The Delaware ledger., April 05, 1884, Image 1

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

Image provided by: University of Delaware Library, Newark, DE

                
<H)e Delaware CeÖqef
♦
NEWARK, NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE, APRIL 5, 1884*
NUMBER 16.
VOLUME VII.
[
the
in
ADVIC1LTO BOYS.
Life is a contest. In for the fight I
Up nml at it with all your might.
Dread no-hardships, talk not of luck;
Oft with your coat I and show your pluck.
Up aud a doing I stir up a dust I
l'ly your muscle, rub off the rust.
Take hold of plow, spare not the hoe,
Turn up the earth aud make things go.
Always frugal, don't run in debt,
Shun the race course, aud do ndt bet.
Always prudent, never get "tight"
Avoid the wrong, pursue the right.
When with the vile, dare to he odd,
Act like a
Search for the truth, strive to be wise.
Only workers c
Then push along, keep a moving,
Daily gaining, still improving.
And at the closo, your work all done,
Receive the crown of "Faithful son. '
Dun
I and fear thou God.
in
and
in the prize.
THIS FROI'llKTS.
THIS LAST
1 found the Chief Signal Officer in
his laboratory, exhausted by the hard
work of the day. IIis majestic person
was somewhat flaccidly disposed In a
great easy chair. Ills feet rested on Uie
top of a barrel, which was coveied with
a copy of Hayden's expensive Atlas c,t
Colorado. In the lap of the Chief Sig
nal Officer was curled a big black cat,
which purred as lie listlessly stroked its
back, and showed its teeth when he
happened to stroke the fur the wrong
way. On the Chief Signal Officer's left
shoulder was perched a Plymouth Rock
rooster. Several hens of various breeds
were scratching the flooor under the ta
ble, iu the futile endeavor to extract
nutriment from an oil cloth carpet.
The Chief Signal Officer motioned me
to a chair, and hurled a volume of his
annual report for 1882 at a noisy duck
which was screaming in one corner of
the room.
"General," I began, "is it true—"
lie interrupted me with a peremptory
gesture. "HushI" he said. I became
silent. Through the closed window the
stentorian voice of an able-bodied don
key was distinctly audible. The don
key brayed four tunes, each time louder
than before. The Chief Signal Officer
tumbled the cat out of his lap, made a
few hurried notes in a memorandum
book, aud then turned to me again.
'General,' said I, 'will you permit
me to ask is the statement that you
have—'
Jut-t then the- rooster on the left
shoulder of the Chief Signal Officer be
gan to flap his wings and crow The
Officer touched a hand bell. 'Send
Dunwoody here at once,' he said to the
child of Africa who answered the
mons. 'Now sir, I am at your service,
he remarked to me.
to
a
'General,' I began once more, 'it is
currently reported that you have—*
I paused, for the hair on the top of
at that instant firmly
my head w
clutched from above, aud held in a ten
acious and constantly tightening grip.
1 started up in amazement. "Sit still 1
sit still! shouted the Chief Signal Officer.
of my bats—the I^ower
'It is only
Mississippi Valley bat, l think. Don't
move a muscle till we see what the
Lower Mississippi Valley bat is going
to do."
I sut patiently in the interests of sci
ence for at least five minutes. Then
the unpleasant bird, beast or reptile
slowly relaxed his hold upon my hair
and flew away with a dismal whirr.
Tlie Chief Signal Officer rang his bell
again, scrawled a few words on a tele
graph blank and handod it to the mes
senger. 'Well sir, now what can I do
for you?"
'General,' I said, 'you can tell me if
you please whether the public may
credit the report that you have— '
*Ahl here is Dunwoody at last,* ex
claimed the Chief Signal Officer, the
anxious expression ot his countenance
giving place to a look of relief. 'Dun
woody, the black cat has mewed thrice
ill three minutes,*
'You don't say so,' remarked the new
comer respectfully.
'Copernicus Is crowing rather hoarse
ly this evening.
Dunwoody casts a critical glance at
the Plymouth Rock rooster. 'That is a
bad prognostic,' he observed.
'And I think, all things considered,
we had better weigh Howgate. '
Dunwoody immediately approached
the barrel on which the Chief Signal
Officer's feet had been resting and re
moved the cover. Both the Lieutenant
and the Chief peered in long and in
tently. Then Dunwoody took from a
hook on the wall a small landing net,
witli which he proceeded to drag the
the contents of the baarel. After sev
eral ineffectual efforts, he scooped out
a small but healthy codfish, dripping
with brine, and floundering helplessly
as Dunwoody laid it on the platform of
a small pair of scales.
'Sixteen and three-quarters,' he said
'Do you nnnd telling me,' I stsked
'why you call that fish Howgate?"
'Because we keep him out of sight,'
said the Chief Signal Officer hastily,
without looking up from his memoran
dum book. 'Let's see. The noon en
try is fifteen-half. Two o'clock fifteen
quarter. Dunwoody, that d-d cod
has gained a pound and a half since
two o'clock!"
'My gracious!' said Dunwoody.
The greatest alarm was now visible
upon the Chief Sigual Officer's face.
evident that the portent was extra
ordinary. lie turned to me ns if for
sympathy. 'What does it indicate, I
ventured to inquire.
'Indicate man?' lie shouted; it indi
cates that a devil of a gale is brewing
somewhere. It is an ascertained fact
that tbe codfish takes in ballast before
a storm. But a pound and a half in
four hours 1 The records of the office
show nothing like it. Why,- the fish
gained less than six ounces in the seven
hours preceding the great tornado of
a
M
September. Send out a general alarm,
Dunwoody, without an instant's delay.
Order up the cautionary signals al
aiong the Atlantic coast. Warn the
observers at the Lhke ports. Predict
areat- of unprecedently low pressure on
the Southeast Ilocky Mountain Slope,
in tne Upper Lake region, in the Florida
peninsula, and the St. Lawrence Val
Predict 'em everywhere, d-it—
d please,
predict anything you d
Dun woody; you can't draw it too
strong. A pound and a half in four
hours!*'
Dunwoody rushed off as though a cow
catcher was at his lietlfl, and the Chief
Signal Officer began to write message
after message, like
pended upon his celerity. The lively
click of telegraph instruments sounded
in the next room. People hurried to
and fro in the corridors. There was
every indication of sudden and remark
able activity throughout the headquar
ters of the "Weather Bureau.
whose life do
At last the Chief Signal Officer arose
and drew a long breath. 'FhewJ' he
said. 'Everything has been done that
can be done. All we can do now is
to catch on to something by our eye
teeth aud wait till the racket's over.'
Then he perceived me again,
'Hallo!* he said, rather curtly. 'You
here still? Well, what can I do for you
now?»
'General,' said I, *1 called to learn
whether it is true that the Signal Office
has just procured a new Bulgarian bull
frog, who tells you by the way he jumps
which way the win ! is going to blow?'
'Certainly it is true, replied the Chief
Signal Officer; 'and he affords some of
our most valuable piognostics. He is
a great accession to the service. You
can see him if you like; lie ought to be
somewhere about the floor.
We searched the floor, but found no
bullfrog. The Chief Signal Officer
once more rang his bell.
'George,' said he, 'we can't find Sir
Isaac Newton. Where is Sir Isaac
Newton.'
The darkey grinned. 'De bullfrog,
Gen'l?' said lie. 'De bullfrog 'peared
too lazy to prognosticate dis afternoon,
and I done put him in de barrel to soak
'long wid de fish.'
With a remark indicating a limited
area of unlimited high pressure, the
Chief Signal Officer kicked over the
barrel. A gallon or two of brine
rushed out, and ou the tail of the flood
the codfish came sprawling, but there
was no Bulgarian bullfrog there.
Our minds grasped the situation sim
ultaneously. We exchanged a look of
intelligence. The Chief Signal Officer
sank back in his arm chair, and his face
was very white.
'O Lord I' he faintly groaned 'How
gate has swallowed Sir Isaac Newton '
That is why the terrible cataclysm
recently predieted by the Signal Office
did not come to time. The prognosti
cation was based on misleading data.
The codfish gained a pound and half in
four hours because he hod swallowed the
bullfrog. But what a tornado it would
have been.
a
Fish River Gave«, New Houtli Wales.
The famous Kentucky caves in the
United States, have a formidable rival
in the Fish river caves, New South
Wales, which form one of the natural
wonders of Australia. From the offi
cial catalogue of fche New South Wales
(kmrt at the Calcutta Exhibition, we
learn that these caves are of vast
tent, and singularly attractive, having
a great variety of very intricate galleries
or passages, only to bo traveled in safety
under tbe care of the experienced local
guide employed by the Government.
The subterraneous scenes herein dis
closed are indeed magnificent—well
worth the time and trouble of paying
them a visit. There is a whole group
of these grand subterraneous halls and
bewildering galleries, and each one of
the series is known by a different
name: The New Cave, the Lucas
Cave, the Belle Cave, the Lur
line Cave, etc. Several objects of
great filterest are to be viewed at and
in the Fish River caves; and amongst
these are the Great Archway, the Car
lotta Arch, the Meeting of the Creeks,
the Pinnacle Rock, the Interiors, the
outside entrances and adjacent wood
land scenes. The Carlotta Arch—a
curious natural archway in the rocks—
excites rnucli astonishment and admira
tion. These caves, so remarkable for
their stalactitic and stalagmitic forma
tions, are of such an immense extent
that whole days are necessary for their
due exploration, One of these enor
mous caverns is estimated to be not
less than 500 feet in height, and of a
proportionate length aud breadtt^ The
strange forms gradually assumed by the
drippings of the limestone rocks
throughout are almostrinfiuite, and not
to be anywhere else surpassed iii beauty.
In one place there is the weird, rock
like semblance of a well-stocked mena
gerie; and in another place the pendants
from the roof and slabs below are of a
still more fantastic and extraordinary
character. When lighted up with the
magnesium wire these sublime palaces,
"which Nature's hands have deftly
formed," present a truly gorgeous spec
tacle, being filled with delicate pend
ants and drooping sprays, gigantic col
umns and shadowy parches—all resplend
ent with dazzling, illusive gems. In
the New Cave, the scene developed by
the magnesium light is described (by
Burton) as "one of surpassing loveli
the appearanee of a heavy fall of
ness,
snow being produced; the rocks in the
rear presenting to the imagination a
black, frowning sky. Occasionally a
sparkling waterfall heightens the effect
of tlie scene. The Government has
had constructed a number of wire lad
ders for tlie convenience of visitors in
ascending and descending some of the
caves.
Sixty Two Lives.
Archie Barks, an old man, living by
tbe canal feeder in Trenton, N. J., has
saved sixty-two lives in his time. He
saved a little girl's life recently. When
asked to give an account of his rescues
he said.—"I can't go over them all,
but I'll mention some. I saved Steve
Wyncoop, who fell into the prison ba
sin. I had a narrow e c cape that time,
for he was a heavy weight. I was iD
bed another night when a call came for
me that a man was making for the
feeder for suicide. I jumped out and
got there in time to nab him as he
went down the tnird time. That man
is about town yet. Another day I
was coming through Montgomery
street when I saw a boy riding on a
sled he had hitched to a milkman s
wagon. The sled rope had got around
his neck and he was choking. The
milkman would not stop, not seeing
the boy, so I grabbed bis horse and
saved the lad, I had to carry him home;
ex-Senator's son. At Pen
nington, another day, a lady with two
children was getting off a morning
train. She was on the point of falling
under when I grabbed the woman and
one child and pushed the other on the
platform. At least one would have
been run over. "
"And how much have you got,
Archie," was asked, "for your servi
ces?"
be la
'
"Once I got an old soldier's overcoat
for stopping two burglars from steal-,
ing a valuable team back of Hauover
street. I got the suit of clothes I told
you about, and I got twenty-five cents
for saving a rich man's son. That's
all I ever saw for saving sixty-two
lives. But never mind I haven't told
you all. One winter night while I was
constable out
Star Rubber, 1
heard a cry of murder. I ran out and
saw two fellows on the go. Close by,
in the water, a man was struggling.
It was mighty cold weather, but I
jumped in and saved him. Another
time Jack Donnelly would have smoth
ered while fixing a boiler at the Rubber
Works, if 1 hadn't hauled him out. One
New Year's Eve I was in bed in the
swamp when I heard "Murder!" I
got out quick and found a man head
down in a big bank of snow unable to
get up; be had been robbed and as
saulted. I got him out and caught
the robbers, who went to prison. I
saved a Ewing township farmer twice
from robbery, and may be murder, in
the swamp. About two years ago I
was at the Clinton Stieet Depot when
some one called that a boy was in the
creek; I slipped off my shoes and jumped
in and with John Bradley's help got
out the boy. But a spike had
clear through my loot and I was laid
up six weeks, narrowly escaping lock
jaw. A few months ago I had m
wrist sprained saving a boy in the feed
er and couldn't work for weeks.**
Archie belongs to a family of res
cuers of human life. IIis father died
from injuries in saving the life of a
lady who was riding behind a wild,
runaway horse. His son Elwood
claims to have saved seventeen lives
about Trenton; some from drowning
and others on the railroad, in runa
ways, etc. IIis seventeen year-old
daughter saved her own sister and
another little girl from burning to
death. His nine-year-old-boy dragged
a child off the track in front of an ap
proaching train, and another time
gave timely notice of a lad's falling in
the feeder.
the feeder.
Tlie Flowering Thoi
There are not many ornamental trees
which are better suited for planting in
the average town lot than the flowering
thorns. This is because they are of
comparatively small growth, excellent
habit, and remarkably beautiful either
when in flower or afterwards on ac
count of their handsome leaves alone.
No other class of flowering trees is
richer in the large number of good
sorts afforded than this
together there are more than 150 varie
ties in cultivation, and in this entire
number it would be bard to pick out
one that is undesirable for ornauienta
, tor al
There are both single
purposes.
flowering and double-flowering kinds.
The former are more richly perfumed
than the doubles, aud they present an
additional attraction in the shape of
an abundance of berries in the autumn.
which for a long time render the trees
pretty to behold—the fruit being usually
of a brilliant scarlet color. Some of
the best sorts of the single-flowering
thorns and which may be liad in our
nurseries, are the glossy-leaved thorn,
with bright sinning foliage and hand
some white flowers; the parsley-leaved
thorn; the azarole thorn from France;
the hybrid smooth-leaved thorn; Gum
per's thorn with white flowers edged
with rose; the pyramided thorn of
pyramidal habit and white flowers, and
some others.
The double-flowering
sorts possess the advantages of having
flowers like little roses iu great pro
fusion, and in a greater variation of
color than the singles can show, besides
which they last longer
But there is an absence of the fruiting
qualties in this section, and this weighs
against them in the estimates of some.
The double scarlet thorn, Paul's double
scarlet thorn, the double white thorn,
the double red or superb thorn, and
the double pink-flowered thorn are
among the most deslral^e sorts in this
class, and such as can be had in almost
every nursery. There is also a hand
some little evergreen species in several
varieties, with pink and white flowers,
that
tlie tree
hardy in Buffalo, but very
rarely seen on our lawns.
One merit of the thorns is that they
will grow in almost any soil and situa
tion. On clay they grow vigorously
provided the soil is'well drained, a fact
that ought to afford comfort to many
lot owners in clayey sections, who are
at a loss to know what to plant that
will thrive. The trees delight in a free
exposure, and let it be said also that
they must be kept away from the shade
and drip of other larger trees if it is
ever expected to have them do well.
They may be planted in rather narrow
places between nouses, provided there
is a free admission of air and sunshine,
and here if they would in time show a
disposition to widen out in their growth
beyond what would be considered desir
able, they can be pruned to any extent
to keep them within bounds. Indeed,
the trees thrive under the free use of
the pmningknife as few others will
iind if spurred close in, they form com
pact heads and flower finely. One
member of tins genus is the English
hawthorn, which is well known as the
great hedge plant of Europe, and which
bears pruning so admirably. It may lie
proper to add that the small-leaved
kinds bear hard pruning the best, and
this account are to be preferred for
small areas.
Screens, as decorative agents,
créas Ingly popular in our midst. Not
only is a great deal of time besto ved
upon the elaboration of work for e ueb
a purpose, but the frames themselves
are of great artistic worth. Prices foi
screens may vary almost indefinitely,
and a home-made article costing perhaps
a couple of dollars, gives as much ahso
lute pleasure as marvels of skill which
cost from $50 to $1,000. Every kind ol
material is used in their manufacture,
from common paper, covered with dec
orative cards or figures, to embossed
leathers, opalescent and painted glass,
painted canvas, or open wood-w'ork
lined with costly materials. Novelties
in designs are constantly met with, and
to-day the set panel is often supple
mented with a short drapery, or, as in
the ease of very wealthy ones, the panel
is entirely superseded by a curtain ol
expensive material, embroidered in
raised or applique work, and suspended
from rings. One of the richest screens
in'tliis city is in a private house, and
was expressly imported from Japan by
its owner. It is of white watered silk,
inclosed in ivory frames, and embroid
ered in many colored silks with a wav
ing border of flowers so artistically
wrought that it is more like a parterre
of living beauty than a more represen
tation. Japanese screens of every vari
ety may lie found in our midst, many ol
which, it is satisfactory to lovers of trut
eastern art to know, never knew any
surroundings other than those in whicL
we find them. An immense trade ir
such so called eastern screens is carried
on, yet it does not require any great
amount of experience to detect them.
With all the increased skill of latei
years there is still something both ir
needle-work, and art of eastern origin
that defies copy. Some of the needle
work, for instance, which is framed foi
screens and is the production of Japan
ese ladies (usually of religious orders)
is so perfect in its reproduction of
tu re that it is scarcely possible to be
lieve that it is only a copy. Birds
he wing, flowers which seem literally
o tremble in a breeze, are so exquisitely
wrought that a "spirit" seems actually
to inspire them which has so far defied
competition. Chinese screens, too, are
bewildering in the variety and weirdness
of their design and coloring; indeed,
there is brightness in the tones selected
which is a little out of harmony with
the œsthetic humor of the modern
home. The latest fashion for frames i£
for those of Moorish design, and as
much skill is bestowed upon the elabor
ate wood-work or metal as upon tbe
panels themselves; indeed, it often
seems as if screens were in danger of
becoming somewhat like pictures m that
respect, overshadowed and overborne by
the massive nature of tlie setting.
Those which are exact fac-similes of old
style screens escape this danger. We
have a fair example of this in one made
by one of the members of the Decora
tive Art Society, in which the frame is
an exact reproduction of the days ol
Louis XVI. This screen is a very re
niurkable example of ribbon work upon
white satin, and the simple frame is
particularly well suited to the severe
style of the work. The back Is lined
with fluted satin, which is also an im
provement upon some of the backt
which
The sum at which it is valued, $210
does not seem excessive.
In
chosen for modern work.
Feigning Death.
Lucky Joe Wilson, the chief of a
band of horse thieves and outlaws, es
caped from the jail of Wataugu county,
North Carolina, by a sharp ruse. Wil
son was sentenced to the State prisou for
outlawry. He took an appeal and was
awaiting the decision of the Supreme
Court in his case. For some weeks he
has pretended to be ill. Last night be
feigned death, was laid out by the prison
officials, and prepared for burial. The
body was placed iu
where it was viewed by many of the
prisoners and officers of the jail. The
eyes were wide open and seemingly
glazed In death. Blood had spurted
from the mouth and ran down
bed covering. A minister was sent for
to preach at the funeral of the notorious
robber. The body was left alone until
the time for burial. When everything
became quiet about the prisou Wllson
suddenly resurrected himself, sprang
up and dashed out of the room, and
made his escape before any one was
aware of what had occurred^ He
(hushed down the mountain and fled
toward Tennessee. The discoverers of
the ruse played upon them by Wilson
were so paralyzed that they permitted
the prisoner to get two hours' start of
them before they followed him. It is
hardly probable that he will be captured.
outbuilding
Un
lie FI rat Roi
A citizen who had an office on Mon
roe avenue, Detroit, had for the last three
years been owing a grocer bill. The
grocer's collector called on him over one
hundred times to secure paymeut of the
debt, but
excuse or other. At one time it was
death—another sickness—another time
bad luck, and so it went on until it
really seemed impossible for the debtor
to invent any new pleas. The other day
the grocer himself took the hill in his
fist and cornered the debtor in his office.
"Yes, I know—very sorry—hand you
the money a week from to-day," was the
smiling excuse, "See here I" said the
grocer, as he locked the door and pulled
off his coat; "I've been figuring on this
matter. Tills hill is for $15. I can
give you the worst licking a man ever
received and get off with a fine of $10.
I'll then give you a receipt for the other
five and the account will be closed. Pre
pare to he pulverized 1" "But suppose
I lick you—then what?" queried the
other. "Then there won't he any resort
to the law, and you shall have a receipt
in full." "That seems to be fair, and
I'll do my best," said the debtor, and at
it they went. The grocer expected to
get away with him in about a minute;
but he was a deceived man. It wasn't
over three minutes before lie was knock
ed over a chair aud rendered hors de
combat. "Is it a receipt in full?" ask
ed the debtor, as he sat astrido of the
other and kept both hands fastened in
his hair. "She is." "And you'll pay
me $2 In cash-for the broken furniture?"
"Yes." "Then you may get up, and I'll
recommend you to a doctor who'll fix
your broken collarbone as good as new
inside of a week." The grocer gave
him a receipt for the account and hand
ed over $2 in cash, and later in the day,
when telling the story in the store, he
explained: "Gentlemen, I've sassed
scores of citizens, abused dozens of
hackmen, and been aching for three
years past for a chance to pulverize some
one. It% worth $17 to me to know that
my grit gives out with the first round.'
always put off with some
Borrowing aud Lending on Farms.
In every occupation, the character
and unity of the occupants has great
influence to determine both the respect
ability and the success of the occupa
tion, in localities, and more or less gen
erally. Farmers must live upon farms,
and generally have farmers for neigh
bors. Very few men in the world can
with any strict propriety be called in
dependent men. The best condition of
human society is doubtless a condition
of fully realized mutual dependence,
To make or keep the most desirable
condition of intelligent society among
farmer neighbors, proper ideas of right
and wrong must be understood, and
acted upon. We would modestly and
humbly present some suggestions,
the matter strikes our judgment, on
•borrowing and lending.
There must be limits to the right of
borrowing and consequently there must
be limits to the obligation to lend.
Rare implements, perhaps costly,
which, though indispensable at times,
but rarely wanted in use, ought
not to be borrowed. Such implements,
when wanted for use by others than
their owners, should always be hired,
and the price of hire agreed upon and
paid. That will be fair and equal to
all parties. Borrowing would be
sponging, and not equal.
No person should borrow any article
from a person who holds it only as a
borrowed article. No one has any
right to lend -what does not properly
belong to him. It is very unjust to the
owner, and is not a moral right. Such
privileges are sometimes taken, and
often result in much evil. They are
morally wrong, are not consistent with
tne spirit of good neighborhood. It
should never be done. The practice
of anything like It should be regarded
as au immorality. Iu many cases it
would prove the same to the owner of
an article as though it had been stolen;
for it will be lost to him. If a borrower
may lend a borrowed utensil or article,
tlie second borrower may do the same,
and so on until no one will know the
ownership of the article. The borrowei
of an article or utensil has no shadow
of a rigit in the article which he
transfer to a third party. He too who
borrows an article or utensil of any one
whom he knows to have it only as bor
rowed, is guilty of a trespass against
good neighborhood. It should have
no toleration in farm morals.
N othing, perhaps, is more necessary
to good neighborhood among farmers,
and especially among farmers who own
only small farms as farm homes, than
a strict understanding and considera
tion of the limits of right, in borrow
ing and lending. And there should be
no privileged persons, an exempt from
any of the obligations which are neces
sary to good neighborhood. If a
father borrows of his son, or a son bor
rows from his father, or a brother from
his brother, it is a business transaction:
and none of them can claim any exemp
tion from the laws and rules which
should govern others in a perfect so
ciety of harmony and peace. Where
relatives take special liberties in such
matters, it were better to live Among
strangers. They have no right to do
it. It should be regarded, as it truly
is, a trespass, an immorality. Much of
the unpleasantness so often seen among
relatives, springs from an inconside
ate presumption or supposition of spe
cial right to take liberties with each
other, because they are relatives. Many
a man has had it in his heart, when in
such circumstances, to pray to be de
livered from bis friends.
In a barber's shop: "What, five
ock already?" says tho occupant of
chair. "Oh, but the days are grow
ing, very short, now," explains tho bar
ber.
Time-Locks.
Since the first time-lock was made iu
England, in 1831, there have been many
devices for time-locks, many of which
have been patented in this country,
and these have been the source of long
continued and expensive litigation. The
application of dynamite to burglary lias
presented a new problem to the safe
makers and the lockmakers. It was
thought that the acme of protection
was assured when the safemakers made
a safe without any keyhole or any crev
ice by which an explosive coujd he in
roduced, or any exterior surface which
could be drilled, or w'edged or pried.
But the latest device of the burglar to
set the time-lock going, by concussion
from the outside, presented a new pro
blem to be solved, in order that the evo
lution of safe and lock-making should
keep pace With the evolution of bur
glary.
It appears to be generally conceded
that no safe can be made that cannot he
opened by experts in a given time. The
utmost that the safe and lockmakers
profess to do now, is to make the bur
glars' work so difficult that they cannot
do the robbery within the time in which
a safe is most accessible to them. The
latest problem for tbe time lock makers
was, therefore, to arrange their mechan
ism so that a dynamite shock from the
outside of a safe would not either dis
lodge the lock from its fastenings or set
the mainspring free so that it would run
down in a few seconds, instead of slowly
unwinding until the proper time for re
leasing 'the protecting bolt. Some of
the loch makers claim to have accom
plished this by means of new appliances.
One of these mounts the lock on springs,
so that a dynamite shock that sends it
out of place is expended on the springs,
and when the shock is over, the lock
returns to its plp,ce. This prevents the
use of small charges of dynamite,
which have sometimes been used to jar
loose the mechanism of the clock with
out making a shock .that would alarm
anybody in the next room or in any part
of the same room. The other protec
tion against the dynamite fiends con
sists in a peculiar mechanism of time
lock, by which an attempt to run it
down before the specified time is defeat
ed by the immediate change of condi
tions in the lock, so that even if the
mainspring runs down after the shock,
the lock is not opened. It lemains to
be seen whether evolution in burglary
will be equal to these new devices.
Tr«
Rainfall.
That forests preserve moisture in the
soil, aud water in the springs;
that mountains covered with timber
protect lowlands from destructive fresh
ets, is true, and cannot be too strongly
impressed on the public; but it is not
necessary to mix error with truth, and
try to make people believe that by
planting a few trees they can change
the climate of a whole continent.
In Virginia the droughts for the lost
ten years aud more are disheartening to
farmers, and they talk of tlie good old
times before the war, when seedtime
and harvest never failed, lamenting the
dry seasons that now prevail in the well
wooded mountains, as well as in the
low country. Yet the whole country
is growing up to trees, the ' old fields"
beiug quickly covered with pines. Ou
my own farm, a field that
eleven years ago, is
penetrable thicket. Surely, if tress af
fect ramfall, the Virginians may well
say, "Down with the trees, for they
bring drought. "
We really know very little about the
causes that bring about an increase
diminution iu the annual rainfall. Two
French philosophers, Fautrut and Sur
triaux, found that about one-twelfth
more rain fell over a piece of forest than
ovi r the adjoining country. This fact
went the rounds of the papers as proof
that the foliage of trees attracted raiu,
until it was pointed out that the experi
ments extended from February to July
—about half before the leaves opened
aud ha'f afterward, and that the trees
received quite as much ram when en
tirely bare as when covered with foliage,
and even one-sixth more in March,
when there was no foliage to invite rain
or condense the vupor.
A lew years ago, when spending some
timeiu Utah, 1 noticed that Great Halt
Lake was rising, Some fences, onoe on
dry laud, were under water, ana the rise
of the water was Bind to average
foot a year. The inhabitants said the
annual amount of rain wus increasing.
Some attributed it to the orchard aud
shade trees they had set out, forgetting
that for every tree planted a hundred or
more were cut down on the mountains.
Others thought it
and cultivation, others we
the i
brought electricity and rain from the
East, A like increase of ram prevailed,
aud perhaps still prevails, in Western
Kansas ami Nebraska. Forgeltmg their
deetruotivt droughts.tlie papers assorted
that rain lollowed civilization, with its
clearing, plowing and harrowing. This
certainly a pleasant view of the
subject to an incomiug population, aud
for those who had lands to sell.
iu corn
an almost im
due to plowing
sure that
rails of the Pacifie Railroad
There were four or five of
long wharf ruuuing out into the Gulf at
Mississippi City, aud
uy for half
on the
had been fish
hour without any
luck when a big fat man named Blake,
from Ohio, suddenly called out:
"bay, boys, let's have a swim."
It was too hot, aud
but Blake declared that he'd have a
swim by himself. Ho off with his
clothes, booked down iuto the water,
and for a quarter of au hour hung to a
spile and splashed tbe water, not being
utile to swim a stroke. By aud by he
climbed out, but scarcely had his feet
touched the plauks when one of the
meu snug out:
"By the great horu spoon I but see
there!"
Ten feet away from the end of the
wharf were two sharks at least seven
feet long, and tbe water was so clear
that every wink of their eyes could be
mg
were teo lazy,
seen.
"Yoa, a couple of sturgeon I" ob
oe he waddled forward,
hauging around when I
served Blake
"I saw '
went down, but sturgeon don't bite!"
When he came to fully reali-.e what
«scape ho had had he sat down on
the head of a spile aud blubbered like
a boy who had stubbed his toe.
Nut Barvea t o tlie A »o{ iameg
An industry of considerable impor
tance among the farmers of this part
of the country in the fall is that of nut
gathering. There are chestnuts, hick
ory nuts, black walnuts, hazelnuts, and
butternuts; and they have commercial
value respectively in the order named.
The price for early chestnuts varies
from *5 to $8 per bushel—depending
somewhat on their quality as well as
upon the prospects of a large or small
crop. When these nuts are plentiful
the price sometimes falls to $2 and verv
rarely to $1.50 per bushel.
There is a popular belief that the
chestnut burrs do not burst until
touched by a sharp frost. This error
is so easily dissipated by a little obser
vation that one is surprised to hear
farmers calculating upon an early liar
vest of nuts following an early frost.
The burrs crack only upon maturing.
Hickory nuts were plentiful last year
They have been scarce for some years,
and the prices have ranged from $2 to $3
per bushel. The nuts last year reached
$2 a bushel in the local markets, and
after that they rapidly declined in price.
Black walnuts were comparatively
plentiful last year, although becoming
more scarce every year. The producer
rarely gets over 75 cents a bushel for
these nuts, and the average price is
from 30 to 50 cents, although they are
occasionally a drug in the market at
10 cents.
Butternuts are not as plentiful as m
some former years, but as they possess
only a trilling mercantile value no ac
count is made of their scarcity. They
rarely bring 10 or 15 cents a bushel, but
they possess a pleasant taste and are to
be found in the larder of every well
regulated farm-house for winter use.
The hazelnuts (Corylus Americana)
were plentiful last year. This nut is
trifle smaller than the European Albert
(Corylus A vellana), is nearly as delicious
but possesses a tougher shell. It has
no standard commercial value, though
it sometimes brings 50 cents and even
$1 a bushel among those who desire the
nuts for winter use.
In Sullivan and Delaware counties
beechnuts are occasionally plentiful.
They are shaped like buckwheat kernels,
and are very sweet-flavored. While
having no commercial value, they are
highly prized by the inhabitants, many
of whom gather and eat them during
the winter
Thousands and tens of thousands of
children are dying all around us, who,
because their ever-developing nature
demands sweetness, crave and eagerly
demolish the adulterated "candies' 1
and "syrups" of modem times. If
these could be fed
they would develop and grow up into
healthy men and women.
Children would rather eat bread and
honey than bread and butter. One
pound of honey will reach as far as two
pounds of butter, and has, besides, the
advantage of being far more healthy
and pleasant-tasted, and always remains
good, while butter soon becomes rancid
and öfter produces cramp in tbe stom
ach,eructations, sourness, vomiting and
diarrhoea. Pure honey should always
be freely used in every family. Honey
eaten upon wheat bread is very benefi
cial to health. The use of honey
instead of sugar in almost every kind
of cooking is as pleasant for the palate
as it is healthy for the stomach. In
preparing blackberry, raspberry or
strawberry shortcake it is infinitely
superior.
It is a common expression that honey
is a luxury, having nothing to do with
the life-giving principle. This is an
error—honey is food in one of its most
concentrated forms. True, it does not
add so much to the growth of muscles
as does beefsteak, but it does impart
other properties no less necessary to
health and vigorous physical and intel
lectual action. It . gives warmth to
the system, arouses nervous energy
and gives-vigor to all the vital func
tions. To the laborer it gives strength
—to the business man mental force.
Its effects are not like ordinary stim
ulants, such as spirits, etc., but produce
a healthy action, the results of which
are pleasing and iiermaneut—a sweet
disposition and a bright intellect.
honey instead
Fin ding »L
Art.
A chemist of Pittsburg, Fa, is said
to have rediscovered the lost art of mak
ing articles from obsidian, a species of
volcanic glass, among them black mir
rors which are used in the makipg of a&
tronomical instruments. His attentior
was first directed to the subject in 1879,
while on a visit to Pompeii. Here he
found a fragment of a statue (an arm)
made from obsidian, and its evident
kinship to the lava, there so abundant,
led him to think it might have been
made therefrom. Bringing away with
him his trophy ail'd a quantity of lava,
he began
of experiments, which finally led him
to a knowledge, not only of the compo
nent dements of obsidian, hut also as tc
how it might be reproduced by artificial
means. IIis first successful "melt" wat
investigation and a series
a
made in this city, m the latter part ol
1881. He made a number of ornamen
tal articles and several slabs of the
glass, went to New York City and set
up a furnace for its manufacture. He
day visited a well-known manufacturai
of optical lenses, Mr. Weiskopf, and
asked what be would charge for polish
ing a slab of it. Mr. AVeiskopf wanted
to know what it was, and when he got
the information curtly named a high
price. Much to his astonishment, the
terms were accepted, and a day was
named when the work would be com
pleted. When he called for it, Mr.
Weiskopf 's brusque manner had gone.
"Do you know r what you have done?"
the lens maker inquired. "You have
rediscovered the lost art of making
black mirrors. Don't get excited anil
think there
I
millions in it for you,
for only a few of them are used. Yei
your discovery is of the greatest scien
tific importance,"
£1 Fasu^Mexloo.
Crossing the Pecos and reaching Toyah,
106 miles from El Paso, we commence
ascending a region of mountain ridges,
composed mostly of gravel and c?ay, and
cut into all sorts of fantastic shapes; and
with tbe exception of spring and some
ranche territory about Antelope btation,
this character of country reaches all tbe
way to El Paso. It is a wide barren,
but with a considerable game supply lu
places, until El Paso is reached, tbe
northeru "pass" on the Rio Grande be
tween Mexico and the United States.
There is a town more than 200 years
old—that on the Mexican side of the river
—the Americau pottion being of very re
cent growth and consequent upon the
advent here of several trunk lines; tbe
Mexican Central, tbe Atlantic, Texas and
Pacific, the Texas Pacific, tne Southern
Pacific, and the proposed White Oaks
Railway, to reach 160 miles into an im
portant mining disUict.
Upon exploring it, looking iuto its pros
pects and inquiring as to its hoped for
future, I find that it is on quite a ''boom"
at present, town-lots selling active and
rents high, much of the building and im
provements on the American side dis
tinctly American, nearly all on the west
side as unmistakably Mexican and Spanish,
the former reported as having about 8,000
population, the older portion, about 5,000
population. The most striking edifice in
the latter town—after the depot of the
Mexican Central Railway—is the old cath
edral, built two hundred and fifteen years
ago. An irrigating canal running through
the old town looks about as ancient, judg
ing from the large trees which border it.
The wholo town is a mass ot adobe one
story dwellings, which strongly resemble
so many fortresses, the immense number
of carefully-built mud or adobe garden
walls three or four feet thick, and some
six feet high, exhibiting a painstaking
people in a light that, to look at them as
they lounge about closely wrapped iu their
parti-colored blankets, seems quite incon
sistent. Vineyards, carefully irrigated
and looking quite flourishing, area princi
pal feature of the cultivation, other things,
of course, which the climate favors coming
In for their due share.
On the streets, one occasionly meets the
senoritas, with such brilliant black eyes
flashing m their partially veiled heads,
their hair of midnight blackness too, that
the strikingly foreign aspect of everything
seems infinitely intensified; the men with
their tall hats, fanciful bands to them, and
muffled forms—for the weather is some
what chilly—making far less effective pic
tures tLa i the womeD.
The Rio Grande is not a formidable
looking stream this high up, and
is well bridged for the street rouway and
other travel which conneets the two places;
aud if there is aDy contraband trade be
iweeu the two coun ries, the single custom»
house official who darts from his sentry
box and hastily glances into the horse
would not seem of much force
stacle. On.the Mexican side, not far off,
I learn there are silver mines, but not of
high grade. Coming back to the Ameri
can side, and looking into matters a little
more closely, I find that this is a trading
mart for a large extent of mining and
stock country, valuable stocks of goods
of every description being held to answer
all demands. Interspersed among the
principal streets wo flud some well-built
trame and brick business establishments,
a great contrast to the one-story adobe
structures, their immediate neighbors.
Spanish and English, too, flourish along
side each other on signs, to make mat
ters more clear by these trauslations, and
to emphasize more signally the situation.
ob
Disappearance of Game.
"The swift growth or our cities is not
nearly as unparalleled as the rapid disap
pearance of our game animais. Oue
hundred years ago Eastern North Amer
tbe finest game country in the
world. 'This valley Is a hunter's para
dise,' says Colonel Boone in his account
of the expedition to the mouth of the
Kentucky River. 'Our doge started three
troops of deer in lets than half an hour, on
tracks of elk, bears and
buffalo, and the thickets along the slope
were Tull of turkeys and mountain-pheus
ants. From the cliffs above the junction
our guide showed us the wigwams of the
Miamis. About eight miles to the north
west we could see the smoke ot their
camp fires rising from the foot of a rocky
bluff, but the hill country m the east and
the ereat plains in the west, north and
northeast resembled a boundless ocean of
undulating woodlands.'
"Northwest of the 'Blue Ridge' buffa
loes grazed in countless herds. During
the heat of the midsummer months they
used to retreat to the highlands, and
followed the ridges in the southward mi
gration as the approach of winter gradu
ally crowned the heights with snow.
Along the backbones of ail the mam
chains of the sunken Alleghenies these
trails can still be distinctly traced for
hundreds of miles. 'Buffalo Springs,'
'Buffalo Gap' and scores of similar names
still attest the former presence of the
Amencan bison in localities that are now
fully 2000 miles from the nett buffalo
range. The centre of our buffalo popula
tion is moving northwest at an alarming
rate. Herds, in the old-time sense ot the
word, can now be found only in British
North America and here and there along
the frontier ol our Noithwestern Territory,
in cold winter small troops of fifteen or
twenty are occasionally seen in the Texas
•Pauhaudle,' in Western Utah, ana in the
valley of the Upper Arkansas, Dut nowhere
this side ot the Mississippi. Their
days are numbered. They cannot hide,
and their defensive weapons are useless
against mounted nfiemen. Pot hunters
follow them to their far northern retreate;
the International Railroad will soon carry
a swarm ot spott9men to their West Mex
ican reservations, and in fifty years from
now their happy pasture grounds will
probably be reduced to the inclosed grass
plots of a few zoological gardenp.
"Panthers are still found in twenty six
or twenty seven States, but chiefly at tlie
two opposite ends ot our territory—in
Florida and Oregou. Jn the öouthern
Alleghenies they are still frequent enough
to make the Government bounty a source
of income to the hunters of several high
land counties. Wolves still defy civillza
in some of the larger prairie Ötates,
and m the wild border country between
North Carolina and East Tennessee. But,
unlike panthers, they do not confine them
sel ves to a special locality. Hunger makes
them peripatetic, and m cold winters their
occasional visits can be looked for iu
almost any mountain valley between
Southern Kentucky an 1 Alabama."
n ■
Hash— Hash made of two parts potato,
one part oorn-beef and
is an appetizing dish for breakfast.
The potatoes and beets should be boil
ed the day before; chop them and the
beef fine; season with butter, pepper
and sait, and some hot vinegar and
mustard may be added if you choose,
Suspicion is a disease the special pro
duct of tlie narrow minds.
part beets