( 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' ,
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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; :
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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