SuixrvAN REPUBLICAN. W. M. CHENEY, Publisher. VOL. VIII. The debt of Now York city is now $08,663,072. A Philadelphia physician says pea nuts, taken moderately and thoroughly chewed, arc good for biain-workers. The annual production of eggs in the United States equals in money value the country's annual total production of iron. It is said in Paris that old topers and those accustomed to alcoholic stimulants were the least affected by tho influenzi, while the strictly temperate suffered tho most. The secretary of the National Prison Association estimates that the census of 1890 will show a prison population of nearly one hundred thousand, an increase of about thirty thousand in ten years. The Armours in Chicago did a pack ing bu'iness of $60,000,000 last year, which was $5,000,000 iu excess of 1888. Six thousand men were cm ployed, nnd paid $3,000,000. Tho firm killed 1,200,000 hogs, 600, QOO cattle, and 250,000 sheep. Senator Pettigrow of South Dakota has the only herd of buffaloos now in existence. There are fifteen animals in the herd, and they are corraled on a farm about four milos from Yankton, at the end of a railroad built by him and used by the public for excursions. An English company called the Ncw fouudland Colonization and Mining Company has acquired 61,000 acres of land in Newfoundland, which were granted to tho Anglo- American Tele graph Company in 1854. Somo of tho grants contain coal beds and various minerals, and others are adapted for agriculture and lumbering. The com pany has been organized by a number of prominent men, who expect to bo able to attract a largo st ream of immi gration to the colony. Bishop Stcnhouso, the leader of the Canadian Mormons, has writtcd a pro test against the proposal of an indepen dent republic for Canada. Tho Latter Day Saints are afraid they might be in terfered with should Canada become an independent nation or a portiou of the American Republic. Stenliouse was formerly a member of the Canadian Legislature and resigned his scat to be come a Mormon. Ho is now the recog nized head of the Canadian Mormons, and his manifesto is issued from the Mormon settlement a"; Cardston in the Northwest Terrni i.es. Rifle bullets nrc now photographod in their course by meaus of the electric Bpark. The camera is taken into a dark room, which the bullet is caused to traverse. As it passes tho camera it is made to interrupt an electric circuit and produce a spark, which illuminates it for an instant nnd enables the im p-ession to be taken. The wav-j of condensation in the air before the bul let and the rarefaction behind it are visible m the photograph, and can be studied by experts, thus enabling tho form of ball or riflj which minimize! ! tlio resistance cf the air to be selected. Tho credulity of the foreign noble - man has been brought out by a swind ling matrimonial scheme. A bureau sent out a circular advertising an Amer ican heiress list of $20,000,000 and in vited the aforesaid nobleman to coino forward, pay a fee and be married to one of them. Thousands of letters j •were sent to the "Bureau" from titled i beggars who wished to scoop in Ameri- | can boodle. After all, querici the ! New York World, why shouldn't com- | mercial transactions like that bo con- ' ducted on a cold business basis? They j are not, but there is no reason why j they shouldn't be. The enmity of Russia to anything of ■ a German origin becomes constantly ' more and more marked. Efforts have \ been made to prevent the use of the German language in Russian torritory, and now the feeling has taken a new turn. There has been a considernb'c immigration of Germans recently iuto Northern Russia, aud tho authorities, in order <to put a stop to it, propose to levy a high tax upon each foreigner taking up his residence in Russia. The j •una of SIOOO a head is spoken of, the design being to make it absolutely pro hibitory. The objection to Girinan' immigration is that the new-comers are, i •s a rule, intelligent, and carry with tbem ideas of a liberalising tendency. ! Snow Flakes. Where do they go, rhe melting flake* of the brigbt, white snow? They goto nourish the April showers; They goto foster the May-time flowers; Where the roots of the hidden grasses grow, There do they go. How do they go* Drop after drop, in a silent flow, When the warm rain falls, and the winds are loud. And the swallow sing in the rifts of the cloud, Through the frozen veins of the earth be low They softly go. Why do they go? Because Dame Nature will hare it sol More thau this, truly, I cannot tell; I am neither a seer nor an oracle! When all is answered, I only know, That they come and go! —Kale Putnam Ongood, in Wid* Awake. THANKFUL'S TRIALS. "I'm sure," murmured Thankful Pennypacker, "I don't know wliat to do." Thankful Pennypacker had come to the far West on what the facetious in habitants of Blue Gulch would have called "a wild-goose chase." She was one of the great majority of unemployed women in the State of Vermont, and her cousin, Sqirre Todd, had heard from his nephew's wife, who had a sister at Blue Gulch, that there was a district school-teacher wanted there. "Chnnce for you, eh, Thankful?'' said Mrs. Todd. "Better get off as fast as ever you cau, or it'll be snappod up. Such positions don't go a-begging long." Thankful looked up with big, wistful eyes. "It's awful cold weather togo West, isn't it?" said she, a little tim idly. "Oh, if you're afraid of a littlo cold wind and a snow flurry or two!" said Mrs. Todd, elevatiag her nos«. And Thankful packed her trunk at once, and departed. •'Ain't~ftrrather barbarous, mother," said the squire, "to send the poor gal way off West in such a blizzard as this 'ere?" "Well, Joshua," said his helpmeet, "ihe's been here two good months now, and we want her room for your Aunt Eliza, that's got money to leave some day; nnd, besides, Dr. Lotlinir's a-coin ing pretty soon to viiit old Doctor Jen ningses' folks next door, and it's jest as well to have Thankful Pennypacker out of the way." Squire Todd's lower jaw dropped. "Why?" said he, in amazement. "Why?'' mimicked his wife. "Well, give me a man for solid thick-headcd ness! Hain't you got a darter of your own, and ain't Thankful Peunypacker a pretty gal, if she is past fivc-and twenty year?' 1 "Oil," said the squire. "Matclimnk in', eh?" "Well, call it what you please," said Mrs. Todd. "Anyhow, it's time Electra WHS settled iu life, and it's j:st as well to have Thankful Pcnuypacker off some whero clso " But when the Vermont girl reached Blue Gulch, old Mr. Wcrdell, the chair man of the board of trusteos, professed himself exceedingly sorry, but the po sition had just been filled by a half sis ter of his own. "We always give Western girls the preference," said he. So poor Tiiankful went back to "Squire Todd's nephew's wife's sister,'' in a frame of mind widely different from her name, and uttered the piteous sentence that heads our story. The nephew's wife's sister was called McCray— a stout, cheerful body, with bright blue eyes and a double chin. "I declare to goodness, Miss Penny packer," said she. "I feel sorry for you, but I hain't a minute's time to spare n-listcnin' to what Miles Wen dell said just now. Two o' tho China men have gone, and Bridget won't stir into the dinin'-room as long as Wong Bee is there, li's strange how she and the Chinese hate each other. And the tiain is duo in forty minutes, and eighteen mcalers havo telegraphed ahead." ' C-in't I help you?" said Thank ful. "You? Why, you'ro an educated lady," said Mrs. McCray. "That's no reason I can't cook a fricasae, or bake a pumpkin-pie," suid Thankful, smiling ill spite of her troubles. "And I have no especiul prejudice against Wong Sie; so I'd as LAPORTE, PA., FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 1890. I soon go into the dialog-room and aee to the tables as not." •'Wtll, I'd be mortal obliged to you if you would," said Mrs. McCray, with a great sigh of relief. "Here's one o' my big white kitchen aprons to tie over your black serge dress, so it won't bo sp'iled; and you'll find Wong See very teachable aod docile." So that Miss Pennypacker was flying around presently in the neat, cool rooms of the railway restaurant, where long tables, draped whith white, were decorated with evorgreen and holly berries, and the glass and crockery, albeit of the coarsest, was sparkling and clean. The Biua Gulch meal station, as Mrs. McCray told Thankful, was celebrated all along the line for its pigeon-pies, its toothsome wnffljji, and its dainty bits of home-made cookery. "And now you're hero to sort o' keep Wong See straightened up,"said she; "I tan givo my whole mind to the waffles." A keen wind howling down the rail way cut; a cloud of drifting snow, sharper than needles and pins; and then the shriek of the train. Wong See adjusted his clean white tunic and rubbed his hand». •'Supper allee rcadec," said he. "MissccCray she got wnfflj all cookee." "Oeh, the liaythen Chinee!" said Bridget, in her den behind the tea and coffee holder, as she scowled unut terablo things at the smiling Celestial. The passengers rushed with one ac cord for the warm, cozy, savory-smell ing dining-room, for the fame of the Blue Gulch wnfilos had penetrated far aud wide—when all of a su Iden there was an exclamation, a pause, a confu sion. "What is it?'' said Thankful, who, with swift hands, was carrying tea and coffee this way and that. "A gentleman has slipped on tho icy car s'.ep," said Mr). M Cray. "I reckon likely he's broke his leg or arm or some'.hiug. Here, Miss Peunypncker; you come to the waffla-irons. I'll just stop and see what tho trouble is. Mc- C.av.nin't never on hand at anemer-' gency." When the train had gone, the hurt passenger lay in a little white-curtained room up stairs. Doctor Feltoa had set his broken arm and bandaged his sprained auklo. "If you have moderately good luck,'' said ho, "you need not be detained more than two or three weeks. And the peoplo here are vorjr kindly and re spectable. They'll make you fairly comfortable, you'll find." Tne wayfarer uttered a groan, but there was no appeal. On all the earth there is no autocrat like a country doc tor. Mr°. McCray was kind and mothorly. Wong See, with his little almond shaped eyes and perpetual smile, proved to bu a capital nurse; and after a little tho patient got u>ed to his captivity. '•Who is that I hear singing down stairs at times?' ho asked, one day. "Wei'," said Mrs. McCray, "it's our Bridget. Does sho disturb you! She will keep singing 'Nora, My Nora,' say what you will, and—" "No, it isn't that howl," said the sick man, with a shu lder. "It's some one singing bits out of the 'Trovatore' —little sweet trills and runs like a nightingale." •'Oh!" said Mrs. McCray. "Ireckon that's Thankful." "And who is Thankful?" "JLss Pennypacker. My sister's husband's uncle's cousin, that came all the way from the State o' Vermont to teach deestrick school, and whon she got here another woman gobbled it up —the sitooation, I mean." "Oh!" sad the invalid. "Yes, thank you, Mrs. McCray! lf\ou'llput the lemonade pitcher on the table, 1 can reach it myself." The big Michigun rose on the porch of the Todd farmhouse was all in blos som when Doctor Lothair cnino at last to make the long- promised visit to his friend, Doctor Jennings. "But it ain't no use!" sighed Mrs. Todd to Elec'.ra, her daughter. "He's brung a wife with him, I'm told—a bride all the way from Dakota Turri tory." "Humph!" said disappointed Elec tra. "A rcgu'ar wild Indian, I guess. But, for nil that, I'm sort o' curious to seo her. Let's go into night, mother, when they're through tea." So Mr?. Todd and the tquire donned their best clothes, aud E ec:ia put on W newest set of fhh-scale jewelry, and they all trudged over to "Jen ningses' he use," when the sun had set and the whip-poor-wills began to sing. "Why, ma, look there!'' sa'dElcc tra. "It's cousin Thankful, sure'a you're born, settin' on the piazzy, and—'' "No, it ain't!" said Mrs. Todd. "Yes, it is! Why, how on airth come she here?'' Thankful came running down the steps. "Well, I declare!" said Mrs. Todd, secretly planning within herself how to avoid inviting Thankful to the house. "Tho fur West seems to hev agreed with you. Mercy, how red your cheeks be! S'pose you took ad vantage of the chanco to come back East with Doctor Lothair and the brido. Where is she?" "The bride?" Thank ful's cheeks were redder than ever. "Oh, didn't you know? lam the bride!'' "You?" echoed Mrs. Todd. "Yes. Come in and I'll introduce you to my husband." Prosy old Doctor Jennings treated the visitors to a long account of the whole thing—from Doctor Lothair's accident at Blue Gulch to tho wedding, whero Wong See waited, and Mrs. McCray cooked tho game and entrees. It was quite n romance, he declared. And Squire Todd stopped on the way home to indulgo in a hearty laugh. "To think," said he, "what a mortal hurry you was into get Thankful out of the way of this very man, so't Electra could hev a clear chance." ' Judge Todd," snapped his wife, "you shouldn't laugh out so loul and coarse! It's dreadful vulgar! '—Sutur ' Jay Night. Functions of the Cocoanut. In tho arts aud economics of South Sea Island life, tho first placo is taken by tho fcatherod cocoanut which lines tho white saud of tho beach or nestlos in tho gorges of the precipitous moun tain sides. Polynesia knows no want, can almost conceive of no luxury, with ■ oui tLo jnovinoo of thr coconnut 4*> be«* stow. At once food aud drink, it builds the islander his houso and canoe; foi one it u Ida tho ihitch and for the oth er the sail nud rigging; it clothes him and provides him baskets in which to carry his food; it makes him an armor that will turn the sharpest arrow and the keenest spear; cradled in the feath ery leaves as a babo, fed and housed and clothed and equipped for war from it as a mau, at death ha returns again to his cradle of infancy and is buried in a leaf. It is the characteristic featuro of every view, tho centre of all histories and the ornament of every tale. Bath ing its roots in the salt sen, it lines every beach with tapering trunks that never grow straight skyward, as if they had been designed by their loaning and step-like leaf scars to mi'co it all the easior for the indolent islander to climb for his natural food. Sjcurely wrapped in its fibrous husk it floats unharm d through leagues of stormy seas and grows on nuy saud/ islet whero tho rain never falls to be in time the support of wholo communities who know not the taste of fresh water. About the feathery plumes cf this tree of great resource group all tho essentials of an island life. —N. 7. llerald. A Split Gold Coin. "Two tens for a twenty, please," said a gentleman to the cashier in the county treasurer's ofii <j. The cashier tool', the "twenty" and rang it on the counter. It had that pj euliardull ring that characterizes coun terfeit coins. Ho rung it a sacond time, and then inspected it critically. "Is it bogus?" asked the owner of the coin. "Oh, no," answered the cashier; "it's good as wheat, but split." Continuing, he said: "T<int is tho first split |2O I ever ran across. The stamping machine at tho mint some times comes down too hard on the coins and splits them; but it is seldom the larger coins split. It's mostly 'fiv(s'tliat suffer. But they are very careful at the mint, and stop every split coin they detect. Now, in tho thou sands of dollars handlod here every year, I rarely find a split coin. I don't think I've found moro than four or five in a year, and, as I say, the coins were mostly $5 pieces." The split |2O looked perfect, and, so far as the eye could detect, bore no fiiw of any kind. The only fault with it was in tho "rin>;," an I the split made it sound "deud" when thrown ou thr counter. Terms-—51.25 in Advance; $1.50 after Three Months. All They Know. Where lies the land to which the ship wonld fo? Far, far ahead, is all her seamen know; And where the land she travels from? Away, Far, far behind, is all that they can say. On sunny noons upon the deck'a smooth face, Linked arm i a arm, how pleasant here to pace; Or o'er the stern reclining, watch below The foaming wake far widening as we go. On stormy nights, when wild northwesters rave, How proud a thing to fight with wind and wave! The dripping sailor on the reeling mast Exults to bear, and scorns to wish It past. Where lies the land to which the ship would go? Far, far ahead, is all her eamen know; Aud where the land she travels from? Away, Far, far behind is all that they can say. —Arthur Hugh Clough HUMOROUS. A weather report—thunder. A "boil*' on the stovo is worth two on the neck. The tailor trado is a fitting occupa tion for anybody. Patti'a lowest notes reach as high as S4OOO every night. Thcro is n good deal of hemming done by seamstresses and hawing by teamsters. Almost every man takes his day off, kut we never heard of him bringing it b::ck again. Since young Jinks began visiting Mis 9 Brown, the parlor lamp in the Brown domicile is the latest thing out. A good many peoplo speak as they pass by who had better keep still unless they cau Fay moro pleasant things. Quillpen Hello, Scribbler I Are you still living on that first story? Scribbler—No, I'm up in the attic now. First Small Boy—We bad a fire at our houso last night. Second Small Boy—That so? F. S. B.—Yes. Pa aiafor'd licgn Woman is running mau a pretty close race in tho arts and sciences, but sho'll never get tho knack of sharpening a lead pencil down fiue. D ictor —Ah, yes; I sec you hove lung trouble. Patient (hopeless consumptive) —Excuse mo, doctor, but it strikes me that it's no lung trouble. He—What did your father say when you told him that we were engaged? She—Oh, Augustus, you must not ask ino to repeat such language! An exchange says tl.at "Sauerkraut never ranks among groceries." All the same, it is strong enough to rank al most anywliero it may be placed. Clerk—l want an increase of salary. Employer (wearily)— All right Any thing elso? Cierk—And I want to get oil an hour earlier every day, so I can spend it. Fame may De ornamental, Dut it isnt much use to tho man who has to hustle seventeen hours out of the twenty-four for his daily bread, with the pie never any nearer than the horizon. Benefactor—lf you are a good ma chinist, why do you not work at your trnd'j? Tramp—l can't bear the annoy ance of being waked up by a factory whistle at 5 o'clock every morning. Tailor—You promise! me faithfully yesterday rao:ning that you would call in and settlo for that suit last night, if it rained pitchforks. Customer—Yes, Iknow; but it didn't ra'n pitchforks. Lawyer—Your undo mikes you his sole heir; but the will stipulates that the sum of one thousand dollars must bo buried with him. Heir—(feelingly) —The old man was eccentric; but his wishes must bo respected, of course. I'll write a check for that amouut. Anxious Wife—Doctor, how is my husband? Doctor—He will come around all right. What he needs now is quiet. 1 have hero a couple of opi ates. "When shall I give them to him?" "Give them to him? They are for you, madann Your husband needs rest." Both Worked Hard. Brown—You wouldn't be so extrava gant if you know how hard I have to work for my money. Mrs. Brown—And if you only stopped to think, you wouldn't say such a thing. Just see how hard I had to work to get the bonnet you complain about. Why, I had to \i*it about a hundred stores before I could find oue to butt me.— JBpceA. NO. 22. SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS. A scientist says that the Panama canal will turn the gulf stream and malca Great Britain a land of iceberg! and Polar b3ars. The rainfall for Washington, D. C., during December was only thirty-nine hundredths of an inch. For the entiro eastern section of the Uaited States tha fall was from 30 to 90 per cent, below the normal. German chemists have discovered in the cocoanut a fatty substitute for but ter, and it is being producod in largo quantities at Manheim. Ono factory turns out 6000 pounds per day, worth fifteen cents per pound. The canal to connect the North Sea nt the mouth of the Elbe will, when finished, be 61 miles long, 85 feet broad at the bottom, nearly 200 feet at tho water level, and of sufficient dcpj.h to tako the largest German war vessels, A physiologist in France has been observing the working of flies in flying, and Lai arrived at the conclusion that the wings of a fly make about 330 beats per second, and that such a fly can travel at the rate of one kiloinetro cer minute Experiments in .oiling the waves have been so successful that all life boats in England will bo required to carry a gallon of vegetab'e or aaimal oil, and a distributor of approved pat tern, for throwing tho oil on the sea in rough weather. Tho relative values as foods of the grains named bolow are given by Pro fessor Wiley as, first, wheat; second, sorghum; third, maize; fourth, un hullcd oats. Sorglium-seed furnishes a flour like buckwheat that makes passa ble bread, and is coming into considera ble use. In Lawrenco, Kan., a comparison by means of a photometer between tho brightness of tho full moon and that of the arc lights in use in that city, showed that at an average distance of 100 feet from the light of the lamp tho bright ness was twenty-five times that of the full moon. In finking artesian wells in tho Des ert of Sahara, Africa, water-bearing strata has been reached at a depth of 230 feet, nt which a steady flow of nbout 5,000 gallons per minute has been obtained. This water is brackish and unfit for drinking, but it auswers very well for irrignt'on. An insect in tho ear may be drowned out with tepid water or killed by a few drops of sweet oil. If anything hard gets in the car, double a stout horse hair, p'.aco tho ho.id on one sido and drop the loop into tho car, move it about until it catches the object and then draw it out. The owl has no power of motion in its eye, tho globe of which is immova bly fixed in its socket by a strong, clas tic, hard, cartilaginous case, in tho form of a truncate! cone; but in order to compensate for this absenco of mo tion in the eye, it is ablo to turn its head round in almost a complete circle without moving its body. Recent observations of tho waters of Great Salt Lake provo conclusively that tho statements made that no form of animal or plant lifo exists in tho lako ore erroneous. No fish or other largo form of animal life has been discovered, but the prosence of vegetable organisms in the lake may be considered a fac» from the abundance of animal exist ence*. The Deadly Cold Bed. If trustworthy statistics could be had of the number of persons who die every year or become ]>ernianer.tly diseased from i-lecping in damp or cold bods, they would prol ably be astonishing ami appalling. It is a peril that con stantly besets traveling men, and if they aro wiso they will invariably in sist on having their beds aired and dried, even at the risk of causing much trouble to their laudlords. But tho peril resides in the hou;e, and the cold "spare room" has slain its thousands of hapless guosts, and will goon with its slaughter 'ill ]>eople learn wisdom. Not only the guest, but the family ofton suffer the penalty of sleeping in cold rooms and chilling their bodies at a time when they need all of their bodily heat by getting between cold she ts. Even in warm summer weather nco d, dump bed will get in its deadly work. It i* a needless peril, nud the ui'gloct tn provide dry rooms and beds has in it tliu elements of naurdir and •uicide.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers