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g'Pf jit' i - '-si 'CliL
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B.P.
SCHWEIER,
THE OOIsTiTUTlOI THE TJTIOI AID THE EIP0KJE1CE3T OP THE LATA.
Editor and Proprietor.
n
is
VOL. XXXVI.
MIFFLINTOWN. JUNIATA COUNTY. PENNA.. WEDNESDAY. APRIL 19. 1SS2.
NO. 15.
a w. i vw- . a r m m am irA I
TUB OLD HOME.
slack la Uie old aume.
With Us (T-lotDd wall.
It loni running porch,
lu windows so tall;
Batik to tae old home.
With iu Ores so bright,
Iu Joys and lu sports
Turuueta the long winter night.
Hack te tbe old Bom,
To its clear ruiinuig brooks,
Ita vale and meadows,
lu rouunuc noufcs.
It birds, trow aud Sowars,
Tbai bloomed sweetly there ;
IU taL statelj mountains,
iu oool balm; air.
Bark to the old l mi;
It was there in mr youth
1 learue'l iny flr.-t lessons
of wisdom and truth.
Like angels of good,
Tbey atundttd mj ways.
When lonely my Journey,
When dreary my days.
Where are my friends i
Oh ! tell me, I pray ;
alas ! Uks the years
They hare gone and away.
Like sunbeaius they cam.
And as soon were they gone.
And now I am left
1 mourn them aluue.
There did I muse
In the quiet of ares.
Not a sound w disturb,
Save the rustle of leaves.
The birds to their real
In the tree-tops had gone.
And hushed for a time
Their burden of song.
AK1UAE 4 PROPHECY.
"Ton will be ianious yet.raul,believe
nie r
These words were uttered iu a sweet,
earnest tone ; the speaker was a fair
young girl, standing iu the moonlight
beside her lover. A mansion with
princely walls gleamed white from
among the distant shrubbery ; and
forth from that mansion her girlhood
home, had Ariadne Ilomer stolen to
meet her lover for the last time. For
the arrogance of the purse proud rich
man had done its work ; the boy-artist,
the dreamer, he who is richer far iu his
dowried soul thau the great manufac
turer, Amos Ilomer had been forbidden
those walls and the favoring glances of
that rich man's danghter.
' I wish my faith were as strong as
yours. Adne !" he said, doubting y.
"It should I, Paul," replied the
girL "My heart is a true prophet ; I
can always t:ust its teachings. You
will come back some day.and then
She stoped suddenly, and then
added. "And Paul I will be true and
patient, and await the day of your com
ing." And a small white hand stele into
his.
"It is enough, Adne. It is more than
1 deserve more than I hoped. Now I
can, go forth from the humble home of
my boyhood and wrestle manfully with
life, bearing with me the words you
have this night spoken. Adne, you
have saved me. You shall be my good
angel, my prophet, my guiding star,
Now good bv, darling, and God keep
you when I am ever seas, and bring me
again to you; side !"
And there, under the tender moon
light and the linden shade, they parted.
Bridging over five long years of toil
and endeavor, and study, we come to a
time in Paul Dillard's life when that
life seemed fairest and best, because,
his dreams tulfilled, his feet fairly set
upon the highway of fame and fortune,
he begui to turn his gaze homeward to
the laud where his heart lay over the
ocean.
But few letters had found their way
to the toiler, aud those were all penned
in the brown weather stained farm
house at Spring Meadow none from
Ariadne Homer. But these he did not
expect ; relying iuiplicity on her faith,
he had asked no token.
And how is it with her ? Ab, hearts
will change, and gold is a strong lure ;
it has wou many before now, and this
girl, bred iu affluence, the put of an
idolizing father, is no wiser nor better.
And then Paul Pillar i at best was but
a boy and a dreamer. He could never
bring her to a home like that to
which she had been accustomed, or like
the one old John Etheridge offered her.
Thus it happened the twilight of the
same eve that joined the lives if not the
hearts of Ariadne and John Etheridge
brought back Paul Dillard to his
boyhood's home. Honors and laurel
wreaths had all faded before the beacon
light of love guiding him homeward.
The faintest rays of liugering golden
twilight shot upwards through the dus
ky bars that latticed the west in the
dim gray twilight, when the old-fashioned
stagecoach set down a weary,
travel-stained, bearded foreign-looking
man at a bend in the dusty country
highway ; and a few minutes' brisk walk
brought him into the green grassy lane
leading to Jonas Dillard's farmhouse.
He will pass over Ins welcome in that
home where he was so loved, but when
he retired that night there were tears
n the proud mother's eyes as she press
ed her quivering lips to his cheek ; and
Jonas Dillard's own were not dry.
"Paul's turned out the right sort of
tuff,afteraU. Hell do something for "us
our old age yet. Twant a bad move,
his going off to furrin parts, was it,
mother T"
When the old farmhouse was still,
and the night shadows had lengthened
on Tower Hill, Paul Dillard softly lifted
the doorlatch of the large "spar chamber-and
stole down the winding stair
ease. Sliding back the bolt of tue old
oaken door, ha stood in the outer air.
He had not slept; many thoughts
crowded upon him thoughts of her
whose ryes bad lured him homeward.
The night was calm and warm ; a dark
blue, star studded sky bent down upon
him. Two miles distant lay the Tillage
in whose suburbs, on a linden-crowned
hill, stood Amos Homer's mansion. He
stood a moment on the broad doorstep,
then passed down the grassy lane and
out into the highway. Then setting off
at a brisk pace, turn in the road soou
brought him in view of Amos Homer's
mansion. Every window was ablaze
with light, and as he gained a closer
proximity,he paused and-leaned against
the white railing which outakirted the
grounds.
Placing one hand on the railing he
lightly leaped it, and stood within the
grounds of the mansion. Nearing one
oi the windows, he looked and what he
saw made his heart almost stand stilL
Ariadne, hisplghted wife, in wedding
robes.
It was enough. One glance told him
alL His head on his breast and his
thoughts he knew not where, he again
sought his home. The night passed,
though it seemed it would never end.
And there was no trace on his face of
his struggle when he came down the
next morning.
"Mother." he saidj after breakfast.
a snau nave to get away from yon
again. Yon will not think it hard if I
leave you for Boston to-morrow. I
have some orders that must be execut
ed before the foreign steamer sails."
"But I thought yon had come to tarry
here, Pard. And then you are sick, I
know yon are ; aud you will wear your
self out with work."
"O, never you fear, mother ; I am
not ill. I look pale always, now. If I
have leisure, I will run up among these
New Hampshire hills again in a fort
night or so ; but if I am very busy I
slu.Il write for you to bring Mary to
Boston to join me. O, yes, mother,
I'll have time yet for rest and recreai'ou
before I go over seas again."
"Again ! And must yon cross the
Atlautio once more ? O, my son, we do
not want riches or comfort', if we are to
be divided from you. Do not go from
home again. Stay with us, Paul,"
urged Mrs. Dillard.
"Nay, mother," said Faul, gently,
but firmly, "yon would not have me re
main here an idler, a drone. I must
return to Italy."
An Italian sun was setting behind a
low range of hills that skirted a broad
Roman Campagna, as two travelers,
one an invalid, alighted from a dili
gence at an humble hostelne. whose
brown vine-covered walls slept under
the protecting shelter of a grove of
drawf cedars.
Tbe invalid was an old man, the
other a beautiful, sad faced woman.
And that wasted, wan sufferer, and that
beau titnl, but pale woman, were John
and Ariadne Etheridge.
In all respects she had been to him a
faithful wife. And so she had accom
panied him across the seas to Italy, day
by day attending him unweariedly with
gentle fingers and tender care. But
John Etheridge was a doomed man ; all
that long summer day had his strength
waxed fainter ; and when they lifted
him carefully from the cushions and
bore him within the mountain inn, even
then the death angel entered besiJ.)
him,
There was one other traveler who
came slowly down the hillside path and
sought the hostel's shelter that night
a dark, pale man, with sketch-bonk in
hand, and enveloped in the folds of an
ample Boman cloak. And while the
shadows gathered deeper and the rain
pattered on the low roof, the stranger
threw himself on the rudo wooden
lench beside the window, and with face
buried in his bands seemed lost in
thought or slumber.
The evening wore later ; the hotel
keeper and his wife had sought their
slumbers ; the stranger still lay wrapp
ed in his cloak-folds and almost lost in
the dark shadows ; but in an humble
inner room Ariadne Etheridge and her
faithful man-servant watched the flick
ering lamp of life. For an hour he
dozed heavily, then the waning flame
flashed up with fitful radiance; he
started from his pillow and said gasp
ingIy:"Wife! Ariadne!"
She came closer and moistened his
lips with wine.
"Wife, I have something to say to
you before before " but his voice
faltered. I am going I know it," he
gasped feebly, "and I must talk with
you Ariadne. I have been very wicked.
You remember Paul Dillard ?
The head upon his breast drooped
heavier; her beautiful hand clutched
his convulsively for an instant, then
she lay very still again. And the man
upon the bench in the outer room
started to his elbow with a, sudden
bound, and leaned his head forward in
an eager listening attitude.
"My child, it is hard for an old man
like me to make this confession," went
on old John Etheridge. "It is hard;
but harder yet togolnto eternity with
. .- 7. ,t ;
the stidn of an unconfessed sin upon
my souL I have been wicked ; but 1
will make what reparation lies in my
power. Ariadne, listen ; I won you
through fraud. I coveted yon, with
your youth and beauty ; and when it
was breathed to me that yea loved a
poor, unknown, humble youth, toiling
afar over the waters, the fiend of evil
tent's suggestion into my mind which I
was not Ion? in obeying. How could
that poor, humble youth stand in com
parison with a rich man? I knew that
inch were your father's wishes ; but I
knev that such, however much they
might influence your decision, would
never tout heart. - And so I followed
the evil devices of my own brain, and
coined a lie and spread the rumor that,
in his far off home your boy lover had
wooed another. But it was all false
til false my poor child. And when
you, in your yonth and beauty, came to
my arms, and the first flush of triumph
was over when day by day I saw how
meekly and uncomplainingly you sacri
ficed yourself to all an old man's whims
and caprices, then repentance came,
and O hovr better 1 Disease came.
Ariadne as God is my witness, I joyed
more than I sorrowed when I felt its
chill fingers at my heart The physi
cians sent me abroad ; we came here, to
itaiy. ion did not know how often I
sent my imagination here before me,
and built a structure whose walla would
be reared above my grave ! For, my
child," aud his voice sank to a whisper,
and he lifted her face with one thin
white hand, "you m ill obey me ; he is
here, and by and by your paths will
cross each other. Ariadne, you will be
happy yet !"
Then came au unbroken silence in
that death chamber ; and the man in
the dark kitchen breathed convulsively
as he crept nearer the door.
"Yes, you will be happy yet." gasped
the dying man slowly. "And now I
am going forgive. Your hand my
child here, on my heart. God h good !
1 have but one wish in this death hour
if I could have brought yon together
you two, whom I wronged so. If Paul
Dillard were only here !"
"Yes, god Is good ! Paul Dillard is
here 1" came in husky whispers ; and as
the pale man staggered in from the
outer room, Ariadne fell forward, with
a faint scream, upon the breast of her
dying husband. .
What need Lave we to record more ?
Can yon not see how tbe reparation of
the dead was accepted ? how, ber per
iod of mourning over, Ariadne Ethe
ridge, in mat warm southland, gave
her hand where her heart had long been
pledged, and fully redeemed her early
prophecy by its fulfilment 1
Careless Climes.
Can loss mothers, who give their
children a "drink" of medicine out of
the bottie, rather than take the trouble
to measure out the proper dose, had a
warning this week in the published ac
count of one baby's death. Whoever
is to blame for that particular victim
whether druggist, doctor or mother's
carelessness, is yet to be proved, ; but,
as the story stands, there is a good let sen
in it for women who do believe that in
any way of giving medicine is good
enough. In the same line are those
untidy people who will take a drinking
mug to dissolve oxalic acid, for in
stance, in taking out ink stains, or stand
carbolic acid in a cup, or benzine, that
they are using to take out grease spots,
or strong ammonia, in any drinking cup
or mug. It may l9 that the stuff is
nearly all used and the cup forgotten
and left standing, when child or even
a crown up person will draw water in
it. or will take a drink out of it, with
suffering or fatal results.
None of these little things could hap
pen if the little moralities of human hie
were kept bright, and carelessness put
in its true light as a little crime. Never
take a cup to put hurtful or poison
stuff in of any kind, the poisons that
housekeepers are beginning at this time
to use in their house cleaning especial
ly. Better get a.i old bottle, a tin or a
jar, and make a solution in that or a
wooden soap dull, anything that will
surely not be put to the lips by any
chance, and that can be put into the ash
barrel or burnt up after using. De
stroy what is left of all poisons after the
occasion of using them is over. If they
are put away on oloset shelves there is
no knowing who will use them or what
they may be mistaken for. Arsenic has
been mistaken for magnesia, and mixed
and drank, when the victim is the first
to remember that it was the wrong pow
der ; and any sort of white crystals may
be snitched up for baking powder.
Let the housewife never lose sight of
this, and follow up every hurtful thing
with lynx eyes until it is out of the
house agaiu and destroyed, and every
vessel that has held it safe out of
harm's way.
Kenatenal Snuff-Taker.
The U. S. Senate has presented a gold
snuff-box to Capt. Isaac Bassett, Assis
tant Doorkeeper, who has served as an
officer of the Senate for fifty years, and
is now au active and fine-looking old
gentleman. In the short address which
Capt. Bassett made in acknowledgment
of the testimonial, he presented some
interesting reminiscences of Senatorial
snuff-takers of earlier days. ''When
Martin Van Buren was Vice President"
said he, "he was possessed of a gold
snuff-bex. He gave it to me in charge,
to keep well filled with snuff and see
that it was placed on the Vice Presi
dent's table every day that the Senate
was in session. At the end of every
week thereafter he handed me 60 cants
to pay for the snuff. When his term ex
pired I gave him tho snuff box. He left
the citv soon after and iorgot to give
me the 50 cents tnat he had always
Isriven meat the end of the week. Henry
Clay was very fond of a pinoh of snuft,
nil emoved it very much. He would
often stop in the midst of a speech and
call a page to bring him a pinch of snuff,
and if ho could not see aiy one of the
pages he would leave his seat and walk
to the vice President's table, take up the
gold snuff-box. take a pinch, and, re
turning to his seat, resume uis spcecn.
Richard M. Johnson and John Tyler
were neither of them nuffers,and there
fore I had to furnish my own snuff-box;
but when George M. Dallas was Vice
President, he brought with him a very
handaomo gold snuff-box and gave it to
me in charge, and aftei his term expired
returned it to him. When Millard
Fillmore was Vice President he objected
to having a snuff-box on the table of the
Vice President, because, in his opinion,
it interfered with the business of the
Senate. Senators would come up and
stop to conveise with eaoh other, and
disturb him so much he could not hear
what was going on in the Senate. Ever
since that period there has been placed
on each aide of the Senate a small snuff
box fastened to the wall."
There are eartain forms of mania whioh
yvauYeiy useiui. stome persons
have an insane propensity to explore
strange and dangerous regions, not so
much for the fame of the thing, or be
cause of any strong desire to benefit the
warhl; they are the victims of an irresti-
ble impulse to penetrate the ice-bound
shores of the Arctic, or to hunt ostriches
in Patagonia, or to rub noses with the sa
ble kings of Central Africa. In carrying
out their schemes, these men will expend
u aiuuuui oi money and endure any
amount of suffering, and the world at
large gets the benefit of their traveling
mania.
We are much indebted for the increase
of our knowledge to naturalists, who also
endure much fatigue in hunting but
terflies and birds, and collecting shells
and snakes and sea-weeds, and sorting
out the rocks of which the earth is made;
all which they would not have been like
ly to do if they -had not had a mania in
that direction
Then there are others who have an
insatiable appetite for ferreting out and
collecting did books and pamphlets
and manuscripts not that they ever ex
pect to read them, but simply for the
pleasure oi the hunt. They rummage
garrets and about book-stalls day after
daV. anil dio mln fill artrta nf mnnidi an.) I
holes, and attend every horary sale, not
always for any special love of literature
but because they have a mania for col
lecting; and if they can get hold of an
old book which nobody else has, their
cup is full to overflowing.
Rich treasures havs thus been brought
to light, for which scholars have great
cause to be thankful rare gems are
sometimes found ammg the rubbish
which these men rake together.
The com collector is one of the most
indefatigable of human beings. The in
trinsic value of a com is not a matter
of the slightest account, and its histori
cal value may not be especially regarded
if he can only beat everybody else in
the size and rarity of his collection.
The autograph mania is still more
general, and when it develops itself, not
merely in accumulating the signatures
of ordinary men ard women, but rath
er authentic documents in the hand
writing of the great personages who
have figured in history, it is a very re
spectable hobby.
The mania for collecting postage
stamps, which ef course is quite modern
cannot be regarded as of so high an or
der, the likenessneas of great people
with which they are adorned have not
much attraction as works of art. and the
main charm depends upon the comp'.et-
ness of the collection; if one or two
stamps are wanting in the Austrian or
any other list, its value is very much
impaired.
There is, to besure, a certain degree
of interest in studying the sty 19 in which
the taste ef different nations manifests
itself in their postage stamps; for even
here the peculiarities of the several por
tions of the earth can be more or less
distinctly traced.
Structures are sometimes made te
grow upon the top of the head, archi
tectural, botanical, entomological, or
otherwise, that are very suggestive of
the insane asylum.
It is a very ancient mania that mani
fests itself in this way, and, it is found
all over the world savages often treat
ing their heads aud hair after a more
elaborate style than anything we are
capable of doing.
Different people are marked by a ma
nia for some particular kind of game
croquet, lawn-tennis, polo, or perhaps
the Scotch golf.
Manias of one sort or another break
out in a very mysterious way. They
cannot be explained, but we are carried
away by them noue the less for this.
The infection of example is irresistible.
We run after certain things simply
because oar neighbors do; and they run
aftor the same because we do. If there
is melancholy in the air, we feel it If
there is any mania abroad we are in
danger ef catching it
Going Throw, the Monona.
"Sometimes," says a photographer,
"we have to take almost innumerable
negatives, and bother with customers
for hours before we get one that suite.
One day a young lady came here and
composed her frizzles for a picture. I
mvle an exposure and ahowed her the
negative.
That s very good,' sail she. but I
don't like the way my hair is fixed,
exactly, and I want another sitting.'
" 'All right," ' aaid I, handing the
plate to my assistant, who was in the
darkroom.
"She pulled the ir'zzles down nearer
her eyes, arranged her yisible pet and
said she was ready.
"I went through the motions, the
same as before, while she sat smiling
at the camera, in which there was no
plate. My assistant had it and was mak
ing a few scratches on the forehead, to
represent the lowered frizzles.
" That's just right now in regard to
the hair,' said she, when I showed it to
her, but I wish it was a little lighter.
I'd like to sit again.'
"'All right' id I Qli I ent
through all the motions again. She
went through the same smile, and sup
posed a new plate was in the camera,
whereas it was simply drying, up ia
the dark room. When it ia dry It is
always lighter.
"When 1 ahowed it to her she said it
was better.but had hardly color enough
in the cheeks, and she'd have to ait
again. 1 went through all the motions
as before, while ray assistant was tinting
the plate in the .dark room. When I
showed the plate to Iter she said it suit
ed her exactly.
Doadlr Wars Drssslag.
Mr. Treves delivered a leeture in
London recently mpom the "Deadly
ways 01 Dreaaint. under the aus
pices of the. National Health Society.
The lecturer observed that the primary
objects of olothing to cover the body and
maintain it at an eqnable temperature
have little or no ooneern in some of the
dresses of the period. In the low even
ing dress the arms, neck and npper
part of the chest and bnok are bare
while about the lower extremities is ac
cumulated a mass of raiment that would
garb a dozen children. In the ordinary
dress of women little regard is had for
maintaining an equable temperature of
the body. The covering of . the apper
part of the chest above the line of the
corset is very thin, perhaps that of the
dress only. The region ef the corset is
reasonably covers i, while about the
hips many layers of clothing are mass
ed. Thus the body may be divided
geographically inte a frigid, temperate
and a torrid sone. As regards tight
lacing Mr. Treves said if the most beau
tiful female outline is that ef a young,
norma!, well-dovelSped woman, then a
narrow waist is hideous. A miniature
waist is a deformity under any circum
stances, and few deformities are pleas-
ing.
The waist is an inflexion of the
body between the lowest rib and the
hip bone. No normal woman is waist
less, although its conspicaonnesa de
pends somewhat en development Chil
dren have normally no waist, and a
tight laced child ia a gross and pitiable
deformity. The normal waist has a cir-
circumferenee of about 23 er 29 inches ;
the "fclegant" waist should be 20
inches ; the w aist measurement ef dress
makers' lay figures now varies from 21
inches to 25 inches. Those who wish
to improve their figures by stays have
before them the conception of a 20-inch
waist Venus. To the outline of this
1 our-glass-shaped goddess they aspire,
The normal waist is quite oval ; the
fashionable waist quite round. Women
with miniature waists whe maintain
that such waists are natural to them
and independent of art, must have been
born deformed. Xo person enters this
world with a ready-made fashionable
waist. As regards health, the tapering
waist is effected mainly by a compres
sion of the five lower ribs, these ribs
being more movable than all the rest
There is a popular delusion to the ef
fect that there Is plenty of empty space
inside the body, aid into this space the
displaced organs are pushed in tight
lacing. Tight lacing means a compres
sion not of skin, muscle and bone, but
of liver, stomach and lunge. Even a
slight amount of constriction effects
these organs, and stays that are by no
means tight lessen the capacity of the
chest for air. Post nortecs on tight
lacerashow the liver deeply indented
wi'ii the ribs, and more or less serious
ly displaced. The stomach is ulse com
monly affected, aa, too, are the lung.
The diseases that ooramonly result are
chronic dyspepsia, liver derangements,
disturbances ef nutrition, Ae. Tight
lacing, moreover, renders more er less
useless the diaphragm or principal
muscle of respiration. The breathing
powers of the narrew-waisted are al
ways serionsly impaired, and here fol
lows possibly the say of sixpenoe, not
that it is something to drink, but that
it is silver coin of a certain valae, I am
using language in an entirely Afferent
way. I am using no figure of speech ;
I am insinuating ; I am implying noth
ing. I am directly stating a bald, liter
al fact And it is this that I am doing
when I say that wealth is power. I am
stating something definite about a thing
already known, but known only indefi
nitely, just as if I was to say, 'That
dim patch in the fog is the dome ef St
Paul's Cathedral." We have already
dwelt upon the wealth of possessions
the wealth that consists ef a hoard of in
dividual objects but these, as we have
seen, are not wealth of themselves. In
themselves, indeed they are little more
than lumber. They are wealth only
when possessed by a man with an in
come, and, therefore, this latter form of
wealth may, in all social questions, be
taken for wealth ia general. When we
speak of the rich we convey te the pop
ular mind not the idea of a man with a
picture gallery, or a collection of ivor
ies, but ef a man with aa income ; and
a man with a large Income is a man who
from day to day can make others exert
their powers in obedience te his wishes.
Ship-Boys.
A new terror nas been added to the
life of the peaceable inhabitants of Fal
mouth, England. In one of the creeks
of its magnificent harbor there has been
placed a training-ship for naval appren
tices, and their presence has hitherto
been warmly welcomed by the people
in the neighborhood. Recently, how
ever, the boys ltave been guilty of some
acts of mischief, aud a few days ago
perhaps they were stimulated by the
news of the excesses coamited with
comparative impunity against the mem
bers of the Salvation Army they
launched out into offences of a mns t
dangerous kind. Some of them entered
a jeweller's shop, took some of hie stock
and then left wjthont going throujh the
form of payment Others assaulted a
gentleman on bicyole, and when he
ran away, pursued hint into an adjoining
house. Less than ten years age the
prospect of the removal of this training
ship to Plymouth threatened a change
in the polibea representation of Fal
mouth. If a stop is not quickly put to
these acts of Uwlessness, the popular
cry at the next election win ee xor we
transfer of the Teasel to another port
The king earing dlemlwei his sexe. was
asked why ae die so, aai replied . "Xe
Man can turn ever aew leaf without try
ing a new page."
Loodoa Flgt.tlng; Gases
The fighting gangs have an organiza
tion almost as complete as that of the
police. Each gang has its captain,
who, again, has his junior officers.
oeitain order is invariably preserved.
and tbe members of the band are under
certain responsibilities as to the spoils
lor tue gacgi are by no means organiz
ed simply for the purpose of fighting
each other. That is a pleasant delu
sion which helpe to reconcile the Lon
don public to the fact of their existence.
The majority of the members of tho
organizations youths whose ages range
from about sixteen to twenty-two are
plainly and simply thieves. There are
bodies of young men who roam about
at night simply for the sahe of mischief,
and whose playful violence frequently
has unpleasant results ; but when the
regular gangs fight it is for mastery. It
not unfrequently happens that one set,
bent on the extension of its territory,
invades the district of another. Then
there has to be some sort of rectification
of frontier, brought about by the usual
process. Recently there was such a
conflict between the Dove row gang and
the Bow commoners, in which the Dove
row gang came off victorious. Such
incidents as these, however, are more
episodes in the great epic of juvenile
crime. The objects of the gangs is rob
bery, if necessary with violence,
"What do you do at nights ?" I said re
cently, to a youth who had been a mem
ber of one these bodies of juvenile
roughs. "What did they do ? Why,
they waited about, and if anybody re
spectable passed them they tripped
him up and robbed him." "Did they
use violence sometimes " "He should
think they did. They wore I ruad
leather belts with heavy buckles ou
them. Sometimes they carried sticks,
but the belts were best. Oh, they took
lots of things." "What would they do
if they took a watch?" "Why pawn it,
to be sure. Xhey often met in the
mornings to reckon up what they had
done the night before. Many a time
they robbed shop tills. One of them
hid himself behind the counter and the
otheis waited outside. No, their pa
rents didn't know much about it Most
of them had no parents. Those who
had generally left home and went to
lodgings. They lodged together most
ly, two or three of them in one place.
They didn't read much; very few of
them could read ; p'raps one would read
to the others sometimes. Didn't know
that they had ever killed anybody, but
had many a time knocked people down."
"Yes," he said, in reply to another
quea.ien, they fought other gangs now
and then to see who was strongest
Some of them had been in prison lots of
times ; they didn 't mind it much they
got used to it Had left them now,
and was trying to lead a better life."
The fighting gangs are mainly com
posed of lads whe, if they have ever
done any wcrk, have found the condi
tions of labor neither sufficiently pleas
ant nor sufficiently profitable. Utterly
ignorant and untrained, they seem to
see a kind of heroism in their present
mode of life. Their spirit is much the
same as that which animated the buc
caneer and the brigand. Punishment
merely hardens them, for the only
thing which they regard as shameful is
the want of '"pluck" and endurance.
It is not merely during the last year or
two that the gangs have come into
exiwtence. On tho contrary, many of
them have existed for years. They are
the regular feeders of the vast crimi
nal population of London. When a
thief has age or experience enough to
stand alone he leaves the gang and em
barks in private ventures. Probably
his maturity comes upon him in gaol.
He is too old to go back to the gang
again ; the "Mild isoy period nas
passed over, and he deserts the New
cut or Bow common lane for the ob
scurer haunts of habitual crime.
Mount Vesuvius.
The condition of the crater of Vesu
vius is at present exceedingly interes
ting. This is especially so after the
continuous active state that the moun
tain has been in fot nearly three years.
The eld crater of 1872 is now completely
filled, and has in fact been so for some
time. About three-quarters of the
edge has been overflown by lava at
various times, but particularly by the
eruptions of the last two years. Last
June, arising from the plain or platform
of lava formed by the falling of tho
crater, was the done of eruption. This
was situated east-northeast of the axis
of ithe mountain. It formed a small
steep-sided cone till the eruption of
July destroyed the northern portion,
forming a large low era er. There are
in fact now three cones and craters.one
within the other.
One of the most interesting things
during a recent examination of the
crater plain was a tunnel or cave filled
with a glistening forest of stalactites.
ICoet of these were from two to three
feet long, and a few twice that length.
The colors were most various and beau
tiful; bird's-egg blue, aqua marine,
white, yellow and reddish brown, and
many variegated in these colors. With
some difficulty and risk, on account of
the hydrochloric acid vapor with which
the cave wai filled, a few of the best
specimens were obtained and were
found on analysis to consist chiefly o
chloride of sodium, or oemmon salt
with chlorides of potassium, iron.
manganese and sulphates of soda, pot
ash, iron and copper. Lava is still
flowing, and experiments made on the
ipeeifie gravity of cold and hot lava
seem to upset the results obtained by
Palmieri and others 09 former oecasions
by showing that hot lava is lighter than
cold,
The Weather Bauswu.
"I ate," says Mrs, Spoopendyke, as she
laid the paper down, "I see that we are to
bsve niiair. followed by falling barometer
with northeast to southwest winds, and
higher or lower temperature, with clear or
partly cloudy weather, and lmht rains.
How is it they contrive to tell so accurate
ly about the weather? Do yon under
stand ii?
"Certainly," replied Mr. poopend) ke.
"they do it by observation. They have a
man out West observing, and a man down
Kast who observes, and fellows observing
around in different parts of the coaetrv.
Tbey put all their observations together,
and we know just what it's goinir to do."
"I suppose, that's what makes tbe wind
10 different every morning, when one man's
temperature is rising, soother's is falling;
and when one is clear, all the rest er
partly cloudy with "
tbey am t, hack observer sends
n what he observes, and then tbe chief
makes up his mind from riioee reports
what the weather will be. Can't you un
derstand!'
'Perfectly," said Mrs. Spoopendvke.
rubbing her elbows. "If one sees the ba
rometer rising, and another tees it failine:
and It cold in one place and c.oudv in
another, they all say so. But I should
think when one hits it light the others
wouid be awful mad."
What would they get mad about? de
manded! lr. poopendyke. "You don't
imagine that they all get together and
fight It out, tlo youf They take the
weather from different pcinta and combine
It, and then they parcel it out among the
different regions. For Instance, ir it
snows iu the fast and warm in the West,
they strike an average for tbe lake region.
Sow, what' the average between heat and
snow?"
Kain," cried Mrs. Spoopendvke, de
lighted with her sagacity. "I see how it
is now. They take what is usually going
on, and eqalice it all over the country. I'm
glad the Democrats weren't elected,"
'What have they got to do with it Do
you think a barometer is a politician?"
J Hut if tbe Democrats had been
elected they would have had to change it
all around, wouldn't they! And the South
wouid have get tbe best share. That
what the Itepub .''
"Dodgast the Republicans! They've
;ot ne more to do with it than you have.
You've got an idea, that they throw the
barometers and observers iBto one end of
a steam engine aud the weather omes out
of the other. They don't make weather.
The weather makes itself. It's the only
sclf-tfipportiug thing about the Govern-
menL And these signal men only watch
it, and tell what it's going to be."
I supp ee when these observers all get
together and talk it over, that it is callcTl
a storm center, isn't ill"
"That's ill" shouted Mr. Spontenrivke.
"You've got the weather, now. All you
want is your same painted on the handle
and the spring broken, to be an umberella
They don' ttalk it over; they tell what
they know, and it is fixed up in Washing
ton. 1 bey agree on it here, and then they
telegraph it all over the country. It is
generally made in Manitoba and then
seat down here."
How wide is it?" asked Mrs. Spoop
endyke, deeply interested. "Because if it
ain't too big, I snould think they might
stop it."
"Wide! It's about a feet wide! Just
a feet Just about as wide as your measly
information. Uow're they going to stop
it S'poes it travels on a railroad train?
Think it jaw tbe sleeping car conductor
because there's only an tpper berth leftf
Well it don t. It hires a hone. That s
the way it comes. It hires a horse I "
howled Mr. Spoopendyke, "and the only
way to stop it is to build a fence abound
There was some talk about burning
tne last one. but the wood was wet"
Well, my dear, you needn't get angry
about it" (aid Mrs. Bpoopendyke, sootn-
ngly. "I only thought there mieht be
some way tbny could make some arrange
ments about iL I think storm centres are
horrid, and the observer in Manitoba must
have a bard ti ae. If he has to observe
much in the winter, - he must be nearly
frazen."
Does any human being know what
you're thinking about?" raved Mr. Spoop-
nuyke. "Do you s pose he goes around
with a spy glass looking behind rocks?
Think he prowls around all night with a
dod gasted lantern, hunting up storm cen
tres? Got an idea that he runs around
under the bed with a broom, like a measly
married woman 1 know of, and when he
catches a centre, pulls him out by the leg
and observes him? lie don t do anything
of the sort, lie has 'em in to spend the
evening with him, and gets 'em drunk,
and finds out what they're up to. Under
stand it now? All you want is to whirl
around twice and squeak nights to be a
weather yane.''
I didn t know how tbey did it, quoth
Mrs. SpoopcDdyke, complacently, "but I
see now. II tbe lTonibiUonuts bad been
elected he couldn't have done that, and
we would ha7e bees in a bad way. 2iow
that 1 understand it I'll learn the indica
tions every morning How does a barom
eter rise and falit
"With lack-screws, dod gast it!" thun
dercd Mr. Spoopendyke. "Sometimes
they haul .it up with a stump machine;
then they drap a carpenter's shop en iu
Once in Dakota it got so high that they
bad to dig a bole and ram it down with a
pile driver. Uot it nowt Beam to se
through ill What you need ia a box of
pills and a conundrum to be an almanac!'
And Mr. Spoopendyae jumpen out of tbe
bouse like a conical shot, and banged tbe
do. after him.
"I never quite understood it before,"
soliloquized Mrs. Spoopendyke, specula
ting whether she would put tlie plume on
the side or back part of her hat; "but now
that he's made it plain U me, I wonder
tbey don't o'jserve by steam. It must be
awlul hard on the poor men." And, hav
ing decided about tbe plume, Mrs. bpoop-
endyke filled her mouth with pins, snd
crawled under the bed in search of her
thimble.
ITUllains; Rough Ground.
Oa many farms there are portions of
land that cannot be plowed without great
difficulty on account of ravines or stones.
They may be seeded to grass and used for
pasturage, but it is hard to cut tbr Srass
that grows on tnem. This broken land
may generally be utilized to excellent ad
vantage by planting it to crop that require
considerable room. Grapes do well on
rocky and broken land, if sufficient pains
be taken to prepare the places where the
vines are to stand. Quite a large hole
should be excavated and partially filled
with manure and loose earth. A rocky
sod is ordinarily warm .and well drained
by the spaces between the stones. Many
of the best vineyards in Europe are located
on land so broken aud rocky that it cannot
be made to produce paying crops of grain,
grass or potatoes. Tomatoes can alas be
profitably raised on broken hud. The
vines require considerable space in which
to spread their branches"
NEWS IX DRIKF
Vanderbilt's great ball cost f20,-
00a
John McDouough. the actor, lately
deceased, left by will $25,000.
The skius of large Newfoundland
dogs are made in beautiful robes.
Professor Xordenskiold will start on
another Polar expedition in July.
Archibald Forbes is visiting some
of the friendly Indians on the plains.
During the last year 273 cases of
suicide ocf-uretTin tlie Prussian army.
Ontario has 10.468 prisoners in her
jails ami 3.0G3 lunatics iu her asylums.
A team of English cricketers wil
go to Australia during the coming sum
mer.
Mr. Gladstone has civen TM t.i th
fund for the projected Koyal College of
Music.
Geueral George Waahiuirton was
made a Marshal of Fraui-a h-r 1
XVI,
The whulo fishery first SDran" no in
the Bay of Biscay, in the twelfth cen
tury. I he animal lai.iin Droluntiin f
California amounts to about 6:2,000
boxes.
David Dudlev Field is ss.i.1 Li
the oldest practicing lawyer in the
United States.
Havana, Cuba, has trotting raoaa
every Sunday at the Hqiptxlronie during
the winter.
The eat was first donitstie9.L.1 in
Egypt The Greek aud Romans did
not possess it.
One hundred and ten monatteriee
were suppressed iu England by the order
of Henry V.
New South Wales, with a lmnnla.
tion of less than 800,000, has a debt of
390,000,000.
The average Italian farm hainl ak
home works eleven hours a da v for about
$1.50 a week.
Tho sewers of Puris diselnirir Qfi! .
GiG cubic metres of liuuiJ nitt,,r in
twenty-four hours.
The ori-'inal name of tb eitv of
Allmuy, wheu founded by the Dutch
was Beaverwick.
Paracelsus is .vii.l t Ii w cnru.1
leper by keeping him for sixty hours in
a bath of hot mud.
A large nnniW-r of yonne men are
reported to be leaving Vermont Da
koto, this soring.
An association has lieen formed at
Iulianapolis to protect the food fish in
the waters of the State.
Tbe amount of capital invested in
the liquor business in Brooklyn, N. Y.,
is said to be 313,000,000.
- In Egypt there are hoypitals for
superannuated cats, while human suffer
ing scarcely eueits a care.
The vineyards of Xapa Vallev.Cali-
foruia, averaged, in 1SS0. about eiirbt
tons of grapes to the acre.
Nearly 3,000 tons of wrapping paper
were made in one month, by fifty-one
mills, iu the United States.
It is reported that twenty thousand
people in India in the year 1880 wen.
killed by snakes and tigers
It is estimated that the number of
people rendered destitute by flood iu the
lower Mississippi is 43,000.
James Keene is said to have giveu
instructions for the building of a $300,
000 "cottage" at Newport
The act abolishing flogging iu the
United States navy was approved by
Congress, September 28, 1850.
Miss Longfellow, the poet's daugh
ter, is fitting up a Massachusetts room
in Washington's Mount Vernon.
An earthquake in 1819 caused a
large area of land near the delta of the
Indus to become a huge inland sea.
There have been more earthquakes
in Spain than in all the other parts of
Europe taken together, Italy excepted.
The blackleg, or mountain fever.
has made its appearance among the cat
tle of Chew, Oregon. A few have died.
More than 3,000 women are em
ployed in tlie railway offices of Austria.
They receive a salary of $15 to $30 a
month.
The state of Pennsylvania has re
covered $12,000 from ex-treasurers who
withheld money received for liquor li
censee. The gold yield of the Nova Scotian
mines from 15bi to 1880 inclusive was,
by the cfiicial reports, valued at $),212,-
New York state is first for the past
year in number of killings. It has had
101, of which 47 were committed In the
city.
James Uorden Bennett gave a ball
in fans receutly that cost bim about
$1,500. The duncers tarried until six
o'clock.
Iu the year 1880 the total Ions by
fires in Boston was 31.173,591, while up
to Dec. 1, 1881, tlie losses footed up
$135,585.
Ola Bull's residence at Madison is
offered to the Wisconsin Legislature for
an Executive mausiiou. The price asked
is 315,000.
Tlie year's peanut crop iu Tennes
see, V lrgima aud orth Carolina is
abont 900,000 bushels, against 2,350,
000 last year.
It is estimated that from $30,000.-
000 to SGO.OOO.OlK) is invented in the
jewelry trade of the United States, ex
clusive of sdver ware.
At a meeting of the American Tract
Society in Washington the receipU for
1881 were stated at $377,000, and the
expendtures at $373,000
Steps have been taken in Chicago
for the establishment of an institution
in which women who are addicted to
stimulants aud to opiates may be re
formed.
The railwav system of India in
cludes 8,611 miles. The gauge is three
feet six inches. AH lines are built pri
marily for military and not commercial
purposes.
A Chinaman, dying of consumption
in Chicago, erected an altar in his laun
dry and worked before it, with his face
to the East, as Iocg as he was able to
work at all
The Canadian banks were forbidden
last July to issue any more four-do' iar
bills, but by some queer freak the public
demands them, and the Dominion Go
varment will hereafter issue bills of that
denomination.
The State Board of Examiners of
California counted the money in the
State Treasury recently and found on
hand $2,111,506 75. being 76 cents in
excess of the amount called for by the
Controller's book.
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