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B. F. SOHWEIER,
THE CONSTITUTION THE UNION AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS.
Editor and Proprietor.
VOL. XLIV.
MIFFUNTOWN. JUNIATA COUNTY. PENNA.. WEDNESDAY. MAY 21, 1890.
NO. 22.
mill jei8fiel JBllk ill gegillim
Tint defeat of tl.e Copyright tm ta
greatly to be regretted. Few. If any,
except the piratical publisher! who re
produce English work instead of pro
ducing the work or American authors
were opposed to It, and yet Congress,
while willing to protect tTjrythlng else,
is not willing to protect brains.
I Milwaukee the eight-hour
movement of the carpenters met with
little opposition, because the men were
willing to accept eight-hours' pay for
eight-hours' work. The demand for
shorter hours, however, is usually
coupled with a demand for higher
wages per hour, and that is the main
cause of difficulty. Masons and brick
layers have been working only eight
hours a day in Milwauk e for three
years, which is another reason why it
was an easy matter to grant the de
mand of the carpeuters for shorter
hours.
An engineer on a Lehigh Valley
train was fatally injured recently by
striking his head against a mail bag
catcher while he was leaning out of his
cab window. Not niary montl s ago au
engineer on the W est Jersey Kallroad
was killed in the same way. The dan
ger of such accidents might be lessened
if the catchers were pi .ced at a lower
level belo the window line of the
cars, for example if that is not too low
fot the apparatus on the postal cars, or
else mime other less dangerous device
should le adopted for the delivery of
mails without stopping.
Km in Pasha is "playing in ha-d
luck," so to speak. No sooner had he
started with his German expedition for
the I-ake Country, with the expressed
Intention of forestalling the English in
that section of Africa, than the news
coiues that the English flag Is flying In
the Uganda country, and that the
whole of it is now under English pro
tection. When It comes to securing
trade in new flelds the English are
never In the rv.r rank, but are always
in the lead. It is now Germany's turn
to do the kicking, while the British
East African Company does the
smiling.
The proios:tion to regulate street
music, made In Councils in Philadel
pl la, Pa., by Mr. Etting, will mee
with almoet unanimous approval.
While the street musicians ought to be
permitted to play iu the streets, they
ought not be pertuittel to play where
they are not wanted by residents.
There Is nothing more annoy In? to a
sick person than the tooting of a pick
tip l and or the griudiug of an aslh
inal.c hand organ in front of the
kouse. Mr. Etting's proposition would
work no Injury to these alleged mus:
cians, but they would make it possible
for an annoyed family to get rid of the
platers without being compelled to pay
them to quit.
Great Britain has at ast appar
ency become alarmed at the progress
which Germany is making in Africa,
and the British East African Company
has decided to push an expedition into
the interior without delay. Sir Fran
cis de WInton, who is to assume charge
of the affairs of the company, is a
well-known traveler and geographer,
and was chairman of the Km in relief
exreditiou fund. This action of the
company has len Liken in self-defense;
for unless Lieutenant Wiasniano shall
be checkmated the territory which the
company has secured will have neither
inlet nor outlet. The fact that the
German Government proposes to de
mand from Parliament a vote of f 1,-
000. 000 for colonial purposes shows
that the pulley or extending Uerman
territorial possessions in Africa is not
1. kely to be abandoned.
Old Eniperur William recognized
that Bi m.ir k was the brains of his
empire, and so nev.r meddled with
affairs of state. Emperor Frederick
was 111 and dying, and unab'e to assert
his will, if he possessed one, and sc
Bismarck had it all his own way then.
But young Emperor William has not
only a will of his own, but thinks he
even has brains of his own. There
fore he and Bismarck do not get on.
At last the iron Chancellor has found a
w 11 before w hich he must bow and
retire for the first time in his autocratic
career. With his view of thing it
must seem to him now that the Ger
man empire, which It was the woik of
his life to build up, is going to ruin
under his eye. Th a thought will fol
low him in his retirement and sadden
infinitely his last days. After all, per
haps, there are more durable materials
than blood and iron with which to
build a nation.
Ji'dge Martinb of New York
took occasion a few days ago to com
ment upon the "maudlin sympathy"
which goes so far toward shielding
murderers, and he struck the nail fail
on the head. It is not only true oi
New York, but of Philadelphia and of
every other city iu the country. The
murderer may have been a brute of
brutes, and his eareer may have been of
the worst possible character, committed
without the semblance of excuse, and
yet as soon as a jury has declared him
guilty and the Judge has pronounced
the sentence of death, a lot of sickly
sentimentalist-! arise and extend to h:m
not only their sympathy, but fre
quently go to extremes in their efforts
to save his neck from the noose.
Everybody must pity the man who,
iu a OI of pasMon and under great
provocation, takes another's life, but In
the case of murderers who have been
murderers at heart tor years and whoso
records for brutality are bad, there is
no room for pity. The good of society
demands their removal and as a wa ru
ing to others of their ilk, and the
quicker the removal Is made the more
emphatic and the more efficient te
warning will be. Give pity to the fam
ily of the murdered man; don't waste
It upon the murderer who does not s
tnre it.
THE GROWTH OF CLOCKS.
Ancients Scored th Hours With
water Tlmeoleces.
The dr. p;ilng or water through a
small hole in a jar was used by the
t reeks and Koreans as the rough mea
sure of time, the water being either
measured in the 'at from which it
flowed or else by means of a floating
piece of wood iu a receiving jar. Oc
casionally some very wealthy ancient
Greek or Koiuan had a clepsydra that
soun .ed a musical note at intervals of
an hour.
Th story or King Alfred and his
twelve candles, each .r which burned
f r exactly two hours, is well known.
The hour glass is also cf early date.
We read that in the early history or
New YorK the soldiers used hour glasses
w he. defending the city iu order that
they should know at what time to
mount guard.
At what period in th3 world's his
tory sun dials came Into use it is im
possible even to conjecture. The Chal
deans w re accusCou e 1 to hang a bead
in a hollow temisphere in such position
that the shadow thrown by the bead
would point directly to the hour, which
was marked on the inner side of the
hemisphere.
The old clock on the eastern end of
Faneuil Hall, Boston, WuS formerly a
diaL
OLD IIORMLOOE.
The word horologe (horolosla) means
hour teller, and was in very early times
Hpplied to ant machine for telling the
hours. Previous to the discovery of
the pendulum these were very unrelia
ble affairs. The striking puts, how
ever, of those erected in Canterbury
cathedral In 1?.-J, and at Westminster
iu 12S8. and manv other n'acea at these
early dates, are still in use.
The earliest kuowu de-crq tion of a
genuine horologe is that or one sent by
the Sultan cf Egypt in 123 J to the Em
peror Frederick 11. "It resembled a
celestial globe, in hich the sun, moon
and planets moved, being impelled by
weights and wheels. so that they pointed
out the hour, day and night with cer
tainty." A horologe from IVver Castle was
on exhib.tion some years ago in Lon
don. It bore tiie date 13-H, and was
exhibited In good going condition.
THE FATHER OF CLIK K MAIIMl.
Ell Terry was the father of the clock
making industry in this country. With
no implements but a jtckknife aid saw
he made the first clock at Terry ville,
I.Itchtield county.
II began the business In 170.1. In
the year 1SX ha employed two young
men to help hiru. The works of his
clocks were now cut rut several dozeu
at a time, owing to the business becom
ing rapidly enlarged. They were after
ward put together. Mr. Terry, when
he had a small stock of clocks rea ly,
would make a trip to what was then
called "the new country," just across
the lower Hudson, and sell the chxks
for about iJj ea h, this price bein for
the movement aioue.
In ISO? Mr. Terry fitted up a mill
with machinery and took a large con
tract t make cliM-ks for Waleibtny
capital is' s. In IS S he lx-tan the works
of oOU clocks at once. Previous to th.s
time the wheels had beeu marted out
with square and couip iss and the teeth
cut with a very tine saw. Mr. Terry
male the patterns and taanaged t!.e
business, but leit his work to do the
mechanical parts and went himself
from house to bouse to eddle clocks,
lie oft-n carried back to Terry ville salt
port and farm produce iu payment for
las timepieces. At that time Mr. Terry
was poor, but twenty-five years later he
was wortli $200,000.
INCREASE OF TIIE RCS'NEsi.
The business was sold out in 1S10 to
Seth Thom.is and Silas Hoadley, two of
Mr. Terry's leading mechanics, and
Mr. Terry devoted himself to inventions
and improvements. Other concerns
sprang up atout this time, and the
price of clocks was reduced from $-"
to 10 and . The great family of
Yankee clock peddlers grew out of the
competition of the niaaufactorers, and
with two or three clocks in their saddle
bags they started out to the. South and
the then far West.
The business was revolutionized in
1914 by an invention of Mr. Terry a
shelf clock of wood, which superseded
the old fashioned haug-up clock. This
clock was patented and called the "pil
lar scroll top case." Mr. Terry sold
his atent to Seth Thomas for 51,000.
Their incomes were at this time from
if 13.O0J to 20,(KU a year each. And
together they made abo-t 7,0.0 clocks
yearly.
Shortly afterward Mr. Terry retired,
and, together with his sons, began the
manufacture of locks and Iron castings.
None of the family is now iu the clock
business.
In 1S09 the elder Seth Thomas died,
and his elder sou succeeded him. Mr.
Thomas lcani secretary of the Seth
Thomas Clock Ctniauy when it v as
organized. He died in April, 1SSS.
The present treasurer of the company
is his only son, Serb E. Thomas.
There are several tower clocks in
New York none or which strike the
hours. It was at one time usual to de
mand in a tower clock a variation of
not more than a m'nute a month. One
In Independence Hall has averaged a
variation of less than a setond a niontli.
At Holyoke. Mass.. the variation has
not exceeded two seconds a month. In
making a sale now ten seconds a month
must be guarantee I.
Icebergs Are Plentiful.
Ice off the Grand Banks receives a
good share of attention in the current
report of the Hydrographic Office.
There has been an unusually easterly
movement of ice, so that bergs are con
stantly reported as far east as the thirty
Dfln meridian. The quautity of ice is
very great, it is ointed out, one ves-el
passing 140 bergs, while the size or the
floating masses is enormous. Alieady
there have been twenty serious acci
deuts resulting from the bergs, and two
vessels hive been lost. There is little
doubt, says the report, that many of
the bergs to the eastward are brought
down by a somewhat abnormal exten
sion of the Labrador current. Another
explanation for the prevalence or this
ice is that its mass is so great that the
usual melting effect of the warm water
to the southward is largely nentra'ie 1,
and vast lakes, as it were, or cold,
fresher and, therefore, lighter water
axe formed and carred along with the
ea terly current, thus retarding further
melting or the bergs. Observations by
I captains of vessels show that the tern-
- . . I -w. I. ...t
70 lower than that of the tub-surface.
TENNYSON'S BOYHOOD.
The Early Home of the Poet Laure
ate. Somersby village. In Lincolnshire,
says a writer in the New x ork Timet.
lies remote from every center of Eng
lish lire and industry. The nearest
town to it is Horncastie. and Horncaslle
is a dull aud uninteresting small place
six miles away. Around Somersby
stands a circle of the hills, called In
that land wolds, making of Someisbya
drowsy l.ttle nook into which echoes of
the busy world beyond never penetrate.
Some six hundred acres comprise the
xirisli over which presided, four-score
7ears ago, the poet's father; in places
scattered about dwell now as dwelt
then about forty simple old-time folk
in halt as many huts. These were and
are the parish ioneis. St. Margaret's is
a small, ancient and disappointing
church. Nothiug in the exterior im
presses the visitor, and of the interior
the sauie is true.
Low-lying across the way from this
church is seen the poet's birthplace, a
long, ancient house among trees, with
wolds round about; the roof steep and
tiled, one section of the edifice having
long-pointed, stained glass windows, as
if built for a private chaiel. In re
ality there are two houses in this ona
house, and these ecclesiastical w indows
give light for a dining-room that was
built by the oets father. Lon; dwelt
the T-unysoiis under this roof. After
the father's untimely death the family
still made the place their home. When
at last they kit it their regrets were
not few.
Few Somersby folk knew anything of
the poet. Curious is their ignorance of
one w ho lias linked the name of their
'tome with his cwu immortality. Asked
if they know anghtof one who is named
Tennyson they will speaK or "old Lr.
Tennyson, who died a long time ago,"
aud whose grave is in the churchyar 1.
Charles was the brother who, with
Al red, wrote the verse in that famous
an I excessively scarce volume known
as "Poems by Two Brothers." When
at school in the Lincolnshire town of
1-outli they had often compo-ed verse,
though it must have teen without re
motest thought oi public recognition
such as came. When Alfred was IS he
and Charles had produced a considerable
mass of lines. For S uiersby lads they
were wl-e and learned; they had seen
a fair bit of the world; their father was
a man of good attainments; I.oulh wa
known to them and so was Horncastie
:ndeed, they had wandered far into
neighboring parts of the shire, and
under the father's eye had re :d protita
bl7 in books worth reading.
A tradition says it was a de-ire to
travel further and see the church edi
tices of Lin -olnstiire that made the lads
first print their ters. Lincoln, fame I
aruon; cathedral towns, lies not far oil
as we now muasure space, and tl.e boys
longed to see its glories. But there was
an euiluirrasslng wan', of mouey. Dr.
Tennyson's -'J0 of salary could riot
supply his sons with many luxuries. To
educate them was do nga full father's
duty. It is according to the legend that
i lie family coachm in, when he beaid
of Alfred's di-apiHnited wish, up
proached him with a wie sjggestion:
"Why, Master Alfred, you are alwavs
writing poetry why don't you sell it?"
A if re-1 consulted Charles, audsoou that
coachman drove over to Louth with a
collection of poems ii manuscript and
led theai at the door of J. Jackson,
bookstl er.whoocca-ionally had brought
out a volume by arrangement with a
hoii- in London.
J. Jackson was good enough to think
we 1 of this veise, and made a contract
to pay the boys '10 for it. It comprises
177 iaces of nole-pa er size in "close
Vcrewy' caligraphy, looking more like
Greek than English.'' In Some case?
both sides of the sheet were written on.
Tl:ere are numerous c rrections badly
made, while various pages are disfigured
with rude schoolboy sketches. For a
printer it was very poor "copy." TLe
lre.-eut couditlon of the manuscript is
gol, only the edges are brown and
ragged. Seldom is it shown to strangers,
unit a strong box hoMs it.
liut.i the boys had known intimately
while at school there. Iu the school
library now exists four copies of tl.e
first e.li'.ion of the poet's wi kings. J.
W. WiI-khi, who still lives in Louth,
was a pchoolinate of the laureate's, and
Is believed to be the only one now sur
vlv.ng. Alfred's career there he can
well remember. He never knew him
to associate with the other boys; iu
their spoi ts he to k no part. II is
brother Charles was his sole intimate
friend. Grave beyond their sears, the
brothers were otherwise not noteworthy;
ii'-ither in class-room nor playground
were they distinguished; in the latter,
in fact, they were unknown. An old
resident says that they "were always
ruuninz alout from one place to
another and every one knew them and
their Bohemian" ways. They wrote
verses, they never bad any pocket
money, they took long walks at night
time, and they were d-cidedly ex
clusive." Alfred was often met away
from home hat less ami quite absorbed,
sometimes only realizing bis situaii n
when his further journeying was pre
vented by the sea. The tea is more
than ten miles srom Somersby.
Tennyson found bis wife, the wife
who still survives, in Lincolnshire.
Emily Sclhvood was the daughter of a
lawyer iu Horncastie, and had for
uncle Sir John Franklin. Miss Sell
wood's father has len described as a
liooil specimen of the old-fash oned
family lawyer. He had two daughters
I elides Miss Emily, and one who kuew
him.doubts if he w as altogether p eased
wi'h Miss Emily's liking for the voting
xiet. But he must have recovered
f:oin this feeling at the time of the
marriage. Tennyson had been emerged
from obscurity aud entered the road
tha. was to leal on tospleudil fortune.
I.ady Tennyson's sisters are still living.
Ore or them dwells in Lincolnshire.
Many places about Somer by have
suggested lines in the laureate's verse,
though an actual idenlty probably does
not exist. About Somersby gliJes a
brook, the one the poet hid made im
mortal, and on a map or Lincolnshire
we can trace it on its coar e southeast
ward for thirty miles toGibrallar Toint,
wt ere its waters mingle w ith those of
the sea. Around the rectory gar-en at
Somersby winds this brook. Many
stately homes in the Somersby neigh
U.rhood might have suggested Lock
sley HalL Pi obably there never was
any one such plce. j ist as there never
was a false Cousin Amy. Of all
possible places, Lang ton Hall was most
likely In the poet's mind. It is odd
that this edifice met with the fate the
hero of the poem would have visited
upon Locksley Hall. Forty-five years
ao it was destroyed by Are and a new
hall erected later on the site. This re
occurred j.b:u fifteen year after the
poem wts written.. Xe reader, will re
call the last lines of the poem, noting
tlie approach of the tempest and the
lover's concluding wish :
l-et it fall on Lx-kl'y Hall, with rain, or hail
or lire, or snow :
For the mighty wind arises, roaring seaward,
and I go.
Lincolnshire, however, must have
been the scene of this poem, if it ever
had what may lie called an actual
"scene." Internal evidence abundantly
proves that. i o mistake can be made
as to such local touches as "sandy
tracks," "hollow ocean ridges roaring
with cataracts," "dreary moorland and
"barren shore." Equally true is this
of the "Sixty Years After." and of one
line In particular: "In this gap be
tween the sand bills, whence you see
the l.ocksley tower." A marked Lin
colnshire influence is the strain of sad
ness and pessimism that pervades Ten
nyson's verse. Lincolnshire is a
sad land. In autumn its moor
laud is "drear and dark; the wind
rides over the wolds aud dunes; the trees
sigh ana shake their spectral arms."
True, it is of men as of flowers; if
chilled early in life no after warmth can
fully ex pand them. Another variation
of the figure is this: "The home oi
childhood is the soil in which geniut
strikes roots aud puts forth blossoms:
transplant it where you will, you can
uot change the tint of the flowers."
Of this statement a conspicuous illus
tration is afforded by the genius of
Tennyson.
THE DOOR W ITH A SPRING.
A Talewlth a Moral That Politeness
Always Pays.
"This door has a patentspring;please
let it close itself."
Such was the sign that greeted the
eyes of a certain St. 1'aul Nemo the
oilier morning. It stared at him from
the office door of a comparative strangei
on whom Xtuio had called on "strict
ly business." That the business had
proven satisfactory was palpable by the
frown upon Nemo's brow. As he gazed
at the legecd it occurred to him that
tin author of it had been exceedingly
curt iu his treatment of himself.
Another thought also occurred to him
simultaneouily. He re-ojiened the door,
inserting his head an 1 shoulders.
"I'ateut spring, eh? ' he inquired of
the curt buines man.
"Yes. sir," was the responsive bluff.
44 ft hat's the combination; how doe."
it workr"
''It's a pitent,"
"Yes, I see. Novel contrivance. In
genious affair, truly. How does the"
"Well, don't hold the door open all
dav."
"Close itself, eh? Then w hy don't U
close itself."
"I say, dOTi't hold it open; coma in or
go out and shut it."
"Shut it; you Favln your sign, 'Please
let it shut itself.'"
"Well, that's it; let it alone aud it
will shut itseir."
"Ye, I know; but what mikes It do
so. Put me onto the snap."
'Go away aud leave it alone, wou't
you?"
"What hurt would it do were I to
close i ?
4 None at alL"
"Thea what in M.uud r d you mean
by askinir one to let it close itse'f?
There's less w ar and tear on the ma
chinery if I close it than if 1"
"I'll whistle for a dog."
4"Good day," and Nemo strode off to
the city hall. He had a consultation
with a frieud. Kr en 1 was soon wend
ing his way to crusty business mm.
Made a small errand; then examined
sign.
"Cloes itself, eh?" he said. "This
is an age of wonders. EJl-on have any
thing to do with it? Is it a real piece
of ingenious mechauinm?"
"1 haven't cot time to explain it,"
replied the door owner.
"Well, good day," aud cut went in
vestigator Xu, 2. Six ether individua.s
I'd. lowed fifteen minutes apart, and
when the cru-ty business man figured
un at noon he f umd himself just about
an hour aud a half's time out. Then he
kicked the -ignintn kin l ug wool aii'.i
thiew the piec s away. Tins i-igu is not
yet renewed. Once in a while s me
one shuts the door, but it mainly closes
it.-lf. 1'ollei.ess pays. i. 1'aul
1'ioiuer 'rt&s
Eleclr.c Currsnts.
The electrician who knows the theo
retical part of li s science only as he
studied it live or ten years ago finds his
knowledge fa lly at fault when he is
oi:fron!ed with the ideas and theories
of to-tlay. Not that, any great and
radical changes have revolutionized
electrical theory in these last few yeais,
int there have been great additions to
our knowledge of certain occult phe
nomena, aud theory has advanced cor
resou'Imgly. We were accustomed to
look at the electrical current as some
thing that fljwedin or along a wiic,
and too many si udents grew to think
of it almost as a fluid. To those wont
to de(enj slavishly on hydro-dynamic
analogies it is rather a rude shock to
realize that iu very many cases w
should pav far less attention to electric
disturbances in the conductor thau to
the extraordinary pulsations of energy
that surround it. We must to-day
think of a wire carrying a current not
as a tube iu which a mysterious flow is
taking place, but as a mere linear
nucleus along and around which there
is a ceaselets flow of energy capable of
proJuiMiig tremendous effects even far
away from the wire. We mubt think
of the conductor not as a thin line of
wire, but as the centre of a fat -reaching
elect ro-dynaiuic disturbance.
To take au extreme case, an alter
na ing current of very short period,
capable of producing enormous induct
ive effects and transferring immense
mechanical power, might penetrate the
accompanying conductor more than
skin deep. What would go on within
the wire we might almost neglect ii
would be only as we neared and passed
iu surface that electrical energy would
manifest itself. And further, it is a
s :rpnse to realize that electro-magnetic
induction has suddenly fallen into line
with other forms of radiant energy
that the light and warmth of a sum
mer's sun differ from the solar waves
of induction that produce magnetic
storms only in degree that a gas flume
is just as truly an exhibition of elect -o-tnagnetic
energy as an electric l.giit.
Dut all this, which may sound so revo
lutionary, is not new; it has gradually
len unfolded during 15 years of splen
did theoretical investigation, and has
waited, as the law or gravitation waited
more than two centuries ago. for the
connecting I nk of experiment to bind
firmly together brilliant hypothesis and
recondite mathematics. Electrical
WorUf-
Past and Present.
ST THOMAS HOOD.
I rmembrr, t remember
The hue whre I was born.
The little w inflow where the sua
Came tM-tfimiK in at morn:
Be never came a wink too noon
Nor Drt-'Urbt tm I npaday:
But now 1 lien wish the night
Had borne my breath away.
I rmemter. I remember
The rost a, led and white.
The violets and Hie Illy cups
Those How-em uiad f light t
The lilacs, where the robin built.
And where my brother et
The l.ibuiiium n his birthday
'1 he tree is living yet I
1 rem' mber, I remember
Wheie I used to swing.
And thought the air mu-t rush as freih
To swallows on the wing;
Mv spirit new in f-athers then
Thai is so heavy now
And summer pools could hardly cool
The fever on my brow.
I remember. I rem. mber
The hr Ire. s d.n k and high :
1 used to think their slender tops
Were -l se against the sky ;
It was a clnldlii ignorance.
But uow 'tis lillle Jov
To know I'm fartln-r oft from Heaven
Than wheu 1 was a boy.
AILNT T0WLE.
4Mother, mother! there's a strange
lady coming up the path!'
Mrs. Peck, the hard-working wife cf
a hard-working f rmer, was dishing
the dinner, after a morning spent at
the wash lul).
She was t ired and discouraged. The
old speckled hen, sacrificed to the daily
emergencies of eating and driuking,
had absolutely declined to 'boU soft;
the pot-pie was heavy as lead. Little
Kitty, to wln.fe charge the baking of
the drie '-apple pie was left, bad for
gotten herself lu the encha: ting pages
of a story, and the pie was blackened
after a most unappetizing style.
The lid of the cistern was broken,
and as the baby persisted in directing
his creeping investigations toward thai
part of the compass, two chairs and a
wash-tub had beeu piled upon It, wh ch
barricade having to be removed every
time a pail of water was neces-ary,
naturally increased the complication-.;
and when Tom .nd Tilly and Lelty
came scuriyiug 1 1 with the news of an
imien!ing guest, Mrs. Peck stood
aghast.
4CompanyI she cried. 'And on
washing- lay, of all the days of the
week!'
Ma,' whispered Kitty, 4tell Tom to
say you ain't at home. It's what Squire
Sellon's wife says when she don't want
to see company.'
4lt would l a lie,' mysteriously ut
tered Letty.
'So it would,' said Mrs. Peck, jerk
ing '.he tablecloth olraight, and eyeing
two uucompromis ng grease spots with
a irturbed gaze. 'Well, we've just
got to make the best of it. Father '11
be in from the fields directly, and Un
cle Ned from tin blacksmith shop, an 1
lame Peter from the store, aud the
school teacher, and the chore boy. On,
Kitty, w hy did you let the pie burn?'
At that moment Letty appeared
upon the scene, ushering in a stou:,
short-built, elderly lady, with a gaj
priuted shawl over her shoulders an 1 a
flat leather bag lu her baud.
Mrs. Peck bowed.
Theeldeily lady dropped a business
like courtesy.
'Do I speak to Mrs. Tepper Peck?'
said she.
'That is my name,' acknowledged
Mrs. Peck.
'Mine is Smith,' ea!d the other wo
man. How do you do,' Mrs. Smith?' said
Mrs. Peck, "lie seated, if you please.'
1 supuose you don't kuow what I've
come about,' said Mis. Smith, w.th a
shrewd twinkle of the eyes.
'Well, no. admitted Mrs. Peck.
4Tbere's a good mauy Snii hs here
abouts. And I'm free to say I ain't
acquainted with them all.
1 come fiom New York State. said
the stranger.
'Well, 1 supiose there's considerable
n any Smiths there, too,' observed Mrs.
Peck. 4Iiy off your things, uia'aui,
and eat a b.t oi dinner with us.'
I don't mind it I do, f-aid the
woman. 'I've walked frcm the sta
tion, and I didn't make but a light
breakfast. '
Mr. Peck arrived presently -a stout,
good-huino-ed farmer. Uncle Nel In ta
bled in. He was nobody's uncle in
particular; but, as he was bad with
rheumatism, and had no one to care
for him, and had once been a crony of
Mrs. Peck's father, he naturally drifted
into this hi.-pitabl) house bold.
He slept in a garret be --room at
night, aud sat over the fire iu the
blacksmithy by day. He had often
been heard to say that if be had any
money he would ieave it to Mrs. Peck.
But the fact that he had no mun-y
somewhat impaired the weight of this
assei tioiu
4Laine Peter' was the orphan of an
old friend ot Mr. Peck's, who did up
parcels in the village store, and came to
ihe Peck kitchen for his meals, because
be had nowhere else to go.
The d'slrict school-ma'am, one .MU-s
Talbot, also came simpering in. Sue
had anticipated the whole of on year's
salary to settle the debts of a ne'er-do-well
brother, and as she could not pay
any board, it seemed quite natural luat
she should stay with the Pecks.
As for the chore-boy, who drove the
cows home, and played marbles, and
weeded the onion-patch, and plael
peg-top, and frigliteued the crows out
of the cornfield, and played ja kstraws
'his board did not sig .lfy one way or
the other,' ta d kindly Farmer Peck.
One by one ihry settled into their
seats at table, and began to eat.
Mrs. Smith looked around, with
rather surprised eyes.
'Keep boarders, eh?' said she.
'La', no, said Mrs. Peck, who, wi!u
ihe l-aby in her lap, was helping Lame
Peter to plenty of gravy with his
chicken leg.
4Ve don't keep no boarders,' said
good-natured Pepper Peck, loi k ug
beamingly around tie table. "We might
perhaps in summer, if we had any rooms
to spare. But we don't. These Is all
our own folks. P'raps you're sell in'
sew in' machines, ma'am?'
'No, I ain't, said Mrs. Smith.
4A book-agent, may be?
No.'
Mr. Peck coughed and looked be
wildered. Mrs. Peck signa ed him to
let the new arrival break her fast iu
1-eate.
Ma, ma, whispered Tommy, the
youngest and smallest of all, 'there
ain't no chicken in my gravy.'
4Hush, Tommy!' eald Tilly, who was
the 'Martha cumbered with many carea'
of the family. 'Break in a little bread
The chlckeu didn't quite go around.
4I suppa-e now you're wondering
what brought me here,' said Mrs.
Smith, accepting a salt green pickle
from the plate aud helping .herself to
butter. 'Well, it's about your Aunt
Powle.'
'My Aunt Powle?' said Mrs. Peck.
'That old lady? Why, I a'posed she
was in San Francisco, o' course!
She did't like San Francisco. 'She's
come East to live, and I'm sort o bunt
ing up her relations.' said Mrs. Smith.
She a'n't Blck, is she?' gasped M s.
Peck.
She ain't over and above hearty. '
Pretty we'd to do?' said Mr. Peck.
Not so well off as she could wish.'
Friend o' her'n? asked Mr. Peck,
gnawing away at the neck of the an
cient fowl, which was the only portion
left for his regalement.
Not especially,' said Mrs. Smith.
There's lots o' things about Phebe
Powle that I don't like. But 1 live In
the same bouse with her; so, as I said
before, I'm sort o' huutin' up her rela
tions in case she has need of 'em.'
Mrs. Peck laid down her knife and
fcrk.
Peck, said she, 'we'd orler have
Aunt Powle here. An oil lady like
that, aud all alone In the world, and
our own flesh and blood, too!'
'My dear,' said Pepper Peck, giving
up the scraggy neck as a bad bargain,
and be'aking himself to sundry knobs
of dumpling as a deadener toapietite,
I'd be very glad to give a home lo
any relation o' your'n, but 1 dunuo
where on earth we'd put bar.
Mrs. Peck considered.
'Tommy and Jake could have a t nu
dle bed under Uncle Ned's bedstead,'
said she. 'And Tilly and Letty could
have the boys' room. Aud Aunt Pole
could sleep id the corner bed-room. It's
a plain place, but it's comfortable. I've
a new rag carpet, 'most wove, for the
floor, and there's an open fireplace,
and'
'We could do that,' said Mr. Peck.
You're a master hand to contrive
things, Eliza. I never see the beat of
you.
'But, interposed tha newcomer,
ain't t here another relation lives out
this way one Jane Ann Emery?'
To be sure.' assented Mr. Peck.
'She married Squire Sellou. But our
folks don't have much acquaintance
with her. She's a deal too graud for
us. Eliza never gets invited to none
of her tea-fights uor quiltiu'-bees. But
she's Aunt Powle's niece, on the fath
er's side. Her mother '
'Then I'd ought logo a ad see her,
too.' said Mrs. Smith, briskly.
'I don't reckon it'll be of much use,'
said Mrs. Peck, dubiously.
Anyhow, I mean to try,' declared
Mrs. Smith.
Mrs. Squire Sellon lived in a new
house, newly painted, with new carpets
on the floors, and a painful atmosphere
of gentility about the plush solas and
staring Brussels carpets.
Mrs. Smith, however, walked reso
lutely in, and confronted the mistress
of all these splendors.
I've come to see you about your Aunt
Powle,' said she, folding her hands
above the handle of her bag, lu a business-like
way.
'My Auut Powle?' repeated Mrs.
Squire Sellon, visibly going back to the
glacial period. '1 have not tlie pleasure
of knowing her.
'But she's your father's sister. '
I txlieve so.' unwillingly admit
ted Mrs. Sellon. 'All the same, I don't
know her.
She's old,' said Mrs. Smith. 'She's
come to the time of life wheu she needs
the company and help of her nieces. I
know, because 1 live in the same house
with her.
The freezing process plainly went on.
Mrs. Squire Sel'on drew herself up.
I piesume, said she, 'there are
plenty of Institutions w heie a deserving,
old female can '
Oh, I dtre sav!' interrupted Mrs.
Smith, who was certainly something
abrupt in her mauneis. 'But she feels
just as 1 should feel myself. She don't
like to come on chanty '
Neither do I keep a charitable in-tl-tutiou,'
said Mrs. Sellou, sourly, 'I've
never seen this Powle woman in my
life. Vhe's nothing to m. Mr. Sellon
would highly disapprove of be'iig Ciilleii
on to support all my poor relations.'
'Then you'll do nothing for her?
said Mr?. SmiLh.
'I am sjrry that it Is quite out of my
uower,' said Mrs. Sellon, primly smooth
ing the folds of her stiff silk gown an i
pursing up her lips.
'Yet,' said Mrs. Smith, glancing
around, 'you seem to be pretty well oil
in the world's goods.'
'Mr. Sellon and me haven't made cur
money by helping all the shiftless folks
that don't know how to take c ire o
themselves. crisply observe I Mrs. S !
Ion. 'Please to excuse me now. I'm
very much engaged to-day.'
'I think,' said Mrs. Smifi, 'that
you'd bttergo and see your auut iu
Ne w York, she sort of XiecU some
recognition rrom you. Pepper Peck
and his wife are going, by my request.'
Up went Mrs. Squire Selion's fiue
aquiline nose,
'Pepper Peck and his wife. Indeed!'
raid she. 'However, my husband 1 as
a friend who is one of the directors of
the Ingraha-n Institute for the deserv
ing Poor. It may possibly be woitli
our while to bestir ourselves iu th s
direction. What is the address? 1!
Rochester Block? Oil aflat!'
And the aquiline nose took a still
further r se in a skvward direct ou.
Well, it is a flat,' acknowledged
Mrs. Smith, 'But in New York folks
have to I've how they can.'
'As for you, my g.w 1 woman,' said
Mrs. Sellou, I tioie you will expect no
reward for thus officiously espousing
Mrs Powle's cause. I need not say
that In that case you will be disai
poiuted. 'Oh. I don't expect anything,' said
Mrs. Smith.
It was on a fine autumn afternoon
'hat Mrs. Pepper Peck and Mrs. Squire
ellou stood together on the steps of
the Rochester Block in New York.
'This can't be fie place,' said Mrs.
Sellon.
'it's what's writ on the paper,' s.dl
Mrs. Peck, 'loung man,' to the
elegant personage in black, trimmed
with gold buttons, who opened the
door, 'Is this a flat?'
'Rochester Block, ladles,' said the
elegant personage. 'This way to the
elevator, please! Whom do you wish to
see? Mrs. Powle? Quite right! Tnis
way! Number 14, second floor.'
Lo you think it's safe?' whispered
Mrs. Peck to Mrs. Sellon, timidly eye
ing the elevator.
'sh sh sh!' siblllated Mrs. Sellon,
pushing her cousin before her. 'Of
course it's safe.'
The elevator man touched a bell
when he reache I the second floor.
A trim maid, in a ruffled cap and
apron, appeared.
Step this way, please,' Bald she, and
showed them into a spacious octagon
apartment, ceiled with pale-pink Chi
nese silk, walled around with sheets of
glittering mirror a room whose win
dows, baoked with roses and catnelias, J
lookexl out on the park, aud whose fur
niture was of calcabola aud rosewood.
In a low easy chair before the grate
Pre. dressed in black satin and lace,
with diamonds on her fingers and t
book open in her lap, sat Mrs. Smith.
She rose up instantly, with a smile.
Come in. said she. eraciouslv.
Mrs. Sellon quailed. Mrs. Peck stared
around her.
'I'm afraid there's some mistake,'
faltered tlie former, somewhat cowed
by the luxury surrounding her.
'Where is Aunt Powle?' asked the
latter. 'I've come to take her home
with me.'
I am Aunt r wle,' composedly re
marked the lady in black satin aud dia
monds. 'No, you ain't!' said Mrs. Peck.
'You're Mrs. Smith. 'You told me so
youiself.
'Phebe Smith Powle!' said the old
lady, slightly smiling. 'I only told you
tha truth.'
You said she was sick.'
'No, I didn't. 1 said she was not
over we 1. And the rheumatism is try
ing at times.'
You said she was poor.'
I said she was not so rich as she
could wish. Nobody ever is, fiat 1
know of. However, Jaue and Eliza,
I've got plenty of money don't fear as
to that. I biiuiily wanted human sym
pathy and compan onship. Jane wanted
to turn me over to the nearest cheap
charity, though I'm her father's own
sister. E tza woul 1 have taken me
cheerfully into her very heart and home.
1 might have lived in the very next
house to you two for ten years, without
reading our characters s plain as I do
now. tiood alteruoou, Jane, to Mrs.
Sellon, who was trying to smiie her
s.veete.-t, as she mentally marshaled a
noble army ot apologies. '1 needn't
trouble the board of directors for the
Ingrahaui Institute to-day. As for you.
Elizt, 1 won't g home with you this
time. Iu summer I'll come and sleep
a few-nights in the bedroom with the
rag carpet a'id the open fireplve. But
you shall send Kitty aud Tilly to i-tay
with me here. 1 want a little youiiu
life and freshness about li e, arid I'll
see to their education. Sit down, my
dear. I'll ling for tea. And before
you go back, I want you to help me
order a new silk gowu for you, and
something fur Pepier and tlie children.
Mrs. Peck went home delighted. Mie
could scarcely believe in her good for
tune. Ain't H jest like one of the stories
Kilty is always reading?' cried she.
'But you'll never make me bel eve,'
said Mrs. Squire Sjllon, viciously, 'that
them artful Pecks didn't see right
through the whole thing from beginning
to eud.'
Squire Sellon sighed deeply.
'I'm told she made a lot o' money
selling water front lots lu San Fiancis
co,' said he, 'And we've lost, all chance
of it, through your tongue, Jane.'
Thus ungrateful are the Squire Sel
lous of this world to their thri.ty wives.
Shedding His Antlers.
'Come with me and I will shiw you
something curious,' raid Dan Neeson,
the keeper of the deer park at Gol leu
Gate Park, to our reporier. 'Our great
elk stag, the one we, got a few month
ago from Menlo Park, lias shed lih
horns and you would not recognize
him.'
O.i reaching the fence that surround
ed the ieii, the elk was found at tin
fodder trouyn calmly eating his dmuei
of c ackel barley, and apparently ob
livious to the curious crowd I hut sur
rounded him. He was hardly recog
nizable. Tint magnificent antlers t li.it
had rendered h iu the admirat on of tii.
visitors were missing, and nothing re
mained but raw. b ood-marked hubs.
The elk was as docile as a cow, an I
submitted without opposition to tlie
caresses of the crowd, and apiearcd ti
i t horough " euj-iy their stroking-".
'He shed hia horns ou Saturday morn-
i i ig, continue ! tl.e keeper. 'Of la'e he
liis been uioiv than usually ferocious,
in fact so uiucli so that it was danger
ous to lny life lo enter the peu to feed
the deer. On Friday he would not
allow me to enter the enclosure at a;l
On Saturday lUoruinz I failed to find
linn in his usual place, and ou my way
to the deer house ;o hu t liim up I camt
across one of his antlers in the gully,
and Within a sh it distance I found Hit
other. 1 then knew what was the ma!
ter, and entering boldly into the house
I fouud him standing with the !e i
cow, as quiet and docile as a child.
Why, he then a'e some food out of my
hand. I took the antlers to the sujier
mtendeiit's olli ;e, where they now ne.'
At the odi e the aiders were seen,
and a magnificent .--el they are, having
ou the beam horn six protuberances,
one for each year A tlie stag's age
They weighed seventy Hunds, and
wheu set in position tueasuied seven
feet from tip to tip on the spread.
New antlers will legin to grow on
the stag by the middle of March, and
will increase rapidly in length until
they attain full size. S-in Jrancisci
Nothing Earnest in It.
A pretty little girl favorite of mine,
a child of seven, visited our house the
oilier day, and, hunting me up, found
me busily engaged in writing a sketcu
for Sifiiji.
She hung around for some time, but
finally sought more cougen al company.
She was asked why she did not re
main with me.
Oh, he wouldn't talk to me hardly
any,' she replied
What was he doing?'
'Just nothing but writing, and lie
wasn't writing in earnest, ither.'
Just pretend ng to write?'
'Mo; lie Old write. He wrote a pile,
lie wrote and wrote aud wrote au I
wrote, but 1 just believe it was nothing
at all, because every ouce in a while
he kiud of laughed, and I don't be
lieve he'd a-laughed that way all tc
himself if there had beeu any earnest
iu what he wrote.'
Hit rule of grow th Is that a child
should increase two pounds In weight
for every inch in height between three
and four feet and two and one-half
pounds for every inch between four
and five feet.
Tlie que-tion of the best form of
meter for registering the supply of
electricity to private consumeis is be-
ing argued in English electrical
circles. j
Ttie medal of the Astronomical So-!
ciety of the Pacific has been awarded
recently to Wm. K. Brooks for Ins dis
covery of a comet, March 19, 1803. II
is the first medal issued by the society.
JfEWS IN BRILir.
The largest tree in the wo-ld is re
ported to hava leen recently found in
California, measuring 170 feet in cir
cumference at a distance of six feet
from the ground. This would give a
diameter of abu.it 00 feet at that point.
The first Young Men's Christian
Association in the United States Army
hs recently lieen established at Fort
ress Monroe, Ya. Although only two
months old. it uow has eighty mem
bers. The art of making red glass for
church windows, as practiced in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, was
lost for a long time, and was ouly re
covered in ISl'.;. The modern product
is still Inferior to the ancient.
The English army is in a state of
discontent because some London
theatres refuse to admit non-commls-sioned
oilicers in uniform to tlioe parts
of the house where full dress is re
quired. All of the bank note currency of
the Italian govenrneiit is engraved and
printed in the United States. The
uo'es are neat, but small, resembling
somewhat the fractional notes issued
In America in war times.
A etr fi- d trci nearly 4 feet
through, with roots extending over
about 15 squire feet, was found re
ft n ly in a coal mine at Osuabruck,
('eriuany, aud has been stt up in the
Berlin School of mines.
One of the luigest forests in the
world staiHs ou ice. It is si' uated be
tween the Ural and the OklioUk sea. A
well was recently dug in tills region,
when, it was found that at a deith of
110 meters the ground was still frozen.
The gravity system supplies' New
York city with water, except the high
er portion, which aie supplied from a
ieei voir at Iligli Ilridge, into which
ciotoii water is forced by steam pumps.
Boston is supplied by a like system.
'Though Grant and Lincoln were
both from Illinois, they never met till
Grant went eat to take couimaud of
the Army of tlie Potomac. It is also
stated that they held full and free con
versations v. itli each other but three
times.
Thirty years ago Adellna Patti was
apix-ariiig in I aliau oiera, aud the
casts included sometimes Mine. Gaz
zauiga, as well as liL-rself, aud Brignoli
was in the company. The admission
ra es ranged from -JO cents to 51.50 for
the bes: seats.
A rew museum will soon be started
in Paris to be known as the Museum
of the FrencU a ruiy and to omprise
ancient uniforms, equipments, arms
and everything relating to the history
of the 1'iencli regiments. An enor
mous amount of material has already
bci-u ecuied.
A woman in Atnericus, Ga., is
using a lamp cliini'iev that she has used
daily for th- p isi f j-;ht years, and she
expects to iim- it lor many yeais yet.
She sa s that sh- h illed it in s.dt and
wait r when It was bought, in 1S82,
and no matter Low large a flame runs
through it, it won't break.
What is said to lie the largest shad
evercaugl t jib vn ti lewater In the
lMawaie river w is recent y caught lu
the net ot William Smith, an old tisher
nian, at the LaniU'i t ille, N. J., fish
ery. It measure- .'11 i dies iu length.
Sinchesiiibread.il, an I 5 inches In
thickness, and weighs 111 ioiinds.
Thii ty seven 1'ivui ii soldier", un
der command of a captain, a lieutenant
and Mit-lieuti'nimr. ;ire i-aid lo have
marched from tlie r baira k at Valines
to a railroad station t-.velve miles dis
tant in one ho :r and fifty luiiiu es, to
salute a telle al wlm.-e train was to
bt p at the station. Not a man fell out
ou the Inarch.
Paris public schools are over
crowded, and I lie authorities projnis
to help to remedy the difficulty by for
bidding the attendance at them ot
children of f jreigneis. 1'he.e are 00,
U00 foreign children in the city, and at
lea t .r,Ud i of them are celling a
French education free at tho public
schools.
llutherford B. Hayes, who served
umler the late Gen. Crook during the
war, iu a tender tribute to Ins mem ry,
hays: "No statesman or philanthropist
iu his close has framed theories for
uplif line the le 1 men nn.re worthy a
just, generous and power' n! nation
than the p;a"t:a. ine surea which lieu.
Crook devised."
In l-it there were thirty-live
translations of the Scr.ptures in exis
tet cc. Sine the formation of the
British and Foreign llild- society iu
that year ten iiii.i.ons of m ney have
been exi ended in the wo' k ot circula
ting the Bible, aud there are now.
Counting dialects as well as languages,
nearly 300 tia-.slatioiis of the Scrip
tures. The largest advertisement in tlie
world is that of the f! 'i.oo Arrs, cut
in the shaie of Uower beds ou the side
of a hill back of Ardenlee, Scotland.
The words "Glasgow News" can be
seeu and plainly read a distance of four
miles; the length of each letter is 4;)
feet; the total length of the line 3J3
feet ; th area covered by the letters 14,
bio feel.
The deepest lake in the world Is
Lake Baikal, in Siberia. Its area of
over y.t.o:) square miles makes it about
equal to Erie in sui-riici il extent; its
enormous depth of between 3.0U0 and
4,5J0 feet makes the v dunie or its
wateis almost q u il to that of Lake
Superior; although its sui face is l,3oU
feet above the sea level, its bottom is
nearly 3,000 feet below it.
The dagger with which Kavaillac
sssassinated Henry IV. of France has
been found by a Berlin antiquary. He
bought a curious thick cane from a
peasa- t, and on examination the stick
proved to be hollo a-and to contain ai
ancient poniard and tiny snuff box. In
the latter was a pap-r stating that the
owner of the stick had carried off the
historical dagger fiom the Paris Palais
de Justice iu l.-l-".
Pure cellalose gives traces of sugar
at the ordinary pressure. At higher
pressures the quantity of sugar in
creases, but at 2'J atmospheres it is con
verted into hydrocelluiose. Wood ia
attacked by water at the ordinary
pressure, but the action reaches its
maximum at 5 atmospheres, wheu
beech wood loses 2(1-7 pr cent of its
weight, of which 11 jier cent, becomes
sugar. There are al o produced dex
trines. j recipitabln by alcohol. No
vanilline is obtained from the aqueous
or ethereal extracts, it from the dried
residues Tiie color reactions of Ibl
must Le due to the transformation ot
Iignine into carbohydrates.
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