- THE COLUMBIAN.
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VOL. V.
ST. HELENS, COLUMBIA COUNTY, OREGON, MAY 15, im.
NO. 41.
THE COLUMBIAN.
U iVIBI AN
El V II rJ TV 11 N YL'-
Y GIRLS.
What makes the srtirtll bov rjuake with feai
M'licnever they approach "him nonr,
AuJ wax him teU from cur to ear?
Ye Girl!
And TTben the Ice-cream daya besln.
What mikes the pocket-book jcrowr thin,
Caa.il the Ice-creain man to grin?
- Ye Girls!
Eke, when the pvs'cr lone dothf awlm
Wtihln the chor:h-talr'a soup tooVa rim.
Who la it arcttY-w.Uo 3 I Mm?
Now fit me why the mustache crows
Ji.'ueutn tnv ten-ier MU-pimj s note.'
What foakea hiia wear his Sundav cto'ea?
Ve tiirla !
What is It tender, sweet and plump.
That in the waltz do jjlide (or jump)
And at pianos loud do thump'
Ye Girl!
IT. T. Talbott, in Texas Sifting.
FOR MEASURING TIME.
Queer
Methods
Primitive
Employed'
Times.
In
The Hoy Who Dropped rebbles and the
Monk Who-Prayed Trumpet Bio- -
fcyr. C lepnydraa. Hour-ilaa and
Jladern Clock and YVatchea.
The tirst people who appear to have
allotted the day into portions were the
Assyrians, who indented the clepsydra,
or water clock, at a period too remote
for precise caleulaton. All that is
known for certain is that the apparatus
ex'sied before the overthrow of the first
As-yrian empire by Abaces and Beleses.
in tne year 759 1. C.
This wat?r clock was nothing more
tlan a brass vessel of cylindrical shape
hold.ng several gallons of water. A
very sniall hole was bored in one of its
s.dos, through which the liquid was al
lowed to trickle, and it was calculated
that the vessel" could empty itself about
five or s'x times a day. Under the
reign of Phul, the royal palace of Nine
vah, and each of the principal districts
of the city possessed a water clock of
the tame shape and capacity. They
were all filled together or as nearly as
po-s.ble together, at the signal of a
watchman stat.oned aloft on a tower to
procla m the rising of the sun. and
they nma ned all day in the keeping
of officials, whose business it was to
till tht m as soon as they became emptj.
Tuere was a regular staff of criers em
ployed in connection with each of the
t me offices, ami as often as the water
clocks were replenished they passed
through the streets shout ng Out" the"
fact for the benefit of the townspeople.
In th s way a sort of rough computa
t on of the flight of time was obtained.
Th intervals between the filling and
emptying of These vessels were called
wauhes," and were, of about two
hours and a half's duration. It is hard
to suppose that the water clocks kept
very steady pace with each other. The
difficulty of making by hand vessels of
the same size, of drilling them with
holes precisely the same uiametcr and
of supplying them with water of just
the same density mu.-t have given rise
to a great deal of irregularity :a the
working of these machines.
The clepsydra remained in its primi
tive condition for many centuries, and
it was not until the invention of the
sun dial at Alexanaria, 580 years be
fore Christ, that it underwent any im
provement. About that time an Egyp
tian of M mphis added a dial, with a
h ind, to the clep-ydra. The hand re
volved on a pivot, and communicated
wt th a string which was fastened to a
float. As the water leaked out the
float fell w,th it, and the tension of the ,
str.ng caused the hand to move around
with spasmodic jerk?.
This reform, tho igh meritorious in
theory, proved deficient in practice, for j
the old difficulty about getting the
clocks to 'keep step was doubled or
trebled when the system became com
plicated with dial, needle, string and
lloat. But notwithstanding its draw
backs, the improvement was a valuable
on. b. cause it prepared the way for
further changes and led to the perfec
tion of the water clock by the substitu
tion of a system of dented wheels for
those already in use. The wheels were
set to work on the water-mill principle,
ami the addition of a second needle al
lowed the clock to mark the factions of
the different "watches."
This was the plus ultra so far as the
clepsydra was concerned. It dates
from 250 years before Christ, and
Egypt which had become the great
mart of the new time-piece, exported
them to the different countries of the
East as rare curiosities and at fabulous
prices. When Poropey returned to
Kome. in the year 62 before Christ,
from triumphing over Antiochus and
Mithri dates, one of the most valuable
troph'es he brought with him from the
treasures of the King of Pontus was an
Egyptian clepsydra, marking the hours
and m'nutc.s according to the method
of horology in mo in Rome.
The cylinder wh ch served as a re
ceptacle for the water was of gold, as
was also the d al plate. The hands
w. re studded w th small rubies, and
each of the c phcrs that denoted the
twenty-four hours of the day was cut
out of a sapphire. The cylinder only
needed replenishing once a day.
Then cum the age of total darkness
that followed the overthrow of tho
lioma-i Empire. The larbarians who
conquered the imperial city had very
primit i m des of marking the course
of tinv. At the break of day, when
th-. chieftain of the camp or village
rose, a boy slave came and took his
position at the entrance of the hut and
sat there with two helmets, one full of
f lobbies and tho other empty before
i:ni. II s business was to transfer the
pebbles, one by one, from tho first hel
met to the second, and not too fast,
after which he surrendered the posi
t'on to fome one else, who repeated
t'ie oj erat on, and so on until it be
came da k. As th helmets were large
:trd the- pebbles small, it took two
hours to make tne transfer.
As soon as the helmet had been emp
tied, the fact was procla'med through
the camp by the striking of a sword
against a shield, oug fashion, at the
chieftain's door. The echo was caught
up and all around the people knew that
their dinner time had come.
The methods of marking time differed
according to the locality. In peasant dis
tricts, the laborer reckoned by the num
ber ot furrows he could plow, or, il it
was harvest time, by the quantity of
corn he could reap. ' In towns where
some faint remnant of lloman civiliza
tion survived, the reckoning was kept
by watchmen. At daybreak a soldier
started on foot, or, if the town was a
large one, on horseback, to walk
around the city. When he had gone his
round the first watch was over, and he
returned to his quarters blowing loudly
j on a trumpet, when a second sohlier
'A'- watch. This continued Uninterruptod
! lv dav and night, the onlv difference
being that after sunset there was no
trumpet blowing, and the watchmen,
instead of going round singly, went
their rounds in batches of ten or a
dozen.
As a last instance of batbarous ehro
nometry, allusion should be made to
the method employed in monasteries.
The monks were in the habit of com
puting time by the number of prayers
thev could sav, and it was from this
that the custom of wearing ehaplets of
beads arose. The task assigned to each
monk was to recite as many "paters"
and '-aves" as there were beads on his
string, and, as the number on a chap
let was supposed to be then thirty
three, that is, one for each year of our
Saviour's life, there was work for a
good hour and a half, if conscientiously
performed. As in the case of the ur
ban watchman, one monk was relieved
by another, and the termination of each
vigil" was notified to the community
by the tolling of th: chapel bell. This
custom continue-' unaltered in certain
monastic establishments. In monas
teries of a severe order there is no such
thing as a clock. The only time-keepers
are the shorn, becowled monks
kneeling in perpetual adoration.
It was the famous caliph of Bagdad.
Haroun-al-Baschid, who restored the
old water clock to Europe. In the year
807. he sent a very beautiful clepsydra
to Charlemagne, but it was looked upon
as a thing to be admired and not to be
copied after.
The reason of this was that the sa
blier, sand-glass, had been invented in
France shortly before the accession of
Charlemagne, and the contrivance was
considered handier and more . simple
than the other.
The first sabiier was invented by tlie
man who reinvented the blowing of
glass after the secret had been lost for
3:ears. He was a, monk of Chartrcs
named Luitprand, and the sandglass
he made was the exact prototype of all
those that have been made since. It
consisted of two pear shaped recepta
cles joined by their slender ends. When
the sand ""toad-an run from one -end -to
the other, the lower glass was turned
uppermost and kept in that position
until empty. Charlemagne caused a
monster sabiier to be made with the
Ikoral divisions marked on the outside
by thin lines of red paint. This was the
first hour glass. It required to bo
turned over only once in twelve hours,
and it kept time w th as much preci
sion as the best of our lever clocks.
Many persons st.ll consider the hour
glass the best time-keeper ever invent
ed. King Alfred devised a method of
computing time by means of a rush
light fct ia a lantern. Anything more
unsatisfactory- or expensive than this it
was impossible to imagn.?. One m ght
very well nicker for an hour and an
other flame away in ten minutes.
The first real clock wadset up in 1734
during the reign of Charles V. of
France. The maker was one Henri de
Vic. an Arab, whs) had been converted
to Christianity. This clock was a mon
ster machine, we gh'ng live hundred
weight. It was put up in the round
tower of the royal palace, now the
Palais de Justice, and attracted crowds
for several months after it was erected.
The maker received a pension of one
hundred crowns of gold lor life and was
ennobled. lie is the first artificer on
whom this distinction was ever confer
red in France. From this time the
making of large clocks for public edi
lic.'s was extensive.lv carried on
throughout Europe.
But it was not tintil the begin n in": of
the sixteenth century that small clocks
were made for apartments. The first
one came from Florence in 1.)1S as a
present from Julio de .Medici to King
francis 1. of t ranee
I he invention or watcnes hau pre
ceded by a lew years that of small
clocks. Popular trail. tion ascribes the
invention of watches to Peter Ilele, of
Nuremburg, in the year 1490; but King
Robert, of Scotland, possessed one as far
back as J.ilO. German watches were
not introduced at the English court
until 15U7. They cost fabulous sums of
money, and were made in fancy forms,
such as acorns, olive., walnuts and
crosses, and were also worn as pend
ants to ladies' bracelets. Claude, wife
of Francis I., of France, had one so
small that it was sot in a ring. Ilugens,
of Zulichem, invented the pendulum
clock, the simplest and the most ad
mirable machine. The invention of the
spring pocket watch is accorded to the
Englishman Hooke in 16;8, and eigh
teen years after this the first repeating
watch was made at Amsterdam.
Since 1G7G no new developments have
been made in the mechanical science of
horology. But in latter days Helesses
and Hugenseo have discovered several
methods of making clocks go by elec
tricity without giving us the great
trouble of winding.
In the last century the watches of
Geneva were unrivalled, but nowadays,
from wishing to make too cheaply,
Geneva has lost some of her prestige,
and .Swiss watches havj come to be
looked upon with some disfavor, es
pecially in England. There seems to
be a battle for supremacy between
France and England. France carries
off the palm for the exquisite beauty of
ladies' watches, while England has
great rep tation for the soundness and
.finish of gentlemen's watches, and
America, though younger in the art of
horology, is not behind the other na
tions in the way of fame.
English chronometers are held in
comparable the whole world over. All
the naval chronometers undergo a
probationary usage of six months, and
often longer, at Greenwich Observa
tory before they are ready to go over
the seas. They are subjected to a
whole seriea. of scientific experiments,
comprising all possible changes of tem
perature, ordeal by fire and ordeal by
water. The work is very dfficult, and
when a man completes the examina
t on he should rank as an artist, rathei
than a mere mechanic. Utica (N. Y.
Pre. .
SWEET POTATOES.
How the Tuber. Which are Not
Potatoes
at all, Are Grown.
Sweet potatoes are not potatoes, and
yet they gave the name to the true po
tato. They are a species of convolvu
lus, closely related' to the well-known
plant of that same, and more closely to
the mnlorv garden plant, ipomea. r
botanical nama is Convolvulus ' batatas
or Batatas edulis, and from this has
been derived the common name of a
very different plant, Solanum tuber
o urn, our common ; potato. It is a
twining plant, and when grown as an
ornamental climber makes a very pret
ty ornament for the window garden.
It is an exceedingly valuable plant for
its nutritive tuberous root, and was the
popular substitute for the South Amer
ican potato in the northern part of the
continent when it was discovered by
Columbus. It formed the principal
subsistence of the Revolutionary Army
in the Southern States, and formed the
noonday meal of General Marion in
South Carolina when he was visited by
the Br.tish officers after his victory at
Cow pens. It conta'ns not only a large
portion of March, but also much sugar,
and when dr ed and reduced to flour
makes an equally nutritious and agree
able food as when cooked in its natural
form. It w 11 grow wherever corn will,
and usually yields as much 'as an aver
age crop of the common potatoes and
twice as much in the South, which is
too warm for the latter crop. It
thrives best in a warm, light, sandy
loam, but will grow even upon a clay
soil if it is thoroughly well pulverized
by good culture.
The mode of culture is as follows:
Early in the spring, as soon as the
heavy frosts are over, a hot-bed is pre
parer! in the usual way and the tubers
are planted whole in it. The sprouts
soon appear, and when they are about
six inches long thev are slipped off
with the roots attached t- them, and j
are then set out m beds about eighteen
to twenty inches apart. The eyes or
buils sprout again, and so a large num
ber of sl:ps are taken from each tuber.
The beds are usually left uncovered
during the day, and are protected by
sashes or by a covering of straw or
swamp hay 'during the nights. The
plants are set out about the t'me of
corn planting, when the ground is
warm. Tiie beds are made as follows:
Two wide and deep open furrows are
made in the form of a trench, three
feet apart; -the manure, which should
be well rotted, is spread in this optn
furrow and covered by a double turn of
the plow; the sol is then smoothed
with a rake or pliable harrow, and the
slips or plants are set out in the beds as
before mentioned. The after cultiva
t:on cons'sts in keeping the soil mellow
and free from weeds and moving the
vines as soon as they begin to run to
prevent them from rooting at the jo'nts
and wasi:ng their strength upon un
necessary groyth. This is done with
the hoe or a rake at the last workingof
the ground.
The crop is gathered by opening
the beds with a plow and turning out
the tubers. In small patches this is
done with the hoe. The tubers are
well dried and are then carefully
packed away for preservation ; and
just here begins the trouble, of which
more or less appertains to every work
and labor of mankind. This is the
.difficulty of keeping the tubers sound.
They are very tender and easily injured
by exposure to cold, which causes de
cay. For their perfect preservation
they require a temperature of at
least sixty degrees. In the Southern
States, where large quantities are
grown for shipment to Northern mark-
i.l a m
ets. potato nouses are made lor storing
them. lnese are made with tight
floors and lathed sides protected by
close "shutters. Bins made of laths are
ranged on each side and raised a few
inches from the floor, to permit of
a free circulation of air. In fine, dry.
warm weather the shutters are opened
and the air permitted to pass through
the potatoes. When the weather is
wet or cold a stove provided for the
purpose is heated and the house
warmed to a risrht tcmoerature. In
this way the tubers are kept in good
order until the spring. In a small way
the tubers may be preserved safely in
boxes or barrels packed in dry sand
or wood ashes and kept in a warm
closet, or in a dry room which may be
kept warm, or in a dry cellar, which
may bo warmed by a stove. Ar. Y.
Times.
Swift's Style.
His earnestness is reflected in h
style. So English is so po'nted and so
direct as Swift's. Every sentence is a
keen knife that cuts straight to the
core; there is no hesitation or swerv
ing: there is never a word wasted. His
sentences follow one another logically
and equably, in the order dictated by
the subject, without any apparent re
gard for the graces of expression, nor
even, somefmes. for the ordinary rules
of grammar. He wrote rapidly, as the
thoughts seized him, nor "ever leaned
h:s head upon his left hand to stud'
what he should write next." Yet
Swift's prose is never ungainly; it is
simple and clear and direct, absolutely
free from ail'ectalioa or curious care,''
never seeking mere rhetorical effects;
but it is not the less polished to a
smooth and brilliant surface not the
polish of elaboration, but the fine
chiseled surface that marks a mind that
thought clearly and exactly. Stanley
Lane Pool.
A lady of this city, recently North
for consul! at'on with a prominent phy
sician, was found to be a sufferer
from d sjase of the kidneys. "Let me
see what style of shoes you wear?"
asked the physician. A shapely foot
was put out from under the skirts,
and lha physician remarked that she
would never be cured until the heels of
lr shoes were lowered. Nashville
( Te it ) -'?'.
IN memcJriam.
X Beautiful
Tribute to the
Gordon.
Late General
Cruel suspense has given place to sad
certainty. All conjectures as to th
survival of General Gordon must now
be put on one side. It now appears to
be placed beyond any doubt the fact
that he fell stabbed by traitors in the
midst of his faithful troops when Khar
toum was betrayed. The end came as
he expected it. Treachery ach'eved
what overwhelming force had failed to
effect, and the force of the Mahdi, ad
.mittrd within the fortification by one of
'Gordons Pashas, made short work of
all who wonld ot espouse their cause.
The Notables were- cut down, to a man
the faithful remnant of Gordon's gar
rison seem to have been killed tight
hard to tne last, ine r cmidren were
spitted on theArab spears; theirwomen
but there is no need to detail the
ghastly incidents of the sack of a citv
by the savage hordes of the African
d:'sert! The streets of the city, we are
told, ran with blood. "The flame o;
the sword and the lightning of the
spear shone in the doomed city for
space, and when .our relieving steamer
arrived there was a "multitude of slain
and there was no end of their corpses
The terrible formula which summed tip
our 'policy in the Soudan has
been as terribly fulfilled. Th
garrison, have b.en spared, ami
over the whole of the Soudan the
Mahdi has now parsed his bloody
sponge. Nothing has happened that
was not foreseen. Far be it from us to
profane such a moment as this with any
vain recriminations. In the sanctuarv
of our sorrow such revilings jar liki
the hootings ot some ill-omened bird as
we weep over the grave of our dead
But it is i reciselv In cause he realized
so vividly the approach of that savagi
orgie t.f carnagt aud of lust that Gen
eral Gordon twelvemonths ago pleaded
so earnestly against the evacuation o
the Soudan, and it wasin order to stavt
off this great tragedy he consented t
go to Khartoum to do what he could
He has done what he could, and tht
catastrophe which, with such heroic
courage and such marvelous resource,
he has averted f r a whole vear, has at
last overwhelmed him and those whom
he sought to save. "Bed ruin" ha
fallen upon Khartoum her children
have been dashed to pieces in the midst
of her, the women have become a prey
to the spoJer, and the lew nrave men
who through all the long siege ha
endured faithfully to the end in sp.tt
of sore privation, constant attacks, am
a haunting sense of desertiou and tie
spair. have paid the penalty of theii
loyalty with their I.ves. The telegrams
from Korti read like tho scrolls of tm
Hebrew prophets on which were writ
ten the judgment of God upon thecities
ot old tme. All is over, and the cur
tain falli ut-u a scene of bloodshei
and desolatioii.-onlv-tvbe realized bv
thoie who remember the carnage of
Cawnpore or the more recent horrors
of Batak.
Khartoum has been evacuated bv
massacre, and with Khartoum General
Gordon has perished. Of that ther
can be no longer any doubt. A ca
reer of unsullied splendor has now
culminated in a death worthv of the
life which it closed. "The angels o
Martyrdom and Victory," said Maz
zini, "are twin sisters, for Martyrdom
is al-o the benediction of Heaven." It
is difficult for those of us who knew
Gordon as a man and as a friend to
speak without toar-dimnied eves and
choking utterance of him whom we
shall now see no more. None of those
who knew that noble heart, so tender
and true, who have felt the warm grasp
ot that generoushandnowcoldindeath.
who have been gladdened bv the radi
anceof h:s ready smile, or inspired to
striving after nobier things by the glow
ing ardor of Jiis simple faith, can dissoci
ate the r keensenseof personal bereave
ment from those more general consider-
at ons which must necessarily be before
the nation to-day. There was no one
who knew h'm but loved him. So brave
he was and so gentle, so great and vet
so humble, inspired at once by tin
sublimest ideals, and yet ever alive to
the humorous underside of the world's
affairs. No woman could have been
more tenderly sympathetic, no paladin
more utterly fearless. He realized
more than almost any man the ideal
of the little child of whom it is said.
"Of such is the kingdom of Heaven."
The transparent sincerity and genuine
ness of soul, the direct frankness of
speech, the utter absence of make
believe, even his tempestuous gusts of
wrath at injustice and deceit, and
the unreserved penitence with
which he would confess his
faults, were all childlike to the last
decree. But of all these things the
outer world knows little, and it is per
haps almost a sacrilege upon the privacy
of sorrow to advert even in passing to
thes j touching memories. But even in
the midst of our grief, as "with uncov
ered head we salute the sacred dead
who went and who return not." we are
thrilled with a proud joy. as we reflect
upon the splendor of that stainless life
now crowned with the aureole of mar
tyrdom. Even with that terrible tele
gram of massacre and treachery before
their eyes there is not one of his friends
who for a moment regrets that General
Gordon was sent t tne Soudan to suf
fer and to die in the defense of Khar
toum. Look'ng back over the whole
of the dark, confused welter of blood
shed and blunder that filled la-t year,
the m ssion of General Gordon stands
out distinct and c!ear as the one great
achievement of England for which every
one has indeed good cause to thank
God and take courage. Of all the gifts
of Heaven to earth, the hero is infinite
ly the greatest. In him the race sees
incarnate its highest ideals, and his ex
istence is in itself an inspiration. For
some time past it had seemed as if En
gland were indeed in that decadence
which Prince B smarck believes h is al
ready overtaken her. Her old ideals
had been obscured. The call of duty
no longer rangin ourears as the Clarion
of (od wrapped in ease and luxury
and in unbelief we were losingfaith both
n England and in all that had made En
gland great. The individual seemed so
hefple.ss. Belief in the transcendent
mportance of a single brave man's in
tense conviction had burned low. Pa
triotism teamed in d inger of he hg sac
r lued to i arte An I even ;n th. :n ds:
of that day of darkness and gloom,
when Ministers and Opposition alike
s.'craed indifferent to the fate of thou
sands doomed by our policy to mas
sacre and outrage, a man was raised
up who for twelve long months dis
played in the sight of the whole world
the heroic virtues wh'ch our gainsay
ers believed were all but extinct. : On
t he ramparts of the beleaguered capital
of the Libyan Desert, as on some vat
world-pedestal. General Gordon has
demonstrated before all men the might
that lies in the arm of a single English
man who has faith in his country and
h's (Jod. In him were incarnate the
characteristics of the heroes of our Na
tional story. The chivalry of Arthur
of the Table Round, the "indomitable
valor and saintly life of the Great Al
fred, and the rel:gous conviction of
Oliver the Protector all were uuiled
in that slight fontC now, alas! laid
low in death upon which, with ever in
creasing fascination, the eyes of the
world have been so long. The inspira
tion of his great example, now conse
crated by his death, will not be lost
upon the nation which, alas! too late,
poured forth its millions into the des
ert sands in order to fulfill the duty to
whose supreme claims he has sacrificed
his life. Fall Mall Gazette.
FREQUENCY OF STORMS.
Chart Inud n the Slgnal-Sert lee
Compariaoiin of Itainfatl.
A series of charts' lias been issued re
cently by the Signal-Service Office at
Washington, approximately showing
the relative frequency of storms in va
rious parts of North America, the North
Atlantic and Europe. Twelve of thee
maps m ike the. comparison ty months;
aud a tlrrteenth sums up the others in
one. The d flVrcnces in frequency are
repre-cnted by various .shad-- of color
on the same map. The word "storm"
is here u-ed to mean any one of tho e
well defined, broad areas of low atmos
pheric pressure, which in something
like a procession are traversing these
northern latitudes frequently, start
ing in Western North America ami
crossing the ocean, and sometime ex
tending into r.nrojx'. 1 hose barome
tric depress. n are. not always ener
get'c enough to produce much wind or
ru n. if any; but as they are essential
factors in all of the wind and rain of
the region they pass over the data thus
graphically presented in charts are in
teresting and valuable both To marin
ers and landsmen who study the weath
er scientifically.
Sergeant Finlcv. who designed these
charts, neither discusses the theories
nor cause of storms, nor draws any de
ductions lrom his record. But the rel
ative frequency and generally eastwanl
tiack of storms are made obvious at
once, inns, tne area in wnien storms
are most often experienced is in the
form of a belt, about six times as long
as it. is wide, extending almost due east
and west, and having rounded ends.
It begins near the western edge of
Minnesota, runs just south of Lake Su-
ierior, includes the jreater part of
.lakes Michigan and Huron, embraces
most of the Province of Ontario and
the northern half of the lake of that
name, takes in Ottawa and Montreal,
the Adirondacks, and northern Ver
mont and New Hampshire, aud stops
just before reachingMaine and Quebec.
the next lower grade ot frequency is
found in an area which is merely an
enlargement of the other tract, three
tunes as wide, an t nearly twice as long.
The southern outl.ne of it begins a lit
tle east of Bismarck, crosses the Mis
sissippi near the southern border of
Iowa, iuns thence almost due east
yvard to New Haven, passing just north
of New York City, and then sweeps a
little north of eastward, so as to include
all of New England, and the eastern
British provinces. After curving
around Newfoundland, the boundary,
turns westward so as to include th
(iulf of St. Lawrence, runs straight to
the north shore of Lake Superior, and
then extends to the starting point in
Dakota. The third tract of next lower
frequency, is, again, an enlargement of
the preceding one. It reaches from
the Rocky Mountains nearly to the
shores of Ireland. Its southern line
takes in Leavenworth, Cairo
Cincinnati and Baltimore. The
fourth tract begins, a wedge point, at
Oregon, broadens so as to include New
Orleans, though skipping Galveston,
takes in northern Florida, and then
narrows as it crosses the ocean. The
fifth area, that of the least frequency,
reaches to the Polar region on the
North, includes all of the Pacific Coast
ot the United Stales, all of Mexico .but
ts southern part, the eastern coast of
Central America, the West Indies and
Northern Africa, and extends into As a.
urope has some local areas, corre
sponding to the third ami fourth
grades, on this side of her shores, but.
none like the first.and second. The
roportion of storms in these live tracts
is as follows: In the first, between 12
and 15; in the second, from to 1J;
third, 0 to 9; fourth, 'I to G; fifth. :i.or
ess.
It would be a mistake, however, to
inter that the amount of ra nfall in
arious parts of this country corre
sponds to the relative frequency of
storm as here indicated. Quite the
contrary. In the Lake region and
along the Canadian frontier where
barometric depressions are most plenti
ful, the precipitation (including snow
melted) amounts only to SO or'io inches
annually; whereas along the Gulf of
Mexico, where storms are more scarce,
amounts to CO or Co. ihis is no
doubt due to the greater absolute hu
midity of the warmer climate; so that
tonus there, though less frequent than
further north, have more moisture to
work on. Again, owing to the greater
dryness of the air in the center of the
continent than on the coast, Bismarck
has only 20 inches rainfall (including
snow melted), while Barnegat has 5i';
yet they both lie in the same belt of
torm frequency. A. 1. Tribune.
A file and knife-throwing artist
na:led a confiding Winnipeg youth to
the back of the stage while illus-
rating hoyv near he could come to
litting him without actually doing so.
The message of the Mayor of Buf
falo is thirteen columns long. Perhaps
this person has a mistaken notion that
this is tho way Mayors become ."resi
dents. Portlan l (Cre.) Standard.
DELIGHTFUL DAKOTA.
The Charm, of Vitl4 Favored lteclon Ar
tistically Ileaerlbed The Newly IJUcov
- ered Kite of the Garden of Eden.
Dakota is the newest, worst treated
and grandest of the Territories of. the
Union, the garden spot of the conti
nent, the imperial wheat belt ot the
glob:?. It is a more than royal realm,
which t-n years ago was unex
plored and almost unknown, which but
five years ago was almost wholly a re
gion of romance and of fable. - It is a
peerless but modest land, that never
s-unds the fishhorn of its own fame.'
It is the world's . true -. wonderland,
where no. storms and -tempests , ever
blow, and where all the breezes are
trained to sing" psalms m: tunes In pian
issimo stylo and in even better time tend
rhyme than the rendering of "The Or
dr of the Full Moons" I heard just
now.
Our wildest blizzards, as unenlight
ened down-Easters sometimes term
them, are used by gentle mothers to lull
their ba,bes to sleep.- The sun shines
over with a mellow splendor that calls
to mind the far-famed Happy Valley of
"Hasselas," and there is just frost
enough in our winters to turn the elm
leaves golden. No summer drouths or
winter "floods spread devastation over
the fields and hopes of our husband
men. No army worms or grasshoppers
sweep those fertile plains and valley's
with nibbling desolation. No hail
s'crmi rattle fieir destroying musketry
upon fhe grains aud fruits and plate
glass windows of that elysium except,
now anil then, just enough to furnish
business to our ambitious young home
hail insurance companies.
Bananas bloom in November and
young orange are picked the day be
fore Christmas. Hub-ins. striped stick
candy, tin horses and , india rubber
dolls ripen always just in timefor Santa
Claus' peddler wjon, with his reindeer
team and his "little round stomach
that shakes when he laughs like a bowl
ful of jeliy." Pineapples aud figs grow
spontaneously on Canada thistle bushes
everywhere, while the cotton-woods
ami dog-fennel trees yield brook trout,
nectarines and persimmons, of large
sie and flavor, a canal boat-load to the
acre Spring ros?s blossom on the
plain, gentle Annie, for New Year's
poses. and potatoes grow as big as
beer kegs at the roots of every tuft of
prairie gra-s. Cabbage heads, of full
Congressional and Senatorial size, give
forih the fragrance of the jessamine and
li mcysuckle t humming birds as large
as canvas-back ducks and clad in all
the prismatic glories of the aurora
lwrealis. We hatch our own wild geeze,
of such dim Misions that tenderfeet from
Pennsylvania, for instance, are liable to
mistake them for winged hippopotami
on lakes . of necer-freezing rosewater,
and eclogue. .
Bl izznrds. iemresfsV "torn
adde's-ahd
ra-cally political breezes come to that
modern Eden only as dimly understood
yvailings from 'distant, regions and
peoples who do not know enough to
find their way to the sole remaining
quarter-section of Paradise in all the
Western world. There no wave of
trouble ever rolls across the peaceful
breast, and the prosperous people yvho
raise infallibly from twenty-live to
seventy-live bushels of No. 1 hard wheat
to the acre of land, that costs them
nothing and get $1..V a bushel for it,
can calmly smile at Satan,s rage and
face a froyvning, because less fortunate,
world. Colonel Pat Donan.
LAWYERS.
A Few
Kemarkt About the Most Trusted
and DMrfixted of Men.
They are the men who make con
tracts and unmake them; who gives ad
vice and s-11 counsel; who make money
out of trouble and make trouble out of
money; yvho create estates and distrib
ute them legally; who live b loaning
money and often subsist on borrowed
capital; who hear and conceal marriage
secrets, and later drag out faded love
letters in bitter divorces; yvho are
pleased and persuaded by the luc-iy,
but often go out of court branded and
dispraised by the side defeated and,
with one side always the losor, and
generally both, what wonder that the
slurs of character fall to the. current lot
of a lawyer! -
Without the smiles.of the merchant's
customers, he meets the frowns of busi
ness men in tr.uib.e. Fortunes are to
be i-aved or lost. He must yvin the vic
tory or 1 car ti e blame forever. , The
lawyer n like the builder who knows
that. b it. ever so perfect, the elaborate
fiou-e he has finished can never quite
sift the proprietor.
He carrie i the double burden for self
and clien ; is invited to win .yvhat others
have failed in, urged to mend the
broken pieces of a foolish contract,
bound to account for confessions in let
ters, asked to replevin goods already
secreted, to attach the eficcts of a ma
licious merchant, to unearth fraudu
lent elections, to reclaim encumbered
estates from vexatious tax-titles, to keep
one for years in plenty by restored pos
sessions and b oVcn wills all by a
lawyer's art and eloquence!
lie is fated from the start to uncer
tainty, where cli'-nts exact no less than
absolute victo-y ami long wish it rea
sonable, while they know it is only
probable. By logic and argument, on
the theory of their client, with the facts
only partially stated, and that part
deeply shaded, they are to explain ayvay
their defeat, if it come in the end, by a
tirade on the perjury of opponent's wit
nesses and the depravity of human na
ture. Happy lawyers! They are men who
live so easily, flourish so long on the
bounty of a grate.'ul eople, make tho
laws and settle the titles, defend tho
weak and enjoy the rich fnjits of the
world's praises and abuses, mingled and
commingled in such rare harmony that
none can define where censure ends and
approval commences. J. W. Donovan,
in Current.
In San Francisco a five-dollar gold
piece was given a beggar iu mistake
for a "nickel." The donor demanded
tho change, but the beggar refused!
Application was made for a warrant for
tho arrest of the mendicant, but no
statute could bo found to cover the
44 crime, 'f and the relief prayed for wa?
refused. San Francisco Call.
MISCELLANEOUS.
An Australian naturalist has
d'S
tho covered the nervous system of
Bponges.
Old-fashioned mirrors over the man
tel are again in style, with the addition
of bronze or gayly-painted frames.
A. 1. Mail.
Small tobacco pipes sro frequently
unearthed in Ireland, and are supposed
to ante-date the introduction of tobacco
in Europe by Raleigh.
Any woman 13 too tightly dressod
who can not raise her arms straight
above her head and clasp her hands;
who can not stoop to tie her shoe or
pick up a pin without heightening color.
Boston TranscrijA.'
Cork, when carbonized, produce
62.80 per ent. paro charco-.' nho
greatest per cent., of any known vo xl.
Willow, wheat straw and oak rivk next
in the order named, while maple and
poplar are 33.75 and 31.12, or at the
very foot of the list. Chicago Times.
Forty rears ago a younr m a n bo u gh t
the hulk of an old whaling vessel in
Stonington, borrowing the ten dollars
withAvhich to pay for it. Moving it to
an out-of-the-yvay place he lived in it
for twenty-five years. To-day he is a
large property owner and the heaviest
depositor in the Stonington bank.
llartford Courarit.
Several months ago Cora B. Pi-
quette, of Syracuse, N. Y., witnessed
an anfirlonf. In a ciinrwmnto u-lirtco hn
hair became entangled in a shaft and
was entirely pulled out. Miss Piquet te
1ms been made insane by tho scene.
Standing on a chair or sofa she buts her
rtMrt nern'net. tho wall nml tlifn a"mi
relieve!!. She has been sent to an
asylum. Buffalo Express.
Rev. Charles G. Ames, of Philadel
phia, speaking at Springfield, Mass..
said that a native of a Connecticut
town once told him that on returning
there after a thirteen years' absence he
found that all the joung men of the
place he had known in his youth as the
sons of wealthy parents had become
either sots, 'paupers or criminals. A-id
et Connecticut is sometimes called tne
and of steady habits. Surinntield Bc-
publican.
A singular coincidence happened at
Ingraham's case shop, Bristol, on Friday
ast. frank Miller slipped while slid ng
a box on the floor and fell, striking his
chin on the edge of the box, making a
bad cut. Soon his brother, Jo'cpa
Miller, was struck bv a piece of joist
flying from a circular saw aud was quite
severely injured in the arm and s ue.
In less than two hours Lewis M Her.
another brother, cut off tho end of bis
thumb in tho joiner. Hartford Times.
A planter in Summerville, Ga., ex-
perimented successfully with tobicco
last year. He cleared about. t-. aero-.
ojt aense , r-f 'vss -zxt r macie si"- r- a
trgbod - ylttcr 'ftrat ftf "pMd cxpeii.sljs "XI
clearing up the land and itsrultiue, and
more than the amount of net profits
realized from tho production of cotton
in middle or Southwestern Georgia. It
is believed, says a Southern paper, that,
tobacco culture in Southeastern Georgia
.will become universal in a few years,
both because of the adaptation of the
'soil to its successful growth and the
profits to be derived therefrom.
A noise was heard in an empty
drawer at William's drug store in
Thomaston by one of the clerks at a
late hour one night last wek. As it
sounded like turbulent rats lighting no
notice was taken of it. The next morn
ing, on opening the drawer, the clerk
found a fresh rat skin-turned complete
ly inside out as neatly as could have
been done by a taxidermist. The s!tin
Avas perfect, but all the other part? of
the physicial economy of the rat were
gone except the tail. It w is evident
that this was the work of a weasel whi.-h
had been seen prowling about the prem
ises of late. Walerbury American.
OPTIONS.
Stock Exchange Itettlnjr and rurrhnnlnu
"Lottery Ticket Alike Gambling.
So far as yve see, the moral difference
between betting on a pure chance the
numbers in a lottery, for instacce, or
the turn of the dice and betting on t
chance vvhich is les to tho experienced
and the far-sighted than to the ignorant,
is totally inappreciable, while experi
ence seems to show that the latter is the
more attractive and therefore more dan
gerous of the two. Options are bet, and
are as moral or immoral as bets; that is
to say they are indifferent things in
themselves, but produce very often, by
force of their attraction, highly immor
al consequences. If the Stock Exchange
dislikes that possibility, let it prohibit
options, and not talk nonsense about
the special sin of unlicensed dealers in
offering them for sale. Tho passion for
gambling that is, for obtaining money
without toil is rooted in human na
ture; but yve confess to a certain sur-
Erise at the hold which tho
tock Exchange form of it takes
upon intelligent men. Thev never
seem to comprehend that they are
not only betting, but betting against ad
versaries, those adversaries being some
of the shrewdest men in the world, yvho
do as a business what outsiders do as a
pasjime, who pass their lives in study
ing the turns of the market, and who,
whether individually moro or less fool
ish than the outside speculator, know
collectively more than ho in most cases
possibly can. They may be beaten on
this or that occason by a man of special
.information, or special acumen, or by
an accident: but in the long run they
'must win, and they do w in, or they
would not keep tho sy stem up. The
shareholders in tho Monaco hell do not
.invest their money on a chance. Tho
commission to be paid on every trans
action operates exactly like tho pull of
the table" in the obi days of hazard
and roulette, and gives of itself an ad
vantage to the speculators indoors,
which is by no means their only
one. They know a hundred circum
stances which the outsider does not
know, and which materially affect his
chance one of those circumstances be
ing the important one, the amount of
'speculation already going on in that
.particular stock: another, the lend of
(men who are entering into it, and a
,third, whether the play is with loaded
idice or not. Tht Spectator.