lift
OLD MITCHELL'S LAST VICTIMS.
The Dangers That Environ Men Who Meddle
with a Swamp Angel
One of the worst men in the world,
so far as reputation goes, is old Martin
Mitchell, who lives in the swamp just
back of here, writes a Blackfish, Ark.,
correspodent to The New York Sun. He
is a terror to the hard men for hundreds
of miles around, and yet personally he is
one of the most affable old fellows that
ever lived. Hot one person in a
thousand who tells with prodigious
adjectives and expletives of the
"swamp angel's" ferocity ever saw
him. 6is reputatation has grown by
degrees, until the old colored people
have come to look upon him as in
partnership with Satan, ana man) a
black mother and nurse scares her lit
tle ones by telling them that "dat ole
debbil what swums aroun' in de mash
es is arter ve!"
Now, the fact is that old man Mitch
ell, according to his own story and the
common judgment of his fellow-men
in this vicinity, is a harmless and law
abiding citizen. He has a hut of some
kind in the swamp, where he makes
his headquarters, but when the weath
er is good he is just as likely to camp
twenty or thirty miles away, wherever
nightfall may find him, as he is to be
at home. He is a hunter and fisher,
and it is probably true that if nobody
had ever bothered him he would not
have hurt anybody. He has been in
the swamp for thirty years or more,
killing a man now and then, as oc
casion seemed to warrant, and making
no fuss about it. Heretofore, when
these difficulties have occurred, the
old man has not thought it worth
while to come in and explain matters,
or even pay much attention to his vic
tims. If no one claimed them he has
buried them in the bullrushes and
gone on about his business. The other
day. however, he found that he had to
kill three men in a bunch, and as this
was something unusual, he came to
Blacktish to apologize, and eventually
tvent over to Memphis and communi
sated with the sheriff there on the
point. This was the first real glimpse
ot civilization that the "swamp angel"
has had in many years, and he enjoyed
it much.
Two men named Cummings and
Bryson, living at Memphis, came over
into the swamps a short time ago fish
,ng and hunting, and knowing old
Mitchell only by reputation ihey fired
several shots at him, one of them in
dicting a painful wound. The old
man lay low for awhile, then arming
himself he got a canoe and made pur
suit. He found the trail a difficult one,
but being thoroughly acquainted with
8very nook in the great river, he knew
that unless they took to land he wonld
eventually overtake them. He follow
ed them seventy-five miles down
stream and then lost thea. He waited
there three or four days without find
ing a trace of them, but at length he
was informed that they had gone
north, and he started after them. Dur
ing all this long chase he passed al
most his entire time in his dugout, and
only went ashore as he tound it
necessary in order to lay in provis
ions. At length he found them, near his
own swamp. He had gone ashore in
the brush in order to cook a little cof
fee, and, hearing voices, peered out
on the river. There was a boat, with
Cummings, Bryson, and an unknown
man in it. Seizing his rilles, the old
man made for a tree and opened fire,
the men in the boat standing up and
returning it with great spirit. At
Mitchell's second shot Cummings
dropped and fell into the river. He
next brought down Bryson, who also
fell out of the boat. The stranger
was then left standing alone, with a
revolver in each hand, with which he
was making the bark on the old man's
tree fly. Mitchell took careful aim
and fired, and the stranger dropped in
the boat, which was drifting slowly
down stream. Satisfying himself that
the job had been well-done, the old
man got into his canoe and came up
to his hut, where he rested a day or
two, and then, with the idea of telling
how it happened, he came to town
and reported.
In conversation Mitchell is very
agreeable. He said to the sheriff here:
"This here last little difficulty of mine
was on a bigger scale than anything
that I've ever been in before, and
that's what troubled me a little. You
see, I know a white man's rights ev
ery time, and I wouldn't bother you at
all with this matter only I wanted the
thing all straight. If it ain't all
straight just put your clamps on me,
f it is I want to be getting back to
business. I've had shooting before,
but only one at a time, and everyone
of them was of some cuss who want
ed to murder me. I'm a harmless
man, and yet I never shoot without
hitting something. It's been my luck
always to be on the defensive. Every
man that I've been compelled to kill
has come at me wrong, and I wouldn't
harm anybody if everybody would let
me alone. The reason that I've never
been in before is because you were
busy, and 1 knew there w'an't any
case against me. If this last thing is
all right I'll get back to the swamp."
As no complaint has been filed, the
swamp angel is evidently to be left un
disturbed by the authorites. With a
little better understanding between
him and the fellows that prowl around
his headquarters and take him for a
wild man there might be less bloodshed.
Lord Dudley's Heavy Bets.
Those sporting papers which have
alluded to the sensational wages with
which the late Earl of Dudley used
from time to time to astonish the rac
ing world have somehow omitted to
record the last bet which he ever
made, and which consisted in laying
10,000 t 4,000 on Petrarch, at As
cot, for the twenty-third Triennial,
when Morning Star won. Into the
circumstances of that memorable race
we have no wish to inquire. Lord
Dudley, it is well known, refused to
settle the bet for some weeks after
ward, and did not engage in any sub
sequent turf transactions. He had
not, indeed, paid a visit to any race
course of recent years, and had long
since ceased to take any interest in the
"sport of kings." His wagers, as a
rule, were very successful ones were
chiefly negotiated on the classic races.
He had 9,000 to 2,000 about Reine
for the Oaks of 1872, and in a later
year netted an equally large amount
by the successes of Marie Stewart,
Apology and Spinaway. With many
racing men the story of his having
offered to bet 20,000 to 10,000 on
Macgregor for the Derby of 1870 is
ver3 familiar. The late Mr. J. B.
Morris was the bookmaker who on
that occasion declined the sensational
wager, only to see Macgregor beaten
a quarter of an hour afterward. His
feeiings may be imagined. Wiilelutll
Ueview.
Disposal of the Dead.
"A statement made by the counsel
for the Greenwood cemetery associa
tion at the recent investigation into
the management of the cemetery's af
fairs is one to make people think more
of cremation than ever before," said a
gentleman who was present at the in
vestigation to a Mail and Express re
porter. "This was, that it was most
injudicious to allow relatives or friends
to be present when remains which had
long been in a grave were taken out to
be transferred to some other place, be
cause the coffin was likely to have be
come decayed and the remains had to
be taken up with a shovel. Just think
of that! I actually believe I'd rather
have the urn idea adopted in place of
the present burial system, odd as it
seems."
An officer of a cremation company,
when asked by a reporter for particu
lars regarding the mode of disposing
of the dead suggested by the above
remark, said that from all observations
cremation is destined at no distant
day to supersede the practice of grave
burials because it had none of their
offensive features. "As now conduct
ed at Gotha, Milan, and other points
of Europe," he added, "cremation is
not for a moment to be confounded
with the offensive custom of burning
on the open pre, as practiced by the
ancients. It is effected in a super
heated air chamber, which allows no
contact of flame or fuel with the body,
while all the gases and volatile pro
ducts of combustion are completely re
generated and rendered innocuous and
odorless before being liberated. Why,
an approved modern crematory might
be erected in Madison square, and but
for transporting the dead bodies
thither, could not be an offense to any
one. The process is accompanied with
no repulsive sight, sound, smell, noise
or smoke."
"What is this process?" was asked.
"The body, covered with a pall, is
placed on a catafalque in the chapel
or reception hall, whence it descends
noiselessly by means of an elevator to
the incinerating chamber. This, by
means of superheated air, has been
raised to a white heat at a tempera
ture of about 2,000 degrees fahrenheit.
When opened to receive the body the
in-rushing cold air cools this chamber
to a delicate rose tint, and the body,
after remaining an hour in this bath of
rosy light, is completely decomposed.
Nothing remains but a few pounds
(about 4 per cent of the original
weight) of clean, pure, pearly ashes.
These are then taken out and put in an
urn of terra cotta, marble, or other
suitable material, and placed in a
niche of the columbarium or delivered
to the friends of the deceased."
"What is the usual cost of crema
tion?" "The cost of such a disposal of the
human body, after it reaches the cre
matory, is from $10 to $25, according
to circumstances. To this may be
added, if desired, $5 for an urn and
$10 each for a niche in the colum
barium, where the urn may be kept,
with an inscribed tablet placed in tho
wall below the niche commemorative
of the deceased. Thus the entire ex
pense would not be over $50. New
York Mail and Express.
The l'ublisher Crashed.
"I am, indeed, glad to hear that yon
are prospering in your newspaper ven
ture?' said a gentleman to the editor.
"Thanks," responded the quill
driver.
"Yes, I am indeed, glad to hear that
yon are doing so well. A man who
has struggled along so bravely as you
have, deserves to be successful. Close
application and persistant work de-,
mands recognition. See how I have'
labored, long and most industriously,
and can look back to the time when a
dollar was as big as a cart wheel, but,
by preservance and hard work, I have
been enabled to count my wealth by
the thousands."
"Fortune has, indeed, favored you."
"It has for a fact, and the heroic ef
forts of every man should be fullyr ap
preciated by those who have a soul
within him, and is financially able to
do so."
"True, every word of it," said the
editor, who w-as now assured that a
two dollar subscription was almost
within his grasp, and another honored
name would find itself on the "an
notated list" of his subscribers. But
you know us publishers experience
great difficulty in collecting our sub
scription money, we are put off with
various excuses, and wear out our
souls in our frantic efforts to collect
what is due us."
"What is the subscription price to
your paper?" asked the gentleman as
he put his hand in his pocket.
"Only two dollars," replied the edi
tor. "Only two dollars a year, post
age paid."
"Let me see," said the gentleman,
"that's only hve cents a week, oheap
enough. You may send it to me for a
year. ' '
The editor smiled a beautiful smile,
which was instantaneously trans
mogrified into a scowl that was a cross
between the laugh of a frightened
dude, and the snarl of a subdued
carion, when the gentleman concluded
by saying:
""Here five cents for the next issue,
and you can send your boy to the house
every Saturday and collect the same
amount. I like to encourage home
talent." Preteei's Weekly.
American carpet-makers are excelling their
English competitors in artistic achievements.
American artisans and aitists have so often
shown that they can, if properly encouraged,
come off triumphantly in any field of rivalry,
that it behooves American buyers to wholly
abandon their unnatural worship of European
Jfade marks. The Current.
FE&CILINGS FROM LIFE,
i
'Hate you anything to say in miti
gation of your crime?
"Can't say as 1 have."
"Have you anything to say before
sentence is passed, why the full penalty
of the law should not be exacted?"
"Well, no; I reckon not."
"You have nothing then, to offer in
extenuation of your misconduct?"
"Hold on a minute, Judge; I believe
there is one hltle thing; but I don't
know as it will count for much,
either."
"Well, what is it?"
"I never writ any spring poetry."
"It is enough The penalty shall be
as light as the law allows. Ten days;
and you shall have turkey every meal
at my expense, for I used to run a
newspaper myself."
"I cannot marry him, mamma, so
please do not urge me further."
"But, my dear child, he is "
"I know what you would say,
mamma, but it cannot be. I will not
be his wife."
"Foolish girl! Why will you be so
blind to your own interests? He is all
that could be wished, and has no bad
'labits."
"You do not know him, mamma?"
"What do you mean?"
"He eats onions."
"But Cupid is blind."
"That may be, but he can smell,
and so can I, and I'll never throw my
self away on a man that goes around
smelling like a bologna factory
half the time, if I have to be an old
maid."
"Hello, Dufl'y; I heard vou was out
West."
"Yes I have been, but I got back
Saturday."
"How did you like it?"
"Well, I was a good deal disappoint
ed. Things have been misrepresented
like the mischief."
"You don't tell me."
"You can't believe anything you
hear. Why, bless you, I was even
disappointed about the wind. You
know what whopping big sto
ries thev tell about the wind out
there?"
"Yes."
"Well, don't you believe them
did, and I got fooled. From what
heard about the tall blowing in
prairie countries I went out west
pecting to see a good share of the peo
ple laying down and holding on to the
grass to keep from being blovved away,
but I didn't see anything of the kind.
You may stand a" board straight up
against the house, and the wind will
hold it there three weeks at a stretch,
but when it comes to blowing the hair
from a dog slick and clean, why it
just can't do it, that's all."
"I'll own that I love yon, but "
"Blessed girl! And vou will be mv
wife?" J y
"I say I love you "
"Of course you do, and you are a
darling for doing it. But when shall
we be married, my love?" s
"It can not be."
"What! Not be! But you said you
loved me "
"Yes; too true; but I can not be
your wife."
"But why, mv darling? Do
folks forbid?"
"No. On the contrary, my mother
iavors your suit, and has urged me to
accept you."
"Then Where's the hitch?"
"Alas! I can not tell you."
"But you must."
"I can not bring myself to do it."
"And why not?"
"I would not wound your feelings."
"Fudge on my feelings! Out with
it. What's wrong?"
"Please do not insist."
"But I do insist. Come, what's the
trouble?"
"1 could never respect you I saw
you kick the dog. Oh, Harry! how
could vou boo-hoo!"
"And is that all? Ha-ha! My!
what a fright you gave me. I thought
it was something serious. There's "no
drawback about that, and we'll be
married as soon as you can get ready.
You poor iittle goose! If every woman
had to respect her husband thcre'd be
precious few weddings." Chicago
Ledacr.
I
I'd
the
ex-
your
A Fair Distiller.
Miss Bettie Smith, of Fentress
county, Tenn., has been arrested on a
charge of illicit distilling and has been
taken to Nashville. She is said to be
handsome ' aud accomplished, and is
supposed to have written that wild and
stirring romance "The Blue Headed
Sap-Sucker or The Rock Where the
Juice Ran out." Col. Harvey Mathes,
editor ot the Memphis Ledger says
that Miss Smith is undoubtedly the
author of the story. This is a start
ling revelation in Tennessee. At one
time Colonel Mathes oflered three
thousand dollars for the discovery of
the author.
When Miss Smith was arraigned be
fore the United States court, she con
ducted herself with such grace and
dignity, that the polite old judge,
deeply impressed, arose and made her
a profound bow.
"Miss Smith," said the judge, "to
see you in this awful predicament seri
ously touches me."
"It does me too, judge.'.'
"How old ate you?"
"Judge, you should not ask such a
question, but I will tell you. Iam two
years older than my married sister,
who was married before she was as
old as I am. She has been married
eighteen months and stiil speaks well
of her husband. Now how old am I?"
"I cannot tell."
"1 am not to blame for your mathe
matical inefficiency."
"Why did you go into the business
of illisit distilling?"
"Because I wanted to make whis
ky." ""I suppose so. How long have you
been a distiller?"
"Ever since I was sixteen years
old."
"When were you sixteen years old?"
"The year my father died."
"What year was that?'
"The year my Uncle Henry moved
to Texas."
"Miss Smith, yon are a woman, but
I insist that you shall answer my ques
tions. Remember that if convicted of
this awful charge, you will be sent to
the penitentiary. What did you do
with the whisky you made?"
"Sold it."
"Who bought it?"
"Well, judge, it would be rather
hard to tell who bought it all. Some
time ago a party of gentlemen came
out into my neighborhood to hunt
deer. The party got out of whisky,
but found it difficult to buy any. Af
awhile I told a man if he would put
his jug down on a silver dol
lar and go away he might,
when he came back, find the jug
full of whisky. He did so."
"Would you know the man?"
"Oh, yes, sir, I recognized him in a
moment. You are the man, judge."
Arkansaio Traveler.
Successful Drnmmer.
TJie Sun has always maintained that
the traveling men, "the "drummers,"
had more enterprise and vinegar in
their composition than any class of
men in the known world. The idea
has been illustrated ' the past few
weeks by the drummer Howard, trav
eling for the Colt firearms company,
of Hartford. The company desired to
bring the merits of their Gatling gun
bofore the people. It was a gun that
they prided themselves on, and all
they wanted was a chance to show it.
The reaper manufacturers send reap
ers to Texas early in the season, with
experts to work them on the ripening
grain, and why should not the gun
men go where the rebels were ripe for
cutting down. Howard took his sam
ple case of gun and checked it to Win
nipeg. He called on Gen. Middleton
and asked for permission to show
his goods, and the general told him to
pack up and come along to where the
crop of rebel half breeds was waiting
for the harvest. Howard took his gun
and a package of circulars and went
to the front, and when the battle was
going on, he unpacked his machine
and opened on the enemy. He mowed
them down right and left, and the
Canadian troops stopped firing and
watched the Yankee with his pepper
box. There was no use in their fool
ing away time tiring their single guns,
when Howard could throw a basket
full of balls right into the ranks of the
half breeds by simply turning a crank.
It was the greatest success that any
drummer ever met with since tho
agent for a cathartic pill visited a
bilious neighborhood years ago and
gave away pills to all who would take
them. As the farmers of Texas gathei
around a successful reaper at a trial,
and order machines for their own use,
so the Canadian soldiers gathered
around Howard, complimented him,
and shook his hand, and said they
would have to have some of those
guns. The modest drummer admitted
that the slain were not his enemies at
all, but he had simply killed them in
the way of business, and he hoped there
would" be no hard feeling. He
felt like asking the pardon of the
widows and orphans that he had made
by his experiments, but business was
business, and he hoped they would
recognize the necessity of a man earn
ing an honest living, though it became
necessary to depopulate a country in
doing so. All he asked was a trial of
his goods and he would guarantee sat
isfaction, or it should not cost a cent.
To make the affair complete, there
should have been drummers present
from an embalming establishment, to
demonstrate how easily aud cheaply
bodies could be embalmed, so they
would retain the natural appearance
until the remains could be taken home.
Dealers in coffins at wholesalemight
have been with Middleton with sam
ples of goods, and the Rochester man
who sells those beautiful hearses
might have been present with a few
hearses to sell to the half breeds.
War is a peculiar science, and it is
necessary probably, to kill people,1
but it is not necessary and it is not
right for business men to murder hu
man beings in order to sell goods.
This case may be overlooked because
the rebels who were killed were poor
and friendless, but as Howard was not
an enlisted Canadian soldier, he had a
narrow escape from being a premedi
tated murderer. If that Gatling gun
had been used as an advertisement on
the rioters at Joliet, and the drum
mer had killed anybody, not being an
enlisted soldier of the State of Illi
nois, he would have been murdered,
or tried for murder, and his employ
ers, the Colt Arms Co., would very
likely have been mulcted in damages
for millions of dollars. It is possible
they may now. If the families of those
killed by Howard can prove that he
Jdlled them, as an authorized agent of
the millionaires of Connecticut, and
they can get justice in the courts,
there is no dead sure thing that the
experiment of selling guns by killing
people for fun, as the ferret kills rats,
may not prove the most expensive
piece of business ever indulged in by
a Yankee rustler. The Colts may be
made bankrupt by that one experi
ment, and few would regret it if they
were. There is such a thing as car
rying "business" too far. Peck's
Sun.
A Small Boy's lufifenuity.
The invention of the valve motion
to a steam engine was made by a mere
boy. Newcomen's engine was in a
very incomplete condition, from the
fact that there was no way to open or
close the valves except by means of
levers operated by hand. He set up a
large engine at one end of the mines,
and a boy (Humphrey Potter): wa3
hired to work these valve levers. Al
though this is not hard work, yet it
required his constant attention. As
he was working the levers he saw that
parts of the engine moved in the right
direction, and at the same time he had
to open and close the valves.
He procured a strong cord andi
made one end fast to the proper part
4l,n ..; .1 .1 . 1 f ll ,tVl0. .1.1 ,1 ,i fl.n
VI IUU CUgiUC l, VI 1. 1 1 V su?x VL1VL jJ I.UO j
valve-lever, and the boy had the sat- j
isfaction of seeing the engine move
with perfect regularity of motion. A
short time after the foreman came
armiTiL and ii-AW thp hnv nln vinir m) r
bles at the door. Looking at the en-
gine, he saw the ingenuity of the boy,,
and also the advantage of his inden
tion. The idea-suggested by the boy's
inventive genuis was put into practic
al form, and made the steam engine
an automatic working machine.
Boston Budget.
EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION.
Birds Are Lineal Descendants of Beptiies of
the Most Hideous Type. .
Evolution is a bugbear at which, a
great many minds take fright, think
ing that it attempts to wrest from the
Supreme Being one of His attributes,
that of a creator. Those partly in
formed regarding the theory, and from
the nature of the case it can be only a
theory, think evolution teaches that
man descended from a baboon or a
chimpanzee, or was actually one of
these animals. The theory, of course,
does not teach this at all, but only
that every form of life existing at pres
ent is developed or perfected from
some earlier form as, for instance,
that man and the gorrilla are both de
scendants of some common progenitor
probably very unlike either.
In the" absence of light on the sub
ject, it requires no more assurance to
say that this reasonable way was God's
way than to affirm that it was any
other way. The fact that some other
manner has been accepted for a long
time as the right one does not make it
right. As the Scriptures do not en
lighten us one way or another as to
the method of creation, then it seems
just as presuming in us mortals to say
that it was by special acts of creation
as that evolution was Go'ds plan.
LINEAL DESCENDANTS OF REPTILES.
That the birds as we now have them
are direct descendants of or modifi
cations of the early reptiles every one
who has studied the subject believes
not descendants of any reptile existing
at present, perhaps, but of some pre
existing species from which both our
birds and our reptiles have descended.
In fact, the account of creation giv
en in Genesis nearly says so.. It says:
"And God said, 'Let the water bring
forth abundantly the moving creature
that hath life, and fowl that may fly
above the earth in the open firmament
of heaven.' "
The beaks of many early birds whose
remains are found in the "rocks were of
a lizard-like character and bore true
teeth. In our brrd3 they are greatly
modified, and so diverse that it formed
the basis of a classification now nearly
gone out of use, the only true and safe
classifiction being known as the
morphological one, or that based upon
the form of the bird, especially of its
skeleton.
The bill classification is very faulty,
as for instance all of the long, thin
billed birds were put into the same
class. This included the humming
bird in the same class as the nut hatch,
birds differing so materially in form,
habits and skeleton that a mere tyro
would not think of placing them in
the same order.
Although not a characteristic suffi
ciently distintive for p classification,
still the terms used are of value in de
scribing birds, and one looking at a
collection with this in view will be sur
prised at the great variation in shape.
Each bird has that form of bill best
suited to its habits and mode of ob
taining a livelihood.
WHY. THEY DIFFER.
Every one knows the difference be
tween a hard and soft bill; the former
for cracking seeds, and the latter for
eating insects. A glance at the robin
and sparrow or finch bill will show
the distinction. There is also a simi
larity between the long bill of the
robin and that of the woodcock or
snipe, both of which bore into the
ground for insects. The woodcock,
however, depends entirely upon this
method; consequently its bill is longer,
thinner, and provided with a cover
ing which is very sensitive, so much so
that it can not bore into any but very
soft earth, and it is by the presence o"f
these holes, or "borings," as hunters
call them, that their presence is de
tected. The bill of the meadow lark
is for the same use, but they also eat
berries and fruit, hence they are pro
vided with the angle in the beak,
which enables them to swallow quite
large substances.
In Florida and other states where
vegetables are raised in winter, the
meadow larks spending the winter
there make such havoc upon the peas
and beans that considerable loss is
sustained. They can open a pea pod
and scoup out the row of peas in short
order. A gentleman in Florida who
suffered loss through them, in answer
to the query what bird he liked best
there, answered, "I like the turkey
buzzard, because he won't eat any
thing but meat." If he had consider
ed, however, that the larks also eat
the insects which destroy his vegeta
bles and orange trees, while the buz
zards only eats carrion and an occa
sional chicken, he would find the bal
ance of good on the side of the lark.
This same planter heard from a
neighbor that if he would feed his
chickens strychnia beans it would not
hurt the fowls, but would poison any
bird of prey which would "happen to
steal the chicken. He tried it, and
found next to his surprise what?
Dead chickens? No, but dead hawks,
and the chickens as gay and happyas
ever. The reason probably is that,
being grain eaters, tho fowls were un
affected, but as the hawks ate the en
trails containing the poison, and be
ing meat eaters, their digestive sys
tems took in the strychnine, resulting
in death.
MADE TO ORDER.
Among the odd modifications of
bills is the cross-bill. This bird seem
ingly would be utterly unable to get
any food whatever, and when first no
ticed was thought to have a deformity,
but observation of its habits showed
that it lives upon the seeds of ptne
cones, and with its crooked bill it can
flirt the seeds out in a way that must
be a source of envy to other birds.
The hook at the end of the bee bird's
bill enables it to snap insects while on
the wing and hold them securely.
The bill is flattened and very wide at
the base, which also enables it to se
cure its prey. This family very sel
dom pick up an insect, but fly through
the air, seize the beetle or fly. and re
turn to the same limb. Swallows
have the same habits of capturing
prey on the wing, as also does the
whippoorwill. The size of thelatter's
mouth is marvelous, and besides be
ing a good bug-trap it makes a use of
its- mouth which probably no other
bird does. It lays one or two eggs,
never more, on the bare ground, and,
when suddenly surprised, gathers
them up in its wide mouth and flies to
to a place of safety.
Bills called dentirostral are toothed.
This tooth may occur any place from
the tip back to the rictus or angle of
the mouth. So many birds are so pro
vided that it was folly for the old
classifiers to put them all in the same
order. With equal reason might par
rots and eagles be classed together be
cause both have hooked beaks. The
hook serves qune different purposes in
these families. In birds of prey the
hook is used in tearine pieces from
the food, while in the parrot tribe it is
used for very little else than as a hand
to grasp branches as the bird makes
his way among tree tops. It is with
the under bill and tongue that the par
rot breaks into nuts or chews his food,
as anyone who has a parrot can easily
notice.
The blunt, strong bill of the wood
pecker family, shown in the smallest
of the family, the downy woodpecker,
is most admirably adapted to the peck
ing and drilling which he loves to
practice in uncovering a nest of ants
or boring beetle; and as no other bird
can get at these lurkers the larder of
this family is always full and safe from
intruders. Some writers have sym
pathized with them because they work
so hard for a living, but they like to do
it, and no happier bird lives in the wood
than the woodpecker. With his drill
he can secure his food and dig a hole
where his young is safe, and where he
can retire himself in times of danger
or inclement weather.
The stumpy bill of the tit family
serves them well in seed eating, crack
ing the shells of beetles or nipmng off
tender and juicy buds. In facr no in
ventor could fashion for a family a bet
ter shaped tool than each possesses in
his peculiar beak which the circum
stances of thousands of years and the
guidance of an Allwise Being have
evolved for him. Tom Lyon, m Pitts
burgh Dispatch.
Fruit Eaters Need No Doctors.
We were struck recently by the re
marks of a doctor friend of ours, who
said no one thing will do so much to
make people independent of the med
ical profession as the daily free use of
fruit. He had noticed" that those
farmers in whose families fruit was
regularly and largely consumed sel
dom needed his services. We thought
what a pity that every farmer in the
land could not be convinced of these
truths. It is a deplorable fact that
farmers' families do not enjoy that ro
bust health that country air and out
door life, with plenty "of exercise,
should give. It is also a fact that liy-,
ing on farms whose rich acres" are
aching to produce abundant crops of
the varied fruits, but very few have
plenty, and many never have any
fruit, except it may be an occasional
apple. The standard food in a ma
jority of farmers' houses consist large
ly of" bread, butter and meat (mostly
pork) fried in grease, and where pas
try or cake is used, it has lard in'
large proportions in its composition;
and this food is eaten at least twice,
and in many families, three times a
day, year in and year out. Is it any
wonder that- they are not more
healthy, and that their prevailing dis
eases are such as indicate an over
consumption of greasy food ? If fruits
were expensive or difficult to raise,
there would be some excuse; but
there is no part of the country with
out plenty of varieties adapted to its
soil and climate, and just such as are
fitted by nature to both nourish and
cleanse the body, and no more skill is
required to grow them than to grow
corn or wheat.
Why is it that so few farmers niak'i
any attempt to provide an adequate
supply of what would add much to
their pleasure, and save many times
its cost in doctors' bills, to say noth
ing of the sufferings and loss of their
dear ones. We entreat you, decide
just now not to let the spring pass
without planting a fruit yard. Surely
it is better to grow fruit than to be
continually dosing with medicine!
Sural New Yorker.
A Female Gambler.
"See that pretty girl over there,
Jim?"
"Yes. She's pretty, ain't she?"
"I should say so. Looks modest
don't she?"
"1 never saw a more modest girl in
my life."
"Well she is modest, but would you
think that she couid make the most
successful female gambler in Evans
ville, and not half try?"
"No. How could she?"
"Well, you see, I saw her on the
street the other day and mistook her
for my sister, and I walked up behind
her and put my hand on her shoulder,
only once mind you, and gave her a
little pat, and she" turned around and
I never saw such a flush on a girl's
face in my life."
"I don't see anything relative to
gambling in her action."
"You can't see anything. Didn't I
tell you I only put my hand on her
once?"
"Yes. What of it?"
"Why, don't you see she had a 'pat
flush the first hand."
He saw. Evansville Argus.
How to Cultivate Fruit Trees.
1. Instead of "trimming up" trees
according to the old fashion, to make
them long-legged and long-armed,
trim them down, so as to make them
even, snug and symmetrical.
2. Instead of manuring heavily in
a small circle at the foot of the tree,
spread the manure, if needed at all,
broadcast over the whole surface,
where the ends of the roots can get it.
3. Instead of spading a small cir
cle about the stem, cultivate the whole
surface broad cast.
4. Prefer a well pulverized, clean
surface in an orchard, with a moder
ately rich soil, to heavy manuring and
a surface covered with a hard crust
and weeds and grass.
5. Remember that it is better to set
out ten trees with all the necessary
care to make them live and flourish,
than to set out a hundred trees and
have them all die from carelessness.
6. Remember that tobacco is a poi
son, and will kill insects rapidly if
properly applied to them, and is one
of the best drugs freeing fruit trees,
frqm small vermin.