Tlw Johnstown Ifcmocrtt. PUBLISHED EVKKV FRIDAY MORNING, No. 138 FRANKLIN STREET, JOIINSOnH, CAMBRIA CO., PA. TERMS—SI.no per year, payable In advance ; eHJislde tlie county, fifteen cents additional for postage, if not paid within three months us Will Ik! charged. A paper can be discontinued at any time by paying arrearages, and not o Wierwi.se. The failure to direct a discontinuance at tlie expiration of the period subscribed for will be •Jpeldered a new engagement. A'eto SMsa-lit : wis must be accompanied by the CASH. L. I). WOODRUFF, Editor and I'libUaly,^ FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 188. _ _ TO OUR PATRONS. This issue of the DEMOOKAT lias been considerably delayed on accouut of plac ing a new press and engiue in our office. This delav was caused by the railroad company, over which we had no control, in not bringing our machine as promptly as we expected from the manufacturers. These vexatious annoyances we hope will not occur again. The next WEEKLY DEMOCRAT will be piiutcd on time. Our presses and machinery were so badly wrecked in the great flood tjiat our paper has been very badly printed since that time, but uow with new presses and improved machinery we expect to print a paper second to none in this part of the State. We appreciate the forbearance of our readers, and with renewed energy and our better facilities, we hope to make the WEEKLY DEMOCUAT a more welcome and more worthy visitor than ever before to our patrons. WHAT has become of the Pan-American delegates? No body hears {anything about them. SENATOR SHERMAN has formulated a lengthy bill providing for Federal control of Congressional elections. Mr. Gladstone will be eighty on Decern bfcr 29th. The Grand Old Man is as vig. orous, intellectually and physically, as he • was ten years ago. ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY. Another opportunity for some of the wise moralizing people to get in their work is at hand. Johnstown—poor ill fated place—is again the subject of a wrathful piovidence, according to the wiseacres who know all about what they call the operations of special prov idences. Such persons can now in dulge in the luxury of harniug on doomed Johnstown with the persistency of a Hamlet who " was st ill harping " on old Folonius' daughter." The lise hi the little Conemaugh that destroyed three bridges will afford a handy text to dem onstrate the excessive wickedness of .the place. All adepts in seeing beams in other people's eyes, can descant upon the judgments of Heaven. They can easily assume that heavy ruins prevailed in the Conemaugh valley only, and that£the bridges swept away were costly as well as models of strength. But in the eyes of sensible people nolli iug could he more natural than the de struction of such frail structures as spanned the Conemaugh at Woodvale, at the mouih of Walnut street, and down at Cambria City, hi the name of reason, don't charge Providence with doing Want nature could not help but do. .1 NOTKI> LAWTKU GIIM:. The sad suicide of so brilliant a law/er sis Mr. Franklin B. Gowen, in Washing ■ ton, the other day, is not only the occa sion of unfeigned sorrow, but one that is involved in a mystery so profound as to baffle all attempts to account for the rash net. Apparently there is no conceivable reason for such a taking off of a life so distinguished and useful as his. The usual reasons for suicidal ucts, such as financial embarrassments, family trouble, "or woman at the bottom," intemperate habits, bad company and delicate health, seemingly have no place in his case. His position at the bar, his success in his pro fession and his pleasant and prosperous suiroundings were of the kind as are usu ally thought to make life worth living. In the absence of any known cause, tiie conclusion jumped at is that the act was the result of insanity, on the ground that no sane pcrsou ever commits suicide. liut this, though H generally received fact, admits of a doubt. Men perfectly saue to avert exposure, as well as threat ened bodily calamities have been known to suicide. Others who have attempted the act, hut have been thwarted in their efforts, have given testimony that they were perfectly sane when they tried to commit the act. Again : Insanity and suicide are by no means as closely linked together, as the theory that insanity lends to suicide supposes. Instead of the lives and conduct of insane per sons proving the theory to be correct, they rather prove the contrary. "While sonic insnne persons have own lives, the overwhelming such unfortunates drag out many long years of existence. The most that can be said in n case like Mr. G.'s is, that it is a mystery too deep to lie fathomed, unless subsequent discoveries throw light upon it. THE ABSOLUTE MONARCH. 4. mighty king, long, long ago, With voice of grief and face of woe To bis court wizard did complain: "Sir Wizard, 1 am said to reign. But what with councilors and hordes Of bishops, judges, generals, lord*, l'rlnio ministers and those they call The people, 1 have no right at all To call my life my own. They talk Of duty, laws and charters, balk My wishes, dog my steps, torment My every hour with precedent, State tactics and prerogative, Till 1 would rather die than live I bid thee, then—lf aught 1 hold Of royal power to bid—be bold; Take thou my crown, 1 grudge it not, And give me in exchange a lot, 1 care not how confined It be, Wherein is absolnto sovereignty " Then groaned the wizard sad, but still Received the crown against his will. And swift, with wand and astrolabe, he Transformed the king into a baby I —AJUOS K. Wells in Wide Awake Improved In Jail. Every time a batch of jail prisoners are arraigned in the criminal court I am struck by the vast improvement in their personal appearance that a few months' confinement gives them. In 09 cases out of 100 they are a coarse, brutal, heavy drinking class, and show their low habits in their faces. In the jail they get the whisky out of their skins, the so called jail pallor leaves their faces clear and white, and more or less refined, and they make a better impression upon a jury than they certainly would if brought to trial when first arrested. A striking case in point was Sanders, the dog catcher, who killed Police Officer Printz. When he was first put in jail he was about the toughest, bloated and alto gether brutalized specimen of humanity I had ever seen. Eight months later lie was brought to trial. It was almost im possible to recognize in the pale, finely drawn features of the quiet, self pos sessed and intelligent talking prisoner the hoodlum of the previous year. His appearance made such a good impression that he got oil' with a two years' sen tence, when I believe if the same jury had seen him as I did he would have been sent up for life.—Circuit Attorney in St. Louis Globe-Democrat. His Tribute. Old Peter Rice, for many years a resi dent of a certain New England village, was one of those unwise and unjust men who never praise their wives, and who do not seem to realize how blessed they are in the way of companions until death comes suddenly to leave them des olate and uncared for. Olfl Peter's kindly, uncomplaining and unappreciated wife died suddenly one day, and Peter came at once to a realiz ing sense of her many virtues, and was evidently filled with a longing to prove to his friends that he was not blind to his wife's perfections. This desire increased as the hour for the funeral services drew near, and when all the friends had assembled at the house Peter touched the hearts as well as the palates of those present by suddenly appearing with a huge yellow bowl piled high with doughnuts in his hands. Passing from one to the other of iiis friends ho said with tearful earnestness: "Have one; they are the very last of my pore Maricr's bakin', and they can't be beat—no, they can't! Pore, pore Marier!"—Detent Free Press. Wrongly Translated. The story is tin old one of the party of tired travelers who entered a house decor ated by a peculiar sign and demanded oysters. "Tliis is not a restaurant," said "te courteous gentleman who met them. "I am an aurist." "Isn't that an oyster bung outside the door'.'" asked one. "No, gentlemen, it is an ear." A body of sailors from an American vessel, stopping at Samoa, went to tl>e German consulate and demanded dinner. "This is not a hotel," said the offended domestic official who met ttiem. "Well, if it isn't a restaurant, what's that black fowl hung out for? Ain't it a sign?" inquired the spokesman. The "sign" was the German eagle, thp consular coat of arms.—Youth's Com panion. 'Hint Sutlslied Him. "Last Monday morning," lie began, in a solemn voice, "last Monday morning I stopped here and ordered a large list of groceries. Today is Thursday, and they have not come up yet!" "They haven't! Oh, yes, I remember now," replied the grocer. "What's the excuse?" "You tire owing us $lO and we can fill no further order until that is paid." "Is that it?" "It is." "Then it is all right. 1 didn't know but one of your horses was sick—a wagon smashed up —forgetful clerk, or some thing of that sort. That makes it all right."—Detroit Free Press. Cleanliness a modern Virtue. The English upper classes are clean, but cleanliness of any high degree is a very modern virtue among them. It is an invention of the Nineteenth century. Men and women born at the close of the Eighteenth century did as the French people do today; they took a warm bath occasionally for cleanliness, and they took shower baths when they were pre scribed by the physician for health, and they bathed in summer seas for pleasure, but they did not wash themselves all over every morning. However, the new custom took deep root in England, be cause it became one of the signs of class. It was adopted as one of the habits of a gentleman.—Pall Mall Budget. Two Gaines. Little Johnnie —Le's play stage robber. You come alone and I'll spring out with a pistol and take away everything you've got. Little Jiutmie —But we haven t got no pistol nor uutli'n like a stagel Tell you what; when you come along I'll get you to sign a paper and then I can rob you just the same without a pistol. "All right, we'll play 'Loan Agent,* if yon l' l •> it hotter."—Texas Sittings. • A THUNDER STORM AT NIGHT. The lightning U the shorthand of the storm That tells of chaos; and I read the same As one may read the writing of a name- As one in hell may see the suddeu form Of God's forefinger pointed as in blame. How weird cUe scene! The dark is sulphur warm Willi bints of death; and in their vault euorme The reeling stars coagulate in flame And now the torrents from their mountain beds Roar down unoheck'd; and serpents shaped of mist Writhe up to heaven with unforbidden heads; And thunder clouds, whose lightnings inter twist. Rack all the sky, and tear it into shreds. And shake the air like Titans that have kiss'd. —Eric Mackay SWEPT BY THE SEA. [Last Island is off the mouth of the Mississippi, in the Gulf of Mexico. It was once the fashionable watering place of the aristocratic south. Today it is a desolate waste, visited only by fishermen. | Thirty years ago, Last Island lay steeped in the light of magical days. July was dying; for weeks no fleck of cloud had broken the heaven's blue dream of eternity; winds held their breath; slow wavelets caressed the bland brown beach with a sound as of kisses and whispers. The wind began to blow with the pass ing of July. It blew from the northeast, clear and cool. It blew in enormous sighs, dying away at regular intervals, as if pausing to draw breath. All night it blew, aud in eacli pause could be heard the answering moan of the rising surf — as if the rhythm of the sea molded itself after the rhythm of the air, as if the waving Of the water responded precisely to the waving of the wind, a billow for every puff, a surge for every sigh. The August morning broke in a bright sky; the breeze still came cool and clear from the northeast. The waves were running now at a sharp angle to the shore: they began to carry fleeces, an innumerable flock of vague green shapes, wind driven to be despoiled of their ghostly wool. Far as the eye could follow the line of the beach all the slope was white with the great shearing of them. Clouds came, flew as in a panic against the face of the sun, and passed. All that day and through the night and into the morning again the breeze con tinued from the northeast, blowing like an equinoctial gale. Then day by day the vast breath fresh ened steadily, and the waters heightened. A week later sea bathing had become perilous; colossal breakers were herding in, like moving leviathan hacks, twice the height of a man. Still the gale grew, and the billowing waxed mightier, nnd faster and faster overhead flew tho tatters of torn cloud. The gray morn ing of tho 9th wanly lighted a surf that appalled the best swimmers; the sea was one wild agony of foam, the gale was rending off the heads of the waves and veiling the horizon with a fog of salt spray. Shadowless and gray the day remained; there were mad hursts of lash ing rain. Evening brought with it a sin ister apparition, looming .through a cloud rent in the west—a scarlet sun in green sky. His sanguine disc, enormous ly magnified, seemed barred like the body of a belted planet. A moment, and the crimson specter vanished; and. the moonless night came. Then the wind grew weird. It ceased being a breath; it became a voice moan ing across the world; hooting, uttering nightmare sounds Whoot wlioo! whoo! —and with each stupendous owi cry the mooing of tlie waters seemed to deepen, more and more abyssmally, through all the hours of darkness. From the northwest the breakers of tho bay began to roll high over the sandy slope, into the salines; the bayou broadened to a bellowing flood. So the tumult swelled and the turmoil heightened until morn ing—a morning of gray gloom and whist ling rain. Rain of bursting clouds and rain of wind blown brine from tho great spuming agony of the sea. The steamer Star was duo from St. Mary's that fearful morning. Could she come? No one believed it—no one. Nevertheless, men struggled to the> roar ing beach to look for her, because hope Is stronger than reason. . Even today, in these Creole islands, the advent of the steamer is the great event of the week. There are- 110 tele graph lines, 110 telephones; -the mail packet is the only trustworthy medium of communication with the outer world, bringing friends, news, letters. Even during tiie deepest sleep of waves and winds there will cotne betimes tosojourn ers in this unfamiliar arcliipolago a feel ing of lonesomeness that is a fear, a feeling of isolation from the world of men, totally unlike that senseof solitude which haunts one in the silence of mountain: heights, or amid the eternal tumult of lofty granitic coasts —a sense of helpless insecurity. The land seems. but an undulation of the sea bed; its highest ridges do. not rise more than the height of a man above the salines on either 6ide; the salines themselves lie almost level with the level of the flood tides; the tides are variable, treacherous, mysterious. But when all around and above these ever changing shores the twin vastness of heaven and sea begin to utter the tre mendous revelation of themselves as in finite forces in contention, then, indeed, this sense of separation from humanity appalls. * * * Perhaps it was such a feeling which forced men, on the 10th day of August, 1556, to hope against hope for the coming of tho Star, and to strain their eyes anxiously toward far-off Terre bonne. "It was a wind you,could lie down on," said my friend,' the pilot. "Great God!" shrieked a voice above the shouting of the storm, "she is com ing!" It was true. Down the Atehafa laya, and thence through strange mazes of bayou, lakelet and pass, by a rear route familiar only to the best of pilots, the frail • river craft had toiled into Caillou bay, running close to the main shore; and now she was heading right for tlie island, with the wiud aft, over the monstrous sea. On she came, sway ing, rocking, plunging, with a great whiteness wrapping her about like a cloud, and moving with her moving, a tempest whirl of spray; ghost white and like a ghost she came, for her smoke stacks exhaled no visible smoke the wind devoured itl The excitement on 6hore became wild; men shouted them selves hoarse, women laughed and cried Every telescope and opera glass was directed upon the apparition; all won dered how the pilot kept his feet; all marveled at the madness of the captain. But Capt. Abraham Smith was not mad. A veteran American sailor, he had learned to know the great Giilf as scholars know deep books by heart; he knew lite birthplace of its tempests, the mystery of its tides, the omens of its hurricanes. While lying at Brashear City he felt the storm had not yet reach ed its highest, vaguely foresaw a mighty peril, and resolved to wait no longer for a lull. "Boys," he said, "we've got to take her out in spite of hell." And they "took her out." Through all the peril, his men stayed by him and obeyed him. By mid-morning the wind had deepened to a roar, lowering sometimes to a rum ble, sometimes bursting upon the ears like a measureless and deafening crash. Then the captain knew the Star was run ning a race with death. "She'll win it," he muttered; "she'll stand it. * * * Perhaps they'll have need of me to night." She won! With a sonorous steam chant of triumph the brave little vessel rode at last into the bayou, and anchored hard by, in full view of the hotel, though not near enough to shore to lower her gang plank. But she had sung her swan song. Gathering in from the northeast, the waters of the bay were already marbling over the salines and half across the isl ands; and still the wind increased its paroxysmal power. Cottages began to rock. Some slid away from the solid props upon which they rested. A chimney tumbled. Shut ters were wrenched off; verandas demol ished. Light roofs lifted, dropped again and (lapped into ruin. Trees bent their heads to the earth. And still the storm grew louder and blacker with every hour. The Star rose with the rising of the waters, dragging her anchor. Two more anchors were put out, and still she dragged—dragged in with the flood, twisting, shuddering, careening in her agony. Evening fell, the sand began to move with the wind, stinging faces like a continuous fire of line shot; and frenzied blasts came to buffet the steamer forward, sideward. Then one of her hogchains parted with a clang like the boom of a big bell. Then an other! Then the captain bade his men cut away ail her upper works clean to the deck. Overboard into the seething went her stacks, her pilot house, her cabins end whirled away. And the na ked hull of tho Star still dragging her three anchors labored on through the darkness, nearer and nearer to the im mense silhouette of the hotel, whose hun dred windows were now all aflame. The vast timber building seemed to defy tho storm. The wind, roaring round its broad verandas, hissing through every crevice with tho sound and force of steaui, appeared to waste its rage. And in the half lull between two terrible gusts there came to the captain's ears a sound that seemed strange in that night of multi tudinous terrors —a sound of music! Almost every evening throughout the season there had been dancing in the great hall; there was dancing that night also. The population of the hotel had been augmented by tho advent of fami lies from other parts of the island, who found their summer cottages insecure places of shelter; there were nearly four hundred guests assembled. Perhaps it was for this reason that the entertain ment had assumed the form of a fashion able ball. And all those pleasure seek ers, representing the wealth and beauty of the Creole parishes, whether from As cension or Assumption, St. Mary's or St. Landry's, Iberville or Terrebonne; whether inhabitants of the multi-colored and many-balconied Creole quarter of the quaint metropolis, or dwellers in the dreamy paradises of the Teche, mingled joyously, knowing each other, feeling in some sort akin, whether affiliated by blood, eonnaturalized by caste, or sim ply inter-associated by traditional sym pathies of class sentiment and class in terest. Perhaps in the more than ordinary merriment of that evening something of nervous exaltation might have been dis cerned —something like feverish resolve to oppose apprehension with gayety, to combat uneasiness by diversion. But tire hours passed in mirthful;)ess. The first general feeling of depression began to weigh less and less upon tho guests. They had found reason to confide in tho solidity of the massive building. There were no positive terrors, no outspoken fears, and the new conviction of all had found expression in the words of the host himself: "II 11'y a rien do inieux a faire que do s'amusor!" Qf what avail to lament the devastation of cane fields, to discuss the ruin of crops? Better to seek solace in the rhythm of gracious motion and of perfect melody than hearken to the wild orchestra of storms; wiser to admire the grace of Parisian toilets, the eddy of trailing robes with its fairy foam of lace, the ivorine loveli ness of glossy shoulders and jeweled throats, the glimmering of satin slippered feet, than to watch the raging of the flood without, or the flying of the wrack. So the music and the mirth went on; they made joy for themselves, those ele gant guests; they jested and sipped rich wines; they pledged, and hoped, and loved, and promised, with- never a thought of the morrow, on the night of the 10th of August, 1850. Observant parents were there planning for the fu ture bliss of their nearest and dearest; mothers and fathers of handsome lads, litho and elegant as young pines, and fresh from the polish of foreign univer sity training; mothers and fathers of splendid girls whose simplest attitudes were witcheries. Young cheeks Hushed, young hearts fluttered with an emotion more puissant than the excitement of the dance; young eyes betrayed the happy secret discreoter lips would have prosem-d. Shicc servants circled through the in i t is- press, bearing dainties and v. , 'ni s-iorf to pass. NEW ENGLAND CONIFERS. The Many Varieties of Beautiful and Ex ceedingly Useful Trees. The conifers, or cone bearing trees, are divided into three families: The pines, the cypresses and the yews. Of the pines, the most common are the white pine, the yellow or pitch pine and the red pine. These can be readily dis tinguished from each other by noticing that the white pine has its leaves in clus ters of five, the yellow in clusters of three and tho red in clusters of two. The white pines form symmetrical and graceful trees, to which the yellow, in this Latitude, with its scraggy branches and yellowish green foliage, is an un pleasant and striking contrast. The cones of thede trees do not ripen till the year after blossoming, and this is a dis tinguishing feature between these true pines and the other members of the pine family—the spruces, firs and larches. The spruces have t their leaves four sided, and arranged around the stem, instead of being in clusters, as in the pines. The cones are very graceful, being suspended near the end of the branches, and form ing a pleasing contrast to the green of the foliage. The Norway spruce, though a native of Europe, is so common here as to de serve a place among our New England trees, and from the time of its bright red blossoms in the spring, during the growth of its cones, which are purple at first, hut change to a ricli brown, till blossoms come again, forms a most at tractive sight. The hemlock, or hemlock "spruce, has small cones; the leaves, in stead of beiugarranged around thostems, spread in two directions, and are a bright green above, with a silvery white be neath. Tli is grows to be a large tree, but is often cut back and used as an or namental shrub, and, cared for in this way, is one of the most graceful of spruces. The firs are distinguished from the spruces in that they have their cones erect on the upper side of the brandies, instead of pendulous. The only repre sentative in New England is the balsam fir, which is quite common among the mountains. The last member of the pine family is tho larch. The larch is distinguished from all other conifers by its shedding its leaves in tho fall, and is also marked by the bright red flowers which it bears in the early spring. The only native larch is the American larch or tama rack, but the European larch is found here quite extensively, and is a hand somer and more graceful tree than the native variety. The cypress family includes the arbor vita:, the cypress and tho juniper. The arbor vitas is readily distinguished by tho appressed, scale like leaves, arranged in four rows on tho two-edged branch lets. Tiie American variety is often called white cedar, but the name more properly belongs to a variety of cypress closely resembling arbor vita;, but hav ing a more slender spray, finer leaves, and growing thirty to seventy feet high, while tho arbor vita; ranges from twenty to liftv feet. We have two varieties of the juniper: one known as the juniper, and the other as red cedar. Both have a berry like fruit, in color black, covered with a white bloom; the juniper has awl shaped leaves, arranged in threes, large fruit, and is found quite commonly as a low shrub. The red cedtir has small, scale like leaves, small fruit, and in the east is found as a shrub; but in the west readies from 60 to' 90 feet in height, and fur nishes very'durable wood of a reddish color. The yew has. its nut like seed sur rounded by a disk, cup shaped around its base, which becomes bright red and berry like. In the United States it is only found as a straggling bush, but iu other countries-grows to be a large tree. The conifers-are the most useful trees to man. They are found in a great vari ety of latitudes, are about ten times as numerous as other trees, and reach a greatheight. They furnish long, straight, durable timber, which, owing to the res inous matter, is impenetrable by water. The juices give us turpentine, resin, pitch, tar and lampblack, and the amber of commerce also was formed from pine resin. Some conifers have medicinal properties; the hark of certain varieties is used for tanning, for making paper, and for stuffing in upholstery. The in ner hark of one variety and the seeds of another are articles of food. The coal beds were formed from the conifers of the carboniferous age. They form a most attractive feature in the landscape, whether found singly or in large num bers, and through the dreary winter months are reminders of tho summer which is past and a prophecy of the summer which is to come.—Annie M. Mitchell in Springfield Homestead. To Stttinfy Insurance C'ompuiiio*. Have you heard the story of the rub ber hose liought for the infirmary? It was a coil of hose to hang in tire hall, to be used in ease of fire. One day they took it down in order to sprinkle the lawn, but as soon as tho water was turned on it burst in half a dozen places. The infirmary directors were raging. They took the hose- back to the rubber store aud demanded an explanation. The pro prietor of the store said that lie had sold it in good faith, supposing it to be a good article, in order to satisfy himself lie wrote on to the manufacturer, who re plied that the hose was simply an orna mental article, made to hang up in fac tories "to satisfy insurance require ments." And so there is hose made that is to be looked at, not used. Hero is a big factory, and its owper, supposing that in case of lire he can turn 011 twenty lines ol' hose at once, is putting his trust •in a rotten, good for nothing pipe. Bet j ter inspect all these emergency hose lines at once —Cincinnati Times-Star. At Uic flt'iiiltmuit Hop. j Miss Yv'aito (who has been a wall flow er all tho evening)—A waltz? Mr. Hen ; derson, you are too kind! | Mr. Henderson (host of the occasion) —Not at all, Miss Waite. Youknowthe performance of one's duty is sometimes Bwee' 1 actue! pleasure.—Harper's Baz Toy* That Lut Tlje doll is thousands of years old; it has been found inside the graves of littla Roman children, and will bo found again by the archaeologists of a future date among the remains of our own culture. Tlio children of Pompeii and Hercu laneum trundled hoops just as you and I did; and who knows whether the rock ing horse on which we rode in our young days is not a lineal descendant of that proud charger into whoso wooden flanks the children of Francis I's time dug their spurs. The drum is also indestructible, and setting time at naught across the centu ries, it beats the Christmastide and New Year summons that bids the tin soldier prepare himself for war, and shall con tinue to beat as long as there exist boy arii# to wield the drumsticks, and grown up people's ears to be deafened by the sound thereof. The tin soldier views the future with calm; he will not lay down his arms until the day of gen eral disarmament, and there is, as yet, no prospect of a universal peace. The toy sword also stands its ground; it is the nursery symbol of the inerad icable vice of our race—the lust for bat tle. Harlequins, fool's-cap-crowned and bell-ringing, are also likely to endure; they are sure to be found among the members of the toy world as long as there are fools to be found among the inhabitants of our own. Gold laced knights, their swords at their sides, curly locked and satin shod princesses, stal wart musketeers, mustached and top booted, are all types which still hold their own. The Chinese doll is young as yet, but she lias a brilliant future before her.—lilac k wood's Magazine. A Otieer Coincidence. In Berks county, Pa., at the little vil lage of Shillington, lives Samuel Shil ling, a living fulfilment of a remark able coincidence. He first saw the light of day on Feb. 22, 1819. Beginning with the date of his birth, it seems that the father of his country lias kept a watch ful eye on Samuel Shilling every day for the past seventy years. Shilling was married on Feb. 22 to a woman, who, like himself, was born on that date. Their first child—a hoy—was born on Washington's birthday, exactly one year to a day after their marriage, and two years afterwards, on the same date, twins—a boy and girl—were added to the Washington-blessed household. Five years rolled around, when, on the fifth anniversary of their wedding, an other infant, a little girl, was added to their blessings. The fifth and sixtli child, another pair of twins, cauie around on schedule time two years later, exactly, and upon the seventh anniversary*of the wedded life begun on the natal day of our first president. Mr. Shilling is very proud of the luckj coincidence that lias connected his namt and that of his family so inseparably with that of tlio immortal George Wash ington. Many remarkable stories, all true, as far as the writer has been able to ascer tain, have been related, but it is doubtful if there is another ease on record where a father, his wife and six children all claim one birthday, and that, too, one ol the most historical in the whole calen dar.—St. Louis Republic. Lord Joliu IluMftt'll. If lie had not much pretension to exact knowledge, his reading was wider than that of most of his contemporaries, and he had not merely a large acquaintance with authors of many nations, lie had thought on what lie read. His mind, too, had been enlarged by intercourse with superior men and by the opportunities of foreign travel. Few men of bis age, standing on the threshold of a career, had seen so much tliat was worth seeing. Ho had knowledge of every division of the United Kingdom. In London ho hsul breakfast with Mr. Fox, he was a frequent guest at Lord Holland's dinner table, he was acquainted with all the prominent leaders of the Whig party, he had beeouie a member of Grillion's club. In Dublin (where his father had been lord lieutenant) he had seen all the best society; in Edinburgh (where he was pupil of Professor Play fair) he had mixed with all that is best in letters. * * * Abroad his oppor tunities had been even greater. I-Ie had read his (Jaiuoens in Portugal, his Tasso in Italy; he had journeyed through the length of Spain; he had ridden with the duke of Wellington along the lines of Torres Vedras; he had watched a French advance in force in the neighborhood of Burgos. * * * He had conversed with Napoleon in Elba.—Wal pole's Life of Lord John Itussell. Looking for the Twitter. "The mortality among the domestic animals up in our block increased great ly last week," said a South side young man yesterday. "One of our neighbors owns a pretty canary bird, and his little son has always been anxious to ascertain the source of the bird's twitter. So the other evening, while his father was away at the office and his mother was down town on a shopping expedition, the youngster reached the cage, captured the bird and picked off all of its pretty yellow feathers. But he did not discover the source of the twitter, and the bird caught a severe cold through its loss of drapery and died with pneumonia the next morning. The little hoy was locked in an upper room when his experiment was discovered by his parents, and now ho firmly believes that two in the bush are of much more value than a bird in the hand." —Chicago Herald. Til© Buflulo in Australia. After the lamentable experience of this country, it is interesting to know that there is a part of the world where the buffalo is not only not dying out, but increasing in numbers. Vast herds of these animals are now running wild over certain districts of northern Aus tralia. The animals are said to be mas sive and well grown, witli splendid horns • first buffaloes were landed at ! . ington. North Australia, aiji 1839. —New York Com-
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers