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About The Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899 | View Entire Issue (March 5, 1880)
WEEKLY CORVALLIS GAZETTE CORVALLIS. MARCH 5, 1880. American and English Schools. The Bishop of Manchester has paid a high compliment to the American school system in his inaugural address, deliv ered before the twenty third annual Congress of the National Association for the Promotion of Science at Manchester on the 1st inst. Speaking on the educa tional question, he said: The next step onward which I think all the more earn est friends of education desire to see taken, is that which struck me so forci bly as the strongest point of the great American system of public schools, and which I recommend to the consideration of the Schools of Inquiry Commission in the report on the American system which I addressed to them in 1865. I refer to the graduation of schools. Both W. E. Eorster and Lord George Hamil ton have recently expressed themselves warmly in favor of this feature of the American system. Opening one of the higher board schools which have been established in Bradford, in Yorkshire. Mr. Forster said the other day: "In my ' opinion we should have to grade our schools to give an opportunity to the poorer classes of children to pass from the cheaper to the more expensive schools," In my report written in 1865, to which I have referred, I said: "The graduation of schools is just the strength of the American system. If I have succeeded in the previous pages in making myself understood, any one with experience in educational matters will at once see that it is the one thing which our elementary schools have not, and which they most need." With us each school is a separated and disjointed unit; in the United States, it is part of a com pact, co ordinated, homogeneous system. With us, when a boy has passed Stand ard VI. a very low measure of attain ment, if it is to be considered the complete intellectual outfit for life his education generally stops, or if it is to be continued, it can only be with diffi culty, and at the cost of considerable sacrifice to his parents. In the. United States he would pass naturally and free of cost from the primary school to the grammar school, and from this to the high school, and from this again, though not quite so naturally, because it is no longer part of the public school system, but yet without any insurmountable difi culty. to the universitv. I remember well the honest pride with which the ad mirable master of the Latin High School at Boston pointed to his head boy, who was hoping to proceed to Harvard Uni versity with the help of that munificent liberality which it is so characteristic of rich men in the United States, and which is scarcely ever withheld from real de sert who he told me, was the son of an Irish bricklayer. You can easily under stand how the possession of advantages of this kind reconciles even the hum blest citizen to this lot, when he feels which was the theme of numberless ad dresses that I heard delivered to pupils in the public schools that his boy has the chance of becoming President of the United States, the very height of human ambition ; or, to put the idea in a more model form, that in the great Translantic Republic, there is a career open to talents. Charles O'Conor's Ways. Mr. U uonor still keeps his olhce m Wall street, but his use for it is very lit tle. He has been out of active practice several years, but force of habit still brings him down to the office quite often. His mail is generally delivered there and he has old papers of one sort or another to look over, which takes up a good deal of his time. He occasionally takes a re tainer as counsel in cases involving intri cate law points, but his service goes no further than preparing an opinion or sug gesting to other lawvers what course is best to take with the case. The letter that is just now talked so much about shows that his mind is as clear and keen as ever, and his bearing in the street, where he is often seen, furnishes evi dence of his full recovery from the ill ness of four years ago, when the doctors gave him up and he took his case into his own hands. His hair does not seem any whiter than it was ten years ago, his back is just as straight as ever, he never wears glasses out of doors, as many much younger men do, and though his step is not quite so active as it used to be, he can still do very creditable walk ing on the down town sidewalks. His make-up, so to speak, has not changed within the memory of a generation. His hat (sometimes rather shabby looking) is worn well back on his head, a tightly buttoned frock coat wraps his body, and his trowsers and boots are about half wav between shabby and genteel. A plainer looking man could not be found in any respectable company, nor one seeming to think so little about himself. He is not what may be called a talker, but among those whose society is agreea ble he can and does sustain a full share of the conversation, and he is always lis tened to with the most respectful atten tion. He speaks freely of his early days, especially of his boyhood, and the hard fight he had to make his way in the world, and he seems to take special pleasure in telling these things to men who befall the same way themselves. Mr. O'Conor is a Deiuvat of Democrats, and hates all kinds of sham and preten sion almost as much as trickery and dis honesty. Corr. of (he Buffalo Courier. A Depraved Small Boy. A fearful example of criminal precocity is afforded by a case which recently came before the Assize Court of St. Peter, in Martinque. .A boy named Emillen Dema, aged 11, was accused of deliber ately murdering Paul Sarpon, a child of 3 years. The following extracts from Dema's examination will show the hor rifying cold-blooodedness with which he admitted the commission of the crime. On being asked how he dispatched his victim, he answered, "I killed him in tentionally. I got him to come and play with me. He followed me, and we played together at first, and then I led him near the edge of a cliff and pushed him over. I next jumped down after him, bit him in the neck, and finished him off with a stone." A Chicagoan has announced that ho has discovered a process by which illuminating gas can be made from water. The Chicago people are ready to believe in it, as they have an idea that water must have been made for some thing or other. Gorman's success in grasping the Maryland Senator ship is explained. He used to be a good catcher in a base ball club. . How the Earth will Perish. The planet Venus has an atmosphere, and it is said to be at the very least as dense as that of our own earth. Then we learn also that oceans are on her sur face, because it has been shown by the spectrum. It appears blso that it closely resembles our earth in condition, and that it is the one planet fit to be the abode of living creatures like those which exist on our earth. In Mars we begin to recog nize the effects of planetary old age. These greenish patches we must regard as seas, and we find that they are much smaller in comparison to the rest of the area than in our earth. On our own planet 72 60 is covered with water, and on this only about 50.00. The older planet has the smallest water surface, and the idea is suggested that in old age of a planet the water gradually dimin ishes in extent. We pass to the moon to answer that question, and here we certainly find no traces of water. Also, we trace no at mosphere of appreciable density, and everything tends to show that she had water on her surface, but that it has dis appeared. Does this seemingly cold and dead world appear to have passed through the same stage as our own earth? I think we cannot doubt this when we look at her volcanic craters. I think, too, there must have been there such life as exists on our own planet . There were oceans on her surface, which formerly occupied these spots, the waters being withdrawn, present this finely-granulated appearance from its action. This seems to be a natural explanation. As the planet becomes old the oceans become soaked into the planet's interior, the crust of the surface as the planet cools being formed into large cavities such as exist in porous substances, and into these the water is withdrawn. Dr. Franklin of England has shown that four times as much water as now finds place on the earth's surface could be found room for in the interior of the earth, when the process of cooling has gone sufficiently far. Then, in regard to the atmosphere, there is certainly no trace on the moon, but we have a picture here showing that the volcanic action of the moon was at one time no less than in our own earth. The moon probably repre sents the future of our own earth at a dis tance of time of twenty-five millions of years. When the old age of the earth will come it will cease as the abode of life. Let us pause to consider some of the stars in this regard. Many of them are too old and many too young to sustain life on their surfaces, but that they were formed for some purpose beyond that of being useful to this particular planet there is no doubt. A study of the heavens seems to tell us that life should occupy all space and all time, and not be crowded into one portion of time, or one portion of space. I think we may look at the heavens, with the thousands of stars to be seen with the naked eye, and hold this thought. There you have 6000 suns, each a brother ot our own sun, though many belong to higher orders, and we may believe they have thousands of orbs circling around them which are the abodes of life. And if each one has but a single world in its system as the abode of life, we have then thousands of inhabited worlas similar, perhaps, to our own. In one single solar map here shown there are 324,000 stars, all to be seen with a small telescope, and by one of Herschel's telescopes 20,000,000 stars would have been brought into view in the same section of the firmament. But, af ter all, there still remains the thought that each planet is tending toward death, and, though the periods of time are so vast that they seem like eternity, the dy ing out of the larger of these suns ap pear to us like the death of the universe itself. But take such an orb as Sinus, which is a thousand times larger than the sun, and all the smaller orbs will have died; but can we escape the thought that there will still remain others to take their places ? It seems to me we cannot, if we remember how thoroughly we have been deceived in the past. We thought the earth the centre of the universe; then the solar system was everything; then that system became but one in a galaxy of stars, and in turn the galaxy of stars is lost in the infinitude of stars. Professor Proctor. Some Results of Tidal Friction. G. H. Darwin has just contributed to JSature the last of a series of papers giv ing the results of a mathematical invest! gation into the action of tidal friction on the configuration of a planet and satel lite, and especially on the earth and moon. Among other results he finds that the earth and moon were initially in contact, the moon always opposite the same face of the earth, or moving very slowly relatively to the earth's axis, the whole system rotating in from two to four hours about an axis inclined to the normal of the ecliptic at an angle of 11 deg. 45 min., or somewhat less, and the moon moving in a circular orbit, the plane of which is nearly coincident with the earth s equator. . This initial con figuration, says Mr. Darwin, suggests that the moon was produced by the rap ture, in consequence of rapid rotation or other causes, of a primeval planet whose mass was made up of the present earth and moon. The two bodies have been brought into their present configuration by the action of tidal friction. The process by which the tidal action brings about changes of the configuration of planet and satellite is the destruction of energy (or rather its partial conversion into heat within the planet and partial re-distribution) and tho transferrence of angular momentum from that of plane tary rotation to that of orbital revolution of the two bodies about their common center of inertia. This change takes place more rapidly in small bodies than in large ones. Mars is the smallest of the planets, with moons, and it is here alone that a satellite is found revolving faster than the planet rotates. This will be the ultimate fate of our moon. Be fore, however, this takes place, the moon must- recede to an enormous distance from the earth, and the earth must rotate in forty or fifty days, instead of twenty four hours. But the satellites of Mars are so small that they only recede a short way from the planet before the solar tidal friction reduces the planet's rotation below the satellite's revolution a revolution which may in a sense be considered as a memorial of the primi tive revolution of Mars itself around its own axis. A new species of plant is called the babv tilant." Inside its calvx is a tinv figure that looks like a baby, but there is no further resemblance. It cannot squall, kick and yell like a baby, neither can it croon and crow like one of these little pink darlings; but we should rather have it in the house as far as a good j night's sleep is concerned. I Etiquette In Boston. Very marked were the tokens of class and rank and social distinctions in the Puritan town and its neighborhood. The clergy and the high magistrates were the chief in consideration and dignity. Offi cial position secured deference, but eli gibility to oflice in the main depended upon previous social or personal advan tage. So natural and reasonable seemed the assumption that "the Government should be of the better sort," and so well rooted was the custom consequently es tablished, that even after the war of the revolution and the recognition of an avowed democracy among us, it was taken for granted, till quite down to the last half centurv. that, though the peo ple were free to assign places of honor and trust to whom they would, they were bound to assign them to the class of men who would have held them under an aristocracy through birth, privilege, or station. The title of Mr. or Master was carefully restricted to those who by birthright or good service were called gentlemen; while Worshipful or Right Worshipful was reserved for the high magistrate, and Esquire was an affix to be granted, not assumed. The term "Goodman" was a kindly, neighborly epithet, used for the recognition of worthy men in humble life or callings. There is an entry in Sewall's journal which is curiously suggestive on this point. The meeting was for the choice of a minister. "October 3, 1707, had a Meeting of the (South) Church & Con frreeration: but very thin. Several came not, because Mr. Pemberton, (the pastor in previously calling the meeting; saia, 'Gentlemen of the Church and Congre gation.' They affirmed they were not ftentlemen. and therefore they were not warned to come." Not Gentlemen! They were honest, well-to-do men mechanics, tradesmen, artisans; among them was the father of Dr. Franklin, tallow-chandler and soan-boiler: and they hoped and be lieved that they were Christians. But they did not claim nor answer to the title of gentlemen. Some years hence, per haps, a student of words may think it worth his while to inquire when the terms lady and gentleman came to be used inclusively of all of either sex, in stead of. as once, distinctively of a por tion of each. Doubtless these States will be credited with the extension of the terms, and Sewall may help as to the dates. Again, under date "March 6, 1711," we read, "At the meeting for the free School at Mr. Pemberton's, Mr. Bridgham declined to sign (a petition) saying it was not fit for him to sign with persons so much above him ; I said pleas antly. 'We are at Football now;' and then he presently signed." Atlantic for February. A Novel Dnel. A novel kind of duel was fought lately in the Indian Teraitory, near Atoka, between two Mexicans, cattle drivers, returning home from a drive to Colorado. One was Don Juan de la Cruz, the other Pedro Garcia, and both were in love with the same woman a circumstance not confined to Mexico. While discuss ing their claims to her possession they quarreled of course and declared in the hottest of hot blood that the world was not big enough for both of them. They determined, therefore, that oue of them must be extinguished, and were on the point of a personal encoun ter with revolvers, when common friends interfered, and persuaded them to adopt the native peapon the lariat or lasso. Having taken position on the open prairie, at a certain distance apart, they wheeled their horses they were finely mounted and dashed toward one another, lariats snugly in hand, crouching on saddle to avoid the flying noose. The lassoes were simultaneously cast. Cruze missed his aim, but Garcia's lariat fell with unerring pre cision over the head of his adversary, who was jerked to the ground with the intent to break his neck. Cruz, fortu nately, was thrown on his side, and would certainly have been dragged to death for the horses were at full speed had not the lasso snapped with a sud den strain. And it was, he was so seri ously hurt as to be unconscious, and he may not recover. The lasso generally used in South AMerica for capturing wild horses and cattle is dissimilar to the lasso employed mainly in Mexico. The former, a long, stout thong of skin with a leaden ball at each end, is so thrown when it strikes neck or leg it coils round and restrains the flying beast. The Mexican lagso, or lariat, has a slip noose, and requires more skill in management. The lasso was frequently directed against the Spanish soldiers during the struggle of the South America republic for independence, and also by some of the Russian tribes,-during the the Crimerian war, against the French sentinels but with poor success. Oc casional attempts were made with the lariat upon our troops in the Mexican war, though they were speedingly abandoned, as the Americans proved much less tractable than the native wild cattle. Bio Tree Fossils. Two large fossil treeo are now on their way to Washington from the western part of New Mexico, de signed for -the new National Museum. General Sherman, while on his tour of in spection to the military posts of New Mexico, examined some of the large petrifications which abound in the vicin ity of Fort Wingate, and he was so much impressed with the value of these speci mens that he decided to have them brought to Washington and placed in front of the National Museum. The two specimens referred to will each weijjli several tons ; they will serve as conspic uous representations of the ancient flora of the region from whence they came. The entire country surrounding the spot where these fossil trees are so abundant is at the present dav utterly destitute of vegetation, save a few pinions and other stunted trees, which are of little or no use. This was not the case in times long past, for the two immense specimens now en route to Washington; according to General Sherman's account, were not alone. The country is literally covered with the remains of an ancient forest, representing a great quantity of vege tation, and establishing the fact beyond doubt that this entire country, which is now only inhabited by a few tribes of Pueblo Indians and covered all over with evidences of extinct tribes, and which is destitute of vegetation, and so arid that there is no inducement to the settler, was once a tropical country, abundantly supplied with tropical fruits and vegeta tion. General Sherman is much interested in the preservation of such specimens, and encourages every one connected with the army to make collections in all branches of science. Washington Cor. Baltimore Sun. It is not so much the quantity that tells as the quality. The devil has as much brains as an archangel, Dut ne doesn't look at things in the same way, and that's why he is where he is. He Wanted to be an Actor. A citizen whose best weight never ex ceeds 120 pounds was the other day buy ing a couple of hens of a farmer on the market, and before the bargain was con cluded the two became quite friendly, and the farmer said he had something on his mind to communicate. One of his boys had a passion for theatricals, and was desirous of becoming an actor. The idea was so strong on him that he had be come worthless around the farm, and the father was in a peck of trouble to know how to turn the boy's thoughts from the footlights to the plow. " 'Spose I send him to you, and 'spose you make fun and ridicule him and let him see how foolish it is?" suggested the father, and the citizen agreed. As a result of their planning, the boy walked into the citizen's place of busi ness, on Congress street East, next morn ing. The father had called him a boy, but he weighed about 160 pounds, stood nearly six feet high, and he had a pair of hands as large as the chromo of the Yo semite Valley. His arrival was expected, and after a few words about the weather the citizen queried: "So you think you would make an ac tor, eh?" "Yes, I kinder think so?" was the re ply. "What line would you take?" "Well, I kinder like tragedy." "Tragedy! Why, you couldn't succeed in tragedy! Look at your hands ! Look at those feet! Remember 3rour voice! You'd be hissed off the stage. Don't never think of tragedy." "How would I do in drama ? asked the boy. "Not at all. In the first place your ears are too large. Then your heels stick out too far. Then your hands would hide half the other actors. Don't try the drama, for you will be a dead failure." "Could I do anything in comedy?" "Not a thing. The sight of you in comedy would be the same as the sight of a hearse on the stage. All the facial expression that you have is behind your ears." "I've thought some of being a nigger minstrel," observed the boy, after a long silence. "That's the worst of all. I tell you, boy, you'd better stick to the farm. You are not cut out for an actor, and you want to drop the idea." "Couldn't I act as usher?" "No, sir; you are too stiff in the "Couldn't I take tickets?" "Never!" Your hands are too big for that work." "Couldn't I shift scenes?" "No; you are too big and unwieldy." There was a long and painful silence. Then the boy rose up and said: "Well, I'm bound to go into theatri cals. If I can't be anything else, I'll be the feller that stands at the door to raise a row, and I'll begin on you! Come over here!" He hauled the adviser over the table, clutched him by the small of the back and spun him around, slammed him around, and dropped him to get a better hold. When the curtain rose on the next act there was a strictly private con versation going on between "Hamlet" and the ghost, and the ghost's coat was ripped up the back and his collar torn open. Then "Hamlet" suddenly de manded, in a loud voice: "Catiff! do you declare that I cannot act?" Then the ghost dodged around the table and replied: "No, I don't! You are all right you are a splendid actor you can't help but win!" "And you'll tell my father so?" "I will; you bet, I will!" "If you don't" Here "Hamlet" took three steas for ward, two back; scowled his fiercest, and the ghost jumped behind the stove, and howled that he'd even pay $50 for a pri vate box on the night of the debut. " Tis well," said "Hamlet;" and he went over to the market to see if he could sell three pecks of onion sets for cash down. Detroit Pree Press. Lists: aud Princess Metternicli. Listz is one of the most independent of men, and never acknowledges any control but that of friendship and re spect. "I have seen him at Imperial re ceptions," says a friend of mine, "where he walked through the salons with the fine, grand air of a perfect gentleman, gracious to all, treated with reverential respect by all, but never deigning to touch the piano, and royalty even not daring to ask him." Listz has always been remarkable for this social inde pendence. When he wa3 a young man, in the very brilliant period of his early popularity, some thirty or forty years ago, he visited Vienna. The celebrated Princess Metternicli, wife of the great diplomatist Metternich, was the chief of society; her salon was the great one of the day. She was a brilliant, captivating woman, clever, full of fine society wis dom; one of the last of the race of grande dames. The bluest of blood ran in her veins, and she was as haughty as Lucifer at times. At one of her recep tions her husband, who had invited Listz, took the young artist, about whose musical and private life all the gay peo people of Europe were talking, up to the Princess, and introduced him. She was in one of her most haughty moods, as it happened. "Your first visit to Vienna," she said, looking full in the handsome, stately young man's face, "I hope you are doing well in your business." "Ah, Madame la Princesse," replied Listz, "I have no business. That vexa tion belongs to diplomats and bankers." For one instant the whole social high world of Vienna looked on breathless at this passage of arms between the Queen of Society and the celebrated artist whose social successes equalled his public ones, the Princess and Listz gazed steadily at each other; neither flinched; then she yielded graciously, and taking his arm, walked through the salons with him, and was as charming to him as if he had been a Prince of the Imperial blood; from that time forward Listz had no truer and better friend than the spoiled child of society, the Princess Metternich. This anecdote shows Listz's character. No man can be kinder, however, than he is to his friends. He denies them noth ing. He is simple, tender, sympathetic, full of feeling and most easy of approach even anticipates demands on Ms kind ness. This is one side, and a most charming one, of his character. But there is another side, not so genial, which belongs to the world at large. To general society he is an elegant, polished man of the world; cold, haughty, unap proachable, entirely independent of everything and everybody. He does not ' need luxury nor the society of any one. '. Miss Brewster in Philadelphia Tele- j graph. Stories of an Epicure. Grimod de la Reyniere, the noted French epicure, was a lawyer by profes sion, but abandoned this calling to spite his parents for preventing his marriage with the woman of his choice. At his earliest receptions, on the arrival of the guests, their swords, canes and hats were delivered to the custody of an attendant, who then removed a huge iron bar sus pended across the entrance to the dining room, until all were assembled, when it was carefully replaced, as a hint that no one would be allowed to depart without the permission of the host. In the cen ter of the salla a manger was a circular . mahogany table, surrounded by chairs of equal size, with the exception of one slightly higher for the president of the day. On the walls were inscribed in golden letters certain regulations im posed by the am phi try on, to which those present were expected to conform. Ex actly at a quarter past 12, Grimod de la Reyniere made his appearance, followed by two servants, one bearing a pile of bread and butter in slices, and the other jugs of coffee and milk, of which nutri tious beverage, according to the rules, each person was bound to drink at least eighteen or at most twenty-two cups; whoever first attained the latter number being elected President. When the sup ply was exhausted, an enormous sirloin was brought in, and, after having been carried thrice round the table with great solemnity, was placed before the Presi dent, and by him portioned out to the company. At the conclusion of this primitive repast the conversation became general, literary matters were discussed, and new books criticised, until, at a sig nal given by the host, the iron bar was once more removed, swords and canes were restored to their owners, and the party separated. Thus far the "philosophic breakfasts" were, to say the least, eccentric, and the reverse of epicurean ; but little by little they underwent a refining process, the coffee ordeal was abolished, and delica cies of every kind were substituted for the ponderous surloin. One repast consisted of no less than nine courses, each preceeded by two flute-players, and served by a procession of white-robed attendants. The guests, twenty -two in number, were either advo cates or men of letters; and when the de sert was placed on the table, the public were admitted to a gallery commanding a view of the entire scene. The success of this essay induced Grimold to repeat it. On another occasion the Count d'Artois was present incognito, and at last so enormous were tho expenses at tending these festivities, that the la Rey niere family became alarmed, and decid ed on checking the prodigalities of the entertainer by the summary process of stopping the allowance hitherto made to him. Thus deprived of the sinews of war, Grimold conceived the ingenious project of bringing his father to reason by openly declaring his insolvent posi tion, and by soliciting from his friends and acquaintenances the loan of small sums to relieve what he termed his press ing necessities. Profiting by the privil ege he still enjoyed of using the equip ages of the "fernier general," he one day repaired to the house of an especial inti mate, and in the course of conversation offered him a seat in his carriage, volun teering to take him wherever he wished to go. The proposal was accepted, and, after piloting his companion through va rious parts of the city, he finally depos ited him at the Palais de Justice, and on bidding him farewell, reminded him that he owed him a crown. "What for?" was the other's natural inquiry. "For three hours' drive," cooly replied Grimod. "This is my fiacre, and it is no more than just that I should receive my fare." His friend treated the matter as an ex cellent joke; paid the crown, and repeat ed the joke to every one he met; so that it soon reached M. de la Reyniere's ears, and the embargo on the allowance was withdrawn. Mediaeval Superstitions. Among these last was the mandragora, which was supposed to reveal to its pos sessor hidden things and future events, and to secure the friendship of all men. The root of the mandragora, or man drake, often divides into two parts, and thus presents a rude resemblance to a human figure. It was believed that this plant could not be found except below the gallows where a pure youth had been hanged. When torn from the soil it was said to sigh, shriek, and moan so pite ously that it caused whoever heard it to die. To find this plant it must be sought before sunrise Friday morning. The per son seeking it should carefully fill his ears with cotton, wax or pitch, and take with him a black dog without a single white hair. The sign of the cross was to be made three times over the mandra gora, then the soil was to be carefully re moved, so that it was attached only by its fine rootlets. It was then tied by a string to the tail of the dog, who was attracted forward by a piece of bread. The dog pulled the plant from the earth, but fell dead, struck by the shriek of the man dragora. The plant was then taken home, washed in red wine, and wrapped in red and white silk, laid in a shrine. washed on successive Fridays, and dress ed in a white frock. If the mandragora is bought it remains with the person who thus secures it regardless of where it is thrown, until sold again. If kept until death, the person must depart to hell with it. In the demoniacal fauna of the middle ages were-wolves played an important part. They were supposed to be men who changed themselves for a time into wolves, and roved about hunting for children. Augustine, one of the most prominent fathers and authors of his time, taught that it was the devil who wrapped a wolf's hide around a witch. Malancthon also believed in this doc trine, and the Emperor Sigismund had the question investigated "scientifically" in the presence of theologians, and then came to the general agreement that the were-wolf is a "positive and constant fact;" for, the existence of the devil be ing accepted, there is no reason to deny that of the were-wolf, supported as it is by the authority of the fathers of the church, and by general experience. Another ghastly superstition of those times was that of belief in vampires. These were disembodied souls, which had reclothed themselves in their buried bodies. In this garb they stole at night into houses and sucked from the nipples of the sleeping their blood. Tho per sons thus bereft of this vital fluid was in turn changed into a vampire. The corpse of a person suspected of vampir ism, if dug up, was found well preserved, and an abundance of fresh blood would flow from its mouth on pressing the stomach. To this horrible belief is as cribed a kind of psyehical pestilence, which spread terror in the Austrian provinces even down into the eighteenth century. Detected by a Dream. In the number of LippincoWs Magazine for January was published an article headed "An Old-Time Tragedy," which has been reproduced in a hundred West ern newspapers. Ik purported to be the story of the murder in Washington county, near Greenfield, of Rebecca McCrory, and the wonderful unraveling of the crime in a vision which was dreamed by oue Mrs. Morton. Mr. A A. Stout, of East Finley township, an old lady born in 1800, and who was a cousin of the murdered girl, takes exception to the article. She has written and fur nished a letter for publication in the Dis patch, in which she relates the whole his tory of the story as follows : I have concluded to give you a true statement of the matter: Rebecca McCrory, the murdered girl, and I were cousins. I lived in Greenfield at the time the murder was committed. Her father, John McCrory, lived a few miles west of that place. He and Nixon joined farms. Nixon and Rebecca McCrory were born and raised in sight of each other. Nixon came to her father's one Saturday and had some private conversation with her. On the same evening she started to go to her sister's, who lived in Bellevernon, and said if it was too late to cross the river she would stay with her grand father, the Rev. Mr. Speers. On Monday her parents heard that she had not been at either place. Her father then started to hunt for her. While he was gone her uncle, coming to her father's, found her corpse beside the road, in sight of her father's house, and he shouted for her mother, sent for her father, and gathered men to hold an inquest. Old man Nixon came as one of the jurors, and asked Jehu Jack man who they judged for killing her. He said no one- In a few minutes he asked the same question of Jack man. He said: "Do they judge any neighbor?" That created suspicion, and the men did not wait for any more. They picked her up and carried her to the house, and sent for Dr. R. E. Playford. The next day she was buried, and men started on the hunt of Edward Nixon and brought him before William Hopkins, who allowed him to go home. Then about fifty men raised and took him our. of his father's house at night and carried him to 'Squire Blaine, in West Brownsville, who sent him to jail. This was in the fall of 1828. Men hunted for days to find where she was killed, and gave it up, until a woman by the name of Mrs. Morton, who lived ten miles from Rebecca's father's house near Bentley ville, related that in a visit or dream she saw Rebecca leave her father's house; two men met her in sight of the house; they took her to the old man Nixon's house and she ate her sup per there; the two men took her to an old waste house on Nixon's farm and wanted her to go in, but she would not, and Nixon grabbed hold of her and put her in; the other man held the door, and Nixon laid his arm around her neck and gave her one cut with a knife and she got away from him; he then knocked her down, sprang upon her breast and fin ished the awful deed. The body was con cealed over Sabbath, and at night he aud and a woman threw her across a horse like they would a meal-sack, and took her to the spot where she was found. Mrs. Alorton dreamed that she was an eye witness and saw the cruel deed com mitted. She gave her husband no peace until he consented to go with her and her brother-in-law to the scene of the murder She led tbe way and showed them the house and road where the body was found. She took six men to the bouse where the girl was killed. Mrs. Morton had never seen any of the McCrory fam ily, and never was at the place before. I heard uncle say she described Rebecca plainer than he, who had raised her, could. Mrs. Morton said she was in the the house and saw the awful deed com mitted. She offered to go to the jail and pick the perpetrator out of one hundred men She gave the kind of dregs the other man had on. She described Ed ward Nixon to his very hand. Dr. Rob ert Playford said the wound lacked only an inch of cutting the girl's head off. I was the wife of Isaac Haveley when the deed was committed. Abner Allen was my brother. All the witnesses in the Nixon murder case have passedaway. I was born in 1880. Pittsburg Dispatch. SAFE & LOCK COMPANY The Ways of London Beggars. Paralysis is often imitated, and so closely that there is no detecting the im position. A fellow is directed how to hang the elbow, twist the wrist, and drop the fingers of one arm, and drag the corresponding leg limply after him, counterfeiting a paralytic stroke to the life. I have seen one drilled up to the proper business mark by marching him round and round a beggar's kitchen for hours at a stretch, and night after night. This is continued until the patient can bear a sharp and unexpected prick with a needle, or even the touch of a hot iron, without relapsing into his normal atti tude. Not many years ago one of these mock paralytics, who was accustomed to throw off his seeming infirmity and play the burglar by way of change, was caught in the very act of breaking into a house, and committed for trial. Here he got up anch a semblance of hopeless paralysis as deceived everybody. When his trial came he was carried to the court on a stretcher, and laid at full length in the dock. Everybody, including the judge and jury, commiserated his case, and he escaped with one year s impris onment instead of a long term of penal servitude. The doctor of the prison to which the convict was next transferred felt sure that the whole thing was a sham, and tried all the ordinary methods of detec tion, including liberal use of the galvanic battery, but without effect. At length a great heap of damp straw was collected in the jail yard, and the scoundrel, still stretched on his pallet, which he never quitted, was placed thereon. The straw was fired on all sides, throwing out a little flame and dense column of choking smoke. This did the business, and quickly too. In less than a minute the paralyzed man astonished everybody but the doctor by bounding out among them with the agility of a deer. "The game is up," he exclaimed with a laugh, when he had done coughing adding, in a tone of triumph. "Anyhow, I have diddled the law out of six years-." The torture such people inflict on themselves for weeks and months at a time, and volun tarily, is simply incredible. London Standard. "Ma," said a thoughtful boy, "I don't think Solomon was so rich as they say he was. "Why, my dear, what could have put that into your head?" "Why, the Bible says he slept with his fathers; and I think if he had been so would have had a bed of his rich, own. he Never give away a penny indiscrimi nately. If a beggar tells you he is starving, order him to come to you the next day. If he makes his appearance it is a proof of tbe falsehood of his state ment. If it had been true he would have died during the night. CiPUAL General Offices snd CINCINNATI, 91,000,000. Manufactory OHIO. Pacific Branch, No. 210 Sansome St., S. F Agency for Oregon and Washington Territory, with HAWLEY, D0DD k CO., Portland. HALL'S PATENT CONCRETE FIRE-PROOF SAFES. Have been tested by the most disastrous confla grations in the country. They ;ire thoroughly fire proof. They are free from dampness. Their superiority is beyond question. Although about 150,000 of these safes are now in use, and hundreds have been tested by some of the most disastrous conflagrations in the country, there is not a single instance on record wherein one of them ever failed to preserve its contents perfectly. HALL'S PATENT DOVETAILED TENON AND CltOOVB BURGLAR-PA09F AFES. Have never been broken open and robbed by burglars or robbers. Hall's burglar work is protected by letters patent, and his work cannot be equaled lawfully. His patent bolt is superior to any in use. His patent locks cannot be picked by the most skillful exerts or burglars. By one of the greatest improvement!! known, the Gross Automatic Movement, our locks are operated withont any arbor or spindle passing through the door and into the lock. Our locks cannot be ojieiied or picked by bur glars or experts, (as in ease of other locks), and we will put from $1,900 'o $10,000 behind them any time against an equal amount. The mo3t skilled workmen only are employed. Their work cannot be excelled. Hall's Safes and Locks can be relied on at all times. They are carsfully and thorughly constructed. THEY ARE THE HEM 8TB Mude in America, or any other country. One Thousand Dolhirs To any person who cn prove that one of Hall's patent burglar-proof safes has ever been broken open and robbed by burglars up to the present time. B. S. WILLIAMS-, Agent for Oregon and W. T. (run Icy Oflice wllh 28febl8:9tf. I. odd A 'o. Portland. Bees Hamlin. Emmett F. Wbenn. DRAYAGE ! PR AY AGE! Hamlin & Wrenn. Propr's. HAVING JUST RETURNED FROM witb a new truck, and having leased the barn formerly occupied by James H.g lin, we are now prepared to do all kinds of DRAYIMC AD HAULING, either in the city or country, at the lowest living rates. Can be found at the old truck stand. A share of the public patronage respectfully solic ited. Corvallis, Dec. 27. 187S. 15:52tf JOB PRINTING. THE Gazette Job Printing House IS NOW PREPARED TO DO Plain and Ornamental Printing, As neat and Cheap as it can be done by any Oflice on the Coast. Mil Head, Letter Heads Aote heads, statement, Ball Tlefcefs. Circular, Bulnes Tarda, Visiting- Cards, Labels. Bodjrers. Munll Pesters, Envelopes. l egal Blanks' BanU Botes, a skipping- Receipts, Order Books, Iluus, Tans. :tc, Ete. Orders by mates furnished. mail promptly filled. Esti AUGUST KNIGHT, CABINET I Viv I :it, I UNDERTAKER. Cor. Second and Monroe Sts., CORVALLIS. OBNOH. Keeps constantly on hand all kinds of FURNITURE COFFINS AND CASKETS. Work done to order on short notice, and at reasonable rates. Corvallis. Jan. 1. Is"- l4:ltf ROBERT N. BAKER. Fashionable Tailor, "FORMERLY OF ALBANY, WHERE HE has given his patrons perfect satisfaction, has determined to locate in Corvallis, where he hopes to be favored with a share of the public pa;ronage. All work warranted, when made under his supervision. Retiring and cleaning promptly attended to. Corvallis, Jan. 1,1880. 15:48ft. FBAKKUfrCAUTHORN, M. D., PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON,- Corvallis, Oregon. Rneei.il attention given to surgery and diseases of the Eye. Can be found at his office, in rear of Graham, Hamilton fc Co.'s Drug Store, upstairs, day or nizht. June 3,1879. 16-23tf