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About The Eugene City guard. (Eugene City, Or.) 1870-1899 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1882)
A TOi. Hera ii Ilia fur of nijr lady, tier tiu, wiib iu smile divine, Iierere with their grave inU'otnrw, , And their shy, proud look st mine, O mouth, you are linn yet fonder, Your tunes mar bo cold or mild, Too, may keep book a derini lover, Yet eomfort grieving child. You r pur nd luir tithe liiiet, You ere bright the July un; V'ou are grave end guy by llmliw, You ere women end mot la one. Eecbengfl. wir." VHOH THE OEIlUAJt OF ALKYAKDED FBKI HEBAS T. 1101IERTH. Heturning from a business trip, I en tard my wife's bondoir, and found hor toweling before a low cuair, on wnicn cat a, boy baby with large, round and wondering eyes. She got tip and came t uatling in her silken robe do chambre to ect mo. Hue reached out bcr hand and greeted me not more heartily nor yet More formally than we wore accustomed to greet each other in those days. "There it is," said my wife, pointing to the child. "What?"askod I. But oho stooped down before tho little strangor, held a biscuit close to it5 little upturned face, a4 half turning toward me, replied: "Well, yon know did we not read of it in tho newspaper ? Don't you remem berthe day beforo yesterday? And is it not beautiful?" Now I did recollect that a few nights Wore she had hold the Gazette undor (be light of my student lamp, and point tag with her finger to an advertisement, ail to mo, 'Tlease read that." It was the well known appeal, the cry of do pair from a bleeding heart, addressed to "good people." A child was offered for adoption to persons well off. " What would you think of our taking it?" my wife had said ; and I hail returnod tho paper to her with a shrug of my shoul ders. "Bat, Martha, what have you done ?" riod 1, in a tone vibrating with anger. "You have really--" "Certainly, as you see. , And thon it Wongs to me; I myself have settled everything with tho poor mother, who is at reality to be pitied. I buve sworn to sake good care of it; and so I will, in- I at onco gave up all sorious objection. Dad wo not been aooustomed for years so act independently of each other? Our marriage was not a happy one, although w had not married for love. During the noise and bustle of tho crowded ex change, our fathers had contracted this union. She had to tear her heart from a toned ono, and in mine glowed a passion Mat yet outspoken. But parontul wishes MXKiacred. We chose to be obedient children; and so it happened. At the eommenoement we wore to each other a silont roproaoh; after which fol .Wed a declared war, until finally we uuiie to a polite but gloomy peaco. Well, this child belonged entiroly to her! I beard later that she had given the mother J 1000, the prioe of a Be ; of jewels whwh she sold secrotly. "Why did you not tell me of it?" said I, bait angrily. "Hecauso it would have been too lato, it I had waited for your return to the --ity; and besidos I wanted to have it en tirely for myself; I want to call it my own;" said she poutingly. My horsos, my dogs; hor canaries, hor gold-fishes that I could endure, hat that she wanted to have her child for herself alone, that was too much for The thought of it tortured me one, two days long. On the third day, my wife having gone out in hor carriage, tuoro came a veiled woman and do rounded entrance. It was the mother. Like a shadow she glided into the room, ikl with a half suppressed sob, begged to see her child once more. Bhe could jtot part from him forevor without oue more kiss upon his chocks. I opened uiy safe quickly. "Here, my good wo man," said I, "take that, they nave not Kivcu you enough." Hot toars fell tiown her wau cheeks; she begged me Kt to judge her too harshly; she had an other child, a cripple and helpless; she herself was sick and would not live much J longer, and what was to become of the children? Thon she thought I myself hud to finish the sontenco, which a vio lent fit of coughing had interrupted. "Ya," she had thought, "I will sell tho healthy one, in order that the money iav help the cripple when I am dead d gone," No, she must not be judgod harshly; w rich ones know but little of the trials ixl temptations of the poor. Whon my wife returned, I gave her nu account of the call I had bad, adding that I had given to the unfortunate one -ttxaotly the same amount as she had. "And now," said I, "you sec that tho child belongs to both of us." She bit her lip with her littlo white twth. "It is all the same to mo," aid alio iter a moment's reflection; and with that she pressed a tender kiss on the littlo boy's mouth. It sounded almost Uko a challenge. "Our ohild." I soarooly ever saw it. And the changes that were made iu our household for his sake were made en tirely without me. Sometime after the moat important things were decided my consent was thou askod. "We are obliged to have a nurse, I hired ono An eWw." I nodded silontly. "We must At up a nursery; that room is too warm the child." I nodded sileutly, but I heard the sound of the workmen, who wore already busr in the hall. What oould I do better? Was it not all done - for oar child? My wife and I did not talk much about tins child, and when we did mentieu it w need only the name "It." Hut this ""It" could be hoard through the houso at almost any time of the day. "It must nave its own name, said i day. "I entirely forgot to ask the mother s' mean the woman what its name is," oawored my wife. "She intended to enene again. But she does not come, she is certainly sick. Now, I call it Max. , Uax is a pretty short name, is it not?" "Hni," returned I between two Imughta of my cigar, "Frits wonld also be quite a pretty name" "One can ot change the name now, on account of -dumostice," answered she shortly, and tkeo called out loudly, "Is Max tip lredy!" Never mind, was it not our ohild? I, T tdaved mv iustifiable part toward our child. At dinner it was always served at a Uttio taDieinsnau joining room. At such times we could hear, between the scantily dropping phrases of our conversation, its merry prattling, accompanied by the clattering of its spoon. My. wife hod no rest; there was a continual coming and going between us and bin; the soup might be too hot; and be might eat too much, wife " !! T nrf nuietlr but verv de cidedly, "from to-morrow it shall eat with us at our table, it is piu enougu now, with its two years." From that time on "It" ate with us. He sat there in his high chair like a prince, olose to mywiie; doiu opposite to me like declared enemies, a it were. Tim vnilnwmh ualonoss of poverty had yielded to a fine aristocratic pink in bis little cheeks, which, now becoming quite chubby, sat oomfortablo on the stiff folds of the napkin, it worxeu power fully at its soup; and now that it had finished, set up the spoon like a scepter in its lit'Je round fist on the table. My wife and I had exchanged a few words, and now and again we sat silent, its large eves began to open wider and widor. They stared on me, stared at my wife, with a surprised, almost quiet ex pression, as if thoy had a presentiment tljut was not all right between as. I confess that these days embarrosed me, and that I hod a fooling of reliof when Frederick entered with a dish. And I think that mv wife felt the same. And the following days there were the samo large, wondering eyes, like an ap pealing question, staring into the pauses of our conversation. It sounds ridicu Inne hnt it is nevertheless true, we were the culprits before the child, we two grown persons! Ana oy degrees our con venation became more animated. The occasional prattlings of the little one were noticed and spoken about, indeed, somotimes there was mutual laughter at his attempts to speak. Ahl how light, how bell like pure sounded her langhtor! Had I never heard that before? And what was the matter with me. that I sometimes bent over my writingdesk, listening as though I hoard from a distance tuese same silvery tones? With tlm first sunnv soring davs "It" bogan to plav in the garden, which I conld overlook from mv seat in my office. Khe was Generally with him. I could hear the sound of his little foot on the nnbblcs. and then her footsteps. Now she would playfully chase him and a cho rus of twittering sparrows would join their notes with tho merry laughter. Now she would catch him and kiss his cheeks over and over. Once I opened my win dow; a warm, balsamlo air streamed around me, and a butterfly fluttered in and lit on my inkstand. Just then she oarae out of the green, vine grown bower; she was dressed in a dazzling white neg ligee, trimmed with costly lace; all over her streamed the golden sunshine, eioept that hor face was overshadowed by the pink of her parasol. How slim she appeared! how graceful in her movements! Had I been blind? Truly, the aunts and cousins were right; she was in reality beautiful! A sweot smilo transformed her features. She was happy certainly in this moment she was and her happinoss came from her child. Then a voice made itself heard in my breast, which said very plainly, "you are a monster!" I got up and walked to the window. "It is a beautiful day," called I. I know how oold and prosaio it must have sounded to her. It came like a heavy oloud shadow over a sunny land scape. She answered something that I did not understand; but the brightness was gone from hor little face. Then she took up the ohild who was stretching out his arms to her, and kisssd and caressed him before my eyes. Thero it was when the first feeling of natmw waa nrrt lift Ail in me; a iealonsv truly, but what a strange jealousy which could not make clear to liseu wuowasus object? If "It" said "mamma" to her, there oame a rain in my heart; and the caresses with whioh she overwhelmed him almost drove me wild. I "as joal ousofboth! It pained me that I had no part In this weaving of love; that 1 was not the third in the union, I exorted mysolf to gain a part of their love, i ant it very clumsily. The child persevered in a certain shyness, and she had I not kept myself forcibly away from hor dur ing these long, long years. Ono day at the dinner table, after a skirmish of words, came a great still ness botwoon us, a Btillness more painful thau it had ever beeu. I glanoed down .i Hm dnu'nn nn mv nlate of Saxon Dor- oelain. mv displeasure showing in my face; but I lelt plainly mat -it uau us eye fixed on mo, and also her eyos! It was as if those four eyes burned on my forohend. Then sounded suddenly iu tho stillness: "Pa pa!" and again louder and more courageous: "Papa!" I Blind derod. "It" sat there and stared, now very much frighteued, over at me, won doriug perhaps whether a storm would bo raised by its "Papa." Hut her faoe was auffuaed with glowiug redness, and her half opened lips trembled slightly. Thero came a flood of gladness ovor my heart. Certaiulv no one but her had taught him this "Papa." Why did I not spring up, bound toward her, and ith one word, one embraeo, strike ont the loneliness of those last six years? One right word iu this moment and all would nave boen well. It remained un spoken ; I seemed to have lost all power to act, but on a certain page of ray ledger are still traces of the tears I shod in angor at my own stupidity. I folt myself always more and more unhappy iu my loneliness. Jealousy grew in me; it gave me all sorts o oot ish thoughts. I wanted to rebel against the little autocrat, that would be ridi culous; I wanted to give hor the ehoieo between him and me. I, audsoious one, I knew very well which side her heart wonld choose. At another time I was ready to take steps in order to find the nntiiAP an, I with the iower of sold. force tor to tako bach her child -behind mv wife's back? That would no cow ardly. I could no longer fix my mind on rmsi noes. I mistrusted even myself. Peo pie asked what was the matter with me. I feigned illness. The sunshine would not let itself be banished, and the spirit of love was stronger than 1. With his flaming sword be drove me out. "I must take a long journey, Martha." My voice trembled as I said this. My wife must have no ticed it; for something like moist, tinning pity trembled in her beautiful eyes. At my taking leave, she held the little one toward me and asked in soft, caressing tones, "Will you not say adieu to our child?'' I took up the little one, perhaps too roughly; at all events, he began to ory and to resist my caresses. Then I put him down and hastened away. I have traveled in uncertainty through the world, and behold! after the first few days, in addition to my ordinary travel ing companion, bad humor, there oame another fellow who told me plainly I was a fool. First, it sounded like a whisper, then louder and loader and louder:"iou are a downright fool." Finally, I read it in tho newspaper before me; it was traced on the blue mountains; the loco motive shrieked it to me. Yes, I believed it, why did I not then and there turn my face homeward? Well, the fool must first travel it all off before everything would be right again. At last, one day, with a violent beat ing of tho heart, I again entered my dwelling. What a solemn stillness reigned thore! I oould now bear the sound of whispering voices; my wife came toward me. "It is siok, very sick," moaned she, "It will surely die!" I tried to oomfort her. Only a short time, however, proved that her fears were too well grounded. During the last night we sat by the little bed; she there and I here. Each of us holding; one of his little hands. Ah! those feverish pulse beats! every stroke sounding like an appeal: "Love eaoh other, love each other; be good!" We felt eventually the appeal. Our eyes met full and earnest through the glittering tears, as if in a first, holy vow. Words would have seemed a sacriloge then. Not long after, we laid our darling in the warm spring earth. , When we again sat down at our table, there was a stillness between us; it was not the same stillness as that which the little Btrangerbad broken upon with bis parting "Papa." Even by the wall stood Lis high arm chair, and on the little board before it lay. his spoon scepter. My wife reached her fine, white hand over the table, and asked, "Did you love it? at least a little?" Her voice trembled. I fell at her feet and held her hands in mine. After tho first emotion had subsided, I pointed to the armchair. "The littlo one came to teach us love," whispered I, "And when it bad finished its teachings it went a?ain to the angels," added she, through her tears. . A Modern Arcadia. The London News of recent date, contains the following: According to a paper lately communi cated to the French Geographical Sooie ty by Dr. Le Bon, there exists high up smoug the Capathian Mountains of Oal icia, in a district known as Tatras, one of the most primitive and unsophisticated communities in Europe. The popula tion of this remote region numbers sev eral thousand individuals. They use noither strong drink or tea or eat animal food. Riches havo no oharms for them. Though poor they are content, and though their diet is spare ana monoto nons, they enjoy perfect health and live long lives. The food of these Arcadians is urineinallv oats, either simply boiled or converted into cakes. During four or fire months of the year those of them who aocompany their flocks and herds to the mountain pastures live exclusively on goat milk whey, of which each man oonsumes from three to four liters daily. Practically, therefore, those goat feeders live on the sugar and mineral salts con tained in they whey. They do not con sider this rogimen a privation, and, says Dr. Le Bon, who has been among them, when they return to the valley at tne end of the season they are. as strong and es vig orous as when they sot out. The entire race of PodhalianB (as tue people ot Tatras call themselves) are remarkable for their vigor and are lnoonteatuoiy superior, physically and intellectually, to the neighboring populations. The lives of the Podhalians are easy and tranquil, not because of the abundinoe of their resources, for they are a poor eople, inhabiting an arid region, but eoauBe their needs are few, and they are free from the oraving for stimulants, which is the curse of working people in other parts of Europe. Their physique is ot a remarkable purity, iney are quick of apprehension and fratik in man ner. Though far from boing niguiy cui turod, the Podhalians are poets and ar tists by nature. They are fond of dano iuit. and often when the labors of the day are ovor, meet to iudulgo iu their favorite diversion. They are born im provisatores, too, and mauy of them can eing their own songs sot to music of their own composition. Thoir poetry, Bays Dr. Le Bon, is tender and artless iu sentiment, generous and elevated in stylo qualities which he attributes to tue "wealth of spontaneous resources" pos- seBseascd by natures that know neither violent passions uor unnatural excito meats. Precautionary. "What I want to inquire is," he said, as he leaned over the desk, "if yon think this war in Egypt will atloot the stock of the Sue canal?" "It may," replied the head clerk. "To any serious extent?" "Well, I can't say. Are jou a stock holder?" "No." "Did you think of investing?" "No." "Then how can' you be affected by any ohanRc?" "Well, I dunno. I'm a great hand to trade horses, and if a feller should come along and offer to give me $2o in Sues Canal stock and a purty fair hosi for my five year-old mare, I'd want to be posted. I got stuuk onoe with $30 worth of stock in a railroad which was to run from Wisconsin to Africa, and the hull family had to go without flannels for seventeen months. So you think it would be safe to take Sue at pr, oh?" Detroit Free Press. The Krasun rThy. "PaUey, me darlint, where do ve wish to be buried when yes are dead? asked a sobbing wife of her dying husband. "Down in the Jew's cemetery," came the faint and strange answer. wOhon!n'are yes gone crsxy en toirelv, Tateey? An' why do you want to beuried there?" "Becanae, Biddy, the divil bad cess to him wouldn't think of lookin' for an Irishman in a Jews' buryin' ground." Longevity s a Measure of llapptim. During his last expedition to Central Asia, Prof. Vambery managed to inter view the Emir of Samarcsnd a sort of Mohammedan prince-cardinal and pri mate of the Eastern Sumnites. As Iman of the local lyoeum the Emir ap peared to take a natural interest in the progress of European science, but, whon his guest expatiated on the material prosperity of the Western Giaours, be interrupted him with a less expected question. "The happiest people on earth, you call them? What age do they generally attain to?" Vambery seems to have re turned an evasive reply, though he ad mits that the query was not altogether irrelevant, at least from the stand-point of an Oriental who values existence for his own sake. But even in the less unpre tending West, longevity is riot a very bad criterion of happi ness. Misfortune kills; Nature takes care to shorten a lifo of misery for rea sons of her own, too, for, in a somewhat recondite (but here essential) sense, the survival of the happiest is also the survi val of the;tlttest. The progress of knowl edge tends toircumsaribo the realnrof accident, and' with it the belief in the existence of unmerited evils. In spite of prenatal influences and unpreculculable mishaps, the management of the individ al is the most important factor in the sum total of weal or woe. If we could see ourselves as Omniscience sees us, we would probably recognise our worst troubles as the work of our owu hands, and we thus recognize them now with sutlioient clearness to be half ashamed of them. Most men nowadays dislike to confess their bad luck. We havo ceased to ascribe diseases to th3 malice of capri cious deamons, and even in Spain the commander of a beaten army would hesitate to plead astrological excuses. Polyoratcs held that a plucky man can bias the stars, and the popular worship of succeas may be founded on an instinctive perception of a similar truth. Sultan Achmed went too far in his habit of strangling bis defeated pashas, but the world in general agrees with him that there must be something wrong about a generally unsuccessful man. After two or three decided dofoats the partisans of a popular leader will give him up for lost, and after a series of disasters the damaged man bimsolf generally begins to share their opinion and loses heart, or, as the ancients ex pressed it, admits the decree of fate i. e., his own inability to prevail in the Btrugglo for cxistenoe; and it is curious how swiftly a physical collapse often fol lows upon such a giving way of the moral supports. The storms of every political, social, and financial crisis extinguish hundreds of life flames; lost hope is fatal (though a silent and sorao- timne nn niu'nnfARxad and unsUBDectedl disease. Good luck, on the other hand, tends to prolong nie; tue longevity oi pensioners and sinecurists is almost pro-vAi-liiul and thni-A ttrft men who continue to live in defianoe of all biological proba bilities, merely because existence some how or other has become desirable, as a liberal supply of external oxygen will nourisba lamp in default of the inner oil. At the begining of the Franco-Prussian war Kintr William and his chancellor and staff officers were already grey i 3.1 i i il H rt ; . l . neaueu veterans, auu iv id uu auumcui that they are all alive yet; while nearly nil tlm miniatfli-fl nnil marshals of the ex ploded empire have followed their leader " weary oi lue and urea oi outtoning and unbuttoning," as the captain of H. f ttrnloinAil Ilia all Ipiil A I T)l. FmliT L. Oswald, in Popular Soience Monthly lor September. Diving Belts. The first diving bell we read o was nothing but a very large kettle supended by ropes, with the mouth downward and planks to sit upon fixed iu the middle of its concavity. Two Greeks at Toledo made an experiment witu it belore tue Emperor Charles V. They dosoended in it with a lighted candle to a considerable depth. In 1G83 William Phipps, the son of a blacksmith, formed a project for un loading a Spanish ship sunk on coast oi Hisoanolia. Charles II. gave him a ship with everything necessary for the undertaking, but being unsuccessful He returned in great poverty. He then en deavored to procure another vessol, but failing, he got a subscription, to which the Duke of Albermar'.e contributed. ' In 1633 Phipps Bet sail in a ship of two huudred tons, having previously en gaged to divide the profits according to the twenty shares of which the subscrip tion consisted. At first his labors proved fruitless, but at last, when ho seemed to despair, he was fortunate to bring up so much treasure that he returned to Eng land with the value or 500,000 sterling. Of this sum he got about 20,000 and the Duke 90,000. Phipps was knighted by the' King and laid the foundations of the fortunes of the present house of Mulgrave. Since that time diving bells have often been employed. On the oc casion of the breaking of the water of the Thames, during the progress of the tunnel beneath it.Mr. Brunei frequently descended in one to the bed ot the river. Diving helmets, supplied with air by a force-pump; aro of more recent date and have proved of great use in submarine explorations; but these bid fair to be at Inst superseded, so far as tue supply of pumped air is concerned, by the new and remarkable system of Mr. Fleuss, which requiies no supply of air from the surface. Fains from NcTered Limbs. The feet of Josiah West, who met with that terrible accident on the railroad a few days ago, were yesterday taken by his wife to Fremont, New Hampshire, for burial. When the unfortunate mau gained consciousness at the hospital, the moruing following the loss of his limbs, be complained that his toes pained him a great deal, that they seemed badly cramped, and be requested that some one move them for him. At that time the feet were tied in a bag, and the hos pital people did not know where they were to be found. It seems simply in credulous that the position or condition of a severed member of a person's body should affect in the least the sensibilities oftheoaner; but suffice it say that the undertaker, with whom the writer con versed, affirms that he personally knows of numerous cases where persons who have lost a limb declared that they felt pain from from awkward positions in whioh the member was iu. He cited an instance of a man who lost an arm in this city last Fall. After be ing amputated it was sent to the under taker's for burial. It was placed in a box, the back of the hand beiag down, remaining in this position for several hours. The owner of the severed mem ber, during that time, experionood pain in the arm, which grew ao unbearable that at lost be asked a friend to go lo the undertaker's and seo about tho limb. This was at 6:45 in the afternoon. The friend was busy and did not start off for half an hour, and during that time the pain had ceased snd the wounded man said he need not go. He went, however, and found that the undertaker had just finished caring for the arm; that it had boen placed in an easy and natural posi tion in the box. The time when the arm was changed from the awkward position to the latter ooinoided exactly with the time when the owner had felt the pain leave him. When the friond reported to the unfortunate man, he (the latteV) said he knew just how the arm was placed; that he could foci its position, and oorroctly doscribed the same. Another case citod by tho undertaker was about a man who lost an arm above, the elbow. The member was given to the undertaker and buru-d. The man subsequently weut to Lawrence to live. About a year after the acoidont he paid the undertaker a visit and told him his arm for a long time had pained him a great deal; that the fingers seemed cramped, and that be wanted to see the bnried member. Accordingly, it was dug op and examined, and strange to say, found to have the fingers tightly turned up toward the palm, as the man had said they felt to him. The fingers were straightened and the arm consigned again to the ground, and no moro trouble was experienced from it. It cress. of lasakltj. It case out at a recent convention of delegates, representing charities and cor rections, at the capital of Wisconsin, that there ere now iu the United States fully 100,000 insane people, of whom less than one half can be accommodated in the public and private asylums. It ap pears, also, that insanity is increasing more than three fold as fast as the popu lation. The increase from 1870 to 1880 was 100,000 per cent, against 30 per cent, of population. The asylums are costing $12,000,000 a year, yet more are cared for out of them than in them. The ratio of cures to the total of the afflicted is lower than it was ten years ago, and asylum statistics show that it is only by taking hold of the disease in its early stages that cure ii st sll possible. "Alco holism" is presented as one of the chief causes of this increase of madness, and the marriage of persons inheriting the disease another. Startling as the theory may seem at first thoiiL'ht, it is probably Kiisceptible of prooi that the' increase of insanity keeps about even pace with the advances of civilization. The States tint are most enlightened are those which have the highest per cent, of people in the asy lums for the insane. Savages and bar barians hnrdly ever become crazed. An insane Imliiiu is as rare as a dwarf In diau. The logic of it is that there must be radical defects in the tfliug we call civilization; und these are probably as often traceable to the schools and col leges as to the family and heredity. Cat it be that the children are prostrated in thoir brain force and nerve force by be ing overtaxed at school? Certain it is that the great majority of crazed people in the asylums are of the educated class. No doubt alcoholism is a prolific genera tor of insanity. The records of the Cali fornia asylums explain that. The his tory of the growth of insanity in this State shows that it has been about in proportion with the excess of the growth of the cities and towns over the growth of the rural dis tricts. It is in the town and city that al coholism most prevails. Not only alco holism, but other promoters of disease, such as sudden revulsions of fortune and vices peon liar to all cities. This asser tion is fully sustained by comparison of the statistics of iusanity in the states con taining the large cities with those almost exclusively rural. New York, Pennsyl vania, Illinois and California rank high est in the percentage of insanity; while Iowa, Kansas, Texas and Arkansas, which contain no cities over 30,000 or 40,000, rank lowest. All remedial measures for the prevention of disease are but per functory; but temporance, moderation in study by the young, and relaxation from the cares and vexations of business by those of maturer years, are the best in results yet tried. Eras of high excite ment and reckless speculation are 'pro moters of insanity. The Comstock mines have added five hundred victims to the list in this State and Nevada, San Francisco Chronicle. . the Best Blackbird Story. It is, perhaps, not generally known that the city of Ionia has been invaded by the army worm. Hearing that they were at work on a prairie between De troit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee road and Grand rivor, we walked over there this forenoon to see. The story pr jves to be too true. Tho whole prairie looks as if it hod been burned over. Millions of worms are at work, and almost every blade of grass has been attacked. They appeared some time last week on the piece of ground owned by the Hou. G. W. Webber, and have been and appear to be still traveling westward. They bad not reached the high-water road this morning, but were pushing vigorously in that direction. Myriads of black birds, yellow-birds und robins were hovering over the place most infested, evidently making a meal of the worms. Just in front of the right fliuk of the army worms is a corn-field, and along the east fence, which separates it from the meadow, a line of blackbirds were stationed, in as good or der as if they were marshaled for u fight uuder a military leader. They would fly iu a solid mass to the ground, as if attack ing something, and then fall back to the Surely enough, examination showed that the pestiferous insects had come np to the fence, but had not gone one inch beyond, and noue could b seen on the corn. But a large numberof dead worms could be 'seen on the ground where the birds had been east of the fence It is certain that tbe birds had made havoc with tho worms, and it really looked as if they had a design in it to keep them out ot the corn-field. Who will kill birds after observing such things as ths? Polish Immigrants la Detroit. They're a thrifty people, the Poland, ers." "Thrifty! Let a family consisting of husband and wife, four children, and I grandfather and granumothor, come t. town with 8150 or 8200 in cash, and in five years they will own 8.')000 worth of proporty." "llow in tho science of economy iln they do it?" J ao "By having juBt such womeu as yon see ahead of you." "They are used to such service from childhood?" m "Yes; the children are ntilized for the gatheriLg of firewood and swill." "Now, what do they do with that scrap lumber? Firewood? "Firewood! Not much. That is building material." Mr. Baxtor drove through the Polish quarter of the city. The bouses are all small, but they afford perfect shelter from rain and cold, and in very many cases are made of scrap lumber. "You see," said Mr. Baxter, "they 'striko' the city, and until they get a house of their own they are cared for by their friends. (There are now from two to four families in nearly every house.) Tbey loase a lot for ten years at 810 per year, agreeing to pay all taxes. They then begin work. The men are, most of them, ordinary laborers, earning from ninety cents to 81.25 per day. By the aid of choice bits seleoted from swill gathered by the children, enough is saved from the wages to pay ground rent and.buy nails, bricks for chimneys, and little odds and ends needed in house building. Meanwhile the women patrol the city for scrap lumber." "What do they do for foundation tim bers and framing?" "Ocoasioually they buy thorn, hut often they got the stuff for tho carrying of it away, when, in the business portion of the city, some old wooden building i being torn down to make way for a new structure." "The women do not lug joists snd scantling on their backs, do they?" "No; they find out where such ma terial is to be had, and then they get some friond who is driving a team for some merchant or manufacturer, and when he is on bis way home at night meet him at the place speoitled and load up his wagon." ' "As a class, these Poles are very healthy?" "A physician told me onoe that ht never saw a class so muscular, so free from disease, and so free to pay for medi cal attendance." "How do you account for it?" "I don't try to. . The other day I met two Polanders whom I knew well, and they each had four or five boef hoofs, with perhaps two or three inches of shank attachod to eaoh hoof. I asked where they got them, and they told me they got them at the Michigan Carbon Works and thut they were taking them home for food. Sounds disagreeable, doesn't it?" "It'e literally chewing glue." "Still when you think of it it isn't so bad. There's Iota of gluten in a shank, and hoof, and I suppose they get the material for nothing." "No wonder they prosper." Detroit Free Press. , A Won lerful (iutne of Pitt U. Some further facts regarding tho pitch penny game ou Third street have come out. The names are carefully kept secret from the general public, for neither of the gentlemen engaged in the game care for notoriety in this matter. The game was not between brokers, as reported. One of them was a broker and the other was a gentleman well known on Third street as a speculator and genial frequenter of tho broker's parlors. The game was played in the rear office of the broker, and the two began with pennies in the merest sport. Four or five mutual friends were also present, and they watched the game with mterest. Their interest was soon exchanged for excitement when the principals, rapidly raising their stakes, were engaged in matching for hundreds, and then thon- amis of dollars. The broker was uni formly successful, but the other gentle man, with all the pertinacity of a gam bler who is sure the next throw will bring back everything, kept on reckless ly doubling and losing. In this wy, $18,000, aud not $12,000, as was mcor rectly stated at first, were won by tbe broker. At thut stage the loser began to appreciate how largely uo was oat, and to desire to retrive his ill-luck. This the broker courteously concurred in, al though more than once beforo he had signified his willingness to stop at any time. Three more trials were bad and the amount was reduced to ju,"1 Then the friends of the two players de livered an opinion, as it was getting late that the brokor had given all the etiances that could be well demanded of bim.aml that he ought not be compelled to play any longer. So the wonderful gun?9 came to an end, and the broker put w his breast pocket a promissory note w' 612,000. Chicago Times. Tf Iti ess My Hand anil S at." " A thousand years ago the masses, the nobility, the poor and the rich, were wholly unocquainted with the mysteries of the alphabet and the pen. A few men, known as clerks, who generally belongea to the priesthood, monopolized tbem a special class of artists. They taugm the business only to their apprentices, and beyond themselves and tbeir lew pupils, no one knew how to read ana write, nor was it expected of the g erality, any more than it would be now adays that everybody should be a snoe maker or a lawyer. Kings did not even know how to sign their names, so iu when the wanted to subscribe to a ten contract, law or treaty, which so clerk bad dtawn up for them, th?J.,,0U'j smear their right hand with ink, n ship it down upon the parchment saving "Witness my hand." At a later da. some genius devised the substitu te seal, which was impressed instead oi w hand, butoftener beside the hand. .. ,1 gentleman bad a seal with a peculiar ar vice tb-reon. Hence tbe c,m!L "i words" Witness my band and seal, am to modern deeds, serve at lat tbe p pose of reminding us of the ignorance the Middle Ages. A conspicuous increase is a0J the importation of foreign wares, entrienof dry goods alone i for Jiy New York City foot up 111.370.040.