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VOL. IV.
RALEIGH, N. C, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1874.
NO. 17.
proportionately low rates.
V 5
THE ERA.
THURSDAY, OCTOIIEK 15, IfcTl.
t,,.,, m son's Sonir of St. Agnes.
Drop on the convent r-of the snows
Are sparkling to the moon ;
M v breath to heaven in vapor goes :
Mav niy soul follow soon !
The shadows of the convent towers
Slant down the snowy sward,
Still creeping with the creeping hours
That lead me to my Lord :
Make thou my spirit pure and clear
An are the frosty skies.
Or this first snow-drop of the year
That in my bosom lies.
A these white rces are soiled and dark,
To yonder shining ground ;
A this pale taper's earthly spark,
To yonder argent round ;
So i-how.s my soul before the Lamb,
My spirit before thee;
So in mine earthly house I am,
To that I hope to be.
Ilreak up the heavens", OLord ! and far,
" Thro' all yon starlight keen,
Ir.iv me, thy bride, a glittering star,
In raiment white and clean.
He iif: mo to tho golden doors ;
The i!ashes come and go ;
Ail heaven bursts her starry floors,
And strews her lights below,
And deepens on and up ! the gates
Fall back, and far within
Forme tho Heavenly Bridegroom waits,
To make me pure of sin.
The Subbaths of Eternity,
One Sabbath deep and wide
A liiht ufon the shining sea
The nr'.degroom with his bride !
M I SC 12 1. 1, AN KO US.
The Degradation of Women.
The ph rase at the head of this ar
ticle was suggested by reading John
Stuart Mill's "Subjection Of WO-
nun. it must oe conceoea mat
. .
nmny i)i .ui. .uiu smiiuiuua hiuca-
c t Mini. - : n : n n
irvuie ailll UllieiWUie e. (J.. Uiai
there has never been a lorm of serv
itude so deeply rooted and so abject
ft-; tnat oi women to men, as it is at
present legalized by the marriage
contract. He says: 44 If ever any
system of privilege and enforced
subjection had its yoke tightly riv
eted on the necks of those who are
kept down by it, this has."
Hut it is equally certain that there
U a modicum of truth in what he
rtys against the prevalent pernicious
custom of educating women solely
with a view to marriage. This, it
st ins to me, is the real cause of the
political and social degradation of
women ; and here is the point at is
sue between Mr. Mill and that able
find accomplished critic and review
er. Mr. W. It. Greg.
The latter, in his book entitled
4 Literary and Social Judgments,"
has an essay on 44 Why are Women
Redundant?" in which he says:
"Celibacy, when it transcends the
limits which Nature has prescribed,
and becomes anything but excep
tional, i one of the surest and most
menacing symptoms of something
gravely and" radically wrong. There
fore it is that all those efforts on
which a chivalricor compassionate
tenevolence is now so intent to ren
der single life as easy, as attractive,
and as lucrative to women, as un
happily other influences to which
we have alluded have already made
it to men, are efforts in a wrong di
rection ; spontaneous and natural,
no doubt, to the tender heart of hu
manity, which seeks first to relieve
suffering and only at a later date
logins to think of curing disorder,
hut not to be smiled upon nor aided
by wise prescribers for the maladies
of states To en
deavor to make women independent
of men; to multiply and facilitate
their employments ; to enable them
to earn a separate and ample sub
sistence by competing with the hard
ier sex in those careers and occupa
tions hitherto set apart for that sex
alone; to induct them generally into
avocations not only as interesting
and beneficent and therefore as ap
propriate, but specially and defin
itely as lucrative ; to surround sin
gle life for them with so smooth an
entrance and such a pleasant, orna
mented, comfortable path that mar
riage shall almost come to be re
garded not as their most honorable
function and especial calling, but
merely one of many ways open to
thm, competing on equal terms
with other ways for their cold and
phi!:sophic choice: this would ap
pear to be the aim of many female
reformers, and of one man of real
pre-eminence "Mr. Mill doubtless
44 wise and far-sighted in most
questions, but here strangely and
intrinsic-ally at fault. Few more
radical or more fatal errors, we are
satisfied, philanthropy has ever
made, though her course every
where lies marked and strewn with
wrecks and failures, and astounding
theories and incredible assump
tions." Stripped of unnecessary verbiage
and reduced to a logical form of
statement, the position of Mr. Greg
precisely this: 44 It is necessary
hp society that women should marry.
They will not do so unless they are
compelled. Therefore, it is neces
sary that they should be compelled."
The method of compulsion proposed
! to so hedge up their way to hon
orable and lucrative employments
J to render it impossible for them
to earn a separate and ample sub
sistence," and to make 44 single life
ior th
"Jr them" tr nnnr.mrnrtaKIa flint
mty shall be forced to marry in or
obtain their support. Now
in the name of common decency and
nonor we protest against this as the
ETascst degradation, as well as the
grossest injustice to women. If it
be true, as Mr. Mill says, that the
majority of men hold this theory.
then it is not surprising that he
should pronounce the condition of
women a one of "deeply rooted
and abject servitude."
But for our part we know of no
man of average intelligence and re
finement, whatever might be his
general opinion, who would be wil
ling to stanu oy it wnen tnus re
duced to its logical result. In other
words, the better class of men are in
this respect as also in many others,
better than their creeds. This Mr.
Mill concedes, and therefore all the
more deplores what he conceives to
be the fact, that they tolerate laws
and customs which give to base and
ignorant men entire domination
over their wives, and enable them
to effectually hedge up the way of
single women to an honorable life,
by closing against them all avenues
to independent self-support.
And what could have a more de
grading effect upon the character of
a young woman tnan tne conviction
that her only path to respectability
or subsistence is marriage: that she
is born not to any independent dig-
nity and usefulness in life, but only
to complete or embellish the exist
ence of some as yet unknown man?
And when we consider what a lot
tery marriage is, how uncertain that
it will be happv, and how many
contingencies and conditions are in
the way of such a consummation, it
is surely apparent that nothing can
be more naralvzimr and debasing to
the nobler energies and instincts of
womanhood, than tnat she should
be limited to this one exceedingly
precarious chance for happiness and
usefulness.
Let it be granted that Mr. Greg's
fundamental position that in the
Divine economy the highest 44 vo
cation and function7' ol women is
marriage, and that Nature indicates
that with rare exceptions, each wo
man should be happily wedded with
one uiam certainly "tnat were a
consummation devout! v to be wish-
vl Tt.it it rlnn nnt follow that it
.auv .v vwv.., " - - - --
f, ho nttainpd bv ndnntinsr toward
-..... y t-
women any SUCh method Ot prO-
eorintinn am mmnn U nn !N in nrn
poses. To our mind the best possi
jg
way to realize his project for
pairing the human family, is to
place both sexes on a precisely equal
footing, to make the woman as in
dependent of the man as the man is
independent oi tho woman, ana
leave both equally free to refuse or
to choose marriage.
Other People's Grindstones.
When the armies of the North
and South were lying in winter
quarters once, a soldier started out
for the purpose of grinding his axe.
The camp being wholly without the
luxury of a grindstone, the soldier
set out on a search among the neigh
boring farms. After an absence of
several hours he returned with his
axe as dull as ever. 44 What's the
mate, 44 couldn't you find anybody
,r o rir,ictr,0
Oh vpq thev were all willing
u " Kt
somehow each one of them wanted
to lmwi m nmphor!v p1p irrind-
stone, and I couldn't find anvbodv
willing to lend his own."
Now we suppose that nearly ev
erybody indulges on occasions, in
the sort of liberality which was pre
valent in the neighborhoad of that
camp. We are all of us willing
enough to lend somebody's else
grindstone. It costs nothing what
ever to gratify our generous instincts
by imagining the munificence with
which we should bestow alms, or
the liberality with which we should
conduct business, if wo had Mr. X's
money.
Of a similar sort is a good deal of
our moralizing upon other people's
lives, and a good deal of our plan
ning for our own conduct in the fu
ture. And we suspect that senti
ment of this inexpensive kind gov
erns many of our harsher judgments
of our fellow-men. When Byron
flung mud at his fellows who ac
cepted pay for their literary work,
his bank account was in a satisfac
tory condition, and when it ceased
to be so, he was ready enough in
his turn to exchange his rhymes for
guineas. And even now, in this
practical, money-getting age, there
is unquestionably a prevalent idea
that for author or artist to pay ordi
nary attention to the productiveness
of his work, is unworthy.
The merchant or other business
man who admits the smallest parti
cle of sentiment into the conduct of
his business loses caste at once, as a
visionary and impractical man, to
give credit to whom is dangerous.
But the author and the artist are
held to a strict account for every
lapse from the plane of high senti
mentality, on which for some in
scrutable reason the world has chos
en to place their work. Now the
fact is, that with a rare exception
here and there, the workers with
pen and pencil are poor, and they
work as the merchant and the me
chanic do, for daily bread. They
must do the work for which there
is a demand, or they must suffer
want inevitably. But the world in
sists that they shall be 44 loyal to
their high ideals," and il they fail
in this, it condemns them utterly.
Nobody ever thinks of sayingtothe
carpenter, 44 You ought not to work
upon stables or cow houses. Your
genius is for lofty spires, and you
should be true to your genius, and
not prostitute it to the mere making
of money." We do not condemn
the merchant because he sells cali
coes when silks and laces are not
wanted. But we do deal on pre
cisely that principle with writers i
and artists. And writers and art
ists are wont to accept the absurd ;
treatment as just. If they find them
selves forced to do a bit of market
able, commonplace work now and
then, in order that they may get the
bread for their children which the
pursuit of high ideals will not
bring, they hide the fact away as
they would hide a crime, lest they
be called 44 mercenary," and so be
forever disgraced in the eyes of a
money-getting world, which holds
them bound to starve on high prin
ciples of self-abnegation, while it
rolls on in luxury and comfort
which the author or the artist may
not dare to seek. Not long ago one
of our great dailies in an editorial
article bitterly bewailed the fate of
some artist who finding that his
pursuit of high ideals was starving
his children, wrote his own obitu
ary, and proceeded thenceforth to
paint the commonplace pictures
which the world wants, and so pur
chased comfort for himself and his
family, as the newspaper seemed to
think, at a lamentably high cost.
Now to our thought that artist
was simply sensioie. ino worK
fr0m which he turned nobody would
buv. That which he did afterwards
people wanted and were willing to
pay lor. ivs it was nonest worK,
why in the name of all that is sen
sihle should he not do it? Neither
writer nor artist has a richt to do
bad work, dishonest work, immoral
work, however profitable its doing
mav be, iust as the merchant who
sells flour has no right to sell adul
terated flour : but it does not follow
that the writer or the artist may
not do work of a less artistically ex
ceiient kind tnan he might, any
more than that the merchant may
not sell the coarser and cheaper
grades of flour when there is a de
mand for the poorer ana none lor
the higher product. It is the right
and the duty of every man to make
a living for himself and his family,
and all honest endeavor to that end
is eminently honorable and praise
worthy. To set up for one class of
workers a rule to which we do not
subject others, is simply to be very
generous indeed in the lending of
other people's grindstones. Hearth
and Home.
44 Glad Twice.'
We have no great faith in adages.
Proverbs have an unfortunate habit
of being false, for one thing, and
even when they are not altogether
. A A A 1
so, they are apt to teacn omy one
side of a truth, which is nearly ana
sometimes auite as bad as teaching
a falsehood outright. Their pithi
ness, too, and their extreme con
venience maKe tnem aangerous in
the hands of vague thinkers, who,
finding it difficult to systematize
their own thought, adopt instead
the formulated idea of somebody
else, and accept its terseness as
proof of its truth.
And vet now ana tnen one runs
across a.nroverD wmcn is a uit oi
1 1 l t S
crystallized wisdom, perfect in sub
stance as well as in shape. Uf this
sort is the seldom-heeded recipe for
hospitality 44 Welcome the coming,
SDeed the parting guest." The half
of hospitality lies in the speeding
of parting guests. Lavish welcomes
are easily enough bestowed, but the
hospitable thought must De very
genuine, indeed,
which dares to
leave the guest as free and as wel-
... ur li
come to go as to come, we an
suffer now and then from undue
urging to stay when we prefer to
go. ana nean v every one oi us is
himself a sinner in this regard too.
No sooner does the guest intimate
a wish to terminate his visit than
we fly in the face of his desire, and
urge him to stay longer. We some
times do this, too (do we not?), as
a mere matter of duty, when in our
hearts we care very little whether
the guest goes or stays. We feel
ourselves bound to show our appre
ciation of our friend's visit by ask
ing that he prolong it. Now, true
hospitality ought to learn its lesson
better than this. Our effort should
be, from first to last, to make our
friend's visit thoroughly pleasant
and agreeable to him. We strive
for this result in welcoming him. It
is the desire to do this which
prompts us to offer him the most
comfortable chair and to set out our
best viands, if he break bread with
us. It is that he may enjoy his
stay that we take pains to talk only
upon agreeable topics. In short,
from the time he crosses our thresh
old until he rises to leave, we
courteously endeavor to make the
moments slip by as pleasantly as
possible. But the moment he asks
for his hat our courtesy fails us.
Hitherto we have studied to antici
pate and gratify his every wish.
Now that he wishes to go, however,
we endeavor to thwart hi3 pleasure.
We selfishly try to turn him from
his purpose to ours. We wish him
to stay,j while he wishes to go.
Courtesy would prompt us to give
his wish precedence to our own, but,
as a rule, we ask him to sacrifice his
own to our pleasure.
Probably very few of us are ever
conscious of being discourteous in
this matter. On the contrary, in
the very act of being inhospitable,
we think we attest our hospitality.
44 Pray do not feel the least un
easiness about coming or not com
ing to us," writes a model woman
in a letter now before us, in reply
to a friend's partial acceptance of
her invitation. 44 The best hospi
tality leaves its guest free to follow
his own way, I think. You shall
come if you like, stay as long as
you will, and go when you prefer ;
and whatever you do, we shall be
lieve to be best. If only you have
a pleasant visit, all will be well."
Reading that, we sat down to
preach a little sermon on it, but the
text so completely covers the ground
that there remains next to nothing
to be said about it. The old Vir-
ginians, of all people the most truly
given to hospitality, have a rule of
life which they pithily put in this
wise: " When we go visiting, we
must not make the host glad twice,
glad when we come and glad when
we go." An equally good rule
would be to take care that we do
make our guests glad twice when
they are welcomed, and when the
truly hospitable host forbears to op
press' them with invitations to stay
longer than is agreeable to them.
Ibid.
A Humbug" Exposed.
Materialized Spirits that could
not
come when called Katie
in
Boy's Clothing A Medium
in Trouble.
About 7 o'clock the party of
twenty who had been selected as the
ones to attend Mr. and Mrs. Holmes
seance in this place met, as agreed
upon, at the house of Mr. Lyon,
where the mediums are stopping,
and after some time being spent in
getting the preliminaries arranged,
and each one being seated under the
personal direction of Mrs. Holmes,
one ot the party, Mr. 1. S. Knight,
requested the privilege of selecting
some one of the party to occupy the
bedroom adjoining the cabinet. Mr.
Holmes objected to this plan very
decidedly, but Mrs. Holmes, who,
by the way, is much the cooler of
the two, consented to the arrange
ment, and Mr. H. Cooper was called
upon to select the party, which he
did, and his selection was Mr. Ly
man Goodrich, one of our responsi
ble men here.
As usual the friends of the medi
ums were so seated as to be in the
front circle, with one exception,
this being the nephew of Mrs.
Holmes, oue Gilbert, who took his
seat at the side of the door leading
from the room into the dining room
adjoining. Everything being finally
arranged, it was decided by the me
diums to first hold a dark seance, as
it seems they always do when some
one is in the bed room. The lights
were accordingly blown out, and
Mrs. Holmes went into what she
calls a trance, and took the part of
Rosa, an Indian girl, and then com
menced the slinging of banjo rings
and bells promiscuously about the
room. We wish to slate at this point
thatourfriend Peter Miller was seat
ed at one side of the door, near the
said Gilbert, and gettingrather tired
he leaned up against the door, and
about this time Rosa called forsome
one to hold the medium's hands, and
the choice fell on our tired friend
Miller, who was holding the door.
But, of course, Mrs. Holmes did not
notice this little fact. He very
quietly asked a party by his side to
take his place and also be tired, and
lean against the door. Mr. Miller
was pronounced by the little lnjun
to be a healing medium, and advis
ed him to give up his deputy sher
iffs office and hang out his shingle,
but Pete said he would think of it a
while first.
He then took his old positiomand
soon after there was a slight rustling
heard in the dining room (the door
being slightly ajar,) and someone
gently pushed at the door, but find
ing some one against it they made
no further attempt tor several
moments, when it was attempted
affain- ...
At this time the light was turnea
ft 1 X4
up, ana anersoraeoi me most -nar-
monious" singing, tne meaium
called on 4lKatie King" to show
herself to the audience, but 44Katie"
came not. Then we naa some more
of that 44heavenly" music, and
every eve was on the cabinet, and
again 44Katie" was asked to appear,
but still no 44Katie" came. It was
again made dark, and we had some
more of the guitar slinging by
44Dick, the Sailor," and some other
dark workers, and again the light
was turned up, and "Katie" was
called again; but it wa3 no go. Mrs.
Holmes almost begged her to come,
as she said she would rather she
would come this evening than al
most any other time ; but all the
persuasions could not get 44 Katie"
to give up her roost in the wood
shed, where, in despair of getting
by Miller's guard on the aoor, she
had taken refuge.
But she became fnghtenea about
this time, and she made a break
from the wood shed across the ad
joining lot. She did not have the
angelic look about her that she dis
plays at her exit from the cabinet,
but was attired in boys clothes.
Her exit from this woodshed at
tracted the attention of one of the
outside patrol, and she was ordered
to stop by a party who was resting
behind the fence, but she took "leg
bail " and the party after her. She
was caught and found to be attired
in boy's clothing and sporting a gutta-percha
cane, resembling very
much tho one usually carried by
Mr. Holmes. The cane was broken
in
the scuffle, and she begged and
pleaded to be released, saying she
would not be detected for the world,
that her father was rich and respect
able, etc. By some means she suc
ceeded in getting away from her
captor, but left the broken end of
the cane with him. She was after
ward seen in company with the
man Gilbert, and again entered in
the house of the Holmes'. When
the young man told the story it
seemed hard of belief, and the party
went to the place where it was
stated the scuffle took place, and dis
tinct impressions of the feet of the
parties were discovered.
Another proof was given thi3
morning, when a search near the
place of the struggle was rewarded
by finding another piece of the
broken cane. Then cetrain parties
called on Mr. Holmes, requesting
him to produce the gutta-percha
cane he was id the habit of carrying,
but he flatly refused to do so.
The excitement in liussneid is
verv ereat. and DUblic opinion is
that the mediums are the most com
plete and most dangerous humbugs
that have ever been in tne country.
There is no question of one thing,
and that is. if they allow some one
in the bedroom adjoining their cab
met, and those in the audience are
sharp, they will have no Miss Katie
King, alias Mrs. Eliza White, of
Philadelphia. Adrian Times.
A Lost Race.
A correspondent whose state
ment has since been verified writ
ing from one of the mining settle
ments on the shores of Lake Su
perior, says that the remains of a
considerable number of ancient
copper mines have lately been dis
covered on Isle Royale, Thunder
Bav. on the northern border of the
lake, which exhibit undoubted evi
dence of having been worked Dy a
race of men long since extinct, and
of whom we possess no knowledge
save that left behind by such traces
as are now being brought to view.
Shafts of considerable depth, filled
and choked with the accumulated
debris of ages, have been opened,
and in nenetrating to a depth of
sixty feet, tools of wonderful work
manship have been discovered, to
gether with charcoal remains, which
mark the point where skilled
artisans formed, from copper, tools
whose temper and durability would
astonish the ingenious makers of
the present day. Hammers and
chisels seemed to have been the
principal implements for working
the mine, which, together with the
fire, reduced the ore to a condition
which rendered its removal in de
tail easily accomplished. Finely
tempered knife blades have been
picked out of the pit, and granite
hammers of such a size as to require
the strength of no ordinary man to
wield successfully.
These discoveries wonderful as
they are do not stand alone, nor do
they present any new facts in rela
tion to the people who formerly
inhabited this continent. They
simply go to strengthen the evi
dence that, centuries before the
written history of America, power
ful and civilized communities occu
pied every portion of its domain,
who disappearing, left behind them
proofs of their progress in the arts
and sciences, and their indubitable
skill in architecture. For three
thousand miles along the valleys of
our great western rivers traces of
towns and cities occur at intervals,
together with the remains of large
fortified encampments, which show,
from their position and arrange
ment, that their builders were no
mean adepts in the art of warfare.
Vast tumuli, with the dead buried
in a sitting posture, and at their
feet shells unknown (?) to this con
tinent, exist by the hundreds in the
Ohio and Mississippi valleys. In
the dense Yucatan forests there are
ruins of tempies and palaces, re
sembling in solidity of construction,
massiveness of materials, general
design and execution, the ancient
remains of the old Egyptian dy
nasties. Yet neither in Western
America nor in Yucatan exists the
faintest tradition as to that mysteri
ous race which has left behind it the
imperishable record of its genius
and civilization. Wecan do nothing
but conjecture. Pursue our investi
gations as we may, we are still led
back to the starting point, with no
more definite knowledge than we
set out with. The thread is lost
nevermore to be recovered.
It is a singular fact that, thus far,
there has never been discovered any
of the ruins, or in connection with
the tools and war implements men
tioned, any mark, letter or trace
whereon any clue, either to the
origin, customs, or language of this
mysterious race, might be caught or
gathered up. In Europe thegradual
process of development from a half
savage to the high culture jof the
present day, may be traced stage by
stage, and every distinct era marked
by a definite date. But here the
links that bound one generation to
another have been abruptly severed,
and the mound builders of the
Ohio, the architects of the Copan
and Palenque, and the copper
workers on the shores of Lake Su
perior alike lie beyond the reach of
the historian and speculations of
the archaeologist. The relics they
have left behind them only serve to
excite the conjectures of the scien
tific. Possibly, in some yet undis
covered ruin or tomb, the key may
be found to the problem which now
puzzles the world ; but then it is
only a possibility. There is little
doubt that the mystery will remain
until the great day when the sea
gives up its dead and the past be
stretched before us like a scroll.
A Smart Tradesman Non-
Plusses the Post-Office De
partment. For over a year past
complaints have frequently been
made by a leading colored trades
man in our town that his foreign
creditors did not receive the
amounts of small post-office orders
he purchased at the office here. The
books of our postmaster have been
frequently examined and found al
ways to tally with his advices to
the various pay offices, when lo !
and behold, it has just transpired
that the aforesaid tradesman al
ways filed away his money orders
as receipts, and wrote his creditors
that he had forwarded the amount
due by P. O. O. The tradesman has
got more ready money to-day than
he knows what to do with, and says
his mistake has been as good an in
vestment as owning bank or insur
ance stock. Farm., Va., Mercury.
The Brighton Aquarium.
One of the largest and most suc
cessful aquaria is that at Brighton,
England. It is a private enterprise'
and of very recent origin. It was
originated by Mr. Edward Birch,
an English engineer of note, who
organized a stock company with a
capital of $4oo,000. The work of
construction was begun in 18ii, and
the building was formally thrown
open to the public in August, 1S72.
The building stands upon the sea
beach, in front of the Marine Pa
rade, its roof being a little below
the level of that promenade. It
has a total length of 715 feet, with a
width of 100 feet. The interior is
divided into two corridors, on either
side of which stand the tanks con
taining the fish. The dominant
style of architecture is the Italian,
and highly ornate. The roof of the
corridors is arched and groined,
44 constructed of variegated bricks,
and supported on columns of Bath
stone, polished, serpentine marble,
and Aberdeen granite. The capital
of each column is elaborately carved
in some appropriate marine device,
while the floor, in correspondence,
is laid out in acrostic tiles." The
tanks number forty-one. Their
fronts are made of plate-glass, one
inch thick, divided into sheets three
feet wide and six feet high, support
ed by upright iron mullions. At
the eastern end of the west or main
corridor is a fernery, with rock-
work and cascade. Many of the
tanks are also supplied with orna
mental rock-work. For the accom
modation of visitors there are a res
taurant, dining-hall, and reading
room, in the building. The small
est tank measures 11 feet long by 10
broad, and contains about 4,000 gal
lons of water, while tho largest
measures 130 feet long, 30 broad,
and holds 110,000 gallons. The latter
is large enough to accommodate a
small whale. At present, however,
it contains only a purpoise, a few
dog-fish, a ray, and several turtle.
Six tanks are devoted to fresh-water
animals, the rest to marine. The
water of the latter is pumped up
from the sea by steam when needed.
but is never changed in any of the
tanks except when required by tur
bidity, or any accident, such as the
cracking of a front. To secure abun
dant aeration each tank is supplied
i . i i -i i t
witn several vulcanite tuoes, enter
ing at the top and descending to the
bottom. An air-pump, situated at
one end of the building, arid worked
by steam, forces a stream of air into
the tank through each tube. The
result is, a constant bubbling up of
the water. From Popular Science
Monthly for October.
Post up Your Wives.
Iveep them posted, duly, prompt-
y, cneeriuiiy. impart
to them all
he lisrht you can. Do you, hus-
ands, post them up on subjects of
mportance; interests and reform
and religion ; collect facts, passing
events, things interesting, profit
able, edifying; things moral, intel
lectual and political ? Sensible, in
telligent, virtuous wives highly ap
preciate this, especially those press
ed with domestic cares and duties,
who have very little time for ex
tended reading and investigations.
Some husbands are very remiss in
this oenevoience : others, we arc-
pleased to say, are happily commu
nicative, take special pains and de
lierht in posting their wives and
children, in imparting life and in
formation. At the table, during
meal times and on every suitable
occasion, they open their minds
freely, cheerfully, give a condensed,
succinct, bird's eye view of all their
book and paper readings and all the
interesting and important facts,
gathered, variously, daily, weekly,
monthly.
Thus wives and all present are
cheered, gratified, benefitted, en
abled also to impart the information
to others; this generous impartation
of things profitable, interesting and
edifying, produces a salutary effect
on the minds and hearts of the hus
band, deepening and riveting vir
tuous principles and important facts.
"He that watereth shall be watered
also himself." Husbands, do you
think of this? Will you think of
it? This method also produces so
ciability and companionship be
tween husbands and wivesandmost
pleasantly,hopefully and profitably,
which would otherwise be lost.
Golden Hide. ;
General Sherman recently wrote
the following letter to the agent of
a firm who had applied to him for
the contract to place lightning rods
upon the fine mansion which, it was
rumored, he intended to build upon
Orange Mountain, New Jersey : 44If
you find the house I am erecting on
Orange Mountain, please put any
quantity of lightning rods, to attract
the lightning of heaven to demolish
it. 1 don't care whether the rods
be round, square, or twisted. Any
thing to stop this nonsense. Archi
tects, landscape gardeners, builders,
etc., keep writing to me about this
house, when, in fact, it is as much
as I can do to make ends meet
here and finally I expect to con
tent myself with a log home on the
prairies of Kansas or Nebraska,
when Congress turns me out to
grass. Tell Mr. Lyon, 4 who served
under me three years,' that his ex-
Eerience as a soldier should convince
im that Uncle Sam is not so gen
erous to old soldiers as to enable
them to have fancy houses on
Orange Mountain or elsewhere. I
have a house here, but the city taxes
pie for it about as much as Uncle
Sam allows me for rent. How the
Story got circulated that I was go
ing to build on Orange Mountain
passes my understanding, and if
you can stop it I will regard it as a
feat better than protecting me
against lightning."
A Valuable Itecipe,
The Journal of Chemistry publish
es a recipe for the destruction, of in
sects, which, if it be ono half as effi
cacious as it is ciaimexl to be. will
prove invaluable: i
Hot alum water is a recent sug
gestion as an insecticide. It will
destroy red and black ants, cock
roaches, spiders, chinch bugs, and
all the crawling pests which infest
our houses. Take two pounds of
alum and dissolve It in three or four
quarts of boiling water ; let it then
siand on the fire till the alum dis
appears ; then apply it with a brush,
while nearly boiling hot, to every
joint and crevice in your closets,
bedsteads, pantry-shelves and tho
like. Brush the crevices in the floor
of the skirting, or mon-boards, if
you suspect that they harbor ver
min. If, in whitewashing ceiling,
plenty of alum is added to ho lime,
it will also serve to keep injects at a
distance. Cockroaches will flee tho
paint which has been washed in
cool alum water. Sugar barrels and
boxes can bo freed from an U by
drawing a chalk mark just around
the edge of the top of them. Tho
mark must be unbroken, or they
will creep over it; but a continuous
chalk mark half an inch Jin width
will set t heir depredations ai naught.
Powderetl alum or borax will keep
the chinch bugs at a respecjtable dis
tance, and travelers should always
carry a package in their hand bags,
to scatter over and under their pil
lows in places where they havo rea
son to suspect the presencio of such
bedfellows. j
A Fish Story.
A Florida correspondent, in tho
course of an interesting communi
cation regarding Florida fisheries,
says : '
44 The best fishermen in Florida
are the pelicans and ospreys. A
pelican consumes about a peck of
lish a day. They flock about tho
inlets and straits by thousands.
Supposing there are li.000,000 peli
cans in Florida there aro certainly
more than that they would eat
f)00,000 bushels of lish each day, or
182,500,000 bushels per year, i Tho
millionl upon millions offwhlteand
blue cra'nes, herons, curlews, gulls,
fish hawks, kingfishers, and other
water-fowl, devour thousands of
bushels of fish every twenty-four
hours.
44 An experienced Cracker esti
mates that 800,000 bushels of fish a
day are required to feed the birds of
Florida, alone. This would make
2i),500,(MjO bushels each year. Add
to this the billions of fish swallowed
by sharks, bass; and others, and the
sum total will reach nearly 2,000,
000,000 bushels destroyed by feath
ered and finny fishermen on tho.
peninsula in twelve months. At
first sight these figures appear enor
mous ; but let any man make his
own estimate, and carefully figure
it up, and he will find them under
instead of over."
Didn't Like It.
A stranger, about as broad
through the shoulders as a table,
says the Detroit Free Jress, was
eating a free lunch in a Itandolph
street saloon yesterday, when three
roughs came in. They weemed to
take an antipathy to the stranger at
first sight, and it wasn't long before
one of them said he could lick any
man that wore red hair. . The
stranger glanced over that way, but
said nothing. 44 And I can-whin
any man with a wart on his nose,"
said the second. The stranger
chewed away at his crackers as if ho
didn't hear, and the third man
said : 44 I'm just aching to knock the
head off of some country, galoot."
Even that didn't move the stranger,
and finally one of the trio walked
over to his table, looked at him in
contempt, and deliberately spit on
the stranger's boot. He waited to
drink the last of his beer, and then
got up, gave himself a shake, and;
he knocked the roughs down ono
after the other, striking with both
fists and striking blows. Ho waited
for them to get up, and as they
dropped into chairj to analyze their
feelings he quietly remarked :
'How do you like it as far as you've
nit nn 1 1 i
gone ."' i ney nature a worn to say,
and he walked out.
If God could manage his waysac
)rding to our prescriptions, what
satisfaction would God have? or
what satisfaction would tho world
have? He might be unjust to him
self and unjust to others. Your own
complaints would not be stilled
when you should feel the smart of
your own counsels ; yet if they were,
what satisfaction could there bo to
the complaints of others, whoso in
terests, and, therefore judgment and
desires, lie cross to yours? Murmur
not, therefore whatsoever is dono
in the world is thq work of a , wise
agent, who acts for the perfection of
the whole universe; and why should
I murmur at that which promotes
the common happiness and perfec
tionthat being better and more
desirable than the perfection of any
one particular person? Must a
lutist break all his strings because
one is out of tune? Charnock.
Washington Echo : Wo aro re
liably informed that in the office of
Mr. J. Gray Blount, in this town,
in 1830, there was the skin of a rat
tlesnake, killed in Hyde county, on
the North Lake, 23 feet long, and
as large as the body of a man, on
which there were seventy-five rat
tles. Also, that one was killed in
Martin county, in 1871, near War
ing, with G3 rattles I
There are thirty cotton mills In
the State.
X
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