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4,
U
ABILENE REFLECTOR
-PUBLISHED Br-
EFLECTOfi PUBLISHING COMPAM,
SIC TRANSIT.
O wondrous life of joy and strength
While man's young power unspent Is,
Through all the ten years' joyous lengtfc,
The hot and eager twenties '
Next comes the decade sweet and strong,
YcarStWhcre no harm or hurt 19,
"When life pours forth its fullest sons
The proud and passionate thirties.
Life's summer glows ; with flower and fruit
The long day all to short i,
And well its glorious splendors suit
Our mid-day world, the forties.
Is this The first approach of night!
Yes; downward now our dnft U.
As on we fare through waning light.
Slow sinking through the fifties.
Still closer folds our narrowing range;
Our fate more sure and fixed is
Tor good or ill, small chance of change
When once we reach the sixties.
JizVcens the shadow of the tomb,
And either hell or heaven 'tis.
As life, past, present and to come.
Looks on us through tha seventies.
Shut out from manhood's earlier force,
How sad the growing weight is
Wc bear along the dreary course
That lingers through the eighties !
Still slowlicr (Kps our weary oar.
But useless to repine 'tis:
And yet we long to find a shore
Somewhere among the nineties.
Come, kindly death, unfeared, long sought.
Spare us the torturing one dread
That Heaven has dropped us out of thought
To lea e us o'er the hundred t
J. Arthur Mints, in Harper' W'etlly.
MY ADYENTUKE.
A Timo "When I "Was Afraid
Being1 Frightened.
of
This is only a story of a girl's adventure,
"but I am sure most of the girls who road it
will not wish for any thing more tragic in
their own experience.
I lived with my parents od the sloping
side of Skitchawaug, a long, low mountain
on the west side of the Connecticut river.
The mountain was nearly covered with
wood, but the trees of the two sides dif
fered in kind. Sugar-maple, white pine
.and white beech grow more plentifully on
the western slope; blue beech and pitch
pine on the eastern and the pitch-pine tree
was the indirect cause of my adventure.
The events I am about to relate took
place long ago, at a time when cone work
was, among the young ladies of our section,
the leading passion in fancy work. My sis
ter and I had made work-baskets, frames
and brackets, using the scales of the white
pine cones to make a scalloped edge, and
spruce and hemlock and the pretty little
tamarack cones to cover the rest of the
wood-work.
But wc were dissatisfied because we had
no pitch-pine cones in our collection. They
-were stiff, intractable things, hard to work
and of little beauty, but we wanted them
because we did not have them. We knew
there were pitch-pine trees on the south--eastern
slope of the mountains. It was far
we had no idea how far from our usual
"haunts for play or for picnicking, but we
were convinced that wo should never know
happiness till wo had some cones from those
trees. It was a long, rough climb, wo in
ferred, and wc could easily have made a
pleasant excursion of it by a taking a lunch
and spending the day in the undertaking,
but this did not'occur to us.
Ellen Story was to accompany us after
school after tea, in fact. The school-house
was half a mile on our way, but as it was a
hastily-formed plan, we wero obliged to go
homo for our tea.
"Wc had some difficulty in persuading
mother to consent to our excursion. She
was born on the side of Skitchawaug, but,
as she had never been of an adventurous
disposition and it was a standing puzzle
that both of her daughters were so different
from herself in this respect she had almost
no knowledge of the wilder parts of the
mountain.
'Do you know where the trees growl" she
asked.
"O, yes, they' re right over the cast corner;
wc go m by Mr. Howard's gate."
This was true as far as it went, and we
had no Intention of deceiving her, though
t lie trutn was none or us had ever seen a
pitch-pine tree to know it.
"Are they near the rattlesnake dens J"
"O, no, I guess not. Don'tcaro if they are.
You know we always wanted to kill a rattle
snake." Mother had seen us start on too many
such excursions to hold out long with her
objections: sometimes we went for chest
nuts, and got them by climbing the trees;
sometimes we went after moss, or flowers,
or acorns, and very often we took a full sup
ply of weapons for killing rattlesnakes; but
as we never Killed uor even saw one, mother
by and by ceased to fear that we would en
counter any. So, bidding us take some out
side garments and bo sure to leave the woods
before dark, she turned to the daily, and we
toward Skitchawaug.
Although it was late, we' strolled along,
talking and planning. We stopped to peep
iu at t ho school-house window, for old sako's
sake, probably, though it was but little more
than an hour since we had loft it. Turning
in through the Howard gate, we stopped to
tell our errand. Mrs. Howard discouraged
us more decidedly than mother had done.
"It is too late: it will be dark before you
get there. It is more than two miles from
here."
"It won't take us long to go two miles,"
wc answered, stoutly, though somewhat
dismayed. We had not estimated the dis
tance in rods and miles, but I think about
half a mile was the distance I had in mind
when looking beyond Mrs. Howard's.
"But you don't know any thing about it
where you arc goinjr. You'd bo just as
likely to go into the dogwood swamp or the
rattlesnakes' dens as anvwhere."
"I'm not afraid," said" I.
"No. Jane Plumley, I don't s'pose there
is any thing that you are afraid of. Those
that knojr nothing fear nothing: but I do
wonder your mother let you go."
"O, she don't care where we go!" I said,
without considering what I said.
"Well, Jane, do have a care to keep away
from the snake' dens!" These 'deus'' were
aquantity of loose, shelly rocks on the out
side of the mountain, whoro the rattlesnakes
wero supposed to breed.
Hoping that Mrs. Howard was mistaken
in the distance, but fearing she was not, wo
made a little more haste when we started
away from her door; but we soon forgot
about it, and stopped to gather Bowers and
ferns and curious lichens on the way. Soon
after entering the woods, we found a quan
tity of white pine-cones so smooth in texture
nd so rich in coloring that we made a large
pile by the foot of a tree, proposing to gath
er them in our aprons when we came back
with our baskets filled with the others.
We all lived in the valley, where we en
joyed some hours of daylight after wc were
shaded by the western bill, so e were in
no alarm when the sunshine disappeared
from the highest tree-tops, and when the
darkness was fairly upon us, we thought we
had come into a denser part of the forest.
'Let's get out of this dark hole!" said my
sister. We hurried along, but finding it
grew no lighter, we looked up, and through
the leafy canopy we saw the stars.
"Pitch dark ! Girl's, let's go home." This
seemed the only course for us to pursue, and
we reluctantly turned back.
"Let's go home by the saw mill," I pro
posed. "O no, not that wav. There's all sorts of
'boogers' round the sawmill." "
"Pooh! Who's afraid! I'm goinj that
way."
In vain the girls urged that the route by
the sawmill was longer and rougher; that a
piece of marsh-ground lay in the way, and
that we must cross the brook on a narrow
foot-bridge. I had no argument in favor of
my plan, except to say that we should reach
the highway sooner by that route; but I was
unusuallyobstinate that night, and repeated:
"I shall go by the way of the sawmilL You
can go which way you choose."
"But we all want to go together," said my
sister. "I asked mother if we might stay
with Ellen to-night."
"I don't want to; rather sleep at home.
You need not wait for me if you get out
first"
Saying which I plunged into a thick
growth of underbrush in the direction of
the sawmilL The way was rougher than I
thought. The bushes were very thick and
tangled, but I stumbled along a few rods.
Then I heard, or thought I heard, the girls
calling me. Quite glad of an excuse to for
sake ray plan, I turned toward them and
called, but received no answer. I called
again and again, and ran to and fro to avoid
the rocks dimly seen through the increas
ing darkness, till I grew quite angry with
them for not answering, but for a long timo
I had no thought of being lost.
When I gave up the hope of overtaking
the girls, I stopped quite bewildered, for I
had lost tho points of compass entirely. I
could not judge of my course by "the lay of
the land," for the mountain rises in combs,
and tho growth of trees was so dense that I
could not see the "dipper," which was the
only constellation I really knew.
I began to run back and forth at random,
controlled by a fear which every moment
grew more intense, till I seemed to be en
veloped in an atmosphere of terror. I ran
and ran, and screamed and shouted, beat
ing againBt trees and stumbling over rocks
and roots till at last I fell headlong down a
precipice, only a few feet, probably, though
I seemed to be falling through miles of
black space.
Dumb with terror, I lay on tho soft bed of
leaves where I had fallen. All was dark
ness and silence, except the sighing of the
wind and the cry of a screech-owl in the
distance. I was not brought up in the woods
to fear an owl, but that low, mournful
tremolo, which has brought a chill to many
an older heart than mine, added to the gloom
of the situation.
I lay where I fell till I became calmer.
My fears had been altogether vague, fori
had not once thought of rattlesnakes, cata
mounts or ghosts, with which the mountain
was said to be infested.
I began to reason with myself with such
success that I soon came to tho conclusion
that I had not been frightened at all at
least not much and then I formed a plan
for getting home. I arose, peered carefully
round, and started toward the lightest part
of the woods, which I hoped indicated a
clearing. I felt my way slowly between tho
trees, which were very small and thickly
set, till on putting my foot carefully for
ward, I set it on one end of some cylindrical
object which yielded under my foot, while
the other end flew up and hit me near my
waist.
Without doubt it was a flexible branch,
but my only thought was rattlesnakes, and.
with one wild shriek and bound, I started off
through the woods, frenzied with fear, beat
ing ana Druismg myself against the trees.
Finding that running was out of the ques
tion, I crouched down by the foot of a tree
and waited for the snakes, for I felt sure
that I was just where Mrs. Howard warned
me not to go in the rattlesnake dons. I
fancied I could hear them coming from all
directions, creep, creep, creeping along. But
they never reached me, and after awhile
common-sense came to my aid and instructed
me that snakes did not travel at night. I
breathed freer till the snapping of a dry twig
supplied me with a new terror. Panthers,
of course! night was just their time for
prowling, and I made no question but that I
should be dragged away to make a supper
zor a inter 01 young catamounts witnm a
few minutes. In less than that time I saw
something which drove serpent and beast
from my mind for the rest of that night.
My father was a singularly fearless man
and taught us to be so. He allowed us to ex
plore the mountain and take our chances,
which, he said, were ten thousand to one
that we never saw a rattlesnake; and the
last panther known to have been on that
mountain was killed, he told us, eighty
years before. As for ghosts which were
said to float uneasily over the old cemetery
on the south slope, we did not even so much
as dare mention them in his presence. But
if ever mortal eyes saw a ghost, here was
one.
Just before me was a little opening, and
beyond, under a low, branching hemlock,
was the ghostly presence, swaying and
beckoning to me in the dim starlight. If I
was terrified before I was frozen with horror
now, and I felt my hair rising under my
pink calico sun-bonnet. Again and again I
looked, till I could endure it no longer; then
I covered my eyes till the unseen terror was
worse than the sight itself.
As I have said, my education in ghosts
and hobgoblins had been neglected, but Aunt
Chatty, an old woman who sometimes
washed for my mother, had told us of various
"appearances" on the mountain. As the
latest of these apparitions was fifty years
before, we felt tolerably secure, but now
ordinary weeks seem short to the time I
stood confronting that diabolical whiteness
I shut my eyes and counted fifty, one hun
dred, oven one thousand, but each time I
looked, the appearance stood swaying and
floating before me.
"Speak to a ghost," Aunt Chatty had
said, "and it will disappear." "
But what should I say J what conversa
tion could one hold with such a shape! but
any thing was better than this. I deter
mined to speak, so, closing my eyes and
mustering all my courage, I shouted:
"Gitaeout!"
I cautiously opened my eyes hoping the
coast was clear, but there it was, beckoning
and swaying; I almost thought it grinned
at me.
At last, I thought I might as well go to
meet it and die at once as to stand there
dying of dread and fear. I closed my eyes
again, ran a few steps and opened them
quitonear to a white birch tree! The low
branches of the hemlock had swayed in the
breeze before it, but the stalwart white
trunk certainly neitherswayed nor beckoned
nor yet grinned.
I sat down and cried and laughed in pure
nervousness. The noise woke some bird
lings in the nest over my head, I suppose,
for I heard the mother chirping a soft lulla
by, and the old words: "Ye are of more
value than many sparrows!" stole into my
heart with inexpressible comfort.
I now felt that I must spend the night on
the mountain and make the best of it. I
found a heap of dry leaves near the ghostly
birch and broke a quantity of boughs from the
swaying hemlock to make me a bed, but be
fore lying down I went back to my old stand
and looked for my ghost. It was of no use,
it would never be any thing but a stupid
tree again.
I nestled into the soft leaves, drew the
boughs over me, and, though 1 was chilled
with the night air, soon fell asleep.
When I woke again I could see the wan
ing moon through the opening. I shall never
forget how beautiful it looked sailing
through the dark violet sky. I was op
pressed with a sense of loneliness and be
numbed with cold, but felt no fear. No
thought of panther, ghost or serpent crossed
my mind. I drew the leaves and branches
closer round me and fell asleep, murmnr-,
ing: "I laid me down and slept; I waked;
for the Lord sustained me."
That text hung over the head of my
mother's bed. I cried a little at first, think
ing of her lying warm and comfortable, with
never a thought that I was shivering alone
on the mountain.
"When I woke again it was auite dav. but
the sky was thickly overcast with clouds.
I Sprang up with some of wvold defiant
manner, but the birch tree near had a sub
duing effect on me, I was forced to admit
that Jane Tlumley had ben afraid, had
grovelled in the most abject terror, terror
of nothing, too. I was accustomed, when
my school-mates refused to join some mad
cap scheme of mine, to taunt them: "O, you
are afraid you'll get scart!" I had been
afraid I should be frightened, mortifying as
the thought was.
When I looked around, I concluded that I
had wandered quite over the crest of the
mountain and was far down the eastern
slope. My wisest course seemed to be to go
down to the clearing and ascertain my loca
tion. A few minutes' walk brought me in
sight of the road with several houses: the
river and low land seemed hidden behind a
little ridge. I was familiar with the aspect
of the eastern slope, but I looked in vain for
a single familiar object. I recalled each
farm in regular succession, but none of them
corresponded with what I saw before me.
Somewhat surprised, I decided to go to
the nearest house and seek information.
"I'm not obliged to ask them who lives
there, hut I can ask the nearest way to Mr.
Plumley's."
With this thoughtl started toward a little
brown house whose chimney, crowned with
a curling smoke, announced that the occu
pants were up. Presently I saw a man with
a basket; he went to one corner of the gar
den and began to throw something into a
little sty there. Apparently he was feeding
some baby pigs. I wa3 within four or five
yards of him when, with a great start, I
recognized him as Mr. Howard, our neigh
bor! I rubbed my eyes vigorously, 'or the
scales were dropping from them by the
dozen.
I was at the very door of the house which
I kuew better than any other except my
own home. Within twenty-five rods was
the school-house, the playground, the cairn
rock, the balm of Gilead tree. So firm had
I been in my belief that 1 was on the east
side that I had looked for a half hour on a
landscape which was as familiar as the feat
ures of my mother's face, and had not
known it.
Fortunately, my footsteps on the sward
were quite noiseless and I had a little time
to recover myself before I was seen. "When
Mr. Howard turned he called, cheerily:
"Good morning, Jane; you are out early."
A sob came with my reply.
"Why, what's the matter? Any your folks
sick!" I did not answer. Then, noticing
my trail through the dewy grass he asked :
"Wbere'd you come from!"
"Off n the mountain" (sob). "Been there
all night" (sob). "I'm 'most froze."
"My senses! Poorchild.no wonder. Here,
come into the house." I hung back a little,
for his kindly words had increased my sobs
to a genuine boo-hoo.
"Come, there's a good fire. Why in the
world didn't John Plumley raise the neigh
Dors and hunt you up "
"He thought I was at Mr. Story's." Then
I explained why I was not missed.
"Here, wife! wife!" he called, as he
opened the door, "here's Jane Plumley; she
lay on Skitchawaug last night, and I'll be
hanged if I don't b'lieve she was afraid she
should get scart fur once. Wa'n't you,
Jane!"
"Yes," I said, still crying, softly.
"She's a'most froze, wife. Le' me start
up tho fire and do you vhack up a cup of
coffee for her."
"Poor child V said Mrs. Howard, almost
crying herself. "Of course she shall have
coffee and biscuits, too, if you don't burn
them to charcoal. Don't you put in another
stick, Seth Howard. I'll kill the fatted calf
if you say so, but you sha'n't burn the house
down "
She brought warm water and bathed my
face which was bruised and blood-stained
from my frequent contact with the trees the
night before. Then I shared their generous
breakfast, while Mrs. Howard piled my
plate with every good thing which her
pantry or cellar afforded.
"Poor thing, to think of you being out on
that mountain amongst the bears and rat
tlesnakes all night! I shouldn't 'a' slept a
wink if I had known it."
"Pshaw, Sally! I'll warrant they didn't
trouble Jane; and you didn't see old Muck
leroy either, did you, Jane!"
"No, sir," I replied, emphatically. Old
Muckleroy was a prominent ghost seventy
years before, and tradition had preserved his
fame. You see, I knew positively that I did
not see him, though I did think of him at
one time.
That is the end of my story. After break
fast I went home. Of course no one had
even missed me, but equally of course the
truth had to come out. I suffered no harm
from my ad venture perhaps it did me good.
At least the girls thought so, for I was not
so apt after that to taunt them for their
senseless fear of nothing. I had had my
own experience. Luthera 'Mtnty,iu Youth's
Companion.
THE STEWART MILLIONS.
How tho AVidow of the Dry Goods King
Spent Her Last Years.
The moral about "the curse of riches"
has never been more forcibly painted
for the general public than in the pro
ceedings to break the will of Mrs. A.
T. Stewart. When her husband died
the millionaire's wife, who had had but
little comfort and no happiness up to
that time, might have reasonably
looked forward to somewhat of a royal
timo during the rest of her four-score
years. But the poor old lady, desolate
and alone, found life as hard a burden
as ever. Her husband left her an es
tate of a dozen millions or more, yet
at the end of the first year she found
herself in debt, and her indebtedness
kept growing to the end of the chapter.
As she grew poorer the Hiltons grew
richer, and yet never for a moment did
they let her out of their grasp or from
beneath their eyes. The testimony of
the old book-keeper tells a story of
fact that outdoes any romance. He
says that the day A. T. Stewart
died his confidential friend and
adviser. Judge Hilton, went to the of
fice and examined his books, not wait
ing until the millionaire's flesh grew
cold. Then he took thirty per cent,
from the $10,000,000 or $12,000,000 at
which the dead man's share in the busi
ness was valued, and proceeded to sell
the latter to himself for $1,000,000 left
him as a legacy. But this $1,000,000
was never paid to Mrs. Stewart; it was
"owed" to her, and meanwhile she was
brought in debt for nearly all the
money she wanted. The poor old lady
was helpless; she had none but tb&
Hilton family within reach; and so she
drifted on through life, hampered for
money in the midst of wealth, and died
a genteel pauper. Many a writer used
to speak of Mrs. Stewart's great riches
of her picture-gallery, her jewels,
her bric-a-brac and her laces and
women all over the land envied the
great millionaire's widow her independ
ent position: and all the time the
woman who lived under guard in her
white marble palace on Fifth avenue
might have been willing to exchange
places with tho vif of a mechanic
who pushed her baby-carriage past her
windows, and who lived and did her
own work in a hired tenement. The
hearing has not been a pleasant one
for Judge Hilton. It has brought out
what I have hinted heretofore in this
correspondence and have been certain
of for five years. Stewart was a cruel
man to his employes; an employe has
signally avenged his cruelty. A T,
Letter. . '- -
THE BASTILLE'S FALL.
Why tbe Foorteeath or July Was Selected
as France's National Day.
The French chose for their national
festival the anniversary of the fall of
Bastille. They celebrate that day in a
more orderly and tasteful manner than
we do our Fourth of July, though not
with less feeling or unanimity.
It has been objected to their choice
of a National Day that it is the anni
versary of a deed of violence, and, as
some still believe, an act of unreason
ing and unjustifiable violence, which
was naturally followed by the Reign of
Terror and the twenty years despotism
of Bonaparte.
This is but a superficial view of tho
matter. The Fourteenth of July was
as truly the birthday of the French
Republic as the Fourth of July was of
ours, and, though its development has
been often interrupted and long re
tarded, yet that great day began the
downfall in France of government by
irresponsible authority. The destruc
tion of the Bastile was the first act done
by the people of France.
The Bastille, originally one of tho
fortified gates of Paris, became, in the
course of ages, the chief fortress of the
city, a great, square structure, with
walls of mediaeval thickness, supple
mented by eight towers, massive and
grim, the whole surrounded by a moat
twenty-five feet wide. Finally, as
Paris became safer from attack, the
Bastille was utilized as the State
Prison. In fact it was to France what
the Tower of London was to England in
the reigns of Henry VIII., Mary and
Elizabeth.
Such it remained too long. It rep
resented the despotic principle for a
hundred "and fifty years after the Tower
had become a mere show, to which
teachers brought their good pupils on
holidays, to view the headsman's block
and try the blunted edge of his axe
with their fingers.
It was not the cruelties committed in
the Bastille that made it hateful to the
people of Paris. During the reigns of
Louis XIV., Louis XV. and XVI., there
was scarcely any thing done in it which
we ordinarily call cruel. The Bastille,
in the eye of the law, was a chateau, or
castle, belonging to the King, and its
inmates were the King's guests. The
order for an arrest was usually couched
in the form of a polite intimation of the
royal "intention," beginning, "My
iousin," and ending with, "on which,
my cousin, I pray God to have you in
His holy keeping."
It must be owned, too, that the King
naintained the guests at his "chateau
af the Bastille," with elegance aud
profusion. Marmontel, the author,
who was confined there in Louis XV. 's
iime describes his first dinner in allur
ing terms: "An excellent soup, a
slice of juicy beef, the leg of a boiled
rapon swimming in its gravy, and
melting in the mouth, a little dish of
fried artichokes in marinade, one of
spinach, a very line Cresanne pear,
jome grapes, a bottle of old Burgundy,
uid some of the best Mocha coffee."
The King himself could not have had
i better dinner than this.
The odium of the Bastille was due
shiefly to its representative character.
It stood for authority, hereditary and
irresponsible, against the caprices of
which there was no redress. Marmon
tel's offence was that he had offended
the King's brother by reciting, in a
private company, somo verses of a
satirical poem reflecting upon that
Prince. Ho was not the author of the
poem, nor was the poem itself libellous.
It was a harmless parody, a piece of fun
which no rational being ought to have
resented.
For many years, it was a distinction
in France to have been confined in the
Bastille, because the elite of the nation
hud been there.
As the building had a representative
:haracter, so its demolition was pro
phetic of a distant time when the
words liberty, equality and fraternity
shall with some correctness describe
the terms upon which men live to
gether. The site of 'the gloomy for
tress is now adorned by a lofty bronze
pillar, upon the summit of which is a
gilded figure of Mercury about to take
(light, as if to cenvey to distant peo
ples the glad tidings of freedom.
Youtli's Companion.
How to Make Iced Tea.
Iced tea is constantly growing in
favor, and is now considered a standard
beverage in many homes. Some enter
prising grocers also furnish a trial cup
to their patrons, and in this way sam
ple their teas. The question was once
asked us, "How is iced tea made?"
and while some of our readers may
smile at the question, yet we assure
them there's nothing very ridiculous
in it. To be sure it is only to drop a
piece of ice into a goblet of tea and the
thing is done. But then, the tea itself!
It isn't every one who knows how to
make that tea, and to them this hint
will not be unprofitable. Put the tea
in an earthen or agate-ware pot and
set on the back of the stove where the
pot and contents will get thoroughly
warm; then pour on water that has
been freshly boiled, and boiling thor
oughly at the time; let it stand on the
back of the stove for fifteen minutes,
by which time the tea will be perfectly
drawn. If you desire the tea to be
perfect and to remain so, separate the
liquid from the leaves by pouring it
off into another vesseL If your inten
tion is to spoil it, you have only to
boil it. and let it remain with the
leaves iu the pot. Tabic Talk.
A New Sleep-Producer.
Sulfonal, chemically entitled to the
name of "diaethylsul-fondimethyime-than,'"
is a new hypnotic introduced by
Prof. Kast, of Freiburg. Its action,
unlike that of other drugs, appears to
be simply the intensifying of the fac
tors that lead to natural sleep, and
from five to eight, and even ten hours
of refreshing slumber usually follow its
use. It is said to have none of the dis
advantages of the deadly narcotics, and
to be more reliable than the bromides.
It is claimed to be entirely free from
harmful or unpleasant effects, and to
retain its efficacy even when used for a
long period. It has already proven
valuable in the treatment of mental
disorders. Arkamaw Traveler.
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.
Basic slag, the refuse of steel
works when freed from iron and re
duced to powder, proves to be a valu
able fertilizer.
A remarkable photo-engraved
chart of the Pleiades, showing 2,826
stars from the third to the seventeenth
magnitude, has been produced at the
Paris observatory.
An eastern inventor has perfected
an electrical type writer, by means of
which a message may be transmitted
over a telegraph wire to almost any
distance, and printed at the other end.
In a report on "Steam Boilor Ex
plosions," recently made to the Liver
pool Engineering Society, it was stated
that "the actual percentage of explo
sions to boilers at work is very small,
being at the rate of one explosion to
every 2,500 boilers in use."
The new sodium-preparing pro
cess, by which caustic soda is distilled
with an intimate mixture of coke and
very finely divided iron, is said to
prove capable of successful working oa
a large scale, and it is expected to re
duce the cost of sodium to less than a
fourth of its present price; also to
cheapen the production of aluminum.
Potates are dried, as fruits are, for
use on ships and in mining camps,
where the fresh vegetables can not be
easily procured. The potatoes are
sliced and dried in a common evapora
tor, just as apples are, and when used
are soaked in water twelve hours to
soften and freshen them.
A patented material, said to have
all the properties of lignum vitae, is
prepared in Leipsic, by M. Stockhardt,
from ordinary soft wood. The wood is
first impregnated with oil, then sub
jected to great pressure, causing con
siderable increase in density.
Variation in sound is regulated by
the number of vibrations; the more
numerous these vibrations the higher
the sound. The deepest, gravest tone
that is possible for human ear to hear
has thirty-two vibrations per second.
The highest and shrillest has about
70,000. Man's voice can scarcely go
below a sound that gives 164 vibra
tions, nor woman's voice higher than
2,088 vibrations per second.
An interesting collection of com
mercial products, made by Dr. Forbes
"Watson, has been acquired by Univer
sity College, Dundee. It contains somo
7,500 samples, embracing between 700
and 800 fibers, over 500 dyes and dye
stuffs, 500 oils and oil-seeds, 600 or 700
gums, resins and guttas, nearly 2,000
medicinal substances, and more than
as many samples of food-stuffs.
Prof. Haupt has calculated that the
opening of two diagonal streets in Phil
adelphia (850,000 inhabitants) would
reduce the extreme distances by one
mile and a quarter. The annual num
ber of passengers carried by the cars
being 125,000,000, the total saving
would reach about $180,000 per mile
traveled. The passengers would gain
3,565 years in time and would save
more than 8,000,000 horse power in
motive power.
FOR FLESHY PEOPLE.
An Outline of the Schweninger Treatment
for Obesity.
The system of Prof. Ernst Schwenin
ger for the treatment of obesity, which
was introduced here about two years
ago, has by this time been sufficiently
tested to demonstrate that any body
who will determinedly follow the regi
men prescribed by it can reduce his
flesh to any reasonable degree desired,
it being understood, of course, that his
physical condition is not such by rea
son of incurable heart or kidney
disease as to make reduction perilous.
And there is just one thing about it
that is hard to get used to. That is the
absolute prohibition of all liquids dur
ing meals aud for an hour before and
an hour after each meal. It does not
seem so difficult to do without fluids to
wash down one's food until it is tried,
and the iron pressure of habit in sip
ping and even gulping water, wine,
milk, tea. or coffee while eating is
realized. The very fact of prohibition
seems to make one more intensely
thirsty, and the juiciest food takes on
the astringent dryness of chewed
pomegranate rind. Of course, one be
comes accustomed to it after awhile,
eventually does not feel any desire for
liquids at the prohibited times, and
even finds less disposition to drink at
any time than he had before. Then
his reward comes, not only in the re
duction of flesh, but in a surprising
diminution of the nuisance of perspira
tion, which is the misery of all fat
men.
.It must not be supposed that this
shutting off of liquids is the whole of the
treatment, though it appears to be the
most important requirement. That
ranking next to it is that one must not
gorge with food, especially food in
which sugar and starch are largely
component parts.
The Iron Chancellor still lives by
Schweninger rules and in doing so
keeps' down his tendency to growing
fat and remains a wonder of vitality
and vigor at his advanced age. No
longer ago than last April one of the
special dispatches told how he re
stricted himself iu eating to a light
breakfast and substantial dinner, with
no liquids at meals and only a glass of
wine daily, taken just before retiring.
One experiment with the bogus system
of three pints of water before breakfast
by Bismarck would doubtless afford
Germany another first-class fuueral.
There is no royal road to relief from
corpulence that may be traveled with
ease and safety, and without self-sacrifice.
Nostrums are from time to time
advertised as affording it such as one
now boomed in England, and finding
not a few dupes here but they do not.
Starvation a la Banting, and the nos
trum cures that profess to reduce glnt
tons while practicing their gluttony if
they will only "take a wineglasslul at
each meal," are alike dangerous hum
bugs. Renouncing liquids seems to be
demonstrated the safest and best thing
when accompanied by due moderation
in eating. But in no case is it abso
lutely safe for a fat person to adopt any
really effectrre measures for reducing
weight without thorough preliminary
knowledge of the actual condition of
hia vital organs. N. Y. Sun.
$100,000 -IMPORTANT- $100,000
TO MANUFACTURERS.
The ABILENE IMPROVEMENT CO. offers
$100,000 IN BONUSES
to reliable manufacturing concerns who will
locate in Abilene. Abilene is the largest as
well as the most prosperous city in Central
Kansas. It will soon have
THREE NEW TRUNK LINES OF RAILROADS,
making FOUR lines, which will insure un
equaled shipping facilities.
AJDDRESS
MEM If IV
ABILENE.
THE ABILENE NATIONAL BANK
CAPITAL, - $150,000.
CLARK H. BARKER, President.
W. P. RICE, Yice-President.
E. D. HUMPHREY, Cashier.
A. K. PERRY, Assistant Cashier,
TRANSACTS A GENERAL BANKING BUSINESS.
Business of Merchants, Farmers and Individuals generally
solicited. Unequaled facilities for the transaction of all
business intrusted to us.
A. FRY.
J. C. BOYER, Attorney and Notary.
FRY, BOYER CO.,
REAL
WM
LAI
J
Loans on farms and city property. Real Estate uonglit and sold.
Insurance contracts at current rates. Notary business promptly attended
to. Special bargains In city and suburban property.
Citizens' Bank Building,
AJBUJESTE,
LEBOLD, FISHER
ABILENE
BANKING BUSINESS
Done iu all its branches. MORTGAGES negotiated on Fnri
Property at. 6, 7 and S per cent., with reasonable commissiow
Also, money on Farms without commission.
STEAMSHIP TICKETS
At all times ; for sale at lowest rates.
Furnished on all the principal cities of the world.
BOJSTDS BOUGHT AjND SOUD.
Special attention given to business of Farmers and Stockmen.
Personal liability not limited, as is the case with
Incorporated Banks.
lisshai Furniture il Carpet 11
UNDERTAKERS
We are giriag special attention to tkls department; carry the largest
.and flaest line or UNDERTAKERS' SUPPLIES ia tbe city, and are pre
pared to attead to this business in all lis branches.
LOWEST PRICES
Corner Fourth and Broadway.
ABILENE BANK.
C. K. LEBOLD, J. M. FISITEIt, J. E. HERBST,
Proprietors.
E. A. Herbst, Cashier.
Our individual liability is not limited, as is the
case Kith stockholders of incorporated banks.
LEBOLD, FISHER & CO., Baskets,
ABILENE, KANSAS.
EMIT CO
KANSAS.
3
C. G. BESSEY.
ABILENE, KANSAS.
1870.
KANSAS.
& CO., Proprietors.
Ai
fflBRANE
BAM
ABSTRACTS.
No one should purchase real estate until
they know the title is perfect.
W. T. DAVIDSON
has the most complete set of Abstracts
in the County. M years experience.
Office OTer Post-ofHce,
ABILENE, - KANSAS.
),
-.;
M
.
