SOMEWHAT STRANGE.
ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS OF
EVXBY-DAY LIFE.
Queer Episodes and Thrilling Ad
ventures Which Show that Truth j
is Stranger than Fiction.
XTKEMK low water in
\ ll> e Misiippi recently ;
* inearthed ah storiou] relic !
(Mf®*-;. 1 at the ferry lauding tit Co-j
VLJLiJr lnmhiiH, Ky., in the shape
of a huge, old fashioned col-1
umbiad, which ilid duty during the late
war in the hands of t'lio Confederates, i
Those familiar will (he history of the!
formidable weapon state that it played a
conspicuous part in the buttle of Bel
mont, Mo., in the fall of IKGI, and that
from its lofty perch 011 the bluffs above 1
Columbus it sent many a huge shell
screaming across the river into Grant's :
army, and that it had more to d > with '
keeping the gunboats at bay than all
others at the fort. The gun is the only , (
remaining relic of the Confederate i'orti- j 1
ficutions erected at Columbus, Ivy., |
thirly years ago. | <
THE most diminutive railroad in all J
Down East is that owned and operated ' (
by the Monson Maine Slate Company, j j
running from the company's quarries to
Monson Junction on the Bangor and j
Piscataquis. This little railroad has a j
two-foot gauge, is about six miles in '
length, and is thoroughly equipped with f
locomotives, passenger, baggage and j j
freight ears, lias several stations, regular j •
time tables, and a superintendent. The ]
superintendent is also conductor, bag
gage master, mail agent, passenger and
freight brakemtin, news agent, and (
director —a regular Pooh Bah—and for
performing all these offices lie gets §9OO
a year. Ten men constitute the entire
force of (ho r< ad. The trains average f
about fifty miles a day in summer, and i
twenty-live miles in winter. The road 1
is all down hill one way, so that a car 1
will run from the quarries to the junc- 1
tion without the assistance of a locomo- I
tive. If a passenger misses the regular (
train, §5 will secure him a special to 1
carry him over the line. Last ye ir this s
toy railroad carried 9,000 tons of the i
com| auy's freight to Monson Junction :
(six tons to a car ) for transhipment over
the Pa gov aud Piscataquis to Pangor
and points west, and 4,200 passengers,
who paid §12,000 in fan s, were trans
ported at a cost of §9,000. This little
roa I lias been in operation six years, I
and in all that time no accident of any
kind has occurred on its line.
A RECENT visitor to one of the Punjaub
jails was amazed to find a remarkable
large number of old men among the
prisoners, almost one convict in five
having a gray beard. Tlie jailer being |
asked for an explanation replied: "It
is a common practice whim a theft is
b:ought home to a m n by the polite
for him to get an old father or uncle to
take the blame i n himself, or he j)uts
up a young brother to do so. Before
the court they make full and circum-,
stantial confession. They are convicted
and the real thieves get oft", and it is for j
the family ben fit that this should be so. I
A sturdy young mm is able to do more i
for the family support bv honest labor, !
or by thieving than an old man or boy. I
The old man had lost many of the in-!
stinets and appetites which make liberty i
so dear to the young man. Ho can not I
be put to any very hard labor, and will i
be well fed and well looked after while i
he is in jail. If a boy confesses he will'
probably escape with a Hogging. The I
conviction of an old man or a boy will j
look quite as well in the police returns i
as that of an able bodied young man;!
so long as they get their conviction, the
police don't trouble themselves very j
much about the matter.
MANY a landsman on beard ship has \
been ready to say that if he were only I
once more on shore lie would never leave
it. Such s ems to have been the feeling '
of a dog, of which we road in the "His- !
tory of Thomaston, Me." Captain Nor
ton, of Cus'iing. had a favorite dog, i
which he took \ri h him on a voyage to
Wilmington, N. C. No sooner were they
at sea than, from sea-sickness or some
other cause, the creature bi cune uneasy
and remained inconsolable through the
whole voyage. Soon after the vessel
arrivi d at Wilmington the dog was
missed, and nothing more was seen of
him. On getting back toCushiug, how- |
ever, the Captain foun I the dog at lion e
safe and so md. He bed a rived there
in just fourteen days from the time of
his landing at Wilmington. How he |
had made his way-—whether across or!
around inlets or bays, passing cireuit
ously along the coast, or by the regular
traveled roads—nobody could tell, and
lie, of course, could not communicate.
One thing was clear, ho had had enough
of salt water.
No COUNTRY manufactures so many
artificial pearls as France. For this
purpose the glass used is the color of
whey, and the glues pearl or bead is
tilled with a very costly solution pre
pared from the s a'es of fish* s. A vessel
holding a litter, about one and three
quarters pints, is worth several thousnn I
fram s. Tlicy are of irregular sizes and
forms, and are made to imitate pearls of
black, gray and other colois. Win n
placed by the side of genuine pears,
even spread < ut an 1 arranged in the
sun • string like beads, it is not easy to
discern I>*tw en the ge.mine and spuri
ous The small imitations can, how
ever, always be detec ed be auseof their
perfect regularity and superior beauty.
It is also asseited that they can be >u •-
cessfully made of tie same spo itic
gravity as the real article, so tlia, no
other proof of genuineness is le.ia'ole
except tin* fie. This is a means, since
it would s untunes b applied tonal
articles, which requires the utmost care
in th" use.
A SINGULAR story comi s from Italv
which shows the übme to which red
taj e may b curied. In a Neapolitan
fami'y some of the children became ill
recently, an 1 the doctor ordered them
to Capri to take salt baths. The chil
dren were too ill to bathe in the sea, s<
the seiv.ints went down to the beach
and brought up sea water in buckets i'oi
their hutlis in the lions •; whereupon the
Goveriinu-nt Inspector arrested the ser
vants, be -uuEO he caught them in the
a;t of t iking salt in the water without
paying the Government duty, salt being
a Government monopoly in Italy. The
father of the family hiul to appear before
the Prefect in order to liberate his ser
vants, who were not set five until the
Neapolitan doctor's certificate was pA
cured stating that it was necessary that
the children should have valt baths.
Afterward he had to give to the Inspec
tor a receipt for every bucket of suit
water taken out of the sea.
THEY have taught deaf-mu'es to talli
in Paris. This r< suit has been ac orn
pli.riie I after years of labor, and M. Ja
val, Director of tho National Leaf am.
Dumb institution, lms given the pubic
an example of the ability of some of hii
pupils to sp ck. At the exhibition sev
eral deaf-mutes held conversations,
words being slowly articulated and theii
meanings being divined by the move
[ meuts of the lips. One student be'ng
■ questioned about Eiffel's twer as the
highest monument, laid that lie haul
r never gone up to the top of it, as the
j ascent cost too much. A young d< af
nnil dumb Turk from Snlonica was able
t > give a brief if rather a parrot-like
description of liis native town, and a
French sourd-mnet answered severel le
gal questions with accuracy.
TRAVELERS in India sometimes have
strange bed-fellows. A first-class | ase
seuger, by a slow passenger train rnn
i ning between Howiali and Ass mole,
j Wais disagreeably surprised to find, n
j waking from a sound sleep, that some
! thing cold had come in contact with his
i hand. On looking at the hand, what
j was his his horror to find that under
neath it was a cobra. As the snake was
1 asleep and ha 1 not coihd itself aiouud
the hand, the gentleman sprang up end
j managed to evade its bite. How i* got
into the carriage is one of those mys
teries no one can unravel. It may have j
off cted an entrance while the carriage
was oil the siding at Howrah, and
quietly ensconced itself behind tlie
cushions of the carriage seat.
MR. AND MRS. HOMER GRIEVE, an el
derly couple of Homer, Gin, quarreled ,
twelve years ago over a remark made l>y j
a neighbor that one of their children ]
did not resemble the remainder of the \
family. Argument only widened the ! ]
breach, and the couple at last agri ed to ,
live under the same roof, but never to ' ]
speak to each other. During all that ]
time Mr. and Mrs. Homer sat at the ; ,
same table and entertained their friends, , .
and no one ever detected the breach. |
Recently Mr. Homer brought the mat-,
ter before the chinch brethren, who ad- i
vised a reconciliation and remairiage. !
Mr. and Mrs. Homer have consented to | ,
accept this ailvii e, and will immediately I
remarry. j ]
GEORGE CRF.EMER, of Morristown, N. '
S., while hunting in the woods, *aw two
moose approaching him. He at once
took aim, endeavoring to shoot one of
them. Unfortunately the gun burst,
leaving the stock in his hand. Tlie
moose then sprang at his assailant, Mr.
Creemer managed to climb a tree, where
he remained several hours, when the
animals walked off. Creemer then
started for home. The ino< se then re
newed the attack, chasing the deb n e
less man many times around a tr< e, 1
which he tried in vain to climb, and
finally gave himself up as lost. As a
I last resort he tried screeching, which
happily drove the moose away,
I DELOS GRIFFIN lives at Laurel Run, I
Be.ikesley, Penn. Crows dug up his j
corn la>t spring until begot very angry.
He couldn't get the best of tlie black
thieves, and finally lie soaked a pint of
corn in a quart of cheap whiskey for
forty eight hours. Then he sprinkled
the corn in the field, and five crows gob
bled it up and hung around for more
until they got so druuk that they
couldn't fly away. They tipped up on
their tails, cawi d hoarsely and tumbled
about, and Griffin got some cord, he ;
siiid, and ti il them to the fence by their
legs till they sobered up. Then they
fluttered hard for freedom, and Griffin
i wrung their necks.
1 IN Surrey County, N. C., there is a
remarkable natural curiosty in the shape
j of a mountain resembling the famous
I Sphinx of Egypt in all its details. It
lays east of the Blue Ridge Mountains,
I on the Piedmont plains, like a gigantic
lion; its body at right angle to the ridge
! and with head iea*ed aloft as if in the
| act of rising. The head is of solid rock,
j several hundred feet in height. The
sliouldtr and breast are finely propor
! tioned, and at the distance of u few
| miles it looks like a tiling of life and in
! teliigence. It rises about 1,500 feet
above the plain and can be seen for a
j distance of many miles.
RECENTLY the dentists of St. Louis
: have begun to employ young women as
office assistants. Probably a dozen arc
j thus employed. They are paid from
! s(> to §lO a week. other tilings,
it is their duty to assist in bra ing the
i nerves of patients. One of them says:
! "If the patient is a woman I frequently j
' stand by lier side and hold her hand I
sympathetic dly. Some people may I
laugh at this, but it's an immense help
;to the person in the cl air. Once or '
twice when a very nervous man was,
being operated upon I have taken his
hand, and it really braced his nerve,
. wonderfully."
JACK GEIGER, who is t 'aching school !
at Clay Hill, Fla., vas attracted by the ,
cries of some of his pupils the other j
day, and proceed d to ascertain the i
cause of their alarm. It proved to be a I
monster rattlesnake. Jack got a pole
and struck at the snake, but the polo !
b okc, the impetus of the blow throwing j
J: ck, who has but one leg, down to the
ground. The snake struck at him and
barely missed his ear, and before it
could strike again Jack had rolled out
of danger. The snake was killed, and !
measured 5 feet 1H inches in length,
find had eleven rattles and a button.
A PRESBYTERIAN church in Melbourne :
has introduced some ionizations into!
its services, which, although happily
blending patriot-ism and piety, would .
s nrtle the s >ber minded Scotchman at 1
home. Tho choir, composed of geutlcmt u
wearing the Highland kilt, and girls at
tired in the costume of the Lady of the
Lake, sing their hymns of praise to the
music of the bagpipes. The ingenious
person who contrived these effects has
his reward in greatly enlarged congio
gations.
THE central and east in parts of
Trumbull County, Ohio, are suffering
from a plague of rats. Corn, cabbage,
I e-ts, tomatoes and grapes were de
stroyed in large quantities in fields and
yards, and then the rats swarmed to
barns and houses. A competitive rat
hunt of several weeks in Mecca Town
ship was recently ended, win n the win
ning side produced 2,073 rat tails and
the losers 1,613. One hunter brought
in 580 tails.
A Ready Answer.
A story of Will Carlton, shows tho
poet's aptness for making a ready
I answer. He was recently the invited
guest at a public dinner of jolly book
sellers and stationers. Upon rising to
recite one of his poems ho was exceed
ingly annoyed by the loud talking and
,'aughing of a group at one end of the
tublo, who had indulged too freely in
j the beverages served. Seeing that a
' steady glance did not avail, the poet
said:
" You will pardon me if I wait; it
would scarcely be polite for me to recito
while tho e gentlemen over there are
talking."
At tli.'s one of the most boisterous of
the group shouted across the table:
'Go aland, old fellow, we're going
'over the hills to the poor-house.' "
.Quick as a fash tho poet answered his
J .teiruptor with:
I "Yey, and t > the asylum, too."
The diners shouted at the neat re-
I joinder, the boisterous member was
! crushed and the poet proree led to the
rendering of one of his best poems.—
[San Fiancisco Wasp.
;1 A QUEER BEAR FIGHT.
1 i Farmer Cramer and His Hired Mar.
I Thrash Bruin in Great Style.
' James Cramer, a Pennsylvania
farmer, went to his barn to fill the hay
lacks in his cattle* stalls with hay. A
'.pile of hay that hail been previously
thrown from the mow lay on the barn
floor. Cramer abb d his liav fork
down into the hay with considerable
force, and was nlmo t thrown from his
i feet by the suddenness with which the 1
! fork was jerked from h'S hands. At the
same time h • was badly scared by a
howl that arose from the pile of liay,
i by the lively tumbling of the hay in all
directions, and by the form of a good
sized bar that aroce from the pile.
Til • hay fork was buried nearly the full
lengtli of the tines in the bear's shoul- j
der, and was so firmly embi dded in the 1
flesh that it remained the re, the handle !
sticking straight up in the air.
The bear, howling with pain, pranced i.
about the b irn, ami Farmer Cramer was
s dumbfounded tlia' lie could find use
for neither his lungs nor his legs until j
the bear, discovering the cause of his 1
painful situation, made a rush for the
farmer. Cramer then started on a run
around the small space covered by the i
barn floor, yelling for help at the top of j
his voice. The bam door was shut, and j
the beur pressed Cramer so closely that |
he did not dare stop long enough to !
open it. The fork still stuck in the
bear's shoulder, and the wobbling of the
handle angered the wound and in- !
creased the pain, and the bear howled j
with agony at every jump.
Tilt! tremendous hubbub in the barn
was heard by Abrarn Wisner, Cramer's
hired man, who was cutting down hay
from a stack in the barnyard with a
I double-handled hay knife. This farm
! instrument is a formidable-looking con
' corn, having a strong steel blade two
! feet long, to one end of which are at
tached two strong handles, by which the j
knife may be manipulated in a hay or j
straw stack, one edge of the blade hav
ing teeth like a straw and the other edge |
being keen like a knife blade. Wisner
had no idea what the trouble was in the j
barn, but he ran to find out,carrying the
hay knife with him. He opened the \
barn door, and one sight of the circus i
that was going on inside rooted him to
the dooi sill.
| Cramer, seeing the open door, made a
rush for it, knocking the hired man
heels over head in the rush. Cramer
kept right on toward his house. The
bear made for the door, too, but the
| handle of the hay fork was so long that
it caught a.ainst the top of the door,and
I the contact shoved the handle back and
1 pushed the tines forward and deeper 1
into the bear's flesh* This brought the ,
l eur to a stop, and made him howl
worse than ever.
Wisner was just getting on his feet,
and the bear, boiling over with fury,
sprang out of the door in spite of the
tearing of his flesh by the bending down
of the fork handle by the door. The
bear rose on his haunches when he got
i out of the barn and rushed upon Wis
ner, who had hardly recovered himself.
The hired man still held the hay knife,
• and mechanically plunged the long,
saw edged blade into the bear's breast.
t The blade either found little resistance,
. or it was thrust with tremendous force,
j for it went clear through the bear and
j. the point projected three inches from
! the back. The bear tottered and fell,
i' with the hay fork buried in his back and
J tlii! hay knife impaling him from the
j other side.
i Wisner did not wait to s e what, the
J result of his defence had been, but fol
. lowed Cramer to the house. The two
f finally ventured out to see what the of
feet hud bean on the boar, anil they
j. found him about as dead as a bear car
t lying in his vitals two formidable farm
I implements oould well be.
i Cremation in India.
I saw many cremations among the
Hindoos, and I attended not a few
funerals in India, says a correspondent
of the Chicago Times. The bodies were !
! generally carried on the shoulders of I
men, without coffins, and coven d with
I cloths. In some cases a band accom
| panied the procession, and the burnings !
; were in general very simple. At Cal
j cutta they took plaoa in unroofed sheds
on tlie banks of the river Hooglev, but.
the fires were built on the ground and
a little hole was scooped out below !
I them to make a draught. At Benares
the cremations took place in the open
air, and, after the body had burned to
; ashes, the aslics and bones remaining
! were drugged down into the river. The.
I undertakers of India belong to the dome '
;or chief caste. These preside over the I
: funerals, and sell the wood, and light
! the fires used in cremations. They
break the elbows, wrists, knee and ankle |
joints before cremating the body, aud
at Calcutta the body is placed on the ,
; fire with the face downward. It is
| covered with ghee, or clarified butter, ■
to make it burn, and the wood used
j varies with the cost of the funeral. A |
I rich m;in will send his soul to heaven
with sandal wood, while a poor man
i takes what he can buy. The domes sell i
everything connected with the croma
( tion, anil to be chief dome of a big city
l isa money-making position. One of
the richest men in Benares is the head
| of the undertakers, and he has made his
' money in this way. There is a regular
charge for burning, and the ordinary cost
of a cremation is less than §2. Funerals
in India are, however, very expensive,
and presents are given away by the
j nearest lelatives of the deceased to those
| who come to the l'uucial. A rajah of I
J Calcutta not long ago spent $250,000 in
j burning his father, and rich families
' often spend us high as §IOO,OOO in this
i sort of tire-works.
The Wa-Teitas Belles.
Picture to yourself a hundred or so
i chocolate-hiu d women of all sizes and
ages, one-half of their jersons glisien
' ing like patent leather in the bright sun
with every motion of their supple bod
ii s, by reason of the liberal dt taring ol
castor-oil they hive plu.ri red on, and
the other half bright and barbarous ol
( co ]or—masses of be. ds, and you have
wilh us seen a truly East African spec
tacle, writes Thomas Stevens to the |
New York World. But take my advice
, and clap your handkerchief to youi
Rose in deference to that particularly j
dashing young laily who is approaching
tlio tent. She las been making hei
toilet afresh for the conquests of the af
ternoon among the porters. In othei
I words, she has just come from her hut,
after annointing herself from head ta
foot with a pint or so of extremely odor j
i iferous oil. How she shines and glisten* !
—and—Hiat a bouquet I And how
proud and self cons dous she is of these I
[ added charms! She cannot help sinil- |
ing as she notes our looks of admiration \
r and approval. Or very likely she smile* j
to let us so a to what fine points hei !
i teeth have been filid. We note the j
teeth and also a curious sharp and
lively twinkling of the bright, beady
. black eyes, which betiavs the fact Unit
[ every lush, which in other lunds are
i coveted by the fair sex for tlio softened
expression they impart, has been re
moved.
| "THE POO It HEATHEN."
j GORGEOUS HOUSES OF WORSHIP
AND MANUFACTURED DEITIES.
Notwithstanding; the Efforts Pnt Forth In
Ills lteliulf. He Goes On lit Hi* Heuth
euism, Seeming: lo Prefer Ills Own Dark
ness to the Light or Christianity.
rffMTf, N Christian lands "the
W poor heathen" is the ob
jeot ol' general and deep
commiseration. Lectur
ers tell of his abject mis-
ery. olergmen descant on
J able condition, songs are
I /-s%¥&' ;Wf~l G written about him. col-
TMPKA flections are taken up for
-■r, I him, money is poured
I out in a constant and
w/fjdMm-'m a f ever " increasing stream
Lffor his beneiit. for mis-
"ymore numerous; every
-+ year ootiie demands for
additional means to supply new fields of
labor. Many l*und ay-schools devote all
their surplus collections to the missionary
cause, many classes are organized tor the
purpose of supporting each u missionary in
foreign lands; many societies are formed
that one or more heathen children may be
supported and kept at school to receive
Christian education.
For all this tho poor heathen ought to
bo very thankful, but If the reports of ap
parently trustworthy traveleis arc to be
credited he does not show a proper appre
ciation of tho efforts put forth in his be
half, but goes on in his heathenism, seem
ing to prefer his own darkness to tho best
light that can be shed upon him. No doubt
great progress has been made by tno mis
sionaries, but that it is commensurate with
the labor and expense can not bo believed;
and one of the chief obstacles in tho road
to success is a prejudice among the colored
races against any institution of white ori
gin. Tho colored races of India and China
prefer their own crude agricultural imple
incuts to the most highly improved tools of
j Europe, and on the same principle profor
thoir religion to that of the white man. As
a Hindoo expressed it: "The white man's
God may bo groat, wo do not deny that; but
tiie Hindoo's god is good enough for tho
Hindoo."
Homo one says that the power of religion
among a people may be gauged by the char
actor of their tomplos and by their rever
ence for holy places. If the statement be
; correct, then the influence or the various
forms of heathenism prevalent in India and
I China particularly, whatever it may bouow,
must at one time have been stupendous, for
I tho grandest cathedrals of the middle ages,
I while they may be equal, scarcely surpass
. the glories of pagnh houses ot worship.
Like the mediaeval cathedrals, pagan tem
, pies were built for the most part by kings,
j princes, and governments, and also, like the
! cathedrals, every resource of architecture
i and art was exhausted to render them
worthy places of prayer and pilgrimage.
As there are many kinds of pagans, so there
I are many varieties of heathen temples, hut
in most of them quite as much attention
was paid by the architects to the outside
and surroundings as to tho interior of the
structure. Most Indian tomplos wore at
one timo surrounded by walls of great
strength and solidity, and the entrances
were made as beautiful as the resources of
the builders would pormlt. Tho gatos,
whore they still exist, are of brass, deco
rated with that lavishness of design and
prolusion of ornament peculiar to Oriental
buildings.
Tho arch surmounting the gateway Is
generally the object of much zealous and
careful attention from the sculptor, nnd
some of tho decorations are in a style that
would do credit to the artist of any ago or
country. The sculptors and decorators ol
Riam wore particularly good in designing
artistic gates, and many specimens of theii
best work may still be seen in the temples
of that country. The Siamese as brass
workers, however, did not compare with the
Hindoos. The designs wnioh the latter ex
ecuted have never been equalled for intri
cacy and beauty. Generally the pattern re
peats itself throughout the panel or sectioi
In which it is employed, but sometimes ai
artist of wild originality planned a gate o.
brass bars, the pattern being at first glunct
one of hopeloss confusion. After a little
study, order begins to develop out of tht
maze, and gradually, as the plan is studied
the oyo follows the intricate windings o
the brass bars f.om one part of the struo
turo to another, and the perfect symmetr)
and balance of every part commands th
admiration o'. the most hypercritical.
The most ancient temples of llindostan
says a writer to the St. Louis Globe-Demo
crat, antedate written history, and ovonth<
traditions of tho natives are so greatly at
variance that to get at tho truth, or oven ai
an explanation of thoir origin that will bt
reasonably satisfactory, is a matter of nc
small difficulty. The early Hindoos were op*
parently imbued with tho idea that thoir
deities should be worshiped in oornfort at
least, so tho first temples were probably
oaves, and enlargements of these resulted
in the gigantic cave templos of Eloohanta.
near Bombay, and the grotto temples of
indrn, Wisura, and Ellora, any ono of
which for stupendousness of design and
amount of work required in its execution
is unequaled by any structure of modern
times. Only the wealth of an empire sup
ported by absolute power could have hewn
those monstrous caves from the solid rook.
But scarcely loss labor was expended on
tho "stono temples." technically so-called,
each being hewn from a single stone. At
Mavalipuram there laro seven of these re
markable relics of a former age. The
smallest of these is 24 feet high by 12 feet
wide, and in two stories. Each temple is
! nown rrom a solla OIOCK OI granite, and tno
I supposition is that an ancient monarch,
finding these huge bowlders, determined to
I fashion them into temples worthy of tho
| gods; so. with immense expenditure of
time and labor, the work was done, and
well done, too, for tho architectural pro
portions are perfect, and the collection of
temples thus made, each within a few yards
of the others, is one of tho most extra
ordinary monuments of antiquity-
J
To lire Hindoo one oi tne most sacred
spots in tho world is Benares, which is in
deed a city of temples, since there are no
less than 1,'2U0 of these sacred structures
within its walls. Benares is to the Hindoo
a convenient oity. for there aro temples to
all manner of deities, and no matter which
ho desires to adore the temple is easily
found. Even the monkey god has here a
shrine, well patronized, und in a grove con
taining thousands of woll-fed And exceed
ingly mischievous monkeys. There Is a
story current in Benares concerning this
temple, that once upon a time a certain man
came to pray, but before doing so laid aside
Ills apparel, containing thirty rupees. A
monkey seized the garment and ilea wifcli it
to the nearest tree. After much prayer and
supplication, combined with stone-throw
ing, tho mischief-making deity began to
fling down the rupees, but varied the per
formance by easting every othor coin Into
tho sacred pool, whore it was lost beyond
redemption, as the pool contuiuod. besides
water, a number of ferocious crocodilos.
Tho man at once admitted tho justice of
the punishment, and confessed that he was
a milkman, and that the water claimed its
duo and proper Share of his gains.
Pools or tanks are an indispensable ac
companiment of every temple in India.
Water is necessary at every stage of wor
ship, though tho tanks are commonly ex
ceedingly foul, for at every hour of tho day
worshipers aro throwing into them flowers,
grain, and similar offerings, which, under
a torrid sun. soon putrefy, and render tho
tank an ill-smelling-nuisance. Still a Hin
doo's nose has no conscience, and the
odor is to him no objection to tho water.
The tank is as sacred as the temple, and in
numerous cases small shrines are built In
the center of the tank and roachod by a
portable bridge.not by wading or swimming,
for the pool usually is inhabited by croco
dilos. and on account of this fact more
than one community of priests hus made
the tank a treasury. When they had money
or valuables they did not doslro to use at
once they inclosed the property in an iron
Slooc
or earthen vessel and dropped It in tho pool
with the sublime confidence that it was
safe, and that tho crocodiles would givo a
good account of any hardy thief who might
undertake to rob the treasury. Surely a
primitive bank, but safe and not likely to
break through the operations of sneak
thieves.
Tho situations of tho Hindoo temples, or
those, at least, which are above ground,
are gonerally well chosen and with an oyo
to boauty of surroundings. The temple of
Krishna, at Nepaul, for instance, is beauti
fully situatod on a hill, not very high, but
sufficiently elevated to givo the edifice a
commanding appeuranoo and an extensive
view of the surrounding country. An ex
ceedingly imposing edifice, it is rendered
more so by its surroundings. Extensive
garilons inclose it on evory hand, well laid
out, and boasting of an unlimited number
of those truly tropical trees, the cocoa
palms. In Goylon and many parts of India
_
tho palm is one of tho most important
kinds of property, and a man having twenty
or thirty palms is independently wealthy.
Prom his palm orchard he has food and
clothing all the year round, and, b -sides,
the juice of the nut. when tapped at a cer
tain stage of growth and properly ferment
ed. yields a spirituous liquor highly intoxi
cating, so that the palm-raiser can be as
drunk as a lord all tho year round, If he
chooses, without spending a rupee.
But palms are not the otdy trees which
are cultivated in the inclosure of a
Hindoo temple, although they are by far
the most profitable. The torrible heat of
an Indian sun renders shade of some kind
Indispensable, and so it is no uncommon
sight to behold by tho wayside a temple
half hidden by trees and foliage like the
structures on the IOD of Swayambhu hllL
Into its hallowed groves tho Hindoos pass
to-day to pray as did their fathers for
countless generations, for many of these
Indian temples were old when Christ was
born, and the origin of not a few had been
forgotten when Jerusalem was still a fort
ress of the Jebusites, whon Rome was a
nest of robbers and the Greeks were sav
'hem contain inscriptions
as illegible to the Brahman of to-day as to
the European, so completely has the mem
ory of those who built them passed away.
But others are more rocont. The groat
temple of Umritsu is u comparatively mod
ern structure, only a few hundred years
old. and so a babe in years oompared with
the stone temples or still more ancient
grottoes. It shows traces of foreign influ
ence and indicates that when it was built
the Hindoos wore taking lessons from the
Moslems. The towers look almost Sara
conic and are evidently an afterthought,
for the Hindoo temple buildors did not as-
Eire to roach the clouds, but to burrow
oneath tho earth; did uot seek tho sun so
much as endeavor to escape Its rays. But
it was probably built before the Moslem in- 1
vaion; alter that event the conquerors de
voted no small share of tlioir time and at- I
tention to the destruction of the idol tem- |
pies, for no Christian over had pi eater ab- \
nori ence of an idol than was felt by the
Moslem. One Mussulman emperor made i
a heroic efiort to destroy all the stone 1
i temples m His dominions. Immense
piles of wood were heaped around the
structures, and when the flames were at
their height water was thrown on the
heated stone. But the old builders had not
labored in vain, and the work of their hands
resisted both water and flame. Scarcely a
crack appears in the walls, and in many
cases even the paintings on the Interior
walls are uninjured. More effective were
the efforts of the Moslems when the Pagan
temples were built of brick or of stonelaid
in courses. Then they eould null down, and
did so with a vengeance. In Delhi is shown
a mosque built of the materials of seven
temples torn down for the sako of the stones
they containod. But the result is an archi
tectural failure, for the Moslems simply
piled the stones together without regard to
their ornamentation or to the places they
had formerly filled in the walls, so that two
carved blocks of huge size may often be
seen with a plain slab between tnem, thus
producing a glaring sense of incongruity in
every point of the building.
To the solidity of their construction the
temples of the Hindoos owe their perma
nence, a character as different from that
observable in Chinese snored architecture
as night is from day. The Chinese pagoda
architecture seems to have been founded
on that of the celestial junk, and, as the or
namont is purely extraneous, simply loaded
on tho structure, it falls off almost as easily
as it is put on. and the result is there are
few ancient Chinese temples save those the
characteristic feature of which were bor
rowed from India. But in India and China,
however, tho temples or heathendom are
no longer the resorts they once
we e. A few years ago. when tho car ol
Juggernaut was brought out for the last
time, no volunteers could be found to tug
*t tho ropes in the city whore a century
earlier willing thousands struggled and
fought with oaoh other for their turn at the
sable. Juggernaut made his last parade by
horse-power, and after that humiliating ex
oorlence hid his face in tho temple. The
masses of India are evidently losing faith
in heathenism, but whether they are yet
prepared to substitute ehurch for temple
is a question about which the boat-informed
still diffor.
i LETTERS FROM THE CORNERS.
JOURNEY TO MARY TABITHA'S.
NECK on NOTHIN' HALL, )
KILKENNY CORNERS, 1889. f
f| fflli. EDITUR: Tho
Rl we left
JMSmantliy's fur Ma
•iz/.ly like, noli nx
ectly a rainin, but
i aetin on tlio it, want
' ~ ''''ciiinciiibcr tlie
k "' d °' a da v it was
so feerd the
the curl out'n her
sanglcs she tide 'em up iu Willam
Henerv's big banana an put her gos
liper on over thet.
"Now, then, do you think thay'l
Seep?" ses she to me, awful anxious
ike.
"It looks like thay'd orter," ses I.
I An so we sturtod fur the depot, which
j wus 'J miles on one side an 14 on tothcr,
out the keers we hed to git onto wus to
J the dei Kit H miles away, un so we hed
| to go that away.
Smanthy she fixed us up a snak to
take along to eat, fur we wuldnt git to
; Mary Tabithys fore cannel lightenin
| >nny ways. Smanthys man geared up
the teem to the lumber waggin, an we
bid Smanthy an the children good by,
snd Choles an his wife—that is, I did,
out Mis Hoggs she never let on she
seen em at all, and we started fur the
lepot.
J Laws I long fore we got thare, Will-
I uri Henerys rheumatiz wus a peggin
it, to him dredful, and the widder got
the tooth ach tell she wuz most crazy,
an my corns purty nigh killed me. I
tell you, Mister Editur, we wus a
kinder sorry lookin lot when we did
tinally git there.
"I'll bo dad busted ef I over hed the
rumatiz a mutch worse," ses Wm.
Henery os ho hobbled in to tho depot,
out'n the train, while Smanthy's man
put out the trunks.
Come to find out, we wus 100 late fur
the first train an too airly fur tho last
one, an we'd hev to wait 7 hours.
Willam Henery groned an gritted his
teeth, an the widder sot down by the
windy an sithed, an Smanthy's man he
stepped fust on one fut then on tother,
an ses: "l'aw, you'd better go long back
an take a freslii sturt to-morrer."
"I'll be hornswoggled ef I will," ses
Willam Henery, es he grabbed his laig
j whare it hurt him so had, an rubbed it
up an down.
"Willam Henery," ses I, sturnly, "dc
not use slang in publik places."
An jist then 2 fellers stepped up aD
arsked him ef thay cood bo of enny
use to him.
"No, not onless you kin cure this
dod rotted rumatiz," ses he. purty
short.
"Well, I kin try et,'.' ses one of 'em,
"an ef the madame will try this leetle
powder it will gif her releve almost to
onct," ses the tallest, slickest-lookiD
one of 'em, a-given Sally a powder.
She tuck it an scd it holped her rite
off. That jest made Willam Henery
crazy to try sumpthin fur his rumatiz;
so they tolc us to go to the hotel an
thayd opperate on him, an tha did, an
he sed it made him feal like a boy agin,
it lumbered him up so, au then they
agreed to cure him ef he'd sine a con
track to pay 'em SSO when lie wus
cured, an he sined quick enuf, fur ha
didn't hev to pay ennything less'n he
wus cured.
Then we went back to the depot, an
arfter a while the keers kim an we start
ed on our visit to Mary Tabithy's.
The widder an Willam Henery are a
fealin gumptious.
No more at present frum
HESTER ANN SCOOPEB.
Jinks' Mistake.
Blinks—What ? Can't keep your
engagement with me?
Jinks (sadly)—No, I can't. I was
drawn on a jury this week, and
couldn't get out of it.
"Did you try?"
"Indeed I did. I did my best to
mako myself out to be a hopeless ig
noramus, hut they wouldn't lot me go."
"Great Scott, man! The way to
escape jury duty is to act as if you
knew something. — New I'oriV Weekly.
FIX WITH PEANUTS.
A Cheap and Simple Way of Amti*ing: the
Little Folks.
rl BAG of peanuts,
IK\ 8 ° m © wooden
ILA yyji£ I V toothjiicks, a box
pins, and a
\/1 fdiarp knife, two
jftijl f j.\ e\ v or three tiny C'lii
§l/11 rfflj 1/ i 11086 parasols,and
Vmnri <i / ; I>en nud ink for
Ns/r'yjUjlL /f| '/ marking the faces
WS'&S arG ie ma^e "
\ I rials necessary.
1 - I - ese ' "witli a lit-
T TjfjMle ingenuity, will
jj*. make a great va
riety of peanut people, and almost ev
ery kind of animal. A little care and
tasto in selecting the peanuts will soon
show what great adaptability there is
in them.
A thick, fat nut, with very little
curve near one end, will, with the aid
of toothpicks for the
legs and pins for Q(\ Sj
the arms, make the m
"froggy who would jt) J$T
a-wooing go." Bits &$ ;#
of soft dough or ; 'vl
putty stuck onto Bf.' l
the ends of the Bv.
toothpicks will, if Sjv'
held in one position i jM> if|
long enough—that
is, until it stiffens M
-make the feet Wfa
solid and the queer little creature able
to stand alone. Plaster of paris will
do even better if it is to be as it
hardens quickly and will hold tne doll
firmly in place on the cardboard or
thin board used for a foundation.
The pugilists are made in the same
way. It is better to fasten them
r4k\ Becurel y the
u "fiz® J foundation before
P lh& Pitting on the
1 Ira \~.JI knobs of dough
yjtSr m which answer for a
£IA ot of boxing
gloves, as these are
rather heavy and
the people are apt
to topple over if they are fastened on
at first.
| A long, slim peanut should be select
j ed for "mv lady," who goes abroad un
der the shelter of a £\
gaudy Chiuese sun- JV\
shade. A throe-
. cornered bit of col
j ored paper, stiff
I enough to hold its
| shape, may be used I - •• -.'-A
for a bonnet by W, j t r-S
! fastening to the ffl? J Kffi
head with a bit of © fIM
glue or paste, while
tho parasol is held /
in place with tinv |—"l ir*"*"'
threads and glue if - M Ladl •
needed. A little 1
experience will show how to manage,
j Select tho largest and fattest peanut
for a boat; out off about one-third, and
fasten securely to the foundation before
arranging tho occupants. Another
[ Huushade, a bit ot blue cloth for a pen
nant, toothpicks for oars and you have
a very amusing toy.
The "little pig who went to market"
is easily arranged, as is Little lied
liiding-Hood, or any otlior character
which chances to please the little ones.
Ono or two trials will show the possi
bilities of these common materials and
will prove most entertaining and
amusing.
Cork is another material from which
a great variety of creatures may be
manufactured. A grinning little darkv,
(TSgSL fashioned out of a
Ik champagne cork,
/iQ _JB> was mado by my
/ I—V steward one " time
/-w-' on shipboard, and
te . made no end ol
__r amusement. Into
fl poly body w ere
stuck arms and legs
cut out of smaller pieces of cork and
secured to the body with sharpened
toothpicks. The eyes, nose and mouth
were painted red, making the little
creature a frightful carieature, but
amusing nevertheless.
The Author of "Nancy 1,0 c."
There is a man living quietly in 1.011
I don who is ono of the most successful
writers of verse set to music that are in
England to-day, yet he is not very
[ widely known by name. It is Freder
j ick E. Weatherly, and he is the author
of "Nancy Lee," a song that has been
sung in every quarter of the globe, and
J has brought to tho author an amount
; of fame and money that makes him
practically independent. The song
j was written at Oxford in an hour.
; Weatherlv had made an appointment
i for a pupil whom ho was coaching for
the annual commencement. The pupil
failed to keep his appointment, and
while waiting for him tho piece came
suddenly to his mind, and it was writ
ten then and there. One of the strange
things about tho song was that it was
in the heyday of its popularity about
the time of the Princess Alice disaster.
It was being sung on deck just before
the vessel went down. That fact was
printed in all the English newspapers,
and the song suffered a temporary
chock in its popularity, but thousands
of copies of it aro now sold, not only in
Great Britain but through Australia.
Canada, and in fact wherever the Eng
' lish language is spoken. Mr. Weatlr
I erly is the author of scores of other
songs that are not so w ell known. He
j has been writing songs ever since he
was an undergraduate, twenty-five
years ago.— Philadelphia Times.
.Sending a Decoy Letter.
"You want to know how we 'get on'
to mail clerks or lotter-oarriers who
steal money from letters, you say," re
marked a jrostoflrce inspector. "The
method is Bimple enough, and yet we
catch them every time. Of coarse
there are a good many sohemes we can
work on them, but the least oompli
cated is the decoy letter.
"When we think a man is opening
letters, we prepare a letter and give it
a semi-fictitious address—to the wrong
street, tho wrong number, or some
thing of that sort. We put in a dollar
or so, and make it just bulky enough
so that it will attract the clerk's atten
tion when he handles it. These olerks
get so skillful, you know, that they
almost invariably can tell by the sense
of touoh when a letter contains money.
This deooy letter is stamped with some
postmark selected, and is thrown into
the clerk's or carrier's box.
"He gobbles it almost every time.
We are on the watoh, and if we hear
nothing from it we know that it must
have been lost in transit. This tost it
used oftener outside the postoffice thai
in it, however, in the interests of busi
ness men who suspect their employes
and others."
xnE poor law is said to De defective.
it had no defects it cculd scarcely
be called a poor law.