity to find out w hat Mrs. Bland meant about the man I hardly expected to see.' 1 did peer iuto the coach. I was aided by David, who, with a lantern, was look ing for a parasol one of the lady pas sengers had left. There was a man apparently asleep. Though it was sum mer, a handkerchief was thrown par tially over his face. One glimpse was euough. Though his whiskers had been cut, and his reddish hair stained black, it was the face of George Har- land, the assistant teller of our bank. He looked at me in an agonized way. then put his fingers to his lips and said iu a low, broken voice: "My God, Hen ry ! I am a thief trying to escape to escape. 1 know they are after ine 1 hen he shuddered. "lam mad cra zy have lost my head. And yet yoi: are here? Do not betray me!" "To Dickerson's !" cried the driver. and off went the coach. From Dicker- son's I knew that small fishing boats ran to Martha's Vinevard and the Mas sachusetts coast. I stood appalled, dazed and siteechless. Mrs. Bland met me on the veranda with some flowers iu her hand, which exhaled a luscious perfume. The odor juile sickened me. "Ladies and gen tlernen," said the good-natured, famil iar landlord in his shirt sleeves. "It isn't doAii ou the bill of fare, but we have been quite short of fruit, peaches ami sich, for the last three days, and nary a boarder has grumbled. I came across a fine lot of fruit this afternoon. and they is sot iu the dining room, and do you all jess go In and help your self." Mrs. Bland was near me, and claped her hands w ith childish glee, notwithstanding her pricked linger "Will you take me in i" sheasked quite naturally. I had no heart for peaches, still I of fered the woman my arm. There was a group of noisy boarders at a long ta ble, but, through David's care, Mrs. Blaud secured a small kitchen table, on which was placed a dish of peaches, flanked with huge half moons of w ater melon. "You saw him?" asked Mrs, Agnes Bland, paring a peach with a silver pocket fruit knife, which she drew out from her pocket "Dear me, the juice of the peach gets into my finger, and really stings." 'Saw him, Mrs. Bland! For God's sake, what does this all mean ?" "I like cling stones better than free tones. I should lie so much obliged to you if yon would pare a peach lor me. M v fingers make me so awkward.' "Are you a Xemesis, Mrs. Bland?" "A what? I don't know what that means!" Explain !" Oh ! the man in the coach ! Xow, sir, listen. The '$2S.C7. Korrect, 'you wrote on that bill of mine gave me the clue to your handwriting. Mr. Bland heie is a Mr. Bland sent me down here after you. Those figures and K-o-r-r-e-c-t cleared you. There were no figures like yours ia the altered ac counts. George J larland was a tlnel. I was glad when I could congratulate you on your luck." Luck, .Madam : V hat do you mean I "You were the only gentleman here all the rest of them were cads and muffs. Your society w as not unpleas ant to me, and I should have so dis liked to have been the means of bring ing a theft to your door. Mr. Bland was on that coach with the driver, lou may have noticed liret a blue splutter and then a red one from his match. That meant 'All right, Mrs. Bland.' George Harland has misappropriated $75,000 belonging to your stupid old bank, and did it, clever as you are in figures, rigid under your nose,sir. The pajiers f-r the last week have had an nkling of it not where ycu would look for the news, but iu personals and advertisements. That Is why I read the paper. Pleae don't go; any sym pathy I might have had and I have not much to waste was really that of thankfulness that quite a decent young man like you was safe. Mind. I never suspected you, though Mr. Bland may have done so. George Harland ought to have $50,000 in notes, w ith him, at this very moment." There was a base look of greed in the woman's face. "You are then, Madame "The wile of Mr. Bland. I am some what afraid," and here Mrs. Bland smiled, showing me a set of white teeth, a single black melon seed in- reasing their pearly lustre by con- rast, "that you do not like me as wen at least my society as you did an hour ago. There w as a little bit of killing disdain about the woman. I supjiose the scorn on my face was man ifest, for I made no effort to conceal it.' 'Great Lord save us !" said David, coming in and addressing us, "some thing drefful has happened dat man n stage coach ...... , "Xot run away ecaicu : : snomeu Mrs. Bland, springing to her feet w 1th the latent energy of Jonathan Wild. Her eyes had lost their pale blue shim mer, and glinted like cold steel; the furrows betw ecu her eyes took strange, arabesque, sinister traceries. It w as a dreadful face to see. Xo, ma'am woss nor that. He blow his brains out in the coach." "David," said Mrs. Bland, now as quiet and uurippled as a dish of milk u a diary, "bring me a napkin, ana i will take another bit of melon if ou will help me, sir." But I did not help Mrs. Bland. Ax issocest cuss darn it. Flacky Horse. After the 7.45 Long Island Railroad express train from Hempstead passed Garden City recently, the engineer, John Tow nsend, espied a gaunt, black horse grazing by the fence. As the train neared the horse he bounded out on the track with a snort of defiance, and started on a fast trot ahead of the locomotive. He was not swift-footed enough to keep ahead, however, and as the traiu crept close to his flying heels, Engineer Townseud shoved down the brakes and set the whistle to shriek ing. At this the horse redoubled Lis speed, and the train started ahead, and w as quickly at his heels agaiu. For over a mile the race w as kept up in this way. Every time tiie traiu overtook the horse it would be slacked up, and a w ild whi.-lle w ould make the horse re new his efforts. Still he determinedly kept ou the track. In one place there was a small culvert crossing the road bed, and the horse got one of his feet in this and went down heels overhead. His nose struck the track, and he made a somersault ou his back, and then rolled ou his side. The engineer theu stoped the train and went w ith some of the passengers to see whether the horse w as dead, but before they could reach him he was on his feet and away dow u the track again at a tremendous pace, still snorting defiance at his pur suers. At the end of the next half mile he stumbled and fell a second time, but pluckily picked himself up and ran on. A little further oil, as the engine was close to him, he dropped on his knees again.b-it was instantly erect and off once more. After he had ran nearly three miles, he came to a road diagonally crossing the railroad, and wheeled into it just as the train was again rushing and howling close be hind him. The horse kicked up his heels as he dashed snorting dowu the road and disapiieared. The train lost about seven minutes on its schedule time bv the race, but the passenger quietly enjoyed it. Devil's Grmrwa. Ou the 4:h of July, 1873, two men sat at dinuer on the broad verandah of the coffee plantation house of the Palm Garda, near San Juan, Porto Kico They were Clarkson Collins, a blonde young American, the proprietor of the plantation, and his head overseer and inend, David Owens, and they were celebrating the anniversary of their national Independence with many a bumper to their distant country and their absent friends. "nell, isenores Americanos," said a musical voice behind them, "are you not going to thank me for the good din ner I prepared for you with my own hands?" The two friends turned and found themselves face to face with a beautiful octoroon girl of 20 years at most, who had just ascended the steps of the veran dah - with a rush net full of oranges. bananas and a couple of pineapples, all freshly plucked and loading the air with perfume, on her head. "Come, now," she continued, laugh ingly, as she placed the fruit on the table, "here is your t'essert, and here I am ready for my reward." "Take it, then, Teresita," exclaimed Collins, "for you h:ive earned it nobly. Your b inquet Is fit for an Emperor," and twining his arm around her waist, be drew her face down towards his own and impnnted a kiss on her lips. But did you really prepare the din ner yourself !" asked Owens, imitating his fiieud's example and drawing the girl to a seat ou his knee. "Is it all your work?" 'Every morsel of it," 6hc replied, co- quetlishly, running her slender fingers through his curling hair. "I would not trust to Old Maria's clumsy hands on such an occasion as this you may be sure. She can cook well enough for common folks " "Your husband, for Instance," Inter rupted a voice hoarse and quivering with rage, and an undersized, savage-looking mulatto, bounded upon the verandah, while the girl started up with a shriek of affright. "Curse you, you wanton t Since you are so fund of feeding other people but me, go aiid cook dinner for the devil!" A n J snatch ing a long, keen k n ife from his bosom he plunged it up to the hilt in Teresita's body, before either of the Americans could interfere. The girl fell dead, and springing upon Owens, whom he seized by the throat. the man yelled : "As for you, you dog of an American, I have watched you this long while. You wanted my wife, did you ? Very well theu, you have enjoyed her. Xow go and have your fun with her in hell." And with a circular sweep of his knife like that employed by a butcher ia slit ting the stomach of a bullock, he ripped the overseer open, while the latter who had snatched a fork from the table,drove the tines into his cheek, leaving the eapon quivering there as he fell. By this time Collins had recovered himself and catching up the heavy stool on which he bad been sitting, he felled the murderer with a single tremendous blow, and shouted for assistance. The mulatto resisted furiously, but still made no eSort to injure the slaves who secured him, using his knife only to hack and mangle the bodies of his victims, until he was finally dragged away and bound, leaving the verandah inundated with blood. After the bodies were removed the planter, followed by the negroes drag ging the prisoner behind them at the end of a rope, led the way to a deep but narrow stream, that irrigated the plan tation, and commanded the murderer to be thrown In. The order was promptly obeyed, and the man bad hardly touched the water when a score of hideous heads appeared all about him, and in a moment more he had disappeared. The alligators had devoured him. Then Collins returned to the houe and sought to drown the recollection of the day's tragedy to a manner which resulted in his being carried to bed by bislservanlT, dead drunk. Ue awoke late at night with his.throat on fire from his debauch, and, after vainly endeavoring to get up, called for a glass of water. Almost instantly a withered an. I hid eous negress, who had been tquatting in the doorway of the room, appeared with the required beverage. The planter swallowed it at a draught and demanded more. At this second glass, which he con sumed more slowly, he smacked his lips several times and finally asked, suspi ciously : "What is tne matter w ith this wattr? It tastes strange." "Does it? 'returned the hag with a croakiug laugh. "I should think it would. Why, there is enough poison in it to kill a dozeu men." Collins uttered a hoarse cry, aiid en deavored to rise, but the old woman threw herself upon him, and seiz-.il his throat in her clawlike hands, strangling him and preventing bis call in for help. "You killed my son," she cried, "be cause he treated his worthless wife and her lover as he ought. Xo you shall die and before the breath leaves your body you w ill wish that you had perished as easily as he did. You have drunk of the devil's grape, each drop of which is sufficient to destroy a man, with the most horrible torture." And she burst into auother shriek of unearthly laughter, while the planter's frame began to quiver under her hands in the convulsions of unbearable agony. The devil's grape, as the natives ol the Spanish West Indies call it is a small green berry, very closely resembling a ifooseberry, which grows on a certain si-ccii-s of parasitical plant that attaches itself to coffee trees, where they have become barren, and are permitted to grow wild. Each grape yields from two to four drops of a viscous, white liquid of so poisonous and acrid a nature that it will penetrate even the thick, callouted skin on the palm of a slave's hand. Its effect, when introduced into the hum an system, is to produce Indescri bably violent headaches, racking pains in the bones, like those of rheumatic gout, terrible convulsions and final suf focation from the bursting of internal blood vessels. The screams of the poi soned planter, which even the iron grip of the murderess could not suppress, soon raised the house, and his servants flocking into the chamber of death, found him rolling and writhing In hor rible torment, with the old woman kneeling on his chest, and burying htr long nails in his throat. At the appearance of the servant?, she released her victim, and drawing a bot tle from her pocket, shook its contents iuto the negroes' faces. The juice of the deadly berry, for the bottle contained a supply of the poison she had collected that afternoon, rained over the servants like a shower of vitriol and they drew back uttering execrations and howls of p tin. Then the bag made a rush for the door, bnt one of the men, who had luck ily escaped the painful experience of his comrades, tripped her up, and in a minute more she was a prisoner, bound band and foot. By the time this was brought about her victim had uttered a final shriek, and bounding out of bed had fallen face down on the floor, a torrent of black blood pouring from his mouth. He was dead. Xext day, the murderess was banged, naked and alive, in a cage of iroa hoops, which fitted closely to her body, and left to the mercy of the elements. She lived four days, blistered to mad ness by the fierce sun and the noxious night damp, and finally perished in agony equal to that of her victim, eaten alive by auta, niosquitos, and sauriUies. J ant What You Might Exprat. About two weeks ago, as the overland train was passing Cheyenne, the atten tion of the passengers was attracted by the lamentations of a poor Irish immi grant, w hose berth had been robbed during the night aud every penny of his scanty savings stolen, and whose family would, therefore, arrive beggars in a strange land. The chari'able pas sengers at once began a subcription which finally amounted to something over $250. When the money had N-en handed to the sufferer, a pious, plau sible looking mail dressed in black aud adorned w ith a white cravat, drew him aside at one of the sleeping places and said : "My dear man, I am truly sorry for you. Your sad case touches me deej ly. I am myself well provided with this world's goods, however, and so 1 will give you $250 more. Here is a $00 gold note. Give me the $250 you have and keep the rest. May heaven bless you !' The poor Iri-hm-n did as requested, with many blessings on the generous stranger, who insisted that his gift should not be made known. When the passengers reached this side of the bay the pious looking philanthropist was nowhere to be tound.he having evident ly gotten off at Oakland, for reasons of his own. The next morning the immigrant re paired to a bank to get his note chang ed. The teller picked up the bill and began narrowly exauiing it. There there is nothing w roug w ith the bill, is there?" gasped the poor fellow. (Xow the clever reader has seen all along w bat was going to happen. He has read lots of such incidents as this. It is the old story. Well we'll see about it.) "Xething in the world is the matter with it," said the teller quietly, and he banded the man 50 tens. Measuriua Grsiaw By the United States standard 3,150 cubic inches make a bushel. Xow, as a cubic foot contains 1,723 cub!c inches, a bushel is to cubic foot as 2,150 is to 1,723; or, for practicable purposes, aa 4 to 5. Therefore, to convert cubic feet to bushels, it is necessary to multiply by four-fifths. Example. How much grain will a bin hold which is 10 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet deep ? So lution. 10 multiplied by 4, equals 100 cubic feet; 160 multiplied by four flftb.3 l equal 128, the number of bushels. . DECEMBER 4, 1878. KMngoftheXUe. Apparently the mcteorologial dis turbances that are so widespread on our side of the globe this year are severely felt ou the other side also, for the con tinuous rains of which the report comes from Khartoum, in Africa, and which seem likely to fill "Afric's sunny foun tains" uncomfortably full must be re garded as a similar expression of Xa ture's tendency to an extreme depart ure from averages. But Incessant rains n the Soudan mean in Egypt a rise in the Xileof from six to ten feet beyond its usual height, between the 20th and 30th of September ; and Egypt can stand that even less than we can stand the greater number of the remarkable con sequences of meteorologial derange ments we have seen in recent seasons. In most countries in the world, farmers and others dependent upon the early and the later rains for the fertillity of the soil, and a good yield of the fields have grumbled from time immemorial at the machinery that -Nature had thus provided for their good, and have ca villed that she was niggardly in one year and abundantly, even ruin ously, plentiful in another. They have complained that the mischief caused by a drought, was not coiniensated by the flood that came a year later, and the millions dead from Hiudostan and Chi na in these years, are evidences in sup port of that opinion. All the grumb lers at Nature's rain systems, as fonnd in temperate countries, have been dis posed to wish that she had supplied the world at large with the scheme and ap paratus given to Egypt. All Egypt's rain fall in far away countries, where it does not hurt any ones good clothes, and comes down the river conveniently at once "pooling its issues" all over Fgypt's four thousand square miles of arable land. This system has a simple and beautiful appearance, hut it is li able to derangements as ruinous as our own system. Even old father Xile has vagaries and comes down from time to time too full, or not full enough. I.es-i than a fair moity of his years are good ones. In Joseph's time the average was apparently seven good anil seven bad ; for in Pharaoh's dream "ihere came up out of the river seven well favored kiue and fat fleshed, and seven other kine came upafter them out the river ill-favored end lean-fleshed. In a record ot ti6 imundations iu modern times only thirty are classed as good, the others being insufficient or excessive. An insullh-ieut inundation is a cause of scarcity and famine, nd an excessive one causes such material damage as re sulc in every country from floods iu the rivers. It will be especially unt'orri nate for Egypt if a great calamity comes In the very year w hen promising attempts to reconstruct her fiiianvial system are on foot. A liear story. "Twenty years ago 1 was a little girl living in a farm houe on one of the slopes of t lie "Laurel hill. in Peiui- svlvau'a. It was a wild place, though pleasant, and we had no near neighbors, for the houses though not so few, were far between. But when yo:i went to the school-house that stood in a small square clearing on the mountain-side, you would have found a large number of boys and girls gathered there; and most likely you'd have said, ''Where under the sun do ail these children live?" There they were though, from six to sixteen, and there was I, a de mure little tiling of eight, so grave and sober that when the girls played "keep house,' they always set me up for 'grandmother of the family. And there w as my hero, Xed. Wilson, a boy of sixteen, who had elected himself my protector, and w hoiu I adored ; we had promised to marry each other after twenty or thirty years, and w e felt very solemn and important about it. I be lieve all the boys aud girls liked each other pretty well; we had to, in fact, for we were shut up thereon the moun tain side, aud the children must like some body, you know. "The boy had built the girls a play house out of hemlock boughs, dow n by the spring uot far from theschoolhouse; sometimes we would spend the noon lime there, and at others we would climb ou the coal shed and play 'house.' The ground was slanting w here this build ing stood, aud at the back wc could easily jump up on the roof ; we had fixed it up with blocks and boards so that our houe keeping was very conve nient and grand indeed. "One day we had great difficulty in deciding where to spend our iioouing; some said 'go to the spring, others w anted above all,a family gathering on the roof; filially the spring foIkgave in, aud we tumbled tip in great good humor. I was planted in a block with a w bite handkerchief tied on my head for a cap and another one folded across my chest for a cape. All I had to do do was to pretend to knit with four sticks, and every now and then say 'less noise, chil'n !' The boys w ere a little w ays off, busy at a game of ball. "The housekeeping was getting on famously ; the more accidents, the more fun the bread was burned to a cinder, and the cook was dismissed w ith a dreadful threat of having her head ta ken off if she ever dared 'darken those doors with the light of her countenance.' Then 'Tagrag,' the youngest child, created out of charts, and an old duster, was quietly dropped over the front of the house, and a terrible wail arose that 'the baby was in the well !' all the fam ily except grandmother at once jumped off to save the dear infant ; and having got her and dipped her ia the water bucket, they scrrmbled back again, all excitement, and great was the 'to do' over the 'drowned' darling. The 'fa ther' of the family was distinguished from the others by wearing her paste board snn-bonnet perched up on her head like a stove pipe hat; the strings tightly tied before putting it on making it stand very upright and manly in deed. The chief business of this parent was to whip the children and order meals about once in five minutes, and pretend to smoke a corn-cob pipe. Of course we hadn't a great while for our play only an hour of Intermission; but we crow Jed iu as much sport as we could, and the time passed rapidly w ith one thing and another. It must have been nearly time for the teacher to come back to open altcruoou school, aud we were every minute expecting to hear some one say,'Oh,dear,there he comes ! when a shout or scream from the boys made us spring up in terror and direct every eye to the object from which they were running in hot haste, screaming, A bear! a bear! j'imp, girls, jump!' and jump they did, every one, except me; for trotting along after the boys came a good sized bear out of the woods. Xot in a great hurry to be sure, for he was too certain he would catch ons of us; but coming right along and uo mistake! The boys ran to the se-hool house and scrambled in, shouting to the girls to 'jump and run.' "It took only a minute for all to reach that safe shelter, except Xed and poor little 'grandmother.' There I was para lyzed with fear, to scared too leap off the low part of the roof, which was the farther way, too scared to move at all, and that dreadful bear coming nearer and nearer. "As lor Ned, he saw my helplesness, and he was just as anxious to get i lit the house as any ol them ; but the dear fellow rushed forme with all hisuiight, crying out 'Jump, Jeanie, I'll catch you 1 fell off into his arms it w as all I could do mid half carrying, half dragging me. he stumbled up to the door, sprang iu and pulled me in after him; the door was slammed iu bruin's face, w ith a loud baug, but not until he had iifled one wicked paw and taken the backbreadlh out of my dress !" "And what did you do then?" I ak- ed Jeanie. "Oh, we huddled under the desks, to frightened to even w hl-per, and that near went round and round the house, scrambling toward the windows, and growling till our hair stood ou end at the dreadful sound. "Fortunately the windows weie too high for him to reach, aud when he found he couldn't have a nice little boy or girl for dinner he left us, and sulked iff dow n to the spring." "And was ih-i! the last ot it? ' '"No, not quite ; when we f-jiind he hud fairly gone, a few of the biggest boys ran to meet the teacher, aud among them they tailed out some men with dogs and guns w ho hunted through the woods, and the next (lay the b- ar was shot on 'he mountain." "That was god," sai I the old child, who was listening to th' story. Any thing more about Ned?" "Oh, res," said grandmother Jeanie. "Stout, short, middle-aged man, a little bald, good a gold, married and blessed with two pretty children so they tell me. v e moved from the Laurel lull a few months after, anil I've never seen him since." "O-h-h," said the old child. "Bui thanks for the tale of the hear which is always snort ! A Carieolt. Among the curiosities prcrcrved in the museum of the Czar's country pal lace at Tsars koe-Selo, (Czar's village), IB miles from St. Petersburg, there is one very singular relic, know n as "Or loffs kaya'irubotchka," (OrlotTsTrum et. It is a large silver dish, rolled to gether like a sheet of music, the legend attached to which is as follows: Whep Count Gregory Orloff, one of the 1mm merable favorites of Catherine II., and the leading agent in the murder of hci husband, Peter III., presented bimsell at the Winter Palace on his promotion to the rauk of Admiral of the l!ex-x, the hall porter, who had but newly entered the iuiert:tl household, inquired his name. Orloff. w hose feats of strength had made him almost as well known in Petersburg as the Empress herself, looked indignantly at the man, aud taking up a salver from the table beside him, tw isted it up like a scroll of paper. "There," grow led he, handing it to the terrified lackey, "give that to the Gosu darina, (Empress) and she will know w ho I am." In later days it w as a fav orite enterprise with the more athletic members of the Court to attempt the .induing of this modern Gordiau knot, b.it all their efforts were iu vain. Goml Manners at Honie. Shut everv door after vou without slamming it. Never stamp, jump or run in the house. Never call to per sons tip-stairs or in the next room: if you wish to s(eak to them go quietly to where they are. Always speak kindly and iolitely to the servants, if you would have them do the same to you. Wheu told to do or not to do a thing by either pi-'-mt.neverask w hy you should or should uot do it. Tell of your own faults, but not of those of vour broth ers or sisters. Carefully clean. the mud and snow from your boots or shoes be fore enteriiii.' the house. Be prompt at every meal. Never sit dow u at the ta ble or in the parlor w ith dirty hands or tumbled hair. Never interrupt any conversation, but wait patiently for your turn to speak. Never reserve your good manners for strangers, but be equally polite at home and abroad Tlis Fulfil Chap. It i' related that when Andrew Jack son was military commander iu Flori da, he had tried at drum-head court martial, sentenced sHiiJ hanged two Englishmen who had tried to incite in surrection among the Indians. Presi dent Monroe feared that Great Britain would lie indignant, and summoned Jackson to Washington to be repriman ded. Secretary Adams defended Jack son, and made a long argument, in which he quoted international law as expounded by Grotins, Vattel, and Puffendorf. Jackson listened in sullen silence, but that evening w hen asked at a dinner party whether he was not comforted by Mr. Adams' citation of authorities, he exclaimed : "What do I care about those musty old chaps? Blast Grotius, blast Vattel aud biastthe Puffen-chap ! This is a fight between Jim Monroe aud me, aud 1 proprose to tight it out." NO. 41). The Glrlsi of Cyyrm.. The Cyprian damsel isa curious com pound of fascination and oddities. Seen at her best, on one of those innu merable saints' days, when she does not work beyond tricking herself out in fine clothes and assisting her mother to dispense hospitality, she looks like a masquerade heroine, w hatever her sta tion. She weaves up her hair with gold coin, twists it, plaits it, and con trives, w ith a red aud yellow handker chief, a head-dress which looks like a turban, but is made top-heavy by Icing surmounted with an embroidered mul lin cap and tassel. lie wears baggy pantaloons, sky-blue or pink, w hich de scend to the knee, the rest of the legs and feet being bare, except when to honor company she dons a pair of ha bouches, in w hich she feels uncomfort able. She is generally fat, and wears a short jacket profusely braided, w hich does not reach to her waist; she rouge, and whitens hercompUxion till it look like the face of a wax image; she pui'its her eyebrows deep black, and by some cunning pencil touches at the corners if her eyes, she contrives to make them look twice their natural sUe. Then she feels happy, and giggle when com plimented, i-he cannot read or write, but can sing, play gularon a trian gui tar, and spin around in a fanta-tic dance which takes her breath away and makes her cry "lino!" w hile the stranger who watches her turns giddy with sympathy. Nor Is she without religion; tor during the long Lenten fast and on Friday throught the year she lives on bread and olives, consider ing it a sin to eat ''anything that ha breathed" fish included. She sees less in telling fibs and discussing scan dal. It takes some time to familiarize one's self with a Cyprian girl; for something of the Mussulman practice of secluding women prevails among the Greeks, and a bevy of maidens will scurry away like frightened poultry, if a man approaches them to talk; but w hen once this shyness has worn off, the chief coiiversttional topic of the b:ihful maiden will relate to her neigh bor's shortcomings. She w ill tell you with smothered laughter things which she has learned in the most surrepti tious manner, and her dark eyes will sparkle with the fun of the ini-chiet'- making. On working days the Cyprian girl dresses hoe!y iu cotton pantaloons and chemise, and lets her hair fall down h?r back, tying it ju.-t beh-w the neck with a string of bead-. She i surprisingly active, despite her plump ne?s, and race about after g-ats, pig and fowls with a fleet nes that would do credit to a boy. If ot marriageable age, she will not beg, but at sight of a stranger halloo to her younger sisters to come forth and claim Ku k-hee-h ; the which having been duly obtained (for the-e little tireek girl are wonder ful coaxers, l.e levies her share, hich is expended in buying finery of the peddler. Another i'at .Han Kerinonl. II. A. KrfTs, dealer in dry-g!, Woodhull. 111., writes: "Botinio J'fsi cixf. Co., Buffalo, X. Y., June -2d. 1S7. Gentlemen. Please find ineloscd $5.00, for which send nie, by expres', Anti-Fat. I have taken onu iiottle and 1 lo-t live and one quarter pounds." A friendly Father. The stern parent, so much dreaded by young and spoony sercnaders, is not always such a ferocious monster a-, he is generally represented. Three young gentlemen, accompanied by a guitar, began singing sweetly under the w indow of a favored one the other evening, when a dark object was seen to issue from the corner of the house It moved slowly and cautiously, ami seemed to be armed. They were Po much devoted to the art to break off in the middle of the strain, w hich they were in at the lime, so they held the fort trembling till it was tinMied, and then prepared to decamp hastily. This was interrupted, however, by the motion of the aforesaid object, w ho now being near enough to be seen mro clearly, beckoned to them frantically, and whispered : "Hold on, boys; don't be frade; it's me." And sure enough it was him, the father of the angel they had called to serenade. He beckoned to the party to follow him around to the side of the house, w here he explained matters as well as he could under the circumstan ces. "I've leen out a little to-night." he said, 'and I'm tryin' to get in the hr.u-e without bein' heard." Next to the lire place an ocu stove, like the old fashioned Franklin grates or stoves, are pleasant. In these can be burned wood or coai, but have the for mer if possible. Again we say w hat ever means you employ for heat either furnace, steam coai or wood s'oves try anil have an o-n tire in the t-iiniiy or sitting room. One movement w ith reg ard to closed stoves is being made In the right direction of which a moment's thought wilt assure oie. It has been thought projier for some years to send a stove as high up in the air a- pos,illc, put story upon story and then finish by letting the pijie drag its black length through a chamber above to warm the chamber? No, such heat ever was sa tisfactory, but to let the accumniulated breath of the whole day descend to the sleeping apartment to be inhaled all night by its occupant. When you buy s;oves buy the low ones that are now made; the nearer the floor the better, and if you want to w arm a bed room get a little box stove, and one armful of wood will make the room wholesomly comfortable, instead of that clammy nnhealthful chill that attends any heat derived from a room or stove below. WmniiTBFHa is a or the Thkoct or I.uuks. a f. 11 neecU-U may be ail tli.it 1 require toestaMlsh ha-re- I'.r anl sfenemliy fatal d!s- ase. Even wbere there is no Hiatal tendency to Bmnclilal or Piiltnon try tr 'Uiil, a severe cold, left to tuke rare of irself. often pitmui (lie seeds nl ssenous comprint, sure l bedeve OI-d by subsequent ln-U ertlmis. T&as especial care of your health, tutrefore. f.om tiie very ear'lest symptoms ot a ouri or 'oil, ny rriiil-ntlT morriiitf fo Dr. Jayne's KxDeemr.ini. which wul soothe anil streowtneo the br echini tube, shay Inrlaiumatlnn an-leleanse them wttd the Inn; ol all trrilatlnir uHDee. As ouuts ot prevention Is better Uiaa a puuutl uf cure.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers