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About The Eugene City guard. (Eugene City, Or.) 1870-1899 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 2, 1884)
that An Ideal. rllnrrlet Preseott Rpofford In The Continent! Ago comes to some people only like the wider ojH'iilag of the rose, the gentle droop ing of the creamy outtT petal, and one must needs think of this In looking at Mr Fer nalde. "I have bad niy threescore apd ten," she used to say. "I have had all that nature has to give, aud now 1 am living on grace." It was a sunny spirit that informed her, a lightsomeness that never let the substance of a tea. jpenetrate beneath the surface that coul I endure nothing but happiness, iter unfailing good ua'.urewas like a rairy wino. that smoothed every trouble out of her way and out of tlie way of every one about her. If her liair was white, no great sorrow hod tniule it so; and ita contrast with the soft brilliancy of the black eye and the velvet flush of a cheek unwritten by many lines, made her perbapa a lovely as one standing f in all the full radiance ol yomn. as ior Fernalde-UU, dark, spare-he was by no means unattractive, and his courtly manners iliad a unique elegance. II lovea nis ease, nnd annoyances, when they chanced to break through the magic circle tils wile arew buoui, him, vexed blm, as tbey usually do a nervous person. For the rest, be was one of those men who, having led a singularly fortunate life, maintain to themselves a fancy that they have just missed the last stroke to make the crystal complete, who have a vanishing ideal always just beyond the sight and reach. The Fernaldes were neighbors of ours. Wealth required no exertion of them, aud advancing age secluded them m some I measure from general society; their home J was alwavs cheerful; they were always in it; and if there had been no such person as J crabbed old Mrs. Talliafero. who had siwnt I the last six month with them, it would have been hard to see how heaven itself could lie much improvement on it. However, she was going at once, and then where would be the crumple in the roso-leaf! They loved young people. "The new generation lends us a part of its freshness," ibey used to say. They always welcomed any of us, and indeed made me so particu larly conscious of their flattering favor that I siKsnt a good portion of my time with them, threaded the sweet little lady's needles, read and wrote more or less for Mr. Fernnlde, and was gradually taken into their confidence In a way I did uot desire, since I am about to violate it 'Could I imagine a happier old age than this, my child, with my wife, my health, my flowers, our birds and pete and friends f" he said once, re)eatiug my question. "Why, yes, my dear, it was much happier before my wife brought Mrs. Talliafero to stay with us. Somo old schoolmate or girl friend of hem, I don't quite know whom, for the fact is she nettled me so the first day sho came that I wouldn't ask Rosalie a word about her, for fear I should show my displeasure at her having brought her home when she turned up. It is astounding how an invisibly small thorn will destroy your equaiumity. And then this woman bos a quality that would turn honey into vinegar, I do believe. She has changed our quiet, peaceful, sun shiny life, that seemed like one long day iu June, into a sharp, raw day In JNovemuer. There is something very rasping about her. 1 don't see why my wife invited her to 8end such a season with us for. I wondor if she thought that at the end of the time I should press for a continuance I My dear, I have counted the days it sounds sadly against all hospitable rites I have counted the days till I should see her consult a railway time-table, as she did yesterday, about going home to-day. I believe she is not in affluent circumstances now. I would be glad to meet the expense of boarding her awayl 1 am speiik'ng strongly. Yes, Rosalie," look' ing at his laughing wife, 1 know you say too stronglv. Rut it is argument, assertion, contradiction, differing, bickering, finding fault with the servants who have suited us half a lifetime, questioning the expenditure, disordering the arrangements from one day to tbe next 1 uink of it, when she comes into my study and declares that my wife has the patience of the play to endure such a den of disorder iu her house. She wonders that I do not wear a scratch. She warns me of indigestions, she threatens me with night mares, she reminds me of my age, she inter feres with my pipe I And then she wanU so much fresh air! Thank heaven! her time is up to-dav, aud my wife will not invite another guest for a half year with out giving me time to arrange a residence elsewhere! And such a voice, tool When one hears it, one longs for the proer infirmities of age that dull the hearing shirp as a file, piercing as a locust's whirr! What are you laughing at, Rosalie f" "Ah, you are not quite just, my love," said the sweet little lady. "Mrs. Talliafero bas a fine mind. She is really waking us up. She prevents our sinking down into a jelly-like existence, as so many at our age do. She kueeis us bubbling." "There, there, there, my dear! Don't say another word about your Mrs. Talliaferol Oo and sjieud a season with her at Saratoga, if you ever want to see her acy more. I'll go to Richfield. Bubble! She'd make sulphuric acid bubble out of the sands of the desert! I've no doubt she worried Tulliufero, poor man, into the grave! But there, I've said too much," he added directly. "I beg your par don, my sweet, if I hurt your feelings about an old friend, but really Now, Rosalie, my love, if you dont care to go over these accounts, our young friend will.' And then Mrs. Fernalde tripped off with as light a foot as a girl of 17, and I drew up the great folding-screen around our chairs, stirred the fire a little, and took pencil aud paper to add up the figures Mr. Fernalde was to read out to me. But Mr. Fernalde was in a brown study for a little, and I let him stay. "It was strange you should have asked rae that question, child," he said at length. "I used, at your time of life, to imagine a very differeut old age from this, if I may so call that imagination, for, -in fact, old age never entered into my calculations. I imagined nothing about the passage of time, only of the continuance of a condition. And that condition was the perpetual paradise of Alicia's smiles." "Rosalie, you mean," said L "I beg your pardon," said Mr. Fernalde shortly. "I mean Alicia." "Alicia r "Alicia, who, when I was twenty, was the light of my eyes and the loadstir of my life," "I don't know what you mean, sir." "Of course you don't, of course you don't I've half the mind to tell you, though. It's a long time ago a long time aud no harm done. Oae is perhajie a fool at 70," said Mr. Fernalde presently again. "I'm not quite 80. One is certainly a fool at 20. L was, at any rate, but I didn't know it and I walked in a fool's paradise. And to be a fool and not know it! Is there, on the whole, any farther paradise! Pretty, pretty as a peach!" he began again, after an other pause, "Ah! that sounds to us like profauity. That heavenly fair face, those eyes like the stars in a blue midnight! that smile of exquisite innocence and purity 1 I used to tremble before ber sometimes as be fore some young saint stepped from a shrine one that I dared to desecrate by loving. Ah, how I loved her! The sight of certain flowet i brings her back to me now! When the applo trees are in blossom, that pink and white snow, that ineffable delicacy of ier fume, calls her before me like a revelation! There are times when this eternal smooth new of things iu my life palls me times when I cannot bear the sound of evening belU coming across the water. It so renews for me that evening that evenin ; when I lost her when I lost her if I found Rosalie!" "You lost her thenf" I said, to break the silence that followed. "I will tell you. The two were In separable. If I walked or role or sailed with one, the other was not far away. Rosalie was a little gay, toniiKiitiiig nitrite. Alicia was a pensive saint. It was Alicia's home; her father was a man of wealth, and Rosalie was visiting her. Roe alie had no homo, no fortune; she ha I just finished school and was to be governtws, (.reading it as a butterfly might dread lioing broken to harness, dreading it all the more for this gliini8 of luxurious life iu her friend's home since school. I myself had a fortune in my own right, and had been guilty of the follies of most of the jeuuesse doree of that period, which, if comparatively innocent were troublesome enough to the authorities of my college to need discipline, aud I was pausing a year of most unliappy rustication in the place adjoining Alicia's home. Never shall I forgot the first moment in which I saw Alicia running down one of the orchard aisles with her white garments fluttering about her, and her fair head bent over the branch of apple blossoms in her band. If lightning had fallen, the revolu tion that seized me could uot bare come more quickly. I seemed to be changed in a twinkling, to have been borne Into another planet I felt as if sun shine had pierced and penetrated once im penetrable gloom. When I fell asleep in the grass of that orchard, and woke with that heavenly creature bending over me, I rose only to walk ou air. The little brown face of Rosalie, with its carnations, with the glint and glance of its great brown eyes, with its flood of brown curls that had a touch of gold on them, with the glittering teeth of its beautiful laugh, was just over her shoulder, but I merely know 1 saw it by remembering it afterward. Sho was only a shadow to me in those days; and as for me, I was only Alicia's shadow myself. She lived and moved In some exalted atmosphere, to my perception. She does now. Her father wore the front of Jove; I could not say that he did not carry the thunders. I felt myself a mote in the broad beam of their sunshine, as though I were something hardly visible in their lurge range of vision, as if it required an effort to make myself jwrceived by them. I hesitated to make the effort I worshiped from afar. When she spoke to me my heart beat so I had hardly voice to answer; when she touched my hand it thrilled me through and through. And I asked no more. I thought of no more for a whilo than just to continue so forever; to see her from my win dow walking under the Ion? aisles of the low-branched orchard, lire some mediievnl picture; to walk besides her sometimes; now aud then to veuture reading from tho same jwige with her; now ami then to be her partner in tho dance. That Rosalie should be about with me, riding here, strolling there, walking to church, reading with the old pastor, in whose charge there was a Action that I was, and so, in a way, studyiug with mo that was all a matter of commonplace; she was sweet, she was fresh, she was charming. But what was all that when an angel was in the room? "One night I was on the gallery just out side their drawing-room, looking in at the long window, and Alicia was singing. Ah, how delicious was that voice I The cherubim and seraphim who continually do siug, if I ever hear them, will not sing so sweetly. I wonder to whom that voice is singing now I Besides her, that night, was this scamp who had come to the plnce more than ouce, a proud, commanding fellow in his undress uni form, a man whom her father plainly in tended she should marry. I can see the scene now the rich aud dimly-lighted room full of purple shadows, the air laden with the scent of flowers; Alicia 1j her white drapery, more mystical, more beautiful, more holy, as she sang, than if revealed in the glow of her beauty; outside the violet depths of the sky, and tbe moon just falling, like some great golden flower, low in the west; and as Alicia's voice became silent a choir of bell tones coining far and flue and free across the water, like echoes of her song in heaven. My heart swelled with a fullness of rapture; life seemed too rich, too sweet, too sacred; and then I saw that man stoop and kiss her brow. ' The action turned me to stone for a moment till he came sauntering to the win dow, and I knew no more what I was doing than that bronze Perseus in the comer would if he moved. I lifted the hand that had seemed stone, aud as be passed me I struck him on the mouth, tbe mouth that had doue the profanation." And Mr. Fernalde was quiet a little while. "And that was the end of all things," ho resumed. "The fellow laughed at me for a mad boy. Her father launched one of the thunderbolts, and forbade me the house. What a stricken day and night of wretched ness! What a week of hopelessness, of anni hilation! But perhaps Alicia felt otherwise. Why Bhould I not discover Why should I suppose she had any other sympathy with that creature than the sympathy of the star aud the worm! And if my glad hope perad ven ture were true, why then we could fly from these places that should know us no more; the world was before us, heaven's gates were 0ien to us. Aud I wrote, my hand trembling at its sacrilegious daring, just a dozen lines, without address, without signature. She would know what it meant And I sent it by the parson's boy. And I waited for her, lying on the grass beneath the orchard trees, in the deep gloom just gilded by the influence of tbe unseen moon. There came the rust ling of garments, the tripping of a foot; my heart beat, my eyes grew dim. Was it she coming up behind me, as I lay lifted on ray elbow, kneeling and putting her arms about me, raining swift kisses ou my face f wild, sweet kisses in that shadow; wild, passionate whispers in that silence! And then a great pang smote me, and I rose and went out with her into tbe less dim darkness and it was Rosalie. "She never knew," said Mr. Fernalde, "she does not know to-day that I died that night I can't say how I lived through those mo ments even. They were but moments she had stolen away. She had to return at once. We parted at the foot of the mock-orange walk, aud I went to my bed and lay there iu a trance of despair. Perhaps sunlight brought some relief. The parson told at the breakfast-table tbe news that Alicia was betrothed to the army officer I had seen over the hedge. I wrote a word, saying I was callml away, and I was gone a week or more. But in that blank I must have some thing to love me to have an interest la Better Rosalia than the absolute negation of those days. She thought nothing of my ab sence after my return. She was as full of romance as a flower of nectar. And, to sum it up, if she was not tbe rose, she had lived with tbe rose. One day we married, and here we are. A long life, a happy life, and I have never regretted the day in it that I made her my wife. After all, one cannot marry among the angels clay must mate with clay. What do you say I Not love her, my child I You never were more mistaken. I love her tenderly, absorbingly. She is a perfect woman she has been a perfect wife. Slie has made me calmly and completely liappy. If ouce in a while the old hoie, the old divam of a passior. arises and sweeps before me iu its bloom aud light, it is because it means youth to me that youth which we do not know till we are old-U itself the ideal tliat it holds up for worship. Yet rfeet as my wife U, fifty years of this smooth life with her w ear some thing of the commonplace, aud if across their dead level of same content sometime gleams the shining of Alicia's face, it is uot in any disloyalty to her. I often wonder what be came of the lovely creature. Once I could uot bave spoken of her. At seldom times, when I sit alone by the Are, site comes a dsits besiJe mo, and gleam of light and shadow uiake free with her sweetness, hor beauty, her pensive and etherial graej. Deir girl! I suppose she sleej in her grave by this, but she is a shaft of the light of heaven iu my memory." And Mr. Fernalde rose, walking to the window, just as the screen began to tremble, and a smothered cough and then au undis guised one, betrayed to me, if not to him, that Mrs. Fernalde had heard the chief port of the mouologue. "And I had heard it in fragments aud sections more thau once before," she after ward told me, with her pleasant smile. "I know it means nothing that be is just as wholly mine as' I am his that our love is the imjwrishahle sort that we are welded into oue by llfty years together. And perhajw it was ignoble of me to break the pretty bub ble, to take away his little ideal, with which he has found comfort whenever I would have my own way too much. Yet I thought it was about time." But she said nothing of this at all as she camo bustling round the corner of the screen that morning. "There is such a gale blowing outside," she said, "that the dust really rises in the house fit to choke one." "You haven't caught cold, Rosalie r said her husband, turning in concern. "Not the least, but I shall if the hall-door U open another moment. There sho comes now. Make haste, and bid Alicia good-bye, my love. She is just going." "Who!" he cried, suddenly owning his cvos liko lauijis in their deep settings. ' "Alicia Mrs. Talliafero dear. She mar ried nguin, you know. Oh, it has been a line jest," she cried with her low laugh, i "to think that you should uot have recognized Alicia in all these weeks aud months!'' Mr. Fernalde was quiet for a few moments, lookiug at the sweet littlo la ly before him, with her color like the halt-tarnished rose, with tho soft brilliancy of her placid smile. Then he crossed over tlw hearth before me, and he took her. hand and bent down aud kissed her mouth. "My Rosalie," said he, "will you not make niy adieux to Mrs. Talliafero youself ( Tell her tell her I have gone to the fuueiul of au old friend !'' Chinese Intercut In Mor.tliuiii Stisnr. Chicago Tribune. For 2,000 years sorghum has been profitably grown- in China as a cereal, but has never been utilised as a source of producing sugar. The experiments made in this country by well-known scientists iu this direction have attracted much attention in China. The peo ple of that couutry nre uot slow to see that if the clour gain of its sugar value can b) added to the seed crop it will prove a matter of vast importance to the empire. Accordingly, some weeks ago the Chinese embassador and his two secretaries were among a party of visitors to the Rio Grande Sugar company's works, for the purpose of learning what they could from observation of tho processes em ployed in the manufacture of sugar from sorghum. Concerning the interest evinced by the shrewd and inquisitive representatives of the Celestial kingdom a eorresioudeut of The New York Tribune says: "If they had been sugar experts, inclined to purchase the whole concern as an investment, they could not have studied the methods and machinery more closely or more intelligently. They watched tbe cauo through the rollers and followed the expressed juice as it was clari fied pud boiled through the vacuum pans to the centrifuguls, and by their searching in quiries kept Dr. Collier aud Supt Hughes constantly explaining every detail through the entire process. When the day was over there is little doubt that they had a more comprehensive knowledge of sugar-making thau any of the American visitors." That the Chinese ambassadors wont there for a purpose is evident enough, and the next thing to be expected is that one of these days China will be largely engaged in the success ful manufacture of sorghum sugar. Jlanaslnx a Illrd Dog. Evausvillo Argus. The average amateur gets his dog talk from books, and says "To-ho," "Down sir," "Down charge," "Retrieve," "Hi sir," "Bring to bag," "To heel, sir," etc, etc. if we ever forgot ourself and lent our dog to any amateur and he went through this lingo the dog would come iu at night and try to sny "Say, pard, that inau you leut me to this morning must have been drinking, for he called me a lot of worse names than ever you did when you licked me for being too fresh and running over two or three gangs early in the day." And we wouldn't blame tho poor dog. We don't hold auy long con versation with our dog; it takes his mind away from business. Vhen we get into a field we say "Yup" and wave our huuds iu the direction we want him to go. When be comes to a point, if he seems to be nervous we say "Yo-o-o," just as we would to a nervous horse, and if by any ac cident we manage to kill a bird when tho covey rises, we simply say "dead" and that settles it He gets tbe bird, brings it up to us; sits down and at the word "drop" lets it fall out of his mouth and hies off again to fresh fields and pastures new. If be runs over a bird we yell "Hey! you darn fool f" and he drops down aud remembers that if be does it again he will get a corn stalk across bis flank. And so we go and the longer in the day he hunts the less we have to say to him, except to invariably pat hts head and call him a "good old suoozer" every time he brings iu a bird. The I'oreau "Jenkins." Chicago Herald. Soh Kwanfl Pom, secretary of the Coreau embassy at Washington, has made the fol lowing observations in this country: "The women of America are all far more beautiful than any others we bave seen. I notice most women wear black clothes; many wear blue, and when the weither is warm, while is very commonly worn. Some women wear their bats and bonnets tilted back, showing the front hair, while others wear them squarely on the head. Of the two, tho former style is the nicer to see." Wretched Peru. Inter Ocean. .Unhappy Peru! She not only has the ex fcirtionute demands of Chili to settle, but she has :'M generals, 1,400 colonels, 2,-'10 majors, 4,000 captains, and more lieutenants than anybody can count " waiting for back pay. She thinks some of selling out at a total wreck. 'ew Orleans Picayune: When a giraffe wants a drink, he knows what long-felt want U THE ASTORS Of TO-DAY. The Itpnrmrntativra of the lirrat r a mi I. v and Fortune t onmleu uy I lie Grandfather. New York C r. rittsburp PisaMi. William 13. Aittor lived a quiet, un eventful life He wan married t a daughter of Gen. Armstrong, President Madison's secretary of war. There nro six children, three son and three daughters, lie died in 1875, and two years later a marble memorial altar costing $'200,000 was erected in his honor in Trinity church. It is esti mated that his estate won worth at least $40,000,000. He left f 200.000 to tho Astor library, nnd largw sums to vari ous public charities. T every member of his faiuilv he left a. handsome legacy. The bulk ol his fortune he bequeathed to his sons William, and John Jacob, and tatween them h divided equally the fortune left him by his father. His third son, Henry, hud retired to a hand some conntrv seat en the Hudson, ear ing little or tu possession of great wealth. William and John Jacob nre thnsleft the present representatives of the ereat family nnd fortttne founded by their grandfather. They are to-dny worth probably more than $70,000,00;) each,, nnd their wealth is steadily increasing. They nre interested in no business nnd own not a share of stock in any cor poration. AU their wealth is in real estate, in this city mostly. They own block upon block in tho richest busi ness part of the city, and block npon block of tho finest brown stone palaces on Murrnv hill. Their sole business is hi cnlWt tlipir rents and biiT more property. They never sell. 'Ibey nr good landlords; that is, they keep all their property in the nest of repair, and are attentive to all the wants of their tenants. Hut on the other hand they nre very strict iu tho collection of rents. Like their father nnd grand father, they are plain and unassuming. They live in twin brick houses ou Fifth avenue, which are plaiu and unpretend ing in appearance, but spacious and richly furnished. There is no show or parade about them. The two brothers are liberal benefactors of the church, of various charities, of all public enter prises of merit, and are liberal patrons of musical art. The present John Jacob Astor lias only one child, William Waldorll' Astor. He lms figured more prominently bo fore the public than any other member of the family. He was graduated with honors at Columbia college. He served two terms in the state legislature, where he was conspicuous as a consci entious reformer and a painstaking, intelligent lawmaker. He is now, by President Arthur's appointment, United States minister to Home, and may bo reckoned among tho rising young men of the ltepnblienn party. He was married several years ago to a beauti ful young lady in Philadelphia and has two children. William Astor hns had four children. Tho oldest, Mrs. Van Allen, died two years ago at Newport. The socoud is now Mrs. Roosevelt. The third is Mrs. Drayton, aud tho fourth, Miss Carrie, only "came out" in society last winter. It w as she who broke down the barrier between the Astors and the Yonderbilts by persuading her mother to ac 'ept in vitations to the famous Yanderbilt fancy dress ball. She is much courted by the aristocratic young men of this city and by ninny scions of tho old world nobil ity, but as yet her hand ai d heart are free. She has several times expressed herself as determined to wed nono but nn American, and it is understood that sho does not care much for a fortune as au appendage to a husband. t'attenina FowIm' Liver. Paris Cor. San Francisco Chronicle. Ducks and geese have to undergo a very cruel treatment in order to pro vide us "monsters" with thoe o excellent foies gras that are found nowhere so good ns in Paris. The unfortunate am phibious bird is fastened down to the lloor of a dark cellar where a high de gree of temperature is kept up aud is fed to repletion on a preparation of oatmeal, barley nnd corn. In a few weeks its liver attains an extraordinary size, and then the bird is killed. It is with this liver that is prepared one of the greatest gastronomic deli cacies. These livers sometimes weigh four pounds apiece. Such livers readily command from 111) to 40 cents apiece" for ducks and from 45 to 110 cents per pound for geese. These gi gantic livers for the most pnrt come either from the south of France or from Straslmrg, those from the last nnmed place being the most highly esteemed. Somo also come from Austria, but these do not command such high prices. The difference in the price between the livers of ducks and geese is that the former lose very much in volume when placed over tho lire and not ou account of any difference in the deli cacy or llavor of the dish when made. An Old Nuertitlon. Chicngo Herald. A curious story comes from Brent ford, England. A servant of Dr. Terry was sent out to carry a message. She was short-sighted, and failing to return it was feared she had fallen into the canal. It was dragged, but without success. Several days later an old barge woman suggested that a loaf of bread in which some quicksilver had been placed should be floated on the water. This was done and the loaf be came stationary at a certain point. Tho dragging was resumed at this point and the body found. The superstition is said to be centuries old, but no one hud seen it tried there for many a year. The Trouble of a Trxn Kditor. j Ijnuzales Inipiirer. Sickness ut InMne lias left us little peace of mind. Our foreman has b.-cn sick all the week, and we had to get up out of bed to prevent total failure in is suing. Wednesday came, and our junior assistant, Mr. Sidney Smith, rose to the exigencies of the occasion and worked the press, although it is too much for his strength nnd size. Our paper is like a picked-up dinner. Chicago Herald : A Buffalo man has gone insane from the contemplation of the "awfulness of space." His malady began while acting as night e litoroof a blanket newspaper. A ('stored Treacher Defend Wife. Ilratlng. Corn. Philadelphia Times. Tore is annuder matter wo is noted for, beating our wives. Now dar do scriptur cums in agin. De good book says: "Husbands, keep your wives iu submission." And how is you gwine to do dat thing? Why, beat 'em, to bo sure, 'case dy aeods it. Yea, geiumon, we is de kings, of tho y earth nnd wo must rule do women, 'case if we don't rule them, doy is mighty'' app to rulo us. Duu, agin,,, wo i the salt of tho yearth, and w e Is got to keep pretty sharp to keep do yearth salted. Den, agin, if you giro a woman an inch she is more app to take au L. So I 'vises ynu all to do your duty aud keep tho women in. hand. "Now, sisters, I aiat in no wise 'posed to you when vou don't try to got yond yourselfs, so 1 will close dis here lec ture by wishing yott all good luck and 'vising you to devote yonr time, your eddicatiou uiul your Vomplishments to us common,, case as I said aforo, we oro'do kings of the yearth, and you can't bust that fai' it your tongues are longer and your heads pretty strong. I 'spects I don' made yo;i sorter mad, but fucs must be spoken, aud, as I tolo you aforo, the salt got to bo rather sharp to keep dis yvartli salted, and it don't do iu no wise to let de women think doy is nowhar nigh tho equals of we gommeu, case dey is monstrous easy to Bpile, and if dey gets do upper hand dey is more 'au app to keep it. "I speaks from 'sperlence, and speri cneo, my frens, brodrcn and sisters, is a goal teacher, caso if any of yon had my Eliza Jane for your w ife you could tell den why I 'vises you to rulo do women iu do 'ginning, caso, 'fore do Lord, when doy get do start you had just ns well try to move a mountain ns to rulo a woman what you is 'lowed to got sot in her ways." The Lower 4'oluiubln lllver. Oregon Letter. The scenery nt tho Cascades is very grand, to the mountain pamorama and the chlT-lined shores being added the striking feature of waterfall nnd tho roaring rapids. Tho water boils and hisses among rocky masses at tho Cas cades, and as tho train stops on the high bauk above wo look down into a seething caldron of waters, brokou here and there by uplifted crags, around which tho foaming currents rush and swirl, and hero andthero by swift sheets that pass through occasional channels. The picture is oue of strange and savago grandeur. A canal is being constructed around tho Cascades. It is a vast work, requiring $5,000,000 or more to com plete. When finished tho canal will permit tho passage of river steamers to tho Dalles, foi tv miles above. Five miles above Danes City wo reach tho Great Dalles, a marvelous gorgo in tho mountain rungo, w here, sunk in beds of adimantine lava, tho Columbia passes iu a singlo narrow channel to the westward. On the shore of the river nt this season of the year ono poos nothing but forbidding Holds of black lava between him and tho fur ther shore of the rivor. But a short walk with many a climb over tho rug ged surface, brings ono to tho brink of a stream sixty-live feot wido. Tho cur rent Hows in a narrow cut, close 'to tho Washington shore, silent, mysterious, fathomless. To this narrow spnn has tho mightiest river on tho continont beeu confined. A boy might fling a stone across it, yet human ingenuity has failed to discover its depth. It has been well said that this is tho Columbia river turnod up on its edge. Above tho Dalles the scenery becomos wild, forbidding, treeloss and savago. Tho bluffs are truncated cones. Tho banks are lava beds partly covered with sand, and above these rise the grim, wind-worn forms of basaltio cliffs aud precipices. The Columbia bolow tho Dallos is picturesque and grand. Above, it is still wondorful, but almost horrible in its forbidding grandeur. Depended on lllinnelf. Texas Rifting-. Tho Bev. Whangdoodlo Baxter re cently met ono of the male members of his (lock, and at onco nddrossed him: "Why, Mose," he snid, "how stout yuso gittin'. Yuso gittiu mighty stout an' corpulent; in mighty fino order, I tells yer. Dar's nullin' lean about you, lizzie-ally, but spiritually yuso thiunor dan a rail. You doan lean on do Lord enuff." "I kiu 'splnin all d it ar," said Mose. Tow does you 'splain it, Mose?" "I did lean on do Lord, an' ebbery Sunday I listened ter your preaching, an' I got as poor as Job's turkey." "But how does yer 'splain it? How does yer Vouut fer do transformation?" " Why, doan vou see? Yo' furnishes de 'ligion, an' 1 does my own fatteniu'." Deceiving (he Home. Exchange. "I engaged," said a burly lawyer, "a chaise at Galway, to conduct me a fow miles into the country, and proceeded some distance when it came to a sudden standstill at the beginning of a rather steep incline, and the coachman, leap ing to the groin I, camo to the door and opened it. 'What are you at, man? This is not whore I ordered you to ttop?'" "Whist, yer honor, whist!" said Paddy, in an undertone. "I'm only desaving the sly baste. I'll just bang the door, and the crafty on Id creature will think he's entirely got rid of yer honor's splindid form, and hell be ut the top of tho hill in no time." A Xew Gaillnic Hun. Chicago Herald.' Among the most recent inventions in gunnery is a (iatling gun which can throw a battery of lo4 cartridges with effect either upward or downward at any angle. Not only can a fort or in trenchment within 3,500 yards bo thus rendered untenable, but scaling parties, should they ever bo introduced into warfare again, nould have a new ter ror. The new pun is a base-loading machine, worked by a spiral, and is now in tho Colt annorv, Hartford. Tho language of flowers : "You ore not quite so large as a whole city," said big sunflower scornfully to an humble violet. "No, sir," said the violet mod estly, lowering its head, "I am only a sub-herb." A CITY OF HOMES. Philadelphia' Chnrarterlatlr Con- irnxirn nun inrixmn rrmnrrs-.. A future full of I'romUe. (Philadelphia Call. Philadelphia has the marked pcrul iarity of being a city of homes. This means moro than the average reader will understand. It is not merely a place of shelter that is homo. New York has largely adopted tho French flat system. These can hardlv bo called homes. They ore economical contrivances for passing such time as cannot be put in elsewhere, rood, sleep, aro the necessities, but the broad, generous ide of home rarely invades thoFreio'i flat Tempi r iry shelter is tho leading idea. And tho influence of this, in the unhomulike features it pos sesses, has a molding power over those who occupy Hats. It is generally con codod that tho hwk of home sense in Paris is tho result of this form of life. Kostaurnnts take tho place of homo as resorts for food. Unsottled and wander ing, tho Hat renter leads largoly an out door life. All this is known, and tho volatile character of tho French popu lation is largely tho outcome New l ork, ns a cosmopolitan citv, is pos sessed of many traits similar to Paris. But Philadelphia has entirely differ cut characteristics. It not only has many niodorato houses and from theso through all intermediate grades up to palatial residences but the number of artistic, comfortable, roomy houses in increasing. The fact tlut capitalists are spending largo sums on such prop erties proves two tilings: That tho mass of our peoplo are so improving iu circumstances as to bo fully able to live with an approach to luxury; and that with this all tho comfort of real homos is domanded. Houses with from eight to ten rooms, finished in natural woods, with all modern conveniences, adapted to artistic furnishing, aud perfectly iiped and drained, are what are in largest demand. All this has its evi dence of the advancing prosperity and tastoofour people; but it also proves more than tii.s. The character of a population is molded by its homos. If these aro such ns to inspire elevated taste, and a sense of mental as well as physical comfort, the population is sare to advance in nil the elements of thrift. It is from this standpoint that wo re gard the future of Philadelphia as so full of promise. All it gains it keeps. It is not subject to wido lluctuations. All its grow th is solid and permanent. But when people grow iu tnsto, com fort, the sense of refinement, and so of intellectual power, it is the best of all. This is tho marked feature of Philadel phia. Its advance represents a rising intellectual griulo. And with rapid transit, which is a coming- nocessity, it will show tho finest suburbs of any city in the world. Along its northern and western borders, these already ex ist. But their number must increase rapidly. Tho soil surrounding this city is peculiarly adapted to the finest rural homes. Pnsturago, lawns, gar dens, and all that adds charm or ad vantage to rural homos enn bo hnd. And elegant places, comploto in ap pointments, will soon bo a marked feature in tho surroundings of our city. So with tho poor woll housod, aud tho bettor-to-do with an approach to ele gance, nnd grand suburban homss, Philadelphia will bo Uh great home city. , Instrnrtloni on How to Fall Asleep. Cor. Chambers' Journal I had often noticed that when en gaged in deep thought, particularly at night, there eocmed to be something like a compression of tho eyelids, tho upper one especially, and the eyes themselves w ere apparently turnod up ward, as if looking iu that direction. This invariably occurred, aud tho next moment that, by au effort, I arrested the course of thought, aud freed the mind from tho subject with which it was engaged, tho eyes resumed their normal position and the compression of the lids ceased. Now it occurred to me one night that I would not allow tho eyes to turn upward, but keep thorn determinedly in' the opposite position, as if looking down ; and having done so for a short time I found that the mind did not revert to the thoughts with which it had been occupied, and I soon fell asleep. I tried the plan again with the samo re sult; and after an experience of two years, I can truly say that, unless some thing specially annoying or worrying occurred, I have always boon able to go to sleep very shortly after retiring to rest. There may occasionally bo homo dilliculty in keeping the eves in the po sition I havo described, but a deter mined effort to do so is all that is re quired, and I am certain that if kept iu the down-looking position it will be found that composure aud sleep will be the result. The Hones of the Dead. Gerald Massey's Lecture. From the earliest glimpse we can get of cavemen wo can see that they clung to the skirts of their departing friends and kept such relics as they were . able to preserve. Tho primary type of permanence was the bono, and tins was the first thing that could be saved. The bones of tho dead were carefully embalmed long ages before the body could be preserved", as it was in Egypt and iu Mexico. The Bushmen, Hot tentots, Maoris, and other races still clothe the bones of their dead with a . coating of red earth. This, as we learn from Egyptian thought, was a modo of refleshing tho bones of tho dead in tho likeness of the living; and this was the practice of the men who buried the bones covered with red ochro in the British shell-mounds of Caithness. Before the flesh of tho dead could bo mummitied it was religiously eaten, and this was one causo of cannibalism. The Mosaic and other sacred writings con tain no annunciation of a mere doctrine of immortality, and the fact has excited constant wonder among the uniu structed. But the subject was not taught of old as a matter of written precepts, but as a matter of fact. "How could vou think of calling auntio stupid? bo to her immediately and toll her you are sorry." Freddie goes to auntie and says: "Auntie, lam sorry you are so stupid."
