The gale., February 17, 1888, Image 2

About The gale. (Iuka, Miss.) 18??-1888

Image provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

                
£l)c Cosmic (Sale.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY AT
ItKA, MISSISSIPPI
Notwithstanding tho boasted salu
brity of tho climato of California the
death rate at San Francisco last year
was nearly eighteen per 1000.
The Indians on tho Oneida reservation
have a grand lodge of temperance so
■ cieties made up of four subordinate
lodges, two of which are located in Can
ada and two in Wisconsin.
Tho apple industry in this country is
a greater ono than many people suppose.
Tho United States sends 1,000,000 bar
rels of apples overy yoar to foreign
nations.
_1 ■!' —
• China has at tho present time 1500
tnnplcs to tho honor of Confucius, at
which 62,600 pigs, rabbits, sheep and
doer, and 27,000 pieces of silk aro of
fered annually.
During tho reign of Qu'ecn Victoria
tho Church of England has built 6000
churches and places of worship. Seven
dioceses have been created, and $105,
000,000 subscribed voluntarily in tho
last twonty-fivo years for church pur
poses. _
The Tcncment-IIouso Commission cv
Philadelphia is building houses which
are to be rented to people of very small
means. Tho apartments are to bo free
from the usual tonement house evils of
poor light, foul air and general fil
thiness. _
Tho United States cats moro raisins
than any other country in tho world,
and reliable authorities estimate this
year’s consumption at about 2,000,000
boxes of twenty pounds each, which,
at an average of $2 a box, represents an
expenditure of $1,000,000.
A manufacturer in New York Stato is
engaged in drafting a design for a car to
be made entirely of wood pulp. It will
bo light, cheap, and indcstructiblo by
fire or collision. If it should bo thrown
off the track it would simply bound iuto
the air and settle down into its place.
One of the brightest looking little
school boys in Washington is a sou of
tho secretary of tho Chinese Legation.
Tho young maudnrin wears a magnifi
cent costume. Oriental in character and
wttli his school books under his arm ho
forms a striking and interesting picture.
Great quantities of peanuts are im
portqjl at the port of Antwerp, but not
becauso the Dutch arc fond of crunch
ing the fragrrfht nut at the circus and in
crowded cars on the elevated railroad.
Tho put is brought to Holland purely
for InHnose purposes, in order to ex
tract the oil. Tho supply comes wholly
from Africa.
A Kentucky jmlgo tried a hog case
the otherduy, and seeing an opportunity
for emulating tho omniscient Solomon,
lie ordered that the hog bo turned loose
and allowed to go to whichever pen it
wished to. It made a rush for the sty
of one of the contestants, but tho other
has appealed from tho judgment of both
the court and the hog.
Natural gas was found in a town near
Dos Moines, Iowa, the other day, and,
according to the Manning Nows, tho
wliolo populace went nearly wild with
excitement. Business was suspended,
the clocks stopped, the schools closed,
the bands turned out and pandemonium
seemed to be taking a holiday.
Big Lake, near Osceola, Ark., is usu
ally a largo body of water, forty milos
long and eleven wide, but long-contiu
ucd dry weather restricted tho limits of
the lake to less than two miles, and tho
water became so shat few that a man
might wade from shore to shore. This
water was fairly alive with fish, which
were taken in quantities by men who,
armed with clubs, beat thorn to death.
Captain Mulford Itich is one of tho
bravest of Capo Cod surfmen. He is
now eighty-five years of age and has
followed his heroic calling fifty-throe
years. Among his medals is ono pre
sented him by tho Massachusetts Hu
mane Society for his exertions in rescu
ing twenty-one persons from tho wreck
of tho ship Franklin off Willfloet Beach
March 1, 1849.
There never was a time in the United
States when tho commemoration of his
toric deeds bv monumental sculpture
was so universal as to-day. The idea oi
erecting suitable memorials to national
and state heroes, to feats of arms by in
dividuals, regiments, or brigades, or to
signalize some exceptional historical
event is a conspicuous mark of the gen
eral recognition of worth by all sections
of the Union, going to show, says
Frank Leslie's newspaper, that republics
are not aa ungrateful as the old saw
hath it.
The example of the National Temperance
Society has been followed by five other soeie
tiei and dx petitions for a National Prohibi
lion Amendment have been introduced into
Congress through as maDy different Con
gressmen. Also six petitions asking for a
"Tri-us in^uil7,nt0tiwmulte 01 U»Mquor
-
WASHINGTON CHAT.
DHINCM AND SAVINOS AT OCR NAT
IONA 1. CAPITAL.
Whnt OurNntionnl Law Maker* Are Do
Imr—Depnrtmcntnl doNsip Move
ments ot President nnd
Mrs. Cleveland.
CONGRESSIONAL.
Among the petitions and memorials
presented to the Senate was ono (numer
ously signed) from Pennsylvania, asking
such a change of laws as to bar all pau
per immigration; to prevent the landing
of immigrants under contract; to debar
from citizenship all foreigners who owe
allegiance to other powers or govern
ments, and to require twenty-one years
residence before any immigrant can hold
any public office of trust or emolument.
A bill reported from the committee ami
placed on the calendar, authorizing the
construction of a bridge across the Mis
sissippi River at Natchez. The resolution
offered by Mr. Plumb, some days since,
as to the inefficiency of the postal service
of the West and South, was taken up for ;
discussion, and Mr. Plumb addressed the !
Senate upon it. Mr. Kenna discussed the
President’s Message on the Pacific rail
roads. After a brief speech from Mr.
Sherman, in reply to Mr. Kcnnu, and a
still briefer one from Mr. Reagan in re
joinder to Mr. Sherman. Mr. Stewart
addressed the Senate briefly in supportof
tlie education bill. The pending ques
tion, the chair announced, was with re
spect to the formation of a select com
mittee for the consideration of tiic Mes
sage of the President on the report of
the Pacific railway commission, nnd Ilmt
the mover of the resolution, the Senator
from Mr.ssuchusetts, (Hoar) would have
been entitled to tlio chairmanship, but
'in; ,’ln-..r was informed by that Senntoi
that under no circumstances would in
accent a place upon that committee <
In the House, Mr. Blount, of Georgia,
chairman of the committee on postotliecs ,
and postroads, called up for considers t
lion the bill amending the statutes so ns ,
to provide that no publications that arc ,
but books or reprints of books, whether ,
they be issued complete or in parts, j
bound or unbound, or in series or whether j
sold by subscription or otherwise, shall ,
be admitted to the mails us second-class ^
natter. The object of the bill, ex- t
plained Mr. Blount, was to prevent the ,]
ivasion of the law which designates |
.vliat shall constitute second and third- s
;lass mail matter. Under the law, books
nust pass through the ma Is as third- ,,
jlass matter, but an abuse had spnmg up j,
md the law had been evaded by pub- (
isliers issuing books at stated intervals ,,
md passing them through the mails as |
second-class matter, on the ground that r
they were periodicals. While the Bible ,
and educational books had to pay eight N
cents a pound, a yellow-covered novel s
could go through the mails for one cent |
a pound. Mr. Craiu from the committee ,
on Presidential elections, etc., reported a
joint resolution proposing a constitu
tional amendment providing that Con
gress shall hold its annual meetings on
the first Monday in January, placed cn
the House calendar.
In thy Senate, Mr. Coke presented a me
morial signed by mercantile men of El
Paso, Texas, representing the extensive
amount of smuggling done between the
border towns of Mexico and those of the
United States, undor the Mexican free
zone law, and asking that a reciprocity
treaty be entered into with Mexico in ol
der to prevent such smuggling. Mr.
Pasco presented a telegram which he had ■.
received from the vice-president of the i
Pensacola and Atlanta Railroad compa- ]
ny, stating that that company claimed no (
lands except those embraced by the list !
approved by the state of Florida. (This i
was in contradiction to certain statements
made by Mr. Call.) Mr. Blair's educa
tional bill was taken up, and Sir. Pugh
addressed the Senate in its favor.
lu the House, the Speaker pro tent, pre
sented a memorial signed by Mrs. Waite,
wife of Chief Justice Waite, president of
the Woman’s National Relief Association,
praying that pensions be granted to those
engaged in the life-saving service; re
ferred. The House proceeded, in ac
cordance with previous order, to consid
eration of the report of the committee on
commerce, relative to the proposed in
vestigation of the Reading strike. After
some delay, various propositions were
consolidated into the following resolu
tion, which was adopted without divis
ion: “Resolved, That a special commit
tee of five members be appointed to in
vestigate forthwith the extent, causes and
effect upon tho interstate come tree of
the continued failure by the Reading
railroad company to transport such com
merce, and to report to the IIous", by
bill or otherwise, for consideration at any
time such legislation as is necessary to
secure to the public regular and com
plete execution by the railroad company
of its obligations to serve as a common
carrier of interstate commerce, and
to investigate the differences
existing in the Lehigh and
Schuylkill region of Pennsylvania be
tween corporations mining coal and the
miners; and, further, to investigate ni
facts relating to mining corporations ane.
individual miners of unthraeite coal i:
connection therewith, and all facts ii
re'ation to the matter, and report th<
same to the house with such ncommon
dations as the committee may ag o
upon. ”
gossip.
The Secretary of the Treasury has tip
pointed Samuel Sternberg to be store
keeper and gauger at Proctor, Ky., am
Peter Howe to be storekeeper in Madisoi
County, Ky.
The Senate 1ms confirmed J. R. Jorda
as United States marshal for the west-on
district of Virginia; T. G. Crawfor
receiver of public moneys, Gaincsviib
Fla.; W. A. Fiske, postmaster, Ports
mouth, Va.
The judiciary committee reported fa
vorably on the substitute offered by Mr
Culberson in place of all bills relating t<
polygamy. The substitute provides that
polygamy shall not exist or be lawful it
the United States, or any place subject
to their jurisdiction.
The Pullman Palace Car Company
argued before the. 'Senate Committee oe
Commerce that they were only car build
era, and not common carriers, and that,
fhfref tho'jbttf'State Commerce act
►Ms’.; * ,
:t t „ *r. rtr
should not apply to their business,' ns pro
posed by Senator Cullom.
A communication signed by 8ffrjmom
bers of Congress, nshhantr the dismissal
of Statistician Dodgc^Hercccivcd by the
Commissioner of "^Kiculture. The
movement is undcrstnjEo have origin
ated with the tobacco gmwrrs, who were
aggrieved by the statistician's report last
Summer.
The Mississippi House of Representa
tives sent a memorial to Congress, protest
ing against the passage of the Senate bill
having for its object the prevention of
the use of cotton-seed oil as a substitute
for bog lard, and proposing to tax lard.
tax oil, and the privileges of manufactur
ing and dculiug therein.
Dennis Kearney, the celebrated Sand
Lots orator of San Francisco, Cal., ad
dressed the House committee on foreign
affairs in advocacy of additional legisla
tion to restrict Chinese Immigration. Mr.
Kearney exhibited a map showing the
Chinese district of San Francisco and
said that Chin??? to the number of 75,000
now occupied tho entire pioneer district
of San Francisco, and had erected a Joss
house close to the leading Catholic ohurch
in the city.
A HEAVY UNDEltfAKlNU.
Tin* Ohl Libby Prison to bo Removed from
I{iehmoml* Vn.« to ('liinigo.
A new departure in the lino of relic
worship lias been taken in Chicago, 111.
Preliminary steps for the formation of a
corporation, whoso object is the purchase
iiml removal to that city of the famous
Libby prison, of Richmond, Va., were
recently inaugurated there. The history
I tlie enterprise is best told in the words
>1 William H. Gray, to whom is due the
•redit for its inception: “Last Novem
>cr,” said he, “when I was traveling
hrough Eastern Virginia with Judge
Hoorc, of Toledo, we met on the road to
•Id Point Comfort and Richmond Col.
lurries, a former officer in the Confcde
ate nrniy. In the course of a conversa
ion of the eVents of the War, reference
ras made to the old Libby prison, and it
ccurred to me that it would be a good
lea to purchase the building and trans
ort it to Chicago. I took Col. Barnes i
ito my conlidence, and asked him to as
ertain if the property could be purchased,
hortly after my return I received a lit
■r from Paulings & Bose, real estate
ealers in Richmond, stating that the old
rison was now (lie property of the
outhern Fertilizer Company, and that
could be purchased for $23,000. At.
iv request, J. A. Crawford, general stt
erintendent of the Chicago Towing
onqiany went to Richmond and looked
ver the ground, and investigated the
ossibility of moving the building. lie
turned full of enthusiasm for the enter
rise. Some further correspondence
i tli the real estate lirm mentioned re
ultcd in tlieir obtaining forme an option
or thirty days on the property. I have
'onsulted with architects, and they in
orm me it can be taken down, removed
:o this city and rebuilt just as it now
hands. We, that, is the company, pro
pose to number every brick, stone and |
shingle. The building will bo taken
down in sections, and the material will
be boxed up and transport'd by rail to
l bieago. Wo will carefully dr;ua* every
tail that lias not rusted away. We will
iring up the mortar to use it as far as
lossible in rebuild ng. Every beam,
oist, door and window will lie set in
(luce. The enterprise will cost about
;200,000. We will surround it with
nother building, 200 by 100 feet, with
glass roof, and on the wall opposite the
. ar of thi' prison we will have painted a
lanoramie view of James river and the
:oqntry I eyond. I am informed that up
o two years ago, when the property
•ame into the possession of the Southern
fertilizer Company, the Richmond au
horities had to keep a guard around it
o keep olT relic hunters, who would
lave torn it to peices. I have been in
'ormc 1 that some of the Richmond peo
>lc may kick, but it will do thru rut
rood.” Josiab Cratty, one of the incor
porators in talking of the scheme, said:
■‘[Wliould be understood that there is no
dea of waving the bloody shirt in this.
It is simply a business speculation for
what there is in it.”
NORTH CAROLINA NOTES.
A survey of the railroad route from
Morgan to a to Cranberry is being rapidly
prosecuted. Thu survey from Shelby to
Morgnnton is completed. This line of
road is known as the Southern and
Western Air-Line.... The liabilities of
Jackson & Shaw, general merchants, of
Carlharge, who assigned recently, are
slightly above their assets. They will
probably be able to resume business . .
The Episcopal convocation of Charlotte
met at Windsor on the 7th. There were
twenty-six counties in this convocation
... .Walter Bristow, the one-armed man,
of Palmyra, Halifax Co., who killed J. H.
Hemmit, has been acquitted on proof
that it was justifiable homicide.... Offi
cers of the general staff and command
ants of the vaiious regiments of the
state guard met at Raleigh, and had a
long conference with Governor Scales.
It was decided by the Governor to fur
nish all troops with overcoats, and twelve
hundred will be immediately requisi
tioned for. It was also decided to issue
cloth for uniforms to the companies as
rapidly as needed.... Rev. Dr. Charles
T. Bailey, editor of the Biblical liecorder
of Raleigh, bought from Rev. Joseph E.
Carter, the We*tern Baptist, a weekly
newspaper published at Asheville-Ra
leigh has completed the payment of
#8, 000 subscribed to the State Agricultu
ral and Mechanical College, that sum
having been a bonus given to secure itt
location there.
AU8TRO-UERMAN TREATY.
Most of the Paris (France) papers ■wel
come the publication of the Austro-Gcr
man treaty as likely to further estrange
Germany and Russia, and to bind Russit
and France. Some papers advocate th<
illiance of England, France and Russh
igainst the triple alliance The Tempi
lays that there will be no security it
Europe until it is knows whether Austris
would regard Russian intervention ns i
nisus belli, and whether Germany woulc
permit Austria to settle such a quarrel.
WEEKLY GLEANINGS.
GENERAL NEWS NOTES CARELTLLV
( (MKMLEII.
An InterrnlliiB lluilsi-t of Griirrul In*
formal ion.
The Hynes carriage factory at Quincy,
III. (the largest in the West), was de
stroyed by tire.
Fifteen hundred cotton ojn rators an
on a strike at Cornwall, Ontario, on ac
count of a reduction in wages.
Archbishop Walsh will lay the found i
tion stone of the National Irish l' un i.
of St. Patrick, at Rome, #taly.
Latest reports from Manitoba indicate
that there has l>ccn great .oss of life on
the Canadian Pacific owing to -snow
slides.
The private bank of W. H. ( titter,
called the “Guelph bank company." -sus
pended payment recently at Guelph, On
tario.
The absorption of the Whitney Arms
Company by the Winchester Repeating
Arms Company, of New Haven, Conn.,
is believed to be the beginning of a series
of such combinations resulting in a fire
arms trust.
The National Tube Works Company,
of McKeesport, Pa., employing 1,000
men, have posted a notice ordering a re
duction of ten per cent, in wages of all
employes. If the reduction is not ac
cepted the firm will shut down.
The carpenters of Pittsburg, Pa., havt
notified employers that on tin* first ol
May they will make i demand for an ad
vance of ton percent, in wages, and tin
employers say that Hie demand willcausi
a suspension of business.
Eugene Zimmerman, formerly a direc
tor of the Fidelity National Rank at
Cincinnati, Ohio, who wus in Europe
when he was indicted by the United
States grand jury for complicity in the
wrnnir tivitiunrdiitnu in thni Ivinlr lino rn.
turned.
Ex-Lord Mayor Sullivan, of Dublin,
Ireland, was released from Tullnmore
prison the other day after two months'
confinement. A large crowd was gath
ered in front of the building and greeted
Mr. Sullivan with great enthusiasm, and
lie afterwards received addresses from
various delegations.
A man named Fitz Maurice, who re
cent! "took a farm near Tralee, County
Kerry, Ireland, from which two brothers
had b*“n evicted, was going to market,
when lie was approached by the two
brothers, who shook hands with him, as
if to make sure of his identity, and then
shot him fatally with revolvers.
The limited express west bound on the
Pan Handle railroad, ran into an open
switch at Urbana, Ohio, and collided with
a switch engine. Both engines were 1
badly wrecked. Frank Brown, engineer, j
and Charles M. Alband, fireman of the
passenger locomotive and Frank Shade,
roadmaster, were killed.
Wm. McFarland, one of the oldest
actors in the country, died in the county
jail, at Minneapolis, Minn., where he was
awaiting examination ns to his sanity.
Intemperance had made him a wreck.
McFarland had supported Macreudy, the
elder Booth and Forrest, and other noted
stars of a former generation.
About .‘1,000 men, women and girls,
employed in the shoo manufacturing bus
iness, aie locked out in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The manufacturers agreed upon tins
course of action. The origin of the
trouble was the keeping back of the
wages of twelve girls in Blocker, Gcrstle
& Co.’s manufactory recently, which the
firm claimed had been paid them im
properly by mistake in estimating their
work.
The incendiary who set fire to the hos
pital for Ruptured and Crippled Children
on Forty-second street and Lexington
avenue, in New York city, has been dis
covered in the person of a pretty, mild
mannered little girl of 11 years, named
May Wilson. e-lie has been in the hos
pi till nearly throe years, suffering from a
wry neck. She was about to be sent
home as cured when the terrible crime
was discovered.
The Assembly chamber, in the Capitol
at Albany, N. Y., is about to be vacated.
The authorities have discovered many
serious movements of stone in the grand
iiren, au oi me mam m>s oi me vault
split, and many of the stones cracked
clear through. The whole ceiling is de
clared to be in a dangerous condition,
ilie time must come soon, they say, when,
without warning, I he whole ceiling will
fall, and recommend that the whole As
sembly wing of the Capitol he vacated at
once.
Burglaries have been v( almost nigh, I\
occurrence in the western addition, one
of the most fashionable ijuarters or the
city of San Francisco, Cal., and the resi
dents have appealed to the chief of police
for additional protection. A burglar
entered the house of Chief of !’ iin
Crowley, while he was asleep, and stole
$1,500 worth of jewelry from bin wife’s
room. Mrs. Crowley was aroused just in
lime lo see the thief jumping from a front
window.
When the men employed at Glendowei
colliery, near Minersviile, Pa., came out
from work recently, they were met at the
mouth of the slope by a large crowd of we
men from the adjacent liccksherviile val
ley, who besought them to standby thru
striving brethren, and offered, .if ib<T
would, “to share their hist crust 'with
them.” As an earnest of their good
faiih, the women offered them substant al
contributions, which they had brought
with them, consisting of bread, me at and
potatoes. Little or no attention was paid
to this novel appeal.
Express train No. 8, on the New York,
Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad, was
thrown from the track by a broken frog,
while passing S'eamburg Station, N. Y.
The engine and the first two cars passed
over in safety, but the third coach left
the rails, and dashed into a caboose ol
the freight train lying on a side track,
killing Miss Hattie Abbott, aged seven
teen, Sheffield, 111., a passenger, en route
to Boston, in company with Mrs. Cyra
and Miss Bessie Battey; George Ellis,
Mcadville, Pu., conductor of the freight
truin; James Dean, of Meadville, brake
man of the freight train.
Secretary Endioott is very fond oi
laving his picture taken.
Id BIG TELEGRAPH OFFICE.
lively scenes in tite western
UNION'S MAIN BUILDING
Tho la to of a Mcs-nso A Tlionaiuiil
Busy Operators at Work A
Great Hubbub.
AVlien a | c:son go s into tie basement
!>f (be Western I'uion Telegraph JJuiltl
ing and desites to inform bis wifeat San
I liineiseo, ;',00() tulles away, that New
York is a wonderful pin e, mid deposits
i dollar bill for that purpose, lie little
imagines the extent to which Ids dollar
supports Ins averment, lie little imagines
what the dollar does before the message
-ea, lies the first telegraph pole out from
llu' building on its way across the conti*
Hunt. It goe< in at th : receiving window
ind gets regi tcred to i dler with tlie
meage it re >ri 'tits. Then it proceeds
towns airs into the c liar where it turns
the wheefk of lifter i nrghly engines,
line of these, appln I to « huge dynamo
magnet, draws from it? the I time of liOl)
incandescent lamp ■ and sends it gleaming
through the Imilil mg. Puree others en
gage actively in the work of enlighten
ing tin: world. They Mipplv the electric
jurrent that courses tip and down the
continent faster than light itself. I hey
lake it from fifteen hi m dynamo nmg
ict-s arranged in rows or “gangs” of five
’sell, and placed in a room s arccly
j larger than a hall be-1 room. If two en
tire floors of the building were filled
with I evilen jars, there would be.
maybe, 10,000 of them, lint the power
o lie got from them all would be less
hail that derived from them little dyna
mos. I our other engii.es, the largest and
nost powerful of all, force currents of
lir through the tn > t extensive under
' ground |)ii umati • sysf in in the world,
i Pubes run from the building up to the
i branch odice in Twenty-third street, to
jthcr branch otlices, and to all the prin
cipal newspaper offices. !l the tubes
were large cm,ugh to accommodate a man
no eouiu ue mml noumi:;
miles underground in just ninety se onds
with us much ease us if lie werea feather.
It is up in the top of the building,
that the itov I sights are to be found.
Seated in front of 500 little desks, each
supplied with two or more noisy ma
chines that clatter incessantly from year's
end to year's cud, is an army of young
met* and girls, tile Ljigbtet, •juickcst,
cleve.Oat ope.a orsto he secured. Every
thing and everybody seems to be in a
grand rush. Little boys and girls tear
about as if thrones depended on their
being at a given point in llie room at the
hundredth par; of a given second. The
continuous musketry of the sharp, rat
tling machines ever uu 1 anon glows
heavier and fiercer, as gusts break forth
on a stormy April day. The very atmos
phere s ems excited and in a hurry, and
well it may, for the air in the room is
changed every three minutes. Tour
huge ventilating fans, driven by a special
dynamo engine, carry olt -,0)0 cubic
feet of air every second and keep the
atmosphere in perpetual motion. A pic
ture of n scene so confusing is difficult tc
paint. If anything w.m d o ily stand
1 still long enough to let the mental ea
rn catch its image, there might Ik
hope of obtaining at least a typical im
pressinn. lilt' the room pals on as many
j new I’l.a-ei a. the crowd that passes ;
Broadway corner. Blared wed in ib
tott er i< a little pagoda, an upraised
stand that might make a ■timmer-hotiM
were it set in a (lower garden and
overrun with vines. Hero a group
of little girls sit behind a circu
lar tu'de. Over th'ir head is gathered
in a disk a hundred wires that run hit hot
and thither a 1 over the room, carrying
little messenger cars, such as they have
in the big stores running i<> the "a . ier’s
desk. Here there are so many of them,
and they skim along in so many different
dim tio u -■■. darting Ibth rand thither sis
if I b.ssed with a iiead of their own,
and a perfect comprehension of their own
business, whi b nobody tun led them
better than they kno.v it themselves,
that one looks upon their intricate
mechanism with uma ement, and won
der why they don’t conic together in a
general collision. If it bit remarkable
iliaL they understand themselves, it is
more rcmukablo still that these little
girls, who have scarcely entered their
teens, should I-now whence they till
con e, what they til! carry and where
they till go. But with cijtuil deftness
1 and enemy, the children capture them
I -.11 .... iU,,,,, ......... ,i...:_ ..- ^
of papers, allix to th(! c a proper stainp,
and send dm a whirling oil' again, u 1 in
the twinkling of an eye. Wlimi the mel
anges l’.ave lie n received d >wn on the
basemen floor, they have sin ked through
pneumatic tithes up into tlie operatiug
\ room and there seized ulTou hy the lil
| tie girls in the grand stand. Quick as
! a flasii the mldre-sts are read, and then
) tliey are whirled to that | a t of the room
1 in which the particular o; era tors are
j seated who work the parti ular lines
I over which the mos-ago is to go.
It laker needy a thousa <1 operators to
i accomplish day's hn. irersin t: e Western
l nion. Some of these work in the day
time and nunc at night, and others do
nothing except relieve t. o regular stall
whin, in relays of lily or seventy live,
they go up-1a m. for Inn he.m. Thus there
j is no pause in the eb real rattle of the
machines. The problem of perpetual
motion is solved in that room as much as
it ever can he solved. I lm messages that
come in tlm otlien are treated pretty much
in the same way as those that go out.
The operators who receive them write
them out ou blank* and send them whiz
zing olr in a jiffy to the little girls in the
grand stand. When they are stamped
for identification tliey are dropped down
through a sliding tune to the i asement
floor. A mirror at the bottom enables
one to see diieetly through six stoiies
and catih glimpse * of the pig-tails and
cur.y hang:-: up m the lofty grand stand.
| As the messages drop they aie taken out,
j »dd through steam roller* that copy them
j and drop them on a revolving, endless
j belt that takis them oil to too rontitig
clerks and the ruesseag, rs. Bystem is
always simple even in iis mo t compli
cated forms. That is what system means.
Anil yet the number of th ngs that are
dong to a message in order to insure its
i rapid and accurate reception and do
ivery can but excite wonder.
There are 20,000 t itles and villages in
the United Stales to which the Western
Union runs its wires, and uutuially the
task of making rates between each oi
these places and all the others is a gsavi
problem. Four hundred millions ol
rates must bo made, and every agent
*-•
must know them nil. The avenge busi
ness done in the main office of this giant
monopoly is about 1,400 messages. As
many as 2,800 have been sent out in a
single day, and a« 180 other offices are
open in this city, these figures tell only
a small part of the story. But they serve
to show t he immense development of aia
art and trade that sprang into existence:
within the memory of men still young,
and which, were they suddenly lo t to
human knowledge and craft, would leave
the world in strange and dismal dark.
High-Triced Toads.
In most districts of Great Britain toads'
are moderately numerous, more numer
ous, indeed, than might he imagined,
tor they are not animals that court pub
licity. In thef.e e of this it is rathci
surprising to iicar that toads are now
b ing imported into this country from
Austria. They are packed in wooden
boxes and tilled with moss, and on their
arrival fetch as much ns from $15 to $•><>
per hundred. T/ia Is have long been an
article of commerce lire; in most wely
i—Vred gardens the vi-ifor will oe*a
sionally be startled by a quaint appari
! tionon the pathway, puffing likonn asth
matic old gentleman, and the suburban
market gardeners and nurserymen very
frequently have them in their frames and
greenhouses and about their grounds.
Hut until recently our horticulturists
have been satisfied with the exertions
of the native toads in ridding them
of slugs, grubs and noxious insects. It
is possible that the Austrian toad may
lie larger and more voracious than ours,,
and this may explain the fact of its im
portation. At present it does not seem
to have put in an appearance at Covent
Garden, where a stock of toads and
green frog^ is usually kept. At. any rate
the new visitant, if only as useful as the
native animal, deserves a hearty welcome
as a cheap and useful ally of the gar
, (toner, lor nni omy iiws me roan live w
i an extreme old age, but it has the unu
sual merit of linding its own provender
and lodging. And beyond this it lias
much more good nature in it Ilian its
forbidding exterior would seem to indi
cate, and has frequently become so tame
as to eotne at a call or e on at the sound
of a whistle. And when dead its useful
ness does not necessarily cease, for natur
alists before now have found bisects of
great rarity in the stoma hs of toads
they have happened to dissect. Alto
: gether it is very evident that St. Patrick
made a slight oversight when lie ban
ished the toad from the Green Isle it
company with the “sarpints” and otbci
hurtful creatures. London Globe.
The IVatclmian’s Report.
There was a serious accident to one ot
the largest a id mostly costly bridges on
the line of ihe Dakota & Great Midland
i Route, a Dakota railroad managed by &
j local company. Tho following is nil ex
tract from the bridge watchman’s re
i port to tho President of tho company :
“! was approaclrng the cast end of the*'
bridge from my house,” writes the watch
man, “when suddenly I saw the jack
rabbit coming down the line towards the
bridge right between the rails and run
ning very rapidly. Realizing the disas
trous effects his crossing would have on
the bridge I ran as fast as possible to
either stop him or in some way induce
him to cross on n walk, but I was too
late, and the frightened animal rushed
past me and onto the bridge, taking
jumps almost as long as the rails. The
structure trembled, swayed violently,
i and just as the rabbit reached the mid
dle, the bridge, together with the abut
ments and the rabbit himself, crashed
into the abyss below. I barely escaped
with my own life, but retained presence
! of mind enough to direct my wife to
take the piece of red flannel oil the baby’s
sore throat and go back up the track and
signal tho 7:40 iimited Pullman express
I now have both hiicd men at work re
pairing the wreck, but it will be several
days before travel ran be resumed. I
would recommend t hat strong gates be
placed at the ends of tho other bridges
on our road to keep the rabbits olf, as
they seem to be jumping remarkably
high this season, and [unless something
is done half of our best bridges are
liable to be kicked down before spring.
— Chicago Tribune.
Plants and the Electric Eight.
According to n Berlin paper, some
disagreeable results have followed the
electric lighting of the Winter Palace at
St. Petersburg, the intense brilliancy of
tiro light having been found to cause
dire destruction among tho ornamental
plants used for the decoration of the
banqueting halls. It appears that the
complete illumination of the rooms for a
single night is enough tocau;e the leaves
to turn yellow and dry up, and ultimate
ly to drop off. The damage to the cele
brated collection of palms at the palace
is especially serious. It is supposed that
tin: injury is principally duo lo the sud
den change- from the sunless days of tho
nortnern winter, and from the subdued
light of the. plant houses to the blinding
light of the banqueting halls. It lias
been shown beyond a doubt, that, the
rapidity of the injurious action, and its
amount, are directly proportional to the
intensity of the illumination, and plants
standing in niches or other places parti
ally shielded from the light, are found to
remain uninjured. There is no doubt
1 that the injurious effects of the light are
' greatly intensified by the dry, artifically
heated atmosphere of the rooms, aud
that they would la; minimized, if noten
| tirely obviated, if the plants could be
i surrounded by a steamy atmosphere, such
as that in which they are grown.—Boston
Post.__
Maryland Terrapin.
Dealers say that tho supply of terrapin
has not deteriorated of late years in
Maryland waters, though but little has
been done in the direction of terrapin
farming or pounding. The cost of ter
rapin \ ar cs according to the supply and
the si o and condition. For the finest
terrapin under ordinary conditions $>0
to $:>0 per dozen is paid, though good
terrapin can be purchased lor consider
ably less money. The female terrapin
is pro ...h.'a to the male, as the eggs, in
different stages of maturing, which they
contain are much prized, though the true
flavor abouuds more in the meat and in
to-tinal parts than in the male.—Balti
more Ameri an.
A critic is a man wnoon all occasions
is more attentive to what is wanting
thau what is present,.