The Delaware ledger., February 09, 1884, Image 1

About The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??

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VOLUME YU.
NEWAIIK, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE, FEBRUARY' 9, 1884.
NUMBER 8.
REFUSE TO Hl'RAK.
When loving lips r«t'use»l t
Th« feeling« of the heurt,
When friendship's fervor o
How
tell
grows cold,
Joys depart
How sod when trusted hearts deceive
That fondly cherished prize,
That sweet affection
Iu warmest, sacred ties 1
holds
Wheu parting, ah, how keen the pain
To hearts that ne'er forget 1
Each speaks in softest,
Which tell that sad regret
Will come
W hen they
When each will long
Back to that lonely heart.
1er tones,
«lay in after years,
far apart,
i to 1 m*
In hasty moments, cruel wortls
Will cause the «harpes» pain,
Which often breaks the strongest links
Of friendship's golden chain:
And thus the
The love that's
Is cast adrift
that Is simiere
I'HIV,
All tortures to endure.
A BRAVE WOMAN.
Twenty years ago, atid while the
present populous city of Denver
known as Cherry Creek, when Pike's
Peak
what Leadville and the camps of the
Gunnison are to-day, there lived
"gold trail," running from the settle
ments to the foot of the monutains, a
rancher by the name of Ralph Lathrop.
a young man who, with his
young wife, had come to this far away
western country from Illinois, willing
to work aud determined to win a home
to the adventurous soul
the
He
among the blue peaks of dorado. He
had built a small log cabin a little off
from the main trail, and
in raising cattle and sheep for home
consumption at the time of which we
write. His family consisted of himself
and wife and a single hired man.
ludians were neither plenty or dan
gerous, the wild beasts of the country
had retired to escape being shot, and
the travelers to and fro ui>on the trail,
though often rough, were seldom ugly,
so that when business demanded Air.
Lathrop did not hesitate to leave his
wife alone at the ranch for a day and
a night at a time.
One evening at supi>er,
night, witli the odor of the fresh gras
aud the budding leaves perfuming
the air, the hired man, Johnson, deliv
ered a most startling piece of news.
"Did ye hear o' the robbery at the
Peak?—killin' too, I understand. Jim
Bartlett, from the Creek, passed to
day, and he was a-tellin' me. .Seems a
gang o' these plain fellows, rough ri
ders, I reckon, dropped into a camp
last night and took all the boys' gold
and shot two o' the miners. They've
made for the mountains, it's 'sposod,
but the hull peak is after them. Thoy'll
swing the crowd if they catch 'em."
"Who were the desperadoes?" asked
Lathrop.
"There were only three 'o 'em, and
Black Dan, him as was hung iu New
Mexico, was one. I guess they don't
know the other," replied Johnson.
"Black Danl" said the master, "I
thought he was on the Pacific coast.
He's one of the worst men
angaged
spring
iu this
•State. I hope they will catch the par
ty and serve them with border justice,
quick and sure. I shall feel better to
know that the rascal is under the
sod."
"Why, Ralph!" said his wife Nellie,
"you are surely not afraid of the man.
Why should you wish him evil?"
"He's a terror to any community
and a danger to any State," returned
her husband.
"A "murderer, and
worse; hung in New Mexico for revolt
ing crimes, but rescued by bis comrades;
a man whose heart is as black as his
flowing beard, and whoso hands are
red witli human blood. I wish him
evil—only justice and a short ropel
Aud he'll get it if the Peak boys catch
him."
Quiet Mrs. Lathrop looked wonder
iugly at her husband. Surely this
noted desi>erado must be ot the worst
that Ralph should speak so of him.
And the memory of her husband's
words came to her afterward.
Night fell, tho shadow of a depart
ing winter yet rendering chill all the
world behind him, and
were closed and barred—for this ranch
the doors
mile» from the nearest neighbor—
thrown upon the fire,
fiesh logs w
while the little household still talked
of the tragedy at the Peak and the
fleeing robbers pursued by the venge
ful miners.
"Well," said Johnson, at last, as he
rose to go to the loft and his bed, "I
only hope with you, Mr. Lathrop,
that they may catch 'em. The coun
try'll be better without 'em."
An hour later sleep ruled, and not
until thaearly dawn, fresh and rosy,
crept over the eastern lull tops did tho
little household unbar its doors again.
With the return of day thoughts of the
evening before were forgotten. What
had they to do with wolves? They
must care for the sheep.
Breakfast was over and the hired
man had departed with the herd for
the* hills, distant some three miles,
where he would lie absent until night,
when suddenly Mr. Lathrop called to
his wife from the log barn,
young woman ran to the door.
"Nellie, dear," said ber husband.
"I've just found, greatly to my
prise tliat we're out of sait. The sheep
need it, and I must have a barrel to
day. I've got to go to the Creek for
it, and will not be back before night.
Johnson will be up with the sheep
early. Good-bye."
A wave of his hand, a rattle of the
heavy wagon, the quick beat of the
horses' hoofs, and Frank Lathrop was
gone, leaving his young wife alone in
the roadside ranch. But the frontier
woman turned back into her cabin after
she had watched her husband out of
sight, with not a thought of danger
and hardly one of loneliness amid all
the work which her busy hands could
find to do.
It was high noon. For a little the
The
young mistress had rested, while the
soft warmth of the springtime had al
most lulled her to sleep. Then she
had prepared and eaten a plain din
ner, all alone, and now she was en
gaged in washing the few dishes used,
humming a low love song as site worked,
and counting the flight df the moments
tnat intervened before her husband's
return by the creeping shadows upon
the distant mountain side. As she
worked her back was turned toward
the open door, and she did not see the
darker shadows that suddenly fell
across the rough floor, nor note the
crunch of heavy, boots upon the fresh
green grass, until a resounding footfall
upon the step startled her, and she
turned quickly to meet the first caller
who had appeared that day—a tall,
fierce-looking bearded man, who stood
before her.
"Missus, who lives here?'*
The tone was harsh and threatening,
but the question was a common
and Nellie replied:
"My husband; Mr. Lathrop, and
myself."
"Where's the boss?"
"My husband? He's gone <o the
creek for a barrel of salt."
"Where's your hired help?
"We only have
mau, and he Is
not here now. Can I do anything for
you?"
"Yes," growled the black-bearded
one. "Yes, yercan. Yer can do this
fer me. Git a dinner for three hungry
cusses as hasn't had time to get their
own. t)ome in, boys," "it's all clear.
The cock's away, naught but the hen's
at home, an' we'll have dinner."
For a moment poor Mrs. Lathrop
felt faint, and the world, sunlit and
warm, danced before her eyes, then
full strength came again as she saw
this burly stranger fling himself into a
chair aud lay two enormous pistols
beside his elbow on the table, while a
pair of others, each as wild aud tat
tered and fierce-looking as the leader,
followed him; full of strength, even
while she realized who it was that sat
within her kitchen, the man "whose
heart was as black
—Black Dan, the ruffian of New
Mexico, who only two days ago, with
these very companions, had committed
robbery and murder. This was the
man who demanded dinner, and Mrs.
Lathrop knew it.
"Don't waste yer time, missus," sud
denly spoke the leader, turning quickly
and fastening his fierce, bold eyes upon
the young hostess, "don't waste your
time nor yer words. Git dinner."
There was no mistaking the com
mand and the tone in which it was ut
tered meant far more than words.
Mrs. Lathrop began at once to lay the
table.
"We're busted miners, missus," be
gan Black Dan, witha wink to his com
rades; "completely busted, an* can't
pay. What ye give us to eat must be
for charity. We ain't eve m got no
weepins, except those pistils o' mine,
' them we're keepin' to help us out
up at the creek, an' beggin' to git
thar."
his beard"
Poor Nellie heard all this, believing
not one word, but working steadily,pn,
frying eggs, making tea and supplying
the table with bread and butter and
cake. When all
ready she placed
diairs and told her enforced guests that
dinner was prepared for them. Await
ing no second invatation they hastily
seated themselves and began to' eat.
Suddenly the leader of the trio paused
and turned sharply toward Mrs. Lath
rop.
"Mlssus, are ye scared at such wild
looking fellows as we' uns? Did you
ever see our like before?"
It was a test question. Black Dao
wished to know if this little woman
who fed them so willingly knew aught
of the robbery at the l'eak; or suspec
ted whom she entertained. Even
while her heart leaped iu fear, she an
swered;
"Oh, indeed, no, I'
Why should I be? I've seen busted
miners before. I'm glad to be able to
help you."
"Yer a little brick 1" ejaculated
Black Dan, "an' when I marry I'll
look round first and see ef you're a
widdy! Here," lie continued, lifting
his pistols from tho table and extend
ing them to her, "I'll ask one more
favor o' ye. The charges in them
weepins is wet, and et ye kin draw 'em
an' reload 'em it will be a great bles
sin\"
not scared!
Mechanically Mrs. Lathrop took the
pistols and- turned toward the chest
where her husband kept his arms and
ammunition.
But even as she did so a sudden idea,
an inspiration almost, flashed through
her brain. These men were now un
armed; her husband's double-barreled
shotgun loaded stood in the corner
why not capture the murderers her
self!
Instantly the bravo woman put the
thought into execution. Dropping the
pistols she quickly seized the gun.
raised both hammers full cock, aud
turning, presented it at the trio about
her table.
"Black Dan, you and your comrades
are my prisoners."
It may bp her voice trembled: it
would hardly have been strange if it
did, but her hand did not, and the
three desperadoes looked with paling
cheeks into th black muzzles that
covered them, aud knew the little
woman meant what she said.
For a moment silence reigned; then,
slowly tumiug toward the table again,
Black Dan growled out halt-dozen
oaths, supplemented by the statement
that he would finish his dinner anyway,
His companions imitated him.
Mrs. uathrop stood motionless, the
gun still at her shoulder. She dared not
lower it, yet she could not hold it there
much longer.
The ruffians ate steadily and silently
on.
The little woman began to grow
faint—not alone with fear, but from
the weight of the gun. Her ban
trembled.
Suddenly there rang a wild shout,
mingled with furious curses. Chairs
and table were overturned, and in the
Hash of an eye Mrs. Lathrop saw three
men spring toward hfr, each with a
knife in his hand.
She saw, and then, with a wordless
prayer, she pressed the triggeV.
A tremendons roar shook the air; two
outshooting flames followed by two
puffs of blue smoke; two heavy falls;
then a dark figure drawing himself out
of the open doorway. That was all.
And as the brave woman leaned back
against the wall of her cabin she heard
the song of the birds out-side, and she
saw the mellow sunlight fleck the
rough floor, but she did not see her
enemies. Then she fainted.
But close before her, doubly fierce in
death, lay the forms of two ' men,
while without, upon the green grass,
writhed Black Dan, sightless and filled
with wounds.
Twenty minutes later the hired man,
Johnson, appeared, alarmed at the
sound of the shot, and saw what was
done. Three days later, Mrs. Lathrop
received the thanks of the Pike's Peak
camp and a golden regard. But she
would
husband is now a merchant in Denver,
while she is known as the brave woman
who caught Black Dan.
longer live alone, aud her
Fixing Up The Play till nan.
"I'm not an artist," saiu the old
man, as he stuck outlie leg of a wooden
soldier, to a reporter. "I haven't come
to that yet, but I'm a professional toy
mender, and this is the height of my
busy season. I have engagements to
work at more'll a dozen stores. In
most places 1 take a contract for the
lot, If they're common toys, at a cent
apiece all around. By common toys I
mean articles that can be mended in
half a minute or so. The stores I deal
with have 'em sorted out for me accord
ing to grade, aud if I find two minute
or live minute toys among the one
centers I throw 'em out.
"I can mend nearly 100 half-minute
toys an hour. That gives me about $1
an hour, and I often make $8 a day at
it, and have made as high as $12.
These are the prices, though, for only
ten days, trom three days before Christ
mas up to New Years' day. I work
for 25 cents an hour in November up
to tiiree days before Thanksgiving;
then up jump the rates to 50 cents an
hour till wo come to Dec. 22.
"Now this man's been trying to ring
in a job toy on me for a half-minute
mender. It's a sheep that wants its
bah-ah fixed. Sometimes you can
bring out the bah strong in two min
utes, but we generally class all barking
toys as job toys. Singing toys, trum
peters, and most of the music toys are
job work—75 cents an hour this time
of year. Drums class as 2 cent mend
ers wheu they've got a string broke or
a leather off; but when their heads are
broken in they rank instantly as jobs,
and are worth 25, 50, or 75 cents an
hour.
"The meanest job is to fish out an
eye when it's been knocked square into
a doll's head. If she's got false hair
on, I'm al) right. In that case I warm
it up over this gauze light, pull up her
wig, gouge out a good-sized hole iu the
back of the head, drop out the eye, put
on a plaster, glue on the wig, cement
the eye hole, aud put the eye in. I get
ten to fifteen cents for that job.
"I cau't say that I came across any
toys that are particularly hard to mend.
Of course there are some articles, such
as wind-up toys and machine toys m
general, that I cau't take. They are
generally sent back to the manufac
turer. I take all I kin. I can paint
'em, glue 'em, dowel 'em, cement 'em,
sew
This working monkey is tight in his
movements, and I sand paper him;
this jumping jack, you observe, is
par'lyzed on one side; him I wire up.
This rooster has lost his comb. I warm
his head with a red flannel saw and a
dab of Mr. Cooper's glue. This woolly
dog has lost a square inch of his sheep
skin hide. I turn up the dog and dig
off a piece of hido from underneath;
this I glue on top of him. Then I cut
off a lock of his wool, dip both ends in
the glue, and stick it on him under
neath. bee this feller which should
ump up and holler. He hasn't lost
his jump, but his holler's gone. I feel
gently round his wind box while I work
bim. I find where the wind escapes,
and putty u p the crack with cement.
"I have a great variety of tools and
Working material. In that scrap box
is a piece of most everything. Every
al but gold and silver is there
ready for use. I've got noses of all
colors and nationalities. Of all the
things to fix up properly the nose is the
hardest. Generally I have to tako
awl, uunch it in whoro the nose ought
to be in two places and build up a new
nose with my cement and sawdust
mixed. It hardens quickly, and I
pal nt it up. But the proper way to
make a nose is to cut it out of wood,
file off the rougi l places and drive it on
with shoe pegs. A cement nose is a
three*cent mender. A proper wooden
nose is a job mender and mebbe'U cost
»ix to ten cents."
, plaster 'em, and wire 'em.
When your grandfathers loft a few
Bhuoks on each
all together and hung them in the gran
attio where they would be kept
dry and safe from rats and mice, they
adopted as good a plan as has
discovered for keeping seed
, and then braided
HIN
been
M latakaa
y serve ior guides as
well as success; and we can learn about
as much from seeing what not to do.
A Smart Yankee
toy.
Wlieu I was a little fellow in Stutt
gart, with yellow hair and wooden
shoes, there came one day to the school
which I attended an American boy
named Jim Sanders, whose father was
a New York broker. He was a quiet,
simnle-looking lad, with great soulful
eyes and an innocent look in his face
that made all of us think he didn't
know much. We used to make fun of
him because of his peaked face* and
thin logs. In Germany, you know, the
children are all round-faced and fat,
After little Jim had been in school
about six months and could speak
German pretty well a circus came to
town. One day we were discussing
the matter, when Saunders, who had
been sitting quietly in a corner of the
room, said he should think a little boy
might crowd in under the circus tent
and see the show that way. We all
laughed at this exhibition of ignorance,
because we knew how closely the tent
was watched and more than ono of
us had felt the boss canvasman's boot
on the seat of our pants. So when lit
tle Jimmy said this we laughed heart
ily, and Jacob Landenheimer. who was
the biggest boy in the school, said that
nobody but a Yankee would talk so
foolish. But Jimmy seemed to think
he was right, and finally Jacob offered
to bet him two marks that he couldn't
get into the circus under the tent.
Jimmy always had plenty of money,
and ho at once took the bet. Then
several more of the boys began betting
the little fellow uutil I felt sorry foi
him, and finally concluded to go him
six grosbens myself, so that 1 could
give the money to him when all the
others had won theirs, and do a noble
act. Little Jimmy took my bet, and
after all the money had been put up
with Mr. Niersteiner, one of the teach
ers, the whole crowd wene over to the
circus ground to see James lose. He
went right up to the circus man in the
ticket wagon and bought a ticket.
Then he said to the man; "I reckon
there is no objection to my going under
the canvas,
way?"* The man said certainly not;
if aDy one wanted to take that much
trouble he had
crawled under the tent and came out
of ttfe main entrance, looking iust as
solemn and Innocent as ever,
course Mr. Niersteiner had to give him
the money, because he won it fairly,
and alter he had put it iu his pocket
he winked and said: "If you little 'tow
headed Dutchmen think I knocked
around New York eight years for noth
ing you will get loft. "
a
long as I have paid my
objection. So Jimmy
• M
A Chapter on Dueling.
During the war with Tripoli many
fatal collisions took place between
American and English officers, and
also in 1818 between American naval
officers and officers of the British garri
son at Gibraltar. During the civil war
in the United States there were few or
no hostile meetings among Federal
officers. Among the Confederates there
were a number of fatal duels, the most
conspicuous being that between Gene
ral Marmaduke, of Missouri, and
General Walker, of Georgia, in which
the latter was slain.
Undoubtedly the four most noted
fatal duels fought iu the United States
were those between Alexander Hamil
ton aud Aaron. Burr, at Weeliawken,
N. J., July 11,1804; Stephen Decatur
and James Barron, at Bladensburg,
Md., March 22, 1820; Jonathan Cilley
and William J. Graves, near the bound
ary line of Maryland and the District
of Columbia, February 24, 1830; and
David Broderick and David S. Terry,
near the Laguna de la Merced, about
twelve miles from San Francisco (Cal.),
September 13, 1859. All of the chal
lenged parties in these encounters were
mortally wounded or killed; none of
the others were injured except Barron,
who, though dangerously wounded,
survived. The weapons used in three
of these duels were pistols, while
Messrs. Cilley and Graves fought with
rifles. Hamilton was a general iu the
army, and Burr was vice-president of
the United States; Decatur and Barron
were post-captains of the navy; Cilley
and Graves were members of Congress
from Maine and Kentucky; Broderick
was a United State senator from Cali
fornia, and Terry was ex-chief justice
of the Supreme Court of the same state.
There has been no strictly American
code of honor, although a majority of
the duels fought in the United States
by gentlemen have been arranged and
carried on according to rules and regu
lations promiscuously adopted from the
code duello of foreign countries, "l'ost
ing," however, is strictly an American
conceit, and seems to have originated
with General James Wilkinson, U. S.
A., whose challenge to John Randolph,
member of Congress from Virginia in
1807, was disdainfully declined by the
haughty Virginian, who concluded his
letters as follows: "In you, sir, I can
recognize no right to hold me account
able for my public or private opinion
of your character that would not sub
ject me to an equal claim from Colonel
Burr or Sergeant Dunbaugh. 1 can
not descend to your level. This iB my
final answer,
son was not to be thus summarily dis
posed of, and he indignantly replied:
"I have received your letter of the 25tli
Inst., by mail, in which you violate
truth and honor to indulge the inherent
malignity and rancor of your soul. On
what level, pray, sir, shall we find the
wretch, who, to mask his cowardice,
fabricates falsehoods, aud heaps unpro
voked insults upon unmerited injuries?
You cannot descend to my level!—vain,
equivocal thing! And you believe this
dastardly subterfuge will avail you, or
that your lion's skin will longer conceal
your true character? Embrace the
The audacious Wilkin
alternative, still in your reach, and
ascend to the level of a gentleman, if
possible; act like a man, if you can, and
spare me the pain of publishing you to
the world for an insolent, slanderous
prevaricating poltroon,
action in the matter
dolph, and the next time Congress as
sembled General Wilkinson stuck up,
or posted notices as follows, in all the
taverns and street corners of the na
tional capital:
Hector Unmasked.—-I n justice to
my character, I denounce to the world
John Randolph, a member of Congress,
as a prevaricating, base, calumniating
scoundrel, a poltroon and coward.
Posting became frequent in the
United States after this episode, and it
has been no uncommon thing to meet
a card in a newspaper, or a notice in
some public place, the declaration that
-"is an unprincipled villain
The author has wit
nessed many cases of this custom of
posting in New Orleans, Nashville and
Savannah, and calls to his mind, while
writing, a young gentleman of Los
Angeles, Cal., who i»osted a former
friend (with whom he had a disturb
ance at a party, and subsequently sent
him a challenge, which was unnoticed),
"as a cur and a coward," and sat under
the notice with a double-barreled shot
gun for seventeen hours.
Practically, public opmion firmly sus
tains the consolidated enactments for
the suppression of dueling in the United
States; and, as an institution; it may
be said to have ceased to exist in our
beloved country; notwithstanding the
Cash-Shannon duel iu South Carolina
in 1880, the Elam-Beime meeting in
Virginia in 1883, and the remarkable
encounter in Louisiana between a soda
water seller and a catfish dealer in New
Orleans only a few months ago, which
was fought with rapiers, aud lasted
eighty-three minutes before either of
the combatants drew blood.
No further
taken by Ran
and a coward.
A Boat with a Wooden Boiler.
Some time ago It was announced
that a machinist of this city named
Joseph Sutcliffe was engaged in the
construction of a steamboat boiler from
an ordinary ale cask. At the time it
was mentioned the boiler was not quite
completed, but since then it has been
launched and tested, and has stood a
considerable pressure of steam to the
square inch. The wooden boiler was
built to supply a two-horse power ro
tary engine, and was to be placed on a
sixteen-foot boat,
made from an ale cask, and very little
change has taken place hi its exterior.
On the inside of the barrel has been
placed a fire box wliieh extends well
down into the cask; this has been fit
ted with tubes placed horizontally and
vertically to hold the water. In other
boilers the water is outside of the
tubes. The fire box is supplied with
fuel from the top, draught being
supplied through a tube from below.
This unique boiler has been fairly tes
ted, and is pronounced a success for
the purpose for which it was construc
ted. The engine is a two-horse power
rotary, and was also built by Mr .
Sutcliffe.
This novel vessel is a twain screw
propeller, the screws being ten inches
iu diameter. The vessel is not only
propelled but is steered by these
screws, which act like the tail of a
fish.
days after it was launched with five
persons, aud the boat proceeded about
a quarter of a mile up the river. It
was then thought best not to proceed
any further, as it was fouud the engme
was not in a direct line with the pro
peller shaft, which caused considerable
friction. Tliis trouble has since been
remedied, and the engine and boiler are
working very successfully, and trips
are made with the boat up the river
every afternoon. The wooden boiler
boat,
spoken of on the river, is the cynosure
of all eyes, as it passes up and down
the stream.
The boiler was
A trial trip was made a few
it has become known and
Minin'» Terrible Gun.
On the floor in one of the rooms of
the Norwalk, Conn., Iron Works Com
pany Is a long, heavy cylilider. Its
length is about twenty-eight feet and
the diameter of the bore is. about four
inches. In another department men
are at work constructing an air com
pressor. When the latter Is completed
it will be connected with the tube men
tioned above, and what the .inventor
confidently believes will be a most tre
mendous engine of
ed aud ready for trial. Several years
ago, while in Washington, a gentleman
from Ohio heard a naval officer say that
if a gun couid be constructed that would
throw dynamite it would thoroughly re
volutionize modem warfare. Mr. Mif
fin—that was the gentleman's name_
proceeded at once to invent such a gun,
and he has reason to believe that it will
be a perfect success. It would not do
to use powder as a propelling power, for
its suddea action would explode the
dynamite cartridge at the start, and
blow the gun to atoms. Compressed
air, at a pressure of about 300 pounds
to the square inch, will take the place of
powder,.and the gun now in South Nor
walk is expected to throw a three-pound
cartridge a distance of two miles. Ima
gine the effect of a cartridge of even so
small a weight striking the side or deck
of a vessel, or the ramparts of a fort.
The explosion would be terribie in its
results. If the gun is a success others
of a size sufficient to throw 100 pounds
of dynamite ten miles will be construc
ted. The gun, loaded with sand instead
of dynamite, will be tested in South
Norwalk at
of naval officers, scientific men, and
others.
will be complet
—Senator Lapham wants to change
the name of Utah to Altamont,
early day, in the presence
The Longevity or Do«
Judging trom the great age of the
survivors of the battle of Waterloo
participation in that battle was the sur
est means of longevity wiiich an Eng
lishman of that day could take. Of
course this resource is no longer open
to persons desiring to live beyond three
score years and ten, but sucli persons
accomplish nearly as much by be
coming doctors. Twenty-six eminent
physicians and surgeons have died iu
England during the last four years, all
of whom were over 80 years of age, aud
nine of whom were over 90. The two
who had attained the greatest age died
at 95, and began their profession as
army surgeons. These two may possi
bly have laid the foundation of their
longevity at the battle of Waterloo, but
however tnis may be, the fact that Eng
lish medical men live to a great age is
sufficiently established. The popular
idea of a doctor's life is that he is expo
sed to dangers that ought to cut him off
at an early age. As a medical student
he is believed to undermine his consti
tution with tobacco and spirits and to
run the risk of inflicting fatal wounds
upon Jiimself with the dissecting knife.
When in active practice he Is supposed
to be dragged out of bed at all hours
and in all weathers to attend to his pa
tients and to be constantly exposed to
the danger of contracting infectious
and contagious diseases. The wonder
is that a man engaged in such ä profes
sion ever lives to middle age, whereas,
as the statistics above quoted show, he
has an excellent chance of living to be
80 or 90.
The facts undoubtedly are that in a
doctor's daily life there are conditions
which are eminently favorable to longe
vity. First among these is the fact that
a doctor never takes his own medicines.
* * * Then, too, a doctor takes a
good deal of exercise. It is true that
lie takes little exercise in the course of
his office practice, but his out-of-door
practice, compelling him, as it does, to
hurry from one house to another and to
climb innumerable stairs, gives him the
exercise which men of other professions
fail to obtain. Then, again, he sleeps
more soundly than other men. Know
ing that he may be called up at any
hour, he goes to bed with the resolution
of compressing as much sleep as possible
into the briefest time; and the concen
trated sleep thus obtained does him
more good than many hours of light
and uneasy slumber.
To these healthful features of a doc
tor's life may be added the pleasures
which his profession yields. The sur
geon meets with a constant succession
of delightful amputations, and is liable
to be agreeably surprised every day of
his life with unusual abcesses and no^l
tumors, upon which he can exercise his
ingenuity aud his knife. The physician
meets with quantities of interesting
diseases, and is always hoping to be the
first to describe some new disease to
which his name will be forever attached,
like the popular diseases discovered by
Messrs. Bright and .Cox, respectively.
If the doctor is successful, as nearly all
doctors seem to be, there flows in upon
him a constantly increasing stream of
fees, and a lucky pestilence or a fortu
nate series of explosions and railway
collisions may at any time make the
physician or surgeon a rich man. It is
thus easy to understand why members
of the medical profession live to a great
age. Almost as easy , in fact, as it is to
understand why their patients seldom
rival them in longevity.
The Sahel of Tui
Dr. Rouire, describes Tunis
sisting principally of three distinct ba
sins, that of Medjerdah, that cf Oued
Bagla, and that of Chottes, the first in
the north, the second in the centre, the
third in the south. There is also a lit
toral zone, consisting of several little
basins distinct from those of the interior.
Were it not for the ardent sun, the
coast, like that of Languedoc, would
consist of pools of water separated by
sandy isthmuses. As it is, the low areas
are but dry "sebkas.
"Oued" Menes, which enters the sea at
the Sebka of Djeriba. is usually dry,
but its principal branch is the channel
by which iu rainy seasons Lake Kelbiali
discharges into the sea the surplus
ters brought down by the Oued Bagla,
which empties into it. This Oued is at
the northern end of the region known
as the Sahel, a land of rounded, calca
reous hills, whose narrow valleys hide
pleasant villages, and on the slopes of
which grow olive thickets. West of the
Sahel is the sandy interior desert region
of Kairwau. The tenu Sahel is given
to other regions similarly covered with
rounded hills. The Tunisian Sahel,
which contains about 1000 square kilo
metres, furnishes some fine building
ing stones, as well as gypsum and chalk.
Many ancient quarries show the source
from whence were obtained the materi
als for the collossal amphitheatre of
ThyBdrus and for the houses of the
cities of the coast. The Arab mosques
and the Spanish monasteries are built of
the same materials.
No stream from the interior plain of
Kairwau crosses the Saliel or the region
of Sfax south of it; yet, while the rela
tively large streams of the interior aie
usually dry, the smaller ones of the Sa
hel preserve a constant thread of water.
South of the arid and deserted zone of
Sfax come the mouths of the Oueds
which water the gardens of that town,
and further south the coast consists of
con
The stream or
sandy tracts separated by oases, of
which that of Gabes is the most impor
tant. The gardens of Sfax, filled with
olive, almond, pistachio, citron and fig
trees, with cereals and legumes growing
among them, offer a remarkable con
trast to the desert region around. Ir
rigation lias worked the wonder; the
people of Sfax are every year enlarging
the irrigated area, and may yet, if no
hindrance occurs, redeem the entire
coast between their town and the Sahel
Maine's Sardines.
Nine-tenths of the sardines consumed
in the United citâtes come from Maine.
Very few of the real French fish
ported now. These Yankee sardines are
nothing but small herring put up in
boxes, with gaudy labels and French in
scriptions. In Eastport there are nine
teen places where they turn out sardines,
besides three at Lubcc, two at Jones
port, and one each at Millbridge, I<a
mome and Kobbinston In 1870 a New
York firm did a lucrative business pack
ing "Russian sardines" in Eastport
These were little herring packed iu small
wooden kegs and preserved with spices
of different kinds. It occurred to one
member of the firm that these little fish
might be utilized to better advantage by
cooking them aud packing them in olive
oil, like the French eardinea. The experi
ment had been tried several years before
without success. The difficulty was to
eradicate the taste of the herring. It was
easy to cook the herring, pack them in
olive oil in tin cans, and seal them air
tight, but when they were opened they
had not the rich, spicy flavor of the regu
ular French sardines. After a great many
experiments, one of the manufacturers
succeeded in producing a mixture of oils
and spices which removed the difficulty.
The herring used for making sardines
about four inches long, and are taken
in great quantities along the Maine and
New Brunswick coast. They can be
bought of the fishermen for about $5 a
hogshead, although when the fish are
scarce, as they often are in the spring,
they bring as much as $15 a hogshead.
To catch the fish small, trees or brush are
thrust into the sandy bottom of the sea,
arranged in a line running out from the
shore some 75 or 100 feet, and then curved
back like a horseshoe. Inside this trap is
a net. When the tide is falling the net is
raised, and the flsh are taken out with huge
scoop nets. The catch is always very
uncertain; sometimes only a bushel or two
will be taken, and often so many arc
caught as to endanger the net.
There is another way of capturing the
fish. Herring, like mackerel, go in
schools, aud, for some reason, always fol
low the light. Two or three fishermen
provide themselves with torches made of
cotton batting saturated with kerosene,
and on dark nights row along the shores
with a torch in the bow of the boat. When
the school is found the herring dart after
the boat, coming so close that they are
dipped up In nets attached to short poles.
After being captured the fish are taken
immediately to the factory and laid in
heaps upon long tables. The first thing is
to decapitate and clean the fish. The dex
terity with which this operation is per
formed by the children who are employed
is remarkable. On an average seventy
five fish are cleaned and decapitated every
minute by each child. Both, operations
are performed with one stroke of a sharp
knife. A box holding about a bushel lies
at the feet of each operator »ud as the
cleaning is completed the fish slide Into
the box. The pay for this work is ter
cents per box, and some of the children
make a dollar and a half a day.
After being washed the herring are
pickled for half an hour, and are then laid
upon trays and placed in a large drying
room heated by steam. After drying the
fish are thrown into large, shallow pans of
boiling oil and thoroughly cooked. They
then packed m tin boxes by girls and
women, and in each box is poured a quan
tity of the patent mixture of oils and
spices. Covers are then fitted to the
boxes and sealed on by men. As air
must be excluded, the cans, when sealed,
placed iu a tank of boiling water when
they remain half an hour and are then
moved and placed on an inclined plane, so
that the air inside rushes to one corner of
the box. This corner is punctured with
an awl, the hot air escapes, and the can
is made air-tight by a drop of solder. The
boxes are then ornamented with attractive
French labels, stating that the inclosed are
"Sardines a la Française;" some are la
beled "a l'huile d'ollvo." The oil used is
cotton-seed oil, such as is made in South
Carolina. It is not always the best quality
of oiL The best oil is used, however, for
the fish sold as "prime."
a
imi
A Wall Settled Law.
Intellect will tell. The pews in Ply
mouth church have been sold this year
for a smaller sum than last, but 1 am
convinced, says a Brooklyn writer, that
nenry Ward Beecher's mind has not
waned iu power. His endowment of
natural and acquired ability is uudimin
ished by age. His knowledge of men is
great. I saw bis hat blow off. the other
day. It was a wide-brimmed. Happy
article, and a gust of wind lifted it from
his head. Did he race after it, as it
floated away? He knew from observa
tion ami experience that probably the
quickest and certainly the easiest way to
get it back was to trust the job to some
volunteer chasers. Nor was the feasibil
ity ot this plan dependent on the fact
that he was immediately recognizable as
the Plymouth pastor. However humble
you may be, your blown-off hat will be
eagerly pursued by strangers, if you
calmly trust to them. Beecher acted
upon that well settled law of usage. I
watched him, while he, with jocund se
renity, stood waiting for the inevitable
recovery. The hat. being of great cir
cumference, rolled with the speed of a
bicycle half across Broadway, and then,
caught and collapsed by a counter current
of wind, doubled ou its foremost pursuer
and gently wiped the n&vement on its
way back. At this point 1 missed its
movement, because 1 had my eyes
Beecher. Suddenly, the expression of this
big smile changed, and be stepped or
ward in deferential haste. Something
new in hat recovering was evidently hap
pening. A girl had caught up the h at, i ■
it tumbled at her feet,
graceful, self-possessed creature; and she
to the clumsier old
could take three steps in her direction.
She neatly dusted tho hat with hei hand
kerchief, and delivered it to the owner,
with a half-saucy, half respectful grin.
"Thank you, Miss—thank you,'
Beecher. "I'm sorry 1 was so lazy."
"You're welcome, Mr. Beecher," was
the reply.
She was a deft,
before he
•aid
II
not strange that the familiar face
of the preacher was known to the girl, and
yet I'll be bound that the old fellow's
heart bounded when she spoke his name ao
casually. 1 don't know who she was, but
the young lady with whom she tripped
away was Miss Oarne Astor, the marriage
able heiress of the A9tor family. I write
marriageable, not marrying, bemuse it
said that she is not iuclined to take a
husband. It is her head rather than her
heart whicn makes her feel that way. She
kDOws very well that her fortune makes
her highly desirable, and how
u
she And
lor a surety the real sentiment of a
m «ri
Under the laws of Provideuoe, life is
a probation; probation is almost a suc
cession of trials; temptations are emer
gencies; and for emergencies we need
the preparation and the safeguard of
prayer.
Monkey Anti«».
A large baboon was confined alone in
a cage, having a sleeping place in the
form of a kind of hut in the oenter of
the cage. Near the hut was a tree, the
main branoh of which rose over the top
of the hut, and then came forward
away from it. The hut door swung
beneath this part of the branoh, but it
always swung to each time the monkey
opened it to mount upon its top edge.
After one or two efforts to mount by it
in spite of its immediate swinging to,
the baboon proouretl a thick blanket
which lay in the cage, and threw it over
, having opened the same, so
that ira complete closing was sufficiently
prevented to enable it to mount upon
the free edge of the door, and so gain
that part of the branoh which ran above
it. Professor Rengger, on feeding his
monkeys at Paraguay, with eggs, ob
served that at first they smashed them,
and then wasted muoh of their oon tents,
but they soon learnt to hit one end
against some hard body, and pick off
the bits with their paws; and if they
cut themselves once with any sharp
tool, they would either not touoh it
again or handle it with the greatest
caution. Lumps of sugar were given
them wrapped up in paper, and some
times a live wasp was put into the paper
to try them, so that in hastily unfoldmg
it they got stung, but after this had
once oocurred, they always held the
paoket to their ears to detect any move
ment within. Professor O. Hobertsou
witnessed the following action some
years ago in the Jardin des Plantes. A
large ape in an iron cage was lording
some smaller monkeys. Ferns
and other things had been thrown be
tween the bars, which the ape quickly
attempted to seize. At length a small
hand looking-glass with a strong woouen
frame was thrown in; the ape got hold
of it and began tc brandish it like a
hammer, wheu suddenly he was arrested
by the reflection of himself in the
glass. After looking puzzled for a
moment, he darted his head behind the
glass to find the other ape, which he
evidently supposed to be there. Fad
ing nothing, he apparently thought
that he had not been quick enough in
his movements. So he raised and drew
the glasB nearer to him with great cau
tion, and then, with a swifter dart,
looked behind, and again finding noth
ing, he made the attempt onoe more.
He now grew very angry and began to
beat the frame violently on the floor of
the cage. Soon the gltss was shatteied,
and pieces fell out. Again he was ar
rested by his own image in the piece of
glass still remaining in the frame, and
he resolved to make another trial,
More carefully than ever he began, and
more rapidly than ever was the final
dart made. But his fury over this last
failure knew no bounds, and be
crunched the frame and glass together
with his teeth till nothing but splinters
remained.
The jealousy ot monkeys is easily
exoited, and indeed knows no bounds u
they imagine that a rival is getting
more attention tlyin themselves. A few
the
h
years ago. at on® of Wombwell's collec
tions. aaPvely monkey succeeded in
pdflang no small attention. Sud
deiiiy he saw, with indignation, that
most of the visitors had turned their
attentions to the next cage. This, of
course, excited both his jealousy and
his curiosity, and he exercised all his
endeavors to discover the cause of his
desertion. At length he oontrived to
poke ont a knot in the board which
dividod their partition, and on looking
through, discovered that the inhabitants
of tho adjoining cage had lately been
increased by a baby. That unfortunate
baby-monkey instantly became the ob
ject of his unremitting persecution.
He watched it through his knot-hole;
then he put his hand round the corner,
and tried to pinch the poor little ani
mal; he pioked the keeper's pocket of
the food that ought to have gone to the
rival. The mother all this time
perfectly acquainted with the evil de
signs of her neighbor, and carefully
kept her infant away from the danger
corner where the monkey's hand
was continually intruding itself. Iu a
short time the little one began to go
about by itself, and its enemy redoubled
his exertions. At last the moment of
revenge arrived; one day he was seen
paying more attention than usual to his
peep-hole, and after long watching he
began that peculiar
ment which generally prefaces a monk
ey's mischief. Suddenly, he withdrew
his eye from the h sie, thrust his hand
through like lightfling, and withdrew it
bringing with it tho tail of the poor
little monkey to his own side of the
partition. Fixing his feet firmly on
each side of the koot-hole, he tugged
away at bis rival's tail, alternately
screaming with delight or chattering
with fear at the punishment which ho
knew would follow. The baby monkey,
on being seized, set up a heart-rending
scream, on hearing which its mother
flew to its assistance, and, seeing her
offspring apparently fastened to the
wall, took it by its arms and pulled with
all her might in order to release it The
ouiprit ohattered, the mother shouted,
and the baby screamed, until the outcry
brought the keeper, at sight of whom
the aggressor loosed his hold of his
victim's tail and crouched into tiie
farthest oomer of the cage, where he
showed muoh ingenuity m avoiding the
cuts of the keeper's whip.
vibrating move
PoUtenesa.
I ll. IV
two points ot politeness in
which a great many people are deficient.
Oue is tardiness m ful filing social
Kagomeuts. An invited guest to dinner
or supper, who, the hour having ar
rived, fails to be
an
time, is to all in
tents and purpose» wanting in one of
the plainest requirements of
politeness, unless his tardiness is un
avoidable. Another phase of impolite
ness is that whioh mauifests itself so
frequently at the theatre, the opera, or
the lecture, where, for sometimes half
an honr after the exeroisee have
monced, late comers are constantly
noying those who, mindful of the com
fort of others, are in their seats at the
time announced for the play, opera
lecture to begin. It may be deemed
unfashionable by those tardy ones to
come in with the "oommon herd," or it
may be constitutional with others never
to be ready when they should, but in
neither oase can justification be found.
If among our many readers there
any who think these remarks are in
tended specially for them, we beg to
assure them that they are mistaken.
The impoliteness referred to is too gén
éral to admit of individual application.
They are intended for all who are guilty
of the breaches of social or public eti
quette of which we have written.
.
oom
are