T
i
P. SOHWEIER,
THE OONBTITUTION-THE UNION AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS.
Editor and. Proprietor.
B.
VOL. XVLI.
WINTER.
There l. h dn " climes, all seasons
fair ;
There l, who knows no restless passion's
strife:
rontrntment. smiling at each Idle care:
Cunltutnu-nt, thankful for the gift of life.
One finds I" w Inter many a view to plea e.
lbs morning landscape Iiluged with Irost
wurU say.
Toe sum at wood seen through the leafless
tie
Tho cIiii clear ether at the close of day.
THE UKOW.X-BEARDED STRASfiER.
The early Jays of February came
suuuy anil smiling; the birds that had
passed their northern winter in the
warm l anches of the fir and spruce
tretm of tlio woods, were hopping
lightly from the silvery blossomed
lumpy willows to the fringed and tas
sclvd ha7.fl and alder shrubs, now and
then trilling forth from their tiny
throat purest spring-like songs of
jy.
Adown (ho hazel-bordered country
road came two rsy girls clad in navy
I, Uie walking suits, wi h here and
there in their costumes a dash of red;
thitir bright faces and wind-tossed hair
crowned with jaunty crimson yarns
with dark blue tassels.
Their steps were elastic with health
and youth's luidoubting hopefulness;
they gave tho finishing toueh of life
that made the reenj a perfect one to
two young men who were sitting un
observed by them in a sunny corner
whero two walls met, sketching the
stretch of grey roadway with it9 shrub
befringed edges and fluttering birds.
He quick and sketch them, Jaok,it is
the one thing needed to make the
theme perfect. Tlu-re, they have paus
ed, ami how unconsciously graceful
they are pausing I Not often do you
get such an accidental touch as this,
and the picture will be the envy at the
Annual Exhibition."
Rapidly the sketching went on, and
together the girls resumed their steady
tramp, keeping perfect step, and pass
ing the two young men who looked as
innocent as only the guilty can! If
they hud not sketched the girls, they
naturally would have shown some con
sciousness of their approach.
Now, it was the girls who gave al
most a start of surprise as they sudden
ly discovered tho artist And his friend.
"What hands jme, stylish young
men ! Did you not:cc the moustache of
the dark-haired oue? "What a natural
wave it Lad, not that horrid waxy
curl at the ends that makes you feel
that it must have just come fresh from
Jie barber's tongs," said Mabel Tink
Lam, who Was something of an artist
in her taatft as regarded masculine
beauty. Being herself a rich bucd
blonde, it Was but natural that she
rhould have been attracted by the dark
style of Roland Holland.
"No, I did not notice the dark one
as being other than a common-looking
man, but the brown-bearded man
what a figure he had 1 And a perfect
facet" and Mary Peck, with a graceful
movement of her arm, put up her hand
to her hair, to assure herself that the
wind bad not blown it "every which
way." "Really, are we blown quite
into frights, Mabel t I wonder who
those fellows are, and where they
came from. One wss sketching anil
the other leaning on the wall and look
ing; or do you suppose he wa posing?
Wouldn't he make a splendid portrait ?"
"He? No, he couldn't hold a candle
to the dark ono. I wish we could
know them, but what is the use in talk
ing such nonsense ; you and I shall
sever know such as he out in this wil
derness 1 I wonder if pa will ever get
bis business straightened out, so that
we can once more have a comfortable
home in tho city I For one, I am
heartily tired of living out be e in the
country, shut out from all society. I
4on't see why men who know enough
to do business on change don't know
enough not to get 'fleeced,' as pa calls
it. Uli, dear, what made him fail all
at once, and 6end us out here to grand
father's?" "I don't know, I am sure; buying
long and selling short and buying short
aud selling long, and being rich a few
years, and then suddenly 'as poor as
Jtb's tutkey1 is a conundrnin I cannot
understand. But I began to feel that
when pa and his clique was rich, then
somebody tvai fleeced and made poor;
we didn't know who it was, that was
all, and we just enjoyed It.
"Now pa lulks about our being
fleeced, and I suppose somebody is
flourishing on the fleecing just as we
did; and never dveaming that out here
in the woods we, tho fleeced, are drag
ging along miseraWy, shut out from
all the things we used to have. How
long have we worn these suits? Mine
is actually sprouting a fringe around
the bottom, sort oT growing its spring
foliage as one might sav. I wonder if
we can have sonic new ones this
spring?" I
"1 don't know. Wc have actually
worn them three years; they avere the
last we had before we came here two
years ago the fourteenth of this month. 1
Don't you remember we were planning 1
such fun for the novel valentine party I
Lucy Hoyt had sent out invitation?
'or? Then pa failed, and we arrived
here at grandpa's the evening of the !
l"rty. I thought I should die as we !
at that night in the kitchen and
watched grandpa popping corn and J
grandma cracking walnuts, and actu- j
Uy feeling that they were making a
; real good time for us I" j
Never fear, I remember it all; it
jut horrid. And grandma says'
now she don't see what all our 'oppor- 1
tunities' have amounted to when we:
cau't do half a much to help ourselves, )
m girls who never had half our
chance;"
"How provoked Le is because we
don't want to teach ; and she is right, I
we couldn't do it if we did wish to. I
he told me this morning, if I wanted '
new dress 1 ought to find some way
to earn it; that it was a shame that pa
ad spent tltousands of dollars on out '
-nool bills piano les-ons and French I
earners, and after all we couldn't
teach even the school in this district I
And there's Nancy Farnum, who's
never had a dollar spent on her school
log and has earned ten dollarj a week
lor forty weeks a year, for the last
nvo years; has helpod her ma for her
board fore and after school, hasdressed
well, furnished her ma's parlor up,
ana pat money in the savings' bank;
ou two jiirls can't even give the
wnghbor's children lessons on a melo.
. ,n ' h I m sick of hearing it all ;
nd the worst of the whole is it is
ZVi . ' M much as w lte o!
and b,U9Vnd the wy l?ndpa
Ue to hep
iu v ... e we nowhere
"Well, what can't be helped, can't;
o wuai, is me use or talkimr? w
nay just as well make the beat of it
, and come right down and take whal
fun there is going; so let's walk on to
I Betty I'lummer's and tell her we will
accept her invitation for to-inorrow
iiigni, ana go right in for a good
time with the neighborhood young
folks. I said at first I never would do
it, bbt theu I did not e inert to
here forever; now I begin to think we
' may. But, let's draw the line at mar
rying, we will flirt with the boys and
, have a good time. 'Twill bo some
thing to take up our time. Grandpa
, aud grandma will like all but the flirt
j ing; they will begin to have hopes of
j us and think we are at last growing
sensible, and we can keep dark about
, our real opinions of folks and things.
i nope, tnough, they will not play
kissing games. Just think of having
grandpa's hired man kiss us I Of
course, he is invited."
Betty riummer was ouite overrnmn
by the sudden cordiality of Mabel
Tinkhnm and her adopted sister, Mary
I'eck, and for the rest of the day was
In quite a flutter of excitement over
the event.
Jtoland Holland and his friend, Jack
Slaples, had chanced upon the Plum
mer farm for their halting place in
this neighborhood while sketching.
When they returned to a late dinnei
the voluble, gay-hearted Betty chatter
ed of her morning callers, and with
country freedom soon had given the
young men a full history of neighbor
Tinkhain's oldest son who had " years
ago left the farm and gone toNew
York as a clerk, and lately became
what the country people called a stock
gambler; had been rolling in money a
few years, and married a cityg!rl;
later had lived in Europe a few years,
and then, just as all gamblers do sud
denly he began to lose, and all at once
found himself at the bottom of the
heap and glad enough to 6end his two
girls to bis old home, which had never
been good enough for them to visit
when they had lots o' money."
Sho told the young man that the girlf
were real nice, but couldn't do a thing
to earn a dollar, and seemed actually
proud of it I
Then she talked of her valentine party,
and the young men bavin? identified
Mabel Tinkham and Mary Peck as the
two stylish young ladies of the morn
ing episode, entered into Betty's plans,
and soon hail given the quick-witted
country girl some hints about valentine
tricks. Betty was always ready for a
good-natured joke and readily agreed
lo their suggestions.
In response to one of these she wenl
over to grandpa Tinkhain's on the
evening of the thirteenth and told the
girls of these tricks. One was for the
girls to lake an early morning walk on
the fourteenth and the first man they
met would surely be their future hus
band I Others were to be tried at the
house. One of these was to go out
into the dark, and standing on the
doorstep unwind a ball of twine for a
few yards and holding the end of the
twine in one band, with the othei
throw the ball as far out into the dark
ness as possible, then begin to wind
up the end in their hand, repeating
these lines:
"I wind this long line so very fine,
Hoping to liml st the other eml,
The love I would call my valentine.
The man I'd choose for lover ant friend."
Then, unless one was a predestined
old maid, at the end of the line would
stand before the maiden her future
husband who would yield the line to
her, clasp her in his arms and take hit
first kiss and disappear in the dark
ness, and when tho gates were propi
tious she would meet this very man,
perhaps be introduced to him in the
most prosaic and orthodox manner;
and surely some day he would come
to claim the hand of the maiden he had
kissed in the dark I
"I shall go for a walk before to
morrow morning, Mary; will you gc
too?" cried Mabel, gleefully.
"Indeed I will not. You'll be surt
to meet somebody's hired man driving
the cows to the spring for water," re
plied Mary, scornfully.
Then she continued, "I will control
my impatience to see my hero until
evening. I shall throw the ball of
twine from ourbick door-step, and lei
it roll down the tlope into the garden,
and then gently draw my hero up to
give me that sweet betrothal kiss, and
as it is hardly ptoper to accept any
thing from a stra.iger, I will return it
at once," and Mary joined in the gen
eral laugh.
Betty went home and reported.
Early the next morning Mabel wenl
out for a walk and for half a mile mel
no one, not even a hired man driving
cows to water, nor a milkman goinf
toward the village.
Suddenly, as she turned a corner, she
came face to face with the dark, nious-
tached stranger she had seen a few
mo nings ago posivg so gracefully be
side the stone wall as he lifted his ha'
and passed around the corner.
Mabel was not more romantic than
the ordinary girl, yet her heart
throbbed more rapidly, and the rich
color swayed back and forth in bet
shapelv cheeks, at she wondered ii
there could be anything in such hap
penings, and queried mentally over and
over again, "who could he be, where
from, and with wlumi was he staying
in that neighborhood, and would she
maybe sometime reklly meet and speik
with him?"
But it was time t return for break
fast, and, lo! he was returning, and
politely lifted his hid once more from
the close-cut, da k, carling locks.
Evening came, and Mabel and Marj
were much entertained by the society
into which they were for the first time
introduced. ilithertii they had held
themselves aloof teoui the young
people about them.
The remembrance of their New
York circle, their wit.tcrs at Washi; g
ton, the years spent ia London, Pans,
Mentone and Nice had been too fresk
in their memories to aJmit of their ac
knowledging that they could associate
even temporarily wi'h tluwe so far re
moved from their set.
J Ml I Lilt! 1 1 1 1 1 . 1 1 1; " l ' - ' -
some, sort o
sociality had conquered their exciu-
sivencss at last, or rather the hopeless-
ness of ever resuming their old place,
had forced them to yield.
Th hours ran on in more or res:
stupiil games until ten o'clock, when
one bv one the betrothed maidem
klipped away from the party to trj
some ttick. Unobserved they were,
not, and it was eaw to ue VM
MIFFLINTOWN.
' hoped to be the favored one, as, aftet
each girl passed out, some admiring
swain was sure soon to follow.
None of the country youth dared
follow stately Mary l'eck, and the en
vious tongues whisered, "She'll nol
meet anyone ; she holds her head toe
high."
On the back door step Mary stood,
half shivering with the cold night air
half with a superstitious thrill.
Slowly she wound the ball after
throwing it, softly repeating the
rhymes as told by Betty. For awhile
the line was slack as if lying along the
ground, then it became a bit more
taut, and soon she was sure tbere was
some unknown attachment at the other
end of the line.
When she saw a figuio actually com
ing toVard her in the darkness, she
nearly lost her self-possession; but hei
pride came to her aid ; she would nol
scream and make herself an object ol
ridicule before those youths; she fell
so much superior to the in, that it would
have been the last thing she could have
endured. The light from a window
suddenly flashed upon the advancing
figure. It was the brown-bearded
stranger, who at that moment clasped
her in bis arms, kissed her lips raptur
ously, released her gently and disap
peared like a dream in tie darkness 1
It was some moments ere she had re
covered sufficiently to re-enter the
house with a calm, undisturbed face,
except for a rich, deep flush not at al'
an ordinary color with her.
Here she had need of all tho 'elf
possession years in society had given
her, for in her absence two guests bac
arrived. Mubel was already clouting
freely with Roland Holland "aud Jael
Staples!
Why prolong the story? The enc
was the usual one; the new acquaint
ance soon riened into an old; Ihn ac
quaintances became friends and in time
lovers. Then came the quiet wedding
at grandpa's; the short bridal tour, anc
the prosaic settling down as house
keepers in two small flats in New
York, where in domestic contentineni
they dwelt ever after, in as great a de
gree of continuous harmony as falls tc
the average families.
i.ranaina made tins domestic peace
post-ible, by persistently insisting tl.al
both girls should take daily practica'
lessons in her kitchen; that the period
of courtship should commence in learn
lng the art or household economies.
The girls sometimes rebelled, fancying
that things would manage to go or
somehow without all that troub e.
But grandma had her way, knowing,
that a young man with a moderate in
come has double need of a competent
home keeper.
"Pa" nevor made a second fortune,
but drifted from Mabel's to Mary's,
and haunted Wall street with olhe
ghosts of "better days."
THE MULES AND THE ELECTRIC
CAR.
BY MART 8. MCCOBB.
They were mules. Two little fellows,
with dainty feet anil funny loug ears.
They lived" in the big stable, at the foot
of the great bluff.
But, though email, they had been
accustomed to earn tbeir own living.
How? Why, by drawing a street-car in
a Western city. Briskly they hud
worked, always alert Every night
they ate their supper with all tho dig
nity and self-respect of other wae
earners. When, lo! one fine day came strange
news. The mules pricked np their
ears. What waa it they heard? Horses
and mnles should le set aside? Men
wonld "harness the lightning," aud
make it drag the cars?
"Throw ns out of employment?"
cried the mules. "Do they flatter
their foolish selves they can do without
vxt Not a bit of it. The pnldic
demands onr services. The iublic
ball have them! Go to!"
Ho, what do yon think those plncky
follows did? The electric car was ready.
The man who was "to drive the light
nintc" was in his place.
Suddenly "patter patter pntter
patter," came the sound of eight spry
hoofs.
"Here we are!" called the mnles
cheerfully. Sure enough, here they
were, in their usual place, in front of
the car. Fastened to it? Oh, nol
Why mind a trifle like that?
"Tang! Tang!" went the belL
"Patter patter patter patter I"
Off scnttled the mules.
"Tang!"
The mnles came to a standstill. So
did the car. "Of conrse. It always
stops when we do!" said the mules, and
they wagged their tails.
"Tang 1 Tang !"
Off thev started afresh. .Lively work
this 1 What was the stupid driver
laughing at ? Was there a stray joke
anywnere 7
All along the town, through the
streets where business men should at
tend to their own affairs, and not stand
still to look and langh.
"We know what we're about I" de
clared the little mules.
"Patter patter patter patter !"
1 believe they trotted in front of that
electric car to the very end of the
route, till they reached the place where
the tall chimneys of a factory belcb
forth clonds of smke.
At last the mnles may rest.
"Ah ha I Ah ha ! He haw I He haw I"
It waa their time to langh now.
"Didn't we tell you the public
shonld have onr services ? 'Drive the
lightning ?' Fudge I He pulled that
carl"
And a lady who lives in that very
town told me about it. She is a very
ve-ra-cions person so that 1 know that
this story is true.
The Dog and the Bad Egg.
Tt seems that there are dog owner
who are concerned as to the "friend of
man's" felonious consumption of eggs.
How to break him of the habit is the
question. Here is one suggestion.
An egg-eating dog of mine once picked
np a duck's egg, which, in a very ad
vanced stage of decomposition was
floating down the river. As he trotted
past me with his prey in his mouth,
unbroken, I caught him, and gave him
a slap under the jaw with my hand.
There seemed to be a full gallon of
decomposition in that egg. It went all
over both of u. The dog apparently
-- o I t j
resolved never again to toucn an egg, '
gnd he kept his resolution. I for my j
part determined to let dogs cat eggs in
future rather than attempt to cure them 1
who snipnureueu louiugcu.
AH men learn sometbinz evjryd ly,
but the most of them only le.n what
great fools they were yesterday.
JUNIATA COUNTY.
BROKEN SO SOON.
"Somewhere In desolate, wind-swept space"
(A spot extremely drear,)
Two ahostly shapes met face to tace
Uu the secoud day o' the year.
So freta and blithe on yestermorn
They'd been when first devised;
Sow boib were broken, bruised and torn,
Aud scarce to be recognized.
They looked In each other's eves with dread
And questmiied -Who were you?"
"1 was a Kood resolve,' one said ;
Said t'other : '-1 was, too."
LI HUNG CHANG, VICEROY- OF
CHINA.
No living statesman to-day attracts
so mnon attention in Enrope as the
aged Viceroy of Petchili. There is a
consensus of opinion to the effect that
we are about to see some great changes
in the relations of China to the civilized
world. Bnt any change, however
small, in the social politic d organiza
tion that has for ages held one-fonrth
of the human race in law-abiding con
tentment, must have a momentous in
fluence on the evolution of humanity.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the
man who is the most powerful person
age in the Chinese Empire shonld 1m
an object of intense interest to the
Western Powers. The success with
which the germs of rebellion have been
stamped ont in Northern China farther
enhances his prestipre, for it gives ns
an outward and manifest sign that his
slowly-matured policy or quickening
and developing the dormant military
power of China will yet be fruitful in
far-reachins results. From the day
when, as one of Gordon's lieutenants,
he shared tlie glory won by "the ever
victorious Army," Ei Hung Chang has
been working steadily to this end. It
is for this that he went half-way to
meet the foreigner in China. As Mr.
I. Bnsscl Young, formerly Minister of
the United States at Pekin, has said,
Li nnng Chang has opened np a new
world for the Empire, and after the
close of the last contest with Franoe.
' in which the bearing of the Chinese
soiuierjr wan uccuiau if j uiiu UK
promising, His excellency told Mr.
l'oung quite frankly why he had done
it. He was determined, he said, ere he
died, to see China, like other nations,
able to speak to the enemy at ber gates
"with her band on the hilt of her
3 word." Though he ia now in his
seventieth year, the venerable Vice
roy's patriotism is as ardent as it was
in his youth. His stately figure was
bent bnt little under the burden of
official "hara'sments," His intellect
is as keen and subtle as ever, and his
tact, dexterity, adroitness, pertinacity,
high spirit and kindly conrtesy still
extort admiration even from his ene
mies. No Chinaman for there is not
a drop of Manchu Tartar blood in his
veins ever won so much respect and
sontidence from Englishmen. No
Ch'naman, it must be allowed, under
stood ns better or took a more accurate
measure of the strength and weakness
of onr national character.
Li Hang Chang, since the death of
the late Prince Knnp, the yonnir
Emperor's father, has been the strong
est buttress of the throne, t or years,
his power and prestige, however, were
provincial rather than metropolitan,
nd perhaps jealousy of his command
ing ability and his success in dealing
with foreigners caused him to be ig
nored during the Begency, save when
be was harassed by frivolons com
plaints and official 'nagging' from Pe
kin. let during this time he was
making Tienstin one of the most
powerful centres of political influence
in the Empire, and organizing a native
Chinese army and navy under his own
control, which mast ia any crisis have
nven bim a decisive voice in determin
ing its issue. There are those who now
tiint that Li Hung Chang is growing
too powerful for the dynasty, and that
jis ambition w ill not be satisfied till be
iiaa seated himself on the Dragon
1'brone. Foolish foreign diplomatists
have even striven to tempt him into
treason. But the lute General Gordon,
who knew him better than most men,
ilways declared that Li Hung Chang
was loyal to the core, that by making
himself indispensable in the Inner
Council of State he could satisfy all his
ambitions, that in these days it would
he scarcely possible for bim or any
at her unsurper to establish his author
ity over fourteen provinces, and pass
it on to his son witbin the space of a
lifetime. Some writers on this subject
vera to forget that two hnndred and
fifty years ago, when China was free
from risk of foreign intervention, it
took the Manchn dynasty, supported
by the full strength of Tartar chivalry,
fifty years of hard fighting ere it estab
lished its power over the Middle Kine-
Jom. It is certain that Li Hung
Chang made no move as an usurper
an the only occasion when he might
have been successful, viz: when the
late Emperor Tangche died myster
iously, and the Imperial Family were
quarrelling over the succession. Li
Hnng Chang's position as Viceroy of
the Metropolitan Province, with his
seat of Government at Tientsin, was
ilways an important one. Bnt it was
not till he became one of the Grand
Secretaries of State, and a Member of
the Inner Conned, the mysterious body
which is superior even to the Tsnng-li-Yamen,
or Conncil of Census, who
represent the Chinese Government to
the whole world, that the chief control
it affairs passed into his hands. Even
now it is erroneous to describe him as
master of China. In nine cases ont of
ten his will and ideas probably prevail,
but he has a great deal of obstruction
to overcome before that comes to pass
obstruction which, as in the case of
-he delay in issniog the Imperial edict
:ondemning the Yangtze rioters, is apt
to embroil him with the foreign lega
tions. Li Hnng Chang's life ni!t-y be
laid to have been spent in minimizing
friction between the Pekin Government
ind the Treaty Powers. Again and
igain has he, by his personal prestige
nd dexterity in negotiation, averted
she calamity of war from bis country,
fet it is to him that China owes all that
is most efficient in her modern army
ind navy, her troops, ber ironcla Is,
her ship-yards, her 'arsenals, and her
fortresses. He has leen the mainstay
it the Maritime Customs Department,
Dn which the Imperial Government
iepends for its chief resources. He
:ontrivcd the scheme for collecting
ilong with Imperial customs the Le
kin, or the octroi, an internal import
Jury which the provincial governments
levied on goods coming within their
boundaries, thereby vastly increasing
the Imperial revenue, and affording; j
China a solid basis for loan-raising id j
Europe. The Imperial Governnuiit had '
to af.k him even when he was supposed
to be ont of favor at Pekin to un ler
take the negotiations with France as to
the Tientsin massacre and with England
aver the Macqnary mnrder. H. di
plomacy won back Kuldja from Russia
and sterilized the French conquest of
ronquin.
But there ia reason to think he has J
PENNA.. WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 3. 1S92.
tro tblesome times before him, and that
he w 11 have to deal with a situation
mu u more serious than any that can
be created by mere sporadic rioting.
It is hard to get at the truth about the
recent outbreaks of lawlessness in
China, and to decide how far they are
fanatical or revolutionary. There is,
however, no donbt that the long
Kegency of the Dowager-Empressee
diminished the personal prestige of the
child mperor now seated on the
throne. The Manchu dynasty, more
over, still represents conquest to the
Chinese of the central provinces, not
merely by its insistence on Pekin
instead of Nankin being made the
capital, bnt by the use of the Manchu
language in official reports snbmitted
to the Emperor, and by the firm hand
it keeps on the nucleus of the army
at Pekin. But though Prince Knng
organized the Pekin Field Force, the
still stronger Chinese force of "Black
Flags" has been organized by Li Hung
Chang himself a chinaman at Tien
tsin, and in the great rebellion of the
past it has been to the Chinese of
Hannan, not to the Ta tars beyond the
Wall, that the Government of Pekin
have turned for their best fighting
men. The Manchu dvnastv is there
fore no longer absolutely necessary to
me military orgaLization of the Em
pire indeed, its strength really lies in
tho support of its Chinese officials,
,the saxueitv ud moderation with
which it keops peace between jealous
provinces and acts as a buffer between
natural antipathies to foreigners and
the aggressiveness of the representa
tives of Foreiirn Powers. But it is a
paternal government and is therefore
blamed for any calamity that happens.
It is the Government that has brought
about the floods and famines that have
recently devastated China. Ithascaused
the failure of the tea girdeus now
almost annihilated by Indian competi
tion. It has also offended Hannan.
This province, which has carried its
head high because of the services of its
soldiers and the groat talents of its
leading families, like that of the late
Marquis Tseng, which are now almost
extinct, has had recently to give place
to Anwhei because, forsooth, Li llaug
Chang is himself an Anwhei man. The
chiefs of the great Kolao Secret
Society, first organized to terrorize the
officials into paying the Hnnnanese
soldiers honestly and regularly, have
had to extend their operations and get
more recruits. Hence, finding a gener
al auti-foreign feeling growing up,
they have fanned the flame of discon
tent The presenoe of the Christian
missionaries in China also adds to the
intestine difficulties.
Kecent telegrams respecting the mas
sacres in China seem to show that the
chief atrocities have taken place about
a hnndred miles westward of New
chang, the most northerly port of
China open to foreign trade. And it
is from that district the rebels were
said to be marching in the direction ot
l ekin. In order to gain Pekin, they
would have to cross the southern divis
ion of the Great Wall of China, at a
point two or three days march from
Pekin. Our illustration is from a pho
tograph recently taken of the Great
Wail which was built by the Emperors
of the Ming Dynasty. The gate there
in snown is the nearest to Pekin, and
not very far from the Ming tombs, and
the one for which, therefore, in all
probability, the rebels would make. It
is to previ-nt the latter from crossing
to the south side of the wall, that troops
have been sent from Tientsin. Ibis
part of the wall was built about 500
years later than the larger and older
part, which was constructed about b.
c. 2il0. The Great Wall is visible gen
erally from a great distance, and one
can trace it, running over the highest
hills and into the deepest valleys,
spanning rivers, being doubled in im
portant p isses, and branchod where
tbere are several high points of van
tage. Moreover, the wall is supplied
with towers, two stories high, every
hnndred yards. This part of the wall
varies from 20 to 40 leet high, with a
parapet a little over three feet. On
top the wall is about 15 feet wide, and
about 25 feet at the base. The parapet
is built of bluish bricks, about 15 inches
long, 9 inches wide ami 5 inches thick.
Below this the wall is built of blojks of
stone, near 2 feet long and 1 foot wide.
Owing to its height, therefore, it will
serve as a useful barrier to impede the
rebels, when guarded by a few troops.
Tieutsin, to which we have alluded, is
really the port of Tekin, from which it
is distant about eighty miles. Onr il
lustration is from a photograph taken
lass winter from the tower of the Town
Hall in English concession, and shows
in the distance a view of the floods that
were prevalent at that time. Nearer
the foreground the river may be seen,
and it is close to this spot the Euro
pean gunboats are anchored every
winter. At the present tine there are
two gunboats, one British and the
American, stationed there. 'Ihe native
town, which is very dirty, is about a
mile and a hull farther np the river.
Jt was here that, on the 21st of June,
li70, the infamously notorious massa
cre of the French Sisters of Charitv by
a Chinese mob took place, and Tien
tsin will always be famons as the place
where Lord Elgin's treaty known as
the "Treaty of Tientsin." was signed
in 180a
About eiehty miles down the river,
guarding the month, mud forts and
barracks are situated, and the place
known by the name of Taku is con
nected with Tieutsin by railroad, the
line referred to in recent telegrams.
A German Yankee."
A full fledged German, bearing the
odd name of August H. Y'ankee, ob
tained his last naturalization papers
from the Clerk of the United States
Distriot Court, Boston, the other day,
and is now an American citizen. Mr.
Yankee's occupation is that of a farm
er, and he lives In Dover. Mass. He
was born in Wotschihous, Germany, '
in 1863, being now 27 years of age.
He oll'e red no explanation as to the
origin of his name.
The word Y'ankee, as almost every
body knows, is said to have originated
with the Indians, who used to call the
English settler the Yengeese, or Y'an
gcesc, as they could not master the
correct pronunciation of the word.
Whether some of the ancestors of this
young man came over to America with
the Hessian troops in the time of the
Revolution and on their return cdopted
the name Yankee is not known. It ia
thought, however, that this may have
been very possible by more than one
of the officers of the court.
A copy of the celebrated picture ot
"Geese," m the Gli zeh museum, stated
by Egyptologists to be the most ancient
specimen of painting yet discovered, la
now on exhibition at South Kensington
Museum, London, England.
BULL-FROGS AND BIT AILS.
j There are two new additions to the
list of profitable products of the farm
j which promise to find employment for
j many farmers who have the requisite
, facilities. These are due to foreign no
I tions and tastes imported chiefly from
j Fiance and Germany along with the
: numerous adopted citizens who hail
! from those European shores. Oue is
the grenouille, so called by the French,
who esteem it as a choice article foi
the exercise of culinary skill. It is now
served up at the first hotels and restau
rants in the large cities, New York
esiwcially, and appears in the markets
as a regular article of sale. The ani
kual is easily bred and reared, and feeds
itselr and thrives most abundantly m
marshes. The other is called ex:arjot,
aud is used for making stews and soups,
but is eaten also boiled and roasted.
This animal is also easily reared, and
requires no feeding, but does letter
when a pasture ia provided for it.
Known in common parlance, the fiist
as the frog and the other as the snail,
these readily acclimated animals have
never until now been considered as of
any value, but no doubt hereafter will
furnish sjiecial business here, as they
have done for many years in Euroe,
to thousands of farmer-.
The French frog farm is much like
one of our cranberry meadows a swan p
laid out in broad ditches with grassy
banks between them. We reniemlier
years ago passing one of these farms in
the vicinity of a large French city in
the early evening, and being drawn to
notice it by the deafening music from
the thousands of fat fellows sitting in
the damp grass and now and then
splashing into the ditches aud continu
ing to sing their lays as they protruded
their snouts just aliove the surface of
the water. These frogs were a sjiecial
breed, Hena tsruJentu by name, but dif
fering very little from our handsome,
slender S(eciiiicn found in marshes,
and having Wight green and brown
sixtted skin. Our common bullfrog is
said to be quite as delicate in flavor,
and more acceptable in point of meat,
than the esculent species of Euroi
and as the natural stock of them is fast
disapeariiig before the nets of the
hunters thousands are now inqiorteil
from Canada for the supply of the New
York market. Consequently the tune,
has come for the skilled culture of
them in connection with other agnatic
products, as brook trout, carp, bass,
and other fish, or water cress, which
can be grown conjunctively, aud are
very proli table.
The esculent snail is of various kinds,
jne inhabits damp meadows and is
fed upon lettuce. Indeed, there are
several varieties of these, judging from
the character of their shells, which in
habit fresh water, or rather fiie banks
of fresh water streams, and the low
greasy meadows adjoining. At leat
one kind is a denizen of the salt water,
and is found in the mud of tidal,
estuaries, and as the "periwinkle," is
largely consumed by .uroiieans ami
even by the English people. Thislatter
species is boiled in salt water, and us
the small, spiral -shaped animal is drawn
from its shell usually by means of a
strong pin, the common name of it is
the "pmpatch." An tscargerte is quite
a well conducted establishment m
France, and is always surrounded by
a close, safe fence to keep the stock,
from wandering abroad and getting
lost. It Is commonly sown with clover,
lettuce, rape, and other tender herb
age, upon which the snails feed, and is
laid out with narrow paths for ease in
gathering the daily supply which is sent
to market.
Cooking by Klecirioit j.
Resistance cons of platinum or Ger
man silver wire have been used for ex
perimental cooking. The currents used
have been of constant direction, and
the coils traversed by the currents
must needs be in or in close proximity
to Uie substance to becooktyl. Further,
the surface exposed by a coil taking
up considerable room is small, and the
amount of heat radiated aud conducted
from the wire if not nearly red hot
will not be large. Cooking by electricity
b.3 not come into use as yet; the use of
alternating currents offers a solution to
the problem. A large electro magnet
of great self induction Is constantly In
circuit. The loss of current through
this coll as long as metal is not brought
near it is too small to le measured. It
being desired to cook flapjacks, an iron
spider is placed over the poles of the
electro magnet. The rapid reversals of
current in the coil induce currents in
the Iron spider, which Is thereby
heated. For heating liquids, a copier
vessel ia preferable where it can be
used on account of its greater conduc
tivity. The metal in which or on which
the cooking is done need not touch the
magnet. Indeed, a lessened heating
effect is obtained by separating the
dish from the electro magnet.
A description is given In Engineering
of the uew copper zinc alloy just intro
duced In London, and which, it Is
claimed, possesses proi-ertles as those
of bronze are to gun metal. The
specific advantages presented by this
metal are chiefly great strength and
toughuesa, and capacity for being
rolled , forged and drawn. It can be
made as hard aa steel, and when melted
is very liquid, producing sound castings
of close fine grain, and the color can
be varied from that of yellow brass to
rich gun metal, the surface taking a
fine polish, and, when exposed to the
air, tarnishing less than brass. When
cast in sand the metal has a breaking
strain of twenty-one to twenty-two tons
tier square inc'i; when rolled or forged
dot into rods the breaking strain Is
found to be forty-three tons per square
inch.
The fact is now recognized by all
architects that the stability of a build
ing under the Influence of fire depends
largely upon keeping the floors from
giving way a matter easily attained
when they are of iron and pugging,
but requiring special precautions when
tbey are made of combustible materials.
A practice is now being resorted to,
to aconsiderabe extent by French build
ers, of protecting floors by placing
upon them a half-inch layer asphalt
aver an Inch of argillaceous earth, botn
at top and bottom. A layer of plaster
of Paris, One concrete, cement or clay,
three or four millimetres (0.11 to 0. 15
inch) thick, or a paving ot tiles, permits
of waiting for assistance, by preventing
the air from coming in contact with the
wood and thus maintaining combus
tion. The purest lard oil is said to be that
wbicb Is manufactured by submitting
olid leaf lard to great pressure during
the coldest period ot winter. Oil ol
this quality ia nsed for burning In small
mechanical lamps. It gives a bright
Aarae and does not lncruot the wick, j
TWO LITTLE FEET.
LAURJL HARVBT.
Oh life. so prodieal of life!
Oh Inve anil OVsilnv al strife!
Oil rarth. so lull nf busy fwtl
Oti winhIs anil hills and all things sweetl
Was there no room amidst you all
For two more feet, so suit ami small?
IMilst envy ni-. where thousands sine,
1 he one lird that made all inr Spriute,
My dove, that had so ni:iny ways
Of m:iking beautiful life's dast
No nom 1 r rat her II may be
Karth was tio small t' Imprison thee.
Uod only Kni.ws 1 know I miss
Thy sweet caress, thy loving kl"S,
I he patter of thy dear small feet,
1 hv haml Ii mine through lane and street
While all that now remains to uie
Is Just a prei-ious memory.
Two little leet 'neaih earth's brown soil.
Two white wings somewhere safe with Uod.
NOT A HAPPY LOT.
MART MABKLET.
It is said that tall women are ad
mired, little women are beloved. The
tittle woman knows this to be true,
ind is usually quite content to be
imalU She wonld not grow an inch if
he eonld.
There are times, though, when eh
feels like a helpless kitten, or a Lili
pntian in a land of Gullivers. At such
times she fails to appieciate ber ad
vantages over her big sister; and the
law of compensation docs not compen
tate. One of these times is at the theatre,
when there happens to be several ex
;ra large people in front of her. The
ittle woman leans this way and that,
itretches her neck until it aches, and
lees, perhaps, a part i f the stage at a
:ime never all at once. When the
"bit lady" raises her glass, it shows
Her first a man's bead and shoulders,
then a bonnet still ocupies the fore
ground. She moves, and they move
'heu she moves back again and they
lo, too. In the meantime the curtain
is going do?n, and the little woman at
best catches but a glimpse of the
icene. She tries to think she is enjoy
ing herself, bnt knows better.
In church on Easter, Christmas, or
sny great day when every pew is
jrowded, the little woman cannot see
the choir at all; and if she has occa- j
iional views of the minister's forehead -
ind eyes it is as much as she expects.
A marriage in chnrch she witnesses
with her oars, rather than with her
yes. A t a home wedding she is often
Kindly allowi d to stand where she can
tee; but if the tall ones are thought-
less, she can only imagine how the
bride looks during the ceremony.
These, however, are only minor
trials, compared with others that be
set the littlo woman.
How would a big man feel, if snd
lenly everything were too high for
him to reach, too heavy for him to lift,
too lurgs or too small for him to wear,
if nothing teemed to be in the right
place for his convenience, or the right
iize for his use? Wonld he think life
worth living? Yet this is about the
state of things with the little woman.
Everything in the home even, seems
to be arranged for the comfort of per
sons six feet tall. The closets for in
itance whit tales of misery they
might tell if they could speak Look
at this one. It is like all ordinary
closets. See how high that sheli is.
None too big for you? Well, this is
the little woman's own particular
closet, and she must mount a small
stepladder or a chair when she wants
mything from the shelf. If it were
only a few inches lower sho could
reach it easily. The dress hooks are
too high, too. A daughter of the gods
might rtnd them just right, but the lit
tle woman does not. She wishes to
hang up a dress. The shelf and hooks
being only a trifle beyond her reach,
it has never been wcrth while to pro
vide her with a stepladder and a chair
is troublesome. So, by holding the
dress up at arm's length and piviug a
qnick jump, she somsttmes manages to
lasso the hook at the first attempt.
She goes to the coat-closet in the
hall to get a water-proof; and is happy
if she gets it down without causing a
shower of hats, enps and mnfllers. If,
enconrac ed by tins success, she tries to
fish an umbrella ont of the corner, an
overcoat is sure to give her an embrace
of unnecessary warmth. Tho poor lit
tle inarlyr, with the patient sigh ol
experience, undertakes to replace the
heavy coat. Once, twice, she dai-s it
at the far-away hook very carefullv:
once more, and she is buried under '
the things she has knocked down.
Then, indeed, patience is exhausted.
'Ihe email creature bangs the doot
upon the wreck and relieves her mine'
with a vicious '"dear!"
Shopping is anything but a delight
to the lit'le woman. If she looks for
gloves of a certain color or shade she
i;ever finds them in her size. The
i-mall feet grow very tired bunting for
new shoes; and the small woman growj
very tired also, telling the dealer,
gently but firmly, that a shoe two or
three size-i too large is not what she
wants. She tries on rendy-made gar
ments, and is lost in them a love of i
hat, and it slips down to her ears.
In piano playing the dainty bands ol
the little woiunn never conqner the
difficulty of striking tho octaves and
full chords. How heavy the cooking
i. tonsils are, when she is unexpectedly
railed to take Biddy's place! How
high the str:ip when'she is obliged tc
stand in a street-car. How deceptive
are the inviting looking chairs and
divans thnt force the wee body to ed
npripht on the edge, or with feel
danuling, if she rests against the back.
It's all Viry well fcr tho iioet to suj
that
"A little woman , though a very little thin
la sweeter far than sugar, and flowers thai
bloom In rpring-,"
her sweetne s doei not save ber from
interva's of feeling that the little wo
man's lot is not a happy one. Young
Woman's Magazine.
The Serpa Piuto flat.
Very comical scenes have been en
acted in Lisbon, Portugd, over de
velopments regarding a popular hat.
.V fortnight ago an enterprising but
inscrupulous merchant put on the
market the Scrpa Pinto hat, which he
warranted "made in Portugal. " li
became the rage at once, every Portu
guese patriot buying one to prove hit
patriotism. JCcarly one hnndi ed thous
and were so'd within two weeks; then,
suddenly, it was discovered that the
hats really were made in hated Eng
land. A great revulsion of popular
feeling ensued, being marked by the
most eccentric scenes in the streets.
I' was not uncommon to meet band;
of men destroying Pinto hats by the
wholesale, trampling and spitting on
them, ami threatening those still wear
ing them. Students were especially
demonstrative, going about bareheaded
to allow, as they said, the air to purify
their heads after wearing the detested
British hats.
NO. 7.
JNEWSIN' BRIEF.
A snail has 30,000 teeth.
Spiders usually live two or three
years.
All trees are evergreen in the trap.
ICS.
Kissing is unknown In the Fat
East.
Glass has been made In the United
States since 1720.
A coal black deer was recently
leen by a party of hunters in the woods
of Maine.
White deer, which was once ex
tremely rare, are now said to be plenti
ful In eastern Maine.
Ca'ifornia's wine crop will equal a
juart for every man, woman and child
hi the United States.
The alhesive postage stamp was
invented bv a man named Chalmers in
Dundee, Gotland, lu 1S34.
A Merced (Cal.) jury has decided
hat it is not a crime for a man to
Jteal a meal when he Is hungry.
A prominent Indianapolis (Ind.)
ouuTfss man has two cat- that are bet
ter retrievers than most dojjs.
The first temperance socletv in this
sountry was organized in Siratoga
:ounty; New Y'ork, in March, 1303.
An insane barber In Indianapolis,
ind., larhered a customer with coal
Ml aud tried t j shave him with scis
lors. The annual production of sawed
umber in the Uuited Stttes would
.oad a train of cars 25,0.0 miles
ong.
A company of winien Is running
;wo canning and preserving factories
n Michigan; Not a man is allowed lo
work In either place.
A valuable find of skeletons be
oncing to the fourth dynasty was re
lent ly made in Eypt. This is the
sarli-.-st known date ot Egyptian re
mains. Clie?3 was playpd by the Chinese 170
fears before the Christian era, and
probably long before that, for the an
ient Persians are supposed to have
inown it.
The Hindoos have s cocoanut festi
val every year at the end of the mon
loon. During the festival athletic con
gests take place and w;in lering minstrels
recite their tales and poems.
.Eiiip'a fables were not written by
their author. They were relate 1 and
banded down until the fourteenth cen
tury, when th-y were collected and pub
lished by a monk.
A cribo snake Is one of the Interest
ing pets at the Central Park (New
York), meaagene. It has a taste for
devouring oilier snakes and it Is feared
by them all, even the poisonous.
The Hragan7a diamond, the largest
In the world, weighs 180 carats. It
was found iu Brazil iu 1741, and Is now
mo of the Portuguese crowu jewels.
Needles, even in the days of Henry
VIII., weie S3 rare that au old play
records the fact that a whole village
turned out to hunt for a lost one "by
the light of a cat's eye."
Acorns are prized as an article of
liet among soim tribes of Indian?.
Tney are pounded into meal, which is
mixed with water and kneaded Into
dough for b.ikii.g iu the style of boe-cak-.
An enormous crab of the Malay
islands lives upon the fruit of the co
coauut which It secures by climbing the
tree. It breaks the nuts either by haul
ing them down or by beating against
the rocks.
On the old Boston and New Haven
turnpike, lu the southern ptirt of New
London County, Conn., Is an old mile
stone, notched and mossgrown, that
was set there by Benjamin Franklin.
Two of the pro'id possessions of an
Atlanta (Cia.) man are a rabre and a
:ro&s of the legion of Honor that one
of hit ancestors received from the
hand of the great Napoleon.
'With the de ire of giving her hus
band a true picture of herself, a wo
man in Atchison, Kan., had her pho
tograph taken as she appeared at daily
hou: ewors lu her dress with a baby on
one arm and broom and dust pan on
the other.
Each year about ? 0,00O is expend
ed in sprinkling Ihe asphalt-paved
streets of London, England, with Baud
te prevent the horses from slipping.
In some of the small villages of Scot
land laborers formeily carried nails In
their pockets with which to pay for the
day's suppiy of bread, etc., just as the
native Australian divests himself of a
Btring of beads for the purchase of some
coveted luxury.
So dear has forage become in the
Sandwich Islands, learns the Louisville
Courier-Journal, that the ownersof the
hor.-e rai road in Honolulu, have decid
ed to ruu the cars by electricity. It Is
expected that considerable saving will
be effected.
The largest establishments for breed
ing dogs In the world are in Manchuria,
Chineie Empire. The dogs are raised
for their sk ins and killed when about
eight months old. The town of New
Bh wang alone exported $ 100,000 worth
of skins in 1-83.
The rcources of a shoe factory in
Eeice-ter, England, have been immen
sely increased by the adoption of
electric power. The installation is to
befuither enlarged, and when com
plete it will include two engines of
150-hor e power for the driving of the
dynamos for light an1 power. Fifteen
nundred people will bj employed and
the factory wiil produce 50,000 pairs ot
shoes a week.
A number of the mining companies
operating In the Black Hills, South Da
kota, have adopted a system of aggre
gating their shipment of ore, and send
ing to the smelting works in Illinois a
loi.g train of loaded cars of ore drawn
by two locomotives, anl each car
decorated an 1 marked with the
name of the mine from which it
e.ime.
A walnnttree 6 feet in diameter and
SO feet to the first branch will be the
ut.ique exhibit of a Missouri town at
the World's Fair.
Two trains between Berlin and Pots
dam bad to stop in the woods between
the two cities because the German Em
peror was banting across the track.
A black bear Jumped aboard a con
struction train near Falmouth, Ohio,
and was apparently enjoying the ride
until (erne of the trainmen made their
way to him from the caboose and
clubbed him off.
Leva at first sight does not wear spec
tacles. Thai may be why it seldom
I occurs ta Baston,
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