VOL. XXX. Mrs. Jennie E- Zimmerman. Courtesy Is extended to all who come to us. No trouble to show gtode, even if you do oot want to buy. It is as easy to get out of our st'ire as into it We tbink, however, you will find it to your advantage not to go away empty banded. Ve Sell Reliable Goods. It ia worth a good deal to you, isn't it, to know you are getting the best there is of all goods handled in a first-?!ass dry goods house for the least money; worth a good deal to know you are getting the correct style in dress goods, millinery, wraps, Sic. See What We Have for You. New style Cbalies, 5c per yard; beßt brown muslin in the city. 5c per yard; bail and only fast colored black hose in the city for 5c per pair, good prints at sc; best standard prints at 7c; Lancaster Ginghams, 6c, Dress QinffMma, 8c to 25c; fine bleached Damask, 63 inches wide, worth 75c, for ;">oc; ali lineu t.-wling at 5c per yard. New Wash Gooks; Ondine Stripes in '•lacs with colored figure, 12£ c, worth 15c; new Crepaline, 15c, Irish and Grecitm Lawo, colored figure Dimity, something entirely new, 12ic; Heauiiful line of French Sateens, in black and colors; Ladies Jersey Vests MI 9c; Children's ribbed vests at sc; Men's fine balbriggan underwear,soc to Si a ►ait; fine black silk-finished Henriettas, 46 in., for 75c, worth sl. Such i-'gh qualities and low prices are certainly not attempted or equalled by any »-rher b< uee . One glance into our large show window will convince you «•* lewd in Millinery, both in style and qualiy. Ask our price. We will convince you that in this department, as in all otherß, our prices are the low est. MRS. JENNIE E. ZIMMERMAN. Successor to Ritter & Ralston. Are You One Of The Lucky Ones Who Will Attend The Grand Clearance Sale At 1 ' For the next two weeks. Remember it is not our fault if you come too late,it will commence Jan. 25 and continue till Feb. 4. Carpets, Cloaks, Underwear, Hosiery, Gloves, Corsets, Dry Goods, Flannels, Ginghams, Calicoes, etc. I See our big bargain counter on left hand side entering store. YOURS RESPECTFULLY, A. Troutman & Son, f Leading Dry Goods and Carpet House, Butler, Pa. i Jewelry, Clocks, | Silverware, Purchasers can save from 25 to 50 per cent by purchasing their watches, clocks and spectacles of J. R. GRIEB, The Jeweler, No. 125 N. Main St., Dufly Block. Sign of Electric Bell and Clock. All are Respectfully Invited —"Remember our Repairing Department —20 years Experience."— 1 , RINGS, Diamonds ' STUDS, • (GENTS GOLD, - W «tr.Vl PC \ LADIES <* OLD « w atcnes ) gents SILVER LADIES CHATLAJN, s > tl oWclI y j Rings, Chains, Bracelets, Etc, { Tea sets, castors, butter dishes 1 Silverware RODGER BROS. 1847 {SSThJE"*- BpOOM ~ E. GRIEB, THE JEWELER No. 139, North Main St., BTJTLER, PA., FETSIS'A. White-Sand Oil. Co. [A. STEELSMITH, Manager, Butler, Pa.] Dealers in Illuminating, Lubricating, Cylinder and Dynamo Oils—all free from Lima Oil. This Oil is made and handled by Independent Producers not con ected with the Standard Oil Co., as reported. All orders will be promptly filled. Warehouse in rear of Nicho as & Hewitt's planing mill, near West Penn depot, Butler, Pa. Refinery at Coraopolis, Pa., near P. & L. E. R. R. This oil can be secured at McCrea's Feed Store on E. Jefferson St THE BUTLER CITIZEN. MRS. MILI.Y FERGUSON, Troy. N. T. I The frdlorrhm t, to DAXA'S I power ' ft;- OLD ( IfItOXIC Co2l '• PLAIXTS. trnssnit is It',./, (iroom ! of the well-knoxrn u (f BOOM'S PJfAB -1 All CIV* 1-0 Congress tit., Troy, X. v.: GENTLEMEN :—I have been troubled with MVEK R«ni>Ul\T. »O\STI»VV TIOK anil UTSPEPSI4 for :i longtime. | I employed the test Doctor In the csty; ) they tol<{ me Old Chronic Complaints mrehardlorue. Tlicir meiliriiic ili.l me no good. I atoppeil taking it and i bought a bottle of DANA'S SAR>AI ARIL, i LA Before I had taken half of U I felt , better. I have taken three Lottie ■of DANA'S SARSAPARILLA! and am better than for years. IT HAS DOM: *«.\HI:KS KOK ME. I , But!' r' I'a. A $25 Gold Watch J FREE. With every dollars worth of goods purchased, you are giveu uess on the length of time it will ako the watch to run down, and the one gnessing the nearest will get the WHtcb. In cage of a tie tho one Lav ing bought the ovist will get it The watch will be started June 13tb at niue o'clock A. M , and no guessing will be Ukeu after that time. We eun also ;-upg you money < u every article in our stocks of Oluth ing, Hats, end Gents Furnishiags. THE RACKET STORE, 120 S. Mrt' !i St. : : Hutler. Pa. SPRING STYLES READY. YOU WILL CERTAINLY HAVE A SUIT MADE TO ■ATTEND THE WORLD'S FAIR. YOU CAN AF FORD IT, WHEN YOU SEE THE SPLEN DID ASSORT MENT OF MATERIAL, AND THE MOD ERATE PRICE AT WHICH WE MAKE YOU A SUIT THAT IS " CORRECT TO THE LATEST DEC RE E O F FAS HIO N. Aland^ Tailoring Establishment. C. & D. ALWAYS Take into consideration that money saved is as good ns money earned. The best way to save money is to buy pood goods at the right price. The only reason that our trade is increasing constantly is the fact that we handle only goods of fir.-t quality and sell them at very low prices. We have taken unusual care • • provide everything new in Hats u- Furnishing Goods for this set • and as we hav*» control of especially good article,- in both lint, we can do you good if vou conic to us. We confidently say that in justice to themselves nil purchasers should inspect our goods. Visit us. COLBERT & DALE, 242 S Main street, Butler, Pa. L, & McJUNKI X Insurance and Real Estate Ag't 17 EAST JEFFERSON ST. BUTLER, - PA. kkiday, .ITXK H>. is:;.. r " ■; " 1 • 4k. . J p I , ..A : J : SHOWN TO HIS CELL. THE Trr.iTivo ON xnr WALL. The caßtle of tha Prince of Tolfi was built ou the summit of the towering' and precipitous rock of Scylla, and commanded a magnificent view of Sicily in all its grandeur. Here during the wars of the middle ages, when the fertile plains of Italy were devastated by hostile factions, those prisoners were confined, for whose r:>uhom a costly price was demanded. Here, too, in a dungeon, excavated deep in the solid rock, the miserable victim was im mured, whom revenge i _>rsued—the dark, fierce, and unpitying revenge of an Italian heart. Vivenzio—the noble and the gener ous, tho fearless in battle, and the pride.of Naples in her sunny hours of pea. -the young, the brave, ihe proua VivenSio, fell beneath this subtle and remorseless spirit. Ho was tlie prisoner of Tolfi, and he languished in that rock-encircled dungeon, which stood alone, and whose portals never opened twice upon a living captive. It had tne semb.ance of a vast cage, for the roof and floor and sides were of iron, solidly wrought, and spaciously constructed. High above there ran a range of seven grated windows, guarded with massy bars of the same metal, which admitted light and air. Save these, and the tall folding-doors beneath them which occupied the cen ter, no chink or chasm or projection broke the smooth black surface of the walls. An iron bedstead, littered with straw, stood in one corner; and beside it, a vessel with water, and a coarse dish filled with coarser food. Even the intrepid soul of Vivenzio shrunk with dismay as he entered this abode, and heard the ponderous door triple locked by the silent ruffians who conducted him to it. Their silence seemed prophetic of his fate, of the liv ing grave that had been prepared for him. His menaces and his entreaties, his indignant appeals for justice, and his questioning of their intentions were alike in vain. They listened, but spoke not. Fit ministers of a crime that should have no tongue! How dismal was the sound of their retiring steps! And, as their faint echoes died along the winding passages, a f -rful presage grew within him, that never more the face or voice or tread of man would greet his senses. He had seen human beings for the last time! And he had looked his last upon the bright sky, and upon the smiling earth, and upon a beautiful world he loved and whose minion he had been! Here he was to end his life —a life he had just begun to revel in! And by what means? Hy secret poison or by murderous assault? No —for then it had been needless to bring him hither. Famine perhaps—a thousand deaths in one! It was terrible to think of it; but it was yet more terrible to picture long, long years of captivity, in a solitude so appalling, a loneliness so dreary, that thought, for want of fellowship, would lose itself in madness or stagnato into idiocy. He could not hope to escape, unless he had the power of rendering asunder, with his bare hands, the solid iron walls of his prison. He could not hope for liberty from the relenting mercies of his enemy. His instant death, under any form of refined cruelty, was not the object of Tolfi. for he might have inflioted it. and lie lnid not. It was too evident, therefore, he was reserved for some premeditated scheme of subtle ▼enges- :nd what vengeance could t' ; fiendish malice either the slow.u .: ;of famine, or the still slower one of ■> tary incarceration, till the last ling " ' spark of life expired or till re:-;on -1. -ind nothing should re main to perish but the brute functions of the V > ; y? It was evening when Vivenzio en tered UU dungeon, and the approach ing shades of night wrapped it in total darkness, as he paced up and down, re volving in his mind these horrible fore bodings. No tolling bell from the castle, or from any neighboring church or convent, struck upon his ear to tell how the hours passed. Frequently he would stop and listen for some sound that might betoken the vicinity of man; but the solitude of the desert, the silence of the tomb, are not so still and deep as the oppressive desolation by which he was encompassed. His heart sank within him, and he threw himself dejectedly down upon his couch of straw. Here sleep gradually obliterated the consciousness of misery, and bland dreams wafted his delighted spirit to scenes which were once glowing reali ties for him. in whose ravishing illu sions he soon lost the remembrance that he was Tolfi's prisoner. When he awoke, it was daylight; but how long he had slept he knew not It niigljt be early morning, or it might be ■vltrjr tor he could measure time uy no otner note 01 its progress man light and darkness. He had been so happy in his sleep, amid friends who loved him, and the sweeter endear ments of those who loved him as friends could not, that, in the first moments of waking, his startled mind seemed to admit the knowledge of his situation as if it bad burst upon it for the first tim -. fresh in all its appalling horrors. Hi /.ed round with an air of doubt ant: amazement, and took up a handful of the straw upon which he lay, as tl-'iiirh hj would ask himself what it meant Hut memory, too faithful to her office, soon unveiled the melancholy past, while reason, shuddering at the task, flashed before his eyes the tre mendous future. The contrast over powered him. He remained for some ♦ 4rr-« Hfr* n trnth. t bricrhl visions that had vanished; and recoil ing from the pro&ent, which e1 un te him as a poisoned garment. When he grew more calm, he sur veyed his gloomy dungeon. Alas' the stronger light of day only served tc confirm what the gloomy indistinct ness of the preceding- evening had par tially disclosed, the utter impossibility of escape. As, however, his eyes wan dered round and round, and from place to place, he noticed two circumstances which excited his surprise and curi osity. The one, he thought, might be fancy; but the other was positive. His pitcher of water, and the dish which contained his food, had been removed from his side while ho slept, and now stood near the door. Were lia even in clined to doubt this, by supposing he had mistaken the spot where he saw them over night, he could not, for the pitcher now in his dung-eon was neither of the same form nor color as the other, while the food was changed for some other of better quality. He had been visited, there fore, during the night Hut how had the person obtained entrance? Could he have slept so sotilidly that the un locking and opening of those ponderous portals were effected without waking him? He would have said this was not possible, but that in doing so, he must admit a greater difficulty, an entrance by other means, of which he was con vinced there existed none. It was not intended, then, that he should be left to perish from hunger. But the secret and mysterious mode of supplying him with food seemed to indicate he was to have no opportunity of communicating with a human being. The other circumstance which had at tracted his notice was the disappear ance, as he believed, of one of the seven grated windows that ran along the top of his prison. He felt confident that he had observed and counted them; for he was rather surprised at their number, and there was something peculiar in their form, as well as in the manner of their arrangement, at unequal distances. It was much easier, however, to suppose he was mistaken than that a portion of the solid iron, which formed the walls, could have escaped from its position, and he dismissed the thought from his mind. Vivenzio partook of the food that was before him, without apprehension. It might be poisoned; b\it if it w ere, he knew he could not escape death, should such be the design of Tolfl, and the quickest death would be the speediest release. The day passed wearily and gloomily; though not without a faint hope that, by keeping watch at night, he might observe when the person came again to bring him food, which he supposed he would do in the same way as before. The mere thought of being approached by a living creature, and the oppor tunity it might present of learning the doom prepared, or preparing, for him, imparted some comfort. Besides, if he came alone, might he not in a furious onset overpower him? Or he might be accessible to pity, or the influence of such munificentrewards as he could be stow if once more at liberty and master of himself. Say he were armed. The worst that could befall, if nor bribe, nor prayers, nor force prevailed, was a frienclly blow, which, though dealt in a damned cause, might work a desired end. There was no chance so desperate but it looked lovely in Vivenzio's eyes, compared with the idea of being totally abandoned. The nightcame.and Vivenzio watched. Morning came, and Vivenzio was con founded! He must have slumbered without knowing it £lcep must have stolen over him when exhausted by fatigue, and in that interval of feverish repose he had been bnffied; for there stood his replenished pitcher of water, und there his day's meal! Nor was this aIL Casting his looks toward the win dows of his dungeon, he counted but FIVE! Here was no deception; and he was now convinced there had been none the -ay before. Hut what did ail this portend? Into what strangle and mys terious den had he been cast? Ilegazed tiil his eyes ached: he conld discover nothing to explain the mystery. That it was -so, he knew. Why it was so. he racked his imagination in vain to con jecture. He examined the doors. A simple circumstance convinced liim they had not been opened. A wisp of straw, which he had care lessly thrown against them 'he preced ing' od fixed and silent as a statue. He feared to breathe, almost, lest he might lose any sound which would warn him of their ming. While thus listening, with every faculty of mind and body strained to an agony of attention, it occurred to him he should be more sensible of the motion, probably, if he stretched him self along tho iron floor. He accord ingly laid himself softly down, and had not been long in that position when— yes —he was certain of it—the floor moved under him! He sprang up, and. in a voice nearly suffocated with emo tion, called aloud He paused—the motion ceased —he felt no stream of air—all was hushed—no voice answered to his—he burst into tears, and as he sank to the ground, in renewed anguish, exclaimed; "O my God! my God! You alone have power to save me ; now. or strengthen me for the trial you permit." Another morning dawned upon the wretched captive, and the fatal index of his doom met his eyes. Two windows! —and TWO days—and all would be over! Fresh food —fresh water! The mysterious visit had been paid, though he had implored it in vain. But how awfully was his prayer answered in what he now saw! The roof of the dungeon was within a foot of his head. The two ends were sc near, that in six paces he trod the space between them Yivenzio shuddered as he gazed, aud as his steps traversed the narrowed area. But hi* feelings no j longer vented themselves in frantic j waitings. With folded arms, and ; clenched teeth, with eyes that were bloodshot from watching, and fixed with a vacant glare upon the ground, with a hard quick breathing, and a hurried walk, he strode backward and forward in silent •musing for several hours. What mind shall conceive, what tongue utter, or what pen describe the dark and terrible character of his thoughts? Like the fato that moulded ! them, they had no similitude in the wide range of this world's agony foi man. Suddenly he stopped, and his eyes were riveted upon that part of the wall which was over his bed. Wordi are inscribed there! A human language, traced by a human hand! He rushes toward them; but his blood freezes aa he reads: "I, Ludovico Sforza, tempted by the gold of the prince of Tolfi, spent three years in contriving and executing this accursed triumph of my art When it was completed, the perfidious Tolfi, more devil than man, who conducted me hither one morning, to be witness, as he jjjid, of its perfection, doomed me to be the first victim of my own per nicious skill; lest as he declared, I should divulge the secret, or repeat the effort of my ingenuity. May God par don him, as I hope he will me, that ministered to his unhallowed purpose. 1 Miserable wretch, whoe'er thou art that readest these lines fall on thy knees, and invoke, as I have elone. His 1 sustaining mercy who alone can nerve thee to meet the vengeance of Tolfi— 1 armed with this tremendous engine, which, in a few hours, must crush you, as it will the needy wretch who made it" A deep groan burst from Yivenzio. He stood, like one transfixed, with di- 1 i lated eyes, expanded nostrils, and quiv -1 ering lips, gazing at this fatal inscrip tion. It was as if a voice from the ' sepulchre had sounded in his ears, "Prepare!" Hope forsook him. There was his sentence, recorded in those dis mal words. Unknowing what it is he | does, he fumbles in his garment for ( some weapon of self-destruction. He clenches his throat in his convulsive ] gripe, as though he would strangle ( j himself at once. He stares upon the , ' walls, anil his warring soirit demands. v ***** ' "Will they ; i t anticipate th.-;r office if I dash my h«?ad against thoai.'' An hysterical laugh choke* him a* lie ex claims Why should I? Fie was but a man who died tirkt in their fierce embrace: and 1 shouid be less than man not to b<* abie to do a* much!" The evening sun was descending, and Vivenzio beheld its gulden beams Btreaminj through one of the windows. \\ hat a thrill of joy shot through his soul at tho sight! It was a precious link, that united him. for the moment, with the world beyond. There was ecstasy in the thought. As he gazed, long anil earnestly, it seemed as if the windows had lowered sufficiently for him to reach them. With one bound he was beneath thrin —with one wild spring he clung to the bars. Whether it was so contrived, purposely to madden with delight the wretch who looked, he knew not: but, at the extremity of a long vista cut through the solid rocks. the ocean. the sky, the setting sun, olive groves, shady walks, and, in the farthest dis tance, delicious glimpses of magnificent Sicily, burst upon his sight How ex . quisite was the cool breeze as it swept across his cheek, loaded with fragrance! 1 He inhaled it as though it were the breath of continued life. How he gazed, ' panted, and still clung to his hold! sometimes hanging by one hand, some times by the other, and then grasping the bars with both, as loath to quit the , smiling paradise outstretched before him; till exhausted, and his hands swollen :ind benumbed, he dropped helpless liown, and lay stunned for a ; considerable time bv the fall. When he recovered, tho glorious vision had vanished. He was in darkness He , doubted whether it was not a dream 1 that hail passed before his sleeping fancy; but gradually his scattered thoughts returned, and with them came 1 remembrance. Yes! he had looked once again upon the gorgeous splendor of ■ nature! Once again his eyes had trem- . bled l>eneath their veiled lids, at the sun's radiance, and sought repose indhe | soft verdure of the olive tree, or the i geutle swell of undulating waves. , Oh, that he were a mariner exposed ! upon those waves to the worst fury of j storm and tempest; or a very wretell, loathsome with disease, plague stricken, and his body one leprous con tagion from crown to sole, hunted forth to gasp out the remnant of infec tious life beneath those verdant trees, fo he might shun the destiny upon whose edge he tottered! Vain thoughts like these would steal over his mind from time to time, in spite of himself; but they scarcely moved it from that stupor into which it had sunk, and which kept him, dur ing the whole night, like one who had been drugged with opium. In this pitiable condition, the sixth and last morning dawned upon Viven zio, if dawn it might be called—the dim, obscurt light which faintly strug gled through tho osr. soi.itaby window of his dungeon. He could hardly b« said to notice the melancholy token. And yet he did notice it; for as he raised his eyes and saw the portentous sign, there was a slight convulsive dis tortion of his countenance. But what did attract his notice, and at th« tigh of which his agitation was exoessive, was the change his iron bed had under gone. It was a bed no longer. Itstood before him. the visible semblance of a funeral couch or bier! When he beheld tliis, he started from the ground; and, in raising himself, suddenly struck his head against the roof, which was now so low that he could no longer stand upright "God's will be done!' was all he said, as he crouched his body, and placed his hand upon the bier; for such it was. The iron bedstead had been so contrived, by the mechanical art of l.wlovico Sforza, that, as the advanc ing walls came in contact with its head and feet, a pre»ure was produced upon concealed springs, which, when made to play, set in motion a very simple though ingeniously contrived machin ery, that effected the transforma tion. Vivenzio seated himself on his bier. Then he knelt and prayed fervently; and sometimes tears would gush from him. The air seemed thick, and he breathed with difficulty; or it might be that he fancied it was so, from the nar row limits of his dungeon, which were now so diminished that he could neither stand up nor lie down at his full length But his wasted spirits and op pressed mind no longer struggled within him. He was past hope, and fear shook him no more Happy if thus revenge had struck its fatal blow; for he would have fallen beneath it al most unconscious of a pang. But such a lethargy of the soul, after suoh an excitement of its passions, had entered ir.totlie diabolical calculationsof Tolfl; and the artificer of his designs had im agined a counteracting device. The tolling of an enormous bell struck upon the ears of Vivenzio! He started. It beat but once. The sound was so close and stunning that it seemed to shatter his very brain, while it echoed through the rocky passages like reverberating peals of thunder. This was followed by a sudden crash of the roof and walls, as if they were about to fall upon and close around him at once. Vivenzio screamed, and instinctively spread forth his arms, as though he had a giant's strength to hold them back. They had moved nearer to him, and were now motion less. Vivenzio looked up, and saw the roof almost touching his head, even as he sat cowering beneath it; and he felt that a farther contraction of but a few inches only must commence the fright ful operation. Roused as he had been, he now gasped for breath. His body Hhook violently—he was bent nearly double. His hands rested upon either wall, and his feet were drawn under him to avoid the pressure in front Thus he remained for an hour, when that deafening bell beat again, and again there came the crash of horrid death. But the concussion was now so great that it struck Vivenzio down. As he lay gathered up in lessened bulk, the bell beat loud and frequent—crash succeeded crash —and on, and on, and on came the mysterious engine of death, till Vivenzio's smothered groans were heard no more! He was horribly crushed by the ponderous roof and collapsing sides—and the flattened bier was his Ibon Shbocd! Takluc Two Chaacn. Clara—Oh, 1 wouldn't for the world kiss a man unless I were ongaged to him. Priscilla—Why, I saw you kisa Jack Manley last night and Tom Wlnthrop to-night. Clara—Truly; but I'm engaged to them. —Once a Week. Docile. Jess —I told you Ethel would wind George around her finger after they werr married. Bess —What makes you think she does? Jess —She told me he had "such a lovely disposition."—Truth. Will the Widow Capture Him? Miss Madison Square—l heard Mrs. Fisher say she wouldn't mind marrying that young man of yours. Miss Sharpgirl—l'll never give her the chance. The man a widow would marry is pretty sure to make a good husband. —Texas Sittings. Bad for Her Health. Mrs. Mcßride (as her husband comes in at one a. m.) —Where have you been ■ so late? I'm sc tired waiting up for yon! Mcßride—You should have gone to bed two hours ago, my dear. Doctors say women need two hours more sleep than men. —Puck. ' | I A HOTEL. INCIDENT. The Traveler Who Was Mistaken for a l ead Van. ' "The most singular thing that ever happened to me at a hotel," said the 1 traveling member of the club, accord ing to the Detroit Free l'ress, "was this; I was stopjuug over night at a large hotel in Chicago, and retiring late I left word to be called in the morning. 1 intended getting up in time ' for a late breakfast. "T was awakened by a knocking at the door of the room next to mine, mysterious whisperings and orders given in a suppressed voice. I lay still, wondering what time it was, and whether I should get up or not, when there came a loud racket against my door, and a .sound of the transom mov ing-. I sat up—my bed being close by the door—in time to see a small boy backing in over the transom. Hanging full length, ho held by his hands and then dropped to the floor. As he gained his feet he turned toward the bed, and, seeing me sitting up and looking at him. he gave a yell that made my blood thrill. " 'Open the door,' commanded a man's \ oice on the outside. " 'He's a-l-i-v-e,' yelled the boy, sprawling on the floor in abject ter ror. "I thought everybody was crazy as I heard the noise outside, and, unlock ing my door, I asked what was the mat ter. The hall was full of chamber maids, bell boys and porters, all of whom took to their heels as soon as thev saw me, and ran as if possessed with demons. "The landlord and one of tho clerks came up to explain matters, which they did quite smilingly. It was a slight j mistake, that was all; they bad mis j taken my room for the one next door, | where a man had killed himself the previous night. They had looked in at his transom, and seen that he was dead, but when the boy came up with a step ladder to climb in and unlock the door they had helped him into my room by mistake. That was all." HE LIKED FISH. Sam Wanted a Whale and Nothing Short of It- A party of young men who were on a fishing excursion on the Ohio river some years ago were joined by an ec centric man, skilled as a fisherman, known in that region as "Barefooted Sam." He was a good cook, and made himself useful in so many ways that his presence, though uninvited, was tolerated by the amateur sportsmen. Oue morning two members of the party returned to camp with their ap petites well sharpened for breakfast, and were greeted enthusiastically by a third man, who said: "You just come along and see the finest baked perch you ever laid eyes on." They hurried to the table, but saw only a rick of bones, from which every fiber of meat had been taken. Sam was nowhere to be seen. When he returned no comments were made upon the cir cumstance; but in the afternoon, when the company were lounging on the bank, Sam drawled out: "I'd like to have all the fish I could eat, jest onst I aint had a mess sence Pete Follet ketched that big catfish, three years back." "Sam," remarked one of the group dryly, "I thought you had quite a fair mess this morning. That perch weighed about ten pounds, I've been informed.' "Oh, yes," replied Sam, with no sign of embarrassment on his placid cour. tenance, "I ate that; but what I mean is a reel, reg'lar mess!" The company pondered on this re markable statement in absolute silence for some moments, until at last the man who had caught the perch ejaculated: "Well, I snum!" and nothing more w«i> said. COMPETITION AVOIDED. Shop* in France tiot Allowed to Crowd Kach Other. In France two shops selling the same thing are not allowed to exist within a certain area. In provisions this absence of competition materially increases the price, but, says a woman who has large experience in housekeeping in France, your taxes are less, and you have in return clean streets, good gas, constant water supply and perfect sewerage. In addition, by virtue of state supervision, you never reoeive short weight or inferior goods. There is no quantity so small that the grocer will not seU it And in doing thlsan