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About The Eugene City guard. (Eugene City, Or.) 1870-1899 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 11, 1883)
TUG ECMMI.sq-BIBD. Tlnr robbfr, win ami bold, or ma iwi iha tl titers bold: K tin plmljuf llisalr, 'Iuiuihk Ourili'K Very where, Hbrit ihf K"ig-om uumptHln r.d ib hcri-jnu In I wine, fliidlov u--i'ir.i iKircd for thee, ,Mnl i ur ft lioar-n gu-, Ibe bet, Huy hum and there, Till tacti b oum pay. lu barc. Wbru tho honeyed feit it dene, ivu tinil n moment la Hie lun, hru' li gduwo eaub rnerald plume, KulU-iil by ttie II jwei'i Moom ApiiiS ic loui oft bird. In a iftluu quits n'j.urd. With etch lU'iiiou 1 can bote . Ta kIow idk ruby tl your throat, Vry eh ete'T turn. Now uioUuin dra again to burn. Tben strain on ret!cra wing Fur mcmum hovuilan, w bllo your airy nmren you lay, Tbcn vita lUdih'U Ainu away. rivhlng tnrjugb tho coldeo rnnllght On ww pluloua twill. y fanued, 1,1 to a brill'ant Jtjwel (brown Hy a tpendllirill band. By Nomad. A J1IMXU STORY. "Eureka Gold Mining Company.' Don't it look important on paper? I toll you, boys, wo'vo got a good thing, but we must work," said Tom Flynn, glancing at the piece of paper in Lis Land. "Yes," replied Joe Bagloy, with a sleepy yawn, but let's go to roost now. We can't do anything more to-night." The men, eight In number, had been sitting around a camp Are discussing their prospects. Tho Eureka mine orig inally belonged to a party of Eastern capitalists, who, Laving worked it for a short time and finding it did not "pan out" acoording to expectations, sold their interests to men who Lad just taken possession of the property, which they firmly belioved would prove an El Do rado. They were poor in purse, for thoy had invested their all in the now venture, but wore rich in hope and oourngo. "It is a well-known fact," Flynn would assert twonty times a day, "that the Eu reka is on a range with the famous Em pire, which yields 30,000 por ton, and we are sure to strike the same vein. Some day we will wake up to find our selves millionaires! It is oiily a ques tion of time." The next morning seven of the men, who were the actual owners, begau work, leaving Si Roed, whom they termed their silent partner, to do the chores about the camp. Rood was palo and thin, and had an anxious, expectant look upon his face. He seldom spoke to any one, which fact Lad gained for Lim the soubriquet of Silent or Si Reed. He was devotedly attached to Flynn, who Lad befriended Lim while in Sacramonto and exhibited such siacere grief when he heard of his intended doparture for the mines that Flynn invited Lim to join the party. ' The miners worked like beavers, dolv ing into the earth that each felt certain held in her virgin bosom the gold which would enrich them. They began their labors at the first streai of the dawn, toiling unceasingly through the entire day, each dreaming his own dream of future greatness. Weeks sped-by; pan af or pan was washed, the contents ex amined, then thrown aside. But they wero not disheartened. Tho gold was there. Tho next blow ol tho pick might reveal it. Ono eveniDg after supper, Joo Bagloy said: "How's tho fodder, Si? Last another week, eh?" "No, hardly enough for anotLer week." "You must put us on low rations, then. What d'ye say, boys?" "Agreed," they answerod in chorus. The next day, when Si gave each man Lis portion.tuey laughingly declared that Flynn had received the lion's share whioh was true; for Reed had robbed himself in order that his friend should have his usual supply, alboit no ono sus pected the bit of self sacrifice. The week was stealing by and tbey had not "struck it." The hearts of the miners were grow ing heavy with dread! Yet they dared not give vent to their fears. Each folt that sucoess depended upon his individ ual courage, and no one was willing to dampen the ardor of the others by ex pressing doubts of thoir ultimate triumph. , One day while seated on the ground eating thoir midday meal, a littlo girl appeared before them. "Holy thunder!" cried Flynn, spring ing to his feet, "where did you come from?" "Please, sir, I've been walking ever so far. Ma saw yer camp fire las' night, and told me how to git there. She could not come herself, 'cause Freddie's sick. May I sit down? I'm awful tired." She glanced timidly at the men, then at the empty pot in Which the dinner of beaos and bacon had been cooked. "Whore docs your ma live?" inquired Bagley. "She doesn't live nowhere. We're abuntin for pa." "Did ye expect to find 'im here? "No, sir, but we're bungry, and ma thought you'd give us somethin to eat." The men roarod with laughter. Some thing to eat, when they had just de voured their last cut of bacon. "Not another mouthful, boys. We must give the chick what'i left," said Bagley, scraping the remains of each dinner into his own tin plate. "Here, little one, eat this, and when you ve sat isfied the cravins, ye can tell us where ye came from." "Please, I'd rather take it to Freddie, thA niiild. " 'cause he's little and sick." , . ".. "Ye ain't bigger n a pint of cider yer elf," laughed Bagley. "Eat it, an' we'll give ye some for the others." - The promise satisfied the child, who quiokly devoured the contents of the disn. . "Been on low rations, too, I reckon, cLnckled one of the men. - "Now tell us about your mother. Where is she, and whose trail is she on?" said Flynn. . "She's 'way down there in an old log house where nobody lives. We was go ing to Kiwanna camp, 'cause we heard pa was there, but Freddie's too sick, and ma's afraid he ll d ie; so if ye'll please give ' me some wittles I'll go back, 'cause she s done." , . . "WhatH we do, boys?" asked Bagley. 'We can't leave the critters there; some m i : .v. it.. AhtAV anr1 hrinff OI mu H waiia mo VU.vm o thsmbere." "Reed ean be spared," suggested one of the men. "Bah!" interrupted Ben Skinner, a surly, ill naturod tellow; "Reed, with his white face, that grows whiter every day. If the womun saw Lim she'd think death Lad came for tho youngster sure," The rueu glanced toward Si, who was now leaning against a tree, apparently oblivious of what was going on around Lim, and evidently did not hero the un feeling remark. "Look here, boys," remarked Flynn, gravely, "our larder is about empty, and we must replenish it. Let's draw lots to docide who will ride into town for pro vender. We are out of funds, but this," taking a valuable watch from his pocket, "cau bo left as security." "And this can koep it company," Paid Bagloy, producing a handsome pistol. Skinner drew the slip of paper upon which the word "go" was written. "The littlo girl can sit before ye, aud ye cun stop off at the cabin and give this, tho lust of our hard tuck, to the woman," said Ikglcy. Due of tho men canio forward with a flask of whisky, which ho asserted would "straighten out tho littlo chap." Fleet wood, their ouly borBo was quickly sad dled and Skinner started on his errand. "Tell yer ma to C0'Lt her luck a few hours longer, and when supplies como we'll give ye a rousing supper," shoutod Bagloy as they rode away. When some distance from the Lut Skinner put the girl down, gave her the biscuit aud flask, after drinking half its contents, and resumed his jouruer. la the evening Flynn and Bagley went over to tho hut, intending to bring the woman and hor children up to camp. "Skinner will get back about eight o'clock. I guess the sick boy only wants a littlo feeding up to make bim all right" remarked Flynn as they ap proached tho hut, They found the woman scatod on the rough floor with tho boy in her lap, and Maggie, thoir late visitor, at her sido sound asleep. With tearless sobs she related Ler sad story. About five years bofQre, or when Freddie was only a few weeks old, Lor husband loft to join a party of prospectors who wero going to tho Sierra Nevada region, and she had never hear from him since. She waited until her funds wero nearly exhausted, then made her way to Sacramento. While supporting her children as best she could, she learned that the party had broken camp; her husband Lad been brought to Sacramonto and placed in a hospital, where he remained a long time seriously ill with brain fever. She traced him to the hospital only to find that he Lad gone away again, no one could tell whither. Recently she learned that a man answering Lis description and bearing the same namo was working in tho Kiwanna mines, and oho was on her wav there, He had always been a fond husband and father, and she believed be had searched for Lor also, but they hud missed each other. The two men wero deeply moved as they listened to the story of her suffer ings, and after much persuasion, induo ed hor to return to camp with thorn, promising that ono of the miners would go the following day to Kiwanna, about ten miles distant, and make inquiries conoerniug tho person she supposed was her husband. Without further cere mony Flynn wrapped the boy in the blanket he Lad brought for the purpose. Bagley trudgod along with Maggie in his arms. When the party reached camp it was past the time sot for Skinner's return, but he had not arrived. A bed of brush wood covered with a blanket was ar ranged for tho night, and ufter they had laid down the men lighted their pipes and gathered around the fire, conversing in low whispers and listening eagerly for the sound of the horse's foot steps. "He oughter bin here long afore this," said Bagley, rousing himself frem a brown study. "Boys, he's scooted." The suggestion fell like a bombshell; no one spoke for a moment, then Bigley resumed: "He's got your watch, Flynn, my pis tol and Fleetwood. He's gone sure as shootin', I saw the dovil shinin' in Lis eyes when he drew tho slip." The others were loth to accept their comrade's suggestions, but all crept to their resting places with very heavy hearts. "We kin live on beans," muttered Bagley, "but what in thunder will be come of the poor woman an' the kidB?" In the morning there was considerable excitement in Eureka Camp. Two of the men Bagley and Reed were missing. After a protracted search, the latter wus iound near a clump of bushes.somo dis tance away, in an unconscious state, having apparently fallen in a tit. They carried him back to the camp, laid the limp form on a bramblo bed and then gazod at each other in blank dismay. "Call the woman, p'raps sho'll know what to do," advised Tom. The woman did not wait to be called. Seeing that something was amiss, she approached the group. The next mo ment a heartrending cry burst from her lips. Falling upon ler knees, sho threw her arms around the sick man and kissed the still, white face in a wild dis tracted way. A slight tremor passed over Reed's frame. He opened his eyes, looked wildly at the woman bending over him. Then a gleam of intelligence illuminated his countenance; ho recog nized the faithful wife, from whom he Lad long been separated by a singular freak of fate. For one brief moment soul met soul. He raised bis hand heavenward, murmured faintly, 'Up there, Maggie," then earned his soubri quet of Silent Reed. A solemn stillness prevailed around Eureka camp when Flynn and Lis com rades returned from their unsuccessful search for Bagley. The remainder of the party wero sitting around in despon dent attitudes, while Mrs. Reed, with the sick child on Ler knees and one hand fondly resting on the dead man's face, looked the very embodiment of incon solable grief. Flynn tender-hearted Tim Flynn how his burly frame shook with sobs as the touching death soene was described to him. "Boys," he said huskily, "we must face our bard luck like beroes. I have insisted all along that the Eureka held a fortune for each of us, because I be lieved it. But " it cost him a struggle to utter the next words, which were the extinguishment of the hope that had en abled them to endure privation and hun ger withont a murmar. "But," he went on, "I was mistaken. After that poor creature has grown accustomed to her sorrow we will bury poor Si and pull up stakes. W won't abandon them, boys. For Lis sake we must protect those he loved." The others heartily agreed to the last clause. While arranging their plans for the future, liillu Maggie bounded down tho bilUiJe, singing blithely, unconsci ous of the bereavement that Lad befallen hor. "Look," she shouted gleefully, "what nice stones I have found. Full of bright specks, just like eyes." i iynn took the atones the held toward him. His faco, rough and weatberbeat- en, giew pallid with sudden joy. "Boys, La whispered iu a tone of sup pressed excitement, "alio lias Mr not it. Where did you flud this. Maggie?" "Way up there, past tho big hole," she replied, vaguely wondering at his whito faco. In a moment the men fell into line, Mnggie hading the way to the epot where eho found the precious stone. As they passed the mouth or the pit, tho scene of their fruitless labors, Flynn stopped to get a shovel. The others followed his example, carrying with them tho imple ments they had cast down in a hopeless way tho night previous. They set to work silently, being too much excited to speak. If disappointment awaited them now. No, two or tureo blows, such as bad never been struck vefore, told them they had "struck it" at last. Tbey paused looked at each other for a moment, then tho hills echoed and re-echoed with tho shout of triumph that burst simul taneously from thoir lino. They returned to camp, Flynn carry ing Maggie on his shoulder, just as Bag ley appeared in sight with a ba of pro visions on his back. In a few words he explained bofore daylight he bad started for tuwauna to beg food lor the woman and her children. After a hasty dinner some of tho men went to select a pleas ant spot in which to lay tho remains of their comrade, and Flynn set out for town to make arrangements about hav ing the camp supplied with provisions. Several Lours latter he returned in high spirits aud related how lie had en countered Skinner in a tavern aud de manded tho return of the horse, watch and pistol that had been entrusted to bim. tie biUBtered and swore awhile and finally agreed to sell Lis claim for the articles he had already appropriated to his own use. Flynn did not apprise him of tho lucky turn of fortune's wheel, but took precautions to have the ex change legally drawn up. "He played us a mean trick, conclud ed Flynn, "but I got the best of him, and now I propose to transfer bis share to tho orphans and widow of our old friend." No dissouting voice was raised against the Drouositiou: furthermore, thev all declared that Maggie should henceforth be called the ward of the Eureka Wining Company.. The next day Si was buried, and a week later, when the success of the roino had become an established fact, Mrs. Reed and her children wero taken back to Sacramonto. Tbo chunsto of for tune, coupled with the death of her hus band, proved too much for tho poor woman, and tho two oiphans bocnnie the actual wards of Eureka Mining Com pany. EDUCATIONAL NOTES. Tlin Rimer! nteml Ant of tho Nebraska City public schools is Mrs. M. M. Munger. One hundred and ninoty young mon have applied for admission to the class of 87 at Yale College A liarwlsinmn nnlloirn hnildinrjr. that will accommodate COO studuuts, is going up at uecatur, reins. Tho public schools of Japan have over 2.000.000 students, and are modeled on the American plan. Presideiit-elect Smith of Trinity Col lege, Hartford, Conn., will receivo a sal ary of 5,000 a year and a house. Anna Klumpke of Hun Francisoo, has a picture at the Paris Salon, which is eulogized by the Monitour des Arts. Professor W. W. Goodwin is about to return from the American Collegoat . . , -m . .ww . i it.. : Athens to bis duties at narvaru univer sity. In Greece tho proportion of illiterates is very high. In Thebes and Arcadia only five tenths of the inhabitants can read and write. T.oulin Ktinhnn has been elected to the Clark lectureship on English literature, lately founded at Trinity uouege, Cam bridge. Of 4,339.729 Prussian children, 2,723, 911 go to Evangelical, and 1,405,089 to Catholic schools, making a total of 4,129,903 in Christian schools: Rutherford Collogo, N. C, matricu lated 288 students during the year just ended. Over 2000 indigents have been educated there gratuitously since its ex istence. The Arkansas Stuto Indnetrial Uni versity at Fayetteville is in a tremendous row because of dissatisfaction with his president, Gen. Hill, and has lost most of its studonts. Dr. Jewott, the vice-chancellor of Ox ford University, is at Keswich, working on his translation of Aristotle's Politics, which he expects to complete by the end of tho year. A blind girl was ono of the graduates nf the Portland, Me., High School class lately, aud was one of the best scholars in the class, in which she stood No. 3 for four years. The namo of the Waterville, Me., Classio Institute Las been changed to Coburn Classic Institute in fit recogni tion of the munificence of Governor Co burn, whose gifts to it aggregate $100, 000. A Dkaf Wife. Mrs. Bell, wife of Professor Graham Bell, the electrician, was one of the deaf pupils of Dr. Gallau detin Washington. Professor Bell met ber at a reception given at the college, and so expert was she in reading speech by tho motion of tho lips that they con versed together for wma time without his discovering her infirmity. At last, walking through tho conservatory, where some of the Chinese lanterns bad gone out, he made some remark requiring an answer. But nono was forthcoming, it beiBg not light enough for ber to see the movements of his lips. He repeated the remark and again got only silence for re ply. Mystified, ho soon escorted her baok to the parlor, and then, in the brilliant light, asked her why she had not answered bim; but bis amazement was redoubled tenfold at her ready re ply "I have never beard a Mound in all mylife."-N. Y. Tribune. Luxuries of the 1-ontlun Poor, "But I have always nndor-tood," said I, "that tripe is rather an expensive delicacy." "So it, is, if anyone is so foolishly ex travagant as to go in for tho honeycomb and w hat are called tho best parts of it," she replied, "b.it the cutting! and trim mings are just as juicy and tender when properly Htewcd, and tho difference in tho price is twopence a pound sot beside o'ghtpertee or tenpence. There's always plenty to bo bad, for tho big shops have no sale for cuttings and trimmings, and tt'o lower-c'ass shops got it all. And if you want a luxury for supper on a oold winter's niht, there yon have it, as cheap ucarly as bread and cheese. A pound aud a half of cutilugs. three pence; ouions, a ha'penny; milk, a ha'penny; potatoes, a penny; and there you are, provided with a good, hot, relishing meal for thrco, at a cost of only a fraction over tro'penco a hoad." I, no doubt, looked surprised at this revelation of domestic ecouomy in the undercurrents of social life, for with a chuckle the husband remarked, "Lor' bless you, sir, it is all a delusion for people to suppose that poor folks men who' liko myself, earn no more than ono pound a week, say get nothing but ciust", while thoir rich ueighhors get the cake. It may be in another shape and war, but they get their nici ties nud their relishes just the sumo. It is no body's fault but their own if they do not. Look hero, now ! What do yon say to oalf's head and bacon? Would you call that a luxury on poor man's table?" "I should sy that he was lucky to no able to place so excellent a meal there. But it couldn't, of course, be done at tho same low rato as the supper of tripe cut lings." But somothing Just as nice and of exactly tho same flavor, could," he replied, triumphantly. "You can buy at the tripe shop half a cow hool for threepence ha'penny, and you can buy at most ham and beef shops tho riud that is takon off tho best of hams after they are cooked for three halfpence. Soeing a ham rind curled up and dry you would not perhaps, oduiire tho leathery look of it. But put baok into boilincr water, it opons out and eats as delicate as chicken. Pop 'em in the saucepan together your cow heel a'bd vour rind, and simmor 'cm gently, and you'll get a good sized dish full with all the flavor of calves hoad and bacon about it, and without vego tables, fivepence is all tho cost, iiut three of you when I say three I meau the missus and myself and one grown-up girl at home that works at the brush drawing couldn't get nourishment aud niceness for loss thau that?" "I should say it was quite impossible to do so," I replied. "Except it waB bullocks' cars," his wife remarkod. "Yes, but it isn't everybody can get 'em," said hor hus band, "only them that live at Bermond Bey, and uear the skin market. The hides, f rosh from the butchers," he oon tinuod, turning to me to make tho ex planation, "are stacked in heaps in the market place, and some of the salesmen give them they know the privilege of cutting off the ears. 'Burrs,' they call 'cm, and they sell 'em for about a penny a poun anil, end, nicely scalded aud scraped, and then gently stewed and served up with a little melted buttor, with a sprig of paraely chopped up in it, they make a dish the lord mayor of Loudon wouldn't tur up his nose at, if be didn't know what they wero or where they canio from. But bullocks' ears, as I have already said, ore not o luxury oomeatable everywhoro not like bull ock's head or Bho'ep'shead, for instance." It occurred to me to inquire of the economical couplo if they included tinned meats in tho luxuries of the poor, and they unhesitatingly replied that they did not. Thoy might bo considered cheap, they said, by those whoso means admitted of their buying joints of butch ers' meat, but those who had to scheme and maneuver to keep tho pot boiling had long ago discovered that tho tins did not contain solid worth of their hard earned raonoy. "The best proof ef that," said the husband, "is that meat in tins, be it beef or mutton, docs not offer tho same resistance to tho appetite of a hard-worked, hungry man he was a stone mason's laborer. I've tried it. Half a pound or, at the outside, ten ounces of good butcher's meat is as much as I can get tbrough,and I can put away a pound of tinned meat as easily as I can smoke a pipe. The great advan tage as regards cheapness is supposed to lie in the fact that the tinning is done in America and Australia, whore a wholo sheep is worth only a few shillings; but when," he added, with a shrewd wink, "you And chaps in tho provision way in Whiteohapel and other parts of London taking to the tinning line of business, it naturally occurs to a man that ho will do better to buy his meat first hand and save the expense of w tin, which, when empty, is of no niurtal use to him." Asked whethor ho included cheap so callod "German" sausuges and other question able preparations, such as "spiced beel and "collared head," in his list of luxuries and relishes, he repl:ed emphatically. "Certainly not." Blind man's buff,' he added, laughingly, ''was all very well as a game, but he didn't care about it as a feature of his victual ing department. Thero's no occasion for it; there are relishes enough of the proper sort, and at a qnarter the price, to be got any day. Take shellfish mus sels for instance; what might be the price of oysters at the present time?" Half a crown to three shillings a dozen, I told bim. He whistled and made a wry face ere he went on: "Look at that now! Twelve oysters for three shillings threepence each when we cau buy fine mussels, which are every bit as good and delicate in flavor, at a whole quart for a penny. You can eat 'em raw with pepper and vinegar, or you can stew 'em or bake 'em on the shovel over a clear fire, and they're delicious. Or winkles, again. Nobody who hann't tasted 'em has any idea of the fine flavor there is in winkles all hot from the saucepan. ' "And whelks, Joe," remarked his good A. "Ahl there's a shellfish, now!" he continued, smacking his lips. "He's a vulgar chap, the whelk, you know, air," and he chuckled and winked his artful est. "He's low and commonplace and only fit as food for poor people with coarse anoetites. That's the opinion. I have no doubt, in the upper circles as regards the whelk. And a precious good job, too, I say. Take tdj word for It, sir, if iU qualitios were mora widely knowa, oysters would not bare aafeok in with it. At the present tiiuo yon can got at a street stall half a dozon prime ones, all emly cooked, with vinegar and pepper included, for a penDy. But I'll wuger they wouldn't beat tliut price long if the West-end llshiuongers took 'em in baud.'' London Telegraph. .Modern Strainer. Tao Nautical Majio.ino reainrks that there U ono thing that wo know, or should have learned from the vast expe lienoo of the last ton or twenty years an experience, perhaps, ns gloomy and un satisfactory as it has beou rash, that tho majority of "cargo steamers," as at pres ent constructed and sent to sea, havo al readylong since reached tho limit of safety iu loading; if, indeed, many of tliem have not wi mticu beyond it. II this bo so, how aro we to account for tho groat number of mdi vessels which annually disappear? There ii surely uu mistaualile evuloneo to prove that some thing is wrong somewhere; for many of hem aro comparative!) new ships. After two long centuries of experience of all kinds of ships, aud over all seas, a vanished school of a'Ao aud sagacious seamen laid it down that a good ship, fairly loaded and ably commanded, will live iu any storm excepting, porlmps, cyclones aud hurricanes, and tho acci dents which they engender; slio posi tively cannot sink, but is as certain to ride over those great rolling mountains of seething water as a well-built church is of standing on its foundatiun. It is a great mistake to suppose, as some shipbuilders really do, that because a ship is big, no heavy seas will over run on board; in consequence of this fallacy, they take all manner of liberties in designs and constructions. It is difticult to beliove there aro such opluions in such quar ters, yet it is so, notwithstanding. There is donbt'esa, less science imported into ship building now thau iu former times, when iron for such work was a novolty, and when the worthy blacksmith, though occupying au indisptitablo position, played ouly eecoud lMdle iu the sym phony; but tho merest riveter Hhould understand that tho long low steamers which are now turned out of our build ing yards ire tho wettest and, in too miinv cases, the most dangerous ships which over put to sea. A great ocean wave, however high or fast it may ruu, will lift up bodily any small ship or boat, but not so some 400-footor; and, as a matter of course, it it cannot lift must run over some part of ber. Allowing such a wave to run at thirty-five miles an hour, and a great part of its crest, say twenty-five tons of water, to ovor wholm ber decks, we have at onoo a force equal to the charge of a locomotive against everything in the shape of an obstruction to its oourso. Yet it is com mon to see such Bhips putting to sea with all kinds of trumpery and feeble fittings such as obtained in high-sided ships of fifty years back feeble, it should bo said, in rolatiou to the amount of freeboard or bad weather to be en countered and nftorward doleful ac counts in tho newapapors about "terrific woather and fearful damage Spontaneous loinbuslloii. In the spriug of 1780 a fire was discov ered on board a frigate off Cronstadt. After the sovorost scrutiny no cau.no for tho Uro could be found. Tho probability is, however, strongly in favor of sponta neous combustion; for in tho following year tho frigate Maria, whioh also lay at anchor off Cronstadt, was found to bo on fire. The fire was, however, early por ceived and extinguished. After strict ex termination nothing could bo discovered as to its origin. A commission of inquiry was held, which finally reported that the fire was probably caused by parcols of matting tiod together with pack-thread, whioh were in the cabiu whore the fire broke out. It was found that the parcels of matting oontained Russian lampblaok, prepared from fir soot moistened with homp-oil varnish. In oonsequonooof this the Russian admiralty gave orders for experiments to bo made. Thoy shook forty pounds of fir-wood soot into a tub aud ponied about thirty-five pounds of hemp-oil varnish upon it. This stood for an hour, after which thoy pourod off the oil. The remaining mixture thoy wrapped up in a mat, and tho bundle was laid close to the cabin in the frigate Maria where the midshipmen had their berth. To avoid all susptoion two officers sealed both the mat aud the door with thoir own seals, and stationed a watch of four officers to take notioe of all that passed through the night. As soon as smoke should appear information was to be given. The experiment wan made about the 2Gth of April at about 11 A. if. Early in the following morning, about 5 a. M., smoke appeared issuing from the cabin. Tho commander was immediately informed by an officer, who through a small hole in the door saw the mat smokinir. Without opeuinor the door, he dispatched a moscengcr to the members of tho commission, nut, as the smoke oo came stronger snd fire began to appear, it becamo necossary to break the seals and open the door. No sooner was tho air admitted than the mat began to burn with greator force, and presently burst into a flame. Mr. Geoigi, of the Im perial Academy of Soiences, was ap pointed to make further exporiments.tbe result of which confirmed the suspicion of spontaneous combustion in the Rus sian official mind in a remarkable de greeChambers' Journal. A Uood Model. I havo lately been visiting a gentleman T should like to toll about. He lives on tho banks of the Delaware ,V0F tint fur from Trenton. Now Jersey. It is very delightful to talk with thii gentleman, and to see now wen us is acquainted with the birds and the four frw.uxl animals of his district, all of which aro under his jealous protection. He Las hall a dozen littlo "tracts vnnin a miln nf liia honse. each of which is nnnlfl,l bv a nartlv different class of plants and animals, so that there is never any lack of variety in ms siuuies. iuo truth of this will not seem clear to yon at flrat nrhati. because vou are aocus- tomed to think that, in order to find any great diversity in outdoor life, yon must search through great spaces oi country, p. ni m frinnd'a farm would show von that a great many little differences are ordinarily overlooked, which, when yon eome to know them, are seen to be real and important. Ana mi can ce proven in one place abont as well as ia another. For instance, it is easy to divide the cstnte I am speaking of into fourdistriots so far as natural history is ooncerned. First, ttioro tro tho upland flolds and Louse gardens; second, the steep hill- . sido, grown donso with trees and tangled shrubbery; next, the broad, treeless, lowland meadows; and lastly, tho creek, with its still, shaded nooks, and flowery banks. Now, while there aro mauy trees, bushes aud weeds that aro common to all those four districts, it is equally true that each of tho districts has a number of plants and animals that aro not to be found in the others. You would not ex pect to gut water snakes, musk-rats or any wading birds on the high flolds be hind tho house, nor do tho woodchucks, quails, and vesper sparrows of tho hill top go down among the sycamores by the creek. One quiokly gets a hint horo of tho great fuct that any species of ani mal or plant may bo spread over a whole state, or half the contiuent, yot never theless, bo found ouly on that kind of ground, which is best suited to it. One of the first things a naturalist has to learn there fore, iu respect to an ani-nal whoso habits ho wishes to study, is what sort of surroundings it loves, and he will bo surprised, particularly in tho ease of the smaller creatures, to learn how care ful animals are in this matter, sinco upon it, ns a rule, depends thoir food and safety. There aro certain snails, for ex ample, which my friend finds in one cor ner of his farm and nover any whore else. A pair of Bewick's wrens havo livod in his wagon houso for some yoais, but they are the only pair in ihe whole county. It would bo of no use for him to look any where than on his bush-grown hillside for tho worm eating warblor, tho morn ing warbler, or the chat, thouah his gar dens up above eutice many other birds. Similarly, if tho bird call .d tho rail de cides to make its homo on bis land, it will not settle along the crook, but In a marshy part of his meadows. I might mention a largo number of those exam ples, but theso will suftloo. 1 or moro than twonty years my friend Lad been diligently studying this single square ruilo around his house. One would think he know it pretty well by this timo, and ho does hotter,! believe, than any other square milo is known in the United States. He can tell you, and bos written down, a hundred things about our common animals which are real news; yet he thinks that ho has only bo gun, and is finding out something more every fow days. St. Nicholas. Oysters In the War Times. "I remember very well," said Gehoral Plcasauton the other night, after glano iug over the latest volume of the Comte do Paris history of the late robollion, "when tho Comte do Paris, his uncle, tho Prince de Joinville, and Lis cousin, canio to see me on York river, down on the Peninsula. I was in command of the old second dragoons, now tho seoond calvary, and we wore awaiting orders for more than a mouth or moro. In the meantimo knowing tho lusciousuess of the world famous York rivers, I had taught my men to dig up the oysters and" roast them on the bank of the river. We had pepper and salt and the other acoom- pauimeuts, and we fared sumptuously every day. When tho Prince de Join- villo and his party joined us wo feasted them on our delicious oysters, fresh from tho river and hot from the firo. 'Where did you get theso?" asked the Prince gulping them down with zest; 'from New York?' 'No,' I said ; 'from the York river, right at your foet.' And tbcn I told him what accomplished oystercatch- ers the second dragoons wore. 'Well,' said the prince, swallowing another, hot and juicy, 'if I were to tell that story in ram mey wouiu Bay mat is an American lio-dragoonsdon't catch oysters in war timos. Couldn't Identify 111m. "Yon havo the advantage of me," said tho cashior, blandly. "You have to get some one to identify you." "Identify me? Why, I am your son. just back from college for the summer vacation. "Maybe, maybe," answered the cashier, "but my son did not look like a fool, wear a cockney hat, monkey toil coat, skin tight pants, toothpick shoes, nor did be suck cane bandies. Wnon my wife returns from Europe next summer yon might present your claims to her, and if she deoides that you are our off spring, I shall be happy to bid yon an affoctionate good-bye on your return to college" Boston Herald. The close fitting sloovo is yot popnlar. though it is not worn so nncomfortably tight as formerly. There can bo no more ndwulous sight than thatoi a lady particularly ono with a naturally thin arm and waist wearing her sleeve drawn so tight as to oblige her to keep her arms continually at ono angle because she cannot move her elbows. A little more latitude bore isoonduoive of a considera ble moro grace, as woll as indicative of the weaier's having listened to the small but profound voice of common sense. New York Post. The life of Richard Belt, whoso suit against the oritio who acoused him of putting out others' work as bis own. ia still before the London oonrts.snd reads like a romance. There was a time when he carried messages to the House of Lords, and obiseled with a nail, out of a piece of rough stone, his first artistio effort. But there came a day when ho worked on Charles Kingsley's bnst in Windsor Castle, in the presence of the Queen, and at Cbiselburst, before the empress, in the studio of the Prince Im perial. Among the pictures lately sold by the' Marquis of Lansdowne to Mr. Mackey ia the famous Rembrandt portrait pur chased by the grandfather of its lata owner, which Las always been regarded as one of the choicest gems in the Bo wood Gallery. Complaint ia made that, before allowing it to go to Ameriea.Lord Lansdowne had not given the refusal of it the National Gallery, but perhaps he reflected that gallery is already rich in Rembraodts, and that $25,000 is a big figure. , That man might have slpt nnder a monument, instead of bring a night mare in Potter'i FieU-pr. George H. Hepworth in ChrHan.'Advoeate.