Fiieelaot) Tribune. PU IlLJflll ED IVKIiT MONDAY AND TIICTBSDAY. 'rilOS. A. BUCKLEY, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. OFFICE: MAIN STREET ABOVE CENTRE. SUBSCRIPTION BATES. One Year ...... -~.sl 60 Six Months -1 ....... T5 Four Mnwthf . x 60 Two Months 25 Subscribers are requested to observe the data following the name on the labels of tbotr papers. By referring to this they con tell at a giunoe how they stand on the books In this office. For Instance: G rover Cleveland 28June95 means that Grover Is paid up to June 28, L8B&, Keep the tguree In advance of tho present data. Report promptly to this office when your paper is not received. All arrearages must be paid when paper Is discontinued, or collection wfll he made in the manner provided by law. Tho Now York pantsmakers have struck. Now who will patch up the breaches ? But, after all, Anna Gould certainly has the right to buy anything she can pay for. Chicago has discovered a young genius who writes poetical advertise ments for cigarette houses, hut the town is uot yet really a literary scenter. A New York woman hired three phy sicians to doctor her sick dog and an other bark was sighted on the shore of eternity w'thiii an hour. Even a dog cannot stand everything. The National Ilay Dealers' Associa tion declares that there is a shortage in the hay market. Who cares? There ure 71,5t)5 grass widows in this country. Who cares about hay, anyway? It is not remarkable that so many people of the Chinese empire should lie j ignorant that Japan is drubbing them. It took a good long time for tin? Chinese emperor himself to grasp that fact. A young woman has been elected a member of a Massachusetts tire depart ment. Woman may know more about hose than l ie average man does, but she has been responsible for sparking from time immemorial and kindles more flames than any lire department can extinguish. AVlille the bottom is knocked out of the horse market it is a good time for farmers to supply themselves with de- sirable animals. If you have been working the farm with an old, jaded nag, go to the nearest horse market and you will be surprised how cheap a ser viceable horse can be bought. Tho bill Introduced in the Illinois Legislature making it a misdemeanor to catch trout less than six inches long '.s all right in purpose, 110 doubt, but it is bud in form. When the sportsman feels a llsh 011 his hook he is going to ?ateh it if he can, without regard to ength. What the Legislature ougnt to do is to pass a hill making it unlaw ful for trout under six inches to bite. Work, either voluntary or compul sory. is a sure cure for tho tramp cvH. Honest men out of work should be everywhere aided to secure it; but dls tionest men tramping about the coun try should be compelled to work. Wo ire pleased to learn that in a number >f counties the work prescription is being administered in allopathic doses to the tramping brotherhood with grat ifying success. it will be recalled that a Chicago jus tice recently sentenced a youthful law breaker to sixty days in the public schools, with incarceration in the bride well as the only alternative. This unique sentence has been beaten by a liockford magistrate who has just sen tenced a wife-beater to attend church regular every Sunday for one year in lieu of a thirty days' sentence in tho county jail. Whither are we drifting? Some of those days the courts may be sentencing husbands to stay at home nights. The establishment in several States of societies for the avowed purpose of abolishing debt, brings undeniable evi dence that the race is making progress. Debt, of course, cannot be entirely abol ished, but by perseverance and practice the habit may be acquired of paying as we go. Indebtedness is in many in stances a habit and one that should be gotten rid of and the organization that points the way to this end will be doing a splendid work. To the poor man with steady employment who is endeavoring to save something for a home or to lit the growing members of his family for the inevitable future, the habit of ow ing is a serious drawback. The family with a store book nearly always buys more than is really needed, bceause it Is s, easy to make bills that are to bv paid a week or a month after the pur chases are made. By paying ou the spot the buyer oftener sees the money going, and then; is a fuller realization of what is taking place. This at once sugests economy. And what freedom it is to be free from debts of all sorts' Who does not remember Longfellow's village blacksmith who "looked the whole world in tho face, for he owed not any man?" And who, after paying xi debt that has for 3'ears been hanging over him, does not feel as if a great burden has been suddenly removed from Ids shoulders? This generation 11113 not see a spot cash system fully carried out, but a start can be made. As a pro moter of morals and solid business pros perity also, there Is nothing like spot cash. THE FOUR WINDS. Tho wind o' tho West I lovo it b Tho wind o' tho Ea.it 1 lovo it least. Tho wind o' tho South Hits sweet in its mouth; Tho wind o' tho North Semis great storms forth. Taken togeihor, all sorts of woathor, Tho four old follows aro sure to bring Hurry and flurry, rush and scurry, Hlghing ami dying, and flitting and flying Through summer and autumn, and winter und spring. —Margaret E. Songster, in Young reoplo. THE CHIME OF JANE. BY EVELYN THORP. —y—ANE caught licr 1 then sho euch.a resolve as ' never before had . possessed her. r~..Eg She was out of qV tho room, up tho Zj'ilf l -- stairs and in the shabby, pictur- esquo old bed room of faded chintz that she shared with her sister, beforo her quick heart could take twenty beats. Then sho paused and sho spread open tho note that she hold. Let her read it once more— carefully—aud make no mistako. Yes, Mrs. Aspinwull said distinctly that sho could not bo at tho hunt ball that night owing to dear Eddie's croup. But sho would send tho carriage und sweet Elinor must bo suro to go, all tho same, as Mrs. Demayn and tho other patronesses had been apprised of her coming aud no other introduc tion would bo necessary. There upon tho bod lay tho gown, a soft Huff of yellow, a cloud of chiffon aud ribbons, which Elinor was to have worn, and Elinor was several miles away by this time, hurrying with X>oor, bewildered Mrs. Voss to tho bedsido of old Miss Voss, hor aunt and godmother, who had dotod on tho girl's dark, cameo-like beauty all her life, petted and bullied her in turn and announced her intention of leav ing her at her death all that she ; owned. Aud sho was dying now. The telegram had como almost simul taneously with Mrs. Aspiuwall's note. There had been an hour of untold con fusion, drenched with tears of terrible disappointment—why not acknowledge it?—from tho eyes of Elinor, that the idea of tho hunt ball—tho hunt ball which was to have introduced the beautiful but obscure Miss Vo3s at last to "society"—had been relin quished, and Elinor and her mother had driven in tho dilapidated one-" horse Voss buggy to the station, leav ing Jane in sole possession of tho old house. And now Jane—who was tho young est and had always been called plain and turbulent, and who had ever been an irritating enigma to her weak, vain mother and her lovely sister, tho beauty of tho family—stood in the gathering dusk of tho dingy country house with thoughts flaming and un hallowed in her brain. Elinor had al ways had everything—everything ! She had tho loveliness and accomplish ments and such pretty clothes as could bo afforded, and tho friendship re cently of society peoplo who would "lauuch" her and iead in time to a brilliant marriage for her. And what had Jane? Nothing! Why, indeed, should any effort havo been made for her? For her, with her tonzled mane of ungovernable tawny hair, her green eyes, her mouth that was too large, her uoso that was too short? She had grown up almost in isolation, and happiness was not for her. She knew that. And yet, how would it tasto once—just onee—to bo like Elinor? To bo protty and admired and loved of men? Oh, loved of men! Jane was nine teen, and no man savo tho country doctor aud tho country clergyman had ever crossed her path. The hunt ball had fallen on a night of full moon, and ono whose bro ith was uuprecedently, unaccountably balmy, and warm as that of a night in May. As the cotillon went on, figuro after figure, tho long windows had been opened, and, couples, straying from tho dance, wandered under tho Chinese lanterns, and amid tho plants of the encircling piazzas. Asketh leaned in a doorway and looked at the maze within and breathed heavily. Impossible! Impossible! And yet 110 could havo sworn that that which had Lot happened for years had happened to him to-night. That which had not happened for years! Dah ! Nothing like this had ever hap pened before in his life; a life of thirty-five years. Ho could havo be lieved that ho had boon drugged; had drank a philter. In his veins was an ardor that was that of a wild boy, but in his brain and heart were voices that 110 boy's heart or brain could have harborod. That absurd thing that peoplo still persisted in writing aud talking about, tho flash of divine lire, exalting and consuming at once, had struck him to-night, or elso ho was going mad or some fever was upon biin, and to-morrow he should be in his lied with a trained nurse at his pillow. Ho laughed at those things inwardly to cheat himself, even while his eyes followed ceaselessly tho girlish figuro in tho yellow gown—followed tho girl with tho mass of tawny hair and tho grcon-gray eyes. Ho caught a few chance phrases about her now and then. Homo mau had asked her namo of Mrs. Demayu. "Oh, a great protcgo of Mrs. Aspin wall. Bho wus to have chaperoned her liero to-night; hut ono of her children was ill, so Miss Voss came alone. Extraordinary looking girl, is she not? I never saw any ono quite like her. I was almost certain that Mrs. Aspinwall said that she was a groat beauty." "So sho is," said tho niau. "H'm—do you think so?" Mrs. Demayn coughed a little. "I thought, too, that I had hoard that she was dark. But evidently that was a mis take. " "Evidently." Asketh had a movement of intoler able impatience. What time of tho night was it? The moon was not yet set, though it was setting; and tho hunt-ball guests had come at i) o'clock. So few hours since ho had first soon this girl? Why, ho felt as if ho had known her ages, as if they had talked together of all things under hoavon and in earth. That men should stare at her as Mrs. Demayn's interlocutor was now doing, that these worldly women should have, in speaking of her, tho touo of patronizing conde scension adopted by that lady, was something not to bo borne. 110 pushed forward through tho dancers. Tho last figure had spun its motley whirl through tho ballroom. One more waltz, and as Paul con fronted Miss Voss's partner, about to relinquish her, ho offered his arm without a word. Without a word sho took it. Ho led her to tho piazza, then ho said: "Get something for your head und shoulders—a wrap." "I am going homo now," sho re plied. But a moment luter she issued from tho cloak-room, shawled and hooded, and when again ho offered his arm, sho took it without protest. "Where are you taking mo?" sho said in a loud voice. "On the lawn? See, tho pooplo aro going, and tho moon is almost sot." But thero was no real concern in her tonos. Sho walked on with him carelessly, as if thoy two had boon alone iu tho world. "You do not mind? Surely, you do not mind," ho murmured, deserted by his usual fluout rcadiiiess with wo men, only conscious of hor nearness, of tho touch of hor bare hand on his sleeve, and all his pulses throbbiug. "You seem so uuliko other girls, somehow." Sho stopped, and by a quick move ment took off her other glove. She raised both arms, that gleamed pule ly in tho waning moonrays, shaking back from them her enveloping wraps. Sho breathed deeply, twice, three times. "No, I do not mind," she said, in tho samo tone. "Aud, it is true, lam not like other girla. I never liavo beou, never, never. Ah, how glorious it is to dance, to live, to enjoy, to feel, as I have to-night, and as otner girls do so often—so often ! I mind nothing to-night. Time enough for that. X will not think of it now. Let mo bo happy just a few minutes more—just a few minutes! It will ond soon—soon —soon—" Tho stately form of Mrs. Domayn, flanked by two footmen, was visiblo on tho piazza bohiul them in tho glare that streamed from the now do serted ball room. "Ah !it has ended now!" breathod the girl, and she turned toward the house. '1 was looking for you, Miss Voss, remarked Mrs. Deinayu icily, aud the glance she gave Asketh was almost as withering as that which she bestowed on tho girl. "Yes, I know ; I'm goiug now. Don't mind my being tho last one. It won't matter to-morrow." 4 4 ls that girl mad ?" excitedly queried Mrs. Demayn of her husband an hour later in tho privacy of their own apart ment. 4 'Did ever you hear of such amazing conduct? And the way in which Paul Asltcth flirted with her all tho evening was disgraceful—disgrace ful. What can Lucy Aspinwall bo thinking of to tako up such people? She told mo that this Miss Voss was very sweet and cjuiet and modest and ladylike. Heaven knows where she sees such qualities in her! I thought her prodigiously bad form liugeriug out there, when evcryoiio had gone, alone with Asketh, whom sho had never seen in her life before to-night 1 That is what comes of picking up per sons not in society. The girl is a savage." "A mighty handsomo one, then, and ono not too slow to have obviously enmeshed the best parti in town," said her lord and master, but ho said it to himself, having acquired wisdom iu twenty yoars of matrimony. "You saiil two nights ago that you woro not like other girls! You need not have told me. To mo you are like no ono on earth. I am coin ing to your homo to tell you this and other things. If I hear nothing from you I shall know that I liavo your permission." Tho note was signed Paul Asketh. Jane had rocoivod it, and three hours later Mrs. Voss and Elinor had re turned from tho bedside of old Miss Voss. who this time had concluded, after all, that she would not die. In tho course of the afternoon a card was brought to Elinor. She was unpacking her satchel in the room with her mother, and at sight of tho namo she Hushed a vivid crimson. Paul Asketh! She had not for some months known Mrs. Aspinwnl), and some of Mrs. Aspiuwall's friends, without being intensely conscious of what that name represented. Why, here was tho mau whom sho had burned to meet, whom she had hoped to see at tho hunt ball, beoauso of whom her disappointment at her in ability to attend that function had been keenest! How had he happened to como thero that day? Excited anticipation ran riot in Elinor's charming head while sho put an im proving touch to gown and hair, aided by the fluttering liugers of poor Mrs. Toss, a-tremblo with eager matri monial hopes for her idol. Askoth roso slowly at the young lady's entrance. "Miss Voss?" "I am Miss Voss?" "Miss Elinor Voss?" "I am Elinor Voss." "Ah—a thousand pardons! I fear that there is somo mistake. You have a cousin, a sistei, perhaps." "A sister," murmured Elinor, Bo wildored. "Ah!—whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the hunt ball—" "Tho hunt ball! Impossible!" She turned as tho door was flung open. Asketh stood transfixed. It was Jauo. It was tho girl who had wound him in inextricable toils, and yet it wasn't? The marvelous mass of tawny hair was drawn straightly back; tho strange, wonderful life had gone out of her green-gray eyes; tho noble, alluring curves had loft tho lips closed tightly, and almost as pale as tho cheeks. "Not impossible. Elinor, I was at tho hunt ball, and Mr. Asketh met me there. I wore your gown and I played tho part of tho beautiful sister—foi once, I deceived everybody—the pa tronesses, who wero expecting you, all those great ladies and tho club men and all. And I deceived Mr. Asketh. Don't look at me as if I wero mad, Elinor. Perhaps I seem to be, but I really don't think that I am." Iler eyes turned to Asketh. "You see how plain t I am. You took me to be pretty the other night. It was the nice dross and the excitement and the de termination that was in mo to feel once as Elinor feels every day.! She is lovely as you can see, too. She is sweet and good also. But lam altogether horrid. If you ever thought that I was nice you will think differently now. lam criminal, for isn't it crim inal to lie and misrepresent and de ceive people? And that's what I have dono. And I am criminal in another way. For I was envious of Elinor, who is so lovoly and ;has always been made much of, because sho was good and deserved it. But I deserved noth ing. Oh, lam quite bad. Forget me, please." And she went, stonily from tho room, beforo speech returned to the other two. A scandal? There nevcr had been n greater in that part of tho country, given over to tho "hunting >ot." Mrs. Domayn blamed Mrs. Aspinwall for taking "up any such people as the Yosses" at all. It had, she said, all come from that. Mrs. Voss, on the other side, was ill in her bod with mortification mid Elinor palo with chagrin. Mrs. Aspinwall, irritated, turned upon Asketh. "Why did you flirt with that un lucky younger sister, anyway? Not but that I have chauged my opinion of her looks within tho last day or two. Somo now life seems to have come into her. Sho has great possi bilities, if only sho and her mother and sister would give them a chance. They say that she was beautiful at the ball. Perhaps the ugly duckling will outshine the white swan of tho fumily yet." Asketh made no iramediato reply. Then "You ask me why I flirted with her? I did not flirt. It was dead earnest." Mrs. Aspinwall stared. "Not really? Good hoavens!" "Beally. As earnest as anything on this earth will ever bo for me." "You will forgive that chit's mas querading. I think it showed horri bio duplicity." "I judge moro leniently." Ho laughed. "Yes, I forgive it, bocauso 1 understand it. lam going there to day. And I may as well tell you, I shall ask her to marry me." "Good heavens!" baid Mrs. Aspin wall again. Ho kept his word. Tbreo days later Mrs. Aspinwall mot tho criminal faco to face ia one of tho country lanes. She was driving ami leaned far out of her carriage. Asketh aud Jano wero walking. "Call that girl an ugly duckling!" exclaimod the lady to herself. "Well! well. Seo what love and happiness can do! Elinor, poor child, will never hold a candle to her. I prophesy that Mrs. Paul Asketh will bo iu time the greatest beauty in town. So much for tho crimo of Jane."—Now York Mercury. Amusing Form of Misspccch. In tho Contributors* Club, in tho Atlantic Monthly, a writer speaks of a form of misspeech to which most of us aro occasionally subject—tho ex change of syllables. A certain young lady, who, to her intense mortifica tion, often reverses licr vowels thus, says sho is entirely unconscious of it, even after speaking. Ono summer cveuing sho was Rauutering with a friend towards tho village postoflice of tho little town where they were staying. Oil the way they encountered an acquaintance with a handful of letters. "Ah, good evening," sho said, iu her peculiarly gracious, suave man ucr. "Aro you strailing out for your mole?" Tho mystified young woman made somo inarticulate reply and passed on. As soon as the friend could re cover her gravity, slio gasped, "1 suppose you intended to ask Miss May if sho was strolling out for her mail?" Tho same youug lady was relating a sad story of various misfortunes which had overwhelmed a dear friend. "Think," she concluded pathetic ally, "of losing husband, children, property and homo at ono swell foop!" And a howl of laughter rent tho roof. A Merchant's Decline, Ho started a six-story store Then dropped to five and then to four Gould searoo believe his eyes. : And now lie lias a store no lr.ore, Ho peddles goods from door to door, lie didu't advertise. [ Joston Courier, COVETED BY MEXICO. GUATEMALA, INTERESTING BUT UNDEVELOPED COUNTRY. A Region Rich in Rnina and Old Asso ciat ioiiH Strange Remains of an Karly Civilization—The Guatemalans of the Present Day. People Arc Indolent. . EW peojjle know m u c ii concerning G u ate m a 1 a, the • country with which 1 Mexico has been having trouble. So mala of the present is concerned, tho country is so iusig nlticant as scarcely to deserve mo r o than passing mention among the na tions of the earth. In area it is far from large, having only 40,000 square miles, or about two-thirds that of Mis souri. At the last census there wero 1,200,000 population, of which over GO per cent were of Indian blood, tho re mainder mixed, pure whites being de cidedly in the iniuorlty. The Indian population may be said to give tone to the entire republic, and the tone It gives, by the way, Is by no m ns as exalted as it might be, for a lazier set of people than the Central American Indians are hard to find. But they are philosophic in defense of their laziness, for their country pro duces all tilings necessary to the sup port of human life, and why should they work? Why, Indeed? The ques tion is a conundrum, for when bananas and oranges ami bread fruits are to be had for the plucking, it Is not easy to see why man should exert himself, par ticularly in a tropical climate. In a certain lazy way tho Guatemalans do exert themselves, however; they export ii good deal of coffee, the greatest trou ble of which is in the picking. A good many hides, gathered from the half wild cattle that roam over the plains, and here lately, a considerable quantity of bananas, every bunch gathered at the risk of mortally offending a centi pede or venomous serpent that may be concealed therein. But of the re sources of their magnificent country tlicy really know nothing at all. Though limited iu extent, tho terri tory of Guatemala is capable of a de velopment that, in the hands of enter prising men, would make the State uot only by far the most important in this section of the continent, but, also, capa /ie of wielding no inconsiderable !o gree of foreign intluencc. The country Is an elevated table land, rising abrupt ly from the Pacific in n range of lofty mountains and sloping gradually away to the sea on the east coast. It is a continuation of the table lands of Mex ico and Yucatan, ami has many of the principal characteristics of both. While there is no mountain range, in the geo logical sense of the word, there are in numerable mountains, which rise in the most unexpected quarters, solitary in their grandeur, and so irregular and broken that the Indian legend of Cen tral America, regarding it as a placo where all the waste material left by tho Creator was dumped, is far from being ridiculous when illustrated by a view of the mountains themselves. And the mouutains command unbounded re spect in Guatemala, for no small pro portion of their number are volcanoes of the most eruptive and aggressive kind, liable at any moment to send out a shower of stone or lava, and capablo of generating more earthquakes than any other set of mountains on the plan et. The native-born Guatemalan docs not mind earthquakes much—lie is too well accustomed to tliera. lie general ly lives in a one-story house of flimsy construction and the earthquake cau do no more than knock it down about his ears, and when this happens, as in some quarters it does about once in six months, he crawls out of the debris gen erally with no worse injury than a few scratches, builds another house and continues the even tenor of his lazy r J *v A GUATEMALAN CHURCH AND CONVENT. way until tho next seismic convulsion compels him to renew exertions iu tho line of domestic architecture. Gautemala lias not developed for an other reason than the earthquakes. It is almost destitute of ports, and equally bare of navigable rivers. There are many streams, but all so broken by rapids, cascades and falls that they are practically useless to the country, save for purposes of irrigation They might be employed for that, but as during half the year rain falls every afternoon ns regularly as the afternoon comes, irrigation is not so much needed as iu some other regions, where the skies are not so bountiful. As for the ports, the two or three on the Pacific side are hardly worth the name, being for the most part open roadsteads, while the solitary port town ou the Atlantic slope is a miserable collection of huts, not deserving the name of town. With only about 100 miles of railroad, with no navigable rivers and no ports worthy of the name, a considerable develop ment could not soou be expected. Bui more could have been done than lias been by a different class of poulation, for, besides their unconquerable repug nance to work, the native Guatemalans are not in the least enterprising, nor do thev seem to understand or annreeinte the natural resources of their country. 1 With mines of silver, gold, copper and oilier metals, With a land of almost in conceivable fertility, with forests of valuable wood, with plains that in many quarters could be made to pro duce two crops a year, they are yet con tent to move along the same lines as their fathers. Ancient Inhabitants. ' But the beautiful region they Inhnblt was not ahvoys peopled by men of their kind, for before the coming of the Span iards this part of America had attained a degree of civilization such as was known to no other portion of the north ern continent. The ruins of scores of cities which must, from the extent of tiie remains, have been of very consid erable size, and probably had each a population of many thousands, attest the former populousncss of the coun try, while all over Guatemala the pres ence of irrigating works of great ex tent, the remains of highways over grown Willi forest trees, tile ruins of temples and palaces show that the country must have had a powerful, or ganized administration, capable of tak ing In hand the functions of govern ment, and also of looking after the gen eral Interests and welfare of the people iu a manner similar to that of the Peruvian ineas. Tho remains of upwards of fifty cities antedating the Spanish conquest have been found in Guatemala alone, nnd lliis number in a territory only two thirds the size of Missouri probably in dicates a density of population similar to that of the most crowded Darts of ALCALDES Oil HEAD MUX OF A GUATE MALAN* VILLAGE. EHrope to-day. Tho word probably is advisedly used iu this connection, for aside from the statements of the Spanish explorers, little or nothing is known as to the nimiber of the nations that once Inhabited Central America. Tho only ancient structures whose use can positively be stated are the huge pueblas, or communal towns, in which all the inhabitants resided under a common roof and in a sort of fortress of their own construction. Best known to us from their presence in parts of New Mexico and Arizona, these curious community towns are found in great umnbers In Mexico, and to some extent also In Guatemala nnd other purts of Central America. That they are not so numerous in the Central American States Is explained by the fact that they were originally built for defense, and that the Central American Indians, having no hostile neighbors, did not need them, and so gradually abandoned their use. More imposing than the ruined pu eblas nre the remains of the gigantic pyramids that abouud iu Guatemala, Mexico, particularly in tho Yucatan peninsula and almost everywhere in Central America. They are often enor mous in extent, some covering as much as ten or twelve acres, thus almost equaling in area of base that of the great pyramid of Cheops, In Egypt, which is thirteen, but they nre by no menus so lilgli, rarely exceeding 200 feet. That they were erected for the purposes of worship is clear from the testimony of the Spaniards, but there is notliiug to indicato the character of that worship save the ghastly fact that tho human sacrifices formed a part, and, perhaps, the most conspicuous und Important part. It is impossible to con template without emotion these gigan tic monuments of n people whoso arts, civilization and letters have complete ly vanished. The scenes of blood, the gorgeous parades of painted and be feathered chieftains and their retain ers, the magnificent assemblies, and, finally, the carnage that made their stops nnd pavements slippery with blood in the last great struggle with tlio merciless invaders, are nil called up by the crumbling walls and terraces of . the pyramids that were already old j when Columbus landed. 3 Tlic Spanish Invasion. In the general destruction that fol lowed the Spanish invasion the Cen t Iral Americans fared no better than f the people of Mexico. The worst butch ,, eries by the Turks, the Saracens, tlio y Huns, were surpassed by die cruelties e that tlio Christian Spaniards inflicted 6 on a helpless and Inoffensive people. I The acts of the Spaniards were foolish . as well as brutul, for 111 destroying the a Indians they destroyed the only means i. of making a paying Investment of the □ country. The early conquerors, how c ever, were, for the most part, men who c had no Idea of settling permanently e in America, but who were desirous of 0 making a fortune as soon as possible c and then returning to their native c country, to spend their blood money i, in tho baznrs of Madrid and Barcelona h aud Cordova. The greed of gold burned h out of their sordid hearts all consldera j tious of humanity, and in wanton >. cruelty they butchered tho natives in it discriminate!}' until finally only a few 6 stragglers In the remote recesses of i, the forests remained of all the popu t latlon that filled tlie cities and eultl s vated tlie fields. Central America has c never recovered, and may never reoov e er from that deadly blow. In a country where tropical rains nre succeeded by tropical sunshine, where the winter does not deserve the name, so mild Is the season, nature Is bounteous, nud all sorts of vegetation grow with a rapidity and luxuriance unknown else where. In many parts of Guatemala, when a road Is cut through jungle, constant labor and watchfulness ar® required to prevent its obliteration by tlio encroaching verdure on either hand. Itoads neglected for two weeks can not be traced, so completely aro they overgrown by the trees and vines. The abundance of nature in the fields overpowers the industry of man. A farmer can cultivate only a limited area on account of the rapidity with which the native plants grow. Under the chiefs who formerly ruled this country, the roads were kept open by gangs of laborers employed by tho chieftain, and tho farmers were com pelled to keep their fields clear of weeds. With the coming of the Euro peans, all tho conditions which had tended to the prosperity of tho peoplo were completely changed. The roads were obliterated, tho reservoirs v.cro ruined by lack of attention during tho rainy season, the irrigating ditches were soon covered by undergrowth, the temples were overgrown with trees. For three centuries incentives to industry were taken from the popu lation, and in that time the natives lost all memory of their former greatness, and now could not perhaps revive their ancient prosperity even by ardu ous effort It Is probable that even during tho period of Guatemala's ' greatest glory tho country was ruled by chiefs of a superior and different race, who treated the people like serfs, and compelled them to work against their will. Even, however, if tills were not the case, three centuries of idleness create a hereditary aversion to labor that is not easily overcome. In spite, however, of its lazy popula tion, of its climate, of its almost im passable forests, thick with venomous reptiles and insects, Guatemala must always be an interesting country—in teresting from Its associations connect ed with the early Spanish conquerors, for here Cortes was lost for nearly two years, and here Alvarado made one of his earliest expeditions', interesting from its savage mountaineers, whom neither the Aztec chiefs, nor the Span iards, nor tho Guatemalan rulers have ever been able to bring under control; interesting from its ruins, showing, as they do, the former richness and pros- * perlty of the country. CORN AND COTTON. Two Staples in Which the United States f.ead the Whole World. Cotton and corn are the two great American staples, and the two in which the United States stand easily at the head not only of all countries, but ot nil countries combined. Tho total cot ton supply of the world, figured on the basis of bales of 400 pounds eucli, is about 12,000,000 bales, and of this amount the United States produces about 9,000,000 bales, or two-thirds of the whole amount. Tho crop hero at tained the highest figures before the war in 18G0, when it was 4,000,000 bales of 470 pounds; ISO 2 was tho best year for cotton since, tho crop being 9,000,000 bales of 470 pounds. The corn of the United States fot 1894 Is 65,000,000 acres, and the total * product 1,200,000,000 bushels, of the value of about $600,000,000. The gleal corn year was 1889, with a crop of 2,100,000,000 bushels; 1891 followed with 2,000,000,000 bushels. In 1802 and 1893 the figures were about the same —1,600,000,000 bushels. Compared with the value of the corn and cotton crop, the other agricultural produc tions of the United States occupy a subordinate position, the value of the Wheat crop being $225,000,000, cats $214,000,000, potatoes $91,000,000, bar ley $27,000,000, rye $13,000,000, and buckwheat $7,000,000. Two surprises because of the differ ence in value compared with ordinary public expectations nre hny niul to bacco. The hay crop of the United States amounted lust year to .f 158,000,- 000 in value; the tobacco crop, on the W other baud, amounted to only $27,000,. 000. The last year preceding (1893) the tobacco crop was 50 per cent, great er, and considerably more than half of it came from two States, Kentucky and Tennessee. Kentucky stands at the head of the tobacco States. Penn sylvania is at the head of those in tho North. Connecticut comes next; New York is fourth.—Sun. (Becoming an Island of Mutes. ' Of tho 146 Inhabitants of the little town of Chilmark, on the Island of Martha's Vineyard, tlilrty-slx, or almost one-quarter, are congeultally deaf and dumb. The town records show thai two of the original settlers of tho place, away back in the seventeenth century, 1 were deaf and dumb, nud the infirmity lias thus been transmitted to our own day. Tills hereditary intiuence shows no plan of uniformity in its workings, deaf and .dumb parents having children In full possession of all their senses, -% and vice versa. This peculiar commun ity, shut in from the outside world, is, however, alive to all the social and po litical Influences of the time ami does not differ in great degree from tho thou sand and one secluded villages which dot our New England hills and shore line. It affords, however, ample oppor tunity for the minute investigation of both the sociologist and tlie student of evolution and physiological heredity.— Boston Transcript. Little Ethel—Why is it womons is al ways complainin' about the hired girls Little Dot—Oh, that's just so folks will know they can afford to keep one. Suitor—l have come to ask for your daughter, sir. Father—Take her, young man. You are tlio duly one who want (id more than my daughter's hand..
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers