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About The Corvallis gazette. (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1894)
The Tables Turned. ARD TALBOT sank wear fly upon a fallen tree. The blanket swung from bis shoulder by a rawhide thong fell into a forked limb. His rifle slid for ward on the ground. Streams of perspiration trickled down his dusty face. He was near the summit of a mountain, and the forests behind receded to a valley of vast extent, densely wooded, pro foundly silent, primeval and uninhab ited. A shimmering river wound through the distant trees, and Talbot scowled as he looked back upon it. Six days before the river had lured him from oue of these summits in the quest of placer diggings. He was now returning, unsuccessful, half-starved and lost A deer suddenly appeared before him, not two hud red yards away, near tne top of the divide. It was visible in relief aganst the luminous sky. standing on a small flat rock, with feet gathered and head thrown sideways, . curiously alert The miner uttered an impatient cry. He had seen not less than thirty deer within the last four hours and had not a single cartridge left for his riflle. One hand auicklv sought the revolver hanging at his belt, but he Bhook his head and aban doned the impulse. His mouth watered as the deer bounded off. Not since morning had Talbot tasted food, and it was now 5 o clock in the afternoon Resuming his blanket and empty rifle, he soon gained the narrow sun burnt crest and rejoiced to behold again the Okanagon valley, the giant brown buttes against the eastern hor izon, and the mighty, snow-clad peaks of British Columbia towering far to the north. For Ward Talbot was one of that adventurous band who first pen etrated the reservation of the Moses Indians iu Washington territory when tnrown open for settlement sinewy ana strong was Talbot, a young man of robust health and shrewd wits. He wore brown over alls and blouse, with a revolver and light prospecting pick thrust in his belt: and as he stood beneath a tans: led fir, his boots in a mat of partridge berry vines, and the pendent needles trembling against the edge of his brown canvas hat, a look of perplex ity crossed his frank and manly face He had come over at an unexpected angle and could not quite place his surroundings. A few steps farther and the charred top of a tall burnt pine rose to view. Simultaneously the young miner's face brightened. He found himself not five hundred feet from one of his own claims, the very first one he had staked out, and which he had never visited since the day he located it The nearest corner stake was directly below him. The tents of Horse-shoe camp were in sight two miles away, and an hour's walk would take him to his own hut and coffee pot Quite different was this northern slope from the southern acclivity he naa lately climbed. The latter was rocky and sandy, its soil washed of vegetable mould by quick-melting snows. On this northern side he struck at once soft earth and a carpet of thick pine grass, down which he strode noiselessly toward a barren spot where boulders projected from the ground and a white stake showed. This was made of cotton-wood, rudely squared by an axe, and upon it was penciled: Stake B. Southeast Corner Post, Quartz Claim, Pillar of Fire, Located by Ward Talbot May 25th, 1886. The miner smiled as he read this, and recalled the peculiar circumstances under which he had discovered his first claim. While hunting soon after his arrival in the country, he saw far up this mountain-slue a dead pine burning brilliantly. Making his way thither in the hope of meeting white men, he reached a deserted Indian camp by the side of a little spring. The aban doned camp-fire bad Ignited a pile of dry brush, and thence had communi cated to a dead but standing pitch pine tree, which roared furiously as it burned, casting off volumes of black Bmoke. Here Talbot discovered silver float and a few traces of ore in the rocks, and staked out a claim, naming ing it the Pillar of Fire. When the mining district was organized, he re corded his claim, but had never found leisure to come up and investigate it thoroughly. Talbot now descended towards the center of his claim. Here Ibe high walls of rock converging toward a massive platform, overhanging the ledge wherein be had found ore. As he approached the walls, he heard a horse whinny, and stopped surprised. An instant later the thud of the pick, striking earth , echoed from the hill side below. There was no mistaking the sound. It fell in regular strokes, tinkling as it occasionally hit rock. Somebody was working his claim. Talbot set his rifle on end against the rocks at the entrance to the pas sage-way. He took off his rolled blanket and laid it down gently. Then he drew his revolver from his belt and inspected it The weapon was of drag oon size, carrying balls of heavy cal ibre. He cocked it quietly, and stole forward between the rugged steps and down to the stone platform, overhang ing the hillside. The young miner's face had become very white. He debated his course as he advanced. So far no claims had been jumped in the district He had avoided disputes and brawls with the miners. He was peaceable and well disposed. But often the most peace able men are the most dangerous when imposed upon, and now Talbot had bnt one purpose to expel this "jumper" from the Pillar of Fire. no neared the shelf where the con verging walls narrowed to a space not six feat wide. Frcm this point he could see the two opposite stake-ends of his claim nearly eight hundred feet below the declivity, and moving forward a little further, he could also see the center stake immediately below him. None of his boundary marks had been disturbed. Creeping forth on the irregular plat form, Talbot peered over the edge. A few rods down the hill a man was stooping, pick in hand, working the loose earth. Miners' rights on the frontier are sharply defined by custom and per emptorily defended. Any one who jumps a duly recorded claim does so at his peril, and common assent justi fies his summary expulsion aud the right of the owner to use force if nec essary. Talbot raised his pistol and prepared to hail the intruder, when a new discovery kept him silent The jumper was not taking ore from the claim. He was putting ore in! Such was undoubtedly the case. He had turned over considerable earth run ning in a straight line downward from the ledge whereon Ward Talbot stood, and out of a gunny sack of ore the stranger was sprinkling the soil, cov ering his deposits lightly with dirt Again the horse whinned. Talbot saw it now, a calico or pinto tied in the bushes. He knew that horse, and, peering again at the toiler beneath, recognized him also, and understood the matter better. The man below was Mose Tannin, a hauger-ou in Horse-shoe camp, reported to earn his mouey mostly by gambling and trickery. Two weeks before, in a cursory talk around the evening fire in front ofthe log hotel, Mose had of fered to trade his pinto horse for the Fillar of Fire. Talbot agreed,. provid ed the pinto was delivered to him with in three days. Mose had not brought the horse and the proposed bargain therefore was never consummated, but evidently the gambler now as sumed ownership of the claim and was "salting" it for some speculative pur poses, planting in the soil, flcat of rich quality, which would give an inex perienced person false opinions of the value of the ledge above. Talbot drew back aud deliberated. He had long since grown weary of the artifice aud cheating prevalent among miners, and was half disposed to call out and forbid any trespass on his property. But curiosity prevailed. He remained silent and took a position where he could peer down occasion ally upon the workman, lie watched the care and craft with which the fragments of ore were strewn through the soil, the skill with which the earth was packed down over them, and the patience with which Mose brought w; ter from the spring in his frying pan and poured It In successive streams over the surface, washing off all the pick marks, aud all traces of his moc casined feet This done, the wily trick ster withdrew, aud tying his gunny sack, pick-axe and frying pan to the pack-saddle, climbed into that uneasy seat and went off down the mountain with his rifle across his lap like any honest prospector returning to camp. As soon as Mose was safely away, Talbot went below and discovered at once the full scope of the scheme. At the base of the bluff Mose had uncov ered a ledge of syenite and silver-bearing rock ten or twelve feet wide, out of which he had picked several bushels of ore of very ordinary quality, now lying about ou the edge of the chasm. Among this ho had scattered ore of a higher grade but of similar formation, brought from the outside, in the hope that it might beguile some buyer into paying a good price for the claim. It looked to Talbot like a flimsy fraud. not likely to impose upou any person f intelligence. Ho went forward to his center stake. Upon a stone at its base still lay the baking powder can in which he had left his location notice a method used ki exposed places where paper, if nailed to a stake, would soon be destroyed by wind and rain. He found the notice untouched within, and strode back scornfully up the hill. As Talbot returned once more above the boulders and turned the corner to ward the rocky walls, he met four deer unexpectedly, face to face. Spriuging forward promptly, the youth stamped-, ed theni into the passage way. With eager excitement he plucked his re volver from its holster and fired. A doe fell. The others dashed back des perately through the smoke, passed him, and vanished over the divide. Advancing toward the fallen deer, Talbot reflected with disquiet that Mose Tannin would hear this shot, per haps turn back and discover his recent espial. When, therefore, the wounded deer staggered to her feet and stood holding up one limp fore-leg shrinking from the stony verge, yet not daring to take the only path of retreat toward her enemy in the way, he hesitated to give a final shot Drawing his short handled pick, he hurled it with an ac curacy and foce that struck the wound ed animal off the rock. Dashing for ward, Talbot saw the doe gather itself up below and leap down the hillside, leaving splashes of blood every few feet So copious was the loss that he felt sure the game would soon fall and die. Hurriedly catching up his gun and blanket, he ran around the ledges and followed after. Near the center stake he regained .his pick, noting as ho did so the numerous deer tracks made in tha wet earth. As the ground would set hard in that high altitude before the next noon, these tracks must necessarily help to hide Mose Tanuin s trick. Following the crimson trail, Talbot found his doe iu a thicket of willows near the brook, lying dead with head extended and legs drawn in. Here he waited to see if Mose returned. It soon became evident that if the latter had heard the shot he had no desire to learn who fired, but had kept on toward Horse-shoe camp. Thereupon Ward Talbot shouldered the carcass and carried it into a se cluded dell. In the gathering twi light he built a fire, cooked a haunch of venison, ate heartily, and, rolling up in his mackinaw, law down to sleep beneath the amaracks. Three days passed ere Ward came into Horse-shoe camp. Meantime he had explored with success a distant ravine. Footsore and jaded, he ap peared afi nightfall before the - hut where his partners sat around the fire. Talbot's partners were three solier miners, owners of a promising claim which they were developing. The youth had chosen them as associates because alone of all the camp they neither drank nor gambled. He was kindly treated, condoled with over his ill luck, and given a cheering supper. Then all four went wearily to their blankets. An hour later a hand shook Ward's shoulder. A voice whispered In his ear: "Ho, Talbot! I say! Get up a min ute; I've something to tell you." The young man rose on his elbow. By the dying light of the Sre he saw Stymer, the burly, black-whiskered bar-keeper of the log hotel, who beck oned him to follow outside. They stood by the glowing coals together. Stymer began in a low, gruff voice: "When I . first came to camp, you gave me half your can of coffee." Talbot sleepily remembered some such kindness to the destitute new- coiner and rejoined impatiently. "What of it?" "I made up my mind if I could ever throw you in the way of making three or four thousand dollars I ?;ouid do it. And now I can." Talbot was wide awke immediately. Tired of mining, he would be glad ecn with a single thousand to return home, buy a good team and engage agin in farming. He listened eagerly as Stymer continued: "Ther's a man in eamp, Claypool of St Paul, has offered Mose Tannin three thousand dollars for the Pillar of Fire. I heard 'em talk it over on a log by the hotel. You just hang on to that claim and sell it yourself. Mose never brought you that pinto, did he?" "No," replied Talbot with much dis gust "The claim is still mine. But f firm 't Vwklifkiro It la wnrth fiftir iwnta " "That's not your lookout If it's worth Ihree thousand to Claypool, take 1 his money mighty quick." I A .4 1 1 .1 ' auu oLjuitri iiuuieu away I'uuer me quaking aspens, leaving Talbot much' discouraged. For the youth, while anx ious to sell any of his claims honestly, knew that the stranger had been be-j guiled by Tannin to believe the pros-! pect a rich one, and he scrupled to take advantage of the deceit. After breakfast, next morning, he started down the creek toward "town." On tho way he heard hoof strokes com ing up the winding trail, and spied the spotted pinto. Stepping behind a clump of alders, he kept still while Mose Tannin rode by, evidently bound for Talbot's hut to deliver up the pinto. Ward was glad to avoid him, preparing to meet Mr. Claypool first and undeceive him. Arrived at the hotel, he learned that the stranger had gone off early on horse-back toward the Pillar of Fire, alone. Ward at once started off by a short cut t the mountain. As he carried only his revolver, haversack, and poll-pick, his progress was rapid, and when an hour lat?r he reached his claim, he saw a horse tied to a fir uear the center stake. There were fresh holes' in the line of earth where Mose had strewn false float; and Talbot's quick eye saw new breaks in the face of the ledge above. Peering about for Mr. Claypool. he ob served smoke rising near, and. making his way through the bushes, soon found him in a nook among the boulders. Here, to Word's surprise, a rough little furnace had been built of flat stone, in which a fire was roaring. A blow pipe, hammer, crucible, aud phials of acid lay on the rocks. Evidently a rude assay had been made of the ma terials gathered. Mr. Claypool stepped into sight, hold lug tiny scales in his hand and about to make record with pencil in a pocket tablet He started in confusion when he met the youth's honest gaze. Ward at once judged him to be a professional man, or a druggist or chemist, for his complexion was-pallid aud his hands dainty and white. "Well, you don't find much high ore, I reckon," said Talbot with the freedom common to the frontier. "1 here's none here." ' Mr. Claypool appeared much offended by this blunt inquiry. He was a thin, slim, middle-aged man of cold aud re served manners, having a very crafty face. He looked at the young man sternly. "No. This claim is Mot worth five dollars. It will not assay ten ounces of silver to the ton." Whereupon he slipped his utensils into a valise which he sluug to his shoulder, strode across to his horse, and rode away without further com ment or attention. Talbot was much irritated by this peremptory withdrawal, but relieved to know that the stranger had not been deceived by Mose. He was puzzled. however, when he looked at the bi!s of mineral left from the assay. They were deeply marked with yellow chlor ide stain, and he knew the ore ex amined must have been rich hi mineral so that the conclusion of the chemist seemed to be a strange one. He was glad he had escaped any base tempt ation to try aud sell his claim himself at a high price on the strength of Mose Tannin's misrepresentations, since the acumen of the visitor would evidently have foiled the attempt He started off across the hills cheerily with a clear conscience and a light heart All that afternoon Styuier chafed un easily behind his bar. Mose Tanuin had come in with Air. Claypool, and the two sat by the tables, trying to close the bargain. Mose demanded three thousand dollars for the Pillar of Fire. Mr. Claypool now refused, de nounced the claim as a mere ordinary prospect of unknown value, and even began to collect his baggage prepara tory to departure on the stage the next morning. Stymer, long experienced in the mines, set them down for a pair of sharps, aud understood their p.ames. He devined that Mose had "salted" the claim. He had peered into the strang er's baggage, by which he conjectured that Mr. Claypool, although fresh from town and ignorant of the ordinary mining tricks, had picked up a smat tering knowledge of assaying, and had come into camp hoping by stealthy tests to find some valuable claim which he could obtain for a low price. He shrewdly judged that Mr. Claypool be lieved the prospect worth a hundred thousand dollars, and was affecting doubt and trying to make Mose think it worthless that he might buy it for a nominal sum. Meantime, where was Talbot? Why was he not here man aging the bargain himself? Toward nightfall tho matter was con densed. Mr. Claypool with great show of reluctance at last agreed to pay three thousand dollars, from .which price Mose would not recede. And row he desired that the claim should be im mediately deeded to him. Mose confessed that he had not yet received his paer8 from the original owner, Ward Talbot, but agreed to find him that evening and effect both transfers. Soon after, Ward came by with a half-dozen returning prospectors, and Mose went out to him. Stymer fol lowed anxiously to the door. Mr. Clay pool sat within reading a newspaper. "There's your horse, Tall.nit," said Mose in an off-hand manner, pointing to the pinto tied to a tree uear. "My horse? I don't want the horse. That bargain was off long ago." In vain Mose expostulated, argued, raged. Ward had a right to call the bargain void, sine the other had not fulfilled his agreerueut' At last Mose drew a revolver menacingly. Stymer from the door way gave a knowing wink, and Ward, profiting by this hint, treated the threat with indifference. If Mose wauted the claim, he must buy it - "What do you ask?" demanded Mose desperately. Ward hesitated. Stymer plucked from the earth a piece of charred wood and scrawled on the hewn door post behind Mose's back, "$1,500"; which marks he immediately t-rased. "Fifteen hundred dollars!" was the reply. Mose burst forth with fresh expostu lation. In vain he stormed and de claimed against the exhorbitant de mand. Upheld by Stymer's hints. Ward was firm, and the angry gambler was compelled at last to sre that he must lose in this way, one-half of his exjHH-ted proceeds. He was hastened to this conclusion by Mr. Clay pool's ap pearance, who left his newspaper, drawn by the loud voices, and who frowned when he learned Talbot's identity. The youth at once- suspected that the stranger was also trying to defraud, and all his sympathy with the supposed victim vanished. Mose now confessed that before he could settle with the original owner and properly transfer the claim, fif teen hundred dollars must -be paid. Accordingly all adjourned to the shan ty of the surveyor, who was also a no tary public. Mr. Cloypool had taken pains to learn that the claim was duly i recorded and Ward Talbot's right a! clear one. Deed was made by Ward to Mose Tannin, and by Mose to Mr. Claypool, as Mose would uot consent to a direct transfer from Ward to the third party. "I will sell my right, but I give everybody to understand that I re gard the claim as of little value." de clared Ward openly ere he signed the paper. The un-heard-of honesty of such a statement at such a moment amazed the miners present. Mr. Clay pool with a cold nod made no reply, but gave Mose fifteen hundred dol lars, and the cash was passed by Mose iuto am s hand. At this point the transaction .topped, albeit the documents were all signed. Mr. Cliiypool overheard a remark from a bystander which aroused his suspic ions. He left the deed in the survey or's charge nutil morning, when he agreed to pay the balance due. Great was the hilarity in Horse-shoe camp the next day. Mr. Claypool hired two experienced miners to go with him to the Pillar of Fire, where thorough examination of the ledge was made, the worthless quality of the claim dis closed, and Mose Tanniu's artifice un covered. Then ensued a furious scene in the hotel bar-room, Claypool de manding back his fifteen hundred dol lars on peril of arrest for oospiracy; and Mose fiercely denying fraud, defy ing the law, aud threatening to shoot the visitor if he did not pay the re mainder due on their bargain. Stymer declared that he knew nothing of the rights of the matter, but one thing was clear that Claypool nad nothing to do with Ward Talbot, who sold out fair and square to Mose and took h?s money from Mose alone; therefore he must look to Mose only, aud not to Ward, for his redress. This declara tion the miners present hoarsely cheered in the interests of fair play, to Claypool's great alarm. It followed that Mr. Claypool. overawed and af frighted, profoundly chagrined to find himself so easily deceived, left camp at once, while Mose. the butt of merci less jests, mounted his junto and tied over the trails to the Frazer river pla cers. The nightly camp fire roared before Ward Talbot's hut and shed :ts genial rays far into the recesses of the quak ing asps, while the youth spread before his partners in a farewell banquet the choicest viands obtainable. His com rades passed the sooty coffee pot with merry words, and their grizzled leader said, as he whipped open a fresh can of iotted ham : "I'm glad you'r going back to the farm, Ward, with the stake you ve got. It's better for you. I'd :ike to return to civilization myself, but an old miner like me can't change. You've had a queer piece of luck, and the best of it is, you were square and true yourself from first to last, and those two greedy sharps played their little game to your advantage. It isn't often that iniuing tricks are such a benefit to honest folks!" A GOLDSMITH MAID STORY. The Way John Decker Came to Buy a Future Trotting Queen. Squire Tom Bingham died in New burg, N. Y., some time ago. He helped to buy Goldsmith Maid from the Jer sey farmer, and never tired telling of it, says the Newark, N. J., Sunday Call. The story he always told of the part ho took in the transaction is as follows: "In 1864, John II. Decker, a friend of the squire's, lived in Newburg. He was a brother-in-law of Judge Fuller- ton, having married the judge's sis ter. His father was, and is, one of the wealthiest Orange county farmers, who at that time lived near Chechunk spring, three miles from Goshen. John II. Decker was of a speculative turn and one day said to Squire Bingham that he believed a good deal of money could be made in buying up a carload or two of turkeys, which were scarce in the market and commanding big prices. The squire agreed with him, and in November, 1804, the two started out with a team to buy up the turkeys. They intended to take in Orange and Sussex counties. In the course of their trip they came one af ternoon to Uncle Johnny B. Decker's farm, near Deckerstown, in Sussex county. Johnny B., as he was known all through that country, was an uncle of John H. Decker s, and he and Squire Bingham concluded it would be a good place to tie up for the night, and they did so. John H. Decker was one of the best judges of horseflesh in all this region of good judges. Iu the course of the afternoon he walked out to look at some horses his uncle had in a field, aud among them saw1 a young mare which he fell in love with. He tried to give her a close inspection but he couldu't get within gunshot of her, she was so wild. Still he had so much admiration for the mare that the next morning at the breakfast table he said: "Uncle Johnny, I'll give you $250 for that wild mare of yours." Johnny B. sneered at the offer. He said the mare was as worthless as she could be, but money couldu't buy her. She was known all over the country as Decker's worthless mare. Johnny B's good wife was anxious that he should get rid of her. To help the matter along she put it on the score of re lationship. "Now, father," she said, "here's John your namesake and nephew, and you must let him have the mare. John, you offer him $10 more and he'll let you have her." "So John H. counted out S2V) aud Johnny B. said all right, he could have the mare, provided he could catch her." "So John and I went out iuto the lot," Squire Tom used to say, "and tried to surround the mare. We chased aud circled and tumbled around that lot for an hour, with old John B. stand ing at the fence enjoying the scene and almost bursting with laughter. After a while, when we were both al most ready to drcp, we got a corner on her, ran her into the barn and put a halter on her. When we led her out a captive, John B. wanted to back out and coaxed and coaxed John to let him have the mare back, but John had great ideas ahead for the mare, and stuck to the bargain. We led the mare behind the wagon, to John's- father's, and there John ran up agaiust a suag. John's father and mother knew that lots of horsemen had been trying to buy the mare, because they thought they saw a great future in her as a trotter, although she had never been in harness. The old people were op IHised to John's being concerned in a trotting horse, and when John taw bis mother crying over the matter, he weakened and sold the mare to Bill Thompson, known as Jersey Bill, who had heard that John H. had bought the mare and had come over from New Hampton, a couple of miles away, to see if he could make a dicker for the animal. He gave John H. bis check for $360 and drove off to New Hamp ton with her. "Decker and I drove on to Goshen, he lamenting all the time that he had j sold the animal and devising schemes by which he could get her back. When he got to Goshen he telegraphed to the Middleton bank, on which Jersey Bill's check was drawn, asking whether the check was good for $300. The answer was that it was good for ouly $300. Then John II. was determined to drive straight to New Hampton and take the mare out of the stable and lead her away. Being a lawyer I knew that he would get himself into a peck of trou ble if he undertook such a thing as that, and I told him so. But be was bound to do it, and while he was get ting the horse ready to start he was handed a telegram. It was from the bank and it said that Jersey Bill had made his check good for $360. There never was a more disappointed, dis heartened man in the world, than Mr. Decker was, and he never got over it "Well, Jersey Bill sold the mare, as everybody knows, to Alden Goldsmith for $600, and Bill Bondine made her the horse that carried the name of Goldsmith Maid all over the world. And that's the way I helped to buy her." RUNNING A HOP FIELD. The cost of starting a hop field is considerably less than it was a few years ago, roots now selling for 50 cents a bushel, cut, trimmed and ready for setting out, as compared with $4 a bushel formerly: The ground Is laid out in even rows, us ually 7 feet apart About 750 hop poles are required for an acre. These poles are of cedar or. chestnut, from 16 to 25 feet in length, and cost on an average 12 1-2 cents apiece. The first outlay on an acre of hops is from $125 to $150. After the poles are iu the ground, the hops are grubbed, the narrow is used, and by the last of May the plants are tall enough to be tied by boys and girls to the poles. The last week in Au gust the harvest begins, and lasts well oh into September. A field of 20 acres gives employment to 40 pick ers, five box-tenders, a man to dry the hops, and a superintendent The pickers come mainly from Syracuse, Rome, Utica, Trop, Cohoes, Albany, Elmira aud Binghamton, and some times a party of St Regis Indians are brought dowu from Canada for the harvest. The pickers are lodged and boarded, aud receive 20 or 25 ceuts a box of seven bushels. A rapid worker can fill four or five boxes a day. If employed without board aud lodging, lie is paid 35 or 40 cents a box. To dry the hops in the kilnhouse requires 10 or 12 hours, the hops being turned with long shovels during the process to insre evenness in drying. They are then pressed into bales averaging iu weight 200 pounds. Truth compels the admission that the male hop-pickers are for the most part a hard drinking and lawless set and the Gos pel wagon which goes out from Syra cuse to evangelize them has plenty to do. Fifty thousand people assist in pre paring for market the hops grown in New York state. The area of cultiva tion is chiefly in Oneida, Madison and Otsego counties. Since 1880 the acre age has increased more than 50 per cent In 1800 the yield of hops m central New York was 20,000,000 pounds, or more than half the total production of the United states. which was estimated at 39,171,270 pounds. This year about 32,000,000 pounds have been picked, dried and packed in New York alone. No com modity is of more uncertain value than hops. During the present season they have been offered in large quantities as low as 10 cents a pound, which Is less than the cost of preparing them for market Last year they sold for 21 cents a pound. They reached the highest price ever quoted 12 years ago, when they were $1.15 a pound. Some speculuators refused to part with their holdings during the reg ular season, and were obliged to throw them on the market the following spring for 4 cents a pound. The home consumption of hops, which are used almost entirely in the making of beer, is very large, often exhausting the American product and compelling Im portations. In some -years, the crops in England and Germany being ngnt, the foreign brewers make heavy drafts ou the United States and the New York grower has nothing to complain of on the score of market prices. New York Post. Statisticians now figure out that the U. S. will this year supply 440,000 cwts. and that the world at large will produce about one-third in excess of consumption. It is therefore to be assumed with some certainty that the balances this year will incline strongly iu favor of the consumer after hav ing been on the side of the producers all last year, and that the breweries will probably utilize the low prices for the purpose of laying in a stock in ex cess of requirements, which is made practicable by the methods of com pression so extensively tested during recent years. Geo. L. Rose has been an active buyer in the Puyallup district the past week, and his purchases here and in Oregon will total about 1,500 bales, at an average price of 6c. Robert Brown, of Connell prairie, har vested thirteen tons, about a ton to the acre, and left the balance in the field He sold 6 tons at 6c and 7 tons at 7c to Geo L. Rose. The 7c ones were contracted for before picking Hon. Henry Becket disposed of part of his hops at 6c. He had a magnificent crop, and harvested nineteen tons, picking ouly the very choicest, and leaving four tons to fertilize the yard. .W. B. Eldridge, a hopgrower at Hamilton, N. Y., writes on Sept 22d that there is hardly a grower there but who has left a good share of hops on the polos, as they are mouldy R. M. Rose yesterday received advices saying that Geo. Wilbur and Frank Miller, at Oneonta, N. Y., had bought 1,700 bales of good N. Y. hops at 7c, and that In Boston on the 20th Paul 1 lorst had sold and delivered there 250 bales Pacifies at 81-2. New York dealers who are now here in Puyallup, bop headquarters, say that they have looked this field over and it is their opinion that 1-2 of the crop of the Northwest is being left unpicked, and that the balance is better than last year. Picking is still going on in the Puyallup district, about 400 pickers Iwung at work in the Meeker yards. The capacity of the big kilns is not equal to the hops picked, and so the pickers have .to be laid off part of the time, and showery weather has also leen interfering with the work. Puy allup Commerce. CAPTAIN CROSBY FOUND. Tacoma, Oct 1. A special 'to the Ledger from Ocosta says an Indian came in from North beach yesterday and reported a body as having washed ashore. From the description of the clothing and the fact that a gold watch was found on the body, the re mains are believed to be those of Cap tain Crosby, of the U- S- S- McArthur, who with four other was drowned a month ago. EARLY ENVIRONMENT A Beautiful Story That Is Well Told. A Sunday Sermon with a Moral. The Power of the Ideal and the Influ ence of Early Euviroumeut Demonstrated. There is a beautiful story told iu the September number of the Arer.a that every young person ought to read. The story is told to illustrate the influence early environment has upon the lives of persons aud is in substance as follows: A beautiful girl had crossed the thresh- hold of fashiouable social life. She was in the midst of a merry rouud of frivolous entertainments and living en tirely for self enjoyment One night at a magnificent reception she was in troduced to a brilliant young man whose pure child nature was aglow with that thigh ambitiou to do good aud rise in eminence by honest and noble endeavor, which is so often to be found in the clean souled youth. During the evening these two young people were thrown much together. They appeared to be singularly con genial aud the young mau confessed to the girl his secret -aspirations. "I shall rise some day," he said, "I am determined to reach the halls of state that I may battle for conditions which will make possible a nobler woman hood and a purer manhood. I shall always throw my influence .upon the side of justice, even though I stand aloue. I long to enter the field agaiust the selfishness aud greed wiliich are mercilessly crushing tin; poor and driv ing to the level of animals those who should be rising to the plane of the di vine. Thrilled by these words the soul of the beautiful girl awoke. Sin felt a new life and a higher hope enter her being. He had said that when his education was finished lie Mould per haps find her and ask her to help map out his work. This outgusiiiiig or con fidence and implied love had come in one of those supreme moments when vouth is still glorious in the siuiplt sincerity of naturalness. It had been uttered m the recess ot the conserva tory amid the fragrance of -flowers and the gorgeous splendor ot tropical ve etatlou, and before the blighting effects of the world had tune to work upon his simple being. The uext morniug a telegram sum moned the girl to her distant home, and the two were swept apart. 1I entered college to finish his education. She did not see linn again tor years, but the powerful inspiration awakened bv the lofty ideal which had been photographed upou her mind, changed her whole life. She said: "l will rise to his level; I will be worthy of his royal nature," as the moral enthusiasm of the young man and the vivid mental imagery called up by his burning words came into her mind. The years passed away but the ideal remained and became the most real thing of her life, an ever present incentive to high thinking aud noble resolves. She grew statelier and more lovely all the turn under the aspiration of the ideal of a clean, brave aud manly nature stnvin against error, injustice and heartless greed. This idealization ot a human being with soul ablaze with fire from the altar of truth and glorified by love auickeued the sleeping god-natur within her, and in time connected her soul with the divine life wiliich calls the human spirit upward as the sun calls forth the planted seed. The high est thoughts, the noblest aspirations were the companions of her dreams, Broad and gentle sympathy and deeds of loving kindness characterized her lire. Wherever she went she lett a fragrance sweet as the breath of mign ionette. while in her search for knowl edge she learned to think broadly and justly. Four years passed away and she refused many suitors because they fell so far below her ideal. "Someday he will come," she said, "my royal souled lover, and I must be worthy of him." She was visiting friends in the city one day and they met, but the mau who stood before her was not -the one who had talked so grandly several years before. "Have you forgotten your dream of a noble life to champion the cause of humauity," she asked with suppressed emotion. "Oh," he' replied, "that was the sen timental dream of a boy, and it lias given way to the practical occupation of life as we find it. In Rome you have to do as do the Romans. I have learned that if a man is to have a good time in this life he must not be a prude, and he must make money." She asked him to be frank and to tell her if the new life suited him. He said: "1 may say frankly, no, I have never seen the rare, high pleasure 1 felt before entering uiou this uew life. 1 have burned up the best of my being aud am really a wreck. At college 1 came into an atmosphere of moral death. High impulses and lofty ideals were laughed at I yielded to the lower voice of my nature, turned the key upou the heaven lighted chamber of my heart aud descended to the base ment of my being. 1 desired to ac quire money, aud from college I went into speculation. I have made much and lived a clubman's life. The world calls me a fine financier, my asso ciates a good fellow, but since seeing you I feel how miserable a tiling it is to be a fallen man." This story is given to illustrate two great truths which . soorer or lator every deep student of life comes to appreciate. It demonstrates the power of the Ideal and the Influence of the early c-uvironment A well known writer says that the Ideals which fill PIONEER COFFEE HODES & HALL, Plain and Fancy Confections--lce Cream. CIGARS:: "OUR SILVER CHAMPION." "BELMONT." GENERAL ARTHUR." and , a full line of Smokers' Articles. Come hour of the day. the mental horizon of youth color lifer for all after years. They are the well springs which water the thought gar den of the soul. The above story contains as good a Sunday sermon as the most able bt divines can preach. Ever since the world began there has been a certain class of people, who, being governed by their own selfish and grasping na tures, sneer at everything that is lofty and high souled. They see nothing that is worth anything in life except the gratification of worldly desires. They sneer at and rid rule the high ideal lite because they have no con ception of its splendid compensations. The youth who has been properly reared by a loving mother and a grave but indulgent father and who has been taught to revere the beautiful and the ood, is sent to college where the gild ed youth of the land are ready to laugh at and ridicule his most cherished ideals. There is no more powerful weapon in the hands of persons who desire to turn one from the proper course than ridicule. The youth holds out bravely at first, but the tide against him is too strong and he gradually turns from that which he had con stituted in his own mind bis life work, and joins the great throng of pleasure seekers. He forgets the schemes of hope and pride which his youthful heart had first reveled In, and becomes a callous, selfish and blaze man of the world, whose early ideals have been trampled in the dust and whose glor ious aud God-like inspirations have departed from him never to return un til the judgment day. Will not the youth of our country who are now enjoying the gladness of life's spring time listen to the teachings of those who have passed through the fiery ordeal of worldly experier.ee and re solvo to follow the dictates of their own consciences and the teachings of those who love them best, instead of departing from the pathway of right and rectitude to pursue that unreal ignis fatuus called worldly pleasure? HINDOOS HANDY WITH THEIR FEET. In the native quarters of the towns of Iudia the strange spectacle may be seen of a butcher seizing a piece of meat in his hands and cutting it in two with a stroke of his knife held between the first and second toes of his foot The shoemaker uses no last, hut turns the uutiuished shoe with his foot, while his hands are busy shaping it. So the carpenter holds with his great toe the board which ho is cutting, and the woodturner handles his tools as well with his toes as with his fingers. This use of the feet to assist the hands in their labor is not, however, the result of practice, but is princi pally due to the fact that the Hindoo foot is quite different from ours in its anatomical conformation, says the Chicago Dispatch. The ankle of the Hindoo and the articulation of the back of the foot permit considerable lateral motion. Then the toes possess a surprising mobility. The great toe can be moved freely in all directions, and the first and second toes are sep arated by a wide space, sometimes as much as live-eighths of an inch across at the base of the toes aud two inches at their extremities. The use of the hip is also peculiar, and this renders it easier to use the toes in handling the objects by enabling the Hindoo to sit in a squattiug position much more easily than we can. A similar forma tion of the feet and toes is found among the Auuainese, but it is not, as might be supposed, a commou tiling among barbarous and savage tribes. One naturally thinks of the resem blance to a monkey which a human being using both feet and hands in tho manner described above must present and yet M. Regnault is care ful to point out the fact that the Hindoo foot is not at all like the foot of an ape or a monkey. The great too is not opposed to the other toes like a thumb, as occurs with . the monkey, and accordingly the pedal dexterity of the Hindoos Is not to be taken as au indication of imian de scent INSTINCT OF BIRDS. While a British brig was gliding smoothly along before a good breeze in the South Pacific, a flock of small birds about the size, shape and color of paroquets, settled down in the rig ging and passed an hour or more resting. Tho second mate ,was so anxious to find out the species to which the visiting strangers belonged that he tried to eutrap a upoeimen, but tho birds were too shy to be thus caught, and too spry to be seized by the quick hands of the sailors. At the end of about an hour the birds took the brig's course, and disai peared. but towards nightfall they came back and passed the night in t ho maintop. The next morning tho birds flew off again, and when they returned at noon, the sailors scat tered some food about the decks. By this time the birds had become so tame that they hopped about the decks picking up the crumbs. That afternoon an astonishing thing hap pened. The flock came flying swiftly toward the brig. Every bird seemed to be piping as if pursued by some little invisible enemy on wings, and they at once huddled down behind a deckhouse. The superstitious sailors at once called the' captain of the brig, who rubbed his eyes and looked at the barometer. A glance showed that something was wrong with the ele ments, and the brig was put in shape to outride a storm. The storm came altout twenty minutes after the birds had reached tho vessel. For a few minutes the sky was .like the waterless bottom of a lake a vast arch of yellowish mud and torrents of rain fell. AVhy it did not blow very hard no one kuows; but on reach ing port two days later they learned that a great tornado had swept across that part of the sea. A LIVING GRAVE. Rochester, N. Y., Oct 1. Three men were buried by the cave-in of a sewer today. Ferdinand Ritz, 44 years old, and Charles Howld, aged 30, were killed; John Klick was rescued. The accideut was caused by removing the braces too soon. BHKERY SALOON. Proprietors. in when hungry and get a lunch any