The Western advance. [volume], May 30, 1874, Image 1

About The Western advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1872-1874

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VOLUME II.
jfi/if/o? $tiscellmti.
SPRING FLOWERS.
BT AUGUSTUS WATTEI19
OB I dainty babv foresters.
That bide in silent nooks.
That linger by the cow-paths,
And peep Into the brooks
To me you are the warders
Of the realm of Long Ago,
At whose soft beck unnumbered forms
Like shadows come and go.
By mossy rocks and noddiag ferns
Yon lift your timid eyes,
And by the wounded maple-trees
In smiling groups arise
No more the shrieking winter winds
Affright the naked woods,
But all the scented airles are gay
With Flora's dappled hoods.
Though years have sped sincefirstfor me
You made the meadows bright.
And many sunset-get tinted dream
Has faded Into night,
Still do I hail with boyish love
The violets' sweet perfume
Still joy to see the crocus burst
Like Lazarus from the tomb.
I thrill to see the buds again
Upon the apple-tree.
Where every branch is eloquent
Of glories yet to be
Where soon the winged Argonauts,
From lands beyond the main.
Will sing their merry love-songs,
And build their homes again.
I trace the tints of deathless Hope,
Sweet flowers, in all your beauty
You come as meek interpreters
of man's exalted duty.
You whisper of a dawning heaven
Beneath us as above,
When earth shall melt with poetry,
And man be full of love.
—Christian Union.
A CHICAGO STORY.
HENRY DELARRE is well known in this
city. This recital will make him better
known. He was and is as much a gentle
man of means and leisure as anything
else though when he is busied with any
occupation it is that of real estate. His
circle of intimate acquaintances is not
very extensive. He has a fewfirm,warm
friends but were he once more to drop
out ot life as suddenly and completely as
is narrated in this story he would be
hardly missed. In a fortnight he would
be forgotten for business men forget as
water runs—smoothly and swiftly.
Delarre is young and handsome.
Likewise he is in love. Combine in a
man lucre, love and loveliness, and he be
comes irresistible. These very attributes
nearly brought him to death. At the
same time they unquestionably saved his
lite. Keeping these preliminaries in
mind the reader can understand his ad
venture.
In the West Division, near the corner of
Madison and Halsted, was located six
months ago the millinery establishment of
Mrs Albert Larken. Among the employes
was Miss Bessie Shannon, a quiet, black
haired and black-eyed girl of twenty-two
or three years of age, tall, stately, and
remarkably good-looking. If she had not
possessed these attractions possibly De
larre in his passing the store, in his
meeting her occasionally morning and
night as he went from his home to busi
ness, might have felt no desire to make
her acquaintance and finally to fall in love
with her and she might have become
the wife of a commonplace Smith, Jones,
or Brown without being the heroine she
now is. As it happily transpired, De
larre did become enamored of her and
she of him, to their mutual joy and sor
row Their love-poem ran its rhythmical
lines for four months, or until the first
day of May. Each was happy according
to their temperaments. The man made a
business of his affection and thought
nothing too good for her. The woman
set him up in her heart as an idol and
worshiped the lively, generous and
whole-souled man.
On thefirstday of May Henry Delarre
disappeared as completely and mysteri
ously as if he had fallen into a fiery fur
nace and been consumed. The last per
son who saw him, so far as known, was
Miss Bessie Shannon, whom he left at the
threshold of her own home on Friday
evening, May 1. She said "goodby,"
lingered at the door until she saw him
turn the corner, and then with a light
heart turned away from her departing
lover and the fate toward which he was
moving. Mr. Delarre did not appear at
home that night nor was he to be found
at his place of business or elsewhere the
following day. His room was in its usual
orderly array. His office showed no evi
dence of flight. His bank account had no
heavy drafts against it, and his business
was prosperous. All these facts were dis
covered within two hours on the morning
of Saturday, just two weeks ago. While
alarm was felt forhis safety by his friends,
their apprehensions were kept front Miss
Shannon and from the world. It was
thought for a time that he might have
been unexpectedly called into the country
on business but dispatches sent to the
various points where he was most likely
to go failed to discover any clew to his
whereabouts. And when, in the course of
a casual conversation with his betrothed,
it was found when and where she saw him
last, his friends feared the worst. Adver
tisements were immediately placed in the
Sunday morning papers, and a large re
ward was offered to both the city and
private police, to incite them to every
effort to ascertain his fate. In justice to
the police it should be said that they
worked nobly, for Mr. Delarre was well
and favorably known by many on the
force. But every eftort wae in vain. Not
a trace could be obtained of the unfortu
nate man. The river was dragged as a
last resort, without other effect than to
disturb the body of an unfortunate suicide
reposing in its slimy bed.
The wild agony of Miss Shannon, when
she learned, Sunday night, of the disap
pearance of her lover, was indescribable.
For a few minutes she sat like a statue,
and then burst into lamentations which
were in themselves an affliction for those
compelled to remain at her side. The
whole night long she paced her room
sleepless, tearless, and tireless. Then, in
very weakness, she sank to sleep. From
that slumber she awoke a changed
woman, a stern look on her face and in
her eyes.
1 will find him, dead or alive," she
said to those at her side. "I* is my task,
my hope, my purpose in life. My only
obstacle will be the shortness of the
days."
The police are trying tofindhim,"said
Mr. Delarre, thefather.
"The police are stupid," she cried.
Henry has not dropped into the earth.
If he has been murdered, his body can be
found." And in that belief she began her
labors.
Tuesday morning a detective came to
Mr. Delarre.
441
think—and it's but a suspicion, sir,
mind you!—thatyourson'sbody is ata—"
The man faltered at the whitening face
before him and stopped.
p,roc
$ commanded Mr. Pejarre.
"Tell the worst}"
f\
It's a hard thing to say, Mr. Delarre."
Say it," was the father's reply, as he
clutched his chair with an involuntary
grasp.
Well, then, I think the body has been
taken to a medical college. As I said,
it's only a suspicion. Somebody's body
went there very quiet like."
14
Prove it," said Mr. Delarre, sternly.
There is my son's picture."
The man did not return. The body
was not that of his son. There was hope
in that failure. Miss Shannon had not
been inactive meanwhile. She had made
a mysterious journey to the South Side
and called at the office of Mr. Wyndart, a
lawyer. Out of town," was the reply
made to her. From that office she sought
a detective, in company with an acquaint
ance, whom she left in an ante-room.
Too will follow thisman f" she asked
of the detective at the conclusion of her
interview.
Of course. But, if you will permit
me the question, why do you suspect
him*"
"Because he is a rejected lover, and
therefore am enemy of Mr. Delarre. Fur
thermore," opening a small paper box,
here is a shirt stud which I found in the
gutter, nearly half a block distant from
the corner. As you may see, it has been
wrenched from the fastening, apparently.
Try these clews and let me know!" With
that much information for a corner-stone
for her plan Miss Shannon went to the
house of Mr. Delarre.
It was while she was there that Mr.
Delarre was summoned to the door by a
man who declined to enter. Miss Shan
non, suspicious and watchful, contem
plated him from a parlor window.
You have lost your son!" asserted the
man, a slim, flashily-dressed young fel
low, who kept his hat slouched over his
face and his body at a remarkable dis
tance, for conversational purposes, from
Mr. Delarre.
tfes," said the latter.
And the reward is—"
One thousand dollars."
The man came a little nearer, but still
kept out of reach. Make it $5,000 and
your son shall be here to night."
Unwisely, as it proved, the old gentle
man did not exercise his powers of diplo
macy, but in the excitement -of the an
nouncement thus strangely expressed he
made a dash at his visitor, who, however,
ran swiftly down the steps and into the
street and was out of sight in less than
half a minute, leaving Mr. Delarre tremb
ling and speechless with excitement.
Miss Shannon had seen the actions of
each without comprehending their pur
port or hearing the words, and when Mr.
Delarre told the story of the interview
she upbraided him for his haste.
But never mind," she said, consoling
ly we shall hear more if Harry is alive.
Let us be patient—that is, as patient as
we can!"
The next morning there was found un
der the door a note promising the deliv
ery of Mr. Henry Delarre, alive, for the
sum of $8,000, answer to be given in a
personal" in a daily newspaper. That
note was handed to the police, and an an
swer by them placed in the paper named,
without result. On Thursday morning
another note was as mysteriously deliv
ered, in which the sum was placed at
$10,000, and the same request as before
was appended. It was committed as be
fore to the police, with the same results.
By this time the father despaired. Every
one seemed powerless to entrap the seem
ing kidnapers. Miss Shannon's scheme
was proven a failure for the man shehad
suspected was in New Orleans, and had
been there for a month. As for the cor
respondents of Mr. Delarre, senior, she be
lieved them to be nothing more nor less
than blackmailers. Two days passed
away without a letter and without news.
Sunday morning came. With it a note.
It demanded $15,000, or, if that sum was
not forthcoming, the father could have
the dead body of his son. The old gen
tleman was distracted. He raved about
the horror of such a happening in Chicago
about the inefficiency of the police
about his son, whom he pictured as dying
or dead about his own powerlessness,
and, as a conclusion to his madness, he
prepared an advertisement accepting the
terms.
Miss Shannon, in company with George
Delarre, a lad of fifteen, herself carried
this acceptance to the office of the paper.
It was already dark, and the street-lamps
were lighted. The streets were compara
tively deserted. The restaurants and
lunch-rooms were thronged, however. As
she passed one of them a man came slow
ly forth bearing in his hands a basket
covered with a white cloth. As he
passed beneath the overhanging lamp she
recognized the face. It was that ot the
person who had attempted to bargain
with Mr. Delarre, on his own thteshold,
for the return of her lover. With a calm
ness that made every muscle a thread of
steel she allowed him to increase the dis
tance between them, while, with a word
of caution to her companion, she followed.
Down this street and that moved this
triplet, one ahead and two in pursuit.
The man seemed absorbed in his own
meditations, for he never noticed their
presence, but hummed and whistled to
himself as he went along. He reached
Fifth avenue, turned to the north and
crossed the street. Miss Shannon fol
lowed in the distance, on the other side
of the street, nearly a block behind. She
hoped, but vainly, for the presence of a
policeman. The man with the basket
crossed Lake street. She saw him as he
crossed, saw him as plainly as she noted
the boy at her side yet, in the twinkling
of an eye, the man disappeared. She
stopped, confounded by the suddenness
of his exit. Had the earth opened and
swallowed him Had he been caught
from heaven by an unseen hand? For
the first time the woman was afraid. Not
a soul was that momentin sight. Yetthe
man was gone—gone while she was
hoping and planning for his arrest. She
went a little distance down Lake street,
then turned and traveled up the avenue.
The jagged ruins at the corner cast gi
gantic dancing shadows on the flickering
gas-lights but no man with a basket
stole forth out of the gloom.
"Heaven help me!" moaned the poor
girl. I have lost him when I would
rather have lost my life."
At the alley she stood for a minute ir
resolute and despairing. Then, thinking
the man might have gone that way, she
went east in the alley for perhaps 200 feet,
all the while in the dark and trembling
with fear. Suddenly the boy at her side
clutched her arm.
"Look there, Bess'" he whispered,
pointing to the pile of masonry which
held three or four old vaults, unleveled
relics of the great fire. "Look there,
quick!" he repeated. In the direction
indicated hung what seemed a- thread of
fire against the ruins. It was gone almost
as soon as seen. At the same instant
the gouml of muffled voices came
out of the gloom of the ruins. In
stinctively she read the secrets of those
vaults. Stooping, she whispered to the
boy to run for the police.
Get as many as you can!" she said.
Be quick!" As the boy sped away at a
break-neck speed she crouched in the
shadow of a door way. She watched and
listened. No hunted hare was more eager
or more vigilant. Once she heard, or fan
cied she heard, a groan, and a wild cry for
help came to her lips. But she bit them
savagely and held it back. She would
have died before she would have made a
noise to alarm whoever haunted that neg
lected ruin. Suddenly four dark figures
stood beside her—three men and a boy—
and they were George Delarre and the
police.
What's the matter said one of the
men, gruffly. She put her hand over his
mouth and her lips to his ear.
Have you heard of Henry Delarre?"
she demanded. She felt his head nod «n
assent. Then get two more men. I ou'U
find him in the vault. Don't make a noise.
Let your comrades stay here and watch.
Now go! Hurry!" and she gave him a
vigorous push. He was back in a minute
with two men.
"They're off duty," he said, "but this
is paying business."
A minute of whispering and then the
four policemen crept down among the
ruins and passed into the darkness. Some
minutes of terrible suspense and waiting,
and then a sharp outcry, punctuated by
pistol shots. Crazed by the reports and
by the suspense she dashed down among
the debris, stumbling, falling, cutting and
bruising herself. More cries, more shots,
a glare of light from a suddenly opened
door of iron, that clanged back against
the brick-work—then a shout of victory.
She plunges forward until under the vault,
where the light burns brightly. There,
looking up, she sees three men bound
hand and foot. One of these men is he
whom she had followed a few minutes
previously. The second man she does
not know, but the third is Henry Delarre,
blanched as white as snow.
"I didn't think," remarked Delarre,
telling his story in court yesterday, "that
they intended any harm until they found
who I was,«nd that I was rich. When I
turned the corner after leaving Miss Shan
non four men stood by a hack talking
and laughing. One of them spoke to me
insolently, and I replied. Before I could
resist I was thrown into the hack. From
that hour until Friday night I ate and
slept in that closed hack, under guard,
pinioned and gagged, and driven every
where in the city by day, and concealed
in a lonely house on the outskirts at
night. Friday these men carried me to
that vault, where I lay for two days, nearly
devoured by rats and choked with damp
ness. Nothing was said to me about my
ransom. I now believe the prisoners in
tended to kill me."
The kidnapers were remanded for trial
at tLe next term of the Criminal Court,
one of them being recognized as one of
the most notorious cracksmen in the
country, and just out of a five-year term
at the Penitentiary. The second man has
been a patrolman. The other two men
engaged in the conspiracy will probably
be caught, as they have not left the city.
—Chicago Post and Mail.
Regularity.
VERT few persons understand how
greatly health and happiness in this world
depend upon the regularity of daily
habits—the constant recurrence of those
events which we are apt to refer to as tire
some and monotonous. During the early
and later periods of life this "even tenor"
is essential to our well-being and though
we may feel like kicking the traces when
at the summit of power and activity, and
sometimes fly off at tangents, or get rid of
our superfluous energies in odd and eccen
tric ways, yet we usually come back, or
at least try to come back, to our moorings,
and gladly accept the treadmill path of
daily duty, which, if it brings no ecstatic
pleasure, leaves no remorse.
To infancy, absolute regularityinhabits
of food, sleep, clothing and cleanliness
cure many ills and lay the foundation of
a useful and honored life. This is the
task of the intelligent mother, and to no
person less competent should it be dele
gated. Feed a child with healthful food,
cooked in precisely the same way, at ex
actly recurring intervals put it to sleep
with faithful minuteness in regard to
time have its clothesuniformly protective
and comfortable, not too cool, and not ex
haustive from warmth give it fresh air,
either in well-ventilated rooms or out
doors every day bathe it at night in tepid,
in the morning in cold water, and the
child will grow thriving and healthy and
happy.
But there must be no cessation by even
so much as the failure to scald a cup. or a
saucepan in the routine there must be no
careless use sometimes of warm, some
times of cold water, or, again, the omis
sion of the bath altogether. The food
must be prepared in the same way, with
the same nicety of proportion, or evil re
sults will, as they do, most surely follow.
Only faithful intelligence can work itself
out by such exact processes, though we all
enjoy more than we think, being subjected
to them.
Everyone pan understand howdisagree
able it would be not to be able to make
sure of one's dinner to be deprived of
bed and sleep to lose the enjoyment of
abundance of good water, a daily bath
and a daily paper but upon the recur
rence of how many more and much
smaller minutia do we depend for our
daily comfort? We like certain kinds of
bread at ev«ry meal, we want meat always
cooked in certain favorite ways, and we
expect to find it so as naturally as we ex
pect the sun to shine. We get used to
seeing certain things in certain places^
and we would not miss them upon any
account. A tree, a bush, a picture or a
chair which occupies the same place for
years acquires a value to our conscious
ness which only the habit of seeing it can
give it. The world seems very large in
growth and lull of* many and varied in
terests, but it contracts as we grow older
and the objects of value to us narrow
themselves down to thosewhich we know
to be real and which form our lives. Nat
urally, as these grow fewer in number
they grow dearer, and the more we dis
like to miss them from sight and sense.
No lives are so happy as those that are so
well ordered that there is little to resign,
and to which, therefore, every year bringB
added interest and added enjoyment In
the regular discharge of individual and
social duty.—N. 7. Ghra'phic.
Ax Iowa jury decided in a breach of
promise case: "Wefindhim guilty and
think three steers will cover the dam
AJS HVrEI?E]NIEIJ*r N E W S A E
WORTHINGTON, NOBLES CO., MINN., SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1874.
A Conrland Peasant-Wedding.
Courland is inhabited by a mixed peo
ple: the nobility and middle class are
almost wholly German,While the peasants
are for the most part Lettonians, or, per
haps more properly, Courlanders. This
race belongs to the Lithuanian family,
whose branches are found in EastPrussia,
North Poland, and WestRussia they all
have a language peculiar to themselves,
as well as a common origin. And, in
many things, the customs also of these
peasants are very different from those of
their German neighbors. Indeed, in those
districts inhabited exclusively by them
selves, they still live quite as their fathers
did generations ago which, in many par
ticulars, to us seems strangeenough. For
example, according to our notions of pro
priety, marriage proposals may be made
by men only the Lithuanians think dif
ferently. Among them the girls, as well
as the young men, select their partners
for life, and it is not looked upon as at all
improper or indelicate for the girl to
propose. Nor is she in any degree dis
graced or made a subject of ridicule if she
is so unfortunate as to be rejected among
the many from whom she can choose.
She readily finds another, provided
always that her pretensions are supported
by something of this world's goods, but
here a little suffices. The ownership of a
cow, in most cases, is sufficient.
Preliminaries being settled between a
couple who are disposed to make the
matrimonial venture together, the cere
monial begins. The bridegroom chooses
two so-called good-men" and one of the
other sex, with whom he approaches the
residence of his lady-love, who, when she
sees him coming, hastens to run away
and hide. Meantime the lover waits at
the gate, while his escort enters the house,
where they are received most cordially,
and shown into the best room. There
their spokesman makes a formal speech,
in which he says that on the way they
.saw a beautiful bird (sometimes a hand
some fox), which, however, they suddenly
lost sight of and as they have looked
everywhere else for it in vain, they are
convinced it must have concealed itself
in this house. The parents and relations
of the girl protest that they have seen
nothing of the kind, and that their neigh
bors must be in error. The neighbors,
however, are not to be convinced, and
justify their persistency by stating that
they have seen the animal's tracks
on the premises. The parents are
greatly surprised, and no longer
hesitate to allow an immediate and
thorough search to be made. And now
the chase begins. The girl will appear
very bashful and coy she runsfrom room
to room, her pursuersclose after her. Fi
nally she is driven into the most remote
corner, when she surrenders, but not
wholly. The woman who is one of the
pursuing trio now puts a silk kerchief
around her neck, which she spitefully
tears off and throws as far away from her
as possible. Again it is put around her
neck and again she tears it off but the
third time she allows itto remain, thereby
intimating that she finally yields to her
suitor's oft-repeated importunities.
Now she is led to the room where the
parents wait, and where now the lover
makes his appearance. Here the couple
exchange breezen, that is, silver or tin
buckles, which serve to hold a cloak or
shawl together, and the bridegroom re
ceives from his lady-love eithei a pair of
stockings or mittens, of her own knitting,
of course.
They are now husband and wife. As
for the church ceremony, that sometimes
does not take place till months after
ward.
The weddings are usually in the
autumn, because the peasants are then,
after the harvest, best off, and because
their cattle are the fattest. The day be
fore the wedding ceremony the relations
of the bridegroom meet at his house,and,
after having fortified themselves with
drinks all round," they mount their
horses and ride to the house of the bride.
Here they find a numerous company as
sembled, and now, until late in the night,
they feast, dance and make merry. Early
the following morning they all start for
the church, which not unfrequently is
several miles away. The procession is
led by a so-called disehias teeddeis, i. e., a
Chief-leader. He is followed by the mar
shals, each with a white kerchief tied
over his shoulder like a sash. Behind
the marshals come the guests on horse
back or in wagons, well provided with
pistols or loud-cracking whips, in order
that they may make themselves heard.
They finally arrive at the church, when,
after the sermon is over, the ceremony
takes place. Here, as in all countries and
at all times, on like occasions, all eyes
are on the bride, who, among the be
decked, is most bedecked. On her head
she wears a crown like structure of tinsel
and her face is thickly powdered with
rye-flour, through which, however, the
sun-browned skin can be plainly seen.
As soon as the ceremony is over, the
bridegroom seizes his bride firmly by the
hand, as though he were fearful some one
might rob him of her, and leads her out
of the church. The procession now starts
back in the order it came to the house of
the bride, where the wedding feast is cele
brated.
While at the table all try to rob the
bride of her wreath, and, If the attempt
prove successful, it is hung on a nail,
which, for this purpose, has been driven
into the wall behind her seat. A deal of
cunning and cleverness is displayed in
this endeavor, and the repeated failures
make good sport for the guests and win
round after round of applause for the
wary bride. After a time the marshals,
who have not been at the table, enter the
room carrying in each hand three or four
lighted candles and sing a stanza the bur.
den of which i9: We come to you
{it/jly
olitely and modestly, modestly and po
we hope you'll receive us. To all
we wish well, to no one ill long life and
good health to the bride and bridegroom!
Heisa! Viva!" At the last words each
one takes his bridesmaid and waltzeswith
her around the room, still holding in his
hand the burning candles, one of
which he throws aside at the end of the
dance. After the young couple have been
complimented in this manner, the seng
and dance are repeated in honor of the
guests, one after the other, according to
their social position meantime the poor
girls are compelled to submit to having
their best frocks daubed with candle
grease from head to foot. This ceremony
ended, the dancing becomes 'general
among the young people, whilethepapas
and mammas remain at the table.
A similar merry bout takes place at
the house of the bridegroom, whither the
whole company usually repair toward
evening. When the bride arrives there,
she is first driven to the klete, an out
house, in which grain, farming utensils,
etc., are stored. The disehias Weddeis
cute, or rather hacks, three crosses in the
door, after which she enters to glance
hastily at the valuables her marriage
gives her an interest in. From there she
is driven to the house, where, after spring
ing out of the wagon aa quickly as she
can, she loosens a certain portion of the
horse's harness. The more quickly she
does this, the more happiness she is like
ly to have in her married life.—Apple
ions* Journal.
The Wrong Overcoat.
When Dr. Smith was a schoolboy the
copies in his writing-book must have
been: Time and tide wait for no man
Procrastination is the thief of time,"
and those other proverbs about taking
time by the forelock" and using time as
it flies, for he always had the habit of be
ing on hand bright and early, whether
the occasion were a journey, a wedding,
or a dinner party.
Once*when he was going to see some
friends*a day's journey from home he
practiced not only the spirit but the let
ter of all the injunctions as to the pro
crastination proverb and the other. His
traveling bag was packed about a week
before the day's journey was to be taken
and oh, how much in the way that bag
seemed to be! How dusty it became
and how many scratches it received as
one person would stumble over it, then
another and every time it would be
moved out of the way, until at last, when
it was put in one corner, Buff, the house
dog, seemed to think it was a black cat
and barked at it most fiercely at a dis
tance, as he always did at real cats, for
fear of their spitting at him and tearing
his long hair.
After the traveling-bag was packed it
was decided in family council that the
doctor needed a new overcoat. So the
cloth was bought, the coat cut, taken to a
tailoress and at last begun, nothing re
maining to be done but to wait patiently
until it could be finished. At last the
doctor's fears were at an end, his desires
and hopes realized and the coat was
brought home. It was tried on, and after
it had been pulled up here and jerked
down there it was pronounced a fit by all
the spectators.
How fresh and clean it looked! What
a pity that it should be covered with the
dust and smoke of travel! And how long
it was "just the latest style," daughter
Bessy remarked, thinking of her father's
old, old coat that had served many a good
turn.
At last the anticipated day arrived, and
everything was in readiness. Breakfast
had been eaten and the different members
of the family had assembled to drop the
parting tear." The bag that had been
packed so long was placed by the front
door, and Buff barked at it again, still
thinking it was a cat the new overcoat
was on a chair with the doctor's Sunday
hat, ready to be put on when the time
came. In the pockets of the coat were
the articles that were considered indis
pensable for pleasure, comfort and con
venience during the journey—a bunch of
cigars and a box of matches a railroad
guide and the morning paper the key to
the traveling-bag a clean handkerchief
and a spectacle case all were safely
stowed away and nothing more was to be
done until it was time to go. Louisa re
marked that if she only had on her boots
instead of her slippers, and had her hair
arranged nicely, she would go to the de
pot with her father. Suddenly a whistle
of a locomotive was heard, loud and clear
and shrill, as if a train was close at hand)
Such a commotion ensued! Dr. Smith
snatched up his bag, cane and umbrella,
and what he supposed was his new over
coat, lighted his cigar, kissed whoever
presented herself and rushed out of the
house as if his life depended on his ut
most speed.
Daughter Bessy looking out from her
chamber window, where Buff was barking
a farewell, saw her father rushing out of
the gate, his coat-skirts flying, his bag,
cane and umbrella in hand, and in his
mouth the inevitable cigar, which sent
out clouds of smoke, the whole figure
looking like a locomotive well under
way.
"But what is the matter with the new
overcoat?" Bessy said to herself. It is
about afoot shorter than the under one,
and I noticed particularly the proper
length of the skirt whenthe coat was tried
on!"
Just then a cry of dismay, regret and
perplexity arose from the members of the
family down-stairs, who were bringing
order out of chaos in the doctor's room,
where there seemed to have been an earth
quake. Pa has taken the wrong over
coat!" screamed Louise below to Bessy
above, and the mystery was solved as to
the peculiar appearance of the locomo
tive."
Another representation of a locomotive
dashed out of the gate!
Louise, although with slippers on her
feet, longed more for a spring in her gait
than for boots and what if she hadn't the
last Style of waterfall on her head, if she
had a notion in it that she could reach
the depot with the coat before the train
could, even if a creek in h«.r back was the
consequence! So, away she ran, without
hat or shawl, laughing at the strange
appearance she presented, and still more
at the flying and smoking figure before
her.
Wings seemed to be lent to her feet,
and she hastened on, calling, "P-a-a!"
while the locomotive, which was all this
time advancing rapidly, seemed to take
up the refrain and to scream, "Pa-a-a-a!"
like the cock in a famous riddle that
spoke one word and all the world heard
it. Nearer and nearer came the scream
ing engine and thundering train faster
and faster ran the doctor, while visions of
the tableaux "Too late for the train
John Gilpin," and A race for a sweet
heart" were forcibly presented toLouisa's
mind. As the train came around a curve
that was quite near the depot Louisa, al
most exhausted with running and scream
ing and laughing, made a final trial, and
nearly equaled the locomotive with her
screams. Her father stopped and looked
around took in the whole situation at a
glance tore off the wrong overcoat, threw
the right one over his arm and rushed on
again, at4ast reaching the depot just in
time to see the train go by to find
that it was a freight train and that the
one he was-to go in would be on time in
fifteen minutes \—Hearth and Home.
—About eleven o'clock one night a
policeman met a negro carrying a trunk
along the street, and, thinking he had dis
covered an item, he collared the negro
and told him to drop that trunk and ex
plain. I kin do it, sah," replied the
strangeraS he put the trunk down. "De
family what wae-boarding, me has been
axing for money, and as dey was gwyne
out to-night I thought I'd git into some
family whar dey respected, de panic," He
was allowed to go on.
CURRENT ITEMS.
To PLEASE a woman let her do as she
pleases.
DIAMONDS are cheaper now than ever
before.
A SHALL gold hand holding a pearl is
new in ear-rings.
EXPENSIVE marriage ceremonies are
pronounced snobbish.
WHAT three letters denote strength and
activity?" N. R. G. (energy.)
NECESSITY knows no law, but law
knows a good deal of necessity.
THE spanking period is appropriately
called the palmy days of childhood.
AN anti-cremation philosopher living
near Lake Erie thinks the dead should be
drowned.
LEISURE is sweet to those who have
earned it, but burdensome to those who
get it for nothing.
ADVERTISEMENTS printed in Chinese
characters are beginning to appear in the
California papers.
MAPLE-SUGAR is so plenty in Vermont
this season that the girls are 20 per cent,
sweeter than usual.
A LADY lecturer believes that women
ought to retain their own names when they
et married. She has retained hers thus
ar.
INVISIBLE purple gloves are worn by
ladies in mourning in preference to the
dead black gloves that are so apt to
crack.
QUIZ believes in cremation, for the
benefit of the soap trade. He knows lots
of people whose ashes would make splen
did lye.
THE business of swallowing needles,
long monopolized by human beings, re
cently commended itself to a Vermont
heifer, which ate a glove needle and
died.
THE last smart old man lives in Au
gusta County, Va. He is ninety-one years
of age, and made his own coffin the other
day.
THE adventurous fellow who attempted
to steal a red-hot stove must take aback
seat, since William A. Meyers, of Pleas
antville, Pa., is on trial for stealing nitro
glycerine.
MR. JNO. S. JONES, of Stafford, N. H.,
says that the fire inahis house has not
gone out for forty-five years. Mr. Jones
uses an open fire-place and covers the
fire at night.
IT is an old saying that every pound
of sugarmade from the maple in the spring
robs the farmer of a bushel of wheat.
That is, good sugar-making weather is
bad for the wheat crop.
LOVE your neighbor as yourself—bor
row his plow, hoe, or horses whenever
you can but if he wants to borrow
yours, tell him that you are very sorry,
but you were just going to use it your
self.
THE newest ear-rings in Paris are ot
bone. They are cut in the ferm of many
pointed stars tipped with different colors.
A small star fastens in the lobe of the ear,
and a larger one hangs underneath. They
are very odd and very pretty.
AND now it is Mrs. Betsey Hobbs, of
Clinton, Me., eighty-two years old, who,
during the past eighteen months, with
the assistance of her daughter, has made
between 900 and 1,000 pairs of pants, be
sides doing the work necessarily falling
mpon a farmer's wife."
THERE is an elm eighty-four years old
and about six feet in diameter at Frank
lin, N. H., and the man near whose house
it stands says that when he was a boy he
pulled it up," which made his father so
mad that he walloped him with it and
then set it out again.
THE public have got so accustomed to
hearing these disagreeable weather stories
that they won't mind somebody's recall
ing that sixteen inches of snow fell at
Middlebury, N. H, Mav 15,1834, and it
snowed all day at Brandon on the 11th of
June, 1842, the whole fall being five or
six inches.
A CONNECTICUT teacher, who has seen
the thing tried, s*jw that the best plan for
promoting good order, tidiness and ease
in conversation among the pupils in a
school is to place one of each sex at the
same desk, allowing them to assist each
other at their lessons and to select new
partners at the end of each month if they
desire it.
A MAN recently visiting one of the cem
eteries in Portland, Me., overheard a
thrice-made widow, not yet old or home
ly, who was standing beside three mounds,
remark to a gentleman, who was known
to have been attentive to the widow in
her youth: Joe, you might have been in
that row had you possessed a little more
courage."
A BLUSTERING stranger dropped in at a
Broughton street store yesterday, and,
after asking for a number of articles not
in the stock, finally inquired of the pro
prietor if he had a goose-yoke. The mer
chant returned a negative reply, but in
formed the stranger it he would wait long
enough to have his neck measured he
would accommodate him. The stranger
simmered.—Savannah News.
THE sphygmiograph is the hard name
of anew medico-scientific instrument. Its
presence is to mark and register the pul
sations of the wrist. It is a very delicate
and intricate piece of mechanism, pro
pelled by clock-work, and bythe tracking
of a pencil on apiece of paper the force
of the heart-beats is recorded. It is
chiefly useful in showing the effect of
different medicines on the nervous sys
tem.
THE meanest man in Newport, R. I.,
so far as heard from, is a landlord who
tried to drown out one of his tenants who
was sick with consumption. The tenant
fell four months in arrears, but his friends
made up the money, whereupon the land
lord demanded an increase of the rent,
and, on their refusal to pay, went into the
story above the sick man and deluged the
floor with water, which ran down intothe
sick man's room.
MRS. WILLIAM DINSMORE, of Sutton,
Vt., has spent several years' labor on a
quilt, which now eontains 2,334 pieces,
each of which differs in color and figure
from every other, and some of which
show the various fashions from Queen
Elizabeth's time down to the presentday.
Nearly every State in the Union and
some of the Territories, the British Prov
inces, Mexico and most of the South
American States are represented in the
quilt, while the flags of many countries
are pictured, and one square of the quilt
was made in Brigham Young's family.
THE Springfield Republican collects
some tough May weather stories from the
Massachusetts papers. Chairman of the
Selectmen Hall, of Tyringham, was
called upon on the 10thtohelp the Becket
town Fathers clear two miles of road,
more impassible from snow than at any
NUMBER 38.
time during the winter, whilelumbermen
in Peru were hauling logs on sleds on the
9th. At Otis one of the common schools
is said to have been unable to commence
on the 11th because the children couldn't
get over the snow-drifts. Mt. Washington
reported the snow hub-deep" in many
places on the mountain road on the 9th,
and travelers had to turn into thefieldsin
spots, while ten-foot snow-drifts were in
order on the 11th.
A QUEER MISTAKE.—The Oswego Times
says: "A prominent'moneyed man' in
this city who had invested quite largely
in the bonds of a neighboring town cut
off the April coupons of his bonds of a
certain denomination and placed them
with a bank in this city. The bank, of
course, sent them to New York for pay
ment. In a few days the sank officers
were surprised by the return of the cou
pons with word that they 'would bepaid
when due.' On examining them it was
found that they were payable in 1887.
The same mistake, of course, occurs in
all the bonds of that denomination of
that issue. The printer made a mistake
by the use of wrong figurw, and that is
how a certain rich man must hold on'
for awhile before he gets his April in
terest."
A Terrible Story.
MR. WEBSTER, Broughty Ferry, near
Dundee, has received a letter from his
son, who was second mate of the Clyde
ship Arracan, burned at sea on her voy
age from Shields to Bombay with coals.
The Arracan left Shields on the 11th of
September last. On the 14th of February
her cargo ignited. On the 20th she was
on fire from stem to stern and the crew
were compelled to abandon her. They
left in three boats. The first, under the
eommand of the Captain, was picked up
by the City of Poonah, and the men were
landed at Aden the gig, commanded by
the chief officer, madetheland at Cochin
but the pinnace, under the charge of the
second mate, Mr. Webster, provisioned
for only seventeen days, drifted about in
the Indian Ocean for thirty-three days
until fallen in with by the City of Man
chester and landed at Calcutta. When
picked up the poor fellows were 600
miles from the nearest land and were in a
sad condition. Mr. Webster, in his state
ment, sa)s:
In addition to myself there were three
men and a boy on board on the 10th of
March. The men cast lots as to who
should be killed, and the lot fell upon
the boy. I would not allow them to kill
him, and threatened to shoot thefirstman
who should lay a hand upon him. Things
went on in this way for two days, when
one of the men tried to sink the boat, and
said4ie would have the boy's life in twelve
hours. I presented my gun at him, and
had no sooner done so than a bird flew
over the boat. I fired and killed it. It
was instantly secured and devoured—
feathers, bones and all. We subsisted
after this on barnacles, which adhered to
the sides and bottom of the boat, and on
sea blubber, which was ravenously laid
hold of as it floated past. Delirious
with hunger, one of the men, named
Layford, asked to be killed. An
other, named Davies, struck him on
the head with a belaying pin. The blood
was caught in a tin and eagerly drank be
tween the two. I threw the tin overboard.
The same day these two men fought and
bit one another, then shook hands and
laughed and kissed each other like mad
men. At last" (says Mr. Webster) "we were,
through the mercy of God, picked up by
Captain Hardin, of the City of Manches
ter, by whom we were very kindly treated,
and brought to Calcutta."
The surgeon of the steamer which res
cued the men says theywere in a wretched
condition. They could notstand on their
feet, their eyes started from their sockets,
and they were perfect skeletons. Alto
gether they presented the most painful
sight he ever beheld. The most cautious
treatment had to be employed in bring
ing about their recovery.—Manchester
(Eng) Guardian.
A Cure for Hydrophobia*
The Salut Public, of Lyons, says Dr.
Buisson claims to have discovered a
remedy for this terrible disease, and to
have applied it with complete success in
many cases. In attending a female pa
tient in the last stage of canine madness
the doctor imprudently wiped his hands
with a handkerchief impregnated with
her saliva. There happened to be a slight
abrasion on the index finger of the left
hand, and, confident in his own curative
system, the doctor merely washed the
part with water. He was fully aware,
however, of the imprudence he had com
mitted, and gives the following account
of the matter afterward: Believing that
the malady would not declare itself until
the fortieth day, and having various pa
tients to visit, I put off from day to day
the application of my remedy—that is to
say, vapor baths. The ninth day, being
in my cabinet, I felt all at once a pain in
my eyes. My body felt so light that I
felt as if I could jump to a prodigious
height, or if thrown out of a window I
could sustain myself in the air. My hair
was so sensitive that I appeared to be
able to count each separately without
looking at it. Saliva kept continually
forming in my mouth. Any movement
of air caused great pain to me, and I was
obliged to avoid the sight of brilliant ob
jects. I had a continual desire to run
and bite-not human beings, but animals
and all that was near me. 1 drank
with difficulty, and I remarked
that the sight of water distressed me more
than the pain in my throat. I believe
that by shutting the eyes anyone suffering
from hydrophobia can always drink. The
fits came on every five minutes, and I
then felt the pain start from the index
finger and run up the nerves to the
shoulder. In this state, thinking that my
course was preservative, not curative, I
took a vapor bath, not with the intention
of cure, but of suffocating myself. When
the bathwas at the heat of 52.centrigrade
(93 3.5 Fahrenheit) all the symptoms dis
appeared as if by magic, and since then I
have never felt anything more of them. I
have attended more than eighty persons
bitten by mad animals, and have not lost
a single one." When a person is bitten
by a mad doghe must for seven successive
days take a vapor bath—" a 1% Ruise," as
it is called—of 57 to 63 degrees. This is
the preventive remedy. A vapor bath
may be quickly made by putting three or
four red-hot bricks in a bucket or tub of
water, and let the patient sit over it on a
cane-bottomed or willow chair, enveloped
in a large blanket, for fifteen or twenty
minutes. When the disease is declared
it only requires one vapor bath, rapidly
increased to 37 centrigrade, then slowly
to 53, and the patient must strictly confine
himselfjo .his chamber until the cure is
complete.