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THE 00I8TITUTICI-THB U5I0I-AID THE EBT010EMEIT OP THE LAWB.
Fditor and Proprietor.
B. F. SCH WEI ER,
MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY. PENNA.. WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 27, 18S4.
VOL. XXXVIII.
NO. 9.
l Mlt R THE CHESTMT BOIC1I5.
There's a lad to-night far oat at sea
He may never be home again.
But, whether or not he conis back to me,
My heart is his own, as when
V were mJm by 1 on a Jay long rle.1,
When J heard his eag.tr vows,
Ami blushed at the tender words he said
Under the cnestnut uongns
They tell me a tailor's heart is bound
By bond that break at a breath;
Others, prrhan, such love have found,
Kut his will be mine till death.
I!ut whether he sleeps beneath the wave
Or over the crest he ploughs,
I must always lie true to the pledge I gave
Under the chestuut louglis.
It would grieve me less if the news were
brought
That he died in a far-off sea
Than if, Bitting alone to-tiiglit, I thought
He could evr be false to me.
The low laud in winter garb is clad,
iow covers the mountain brows;
So longer I stand lieside my lad
I'nder the chestnut boughs.
But I feel that my love will c rue back
some day
From over the stormy sea,
As loyal and true as hen, going away.
He whispered farewell to me.
My heart goes out by the tl-am-tbvked
shore.
And never a doubt allows;
t ohall surely stand, as we stood before,
I'nder the chestnut boughs.
LADT ANN.
The snow lay neavy upon hill and val
ley. The wind has cease-1. and in un
sheltered places the sun had turned the
snow into little rivulet that rat. merri
ly away from their staiii.ig-i.'oints.
"Gooi-nioinlng, Peedee, and may
tliy choice be a happy one," said one
little bird to another; as he flew down
upon the glittering snow.
"The same bussing to yourself. Pee
ree, and thank God for a pleasant Four
teenth." returned re dee.
"I thank God," aid Tc dee, -'al-though
I coidd cl.oose my mate to-day,
even if there were 1.0 sunlight to help
me."
"Well said, friend; and w here do you
think of building?"
"1 am looking about "
"Try an elm near Sqmre Johnson's
back door I shall build near there,
God willing."
"The very spot I selected!" cried
reeree: "but the mate I would choose
happened to see the new moon over her
left wing as she wont the first time to
visit it."
"And wilt thou give it up for thui,
reeree?"
"I have visited it often by myself
Peedee; the houte-Oog talks in his
sleeps
"Be frank I Tell me all, dear friend.
I would not build In an unlucky place.
"I had it all from the house-dog chat
talks in his sleep."
VYes, yen. Does he dream of cats, or
of boys who can climb?"
Xay. nay! The old .Squire keeps no
cats, but he is a cruel man, I trow.
Tli Ink you, Peedee, that a man who
will not vi.-it his own folks, but drives
them from his door, would save a crumb
for birds?"
"If this be true, Peeree. I've heard it
in good time. I saw the grand old
trees, and did target the crumbs; but
more tlian grub or crumb I seek a
peaceful spot,"
"Then follow me, Peedee."
Aud the two birds spread their wings,
and flew away.
When they a'l,-hted, it waslefore the
door of a very humble little house, with
blue painted steps.
"What is that round bundle with a
red top, on the steps?" asked Peedee.
"Round bund'e, indeed!' returned
Peeree indigently. "Why that's Lady
Ann herself."
"Just then tlie round bunble turned
about, and Peedee saw a plump little
girl with a red hood of coarse flannel
upon her head, and shining rubber boots
upon her feet.
The sun had bis own way here, for
the melted snow was trickling rapidly
away In many little streams down the
blue steps. Lady Ann tried to stop it
by planting her small, almost round
foot firmly in its way: but the melted
snow,with a gurgle of delight, shot
around the toe and heel of the small
rubber boot, and spread outward in its
conre. Perhaps there was something
in its perseverence that touched LaJy
Ann, for, like many a persecutor before
her. siie suddenly turned reformer, and
could hardly sweep the melting tlakes
fast enough down the steps with her
tinv broom toward the snow below.
As she stopped a moment to rest a
red pung, with heavy bells, drove up to
the gate, and a merry' boyish votce
sang out: "Lady Ann, wilt thou be
minfl' an 1 may I call thee Valentine?"
With a jo ful little cry Lady Ann
threw down her broom: '-Oh, Billy,
Billy I Mamma has gone to carry home
the sewing, but I can open the door.
Did you bring me anvthing. Billy?"
"AM Lady Ann." said, Billy, with a
pathetic shake of hit stubby old whip,
"although I get up by the light of a
lantern, take down shutters and sweep
out the store, cairy sugar and tea from
morn till dewy eve, to say nothing of
slow uk lasses on cold mornings, and
all for two dollars per week, and eat off
myself, yet would I have it known that
on St. Valentine's Day no g'ocery-man
in all Brookfi-ld b:ings his lady so fine
a valentine as I!''
"What is a waluntine, Billy?"
lie looked down at her with a wise,
explanatory expression upon his broad,
freckled face. A waluntiue, Lady Ann,
is a a well, if you love me as I love
you, m kaifecan cnt our love in two,
and I send you a waluntine. No,
that isn't quite right, because I might
be violently attached to you, and you
not be able to reM:ercate my affections,
as some of 'em say, but still I might
send you a waluntine Fee?"
"Well, what is it, Billy?"
"It's a softener," said Billy.
"A softener!" she repeded. "Let
me see it."
He handed her a valentine he could
ill afford to buy.
"Why, it's a pretty letter, w ith flow
ers and birds on it! Oh, you good Billy!"
"1 hope the 'sentunient,' as they call
it, is all right" he said. "I hidn't time
to read it. I'm off now to carry sugar
and fiour to Squire Johnson's; may the
flour m:ike heavy bread, and the sugar
sweeten less than sand. Your grand
father is a double-djed villain; did you
know it, Ladv Ann?"
"I w-i-l L" said Lady Ann, spelling
out the words of her valentine.
"He is a scoundrel, Lady Ann!"
"Is hp?" ttlm Mid tvM.IK- u.l l;ifU
girl told me he would chase me away if
1 went to his house; but I dont want to
go to his house."
"He wouldn't."
"Why not?" she said indifferently.
"Cause he couldn't."
"Can't he run?"
"Xo."
"Has he broke bis foot?" Ladv Ann's
tone had a slight touch of sympathy.
"Xo," s tid Billy as lie took up the
reins, "but lie is sick. When folks lock
their doors on their own children, and
then swallow the key, it 'most general
ly makes 'em sick."
"Billy!" exclaimed Lady Ann, "has
grandpa swallowed a key?"
" Tes. and it lies heavy." said Billv,
"and good enough -for him. Uieh a
he Is, no one will send him a waluntine
to-day, Ladv Ann."
"Say, Biliy "
But the red pung with its heavy bells
bad gone on its wav.
Left alone Lady Ann gave up the
speliing and kept thinking to herself;
"Biliy says my grandpa has swallowed a
kev, and no matter if his pocket is full
of money nobody will send hiui a wal
untine even if he is sick"'
Looking through the snow-laden
trees she could see the great house
where her grandfather lived. She open
ed the valentine, smelt at once of the
painted roses, and kissed thetwo doves
that looked out at her. Simple little
Lady Ann! At the fame moment there
came into her thoughts the few words
her mother had taught her to sav every
night in her prayer for her grandfather,
whose band she had never touched.
"lie shall have a waluntine!': she
said. Crmly,-and the stubby little boots
slatted up the hill asfast as her fat baby
legs could propel them.
"Dost thou suppose, Peeree, that
yonder horrid boy can call that music?"
said Peedee, as the birds flew back,
after the red pung was well out of hear
ing. 'Billy's eara are so big," said ree
ree, "that a fine, bird-like sound might
be lost in traveling through them; but
his heart moves as quickly as a bird's.
There would have been no valentine for
little Lady Ann to-day if Billy had for
gotten her."
"See!" slid Peedee. "The Lady
Ann is trudging fast away, and she has
not thrown us crumb."
"And hast thou earned thy crumb,
Peedee? Come, let us fly fast before
her and tell the house-dog she is com
ing, that he may have a care of her."
"Why need we haste, Peedee? Short
legs travel but slowly throngh deep
snow."
"Aye; but a warm heart breaketh a
path like the sun, Peedee."
By the time Lady Ann reached the
great house, her breath came very fast.
and she was obliged: to sit down on the
stone steps to rest. As she sat there, a
huge dog came and rubbed his cold
noise on her red cheek and wagged his
tail most politely. When she was rest
ed, she walked up and down the wide
piazza and looked m through the long
windows. There, at last, the house
keeper saw her, came out, aud told her
gentlv to go away. "Are you not little
Ann?" she said. "The Squire is in
pain to-day, and if he should see you he
would be very angry."
"The key hurts him very much."
thought Lady Ann. bat she said: "Here
isa waluntine for him, will you put it
in his hand?"
"I dare not, little Ann," said the
woman.
'Why?" said Lady Ann, in wild as
tonishment. "Don't you give him a
waluntine, big though you are! Then
let me go in."
"Well, then, come in." said the house
keeper, kindly, adding under her breath,
-may ue, good win come or it,"
W ith the house-dog close following at
her heels, and her "waluntine" so
tightly clutched that the doves and
flowers within were sadly mixed, little
Lady Ann, for the tirst tune entered
tier grandfather's house.
In a great chair before the open Cre
of his own room sat the Squire, with his
ueaa nacK ana ins eves closed.
"This is Mary's child." said the old
log, coming in before Lady Ann, as if
he felt called upon to introduce her.
And then he thought within himself.
'This child's mother fed me when I
was a pup. Should a dog remember
better than his master?"
It may be the Squire understood him.
for he raised his cne high in the air
and cried sternly: "Begone, sir!" But
w hen he saw the round little figure of
lady Ann he dropped the cane, pulled
down the gold spectacles from the top
of his head and stared at her without a
word. And as she advanced and placed
the vanentine upon the old man's knee
the house-do,; followed close behind her,
wagging nis tall slowly.
"What is this?" demanded the crusty
Squire, knitting his brows.
"A waluntine," said she, not without
a small pang, as she thonght of the
beautiful doves and flowers, now lost
to tier iorever.
"What's a waluntine?" he asked.
looking down at her bright little face.
"A waluntine is a softener," she said
instantly, rather proud that she had not
forgotten Billy's definition.
A tcAaf.-" exclaimed the Squire.
frowning fiercely.
"A softener, " said Ladv Ann; not at
all afraid, and sura that the word must
mean someth.ng very nice. And then
she added. In a coaxing tone: "Read
it."
God seldom closes every channel to
an old man's heart. Proud, unforgiv-
in rr Avon ivnol OAmaf i rrw.a 4 ha nlil Qnnira
iauvsa v. uv tnuivuii u tuv viv -vj miv
still had a rare sense of the ridiculous,
and he read aloud:
"I w Jl not part from thee, I win not let tliee
free.
Till thou dost promise me my Valeutlne to
be.
When he bad read these Imps, and
looked over the top of the valentine,
and when he saw the small .Lady Ann
sitting before ihe fire, he wondered if
she meant to sit there until he bad
promised. He thought he saw a pa
tient determination in every feature,
not excepting the stubby rubber boot
which persistently pointed at him, on
account of its owner being obliged to
hold it up accross the other to rest the
little short legs which had trudged so
far to give bim pleasure. He never
could tell just bow it was he only
knew he laughed as he bad not laughed
for years, which opened the one chan
nel to his heart so wide that, almost lie
fore be knew it, the little Ladv Ann
went drifting in, coarse red hood, rub
ber boots, and all!
What name do you bear?" he asked,
as he wiped away the tears that follow
ed the laugh.
"My name?" she said, laughing, too.
"Yes what name does your what do
they call you?"
"Ann."
"Just Ann, plain Ann?" he said.
"No i-e's nor e-y's?"
"Billy calls me Lady Ann," she an
swered.
"Aye! that leggar Billy. I know
him drives Stone's grocery-wagon.
When I see him he shall feet my cane
on his back."
"What. Billy! my Billy! Why he
gave me the waluntine!"
"Oh. lie did, did he? Told you to
fetch it to me. may be."
"Xo, he didn't, but he told me you
wouldn't have any, and he told me
about the key."
"What key. child? Billy seems very
well informed about me knows more
than I myself."
"He said you locked all your doors
and swallowed the key, and it hurt you
but I guess now that he just said it
for fun but I lielieved him at first."
She shrugged ber small shoulders,
laughed ani looked up at the Squire
as if she felt quite willing that he as
well as herself, should enjoy her simple
confidence in Billy.
"Well. I almost believe the young
scamp was half right. Lady Ann; for
when we turn the key against our own,
it rusts in the heart in spite of our
selves, and that makes pain."
Ijidy Ann smiled cheerfully, and
rubbed ber boots, polishing first one
and then the other with her bright
mitten. What had she to do with any
thing so old as pain in the heart?
The winter sunshine flooded the
room. The old dog slept by the fire,
and lid net even talk in his "sleep.
"Go home, little Ann, said the
Squire, "and take this bunch of keys
to do Mary, your mother, and tell
her they unlock everv door of her home.
But. Ladv Ann hang your father!
Yet hold, child, a moment; you need
not say that."
"Xo," said Ladv Ann, with the
same cheerful smile; ''I won't say
that.
When the merry sun went down
Lady Ann was sleeping in the great
house. Two queer looking rubber
boots rested, after their day's work,
before the fire. When one fell as if it
missed a little round foot and stout
leg and could not stand without them,
the grandfather set it right again, and
laughed in spite of the pain it cost him
to move. The house-dog opened his
eye Just enough to see that Lady Ann's
crushed "waluntine" still lay in the
old Squire's hand. '
"I tell thee. Peedee. 1 had it all
from the dog all straight from the
dog, and not in his sleep.
"Then tell me again, if thou wilt,
Peeree, for if the spot be pure and free
from selfish anger, I should like naught
as well as that thou shouldst build near
me."
"May our children be friends. Pee
dee?" "You say the Squire forgives all, and
Ieace dwells in the house; but will you
not Ml me, Peeree, what made all this
trouble at first?"
"Ah! Peedee! Peedee! When the sun
shines so brgtit. is it a bird that would
ask the reason of a storm that is all
over? Why, Peedee!"
"Thou dost ever chide one so gently,
reeree; but answer roe this: would the
Squire have opened his heart so wide
had the child not been called for his otm
mother?"
"Dost thou not sec fresh crumbs at
the kitchen door, Peedee?''
"Thank God for this happy Four
teenth, Peedee! And may Mrs. Peeree,
that is to be, never see the new moon
over her left wing any more."
bomethlng Struck mm.
"I like to know if I vhai protected
by der law?" he asked as he softly en
tered the Central Station.
"Just as much as anybody else," re
plied the captain as he looked, np from
his monthly report
"Vbell. dis morning a man comes in
mem saloon nnd rays he likes to get
warm. JJot vhas all r ght, nnd I tells
htm to take some shsira."
"Yes."
"Purty qneek he begin to breathe
haid, like somebody running, nnd pe
fore I knows it he fall oafer nnd acts
like he vbas dyinc. I tell yon dot makes
sbills go ofer me!"
"Probably had a fit."
'-'I tink so, too, but perore I can go
oudt doors two men comes in nnd one of
dem cries out: 'Dot vhaj apoplexy
like tnnder, nud somepody ro for a doc
tor!' "
"And who went?"
"VhelL 1 doan like to haf some man
die in mem saloon and leave his ghost
to scare me, nnd so I pat on my hat nnd
rush off."
"Well."
"Vhell, I run two blocks nnd pack,
nnd den I find out der shoke on me."
-now?"
"Vhy. nopody was in dtr saloon any
more, Der man gets vhell so qneek ash
1 vhas gone, nnd I miss six pint bottles
of prandr,"
"Ah!"
''Yes, dot vhas 'ah!' on meshnst tree
dollar, and I like an officer to come np
nnd sht&nd at der door nnd hit some
pody mit a glub."
He was promised that a sharp look
ont should be kept for the three men
described, and he went ifway saying:
"I vhas madt pecause dot vhas
prandy mitont any water in it. nnd I
pelief I lock np der blaoa nnd go
around t mit some braE-knuckles nnd
look for dot apoplexy man. If I find
hint nopody will eafer know dot some
tiling struck him!"
I nit tog Water at Moals.
There is a common notion that it is
injurious to health to drink freely of
water at meals, and we have seen many
warnings against the habit, the reader
being advised to abstain from drinking
until the end of the meal. An article
recently published in the Lancet, how
ever, leads ns to infer that the idea we,
have mentioned finds no sufficient rap
port in medical authority. "To mohten
food," says that journal, "and prepare
it for digestion, it is hardly necessary
to say that it should be taken with a
meal; a conple of tomblerfnls at dinner
is not an excessive quantity for most
persons. ' This language indicates that
water drinking at meals is not only
harmless bnt actively beneficial.
Bread sattce. Soak grated bread
crumbs ia some while stock, and sim
mer them along with a sliced onion,
some white peppercorns, cloves and a
little salt. When the sauce is sufficiently
seasoned, remove the onion and apioes
and serve it hot.
GirMM and Wlcbea.
Probably everyone associates the
word garden, with a spot where either
useful and necessary vegetables grew
and ripen, or where lovely flowers oen
their scented petals for our delight; but
there are other gardens than these,
cultivated, it is true. In the summer
season, as are those which are mere
familiar, but no flowers grace their
beds, unless we so term the geometric
crystals which ornament with unvary
ing beauty the miry pits.
These "salt gardens," as they are
called, are oftenest found in the torrid
climates of Africa and India w here the
warm sun and mild air carry on a natu
ral process of evaluation.
The flow of the tide is first admitted
into a shallow pond, where the mud
and some of the other refuse is allowed
to settle, and from which the purer
water is drawn off into reservoirs,
further t ack from the edge of the ocean
where a system of pipes causes it to
flow into shallower basins, arranged in
rectangular order, leaving gutters be
tween them by which the water that
has deposited its coveted crystals is
drawn off.
Then the rough sediment is raked
into heaps, covered with straw, and
allows-1 to remain for a long time that
the natural moisture of the atmosphere,
by penetrating the mass, may gradually
separate from the salt some of the
chemical impurities associated with it.
thus the natives render it ready for
market. Like most of the primitive
methods that have been employed by
man. however, this natural mode has
its disadvantages, as a rain storm ma
terially checks the process. Fortunately
a kind and wice Providence, knowing
the vast importance of this most essen
tial article, has stored up for us immense
masses both in solid and liquid form
where rain and tide cannot hinder our
securing it.
There is one mine near Liverpool,
England, from which crystals are ob
tained as clear and colorless as glass.
r rom other mines, however, it comes
often in varying degrees of cloudy
color from gray to red, and must be
dissolved and purified. At Lunnberg,
in Germany, the natural brine comes
welling up from unknown reservoirs.
pure and unadulterated, a never-failing
flow.
At Wiuipfen, anotlier German
spring, fresh water is let down by deep
shafts into the mass of salt, and then
pumped up tiirougn pipes occupying
the middle of the shaft, the water
having become saturated with the pre
cious substance of the surrounding
stratum.
At Droiterich, in Worcestershire,
England, upon sinking a shaft only
one hundred and seventy-five feet, the
natural brine rises to the surface and
overflows, if not pumped out. There
the bruie is allowed to flow into iron
evaporating ians resting on flues by
which heat is brought beneath the pans.
The steam is carried off throngh open
ings in the roofs of the sheds, and, as
the heat can be increased nearly to the
boiling point, the evaporation is very
rapid and the crystals deposited are very
fine, and form our best quality of table
salt. The slower the evaporation, the
aoarser the grain of the salt; so the
gentler heat produces our bay salt and
other coarse kinds used for the curing
of meats, fish, etc., and the salting of
cattle.
These natural wells of England are
in the vernacular dialect called wiehes,
and grants were made to them under
that title, by various Saxon kings,
even before the time of the Domesday
Book.
The amount of salt taken from these
wells or wiches, must have been enor
mons, for when a duty was first laid on
salt in the year 1820, the amount yielded
by them wa; estimated at 10 000 tons
per annum. W hue considering these
foreign sources of supply, we must not
neglect our own great salt lakes and
mines in Pennsylvania. Virginia, Ohio.
Xew Y'ork, Louisiana and Utah. In
deed, all over Xorth America there
seems to be salt wells of varyingdensity,
In Canada there is a large salt stratum
buried about eight hundred feet below
the surface.
Among the large deposits of rock
salt in Xorth America is that of "Petit
Anse," a richly cultivated Island in
Louisiana. There, on the estate of
Judge Daniel Avery, a well was sunk
in 1S01, resulting in the revealing, at
a depth of only sixteen or eighteen
feet, of a rich deposit. By the tun
nelling that has since been done the
miners have not succeeded in reaching
the margins of the mine in any direc
tion.
In sinking the shafts at Petit Anse,
large quantities of pottery, human bones
and stone implements were unearthed.
mingled with the bones of mastodons
and of deer and oilier game, proving
the truth of the old proverb that "there
is nothing new under the sun," as eve
dently, ages ago, man and beast sought
here their common necessity. Thus, in
1801. the mine was only rediscovered.
when the great need of our Southern
brethera was relieved by the finding
of this apparently limitiess supply of
salt.
Indeed, so important an accessory is
this to the animal constitution that
cases have been known where death
followed its entire absence from food
for a period, the mortal disease being
accompanied by symptoms of starvation
though food had been sufficient to sup
port me.
The wide-spread supply of salt is
most fortunate when we consider the
immense number of uses to which it is
put, not only for the preservation of
life and food, but in the nianuixture
of glass, soda, leather, soap, paint.
ani even poL-on (corrosive sublimate
ueing a mixture or quicksilver and
salt, in the proportions of six parts
of the first to twelve parts of the sec
ond. J
In tho Puniaub, in India, some of the
salt aepouts are found in an almost
pure state, alternating with layers of
gypsum, granite, and forming a chain
of low mountains destitute of vegeta
tion, extending their precipitous and
desolate length for nearly t hundred
mues.
In Africa are found quite laree
lakes of which the bottoms seem to
be covered, to an unascertained
depth, with salt crystals as hard as
stone.
The natives detach portions from
near the margins by means of rude
pickaxes.
These salt formations are supposed
to have resulted from the prevalence of
strong southeast winds of the summer
season, which blow right in from an
ocean particularly saline, bringing with
them a vapor which covers the whele
country like a thick tog for weeks at a
time, and which is densely Impregnated
with salt. This settles upon the sur
rounding vegetation and upon the sur
face of the lakes in the heavy saline in
crustation. But larger and more im
portant than any other known deposit
of salt in any form, is the great salt
mine of Wiehczka.in Galicia,a province
of Poland where the layer of salt is
said to run under the Carpathian moun
tains for five hundred miles ina stratum
twenty miles broad and twelve hundred
feet deep.
Imagine a mass of salt extending
from Boston to Buffalo, as broad as the
distance between Boston and Iiwell.
and as deep as the heighth of Mount
Tom in Massachusetts.
In tli is immense mine, some of the
shafts of which are sunk about ten
miles southeast of Cracow, nearly the
whole number of the population (esti
mated ten years ago .t 4,94.").) are em
ployed. These mines were discovered in 1233
by a shepherd named Wielicz, and the
work upon them has continued from
that time to the present, and has lieen
the chief source of Polish revenue. They
yield now about "i3,000 tons of salt a
year.
Many most curious features are con
tained in these most strange depths.
which extend horizontally in four stories
of fields, one below the other. In one
of the stories the visitor is rowed across
a large lake. In all of them the exca
vations are remarkable in size, some of
them enclosing chapels of which that
dedicated to St. Anthony is thirty feet
high, and contains images of saints
cut out of the solid saline rock
which is so pure as to resemble mar
ble. In some of the vaults are stables for
the immense number of horses employed
in the mines, and in others large store
houses are used for protecting the hay
and other food provided for their use.
Some or the vaults are supported by
heavy timbers, but most of them by
pillars of the salt itself, left un
touched by the excavators for this pur
pose. Other rooms of vat dimensions are,
however, entirely unsupported. Cox,
in writing or his visit to these mines.
says: "One of these chambers without
pillars was certainly eighty feet in
heighth, and so extremely long and
broad as almost to appear, amid
the subterraneous gloom, without
limit."
The air in the mines is very dry, no
moisture being perceptible in them.
The air is bracing, and the miners who
work in them six or eight hours a day
ate free from the diseases usually at
tacking their class, ana attain generally
to the ordinary age of their fellow-men
employed above ground.
In Spain, salt is generally found in
large masses above ground, forming at
Montserrat a hill of hve hundred feet in
height and of a circumference of sixteen
thousand feet.
At Cordone, in Catalonia, there is a
layer of about six inches of fertile soil
above the stratum of salt.
Here and there is a high promotory
of salt of a dep red color, and among
the grottos and chasms intersecting the
ehain of hills of which this promontory
is the termination, the salt crysttls hang
in many colored stalactites like great
bunches of grapes.
t'Mt laOlan Cookery.
Upon the subject of Indian cookery,
a writer says: "In the days when In
dia produced pagoda trees and nabobs
she had a capital school of native cook
ery. Pillaus, kaboKs, mulligatawny
soup and innumerable sorts of curry
were the dainties that appeared in
those days on the table of well-to-do
Anglo-Indians, and very good fare they
made. But these indigenous dishes
are despised by the Kuropean gentry,
who insist that their meals shall be
Western in look if not in taste. In a
few days for instance, there will be on
most tables a number of tasteless tntrees
with French names, in addition to the
perfunctory turkey and ham. The
latter are sure to be good of their kind,
but the tinned soup and the tinned
salmon, the tinned fruit with which
the tarts are made, and the tinned
peaches at dessert might be replaced
with the greatest advantage by the
products of the country. Fashion,
however, rules otherwise, and under her
tyranny the once great school ot Indian
cookery is rapidly approaching extinc
tion. Our contemporary affirms that it
is almost impossible to get a good curry
nowadays in India, the native cooks
having lost the art of making them.
Lniortunately they have not acquired
anything more than the "merest smat
tering of French cookery, being en
tirely indebted for what knowledge they
possess to the teaching given them by
their masters and mistresses. The con
sequence is that dinner parties among
Europeans have come to be ostentatious
feasts which look well enough on the
menus, but are infinitely inferior in every
other respect to the repasts which the
old school used to set forth on their hos
pitable boards. Even the moorghee
cutlet, that simple but exquisite plat
which only Indian cooks could prepare
properly, has almos become a thing of
the past, while a pillaued kid stuffed
with pistachio nuts would be regarded
with horror."
Fainted Taatb.
The sign "Artist in teeth" hangs
from a second-story window in Four
teenth street, near Sixth avenue, Xew
York. The artist talked freely about
his busiuess, which consists in paint
ing gold among gentlemen's teetlu
He says: "Xo longer does a perfectly
white, sound set of teeth attract atten
tion of a favorable nature. If a gentle
man has not cracks in his teeth he must
either go to a dentist and have them
made, or else come to me and have sev
eral of his teeth painted to give the im
pression that they are filled. The loud
est laughers at the Vanderbiltball were
gentlemen who sat in my chairs pre
viously. The gold leaf wears away in
time, but it is not injurious and can
easily be replaced. A gentleman doesn't
care for being fixed np in style to go to
his business, but atthaseaoaof the year
we are reap ng the harvest of society
events, and as you see by looking inside
my workroom there is enough work to
keep 20 men moving pretty lively. The
charge is only 75 cents for a front tooth
and $1 75 for a grinder. The back teeth
are harder to get at, hence the increase
of price. For $7 a man can put his
mouth in the latest style." A glimpse
into the workroom showed IS society
pets with open mouths and 16 bare-
armed painters wielding ! long-hand
ed paint brushes with golden tips.
Friday Unlucky.
Will the world ever get over the idea
that Friday is an unlucky lav? - That
the crucifixion occurred on a Friday is
more than can be proved, lint admit'
ting all that is claimed, there have been
many events occurring 011 this unlucky
day that were decidedly the reverse of
unlucky. Of course, a long list might lie
iriven, but a rew. connected chieny with
American history, will do. On Friday,
August d. H'.IJ, Columbus sailed fiom
Palos, on his memorable voyage of dis
covery, and on Friday, Octolier 12th,
he discovered the first land, the island
which he callid San Salvador. On
Friday, March 5, 14'.h;, Henry VIII
commissioned John Cabot, and this
commission is the first English state
paper on record concerning America.
On Friday, Septemtar 7, lSo."i, St. Aug
ustine, Fhi.. was founded the oldest
town in the United States, On Friday,
Xovember 10, 1G20, the "Mayflower"
made land at Princetown, and on the
same day the Pilgrims signed the com
pact which was the forerunner of our
constitution On Vrid:iv 1 Wnnir OO
1C20, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth
Iiock. On Friday, February 22, 17:12,
Washington was born. On Friday,
October 16, 1775, Bunker Hill was
seized and fortifie '. On Friday, Oc
tober 8, 1 1 1 7, occurred the surrender at
Saratoga. On Friday, September 2",
17H0. Arnold's treason was discovered.
On Friday, October 10, 17S1, Cornwal
lis surrendered at Yorktown, and the,
war for independence ended in com-'
plete victory. Other events might be
named. In the war with Mexico the
battle of Palo Alto began on Friday.
The northwestern boundary question,
which threatened war with England,
was settled on FrUay of the same year.
On Friday the Confederates captured
Fort Sumter, and precipitated the. war
for the Union. The Port Royal forts
were taken by the Union forces on
Friday; the battle of Pea Bidge closed
on Friday, slavery was abolished in the
District of Columbia on Friday; Fort
Pulaski was taken, Memphis was taken,
Fredericksburg bombard!, the battle
of Gettysburg was ended, Iee defeated
at Five Forks, the Union flag restored
to x ort Sumpter, all on I riday.
ilalmy Sleep,
Prominent physicians tell us a person
should never be waked except in caes
of urgent necessity. A man in his na
tural state Is healthy. The ailments of
parents are often visited upon the chil
dren, not because it is a source of pleas
ure to the Almighty, but because it 13
nature's law. One of nature's laws is
that a man is benefitted by sleep. If it
had been intended that a man should
work twenty-four hours nature would
have made the sun shine all the time.
The man whodisregards the demands
of his body and mind for the amount of
rest that nature claimssnffers sooner or
later. Xature is the best book keeper
the world ever saw. You may over
draw, but you always piy back the last
penny, and often give up the ransom.
Shyl'vlc demanded of Antonio, and
sometimes even more than the pound of
flesh The man who attempts to steal
from nature finds his mistake.
When a man falls asleep he is ia a
shop for repairs. All the intricate ma
chinery of his body is being overhauled
and put in order for the next day's
work. Xatwa knows what the tired
body deeds. She lays it on a bed, sur
rounds it wit the refreshing air of
night, covers It with darkness, and lets
the man rest. "Tired nature's sweet
restorer balmy sleep," visits him, and
as the hours pass by his energies are
renewed, his strength comes back, and.
finally, when the sunlight steals through
the window, he opens his eyes and feels
like a new man. If he is early to bed
he awakes correspondingly early.
Xow, who will go to that man's side
an hour before he opens his eyes, and
say to nature: "Stand aside and let
him up; he has had enough of rest?"
Well, nature will say: "You can take
him if you will, but I will charge him
with an hour's loss of sleep, and I'll
collect it out of his bones and nerves
and hair and eyes. You can't cheat
hne, I'll find property to levy on." The
old law used to be eight hours for sleep,
eight hours for the usual vocation, and
eight hours for the service of God.
The day was divided into three equal
parts, and each part was devoted to its
own purpose. Do we obey the prompt
tings of the inner life, and give both
soul and body their needful rest and rec
reation? A day of settlement will
surely come, when each one will see
how his bank account stands with his
Maker.
The Value of Alaska.
Senator Ingalls, of Kansas, is au
thority for the ruthless and sweeping
condemnation of Alaska as "the most
wortliless territorial acquisition any
government was ever a ill ie ted with."
It is certain to those who know much
about Alaska that it is not nearly the
worthless territorial acquisition" that
ha brands it In the first place, Alaska
is very large larger than all that terri
tory which forty years ago was known
as the "Great American Desert,"
whereof the State of Kansas is a part,
and forty yeax3 ago not esteemed more
highly than the Senator now holds
Alaska. In the second place, Alaska
has very valuable fisheries' of salmon,
cod, halibut and king salmon, as yet
but little developed, but enough to in
dicate that in a few years, with a suit
able government for that territory, they
will be worth as much as those of Xew
Foundland and Xova Scotia, both for
food supply aud the creation of a mer
cantile marine on the American coast
of the Pacific. In the third place
Alaska is covered in many parts with
the beet forests in the world.
Alaska has mines of gold, copper,
iron and coal, not much developed as
yet, but enough to encourage the hope
that, after the gold mines south of
them in our country shall be exhausted
Alaska will become one of the greatest
producers of this metal In the world.
Its climate is on the coast less rigor
ous Uiau tn at oi Newiounaiana, or
Sweden, or Xorway, or the Baltic coatt
of Russia. There are good reasons for
the belief that wheat .can be made a
profitable crop in parts of the Yukon
valley. And the cedars of Alaska are
better mid infinitely more inexhaust-
able than the famed cedars of Lebanon.
Such a country, covering as "It does an
area of more tlian half a unllioa square
miles, having a long coast line, good
harbors, many habitable islands, mines
of the precious and useful metals,
forests without end, fisheries and great
rivers, albeit its depths are as yet un'
explored, is not to be condemned out
oi hand as tne .Kansas senator con
demns it.
I
Tha Mazleaa Cllmat.
The climate is another disappoint
ment. We are told that the tempera
ture never varie3 more than ten degrees
from year to year, but stands eternally
between K) and 70 degrees; that it is a
summer land or fruits and Bowers,
cloudless skies and perpetual sunshine.
All this Is true in a certain sense, and
yet it is the meanest climate on the face
of fie earth: Although far within the
tropics, the valley of Mexico lies at an
altitude of nearly eight thousand feet,
and the summit of Mount Washington,
you know. Is. only between six andsev
n thousand. In summer, during the
five months of rainy season, certain
hours of every dty are devoted to a de
luge; and in winter, though fruits
abound and roses flourish, there is a
damp chilliness in the air which pene
trates the very marrow of one's bones
worse than the densest fog London ever
knew. It is a climate of contradictions,
aggravated by tho absence of all con
venience for producing warmth and dry
ness, liiat master painter ot cities,
Cannalitti, would have delighted in the
remarkable transparency of this atmos
phere, through which the distant hills,
twenty miles away, look like a barrier
at the end of the street.
The sky is dark, ultramirine blue.
and a May mildness ia in the air at noon
on these Jantary days worthy of "Xap
les, the Beautiful." The plazas and gar
dens are gay with flowers, great bouquets
as large as cartwheels can be bought
for 25 cents (which in Washington
would cost from 310 to 125); fruits are
as plentiful as stones in the streets
strawberries, red-ripe, at three cents a
bushel, great granades de China, pom
egranates with crimson hearts, limes,
mangoes, a thousand luscious trouical
varieties of unknown names, and loads
ujxn loads of golden oranges, forty of
which are offered for a "madeo." six
cents.
The dark -eyed daughters of old ,Cas-
tile" go flitting about the streets in
summer drtsses and almost universally
wun no wrap or covering for the head
but the lace mantilla, a tiny corner of
jich is pinned upon the back hair, falls
1 ghtly over the shoulders ani is careful
ly crossed m front. But tiere is an
other side to this charming picture.
The ancient "cas;is" and modern palac
es till built alike on the same general
plan of Moorish architecture have
walls from four to nine feet thick,
which retain dampness eternally, and
are guileless of any manner of heating
arrangements. Xo stoves or grates are
possible, because there are no chimneys.
and thousands of rooms, opening into
the inevitable inner court, have onlv
the one door, which serves also as a
window, for the almittance of sun and
air. J. he result is a rheumatic, azue-
prxluc a, neuralgia-provoking atmos
phere from the accumulated mold or
damp of centuries, in which one lives,
and speedily die unless much out
of doors. A few enterprising Ameri
cans have tried the cold comfort of
coal-oil stoves, te the great detriment of
lungs aad pockets (with petroleum at
51 ir gallon), and not a few of them
have inadevertetly committed suicides
by experimenting with charcoal braz
iers. Almost constant exercise in the
open air is necessary here, and to pre
serve health one soon becomes a peram
bulating drug-shop, stocked with qui
nine and mescal. The knowledge that
far more than a thousand years this
has been the site of a populous citv.
with no possibility of drainage, but on
the contrary has been drained into from
all the surrounding country effective
ly destroys the most rabid prohibition
ist s desire to take water "straight."
Those "to the manner born," or to the
manner educated, never drink water at
all, except in combination. Imported
wines, which are cheap and plentiful.
are the universal table drink here as in
Europe, and the native table beer, mes
cal and other beverages made from the
maguey or "century" plant, are nec
essary to health and far less harmful in
their effects than the fatal water guz
zling which our de.tr but mismiided
Ohio friends insisted upon. Drunken
ness is a rare sight indeed in this and
other countries where cold water is not
made a hobby. In our own beloved
land, and especiay in that State now
known as the "stepmother of Presi
dents;" we havelejunatthe wrong end
of tl question, and are making drunk
ards of our boys with diabolical presis
tency first by exciting the spirit of
Jiotiier tve, which is the heritage of
all her descendants when forbidden
fruit is in question; and, second, by
permitting the manufacture of poison
ous compounds, instead of having pure
leverages as carefully regulated bv law
as the quality of oar burning fluids.
Heads and Talla.
In aa alley off Griswold street,
Detroit, shortly after noon, several
people saw a middle-aged man and
woman sitting flat on the snow, while
the lap of the lady was fairly covered
with greenbacks which the pair were
counting. The presence of spectators
did not stop the count nor seem to
annoy the counters, but after the pile
nad oeen naadied over, bill by bill, the
man called out:
"Durn my buttons, but we've missed
it again!"
"What are you doing?" asked one of
the spectators.
"Why, I've drawed SGOO from the
bank, and we are counting it over to
see if it's all right" "And isn't it?"
"X o. I counted fust and made 3010.
Then the old woman counted and made
S500. Then I counted and made $020,
and now she's handled the pile and
there's .535."
"And I'm right," said the woman.
"I don't believe it!" he replied.
You never went to skule a day in
your life, and what do you know about
counting?"
"And when did you go to skule?"
she hotly demanded. "If thir's 5)00
in that pile I'll eat every dollar of it!"
"I'll count for you," said one of the
spectators, and in about five minutes
he announced that the sum total was
ai even 5000."
A secoudfwas a-ked to count it, and
he made the total the same.
"That's all right," said the old man
as he stuffed the "wad" hito his over
coat pocket and rose up.
"I don't know about that!" added
the wife. "S'posen we git home aud
find we are 550 short?"
"You come along!" he commanded.
"Don't you see that we have both of us
made a show ot our ignorance? I'm
a thinkin' of runnin' fur the Legisla
ture and you are boss of two sewin'
societies, and here we've went and let
on that we don't know 'nuff to count
np a drove o' hogs and make tails tally
with tne beads; '
DrinK It fiom th Cup.
" Cotnme est-il js.iihh ?" demanded
the Abbe. "I did exactly like the rest
of the company.
u(pv,lle absnnlite " exclaimed the
other "You did a hundred things which
no one else did. First, when you sat
down at the table, what did you do
with your napkin?"
"My napkinl" Why, just what every
body else did. I unfolded it and fas
tened it to my button-hole."
"Ah, my dear friend," said Delille.
"you were the only one of the party
who did that. Xooue hangs his napkin
up in that style. They content them
selves with placing it across their knees.
And what did you do when you were
served to soup?"
"Like the others, surely. I took my
spoon in my right hand, and my fork in
my left"
'Your fork! Who ever saw any one
eat bread out of their soup plate with
a fork before?"
"After your soup, what did you
eat?" "A fresh egg."
"And what did you do with the
shell?" "Handed it to the servant."
"Without breaking it up?"
"Yes, without breaking it up, of
course."
"Ah, my dear Abbe, nobody ever eats
an egg without breaking the shell after
wards." exclaimed Abbe Delille.
"And after your egg?"
"I asked the Abbe Kadonvilliers to
send me a piece of the hen near bim "
"Bless my soul ' a piece of the hen l
One should never speak of hens out of
the heunerry. You should have asked
for a piece of fowl or chicken. But
you say nothing of your manner of ask
ing for wine."
"Like the others, I asked for claret
and champagne."
"Let me inform you that one should
always ask for claret wine and cham
pagne wine. But how did you eat your
bread?"
"Surely I did that comme il faui. I
cut it with my kuife into small mouth -fuls,
and ate it with my fingers."
"Bread should never be cut, but al-
wavs broken with the fingers. But the
coffee, how did you manage that?"
"it was rather hot, so I poured a lit
tle of It into my saucer and drank it."
"Well, there you committed the
greatest error. 1 ou should never pour
either coffee or tea into your saucer.
but always let it cool and drink it from
the cup."
Familiar Saying.
If other persons share the curiositv I
have had, says a writer, as to the
ongin of many familiar old sayings,
they may like to have here the explan
ation of some such, which I found
recently in an English book. The ma
jority of these proverbial saying are, I
suppose, or old date, and come down to
us from our English or Dutch fore
fathers. Here is the origin of the ex
pression tick," for credit, which 1
have always taken to bo quite modem
slang. It seems, on the contrary, that
it is as old as the seventeenth century.
and is corrupted from ticket, as a
tradesman's bill was then commonly
called. On tick was on ticket.
"Humble pie" refers to the days
when the J nglish forests were stocked
with deer, aud venison pastry was
commonly seen on the tables of the
wealthy. The inferior and refuse por
tions of the deer te.med the "umbles,"
were generally appropriated to the
poor, who made theiu into a pie; hence
mnble pie" became suggestive of
poverty, and afterward was applied to
degradations of other kinds.
"A wild goose chase" was a sort of
racing, resembling the flying of wild
geese, in which, after one horse had
gotten the lead, the other was obliged
to follow after. As the secoud horse
generally exhausted himself In vain
efforts to overtake the first, this mode
of racing was tiuullv discontinued.
The expression "a feather in his cap"
did not signify merely the right to dec
orate one's self with some token of
success, but referred to an ancient cus
tom among the people of Hungary, o'
which mention is made in Lansdowne
manuscripts in the British Museum.
Xone but he who had killed a Turk was
uermitted to adorn himself In this
fashion, or to -shew the number of his
slaine enemys by the number of fethers
in his cappe." It occurs to me to
question whether the similar phrase to
"plume nunseif" has not its source m
the same tradition.
A "baker's dozen" was originally
the devil's dozen, thirteen being the
number of witches supposed io sit down
together at their great meetings or sab
baths; hence the superstition about
sitting thirteen at table. The baker
was au unpopular character and became
substitute for the devil.
The explanation of the proverbial
saying about "Hobson's choice" is
given by Steele in the Spectator, No.
500. llobson kept a livery stable, his
stalls being ranged one behind another,
counting from the door. Each cus
tomer was obliged to take the horse
which happened to be in the stall near
est the door, this chance fashion of serv
ing being thought to secure perfect
impartiality.
Egyptian and Aasrrlan.
In the Egvptian and Assyrian gal
lery at the British Museum, Sriidan,
and in close contiguity to the Hittite
monuments and the bronze gates of
Shalmaneser, there has just been placed
an object of considerable interest a
bronze doorstep from the great temple
of E Saggil, at Borshippa, a suburb or
division of Babylon. The doorstep not
oidy has inscribe! on it the name of
Nebuchadnezzar, but also mentions his
health or restoration to health. The
doorstep may thus have been a votive
offering. The thought may suggest
itself whether the inscription on the
doorstep has any relation to the mad
ness of X'ebucadnezzar spoken of in the
very well-known words of the fourth
chapter of Daniel, which record how
the renowned monarch, after looking
with pride on the great Baby Ion which
he had built, was in the "same hour
driven from among men, and dii eat
grass as oxen, and his body was wet
with the dews ot heaven, till his hair
was grown like eagles' feathers, and
his nails like birds' claw3." It would
not, however, be easy to nuke such aa
identification. The temple of E 'Sag
gil, to which the doorstep pertained,
was a famous seat of Babylonian idola
try, and remained such until the time
of Xabonidas, the kst Babylonian
king. The dedication of the doorstep
would thus scarcely be consistent with
Xebucadnezzar'3 worshipping the God
of Israel, as mentioned in Daniel, iv ,
34-37.
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