COLL. VAN CLKVK.
ALBANY.
OREGON.
THE WOML& OF SCIENCE.
XxdaAirzcs jurD EzraiyrEEitixa.
i s 1 MECHANICAL VIBRATION.
The tendency of mechanical vibration
to retard rusting is exemplified in the
condition of two lines of railway leading
cut of Burrachee, an important port of
. British India, on the Arabian sea. One
of these lines, the Scinde railway, has
been worked daily since its construction,
fifteen years ago, and has rusted away
bat little; the other, a line about two
miles long leading to the mouth of the
Biver Indus, was built at the same time,
but has hardly ever been used, and the
oxidation of the rails has been ex
tremely rapid.
BOILER EXPIXJSIONS.
The theories of steam boiler explosions
; are thoroughly discussed in an able pa
per on the subject recently published by
Ir. Ferdinand Fischer in Germany. After
careful consideration of the various
Causea of AYrilruairhn V a
. x -f m tuuuiuiun
boiler deposits and incrustations the
worst enemies of steam industry.
THE KSGLISH CHANNEL TUNNEI
It really seems possible that the much
talked of tunnel between England and
France may become a reality. At least
the thing is to be tried. Two companies
are to be formed one French, one En
glish, each -with a capital of 400,000
for the purpose- of maVing an experi
ment. Th English company is to start
utw uu in W UlXUkG a email TUH-
across the channel. The French com
pany, starting from Calais, is to do th
aame thing, meeting their English con-
zreresintlie centre of the channel: and
then, if this
- X wuvwvuo, UU.C3.
sunnei is to be enlarged so as to admit
v
oi tne passage of railway trains. The
depth of the water in the channel is no
where greater, than 180 feet;- it is be
lieved that the ground underneath is a
smooth, unbroken bed of chalk. Should
this bed be broken by any very deep
fissure, it might be impossible to make
the tunnel. But very careful soundings
have made it almost certain that no such
fissure exists. The boring of the experi
mental tunnel is to be done by a machine
invented by Mr. Bruton, which will cut
through the chalk at the rate of a yard an
hour. Thus, in two years, the experi
mental tunnel could be completed and in
four more years trains would be running
through it. The tunnel will be twenty
eight miles long, for its approaches on
each side must be four miles from the
shores of the channel, in order to obtain
a xracticablfl crraAc Tf mil
O UAfcJT
yards below the bottom of the sea; that
is to say, it will be 330 feet below the sur
face of the earth.
A NEW AKD POWEBFDIi EXEXOEtVE.
The account of trials of vumrnt. .
newly discovered explosive, at Stock
' holm, states that a charge of about eight
ounces, made up in five cartridges, and
oepositea in an excavation, raised a block
of stone of 163 cubic feet. It would have
taken over fourteen ounces of dynamite
to have produced the same effect.
DANGERS OF BtTBY-OOIiORED MERINO.
A case of poisoning by arsenious acid
vnfoinAl a -.1 1 a -
xu.uy-w.iurei merino irocK
has recently occurred in England. The
poison was associated with the coloring
matter, which was ' believed to be coral-
lino O finWanna .7 I t 1
. mm Duwowtuw uciiY iium coai-tar,
and perfectly harmless when thoroughly
freed frora impurities. This coloring
matter should not be used a dye-stuff ex
cept when the absence of poisonous
properties- has been demonstrated by
manppacture of arsenic.
The quantity of arsenic annually pro
duced in England is upward of five
thousand tons, and more than one-third
of the entire product comes from a sin
gle localitythe Devon, Great Consols
Mine. The white arsenic of commerce
is manufactured by roasting in a current
. of hot air, the arsenical minerals taken
from the mine, At the time of the re
cent inspection by the official oommis-
of this mine a quantity of the poison be
lieved to lMsnffiraentln till
- . w -J mi i
ZOal on the fsWA nf fhn AOT-tn arA nunA
uuu- buj wthi tAfLX
10 ueetroy hundreds of thousands of hu
, man beings is sold there every month.
It is very difficult to prevent the poison-:
ing of the streams in the neighborhood
of such mines and manufactories.
r TA AS THtESSIRO FO WOUNDS. '
' A memoir on the use of Norwegian tar
as a dressing for wounds, has been pre
sented to the French Academv bv TW
Barazin, who mentions a number of cases
an which the treatment has been success
fully adopted. A dressing of fine pow
dered charcoal is also said to have been
used with favorable results.
FRESH AIR IN TYPHOID FEVEB.
Dr. . Hampton, of Paris, has lateW
issued a pamphlet containing a history of
(several remarkable cures of typhoid f e
wr. ' The doctor regards the disease as a
sort of paralysis 'or asphyxia of all the
vital functions, occasioned by breathing
:, poisonous . atmosphere, emanating
Eher from a .typhoid .patient or from
eome other morbid source. By his " ex
priments he . has . iractically demon
lateated that great advantage is to be de
rived, from the .use of open air in treat
13.3 the fever. Moreover, he declares that
there is absolute immunity from con
teuton in the open air. The cures which
he reports are ascribed mainly to the free
admission of out-door air to the patient's
bed-room. II argues that the patient
esanet suffer from the application of this
ansaaedy, either in. dangers from other
Clsses, or from the temperature of the
feiitorpliere. ' If the patient is kept warm
in bed by artificial means, the free
breathing of pure, fresh air will at all
times keep up the natural mai heat.
in typhus fever, complications of all
kinds, of the lungs or other oreans. si mi
ply render the access of fresh air more
urgent and essential. It also enables the
patient to take stimulants more easily,
when essential.
ASTROlfOMT.
SOLAR RADIATION.
A series of valuable observations on
solar radiation in Great Britain has been
made during the past five years by Mr.
F. W. Stow and a number of his friends,
The results show a difference in the
power of the sun's rays inland and on
the sea-shore. Near the ocean their
power seems to be diminished by the ex
cess of vapor in the atmosphere.
VENUS' ATMOSPHERE.
The atmosphere of the planet Venus
was distinctly visible during the recent
transit, and was seen by the astronomi
cal party stationed near Thebes, in
Egypt, as a pale white circle around a
part of the planet's edge, totally differ
ent from the brilliant Bunlight. "The
general remark," says one of the. ob
servers, "was that it reminded us of
moonlight." It is the opinion of many
astronomers that the atmosphere sur
rounding Venus is much deeper than
the atmosphere of the earth.
IS THE EARTH APPROACHING THE SCN j
Mr. R. A. Proctor, writing to the Lon
don Times respecting a letter addressed
by Dr. Phipson to a French journal, ex
pressing the opinion that the recent trans
it of observations are useless beranaA
the earth is continually drawing nearer
to the sun, observes that it would be
something beyond a joke if Dr. Phipson
were right, and therefore it may be as
well to point out that, while during the
last century there has been uncertainty
aoous tne sun s distance, even to the ex
tent of millions of miles, astronomers are
absolutely certain that the distance had
not varied by a hundred, or even by ten
miles, during that time. If the earth
had, as has been stated, drawn nearer by
one-thirtieth of her former distance, the
length of the year would have changed
by one-twentieth of its former length, or
by eighteen days. A change of onlv ten
miles in the last 100 years would corre
spond to a change of more than ann
miles since the length of the year was
nrst determined very exactly.
This
would be about a three hundred
sandth of the sun's distant
length of the year would have been
changed by about a two hundred thou
sandth part that is by about two min
utes ana a naif . Now, it is known that
the Chaldean sidereal vear. nrobablv
far more ancient than the above return
ing assumes, contained 365 davs 6 hmirs
and 11 minutes, being not quite two min
utes too great. The sun's distance
might, therefore, be diminished by about
eight miles per century. But in reality
we have no evidence in sutroort of tmnl.
a theory, seeing that the Chaldeans pro-
lesseoiy selected such a value for the
year as would make their "saros" con
tarn an exact number of hours. Consid
ering that astronomers will be well satis-
nea if they can determine the sun's dis
tance witnin 100,000 miles, it is clear
. ... .
an. jrroctor says, that the maximum.
change of distance we can admit, by
which 1,000,000 years would be required
to bring the earth 100,000 miles nearer
to the sun, is not a very important point
in tne inquiry.
HISTOXT JJTB ij:OaitAl'HY.
THE ORIGIN OF INDIAN NAJtES.
A member of Major Powell's expe
dition, which has been engaged in the
government survey of the Territories,
lurmshes some interesting notes
of the discoveries made in the
origin of Indian names. It seems that
each tribe or primary organization of
Indians, rarely including two hundred
souls, is, in obedience to the traditional
laws of these people, attached to some
well-defined territory or district, and the
moe taxes the name of such district
Xhus the U-in-tats, known to white men
as a branch of the Utes. belonged in fh
Uintah Valley. U-imp is the name for
pine ; too-meap, for land or country ;
U-im-too-meap, pine land : but this has
been contracted to U-in-tah, and the tribe
inhabiting the valley were called
U-in-tats.
The origin of the term Ute is as fol
lows: U is the term signifying arrow ;
U-too-meap, arrow land. The recion of
country bordering on Utah Lake is called
u-too-meap because of the great number
of reeds growing there, from which their
arrow-shafts were made. The tribe for
merly inhabiting Utah Valley was called
U-tah-ats, which has been corrupted into
the term Ute by the white people of the
country. The name U-ta-ats belonged
only to a small tribe living in the vicinity
of the lake, but it has been extended so
as to include the greater part of the In
dians of Utah and Colorado. Another
general name used by : white men is
Piutes.. A tribe of U-tabn&ts being de
feated and driven away by a stronger
tribe, who occupied their country and
took their name, were obliged to take a
new name corresponding to the hew home
in which they settled themselves. But
they also colled themselves Pai U- tah-ats,
or true U-tah-ats. The corrupted name
Piutes is now applied to the Indians of a
large section of country. -Several of
these tribes have numerous names, and
in this way the number of individual
tribes has probably been much over
estimated. THE CONGO NEGROES.
A paper recently communicated by
Mr. Watson Smith to the Literary and
Philosophical Society of Manchester gives
some interesting particulars respecting
file egroes of 5 the neighborhood of
Congo; obtained from letters sent home
from the west coast of Africa by Mr. B.
u. JfhUiips. These extracts afford infor
mation on the trade of the coast, on the
character of the natives, and on tllk'
language, which belongs to the Bantu
group. It is notable that! the chiltbfen
are placed under
atod mother, but of the mother's eldest
orotner. ,, !
THE T.TRT1V npoui.1.
' I'mrmi, -
At a recent meeting of the Muni
cmjr w ocaence, it was stated
the desert of Lybia would prove a v
a Die health resnrt ty.,-; i
AiuAJUg tl5 ZX1U1111U
of January, February and March. PrS
Zittel made a series of experiments 1 y
which he found that the air of this loo 1
ity contains more ozone than that of tie
oases of the Nile valley.
GEOZOGT.
EARTHQUAKES AND MAGNETIC DISTURB
anges. - ; . j . ;
Mr. Lamont, Director of the Observ -tory
at Munich, says that many cases ai a
known where magnetic disturbanci s
coincde with earthquakes,! and stafcs
that, on April 18, he by chance saw to s '
heedle of the declination instrument r - ;
ceive a sudden jerk, the oscillations coa
tinuing for some time. After some days
he received news that violent oscillations1
of the needle had been ; observed in
Parma, and subsequent computations
showed that the movement had5egun at
the same moment in Parma and in Munich';
while, later still, reports were received
violent earthquake occur ing simul
umeoumj in ureece.
COAIt IN THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN.
An important discovery, if correctly
represented, has lately been made in the
opening of a rich coal mine in the south
ern part of Patagonia, near Brunswick
Island, in the Straits of Magellan, in the
locality Known as Uapt Corey's Ranch,
near the Chilian colony of Punta Arenas,
in latitude 53 degrees 9 minutes south
and longitude 73 degrees 13 miautes
west. The property referred to has been
granted by the Chilian government to
three French explorers, i Messrs. Bou
quet, Derue and Su2innecourt. There
are three distinct beds of coal, of which
one is about 300 above the level of the
sea, of a minimum thickness of about 6i
feet. The second is from five to six feet
in thickness, and is about 170 feet above
the first. The third is 130 feet above the
second, with a thickness of 16 feet, di
vided into three nearly square layers, and
separated by thin strata1 of nlt ; Tr.
view of the large number !of steam 'ves-
I-. it. . i
auuuauy traversing the Straits of
Magellan, an unlimited mmli e j. j
- a - I L'J (JUUU
coal m that locality is a matter of very
AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY. !
M. Ram.
7 w . utuc; txAauufguisne'i
Prof. Michael Sara, has racentlyj cp,
uiuuum an interesting discovery Vy5"
logicaf science. It is the occurC
a dimorphic form, with altf"J
generation, in a fresh-water f
tomostracan, a species 'pjt
The young born froffa thJ'
mer-eggs attain their full,
any metamorphis : but
served that the young
winter-eggs are in the s ;
are provided with a J
organs wholly wanting I
simple cyclopean eye i
young persists, hAvev
CXjOCKS STOPPER
The details of the err
Hong Kong in Septenbe.
many facts of scientific iniere
them is the simultaneous soppt
or seven pendulum clocks
a yi cjock. m tne morning, the time
the storm was at its ihmo-ht tt,; .;
-F" UtO UllU-
cates that the most violent burst; of wind
which occurred m the whole course of
the typhoon was accompanied by a slight
shock of earthquake. If the conjecture
Miwuxa oe venned, and it becomes cer
tain mat such a shock actually took
place, the fact will strongly tend to con
firm the. opinion of . Sir , Charles Lyell
that; physical disturbances within the
crust of the earth are largely influenced
by the atmospheric pressure above it.
SEA AND MOUNTAIN AIR.
Prof. Bereke. of
' r 6i wu-
otuded, from investigations with regard
mo comparative mhuenoe of sea and
mountain air on the system, I that irri
table, nervous, excitable people will
derive benefit from the mountain air;
while persons with good digestion, who
are suffering from overwork, -krill h im
proved by a sojourn at the sea-side.
Bodies part with their hen.
on -the sea-coast than on the- mountain-
" o kimj ; f ruxessor s conclu
sions. - ; I
THE EQUINOCTIAIi.'
To an observer at the VrrV. T1 t)
DUO
equinoctial would be a great circle in the
heavens, exactly coincident with the
horizon. To an observer in 45 decrees
north latitude thn
pear an arch in the heavens, 45 degrees
uuuve ma nonzon directly south, and
coincident with his horizon at the .
and west points. ; To an observer at the
equator the eauinoctial wonld
straight line, cutting the east and west
points of the horizon, and passing through
the zenith. i .V . , i
James Dodgauj. a boatman &nl lum
berman in Wisconsin, while sawing the
trunk of an oak tree into lengths for
staves, was attacked by a panther, which
sprang upon him. ' Dougall was alone
his assistant being temporarily absent
but his strength and pluck were emul tn
the occasion. H He seized the panther by
tne throat, and, thought fearfully torn
by the animal's claws, he crashed it
down iri the1 snow, broke its back, and
choked it trj rteafh TTo woo an
IKKUjT
hurt that he had to be carried home, but
his wounds were not dangerous.
The DanbtirOin. '. iamaA nn. i
v iii. t.i imv
auspices of G. E. A. McGready, bite edi
tor of the Newt, is out, and is an admira
ble paper, bright and lewey, and with s
flavor of real journalism. . Twa.
always was s lucky town.
j XA.MES.
jThe ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, As
syrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks,
all used one name for each individual.
Nor did the rich recesses of the name
mine yield its treasures till broken into
by the numerous hosts of increasing
population, all clamoring for a name,
j The Romans made some advancement
in names, and gave to their common
wealth a division into clans or gen tea.
The gens were then divided into families,
tod the families into individuals, each
of whom had three names : the preno
men, or first name, which marked the
individual ; the nomen, or middle name,
j which marked the gens, and the cogno
jmen, the family. Military successes
added an agnomen, in honor of con
quest. The ninth day after a child's
birth was celebrated by name and a
feast which the Romans called Nomin
alia. The Greeks used the tenth day,
and offered sacrifices to their gods.
Pythagoras noted the success of men ac
cording to fate, genius, and name.
Plato and Tacitus also believed in a
prosperous name.
Our surnames are modern. The pa
gan converts to Christianity dropped
their Pagan for Bible names, and whole
companies of Marys, Marthas, Johns
and Peters were baptized at once. From
this we can readily see the confusion of
generality when one particular John felt
a very particular preference for his par
ticular lady Mary love, and called to see
her at the house of many other Marys.
The distinction necessary was found in
a nickname suggested by the occupation
of the individual.
For several centuries little is known
about surnames. Some date their origin
from the Norman conquest, a plausibil
ity to American aristocrats, who seem
satisfied if their stock and " family "
goes as far back as William the Con
queror, or even a taint and discolor of
"blood" be traced in that English
channel which William crossed. Cam
den dates surnames in France A. D.
1000 ; in England, 1066, a little before
Edward the Confessor. In Wales sur
names were used some time after that
Surname is from the French sur nom,
and Latin super, because at first the
surname was written over the given
name.
The Saxons made their surnames by
adding "ing " to the father's name, as
Whiting, Browning ; also .from place of
residence, occupation hence, Lee,
Moore, HilL Weaver, Cooper, etc In
the eleventh century the Normans began
to tTRTtajsjiB i i. ,, . ..w.wcendaats.
r vscor-
he daoiy S? id born, buried,
married, hung, day after day. Oh, why
did he escape that celebrated Indian
litnl.t 5 Wr 1- .1 l , Tr .
hatchet? Who does not know John
Smith t No one better than that man in
a crowded house who, wanting a seat,
cried out " John Smith's house is on
fire," and was the recipient of two-thirds
of the emptied seats ! Smith is from
Anglo-Saxon Smiian, to smite. Among
the Highland clans' the Smith ranked
third from the chief, because his employ
included wood, metals, and all mechani
cal work, hence the importance and fre
quency of the Smiths. Some derive it
from Shorn Shem-it, Shemidt, Smith
quite an easy declension of the very
proper and most common noun Smith.
On the Egyptian temple of Osiris is that
name Smith. Pharioh Smithosis, of
Thebon Kings, built the celebrated tem
ple Smithopolis Magna.
S OMXA MIt VLISM EX Til AO It It Iff A R Y.
Somnambulists have performed many
curious feats and have accomplished
dangerous acts at times without fatal re
sults ; but it remained for a small boy
traveling from Milwaukee to Minneapo
lis to do, sleeping, what no one ever did
before. The boy was a son of a Mrs.
Wright, and, in company with his
mother, was on a train going at the usual
rate of twenty miles an hour. After the
train had left a place known as Weaver
Station, the boy fell asleep and walked
out on the platform, stepped carelessly
off. No sooner had he accomplished
this feat ; than his mother, noticing his
absence from the train and remembering
also his peculiarity, surmised the canoe
of his departure, and through her en-
1 . . . .
uratues tne train was Dacxea up. lhe
missing boy was not discovered, how
ever, and the-mother was left at the sta
tion. She had not long to wait in sor
row. A figure was - seen coming up the
track, and its nearer approach showed
the missing boy. The search for hi
had proved unavailing simply because,
at the time it was made, he was not
visible. As he stepped off the train in
his sleep he had been hurled into a snow
bank and had actually only awakened
when the cold had called him to his
senses. He could remember nothing rf
the affair save that he fell asleep in the
car and awoke buried four or fir ft
drift, sad beiig vouncr. he did nnt
analyze his sensations when awakening,
which must have been somewhat queer.
The incident is one of the most remark
able in the history of somnambulism;
and if that boy is not always thankful
that he struck a show drift instead of a
rail fence, he'll be an irreligious indi
vidual. EA.TIXG STRA.XGE FOOD.
Man is unfortunate enough to be an
omniverous animal, and has at various
penoos ana in various countries con
sumed almost everything that grows,
swims, flies, runs, or crawls. More than
this, he has eaten, under certain condi
tions, mineral matter the clay eaters, of
South America having found great com
fort in the consumption of an unctuous
earth. He has ransacked the sea for ali
ment. The whale has yielded up his
uigmy carbonized carcass to the Esqui
maux, as the
o "huwto AUtro
furnished forth bacon for him who dwefls
under the equator. The Gaucho of the
pampas finds that life in the saddle can
best be sustained by the consumption of
vast quantities of beef, without bread or
green vegetables, and only occasionally
supplemented by a few beans ; while in
similar latitudes the South Sea Islander
has maintained a healthy and happy ex
istence on fish, roots and vegetables,
varied only by an occasional treat of that
famous viand known to the Maori as
"long pig" a dish requiring especial
steaming and most careful cookery on
account of its extraordinary toughness.
The inhabitants of the Mai dive Islands,
making cocoanuts and fish the base of
most of their dishes, live well upon that
simple diet ; while the primeval Sand
wich Islander imcontaminated,' by the
civilizing influence of runaway tailors
ate his bread fruit, drank his " sva' and
was happy. The North Americln Indian
of the prairies rejoices in buffalo hump,
the trapper enjoys his beaver' tail, the
Mexican revels in tortillas and frijoles,
and the humble " Digger" midies his
meal on acorns, roots, and the grubs of
various insects. On the opposite side of
the Pacific the Celestial race, abundantly
provided with wholesome and excellent
food, consume rats and hairless dogs
carefully fed and fattened like turkevs
sea slugs and sharks' fins. Birds'-nest
soup is good enough in its way, but the
merit of stewed rat is less easv to com
prehend. A prejudice has prevailed in
favor of plain, wholesome food fish,
fowl, or the flesh of oxen, sheen, deer
and pigs ; but sieges have developed a
curious elasticity in the European palate.
As at the famous siege of Vienna the
" harmless, necessary cat" was consigned
io uie Kitcnen as a " roof hare," so did
the jaded omnibus horse and patient
donkey during the siege of Paris find
k ueir way to the table of the epicure.
t this latter movement in favor of un-
J viands was not due entirely to the
v ties oi the ran co-German war,
rament had long been nourished
lands of advanced philosophic
s much flesh which had been
to tne catsmeat barrow might
usly have been eaten by mas-
WSI'J.JPEB WKITKRS
p Itcporler says : Every city
irable size contains a large num-
rfiters who depend mainly upon
mvjub ij uu) uiuiy press lor SUD-
rhe inner hves of these per-
re, to the mass of people, mere
ira of conjecture, as opportunities
social enjoyment with the outside
world, with many of them, are limited.
and they are rarely intimate with nv
except their fellows. It.
posed that the Mfe they lead is one of
severe labor, and by no means inviting.
Ihey work perseveringly while others
I oep their work being by no means
IpnnflT. ii.l -n-ilin 1. . 1 . 1 1 1
confined within the circumscribed ortho
dox rule of eight hours. Their minds
are busy from getting up to lying down,
with the details of their prof ession. On
the other hand, regulated by the laws of
demand and supply, their pay is far from
commensurate with the labor they per
form. As a class, they are no better or
worse than other people. They are not
all stereotyped in the same mold, nor do
they all run in the same groove, there
being among them those whose tempera
ments run from grave to gay, from lively
to severe. As might be naturally ex
pected, there being much competition,
there is also much professional pique
and jealousy. Pulpit orators, actors,
singers, and politicians suffer more or
less from these caustic critics, whom
partisan and conflicting interests buy
over to raise a " whoop " of unpopulari
ty. This, unfortunately, is a too well
grounded charge against the fraternity.
It is the way of the world, no doubt, but
it is a weighty matter when such loose
principles govern newspaper . writers.
The columns of the press influence, in
these days, the public mind for good or
for evil more than the pulpit or stage ;
for, be it said, everybody reads newspa
pers, but everybody does not go to
church or attend the theater. Probably
no class of men ought to be more careful
in maintaining the equity of their moral
consciousness than newsnamr writers
but, unfortunately, extraneous influences
. m .
are oiten too great for them to resist the
temptation to deviate from that eauitv.
To sum up, the paths of journalism are
ruu oi thorns, and success, with even
the better class, is rare : few ever ac
quire more than a decent competency,
and many not even that But so long as
the chances for success am in anv mv
probable, fresh recruits will be found to
occupy the place of the deserters and
superannuated.
SmTTHB was tellintr some friAndn fthnnt
a wonderful parrot, hanging in a cage in
the door Of a 8tora nn ftfoto awat
Why," said he. "thai namt rfin
thief ' so naturally that every time I hear
it I always stop. Now, hang it, what ass
ony all laughing about t"
A. T. Stbwabt paid ft&nn nnn n
last week.
BMASSER'S SON CLAUDIUS.
The Fun. He Xade for s ITnghbor'a Soy
IUtnrbig the Old JFoOvh-A. Good, Shot
Smmahlng a lass ana AroUing a. Follee-
From the Detroit Free Press.
Mr. Brasser, who lives on Ninth
avenue, has a eon about twelve years
old named Claudius, and the other even
ing this boy received permission to allow
a neighbor's boy to stay all night with
him. The old people sleep 'down stairs
in the sitting-room, and the boys were
put into a room directly above. When
they went up to the bed Claudius had
the clothes-line under his coat, and the
neighbor's boy had a mask in his pocket.
They didn't kneel down and say their
prayers like good boys and then jump
into bed and tell bear stories, but as
soon as the door was locked the Brasser
boy remarked : .
" You'll see more fun around here to
night than would lie on a ten-acre lot I"
From a closet they brought out a cast
off suit of Brasser's clothes, stuffed them
with whatever came handy, tied the
mask and an old straw-hat on for a head,
and while one boy was carefully raising
the window the other was' tying the
clothes-line around the " man." The
image was lowered down in front of the
sitting-room window, lifted up and down
once or twice, and old Brasser was heard
to leap out of bed with a great jar. He
was just beginning to doze when he
heard sounds under his window, and his
wife suggested that it was a cow in the
yard. He got up, pulled the curtain
away, and as he beheld a man standing
there he shouted out : '
"Great bottles! but it's a robber I"
and he jumped into bed.
' Theodoriu8 Brasser, are you a fool 1"
screamed the wife as he monopolized all
the bedclothes to cover up his head.
"Be quite, you old jade, you J" he
whispered ; " perhaps he'll go away I"
"Don't you call me a jade 1" she re
plied, reaching over and trying to find
his hair. " Git up and git the gun and
blow his head off 1"
" Oh, you do it !"
" Git up, you old coward," she
snapped. "I'll never live with you an
other day if you don't do it 1"
Brasser turned up the lamp, sat up in
bed, and cried out :
" Is that you, boys?"
" Mercy on me ! git up 1" veiled the
wife as the straw man was knocked against
the window.
"Ill blow his head off as clean as
milk !" said Brasser in a loud voice as he
got up. He struck the stove three or
four times, upset a chair, and reached
behind the foot of the bed and drew out
an old army musket.
"Now, then, for blood 1" he contin
ued, as he advanced to the window and
lifted the curtain.
The man was there, face close to the
glass, and he had such a malignant ex
pression of countenance that Brasser
jumped back with a cry of alarm.
" Kill him I Shoot him down, you
old noodle-head !" screamed the wife.
" I willby thunder 1 I will 1" replied
Brasser, and he blazed away, and tore
out nearly all the lower sash.
The boys up stairs uttered a yell and
a groan, and .Brasser jumped for the
window to see if the man-was down.
He wasn't. He stood right there, and
he made a leap at Brasser.
" He's coming in I perlice ! boys
ho ! perlice !" roared the old man.
The tattered curtain permitted Mrs.
Brasser to catch sight of a man jumping
up and down, and she yelled :
"Theodorius, I'm going to faint!"
"Faint and be darned ! Boys ! per
lice !" he replied, wolloping the sheet
iron stove with the poker.
" Don't you dare talk that way tome!"
i . ... . -
simetea the old woman, recovering from
her desire to faint.
"Po-leece! Po-leece!" now came
from the boys up stairs, and while one
continued to shout, the other drew" the
man up, tore him limb from limb, and
secreted the pieces.
Several neighbors were aroused, an
officer came up from the station, and a
search of tha premises was made. Not
so much as a track in the snow was found,
and the officer put on an injured look
and. said to Mr. Brasser :
"A guilty conscience needs no ac
cuser." " That's so !" chorused the indignant
neighbors as they departed.
As Mr. Brasser hung a quilt before the
shattered window he remarked to his
wife :
"Now see what an old cundurango you
made of yourself !"
" Don't fling any insults at me, or in
choke the attenuated life out of you t"
she replied.
And the boys kicked around on the
bed, chucked each other in the ribs, and
cried :
"I'd rather be a boy than be Presi
dent I"
XMPOSTA.XT X.FGAX, DECISION,
An important decision, concerning the
liability of railroad companies for valua
bles intrusted to their care as personal
haggage, has been rendered by the Su
preme Court of Illinois in the case of
W. J. Carrow vs. the Michigan Central
Bailroad Company. In this case a trunk
containing jewelry and valuables to the
amount of about $30,000 was destroyed
by the burning of the baggage car. Suit
to recover the value of the property was
brought in the lower court, and judg
ment given against the company. An
appeal was taken to the Supreme Court,
and the judgment reversed. The court
held that the company's contract was for
the carrying of the passenger and the
ordinary amount of personal baggage,
and that, as no notice had been friven for
the passenger of the valuable nature of
tne contents of the trunk, the company's
was not bound to exercise any extra dili
gence in the care of the property. If the
noancauon had been given, it would
have been the duty of the eomnanv
agent to refuse to accept the trunk as
nviltnara kii.MM. .3 Zi. 1.1 11 1 V
wv""..j i wuiu wen dc
carriea either by express or as valuable
freight. The action of the passenger in
delivering it to the company as ordinary
personal baggage was in effect a species:
of legal fraud, and for this reason the.
company was relieved from all responsi
bility in the matter.
COMVULSOMX Eli u cat Joy.
England approves the compulsory
education she has recently attained, al
though many among the parents and
employers of the children endeavor to
evade it. France" is contemplating a
similar step ; Italy has moved toward it :
C " 1.1 A 3 i . .1 y". " .
opaiu ueuunju i. , uiu VTennany sought
to perfect a system that was very com
plete before. In this country Pennsyl
vania insists more ' strenuously on the
education of all ; New York has made
education compulsory, and found the
need for new school-houses, and some of
the Southern States are introducing the
precedent. The Legislature of Illinois
and Indiana are debating the same ques
tion, and those formerly unaware of the
arguments in its behalf are shaken by
finding how strong they are. It cannot
be said that there has ever been any
want of interest in the subject in the
older States. . They have realized the
necessity of general education for politi
cal, industrial, moral and every use. The
interest has not extended as it should,
have done in some new States, and has
been balked in not a few of the older.
Facts show that the remedy is being ap
plied on no mean scale, and we may well
wjjjv wait uur revuiuu oi illiteracy will ;
be reduced everywhere, and' that the
benefits of this reduction will be as wide
ly Til 1-2 HII AII'S STltOXG HOI.
The strong box of the Shah of Persia
consists of a small room 20x14 feet.
Here, spread upon carpets, lie jewels
valued at 7,000,000. Chief among them
is the Kaianian crown, shaped like &
flower pot, and topped by an uncut ruby
as large as a hen's egg, and supposed to
have come from Siam. Near the crown
are two lambskin caps adorned with
splendid aigrettes of diamonds, and be
fore them lie trays of pearl, ruby and
emerald necklaces, and hundreds of
rings. A Mr. Eastwick, who is reported
to have been allowed to examine the col
lection, states that conspicuous among
the gauntlets and belts covered with
pearls and diamonds is the Kaianian belt,
about a foot deep, weighing perhapa
eighteen pounds, and one complete mass,
of pearls, diamonds, emeralds and rubies.
One or two scabbards of swords are said
to be worth a quarter of a million each.
There is also the finest turquoise in the
world, three or four inches long, and
without a flaw ; and an emerald as big as
a walnut, covered with the names of
Kings who have possessed it.
CA TTLj; JJS- CELTIC A I, A lit I CA .
The Baris of Central Africa own im
mense herds of cattle, but will suffer pro
longed abstinence from meat rather than
sacrifice one of their animnla for the sake
of its flesh. "The sustenance which they
derive from their herds is limited to millr
from the cows, blood from the bullocks
and steaks cut from the hump and hind
quarters of living cattle. Both cows gd
oxen are bled periodically, and the blo!f
thus obtained is made into a dish resem-
hlinc thn WaV-nrifIHn Antan 1.- 1.
out Europe. Bruce describes, in hia
African travels, a cruel operation which
he once witnessed, by which a steak was.
cut from the hind-quarters of a cow driven
by the natives. The Baris are in the
habit of practicing vivisection upon their
cattle, removing, the hump which grows
upon their backs, and which is the most
delicate portion of the hoove. After
each removal a new hump grows again.
Thus the operation may be several times
repeated upon the same creature, and
thereby ite owner enjoys an occasional
feast of juicy steak, and still retain a hy
ing spring to draw from.
Mb. F. Seymour Hayden, in a letter
to the London Times, meets the objec
tions to burial in wooden coffins and to
cremation, by suggesting that burial
should be made without coffins, or that,
if cases of any kind are used, they should,
be constructed eo as not to seclude the
body from the action of the earth. The
process of change which, under the influ-,
ence of the air or of liquids of the body
is putrefaction, becomes in dry earth an
inoffensive resolution of the body into its.
component parts. He suggests that if
coffins are used, " they should be made,
of some light, permeable material, such
as wicker-work, open at the top, and.
filled in with any fragrant herbaceous,
matters that happen to be in season. A.
layer of ferns or mosses for a bed, a
bundle of sweet herbs for a pillow, and
as much as the coffin would still contain
after the body had been placed in it of
any aromatic or flowering plant for a
coverlet, such a covering, in short, as
while it protected the body from the im
mediate pressure of the earth as effectu
ally as the stoutest oak, would yet not
prevent its resolution."
In 1849 Mr. James F. Stuart, of Jfew
buryport, Mass., went to San Francisco
CaL. and embarked in business, ami
v mm'
very successful till the great fire of 1852
i . . i ...
wuen ne lost nearly everything. He.
came East, called a meeting of hia
itors, stated his ease and proposed his.
aisenarge. The- creditors were pleased,
with his appearance, and not nnW
him a full discharge, but furnished him
witn a new stock of goods. In less than
six months he was able to krr n u
old and his new indebtedness. In 1853.
he entered into a, land speculation which,
absorbed all his business mWt.i
crippled his resources. He made a fall
statement to his creditors, and promised,
if he was ever suooessful he would tv
-r m jibs arnved, and last,
week he remitted the
tereet of hu indebtedness in gold. Such
i, , , this one is not even un
paralleled. r