€. 11. WALKER & J. B. ODER,
VOLUME I.
Almost Incredible.
When Jacob courted Mary .lane.
A law without a fault ho thought her.
And ov'ry evening, fair or rain.
Attired in all hix heft he voucht her.
Sho’t honest, true, and kind, said he,
As she is pretty in her features ;
And if she’ll only marry me.
We’ll be the happiest of creatures.
His parents, hearing how he felt,
And noticing his eager flury,
Said: "Son be cautious. She won’t melt.
Don’t he in such a precious hurry.
Iler family are not renowned
For being quite as meek as Moses,
And some who married in it found
No end of thorns among their roses.”
" I'll try her temper.” Jacob cried,
** In all the ways by spite Invented;”
But o'era dozen tricks he’d tried.
His own good nature sore repented.
The more he teased, to make her mad.
Instead of vixen spunk revealing.
She only seemed as meekly sad
As comes of wounded tender feeling.
No longer seeing room to doubt
That sho was mild beyond expression.
Our Jacob brought the question out.
And she surrendered at discretion.
In proper course the wedding came.
With orange blooms and tears and laughter;
A bridal tour to i-Mwn the same.
And pretty cottjtc home thereafter.
But ah. alas, for Jacob’s peace!
Ere yet the honeymoon was over.
His Mary’s temper broke the loanc
He thought he had on life in clover.
From being gentle as of old.
And shedding tears when he’d offend her.
She turned into a perfect scold.
As ugly as the Witch of Kndor!
Asteundod at the foarful chango.
And wond’ring how he had been blinded.
The hapless man could not arrange
The question’s answer as he minded;
Till, at her father’s house, one day.
He put the query, quite emphatic:
" How did you take mo in that way!”
Said she: ** I’ll show you in the attic.”
And then they climbed the garret stairs.
Till, standing under beams unnumbered,
The lady showed, with mocking air,
A central post, with braces cumbered ;
” You see it's nearly worn in twain.
Or seems to be. with weight it's carried;
But with my teeth 1 gnawed the grain,
A fortnight, iust before we married !
" Whenever you would tease me most.
And then had gone, and left ine beaming,
I used to come and gnaw that post.
To keep myself from raging screaming!
I know you'd nover know your mind,
If temper I should show forbade you.”
Said Jacob, ** That,my dear, was kind;
But don’t I wish some other had you!”
MURDOCH’S RATH.*
A Fairy Talc.
Pat was as nice a boy as old Ireland
holds; and clever at his trade he’d have
been, if only he’d learned one. But
he’d never had any parents to speak
of, and they taught him nothing, so
when he was come to years of discretion
he earned his living by running errands
for his neighbors. On market days he
used to tramp to the town with commis
sions from country folks who couldn’t
spare time to go; and Pat could always
be trusted to make the best of a bar
gain, and bring back all the change, for
he was the soul of honesty and kind
ness.
It’s no wonder then that he was be
loved by everyone, and got as much
w.rk as he could do, and if the pay
had but fitted the work, he’d have been
comfortable too. But as it was, what
he got wouldn’t have kept him in shoe
leather, but for his making both ends
meet by wearing his shoes in his pock -
et, except when ho was in town, and
obliged to look genteel for the credit of
the place lie came from.
Now Pat was as sober a boy as you'll
meet with anywhere in the world, front
ltallyhillin to Kenmare ; but the best
of us may be overtaken, and Pat be
thought him afterward of a cup of tea
that some one had given him, that had
a taste through it that was neither su
gar nor cream. This was on a market
day that I am going to speak of, and
when he started home in the evening,
with his parcels all correct, as usual, he
never bethought him to take off his
brogues, but tramped on as if shoe
leather were just made to be knocked
to bits on the king's highway.
Weil, everybody knows there are two
ways home from the town; and that’s
not meaning the right way nor the
wrong way, which my grandmother
(rest her soul 1) said there was to every
plftce but one that it’s not genteel to
name. There could only be a wrong
way thore, she said. The two ways home
from the town were the highway, and
the way by Murdoch’s Rath.
Now Murdoch's Rath was a pleasant
enough spot in the daytime, but not
many persons cared to go by it when
the sun was down. And in all the
years Pat had been going backward or
forward to the town, he had never come
home except by the high road. But
on this particular evening, when he
came to the place where the two roads
part, he got, as one may say, into a
sort of confusion. And this was how it
was. lie knew, as well as anyone, that
he was a bit overtaken, and that it be
hoved him to take uncommon care,
both of himself and what he carried ;
so says he to himself, ‘.‘Halt!” says he
(for his own uncle had been a soldier,
and Pat knew the word of command).
‘•The left turn is the right one,” said he;
“and what I’m mailing is, that the right
turn is to the left.” And ho was going
down the high road as straight as he
could go (which was pretty steadily,
considering the ruts) when suddenly
he bethought himself, “and what am 1
doing?” says he; “Mother Martin’s
strong tea is to be the ruin of me, that’s
clear. This was my left hand going to
town, and how in the name of good
luck could it be my left going back, con
sidering that I’ve turned round? It’s
well that I looked into it in time,”
said he. And he went as fast down
the other road as he lnul started down
that.
Well, the road was only a lane, and a
rough and narrow one, and Pat got
along but badly. But he was a good
humored soul, and when he tumbled
first against one hedge and then against
the other, all that he said was, “There
isn’t far to fall." And when he caught
his shoe on a stone, and fell with his
face in the gripe of the ditch, he said :
“1 assure your honor it’s my head to
blame, though it looks to be my feet,”
for Pat knew his own meaning at the
worst of times, and had as much reason
in him as any other man in Ireland.
, , °, w ’ as good luck would have it, there
had been some rain lately, and Pat’s
face was in the water, and this was how
he came out of it as sober as if Mother
Martin s tea had never passed his lips.
And after that he got on bravely, though
fie could not bethink himself which part
of the road he was in ; and all of a sud
den the moon shone out as bright as
day. and Pat found himself in Murdoch’s
Rath. But that was the smallest part
of the wonder; for the Rath was full of
fairies.
When Pat got in they were dancing
round and round till Pat's feet tingled
to look at them, for he was a good dan
cer himself. And as he sat down on (he
side of the Rath, and snapped his fin
gers to mark (he time, the dancing stop
ped,and a lit tie- man in a black hat and a
green coat, with white stockings and
red shoes on his feet, comes up to Tat.
“Won’t your honor take a turn with
us?” says he, bowing till he nearly
touched the ground. And, indeed, ho
had not far to go, for he, was barely two
feet high.
“Don’t say it twice, sir,” says Pat.
“It's meself will be proud to have
a twirl wid ye;” and before you
could look round, there was Pat in the
circle dancing away for dear life.
At first his feet felt like feathers for
lightness, and it seemed as if he could
have gone on for ever. At last, howev
er, he grew tired, and would have liked
to stop, but the fairies would not, and so
lie danced on and on. Tat tried to
think of something good to say, that he
might free himself from the spell, but
all that he could think of was:
“A dozen hanks of gray yarn for Mis
tress Murphy.
“Three gross of bright buttons for the
tailor.
“Half an ounce of throat-drops for
Father Andrew, and an ounce of black
pepper for his housekeeper.”
For these were what he had gone to
town to fetch, and he ran over them in
his mind as he came along, to Vie sure
they were all right; and he could think
of nothing else. And it seemed to Pat
that the moon watt on the one side of
the Rath when they began to dance,
and on the other when they Jleft oil;
but he could not be sure after all that
going round. One thing was plain
enough. He had danced every bit of
leather off the soles of his feet, and they
were blistered so that he could hardly
stand ; but all the little folk did was to
stand and hold their sides and laugh at
him.
At last the one who had spoken to
him before stepped up and said:
“Don’t break your heart about it,
Pal,” says he; “I’ll lend you my shoes,
till the morning, for you seem to be a
good nature d sort of a boy.”
Well, Pat looked at the fairy's shoes
that were the size of a baby’s, and he
looked at his own feet; but not wish
ing to be uncivil, he says :
“Fts kindly obliged that I am to you,
sir,” says he. “And if your honor’d be
good enough to put them on for me,
maybe you wouldn’t spoil the shape.”
For he thought to himself “Small blame
to me if the little gentleman can’t get
them to fit.
With which he sat down on the side
of the Rath, and the fairy fitted on the
shoes fin- him. But no sooner did they
touch Pat's feet, than they became alto
gether a convenient size, and fitted him
like wax. And rnoie than this, when
he stood up, he didn’t feel his blisters
at all, at all.
“ Bring ’em back to the Rath at sun
rise, Pat, my boy,” says the little man.
And as Pat was climbing over the
ditch, “ book round, Pat,” says he.
And when Pat looked round, there were
jewels and pearls lying at the roots of
the lurze-bushes on the ditch, as thick
as peas.
“ Will you help yourself, or take what’s
given ye, Pat," says the fairy man.
•'-Sure, I’ve learned manners,” says
Pat. “ Would you have me help myself
before company ? I'll t ike wliat your
honor pleases to give me, and be thank
ful.”
The fairy man packed a lot of yellow
furze-blossoms from the bushes, and
filled Pal's pockets.
“ Keep ’em for love, Pat, dear,” says
he.
“ (loud evening to your honor,” says
he.
“And where are you going, Pat, my
boy?” says the fairy man.
“I’m going home,” says Pat. And if
the fairy man didn't know where that
was, small blame to him.
“.lust let mo brush them shoes for
ye, Pat,” says the fairy man. And as
Pat lifted up each foot he breathed on
it, and dusted it with the tail of his
green coat. “ Home I” says he, and
when he let go, l’at was at his own door
step before he could look round, and
his parcel safe and sound with him.
Next morning he was up with the
sun, and carried the fairy man’s shoes
back to the Rath. As lie came up, the
little man looked over the ditch.
“Good morning to your honor,” says
Put; “here’s your shoes.”
“ You’re an honest boy, Pat,” says the
little gentleman. “ It’s inconvenienced
1 am without them, for 1 have but the
one pair. Have you looked at them
llowers this morning, Pat, dear,” he
says.
“ No, I’ve not, sir,” says Pat; “ I'd be
loth to deceive you. I came oil'as soon
as 1 was up."
“ Be sure to look when you get buck,
Pat,” says the fairy man, “and good
luck to you.”
With which he disappeared, and Pat
went home. He looked for the furze
blossoms, as the fairy man had told him,
; and bad luck to him if they weren’t all
pure gold pieces.
Well, now Pat was so rich, he went
1 to the Bhoemaker to order another pair
of brogues, and being a kindly, gossip
-1 ing boy, the shoemaker soon learned
• the whole story of the fairy man and
' the Rath. And this so stirred up the
1 shoemaker’s greed, that he resolved to
' go the very next night himself, to see
if he could not dance with the fairies,
' and have like luck.
lie found his way to the Rath all cor
| reel, and sure enough the fairies were
dancing, and asked him to join. He
danced the soles off his feet, tut Pat had
done, and the fairy man lent him his
shoes, and sent him home in a twinkling.
As he was going over the ditch, he
, looked round, and saw the roots
' of the furze-bushes glowing with
, precious stones as if they had been
glow-worms.
, “ Will you help yourself, or take
i what’s given ye?” said the fairy man.
“ I’ll help myself,” said the cobbler,
s lor he thought—“ If I can’t get more
An Independent Taper—Devoted to Literature. Minins, (’ommercial. Agricultural, General and Local News.
BURG, ALLEGANY COUNTY, MARYLAND, SATURDAY, JUNE 8,
FROS r
than Pat brought home, my fingers are
stiffer than I thought.”
-So he drove his hand into the bushes,
and if he didn’t get plenty, it wasn’t for
the want of grasping.
When he got up in the morning, he
went straight to the jewe s. But noth
ing was to be seen but broken bits of
mud.
“ I ought not to have looked till I'd
been to the Rath,” said he. “It’s best
to do all in due order.”
But he had made up his mind not to
return the fairy man’s shoes.
“Who knows wliat power lies in
them?’’ said he.
So he made a small pair of re i leather
shoes, as like them as could be, and ho
blacked the others upon his feet, so that
the fairies might not know them, and
at sunrise he went to the Rath.
The fairy man was looking over the
ditch, as before.
“Good morning to you,” said he.
“ The top of the morning to you, sir,”
said the cobbler ; “here's your shoes.”
And he handed him the pair that he
had made, with a face as grave as a
judge.
The fairy man looked at them, but he
said nothing, though he did not put
them on.
“ Have you looked at the things you
got last night?” says he.
“ I’ll not deceive you, sir,” says the
cobbler. “ I came oft' as soon as I was
up. I’ve not cast an eye upon them.”
“ Be sure to look when you get back,”
says the fairy man. And just as the
cobbler was getting over the ditch to
go home, he says :
“ If my eyes don’t deceive me,” say
lie, “ there’s the least taste in life of dirt
on vour left shoe, bet me dust it with
the tail of my coat.”
“ That means home in a twinkling,”
thought the cobbler, and he held up his
foot.
The fairy man dusted it, and muttered
something that the cobbler did not
hear. Then, “ -Sure,” says he, “ it’s
them dirty pastures that you’ve come
through. But the other shoe’s as bad.”
So the cobbler held up his right foot,
and the fairy man rubbed that with the
tail of his green coat. When it was
done, the cobbler’s feet seemed to tingle,
and then to itch, and then to smart, and
then to burn. And at last he began to
dance, and he danced all round the Rath
(the fairy man laughing and holding
his sides), and then round and round
again. And he danced till he cried out
with weariness, and tried to shake the
shoes oil'. But they stuck fast, and the
fairies drove him over the ditch, and
through the prickly furze-bushes, and
lie danced away.
Where he danced to, I cannot tell.
Whether he ever got rid of the fairy
shoes, Ido not know. The jewels were
never more than bits of mud, and they
were swept out when his cabin was
cleaned, which was not very soon, you
may be sure.
All this is long ago; but there are
those who will say that the covetous
cobbler dances still, between sunset and
sunrise, round Murdoch’s Rath.
* Unth—A kind of moat; "a small circular
meadow surrounded by a mound overgrown with
furze hushes.” ltaths are favorito spots with
Irish fairies.
A Mysterious I’rairic Grave.
A boy named Lowe, when driving cat
tle on the prairie, on yesterday morn
ing, west of Humboldt park, whilst gal
loping rapidly about directing his drove,
without paying particular attention to
his footing, suddenly found himself
pitched forward, almost over his horse’s
head, by the animal sinking into a loose
ly-covered hole. The lad being curious
to know what this hole in the solitary
prairie could mean, dismounted and ex
amined it, and after a brief inspection,
to his horror came across the decayed
boards of a coffin, about three feet be
low the surface, containing therottening
corpse of a man, or more properly
speaking, a skeleton, there being scarce
ly a piece of flesh adhering to the bones.
1 he boy gave information to the police,
and Officer John 11. Kennedy was dis
patched, by -Sergt. Douglas, to the lone
ly grave, to inquire into the matter.
He found that the case containing the
bones had rotted away, having the ap
pearance of being interred for some
years, probably five or six, and that the
only article that had not resolved into
mere dust and shreds was a pair of
shoes. There are no roads within a con
siderable distance f the place, and no
one living within sight knows anything
whatever on the subject. The remains
await the action of the coroner, should
he decide to hold an inquest. —Chicago
Times, May 17 th.
Great Fire at Yedtlo, Japan.
Yokohama, April 211.—A frightful con
flagration occurred at Yeddo during a
severe gale, which destroyed a space of
two by three miles. Originating from
one of the Prince’s late palaces in which
the troops were, the fire leaped a whole
block, burning places a mile from the
beginning. An immense amount of
property was destroyed. Where the
wounded and lame were unable to es
cape, the officials slashed right and left
with their swords, and thus, by an
instant death, saved many from a more
awful one by fire. Thirty thousand
[ people are houseless, but the Govern
ment has opened the rice storehouses
and have fed all who have applied. This
j fire has led the Government to permit
foreigners to lease land in Yeddo, by
the owners making monthly reports,
| and will cause foreign money to be in
vested there to improve the city. A new
’ plan of the burnt district will be made
’ out to be built upon, and the widest
1 streets and substantial buildings will
’ only be allowed.
Don’t Want Any of It.
\ The St. Louis Jtepuhlican’s lady cor-
I respondent writes: “ 1 know it’s naßty
t to be ruled by men, to have no voice in
the affairs of state, fo be inferior to the
j inferiority of mankind. But just be
' fore the reign of woman, just before
* petticoat administration commences,
' ‘just before the battle, mother,’ I want
1 to die of croup, or a ineasle, or some
thing easy, and be put in my little
5 earthy bed, where, whatever occurs, I
shall escape the awful condition of tub
, lunary things under the regime do
3 femme.”
Current Items.
The newest style of eut-glasF goblets
are almost a perfect oval.
There are 265 ladies in the Treasury
Department and lO.'Sintlie Department
of the Interior.
A brother of Brigham Young works
on a farm in i’ierson township, Vigo
county, Ind. Ho hasn’t even one
wife.
Mr. Frederick .Tones, of Versailles,
Missouri, expects to go down to pos
terity on the hack of his four year-old
mule, which makes a practice of killing
and eating sheep.
,! osei’li Mai 1.0 was knocked down by
the pole ot an engine at the lire on
Maris street, New Orleans, lately, and
has since died of the injuries received.
Gov. Hoffman has vetoed the second
New York city charter.
The Arkansas Supreme Court has de
cided that ad orders of courts issued in
regard to administrations by the Con
federate courts are void.
The city of Rock Island and the
Davenport and Rock Island Kerry
Company are having a war over the
place of landing the ferry in Rock
Island.
A committee of New York merchants
have presented a petition to the Gov
erament for carrying the Cuban mails
to the United States, and establishing
a regular weekly lino. The oiler is
likely to be accepted.
The crew of the American steamer
Monticello, which was wrecked oil'the
coast of Newfoundland, were taken otT
by the French brig houise, and with
her passengers, thirty in number, landed
at St. Pierre, and have since reached
Sidney.
Judge Thread, of New Orleans, ren
dered a decision, lately, restoring the
confiscated property of the late .1 hn
Slidell to the. heirs of the deceased.
Meningitis is prevailing to an alarm
ing extent in Dallas county, Alabama,
and the mortality is frightful.
The occupation of panel-thieving in
New York begins to be attended with
some peril. r.mma Susan Burns, a
comely looking proprietress of an estab
lishment of that character, has just
been sent up for two years and a half.
Thomas Shari - , a young resident of
Princeton, Ind., was badly and perhaps
fatally burned by entering an oil cellar
with a lighted lamp ; the lamp setting
fire to the gas emitted by the oil stored
therein.
•I no. Davis set a spring gun to catch
Chinese thieves who robbed his henery
on tile San Bruno road, near San Fran
cisco. lie entered the place, forgetting
it was there, and received the charge
in his head and was fatally injured.
The gold placer diggings at Brigham
canon yield as high as forty cents to the
pan. The common average is if It) to
sls per day to the hand.
Families in Kdinburgh desiring pets
for the children had a rare opportunity
afforded them recently, at the sale of
Wombwell’s menagerie, when a supe
rior article of wolf went for $5.50.
George Wilder, of llingham, Mass.,
shot himself on Sunday. He served
through the war, and probably com
mitted suicide because he was sick and
had to depend on his mother for sup
port.
Tbe entire amount of capital invested
in menagerie property in the United
•States, including the animals and the
apparatus and material requisite for
their transportation and exhibition, is
estimated at over two millions of
dollars.
A stingy New Yorker only allows his
wile to spend $16,0(10 a year for dress.
Ol course, she. is obliged to wear a dress
ing gown half the time, in order to
save money to buy a decent evening
dress.
Information received as to the result
of the investigation of the murder of
the two men at a stage station in Ari
zona. and the stealing of the horses,
which was charged on the Tonto-
Apaches, has developed the fact that
within ten days of the murder the
stolen horses were discovered in pos
session ol two Mexicans, two hundred
miles from the scene of the murder, and
in an opposite direction from the Tonto
reservation. Both the Mexicans were
promptly executed
The decay ol Massachusetts moun
tain towns is illustrated by some recent
sales of real estate in the once nourish
ing village of Sandisfield. A farm of
thirty-five acres,with a good house and
barns, and an abundant supply of water,
in close proximity to the churches and
stores (or what remain of them),
brought $250; and a house in good re
pair, with the adjacent garden plot,
situated in the center of the village,
was sold for SIOO.
A ♦engineer on the Chicago, Alton
and St. Louis railroad has been testing
a “ spark catcher,” which catches the
sparks from the smoke-stack of the
locomotive, and deposits them in a
box. The box is emptied at the end of
the route. It seems to give satisfaction.
The ship St. l’aul, from New York,
struck on the Brandy ledges, in Nova
Scotia, on Saturday morning, in a fog,
and was injured so badly that she had
to be beached at Little Harbor. The
ship is a total loss. The cargo may
possibly be saved.
Exasperating.
After long years of persistent perse
cution, the editor of the Indianapolis
Evening Journal thus gives vent to his
pent-np-feelings : “ Nothing so infuri
ates an editor—we speak from experi
ence—as to have a great, loose-jointed
galootstride noiselessly into lub sanctum,
pick up a newspaper, rustle it for a mo
ment, and then slam it down, creating
an atmospheric concussion which scat
ters two hundred and seventy of his
small clippings—the gleanings from
seven hundred anil forty exchanges—
into the spittoon and waste-basket.
The editor who can keep his brows from
corrugating, and repress the convulsive
contraction of his biceps, at such a time,
is a spiritless milksop, whom it were
base llattery to call a sheep."
Farm ami Harden.
(Cultivating Young Trees. —The most
perfect tree can be raised from planting
the seed on level land, with soil of equal
fertility all around it, because trees, like
most other things, lean to the source
from whence they derive their nourish
ment. In exposed situations, trees lean
from the prevailing winds of the coun
try, and should have more nourish
ment applied to the roots next to the
prevailing winds to counteract their in
fluence.
The reason why atree bends to a pile
of manure on one side of it is that it
makes wood faster on that side, and the
heart of the tree is soon nearer one side
than the other. It is a notorious fact
that all timber springs from the heart,
as all hewers know, and when one side
gets thicker and stronger than the
other, it bends the tree toward the
thick side. Trees attain size faster
without Dimming than with. And I
have never been able to discover any
advantage in pruning fruit trees, ex
cept sometimes when forks occur
low down, and if allowed to grow
would split apart and ruin the tree.
Persons wishing to set out orehards
had better set out trees at one year
old than wait for them to get slim in
the nursery; they are checked less
by removal, and will become profitable
sooner.
It has been thought that fruit trees
ought to be six or eight feet high with
out a limb; but experience has satis
fied me that it is belter to let young
trees branch as low as they will. A
person can gather twice as much fruit
standing on the ground as he can
creeping about on a ladder twenty feet
long. A short body is able to sustain
more fruit than a long one of the same
size. Besides, low limbs prevent the
formation of a sod under the tree. All
young trees should be manured and
cultivated as carefully as vegetables.
The I'roccss of Grafting and Hudding. —
Numerous correspondents have re
quested information on this subject,
and we have thought a simple descrip
tion of the processes might aid begin
ners in learning the art. Grafting is
performed by sawing oil'the stock to be
grafted Splitting it down about an
inch, and holding it open with a
wedge on one side, the scion containing
two buds is sharpened into a thin
wedge, and inserted so that the cam
bium or inner bark of the graft
will just meet and lie along that
of the stock. Sometimes, to insure this
meeting at some points the graft is
slightly turned from the true line.
When finished, cover all with grafting
wax. This should be done in the
spring, before the sap starts freely.
Budding is perfoimed by splitting the
bark of the stock, about an inch in
length, making a cross cut at the top
to enable you to carefully raise the
bark, to place the bud; cut out the bud
to be inserted, carefully taking out all
the wood without injuring the root of
the bud. Cut off the top square, leav
ing the bottom tapering ; insert this so
the square end of the bud will just fit
the square cut in the stock ; press the
bark up to the bud, and tie carefully
with bast, or soft yarn, leaving the bud
free. This must be performed about
the time the fruit tree to be budded
has formed its terminal bud.— Westtrn
Rural.
Cultivating. —An orchard needs to be
kept plowed, and thoroughly culti
vated, in order to produce the best re
sults, and during the first few years
after planting some crop may be
raised between the rows; potatoes or
carrots are good crops for a young or
chard.
Mulching. —Too much cannot be said
about properly mulching young trees,
especially the first season after they are
set; it saves a crest deal of work in de
stroying weeds, and during a dry season
will often prevent trees dying.
Nursery Trees. —Those budded or
grafted last summer will be disposed to
throw out suckeis from the stock.
These should he rubbed off, and not he
allowed to get large enough to require
cutting.
Seeds. —Riant all seeds as soon as pos
sible, and keep the bedß free from weeds.
Young seedlings should be shaded as
roon as up, taking care to use some
kind of shelter that will allow a free
circulation of air around tho pilants ;
a screen of lal h is much used by nur
serymen.
Insects. —War must still be kept up
against all injurious insects, plans for
destroying which have been given here
tofore.
Cutworms.- —A table-spoonful of salt
peter dissolved in a pail of water, is
said to be a death doße to cutworms.
Sprinkle around the plant every even
ing a little of the wash, until it is strong
and out of danger.
To Destroy Jlugs. —-The best method of
destroying bugs is to wash the wood
work infected by these vermin with a
solution of carbolic acid in water, the
strength of five parts of acid to one
hundred of water. The insects are at
once killed by the solution, which also
acts as a disinfectant.
Mulching Fruit Trees. —“ Mulching” is
scattering straw, leaves, or any rubbish
or scrapings over the surface of the
ground, and so thickly that the soil
under the mulching is always moist,
and never dries or cakes. If nearly all
kinds of fruit trees were mulched just
after a wet spell, when the ground is
saturated with water, the ground would
probably remain in good condition all
through a long drought.
Warm Water for Plants. —A Vermont
family had last winter about one hun
dred plants in the house, and usually
gave them warm water, and very fre
quently water that was much too warm
for the hand. .Some at or near the
boiling point was poured into the
saucers of the pots just on the sides.
Friends who dropped in bore testimony
that they never saw so fine geraniums,
heliotropes, fuschias, verbenas, passion
(lowers and oleanders. These particu
larly showed very marked improve
ment ; others nourished finely under
the treatment.
Golden, Colorado, is so called because
57.000 ounces of silver have been mined
there since tho Ist of January.
1872.
Reminiscences' of llamas.
DutnnH’ lather—the Marquis do I’ail
leterie—w:is a mulatto and of powerful
frame. One evening he aecompanietl u
young woman to the theater, when a
dandy came in the box to visit. The
fop at last offered to conduct the lady
home.
“Thank you, hut I have an escort
here,” pointing to tlie General.
“Hum!” muttered the fellow, con
temptuously, “ I mistook monsieur for
your servant.”
Tho General jump< d up and thiew
the young man over the tailing and on
the stage.
It was from his father that Dumas in
limited his prodigious muscularity.
Dumas was very proud of his muscu
lar strength, line one occasion, in a
certain public meeting, Dumas had to
force his way through the crowd at a
late hour.
“ ll’h an infernal shame to make peo
ple wait this way,” said one strapping
big fellow.
“It it? Well, you shall not wait for
nothing,” said Dumas as he slapped
the fellow's face.
His muscular strength was not. the
only thing that Dumas was vain of.
I )neevening Dumas was sitting in the the
ater with George Sand, tho occasion be
ing the first performance of ■< dread
fully bad play; and they talked all
through it. A countryman sitting in
front of them turned around and or
dered them to keep still.
“Now!” said the famous novelist,
“you have an opportunity of hearing
Mme. George Sand and M. Alexandre
Dumas converse, ami yet you com
plain I ”
One day a friend of the younger Du
mas said to him that his father had
written several inferior works but not
one that was tedious.
“All selfishness," said the younger
Dumas; “ho didn’t want to hore him
self.”
Til* Princess Itonupurtc, Dressmaker.
Princess Pierre Napoleon Honaparte’s
dressmaking establishment at 67 Bonel
street, London, is thus described: A
sober page in buttons conducts the vis
itor to a room “arranged with a taste
and elegance which England mode
makers—adepta in the art of catch
penny decoration—would do well to
imitate. Quiet tones in the coloring of
carpet and curtains, not too many mir
rors nor a redundancy of gilding, and
throe or four valuable prints and paint
ings, as substitutes for the usual garish
pink and yellow." Here presides the
Prinoess—a tall, very handsome woman
—over a bevy of young workwomen she
had obtained for her purpose from Paris,
and whose unehignoned heads and plain
neatness of dress are admirably in keep
ing with tho practical business objects
of the place. Having adopted dress
making as a vocation, the Princess en
ters earnestly into its mercantile spirit,
and desires the custom of the poor as
Mjful as the rich. There should be estab
lished in England, she thinks, a “good
middle-class ‘school’ of dressmaking"—
the same as that which, in Paris, makes
a grisette so neat ami dainty ; and adds,
“ I buy dresses—a t housand francs each
is cheap—of Worth, and by using them
as models for my own workwomen, can
give my customers exact o .unterparts
of his master-pieces at less than half
his prices. Mine is ‘demo-ratio’ dress
making, you perceive, and 1 am not
afraid of the word.” The ladies may be
able to tell just how sound this speech
is in art, and how much of good sug
gestions it may have for New York as
for London ; but how thoroughly French
is the whole tableau of Princess turned
mix/istel With full-length portraits of
her husband’s great ancestor, Napoleon
L, among the few pictures decorating
the walls of her modest wuroroom, this
formerly haughty lady of Auteuil not
only adopts dressmaking with fervor,
but expounds its art with a grace al
most persuading the hearer lojinagine
that there may be really smoothing
princely in it.
Caution to Women Traveling Alone.
The Conyreyahomxlisl gives timely warn
ing to women, and especially to girls,
about the acquaintances whom they
make in the cars. .Speaking of the
pimps and scoundrels, who seem to
grow even more numerous and more
subtile as our civilization grows older,
it says : On the watch for women as
bad as themselves, or for the young and
unsophisticated, of whom a villain
might make a victim, it is next to im
possible for a young woman to enter the
car unattended without their knowl
edge. She is fortunate if they make no
more or less cautious approaches to find
out who she is, whore she is going, and
whether she will tolerate the familiarity
of a stranger. So numerous are these
men that it is with some peril that a
young woman undertakes a long journey
alone. The peril of those who may be
unfortified by principle, or unacquainted
with the ways of the world, or suscepti
ble to flatteries from a smooth tongue,
is great. We know of no help for this
evil but in the watchfulness of parents,
in the uprising of tho virtuous against
the vile, and the discretion of those who
are subject to these annoyances and in
sults. It is safe for a young woman to
repel the familiar advances of smiling
and officious Btrungers at any time, if
on the road any help is required, there
are public officials to whom it is always
both proper and safe to make applica
tion.
Absinthe.
The l'all Mall Gazette gives this ac
count of the way in which the French
came to use enormous quantities of
absinthe : Except to medical men ab
sinthe was unknown prior to the Alge
rian expedition, in tho reign of Louis
Philippe; but when tho soldiers were
at Constantine and Oran, and suffering
greatly from fever, the doctors recom
mended that absinthe should be mixed
with their wine, as it was much cheaper
than quinine. During the entire cam
paign the soldiers drank this mixture,
and afterward retained the custom,
which first appeared in France at Mar
seilles, whence it rapidly spread through
the country, and settled permanently
in Paris.
Since April 7, 4,493 immigrants have
arrived at Detroit from foreign countries.
Editors and Proprietors.
NUMBER 37.
Varieties.
The body of a man was found in the
Ohio river Thursday. It is supposed,
from papers on his person, to be F.
Petevins, of Richmond, Ind.
Wiiat a man wants—all he can get.
What a woman wants—all she can't get.
A vf.kv helpless Pittsburg tailor ad
vertises for “ one or two steady girls to
help on pantaloons.”
Answer to correspondent “ A Mo
ther. The present style of high, sharp
boot-heels are dangerous. Try the palm
of your hand or a shingle.”
That compositor has liis own way of
punctuating and spelling, and this is the
way he treated a familiar p:issage of
Scripture : “ The wicked flea, when no
man pursueth but the righteous, is hold
as a lion.”
A story is told of a gentleman who
spends his evenings at the club-room.
Coming home late one evening, his wife
Raid: “I suppose you've been to the
club, as usual. I wish it would sink."
“ Well, my dear,” was the cool answer,
“ wo thought it would, and so I stopped
to see about it.”
The Norwich \<lvertiser says: “A
young lady, very pretty, walked around
the new road (7 miles) in one hour anil
forty-five minutes. We remember es
corting one around that road by moon
light. Time—four hours and forty
minutes. But then she Raid she wasn't
in a hurry. The old folks had gone to
camp meeting, and she had a night
key.”
The little girl who sang “1 want to
be an angel,” was told by her papa that
her desire would be gratified if Blie
could pass the competitive examination.
A I'Rouo father in England lately ex
plained to school teachers as follows:
“ What accounts for John being siclr a
bad scholar is that lie's my son by my
wife’s first husband.”
A freshman exhibiting a very scurril
ous letter which he had received, to a
friend. Friend remarks, “This is
anonymous.” “ Yes,” says Freshy,
“it’s the most anonymous thing I ever
saw.”
A famocs English Judge had n habit
of begging pardon on every occasion.
At the close of the assize, as ho was
about to leave the bench, the officer of
the court reminded him that he had
not passed sentence of death on one of
the criminals, as he had intended.
“ Dear mo," said his lordship; “ 1 really
beg his pardon. Bring him in.”
“ Prisoner,” said 'Squire Jones, in
awarding judgment, “it is a maxim of
the law that it is better to err on tho
side of mercy. The court has made up
her mind which side she will < rr on,
and nothing remains but to err on that
side.”
An East Saginaw pastor declines an
additions of !?2(X) to his salary on the
ground that it is more than he wants
to do to collect the salary that he al
ready has.
A gentleman in Chicago, who was
arrested for cruelty to a miserable-look
ing horse, was asked if he over fed him.
“ Ever fed him ? that’s a good ’un,” was
the reply. “ lie’s got a bushel and a
half of oats at home now, only he ain't
got time to eat ’em.”
Barbarous.
King Amadeus will have some diffi
culty in keeping any hold upon tho
affection of the Spanish people if his
admirers adopt such summary methods
of enforcing loyalty as the one described
in the following story : A Madrid cor
respondent of the Irulependance licltje
says that a most inhuman act has just
been committed at Ferrol on board of
the Ferrolana, a Spanish war frigate, an
act which merits universal condemna
tion. It is a custom in the Spanish
navy to read every Sunday, at the con
clusion of the religious service and be
fore the, assembled crews of war vessels
on deck, the penal maritime code. On
the Sunday in question this formality
had just been completed according to
the usual custom when Senor Louis
Cadarro, the second in command (the
commander being absent), cried out
aloud : “God save the King!” which ex
clamation was met by a deadly silence.
Senor Cadarro repeated theory a second
and a third time, but on each occasion
it met the same cold reception. Burning
with rage at this result, he ordered tho
whole crew to be decimated, which was
carried outto the letter. The counting
commenced, and every unfortunate
upon whom fell the fatal number 10
was taken out of the ranks and received
100 lashes. This barbarous sentence
was executed in the presence of and to
the manifest disgust of the officers,
who, as well as the poor sailors, had re
fused to join in the cry of “God save
the King 1"
The Mont Cenis Tunnel.
The experiments of Signor Barelli on
the Alpine tunnel result in showing a
rate of temperature equivalent to one
degree in every ninety one feet of do
-1 scent, a considerable variation from the
results usually obtained. In the report
1 on the measurement of the tempera
ture it is stated that when the blast
which opened communication between
the Italian and French works was fired,
i the smoke was drifted out at once by a
current which set toward the Italian
end, and which was favored in its
movement by a difference of level of
435 feet in favor of the Italian end.
The shaft, therefore, acts somewhat
like a chimney, and it is to be hoped
this will favor its proper ventilation, a
result most devoutly to be prayed for
by those who have ever made the tran
sit of the Alps by tho railway which
passes over the mountains.
A wagon containing two men and
two boys was demolished by a passenger
train on .Stoney Brook railroad, near
Lowell, Mass., Tuesday. Both men,
Charles Hinson and LewisC. Hobbs, were
seriously injured. The boys escaped.
Young Kemfke, the supposed mur
derer of Mumford, near Kenosha, Mis.,
on Sunday night, was traced to Racine
on Monday night, and arrested in
liis bed. The watch of the murdered
, man and s6l was found in his possession.