iiiii
WaP lltww
B. F. SCHWEIER,
TEE OOESHTUTIOI TEE TJITOI AID TEE UTOBOEEEIT OF TEE LAWS.
Editor and Proprietor.
.VOL. XXX V.
MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY, PENNA.. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER .2, 1S81.
NO. 40.
NIGHTFALL.
, Lie still, o bean t
('rash oat thj vainness and unreached desire, .
Mark kow tbe saaset Ores,
Which kindled ml the west with red and told.
Are slumbering Th-sU the amethystine flow
Of the receding Uav, whose Ule is told.
Star, but the questionings ; what would'st
thou Know,
O anxious heart T
Soft Is the air;
And not a leaflet rustles to the ground
To break the calm around.
Creep, little wakeful heart, into thj nest ;
The world ta full of Bowers even yet,
Close fast thy dewy eyes, and be at rest.
Pour out thy plaints at day. If thou must fret
Day is for care.
Now, torn to God,
Night is too besmiful for ns to cling
To selfish sorrowing.
O memory ! the grass is very green
Above thy grave ; but we hare brighter things
Than thou hast ever claimed or known, I ween.
Day is for tears. At night, the soul hath wings
. To leave the sod.
The thought of night.
That comes to us like breath of prtin rose-time.
That comes like the sweet rhyme
Of a pure thought expressed, lulls all our fears.
And surs the angel that is in na night.
Which is a sermon to the sool that hears.
Hssh 1 for the heavens with starlets are alight
. Thank God for night 1
MAID OR MISTRESS.
Clarissa Cone was washing the dishes.
The afternoon sunshine, streaming in
through the open door, lay likoa golden
parallelogram on the whitely, scnnred
lioards of the kitchen floor; the tall
dahlias in the garden nodded their heads
drowsily in the subtle autumn heats
and the clock in the corner, under the
silvery" spray of clematis blossoms, had
just struck three.
Clarissa "Click," as they called her
fur short handled the dishes and the
tin Trare, and the odd little delf pitchers
and creampots, very scientifically. She
had washed the dishes tuanv a time be
fore.
"If I don't do it, mamma taunt," said
Click.
So she had laid aside the china plaques
she was decorating in her little studio
up stairs, closed the portfolio, where
she had not yet found a rhvnie for her
last line of poetry, resolutely shut the
look-case door on her German trans
lations, and, tying on a big bib apron
of checked gingham, went to work.
"Because," said Click, with a twist of
her cherry lips, "we do have such fear
ful experiences with servants. "
Airs. Cone had driven the little gray
pony up into some alrno.t inaccessible
eyrie on the monntain-side, in search of
a problematics Welsh damsel, who was
said to "go out to service." Mr. Cone
and his stalwart sons, were in the fields,
at work: and Click, all alone in the
house, was singiug trills and roulades,
strav reminiscences of her lioarduig-
sehool practice of the year before, with
her sleeves rolled up, Ier bright bronze
hair confined in a net, and her big, gray
eyes half-veiled beneath their thought
ful lashes.
"Is this Mr. Eleazar Cone's house?"
Click started, while the sudden color
deluged her face. Absorled in some
entrancing day-dream, she had not heard
the sound of footsteps on the short
grass of the dooryard.
"Two gentlemen stood there two
specimens of the genus "Western farm
er," but unmistakably from the East.
Click looked down in dismay at the
enveloping bib-apron, the soapy arms,
the array of dishes, washed and other,
wise, which surronnded her like crockery
chevaux dejritr.
"Yes," she answered, faintly, "this is
Mr. Cone's; but"
"Then it's all right, and we haven't
lost our way, after all," said the taller
of the two. "My good girl," address
ing Clarissa after a patronizing fashion,
"will yoa be so good as to take these
bags?" setting hi valises on the floor.
"And if you could get mo a glass of cool
water, I should lie a thousand times
obliged. I snppose Mr. C. ne is not in
the house at this time of day, but he ex
pects me."
. "It's the professor!" thought Click to
herself, more dismayed than ever.
For her father, chairman of the Board
of Trustees of the District, had written
to a Maine university to send them a
competent instructor for the thriving
young seminary, which had risen up
like Jonah's gourd, in tlds Western
wilderness. And Click had so counted
on making a favorable appearance be
fore thin professor, and he has now
taken me for the' servant girl!"
But Mr. Clone's daughter was not
without a sense of humor; so she drop
ped a little courtesy, and said :
"Yes. sir, certainly."
She took the pitcher and went out;
Hud as she turned the windlass of the
well with out, she could hear the guests
in the kitchen.
"I wonder where the daughter is?"
said the professor.
"The daughter? What daughter?" de
manded his friend.
"Don't yon remember some one told
us Cone had a very talcjed daughter"
how Click's ears burned beneath her
gingham snnbonuet! "a girl who wrote
poetry, and read the Quarterly Reviews,
and'
"Horrible!" taid the friend.
'Just what I say myself," echoed the
professor. "J can imagine exactly how
she looks, spectacled and gaunt, with
no particular figure, and an accent
through the ' nose. Now" and he
yawned and stretched himself as he
tipoke "my idea of woman-hood is a
deal more like the pretty little servant
maid, who has just gone to bring up a
glass of water. Htire she comes now.
I am much obliged to you!" with a
gracious nod and smile, and he took the
brimming goblet from her . hand and
drank eagerly.
"Shall I get your honor some lunch,
please? said Click, with a courtesy.
She was entering into the spirit of
the thing now.
"Now I think of it," aaid the pro
fessor, "I am hungry.
"So am I," said Mr. Vail, who was a
schoolmaster from adistant county.
Click tripped lightly around, spread
a snow-white cloth on a little table,
brought out a cold chicken, an apple-
pie, a plate of rolls and a pitcher of
milk.
'Tlease, sir, it's ready," said she.
"What is your name?" brusquely ask
ed the professor, as he legan to carve
the fowl.
"Clarissa, sir."
"Have you been here long?"
"Oh, yes, sir!" said Click, with a
roguish wrinkle under her eyelashes,
"they brought me up."
"You seem to be a very good and
faithful girl"
"I try to do my duty, sir," said
Clarissa, solemnly.
"I persume Mr. and Mrs. Cone wil
not object to your attending the semi
nary here, if we enoceed in establishing
it?" ventnred h professor.
"I presume not, sir. And please,'
added Click, very red in the face, with
suppressed laughter. "I see Mr.' Cone
coming, and 111 run and tell him you
are here.""
But instead of conveying this piece of
information to the master of the house,
Miss Clarissa, ran away up the stairway
to her room, cast the bil-apron on the
floor, shook her curia out of the net,
and speedily attired herself in the pretty
black cashmere dress, which was her
ordinary afternoon costume. Nor is it
to be denied that she took a little more
pains than usual with her ribbons,
lockets and brooches, before she de
scended onco more.
Mr. Eleazar Cone, a fine specimen of
the Western farmer-pioneer, was sitting
talking with his guests. Mrs. Cone,
returned from her quest with a burly.
red-armed servingmaid, who wore wood
en shoes and spoke with ' a tremendous
Welsh accent, was busied with the
preparation of tea. Both looked
brijrhtlv up at the sonuJ of Click's
footstep, for both were fond and proud
of the girl in no common degree.
"My danghter, Professor Litchfield,"
said Mr. Cone, taking the girl's hand
caressinKiy in his. "Mr. Tail, this is
my little Clarissa."
Professor Litchfield could not sup
press an exclamation of surprise. Mr.
Vail put up his eye-glasses
"But we have seen her face before,"
said the latter. "Wc "
"And we nave ordered her around m
a shocking manner!" said the professon
coloring to the very roots of his hair.
-Miss Cone, pray teli now what penance
we must pass through, to entitle us to
a place in yc ar good graces once again?
Clarissa laughed merrily.
"None whatever," said she; "oidy
don't set me down in yonr mind as
gaunt, siectacled old maid, with no
particular figure, and an accent through
the nose."
And here the professor blushed red
der than ever.
"I never will venture to form an un
authorized opinion again," said he vehemently.
"Don't be vexed," said Click, sweetly.
"I won't," said the professor.
"Because I really do mean to take
lessons in tlie seminary," said Click.
And she did. Professor Litchfield
took lessons, too in the art of making
himself agreeable to the farmer's
pretty daugter; and-when he graduated,
his diploma was a marriage certificate.
For Click had decided to take him
'for better, for worse." Nor did she
ever regret her choice.
The Late Deaa Stanley.
rteaver Hunting in the Northwest.
The Indians of the United States at
least those of Wyoming. Colorado.
ilaho and Montana are very indiffer
ent trapers The half-breeds, on the
contrary, are the deadly enemies of the
beaver trilc, for they combine the
acuteness of the white man and the
dogged perseverance and primitive
style of living of their mothers race.
They will winter in regions where but
very few even of the amazingly hardy
trappers will venture to remain, and,
moreover, as they have generally a
little party of squaws and young bucks
with them, they - reap, all the advan
tages of skillful and gratuitous labor in
skinning and preparing the pelt. Not
few white trappers are married to
squaws ; but while tlieir wives sum and
in will not willingly accompany the
pale-face, they would do so readily were
the man a holf-broed. Not a few trap
pers 'outfit" I met or heard of were
composed of both elements, say one
white man and a half-breed, with a
couple of willing female slaves. Those,
as a rule, are perhaps the most success
ful, and I have heard of very large takes,
making the business a really profitable
one, were it not that tha trappers, both
whites and natives, are usually terribly
cheated when exchanging their peltry
for provisions.
The Government post-traders and In
dian agents at the remote little Indian
foiia, pushed for in advance of other
white settlements, make a 250 per cent
profit in buying up beaver skins (they
usually allow $1 or 4s. worth of provis.
ions, which cost them perhaps a little
more than half) and sending them di
rect to wholesale houses in Mew York,
where they fetch from 10s. to 15s. In
the old days of the far traders the bea
ver skin was the unit of computation in
buying or trading. Provisions, ammu
nition and blankets were bought with
beaver skius, and horses and squaw
wives were traded for them. A fifty
skin wife was an average article. Con
sidering that the working of the peltry,
the tanning and softening, fell always
to the lot of these unfortunate female
slaves, it was in past days no unusual
occurrence for one wife to work up skint
wherewith, in good Mormon fshpn, a
new wife was to be traded.
Small Potatoes.
The personal charm of Dean Stanley,
in public aud in private, was snmetting
which everybody felt who came into
the slightest association with Liu. In
deed it s ems, as we have intimated, to
have been felt even bv those who never
saw him, and who knew him eulv
through his books and by the publie
record of his life. It was the charm of
tircple truthfulness, perfect manliness,
of a true sympathy with all forms ot
healthy human action, and o( a per
petual picturesqueness, which was en
hanced by the interesting positions
which he held, but was independent cf
them, and had its real being in his per
sonality itself. If he had been the
humblest country parson inttead of be
ing dean of Westminster, he would have
carried about the same charm in his
smaller world. It was associated with
his physical frame, his niall stature,
his keen eye, bis rapid movement, his
expressive voice. The verv absence of
bodily vigor made the spirtual presence
more distinct And the perfect unity
of the outer and the inner, the public
and the private life, at once precluded
any chance of disappointment in those
mho, having been attracted by his work,
came by and by to know him personally,
and at the same time gave to those
whose only knowledge of him was from
his writings and his public services the
right to feel that they did really know
him as he was.
His preaching was the natural expres
sion of his nature and his mind. It
was full of sympathy and of historical
imagination. Apart from the beautiful
siinplcity of his style, and the richness
of illustrative allusion, the charm of his
serxous was very apt to lie in a certain
way which he had of treating the events
of the day as parts of the history of the
world, and making his hearers feel that
thy aud what they were doing belong
ed as truly to the history of their race,
and shared as truly in the care and
goverrment of God, as David and his
wars, or Socrates and his teachings. As
his lectures mado all time live with the
familiarity of our own day, so his
sermons made our own day, with i's
petty interests, grow sacred and in?pired
by its identification with the great
principles of all the ages. With the
procession of heroism, and faith, and
bravery, and holiness, always marching
before his eyes, he st'mmoned his con
gregation in the abliey or in tbe village
chnrch to join the host And it was his
power cf historical imagination that
made them for an instant see the pro
cession which he saw, and long to join
it at his summons.
There is the specialness of the method
of all Dean Stanley's work, the way in
which he approached all truth through
history. It has often been said of him
that he was no metaphysician and that
he had no turn for abstract thought.
Nobody saw this, and nobody has said
it more e'early than himself. When he
was asked to write an introduction to
Buusen's 'God in History,' he replied,
'I hesitated, among other reasons, be
cause it relates so largely to philosophi
cal and abstract questions, on which I
do not feel myself competent to eater. '
Truth has many doors, and he would
enter it through that to which his feet
most naturally turned. This recogni
tion of the specialness, or, if we please,
the limitation of his power, had much
to do with the effectiveness and also
with the perennial freshness of his life.
On the steamer at New York when he
was leaving America he was asked if he
was not weary with his most laborious
journey. But he answered, 'No! 1 have
declined to see anything in which I was
not interested. Kind friends have asked
me to go to see sactories and other in
teresting things for which I do not care:
but I have confined myself to things
which I did care for, and so I am not
tired.' So it was all his life. He work
ed as he was made to work, and so the
last page that he wrote was as fresh and
unwearied as the first He is every
where and always the historian. If he
wants to define a doctrine, he traces its
history. If he makes a page glow like a
picture with some description of natural
scenery, it is always as the ' theatre of
human action, or as a metaphor of
human life, that he describes it Of
pure love for nature for its own sake he
shows but little. ' In his volume of
Addresses in America there are three
beautiful pictures from nature but it is
noticeable that in each case the picture
is drawn with reference to human life.
He described Niagara; but it was be
cause he saw in its mist and majesty an
image of the future of American destiny.
He told of a maple and an oak which he
saw growing together from the same
stem on the beautiful shores of Lake
George; tut it was because there seem
ed to him to be in it a likeness of the
unbroken union of the brilliant, fiery
maple of America and the gnarled and
twisted oak of F.ngland. He pictured
the effects of sunrise on the Alps; but it
was the rise of true and rational religion
among men that he wanted his hearers
to see in his majestic words. Every
where his eye is upon man. He is
always the historian, because in the
simplest and most literal sense he is
always the philanthropist, the lover of
man." .
. Tbey bad a red-hot time in a little town
in the northern part ef Micbigaa last Jane
as to who should be chief marshal of the
day at tbe Fourth of July celebration.
Tbe struggle Anally narrowed down to two
men, and when ooe-at length was selected
tbe other was of course boiling over with
indignation. Tbe lucky mau looked down
with lofty disdain upon tbe defeated can
didate, and be wouldn't even let the pro
cession march past bis bouse. But time is
the great avenger. Tbey bad a railroad
accident up there one day last week, and
tbe man who was defeated was rushing
through the town in a certain direction
when be was halted by the chief marshal,
who askee:
"Anything happened?"
"Anything; happened?" repeated the
other, as be drew himself up. "Well,
should say so!"
"What is it!"
"Sir! do you remember bow you scorned
me last .Fourth of July I Do you remeru
ber bow you tried to shrivel me with a look
as I stood on Babcock's corner to see the
procession?''
"Well, I d forgotten!
"But I never forget, sir! You were ap
pointed chief marshal, and you crowed
over me, but ray time has come!"
"How what is it?"
"What is it, sir? Why, sir, there has
been a gigantic railroad accident down at
tbe cross-roads six cars off freight all
scattered around engineer sca.ded con
dector lying in a fence corner and track all
torn ud.
And where are you going?"
'L sir! Sir! I have been deputized by
committee of our leading citizens to pro
ceed to tbe house of the Widow Dunn and
say to her that ber red cow was the cause
of the terrible disaster, and to call at tbe
telegraph office oa my way back and send
a dispatch to Port Huron for the wrecking
train! Stand aside, air! A Fourth of July
etiief marshal is mighty small potatoes in
October."
Why his Hair Toned White.
i.:.... l :ik t
WUIW1U(J VI 11IAUJ11 f UU U1CU UWOp-
peared may be accounted for in this How did my lurn oilc, Well tJ. j
"V- j " -: if vou will sit down on that new bull-wheel
A ICewi'nUcenee of Wetxtcr.
NEWS IN BRIEF.
The Winking Demon.
It is estimated that the cotton crop
of 1881 will yield 7.000,000 bale- .
The value of the taxable property of
Iowa increased $16,000,000 in 1880.
The population of Alsace-Lorraine
has increased over 34,000 in five years.
Mr. John Blight's daughter has just
been married at Torquay.
Adrian, of Borne, had 1000 beasts,
slaughtered on his birthday.
A few weeks ago the foundation
stone was laid of a huge embankment
across a Welsh valley, which i? pon
flne waters desthiel to supply Liverpool,
67 mile distant, with 82,000.000 gallons
a day. The worVr -tti to take
n Tears.
" I have leen watching the star called
the Winking Demon, said the astro n
omer, as he extended his hand to pull the
reporter up on the roof. "These au-
tuinn mornings are a little chillv. but
the air is so dcliciousiy pure and clear
that one doesn t mind if it bites a little.
Besides, it is worth the risk of eatchir.g
cold to see the Demon wink. You arc
just in time to watch him as he grad
ually reopens his eye. If you had come
a few minutes earlier you might have
seen him shut it
"Where is this remarkable demon
star?"
" There, almost overhead at this hour.
If you want to point him out to your
friends you have ODly to observe that he
is a little south of that bending row of
stars that marks the constellation Per
seus, and that there is a little group of
smaller stars near him. Jov, yon see.
his light is pretty faint but not so faint
as it was a few minutes ago. In three
or four hours his eye will be wide open
again, and he will shine as a star of the
second magnitude. These winkings of
Alurol, or the Demon, occur a little of-
tener than once in three days."
"What causes them ?"
"Ah, now yon come to the strangest
thing of alL Is there anything in the
appearance oi the sky, all guttering
with stars, that suggests to your mind
that it may be a vast cemetery? .o,
rediculons ! you say. Very well You
will not dispute that the earth we tread
is. from one point of view, only a great
burying ground, which contains the re
mains not only of countless generations
of men, but of whole races and tribes of
various animals and plants. Just so in
the heavens about us the dead are
mingled with the living. It is to my
mind the most snggestive discovery of
modern astronomy that the universe is
full of dead suns suns whose light has
gone ont, whose fires have been extin
guished, and which no longer shed life
giving and life-preserving rays upon the
worlds that may be Imagined yet circ
ling in coldness and gloom about them.
What has this to do with the Winking
Demon? Why, everything. I believe
it is generally conceded, though Prof.
Newcomb seems to dissent, that the
variations in the light of Algol are
caused by some huge dark body revolv
ing around it at a frightful rate of speed.
There are other variable stars whose
phenomena can be accounted for in the
same way. In ths case of Algol there
is evidence that the dark body is rapid
ly approaching the star, drawing nearer
with every circle. Whet it strikes, if it
is to strike, who can picture the extent
of that catastrophe? Then, indeed, that
mysterious dark body will become vis
ible, blazing with the light of a hundred
suns, and unable to escape from the
fiery destruction that it has brought
upon the star."
Oh. yes : the great star Sirins is ac
companied by a huge body of the kind.
It is not altogether dark, lor with large
telescopes it can occasionally be seen
glimmering faintly close to the star.
AstronoiSers knew it was there before
thoy got a glimpse of it for it caused
disturbances in the proper motion of the
star. Another of these dark bodies
which astronomers are sure exists, al
though no human eye ever saw it, is
dogging the star Procyon, one of the
brightest in the sky. lou may see the
star now low down in the east, north of
Sirius and below the Twins. The in
visible body that hovers abont it is evi
dently of large size, for it causes con
siderable perturbations in the star's
motion. It mayonee have been a sun
as brilliant as Procyon itself, but now
not a ray comes from it Still, astron
omers can point out the changes in its
position, as its attraction pulls the star
now tlus wav and now that
"If space is filled with these mysteri
ous dark bodies, collisions between them
and living, or light-giving, suns are not
impossible. You know that our sun is
in rapid motion, carrying his family of
worlds along with him in his flight So
all the stars are instinct with motion.
Our lives are so short and their distances
are so great that ve can hardly appreci
ate these motions, yet they are swift be
yond comprehension. Some of the stars
are approaching, others receding, all
moving in some direction. I lie con
stellations whose forms are so familiar
to us are falling to pieces like card
houses. In a few thousand years there
will be no Great Dipper, no Orion with
his club, no Southern Cross. The
heavens would look like a nw universe
to one of us who reviuted the earth jn,
the ten-thousandth century. Now,
we suppose that there are as many daik
or d,ead suns, as there aje living (meg, it
i not difficult to believe that oooasion
al"y there might be collisions between
them. Of course, the chances against
any such collision would be very, very
great, and yet some of the cases of stars
that have suddenly blazed out with as-
aggera'ion in what I am saying about
the multitude of dead suns in the uni
verse, see what Sir John Lubbock said
in his inaugural address at the meeting
of the British Association in August
last : " The floor of heaven is not onlv
'thick inlaid with patines of bright
gold,' but studded also with extinct
stars, once probably as brilliant as our
own sun, but now dead and cold as
Helmbolz tells us that our sun itself will
be some 17,000,000 vears hence.
" But we need not wander off in space
in search of the sky s un tombed dead.
We have right at hand, circling about
our Awn earth, not an extinct sun, but a
dead world, The moon is dead and has
been dead these million vears. There
the astronomer, if he fancies himself the
world's surgeon, may study the effects
oi amaladv that no surgery could cure.
Evttn worlds and suns, liko men and
women, grow eld and die ; but unlike
men and women, they have no grave
bnt the open and boundless heavens.
Woodpeckers.
The peculiar characteristics of tbe wood
peckers are the construction of the beak.
the feet, and tail. The beak is constructed
for chipping away the bark and wood, tbe
feet giving them the power to hold fan to
the trunk of the tree, and tbe tad to sup
port them in position, which gives to their
strokes the greatest force. Their beaks
are long, powerful, straight and pointed;
heir feet formed for grasping, are set far
back upon tbe body; their tails are shoit
and Miff, and act as props when pressed
upon tbe rough bark. Woodpeckers were
tor a long time thought to be injurious to
trees, but that prejudice natural sts now
agree was wholly an enor. Often, in walk
ing through the woods or orchards, there
will te seen s'rewn in profusion, at the foot
of a tree, flakes of liark andcbipsof wood.
sure signs of the woodpecker s industiy.
It looks as though work of destruction
was being carried on, but these flukes, hav
ing become separated from the living bark
of the tree, were mere excrescences under
which insects and their larvae found shelter,
and to obtain them for food the wood'
pecker removes the dead flakes of bark and
wood, so tbat in real it, instead of being
an enemy to the farmer, he is one of bis
most faithful servants. Tbe woodpecker
makes its nest in a tunnel which it exca
vates in tbe untound timbers. Water,
when admitted to a tree, causes its center
to decay; but if a perforation is made
through the trunk, gallon after gallon of
dark brown water will rush out. mixed
with fragments of decayed wood, showing
tbe extent f tbe damage done. 1ms
often occurs when a branch has been blown
off close to tbe trunk; tbe woodpecker is
quick to discover It and begins to cut a
tunnel. Wilson and Audubon both stale
that many of our woodpeckers will exca
vate tunnels ia apparently sound and unde-
cayed wod, boring through several inches,
till tbey reach the decayed portions ot tbe
center of tbe tree.
The burrowing powers of the great giant
gray-bellied woodpecker are marvelous, its
chisel like beak having been known to chip
plinters from a mahogany table, and to
cut a hole fifteen inches in width through a
lath-and-piaster partition. Even tbe small
downy woodpecker is able to bore its way
through solid wood of a tree, making an
ingenious nest, the burrows sloping for
some six or eight inches, then being driven
perpendicularly down the tree. 1 be tun
nel is barely wide enough to admit of tbe
passage of the body of tbe bird. But the
perpendicular bole is roomy, and is fitted
up in a style sufficient to dignify it with
the name of a chamber. Tbe male and
female woodpeckers labor alternately in
the burrowing and making of the nest, but
they find an implacable enemy in the saucy
little wren, who, when the woodpeckers'
apartments are ready for occupancy, coolly
takes possession, and holds them against
the builders and proprietors, notwithstand
ing their vehement and noisy expostula
tions. Jhcusprtnctpalu is distinguished
by a superb red carmine crest and bill of
polished ivory. This is indeed no common
bird, but is a king among his kind. No
fence rails for him to perch upon, but
rather the tops of lofty trees, the giant
pines of the cypress swamps, where tbe
trumpeting notes and loud strokes awaken
and reawaken the echoes. From tbe base
of some o these enormous pine trees cart
loads of bark have been removed, and tbe
trees so perforated with boles tbat it would
seem to be imperii ble tbat it was tbe work
of birds.
Quill Tens.
Quill pens are used mainly by old law
yers and judges, partly from cstom,but
chiefly because they are easy to write
with. Most of the quills come from
Russia, The Russian goose has a hard
er quill than our geese. An unclarified
pen from the wing of a Russian goose is
the most durable. The German quills
have the best plumage. A two-dozen
box of good quills will lost two or three
months easily for a man who knows how
to mend his own pens.
The instrument used in pea making is
the ordinary blade of the penknife, in
serted firmly into a wooden handle of
peculiar shape, tapering to a point A
pen is made with two cuts or three. The
blunt end of the quill is hrst cut off, be
cause it is not tough. Then the point
of the handle is inserted, and the quill
carefully split for a ceitain distance.
Two slashing cuts then form the nib,
and the pen is done. The plumage is
neatly trimmed.
Bwan quills are sometimes used for
pens, but are very much more expensive
than the common goose quilL Quill pens
are sold at retail for about three shillings
dozen. The demand ia steadv, such
as it is, but is growing less year by year.
A rog Bans that as a Fog Kara.
The lnflex'iible is in herself an extraor
dinary development of naval architecture
and the me&t recrent addition to her long
list of borrow is a fog-born of excruciat
ing shrillness. By a sarcastic misnomer
it is called a siren, and if the concentrated
bellow, indefinitely prolonged, of 600
mad bulls can bewitch sailors the musical
occupation of mer-oaids will be gone.
The Prince of Wales bas lcea very
much amused by this (team invo ti.;n of
Sir. llolmcs, and during the yachting
season in the Solent bas f uod time oc.
casiona'ly to cross to Portsmouth to make
the siren scream. His Royal Uichnets
thought her Majey night also like to
near a iog-norn 04 po vers to peculiarly
penetrating, and thus It otune to pass that
when ths royal yacht was steaming into
Portsmouth L arbor with the Q let-n on
board, the siren sent out its outrageous
wail' and continued howling until the
royal saloon tmn bad started from Clar.
ence Yard for Edinburg, by which time
her Majesty had more than enough of the
unmusicti monster, v as it was rightly
callow :
shaft while I turn off tbe gas at the boiler
and salck tbe sand line in the derrick.
will tell you. I don t tell the story very
often but if Boylston sent you here to see
me I guess it's all right I was originally a
Mostonian, bavin;: been "raised at the Hub.
When I left 1 had just been ground out of
an educational mill and had the biand
aesthetic' blown in each bottlj. I thought
ot tbe od country as a place where barban
ans hved and where good, smart man
could make a fortune in three weeks.
is needless to say I was greatly fooled.
came to tbe oil country fresh as a daisy.
and before living in it two weeks I came to
tbe conclusion, none tbe less sure because
it was forced, that I was more fit to drive a
team or saw wood than 1 was to be an oil
king. 1 knew how to handle horses, for
my father kept a first-class carriage, and as
1 wai strong and healthy there was no rea
son why I should go home a failure. 1 will
not tell you of the struggles against pride I
had, lor you can doubtless appreciate my
position. Suffice it to say I am bead drill
er on this well and that I am striking back
at my misfortune as vigorously ss it be
stowed sledge hammer blows on me two or
three years ago.
I here had been a heavy storm one
night at about midnight and. as usual with
the ou country residence. I arose and look
ed from the window to see if any tanks had
been struck by lightning. A bright glare in
the sky convinced me that a large tank of
oil was on Ere a few miles distance, and I
went back to sleep, determined to go to tbe
Ore at noon and see the first overflow. You
know that when a 25,000 barrel Iron task
bas been on fire for twelve or fourteen
fours the burning oil will bod up and flow
over the sides just like a kettle of soap.
At o clock the first grand overflow oc
curred. As I stood on the hillside picking
wild berries, I heard a man shout the's
coining,' and saw pipe line men running
away from tbe tank for their lives. I heard
a rumbling sound inside the tank and
didn't know what it meant, but a few
seconds after I saw fully five-hundred bar
rels of burning oil shoot up from the tank
and boU over the sides. It was grand be
yond description, and 1 stcod and watched
it in silence. The burning oil floating down
a creek foi a mile, burning a saw-mill,
numerous od wells and tanks, buildings,
and everything in reach of its devastating
breath. When tbe flow had partly sub
sided it wm found that a second 23,000
barrel iron tank had been set ou fire bv the
overflow of burning oil. Being somewhat
inquisitive I ventured down behind the
burning tank to get a better view from
tbe lower side. While trying to avoid a
pool of burning oil 1 fell into a mud -bole
or sort of quick-sand and sunk fast My ut
most endeavors were of no avail in extti-
cating myself from tbe hole, I yelled at
the top of my voice, but so great was the
roar of tbe burning tanks that my voice
sounded weak and far away. 1 struggled
until exhausted, and then 1 layedbaek and
rested, llow beautiful the great pillar of
black seemed in the clear blue sky. Great
billows of smoke would go surging up
wards hundreds of feet and float away into
space, their sombre hues turned to snowy
whiteness. I thought the boys would miss
me and search for me. Suddenly 1 heard
the noise of a cannon and saw a column of
flame and smcke shoot up from one of the
tanks. Tbe truth came upen me like a
bolt of lightning, aud I was almost stricken
ae listless by the thought The United
Pipe line men were firing cannon balls
through the first tank to draw off the oil
and prevent a second overflow. Great
Goo! what a conviction came upon me! It
was a matter of a second, 1 tried to shout,
but the wot da would not come. With tbe
strength of despair I struggled to get free.
Tbe quicksand held me with a grip of ten
thousands devils. All at once I saw a little
stream of burning oil running slowly down
toward me. My tune had come, 1 thought
and I must be burned to death by inches.
The earth was dear to me then dearer
than ever before and I turned to get a
look at the sunlight and the bright world
once more. Tbe horror and fear passed
away, and I was ready to die. Tbe stream
of. burning oil, now grown larger, was al
most upon, but I did not seem to care.
( saw it as in a dream. The earth and all
things earthly faded away and all was
dark. When I came back to consciousness
I was lying in my own room, and my
friends around me. Tne boys said that in
following tbe supposed course of the over
flowed oil tbey came upon me and rescued
me just as tbe burning stream was about to
dash upon me. 1 was sick a long while,
and when I got well I found my hair as
white as you see it now.''
Au old lady says when only eight years There are 13.000 brass ban.l in th
old she met one morning a handsome J United States.
man, whose deep eyes and massive head ! A young girl of IS niarrn-d a man of
she had seen represented in pictures ,z w oaogvrtiea.
hung upon her Whig father's walls. So
impressed was she by this face and the
wonderful eyes that she stared with all
her might at the great statesman, and
he, meeting this intense regard from the
childish eyes returned the gaze with
some curiosity. 1'resently the littw
maiden comes to a stand still. "I verily
believe I was magnetized," she says now
laughingly "magnetized not only by
London has 32.356 pi rsor.s to ihe
sqnare mue. m
Cieese have been known to live to
the age of eighty years.
Europe, it is estimated, nses two
millions of matches per day.
This country consumes 1 1,880 bar
rels of kerosene oil every night
The profits of Mapleson's opera sea
son in this country were $150,000.
The Boston Publio Library contain
' ' 'K11 OOO 1 . . 1L I . - .
those great eyes, but by my own imsg- umra-',"u ,s luo ,arSe"1 ,a ,"
illation, which had been fired by tbe
hero-worship I had chanted concerning
the man all my little life." Coining to
stand still, she brings the hero to a pause,
while a smile lights up his face. What
does the little maid desire of him ? She
only wants to shake hands with Daniel
Webster, whose face she knows from her
father's pictures, and whose name and
fame she knows and loves from her fa
ther's lip. Into what childish phrase
she put this she does not know, but she
recalls the soft look in the deep eyes,
the gentle touch uinm her head and
cheek, and the pleasant voice and pleas
ant words. "It s forty old years ago,"
she said "but I can stand there in the
sunshine now and live it all over, and I
shall love Daniel Wcleter to the end of
my days.
HarneSHing the Aurora Koreali.
SetoBtllKe Srai.
Intensity of color in flowers of the
same species increases with the altitude.
The human body is composed of four
teen or more of the common chemical
elements.
Of reptiles possessing the snake-like
form we have three spcc:es indigenous
to this country.
It is said that the formation of fogs
and clouds arises from the presence of
dust in the atmosphere.
In determining the illuminating pow
er of gas it should not be conducted
through a rubber tube, since this dimin
ishes the illuminating power.
A man can live on seven meals a week,
bnt his supply of gaseous nourishment
has to be renewed at least 14,000 times
in twenty-four hours.
From the peats of Brittany have been
obtained, by means cf reagents, benzine,
parafiine resinous matters, acetic acid
and other substances.
It has been computed that the power
of the steam engines in F.ngland would
suffice to raise from the quarries and
place in position all the Great Pyramid
in eighteen hours.
A Chapter a Bald Heads.
A bald-headed man is refined, aud he
always shows his skull, sure.
What does a bald-headed man aay to
his comb ? We meet to part no more.
Motto for a bald head Bare and for
boar.
However a high position a bald- head
ed, man holds, ho will never comb down
in the world.
The bald-headed man never dyes.
Advice to bald-headers Join the In
dians, who are the only successful hair
raisers.
You never saw a bM-he fried man with
a low forehead.
Shakspeare gys There is a divinity
that shapes our ends.
Bald men are the coolest-headed men
Q the world.
Curious auroral phenanienon inter
rupted the working of the telegraph
wires. Superintendent Dolon, of the
Western Union office in New York, ex-
plained that the auroral electricity was
similar to ordinary lightning. The same
forces that produced the brilliant flashes
in a rain storm, when the imprisoned
electricity leaps forth jn its effort to es
cape to the earth, were at work in the
present aurora, only they were under a
different condition, Tha superintendent
says that but for great pressure of busi
ness at this time, which left no room for
any experiment, tho present disturbing
element might le pressed into service as
an economical agent and mado an aid in
stead of a detriment to telegraphic work.
The wires might be disconnected from
the batteries and run down into the
ground, whereupon the auroral electric
ity would be fonud to voluntarily estab
lish a complete working current that
would enable messages to be sent along
the wires without the use of batteries at
all. Mr. Dolon cited a striking and me
morable instance of this in the business
done dnring a tain storm that occured
several years ago, aud was accompanied
by electrical phenomena. Wires were
disconnected from the batteries in the
Western Union building, run into the
ground, and then for two hours and a
half, while the storm was raging its fier
cest, commercial reports of great impor
tance were transmitted along the wires
solely by the ulectrical current genera
ted by the warring elements.
Emblems of Xowrmg.
"I trust that black will not always remain
the emblem of mourning ia this country."
said a dealer in mourning goods woo is a
scholar as well a) a merchant "It is not
a suitable, enibiera but it implies an ab
sence of light and a want of hfe, which we
certainly do not wish to convey as our con
ception of the state cf our departed friends.
Mourning is supposed to be the outward
visible sign of inward grief. The notion
of a change, however, would not readily be
received, for when one has to put on the
habiliments of woe, grief is too strong to
be overcome by fasnion.''
"What other colors are use 1 in moum-
D
'In Italy women giive in white gar
ments and men in tuown. In China white
is worn by both sexes. In Turkey, Syria,
Cappaducia, and Armenia celestial blue is
the tint chosen; in Egypt yttlowish brown,
tbe hue of the dead leaf, is deemed proper
in Ethiopia, where men are black, gray is
the emblem of mourning. All of these col
ors are symbols. White symbolizes purity,
n attribute of our dead; the celestial Lhie,
that place of rest where happy souls are at
peace; the yellow or dead leaf tells tbat
death is tbe end of all human hope, and
that man falls as the autumn leaf, and gray
whispers of the earth to wbich all return.
The tycians consider mourning for the
dead an tff -initiate practice, and so when
tbey grieve tbey put on women'saclothes as
a symbol of weakness and as a thame to
them frr a lack of manliness. The Toia
cian made a least when one of thtir loved
ones died, and every method of joy and
delight was employed. This meant that
tbe dead had passed from a state of misery
into one of never-ending felicity. Black
was introduced as mourning by the queen
of Char.es VIII- Before tbat tbe French
queens wore white mourning and were
known as white queenar
Pulpit Jokes.
Old Mr. P. had been, alter a fashion, a
Baptist preacher for fifty year. lie was
quite proud cf a claim be frequently made
from tbe pulpit that in bis hne he was tbe
oldest in the State. There was but one
man who disputed this claim, and thus
Mr. P. was accustomee to dispose of him:
One Sunday, bringing as usual into the
sermon his favorite parenthesis, he spoke
about as follows- "Brethren and sisters,
I've been a preachln' this blessed Gospel
fur fifty year, the second Sunday o' last
Jinuary. I'm the oldest preacher in tbe
State. Now old Brother J., I've heard, has
been a-dispulin' me on that p'int and says
he's tbe oldest Now, my brethren and
sisters. Brother J. a'n't a exactly countm'
fa'r. Brother J. have been svstandin' in
the pulpit fur fifty-two year; it's a fact
and I'm not a-goin' to deny it but'' then
the old man smiled in a triumph that
though mild, was most decided "hut
brethren and sisters, tbe fir four year o'
that preachin o' Brother J. he were a
Methodis', and I count that no preachin'
at all; awl, acoordia' to my eatkilaikn,
that fetches him dowa to forty-eight year,
jes' two year behind me." The same par
son was sometimes quite pointed in his re
bukes for disorderly deportment ie church.
One Sunday a young lady in the congre
gation bad changed her seal several times
during the delivery of the sermosv As
she was about taking yet another seal, he
said to her, '"Ths 11 dot my darter; set
down now, and keep still fur the balance
'o the sarmiat Every body done see your
new caJiker frock."
Thursday, October 20. has been ap
pointed as a day of general thanksgiving
in Canada.
They are manufacturing paper from
sugar cane after the sugar has been ex
tracted in Louisiana.
Gen. Hancock was recently elected
President of the Aztec Club, and Gen.
Grant Vice-President
One hundred and four landholder
in Great Britain own an average of more
than 1,000 acres each.
Tbe millionaire Baron Hirsh will
give $20,000 to enable Russian Jews to
emigrate to the United State.
The philelieg or short kilt woru iu
the Highlands was introduced bv Raw-
lingston, an iron smelter, in 172S.
Charles De Yon'ijr. who was mur
dered ly young Kalloeli in San Fran
cisco, Iwft an estate worth $70,705.
Dean Stanley has left each of his
god-chddren $2,500, and as much to the
infant son of Mr. Hvaciuthe Lovsou.
Augusta, Ga., has now in operation
175,000 spindies in her cotton mills, re
presenting an investment of 5, 000,1X10.
Stone coffins occur among the Auel-
Saxons as early as 695, and were not
quite obsolete before the men of Ilenrv
Yin.
The invention of harness Ls asrrilx-.l
to Erecthens, King of Athens, who lived
three or four hundred vearH ifore
Christ.
John of Finland on his return from
Sweden brought the fir?t coach into that
country toward the end of the sixteenth
century.
French exports have fallen off Sit" -
281,600 aud imports 22,827,2110. in lJOjl,
as compared with the first ei-ht mouths
of 188f.
A ukase has been published at St.
Petersburg ordering that this year's lew
of recruits shall le 212,000 'instead o'f
fJo.OOO.
New York plumbers are iu a state
of wrathful indignation liccansc a trade
school there has started evening classes
in plumbing.
Qneen Victoria's parents were mis
erably poor, bnt she has saved $X0,IXI0,
000 from her wages, which are SC?,2."0,
000 annually.
Chicago and New Orleans are the
onlv American cities that license gamb
ling houses. St. Louis is alnmt to fol
low their example.
Lord Airey is dead. He wan Imru
in 1805 and served in the arniv in the
Crimea and elsewhere. He was raised to
the peerage in 1875.
The prettv bride. Aninista of Iru.NMa
is going to Schleswig-Holstein w ith her
grandfather-in-law, the Emperor, to
witness the antnnin manoeuvres.
Eentnckv is to have a mushroom
farm in its Mammoth Cave. It is said
to have room enough to produce a mil
lion pounds of mushrooms daily.
The wife of the late General Bum-
side was Mias Mary Richmond Bishop.
descendant on her mother s side, of
Roger Williams. She died in 1870.
Bishop Simpson told the British
ministers at the Methodist Conference,
that there was no falling off in the ob
servance of Sunday in this country.
Tho population of Scotland has in
creased 11 per cent the last ten years
and is now 3,734,411. Glasgow, thtp
largest city, has 511,000 inhabitants.
In 1830 the world's wool product
was 320,000,000 pounds. Iu 187 it was
1.536,000,000 pounds. England with
her colonies, produces the largest share.
General Burnside's corps was at one
period so frequently moved from one de
partment to another that it became
known as "Burnside's Geography Class."
An Autograph worth bavins: is that
of Rubinstein's which he lately gave to
lady, with the first six bars of his ex-
qrusite"Romance in E flat" wriiten above
it
U. S. Grant, jr., has bought one
hundred and eighty-six acres of land in
North Salem, Westchester county.
New York known as the Libbv farm.for
The Augusta, Georgia, cotton mill
has averaged 20 per cent net profit 011
its capital of 8i00,000 since the war. It
has cleared $100,000 m tho List six
months.
Marshal P. Wilder, who has ln-en
President of the American Pomological
Society, for over thirty years, was re
elected at the annual meeting in Botdon
recent y.
The Agricultural department esti
mates the annual yield of wine in the
United States at J.4.aJ.827 callous.
valued at $13,424,174.87. Tbe acreagu
devoted to graje culture is 1 Si, 583.
Lieutenant Governor Tabor, of Col
orado, it is announced, will next winter
found in Denver a public library, of
which the budding is to cost $200,000.
and which will open with 100,000
volumes.
Bishop Spaulding. of Peoria, HI.,
representing the Colonization Society of
the Roman Catholics, has purchased 60,-
000 acres of land on the line of the Fort
Smith and Little Rock Railroad for col
onization purpose.
A vine-culture exhibition and con
gress will be held in Milan, Italy, tlus
month. Experts from all the great
vine-growing countries will give their
views regarding the nature of the dis
eases which have made the grape crop iu
many parts of Europe so uncertain of
late vears.
Six firms virtually control the poul
try market in the South. Their com
bined capital ia $50,000. Their agents,
receive five per cent for purchases not
only of poultry, but eggs, butter and
sausages. Tbe heatiqnarters are at Nev
Orleans, Savaunali, Charleston, and
three places in Tennessee.
Five Jewish papers are published ia
New York, 1 in Philadelphia, 1 in New
Orleans, 2 in Ciucinuati, 1 in St Lonis,
4 in San Franciseo,2 in Chicago, 1 in Mil
waukee. There are several other jour
nals, not exclusively devoted to Hebrew
affairs, and the llrbrew Review is pub
U"-M qnartely iu Cincinnati.
s