r v ,r. v. 'II III' B. F. SOHWEIEB, the ooisnrunoi-TEE uhoi-aid the Enosoanare op the lavs. Editor and Proprietor. MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY. PENNA., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1881. NO. 35. I ' T vx i nrr 1 1 m i mi ni i 1 1 1 1 1 1 THE MEADOW-LARK'S COLOR..- t i rptembtt,. ioe lovely morning in tte torlght Sej A malow-lark rose gsyiy singing wick the ion. Ami took liia ngnt o'er plains ana hills and vaUrys, To where the reapers had their work begun. over the golden field a breeze was creeping, Moving Its masses In a gentle swell. And manj a hrawny bnsbanilman was reaping The grain that laughed and nodded aa it fell. Hurh-poued ia air the meadow-lark remaining. Watched with a sigh the blooming rye laid low, Till a dark cloud across the sun's face passing, Kolibed the stiU-dying grain of half Its glow. Thm up from oat his little heart came welling, A song so full of pity and of lore. As pierced the perfumed air of early morning, . AKcending even to the throne of J are. The warrior god heard with a deep compassion The song that marked the bird's o'erwhelmtng grief, And rowed that he should ever wear a token. That he had sympathized and sent relief. He spoke. The cloud, the mighty word obeying, rhanged to a rainbow floating in the sky, While sunleanu all nutrammeled now come troop ing l'p the sweet valley to the field of rye. Ooe.tbe mortbrilliant,thro' the ripe grain banting, mi scythe lighted for a moment's rest, .Then upward glancing, the great Jore obeying, Fell with warm kisses on the lark's dark breast. And to this day the meadow-lark is wearing The richest color that e'er greets the eye, A merry sunbeam's radiance, tempered Ky the rich bloom that blossoms on the rye. NELLIE'S MISTAKE. Nellie Graham stood leauiug against the casement of an open window leading oil to a sloping lawn, at whose base flowed a sunny, rippling stream of wa ter. Sear her, reclining on a low, easy chair, sat a yonug girl of aliont her own At first glance the exquisite soul-love-. lines of her face paled in Miss Graham's more brilliant beanty, but there was more to love its possessor and fewer to envv her. Something like indignation was in her v.iiee as she addressed her friend. "I cannot lielieve that yon mean it, Nellie," she said. "You have leen en gag.sl to Carol Stanley a year, and how can you say so carelessly that your en gagement shall lie broken "Beg pardon," interrupted the other, iu low ironical toues. "I have not yet Wu engaged to Carol Stanley twenty- four hours. It was to Lgrd Carol Stan lev 1 gave my pledge." "Oh, but Nellie, because he has lost title and estate, must he also lose the woman of his love ? Think a minute. Ton surely will not give him np so easily? Tliink better of it, dear. know von cure for him. Do not so lightly renounce vour life's happiness.' "Yon plead his cause eloquently, my dear. Eeallv I did not know I possessed a rival in my fair cousin. Perhaps a heart caught in the rebound. You know the rest of course , and can point the moral." "Nellie, you are cruel cruel ! I But the late speaker had passed through the own window out of hear ing, and advanced to meet a man quick ly approaching on the green sward, while the young girl left behind fell back in her chair, the great tears cours- iu- down her cheeks, ou which the crim son color signal flamed. "I must leave this place. I cannot meet him again. I must go home ! Bnt, oh ! how ean she give him up ?" Myra Lynue and Nellie Graham were cousins. The girls, howsver, had been closely nuited, more by the tie of friend ship than cou-siuship, since the latter was a distant liond, and Graham Court was almost as much Myra's home as her own. Now, however, the plainer charms of her own humble home were very grate ful to her. Here uo one could prolie the discovery so new to herself could trace the scar let blush which seemed so often to burn lier e.heek. nutil she wondered that it Yn not leave its brand. Sbeha.1 been home six weeks, and twice Carol Stanley had ridden over to Wr. bnt she always denied hersell to him on some household pretext, un til one morning tie overtook Her in ine road. "So I am to find you at last, he said. His voice sounded the same as of old, . bright cheery tone was unchanged. "Have yon seen Nellie lately?" she at last found courage at ask. "No," he answered, and then she saw the frown gather on his brow, and an expression of pmu come alwut uis lips. 'T x v as little of your cousin as possi 1,1.. now You know. Miss Lynne, I am no longer a subject for congratula tion." "Yes I kLow." she said. "I .TY.'t i.;tv m " lie interrupted. "I l'u . x , & .n't lienr that onite yet." 'T .'t.1 not mean to nitv you." she re- 1 ll 1 Oil And then the conversation drifted into otli.T channels. "Oh, if Nellie had not spoken of the heart caught in the rebound 1" she thought, when week after week Carol Stanley would find his way to their gar den, or the parlor, to spend long hours with its fair yonug mistress. She understood so well why he came, lNH-aii.se now mid then Nellie's name drifted into the idle talk, and because as he grew stronger he dared speak of her the love he had borne her. It was mingled pain and pleasure to listen. If only she had not learned her own the twin would have been less. But she was destined to learn it more f,.,ll t as one nwraiug. strolling through the woods together, the sharp report of a hunter's gun close beside tlim .tnrtled them both. The nest instaut Imt ccajpaiion sank wliito mml senseless on the tw rd reside her; while the affrighted hunter, whose mis-aimed charge had entered nis , lifiutii.l frirarrl "Bring assistance quickly!" exclaimed Myra, while she raised the heavy head t.,i.. i'orr J sneak to me !" she in I My, v. j moaned. "Carol, Carol !" He opened hi eyes with a half-wan dering look, as though delirium must have overtaken him. At this instant tHe hunter returned with assistance, and a half hour later the wounded man had been borne to Myra's home, the wound dressed, and the knowledge given that it was merely a flesh hurt, painful but not dangerous; yet his recovery was a tedious affair. He grew moody and abstracted. It gave him more time to think of Nellie and his loss, Myra thought, even while she wondered why his eyea fol lowed her with such a strange, question ing look. Once she entered his room with some freshly-cut flowers in her hand. "Where shall I put them, Mr. Stan ley ?" she questioned. "Mr. Stanley," he answered. "Did not once hear you call me Carol ? Or was it a sweet fancy wafted from dream land?" Don't," she said, as though he had hurt her, and hastened from the room, bearing with her the flowers, and it seemed to him the light and sunshine. Had he been blind all this time, and was he just beginning to see ? A grand ball was to be given at Gra ham Court, at which Nellie insisted that Myra should be present. The invalid was fully recovered now, and he too was summoned to the feast. Miss Graham had plunged into con stant gaiety since the breaking of her engagement to Carol Stanley, but it had all failed to fill the empty place in her heart. On the evening of her ball, she picked np the paper sent down by the after noon's maiL Glancing idly over its pages, she sud denly started at seeing the name of the man to whom she so lately had been be trothed. It was a published decision of the court that, owing to some disability, the title could not. descend to Carol Stanley's cousin, but, together with the estates, must remain in his posses sion. He was, then. Lord Stanley stilL Fool that she had been ! But the decision had been made pub lic but a few hours. He would never dream of the acci dent which had In ought it to her know ledge. To-night, while he still thought lier in ignorance, she must win mm dock. It was late when he entered the spa cious drawing rooms. I have been waiting for you, she said, in her sweetest, lowest tones. "You honor me too greatly, Miss Gra ham," he replied. 'Let ns go into the conservatory," she added. "It is cooler there." He offered his arm. From a distant corner of the room, Myra saw them. "She need not have feared, she thought, bitterly, only the next moment to reproach herself with her selfishness. "I will not begrudge him any happi ness, she said to nerseu. Have you forgotten the last time we were here together, Mr. Stanley?" Nel lie was asking at this moment. "No " he answered, gravely, looking quietly but surprisedly into the beauti ful face beside him. "Can one ever retrieve a mistake, I she asked, "w hen one finds it out ?" I do not know," he replied, toying with an exquisite rose beside him, as he continued: "Can one causa the rose blighted in midsummer to bloom again in the frosts of winter ?" An hour later Carol Stanley led Miss Lynne to the same spot. "I love you, Myra," he said, simply. I thought my heart was dead when I met you. I know now that it has never lived. My darling, will you be my wife ?" 'Oh tjarol, are you sure, sure oi your self ?" . . "I have been made sure to-night, he answered, drawing her close to his heart, and breaking off the splendid rose with which he had toyed an hour befoie, to place it in her hair. She was too happy to question nis words or their meaning to happy even to let Miss Graham's congratulations sting, when she said, scornfully : 'A heart caught in the rebound, Uid 1 not tell you so?" Too happy even to. oe maae nappier when she learned she was to share no humble lot with the man she loved, but that her wedding day made her Lady Mvra Stanley.' ' i Ochiltree's Hat. I was sitting in the court yard of the r..st.i states Hotel talking wiin tee ma nager of a New York newspaper. Colonel Tvn" leiuiiree. tne 'cicma walked Dast, "I will tell you a gooa story about Ochiltree," said the newspaper man. ' 1 Here are iuiim. ..r fnil of a small fancy hat U one of them: the other is teiimg a uuuiuB yarn, inducing his hearers to believe it, .n.i Hm.ii lottinr them know it is all cam- num. Tnere are two rival naiien York, at everybody knows, we wuiwi tl.om Smith and BlOWO. 1 saw a vmw graph going the rounds oi ine press auoui Ochiltree going into t' e St, Charles Hotel in New Orleans wearing a very handsome ..h rm fnr.cv little embroidered smoking- car). One of his friends asked him where he got iu Why.'said he. one of the prettiest and sweetest youoe ladies you ever saw mtdc it for me.' Presently one ti- fr;n.! n snaked o get the bat in his hand, Mid saw printed on the inside of it, in hig gilt letters, oiuim, ,"7"', aenipnt that at once exploded the pretty youcg lady story. Id ped the paragraph out and printed it, the man continued, "but changed the name of the batter from Smith to Brown, for Brown was one of our patrons and Smith wasn't, The day after the pa- .i. .r,n.rvt Smith rushed up to me iTi .;bi 'How the deuce did that para nk .hoot Oahiitree's bat happen to get into your paper with Brown's name put n! Why.doyou know I paid $1 a lioe ! ! .it.V Jt in the other Dapers. and it for me ana ruineo mj The Eagle. The original bird chosen as the sym bol of the United States always had a bad reputation. Franklin said its adop tion was a mistake. It was not a dis tinctly American bird, to begin with. The turkey would have been more ap propriate, and was a product of the soil. Andnbon always lamented the selection. To him Franklin wrote that the bold or American eagle was a bird of bad moral character. "He does not get his liviDg honesty.lamLlike those men who live by sharping anil robbing, he is generally poor. Besides, he is a rank coward; the little king bird, not bigger than a spar row, attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district." On the other hand, there is a distinc tive trait of the eagle which will satisfy and gratify those who hold that the United States is the field in which, woman has asserted her superity to man, and succeeded in governing hini, even when he does not know it. In this re spect the American eagle is a fit emblem of the people whose symliol he in. For observers say that the bald American eagle is under proper subjugation to his spouse. "The females are even braver and fiercer than the males," just as the American women on both sides were du ring the war. She also stretches her wings to the utmost extent over the nest, and all that the male brings to put into it, as if she wore the sole pro prietor of it And even the most casual observer of American life will recognize in this correspondence determination of the American woman to run her house and household largely to suit herself, leaving to her husband the duty of pro viding for it and paying the bills. Considering, too, the tendency of the American male to premature baldness, which is universally attributed to female supremacy, the bald eagle is an especial ly appropriate symbol. It is true, the naturalists say.he is white-headed rather than bald, but the general eff x-t is the same. And if the American eagle is cow ardly and allows a smaller bird to bully him, yet this is not so foreign to the American people as might appear at first glance. In Franklin's time it was not so perhaps, but in these days when a Jay Gould or a Yanderbilt, a gas com pany or any other corporation can take all it wants by putting on a bold front, the ratio between any of these and the American people, is very much the same as that between the small bird and the big American eagle which is able to bully. So that Franklin to the coutrary.those who chose the American eagle selected better than they knew. The Arctic Problems. Captain Delaney, of the Arctic mail .teamer Kite, says : Since we left Nain, a vast body of prodigiously heavy field ice has swept southward from Baffin's Bay, through Davis's Straits, extending eastward ou tke one nana towara tne shores of Greenland, and westward on the other all along the coast of Labra dor. Between Independent Harbor and Dumpling there is a fleet of. over 400 fishing vessels literally imprisoned in icy walls and unable to effect an escape either in a northerly or southerly direc tion. The Kite broke through the ice- nip pressing against the land only after a eontmons ramming oi tne smaner noes during twelve successive hours. When leaving Battle Harbor to proceed on ma northerly course Captain Delaney ex pressed a decided opinion that he would not be able to advance any lunner norm than Holton Harbor, which lies about twenty-five miles South of Cape Harri son. Although the Kite is an Arctic whaling and sealing steamer she is not fitted, even with all her enormous strength, to cope with this terrible sea of floe ice that is now precipitating itself into the North Atlantic basin. Captain Delaney describes as a continent of ice the unbroken, pallid, congealed ocean that stretches away eastward from that portion of the Labrador coast where the four hundred vessels are more complete ly blockaded, than if they were detained there by a hostile naval squadron at Bat tle Harbor. The weather is described as of absolute wintry coldness down to the 25th ultimo. There was frost every night sufficient to solidify congealed water, and on several days previously the atmosphere and water were so bit terly and intensely cold as to obstruct the fishermen very materially in their fishintr operations. Taking, then, the two reliable reports of Captain Delaney into consideration, tne one wniwn at uu uu puuuaa in the Herald of the 20th of July, and the other at Battle Harbor, separated. too, in point of time by an interval of some fourteen days, we cannot but rea sonably conclude that a condition of things almost the very opposite of that now t escribed obtains in the region at present being traversed by the Arctio Amlorinir steamer Proteus. Ice and frost are the ruling phenonema observed down to within one bare week of the pre sent date and as far south as the hlty second parallel of north latitude, while on the other hand, northward of Nain and ImIow Cape Chudberch. ice fields formed the exception even as early as the first weeks ot June, and the atmos phere was of genial summer mildness. Taw Yellow Water Lily. John James Audubon first discovered the yellow water lily in Florida, and mentioned it ; but none of the botanists of the time could ever find it, and it was concluded that Audubon must have been mistaken. - A few years ago, however, Mrs. Treat rediscovered the plant in Florida, Since then specixeus of it have been sent to various parts of the world. It is, however, a rare plant, and until this summer has never been known to bloom away from its native home- There is another specimen now in bloom at the Kew Gardens, London. In shape this rare flower resembles the well known white water lily. It is smaller, however. The blossom is of a bright canary yellow, measuring nearly two inches in diameter. The leaves are very beautiful. They are heart-shaped and varieeated in color. The top. is green, flecked with purple, and the under side is boghi purple red. Tli em Doctors." I had just unfolded the daily and set tled back in the seat for a pull at the news, when she reached over and poked me in the neck with her yellow parasol and called eut: "Has them tarnal doctors killed the President yet ?" She was an old-fashioned, motherly woman, nevtr traveling without a vial of peppermint, and having a hawk's eye for every patch of smartweed and bunch of catnip along the hue. "The President is able to sit up." "I don't believe it don't believe one end of no such story !" she said as she left her bundles and boxes and parcels, and came over to share my seat. "But the papers say so." "I don't keer two cents for no papers! I tell you the President hasn't bin doc tored right any of the time, an nobody kin make me lelieve that he's gettia, better. Young man, are you a doc tor?" "No, ma'am." "You needn't 'mam me, because I'm a plain woman. It's a pity you ain't a doctor, fur I could prove ye a humbug in alxnit tw o miniU ! Do you -know what is killing off so many folks in this country ?" "It's death, isn't it ?" "Of course it's death death and the doctors ! And them doctors have done their very best to kill the President ! Do you rememlier what they done the day he was shot ?" "Um. Let's see ! Prolied for the ball and gave him morphine, didn't they?" "They did," she replied, as she jammed the parasol in my ribs. "That's just what killed my nephew in the army. He was shot by a cannon ball and them doctors prolied and prolied and probed, aud when they had got around to decide that the ball had gone clean throngh him and knocked off the roof of a barn half a mile away, the poor boy was dead. Morfeen ! I have saved over 100 nay burs from the grave, and I never sot eyes on morfeen ! How much I have pitied the poor President, and how I have wished I was there !" "What for?" "What fur? Why, to turn them tar nal doctors out doors, and have the President ont chopping wood in four weeks ! It makes me biliug mad to read their way of treating him." "What would you have done ?" 'Don't ask me don't ask me ! I feel like spanking the hull crojrd! Have you read the papers every day ?" "Yes." "Well, have you read that they have soaked his feet one single time since the oay he was shot ?" "No," "Of course you haven't ! Did they put horse-radish drafts on his feet ?" . "Not once." "Have t.iey given him a smartweed sweat ?" "No." "Or tried mustard poultices ?" "No." "Has he had a single cup of catnip tea since the day he was shot "No." "Have they nsed any flaxseed aliout him?" "No." "Haven't heard of them digging any gingsen, sarsapanlla, wild turnip, sweet flag, burdock or sweet sicily ?" "No." "No you haven't !" she exclaimed, as she iust missed my nose with that ami' able parasol. "All they've done is to talk aliout his perspiration being up to 102. his normal pulse aud his temper ature from 90 to 98. If it was me my temperature would 1 np to 300 and I d make things hum! It's the shame facedest case I ever heard of, and you just mark what I tell ye that them tarnal doctors will snitl at looeua ana nnmber six and turn up their noses at mustard plasters till all of a sudden the President will begin to sink, and even cold tea and mutton tallow won't save him 1" Auiusl In War. Men and animals are able to sustain themselves for long distances in the water, and would do so much oftener were they not incapacitated, in regard to the former at least, by sheer terror, as well as complete ignorance of their real powers. Webb's wonderful endurance will never be fortrotten. But there are other instances only less remarkable. Some years since, the mate of a ship fell overboard while in the act of hoisting a sail. It was blowing fresh; the time was nicht. and the place some miles out in the stormy German Ocean. The hardy fellow nevertheless managed to gain the English coast Brock, with dozen other pilots, was plying for fares by Yarmouth; and as the mainsheet was belayed, a sudden puff of wind npset the boat when all perished except Brock himself, who. from four in the afternoon of an October day to one the next morn ine swam thirteen miles before he was able to hail a vessel at anchor in an off ing. Animals themselves are capable of swimming immense distances, al though unable to rest by the way. A dog recently swam thirty miles in order to rejoin his master. A mule and a dog washed overboard during a gale in the Bay of Biscay have been known to make their way to shore. A dog swam ashore with a letter in his month at the Cape of Good Hope. The crew of the ship to which the dog belonged all perished which they need not have done had they ventured to tread water as the dog did. As a certain ship was laboring heavily in the rough of the sea, it was found need' ful in order to lighten the vessel, to throw some troop horses overboard, which had been taken taken in at the Coronna, The poor things, my infor mant, a staff surgeon, told me, when they found themselves abandoned, faced round and swam for miles after the ves sel. A man on the east coast of Lincoln' shire saved quite a number of lives by swimming out on horseback to vessels in distress. He commonly rode an old gray mare, but when the mare was not to hand he took the first horse that was offered. Beware of bosom sins. Brevity is the soul of wit Bu-iness is the soul of life. As you sow, so shall you reap. Be always at leisure to do good. At a great bargain pause awhile. Theatrical Effects. Many of the peculiar effects produced upon the stage, imitating mooniigut, sunlight, thunder, wind, rain and other natural phenomena, are a puzzle to those outside of the business. How such re alistic representations of these things as are often witnessed upon the rtage can be made is a question that often enters the mind of the spectator, and is seldom answered in a satisfactory manner. It is always the ambition of the scene paint ers and stage carpenters, to devise un proved methods of imitating these things, and hence the stage may be said to try to hold the mirror np to nature in a ma terial, as well as moral sense. Years of experience have tended to bring these imitations to a high state of excellence ; but the limits do not yet seem to be reach ed, and new are continually appearing. The electric light is not yet used, bnt as its pale bluish tint would be serviceable in particular effects, stage machinists are now deliberating how it can be best em ployed. All of the operations mentioned together with some which will be de scrilied, are classed under the general term, "stage effects." Authors, in writ ing plays are always on the lookout for an opportunity to produce a telling effect The amount of work bestowed upon their production in a theatre is simply astonishing to those unacquainted with that mysterious realm known as "behind the scenes." Thunder is a common stae effect, and is used with great advantage in many plays. In former days it was produced by shaking a large piece of sheet iron hung immediately above the prompter's ilesk. This contrivance produced a good imitation of sharp, rattling thunder, bnt failed to give the dull roar which is always heard in torms. A contrivance for this purpose was soon invented. A heavy box frame is made, aud over it is tightly drawn a calf skin. L pon this the prompter operates with a stick, one end of which is padded and covered with chamois skin. A flash of lightning, pro duced with maguesiuin, and a sharp crack of the sheet iron, followed by a long decreasing roll upon the "thunder drum," produces an effect which is start- lingly realistic. Traveling companies are compelled to he satisfied with the sheet iron alone ; and the tragedian who enters a theatre provided with a com' plete thunder apparatus always is happy to think that his battle with the elements "Kinj Lear" will be worth fighting, The rain machine in large theatres is a fixture placed high up in the "flies." A cylinder is made of half inch wood. It is usually five feet in circumference, and four feet in length. Upon the in side are placed rows of small wooden teeth. A lot of dried peas is plaeed in the cylinder, a rope belt is run around one end of it and down to the prompter's desk, and it is ready for a drenching shower. By turning the cylinder, the peas roll down between the teeth, and the noise produced by them makes a good imitation of rain falling npon a roof. A sudden pull of the rope, accom panied by a gust on the "wind machine, gives the sound of the sweep of a blast of wind during a storm. Traveling com panies often meet theatres where there is no wind machine. A sufficiently good one, however, is easily produced. A common child's hoop is obtained, and a sheet of heavy brown paper is pasted upon it after the manner of a circus rider's balloon. A handful of birdshot is placed upon the paper. The "ma chine" is canted from one side to the other, and the shot rolls around the pa per, producing a fairly good rain effect Wind is an item that is very usef ol in heightening the effect of stage storms. It is often dispensed with in theatres where strict attention is not paid to details, but not without a loss of "realism." It has, moreover, a great influence over the feelings of the spectators. The blind Louise in the "Two Orphans" is much more pitied when the audience can hear the pitiless blasts that makeber shiver. Hence in every large ' theatre the wind machine plays an important part It is not a stationary apparatus, but can be moved to any quarter of the compass from which it is desired that wind should blow. In the last act of "Ours," every time the door of the hut opens snow flies in and a shriek of wind is heard. The wind machine in that instance is placed just outside the door ; and the property man works it while his assistant amuses himself by trying to throw his paper snow down Lord Shendrvn s back. Ine wind machine is constructed in this man ner : K. heavy frame is made, in which is set a cylinder provided with paddles and resembling very much the stern' wheels seen on Ohio River tow-boats. Across the top of this cylinder is stretch ed as tightly as possible a piece of heavy groe-grain silk. This silk remains sta tionary while the wheel is turned by a crank. The rapid passage of the paddle across the surface of the silk produces the noise of wind. Often traveling com paniea are in theatres where there is no wind machine. Then the property man groans audibly,and proceeds to do what in theatrical parlance is called "faking the wind. He selects a heavy piece of gas hose, called by stage gas-men "flexi ble," and finding a quiet corner where there is aufficent space to swing a cat without danger to the cat he whirls it around his head with the greatest possi ble rapidity. This method produces very satisfactory results to every one but the property man. He is a long- suffering person ; but the extraction of wind from "flexible causes him to find life tedious. Every one has heard the startling crash that is produced when the hero kicks the villain through a four-inch oaken door. One would think that not only the door but the villain must be completely shattered. Thia noiae is pro duced by the crash machine, one of the oldest implements of imitation still used on the stage. It is similar to the wind machine in construction. A wheel with paddles set at an angle of about forty five degrees to the radii is the main part of the machine. Upon the top of the wheel one end of a stout piece of wood is pressed down by fastening the other end to a portion of the framework. When the wheel is turned, the slats pasting under the stationary piece produce a rattling crash. The principle of the ma chine is illustrated by the small boy who runs a stick along a paling fence and is gratified by introducing into the world an additional morsel of hubbub. There is nothing that can be so well counterfeited on the stage as moonlight scenery. And yet there is nothing which requires more work. The artist begins the task by painting a moonlight scene. In daylight such a scene is a ghastly sight It is done in cold grays and greens, in which Prussian blue and burnt "umber play an important part; and the lights are put in with white slightly tinged with emerald green. The trong moonlight of the foreground is produced by a calcium light thrown throngh a green glass. The winter light upon the scenery at the back of the stage is obtained from "green mediums, a row of argand burners with green chim neys. These are placed upon the stage just in front of the main scene, and are masked in" from the view of the audi ence by a "ground piece." A row of them is often suspended from the'fhes, in order to light the top of the scene. This upper row is masked in by "sky borders." Thus a soft green light is thrown over the entire distance, while its source daes not meet the view of the spectator. A usual feature of stage moon light scenes is water, because it affords an opportunity for the introduction of the "ripple" a charmingly natural stage effect The main scene in a moonlight view is always painted on a "drop" that a scene made like the -curtain let down between the acts. The position of the moon being determined, immedi ately under it beginning at the horrizon, a number of small irregular holes is cut in the drop. These are then covered on the back with muslin and painted over on the front to match the rest of the water. Behind these holes is placed an endless towel, aliont eight feet in length running around two cylinders, one at the top and one at the bottom. The lower cylinder has a crank by which the towel is turned. In this towel is cut a nnmber of holes similar to those cut in the drop. A strong gas burner is placed between the two sides of the towel. When the machine is turned the flashing of the light from the passing holes in the towel throngh the stationary ones in the drop produce a fine ripple. It is always better to turn the towel so that the holes pass upward, as that helps to make the manic wavelets seem to dance ap towara the sky. Instead of a towel a large tin cylinder has been used, but it is cumber some and noisy. It is necessary to turn this towel with gTeat steadiness ; other wise the ripples will go by fits and starts and entirely lose their natural appear ance. Startt are easily put into the sky. Each twinkling orb consists of a spangle humr upon a pin bent into a double hook. The slightest motion of the drop causes these stars to shake and the flash ing of the light upon them produces the twinkle. Major Max. I do so pity those men on the Bod gers, remarked Mrs. Max, passing tne Maior the honey, which he always in sis ted upon having with his rice cakes. les. indeed, replied the Major, who was a trine cynical that morning, hav ing scalded his mouth with oonee. "Yes, indeed, my dear, the hie of an Arctio explorer must be hard. They are so isolated from the world. Just imagine, if you can, the horror of living three years ont of the dust and wind and fog and rain of our glorious climate ; of not meeting all that time the man at your club who thinks the oftener a story is told the better it is ; of being without the consolation afforded you by the busted stock operator who knows you are glad of an opportunity to lend him a twenty ; of being where millinery and Japanese decoration stores do not daily entrap ones wife ; of being " "W by. Major, how you do talk ! 1 was only thinking of the horrid things the Rodger crew will have to do to get their bear steaks." "How's that ?" asked the Major, in stantly interested over the subject of steaks, which h holds of much greater importance than the Irish land trou bles. "What I know aliont it, resumed Mrs. Max, "I read in a fashion paper, and it ought to be true." "It certainly onght to be, Mrs. Max, if only on account of its age," Well, the article said," continued Mrs. Max, pretending to ignore the Major's slur on her favorite reading, "that Arctic explorers, when they want to kill a Polar bear, plant a big knife in the ice with the blade t ticking np. They danb the blade with blood, and the bear comes along and licks it and cuts its tongue. It is so cold that he doesn't feel the cut ; tasting his own blood, ne continues to lick the knife until his tomme is all frayed, and he bleeds to death. Isn't it dreadful ?" "Quiet your fears, my dear, said the Maior. when his wife had finished. That is the way they killed the Dear when the story was first published, bnt in the last twenty years an improvement has been made, which X win toil you about, if you will kindly give me just a drop more of coffee, with cold mftk this time. The way the thing is done now is as follows : When Captain Berry, of the Bodcers. wants a Polar bear for dinner he gives a midshipman a ooppcr bed spring and a chunk of salt pork. The midshipman compresses the spring perfectly flat, wraps the pork aronnd it tight and holds it so until it freezes solid. Then the frozen pork, stuffed with the bed spring, is thrown out to the nearest iceberg, where it is prompt ly swallowed by a Polar bear. When the heat of the bear's stomach thaws out the pork it release the spring, which flies out, and the bear soon dies from a pain in his side." "Major," said Mrs. Max, with warmth. "I don't believe that story is true." "No, my dear, and you won't, until, in a few years, you see it in some fashion paper, and then yon will swear by it Ministerial Fth Diaaera. According to one account, in early part of the last century, a very high tide in the Thames broke down a portion of the sea-wall that protected the marshes of Essex, near the village of Dageuham. An extensive tract of valuable land was, in consequence of the occurrence, flood ed and lost; and, notwithstanding vari ous costly attempts carried on for a suc cession of years, the breach remained in its deplorable condition. At last, how ever, in the year 1721, an engineer named Perry was successful in his en deavors to repair the wall a feat which it is reported, made as great a sensation at that time as the construction of the Thames Tunnel in after years. The work, however, was considered of such import ance that an act of Parliament was pass ed, appointing a body of commissioners for its superintendence. These when elected were mostly city gentlemen, and they soon arranged among themselves a dinner as a preliminary step for after ward discussing their business. In a short time it was discovered that the in land lake of water, which it was found almost impossible to drain entirely off, produced excellent fresh water fish. Hence, their visit came to be connected with a dinner of fresh fish, caught and served up in the board room, which formed part of a building close to the flood gates, usually known as Beach House, and which had been purposely erected for the accomodation of the Sup erintendent of the works. This dinner soon became an annual institution, "and many of the Commissioners who had country houses in different parts of Es sex contributed not only wines from their cellars, but fruit and flowers from their gardens for depsort. Distinguished guests, too, were invited, including the Cabinet Ministers, the latter being conveyed from Whiteha'l in the roayal and Admir- ality barges. Hence, in conrce of time, it became a kind of Ministerial whitebait dinner; and afterward, owing to the long journey from Westminster, the scene was changed from Beach House, and transferred to one of the taverns at Greenwich. Another origin, however, has been assigned to this annual festivi ty, which is as curious as the preceding one. Many years ago, on the banks of Dageuham Reach in Essex, a merchant named Preston, a baronet of Scotland, and some time member of Parliament for Dover, occupied a cottage, where he was in the habit of seeking quietude and relief from his Parliamentary and mer cantile anxieties, frequently entertaining as his guest the Right Hon. George Rose, Secretary of the Treasury. On one occasion Mr. Rose accidently hap pened to intimate to his host that he was quite sure Mr. Pitt, of whose friendship both were proud, would much enjoy a visit to such a charming country nook, removed, as it was, from the bustle and turmoil of every day life. The Premier was accordingly invited, and so mach enjoyed his visit that he readily accepted an inviatation for the following year. After being Sir Robert Preston's guest several times, it was finally decided that, as Dageuham Reach was a long distance from London, and the Premier's time was valuable, they should henceforth dine near Westminster. Thus Green wich was (elected, and, as this place was more central, guests were invited to meet the Premier, who in time included most of the Cabinet Ministers. As, how ever, the dinner was now no longer of a private character, and embraced many visit"B personally unacquainted with Sir Robert Preston, It was decided that he should be spared the expense; but, as a compromise, he insisted on supply ing a buck and the champagne. The time for dining together was generally after Trinity Monday a short time be fore the close of the session. Oa the death of Sir Robert Preston, the dinner assumed a political character, and the party was limited to Cabinet Mwmters. The Weakening of Meet by Heat Examples of the mysterious failure of steel are not uncommon, and although much of the mystery which used to at tend the qualities of steel is disappear ing before modern research.it cannot be said that increased knowledge always leads to be better confidence. One of the peculiarities of spring and tool steel which has lately been investigated by several observers Mr. Adamson among the number is the known liability of steel that is very flexible when cold to break when at the blue annealing tem perature. It has sometimes been sup posed that only inferior metal is subject to this tendency; bnt the workers in Ural iron, which is remarkably pure in quality, have often observed the same action. Mr. Adamson has found that steel of this kind becomes actuaIly"pow- dery" at a temperature of between 500 dg. and 700 dg. Fah., or the point at at which willow twigs take fire; and he has decided that this is the point when the metal is at its weakest, possessing pttle orjuo coherence. This phenome non, if it can be substantiated as univer sal or even frequent, is suggested as possible explanation of a large number of accidents, such as the breaking of steel tires, shafts, and parts of machine tools which may be strong enongh when cold, but being raised to the stated tem perature by the effect of friction, etc,, they are not able to withstand the slight est strain, and, in fcet, drop into pieces by their own weight The quickness with which broken parts of machinary or tools would, under ordinary circum stances, cool down, and therefore regain their strength would naturedly lead an ordinary observer away from the truth which Mr. Adamson claims to have dis covered. She grieves when alone. sincerely who grieves A new poem by Swinburne is an nounced, to be entitled "The Statue of Victor Hugo. NEWS FN BRIEF. Holland is not pleasant during the summer months. Yandalia was the capital of IllinoL from 1813 until 183& It rains three times as often in Ire land as it does in Italy. In England and Wales there are 440 persons to the square mile. An autograph letter of Mozart has been sold in Paris for $400. An inebriate asylum for women has been established in Chicago. . Marion. Ga,, has been for twenty years without a school house. On Cape Cod there are about fifteen hundred Portuguese fishermen. There are 68,600 colored children in the public schools of Virginia. Opium kills about 160,000 persons' annually in China, it is estimated. Cotton has been nsed for garments in India for three thousand years. An eloping couple at Hartford, Ct, were a black man of 30 and a white girl of 15. Mississippi county. Mo., devotes over 4,000 acres to watermelon raising this year. The snow bank in Tuckerman's ra vine in the White Mountains, is now ten feet deep. It is proposed to raise the Lord Mavor of Dublin's salary from $10,000 to $20,000. Fechter's daughter will, it is said, marry Bosquin, tenor of the Grand Opera at Paris. The Municipal Council of Paris in tend to tax telegraph and telephone wires in sewers. The circulation of fiction from the Boston Public Library is only 43 per cent of the whole. Thirty years ago it costs Massa chusetts J4. 81 to educate each child, now it costs $13,55. The average price of prime mutton in Melbourne throughent the year is five cents, and beef six cents. There has been a marked increase in eastern Europe of late years of publi cations in the Hebrew tongue. Lebanon county, Pa., has fifty-one tobacco factories and over a million se gars are manufactured annually. A South Bend dealer advertises "bull-dog revolvers, the kind of weapon ' with which the President was shot Only eight United States dollars of 1804 are in existence. There is one in the British museum which cost $800. The English Jockey Club has bought for $900,000 a fine estate near Newmaket. It includes 2,500 acres, with a mansion. A white quail was shot in Virginia,. recently. About eighteen years ago many white qnails were shot in the same State. The Federal surgeon-general's con tingent fund last year was charged with repairs of the value ot yj'ii on one wagon. General Robert Patterson has left to his family an estate valued at $1,500,000. He made no pnbhc or charitable be quests. 27,430,000 tons of coal were mined in the Authractic region of Pennsylvania last year, an increase of 11,000,000 tons since 1870. The wife of the Rev. Bryan O'Mal- ley, a Church of England divine, has ob tained a separation because he kicked and beat her. The number of German emigrants who passed through Hamburg alone to America from the 1st of January to the 30th of June amounted to 74.633. Major Seth Pierce, of Cornwall, Conn., the sole remaining representative of the class of 1806 at Yale has just died. He was nearly a hundred years old. Two new. wood pulp factories were put in operation in Norway in 1880. and eight of the nineteen old ones were en larged. Six more are about to be built One-fifth more siding and flooring is needed than the nnmlier of square feet of surface to be covered, because of the lap in the siding and matching of the floor. In excavating at the Lord Lorne Mine at Gold Hill, Nevada, at a depth of 300 feet, there was found in a stratum of clay live worn is about three-qnarterf of an inch long. Prof. Rosemlale is said to have translated another of the inscriptions on the ancient sword of the valiant Captain Myles btandish, making it to read : "In God is all might" Denver has a population of less than 50.000, but it includes six men who are worth from $1,000,000 to $5,000,000 each, 20 who are worth $500,000, and 200 who represent $250,000 in their own right The Rev. M. Forrest, a missionary. has prepared in the Japanese language ten little books on the Ten Command ments, setting forth the difference be tween Christian precepts and those of Budhism. There are 32,222 generals in Vene zuela, and the present president has been very economical in his commis sions, too, for he has issued only 8,000. The rest of the inhabitants are women and children. The crucifix which Columbus held when he first landed in America is as serted to be in the possession of a lady in Colorado. Whether it be actually that which was once owned by Columbus or not, it is ceatainly a very ancient cruci fix. Chiiig Tsan Yu. the new Chinese Minister, is expected to arrive in Wash ington in November to succeed Chin Lan Pin. He is about 50 years oi age, and been in the Governent service many years. At the time oi nis appointment he was Collector of Customs'at Tien- Tsin. The interior of Dr. Johnson's house in Gough square. Fleet street, London, has been opened to the public It was in this house that he lived from 1749 until 1758. He wrote there his Diction ary, his "Vanity of Human Wishes," and portions of "The Rambler," and "The Idler." Harvey, the discoverer, or rediseov- erer of the circulation of the blood' has now a bronze statue by Albert Bruce Joy. The sculptor followed the por trait by Janssens in the Royal College of Physicians. The site for the statue is on a favorite walk of llarvey at t olke stone, his native place. Captain Glazier, who has been on an exploring expedition with a small party in canoes, conducted by an Indian guide, claims to have discovered the real source of the Mississippi in a beau tiful little lake of sparkling water three quarters of a mile above Lake Itasca, with which it is connected by a rapid stream. I t I!) i j 'IN y r liW.sCTiCsM-Tnr- an--
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers