The Brookhaven leader. [volume], April 19, 1883, Image 1

About The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891

Image provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

                
Sbe groobbavro grader. ?he ilroobUavca trader.
= Bvb.LHOBBa . ; U^f|f|U r
' _ "V VMitJ|il0W#0 ♦ ES&E=?fs.1l8|s’E8
Mv ipfWltlUL..». ••••••••••••••••••••••••*• * 00 JW 0OVFftttdMIs*»•••••• • 10 00 00 10, H 00| 10 00
X riiibiiiiii. » P
_ _ _____ . Mi In* he*.' MW »» •••
rpr transient «dvmi»einent«. ten ««it» » BY B. T. HOBBS. A Government in the Interest of the People. $2.00 PER ANNl M.
tine for fir-t insertion; five emits a line lor _____s___wtU be charged lor at regular advertising
, eaph sobeotyient Insertion. . *' -—--L *'■ ■ - ■ . -■ - .'■'"■■ -- • ■■■■■■■■ , 1 —. .. • -— -—- rates.
uJr'T*1»—*““■»<— VOLUME I._BROOKHAVBN, MISSISSIPPI, THURSDAY. APRIL 19, I88:i._NUMBER 9.
TEARS AFTER.
1 know the years have rnllod across thy grave
Till It ha* grown a plot of level grass—
All summer does Its green luxuriance wave
ro'silken shimmer on thy breast. alas!
. And,all the winter It Is lost to sight
Beneath a winding-sheet of chilly white.
1 know the proclou* name I lovod so much
Is heard no more the haunts of men among;
The tree thou plantcdst hns outgrown thy
touch.
And sings to alien cars Its murmuring song;
The lattice-roe* forgets thv tendance sweet.
The air thy laughter, and the sod thy feet.
Through the dear wood where grew thy vio
lets
Lies the worn track of travel, toll and trade:
And steam s Imprisoned demon fumes and
frets'
With shrieks that scare the wild bird from
the shade.
Mills vex the lar.y stream, Hnd on Its shore
The timid harebell swings ita chimes no more.
But yet—even yet—If I, grown changed and
old,
Should lift my eyes at opening of the door.
And see again thy fair head's waving gold.
And meet thy dear eyes' tender smile once
more.
These years of parting like a breath would
seem.
And 1 should say: "I knew it was a dream!”
—fflznheth Akm, in Century Magazine.
*iPVB.*VOCH.n
The mail cars leaving Washington arc
burdened every day with public docu
ments, and every Congressman as he
leaves the city nays one last visit to the
“folding-room” at the Capitol to see
how his documents an; getting off. The
entire force ih the folding-room is busy
as busy can be, and quantities of the
documents have accumulated at the
post-office owing to the inability of the
authorities to furnish mail cars in which
. to carry them off as fast as they are
j mnil<*l. The fact is, impossible as this
may appear, the amount of this kind of
matter now furnished by order of Con
gressmen for transportation through the
mails is more than a car-load a day.
By a car-load Is meant.twenty thousand
pounds. “There are.’* said Superin
tendent Robinson, of the House folding
room, in speaking of the subject to-day,
“there are sent from our folding-room
to the post-office every day, now. about
two hundred sacks of these documents
—hooks of all sorts and sizes, and upon
all subjects that the Government Printer
lias been ordered to discourse upon.”
“And what do these two hundred
sacks weigh apiece?”
“Abont one hnndred and twenty-five
pounds—that makes twenty-five thou
sand pounds. Then add one-third more
for the aiuoiiutsent. out from the Senate
document-room, and you have alxnit the
Mze of our daily mail nowadays.”
“Over thirty-three thousand pounds,
eh?”
“Yes.”
“ And all carried free, of course?”
“Yes, it could not go otherwise. It
would break up the average Congress
man to pav the postage on his docu
ments. And, indeed, it seems quite
proper that these books should become
free, for they are proper educators.
They go everywhere and are read by
all glasses of people. They are, as a
rule, very judiciously distributed, each
Congressman sending his hooks to peo
ple whom they will interest. For in
stants', a member has seven or eight
hundred Agricultural Reports, or ‘ng's,’
as we term them, anti a couple of hun
dred Consular Reports on mercantile
matters, a hundred Engineers’ Reports,
n couple of hundred on engineering, as
many reports of the Railroad Com
missioner, some more aliout patents,
and so on; of course he sends the agri
cultural reports to the farmers ill his
district, the reports of the consuls to
the merchants and manufacturers,those
upon financial topics to financiers, mid
so on through the list. More than that,
where a member has no constituents In
terested in any of these particular sub
jects, and many who are interested in
another, he trades off his documents
that bis people don’t waut for those of
another they do want, and so really
they are made, to go as far as possible,
4 ami do as much good as could lie expect
ed from general distribution of this sort. ”
“ What is there in this talk that mem
bers sell their documents to second-hand
dealers here?”
“Nothing, 1 trunk. At least 1 know
of no such cases. I do know, though,
that they often make trades with these
men upon the principle indicated in the
trades that I mentioned a few minutes
ago, anti by that means enable them
selves to furnish their constituents a
large number of books that are really
valuable to them.”
“ How many volumes each do mem
bers get?”
“That depends altogether on the
number ordered by the act of Congress.
Now this year each member gets oomc
thingr oyer seven hundred agricultural
reports. ' Tirol is the largest number of
•< liny one publication.”
f “How many different publications
are there?”
some o* me mcmuers sent out tnis
year as many as two hundred and twen
ty-five different works, not all of them
publications of this vear. however.”
“You keep the publications of former
years on hand, then, do you?”
“Yes: some of them. Some run as
far back as twenty years; of others we
have none more than a year or two
back. The more valuable ones, of
course, are picked up rapidly by the
members for themseves and their
• friends.”
“ Are many of them so valuable,
then?”
** Yes; some run as high as twenty
five dollars for a set. Of course, thut'is
exceptional; but there are a few eases
where they run that high.”
“ How many volumes do you think
you send out a year?”
“I think about seven hundred thou
sand. 1 have no definite record of the
number, but I think that it must runup
to that ntimlier.”
"Then adding one-third for the Sen
ate, and some more for the depart
ments, it makes a million volumes a
year, does it?”
“About that, I suppose—and that,
you know, is exclusive of the speeches
I of members, iu pamphlet form, of which
they send us a great many to fold and
mail.”
“How many?”
“ Well, all the way from one thou
sand to one million apiece.”
“One million! You don’t mean to
say that any one member has sent out
a million copies of his speeches?”
“Yes. and more than that. One
member of this Congress has sent out
It million and a quarter of his speeches.”
“ And does the Government pay for
these million and a quarter of speeches
for political purposes?”
“Oh, dear, no. The gentleman has
paid nearly fifteen thousand dollars—
more than his entire salary in both ses
sions of Congress—for speeches alone.
The Government furnishes the envel
opes, folds them, and sends them
through the mail. We have sent off
more than five million speeches in en
velopes. But our envelopes don’t cost
mnrh when we buy them by the mill
ion, as we do here. We get them at
less than a dollar a thousand.”
“ How does he get the addresses of
enough people to send out these speech
es in such large numbers?”
“Well, he furnishes each member as
many as he chooses to send, and keeps
four or five clerks busy sending them
out besides.”
“The number of pounds of this mat
ter transported through the mails free
of charge must be something enor
mous?’ ’
“ Yes it is. It would be impossible
to estimate it, oxeept by the general
fact that we average a hundred bags a
day the year round, and that they prob
ably average one hundred and twenty
five pounds apiece, making some five or
six million pounds, or sav twenty-five
hundred to three thousand tons, or two
hundred and fifty car-loads.”
“ And how many men do the work of
preparing this for the i>eople?”
“Here, in the folding-room, where
the books are wrapped and addressed,
we have thirty men, beside those in the
office. But wc ought to have twice the
number. Then that number is small
compared with the. force at the Govern
ment Printing Office, where these books
are printed. There are between 2,000
and 3,000 employed there. Think of it!
Enough to make a good-sized town. It
is the largest printing establishment in
the world.”
“What particular sections get most
of these books?”
“Well, that is pretty difficult to an
swer. The scientific works tend toward
New England and the Middle States,
agriculture toward the Misissippi val
ley, mining both to the far West and to
the money centers, and so on. The de
mand, however, is quite general, and
the distribution on a very broad basis.”
“ Is the range of subjects considered
by these works a very wide one?”
“Yes, indeed! There are, as ^said
awhile ago, from two hundred to
three hundred different works. Many
of them, of course, are only inter
esting to a few, but there is cer
tainly not a citizen who would find
them all uninteresting. Take the report
of the census, for instance; it covers not
only*,the population, but every other
conceivable subject, health, wealth, ag
riculture, mining, manufacture, trade
ami many other interesting and valua
ble topics. Then, there are the Consu
lar reports, Agricultural reports. Fish
Commission reports, coast and geoditie
surveys, a number of volumes on et h
uology, special report on diseases of
swifle, sheep husbandry, the Ethnologi
cal Commission’s report, Powell’s sur
veys west of the 100th meridian (a
very’ valuable set, finely illustrated and
full of interest), reports on mines and
mining, and on geological surveys in
the mining regions—and many others,
literally too numerous to mention.
They yvould make a very valuable libra
ry in themselves.”
Thousands upon thousands of these
volumes—hundreds of thousands, in
fact—st-ill remain in the basement of
the Capitol. Some have been there
twenty years, some appear likely to re
main much longer. In one room yvere
thirty, thousand volumes, in another
Ini.f as many. What a fire they would
make if they should get fairly started
some day. And yvhat a world of infor
mation they would carry if they were
distributed among the forty million
reading people of this country.— It as A -
inglon Cor. Chicago Journal.
A Time-Lock Prevents tlie Opening of a
Hank Vault.
A strange thing occurred at the City
National Bank, in this city, a few days
ago. As is well known, this corpora
tion moved into its new quarters, at the
corner of Sixteenth and Lawrence
streets, quite recently. The vaults
there are new ones, with the latest, im
proved and combination locks. The
officers are thoroughly familiar with
the workings of the locks, hut, they be
ing new, can not be held responsible
for any unsatisfactory' workings. A
few day s ago, when the proper time
had arrived, an effort was mane to un
lock and open the main vault, hut after
some time spent in unsuccessfully try
ing the combination it was discovered
that something was wrong, and that
the bolts held fast whore they had
been lodged. Meanwhile drafts and
checks had been pouring In, and all the
available money had been paid out.
More were coming in, and immediate
action was necessary'. A telegram was
at once sent to the vault manufacturers
for an expert, to unlock the door, and
another telegram explaining the ease
was sent East for money. The other
banks heard of the circumstances, and
they offered Mr. Hanna all the money j
be desired. He gratefully accepted the
offer, but afterward found that he had
no use for the loans. For three days
the bank transacted business with its
vault doors closed, and without some
of the books most used. The strangest j
part of the affair was that very few 1
inconveniences were felt. During
those three days business was done, i
and it was on the right side to suit the >
circumstances. Alter paying all the
drafts made upon them, the officers of
Die bank found that they had a sur
plus of fifty-seven thousand dollars
upon their hands—that amount being
the sum taken ia during the three days
oyer and above the money paid. Tfce
complications in the combination
showed the bank officials that their
credit wa# unlimited, and they have
reason to congratulate themselves ujion
their lucky escape and financial standing.
Had the circumstances been different
from what they were, no one can tell
what the consequences would have
been. Had some alarmist been refused
payment and told to call again the
rumor would have gone out that the
bank was in a bad way, insolvent, etc.,
and an aggravating run would have
eosped — Denver Tribune,
Coming Inventions.
“What more can tie invented?” asked
an enthusiastic citizen on Saturday,
after listening to the talk over the line
from here to New York.
“Why, we have only begun.” replied
a gentleman who had paid some atten
tion to the subject. “To talk si* hun
dred miles or so is nothing. Why, you
just wait ten years and 1 well tell you
what you will see.”
“Well, let's hear you now.”
“In the first place the present Morse
system of telegraph will have entirely
passed away. Talking will be so much
more rapid and accurate.”
“Yes. I admit that.”
“ W'ell, that is not all. There will be
a perfect network of telephone commu
nication, and it will be very chCap.
But that will not be all. By the pay
ment of a very small sum the father in
Northern Ohio can step to the telephone
station at the township center and call
up his married daughter, who many
years ago emigrated to Dakota. As he
talks he will look into a finely-adjusted
mirror that stands before his face, and
in that mirror he can see the face of his
beloved daughter as she talks to him.
She, at her end of the line, of course,
will observe the countenance clearly and
distinctly also. The conversation will
run something like this:
“ ‘ You seem to be a little pale to-day,
father. Are you as well as usual? ’
“ 1 Why, yes, I guess I am all right.
How are the babies? ’
‘“Oh, Sally was sick all night and
don't seem to be just right this morn
ing. Hero she is (holding her up to the
telephone). You must excuse her ap
pearance. Her face is not very clean;
I have been so busy that I have not had
time to wash it, and she has been play
ing around and got this apron very uirty,
too. ’
“‘Sally is all right, ain’t she, little
one? How grandpa does wish he could
take her in his arms. He can see her
very clearly, though. I think she looks
more and more like her mother’s folks
as she gets older, don't you?’
“ ‘Yes, we all agree on that; William
has insisted almost ever since she was
born that she was mother's girl. But
here is Henry and John: both want to
see and talk with grandpa a minute this
morning.’
“ ‘Bless their souls, grandpa wants to
see them, too. J>et them come to the
’i>h one.’
“And so the conversation will go on,
and all for ten cents.”
“But that will spoil the United States
mail. What will be the use of writing
letters when we can talk that way?”
“There will be none at all. But this
telephone business will be run by the
Government, and the price of communi
cation will be kept down to the mini
mum. When we think that we can now
talk over a line six hundred miles long,
and hear what is said, do you think that
is expecting very much? Who would
have believed that such a thing as a
telephone was possible ten years ago?
I tell you, I am not speaking at random
in what I have said above. Through
with wonders are we? Why, man, we
have only just begun. We have got to
study up some means of rapid transit
by which newspapers at any rate can be
sent from one part of the country to an
other much faster than now. News
will get very old before a full descrip
tion of it can be sent from one part of
the country to the other by telephone.
Men are now studying the problem of
electric locomotion, and in ten years it
will be an accomplished fact, this is a
fast age? Ha, ha! This is an ox-team
and-covered-wagon age compared to
what is coming. Twenty-five miles per
hour for an express train! Bah! who
will be willing to wait for that; we
shall spin along at least at the rate of
thirty or forty miles a minute when
there is any necessity for so doing. Not
possible? Why, man, you arc a
skeptic! any thing is possible to the
modern Yankee mind and genius. We
can do anything we have a mind to and
we will.”
The man who thought the inventors
had got to the end of their string
walked away in a reflective mood.—
Cleveland Leader.
St. Malo.
For years past most remarkable re- j
ports about a Malay settlement at the
mouth of a small bayou running into
Lake Borgne on the extreme southern
limit have been in circulation. Tales
which would have furnished material
for many volumes of sensational litera
ture have been twice told about this
peculiar spot, until the passage of time
and the absence of accurate detail con
cerning this terra incognita gave to
them tue corroboration of general ac
quiescence, and St. Malo was regarded
by those who heard of the settlement
as akin to the buccaneers’ resorts of
the Caribbean Sea, or to the mysteri
ous retreats of the smugglers of the
Spanish main. It is true, now and
again some indefatigable amateur hunt
er or fisherman would stray into its
neighborhood, but they never remained
long, and their short visits served rath
er to heighten the color of past rumors
than to tone them down to a matter-of
fact standard of to-day.
All that was definitely known was
that manv years ago a number of na
tives of Manila, one of the Philippine
Islands, north of Java, had established
themselves in a village on a piece of
land in tho sea marsh of Louisiana,
near a bayou, and there, with miles and
miles of rustling rushes and reeds be
tween them and civilization, had built
up an autonomy of their own, holding
allegiance to no power or potentate,
and, though within the geographical
boundary of our State and the United
States, yet beyond the reach of its laws.
A stern and rigidly enforced statute of
the colony was that of complete exclusion
of the female sex, and many were the
ghastly traditions of the enforcement of
this ordinance.
According to the whispered story,
shortly aftqr the settlement was made,
and the small-eyed natives of the Pa
cific began to thrive with their fishery,
one of their number, following the ex
ample of the average American citizen,
as well as the dictates of a semi-Mon
golian taste, carried thither a wife, and
established her at the head of his little
household. Within a few months un
pleasant reports began to spread in the
village, at first against the chief, anti
then against the smallest ami mostin
signitiocut tisher’s assistant there. Gos
sip, with' her idle tongue, invokes] pri
vate enmity where brotherly love ex
isted bcfore.and old friends found them
selves separated by some maligning
slanderer. Feuds were creates!. The
crease and the knife were rs*sortesl to,
ansi the peaceful St. Malo threatened to
become a place of sickening deeds. The
older heads gathered together and dis
cuased this unlooked-for change in the
affairs of the microcosm. The logic of
facts, by a very simple induction, point
ed to tlie* woman as the cause, nud her
fate was sealed. Traditions differ as to
the means taken to brinj; about the de
sired result. One has it that she was
tied out in the marshes to a stake for
the mosquitoes to suck out her life
blood; another tells of the short strife
of a knife and a severing of the bloody
limbs from the headless trunk. It mat
ters little which may lie true, the re
sult remained, and woman never more
set eyes on St. Malo.
i he character ol these Renters nan
been spoken of as most bold and des
perate, which was skillfully concealed
under a mild, submissive manner when
the eyes of Christian people were upon
them. Exclusive, crafty, superstitious
and daring descendents of the an
thropophagi, it was but natural that ex
cursionists from New Orleans and the
neighboring country did not take kind
ly to St. Malo as a resort in their sum
mer cruises over our land-locked lakes.
With such before the imagination, it is
pardonable that a desire for a solution
of these reported mysteries should be
awakened in the journalistic mind.
The fishing is conducted by com
panies, each of which is composed of a
Captain and four or five men. The
Captain is generally the owner of the
seine. They start out in fine weather
down the shore of Lake Borgne and
haul the seine until a sufficient quantity
is caught to fill their ears. All return
to St. Malo, where the fish are bunched
and sold to luggers which ply l>etween
that point anil New Orleans. The first
share goes to the seine, and then all take
share and share alike of the proceeds.
Each man, when lucky, clears between
fifteen and eighteen dollars per week.
They do not care for the cold, and work
winter and summer, althoiigh summer
is the best fishing season. The men live
on fish, rice and beans, and once a week
they get meat. They are all contented
without wives, and seldom have trouble
with one another. When they first
came they built their houses with
lahinier (palmetto) leaves and with
straw from the marsh; now they are
built of cypress.
No sueli thing as a warrant of a court,
a tax hill, a lawyer, a doctor, or an
election is known there. Their only
judges to settle their disputes are arbi
trators selected by those who dispute
the property in a skiff, a bunch of fish,
„or a pirogue. When a man gets drunk
on liquors brought on the luggers from
the city, and he gets noisy, he is im
mediately taken down to a fish car,
which is simply a large skiff, some ten
feet long, decked over with open seams
about an inch in width, so that when it
is afloat the water will flow through it
to keep the fish alive. The drunken man
is put in a fish car, the sliding door on top
is closed and a peg inserted. He is
then safe. If he becomes too obstreper
ous the ear is pushed out into the water
until it is half filled, the cold hath
effectually quieting the ardor of the
prisoner.
With Bataille as an interpreter, the
Tiinr»-'DemocrcU men paid Del Carpio a
visit, and from him learned that the
boat-builder’s story was correct. Del
Carpio had been there for thirty-five
years, and formerly was Captain of a
company himself, hut he bad grown too
old to fish, and he seldom went out in
the lioats now. He raised game chick
ens, which afforded much sport to the
woman there, and passed his days
quietly beneath the dark shadows of his
trees. Under the shed was hung a
string of sliced fish, drying, as if drying
was possible in such a humid atmos
phere. Everything seemed saturated.
Del Carpio had been a sailor, but on
reaching this country had left his vessel
and come to St. Malo. He said the
place was selected because the bayou
afforded a good harbor, and excellent
fishing grounds were near. The men
there took no part in the late war, and
were disturbed by neither side." He
would not say that there was no smug
gling through the lines from St. Malo
at that time, hut smiled significantly
when the subject was mentioned. When
asked why women were not allowed in
the settlement, he only shrugged his
shoulders and said: “ Quien SabcT'
His face was wrinkled, and from be
neath an overhanging brow two bead
like eyes shone out with all the luster of
youth. His mouth was a good-natured
one, but evinced great firmness. He
was considerably agitated at the visit,
and did not appear at ease until his vis
itors entered their pirogues and paddled
off.—AT. O. Times-Democrat.
—- ^
Spanish Licorice Root,
Licorice plant grows wild in low land,
moist soil and along rivers and water
courses. The best is to be found in
the vicinity of the river Ebro and in
the neighborhood of Cordova. There
are to be found a great many varieties
of Spanish licorice root, which are
to be distinguished by the color of the
root bark—red, brown or yellow. Some
are fibrous and quite spongy, while
others are as hard as wood. Licorice
is a perfect weed; when once it has got a
foothold it is next to impossible to get
rid of it. Eve{y three or lour years sun
dry trenches are dug and ever)- root ex
posed, pulled out as far as possible, un
til it breaks; after a couple of years a
smal stem appears, carrying white flow
ers in spring. The root can only be col
lected from September to March, since
that is the only time of the year when
the sap is found in the root. It is ex
Krted chiefly from Sevilla, Alicanta,
rcelona and Bilboa. The crop, and
conseqiiently the price of licorice root,
depends on several seemingly irrelevant
circumstances. That a hard winter in
fluences the crop is natural enough, but
the price paid tor it is so-low that the
collection of the root is only done when
nothing better in the way of earning
money offers, entirely regardless of the
abundance of the root.—norm Ztti.
PERSONAL A YD LITERARY.
—President Arthur has five sister* and
one brother.
—Mr. Gladstone, It is said. Is writing
a book on the “Evidences of Christiani
ty.”
—Minister Lowell is called the “Right
Hon. J. Russell Lowell” by the London
society journals.
—The death of Postmaster-General
Howe is the first death of a Cabinet offi
cer since that of General Rawlins. Pres
ident Grant's first Secretary of War.
—Hon. Mrs. Leigh, an English lady,
is about to publish in London a book
’ concerning ner life in America. It is
to lie entitled. "Ten Years on a Georgia
Plantation Since the War.”
—In Baltimore, on St. Paul's street,
is displayed the sign, “Charles J. Bona
parte, attorney at law.” This grand
nephew of the great Emperor is a busy
member of his profession.
—Rev. I)r. S. F. Smith, who wrote
"My Country, 'tis of Thee,” has re
turned to Chicago from a long tour
through Europe, the East Indies anil
Burmah. He wrote the hvmn while he
was at Harvard College, fifes years ago.
—Wong Ching Foo,the editor of the
New York Chinese-American, is about
to liegin the translation into English of
"The Fan Yong, or the Royal Slave,”
the most popular of Chinese historical
novels. The romance was written
2,200 years ago, by Kong Ming.
—Dr. Clemanceau, the distinguished
leader of the extreme left in the French
Chamber of Deputies, wras teacher of
French in a Hartford seminary sixteen
years ago, and while there married Miss
Plummer, of Wisconsin, one of his pu
pils, who is now a leader in Parisian
society.
—The wife of United States Senator
Brown, of Georgia, who is described as
exceedingly plain, goes but little intoso
I ciety, and shrinks from publicity. Her
| first journey in a railroad ear was taken
when she accompanied the Senator to
Washington two years ago and saw him
\ sworn in as United States Senator.
—It appears that the announcement
that Edward Everett Hale was going
to Mexico arose from the fact that he
is writing a book on that country. Since
he has officially denied that he has any
intention of visiting our sister republic,
the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser sup
poses it is because he doesn't want to
be prejudiced in what he may write.
—Miss Sarah Brown, daughter of
| “Old John Brown,” has been appoint
ed to a position in the United States
Mint at San Francisco, John Brown, the
eldest son, a man of sistrong and
vigorous, lives at Put-in-Bav, Lake Erie.
With him resides Owen Brown, a
younger son, who was with his father
when the latter made his attack on
1 Hamer’s Ferry. A daughter named
j Ruth Thompson, lives near by. and an
other son. Jason, resides at Akron, O.
Mrs. Brown lives in California
HUMOROUS.
—“We Studdy to Pleas” is a sign in a
Philadelphia shop window. They might
I better study the spelling-book.
—It was Chaucer that appropriately
said: “There is nothing new but what
lias once been old.” Chaucer evidently
knew hash when he saw it.—Yonkxrs
Statesman.
—A Jackson County milkman while
working the pump "handle calls out
“h'ist there! so boss! so there now!”
It isa way he has of easing his consci
ence.—Modem Argo.
—John Bright has changed his mind
as to woman suffrage. The ladies will
have to be easy on Mr. Bright, how
ever. They will remember how often
they change their own minds.
—A young man named Polk sang all
the evening to a company of friends
at Montgomery. Ala., and then shot
himself dead. He probably preferred
suicide to being lynched.—Rochester
Rosi-Express.
—Here is an “Essay on Man” rathci
more concise than Pope’s. It consists
of the following canto:
Man's a vapor
Full of woes;
Starts a paper.
Busts ana goes.
—There was company to supper, the
tabic was set out splendidly, and all
were enjoying themselves exceedingly,
when the pet of the household unfor
tunately whispered: “Ma, why don’t
you have this sort of supper when there
isn’t any company?”
—Gent to waiter: “Bring me some
grammatical and typographical errors.”
Waiter (looking puxzled at first, but
recovering in a moment his usual seren
itv): “We are just out of them, sir.”
“1’hen what do you mean by keeping
them on your bill of fare?”
—Mrs. Mansard is a practical woman
with no nonsense about her. When
Mr. Mansard in an affectionate way the
other day exclaimed: “My dear, how
can I ever leave you?” she coolly re
plied: “Leave me in as comfortable
circumstances as yon can, Mansy; there,
now, don’t make a fool of yourself.”
—A green chap from the country,
down in the city for a spree, walked
into a dentist's office the other after
noon, and seated himself in the chair
of torture. “ Go, ahead,” he said to
the gum-gauger; “ I want to get full as
quick as you can do it.” “Want to
get full!” exclaimed the tooth-tackler;
“ 1 guess you are full already. You’d
better get out of here—you’ve mis
taken tne place.” “I have, have I?”
shouted the stranger. “ Then what do
you mean by putting in the newspapers
“ tilling a specialtySan Francisco
News-Letter. , ,
—A Chicago paper gives the follow
ing story concerning the recent regis
tration of female voters in Boston: En
ter old lady ot a certain age. “ I wish
to register, sir.” “Your name,
pleaser’ “Almira Jane Simpson.”
“ Your age?” “Beg pardoa!” Do I
understand that I must give my age?”
“Yes, Miss, the law requires it.”
“ Worlds, sir, would not tempt me to
give it! Not that I care. No; I had
a% leave wear it on my bonnet as a
hlckman does his number; but I'm a
twin, and if my sister has a weakness
it is that she dislikes any reference
made to her age; and I could not give
my own because J do not wish to of
fend her,”
| * Temperance.
THE STOKY WHICH THE LEDGER
TOLD.
A widow sat in her quiet rixmi alone.
Grief, as well as years, had turned her
hair to snowy whiteness. She was look
ing over, with her weak, tear-dimmed
eyes, the old ledger which showed how
much wealth her husband had gathered
from his eider-brandy mill. The credit
side was all there. There was not
much written on the debit side, save a
balance of cash cleared. But, to the
; woman looking there, it was as if the
j invisible fingers of the dead were writ
ing on her very heart the fearful
charges that should lie set down against
the business. Ah! as the vision of her
youth and all the years between swept
by her, hy| that debtor side grew
large with black figures, and with a
j blackness no figures could express,
■ while the written lines before her grew
dim and seemed of small account.
hhc rememliered well when the mill
was started, and when the preparations
for brandy-making were begun. She
rememliered the arguments, the ex
cuses, the economy of saved apples,
the deacons who opposed intemper
ance. but, on the ground of lieing
thrifty farmers, brought all their jxxir
est apples to the null. On the debit
side, that first year, had been placisl
by careful hands in the ledger, the cost
of building, of license (for her husband
had called himself an honorable man),
of revenue tax ffor Government must
lx- sustained, they say); and, the widow
added, mentally, the keen sorrow of
her heart, her loss of self-respect, the
hardening influence on her Ixiys, the
annoyances from rough customers, the
loss of her confidence in her husband,
her unavailing tears. And that was
but the beginning.
ronowing uown me ledger owes, sne
read invisible writing of heart's blood
on the debit side. Here, an “accident
al” hurt that laid in death her only
daughter. What a sweet ehild-faee she
had seen laid away beneath the flowers.
] years ago! How her friends would have
I shuddered in their pity, had they knowg
! an angry father's hand had struck the
; blow that killed the child—and the
: brandy was responsible for the blow.
But there are still heavier charges.
| This mother had had four noble sons.
’ And all the weight of her love aud grief
! for them was on the debit side. One of
them, her darling, her generous-hearted
! boy, the only one untainted by the
j drink demon, had been murdered by a
• drunken companion while trying to lead
| him away from his father's mill. But
this is not the heaviest charge. What
of the other boys? One died of deli rum
tremens. Twice before, the mother
■ had watched him in his agony, while
; strong men tried to hold him, till at
last in the terror of his fear, death re
leased him. But what a death for her
boy—dier bright, active-brained, college
boy—to die! He might have helped
the world with his gifts. Ah! put that
down, too, on the debit side. Not only
what he was to his mother, but what he
' might have been to others. There was
! another son. When he brought his
young wife home, she had hoj>ed that
he would conquer his thirst for drink,
there seemed so much of love and
sweetness thrown around his life. For
a little while, it seemed that here her
hopes would be fulfilled; but his father
tempted him with the fair figures on
the credit side. He went again into
the business and soon began to stumble
by the way. It is the old story—so old,
so often repeated—the story of falling
and repenting, of agony, of remorse,
of despair. And so on a few years,
and then he, too, was brought home
| dead. He had shot himself—unable
longer to endure his remorse. People
said he was cruy, but the mother knew
where to place the charge. The young
wife faded like a blighted, blossom, aud
died of a broken heart. The mother
j placed that anguish and death on the
j debtor side.
But there was another son living yet,
I and wealthy. He is carrying on the
flourishing business which his father
left to him, and it has rapidly increased.
He is a moderate drinker; never was
drank in his life; despised people who
| "do not know when to stop.” Already
I he has driven his only son out, a
1 wanderer on the face of the earth, for
I not “knowing when to stop.” It was
; not the kind of advertisement of his
, business which he wanted. He prides
himself on his strength and thinks his
| skirts are dean from the blood of his
victims. Generous in his way, he gives
his blood-money to the churches and
they accept it and extol his generosity.
But the mother, lookingover the ledger,
knows that she has lost her boy; his
tenderness, his kindliness, his loyal
j love of friends and God—these are
gone. He is a selfish, cold-blooded,
j hardened man: and the harm he is do
I ing can not be measured by any human
, computation, and over the ledger the
mother sotjs a text full of meaning:
“For what ^hall it profit a man if he
gain the whole worm and lose his own
soul? or what shall a man give in ex
change for his soul?”
This mother is a widow. There is a
charge for that, and for the years of
sorrow and neglect preceding. The
strong man had changed in the latter
years. He could not bear to see the
wife whose saddened face wjs a per
petual reproach, and so he had driven
her from him; and he had died alone.
What he had suffered was known only
to himself and to God.
me widow s tears are railing over me
grave of all the bright hopes of her early
married life—a life that, but for strong
drink, might have been so bright.
All this on the debit side. On the
credit side,- the dollars and cents—the
world. Who shall draw the balance
sheet?
The ledger falls from the weakened
hands. When kind friends found her,
she seemed asleep. The traces of tears
were on her cheeks. 8he. too, haddied
alone—alone with her ledger and its
memories. But a look of peace rested
on her worn faee. Aad the lookers on
remembered that one son, the earliest
slain, had ever been true td himself, his
mother and his God. She had gone to
him, but the ledger is not balanced. It
is carried over to another book which
opens in Eternity. The accounts ran
far enough here to show' that it is a
losing business. The loss far outweighs
the j.nin, even in this lib*. Host will it
l< n’< where the tmok *»f lift- is opened,
and find holds the scales? In the licfp
of the inlinite years. He will show the ac
count, with its’ worldly gain and eternal
loss.—Morning nnri bog of Reform. ,
A Well-Kept Resolution.
A little lad of seven stood one day
and looked upon a rnan struggling In
[ the grasp of delirium tremens. As ho
watched his <-ontortcd face and saw his
hands wildly clutching after the fiends
which were ntmut to tear his flesh wifh
red-hot pincers, ho grew pale and heart
sick. As he turned away he made a
solemn resolution never to tone)* stivwig
drink.
He carried the vow with him all the
way up into his manhood. There were
temptations enough as he went along.
A young man can not live iir society, as
the world goes, without meeting them.
Especially in the Medical College did
he find many merry associates who
would gladly have laughed him out of
his Temperance principles. Oh! how
many have been laughed into a drunk
ard's gra- e—but they could never be
laughed out again.
Step by stej) the young man rose in
ids profession, securing the confidence
and warm attachment of all to whom
he ministered. No one could lay to his
charge that the beginning of his down
ward career began with the glass his
physician ordered.
A lew week* since inis nnnonsi ony
sician, Dr.Edson, addressed the Htuoeuts
at the Medical College in Indiana|>olis.
Though ninefy-one years old. he is as
straight as an arrow, with sight and
hearing unimpaired and a mind clear
and vigorous still. The students list
ened with profound respect to the story
of his medical career, and perhaps some
will take from it the lesson he always
so strongly impresses, that a doctor can
lie a temperance man. For nearly,
seventy years he has practiced medi
cine in' the Genesee Valley, being the
oldest practitioner inthe State. To his
strict temperance habits he largely at
tributes his hale old age. *■
So much for a boy’s resolution l>e
fore he was eight years old. Who will
say that a Band of Hope pledge is of no
lists? that children do not know what
they are doing when they sign it? Can
you find a child old enough to write his
name who does not know what his
pledge means? I have never seen one.
I know of another little lad who has
adopted a very different resolution. He
lives in the city, and many would think
him a very favored boy. Not lon<f ago
a friend said, earnestly: “I did hope,
Charley,that you would'grow up agood,
sound Temperance boy.
“Why, Aunt E.,” he said, laughing.
“I drank seven kinds of wine last New
Year's day at Sister Em’s. Mamina
mixed them all with water, thought
But when 1 get bigger I’ll take them
all without water as papa and majnina
do!” That boy will hardly reach his
ninety-one years, strong and happy and
useful.—Youth's Temjterancc Banner.
- m '
k" Temperance Items.
In the Lonixin Temperance Hos
pital, over 14,000 patients have been
treated, and it has not been necessary
to use alcohol once.
In Westphalia, Germany, a list ot
the notorious drunkards is published bv
the police, and the dealers arc forbid
den to sell them liquor. It seems a lit
tle hard on the saloon-keepers to de
prive them of a customer just as soon
as he is educated up to a profitable bus
iness.— Walla Walla Watchman.
An employer in a certain manufac
turing town one Saturday paid to his
workmen f 700 in crisp new bills that
had been secretly marked. On Mon
day #4o0 of those identical bills were de
posited in the bank by the saloon-keep
ers. When the fact was made known,
the workmen were so startled by it that
they helped to make the place af “no
license” town.
The average live of temperate
people, says I)r. Richardson, is sixty
four years and two months, while the
average life of intemperate people is
thirty-live years and six months. Thus
the average life of a drinker is but little
more than half that of a non-drinker;
yet we are asked to believe brandy, gin,
whisky and beer are wonderful pro
moters-of health.
Helps to the Intempeuate.—At a
recent Temperance meeting in Phila
delphia some good advice was given
'to the friends of those who are trying
to overcome the habit of alcoholism. Al
ways have at hand something hot, tonic
or refreshing to meet the craving for
anient spirits. Coffee, tea, cocoa, liot
broth, beef tea, hot milk, ginger tea.
cayenne pepper tea, are all good and
useful beverages in these circumstances.
Aerated drinks—lemon soda, zoedone,
finger ale—are harmless, the tang be
ing given by tixed air; but the home
made beenL the life of which depends
directly on fermentation, are dangerous.
I Cold milk, buttermilk, whey lemonade,
Hosford’s aoid phosphate, and dilute
^boric acid, are useful. Of the
a few drops In 'sweetened water
make a pleasant drink, ami ten cents'
worth will last a long time. A handful
of oatmeal in a pitcher of water will
make a refreshing drink and suitable
for warm weather
A Drunken Mother.
Cardinal Manning, speaking on Tem
pt" ranoe some time ago, stated that a
drunken man was “bad enough," but
a drunken woman, “ Well—she was ;*
perfect devil.” Was the Cardinal's
statement exaggerated? We can not
think so when we read of the “fiendish
outrage \>y a mother" reported this
morning from Chester. Elisabeth Rob
erts came home drunk on Sunday last,
seised her child, aged fourteen months,
by the feet, and flung it on the lire. An
other woman, named Antrobus, pulled
1 it off; bat Mrs. Roberts again seised and
returned it to the fire. Inis was repeat
ed a third time, when, assistance arriv
ing, the child was rescued. The moth
er then attempted to throw the hotting
contents of a kettle over her child, in
her efforts to protect whom Mrs. An
trobus was severely scalded. Both Mrs
Antrobus and the child are now in the
infirmary. The latter is said to be “lit
erally roasted,” and even ha life la de
spaired of.—St. Jcrmfs' (Zewd^a) 0o*r£«,