SULLIVAN REPUBLICAN.
W, M. CHENEY, Publisher.
VOL. VIII.
SUNSET.
Slowly on all attainment or defeat
The day dies out far in the darkening west:
Leaving the earth, its golden stage complete,
To muse an hour away, then sink to rest;
Dark earth—the heavens yet touched with
sunset glow;
Brightness above, and hushed, submissive
calm below.
Hushed is the world of toil. In every place
A wealth of healing silentness doth lie,
Or sounds more still than silence fill the space
Beneath that far infinity of sky;
And softly shines the evening star on one
Whose day lies spent, a chronicle of things
undone.
Even regret, in this calm air and mild,
Bears little of it.-s wonted anguish deep:
Ono long drawn breath of sorrow, as the
child
Preludes a sad, sweet sinking into sleep.
Then peace. Night registers defeat again;
But what was I, that I should struggle and j
attain?
' —Mary Colboiiic-Veel, in the Atlantic.
All's Well That Ends Well.
BY HELEN FOItIiEBT CHAVES.
"Old folks will be old folks," said
Myra Manton, "and the best plau is to
let 'em have their own way."
"Oh, ves, I know," said Leona, clasp
ing her hands. "But that old Leghorn
hat, with the crown like a stove-pipe and j
the front like a wash-hands basin! Who j
could tolerate that? And everybody |
laughs when she comes into church."
"Let 'em laugh," shrewdly remarked
Myra. "I'd be willing folks should
laugh at me if 1 was worth thirty thousand
dollars and owned the Bliven Mills into
the bargain."' .
Myra Manton was "hired help" at the I ,
Bliven Farm—a stout New Englander of ! ,
fifty summers, with hair cut short, no I ,
visible waist, and snapping black eyes. (
Leona was old Mrs. Bliven's niece—a ' ,
I 1
slim girl of eighteen, with a balsam-pink j >
complexion, dreamy gray eyes, and teeth 1
white and even as small pearls.
In the eyes of James Bliven, the old ' ]
lady's sou, Leona was fairest of all created
beings. Even Myra Manton allowed ;
"that she was sorter nice to look at!" As ' |
for Mrs. Bliven herself, she expressed no j
opinion whatever; Mrs. Bliven was not a !
person who talked much.
"She's come to make me a visit," said
Mrs. Bliven one day to Myra. "I sup- j
pose, if she suits me, I shall ask her to j
stay for good and all."
"If you don't, I suppose Jim will," !
said Myra, with a shrewd twinkle of her ;
eyes. .
"As it happens, I'm the mistress of
this house," said Mrs. Bliven. "Well,
we'll see how she suits."
And neither Myra the solid, nor Leona
the sylphlike, knew, as they sat on the
sunshiny doorstep, slicing great, red
h«arted peaches to dry for winter use, j
that Mrs. Bliven, from the garret window
above, where she was looking over her
balls of carpet-rags, could distinctly hear
every word they uttered.
"Myra," said Leona, as she replenished j
her pan from the great bushel basket, j
"I'm going to tell you something."
"Tell ahead!" succinctly retorted
Myra.
"I've got such an idea!"
"What is it?"
"Well, one of my schoolmates at Han- j
over Hall had a grandmother. And her j
grandmother had just such a Noah's Ark
of a bonnet as Aunt Bliven."
"Humph!" said Myra, peeling dili- '
gently away.
"And she and her sister took a pair of j
bit; shears and snipped it up in-to little I
bits and made the grandmother believe J
that the rats did it."
"Must have been a credulous old eree- !
tur," observed Myra.
"Oh, no; but it was really such a neat I
job. Don't you think, Myra, we might j
dispose of the old Leghorn hat in sumo j
such way?"
"No, I don't!" said Myra, spearing a j
peach 011 the end of her knife and begin, j
ning artistically to remove its pink-velvet j
jacket.
Leona sighed, and went on with her
work. Myra Manton paused to call her
frolicsome little terrier off from a brood
of half-grown turkey poults who were
foraging around the barn door.
"I do wish," she said, curtly, "that
Cappen John Jackson hadn't sent me that
plaguey beast to take care on till he come
back from that voyage to Payal. IT he
hurts any of the fowls, I expect Mrs.
Bliveu'll murder me."
"My 11,'' said Leona, "are you really
engaged to Captain John Jackson?"
"Get out!" said Myra, with a sheepish
smile. "1 dunno whether Ibe or not."
The next day Leona came into her
aunt's room with a pretty black-and
white straw bonnet, trimmed with a jet
dagger and loops innumerable of black
ribbon.
"Look, Aunt Bliven!" said she.
"What's that?" said the old woman,
turning her spectacle glasses full on the
girl.
"I've been trimming a bonnet for
you."
"You might have saved yourself the
trouble," sharply spoke the matron.
"But don't you like it?" pleaded
Leona, who was beginning to tremble all
over.
"It's very nice, I dare say, but I'm
very well suited already with what I've
got."
"But, Aunt Bliven—"
' 1 'Tain't worth while to discuss the
matter," said Mrs. Bliven, drily. "I
calculate I'm old enough to choose for
myself what I'll wear and what I won't!"
Leona shrank into herself like the
leaves of a sensitive plant; she crept
back to her bedroom with the rejected
triumph of home made millinery, and
had a good cry over it.
Presently she heard her aunt calling:
"Myra! Myrn!"
She ran out.
"Oh, Aunt Bliven, I had forgotten to
tell you. Myra had a telegram from her
sister up at Portland, and she had to run
to catch the 10 o'clock train. Her sis
ter's husband has had an accident, and I
promised her I'd explain it to you. She'll
be back as soon as they possibly can
spare her, and I'm to do the housework
while she is gone."
Old Mrs. Bliven sniffed discontentedly.
"Seems to ine people are always havin'
accidents," said she. "However, you
may go and pick some Lima beans and
sweet corn, and we'll have a dish of good,
old fashioned succotash. Myra is a good
cook, but she never could make succo
tash. And in the afternoon we'll have
Toby harnessed up and drive over to
Widow Sally Smith's to tea."
The long shadows of afternoon were
lying athwart the closely mown grass
when old Toby was led to the door, and
Mrs. Bliven called loudly to Leona to
bring down her bonnet and shawl.
The girl, who had no especial fancy
for the society of Widow Sally Smith
and her hard voiced daughters, listlessly
obeyed. -~-
But the moment she opened the "best
bedroom" door, where the old lady kept
her choicest treasures, she uttered a shriek
of dismay. There, 011 the floor, in a se
ries of jagged strips and indistinguish
able debris, lay Mrs. Blivens's famous
Leghorn bonnet!
"Goodness me!" cried a shrill voice,
"what's the matter?"
And Leona became conscious that old
Mrs. Bliven had toiled heavily up the
stairs, and stood close beside her,
over her shoulder. Her face grew black
as night.
"Oh, Aunt Bliven," gasped Leona, '
"how could this have happened?"
"I see through it all, plain enough,"
said Mrs. Bliven. "You needn't trouble j
to tell any lies about it, Leona Parish! I
heard what you and Myra were talking
about yesterday morning—about the old I
lady and the bonnet that was snipped to i
pieces and the blame laid on rats. It's a
very smart, ingenious plan, I don't
doubt; but somehow it don't suit me to
have such very smart, ingenious folks j
about my premises. So, if you please, |
I'll dispense with the rest of your visit, j
The horse and wagon are at the door, j
and little Peter will drive you to the de- '
pot as soon as ever you've packed your j
trunk."
"But, Aunt Bliven, I never—"
"I told you I'd have no more false
hoods," sternly interrupted the old lady, j
"I don't know what sort of consciences j
you girls have, in this age of the world.
Be silent, I say, and obey me."
And thus, in all the bitterness of un- .
merited disgrace, Leona was turned out 1
of the house, that was beginning to be !
unspeakably dear to her.
James Bliven, when he came home,
was thunderstruck.
"Mother, for heaven's sake," cried he,
"what is this? The girl has no place to
goto."
"Let her go back to the boarding
■ school she came from!" said Mrs. Bliven,
sternly. "I'll have no double-dealers in
this house!"
"I'll go after her and bring her back."
"You'll do as you choose," said the
old woman; "but if Leona's the girl 1
i take her to be, she won't come with
j you."
A sudden wave of despair swept over
James's soul as he recognized the truth of
J these words.
"Mother," he cried, "you'll forgive
! her! You'll send for her to return —for
my sake, mother?"
LA PORTE, PA., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1889.
But Mrs. Bliven shook her head.
"No girl that isn't frank-hearted and
true can have a home here!" she reiter
ated.
Yet, in spite of a'.l this, the house
seemed strangely desolately without Le
ona's light step and winning smile.
Late at night there was a loud knock
ing at the door. It was Myra Manton,
come lack.
"Things is all right," said she. They
was frightened more than they was hurt.
Absalom Atkins always was a coward,
and I ain't goin' to spend any more o' my
time foolin' with 'em; so I've comeback.
Was you surprised when you seen Waggy
was gone? The dog," in answer to Mrs.
Bliven's puzzled look, "that Cappen
Jackson left in my charge. When I seen
the mischief he'd done, I jest ketchcd
him up and left him to Cappen's sister's
Mary Ann Jackson, at the cross-roads,
and afterward it occurred to mo you
might miss him and worry for fear he was
lost."
"I -er once thought of the dog,"
said Mrs. Bliven, impatiently.
"And the bonnet?" said Myra. "I'm
powerfully sorry, but—"
"The bonnet!" said Mrs. Bliven.
"What do you meau, Myra? What are
you talking about?"
"You don't tell me you never diskiv
ercd it?" cried Myra, bursting into a
laugh. "Well, Ido declare. What did
you s'posc done it?"
"Done whay^
"Why, worried that 'ere Leghorn hat
o' your'n into ribbons! It was Waggy,
that's who it was! Pups is always mis
chievous, and I think he's the worst I
ever seen. I meant to told Deacon Ship
man's boy, that helped me to tote my
satchel to the daypo, to explain it t' ye,
but we was pretty nigh bein' left, and
flurry and fluster driv it all outen my
head."
"Mrs. Bliven stared at Myra. .
"It was the dog, after all, then," said
she.
"La me, who else did ye suspect?"
cried Myra. "Where's Leona? I fetched
home some o' them puce-colored poppy
seeds and a slip o' rose geranium foi her,
'caused I knowed—Goodness, what's the
matter with you, ch? What are you
looking at me that way for?"
By the very earliest morning train
James Bliven went after Leona, with a
letter from his mother imploring her to
return to the farm:
"I'm an old woman," wrote Mrs. Bliven,
"but I ain't too old to own when I've been in
the wrong. Come hack, and I'll guarantee
you and me won't have any more quarrels."
Leona came back, and when once again
she crossed the threshold she was James's
promised wife.
"Mother will be pleased at the engage
ment as I am myself," said the young
man, rapturously.
And Myra's kind eyes shone a cordial
welcome, and Mrs. Bliven herself came
to meet Leona, wearing the simple straw
bonnet with the jet dagger and the black
ribbon bows.
"It's dreadful becoming," said she,
with a complacent glance at the looking
glass, "and hereafter I mean to get you
to trim all my hats for me, Leona."—
Saturday Night.
Egyptian Cam.
Tll raising Egyptian corn, A. J. Allen,
of Warnek, Dak., on the Milwaukee
Koad, claims to have had success this
season. He said: "I saw a statement in
a newspaper last season about corn hav
ing been brought from Egypt by a cer
tain explorer, and wrote to him for some.
He responded, sending me seven kernels,
which, he informed me, he had taken
from an underground tomb near the bank
of the Nile, and they were, like Mark
Twain's mummy, 3000 years old. He
made no charge for them, and thinking,
as I do yet, that he found them as he
said, I cultivated them with care and in
terest. Each kernel produced three
| stalks, and on each stalk grew an car
! about eight inches long and two or three
[ inches in diameter. The cars are well filled
1 with kernels about the size of popcorn.
The stalks attained the size of our Indian
! corn, and were soft and nice for fodder,
! even when the grain ripened. I thiuk a
j great deal of the seed, and shall sow it
; next year on a good-sized patch."—Chi
j rago Herald.
Cut a Whale in Two at a Blsw.
The steamship H. A. Hartmau arrived
<at New York recently. Captain Wahl
berg reports that one day during the voy
| age the vessel struck an immense whale,
\ and cut it in two. The ocean for more
j than a mile was covered with the
cetacean's blood.
Miss Jennie Flood is the richest un
married woman in California.
COLOR BLINDNESS.
HOW DEFKOTIVK VISION IS TF.ST
KD BY A DOCTOR.
Many Stranee Mistakes Sometimes
Made t>y Would-Be Railroad Men
—A Man TVIIO Could Not Tell
Cherries Prom leaves
"What color is that?"
The speaker was Dr. B. F. Clark,
physician of the C., 11. and D. Railroad.
A tall man stood before a table on
which were piled in great confusion sev
eral hundred skeins of different colored
worsteds. They were of every shade
and hue, from pea-green to mazarine
blue, from solferino red to purple, gray,
cherry and brown.
The doctor continued: "The object
of this test is to select the light and
dark shades. Now, I'll goon and select
them first," and the doctor put all the
light and dark shades running from pea
green to dark green in a little pile by
themselves. The man watched him
closely, and the greens were all thrown
back into the heap, ai.d the man began.
"Don't let your hand run over the
worsted, but let your eye do the work,"
said the doctor, as the man began fumb
ling the pile.
The man put gray and light yellow
and brown together.
"That'll do," said the doctor.
"That man is not tit for an engineer,
fireman, brakeman, switchman, conduc
tor, or, in fact, any one who has use for
signals. He is color-blind. That test
alone is sufficient for any railroad, array
or navy. Now to determine what this
man's chromatic defect is we select a
pink skein. If he is blind he will pick
out blues or violets, or both. If he
should be green blind he will select
grays and greens or blue greens. Some
times, to verify the two previous tests,
we lay out the red skein, and the party
selects browns or greens in their different
shades."
"What percentage do you find, of all
those examined, to be color-blind?"
"About four per cent, are color-blind.
That is one out of every twenty-five in
dividuals. There are more red blind than
any other color. The C., H. and D.
road has only the green and red lights, j
other roads have white, red and green." ,
"Why do you have worsteds as the ]
test, doesn't the Pennsylvania Company |
use a stick?"
"Yes, they use a stick with about
forty different colored skens, but worsted
is better than silk because the dye is per
fect and not glaring. It is often asked j
why we don't examine the men by the i
lamps. It is one of the most difficult
things to stain the glass regularly. When j
the glass is blown it can not be made all I
the same color. Then, if the glass is J
thicker the color will be darker. Again, j
sometimes the wick is turned higher,
and then the light has a greater lumin
osity, while the other is a very dull
light. There may be dust or steam over
the glass, and the light will be darker. |
A dirty white flag to one color-blind
would be taken for a green flag, which
means safety. They would take a dirty
dark green for red, which means danger.
This would lead to endless confusion."
"How have you proved this, doctor?"
"Why, I recollect taking one man
down to the depot and asked him to
name the colors from the creek up,which
he named all right with the exception of
the last lamp—the first one was from the
depot—that lamp being covered with
dust and the wick turned low. He mis
took the green for the red, and said 'the
switch was wrong.' We then approached
the lamp, and he did not discover his
mistake until he was within about thir- |
ty-five or forty feet. There are often |
cases where men who are color-blind cut 1
knotches in their stricks. I had one
man who said he could not pick cherries
—could not tell them from the leaves
only by their form. He said the sur- j
roundig hills were red. And that the I
\ outside of a water-melon was red and the '
inside green, but he knew from hearsay
: that the opposite was true."
i "Do you believe this to be a congenital :
defect?"
"Yes; but it may also arise from dis
! ease, injuries and the excessive use of to
! bacco and alcohol. In one family I
i know of four who are color-blind, two
! brothers and two sisters; in another fam
ily an uncle and a nephew."
"Do you examine for anything else?"
1 "Oh. yes. It is just as important to
examine for vision and hearing as it is
for color-blindness. In order to make
the test for vision this is the programme:
A test plate containing letters that can be
seen at *<!00 feet and twenty feet, twenty
Terms—sl.2s in Advance; $1.50 after Three Months.
feet being tlie normal eye, is placed at
one end of the room. The room is dark
ened. The patient placed twenty feet
distant, and then is requested to cover
one eye while the other is l>eing examined.
If he sees what we call twenty twentieths
—that is, the letters representing twenty
feet—he has normal vision. Both eyes
are put to this test—first the right, then
then the left. If he has a vision in both
eyes of twenty fiftieths minus—that is
to say, if he can't see at twenty feet what
he ought to sec at fifty—he is rejected,
provided glasses don't improve the vision.
If a man can't see that big B, the large
letter, which he ought to see at 200, at
twenty feet with only one eye, then he
has practically only one eye, and there
have been several examined who never
knew that they could not see out of only
one eye."
"How do you test for hearing?"
"With my watch. The man is re
quired to cover up his eyes and I place
niy watch to his ear, gradually removing
it away until the exact distance that he
can hear the ticking is known, lie says
"No" when he ceases to hear it. Now,
two-thirds of a ( ll the engineers are hard
of hearing, or, better, defective in the
right ear, which is due to their leaning
out of the cab window, coming in con
stantcontact with the wind—that is to say,
the force of the wind coming in constant
eon tact with the drum of the ear it becomes
affected. The constant pressure on the
drum of the ear has the effect of retracing
it. It becomes concave. The range of
vision is also tested. This is done by
placing a man twelve or eighteen inches
from a black board. lie is requested to
keep his eye directly on a chalk spot
which is on a level .with the eye, the
other eye being closed. lie it directed
! to say "yes" the moment he sees any
: thing moving toward that spot from
j above, below, to the right and to the
left. This constitutes his range of
vision. If he has any disease or injury
to the eye we can always map out his
range of vision, as the range is usually
contracted in one of the four different
directions. To illustrate, one man hail
a range of vision in the right eye three
inches to the left, six inches above,eight
inches to the right and ten inches be
low. Of course he was rejected bc
i cause he could not sec an approaching
I train."
••Why do you reject switchmen or
' brakemeu who have but one eye?"
"Because there arc oftentimes flat cars
loaded with lumber projecting over the
side of the car or ends, and consequently
if he was blind on that side he could not
! seo the car comiug in and would be liable
to be injured."— Cincinnati Enquirer.
Thibetan Customs.
All Thibetans slain in battle are hon
ored by the people with offerings of
sweet-scented flowers. They salute their
superiors by taking off their hats and
thrusting out their tongues three times.
The people say the climate differs every
few miles. The punishments are very
| severe. No matter whether the crime
; be grave or trivial, the matter great or
small, all offenders, when caught, are
tied up in a dark room with all their
limbs bound, and kept there untii
dragged out for trial. Sentences of
death are carried out by binding the
criminal to a pillar and shooting at him
with muskets and bows in a contest for
drink, by taking him to a cave swarming
with scorpions and allowing the latter to
sting him, or by handing him over to be
divided and eaten up by the savages of
the U country.
They put their dead in bags made of
hides, which they suspend for seven days
■ from the ridge poles of their dwellings,
j while Lama priests chant the liturgy, and
' afterward they are carried to mountain
' peaks, where the flesh is cut into thin slices
and thrown to the dogs to cat; this is called
the earth interment. The bones are
pulverized, made into pills about the size
! of beans and given to eagles to cat; this
lis called interment. The sick do not
take medicine, but are placed in the
scorching heat of the sun with their
i bodies daubed all over with butter.—
I Ijondou Globe.
The Coldest Spot and Coldest Day.
1 j The coldest region in the United
> States is the stretch of country on the
■ northern border from the Minnesota
1 lakes to the western line of Dakota. At
[ Pembina, which lies near the forty
> ninth parallel, the lowest temperature
s 1 recorded in the great storm of the winter
• ; of 1873 was fifty-six degrees below zero.
This is believed to be the lowest temper
' ature reached in tlx? United States.—Sar
r i'rttncitco Examiner.
NO. 8.
FUN.
A story of high life—The attic floor.
Can a dude be called' a ground swell :'
A poultry trust has been organized and
thus the fowl business goes on.
First Pish—"How are you getting
on?" Second Fish—"Swimmingly."
Occasionally you see a very rich man
who is so economical that he would en
joy being poor.— Atchison Globe.
"This is a grate experience," said the
nutmeg as it went through the pulveriz
ing process.— Merchant Traveller.
Friend—"Do you still continue to send
matter to the newspapers, Cholly?"
('holly—"Yes; but its merely for good
faith and not necessary for publication."
—Judge.
Boy—"Papa, what docs 'M. I).' mean
after a doctor's name?" Papa (who has
just received a bill from his family phy
sician) —"It means 'many dollars,' my
son."— New York Journal.
"Nurse—"lt's a boy and he's got your
eyes and nose and chin." Newly-Made
Father—"Got my chin, eh? That's
good! I'm thankful he hasn't got his
mother's."— Mumsey's Weekly
There is such a thing as being too
funny, and a man realizes it when lie
kicks another man'ssilk hat, just for fun,
and tinds that the other man has changed
hats with him temporarily, just for fun.
too.— So>nerville Journal.
"William," said the editor to the office
boy, "take these exchanges and put them
under the hydrant." "Underthe hydrant,
sir?" "Yes, and turn the water on. I
want to relieve them of a little of their
dryness."— Washington Capital.
NOT IN PRINT THAT WAY.
Editor—"Have you ever appeared in
print before?"
Young Poet (proudly)—" Yes, a hun
dred times for certain!"
Editor—"Ah, but I don't mean visiting
cards, you know."— Unterhaltungiblatt,
Clerk—"Shall I send a bill with this
suit for the baseball editor of The BuglerV
Tailor—"By no means. Write him a
note and say there is no hurry about pay
ment." Clerk —"And what about this
suit for the owner of the paper?" Tailor
"Send it C. O. D."— Clothier and Fur
nisher.
Jones was reading aloud to the fam
ily circle a media;val romance: "Just
then, five minutes past twelve sounded
from the belfry of the castle." "But,"
criticised Mrs. Jones, "no clock could
strike five minutes past twelve. "Oh.
yes, it could," replied the ingenious
Jones, "if it was five minutes too slow.'
—Judge.
A baby is a specimen of human nature
uncontroled by principle. It is a being o!
fierce instincts with no morals. It is the
opinion of observing persons who have
studied babies from a philosophical
standpoint that if their capacity for mis
chief were equal to their ferocity, they
would soon exterminate the adults of the
human family.— New York Ledger.
IN THE WRONG PLACE.
Plug Ugly (taking the best chair in the
sanctum) —"Say, I want satisfaction foi
dat t'ing yer had in de paper terday
'bout me. See?"
Editor —"Oh, yes; wait just a moment
until I score one more death. I like tr
keep tally of the number of men I kill,
you know. This makes the thirty-sev
enth. Now, what can Ido for you?"
Plug Ugly (reaching for his hat) —"1
I guess I'm in the wrong office. I
must 'a made a mistake."— Laurence
American.
The Forger's Pen.
T was talking with a Treasury official
on the subject of forgery. "Did 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 the signature habit
ually 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 pen that has been
used by a man in writing his name hun
dreds of times, and never used for any
thing else, will almost write the name of
itself. It gets imbued with the spirit of
the signature. In the hands of a fairly
good forger it will preserve the character
istics of the original. The reason for
this is that the point of the pen has been
ground down in a peculiar way, 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 sensitive hand of the
forger when he attempts to write tl
name."— Pall Mull Gazette.