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About The Albany register. (Albany, Or.) 1868-18?? | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1874)
rmisHtn evf.rt. rnuAY by COLL. VV:N CLKVE. ALBANY, OREGON. "T " ' THE YOUNG FOLKS. Tlic Sclioo)tiiiter Sleep. Tiit fcehrtoimaMer wa wvury. Wast weary, old ami gray ; .A:1 hfaviut'.R came or him Gpoa that summer day A hf avirees of spirit, Aud namtle-s sene of pain, He Struggled i ard t" baliieh, BB1 elruggltrt all in vain. The drowsy eohool-room murmur He licartl, anil, In liia trance, .He kn-w h.s Hcl.ool were watching face with stealthy glance He knew, and. for a moment. He roused himself again. To battle1 uil tne stniwr Tnat eruithed his weary brain. IB " afn : for, with the effort, His bead dropped on hi. breast, His breath caxue faint and fainter. And eooa he sank to Mat. And tboi are an mroar ! And botradleae was the glee Ameog inose little schlars, The y.-Loolruaster toaee. The dunce tries all hlf a st-.cs, His vacant stare and grin. To si:r. one shout of laug iter, And multiply the din. See. how he points his flpjrer At the master's fare so white, Ar.d rolls his eyes and chatters, With ludicrous affright ! A::? the little urchins And maidens shout with joy; t.d. with the tears of laughter, Cl v, M V"hat a funny hoy I " Ar. jittr now was passtn;. And still the master slept : At : grentes irew the tumult 1 .-se .ittie scholars kept Until a little maiden, V.'hi watched the hazard face, T:th grave concern and wonder. Stole eoJ'tiy from her p. ace r-'t Ie coftly to the master, And gently touched his heat1, Ai.-'i started buc'-r in terror T3u chcilinxtr ten daJ ! A Girl and a Gun. A short distance beyond the place distance beyond where Kate had been left there -was a small by-path ; and when, still care- fully carrying her (ran, she reached this j path, Kate stopped. Here would be a good place, she thought, to wait for ; tKime. Something would surely come j into that little path, if she kept herself concealed. So she knelt down behind a small bush that grew at a corner of the two paths, and putting her gun through the bush rested the barrel in a crotch. The gun now pointed up the by-path, and there was an ojienihg in the bush through which Kate could see for some distance. Here, then, she watched and waited. The first thing that crossed the path "was a very little bird. It hopped down from a twig, it jerked its head about, it pecked ai something on the ground, and then flew up into a tree. Kate would not have s-bot it on any account, for she knew it wan not good to eat ; but she could not help wondering how people ever did shoot birds if they did not "hold still" any longer than that little creature did. Then there appeared a small brown ; lizard. It came very rapidly right down ; the path toward Kate. "It it comes all the way, " thought t Kate, " l shall have to jump. But it did not come all the way, and Kate remained quiet. For some time no living creatures, except butterflies and other insects, showed themselves,. Then, all of a sud den, there popped into the middle of the path, not very far from Kate, a real, live rabbit. It was quite a good-sized rabbit, and Kate trembled from head to foot. Here was a chance indeed ! To carry home a fat rabbit would be a triuniuh. She aimed the gun as straight toward the rabbit as she could, having shut the wrong eye several times before she got the matter arranged to her satisfaction. Then she remembered that she had not cocked the gun, and so she had to do that, which of course, made it necessary for her to aim ali over again. She cocked only one hammer, and she did it so geutlly that it did not frighen the rabbit, although he flirted his ears a little when he heard the "click, click!" Everything was so quiet that he prob- . ably thought he heard some insect, probably a voting or ignorant cricket that did not know how to chirp prop erly. So he sat very still and nibbled at some leaves that were growing by the side of the path. He looked very pret ty as he sat there, taking his dainty lit tle bites and jerking up his head every now and theE, as if he were expecting somebody. "I must wait till he's done eating," thought Kate. " It would be cruel to shoot him now. " Then he stopped nibbling all of a sudden, as if he had just thought of something, and as soon as he remem bered what it was he twisted his head around and began to scratch one of his long ears with his hind-foot. He look ed so funny doing this that Kate came near laughing ; but, fortunately, she remembered that that would not do just then. When he had finished scratching one ar. he seemed to consider the question whether or not he should scratch the nthpr one : but he finally came to the conclusion that he wouldn't. He'd rather hop over to the other side of the path and see what was mere. This of course made it necessary Vat to take a new aim at him. for Whatever it was that he found on the other side of the path it grew under the ground, and he stuck his head down as far as he could get, and bent up his back as if he were about to try to turn a onmersanlt or to stand on his head. " How round and soft he is !" thought TTat " How I should like to pat him I wonder when he'll find whatever it is that he's looking for ! What a cunning little tail !" ThA cunning little tail was soon clapped flat on the ground, and Mr. t .oico,! riimoAlf iin and sat on it JDUUVjr -"s , . - . He lifted hie nose and his fore-paws in the air and seemed to be smelling something good. His queer little nose wiaeled so comically that Kate again me totv near bursting out laughing. " How I would love to have him for a pet I she said to herself. After sniffinsr a short time, the rabbit col to come to the conclusion that he was mistaken after all, and that he didn't really smell anything so very srood. He seemed disappointed, how ever for he lifted up one oi nis ntth f nnJmwB and rubbed it across his eyes, T nsrhnm he wasn't so very sorry, w lv felt like taking a nap, for he stretched himself out as far as he could, and then drew himself up in a bunch, oo ; k were ttome to sleep. " I wish he wouldn't do that,' thought TTo atnrirnslv. " I don't want to shoot him in his sleep." But Bunnv wasn't asleep. He was thinking, lie was trying to make up his niiud about something. There was no wav Of finding out what it was that he was trviug to make up Ins mind about, lie might have been wondering why some plants didn't grow with their roo'ts uppermost, so that he could get at them without rubbing his little nose in the dirt ; or why trees were not good to eat right through trunk and all. Or he might have been trying to determine whether it would be better for him to go over to 'Lijah Ford's garden and try to get a bite at some cabbage leaves, or to run down to the field jnst outside of the woods, where he would very likely meet a certain little girl rabbit that he knew very well. Hut whatever it -was, he had no sooner made up his mind about it than he gave one big hop and was out of sight in a minute. "There!" cried Kate, "he's gone!" "I reckon he thought he'd guv you 'bout chance enough, Miss Kate," said a voice" behind her, and, turning hurriedly, she saw Uncle Braddock. " Why, how did you come here ?"she exclaimed. " I didn't hear you." ' ' Beckon not, Miss Kate' said the old man. "You don't s'pose I was agoiu' to frighten away yer game. I seed you a-stoopin down aimin' at somethin', and I jist creeped along, a little a time, to see what it was. Why, what did come over you. Misa Kate, to let that old har go? It was the puttiest shot I ever did see. " " Oh, I couldn't lire at the dear little thing while it was eating so prettily," said Kate, letting down the hammer" of the gun as easily as she could ; " and then he cut up such funny little capers that I came near laughing right out. I couldn't shoot him while he was so happy, and I'm glad I didn't do it at all." "All right, Miss Kate," said Unci Braddock, as he started off on his way through the woods ; " that nay be a werry pious way to go a-huntiug, but it won't bring you in much meat." When Harry oame back from hunting for the bee-tree, which he didn't find, he saw Kate walking slowly down the path toward the village, the gun under her arm, with the muzzle carefully pointed toward the ground. From " What Might Have Jlern Expected" by Frank It. Stockton, in Ot. Nicholas. The Mouse and the Bumble-Bee. There was once a bumble-bee who used to go every day to gather honey, and as he was most ef the time away from home, he could not keep his house neat and tidy. So he got a motherly- looking old mouse to keep house for him. The next day, after the mouse had finished her morning's work, and was out of doors to get a breath of fresh air, a muddauber came along. He said, " Good morning, Mrs. Mouse ! What are you doing here ?" She answered, "I am keeping house for Mr. Bumble-bee." " Can I come and live with you ?" said the muddauber. " Oh, no !" she replied, " We cannot have any one who daubs mud around the honse. So he went away. Then came a rat. "How are you, Mrs. Mouse?" said he, "I would like to live with you." " No, Mr. Rat, you cannot," said the mouse, " for you will eat our cheese and gnaw our table-cloths. " So the rat went away. He had just gone, when a large grey I hen came along. She also asked the mouse if she might live with her. j Then the mouse said, " What can you ! do, old hen ?" j The hen said she could lay a fresh ! egg every day. So the mouse told her she might stav. The hen soon found some straw and laid an egg. The mouse went to a neighbor's house and got some cheese. Just then the bumble-bee came home with some honey. So they had a fresh egg, some cheese and honey for dinner and they were all well pleased. St. Nicholas Some Facts About Leather. The President of the Boston Com mon Council, in a recent lecture upon leather, said that, during the year 1870. there were in the United States 4,237 tanneries and 3,082 currying establish ments, employing 30,811 men and using 1,255,340 cords of bark. A capital of $55,024,290 was invested in the business, and the aggregate sum of 812,088,530 was paid as wages to workmen. While the value of the iron business in the United States in 1870 was less than $100,000,000, of the cot ton trade less than 8178.000,000, of woolen goods less than 8208,000,000, the value of the leather business ex ceeded $286,000,000. The tanning business in Massa chusetts was only surpassed by New York and Pennsylvania. In the cur rying business Massachusetts was vast ly ahead of all other States, employing more than one-third of the men, and engaging more than one-fourth of the capital in the business in the country. Of 196 currying establishments in Massachusetts, 49 were in Salem and 134 were in Peabody. In 1875 JNew York and Boston received 3,444,778 hides, including 147,347 from domestic ports, principally from those of Texas. In 1873 Salem received 17,327 cords of bark, and Peabody 14.677 cords, re quiring 2,539 cars, or a train 17 miles in length, for transportation. In currying hides they are handled no less than 81 times before the leather is ready for the market. A Curious Chicken. P. A. Cashion, ot this county, had a chicken hatched about eighteen months ago. that was a gray on one side, run ning from the comb back to the tail, on the opposite side a deep black. It had a very heavy comb and a large wattle on the black side, a small one on tne gray ; a heavy spur on the left leg, and a light one on the right. It laid a dozen or more eggs, sat on them, and hatched find raised a brood of chickens, as any good hen would. After the chicks were weaned, it went into the rooster busi ness crowed regularly, fought the other roosters, got a number of wives and proceeded to assist them in their domestic affairs, as a good rooster should. By and by that is a week or two ago it laid down and died with the cholera. A post mortem examination disclosed the fact that on the gray side it was a nerfectlv developed hen, and on the black side a perfectly developed male These facts are vouched for by some of the best citizens of our county, and there can be no mistake about it. Dresden (Tenn.) Dem. Wicked Ingenuity. One of the sub tle methods of catching fish, employed for years by poachers in England, is to nil a large stone Dome wim qiuciuiuie, then to pour in water enough to nearly fill the jar, and cork it up, securing the cork to the neck of the bottle by copper wire. The bottle is thrown into the water, and the pressure, caused by the working of the lime, explodes the bottle and stuns the fish, which then float helplessly on the surface of the water. THE LESSONS OF THE WAR. j Gen. Sheruinu'it Hook An Abstract of the Laat Chapter. The Army and Navy Journal has been favored with the closing chapter , of what must needs be a very interest ing work, to wit : Oen. Sherman's memoirs of his personal and military experience during the war of secession. This chapter is substantially a sum mary of the General's conclusions as to the organization aud management of an army his recapitulation of the lessons of the war ; aud it will be readily agreed that the vieV3 of no other indi vidual in the army of the United States could be so valuable. Gen. Slierman prefaces his views con cerning the army with a reference to the singular inactivity and apparent apathy of the North, the predominant body of the Union, in viewing the early steps of disunion. At the outbreak of warlike preparations in the South he was at the head of a military college in Louisiana, and beheld men openly en listed officers appointed, and a state of war actually in existence in January, 1861 ; the forts of the Mississippi mouth being seized by troops, who hauled up' the State flag as -they hauled down the the Federal, and the United States arsenal at Baton Kouge being seized, its garrison turned out and its contents distributed. These, says Sherman, were as truly acts of war as the firing on Sumter, yet no public notice was taken thereof, and when, months after ward, he came North, and found no sign preparation. This is what convinced the people of the South that those of the North were pusUlanimous and cow ardly. Up to the hour of the firing on Fort Sumter our public men were blamable for not sounding the note of preparation. The war was thus begun with no adequate idea of the necessity of the case, and the organization of the army was piecemeal work. In considering the form of organiza tion best for peace as well as war, the General studies the subject in the light of experience. Without following him minutely, we give briefly his main ideas. He proposes no sweeping changes, but to make the present regu lar army serviceable as a standard for any contingent enlargement, with refer ence to the utmost convenience of use in war. The present organization of infantry regiments into ten companies he considers awkward; and would pre fer to make the infantry regiment, like the cavalry and artillery, consist of twelve companies, subdivided into three battalions of four companies each, leav ing each regiment with a practical war strength of 1,000 men. The triple di vision Gen. Sherman would extend throughout the service ; making three regiments a brigade, three brigades a division, and three divisions a corps ; and, allowing each infantry corps a brigade of cavalry and six batteries of artillery, a corps d'armee of 30,000 men would be formed. Thus you have the grand army ; the corps, the unit for campaigns and battle, commanded by a Lieutenant-General ; the division, the unit of administration, under u Major General ; the brigade, headed by a Brigadier-General ; the regiment, the family, whose Colonel should have a personal acquaintance with and interest in every man ; and the company, the unit of discipline, whose Captain should be appointed by the Colonel, not elected by the men. Thence Gen. Sherman turns his at tention to the subject of recruitment, and considers the usage during the civil war the " greatest mistake " made therein, in the fact that when a regi ment became reduced by service, in stead of filling its ranks and promoting its non-commissioned officers, new regiments and new officers were raised. Wisconsin, an exception among States, kept her regiment s filled with recruits ; and the result, says Sherman, was " that we estimated a Wisconsin regi ment equal to an ordinary brigade ; " the reason being, obviously, that the new men became speedily efficient, in stead of taking a year to break in. The General commends the German mode of recruitment as simply perfect ; and this is the only point of the great mili tary system of Germany whose adop tion he mentions as desirable. Passing over at present the interest ing matter ot provisioning and iur nishing sanitary and surgical treatment to the army, we note that Gen. Sher man finds that modern wars have not materially changed tho relative values or proportions of the several arms of the service, and he thinks that the only change that breech-loading arms will make will be " to increase the amount of ammunition expended," and "reduc battles to short, quick and decisive con flicts." It has often been said that, without railroads and telegraphs, this war of ours could not have been fought, and to this Gen. Sherman bears testimony of marked importance. Each army and wing, he says, should have a spe cial corps to put up and take down field wires for communication between the divisions of an army, and to repair, extend and operate the commercial tele graph lines. It would not, he thinks, be necessary to organize a special corps to work military railroads, because "in peace these men gain all the necessary experience, and possess all the daring and courage of soldiers. " Our war well proved that ; it is a matter of common fame how engineers and all the comple ment of track repairers, etc., were fur nished at call from our volunteer regi ments. Gen. Sherman dwells at lengthover his special cause of grievance, as it was Grant's and Winfield Scott's before him the divided government of the army. Tnis he considers the radical weakness of our whole system. He cites Mac Mahon's message to the French Assem bly, mode only last July, to prove that the overgrown and independent staff, which our army borrowed from theirs, was the prime military cause of the downfall of French imperialism in 1870. He recounts the hampering effect of the War Department red-tape, in the first year of the war, and shows that only the total disregard of all the army regu lations enabled the commanders to con duct the war to success. Congress, he says, must "utterly annihilate" the old law subordinatfng the Generals of the army to the Secretary of War, and the system which has grow", up un der it. A singtjiiAB circumstance is reported to us by a gentleman from Booneville, Ky., who is reliable authority, as hav ing recently occurred in that place. An old hen came off her nest with a brood of brand-new little chickens, hatched out all her eggs save one, which re mained in the nest. The old cat be longing on the premises took posses sion of the nest and oame off with a flock of little cats and a chicken, she having hatched out the remaining egg. The whole family are doing well. Del awake county, Pa. , has a venera ble cat 22 yt ars old, and a sheen ove whose wool 20 winters have passed. A Savage Lot of Bees. One of the terrors of the Nile traveler is bees ! At one time the adverse wind made it necessary that Dr.- Schwein furth's boat should be towed by the crew. As the rope was being drawn along through the grass on the banks, it happened that it disturbed a swarm of bees. In a moment, like a great cloud, they burst upon the men who were dragging. Every one of them threw themselves headlong into the water, and hurried to regain the boat. The swarm followed them, and in a few seconds filled every nook and cranny of the deck. Dr. Schweinfurth was sitting quietly in his rude cabin, arranging his botan ical specimens, when he heard a scam pering around the deck, which he at first took to be the usual frolicking of his people, but as the noise increased, he called out for an explanation of the disturbance. For an answer he re ceived only the cry of "Bees! bees!" Springing up he endeavored to light his pipe, hoping to protect himself with smoke, but it was too late ; the bees were already upon him. Thousands surrounded him and he was mercilessly stung all over his face and hands. He endeavored to protect his face with his handkerchief, but all to no purpose ; the more violently he flung his hands about the more violent became the im petuosity of the irritated insects. At length, almost maddened, he threw himself into the river, but the stings still rained down upon his head. He tried to gain the mainland, hoping to find shelter in the woods, but some of the faithful servants, knowing that course to be certain death, forced him back into the boat. Here he wrapped himself in a sheet, which, after he had crushed the bees inside, afforded him some protection. He crushed down in this way for full three hours, while the buzzing continued uninterruptedly, and solitary stings penetrated through the linen covering. Every one in the boat pursued the same course, and gradually the buzzing subsided. At length some courageous fellows crept stealthily to the banks and set fire to the reeds. The smoke which rose blinded and stupefied the bees, so that the boat was successfully driven beyond their reach. Free from further apprehension, the sufferers proceeded to examine their injuries. Some of the stings were extracted with pincers, but those which remained produced ulcers and even fever, which kept the whole boat's company in an uncomfortable state for several days. Captain Hall's Mysterious Death. When Capt, Hall's death was an nounced in May of last year, the theory was broached that he had been poisoned by an envious rival. Capt. Tyson was the sworn friend of Capt. Hall. Under peculiar circumstances Capt. Tyson and a few other persons were left on a floe of ice in the upper part of Baffin's bay, just as the long night of the arctic win ter was coming on, while all the officers and the remainder of the crew of the Polaris steamed into a protected cove. Through unparalleled hardship and suf fering Capt. Tyson's pcrty floated all winter on the ice, and were, more than six months after the separation, picked up 1,800 miles from their starting point by a fishing vessel. The story told by the rescued party was so extraordinary that the government had them all im mediately transported to Washington, and, separated from each other, took their depositions in regard to the death of Capt. Hall. The government officers undertook to silence the story of foul play toward Capt. Hall, and very little has been said about it since. That they were convinced by Capt. Tyson's state ment is evident from the fact that they, on the part of the government, placed Capt. Tyson in command of an expedi tion to search for the missing Polaris and the remainder of her crew. This would not have been done had not con fidence been placed in his statement. Tfce "Diary" of Capt. Tyson has at length been published. In intensity of interest no fiction ever surpassed it. That part of the diary written after sep aration from the Polaris was penciled in a pocket memorandum book, with al most froxen fingers the mercury con gealed and by the dim light of the northern borealis and an arctic moon. It bears internal evidence of truth, sim plicity and exactness. That part re lating to the antecedents of Hall's death had to be written from more slender data, his original memoranda having been left on board the Polaris. Who ever reads Tyson's statement in regard to tne jealousy of the olhcers, msubor dination of the crew, and the singular death of Capt. Hall, must be convinced that he was poisoned. The matter should not rest here. The government ought, before this time, to have made a vigorous examination, procured the re mains of Capt. Hall, and held the entire crew of the Polaris as witnesses. Brooklyn Argus. A Kentucky Explosion. At last a Kentuckian has been " hoist by his own petard." Croquet did it with the aid of a woman. It was curi ous, too, and should be remembered as illustrating the uncertainty of human affairs. He incurred the wrath of a lady enemv in the game by sending her ball away from the wicket she had just pre pared to go through. He took such manifest delight in this ungallant con duct that she determined to knock his brains out with the mallet, and warned him of her purpose. He smiled, for he knew the sex was fickle. He did croquet her ball away, and she did make an effort to fulfill her threat. But she made a miscalculation, and the mallet came in contact with a revolver, stowed away in the pocket usually devoted to carrying such weapons. There was an explosion, and the air of discomfort which overspread his features betoken ed the ruin which the misdirected blow had wrought. The secret was not kept The grand jury heard of it, and, in ad dition to the unexpected issne of the croquet quarrel, inflicted the necessary tine upon the cavalier lor carrying con cealed weapons. The lady is sorry for nothing. Salt Watkb for the Eybs. Many persons are suflering pain irom weak ness of the eyes. This sometimes pro ceeds from local inflammation and some times from other canseB. 8everal per sons who have been thus afflicted inform us that they have derived almost im mediate and, in some cases, permanent relief from the application of salt water as a bath ; and where the pain has been aggravated, from a compress saturated with salt water laid on the eyes, and re newed at frequent intervals. Opening the eyes and submerging them in clean salt water has been found beneficial to those whose eyesight begins to fail Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot. An Irishman fishing in the rain was observed to keep his line under the arch of the bridge. Upon being asked the reason, he replied, " Sure an won the fish be crowding here to keep out of the wet, ye spalpeen Experience with Editor. a Buckeye I don't suppose that another man ever i 11 At - A. -m i ' a. 1 "i j'i. i lived like that Ohio editor who lifted me out of the back end of an omnibus one night, led me up five pairs of stairs and undertook to tell me how I was to assist in running the local department of the paper. " You see," said he, jab bing at a cockroach with the shears, 1 ' you want to be positive in what you say ; folks here won't believe any of your suppose so's and allegations. Say what you say in words that can't be dis puted ; or, if they are disputed, send the fellow into the other room and I'll fix him. " He was a great man for fun ; he never laughed himself, but he had a high appreciation for humor. He was always wanting me to get off something sharp on some one, no matter who, and he ran me so much I had to quit. For instance he came down one morning and said : " Now, Charles get off a hit on Julius Cassar." "Why, sir, the old man died years ago." " No matter, no matter," he went on, "get off some thing or I'll discharge you." As $75 a year was an object to me then, I handed m a pretty big item. "That's good that's positive," he repbed, and in it went. The paper hadn't been out an hour before a dozen were crowding in after an explanation. "Is your name Csar?" asked the old man of each in turn. ' No. " " Well, then, who's run ning this Caesar business ? Ain't I here to disseminate knowledge? Don 1 1 do her? And he finally threw another sheet on the "points. Now, CharleB," said he again, " get off a lick on George Washington something un der a lively head-line." "But he's been written up," I replied. " No mat ter get off something, or here's my note f hand for the balance due you." As bis note of hand was rather a good thing to keep, I dug out a severe thing under the head of " Brutal Outrage." There was a Washingtonian society in town, and half its members were rush ing up stairs belore the edition was half off. "Base wretch," shouted the President. "Caluminator of genius," squeaked the old maid Secretary. "Vile rascal," hissed a young man, with his hair behind his ears. " Gentlemen and old maid," began the editor, as he rolled up his sleeves, "why am I here ? If any of you know more about George Washington than I do, why just take and run this office." And they had to go away with their minds in an unsettled state. Anotiier time, when he had run over a whole volume of ancient history without rinding one to hit, says he, "Get off something on me." That's just what I wanted, and I wrote : " We want wood on subscription to this paper. Some of our subscribers prom ised to pay for their paper in wood more than ten years ago, and it's about time they brought it in. We want wood wood wood." It was in July, and there were thirteen loads of wood in front of the office before noon. They got there about the same time, 'and thirteen farmers eame up in a body. "Gentlemen," said the old man, after they had stated there errands, "wood is wood ; wood ' is a noun ; ' is ' is a verb, and ' wood ' is a noun again. The objective case governs the requirements of the adverb, which is the possessive of thirteen loads, according to chapter seventy-one, rule three." And every time they went to say anything about i wood he got that off at them, until they all went down in a body threatening to vampire him at the hrst opportunity. The last thing I have any recollection of was " getting off something on the Mayor of the town. He went by old Sykes one evening without nodding, and I had no sooner entered the office ' than 1 heard, "Go for Muggs ; give it to him hot : yank him all to pieces, and ; leave his shattered remains hanging to the steeple of the court-house." "But! he , J began, when Sykes came close up to me, breathing hard, and says he, i ioung man, go tor Muggs. 1 hate to part with you, but Smith offers to fill four situation for a dollar less ." So j sat down to do up Muggs. Sykes was going away, and he left me to my judg- ment. I wrote an article that I thought would please the old man for positiv- i ness, and it went under a triple heading. was lust locking up the paste pot in i the burglar-proof safe to keep it from the rats, and I heard a yelling on the streets and the oflice door came in on I saw stars, comets, spots on the sun, new moons, and "came to in the next town, when I sent the following dispatch to the old man : "If you can pay your board bill stay where you are. The press is ruined. J.ne long primer is in Hardy's horse-pond. The mailing-table, the bank, and the new job rack went over the dam last even ing. Things am ti as they was. We made a big hit on Muggs, and he retaliated powerfully. I havef hired out to a quiet old farmer here, and I think I shan't pursue the ' get-off' busi ness any mrther. In about two months I got a reply. Here is all that was said : Young man, always be positive in your assertions. Detroit Free Press. The Earthquake in Guatemala. A correspondent of the Panama Star and Herald, writing from Antigua, Guatemala, under date of Sept. 4, gives an account of the earthquake there on the previous evening. On the 3d of September, at 8:30 in the evening, with out previous warning, a strong earth quake shook the ground violently, in a direction from west to east. The wave like inundations on the surface rose and fell at least one foot. The first strong shock lasted from twenty-five to thirty seconds, when the contents of a large water-tank m the court yard of the hotel were thrown out. Wild screeches and screams continued even after the early terror had somewhat subsided and long after there was a noise of walls falling more or less distant, mingled with the sounds of hundreds of voices chanting a hymn of mercy. Many shocks followed during the night, every one oi wuicu gave rise to new alarms and new implorations. It was intensely dark during the continuance of the shocks. An inspection in the morning showed that about two dozen inhabited houses were destroyed, caus ing a loss of thirty-two lives. The number of houses that were damaged, and which will have to be taken down, is considerable. Many of the old ruins of 1773 have suffered seriously. During the confusion incident to the earth quake, several men appeared with long knives, for the purpose of stealing and murdering, but the political chief of Antigua soon repressed them. All the squares and open places are covered with tents for shelter, and even car riages and tents serve as temporary abodes. It will take some time before the people of Antigua and Guatemala will recover serenity of mind enough to go to sleep in tkeir tottering homes. A Good Consciencb. " Do you sup pose nobody has got a conscience but yourself ?" said a vigorous tongued lady to a severe cross-examining barrister. " My conscience is as good as yours and better, too, for it has never been used during the coarse of my life, while yours must be nearly worn out." Beautiful Mississippi River Scenes. When the rains have swollen its tribu- tary rivers to more than their ordinary i a. i nf.-:,.;; ,.... . . , i volume, the Mississippi is grand, terri ble, treacherous. Always subtle and serpent like in its mode of stealing upon is prey, it swallows up acres at one fei swoop on one side ; sweeping them away from their frail hold on the main land, while, on the other, it covers plantations with slime and broken tree trunks and boughs, forcing the fright ened inhabitants into the second story of their cabins, and driving the cattle and swine upon high knolls to starve, or perhaps finally to drown. It pierces the puny levees which have cost the States bordering upon it such immense sums, and goes bubbling and roaring through the crevasse, distracting the planters, and sending dismay to mill ions of people in a single night. It promises a fall on one day ; on another it rises so suddenly that the. adventur ous woodsmen along the border have scarcely time to flee. It makes a lake of the fertile country between the two great rivers ; it carries off hundreds of wood-piles, which lonely and patient labor has heaped, in the hope that a passing steamer will buy them up, and thus reward a season's work. Out of each small town on its western bank, set too carelessly by the water's edge, it makes a pigmy Venice, or floats it off altogether. As the huge steamer glided along, on the mighty current, we could see families perched in the sec ond stories of their houses, gazing grimly out upon the approaching ruin. At one point a man was sculling from house to barn yard with food for his stock. The log barn was a dreary pile in the midst of the flood. The swine and cows stood shivering on a pine knoll, disconsolately burrowing and browsing. Hailed by some flustered paterfamilias or plantation master bound to the nearest town for supplies, we took him to his destination. As we passed below the Arkansas and White rivers, the gigantic volume of water had so far overrun its natural boundaries, that we seemed at sea, instead of upon an inland river. The cotton-woods and cypresses stood up amid the water wil derness like ghosts. Gazing into the long avenues of somber forests, we could see only the same level, all-enveloping flood. In the open country the cabins seemed ready to sail away, though their masters were usually smok ing with much equanimity, and await ing a "fall. Edward King, in "Down the Mississippi," in Scribner's for Oc tober. The Ownership o f Land in England. The figures of the census of 1871 in England show a remarkable diminution in the number of land-owners, as a sep arate class, in that realm. According to the census of 1861, the total number of land-owners was 30,736 15,131 gentle men, and 15,635 ladies. The census of 1851 showed nearly the same figures. But that of 1871 shows a sudden and re markable reduction. The total thus classed is but 22,924, of whom 14,191 are gentleman, and 8,733 are ladies. At the first glance these figures would seem to show that the great evil of En gland the ownership of so large a por tion of its real estate by a landed aris tocracy, small m numbers wasgrowmg from year to year, - I . I .1 t. been the conclusion leaped at by some ; persons who should know better, and some editorial or other rhetoric has been wasted on the assumption that the "land monopoly" in England is be- coming still more complete. The facts i are, however, the other way, as every ; careful student of English social science ! knows. The land-holding aristocracy j are less powerful now than they were j twenty years ago, and are steadily los ! ing power and prestige every year. These census figures, when under stood in their proper significence, har monize with and confirm the other facts which show that the iand monopoly is being broken. The persons classed as "land-owners " by the census ar mere ly those whose principal revenue comes from their land. They include only a very small fraction of those who really own land in England. The class is in tended to cover only the holders Jof large estates, who live on their rents and have no other business. This is the express declaration of the census it self. The logic of the decrease in num bers of the class called " land-owners " in the census returns is, therefore, that the numbers and power of the landed gentry is decreasing instead of increas ing. and that the land is passing away slowly but surely from the hands of the lauded aristocracy into the possesssion of manufacturers, builders, farmers, bankers and tradesmen. Detroit Trib une. The Unconscious Action of the Brain. It may be taken as one of the com monest mental experiences of most men that a fact, and especially a name, which they endeavor to remember, which es capes from the determinate effort of recollection, often suddenly jumps, as it were, into the recollection without effort, after they have been thinking of other matters. JJr. Carpenter explains this by the theory that the part of the brain engaged in storing up and repro ducing past impressions is not the same part of the brain which is engaged in the consciousness of those impressions, or in the consciousness of their reproduc tion ; and that after the seat of con sciousness has given up its futile labor, the seat of memory unconsciously con tinues its activity, and when it has uncon sciously brought its work to a success ful issue it communicates tke result to the seat of consciousness ; and then, and not before, the fact is consciously remembered. Upon this we must re mark that the conscious effort to com mand the memory, without guide or clew, is generally and singularly unsuc cessful in result. The only way to suc ceed in remembering some forgotten thinir is to seek some clew, some thread 0f ideal association which may lead us tn it The direct bold ehort iaiis, ior the simple reason that the attention is fixed upon the effort, and not upon the idea sought. Withdraw the effort, and the attention fixes upon the idea. The memory of the thing was in the brain, must have been there all the time, or it could never again have been remem bered. Memory is a latent power, and always unconscious. Recollection is the mental activity which opens the cells of memory to the consciousness and recollection, therefore must always be conscious. That any portion of brain work is done unconsciously in the act of recollection, is a theory to which we cannot subscribe without far stroneer evidence than any which we have yet seen adduced. Dr. Bucknill, in Popular Science Monthly. Seven sons of Ezra Price, of Brook lyn, met at Norwich, a few days since, after a separation of fifty years. These brothers, despite their ages, have gained some notoriety as postal-card writers. Edmund, 66 years old, wrote on a card, last year, 2,700 words, for which he re ceived a diploma at the American Insti tute Fair, and since then he has written on one 9,800 words from the Psalms. OK THK ' UUASSllOl'1'h.SL BH1UUE. Half a league, hint a league, Half a league onward, Right from the west they came, More than ix huncire-l Out from lorest and glade : ' ' Charge for the torn !" they laid. Then for th- fieldx they made More than six hundred. Fields to the right of them. Fields to the left of them. Fields in front of them Pillaged and plundered Naught could their numbers .tel Down on the crops they fell, j Nor left a stock or tlMsl More than six huudred. Flashed all their red legs bare, Flaslied as they turned in air, nobbing the farmers there, Charging an orchard, while All the world wondered ! Plunged in the smudge and smoke, Right through the corn they broke Hopner and locust : Peeled tbey the stalks all bare, Shattered and sundered ; Then they went onward but More than six hundred. Pith and Point. A tea never indulged in by gossips Charity. The hardest thing to deal with An old pack of cards. C ndertaker's motto Circumstances alter burial cases. Breach of good manners For ruin to stare you in the face. Why is a screw in tight like a screw in loose ? Because it is in-secure. The coal merchant's favorite apho rism One good ton deserves another. A nrrTi.E girl said of her ill-tempered uncle : " He hasn't got a single laugh in his face." "She dyed for me," said the young nusoana wnen ne beheld her dark locks gradually returning to their original red. The beet has its admirers, and there be those who uphwld the merits of the cabbage ; bnt all agree that the onion is a soup herb production. The Sturgis. Mich.. Journal keen a the following two items in close prox imity to each other : " Bustles are the style again." "Old papers for sale at this oflice." Father Chauceb was sound on the main question. Witness : " What is better than gold ? Jasper. What is better than jasper? Wisdom. What in better than wisdom? Woman. What is better than woman? Nothing." A Saqinaw poet writes of his native place : won'st tne red Injun here took their delights. Fish't, fit and bled. ' Now most of the inhabitants is whites, With nary red.; A promistno youth of nine summers, m Western Massachusetts, at a school recently relieved his over-burdened mind as follows : Lord of Love, look down from above Upon us little scholars ; We have a fool to teach our school, And pay her twenty dollars. Hearing that his pastor intended to E reach on the recognition of friends in eaven, a parishioner suggested that he should preach on the recognition of friends on earth, since he had been sit ting in his pew twenty years without being recognized by the occupant of the next. She saw him on his bright blue steed A dusting down the road, And pit a pat and pit a pat Her little heartlet goed ; And soft she soubered to herself, " Though swift bis paces be, He cannot kite so fast but what My heart keeps up with he." Marriage Extraordinary. A re markable marriage recently took place in British India in the presence of a large congregation. The bride had no arms, ana the ring had to be placed on the third toe of her left foot. At the conclusion of the marriage cere mony she signed the register, holding the pen with her toes, in a very decent " hand." An exchange, ridiculing the country fairs, which make no effort at good, shows, says that one in Vermont con sisted of a calf, a goose, a pumpkin, and a horse. It rained so hard the first night that the goose swam off, the calf broke loose and ate the pumpkin, and a thief prowling about mounted the horse, and drove the calf before him, and so ended the fair. A Savannah paper says : "If a pail of water be placed within six inches of either side of the stem of a pumpkin or vegetable marrow, it will in the course of the night approach it," etc. A still more extraordinary phenomenon has been observed in Buffalo. There is a man in that city who will approach a barrel of whisky either by day or night. even if it were placed six feet away from him. A stobv is told of a San Francisco woman who was in the habit of receiv ing frequent castigations at the hands of her husband, and who one day read the Bible story of Samson and Delilah, When next her consort was prone m sleep she sheared him so completely that every spear of hair disappeared from face and head. Bousing from his slumber like a giant refreshed, he speed ily comprehended the situation, and reached for her. Such a caressing as she then received she never dreamed of before. She did not even have the usual in on him. He was fined, but she declared her utter disbelief in those Bi ble yarns. The World Without Sunday. Think how I 'abstraction of Sun day would enslave the working classes, .V. . S i " f. s , nt . . m with wnom we are laeniineu. xnims or, labor thus going on in one monotonous and eternal rack, fingers forever strain ing, the brow forever drooping, and the loins forever aching, the restless mind forever scheming. Think of the beauty it would efface, the merry-heartedness it would extinguish, the giant strength it would tame, the resources of nature it would crush, the sickness it would bring, of the projects it would wreck, the groans it would extort, the lives it would immolate, and the cheerless graves it would prematurely dig. See them toiling and fretting, and grind ing and hewing, and weaving and spinning, Bowing and gathering, mow ing and reaping, raising and building, digging and planting, and striving and struggling, in the garden and in the field, in the granary and in the barn, in the factory and in the mill, in the warehouse and in the shop, in the mountain and in the ditch, on the roadside and in the country, ont at sea and on shore, in the day of brightness and of gloom ! What a picture this world would present if we had nc Sab bath 1 Be Cheerful. One cheerful face i a household will keep everything bright and warm within. Envy, hatred. malice, selfishness, despondency, and host of evil passions, may lark around the door, they may even look within, but they can never enter and abide there ; the cheerful faoe will put them to shame and fli ht. It is hard to find a family in which every member is well There is at least one invalid in every household. C11A1CGK