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THE COLUMBIAN.
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VOL. IV.
ST. HELENS, COLUMBIA COUNTY, (OREGON, FEBRUARY 1, 11884.
NO. 26.
Each subsequent insertion. . 1 00
M' - -
ilTRv IF
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1 ;
Old John,
Helen Wilmaua.1
lie was either n natural-born thief, or the
hones est man living. He would steal, and
. he once served a term in state prison. When
ho can 10 out.' his queer old face was as inno
cent as a baby's, . and he had not the least
idea what he had lweo "juiced for.
"Why, John," 5said a neighbor, "you did
taxe the hog, didift you J"
"Ya-as, I took Pv b6t the widder and her
children .was hungry. I was hungry my
self, or 'lowed I would be soon.
"But it wasn't yours. n
"Don't know bout that. The cattle on a
thousand hills is mine.' said the Lord, an Tin
one of the Lord's children. "
This was bis - constant excuse. Property
'rights, and the bolstering op ' 6f property
l ights by law was all a net-work of subter
fnge covering up humanity's rights. - Not
that he argiuvl It Uifiway;he hardly had
st.-n.so enough to argue atalL He was a child
of nature and lived as close to nature as the
hen Is of the' field.
He worked when he could pet work, and
when he could not, he boarded at the "wid-
der's." , . ,
"The 'widder' was a powerful weakly
woman." The only thing about her that
fwined up to average was her appetite. But
John asserted that somehow her "wittles
didn't do her no good." Neither did me icine
seem to help her. She tried everything that
ever was advertised if she could raise money
to buy it, or if John could steal it for her,
and yet she was weakly. j
The neighbors all knew John would steal,
but it did no good to accuse him of it The
accusation always had the effect of shaming
the one who made it, instead of John. No
one could call him a thief and see the honest
surprise and injure-1 innocence of his homely
face and not feel rebuked.
"Damn you," said a neighbor, blustering
because he felt self-accused in accusing this
humble, patient and yet manly creature,
"Pamn you, didn't you take a side of meat
out of my smoke-house night afore last!"
"Yaas, zur." John drawled.
"What did you do it for P
"The widder was out o' grub."
"Why didn't you come and ask me for meat
like a Christian P
"A Christian, zurP
"Yes, a Christian."
"Aint ye a kind o' tangled in your idees?
Christians hed all things in common ; widder 's
hed as much as any."
"But didn't you know that meat was
mineP
"Ain't you the Lord's P
"I hope so."
"And don't he intend for us all to Lev
grubP
"Yes; when we earn it."
"I work when I can get work, an i the wid
der, she's one of the Lord's helpless ones. Do
you 'low he'll throw off on his helpless and
his poreP
"But still you should have asked me for
the meat."
"See here, mister, you mought a let me had
it, and then agin you moughtn't. I knowed
the Lord hed it fur me, and I knowed he
hedu't 'pinted watchmen to keep it from me.
So I just nat'rally took it"
The man looked into the depths of old
John's clear blue eyes, way down to where a
baby soul faced him in angelic innocence, and
he turned ujkju himself in dumb wrath, hum
bled and worsted by the encounter, and
walked away pondering.
A few days afterwards John went to him
to borrow his gun. "He must kill some
game," he said, "or they would be
out of meat; a side of bacon didnt
last thit family long." The man
- lent him the gun and a horse to ride, and
saw no more of him until the next evening.
"What luck did you haveP the neighbor
asked.
"iliddlen," said John, "nothin' to brag on,
but I got a bit o' meat such as it was." "
The neighbor) wondered a little why John
had not brought him a piece, (knowing that
he was as generous with his own things as
with other people's.) but supposed he had only
killed a fawn and that there was not enough
of it to divide. But the fact was, John had
got tired of bearing the continual anxiety
about meat and had determined to give his
-mind a rest for a few weeks; so he had killed
a 3-year-old beef belonging to the man of
whom he borrowed the gun and salted it
away carefully.
It is strange that the sly manner in which
he took the property of others should fail to
put the seal of condemnation on his acts in
bis own and his neighbor's eyes; but it did
not appear to do so. He wanted it; he knew
he would be opposed if he took it openly;
moreover, it seemed beggarly to ask. There
fore he chose between existing evils and stole
it
During the last harvest the poor old crea
ture ever saw he worked like a 6ailor and
earned the best wages going. But the "wid
der and young onesr were out of clothes; and
never a drop of' patent medicine had there
been in the house for months. So the money
melted down fast; but thechildien were well
provided for and the "mantel tree shelf" was
crowded with a choice assortment of bottles
and boxes Ayer's Sarsaparilla, Tutt's Pills,
Samaritan Nervine, Vinegar Bitters, Lind
sey's Blood Searcher, Catarrh Remedy and
Cough Pastiles. Even Rough on Rats was
there, although invisible; poor old John bo-
ing the kind of rat the whole business was
rcugh on. But John had no idea that this
family imposed on him, or that they were
under any obligations to him. And the family
were equally ignorant of the situation. The
widow bemoaned to her neighbors the natu
ral generosity that rendered it impossible for
her to refuse house room to the "shfless crit
ter;" anil the elder children were insolent to
him and guyed him unmercifully. All but
Sary Jane. '
; Sary Jane was only 3 years old and a
cripple. She was the least mite of a child
ever seca for her age, and hal never borne
her weight on her dear little pale feet in all
her life. Sary J ane could not have been as
smart as the others; at all events she had no
more sense than to love old John. She would
6it close to his head and keep the flies off
of him as h" took his noonday nap, and
would even shake her tiny fist at her big,
rough brothers when they tormented him in
her presence.
John carried the little one on his shoulder
over the neighlwrhood, and was delighted
when the kind-hearted women gave her half
worn garments and superannuated toys.
The "widder" used to tell John how Sary
Jane "mourned" for him when he was gone;
and John would listen with such glowing
eyes it seemed as if his whole soul was ab
sorbed in the narration.
"Yes," the widow would drawl out, "she
won't go to bed without you; she just humps
along to the door, and thar she sits as still as
a mouse, bent for'ard, and a. listnin' with all
her years. It's no use to teil her you won't
come; she just jerks her shouldcra, impatient
like, as if axin1 us to keep still, anl thar she
sits till she falls asleep."
As I said before, the harvest was past and
the money was spent; and Sary Jane had got
tli3 wish of her heart Sho had a pair of
hoes and two tiny red stockings. It did not
eppcar to be her intention to wear them,
though she put them on and off many times
each day, and rarely suffered tbeni out of her
hands or lap, even while eating or sleeping.
It was part of John's business to feed this
frail, sickly creature. '. It i emed to. him that
she never wished to eat, and only did so to
pleaso bim. He cut her food into small bits
and enticed her to take it by pretending to
cry. Her hold on existence was like that of
some air plant; every principle of life con
tained in the coarser elements was so much
death to her. - '
"I'm mightily afear'd of losin' hit," John
often said to the widow. But he did not lose
her, as we shall see-
One night Sary Jane sat in the open door
and watched for him. It was dark in the
cabin, and a dismal wind soughed mourn
fully through the forest trees that grew up to
the very eaves. Had she been older she
might have been frightened or . lonely ; but
she was neither. She was simply intent on
seeing her dear friend. It was getting very
late. Sary Jane would relax her interest and
lose herself momentarily in sleep; then she
would rescue her faculties to look out most
earnestly for a few moments longer. ' Pres
ently she heard a rustling . among the grass,
and leaning forward cried eagerly, "Don?
DonP
""Yes, honey," answered a faint voice.
Then there was the silence of expectation;
an expectation not realized ; for the baby
voice spoke again out of the deep hush of
listening "Don I DonP
And still no answer. Sobs began to
tear their way from the long
waiting baby bosom, which swelled into a
touching cry, mingled with "Mammy 1
Mammy!"
The mother woke up and tried to take the
child from the door, which only increased
her screams. Then, somehow or other, she
knew that John was out there and could not
come in. She lit a candle, aroused the larger
boys and went out to w here the poor fellow
was lying in pool of his own blood, riddled
with buckshot.
They got him in the house and on the bed.
They checked the flow of blood from his
many wounds. He still breathed though he
was partly unconscious. In the morning a
doctor came, said there was no hope and
went away. About noon John openea his
eyes and looked around. The widow placed
Sary Jane close up where he could see her.
He put his arm around her with difficulty;
then he looked from fa e to face; many
neighbors were there. He tried to speak; it
was evident he had something to say to
Deacon Wilson ; but not until the heat of the
day had passed and the cool twilight had
come could he muster strength.
"What's your 'pinion on the situation,
deacon P he asked.
The deacon said he hoped he would get
well.
"No:" said John, "this lays me out But
from your stau'point, now, what do you
spose my chances over there is worth? Im
not skeered, but I'd like your idees."
'What is it about the the stealin'.
JohnP
"Stealin'P said John; "I wa'nt a stealin'.
Why, look at this famerly ; not a bit o' meat in
the house. I was 'bleeged to hev it " I'd a
heap rather be where I ain than in the tracks
of the man that shot ' me heap ruther.
Think I'd kill a feller fritter for takin' the
Lord's substance to feed such helpless things
as thisP He pressed the baby closer to
him. "Why, I'd be meaner than the devil
not to do it S'pose I don't know I take my
life in my hands when I start out after night
to get grub? . 'Course I know the resk. But
what do you reckon the Lord hid say to me
if I neglected my duty by 'em. 'Feed my
lambs;' them's Hs words; 'Feed my lambs.'
That's all right, deacon; my ways the Lord
won't go agin ; but it hurts me now to think
I never was a prayin' man, I don't know
nothin' about savin' grace and it 'pears like
I mought a-loved the dear Redeemer better
than I diih I can't believe as any on us is goin'
to be everlastin'ly lost I believe even them
pore crotures that hoards up meat in houses
and has more flour and pertatus than they
can eat, and more clothes than they can war,
and more money than they can spend will
hev another chance after this life and will
event'ally repent and get forgiveness. But I
tell you, deacon, I want to go to heaven direct
I want to see the Lord. I want Him to
'pint some one in my place to take keer of
these helpless ones. I could t die if I knowed
this little child would be left in want"
"You lack savin' grace, John," said the
deacon. "You must pray for forgiveness;
the Lord can pardon the vilest sinner that
ever lived, through the power of prayer."
"But, deacon, I ain't no sins to forgive. I
ain't afear'd to face the Lord ; why, bless His
loviu' soul, He was a man of sorrers, just
like me, and he's not goin' to shefc His heart
agin me. I don t need to humble myself be
fore Him. Him and me's had a mighty close
understandiu' for yers and yers. 'Visit the
widders in their affliction,' says He, 'anl take
keer of the orphans.' 'Feed my lambs,' sez He,
and I done it"
"Works without faith," says the deacon,
"are barren. Saving graoe comes of prayer
and faith."
"I ain't never prayed none," said John, and
it's too late now."
He turned his face away and fell asleep.
The watchers thought ho would die about
midnight, but he slept quietly and painlessly,
and in the morning took some refreshment
He lingered three days, occasionally opening
his eyes and speaking to Sary Jane, who sat
perched close up to him the greater part of
the time. She had her shoes and red stock
ings there with her. Almost the last word
be spoke was to call attention to her. "She's
mighty pale and peeked lookin' " he said.
"Bring me some grub and led me feed her."
They brought him some chicken cut in
small bits. "Take a bite, honey," he said.
She shook her head.
"John'll cry ef you don't" He put his
poor, bloodless hand over his eyes.
She looked at him with a show of anxiety
and opened her mouth like a bird. But she
could not swallow the food. "It chokes me
sroat," she said. Indeed, the little throat was
swelling with long repressed sobs. Her pa
tient soul could hold out no longer against
the grief and anxiety that beset her.
"Don't cry, honey," said John; "cuddle
.down to pore old John and let's both go to
sleep. Mebby we'll wake up feelin' better."
It was late in the evening when the two
fell asleep. They rested so quietly that the
watchers, worn out and tired, dropped into
easy positions and dozed. Just at the break of
day, one a neighbor went to them. The
baby lay across John's arm slantingwise, and
his hand clasped one of her slender ankles.
The hand was ash-colored, and it was cold as
clay. It had communicated its chill and its
pallor to the little leg in its grasp.
"Take her away, quick," said the , widow,
reaching the bedside.
But the neighbor did not take her away.
He turned suddenly and grasped the widow's
hands.
"Glory to God!" he said. "Praised be His
holy name, for His wisdom exceedeth the
wisdom of man. Sister, they fell asleep to
gether; and they have.waked up feeling bet
ter. I know it because they are both in
heaven."
Tall Potato Stalk.
In Indiana, where hoop-poles are classed as
"timber," a farmer has succeeded in raising
a potato stalk over nine feet high. He trim
med off all the side branches and supported
it by means of a stake.
They make paper barrels at Akron, Ohio.
Anzllriwiu. In American Literature
Atlantic Monthly .
I believe it was Mr. Higginson who
said that it lias taen a hundred years
to eliminate the lark from American
literature ; but there are several other
lin serine delusions which we have nn
lawfully inherited from our English an-
- . m n mm
cestry. 1 have lately louna lnysei:
dissatisfied with Italy and the Medi
terranean sea. because the skies of one
and the waters of the other failed to
keep up their time-honored reputation
for unequaled "blneness. I do not need
to explain that English writers have
commented from century to century
upon the contrast letween the Italian
atmosphere and their own, and have
celebrated tne glories oi tne iorjner,
The color of the waves that beat agains
the shores of Great Britain is apt to be
a dull brown; in niany places it seems
ras if the" London fogs were the foun
tains from which the sea is replenished.
But we Americans go on placidly mak
ing our copy-books say over and over
again that the sky is blue in Italy, as
if there were not a bluer and a more
brilliant one over our own heads. Soft
and tender the heavens may be in
Venice .and above Lake Como, but there
is a tenderness and a softness of cleat
light and of shadowed light in New
England of which we should do well
to smg the beauty and the glory.
Just in the same fashion we mourn
over the gloominess of autumn,, as if
ours were the autumn of Thompson, or
of Cooper, or of any poet who wrote of
fogs, and darkness, and shortness of
days, and general death and sudden
ness and chill despair. Here there is
little dull weather until winter is fairly
come, but through the long, bright
months of September and October, and
sometimes the whole of the condemned
and dreaded November, the days not
nearly such short days as in England-
are bright and invigorating, liut we
are brought up on English books, and
our delusions of this sort are, after all,
rare disadvantages, that never can
counterbalance the greater mercies and
delights of our inher.ted literature.
A Hneeessfai Failure.
Philadelphia Call.
"Yes, George, dear, I accept your
proffered love, aud will be your wife,
and a pair of strong arms clasped her
tightly, lovingly.
"You have heard, of course," she said,
from under the lapel of his coat, "time
father has failed?" '
?No, I hadn't heard that," said
George, weakening his grip a little.
xes, she continued, nestlinsr more
closelv to him ; "he failed last week,
and "
"That puts a different phase upon
matters entirelv," said George, strug
gling to break loose, but the girl held
him fast and continued :
"And settled with his creditors at 2
cents on the dollar, and "
"Nay, dearest, ' interrupted George,
passionately, "do not speak of such sor
did matters. Let us think only of love
and the happiness which the bright
future has in store "
But, gentle reader, let us leave them
in their young love and perfect trust.
Hunting and Flshlnx in X or way.
St Louis Globe-Democrat
Norway was once an anglers' para
dise, and good trout fishing is still to be
had in its remoter districts. Salmon
formerly abounded in the fjords into
which rivers descend, but these
estuaries are now closely netted, being
for the most part either leased by Brit
ish anglers or trapped by the natives.
The upper waters of the best rivers are
barred to salmon by impassable dams.
The last mmmer was unusually dry in
Scandinavia, and the sport was j oor.
Game of one kind or another, however,
is generally to be found by the hunts
man. Wild beasts exist in the more
distant regions in considerable variety,
though not in great numbers. There
are plenty of ptarmigan, red grouse
and black grouse, and about the lakes
and fjords there are ducks, coots and
herons by the thousand.
Didn't Ciet the -ood of It. Komehow.
Nashville Journal.
Uncle Abe was fond of , 'possum.
Having caught one, he got his wife,
Dinah, to cook it for him, aud re
quested that it should be placed in the
cupboard until morning. The favor
was granted, and Uncle Abe lay down
before a log fire and went to sleep. His
son, Mose, coming in late, got the 'pos
sum and ate it, laid the bones down at
Uncle Abe's head, smeared the old
man's face and hands with the grease,
and went to bed. The following morn
ing Uncle Abe awoke and asked Dinah :
"Whar's dat 'possum ?"
"In de cupboard," which she ex
plored and found it missing.
Returning, Dinah inquired: "Abe,
when did you eat dat 'possum? Dar's
de bones at your head, yer face smells
of 'possum, and yer ban's are greasy."
"Maybe I did eat dat 'possum, but if
I did it dun me less good dan any 'pos
sum I ever et."
The London Telegraph.
Mr. Sala's well known remark that
as special correspondent of The Daily
Telegraph he had been paid like an
ambassador and treated like a prince,
may be parodied by the political leader
writers on that paper since the new and
palatial offices have been built, says
Figaro. There is in this building a
suite of rooms which is placed at the
disposal of the leaier writers of the
day, who may, by giving notice, secure
a comfortable bed-room on the premises"
after their journalistic labors are over,
as well as hospitable entertainment the
following morning. This is certainly
doing the thing exceptionally well.
Providence and the Crops.
Macon Telegraph.
"Your crop seems to be considerably
in the grass," said a passer-by to a negro
who sat on a fence. "Yes, sah, Gen.
Green's dun got it." "Did you over
plant yourself?" "No, sah; planted
'bout 'nuff." "Why didn't you plow it?"
"Wife tuck sick. She does the plowin'
fnrdis place." ''What do you do?"
"What does I do? I preaches, dat's
what I does. Ef Providence comes
along an' makes de 'oman sick, I kan't
help it. Ise been called, I has."
Yonkers Gazette: The fashionable
Sus-tnnow writes her nick:namo' Sioux."
8 Wl
Wmai
PERE HYACI NTHE8
The Story el the Yonnar lYeman ho
Wept and Despaired of the Fa
tare.- - ' 1 '
Seneca County (Ohioy Letter.! -i
The prominence attainei by the re
xormed uatholie," i ather Hyacintho, or
the Eev. Charles Loyson,who is now
on a short visit to this country, will
mate of interest an item concerning his
wiie. juts, iioyson was Unily J . liut
terneld, the younzest of thi six children
of a worthy man who livedin Melraore,
oeneca . county, many years , ago.
unen a young . girl herT father was
Kiiiea wniie engaged (in moving
tne Aietnodist church' it Melmore.
1-1 . C ! -W- a. r '7-
jL.muy iratterneia wa a very
pretty girl with regular' features, and
long, heavy auburn .haif. She was
witty, a good conversationalist, and a
leader in the littla .soci2y ci Melmore,
where she acquired a common - school
education. Soon after the death of
her father, Dr. H. B. Martin, who was
reading medieinefound her sitting on
a stone near her home crying. . He
kindly inquired the cause, and she re
plied: "Oh! IH never amount to any
thing." Mr. Martin comforted her by
telling her she would yet traverse the
wide world and see all people and
countries ; that she would yet stand on
volcanic mountains. Little did he
think the prophecv would come true,
but she remembered it, and one day
after viewing Vesuvius she wrote to
the doctor, reminding him of the
prophecy.
In about 1854 she married Mr. Mer
riman, and with him went to New York
city, where two children, a boy and a
girl, were born. The daughter after
ward died, Mr. Merriman became dis
sipated, und she left him and went to
Europe, taking her son with her for the
purpose of educating him. Of her life
in Europe little is known here. There
she became acquainted with the strong
minded Catholic priest, and on his
leaving the Catholic church became his
wife. She is now about 50 years of
age. In a recent letter to ner orotner,
U. W. Butterheld, in Wisconsin, sue
expressed a wish to again visit her old
friends in Seneca county, and declared
her intention to do so if it is possible.
Up to Fan and Larks.
Crpffut's New Tork Letter.
The story that Lady Mandeville has
been robbed of valuable jewels causes a
ripple of not unkind merriment here.
The fact is, that the Mandevilles are
quite poor, getting along by various
makeshifts. His lordship has such ex
pensive habits that his father has long
since cut him off with a very small al
lowance, and they came to America
merely to "boom the VanderbiHs" in
New York society.- Lady Mandeville
is Mrs. Vanderbilt's sister-in-law.
Mandeville is up to fun and larks.
Last summer the Buffalo Bill com
bination gave an Indian raiding exhibi
tion at Newport before the upper ten
there assembled. hen the stage
coach came dashing down into the
ravine where the "road agents Jay in
wait for it what was the' astonishment
of the audience to see Lord Mandeville,
Isaac Bell, Jr., Kipp, and other New
lork swells on top of the coach yelling
and firing off their guns at the robbers !
Mandeville doesn t stop at the ander-
bilts with his wife, but occupies bache
lor quarters up Madison avenue. I
haven't seen him lately, and it is pos
sible that he has by this time joined the
great B. B. combination as one of the
regular performers. If his old father
should happen to die, though, I sup
pose he would quit the troupe where
ever it might happen to be, go to Eng
land, take his seat in the house of
lords, and enter upon his dukedom,
leaving poor Buffalo Bill in the lurch.
Why the Public Won't Bar Stork-
"Investor" in Detroit Free Press.
There exists now, in New. York, a
regiment of millionaires, that between
them own so many stocks and bonds
that they could capture all the floating
money in the country, and lock it up,
through the sale of these stocks and
bonds, if the people were only fools
enough to give it to them in exchange
for these securities. Once that the
money was in the hands of these men,
it would be locked up, and a financial
bank panic would be precipitated on
the country by locking up money and
by a railroad war for the purpose of
buying back these securities, at half
price or quarter price. This process
would double or quadruple the already
overgrown fortunes of tnese million
aires. Need you wonder that tne
generous public decline to subscribe to
such a plan to make the rich man richer
and the poor man poorer .'
On the other hand, if the public sells
stocks short, these millionaires have it
in their power to put up the market on
them, and to capture their margins, as
happened recently. So that either
way that the public trade in N all
street buying long or selling short
they are in a trap and lose their money.
Helt Railroad Round the World.
Eastern Letter.
But whv confine the enterprise of
railroad connection to the two Ameri
can continents, when Asia and Europe
may also be embraced within a colossal
system of world-wide improvement .'
.... , ,
It is onl tnn ty mues across reunng
strait. It is 3,000 miles across the
Atlantic ocean. The inevitable monot
onv and increasing oeril of loner voy
ages, in ships of ever-questionable
stanchness, are becoming quite msui
ferable. Were I now as young as my
own children. I should expect to live to
enjoy the pleasure of visiting and run
ning over JHurope oy way oi AiasKa,
Siberia and Russia. Thenceforth, most
travelers from the United States,
whether for business or pleasure, would
contemplate journeying to Europe,
Asia and South America, or to any one
of those errand divisions of our globe,
by land. - '
KaiunilrVi Floating Wardens.
Exchange.l
The floating gardens at Kashmir in
eastern Asia seem to be one of the
wonders of the world. - Ihey cover an
expanse of water about nine mile 4 in
circumference, and on a tubsou of
grasses and aquatic plants tney grow
melons and cucumbers', and a crop is
raised of great value.
One's Uleat Another's Polsen.
Cincinnati Enquirer. j
Snakes bite a horse, and he dies in a
few hours. A. rattlesnake's bite has
frequently proved fatal in three hours
on horse-Cash; yet a hog will eat and
grow fat on snakes." Some years ago
there was a valuable island near Mil
waukee. The soil was rich, and the
owner offered to give it to any one who
would live there, as the snakes were so
bad. A chap having a knowledge -of
natural history got a drove of hogs and
dumped them on the island. Though
the snakes bit the hogs, this only tickled
them ; they got so fond of snakes that
they'd leave a corn-field to root into a
snake hole, and now the fellow has a
fine market garden on the island, and
has made an independent fortune. The
island is as clear of snakea as Ireland.
The ox and goat are both ruminating
animals. Now, a bundle of laurel leaves
will poison the ox, but the goat will eat
them and grow fat. Man and the in
digenous animals of Africa pay no more
attention to the bite of the tsetse fly
than does our ox to that of the gad-fly,
yet its bite is fatal to all European ani
mals, and the natives can not keep do
mestic animals where it - exists1. The
seeds and fruit of the strychnos plant
(from abeca comes strychnine) is a
deadly poison to a human being or a
dog; yet the horn-bills in India will eat
enough in a day to kill an army of peo
ple. A few drops of nicotine will kill a
cat, and tobacco is death to lice, moths
and other vermin, but in Australia they
have an animal called the "koala," or
native bear, which is inordinately fond
of tobacco in any form. They have
been known to chew and swallow the
black Victoria strong tobacco with rel
ish, and one of them ate up the whole
of a foul pipe-stem, nicotine and all.
Why Pattl Went Abroad.
Boston Herald. 1 I
Can you tell me why Patti refused so
many years to sing in her native coun
try ? I believe I can. Her genius budded
here, but no one saw it. Her jart ide
veloped here, but no one recognized it.
She might have stayed here until she
was 145 for all the good it would have
done her, but the moment she (reached
the capitals of Europe and dropped
from her mouth pearls of song and po
etic phrases of meloJy, both genius and
art were recognized and welcomed.
"Here," said they, "is genitis. AVe
must care for it," and that is precisely
what they did, using, but not abusing,
her marvelous powers, in all the great
capitals of the world until she wore
a diadem oa her brow, her coffers were
overflowing with golden shekels, and
every drummer in the universe knew
her to be A No. 1 and warranted, not to
fade. I i
What is that, "not to fade?" j
Ha ! How little the untraveledj Ameri
can knows about the Patti of ten and
fifteen years ago! If she is beautiful
to-day, she was radiant then. She
has grown stouter; the lines in her face
are deeper; she is susceptible to fatigue;
late suppers do not agree with her ; she
avoids society. . In other w ords, she is
fading. Her voice magnificent, her
methods perfect with closed eyes a
poet may sit aud rhapsodize as she
sings floating far, far above in the very
uppermost air, soaring with the birds
in their most ambitious flight fbut she
has faded, and is not the Patti physi
cally to-day she was ten years ago. She
is not the Patti "vocally she was ton
years ago.
Mhe lost Her Handkerchief.
Chicago Inter Ocean.
A laughable incident occurred the
other evening on a south side car. A
nice, modest-looking girl took her seat
near the front door of the car next to
a well-dre-sed middle-aged gentleman.
She laid her dainty lace handkerchief
in her lap to adjust her hat just as the
car door was opened and a j gU3t of
wind sent the delicate lace kerchief
into the lap of her neighbor. She hes
itated about reaching for it, when1 the
gentleman, glancing downwards, beheld
something white, and being I a little
near-sighted, at once jumped to the
conclusion that he had met with a dis
aster and lost a button and his shirt
needed attention. He swiftlyl flapped
his overcoat across his lap yith his
left, and with his right hand tucked the
offending linen out of sight in, a jiffy.
Several persons who noticed the ! act
were convulsed with laughter! and the
gentleman, not dreaming of the real
cause, soon alter leit tne car. if any
south side wife has this week found any
daintv lace handkerchief about I her
husband's clothes she need not be jeal
ous it was only a case of mistaken
identity. j i
The W." Htone. !
"Caspar's" New York Letter. J
This old stone, it appears, was lying
around at the hospital for a long time,
having been rejected as a revolutionary
relic by competent judges, when some
one got the notion of making it a relic
anyway, had it inserted in' the building
and an inscription cut in it setting forth
that it was the identical stone made
sacred by the boots of the father of the
country when he took the oath j of office
as aforesaid. Is the world only fleet
ing show, any wav ? Is it all a fraud, a
delusion and a scare? Was there reallv
ever such a person as G. W., and did he
ever do anvthmg anywhere i No won
der the agnostics are increasing.. Here's
a big stone that has been regarded i as a
sacred relic for almost a generation now
declared to have no more historic value
than an old cobblestone, aud the great
nineteenth century winding up at that.
i
For the Make of - Harmony."
Argosy. j
The other day a friend refurnished
his house from top to bottom to please
his charming but slightlv capricious
wife. No sooner comfortably (or un
comfortably) settled, than they discov
ered the shape of the rooms and the
gene x style of the house to be oat of
harmony with the furniture, lhis was
unendurable. There was only! one
thing to be done. Having bought the
furniture for the house, they pnust now
build a house for the furniture. Lare.
and penates were warehoused, the house
pulled down, and my friend and his
charming wife have gone traveling
abroad for a year, while a famous
architect of advanced views builds them
a house on a pure Dutch model to suit
their upholstery.
QUESTIONS.
Grace S. Wells in Weekly Magazine.
Sometime, somewhere, oh, soul oppressed,
"VVilt thou forget in Heaven's rest
Earth's weariness, so hard to bear,
Wilt thou recall no past despair!
No pang of problems dark, unguessedl
Or will e'en tragedies attest. .
Transfigured by an insight blessed, -The
presence of a Father's care, .
Sometime, somewhere?
Or wilt thou cease from bootless quest,
Thy body laid on nature's breast,
Her round of countless change to share,
And thus oblivious, unaware,
Forget hfe's secret unconfessecL
Sometime, somewhere?
MANUFACTURE OF STEEL PENS.
The Variens Processes of Aaneallajr.
Htamplnx, Hardening aad Polish
Ing. Chronique Industrielle. .
Steel used for 'making pens reaches
the factory in Bheets about two feet
long by one foot three inches wide,
0.004 inch thick. They are cut into
bands of different widths, according to
the dimensions of the pen required, the
most usual widths being two, two and
one-half, and three inches. The bands
are then heated in an iron box and
annealed, when they are passed on to
the rolls and reduced to the desired
thickness of the finished pen, thus
being transformed into ribbons of great
delicacy, about four feet long. The
blanks are then stamped out from the
ribbons by a punching machine, the
tool of which has the form of the pen
required. The blanks leave the die at
the lower part of the machine, and fall
into a drawer with the points already
formed. . They are then punched with
the small hole which terminates the
slit, and prevents it from extend, ag,
and afterwards raised to a cherry-red
heat in sheet iron boxes. ' The blanks
are then curved between two dies, the
concave one fixed and the convex
brought down upon it by mechanism.
The ens, now finished as regards
their f6rm, are hardened by being
plunged, hot, into oil, when they are as
brittle as glass. After cleansing, by
being placed in a revolving barrel with,
sawdust, they are tempered in a hollow
cylinder of sheet iron, which revolves
over a coke fire after the manner of a
coffee roaster. The cylinder is open at
one end, and while it is being turned, a
workman throws in twenty -five gross of
pens at a time, and watches carefully
the effect of the heat on the color of the
pens. When they assume a fine blue
tint, he pours the pens into a large
metal basin, separating them from one
another, to facilitate the cooling.
After this jjrocess, which requires
great skill and experience, comes the
polishing, which is effected in receptacles
containing a mixture of soft sand and
hydrochloric acid, and made to revolve.
This operation lasts twenty-four hours,
and gives the pens a steel grey tint. The
end of the pen, between the hole and
the point, is then ground with an emery
wheel, revolving very rapidly. There
only now remains to split the pens, which
is the most important operation, being
performed by a kind of shears. The
lower blale it fixed, and the upper one
comes down with a rapid motion, slightly
below the edge of the fixed blade. To
give perfect smoothness to the slit, and
at the same time make the pens bright,
they are subjected to the operation of
burnishing by being placed in a revolv
ing barrel almost entirely filled with
boxwood sawdust.
Whistler's Whims In White and Yd.
low.
' "Itubamah's" New York Letter.
While the music-mad revel in their
high art at the two temples, the hyper
scsthetes of the sunflower order gather
at the Wunderlich gallery, on Broad
way, where Whistler exhibits some
"etchings and dry points" in a room
which is denominated "an arrangement
in white and yellow." The vagaries of
this eccentric American have stirred
the British public from time to time,
and now this weird genius- fills the
place . left vacant by the departure of
Oscar Wilde. Coming straight from
the wild woods and the west, an artistic
friend led me straightway to the white
and yellow sanctuary to let high art
cast its soothing spell upon nie. There
was to be seen a bare, chilly looking
room with white walls and floor, yellow
base-board, and frieze and yellow dra
penei at the doorway and fireplace. A
yellow divan in the centre, various
sickly yellow jars on white tables, and
a very pale boy in yellaw and white
livery completed the "arrangement."
Everyone looked pale and ghastly
in the midst of so much trying light and
unhealthy color, and the pictures were
such minute scraps of etchings on such
exaggerated white mats that it wai hard
to focus the attention upon them. The
whole thing was a grand burlesque on
art, and the only idea one carries away
w as that of the glaring contrast of yel
low and white, and the row of blank
and puzzled faces that went the round
of the room. When he had left the gal
lery and walked a square in silence, a
man evidentlv just recovered from the
yellow fever, passed us, and with one
glance my artistic friend turned to me
and we laughed aloud on crowded
Broadway at the coincident complex
ion.
A Cotton Caterpillar Preventive.
Georgia Intelligencer.
"Well, boss," says he, "I isn't had
any caterpillars in my cotton dis- year.
I has learnt how to keep 'em out.
Well, how was that?" his questioner
inquired fervently. "Well, yon see.
boss, when dey fust comes you just
catch nine of 'em and kill eight and den
tell de oder to git an' tell de crowd dat
dey mus move dey quarters. Deyll do
it eb'ry time, boss, and you needn't to
doubt it. Dat s jest de way 1 kep em
out'n my patch."
Cincinnati Enquirer: People build
houses by putting all the carved free
stone and costly embellishments on the
front and all the cheap brick at the
back. Some characters are built the
same way precisely.
"Did you ever think what you would
do if you had the duke of Westminster's
income? Village pastor: "No; but
I have sometimes wondered what lie
would do if he had mine."
THE CUP WHICH CHEERS- ----- -
Various Ways of Drlnklnslt Amer -
lean Ways and foreign Customs.
American Queen.
If many cups of tea have the reverse
of a beneficial effect on the system, on
account of the reaction and sense of ex
haustion which they invariably produce,
yet the first cup of tea offered v M io
vigorating as it is welcome, and tlja tea
is as closely associated with i English
and American women in the minds of
Frenchmen as is coffee with the French
in the mind of Americans. As to the
accompaniments of tea cream and
sugar a recent writer boldly asks: n
Why dont we. forswear them both? as
at this hour of the day they interfere far -more
with, the digestive organs than
does the tea itself; he considers
it would always be as rational, to add
cream and sugar to wine as to delicately
2 flavored,. tea.r,, This is rather gomg
ahead, writer, and if we are inciinea jo
sacrifice our sugar w e have not yet made
up our minds to give up our cream ; in
deed, gentlemen who drink tea are very i
free with the cream, both when help
ing ladies and when helping themselves. I
Sugar is decidedly going out of fashion
at afternoon tea, and out of ten ladies,
perhaps, only three will say yes when it
is offered ; but it may be this is rather
the result of fashion than fancy.
The French, on the contrary, take
sugar lavishly ; they even dispense with
the use of sugar tongs, which the
Americans consider so indispensable at
the tea-table, and help themselves to
sugar with their fingers.
We draw upon the Russians for many
of our customs connected with the din
ner table, but have not yet taken kindly
to their idea of tea drinking; that is to
say, substituting lemon for sugar and
cream "fragrant peel and a hint of
acid," a slice of lemon no thicker nor
larger than half a crown. This, ac
cording to authority already quoted, ,
"neither disguises nor flattens the aroma
of good tea, as do the conventional ad
ditions, sugar and cream, but combines
with and heightens it." The great fault
of using lemon consist in adding
it in excess. whereas - a very
slight shaving containing both peel
and pulp is the correct quantity for
an ordinary cup of tea. But this
custom has yet to take root, and with
us this process is but a slow one; we
are not too ready to take up a new idea,
but once we have done so, it is remark- ,
able with what pertinacity we cling to
it. When lemon is substituted for
cream and sugar, slices of the prescribed
size are handed with the tea. Any one
who has once tasted the Russia caravan
tea will understand the term good tea,
but this is a luxury which only the
wealthy care to invest in, as it costs up
ward of $10 per pound. There is, p!
course, a medium in , all things, and
there is a wide margin from which to
choose, and economy in this direction
is soon detected. It is the province of
the master of the house to buy the tea,
and the one is far oftener celebrated for
the wine he gives his guests than is the
other for the choice tea offered to hers.
Xeed of a Better Edaeatlon.
rpemorest's Monthly.
Nearly every one who testified before
the senate commission which sat in
New York recently, as to the best
means of benefiting the laboring classes,
agrees that vital changes must be made
in our common school education. Boys
and girls mnst be trained to work as
well as to read, write and cipher.
France, Germany, and . especially
Switzerland, are far ahead of the
United States in technical and art
education. Hence the immense' su
periority of the foreign workmen in all
our shops and manufactories over the
native employes.
The American is naturally the most
intelligent, quick-witted, and inventive,
but he is left hopelessly in the rear
when in competition with the trained
European artisan. We must rid our
selves of the superstition that our com
mon school system is perfection. As a
matter of fact, it is wofully deficient as
compared with the' industrial education
given by continental European nations
to their working classes. Apart from
our scientific schools, the Cooper
Union, and the Boston Technological
institute, uo provision has been made
in the United States to do work that re
quires intelligence and artistic skill.
The President's "l,ljchtsln' Wood."
New York Tribune,
The other day a large hogshead, sent
from North Carolina by express to the
president, was delivered at the White
House. A -colored domestic who took
it in charge explained that "Dat dar
bar'l is full, sah, ob lightnin' wood. or as
yer might say, split pitch-pine kindlin's
fur de making ov fires. Soncef Mr. Ar
thur hez been presidint, w e hev leen
a-gittin' on 'em ebbery munf durin' de
fall an' winter. Mister Arthur nebber
goes to bed in cold wedJer widout a big
blazin' fire in his room, wedder here or
out to Soldiers' Home, and we as has
ter clean up and look arter de fires hez
ter take up a bundle ob dis hyar light
nin' wood ebbery night, so as he kin
frow it in de fire an make er blaze, an
sit dar an tink while a-watchin' ob de
wn.ll. When he nss de
lightnin' wood, he rebber uses er light,
an' when he gets tired he jumps in de
bed an' watches de flames flicker till be
goes ter sleep. lie's mighty perticker
ler about dis lightnin' wood, an' if de
supply gins out, dar is some fun till dar's
more put in de bin."
Plantation Philosophy.
Arkansaw Traveler.
De simplest truth is de truest truth,
fur it am un'erstood b de most people.
Fear ain't based on judgment A hog
will run quicker from a brickbat den he
will from a gun.
De thoughts what rise in a man longs
ter hisself, but de thoughts w hat he gits
frum books, longs ter somebody else.
Tourgueneff 's brain weighed, it is
said, 2,012 grammes, and was the
heaviest human brain ever weighed.
The average weight is 1,300 grammes.
Cuvier's brain weighed 1,800 grammes.
Cider is so plentiful in France this
year that drivers refresh their horses
with pails of it in the rural districts
where it is handier than water.