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About Oregon City enterprise. (Oregon City, Or.) 1871-188? | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 1877)
( C- ) :.J V. DEVOTED TO NEWS, LITERATURE, AND THE BEST INTERESTS OF OREGON. YOL. 11. OREGON CITY, OREGON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1877. NO. 17. (i V 4 iy L j?3 ICS THE ENTERPRISE. A LOCAL NEWSPAPER FOR THE Farmer, Business Man, and Family Circle. ISSUED EVERY THURSDAY. f ii :v ic m . i iz 3i x: :y 1' , PROPKIETOH AND PUBLISH EK. OFFICIAL PAPER FOR CLACKAMAS COUNTY. OFFICE In Entekpkisk Building, one door south of Muaouic Building, Muin street. Teruia of Mulcrlit Ion : Single copy, one year, in advance... Single coj', six months, in advance. ..82 .. 1 IT e r in . of AdverlUius; : Transient advertisement, includintr, all legal notices, per square of twelve lined, one week $ 2 50 For each subsequent insertion 1 00 One column, one year 120 00 Half " " tii) 00 Quarter " " 40 00 Business Card, one square, one year.. . 12 00 SOCIETY NOTICES. OltHGOX LOIJUU, No. 3, I. I. O. F., meets everv Thursday even- .mji... lnir, at lows' Hall, Muin itreet. Members of the Order are invited By order of to attend N. G. lSKlSUCCA DHUKKH LODGE, No. 2, I. O. O. F., meets on the -,r v Second and Fourth Tuesday jC5f zX9 evenings of each month, at ipy o'clock, in the Odd Fellows' llall.mtwvtarrty Members of the Decree are invited to attend. 3IULTXOMAH LODGE, Xo. 1, A. F. & A. M., holds its regular com innnlrtoll.in. IT i - . .. .1 'T" . : .1 uuiit.avtuuo VJ 1 1 I lil. L nab UI1VX 1 II 1 1 U c...-.i..nn : 1. .1. . -r . , , oaiuiunjB in cm ii moil ill, ni o C IOC It from the 20lh of Septeiuher to the 90th of March; and7X o'clock from the 20th or March to the- 20th of September Brethren in good standing are invited to at tend. By order of W. M. FALLS 12XCA3I13IKNT, No. t r " u . .. . -v i .. -i.. 1 1 , , . i. j. vy. r ., uieeis itiumi retiows nan rx on the- First and Third Tuesday of each month. Patriarchs in jrood stand-" 111 I rz iiiii.t-ii in uiiunu. BUSINESS OAIWS. J. W. NORRIS, lMiysticimi and Surgeon. OFFICII AND KKSIDBNCE : On Fourth Street, at foot of Cliff Stairway tf CHAS. KNIGHT, CAXltY, ... OKEJjr, Physician ami Druggist. Prescriptions carefully filled at ahort notice. . ja7-tf PAUL BOYCE, M. D., 1" h y h i c 1 a n a ml Siirjjcon, Okegon City, Oregon. Chronic Diseases and Diseases of Women and Children a specialty. Office hours day and night; always ready when duty calls. Aug. 25, 'Ttt-tf DR. JOHN WELCH, -i -fcLi lnj L to . ejr OFF1CB IN" -UJSZTI' UUEVOX CITY, OKECiOX. Highest cash price paid for County orders. JOHNSON & McCOWN, Attorneys and Counselors at Law oit :;- ( itv, oreooi Will practice in all the Courts of the State. Special attention given to cases in the U. S. Land UfUce at Oregon City. 5aprl872-tf L. T. BARIN, ATTORNEY AT LAW, OBMJOM CITY practice in all , OHEGOX. Will Stat. the Courts of the Nov. 1,1875-tf VV. H. HIGHFIELD, rEateL"blisli.ed. sin.ee "3;S, One door North of Pope's Hall, T., UREGUX, CITY OKECOI. An assortment of watches, Jewelry, .andSeth Thomas' eight Clocks, all of which are warranted to be as repre sented. tngfRepairing done on short notice; and thankful for past patronage. C'w.h iill fr Coiiihj OrilfM. JOHN M. BACON DEAI.BR IX Books, Stationery, PICTURE FRAMES, MOULDINGS AND MISCELLANEOUS GOODS. 2&3S TO 0"SD"E:i3. Oregon Citt, Oregon. t7At the Post Office, Main Street, west side. novl-'75-tf IMPERIAL MILLS. Laltocqtie, Savier & Co., OREGON CITY. Keep constantly on hand for sale Flour, Middlings, Bran and Chicken Feed. Parties purchasing feed must furnish the sack. J. H. SHEPARD, Boot and Shoe Store, One duor north of Ackerman Bros. ti7"Boots and Shoes made aud repaired as cheap as the cheapest. Nov. 1, lS5-tf MILLER, CHURCH & CO. IJAX THE HIGHEST PRICE FOR X7-2-x:rz'T Al all times, at the OltLGOV CITY MILLS, Ana have on hand t tLI) and FLOUR to ell, at market rates. Parties deslrinjf Feed mutt furnish sacks. novl J-tf A. G. WALLING'S Pioneer Book Bindery, Plttock't Building, cor. of SUrk and Front U., POKTL.4XU, KE(i05f. BLANK BOOKS RULED AND BOUND to any desired pattern. Music book?, Magazines, Newspapers, etc., bound in every variety of style known to the trade. Orders from the country promptly attended to. novl-75-tf OREGON CITY BREWERY. HENRY HUMBEL, HAVING purchased the above Brewery, wishes to inform the puonc toat he is now prepared to manufac ture a No 1 quality of L.aEE DEE , A good a can be obtained anywhera In the State. Orders solicited and promptly filled. 3L Tu Ne Quaesieris. Ask not, my queen, my beauty, What end the gods may give ; Love is its own sweet duty; Be still, and let us live. Bright youth is lord of pleasure, Glad hours are round us now; I weave their choicest treasure A garland for thy brow. Glad hours and sad go by me, And, as we drift along, All things of love shall fly me, All things of mirth and song; Even now that dark to-morrow O'ershadows all my way; I turn from coming sorrow To 6un me In to-day. What more, my queen? Hereafter, When you have long forgot Our pleasant days and laughter, And youth aud jay are not, Lone Memory's sad, sweet pleasure Shall charm as thou dost now, And weave her choicest treasure A garland for thy brow. Sympathy. Oh, mothers, whose children are sleeping, ThaukGod by their pillovs to-night, And pray for the mothers now weeping O'er the pillows so smooth and so white; Where bright little heads oft have lain, Aud soft little cheeks have been pressed; Oh, mothers, who know not this pain, Take courage to bear all the rest. For the somber-winged angel is going With pitiless flight o'er the land, And we wake in the morn, never kuowing What he ere the night may demand. Yes, to-night, while our darlings are sleeping There's many a soft little bed Whose pillowsare moistened with weeping For the loss of one dear little head. There are hearts on whtase innermost altar There is nothing but ashes to-night, There are voices whose tones sadly falter, .And dim eyes that shrink from the light. Oh, mothers, whose children are sleeping, A ye bend to caress the fair heads, Pray, pray for the mothers now weeping O'er pitiful, smooth little beds. Jupiter ami Saturn. PROFESSOR PROCTORS LECTURE GIANT PLANETS. ON TUE The fecoiKi of a series of lectures iu connection with the Glasgow ScieECR Lecture Association was delivered last night in the City Hall by Mr. It. A. Proctor, whose sulyect was the "Giaut Plauet3." There was a large attendance, and Lord Provost presided, and intro duced the lecturer. .Mr. Proctor said the subject of the planets would really oc cupy, if properly dealt with, a course of lectures rather than a sing-le lecture, and he therefore proposed to allude to a por tion only, of that subject; aud to brinf before them ideas, which are not, strictly speaking, new, but which were not in ac cordance with those more generally ac cepted. But before entering on a dis cussion of these new views, it was desir able to touch on the consideration of the evideuce which was to guide them. There was a prejudice, or rather a feeling, against new ideas, and a very proper feeling, too; because, although it was not to be taken as a guiding principle in sci ence; although he shared very much in the feeling that Professor Huxley had ex pressed when he said that doubt, instead of being regarded as faults, should be placed in the seat of honor by all stu dents of science, yet there could be no question that authority in certain mat ters really gave a very strong probability. Taking, for example, such a theory as the Newtonian Theory, any one who dis believed that theory would at once sug gest the idea that that person was alto gether mistaken not merely because we had Newton's single opinion, but we had the authority of all men of science and masters of mathematics versed in calcula tions, who. hnd discussed th-it theory, tested it in every way, and who h id shown how perfectly it accorded with all the facts. That consideration did not apply where we had, as in the case of the planets, really not so much the opinion of any man of science as a negation the absence of any evidence whereby they had been led to any definite opinion. The principle that should guide them in weighing a new theory brought before them was the firtrt point. They should inquire first if the person who brought the lacts belore them had examined all the evidence, and if that had been done, then they were bound to listen with at tention, because the very fact that lie had sounded the whole evidence would be a reason for thinking he had some ground for holding different opinions from the generally accepted ones. In this sul ject of the "iant planets the view he was going to bring before them was not one that had been opposed, it was not one that had been analyzed and discussed, but it was one to which he had been led after a very careful and prolonged study of all the evidence available in the case. It was, in fact, tint these giant planets were not in the same condition as our earth; that they were bodies in an entirely dif ferent state of planetary life; that" they were, in point of fact, very young planets, glowing with intense heat and preparing, pcruaps, (.out on this point he would give no opinion) to become one diy tit and ,.l..;.... , i , . . m-iinus HtHxirs oi lite, hut at this pres- ... nine certainly not nt tor tint purpose After showing these various considera wons oeiore his audience, yir. Proctor proceeded to point out Hu r.n, mont ;.. favor of his statement that the'giant plan ets are young planets. Tn th. rir-f ri they had the theory of the evolution of me soiar system based on a very strong t " '"""""J '"iiveu. iney recoguized in ....wo.,.,.. oJ5ii:ui useu ana m our own earth clear signs of a former stage; first of all, a stage in which the solar system wna loiujiug, men a stage through which our own earth as a member of that svs- tern passeu. i uen tney lound in the so lar system all the planets going the same way rouud ; at the center of the salor v. tern they found the giant mass of the sun turning on its axis, still in the same di rection, all the satelites circling round their primaries, with the single exception of Uramus, still in the same direction, and the planets radiating on their axis, still according to the same plan. After referring to the process of accretion in the planets, which, ho said, they had rea son to believe had been going on for mil lions of years, and which he described to the audience, he went onto say that by whichever process the solar system was formed, in every case every one of the plauets mut have been intensely hot when first formed. Evideuce was found in the case of our earth, aud researches had been made upon it which showed that that was so in her case, and extend ing the argument of analogy from this theory of evolution to other planets, they also nnis-t have been intensely hot. Iu regard to the order iu which they were formed, they kuc-w that the larger planets had been formed first, but it did not fol low thit they were finished first. Jupi ter and Saturn might well have taken much longer time to grow to their pres ent dimensions, and might have been fin ished later than our little earth. In any case the time of formation was a com paratively unimportant point, the great point being that the larger planets would take a much longerinie in going through all their processes or st iges of exist s. ce than the smaller ones. He did nt think that the proportion of the masses of the various planets had not been insisted upon so much as it should be. People were apt to overlook the fact that Jupiter was not merely greater thin the earth, but greater than all the other planets put together; and taking Jupiter and Saturn together, they would find that they con tained nine times as much nvitter as all the remaining planets. They might, therefore, reg ird them as differing not merely in degree from our earth, but in kind. The larger nlanet had a larger quantity of nebulous matter that had been gathered together, and which formed its bulk, but the greater the quantity of me teoric matter falling upon it, aud the greater the rapidity with which the me teoric matter was drawn downward, the greater would be the intensity of that planet's heat. They should, therefore, have to regard the planets Jupiter aud Saturn at the time they were first formed as being much hotter th in our own earth at the time when she was first formed. Mr. Proctor proceeded to show by an apt illustration of two hot globes of different sizes, the larger one representing the giant 2lanet Jnpiter,"and the smaller one the earth, that the former cannot vet lave attained to a life-supporting tem perature. The planet Jupiter was, iu mass, about 340 times that of our own earth, and if Jupiter were of the same tensity as our earth, it would have a liameter seven times as great, and would vive, when they were both at the same stage of planetary existence, 343 times as much heat as the earth. They were told that a period of 350.000.000 of vears would be required for the cooling of our eartli from a temperature of 200 degrees centigrade to the temperature of boiling .joint a hundred degrees centigrade. He thought they might take these numbers with a little salt, but might consider that the period represented hundreds or even tens of millions of years, and in that case they might come to the conclusion that it was a very long one. Comparing this tact with the time with which it would take to reduce the temperature of Jupiter to the same degree, he maintained that Jupiter, and in a less degree Saturn, are in a young stage of planetary life, be cause by virtue of their enormous dimen sions, they would require 90 much greater a period ot time for the earlier stages of existence through which alone they had passed. Mr. Proctor proceeded to show a series of admirable views, the different stages through which the planets Jupiter and Saturn nid passed, pointed out the arguments in support of the theory that the former at certain periods present a square-shouldered iustead of a properly oval shape, explained the nature and ex tent of the deep banks of clouds which surrounded the planet, and which, he held, caused this peculiarity of shape, and with eloquent language and graphic illustration brought before his audience many cogent reasons why nature should not be charged with wasting the vast masses of the universe's material, a charge brought against her by many who upheld tha doctrine of the plurality of inhabited worlds. North British Mail. Familiarizing With tue Jury. KA , who is one of the most promi nent law yers of one of the New England States, has somehow gained a jocular reputation among his brother lawyers, ot familiarizing himself with the iurymeu by personal intercourse. In a recent law term a cise came un in wincii lie was lor tne prosecution L -, who w as for the defense, not being ready for trial, asked for a delay or continuation ot the case. lhis was strongly opposed by A : but after a somewhat sharp and lengthy deb.ite, in which it appeared that he might win, L gravely rose and said; 'There is one more reason, your Honor, which deli cacy has prevented me from mentioning and which I think you will consider sut- ficient to warrant a delay, bme coming into court I have been informed that there is one of the jurymen to whom my broth er A has never been introduced. therefore move that the case be contin ued so brother A can have an oppor tunity to make his personal acquaintance.' At this a ripple of good humor spread over the room, but the case came to trial. Tt awnu unfortunate that the Centen nial couldn't have extended over the first of .Tnnnarv. This leaves a man no resort when he sees a bill-collector coming, ex cept the old one of stepping down cellar, and leaving word that he has been called away to attend the funeral of a rich uncle out west. This does pretty well, as we all know, but it is only generous to the collector that he should have a little nov elty now and then. The Washinrrt-n Star is down on American enthusiasm,and says it is about time to stop the clapping of hands ana cheerinrr now so fretiuentlv indulged in . .. 1 J w in the House. Drowning Kitty. There was no help for it. Daisy must be drowned little, gentle, two-months-old Daisy, that was always so good and quiet, and yet so full of life and frolic! Little Katie's heart was quite broken thinking about it. But mamma, who knew best, had said so, and there was no help for it. Three cats took so much milk. And there were so many little hu man mouths to feed. And milk at ten cents a quart. Poor little Katie. She saw it was best, but it brought grief to her heart. "If s-ouie one would only buy Daisy," she said, clinging to her mother's dres9. "People don't buy kitties," said her mother, stooping to kis3 the little, flushed, tearful fac3 lifted to hers; "but I wish some one would take her as a gift. You wouldn't min i giving Daisy away, would you, Katie? That would be better than drowning her." "Yes, indeed; a hundred times better!" answered the child, her face lighting up. That night a little tear-wet face pressed Kntie's pillow. The child was offering up her evening prayer. "Dear Father," she said, "please send some one 'long who wants a kitty. It is so awful to have Daisy drowned, and it hurts so! Please, dear Father, be go d to Daisy, and don't let her be drowned" aud here the little voice grew choked, and great tears fell on the white pillow-slip. Soon, however, she fell asleep; her prayer hud quieted her. "Good-by, Daisy. O ! I wish God had thought it be!t. But he didn't, and you must go" and Katie turned from her brother II 'uben, who held Daisy in his strong arms. "Don't cry, Katie," said the boy, paus ing a moment; "I'll do it real quick; she won t suiter but a minute. 1 11 tie a big stone to the bag, aud it'll be all over iu a jiffy." Poor, blundering Ivmben ! lie meant to comfort Katie, but his words only made her cry the harder. livuben walked along far from com fortable. There was the bag in his pock et, and Daisy in his arms, looking up in his lace confidingly as though he were the best friend she had ia the world. In a few minutes poor Daisy would be strug gling in the water, and he would have to go back and face Katie, aud tell her it was all over. "I declare, I cau't do it!" he exclaimed half aloud. "I'm going in here to Bill Watson's. Perhaps his folks would like kitten. Any way, I'll see." A little girl stood iu the doorway. "Hallo, Jenny 1 want a kitty? I've brought you a beauty; look!" Jeunys pretty face flushed with de- ight. "O mother!" site exclaimed, running ack into the room, "may I have this kitty? Reuben lias brought it a purpose for ine 1" Reuben had to tell his sfory how they had two other cats at home, how there wasn't milk enough for them all, ami how Katie had cried when mother said Daisy must be drowned. "Don t say another word," interrupted Mrs. "Watson. "Leave nuss here. I'm right glad of her." So Ileuben put Daisy into Jenny's arms. and with a heartfelt "Thank you, ma'am, Katie will be so glad," he hurried home to tell his sister the good news. OI how happy Katie was that evening. JJumb Animals. Facilitating Draught by Horses. A number of careful experiments have been made on this subject during the past summer in Switzerland and Germany. It has long been known that a "dead pull," that is, the drawing of an inelastic vnd rigid body, was harder than where the Dody is elastic. In the experiments just mentioned an iron tube was filled with circular pieces of rubber, alternat ing with discs of sheet-iron. The cir- cies oi ruooer ana tnose ot iron were perforated in the center, admitting the passage of an iron rod attached to a cap at one end. Ihese tubes were interposed at the attachments of the shafts, or else were placed between the collar and the tugs, with the effect that the horse, in stead of being obliged to "throw himself into me conar." starts the vehicle bv a grauuai enort. 1 l nf J Ine force required to start, and also that required to pull a vehicle were care fully measured by a dvnamometer, both with and without the elastic tubes. It was lound that lor steady traction, the rr.iin tvim rim tn ma avvw.-i n4-.. ...... ...w -. . . j auitjuuiru l v oevcn teen per cent., whilst for starting the nec essary effort was diminished by over twen ty per cent, bimilar experiments, in which coiled springs were used, gave an alagotis results. In view of the great ad vantage obtained by this simple means, it shouid come into general use. One object of this publication is to diffuse the information and prevent this useful prin ciple from being hampered by a pateDt A man was landed at the ferry dock yesterday, dripping wet, and shivering till the rattle of his teeth could be heard forty feet away. When taken into a sa loon to thaw out some one passed arounc the hat, remarking that the victim was a poor man. Tiie man to whom the hat came fir.-t called out: "Where was it that you fell inti the river?" "On the Canadian side," was the reply. "Then not one cent can you get from me," con tinued the man. "Its every true patriot's duty to succor those who tall into Amer ican waters, but I'll be hanged if I'm going to help run two countries I" And the collection amounted to only four cents. Detroit Free Press. "Wife, which way do you suppose the wind is to-night? ' "Well, really, I don't know, John, but suppose you light a caudle and look in our straw bed!" 'How can I tell by that?" "Why, bless you, don't straws show which way the wind blows?" "Go to sleep, you critter." Mankind have been learning for six thousand years, and few have learnt yet that their fellow-beings are as good as themselves. COURTESY OF BANCROFT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, The Condor. Professor Orton gives some little space, in his recent volume on "The Andes and the Amazon," to an account of the Con dor, of which he thinks, contrary to the general opinion of ornithologists, that there are two distinct species. The Great Condor is the largest of the birds of prey full-sized males having a height of lour feet, and an expanse of wings of about nine feet. A specimen now at Vassar College measures from tip to tip of the gs, nine leet. An old male in the Zoological Gardens, of London, has a stretch of eleven feet; but-Hiimboidt never found one to exceed nine feet, nor Darwin to exceed eight aud a half feet; and, from his own obaervatio i, Professor Oitou concludes that the largest Condors Jo not go beyond, if they even reach, a pread ot twelve feet. Tue general color of the Condor is black, with white upon tie wings aud at the tip ot the bill, and a ruff of" downy w hite feathers encircling the neck. The young birds are dark brown, and do not assume the white frill and tha whitj feathers in the wings until after the first molting. Associated with the Great Condor is a smaller vulture, having brown or ashen dumage, destitute of the white markings distinguishing the larger bird, and with- out the caruncle worn by the male Con dor. This has been by some ornitholo gists regarded as a distinct species, al though the decision is now nearly univer sal that it is the young Condor. In his study of the Condor, during his travels in the Andes, Professor Orton was led to believe that the "Condor pardo," and the "Condor negro," as the two species are called by the natives, are, in fact, distinct. They are so considered by several intelli gent observers who have had the best op portunities iu sojourn and travel in S-uth America, for forming a correct judgment. Actual proof is still lackiug, aud this may be long delayed, as tkc inaccessible regions where the bird nests and rears its offspring render a minute study of its lite-history extremely difficult. The Condor ranges along the west coast of South America, from the Straits of Magellan to about eight degrees north of the Equator. Darwin notes the fact that the bird is louud only in the vicinity of perpendicular cliff-., and concludes that its habits require the seelusiou and safety of precipitous and lofty crags. Daring the greater p trt of the year the Condor frequents the lower country along the coast. It searches for prey at evening or morning rather than at mid-day; and several perch together at night on the same tree. In the breeding season, which in Chili is in November and December, and in the Valley of Quito several months later, the birds retire to inaccessible places in the mountains, and there, on the bare rock, with little or no preparation in tne way ot a nest, deposit two wnite eggs, three or four inches long. The period of incubation covers six or seven weeks. The young are covered with down until full grown, and are not able to flv for nearly two years. During their first molting, Professor Orton states, the birds are in caves and are fed by their elders. "The ordinary habit as of the Iioyal Condor," sajrs Professor Orton, "is be tween the altitudes of 10,000 feet and 16.000 feet. The largest seem to make their home around the volcano of Cay- ambe, which stands exactly on the Equa tor. Flocks are never seen, except around a large carcass. It is olteu seen singly, soaring at a great height in vast circles. Its night is slow ami majestic. Its head is constantly in motion, as if in search of food below; its mouth is kept open and its tail spread. To rise from the ground, it must needs run some distance; then it flaps its wings three or four times, and as cends at a low angle until it reaches a considerable elevation, when it seems to make a few leisurely strokes, as if to ease its wingJ, after which it leisurely sails upon the air. In walking, the wings trail .1 1 U I. . ,1 I ou tne grounu, auu iuu iicaci ian.es a. crouching position. It has a very awk ward, almost painful gait. From its in ability to rise without running, a narrow pen is sufficient to imprison it. though a carrion-bird, it br.eathes the purest air, spending much of its time soaring three miles above the sea. iiumooiat saw one fly over the Chimborazo. I have seen them sailing at least 1,000 feet above the crater of Pichhicha." Darwin writes of the flying powers of this royal bird : "When the Condors are wheeling in a flock round aud round any pot. their flight is beautiful. Except when rising from the ground, I do not rec ollect ever having seen one of these birds flap its wing9. Near Lima, I watched several for nearly half an hour, without once taking off my eyes. They moved in large curves, sweeping in circles, de scending aud ascending without giving a single Hip. As they glided close over my head, I intently watcneu, ironi an oblique position, the outliues oi the sep arate and great terminal ieatners oi eacu . . . . , .... i . wing; and these separate ieatners, n uiere had been the least vibratory movement, would have appeared as if blended to gether: but they were keen distinct a gainst the blue sky. The head and neck were" moved frequently, and apparently with force; and tne extended wings seemed to form the fulcrum on which the movements of the neck, body and tail acted. If the bird wishe 1 to descend, the wings were for a moment collapsed; and when again expanded, with an alterel in clination, the momentum gained by the rapid descent seemed to urge the bird up ward with the even and steady movement of a paper kite. In the case of any bird soaring, its motion must be sufficiently rapid, so that the action of the inclined surface of its body on the atmosphere may counterbalance its gravity. The force to keep up the momentum of body moving in a horizontal plane in the air (in which there is so little friction") cannot be great, and this force is all that is wanted. I he movement of the neck and body of the Condor, we must sup pose, is sufficient for this. However this may be, it is truly wonderful and beauti ful, to see so great a bird, hour after hour. without apparent exertion, wheeling and gliding over mountain and river." The Condor gorges itself with food un til it is incapable of exertion, and then retires to its favorite perch, to remain in a state of stupidity until the process of digestion is completed. Professor Orton testifies that "its gormandizing power has hardly beeo overstated. I have known a single Condor," lie relates, "not of the largest size, to make away in one week, with a calf, a sheep and a dog. It pre- lers carrion, but will sometimes attacK live she -p, deer, dogs, etc. The eye and tongue .fo the favorite parts, anti nrst devoured; next, the intestiues. I have never heard of one authenticated case of its carrying off children, nor of its at tacking ai ilts, uuless in defense ot its Iu captivity, it will cat everything ex cept pork aud cooked meat. When full fed, it is exceedingly stupid, aud may be caught by the hand; but, at other times, it is a match lor the stoutest man. There has been much discussion as to the sense with which the Condor diseov- ers its prey, come experiments wouiu seem to show that it is its wonderfully keen vision w hich tn ibles it to detect from afar the occurrence of carrion; and, again, incidents appear to prove that the sense of smell serve as a guide Darwin subjected several caged Condors to tests which afforded evidence that the sense of smell was less acute than in the case of the dog. The testimony for and against the acute smelling powers of the Condor i, as Darwin rem arks, very evenly bal anced. Caught in a Frog. Yesterday moruing while two men, employees of the Uuion Pacific shops, says the Om ilia Herald, were going to their work, and were walking on the Omaha & Northwestern track to their shops, their attention was attracted to a boot-heel sticking in the "frog" of a switch, a short distance from the shops. They stopped to examine it, and found that it was wedged so tightly in the iron "frog " that it required a smart blow of a crutch (one of the men had lost a leg) to dislodge it. Long nails protruded from it,5and all appearances went to show that it had taken considerable force to tear it from the b ot. " It appears to me," said one of them, "that some poor fellow has had a narrow escape from being run dow n by a train here last night, or else he got badly frightened, and wrenched his boot heel off when tiiere was no occasion for it." " It reminds m," said the other in a low tone, "of a little adventure which I had a few years ago with K., C. & St. J. Koad. I was then a young man, but it isn't likely that I will ever forget it," and he cast a rueful look at the empty leg of his pants. " The story is soon told," he weut on, turning the b ot-heel over in his hand as if to find upon it a story similar to his own. " I was walking on the track near St. Joe in Missouri. It was a terrible dark night in February, aud a heavy snow storm was prevailing at the time. The snow and wind beat ing iu my face was almost sufficient to have blinded me even in midday. I was walking briskly along, not dreaming of any harm in fact I was then return ing from a visit to my sweetheart, who had that very evening promised to be my wife when suddenly I found my boot- heel fastened in the " frog " where a side track joined the main track just as this heel was fastened there between those rails. At that moment I heard tiie shrill whistle of a locomotive, and looking up through the blinding snow saw a light gleaming down upon me. It was-un uii- ual hour for a train, and the idea ot meeting one had not occurred to me be fore, but now the awful truth fl ished up- on me. 1 made a desperate enoii io wreuch my foot out from the vice-like grip of the rails, aud the horror of my )sition was increased a hundred loia wneii 1 louua tnai my greatest, sirengin was powerless to release me. The light was so closely upon me that its reflection upon the newly fallen snow blinded me. As a man will in such positions, I thought f a thousand things in an instant; of my aged parents, of the events of my life and of my promised bride, and the thought that I should be torn from her or be maimed for life was infinitely more horrible than the threatened deth. But I'll not trouble you long with this pain ful narrative. The head-light was blaz ing tne nres oi neii ngnt in my race, it was this leg that was fa-tened," he sai l, swinging the stump back aud foith. 1 ies, yes," interrupted his companion, with pale cheeks; " you just threw your self to oue sidi?, and the eugin-.; just sever ed your leg from your body." " Not exactly," returned the story-tell er, smiling blandly upon his victim. "The truth is, sir, I am almost ashamed to say that the light did not proceed from a locomotive, but from the lantern of a watchman who happened to be coming down the track." 4 And the shrill whistle that you heard ? " "That, I presume, came from a saw- mill not far away." 'Bat your leg how came you to lose that f " ' As many another brave man has lost his," came the answer, with a heavy sigh. accompanied by a far-away look, as if to recall the scenes of a bittle-field; "I fell under a mowing machine- and had it chopped off." . " Well, all I have to say is," returned the disgusted companion. " I h pe the girl went back on you and man led an ax-handle maker, or some one else who can make her happy." "No. she stuck to me." said the roman cer, sorrowfully ; "she stuck to me through trood and pvil renort. and married me 0 . one rapturous evening in the merry month of Hw. And now " his voice grew husky with emotion " I give the top of this bald and pate if she hadn't." would beetling He turned away to hide his emotion, while his companion was busily engaged in fastening a large pin in the end of a caue and dropping a little in the rear Evert heavy burden of sorrow seems like a stone hung around our neck, yet thev are often like the stones used by the pearl divers, which enable them to reach tne prize anu to rise euntucu. The Life of a Sponge. Before they read tnis paper, I want my readers to procure a piece of sponge, and to hold it in their hands, and examine it well, as we try to find out some of the secrets of its history. No doubt you have handled it often before, and used it for many purposes, but perhaps you have not cared to ask its wonderful life-story. Once it was alive. "What kind of life had it, do you think? Did it grow like a vegetable, always in the same place; or did it ruu about, like you? "Well, it did neither, yet it had the same kind of life as you have. It was an animal. If you had seen it growing on its r ck, you would certainly have thought it looked much more like a plant, and for many years it was thought to be so; but it has uet n discovered that it bad three charac teristics which no vegetable ever hid. In the first place it did not draw its food from the ground through roots, but sup plied itself through little mouths; then when it was you.ig it could move about; and lastly, it tdvnved a will of its own in taking in. food of its own accord, just w hen wanted. S , after th it, naturalists thought it only fair to call it an animal. Let us go back to the first birthday of the little creature you hold in your hand, and see how it came into the world. Look at tiiat rock yonder out in the ocean; growing on it is a cluster of sponge, from w hich falls a tiny, pear shaped jelly. That is the baby sponge. What a queer baby, without head or eyes, or ears or feet! Yet though it has none of these things it is happy, for it can feel and float. All over its body are tiny bristles, which it moves about in all di rections, and with which it draws in food. In this state the sponge is called a gemmate; and the little bristles are called cilia or eyelashes. Merrily the little gemmule floats along, until, far away from its birthplace, it finds some rock which is to be its future home. The narrow end of its body is fastened to the rock, but its cilia go ou mov ing constant ly,uu til it is fixed quite secure. Then they lie down on the n ek, aud it never moves them again. Now, as we watch, we can see a great many duik spots beginning to float in its jelly-like body. These will some day become the fibres, which you see in it when it is sev ered from the rock. Tney are in ide of substances which the cilia have drawn out of the water during the tdiort time in which they had the power of m otiou. In a few days th'iy have done something, the effects of w hich will last a lifetime ! What a lesson for us all to make the most of our time and opportunities w hile we have them! The little spots of fibre soon join to gether into thtj beautiful network of holes which you can see in it now. Inside tins framework th- living jlly grows, filling all the holes, and covering toe outside of the sponge. Through these holes the little creature sucks in the sea water on which it feeds, aud when this has well soaked through its body, it sends out what it does not want through the larger tubes or holes at the top. So the sponge lives till it is torn from its rock, and then the living jelly turns into a kind of thick glue and dries up, which is its way of dying. The skeleton sponges are gathered eagerly, some to be employed in various useful ways; others, the more delicate, that grow iu all kinds of beautiful shapes, like trees and trum pets, and even globes, are preserved in museums and collections of curiosities. N. J". Observer. An Accommodating Hotel Clerk. Scene I. Hotel. Time, midday. Fat hotel clerk, smiling, and brushing his diamond stud with a feather. Enter young man iu a hurry. He writes on the register "John Green, Harnsburg, Pa. loung man "I shall take a room this evening. borne bundles may be sent iere forme this afternoon. If the charges are not more than $5, pay them." Exit young man in a hurry. C;erk tifHy bows and continues to brush his di iinond stud with a feather. Scene II. Time on j hour later. Enter a small boy with, a Heavy oblong pacK age, and says: "A bundle for Mr. Green. The charges are $3.50." Clerk drops his feather, and permits liis diamond stud to dazzle the small boy's eyes. Then he takes the bundle and pays the small boy $3.50. Scene III. Time, following day. rat clerk scratches his head with the feather and thinks of Mr. Green and the small boy aud the $3 50. Then he opened the oblong bundle and discovers a brickbat in a paper box, with a note saying: "This is the best liussian clay 1 c-nxld and. Clerk exclaims , and the proprie tor of the hotel debits him with 3.50. A Book-Worm. Apropos of novel read- in, we came across an instance wnere ii was carried to excess. A wealthy inhab itant of a French provincial town recent ly died under singular circumstances. He lived alone in a secluded house, ad mitted no one to it but a charwoman who cooked for him, and a newspaper agent who sold him thirty or forty journals at a time. At length he did not appear to open the door to these habitues when they sought entrance. They according ly applied to the police, who, being armed with necessary powers, forced their way into the house of the eccentric owner, and broke in the door of his bedroom, the threshold of which no one had ever been allowed to cross. Here the poor man was found lying dead. The state of his room and of his clothing was simply indescrib able, but the really uncommon feature of this squalid den was the amount of liter ary matter it contained. The bed could only be reached from the door by passing through a ravine, the sides of which w ere composed of thousands of newspapers and novels, the perusal of which having formed his sole occupation and delight. The duration of man's life should not be estimated by his years, but by what he has accomplished by the uses which he has made of time and opportunity. The industrious man lives longer than the drone, and by inuring our body and mind to exercise and activity, we shall more than double the years of our existence. 4