L.A. BAHB AVX lAMBlilAS.
11 Y T. B. AMU!OH.
I think that was the play ;
The bonse was packed from pit to dome
W.th the Kallaut and the Ray,
Who hail to come to see the Tragedy,
And while the hours away.
There was the ruined ppondtiirift.
And beauty in her prime;
There was th.- brave Historian,
And there the man of llhynio,
And the surly Critic, front Co front.
To see the play of crime.
A mf there was pompous Tgnoranc..
And Vice in flowers and lace ; ,
Bir Orceeus and Sir Pandarus,
And the music played apace.
But of all that crowd 1 only , aw
A (ioglej single face'
That of a girl whom I had k own
In the u nimers long ago,
When her breath was like the new-mown hay.
Or the sweetest flowers that grow ;
W hen her heart was light and her sonl was whi'e
As the winter's driven snow.
And there she sat with her great browu eye ;
They wore a troubled look ;
And I read the history of her life
Ah it were an open book ;
And saw her soul, like a slimy thing
In the bottom of brook.
There she sat in her runtiing silk.
With diamonds her wrist.
And cn her 1-row a gleaming thread
Of pearl and amethyst.
' A ch,-at. a gilded grief ! " I said.
And my eyes were lined with mist.
I could not see the players play ;
1 hrl the music moan ;
It moaned '.ike a dismal autumn wind,
That dies :n the woods alone.
And when it stopped I heard it still
The mournful monotone!
What if the Count were true or false?
1 did not care, not 1;
What if Caniillefor Armand died?
1 t?nl not f e her die.
Then sat a woman opposite
With pitt ous Up and eye !
The great irreen curtain fell on all
On laupb, and ine, and woe
Jest as Death someday will fall
Twixt us and life, I know!
Tov- play was done, the bitter play,
The pei i ie turned to go.
An i did they see the Tragedy?
They saw t he painted scene ;
They saw Armand, te jealons fool,
And the sick Parisian Queen ;
But they did not 6ee the Tiageoy
The one 1 saw, I mean.
They did not see that cold-cut face,
't'nat furtive look of care ;
Or. seeing her jewels, only said.
The lady's rich and fair."
But 1 tell ;ou, 'twas the play of life.
And that woman played Despair !
WONDERS OF MAGIC.
So eminent a scientist as Prof. Alfred
H. Wallace has written several elabor
ate articles in an English periodical in
snpport of the claim that the physical
phenomenon called spiritualistic is pro
duced by spirits which once inhabited
human bodies. Many marvelous things
are reported almost daily of this spirit
manifestation. A few years ago noth
ing more startling than raps and table
tipping was produced, but now we are
asked to believe, not only tbat mediums
like Home elongate their bodies from
6 to 11 feet, carry red-hot coals in their
hands without injury, and float visibly
in the air, but that the " spirits" can
" materialize " themselves so as to be
come the solid flesh and bone that they
were in this life. Nay, more : Col.
Olcott, a clear-headed pratical lawyer
and a gentleman of unimpeachable
veracity, who is at Chittenden, Vt., in
vestigating the alleged phenomena pro
duced by the Eddy mediums, tele
srraphs to New York m triumph that he
has succeeded in catching one of the
spirits a female one, aud weighing her
on Fairbanks' scales.
PROFESSIONAL MAGICIANS.
Now, all this from Messrs. "Wallace,
Crooks and V-arley, from Col. Olcott,
from Philadelphia, from Moravia, New
York, and other places haunted by ma
terialized spirits, and from persons who
have sat with Slade, Foster and Mans
tield, is very wonderful; but is it con
clusive proof that the claims of Spirit
ualism are right ? What if it can be
shown that phenomeua quite as extraor
dinary have been produced by pro
fessional jugglers, men who have made
no pretense that they were assisted by
occult powers, and who have even ex
plained the mechanism of their tricks ?
If this can be done, the inference must
necessarily follow either that the Spirit
ualistic mediums are cuuning impostors,
or that the professional necromancers
are liars when they declare that their
phenomena are mere trickery, and that
they are really assisted by supermun
dane agents. All history is full of the
deceptions practiced either by these
professional characters ?r others who
pretended to supernatural powers, and
were subsequently exposed as charla
tans. Jugglery was allied to the an
cient religions of the Greeks, Romans.
Egyptians and Chaldeans. Hellas had
its oracle, with its cunning priesthood ;
Borne its augurs and diviners, and
Chaldee its world -renowned magicians.
In the dark ages of Europe there were
enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers,
and, a little later, witches, who had to
have their con jury burned and drowned
out of them. The Thaumaturgists and
Rosicrucians pretended to magical pow
ers. There is not an age in the world's re
corded past, hardly a year even, that
some preslidigitateur has not figured
on the scene, either an a court, append
age, a religious leader, or abactor per
forming for the amusement of the popu
lace. Liet he Davenport Brothers or
Dr. Slade do more than is related here,
and then they will have a right to ask
us to consider if the phenomena they
show are the work of ' spirits."
One of the most remarkable exhibi
tions of clever jugglery is mentioned in
Salverte's "Philosophy of Magic,"
(London, 1846, vol. 1, page 105). It
was seen at Nancy, in France, in 1829.
A man from the audience was induced
to he down on the stage, and the magi-
cian deliberately chopped off his head.
He displayed the severed head to the
audience so that they could recognize
the features ; he permitted them to
- touch it, to open the mouth, which shut
again of its own accord, and to examine
the bleeding section of the neck at the
extremity of the trunk. He removed
the body and withdrew a curtain, and
almost immediately the supposed dead
man appeared in perfect health. Sal
verte Bays that the beheading trick wan
performed by the Mohamedans, and
that iElian is authority for the state
ment that Esculapius apparently re
united the heart of a woman to her
corpse and restored her to life and
health.
According to Mr. Godwin, in his
History of the Necromancers," it was
a common practice at the time he wrote
(fifty years ago) for jugglers in the
market-places of the English towns to
make the scales of a balance move at
command, alternately ascending and
descending.
Much stress has been laid by the ad
vocates of Spiritualism upon the ability
of the medium Home to handle live coals
without injury or leaving a scar. He
has been seen to put red-hot coals on
his head, and the hair was not singed.
The "fire ordeal" is a very old and
-familiar one to necromancers. One of
the most ancient feats of magic was the
art of breathing flame. During the in
surrection of the slaves in Sicily in the
second century before Christ, a Syrian
named Eunus acquired by his knowl
edge the rank of their leader. In order
to establish his influence over their
minds, he pretended to possess miracu
lous power. When he wished to in
spire his followers with courage, he
breathed flames or sparks among them
from his mouth. At the same time he
was rousing them by his eloquence. St.
Jerome informs us that the Rabbi
Burchochebas, who headed the Jews in
their last revolt against tha Emperor
Adrian, made them believe that he was
the Messiah by vomiting flames from
his mouth. And, at a later period, the
Emperor Constantius was thrown into a
state of alarm when Valentinian in
formed him that he had seen one of the
body-guard breathing out fire and
flames. Sir David Brewster, who quotes
these instances in his interesting " Let
ters on Natural Magic," was not able to
explain the exact methods by which
these effects were produced ; but he
said .Floras informs us that Eunus
filled a perforated nut-shell with sul
phur and fire, and, having concealed it
in his mouth, he breathed gently
through it while he was speaking. This
act is performed mere simply by the
modern jugglers. Having rolled to
gether some flax or hemp so as to form
a ball the size of a walnut, he sets it on
fire and allows it to burn till it is nearly
consumed. He then rolled round it
while burning some additional flax, and
by these means the fire may be retained
for a considerable time. At the com
mencement of his exhibition he intro
duces the ball into his mouth, and while
he breathes through it the nre is re
vived and a number of burning sparks
are projected from his mouth. - The
sparks are too feeble to do any harm,
provided he inhales the air through his
nostrils. The kindred art of walking
on burning eoals or red-hot iron be
longs to the same antiquity. The
priestesses of Diana at Castabula, in
Cappadocia, were accustomed, accord
ing to Strabo, to walk over burning
coals ; and, at the annual festival which
was held in the temple of Apollo at
Mount Soracte, in Etruria, the Hirpi
marched over burning coals, and on this
account they were exempt from military
service, and received other privileges
from the Roman Senate. This power
of resisting fire was ascribed even by
Varro to the use of some liniment with
which they anointed the soles of their
feet. Of the same character was the
art of holding red-hot iron in the hands
or between the teeth, and of plunging
the hands into boiling-water or melted
lead. About the close of the seven
teenth century, an Englishman named
Richardson rendered himself famous by j
chewing burning coals, pouring melted
lead upon his tongue, and swallowing
melted glass. Brewster says that these
effects are produced partly by decep
tion and partly by a previous prepara
tion of the parts subjected to the heat.
The fusible metal, composed of mercu
ry, tin and bismuth, which melts at a
low temperature, might easily have
been snbstituted in place of lead,
aud fluids of easy ebullition may have
been used in place of boiling water.
But, though the conjurers by fire may
have availed themselves of these singu
lar properties of individual bodies, yet
the general secret of their art consisted
in rendering the skin of the exposed
parts callous and insensible to heat,
an effect which may be produced by
continually compressing or singeing
them till the skin acquires a horny con-
sistence
One of the most adroit jugglers of the
present age was Robert Houdin, a
Frenchman, who for many years gave
fashionable entertainments in Paris.
Houdin wrote his autobiography, and
related many curious feats performed
by him in tha course of his professional
career. On one occasion he was invited
to display his art before King Louis
Philippe and his court at the chateau of
St. Cloud. Houdin invented a trick
especially for this royal and noble as
semblage, and received unbounded ap
plause for his success. He borrowed
from the King and his courtiers six
handkerchiefs, which he made into a
parcel and laid on the table. Then, at
his request, different persons wrote on
cards the names of the places whither
they desired their handkerchiefs to be
invisibly transported. When this was
done he begged the King to take three
of the cards at hazard, and choose from
the place he might consider the most
suitable. " Let me see," said Louis
Philippe, " what this one says : ' I
desire the handkerchiefs to be found
beneath one of the candelabra on the
mantelpiece.' Ah ! tiiat is too easy for
a sorcerer, so we will pass on to the
next card : ' The handkerchiefs are to
be transported to the dome of the In
valides.' That would suit us, but it is
much too far not far the handkerchiefs,
but for us. Ah ! ah !" the King added,
as he looked at the last card, "I am
afraid, Monsieur Robert Houdin, I am
about to embarrass you. Do you know
what this card proposes ?" Houdin,
with a respectful bow, declared that he
did not. "Well," responded his Ma
jesty, "it is desired that you send the
handkerchiefs to a spot beneath the
roots of the last orange-tree on the
right of the Avenue of St. Cloud."
Houdin affected the utmost noncha
lance. " Only that, sire," he said.
" Deign to order, and I will obey."
The King gave certain directions in a
low voice, and immediately a number of
his attendants hurried off to the orange
tree to watch it. He then said, " I se
lect the orange -tre e. " Houdin's first
business now was to send the handker
chiefs on their travels. So he placed
them beneath a bell of opaque glass,
and, taking his wand, ordered them to
fly to the spot the King had chosen.
He raised the bell, the little parcel was
no longer there, and a white dove had
taken its place. The King then walked
quickly to the door, whence he looked
in the direction of the orange-tree to
assure himself that the guards were
there, and, when this was done, he be
gan to smile and shrug his shoulders.
"Ah! Monsieur Robert Houdin," he
said, ironically, " I fear much for the
virtue of your magic staff." Then he
added, as he returned to the end of the
room where several servants were stand
ing. "Tell William to dig immediate
ly below the last tree at the end of the
avenue, and bring me carefully what he
finds there if he does find anything. "
The attendant proceeded to the orange
tree. The earth at the side of the tree
was carefully removed, and down
among the roots, after much groping, a
small iron box eaten with rust was
found. It bore every appearance of
having been in the ground for many
years. This carious "find" was
cleansed from its mold and brought in
and placed by the side of the King.
The greatest excitement and impatience
prevailed on all sides. Houdin brought,
ferched on his finger, the dove to the
ling, and around its neck his Majesty
discovered a little rusty key. At the
desire of the conjuror he unloosed it
and opened the box. The first object
that met his eye was a time-discolored
piece of parchment, upon which he
read : " This day, the 6th June, 1786,
this iron box, containing six handker
chiefs, was placed among the roots of
an orange-tree by me, Balsamo, Count
of Cagliostro, to serve in performing an
act of magic, which will be executed on
the same day sixty years hence, befoi e
liouis Philippe of Orleans and his
family." ' There is certainly witchcraft
about this," cried the King, and then
he looked again, and found in the bot
tom of the box a parcel sealed with the
well-known seal of the famous Cagli
ostro. He broke it and opened the par
cel, and there were the six handkerchiefs
which but five minutes before were ly
ing on the conjurer's table. Was not
this trick as remarkable as the produc
ing of "Katie King" from a dark
cabinet ?
Houdin was employed by the French
government to go to Algeria on a novel
mission. The Marabout priests exer
cised great influence over the natives,
because they were able to perform cer
tain feats of jugglery, which they pre
tended proved their divine power.
These Marabouts were enemies of the
French, and encouraged turbulence
among the Arabs. The government
thought that it might bo a good stroke
of policy to send Houdin through the
colony performing his miracles, and de
monstrating to the natives that a
French sorcerer was greater than an
Arab sorcerer. Accordingly Houdin
appeared before large audiences, be
ginning in the city of Algeria. At "cthe
first of these performances he intro
duced a box which became heavy or
light at his order. This box 'was
brought by him to the footlights, and,
while holding it in his hands, he de
clared to his hearers that he possessed
the power to deprive the most powerful
man of his strength and restore it at
will. He invited any one who thought
himself strong enough to come on the
stae. An Arab of middle height, but
well built and muscular, came to his
side with great assurance. ' Are you
strong ?" asked Houdin, measuring him
from head to foot. " Oh, yes," he re
plied, carelessly. " Are you sure that
you will always remain so?" "Quite
sure." "You are mistaken," said Hou
din, " for in an instant 1 will rob you
of your strength, and you shall become
as a little child." The- Arab smiled
disdainfully. Houdin told him to lift
the box. He stooped and lifted it
without any effort, and said, coldly, " Is
that all?" With an imposing gesture
i Houdin solemnly pronounced the words,
" Behold, you are weaker than a woman ;
; now lift the box. " The young Hercules
I grabbed the box quite confidently, but,
! to his amazement, it would not budge.
He attacked it vigorously over and over
again, while his countrymen sat look
ins on in silent wonder, but it resisted.
He vainly expended on this box a
strenglh which would have raised an
enormous weight, until at length, pant
ing, exhausted, and red with anger, he
buried his face in his burnous and re-
tired from the stage. Houdin does not
explain the secret of this strange trick
: by which he made bodies heavy or light
at will, and without apparently touch
j ing them, but it' was a favorite of his,
j and often exhibited to his fashionable
Parisian audiences.
At the same exhibition in Algeria, of
which we have written, Houdin invited
one of the audience to come on the
i stage. A young Moor, about 20 years
! of age, tall, well-built, and richly
i dressed, advanced. There was a plain
i table on the stage (the space between
i the top and the floor being unmistak-
ably open), which Houdin asked him to
mount. When he did so Houdin cov-
I ered him with an immense cloth cone,
! and, instantly removing it, the Moor
was gone. This trick produced a panic
; in the audience. Screaming, " It is the
! Evil One !" they clambered over the
: benches in wild terror, and rushed out
the door into the street, where, in the
public place, rubbing his eyes in stupe
faction and wondering bow he got there,
they found the young Moor.
While in the interior, Houdin gave an
open-air exhibition to the wild sons of
the desert. He pretended that he was
invulnerable, and offered to let a Mara
bout shoot at him. There was a great
i crowd, and a vindictive-looking fellow
i came out from it and claimed to have
; the honor of killing the hated French
i man. The pistols were handed to Hon
j din, who called attention to the fact
that the vents were clear. The Mara
! bout put in a fair charge of powder, and
drove the wad home. Among the bul
lets produced Houdiu chose one which
he openly put in the pistol, and it was
also rammed down. By the same pro
cess the second pistol was loaded.
Everybody watched with the most pro
found solemnity. Houdin posted him
self fifteen paces from the Marabout
without evincing the slightest emotion.
The Marabout immediately seized one
of the pistols, and, on Houdin's giving
the signal, took a deliberate aim at
him. The pistol went off, and the ball
appeared between the magician's teeth.
More angry than ever, the Marabout
tried to seize the pistol. "You could
not injure me," said Houdin, "but you
shall see that my aim is more dangerous
than yours. Look at that wall. " He
pulled the trigger, and on the newly
whitewashed wall appeared a large patch
of blood exactly at the spot where he
aimed. The Marabout went up to it, dip
ped his finger in the blood, and raising
it to his mouth convinced himself of the
reality. When he acquired this cer
tainty, his arms fell and his head bowed
on hiB chest as if he were annihilated.
It was evident that for the moment he
doubted everything, even the Prophet
This seemingly incomprehensible feat
Houdin performed by means of pre
pared balls. With a bullet-mold and a
bit of wax mixed with lampblack he
had manufactured a very fair imitation
bullet. Another bullet of the same
material he had filled with blood. Of
course, it was by sleight of hand that
he changed the bullets forced upon him
by the Marabout and substituted his
own. An old trick enabled him to get
the real bullet between his teeth while
the waxen one was shattered to pieces.
So with the second ball, it was shat
tered upon striking the wall, but a spot
of blood was produced. If Houdin had
not explained this part, it would be
quite as wonderful to most people as
the phenomena of Spiritualism, and
could have been passed off as good evi
dence of spirit agency.
When William H. Seward made his
tour around the world, he witnessed
some performances of jugglers in India
which were quits surprising. He saw
a man climb a pole sixty feet high,
standing in the open air, and, when he
reached the top, he mysteriously dis
appeared. After a while his feet re
appeared, then his legs and body, and
he came down. He claimed no super
natural powers. How did he do it ?
There was an Indian juggler who had a
little den in the Bowery, in this city, a
few years ago. He was a dirty fellow,
and respectable people were not much
disposed to venture into bis place. A
gentleman told the writer that, moved
by curiosity once, he went in. The
j uggler made him sit on the floor. In
a moment, two figures, apparently hu
man, rose out of the floor, in obedience
to the wand of the conjurer. They
grew to the ordinary height of a human
being. The visitor made a motion to
rise, when the figures sank threugh the
floor instantly. An examination of the
place betrayed no visible solution of
the ingenious performance. New York
World.
Tight Lacing.
BY DR. J. H. HASAFOBD.
It is presumed that lew will admit
the habit of tight-lacing, while a still
smaller number really understand the
evils of such a habit. But that many,
if not moBt, female forms in civilized
society are contracted actually made
smaller than nature intended cannot
admit of a reasonable doubt. To be
assured of this it is only necessary to
examine the forms of the two sexes,
remembering that, for obvious reasons,
the female waist and chest should be
relatively larger than those of the males.
This is true at birth, as all physicians
may easily learn. This general simi
larity maybe observed in the "form"
and the size of the chesi that of the
girl slightly larger than that of the boy
of the same weight and the same gen
eral outline of body as they grow side
by side, at least in early life. As the
boy engages in his active sports, and
breathes much of the pure air of
heaven, kis lungs expand, his chest en
larges, really improv ng in form as he
approaches manhood. This results
from the fact that the bones in early
life are more cartilage than hardenep
bone, and may be either enlarged or
diminished.
From birth to about ten years of age
the girl's chest enlarges correspond
ingly with the rest of her body, at least,
if she is allowed the freedom demanded
by the exuberance of her nature, while
after that too often another transfor
mation occurs which cannot be the re
sult of accident, since, instead of an in
crease in size of the waist, while the girl
is still growing, this alone is diminished
is as much smaller at the age oi
eighteen or twenty, compared with its
size at ten, as the body, as a whole, is
larger ! This may seem a singular
freak of nature, never seen in the brute
creation, not even among those as the
monkey family more nearly resembling
man. (Darwin must have made a mis
take. ) These prospective bones are so
yielding in early life that even a very
slight lorce is enougn to materially
change the form of the chest, which in
nature's mold increases in size from the
arms downward, the "floating ribs"
admitting of no little variableness of
motion and form. A very slight pres
sure on these jielding bones, moving
with ease at one end, constantly exerted
from day to day and from year to year
during the formative period of human
life, will produce very marked effects,
just the reversal of nature's form, giv
ing the "wasp-waist" or "hour-glass
waist," placiug the apex of the cone
downward instead of upward, under the
arms, as it was intended, for manifest
reasons. If these statements are not
correct, it is a very easy matter to dis
prove them by examination iind by a
comparison of the sexes. Jjf true, it
will not be difficult to see some of the
evils resulting from such an unnatural
custom, such an effort to improve on
the Creator's plan of structure. -Let it
be remembered that our strength, vigor
and health are made dependent, largely,
on the capacity of our lungs, which
may be enlarged or diminished. Other
things being equal, the larger the
lungs the more power and health
the individual, will possess. These
lungs contain about 600,000,000 of air
cells, in connection with which the
blood, coming in contact with the in
spired air, is purified, which purifica
tion depends upon the purity of that
air and its ample supply. If the lungs
are reduced one-half in size, and have
only one-half of their capacity, it is
manifest that they can perform but one
hjlf of their labor. If these air-cells
are diminished in size, their walls
brought in contact, and so kept till
they adhere, of course just that number
of them must be rendered useless for
the remnant of life. This result is the
necessary consequence of such lacing or
contraction of the size of the chest, of
necessity tending toward the produc
tion of that dreaded and fatal disease of
civilized life, consumption, known to be
fearfully prevalent among females, and
for manifest reasons, prominent among
which is this contraction of the chest
this crippling of the natural action of
the lungs. While the air pure air
vitalized by its natural per cent of
oxygen is the natural and necessary
nourishment for the lungs, as food is
for the stomach, a deficient supply
must of necessity impair their action
and tend to destroy them. If they
naturally contain one gallon of air, and
their capacity is reduced by this con
traction to one-half, it is manifest that
there must be a corresponding injury
sustained.
If we would reduce the fearful fatal
ity of consumption, and render our
women more hardy and healthy, we
must increase the size of the chests and
lungs of those now deformed by this
suicidal custom, and also allow the
young to grow as it was intended by the
Creator that they should grow, secur
ing ample chests, capacious and healthy
lungs. They should in early life be
allowed more freedom with no fear
that they will become " boys " should
they use their muscles naturally in
spiring copious volumes of this invigor
ating air life-giving and an absolute
necessity by day and by night. The
fear of this " night air," so far as its
purity is concerned, is simply foolish.
It is damp and may demand extra
clothing, but it is in no sense poison,
only in certain malarious districts, etc.,
and must be breathed, if we breathe at
all, at night. H poisoned air can be found
at night, it is in our closed sleeping
rooms often foul and poisonous
in the extreme but not so when un
confined. Nature demands more air,
more sunlight, and more freedom.
Chicago Ledger.
Cards in Home Language. A gen
tleman of our acquaintance found the
other night, much to his surprise, that
his wife knew something about draw
poker. The way of it was this : The
couple have two fine boy babies. See
ing them asleep in the same bed the
admiring father wondered if anybody
had a better pair than that. The wife
thought not. The husband then said,
speaking in parables as he thought, " If
we could draw three queens we would
have a 'full that would be hard to
beat. " And the lady promptly replied,
" Excuse me, if you please ; we'll stand
pa. on the pair we have." Paducah
Kentuckian.
Days a Month Long. Prof. Purser
believes that the moon, in revolving
around the earth and drawing the tides
behind her, causes the latter to act as
a brake on the revolution of the globe ;
and he considers that it may be mathe
matically shown that this action is
slowly but surely checking the earth's
speed of rotation, so that the days and
nights are gradually lengthening. In
a thousand million years or so, they
may become each a month long.
Current Paragraphs.
Cuba has been bleeding six years.
The Vendome column is finished.
The oyster is "of age " at 7 years.
Nearly 500 trains a day arrive and
depart from St. Louis.
Boston's August was the coldest for
fifty years, barring 1836.
The cotton crop, it is said, will
amount to 3,700,000 bales.
One hundred thousand men make a
living out of the oyster trade.
The books in the library belonging
to the British Museum occupy twelve
miles of shelving.
An apple, said to be the largest ever
ripened in the United States, has been
picked in Nebraska. It weighs 21U
ounces.
A California newspaper tells rather
a leathery story of a striped squirrel
which was seen leading a blind rattle
snake to his hole in the ground.
The people of Omaha complain (with
a little show of justice) that they are
mentioned by outsiders as "Omahogs,"
" Omahosses, " and " Omahorribles."
A woman in West Chester, Pa., re
cently testified that during a profes
sional career of nineteen years she had
prepared for the toml i.ot fewer than
3,000 bodies.
It is estimated that Kentucky dogs
kill SIOO.UOO worth of Kentucky sheep
t very year ; but what would a Kentucky
hearth-stone be without ten dogs group
ed around it ?
A nice young gentleman has at
tracted attention in the streets of St.
Paul. He is 18 years old, seven feet
high, four feet across the shoulders,
and weighs oou pounds.
A man and his wife, he 87 years old
and she 95, were fined for drunkenness
in Oakland, Cal. , the other day. Such
people should be cared for until they
come to years of discretion.
Fairfield, Vt. , glories in an elm tree
whose branches measure 1,05 feet across
at the trunk. One of the limbs is 60
feet long, and four feet from the ground
the tree is four feet through.
Gen. Butler is considered one of the
most methodical men living. He per
sonally supervises and pigeon-holes
every letter he receives, and dictates a
reply to his phonographic secretary.
Bishop WHiTEnousE disposes of S400,
000 by his will, of which 10,000 is
in personal effects, 10,000 in books and
pictures, 830,000 in real estate in Chi
cago, and 8350,000 in real estate in Vir
ginia. From the stomach of Capt. Otis Rog
ers, of Marshfield, Mass., has been ex
tracted an animal five inches long,
which he thinks he swallowed while
drinking from a pool in South Carolina
during the war.
The Supreme Court of New York has
decided that Shanks, the city editor of
the Tribune, was gailty of contempt in
refusing to divulge the name of the au
thor of an article entitled, " The Brook
lyn RiDg Method."
The late forest fires in New Jersey
destroyed many thousands of mosqui
toes, and the farmers are busy gathering
the skeletons and reducing them to
bone-dust for manuring purposes.
Brooklyn Argus.
Arpin, the younger, the famous
French wrestler, has just died from the
rupture of a blood vessel, caused while
he was practicing with a weight of
forty kilogrammes. He wrestled 1,013
times in public and was thrown only 67.
In Harrisburgh, Virginia, a Mrs.
Nancy Doughtery, age 70 years, has
during the last year built herself a cab
in, cleared 12 acres of land, and fenced
it, and, using only a hoe, raised 200
bushels of corn, nonor to the free old
Cimrtocr !
A rat's nest was recently discovered
in a piano in the house of a lady living
near Brighton, Eug. It contained five
young ones. The old rat flew at the lady
who made the discovery, and she was
seized with a fit, and in the excitement
oi the moment the rat escaped. The
nest, with its contents, was secured.
We raise annually here in the United
States nearly 150,000,000 bushels of
potatoes, representing a money value of
about 8100,000,000 to the customers.
As an article of food it has greater val
ue to us than any other that we call
root crop. Twenty-five per cent, of the
weight of the potato is solid dry sub
stance, and of this 62.5 per cent, is
starch.
A swimming match was recently ar
ranged to take place at Eastbourne,
Eng. , between a fisherman and a dog.
The latter, when in the water, supposed
his duty was to save the man's life, and
persisted in his efforts to keep him
afloat by thrnsting his head under the
fisherman's chin, much to the disap
pointment of those who had assembled
to see the race.
The coast of North America, for
1.700 miles from Virjrinia to the Mis
sissippi, is fringed with pine barrens
130 miles wide, and when the trees are
cut down for the exportation of their
inflammable products from the port of
Wilmington, Fines may spring again on
the Seat of the bad soils ; but in gen
eral the scrub oak is the succession
plant. Towards the outfall of the river,
where magnificent mixed forests of
liquidamber, elm, ash, white and red
oak, oherry, magnolia, mulberry and
wild grape have been felled, and the
land scorged by corn and cotton and
then abandoned to nature, the pine anu
scrub oak, trees of poor soils, have
sprung up. But when the land was left
unsoorged, the mixed forest again
clothed the bare earth.
Origin of Typhoid Fever.
An English professor claims to have
discovered a new cause of typhoid
fever. A family in his neighborhood
was attacked with a severe type of the
disease, and, on a careful search of the
premises, a spout in the pump was
found to be covered with a sort of
gelatinous matter. Submitting this to
microscopic investigation, it was seen
to be a fungoid growth, from which
spores were constantly washed away by
the flowing water. Following up this
discovery by a minute examination of
the outlet of the sewer through which
the drainage of the town flowed, there
were found fungoid growths of a simi
lar nature to those in the pump spout.
In the vicinity of this outlet the fever
had also prevailed. Having cases of
the fever in his own family, the pro
fessor followed ' up his inquiry by a
chemical analysis of the water drank,
and found in it minute spores of the
same fungus. His conclusion is, there
fore, that the fever had its origin in the
fungus matter taken into the system,
where it ferments as yeast in beer, and
poisons the blood.
The Western Railroad Alliance.
The full text of the celebrated com
pact entered into at the meeting of rail
road magnates at Saratoga last July
was published for the first time in New
York in the Graphic of October 20,
and this publication furnishes the first
opportunity to realize the full magni
tude of this tremendous combination of
hitherto antagonistic railroad interests.
This combination is in brief a union by
which twenty-three large railroads form
ing a complete chain of communication
between New York and Omaha bind
themselves to adhere to uniform rates
of tariff as fixed from time to time by
seven commissioners selected from
among the companies, and to indulge
in no competition among themselves.
The alliance thus formed is one of
the most stupendous in its magnitude
that has ever existed in this or any
other country. The number of roads
included is larger than that composing
the entire railway system of many of
the States of Europe, and the miles of
railroad to be operated under its rules
would be enough to stretch across the
continent.
To furnish some idea of the vaat ag
gregation of capital which the great
alliance represents the following table
is presented, showing the actual paid
up capital and outstanding bonds of
the roads uniting in the compact :
Atlantic and Great Western $110,r70,US7.43
C. O. and I. C 17,991,650.00
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. . 8L,7ly,000.00
(1 reat Western, of Canada 37,015,78f!.4O
Michigan Central 30,373,304.00
Detroit and Milwaukee y 640,230.00
Canada Southern 19,000,000.00
Toledo, Wabash aud Western 33,033,000.00
Indianapolis, Bloom ingt on aud West-
eru 11,503,700.00
Indianapolis and 8t. Louis 3,'.S,H)0.oo
Terre Haute and Indianapolis l.OHK 160 00
Ohio and Mississippi 34,5H'..b;Ht.ot)
Illinois Central 32,j89 000.00
Pennsylvania Company V2.0O0,00O.0O
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. L'-uia. 23,444, 33o.y0
JetVersonviile, Madison and Indi
anapolis ,SH8, 000.00
Cincinnati, Hamilton and Day ton 5,000,000.00
Chicago, Burlington aud Quincy 37.823,438.00
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific 27,702,140.1X1
Chicago and Northwestern 61,485,583.82
Kvansville and CrawfordBville 2,220,416.12
Kvnnsvide, Terre liaute and Chicago, 1,174,573.23
Indianapolis, Peru and Chicago. . .
Total $003,719, 2W3.99
This total of more than half a billion
dollars represents the sinews of war
with which this alliance offers battle to
competing roads. New York Grajyhic.
A Comedy of Errors.
A foreigner is seated in his room por
ing over a French and English diction
ary. He is swamped in the intricacies
of our language. He has rumpled his
hair so much that it stands on end with
perplexity. At last he gets an exercise
book and asks for advice from his land
lady, in broken English. The landlady,
in her vain attempts to make him under
stand, raises her voice to a high key,
and then suddenly lowers it as the
thought occurs to her that he is not
deaf. Why do we raise our voices in
such cases ? After several months'
practice our friend translates into En
glish the following sentences :
" My dog is cold. My hat is wet.
The dog's legs are weary, iieer is good.
The Judge is happy."
For more advanced lessons :
" The little boy is full of cake. The
long-tailed coat was made by a
tailor. (He is puzzled here. He does
not see how "tailed" can be the past
tense of "tailor.") Is the haymaker
well ? Have you seen my aunt's um
brella ? Let us walk by the mill and
look at the dammed water. " (Puzzled
again. )
Our friend blundered at the break
fast table next morning. He turned to
a young lady next to him, and casually
remarked, as if he were referring to the
weather, " Have you seen my aunt's
umbrella ?"
The young lady looked surprised, and
said she had not. He followed this ob
servation with the remark, "The Judge
is happy." Everybody laughed and
looked at a little fat man who was serv
ing soup. It was Judge Dox.
Our foreigner was now so elated with
satisfaction at his mastery of the En
glish language that he said : Let us
walk bv the mill and look at the dammed
water." Again everybody laughed, and
the little fat Judge snorted so much
soup into the upper part of his head
that he had a fit of coughing ten min
utes long, and between his spasms of
laughter he murmured something about
a pun. Our friend, who was now the
center of attraction, repeated all his ex
ercises, much to the delight and good
humor of everybody. New York Com
mercial Advertiser.
The Hay Fever.
A correspondent of the Chicago later
Occan writes as follows concerning the
hay fever : " During the past week I
fell a victim to that unpleasant disease
called 'hay fever.' To my inquiries for
a remedy, I everywhere met with the
reply, " There is no remedy ; you will
have to wait until the frost comes.' My
symptoms were constant irritation of
the nostrils, and discharges from them,
accompanied by sneezing and coughing.
My eyes, too, wept, and my head ached
continually. I called in at" a drug store
and obtained a prescription which ef
fected a cure in a few hours. It was
simply two grains of quinine dissolved
in two ounces of water, shaken, and
then used as a solution. It can be in
jected into the nostrils, or a small
quantity poured into the hollow of the
hand and snuffed up into the nose.
Any druggist can prepare the mixture.
I write this simply for the benefit of the
thousand individuals now sneezing
throughout the city. The disease
seems to be epidemic. Pestiferous ani
malculse inhabiting the nose are sup
posed to be the cause of the hay fever,
and these the quinine kills."
A Word About Marriage.
A physician writes the following
sensible advice : " My profession has
thrown me among women of all classes,
and my experience teaches me that God
never gave man a greater proof of his
love than to place woman here with
him. My advice is : Go propose to
the most sensible girl yon know. If
she says yes, tell her how much your
income is from what source derived
and tell her you will divide the last
shilling with her and love her with all your
eart in the bargain. And then keep
your promise. My word for it, she wLU
live within your income, and to your
last hour you will regret that you did
not marry sooner. Gentlemen, don't
worry about feminine extravagance and
feminine untruth. Just you be true to
her, love her sincerely, ' and tell her of
it frequently, and a more fond, faithful,
foolish slave you will never meet any
where. You won't deserve her, I know,
but she would never see it. Now throw
aside pride and selfishness, and see
what will become of it."
Sticks Diffkr. A yardstick is very
useful in a store ; a stick on the stage is
of no good, nse whatever ; a stie; in a
tumbler is sometimes in danger of
making the sidewalk uneven to pedes
trians ; stick of a husband or wife is apt
to be much longer than is desired ; and
a stickful of matter is the commonest
thing read in newspapers.
Infanticide by Opium.
One of the best informed physicians
of England, Dr. Mitchell, employed in
the public health service, some time
ago published a mass of testimony ob
tained by him from numerous medical
witnesses, showing the almost universal
resort to opium, in order to benumb aud
stupefy children, even those of the
tenderest age ; a very common prepara
tion for this purpose being a so-called
cordial made of treacle and opium. So
general, it appears, is the use of this
mixture, that customers go to the
apothecaries, and, without any hesita
tion, ask for a dose of it " to give to the
baby next day, as they are going out to
work." Chemists frankly admit that
they make and sell these opium decoc
tions by the barrel and hogshead full.
This baleful usage prevails not only in
the colliery districts, bnt also in manu
facturing and non-manufaotnring places;
and it is stated by one physician that
in the Nottingham, Derby and 'Leices
ter districts the habit of administering
opium to infants usually begins when
the child is three or four weeks old.
And still another witness asserts that
the opium cordial is given on the very
day of birth, being in readiness for that
event. The inevitable result of this
terrible custom is, of course, that great
numbers of infants perish, either sud
denly from an overdose, or, as more
commonly happens, by slow, painful,
insidious disease. Compared, there
fore, with this form of infanticide, the
kind practiced by the Chinese may be 1
said to be merciful.
A Child Stranglcdjby a Cat.
A strange occurrence took place a
few mornings since ia the family of Mr.
Doloway, engineer in Babcock, Fuller
& Co. 's new hat factory, who occupies
J. W. Canfield's house on Mulberry
street, in this village. Mrs. Doloway is
accustomed to leave her babe, a little
girl four months old, on the bed up
stairs while she does her morning's
work in the basement, from where she
could easily hear the least noise. On
the morning in question she heard the
little one crowing as usual, but finally
noticed that the sounds ceased, and
shortly after heard a strange gurgling
noise. Supposing that the child had
got its head under the bed-clothes and
was suffocating, she ran up stairs to see
about it, and found the house cat with
its ncse in the child's month. The
child was strangled black, and was fight
ing feebly with her hands. She caught
the child and shook it several times,
when it caught its breath and came out
all right. In a few moments more it
would probably have been strangled to
death. Mrs. Doloway had to pull the
cat off the child, so eager was it to re
main. It had a paw on either side of
the child's head, and had its nose,
pressed deeply into the child's mouth.
The cat was instantly killed. Middle
town (N. Y.) Mercury.
Compulsory rules for sailing tracks
across the Atlantic are held to be im
practicable in England.
From Maine to California millions of chil
dren are wearing SILVEE-TIPPED Shoea.
Why not ? They are the cheapest, and never
wear through at the toe. Try them. For
sale by all shoe dealers.
Wishabt's Pine Tree Tar Cordial
cures conghs, colds and consumption . Wis
hart's Worm Sugar Drops banish worms
completely.
GaM Fifteen Ponnfls of Flesh.
South Berwick, He., Jan. 17, 1672.
H. B Stitiii, Esq. :
Dear Sir I have nad Dyspepsia In Its wont fcv
for the last ten years, and have taken hundrec lr
dollars' worth of medic. ne without obtaining au
relief. In September last I commenced talcing the
Veoetinb. since which time my health has stead
ily improved. My food digests well, and I have
gained fifteen pounds of flesh. There are several
others lu this place taking the Vuf.tinb, aud all
have obtalued relief. Tours, truly,
THOMAS E. MOORE,
Overseer of the Card Boom, Portsmouth Co.'a
Mini.
DYSPEPSIA.
SYMPTOMS "Want of appetite, rUiog of food and
wind from the stomach, acidity of the stomach,
heartburn, dryness and whiteness of tho tongue'
in the inorninff, sense of distension in the stomach
and bowels, sometimes rumbling and pain; cos
ttveness, which is occasionally interrupted by
diarrroea; paleness of tbe urine. The mouth is
clammy, or has a sour or bitter taste. Other fre
quent symptoms are waterbrash, palpitation of
the heart, headache, and dts rders of the senses,
as seeing double, ttc. There is geueral debility,
ianguor, and aversion to motion; dejection of the
spirits, disturbed sleep, and frightful dreams.
FEEL MYSELF A NEW MAN.
KaVlCK, Mass , June 1,1672.
Mb. H. R. Stbvkits:
Dear Sir ThroUKh the advice and earnest per
suasion of Kev. K. 8. Beat, of this place, I have
beeu taking Vegetink for Dyspepsia, of which I
have suffered for years. I have used o.ily two bot
tles, and alreaay feel myself new man. Respect
fully, DR. i. W. OAKTEB.
A Source of Creat Anxiety.
My daughter ha received great benefit from the
use of VjcGXTlNa. Hr declining health was a
source of great anxiety to all of her friends. A
few bottles of tho Yeoctini restored her health,
strength, and appetite. N. H. TiLDEN,
Ins. and Real Estate Agt., 19 sears' Building.
Boston, Mass., June 5, 1873,
What I Know About Vegetine.
South Boston, May 9, 1P70
H. R. BTCTIX8 :
Dear Sir I have had considerable experience,
with the Veoeiise. For Dyspnpln, Oeneral De
bility, and Impure Blood, the Vkoktisk i supe
rior to anything which I have ever used. I com
menced taking Veqktink about the middle of las,
winter, and after using a few bottles it outtrely
cured me of dyspepsia, and my blood never was
In so good condition as at the present time. It
will afford me pleasuro to givo any further par.
ticulars relative to what I know about this good
medicine to any one who will call or address me
at my residence, SS6 Athens street. Very reipect
fully, MONR E PARKER,
3Wi Athens Street,
Vegetine is Sold by all Druggist.
Wisharfs
Pine Tree Tar
Cordial !
Nature's Great
Remedy
FOR ALL
Throat lie Lung
Diseases.
For Sale by all Druggists
and Storekeepers.