The Johnstown Democrat.
'i *•<' ;y '
PUBLISHED EVERY
TRIDAY MORNING,
No. 138 FRANKLIN STREET,
Jon 78 J wtf, CAMBRIA CO., PA.
TEKMS—•I.oo per year,payable in advance ;
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Will be charged. A paper can be discontinued
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t itm* must be accompanied by the CASH.
1.. 1). WOOIIKI'FF,
Editor and Publisher,
FRIDAY DECEMBER 37, 1880.
CHRISTMAS.
"A happy Christmas to you all," says
Santa Claus in that matchless production
which opens Willi, " It was the night Ic
fore Christmas when ull through the
house, not a creature was stirring, not
even a mouse." And we have it iu our
heart to say to all —to friend and to foe,
to acquaintance and to stranger, and to
the patrons of the DEMOCRAT especially,
Slay yours be a happy Christmas,
Just when tho custom of recognizing
one day in the year as the anniversary of
the birth of Him, whom the angels an
nounced with the cheering words, " Peucfe
on earth; good will to men," we don't
know, nor does it matter. Nor are we
particularly interested in knowing wheth
er Mary's child was born in June, as
some claim, or in September as others
contend, or on 25tli December, It is
enough for us to know that He was born,
and came into the world on a mission of
love, and that in view of Ilis nature and
the work He performedjand is still accom- i
plishing by making desert places to blos
som as the rose, a day has been agreed
upon as the anniversary of his advent.
Without reference to the religious as
pect of the day, and with no purpose or
inclination to utter a word agaiust those
who conscientiously observe it as a day
for religious services, we arc glad that
there is a Christmas when everybody tries
to be happy, and does what he or she can
to make everybody else happy. It is the
day of ail the days of the year to manifest
feelings of "good will" to all men.
Hence, it is the custom all over the civil
ized world to give tokens of friendship—
tilings more useful than the old oblations
of " frankincense and myrrh."
lu view of the memories of early child
hood, if for no other reason, we would
deprecate any inuovatiou thut would rel
egate it to a place among the tilings that
have outlived their usefulness. What
would winter be without Christmas ? A
Christmas devoted to kind greetings, so
cial interviews, hospitable entertainments,
and the bestowing of Christmas gifts?
Good and savory as a nice, big fat turkey
is ou any day, it never seems to tit it so
nicely as it does ou Christmas day.
But much as the adult world would
miss by bavins: no Christinas, what would
the liMug generation do without it? Blot
it out, and you would blot out h fof the
little boys and girls happiness. With 110
Christmas to talk about, and to look fur
•ward to for mouths prior to its coming,
and to enjoy when it does come, a great
part of their pleasure would be destroyed.
To the little ones it is preeminently the
toy day of the year. And without the
Christmas trees, and Christmas presents,
much of the interest in Sunday Schools
would go glimmering.
Bong live Christmas 1 Long may it be
observed, aud blessings fall upon him
who invented it! Again, do we say, A
happy Christmas to all.
WHY HIS HESITATION?
Strong us have been some of the en
deavors to get a measure through the
United States Senate to liuve this country
recognize the establishment of a republic
in Brazil, they have, to the bitter shame
and humiliation of our boasted free insti
tutions, proved futile. And all because of
the poky, dilly-dallying Administration at
Washington. What if Dom Pedro was
the most generous and liberal monarch on
earth. lie was a monarch anyhow,
liable to be succeeded some day by
another less liberal. Instead of throwing
the weight of our powerful influence on
the side of a new republic accomplished
without bloodshed, our government is
wuiting to see whether there is any chance
for the restoration of the monarchy. The
Goddess of Liberty must surely blush at
this indecision and hesitancy. Were we
glad when the influence of Prance came
to our aid during the Revolution? It's a
great pity this administration didn't in
herit a little National pride and zeal for
republican institutions instead of Grand
pa's hat.
PRESIDENT HARRISON recommends the
abolition of the tax 011 whisky and tobac
co, leaving it as high as ever on sugar,
wool and other necessaries. The Free
Melhodtut, of Chicago, talks on that sub
ject in this manner : "If the President
and the Republican party think that, by
making tobacco and whisky cheap, they
can reconcile our intelligent, conscien
tious people to continue to pav a high
price for sugar and woolen goods and
shoes and hats and printing paper and
type and other necessary articles, they
are greatly mistaken.
TpERK are too many visible reminders
of the flood disaster to permit our people
to enter as heartily into the enjoyment of
Christmas as they are wont. We per
force think, of those lost to us since a
year ago.
BCBIBNKR'S MAGAZINE.
Scribner's Magazine for January begins
the fourth year and seventh volume with
the promise that during the current year
it will follow its well-approved course of
printing articles of interest in themselves,
by writers who really have somethiug to
say ; and of a'ming that great variety
shull be secured rather than that any
single.undertakings shall monopolize its
space.
In the interest ofiimeliness mid variety
a department has been added where, uu
der the title " The Point of View," an
opportunity is given to the best writers
ifor a brief and familiar discussion of
subjects of both passing and permanent
interest; literary, artistic, and generol.
These are, of as, indeed,
the title of the department conveys, to be
expressions of individual opinion.
In the present issue the subjects discussed
iu a bright, informal way, are " The
Barye Exhibition," " Thackeray's Life,"
" Social Life iu Print," and " The French
as Artists." A few pages are to be added
to each number to give space for this new
feature " Water-storage in the West," hy
Walter Gillette Bates, is a lucid and com
prehensive statement of a great material
problem which is now engaging the earn
est attention of a Congressional com
mission, a Government liydrographic
surveying-party, and many State Legisla
tures. The promblem is, to rec'aim and
make fertile vast tracts of land in what is
called the "arid region," an area of 1,-
200,000 square miles, or more than two
fifths of the United States. Artesian wells
and canals have been employed in many
places effectively, but their application
is narrow and limited compared with the
new method of water-storage by means of
artificial lakes. "Sellect the proper valleys
for water-basins," says the author, " close
their outlets with dauis, store great lakes
of water when the mountain-snows melt,
and then let it out slowly and at will
through flumes and ditches to the lands
below—this is the essence of the new
idea." He illustrates what private enter
prise lias already accomplished by brief
descriptions of four great dams—the
Merced. California, the Walnut Grove
Arizona, the Sweetwater, California, and
the Bear Valley, California; The peculiar
and picturesque conditions accompanying
the construction of these great works arc
described most entertaingly. The illus
trations, which are of unusual richness,
are from photographs of the work in all
its stages.
FVi RASES AND WORDS IN pop I- LAI! t S!
Wonder if refilled ladies who use the
expression of " putting your foot in it,"
know what it means. It comes from the
French, and for the benefit of young
Indies who are ambitiously trying to learu
some of the French phrases, we print it.
It reads, votis avct mis le pied dedans;
which translated, us delicately us possible,
means Hint something nasty lias, been
stepped iuto.
Why do some literary people persist in
making the G. in the word Gerrymander
take the sound of J ? Not long since we
heard a dignitary, say that the Democrats
in Ohio would Jerrymander the Congres
sional districts in adopting a new appor
tionment bill so as to give tlicm the ma
jority. The word is derived from Gov
ernor Elbridge Gerry ; who, while Gov
ernor of .Massachusetts adopted a scheme
of giving his party a political advantage
over all others.
Not many moons ago We heard a young
lawyer, who is ambitious to stand rtctux
in curia, use a word which means pre
cisely the opposite of what he thought
and wished to express. Bpcaking of a
man who had cowardly submitted to an
insult, he said he had showu a truculent
spirit, thinking that the word comes from
truckle. The word truculent n eans
tierce, ferocious, savage.
JOHNSTOWN'S LEAKING BUILDING.
II can tie Straightened Again, .Say the
Architects —To he Lx a mined by Ex
nerts.
The architects of the Dibert building
were Messrs. Broderick & Gray, Pitts
burgh. Mr, Broderick came here Mon
day in response to a summons by tele
graph. The building will not, in his
opinion, like Pisa's leaning tower, have
to be left the way it is and braced, uor
will it have to be torn down. It will he
examined by experts from Pittsburgh,
who with the architect will determine
what is best to be done. The architect
thinks that the building can be brought
back into the proper position, as the walls
have not " set" yet.
Mr. Scott Dibert, one of the owners, is
determined that the building shall he made
perfectly secure, aud will not take the
extra expense, necessary to make it so.
into consideration.
The Holiday Trade.
The jostle of business made our streets
unusually lively Tuesday. Such crowds
of people probably have not before been
on our streets this season. The stores
were crowded, and the amount of busi
ness done was very great, the large stock
of fancy articles in many of the stores
having an unprgcedentedly large sale,
and consequently many hearts are happy
in the receipt of tokens of appreciation
from generous friends. The Johnstown
people are still'thomaelves.
Ask Your Friends About 11.
Your cough can be cured. We know
it because Kemp's Balsam has cured so
many coughs and colds in this communi
ty. Its remarkable sale has been won en
tirely by its genuine merit. Ask some
friend who has used it what he thinks of
Kemp's Balsam. There is no medicine
so pure, none so effective. Kumple bottle
free. Large bottles 50c. and $1 at drug,
gists. 4tw-d37
A GLIMPSE OF WYOMING.
TK£ STORY OF JIM BRIDGER AND
THE FORT HE ESTABLISHED.
A Description of the Bad Lands and Some
of Their Curious Fossil Remains and
Arclneological Treasures Looks Like
Bome Ruined City of the Gods.
Many years ago—way back in the
forties, in fact —old Gen. Ashley, ac
companied by the well known trapper
and mountaineer, Jim Bridger, turned
west from the Sheetskadee, or Greeu
river. Aftor following one of its numer
ous tributaries, called Henry's Fork, for
the distauce of about thirty miles, they
changed their course aud proceeded due
north, to find themselves ouo day upon
the ridge of steep bluffs overlooking the
valleys of Smith's aud Black's Forks, and
upon the latter stream they decided to
establish a trading post. Gen. Ashley
was supposed to have been at that time
in the employ of the American Fur com
pany. and fur some reason or other soon
retraced his steps eastward, leaving Jim
Bridger in possession of the valley that
now bears his name.
Jim, with a spirit of pardonable pride,
called his camp "Fort Bridger." lie
married a wife, built a hut of woven
willows ami logs, after the fashion of Ids
Indian neighbors, and for several years
carried 011 a most successful traffic with
the Indians .and the emigrants, chiefly
Mormons, who began to settle in the vi
cinitv.
Among the guides and trappers who,
during the years following its establish
ment, made Fort Bridger their head
quarters, were two Frenchmen, named
Gosha (presumably a contraction of Gau
tier) and Mariano, known by their com
rades as the "toad eatin' parley voos."
They were perhaps the first to discover
certain very minute weapons and crude
tools of stone and iron upon the plateau
of Smith's Fork, and interpreted to trav
elers the following fantastic Indian leg
end concerning their origin and utility.
A race of pygmies had formerly inhabi
ted the valley and heights, and waged
eternal war upon the eagles. They fash
ioned and stored away in numerous
mountain caves and crevasses the tiniest
arrow heads and spears, and fought va
liantly for their existence. But in the
end tho eagles were victorious, and de
voured their lillipntian adversaries with
pitiless voracity. Then iu after years the
rains washed down the weapons,and the
Indians made use of them for petty traf
fic and various games.
Since 1868 tho tertiary beds in the vi
cinity of Bridger have proved of primary
importance to geologists and paleontolo
gists in all parts of the world, and Pro
fessor Geikie, of Edinburgh, in tho inter
esting sketcli he published of his journey
through tho United States, speaks of tho
intense eagerness with which lie had al
ways looked forward to visiting tho
"most wonderful fossil beds of the
world—tho cretaceous and tertiary de
posits of northwestern America." Tho
yield of fossil specimens, in fact, has
equaled that of the famous terres uiau
vaises of Dakota, and extensive research
by Professor llayden, Professor Marsh,
Dr. Leidv and other noted scientists
have brought to light an especial fauna,
the former existence of which was un
known.
Among the earlier anil more unim
portant fossils discovered in the Green
river and Bridget- basins were flies,
fishes, insects and shells—especially the
long, gracefully shaped oyster shells, so
abundant in central and northern Europe,
known as "Ladies' Fingers." A most re
markable specimen was the feather of a
bird which Professor Marsh regarded as
unique and of great value. Many species
of turtle were discovered, the vertebrte
of crocodiles, and, ill the intervening
years, the cranial hones of a mammoth
extinct animal to which Professor Marsh
gave the generic appellation of Dinoce
rata, and which Dr. Leidv. on the oilier
hand, designated as the Uintatherium.
Some impression of the size of the speci
mens may be gained when it is stated
that the finely preserved tusks arc twenty
inches long and the jaw hones, showing
the perfectly enameled teeth and deep
fangs, measure over a foot in length.
To Dr. J. Van A. Carter, residing at
Fort Bridger, and Dr. Corson, ftf the
army, is due the credit of having dis
covered many of the finest fossil speci
mens to be seen in the paleontological
collections of the Smithsonian Institution
and the Academy of Science, of New
York, and to the remains of a small ani
mal similar to the European hedgehog,
forwarded by Dr. Carter to Dr. Leidy,
was given the name of Omomys C'arteri,
in honor of its discoverer. The "moss
agate" beds are especially numerous
around Bridger, and occasionally stones
of great beauty, which would take an
extraordinary ]>olish, were sold for SSO
and $75. Bits of amber, resembling the
murky gems found on the coast of Pal
estine, are now and then picked up, and
a few beautiful specimens of opals have
been found among the Uintah mountains.
In appearance, the "bad lands" of
Bridger basin more nearly resemble the
ruins of the Nile, near the confines of
the desert, than any other natural forma
tion or artificial constructions visited by
the tourist of the present day. Though
deficient in great historic interest, the
indescribable grandeur and picturesque
ness of the locality, apart from the curi
osity excited by scientific research,
make exploration in the "bad lands" a
delight to all artists and lovers of beauty
in its most savage form.
Professor Denton's brief but graphic
description cannot he improved upon, so
I give it hero:
"Looking from the summit 6f a high
ridge ou the east, a tract of country con
taining 500 or GOO square miles is dis
tinctly visible. Over the whole surface
is rock, baro rocks cut into ravines,
canyons, gorges and valleys, in magnifi
cent relief, terrace on terrace, pyramid
above pyramid, rising to mountain
heights, amphitheatres that would hold
a million spectators, walls, pillars, tow
ers, castles everywhere. It looks like
some ruined city of the gods, blasted,
bare, desolate, hut grand 'beyond a
mortal's telling."'—Fort Bridget (Wyo.)
Cor. Omaha World-Herald.
A BALLADE OF YOUTH.
AdowD tin? road the red rose bustles
Are budding and blooming here and there;
And the clean, cool wind. It laughs, and pushes
Over ray forehead and through ray hair.
Life is a lightsome weight to bear;
Youtli is cot such a weary load;
Wouldst thou deprive me of my share,
Death, that art lurking down the road?
My steed Is fresh; the ways are plensant,
I am not old nor weary yet.
The post wus good, as good the present,
Nor is there much I need regret.
Wilt thou not Blumber, and forget
To harvest grain so newly sowed,
O lean, aud longing, and sharp set
Death, that art lurking down the road?
Nay! I shall pray thee not, lamenting
The end of me, and the end of all.
Thou hast 110 soul for tears, repenting
Thy sweeping blade, when mortals fall.
At some lane's turn I'll hear the call,
"Stand!" and as grass I shall be mowed.
Strike then; thou shalt not me appall,
Death, that art lurking down the road!
Only—strike sure, if strike It must be,
What time 1 forget thy dues are owed.
Seize them suddenly, thine so justly.
Death, that art lurking down the road!
—P. Y. Black in Overland.
Older Than the Pyramids.
With an antiquity rivaling, probably
exceeding, t'.mt of the pyramids of Egypt,
and a reputation scarcely inferior, it is
remarkable how little notice has been
taken of the death of tho colossal dragon
tree of Oratava. This gigantic, hoary
headed vegetable veteran died almost
suddenly a few years ago, and may be
said, liko the deacon's old masterpiece,
to hftve gone "to pieces all at once—all
at once and nothing first—just as bubbles
do when they hurst." After a babyhood
of centuries, dec.-ules of maturity and a
decadence of ages, it does seem piti
able that the departure of this wonder of
the world should have evoked little or
no comment.
When Alouzo de Lugo, the conqueror
of Teneriffe, came to Oratava, in 1493,
he spared the tree, but, scandalized at
the profane mysteries which had taken
place in its interior, he converted its liol
lowness into a chapel for holy mass.
Humboldt, in 1799, gives its hc-ight as
"appearing about fifty or sixty feet, and
its circumference near the roots at forty
five feet, and the diameter of the trunk
at ten feet from the ground isstlil twelve
English feet," and he computed its age
at 10,000 years. The opening was so
large that a table was placed in it round
which fourteen persons could seat them
selves, and a staircase in the interior
conducted tho visitor up to the height
whence the branches sprang.—London
Globe.
A Few Men Kim the House.
Thus it appeared that of the 330 mem
bers of tho house not more than a couple
of dozen, or at tho outside two score,
have anything more than a local or state
reputation. As a matter of fact, the
business of the house is in the hands of
a half dozen meu. aud when my friend
asked mo to point out to hiqiithe men
who during the next two years will con
trol, or largely control, the lawmaking
of that body. I showed him Reed in the
chair, alert and self complacent; McKin
leyon the floor, pale and reserved; Bayne,
of Pittsburg, bearded nud strong willed;
Cannon, of Illinois, studiously reading
the revised statutes and chewing the end
of a Wisconsin cigar; Cabot Lodge,
young, strong, clean limbed, athletic
literary, pacing to and fro in the rear oi
the seats like a lion in a cage, eager tc
be off to tho jungle; Burrows, smiling
and tillable, and with his shoes—the
shoes which it is a matter of principle
with him never to blacken—stuck in his
favorite altitude upon the tup of his
desk, and one-legged Henderson, of
lowa, hard at work, as usual, with pen
in hand and a formidable array of law
books beside him.—Washington Letter.
The Human Kar.
Few people realize what a wonderful
ly delicate structure the human ear real
ly is. That which we ordinarily desig
nate so is, after all, only the mere outer
porch of a series of winding passages,
which, like the lobbies of a great build
ing, lead from the world without to the
world within. Certain of these passages
are full of liquid, and their membranes
are stretched like parchment curtains
across the corridor at different places,
and can be made to tremble like the
head of a drum or the surface of a tam
bourine does when struck with a stick
or with the fingers. Between two of
these parchment like curtains a chain of
very small bones extends, which serves
to tighten or relax these membranes,
and to communicate vibrations to them.
111 the innermost place of ail a row of
white threads called nerves stretch like
tho strings of a piano from the last point
to which the tremblings or thrillings
reach and pass inward to the brain.
A wonderful piece of mechanism, in
deed!— St. Louis Republic.
Order of the Garter.
"Houi soit qui mal y pense," said the
gallant English monarch Edward 111, as
lie picked up a silken baud of blue,
clasped with silver, which the beautiful
Countess of Salisbury lost as she stepped
a stately measure with his majesty at
the great court ball more than 500 years
ogo. "Iloni soit qui mal v pense," and
lie clasped the ribbon about his left leg
just below the knee, thus creating him
self the first knight of the Order of the
Garter, whose emblem, a dark blue,
gold bordered band with a buckle and
pendant of silver, bearing the old motto,
has been and is still worn by aLI the
great knights and famous men in Eng
land. —New Y'ork Sun.
A Useful Temporary Hriilse.
M. Eiffel, the builder of the great tower
in Paris, has recently invented a bridge
which promises to "till a long felt want"
of the railroad companies. It is to be
used temporarily in the place of the or
dinary bridges when they have been
damaged. It is made of steel, carries a
track, aud weighs, with a length of 150
feet, about eighty-six tons. It can be
put in position from either end without
the aid of machinery or any preparation,
simply by human hands. At a receut
trial in Paris M. de Freycinet aud many
officers of high rank and officials of the
railways from several countries ex pressed
their hearty admiration of it.—New York
TRUTHFUL TARS.
Some y SUIT Varna Concerning; Fof
from the Fo'cas'le Cheat.
I was sitting r>:i the stun'sails secured
on the starboard side of the to'gallant
fo'cas'le one night during our run from
Cape Horn, when the trades blew stead
ily, and the watch had nothing to do bul
spin yarns. We were homeward bound
from a three years' cruise in (ho orient,
and had settled down to the monotonous
life of a run up the trades. Yarn spin
ning was the principal occupation of the
men, and they let no moment that could
be filled with this pass unimproved,
their great endeavor seeming to be tc
reach the height of the improbable.
Three of the most inveterate yarn
spinners of the crew were seated on the
fo'cas'le chest, just opposite me. They
were Jack Kelley, the captain of the port
fo'cas'le watch; Tom Hutchins, the chiei
boatswain's mate, and Bill Williams, the
signal quartermaster. It was diamond
cut diamond with tliem always, when
yarns were being swapped, and I knew
I had a treat in store the moment Will
iams siiid:
"Well, boys, we'll be on the coast it
time for the March fogs. Hope they
won't bo so bad as I had them once in
the gulf, when I was on the blockade, it
tho Tioga."
"And you had a fog experience in tht
gulf, did you? Well, let us hear about
it," sai 1 Kelley.
"It was in June," said Williams; "we
had left Key West, bound for Mobile,
with important dispatches, so we could
not hold up for anything, and the morn
ing after we sailed the fog met us. Well,
it was so thick that we had to have a
matt with a shovel at the binnacle tc
scoop the fog away, so that the wheels
man could see how to keep his course."
"And you call that a thick fog?" said
Hutchins. with a tone of contempt in his
voice. "Well, it don't compare with one
I met coming from the Mediterranean,
in the Brandywine, in the forties. 1
was an apprentice then, and it was my
first cruise, and, of course, I was anxious
to get home, so every day I got the
reckoning. Well, we were going along
about ten knots, with tho wind on the
quarter and all sail set, when, just aftei
meridian, we bucked up against a fog.
The wind kept fair, however, and the
sails were full, so we thought nothing oi
it, though we did not get a sight of the
sun for five days. It cleared off about 11
in the morning, and the sailing master,
fls we called the navigator then, came uj
and took the noon sight, and I'll bo eter
nally smashed if we were not exactly in
the same place we were at noon five days
before. That confounded fog was sc
thick that it had just held us fast, and
we with till sail set, and a fair tea knot
breeze to help us."
"That was something of a fog," said
Kelley, "and yet I don't know that il
can quite come up to one that I mado the
acquaintance of when I was sailing in
tho merchant service just before the war.
I had been home, up the Kcnncheck, and
they had just finished a new 3,000-tou
clipper for the New York tea trade. She
had taken in ice to carry as ballast, and
I was asked to help take her round. We
set sail, with a strong north wind blow
ing dowu tho river, aud just before we
got to the mouth we met a fog. Out
skipper was an old cruiser in that lati
tude, however, so lie keut on. I noticed
the ship had a curious sort of bobbins
motion, but the fog was so thick you
couldn't even see tho water, and as the
sails kept full, though the wind slack
ened, and we kept going ahead, why, J
didn't pay much attention to it.
"Well, we sailed along for nearly a
week, with the fog as thick as pudding,
and then all at once we gave a dive and
dropped nearly fifty feet. The shif
swayed and cracked, and we were all
knocked off our feet. Luckily she was
a new craft and the damp weather had
kept her rigging taut, or her masts ruusl
have gone by tho board. When she
quieted down and we could get on oui
legs once more we looked back, and
there was a thick wall of fog, that we
had tumbled from, and you can believe
it or not, just as you like, but that ship
had been sailing on a fog bank for a
week, and when she reached the edge ol
it she jumped off and dropped."
"It's time I hove the log," said Will
iams. and with that the party broke up,
aud Kelley, with an air of great satisfac
tion, walked over to tho rail and gave
the jib sheet a critical examination.—
Ocean.
The Possibilities or Life.
We aro put hero to secrete something
everlasting out of nature. The oppor
tunities are rich, but it is the capacity,
the fiber, that determines whether we
shall do it, for nature contributes to oui
life, not primarily according to ite
bounty, but according to the filaments
in us that will solicit and incorporate its
bounty. One man absorbs mathematical
truth out of the heavens, while side by
side with bim a mortal exists that organ
izes nothing grand or stately into his
constitution—just as the mushroom can
do no more than hoist its plaited parasol
out of the same ground, and in the same
sunlight, from which the oak seed im
bibed slowly its tremendous strength.
Another man draws to himself the wis
dom printed in the granite leaves be
neath us, which earthquakes have turn
ed for our benefit, and shows that he has
ennobled his life Iby it. A third wins a
divine thought, hinted in the old bones
which the globe entombs; whilo a fourth
fastens 011 history, and compels tho laws
of it to filter through facts into his
reason.—Starr King.
A Poet's Princely Revenue.
The late Martin F. Tupper was ridi
culed a good deal during his lifetime,
but his poetry was pure and his life was
cleanly, aud now that 110 is dead even
his critics have some kindly words for
him and his work. It is understood that
Tupper nevef received but $-100 from
America, but it is estimated that if he
had had a copyright 110 would have got
fully half a million. For many years he
enjoyed a princely revenue from his
English publishers, considerably in ex
cess of tho profits accruing to Tennyson,
the Brownings and Longfellow all put
together.—Frank Leslie's Newspaper.
Reed Ilird and Mocking Bird.
The reed bird of the Delaware and the
rivers and regions south of that stream
is the rollicking bobolink of our New
England fields. Here is his true home,
even if his residence in it is not so long
as it is in the south. Here he is adorned
with a gay piebald coat, instead of the
somber suit of black in which he appeal's
when in more southern latitudes, and
here ho nests and sings and rears his
brood. Here in the sunny green fields of
New England, through all the charming
May and for some way into June, he
pours out the most peculiar, the most
over bubbling, frolicsome, swaggering,
rollicking and tipsy of all bird music.
He is not so abundant here as he was in
the days before lie was shot by the thou
sand by sportsmen as the reed bird of the
lower Susquehanna and the lower Dela
ware, and before a set of worthless men
and boys here in southern New England
acquired, through somebody's ingenuity,
a trap which catches him.
Connecticut fields are not so filled as
they were fifty years ago with his swag
gering and most peculiar tinkling song.
It may he said of him and the mocking
bird that if both or either had been
known to Europo for the last two thou
sand years, and particularly to Italy,
Greece and England, there would have
been a greater fame for either than the
nightingale now has. But the pothunt
ers for the Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Now York markets are destroying the
bobolink as tho reed bird, and the negro
with his shotgun blazing away at the
mocking bird (ho can't shoot him except
when tho bird is at rest) is fast com
pleting what tho nest robbing young ne
groes who supply northern buyers had
long ago begun—the destruction of the
superb mocking bird, the finest songster
as well as the most spirited and intelli
gent of our American birds.—Hartford
Times.
Dreamlif<\
While it is well known that the most
abstruse problems have been worked out
in sleep, and the most astounding plots
fouud in dreamland, stijl the majority of
dreams yield nothing that can bo con
verted into every day power. A fool is
not turned into a wise man when lie
goes to sleep, though the opposite of this
does sometimes seem to bo true.
Said a distinguished woman: "I made
up tho most exquisite bit of poetry in
rny dreams. It comforted me unspeak
ably, and as I awoke I repeated the
words mechanically over and over again:
'The cow was struck with an inverted
toadstool, and there's the end of it."'
That was tho poeui!
An artist of repute heard terrible
groans, followed bv piercing yells from
tho nest room, where a friend was sleep
ing. Thinking a burglar was murdering
the man, ho jumped to tho rescue. He
found his friend sitting up in bed, asleep,
but sobbing and crying like a baby. Af
ter a few vigorous shakes, and stern ap
peals to his manhood, he managed to
bring forth the following appeal:
"Don't you come! It will get you, too!
Get out of the way! It's dreadful!"
"What is the matter?" demanded the
artist.
"800-hoo!" wailed the dazed dreamer.
"I have been in such awful danger
800-hoo!''
"It's all right, old fellow! Tell me
what it is."
The crying man sat up in bed. He
wiped his eyes with tiro sheet, gulped
down a sob, and feebly said:
•'Oh, I'vo had such an awful time!
I've been chased all around by a piece of
brown paper!"— Youth's Companion.
Personal Journalism.
Apart from the value of personal
journalism as historical material, I hold
that the desiro for personal details with
regard to public men is healthy, rational
and should be yielded to. Statesmen
are not ciphers, without form of blood
or passion. Their utterances and acts
are not pure intellectual secretions. If
you want to know how such and such
an act of weakness or folly is intelligible
at some crisis in the history of a politi
cian, you must have learned something
more of the politician than you can get
from the verbatim report of his speeches
or the colorless and dry language of his
public documents. Behind every speech
and every act there is the man—a weak
man or a strong man, high or low, gen
erous in purpose or baso in intrigue.
You cannot get rid of this background,
if you want to describe the event accu
rately. You cannot do so when you are
listening to the man, though you should
never have to describe him. —T. P.
O'Connor in New Review.
Photoramic Lantern.
The photoramic lantern is the name of
a new device by which a photographic
artist claims to be able to project upon
a screen or wall, not mere fixed objects,
but scenes of life and movement, such as
are observed on the white table in the
camera obscura. The invention includes
a peculiar sort of photographer's camera
of about a foot square. The instrument
is pointed at a particular moving object,
and by turning the handle a number of
photographs are taken every second.
These successive phases of a scene in
movement are then converted into trans
parencies and placed in succession upon
a long strip, which is wound on rollers
and passed through the photographic
lantern, with results which appear to be
similar to the well known philosophical
toy, the "zoetrope."—New York Com
mercial Advertiser.
Figures oil Watch Dials.
American Notes and Queries being
asked by a correspondent why tho fig
ure 4 is marked 1111 and not IV on
the dials of watches, answers: Tho story
runs that the first clock resembling
our own was made in 1370 for tho con
ceited Charles V, king of France. When
Henry Yick brought it to him he said
that to mark 4 o'clock by IV was a mis
take. On being told by the maker that
ho was wrong, he thundered out: "I am
never wrong. Take it away and correct
the mistake." From that time to this,
as a tradition, aiock and watch makers:
have invariably used 1111 instead of IVi
on the dial.—PliiladelDhia Ledirer.