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About Yamhill reporter. (McMinnville, Or.) 1883-1886 | View Entire Issue (March 6, 1884)
MY GARDEN—MY HEART. TUE SPARROW IN NEW YORK. [Katharine Lee Batea iu Bostou Transcript] I Lave a garden full of blooms: Oh, will you choose i I know them by their own iierfumea, Their varied Imus; And when between their ranks I walk I kiss the lily on her stalk, I touch tbe rose and mignonette And smile to see the pansy wet With purple dews. HE KIGCRES AS A RERD BIRD IN BE8- TAl'BANTS. I have a heart so full of friends 1 cannot choose. Not one beneath the smiter bends. But mine the bruise. Each step, in drawing nigh my door, Woke music never heard before. Now, which magician most prevails! But blindfoldLove throws down the scales; He dares not lose. LIZARD AND BURGLAR. About as Novel u <’aae of House- Breaking aa There la on Record. [New York Sun.] I “Speaking about lizards,” said • naturalist, "I will tell you a story that will probably y astonish you. The inci dent I am about bout to re relato occurred in India, and I won’t undertake to describe the place or the people. The natives that I met there, however, were nearly all possesseel with the belief that their chief mission in the world was to take possession of whatever they could lay their hands on. I was advised to keep things under lock and key, and so I did, but after a stay of a month I became rather careless, and, having the second story of a stone house, felt pretty secure. One night after I had put out my light and sat down to smoke, as was my custom, I heard a curious scratch ing noise under the window, and look ing out perceivod several figures below crouching in the darkness. I thought nothing of it, though, as there was no wa/ for thieves to get in, and returned to my chair. But in a mome.it J heard the same scratching noise, as if some one wore rasping the stone with a sharp instrument. For about ten minutes this oontinued. Every once in a while the noise ceased, and there was a thud as if some one had fallen. In the mean time, the moon, which had been under a cloud, came out, and hearing tbe noise nearer the window than ever, I went ovei, and looked down through the lattice again. I saw three men. One was stooping down, and another upon his back was reaching up the wall. Boon, in some mysterious manner, the man moved directly upward. On ho came with the carious scraping sound. Then there was a slip, and the man fell and was caught by his companions. I had a heavy club in the room and, taking it, I moved my seat over by the window and lay low, wondering what sort of a machine they had that en abled them to go up a straight wall. In about twenty minutes, after several more slips and much scraping, I saw a black object moving up over the sill, but it was not the head of a man. A second later, however, a human hand grasped the window, and I brought the club down upon it and the black object with all the power I could muster. With a yell the would-be thief went tumbling down the twenty feet or more of wall, and I soon heard footstep going down the road on ii dead run. I immediately ran down, calling my man as I went, expecting to find a rope or cord of some kind, but there was noth ing of the sort, and I gavo it up as a mystery. Stepping back to go in I stumbled over something, and looking down, found it was a large lizard, stone dead. H is skull was broken, What do yon suppose my man told me, and which I found out later was true? Nothing loss than that I had killed the lizard by my blow at the thief, and that the animal had hauhsl him up the side of the house. Those lizards aro very powerful, and have long. sh*.p claws. When grasped by the tail and placed against the wall, up they will go with a force quite suf ficient to pull up a small man after them. It was tho scratching of the animal's claws that I had heard. I guess this is aliout aa novel a method of house-breaking M there is on roeord. I understand, however, that it was not uncommon there. A Private Prayer I nlou. “[Uncle Biirs'' New York letter ] I have just come across the Prayer union, and it will serve as an instance of piety that is almost out of sight, though extending throughout the en tire country. The society has a central office in tho Bible Union building. The memliers number over 10,000. They are all pledged to hold a service of praise and praver privately at noou every day, unless prevented by some unusual circumstance. Each retiree for the purpose literally into a closet, or some other place of privacy, and there goon through with an appointed exercise. From the headqtiar- tors oaoh month a pro- Jrammo is sent ont. During this anuary a New Year hymn by Charles Wesley is sung by the solitary wor shiper; the text, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall bo done unto you,” is repeated and meditated upon; a resolution is made to do something for an orphan child, and a prayer for some definite object is made. Mrs. l’almer, a wealthy and pious widow, is tho chief promoter of this odd movement for daily household services. She thinks that not loss than 8,000 persons keep the pledge. Their devotions are wholly out of view. One drunkard could in five minutes attract more mortal atten tion by his antics than all of them by their religious services. New York Herald. In the city the best posted individual is W. W. Conkling, the director of the animals in Central park. He said: “I recall the first importation of tbe spar rows to this city, and how much the people expected of them, and how they were nursed and a.tended to. They may have eaten some of the worms, at any rate the worms disappeared after the sparrows came, but whether it was due to the sparrow 1 would not like to say. They have been fed and attended to so much that now they are lazy and saucy. I know that several years ago the worms took possession of the vines about the arsenal in Central park. There were apnrrows by the thousands there,building right in the worm infested vines, but the birds did nothing. Then a flock of robins came along and gave their undivided attention for a few days to those vines and cleaned out all the worms. I don’t see that the spar rows molest the other birds. When they came here along in ’62 and ’63, we had about 151) species of birds, either visitors or resident, iu the park, and we have about that number now. The sparrows are of no use to ns as insect destroyers. They do not trouble the young buds, as they have been charged with doing. I would suggest taking down all ¡sixes und compel the birds to forage for a living instead of having crumb banquets provided for them. “They are eaten now very exten sively, for a large majority of the so- culled reed birds served ut restaurants are only common sparrows. It is im possible to tell the difference after the birds are plucked and cooked, and they are just about ns good, too. They make an excellent potpie, especial y in win ter, when they are fat and in prime eat ing order. It is not easy to trap them however, and after being fired at a few times they take the hint and leave thut immediate locality for a time. The kill ing and selling of sparrows has come to be quite an industry about the city.” In Central park the sparrow is every where, particularly near the points where the other animals are fed. His nests are crowded into every nook about the several buildings. The dovecote, the long line of stalls for the herbivor ous animals, the carnivorium, the camel stable were all supporting a colony of Hjiarrows. The eagle cage also had a companv of sparrows, with nests crammed away among the rafters of little Eug- the roof. The impertinent . ...................... . lish squatter took the greatest liberties with the few specimens of the Ameri can bird of freedom. The engles roosted about on the bare and crooked perches winking and bliukiug while the spar rows flitted about, often shaking their wings within a few inches of the bird's great hookisl bill. Once the reporter saw one of the sparrows land fairly on top of the bald head of one of these dig nified beasts, though only fqr an in stant. The old screamer ducked his head, ruft!e«l his feathers, muttered a guttural and settled back, feeling him self helpless to fight the rough-and- ready little tumbler. RUNNING’OUT THE RATS. Chamls'rs' Journal. Rats are wonderfullly clean animals, and they dislike tar more, perhaps than, than anything else, for if it once gets on their jackets, they find it most difficult to remore it. Now, I had heard it men tioned thut pouring i ar down at the en trance of their holes soda good remedy; also placing broken pieces of glas« by their holes was another remedy. But these remedies are uot effective. Tho rats may leave their old holes and make fresh ones in other parts of the house; they don't however, leave the premises for good. I thought I would try another experiment—tine I had not heard of before. One evening I set a large wire cage rat-trap, attaching inside a most se ductive piece of strongly smelling cheese, ami next morning I found, to my sat isfaction .that I ha<l succeeded in trapping a very large rat, onti of the largest Iliad ever seen, which, after I had besmeared him with tar. 1 let loose into his favorite run. The next morning I tried again, and sucei-eded in catching another «spially big fellow, and serve«! him in tho same manner. I could not follow theso two tar-besmeared rats into their num erous runs, to see what would happen; but it is reasonable to assume that ¡hey either suinmomsl together all the mem bers of their community, and by their crest-fallen appearance gave their com rades silent indications of the mis fortunes which had so suddenly befallen them; or they that frightened their breth ren away, for they one and all forsook tho place and fled. The experiment was eminently successful. From that day in 1875 till now, 1883, my house, ancient though it is, has been entirely free from rats; and I believe that there is no remedy equal to this one, if you can cutch vour rat alive. They never came back to the house alive. THE SEI E< lloN OF PICTURES. New Y’ork News. I saw a rich man of this city buying a picture the other day. He was buying it to fit a space on his wall, ami had tho measurement on a paper, lie found one to tit, but he didn't like it. It was an excellent landscape bv some French painter I never heard of, {tainted with breadth and vigor, ami the dealer gavo it a very favorable send off. But the picture-hunter was not to be talked over "It's to«« rough. There's too much paint on it.” he said. The Herald's Theory. I I left him looking at some colorod (Inter Ocean.J photographs. The New York Herald, in attempting This reminds me of a man I know to account for Lotte's failure iu Lon who, liefore he examines a picture, rubs don, doubts the hissing arose liocauso his hand over it. This is to find if it is of her singing a hymn, but thinks the smoothly painted.! If it isn't he calls it trouHeia to bo explained in the open a daub. This gciitleinan has a house ing lino of the song, which it quotes as full of pictures Is Right at bargains, and “There's a land that is fairer than this." as smooth as if they had been painted In such a aimpie manner does Tho Her an«l greased They are all elegantly ald confess its ignorance of sacred mu frame«]. Last, year he wanted to get sic or religious hymns. The opening rid of some of the older ones, to make line of "Tho Sweet By-and-By" is room for others, so he sent them to h “There's a land that is fairer than day,” auction. An artist frientl of mine which upsets Ths Herald's theory. Imught the lot anil gave th«« pictures to tlie porter of the auction room tu Stanley has discovered a river in carry the frames home for him. Central Africa called Kusmelonga. It An immense trade is now do I p ] can not be vory far from Lake Nyum celluloid as a material fork.nfe ivi d < Nyum. Maid to Improve Hearing. [New Haven Register.] Telephones the It appears that many people who have telephones in their houses or plaoes of business, and use them frequently, find their hearing bettered. The best testimony, however, comes from the central office. At each switch-board sits an operator, generally a girl, who from morning till night haggles with un reasonable subscribers and patiently goes through the everlasting formula till her head fairlv rings with “hello” and “all right” and “go ahead." She gets small pay for her trying work, surely not a sufficient compensation for loss of hearing. But her testimony is that her hear ing is constantly improving. When she begun this work she blundered sadly; now the ear is drilled to catch the faintest sound, and her sense of hear ing is remarkably acute, It must be noticed that the regularity of this schooling of " tho ear is largely responsible for the good result. If an operator were to take a switch-board only one day in the week and do all the work required on that day, the practice would doubtless be detrimental, because it would be ex haustive to both the muscular ami nerv ous mAke-up of the ear. The system atic use of the telephone seems to de velops the hearing above its Suirnal acuteness, but does not made it techni cally abnormal. One benefit from using the telephone is evident to both subscriliers and cen tral-office operators, that of cultivating the attention, a process which is reck oned as the third or intellectual method of developing the sense of hearing. A good share of the difficulty which peo ple find in workbig the telephone,comes not from any defect in the machine, nor from any deficient hearing, but from inability to fix the attention on what is heard. This trouble readily disappears by practice in listening closely to what is said over the wire. Indeed, the attention may be trained to an abnormal development, as in the case of tlie head operator at the cen tral office, who has been in the tele phoning business for four years; she has so accustomed herself to fix her at tention on the machine before her and to abstract her attention from her sur roundings, that when she is in her home she often fails to hear when she is ad dressed by members of the family. S*w York Dramatic Criticism. Marie Prescott said to a Detroit Times man: “I am convinced that had J brought out ‘Vera’ iu New York, with out Oscar Wilde being there, it would have been a pronounced success, and applauded throughout the entire coun try. But I starred Mr. Wilde as much as I starred myself, and conse [uently the press attacked him and left me alone. Dramatic circles in New York are rather apt to follow a leader, and in this case when The Herald and some of the other leading papers printed adverse crit icisms, the others fell into line. On the night that ‘Vera’ was produced at the Union Square, Joe Howard, of The Herald, was in the box office. Mr. Howard is, I am told—I do not know him myself personally—a man of justice and good nature. On that night he did only what a diplomat could do,and it w as done evidently with the object that 1 should hear of it. He told Mr. Shook and Mr. Collier, the managers of the Union Square theatre; Mr. Lee Lynch, the treasurer, and Mr. C'auzauran, the stage manager, that he had received a cablegram from James Gordon Bennett directing him to slate ‘Vera,’ no matter what its merits were. This was before the curtain had risen on the first act.” “What do you suppose was Bennett's reason for that?” “Somegilt-edged, high-toned sarcasm which passed between liim and Mr. Wilde in Europe, I believe. At any rate this conversation was repeated to me by those gentlemen whose names I have mentioned, and whose veracity I would not question.” The New York C'remationlsts. [“Caspar” In Detroit Free Press.] There is a revival of talk about the incineration people building a crema tory in New York. The latest rumor is that they have secured a suitable piece of ground up town and are now arranging for the edifice itself. The chief object in the way of their going ahead with a rush is the same one that stands in the way of a great many other worthy enterprises, viz., a lack of funds. My impression is that tho New York Cremation society, which was organized over a year ago, and which includes Prof. Felix Adler ard a chaplain of the United States navy among its members, is not exactly iu a flourishing condi tion. None of its stock has yet been “placed” in Wall street at all events. As yet there is no particular indication of the prevalence of a belief that it fills a long-felt want. I take the liberty of doubting the report that ground for a crematory has been secured on Manhattan island. Still, such a thing may be done, and a building actually put up, iu course of time. The cremation idea has certait 'v made headway in the few years since it was started. But it may lie said that almost the only peo ple who take to it are those who don't ¡rouble themselves much about church going. As a body the religious element is perfectly satisfied with the old- fashioned way of dis|>osiug of the dead. Nearly all the cremationists are “liberal thinkers," each of whom is a church unto himself. And as this class seems to bo growing pretty fast, the time may lie not far off when a crematory in New Y'ork will be an actually established fact. A NBW IFAl' OF BREAKING A WILL. Youth's Companion. A well-known American author—we wish we could mention bin name—died lately, leaving a large estate to his children. They assembled to hear his will read, all of them being married and heads of families. An adopted daugh ter, who bad offended their father, it was found, was passed over in the will with but a trifling legacy. One of the daughters interrupted the reading of the will. "Father, I am sure, is sorry for that by this time. A----- should have a child’s portion. We must make that right.” The other children assented, eagerly. A widowed daughter with a large family received an equal share with the other children. One of the sons spoke now. “C----- ought to have more than we men who are in business and are able to earn our living. I will add so much”—stating the sum—“to her por tion.” The two remaining brothers each agreed to give the same amount. When the will had been read, one of the elder children said, “There are some of father’s old friends to whom he would have given legacies if he had not been ill and forgetful when this paper was written. Shall we not make that right ?” It was done, cordially and promptly. Now this was only the just action of just and honorable people; but how rare such conduct is in persons to whom legacies are given. THE BARN STORMERS. Cor. Detroit Free Press. You want to know what that crowd meant we saw at Union Square—all those men, mostly young, filling the sidewalk for a whole block and just standing there doing nothing? Why, bless you, they are the barn st-ormers. What’s a barn stormer, eh? Well, a barn stormer is a second or third-class actor, who goes on the road with a traveling company. The companies play in all sorts of places, sometimes, it is said, even in barns, though that is probably putting it too strong. Any way, the actors who go on the road every season, as most of those we saw down there do, are called barn stormers for that reason. Talent among them ? Yes, quite a good deal of talent. Why, some of the best actors we have were barn stormers at one time or another. All the real good characters come up from the ranks, you know, and barn storming's nearly al ways part of the apprenticeship. There may be half a dozen embryo stars among these young fellows at Union Square. Why do they lounge at that particular place? Because its the Ri alto, the regular report of the brother hood, the place where managers and agents come to make up “snap” com panies, and, possibly, disband them af ter a week. It is only in the summer that the barn stormers lounge on the Rialto. Nearly all are then out of work, and many entirely out of cash. When fall opens they start for the high ways and byways, as members of travel ing companies, and are not seen at Union Square again until the next sum mer. unless, as often happens, the com panies break up on the road. The stormers then get back as soon as they can and any way they can, and wait around for another snap. OLD EDITOR'S EMPHATIC CONDEMN A TION. A correspondent of The Baltimore American encountered on a Hudson river steamlioat a tough, iron-grav old editor who delivered an angry tirade on descriptive excursion letter-writing. Among other things, the harsh old man said: "There has been very little chance or variety since the first book of synonyms and poetical quotations was published. Each and every year is a renascent period in which all the de scriptive literature is given a new lease of life, rehashed and sent to the news papers for publication. The same old adjectives, the same old smiles, the same old phrases come around as regu lar as the seasons themselves, and the same Hesperian skies that glowed when Ben Franklin put up the first printing press get this same annual puff now as when Ben went into the newspaper business. Young man, take mv advice: destroy that letter; kill that nonsense; in the silent waters of the Hudson drown those adjectives. What the peo ple want to read is news, gossip, facts, incidents, anecdotes—-not gush. Let descriptions along. Don’t make your self ridiculous by failing to do what Washin ;-ton Irving has already done so well. The descriptive writer must go. Public morality demands his extermina tion. The editorial hereafter depends upon it.” A gootl many years ago, it is said, one of the leading publishers in Paris was offered a manuscript l>v a pale young man with a large foreRead. The pub lisher glanced over the page and saw that the work was in verse. Without attempting to read it, he hande«l it po litely back to the young author, with a few of the usual phrases—poetry was a drug in the market; business was un usually dull, etc. “I am sorry for your sake," said the young man. haughtily; “I was about to propose to you a con tract, by which I wonld have seenred to you the right to all the future produc tions of my pen. It is a fortune I was about to offer you, but you refuse, and no more need be said.” Strnck by his strange manner, the publisher re- flecte«!. and then hastene«! after his visitor to call him back. But it was too late; the young man had disappeared. "Never before or since,” the old gentle man would say. when relating the story, “have I met with a young author who so fully believed in his own powers, or with one who had so much reason for snch belief; for my visitor was Victor Hugo." “THE BEAUTIF1ER OF THE N. TION." The abolition of slavery, which in western Europe has been the greatest achievement of modern civilization, did not unfortunately tend to greater mild ness in the customs of war. For in ancient times the Bale of prisoners as slaves operated to restrain that indis criminate and objectless slaughter which has been, even to cases within this century, the marked feature of the battle-field, and more especially where cities or places have been taken by storm. Avarice ceased to operate, as it once did, in favor of humanity. In one day tl.e population of Madge- burg, taken by storm, was reduced from 25,000 to 2.700; and an English eye witness of that event thus describes it: “Of 25,000, some said 30,000, people there was not a soul to be seen alive, till the fiamesdrove those that were hid in vaults and secret places to seek death in the streets rather than perish in the fire; of the miserable creatures some were killed, too, by tbe furious soldiers, but at last they saved the lives of such as came out of their cellars and holes, and_ so about 2,000 poor desperate creatures were left. There was little shooting; the execution was all cutting of throatB and mere house murders. * * * We could see the poor people in crowds driven down the streets, ¡ly ing from the fury of the soldiers, who followed butchering them as fast as they could, and refused mercy to any body ; till, driving them down to the river's edge, the desperate wretches would throw themselves into the river, where thousands of them perished, especially women and children. It is difficult to read this graphic description of a stormed city without the suspicion arising in the mind that a sheer thirst for blood and love of murder is a much more potent sustainer of war than it is usual or agreeable to believe. The narratives of most vic tories and of taking cities support this theory. At Brescia, for instance, taken by the French from the Venetians in 1512, it is said that 20,000 of the latter fell to only fifty of the former. When Rome was sacked in 1527 by the Im perialist forces we are told that "the soldiery threw themselves upon the unhappy multitude, and, without dis tinction of age or sex, massacred ail who came in their way. Strangers were spared as little as Romans, lor the murderers fired indiscriminately at every one, from a mere thirst for blood. One of the persons who appeared b fore the senatorial committee on lab this week said that the workingmi was “the beautifier of the nation.” Tl expression is a pretty one, and all tl prettier because it is correct. Tl millionaire may desire an elabora house, and the architect may plan i but both of them would be helple were not the stonecutter, the mason, tl carpenter, the painter and thedecorati within call; the work would be impost ble if even the humble hodcarrier coui not be found. The man of moderat meanB may want to beautify his ground but he caunot do it himself unless I neglects his business and applies bin self to special study besides; he mui call in the gardner. The poorest of t want neatly fitting clothes of goc material; we want sightly furnituri shapely dishes, good carpets, and f< these we are dependent upon the weave the tailor, the furniture maker, tl upholsterer and the potter. The pri fessionnl artist and designer is not to b underrated, but if every one waited fo him what dreary wildernesses on homes would be! The workingma originates and completes most of whs is pleasing to the eye; it is to hi knowledge of the appropriateness < means, his ability to coax raw material into sightly forms, his sense < proportion in details and < harmony ill the whole, that we ow our elevation, in material thingi above the level of the barbarian who are dependent upon their owi hands and wits for whatever they want But would the workingman beautif the nation if he were obliged to do i at his own expense ? Does he alway beautify even his own home and sur rouudings? If not, why not ? Becau» things of beauty are generally things o luxury; not being absolutely necessar; to human existence, they are seldon called for except by those who havi money to spare. The workingman doe not obtain them for himself until between persistent industry and equall; persistent saving, he has more mone’ than is required by the bare necessitiei of life. In other words, the working man does not expend money on appear anee until he is, though perhaps in a small way, a capitalist. A Hero of the Vent Hole. [Boston Herald.] AN A PUBLISHER'S MISTAKE. Detroit Free Press. Oraphie Description of the Taking isf a City by Htorm. [Gentleman’s Magazine.] I Erastus Proctor, of Appleton, Me., is still suffering from a wound received at Gettysburg. He was standing by his cannon thumbing the vent w-hen he was struck in the abdomen, the ball passing through the intestines and the ¡eft hip bone. Whether the rebel sharpshooter selected his man and his time with “malice prepense” cannot be known, but to remove “No. 3” while the gun is be ing loaded brings danger to the gun and the entire detachment of men, for, if the vent be uncov ered as the charge enters the hot gun, a premature discharge results, which may rend the gun, and will surely take off the arms of “No. 1.” Proctor knew the responsibility and did not flinch, but kept his thumb firmly to the vent until the shot was rammed home and the “re«dy” given. He tlieu found himself unable to walk or crawl, and was placed in the shelter of a rock, which protected him from lead, iron and hoofs. Here he lay five days, being occasion ally seen by a surgeon, who would say he could do nothing for him except to give him something to make him easy. On the fifth day a wounded rebel ser geant lying near told him he could hear some one a little way off calling the roll of the Maine wounded. “John nie” answered for Proctor, who was nearly speechless, and he was removed to a hospital. Stanley's Itoads In Africa. [Chicago Times.] Stanley's road building from Vivi to Stanley Pool, between which points river navigation is interrupted by the Congo rapids, was a work of incred ible difficulty, and the worst of it is that much of the work has to be done over again every year. During the rainy season the corduroy roads over the marshy lands are many feet under wa ter, and the roads are half ruined. On the plains the luxuriant vegetation an nually chokes the road with grass and weeds eight to ten feet high, and the way has to be cut through again. In the forests alone is the work of road making of a comparatively stable char acter. These terrible difficulties, com bined with the deadly Congo climate, have an unfavorable effect upon the health of the Europeans engaged in the work. In March, when the miasmatic influences appear to culminate, few of the Europeans escape the fever. So, with indomitable pertinacity and great sacrifices, the work goes on. the full fruits of which may not be reached for generations to come. The Volume of Currency Had Come. [Wall Street News.] A New Yorker who was up in the hill country a week or so ago shooting rab bits had occasion to call at a country store for some shot. “Yes, I've got powder,” replied the little old man behind the counter. “How much did ye want?” “I'll take a pound ” “What, a hull pound?” “Y'es. sir.” The merchant came from behind his oounter, slowly adjusted his steel-bowed spec'acles. and fora long minute looked the New Yorker over as one might read A Mlsnoaarr. a circus-bill. Finally he said : [Exchange. ] “A hull pound, and you are going to Devil's lake, in northern Dakota, pay cash down ?” does not in any sense deserve its name, “ Yes, sir.” for it is a fine sheet of water in the “Well—um—well! Mister, for the midst of lieautiful scenery, and there last fifteen years I’ve been contending are no evil traditions concerning it. The that the volume of floating currency fact is that the Indians called it Spirit was not large euough to do the business lake, and the white man regarde«! a A HAPPY TURN. of the country, and I never expected to spirit as necessarily a devil. Residents Fren-h Journal. live to see this day. Cash down for a talk of changing the name back to the Cabasson never loses his head when hull pound of powder! Wait a minute original Minuewakan. makes a blunder. till ( go to the back door and whoop.” “You are 45 years old. are you not ?" It is a mean servant-girl who. to he said the other day to a lady who hid De Forest: A morally weak man re gratify a petty malice, will put codfish owned up to 38 sembles a weak-jointed pair of tongs, on the range to boil when she knows And when the lady protested, he such as pusillanimously crossjtheir legs, that her mistress is entertaining com quietly replied: let their burdens drop and pinch the pany in the parlor. I "Well, you will be one of these days.” hand that thrusts them. New Y'ork Herald. COPPER ROOFING~COMING INTO USE. American Architect The Scientific American mentions the decline in the price of copper as likely to lead to the increased use of the metal in building. At presout the material for a copper roof costs, at the outset, only about twice as much as tin, and as the latter must be repaired and painted about once in three years, and in fifteen or twenty years must be re newed altogether, the copper, winch never needs painting, and is practically indestructible, is much the cheaper material in the end. There are in Boston many copper roofs, put on about forty years ago, which show no signs of deterioration, and the metal is still much employed iu that sity for cornices, gutters and rain-water pipes, as well as for covering bay-windows, and in many other ways, iu place of galvanized iron, which is much infer ior in beauty and durability, and nut very much cheaper. The copper has the additional advantage of needing no pnint, so that the delicate lines of ar tistic work are in no danger of being filled up, and the metal increases rather than diminishes in beauty by the slow formation of a bluish-green patina over it. For flashings, as well as other portions of roof-work, copper is much superior to zinc or tin, and with the aid of a certain amount of lead the most difficult problems in roofing can be successfully and per manently solved. CONKLING AND SUMNER. Says the Washington correspondent of The Philadelphia Record: “We are talking of the egotism of great men,and an ex-senator said: ‘A lady of my ac quaintance once wrote Roscoe Conkling a note when he was in the senate with me, asking permission to bring her lit tle girl to see him. He replied in a courteous note,naming the hour at which he would receive her. At the hour named the lady and the child stood l>e- fore him. ‘Mary,’ said the mother to her child, ‘this is the great Senator Conk ling.’ ‘Y’es, little Mary,’ said Lord Ros coe, with a Jovian smile meant to be en couraging; ‘but remember,’ solemnly lifting his forefinger, ‘that there is a greater than Senator Conkling.’ We laughed ami then a regular army colo nel snid : ‘I remember that on the morn ing of one of the darkest days of the war I met Charles Sumner on the ave nue. and, stopping him, said: ‘Senator, is there any news this morning?’ ‘None, I believe,’ he gravely responded, ‘ex cept that I am a little better this morn ing.’ I ha«l forgotten that he was un well.’” _______________ A CONFEDERATE VIVANDIERE. New York Star. At Hollywood cemetery, near Rich mond, Va., in the soldiers’ section B, row 27. is a plain granite monument inscrilied, “Catherine Hodges, Co. K, 5th La., 1863.” It is said that this grave is never overlooked on memorial day. She came to Virginia as the vi- vandiere of her companv. It was her intention to nurse the sick and care for the wounded. Her life was devoted to the Confederate cause. In some of tbe holiday parades that marked the pres ence of southern soldiers in the early days of the war, with gaudy red cap and zouave-like dress, she marched at the head of the command to which she was attached. Her mission was to nurse others, but herself soon required nursing. She fell sick and died, and was buried amidst the sold er«—one poor, lone woman among 12,0J0 men. GIFTS OF THE GODS. New York Star. Chinese priests have a w y if im posing on the credulity of toe pearl fishermen. They secure live pearl oysters and place in them Hat leaden figures of Buddha. In time the images are sunk into the m'-itSer-of-pearl linings of the shell and iieantifully coated with the lustrous substance. Years pass, perhaps, before they are discovered, but when opened they are prized as special gifts of the god.