Iowa Baptist standard. [volume], May 21, 1897, Image 2

About Iowa Baptist standard. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1897-1???

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lowa Baptist Standard.
' LOMACK. Ediior,
DES MOINES
to have a bad habit is to have a hard
maszier,
Our old clothes have lost us some
friends, but not so many as our opin
tene about our neighbors.
If the castern hostilities could be re
duced to a war of words the Greek lan-
Euage would come in very handy in
deed,
Give gelf power to move a moun
tain, and it will put a big sign out on
it to show who did it, as the house
maovera do,
Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria has dis
appeared, and now it will be in order
to gedarch the Parisian music halls if
his subjects wish to know just who
the is.
Recont expressions by Cuban lecaders
indicate that they have lost hope of as
ristance from the United States:; but
they keep right on fighting, while we
pereevere In doing police duty for
Spain,
Sir Tsaac Holden, the millionaire
member of Parliament from Yorkshire,
now nearly 90 vears old, believes with
John Weeley that phosphates of lime,
In which flour i 5 5o rich, are good for
growing children, young people, and
Yonng methers, but shorten the life of
tha elderly by making bones dense
and weighty musecles rigld, “furring”
the large blood vessels like an old boil
er, and “choking the capillary arter
fes.” So he eats hardly any bread, his
faverite food being oranges, bananas
and meat,
Such enormons sums are heing paid
for houses and windows in ILondon
aleng the route of the royal procession
on June 22 next, and &0 costly are the
preparations made by the people of the
metropolis for the celebration of the
sixtieth anniversary of the Queen's as
cension to the throne that during the
last three months her Majesty's life
has been insured to the tune of nearly
$5,000,000 by shopkeepers, window bro
kers, house agents and speculators,
who are anxious to protect themselves
agalnst loss in the possible event of
the venerable sovereign's death before
the date of the jubilee.
By the last census it appears that
the population of France is now 3&-
228,969, an increase in tive vears of
only 133,819, and this mainly through
fmmdgration. For several years past
the death rate has excceded the birtl
rate. These facts become still more
eignificant when a comparison is made
between France aud her neighbors. In
Germany the incrcase of population
during the last five vears has been
2,851,431, nearly 3,000,000, as against
134,000 in France. The contrast is still
more etriking when these figures are
compared with those of the past. At
the beginning of the century France
outnumbered Prussia threg to o*: To
day Prussia contains almvst an’ equal
population, and as for the whole of
Germany, there are iive Germans to
every four Frenchmen,
A cablegram from lLondon says: In
ctoneequence of the efferts of the gov
srmment of Massachusetts, the Ameri
ran Antiquarian and Massachusetts
Historical goeietieg, the Pilgrim So
riety of Flymouth and the New Eng
land Society of New York, backed up
by the desirezs of the archbishop of
anterbury and the bishop of London,
the conzistory court of the diocese of
London aszembled Mareh 25 in the old
chapel of st, Paul's Cathedral in corder
to determine the question of the re
ttoration of the log of the Mayflower to
the United States. After formal dis
cnssfon the chanceellor said: “I corder
etn the undertaking here given by Mr.
Rayard to place the log in a fit place,
where percons concerned can have ac
ress thereto, and a proper eertified copy
beipg deposited at Fulham that the
original be given up to Mr. Bayard for
transmission to the President of the
United States.” |
Reports in regard to winter wheat
are discouraging. The continuous rains,
followed by higbh water in the streams,
have flooded the low lands in many
portions of southern Illinois, so that
what wheat was not winter killed has
been utterly ruined by water. Reports
from nearly half of the counties in the
state, including almosi all of the win
ter-wheat growing counties, are that
two-thirds of the wheat seeded last fall
-~ 1,749,000 acres was winter killed or
deztroyed by floods, and the econdition
of the remaining third - 589,000 acres
{s o poor that under the most favora
ble conditions only one third of an av
erage crop may be expected. The out
lock is that little more than enough
wheat for seed will be harvested in
Illincis this season, and the people will
Jhave to ‘depend on other states for
wheat for consumption, a condition
that has occurred but once in the agri
cultural history of the stato, |
Weyler says it is all over, and the
Cuban rebellion is as meek as a whip
ped child. Gomez says Spain is about
to give it up as the toughest job she
ever contractod for. And between the
two are the trocha, yellow faver. smali
pox and a brand new bicrele {rack for
those en either side who like to scorch.
The shameful charge is made in Bal
timore that echool commizsioners and
politicians are selling appointments of
teachers. If there is any truth in n.
the offenders richly deserve to be fined
and imprisoned.
Becausé she was sufficiently prompt
in bringing him his morning coffee J.
Linker, a Chicago barber, called An
nie Egan “a lobster.” Annie had her
employer arrested and he was fined a
small sum and costs of court. Annije
would now like to call Mr. Linker “a
eausage,” but the lesson of the law
eerves as a bridie to her tongue;
The time will soon be here when the
gallant young man asks the delicate
girl at his side if she will Lave some
ice cream. And she modestly replies:
“Omly a freezerful, please "
MAMMY'S (HILE.
f I.LOG cabin nestles
¢ in the bend of a
?/\‘l tiny clearing in the
'R} edge of a great for
est of whispering
pines. On the right
a dark - brown
stream swirls swift- i
ly vyet noiselessly ‘
between sedgy |
banks, finally los- |
{lng itseif "in the bosom of a glassy
black lake deep in the heart of the
[ noisy swamps.
‘ On the left a field of fair young cot- g
| ton stretches in even, monotonous |
,drills as far as the eye can reach, the
!tender plant faintly green along the
ll‘mges of grayish-black soil of the fur
rows, The June sun beats down most |
ardently upon wood and field, a stéady,
burnished, golden glory, and the’ in-l
tense heat refracted from its rays |
fagainst the scorching carth rises man- E
'high, quivering like the exposed nerve |
Eurface of a timorous soul, swaying, !
Ishimmerin:z. rising and falling in a
lf:mtastic saraband over all the arid!
iuplands. !
lOWA
’ Near the edge of the field a man |
‘| bends over a hoe, industriously work- I
"ing among the yvoung plants. He is a |
{ bondsman, a slave, but yet he is hap-l
{PY, for the lithe, tall, graceful black |
iwomau who bends so steadily abovc'
?the washtub propped against the cabin
i Bide is his wife. He has chosen her
'from among all the dusky maidens on
"tho big plantation, and in his heart is
a great love and as great a hope that |
by steady work he may soon buy her
freedom and his own.
His thoughts dwell upon this subject
as he works, singing as he keeps time
,wi!h slow, monotonous chopping of
hia hoe in the dry, loose soil.
His melody is trivial and primitive, |
full of monotonous repetition, but the,
vocal harmonies are rich, full, strange,
of barbaric originality, not easy to !
write or interpret. But the voice of the |
woman repeats the refrain in a soft, |
tremulous crescendo that rises now and
again into an almast prophetic wail,
and there is no sweeter music in the |
world to his unirained ear than herg
mournful voice as it quivers back to‘
him upon the vibrant air: !
“Out'n de wilderness he led his chil-l
len,
| Oui'n de wilderness, oh, Lord!”
Crowning the hill a lordly white
mansion glistens through the green
foliage and from a side gate in the
,greon hedge a path runs in sinuous
curves between lush fields of grass and
|clovm- down to the little cabin in the
ledge of the wood. Through the little
'ga:o comes a girl, tall, lithe, and scan
tily clothed. ler limbs are bare, and
Ishc holds a cotton basket over her
' head to shield her face from the sun.
,hm- black eyes glowing from heneath
'tho coarse screen with sidereal fires.
She does not tarry on the path that
'the sun has kissed {o scorching inten
lslty. her bare, slender brown feet bare
ly touch the hot, white sand as she
‘dances over the path with many fan
tastic steps, keeping time {0 the swift
rhythm of her body and limbs with a
low crooning, musically, weirdly mo
notonous, the juba tune dear tp the
negrxy, heart, nwl which ferms ag ac
companiment to his best bejoved |
dance, The girl joins the woman at
the tub outside the hut, plunging her
long brown arms among the Snowy
linen floating in the azure water. She
has lert off dancing now, but she still
hums the tune, and keeps time with,
her work as she rubs and wrings the
dainty white garments. In the door-f
way of the cabin, that is sharply out- |
MAMZIY! OH, MAMMY!
llined agailnst the gloom of the inte
’rim'_ a figure appears suddenly, a tiny
ebony tot, a scant snowy white garment
barely covering its cupid-like dusky
[L\od}'. It stands uncertainly on its
wobbiyv infant feet and crows inquir
?ingly, insistently: “Mammy, mammy!”
~ The woman leaves the tub suddenly,
catching the little black pickaninny in
her arms, a swilt gicam of the holy joy
of motherhood illuminating her face.
“Mammy’z chile!” she murmurs pas
sionately, and then, holding the infant
high in her arms, she calls to the man
hoeing in the field. He laughs and
brandishes his hoe, making grotesque
motions {to atiract the baby's wander
ing gaze,
l The sun beats down with the same
| fiercely burnished rays upon the cabin,
l\hc inysterious stream, the whispering
wood, and the path leading from the
‘ mansion through the hayfield is just
"as hot. But the green shutiers of the
{ mansion are tightly closed, the trim
!}'ard is in disorder, and the erstwhile
{ fair blooming garden is trampled out
fnf recognition by many feet. A cu
rious spectacie is being enacted in the
‘ruined garden. In the graveled space
| before the wide piazza a block has been |
‘fvrocted. To the right is huddled a
i shrinking group of men and women,
!ecantily clad, bare of head and foot,
i:hcir knotty hands telling eloquent;
{ tales of days of ceaseless toil with hoe |
.'and plow. Facing them a curious, ea- '
| ger group of sun-tanned white men |
'afoot and astride of glistening animals .
fmurmm' and comment on the common- |
{ place heart-breaking tragedy. ?
The slender-limbed yellow girl has |
movanted the block, and in her liquid- |
black eves there is a gleam of resigned '
comprehension. The strident voice of |
the auctioneer assaults the crooning
summer silence; there is a murmur |
wmong the white men, and the girl !
steps down--the whole current of heri
life changed by a few brutal words, |
’One after another the shrinking black |
vietims tremblingly mount the over
turned tub that does duty for a block, |
and now it is the turn of the woman |
whose home and heart are centered in |
the tiny cabin, the tip of whose smoke
lees chimney can be seen over the green
Ledge. |
Hae fate, also, is quickly decided. |
' She is taken from the block, hustled
into a wagon, the driver mounts his
seat anfd starts at a brisk trot. The
road winds through the wood, past the
cabin, and as the wagon draws near
’ a tiny white-clad figure appears against
‘the black square of the low doorway.
The babe recognizes the bowed figure
crouching in the wagon, and stretches
out its tiny hands, its shrill treble
reaching her through the clatter of the
flying hoof-beats: “Mammy! Mammy!
Oh, mammy!”
“My baby chile!”
The wagon clatters on, the cabin
bassses frgm view, receding with every
step of the horses farther from the life
of the helpless black woman.
- Every one in town knows old Beck.
She is bent, blind, deaf, altogethe:
hopelessly decrepit. She receives thu
pittances of charity with a humble
bob of her stiff old body, but no inte'.
ligent conversation is expected of hay,
though her old lips are always mot
ing, repeating over and over a singls
sentence that has, together with the
picture of a little child in a scant gown
stretching its hands to her from a low
cabin door, burned itself into her brok
en heart and crazed brain. “Mammy!
Oh, mammy!" And she mutters be
tween her shriveled lips, as she plors
along her uncertain way: “Mammy’s
chile, mammy's chile!”
NEW USE FOR ELECTRICITY.
Vegetables and Flowers Brought to
Early Matarity.
j xperiments condveted for the last
five years at Cornell college, the results
of which were made public last June.
seem to prove that electrieity may ne
used to stimulate the growth of plants,
cays a writer in the New York Herall.
- Agricaltural scientists had long recog
lnizpd the valuahle part that atmos
! pheric electricity plaved in the life of
vegetable growths, but the artificial ap
| plication of it had never hefore heen
E attempted. In addition to the applica
tion of electricity to the seeds of the
plants and to the soil, the experiment
ers at Cornell used the are light at
night. The plants receiving the hright
~electric rays at night and the sunshine
in the daytime were found to grow
much faster than those not thus ap
plied with the artifieial stimulant, I.et
tuce, spinach, raddishes and similar
vegetables were brought to maturity
in almost half the time ordinarily re
quired. By applying the arc light di
rect to the plants their growth was so
accelerated that many ran to seed he
fore the edible leaves were formed.
Plants placed within five feet of the
lamp died and wilted shortly after be
ing taken out of the soil. The effect
upon flowering plants, especially upon
the daisy, petunia and violet, was
equally remarkable. The blooms were
hastened in their growth and their
number multiplied. The e¢olors were
frequently made more brilliant, On the
other hand, they faded sooner. A Mr.
Rawson, who owns a faney truck farm
near Boston and has® tried similar
methods, finds that the gain from one
crop of lettuce is sufficient to pay the
expense of ;:=a~yting the electric lights
during a \\%’E—season'.
New Friends and Old.
New friends can never take the same
place in our lives as the old. The for
mer may be better liked for the time,
' their society may have even more at
traction, but in a way they are strang
;! ers. If through change of circum
| stances they go out of our lives they
|go out of it altogether. These latter
’day friendships have no root, as it
i were. Their growth is like Jonalh's
;’guurd_U\'ersha(lowing, perhaps, and
| expansive, but all on the surface:
whereas an old friend remains a friend
llorr-\’er. Although, separated for an |
| indefinite period and not seen for vears,
if a chance happening brings old cora
i rades together, they resume the old re
lations in the most natural manner and
take up the former lines as easily as if
there had been no break or interruption
of the intimate intercourse of auld lang
syvne,
{ Such relations are impossible to es
i tablish except in youth, but once matle
| they are for life. As people grow 01.1-|
| er these friends and associates of vouth
' are apt to be more appreciated and old
j relations are oftentimes resumed that
' have been suffered to languish for
many years,
| These links with the past form a
{(»hain that, next to the tics of blood.
-makes one of the strongest relations of
social life.
Althongh pessimists declare that
friendship is a myth and what are
called intimates are people who consort |
together for amusement or self-interest,
the very fact that there is this feeling |
of especiai kindness for old time asso
ciates proves that there is such a
thing as sentiment independent of |
worldly considerations.—New York |
Tribune.
“"Run It by Water.”
A young lumberman of northern
Minnesota, whose habits of drinking
' had given the “blind staggers” to his
business, reformed and ran his sawmill
with profit. Whiie in the transition
period he met Tom, an old friend. ‘
“How are yvou?” asked Tom.
“Pretty well, thank you; but I have
just seen a doctor to have him examine
my throat"
“What's the matter.” ‘
“Well, the doctor couldn't give me
any encouragement. At least he could |
not find what I want to find.”
“What did you expect him to find?”
“I asked him to look down my throat
for the saw mill and farm that kad
gone down there in drink.”
“And did he see anyvthing of them?” |
“No; but he advised me if ever | got |
another mill to run it by water.” i
How It Travels.
She—" But a woman can make money |
go farther than a man can.” He—Yes' |
I've known you to travel half over the |
city to spend half a dollar when a man |
would have parted with it at the first |
store he went into!" "—Boston Trans
cript. |
Costly Meal of a Pie.
A peasant living near Milan recently
bought a pig, which, when killed., was
found to have swallowed a metal
matchbox containing two notes of the
velue of $250,
IN THE ODD CORNER.
,r-
SOME STRANGE. QUCER AND
CURIOUS PHASES OF LIFE.
A Strange Race of People Found in the
Archipelago of the Bay of Bengal-
Spontaneous Combustion of Charcoal—
Boy Mude Crazy by Hypnotism.
g HERE are lonely
hours for the
i, sweet young
= | wife
¥ 11 In the home you
,(Qz."/ o have taken her ‘
Xy to;
™ ~) Lonely hours when ’
;1% i 7 her thoughts go |
% D back |
o= SE A To the home that |
’- A her girlhood |
Y Kknew; f
- < And she longs fm"
the sound of }
her mother's voice, |
And the touch of her gentle hand, |
And longs to breathe swect hopes t()s
her i
That a n‘wthvr can understand. E
Many a time at her houschold task |
There are troublesome things arise; |
And she wants to ask mother what to i
do: i
And the §iot tears fill her eyes ;
When sh jnks how far away she is |
From n ‘N\ loving cave; ’
And she |E 2% for her father's hearty
lanugk
And it'sflonely everywhere.
LOUISE PIKE.
IFor when she kisses yvou good-bye,
And you go to the mill away,
She turns from the door with a little
sigh,
As she thinks of the long, long day,
IFor the hours are long that we spend
alone,
And she's only a voung girl yet; |
' But the young wife's lonesome tears
for home |
Are not tears of regret. ‘
S 0 hurry home when the work is done, ‘
Where she is awaiting you, !
And carry some little gift along |
Just as you used to do. I
And praise her work and her (lamty'
food, |
And her Hiress so neat and bright: ‘
Make the happiest hour of all the day i
When ycu come home at night. '
LA
. Ir the archipelago in the Bay of Ben
.| 3al there axists a race of savage dwarfs.
| 3ailors call them “little niggers,” be
' cause {he average height of them is
i ‘our feet ten inches, the women reach
. | ng a statyre of four feet seven inches,
| The oddest thing about these little peo
'ple is that they look like babies all
| their lived It is only lately that these
; ~dwarfs of the Andaman Islands have
' known hdW to build fires. There is a
| volcano 01 one of these islands, and |
| from this they have procured freshl
| | supplies #f fire when necessary, but
| they knot how to keep slow slumber- |
(ing embg's sufficiently alive not to}
compel &em often to visit the vol
| cano. The thing which has excitedl
‘flheir cuwpsity most of anything in
‘ ! troduced()y the whites is the friction!
[ mateh. !-“.)rmeriy the dwarfs of the!
| Andamans were accustomed to murder |
(Al strangers who reached their sheres. J
!E\'en m;) sailors wrecked in the Bay
'of Bengay would probably be massa-’
| 2red. It if believed the inveterate hos- i
{ Adlity of Ife “little niggers” arose orig- !
| ingey=- t TTuel practice of the |
‘Malays, Burmese and Chinese, who'
' visited the Andamans to get ediblel
birds’ nests and sea cucumbers, and
who used (o capture the little natives
and sell them for slaves. There are |
several shades of color among them, ;.
‘ranging from bronze to shiny black. I
' Their hair is extremely frizzled, grow- |
ling in spiral tufts. It is fine, and sel- |
| dom becomes more than two or three |
-inches long. Most of the women shave | ;
' their heads once a week, leaving only |
| two narrow strips of hair from the f
crown to the nape of the neck. Many |
of the men do the same, although the l;
style is different. They leave a patch | |
like a skull cap on the crown of their | 1
I heads. The most remarkable custom '1
of these littie people is the wearing of | i
necklaces of human bones. When a| :
child dies it is buried, only to be dug {x
up again. The father carries the body [ 1
lo the nearest creek and removes the | *
flesh from the bones with the greatest ’ 1
care, carrying them and the skull back ! ]
to his hut. The mother, after painting | 1
the latter with a yellow pigment, hangs |
it around her neck. Infant skulls, be- ;
ing fragile, are protected by a cover- |
ing of string. For a few dayvs a mother ‘
will spend all her time stringing the |
bits of bone into necklaces, to be dis- | ¢
tributed among her friends as memen- |
toes. These are supposed to ward off | \
disease. Teeth are also strung as neck- | :
laces, every native of the Andamang !
Islands wearing a chain of some sort P
of human hopes. ' ; £
Boy Made Stark Mad by Hypnotie Faik
ers.
Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., special to
Chicago Times-Herald: The hypnetic
“Fontanas,” who recently exhibited
here, have left in their wake a number
of juvenile adepts whom they used on
the stage as “victims.” Boys ranging
from 12 to 18 vears of age have gone
to hypnotizing their friends. One of
the juvenile hypnotists operated on a
boy in the basement of the high
school, placed his victim in a rigid
condition and left him there. Super
intendent Fergnson was called, hut
could not bring the boy back to con
sciousness. During a session of Sun
day schocol in the !Central Methodist
Episcopal churech donsternation was
caused by a boy who had apparently
become stark mad. He had been sit
ting quietly in one of the classes, and
without any apparent reason suddenly
started up and indulged in a number of
insane antics. [t was soon discovered
that he had been mesmerized.
Spontaneous Combustion of Charcoal.
It has been stated from time to time
that charcoal used in building refrig
erating chambers on shore as well as
. on board vessels has ignited spontan
ecusly. Although it is known that
charcoal ig liable, under certain condi
ticns, to take fire spontaneously, there
has been no djrect evidence that it has
‘ever done so in the cases alleged, and,
' with the object of settling the gques
‘tion, an inquiry into the matter was
scme time since undertaken. The facts
“brought out by this investigation are |
that, though freshijy-made wood char- |
coal—that is, charcoal which has not |
al:sorbed its moisture—and oxygen is |
liable to so-called spontaneous com
bustion, it is never liable to reignite |
after having beep exposed to the air
for a day or two. [t appears conclu
sive, from t+sts and experiments made, |
ihat In any case if, after a few davs nul
When You Come Home at Night,
By William Veith.
A Strange Race.
fire shows itself, the charcoal may be
regarded as entirely free from liability
to spontaneous combustion. The scare
caused by the supposed canger from
the ignition of charcoal used in refrig
erating chambers may consequently be
regarded as groundless, and as no di
rect evidence exists of its ever having
ignited under such circumstances, it is
somewhat of a mystery how any alarmg
should have arisen. *
Why She Danced for Her Fiance.
[ Wausau, Wis., special to the St. Pau.
| Dispatch: A queer case was on trial in
‘ Judge Miller's court a day or two ago.
| John Spick, the defendant, is a farmer,
f and was accused of compelling his
| sweetheart, Alvina Ziebarth, to execute
| the skirt dance at the point of a loaded
‘ gun. John is a quiet, inoffensive look
' ing bachelor of 40 winters, and weighs
- about 125 pounds, while Alvina has on
1y seen 15 summers and weighs any
[’where between 170 and 180. It tran
- spired during the testimony that John
had obtained from Alvina a promise
that she would at an early age bhecome
Mrs. John Spick and take up her resi
dence in John's humble abode. It also
transpired that Alvina's parents had
always extended the ‘‘glad hand” to
him during all his wooing, while se
cretly they were plotting to prevent
the union. That they were successful
in alienating t(he affections of |
his promised bridJ was quite
evident to the spcetataors, for twice
during the recital of “the history of
his courtship she arose and walked up
to the Judge's bench and denounced |
John as a liar. The testimony of the |
girl and her parents was to the effect |
that John pointed the gun at her, and |
as John was minus any witness, he- |
sides himself, to the contrary, the court ‘
imposed a fine of $lO and costs. !
Preached His Own Funeral Sermon.
{ From the Atlanta Constitution: For
| rest Tuttle, a local evangelist of Mil
} ledgeville, startled the community sey
- eral days ago by appearing upon the
f street corner for the purpose of preach
| ing his own funeral sermon. He mount
| ed a dry goods box, selected an appro
ipriate text, and prorounced eloquent
cencomiums upon himself, He gave a
“vivid description of his future place of
abode, and told of what he had done to
deserve the reward. In former days
Tuttle was a well known circus man,
and for a number of years traveled
with Barnum. His brother, Jerome
Tuttle, was famous for his triple somer
sault turn, and was an athlete of world
wide notoriety. I'or a time lorrest
followed his brother, but he changed
his life and returned to his old home
and began to preach. Upon one occa
sion the circus with which he traveled
came to Macon. Tuttle secured a pile
of bibles, placed himself at the main
entrance and offered a bible to all who
came. His old associates were rather
surprised at the sudden change. Now
Tuttle has conducted the exercises of
his own funeral, and although he is ap
parently in a good physical condition,
has prepared for the end.
The Old Hound's Farewell.
~ An affecting account of the death of
! an old hound is given by his owner in
the ‘“Animal World.” Ifector was a
| long-tried and trusted dog, ihe leader
of a pack of hounds. The old dog be
came too infirm for the field, and was
left at home when the pack went out.
Year by vear his feebleness grew up
on him, but he was well cared for, and
passed his time mainly in sleeping be
side the kitchen fire. His long ab
sence from the hunting-field caused his
fine, deep-toned note to be almost for
gotten. “One afternoon,” says the
owner, “I was writing in my room,
when suddenly I heard the splendid
note, as I thought at the moment, of
a strange hound, and listened to hear
it again; when, instead of its being
repeated, the whole pack in the ken
nel near my house gave one burst, as
if in full ery, and, as the sounds died
away and all was again hushed in still
ness, my huntsman rushed into the
room, saying, in an agitated voice:
‘Hector is dead, sir!" That splendid
note of what I had thought a strange
hound had been the old dog's fare
well call to the pack. They had heard
and had answered.” ¢
Old Hickory.
When Old Hickory resided in the ex
ecutive mansion he invited his friends
with hearty vehemence to wander at
will through its vastness, savs the
Washington Post. The blunt “hero of
New Orleans” never affected any airs
of state dignity. Gen. Dale of Missis
sippi he hailed familiarly as “Sam,”
and Mr. Van Buren he nicknamed
“Matty.” He strolled unostentatious-
1y throngh the white house grounds
for recreation and played “mumble
peg” with his idolized adopted grand
children in the part where the eques
trian statue of himself now stands.
Mrs. Jackson had died just prior to
the inauguration. Her niece, Mrs. Don
elson, was the lady of the mansion, and
all three of her children were bhorn
within its historic walle. When a
deputation waited upon the president to
receive some precious article to Jay in
the cornerstone of the treasury de
partment Jackson gave them a copy
of the constitution and one of
little Mary Donelson's curls, Thers
was always wine upon the presi
dent’s table; indeed, his lavish hos
pitality compelled him at times to draw
upon the proceeds of his cotton crop
and even to sell some valuable land jn
Tennesseo.
He had lis, eccentricities, too. The
halls of tha white house rang with
what have bheen politely termed ‘‘em
pbatic sentences,” and he enjoyed
smoking a corn-cob pipe, which he had
bored and whittled with his own hands.
He had, too, the reputation of possegz
ing the largest assortment of pipes out.-
side of a tobacco shop. The immense
cheese, weighing several tons and as
large as a cart body, which was sent
to him as a present was sliced and
handed around at innumerable recep
tions,
Precious Ballets.
Bullets made of precious stones are
rarities in warfare. But during the
fighting on the Kashmir frontier, when
the British troops defeated the rebel
lious Hunzas, the natives used bullets
of garnets incased in lead. The Brit
i:h preserved many as curiosities,
Thieves at Buckinghamshire, Eng
land, stole a bronze and stone fountain
fourteen feet high,
LONG TRIP IN THE AIR
REMARKABLE VOYAGE THAT
WAS RECENTLY MADE.
Afloat Longer Than Other Balloons~
Traveled Three Hundred and Seventye
Five NMiles—New Instraments Were
Tested.
| HE amount of at
| S 7" tention devoted to
PI%A. navigation of the
g '(;fi Il air is constantly on
7\\\\ g A 7 the increase both in
/"fiai‘\’/ America ard Eu
- 7&"/ A_- B rope, says the New
<>" _ y York Herald, The
7 AEr_ remarkable experi
-4 7 meits W whith
kites have been
an important fac
tor which were carried on in
the vicinity of this city during
last summer and fall are still fresh in
the minds of most persons. They
demonstrated the feasibility of lifting
heavy weights by the force of the wind
exercised on Kites, and will, no doubt,
prove of immense advantange to fu
ture aeronauts in the way of enabling“
them to direct their balloons. Those |
who are interrsted in following up
such matter await with extreme hope
fulness the tesalt of the proposed voy
age to the pt‘kregions by Swedish
scientists, wkich Wwas postponed last
summer at the eritical moment owing
to unfavorah!s winds and weather; but
tharL{he subicet is receiving the closest
attentlon is shown by the remarkable
voyage | recentlv made by a balloon
named Touring Club, which accom
plished the journey of 608 kilometetrs
(375 miles) from Paris to Agen. This
record has never heen surpassed In
length, except by two ascents during
the siege of Paris by the balloon Vills
@'Orleans, which landed in Norway,
and the Gen. Chanzy, which landed at
Ausbach, in Bavaria. Both of these
distances exceed the record of the
Touring Club by a few kilometers only.
Only one of the forty-fonr ascents made
under the awspices of the Society for
Aerial Navigation of Berlin, and only
two mentioned of the sixty-four bal
loons sent up during the siege of Paris
have equaled the distance record of
the Touring Club. Incidently the rec
ord for length of sojourn above the
earth was also exceeded, and many
new instruments were tested and will
have a wide bearing on the proposed
international study of atmospheric
conditions by means of stationary bal
loons. The balloon itself was made of |
China silk and had a cubic content of
1,700 meters. Five hundred kilogramsl
of ballast were taken, making the total
weight, including instruments and bal- [
loonist, 735 kilograms: altogether some
thing over a ten. The two aeronauts
were Messrs. George Besacon and Mau
rice Farman. The anchor carried was
of an original design, a grapnel with'
two stocks.
' The valve was studied with particu
f lar care, permitting the gas to escape
' rapidly when the balloon was to make
‘a landing, without requiring a contin
ued strain on the cord to bring into
' play special mechanism. The latitude
;reached was never very high, and it
' required an hour to attain 2,000 feet,
Jths theory of Mr. Besacon being that
when one undertakes an extended voy
!agc in point of time it is necessary to
remain in a low altitude, so as to hus
~band the supply of gas. The greater
portion of the voyvage was made at a
height of about 700 feet. The balloon
ascended at Paris early in the morning
and followed the direction of the rail
voad line to Orleans. The descent was
made at 3:15 on the afternoon of the
next day, in the neighborhood of Agen,
after having been in the air more than
thirty hours. The rate of travel of the
balloon varied from fifteen to fifty
miles an hour. One of the features of
this voyage was the distribution of
printed blanks, asking certain gques
tions, which were to be filled up and re- |
turned by whoever found them. Nine‘
thousand of these were sent ont during
the voyage and about 150 of them have
been returned, furnishing important ‘
data.
Australasian Federation.
~ The long discussed project of a feder
“ation of England's Australasian colon
ies,somewhat after the model furnished
by the Dominion of Canada, has taken
definite form in resolutions adopted by
a federal convention at Adelaide, in
which the colonies of Victoria, New
South Wales, Tasmania, South Austra
lia and Western Australia were repre
sented by delegates. Under the plan
proposed, cach of the colonies will con
trol its local affairs as now: but a fed
eral parliament, to be composed of a
senate and a house of representatives,
will have exclusive power over customs
and excise taxes, and over military and
naval affairs. There is to be freedom
of trade between the colonies just as
there is between our American states.
The executive is to consist of a gover
nor-general appointed by the queen.
Queensland, which ranks third of the‘
seven Australasian colonies in point of
area, and fourth in population, has not
thus far participated in the federation
movement. i
Arctic Exploration.
I'he Swedish government has made
official announcement of the purpose of
Prof. Andree to start from Dane's
island near Spitzbergen, about the end
of June with his balloon in search of
the North Pole, and has requested offi
cials in high latitudes to report the
balloon if sighted. The government is
giving Prof. Andree's project hearty
support, and as his balloon house at
Dane’s Island is already complete and
much of his equipment is there, the
annoying delays of last vear which
caused the abandonment of the attempt
should be avoided. Lieutenant Peary’s
plan for attempting to reach the Pole
by a succession of sledge journeys,with
bases of supplies for 2 line of retreat,
annually renewed by vessels sent out
for that purpose, has been approved by
the council of the American Geographi
cal society and aid promised.
The Pneumatic Tire Exploded,
| While Ed Geers, a horze trainer, was
' driving a spirited filly at Selma, Ala.,
ona of the pneumatic tires of the sulky
faurst with a loud report. The filly ran
. away, weriously Kicking the trainer,
«ho has a broken arm, ent face and
| acalp and sevioushy injured ankle.
THE FIRST LIGHTHOUSES.
They Were an Outgrowth of the Beacon
" Fires ou Headiaads.
When ships are sailing upon tae
ocean the lights of heaven are their
guides. Even in the dark ages, when
the compass and sextant Wwere um
known instruments, the seemingly mo
tionless pole-star hung like a beacon
light in the northern heavens, and the
rising and setting of the sun and
stars distinguished the east from the
west, says the St. Nicholas, When,
| however, ships come near the land the
| lights of heaven are not sufficient safe
|ly to guide them. Rocks lie in their
| paths unseen in the night; reefs and
| shoals spread under the water; whil?
|unsuspe(rted currents sweep the frai!
%(‘raft all blindly upon these dangers.
i Nevertheless, ships were sailed along
Jdangerous coasts for centuries before
| & plain system of marking dangerous
places was invented. The early ma
rines were bold ana reckless rovers,
more than half pirates, who seldom
i owned a rood of the coasts along which
| they sailed, and could not have estab
| lished lights and landmarks on them
;hfld they cared to do so. The rude
beginning, then, of a system of light
houses was when the merchants with
Whem the re-kless mariners traded in
| those dark ages built beacons near the
“harbor mouths to guide the ships inte
porty by day, and lighted - fires for
their guidance at night. As such a
harbor-guide had to be a sure land
mark in the day time and a light by
;"ight. it soon teok on a settled shape
2 lower on which eould be huilt a
fire; and such a tower was usually
built of s‘one. This method of guiding
ships into the ports which they sought
War scarcely established before human
wickedness, used it as a means of their
destruction. Bands of robbers, or, as
they came to be called, “wreckers.”
would hide themselves somewhere near
the haven sought by a richly laden
vessel, and after overpowering the
fire-keepers would extinguish the bea
con-fire on the night on which the ship
Wwas expected. Then they would light
another fire near some treacherous
reef. The mariner sailing boldly to
ward the false light, would dash his
vessel to destruction on the reef,
whereupon the robber band would
plunder the wreck and make off with
the booty.
POSTAL FACILITIES IN 1800,
A Business lLetter's Slow Stages a Cen-
tury Ago.
In 1800 not only was the field of
!lusiness enterprise restricted, it the
’(ransactinn of Dbusiness within that
| field was slow and difficult, says the
Atlantic. The merchant kept his own
books, or, as we would have said, his
[own accounts; wrote all his letters
with a quill and when they were writ
ten let the ink dry hy sprinkling it
with sand. There were then no en
velopes, no postage stamps, no letter
boxes in the streets. no ¢ollection of
the mail. The letter written. the paper
carefully folded, sealed with wax or a
wafer, addressed and carried to the
postoffice, where postage was prepaid
at rates which would inow seem extor
‘tionate. To send a letter which was
a single sheet of paper, large or small .
fromg Bgston to New York or Phila
delphia cost 1814 cents and to Wash
ington 25 cents; and this when the
purchasing power of a cent was five
times what it is at present. To carry
2 letter from FPhiladelphia, then the
capital of the United States, to Boston
and bring back an answer by return
mail would have consumed from
twelve to eighteen days, according to
the season of the year and the
weather,
A Second Jim Bludso.
An incident realizing John Hay's fa
mous story of Jim Bludso, engincer of
the Prairie Belle, who held her “nozzle
agin the bank till the last galoot” was
ashore, has oceurred on the Chatta
hooche river in the wreck of the steam
er Griggs. The steamer struck a Snag
and ripped open her bottom. She be
gan to fill and the pilot headed her to
a sandbar, while the ongineer crowded
on all steam, though the water was al
ready running over a portion of her
deck. Reaching the sandbar the ves
sel careened and the water rushing in,
caught the brave engineer at his post
in the ergine room. He died there,
Waste.
Science declares that nothing in pa
ture is wasted. Let me 54V (o you that
nothing anywhere is wasted, except in
case of a man who throws himself
away.—Rev. E. T. l.ec.
REFLECTIONS OF A BACHELOR.
Probably Jonah was trying to get
out of cleaning house,
The great necessity in a woman's lifg
is love; the great necessity in a man's
life is doubt.
Somehow mothers are always fatter
than you think their daughters will bs
at the same age.
Men are like wild animals-—they
won’t do much damage so long as they
are fed at the right time,
A woman always has an idea that
she can make a man fidget and act un
comfortable whenever she looks at him
hard.
The man that puts on a nonchalant
air when he asks a worian to marry
him is the same boy who used to whis
tle when he went past a graveyard at
night, 5
USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS.
When meats are being roasted and
there is danger of their becoming too
brown place a basin of water in the
oven. The steam will prevent scorch
ing and the meat will cook better.
An old cook noted for making the
most delicious of loaf cakes was asked
her secret for never having a failure
and replied: “It is all in the baking:
the richer the cake the slower must he
the oven.”
And regarding the boiling of eggs:
If, when the shell is cut from the end
the egg is found not to be sufficiently
cooked to please the palate, it may he
again put into boiling water and cook
ed still longer if <he top is sprinkled
thickly with sali. When it is done re
move the coating of salt and the egg
will be the same as if the shell had
just been broken off.
Three women served as judges at
the recent city election in Wallace, Ida
e,