North Carolina Newspapers

Thi Nobth Cabolmah. ESTABLISHED IN 1869.' Offlce-Nortli Carolinian Bll'g, Main St One door east of Albemarle House. rv IP The ' North Gabqliniai I O "W TC It JOB PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT Is supplied with all the requisites for doing) nrst-la lob Printing boainecr and promptly executes WinDDto Cakds, roams, fisrrnra Cam, ILaxDsnxa, Bcsnrus Cabm, l'aoaaxwxo, Faacr Show Ciaps, Dooatp Bnxs or Fa, 8r at en errs, Wixs Casus, raMPBum, Law Casks utd Cumxim. . ronna, B)U, Era, In the latest and neatest stylea. and at the low eat prices. Orders by mail will receive proatf attention. i ! TERMS $1.50 a Yiar, In Advance. If not paid In advance $3.00 wHI be charged. RATES Or ADVKttTlSlNQ i One square, one insertion, $1.00; two inser tiona, f 1.50; one month, $2.00; three months $1.00; six months, $8.00; one year, $1100. For larger advertisement liberal contract will be made. Bnainesa Notices in local column, ten cento . line. Obituary Notices, ftr cents a line. PALEII0N JOHN, Editor and Proprietor. Devoted to the Interests of the City, the County and the District. TEBH8 81.50 a Year, in Advance VOLUME XIX. ELIZABETH CITY, N. C, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1887. NUMBER 17. Rev. Dr. Morrison of the First Church, Atlanta, Ga., is said to be the coming cxhorter of the country. His sermons are described as perfect groupings of the English language, and his delivery as the acme of frankness. British gold, tha Cultivator says, is again flowing into this country in pay ment for our immense exports of bread stuffs, provisions and cotton. This will serve to stimulate business and make a better market for farm produce. A saloon keeper at Biloxi, Miss., was arrested for selling beer on Sunday. He pleaded not guilty of "selling" beer, but stated that he "sold" sandwiches and "gave" a glass of beer 'with each sandwich disposed of. The jury acquitted him on this pica. Last year 150,000,000 pounds of rice were grown in our Southern States, and about 100,000,000 were imported from abroad. Rice culture which has materi ally declined since the war is reviving. In Louisiana it is succeeding sugar cul ture measurably. Mrs. Cleveland is a lady of fortune as well as a fortunate lady. Congressman McShanc, of Nebraska, is authority for the statement that the present valuation y the Omaha property in which the IVsidcnt's wife and her mother have each an eighth interest is $800,000. Among the curious missions to be found in Londoa is the "Sea Shell Mission." According to a statement in a London paper, this mission, has distributed over 10,000 boxes and bags of shells, which represent over 4,000,000 shells, to as many poor, sick, and invalid children in Loiidon and elsewhere. The inhabitants of a French village wherein contractors sought to introduce cheap Italian labor were not so lenient as Americans. They promptly attacked the subjects of King Humbert and scat tered them in confusion over an area of eomo 6ix miles. Nono were venture some enough to return to their work after one encounter with the fiery Frenchmen. Miss Frances E. Willard, President of the W. C. T. U,, has sometimes ten sec retaries at work. .Some years she has travelled $0,000 miles writing on the' cars nearly all her speeches and articles for the press. She has visited every town in the United States of 10,000 pop ulation, and many with only 5000, or ganizing branches of the W. C. T. U. For ten years she has delivered on an average a speech a day. "Within a few years the thousands of horses employed on horse railway lines of this country will be supplanted by electro-motor3 in propelling cars. The lesson in this change for the farmers is that animals fit only for horse-car ser vice will be much cheaper in the near future, hence breeders should devote their attention to producing a better class of horses for gentlemen's driving and for family use, also heavy horses for express and teaming business gener- ally. Consumption in the United States, ac cording to statistics from the census col lated by Dr. G. W. McCaskey, averages only 1.8 per 1000 of mortality; which is . less than in Switzerland, and little more than half the average of Europe. Above our .average are the New England and Middle States and California. The in- I terior and lake States are very near the average, while the south Atlantic and Gulf States, and regions westof the 85th "meridian (except Texas and California) barely exceed one per 1000. One of the ablest engineers the coun try has produced said not long since that the time was not far off when the American public would undergo a terri ble experience with railroad bridges. A great many of them, he said, were built for a business vastly less than they were required to do. They were designed for lighter trains and locomotives such as arc little used now. Ten-ton caTS have increased to twice that"capacity, and the strain to which bridges are put is greatly in advance of any necessity existing when they were built. It has often been ' remarked that humor is akin to pathos. Comparatively little is now heard of the. Danbury (Conn.) News man, whose fun used to be quoted all over the country. But he is still at his old home, and, according to the Hartford Post, is another sam ple of the "funny men" who have a big load of sorrow to carry. It says of him: "He is a large, handsome man with, black eyes and dark hair, now plentifully sprinkled with gray. He lives very quietly in Danbury, Conn., and is either always at his little office on Main street or at his modest residence, with its pretty green lawns and beds of flowers, He never spends an evening away from home, and has not been out side oi, uanuury lor years. ins poor wife has lost her reason and demands all of his attention. She thinks nobody in the world can do anything for her except her husband. He must dress her and arrange her hair and attend to al her wants. She is like a child and he gives her all his affection, time and at tention. His devotion is something heroic and beautiful. Upon one occasion, so tne people of Danbury say, she went io ms omce, ana asKed nim to do up her hair. It had fallen down. He ar ranged it for her in the pleasantest man ner possible, did all she asked without the least annoyance and then, took her home," At TIilrtj FlTe. If half of three-score years and tea Make half the life of man; If life is merely time, why, then, I've but to live my past again, To finish out my span. Bat since a thousand years may run Through one brief moment's thought, My life, though it were nearly done, I'd count in truth but just begun Had I accomplished naught. What have I done! Well, this at least: ' I've taught myself to strive; I've learned that crusts may make a feast; That wealth is only want decreased I live at least at thirty-five. Chicago News. THEY RAN AWAY, BT REBECCA HARD ESQ DAVIS. My aunt, said the doctor, was brought up in a queer way, different from any American girl, though she was an Ameri can. Among the mountains in Penpsylvania there are two or three ancient German towns, founded long before the Revolu tion, by the Moravians. The huge, mas sive stone buildings stand still and are likely to stand for centuries in which the early communities dwelt together, yet separate. There are the Brother and Sister Houses, and the Gemein, or Com mon House. These are occupied now by the widows of Moravian missionaries with their children. There is a deadly quiet and chilly cleanliness about these great dwellings. Each little suite of family rooms opens out into wide stone corridors, in which no speck of dust is allowed to remain. A fly would hardly dare to enter the open windows, to disturb that absolute order and silence. My Aunt Maria was the only daughter or one or tnese widows, one nau never known any other home than the huge bister House, where me went on like a clock that moved without ticking. She rose at dawn, and helped her mother put their three neat rooms into still more perfect order. Then she ate her breakfast, and was washed for the second time; her flaxen hair was plaited behind, and tied with a bow of brown ribbon; then, books in hand, the de mure little maiden paced across the green quadrangle to the school where all the children of the church were taught. When schopl was over, she sat with her knitting by her mother's side. She never had ventured into the quiet street alone. On rare occasions the children in the Community houses played hide-and-seek in the attics which ran, under the roof around the three sides of the great square. These proceedings, however, were usually regarded as disorderly by the grave widows. , But Maria had one adventure in her life which rose out of it, as the peak of Teneriffe does out of the flat ocean around it. When she was ten years old, she ran away! How it came about no body ever knew, Maria herself least of all. It may have grown out of a tempo rary insanity, the reaction from the long dullness and quiet. John Feitag, the Widow Freitag's son, persuaded her into it. He told-her of the plan a hundred times, on the way home from school. Some of the town boys told him of it ; it was an every-day matter to them. When old Gottfrey Sohner started to the next settlement 7 about five miles down the valley, his wagon loaded with great bags of corn, the boys would hide among the topmost sacks, and there lie safely until the end of the journey was reached. Gottfrey was a good-humored old man, and, after grumbling a little, always brought them back in the empty wagon before night fall. : l he idea grew, week alter week, in the little girl's mind, under her dull eyes and smooth plaits, and at Inst she suddenly declared that she would go and 44 see the world." One morning in September, after Maria and John had gone into the school and hung up their wraps, they took them down again, walked slowly out of the door, and down the street to the inn yard. Even in running away, they did not hurry; they did not know how to hurry. In the yard stood Sohner's great wagon, heaped with sacks. Nobody was near, and they climbed up and hid in the hollows on the top. Presently the mules were brought out and har- nessed, Gottfrey climbed up and cracked his whip, the great mass shook and rocked, and they were off, My aunt always told me that she was not afraid. She forgot her mother, and 4- n 4- oTia nroa rrTY mi f n rr o Vi Aiin Klo ci'n sj.uau ojais ti iw vuiuuiivuu u uviitviv otut according to the rules that she had been taught. "It was all so strange and beautiful," she used to say ; 4 'the clouds rushing past us overhead, the moving procession of trees, the strong wind I was wild ! I could have shrieked for joy 1" 1 always fancied my staid aunt had a turbulent heart under her brown cape, Both the children soon fell asleep, be ing unused to the steady rocking motion. When they awoke the sun was over- head. Could Gottfrey have spent four hours in driving five miles? Could he be going farther than usual? They whispered to each other in alarm, but there was no way of finding the real sit uation. John had never made this des perate venture before, and therefore knew none of the landmarks. They dared not let Gottfrey know that they ere there until the journey was over, or he might abandon them on the road. Who knew what wild beasts inhabited these jungles of laurel through which they drove? poott pa!oA. gottfrey ftppft. to bait his mules, and to eat a hearty meal out of his well-packed basket. The children had brought no food. They were hearty eaters, who never had waited 10 minutes for their mid-day meal. The smell of Sohner's ham and cheese melted their hearts. They began at once to think of the misery of their mothers, and to shed tears of remorse. I need not dwell on their sufferings, which were real enough before the jour ney was over. . Gottfrey drove down to Philadelphia. The trip occupied two days and two nights. The children did not'discover themselves. Their terror of being aban doned outweighed all their other fears. Gottfrey stopped over night at road side inns, leaving the wagon in the yard, and John clambered down, when all was still, and found some turnips in a neighboring field, which kept the little wanderers from actual starvation. On the morning of the third day, Gottfrey started long before light, and at dawn drove into a wide enclosure, in which were great houses made of canvas. The end had come! Now they could 6how themselves. He would be angry, perhaps. But he would notieave them! He would take them home ! He unharnessed the mules and led them away, as they supposed to feed them. Then be would return to unload the corn, and would find them. When he reached the gate, they saw him stop and parley for 6ome time with a couple of men; then mounting one of the mules he rode away. The children waited, afraid to speak lest the men in the field should discover them. Maria began to sob. She was weak from long fasting, and for the first time in her life she was untidy and un washed. The neat little Moravian loathed herself. 4 'Look here!" cried John, peeping out through the sacks. Out of one of the tents came a man striped from head to foot like a zebra, another in purple vel" vet and spangles, and a fairy with flut tering gauze wings. Maria had never heard of fairies. She had never heard or read of anything which could explain these monsters. A minute later, a man carrying a great basket of raw beef went into one of the tents, and there came from .the inside furious growls, yelps, and last, the Toar of a lion. John's red face turned to a pasty color. He shook as if the beasts had him in their jaws, and opening his mouth, uttered shrill shrieks. Maria, without a word, got up, and catching him by the shoulder dragged him down from the gjon, towards the gate. It was then that she showed that there was good stuff in her. "Hush!" she said. "Come out of this. I am going home." Just then the flap of another tent lifted, and two moving mountains of flesh came out, and advanced towards her. The girl had never seen even the picture of an elephant. She stood still, as if paralyzed, in front of them. 4 'I'm going home," she mechanically repeated, looking up at them. Some of the men dragged her out of the path. "Who are you? Where did you come from?'' they asked. John was too frightened to speak. 4 'We came on Gottfrey Sohner's wagon" said Maria, her round eyes still fixed on the elephants. 4 'The Dutchman . who brought the corn?" said one of the men. 4 'Why did you stay behind him? He has gone home long ago. John gave a cry of despair, and the poor girl sank as if she had been shot. Hunger and terror, with this last blow had crushed her stout little heart at last, The children were in a circus and men agerie to which Sohner, by previous agreement had brought his oats. corn and Some of the women took Marie to They fed their tent and put her to bed. her and nursed her tenderly all day. They gave John some work among the horses, for doing which he received his meals. The two children were kindly treated and even petted by all the queer, half wild people of the circus. The poor girls who rode on the barebacked horses in robes of tulle, ran in between the acts to see if Marie had eaten her soup and to pat her stout shoulders and nod kindly to her. The next morning the manager sent for the children. "bohner," he said, leit his wagon for us to bring with us. We go to Easton next week. Will you wait and go with us? We shall pass through your village. Or shall we send you di rectly home? If you stay, these ladies will take good care of the little girl." It was Maria, as usual, who spoke, "We'll go home, please. The ladies are very kind. But I want mother," and she began to sob. The bare-backed rider looked at the clown, who . jerked off his cap . edged with bells,-and passed it round. The silver pieces jingled in it, until there was just enough to pay for the children's lare in tne wagon wmcn ran once a week from'Philadelphia up the Lehigh Valley. They started that- very night, loaded with little guts and provisions for the journey. Years passed before John and Maria were forgiven by thegood Moravians for their freak. They were regarded as dangerous characters for a long time, though, indeed, they had never been so humble and dutiful at heart as tbsy .be came after this terrible adventure. In process of time they grew up and were married. John became a mission ary, but died in a year after their wed- 1 diog. Maria csmj 1 T$9tf.Mr j herself, and took the rooms her mother had had in the Sister House. She lived there, for nearly half a cen tury, a calm, orderly, peaceful life. She never again left the quiet building in which her childhood had been passed, or tried to break its dull monotony. But when she used to tell of this, her one adventure, her eyes would burn and her chin quiver. She would never hear an evil word against any of God's creatures. 'T, myself," she would say, "was once among the abandoned of the earth, poor circus players and wild beast tamers,- and they treated me as though I had been their own child. God's mark of ownership is on all His children somewhere." Youth's Companion. The Cork Oak. The growth of cork-oak in California is not a matter of experiment ; its suc cess was demonstrated long ago. The distribution of cork-acorns by the Patent Office about twenty-five years ago may not have accomplished much in other parts of the country, but it gave us a start, and there , are now trees yielding cork and bearing acorns at a number of different places in the State. There are trees growing on Mr. Richardson's place . at San Gabriel. There were samples of cork and acorns shown at the Sacramen to Citrus Fair by H. A. Messenger, of Calaveras County. There at' trees of similar age in Sonoma, Santa Barbara and Tulare, and perhaps other counties. The State University is growing seed lings from California cork acorns, and will be likely to have the teees for dis tribution next year. There is no doubt about the adaptation of the tree to the State, as the widely separated places named above all furnish proper condi tions for its growth. It is of course a crop of which one has to wait some time to gather, and therefore needs patience in the planter. All the corkwood of commerce comes from the Spanish Peninsula, where the trees abound not only in cultivated forests but also grow wild on the moun tains. The tree is like an American oak, and acorns. It takes ten years for the bark to become a proper thickness to be manufactured into bottle stoppers, life preservers and seine corks. When stripped from the tree it is to be boiled for two hours, cured in the sun for a week and pressed into flat pieces for baling and shipping. The denuded trunk, like a hen robbed of her eggs does not sulk and quit the Dusiness, but throws out a fresh, covering for a fresh spoliation. One tree has been known to yield half a ton of corkwood. One pound of cork can be manufactured into 144 champagne corks. The baled cork bark is sold to cork manufacturing cen tres. The most extensive manufactory in America is at Pittsburg. Besides the ordinary demands for cork bark, a good supply -of the buoyant material, after be ing burned, t5 make it still tighter than the original bark, is shipped to Canada and New England, where it is made into seine corks. The average annual im portation of corkwood into this country, entirely at the port of New York, is 70,- 000 bales a year. A bale weighs 160 pounds, and is worth on this side of the water $20, making a total value of the importations of $1,400,000. It comes in duty free. Pacific Rural Press. Fish on the Desert A most astonishing discovery was made one day some two weeks ago, on the desert about ten miles southeast of Mayhew's half-way house between Flor ence and Casa Grande, and three miles from Mr. J. C. Loss's ranch. Felix May hew and a Mexican were out hunting horses when they espied a small . water hole some two or three feet in diameter and quite shallow. Mr. .May hew rode up to it intending to water his horse, when he found it alive with fish. He left the Mexican at the place and rode to Loss's ranch, for a bucket to save them alive, and when he returned the rapidly receding water had left the fish almost dry. Out of the little hole were taken four fine carp, one five inches, one ten inches, one twelve and one thirteen inches in length, and they are now en joying the hospitalities of Mr. Mayhew's water tank and may be seen by nny one that passes his station. How the carp reached the water hole is the great mys tery, as no one has noticed sufficient overflow of the Santa Cruz to bring them across sixty miles of desolation, and yet there is no other way of account ing for their presence in the desert. Florence (Ariz.) Enterprise. Chicago's Waning Stock Business. Chicago is gradually feeling the west ward drift of the cattle and hog busi ness. The traffic of the great stock yards is lessening, and the time is near at hand when Kansas City pork products and Montana and New Mexico dressed beef will partially supplant the Chicago pork and beef in Eastern' markets. Not many years ago all the beef consumed in Boston and vicinity was driven on the hoof to Brighton, Medford and Water- town. It now comes largely in refrig erator cars. Chicago will sooner or later meet a similar experience. Boston Cultivator. A Practical Father's Opinion. Anxious Chicago Father (to friend) I fear that my son will never amount to anything. 4I heard," the friend consolingly re plied, "that he had written a magnifi cent criticism on the school of Ameri can realism." . "Oh, yes, he did that,1 but he sold a cow for $10 when he might just as well A PONY FARM. An Annual Penning and Brand ing on Chincoteague Island. Stirring Scenes Witnessed Great Holiday Crowds. by 'Hera's the pony, gentleman 1 Thar ain't no finer traveler on the island. I Whoa, thar!" The speaker, a tall, angular chap with unkempt hair, a cardinal shirt, blue overalls and barefooted, a typical speci men of the native, was holding by the long mane a restive, diminutive pony, the raising and penning of which have, within the last decade' made the island of Chincoteague, Va., in connection with its great oyster deposits, famous throughout the country. And while he was vociferously expatiating upon the speeding qualities of his charge the crowd was constantly augmenting in size, a curious heterogeneous congrega tion of people, who came in boats from the Virginia shore and in the cars from the back counties in Maryland. This year, however, the attendance has not been confined exclusively to residents of the immediate neighborhood, but Phila delphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington have continued largely to swell the crowds from the rural districts. Conspicuous among this great audience are the colored people who regard the event as a holiday and are always present in full force. These pehnings take place annually, arid for weeks great preparations are made by the people to attend them. The beautiful bay of Chincoteague is dotted thickly with sail of all kinds of craft the tiny sail boat, the canoe, with its mutton leg white wings, the bug eye, the pungy and the schooner all filled with human freight and all gravitating toward the one great point Here, too, comes the steamer from Franklin City, having on board the sightseers from Maryland and the up-country people. They all rush pell mell to the centre of attraction, where the vast crowds are good-naturedly pushing and jostling each other for vantage ground black and white, men, women and children, mixed up in almost inextricable confu sion. . it is almost impossible to learn any thing definite as to the origin of the Chin coteague pony, or an intelligent version of whence it came. A great many claim that there are an offspring of the pony of the Shetland Isles and must have found their way to Chincoteague from a large steamer that was wrecked on the island before it was inhabited. Certain it is, at one time they roamed the island in vast numbers, but when the great storm of forty years ago devastated the country and almost submerged Chin coteague it came near annihilating them. In size the Chincoteague pony ap proximates that of the Shetland. The hair on their bodies is thick and shaggy and their manes and tails are long and glossy. They are strong, hardy little fellows, roaming wild on the extreme southern end of the island, feeding on the hay and tender roots which grow in luxurious abundance in the salt marshes bordering on " the bay and the Atlantic Ocean. When they are brought in they are divided into what is known in the vernacular as herds, and each herd has its own peculiar mark or brand to dis tinguish it from the other, and thus ob viate the difficulty of dispute as to iden tity or ownership when corralled for branding. These branding irons are made according to the notion of the owner, representing the initials, stars, spear heads, crosses, etc., and are easily distinguished by the owner. The men who herd the ponies are ex perienced riders, and in throwing the j lariat would put some of the cowboys to blush. They are all mounted on fleet I horses and each one is provided with a loner whin and lasso. Thev start out in O a different directions and by a circuitous route come up within sight of the ponies. Quietly feeding on the salt marshes, where they surround them. The sudden appearance of the riders generally frightens the ponies and a stampede ensues. Then comes an ex citing chase for miles, the herders usual ly coming out the victors. The ponies are gradually gathered together in mass and treated kindly until their fright at the sudden disturbance has somewhat subsided, when they are driven to their pen, where the herding takes place, which is an immense space enclosed with aboard fence. Here the young colts are nicked out. labelled, and haltered together. As is well known, a colt will, by instinct, follow' its mother, and, as a result, the colts of one herd are easily distinguished from another. The arrival of the herders with the ponies is the signal for the wildest ex citement among the spectators, and loud cheers greet their coming, and the po nies are ushered into the enclosure with wild hurrahs and clapping of hands. The process of branding is not only ex- I citing, but exceedingly dangerous, and accidents have frequently been the re sult. It requires an expert in the busi ness to successfully manage it The pony is brought out, and while one man holds his nead the branding iron in the hands of another is quickly applied to the hip. The whole operation, does not ordinarily require more than five minutes. Sometimes, however, a colt more refractory than the rest has to be thrown down before he will submit. Kopes are tied to its legs, and it is thrown down: Crowds of negro boys yean, eagerly seize the rope and hold fast, to keep the pony from kicking, taking care to keep at a re spectful distance from the hoofs that wildly paw the air. When the branding is completed the colts are again turned loose, and they trot nimbly off to their mothers, and, unless a great many buyers are present, the whole herd is again let out of the pen, and, unre strained by the whip or lasso, are off with the speed of the wind, and are soon lost to sight in the great woods. Formerly these ponies could be bought very cheap, but cince the facilities for travel to the island have increased and the population grown to such large pro portions, they command higher prices and are much sought after by the wealthy for beach driving. They are easily trained, and when properly cared for after being taken from their marshy home are handsome little specimens of horseflesh. Philadelphia Times. Helping Out the Minister. A strange chance threw me in com pany, to-day, on a street corner, with aa oculist and aurist and a minister, writes the Chicago Journal's "Sidewalk Stroll er." In the course of the conversation the oculist made a curious and inst ructive remark about the eyes and eyesight. He said: "It is a singular thing that when a man thinks his eyes are all out of sorts, and that his eyesight is failing, there is apt to be nothing the matter with him, and that when he thinks his eyes aro all right, but that the objects of sight are too small or blurred, then his eyesight is failing. When a fellow can't see as well as he used to, and feels like rubbing and bathing his eyes, he is not in a very bad way; but when he complains that the newspapers are not printed in as large or as clear type as they were formerly, then his eyes are failing. The same paradox exists in the sense of hearing. When a man feels like picking his ears there is nothing very serious the matter with his ears; but when he thinks his ears arc all right, and that everybody around him mumbles his words, then he is going deaf." These remarks caused the minis ter's eyes to sparkle somewhat, arid he said, "What a beautiful illustration. Come and hear me preach next Sunday, and see how I will use it. I have a ser mon on the stocks from the text, 'The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked ; who can know it?' and I have been cudgeling my brains for two days for some adequate illustration of that text. You see, when a man blames himscll lor everything that goes wrong, he is apt not to be to blame at all ; but if he thinks he is a paragon and everybody else at fault, then he is apt to be all wrong, and the cause of all his own miseries. You have no idea how much easier it is to amplify a thought when you have even one really good illustration." A Novel Incentive to Speed. Honest John Blank was for several years the well-know Governor of a New England state. Governor John had a brother William, perhaps equally honest, though less well known, whowas a sportsman, and somewhat given to the cheering cup. On one of his shooting excursions William and a boon com panion found that their horse did not trot quite rapidly enough to correspond with their exhilarated notions of the proper speed, and the companion fired a charge of bird shot into the animal to encourage him. The horse dashed wildly off, the buggy rocking, hats and parcels flying in all directions, and William, ruler of the storm, shouted with delight: 4 'Shoot 'im ag'in! shoot 'im ag'in! He goes adm'ably." Harper's Magazine. A Dog in League With Rats. Napoleon, a huge mastiff who domi nates the cellar of " Charles Ducey, on Sixth avenue, says the New York Mail and Express, has so far forgotten his canine dignity as to form a league with the rats that infest his domain. There was some hope that Napoleon's presence would scare away the vermin, but noth ing of the sort occurred, and now the Newfoundland lives royally upon a share of the dainties stolen by the rats. When i a rat appears with a roast chicken or a piece of beef Napoleon barks ' fiercely and snatches the meat from the rodent's -w- -a n i j jaws, .his meai over ne anecuonateiy licks the coat of his provider by way of thanks. Freaks of Electricity. "Did you read," asked Dufunny, "about that baldheaded man m Michi gan who went out in a storm and had a cat photographed on his head by light ning?" "Yes, I read about it." "Wonderful, wasn't it?" "O, I don't 'know. Nothing strange about that. I once had a sad iron pho tographed on my head without the aid of lightning." "How did that happen?" "My wife did it." Nebraska State Journal. ! A Correct Diagnosis. Young physician (to patient): Your dyspepsia comes, I think, sir, from too high living. You are a very high liver, are you not? Patient: Yes, sir; I live on the top floor of a New York flat Life. A Good Season Officer 4Privato Schulz, why has the soldier eight buttons on the front of his coat?" ? Private Schulz "Be cause there are fust eight button-holes," German . hundred had what is known as a tea taster; now there is no teahouse of any importance whatever which has not in one of its employes a good tea taster," said a large wholesale tea dealer. "A thousand chests of tea will be received; the tea taster then gets in his work. A little tea is taken and put in a scale; just enough to balance a five-cent piece. It is then placed in cups and boiling water is poured over the tea. The taster then takes a sip from each cup and writes down on a piece of paper his idea of its worth. "No two tasters, however, agree to the value of tea, especially the black Oolong, which is mostly drank in this city." "Does the tea have any injurious effect on the taster?" " , "Sometimes he will get hold of a pos itively rank grade, and then he will spit it out as soon as he can. Frequent tast ing often makes a man very nervous, and most of these men soon acquire a positive dislike for tea and drink nothing but coffee. There are connoiseurs of tea as well as whiskey." Philadelphia News. A Commission That Was Declined. Artists have a good many queer cus tomers, and they have advantages for observing what vague ideas it is possible for a man to entertain respecting art and nature too. An ex-soldier went to the studio of D. J. Gue, of Brooklyn, one day, to inspect a picture of Lookout Mountain that the artist had been paint ing. The picture pleased him, and he evidently had thoughts of purchase, but he was suddenly struck with a brilliant idea that he communicated thus: "I was in that fight, mister, and I'd like you to paint my picture on that. Let's see. You could paint me right here in this field, facias front, with my left hand resting on top of the mountain." The man was in thorough earnest. He did not see that if drawn to scale his figure would be about 5000 feet high, and that he would have a reach of arm that would enable him to grasp at an object six or seven miles away. Mr. Gue precipitately declined the commis sion. Brooklyn Eagle. A Gigantic Leaf. At" the meeting of the Royal Botanic Society of England, recently, among other curiosities of plant life exhibited was a leaf of the Victoria Regia water lily, seven feet in diameter, showing the peculiar structure of the under side of the leaf, from which one might supposo the cellular structure of some ironclads and other large vessels was taken. The radiating ribs or veins resemble T gird ers tied together by deep, lateral walls, forming many hundred air-tight cells, some so large as to contain ten ounces of water, and, of course, when floating on the water and filled with air, giving re markable buoyancy to the leaf, a single leaf having been known to support a weight of 400 pounds. Interesting Photographs. An accomplished amateur photogra pher has a set of rough Manilla albums, each one devoted to one of his children. The first page shows tho baby a day old and not a month passes without a picture of that chiLd or some of its surround ingsthe nursery, the house, its books and playthings. On some pages are family groups in which tho child fig ures. Beneath each picture is written the date, and the album will constitute a curious record for the future. Har per's Bazar. "Of No Consequence." A bright little girl, who did not sec the value of arithmetic, was asked to give the total of five cows and seven cows. "Nine," she answered' promptly, and her answer being rejected, said "Eleven." On again being convinced of error, she became scornfully indiffer ent, "Oh, it's of no consequence how many cows there are," she said; "you know well enough and I don't want t know. Troy Times. Will Outgrow It 4 'I'm not going to play with Willie Waffles any more, was Flossie's die- tk "Willie is a very nice little boy," said her mamma. "I don't like him. In fact, I don't like boys at all, mamma. I guess it-is because I'm not old enough." New York Sun. Pharaoh's Flowers. The remains of no less than fifty-nine species of flowering plants from mummy wrappings in Egypt have been identi fied. The flowers have been wonder fully preserved, even the delicate violet color of the larkspur and the scarlet of the poppy, the chlorophyl in the leaves, and the sugar in the raisins, remaining. Chicago Herald. His Vacation. 4 'Hello, Charley, what are you doing, moving?" asked one youDg man of an other whom he met with a big vaKse in his hand. 4I're just commenced my vacation." 4Yout vacation?" "Yes, Tm vacating at the request of my landlady." Washington Critic. Medical Advice. ,4There is your money, doctor, and I'm much obliged to you. I declare, my children are always meeting with acci dents, and I ought to know how to treat them. Now, what would you do m the case of a broken arm?" "Well, say ten dollars for setting, and afterward the usual price, two dollars a Y&tBostoa Qoyjier, ;. Tea Tasters. , Sea Sonjrs. Aloft and alow In the glimmer i Vw of stars, Across and along the path of the new moon creeping, " 1 The dawn of the crescent sails on the dusk of spars. Leans over to kiss the lips of the ocean sleeping. The wind that touches the" secret pulsing places Aloft and alow on thiise perfoct breasts of snow, Is crooning across the midnight's peaceful sjaces A song that came out of chaos through time to grow. And under the bow the lucent ripples break In shapes that are fair, in rhythm that is sweet beyond measure; Till the heart is full and no more its thirst can slake In the fathomless fountains of joy where the wa makes pleasure. Afar where the waves and the sky together are growing, Out of tho jaws of night with muttering roar, Comes a tremendous thnmlor, a sound as of sea kine lowing: The voice of the 'deep that is sullenly smiting the shore. Adown from the measure'ess mountain of sails alnive, When the starlight falters and melts an I is too faint to glisten. A sailor lad murmurs an old-world ballad of love ; And tho sea and mv heart aro siknt and tremble and listen. ' V. J. Henderson. HU3lOKOUS. Rich bread A big piy roll. Companions in arms Twins. The sculptor is the man who carve? out his own fortune. The cream of tho base ball club should be found in the pitcher. "Bear with me a little," observed tho grizzly as he hugged tho hunter. l "Oh mamma!" sighed little Ethel, "I have such a headache in my sash!" It is the silent watches of the night that render alarm-clocks necessary. The fisherman has no difficulty in making both ends meet when he catches an cel. i t An advertisement in a live paper is of great assistance to. a dentist. It "draws" for him. There is one drawback to being a queen. The people know just how old you are. , No, Nellie, a stirrup is not what they used to beat eggs with, but to ride horseback. Squildig calls a big bull-dog in his neighborhood "Delay," because delay are dangerous. Wife: "In the game of lawn tennis, my dear, what is the most difficult thing to acquire?" Husband: "The lawn." An old woman may be an incorrigiblo gossip, but when you come right down to facts, the peacock is the greatest tail bearer of all. - Teacher (to the class in chemistry) : What does sea water contain besides the scdium chloride tliat we have mentioned? Head boy: Fish. The man who has "nothing toJJ live for" calls in the doctor as quick as any other man when there is anything tho matter with him. Thirty-two hundred babies aro born in the United States every day, and yet people wonder where all the squalls and cyclones come from. Guest (to child of hostess) "My little pet. why do you sit next to me . at table to-day?" Child "Betausc be tause mamma says oo drink like a fish, ' and I want to see oo do it." . Foreman (to editor) Do you want the Rev. Mr. Goodman's sermon, "Feed -my Lambs," to go on the editorial page? " Editor (adsent-mindedly) rNo. Run it' in the "Agricultural Department." Seasickness, it is said, does not origi-' nate in the stomach. This 'may be true, but those who have been its victims can avouch that it starts straight for the stomach the moment it 'attacks you. A barber says that his occupation pro duces the most nervous men in tho world. This is probably owing to the fact that a barber is no sooner through -with one scrape than he begins another. Little Boy Pa, -what does "phenom enal" mean? Father It is a word used by the citizens of Illinois,' Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska when they refer to the growth of their respective towns. It doesn't mean much. The Rev. Joseph Cook says it is hard for a man to get away from his environ ment. The youth painfully realizes this when he has a barbed wire orchard fence on one side, a ferocious bull dog on anotlftr, and the old man coming at hira.with a hay fork. Moderation In Diet "The Roman soldiers," says the Sci entific American, 4 "who built such won derful roads and carried a weight of armor and luggage that would crush the average farm hand, lived on coarse brown bread and sour wine. They were temperate in diet and regular and con stant in exercise. The Spanish peasant works cvefy day and dances half the night, yet cats only his black bread, onion and watermelon. Tho Smyrna porter eats only fruit and some olives, yet he walks off with his load of 100 pounds. The coolie, fed on rice, is more active and can endure more than the negro fed on fat meat. The heavy work of the world is not done by men who eat the greatest quantity. Moderation in diet seems to be the pre requisite of en durance."