iiiiifi B. F. SCHWEIER, THE C05STITUTI05 THE USIOS-JJID THE EfTOSOEMEHT 01 THE LAVS. Editor and Proprietor. , VOL. XXXIII. MIFFLIN1WN, JUNIATA COUNTY. PENNA., WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1S79. NO. 5. H n S05XIT. to a BiAcnrcL ruin biad, bt onua Wu't tbon a being of oar earth-born race. Or bat descended from tome radiant sphere. When Oaido uw the aoraph in thy face. And gmre thee to the world, unchanging here? If thoa west mortal end they aay thy lot Was one of Borrow in thia sorrowing spot Ilia touch translated .thee, and thou waa't caught Tp to the Heav'n of Genius in the glow Of thy oeleetisi beauty : with the thought Of angels throned upon thy tranquil brow. And womans tenderness within thine eyes All sorrow pitying, but all pain above We olaim for earth, yet know thee of the skies. And while we worship can but dare to lore ' J. Houston Mifflut. In The Tower. Some years ago I bad occasion to make a short visit to my old college friend, Maitland, who had settled down as a clergyman in connection with the cathednl of Westchester. After dinner my friend and I walked out in the dusk of the evening. In the course of our ramble the moon rose. With the moonlight streaming through the colored windows, we sauntered through the ancient cathedral, enjoying the solemnity of the edifice. As we approached the gates of the choir, Maitland, though accustomed to the place, became singularly silent. All at once be called on me to notice that we were standing under the main central tower, and that in the Taulted dome overhead was a round black spot. 'You see that dark spot," said he, "it is a covered hole epeuing up into the tower. It is sometimes used for the hauling up of lead and timber for repairs on the roof. I call your atten tion to it now, because I am going to tell you something about it bv-and-by Seated once more at the fireside of my batchelor friend. I listend to what he had to say about the bole in the tower. I will try to repeat his story as be told it to me. 'I suppose it must be about five years ago, soon after I came to the cathedral, that I was engaged one evening in this room, writing, w hen 1 had occasion to refer to a book not in my possession, but which I knew to be accessible to me in the cathedral library. "To procure the work I sallied out with a lantern ; and 1 had not gone very far when I was assailed by a cheery shout from Symes Geoffrey Symes an Oxford man, who had there been my junior. Symes was a little eccentric. He had taken a fairish degree, and might have done well, but being passionately fond of music, he took to studying the organ and this had brought him to Westches ter as a professed pupil of the organist "synies would not, perhaps, have been called a scientific musician; but he had a wonderful gift of expressing thought and feeling on the organ. "On this occasion, he seemed to re solve on a displayof his powers. Rush ing away for a few minutes he brought little Jim Oxley, son of the verger, to blow the bellows ; and, with this nec essary aid, he set to work and produced a voluntary, that was altogether mar velous, and the effect of which was en hanced by the darkness. In fact it was so beautiful I was uuconcious of any thing but the music, and could have stayed there without further thought till the morning. "I was aroused from my ectacy by little Jim, who had been blowing the bellows all this time, asking me if he might go home, as his fatner did not know where he was. "I let him out; and as the door fell behind him, I heard the low dying wail of the organ, as Symes struck one or two ineffectual notes, and exhausted its last breath. He came down and joined me, and as I was taking up my book and lantern, previous to our departure, he suddenly cried : "'Hallo! that tower-hole is open. Just fancy looking down through there into the nave.' ' 'Yes,' said I ; I dare say it would be very pretty; in the meanwhile I am going home however.' "'All rignt,' said Symes, 'Lend me your lantern, atd I'll l-id you goodnight. " 'Why what are you going to dor' I said. ' 'Going up into the tower,' he re plied. "In vain I tried to dissuade him, using every argument to represent to hia the folly, the uselessness, the dan of such a proceeding. Good-humoredly but obstinately he threw aside my re monstrances; and when at last I found him resolved, I made up my mind re luctantly, and not in the beet of hu mors, to accompany him on the fool's errand. "I was little disposed however to re spond to his lively sallies, as I followed him into the staircase which led to the tower. After some few minutes' as cent we came to a doorway that led over the top oi transcept arch under the leads of roof. "Begging Symes to look about him and to tread carefully, I passed after him through the darkness into the main tower. To carry out this purpose Symes now proceeded to crawl up the dome, in order to look down through the orifice. I knew it was of no avail to say anything, so I stood and watch ed him with anxiety, as he leaned over the verge of the chasm. "As I gazed, I became aware that imediately above the opening a stout rope wag swinging, to which was at tached a hook. I remembered tba some repairs had been going on for a few days on the roof of the cathedral, and that 1 had seen one or two rolls of lead wound up through the hole on the previous day. These thoughts were passing through my mind, when Symes, catching hold of the rope, jerk ed it, to ascertain that it was fastened above, and leand forward with his weight upon it, as he looked down wards with exclamations of delight. "'Come up, sir, and see; do!" he cried. 'It's worth all the trouble of a climb. "I was just about to creep up, that I might share his gratification, when a sudden whirring, grating, sound of wheels above a gasping exclamation a scuffling snatch with his feet at the at the edge of the hole, and befoee j could move, 1 saw the poor fellow dis appear rapidly through the opening, as the rope uncoiled itself with in creasing velocity from the winch over head. It flashed across me In a mo ment. The handle of the winch had boen imperfectly secured ; the jerk and the subsequent weight had overcome the resistance, and trusting wholly to the rope, he had slipped foom his foot lug. But conceive my horror, when with a loud jar, the noise of the wheels ceased, and the rope no longer descend ed. "Mechanically I crawled up to the edge of the hole ana leaned over, think ing to see hie crushed body in a ghast ly heap before me. "No! about five-and-twenty feet down, vibrating in sheer space, was suspended my poor friend, at a height of at least fifty feet above the stone flooring of the nave. He was in the very midst ot the stream of light that injured through the clerestory win dows. In some way or another, he had relieved the strain upon his hands, by getting his leg over the hook at the end of the rope. I called to him to hold fast for a while, and to keep up his courage, but I never shall forget those despairing eyes, nor the hoarse, agon izing whisper that replied : "I can't hold on! I'm numbed. Loose the winch ! Be quick for God's sake !' "Waiting for no further suggestion, 1 rushed back again to the staircase, and found in the darkness, almost by intuition, the steps which led still up wards, and hastened to mount them, and at length breathless and gasping emerged on the rough uneveii flooring of the higher story of the tower. Trembling, I crept.carefully forward to the center of the space, and found the winch standing over an opening corres ponding to the one below. I eagerly looked down, and could just see that something was still snspended in the now partially obscured lights. I shout again and again, words of encourage ment and hope ; but there was no reply. With a sickening thrill, I set to work to examine the winch, and found, as I suposed, that the handle had been en tangled in the coils of a rope, from which I had some difficulty in the dark ness in extricating it. But once re leased I allowed it to revolve slowly, until I felt there was no further strain upon it. "How I succeeded in getting d wn without disaster through that perilous labyrinth, I can form no idea, nor have I any recollection. I remember de voutly thanking God, as I stepped out from the door of the transept on the floor of the nave. ''Here 1 am, old fellow !" I cried aloud to Symes, and sprang forward into the open space. "There was no reply. My heart beat violently! Could he bave gone home and left me there ! The moon beams sloped farther up the building, eaving the centre aisle in deep gloom. Creeping forward in vague terror, I al most stumbled over the body of my friend, apparently lifeless, but still clinging to the rope. With trembling haste, I disentangled his limbs, and drew him on the mat beside the ver ger's bench, wheer I left him for a mo moment, while 1 rushed to fetch assis tance. But conceive again my blank despair, when I found the door which shut with a spring, locked, and the key I couldn't tell where! I had proba bly laid it down in some forgetful mo ment, and I was loeked in, with a man dying or dead under my charge. "I shouted; I beat; I kicked upon the door, in the vain hope of being heard by some stray passenger; but there was no house within fifty yards, and I had heard Mie clock strike .ten some time before. Wild with desper ation, I ran back to my inanimate com panion, I do not know whether you have ever experienced the wave of re lief that succeeds the unexpected de liverance from extreme peril; but I as sure you that the conviction that poor Symes was not dead, brought me upon my knees in thankfulness for the mer cy that had protected us in such an aw ful crisis. "I was overcome with weariness and weakness holding the hand of my un- consious. friend, and I almost think that I was dozing, when I heard the sound of an opening door and friendly voices. I cried aloud, and we were at once surrounded with lights, and eager frightened, inquiring faces, be sieging me with questions, which for the time I was altogether unable to an swer. Symes still insensible, was car ried to his lodgings on the other side of the green, w hither I followed him, and waited for more than half-an-hour unlil the doctor came and told me that he was partly unconsious, but must not on any account be disturbed or ex cited by seeing anybody. He said he would remain with him through the night; and I returneed with anxious thoughts and an exhausted frame, but with a grateful heart to my own home. "It turned out that little Jimmy Ox ley had been the means of bringing us the help that we bad despaired of. My old housekeeper bad come into my room here two or three times during my abscence, and could not understand my leaving the light burning, if I had intended to be away so long. She went over to Oxley's, and mentioned the circumstance, on which the verger said : "Why my boy left them in the cathedral an hour ago. And yo may depend . upon it," added he, "that they've agone and locked theirselves in, and that 'ere young fellow has been and lost the key, and they can't get out!" Which turned out to be pretty nearly the truth. And now let us have some tea." "Well said I, "that's an adventure, certainly, and not badly told" either. It made me feel very shaky about the knees, when that poor fellow went down the hole. I suppose he got all right again f" "Xo; poor man," said Maitland, with a sigh; "that is the saddest part of the history. He was dredfully knocked down for some dsys, and then apparently recovered bis general health except that he had lost all his buoyant spirits, looked like au jld man, and al ways seemed to avoid me. He has since gradually sunk into a state little better than idiotcy , w hich the doctors attribute to the shock to a highly excieable hrain, and declare to be quite hopeless. "l'oor young fellow," said I, "I wonder how far he remembers the cir. cumstances of that night." "Very little, you may be sure," said Maitland. And so we gradually floated away into the stream of rriendly talk upon general subjects, until at a late hour we parted for ths night. Cape Diamonds. Cape diamonds date only from 18G7 In that year a diamond was found of fair size and quantity in a tract of laud deemed hitherto almost valueless, ad jacent to British territory for which England subsequently paid the Orange Free State, $450,000 for abandoning all claim thereto.- It was not a dear bar gain for England. In 18G8, a larger and i urer gem turned up than that ol 1SC7, and a discreet settler gave nearly all he had for it. This diamond weigh ed 83 carats, and fetched f 56,000. Then came the rush, and by 1872 digging was a settled industry, to which the finding of a stone of 288 carats gave an immense stimulus. It is estimated that diamonds to the value of f 50,000, 000 have already been extracted from what is known as the Great Kiniberly Mine, without reckoning those filched by the laborers, and Kimberly, w hich derives its name from the Earl of that ilk, at that time Secretary of State, is now t'ie second largest in the colony. Somehow neither diamond dealing nor goldsmithing seem, as businesses, to be often attended with great wealth. In this country for instance, it would we fancy, be hard to point to large for tunes accumulated in this line which can compare with those accumulated in many others, and in England they are very few and far between, and may generally be traced to some exception al cause. Mr. Rundell, for example, of the celebrated firm of Rundell .A Bridge, undoubtedly was largely in debted for the million and a half ster ling he lias left behind him, some titty years ago, to the French Revolution of 1789. England was at that epoch flood ed with gems, which were in most in stances all the property that tmigrrt could carry away with them, and what with the glut in the market, and the neediuess of the would-be venders, these stones w ent at w hat Tip's diari.-t calls a "treinenjous sacriiige." It is interesting to reflect, in connection with precious stones, what a varied ca reer heaps of them have had. It is quite likely that those which we see sparkling on the brow of Mrs. Bonanza Shoddy once decorated that of Amy Rob-art or Ninon de l'Ei.clos, and a few years hence may form part of a re gal diadem. Strange tales many of them could untold could they but talk. They have mixed in the highest and lowest life. Imierial fingers have toy ed with them, and they have beeu held intbetoarse fists of Bill Sykes kfter the haul of a Duchess' jeweliy-case. The Osier Willow, The basket willow has never succeed ed in the United States as a crop by which money might be made through the sale of the prepared shoots for basket-making. Machinery for peeling the bark has not worked satisfactorily, and the cost of peeling by hand is too much, even at present prices of labor, to make raising the canes a paying one. There have been a number of attempts to introduce its cultivation as a money crop. Considerable capital has been spent, in some instances, in fixtures and machinery, and always, so far as our knowledge goes, resulting in loss to the projectors. It has one quality, well known, and which could be made as available as it is in Europe its use 'or protecting banks, especially of streams. For railwav and other em bankments, once it gets a foothold it will, through Its network of roots, soon fill the soil and prevent all washing. It is so used in Germany, and on the banks of the Rhine, and on other streams it is in general use to prevent undue abrasion by floods. Where the soil is moist, short cuttings grow rapid ly. On dry banks the cuttings should be longer. Once established, it re quires no further care and the annual growth might give employment to women and children in peeling the twigs for market. For peeling, the shoots should be straight, long, supple and without side branches. They are cut, tied in bundles, the butts even, and in the spring these butts are set in water to a depth of 3 or 4 inches until the bark will slip easily. They are then quickly peeled by hand, by means of a forked stick so arranged that it will easily grip the bark. Ceewndrams. Why is dancing like milk? Because it strengthens the calves. Why is an Englishman like a bee ? Be cause be is ruled by a Queen. What is the best way to curb a wild young man f to bridal him. What kind of ship has two mates and no Captain ? ' Courtship. Why is a discontented man like a watch dog ? - Because he is a growler. What is that by losing an eye has nu lling left but a nose f A noise. What is that which makes everything visible but is itself nnseeu ? Light Why is a letter like a flock of sheep? Because it is peneed and folded. What class of women are most apt to give tone to socle tes? Belles. Tom Potter's Shooting;. They had been talking about the re markable performance of Dr. Carver, the marksman, who shoots, with a rifle, glass balls which are sent into the air as fast as a man can throw thnni. Pres ently, Abner Bying, who was sitting by, said : "That's nothing." "What is nothing?'' "Why, that shooting. Did you ever kno- Tom Potter?" "Xo." "Well, Potter was the best hand with a rifle I ever saw ; beat this man Carver all hollow. I'll tell you what I've seen this man Potter do. You know, may be, along there in the cherry teason Mrs. Potter would want to preserve some cnernes; so loin would pick em for her, and how do you think he'd stone 'em ?" "I don't know. How ?" "Why, he'd fill his gun with bird shot, ami get a boy to drop half a bushel of cherries at one time from the roof of the house. As they came down he'd Are and take the stone clean out of every cherry in the lot! It's a positive fact He might occasionally miss one, not often. But he did bigger shooting than that when he wanted to." "What did he do?" "Why, Jim Miller did you know him? Xo? Well, Tom made a bet once with Jim that he could shoot the but tons off his own coat-tail by aiming in the opposite direction, and Jim took him up." "Did he do it?" "Do it! He fixed himself in oition, and aimed at a tree in front of him. The ball hit the tree, caromed, bit the corner of a house, caromed, struck a lamp-post, caromed, and flew behind Tom, and nipped the buttons off as slick as a whistle. You bet he did it !" "That was fine shooting." "Yes, but I've seen Tom- Totter beat it. I seen him stand under a flock of wild pigeons, billions of them coming like the wind, and kill 'em so fast that the front of the flock never passed a given line, but turned over and tell down, so that it looked like a kind of a brown and feathery Niagara. Tom did it by having twenty-three breech-loading rifles and a boy to load 'em. He always shot with that kind." "You say you saw him do this sort of shooting?" "Yes, sir ; and better than that, too. Why, I'll tell you what I've seen Tom Totter do. I saw him once set up an India-rubber target at 300 feet, and hit the bull's-eye twenty-seven times a minute with the same ball! He would hit the target, the ball would bounce hack right into the rifle-barrel just as Tom had clapped in a fresh charge of powder, and so he kept her a-goiug backward and forward, until at last he happened to move his gun, and the birlet missed the muzzle of the barrel. It was the biggest thing I ever saw; the very biggest except one." "What was that?" "Why, one day I was out with him when he was practicing, and it came on to rain. Tom didn't want to get wet, and we had no umbrella, and what do you think he did?" "What!" 'Now, what do you think that man did to keep dry ?" "I can't imagine." "Well, sir, he got me to load his weapons for hi in, and I pledge you my word although it began to rain hard, he hit every drop that came down, so that the ground for about eight feet around us was dry as punk. It was beautiful, sir beautiful '." And then the company rose up slow ly and passed out, one by one, each man eying Abner and looking solemn as he went by; and when they had gone, Abner looked queerly for a mo ment, and said to me: "There's nothing I hate so much as a liar. Give me a man who Is the friend of the solid 'truth and I'll tie to him." Sympathetic Inns. Under the name of sympathetic inks are designated certain liquids which being used for writing, leave no visible traces on the paper, but which, through the agency of heat, or by the action of chemicals, are made to appear in va rious colors. The use of such means or secret correspondence is very an cient. Ovid, Plinv, and other Roman writers speak of an ink of this kind, which, however, was nothing more than fresh milk. It merely sutHced to dust powdered charcoal over the sur face of the paper which characters had been traced with the colorless fluid, when the black powder adhered only to those places where the fatty matter of the milk had spread. Such a process, however, was merely mechanical, and the results very crude. A great num ber of sympathetic inks may be ob tained by means ot reactions known to chemystry. For instance, write on paper with a colorless solution of sugar of lead ; if the water that Is used for the solution be pure, uo trace of the wri ting will remain w lieu it becomes dry. Xow hold the paper over a jet of sul phureted hydrogen, and the characters will immediately appear on the paper, of an intense black color. The follow ing recieps for inks of this kind are more simble: If writing be executed with a dilute solution of sulphate of iron, the invisible characters will ap pear of a beautiful blue, if the dry pa per be brushed over with a pencil full of a solution of yellow prussUte of pot ash ; or they will be black, If a solution of tannin be substituted for the prus- siate. If the characters be written with a solution of sulphate of copper, they will at once turn blue on exposure to the vapors of ammonia. Another sym pathetic ink is efforded by chloride of gold, wh'ch becomes or a reddish pur ple when acted upon by salt of tin. A red sympathetic ink may be made in the following manner: Write with a very dilute solution of perchloride of iron so dilute, Indeed, that the writing will be Invisible when dry. By hol ding the paper in the vapor arising from a long-necked glass flask containing sulphuric acid and a few drops of a so lution of sulph-cyanlde of potassium, the characters will appear of a blond- red color, which will again disappear on submitting them to the vapors ol caustic ammonia. This experiment can be repeated ad Infinitum. Durin; the war in India, some years ago, im portant correspondence was carried on by the English by means of the use of riee water as a writing fluid. On the application of iodine the dispatches lm mediately appeared In blue characters. Sympathetic inks which are developed under the Influence of heat only are much easier to use than the foregoing The liquids which possess such a pro perty are very numerous. ATmost every one perhaps knows that If wri ting be executed on paper with a clean quill pen dipped in onion or turnip juice, it becomes absolutely Invisible when dry; and that when the paper is heated the writing at once makes its appearance In characters of a brown color. All albuminoid, mucilaginous, and saccharine vegetable juices make excellent sympathetic inks; we may cite, as among the best, the juices of le mon, orange, apple and pear. A dilute solution of chloride of copper used for writing is invisible until the parer is heated, when the letters are seen of a beautiful yellow, disappearing again when the heat that developed them is removed. The salts of cobalt, as the acetate, nitrate, sulphate, and chloride, pnsess a like property. When a di lute solution of these salts Is used as an ink, the writing, although invisible when dry, becomes blue when exposed to heat. The addition of chloride ol Iron, or of a salt of nickel, renders them green, and this opens the way for a very pretty experiment : If a winter landscape be drawn in India ink, and the sky be painted with a wash of co balt alone, and the branches of the trees be clothed with leaves executed with a mixture of cobalt and nickel, and tiie snow-clad earth be washed over with the same mixture, a magic trans formation at once takes place on the application of heat, the winter land scape changing to a summer scene. There is a well kuown proprietary ar ticle sold in Paris under the name of " Encre pour let Ciibki" (ink for ladies), nager, in a recent scientific journal, states that this consists of an aqueons solution of iodide of starch, and is "spe cially intended for love letters," In four weeks characters written with it disappear, preventing all abuse of let ters, and doing away with all docu mentary evidence of any kind in the hands of the recipient. The signers of bills of exchange who use this ink are of course freed from all obligations in the same length of time. Colon and their Origin. Late in the thirteenth century oil painting originated in Italy and other portions of Europe. The imperial col lection at Vienna contains the earliest authentic painting, executed in 1207. Ultramarine, produced by grinding into fine powder the beautiful mineral, lapis lazuli, found in the mountainous por tions of northern Persia, came Into use In the eleventh century, and four or five hundred years later was Introduced into Europe. In 1823 ultramarine was produced artificially by synthetical pro cess in France, and as late as 1847 sold for forty dollars per pound, but now, such has been the advancement In these arts, it is bought for thirty cents per pound, and used very extensively. So luble glass, silicate of soda, came into use as a vehicle for paints in 1842. Ana line colors, lakes of a beautiful red, violet, and the other colors of the rain bow were introduced in 1SG0, but they are not permanent colors on exposure. In 1875 the manufacture of German aniline oils was commenced, a chemi cal compound, which promises to achieve success. Though little is known of the actual beginning of these indus tries, it is interesting to note their lines of progress from the center from which they radiated. In the south of Asia, more particularly in India, the germs of the chemical arts bad their origin. By many channels to the east, they found their way into China, and west ward by several channels to the south ern ports of the Black Sea, and through the line of the Red Sea to Egypt. From Egypt, as an independent center, they were carried along the Mediterranean coast, the Greeks, and Venetians re ceiving their information from this source, and in the twelfth, thirteenth. and fourteenth centuries the Arab knowledge in these arts spread from Spain to France, and from France to Bohemia, Germany and England, thence through the world, the lines be coming too Intricate to follow. Jsrry's HlgnaU Jerrv and an old neighbor had gone on the bay during the thaw that pre ceded the bitter cold. Thev were "out side" and must wait for the tide to get over the bar. They wer not prepared for such a sudden change in the tem perature. It grew colder and stiil col der. Their friends on shore built up brushwood fires as beacon lights, but their boat was already fast in the ice- even if they were helpless under the influence of that ice wind. They drif ted out beyond thoir earthly shores in to eternity. A few days arter this lom came to tell me the sad news that poor old Jer ry's body had been recovered. He was found dead in the bottom of the boat. "Jerry alwas said," continued Tom, "that he had prayed to be allowed to give a sign, that he was faithful unto death and that God was with him to the end. His desire was granted, he gaye the sign." "What was it?" I asked. "He took a piece of an old flag arid tied it on an oar and planted it on the ice. I know Jerry meant by that, I've eot the victory." "Is that all?" I exclaimed in a tone of disapointment. Tom went cn to say "What makes me feel more than all, ma'am, Is, that if Jerry hadn't been so forgetful ot himself he might have been alive this minute. You see old Bill was with him, and what does Jerry do but take of his own overcoat and mittens and puts them on old Bill, and wraps his comforter around Bill's neck, and so saved BUI alive but be was froze dead himself!" Queen ef the Fairies The late Duchess of Gordon, taking an airing alone in her carriage, in a re mote part of the Scottish Highlands, observed at some distance from the road a neat cottage surrounded by a garden. Her Grace pulled the check string, and asked the servants to go round with the carriage to a place where she desired them to stop, while she crossed the moor to pay the cottage a visit. The Duchess happeued to wear a green pelisse trimmed with gold lace, and her hat was ornamented with golden spangles. A girl about twelve year old, the only person in the cot tage, was spinning at the wheel and singing a merry strain. As soon as her eyes caught the figure of the Duchess approaching, the green dress, the shin ing appearance of the hat, on which the sun shone, the singularity of such a visitant in so louely a situation, all so worked pn the imagination ot the little girl that she verily believed the Queen of the Fairies hail come to reveal to her some fearful mystery of fate. In great terror she escaped to a back closet, where, through a small aperture, she could see without being seen. The sup posed Fairy Queen entered, surveyed the appartment with a curious eye, and seeing the wheel bethought herself of trying to spin. She gave the wheel several turns but could not make a tol erable thread, though she twisted up all the carded wool she could find. As some compensation for any injury her awkwardness might have occasioned Her Guace tied a crown piece in a handkerchief that lay upon the table, fixed it to a spoke of the wheel, and de parted. The girl could not summon courage to veuture from her hiding ulace before her father and sister cam in, nor for some time after could they extract from her an explanation of the extraordinary state of perturbation in which they found her. Their snrprise was scarcely less than hers when they were informed that somebody, who could be no other than the Queen of the Faries, for she was all in green and and gold, and shining bright as the sun bad come into the house and s-'e-lng no body there, had fallen to bewitching the wheel which, as sure as fairies were fairies, would never go again. "And, see," continued the enthusiast, point ing to the handkerchief tied on the spoke, "something which she had left." The father untied the handkerchief, and the sight of the sterling piece of coin which it contained soon dispelled from his mind all suspicion as to the terrestrial attributes of the lady who had been honoring his cottage with a visit. Tho women of the cottage, how ever, were of a very different opinion. With them the lady could be no other than the FairyQueen, who must doubt less have come to tell poor Isabel her fortune; the spoiled thread was a sign that the first days of her life wou'.d be be marked with disappointment and sorrow, and the crown piece tied in a handkerchief to the spoke of the wheel betokened that she would in the end ar rive by honest industry at wealth and comfort. Harmless delusion! It lasted but for a day. Sunday came, and the appearance of the Queen of the Faries, In the same dress at church as the Duchess of the Manor, convinced even Isabel that she had been deceived. The British Royal Standard. The royal standard of England, w hose display indicates the presence of a member of the royal family, waa un doubtedly first hoisted In Xorth Amer ica on the ship which brought His Roy al Highness Edward, Duke of Kent, to Halifax. He was the son of George III and father of the present Queen, and brother of William IV., whom she succeeded on the throne in 1837, and grandfather of the Princess Louise, the announcement of whose embark ation with her hu.-baud for Halifax prompts the writing of this sketch. The Duke of Kent was appointed by the King his father, "Commander-in-chief of the forces in North America," in 1801, and had his headquarters at Halifax. He was then thirty-three years of age. His furniture, servants and persoual effects composed the pas- se.igers and lading of the ship Princess Amelia, which was lost with her entire company on the Isle of Sable, in 1802. In 1800, the Allan steamer Hungarian for Portland, with all on board, was lost at the same place. The Duke built a villa on the shore of Bedford Basin, at the bottom of the harbor. He added to the fortifications of the town, and built the clock tower at the citadel. He died in 1819 the same year with his father, and the same year irr which his daughter, the present Queen was born. Two years after a subscription of JE1GS was sent to London from Nova Scotia for a statue to the Duke at Liver pool. Kentville, on the Windsor, and Annapo'is Railway, perpetuates his memory. The naval ship Hero, next displayed the royal standard in the Provinces, when she, with two consorts brought His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and suite to America. At the head of the landing stairs in the gov ernment dock yard at Halifax is a flat stone, bearing the following inscrip tion : "Here His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales landed, July 30, 1SG0." After waiting at Halifax for the Prince to make the tour of the Prov inces and the United States, his squad ron arrived at Portland about the mid dle of October to receive him, and about the same time, the British Atlantic Squadron, numbering five ships, under the command of Admiral Milne, ar rived to honor the Prince and party and to assist in the ceremonies of their embarkation. The Priuce and his suite arrived from Boston on the 29th, and. after being escorted through the city, the procession halted on the high bluff above the Victoria wharves and in full view of the whole fleet of eight ships decorated with flags from truck to jib- boom such a fleet in such a trim, had never been seen in any harbor of the United States. The Prince under the estort of Miyor Howard and Lord Ly ons, walked down the stairs to the landing steps, where the Hero's barge. with a British Jack at the stern, was waiting. After the parting ceremonies the Prince stepped into the boat, when a small royal standard was unrolled, and its staff set iu a socket at the bow. This was the signal for the firing of a royal salute by all the ships of the fleet at once as rapidly as it could be done. Most of the guns were of eleven inch calibre, which were heard twenty miles away. After the salute, the crews manned the yards of each ship, cheering the Prince as he went up the gang-way stairs. When he stepped on the deck of the Hero, a ball of silk went up the mainmast bead from the deck like a rocket, which unrolled as if by magic, displaying a large, nearly square flag, with the blazonry of national em blems and the heraldic quarterings of the House of Brunswick, the presence of whose principal male representative it proclaimed. That flag was the royal tandard of Great Britain, magnificent in itself and made doubly so by the presence of the future king of the realm, the surroundings and circum stances. The Royal Standard hassince been hoisted on the occasion of the vis it of Prince Alfred, now Duke of Edin burgh, and Prince Arthur, now Duke of Con naught, each on duty in his country's service. The other day it was again hoisted when the Duke of Edinburgh lauded at Halifax as a member of the royal family, and its use on the occasion of the landing of the the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lome sums up the number of occa sions on which it has been displayed on this continent. The Story of Cheese, Roquefort cheese, of which Pliny wrote, is made from the milk of sheep and goats principally from that of sheep. The pasturage of these animals is an immense plain, eight or ten leagues across. Each animal yields about a pint of milk. The peculiar characteris tics and excellent quality of this singu lar cheese are obtained by the method of its ripening. The village of Roque fort is in a deep, narrow gorge, with high, precipitous walls of limestone rock that overhang the houses. Out of the oaves and fissures in this wall of rock come currents of cold air unceasingly, and it is in vaults in these fissures that Roquefort cheese is put to ripen.. In the hottest weather the temperature of the vaults is from 41 to 44 degrees. The fissures that run from north to south are believed to yield the best products. Cheeses are brought in at all seasons by the shepherds and bought by the propri etors of the vaults. When classified ac cording to merit they are sprinkled with salt and stacked in the vaults. For a week they are repeatedly taken down, resalted, and replied; then they are scraped and pared and pricked through with needles, to accelerate moulding. In two weeks more the cheeses harden and develop mould. The mould, by Its brilliant whiteness, its length, filaments being sometimes six Inches long, its succulency and the thickness of coat indicates the quality of the cheese on which it grows and the suitability of the vault. Swiss Gruyere cheeses are made now also in France, Germany and other countries. They were originally made In Sw i-s chalets or huts, high up on the Alps. The cheeses are usually three feet In diame ter and they weigh more than pounds. A good Gruyere cheese is like a soft yellow paste, that melts in the mouth. It has cavities the size of a pea, one or two to each square inch of the cheese. The most important English cheeses are the Cheddar. Cheshire and Stilton varieties. The process for making Cheddar cheese lasts nearly all day, but It is believed to produce the best cheese in the world, and its use is extending everywhere. Their width is 12 inches; height, a foot, and their weight from 70 to 120 pounds. The object is to make all the milk of one day on a farm of thirty or forty cows to a single cheese. The Cheshire cheese requires from five to seven days in drying, but it matures more quickly for market, It Is made like the Cheddar, only once a day. The Stilton cheese is made in Leicestershire, from milk enriched by adding cream, and the curd hardens into cheese with out pressure. Compressed Leather. Compressed leather is now produced of a quality said to be harder, closer and more compact than the natural hide. The manufacturing process is entirely simple, consisting in the reduction of cuttings, or waste, of shoemakers luto fine filaments, and these are combined with the cuttings or refuse of ox, and similar bides, when unfit to tan, these being reduced to a fibrous mass. The whole is combined together with water to which is added one part of sulphuric acid to one hundred parts of water, until it assumes a plastic mass, when it is pressed into moulds the size and thick ness required. When dried in a steam- heated room they are passed through heavy pulp rolls, glazed on one side and rough on the other to represent the grain and flesh sides of the leather. The addition of the raw fibre with the tanned filaments is in certain portions. according to the quality of the leather required, from five to twenty per cent, being safely employed; it gives vitality p the tanned fibres by agglutinating them and imparting the albumen and gelatine destroyed by the tannic acid. To render the loather more supple or flexible, about one pint of glycerine may be incorporated with each hundred weight of the mass. The fact, as stated that this kind of leather is much less permeable than ordinary cole leather gives it a superior value for certain DurDOses, especially when it Is consid- ed how large an amount of inferior stock Is at present employed in manu factures presumaoiy ot pure learner. A good example is the best sermon. He that won't be counseled can't be helped. Write injuries In dust, benefits in marble. What is serving God? Tis doing good to man. Tim enough always proves little enough. He is happy who has conquered lazi ness once and forever. On Trast. "William," said Mr. Stevenson to his office boy, "have you takeu up the letters?" "Yes, sir." "Were there any in the box?" "Xo, sir." "You can go out t your lunch, now." "Thank you, sir." ''Be back as quickly as you can." "Yes, sir." "If 1 could only get that boy to say something beside 'yes, sir,' 'no, sir, and 'thank you, sir,' I should be thank ful," said the editor to himself, as the door closed on the lad. "He seems in telligent enough aud honest enough, but 1 begin to fear there's something wrong." It so happeued that William Grey had come to the newspaper office en tirely ur recommended. A fraik face and clean clothes were his only refer ences. Mr. Stevenson had been at tracted to him, at once, but the other editors quite disapproved of the lad. To place an unrecommended boy in so responsible a position seemed an un wise thing in the first place, and though obliged to confess there was nothing amiss with the boy's work, his "secretive manner," as they called It, told more and more against him. Xow the kind-hearted Mr. Stevenson was at his wit's end, for the next week would find the boy discharged unless there should be a speedy turn in his favor. The .next day after this little scene iu the office, William presented him self with his littls brother, a lad about ten vears old. "Mr. Stevenson, my mother Is In New Jersey, and I heard last night that she is very sick and wanted to see me. I have brought my brother to take my place, if you are willing. while I am away." 1 here seemed to be no reason to op pose this arrangement and William was granted four days leave of absence. "Frank was coached by his brother in all the details of otOce-work, taken to the post-office, and in short, regular ly and systematically installed. Four o'clock was the hour appointed for William to leave, and after bidding his employers a polite good afternoon, Frank followed him to the entry. Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Carter, the gentle man who did not approve of William, started soon after to the compositors room, when suddenly Mr. Stevensou threw up his hand, and both gentle men halted. lHu't you forget to say your pray ers," William was saying to his broth er, "aud don't stop thiukiug of mother once while I am gone. Do everything here just as she would have you, and whether she lives or dies, it will please her. No boys ever had such a mother as ours, I think sometimes, aud per haps if we deserve her we can keep her." Frank threw his arms about his brother's neck, and then the gentle men passed out into the hall. "God bleis you, William," said Mr. Stevenson, too full in the throat and too watery about the eyes to say more ; "and bring your mother speedily back to health," said Mr. Carter, shaking hands with the boy heartily. "Don't w,orry about your brother; I've no doubt he will answer our pur pose very well." Mr. Mevenson couldn t help a "lnd- n't I tell vou so?" when they were alone together again, and who coul.t have forborne under such circumstan ces? William Grey's mother lived, and William Grev himself is now one of the aMest editors of the same paper. A mcrili-il .Wound. Recently parties from Lacon and elsewhere, with a numerous delegation of the ladies and gentlemen of Chillicc the, Ohio, proceeded to open under the guidance of William Gilford, of Alu. Peoria County one of the ablest pal- xentoiogists in the State a large mound in the Steuben pasture, below town. A survey made, showed a bae of sixty feet, and a height of some nine or ten. A channel two feet wide was begun at the base, which was designed to run to the center, but ow ing to tlu insufficiency of time aud the want ot help, was abandoned, and a partial ex cavation made from the top. A pre vious exploration had resulted in the INeovery of numerous remains, but af three feet below these a well preserved skeleton was found lying ou its back. with head pointing southward. The form was large, the jaws massive, and the teeth perfect. At the feet lay the bones of an infant, and the skeleton when living, was probably a female and a mother. As the excavation pro gressed, the shovelcr threw out a pe culiar black, closely compacted clay. which on examination nndor a glass showed crystals of blood. Mixed with this was a loo-te, friable soil, which proved to be a-bes. Last Ciime a layer of stones, and this told what as before suspected, that we had struek a sacri ficial mound, and one of the most im portant yet discovered. The victims, whether prisoners of war or immolated to please some supposed deity, were slaughtered and burned, the blood run ning with the earth beneath, to tell the story untold centuries later of the sac rifice. Intermixed with the soil just above the stones were found bones much decayed, but whether they were remains of the victims, or were interr ed there for that purpose, cannot be told. Possibly there was connected with it a ceremony similar to the one witnessed by Cameron among the sav age tribes of Africa. A chief having died, an immense pit was dug, the bot tom of which was covered with a layer of closely packed living women. Upon these were placed one of the wives of the chief on her hands and knees, and upon her back the dead chief was laid with his beads and treasures, supported by two other wives at his head and feet- The earth was then shovelled in, and fifty or one hundred slaves were slaughtered over the whole and their bodies thrown upon the pile. With the exception of some ornaments, no other discoveries were made, the late ness of the hour preventing anything like a thorough investigation.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers