djlhaftam juwi
3ffe dfhm JutM.
H. A. LONDON, Jr.,
EDITOR AND PKOPBIKTOR.
a1
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TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION:
Onccorjr. neyoar, ------ 2.00
One copy , six moullu -.. j,oo
Cue copy, threa mouths, -
The Merry Spring.
I need mtwt eing, my heart is light;
If thine be dull and aching,
Look up, lK)k up, the sky is bright,
And stormy clouds are breaking'.
What ho, what ho, the merry Spring 1
See, Winter vexed and vanishing;
Who robbed the t yrant of his sting ?
Who but the merry, merry Spring.
To life aud lovo awaking.
Away with tears; there be but few
That do not speak of sorrow;
Unless, lik sunshine on the dew,
A beam of hope they borrow.
Lo, on the lawn, so newly cropped,
The diamonds that Spring has drooped,
What time the morning star o'er-topped
The eastern hills", and lingering stooped
To bid the day good-morrow.
And the sweet sound we call the breeze,
Ita wandering way betaking,
The murmur of the swelling trees
Into fresh beauty breaking;
This is her voieo low whispering.
That is the rustle of her wing.
Come, lads and lasses, let us sing:
Ho, for the Spring, the merry Spring,
To life and love awaking !
A Little Gold Owl.
Do you know what a famous Rus
sian beauty once wrote in her album ?
No? Let me tell you, then. 'The
Frenchman understands best the art of
talking love, the Italian of acting it,
but the German rocks it to sleep, while
the Pole ruins it all.' "
'And the American?" pleaded a mu
sical voice in the ear of the first speaker.
The lady made no immediate reply
The pair stood in the wings of a tiny
amateur theater in one of our large
cities, and the drama of Matrimony, in
which they had acted, was over. Both
were artists in that intense sentiment
of excitement which stirs the ripples of
private life when theatricals and cha
rades become the fashion. Augusta
Bevan, tall, slender and proud, had re
sumed her velvet walking dress, and
toyed with a tiny muff of pink satin
which was suspended about her neck by
means of a ribbon. Captain Horoblow
er, easy, graceful and elegant, bent over
her in an attitude of devotion which he
had assumed with the facility of a glove
for the past fifteen years in the ball
rooms of West Point, Saratoga and New
port. "Tour muff seems to 'be a sort
of fairy casket," pursued Captain Horn
blower. "Give me a keepsake from
one of the pockets, I beg, in remem
brance of the night."
"What shall it be?" retorted Augusta
Bevan, gayly.
She sought in the tiny pockets of per
fumed and quilted satin, and drew forth
a glittering object. This was a little
gold owl, beautifully wrought, with ruby
eyes and jeweled claws. When a spring
was touched, a slender pencil-case slid
out of the bird's head.
" Here is my gift," she said, gently,
and the gallant captain understood that
her words meant capitulation.
Was he glad or sorry ? He received the
little gold owl with effusive gratitude,
and kissed the hand which bestowed the
gift ; but it was in the nature of this
military butterfly to doubt, at the
moment, if he had acted wiih unwise
precipitation, if he had not sold himself
too cheaply in the matrimonial market,
and if Augusta Bevan was as great an
heiress as she was reputed to be.
" My children, remember the Scotch
proverb, Those who fish for minnows
never catch trout," said Mr. Riddel,
behind them.
Mr. Riddel, who invariably enacted
the part of benevolent old man,
proffered his snuff-box to Captain Horn
blower with his quizzical smile.
" We are called out again !" exclaimed
Mrs. Trentham.
There was a patter of applause, and
the four emerged before the foot-lights,
making their t-alutations in the most
approved professional manner. On the
Btago stood Mrs Trentham in a superb
toilet, Augusta Bevan, Captain Horn
blower and Mr. Riddel. Beyond the
circle of foot-lights was a fashionable
audience, where blended satin, gold,
feathers and lace resembled a parterre
of flowers, while the little theater, built
for Mrs. Trentham, made a cha-ming
background for smiling faces. Certainly
the two actresses looked their best, for
Captain Hornblower, deeply versed in
such craft, had made up their stage
complexion, with the aid of rouge and
other cosmetics, moist purple worsted
furnishing the requisite shadows beneath
the eyes.
Said Mr. Riddel, as he conducted
Miss Bevan home: " You will not forget
my proverb, Augusta? 'Those who fish
for minnows never catch trout.' "
The girl glanced askance at him and
frowned. Mr. Riddel, divested of gray
wig and paternal bearing, was a digni
fied gentleman of forty years, lawyer,
and manager of the great Bevan prop
erty. " You have always warned me of fortune-hunters
and worthless suitors since
I left school," she exclaimed, petulant
ly. " Is a woman never to believe in
any one because she is rich ?"
Mr. Riddel remained silent, but the
blood mounted to her brow.
Raid Mrs. Trentham to Captain Horn
blower, at a little supper table in a
fashionable restaurant: "Augusta Be
van really did very well to-night for a
VOL. III.
i i
novice, except in the awkwardness of
her attitudes. Allow me to look at the
little gold owl she gave you behind the
scenes. Ah ! I saw it all. A mangaei
must be everywhere, you know."
Very piquant looked Mrs. Trentham
as she spoke, coquette of as many sea
sons as her companion had posed foi
beau, an arch sparkle in her eyes, more
than a suspicion of malice in her smile;
for to see any man admire another
woman pierced her vanity, if not her
heart, and she could not rest until she
had lured him away from his allegiance,
o At least sown mischief in the path of
possible lovers. Yet Mrs. Trentham wns
a most popular person and an acknowl
edged leader of society. Captain Horn
blower resisted; but the enchantress
was adroit, witty, flattering, and the
supper good, and in the end he yielded.
The lady attached the little gold owl to
her watch chain, and emerged in the
streets at 2 o'clock in the morning.
When she reached her own home the
little gold owl was gone ! She had los$
it during the walk.
Next day Mrs. Trentham sailed up to
Augusta Bevan, at a crowded kettle
drum, took both of her hands, and ex
claimed : " Oh, my dear, I am so dread
fully sorry I I am always committing
some folly. I do not deserve forgive
ness. Captain Hornblower gave me I
aieau lent me your little gold owl last
night, and I actually lost it in the
street."
The Sevres teacup fell from Augusta's
fingers on the floor. Mr. Riddel and
Captain Hornblower stooped for the
fragments simultaneously, thus knock
ing their heads together.
"She is disillusioned," thought Mr.
Riddel.
" The game is lost," reflected the gal
lant warrior, with unfeigned regret,
"Of course no woman ever forgave that.1
At 6 o'clock that morning a young
Iwiss maiden, by name Marie Hetzeh
had gone on an errand to the market for
her mistress. Marie was sixteen, with
a round brown face framed in a crimped
cap, and carried a basket on her arm.
Her foot struck against a small object ;
she stooped, and found a little gold owl
on the curbstone.
"Himmel?" exclaimed Marie, and
sped with the treasure to the lager beer
garden where Fritz, her lover, was em
ployed as a waiter.
Fritz happened to be polishing the
rows of little tables placed in bowers of
evergreen. He was a prudent youth of
nineteen, with blonde hair and hard
blue eyes. He examined the trinket
and put it in his pocket. The gold owl
might be very pretty suspended about
Marie's throat, even as Roman women
rejoice in their hairpins and chains, or
the Genoese in their filigree earrings ;
but money also could be made out of it
money to add to frugal savings where
with to return to beloved Canton Beme
as man and wife and buy a modest farm.
Marie shed a few tears of feminine
vanity while yielding to logical argu
ment, and trudged home with her
basket. Fritz sought a little den of a
shop in an obscure quarter and sold the
gold owl to a Jew after much haggling
for five dollars, which sum he consigned
to a savings bank. Now indeed was the
owl lost, hopelessly lost, for it had dis
appeared in the black shop of a wretch
ed quarter, instead ofjreposing in the
pocket of Miss Bevan's pink satin muff.
It happened that the owl had never met
with greater appreciation, however. The
ruby eyes glowed like flames, while the
golden plumage became luminous as
the ornament passed from one dusky
hand to another.
Finally the Jew took the trinket to a
fashionable jeweler celebrated for skill
ful workmanship in metals, and sold it
for a considerable sum. Mr. Riddel,
walking downtown one morning, paused
suddenly before the jeweler's window.
Ho saw a little gold owl suspended by a
hook, and radiant in the sunshine. He
fancied the bird of wisdom actually
winked at him in recognition. He
entered the place, and bought it
promptly.
Augusta Bevan, pale, thoughtful, and
with a new tenderness in her bearing,
received back the little gold owl. " I
have been thinking of so many things
of late," she said, softly, placing her
hand within the arm of this faithful
friend. "I even remember your
proverb, ' Those who fish for minnows
never catch trout.' "
Mrs. Trentham tapped Captain Horn
blower on the arm with her fan at a
reception, where the lady was
resplendent in a Worth toilet of black
satin and old gold. " Mr. Riddel and
Augusta Bevan are engaged," she said.
" I always knew it would be a match yet.
Their property joins, you know, and
water docs flow to water in that way in
our wicked world. Besides, he is really
the only man worthy of Augusta."
Captain Hornblower went his way,
having been ordered to a fort in Montana
Territory. His amiability was not
increased by the discovery that his hair
was growing gray, and that he experi
enced a twinge of rheumatism in his
right knee. Harper's Weekly.
It is estimated that the cost of a
spring bonnet will be about what a
house will bring at sheriff sale.
PITTSBORO',
. . i
The Yalley of the Jordan.
The valley of the Jordan would act as
an enormous hot house for the new col
ony. Here might be cultivated palms,
rice, cotton, indigo, sugar, sorgum,
besides bananas, pineapples, yams, sweet
potatoes, and other field and garden
produce. Rising a little higher, the
country is adapted to tobacco, maize,
flax, castor oil, millet, sesamum, melons,
gourds, cumin, anise, coriander, ochra,
brinjals, pomegranates, oranges, figs
and so up to the plains, where wheat
barley, beans, and lentils of various
sorts, with olives and vines, would form
the staple products. Gilead especially
is essentially a country of wine and oil ;
it is also admirably adapted to silk-culture;
while among its forests, carob or
locust bean, pistachio, jujube, almond,
balsam, kali, and other profitable trees
grow wild in great profusion. All the
fruits of Southern Europe, such as
apricots, peaches, and plums, here grow
to perfection ; apples, pears and quinces
thrive well on the more extreme eleva
tion, upon which the fruits and vegeta
bles of England might easily be culti
vated, while the quick-growing eucylyp
tus could be planted with advantage "on
the fertile but treeless plains. Not only
does the extraordinary variety of soil
and climate thus compressed into a
small area offer exceptional advantages,
from an agricultural point of view, but
the inclusion of the Dead Sea within its
limits would furnish a vast source of
wealth, by the exploration of its chem
ical and mineral deposits. The supply
of chlorate of potassium, two hundred
thousand tons of which are annually
consumed in England, is practically in
exhaustible ; while petroleum, bitumen,
and other lignites can be procured in
great quantities upon its shores. There
can be little doubt, in fact, that the
Dead Sea is a mine of unexplored wealth,
which only needs the application of
capital and enterprise to make it a most
lucrative property.
A Mistake.
Don't try to give a large party if you
have a small house. Such attempts are
a special nuisance, a failure, and "a
mistake." Why should we be driven
out upon the staircase ? We don't live
upon the staircase when we are at home ;
and neither our wife, sons, or even
daughters (who are apt to be free with
paternities), think that we ought to do
so. Why are we to be condemned to
play whist for five hours, because our
hostess does not know what else to set
ns down to ? But our girls seem to en
joy it. Neither Flora, nor Bessy, nor
Emily, appear to mind dancing, although
their faces are more than pink. There
is scarcely breathing room and so we
put up with it for their sakes ; and
when our wife thanks our hostess on
parting, and says what a delightful
evening we have had, we try to believe
so ; but next day, when a lady friend
drops in to gossip about the party, we
find our feminines were not as pleased
as they appeared. There was no room
to dance ; only half the people could
get seats at supper ; and what stuff those
charades were! Does not everybody
know that a gentleman with a saucepan
on his head, the lid in one hand, and a
poker in the other, means "knight," and
that his holding up a copy of "Don
Quixote," means "of the rueful counte
nance?" Did Miss Jones (how much
longer will she be Miss ? ask the girls)
think it very clever to bother everybody
with that conundrum ? What has human
nature done to be so amused ? A crowd
is not amusing themselves in, orrather,if
you ask more people than your room
will hold, they will tire themselves out,
and set your party down as a failure.
Don't attempt more than you can pleas
antly perform.
Elephants Playing 'Possom.
"There are some very cunning fellows
among our twenty elephants," said Mr.
Durand, Barnum's agent, the other day.
"Not long ago Chieftain and Maudrie,
top mounters in the pyramid, and the
most cunning of the flock, suddenly
took a shivering chill at rehearsal. The
keeper sent out and bought four gallons
of whisky, which the monsters devoured
rapidly and with great relish. The bill
came to Mr. Barnum, whose strong
temperance predilections you know.
After paying the bill Mr. Barnum in
sisted that no one in his employ, not
even his elephants, should drink whisky
under any circumstances. In a little
while the elephants, when the effect of
the liquor had died away, commenced
shivering again, and apparently had
another chill. They looked longingly
at the keeper, and attempted to caress
him with their trunks, as much as to
say, 'Give us another drink.' The keeper
shook his head and told them positively,
'No.' In five minutss every appearance
of ague had vanished, and the animals
were quietly eating hay as usual. They
had evidently been 'playing 'possom.'"
A New York man has discovered an
"invisible soap." It is the same article
that small boys have used in their morn
ing ablutions from the most remote
period.
It must be a source of great comfort
to traveling men to reflect that order is
Heaven's first law.
vv
CHATHAM CO., N. C,
A YERY BRIGHT CANARY BIRD.
Tnnirhr hy n 1,1 trie Olrl to Sin Tunes and
Ammmi fn Entertaining Visitor.
A family living in the Hotel Victoria
have a canary bird named Beauty, which
has shown a wonderful aptitude for
picking up tunes, and seems to be for in
advance of others of his kind in general
intelligence. He is especially fond of
the head of the family, recognizing his
footsteps and greeting him with a burst
of song.
On a recent evening, in tne presence
of guests, the door of Beauty's cage was
opened after themastorhad seated him
self at the piano, and the bird flew to
the gentleman's shoulder and then to
the music rack on the piano. When his
master whistled an air, playing an ac
companiment, the canary warbled and
trilled in accurate tune and time, hop
ping upon the player s fingers and over
the keys. When the whistling and ac
companiment ceased the bird perched
upon his master's head and awaited fur
ther orders. Then Beauty was placed
in front of the pier glass, where he sang
to his reflected image in harmony with
the piano accompaniment, and when his
master stopped playing the bird flitted
around the room in pursuit of his shad
ow on the ceiling. After he had con
vinced himself that he had cornered his
dark silhouette he sat gazing abstracted
ly at it till he was coaxed away.
After Beauty had retired to his cage
he kissed the members of the family
good night, imitating the kissing sound
when he touched their lips with his bill.
His education has been acquired within
a month, and his tutor is the little
daughter of the familv.
Handy to Know.
Fire insurance policies do not include
in their indemnity among oiher things
the following : Fences and other yard
fixtures; also store furniture and fix
tures and plate-glass doors and windows,
when the plates are of dimensions of
three feet or more. It is important that
this fact be mentioned in the wording
of the policy, if such articles are to be
included under the policy. Careless,
ignorant or unsopisticated brokers and
agents very frequently make mistakes
in this respect. The following articles
also are not included in the security of
a fire insurance policy, unless mention
ed, viz : jewelry, plate, watches, musi
cal instruments, ornaments, medals, cu
riosities, patterns, printed music, print
ed books, engravings, picture frames,
paintings, sculptures, cast and models,
money or bullion, bills, notes, accounts,
deeds, evidence of debt, or securities.
These should always be specified. If a
building falls, no insurance will attach,
or cover its loss, unless it is caused by
fire. Stolen property is not to be paid
by the insurance company. Losses from
explosions are not to be paid, unless fire
ensues, and then only the actual fire
loss is to be settled for. Property
standing on leased ground must be so
represented to the company and ex
pressed in the policy. Goods on storage
must be represented as such. The as
sured, in case of a fire, must invariably
do his best to save it, and carelessness
in this respect will vitiate his claim. In
no instance shall he abandon his prem
ises to firemen or thieves. Whore a
party has a trustworthy and intelligent
representative, agents or brokers, whose
business it is to study these points and
consult his own and the assured's inter
ests, by so doing it is sometimes safer
than to risk it by attending to the in
surance himself.
Our Dinners.
English people are quite impressed
by the abundance of viands set upon the
American table, and rather criticize the
custom. They say that in providing for
their table the mass of Americans rarely
consider what goes with what (of course
there are the epicurean .few who do).
Except the Yankee "pork and beans,"
there seems to be no viand so wedded
to vegetables as to be spoken of to
gether, like the English "duck and
green peas," "mutton and turnips," etc.
Generally speaking, vegetables are cho
sen haphazard, and so carrots, or dried
beans or turnips, are as often served
with poultry as not ; no question of the
"eternal fitness" of things seems to
trouble the average housekeeper. Then,
not only is the unfitness of certain veg
etables for certain meats unthought of,
but the vegetables themselves are served
with sublime disregard to harmony, and
so peas and asparagus, and summer
squash and potatoes, often find them
selves cheek by juwl on on 3 plate.
From four to six vegetables are often
served at once, and two merely are con
sidered by any but very fashionable
people to be a very mean sort of a din
ner. Tomatoes, in some form or other,
are invariably on the table when in sea
son, and more often than not canned,
even in winter. Many of the methods
in which potatoes are prepared are quite
unknown to English people.
Mrs. Lelia Josephine Robinson, who
desires to practice law in Boston, was
formerly a reporter on the Post and on
the Globe of that city. She has taken
the regular course in the Harvard Law
School.
Ay v
JUNE 2, 1881.
Newspapers and Public Education.
The following are the concluding
paragraphs of a thoughtful address on
" The American Newspaper and Ameri
can Education," read at the last session
of the Social Science association by
Professor J. M. Gregory, of Chicago:
The American press does not and will
not misrepresent the American people.
With the miserable exception of some
bitter malcontent here and there the
writers of the press have given hearty
and intelligent support to our institu
tions of learning, high and low. The
papers have also freely published edu
cational news and essays, but they can
do more. They ought to do more.
They occupy a vantage ground from
which they can lend to the American
school systems a force which these sys
tems can never hope to attain without
such aid. In an important degree the
newspapers of America hold its school
interests in their hands. Let them treat
public education as they do every other
great public enterprise and concern
ment. Every great public interest Las
its representative in the corps of editors
of our great metropolitan papers. They
have their political editor, their com
mercial editor, their literary editor,
their agricultural editor, their law re
porter, and so on through every line of
public movement. Let them add now
a competent educational editor or re
porter, one whose thorough and practi
cal knowledge of his field shall enable
him to gather and sift educational news,
to explain and criticise educational facts
and thjorics, to answer wisely educa
tional questions from whatever source,
and to put into common and public
speech the educational feeling and
thought of his age. Such a writer will
call forth other writers and observers.
The small papers will follow the lead of
the great metropolitan sheets, and there
will be poured into the schools of the
country the same spirit of energy and
of improvement which the press has
awakened in other public interests. Let
the sharp but intelligent criticisms of
these educational editors be exerted
upon our schools, and we shall no longer
need or fear the occasional assaults
which have of late half alarmed and
half amused us by their half truths and
half falsehoods. With such aid from
the American newspapers, the American
schools could be made to render double
for the immense outlays of time, money
and talent expended upon them.
The press thus directed and the
school system thus newly inspired will
mutually react. The papers will, as
they ought, find their way into the
shcoolrooms. Tho schools will be
taught their uses, and will furnish them
more interested and intelligent readers.
In this mighty problem of the adequate
education of our citizenship a problem
growing daily more important to the pub
lic no new force seems nearer or fuller
of promise than this. Let this gigantic
array of the newspapers of America be
set fully upon this work of popular edu
cation. Let the schools in turn introduce
the newspaper among their text books ;
Jet the children of the nation be taught
to read these papers intelligently,
thoughtfully and critically, and we
have at work in the press of this country
an agency never surpassed for the edu
cation of aii enlightened free people.
A Doctor on the Bicycle.
"A Country Surgeon" writes to the
London Lancet about the bicycle as fol
lows : I have been a bicycle rider for
the last five years, with an ever-increasing
delight the more proficient I be
come. This summer I have turned both
my horses out to grass and have trusted
to my bicycle alone, doing on an average
about fifty miles a day. I find I get
through my day's work with less fatigue
than on horseback and without the mon
otony of driving. My work is done
quicker ; my usual pace is ten miles an
hour, and I can go at the rate of fifteen
when pressed. A bicyclist's steed is al
ways ready saddled, and on arriving at
your destination does not require a boy
to hold him. It can be ridden with al
most as much ease in wet as in dry
weather, but it is not adapted for a very
hilly country, though all moderate hills
can be surmounted.
Since I invested in my new fifty-two-inch
I rode ninety-five miles in one
day without unusual fatigue. I can
confidently recommend all men who are
fond of exercise without fatigue, and all
who wish to curtail their stable expenses,
to take the trouble to leam the bicycle.
Mountain Mahogany.
This wood is indigenous to the Neva
da. The trees do not grow large ; one
with a trunk a foot in diameter is much
above the average. When dry the wood
is about as hard as boxwood, and of a
very fine grain. It is of a rich red color
and very heavy. When well seasoned
it would be fine material for the wood
carver. In the early days it was used
in making boxes for shafting, and in a
few instances for shoes and dies in a
quartz battery. Used as a fuel it creates
intense heat, it burns with a blaze as
long as ordinary wood would last, and
is then found (almost unchanged in
form) converted to a charcoal that lasts
about twice as long as that of ordinary
wood.
NO. 38.
i .
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
According to the latest statistics tho
number of milch cows kept in the leading
dairying countries of the" world are as
follows: Germany, 8,962,221; France,
4,513,765; Great Britain and Ireland,
3,708,766; Denmark, 800,000; Sweden,
1,356,576; Norway, 741,574; Switzer
land, 592,463; and the United States
13,000,000.
The president of the telephone ex
change at Carrollton, 111., ran a line in
the Presbyterian church, connecting it
with a Blake transmitter placed at the
right of the speaker in the pulpit, and
one Sunday morning recently the citi
zens at a dozen residences and business
places, some of them half a mile distant,
listened to the sermons by the pastor.
Every word of the two discourses was
heard as distinctly as though the listen
ers were in the church. The music
was particularly clear and distinct, the
voices of the different choristers being
readily distinguished.
The Minneapolis (Minn.) Tribune
publishes an extract from a private
letter to the editor from Mr. Hayes, in
the course of which he makes the fol
lowing reference to certain published
statements to which his attention had
been called, impugning the consistency
of his temperance principles and prac
tice. Mr. Hayes says: " When I be
came President I was fully convinced
that whatever might be the case in
other countries and with other people,
in our climate and with the excitable
nervous temperament of our people,
the habitual use of intoxicating drinks
was not safe. I regarded the danger of
the habit as especially great in political
and official life. It seemed to me that
to exclude liquors from the White
House would be wise and useful as an
example, and would be approved by
good people generally. The suggestion
was particularly agreeable to Mrs.
Hayes. She had been a total abstinence
woman from childhood. We had never
used liquors in our own home, and it
was determined to continue our home
costume in this respect in our official
residence in Washington as we had done
at Columtras. I was not a total ab
stainer when I became President, but
the discussion which arose over the
change at the executive mansion soon
satisfied me that there should be no
half-way course in the matter. During
the greater part of my term, at least
during the last three years, I have been
in practice as in theory a persistent ad
vocate of total abstinence and shall con
tinue to be so. All statements to the
contrary are untrue and without founda
tion." A Wonderful Lake in Iowa.
The greatest wonder in the State of
Iowa, and, perhaps, in any other state,
is what is called the Walled Lake, in
Wright county, twelve miles north of
the Dubuque and Pacific Railway, and
one hundred and fifty miles west of Du
buque City.
The lake is two or three feet higher
than the earth's surface. In some places
the wall is ten feet high, fifteen feet
wide at the bottom and five feet wide on
the top. Another fact is the size of the
stone used in the construction, the
whole of them varying in weight from
three tons down to one hundred pounds.
There is an abundance of stones in
Wright county, but surrounding the
lake to the extent of five or ten miles
there are none. No one can form an
idea of the means employed to bring
them to the spot or who constructed it.
Around the entire lake is a belt of
woodland half a mile in length, com
posed of oak. With this exception the
country is a rolling prairie. The trees
must have been planted there at the
time of the building of the wall.
In the spring of the year 1856, there
was a great storm, and the ice on the
lake broke the wall in several places,
and the farmers in the 'vicinity were
obliged to repair the damages to prevent
inundation. The lake occupies a ground
surface of 2.800 acres : depth of water as
great as twenty-five feet.
The water is clear and cold, soil san
dy and loamy. It is singular that no
one has been able to ascertain where
the water comes from nor where it goes
yet it is always clear and fresh.
Lack of Air.
Some workmen think themselves
"tired" when they are only poisoned.
They labor in factories, breathe air with
out oxygen, and live in an atmosphere
of death. They are, too often, allowed
to smoke, and thus add fuel to the flame
which is consuming them. They knock
off work "tired" and listless, when they
are merely weakened by foul air and
made dull and heavy by an atmosphera
charged with disease. They keep the
windows shut and close the door on
health, while they lift the gratings of
the tomb by breathing and rebreathing
the poison from their own lungs, and
the floating particles of matter about
them. Open the windows let in the
sunshine and the breeze, stop smoking.
and you will soon find that it is the
poison of confinement, and not labor.
that wearies and tires.
ADVERTISING.
One square, one Insertion, -One
sqaare, two Insertion,- .
One square, one month,
1.W
krger advertise menu liberal contracts wf II
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
A Cincinnati lawyer has astonished
his professional brethren by charging a
WJ,UU0 fee for collecting $53,000.
Sir Edward Watkiris is president of
nine English railway companies, and
his aggregate salary amounts to $100,-
000 a year.
Ex-Senator Hamlin, who scorns an
overcoat even in the dead of winter,
went to two balls and danced as lively
as
a cricket at Bangor.
Chicago has taken the lead among the
cities against the unsightly telegraph
wires by passmg an ordinance compell
ing their burial.
The widow of Commodore Farragut
was his second wife. She is described
as
a pleasant Virginia ladv, about thiit v
ears of age, with dark brown hair.
At Baltimore, Miss Carrie Duce wa
precipitated down fifty feet into a sink.
The accident was caused bv the floor of
the water closet giving way just as she
entered the structure. She was taken
out alive.
Never were there so many contracts
for new vessels held by the ship build
ers of Milford, Delaware. They aggre
gate about a dozen, and as many more
could be obtained, a number having
been refused.
A very handsome dining-room car has
just been completed at Wilmington for
the Charleston, Savannah and Florida
Express line. This is a new feature in
Southern railroading, but marks a step
in the right direction.
The population of the brand new
kingdom of Roumania is about 5,000,-
000. The Catholics are said to number
115,000 and the Hebrews 400,000. The
national church is independent both of
Constantinople and Moscow.
The editor of the Tampa Tribune, who
has just made a tour of inspection
along the Caloosahatchie river, a stream
that runs from Lake Okeechobee to
Charlotte harbor, says that the tropical
productions of that part of Florida com
prise all that are raised on the
Island of Cuba.
Japanese auctions are conducted on a
novel plan, but one which gives rise to
none of the noise and confusion which
attend such sales in America. Each
bidder writes his name and bid upon a
slip of paper, which he places in a box.
When the bidding is over the box is
opened by the auctioneer, and the goods
declared the property of the highest
bidder.
A Word for The Mother-in-Law.
Are there then no estimable mothers
with married daughters ? The mother-
in-law is not responsible f or her position,
probably does not admire it. Yet she
has been the subject of countless stories,
myriads of offensive jests, and quanti
ties of sarcastic rhymes. Into all of
these has entered an element of bitter
ness which does not appear in the gibes
that are hurled at the widow and spins
ter. Malice is the inspiration of the
assault upon the mother-in-law. Per
haps it is savagery bom of a sense of
detected guilt which has been hidden
from the too-confiding wife, but detect
ed promptly by the penetrating eye of
the mother-in-law. She is not blinded
by love for the man, and to perfect clear
ness of vision she adds an experience
which is as useful as second-sight in
enabling her to see to the bottom of
things. Yet if she be wise she will not
give her daughter the benefit of her ex
perience, but allow her to enjoy her
fools' paradise as long as possible. A
good mother-in-law is really a well
spring of pleasure to a properly con
ducted husband. She is assidious in
taking care of the baby, and the ser
viceableness of her knowledge concern
ing the most effective methods of carry
ing the infant though critical periods,
the efficiency Tilth which she dispenses
paragoric, measures out ipecac, and
compounds plasters, fills the minds of
just men with sentiments of admiration
and thankfulness. Give the mother-in-law
her due. It has been withheld
from her long enough.
A Leaf from Confederate History.
The Norfolk-Zaw r&warfc prints a conr-
munication from a former officer of tie
Confederate army giving particulars of
a plot, originating with Governor Wise,
of Virginia, in January, 1861, for the
capture of Fortress Monroe, while the
question of the state seceding was pen
ding in the state legislature. The wri
ter induced three orderly sergeants a
tached to the garrison of the fort and
others to place proper men on guard at
certain points prepared to surrender.
They, however, declined to act unless
the demand for the surrender was made
by the authority of the State of Virginia
and free passports guaranteed to them
to pass through the state, with protec
tion during the same. Governor Let
cher was consulted, but he declined to
make the demand for surrender on the
part of the state unless authorized by
the legislature, and as this could not be
obtained without making the plot pub
lic, the project was abandoned. The
writer says that at least one-fourth 'of
the garrison had joined the sworn or
ganization to surrender the fort.
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