Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Willamette farmer. (Salem, Or.) 1869-1887 | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1875)
2 WILLAMETTE FARMER. i i ! I i ! !l TfjE HE Circle. If We Knew. U we knew the carea and crosses. Crowding round out neighbor's way, If we knew the little losses'. Sorely jr le vou day by day, Would we then so often chide htm For bli lack of thrift snd Rain, LeaTiuii on hie lieart a shadow. Leaving on our Uvea a stalnt If wc knew the clouds above us, IJcld by Rrntlo blessings there, Would we turn away all trembling In our blind and weak despair? Would we shrink from little shadows, Lying on the drowsy pros, While 'tis only birds of Eden, Just In mercy flying past? If we kntw the silent story, Quivering through the heart of Cain, Would our miLhood dare to doom him Back to haunts of guilt again? LI lo hath many a tangled crossing, Joy hath many a break of woe, And the checks, tear-washed, are whites This the blessed angels know. Lot ub reach Into our bosoms For the key to other lives, And with loo toward erring naturo, Cherish good that still survives, So (hat when our disrobed spirits Hoar to realms of light again, W may say, dear Father, Judge u. As we Judgo our fellow men. Husband and Wife in Kansas. Iu the Rural, of April 10th, I find the fol lowing: "In Kansas, the husband and wife, nnder the law, enjoy equal rights and privi leges in all things, save tbo right to eltctive franchise. The wife holds nil the property sbo had ut the timo of her marriage, and all she acquire afterward in her own right, tbe same as tbo husband does. The wife may buy, sell, trade and carry on bu-iness in her own name, the game tin her husband. And when she dies her property descends, one-half to her bUBbaud and onf-nalf to lu-r children, and it no children, then the whole goes to her hus band. The same rule appliiB to wife and ohildren in case of the death of tbo husbaud," The statement that, "in Kansas, husband and wife, nnder the law, enjoy equil rights and privileges in all things, except the elective franchise" is not true, and never can bo of any State in the Union, while the fundamental law of civil marriage is that of the English "com mon law." l'roudly in advance of. all the States, in the absolute equality of the bush in educational rights and privileges, Kansas must blush for her muiititl rode in presenco of Louisiana. In tbo treaty by which our Government ac quired Louisiana, it was stipulated that the English common law of marriage should not supersedo Spanish luw and custom in that ter ritory. And nowhere uro tbo social amenities of the domestio relations more marked than iu the homes of Louisiana, where as wife or widow ur mother, woman is the peer of man iu those relations. As fur as it Roes, the above statement of KanFas law is correct, but tho writer neglected to state was perhapB ignorant of the fact that the property actmrnuluted, or preserved intact, by the joint industry of husband and wife, is tho husband's, to manage, uso or give away (except to his wifo), ot bis pleasure. If tho husband neglects to defend it, the wife may suo mid defend, iu her own name, as it single. At tho husband's decease, one-half of his property tbo joint earnings being pro batod, iib part and p ircol of bin property de scends to his widows, who enjoys it, not aa n wife's right, but a widow's. He cannot by will, dispossess her of this. If she dieH first, her share, of tho joint earnings is not divided to hir children by him even. lint at his decease, his children take half; and if he leaves a sec ond wife, the second wife's children by him, take tho Hln.ro of the joint earnings, which, if probate laws had distributed the estate at her doooaso, as at his, wi.uld have desemded to the first wifo's children. The Kansas widow holds the homettoad, if there tie one-, till she uiarnos, or till taojoiuig est child is Ucuty-oue jearsof age; iu either oaso the homestead is divided, and she receives one-half. Or if it cannot be dhidod without detriment to tho interests of the heirs it can bo forced to silo, and instead of a liemi "spbortt" endeared to her by the sweetest as sociations of her life, the widow too old, per haps, anil feeble to make and beautify a now home rrrt'lM'g emo half of the proceeds, ("Very hard iwdi," oven though it may be ex pressed by legal tendor notes.) Tho widower may many a dozen women in funeral succession, and all his children attain their needed majority, jet ho is not disturbed in bis possession of a "homo sphere" of 100 ncros, with impioemeuts of unlimited value. (Tho Louisiana widow holds one-half the estate, her "dot" or dower, which could not be alionated from htr or embarrassed during hor husband's life, in her own right, and the use of the other half during life, with tho custody and support of the minor children ) All persoual property exemptions vest iu the husband, as "head of tho family." He may sell, mortgage or give away exempted personal property from tho "milch cow" to tho notor ious "bid and board" without consent of the wife, it they were not bought with her sep arate funds. At decease of tho husband, tho personal property exemption, which, in Kan sas, is very liberal ests iu the widow, if she maintains the position of head of a family. (Aud hero let me call attention to tho fact, that a large class of wives especially iu tho great centers of commerce aud manufactures hoe husbands are renters only of roal estate, enjoy neither homestead rights, nor equivalent secu rities iu pereoual property.) It i true llx-tt the Kansas wife "holds all the property she had at the time of her marriage, and all she acquins afterward, aud may buy, sell, trade aud eiiiry ou business, the same as her husband. " Hut her right to acquire is subject to the "coniuion-luw'' right of the bus baud ta her personal services and the mails thoreof. And this right of the huBbaud holds against all wives, sinoe tho statute right to hold property, buy, sell, trade, etc, does not exempt any wife from her obligation of personal ser vice, nor divest any husbaud of his tight to manage, use and dispose of the property accu mulated by such service; or of his right to dlotate a plaoe and mode of living, and home associations to which hi wife mutt conform. Most women marry before they are of au ago to have acquired property by their own efforts. But all wit esuuder this law of personal service contribute to the estate in common, earning! equivalent, at least, to the wages received by unmarried women for like services. But to gain legal coutrol of any portion of these earn ing they must beoome widows. A few women have property at marriage, and a small proportion of the whole number acquire property afterward by inheritance, bequest or gift. To such, the right to hold and use prop erty is of ine stimable value. It is both capital and credit. It is more it 1 legal existence, springing--phoenix likefrom legal death. For tail woman, who. without property in her own rioht. waa iu Judicial uhrase "dead in law." is made alive by it possession; abe can aue and be eued In 'iu Interest, as if she were a single woman. But so far as the mass of mar rieel women are concerned those who have only earnings in the common estate, with no surplus energies, and no genius for remunerative indus tries, outside of the kitchen and nursery the right to "buy, sell, trade and carry on business in their own name," is about as valuable as a COO acre sheep ranch in the mountains of the moon, with not a sheep to pnt on it. Their time and energies may be taxed to the utmost in rearing children and keeping the house; yet these women the first necessity of home and Stale are virtually paupers! They have no property rights; board, clothing and medicine The Pauper's Provision, Being tho sole legal claim of the wife, in every Slate, except Louisiana, in consideration of housewifely service, rendered to the hus band. The personal services of tho wife, bo ing the riyhlot the husband, she cannot legally acquire anything in such service. Even with the right to buy, sell, etc., she cannot hold bo much as a pet lamb the gift of her husband against bis creditors or heirs, even though it be made to appear, that at the time of the giv ing, the estate of the husband was greatly in excess of his indebtedness, and bis heirs abundantly able to provide for themselves. a Din wnlcn was introduced in tne Kansas Legislature empowering husband and wife to deod property and niako gifts to each other, under conditions guardiug the rights of credi tors was defeated, the most weighty objec tion reported, being by a gentleman of refine ment and culture, that he "dieln'f toant to make men of womenl" As if poor imbecile! he had ih- power. The constitutional provision recognizing the libt ot the wife to her property and earnings is general in its terms and explicit enough to justify the enactment of equal laws; aud I be lieve now as I believed when laboring for its adoption, that divested of their Died Scott frame of mind, Kansas courts would sustain the appeal of a wife in behalf of all her rights iu property and earnings, as a constitutional franchise. The present Ohief Justice, the first eltcted under the constitution, and whose in flui noe on legislation is the natural result of hiB official position, was a member of the con vention and bitterly opposed to "women's rights." As tho writer of the article in question con fined bis statement ta property rights, I have done tbo same, only noticing the wife's per sonal status in its property connections. The spirit moves me to add, by way of con clusion, that our law of civil marriage, the growth of an ago iu which brute force ruled, whether for good or ill, and weak men'and weak er women found their bost estate as vassals and wards of the stronger, which law descended to us from monarchical England, liko a dead fly embalmed in honey, is now the "bend tints ter" of our Republican Government. When tho peison and property of the wife were tho husband's to figbt for and die for, as against his ueighbors and fellow subjects, her rights of person and property were, by com mon oonsont, vested in him, as were the rights ui uiiuurM iu iwri'iuB uuu guaruians; oom classes being the wards of those on whom they wore dopendent for protection. Tho orphan daughter of the noble, though pist her nii noriiy, was the ward of the king, who gavejher in marriage to whom he ploased. This, then, when humanity's best was achieved and held by brute force, was woman is best estate. But in nu ago when humanity's best is achioved and utilized by christianized moral aud intellectual to ces, ot wntcb lorcis woman is the leserve corps, to hold every Tuermopybo aftatnst licensed aud unlicensed tin and shame, whon brute forco has become the last appeal and tho lowest rung iu civil government, and the citizen may no longer use it to avenge who or child, but must rely upon civil powers for their protection and his own, to remain the ward of irresponsi ble guardians ( which under tho common Inn- husbands ure), and be legislated for on the baso of a barbarous non-age, is woman's worst ostate; and tho legal impersonality of the wife, iu view of the incieaied responsibilities and uoeds entailed by inairiaae. is as impolitic for the Htutu as it is unjust to her Let the chiof magistrato of any State in the Union, officially rocommend, and persist in advocating, the en actment of laws giving the personal custody and earnings of adult single women to father brother, or friend, to bo held and controlled by such relative or friend, so long as they remain siuglu and ho would be consigned to an in sauo asylum. But this is just what our law of civil marriage does for oury single woman, (who in ovory Slate of the Union enjoys the same personal and property rights as a single man,; tne moment sne marries, with this dif ference, that only by divorco or widowhood can she regain tho custody of her own person and personal earnings rights enjoyed by men' married or single, during lifo. Why our fathers, in thrusting the British yoko from their own shoulders, should have loft the baiter of the sort around the necks of their wivts, is not difficult to answer. Just as tho Kansas Constitutional Convention, which had a clear majority in favor of woman nut frage, dared not drop "male" as a qualification for the elective franchise lest the adoption of tho constitution should be defeated by us po litical opponents, so our revolutionary fathers strong in the co-operating trust and devotion of the women of the Colonies -under tho ap prehension of ondless discussion aud disaffec tion of a domestio and theological character, which would bavo oomplioated and possibly de feated their efforts for the establishment of a federal goterument, very natdrally trusted ihe burden of woman's enfranchisement to the uu conquered future. For it should be remem bered that marriage, as an Anglo-Saxon insti tution, was uot ouly tho creation of civil power that recognized might as the superior right, but it was also the ward of an equally despotic church. And civilian nud churchman, lliouph merged iu free church aud free States, had not vet cast their subjective habits and customs, but carried tho prejudices of both, side by Bide with Ibeir improved theories of freo govern ment. Does tho reader usk for the remedy, as seen from a wonmi's standpoint of experience aud observation? An earnest believer in the divine uuitios of tha marriage relation, I answer it is that husliaud aud wife be legally recognized as joiut partueis ami proprietors in the common estate; their rights, responsibilities aud obliga tions iu their relations to each other and to their children, the same aud equal; no notes, endorsements, or other obligations affecting the corutuou iuterest, to be valid without the signa ture or conseut of both ; at the deoeaae of either, oue-balf the estate to become the property of the survivor, with tho management aud use of the other half and the guardianship and sup port of the children. Or that the present law, compelling the settlement and distribution of the estate at the decease of the husband, be annulled, and the widow like the widower be left in undisturbed possession of the home wbioh is declared to be her " sphere," and the children her "peculiar responsibility." Mrs. C. 1, 11. SUhoU. in Sural Press. Miubbin usee to say that the greatest com plimeut she ever received far greater than the bouquets thrown upon the stage amidst the bravo of entbusiaitle audiences waa when upon one occasion, as she was riding through soma green Une near Highgate, and humming an air from Jfald of Ariois, two drovers stopped, lls'ened. and exclaimed. "Well, she can siugt" SnracLAB ANnrATmi-s. Chambers' Journal notices some carious aversions with which va rious emincntpeople have been afflicted for it surely is an affliction to be unablo to endure the scent of fragrant flowers or the sight of de licious fruits. The composer Gretry and Lady Heneag (bed-chamber woman to Queen Eliza beth) could not remain in it room which con tained a single lose, and it is add of the latter that her cheek was once blistered bv bavins a white rose laid upon it while she slept, 'ihe Princess deLambulIo was well-nigh thrown into convulsions by tbo sight of a violet ; tansy was abominable to an Earl of Barrymore ; Scaliger paled before water-cresses, and there is authen tic record of a soldier, otherwise brave, who would incontinently run from a sprig of me. "To these instances," says the Boston Advtr User, " we can add one equally strange, whioh came within our own knowledge. The late General Bichard A. Pierce, who was Inspeotor General of Massachusetts during the latter years of the war, and who was also tbe commandant of the recruiting rendezvous at Beadville, could not bear to look at an apple of any description. His aversion to this wholesome fruit was so great that he could detect its presence in a room, even if it was' concealed, nud it is said that when a boy at school, he has been made ill by sitting in tbe seat witb a companion wno bad apples iu his pockets. It is within our knowl edge that his servant once having inadvertently placed a dish bf apples on tho' table with the dessert, General Fierce was obliged to ex ouse himself to his guests and leave the room." The Giro, Wno Wins The timo has passed when woman must be pale and delicate, to be called interesting when she must be totally ignorant of all practical knowledge, to be called refined and well bred when she must know nothing of the current political news of tbe day, or be called masculino or strong-minded. It is not n sign of high birth or refinement to be sickly or ignorant. Those who affect anything of the kind are behind the times, and must shako up and air themselves mentally and phys ically, or drop under the firm strides of common-sense ideas and be crushed into uttor in significance. In these days, an active, rosy faced girl, with brain quick and clear ; warm, light heart ; a temper quickly heated at intended insults or injury, and just as quick to forgive ; whose feet can run as last as her tongue, and not get out of breath; who is not afraid of freckles, nor to breathe tho pure air of heaven unre strained by the drawn curtains of a olose car riage; and, above all, who can speak her mind and give her opinion on important topics wbioh interest intelligent people is the true girl who will make a good woman. Tbis is the girl who wins iu those days. Even fops and dandies, who strongly oppose woman's rights, like a woman who can talk well, even if she is not handsome. They weary of the most beautiful creatnre, if she is a fool. They say : " Aw, ya-as 1 she Is a beauty, and no mistake. But she won't do for me lacks brains !" for which commodity, it would seem, she could have little use in her association with them. However, to please even an empty headed fop, a woman must have brains. Ants vebsos Catkbpillabs. The Belgian Official Journal, referring to the icnoraut con duct of those who destroy all kinds of birds and insects indiscriminately, insists on the necessity of children in primary schools being taught to distinguish between useful and noxious insects, and thus to exercise their destructive faculties against tbe latter only. The writer proceeds to say that the ant, which is very disagreeable and inconvenient in many lespects, does excellent service in chnsiqg and destroying caterpillars with relentless energy. A farmer who had no ticed this fact, and had had his cabbages literally devoured by caterpillars, at last hit upon the expedient of having an ant hill, or rather nest, such as abound iu pine forests, brought to his cabbage plot. A sackful of tho pine points, abounding in ants, was obtained tn'l its contents strewn around tbo infested cabbage plants. Tbe ants lost no time, but immediately set to work ; they siezed tbe caterpillars by their beads. The next day heaps of dead caterpillars were found, but not one alive, nor did thev re turn to the cabbages The value of ants is well i known iu Germany, and although their ogas I areingreit request as food for yoUDg part- i liiges, pheaants, and nightingales, there is a lino against taking them from tbe forests. The ant is iudef digable in hunting its prey ; it climbs to the very tops of trees, and destroys an immenss quantity of noxious insects. t. DKsroNPKNov. What is the cause of des pondency? What is Ihe meaning of it? Tbe cau-e is a weak mind, and the meaning is sin. Nature never intended ihat one of her creatures should be the victim of a desire to feel and look tho thunder-cloud. Never despond, lor one of tha flrt entrances of vice to the heart is made through tho instrumentality of despondency. We cannot expect all our days and hours to be gilded as suushine, we must not, for mere mo mentary griefs, suppose that they are to be en shrouded in the mist of misery, or clouded by lnB opacity oi sorrow and misfortune. , , . wrocn, cspociuiiy 111 comparatively sinootn wa- eioukd in His Own Balance. A shop ter, lifo belts would furnish a means of tern keeper purchased of an Irishwoman a quantity porary safety until boots were got ready on of butter, the lumps of which, intended for . shore. Tney would have done so in the case pounds, he weighed in the balance and found of the Northjltet, and in the still more recent wanting. "Shuro it's your own fault if they instance of the Schiller. But the life belts are light, said Biddy in reply to tbe complaints i must be genuine, and not pretexts for the nur- of tho buyer. "It's your owu fault, sir; for wasn't it with a pound of your own so.ip I bought here myself that I weighed them with?" The shopkeeper had nothing more to say on that subject. Thk newspaper is the baudmaid of civiliza tion. No family can maintsin its placo in so ciety without it. The mau needs it for infor mation about marketa aud politics; the woman needs it as a diversion from her household cares aud family duties; the youug need it both for amusement and instruction. Thousands of families can take but a single newsuan.r: and that one should be commended to their cousid-' eration wnicn r-est meets all tbeir needs. In removing the spire of a church at Port- land, Me,, the hermetically healed copper ball ' on its summit was openeel, and found to con-' tain a variety of odds and ends not altogether j- iuikiuui .i.uoi. ii wuum seem mat, before tho ball was sealed, the workmen emp- tied their pockets into it, us among its contents A Cow with a Wooden Lad. An English country paper records the following fast: A yonng oow on the farm of Mr. Wilson, iu Bor rowdale, Cumberland, recently broke her' leg. It waa am pouted, and a wooden leg supplied, and she is riow wauling about and doing well. To an ordinary Maasachusetti man, hi home is now as uothing unless he has banging bshlnd the stove "the 'riginal flint-lock that grandfather fired tha first shot o' the revolu tion with." What is that of which some will be left even when you have taken tbe whole? The word wholesome. It It easj enough to start a daily or weekly paper. Keeping it going is what exercises the uventive genins. The Army Overcoat. There are many in this vicinity who wear blue army overcoats. We went down to the wood market the ether day to buy a load of wood. Among the Grangers there oar heart went out toward one with a tattered, soiled, blue army overcoat. We gazed at his weather beaten face and thought, "It is to such, as these that tbe nation owes its life. That strong arm may have upheld the flag at Gettys burg, or a ball from its trusty rifle may have unhorsed a rebel oommander, and turned-the tide of battle in tho Wilderness." As we bar gamed for his load of wood and saw his eye kindle with the old flame, we did not hesitate to trade with this hero. We thought it was more blessed to give a dollar to a soldier for a load of scraggy wood than to dwell iu tee tents of the wicked, and as he drove up the street with the wood, we followed him with much the feeling of a private following a victorious gen eral. When the wood was unloaded we said to Um : "Comrade, tell us in what department you served your country during the unholy rebel lien?" The old flame came again to his eye, and as he stood upon tho hind end of his wagon and with his whip tickled the off mule's ear, be said: "Rebellion! I went to Canada before the first draft. I traded a bottle of whiskey for this overcoat with a veteran who lost both arms. G'lang, Beecher! Get up, Liz!" And the hero left us sitting on the raptged edge of that four dollar water elmwood sigh ing. But he was out of reach of those box toed shoes. 0a8Tt.no Oct toe Devil by Eleotbicity. The recent celebrations at Northumberland and Birmingham, of tbe eentennary of the dis covery of oxygen by Dr. Priestley, brought out many curious incidents inhis career, and num berless anecdotes; we select the following as characteristic: While he was a minister at Leeds, Massachusetts, a poor woman who la bored under tbe delusion that she was possessed by a devil, applied to him to take away the evil spirit which tormented her. The doctor attentively listoued to her statement and en deavored to convince her that she was mis taken. AH his efforts proving unavailing, he desired her to call tho next day, and in the meantime he would consider her case. On the morrow the unhappy woman was punctual in her attendance. His electrical apparatus being in readiness, with great gravity he desired the woman to stand upon the stool with glass legs, at the samo time putting into her hand a brass chain connected with the conductor, and hav ing chaiged her plentifully with electricity, he told her very seriously to take particular notice of what he did. He then took up a discharger and applied it to her arm, when the escape of electricity gave her a pretty strong shock. "There,5' she said, "the devil's gone; I saw him off in that blue, flame; and he gave me such e jerk as he wont off. I have at last got rid of him, and I am now qnito oomfortable." Woman and Wobk. The late Mrs. Henry M Field said: "Work, and if vou cannot work with your brain, work with your hands, brave ly, opeuly, keeping your self-respect aud your independence. Work was never meant to be a curse or a ebam; it is tbe surest element of growth and happiness. With woman rests es pecially tho power to right her own sex as to this absurd prejudice, by working herself, when gifted with great powers, and recognizing with a real sympathy the work, however hum ble, of other women. If she posseses wealth, talent, or station, let her greet with womanly gentleness the timid young teacher, the obscure artist, the humble sewing girl, quick to recog nize with unerring feminine taat signs of edu c ition and refinement- indulgent to the want of it. A NAitnow guage man who has been laboring since the passage of the Wisconsin State law, finally produces the following: Broad is the gauge that IcadB to death, And thousands sink their money there; But Wisdom shows tho narrow path That saves on freight and passen ger. Monmouth, Oregon, is a village containing only forty houses, and yet boaBts of nine or gaus, three pianos, and a musical instrument not classified a cross between a piano and a melodeon. There is also a band of fourteen. performers and a number of guitars, violins" uuies uuu ho loriu. Mb. A1.VAH Doooe, of Antrim (N. H.), has a calf four weeks old whioh has no tail, sits on uis uiuu legs ana jumps iiko a raooit so says an exchange. Thk Common Council of Springfield have Sassed an order that all the doors in the school ouses in that city shall open outward. A good idea. Death BEWs.-Frequently. in cases of ship. i -.. . -: : i .! - . puDi ui uKunuK iu uuverusemenis as proois 01 the care taken by tbe owners for the lives of meir passengers, unose lound upon the bodies of tbe Schiller's victims appear to have been of toe tatter sort, consisting, as tbey did, of a few Blabs of cork fastened together and to the per son by one or two pieces of tape, and were thus worse than useless to a. good bwimmer; for it is stated that those who .recovered the bodies declare that In very many instances they were found with the head under water and heels in the air, showing that the belts had really drown ed instead of supporting the unfortunates who had trusted to them, by droDnin? down m. wards their hips. In tbis way scores of dead bodies were nicked ud in tha watnr . bav08avedthe MfiPThtf. tnCtM' WuW "aved the life of -be wearer. Bkssemeb Stkel in Sweden. According - - f, 1 w " n vaatatAAK late accounts there are now thirteen Bessemer sieei wor&s in operation in Sweden. In most of the works great attention is being paid to the production of extremely soft steel for th the reason that, fur the aako nf nnnm i duction, tbe Bessemer steel converters are fed direct from the blast furnace. A good and uni form steel has not yet been produced direct from the ore; although it is a most important step in the progress of iron manufacture to turn oat even a very inferior steel by thatchean and rapid process. The possibilities of the fu ture in this direction are highly encouraging Meteoboloot. Experiments were made In Franoe last year to test bow far tbe humidity of the atmosphere is affected by forests. One set of instruments for recording humidity waa placed in the forest, and the otier in the open air. a short distance off. The records showed that more rain feU each month in the forest than in the open air, and the total rainfall for six months was seven and one-half inches in tte forest, and in the open field less than seven Yodfiq Folks' CoLUpfi. Mittens. Do you want to know why little childron wear mittens, , and not gloves, like grown per sons ? Listen, and I will tell you. Once upon a time a mother went out, and said to the five little fingers: "Ohildren, when I am not at home, behave well, and do what I tell you. If you are kind, add obedient I will bring each of you a little 'house, where you can live when it is cold winter." "O mother ! " exclaimed the five fingers, we will mind; only tell us what we must do," Then their mother answered: "The forefinger matt point abroad, The middle finger can only nod, Tha third finger strict guard muat keep, Less the little one into mischief creep, And the baby thumb must watch and see. That all tbe rest obedient be." "Now go, mother dear,' said the forefinger, -" I'll certainly be attentive, and point prettily, if you will "only bring me something." Then the middle finge'r cried out, " I will promise to be polite'and now nicely if you will bring' me a little, house, too, for I'm the big gest ono !" "l-wiii certainly iteep waicnj-inai my little mine must bo prettier than all the rest and then I won't make a bit of noise." But the baby thumb only said, "mother, dear, I will do just what you say!" But their mother had only been gone a few minutes, when tbe forefinger exclaimed "It is very stupid and tedious to be so good, and to point all the time. I want to rest a minute." So he lay down. "Ah, you lazy thing!" replied the middle finger; "it is much more fatiguing to be so in dustrious, arid bow all the time," and he was going to lio down, too; but the foreflnzer jumped up, and gave him a blow, crying, Vhow aore you nna iauic witn mei xou are lazy yourself, you wicked boy?," Then the middle finger struck him again, the forefinger returned it; and who knows how long they might have fought, if the ling finger had not called out: "Arn't you ashamed of yourselves! One of you is as bad as tbe other. See how I torture myself, and stand here, keeping watch all the time. I mean to stop and rest, and let you great fellows keep guard over your, little brother!" "wnatl exclaimed tne forefinger and mid dle finger, "you little ro2uo. do vou nretend to dictate and find fault with your brothers? there, stop now!" Then they both began to beat the ring finger. Ho turned with all his strength, und struck the little finger, which be bad the care of. The little one gave a dreadful scream, and began to scratch, as well as he could. But just as tbey were in the hottest of the ficht tbe dooronened and the mother came in. Oh, how frigbtenedi the nauchtv fincers were ! They hung their heads, and were so ashamed they could not speak. inauy, tne middle oncer, said that the fore finger was lazy, and he would not allow it. But the forefinger laid the blame on the mid dle finger, and said he began the quarrel. The ring finger blamed them both, and the little finger complained of all ' Then the mother spoke, and said: " You are four naughty, disobedient children, who deserve to be punished. See here, what I have brought for you!" And she drew a beautiful glove out of her pooket. On it was found five houses, just as large as the five fin gers. One was for the thumb, one for the forefinger, one for the middle finger, and one for the little finger. , "But you cannot have thee pretty houses now," said the mother. Then she went out, and soon returned with auother kind of glove. "Look !" she exolaimed, "this has only one separate house, which belongs entirely to little thumb, because he is good and obedient. You others must live together, and as soon as you beoome kind and obedient, then you shall have a house of your own." And there it was; the four fingers' might en treat as muon as they could, it would not help them. Ever since this time, so many little children wear mittens; bnt when they grow tall, and become good, then they can wear gloves. A'eio Covenant. . Ui U ho First Made and Named Kerosene. A correspondent mentions to us that the word "kerosene" originated with the Dowse Kerosene Oil Co. of Boston. This is an error. It was Abraham GeBner, who, in 1844, distilled an oil from coal in Prince Edward island, and who was the first to give it tbe name of kerosene; while James Young, of Glasgow, in troduced tbis manufacture into England. It was in 1847 that his attention was directed to the extraction of an oil from the petroleum which was found in a coal mine in Derbyshire; and whon this was exhausted, he distilled the oil from Boghead cannel coal, and was quite successful in making, in 1854, 8,000 gallons of kerosene a week, which sold for five shillings a gallon, making half a million dollars per year, much of which was clear profit. This result increased the ooal-otl works in England, while in the United States the first coal-oil works were erected, in 1854, on New town creek, Long island, by the Kerosene Oil Co., working under the patent of Mr. Young, who had also taken it out in the United States, In 185G tbe Breckenridge coal-oil works made kerosene from the cannel coal found there; and the same was done in Perry county, Ohio. In I860 there were not lesB than twenty-five suoh factories in Ohio alone. The Arnnlia,ma.,i, along the Atlantic ooast produced 200,000 bar rels, while the total value of the kerosene thus produced was estimated to be over two million dollars. Then the retroleum excifamxnf nm nA all tbe establishments commenced to make kerosene from crude petroleum instead of using coal. Kerosene being the only article for which there was any demand," the benzine sold at a very low price, while for the gasoline no price whatever could be obtained, so that in 1861, tbe largest works then in existence in the United States, those of Cozzens Brothers, in Greenpoint, Long island, burned the gaso lins all up by conducting it through a pipe to a safe distance aud discharging it in a swamp, where in this way a large fire was kept op, burning night and day for a loag time. Steel fob Bells. The greatly reduced price of steel is gradually introducing that metal into very general use. It baa of late been largely used for bells. One of its advantages for such purposes has been alluded to in a late German paper as follows: The three cast-steel bells which fell at the burning of the churoh of the German Reformed community at St. Petersburg have .again been hung, and are found to be none tha mru far uni i...,i endurance of a furnace-like heat. One of these bells, which was cast at tbe Bochunerverelns factory, has historic antecedents. It was pre sented to the St. Petersburg community after the invasion of Denmark bv the Kin of r. ,""" -" w mat it nas oeen again hung, it s proposed to change its name from King William, which it formerly bom m th. Km. '-K I f 5JSrMa mSv hMHw"M jm, peror Willum m --.., .v aaav - '