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About The Albany register. (Albany, Or.) 1868-18?? | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1875)
WHAT WAS HIS CKKKDT He left a load of anthracite In front of a poor woman1 door, When the deep mow, froaea and white, Wrapped street and square, mountain and moor. That waa hia deed ; ; . He did it well ; ... What waa hia creed?" . I cannot tall. - i --' Bleaaed "in hi banket and in hia store," ' in sitting down and rising np ; When more he got, he gave the more, ' ' '' ' Withholding not the crust and cup. Be took the lead ... In each good task. What waa hia creed t " ; I did not ask. ( Ela charity waa like the mow, . Soft, white and silent in ita f aO ; No like the noisy whida that blow ' From shivering treee the leaves; a. pail for flower and weed, Drooping below. "What waa hia creed tM: . The poor may know. , ' , He had great faith in loaves of bread -" For hungry people, young and old, . And hope inspired, kind worda ha aaid To those he sheltered from the cold ; For wo miut feed . ....i , : v As well as pray. What was hia creed T M I cannot say. In words he did not put his trust ; v Hia faith in words bo never writ ; "He loved to share bis cup and crust With all mankind who needed it. In time of need A friend was he. " What was hia creed t " ' He told not me. He put his trnst in heaven, and he Worked well with band and bead ; And what he gave in charity Sweetened hia sleep and daily bread. Let us take heed, . For life is brief. " What was his creed T " " What hia belief t" .. THE L05E CABIN. X had ridden hard and fast, and waa astonished to find myself coming into a Btrapgung Beiuement. ua the course wnicn Biiotua nave taken there was nothing of the sort. Somewhere I had crossed the right trail and taken the wrong one. Almost any traveler in the bonier sections would have been glad to thus stumble npon a place for food and refreshment. Not so with myself. In the breast pocket of my coat I carried five thousand four fcundred and ninety odd dollars, United States money. I had received this amount from Mai. -Gen. T. M. Liacey, and it was to be carried through to Fort Li , and placed in the hands of CoL Asa F. Southard, to defray necessary army expenses. . "Uet through at your best gait. wanes, saia uie .major, "tne money is long since overdue, and Southard's rather irascible temper must have been ' tried to the utmost. You know how the soldiers get to growling if uncle is at all delinquent in paying up. Ride in a careless manner, but be careful. I don't think that any one dreams of- the arrival of this money save, of oourae, the mail agent and the clerk who delivered me the packages." , I was directed over an tinfttrnfliftr sec tion, hence my losing of the right route. I considered it my safest plan, so long as I had blundered upon the verge of the settlement, to boldly enter and rest as an ordinary traveler would do. ' Should I push hurriedly on, I might, by that very act, excite suspicion. There were only two men in the bar room when I entered ; the landlord and the hostler. Under his fWi.r- cor diality the landlord furtively eyed me in a manner that made me wish I was well done with my job, butl reassured myself with the thought that it was the con sciousness of the responsibility reposing i upon me that caused his glances to dis turb me. Before I had finished my sup per two more travelers rode up, called out for the hostler, and ordered drinks, or rather one of them came in with the orders, and the other threw-himself down on a bench outside and began loading a huge pipe. Strolling carelessly about the room, I managed to glance out of the window. My keart leaped ' into my throat, for in the man outside I recog nized from description of him Bill Wolf one of the most desperate char acters that ever figured in the annals of border ruffianism. There was the huge red mustache, the thick, hair throat. and the shoulders hunched Tip around his head, suggesting the. shape of a mammoth clam and the voice with' a deep down intonation " like the pIod. plop, plop of water hurriedly leaving a .jug. xi we ueaenpoan 01 me notorious renegade is inelegant, it has the merit of truthfulness, and must, therefore, be -excused. . 'U" r. . I went through with ray. sapper in form, but whatever aTmefafct 1 mio-Tit have felt on my entrance into the inn, Siad vanished with my discovery. After time the other fellow came, in, having been out, he said, to look after: the ani mals, and they also ordered supper. Now was my time to leave, which 1 did in a careless manner, pausing some com monplace remarks with the two men as I crossed the dim, smoky bar-room. As they seemed to take no notice of me whatever, I felt my spirits rise, with "hopes that I should make a safe transit. It was quite dnskish outside, but the hostler was Sitting about the stable with his lantern, which ' emitted but a little more effulgent light than a white bean would have done, but. he graciously brought out my steed at the order, and, mounting, I thankfully trotted . away. The moon a little passed full--would make her debut in something more than in hour after sunset, and I pushed along a smart trot so as to get well out upon the plains and into tha right trail before that time. The animal went along at an assuring gait, and I was feeling infinitely relieved at my providential escape from contact with tne desperate characters -whom I had left at the settlement, when my acute, trained, ever alert, ears de tected the sound of swift riding. In which direction? From behind ma, as the mildly floating1 breeze blew from- that quarter. The face of the prairie in tins section was a little rolling, but not so as to afford any shelter, and not a shrub or bush dotted the expanse fox -miles. I drew up my horse one moment to listen. No chance travelers ever rode like that. It meant purmiii. ' ' I gave my steed a galling lash and she broke into a convulsive gait, hove her body up with one or two plunges, stum bled, going down from her knees to her nose, and pitched me literally heels over head. For an instant I was paralyzed -with astonishment, the next I seized the bit to fetch up the fallen animal, which had in the meantime undergone a strange metamorphosis. She had lost her white face on or in tha grass, -and, passing my hand between her eyes, I found the hair was wet. In an instant I was examining the white legs ray horse had been pecu liarly marked with white legs and face -and I found these sticky with whitewash. What then? Simply, my trappings had been transferred to another animal, gotten Bp to exactly represent mine in the even ing. This discovery brought an appall ing interpretation of the on-coming horse men. I gave the horse the whip as soon as his unstable legs were well under him, and sent him a scouring on ahead, while T n Pf tu) vtirViK - r.ftVinc tfnr A littlA hollow near a shallow, dry ravine. - Here to my profound astonishment -I discov ered a Ictso cabin, or .-faat,rboa; the Jmeimiona of aa .ordinary, oomsfery log hoTis. ad, iE-puLdvely da&Jjr? to 1Mb, I gave a rapid Buccessioa of Laocis. A shrinking, pale, and cowering woman opened it. " What is it !" was her first nnestion. , noticing my breathless haste. Had 1 stopped for a moment s rejec tion upon the strangely isolated position of the cabin, I should not have passed in by her with the explanation 1 - "as tnere any chance to hide here my horse has thrown me and I believe a party of desperadoes are close up with v I noticed that the moon was coming up dry and red in the east, when she mechanically closed the door behind me, before I had finished my explanation. "No, no; there is no place," she gasped, her quick ear now catching the sound of the coming horsemen. " This is all the room there is and there is neither cellar nor attic. " "But this?" I exclaimed, rushing for a dark object in the corner. "It's a coffin," was her quick response ; "but there's no other chance they are turning up to the door get in." ; I had barely time to place myself in this receptacle for the dead, when a hoarse voice one that I knew .by the description which I had of it calledout : "Here you, Dick." 1 The woman threw hr apron over her head and opened the door. "Where's Dick?" " He hasn't come back yet," returned the woman. ' " Oh, he arn't Jen, hev yer hurd a horse go by to-night?" " Yes, only a little while ago a small man?" " Yes driving like the devil. " "I guess," she said, and then paused, " you can hear the horse now," feigning to listen. . But Bill Wolf must have been of a sus picious nature. I heard him leap from his horse and strike with a jarring plunk upon the sod. A smoldering fire was burning on the stone hearth. ' I could imagine Bill's attitude he had a hand on each door-casing, his brutal head was thrust inside the room ; he was peering about the apartment. "What in h is that?" he ques tioned ; and my heart stood still, for I knew he spoke of my retreat. " It's Stauffer's coffin. Dick is a going to carry it over to-night." "Stuff!" ejaculated the desperado, "as he made his bed, so let him lay buz zards are the sextons for the likes o him." The woman sort a groaned, and then I heard. Wolf go up and joggle tne ram barrel at the corner of the cabin, and finally go away with the remark : " He ain't far off ; he couldn't stick to that blind critter when he began ter hurry." ! "What shall I do? what shall I do 1 gasped the woman ; " they will be back in twenty minutes, for I believe that your horse is in sight, not more than three-quarters of a mile off, and my hus band is liable to come at any moment. ? .But with nun inside the nouse we might" "witnnim! sue emphasized it in despairinar tones "he's Bill Wolf's brother." Z was out of the coffin in a trice then. you may well believe. . "It is death for you any way." she moaned, " for I hear the rattle of Dick's axles already. "Stay, there's the rain barrel." said I, in desperation, "they've tried that once, they may not asain." And before you would be able to speak a sentence, the water was dashed out of the cask and stealing down into tne and sou, and 1 was in tne barrel. and the woman dropping a tub half filled with water in at the top as a cover. She had barely time to enter the house, the door of which, fortunately, opened on tne side away from tne moon, when a rattlin&r vehicle drew up at the door, and I heard a hoarse voice raving and swearmcf at tne woman for some thing done, or undone, and then from the bung-hole, the plug having been dislodged in the upsetting of -the cask. I saw the furious return of the three renegades. ..' There was a good deal of loud talking, and explanations, and oaths, and stir ring up of hot nectar, and rough remarks about tne cistern in tne corner ; but both Dick and the woman seemed sore about that matter, and the man peremptorily refused to join the hunt because of the coffin. " Well, you're croinc our wav a niece. said Wolf, "likely enough you'll have tne run 01 seems: us wmir tne turkey. The conversation was distressingly personal, made acutely so by Uick ask ing: "Is there water enough out there, Jen, to drink my horse? " " IH see," she returned, moving slow ly over the door-sill, and then, leaping to tne cask, she lilted out tne tub, and tipped my prison over a little so that I could spring out. I was behind the cask when Dick came to the door and chirruped his beast up to the tub to flririk-. " IT! go with you as far as the forks," he said, as two of them came out with the coffin and slid it into the body of the wagon. They then stepped back, prob ably to call the others. ' At that moment a wild and desperate plan entered my brain, but feeling for my knife, I found that it was missing, along with the belt to which it was at tached. In the sudden jostle which the falling steed had given me, the girdle had been snapped and lost without my knowledge. The horses of . the three renegades my own, which had been re tained by the hostler at the inn, among them were hitched on tne lartner siae of the door, where the moonlight, strik ing by the end of the cabin, rested fully upon them. It was suicide to attempt seizing one of them ; but as the woman, with some purpose in her mind, sang out to the men to come back and get the last dipper-full of liquor which she had mixed, I seized the only alternative. ' I sprang lightly into the wagon, lifted the coffin lid, and again, crawled into the long, narrow prison. ' ;';.;,-...'. " There was no choice. The flood of moonlight had swept so far toward my hiding place that only a part of my body was concealed by the barrel, and I knew that discovery was inevitable, for the man's horse stood in such a position that in order to recover the reins he must have trodden upon me, and there was no earthly, thing, aa far as the eye could reach over the plain, behind which a man could hide. Ah, but what if he should readjust his freight ? ' Can you think how my heart pumped away at the thought ? You wonder what my ! plan could bet I had none, other than the hope of having only one man to deal with, if he went on his way as he calcu lated. The three ruffians were mounted, and all were about to start, when the woman ran out with some sort of a blan ket, and muttered something about cov ering the coffin. The man yelled out to her to mind her own business and let the thing alone. : ' -.:. : She retreated with the cloth, but ' she had accomplished her purpose. In its folds ahe had concealed a bowie knife; under its cover she had raised the lid and dropped the Weapon inside, risking giv ing me a cut &a it foil upon me ; but in noise and confusion I had got the weapon m my hand, and with its point raised the heavy lid of the rough box the fraction of an inch, so that breathing was easy if my position was cramped. The three horsemen spread out, re marking to each other : "Beat up the game now speedily before, by any mira cle, he gets into the wooded belt by Buford's Springs." They continued to halloo at each other for some time ; their liberal potations surmounting their discretion. " Dick," they called back as they were driving off, "a cool twelve hundred apiece; throw out your old shell and join tne nuns. The driver mumbled something, but the whisky had thickened his speech so that it was unintelligible to me. . If he did attempt to move the coffin, I was lost They kept within hailing distance for the length of some three or more miles, Dick smashing the heavy wagon along at a stunning gait ; and I expected every moment that my shell would be jostled out. By yftnd by, there was a shout off to the right of a " tally ho" as if the hunts men had sighted the quarry. Nothing but an unwarrantable amount of liquor could have influenced them to conduct themselves as they did, for no sooner had they called out from the right, than Dick came to a sudden halt, leaped from the seat, and ran off toward those who were hallooing. For one instant my heart stopped beating at the thought of the hazard which I was . about to run. The next moment I sprang from the coffin to then ground. A few lightning-like strokes. and I had severed the traces and the hold backs of the harness. The whole scene is vividly pictured in my mind. The moon-lighted prairie, the little ravine toward which the renegades were dashing, the wagon standing in the trail then the rattling of the falling thills reached the ears of the party, and with a wild shout they turned toward me. I was on the horse's back, but boldly de fined by the moonlight. There -was the sharp report of two rifles. I felt a sting in my foot, another in my shoulder, but tne norse was unharmed and the race for life began. There was a disheartening disadvant age for me, for I had no saddle, but I was riding for my hie, and I held my steed between my knees, and took the broad trail with the fury of a tornado. But the issue would rest mostly with the horse. I knew nothing of the one which I rode ; I knew nothing of ; those that were pursuing me, excepting my own wmte-iaced mare. he could run like an antelope and out-vind a hurri cane. On and on my steed, desperately spurred with the point of my knife, bore ahead, actually causing me to gasp for breath ; and not two hundred yards in tne rear roue my would-be murderers. On the rolling prairie now, and my animal took uie aeenvmes with a plunge, and the elevations with a sure, fierce stride across the brawling ford but crack came another rifle echo, and- again a stream of - fire seemed to strike my shoulder. They were closing in closing up. x could now make out only two horsemen following me. One Of , these had discharged his rifle at me, the other I knew was held in rest for them to come just a few yards nearer. A momentary dizziness lopped me over upon my horse's neck. The ruffians yelled triumphantly behind, but a distant echo brought me up, and giving my poor Dea3t a sanging diow, a emitted tne wild, long, fierce yell of the border rangers, and sped on again ; but my horse had that peculiar squirm now and then in his gait that told me he was faltering. Again that echo reached me, swelling out on the rising wind it was the shrill squeal of the fife and the rum-diddle-um, did-e-um-dum-dum, dum of infantry re turning from some expedition to Fort aj . A gam 1 sent out that long, ' wild, border yell, and I knew by the quicker breathing of the fife, and the rapid puls ing of the drum, that the soldiers had broken into the "double-quick" in heed of my cry. A parting shot fired at random, and the two desperadoes turned ; but one of them, at least, I was not done with. I called my horse with a peculiar whistle ; I repeated and repeated it, and then I heard him crashing again in pursuit, while his rider shouted and lashed him, and tried to pull him round the other way. For a brief time the desperado wrestled with the animal, lashed, goaded. and roared at her, but my incessant, jerky whistle-call kept her mind and head. toward me. He only gave up the fruit less struggle and leaped from her back when a squad of infantry dashed over a hillowy swell of prairie, and rushed down toward us at that steady, measured run which is so effective in contrast with a disorderly gait. i "It s Wolf, boys," I exclaimed, as they came up with me for I knew his voice. I had no neea to tell them that there was a price set upon his head, as it had been clearly proved that he had stirred up the savages to commit more than one massa cre of the settlers ; and a dozen of them, uttering a yell of fury, started in pursuit ; while the others, noticing my swaying about on the animal which I rode, began to think that I had found something serious in my race for life. In fact! the plain was rising and falling and shuffling about so that it took a great amount of nerve and equipoise to sit as I ought. They got me into Fort Laramie, however. with uncle s promissory notes all safe in my breast pocket ; while my boot full of blood, and the galling flesh wounds in my shoulder,4 accounted lor the odd maneuvenngs 01 the plain while i was on horseback. . After a brief but desperate conflict, Bill Wolf was brought in, and passed over to the proper officers "to have and to hold. " until there should be meted out to hirn the measure he had given Others. A Remarkable Beeord. The investigation into the causes of the recent accident on the Old Colony railroad at Harrison square, by the Bail road Commissioners, develops the un usual fact that hut one life has been lost, justly chargeable upon the railroad com pany, since the opening of the road in 1846 twenty-nine years. This is indeed a remarkable record, and is only paral leled by the history of the Fail Biver steamers, now run by the Old Colony Steamboat .Company. The steamboats running in connection with the Ulu uoi ony road commenced as the Bay State Steamboat. Company, in 1846, and, with some changes in boats and management, have run uninterruptedly ever since. Millions of passengers have passed over the Sound, to and from New York, by the steamers ' on this route during the long period of twenfy-nine years, Jwith the toss 01 but one life justly chargeaDie to the steamboat line. These remarkable results are not entirely due to good luck, but may be attributed to extraordinary care and viguanee, Boston Traveller.-, A vnrrtM boy heard his mother tell of ighteen head of Cattle being burnt the ther night. "Weren't their toils burnt also? " he inquired. the momentary THE BEOOKLYN BATTLE. The Alleged Greed of Mrs. TUtoa. f rraton'e Evidence. She said she was not judged by me nor her mother ; that she loved God and did not believe God would have permit ted her to enter into those relations jf they had been sinful, and she said par ticularly that neither her mother nor jl had made it the business of our lives to understand what was right or wrong as Beecher had ; that Beecherwas a clergy man, a great and holy man, and that he had repeatedly assured her that their relationship was not dnf ul, and she did not see how it could be sinfuL He had told her that love justified all things ; that love had various expressions one expression was a shake of the hand, an other was a kiss on the hps, another was sexual intercourse that it made little difference what the expression was, if the love was right ; its rightfulness justi fied all the various expressions of it, and that she believed, before God, that her love for Beecher was right, and his for her was right, and, therefore, she did not see how . any of the various ex pressions of it could be sinful ; that she rested on Beecher for that, since he had told her so over and over again. . I 11 Perkins Speaks. ' i Eli Perkins writes as follows to the Chicago Journal : . ! Theodore Tilton looked upon himself as a giant and his wife as a pigmy. He never consulted her about literary mat ters, told her frankly that he was ashamed of her, and that he was married to a per son beneath him in intellect. Mr. Beecher, on the contrary, old me that he found in Mrs. Tilton a woman of ge nius. When I asked him to explain in what way Mrs. Tilton was remarkable, Mr. Beecher replied : i "Why, sometimes she had as good judgment in a question as the ripest Judge on the bench. She could be as learned as a Judge one moment, and the next moment a giggling girl. She once wrote an opinion on a grave question the Byron disclosure which so enlisted my attention that I read it to a good many friends, and finally I sent it to sister Harries I have read literary passages to her many a time, in which she sug gested the wisest and most subtile changes." " ; But, to go on with the story. Mr. Bowen, of Brooklyn, told me that once, after Tilton had returned from a lecture tour, he was belittling his wife, saying she was a mediocre woman and not a fit companion of a man of his intellectual culture, when the little woman, goaded by his idbuendoes to retaliate, ex claimed : i " You my not think me worthy of your love, Theodore, but I know a bet ter man than you, grander and more dis tinguished, who does love me.", I I " Yes, it's that Beecher !" hissed out Tilton, as he took his hat, and uncere moniouBly left his wife. " It was that unguarded boast," said Mr. Bowen, " which the outraged wife let out to punish her husband, which roused Tilton's jealousy and suspicion against Beecher." From that time on . Theodore Tilton had but oae idea a hatred of Beecher a jealousy, insane and morbid, which de voured him night and day. Beecber'a Dread of Beach. fXew York Coirespo&dence Rochester Democrat. Beecher, as it is now admitted, should have retained Beach at any expense. All who know the power of the man expect that his invective on the defendant will be the most cruel thing perpetrated in any court of the world. There are hun dreds who would give ten lollars to hear Beach spread himself. The case will conclude with an avalanche of annihila ting power. It is said that Beecher dreads Beach more than any other element in the case. Me had an intimation of the lat- ler's incisive style in a few minutes' speech, which thrilled the audience like a stroke of lightning. This plainly sug gests the terrors that are in store. Xieach and Beecher are much alike in character, and are almost equal in age, in stature, and in weight. Had Beach been a preacher he would have rivaled the ora tor of Plymouth church in mercurial wit, brilliance of thought, and originality of expression. On the other hand, if .Beecher had been a lawyer he would have been noted for that versatility of language, that pictorial display of wors and ideas, that commingling of law with wit, satire, and scathing denunciation, and that flex ible and majestic utterance which mark the famous advocate. As the case now stands it is one Beecher let loose on an other. As a gentleman calmly remarked, Sir, Beecher has always been his own worst enemy. His free and easy pulpit style and his general display of what is called Beecherism have continually in jured him, and now he is obliged to meet not only their damaging influence, but he is also to take the punishment as it were his own self." Another man re marked, "I would rather have all the lawyers in America against me than Beach." During six weeks Beecher has Been this antagonist, like a huge ana conda,' calmly waiting the proper mo ment to crush and swallow him. For this reason it is now apparent that the great blunder in the case was the omisson on the part of the defense to rebun this legal Jupiter Tonans. The Self-Abnegating Love of Tilton. Chicago Tribune Bepori. Question by Fullerton In answer to question put by Mr. Evarts with re gard to your wife, you answered : " I think my wife loves everything good and hates everything bad, and I believe to day she is a good woman." " Now, I want to ask you the foundation for that belief,; in view1 of this charge that 'had . been preferred against your wife. In other words, how you reconciled that state ment with the fact that she is charged with adultery ? : Answer (hesitatingly) Well, sir, that is a sad question. I can answer only for my own judgment of her behavior not for other people's opinions. You must remember, sir, that I knew Eliza beth when I was 10 years old ; that I be came her confessed lover at 16 : that I was married to her at 30, and that, for fifteen years of our married lives, I held her in my reverence, perhaps almost to the point of making her an, idol of my worship : and when she mmn tn hr downfall it was the necessity of my own heart that must find some excuse for her. Other people might blame, but I must pardon her. I found that excuse in the fact that she had been rapt up in her re- i ugioos Beadier ana guiae, and nad sur rendered her convictions to him. She went at his beck and lead trustingly ; she walked after him like one blinded. I thought ahe sinned her sin as one en tranced. I did not think she was a free agent. I think she would have done his bidding if, like the heathen priest in Hindoo, he had bade her throw her child in the Ganges, or cast herself under the Juggernaut. That waa my excuse lor Elizabeth.- As he spoke thus sorrowfully of the weak woman who had tangled her own infirmities, in the net of ltn ruin, his voice faltered and began to tremble. There was a great silence in the room, so that the rustle of a woman's dress was heard clearly by every one. AIL eyes fastened upon Elizabeth Tilton, whose cheeks were crimson, and who shrunk from the glare of curiosity like a wound ed animal Beecher's own gaze was fixed upon the gas-jets in the ceiling. Vic. Ooea for Theodore Again. ' Mrs. Victoria C. Woodhull publishes the following letter in her paper Wood hull & Claflin'a Weekly respecting the Tilton-Beecher case : " 111 reply to the many who are some what acquainted with the basis of the facts regarding the relations that existed between Mr. Tilton and myself, and who are insisting that I shall not rest another moment under the insinuations cast upon me by him in his evidence of Tuesday of last week, I ask them to be patient I am the one more deeply interested than anybody else, and, if I can afford to wait for my justification, others can surely afford to do so with me. I am aware how indignant many of my friends feel on a count of the slurs cast upon me, a hrough me upon the cause of social 1 cdom, by Mr. Tilton. But I have famed that the laws- of immutable jus ice always eventually bring the truth and the right uppermost ; and I can bet ter afford to let them run their course than to possibly abort their purposes by attempting to interfere to forestall their judgment. " I decided before the trial began to not interfere in any manner with its prog ress. If Mr. Tilton thinks that, with the rendering of the verdict, this case will be concluded, he will learn his error possibly too late to avert the doom that he is inviting upon his head. The infin itely greater and more important part of this case will be undecided when this trial shall have closed. It is in the ver dict that shall follow the one which this court will render that I am chiefly con cerned. The mere present is nothing when compared with the infinite future. He may struggle now to make the shad ows he has cast upon my name and fame heavier and darker ; but when he shall stand unveiled, as stand he shall, he will blush as deeply for his present efforts as he now pretends to for what has passed. " After this trial is closed, I shall have a plain, simple statement of facts to make, in which there is set forth the truth in detail about all that has occurred since the 22d day of May, 1861, in which any of the parties to this scandal were involved. That statement will be all that is required to confirm the truth or expose the falsity of Air. Axlton s testi mony regarding his relationship with me. Wait patiently for it, as I shall wait to give it. " Victoria C. Woodh-cijL." Frozen to Death in the Water. The Nashville Banner gives the fol lowing particulars of the terrible death of two men : " About dusk last evening, while two men, whose names we were unable to as certain, were seated in a cahoe, engaged in catching the driftwood floating down the Comberland, not far above the wa ter-works and close to the shore, the canoe capsized, throwing them into the cold depths of the river. The river was not very deep at the point where the ac cident occurred, but, as they were una ble to swim, their condition was certain ly a very critical one. .Their canoe drifted away, leaving them standing in the river, which was of course very cold, rendering them doubly so from the fact that their clothes was saturated with water. They raised their voices to the highest pitch, and cried lastily for help, but the seconds lengthened into minutes, and still none came. " Their cries were at last heard by a gentleman riding near the i bank of the river, and, answering his inquiries, they asked him for God's sake to send a canoe out to them, or they would freeze to death. He told them that he did not know where he could find one, . but would endeavor to do so, and rescue them from their perilous situation. " He galloped away on this mission of life and death, and at last, and after a long interval of time, as it seemed to be, had passed, procured one and hastened to their succor. As he approached the spot from which he had spoken to them he called to them, but received no re sponse. After wasting several minutes in this manner without receiving any answer, he went close to the bank, where a sad and ghastly sight met his gaze. Leaning half way out of the water, with their hands clutching in a - firm death grasp come bushes, where the unfortun ate men frozen to death. Their bodies were removed to a suitable place to await the time of their interment. " Reasoning Power of Animals. , Kev. J. G. Wood has lately published a work entitled " Man and Beast Here and Hereafter," in which he has ad vanced the theory that, by reason of their intelligence and sagacity, the lower or ders of n.nimn.la may claim with man the heritage of inimortahty. The hypothesis is sustained by a multitude of curious facts concerning the habits of animals, which tend to show that many dumb creatures are capable of carrying on a irocess of thought, and possess an abso ute power of reasoning. In treating of the ability of insects to hold counsel and communicate ideas with each other, Mr. Wood adduces the following interesting incident as evidence that the wasp is en dowed with thinking principles : A good example waa witnessed by me last summer. At breakfast-time, some pieces of the white of an egg were left on a plate. A wasp came in at the win dow, and, after flying about for awhile, alighted on the plate, went to the piece of egg, and tried to carry it ofL. Wish ing to see what the insect would do, I would not allow it to be disturbed, r Af ter several unavailing . attempts to lift the piece of egg, the wasp laid it down and flew out of the window. Presently two wasps came in, flew direct to the the plate, picked up the piece of egg, and, in some way or other, contrived to get it out of the window. These were evidently the first wasp, and a company ion whom it had fetched to help it, , I had a kind of suspicion that, when the wasps reached their home, they would tell their companions of their good fortune, and so I put some more egg on the plate and waited. In a very short time wasp after wasp came in, went .to the plate without hesitation, and carried off a piece of egg. The stream of wasps was so regular that I was able to trace them to their nest, which was in a lane about half a mile from my house. 4 --' The insect had evidently, reasoned with itself that, although the piece of egg was too heavy for one wasp, it might be carried by two ; so it went off to find, a companion, told it the state ef things, and induced it to help it in car rying off the coveted morsel- Then the two had evidently told the other inhabit ants of the nest that there was a supply of new. and dainty food withm reach, and had acted as guides to the locality. Here is positive proof that these insects possess a very definite language of their own, lor n is impuBBUMo uuu xiumwu beings could have acted in a more ra tional manner. . ' .- I . . CAPT. JACK'S BAS. How the Mod oca Are Floarlahlng Xowadaya. The nearlv-forgotten Modocs -are brought to mind again by the following article from the San Francisco Bulletin of Jan. 30: . ; a. B. Meacham, Chairman of the Modoc Peace Commission, has finished the manuscript of his book entitled The Wigwam and the Warpath,' and proposes to publish the work within a few months. He does not confine himself to his expe rience with the Modocs and neighboring tribe during the last few years, but gives the impressions received while dealing with the red man and his affairs tmr a. weriod of thirty years. The preface to the volume was written by Wendell Phillips. Mr. Meacham will anticipate the publication of his book by a lectur ing tour thrpugh the United States with a delegation of noble red men and women who have gained distinction, of one sort or another, within the last decade. Dur ing his recent visit to Oregon the lecturer secured the services of O. C. Applegate, of Yainox reservation; Frank Kiddle, and Biddle's Modoc wife 'Toby 'the woman who was messenger between Capt. Jack and the Commissioners, and who warned the latter of the treachery which resulted in the death of Gen. Canbyand Dr. Thomas; David Hill, a Klamath chief ; Tecumseh, a medicine man; George Hardey, a Roguei River, and his wife, 'Maggie,' and these people are now at Sacramento, where : Mr. Meacham is announced to lecture on Monday evening. Early next week he will start for the East, halting on the way to gather a few more Indians, i Mr. Meacham has received permission from the government to make up his delega tion of Indians by selecting such per sons as he desires from any of the reser vations, a privilege which others have vainly sought. The government authori ties at Washington have gone out of their course to assist Mr. Meacham for several reasons, the fact that he was maimed by the Modocs being paramount. i' " The ex-Commissioner relates that he visited the exiled Modocs on the 20th of November and had an excellent opportu nity to inquire into their situation. 1 The TnHiHTia have been allotted several thou sand acres of land in the northeast cor ner of Indian Territory, on the Quapaw reservation, and are under the charge of an Indian agent. When Mr. Meacham arrived at the agency, after a stage ride of twelve miles from the railroad station, his attention was directed to a party of Indians engaged in playing, the peaceful, and effeminate game of croquet, i He was particularly interested by the stylish appearance of the tallest and cleverest of the players, a fellow who entered ; into the spirit of the game with remarkable earnestness and was completely absorbed in the manipulation of the ball The In dian was attired in pants of a fashionable cut, a traveling skirt of checked flannel a hat of the pattern peculiar to -the Quakers (tall and brown and broad brimmed), a paper collar and red neck tie and high-heeled boots with tassels. Around his waist was a long sash of red silk, worn vaquero-fashion that is, with ; the fringed end at the side. Upon a neigh from one of the horses, the Indian under discussion looked up, saw the vis itors, and, dropping his mallet, rushed to the stage to take the agent s baby. As he gathered the infant in his arms he caught sight of Mr. Meacham, and his face was overspread with a look of wild dismay, and for a moment it was evident that he felt himself in a quandary. This was Bogus Charley, an Tnflian more con spicuous for treachery than bravery. Jllr. Meacham learned that liogus had sup planted Scarf ace as chief of the tribe, the agent not Knowing the antecedents 01 the men, and deeming the former an Indian of superior mind and morals. The agent was speedily undeceived. The Modocs are comfortable and contented, and they are sure to improve with time. All of the children attend school and are mak ing satisfactory progress. The country about the Modocs' home is settled, rail road depots are within twelve miles of them and their associations are such that they cannot fail to lose identity as a war like people within a very short time. Bogus Charley and Hooka Jim asked to see the pictures of ' them men,' and Mr. Meacham produced the pictures of Capt. Jack, Schonchin, Boston Charley and Black Jim. The Modocs never mention a person's name after his death. They allude to him as that man, so-and-so's fa ther, or somebody's mother. The sight of . the picture of Capt. Jack deeply affected lizzie, his third widow, by date of marriage ; she shed tears very freely. Her present husband was also affected, but not to tears. I "During his progress East Mr. Meacham will unite with his company Natchez, the Piute chief of Nevada; Scar faced Charley, Shacknasty Jim and prob ably the Princess Mary.' f . i Sorry He Wasn't There, j I have referred in my book to that Coroner of ours who seized an Egyptian mummy that was brought into town, summoned a jury, held an inquest on the mummy, brought in a verdict of "Death from causes unknown," and charged the county with the usual fee, with compound interest from the time of Moses. Well that Coroner is stall hi office, and he is still enthusiastic about his profession. Last Sunday night he was at church. The minister preached a very solemn sermon upon Noah's flood. and after it was over a met the Coroner in the aisle and said to Vm : " Very impressive discourse, ;Mr. Wheeler, wasn't it?" , i - " lseautiiui, sir I beautiful, replied Wheeler. "And yet it seemed to be kinder monrnful, too."' i - . " Indeed 1 . Why, it didn t strike ma in that way. . It was solemn, of course ; but its tendency certainly should be to fill the heart of every truly good man with cheerfulness and hope." " Oh, 1 know ail that," . said Wheeler. but didn't he say that there were several million people drowned in that flood ?" "I believe he did." " Well, then, I say that when I think of all that mortality, and remember that I wasn't Coroner then, and ain't likely to be when there's another such a freshet, it makes me sick. There ain't nothing cheerful about such reflections. I feel's if I hadn't been treated right ; 's if I'd been robbed. Max Jiaeler. : The Lumber Supply. ; A correspondent of the Davenport (Iowa) Gazette, tor whom - that paper vouches aa a lumberman of long experi ence and ample means of information, writes that the winter's cut of logs in the Wisconsin pineries will sum up into not less than 620,000,000 feet of lumber. The yield in Michigan will not be much less, while Canada, Maine, Northern New York and -other sources of supply will furnish additional quantity. The cor respondent adds that lumbermen gener ally are somewhat discouraged at the prospect. They have earnestly; striven to reduce the amount of production until prices should advance, but their efforts nave been only partially successful , The crop of the present year is considerably above that of last year, and the outlook is thought to be but little improved. 1 KISSING THE CHILDREN. Kiaaea in the morninff ' Make the day aeem bright, Filling every oorner With a gleam of light ; And what happineaa ha miaaea. Who, affection'a impulaa aooming, Depart, and givea no kieeee -To the children In the morning. Many think it folly; Many aay H'a bliaa ; Very mnch depending On whose lipa yon iaa 1 But the truth I am conf easing. And Fd hava yon all take warning. If you covet any bleaaing, Kiaa the children In the morning I - Kiaaea In the evening When the light are tow. Set two hearta a-flaming With affection'a glow. And the angels swarm in numbers Hound the pillow they are pressing, Who are wooed to peaceful slumbers J By a dear one's fond caressing. Kisses in the morning Are not out of place ; Kisses in the evening Have a special grace ; And it seems to me that this is For indulgence lawful reaaon ; Sweetest tulips I mean kisaea I -Ye are never out of season I Wit and Humor. A Pacifc fee-male Irwin. Materialized spirits Frozen whisky. A mountainous event Andes election. A babe flower The pink of politeness. BuBNiNo words A- dictionary in flames. Thb Freshman class (O.) Female College of the Granville embrace eight young ladies. ... No man can read about all these bur-. glaries without a determination to have his wife sleep on the front side of the bed. "Biddy, did you put an egg in the coffee to settle it? " " Yes, mum ; I put in f rvr-: v rn-ifir wpro an Yiful T had to UflB the more of them." , If anything will impress the human mind with awe, it is the expression on a man's face when he has just been aroused from snoring in church. , The Hottentot of the St. Louis Jour nal perpetrates the following i " The President perpetrated a pun once, and it was this : ' Yes. my poppinj? the ques tion to Mrs. Grant was purely an ax-a-Dent." An Irish peasant being asked why ho permitted his pig to take up its quarters with his family, made an answer abound ing with satirical naivete: "Why not? Doesn't the place afford every convaa ience that a pig can require ? " Hefwobth Dtxok is surprised to find that Americans are losing their nasal twancr. Poor old Hep ! He ought to loaf around the suburbs of Detroit and hear women yelling to strange boys to " keep ofrn that air g-a-i-t I JJetroit Free Press. The Philadelphia Ledger doesn't write any obituary poetry outside of Philadel phia, This is the style in which jt men tions the death of a small boy of Lowell : Ixjwell Saturday. Two little boys and a pistol. Now, only one little boy and a pistol. A WOT7ID-BE school teacher in Toledo recently replied to a question by one of the examiners, "Do yon think the world is round or flat?" by saying, " Well-, some people think one way and some another, and I'll teach round or flat just as the parents please." A wao, with the word , " whoa," brought a horse driven by a young man to a dead stop. " That's a fine beast of yours," says the wag. . "Yes, a pretty fault. He was once owned by a butcher, -and is sure to stop whenever he hears a calf bleat." This may answer some up-country editor, but we ain't that kind : . Complexion clear as polished wax ; Her tongue as sharp aa carpet tacks ; Her eyes a dark, bewitching blue ; Her voice is pure and high-toried, too ; Her neck's like Annie Iurie's swan ; ; Her words you'd love to dwell upon ; Her teeth no pearly, clear, and white, You almost wish your ear she'd bite. " Heard about Pete and Jake ? " in quired one boy of another as they met near the City Hall yesterday. " No ; wliat's ter pay ? " was the reply. " Wall, 111 tell yer, but the pleece musn't git to hear a word. Jake he called Pete a flop, and Pete he called Jake a cater pillar, and they shook hands and agreed to have it out next Monday. Jake is eating eggs and raw beef, and Pete is down to the slaughter-house smelling blood, and I tell you there'll be the most awfulest time Monday you ever heard of 1 " Detroit Free Press. A Horrible Affair. One of the strangest and most horrible of sensational incidents took place the other day at Puteaux. A party of chil dren who were playing in , the- environs discovered floating in the air and partly entangled amid the branches of a tree, a white parcel, upborne by means of some twenty or thirty little red toy bal loons, which were attached to it. The attention of the police being called to this singular object, it was brought down and the package opened, which proved to contain the corpse of a new-born in fant. Investigation into the matter brought to light the following facta : The child was that of a poor toy-maker and his wife ; just after the confinement of the latter the husband had died sud denly, and all the household goods and chattels had been seized for rent. The unhappy woman was driven mad by this accumulation of misfortunes ; she killed her infant, and then went out and threw herself into the river, leaving behind her a written paper, in which she declared her intention of committing suicide, and said that ahe "had (rotten her baby all ready to go up to heaven." A sadder tale with a stranger termination it would be hard to find. The toy balloons evi dently had formed a part of the dead husband's stock in trade. Paris letter. Caught in His Own Trap. 'Prof. Bradford and a male associate. peregrinating showmen, appeared in An tioch this week, with flaming posters, an nouncing a mysterious " box trick," the wonder of the nineteenth century. The Professor esoonced himself in a wooden box, the ' lid was closed and securely locked, when in a few seconds he reap peared in the room, freed from his tem- ' porary imprisonment No one attended the humbug, and consequently the im postors found themselves wanting in coin when the Parthecius was about to leave for San Francisco. The philo sophic Professor was in distresii, but re sorted to his profession to secure passaga on the boat. Ha entered his box, which his companion fastened, and was thus placed on board the boat - as freight, thinking to come on deck after the col lection of tickets. . In the meantime soi&e wicked youth informed Capt. Stowel of the ruse, who, seeing the box, asserted that it had a suspicions look, and ordered his men to throw it over board, or split it open with an ax forwith. As the deck hands were about to cast ii into the sea the professor sued, for mercy, and was admitted to fresh air. The fare, was paid Antioch Col. Ledger.