Fayette County herald. [volume], March 18, 1880, Image 3

About Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???

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'0 OlrtUCNIONlKNTS.
Annni?iiilrntlniiRfortl)lwtiMrt,.hoiiht tm wwm
Paul.'! ti.v tho iiiuno nf tun cuiiior; not iiw-;.H;irjy J.r
iml'ilraili.n. Imt aiwm tivid. nto of mxmh! fiUih on tha
i;irl of tlm writer. VV rJtouinly on onft 11h ut lite i
tr, lii) i;uu'iiluny enrol ill hi KiviiKiiuiiJtt'KaiHluiilu'f
t tmvo iliu iotteimiiHl llt'ii!iMijiiiriii.ii(i ui-.iii(-t. l'roo
erniimM.s ar trftt'n illuVtiltto (luoiphor, btxjau&e ul U
rEliSEVERE.
Tho worM thou soek'st to know
Is often dark and drear;
bluulows around Duty full,
Hut peraevero!
The hill thou olimb'st ia high,
Thoprizo is (reiit and nnari
" Writo"duty" on .thy heart, ' -.
And perseverel
The road is smooth to all '
Who" have a consoi'enee olear;
Walk wisely on thy path
f And perscvero!
Be firm! If fortune fails 1 ,
Life's burdens do not fear;
Go forth with manly pride,
. ... Anil persevere 1 - 1
Pew fail who s.eek to win, ,
None stray who rightly ateer.
Thine is the prize if thou
Wilt persevere!
Around the darkest storm
The sun'a bright beamB appear.
With light and hope for all
Who porsevere!
The world's temptations soomj
Let others wealth revere,
Be sirona in right, detest the wrong,
And persevere!
Then, when life's twilight fades,
The thought will give tho cheer
That thou in trials passed
Did'st persevere!
JSvauig Post.
THE 'SQUIRE'S WOOING.
'Squire Kimball the widower, was
la his strawberry-bed pulling up weeas
wrlmn T.nr-v Kfifino fiflmfi down the road,
that beautiful June morning; and he
was Inst throwing an armful over the
fence, when he caught sight of her, as
ehe turned the. corner. me sun-Don
rot aha nmrn was p.xnntlv like the one
he remembered to have seen her mother
wear iive-and-twenty years ago; and he
remembered, too, as ne looted at mis
one, and the fresh, rosy face under it,
1 how that one made his heart flutter,
, the first time he saw it, and how he
was so bewitched by it or the face un
der it he hardly knew which, for sun
bonnet and wearer were equally be
witching, it seemed to him that he
had walked home with Hester Mason,
and had hard work to keep from pro
posing to her. ;
He wondered now, and he had won
dered manv times in the iive-and-twen
ty years gone by, why he had never
proposed to her. tie naa meant to
marry her, and he was sure she liked
him in the old days, but and he al
ways thought of it with a sigh some
thing had come between them, and she
had married Robert Keene, and he
had married his cousin Mary. Fate
must have had something to do with it
he concluded. As he looked at Hester's
daughter, the old fire stirred under the
dust and ashes of the dead years and
he felt a little flame springing up in his
heart.
"Good-morning,"Lucy, he said.lean
ing across the fence.
"0!" exclaimed Lucy, with a little
start. "I didn't think any one was
near, and you almost scared me. Isn't
it pleasant? I told mother it was so
nice out of doors that I couldn't stay in
the house."
"Yes, it is pleasant,'1 answered the
'Squire, looking straight into her pret
ty face. " How is your mother, Lucy P"
"0, she's well," answered Lucy.
" What splendid strawberries you are
going to have! The meddlesome hens
got into our garden, and mother sayB
she don't think we'll have a pailful of
berries."
" I want to know!" exclaimed the
'Squire. "Now you just tell your
mother she's welcome to all she wants
out of my patch. She can have 'em
just as well as not. There's goin' to be
a sight more'n we want, and I don't
like to have 'em wasted."
" I'll, eil her, and I know she'll be
delighted with the chance," answered
Lucy. "You know she's such a hand
to make strawberry preserves!"
"Yes, I do," said the 'Squire, think
ing of old times. "And I remember
that she used to beat all the old house
keepers, too. They used to say she had
a knack of making strawberry jam,
that they couldn't get hold of.)'
"She hasn't lost it yet," laughed
Luoy. , " She'll be glad to have you
come to tea, sometime, and try some
she made last year."
" 1 will," said the 'Squire. " Le'mme
see! To-day's Wednesday. Tell her
I'll come over Saturday, if it's agree
able; and I guess the berries' 11 be
ripe, so I can pick a pailful by. that
time. If they aro, I'll bring over
some." , , ' '
"Thank you," said Lucy. "We'll
expect you to tea, Saturday, then." '
" Yes," answered the 'Squire, feeling
very much as he used to when her
mother smiled at him. "I had a letter
from Charley, yesterday. ' He' s coming
home in a day or two, to stay." -
"That'll be pleasant for you," said
Lucy, stooping down to pick a daisy.
How could he see the blush behind the
sun-bonnetP If he had, it might have
set him thinking. - .
Yes, it will, responded the 'Squire.
" Charley's a good boy, and I get
pretty lonesome without him. 1 wish
he'd take it into his head to settle
down."
"I must be going," said Lucy.
"Don't disappoint us, now."
" I won't," answered the 'Squire, and
then she went on, and he went back to
pulliDg weeds.
"I suppose it's foolish to thinK of
such a thing," he said to himself, by
and by, " but folks do such foolish
things' as that would be. I don't know
as it's anybody's business but ours. If
I see fit to marry Lucy, and she's wil
lin'.I'm goingto doit;" and the 'Squire
looked about defiantly, as if he half ex
pected somebody to object to it
Charley came home that afternoon.
I suppose I'll have to tell him what
Tve been thinking about," thought the
'Squire. "I declare, I hate to! I'd
sooner take a horse-whipping, but there
is no use of dreading it and putting it
off, as I know of. The sooner it's done
with, the better."
Accordingly when they were sitting
on the piazza, after tea, he began to
break the news;
" I I've been thinking some lately,
of getting a housekeeper," he stammer
ed, growing very red in the face.
"Doesn't aunt Sarah want to stay,"
asked Charley, unsuspeotingly. .
I I meant fi!iom!--n, housokcon
t of of wnnihe.r kiiulV oxblained the
'Squire, explosively, wiping hisfaoe very
.energetically,? auor the completion oi
the, (tillioult sentence. i '
" I thiiik 1 begin to understand," said
Chailcy, in great surprise " May 1 ask
" rt'a it's flown the road!" answer
edthe 'Squire, choking Considerably
over tho woras, and joining nis tuuraos
over his shoulder in the direction of the
widow Keene's.
"That's the way the wind blows,
it!" lano-hfirl Charlev. "I'm clad
hear it. You couldnc do bettor if you
him tart th world over."
"I'm glad to hear you say so," said
his father, much relieved. " I felt sure
you d like to have Lucy as as a mom
hor nt tha familv.' ' : . :
" I haven't the leastobiection to such
i l
an arrangement," answered nanuy,
with a twinme in nis eyes. ,
"Thank r.l.n T,ord that's over with
said the 'Squire, drawing a long
breath, as Charley strolled off down
the path in the twilight. " That's a
sensible boy. I wonder, now, that he
never took a fancy to Lucy. - I s'pose
tolks'U say I'm an old rooi, dui i aon i
care. She aintthe first one that's mar
ried a man old enough to be her f ath-
Whiln he sat there and thought the
matter over, Charley was tolling Lucy
that nis father had teener eyes man ne
had mvp.n him nredit for. and seemed
to understand perfectly well how mat
ters stood between tnem. wnai ne
told her after that, is none of your busi
ness, nor mine, though I am quite sure
it had something to ao witn ijucy s ue
ing " one of the family." '.
Ahoiit four o'clock on Saturdav after
noon, the 'Squire, In his best coat, and
with a pail ot strawoerries on nis arm
knocked at Mrs. Keene's door.
"Kand afternoon." she said, open
ing the door to her visitor. He could
not help thinking that her face was
almost as fair as it had been twenty-live
years ago, as she welcomed
him in. ;
" Here's i some strawberries," he
oftirt nrfiannt.inc his Catherine's. "LUCV
said the hens played mischief with
yours."
"I'm a thousand, times ouiigeu io
pnn sa id t.hfi widow. " If I have any
thing that you'd like, I hope you'll say
so."
The 'Squire wanted to say he'd like
hor HniKrrirflr. hut, concluded he wouldn't
iust then. By that time he was in the
.... JW 1 1 J 1 it
Sitting-room. W no snouiu no see mens,
hiifcOharlev. holdinff worsted for Lucy
to wind, and seeming very much at
home.
" I I didn't exnect to see you here,"
Via Htnmrrtp.rp.d.
" I was fortunate enough to get an in
vitation to tea, too, ' answered unaney.
" You kept it pretty sly; but I wasn't
to be cheated out of my share of the
strawberry preserves."
xhen Liucy and vjnariey trieu unru w
look very demure, and failed, and
finaiiv rnt. to lanirhinfl' The 'Sauire
felt his face growing uncomfortably
warm.
.Tnst sen what he brought us." said
tho widow, displaying the berries. " If
you'll hull some, Ldiey, we n nae a
shortcaue ior tea, i remeiuuer yUU
nsrl to hft rather fond of shortcake, a
good many years ago," she said to the
'Squire, and smuing tiu a uimpie
showed itself in each cheek. .
" T know what vou're thinkin of,"
responded he.- " That was a little the
nest snortCaKO 1 ever vauiv uuiuaa,
HftstP.iv" and thev both lauffhed over
the recollection of some pleasant event
m l t ..JL..
in uy-oue years. j.nen ljuuy auuuer
mother went to the kitchen, and the
firm r and his son were ieit toeetner.
"I I've spoken to her about being
one of the family, ana she's wining,
said Charley, with a nttie musn.
"What!" The 'Squire felt hot and
cold by turns. "I I don't under
stand!"
Yon know what vou said the other
night, when you told me you thought
of getting her motner ior a nousoneep
er," explained Charley. "I suppose
frnm that, that vou understood Lucy
and I intended to be married, some
time. We've talked it over and it's au
settled."
Thn.'Sonire was sneechless. for the
space of a minute. What he thought
.r.. .. u .i
in taat lengtn oi time couiu nut uo uuu-
rlnnoel into 0. natrfl of this BaDer. " I
hope you'll be happy," he managed to
say, very laintiy, at last.
Just then the widow came in. "I've
got the cake baking,'' she said. "Lucy
said she'd hull tha berries and set the
table, and sent me in to play lady, bo
came. "
fiharlp.v concluded he could hull
strawberries, too, and slipped out into
the kitchen. The ' Squire had made up
hia mind arain. If he couldn't have
Lucv he'd have her mother. Come to
. . J. . . . i. Jt 1 Lai
thmlc it an over, it was a great uuai vw
ter that wayi 'j He wondered how he
could have been foolish enough to think
of marrying a girl of twenty, and he
fifty.., Ridiculous! . The widow talked
about this ana tnat; out ms ui
seemed to be wandering so much so,
that his replies were naraiy appropn
. . . . , . i .
ate at times, "wnai s ii.ue use oi
moitino-P" thniio-rit hp.. ''Itmio-htas
well be settled now as any time." A
happy thougnt came to mm, as no uasi,
about for words to express his desire.
Hester." cried he. very suddenly, and
with the energy of desperation, "you
said if you had anytnmg i a hko i was
welcome to it. I want you!"
Whr. 'Snnira Kimball!" cried the
widow, blushing so rosily, that he felt
sure she was prettier than her daugh
ter. " Yes, 1 want you," he said waxing
bolder. And then he told her the most
nntrao-noiis fib: " I came over on Dur-
pose to tell you so. I hope you haven't
anv objections.
Whon T,iinv came in. half an hour
later, to tell them supper was ready,
'Squire Kimball rose up.blushinglike a
girl, and saidi . "This is your, mother,
I nnrr " rtint.inrr tn thfi Widow.
"t, . j I
" Yfts. I knew that a lonar time as-o,"
answered Lucy, laughing. ,
" tfoodness, what a blunder; -, oneu
the 'Squire. "I meant this is Mrs. Kim
ball, or gom' to he."
r n'nnun T mav kiss mv father.
then," said Lucy, and kissed the do
lighted 'Squire plump on the mouth.,
And vou mav rive me another, for
your father-'n-law,, while you're about
it," he laughed. , '
Qno'H answer for both," said Lucy
archly. '
And then the 'Squire gave his arm to
the woman he had meant to marry fivo-and-twenty
years before, and led her
out to tea, perfectly satisfied with the
way things had turned out. And so
were all tho others. And, being in a
happy frame of mind, the strawberry
preserves and shortcake were properly
! .i t 1: . 1 , l
llexjoru. ,
A Droll Dilemma.
If a man's actual existence should not
bo accepted as evidence of his having
been born, it would be very dillicultlor
him to prove it otherwise. But in uer
many, if an American could not estab
lish his birth in some other way than
by his existence, he would be in a very
absurd or even in a very pitiful condi
tion. The American infant usually
announces his own birth in an unmis
takable manner. But still Austria is
not satisfied without an official certifi
cate of the self-evident fact. An Amer
ican gentleman and his wife, living in
Vienna with their young family, were
compelled to send home lor certihcates
of the birth of their children, that they
might be admitted to school.
An American mother in Leipsio,
whose daughter was about to bo mar
ried in that city, learned to her amaze
ment that the Government would not
permit the marriage to take place until
the mother could prove by a prot
attested certificate that her daughter
had been born. Nor was this all. Her
only sou and support, a youth of twen
ty, was ordered" into the army, and he
pleaded m vain that he was an Amen
can citizen, born in New York. The
authorities demanded the birth record,
and the despairing mother wrote to New
York and a certihcate was sent to ner.
But another American mother in an
Austrian village eould not procure doc
umentary evidence that her daughter
had been legally born, and the girl was
refused admittance to the school.
It is estimated that there are a hun
dred such cases every year. They oc
cur chiefly, of course, among families
of German descent, and they make the
Bureau of Vital Statistics a very im
portant office for that class of American
citizens. The German laws upon the
subject are very stringent, and they are
essential to a perfect census. Our own
system has been less exact, but we see
with pleasure that Mr. disko, oi rucn
mond County, has introduced a bill in
the New York Legislature, which has
been favorably reported, which pro
vides that a registry oi marriages,
births and deaths shall be made at the
clerk's office in every town and village,
the expense to be a county charge,
Under such a law, it will be every
American's fault, wherever he may be,
if he cannot prove by the most satis
factory evidence that he was horn.
Harper's Weekly.
Postage Stamps.
The question of a correspondent who
wishes to know when postage stamps
first came into use in tue United states,
recalls recollections of one of the most
hotly contested battles for public wel
fare and convenience ever fought in the
ITnitHd States. In Great Britain the en-
tire'ehansrein the rates of postage, and
the improved facilities for the prompt
transmission and delivery oi letters,
proposed by Rowland Hill, went into
operation in 184U. renny postage across
the Atlantic stood at once in strong
contrast with the rates charged in the
United States, where it cost six and a
quarter cents to send a single letter not
over thirty miles, between thirty to
eighty miles, ten cents; between eighty
and one hundred and fifty miles, twelve
and a half cents; over one hundred and
hftv and less than four hundred miles,
eighteen and three-quarter cents; four
to five hundred miles, twenty cents, and
over five hundred miles, twenty-five
cents. These rates were for a single
piece of paper. Each additional piece
added one rate, and a letter that weigh
ed one ounce was made to pay four
rates.
Every year when Congress met its
table was loaded with petitions for
cheap postage. State Legislatures were
induced to pass resolution aiter resolu
tion in favor of a reduction, and a par
tial reform was effected in 1845, against
the earnest opposition of many who held
that as the f ost-oihce department was
not self-sustaining at these high rates,
a reduction would result in its becom
ing a heavy charge upon the Govern
ment.
The partial measures of 1845 only
whetted the desire of the people for a
wholesale reduotion, and the agitation
continued until March, 1851, when a
law was passed by Congress reducing
the rates to three cents on letters weign
ing not more than half an ounce, and
carried not more than 8,000 miles, if
the nostaore was prepaid. If not pre
paid the rate was five cents for a half
ounce; and these rates were to De in
creased according to the weight, as at
present.
To facilitate the prepayment of this
postage, the Postmaster-General was
direoted to prepare and furnish Deputy
Postmasters ior saie to tne puduo,
" suitable stamps of the denomination
Of three cents." It was left optional
to use a stamp, or to pay the three cents
at the Post-oflice, and, as a further fa
cility for such prepayment, the same
bill provided for the coinage of a three
cent piece the forerunner of along
series of "fish-scale" money. The
three-cent piece came into favor at hrst,
however, being voted " decidedly neat
and tasty," which, perhaps, it was com
pared with the broad and cumbrous
copper cents, for which in a measure it
furnished a convenient substitute.
The three cent pieces and the three
cent stamps were ready for delivery by
the time the new law took effect on
July 1st, 1851.
When the first reduction was passed
in 1845, the pieces of mail matter an
nually handled in the United States
numbered about twenty-nine millions;
the beneficial effect of the many re
forms of which it was the harbinger
may be imagined from the fact that
thirty years afterwards the number of
letters and pieces of transient matter
handled in Boston alone was thirty
nine millions, or one-third more than
the whole postal business of the coun
try a generation earlier.
Now. in the free-delivery cities alone,
eighty-eight in number, moro than
eight hundred and ten millions of
pieces of mail matter are handled an
nually, while the poHtal-car clorks han
dle nearly three billions of pieces of
mail matter in the coure ot a fear. In
Now York City, in a single week,
7,193,290 pieces passed through the
hands ef the post-ollice people, and the
Government in 1879 paid for tbe car
riage of more than thirty millions of
pouMs of mail matter by railroad.
These figures give some idea, but by
no means a full one, of the results
which have flowed from the revolution
begun when postage stamps came into
existence in this country. Cleveland
Leader.
A Stirring Appeal.
Omct of Pbestpent of Wibconsin EnrroasT
AND fUbUHHKUH' ASSOCIATION. ,
Mii.waukkk, Feb. 2U, )
To Senators and Members of Congress:
It becomes my painful duty to ad
dress you a few lines, and if you will
pay attention and allow the ideas here
in advanced to gently enter your sev
eral systems without the aid of a surgi
cal operation or a shotgun, it will be a
cussed sight more than we hare a right
to expect. At the annual meeting of
the Wisconsin Editors and Publishers
Association held last June at Oshkosh,
after the members had been formally
admitted to the Insane Asylum, they
passed the following whereases and
resolutions, between free lunches and
picnics, and made me the humble in
strument of torture to bring the afore
said whereases and resolutions to your
attention:
Wheke as, The type foundries of the United
States have formed acomblnatlon for the pur
pose of Imposing such terms and regulations
as thev choose neon trade : and
Whbkbas, They have been and are using
tneir organizations to toe treat aisauvantage
and injury of their patrons, the printers and
publishers of the country: and
WHEitEAS, The ordinary and permanent
difficulties In the way Ot obtaining type from
lorelgn countries are sucn as to aiioru ample
protection to American type foundries with
out the addition oi the safeguard oi a turin
therefore.
Mesolved, That the just Interests of the print
ers and publishers of the United States re
quire that the tariff on type metal and type be
removed.
Jtesolved, That the representatives of Wis
consin in Congress are urgently requested to
use their Influence and efforts to secure a
speedy abolition of such tariff.
Now that you have read the resolu
tions, it is a supposable case that you
will feel that your next duty is to throw
them into the waste-basket. In the
name of forty million people, be the
same more or less, 1 ask you not to
lose your cud, but ruminate, as it
were, and think over the highway rob
bery that is being practiced upon your
unsophisticated constituents by the
type founders, who are foundering the
newspapers. As it is now they stand
in the entrance of the editorial sanc
tum and take the money that cemes in
on subscriptions, and only allow the
publisher the cordwood and farm
produce. By the protection your
alleged honorable body affords
them in the way of tariff, they
grapple the throat of every news
paper in America, and say, "Keno,"
while the newspaper publisher can
only return his chips to the dealer and
say " O, dash it!" Every article that
is used by a newspaper man, exoept
second-hand ulster overcoats and liver,
is protected by a tariff that makes the
cold chills run up his spine.
Another thing that the Association
did not pass any resolutions about, but
which they probably will at the next
meeting, if there are enough oi them
left outside of the poor-house to meet
before they meet on that beautiful shore,
is the recent action of the manufac
turers of paper, who are endeavoring to
screw down the lid of the newspaper
coffin which the type-founders are pre
paring for the grave. In the last three
months, by their own sweet will, they
have run the price of paper up almost
one hundred per cent, mere is noth
ing to prevent them from doing it, as
foreign-manufactured paper is kept out
of the country by the tann. tuvery ar
ticle that goes into the construction of
rag-paper, exoept basswood, sweat and
water, has a tann on it. xne soua,
asafoetida and blue-mass, or whatever
is used to deodorize undershirts and
caat-off drawers so that they will smell
good in a newspaper, has a corn on it
in the shape ot a tann, so that tne pa
per-manufacturing, three-card monte
chaps have an excuse to oieea newspa
pers to the last drop. What the news
papers want, and they believe it is not
an unreasonable demand, is the remov
al of the tariff on type, on rags, on pa
per, and on all chemicals used in the
manufacture of paper. In a tariff on
raffs fif there is no tariff on rags you had
better put one on, unless you remove
the tariff on the rest of the stuff; if a
tariff is a srood thing you can't have too
much of it), for instance, whom do you
protectP Nobody but gutter-snipe rag
pickers and old maids who save up
rags to buy snuff, and tin peddlerB who
trade tin dippers and skimmers occa
sionally for a , flour sack full of bad-
smellmsr rags. Are the rag-picKers ana
old maids your principal constituents?
The newspapers of the country be
lieve that they are entitled to some
consideration at your hands. They are
in many instances the instruments
through which many of you have at
tained the positions you now hold, and
thev never have got much of anything
from you except Patent Office reports
and agricultural documents. They have
sat up nights for you, and done dirty
work that may bar them out of all par
ticipation in the chariot races in the
golden streets of the New Jerusalem,
and now they demand that you pro
tect them from the ravages of the type
founding and paper-making grasshop
pers, before it is everlastingly too late.
jNot being one oi tne "uasneu liter
ary fellers" so touchingly alluded to
bv the great Senator Simon Cameron,
this epistle to you Corinthians may be a
little raw, and not as polished as it
should be. but it tries to represent the
feelings of the newspaper men of Wis
consin in language that the wayfaring
man, though a diabolical idiot, can un
derstand, and it means business. The
newspapers are desperate, and, while
they don't want to go on the war-path,
they feel that they have been burdened
about enough by the different tribes of
beneficiaries of the Government. If
yon great men will pass a bill to give us
relief you will strike it rich, and don't
yon forget it. Yours, about mad
enough, !
(iEOBOE W. tHOK,
President Wisconsin Editors nd Publishers' ;
Association. .
SCIgMIflC ASP IXDiaTHIAL.
To neutralize the stinjof a gnat or
mosquito rub the part ailected with a
litiio cerumen; that is, the wax of the
ear.
An effort is making to secure tele
graphic communication between Paris
and the principal cities of France by a
system of underground wires.
We hear sound furthest just before
a storm, when the atmosphere is light
est. Two reasons are given for this
phenomenon: one is, that the air being
moist, has more than its normal con
ducting power; the other is that the
low lying strata of clouds confine tne
sounds to the earth.
The IllwtrirU ZtUung gives the
following statistics concerning the tele
graphic wires of the world: Those of
fcurope measured at the close of J87,
7G8.786' English miles; those of America,
114,157; Asia, 24,521; Astralia, 23,582,
and Africa, 8,148. The telegraphic net
that embraces the world comprises.
therefore, 980,170 English miles, or
1,513,683 kilometres.
The vaunted superiority of English
over American steel rails does not eeem
to be borne out by the facts. Of the
American rails laid on the Pennsylva
nia Railroad and used from 1808 to
1878, but 6.26 per cent, were removed
in that period. Of the English rails
laid from 18C4 to 1876, when their pur
chase ceased, 16-27 per cent, were re
newed. On the Philadelphia, Wilming
ton & Baltimore Line, American and
foreign rails seem to wear About equal
ly well.
A few days ago a man was digging
in the earth near Nor walk, Conn,
when he came upon what he supposed
from its worn, corrugated appearance.
to be an old six-pound cannon-ball. On
taking it to town, it was decided by a
gentleman familiar with such matters
to be a genuine aerolite, composed
largely of magnetic iron, and probably
of recent origin. At the suggestion of
a bvstander, the operator at a tele
graph office attached the wires of his
battery to it so as to form a circuit,
when it instantly threw out a shower of
sparks and gave forth a loud humming
sound, similar to that heard in a plan
ing-mill. The specimen is to be sent
to the Smithsonian institute at Wash
ington.
It is a great convenience to know
the comparative value of different kinds
of wood for fuel. Shellbark hickory is
regarded as the highest standard of our
forest trees, and calling that 100, other
trees will compare with it for real value
as fuel for house purposes as follows
Shellbark hickory, 10U; pignut hick
ory, 92; white oak, 84; white
ash, 77; dogwood, 75; scrub oak, 73
white hazel, 72; appletree, 70; red oak
67; white beech, 65; black birch, 62
yellow oak, 60; hard maple, 59; white
elm, 58; red cedar, 56; wild cherry, 55
yellow pine, 54; chestnut, 52; yellow
poplar, 54; butternut ana white birch,
43; white pine, 30. It is worth bearing
in mind that in wood of the same spe
cies there is a great difference, accord
ing to the sou on which they grow,
tree that grows on a wet, low, rich
ground will be less solid and less dura
ble for fuel, and, therefore, of a less
value than a tree of the same kind that
prows on a dry poor soil. To the ordi
nary purchaser oak is oak, and pine is
pine, but for house use the tree grown
on dry upland, and standing apart from
all others, is worth a great deal more,
The vast cavities in the sun which
we call " spots" are not solid things,
but rather rents in that bright cloud
surface of the sun which we call
photosphere, and through which we
can look down to lower regions. Their
shape may be rudely likened to a fun
nel with sides at hrst siowiy sloping
and then suddenly going down into the
central darkness. This central aaric-
ness has itself gradations of shade, and
cloud forms may be seen there obscure
ly glowing with a reddish tinge far
down its depths, but we never see any
solid bottom, and the hypothesis oi a
habitable sun far within the hot sur
face is not utterly abandoned. It has
been observed that portions ot the
bright general surface of the sun have
been drawn into a spot, mucn as any
floating thing would be drawn into a
whirlpool, and then, though the sur
face portaon may occupy oy measure
ment over 3,000,000 miles in area,
completely break up and change so as
to be unrecognizable in less than twen
ty minutes. These observations snow
that the actual motion must be rapid al
most bevond conception, a speed of
from twenty to fifty miles a second be
ing of a common occurrence and ; very
otten exceeded. i
Food-Adulteration In Congress.
A r.ill haa he.p.n introduced in Con
gress by the Committee on Manhfactj-
I.!aL annnina a immujtl-
urea wuiuu ouuutu iuwiitp vhw iuiuiuu-
ate, cordial and unanimous support of
mfimrmrs wno are ormoseu to irauu,
and who have any regard for the sani-
tarv nonditton oi tne American people.
Tt TMirnnsA is to nrovent the sale of
adulterated food in the District of Co
lumbia and the Territories, the impor
tation thereof from foreign countries,
and its transportation from one State
to another. These terms seem to cover
the jurisdiction of the General Govern
ment, and, if strictly enforced, they
nr.iilr1 tvn f ot tnurn.rH siinrtrftssin o fffin-
ttuuiu f, . I I a o
eral traffic in impure and poisonous ar
ticles. At ail events, the successful
nnarntmn nf a funeral law of this kind
would reduce the manufacture and sale
of adulterated food in every case to a
contracted territory, and thus enable
the State and local Government to sup
press it.
The report made by tne uommmee
which proposed the bill contained
otBrt.iino-Bviiifinne of the utter indiffer-
enoe to life and health which is shown
the manufacturers and dealers. Out
a!-- nanVaffoa ri onfTaA hoiltrht lit)
haphazard in Baltimore, it was discov
ered that more tnan nan oi tne Deans
were artificiallycolored with poisonous
a large proportion 01 jriussiau
blue .. found in a microscopic exam
ination tea, and in some of it but a
faint suspicion of tea-dust to give it the
requisite odor. Chloride of tin is a com
mon poison used ii the adulteration of
sugars and sirups. It is estimated that
90,000,009 pouads of oleomargarine
were made in this country in 1878,
which almost invariably contained liv
ing organisms and the germs of disease.
Nearly all liquors are " doctored" with
sttong and poisonous acids. In almost
all articles of commerce the practice of
adulteration bus become general and
public. Manufacturers and dealers who
would prefer to be honent are either de
ceived or claim that they are forced to
make and sell adulterated articles for
the same reason that the distillers
claimed they were compelled to defraud
the Government of its tax during the
existence of the Whisky Ring viz: In
order to compete with the trade.
It is lamentablo that people should
have become so habituated and hardr
ened to the practice of adulteration. It
is now considered no more vicious or
reprehensible than it is to cheat the
Government. Yet it is an individual
menace to life and health every time
the sale of a poisonous article is made,
as well as a gross fraud upon the pur
chaser. Every man guilty of deliber
ately swindling in weight, measure, or
quality selling as genuine an article
which he knows to be spurious ought
to be made to suffer in pocket and in
person for the offense. A heavy fine
and imprisonment, gauged by the pos
sible damage of the poison distributed,
should be attached to the manufacture
and sale of adulterated food for man or
beast. The General Government can
undoubtedly control the traffic to a
considerable extent by some such meas
ure as is now proposed, and it is re
sponsible to the people to the extent of
its powers. The very essence of Gov
ernment is to protect the masses from
imposition, frauds and outrages against
person and property. Chicago Tribune.
The Secret of a Wall.
The old Nicholson mansion in West
Baltimore street is in process of demoli
tion, to make room for the new Ger
man Savings Bank. The workmen
were yesterday tearing down a thick
wall between an old fireplace and a
stairway leading from the first to tha
second Btory. This brickwork had the
appearance of being a portion of the
main wall, but the workmen discovered
that it was entirely unconnected with
the wall of the building. It was six
feet high and nearly square. The men
began at the top, loosening the bricks
with pickaxes. Suddenly one of the
pickaxes penetrated a vault in the
brickwork, the bricks fell in, and a
rush of foul air filled the room. The
vault was in form like the section of a
sewer, two feet high, four and a half
feet long, and closed at both ends. In
the vault were several human bones.
The work of tearing down the brick
work was continued, and another vault
was opened a counterpart of the first
in which were other bones. The wall
above the vaults was built in the most
substantial manner. Flint cement in
stead of mortar was used, and appar
ently every precaution- was taken to
prevent the presence of the vaults be
ing betrayed by any hollow sound. i
The bones were examined by a phy
sician, and he pronounced them the
skeletons of a woman and a babe. Thev
were in a position that indicated fchafi
they were lying where they fell wheri
the flesh dropped off from them. The
air coming to them caused them to soon
crumble to dust.
The mansion was built in 1802, by a
man named Phillips, and expert build
ers are of the opinion that the vaults
were constructed shortly afterward. It
Was in possession of a family named
McCoy for several years prior to 1841,
when it was sold to the late J. J. Nich
olson, the well-known banker. He
lived in it many years, several of his
children having been born there. It
was subsequently occupied by a slave
dealer named Grimes, and the room in
which the vaults were built was used as
a slave prison. Several of the negroes
died of suffocation and exhaustion, and
the remonstrances of neighbors caused
Grimes to move away. The vaults .
were in the house before the slave-dealer
occupied it, for a son of Mr. Nichol
son says that the heavy wall was there
when his father took possession of the
mansion. It is believed that some early
tenent caused the vaults to be built for
the purpose of burying evidences of a
double murder. Baltimore Letter.
TT here the Witness Was.
A Tifimlexino" answer was rriven by a
witness during the trial of the case of
the State against Barrett, in the Superior
Pnnrt.. Colonel Lester, of counsel for
defendant, asked the witness if he was
present at the shooting (which, as is
known, occurred on the pavement in
front of the Screven House, the day
after the Jasper Centennial), who re
plied that he was. Colonel Lester, prc-r
peeHino- with his Questions, asked it he
was in the hotel at the time, and agaii
the witness answered, "No, he was
r,nt T1iti noma tho nnAstirvn. " Wfire
you outside of the hotel at the time?"
and again the witness answered, " No,
he was not." At this stage of the pro
ceedings the venerable Judge Fleming,
adjusting his spectacles, addressed tha ,
witness thus: " How is it possible that
you were neither inside nor outside of
the hotel, and yet you say that yon W6re
present at the shooting P You surely
must have been either inside or outside
of it that is certain." The witness,
with a twinkle in his eve and a knowing
smile about the corners of his mouth.
quietly replied: " You see, Judge, I
urua sAiitArl rm a frvnr-lerrrred stool, two
Iocs nf which were inside the door and
two legs were resting on the pavement,
so that i was neitner msiue oi tne nousa
nnr nntaide of it." The Judffe. With &
sigh of relief, settling himself back in.
his chair, said: "I see how it wa
possible now, but I was greatly puzzled
until vrm PTnlftinprl. Prnfififid withvour
questions, Colonel Lester." Savannah
(Ua.J JSews.
The enormous consumption of timt
ber for railway ties gives to any method
for preventing decay a special interests
It was stated, in a paper lately rea$
before the Engineers' Club of Phil,
adelphia, - that ties permeated witk'
creosote which had been in us
in England for twenty-two yeari
were still in as good condition as
when first laid down. Creosoted pilei
driven at Portsmouth, England, forty
two years ago, were now as good above
na KaImxt tha vroforlinA find hn.VA ftlltta.'
lasted sixteen sets of unprepared wood
cut from the same timber and used ia
the same work. These facts would,
seem to establish the economy of creoj
soting railway ties beyond all questio