Frostburg mining journal. [volume], May 04, 1872, Image 1

About Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913

Image provided by: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

                
C. 11. WALKER & J. B. ODER,
VOJJ-ME^L
Ever.
BY GIPSY WII i*K.
Ever and ever the world K<*en round
BeHring its hurdent* and crosses:
Ever and ever tin* year? roll on.
With their tide* f f sorrow.* and losses.
Ever and eve r the hook of lifo
dears upon its pujres
The weary, weary lay of the heart,
£ui>k through all the ages.
Ever and ever with outstretched hands
We gra*-| f* r a gulden morrow ;
Ever and ever the billow* of timo
Aro freighted with hitter sorrow.
Ever and ever the lips smile on.
That the world may walk in blindness ;
Little they know of the heart’s wild woe.
When the lace looks but with kindness.
Ever and ever the shadows fall
Over the golden mosses:
Ever a gleam from Paradise
Lightens our cares and crosses.
Ever and ever the morning dawns
On hopes that are breathed in gladness:
Ever and ever the night brings in
Its tide of bitter sadness.
# Ever nnd ever the eye of God
Looketh upon us with pity :
And ever the light is shewn to us.
That gleams from the Golden City.
A HIGH CALLING.
It was done away with Ion;; enough
ago. Parliament took it up, said it was
dangerous, and put a stop to it. Per
haps it was dangerous, and per hap,
Parliament was right to put a flop to it.
But 1 didn't like it then, for it was my
bread, and meant five pounds a week to
me; and when it was stopped my pro
fession was ruim d.
I don’t look like it now, for you see
I've made Hesh, and am close on fifty ;
but fifteen or twenty years ago, when i
was in my fleshings, 1 could have shown
you such a figure and suou muscles as
you wouldn't see every day. Me and
my brother were a regular pair, just the
same height, and wonderfully alike. It
was a bit of gammon, but it took won
derfully in the bills, and our manager
said it would be utter madness to an
nounce ourselves as Benjamin and
Thomas Hitchens: so we used to be in
blue letters all over London, “ Les
Freres Provenroaux,” and the people
came to see us from all parts.
We were engaged, you see, at the
Hoyal Conduit Gardens, and did the
trapeze work. Now, I (lari' say you’ll
find plenty of people who will say it was
known long before, but don’t you be
lieve’em. I’m the man who invented
the trapeze—at least, I’m the boy—
that is, 1 invented it when I was a boy
on tlie swing in our back-garden, the
one we made under the old apple-tree,
out of mother's clothes-line, and rubbed
till it bioke all to bits, and let Tom
down that heavy that it put out his
shoulder.
You see, it was from experimenting
on that swing, hanging by my legs, by
one hand, by two hands, and up-ide
down, that 1 sowed tiie seeds of all
those wonderful trapeze exploits that
have, as we say in the hills, “ thrilled
expectant audiences in every nervei nd
fibre of their frames.”
From doing things on the rope, we
took to tumbling a little on the ground,
tying ourselves in knots, walking on our
hands ; and I shall never forget the d .v
that 1 first threw a sometsiult without
touching the ground with my hands.
That day was a marked one for me ;
first, because of the pride 1 felt as I
ran in the field and spun over; see
ond, because Tom was so jealous that
he took a lun and a jump, and came
down on his back, making it sostilfand
l ad that he couldn’t move hardly for a
week.
At last, having done all this for our
own amusement as hoys, we had to give
it up, for times got very hard at home.
Poor father, who had only been a jour
neyman painter, fell ill and died, and 1
mother moved to London, where, alter
a deal of trying, we boys got a job
here and a job there at rough painting,
for, fioni helping father at home,
we were both pretty handy with the
brush.
Times, however, were very hard will,
us, when one day we heard of a chance.
The Royal Conduit Gardens were being
done up in aliuiry, the lessee having
taken them, as it were, at the eleventh
hour; and, being at a high rent, of
ccuise he wanted to get them open as
soon as possible. Redecoration was
the order of the day, and eveiy man
who could handle a blush was taken
on, painters being scarce in the Spring.
Well, we went, and were soon Lusiiy
at work, painting arbors and niches,
and touching up orclnstia and artificial
sky till tlie Gardens were opened, when
the manager, who was a very civil fel
low, gave font and your humble ser
vant a ticket lor the opening day.
That was a treat for us, lor we
were in good spirits, having a few slid
lings in (ur pockets. We saw the thea
tricals, heard the music, looked at this,
looked at that, and were thoroughly
enjoying ourselves, until we joined the
circle about to witness the performances
of the Tantipalpiti family ; and tin re
we stood for some time seeing them
walk on their hands, tie themselves in
knots, and *do a few clumsy somer
saults. Then Toni looked at me, and 1
looked at him, and we want away
laughing togrthi r at what we had seen.
“ Wiry,’ sa d Tom at last, stopping
slioit, and giving himself a tremendous
slap on the thigh, “ if I couldn’t do that
fly-over better than any one there, I’d
eat my b lots.”
“ It was poor, wasn't it?” I said.
“ Pc or 1' echoed Tom ; “ it was shame
ful.”
We walked home that night in si
lence; hut no sooner were we in our
room than Tom whips off his coat and
waistcoat, and kicks away tiis boots and
then goes through half-a-dozen of our
old tricks-—rather st tHy, but better than
anything ire had seen.
“ Have a try, ohl boy,” he said ; and
I had a try ; and the next day we
nearly frightened our landlady to
death, and sent her off searching for
help to cut Toni down, because he
had hung himself from a hook in tlie
ceiling.
1 hey got used to our antics at last,
and took no m tice of us, as we tried
hard to get off that stiffness, for tlie
same idea had struck us both—that we
had better take to tumbling, than paint
and starve.
“ H strikes me,” said fom, “ that if
we get a rope or two, and some cSss
bars fixed, we can rather astonish some
of them j anyhow, we’ll stie.”
I quite agreed with Tom ; and, a abort
Mtn* after, us bold as brass, we applied
to the mnnairer of the Gardens for an
! engagement. Of course, he wanted to
' see what we could do; so a coujde of
ropes were fitted up over the stage of
, the little hall, a bar was tied across like
j a swing; and on it we set to, turning
| over, hanging by hands and tors and
' tlie backs of our beads, and playing such
daring pranks, that we brought down
tin* house —that is to say, tlie lessee and
i his friends applauded loudly ; ami I be
i lieve I never felt so happy in my life as
j when he engaged us on the spot at a
salary.
For the whole of that season we were
i as successful as could be; and, through
constant practice, we got to be very
handy, and did our tricks in away
which the newspapers called graceful;
but, as a matter of course, there were
*non a host of imitators ; ami at the
beginningof next season, people wanted
something new, and the manager asked
us if we couldn’t introduce something—
•*lt must be wonderfully exciting, you
know,’’ lie said, “or else it won’t take.
You’d think that was strong enough tor
them,’’ he continued, pointing to u bal
loon ; “but, lor bless you, they don’t
care now for balloon®. Go and think it
over. For my part, I thought of pro
pos:ng a trapeze at the top of the two
highest scaffold poles we can get.”
I started a bit as he sa d that; and
just then the balloon rose nnd went
away swiftly and lightly over the trees,
while I watched it thoughtfully, for I
had got an idea m my head.
The next morning I talked it over
with Tom, whoagmd to it in a minute;
and we shook hands over it slowly, for
our minds were made up.
\V hen the manager engaged us first,
he said our name wouldn’t do a bit.
The Tantipalpitis’ name, lie said, was
by rights Bodge. The consequence was
(as I have said), we went in for French ;
so the announcement of the “Grand
Trapeze Act ”of “ Les Freres Proven
caux ” was advertised all over London.
How well l remember that bright June
day, when going forward in our grand
dresses, all tights, satin, ruff’, and span
gles, we were greeted with a roar of ap
plause, and saw that the Gardens were
crammed with people, in the middle of
whom was the great balloon, ready
tilled, and swinging about as it tugged
at its rope®.
“How do you feel, Tom?” I said,
look ing at him.
“Biave as a lion, my boy,” he says,
stoutly. “It’s no more than doing it
twenty feet high.”
“ I’rue,” I said ; “ and it is as easy to
he drowned in sixty as in six hundred
feet of water.”
The next minute we were holding the
trapeze bars, close to the balloon, wait
ing the signal for it to rise; and now,
for the first time, I felt a sensation of
fear, and I’ll tell you what gave it to
nn* —the people, instead of cheering us
as soon as we began to rise, kept per
fectly silent, and that seemed to go
right through me; for you must know
that what we had been advertised to do
was to perform < ur lope and bar tricks
right under the balloon, twenty feet be
low the car, and that without anything
to 8 ve as if we should make a slip.
Tueie was no time for tear, though ;
and the next minute we were doing it
as c oily as could be, as we lose fifty, a
hundred, a thousand feet in the air, and
floated away out of sight.
I don’t recall that I was so very glad
to get up into the car, for the excite
ment kept me from feeling afraid; I re
member thinking, though, that Tom
lock d ratio r pale.
Then we wrapped up well, and en
joy* d our first hour’s ride till we came
down right away m Kent.
1 should think we had done this
ah ut a month ; and all through that
month there was linking in my ears the
words of a woman who said out loud on
the second time we went up: “Ah,
they’ll do that once too often.” Sup
pose, I thought to myself, we do do it
| once too often ! But then there came
tlie thought of the money, and that
drore away a great deal of my timidity,
as I told myself that a man might play
such antics for his whole life and never
fall.
Well, as I said, we had been doing it
about a month, when one evening we
took our placi sas usual. It was an ex
tra n giit, ami the largest balloon was to
ascend; our rope too, was to be length
ened to thirty feet, and at that distance
belo v tlie car we were to fcvving about as
umi 1.
You may say we ought to have been
used to it by this time; there are things,
though, which you never do get used to,
tiy how you will, and this was one of
them.
Ihe bands were playing away their
best; the people were eigerly looking
at the half-a-dozen aeronauts who were to
ascend; tlie manager of the balloon
was 'hero ; the signal was given,and the
p “pie got in. Then the balloon was
-liov.ed to rise so high that our trapeze
-wimg clear, when l hung from it by my
eg*, holding a crcs -bar in my hands,
over which Tom threw his legs, ami
1 ung bead downward; and then away we
wt ir, up through tlie soft evening air, so
slow.y that Tom’s hands touched the
lop of one of the elm trees as he waved
about a couple of flaps.
Our custom was to hang quite still till
wo were up four or five hundred feet,
and then to b<*gin our twining and twist
ing, and so we did now, when Tom
pit lied away the flags, and we went
tinough our tricks, rising higher and
higher, with the faces of the confused
crowd getting mixed into a deep mass,
and the strains of the band fe iowing
fainter and fainter, till all below was quite
mingled in a faint hum.
We had only one more trick to do, and
that was t' cast loo>e the bar and each
man swing by lis own rope. 1 hail
100-ei ed my end, the jerspiration
streaming down me the while, ami Tom
had lone the same, when, swinging round
tow: rd me with a horribly white tace, he
ex cla med : “ Ben, old man, I’m going
to fa ! l.”
It's no use; I couldn’t tell you how I
felt then, it 1 had tried ever so much,
only that in half a second I saw Tom
lying a horrible crushed corpse far be
low; and I felt so paralyzed that 1
thought I should have let go of my
rq e and fal’cn myself. 1 could s et,
thufigh and [ did. for in a flash I had
j given a jerk forward, and thrown
An Independent Paper—Devoted to Lilerature, Minins, Commercial. Agricultural. General and Local News.
FROSTBURG, ALLEGANY COUNTY, MARYLAND, SATURDAY, MAY 4, 187-2
i iny.-elf against Tom. flinging my logs
round him and holding him tightly;
and then, tirod as 1 was, 1 felt that I
had double weight to sustain, for Tom’s
rope was swinging to and fio, and as my
>egs clung round his body, ids head
luing down, and I knew ho mu..t h sve
fainted.
How I managed to hold on, I can’t
toll now, for though weak with all 1 had
done, I .( imaged to give a hoarse cry for
help, and the next moment I heard a
cry of horror from the basket-work
car.
Then I felt the rope begin to jerk as
they began to haul us up. and 1 man
aged to shriek out: “No ! no I” for if
they had hauled any longer, they must
have jerked poor Tom from my hold.
1 often ask myself whether it was
half an hour or only a few seconds be
fore I saw a rope lowered with a big run
ning noose, and then I’ve a misty notion
of having set rnv teeth fast on tlie rope,
as I felt a dreadful weight, as of lead,
dragging at me. Then I felt that it was
all over, and i knew that I had been the
death of poor Tom, for lie had seemed
to fall, as 1 felt the rope by which 1
hung jerk again violently. 1 saw tlie
earth below like a map, and the golden
clouds up above the great net-covered
ball, and then a mist swam before iny
eyes, and all seemed black and thick as
night.
When I came to, I was lying on my
hack in the car, with a man pouring
brandy between my lips. My first words
wore gasped out in a husky tone, for I
did not known where I was and then 1
retnembi r bursting out into quite a
shriek, as I cried: “ Where’s Tom?”
“ Here, old man,” he said, for they
had managed to drag us both into tlie
car; and tor tlie next hour we sat there
shivering, saturated with coid perspira
tion ; even the men in tlie car being si
lent, unnerved, as I suppose, by our nur
iow escape.
Tom wanted to go again, but I
wouldn't let him. “ I did not tremble,”
ha said ; “it was only a sudden fit of gid
diness through being unwell.”
I went up, though, many times after
ward alone,on horses and on bulls; and
I meant to have had a car of flying
swans for a grand hit, when Government
stepped in and put a stop to it; and, us
I said before, very sorry I was, for it was
my living.
A Doable Fratricide.
The Owen County ( Ky.) News gives the
following details of a horrible affair:
“ Oh last Saturday, two • rot hers named
Horton, living on Northern Savern
Creek, in this county, got into an after
cation, wherein the elder cut arid stab
bed the younger tearfully, after which
He rut his own throat. The younger
brother had engaged to work for some
one of the neighbors, hut did not go.
When the elder came in he asked the
reason he had not gone, whereupon tlie
younger said he was unwell. Here the
elder told him he was too lazy and
would not work. One word brought on
another, till at last the younger threw a
chair at his brother, breaking it all to
pieces. The elder then expostulated
with him for breaking the chair, where
upon the younger drew his knife and
made an assault upon the other, when
he also drew his knife and the bloody
work began. The elder cut and stab
bed bis younger brother fearfully, then
went to the woods a short distance ott
and cut his own throat, after which be
managed to grope his way back to the
house, and as he entered the door fell,
through weakness, to the tloor by the
side of the other, where they were
shortly after found, the story of both
coiroborating the above. At last ac
counts both were still alive, but no
hope entertained for their recovery.
A Citizen King.
According to all accounts, King Am
adeus of Spain is tlie least ostenta
tions of the monarch-! of Europe, with
the exception of the King of Sweden,
Like him lie takes pride in being a citi
zen king. Several of his subjects main
tain more costly establishments and
support more elegant equipage. From
the sum voted for the support of the
royal household he defrays the expense
ot his journeys, pays the pension of tlie
dethroned Queen, repairs the national
palaces and assists in cany ing on seve
ral public works. The remainder lie
gives to the poor of Madrid. He shows
no greed for money like Queen Victoria,
nor is he laying up a fortune for a
rainy day as the last French Emperor
did. lie discards all strong drink,
wine, coffee and tea, and is perhaps the
first king who limited his drinks to cold
water. Ho uses do tobacco and does
not indulge in gaming. He rides out
with two horses with only a single at
tendant. His manners are those of a
quiet gentleman and he shows little re
gard to rank and titles. He is withal
a hard working man, going every day
into the offices of the principal depart
ments of tlie government, making him
self familiar with how tlie business is
conducted and conversing freely with
the clerks and officers.
A Journalistic Novelty.
A novelty in journalism is the For
eign Times, published in London in three
languages—English, French, and Span
ish. This is said to be the first journal
of the kind in which the several divi
sions are original, and not translations
one of the other. Each department is
wiitten by native journalists, though
views am 1 politics are identical. A dual
paper of this kind has existed for some
years in Central America, the well
known Star amt Herald being printed in
English and Spanish, but it is addressed
only to the residents on the Isthmus.
The new journal is more ambitious, and
aims at a wider range of readers. The
editors boast that it can be read and
understood over the greater part of tlie
civilized world, since its three tongues
divide the majority between them. As
a commercial organ it is likely to he
very useful, as it is intended to circu
late in the English, French and Spanish
colonies, and Central America, in En
glish politics it is Liberal-Conservative ;
in French it inclines to Bonapartism;
in Spanish internal affairs it has not yet
committed itself to any party.
The Nashville street-cars are provided
each with a clock
Science uml Fairy Iti ifr s -
Every one, says Once a Week, who ii
accustomed to the coun'ry knows a
fairy ring when ho sees it. Kach ring
is only s iieit of grass of a mucit darker
preen than that surrounding it. In a
pape; on “The Fairy Kings of Pastures,”
read by Professor Wray before the
Biitish Association, at Southampton, in
1840, it was stated that the grass of
which such rings are formed is always
the fit at to vegetate in the spring, and
keeps the lead of the ordinary glass ot
the pastures till the period of cutting.
If the grass of these fairy rings be ex
amined in the spring and early summer,
it will be found to conceal a number of
agarics or toadstools of various sizes,
they are found situated either entirely
on the outside of the ring, or oil the
outer border of the grass which com
poses it.
The Professor's view of the formation
of these fairy rings was as follows: A
fungus is developed on a single spot of
ground, sheds its sired, and dies. On
the spot where it grew it leaves a valu
able manuring of phosphoric acid and
alkalies, some magnesia, and a little
su.pliate of lime. Another fungus
might undoubtedly grow on the same
spot again; but, on the deatli of the
first, the ground becomes occupied by a
vigorous erop of grass, thing, like a
phumix from its ashes. Dr. Wollaston
and .Sir Humphrey Davy both adopted
this elucidation of Professor Wray s as
the correct one ; and his is the expla
nation most generally accepted by the
best naturalists. The theory has also
been very clearly stated in an early vol
ume of the London Medical and Physi
cal Journal thus: Every fungus exhausis
the ground on which it grows, so that
no other can exist on the same spot. It
sheds its seeds around; and on the
second year, instead of a single fungus
as a centre, a number arise in an ex
terior ring around the spot where the
individual stood. These exhaust the
ground on which they have come to per
fection ; and in the succeeding year,
tlie ring becomes larger, from the same
principle of divergency.
Kerman and Swedish Emigration.
The Hamburg papers report that the
spring emigration of Germans to the
United States is already beginning, and
that the movement from Mecklenburg
is of such a remarkable a character that
several villages are almost depapulated.
Forty-five hundred Merklenburgers
passed through Hamburg last year on
their way to this country, and large
numbers are preparing to follow them
this season. Resides the Germans,
numerous Swedish servants and la
borers employed in Germany have emi
grated, and very few have arrived from
Sweden to take their places. It is
shown by the statistics of last year that
the German element in the United
States, fed by continual accessions from
the Fatherland, is increasing relatively
faster than any other, and this increase
is apparently to prevail during the
coming year. The majority of the
Germans, forsaking our seaports, buy
lands or engage in farm set vice in tho
West and Northwest; and as very many
of tli in have a small capital with
which to begin operations, it is not
surprising to find that the newly settled
regions of the West are gaining in
wealth, population and general pros
perity. Similar results have followed
the settlement of the colony of Swedes
in Maine. The prospect of an increased
immigration of Germans anil Swedes
during the coming summer is, there
fore, one of the good signs of tlie times.
Another Clergyman Blackmailed.
An English jury lias just given a ver
dict that American juries would do well
to heed and imitate. The Rev. John
Goodwin, of Morton, was accused by a
Mrs. Standishstreet of having seduced
her. She threatened to denounce him
publicly unless lie paid her a certain
sum of money. He refused, anil she
carried her threat into execution. Ho
demanded a wiitten recantation. Tail
ing to get this, he sued her for slander,
and was awarded damages of £l,t)u().
Pending the suit, the would-be black
mailer and her husband absconded.
The presiding Judge, in summing up,
said : ‘‘ One can hardly conceive any
thing more diabolical than utteronci s
of tiiis kind against the character of a
clergyman ; and when they are so en
tirely unfounded, and are so persistently
adhered to, as in this case; it is right
that the jury should mark their estimate
of such conduct by the amount of dam
ages.”
Arrears of Pensions.
The House lias busied itself lately in
passing a number of bills granting ai
rears of pensions to claimants. In some
instances, bills of this character, passed
during the present session, have gone as
far back as 1802, instead of taking effect
from the date of their passage. The at
tention of the Commissioner of Pensions
being called to this matter, lie has sent
a statement to Congress to the effect
that this kind of legislation will cost the
Government many millions of dollars,
and cannot hut prove extravagant in tho
end. it has been the uniform rule in
the Senate never to recognize this ar
rearage principle, and this body rather
inadvertently took a bill of this charac
ter from the table, one day this week,
and passed it Mr. Edmunds called the
attention of the Senate to this fact, and
insisted that, hereafter, unless it was
the purpose of Senators to bankrupt the
Treasury, that no pension go further
hack than the date of the passage of the
bill granting it.
A Singular Premonition.
Several years ago, a young man of
the name of George Sutton, residing in
Sevier County, Tenn., became deranged,
anil was so violent that his parents con
lined him in a separate building, con
structed with a view to his occupying
it, they not wishing to send him to the
asylum at Nashville. A lew days ago
he became perfectly rational and asked
to be released, stating that he had hut
ten days to live and wished to prepare
for death. His request was complied
with, and he resumed his place in the
family circle clothed in his right mind,
lie read the Bible almost eon-tantly,
and, strange to say, died on the tenth
day; as he had predicted,
Farm anil Garden.
j Jlesults of Thorough Manuring. —An ex-
I chan.c says : One of our nciglibors, with
j land not any too good, barely able to
support a family, tried upon advice the
| exp rimentof applying manure to wheat-,
| spread on (lie surface. It was compost,
also made upon recommendation, and
applied evenly on the land just before
s wing. Only pint of tlie lot Was thus
treated. The wheat was sown, and the
land well harrowed. At the end of the
fall the difference was so great tlint a
distinct line marked the manured pait.
In the spring there was still the differ
ence; a whitish and partly gieen hue
pervaded the manured part. The rest
was merely ham n. Here and these on
the manured part, where tlie land was
wet, the grain lay on thesurface. I his,
however, only in a few small spots. In
a short time tlie manured part was a
dense green, the rest straggling and
backward, and most discouraging to all
who saw it. Toward the last this, how
ever,brought up some in comparison with
the other. The manured part grew less
rank and matured well, yielding over
”00 per cent, more than the other. An
estimate was made of theexpense of the
manure and labor, and there was some
thing nice in fa\or of the application.
But the best, perhaps, is not yet told.
The land had been seeded down enrlv
in tlie spring, and it was recommended
to use plenty of seed, which was but par
tially followed out. Still the manured
part of the lot showed not only a good
catch, but what was thought a thick
stand, growing well, and continuing late
in the fall. The rest of the lot was as
usual, a poor thing, not paying for seed
ing ; there was not the catch and not
the growth as in tlie other
This satised. The year following the
difference was still greater (in the two
crops which it was advised to cut), not
so much before harvesting as in the
crops secured. Then it was found what
a little manure did—that it brought all
the seed, while the rest had lost much
of it that (lid not come, and did not
grow so well. In the spring following,
upon advisement, the land was plowed
and put to coin; the difference being
even greater here, if possible, than in
tlie preceding crops. This was followed
by barley and oats mixed, continuing
tlie same diffeience —a large crop on
tlie manured part, and ordinary on the
otln r. Feed was sown, and nearly the
same variation was observable, llut be
fore this last was reached other land
was treated similarly, only that the
manure was applied to the whole field.
The neighbors took the contagion—all
but the indolent —and there is a gen
eral improvement.
Wiiy is it that this thing is not done
more? So repeatedly is it advised to
top-dress with manure land that is sown,
if poor and intended to seed down. And'
yet people . re not doing it, only the
few. It pays ill the grain, and still
more in the grass crop which is to fol
low, and in alter culture. It is the
manure that helps the grass (or clover)
to the nutriment of the atmosphere,
after first being established in the soil,
getting not only a catch, but a thick
stand. Then, sided by a little plaster,
there can he no failure, especially with
clover.
How to liaise Celery. —A correspondent
of the Journal of Agriculture says : “ There
is no need of a hot-bed lor starting
celery plants. In April, as soon as the
ground can he thoroughly worked, sow
vour bed. Keep the weeds out and use
a little patience, as celery is slow to
make its appearance. To insure stocky
plants the tops should he shorn offence
or twice before transplanting. About
the m ddle of June prepare thoroughly
llies plat of ground you desire the celery
to glow upon ; transplant in rows three
feet apart, setting tlie plants five to six
indies from each otln rin the row. The
ground should he moist at the time of
planting; if not, press the earth by the
side of the plant, gently, with the foot.
After this keep the weeds down and the
ground mellow until August. During
ihis month, for fall use, the bleaching
process should t e commenced. To do
this ii is best to use the hoe in drawing
tlie soil up against the plant, and then,
with the haul, press close around each
plant the soil, the leaves may he held
tii inly in an upright position. Draw up
more soil as a support and finish by
breaking up, with the soil between the
rows on each side, to the top of the
plants. In this way tlie celery will be
ready for the table in September.”
Hints for the Housewife.
Mai hie Cake. —White Part—One cv.p
of butter, three cups of white sugar, five
cups of Hour even full, one-halt' cup of
sweet milk,one-half teuspoonfulof soda,
whites of eight eggs beaten to a froth,
one teaspoonfnl of lemon essence. Dark
pait —One cup of molasses, one cup of
butter, two cups of brown sugar, one
cup of sour milk, four cups of flour, one
teaspoonful of soda, two teaspoonfuls of
cream tartar, yolks of eight eggs and
one whole egg, one half nutmeg grated,
cinnamon ; put in pans—first a layer of
dark cake, then a white, alternately,
finishing with the dark cake.
Graham Bread. —Stir into two quarts
of blood-warm water enough Graham
flour to make about the consistency of
pancakes; add half a pint of yeast and
a tabli spoonful of salt; allow it to stand
all night in a warm place; early next
morning add two cups of common mo
lasses and stir in enough flour to make
about as thick as for cake—not good if
too thick; at ten o’clock put into deep
butts red tins (about four), set in a warm
place to rise; in two hours it will be
light enough. B ike one hour.
Boiled Indian Budding. —lnto one quart
of boiling milk ttir as much Indiun-meal
as will make a hick batter. Add half
a pint of beef-suet, chopped finely ; one
quai t of dried apples, chopped; a tea
cuptul of sugar, and a teaspoonful of
salt. Mix well together, and then pro
ceed in with tlie Horn-pudding, only
boiling six hours instead of two. Diied
cherries or pears will answer as well as
dried apples. Serve with cream-sauee.
A young man, evidently not very well
posted on newspaper affairs, called at
the Wellington (O.) Enterprise otttc.e last
Friday, to have them “ print him a Nevf
York Ledger, No. 0,
The New Gold Discoveries in the Lake
Superior Region.
Frcin the Snv'inaw (Mich.) Enterprise.
We received a call yesterday fiom \V.
A. Northrup, Ivq.,n pionnnent busing*
man and resident of Houghton, Lake
Superior, 1 ut who has been spending
the winter in prospecting in the famous
silver and gold dFtricts of Canada sur
rounding Thunder Bay, on the “ North
Shore” of Lake Superior. Mr. North*
rup reports the prospects in highly fa
vorable terms. The great Silver Islet
mine is as rich as ever, and has produced
a large amount of rich silver ore during
the winter, which will be shipped to the
i Wyandotte Smelting and Refining
Works by the first boats in the spring.
Another mine, the Shuniaha, which has
been producing moderately during the
past season, struck a rich vein a lew
days before Air. Nnrthrup’s departure,
which gives a sudden impetus to the
stock value in Detroit, where it is most
ly hold. A single blast threw out a bar
rel of silver ore as rich in pure metal as
that found at Silver Islet.
'l’llore is great excitement now over
the discoveries of gold made late last
fall, and upon the opening of navigation
the lush to this new Eldorado can not
hut he immense. The gold field lies
from seventy to one hundred miles back
from the head of Thunder Bay, in a
most desolate, rocky region, which noth
ing hut gold would tempt men to stay
in for a single day. The gold occurs in
a pure state and associated with sul
phuret of iron, the latter being predom
inant. But little actual mining has been
done in the gold veins this winter, owing
to the snow, etc. One party of twelve
men have got out ten and a half tons of
ore, which repeated assays prove to con
tain from sf>,ooo to $7,000 worth of gold
per ton.
The latest discovery is a seeming
abundance of tin ore, much richer than
any obtained in the celebrated mines of
Cornwall, England, jielding from forty
to sixty per cent, of metal.
Buried Villages in Switzerland.
From Iho London Standard.
An interesting arcliusologieal discov
ery lias recently been made on tlie
shores of the Lake of Bienne. Tlie
-Swiss Government has been tor a long
time endeavoring to drain a consider
able tract of land between the two lakes
of Morntand Bienne, but in order to do
this effectually it lias been found neces
sary to lower the Lake of Neuchateh
At the beginning of the pr(sent year
the sluices were opened and the waters
of the Lake of Bienne allowed to flow
into that of Neuchatel. Up to Hie
present time the level cf the Bieler Sea
lias fallen upwards of three feet, and
this fall has brought to iiglit a number
of stakes driven firmly into the bod of
tlie lake. This fact becoming known, a
number of archaeologists visited the
spot, and it was decided to remove the
soil round these stakes to see whether
any remains of a Lacustrine village,
which they suspected had been raised
upon them, could he traced. At a dis
tance of between live and six feet from
the present bed of the lake tlie work
men came upon a large number of ob
jects of various kinds, which have been
collected and are at present under the
custody of Dr. Gross, of Locrass.
Among them are pieces of cord made
from hemp, vases, stags’ liorrs, stone
hatchets. The most precious specimen
is, However, a hatchet made of nophrite
(tlie name given to a peculiarly hard
kind of stone from which the Laeus
trines formed their cutting instru
ments). The hatchet is sixteen centi
metres long by seven broad, and is by
far the largest yet discovered in any
part of Switzerland, no other collection
liaving any measuring more than eight
centimetres in length. A quantity of
the hones found at the same time have
been sent to Dr. Uhlraann, ot Muchen
quehere, for examination by hinr, and
he finds that they belong to the follow
ing animals, viz. stag, horse, ox, wild
hoar, pig, goat, beaver, dog. mouse, etc.,
together with a number of human
bones. If the level of the lake con
tinues to sink, it is hoped that further
discoveries will be made, and the scien
tific world here is waiting the result of
the engineering operations with keen
interest.
Floods ut the Knst.
Concord, N. IL, April 11. —The Merri
mack River is rising from four to five
inches an hour at this place, and an ex
tensive freshet is imminent. Reports
fom above states that the effects of the
late rain are very disastrous to property.
Tlie covered railroad bridge, about 100
feet in length, on the Contoocook River
at West Ilanniker, was swept away last
night. The Federal bridge across the
Merrimack at East Concord, 420 feet
long, and the Montreal Railroad bridge
beside, the same length, were swept
away by the freshet, this afternoon.
The other two bridges will probably he
saved, as the water is falling. Heavy
masses of ice are passing out. A bridge
between Hooksett and Surcook is said
to be so badly damaged as to render
railroad travel betweeff the places im
possible.
Chicago Rebate Dili.
The regulations of the Secretary of
the Treasury relative to the Chicago
Rebate bill, lately forwarded to all Uni
ted States Customs Collectors, do not
specify in detail the building materials
upon which drawbacks are permitted.
That will be made the subject of future
regulations. It is expected that Mr.
Boutwell will interpret tlie words “ ex
cept lumber” liberally. They may be
construed to mean only rough lumber,
in which event sash, doors, and other
kinds of manufactured lumber will be
allowed a drawback. As in the case of
Portland, it is expected that pig iron,
manufactured into prepared building
iron and machinery used in building,
will be allowed tlie drawback.
A little hoy in Palmyra, N. Y.,
playing with a ball of worsted thread
attached to his mother’s crochet-work,
accidentally swallowed it, and had to
be held by several able-bodied Irish
women wlii'e every yard of it was un
wound in his blessed little stomach by
reeling tho end projecting from his
mouth. So, at least, a local chronicle
recites, and if the story be true tho
poor child’s suffering must have been
really crewel.
Editors and Proprietors.
NUMBER 32.
Current Items.
A beet-sugar factory Jit Freeport, Til.,
expects to pay out SOO,OOO for beets this
season. The factory is 200 by 300 feet
in size, and two stories hip'll.
Tnf, Indianapolis Commercial says a
poor man who owns a potato patch in
the suburbs of that city cannot lie down
at night without danger of getting up
rich in the morning.
A horse, sleigh, and driver were pre
cipitated from a bridge into a ravine
fifty feet deep, at Kilbourn, Wis., last
week. Th horse was instantly killed,
but the man escaped unharmed.
A Californian, who has raised fitrs
for tho past ten years, says that the
white Smyrna fig can be grown and
cured as well in that State a* in Smyrna
or any of the countries on the Mediter
ranean.
1)k. Dam rosc ii, the newly-a ointed
editor of the New York Mas' Ceitung ,
is unfortunate. A suburban paper
copies his first article with the signa
ture changed (by a slight typographical
error) to Dambosch.
A new style of watch is in the shape
of a beetle, thickly studded with pro
cions stones. One side of the wing
opens with a spring and discloses a
watch dial, and the other side has a
small place for a miniature.
The Whitehall and house’s Point
Company has been organized to con
struct a road from Whitehall to Rouse’s
Point, a distance of 123 miles, to run
along the west shore of Lake Champlain.
The capital stock is $4,000,000.
A Columbus (S. C.) dispatch says that
a riot took place there on Thursday
evening, the provocation being the
tiring of a pistol shot into a Republican
procession in celebration of the Mayor
ality victory. Troops had to suppress
the mob.
A Keokuk, lowa, woman lost her
thimble hist November, and on Palm
Sunday found it in her stocking. She
would not have found it then had she
not mistaken the day, and under the
impression it was Faster, made her an
nual change of hose.
A monstrosity in the shape of a pig
came into the world last week on Mr.
Jenkyn’s farm, near Jenkynville, Wis.
The pig lias eight legs, four ears, one
eye-socket with three eyeballs in it, and
from the forehead protrudes a proboscis
something like the trunk of an ele
phant.
Vice-President Colfax has received a
letter from some demented individual
suggesting a meeting ol all the high
officials of the Government at the Cap
itol to discuss the Alabama claims, and
adjust the trouble by arranging a mar
riage between the said individual and
Queen Victoria.
During a quarrel at a party in Ches
ter, 111., on the night of the 2d, Harry
llildrith tired a ball at Daningbrink,
the landlord of the hotel where the
dance was being bold. The shot struck
a young man named Alexander Dixon,
an unoffending bystander, who was in
stantly killed.
Two brothers named Walker, aged six
and eight years respectively, were
drowned at Westbrook, Me., on Satur
day afternoon. They were playing on the
ice, when the elder ventured too near
the edge and broke in. The other en
deavored to rescue him, broke in, and
both were drowned.
A lady in Maysville, Ky., has in her
hot-house a tree loaded with ripe
manges and covered with bloom.
Among other rare plants she has lemons,
bananas, tania, Japan plum®, palmetto,
pampas grass, etc., all ol which are
growing as luxuriantly as they do in
their native climate.
Tiie destruction of cattle by tlio
drouth in western Texas seems to have
demoralized the farm laborers ot that
section. They refuse to work on the
farms, but are found roaming over the
country in squads, searching lor car
cases to skin. It is laid that the stench
is so great in the vicinity of watering
place** that hut few can stand it, and
tear exists that sickness will follow.
A Regular Mess,
A squad of us went from an inland
village to the Ohio river on a fishing ex
cursion. No sooner had we pitched our
tent and rigged our tackle than we were
honored with a visit from .lake Hen
thorn. Jake is a man of too indep nd
dent a spirit to he tyrannized over by
despotic fashion or arbitrary conven
tionalities. Accordingly he goes bare
foot twelve months in the year; and in
consequence of the expanded valley
which his “ footsy tootsies" make in the
mud (frequently in the vicinity of hen
roosts) he is known as “ Barefooted
.lake.” However, it is not with Jake’s
“ hug-mashers ” that we have do, but
with the “elastic receptivity” of his
maw. One morning Hii 1 Lynch and 1
were running the fishing business, while
Hill Read prepared breakfast.
Jake’s instincts prompted him to
“sliassay” around the fire, and to feast
his nostrils on tho odor of a ten pound
perch which was then baking. In due
time Lynch and I returned to camp for
our breakfast, and found Read coming
in with an armful of wood.
“Well, how about grub?” was our
greeting.
“Oh, all right; I’ll set it out for you in
a minute, boys. But just come this way,
and see the nicest baked perch that you
ever laid eyes on.”
We went and looked : but saw only
a rick ot bones, from which every fibre
of moat bad been picked ! Jake had
been there before us. 1 don t distinctly
remember whether we swore or not. It
don’t seem to incus if we did. Anyhow
wo ate breakfast without fish.
During the afternoon, while wo were
all lounging ou the bank, Jake yawned,
and drawled out :
“ I’d like to have as many fish as I
could eat on*t. I hain’t bad a mess
since Tom Whitten kotched the big
catfish.”
“Jake,” said I, in a tone meant to be
scornfully sarcastic,“l thought you had
a pretty fair mess this morning. You
ate at least fifteen pounds.”
“ Oh yes,” replied Jake, “ I ate that;
f I mean v *>. reel reg lar mess* 1