New York dispatch. [volume], June 19, 1887, Page 6, Image 6

About New York dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1863-1899

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6
THE PULPIT AND THE PRESS.
BY I. EDGAR JONES.
Together they lay in a homely crib,
Two tlax-haired babes with eyes of blue;
In childish play and in daily toil
Together upon one farm they grew;
Then one choso preaching the word of grace,
And one filled up an editor’s place.
Tho parson preached and expounded well
The Gospel truths and the power of prayer,
His sermons—sweeter than Hermon’s dew—
His labors blessed with a tender care;
But the church was stylish, and well fenced in
ITrom the common saints and the elves of sin.
Tho editor toiled with weary brain,
To steer the world in its destined way;
His words were oft of an earthly strain,
But he spread them broadcast, day by day,
Ou a plain, unvarnished bus ness plan,
And no one called him a pious man.
They died, apart, in the self-same hour,
And winged their way to the golden gate,
Where the parson entered, filled with joy,
. To claim his sacred and high estate;
The angels met him with we comes sweet.
But led him off to a lowiy seat.
The editor meekly entered in
And looked around for the humblest place.
But the angels, clustering round about,
While anthems echoed and songs oi grace,
Brought crowns of laurel and wands cf palm,
And chanted o’er him a triumph psalm;
9*Blessed is he who overcomes,
Working bravely, demanding naught;
Nothing expecting, he shall be crowned
Withall the jewels his labor wrought.'*
Then they placed him upon his throne.
Thus did the heirs come to their own.
A LAST CHANCE.
BY CHARLES HERVEY.
©n a certain morning in September, 1865,
Monsieur Aristide Mouron, a retired mercer,
occupying a third floor m the Rue Turenne, re
ceived a letter by the early post.
"Singular 1” he remarked, uartly to himself,
partly to his daughter, a pretty blonde who was
sitting near him, engaged with some fancy
work; " 1 don’t know the handwriting. No,” he
added, peering at the address through his
cpectacles, “ I certainly never saw it before.”
"Hadn’t you better open it, father ?” said
Mlle. Claire in a slightly impatient tone.
“AU in good time my dear,” replied M.
Mouron, still staring at the envelope in profound
meditation. Then, carefully extracting from it
the enclosed epistle, he looked at the signature.
" Victor Duhamel,” be exclaimed. What can
be have to say to me?”
•• Head it, papa, and we shall know,” quietly
Suggested tho young lady.
“ ’ Monsieur,’ ’’ slowly began the old gentle
man, “ ■ you will doubtless be surprisedWn re
ceiving this ’—What a hand he writes; positively
copperplate 1 He ought to be bookkeeper in
come big house of business, but unfortunately
be isn’t. Let me see, where was!?— ‘ On re
ceiving this, and be disposed to consider the
request lam about to make to you an act oi
presumption. But even a refusal is preferable
to suspense, and 1 can control my feelings no
longer.’ 1 haven’t the remotest idea what he
means I”
"Read a little turther,” insinuated his daugh
ter. “We shall soon see.”
. " ‘ln a word, I love Mademoiselle Claire, and
have reason to believe that the attachment is
reciprocal 1' Eh, what ?” cried M. Mouron, with
ft sudden start that nearly overset his chair. “Is
this true or do my eyes deceive me ?”
“ Periectly true, papa.”
•• That he has the audacity to love you, and
actually presumes to think .”
' " That 1 love him in return,” supplemented
Mlle. Claire. “Certainly be does, and only
Jfaits for your consent to our marriage.”
“How do you know that?”
•' Because he told me yesterday he intended
to ask you for it.”
" Indeed I Then you may tell him that I
flistinctly refuse to hear another word on the
subject. A young fellow without a sou I”
“That is no fault of his, ’ remonstrated Claire.
•• Beside, if he has no fortune, he is sure to
knake one. You have said so yourself.”
“I?"
“Yes, I have often hoard you compliment
Bint on his. literary attainments, and say that
he v as certain to make his way in the world.”
"111 did, it does not follow that I should
choone him tor a son-in-law. If he had only
Som< thing in hand to begin with I”
“ That is just what we are coming to,” said
Claire. “Tho end of his letter explains every
thing”
“ Ah you seem to know all about it.”
“Of course I do, I have a copy of it in my
pocket.”
“In that case,” replied M. Mouron, in a half
amused, half angry tone, taking up the letter as
he spoke, “ I may as well know it, too. ‘My
Bole object in life is to be the husband of Mad
emoiselle Claire, but not until I am able to offer
her a position in some degree worthy o! her.
To the accomplishment of my desire, every fac
ulty I possess will henceforth be devoted, and I
am confident of success. Ono year’s probation
is all I ask. At its expiration, I pledge mvsell
either to bring you a sum ol twenty thousand
francs as an earnest ot what I hope to do in the
future, or at once to renounce all claim to vour
daughter’s hand.’ H’m,” concluded M. Mou
ron, “ twenty thousand francs isn’t much, but
the lad speaks fairly enough.”
“Wouliln’tit be better, papa,’’slyly suggest
ed Claire, “iohear what he has to say ? He is
not far off.”
“How do you know where he is?”
“ Because it has just struck nine, and at that
hour he was to be in the street opposite our
. house.”
Then, without waiting for an answer, she
epened the window and made a sign which was
evidently expected, for a minute or two later
the servant announced “ Monsieur Victor Du
hamel.”
Oil the entrance of his visitor, M. Mouran as
sumed a majestic air, and acknowledged the
young man’s. respectful salutation by a patron
izing wave of the hand.
“Pray, be seated. Monsieur Victor,” he be
gan, affecting a dignified ease of manner, but in
reality hardly less embarrassed than the indi
vidual he addressed. “I have perused your
letter—a most creditable specimen ol penman
ship, I must say -and gather from it that you
«re—ahem—desirous of obtaining my consent
to your marriage with my daughter.”
Victor bowed assent.
“ It is my fondest hope,” he replied.
“ I will not deny,” pursued the ex-mercer,
“that I had other views—financially more ad
vantageous—for her. But, under the circum
stances, ’ here his hatchety features relaxed into
something between a smile and a grin; “I
might ba disposed to waive my objections and
accept your conditions, if I saw any reasonable
chance of your fulfilling them.”
“ I assure you,’ said Duhamel, “ that——”
“ Excuse me,” interrupted M. Mouron, “ but
a few questions are indispensable. May I ask
what are your present means of existence ?”
“ My salary as a clerk in a government office,
amounting to a hundred and five francs a
month.”
“ Total, twelve hundred and sixty francs a
year, No other resource?”
. “None. My earnings have hitherto sufficed
for my wants, and I have even economized a
lew hundred trance out of them. Hencetorth it
Will be different. I shall resign my situation
to-day, and depend upon my own exertions.”
“They may possibly bring you in less,” said
M. Mouron, with an ominous shake ot the head.
And your projects lor the future— what ars
they ?’’
“ To utilize the excellent education I have re
ceived and turn my knowledge to account. I
am well acquainted with the principal modern
languages, and speak them fluently; the Glas
sies have always been my favorite study, and
in my leisure hours 1 have acquired some pro
ficiency in the Oriental tongues. Beside, I
have a natural taste for painting, and have
even dabbled in chemistry. With so many
chances in my favor, one at least ought to serve
my turn.”
“I hope it may,” returned M. Mouron,
doubtfully; “ but in my business twenty thou
sand francs were not so easily gained. How
ever, it rests with you to succeed or fail. To
day is the 15th o' September, 1865; on this day
next year, if you have kept your word, I will
keep mine. Until then, adieu.”
“You believe in me still, mademoiselle?”
said Victor, with a parting glance at Claire, as
he left the room.
“ With all my heart and forever,” was her re
ply.
Ten months after the above recorded inter
view, a young man, tho occupant of a miserable
attic in the Leopoldstadt, the poorest quarter of
Vienna, was sitting in a despondent attitude at
a rickety deal table, on which lay an unfinished
letter. His pale and careworn features bore tho
unmistakable marks ot suffering and privation,
and he sighed deeply as he threw down his
pen.
“I cannot do it,” he muttered, in a voice
broken by emotion. “The task is too hard, too
cruel. And yet I must release her from this
fatal engagement, which I once insanely hoped
would be a source of happiness to both. Those
who have struggled as 1 have, can alone know
what it has cost me to bear up against the con
sciousness of failure, and, still despairing, cling
to the delusive visions conjured up by a disor
dered brain I A few words more will tell tho
tale, and they must bo written.”
With a look of inexpressible anguish, he road
over the commencement of his letter, and had
already taken up his pen to continue it, when
the door opened gently, and a stout, thickset
personage, with a frank and pleasant counte
nance, entered the room.
“ Herr Victor,” said the now comer in Ger
man, pardon tho intrusion. Not having
met you lor some days, 1 feared you might
be ill, and came to see if I could bo of any serv
ice. You work too hard my good friend, and
overtax your strength. Take a doctor’s advice
and come with me. We will dine together, and
a stroll in the Prater will do you no harm."
“ You are very kind, Herr Rieger,” replied
Duhamel with a faint attempt at a smile; “ but
I feel so weak and dispirited that——”
"Good heavens I" exclaimed his visitor, as a
sudden thought struck him. “I see it all now
—you have eaten nothing to-day ?”
Victor hid his ace in his hands.
“Nor yesterday,” he faltered out. “I have
not a kreutzer le'.t.”
“ That at least can be remedied,” said the
doctor; “ and the sooner the bettor. Put on
your hat and come. When wo have dined vou
shall tell me the story.”
A comfortable repast in an ad'oining restau
rant, and a glass or two of sparkling Hungarian
wino especially rswimnoßded Uy Herr
having somewhat invigorated his companion,
the former handed a cigar to his guest and lit
another himself.
“ I can’t say much for our Viennese tobacco,”
be observed; “ but you probably know some
thing about government monopolies in France.”
Victor thought of tho inscrutable productions
of Gros-Caillou, and answered emphatically in
the affirmative.
“ And now, my friend,” continued the doc
tor, “ let us talk seriously. Since I first had
the pleasure of making your acquaintance,
in the bookseller’s shop near the Graben, I
have often wondered that with your abilities
you have not succeeded in turning them to some
account.”
“ The usual ill luck, I suppose,” replied Du
hamel, “that a literary man and an artist—and
unfortunately for me I am both—must expect
when he has neither influence nor money to
back him. 1 have tried everything in vain.
Publishers with one accord declined even to
look at my manuscripts, or proposed to print
them at my expense. A commission I had so
licited from the government to copy a Murillo
at the Louvre brought me the munificent offer
ot five hundred francs for a year’s labor. At
last, despairing of success in Paris, and having
a special object in view, on the accomplishment
of which my future happiness entirely depend
ed, I came "hither m the hope of discovering fen
old friend, a Viennese by birth, of whom I had
lost sight for several years, and who would cer
tainly have aided me by every means in his
power. I was too late. On inquiry, I ascer
tained that after embarking his whole fortune
in a speculation which had failed, he had left
the country and emigrated to America. My
scanty resources were nearly exhausted, and
had not the bookseller, in whose shop 1 mot
you, kindly recommended me as a teacher of
French to two or three of his lady customers, I
should probably have starved. As it is, since
the warm weather set in, my pupils have
followed the example of the fashionable world
and started off for Ischl or the Tyrol. Until I
can procure some other employment, I am ab
solutely penniless.”
“Well, well,” said Herr Rieger, “we must
contrive to find something for you. But first, I
am curious to know what the special object on
which you are so intent can possibly be?”
“You will laugh at me,” replied Victor,
“ when I tell you that in order to attain it I must
be in possession, before the fifteenth oi Septem
ber, of no less than twenty thousand francs.”
“Twenty thousand franca !” exclaimed the
doctor. “Nearly ten thousand florins! If I
earn half that sum in a year, I consider myself
exceptionally lucky. You must be mad to dream
of such, a thing. ’
“ Mad or sane matters little now,” sighed Du
hamel, “as you will say when you have heard
my story.”
Herr Rieger listened attentively while the
young man briefly narrated the result ol the in
terview in the Rue Turenne, and hia inability to
fulfill the conditions on which depended hia
marriage with Claire.
“ [ see no way out of it,” he said; “ unless—”
“ Unless what ?”
“Nothing. Tho idea is too absurd. And yet,”
he added, at: era moment’s reflection, “itis just
possible. Tell me, have you a good digestion ?”
“Excellent. Why?”
“Never mind. Do you dislike pigeon ?”
“On the contrary. But what has that to do
with my position?”
“ Everything. Listen to me and don’t inter
rupt. There is a society in Vienna, of which I
am a member, whose object is to investigate
the truth or falsity of certain popular theories
which are not based on established facts. One
of these, namely, the physical impossibility of
eating a pigeon every day for an entire
month, has particularly engaged our attention;
and, in consideration of the difficulty oi the
task, a price of ten thousand florins has been
offered by the society to any one who may suc
ceed in accomplishing it. Many have already
tried and failed in the attempt; the prize there
fore remains unclaimed, and as oddly enough
the amount is identical with the sum required
by you, it struck me that you might be disposed
to brave the ordeal. What say you? it is a
last chance, but I warn you beforehand, a very
poor one.”
Victor stared at the speaker in amazement.
“Do I understand rightly,” he inquired,
“that aiter eating a pigeon every day lor a
month I am to receive ten thousand florins ?”
“ Undoubtedly.”
“That ot course settles the matter. Pro
vided 1 get the money, it signifies little how. 1
should have preferred relying on my intellect
ual rather than my digestive faculties, but as it
seems that your society considers tho brain an
organ o.‘ less importance than the stomach, I
have no choice. When can I begin ?”
“ If you have quite made up your mind,” re
plied Herr Rieger, “ I will introduce you to our
president to-day, and you can begin whenever it
suits you.”
“ The sooner the better,” said Victor.
Tho locality in which the society's meetings
were held was ob the second floor of a spacious
house in one of the principal streets of the city,
and on the arrival of the doctor and his com
panion, they were ushered into a waiting-room,
where the president, Herr Pro.essor Langen
bart, a tall, thin personage of cadaverous as
pect, shortly after joined them. Herr Rieger
having briery explained the motive of their
coming, and presented Duhamel as a candidate
tor the pigeop prize, the professor brightened
visibly, and courteously complimented the lat
ter on his devotion to the cause of science.
“ The task you are about to undertake, Herr
Duhamel,” he continued, “ is a difficult one, as
you may judge from the amount of recompense
which, thanks to tho ample resources ot our
society, we are in a position to offer. No one
has hitherto succeeded in the attempt; and it
remains to be seen whether you are destined to
be more fortunate, which 1 sincerely hope, both
for your sake and ours. Before, however, pro
ceeding further, it is necessary that you should
lully understand and agree to "the following con
ditions approved by the society, which I will
now read to you.”
“Firstly. The candidate for the prize en
gages, at a stated hour every day during an en
tire month, to eat a roasted pigeon, not a parti
cle of which, the bones of course excepted, is
to be left unconsumed. Two members of the
committee will be present on each occasion,
and will report progress every evening to the
Society.
“Secondly. If the candidate succeeds in hid
undertaking, be will be entitled to receive ten
thousand florins from the Society.
“ Thirdly. Should he fail to complete the
task, he cannot again compete for the prize.
“Fourthly. If he be prevented by illness
from continuing the experiment, he will be
allowed one hundred florins, for medical ex
penses.
“Lastly. Should lie unfortunately succumb
to the ordeal, he will be buried at the cost of
the Soo ety, and the cause ot his death will be
inscribed in letters of gold on his tomb.
“ These,” concluded the professor, “ are the
terms of agreement. Are you disposed to ac
cept them ?”
Victor, who appeared disagreeably impressed
rather than gratified by the final clause, replied
curtly in the affirmative.
“In that case, Herr Duhamel,”said the presi
dent, “if you have no objection, this interesting
experiment may as well date from to-morrow—
shall we say it, three o’clock ? My colleagues,
Herr Commerzieu-Rath Schulze and Herr As
sessor Muller, will await you here at that hour,
and, I trust, enjoy the enviable privilege of ulti
mately recording your success..”
“ He will never get through it,” muttered the
professor, changing his tone when Victor, by no
means elated by the prospect before him, had
left the room. “ Wants stamina, and looks as
pale as a ghost.”
“ I am not so sure of that,” said Herr Rieger.
“He is terribly in love, and love they say,
works miracles.”
During the first few days of the enforced re
gimen, Victor, who had now become an inmate
of the doctor’s house, and was consequently
well cared for by bis hospitable entertainer, ac
complished his allotted task without difficulty.
But bo lore a fortnight had expired, his energy
sensibly flagged, and it was only by a strong
effort that he was able to persevere. ’ The odor
of the pigeon was inexpressibly repugnant to
him; his eyes were bloodshot and his lips
parched with fever, stimulated by the irritating
nature of the food he forced himself mechani
cally to swallow. On the twenty-fifth d-ay, he
wasj hardly recognizable; and the president,
alarmed by the unfavorable report ot his two
colleagues, decided that in order to avoid un
necessary risk, the experiment should continue
in the house of Herr Rieger, he himself and the
doctor officiating as witnesses.
Tha latter was still confident of success. “He
has a marvellous vitality,” he said to Langen
bart when they were alone, “and is determined
not to give in. I sounded him on the subject
this morning, and his answer was: ‘ When a
man is three-quarters ot the way up a hill, he
never rests until he has reached the top.’ And
depend upon it, reach it he will.”
Herr Rieger’s confidence was amply justified
by the result. At the expiration of the month
the last pigeoa had been demolished and tho
prize fairly and indisputably won. Tho presi
dent and tho Society were enraptured, and
unanimously agreed that an additional honor
arium of five hundred florins, together with a
diploma commemorative of the event, should
be presented to the successful candidate, who,
meanwhile, lay in a critical state, a prey to fever
and delirium.
It needed all the worthy medico’s skill aad
care to arrest the progress of the malady, and
nearly three weeks had elapsed before his
patient was pronounced out of danger. The
turning point, however, once reached, ho gained
strength rapidly; and, buoyed up by the cheer
ing prospect of speedily realizing his fondest
hopes, impatiently counted the days which still
separated him from Clairo.
“ How can I sufficiently thank you, Doctor,
for all the kindness 1 have received at your
hands ?” he said, one evening, to hia host, while
tha latter was busily engaged in superintending
the preparations for the invalid’s supper.
“By getting well as soon as possible,” laugh
ingly replied Herr Rieger, “fought rather to
thank you, for it is a glorious feather in my
cap to have cured the winner of the pigeon
prize
Two days be Tore our hero’s departure from
Vienna, a "general meeting of the members of
the Society was convened in his honor, on which
occasion the sum of ten thousand five hundred
florins, together with a voluminous diploma,
wore formally delivered to him.
Professor Langenbart treated the assembly
to a long discourse on the peculiar properties
of the pigeon, considered as an article of food,
m which he not unnaturally got out ot bis
depth and floundered woiully ; but wound up
triumphantly by proposing, amid the enthusias
tic cheers o', all present, that Herr Duhamel
should be elected an honorary member of tho
eociety.
NEW YORK DISPATCH, JUNE 19, 1887.
As a fitting conclusion to the proceedings, a
serenade was given on tho same evening be
neath the doctor’s windows, with which the
recipient of this flattering homage, completely
exhausted by his previous exertions, would
doubtless have willingly dispensed.
On the 14th of September, 186 G, Victor ar
rived in Paris ; and next morning, as nine
o’clock struck, entered the well known room
in the Rue Turenne, where he found M. Mouron
and his daughter sitting together, as he had
left them a year ago.
“ Tiens!” exclaimed the old gentleman, lay
ing aside his newspaper. “ Monsieur Victor
Duhamel—-I never thought you would come
back.”
“I told you he would, papa,” said Claire,
glancing fondly at her lover. “I was sure of
it.”
“ Bless me, how thin and wan you look,”
continued her father, struck with tho young
man’s haggard air. “You have been working
too hard.”
“But to some purpose,” answered Victor,
drawing from his pocket a roll of bank notes
fresh from the money changer’s, and laying
them on the table. “ You see, I have kept my
word.”
“ Aud I,” said M. Mouron, when he had
methodically counted the notes, “ will keep
mine. Claire is yours ; but as I can’t part with
my little girl, we must make room lor you here.
As it happens, you are come in the very nick
of time. My successor in the business is look
ing out for a partner, and with your twenty
thousand francs, and as much again from me,
there will be a famous opening for a young
couple. What say you ?”
“ That I am the happiest of men,” cried Du
hamel, cordially grasping the hand of his
future father-in-law.
“Is Monsieur Victor quite sure,” slyly whis
pered Claire, “that he does not regret his
year’s probation?”
“ Regret it!” echoed her lover. “How can
I, when it has brought me back to you i”
“But you wouldn t care to go through it
again, I’ll wager,” said M. Mouron.
Victor hesitated a moment before replying:
“Few things would daunt me,” he said, at
length, while a shudder ran through him. “But
even for such a prize,” with a gallant look at
Mademoiselle Claire, “ I do not think I could
a second time go through such an ordeal.”
SOME CURIOUS 8.
AND HOW THEY WERE DECIDED.
(From Chambers’s Journal.)
So far as we o n go back in the world’s his
tory, we find the rage for making wagers preva
lent. The Romans had a great taste for wagers
and bets ; and they had a convent onal form of
ratiyfing these contracts, which consisted in
taking from the finger the ring which the higher
classes invariably wore, and giving it into the
keeping of some third party or umpire. One of
the wildest bets ever made was that of a physi
cian of the ancient world named Asclepiades.
He wagered against Fortune that he would
never be ill during his life, under penalty of
losing the reputation he had acquired of being
the most famous physician of his time. Absurd
and impious as was this presumption, lie won
his wager, although he could not enjoy it, for,
at a very advanced period of life, he died from
the effects of a fall down-stairs.
The Romans were forbidden by the lex Tttia
and the (ex Cornelia to bet upon the success of
any unlawful game, or, indeed, ot any games
whatever, unless they were trials of courage,
bodily strength, or skill. In the later days of
Rome, her citizens were prohibited from mak
ing wagers upon the death or exaltation of the
popes and on the promotion of cardinals. At
Venice, no wager might be laid upon the elec
tion of persons to fill the public offices ; at
Genoa, on the revolution of states or kingdoms,
the success o military expeditions, the arrival
and departure of vessels, or proposed mar
riages. Somewhat similar to this last was an
Act oi Parliament passed in Paris in 1565, which
rendered it illegal to make a woman the subject
of a wager.
The Parliament of Dole, in France, was called
upon to decide a very curious wager in the year
1684. It was between two citizens of Pasmes,
one of whom had agreed, on consideration of
his being paid the sum of twenty-four francs, to
furnish the other with a quantity of grains of
millet, in proportion to the number oi children
that should be born within a certain extent of
country during one year. He was to hand over
one grain lor the first child, two tor the second,
four the third, and so on, always doubling the
number of grains for each successive birth.
Tho number of children born within the speci
fied time was sixty-six, and such an enormous
quantity of grains of millet had to be supplied
to meet the conditions of tho agreement, that
the contracting party demanded tho cancelling
of the bet, on the ground that it was founded
upon an impossible condition. Tlje court agreed
At once tlifev 11 Was Impossible for Hid Contract
to be carried out, and decided that the person
who bad received tho twenty-four francs should
repay them to bis opponent and should give
him an additional sum of twenty-lour francs.
Surely this was anything but a just judgment,
lor it was impossible that the gainer could have
lost. Ho had made his calculations, and was
betting upon the ignorance of tho loser. It was
therefore a wager based upon bad faith, and
should have been annulled altogether.
A wager was made early in the last century
by a banner named Bulliot. He was a firm be
liever in the superstition that it rain fails on
St. Swithin’s Day (July 15th), it will also fall,
more or less, lor forty days after. St. Swithin’s
Day in the year 1725 was very wet, and so Bul
liot offered to bet any one who chose to put
down his money that the next forty days would
be rainy. So many persons showed a desire to
take up this wager, that its terms were reduced
to writing, as follows:
“If, dating from St. Swithin’s Day, it rains
more or little during forty days successively,
Bplliot will be considered to have gained; but
if it ceases to rain tor only one day during that
time, Bulliot has lost.”
On these terms Bulliot betted against all who
presented themselves. He was so confident of
success that ho placed money against articles
of value of every description. People brought
gold-headed canes, snuff-boxes, jewels, even
clothes, and Bulliot wagered rb much money
against them as he considered they were worth.
When his stock of cash came to an end, he is
sued notes and bills of exchange to such an ex
tent that it was said he had paper money out to
the amount ot a hundred thousand crowns. All
this naturally excited a great deal of public
curiosity, and the rash man found himselt
quite fashionable for the time being. Verses
were made in his honor, a play was produced
which had him for its hero—in a word, he at
tracted as much attention as if he had been a
monarch or a famous statesman. But, unfor
tunately for Bulliot, St. Swithin was not true to
his character. For the first twenty-one days of
the stipulated time more or less rain fell. The
twenty-second day, however, was bright and
cloudless, and night came on without there be
ing the slightest sign of rain. Bulliot was ru
ined, and ruined so completely that he was un
able to meet the notes and bills that bore his
name. The holders of these tried to enforce
payment, but the ancient law did not recognize
debts ot this kind, any morej than does the law
of more modern days. They were accordingly
non-suited, and their debts declared irrecover
able.
In the early part of the present century, sport
ing-men were fond of betting on the duration
ot the lives oi celebrities. Napoleon I. was
specially the subject of these wagers. It is re
lated that at a dinner party in 1809, Sir Mark
Sykes offered to pay any one who would give
him a hundred guineas down, a guinea a day
so long as Napoleon lived. The offer was taken
by a clergyman present; and for three years Sir
Mark paid him three hundred and sixty-five
guineas per annum. He then thought that he
had thrown away enough money, and disputed
further payment. The recipient, who was not
at all disposed to lose his comfortable annuity,
brought an action, which, after lengthy litiga
tion, was decided m favor of the baronet.
A foreign prince staying in Paris made a
heavy bet with a member ol the Imperial Club
that he—the prince—would, in the course of the
next two hours, be arrested by the police with
out committing any offence or provoking the
authorities in any fashion. The way he won his
wager was by dressing himself in a tattered old
blouse, a pair of moldy boots full of holes, and
a disreputable burlesque of a hat. Thus at
tired, he walked up to one ot the most aristo
cratic cafes in Paris, and, seating himselt at a
table, called lor a cup of coffee. The waiter,
as was only natural, did not care about serving
so suspicious-looking a customer before he was
assured that payment would be forthcoming, so
he told the prince that he must pay in advance.
Upon this, his highness pulled a bundle of
bank-notes out of his pocket, and picking out
one of considerable value, told hina to take the
price of the coffee out of it and bring back the
change. The man immediately went in search
of the proprietor oi the cafe, who, when ha
heard the facts of the case, ordered the coffee to
be served, and at the sama time sent to the
nearest police station for a sergent de ville.
The prince was, of course, arrested, and taken
before a commissary of police. He announced
his rank, and told his reasons for assuming
such an unprincely costume. The authorities
were obdurate at first; but finally they con
sented to send the prince under escort to the
Imperial Club, where the gentleman with.whom
the bet had been made proved his identity, and
paid His Highness tho money he had fairly
won.
Vieuxtemps, the well-known violinist, used to
tell a strange story of a wager which he averred
he had really witnessed while on a visit to Lon
don. It was to the effect that one day, as he
was walking across London Bridge, a poor
wretch jumped up on to the parapet and leaped
down into the river. There was at once a rush
of eager spectators, and a voice shou-ted :
“ I’ll bet be drowns !”
“ Two to one, he’ll swim ashore 1”
“Done 1”
Meanwhile, Vieuxtempsjhad hastened to get a
boat, and was rowing w th a waterman to the
rescue of the unhappy creature, who was floun
dering about, and just managing to keep him
sel afloat. As they reached him, and were pre
paring to pull him into the boat, there was a
roar from the bridge :
“ Leave him alane—there is a bet on !’
The waterman immediately lay on his oars,
refusing to make any further attempt to save
the drowning man, and Vieuxtemps saw him
sink before his very eyes.
A wager was made in 1806 in the Castle
yard, York, between Thomas Hodgson and
Samuel Whitehead, db to which should succeed
in assuming the most singular character. Um
pires were selected, was to de
cide upon the comparative absurdity of the cos
tumes in which th© two men appeared. On the
appointed day, Hodgson came before the um
pires decorated with bank notes of various
value on his coat and waistcoat, a row of five
guinea notes and a long netted purse of gold
round his hat, while a piece of paper bearing
the words “John Bull” was attached to his
back. Whitehead was dressed like a woman
on one side, one half of his face was painted,
and be wore a silk stocking and a slipper on
one leg. The other halt of his face was blacked,
to resemble that of a negro; on the correspond
ing side of his body he wore a gaudy, long
tailed linen coat; and his leg was cased in half
a pair of leather breeches with a boot and spur.
One would fancy that Whitehead must have
presented by far tho most singular appearance.
The umpires thought differently, however, and
awarded the stakes to Hodgson.
A somewhat similar bet was one made in re
lation to the Master oi the Revels to George IL,
named Heidegger, whose ugliness it was de
clared impossible to surpass. One of the cour
tiers wagered that he would produce some one
who should be pronounced uglier than Heideg
ger. He was allowed a few days in which io
unearth his champion, and it is said that he
employed them in personally ransacking the
worst slums in London. Somewhere in St.
Giles’s ho found an old woman whom ho
thought sufficiently plain to confront with Heid
egger. When the two were put face to face, the
judges said that it was impossible to decide
which of them was entitled to bear the proud
title of “ ugliest being in London.” A courtier,
however, suggested that Heidegger should put
on the old woman’s bonnet Thia he did, and
the additional ugliness it gave him was such
that be was unanimously declared the winner.
A notorious gambler of the last century finally
ruined himself by a very extraordinary bet He
had been playing with Lord Lorn; their stakes
had been very high, and luck had gone steadily
against him. Exasperated at his losses, he
jumped up from the card-table, and seizing a
large punch-bowl, said:
“For once I’ll have a bet where I have an
equal chance of winning ! Odd or even for fif
teen thousand guineas ?”
“ Odd,” replied the peer calmly.
Tho bowl was dashed against the wall, and
on tho pieces being counted, there proved to bo
an odd one. The rash gambler paid up his fif
teen thousand guineas; but, if tradition be cor
rect, it was only by selling the last of his es
tates that be was enabled to do so.
fSomo years ago a gentleman made a heavy
bet that he would stand for a day on London
bridge with a tray full of sovereigns, fresh
from the mint, which he would be unable to
dispose of at a penny a piece. A nursemaid
bought one to quiet a crying child; but no more
were disposed of.
HUMOR OF THE HOUR.
BY THE DETROIT FREE PRE33 FIEND.
TOO OBSERVING.
“Ma,” said a precocious youth, “ I thought
you told me you never borrowed anything?”
“ You are right, my son, 1 never do.”
“Well, I heard you telling Mr. Simpson that
fear lent wings to your feet.”
They rung him down.
GOT ’EM MIXED.
“ I haven’t a fair show,” said a tough whom a
policeman in tho northeastern part of the city
was ordering to move on. “ 1 eah’t fight you in
your official capacity. If you were only a citizen
lor a few minutes 1”
“ Consider me a citizen,” replied the officer,
as be laid down hia baton and removed his
badge.
An interval of forty seconds elapsed, and as
the tough hitched nearer the fence to get a brace
lor his back be wearily observed:
“ Say ! there is some mistake ! I guess I got
the capacities mixed up !”
A STRAIGHT BRIBE.
“ Boy, are you acquainted around here,” he
asked of a lad on Michigan avenue.
“ Yes, sir.”
“1 want to find the Civilized Cornice Works.”
“ Never heard of ’em.”
“ But it’s an old concern, and I was told to
come to this corner. There’s a big sign on the
roof.”
“Oh, you mean Galvanized Cornice Works.
It’s right around that corner.”
“ Bub, did I say civilized ?”
“ Yes, sir.”
“And the proper word is galvanized?”
“ That’s it.”
“ Here—come here. Hero’s a dime for you,
and you just keep mum about what has passed.
I’m going to run for Supervisor this Fall on the
strength ol being a seli-made man, who got his
education by the light of a corn-cob candle, and
I don’t want the infernal opposition to get hold
of the fact tbM tb© efendi© went out on me too
goon.”
WAS EXCUSED.
“Say, you!” he called, as be stood on the
post office steps.
A very solid man halted in his tracke until
the other came up.
“ Calling to mej” be queried.
“Yes, sir. Do you notice my hair? It’s a
sortYff grizzly-gray, which makes me look ten
years older than I really am.”
“ What have 1 got to do with your hair, sir?”
demanded the other.
“1 happened to stand beside you in the post
office, and no ”
“Suppose you did stand beside me in the
post o lice.”
“I saw that you were a man of about sixty
years old, but as you had
“Suppose I am sixty.”
“ But as you had dyed your hair you didn’t
look a day over forty-five. What I want is the
name of the dye you use. You will excuse me.
but ”
He was excused. He knew he was by the way
the other raised his cane and jumped at him and
offered to mop the street with him for two cents.
NO FOURTH FOR HIM.
A small scion of a Cass avenue family went to
church last Sunday and heard the"minister
make a stirring appeal for funds to build a new
church.
The next day his mother overheard a dia
logue in which her youngster was the first
speaker.
“ W hatcher goin’ to buy Fourth of July, Jim
my ?”
“ Oh, lemmins, an’ ice-cream, an’ firecrackers.
Whatchoo ?”
“ Nawthin’. Ain’t goin’ to have enny Fourth.
Goin’ to save me money an’ buy a church.”
A MEAN ADVANTAGE.
“I think I’ve got rather the meanest husband
in Detroit,” exclaimed a little woman on the car
the other day.
Her friend asked her to explain, and she con
tinued.
“I found that he was smoking fifty cents’
worth of cigars per day, and I got him to agree
to give me as much pin-money per week aa the
cigars cost. He stuck to it on© week.”
“And then what?”
“He bought him a clay pipe and a pound of
ten-cent smoking tobacco, and my income is cut
down to two cents a week !”
THE~fWNJWBBERY.
The Hardest Case to Unravel that De
tective Hume Hus Yet Found.
(From tlte San Franciseo Weekly Bulletin.)
From the present outlook, it appears that the
dar.ng train robbery on the lino ot the Southern
Pacific, near Pantano Station, A. T„ April 2ith,
will go down in the records of such deeds as
one of the best, most expert jobs that was ever
accomplished. For over a month the officers of
that region, aided by the detectives of Wells,
Fargo <t Co.’s Express, have been busy there
scouring tho country, and tracing up every pos
sible clew suggested ; but the se .rch has been
futile, none o’ the four men believed to have
been concerned have been captured, none of the
money stolen has been ound.
Special Officer Hume, o' the Express Com
pany, returned recently from the scene. He re
ports that while good has been done by explod
ing many advanced theories, yet the officers are
still nearly as much in tile dark as over, so far
as the identity and whereabouts of the robbers
are concerned. The facts of the case are famil
iar to moot readers. It was about 9:55 o’clock
on the night mentioned, and the west-bound
train was traveling at the usual rate, when
about twenty-one miles east of Tucson and six
miles Irom I’apago elding elation, Engineer
Harper saw a red light’ahead, and heard what
he supposed to be a danger cartridge. He
brought his train to a standstill, and four
masked men appeared.
Subsequently they detached the engine and
baggage and express cars from the rest ol the
train, fired into the oars and forced the mail and
express messengers to surrender the property
in charge. The express messenger, Smith,
deftly concealed $5,009 in treasure in the stove,
and the robbers only obtained about $3,000. Ot
this amount halt was in Mexican dollars, which
can be of little immediate value to the robbers.
The mails were ransacked, but uothing of great
value was obtained. The passengers were not
molested. The engine and two cars were run
ahead several miles. The engineer and all the
train mon were left with the passenger cars at
the scene of the robbery. A brakeman walked
back on the track to Pantano and gave the
alarm. The news was wired to Tucson, and by
daylight next morning officers from Tucson
wore on the scene. The engine was found at a
whistling post near Papago elding. It had been
run down the track nearly to Tucson, and then
abandoned and allowed to run back with re
versed engine. It stopped in a little sag in the
track. The headlight had been smashed and
extinguished. About two and one-half miles
from where the engine was found and three
and one-half miles from the place where the
train was first stopped, the officers found, lead
ing north from the track, footprints of three
men. These formed the only presumed clew
that was found. They were traced and led to
wagon-tracks some distance away. Tha theory
was that throe of the men had been dropped oif
by the paesing engine aud cars at this point,
while the other man had gone with the engine
nearly to Tucson; that he had then left the en
gine to go back alone and had made his Way to
Tucson, while the other three robbers had gone
by wagon into the interior ot the Territory.
Some days later three men named Swim, Cu
sick and Barrett were arrested at Bowie, 100
miles to the eastward, and taken to Tucson.
They were closely questioned, but after a
thorough examination the officers were satisfied
as to their innocence. Subsequently two other
men were taken in custody, but subsequently
released. The United States Marshal, W, R.
Meade, aud the acting sheriff, Charles Shibell
worked actively and earnestly. Hume under:
took to trace the wagon mark’s from where the
tracks were found. He drove on a buckboard
up into the country sixteen miles away to
Tanque Verde and there found the tracks had
been made by a party of three Mexicans in the
employ of Mrs. William Oury, who owns a large
ranch there. They had been down to near the
railroad after forage grass, a week before the
robbery. While camping, their stock ot cigarette
paper was exhausted, so they went to the track
and walked along it until they found some paper
suitable for their purpose. This accounted for
the tracks.
One of the Mexicans wore moccasins and this
was one thing that made the clew a strong one,
for moccasins were seen on one of the robbers.
One of the Mexicans went back to the railroad
with Hume, and explained clearly all their
movements, until the detective became satisfied
there was nothing in the clew. Diagrams ot the
locality were secured and all information possi
ble concerning the details of the affair were ob
tained. Hume says it is one of the worst cases
he ever experienced, so far as the task of detec
tion is concerned. Detective Thacker will re
main near the scene for the present.
EXORCISING A GHOST.
The Way in Which It Was Done by a
Witty Churchman.
There is, in one of the midland counties of
England a fine old and rather celebrated histor
ical mansion, with towers, turrets and mul
lioned windows. But alas 1 for all its attractive
beauty, it possessed that one terrible drawback
with which so many ot the grand old mansions
are unluckily afflicted—it had its ghost and its
haunted room, which no servant would enter
alone, even in broad daylight, and in which no
one over—or very rarely—slept. With the usual
provoking irregularity which belongs to the
whole tribe of disembodied spirits, the ghost
was known to “ walk ” at the most inconvenient
moments, always appearing when not wanted,
and carefully disappointing every party of val
iant ghost-hunters whenever they mastered up
courage enough for the watch. This ghost al
ways appeared in the attire of a medieval monk
—brown habit and cowl, rope-girdle, sandals
and carried a parchment roll in one hand.
About two years ago it happened that the
mansion was full of visitors, and among the last
to arrive was a very well-known canon of the
church, celebrated for his unflagging spirits and
sparkling wit. But every room was occupied.
He was far too great a favorite to be refused.
What was to be done? Happy thought—the
haunted chamber 1 The canon, as a good priest,
would, of course, have no fear of ghosts, and
beside, he would know nothing ot the ghost, as
this was his first visit. In this, however, the
good host was mistaken, for the witty canon
had often heard the story and knew all about it.
Accordingly, he was committed to the haunted
chamber.
Next morning, at breakfast, no one appeared
with a brighter or happier face, or seemed fuller
of high spirits and exuberant fun.
‘‘lt is quite clear,” thought the host, greatly
relieved, “he has not been disturbed in any
way.”
Next morning, and the next, and the next, he
still came down among the early ones, with the
same light-hearted aspect, which only those
who have enjoyed sound sleep and peaceful
dreams can wear. The host’s anxiety at length
could stand it no longer, and he congratulated
his visitor on the soundness of his rest and
quietude of his nights. But the witty canon,
seeing his opportunity, suddenly assuming a
very grave face, informed his host that his first
night, at any rate, had been neither quiet nor
undisturbed I A sudden pause and a dead si
lence followed, as the canon proceeded to de
scribe how, while ho was lying wide awake, he
was aware of the presence in the room of a tall,
dark figure, which came up to the bed. Ho ob
served that the figure was habited as a monk,
and carried a parchment roll, with which it ap
peared to point. The canon ended by dwell
ing on its ghastly color and its glaring, horri
ble eyes, as they shone forth beneath the dark
cowl.
A dozen anxious questions at once poured in
upon the speaker:
“V\ hat did you do ?” “ Did you address it ?”
“Did he speak to you?” “How did you get
rid ot him ?”
“ How ?” replied the witty canon. “ Why,
very easily. 1 asked him to subscribe to my
schools and school-treat, when he vanished im
mediately ; and I need hardly add he has never
honored me with another visit.”
Hie Little Alan was in a Hurry
JBut He had Timo to Polish Off'a Bully,
Nevertheless.
(From the Chicago {Tribune.)
“ Look here I you can't run against me in that
kind of way,” exclaimed a large, red-iacgd man,
with bristling hair and whiskers, to a moek
looking tellow of average stature who had acci
dentally brushed against him in hurrying across
West Madison street, near Halstead, Saturday
morning last at an early hour.
“I beg your pardon, sir, ’ said the meek-look
ing man, in a deprecating way; “if I ran against
you it was accidental.”
“Well, it didn t look like it to me,” blustered
the red-iaced bully; “ and I tell you right now
you don’t want to do it again.”
“ I have apologized to you for it, sir,” was the
reply; “ what more do you want ?”
“ 1 don’t want any of yonr lip—that’s what I
don’t want!” vociferated the bully, crowding
the inoffensive and apologetic man almost off
the walk. “For two cents, I’d chug you one
right now.”
“I’m in a. hurry,” pleaded the smaller man;
“I have an engagement ”
“ You'd better have an engagement, I can tell
you ”
“I have to meet a person in ten minutes,”
persisted the meek-looking man, glancing at his
watch, “but I think I can malte it in about
eight, and unless I am mistaken, I can convince
you in two minutes that to take an apology is
the best and sometimes the safest way to settle
a matter of this kind.”
With this remark he shot out his right fist
with the air of a man accustomed to making
gestures of that nature, and landed it with pre
cision and much lores on the nose of the big
bully.
“I can generally spare time from an engage
ment,’’ he continued, as he planted a blow with
his left on the big man’s jaw and adroitly
dodged a heavy lunge in return, “ to polish off
a eliap that needs it as badlv as yon seem to.
I think I’ll give you another "one right there,’’
said he, meditatively, as be delivered a crush
ing blow on the noee again, “ which will bo ac
companied by the claret, not neceesarily tor
publication but as a guarantee of good faith.”
The big fellow, taken by surprise, and da zed
by the vigor ot the attack, struck out awkward
ly, but without effect.
“ I have less than a minute to spare. I mnst
hurry,” eaid the smaller man, and he planted a
blow tinder bis burly antagonist’s ear, stretch
ing him at full length on the sidewalk. Then
looking at his watch again, he was off belore a
crowd had had time to collect. The big man
slowly arose to his feet and slunk away, with
every indication of a disposition to let the mat
ter drop.
A Panic at a Bull Fight.—The “Pet
it Marseillais” gives the following account ot a
very exciting scene which occurred at a bull
fight outside of Sarogossa recently: After the
two bulls had been dispatched without any spe
cial incident, the third, an animal named Sala
do, jumped over the barrier into the amphi
theatre, crushing an old man and a lad of
eighteen. It would be difficult to give an ade
quate description ot the panic and tumult
which ensued. The whole ot the spectators
jumped to their feet. In the twinkling of an
eye the space around the bull was vacated, and
the crowd rushed into a corner, trying to pro
tect itself by means or planks and sticks from
hie expected charge. The bull made a desperate
rush lor a young girl, who with a shriek fell to
the ground; but one ot the torreadors, with
great presence of mind, trailed a red cloth iU
the path, and thus diverted his attention from
the girl, who was dragged unconscious to a
place ol safety. The bull next trampled under
toot an unfortunate vendor of drinking water,
and forced his way into that part of the ring
known as the “ Tertulia.” A young man in one
of the boxes tried to shoot him, but the three
bullets from his revolver which he managed to
lodge m him only served to increase his iury.
One of the men then tried to run him through;
but he missed his aim, and the bull charged
him furiously. The man stepped aside, and
the bull’s horns went so deep into the wooden
paling that before he could withdraw them two
men plunged their swords into him. Even this
did not kill him outright, the enraged animal
staggering some thirty yards and breaking
down a number of benches before the breath
was out of his body.
Bill Arp and Slavery.—Says the
Cincinnati Enquirer: A quaint and pleasant
conversationist of the old school is Major Smith
(Bill Arp), ot Atlanta, Ga. The ma or was a
slave-holder in his younger days, having re
ceived three families of negroes, "some twelve
persons in all, as the wedding portion ot his
wife. In talking about tho slave question, he
said: “This talk that the South lost $400,000,030
by the emancipation proclamation is all non
sense. lam prepared to show that the South
did not lose a dollar. In all my experience as a
slave-owner, if I ever made a dollar by their
labor, Ido not know it. We got their labor in
exchange for their food and clothing, the rear
ing of their young and the caring for the old.
We get their labor for the same price now, with
out having the burden of responsibility for the
young and the aged and sick. We used to pay
their doctor’s bills; now they pay their own.
This difference is already seen from the fact that
many men are accumulating wealth through
the employment of negroes, who never got
ahead a dollar in the slave days, although they
were owners of many bUy©».”
Making Sparrows Useful.—This is
tho way in which sparrows are made useful in
Germany: Long troughs, placed under the
eaves ot houses, are occupied by the sparrows
in building their nests. When the young are
hatched, and the mother goes away to procure
food, wire screens are placed over them, with
interstices large enough to permit the passage
of food in to the young, but too small to allow
them to escape. As soon as they are large and
plump they are killed, and make a very accept
able article of fcod.
The Kaiser Blumen. — ’here is a
flower which grows among the wheat in Ger
many known as the corn flower, or Kaiser Blu
men. It grows wild and it has the petals of our
dandelion, but its color is a bright navy blue.
Kaiser Blumen means in English “ Emperor’s
flower,” and it is from Kaiser Wilhelm that the
name comes. Two little peasant children heard
that the King loved this flower, and they bad
been told ot his kindness to little ones. One day
they gathered a large bouquet ot these flowers
and went all alone,several miles, into Berlin, in
tending to present them to the King. Alter
much trouble they reached the door of the
palace, where the guard, dressed in his gorge
ous uniform, stood. They managed in great
trembling to tell their story, and thought at first
this splendid man was the King He hoard them
through, and was about sending them home,
when a plain, kind old man camo out and asked
thorn what they wanted. The fierce guard stood
back at his approach. They told their story
again, and he, taking their flowers, asked them
in and told thorn to sit down and he would pre
sent the flowers to the King. He then went
away. In a moment a gorgeous guard appeared
and told the children the King wanted to see
them. He led them into another room royally
furnished, and there they saw this same kind
old man holding their flowers in his hand, it
was the King. He gave them each a prosent,
talked kindly to them, had h s servants show
them the palace, and sent them home the hap
piest and proudest children in Germany.
“ Marrying by the Glove.” — To
marry by proxy, or, as it is called. “ marriage
by the glove,” is common in Holland, and is
caused by the fact that many of the eligible
young men, alter having finished their educa
tion in the schools ot the fatherland, depart for
Dutch India to engage in some lucrative com
mercial enterprise, or to accept a position in the
colonial service. The scarcity of marriageable
white women in that clime induces the would-be
husband to write to a Iriend in Holland, enclos
ing his wish for a wife. The Iriend selects a
willing young lady, generally with a substantial
do/, and otherw.se con orming closely to the
specifications of the letter. A photograph of
the favored one is enclosed n the return
epistle. After the lapse of a few months, a
soiled left-hand glove, with a power ot attorney,
is received from the far-away bachelor. The
friend in Holland marries the selected bride in
precisely the same manner as if he were the
actual groom, and the young wife departs in the
next Indian mail-steamer to bring happiness
and prosperity to the lonely one in the iar East.
A marriage ot this description is as binding as
it tbo bridegroom were present, and never reou
diated. If either party to the glove marriage
should die before meeting in India, tho sur
viving one would legally share the property of
the deceased.
A Supposed Cure for Consumption.
—Considerable sensation has been created in
medical circles here (says the Vienna corres
pondent of tho London Dai'y (Jltronicle) by the
discovery of a supposed cure for consumption
and other tubercular affections of tho lungs or
other parts of the body. The discoverer is Dr.
Kolischer, a young operator in the clinical de
partment of Professor Albert. Dr. Kolischer,
Bt srting on the assumption that tuberculosis
occasionally heals naturally, owing to the tuber
cles becoming calcined, hit upon the idea of
causing artificial calcination by means of hypo
dermic injections of a compound described as
“calcium phosphoricum ” into the limbs of per
sons affected with local tuberculosis. He made
a number of experiments with a view of testing
hie discovery, and in every case the experi
nients turned out successful. At the last meet
ing ot the Vienna Society of Physicians, Dr. ■ Kol
ischer read a paper on the result of his experi
ments, and introduced to the meeting several
persons who had been cured by his method.
He is about to carry his experiments further by
making similar experiments upon persons suf
fering from tuberculosis of the lungs.
The Burmah Prize.—ln obtaining the
vast and rich domain of Burmah, the English
government has come into possession, among
other natural treasures, of immense forests of
teak, which, never very plentiful in India, was
becoming commercially <;uite rare, and conse
quently of increased cost for industrial pur
poses. Of all the woods grown in the East this
has been pronounced as, in some respects, the
most valuable. This superiority consists in its
being neither too heavy nor too hard ; it does
not warp nor split under exposure, no matter
how prolonged, to heat or dampness; it con-,
tains an essential oil which possesses the rare
property of preventing the wood from rotting
under wet conditions, and, at the same time,
acts as afpreservative to iron, and repels insects:
it is, in addition, a handsome wood, of- several
varieties of color and grain, and takes a good
polish,
Sad Fate of French Sardines.—-The
French Offlciel publishes a most disheartening
account of the scarcity of fish in the French lit
toral. The fact is undeniable, it says, that the
vast ocean is being depopulated. The smaller
kinds of fish threaten to disappear, and with
them the means of living of the fishing popula
tion. In Normandy part.cularly, complaints are
made ot the decrease ot fish. Formerly fish
was most plentiful on that part of the coast, and
little time and trouble was required in fishing.
The barges returned to shore a ter a few lower
ings ot the net, filled with quivering fish of
.changing colors—violet, gold, brown, silvery,
and pink. At present the vessel has to be out
on the open sea for a long time, greater fatigue
and greater dangers are the consequence, and
the result is far less satisfactory.
Bismarck’s Success as an Organ-
Gktndbb.— ln Barlin there was a birthday par
ty in honor ot the eldest son of Prince William,
eldest son of the crown prince. Among the
presents was a small barrel-organ from Prince
Bismarck. A few days later the five-year-old
heir of the imperial throne complained to
Prince Bismarck that it tired him very much to
play the organ, and asked him to play some
thing. The chancellor complied, and at once
began turning the handle, and with so much
energy that the sounds ol the instrument draw
the other members of the imperial family to the
room. The children, delighted, began to dance;
thereupon Prince William, looking at hie eldest
son, observed to the chancellor: “There is a
future emperor who already dances to your
piping.”
The Biter Bitten.—Says the Chatta
nooga Commercial: An amusing incident oc-.
curred at the Hill City wharf, the other day,
while a large crowd was awaiting the ferryboat
“Myra.” Among the number on the wharf
boat was an overgrown youth of some eighteen
summers, who belongs to that class who never
miss an opportunity to do something smart,
and who imagined he saw an excellent oppor
tunity to get in his work by pushing a big mas
tiff into the water. The dog demurred to that
arrangement, and in a hurried endeavor to
escape slipped between the young man’s legs,
causing him to wind up a series of interest ng
and expressive gyrations with a very unwilling
plunge bath. If he intended to amuse the by
standers, the young man succeeded admirably.
How to Cure a Felon.—A handful
each of tansy, hops, catnip and wormwood, says
the Country Gentleman, was thrown in an old
basin, a small quantity of tobacco and a halt
teacupful of soft soap added, and sufficient
water to cover. When boiling hot, the hand
was placed over the steam, and a small blanket
was thrown over the basin to retain tho steam,
that was applied until tlie mixture cooled. This
was repeated day and night until tho psin was en
tirely removed, which was in forty-eight hours.
The relief from the paroxysms ot pain is almost
magical as soon as the steam is applied. Tlie
mixture was only once renewed. Ko anodyne
was used to procure sleep, as the steaming in
stantly relieved the successive paroxysms of
pain.
A Male Nubse.—The emu appears to
be curiously exceptional, as regards domestic
division ot labor. Mr. Alfred Bennett, who has
studied the habits of these birds, states that
the hen begins laying about the end ot October
or the beginning of November, and in about
six weeks completes the brood of twenty or
more eggs. In tho meantime, tho cock begins
to sit, and tho eggs subsequently laid are de
posited at his side by the hen ; be then
stretches forth his foot and draws them under
him. He not only hatches the eggs, and doos
all tho subsequent nursing, but has to thrash
his wife continually, as she attacks him furi
ously, and would apparently kill the chicks if
she could got at them.
Luminous Bottle or Watch. Light.—
Place a piece of phosphorus the size of a pea into
a long glass vial, and pour oil just as hot as the
hand can bear carefully over it till the vial is
one-third filled. Tho vial must be carefully
corked, and when used should be unstoppered
a moment to admit the external air, then closed,
again. The empty space of the vial will then
appear luminous, and give as much light aa a
dull ordinary lamp, and jnstsulficient to see the
face of a watch. Each time that the light dis
appears, on removing the stopper it will instant
ly reappear. In cold weather the bottle should
be warmed in (be hands before the stopper is
removed. A vial thus prepared may be used
every night for six months."
The Sacred Flower.—Says tho Doc li
ce ter Democrat: For two or three days the
Egyptian lotus, in W. 8. Kimball’s lily-house,
has been in blossom, and has attracted many
visitors. The leaves oi the plant are as largo
as tho top of a bushel basket, and hold water
like a cup. The flowers, on the occasion of tho
reporter’s visit, were in various stages of blos
soming. In color they are of a delicate pink,
and when about ready to burst into fall bloom
are larger than a goose egg, which they much
resemble in shape. The lotus was tho sacred
flower of the Egyptians, and it certainly is no
ble enough in its appearance to merit the dis
tinction.
Trying an Egg.—A highly interesting
question to the housewife is—“ How shall 1
know when eggs are good ?” It was only tho
other day that a gentleman friend ot mind
solved—apparently—the question bv taking up
an egg, wiping the large end quite clear, and
then he placed the tip o( his tongue to the con
tral part ot this big end. He said that by so
doing the egg could be accurately tested, be
cause, if it was good, it would be found that
there was a tiny warm .spot on the inside of the
egg which would be plainly perceptible to the
tongue. I tried it, when, sure enough, the
speck o: beat responded an “I’m all |
The Man of Her Choice. —Says th©
Philadelphia Times*. One of the greatest belles
and heiresses in Philadelphia, and a beauty be
side, married a rather good looking young man
without business or a penny, She had been
courted assiduously by one of the greatest
beaux in town, a rich young man, with fortune,
prestige and everything back of him, except
that he was gay and had sown an immense crop
of wild oats, lie sent her the most expensive
presents, which she would not accept. Scores
of influential friends ttied to help on his cause,
and the most skillful female diplomatists tried
to induce her to discard the young man who
had nothing and no friends but herself. * Her
own family, without an exception, did every
thing to induce her to prefer the rich suitor.
Young as she was, and with all society making
a pet of her, she gave up everything—gave up
society, gave up home, gave up every luxury
and fascination that women are supposed to
hold dear—and married the man of her choice.
And she is happy—tar happier than many who
are “in the swim.” When some one said to
her: “ Why did you make the choice you did?
Why refuse so much that most girls value
dearly?” She replied: “I married for two
things—character and morality. My husband
had them both and the other man didn’t. I
loved and respected one—the other I could not.
A Horrible French Love Powder.—
A curious instance of how deeply old supersti
tions are still rooted in remote parts of the
country, is a case which has iust been brought
before the magistrates of Marquet, in the de
partment of I.oiret, in France. A short time
ago the grave-digger of Fontenay-sur-Loing
said to some workmen with whom he was talk
ing at a Ferrieres factory. “ Perhaps you think
that dead men ’s bones are of no use to any one;
but you are mistaken; I have sold some to two
women from Ferrieres.” The police hearing of
this occurrence made inquiries, and the follow
ing facts were revealed: Tho women from Fer
rieres went to Fontenay-sur-Loing and asked
the grave-digger tor some human bones. At
first he refused, but wrh soon persuaded to
yield by an ample bribe. The women, who
passed in the district ’or sorceresses, returned
home, hiding the bones for a short time, and
then burning them and carefully gathering up
the cinders, their purpose being to prepare a
love draught for a young and pretty country
lass, who had ordered it to reconquer the heart
of a lover who had turned her off.
Natural Barometers. —ln the village
of Meyrin, in the canton ot Geneva, Switzer
land, some disused wells, it is said, have been
Hermetically sealed and devoted to the novel
purpose of serving as barometers to the people.
In this arrangement an orifice oi about on©
inch in diameter is made in the cover of tho
well, by means ot which the internal air is put
in communication with the external. When
the air pressure outside diminishes on the ap
proach of a storm, the air in the well escape®
and blows a whistle in connection with the ori
fice, and in this simple way notice of a storm’®,
approach is duly given to the inhabitants. But
if, on tho contrary, the pressure increases, a
sound of a different and well-understood char
acter is produced by the entry of the air into
the well, and tho probability of fine weather ia
announced.
The Inventions of a Blind Man.—
Herr Fortelka, a lieutenant m the Austrian
army, during the first campaign in Bosnia re
ceived a bullet in his right eye and speedily
became totally blind. Since bis blindness he
has invented, in addition to a magazine rifle, a
new micrometer, an apparatus for automatic
mapping, a new sort oi gunpowder, two ma
chines for the anti-oxidation ot metals at a
small cost, and a number of smaller devices.
“ Whenever great or minute measurements are
in question, ’’says Herr Fortelka, "those who sea
with their eyea are often wrong, while I, who
see with my fingers, am right.” The models of
his inventions have been entirely made by
himself with the help of pieces of wood, string
and wire.
Drinking Less Whisky. — Govern
ment statisticians find that since 1810 the use of
whisky has fallen off one-halt in tho United
States, while the use or wines has increased
about forty per cent. The consumption of beer
has increased from 1.36 gallons per capita in
1840 to 11.01 gallons per capita in 1886. This
may be considered a favorable showing, as there
is choice even of evils. Were those addicted to
the drinking habit to abstain entirely from the
use of whisky and confine their libations to the
wine cup or the beer mug, drunkenness would
be less frequent than it now is. It is asserted
that the police records of large cities show that
the number of arrests for drunkenness has des
creased quite steadily since 1810.
A B VTTLF.SNAKE IN A MAIL FoUCH.—<
After the mail train on the Central Railroad had
passed Morrow’s Station, Ga., recently, Rail
road Postmaster Milner unlocked the mail
pouch banded on at that station. On turning
back the fiat of the pouch out sprang a rattle
snake about twelve inches long and struck at
the postmaster. This so surpised him that it
is said be jumped backward the whole length
of the car, so that lor a while the snake had
complete possession of Uncle Sam’s mail. Tho
commotion soon alarmed some of tho passen
gers, who killed the reptile. How the snake
got into the mail pouch is a mystery.
Extract of Whale. — Bedford is
interested over the prospect ot a new industrv.
It is discovered that extract o whale is quite
as good as beet extract, and much more ecq
nomical. A wh de weighing 200 tons yields
.5,000 pounds ot extract, and one po ind of ex*
tract makes 100 pints of soup. Thus one whale
will furnish 50P,0u0 people with dinners, and
100 whales will give all the people in the United
States old enough to eat soup, one comfortable
meal apiece, ami 5,200 whales won 11 give us a
whale-soup dinner once a week. There’s mil
lions in it.
An Ingenious Trick. —The llnngarjan
conjuror, who invented the vanishing lady
trick, has lately brought out one still more in
genious and puzzling. He draws on tissue
paper, stretched over a light frame, suspended
from a wire, the outline oi a cocoon. The pa
per bursts and there comes through it a semi
globular body, to which he brings a very fragile
chair. Resting on the chair, the cocoon opens s .
and tho head and shoulders of a young girl,
dressed to imitate a butterfly, appears, ana the
applause begins.
An Undiscovered Assassin. — Paul
Feval, once the chief of the sensational school
of French fiction, but always the mildest of
men, was one of the undiscovered assassins of
Paris. He floored a footpad who attacked him,
with a vigorous kick, and left the fellow uncoh
soious. Next morning the police found the rob
ber dead, and search was made for the mur
derer. Feval did not give himself up, and no
one would have known of the adventure but
for a note found among the dead author’s pa
pers.
Navajo Indian Blankets.—Blankets
manufactured by the Navaio Indian women ot
Arizona are sought as curiosities by tourists.
The squaws card the wool, spin the yarn, and
weave the blankets with the aid of sharp
pointed sticks. It requires, according to the
size of the blanket, from thirty days to four
months’ time to m ike one. Hence they are very
valuable. So skilfully and firmly are tho
blankets made that they will shed water lot
twenty-four hours before they will leak.
A Joke Saved Lives. —A j arty of
young people from West Liberty, la., out "fish
ing recently, sought shelter from a shower
under a large tree. The young women sat in a
wagon from which the horses had been un
hitched. Some of the young men, by way of a
joke, seized the wagon and dragged it out into
the rain. They h:.d scarcely left the shelter of
the boughs when the tree wae struck by light*
ning. The two horses were killed, and several
of the young men were stunned.
A Salt Water Fact. —A now dUf
covery is that sea water may be made drinkable
by the use ot citrate of silver. By this mean*
chloride of silver is precipitated, and a harmless
mineral water is produced. An ounce Of
citrate makes halt a pint of water drinkable.
Want of Sleep
Is sending thousands annually to the
insane asylum ; and the doctors say thia
trouble is alarmingly on the increase.
The usual remedies, while they may
give temporary relief, are likely to do
more harm than good. What is needed
is an Alterative and Blood-purifier*!
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla is incomparably
the best. It corrects those disturbances
in the circulation which cause sleepless,
ness, gives increased vitality, and re«
stores the nervous system to a healthful
condition. |
Rev. T. G. A. CotO, agent of the Mass,
Home Missionary Society, writes that
his stomach was out of order, his sleep
very often disturbed, and some im.
purity of the blood manifest; but that
a perfect cure was obtained by the use
of Ayer’s Sarsaparilla, ffi
f Frederick W. Pratt, 424 Washington
street, Boston, writes: “My daughter
was prostrated with nervous debility*
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla restored her to
health.” . i
William F. Bowker Erie, Pa., was
cured of nervousness and sleeplessness
by taking Ayer’s Sarsaparilla for about
two months, during which time hi*
weight increased over twenty pounds ’
Ayer’s Sarsaparilla,
FRET ABED BV 4
Dr. J. C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mast ’
6cld by all Druggists. Price *1; six wUles,fC -