THE CHARLOTTE MESSENGER.
VOL. 111. NO. .31
THE
Charlotte Messengre
IS PUBLISHED
Every Saturday,
AT
CHARLOTTE, N. C.
In the Interests of the Colored People
of the Country.
Able and well-known writers will contrib
ute to its columns from different parte of the
country, and it will contain the latest Gen
oral Hows of the day.
Thk Messenger is a first class newspaper
and will not allow personal abuse in its col
umns. It is not sectarian or partisan, but
independent—dealing fairly by all. It re
serves the righ tto criticise the shortcomings
of all public officials—commending the
worthy, and recommending for election such
men as in its opinion are best suited to serve
the interests of the people.
It is intended to supply the long felt need
of a newspaper to adVocate the rights and
defend the interests of; the Negro American,
especially in the Piedmont section of the
Carolines.
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
(Always in Advance.)
1 year - - - |] .50
8 months - - - 100
0 months ... 75
4 months 50
3 months - - - 40
Address,
W.C. SMITH, Charlotte NC,
There is a sexton in West Springfield,
Mass., who deserves a notice because ho
knows the value of ventilation and how
ti secure it. The other evening, when
the prayer meeting room was well filled
and t'e air became bad, he waited for a
1 au-e in the services, end then said if
the congregation would all arise fora!
few moments he would ventilate the j
room. They arose, and he opened win- !
'lows and doois, let bad air out and good
air in, and then the congregation sat
down, feeling better, and the services
went on briskly.
Franco now has a total debt of about
$7,200,000,000, or twice aa large as that
of the United States at the close of the
war, and six times as large aa our pres
ent interest bearing debt. The French
debt is nearly S2Q9 per head of her pop
ulation, while that of the United States
is less than S2O per head. There is an
interest charge of $140,000,000 a year,
besides annuities and other burdens not
clearly stated, amounting to nesrlyjat
much more. The annual revenue wrung
from the people is $650,4)00,000, and yet
this is insufficient to meet the necessities
of the government.
A well at Yakutsk, in Siberia, has
been a standing puzzle to scientists for
many years. It was begun in 1828, but
given up at thirty feet because it was
still in frozen errth. Then the Russian
Academy of Science* cottinued for some
months the work of deepening the well,
but stopped when it hul reached to flic
extent of some 082 feet, when the ground
was still frozen as hard as a rock. In
1 -41 the Academy hid the temperature
of the excavation carefully taken at va
rious depths, and from the data thus ob
tained the ground was estimated to be
frozen to a depth of 012 feet. As ex
ternal cold could not freeze the earth to
such a depth, even in Siberia, geologists
have concluded that the well has pene
11aied a frozen formation of the glacial
period which has never thawed out.
Minnesota is growing at a wonderful
rate. The census of 1885 gave her a
population of 1,117,798, which was a
gain of forty-three por cent, during the
five years succeeding 1880, and the
assessment of real and personal estate in
creased from $371,158,961 in 1831 to
$453,424,777—8 gain of sixty nine per
cent, in five years. If this ratio contin
ues during the remainder of the decade,
1890 will show nearly twice as many
people and much moro than twice as
much wealth as 1880. Minnesota is
commonly regarded solely as an agricul-'
tural Male, but she is already beginning
to suffer from the evils of great cities,
ht. Paul and Minneapolis between them
contain more than one-fifth of all the
people, and wield far more than there
proportional share of influence in public
r.ffairs, .
The New Zealand Herald states that
the layer of ashes which covers so many
miles of that country will not, as was at
first feared, choke and kill every blade
of grass, but will probably act in time
as a valuable fertilizing agent. Already
the grass is in many places growing up
thiough the dust; but the ash has been
submitted to experiment, and is found
to be really nouriahing to planta grown
in it. A resident chemist obtained sev
eral samples of the volcanic dust, and
sowed in it grass and clover aeeds, and
kept them moistened with distilled
water. In each case, we ere told, the
seedling plants have come op well and
arc growing vigorously; it is therefore
hxped that those districts which have re
ceived only a light covering of this
dicaded duet will find that the visitation
will in the end pmve beneficial to their
trope.
CHARLOTTE, N. C. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1887.
afterward,
I headlessly opened the cage
And suffered my bird to go free;
And, though I besought it with tears to re
turn,
It nevermore came back to me.
It neats in the wildwood, and heeds not ms
call,
O tho bird once at liberty, who can enthrall
X hastily opened my lipe,
And uttered a word of disdain
That wounded a friend, and forever estrange!
A heart I would die to regain.
But the bird onoe at liborty, who can en
thr-.ll!
And th« word that's once spoken, O who cat
recall!
Virginia B. Harrison, in Independent.
THE CASHIER’S STORY.
BY ALFRED B. TOZER.
*‘l have tried time and again to rcasor
myself out of it. I don’t like the ideaol
going through life acknowledging that
I am indebted to the supernatural for my
very existence. I have never believee
in the supernatural. lam not going tc
believe in it now if I can find any othei
way of accounting for my being here,
instead of at the foot of a gravestone out
on the hill jondcr.”
We had been discussing spiritualism
before the opeu fire in Charley’s room,
and had drifted from arguments on the
condition of the dead to tho relation oi
incidents of a mysterious character in
fluencing tho lives of the living.
‘T don’t like to figure as a creature of
tho mysterious,” Charley continued,
‘‘because it seems to commit me to a be
lief in ail sorts of outlandish and un
natural things—to incloso me in an at
mosphere altogether unearthly; but my
only relief seems to lie in an utter re
l pudiation of an occurrence too real and
| too productive of practical results to be
| repudiated, so you see lam in a good
I deal of a mesa over it.”
Now, Charley is one of tho most mat
ter-of-fact of men. At tho down-town
bank where he holds the position ol
cashier, such an admission on his part
would have produced a sensation. In
the familiar circle where he sat that night
it only provoked curiosity. This curi
osity he at once proceeded to satisfy, be
ginning with an abrupt question:
“Do you remember the night of the
15th of March?”
No one seemed to remember, for no
one answered.
“That’s singular,” he said, after a mo
ment's silence. “At the same time you
all took a great interest jn at least one
of the occurrences of that night. I refer
to theattempted bank-robbery.”
Certainly; wo all remembered that.
We lipd simply failed to locate it on the
date given—the night of tho loth of
March.
“Well.when I left the bank that even
ing,” Charley continued, “I was accom
panied by Dick Munson, the paying-tell
er— u pale, nervous little fellow, with a
memory for fscefc and signatures almost
phenomenal, and an instinctive ability
to detect fraud. We stopped on the
bank-steps for a moment to speak to a
customer, and then passed on up the
street together. His rooms are aboutlralf
a mile further out than mine, and when
we were kept at the bank later than us
ual, as on that occasion, we frequently
dined together at a neat little restaurant
not far from my chambers. Wo did so
that night, occupying a table alone in a
small alcove tronr which a window
looked out upon a side street.
“Wo were well through the meal, when
Dick called my attention to the figure of
a man standing on the outer edge of the
walk, nnd facing across the side street.
“ ‘Do you remember having seen that
person boforc this evening?’ he asked.
"I glanced up carelessly, and replied
that, to the best of my recollection, I
then saw the man for the first time.
" ‘Then,’ he added, nervously, ‘note
some peculiarity in dress or attitude, so
you will know if you sec him agaiu.
Wait; the face is the best index. He
may turn this way in a moment.”*
“As though influenced by our rigid
scrutiny, the man on the walk turned al
most before Dick had done speaking,
and faced the window where we sat.
“ ‘Don’t look now,” Dick said, turning
his own eyo-i nway. ‘He is watching us.
When you do look, notice the upper
portion of his lace. People of his kind
usually point out their peculiarities by
trying to hide them. Look sharp under
the rim of the slouch list he wears for
some distinguishing mark.'
“While the teller was speaking, I
caught a full view of the man’s face, j
The eyebrows were very thick and black, i
and came close together. There was no :
arch to speak off, and the general effect
was that of a straight, unbroken line
crossing the lower forehead. It was a
face not easily forgotten.
“ ‘I thought you would find some
thing there,’ Dick said, when I told him
what I had seen. ‘I was not quick
enough to see the fellow’s face, but I
should have known him anywhere. Ho
stood in front of the bank-steps when we
stopped there to-night, and has kept us
in light nearly ail the way up. Ulricas
he is frightened off wc shall hear from
him before long.’
“I laughed heartily at Dick’s view of
ths matter, and nothing more was said
on tho subject until we reached my
rooms. Then, placing his hand on my
arm, he exclaimed:
“ ‘I esn’t get over what we were talk
ing about at the restaurant. I can’t get
that slouching figure on the edge of the
walk out of my mind. Let me remind
you once more to look sharp for that face
wherever you go. Good-night.’
“He was off before I co dd make any
reply, and I went on up stain, laughing
Juietiy at what I considered the nervoue
ears of a tirid-out and naturally sus
picion < man.
“On my sitting-room table I found n
note reminding me of an important en
gagement in another part of the city, and
left hurriedly. To this day tbs janitor]
insists that I loft my door unlocked, but
lam positive that 1 did not. Not long
after my departure, howercr, he found
it ajar, looked carelessly through the
rooms, saw that I wa i not there, and
locked it. Had he been more thorough
in his search ho would doubtless have
saved me a very strange experience.
“It was midnight when I returned to
my rooms. The gas was burning dimly in
in the sitting-room, but tho sleeping-room 1
beyond it was in total darkness. Opening
from the sleeping-room was a large bath
room, and adjoining this was a large
clothes-closet. I locked the door os
usual, turned off the gas, and went to
bed, as I frequently did, without strik
ing a light in the sleeping-room or open-l
ing the doors leading to the bathroom
and closet. I was tired,! and fell asleep
immediately.
“How long I slept soundly I cannot
teli. lam utterly unable to describe the
first sensations I experienced. Dimly,
and afar off, I heard Dick Munson’s
voice, speaking as though in terrible
fear or lrom out an overpowering night
mare.
“At first the sounds came to me like a
voice muffled by the walls of a close
room, and conveyed to my mind no dis
tinct form of words. Bqt the tone was
one of warning, and told me as plainly
ts words could have done that I was in
deadly peril of some kind.
“After atime the voice ceased, and I
heard, as plainly as I now hear the rum
bling of wheels outside,the rapping of a
private signal known only to Dick and
myself, and used only in the bank when
he desired to attract my attention to any
face or suspicious circumstance in front
of his window. This was repeated sev
eral times. Then I heard the voice again,
clear nnd distinct this time, as though a
door or window had been opened in the
room from which it proceeded.
“There was no mistaking the words
this time. I heard them over and over
again, as one hears words in vivid
urcams: 'i.ock tne bathroom door! I
can’t get that slouching figure out of my
mind I’ With the words came aAeeling
which I cannot describe, but which you
hove, doubtless, nil experienced—a sen
sation of immediate personal danger
coupled with a physical inability to con
trol a muscle to meet it.
“The words and the private signal al
ternated many timo3, and then I heard a
crash—such a crash ns would follow tho
falling of a heavy windoxv-snsh.
“Absolue silence followed, aad with
the silense came a sense of physical de
pression, as though a current of elec
tricity which had wrought my nerves to
their utmost tension had suddenly been
withdrawn.
“I awoke instantly. When I say I
awoke, I mean that I awoke to a con
sciousness of the things immediately
about me, for it is my “belief that my
mental condition previous to that time
cannot be expressed or described by the
word sleep.
“I heard the City Hall clock strike
one, and tried to sleep again, but could
not do so. I could think of nothing but
the slouching figure I had seen early in 1
the evening on the outer edge of the
walk; I found it impossible to forget the
mysterious words warning me to lock
the bathroom door I
“I should have got out of bed and
mado a tour of the bathroom and closet,
only it occurred to me it would boa
rather ridiculous thiDg to do. Men who
pride themselves on a practical turn of
mind digUne to do ridiculous things,
even when alone. Besides, notwith
standing the effect produced upon me
by what I had heard, I regarded the mat
ter ns an unusually clear cut dream, and
was net in the least alarmed. The longer
I lay awake the more thoroughly dia I
become convinced that the nervous sus
picions of the paying-teller were alon# j
responsible for my losing a good hour of i
sleep, and I resolved to make up for lost '
time as soon as possible by turning over
for another nap.
“If I had not, as n preliminary step to
the resolve so formed, raised myself in
bed and made a groat noise beating up
nnd rearranging my pillows, perhaps tho
most trying portion of that night's ex
perience would have been spared me.
Be that as it my, the fact remains that
before I had arranged my pillows to my
liking my attention was diverted from
toy task by three rather starting objects.
“The first was a dark-lantern pouring
its round red rays full in mv face. The
second was an unusually long and un
naturally bright self-cocking revolver lo
cated within six inches of my nose. The
third was a particularly villainous face,
with thick, black cyebrowa running to
gether above the nose, forming no arch
to speak of, and producing the general
effect of a straight, unbroken line cross
ing the lower forehead!
“Was I frightened? Yes; but.l scarcely
think my fright took the usual form. I
knew in an instant, as well as I know
now, that it was not my life, nor the
trifling amount of money he might find
in my roqni. that the intruder wanted. I
recognized his presence there as part of
a well-laid plan tj rob the bank. The
intruder's first words confirmed my sus
picions.
“ ‘Get up and dress yourself,’ he said,
in a whisper. ‘Wc want you at the bank.
If you value your life, be quick about it,
and make no noise.’
“The man's arguments were unanswer
able, anil I obeyed.
•‘ ‘You are to go with me to the bank,’
ho said, holding his weapon close to my
hcAd as I dressed, ‘and open tho vault.
Tho first movement you make to escape
or call assistance will be your last. My
mates are below. If I miss my aim, thoy
will not. If wc meet an officer at tho
bank, or on the way there, and you arc
ques'ioned, you arc to say that you want
important papors left on your desk, end
pass on. You will not be harmad. We
want money, and not hnman life. Do
you understand 1’
• ‘ln a short time I was at the outer
doer of my sitting-room dressed for the
street. Nevor for an instant, in all my
journeys about the room to secure my
clothes, had the threatening weapon been
removed from the close position of my
waking moment. Still, I had not
abandoned all hope. Surely, between
my rooms and the bank, some opportu
nity for escape would present itself. I
bad no intention of unlocking the vault.
At the last moment I should nave risked
a few shots from the robbers’ revolvers.
“My escort unKtked the sitting-room
door and paused with his hand on the
knob. At that instant a sound of foot
steps was heard on the stairs, the key
was quietly turned in the lock, and I
felt for the first time the cold rim. of a
revolver on my temple. The steps passed
my door, and the weapon was lowered.
You all know what followed. Before
the weapon could be raised again, the
door fell in with a crash, nnd the robber,
who stood directly in front of it, was
clubbed to the floor and handcuffed by
a squad of policemen led by the paying
teller!
“Dick did not return to his own
chambers that night. We spent the time
until daylight in my sitting-room. At
first he absolutely refused to explain his
sudden appearance with the officers, for
Dick is a hard-headed sort of a fellow,
who scouts everything that cannot be
demonstrated by set rulos nnd figures;
but finally he fairly unbosomed himself,
telling his story before I had even given
a hint of my own mysterious experiences.
“‘I slept "soundly until nearly 1
o’clock,’ he said, with the air of a man
who expects to be laughed at, ’and then
I passed into a strange trance-like
dream. In that dream I saw, as plainly
as I ever saw it in my life, the interior of
your bath-room, and seated at the foot
of the tub, where the opening door would
have concealed him from any one look
ing in, I saw the man we had last seen
opposite the window where we dined. I
recognized at once the slouching figure
and the level line of eyebrows he then at
tempted to hide beneath the rim of his
slouch hat.
“ ‘There was no light in the bath
room, or anywhere about the apartment,
but I had no difficulty in tracing every
Hue of his face, nor in seeing you sound
asleep in your bed. My mind at once
became filled with the one idea that you
were in danger. In my sleep I called
oat to you to lock the batliroom-door,
and warned you that I could not get
the slouching figure we had 6een on the
edge of the walk out of my mind I I could
not make you hear. In my alarm I even
save the private signal we use at the
ank. I actually awoke to find myself
sounding it on the head of my bed. and
repeating over and over again the words
I have told you of speaking.
“‘I laughed at myself for a supersti
tious idiot, and went to sleep again, only
to renew the experiences described—to
see the slouching figure in the bathroom,
and to repeat my cries of warning and
the private signa!. I awoke again, to
find myself stauding by my open window
(I must have raised it in my sleep, for I
closed it on retiring), sounding the pri
vate signal on the sash and repeating the
warning words. How long I should
have remained there I cannot say. My
blows on the sash must have loosened
the catch, for the window fell with a
crash. In a moment I heard the City
Hall clock strike one.
“ ‘I was now thoroughly awake, but I
could not drive from my mind the im
pressions created by my singular dreams.
Fcrhaps I should have gone to bed again
only for the fact that the figure my
dream had shown me in your apartment
waß the same I had warned you against
on parting with you for the night. I re
solved to dress myself and seek you is
your rooms.
“I was ashamed to come to your door
openly at that time of night, with no ex
cuse to offer for my presence save such a
‘ one as any old woman would have
[ laughed at, so I crept upstairs like a spy
end listened. I saw the flash of the dark
lantern at the threshold. I heard enough
to satisfy me that something was wrong.
! So I went for the police.’ ” — Frank Leo
\ Wu.
“Woodite”
Woodite is a name suggested for a
new compound of caoutchouc invented
in England. This novel material pos
sesses all the elasticity of india rubber,
with the additional advantage of being
uninflammable and uninjurable by salt
water. It does not suffer deterioration if
exposed to the weather and cannot pos
sibly be set Oi. tire. The most prominent
use for woodite is as a covering Ur men
of-war and torpedo boats." It has the
quality of allowing a projectile to pass
through it without inflicting upon it
moro than a small puncture. The ma
terial around the hole gives way to per
mit the passage of a shot, and immedi
ately returns to its old position, closing
the hole so completely that there remains
nothing but a spot on either surface,
into which s load pencil can be pushed
with difficulty, but which is impervious
to water.
At Hartford, in the course of some ex
periments, three six-pound solid shots
two and one-half inches in diameter were
fired at right angles at a target formed
of thirty six eight inch tubes of woodite,
mounted on a two and one-eighth inch
wrought iron plate. AH passed com
pletely through, punching pieces out of
the back plate, but the woodite suffered
so little injury that close scrutiny was
required to find the marks of the shots,
which arc only one-quarter inch to three
eights inch in diameter and are perfectly
closed. The material may be applied at
a lining for partitions in vessels and
many other purposes.— Hew York Mail
and Express.
There are 25,810 doctors in Great
Britain, or one for every 1,350 inhabi
tants. In France the proportion ii one
for 1,400; in Austria, Germany, and Nor
way, one for every 1,500; in the United
(-tales, one for every 600, while in Hua
•ia there la only one for 5,226.
SELECT SIFTINGS.
Martin Luther’s followers received the
name Protestants in 1529.
Silkworms were brought from Europo
as early as the sixth century.
It is estimated that over 500,000 alliga
tors are killed annually for their skin'.
It is now told of the Duke of Norfolk
that he would cat at one time food
enough for five persons.
A barrel of kerosene oil buried ten feet
underground will contaminate every well
within a quarter of a mile, and the oil
will be apparent to the taste.
The nearest approach to the north
polo, mado by Lieutenant Lockwood on
May 13, 1882, was 396 miles, or a dis
tance no grenter than from Albany to
Washington.
A man in Ontario can repeat perfectly
160 chapters of the Bible, fifty-eight
psalms and every collect, epistle and
gospel in the ecclesiastical year, accord
ing to the English Church Prayer-Book.
There are 172 specimens of blind crea
tures known to science, including cray
fish, myriapods, etc. They are mostly
white, whether from lack of stimulus of
the light, or from bleaching out of the
skin. (Some species have small eyes and
some have none.
The theatre with its tragedies and
comedies, the circus and the amphithea
ter supplied the Romans with their chief
public amusements. At the circus they
betted on their favorite horses or char
ioteers.and at the amphitheatre they rev
elled in the bloody combats of gladi
ators, the most brutal of all the Homan
pastimes.
Tho old State House is an ancient edi
fice in Boston, originally used for the
sessions of the colonial legislature. It
was built in 1748. In 1770 occurred the
affair between the British guard sta
tioned in this building and the citizens,
which is known as the “Boston Mas
sacre.” The building is now used for
business purposes.
In California, writes a correspondent,
evaS-y collection of animals of any sort is
called n “band.” A heard of cattle, a
flock of sheep, a party of Indians—any
thing and everything that walks—when
seen in numbers, is known as a band,
and it is regarded as a sure sign of be
ing a “tenderfoot” to use any other term.
Cards are supposed to be of Asiatic
origin. The most ancient form of cards
are still used in the French game of
tarots, a name derived from the Arabic.
The game originally had religious,
necromantic and scientific associations.
The first game of cards of which we have
historical record w as called Landsknecht.
It was played in Germany in 1275.
How to Retain Health.
It is impossible to lay down any rules
for health which may be followed safely
by all persons. Health depends largely
upon the diet. Some people can not eat
newly baked bread; others can not eat
it when it is stale. Much fresh meat,
with some constitutions, induces fullness
of the head and a feverish state of the
system, because it makes blood too fast.
It should, therefore, be discarded and a
little salt meat or fish, if the appetite
craves It, with fresh fruit and vegetables,
will be found, probably, to be just what
the system requires. In truth, with
health as in many other things, each per
son must be a law unto himself. In
acute or intricate cases physicians are
necessary, but in many minor matters
they can not decide. It is true that what
is “one man’s meat may be another man's
poison,” and a little poisoning now and
then seems indispensable to teach us our
individual physical as well as mental
id iosyncracies. Experience thus gained,
if not carried to such an excess as to
prove too severe a schoolmaster, will be
of more value through life than all the
doctors in Christendom—with all respect
be it spoken—besides caving many a long
bill at the drug store. Children should
be taught at an early period of life to
avoid the use of condiments. Their
food should be plentiful but simple.
Many a mother will give her very young
children rich food— pastry, cake, and
sauces, and condiments of the most in
digestible or fiery kind—and tell you her
children are healthy, and nothing hurts
them. Perhaps the injury is not appar
ent at first, but it will not be long before
headaches, indigestion of the most se
rious character, dyspepsia, fixed for life,
disproves the truth of her opinions.
Hall’s Journal of Health,
Afternoon Teas in Washington.
One is constantly reading that the af
ternoon tea is going out of stylo and no
longer en_oys the favor of high society,
but in Wasliington it rages lik - an epi
demic this year. For people with small
bouses and large visiting lists it is the
only practicable way of entertaining, and
here where men are scarce and particu
larly hard to coax up to evening enter
tainments, the afternoon tea is a boon
for the women who like to go and to be
in crowds. There were six teas on one
afternoon lately, and the combination
drew out every one, and made the com
ing and going particularly brisk at
ca.-h house The doctors are entering
protests against the ufternoon tea and it
will soon be posted as one of the "dead
ly” things that people delight in and
keep on doing. Women with neuralgiac
tendencies, and the long list of those
with throats that go off in asthma,
bronchitis and hoarseness are warned
against tho overheated, gas lighted
rooms, whore the air is never frc-li. They
arc more particularly warned against the
currents of air that are always sweep'ng
through the room*, of staying in the hot
looms with heavy wraps on, and against
the danger of going suddenly out into
the cold air. The medical men's warn
ing gives the tea a spice of danger and
prohibition that makes It quite exciting
nnd moves it up into the realms ol
things denounced.— Washington Letter.
Terms. $l5O per AmmnL Single Copy 5 cents.
DEATH.
Ob Death, the Consocratorl
Nothing so sanctifies a name,
As to be written—dead!
Nothing so wins a life from blame,
So covers it from wrath and shams.
As dees the burial bed.
Ob Death, the Revelator!
Our deepest passiens never move,
Till thou hast bid thorn wake.
We know not half how much we love.
Till all below and all above.
Is shrouded for our sake.
Oh Death, the great Peacemaker!
If enmity have come between,
There's naught like death to heal it
And if we love, oh priceless pain,
Oh bitter-sweet, when love is vain.
There's naught like death to seal it
—Carl Spencer
HUMOR OF THE DAY.
Maud S. has a stride of fifteen feet.
That of a man dodging his bills is thirty.
— Goodall’s Sun.
It is strange, but true, that a woman
with a new bonnet always carries her
parasol closed. —Hew Haten News.
It is bad enough to break party ties,
but it isn’t half so embarrassing as to
have them work around undar your ear.
—Burlington Free Press.
The rockers on a chair never stick out
half so far behind at any other time as
when a man is prowling around in the
derk barefooted. —DansriUe Breast.
Jailor —“Hellos, fellow! I’ve seen
you here three or four times.” Frisoner
—“Well, what of that? I’ve seen you
here just as often.” — Harper's Bazar.
‘•When does a man weigh most?” is
the heading of an article in a health jour
nal. That is an 'easy one. He weighs
most when he steps on a fellow’s corns.
—Siftings.
France makes about 1J)0,000 quarts of
champagne every year. One million
quarts are shippod to England and the
other 8,000,000 come to this country.
That’s what makes champagne dear.—
Philadelphia Call.
Did you overdo some work, sir!
At which you did not shirk, sir?
And just do it to the letter.
But some other fellow came in view.
And gravely told to you.
That he could do it ten times better!
(loodalCs Sun.
Some one asks if the early man was a
savage. We can’t say very much for the
early man, but the man who comes puf
fing into the station ten minutes after
the train has left generally has tho ap
pearance of one. — Statesman.
A Harvard professor has made the cal
culation that if men were really as big as
they sometimes feel, there would be
room in the United States fdr only two
professors, three lawyers, two doctors,
nnd a reporter on a Philadelphia paper.
The rest of us would be crowded into
the sea and have to swim for it. —Detroit
Free Press.
Severed Fingers.
We have spoken of skin-grafting—the
process by which bits of skin from
healthy parts of the body, or from the
body of some self-sacrificing friend, are
transferred to an ugly ulcer, or an ex
tensive and deep burn, and which, be
coming centres of healthy growth, pro
mote the healing, otherwise doubtfuL
We have also sjioken of sponge-grafting,
in which pieces of sponge arc introduced
into gaping wounds, and with the blood
clot that fills the interstices, are rapidly
organized into flesh with all its proper
nerves and vessels.
More lately it has been found that
bone-grafting is a possibility for healing
and restoration of destroyed bone, bits
being used somewhat os bits of skin are
used in skin-grafting. In the first in
stance, the physician was able to employ
bone from the severed leg of a child;
subsequently he used with equal success
bits from a kid killed for the purpose.
This method will need further testing.
But it lias long been known that where
a portion of a bone —it may be a largo
portion—has been lost, the intermediate
space will fill up with new bone, and
fully reunite the severed parts, provided
the limb iq kept fully extended. For
this, however, it is necessary that the
thin membrane which covers the bone
(periosteum) should have remained
sound.
In the Boston Medical and Surgical
Journal, a few months ago. Dr. Bouther,
of Worcester, told of a young man who
brought to him a severed part of his
little finger, wrapped up in his handker
chief. The doctor adjusted the piece—
it was three quarters of an inch in
length—and, much to his surprise, the
parts grew together, and the circulation
was renewed.
More recently a surgeon of Burdett.
New York, has given a still more signal
case.
He was called to a boy. three of whose
fingers had be n cut off by an axe. It
was three or four hours before he reached
the boy. The fingers were cut cleag off
from the middle joint of the first finger
to tho root of the nail of the third.
While dressing them, the grandmother,
brought in the fingers, which she bad
ju9t found in the snow.
Against his own convictions, he con
sented to try to save them. He suc
ceeded, and saved all except about one
half the joint of the first finger, in which
the blood failed to circulate. The boy
regained the free use of the severed fin
gers. Youth's Companion.
Keeping • Diary.
—ln Jan. in diarist we writs;
In Feb. the Mine we often slight;
In March the labor seems too fine;
la April—here and there • line.
In May the task is given o'er
And diaries are deemed a bore;
And so'twill be, each New Year's ran
Will find new diaries begun;
But far too soon they'll have their day,
And vanish in the mists of May.
—OaodaWs Sun.