The Western advance. [volume], September 05, 1874, Image 1

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

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VOLUME II.
\ehqted ^Ibcclkuw.
THE HITHER SIDE.
BT JOHN W. CUADWICK.
CLIMBING the mountain's shaggy crest,
I wondered much what eight would greet
My eager gaze whene'er my feet
Upon the topmost height should rest.
The hither nidc wai all unknown
Hnt IIB I nlowly toiled along.
Sweeter to mc' than any nong
My dream of visions to be shown.
Meanwhile the mountain shrubs distilled
Their sweetnjss all along my way,
And the delicious summer day
My heart with rapture overfilled.
At length the topmost height was gained
The hither side was full in view
My dreams—not one or them was true,
I5ut bell IT lar had I attained.
For far and wide on cither hand
There "tretthed a \ulley broad and fair,
Willi greenness fln*hing c\erwhere—
A plea-ant, amiling, home-like "land.
Wlio knows, I thought, but so 'twill proAe
I |»oii that mountain-top of death.
Where we shall draw diviner breath.
And see the long-lost friends we love?
It may not he a» we have dreamed,
Not half so awful, strange and grand
A quiet, peaceful, home-like land,
Better than e'er in vNioii gleamed.
Meanw bile along our upward way
W bat beauties lurk, what \isfonn glow!
hatever •-ball be, this we know
Is butter than our lipu can say.
—Christian Union.
APPARENT DE1TH.
Tnrc fact that people are sometimes
buried alive, in consequence of a wrong
diagnosis, was known as far back as we
have any knowledge of the race, and was
early made the subject of serious inves
tigation. But the cases, so it was calcu
lated, iu which such an error was com
mitted are so exceedingly rare that the
danger arising from it is not greater than
that of being struck by a meteoric stone
or of being swallowed up by a chasm
suddenly made under our feet by an
earthquake.
So the matter stood when the cele
biated French physician, Thourct, in
1780, was commissioned to watch over
the new grounds of the Cimetiere des
Innocents," mainly for the purpose of
promoting the sanitary condition of the
tity. At that time the pick-ax and
shovel were busy in the older portion
of the cemetery, which had been used
for many generations, and many of the
gra\es were opened in order to remove
the skeletons to the Catacombs. Thou
rct availed himself of this opportunity
to investigate, and found, in seven or
eight ca^cs, convincing evidences that the
subjectq had been buried alive. The
skeletons iu these cases bore unmis
takable proofs of there having been a
death-struggle. Some of them lay on
the belly, and had bitten their fingers to
the bone in other cases the limbs were
drawn up against the coffin-lids, which,
in one or two instances, hud been broken,
unquestionably by a pressure from
within.
Thouret's discoveries created an im
mense sensation, and he himself became
so fearful that it might be his lot to
wake up in a coffin that he gave every
possible direction in his will to guard
against such an event. At the same
time the authorities made certain changes
in the laws regarding burials, and took
the necessary steps to have them more
generally obeyed. Burials were for
bidden before the third morning, or with
out a certificate from a physician. There
was a law to this effect previously, but
it had never been generally enforced,
and the lower orders almost universally
ignored it.
That, in the nineteenth century, de
spite all the precautionary measures that
have been adopted, such cases as those
verified by Dr. Thourct have occurred,
in all tl eir rightfulness, there is abun
dant proof. Among the best authenti
cated are the following:
In the year 1826, a young, robust priest,
named Donnet, stood in his pulpit
preaching a Lent sermon, when suddenly
his voice began to grow feeble, he
changed color, and in a few seconds fell
lifeless to the lldbr. In indescribable
consternation the congregation rushed
for the doors of the church. Two or
three of the more intelligent and less
superstitious hastened to assist the priest,
while others ran immediately for a
physician, who, however, did not arrive
for nearly an hour.
The physician examined the young
man very carefully, and finally an
nounced that, in his judgement, it was a
case of apoplexy, that death had ensued
almost instantly and that, of course, the
case was one for the undertaker, and not
for the doctor.
Two days later the priest was put into
a collin and carried to the church where
the terrible event had occurred. Right
and left burned the usual number of
tapers. Solemnly resounded the De pro
fundi* through the dimly-lighted halls.
The supposed dead man, who was aftcr
Avard a cardinal, tells us in his report to
the French Senate what he experienced
during these ceremonies. He saw and
heard everything that was going on
around him but no exertion of his will
was sufficient to affect the lethargy that
controlled his organism, llis despair
surpassed everything that human imag
ination can picture. He felt that he
must at any minute succumb to the ag
ony he suffered, and herein was his only
hope.
Suddenly he heard the voice of a friend
of his youth whom he had not seen for
years. The well-remembered tones
awakened a series of recollections which
contrasted so strongly with his present
situation, and produced so powerful an
effect upon him, that all at once his mus
cles again obeyed the mandates of his
will. He rose up and tried to make the
assistants understand that he was still, or
rather again, in the possession of his vi
tal energies but a cry of amazement and
horror ran through the church. On the
following day young Donnet was able to
resume his duties.
A Paris journalist named Alexander
Ducros in the year 1860 died, as was sup
posed, and was laid in state, after the
manner usually adopted with people of
note. Hundreds of his friends and ac
quaintances paid their last tribute of re
spect to the deceased, and entered their
names in a book that lay beside him to
receive them. Four or five days after
Avard, two young journalists Avho had
been among those who had paid their last
respects to their colleague met Alexan
der Ducros on the boulevards, apparently
in perfect health. They,, trembled and
stammered, as they would doubtless have
done' In the presence of a genuine appa
rition still, it was Ducros in person, and
not his spirit, Avho thus surprised them.
\i 'M 0
When they were about to lay him in his
coffin they noticed an almost impercep
tible movement of the lips. A physician
was called in who immediately employed
all the restoratives his ingenuity could
suggest, but at first without any apparent
effect. It was not until the second day
that the lethargy began to yield to their
efforts and yet, on the evening of the
third day, the patient was apparently as
well as usual.
In the same year the Countess Beni
celli Avas entombed, having died, it was
supposed, of cholera. The coffin was at
first deposited in a vault of the Campo
Santo, to be transferred thence to a
neighboring church. This was in Octo
ber. The final resting-place in the ca
thedral Avas ready during the following
February, when the coffin was removed
and opened. The body presented a hor
rible aspect. It Avas tolerably AVCII pre
served, but it bore abundant evidence of
there having been a terrible death-strug
gle. The face had clearly been torn by
the hands, the hair Avas in wild disorder,
and the right arm was broken. The un
fortunate lady had been the victim of a
nervous attack, and, on account of tho
prevailing epidemic, had been entombed
within twelve hours.
A countryman in Charlcs-Leres, near
Chateau-Thierry, who A\ as to have been
buried Dec. 27, 1866, was more for
tunate. Just as the priest arrived and
the funeral ceremonies was about to be
gin, the countryman rapped energetically
on the coffin-cover. He was, of course,
immediately released, when his first de
mand was for food. He ate a whole
roast chicken that had been prepared
for the funeral guests, and Avashed it
down with three pints of red wine, Avhich
he doubtless thought Avas the best evi
dence he could give his neighbors that
he Avas not dead, and had given up all
.thought of dying for the present. Hav
ing thus stayed his stomach, lie thanked
the assistants for the honor they had
done him in coming to his funeral, and
then, as soon as the funeral repast could
be gotten ready, he presided at it in per
son. During the folloAving three hours
he consumed another chicken and two
pigeons and a considerable quantity of
Avine.
The Abbe Prevost, the famous author
of Manon Lescaut," Avas less fortunate
in his experience than was the peasant.
One day, in the forest of Chantilly, he
was prostrated by an apoplectic stroke—
or what was supposed to be one—in con
sequence of which he Avas supposed to
be dead until a surgeon began an au
topsy, and had made several wounds,
which proved fatal. The physician, who
thus brought the abbe to life, only to see
him die of the wounds he had innocently
inflicted, lost his reason.
In a populous city of Northern Italy
the Avife of a distinguished jurist Avas
seized with epileptic spasms, which, to
all appearance, ended in death. The
physicians recognized all the evidences
of dissolution her features Avere dis
torted, checks and eyes sunken, the lips
blue and bloodless, skin cold and flabby
—a phenomenon Avhich, from hour to
hour, become more pronounced. Final
ly, even the spots that usually precede
decomposition Avere observed, and, as
the Avcather Avas very Avarm, it Avas
thought advisable not to delay the burial.
The woman was laid in a wooden coffin
and deposited in the family vault. Those
Avho are acquainted with the arrange
ment of the Italian cemeteries know that
the individual coffins arc placed in
niches, one above another, somewhat as
the folios are arranged on the shelves of
a library. The niches are lined with
thin marble slabs, but left entirely open.
The vault itself, on the contrary, is se
curely closed by heavy wooden doors.
In such a niche the coffin in question
was placed.
A year later another member of the
urist's family died. The folloAving day
he Avent himself to the cemetery to see
which niche the new coffin should be
placed in. When he opened the door the
skeleton of his wife, enveloped in what
remained of her shroud, fell into his
arms.
A careful examination revealed the
following facts: The Avoman had burst
off the coffin-lid, and then gone to the
door and made an effort to force it also,
but in vain. The double-door would, of
course, tend to deaden her cries, and then
the guardian of the cemetery lived on
the opposite side of the inclosurc. She
must have lost consciousness during her
efforts to force the doors, for she had
fallen against them, and her habiliments
had caught on one of their iron fasten
ings, and in this position she had finally
died. There Avas, however, abundant
evidence, everywhere in the vault, of her
having been conscious for a considerable
length of time.
The scene of the folloAving tAvo cases,
with Avhich AVC will end our review, is in
England:
One EdAvard Staplcton died—as Avas
supposed—of typhus fever. The disease
had been attended by such strange phe
nomena throughout that the physicians
were desirous to make a post-mortem ex
amination of the case. The relatives,
hoAvever, positively refused their con
sent. The physicians consequently de
cided to steal the body—not an unusual
thing in England—in order to satisfy
their curiosity. They communicated
Avith a band of rascals who at that time
made a business of stealing bodies, and
three days after the funeral had the body
of Staplcton brought to the dissecting
room of a neighboring clinic.
When they made the first incision,
which Avas across the abdomen, they
Avere struck with the fresh appearance
of the flesh and the clearness and limpid
ity of the blood. One of the physicians
proposed that they should subject the
body to the action of a galvanic battery.
This they did, and obtained abnormal re
sults the movements and contractions
of the muscles were more powerful than
are usually observed. Toward evening a
young student suggested that they should
make an incision in the pectoral muscles,
and introduce the poles of the battery
into the wound. This was done, Avhen,
to their amazement, the body rolled from
the table, remained for a second or two
on its feet, stammered out two or three
unintelligible Avords, and then fell heavily
to the floor. For a moment the learned
doctors were confounded, but, soon re
gaining their presence of mind, they saAv
that Stapleton was still alive, although
he had again fallen into his former leth
argy. They noAv applied themselves to
resuscitating him, in Avhich they were
successful. He afterward said that dur
ing the whole time he Avas fully conscious
of his condition and of Avhat.was passing
around him. The Avords he attempted to
utter were, I am alive!"
A somewhat similar experience was
that of an English artillery-officer, who,
in a fall from his horse, had fractured his
skull and was trepanned. He was in a
C-A
fair way to recover, when, one day, he
fell into a lethargy so profound that he
was thought to be dead, and, in due time,
was buried. The following day, beside
the grave in which he had been interred,
another citizen of London was buried,
and at last one of the assistants chanced
to stand on it. Suddenly the man cried
out that he felt the ground move under
his feet, as though the occupant of the
grave would find his Avay to the surface.
At first the man was thought to be the
victim of an hallucination 'but the ear
nestness with which he persisted attracted
the attention of a constable, Avho caused
the grave to be opened. They found
that the officer had forced the coffin-lid,
and had made a partially-successful
effort to raise himself up. He was en
tirely unconscious when they got him
out but it Avas evident that the effort to
extricate himself had been made but a
short time before. He was carried to a
hospital near by, Avhere the physicians,
after a time, succeeded in resuscitating
him. He stated that for about an hour
before his last swoon he was fully con
scious of the awful situation he was in.
The grave had fortunately been very
hastily and lightly filled with clay, and
here and there the continuity of the
mass had been broken by large stones,
Avhich allowed the air to penetrate as far
doAvn as the coffin. He had tried in vain
to make his cries heard and finally, partly
in consequence of having an insufficient
supply of air, and partly in consequence
of the mental agony he suffered, he had
fallen into the unconscious state in which
he was found.
Another Englishman describes what
he experienced, Avhilc lying in a coffin in
a perfectly conscious state, in the fol
loAving words:
"It Avould be impossible to find words
that Avould express the agony and despair
I suffered. Every bloAV of the hammer
Ayith which they nailed down my coffin
lid Avent through my brain like the echo
of a death-knell. 1 Avould never have
believed that the human heart could en
dure such terrible agony and not burst
into-pieces. When they let me sloAvly
doAvn into the ground, I distinctly heard
the noise the coffin made e\'cry time it
rubbed against the sides of the grave."
This man also awoke under the knife
of a doctor. He, like Stapleton, had
been stolen and carried to the dissecting
room of a medical school. At the mo
ment the professor made a slight incision
down the abdomen the spell Avas broken
and he sprang to his feet.
These cases in which living persons
under the supposition that they were
dead, have been entombed, are sufficient
to demonstrate that here, if anywhere,
too great caution cannot be exercised—
that no corpse should be buried Avithout
having the most positi\'e evidence that
life is really extinct.—Translated from the
German for Appleton's Journal.
Two Young Runaways.
CHILDREN arc generally credited Avith
originality, but it is seldom they attempt
an elopement, and the adventures of a
boy and a girl, each about five years of
age, living in the southern part of the
city, arc UOAV furnishing considerable
amusement for those AVIIO have heard the
story. The other afternoon the little boy,
Avith poorly-developed ideas of the cost of
traveling, asked his father for six cents,
stating that he wished to set himself up
in the newspaper business. The request
Avas not complied with, and the boy vis
ited his father's place of business, and
Avas given a few cents by those employed
at the same establishment. He then
went to his home, and donning his best
clothes quietly left the house. Mean
while the little girl, who is the constant
companion of the little boy, visited her
home in the absence of her mother and
donned her best clothes, not forgetting to
place se\-cral articles of clothing in a car
pet-bag which she by some means secured.
Thus equipped the young couple pro
ceeded hand in hand to the depot, and
like old travelers got upon the cars, ask
ing questions of no one, and keeping
their own counsel as to where they Avere
going. But their carefully-laid plans
Avere soon frustrated by a cruel railroad
official, Avho, devoid of all sentiment, and
with a desire to perform his duties with
out fear or favor, put them oft the cars
and sent them home. Disconsolate and
discouraged, the youthful couple carried
their carpet-bag to the building in which
the boy's father is engaged and deposited
it in the entry leading to his office. They
then returned to their homes disappointed
and unhappy, but said nothing of their
attempted elopement. The next day,
however, the story leaked out, and cre
ated considerable amusement among the
parents and friends of the children.
Where they Avere going or what -they
were going to do they Avere unable to tell,
their only desire being to escape from
the control of their lawful guardians and
together fight the battle of life free from
all restrictions.—Worcester (Mass.) Sxy.
The Latest Shrewd Swindle,
A DKTJGGIST in Des Moines, Iowa, Avas
recently made the victim of a rather ex
pensive practical joke. A man, ap
parently under the influence of liquor,
entered the shop one morning and called
for a glass of soda-water. After drinking
it, he staggered against a pane of French
plate glass in the show-window, shivering
it to atoms. Seeing the mischief he had
done he hurried away, but the druggist
pursued and overtook him, demanding
payment for the damage. The inebriate
protested that he was impecunious, but
the plea did not avail. Two clerks seized
and searched him, and extracted from
somewhere about his person a 100 bill.
This they deposited in their money-till,
deducting the price of the glass, and,
stuffing the change into one of his pock
ets, sent him adrift upon the street.
During the day the druggist discovered,
to his horror, that the bill Avas a counter
feit. Of course no time was lost officers
Avere sent in every direction, and the
offender was at length captured and
brought before the bar of justice. Here,
however, a legal technicality disturbed
the even AOAV of equity. The drunkard
urged that he was guiltless of any crime
that the counterfeit money happened to
be in his pocket at the time of the acci
dent, and that it was taken from him by
force. Under the circumstances the
honorable gentleman who presided over
the court felt constrained to dismiss the
case, and the druggist, with the fear of a
suit for assault and battery before his
eyes, declined to move further in the
matter.
—It is estimated, taking as a basis the
growth of the country, that in 1880 there
will be 100,000 miles of railroad in the
Republic. We have already nearly 70,000
miles.
A]V I N E E N E N N E W S A E
WORTHINGTON, NOBLES CO., MINNM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1874.
CURRENT ITEMS.
WHAT sublime courage was that dis
played by the Nevada woman, who, when
the stealthy savage approached her, just
pulled off her hair and gave it to him!
A KENTUCKY exchange says: With
the beginning of the year we will reduce
our business to a cash basis. Cordwood
and potatoes taken for subscriptions."
E first piece of artillery was invented
by a German,11 soon after the invention
of gunpowder, and was first used by the
Moors at Algeziras, in Spain, in the siege
1341.
WIIEN a horse reaches ten or twelve
years of age don't kill him because he is
getting too old. Goldsmith Maid is over
seventeen, and is shoAving considerable
activity yet.
A SEALED bottle has been picked up on
the Florida coast which contained tid
ings of the fate of the long-lost steam
ship City of Boston. She sailed from
NeAv York Jan. 25, 1870, and foundered
in a storm.
A SALEM (Mass.) man has a canary
Avhich during the past six months has laid
thirty-four eggs, hatched fifteen offspring,
thirteen of which are living and seven of
them singers, with six eggs remaining to
be heard from.
HE Detroit Free Press anxiously re
marks: "Of course, one can more or less
contemplate a common rolling-pin, but
when they send a cargo into this State
with lead run into the ends what is to be
come of personal liberty V"
HE Milwaukee Sentinel has the follow
ing statement: "The grasshoppers on
their Avay south stopped a railroad train
and got copies of the St. Paul papers.
When they read that only a small por
tion of the crops had been destroyed
they started back to finish up the job."
A MOVEMENT is being made to intro
duce the prairie-chicken into various
Avaste tracts in Europe and America, and
with every prospect of success. It is
stated that, afeAv years ago, several pairs
were transferred to a district of Mary
land, and that, in consequence of proper
protection, the progeny already amounts
to several thousands.
A DISTINGUISHED gentleman, whose
nose and chin were both very long, and
who had lost his teeth, whereby the nose
and chin were brought very near togeth
er, was told: I am afraid your nose and
chin Avill fight ere long they approach
one another A^ery menacingly." I am
afraid of it myself," replied the gentle
man, "for a great many words have
passed between them already."
A BEQUEST of $150,000, intended by
Dr. E. R. Johnson, who died in New Bed
ford two years ago, to establish a chari
table institution for colored people in
that city, has failed in its purpose from
a singular fact. The will, written by the
Doctor himself, provided that the above
bequest should be aArailable on condition
that his daughter should leave no
"heirs." He probably meant, on condi
tion that she left no issue. Although the
daughter died Avithout children, her
mother was her legal "heir," and the
bulk of the property noAv goes to the hit
ter's relations.
E finest specimen of silver ore ever
produced in Colorado is UOAV being care
fully detached from its position in one
of the Caribou mines. It is eight feet
long, four feet wide, and fifteen inches
in thickness its weight is estimated at
four tons at least, and it is covered with
nuegets and scales of pure native silver,
some of which, as an eyc-Avitncss ob
serves, are large enough for door-plates.
The proprietors intend to exhibit their
specimen at the coming Territorial fairs,
after which they will ship it to NCAV
York, where it will remain until 1876,
AV ien it will be taken to Philadelphia, to
on exhibition at the celebration of the
dennial.—Denver Tribune.
VHILK W. Reeder and other gentlemen
A re fishing in Green River, Ky., recent
1 they Avere throAvn into the utmost con
^rnation by the appearance of a dread
1 monster, in the shape of a fish, mov
slowly up the river, its back fins pro
udiug some six feet out of the water.
i\ ustering up courage, Mr. R. and his
friends got in a skiff and pulled out near
the monster, and Avhen Avithin a hundred
feet of it the creature sank. They
mo\rcd forward to see if it could be ob
served beneath the surface, as the water
was very clear. In a few moments it
arose Avithin forty feet of them and they
could see its full gigantic form, Avhich
was about fifteen feet long and three
feet in diameter at the middle, Avith large
fins on its back and side, six or seven feet
long its head Avas fully one-third of its
entire length one prong of its tail was
about four feet wide and six feet long.—
Louisville Commercial.
Two years ago, Joel H. Mansfield, of
San Francisco, Cal., having become
enamored of Miss Mary Hein, and having
failed to impress that young lady as
favorably as he desired, met her on the
street one afternoon and blazed away at
her with a pistol. She Avas with another
young man at the time. Mansfield fired
three times at her. Two of the shots
took effect, and for some time Miss
Hein's life was in danger. Mansfield
was tried two or three times for the
assault, but each time the jury disagreed,
and finally, the patience of the prosecut
ing officers being exhausted, a nolle
prosequi was entered. The sequel to this
romantic affair is that a f"w days ago the
County Clerk issued a marriage license
to Mr. Mansfield and Miss Hein, and
during the week they were made one
flesh. No place in the world can beat
California for romance.
A WELL-KNOWN manufacturer of this
city visited his family a few days since
at one of the popular summer resorts not
a thousand miles from Falmouth.
Happening to have an unusually Avell
filled pocket-book, upon retiring for the
night he placed it in one of his boots for
safe keeping, omitting, however, to say
anything about it to his wifei Fatigued
with the long ride, he soon fell asleep,
and, upon awakening early in the morn
ing, sought in vain for his boots and his
money. Rousing his wife with anxious
inquiries about those boots," he learned
that she had found them lying around
and had set them outside the door for
the hotel bootblack. A few seconds
later a well-developed manly form Avas
noticed making rapid strides for the
porter's lodge It remains for us to add,
as a simple act of justice to all parties,
that the porter was honest, the money
restored, and our manufacturer firmly
convinced of the propriety of having no
secrets from his wife in future.—Worces
ter (Mass.) Gazette.
HE Rev. George Bosley, of Put-in
Bay, who has been officiating in Grace
Church during the absence from the city
of the*rector, the Rev. Frank M. Half,
met with a somewhat curious and inex
plicable mishap last Saturday. He had
been splitting wood in the back yard of
the rectory at the island, and, stepping
back into the shade to rest a few minutes,
was leaning against the wall of the
house, when he was suddenly struck by
something that brought him to the ground
and rendered him unconscious for a con
siderable time. On recovering conscious
ness he found that he had been struck in
the mouth by some object just large
enough to knock out one of his front
teeth. The tooth was broken off close
to the gum. The ncnre being left ex
posed caused intense pain, but the Chief
Justice Waite had blown her first whistle
and the time had come for him to leave
for his engagement in the city. So, cov
ering the exposed nerve hastily with wax,
he_ took his departure, and, protected in
this precarious way against the torture
of the throbbing nerve, officiated in the
services of the Sunday. The most prob
able solution of the apparent mystery of
the hidden blow is that he was hit by a
spent ball from the rifle of some chance
sportsman.—Toledo Commercial.
W EN the train from the West rolled
up to the Perry street depot yesterday,
one of the wheel-sounders discovered a
bulky object among the bars and timbers
of the forward truck of the posta.-cai
At first he could not tell what it was, but
he poked it with a stick, Avhen it bent
sideways and in a moment a human form
came creeping from behind the wheels.
He was so completely covered with dust
that it was impossible to tell Avhether he
Avas black or white but after he had
wiped his face he proved to be a colored
man. He got into the place where he
Avas found at Brooklyn, 130 miles Avest
of this city, and all that distance he sat
on an iron strap not two inches Avide,
Avith his back against the upright at the
center of the truck, his body leaning for
Avard so that his head almost touched
his legs, Avhich were bent nearly double,
and his hands resting on a bar in front
of him. There he rode, subject to a con
tinuous jolt, enveloped in endless whirls
of dust, with the pelting of little pebbles
which constantly fly upward Avhen a
train is in motion. When asked how he
stood such a ride as that, he replied: I
declar', Mis'r, it is tough, but I'd a held
thar clar to Chicago ef ye hadn't fotched
mc out." Then it was ascertained that
on Thursday night he rode in that way
from Council Bluffs to Brooklyn, but AV&S
discovered at the latter place and made
to give up his free ride. But he watched
his chance on Friday night and resumed
his journey.—Davenport (Iowa) Gazette.
Hurrying Through.
THERE is nothing more characteristic
of the American than the rapidity Avilh
which he gets through his work. While
others are planning he is'cxecuting, and
before they have finished their designs he
has already completed his structure.
There Avas a time in our history when
men suddenly cast adrift in a A\ ilderness
were forced to resort to the first expedients
v» hich presented themselves for the satis
faction of their urgent wants. They had
need to be hasty in providing for a life
the destitution of Avhich was not only
very great, but its requirements excess
ively exacting. They had less and wanted
more of the prime necessities of existence
than others. They were forced to do not
only Avhat most men in civilized countries
have to do for themselves, but also Avhat
the community ordinarily does for them.
They had so much to accomplish, and its
urgency was so great, that there Avas no
time to spare in giving perfection to plans
or finish to Avork. Every structure they
raised, whether material or intellectual,
Avas thus more or less rude and incom
plete, though it may have tolerably
served its temporary purpose. Every
thing being Avanted for immediate use,
everything was supplied in the shortest
possible time. Houses were built in a
hurry of the rude material at hand, and
the green tree of to-day became the pro
tecting roof of the morrow. It was the
same Avith the human being, Avhose
services were so immediately required
that no time could be spared for his
thorough development, and he Avas called
to do full duty as a member of the com
munity before he had reached maturity.
Boys were thus extemporized into men,
and assumed all the responsibilities of
manhood while they were still children.
Scholastic education, of course, under
such circumstances, amounted to little
or nothing. Strong arms, bold hearts and
readiness of expedient Avere most wanted,
and these Avere to be acquired in the
practical discipline of a settler's life, and
not learned from the set lessons of the
academy.
The early practice, engendered by ne
cessity, of hastening immature youth
into the full activity of life seems to have
become so far a national habit as to sur
vive the occasion Avhich led to and may
have justified it. Children claim, in this
country, to be emancipated from school,
college and home control and proclaim
themselves to be men at a period of life
when in other lands they are contentedly
eating the parental bread and butter, or
submissively bending to the magisterial
birch. Parents in the United States,
moreover, encourage this precocious
eagerness for freedom from discipline of
the home and academy. Many of them
are ignorant of the requirements of edu
cation, and are apt to suppose that it is a
Avell-defined process which can be gone
through with the certainty as to time and
result as, say, shoemaking, or any other
mechanical operation. The common
eagerness of people in this country for
the practical, as represented by tangible
A-alue, impels them to hasten their chil
dren into active life, that they may be
engaged as quickly as possible in the
eager pursuit of the dollar. The richest
man would begrudge to his son, if he had
to provide for his material necessities out
of his own pocket, a life devoted to some
abstract study, the results of which,
though of .undoubted service to the Avhole
world, might not be computable in dollars
and cents.
The practice which so generally pre
vails of limiting the education, as it is
called, to a certain fixed, and in this
country a very early, period of life is ab
surd. Michael Angelo, when met in his
old age by an acquaintance, and asked
where he was going, replied, "To school."
Education can never be completed, and
those who speak of having that of their
children finished at sixteen, eighteen, or
twenty-one years of age as it may bc,should
be reminded that,although they are able to
compute their familiar molasses and tape
by the gallon and yard, the intellectual
capacity of man is not to be graduated
according to any standard of dry or
other measure.
Parents should learn to take a more
liberal view of education, and those who
have the means encourage their children
in the continued pursuit of intellectual
study.
There is nothing so much needed by
our wealthy communities as a class of
men and women exclusively devoted to
mental occupations. Without such the
increasing riches of our country will only
lower]more and more the aims of life,
and give its pleasures a grosser impress
of sense.
Children should not be allowed to in
dulge in their fond and foolish fancies of
early emancipation. When heard, as
they often are, to talk exultingly of the
time when they are to finish school for
ever, as they express it, they should be
severely rebuked.
Those who control the private institu
tions of learning are responsible for mueh
of the popular and erroneous views in re
gard to education. They get up astound
ing curricula of study, replete with all
the ologies, and, to flatter their wealthy
patrons, pretend to take their pupils
through them all at an impossible pace,
without a falter, in the course of half a
dozen years, with the long vacations in
clusive. There is not an advanced school
or college in this country which does not
fail to accomplish in ninety cases out of
a hundred what its programme of study
promises. The mastery of any subject
cannot be the result of a system Avhich
consists in hurrying through all the
knoAvn sciences.—Harper's Bazar.
Lost and Found.
THERE arrived in this country four
years ago last spring an honest German
named Charles Meyers, accompanied by
his Avife, Wilhelmina, and tAvo children.
They settled in Syracuse. Late in the
same summer, and before either could
talk English Avith any accuracy, Charles
and his Avife went to Vernon and Augusta
to pick hops. While they Avere at Avork
in Augusta the company separated,
Charles remaining on one farm and his
Avife, Wilhelmina, going with another
German Avoman Avho could talk English
to Avork on another farm about tAvo miles
from Pratt's Hollow.
Hop-picking being over, Charles Mey
ers and the company with him were bun
dled into the cars and sent to Syracuse.
lie had no fears about his Avife, because
he supposed she Avould remain Avith the
woman in whose company lie left her.
Within a day or two, home came the
other woman, but no Wilhelmina. Said
Charles, Where is my wife?" Said the
Avoman, She left me to find you." And
so Charles Meyers lost his Avife. He
could not find her in Vernon he could
not find her in Augusta he could not
find her anywhere. For two years did
the unhappy man search for the lost
Wilhelmina. Every cent he could spare
from the support of his children he de
voted to advertising for Wilhelmina.
Time and again he heard of Avonien alive
and dead who Avere supposed to be Wil
helmina, and time after time he hunted
them up to find no Wilhelmina." He
saved an extra penny to keep a light at
the Avindow for Wilhelmina, and he Avas
up with the lark to pray—after he had
looked down the street to see if there
came his poor Wilhelmina.
Sometimes his fcllow-Avorkmcn Avould
say to him: "Well, Charlie, your wife
must be dead, or you Avould hear from
her," and he would shake his head and
say: "May be, but I don't believe it."
Sometimes they Avould say: "Charlie,
your wife has gone off with another man.
You Avill see her no more," antWie would
slap his hands earnestly together and
fairly shout: "No, sir-ee! She never don't
do clot. Poys, I knoAv dot voman, dot
Wilhelmina. I knows her mit mine
heart."
After two years of faithful, unavailing
search Meyers gaA^e up in despair, and,
not being able to withstand the grief
which his surroundings in Syracuse con
stantly called up afresh, he took his chil
dren and went to Rondout.
Four years ago this fall a woman was
brought to the County House A Rome
partially insane with the burden of a
great grief. She was perfectly harmless,
but hopelessly confused. She could give
no account of herself. She did not know
A\ho she was or Avhere she came from,
and only remembered that she once had
a husband and that she had lost him.
Under kind care she slowrly grcAv better,
and as she felt more familiar with
her surroundings her mind sloAvly re
sumed its SAvay. She remembered more
about her husband and about her two
children, but how she lost them she
could not tell. She Avas gentle and in
dustrious, and became in time rather a
favorite not only with the inmates but
with the matron and her assistants as
well.
Last Avinter a young tramp, one of the
numerous females that represent Syra
cuse through the State, stopped at the
County House as a transient." To her
was told the story of the German Avoman
who had lost her husband, and she re
membered that a German living on Sa
lina street, Syracuse, had lost his wife,
but she could not tell his name. She
thought if Mr. Cheney (who questioned
her) would write to one Mr. Waters, a
tinsmith, that gentleman could tell him
all about the case. With this clew Mr.
Cheney traced the case until he became
satisfied that the man Meyers, AVIIO had
gone to Rondout, Avas the husband of the
confused German woman under his care.
Then trouble Avas experienced in getting
Meyers from Rondout. He had gone in
search of so many Wilhelminas, and he
had been so unsuccessful but finally a
friend in whom he had confidence wrote
him such an account as to convince
him that Wilhelmina had been
found. Then he packed up all his furni
ture, everything he had owned
when Wilhelmina left him, and he
shipped all back to Syracuse, and he
passed through Rome last Tuesday night,
with his two children, and he got his old
place in Syracuse with his old employer,
and bright and early last Wednesday
he Avas en route for Rome—and Wilhelm
ina.
Cheney took him into the reception
room, and Mrs. Cheney brought in Wil
helmina. At first she looked vaguely,
and then more sharply at Meyers, and
then—well, we cannot tell 3rou Avhat hap
pened then. There was the happiest
German in this broad universe, hugging
the happiest of all women, until he made
her corsets crack, if she had any on. She
knew who she was then she knew all
about it. And that Dutchman who knew
dot Wilhelmina in his heart" had his re
ward.
And Cheney was just as much pleased
about it as any one—bless his big heart!
and if he stood on one leg and shouted,
Hosannah in the. highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men!" why, it is
nobody's business. There was a gay
party in that County-House reception
room.—Syracuse (N. Y.) Sentinel.
NUMBER 52.
The Last Man.
IN Sunday's Enquirer was published a
short communication asking about the
existence of the Society of the Last Man,
a social club which was formed in Cin
cinnati over forty years ago, the main
point being to inquire if any members of
the society still lived, and, if only one
were still living, who that one was. In
yesterday's paper another correspondent
attempts to answer the inquiry, but in so
doing falls into some inaccuracies which
Ave Avill attempt to correct by giving a
brief story of the society, who Avere in it
at first, and how its members dropped
off year by year, until the solitary one
who still remains became the sole living
reminder of the youth, and hope, and
life, and ambition that inspired those
•breasts, now forty-odd years ago.
It was one Sunday afternoon, the 30th
of September, in the year 1832, that
seven young men, all of them well known
here in Cincinnati, were gathered together
at the studio of Joseph R. Mason, a ris
ing young portrait-painter of that time.
They were Dr. James M. Mason, Dr. J.
L. Vattier, Fenton Lawson, Henry L.
Tatum, William Stanbcrry, William Dis
ney, Jr., and J. R. Mason. The Asiatic
cholera, the stalking phantasm of death,
had just arrived on our shores, and was
advancing up the Mississippi, and had
already reached St. Louis. The country
Avas in a fever of alarm over the pesti
lence that was stalking over it, and
which had thus far baffled the combined
skill and science of the entire medical
profession. Naturally enough the
conA-ersation turned upon this subject.
After it had been discussed for a Avhile
it was suggested that those present
should form themselves into a society to
be called the Society of the Last Man.
The main idea was that they should have
a banquet each year, at Avhich places
should be provided for all, and that when
only one of them remained he
wasTcroctw
drink a bottle of Avine which they
to provide at the first meeting and seal
up for use. A mahogany casket Avas pro
vided for its reception, and on the night
of the first meeting the wine Avas pro
cured and locked up, the key-hole filled
with sealing-Avax, and the casket sealed
with the seal of the society. The key
Avas, moreover, thrown aA\ ay, so that by
no means could the box be opened and
closed again Avithout it being discovered.
The first meeting of the society Avas on
the night of the 6tli of October, 1833.
All the members were present, and the
ceremonial of locking up the bottle of
wine Avas gone through with. They also
cast lots for the custodianship of the
casket, it being agreed that it should be
confided to one member for the first
year, to another for the second, and so
on until it littd gone around. Dr. Vattier
AVOU the lot, and in his hands it Avas
placed for the first year. For four suc
cessive anniversaries did the society
meet regularly Avith a full membership,
all of them still living, and each one
making it a point of duty to be present
no matter Avhat else might interA'cne.
In June, lbb7, Dr. James M. Mason
died, and their mystic number seven was
broken into, and in the following Octo
ber, when their banquet took place, tin re
was one vacant scat at the board, one
plate lay at the table untouched. In
November, 183'J, William Stanbcrry died,
and the following year, Avhen they
came together again, only five sat at the
table and there Avere two vacant places.
In September, 1842, J. R. Mason, the
artist, breathed his last, and the folloAv
ing month, Avhen the Society of the Last
Man came together, there were but four
of them—three vacant chairs and three
upturned plates told the story. For
seven successive years did those four
hold their anniversary banquet without
further change, the sealed casket being
handed around from year to year among
those Avho remained. In November,
1849, William Disney died, leaving but
three of the seven alive. In J»lne, 1855,
Fenton LaAvson's earthly cai ser was
ended, and Dr. Vattier and Henry L.
Tatem Avere the only .survivors. Mr.
Tatem had possession or the casket at
this time and had a morbid fear that he
Avould be the last man and be
left with it in his posses
sion. Two months after LaAvson's
death he Avas taken sick, and in his de
lirium this idea obtained possession of
his mind and he cried Break open that
casket and pour out the Avine! It's
worse than a fate in haunting mc!" And
Dr. Vattier became the Last Man.
In October, 18.15, the Last Man held
his first solitary banquet at his home.
Seven plates Avere laid and seven chairs
placed around the board. The casket was
placed on the table, its seal broken and
its lid pried off. The bottle of Avine
which for twenty4hrec years had reposed
within Avas opened and drank in silence
and solitude by the survivor of all those
seven. No one was permitted to break
that solitude, and the meal Avas eaten and
drank without the sound of a voice. And
each succeeding year, on the 6th of Oc
tober, does the Last Man repeat the soli
tary repast, he sitting with six vacant
chairs around the table, with six up
turned plates on the board. And while
he sits there in silence and alone there
comes trooping around him the memories
of all those Avho once joined Avith him in
the merry-making, and yet the heart of
the kindly old man is as young and his
feelings as tender as they were forty
years ago Avhen he little thought of ever
becoming the Last Man!—Cincinnati
Enquirer.
Cheer Him.
AT a fire in a large city, Avhile the up
per stories of a lofty dAvelling were
Avrapped in smoke, and the lower stories
all aglOAV with flame, a piercing shriek
told the startled firemen that there Avas
some one still in the building in peril. A
ladder was quickly reared, until it
touched the heated Avails, and diving
through the flames and smoke a brave
young fireman rushed up the rounds on
his errand of mercy. Stifled by the
smoke, he stopped, and seemed about to
descend. The crowd was in agony, as a
life seemed lost, for every moment of
hesitation seemed an age. While this
shivering fear seized every beholder, a
voice from the crowd cried out Cheer
him! cheer him!" and a Avild "hurrah"
burst from the excited spectators. As
the cheer reached the fireman he started
upward through the curling smoke, and
in a few moments was seen coming cUrwn
the ladder Avith a child in his arms. That
cheer did the work. How much can we
do to help the brave ones who are strug
gling with temptation, or almost fainting
in their efforts to do good to others!
Don't find fault with your brother in his
trial, but cheer him. Give him a word
that shall urge him on the way, and if
you can't help him in any other way, give
him a cheer.