lewis m. grist, proprietor, j ;|tt Jnhpcnbtni Jfamils |tetospagtr: Jfor t|e $romofion of fjjt political, facial, Agricultural anil Conratrcial interests of % Soofji. |terms-$2.50 a year, in advance.
VOL. 26. - YORKYILLE, S. C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1880. ISTO. 36.
.Ihc Jdoru idler.
UNCLE BENJAMIN'S STORy.
"Well, ray dears, if I must tell you a story,
I will tell you what once happened when I
was returning from India, now many years
ago. With the earlier events of the story I
was personally connected, and the rest was afterward
told ine by oue of the chief actors in
it."
So spake our dear old uncle Benjamin,
when on a visit to us last Christmas ; and we,
his nephews and nieces, who had been teasing
him to tell us some of his adventures, delightedly
composed ourselves to listen.
"I might," he continued, "call it 'a tale of
circumstantial evidence,' but for reasons which
you will, no doubt, afterwards perceive, I prefer
to style it, 'Cast Down, but not destroyed.'
"The homeward bound troop ship "Stirling
Castle," Captain Bow J by, was becalmed in the
tropics. For three days there had hardly
been a breath of wind, and the sea lay around
her as smooth as glass. But although all was
so calm and peaceful outside, yet on board the
ship a painful and iutense excitement prevailed.
General Page, one of the chief cabin
passengers, had been robbed and nearly killed
the nigfct before; and the person accused of
the crime was Walter Stevenson, a young
Lieutenant, and a general favorite of all on
board. But to explain, I must go back a
little. 'The Stirling Castle' belonged to the
old East India Company, and General Page
having retired from the service, was returning
to Old England. He was accompanied by his
daughter Kose, a young lady about twentytwo
years of age, who, without being exactly
beautiful, possessed vivacity and charm of
manner which captivated all who approached
her.
"There were several other officers on board,
but only two enter into the story; the first
being Colonel Morton, a very old friend of the
General's, and the other, the Lieutenant Stevenson
above mentioned. Colouel Morton
and the General had known each other in
youth, their respective families owning neighboring
estates; they had gone out to India'
together, and now were returning home in
company. And still, another tie bound the
two old friends together. Colonel Morton
had a son, and they had agreed that this son
should marry the General's daughter, partly
because of their long standing friendship, and
partly because the two estates united would
make a very fine property. Nay, the General
even went so far as to make his will, leaving
oil tiio nmnorti' tn T?n?p it is trilP. hut an
......... ,? 1
pointed Colonel Morton sole trustee, and authorizing
hira to use the influence the position
gave him to briug about a match between the
young people.
"Now, although all this was known to Rose,
. yet it affected her very little ; she was a true
woman, and would only follow the dictates of
her own heart; and who shall govern the caprices
of the god of love? Soon after leaving
Calcutta, it was noticed that Lieutenant
Stevenson was often seen in her "com party.
Whether it was his handsome person, his bold,
frank bearing, or his general intelligence and
affability, that first attracted her, I know not,
but certain it is their friendship soou ripened
into mutual love, fere the Cape was reached,
they had confessed to each other, and the
father was made acquainted with their feelings
and wishes. But, alas ! did the course
of true love ever run smooth ? As before j
mentioned, the General had his own idea with i
regard to Rose, and so he sternly refused his j
sanction to her engagement with Stevenson. I
"I now come to the dreadful circumstance j
mentioned, in the opening of my story. There ;
had been a good deal of merriment iu the
large saloon the night before ; but because of
his anomalous position with regard to Rose,
Stevenson took very little part in it, and retired
early. The General, too, not feeling
very well, had passed into his cabin somewhat
before his usual time, and soon after eleven
o'clock entire silence reigned throughout the
n.Unla nP fko oftoi..n(,Kin(i Sa tViin<r? rpmnin
u liv/ic ui iia^/ unvi 'vuuiu^. ?^v wtou^v . v...^... .
ed until about five o'clock iu the morning, I
when all were aroused by loud cries for help,
proceeding from the General's room. Hurriedly
throwing on a few clothes, several ot
the passengers hastened to the cabin indicated
; and what a sight met their horrified eyes.
Supported in the amis of Lieutenant Stevensou,
lay the General, his head bathed in blood.
His closed eyes and pallid lips seemed to betoken
death, except that his labored breathing
and deep groans showed that*he still lived.
In another part of the cabin lay the body of the
General's servant. An examination showed
that he was quite dead. Being very old, he
had been unable to withstand the heavy blow
dealt him. The ship's doctor, Captain Bowlby,
Colonel Morton, and many others, were
now collected in the cabin, and after the doctor
had taken the wounded man in hand, the ;
question was anxiously asked : How did it i
occur? As Stevenson was the one who had;
given the alarm, all looked to him for an explanation
; but what he had to tell was
summed up in a very few words. He said he
had been restless all the night, and had got
up early, to see the beauties of a tropical sunrise
; that passing the General's door, he
* * .1 1 11 1- _ J X- 11
heard groans ; that ne naa Knocaeu, 10 sets u
lie could be of auy service, but receiving no
reply, he had entered, and found things in
the state they saw them.
"There were many who shook their heads
at this tale, as it was well known the General
had not an enemy in the ship, unless it
might be the lieutenant himself; and most
knew the two were not on very good terms.
Some one suggested suicide; but the doctor
showed that the wound on the head had been
caused by a blunt instrument, and was in
such a position that it could not have been
self-inflicted. And now suspicion grew stronger
that Stevenson knew more than he had
told. Men asked themselves: 'Who would be
the gainer by the old man's death?' Stevenson,
of course; as the only obstacle to his
marriage with Rose would then be removed,
especially as dilligent search failed to discover
the box asserted by Colonel Morton to
contain the will. So things remained for
several days.
"Stevenson could not but notice the halfnrlnnpM
i\f his follow nasseneers. vet
he treated the idea of being really suspected
as preposterous. Rose was for the most
part closely engaged at the bedside of her father,
who still hovered between life and death.
He was for a greater portion of the time quite
unconscious; still there were times when he
seemed to be aware of all that was passing.
This beiug the case, it was arrauged that he
should be asked, in the presence of the principal
passengers, to name his assailant. At
the time appointed by the doctor as being
a likely one to find the General fit to receive
them, the cabin was filled by Captain Bowlby,
Colonel Morton, and many others, among
them beiug Lieutenant Stevenson. It was a
scene, solemn as striking, in that dimly lighted
cabin. The patient with his bandaged
' head, and his face scarcely less pale than the
sheet on which he lay ; the by-standers, with
anxiety and curiosity strangely mingled in
their faces made up a picture not easily forgotten.
The time seemed propitious, as the
General recognized Rose and several others
around him; but now a difficulty occurred ;
the wound in the throat was in such a state
that the doctor would not allow him to speak.
It was therefore arranged that paper and pen
should be given him, and while one held him
up. he should simply be asked to write the
name of his assailant.
"And he must be quick, gentlemen," added
the doctor, "or the excitement of the scene
j may overcome him before you obtain what
I you want."
"Thus urged, and all being ready, Captaiu
I Bowlby .olemnly asked the patient if he un'
derstood what was required of hira. A momentary
brightening of the eye was answer
sufficient, and none doubted but that the au:
thor of ihe crime would soon be exposed.
But, alas! the will was stronger than the
! power ;f.?r when the General had painfully
! traced a few letters, the pen fell from his
; hand, his eyelids closed, and he passed into a
state of complete unconsciousness.
"And what were the" letters written ? The
! culprit's fate bangs upou them. Here they
j are, S T E. What a pity there are only
I three; and yet?when the Captain read out
I in a 6rrn, clear voice S T E, all eyes iuvolun:
iarily turned on Stevenson, as though there
i could be no doubt that he was the man, and
! these three letters were as good as a whole
narue. And so it proved ; for on reference
to the ships books and passenger list, no
other name was found (either Christian or
surname) beginning with Ste. Nor was this
all ; for just at this momenta man entered the
cabin, bringing the missing box, which he
stated had been found hidden behind Stevenson's
bed. Examination showed that the
lock was broken and the will missing. So
convinced was Captain Bowlby by this evidence,
that he exclaimed in stern tones:
'Lieutenant Stevenson, retire to your cabin*,
and consider yourself under arrest "for the
remainder of the voyage.' It was done, and
the once gay, and still noble-looking Walter
Stevenson was led away a suspected thief and
murderer.
"But did every one believe him guilty ?
Not so. Need I say that the exception was
the one whose opinion he prized more than
all the rest?namely, his beloved Rose. Assured
of her belief in his innocence, and
strong in his own consciousness, it mattered
little to him what others thought; and so
when he passed from the cabin his eye quailed
not, nor did his tall form lose one inch of
its height.
"I must now in very few words pass over
more than a month. The good ship had
steadily pursued her way, and was rapidly
approaching the end of her voyage. No
event of importauce had occurred since the
scene depicted above. The old General, contrary
to all expectation, gradually became
stronger; but alas! as his bodily health im
proved so did it become the more inauifest that
his mind was gone. The blow on the head
had been too much *for him, and though his
life was spared, and his strength, comparatively
speaking, restored, yet it was only to be an
imbecile; simple and harmless, it is true,
but none the less an imbecile. Stevenson,
confined to his cabin, had?-as much as prudence
and her duties to her father allowed ?
Nheen cheered by visits from the noble girl.
TUaoa "taifa imnnoDo *?i 1 \r f/QUT onH fillAPt.
XU^OC V 191 lO ncig lltvtocai IMJ JVM MUV VMV? )
but still they were sufficient to assure him of
her undying love and confidence. She could
not but confess that appearances were very
much against him, and that a dark cloud overshadowed
him ; yet she could not for a moment
believe that he, whom she thought the
very embodiment of all that was good, could
be guilty of so foul a crime. What tongue
can tell the pleasure these sweet assurances
gave to Stevenson! Supported by them and
his own inner consciousness, he could defy
the rest. The evidences against him might
be clear, and his chances of refuting them
apparently very small, yet his trust in God
was never shaken ; he knew there must be
another explanation of the evidence, and he
believed in due time the explanation would
apppear.
"Such was the position of affairs when the
'Stirling Castle' arrived in the Thames.
Stevenson was taken before the magistrates;
and upon the evidence already narrated, was
formally committed for trial, some of the
principal passengers being bound over to appear
when called upon. I will not attempt
to describe the parting between the lovers;
if was hard to hear; hard for Rose, although
she was going to a comfortable home, surrounded
by friends; but how doubly hard for
Stevenson, who was not only parted from his
heart's idol, but was going to a felon's ?ell
with a stigma on his name. What wonder
that he was overcome, that his courage failed
him, that he fairly broke down. But over
this I draw a veil; rupnhood's tears are
terrible to see, and can only flow from a
heart's agouy.
"Rose, too, was fearfully prostrated and almost
heart-broken ; but like a brave little
woman, as she was, she collected .herself, and
knowing her lover's safety depended on her
exertions, she set herself firmly about the
task. Now it happened that Rose had a godfather,
with whom she had been a great favorite
before she went to India. This was
Dr. Bailey, a man of considerable repute in
his profession. As a girl, Rose had always
been accustomed to take her little joys and
griefs to him, sure of a welcome. No wonder
| then, that in this, the sorest strait of her life,
she should fly to her most valued friend. She
| did so; and there sitting at his feet, as in old
and happy times, she told him all?told ot
Stevenson's nobleness and worth, of his love
for her, and?blushing the while?of her love
for him. Then she spoke of the murder ot
the old servant, and her voice trembled as she
told of the horror of that night; then she
passed on to speak of the suspicions against
Stevt son ; not one fact did she conceal; but
her voil ; was no longer low and trembling,
but firm and indignant that any should so
judge him. But how quailed her heart when
she looked up and saw the grave and doubtful
expression on the good doctor's face ; and
when he repeated her words and reminded
her of the will, of Stevenson's presence in the
cabin, of the empty box found in his room,
and above all, of the writing by the General,
all pointing so conclusively to Stevenson, she
saw at once that he also believed her lover
guilty. For a moment her own heart and her
faith almost failed her, and she, too, felt inclined
to yield to the weight of evidence.
But shaking off the feeling with a shudder,
as though iorae noxious reptile had touched
I her, she p< ured out such a passionate flood of
j eloquenc- in defence of her lover, that the
! doctor, catching her enthusiasm, was compelled
to yield to her powerful conviction. See;
ing this, Rose fell on his breast, and in a passionate
burst of tears, kissed him and called
I him her good kind friend.
"When they were a little calmer the doctor
said: 'Although we may believe him innoj
cent, yet our belief will not save him unless
j we can bring forth proof. I will come round
and see mv old frieud the General.'
" 'Alas!' said Rose, 'that would be useless.
He remembers nothing, and even if he did,
his evidence is strong against Stevenson. But
come by all means.'
'I will. In the dim light of the cabin he
i may have been mistaken in the man.'
j "Rose shook her head, and yet even this
tiny ray of hope sent a thrill through her
heart.
j " 'My father may have been mistaken,' she
; whispered to herself; but again her spirits
! sunk when she remembered his condition,
j "The next morning Dr. Bailey, true to his
word, called upon Rose, and brought with
, him a Dr. Smyth, a man who had made all
the phases of insanity his special study. Af!
ter a time they were shewn into the General's
' room, and found him sitting up, cheerfully
; playing with a skein of silk. A very few
| minutes served to convince them that he was
j quite an imbecile, and had no rational idea
I of what was passing around him. But wheu
I Dr. Smyth was told that this resulted from a
i blow on the head, he evinced more interest in
, the matter, and asked to be allowed to examine
the scar. This he did, and the examination
was long and careful. At length,
calling Dr. Bailey to one side, a whispered
conversation took place between them.
"All this time Rose was very nervous and
anxious for the result At last her god-father,
turning to her said : 'My good friend here
thinks it just possible that your father's reason
may be restored. The fact is the blow on
the head has broken the skull, and owing to
not very skillful treatment when the wound
was healing, a small piece of bone is left
pressing on the brain. If this were removed,
it is probable reason would be restored. Of
course,' he continued, 'your father will have
to undergo an operation ; but this is not necessarily
dangerous. I will send you some
medicine, and you must nurse him very carefully
for the next few days; and then, if we
think him strong enough, it shall be done.'
"Rose heard all this, but it can scarcely
,be said that she understood it, so far beyond
her fondest hopes did it all appear ; so, in a
sort of half dreamy manner, she bade them
"Good morning." When, however, she got
to her own room, and thought it over, and
its full meaning dawned upon her, she fell
on her knees and poured out her heart to
God in thankfulness for such a possibility.
Her dear father to be restored to her! What
a joyful thought; and moreover there lurked
behind it another thought, if possible still
more joyous, thut her father might be able to
say something to save that other dear one
languishing in a felon's cell. For the time
she was happy ; how happy only those can
tell who have been suddenly raised from the
depths of despair to the heights of hope.
"For the next few days she redoubled her
attentions to her father, and surely no invalid
was half so well cared for as he, for
did not her whole future happiness depend
on his restoration! Under such' kind care
and good Dr. Bailey's attentiou, he rapidly
gained strength ; but the days flew too quickly,
and it now wanted only a little more than
a week to the trial. This was fixed for a
Monday ; and on the Monday previous the
doctors thought the attempt might be made.
"It was done; and the patient bore it much
better than was expected ; but the result
could not be known all at once, as he was, of
course, greatly prostrated. During the whole
of Tuesday and Wednesday he was in a very
critical condition; but on Thursday the dauger
was considered past, and on that evening
as Rose was sitting at his bedside, .she heard
his voice calling feebly : "Rose, Rose !"
"The tone was so natural, that she at once
was convinced that he knew her. Repressing,
with great effort the violent desire she
felt to throw her arms around his neck, she
answered ;
"'Here I am, papa.'
"How quiet the ship is!" he murmured. I
can not feel her roll at *all. I wish the
breeze would come, so that we might get
home."
"Rose hardly knew what to make of this,
or what to answer ; at first she thought his
mind was still affected, but the clear, intelligent
look of his eye convinced her thai he
was sane. As gently as possible she soothed
' - J i /?_ 11 _ ir A. _
mm, ana ne soon ien on 10 sietq> agniu.
When Dr. Bailey, coming in soon after, was
told of the success of the operation, he was
much pleased; but he enjoined the greatest
quietude, especially that all topics should be
avoided which were likely to excite the patient's
mind.
"From this time the General improved
very rapidly, so much so as to be able to
take a little walk in the garden on Sunday.
Following the instructions of the doctor,
Rose conversed only of common-place and
pleasant matters, although, of course, to some
extent, the past must have been alluded to,
in explanation of her fathers's change ot
position, that is, from shipboard to London.
At the same time she was burning to question
him as to what he remembered of that terrible
night.
"On Monday morning, when she went into
his bedroom, he said :
"'My dear child, you look very ill and
carewornand then receiving no answer, he
continued, "I have been thinking about
Lieutenant Stevenson; what has become of
him?' This was'more than Rose could bear,
so falling on her knees at his bedside, she?
with many a sob and tear?told him all.
"As the result of this conversation will
appear further on, I will not detain you with
it now only to say that it sent Rose to her
room in an ecstasy of joy, causing her to
throw herself on her knees, and in the fullness
of her heart, thank God for all His
mercies.
"I pass on to the trial of the prisoner. It
happened that this was the first case on the
list, so it was still early when the trial commenced.
I should like to describe to you
the scene in Court, did time permit, but I
must ask you to imagine it.
"Captain Bowlby proved the finding of
Stevenson in the General's cabin, and decribed
the state in which it appeared. Colonel
Morton proved the fact of the will having
been made and deposited in the box, and
told how it was against Stevenson's interests,
which fact was known to Rose, and therefore
presumably to Stevenson also. Others proved
the finding of the box, hidden behind the
prisoner's bed ; and last of all the paper written
by the General was brought forward, containing
the first three letters of Stevenson's
name. The counsel for the defence did all
that could be done, but was quite unable to
dispute the facts or break down the evidence.
"Then came the Judge's summing up. He
poiuted out that although the evidence was
clear, yet it was in a measure what is termed
circumstantial; on the other hand, it must
necessarily be so, as many murders were
committed with no actual eye-witness. Much
more he said fairly and pointedly, and then
the jury retired. You might have heard a
pin drop when they returned, and although
f h a ^a??amon r*r/\nAll n anrl tli a n'aurl ^^111! hr"
mo luituiaij |;iuiiuuu^/cu lug uuiu vjiuulj
in a low tone, it seemed to sound and reecho
through the whole court.
"Prisoner at the bar," said the judge in a 1
solemn voice, "a jury of your fellow coun- i
try men have found you guilty of a dreadfulj
crime, and p?m bound to say that I agree
with the verdict. I am quite willing to be- j
lieve that you did it under a sudden impulse, i
hardly knowing what you did ; nay, I may I
believe that in the first instance your only ob- ;
ject was to get possession of the will; but j
finding yourself discovered, either by the j
servant or the General, you committed the I
| greater crime to conceal the less. It there- j
fore only remains to me,' he continued, assum- j
irg the black cap, while a visible shudder 5
trembled through the room, 'to pass sentence j
j upon you, which is'?
"But just at that moment there was a dis- j
turbance near the door, and a female voice !
was heard imploring: 'For mercy's sake let
: us pass. It is General Page. The prisoner
! is innocent!' All eyes turned to the spot; [
I and Rose, in a state of great excitement, I
j was seen leading her father forward.
"The counsel for the defence immediately :
| obtained permission to place the General in !
I the witness box, where, on account of his j
i great feebleness, he was accommodated with i
! a chair. After the usual preliminaries, the ;
! question was asked : 'Do you know the pris-1
! oner at the bar?'
" 'Yes ; it is Lieutenant Stevenson.'
" 'Did he enter your cabin the night your
servant was murdered ?'
" 'No ; not that I am aware of.'
"'But you wrote a portion of his name
on a piece of paper. See; here it is.'
" 'Yes ; but it appears I did not finish it.
Give it to me and I will do so now.' Handing
back the paper, he continued: 'There;
that is the man who attacked me.'
"The mystery was all explained now ; the
completed, word was?steward; and all
this misery had been caused by tbe want of
four little letters?ward, The Steward, then,
was actually the man. No one had thought
of him, and yet what more easy ! He was
always in and out of the cabins, and would
be sure to notice the box; and evidently
thinking it contained valuables, had stolen
it. Having done so ; and finding suspicion
already fallen upon Stevenson, nothing was I
more easy than to hide the empty box where
it was found. All this was ascertained to
be substantially correct; for the man was
arrested, and soon after confessed his dreadful
crimes.
"I have nothing more to add, except that
Stevenson was discharged without a stain
on his name, and that tne old General, yielding
to the solicitations of his daughter, and
convinced of Stevenson's worth, consented to
their engagement. In due time they were
married, and, as the story-books say, 'were
' ? A ?^ f i. mi 11 mrnv ro.
nappy ever auer. auu uuiu mn om ??member
with thankful hearts how, although
'cast down, they were not destroyed.' "
"Thanks, dear uncle. G<Sbd night;" and
kissing him, we retired to dream over the
troubles of Rose and Stevenson, and also to
rejoice that after all they were happy at
last."
IpswItattMusi fUadittg.
THE BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA.
The Mariposa grove comprises a tract two
miles square, and is the property of the State
of California. It is situated six miles distant
from the Big Tree station on the Mariposa
trail to the Yosemite, and about 16
miles due south of the hotels in the valley.
The average size of the trees is greater than
that of any other grove in the State, but the
average height is inferior to the trees of Calaveras.
Here are in reality two distinct
groves?the upper one containing over 365
trees over a foot in diameter, and the lower
about one-half as many. In the upper grove
are at least ten trees over 80 feet in circumference,
and one hundred and twenty-five
over 40 in circumference. Several trees here,
badly burned, were originally over 100 feet
in circumference, while others, yet in the full
vigor of their growth, show proportions but
little inferior. Most of the trees have been
numbered instead of named, like those or
Calveras; and a complete description would
show wonders the half of wheh has not yet
been told. The principal tree in either grove
is the one known as the "Grizzly Giant," and
the eye and sense of the spectator are at once
bewildered at the size of its mighty proportions.
At the base of this tree the carriage
afnnQ And thfi frail for horses begins. "Gollv.
that's a whopper!" said one of our party as
we approached ; and soon we all named this
mighty wonder the grandest of the Mariposa
grove. Carefully measuring the circumference
'With a line carried for that purpose, we
found it to be over 93 feet at the base, and
this not counting the burnt away portions,
which would have made the total still greater.
We measured 31 feet as the diameter. At
the base were five openings, any one of which
seemed large enough fb'r the accommodation
of a camping party; and immediately around
these the bark was gone. From the ground
to a height of about eleven feet the tree
contracted perceptibly; then, perfectly round,
it shot up with scarcely a change to the lowest
limbs, which were fully 100 feet from the
ground. On one side were about ten limbs,
varying from two to six feet in diameter, and
on the other about twelve almost as large.
The largest limb was probably 150 feet from
the ground, and this was fully 20 feet in circumference
where it left the trunk. Shooting
out in a straight line for a distance of 30
feet or more, it curved then suddenly upward
in a perpendicular direction, and, at a distance
of 75 feet more, was lost in the upper
foliage. Secondary branches, as large as
a full grown Eastern oak, shot out from this
primary branch as a trunk, and these again
produced other branches, to the third and
fourth generation. Some of these branches
were decayed ; some moss-covered ; some were
in full vigor of their extraordinary growth.
The top of the trees seemed to have been
broken off, perhaps by lightning; and the
appearance of Jhe whole was that of the war
worn veteran of the Sierra. It was near dusk
when we had finished our inspection of this
mighty tree. We were over a mile above
the level of the sea, and six miles from our
stopping place for the night. Still we lingered.
Although it was then June, yet the
eternal snows of the mountains were everywhere
around us, and a9 the huge banks and
drifts stretched away off in the distance, the
melting power of the heat and elements were
on every side defied. Not a weed or blade of
grass relieved the monotony of the view; not
the chirping of an insect or the twittering of
a bird was heard. The solemn stillness of
the night added a weird grandeur to the scene.
Now and then a breath of wind stirred the
topmost branches of the pines and cedars, and
as they swayed to and fro in the air, the music
was like that of Ossian, "pleasant but mournful
to the soul." There were sequoias on every
side almost twice as high as the Falls of
Niagara ; there were pines rivaling the dome
of the Capitol at Washington in grandeur;
there were cedars to whose tops the monument
of Bunker Hill would not have reached.
There were trees which were in the full
vigor of manhood before America itself was
discovered ; there were others which were yet
old before Charlemagne was born ; there were
others still growing when the Saviour himself
was on earth. There were trees whi$h had
witnessed the wind and storms of twenty centuries
; there were others which would endure
lone after countless generations of the future
would be numbered with the past. There
were trees crooked and short and massive;
there were others straight and tall and slender.
There were pines whose limbs were as evenly
proportioned as those of the Appollo Belvidere;
there were cedars whose beauty was not
surpassed in their counterparts of Lebanon ;
there were firs whose graceful foilage was
like the fabled locks of the gods of ancient
story. It was a picture iu nature which
captivated the sense at once by its grandeur
and extent; and as we drove back to
Clark's through the miles of this luxuriance,
with the darkness falling about us like a
black curtain from the heavens, and the
mighty canons of the Sierra sinking away
from our pathway like the opening of another
world, then it was not power, but majesty;
not beauty, but sublimity ; not the natural,
but the supernatural, which seemed above us
and before us.
Under the Ocean.?The average depth
of the ocean is, according to the latest calculations,
about 1877 fathoms, or over two
miles. The greatest depth known to exist
is near the Kurile Island, in the northwest
Pacific, about five miles and a quajter. The
highest mountain existing is of about the
same height as the deepest sea is deep.
The sides of the ocean basins are not all
steep. They are mostly so little inclined that
an ordinary locomotive engine could run up
them in a straight line with ease. The steepest
slope known is at Bermuda, where there
is an inclination of nearly twenty degrees
from the edge of the jeef to 2,000 fathoms.
' There are no such things as mountains and
valleys on the deep-sea bottom. Animals
cannot slip down against their will into the
depths, but must move deliberately Into them
and travel a long journey to reach them. The
pressure exerted by the superincumbent water
at great depths is so great as to be almost
beyond conception. It amounts roughly to a
ton on the square inch for every 1,000 fathoms
of depth?about 106 times as much as
the pressure to which people are subjected
from the atmosphere on land. At the greatest
depths the pressure is about four tons
and a half. Nearly all over the ocean the
temperature at 500 fathoms is as low as 20
degrees F., and this is the case even immediately
under the equator in the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. Below 2,000 fathoms the
temperature is never more than a few degrees
above freezing point.
NO PENSION WANTED.
He didn't look a bit like a patriot as he
stood rubbing his back on a corner wall, but
it isn't everybody who can tell a patriot at
first sight. They were talking about pensions,
and all at once he woke up and said:
* O XT 1. T
"Was l in the army r iou oei i was:
Didn't I have charge of one of the big guns
in the trenches at Yorktown ? Didn't I stand
in the mud all day and sleep in a pond at
night, and wasn't it that which twisted my
legs out of shape with the rheumatics? And
yet have I applied for a pension ? Has any
one seen me insidiously stretching forth a
hand to grab at the vitals of this distressed
country. Not a stretch?not a grab !"
No one had anything to say, and presently
ho went on:
"In the army?humph! Who saved the
day at Malvern Hill ? Who killed seventeen
of the enemy with his own hand ? Who
was decorated with sixteen medals and a cross
by General McClellan ? And yet does any
assassin charge me with making midnight
visits to pension agents to swear that the
hardships of the tented field have left me
with only one lung and no liver at all ?
Hang a soldier who wouldn't sacrifice his
liver for his glorious country !"
He burned up five or six matches in a vain
effort to light the stump of a cigar and then
growled out:
"I may look seedy now, but who led the
Second corps at Fair Oaks ? Who captured
three flags from the enemy with his own
hand ? Who was shot in four places and left
for dead ? And yet do I go whining around
after the financial vitals of this glorious republic?
Not a whine? When I reach but my
hand and ask Uncle Sam to come down, it
will be when I have forgotten the teachings
of a patriotic mother and the bravery
of a veteran father!" s
"Were you wounded ?" inquired one of the
group.
"Woa T 9 nli nn I T rltrln'f. crpf hit RPVPnt.PPn
different tiroes in three years!" I ara not
carrying half an acre of scars down to my
grave to attest my devotion to my country!
And yet what roan dares charge roe with a
desire to skulk into the barn and rob the
treasury cow of her feed?the feed she needs
for her daily existence ?"
"Won't you show us some of your scars?"
inquired two-or three at once.
"No, sir! I never show 'em except at reunions
! There is no reunion here. This is
simply a gathering of two bummers, a politician,
a lame man and a soldier who has
been in forty-six different battles, received
seventeen wounds and doesn't want a pension.
You wouldn't know the scar of a cannon
ball from that of an old wood-saw, and you'd
go off and say I got run through a threshing
machine! I am now going inside to drink
alone to the prosperity of this great glorious
Union, and it, won't do any of you any good
to stand around the door !"?Free Press.
CHECKING PERSPIRATION. .
A Boston merchant, in "lending a hand"
on board of a ship on a windy day, foundl
himself at th&end of an hour and a half pretty
well exhausted and perspiring freely. He
sat down to rest. The cool wind from the
sea was delightful, and engaging in conversation,
time passed faster than he was aware
of. In attempting to rise, he found he was
nnable to do so without assistance He was
taken home and put to bed, where he remained
two years ; and for a long time afterward
could only hobble about with the aid of a
crutch. Less exposures than this have, in
constitutions not so vigorous, resulted in inflammation
of the lungs, "pneumonia," ending
in death in less than a week, or causing
tedious rheumatisms, to be a source of torture
for a lifetime. Multitudes of lives would be
saved every year, and an incalculable amount
of human suffering would be prevented, if
parents would begin to explain to their children,
at the age of three or four years, the
danger which attends cooling off too quickly
after exercise, ?r work, or play, or of remaining
exposed to a wind, or of sitting at
an open window or door, or of pulling off
any garment, even the hat or bonnet, while
in a heat. It should be remembered by all,
that a cold never comes without a cause, and
that in four times out of five, it is the result
of leaving off exercise too suddenly or of
remaining still in the wind, or in a cooler atmosphere
than that in which the exercise has
been taken. The colder the weather the
more need is there, in coming into the house,
to keep on all the clothing, except india
rubber or damp shoes, for several minutes
afterward. Very few rooms are heated higher
than sixty-five degrees when the thermometer
is within twenty degrees of zero, while
the temperature of the body is always at
ninety-eight in health ; so that if a man
comes into a room which is thirty degrees
colder than his body, he will rapidly cool off,
often too much so, if the external -clothing
is not removed. It is not necessary that
perspiration be visible; any exercise which
* il - 1 J __L ^ i. A..
excites tne circulation ueyouu wum is natural
causes a proportional increase of perspiration,
the sudden checking of which induces
dangerous disease and certain death every
day.?Hall'8 Journal of Health.
i
ELI PERKINS ON PUNCTUATION.
Oue half of the. mistakes in telegrams result
from bad punctuation. The operator
always runs the message straight along, putting
in neither capitals nor punctuation
marks.
The other day a Chicago newspaper received
this telegram which, without any
punctuation, read very queerly:
"The procession at Judge Orton's funeral
was very fine and nearly two miles in length
as was also the beautiful prayer of Rev. Dr.
Swing from Chicago."
I found the following paragraph in a Wisconsin
newspaper:
"A sad accident happened to the family of
John Alderkin on Main street yesterday.
One of his children was run over by a wagon
three years old with sore eyes and pantalets
on which never spoke afterward."
Also this:
"A cow was struck by lightning on Saturday
belonging to Dr. Hammond who had a
beautiful calf four days old."
One morning after I had lectured in Lacrosse,
Wis., I took up the morning paper
and was surprised to read this startling paragraph
:
"George Peck, an intemperate editor from
Milwaukee, fell over the gallery last night
while Eli Perkins was humorously lecturing
in a beastly state of intoxication.
"The coroner's jury brought in a verdict
that Mr. Peck's death was caused by his sitting
too long in a cramped position listening
to Mr. Perkins' lecture which generally pro
duces apoplexy in the minds of the jury."
A Nebraska newspaper thus punctuated a
paragraph about their new school house:
"Our new school house which was burnt last
week was large enough to accc .modate three
hundred pupils four stories high. The school
; house will be rebuilt by a brother of the forl
mer architect who died last summer on a
new and improved plan." "
These instances of bad punctuation should
j warn every one who sends a telegram or
I writes a paragraph for a newspaper to see
I that it is properly punctuated.
GOOD SOCIETY.
Many parents who have sons and daughters
growing up are anxious for them to gee
into good society. This is an honorable anxiety,
if it interprets good society after some
lofty fashion.
Parents, your daughter is in good society
when she is with girls who are sweet and pure
and true hearted ; who are not vain or frivo'
* I J
Jous ; wtio tinuK or someinmg Desiues ureas,,
or flirting or marriage ; between whom and
their parents there is confidence; who are useful
as well as ornamental in the house ; who
cultivate their mitids, aud train their hands
to skillful workmanship. If society of this
sort is not to be had, then noue at all is preferable
to a worthless article. See to it that
you press this on jour children, and above all,
that you do not encourage them to think
that good society is a matter of fine clothes,
or wealth, or boasting to somebody. As ybu
value your child's soul, guard her against
these miserable counterfeits; and impress
upon her that intelligence, and simplicity,
and modesty, and goodness are the only legal
coin.
The same rule holds for boys as well as for
girls. You would have these enter into good
society. Do not imagine that you have accomplished
it when you have got them in with
a set of boys whose parents are wealthier
than-you, who dress better than your boys
can afford to dress, and who pride themselves
upon their social position. Good society for
a boy is the society of boys who are honest
and straight-forward, who have no bad habits,
who are earnest and ambitious. They are
not in a hurry to be men. They are not ambitious
for the company of shallow, heartless
women, old enough to be their mothers, and
are not envious of their friends who fancy
I there is something grand in dulling the
edge of their hearts' hope upon such jaded
favorites.
There is nothing sadder than to see either
young men or women priding themselves
upon the society which they enjoy, when
verily it is a Dead Sea apple that will choke
them with its dust, when they need some
generous, juicy fruit to cool their lips and stay
the hunger of their souls-"*-CArwftan Reguter.
BAD EFFECTS OF*~BEER DRINKING. The
worst effects from accidents in London
hospitals are experienced by the draymen.
Though they are apparently models of health
and strength, yet if one of them receives a
serious iujury it is nearly always necessary to
amputate in order to give him the most distant
chance of life. The draymen have the
unlimited privilege of the brewery cellar.
Sir Astley Cooper was once called to a
drayman, who was a powerful, fresh-colored,
healthy-looking man, and had suffered an injury
in his finger from a splinter of a stave.
The wound, though trifling, suppurated. He
opened the small abcess with hjs lancet. He
found, on retiring, he had left his lancet.
Returning for it, he found the - man in a dying
condition. The man died in a short time.
Dr. Gordon says: "The-moment beer-drinkers
are attacked with acute diseases, they are
not able to bear depletion, and die."
Dr. Edwards says of beer-drinkers: "Their
diseases are always of a dangerous character,
and in case of accident, they can never undergo
even the most trifling operation with ;
the security of the temperate. They most
invariably die under it."
Dr. Buchanan says: "Malt liquors render
the blood sizy and unfit for circulation; hence
proceed obstructions and inflammations of the
lungs. There are few great-beer-drinkers
who are not phthisical, brought on by the
glutinous and indigestible nature of ale and
porter. These liquors inflame the blood, and
tear the tender vessels of the lungs to pieces."
Dr. Maxson says .-""Intoxicating drinks,
whether taken in the form of fermented or
distilled liquors, are a very frequent predisposing
cause of disease."
The hospitals of New York show an equally
unfavorablej^cord of the intemperate, and
private practitioners everywhere have the,
same experience.
? . Insanity
as a Good.?A German physician
has started a pleasing theory with regard
to insanity. 'It.is, he thinks, a mistake
to look upon it as an unmitigated evil. It
is in many cases a boon rather than the reverse
'to the person immediately affected.
The loss of reason lands the sufferer from a
sea of trouble into one of comparative calm?
often into one of decided happiness; and
ottflmnfa rastnro anr>h ft nftrsnn SftnitV
I UbbV/iilpug bV ?WW?V uuvu ? WW w?? ,
would be cruel rather than kind. Moreover,
he insists that without a certain amqunt
of insanity, success in life, in the ordinary
acceptation of the term, is quite impossible.
All "eminent men," he contends, are decidedly
more or less mad. Many of them are
dangerous monomaniacs, whom it would be
desirable on public grounds to shut up; but
who, nevertheless, achieve grand careers and
are credited with doing a vast amount of
good. This false notion he attributes to the
fact that the greater mass of mankind are
also insane, and quite unable to distinguish
between good and evil. Whole nations are,
he says, occasionally Beized, like individual
persons, with attacks of madness, and like
eminent madmen, either destroy themselves
or their neighbors. These paroxysms are, he
admits, undoubtedly dangerous, but when
madness is blended with just sufficient selfcontrol
to keep it within bounds and prevent
it from betraying itself, it displays itself in
nervous energy and enables the lunatic to
exercise immense influence over his fellowcreatures.
Poor Poland.?For participation in the
insurrection of 1863 64, eighty-three thousand
four hundred and thirty-four Poles
were condemned to perpetual expatriation
and transported to Siberia or Russia's outlying
provinces. Above ten thousand contrived
to escape to foreign countries, but tbe
greater number of these suflerefl the loss of
their entire property, confiscated by the
State, and have abandoned all hope of ever
returning to their native land. Three hundred
aud sixty patriots were hanged in cold
blood by their captors. Fines to the amount
of two million roubles were levied on "the
Vistula provinces," and two thousand seven
hundred estates were sequestrated and conferred
on Russian nobles. All the public libraries
were either destroyed or conveyed
out of the country by MuraviefF's orders,
and the outrages committed on defenseless
women and ecclesiastics constitute one of the
most revolting records of modern history.
Where the Napoleons Rest.?The
statues and ashes of the Napoleons have suffered
strange vicissitudes. Twice has the
statue of the First Napoleon, which stands
in the Place Vendome, been dragged to tbe
ground, first by Royalists, then by Radicals,
only to be re-erected, while his ashes were
restored to France on the demand of another
dynasty, to be respected even duripg the
Commune. Louis, the ex-King of Holland,
; emoved his father's remains from Grenoble
i
to St. Lea, to which place his own ashes were
in time removed from Italy. The eldest son
of Louie, regarded by Napoleon as his heir,
and who died when but six years old, was at
first laid in St. Denis, but the Bourbons, when
they returned to France, had the body translated,
and the "little Napoleon" now rests in
the same vault as his father and his grandfather.
Jerome alone reposes under the domo
of the Invalides with bis great brother; the
ashes of the other Bonapartes lie scattered
here and there, and are to be found at Rome,
Florence, Vienna, and Chiselhurst, and somewhere
in Calabria.
4.-^.4
Marriage.?The foundation of every good
government is the family. The best and
most prosperous country is that which' has
the greatest number of happy firesides. The
holiest institution among men is marriage.
It has taken the race of countless ages to
come up to the condition of marriage. Without
it there would be no civilization, no human
advancement, no life worth living for.
Life is a failure to any women who has not
secured the love and adoration of some good
man. Life is a mockery to any man, no matter
whether he be mendicant or monarch, who
has not won the heart of some worthy woman.
Without love and marriage, all the
priceless joys of this life would be as ashes
on the lips of the children of men.
"You had better be the emperor of some
loving and tender heart, and she the empress
of yours, than to be the king -of the world."
The man who has really won the love of one
good woman in this world, it mattere not
though he die in the ditch, a beggar, his life
has been a success.
There is a heathen book which says: "Man.
is strength, woman is beauty; man is courage,
woman is love." When the one man
loves the one woman, and the one woman
loves that one man, the very angels leave
heaven and come and sit in the house, and
sing for joy.
The Chinese Army.?Although strong
in numbers, the Chinese army has at present
but little fighting value. The Chinese soldier
is naturally brave, and the men recruited in
the northern districts of the empire are full
of vigor and energy; but the troops are practically
totally uninstructed in military duties.
That this should be the case is 'probably
mainly owing to the inferiority of the Chinese
officers. "They are," says a French
writer, "below all criticism ;" and that they
are so must be ascribed to the low esteem in
which the profession of arms is held in China.
"You would not," runs a Chinese saying,
"take good iron to make into nails, and you
would not take a man worth anything at all
to make into a soldier." A man need not be
in any way educated to obtain a commission;
but, on the other hand, he must be athletic.
Carrying and throwing heavy weights,
the use of the sword and shooting with the
bow, both on foot and horseback, are the
subjects in which a man desirous of obtaining
a commission are examined. Under these
circumstances, it is no wonder that the Chinese
officer is as a rule utterly ignorant of
military art, while his men, knowing that he
is as ignorant as themselves, have but little
respect for him.
4 m
"Havana" Cigars, from Paper?The
straw paper manufacturers of the Chatham
portion of Columbia county, N. Y., have
for many years been aware that their product
has nearly all gone Sontb, and been
used in Cuba as fillers for cigars. None of
tbem manufacture specially with this end in
view, although their paper is well adapted
for "bogus" cigar making. The paper used
for the purpose indicated is of the ligh test
weight (7 to7J lbs.) it is possible to make.
There is one mill in. the country, located- at
Queechy (town of Canada), which manufactures
the straw paper expressly for wrappers?not
fillers. The Queechy Paper Company's
paper mills is situated on a creek but
a short distance below a lake, and being at
the head of the stream, the water is of much
greater purity, and hence their ability to
produce the desired article of paper. The
straw paper used in filling the Havana cigars
is saturated with a decoction prepared from
the stem and refuse of Havana seed leaf,
mingled with which are extracts of liquorice
root, senna, etc. The paper is so skillfully
stamped to resemble the tobacco leaves, the
very veins of the leaf being so perfectly imitated,
that it can seldom, if ever, he detected
from the genuine article.
Different Customs.?In France they
have many customs which seem strange to us.
In the hotels, all the ornamental functions in
the busiuesj are discharged by the lady, while
the man dees the hard work. It is the husband
who cooks, and bis wife who sits behind
me iiiu cuumer uuiug uci omaib gu& gu >m
and capetrings. Frenchmen are great kissers
and shakers of bands, but the latter courtesy
is not practiced between seres. A Frenchman
bows to a lady without extending his palm,
and he would be thought very forward indeed
if he tried to shake hands with an unmarried
lady. He might kiss a married lady, however,
on New Year's Day, or in an outburst of
great emotion or any other occasion, without
anybody?even the husband?demurring;
and he ma}' embrace members of his own sex
at all times. A French grown-up son kiss?s
his father, and alludes to him as "papa
and, as everybody knows, a son must ask his
"papa's" consent to his marriage, no matter
how old he, may be. Young Frenchmen
never propose in person; decorum requires
the offices cf a third person. It is* safe to
call all Frenchmen p's, and address all
French-women, even to the street fruit-sellers,
as mademoiselle.
?
Napoleon's old Home on St. Helena.?
The ex-Empress Eugenie visited Napoleon's
Malmaison at St. Helena. Longwood House,
originally a farm belonging to the East India
Company, and prior to its being Napoleon's
prison the residence of the Lieuteuant-Governor
of the Island, has suffered so much f
degradation, dilapidation, and so many vicisv
situdes, that it bears not the slightest resemblance
tc its former self. The drawing-room,
the dining room, the bath room, of the exEmperor
have been by turns converted into
stables and granaries, into barns and threshing
floors. It was neither water tight nor -v
wind, proof in Napoleon's time, and what remains
of it is a veritable -Oave^oS^be winds.
I?" A Colorado paper says: "An English
man, 'who had seen better days,' was riding
in a coach to Leadville recently. There were
a good many other people in the coach, also.
'Will you please,' said the Englishman, 'open
that window ; I want to see the mountain
scenery.' An Irishman, who was snoozing in
the corner, looked up on . earing the remark,
and observed : "Bedad, you'll see plinty ov it
a month from now, when y e're comin' back
on fut.'"
VQ, "Now, children," said a Sunday-school
superintendent, who had been talking to his
scholars about good people and bad people,
"when I'm walking in the street, I sp^pk to
some persons I meet, and I don't speak to
others; and what's the reason ?" He expected
the reply would be, "Because some are
good and others are badbut, to his discomfiture,
the general shout was, "Because some
are rich and others are poor."
. ?
16f "Now, then," said a shrewd old farmer,
"as the time for agricultural fairs draws nigh,
the committees are hunting round for lawyers
and clergymen and politicians to address the
farmers and tell 'em bow to carry on their
business."