SULLIVAN REPUBLICAN. W, M. CHENEY, Publisher. VOL. VIII. THE LAND OF THE LIVING. t "Are you still in the land of the livinjf?" Inquired a man of an aged friend. "No, DUt C am going there,'' was the reply.) O land, so full of breaking hearts, O'erhuug with shadows blinding. Where half the world the other half In sheet and shroud are winding. We stretch our eyes away—away Past this domain of sorrow, And catch the tintings on the clouds Of an auroral morrow. Each year we see the brighest leaves In autumn's hand the serest: Each year the bird-notes die away, Which rang for us the clearest; Each day the cruel mouth of Death The lie to life is giving. And yet we call this fading land The region of the living! .W>< O angel man, whose silver hair Is like the ring of glory! God bless you for that precious truth — Our hearts repeat the story; And while we sit in vacant homes Heaven's golden bells are pealing Along the darkness of the night. Making the same revealing. Emma Hood Tut tie. ELIZA ANN'S ADMIRER. BY CLARA AUGUSTA. I guess you never heard tell of Lizy Ann, did you? She's my oldest darter, and if I d > sny it, you can't find a higher eddicated girl in Kenboro'. She's eddi cated clear up to the top notch. -Jere miah, that's her pa, sed to me about three years ago, sed he. "Algiry, I've got an idee." "Hold onto it.'' sed I, "till you get another one to match up with it, or you'll lose it, it'll be so lonesome." Jeremiah wuz a-pulling off his boots at the time, and he'd Ixscn mowing in the medder aud they stuck to his stockings and riled his temper. '•Drat them boots!" sed he, e/. he stood on one foot and pulled away fer dear life on 'tother boot, "I wish the man that invented boots had to eat 'em!" "He'd have to wear a liver pad all the rest of his life," sed I;, and 1 looked at my husband with my earnest smile, the one T use when my minister calls and when I'm attending the weekly prayer meeting, and X added. "Jeremiah, at your time of life you should not let your temper run away with you. Perfanity don't go well with gray hairs." "What kind of hairs does it go well with?" snapped Jeremiah, and he gave that oft leg of his a sudden jerk that made him lose his balance, and down he went rite onto an ottoman, where Lizv Ann had sot a couple of pic-plates that she'd painted some long-legged rusters and some bushes and water on, and he smashed them plates all to flinders! "Where's your idee?" sed I to him when he'd got up and wiped the blood from the finger that he'd cut on that broken crockery onto the white bed spread. "I was a-going to say, Algiry, - ' sed he, "that I thought our Lizy Ann had better go a few terms to the femal sem ernary. It kinder polishes a gal off and learns her how to act when she's into company. Now there's Mulligan's daugh ter. see how she's <;ot finished off since she went to that Hoston school! Why, the critter says more dictionary words than our minister, and she slings 'em round as if she wasn't afraid of 'em, and •s if there was plenty more of 'em, too." "Seems to me, Jeremiah,'' sed I, "that Lizy Ann had better learn how to cook and sew them togo to wrestling with Greek and Latin! This "ere paint ing craze that she's got is enough tr drive anybody into the lunytick hospital. She's painted almost everything in the house, and yesterday she began on the bean pot, and had got two screech owls and the new moon daubed onto it afore 1 seen her!" But Jeremiah he was dreadful sot. The Papleys is an awful sot family, take 'em together, and Jeremiah is about the sottest of 'ein all. So Lizv Ann was sent off to the semeruarv, and I got Polly Mariah Jones to help me with the house work. Lizy Ann stayed at the sememary two year, and then she come home to live. Mebby you don't know what it is to have an eddicated female darter in the house? It's worse than having the measles and mumps, or utmost anythingelse that ever 1 come acrost. Lizy Ann she wouldn't get up to break fast because it made her head ache. She couldn't eat bliled cabbage for dinner because 1 it disagreed with her digestive organs. She couldn't walk anywhere be cause she hed the tpines in her back, aud high heels ou her shoes, and there didn't seem to lie much of anything she could do, except, luv abed aud read novels. You see. the fact of it WH« she'd .jest gone to work and eddicated all the bruas she had cleau out of her 1 But ber conversation was something worth hearing. She would sit down and talk to her pa by the hour about the whichness of the whatsoever, and the sur vival of the fittest, and the hornithologi cal pleasantry, and the evolution of the genus homo; and ber pa would cross his legs and stare at ber in admiration, and once in a while he'd drop bis under jaw, and exclaim: ''l want to know!" As for me, I didn't understand her talk, and I didn't pretend to, and I kept right on a-b'iling, and a-frying, and a-scrubbing, jest as if Lizy Ann warn't a-talking. She got a letter one day, perfumed so that it scented the whole house, and she come out into the kitchen with it, where me and Polly Jones was a-pickin' over dan delion greens, and sed she^ "Ma, I have just received some very delightful intelligence." '•Have you?" says I, "what might it be?" "Gustavus Vere De Vere thinks he will favor us with a visit." "The land sake!" says I, "when is he going to favor?" "Next week,'' says she. "Good gracious," sed I, "what ever made him think of coming next week? That's the time I sot to bile niy soft soap, and your pa is going to kill that crooked legged pig; and Polly Jones sot out to have the heft of her teeth pulled out, and the hens is all a-setting, and we can't git no eggs to speak of, and the spare chamber carpet is up, and the old mare's lame in her hiud leg, and Unc'e John he's got a bile coming, and it's kinder atween hay and grass in the vegetable line, the old taters is strong and the new ones hain't got along." "Whv, ma," says she, "you talk as if Gustavus was a sordid-minded l>eing whose only thought was his gastronomic propensities. Ma, I assure you be is too full of soul to give a thought to such vulgar things as those you speak of." "Good land I" says I, "he has to eat, don't he< He'd die of the hungry stomach-ache if he didn't, I should ex pect. " "Don't tease her, mother," says Jere miah, coming in just then after a drink of sweetened water. "By jingo, it's hot ! Summer's got. here in airnest. I must hoe that five-acre patch of corn to morrow. And the skeeters has got round as thick as hasty-pudding! Never see the beat of 'em so airly in the year." There wasn't nothin' for me to do but to make the best of it and get ready for our expected visitor. I didn't cook up much, because Gustavus warn't no eater, and I put off the soap b'iling, and Jere miah he postponed the hog business, as Lizy Ann sed, sign die. Mr De Vere arrived Monday afternoon. Lizy Ann had spent the whole forenoon in getting ready for him, and she had combed her hair HO that her head looked as large as a half-bushel basket, and she was powdered as white as the statoo of General Jackson in the public libcrry at AllenTille. Mr. De Vere was tall and lank and drab. He looked as if he had been born tired, and hadn't got rested, and he put me in mind of that old green calico dress of mine that didn't wash well, and the color of It all kinder run into one tuthcr and gin it a home-sick look all over. He couldn't seem to talk plain, and he wore gold-bowed eye-glasses that kept ■ ontinerly falling off his nose and kept him busy the heft of the time a-rescuing 'em from destruction. I din't say nothing about eating till supper time, seeing as De Vere wa'n't no eater to speak of, but good land ! when he had got filled up my table looked as if a full grown cyclone had swept acrost it. an' throwed all the vittlea into the ad joiniug township! .No appetite, indeed! A boa constrictor couldn't have eat any more. No, not even if he had sot up nights, and putin eating hours. Lizy Ann was as happy a critter as ever you see, and she and Mr. De Vere talked al together in words of sis syllables; and they sung some opperatic music and scared our dog Towner so that he quit the house and didn't come back for a week ; and the two cats that was asleep ! in the clothes basket in the wood shed l'u/.zed up the hair on their backs and ! tails as they listened, and then they give i one terrible war cry and whisked out of I that, basket in a jiffy and scooted under : the wood shed, and nothing could in duce them to c ome out. De Vere and Lizy Ann walked together by the brook down in the <-alv.e«' pasture, and they sot out ou the pia/.zy night* and stared at the moon, ami he harue-sed up the old mare to take H ride ami he put the breechiug ) on over her head and the brewt plate on LAPORTE, PA., FRIDAY, MARCH 28, 1890. over her tail, and then Jeremiah he came to the rescue and sot her agoing right end foremost. Our hired man, Jonas Bangs, he hitched up the oxen and went down to our 'tother fafm after a load of medder hay, and as soon as Gustavus see him getting ready he was bent to go. "It will be so sweetly pastoral to ride on the new mown hay," sed he, feeling of the spot where he expected his mus-» tache would be sometime in the vast andj onsartin' future —"quite like a poem." "I dunno's you'd better risk it," sedv Jewmirh, "them air cattle is kinder orn- > ery critters, and they hain't been used' for quite a spell—and Jonas hain't over< and above keerfult" But De Vere and Lizy Ann they | wouldn't hear to nothing, and they' mounted into the cart and went off. He I held her perrysol over her head with onef hand and clung for dear life to the rail) of the cart with 'tother. And Jonas he jabbed the brad in the end of his goad', into the oxen and sot 'em off in a canter. I was busy irying doughnuts, and after* that team had been gone about long) enough to get back I heerd an awful? rumble, and I forgot all about my b'ilingf hot fat on the stove, and I rushed to the) door with a lump of dough in my hand, and good gracious 1 there was them oxen tearing down the hill at the back of our barn on the (lead run, and Mr. De Vere and Lizy Ann bouncing about on the top of the load of hay and yelling like wild i critters. His hat was gone, his eye glasses bobbed out behind him, and his long hair streamed back like a banner in the breeze. Rite down the hill went them oxen— rite through a board fence that was round the cabbage patch, straight into into a swamp that lays a-tween our farm and Deacon Bridge's. There the cart stuck fast and come to such a sud den standstill that it upsot, and De Vere and Lizy Ann upsot with it. I see 'em bounce up into the air like two injy rubber balls, and jest that minit I hecrd'i an awful swish and sizzle from the* kitchen, and I rushed back to find myi doughnut fat all afire and the room so full of smoke that you couldn't see acrost it. I ketched the tongs and throwed the kittle out doors, and Jeremiah he came in from the barn with two horse blankets and a buffalo, aDd we made out to save the house. Jonas had got round and fished Lizy Ann and her admirer out of the water, and the neighbors come manfully to the spot and helped git out the oxen. My soul and body! You'd ought to have seen De Vere! He was a spectacle, and no mistake! We washed his head out in the watering trough, and put him into some overalls of Jeremiah's, and I gin him a mm sweat to keep the cold from striking to his throat, but the pore critter was so far gone that he couldn't cat nothing for supper. As for Lizy Ann, she took her bed and stayed there till De Vere had gone home, and I don't much think he'll ever show himself here again, and I hope he never will. Jeremiah says he hain't no manner of doubt but what Jonas tetched up them oxen with the whip when they got to the top of the hill a-purpose to set 'em a-run ning, for Jonas is a sly feller, aad fond of fun. I've had a good sound talk with Lizy Ann, and I'm trying to l'arn her to make bread and pies, and be somebody, but I dunno's I shall make out. You sec, she's got her brains crammed so full of isms and ologies that there hain't much room to putin any commom sense. Too much eddication has nigh about been the ruination of her.—Arkan taio TrattUr. Bird Language. "To my mind alt birds have a language and that language is as intelligible to themselves as ours is to us," said tha proprietor of a bird store. 4 'l have a pair of canaries, and I often listen to their conversation. In the morning one of them gives a 'tw-eet.' 'Are yon aw»kc?' he says to the other. The other gives a 'tw-eet.' 'Yes; I'm a little sleepy, though,' and closes his eyes again. 'But. it's morning.' 'I don't care,' says the lazy mate, tucking his head under his wing once more. 'lt'stime to wake up.' This time there is no reply. "Then the other proceeds to indulge in a morning serenade. lie carols up and down the scale. Then the second bird pokes out her head and shakes her feathers. 'lt's really impossible to sleep under the circumstances,' she says. 'I hope you don't feel cross,' he says. 'Oh, no, only— * Aud then they patch it all up and indulge in a charming duet."—Dt t.rnit Tribune. pTHEfcORCHID. PECULIARIIrtKS OP THE PLANT NOW IiqVPUBIiIO FAVOR. tWetrd and * "Wonderful filoMomi— , .Queer Combtnatlons at the Oro ■, V teaque »nd."B«autlful—Cnrioua > V Specimen* High Prices. It is aboutlflke year* since the orcbid made ita appea ranee in this country as a candidate for popular favor, and ita suc cess wasinot at that time immediate. It required aomej little time for the public to accustoms iStself to finding beauty in the weird /shapes and conformations which theyepipihytal revel in. There are blossoms * which, marvelously imitate queer, fleshyllooking insects and reptiles, or which seem* monstrous creatures be longing tot another world, appertaining to none of hhe animal or vegetable spe cies known%in this sphere. Their very customs aretdifferent from those of any other known | plant, for although a few species content themselves with growing in ordinary soil, like other members of the vegetablejkingdom, a number of the species grow' suspended, like Mahomet's coffin, in mfid-air; deriving their suste nance from tbe<limbs oft trees to which they are affixed; while ■ others cling to barren rock,, spreading their gorgeous 'blossoms likettiny oases over a precipi tous cliff. But not allf orchidaceous plants are ,st range'merely'in aspect. Some are of exquisite beauty, and nearly all are rich ia fragrance, i Blossoms are found which 'are as white and lucid as a drift of snow, >sucb as the Cattleya Alba; while others, ■like the Mossiie, revel in every descrip tion of color,{from richest violet in grad ual shading 'through mauve, rose and magenta, to lightest pinks, tad in vary ing gradations (from gold to bright Ver million. Fact aad fiction concerning these plasta have become eo confused in the popular mind that to most persons the very word "orchid" has become a synonym for •*- Aravagancc. It is true that rare speci mens, like everything else which is diffi cult to obtain, bring high prices, but the average price of orchid plants ranges from $1 to $5, and some specimens costs as low as twenty cents. Nor does it follow that the cheaper plants are less bcautifui than the high-priced ones. The more expensive orchids are sold at prices ranging at from (SSOO to SIOOO and even SISOO. The climate of this'country renders it well-nigh impossible to raise orchids satisfactorily from bulbs and seeds, so that each plant must be shipped while yet in growth from the countries which yield them. Central and South America and Africa are the chief sources of sup ply, and the work of collecting the plants is constantly going on. The plants usually arrive here in full bloom, for the collector will not risk sending worthless specimens by not veri fying the blossoms they produce. And a beautiful sight they present at their landing at the wharf. There is well nigh an acre of the gorgeous white, orange, crimson, amethyst and blue, convoluted and crimped, hairy and mot tled, freckled and striped freaks of na ture ; and unless it be midwinter, when there is a demand for the flowers, all this world of loveliness is left to wither on the stalk, with no one but the garden ers to appreciate their fragrance and beauty. Orchid blossoms seem so fragile that it is no wonder that people look upon them as ephemeral. Yet, as a fact, they will outlast almost any other flower when severed from the stalk. Nor does their cultivation necessitate more watchfulness than that of other exotic plants. The terrestrial species are planted in shallow pans filled with a compost of peat and moss, while the celestial ones are for the most part allowed to hang to the bits of bark to which they originally clung, or placed in baskets made of a lattice work of wood, in which broken brick and moss supplies them with their sustenance. The temperature required for the orchid varies with each species, ranging from an atmosphere which is almost cold, in the case of the Calanthe (known as the Christ orchid, the blood-red mark in the centre of the five-petaled flower giv ing it the appearance of a wounded hand), to the hot, moist temperature necessary to the growth of the Nepenthes, or "carnivorous plants." This last grewsome epithet, by the way, is due to the peculiarity possessed by the genus of apparently swallowing the hapless in sects which light on them. The form of the flower is that of a pitcber, hapging Terms—sl.2s in Advance; $1.50 after Three Months. low from * long and slender stalk. The sensitiveness of the ptfcjscauses it to close ita tiny lid whenever an insect penetrates into the bowl-shaped cavity, and hence it baa long been believed that .the plant derived its sustenance from in sect life. Other curious specimens are the Sarra cencia Drummondi, whose tall flower is like a tube in which moisture is secreted, and the Dioneea muscipuia, "Venus's fly trap," whose wing-like claws exhibit more than ordinary plant life, and promptly close wben touched, though ever so lightly. The use of orchids for decoration has been more prevalent the last two seasons than ever before. Nothing could be more adapted for a banquet table than those harmonics of color whose strange ness excite the imagination, and whose delicate perfume cannot displease thf most sybaritic taste. Untold sums are spent each year by rich New Yorkers for floral decorations for ball or dinner rooms, and the greater part of all this money finds its way into the orchid growers' pockets. A table decoration not infre quently costs S2OO, when the richest specimens are used; but good effects can be got for S2O to SSO. The fashion which was set by Joseph Chamberlain ol using orchids for personal decoration is being largely followed, and boutonnieres and bride's bouquets of the plant are at present much in use.— New York Com mercial Advert iter. An Odd Journal. The oddest journal in the metropolis is the so-called newspaper published by the Mongolians of Mott street. It is writ ten with a camel's hair pencil upon ver milion paper and is pasted upon the wall of No. 16 of that thoroughfare and on the two large telegTaph poles which stand between Chatham Square and Pell street. AU daj long it is read and studied by almond-eyed crowds. Even in the even ings, a belated laundryman can be seen running his eyes over its tea-chest cbar aotoa. Yesterday I waa one of the throng, and thanks to a friend who is a guod Chinese scholar, was *ui!i u d to get a fair knowledge of the day's issue. There was considerable similarity be tween it and our own dailies. There was the latest proclamation from the Em peror of China; a communication from the Embassy at Washington; a letter from the Consul; an account of an anti-Chi nese outrage in Idaho; a news item of a flood in China; a dozen of "Want ads;" a few laundries for sale; a death notice and a call for a meeting of some benevo lent society. The editors are called scribes, and write at the order of their customers, charging a good figure for their skill with the brush. The favorite editor is said to make as high as S2O a day; but, beyond his editorial work, he writes cards, literary compositions and prayer tickets for his customers. One feature of this journal is worthy of imitation. If a member of a trades union is thrown out of employment, he puts up a notice to that effect, and thereupon every other member is bound to help him to a job. The result is that within twenty-four hours the applicant usually has a number of oilers from every sort of business in which Mongolians en gage. If he is sick, he or a friend an nounces it in a similar notice, and his society thereupon sends him a doctor and a committee to nurse and take care of him until he is'well. If impecunious, they pay all his expenses, even going so far as to settle his rent.— -New York Star. E.icsuraged by the Caurt. A young lawyer was making his maiden effort before a jury in defense of a crim inal. The evience was all in, and he arose to utter the brilliant thoughts that had been surging through his brain. He was primed for a fine display of oratori cal pyrotechnics, but somehow or other he could not get a start. His mind became a blank, and he stood trembling for a moment. Then waving his arms he be gan: "May it please the Court and gen tlemen of the jury—My—ahem! My Officer, kindly get me a drink of water." He waited for the attendant to return and tried to gather his faculties. After taking i sip of water he began again: "May it please the Court and gentlemen of the jury. lam happy—no—yes." After a pause he again extended his arm and exclaimed: "May it please the Court and gentlemen of the jury. My unfortunate client " This impressed him as a particularly bad opening, so he again hesitated. "Go on. counselor," said the Judge, encour ngingly ; "so far 1 aui with you."—Chi cago Herald. NO. 24. . _ Fill*. , i 'v ' j .?j l The tralß of ideas is an "express." -- ' A fashion paper says: "Pockets ara not found in ladies' dresses now." Were they ever?— Statesman. There are fewer men who never open their mouths without saying something than there are who never say something without opening their mouths.— Wash ington Star. George—"What is your favorite pet name for your father, Louise)" Louise (looking at George in a most pathetic and appealing manner) —"Pop!" (They are now engaged.)— Boston Post. An instrument has been invented for registering the "pulse beat." What is wanted more is one that will register the "dead beat," without littering up the merchants' books with his name.— Dans■ ville Breeze. Mother—"Oh, doctor! My darling boy has swallowed a needle. What shall I do?" Doctor—"Do not be alarmed, madam. He will soon have a stitch in his side. We can then locate the needle, and extract it."— Munset/s Weekly. Mrs. Figg—"lsn't there any way to get rid of that young Jinx who keeps calling on Clara, without positively in sulting him?'" Mr. Figg—"Why, cer tainly. Just give him the baby to hold the next time he comes."— Terra Hauti Exprets. Mr. Hardfist (to beggar)—" There i$ no excuse for being hungry in New York. There are plenty of cheap res taurant where you can get a good din ner at a mere nominal cost." Beggar— "But 1 haven't the mere nominal to meet the cost."— Texas Siftings. Leather Cannon. "Let me give you a bit of history, said a New York leather merchant to s Journal reporter, "that many a student has overlooked. The objects of peace are not all that leather figures in, for it is to leather that we owe the introduction of light artillery. Leather cannon have been actually tried on the battle-field, and what is more, turned the tide of one of the greatest battles of" modern times. The inventor of leather artillery was a certain Colonel Robert Scott, a Scotch man in the service of Charles I of Eng land. "He constructed guns of hardened leather and experimentally tried them. The result was that they were pronounced superior to guns made of brass or iron. The Colonel, however, did not live long enough to enjoy the greatest triumph ci his invention. He died in 1631, and a monumunt erected to his memory I have seen in a churchyard in London. This monument represents him as an armor clad, tierce-looking man, wearing a heavy mustache and a pointed beard. "In the very year of the Colonel's death the effectiveness of his leather ar tillery was amply proved on the memora ble field of Leipsic, where, September 7, 1631. Gustavus Adolphus achieved hw splendid victory over the Imperialist un der General Tilly. It is said that it was owing to the invention of Colonel Scott that the victory was obtained. The guns were found to be so easily carried that a small battery could fly from one part of the field to another and thus artillery be brought to bear when most needed, a thing impossible to the heavy cannon of that period. Certain it is that leather artillery was used in thif great battle by Adolphus, though it it equally certain that the guns were nevei used afterward. The reason of that, how ever, was that the leather guns having demonstrated the value of light artillery, away was discovered of makingthe metal guns lighter, and the great durability of the latter gave them the superiority. "As used in the battle of Leipsic the leather gun consisted of a copper tube cC thickness of parchment, strengthened by plates of iron running parallel with the length of the gun, bound with iron bands. The tube was then bound with several coatings of cord, with a cement of mastic between each coating, and the whole en closed in a case of tough leather. The weight of the gun was such that two men could easily carry it. The Old Driver's Last Words. Joseph Coit, for fifty years a stage coach driver in the southern tier counties of New York, died a short time ago at the ripe age of eighty-six years. He was as guileless and honest as a child, and he died poor. His last words, spoken as he lay in a condition of restless semi-de lirium. were professional and character istic. "Doctor," said he to the physi cian at his bedside. "1 can't get my foot on the brakes," and with that he died.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers