ST B. P. SOHWEIER, THE CONSTITUTION THK UNION AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS. Editor and Proprietor. MIFFLINTOWN, JUNIATA COUNTY. TENNA.. WEDNESDAY. JULY 22. 1S91. NO. 31. .T-V1 "VT T7 . ' T T TO A SCRAP OP SEAWEED. yeflftcd (lower that In the oeean bloom, Poor "He from the fragrant groves of Mrth. Tat sorrow rises In thy salt perfumes, To what sad thought thy bumble charm gives birth ! ftHri hy the tempest anJ the fluctuant tide, The viiV'ar plavthiiiR of the allmy eel, Cruhiil hy the vessel'! keel or cast aside, What l.iTirrni'sa thy injured sense must fed Thy lovely sisters bliihh on field and lawn, TbeHly. r,llk ,n1 ro"e re kin 'o thee; yet thou art destined from grim night til) dawn To hide thy envy In the moaning sea! Aim! none kuow why thou wert cruelly tora From leafy woodlands and fair orchards bleu lor why thou should t not bare been purely horn A tulrosr, to grace some gentle breast Unlew the Eternal, In Ills august might, A secret inne for thy beauty found, And made thee to fulfill some sacred rite Vpon the ghastly foreheads of the drowned 1 F. S. Saltus. ALIAS THE PAESON. tven in '50, so long ago as that, when few western towns could boast street lump or a postoffice to Bay Wiling of churcliefi and schoolhousos Four Hole City was generally cl-"ed 8H a "desporit hard place." " It wh the. toughest of the tough. Though a comparatively young town at the date of the incident about to be recorded, its notorious wickedness had advertised it far and wide, and Four Hole City was an accepted synonym for the unique and superlative in west ern wretchedness. Its population varied aecording to the distance and direction of the latest gold liud. A clear spring of water had made the spot a favorite camping place for miners, and a contraband barrel or two of whisky had established a bar and made the spring place a "city." It could hardly bo said that the growth of Four Hole City was phe nomenal that it was a magic city or anything of that sort. But it grew. Trade was lively at the Keil Finger bar, and the cemetery spread like a green bay tree. In due course of time there was another burroom and another burying ground. Then Little Jug Nnncy came, the first woman, and forthwith another graveyard was added to the list-s-three of them in seven months. So alluring was the opportunity, in fact, that a speculative undertaker was tempted across the mountains from 'Frisco with a wagon load of coffins. The market was all right, but it's a part of the record that tlie 'Frisco un dertaker was the first man ever buried iu a coffin at Four Hole City. Littlo Jug Nancy officiated. Hut in spite of nil that the town grew. And as it grew there became mani fest, at irregularly long intervals, a natural tendency towards something like reform. At even rarer intervals this u-ually vague manifestation took definite shape and proportions. The first effort f the sort was when rhocstring Mike nnd that gang had an election. Mike set himself up for mayor, ami the rest of the boys were coiiiuiliiien. Long Lieky Bass was '.he marshal. It was all right while it lasted. They buried the mayor and the mar shal in one grave and two of the coun cil in another. Another one of the councilnien reformed, and was hung six months later for horse stealing. The others escaped. Then the law-and-order fever struck four Hole City. They hung Jimmy Iloolan, of the Red Finger bar. Littlo Jug Nancy followed suit, same day, eanie limh. Three or four of the op position lights snuffed out in amazing ly rapid succession and then the law-and-order gang caved. This wus when the 'Frisco under taker saw his opportunity. Then Nigger-Foot Jim tried to run It. This reform was pre-eminently successful, it must be acknowledged, so far as it went. Jim was a dead hot, and as quick as a cat. His government terminated very abruptly, howover, a few hours after it started, just as Jim stepped out flie door of the Ked Finger bar. It was done in the dark and they never did )" out who did it. They made him a grave beside Littlo Jug Nancy, :in our Hole City drop ped back into the old rut. It relapsed, in other words. Then a I'liiteil Slates man came lng. I'oor fellow they were look ing f,,r liim, they had his grave dug twenty-four hours in advance of his arrival. They bad bis tombstono fixed "d the epitaph, and one of those Frisco colling marked for his own pri vate use. Those brass buttons six big ones nd nine little ones made elegant ships. These were by no means the only efforts at reform, nor bv any means the only failures. Suffice it to say that there had been precisely as many failures as there were efforts, and cx c'ly as many ef "oils as failures, when Parson Josh cam" in that bright, breezy, teautiful day ia autumn, 1850. - The parson didn't make any bones about it. He called out the boys and told them what to look for. "Ef the Lord don't hinder." sain the parson, "I'll preach here twice a week an' pray the same. F.f vou don't like it, don't come. This yer's busi ness, and business is business. All invited. Sinokin' allow,.,! i-n lick the fust man as lauahs in meetiii'. I ain't er seek in' no fuss. I'm er peaceable man, but business is busi ness. I'm yer tcr save souls, an they must be order in mectiu'. All I want is a square deal." He had come in on horseback, and without taking his feet from the stir rups he pronounced the benediction, nodded pleasantly to the crowd and galloped off in the direction from which tie had come. It was done absolutely before a man in the crowd could realize it. The idea preaching in Four Hole City! Benediction I Prayer I The strangest part of it all was that he parson had compelled an unmis takable feeling of respect. He had left them impressed with the idea that he was a superior somebody, amply able to take care of himself, and not '.oo sanctified to fight. Three days later he came again. This time they were ready for him. Slippery Sam Digger was the spokes man for the crowd. "This yer town," said Sam, "is Four Hole City. "We are the gang as lives yer, in Four Hole City. We don't want no preachin' an' we won't have none of it!" The parson was thoughtful for a few seconds, weighing the matter de liberately, and then quietly announced that there would be meeting, and that if Sam didn't like it he'd have to move. Then they hitched. It didn't last long. Sam was carried off on one of the benches, and the parson took his position at the out-door pulpit as quietly as if nothing had happened. "Owin' ter the racket," said the parson, "they won't be nothin this evenin' but the benediction. . Hereafter they won't be no racket, an reg'Iar services will be held." Then he pronounced tho benediction upon as orderly and appreciative a congregation as ever faced a preacher. Then he rode oil' leisurely, just as he did before, without ever once looking oehind him. After that, as tho parson had pre dicted, there was no disturbance at the meetings. The parson soon be came an established and very import ant institution. He knew that coun try like a book, and every mine in it, and bis advice was reliable. His in fluence had on more than one occasion prevensvd bloodshed. In many ways the parson made himself popular and a power for good. Somehow or other they had learned that his name was Josh, but even this information was rarely made use of, and he was simply "the parson." Four Hole City was slowly but surely undergoing a change. It was becoming civilized. Tho first step was taken. The par son had led them. One afternoon a year or so after the parson appeared first in Four Hide City, eighteen or twenty men, covered with dust and riding jaded horses, rode into town with a prisioner. That pris oner was the parson. 'Mistake! Mistake! Mistake!" said the citizens. No, it wasn't a mistake. That was Ttd Murphy, murderer and horse thief. "Proof I" demanded the citizens. IMenty of proof. The horse he was tied to was one he had stolen. The citizens were obliged to bclievo it. The parson said nothing in answer to questions, and seemed as indifferent of danger as tho horse he was riding. His legs were unstrapped and he was taken from the horse. The rope was put around his neck, and thrown over a limb. "Wanter pray?" be was asked. He looked doubtful for a moment "Unbind my hands," said he. "There're enough of you to rat me. Let me pray with my hands I ose." In consideration of the good he had lone the request was granted, though there was some objection. His own unconcern was another consideration in granting the request. He seemed resigned to his fate, they noticed. It couldn't do any harm. The parson raised his hands, his face turned upward. "I have done some good," he said slowly, "'an some bad. I have stole sonic horses, but I never took the last un from a po' man. I have killed some men, but I done it fa'r. All I want, O Lord, is a squar' deal in this. I kin lick eny two in this crowd eny three. They know it " The parson stooped suddenly, a knife in bis hands. In another instant the rope around his knees was loosed, and then at his feet, and he was fairly in the saddle and started before a shot was fired. The parson was off pursuit was out of the question. They fired reck lessly, and he escaped unhurt. They watched him then until he and his horse were a speck on the horizon. "Bed Murphy's luck," growled one of the men, as be turnea u, his horse. "voou ier our parson," grinned Slyp'ry Sam. Close Quarters. An English resident of India relates that he once had occasion to make a short journey by rail in June, and was invited by a friend, who was iu the railway company's service, to ride with him on tho engine, "the coolest place on tho train." The invitation was gratefully accepted. We started late in the evening, and I soon found that Tom was right about the engine being the coolest place. The speed of the train created a breeze which rapidly absorbed the abundant moisture which a man's body throws Off when the thermometer register 90 it midnight. Nothing worthy of remark occurred till thedriver ordered the fireman to fill up the furnace. Then, as tho logs were being thrown in, out dropped a lively cobra on the foot-plate. It was not a very large specimen about four feet long, perhaps but it's bite would not have been the less fatal on that ac count. There were four of us human beings on that foot-plate, and this new pas senger mado tho place somewhat crowded. Neither of us had a stick, or our embarrassment could readily have been relieved. As it was, all we could hope for was that the reptile would slip off the engine and drop upon the track. But the creature manifested no such intention. Perhaps it knew that there was a rule against getting off the train while in motion, or, more likely, it en joyed the heat of the furnace. Pretty soon it raised its head, and I foolishly made a kick at it, taking care not to put my foot within striking distance. It was an unfortunate demonstration. The creature was not frightened, but at once accepted the challenge and ad vanced upon us. We were besieged. The driver sprang out on the side of the engine, holding on by the hand ail which runs along the boiler; the fireman went lip the pile of logs behind him likea mountain eat ; Tom vanished from the scene on the sido of the en gine opposite to that the driver had taken, and called upon me to fwllov him. The other men were as much at home skipping round on the engine in the dark as squirrels are in the top branches of a beech-tree ; but my feet were rooted to the iron. The cobra raised itself to strike. I tried to Jump, but I could not move. A.nother instant and I should . receive the deadly wound. But just in the nick of time the fireman brave fellow ! I owe my life to him slipped down from the logs, seized the snake by tho tail, and flung it into the furnace. "Shon." A srentleman who made a horseback tour of the backwoods of the West some years ago met with many amus ing experiences. There were few towns or hotels along the route, and he had to depend in great part upon tho hospitality of the residents of tho country, but he says that, however contracted were their quarters, he never applied in vain to one of them for shelter. He staved one night with an old German farmer, whoso house consisted of but two rooms, one above '.he other. The upper room, which was a mere loft, had in it, two beds, one of which was given to the guest, while the far mer's son, a heavy-eyed, stupid-looking boy of about fifteen years, named John, slept in the other. Long before daylight the next morn ing the father began calling, "Shou! Shon! Gid oud!" "I vill, soon," "Shon" replied, drowsily, and immediately fell asleep again. This occurred several times; then the father called out, in the most em phatic tones: "Shon! O Shon! Eef you don'd gid oud yoost so quick as you can, 1 vill goom np mit a bail of vater, and I oet I makes you shump!" John seemed to care less for the pos sible pail of water than for the frost licss of the morning. "I vill bo up soon," he answered, and settled him self for another nap. In two or three minutes, says tho traveller, I heard heavy footsteps as cending the rude steps leading to tho attic, and while I lay sympathizing with "Sohn," a wave of icy water drenched mc almost from head to foot. "Now, sir," stormed my host, "I told yon I wonld douse you if "But you have doused mcf" I man aged to gasp, with my teeth chattering. Thus mado awaro of his mistake, tho amazed father became profuse in his apologies, and more excited than ever. "Vat!" he shrieked in the darkness. "Itvasjou.' O-o-o-o-h, dot Shon ! I thought he was in dig bet ! It vaa dark ; I could not see ! Und yon vas all vet ! O-o-o-o-h, but I gives it to dot Shon now! I vill troun him mit a whole pari of vater! Shon, you Shon! See vat meestake yon make me do! I vill Shon, vere you vas?" But "Shon" had taken advantage of the hubbub and darkness, and had es caped the wrath of his father for the present, though I fear there was a terrible reckoning for him later in tim TO 'FRISCO FOR A DOLLAR HOW AJf OLD SCOTCHMAN 31 ADR THE TlilP. Lodged in Jail Twice, but Sot TTitiovi riends. James ITall is an old Scotchman formerly well to do, but for the past year or two sadly "down on his luck." He made a small fortune in the grain and hop business in San Francisco, took his money home to Glasgow, and lost it. A year ngo he made up his mind to go back to 'Frisco, and had just money enough to pay his fare from Glasgow to this city. His wits and his countrymen, whom ho encountered en route, then took him on his trans continental journey, and three weeks ago he reached the Golden Gate after a series of adventures which he lias quaintly put upon paper. He knocked about the metropolis three mouths be fore he got started on his trip. He says : "My overcoat and ring had , quietly gone down my oesophagus or gullet, along with the occasional dollar, and withal I was not overfed: far from it, I was losing flesh every day. My quasi friends or correspondents were grow ing tired of me, and at last, one after the other, they would give a little with a look that said as plainly as if they said it in bo many words, "See here, we give you this, but that shuts tho door. Lo you understand?" Ho got a start fuiaually in the shape of a ticket to Chicago from a Scotch man whoso sympathies were excited by his plight, and the Chicago Grain Exchange gave him another lift to St. Louis. "At this point," he says, "began my very veritable struggle to get West. I was asked by a gentle man logo down the Mississippi 120 miles to his pavement quarries. Ho thought he might get some work for me at Apple Creek. There was noth ing. He left me sticking there. 1 walked up the bank of the giant river seven miles in the moonlight, and only fell into one 'slew' on the way. on the Missouri side. 1 came at last to a vil lage, where I remained till morning. Then I got over to Grand Tower, III., by the Post Office boat, where 1 f"U in with a young Scotch engine driver, who gave me a 'cast up' on a service train to Murfreesboro. I found some good Scotties in this small town. 1 had a little morv in my pocket, but preferred to ke 9 it, and seeing three empty cars on a train about to start for St. Louis I jumped iu, got into a davk corner, and sat down to await results. I got as far as Waterloo, 110 miles, where the three cars were quickly shunted. This was my first ride as a 'bum,' but not my last. Twenty-two miles to St. Louis! Nothing daunted, after a good sleep I pedestrianized it in six hours and twenty minutes to the Post Office. This gave me my first lesson and first experience of what was before me." He suceeded in reaching Burlington by easy stages, and the Masons there put him through to Omaha, where he was stranded for a month. Then a fellow countryman who owns a 1.000 acrc ranch near Columbus gave him a lift to that town. Then he had to rough it. 'Columbus was too small to interest me. I walked out to Duncan and waited there for a freight train to pass. One came along soon. I saw a chance and jumped in. I was actually undis turbed and went straight until wo reached Kcarnv a two-tliousand-aiid- forty-mile free ridel I was walking moodily along, wondering what was to happen next, when I happened to stumble into a store with a Scotch name over it. This, as luck would have it, was no other than tho Mayor's place of business. He calls in tho Marshal, who was at the door. 'Now, thinks I, 'Fin in for it.' He says: 'Give this man a good dinner and a ticket to the next division,' viz., Plum Creek. Ami turning to me, says he: 'That's all I can do for you as mayor of these few shanties.' I was never more put out. I expected ten days. Hall managed to scrape together money enough to pay his fare to North Platte, where he found many Glasgow boys. "One engine driver says to me : Bo at hand, and when the bell rings jump up and sit by me.' I got to Jules burg, 150 miles from the Platte, very comfortably, the weather by this time being mild and delicious. I would like to mention the engine driver's name, he was such a gentleman in the native sense of the word. He did not stop at Julesburg with his goodness, but bunted up the next conductor engine anil caboose both change at each divi sion and got him to take me along with him; so I made my first ride in a caboose, and very comfortable it was, from Julesburg to Cheyenne, nearly 210 miles, level and easy. Tho Union Pacific. Company's inacliino shops aro being built here, and some of them were in full blast. You may guess, therefore, that I had little difficulty in crossing the paths of lots of Clyde lad dies. 1 lid you ever not ij'o there is a more distinctive love of country a thrilling of the heart in the natives of small countries, such as Switzerland, Belirium, and Holland, more markedly in the mountainous, as in the first two, but decidedly in them all? Is it be cause the confines of the State nre not too extensive to be enclosed within the grasp of a human heart, the whohs na tion seeming but as one family? In these circumstances I had no difficulty after two or three days in getting on to Jaramio. I had only to wait till the right man came np. It was at Kawlins I bad my next ad venture. Being thus left to my own resources at Ilawlins. but also being determined to move West at all hazards, I got into a car loaded with harvesting machinery. I thought I was hidden and safe ; but no. The brakeman had seen me go in among the jagged ar rangements, and when the train was in motion ho came along the roofs of the cars and looked squarely down upon nie. He asked: " 'Have you any stud? " 'Stuff means money. I feebly and cowardly said 'No.' Then he said : " 'You must get off next stoppage.' Next stoppage I really did get off, 1... ma Yt Hi, I not romft to flee that I j had got off, and as the place was so , weird and outlandish, as the train began to move I jumped in again. He came by and by, however, stalking Jong the roofs again, looking no larg 0 my terrorized and distracted ev" that I quailed at the sight of him. Didn't 1 tell you to get off at last stoppage.' i es, ana so i uiu get on. out, i as you did not come along, I got on I again, thinking yon bad repented of your harshness and would not set a fellow down in such a wihArness.' 'I'll see that yon get offat the next stopping place.' In about three-quarters of an hour the engine whistles. The train stops. I prepare to descend ; he cornea along. 'Ay, come along. Out yon go, you old bum.' 1 answered naught. The place was dreary in tho extreme. A huge round water tank, at which the engine was imbibing the necessary fluid and nothing more. The pump shanty, about half a mile away was the only other object to bo seen. I lay down by the tank ard watch the train till it disappeared. Shortly I gathered myself together and began to tramp along after the train. In about seven hours I reached a station. There I boarded a fruit car aud reached Green itiver undiscovered. I managed to got a few dimes there, and boarded the next freight train. I give the brakeman what 'stulT I had and so reached Ogden. "My clothes had become ragged ana wayworn, and 1 feared I would soon be spotted. As I foreboded, on the second evening I was tapped on the shoulder. 'Have you any homo here?' 'No, I am passing through.' Have von any bed for to-night?' 'Not vet.' 'Come with mc and 1 shall find you one.' I knew where. Next morning $10 or ten days. When inside I learn ed that the authorities (Mormon) sanc tion and condone such flagrant acts of tyranny for the sake of getting free labor for road grading, so that they may be able to pocket more of the pub lic money themselves. I bclievo this accusation to be true. They say one can't come to Igdcn with shabby clothes but be must go behind the bars. "The evening I got released I went o t lie manager of the Central Pacific Pailroad and, though late, luckily found him in bis office. 1 asked a pass on account of the great number of car loads of barley 1 bad in former days sent over bis line. He recoliecttnl my name and admitted my claim, but told me that now it was wholly impossible owing to the rigorous nature of tho Inter-State law passed some years ago. The fine for any fracture of that law was very heavy and strictly imposed." Hall managed to reach Salt Lake City partly on foot and partly by rail. There he was "jugged," as he express ed it once more, but he seems to have enjoyed the experience. "I postively refused to go out to work, and some how my bearing carried the day with out the dark cell being called into re quisition. Beyond some trilling work indoors I had nothing to do but to eat. read, smoke, ami sleep, all these com forts being allowed, aud splendid food we got three times a day. The whole of the boys were taken by the jailor out of the corridors and cells into a dining room, and with a fork and spoon the work was done genteelly. No limit to what you might eat. On Sundays the table was handsomely furnished. I was a deal better for tho food and the rest good, clean beds to lie on, too. "What more could a man wish in this vale of tears? "This long yarn draws now to its close. After 1 got out not a bit ashamed of having been in I went out ini, saw a Scotch Gentile gentleman, lie saw through in y rags and pitied me. I le gave me an order for a com plete outfit. He did not even limit me to any sum, and be did all in such a way as if to prevent mo feeling my downcast state or thinking that ho was doing anything. Such a wonderful acquisition of manners! After he saw me transmogrified from a 'vag' to a gentleman, as it were, he bolted across the street without saying a word, and soon brought back a ticket first-class Salt Lake City to San Francisco. As Caliban said to Tainento. after sev eral swigs nt the bottle, 'Thou art a god!' so could I almost have used the words to my friend. An hour before I was naked be clothed me. The Nevada desert was before impassable, for to get on a car at Ogden in my former state was a thing impossible. The desert was overbridged; 1 reached San Francisco all safe." Latest Sews From Mary Ann. 'Good morning, Mrs. O'Baherty iiaven't beard anything aliout Mary Ann so long that I'm afraid she's lead 4' 'It's not at all, at all, afraid she's dead ye are, but to find out phwat's the matter wid her that ye do bo prowlin" about wid yer qnistions. An' ye moicfht be axin me till doomsday, but I'll niver tell ye; an' for phwy, because I couldn't trust ye. If ye was jihwat ye should be, livin' nixt door to me, a thrue friend, I'd un bosom my troubles to ye wid pleasure; but I'm a f card av ye, an' so I'll have to keep on mournin' to mesilf in sacret." "Phwy, Mrs. O'Baherty! Thwat in the wurruld is trouhliif ye? Sure I would do anything in the wurruld for ye in trouble. I hope there's nothing sayrious happened Mary Ann." She's not dead. But she's very sick, an' I hasn't the money to go on to her, or I'd fly to her faster than the cars could carry me. Och ! och ! och ! Poor Mary Ann! I suspect the worst, but say nothin'. I was too aisy with the loor choild-" Kentucky State Jour nal. The Forger's Pen. I was talking with a Treasury offi cial on the subject of forgery. "lid it ever occur to you,' said the official, "that a forger has half his work done when he can get hold of the identical pen with which the owner of tho sig nature habitually writes? A great many men, bank Presidents and the like use the same pen for their names only for a year or two without change. A h-ii that has !een used by a man ill writing his name hundreds of times, and never used for anything else, will almost writo the name of itself. It gets imbued with the spirit of the sig nature. In tho hands of a fairly goof, forger it will preserve the character istics of the original. Tho reason for j this is that the point of the pen bit 1 been ground down in a peculiar wy : from being used always by the same hand and for the same combination of letters. It would splutter if held at a wrong angle or forced on lines against its will. It almost guides the sensi tive band of the forger wheu he at terapti to write th mmV A Many-SMea Institution. I A Norwich school ma'am put the Irord "Trust" in a spelling lesson the i Other day. Trust used to be a simple word meaning confidence a word without guile and within the grasp of the vonngest pupil. The effect of the 111111 .1 iijivii , 1 1 ; H 1 ' 1 11 17T 1. fl 1 1 H J ' .1 1 1 1 1 I J 1 1 , r apparent the moment the definition times upon the word became painfully was called for. "Define Trust," commanded the leacher. The little fellow at the head of the class, who evidently read the papers, replied, "Trust is big a snake." 'Where did you learn that?" asked the teacher. 'In our newspaper," replied the boy. "It said Trust is an anaconda!" ."That wasn't what I saw in my paper," spoke up a clever pupil, "for it said a Trust was like a devil of a fish!" "It's a monster"1 said the third boy. "Where on earth did you get that idea?" asked the astonished teacher. "Outen the papers," replied number three. "I guss the papers dunno," re marked the fourth, "for mine said it was an octerpus." A Brcussion on Trust. Trust used to be a simple word meaning confidence a word without guile und within the grasp of tho youngest pupil. The effect of the times upon the word became painfully apparent at a Norwich (Conn.) school the moment the definition was called for. "Define trust," commanded the teacher. The little fellow at the head of the class, who evidently read the papers, replied; "Trust is a big snake." Where did you learn that?" asked the t"aclier. "In our newspaper," replied the boy. "It said a trust was an ana conda." "That wasn't what it I saw in my paper," spoke up a clever pupil, "for it said a trust is a devil of a fish." "It's a monster," said the third boy. "Whereon earth did you get that idea?" asked the astonished teacher. "Outen the papers," replied number three. "I guess the rmpers is off their oase," remarked the fourth, "for mine said it. was an octerpus!" Nor Walk Bulletin. A Big-Footed Family. Down in Grayson county, says a Louisville dispatch, in the vicinity of Dickey's mill, there is a most remark able family named Hunton. It is com posed of father, mother aud eight sons and (laughters, all of the children full grown. Not one of them weighs less than 175 pounds, and the second oldest son tips the beam at 275. This, how ever, would not be uncommon, as large people are abundant in Kentucky, but every member of the family has feet of most extraordinary size, far out of proportion to their bodies. There are no manufactured shoes large enough for them, and it keeps a country shoemaker busy supplying pedal coverings for the entire family. Not one of them uses a shoe Entailer than that made on a 15 last, and the largest foot measures eighteen inches in length. No other white persons in Kentucky ari'. known to have feet ap proaching these in si.e, alt hough colored people frequently wear No. 1 shoes, the ordinary foot requiring a 7 or an 8. Kortl Heat Chopper. A. new meat chopper for cwmen HBO Is distinguished by tho fact- that the meat if cut bj an action liko that of a pair of scissors and it !t torn apart; neither Is It ground Into a greasy pulp. The forcing acrew feed the meat np to- a knife with eight radial blades, revolving between a fixed two-bladed knife and a cutting plate of novel construction. Tho plate has a number of grooves converging towards a central aperture, tho ribs between the grooves Laving sharp cot ting edges. Tho work is wcll aud rapidly dono. A mcdium-tiztJ ma chine will produce four pounds of filled sausage per minute. New York Commercial Advertiser Washing the Imperial Etcpnaorj. The Emperor of China having corn mandid tho Board of Astronomy to appoint an auspicious day for tbo arx nual washing of tho Imperial le phants, August 17. at the first hoor was the day appointed, and the officers of the Board of Ceremonies pot up temporarily mat sheds beautifully deci orated on tha north side of the creek, OOtside Iho Hsuan Wo Men, Peking.1 where tho Imperial elephants received an ovation. Various ceremonies trero performed before they took their an nual bath. Sf. James's Gazette. Publle Boads. In Massachusetts a chnlr fiat been recently endowed at the Boston School of Technology to bo known as tho Chair of Public Road. Mr. Biplcy says that he has reason to believe that not only in Pennsylvania, Masnchn actts and New York a societ having recently been formed in this State to promote the improvement of publio roads has - intctest been awakened la this subject, but that there Is hardly ku Eastern or Middle slate that has not lakeu on new zeal in the matter of lha Improvement of roa-.u. The Anstrian Hangman In Aus!ria,thc hangman is a man named Sc'gfi ied. who wears a black , uniform, with a cocked bat and XvhUe gloves. He has never had to bang 8) woman, for the emperor fh'.tikt straw gulalioa is a puni&hmcut which should be reserv' for rrriles. futtJI0 Times. The ;a'ary of the Governor of New Jei sey a $ i0,0u0 a year. A Fl.-r da orange grove of 100 was recen'ly sold for $134,000. acres It c sis about $200 to lie presented at uourt in Buckingham Palace. DOUS AS I10K.SES. she Country Where They Are the I leasts of Burden. I have met M. Nantet, the Belgian author, who follows the nsage of his country in utilizing the dog as a ilfomrHt allium! ITa Imib I i f 1 1 rt mi mas. i.H ............ - - ' - ' - .... .j phaeton drawn by dogs in which he drives about when nt home, and in which he has come from Brussels to 1'aris. M. Nautet thinks that Bel gium, with her cheerless sky and sod den soil, is able to hold her own, aud be among the most prosperous nations of Europe, because the dog is not only the friend and comrade, but the carrier of the poor mau. The coster monger and his wife in Paris or Lon don are broken down prematurely from fatigue, and the stabling and fodder for a donkey is a heavy tax on their profits, but their B"lgian brethren can house their dogs with themselves. The dogs, after being unharnessed, dine with their masters, and in winter sleep before the kitchen fire. The strength of a good draught dog marvellous. He does not spoiiaronds like a horse, and when tired he asks to lie down, a favor always granted ; and, on being rested, goes on again cheerfully. The pair which drew M. Nantet is ot average size and strength, and bad a long line of ancestors, who did good work in their time as carriers. When at an inn their master used to unharness them and take them with him into the coffee room, where they lay down at his feet. He drove all tho way, unless when there was a steep hill to climb. At a place called Louvroil the Mayor heard he had come into the town, and informed him that his equipage came within the reach of the Gramniont Law for the protection of animals. "Very well," answered the Belgian, who was preparing to start, aud he ordered the dogs to get into the pha'ton and sit on the seat, while he drew them. They obeyed, and stayed there until they were beyond the bounds of the com mune, where they descended to bo harnessed. To avoid crowds, who might think well to take part with the dogs against their master, M. Nantet kept clear of large towns. At Com peigne he telegraphed to a number of Belgians here at what time he was likely to reach Paris, and they went out to meet him. When he was sighted the dogs were going at a brisk pace. He thinks they could have done the journey comfortably iu five days, but as he is as much their friend as their owner he gave Uiem seven. London News. He Saw a Difference. "Madam," said the gallant old man after obeying her request to close the ear window. "I was just thinking how different the women of today are from those of ten or fifteen years ago in the matter of travel. Formerly a lady who had a journey alone was " "Yes, sir," she interrupted, "but would you please tell me if I am on the right train for Buffalo?" "You are, madam. As I was say ing, the women of ten years ago were continually worrying for fear " "And does this car go right through without change?" "It does, madam. I was going to sav that the women ' "And do vou think that my trunk will go right through with me?" "Of course, madam. In former years a woman travelling alone was afraid that " "You are sure we are on the right train?" she interrupted. " ery sure." "And we don't change?" "No'm." "Aud we get in at 6 o'clock?" "We do." "And they'll call out the name when we get there?" "Oh, yes." ""Well, I hope nothing will happen. but I'm verv, very nervous. Would you mind asking the conductor if wc are likely to have a collision, go through a bridge, or get iu an hour later" And the gallant old man, who saw ouch a great dilfcrence between tho women travelling today and those of ten years ago, retired into his shell looking as if something had rubbed against his placidity of mind. An Old Skippers Tarn. Down in South street, tho other dar, they were talking about a schooner which had been struck by lightning, when the reporter singled out an old mariner, and said: "Captain II , it seems to mc I've read or heard of your brig being struck?" "Yes, she was," answered the old yarn-spinner. ' Where was it?" "OfT Point Aux Barques, about fif teen years ajro. Very strange case, that. Probably the only one of tho kind ever heard of. "Give us the particulars." "Well, we were jogging along down when a thunderstorm overtook us, and the very first flash of lightning struck the deck amidships and bored a hole as big as my leg right down through the bottom of the vessel." "Aud she foundered, of course?" "No, ah'. The water began nich ing in, and she would have foundered, but there came a second flash, aud a bolt struck my fore-to'-gallant mast. It was cut oirnear tho top, entered tho holo and plugged it up as tight as a drum. When we got down to dry dock we simply sawed off either end and left the plug in the planks." Something for the Minister. A little Boston child, at present so ion ruing in the mountains with his parents, overheard the latter engaged in discussing with some friends the needs of the local clergyman, whom it seems has not a very proserous parish, and is consequently "pinched'' at times. The conversation dealt with the ministerial needs and with platiS for meeting the same. The conver sation was not lost upon the child. If there was to be any assistance render ed he was to be a contributor. Tho next Sunday afteruoon, after the ssrvices, the child lingered mysterious ly about the church, and when the clergyman, a portly and dignified gentleman, emerged through the door on his way home the little philan thropist marched up to him and, with the confidence inspired by the good work he was about to perform, reached forward, caught the minister's hand j in his own and closed the Angers or kbe former over peimy. AEWSIS BRIEF. A hole a ml'e deep Is to bo bored at Wheeling, W. Va. 5ho- mikerv::ie, Psnn, has a pear tree over 150 j ears old. In Paris tha latest fancy is the cos luuiiug of cats and doj-i. Pennsylvania established, the fiist hospital iu America in 1751. More th in ?000 wolves and 85Tbars have teen killed iu Bosnia since IS). A farmer in Georgia claims that he has subsisted wholly on buttermilk for the last fifteen years. Boys of Germany begin the study of Latin when but nine years of ae, and continue the course for nine years. One million dollars or gold coin weiyha 30-6 pounds avoirdupois; of sil ver colu, 63,020.9 pounds. The only three words containing the vowels iu their regular order are abstemious, arsenious an d facetious. A Missouri girl has attended school for ten consecutive years without miss ing a school day or being tardy once. There are over a million miles of telegraph w.re in the United Mates, enough to encircle the globe forty times. A bov was arrested In Philadelphia roceutly for stealing Lis sister's diamond weddiug riug the day before the cere mony. Tramways In England are said to be so called from Benjamin Out ram, who ma Jo many Improvements in them Large quantities of seed oysters have lately been seut to England to be planted there in hopes of the beat bi valve results. A perfect pearl weighing twenty seveu grains was found recently by a Pottstown, (Tenn. ) boy m a mussel along the French creek. A queer fish has been caught off the South Carolina coast. It has a largn horn on the top of its head, and weighs over 8iK) pounds. A spinster who died in Westmins ter, England, a short time ago, aged sixty years, had bjen in the habit for some yeais of using half a pound of tea a day. The Government's money Is still printed on hand presses rather clumsy p eces of machlueiy with long levers that move to aud fio with every Im pression. More than 10 (HX tegular army swords ire made in Cu.citiratl every year. They are supplied tj the United States Army as well as to the militia of the United Slates. Among the extinct crabs one has been found, known as the p'eryi?otus, that measured true feet in length, and was undoubtedly the devastator of its kind iu the xncieut seas. The cells of the human lungs are 75 (MutMMi in nn 'uber, coveringa surface from two and a half to three and a half times greater than the whole body sur face of ten full growu meu. In its native habitation the shell of the oyster Is always a little open, aud microscopic, waving hairs set up cur lents which curry the food plants to Its moulh, where they are engulfed aud af terward digested. A farmer near Satlooy, Ventura County, Gal., has ten acres set out to eucalyptus trees, which he intends to raise for fhewood. He will cut them down when they are six years old. A Wichita (Kan.) farmer within a year has sold corn from ona crib at thir teen cents, twenty-six cents, fifty cents and seventy-five cents, aud has some lelt lor which he expects to get eighty five cents. It Is said that large bananas, 'such as are shipped to us, are seldom seen in Cuba, being comidered oj coarse. A very small bunana, wliijh is a favorite fruit there, never readies us, being too tenJer for shipment, The Japanese murderer of a res taurant keejier In Seattle, Washington, recently, tlnew his sword Into the Day. A vigorous search resulted in finding the weapon, which bad marks showing it to be 1260 years old. The remains of a common Ua1 were discovered In the folid rock by workmen in a quarry at Ansouia, ('-odd., recently. The skin, which lathe only portion of the toad remaining, is perfect In form, transparent, and ot the consistency of leather. An Italian statistician has calculat ed tha'. during the hist hundred years 0030 persons perished In seventeeu prin cipal maritime disasters, without reck oning the lives lost in smaller shipwrecks and accidents. It is stated that among the records in tl.e tower of Loadon, a document was found according to which a man was hauged in the time of Edward L for no other crime than having been caught burning coal. A vast "banyan"' tree has been dis covered or. the tiny Lord Howe Island, 300 miles from Port Macquar.e, in Aus tralia. It coeis betweei. six and seven acres, and is thus inferior only to the greatest of those in India. In a lectnre in New York city, Mr. George Fredeiick Kunz, the expert in gems, mentioned lusiauces where gems Lave been found in America. He spoke of the discovery of a rough ma-a of sap phire In Franklin, N. C, weighing 300 pounds, and of a diamond In Virginia weighing 11 J carats. Each of these was shown on the screen. Tabasco sauce Is made on an island in the Oulf of Mexico or herbs indigen ous to the place of its manufacture. Its formula Is a secret. It is shipped from said island in large quantities to New Orleans aud Galveston, which are the principal distributing points for the world over. John Wesley attributed bis sound health at eighty-three to his ability to go to sleep at any moment; to the habit of risini? at four o'clock aud generally preaching at Ave, one of the roost healthy exercises la the world; and to his never traveling less by sea or land than 4.000 miles a tear. A Halifax (Vt.) woman secured from thirty-two hens In four mouths 0112 etfga. The Chinese are credited wits being the most diligent gardeners and tillers of the laud. Two acres of land adjoioing the En glish nouses of Piir'iaaie Jt "are offered forsaleatfj.Otio.OOi. A colored girl has been sentenced at Rome, Ga., tonlaety nlDe years' service in the convict camp for arson. Ontario, Canada, has an agricultural test ooo& in her common schools. A bedtime luncheon of lettuce b duces sleep. i e 1
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers