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About The Albany register. (Albany, Or.) 1868-18?? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 1875)
BEGIN ANEW. JL Cheery Homily for Ntw-Viw'i Day. BT CAUB Mn. The Old Trar iroea ; the New Yesr oomn- 411 hmil lta first-born dsy ! While Boresa basts on icy drama HI Arctic reveille. Tan loo oa many a hill Ilea white, The merry chimes ring clear BIor to the Old a last good-night ; Sing, hail to the Mew-Tear ! Eo t tired and heaft-eore traveler I Hard la the load yon beer Ton deem it hearlett by far The aching heart cau wear ; 2at tnoastnds. man, have borne it, too Have borne it and kept heart. As many thonaande more ahall do. Who act the hero's part. Shake off your griefs, ahake off your donbt Begin anew this morn ; Drive all your dark forebodings out. And welcome Hope new-born. The Past ia dead ; the Present Uvea The Mew-Tear is began ; Oh. hail the light that Promise gives From ita new-risen ann ! Oft times the yoke seems heavier man, Becaase we make it so, . - - . By losing faith in what we can. With courage, snreiy do. Ob, brave ia he who ever strives To wear a smiling face I Who knows that labor honor gives That sloth is deep disgiaee. So, while the bells are throwing out Their welcome to the year While ring the merry langa and shoot, Cast off yonr frown and tear. This is the time for fortitude. For hope and courage, man. The hour t 'enlist among the good, And try to reach the van. St-rt ont with Honor for yoor guest, With purposes snew. Determined e'er to strive yonr best. The Mew-Tear'a work to do ; Ziet sorrow psss, let Joy arise, In effort put your trust. And learn, by triumph true and wise, That Be ia always just. THE OLD POCKET-BOOS. A. New Year's Story. It was New Tear's Eve. Every 8 tors whs open, irom me grana palace em poriums to the narrow stalls where pen nies were treasures. Oat of the busy throng who wended weir way through the noisy streets. there was odb with whom my reader is asked to take a brisk stroll upon the New Year's Eve in question. He is a tall man, past fifty, with cur line, iron gray hair, kindly blue eyes, and a face that having a gravity resting upon it habitually, can light to sunniest bright ness when kindness or humor stir the radiant smiles. Into the jeweler's to select a pair of costly bracelets ; out again to enter a neighboring toy-shop, where a life-size baby doll, a rocking horse, baby house and sled were only foundations for the piles of expensive toys that caught his eyes. : over to the confectioner's, where white paper bags multiplied under his directions ; into a dry goods store, for an Indian scarf hiB wife had admired a day or two before, and where dresses for the servant girls could be selected ; in and out, busy and happy, piling pockets and arms, Charles Haughton ppent nearly two hours in the heart of Broadway. Everywhere he met the most prompt and deferential attention. Smiling clerks .moved with alacrity to fill his orders, and courteous cashiers graoe- xuuy accepted ms Handsome checks. For his face was well known as that of sv prosperous .merchant, and his name was good for over a million dollars. His pretty, winsome wife was a belle in the most aristocratic circles, and his children had never had a wish un grati fied. His house in Fifth avenue was well known for its lavish hospitality and the beauty of every appointment, and no handsomer equipages or more costly horses were found than those that car ried Mrs. Haughton from her home and back again. Charles Haughton had nearly com pleted his purchases, and was hurrying from tne irons 01 one of the toy stores he patronized, when his foot struck something upon the pavement, and looking down he saw a small pocket- book. He lifted it and looked around him for an owner ; but there was no one who seemed to miss such an article. There was no time to examine it, so he thrust it into his breast pocket and hurried on. Having completed his arrangements for the morrow, he went to his library for a quiet smoke before retiring. He was puffing slowly, when he recalled the pocket-book he had picked up in the street. . Thrusting his hand into his pocket, he brought it to the light. It was a very shabby affair, the leath er worn at the corners, the inside dilap idated, and the fastening a piece of twine. " Some poor soul, who could ill af ford it, has lost this," the merchant thought, pityingly; "and pn New Years Eve, too. It is too bad. Let me see if there is any clue to the owner." He took out two folded papers, each containing a small a am of money, and each eloquent of the poverty of the owner. At the sight of the first Charles Haughton started and sank into a rev- ery, painful and sweet at the same time. The paper was a grocer's bill for four dollars and eighty -three cents, made out to " Mrs. Edward Hill," and inside was a five dollar note. The thought of the man who looked at it ran something in this wise : " Mrs. Eaward , Hill I Can that be Mattie Hunter pretty, dark-eyed Mat tie, who ran away with Ned Hill because her father would not give his only child to a man who found too much comfort in a whisky bottle. Pretty Mattie I How angry she was with me when I tried to make her see that Ned was not the anael or hero she imagined him. She said I was "jealous. Well, perhaps ' I was." And the prosperous city merchant went back in imagination to the days when he was a country boy, desperately in love with the minister s daughter, Mattie Hunter. He recalled his bitter jealousy of the gay city fop, Edward Hill, who came to the -little village and fascinated Mattie by his fine dress, his smooth courtesy and airs of superiority, TTn thouc-ht of th father's oppression. his grief and his death, when holding Charles Haughton's hand in his own, Via left his forgiveness for the willful child, should she ever return. She left swoid in the honest loving heart that was nnfc filled for manvvears. Restless and lonely, Charles had gladly accepted an offer from an uncle in New York to enter his counting-house, and rising rapidly, he had finally, at his uncle's death, inherited his fortune and busi ness, and when past forty had married a belle of soc'ety, whose love was his great hapiness, and whose children were the idols of their father's heart. And now, twenty long years after he had last seen her face, Jlattio's name stirred all these old recollections in his heart. It may not be the same," he thought; it ia a-common name." Then he unfolded the second paper, and here a penciled slip, folded over a two-dollar note, explained the errand cn ' New Year's Eve that had resulted in - the less of the pocket-book. For the pitiful memorandum ran : " tor Eddv. 10 cents : (Trapes for Matiio, 23 oenU : bushel of coal, 40 cent ; toy for Minnie. 10 cents; candies, 15 cents; dinner, etc, tl.00." "Eddy! Mattie!" Charles Haughton thoueht. " It is Mattie Hill ! Ah me ! She must be very poor when she calcu lates so closely. Let me look at the srrocer'B bilL Bread, milk, brown sugar. cheap tea everything of the meanest kind and in smallest quantities. Poor Mattie ! Little children, too ! Oh I must find out about her, and let me see. I owe her father many a kindness. and'I am a rich man. IH begin a new year with a payment of Mr. Hunter's croodness to me, u x una is is ms child." He opened his pocket-book, and taking a crisp bank-note, folded it in a paper, upon wmcn ne wrote, " mattie Hill, from an bid friend," and put it in the shabby pocket-book. Then he glanced at his watch, and whispered : " only a litue alter iu. mverytning will be open late to-night, and I can find this grocery store and make some inquiries." Before he left the house he hovered a few minutes over the collection of toys in the nursery, selecting a few, and then he hurried on his errand, to find the grocer just putting up his shutters. " Can you tell me. ' he asked, any thing about a Mrs. Hill, who deals with you?" The man put down the shutter and motioned the questioner into the store. Mis round, good-natured face wore a troubled look, as he asked : " What do you want to know for ? She's in sore trouble, every way, and if its Dad news It is not." was the emphatic reply, " i want to do her a kindness. Poor soul, she needs it. She is very poor, with a consumptive daughter dying by inches, and two little ones. Five she's buried, sir." " Where is her husband ? "Dead,' sir, the Lord be thanked! He went off three years ago in delirium tremens. " How does she live ?" " From hand to mouth, sewing by hand for a tailor's store, and that is poor oav. now machines are so plenty. She did better while Miss Mattie could work too, but now she has her to nurse and feed. To-night, poor soul, she was to get ten dollars for some work, and she came in here an hour or more ago to tell me that she had lost her pocket book and the money. Her hands were chilled and it slipped out. Charles Haughton looked round the little store and his eyes brightened as a kindly idea came to his mind. " You could fill a large order?" Oh, yes sir." " Fill this one for me. and send it to Mrs. Hill's address in the moraine. What is the bill?" Never, probably, had so large a sum for one order passed over the little counter, as the grocer consented, in happy excitement. A 11 send them in, sir, he said, tak ing the money, "and 1 promise you they shall be the best I can buy." Will you give me Mrs. Mill s ad dress?" " Three doors above, sir. on the third floor. You go in at the openwioor next the clothing store." "Good-night." " Good-night, sir. and God bless you fer a kind-hearted gentleman." it was a very narrow door that Charles Haughton entered, and a narrow flight of stairs that led him to the third floor. Quiet reigned in the miserable house, and ha could hear quite distinctly the Voices of women conversing in the room he sought. One .was broken by sobs ; the other weak and often interrupted by a hard, dry cough. The latter voice was saying : " Uon t cry so. mother : some honest person may find the money and return it." " I can't advertise it, Mattie I can't even buy a paper to see if it is found. And I promised the children a piece of meat and some candy and toys for New Year, because we could give them no Christmas gifts." Was Mr. Mart angry about his bill?" . ' " No. he was very kind. Bat there is Mr. Lee coming day after to-morrow for the rent, and not a cent to meet it. even if we are not all dead with hunger and cold. Charles Haughton drew from his pocket the shabby pocket-book, and knotting it fast to the string of the package of tojs and candies he carried, put it before the door of the room. Mattie s weak voice greeted him as ne stopped, saying : ' " God will provide, mother ! ' A -rap at the door startled both women, but the widow, candle in hand, opened it at once. Nobody greeted her, for Charles Haughton was hidden behind a curve in the wall, but her foot struck the bundle and she looked down. With a cry of joy that thrilled the heart of the hidden listener, she lifted 15, saying: . "Mattie I Mattie ! it is here V " Your money, mother ?" " Mv pocket-book tied to a bundle !' "In her excitement she left the door open, and from ms niaoen piace ner old lover could see and recognize her. She was very thin and pale, and her hair was thickly strewn with gray, but it was the shadow of the face he had loved twenty years before. The open door showed him the wretched room. the two children asleep upon a mattress upon the floor, and the pallid woman upon the bed. Witn trembling nngers tne motner and daughter untied the pocket-book. 'It is all here, Mattie, the mother cried, " and a folded ' paper ' Mattie Hill, from an old friend,, and inside ! am I awake ! Mattie ! it can't be - true. A hundred dollar bilL" "Mother!" " It is here look 1 Now. Mattie. you shall have a fire at night, a blanket. and some nourisning food, ion will set welL Mattie !" And here happy sods came too fast for words. Mattie drew her mother into a close embrace. " Come, you forget your bundle, she said gently. " Oh. only look, Ed dy's ball, and such a beauty ! A doll for ALintue, ana a lovely one, too ; a top ana a tea set i Ana pounds of can ay i - Then & violent fit of couchinsr re minded the mother of the open door. and Charles uaugnton, shut out in tne dark, crept softly down the stairs, full of kindly resolutions. Before he had reached home, several stores had had a call from him, with orders for the mor row, and he bent over his own sleeping darlings with a heart happier for the eveninor's work. - It was long after midnight when Mrs. trill still wondering who her "old friend " could be. lav down to sleep. only to rise at dawn half afraid her hap piness was all a dream. Before the breakfast was over, while Minnie watched her doll, and jsaay held his ball fast m his hand, the neigh bors wondered if the Hills had come into a fortune. For, first of all, a ton of coal, was dumped into the widow's coal box, with a load of wood for company. Mr. Hart sent in a supply of groceries that seemed inexhaustible. A dry goods wagon brought a pair of warm blankets, rolls of cotton and flannel, shawls and a great Bquare of thick, warm carpet. A market basket was left with an enormous goose, oysters, celery, oranges, grapes. jellies and other good things too numer ous to mention. And last oi ai a wagon brought a Bewing machine, marked like the note, " From an old friend." No need to touch the note, which Mattie put aside carefully for a rainy day. j - Mattie, comforted and cheered by this sudden influx of plenty, rallied little by little, gaining strength in the well warmed room, with good food and an ease of mind long a stranger to her. Nobody knew the story of the old pocket-book,' and Mattie did not guess who sent her such noble New Year's gifts ; but tfce rich merchant finds no happier thought in his record of the year than the generous act that opened it, and the memory of Mattie's happy face and voice as he last saw them irom the dark entry of her dwelling-house. Distributing Christmas Presents. The Christmas tree and the time honored stocking are the common and generally satisfactory methods of dis tributing Christmas presents, and- so often have they been celebrated in song and story that they are likely to retain a foremost place, so long as rhymes stand for reasons and tradition exercises its influence over the imagination. Moreover, there is variety even in Christmas trees. Here is the little one, set in its green stand covered with moss, for the darling only child ; and the family tree, covered with a hetero- fenous collection of articles, from the nitted shoes for the baby to the " dress-pattern " for the " girl," and the Christmas-party tree comic, which grows jumping-jacks and tin' whistles and Japanese oddities ; and the Christmas-party tree serious, which displays embroidered handkerchiefs, elegant slippers, curious sleeve-buttons, and even sets of coral and gorgeous brace lets. Then there is the church Christ mas tree for the poor and the church Christmas tree for the children, the first of which deals in stockings and comforters, and the latter in cheap dolls and boxes of candy, varied by books and oranges, which last must be con sidered the most sensible. But though you can hardly improve upon the idea of the Christmas tree for persons in whose hard lives few poetical associa tions find a place, yet, socially, we sometimes want a method to vary the monotony and cause a surprise. To effect this, a figure of Santa Clans is sometimes dressed in the long coat. great beard, and fur cap, all tufted with snow (or cotton batting) and in trounced into the drawing-room, pro vided with a huge pack from which he distributes ms gifts. Another way is to have a ship arrive ana umoaa its cargo, among wmcn is a package for everybody present. Christ mas suppers sometimes close with the introduction of a huge bean pie, which the host anathematizes for not making its appearance before, and laboriously cutting into it discovers paper parcels instead of a savory inside. An amusing method is to have them come in the form of spiritual " mani festations. A curtain is drawn across one end of the room, the company sit round in a circle, each one provided with a number, and ask the spirits to favor them with some manifestations. Mounted on steps inside the curtain the distributer throws one parcel after another over its top, so that it will fall upon the table with much clatter and confusion. Each parcel being number ed and folded in several papers, it takes time to find the right owner and to open, and then thev begin to come " thicker and faster." Hot a little fun and mixing-up ensues, immeasurably heightened where the company are un aware of the purpose of the sitting, and have sat down for a regular seance. Wood Books. In the museum at Hesse-Cassel, Ger many, is a library made from five hun dred European trees. The back of each volume is formed of the bark of a tree. the sides of perfect wood, the top of young wood, and the bottom of old. When opened, the book is found to be a box containing the flower, seed, fruit, and leaves of the tree, either dried or imitated in wax. At the Melbourne In ternational Exhibition of 1866, Colonel Clamp exhibited specimens of Victoria wood converted into small boxes of book form, according t to a design adopted by that gentleman at the Vic toria Exhibition of 1851, and then sug gested by Baron Ferd. Mueller. Noth ing could be more interesting than a library (to speak allegorically) of such imitation books, representing the dif ferent, timbers of various countries which could be systematically, or alpha betically, or geographically arranged. Australia alone could furnish of such a collection over a thousand volumes. At the Paris Exhibition of 1867, Russia showed a similar collection of wooden books cleverly designed, showing the bark as the back biudine. and lettered with the popular scientific names of the wood, Iliac h boon contained samples of the leaves and fruit of the trees, and a section and shaving, or veneer of the wood. American Educational Monthly. ' Wooden Railroads. The following description of a wooden railroad now in use in Bay county, Mich., will be interesting to those re siding in sections rich in hard wood. but where the dearness of iron or the thinness of population prevent the use of metal rails : -" There are, first, logs laid crosswise, about five or six feet apart. The logs are from twelve to sixteen feet in length. Then gains are cut in the logs and flat tened timber laid in these gains ; this prevents the road from spreading. Our rails are of hard maple. Before spiking the rails down we put ties across the stringers, notching the stringer enough to let the tie down even with the top of it, and spike the tie fast before the rail is laid on. The ties are of two-inch hemlock plank, from six to twelve inches wide ; this prevents the stringer from rolling, -is ; We would recommend any one who wishes to build a road on the above system to build it as straight as possi ble. We have some curves in our road, and we have been obliged to dispense with wooden rails on the curves, and lay down iron. We operate our road " 1 1 , ! . . t , - witn locomotive power, vost oi aim ing, without rolling stock, is about $2,000 per mile. The stringers are made of elm, oak. pine, and ash, and are flattened on two aides to ten inches in thickness. v. Tsa New York Ghraphio has it bad. It remarks of an individual it describes : "He was of obscure, but tasteful par entage." That ''tasteful" is equal te anything yet produced by the new graphic process, r Paul Boynton's Swim, as Belated, by Col. Forney. OoL Forney writes from London to the Philadelphia Press " Capt. Paul Boynton, of the New Jersey Life Guard at Atlantie uwy, uuw uere alter nis ATtrnnrdinarV feat of throwing himself into the ocean, from the National steam ship Queen, on the stormy night of Oct. 21, seven miles off Fastnet rook, on the Irish rock-Douna coast, ne Degan his experiment east of Baltimore, where the cliffs are 180 feet high and more, and after being seven hours in the water, swim ming over forty miies, ne nnaiiy guided himself, in the midst of the tempest, into one of the fissures on that terrible shore. He was clad in the life-saving apparatus recently invented by another American, Mr. Merriman, and aided by . . . -. ... . his great skiu as a swimmer and a diver, his cool courage and strong con stitution, performed a feat which, when the news reached London, was regarded as a hoax, and generally commented upon as another evidence of American exaggeration.' You have heard the story how he attempted to get passageon several of the outgoing Amer ican steamers from New York in vain, because thei captains knew that he would attempt to leap from the ship to prove the American apparatus of Mr. Merriman, and how, finally, he obtained a berth on the National steamer the Queen, and was prevented only by main force from jumping overboard when 300 miles from New York, and how at length, at 9 o'clock on Tuesday even ing, Oct. 21, off the Irish coast, he per suaded the captain to put him down the side, and all alone, in a dark, tem pestuous night, clothed in his India- rubber air-tight suit, with its inflated air-chambers, with food for three days. a compass, a bull's-eye lantern, some books, several signal rockets, an Amen can flag, witti a number of letters be longing to the passengers, in his inside pocket, with his bowie-knife and ax at his side, he grasped his . paddle and amid the cheers of the crew and com pany entered upon his awful journey. Every soul on board believed that was the last of the brave fellow. I wish you could hear him tell the - story of his condition after being tossed on . these mountainous seas for Beven long hours : how he was cast into the rocky fissure on the Irish coast ; how in the dark night he scaled the almost perpendicular cliffs, and, mount ing the top, fired off his signal-rockets for the relief that never came ; how he descended the dangerous declivity, stripped off his preserver, and walked, bruised and battered, until he came to a little Irish town, the barefooted inhabitants of which, regarding him pretty much as the Indians beheld Columbus, or Rob id eon Crusoe's man "Friday," stared at the Bight of the shipwrecked sailor; how, at last, he got to Skibbareen, where he posted the letters intrusted to him by the passengers of the Queen, who had all given him up for lost, and were astonished when he telegraphed them to Cork that he had arrived, and would soon be among them. His pas sage through Ireland was something more than a triumph ; the " man-fish, as he is called, bean object of wiid curiosity and admiration. Crowds fol lowed after him, and when he got to Cork he was welcomed at the theater by the company singing the "Star Spangled Banner," and on the 27th of October exhibited himself in the harbor near Queens town for more than an hour. He proved at once the efficiency of his life-saving suit and his own dar ing courage. A Peansjlvania Affair. A horrible story is told in the Allen town (Pa.) Herald of a lunatic named Levi Handwerk, who was discovered by a hunter on Blue Msuntain imprisoned in a brick cell, about four feet square, where he had been immured for twelve years. The father of Handwerk died when the latter was a voung man, leav ing mm gi.uuu. Tne motner married a second husband, after which young Handwerk was bricked up in this prison in the woods, and left to live or perish as he might. After the discovery was made the Coroner and others from AUentown proceeded to the place in Washington township where Handwerk was imprisoned, and found a constable from Slatington already making prep arations for the deranged man s re moval. The iron bars guarding the entrance were taken down and the un fortunate man was found lying on a patch of straw, nude and incrusted with dirt, while the surroundings were too filthy for description. His limbs bad become paralyzed, and he was unable to stand upright without assistance. It is said that the reason given for his imprisonment in this filthy den was that it was unsafe for him to be at large, and that if he had been sent to an insane asylum the money he possessed would have been appropriated by the State for ms support. Handwerk has been sent to the county almshouse. A Great Farmer. Dr. H. J. Glenn, of Jacinto, Colusa county, CaL. has raised and harvested this year, on his own ranch, 600,000 bushels of wheat. This is equal to 18.000 tons, end will load eighteen 1.000 ton ships, and all of this he has in his own warehouses ready for shipment when the water of the Sacramento river rises sufficiently. The doctor's freights. to put his wheat in San Francisco, will amount to $90,000 In the plowing season he runs ninety gang-plows, and in harvest any number of headers. He threshes his wheat by steam power, using Home half dozen steam threshers. He has about 200 miles of good board fence on his farm. But his farming operations are not confined to wheat growing alone. He markets about $100,000 worth of stock each year. Dr. Glenn is a practical farmer, and man ages all his business himself. He can mend a trace iust as well as he can get the highest price for his grain. Santa vruz (Cm.) iseniinei. Dsssolntlon of Partnership. Among the Burmese the marriage knot is very easily undone. If two persons are tired of each other's sooie ty, thev dissolve partners nap m tne fol lowing Simple ana wucumg nmiiimr ; They respectively iignt two candies, and, shutting up their hut, sit down and wait until they are burnea. The one whose candle burns out first gets up at once and leaves the house for ever, taking nothing but the clothes he or she may have on at the time ; all else men becomes tne property ox tne otner party. --'. - ' Black Hms Gold Digging. Lieutenant-General Sheridan expresses utter want of belief in stories recently telegraphed from Sioux City, of the presence of a prospeoting - party of miners in the Black. Hills country. All advices received by the General from the commandants of the military posts on the borders of the Black Hills coun try go to show that no white men have penetrated into was region since uret eral Custer's expedition of last summer. Giving Gifts. A writer on this subiect saystrulv: The gift season is now at band. All things have their season there is a season for sorrow and a season for joy. Man lives for a time, and when he ends his earthly career he dies, but he goes irom this earth lamented according to the amount of usefulness and joy he has dispensed. All have their joys and sor rows, only some are blessed more than others. Some have much, others lit tle ; some have great talent, others not ; some have much of this world, others little. Just in proportion as we have means and opporunities, in that pro portion do our responsibilities increase. This rule applies to the dispensing of gifts. The Great -.Giver had this world at his command ; he gave it to his children. To save this fallen worle he gave his Son as a sacrifice. Christ came to us as a gift He came on Christmas day. For this reason this day has become a day of giving gifts, and it is for this reason Christians, es giftf, ly, love to observe Christmas as a meann of joy and delight. Giving pecial therefore, has become a favorite seasos of commemorating this annual festive occasion ; just as firing guns, pistols, crackers and displaying the American flag are means of com memorating the Fourth of July to the American people. "It is more blessed to give than to receive," is a truth fully comprehended by the open-handed, lib eral giver ; the close-fisted, selfish. De grudging giver may not enter into the spirit of that saying. To give gifts, then, requires means, judgment and liberality. The world is rich our country and people are now rich but no doubt some, like the foolish man, have buried their talent or locked it up, and will refuse to put it out for the benefit of others nor will they profit by it. A means thus locked up becomes a curse and makes men poor, endanger ing them, so that they must suffer in mind and means. The curse of this sin rests on them. Such, of course, will refuse to give gifts. Such are too poor in their own estimation to give or en able others to do so. But the liberal, the Christian, ever happy and making happy, will give to those they love. They will seek to make others happy by giving, and will be happy themselves in the consciousness of having made one happy. The needy poor should come in for a share. Christ said, "You have the poor with you always, but not so with me." He meant by this that there was a time to care for the suffering poor ; as you have them with you al ways, plenty of opportunity is offered to care for them. It should not be for gotten that winter is now upon us, and that the poor and helpless may not be well housed, clothed and fed. Let it not be forgotten that our crops have been large, the prices profitable, and that our people must have plenty of bread and money. The panic has not ruined our people ; it has only fright ened them ; and now that the danger is rapidly passing away, let fear be dis pelled. Let the money safely and waste fully locked up be put out at interest again, in good real estate and other good securities let business have the . have work and wages to support his family and himself let Christmas, the season of guts, inspire our people witn financial courage and liberality, i-very one that has money and debts should use it at once and pay. xou will do a benefit to all classes. Let all have the means to give gifts. Giving gifts is a pleasure it is full of benefit it is a Christian virtue it is a blessing and a comfort to giver and receiver, and its influence extends far beyond this. May it cause a turn in the events of the day a source of change for the better, with the whole country, financially and otherwise. The Freedman'g Bank Swindle. The reports which have been current so long regarding the desperate condi tion of the affairs of the . bankrupt Freed m an 8 Savings Bank are more than confirmed by the report of the Commissioners appointed to liquidate them. It would have been less' cruel to the depositors had the full truth been told long ago. It bas been apparent during the past six months that there was no hope for the unfortunate depos itors, and, notwithstanding this fact, the truth has only been partially told at long intervals, the policy of letting down easy having prevailed. The ne groes of the North and South who had intrusted their little savings to the cor morants wno managed the bank, nave thus been kept in a state of alternate hope and despair, now expecting to re ceive their money, and again doomed to disappointment ; while all the time it must have been apparent to the Trus tees that there was no hope for the vic tims. , The developments made by the Com missioners show that the main cause of the collapse of this bank was not the panic, but the corruptions and mismanagement of the bank offi cials. The assets show that the President of a Washington club-house got $28,500, secured by law. Howard University had $75,000, and it is not very creditable to that uneasy seat of learning that the debt was secured by college property of little value. One man had $2,000 secured by the stock of a bankrupt manufacturing company in Maryland. Borne of Jay Cooke s friends got several thousand dollars without giving any collateral whatever. .District of Columbia officials and con tractors obtained loans amounting to sev eral hundred thousand dollars upon col laterals which had no estimable value. F. A. Dockray, an adventurer, got ,514 out of the bank on a security of $10,000 of the bonds of Fremont's showy bubble, the Memphis and E Paso Railroad Company, which re cently got the latter into trouble in -t aris. Thus the mt of assets reads to the end of the chapter reckless waste. corrupt . management, and moneys loaned out without, security. The as sets which were without collateral were as good as those with collateral, and neither were good for anything. The liabilities of this bank and its Southern blanches were almost exclusively to negroes. Chicago Tribune. An Eye Fight on the Cars. A clergyman writes : . " Did you ever have an eye ngnt have some person look at you persistently, catching your eye every time you looked toward mm ? Did you ever get annoyed and fix your eyes on him, and struggle and wrestle witn mm, -ana nnaiiy tnrow him? have many a time. -1 was once riding in tne cars witn a beautiful young lady who wv in my onarge. a man sitting near fixed his wicked, greedy eyes on her ana one was annoyed. X got in good range, and fought that man's eyes all tne way irom VJieveiana to JDuHaio. iiu eyes both needed what no minister. what no good Uhnstmn. could give them, and, if any wicked man had come into that car and had given him a pair of black eyes, I should have thanked theIord.,r Davenport Brothers Beaten. A Gallipolis correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial writes In John Montgomery's saloon, under the Dnfour House, some pranks have been performed that put to shame the Davenports and Hume. Bight here I will remark that John Montgomery was greatly afflicted last winter with a mal ady affecting his pecuniary constitution, and known generally as the crusade. One morn John opened his saloon, and about the time the first red-nosed toper appeared to take Lis matutinal dram, divers and Bundry of the mothers- and daughters of Gallipolis appeared and began to sing " Come to Jesus," which melody, with sundry others of the same nature, had a wonderful effect in keep ing John's bottles on the shelf full and his pocket-book empty. After about one month's siege, John showed signs of capitulation, in that he kneeled reg ularly at all the prayers and sung with lusty vigor, " Without one plea, except that Jesus died for me," eta, which signs were accepted as repentance, and John was allowed a breathing spell. Being a disciple of Horace Greeley, John thought that the easiest way to resume was to resume, and so the red-, nosed fraternity returned, and John's pocket-book waxed fat. ' As I said some time since, John's saloon has now been visited by veritable ghosts, spooks, or spirits, and this has been about the pro gramme they played : ! The medium, a lively chap of this place, came into the Baloon and calling John aside, said,"Putone of your hands upon my Bhoulder and with the other take hold of both my wrists," which being done, John's coat calmly and gently as a child slumbers, slid off his shoulders upon the floor. Of course John was astonished, and when he was handed thirty feet of " trot " line, and told to tie the medium to a chair in a sitting postute, and having done so, saw the medium arise without a rope about him, he was more astonished, and this was not allayed when the aforesaid cord was found in the hall, all of the windows and doors being fastened. Bat the most astounding feat of all is, that the medium allows a man (any one) to tie him, sew him up in a bag, seal the bag with sealing-wax, put the bag in a box and lock the box se curely, then throwing a cloth over the box, in less than sixty seconds the me dium is found sitting on the cover, the bag, seal, and cord being found inside intact. This has been accomplished, and that, too, by a young man of good character, never a Spiritualist, at least not until thirty days since, and entirely above and independent of mercenary motives. i The Katie King Swindle. The exposure of the wretched swindle so long -maintained by ivatie mag knocks the bottom out from under that sham of the Spiritualists, " materializa tion of the spirit," and brings the whole shallow legerdemain of the mediums down with it. That such a sham could have been sustained bo long, almost passes comprehension. It is not re markable that ignorant and supersti tious persons should have been deceived by it, or that imaginative young people ' of immature judgment, and addicted to running after every new ism that turns up, should have accepted this female charlatan as a "materialized spirit;" but it is remarkable that she should have deceived such men as Mr. Robert Dale Owen, and misled others laying chum to superior intelligence and scien tific knowledge. Katie King, by hei own confession, now appears to have been only a very shallow swindler, who practiced the panel-game upon her dupes, and found her reward in the valuable presents with which her ad mirers . loaded her. ; Rings, lockets, crosses, diamonds, and toilet goods showered in upon her daily, and at night she soared away with them into the seraphic regions of a Philadelphia boarding-house, and smiled angelically at the foJly of her victims. This seraphic two-hundred-year-old maiden counted her dupes by thousands. - They were not only the credulous victims who thronged her seances from all parts of the country and witnessed her antics with wide-open mouths and eyes, talked angelic bosh to her, and emptied their pockets and pocketbooks into her spirit ual lap, but there were thousands of others who had never seen her old men and women grown fond and foolish, and young men and 'women of airy fancies and morbid musings who were dazed with Katie King. Chicago Tribune. ,A Tale of Two Poets. James Russell Lowell, the elegant and high-cultured poet and Professor of Harvard University, who has just re fused Grant's .offer of the Russian mis sion, 'took occasion, in visiting this place, to call upon and make the ac quaintance of a more youthful child of Parnassus' whoee roseate productions had attracted his notice. The poetical sapling (let me call hira X.) felt quite overcome, and. in short, was really in a state of " suffusion," when the lofty genius at once famous and obscure made his appearance, revealed his name. and stood before mm in his limited quarters. As soon as X. had recovered his self-poise he sought to appease the author ot " The Cathedral - by an in- cens-3 ottering, and so in softest voice. with gracefulest bow, he tendered him a seductive cigar from a handy box of i lor del i umas. " lint haven t ye goi a pipe?" said Lowell; "that's what I'd like." X. happened to have just that sort, of thing at hand, produced it with the Kinnikinnick, and presently vast clouds, roiling from .Lioweii s moutn, A - S 1 - t -3 . TY amazed at such aueerness. X. produced a decanter of wine, which he piacea De fore' the author of "Hosea Biglow." But haven't ye anything stronger than that ?" was the sound that came out of the smoke-cloud. ' X. grappled a bottle or whisky r That's what I'd like," said Lowell, passed it to the " Vision of Sir Iiaun f el." who seized it by the neck, poured out a couple oi sun noras, anii mere, over smoking pipes and jovial jorums, the elder poet andthe younger got to know and understand each other, and established themselves in ! a co-operative attitude of mutual admiration like nntrt that which they might have en joyed by reciprocally quaffing the oracu lar Deverage ui tu umwubu . Fin nli is Lowell one of the friend liest, freest, and juiciest of the high- toned proaucis oi literary culture. New York Cor. Cincinnati Commercial. ... . -. : fl- IS Piano, 111., Mr. Mosfaer sold Mr. RaVrv a pair of boots, both lefts. Mr. RaIot clamored for his rights, but the nnnrt decided that a pair of boots waa a pair of boots, and if Mr. Belvy had to wear them both on one foot , it was a case which the laws of Illinois could not reach. - . VrBQrjoA is constantly receiving' im- migruuui oiu uio ixortnern states. " Abosh " by any other name wouli be " got up." . All Sorts. Poets and pullets chant their lays. Thb charities of New York disburse $7,000,000 annually. Papeb under-garments for women have struck the Pacific coast from. Japan. , A NASHVTJLidB doctor tells of a woman who lost her sight by the excessive uae ef snuff. BxrfnrDiif is going to stretch a rope from the top of the pyramid of Cheopes-, to that of Kephron, and walk it. Two of Robert Brace's bones we re sold in Edinburgh for 5, and one oi: the vertebras of VVilliam the Lion f ox 5 10s. .v The St Louis papers put it thus r "Two niggers and a razor, now one nigger. The Coroner held the in quest." v. :k Last year railroads in Illinois were assessed for taxation at $64,000,000: This year at one-half that sum.Lorr $32000,000. , Ik the Dakota Territorial Legisla ture,, now 'in session, Jolley is. Presi dent of the Council, and Moody Speaker of the House. Chicago has 39 public schools, at tended by 49,500 children. The teaohers& number 640, all of whom, with the ex ception of 82, are ladies. WtTiT.t ah Kppp, who died at Douglas ville, Pa., last week, weighed 450. pounds. Not a Knpp one would care to raise to the lips very often. ; Sauta Ansa is living comfortably iat .the City of Mexico. He is described a otill of an upright, soldierly figure, with, eyes as black as coals, and thin but not; gray hail. ;- Senator Buckingham, of Connecti cut, is so seriously ill at his home that; it is thought he will not be able toe be at Washington at all during the-i winter. - . - MiNNKAPOiiis, Minn., has a new jour nalistic venture in the shape of a daily paper printed on a postal card. This' miniature sheet bears the name of the JPoet Baby. . Lascab Sax, the original of Dickens? opium smoker in "Edwin Drood.T died miserably a short time back, in a court in Blnegate-fields, St. George's-in-the-East, London. Hobacb Gkexkey, a nephew of 'the late founder of the New York Tribune, is 'a day laborer at the glass works oT Stephens, Crandell & Co., Bernhard'&v Bay, Oswego county, New York. . - A numb kb of the large corporations! . mercantile firms, manufactories, and newspaper ofhees in .New York con template reducing wages on the first of ' ' January, as a measure of economy. - They say they have made nothing this year, and are forced to curtail ex--penses. At Houston, Texas, a jury has award ea $220 damages to JJrs. lilake antK Parker, homeopathic physicians, from . the Medical Examining Board; because- the latter refused to sit with the doc- -tors named. This decision will break.: up the board, for none of the allopaths will recognize, their homeopathic-.-." brethren as physicians. . : Information Wanted. y Will sum benighn being explane to me : - . Why a dog allwuss turns around times .-before he lies down.' ' - ' .. Why a horse allwusa gits np bpbi from the ground on his. forward feet. fust. Why a cow allwuss gits up oph from -the ground on her behind feet fust. Why, when a man gits lost in the woods, or on the plains, he . allwuss -walks in a oirkle. Why a goose stands fust on one Ice l and then on tuther. . ... Why rabbits hav a short taleaadkatt-. havalongone. 1 Why most all the birds Dim men r- nests ont of different materials. Why a hen allwuss knows her little - ones from another's, ,and why she will?.?, hatch out 12 ducks eggs and then think.: . they are her own chickens. Why a bear allwuss klimbs down a . tree backwards. Why a turkey's eggs is speckled, ana' a duck's eggs blue. Whether a log floats faster in a river- -than the current runs, or not. Why an oyster and a klam are the -only things I knb ov with animal life that don't hav to move but of their -places to git a living. ' ' . . - ' - Why a mule's bones are all solid, andi their ears twice az long az a horse's. Why a pig gathers straws in hisr mouth and runs about with them just before a rain storm. Why litening never waz known ta strike a beech tree. Why the males amung the feathered! race do all the singing. Why natur will allow one cross be then allow no tceen some animais ana more. ? Why. the blak scaik iz the only snaikr in tlus (M.nn try that, kan klimb a tree. , , "Wh axe the fljs all go. to when the told weather sets in, and whare they all cum from so sudden next summer. ' t Why a musk rat's tale haz no fur era it, ana a mink's haz. . .-. ; Why a quail's egg is round, and as hen's egg iz pointed. , ; Thare iz lots ovhily eddicated people--who won't beleave the Book ov Genesis- -bekause they kant prove it, who kant ; answer korrectly one-third ov the abuw questions. Josh Hillings. Origin of Western Grasshopper. I have been muck, interested in the papers of Mr. Dodge and others, on. this subject. .The origin of these pests is still obscure, and hanoilv it ia hkp.1v- to remain so, as it is doubtful whether. we shall be visited by them again for a number of years. in conversing with a resident of Mont- tana, recently, he said that several, years ago he excavated the side of a- mountain j or a stamp mill, which wasu placed on the solid ground, the loose earth lying ia front of it. The ensuing: EspiixiK, uus pans: oi loose, earth nau a. strange appearance. On examination it waa found filled with grasshopper', eggs, then being hatched out. of course. tney leit when fully fledged, and noth . ing more waa seen of them in that. locality. '; As no sign of grasshoppers could be- previously seen, whence could these eggs have come ? I only tell the story as it was told to me. if true, it is, as -Dundreary says, one of those mysteries that no fellow can find out." T. of Iowa," in JPrairie J-armcr. - . Secbetabt Belknap announced th birth of his little daughter by a jubi lant telegram to the confirmed old' bachelor, Gen. Phil Sheridan: ; Don't think of selecting a wife until you see my daughter." Mrs. Henry Olewes has a rival daughter,' just two or three days the elder of the two little stran gers just taking their 'first peeps at. existence.