988
WEST SHORE.
EDWINA.
How she smiled when I came,
And those white finger tips,
Which I pressed, and her lips,
They were glowing with flame,
While her soft, silken hair
She unloosed, and it rolled
A bright banner of gold
Over shoulders so fair,
And, ah met what a sight
When a wind blew that way,
And the hair danced as spray
In a sea of sunlight 1
Herbert Babhfobd'.
COURT HOUSE AT PORT TOWNSEND.
ON the last page is given an engraving of the splen
did structure now being erected for Jefferson
county, Washington, in the city of Port Town
send. Contract for the building was recently
let for a total of $100,000, and work upon it will be
pushed with great vigor. The edifice was designed by
W. A. Ritchie, of Seattle, whose plans have been ac
cepted for half a dozen of the finest public buildings
now being erected in various cities of Washington.
The handsome, substantial and imposing appearance
of the structure can better be perceived from the en
graving than from any technical description. As to
its interior arrangements, it is sufficient to say that
Mr Ritchie has brought to bear upon it all his large
. experience in designing such buildings, as well as his
great novelty of conception and artistic taste. In
every particular of elegance, comfort, convenience,
lighting, heating, ventilation, safety and stability, the
building will be a model, and one to which Port Town
send can point with pride for many years to come.
Tho erection of such an edifice is an indication of
the progress Port Townscnd has been making the past
year. The city has increased at a rapid rate both in
business and population. Fine business blocks have
been erected, numerous handsome residences construct
ed and a number of largo industries founded. Work
on the Port Townscnd tfc Southern railroad is progress
ing at a rapid rato, and ere many months trains will
bo running between that city and Olympia, and soon
after to Portland. It is not to be expected that this
will bo the only road seeking a harbor on the Straits
of Fuca, and a terminal point at the customs port of
Puget sound. Both the Union Pacific and Northern
Pucifio aro credited with an intention to build lines of
this character, and surveys have been made in thPir
interests. The situation of Port Townscnd gives it a
commanding position in tho trade of Puget sound and
in foreign commerce, and those who rely upon this as
a reason for tho faith that is in them as to the bright
future for the city, are basing their opinion upon
premises that history has invariably proved to be correct.
HEAVING THE LEAD.
FROM time immemorial " those who go down to
the sea in ships " have taken some means of as
certaining the depth of water beneath their ves
sels when running in shallow and unknown seas
and so far back as any record goes this means has
been a weight attached to a rope. This is technically
known as " heaving the lead," the name " lead " be
ing given to the weight, because originally a common
piece of that metal was used. Now the lead is es
pecially prepared for the purpose, and is a hexagonal
pyramid varying in weight from five to fifteen pounds,
and has a cavity in the bottom into which soap is
pressed for the purpose of . bringing up samples of the
ground at the bottom of the sea so its nature can be
ascertained.
In heaving the lead on a sailing vessel the leads
man stations himself well forward near the cathead.
On steamers there is generally a small platform at the
bow from which the lead is heaved, such as appears, in
the engraving on the first page, which shows a scene
of this character on board an ocean steamer entering
the Columbia river. The leadsman whirls the lead
around by the line and-casts it as far in front of the
vessel as possible. By the time the vessel has pro
gressed as far as the lead the latter has reached the
bottom, and tho slack of the line being taken in un
til it is taut, the depth of the water is shown by the
fathom figure on the line at the surface.. In crossing
a bar, or in shallow water whose exact nature is not
known, the lead is kept constantly going, and the
course of the ship is regulated by what it reveals of
the depth of water and the nature of the bottom.
m m
A community is at a very low moral tide when the
question of whether a candidate for office will be per
mitted to live until election day is even suggested.
Bourbonism is gradually, undermining itself in the
south by its own arrogance and brutality, and every
murder committed knocks down another prop by alien
ating the better element from its support. The time
is rapidly coming when the southern fire-eating bour
bon will have to give way to the more liberal and po
litically honorable branch of the democratic party in
the south. Fear of negro supremacy is all that pre
vents this to-day, and even this can not much longer
cause the better element, who are really in a majority
among the white population, to endure bourbon domi
nation and violence. With them tho intelligent blacks
aro uniting for their own good.