Iowa County democrat. [volume], May 16, 1879, Image 3

About Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938

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THE GREAT FIRES IN (.TBA.
Sixty-eight Estates Reduced to Ashes —
Hie Loss Estimated at *100,(HH.000
Mr. Charles A. Meigs, whose success
ful career of half a century in bnks
has made him very widely known
throughout the whole of North Amer
ica, and who now tills the position of
National Bank Examiner in this city,
has just, returned from a \ sit to the
Island of Cuba. He went there on the
advice of his physician to recover his
health, which had been shattered by a
lifetime of uninterrupted activity. He
was in Cuba two months. Just previ
ous to his return to this country Mr.
Meigs went through an experience with
tire which he says he will never forget,
A Tiinra reportei visited Mr. Meigs in
his pleasant Staten Island home yes
terday, and learned from him the par
ticulars of one of the fiercest conflagra
tions which has ever visited the “Gem
of the Antilles,” which destroyed pro
perty of almost fabulous value, and
of which Mr. Meigs was an interested
eye-witness. While in Cuba Mr. Meigs
spent his time upon the sugar nlanta
lion of San Ricardo, about thirty-five
miles southeast of Cardenas, and near
Ytabo. It belongs to the estate of the
late Mr. Richard 1). Smith, of Bristol,
R. 1., and is now conducted by the
latter's son, "Don Juan 11. Smith.”—i. c.
Mr. John Smith. The San Ricardo
plantation is situated in the beauti
ful valley of Ytabo. On the
north is a belt of timber land,
and on the south is a range ot
hills running east and west, and from
200 to 250 feet ui bight. The center of
the valley is level prairie land, from
two to four miles wide, anil depressed
about 100 feet below the average eleva
tion of the rolling prairie land south of
the range of hills mentioned. "From
this range of hills, looking north," said
Mr. Meigs, "this valley of prairie land,
densely covered with sugar estates, and
carefully cultivated, presents to the eye
of the northern man one of the grand
est illustrations of the Garden of Para
dise which to me seems possible for the
imagination of man to contrive. In the
center of this earthly paradise we had
experienced very warm and dry weath
er lor several weeks. At noun the ther
mometer stood at 85 to 02 degrees in
the shade, and from 5/ to 7- degrees
after sundown, and during the night.
During three days—April 15,10 and 17
—very strong gales of wind prevailed,
varying from southeast to south, and
then to the southwest. Everything
about us was literally as dry as tinder.
Early on the morning of the 17th, to
our utter horror and consternation, vast
masses of smoke appeared from the
south side of the hitlsjl have spoken of,
rushing at the rate of from twenty to
forty miles an hour over the lops of the
hills, and directly over our heads. San
Ricardo is considered u small
plantation ;n that region. It has only
1,800 acres, and only about 220 persons,
—Anglo-Saxons. Spaniards, Cubans.
Creoles, Chinamen and negroes—are
employed upon it. To say that these
were frightened is but feeble language.
Very soon theory rose of another lire
in due south of us; then another in the
southwest; then one due west; soon
another lire was visible to the north
west; then one to the north, and finally
one to the northeast of ns. Thus by
noon we were in the very center of a
sea of tire, or rather of the smoke from
an enormous circle of tire thirty miles
in diameter. Toe flames seemed to
shoot up from the hills to the height of
from 1,000 to 2,000 feet. It was a most
magnificent spectacle. The black vol
umes of smoke shot over our heads
with such frightful velocity—we were
UK) feet below —that not a spark fell
until four miles beyond the San Ricar
do. 1 watched the measures taken by
onr host, Senor Smith, with interest, for
1 knew that on his sagacity and prompt
ness in action depended very largely
our safety. The plantation bands pre
pared for instant flight in case the tiro
should appear on the north side of the
hills south of us, for we knew that if it
once appeared there the intervening
half-mile of highly inflammable sugar
cane would be licked up in five or ten
minutes, and the fiery torrent would
then pounce upon the thatched-roofed
negro quarters an l outbuildings. Tnese
were all covered in with a mass of dry
palm-leaves, straw, etc., and were with
in ItK) yards to the windward of Senor
Smith’s dwelling, sugar-mills, barns,
shops, storehouses, etc.”
Mr. Meigs described in full the meas
ures taken to fight the fire, should it en
croach upon the San Ricardo plantation,
in which he naturally took an active
part. “I wa j a member of the old New
York Volunteer Fire Department forty
five years ago,” said he, "and f fell
quite at home.” Every possible pre
caution having been taken, everybody
was ordered to he on guard and extin
guish any stray spark the moment it
fell. All hands remained on the alert
until about lt> o’clock at night. Then
a vivid stroke of lightning cut the sky
to the northwest, and was followed by
a heavy crash of thunder. Mr. Meigs
cried out for the comfort of the fright
ened ladies of San Ricardo, who had
gone into the bouse for shelter, that
"the blessed rain is coming! Three
cheers for the rain!” “I yelled it out
until 1 might have been heard half a
mile,” said Mr. Meigs. Half an hour
later rain poured down in torrents, and
San Ricardo was safe.
“So much for San Ricardo,” said Mr.
Meigs. “Now let me tell you some
thing of the terrible consequences of
this tearful fire to the Island of Cuba
and to all the world lliat uses sugar.
1 propose to lake the estate of San
Louis as a type, and show the effect of
the fire by describing what was de
stroyed there. The San Louis lies about
seven miles southwest of the San Ricar
do. Before the fire swept over it it had
splendid arrangements for the manu
facture of 3,tk*o to 7,000 hogsheads per
year of the best sugar known to that
region. A hogshead of sugar averages
aliout 2,000 pounds in weight. Be
tween 400 amt 500 person# are em
ployed on the San Louis, and between
WOO,oooand 1500,000 had been tija-nd- j
ed within a lew years in fitting it up
with the most improved machinery for*
sugar-making. Eeighteen steam en
gines were employed in running the '
sugar machinery on t v, is one estate. I
which is by no means one of the
largest."
Mr. Meig# visited the Sun Louis on
the second day after the tire. Tne peo
ple there told him that the tire seemed
to them to start at a point about four
miles southwest of them. Within thirty
minutes after first seen to the windward
the lire was upon the San Louis in a
solid tot rent of flame, fanned by a gale
of wind, which howled through the ele
vated plateau at a rate far exceeding
that experienced bv Mr. Meigs and ids
host at the San Ricardo. In a mo
ment the vast mast of flames
and smoke passed through the very
large sugar mill, me men working in it
barely escaping with their lives. The
immense quarters occupied bv the 400
slaves, which were surrounded by a
stone wall, were reduced to asiies. The
openings in the large hospital for the
sick belonging to the estate happened
to be closed, and the lire rushed by the
building with such velocity that it was
not burned. Between 300 and 400 hogs
belonging to the plantation slaves were
destroyed with the pens in which they
were kept. Carcasses of burned mules
and oxen were scattered about when Mr.
Meigs saw the place,and turkey-buzzards
were feeding upon them. Not a stick of
the timber of the great “ purging” or su
gar-cleansing house was left. A large
frame building used as a work-shop,
containing two steam-engines, a wind
mill, etc., escaped, although the flames
passed within four feet of the weather
boards of the building. At the San Bias
estate, live miles east of the San Louis,
nearly everything was destroyed but the
negro quarters, and the ow ner's dwelling
which were of atone, and abutted
against a wall facing the track of the
flames. The roofs were thatched and
eight or ten feet ab >ve the wall, hut
such was the fearful rapidity with
which the gale carried the l! uue along
that, although coming up ! > the wall,
not a spark dropped on the roofs. The
flames struck thi> wall with such force
that they were thrown high in the air,
and the wind hurled them over and be
yond the buildings. This will serve to
give some idea of the terrible velocity
of this "whirl wind of tire.” as Mr. Meigs
aptly calls it. The fields of growing
sugar-cane were, of course, utterly de
stroyed. “The cane was literaly burned
to below the ground,” said Mr. Meigs.
While he was at the ruins of the San
Louis plantation he met a number of
gentleman who owned distant sugar es
tates, and obtained information from
them of the destruction of forty-nine
other plantations bv the fearful confla
gration he had witnessed. Mr, Meigs
left the San Ricardo plantation for Ha
vana and homo on April HI, four days
after the lire. He had at that time
heard of fifty-seven different sugar es
tates which had sulleml in the great
lire. On the way to Havanna he met a
merchant of the latter city, an active
intelligent business man, who knew tne
region in which the lire occurred, and
who knew the value of sugar estates.
The two “compared notes,” and Mr.
Meigs asked the Havanna merchant
what he considered the loss would
amount to. “ Hie loss will easily reach
#100,000,000,” answered the merchant,
“ 1 can only guess at it,” said Mr.
Meigs, “but i think that #IOO, >OO,OOO is
an estimate much within the mark.”
At Havanna Mr. Meigs learned of
eleven additional estates destroyed,
bringing the total up to sixty-eight.
The furthest point eastward which Mr.
Meigs heard from was Sagua Lagranda,
about 100 miles from Havanna. A
gentleman from that place told him
that everything had been swept away
in that section.
"Tiie El Triomplt ■, a newspaper in
Havana,” said Mr. Meigs to the re
porter, " recorded life names of eleven
estates as having been damaged by lire.
That was all there was of it, and that
shows how the censorship of flic gov
ernment prevents the press from giving
any news. I wrote an account of the
lire just after it occurred, and sent it to
a friend in New York. But I did not
dare to mail it to him openly. 1 knew
the government would never let the
news of Booh calamities go out of the
country. So I sent the letter under
cover to a friend in Havana, asking him
not to mail it, but to see that it was put
on hoard the steamer for New York just
at the moment she sailed. My friend
did so, and the letter reached its desti
nation.”
“What will be the effect of such an
enormous loss upon the sugar trade?”
the reporter asked.
“ That cannot he told yet,” was the
answer, “ for the wine extent of the tire
is not known. I notice that the sugar
market is firm. But, as 1 told you, the
Cuban government does not permit
such news to get abroad.”
A COKKE-PONDKNT of the Cincinnati
Gmt-tte, writing from Ironton, 0., says:
“The Lawrence rolling mill has been
running for months on orders as plenti
ful as they ever were since it made its
first ton of bar iron. The Belfont nail
mill has been running ‘ double time’
and a portion of the time three turns
daily for almost or quite us long a lime.
One of the best furnaces in this section
has had an offer for its entire product
up to June 1, at figures half a dollar
above ruling rates and declined to ac
cept it. The .Etna iron works, whose
great, and disastrous failure was men
tioned in a preceding letter, has made
a satisfactory settlement with its credit
ors and is preparing to put the Alice
furnace in blast as soon as the troul les
in the Connellsville region will permit
of coke being procured. They will
then set to work some 350 or 400 idle
hands. The following charcoal furnaces
have started or will go into blast short
ly; Grant. Monitor, llecla, Buckhorn,
Olive, Mount Vernon, Lawrence, Bine
Glove Ohio, near Bellefontc across the
river in Kentucky; and the following
stone coal furnaces as well; Belfont
and Sarah, in Ironton, and the Nor
ton and Ashland stacks, in Ashland,
four miles above Kentucky. Some of
these have been idle since 1874. The
merchants of the town are feeling in
better spirits than they have for a long
while, for they believe the turning point
has been readied at last. Tne idle
men, who, a year ago, were to be found
at every street-corner, have gone to
work.
.Smallgrain crops are promising irqall
sections of Georgia.
u;KK I'LTI'RK.
Thk main object of a fair is of course
the gia)d of the tanner, that is the good
which he derives Irom comparing his
invn products and processes with his
neighbors’. Therefore, me display of
agricultural products is the first tiling to
be regarded.
Ok the Hil.ooo pain in premiums lasi
year by the agricultural societies in the
state of Massachusetts, uearlv ss.oK>
was paid for trotting horses. I’his ws
more than was paid for premiums on
fruits, nwils. grains, orchards, farms ami
dairy products.
Tkkat the family cow to a little til
cake meal every day, and she wll
quickly respond in more and much
richer milk. Fry it. Fresh ground aid
pure it contains a larger per coinage if
gluten, albumen, starch, sugar and Ilk.
Best spring let'll for all kinds of stock.
Kvkry family finds more or lets
hones accumulating. Burn them with
your wood, and the ashes thus enriched
is one of tiie most valuable of all hr-1
tili.’ers. Money can not buy ary l
article which will so fertilize your soJ.
Bones thus consumed will quadruple i
The value of wood ashes, which ii,
themselves are among the best of sof-■
1 clinchers
A mwicssvi i. dairy man feeds hs
cows night and morning the your round,
and in each feed puts a toaspoonful i>f
salt. He considers this motleirt of salt
me cows preferable to the usual one if
giving animals salt once or twice i
week and thinks his method adds late
ly to the amount of milk given.
A Tki'K Faumkk. V true farmer, if
culture mid breadth of mimi, is a true
man. whatever position you may place
him in. He is called upon to till the
small hut important neighborhoiHl iif
lices. He is commissioner of highways,
school director, justice of the peace.
He tills the otlices well. His ability s
strengthened, lie is sent to legislate
for the state. He knows the wants of
tiie people and works (or them. A
s at in congress is within his reach. 1 1
fact, there need be no ollice within the
gift of the people to which lit' may not
aspire. Hut such a man will never for
get that he is a farm* r, Being a true
man, he thus ennobles his profession.
He has no cause to be ashamed of it. To
him there is no higher calling. And
such men will convince, are convincing,
the world that there is no occupation
higher or more ennobling.
Ti’kkky lUsTKus. —The Montieello,
lowa, Krprcsa illustrates how easily an
important industry can be worked up
by genius out of apparently a small
matter. Mr. Hoag, of that city, with
out any previous knowledge of the
business, engaged in a small way in
making dusters out of turkey feathers.
He has enlarged and improved his
business so that he manufactured $lO,-
IHHI worth of duster* the hist year. The
JixpruiH say> The feathers are pur
chased at a ilo/eii diderent points, ami
shipped here in large hags or hales.
Manchester. Maqnnkota, Strawberry
I Point, and Fayette are among the prin
cipal points of supply. On arriving at
the factory the feathers are lirs! care
fully assorted according to length by a
female employe. And then they are
run through a machine, which splits
them and crushes the pith, and makes
the horny portion soft and pliable, so
that it can he bent and twisted in any
direction without breaking. A third
woman or girl then lakes the split
feathers, and with a knife scrapes away
the pith, and passes them on to a man
who arranges them in a vice-like ma
chine about a turned huh, which con
stitutes the core of the Ouster. Three
men are kept constantly on this part of
die work, in all, the establishment
gives employment to four male, and
live to seven female employes. The
handles are bought ready made, wilh
thread on the end. which screws into
the huh of the duster, holding the feath
ers in place, and giving shape and fin
ish to the article. There is a steady
demand for these goods. Indeed, Mr.
Hoag is ni'iib'e to keep tip with the in
creasing orders. H is principal markets
are Chicago and St. Louis, where his
Oii-lers are given the preference over
those manufactured in the city estab
lishments. Mr. Hoag inten ts to en
large Pis establishment, so as to make
treble tbe amount be does at present,
and a man who is able by industry and
ingenuity to work such a trade will not
oe likely to fail.
A Nkw Industry.— ln a paper on
“Fig Culture at the North a Success.”
Mr. <L F. Nedham, of Washington,
makes the emphatic statement that no
other crop can be raised which will give
so certain and so large returns in onr
Middle and Northern slates as that de
licious fruit, the tig. He says: “The
fig flourishes in much more unfavorable
climates than our owu. In (Jreat Bri
tain, for instance, figs have been grown
in tbe open air for more than !SOU years,
the original trees brought from Italy by
Caidinal Foie still bearing. Now, if in
that damp, foggy, ‘misty, moisty’ at
mosphere, where melons and cucum
ber* can not be grown, the fig will suc
ceed, bow much more will it flourish in
our bright and sunny climate! The cli
mate of our north temperate zone, is
one of tbe best possible for the full de
velopment of the fig. It isa well known
fact that too great beat is initnieable to
this plant; it causes the tree to cast its
fruit. Onr northern climes are superi
or to the southern for another reason—
onr days are several hours longer than
at the south, which gives a lengthened
and tempered day, which precisely suits
the fig. Countries where figs are grown
as an article of commerce are exposed
to similar viciaitudes of climates as are
our northern states. 1 have before me
a letter from a gentleman in Massachu
setts in which lie says: "I was born in
fs-vanl, and 1 was a resident in Con
stantinople one winter when the Golden
Horn fine Bosphorus) was frozen over,
and there was a snow fall of eighteen
to twenty inches for a couple of weeks,
without injury to the fig trees in the vi
cinity.” The reason that the fig yields
so abundantly is not only that it is pro
lific, hut, first because the fruit has no
insect enemies, and secondly/ the wood ,
lias no blight or disease. Every other
s[ecies of fruit trees gives the grower a
world of trouble on this account. Of
these facts all are well aware. Com- j
rnon sense is quite as necessary to fig
growing as else where. A correspondent i
i informs me that he has a "fig tree with
thirty-five sprouts." What kind of an
apple tree would that l*e? He would
have to wait a long time for any apples,
and then they would he "smaller by de
crees and Ivatftifully less." Cut otV all
sprouts hut one ami plant them, and ‘in
the sweet by-aud-hy" you will have
thirty-five trees. The writer gives the
testimony 01 lien. Worthington, alter
the experience ol years in cultivating
tigs in Ohio, that lh-* tig plant suits the
climate there wonderfully, is easily pixv
, tected, is a sure hearer, and is very pro
lific. When four or five years old the
trees produce from the same area, with
ess laU*r.*i greater and more certain
crop than either potatoes or tomatoes.
W hat is true of Ohio the writer claims
ts true of the whole north.
What v Farm Dkkp Inouuws At a
recent meeting of the Massachusetts
Board of Agriculture, Judge Bennett
stated in an address what a deed of i
farm includes: Oi eourse. he said, ev
ery one knows it includes the fences
standing on the farm, hut a!! might not
think it also includes the fencing stuff,
posts, rails, etc., which had once heen
taken down and piled up lor future use
again in the same place. Hut new
fencing,just brought and never attached
to the soil would not pass. So piles of
hop poles stored away, if once used on
the laud, have been considered a part
of it: hut loose ihoards or scaffold poles
laid loosely across the beams of the
barn and never fastened to it worn Id not
be, and the seller of the (arm might take
them away. Standing trees, of eourse,
also pass as part of (lie land: so do trees
blown or cut down and still left in the
woods where they fell, but not if cut or
corded up for salt-: the wood has then
become personal property. If there be
any manure in the barn-yard, or in a
• .mip.tsi heap on the field ready for im
mediate use, the buyer ordinarily takes
that also as belonging to the farm;
though it might not be so if the owner
had previously sold it to some other
party, and collected it together in a
heap by itself, lirowing crops also pass
h. a deed of a farm unless they are
expressly reserved, and when it is not
intended to convey those, it should he
so stated in the deed itself; a mere oral
agreement to that elfeet would not ho
valid m law. Another mode is to stipu
late that possession is not to he given
until some future dav, m which ease
the crops or manure may be removed
before lhai lime. As i t the buildings
on tho farm, though generally mention
ed in the deed, it is not absolutely nec
essary that they should he. A deed of
laud ordinarily carries all the huildiiigs
to the grantor, whether mentioned or
not; and this rule includes the lumber
and timber of any old building which
has been taken down or blown down,
and has been packed away for future
use on the (arm. Hit if there be any
buildings on the farm built by some
third person, with the farmer’s leave,
t'.e deed would not convey these, since
such buildings are personal properly,
and do in,! belong to the land-owner to
convey. The nal owner thereof might
move them oil', although the purchaser
of the farm supposed he was buying
and paying for all the buildings on it.
His only remedy in such ease would he
against tin- party selling the premises.
As part of tlie buildings conveyed, of
course, the window blinds are included,
even it they he at the lime taken oil'
and carried to a painter’s shop to he
painted. Ji wonki be otherwise i/ they
had been newly pnreha ed and brought
into tho honsi, but not yet attached or
fitted to it. Lightning rods also go with
the house, if a farmer is foolish enough
to have any on his house. A furnace in
111? cellar, brick or portable, is consid
ered a part of the house, hut an ordin
ary stove, with a loose pipe running into
the chimney is not.
Mho Owns (he I.mid in England.
Matt mi Hum - Mii|tn/.ini>.
More Ilian half the soil <.f the United
Kingdom is noniiimlly owned by some
k’.OOU persons. According to a valuable
analysis of the very ill-arranged and in
complete parliamentary return of the
land-owners of the United Kingdom,
published in the “Financial Reform
Almanac” for 187*. TJI persons are the
owners of “1i,880,765 acres, or nearly
5,000,000 aen s more than one-fourth of
the total area of the United Kingdom.
The mind is unable (o grasp what such
n monoply costs the country, hut cer
tain features of it stand forth with a
prominence sufficiently notable. In a
most absolute sense, the well-being of
tiie entire population of some 82,000,000
souls is placed in the power ol a lew
thotisaiissMids. For these thousand* the
multitude toils, and it may he on occa
sions starves. Hence it is that all
through rural England we have contin
ually before us that most saddening of
all spectacles, two or three families liv
ing in gre* splendor, and hard by their
gates tin miserably poor, the abject
Haves of the soil, whose sole hope in
life is too often the womhonse -that fa
mous device against revolution, paid
lor by the middle class and the pau
per’s grave. Our land-owilbr* have not
merely burdened the land with their
game preserves; they nave tied it up,
and actively conspired to prevent its
due cultivation. Instead of rising to
the true necessities of the ease, they
cling to their game, make penal enact
ments about it, and struggle to augment
the intensity of the evil which it is to
the people, as if the very existence of
the country depended on hares and
rabbits. In hisalwolule supremacy the
land-owner overrides all justice, take's
precedence of all ordinary creditors on
nis helpless tenants’ estates, and con
trolls the system of cultivation, often in
otter disregard of private rights or ;n
-vate judgment, and, in addition, secures
to himself the absolute reversion of
every improvement which the tenant
may make on the land.
Thk three tallest trees in the world
are believed to tie a sequoia near Stock
ton, Cal., which is feel, and two
eucalypti in Victoria, Australia, esti
mated Ui he Tto and 460 feet high re
spectively.
- ♦ •
Thk tramis are fleeing Texas, hav
ing got the idea that a hid to pul them
to work had passed the state legislature.
An lowa fanner, who lost bis suit at
court, shot and mortally wounded the
op|*onng lawyer.
Hamer.
True to the core —The apple-worm.
In the midst of life we are indebt.
rietnre frames are not always hung
on account of their gilt any more than
men.
Think twice before you speak; especi
ally at an auction sale of old t:n pans.
A young man savs: " You can get
round the gills al Vassar easy enough,
they suek-gum so readily, and are so
Vaasa r-lating."
A delicate way of complimenting the
old lady " Ah! mad one, you grow
every day to look more like your daugh
ter."
As she s*-i the dish of frozen pigs’
leet on the table she remarked to her
husband:--** Here’s your solid souse
now."
“ Mike, and is it yourself that can
be after Idlin' me bow they make ice
cream "It is. (broth I can. IKm't
they hake it in cold ovens, to be sure?"
"Isn’t my photograph excellent?"
said a voting wife to her husband.
" Well, my dear," replied he, " there’s
a little too much repose about the
mouth for it to tie natural."
"The moon is always just the same,"
he said, languidly, "and yet 1 always
find some new beauty in it." " li's
just so with the circus," she answered.
He tvH'k the hint, and bought tickets
for two.
A good square kick will sometimes
help a man further along m this world
toward independence and prosperity
than a doveu pulls hy the hand, (hi
(Hu /Vnwd'.
I’hey now sy ol a liar "He can tire
out a fact quicker than any newspaper
writer living, hy the simple process of
harnessing u up to lus imagination."
An honest Hibernian, in recommend
ing a cow, said she would give milk
year after year w ithout having calves,
"Because," said lie, "it runs in the
hrade; for she came if a cow dial never
had a calf."
Thk 1 year-old child is an admirable
nucleus for a circus party. As many
as fifteen person* have been know n to
take an afternoon oil'just to "see that
the elephant didn't step on the little
fellow." AVie //diva Ifo/uln.
Patrick "And, Biddy,darliut,they've
been tollin' me there’s too many of us
in the wurrld. Now, if you and me get
the praste to make us two wan, troth
there will he wan the less"" Fmini /
h'olkii,
A young man went into a florist's
store other day to buy a rose-hud for
his affianced. Seventy-five cent was
the price asked. "Will it keep?" in
quired the young man. " tfii yes, a
long w hile." "Then you may keep it."
A mule's head does not contain a
brain capable of culture and refined
rearing, hut il is wonderful to what an
extent the other end of his form can he
reared.
An umbrella e.iu’l get ahead of a cod
fish in keeping a person dry. But, then
it would sound 1 111111 ylo have your
neighbor come over m a thunder
shown r ami ask to borrow your codfish,
A black stocking with n yellow snake
coiled around the leg, is the latest nov
elty. When the girls get to wearing
these stocking thousands of men will he
anxious to see snakes.
"Slop Ht'iulmm to nu> your jnrnel enny
iimrc. w >Oll didn't mil is ili lnnn hogg
1110 hll“li.iiiil luilcherCd Hominy, and it
don'l li' my pantry shelves ennyliow."
Tlit> hush -no, llio “hogg" weight'd !IS7.
P'.pilapli on a tombstone in South Ca
rolina: " I loro is tho laaly of Itohert
(hmhn, inoulli almighty and let th ac
cordin; stranger, I mail lightly ovr this
woiitlor: it Im opt Mis his mouth von aro
gone liy thunder."
An orator wlio much in tlcimtiul in
polilieal campaigns, lining a ked liy an
atliinror the secret of Ini sut'ceaa, re
plied: "Wilt'll I liavti facta, I give ’em
(at'tft; Iml wlion 1 liavon'l, i yell ami
caw llio air.”
Tho worsi liltin' that can l>o said of
llio house liy is that il miliiotiinoN so
bothers tlio ininialor wliilo ho is preach
ing that il makes il appoar to llio con
gregal ion that ho is winking alone of
llio Sunday school sisters in llio Mallory.
I‘hihulrlphin Chnmit'Jr llfinihl.
" My doaroal Maria," wrote a roomily
inarriotl Brooklyn hinhand U> hia wife.
Slio wrote hark: " Dearest, lot mo cor*
roci Aithor your grammar or your mor
ula. Von adtlroaa mo ‘My doaroal Ma
ria.’ Am Ito suppose you have oihor
dear Marina?”
'J’lio ania/.onionl and aurpriao of llio
oiiiu.ll hoy will ho al ila height when ho
discovers that hia father’a cow ia a foot
larger every way than the “mammoth
mountain of lloali" that takoa the pari
of tin; elephant in the circua AVtc Ha
wn HttfiMtr.
She figured mi: “Two eanaat 2<t oenta,
40 cents that is IfiO oysters: milk, (ml
lor and aundnoa, $1 50 that ia IflOalowa,
al 25 oenta, will he fid. A lint profit of
over $54.').” flien aho smiled sweetly,
and the oyatermau knew that she was
tho refreshment committee of tho
church festival.
"Dearest, lot us in this cafe refresh
ourselves for a brief pciiod,” said a
swell young man to a spirituelle
creature. "Whal’llyou have? ’ said (ho
waile , handing the lady a hill of fare.
"Oh, never mind the hill of lare," aho
replied; ‘Vivo me a plain of cod-fish
cakes wilti plenty of butter." The
young man fainted.
The peach crop is going to he unusu
ally large, and a very beautiful spring
bonnet can he lanight lor $22. This
announcement ahonld send a thrill of
joy through the married man’s entire
being. SorriMuwn Hrratd,
Del yon ever lake notice of how the
young man from the hackwooda fingers
round in his change pocket after in
dulging his appetite at a corner grocery
n ’alf pound crackers ami ’alf pound
cheese? He's look ng to see how he is
coming out after purchasing a bran
new knife. UinnUd N> uv.
A man on Arltor lull last evening
aimed a gun at hia little son, a beauti
ful creature with golden hair to his
waist, and playfully threatened to shoot
him. Tim guo turned out to he un
loaded. Jt will lie placet) in the state
library, aa the only weapon of the kind
known to American gunnery. —Albany
Journal,
A worthy Baptist minister in the
west gently rebuking his Hock for their
extravagance in dress. used the word
'* garbage," supposing ii in Ih> more
elegant form of "garb.” Wild hilarity
in the choir and horrible consternation
among the devout portion of the flock.
At last it has been discovered “ How
to keep a boy on the farm." The plan
is to kill him and bury him six feet
deep in the barn-yard. This rule does
not apply in Ohio, however, where
body-snatching makes it extremely
doubtful where the boy would be a
week after burial. .YoirufvtN’n Hrrahi.
I'bere appeared to be some irresisti
ble force endeavoring to impede bis
progress, as tie would shakily advance
a step or two, and then execute a retro
grade movement, bringing up at the
starting-point, lie was undoubtedly as
drunk as a lord, and the ground ap
peared to roll beneath him like unto
the ocean'.' restless waves. All at once
he was seen to reel, endeavor to catch
himself, and then sink heavily into a
heap on the pavement, and when the
by-standera ran to Ins assistance, bo
said. “'Aldt sheverest shock fan
earthquake eve: speriensbed, ’n’ I've
bin on isb coast siiinoe 'AO. Mntsob
damage done, y* reckon?"
KIUSOVS DYNAMO MAHIINK.
He Dels It lute Dorking Onler, amt
l iclils I p His Nho|> In an Instant.
New 1 ,vrk WorUI. May ..,
!• >r the past three days Kdison has
been perleeting ins new dynamo-elec
tric maelnne, ami a HWIil reporter
has been watching the progresa of
the operation. At one time the
power applied was too great for the
wires, and they Were torn from the bole
•'in. Ihe next day a envn it crossed,the
machine did not work well, and tin*
bobbin was unwound. At it o’clock in
the morning one of Kdison’s assistance
began to rewind the Itonhin, and late at
night it was ready for trial. Yesterday
afternoon Kdison and Mr, bachelor, his
duel assi-tant. were wide awake
although they had not been in bed
since tun early evening of 1 1|, previous
day. Kdison said ins generator, of
dynamo machine, had worked well earlv
yesterday morning, and, although ii
man was engaged in painting it, he
thought he could get good results from
it, and would immediately start it. The
parts of the machine were hastily put
together, the binding-posts were at
tached to wires connected with live of
Wallace’s lamps (in which the voltaic
arc is used), and steam-power was ap
plied. Almost instantaneously all of
Ihe lamps were lighted. This opera
tion showed four peculiarities. The
machine did not become hot, it gave off
lew sparks, the lamps gave a steady
light, although currents of air were not
excluded, ami live lamps were lighted
from one machine, with one-half of one
horse power for each lamp. The ex
periment, although imperfectly made,
was entirely satisfactory, and showed
that Kdison’s generator will allow of
more lamps in a circuit, or, in other
works, develop more dvnamo-elecirie
power per horsmpower than anv ma
chine vet. constructed.
’t he advantages of K lison’s machine,
so far us they have been demonstrated,
consist of obtaining a great amount of
electricity with the development of lit
tle hem. The transmitted power is
therefore almost entirely converted W
lo electricity. These results are ob
tained by getting a larger limnetic Held
and employing a superior method of
winding the bobbin with the insulated
wires. Kdison will now have thirty of
these machines constructed for the for
mation < I his model station, which will
probably he at Menlo Park. It is es
timated that he can get at least 400
lights hy means of his eighty-horse
power steam-engine and thirty of his
dynamo-eleotrie machines, lie con
sult rs that he has folly solved the prob
lem of the economical generation of
ehelrieit v and the subdivision of the
lighl, and he will now devote his time
to producing a lamp wh ! oh will he with
out (law. It is due to Kdison that an
error which crept into the account of
Ins work in Wednesday’s Win hi should
he corrected. It. was staled that us
more resistance was offered to the pas
sage of the current more lighl would lie
obtained. This should he "morn sub
division of the light." Kdison alto was
credited with saying that it would be
perfectly easy for him to get sixty-can
dle power from each of his lamps*, but
be limit! and them to six. It was intend
ed to say that theoretically he could get
sixty gas-j< i power from each lamp,
but preelfcally he limited hiinsolfto six.
The I’liiicess f ftrlsfliu Dead.
Nw York Him.
A dispatch from Madrid announces
tlie death of tiie second daughter of the
I hike of Montpensior, at Hcville, on
Monday, at the age of U 7, Princess
Mana-Chriaiina war horn in Hoville, in
October, Him was the sister of
Mercedes, the late ')ueen of Hpain, and
of Marie-lsahelle, Countess of Paris, and
cousin of King Alfonso. Her death
leaves the Duke of Monlpensier with
only two children living, one of whom
is tiie Countess of Paris, and the other
a son, Prince Anloitio-Louia-Phllippo,
aged l!l. But lie lias two grand-chil
dren, a son and a daughter of the Count
of Paris. They ward troth horn in
Twickenham, England, where the Or
leans family reside.
The Duke of Montpensior married
the Piineess Mane l/mise, sister of ex-
Cpieen Isabella, in 18Hi, and has during
the whole of his life been intriguing to
secure the throne of Hpain either for
himself nr at least for one of his chil
dren. He succeeded in arranging the
marriage of Mercedes and Alfonso, but
the early death of the t^men put attop
to his influence upon government mai
lers in Hpain. It was rumored that the
Princess Maria Christina was to become
the second wife of the King of Hpain,
hut the disparity of age alone would
have been an obstacle to such a match,
the Princess having been live years old
er than the King. Her death will pre
clude all |H>s-ihility of Alfonso XII.
marrying into the Orleans family.
The Princess’ remains will he placed
near those of her sister, the late (jneen
M'-roedes, in the E-curial. The Court
will go into three months' mourning.