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.