iiie
E. L. 0. WAED, Editor kud Proprietor.
:The Organ of the Roanoke and Albemarle Sections.
: ' ' - ' - " ii
MURFREESBORO, X. C, TIIUBSDAyL AUGUST 23
VOL. II.
! H SUBSOEIPTIOKJ $2 nei Aimum. in Advance.
" f1 ) 1 .
- -- 1 . LLJ : L. ii
; i l - - if (it
: : i
..1877. .; :!. r , i i -l :.H : no. 43. .j I
WE1RY.-
Somehow the thought to-day
Seems sweet to me, !
That should a still voice Bay
'Tm calling thee." I ,
As ne'er before I'd go
lake one all blest
Gad to be chosen now
And know the rest.
Glad, for the burdens grow
Heavy to bear; '
Over the night of woe
No dawn breaks fair ;
For climbing upward ways
Still, still I fall; M .
And when my voice would praise
Grief bushes all.
Not that the woi k is done
God gave to me.
Not that through victories won
From sin I'm free,
But on Ufa's thorny road
Peace is unknown ;
I've weary grown.
i
Weary, I want to rest
Close, close by Thee,
And with the happy blest
Thy face to see ; "
With tnem to sing aright
Thy dear, dear love ;
All sin, and grief, and night,
Far, far above.
A Lesson In Fractions.
It was such a blow to me-r$uch a
bitter, overwhelming blow! I had been
so comfortable and happy since the
school-master boarded with me The
' big front chamber had been sd grim
rand ghostly always shut up and ejnipty
It was our spare room when poor, (dear
Charley was alive, but now that l! was
a widow and poor, it was a needless
luxury to keep a guest-chamber. !Nbne
of our old friends cared to visit m$ how ;
just when I needed them most, when I
was lortely and sad, and miserable, and
refused to come. But when Mr. Slade
took the room, I didn't grieve about the
loss of friends. It seemed odd to have
money for the guest-chamber, but the
way that I was situated reconcile!! me
ro the thought very speedily indeed.
Then when mv bov Charlev got into
that scrape at school, I should jusltjhave
died if it had been any body but .Mr.
Slade. 'III
"Madame." said he. "vour boy is
mischievous very mischievous."
"Yes,: Sir," I said meekly.
"And to Extend a rope in such a man
ner that the unconscious heels his
teacher shall be tripped up there; p; to
rill the hat of his instructor with siones;
to put wax upon the bench, so tha t the
tails of his coat may adhere to the js tacky
substance, and thus come to grhjl'j all
these things are very reprehensible,
madam, and merit a condign piiriish
ment. "Yes, Sir," I replied, and wiped away
my regretful tears. I knew ; what was
coming. Either Charley would jbjs ex
pelled from the school or dreadfully
beaten. by this injured man. It waij bet
ter, to have him beaten than expelled,
but either was horrible. j.
"Please don't expel him Mr,. S
ade,"
I said. "He must be punished, of
course ; but please don't beat
hard."
"I shall not beat him at all,
him very
i f
l
he
fsaid.
" "Don't expel him," I entre&ted.
"Xor expel him," he replied!
"If
vou'll leave the boy to me, there
will
be no further trouble. He has a?
irood
heart and an open, generous, manly
nature. I will appeal to tnese, mjaaam,
if you'll allow me. I think we cap get
along with Charley if we take the; right
way." ; '
'Oh, Mr. Slade," I said, "howjifioble
you are! how generous! how magna
nimous! I think heaven was gjoiod to
send me such a a boarder." ""j J
He grew a little red under 1 iy praise,
and, as it was school-time, bokvedj -himself
out ; but really he looked lilj:e an
archangel to me as he walked down the
street. Of course the simile wa ab
surd. He was tall and lean anid un
gainly; the tails of his long coat did
not flap as gracefully as many aether
coat close by. Charley sail hejjwas
knock-kneed; perhaps he was; 11 don't
know what the term means.
lie imight
have been knock-kneed, but
to me he
was all that was desirable in manD
The way he managed Chapeyi Rafter
that was miraculous ; there is nd pither
word for ft. The boy was asj wilq.' and
untamable as a young colt when Mr.
Slade took hold of him, and shortly
afterward tie was the : most I trajcjtable
and orderlv of mortals. I could, see.
though, the time and trouble it qcjst to
work such wronders with him. la
the
and
spring: they went fishing: together!
Mr. Slade taught Charlie how to manage
his hook and line, and wheedle thejpoor
little fish to his bait. In midsummer
they got up a collection of beetles and
bugs and butterflies and all sojrks of
things. It was terrible to the potoir in
sets, I suppose; but oh, dear Ilejayen!
What a rest and comfort it was to me to
have Charley amused and kept ptlt of
trouble! ' ' . ! ?'
I began to rest on Mr.-Slade, tcf con
fide in him, to ask his advice, aha In
variably take it, upon all occasions), to
gratefully talte advantage of his knack
in repairing things about the house,
and putting- in order troublesome do
mestic utensils. He always put up the
shade? in house-cleaning time, and hung
the pictures; and what I should have
done without him that time the ma
chine got out of order, Heaven only
knows. I had a dress to finish for Mrs.
Chappel, and was working away, when
all at once the machine began to squeak
dreadfully. It was a rasping note, fit
to raise the hair "on one's head, and mine
had ached all the morning. I oiled it
and fussed at it. but all to no purpose;
it squeaked all the more. And, to crown
all, the nice pumpkin pie I had made
for Mr Slade's luncheon was burned to
a crisp. I smelled it, and rushed, to the
stove, but too late. It was a nasty black
ruin, andiljust sat down and cried over
it. It; seemed to me so sad and terrible,
that t wanted to lay dovvn and die,
when ;-in? walked Mr. Slade to his
luncheon.
"It' no use coming in," I said. "
don't know haw you can stand board
ing here, anyway. I'm such a miserable
housekeeper. It would be so much
better .if Charley and I were dead !"
"What has happened V" said Mr.
Slade; and I was ashamed when I saw
a look of alarm on his face.
j "It, is very sad," I said, "to burn the
crust of a nice pie all to a crisp."
j "Do you think so?" said Mr. Slade.
"Now for me it is a most excellent mis
chance. Of all things in the world I
revere the burned crust of a pie.
have hesitated to declare this predilec
tion, because I know it is a remarkable
one, and not at all likely to be shared
by the majority of people ; but fortune
has favored me to-day. Mrs. Sweet, let
us have the pie by all means."
And he actually lifted the horrible
black thing to the table and ate it yes
he did, he ate it which was the most
perfect and graceful piece of martyr
dom I ever saw in a man. And then I
got courage to tell him how I burned it ;
that Mrs. Chappel must have that dress,
and the machine had begun to squeak
in the most terrible way; that I oiled it
and fussed with it, but all to no pur
jpose, and how I was to finish that dress
pf Mrs. Chappel's, with that dreadful
lioise "distracting my poor brain, I
didn't know.
"We'll look at it," he said, in that
resting, comforting, soul-cheering way
of his; and as I followed him into the
sitting-room I knew in my heart that
he would exorcise that squeaking demon
from the machine. And he did.
"It's the ball," he said; "it becomes
smooth from friction, and if you'll
bring me a little flour or meal, Mrs.
Sweet stay! here is a piece of chalk,
which is better than all;" and writh
that little white lump that he took from
his waistcoat pocket he made the ma
chine perfect in five in two minutes.
i Xow how could I help watching him
from the door again, as he walked away
to schoel ; and let his coat tails fly as
they may, or he be knock-kneed to
eternity, how could I help sending
after him my heartiest benediction and
blessing.
I And can it be wondered at that
when, only two or three months after,
he told me he was going away, I was
like one stunned and bewildered? We
were sitting in the little front room,
and I was finishing off that diagonal
overskirt for Mrs. Chappel. Charley
had gone nutting to the woods, for it
was already autumn, and an early frost
had set the leaves aflame. A breeze
from the west blew my hair into my
eyes, and I put it back with a trembling
hand. The soft warm day of golden
light suddenly seemed to cloud over,
aiid become one of moody sadness.
"Why, Mr. Slade," said I, "I never
jjot beyond the first four rules of arith
metic in all my school days."
"And upon these depend everything,"
le replied. "Put by your work, and
let us see what we can do."
I It was of no use to refuse. He was
one of those masterful natures that
always conquer. Half an hour after, I
was sitting by his side at the table,
with Charley's slate under my blurred
eyes, and Charley's pencil in my tremb
ling fingers. The rosy evening light
streamed in upon us, the soft south
wind bringing resinous odors from the
woods where Charley yet lingered,
j "I have an opportunity for an ad
vancement in my profession," he said,
t'wbich it would ill behoove me to put
by. In my native town is offered me a
position , of trust and confidence no
less, I may say to you, dear madam,
than a professor's chair."
I I hadn't the least idea what he meant.
I knew that one chair differed very
much from another, and whereas one
was comfortable, easy, and enjoyable,
another might be for the time being a
seat of torture, but wherein a profes
sor's chair excelled I could not at that
time imagine. I sat "quite still, and the
ruffle fell from my hand; my foot
rested on the treadle of the machine,
and I sat and stared at Mr. Slade like
one demented.
"And it has occurred to me," he
went on, "that the position I have held
here, which is an exceedingly easy J
and pleasant one, might profitably and
suitably be filled byohe of the other
sex 5 the duties are not at all arduous,
and could be performed more readily, it
appears to me, than those pertaining to
the needle. I have spoken to the com
mittee in your behalf, and with al little
attention on your part ;to the simple
mechanical requirements necessary,
and a little help upon mine you will be
ready to fill the position at once !"
"Who? I, Mr. Slade? Why, you
must be crazy ! " Then feeling' that
this was not a very respectful wiay to
speak, I added that his kindness for me
led him to overrate my capabilities.
"Now, my dear Mrs. Sweet," said Mr.
Slade and the very gentleness of his
tone, the tender rendering of my name,
made me shiver, for I couldn't get the
thought from my head that w hen he
was gone there was no one left to deal
tenderly with me or mine "now; pray
try to give your thoughts to the subject
in hand. It is the simplest thing in the
world ; and those rudiments once con
quered, the rest will follow. Now, a
man sold his farm for 8,730 dollars, and
fourteen-fifteenths of this is seven
ninths of the cost of his house, and the
house cost three times as much as the
store; now what was the cost of the
house and store?"
j His voice was so persuasive, so dis
tinct, it must have been a pleasant voice
to listen to at the school even if the
poor little blockheads could make
neither head nor tail of his meaning.'
I looked at Mr. Slade, then out of the
window,, where the mellow light of the1
sunset shone, and I thought how, such
a little while ago, it was a spring land
scape, bathed in tenderest green, and
now it was autumii, the grasss was sere
and brown, leaves falling, the branches
like skeletons against the sky.
"Madam my dear Mrs. Sweet," said
the voice of the schoolmaster, "I beg
your attention to these few first rules.
It is distasteful to me to leave you a
prey to the coarse habits of these vil
lage women, who flaunt their finery in
an obstructive and unbecoming maner,
and grudge you the poor reward for
your labor." 't
"She said the seams were crooked,
and perhaps they were," I said, for I
knew he meant Mrs. Chappel. "I'm
not very good at sewing, or or at any
thing." Then two big tears rolled put
of my eyes upon Charley's slate, aid
blurred the schoolmaster's pretty
figures, which so distressed him that he
got up and took a turn about the room.
Then he came back to his place at the
table again.
t
"Dear Mrs. Sweet," he said, implor
ingly, "if you would only make up your
mind to master these first rules ! A man
sold his farm for 87.30 dol "
"Ajad I'm sure he got a good price
for it,' I broke in ; "and whatever he
got for his house, it must have been all
it was worth. As for his store Tdon't
want to know anything about it ; I can't
see that it's any of my business, Mr.
Slade, and I can't bother with it just
now. If it was a house alone, or a store
alone, or a farm but to cut them all
up and put them together again like a
patchwork quilt is impossible for me to
think of, Mr. Slade. I can't do it, I
never could, and it's ridiculous to ask
me to do such a thing, Mr. Slade. All
I can do after you go away is to go on
working for Mrs. Chappel till I drop
dead; and only for Charley I wouldn't
care how soon."
Then I put my head down on the
table crying ready to break my heart.
I couldn't help it. I was the most
wretched creature in the word, and my
heart was full. I couldnt help crying
and I'm glad now that I couldn't.
For suddenly I felt his strong arm
tremble on the back of my chair.-
; "It is so sad and terrible," J said, "to
have the seams always crooked, and
Mrs. Chappel "
"Confusion to Mrs. Chappel and to
her crooked seams ! Tell me madam
Mrs. Sweet tell me, dear little heart,
would it not even be better to give over
your future to a grim old pedagogue
like me ? It shall at least be free from
crooked seams and puzzling problems."
I heaved a little sigh of relief as I felt
his arm closing shelteringly and ten
derly around me.
"If Heaven will vouchsafe to me'
he said, getting back to his dear old
wordy way, "your sweet companion
ship for all the days to come, I can even
find it it in my heart to be grateful to
Mrs. Chappel, and wish her well."
I don't know what I said, but every
body knows that I never could see any
fault in Mr. Slade, and I don't to this
day. He fills his professor's chair, and
1 have ever so many comfortable ones
at home, i Charley is a splendid mathe
matician, and there is a' little fellow
just creeping into fractions, and he
came to me the other day, his dear
little brains muddled with puzzling over
that same sum. T
"And please, mamma," he 'begged,
"a man sold his farm for 8730 dollars,
and fourteen-fifteenths of this is "
"Go to your papa, darling," I said ;
"he found out the cost of it all long,
j - r ( i i r 1 1 '11 1
long ago; hut as for me, dear, I'm srlad
to say I never could make it
rrt
out
never.
! r 1
I Suggestions to Campers-Out.
. Our camp equipage was very simple,
as we had to take into consideration the
"carries" between the j "lakes, where
our entire kit would have to be shoul
dered by the guides and the nien of our
party: it consisted chieflv of a close
tent for the women and children, and a
and a mackintosh sheet for each of the
party, a canvass bed fof the children
which came apart and could be rolled
Up in small package, a..fev compressible
India rubber eouiforts, such as air pil
lows, bath tubs, etc. ; besides these,
each person had hi-s or her "pack,"
which contained the necessary toilet
appurtenances', and j such extra gar
ments as were indispensable. We have
since agreed tlpt on another occasion
wc should have! very light mackintosh
bags, made to hold the blankets, as it is
of the greatest importance that they
should be kept dry. TiVe found to our
cost the discomfort arising: from our
want of forethought in that respect on
more occasions, than oneJ At the same
time, as the blankets are indispensable
in their use as seats and hacks when in
the canoes, these bags should be large
enough to admit of their being comfort
ably spread. On an expedition of any
extent one can hardly fail to meet with
showers if not with steady rains, and
a half hour's wetting may often neces
sitate a three hours' drying. For my
self too, I should carry a portable can
vass bed, for I do not find the primitive
fir boughs all my fancy
painted them,
although
II. declared them to be su
perior to Marcotte's best; mattresses.
Experience also taugljt us somewhat
in regard to our kitchen. paraphernalia;
instead of the heavy iron pot which we
carried, it would be better to substitute
a set of tin pails, one fitting inside the
other, and substantially
made with cop-
per bottoms ; their combined weight
would be less than that
of the kettle,
the cook at thes same time would not be
confined to a single poti add to these a
frying pan, a coffee pot, and one ol
those compact; arangements of plates,
cups, iorks, knives anu
s. -- -a " 1' -
outfit is complete, so far as necessity is
concerned. If the jo'utney is an easy
one, luxuries
can be 'proportionately
added, as in
that case lisrht
weight
IThe
would not be such arj object.
staples on such an expedition are pork,
flour and potatoes, tea and coffee; lany
amount of tinned delicacies may be
added, but it should be! borne in mind
that every additional pJund is so niuch
more burden. ; The, men, of course,
carried their guns and ammunition,
and II., who undertook the direction of
i
everything, declared that my maid and
myself must wear bloomers. I j de
murred greatly to this, but a little
reasoning soon convinced me that; the
ordinary walking dress, iowever simply
made, would be an impossibility in a
primeval forest, and while "traveling in
that most tin steady of grafts, a canoe;
so I had dark-blue liannel costumes
made, somewhat stronger minded than
I liked, while, the 'children were
equipped in liannel wjiists and loose
knickerbockers gathcrecj into an elastic
band so they could be drawn dowji to
the ankle or pushed above the knee, as
the weather should be cold or warm.
I give all the details, iri case this should,
meet the eye of any of my sex meditat
ing a similar expedition!; in which con
tingency, another's ; experience might
be useful. The men Jwore ordinary
shooting clothejs; andjliere II. bids me
say again, for the benefit of those who
are thinking of roughing it, that the
ordinary English kniekerbroekers, with
stout shoes and leather gaiters that
reach to the knee, and can be taken off
before wadingj and j an extra pair of
stockings are much more comfortable
on such a trip tlaan the "high-top boots"
so commonly worn in. this country,
which soon get water-logged and un
comfortable. gjcribner.
Girls' Attitude to Young Men.
There is a thing of which I want to
speak, and that is of ihe behavior of
girls toward young men who are; not
lovers but simply friends. Let me
you plainly tnat our sex were
meant to be wooers. The custom
tell
not
tre-
valent among a
certain
class of young
ladies of asking, directly, or indirectly,
the attentions of young gentlemen is
not an admirable custom. "My son,"
said a lady to me, not Jong since, "is
much prejudiced against, a young girl,
whom I admire, because she ! is con
stantly sendingihim notes, inviting him
to be her escort here and there,! and
planning to have him with her.,j' A
modest andi dignified reserve, which is
neither prudery nor affectation, should
distinguish your manner to gentlemen.
Too great! familiarity and too evident
pleasure in the
feociety
of young jmen
no delicate and
are errors into
which
pure-minded glfl should fall.
In the Naples Conservatory of Mu
sic are 3,000 4utgraPhs musical
composers.
The Homes of Mice. j ; i . MJW8 IN BRIEF. I
The field-mice make snug beds In old
stumps, under logs, inside, stacks of
corn and bundles of straw; dig out gal
leries below the grass roots ; occupy the
abandoned nests of birds and the holes
made by other animals ; and even weave
nests of their own in weeds and bushes.
They live well in captivity, and you can
easily see them at work if you supply
materials.
In tearing down old buildings the
carpenters often find between the walls
a lot of pieces of paper, bits of cloth,
sticks, fur, and such stuff, forming a
great bale, and know it was once the
home of a house-mouse. You have
heard anecdotes of how a shop-keeper
missed small pieces of money from his
till, and suspected his clerk of taking it;
how the clerk was a poor boy who was
supporting a widowed piother, or a sis
ter at school, and the kind-hearted shop
keeper shut his eyes to his suspicions,
and waited for more and more proof be
fore being convinced! that his young
clerk was the thief; hut, as the money
kept disappearing, how at last he ac
cused the clerk of taking it. Then the
story tells how, In spite of the boy's ve
hement and tearful denial, a policeman
was called in to arrest him, and when
everything had been i searched to no
purpose, and he was about being taken
to the police-station, how, away back
in a corner was discovered a mouse's
nest made of stolen pieces of ragged
currency ten, twenty-five and I fifty
centpieces. Then everybody was happy,
and the story ended with a capital
moral. j
More than one such stolen house the
mice have reallv built, and sometimes
their work has destroyed half a hundred
dollars, and caused no end of heartaches.
Their little teeth are not to be despised,
I assure you. 1 believe one of the most
disastrous of those great Hoods which
in past years have swept over the fer
tile plains of Holland was caused by
mice digging through the thick banks
of, earth, called dykes, which had been
piled up to keep the sea back. In this
case, of course, the mice lost their lives
by their misdeeds, as well as the people,
sharing in the general catastrophe.
They hardly intended this; but i
"The best-laid plans o' mice and men
Can; aft agley.''
It was by the gnawing of a ridiculous
little mouse, you remember, that the
lion in the fable got free from the net
in which the king of beasts found im
self caught. ! j
Sometimes the house-mouse goes: out-of-doors
to live, and forgets his civiliza
tion; while, on the other hand, the
woodland species occasionally come in
doors and grow tame.j At the fur-trading
posts about Hudson Bay, wild mice
live in the traders' houses.
All mice are full of -curiosity. They
poke their noses into all sorts of places,
where there is a prospect of something
to eat, and often meet j the fate which
ought to be the end of all poking of
noses into other people's affairs they
get caught. I remember one such case
which Mr. Frank Bucklandhas related.
When oysters are left out of water for
any length of time, especially in hot
weather, they always open their shells
a little way, probably seeking a drink
of water. A mouse hunting about for
food found such an oyster in the larder,
and iut his head in to nibble at j the
oyster's beard; instantly the bivalve
shut his shells, and held them together
so tightly by his strong muscles, that
the poor mouse could not pull his head
out, and so died of suffocation. Other
similar cases have been known. St.
Nicholas ' ! !
A Mouse's Stratagem.
A strange sight was witnessed one
afternoon recently by ja writer in. the
Corinne Hecord clliceJ Our attention
was attracted by several lusty squeaks
from the inside of a pail, almost full of
water, into which a half grown mouse
had fallen. The alar inj had hardly died
away before four or five more mice ap
peared on the scene, and began clamber
ing to the top edge of the pail. j For
several moments after gaining the top
of the pall and catching sight of the
mouse In the watar a squeaking confab
was held. j j
First one mouse and then another
would cling to the rim of the bucket
with hi3 hind legs, and while almost
touching the water with his nose,
squeak out cither consolation or advice
to the immersed ; but while all this was
going on the swimming powers ot the
unfortunate mouse in the pail Iwere
rapidly giving out. At last a happy
thought seemed to strike the biggest
mouse in the crowd, and almost with
out a squeak he firmly fastened his fore
feet to the edge of the pail and let his
body and tall hang down. The drown
ing mouse saw it, and making a last
desperate effort for life, swam to the
spot, seized the r tail ot his brother
mouse, and amid squeass oi aeiignt
from all the mice present, was hauled
high and dry out of the water and oyer
the edge of the bucket. j
in Ijer treiasury, and don't owe a dollar
-bcnuyiei
Colfax has cleared over
$100,000; froi
his lectures. I
i Milwaukee
has a population of
So much for' making
nearly 123,1000.
erood lareri i
V ImJCL' HI.
-t-Auere was
not a single marriage in
North Carolina during
Moorei
teounty,
the year; 187? 4
l-fTble1 Sah.
Sahara or -Burn in e Desert of
Northl Afi-icia is 3,000 miles long and
i,opo ih width! i
4-Thb city 4f! Richmond, Va.. has over'
340 factories! that give employment to
ll,i00faereb)iL- , ' ,
H-& t 'Newt Hampshire couple weigh
449 poiihds,ibut the wife alone weierhs
only M)
- -. i I I It ! -
poujrlds.
Gaivston,
lexas, tney are
makin
dr woir
n cats. In one month 143
tabbiesl were
illed.
The Chinese laborers emnloved at
the cutlery works at Beaver Falls, Penn
sylvania, nave an leit.
1-rTlip reclibt of indirect' taxes 1U
France the; first six months of 1877 ex
ceed the
estiifaitte by $5,000,000.
Flemish language is dying out.
to the regret of Flemings, both in Bel
gium jindFfance, and of philologists
generally
! TdW Tt
tub's house at Bridgeport,
Conn.J
was recently entered and robbed
V slII the lpfl.rl ! ninA nnrl tra ff
of near!
tures itj contained. j
l-Trj&mali jives, of Lansingburg, N.
Y., I reports that two thousand tomato
plants jset oui by him were eaten up by
the poikto bugs in one night.
i The London conference of British
librarians will be held October 25, Mr.
Winter Jones, Librarian of the British
e . '
Museum delivering the inaugural : ad
dress.
It A is conceded by experts In rail
way management that one cent ner ton
per mile is the minimum rate at which
railways .can profitably transport
freight I i
r-fthi ' ofijial trial of the English
ironclail Teqieraire is stated to have
been a j perfect success. Six runs were
made;, jthe average speed being between
14)4 arid 15. knots. j
The financial. depression seems to
have little eflect upon American tour
ists abroad J (More than $45,000,000 have
been issued by New York banks in let
ters dficreditfthis season. "
.ih l ! I '-. Ti I i
; It is estimated by anthorltv that in
Lurope 1 Pfirfen in every 1,537 is deaf
and dumb; Iif Ireland, 1 in 1,714; In the
United States vl in, 2,500 while In
Switzerland the average is 1 In 503,.
I George jFjrancis Train has received !
thirty -six cents for an article on pea-
nuts, tils layrite theme. Upon this he ;
remarks
'fins is ine nrsc ana only
paid me for literary labor. T'
hi' I
money ever
-4Buffaloi, N. Y., Is enjoying a public
investigation! instituted to ascertain
whethelr or Iridt ihe president of her Com mon
Council packed the School. Com-
mittee
books.
n the interest of a change of text
'11 ; . - ;
Near Fprestville, "N. C. is a curios
ity in the shape of a balanced rock. It
is about twelve feet in diameter, and is
so nicety pdied that a child can move
It reauijiy,; but a giant could not over
threw it. Ml 'I . : " j
A curious phenomenon noted in the
vicinitv of
X'etersDurg, va., alter a. re-rain-storm,
was the sudden
of myriads of the tiniest of
cent warm
appearance
frogs tiiat hopped out a brief existence
and then died.
U4J. m. Yountr. of Norfolk. Vh
claims! to be the champion strawberry
growerl liayifig gathered 37o,000 quarts
from 12o acres during the past season
One day he had seventeen; hundred
pickers; at work. M
IA Kalf-eister of Charlotte Cushmau
has just died jatj Lynnfield, Mass. She
was aiiJursj iisaoeiia weld, widow ot
James weld, krid previously the widow
of Samuel A.fl.aton, a well known Bos
ton watchniaker. M ?
'Tb;e :.Eut&kd Sentinel says: Messrs.
Flood & O'Brien own 360,000 'snails of
bonknb.: stScicks, which at the current
rates ab worth about $11,000,000. lipe
monthly divillends from this stock give
them a!n inM of $780,000. j
'i nle total expense of the schools Ah
Neir York iat year was $3,371,694; lin
Bostohi .$2,(131,643; in rhiladelDhia.
$1,634,053; l4 St. Louis, 1,171,093 'Mn
Chicago, SoWJOZi In San Francis.
$700,147; iri I Baltimore, $677,986.
Under a strange Canadian law! a
man gOjing dq board a vessel In harbor
without leave-1$ liable to get two years
in the penitentiary. The last victim
wasj a Norwegian boy of seventeen, "at
Quebec, who jwas after a drink ol wate.
In Durango, Mexico, there is ajtn
beapng district more than twenty
miles in extent, which has 600 veins and
300 drifts of steam tin. The supply ii
so grealt th&i "metallic tin can be pro-.
duced at a cost of two cents a pound;1
MrL George Dawson, of the Albany
Journal can edit a newspaper, write a
charmitig hook on angling, and preach
an instructive sermon. lie now and
then fills jthe pulpit of some Baptist
church around Albany of a Sunday
evehing. j j! J
Sh:ep (raising pays. Mr. Ross, - of
London, Ohld, bought 235 selected grade
ewes for $900, from which he raised 233
lambs. Lambs and wool sold for $1,246
realizing a handsome profit over the
cost! of keeping, with the sheep on hand
and the mahure extra.
The latef period of life at which
you tbs have! recently gone into the Eng
lishj universities Is exciting unfavorable
comment. The average age of public,
schoolboys beginning residence at Ox
ford is now about 19 to 19, and the
desriee Is often hot taken until 23 or 24.
A hundred years ago under graduates
weni up w .coiiege ai q vo io.