THE CHARLOTTE MESSENGER.
VOL. 111. NO. 27
THE
Chattel** Messengre
'is PUBLISHED
Mttjry, Saturday,
AT
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
In the Interests of the Colored People
of the Country.
Able nnd well-known writers will contrib
nle to Its rohunns from different ports of the
country, and it will contain the latest Gen
eml News of the day.
The Alkssknokr is a first-class newspoper
ami will not allow personal abuso In its col
umiH It is not sectarian or partisan, tint
independent—dealing fairly by all. It re
serves the righ tto criticise the shortcomings
of oil public officials— Commending the
worthy, and recommending for election such
im II as nuts opinion ere best suited to serene
the interests of the people.
It is intended to supply the long felt need
i f a newspaper to advocate the rights and
defend tile interest*., oftho Negro-American,
especially m t[i r Piedmont section of the
t amlinag,
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
iAlways in Advance.)
1 year - - - *1 M
H months - - - 100
-0 months -
* months - * 50
.'5 mouths - - - 40
Afidreas,
W. C. SMITH, Charlotte, N C
The New York Commercial Advertiser
remarks editorially: “The industry of
raising sea island cotton along tho At
lantic coast which began with favorable
prospects a few years ago, has turned out
to be nearly, if not quite, a failure on
account of low prices. The fibre of
Ihis kind of cotton is much longer than
that of tho ordinary staple. In tho
meantime the price of the products
manufactured from it haa remaii ed sta
(ionary or has been raised, so that tho
'oss falls wholly on the planters, and
there is danger of the industry dying
nut. Such an outcome would bo se
riously felt in this city, which receives
the bulk of sea island cotton shipped
from 'southern porta.”
"Whatever tho Spanish Government
may neglect to do in the line of national
development,it is evidently determined,”
says the New York Observer, “not to fall
behind the age nny farther in respect to
the organization of ita navy. The Spanish
Cortes has just voted a grant of $15,010,-
000 for the purchase and equipment of
new war vessels, and has authorized the
construction of a number of fast cruisers
Jtnd torpedo boats. Aa Spain has a num
ber of foreign dependencies, like Cuba
and tho Philippines, to look after, beside
! a number of more or less jealous neigh
bors, she may, perhaps, be justified in
incurring this great expense. It will
need something more, however, than
fast cruisers and torpedo boats to bring
Spain up to the rank of a first-class na
tion.”
Tho T ondon Globe feels no pride In the
addition of years which modern science
has attached to the human race. It says:
“If the claims of old descent were a
justifiable source of pride the human
race should feel elated on being assured
by the wise men of the British Associa
tion that authentic proof has been dis
covered in some Welsh caves that men
sufficiently developed from the ape to
manufacture flint implements existed on
ihis planet 240,003 years ago. To us it
is a melancholy reflection that we should
bv.ve taken so prodigious a time to at
tain so small a result. Even when the
duration of the race is limitod to the
fi, 000 years of history, tho outcome can
hardly be considered at satisfactory, and
tliero is something profoundly depress
ing in the Bidden addition of a series of
ancestors who spent 33-1,000 years in
marking time, indeed, but in making no
other mark in the world. ”
The modern tendency to ruu toward
extremes finds a fresh il'ustration in the
report that the cattle business of the
West has been overdone, and numbers
of American and English investors pro
pose to sell out and enter into undertak
ings more promising of profit. In cer
tain sections, Wyoming for instance,
cattle have so multiplied that the bunch
grass, their natural and inexpensive food,
lias been nearly destroyed, and the risks
and cost of maintaining herds have been
correspondingly enhanced. A few years
ago buffalo were abundant on the plains,
but constant hunting and indlscrimina
ted slaughter have well-nigh extermina
ted them and they are about as scarce at '
their former contemporaries, the wild
horses. Eastern trout and salmon
stream -, except in remote regions, were
long since fished empty. The ivory
hunters have nearly killed off the As atic
elephants, and the great beasts are nu
merous only in the interior of Africa, and
even there their relentless enemies are
rapidly pursuing them. Civilization
has some accomplishments hardly to be
regarded as in the line of prudence and
common set.se, and the old parable about
killin g the goose that laid the golden
egg includes a moral very applicable to
tho present i ge.
THIS LIFE.
This life fa like a troublod sei,
Where—helm a>weather or n-leo
Th© ship will neither stay nor wear,
But drives, of every rock in fear.
All seamanship in vain we try.
We cannot keep her steadily;
But just as Fortuno’s wind may blow
Th© vowel's driven to and fro.'
Vet, come but Lovo on bo&i*d.
Our hearts with pleasure stor’d,
No storm can ouerwhelm,
Still blows iu vain
Tho hurricane
While he is at the holm.
— Dibdin.
THE MATE’S STORY,
now cnif; rfß ri] iA:Bs 'verb repplsSd.
11l 1875, owing to the wreck of a 803
ton brig in the uMna SB::, I was left in
Hong Kong in pretty bad shape. Afiei
I had carried a flag of distress, as you
might say, for two weeks, an English
man offered to let me work my passage
to Liverpool, but as I was about to nc
ccpt it I ran across a countryman whe
had a berth for me. One of.the largest
treding houses in Canton at that tim
was composed of three Americans, and
they owned two small steamers and three
or four sail craft. These vessels were
employed in collecting goods from the
various islands to the southeast, and some
of the voyages ext nded up the YeWLv
Sea as far as Teng chow. Just at
time the firm had come into posse sion
of n new steamer, and she was about tu
make her first voyage. There had been
trouble with plratcal draft, and the
steamer had been fitted out to take rare
of herself. Shccarried twosix-pounde s,
twenty American cavalry carbines, s
snore of revolvers, and was fixed to
throw hot water oer boarders. Her
compliment of men was fifteen, of whom
tho cook, steward, and three firemen
were natives. All others were Ameri
cans and i cglishmen. The supercargo
was an American, who could rattle off
the Chinese language as well as the best
of ’em, and the Captain and some of the
others could “smatter” more or less.
Our first voyage was to be up the Yel
low Sea, and ive carried a load of Ameri
can and English goods. The cargo well
deserved the name of “miscellaneous.”
There were muskets, fish spears, so’e
leather, tinware, looking glasses, cali
coes, buttons, stoneware, lamps, fish
nets, groceries, axes, and almost every
thing else you can think of, and the
supercargo also carried money to pur
chase what we could not traffic for. We
were to pick up in exchange w hatever
foreign markets called for in Canton,
which included teas, rice, several species
of nuts, dyestuffs, roots, barks, skins,
etc.
I was in luck to secure the place ol
mate, for Captain Tabor was a splendid
fellow and the crew was one which could
be depended on. We had three or four
men who understood the handling of tho
six-pounders, which had been sent over
from the United States, and with the
supply of small arms at band we felt our
selves a match for anything except a
regular gunboat. We got away in good
shape, ran up between the const and the
Island of Formosa, nnd then steered to
the northeast to fetch the Lioo-Kioo
Islands which are seven or eight in num
ber, and deal in ginseng, sarsaparilla and
other medical rjots. We stopped a day
at Kc-Lung, which is at the norihcrn end
of Formosa, nnd almost opposite Foo
chow, on the mainland, and while here it
was noticed that the native members of
of our ere .v were very thick with a lot of
suspicious characters who were banging
about us the greater part of the day. The
supercargo overheard them discussing
our voyage and making many inquiries,
and when he spoke of the matter to tho
steward that pig-tailed gentleman ex
plained that all our natives were related
to the strangers who had been hanging
about, and of course the latter took an
interest in them.
I didn t know Chinese character as will
as some of tho others, and was therefore
somewhat surprisoil to hear the Captain
and supercargo discussing the impudence
of tho.natives aboard beiore we bad left
Ke-Lung by fifty miles. The firemen
had given the engineer trouble, and the
steward had a certain sort of impudence
in his obedience to lommands 1 did
not know until now that a gang of
twenty or more of the fellows at Ke-i.ung
had attempted to induce the Captain to
give them passage to the isiaud of
Tseeusan, which we meant to visit. They
had offered big passage money and were
willing to put up with any accommoda
tions butho mistrusted tnem and firmly
declined to have one of them aboard.
The steward and firemen were soundly
berated by the Captain and threatened
with irons i any more trouble occurred,
and there the matter was dropped. At
the close of the second day we dropped
anchor off a small isiaud to the soul fa
west of Tseeusan called Lung wah.
There was no harbor, Out the ‘ epth of
the water enabled us to get witntn a
cable’s length of the beach in a compar
atively sheltered spot.
Captain Tabor had traded at this isl
and a year before, and he knew that the
natives were all right as long as they
were kept in awe by a superior force.
There was a trader on the stand w o
had a large stock of roots, and after a
palaver lasting two days and nights the
supercargo finally made a bargain with
bm. It -was onserved by the tap am
that some change l ad come over the na
tives, for on his previous trip they had
been eager to close a bargaiu at any
figure named. Tho natives in our
crew had be n permitted to go a-hore,
nnd a dozen or so of the leading
men »f the island had C'-me aboard
and inspected us. It was night ol tho
second day before a trade was agreed
upon. On the following day we were to 1
CHARLOTTE, N.C. SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 1887.
begin landing and receiving goods.
There was a big crowd of natives on
shore opposite the steamer, and they had
canoes, catamarans, and dhows enough
to have embai ked 800 people. Just be
fore night closed in We sighted a large
junk coming down from the direction of
Fotmosa, butgnveberno particular at
tention. At about 0 o’clock sho came
jogging along at a tramp's gait, nnd
fl opped her mud hook within 200 feet
of us. I gave her a looking over with
the night gloss, and as only five or six
men could be made out on her decks, it
was natural to conclude that she was a
trader.
Being in port, with fair weather for
the night, the crew might expect that
only an anchor watch would be main
tained. The men must therefore have
been somewhat surprised when Captain
Tabor invited our five natives to go
ashore, and spend the ni,ht With theif
friends, and announced to the rest of us
that we should stand watch and watch.
The cook was the only native who did
not go. He declared that he had enemies
ashore who would kill him, and he wr s
therefore allowed to occupy his accus
tomed quarters. There were ten of us
besides him, and soon after the junk an
cboicd, the guns were cost loose and
loaded with grape, the firearms brought
up and made ready, and the engineer
was instructed to keep steam enough to
permit ub to move. The cable was ar
ranged for slipping, and then five men
turned in “all standing.” and the other
five of us stood watch. Before this oc
curred the ( aptain said to me:
“-Mr. Graham, this may be going to a
good deal of troub e for nothing, but the
man who deals with these natives has
got to bb prepared for any emergency.
I w.ll thefefore head the second watch.
Keep your eye on tint iunk, and permit
nb boat to come aboard under any cir
cumstances.’’
I distributed my m -n over the vessel
to the best advantage, and reserved to
rav ed the right to act as a free lance-
Thht.is, I went from'one part of tho ves
sel to another, and kept one eye on the
junk and the other on the boach. All
was quiet up to half-past eleven o’clock,
when I made two discoveries In quick
succession. The cook had prepared a
large dish of coffee for our i;se during
the night. We had a largo urn on a
stand in one comer of the dining room,
and a lamp underneath kept the coffee
hot- The same thing is in use in Amer
ican hotels and restaurants. I was on
tho point of entering the cabin to secure
a drink of the beverage when, as I passed
an open window, I ’jeard the cover of the
ttrn ratt'e, and then caught the footsteps
of some one in retreat. It could be none
other than the native cook, I argued, but
I did not go to his quarters to verify ot
disprove my suspicions. I entered the
cabin, turned up the light, and carefully
examined the urn. The rascal had cer
tainly “dosed" it. There was a grayish
powder on the cover and on the edge of
the urn, and in his haste he had spilled
some on the floor. A look inside showed
numerous bubbles on the surface ot
the liquid, but these broke and dis
apjicared while I was iooking. The rascal
conld have but one object in his actions.
I arranged tbe can ao that no one could
secure a drink, and then started to noti
fy the Captain. As I passed along the
deck I looked for the junk, and in an in
stant saw that she bad decreased the dis
tance between us. The tide was setting
in, and she was either dragging het
anchor or had purposely raised it and
allowed herself to drift. The Captain
was up as soon as I touched his arm. and
when I reported my suspicions of tho
cook and the junk he replied: “Call all
the men at once, but make no noise.
That junk has got fifty men in her hold,
and tho natives on shore arc in with a
plot to capture us. Take a pair of hand
cuffs and have the cook secured in his
berth.”
After I had called tbe men I went to
make a pi isoner of the cook, but he was
nowhere to be found. His object in re
msinmg aboard up to that hour was to
drug oar coffee and note what prepara
tions we were making. When be got
ready to go be probably swam to the
shore with his news, but he could have
reported little more than the fact that ho
bad drugged our coffee, which all who
were awake at midnight would probable
make use of. When the men bad received
their orders we paid our attention to tbe
junk, and one of the guns was quietly
rolled across the deck and trained upon
her. When the night glass was di
rected to the shore we could make out
tb it many ot the natives were moving
about and evidently geiting ready for
some expedition. There was no question
now but what we were to be attacked.
We had a good pressure of steam, plenty
of hot water, and the hose was attached
and a man as-igned to take charge of it.
It was an hour and a half after mid
night before there was any decided move
on the part of tbe enemy. The Captain
of the junk could not have had n night
glass, and perhaps he reasoned that we
cere a« badly off. He kept paying out
bis cable foot by foot unt 1 he was so
close onto us that I could have tossed a
bis: ult aboard of him. Owing to the
set of the tide or some cross current, be
dropped down to us stern first, while we
lay broadside to tb beach. he stem
of the junk was po nted amidships of the
steamer, and our gin would lake his
whole deck at every discharge. At 1
o’clock two men 1 ft her la a small boat
and went ashore, and then forty or fiftv
armed men came out of the hold and
took their stations on deck. A few had
muskets, but most of them cartied
knives aud a suit of hand grenade. These
bombs are fi ltd with a villainous com
pound, which is let loose as they are
broken, and the fumea are more to be
dreaded than a bullet. Their plan, as
we solved it, was for an attack o„ b th
side- of us at once. A fleet would come
out on ua from the ehore and the junk
would drift down on us at the same time.
We had the cable ready to alip, sent the
engineer to hie p i t. and then waited.
At about half put one. while the tide
had yet half an heur to run, we eaw the
shore boats make ready. At least 200
natives were ready to come off. They
knew that the cook had drugged or
poisoned out coffee, and thefefore lent a
boat ih advance of the fleet to tee la
what shape we were. The boat cattle njt
vary softly and rowed twice around ue
before the Captain hailed aad let them
know we were wide awake. Some sort
of signal wu given from tha boat, aad
the fight opened at once. Just the mo
ment we saw tbe people on the junk get
ting ready to drift her down upon us ws
§avc them the grape from the six-poua
er. They were not pistol-shot
away, with most of tho men crowded est,
and I verily believe that the one die
charged killed or wounded twenty men.
I wu at the gun with two others, sad a
man armed with a carbine was near us.
He fired six or seven shots while we were
loading, and three Or four inusket shots
were fired at us. Our second shot drove
all who were left alive below hatches,
nnd. believing that the carbineer could
keep them there, we ran the gun to tha
starboard side to beat off the boats.
It wu high time. While the first dis
charge of the gun had done for a score
of them, they were a reckless and des
perate lot and would not retreat. They
were provided with bombs, spears, blow
guns, and muskets, and the man who
wu to sprinkle them with hot water had
been shot dead at their first fira. As
soon as we got our gun over, some one
picked up the nozzle of the hose pipe and
turned ft loose on every boat within
reach. But for the hot water the fellows
might hive carried us by boarding for
two hundred to ten is big odds, buch
screaming and shouting and shrieking u
they indulged in When the boiling hot
Water spattered over tbeir half-naked
bodies was pandemonium of itself, and
all t >e time we kept playing ou them
with the guns and the Carbines. The fight
could not have luted over seven or eight
mi utes, and as soon u they began to
draw off I ran my gun to the port side,
loaded with shell, and sent the missile
right through the junk's stern. Half a
do. cn fellows rushed out of the hold and
jumped overboard, and I gave her two
more. When the third was fired there
was an explosion, probably of a barrel of
powdor. which lilted her docks thirty
feet high and split her wide open. She
sank right there before our eyes, and the
wails of the wounded wretches who float
ed about for a minute or two were dread
ful to hear.
Captain Tabor felt that such treachery
as the natives had shown deserved the
severest punishment, and we turned
both guns loose on the village, and fired
fiorty or fifty shells. When daylight
came not a human being wu in sight.
Portions of the junk had been driven on
the beach, and tbe natives had fled and
left everything behind them. The sharks
were probably attracted to the spot by
tbe sounds of firing, and they certainly
bad a rich feast. I never saw them so
thick before nor since, and as they fished
up the bodies from the bottom around
us three or four would seize and tug at a
single one and quickly tear it to ptoces.
I was sent ashore with a flag of truce,
with four armed men to make it re
spected, and on the sands I' found the
body of one of our firemen, and not fat
off that of our cook. After some hard
work I induced tbe head man to come in
out cf the forest and talk to me. Hil
name was Wung-lfang, and a more hum
ble man I never met. lie had laid it all
to the people on the junk. Tho natives
anjong our crew had conspired with the
fei.owa at Ke-Lung to secure passage
aboard and overpower us. Whcu this
game could not be worked, owing to ths
refusal of the Captain to take them, they
followed on after us in the junk, and
found a cheerful co-operstor iu old
Wung-Hang, the trader, Ha denied
taking any part in the affair personally,
and added that he did bis best to dis
suade his people from making the attack.
His loss, according to his own figures,
was sixty odd killed, while almost every
one else was wounded or scalded. Five
men got ashore from the junk, which
had nearly fifty men aboard of her.
Wc were in a situation to take every
dollar’s worth of goods tbe old rascal
had in h'S store-houses, but Captain
Tabor bad no intention of blasting his
prestige in that fashion. Wc held the
trader to the contract already made, and
landed our goods and put his aboard.
Ue bad been soundly thrashed, and like
plenty of other men under the same cir
cumstances he respected the thrashers.
He supplied us with the best of pro
visions. detailed natives to do all our
work, and when wc were ready to leave
he supplied us with five natives, and
gave ( aptain Tabor full power to decap
itate them at the first signs ot disobe
dience. During the next three years, or
until I severed my connection with the
steamer, wc got around to the island
about once in six months, and old Wung-
Hang always had a good bit of cargo
ready for us, and would deal with no one
else. —New York Sun.
The Bnckwbent Cnke.
No dainty In
winter for breakfast sur
passes the takes made of buck
wheat a-ewm-ming in ’laseei and
sliding in butter ea yellow as gold,
and nothingis Use emto kespout the
cold. How splendid they look to exqui
sitely browned, all hot from the griddle,
made rerfe tly round by Mollis, my Mol
lle, wh ■ bakes ’em with skill and patiently
waits till I’ve eaten my fill. No wonder 1
love in tbe morning to hear the breakfast
bell ring ont Its tidings of cheer. 1 drees in
a .tidy and burry below where Mollis is
greasing ths sr (Idle, I know. Hurrah
for the winter whose frostlnen makes
an appeti e eager iur hot hues wheat
cases, which, sliding in butter and
swimming in ’lessee. Is some
thing for breakfast that
nothing sorpassee,
1L C. Donor.
—OoodalPs Sen.
Since 1870, 847 dnelahnvebeen fought
in France. A number of tha duelist*
have died—from natural causes.
TWO INVENTIONS A WEEK.
THAT 18 THE AVERAGE FOB WHICH
OVD MAN SEEKS PATENTS.
Millionaire Wcatinghonse and His
Peculidrf f les—Mrs. Westinghouse
and Her Lavish ISvpcildlr.ures.
Edison has, in the opinion of many,
been eclipsed by tho versatility of a
Pittsburg genius, says a letter from that
city in the Chicago Tribune. The ono
name that is more familiar, porhaps, than
all others in tho patent oflicoat Washing
ton City, is that of Air. George Westing
house, tho millionaire inventor whose
wondc:ful workshops make up at least
one-twelfth of the industries of this city.
His air-brake made him famous several
years ago. But it is since then that his
inventive mind has been tnoro prolific.
For the last year bis patents taken out in
tho government office have averaged two
a week—all of them of the mast Valuable
kind. Os a man whose ability to invent
can standeuch a constant drain; whose
inventions require the constant employ
ment of 5,000 men to manufacture;
whoso profits from his various patents
have swollen to between $3,C00,000 nnd
s',o 0,000 in a decade of years—many
interesting stories can be told.
Last week one of Sir. Westinghouse’s
clerks, John Sprage by name, struck a
novel idea to break the intensity of the
incandescent electric light. Jt was to
simply have the egg shaped globe made
of heavy wavy glas-. Jlr.Westingliouse
happened to notice the experiment,
quickly recognized the utility of the con
trivance, and gave Sprage t 1,033 for bis
ides. Os course in this wsy Air. Wcst
inghouse has bought up a number of
small patents which appear to the public
as his own, but the great majority of
them arc ev Jvcd in his own brain. His
most important inventions are in three
lines—viz.: the air-brake for locomo
t ves and switch nnd signal apparatus,
safety appliance for natural gas, high
speed engines and dynamos for the man
ufacture of electric-light. The King of
Belgium recently sent Air. Westinghouse
a bundle of porchment stamped with
gold and scarlet seals and bound with
yards of tape, in which the inventor
found himself titled for life ae “Sir
Knight George Westinghouse,” he being
knighted for the maoy lives saved
through tho instrumentality of his air
brake. Workshops to make the brake
arc maintained in Pittsburg, Paris, and
Berlin. Almost every railroad operating
in the United States,Europe.on the Con
tinent, in the countries of the Orient or
the Occident, pay Air. Westinghouso a
royalty for the übo of his way of utilizing
air. It will thus be seen that bis profits
from this source are princely. No other
man in the United States can show the
name of every railroad on the pages of
his ledger as debtors.
Mrs. Westinghouse is one of the re
markable women of Pennsylvania. She
spends money with a lavish hand to at
tain her happiness. Among the pur
chases her husband once made was a
cream-colored horse with beautiful
white mane and tail. Airs. Westing
house went into ccstacics over the ani
mal. She wanted a mate for it. None
could be found in Pittsburg. So she
hired a trustworthy man and sent him
ont to search for the mate of the cream -
colored horse. He was to travel until he
found it. This took him a year, but he
came back with the exact mate. No
prettier team was ever seen on the streets
ofPittsburgihantho.se two horses. A
short time afterwards one of them died.
Mrs. Westinghouse’s grief was uncon
trollable. She engaged a taxidermist at
an extravagant price and had her dead
pet stuffed. Hoofs of solid silver were
placed upon his feet, and the whole,
fastened to an elegant mahogany bod,
now stands in the stables beside the live
mate. They nre there to day and can
be seen by visitors to Homewood, tbe
name of tbe inventor’s splendid palace.
It is related of -Mrs. Westinghouse that
on another occasion she was conspicuous
in an equally prodigious expenditure of
money. It was while she was summering
at the Kaatcrskill Hotel, on the top of
the mountains, that she gave a splendid
reception. It was over at last and she
was about to retire in the morning when
she was struck by the weary, haggard
looks of all the servants who had been
compelled to do extra work on her ac
count. Her generous heart responded,
and she felt for her purse to reward them.
It had been left in her room, nnd so go
ing to the clerk of the hotel she reques
ted the loan of $1,500 until morning. “I
have only got si,loo here,” replied tbe
clerk. "Well, give me that,” said the
dashing w oman. And this whole sum
she is reported to have thrown around
among the servants.
There is at present being built at Pull
man. 111., a magnificent private car for
Mrs. Westinghouse. Sho travels a great
deal, and her husband proposes to have
something for her that will outrival in
elegance the cars of Pullman, Vander
bilt, < r Gould. Only the other day Wil
liam Timmins, a laboring-man, invented
t new kind of brake for railroad trains.
Mr. Westin-rhouse offered him $75,000
for it. bu the shrewd little Englishman
held on to his contrivance and expects
more. _____________
A Hint.
They had been sitting for a long time
iu silence. Suddenly she woke up f.rem
a reverie and said:
“It i« an age of progress, after all,
George."
“Yaa*.” bu repled, after drawing the
head of hi* cane out of his mouth; ' -but
what led you to make the remarkt”
"Well, not much." she gurgled; “but
I saw in this evening’s paper that you
can buy wedding-riags on installments.”
—Boston Courier.
The work of t Christian, as it Is de
scribed in the Bible, looks fittsr for an
angel than for a fallen man; but this
fallen, weak man has more thau the suf
ficiency of an angel for tbe discharge of
it—)>ia sufficiency it of God.—lK. Jay.
Tram $1.50 per Aim Single Copy 5 cents.
TO MY WIFE. *
Why noed you care, dear wlfs, or head
The passing of ydur oarly grace*
What though the lilies supersede
The springtime roses of jrour fare?
What though the azure of your eyes
Has mellowed to a softer blue)
The fairest tlntv that deck the skies
Are caught from twilight's fading hue.
Why should tho ripened fruit regret
Its rammer bloom, howe’er so fair?
Why noed you sigh, though Time should- (o'
His crown of silver on your hair?
The sweetest fragrance of the rose
Is from its fading petals pressed,
And Nature spreads her earliest snows
Above the flowers she loves the best
What care we for the vanished years,
Save for the fruit their summers brought-
Wbat care we for our fallen tears,
Save for the rainbows on them wrought;
Why should we mourn tho joys we shared.
Or see them perish with regret,
Since on the fruit our hearts have fared,
And memory keeps the rainbows yet!
Wbat though our winter time has come, f
And summer’s buds and blooms expire)
Love ha h au ever radiant home,
And bids us welcome to its firs.
He dwelt with us through all tbe spring;
We sheltered him from summer’s beat;
Now at his hearth we’ll sit and sing,
And let the wintry tempest beat.
—Lee O. Harris.
HUMOR OF THE DAY.
Fine language—Ten dollars and costa
Tho time when the cold water party
largely predominated—During tbe flood.
Vail.
If every man was as big as he feels
there couldn't be standing room in this
country.— Newman Independent.
A man is like a razor because you can't
tell how sharp he can be until he is com
pletely strapped. —Danse ille Breeze.
Tbe greatest reformer of the age was
the inventor of the bustle, which has
re-formed nearly every woman.—Phila
delphia Herald.
An exchange observes: “We owe
much , to foreigners,” from which we
infer that the editor has not paid his
hired girl.— New Ilaten News.
The epidemic of pugilism is calculated
to make the weary newspaper reader wish
that even the baseball season might come
again.— Philadelphia Times.
A writer says that “kind words are
never lost.” How is it when your wife
puts them in a letter and gives them to
you to mail?— Burlington Free Press.
The question of the hour may hold
Much mad contention in it,
But is reduced, when all is told,
To moment and to minute.
—Sifilngs.
A Maine minister was recently tread
by a bear and kept there for an hour.
He says he will never preach a long ser
mon again in his life.— Burlington Free
Press.
Why, Chawley,” drawled Gus de Flip
kins to his chum, C. Percy Giddibraine,
“where’s your watch?” “Oh, I couldn’t
stand it,” he replied, “the beastly tick
ing shattered my nerves ” — Tid-Bits.
A Michigan ex-soldier has declined to
receive his pension any longer be
cause he has got well. It is rumored
that he will be given another pension
now on the ground of insanity.— Call.
Mrs. Bigsby—My husband just detesta
cabbage. Why do you suppose ho is so
prejudiced against it? Airs. Blobson—-I
imagine he takes too much of it in his
cigars, my dear.— Burlington Free Press.
Doctor—“ What ails you, sir?” Patient
—“I don’t know, doctor; I have such a
buzzing sound in my ears all the time.
Would you like to look at my tongue?"
Doctor—“No, never mind; hring your
wifo around some day; I’d liko to look
at hers.”— Statesman.
“Would you say tho poultry is very
tender or the fowl is vevy tender?” asked
the boarding house mistress of ono of her
victims tho other day at dinner.
“Neither,” was the reply. “What,
then, would you say:" “I’d say tho
chicken it mighty tough?” came from
the boarder with emphasis. Statesman.
Curious Effects of a Wasp Sting
A Missouri physician, writing to the
Medical and Survival Beporter, says: On
the 31st of October last, as I was sitting
in church during night services, tho
weather being rather cool, a rod wasp
which had been roused by the warmth,
fell from the ceiiing, and becoming en
tangled in my whiskers, stung me twice
in the throat, bene i(h the angle of the
lower aw-bone, in or near the fubraat
ilary gland of the right side. The pain
for a minute or two was intense, imme
dia'ely followed by a peculiar taste,
which can only be described by saying
that it was a Singular combination of
palatal and nasal sensation, such as is
noticed whan a nest of these wasps is
disturbed and they dart about through
the air. But the circumstance which
most attracts attention, and which I
consider the curious point, ii the dura
tion of the sensation: for a week it was
constant and very annoying: it then be
came iutcrm.ttent, but very pungent
whenevei 1 was bested by exerci-o or
approached a hot fire. It is impossible
to explain how much discora ort re
sulted irom it It has gr:dua!ly grown
le-s ob ervable. 111 >4 the present time
I do not r-cognize it more then ouce a
wee*, and then only in a hot room.
A Wlater Night
Within tbe grate a bright fire glowing
Around its ruddy comiort throwing;
A single rocking chair;
A hand, a soft aad white band pressing,
An arm a slender waist caressing,
A hoed with rippling hair
Contented on e shoulder lying.
On wings of biles the moments flying—
Ah: Who would pot be there!
—Boston Courier,