BLUE
RIDGE
1LABE"
1 am
VOL. III. NO. 49.
TWO HOTHZBS.
I Bit and rock beside my eotUge window ;
My baby boy is lying on my knee
, His tiny hand clasped cloee about my finger,
' Hia wistful hazel eyes regarding me;
Outside, among the cherry tree's thick
branches, v
There sings a robin with a crimson breast ;
I hear her song and guess its tender meaning,
She has two little eggs within her nest
The summer days are blossoming around us,
And etery heart is filled with summer's joy ;
I wander slowly through the sunny garden,
And by my side totters the baby boy. .
Gy sings the robin in the tree abore us,
The mother-rapture thrilling all her song ;
And tw.ttering answers from her two brown
joii the son airwinrmuBic ail oar oag.
Autumn has come, the crimson leaves are fall
ing,
And golden leaves are Hyipghere and there,
The cherry tree is stripped of half its beauty.'
And stretches out 1U branches brown and
bare.
Robin sits lonely 'mid the autumn splendor,
.And my heart eoboes to her plaintive moan.
This is the end of the sweet summer Btory :
Our nests are empty and our birds have
flown.
Who was Guilty?
" I do think, John, you might leave
me have a little more money."
Victoria Hale was sitting at the
breakfast table, a pout on her pretty
lips, an ominous wrinkle between her
"brows. She looked very pretty, in her
morning dress of fluted white lawn,
with a breakfast cap of Swiss muslin
and rose-colored ribbons that were pe
culiarly becoming to her olive skin,
and large, velvety black eyes.
Her husband, slowly sipping his
coffee at the other side of the table, was
quite a handsome and distfnguished
looking in his way. John Hale was
chief book-keeper and cashier in a large
Arm 'on Wood street, and had scarcely
been married three months as yet. Al
ready, however, the bloom and charm
of wedded life had been dissipated in
some degree. He had begun to discover
that his divinity was not all divine.
"More money, Victoria!" he re
peated, with a scarcely perceptible
knitting of the brows. "Are you not
getting unreasonable? Do I not keep
you liberally supplied with all that I
have to spare?"
unii nun-jinn -.1 imi.
nington, and have to stand by while
they are purchasing the sweetest things
at such bargains!"
" Don'tgo shopping with tlijem, then ;
that's my advicev"
"You would shut 'me up tken, from
all amusements and society?"
"Nonsense, Victoria! You know
better than that. Here is your prettily
furnished house, your garden, your
little conservatory, to amuse you."
"I'm tired, of them all!" said the
"pretty bride. "One cannot be con
tented with the same thing forever."
" If you' wanted a perpetual" chamge,
a continual whirl of excitement, yon
.should haye married a rich man." ,
" Don't be cross, John, said Victoria,
fbaxlngly. "But you know all our
'neighbor's about here are tolerably
well off, and I don't want to be left be
hind. I shall be mortified to death if I
can't have a croquet party in J iily.'
"I have no especial objection to
that," said her husband. " Isuppose it
need not necessarily be expensive?
" Not so very." said Victoria. " Of
course, we must have a-band, and the
sweets and- ices from the confection
er's."
"Wouldn't vour Diano. and a little
. home-made cake and ice-cream, do?"
" What nonsense, John ! Do you
'suppose I could ask our stylish neigh
bors to such a two-penny sort of af
fair as that?"
" They would know it was as good as
we could afford.".
" And I need a lace parasol terribly.
And oh ! John, I had forgotten about
Mrs. Lacy's creamcolored ponies."
1 hope,, for goodness sake, she don't
want you to buy them?" .
" Xo, of course not, but she says I
may use them while she's at Searlor-
igh. Isn't it kind of her?"
" I dare say it's very kind," said
John Hale, ruefully; "but do you
chance to know how much a. pair of
ponies cost in the keeping? to say noth
ing of the expense of the groom."
Oh, if you're going to stoop to such
petty considerations as that "
" Well, well, use them if you like. 1
dare say we shall manage somehow."
"And the croquet party? Only
thirty qr forty couple just to pay our
social debts. It's so shabbv U be le-
hindhand in such things."
"If vou will be as economical about
it as you can
"And the "parasol? .And the summer
silk that is such a bargain at Peter
Robinson's?"
"Yes. ves. yes! Only remember
Vic, that there is a limit to our funds.'
Mrs. Hale was satisfied with this as;
seut so reluctantly screwed out of her
husband
She gave the croquet party, and had
the satifactiou of hearing on all sides
that it was the most elegantly gotten
tip little affair of the season in Hollo
way Row. She whirled down to the
parks, and along the Bays water Road,
with the cream-colored ponies. She
bought the lavender summer silk, with
a " love " of a'lace shawl to wear with
it; paid Madame Fringe Furbelow four
viiineas to make it up. and had it
6
ruined the first time she ever wore It.
Sbeaccepted an Invitation to visit Yar
mouth with a party of gay friends, and
in
uVlc, you don't understand," said
John, with a careworn look on his
brow. " We must study economy, or
we snail go to ruin !"
economy!" sharply retorted Vic
toria: I am sick of the very word !"
Her husband turned silently away;
u. was iiaru, rust when he had most
need of sympathy, counsel and advice,
in us to be repulsed.
"They tell me," said old Mr. Hardie,
the senior member of the firm of Har
die, Blocke & Co., " that Hale's wife
.tresses the jnost elegantly of any one
at i arnioutn tnis season ?".
" What, Hale, who keeps Denny's
Yes!" '
" The deuce she doe3 !
afford it?"
How can he
"Ah !" said old Hardie, taking snuff,
mat s a different matter. 1 don
uuw now ne anorus it. xt 1 were
Denny, I should keep an eye to things."
" They've had some serions lessons
already, I'm told," said the other.
"That burglary last week cost them a
thousand pounds."
"Any trace of the burglars as yet?"
"No. The safe must have been
opened by skeleton keys, Denny
thinks. "
" Humph !" grunted old Hardie. " If
the cashier M as anyone but Hale, that
Denny trusts as he trusta himself"
"Oh, nonsense, nonsense!" cried
the other old gentleman. "There's
such a thing as being too suspicious,
Hardie. You'll be saying next that
Hale is at the head of a gang of burg
lars."
He may be, for all I know," said
Hardie, dryly."
Meanwhile, Mr. Reginald Denny be
gan to be strangely mistrustful. Not
of John Jlale he would as soon have
doubted himself but of others aoout
him. ,
Hale," said he, " sometimes ! think
those knaves of burglars are nearer
home than any one imagines." '
Do you sir?" A ghastly look came
over the young man's face, as if he
were in pain. " Impossible !"
" At all events, it is worth looking
into," said Denny, "The circle of
suspicion is narrowing down. Do you
mind sitting up for a night or two?"
.tiXot atiilLsir if You.deslre.it Jr'
naven t seeiueu wen una iasi wee ui
two."
"Pray don't mention, it, I'm well
enough," said Hale,almost impatiently.
It was the first night of his vigil a
dark, tempestuous midnight, with rain
falling outside, and the rush of equin
octial winds wailing down the chim
neys. Mr. Reginald Denny had gone
home, but some unanalyzed notion in
duced him to return, quietly and by
stealth, towards two o'clock in the
morning.. Letting himself in by his
own private key, with a word of reas
surance to the alarmed watchman who
passed the warehouse, he noiselessly
eutered the counting-room.
The safe where the money and valu
able papers were kept was wide open.
Kneeling before it, with both hands
full of bank-notes and bills, hurriedly
transferlng some to an open leather
case on his right hand, and putting
others back, was John Hale himself.
In an instant, Mr. Reginald Denny's
iron grasp was on his arm. '
" So I have got at the root of the mat
ter at last," Said he, in a deep, stern
voice. "So you are the burglar, .John
Hale?"
" Ah !" exclaimed the culprit, in dis
may. " Have mercy !"
"Mercy on a heartless wretch?
never! You shall pay the full penalty
of your Ingratitude and crime."
" Think for one moment, sir, of the
situation in which 1 have been placed
by an extravagant wife, whom I fondly,
tenderly love."
V Her follies are no excuse for your
dishonesty. I have placed unlimited
trust in you this is my reward. Had
I not fortunately arrived at the spot,
to-morrow morning would have found
me a beggar, and the viper I have
warmed and nourished, laughing at his
dupe."
White with rage and dismay, Hale
M J . 1 . ..'! t .
spiang to nis ieei ami con iron icu mc
man he had so long been systematically
robbing.
" You have discovered me ! he cried,
in stifled accents, " but you never shall
convict me!"
there was a vivid flash, the report of
a pistol, and the next instant John
Hale lay dead before the horrihed mer
chant. I .
" It was not so much his own fault as
it was his wife's," people said when the
ugly facts connected with John Hale's
suicide leaked out. He was weak.but
not naturally wicked, and she perse
cuted him mercilessly for money. Poor
girl! her dress, fashion and luxuries
were dearly bought."
And Victoria Hale, sitting', pale and
agonized, in her deep widow's weeds.
knehs well as if supernatural hands
had written it in fiery letters on the
wall, that she had killed her husband !
ALTHoroH M ant are predisposed to lune trou
bles from birth, yet even ucn may escape con
sumption, or other Pulmonary or Brouchlal dis
eases, u dne care and watchful uess be observed,
and aU exciting causes are promptly treated as
they arise. Ills in these cases Dr. J yne's ex
pectorant exercises its most beneficial effects,
and lua produced the largest proportion of Its
cures. Besides promptly removing Coughs and
Colds, which, when left to themselves, are the
the Immediate cause of tuberculous develop
ment, una standard remedy allays any i&nama
tloo which may exist, and by promoting easy
expectoratlon,cleanses the lungs of tne substan
ces which clog them up, and which rapidly des-tro-
wheasuuerijA&neuiaia.
cried all night before she could
duce her husband to consent.
MOIWANTOX,
A Daring; Man.
cnarne Carson, a nephew of Kit Car
son, ine noted hunter, scout and guide.
was also a cultivated individual on the
frontier. He wasi cool, quiet, brave,
arid an intelligent guide, familiar with
the mountains and prairie, and known
and respected by the Indians as a for
midable fighter. The hatred of the
Bloods and North Piegan bands of the
Blackfeet toward him was intense, and
they had cause to fear him as well. In
the early part of 1865 a pioneer of trie
Aorth-west by the name of Burgess.
with his party, attempted to build -a
trading post at the mouth of the Marias,
twelve miles below Fort Benton. It
was situated upon territory claimed by
the North Piegans, who were then lo
cated lar to the north, on. Belly River.
They determined to exterminate Bur
gess' party. He went across the Teton
with two teams and ten men for tim
ber. On their return ; seventy-five
mounted Indians made a rush, sur
rounded them in the prairie, and, after
a desperate resistance, resulting in a
severe loss to the Indians, slaughtered
them to the last man. Carson was then
at Fort Benton. Shortly afterwards,
one of the band who destroyed the Bur
gess party came into the fort in the
guise of a friendly South Piegan, who
were then residing at the fort. Carson
found this out. and shot him dead as he
attempted to escape by swimming the
Missouri. Soon afterward, in the fall
of 1865, horses were stolen from the
range near the fort, by a party of the
same band. Carson, with two men.
took their trail and came upon them in
their camp at night in the Bad Lands
oh the waters of Eagle Creek, near the
base of Bear's Paw Mountains. Their
camp was among the dwarf cedars,
well covered. The Indians were at
tacked at close quarters, four out of five
killed, and the horses recovered with
out loss to Carson's party. The Indians
obtained their final revenge on Carson
by strategy. He was stopping the fol
lowing winter of 18C5-'GG with Paul
Vermet, who then had a private tra
ding post where the road from Benton
to Helena crosses the Dearborn river.
It w as on the west bank. Behind it
was an open bottom, with scattering
pines, and behind this was a bluff, up
which ran a narrow trail. One eve
ning Vermet saw Carson's horses,
which had been grazing iji the bottom
ble over the hill. They would not be
safe from Indians beyond the hill, out
of sight; and Carson, suspecting dan
ger from the position and movements
of the horses, followed by Vermet, star
ted, rifle in hand, up the trail in pur
suit. He was looking over the crest of
the hill for Indians. There was a pile
of crumbling granite on the tiail be
tween him and the summit, scarcely
large enough to hide a man. He saw
his foremost horsei stationary over the
hill, anu came opposite tlie pile ot gran
ite. He saw an Indian lying behind it,
but too late. While raising his rifle to
fire he was shot through the breast.
They had decoyed hi rq into a trap. In
falling, he called to Vermet to save
himself. They were the last words he
uttered. Vermet fled to the post and
closed the doors, and was released sev
eral days alterward by a party of
whites. In the meantime Carson's
body had remained unburied. The In
dians respected it, and took nothing ex
cept his rifle, revolver and hat. The
party who relieved Vermet buried the
body near where it fell. It rests there
among the pines overlooking the beau
tiful but lonely valley of the Dear
born. These facts are familiar to the
writer and mountain men of that day.
The thief of Winnemucca simply as
sumed the name and identity of a re
spectable frontiersman.
A Marine Candle.
There is found on the coast of British
Columbia, Russian America, and Van
couver's Islands a little fish not larger
than a smelt,, clad in glittering armor,
which is fat almost beyond conception
It is popularly known as the candle-
fish, but its scientific name is ,saio ra
cificus. Mr. Lord, the well-known na
turalist, has careffuly studied the habits
and manners of this fish, and the uses
to which it may ie applied. Living
with the Indians, he joined their excur
sions against the (candle-fish, which,
sporting in the moonlight on the sur
face, gave to the waters the resem
blance of a vast sheet of pearly waves.
To catch them, the Indians use a mons
ter comb or rake, six or eight feet long,
composed of a piece of pine wood, with
teeth made of bone, if sharp pointed
nails are not to be procured. The ca
noe being paddled by one Indian close
to the shoal, the other sweeps the rake
through the mass, aud brings it to the
surface, teeth upwards, with usually
one, and often three or four, fish im
paled on each tooth. By the repetition
of this process, many canoes are soon
filled. The cargoes being landed, the
further charge devolves -upon the
squaws, whd have to do the curing,
drying and oil making. Whey do not
cut or in any way clean the fish, but
s Imply pass long smooth sticks through
their eyes, skewering on each stick as
many as it will hold, and then lashing
another piece transversely at the ends
to prevent them from slipping off the
skewer. ! The fish are then dried and
smoked by being suspended in the thick
atmosphere at the top of the sheds, and
this smoke is sufficient to preserve them
fresh without salting a process which
the Indians never apply to fish. When
dry, they are carefully packed in cases
N. C, SATURDAY,
of bark or rushes and then stowed away
out or reach or children or dogg till
winter. "I have never," gays Mr
Lord, "seen any fish half as fat and as
good for Arctic winter food as these
little candle-fish. Jt is next to impos
sible to fry or broil them, for they
melt completely into oil." They are so
marvelously fat that the natives use
them as lamps for lightning their lod
ges. For this purpose ths dried fish is
perforated from head to tail by a piece
of rushpith by means of a long needle
made of hard wood. The wick is then
lighted, and the fish burns steadily,
with a sufficiently good light to read
by. The candlestick Is a bit of wood
split at one end", with the ggH inserted
n the cleft. Whew by nefSnd pres
sure these little fishes are transformed
into a liquid oil, and the Indian drinks
them instead of burning themhe sup
plies his own body with a highly car
bonaceous fuel, which is burnea slowly
in his lungs and keepR up his animal
heat. Without a full supply of some
such food, he would perish in the cold
of i. long northern winter . When a
sufficient supply of the fish has been
dried and ut by for the winter's food,
the remainder is piled in heaps till the
fishes are partly decomposed, for the
purpose of being converted jnto oil.
The method of extracting the oWs ve
ry primitive. Five or six large7 fires
are made, and in each fire are a number
of large round pebbles, to be made very
hot. By each fire are four large square
boxes, made of the wood of the pine.
A squaw piles in each box a layer of
fish, covers them with cold water, and
adds five or six of the heated stonps.
When the steam has cleared away.small
pieces of wood are laid on the stones ;
then more fish; more water, more
stones, and more layers of wood, and so
on, until the box is filled. The oil
maker now takes the liquid from this
box, and proceeds to fill another box,
U3ing this oily liquid for the second box
in place of water. From the surface of
the contents of this box. the floating oil
s skimmed off. One very small tribe
often makes as much as seven hundred
weight of oil. Not pnly is an abun
dance of oil supplied by nature, but the
bottles to store it away in are actually
provided. The great seawrack grows
to an enormous size in these northern
seas, and has a hollow stalk, expanded
at the root end into a complete flask;
fjifaaYuFafe kepFwet and flexible till
required. The oil as it is obtained is
stored awav in these natural bottles
which hold from a quart to three pints
A Sunken City.
Recently, a small boat, containing an
American gentleman, was capsized on
Lake Leman, just opposite the village
of St. Pregts, the gentleman receiving
no harm, but his valise going to the
bottom'. The portmanteau contained
certain articles of value,' so its owner
called to his aid the divers, who speed
ily brought to terra firma the Ameri
can's lnggage, and with it a superb
vase, bl antique make, an enormous
piece of white marble and several pet
rifications. These were examined with
interest, but this was not the singular
part of the affair.
The divers recounted that when at
the bottom of the lake they were con
scious of treading upon a surface so un
equal thai several times they were
neariy losing their equilibrium. From
what they observed they gave it as their
opinion that the inequality of the sur
face was due to the fact that they had
been walking upon the roofs of houses,
and this being communicated to the au
thorities at Morges and St. Pregst, sev
eral of the notabilities went in a boat
to the spot indicated and caused aquan
titv of oil to be thrown upon the sur
face of the lake; which, as is well
known, has the property of rendering
water transparent. Gazing down into
the depths below, the investigators
clearly distinguished a town ot appar
ently considerable extent in the bed of
the lake streets, detached houses, and
larger buildings being distinctly visi
ble. The town, which it is stated con
sists of upward of two hundred houses,
has at its extremity a.large square tow
ar, which was not, properly speaking,
unknown to boatmen, for in calmer
weather its summit was visible at ten
metres below the surface of the lake,
w. until ti.e tewnt discovery it was
commonly supposed to be a rock.
The Swiss authorities, anxious to in
vestigate the subject more thoroughly,
have voted a sum of money for the con
struction of a vast jetty, which will in
close the underwater town, and com
municate with the banks of the lake.
This done, nothing, we are told, will
be easier than to draw off the water,
and restore to the light of day a town
that has been buried for an incalcula
ble number of years.
Pompeii-
ir-.v.Mnna a.t Pomoeii prove the
city to have been one ot the most fash
w nd hfiantiful of Roman sum
mer resorts, and, bat for the eruption it
might have remained so w m uj.
As with Pompeii, so with thousands of
people who have beauty of form and
feature. They might alwvi be ad
mired but for the empfioa, that makes
the face unsightly, and betrays the
presence of scrofula, virulent blood
poisons, or general debility. 1 here is
but one remedy that positively cures
these affections, and that remedy is
Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery.
It is the best known tonic, alterative
and resolvent. It speedily cures pim
ples, blotches, liver spots, and all dis
eases arising from impoverished or
impure blood. It also cores dyspepsia,
and regulates the liver and bowels.
Sold by all drug-gists.
JANUARY 25, 1879.
She Never Returned.
I he poor widow with nine small
1. S1.1 , ... .
vnuureii anu a month s rent One was
around to see Bijah. She began :
"Mr. Joy, have you a heart?"
He offered to take an affidavit that he
had.
"Then if you have, Mr. Joy," she
continued, wiping her eves on her
apron, " were you ever left a widow
with nine small children cryingaround
you for bread and no bread in the
house?"
Bijah reflected a moment, and then
conoluded that he had .never been
placed in such a position.
"Then you don't know how awful it
is, Mr. Joy. I don't care for myself,
but it almost kills me to hear them nine
children crying together in chorus for
food. I came around to see you and
ask you what I'd better do."
" Why, I'd go to w-ork and get up a
square meal for them," was the honest
reply.
" A square meal out of shavings !"
she almost screamed. "I toTd you I
had nothing to eat in the house not
even an old oyster can !"
He looked at her red nose, made a
mental calculation as to how mueh
liquor she had swallowed during the
last ten years, and then calmly snid :
"Poor woman, return to me and
bring me your nine dear children, and
I will have oyster soup ready for them,
and then take the whole lot to a shoe
store."
'I I wouldn't do it, sir," she stam
mered; "they is all in bed with bald
colds."
"Then I will go home with you,
poor widow, and the little dears shall
be fed and clothed." I
"Oh oh but you couldn't sir, you
couldn't; 'cause my house doesn't look
fit for the likes of you. Hand me a
dollar, sir, and I'll hurry home to them
and fill every blessed darling with
soup."
"I will go along and carry the oys
ters," he said, as he got up.
"Oh, no, sir it's too much trouble
for you. Just hand me out fifty cents,
and the angels will bless you for ever
more." " I have to go along and get a thirty-
dollar bill changed come."
She made a rush for the door, knock
ing the lndia-ruDDer -cat clear under
the table, and, standing under the win-
rlnm,,.ii,, 1 1 f i AiTU"tft3rT"trfcn gme
dear children to call ye an old black
headed ward delegate, and don't ye
forget the fact."
Heart-broken mother distressed
widow return hold on come back ?'
he cried. But she never returned.
A Baby Railroad.
From Cucharas the main line of the
Rio Grande road strikes directly for the
mountains and crosses the Sangre de
Christo range. As we go bounding
over the plains toward the pass,' the
Spanish Peaks, two giant twin moun
tains, stand out in all their majesty to
our left. Both of them lift their heads
above timber line, the one being 12,720
feet, and the other 13 620 feet high. At
the Mexican town orLa Veta fi com
menced the up grade. From this point
a fieavier engine, built expressly for
mountain climbing, takes our train. In
the next fourteen miles we must mount
up on our "trail" of steel, 2,400 feet,
and then sweep down the other side of
the mountain into the Rio Grande Val
ley. At Ojo the tremendous climb
really commences. From here, the
grade is steeper and steeper, and our
speed slower and more cautious. First
we mount up the steep side of Veta
Mountain, the towering summit of
which we have to lean out of our car
window to see. Higher and higher
climbs the train, steeper and steeper
grows the grade until there is a rise ot
217 feet to the mile. Our brave little
engine, with sinews of steel and breath
of fire, and voice of thunder, pufl's and
pulls as if in agony. Now we begin to
climb the Mule Shoe Bend. We are on
one end of it. , Look yonder across the
narrow deep valley to our left. Do
you see that road looking like a little
rocky shelf running up tiie rocky
mountainside? That is the nt.hr end
of the "shoe." It is hundreds of feet
above us, but'our train will be up there
half an hour hence. What a shoe. Over
a mile long on each side, and one end
500 feet above the other. And what
must the mule have been '; Slowly up
and up we go, dodging the precipices,
and swinging around the mountain
curves, in the steady null, until we
reach the toe of our great choe. Here
we swing around from the Veta to the
Dump Mountain, on the sharpest curve
known in railroad building. Still up
aud up we climb on the tremendous
grade, as if it were in a balloon instead
of a railroad train. At last the dizzy
height of Inspiration Point is reached.
"How magnificent !" shouts a fellow
traveler. "How lovely!' says another.
"How frightful V whispers a third.and
no wonder. This is the Dump of Dump
Mountain, the "Cape Horn" or the
pass. We are swinging round the brow
of the promontory, and from our car-
windows we can look over the verge of
the precipice into the abyss below, and
off uoon a scene magnificent beyond de
scription. The valley up which we
started, the Veta Mountain, along
which, hundreds of feK below us, we
can trace our track, the Spanish peaks
.looking more majestic than ever from
this lofty standpoint, and the vast plain
on the bosom of which nestles little
Veta; all together form one .of the
gjandest panoramas this earth affords.
"This must be the summit. o, we
are not at the highest point yet. Still
we must go on anu on, winding up
ward through the defiles, among the
rocks, and past places rather trying to
delicate nerves. But aniong.the scores
ol twists and turns we feel a sense of
perfect safety. The roadbed is solid,
the system of brakes so perfect and the
train so well managed we Jo not think
of danger. Tlis is a "crooked" but
not a "perverse generation" of rail
roads. At last, well up among the
clouds, the echo of the engine whistle
reverberating among the mountain
peaks, announces that we are at the top
summit, 9,339 feet abow the sea. This
is a point more than 1,000 feet higher
than has been reached by any other
railroad on the continent, a point 3,000
feet higher than the summit of old Mt.
Washington, the loftiest mountain in
all New England. And now we are in
for a fifteen-mile slide down hill. With
double brakes grasping the wheels.and
the train men watching with extraor
dinary care, we glide safely and smooth
ly down the Western slope. From
Garland, at tiie foot of the mountain', a
long level pull of thirty niiles over a
part of the great San Luis Park.brought
us to a new railroad town on the bank
of the Rio Grande, bearing the musical
name of Alamosa, It is only six months
old, and yet has near a thousand in
habitants. It sprang up in a night.
This town is the nearest railroad sta
tion to that new and rich El Dorado,
the San Juan gold and silver mining
region.
The Penguins.
Of t lie habits of the Penguins, we
have a graphic description by one of
the company of the exploring ship
"Challenger." in his "Log Letters "
The writer describes what is known as
one of their "rookeries," or nesting
places, as follows : " Between the foot
of the cliff and the beach was a bank
covered with long tussock grass,
among which the Penguins had their
nests, and from which they had regular
roads into the rookeries. Among the
stems of the tall tussock grass they
were sitting about in thousands on their
nests; consisting of a layer ot grass. It
was not pleasant walking in the rook
ery ; horrible smells, to say nothing of
the fierce digs we now got in our legs.
and the fiendish noise somethiuK be-
roTfr" "which' is kfcpt up flight- and vday,
and plainly .audible from the ship,
sounding on a still night like the rmr
of a heavy surf. They never had more
than two eggs, sometimes only one,
larger than a Dorking's, covered dirty
white with brown stains. The yonug,
ust out of the egg, were black, naked
things. Many of the eggs were cracked
by the young inside, who were pokinp
their bills out. Afterwards we walked
back to the rock3 where we had landed,
adistance of five hundred yards.through
the densest part of the reokery, and al
ways to be remembered by me as the
most awful walk I ever had. The
grass grew six leet hign, maueu anu
tangled, while thousands upon thous
ands of maddened penguins swarmed
between the tufted stems. When we
stopped to see where we put our feet.
we were instantly attacked by a host of
infuriated birds, and got horribly
tweaked and digged at. You can have
no conception how infuriated and bold
they are when protecting their nests,
rushing at our legs in crowds, and fol
lowing us, pecking viciously. They
were so thick that it was useless try
ing to avoid them, so one had just to
tramp on as fust as possible, amid the
deafening brays and overpowering
stench. Suddenly we were stopped by
finding ourselves at the brink of a low
cliff'. This stretch of rock was covered
with penguins, one stream coming
from the grass and putting to sea, and
the other stream lauding and hopping
into the rookerv. Marvellous jumps
they made in coming down the rocks,
doing'a jump of three feet and more
quite easily, bolt upright the whole
time. They Jump tnto the sea rrom on
a ledge of nick feet foremost, and land
Very cleverly ; as the wave came wash
ing up, against the rock, they came
w Itll It tjirdcT to-, lgf
depths in shoals, clinging on the rocks
by their feet, and when the wave: re
ceded the face of the rock was plastered
with them, and before the next wave
came they had clambered up in some
wonderful fahion, helping themselves
with their bills, but not with their flap-
pers
Napkin In England,
It is not the general custom to use
napkins at luncheon in Kngland al
though at great houses luncheon Is in
reality a small dinner as it may well
be when "ta uiuckle dinner hersel !" is
at 8 o'clock, and on great occasions at
9. An American lady was visiting at
one of the houses, where she found the
usual absence of the napkin at midday
She knew her hostess so well that she
could venture to ask her why it was
that napkins were not used at lunch
eon. Her grace (for she was a duchess)
replied simply and briefly that it was
"not the custom," and with an air that
signified that that seHled the question.
But her guest bad taken luncheon ith
the Qtleen more than once at Balmoral,
and there she had found napkins. This
she told her friend as a sort of justifica
tion cf her inquirj. "Indeed !" said
the duchess. "The Queen had better
be careful. She will make herself un
popular If she undertakes to change tbe
custom of the country." The Philis
tinism of John Bull does not even stop
short of napkins.
WHOLE NUMBER 153.
XF.WS IN BRIEF.
The wlne-eroaln Interest of Cali
fornia yields fully $500,000 annually io
the revenue of that state.
In 1870 there were over 202,000.000
lbs. of tobacco grown in the United
States. Estimating the average product
at about 800 lbs. per acre, we may con
clude that over 300,000 acres were under
this crop. -
A gentleman in Boston, hat just pre
sented to the public library of that ity
the mm of (1000, which is to be funded,
and the Income therefrom expended In
the purchase of books relating to Ameri
can hletory. '
-- ItTsVtated that the miniature Swiot
chalet a present from Fechter, the ac
torin which Dickens wrote most of his
later works, has been taken to the
grounds of tbe Crystal Palace Com pan
at Sydenham.
The Chicago elevators contain at the
praseut time about 4,064,299 bushels of
wheat, 592,295 bushels of corn, 229.2G3
bushels of oats, 139,116 bushels of rye,
and 1,263,967 bushels of barley, making
a grand total of 6,288,942 bushels, j
A few months ago the city of Cers,
Venezuela, was destroyed by an earth
quake. It is now about to be rebuilt,
but upon an entirely new site la the
plain below, where several villages es
caped unscathed, while every town on
the hillside was overthrown.
Great Britain, last vear Imported
oranges to the extent of 3,533 781 bush
els, with a money value of $7,J3i825.
This is an increase since 1 SCO of 2.379
ioi uubucib, suowiiig mat ine conBUDjf- .
tion In eighteen years has multiplied
threefold. .
The receivers of the Townsend
Bank, at New Haven. Conn- have de
cided to pay a dividend of ten per Cent. -$280,000)
about the middle of Decem
ber. This will make forty oer cent.
($1,120,00) In all returned to the de
positors. During the last three years about .
$3,100,000 have been collected for chari
table purposes Dy the Mayors of London,
in i87b the sum realized was about
$190,000; in 1877 the Indian famine fund
helped to swell tbe total to nearly $2,
475,000; this year the figures are about
$425,000.
A number of the survivors froip the
Princess Alice disaster have started a
project to erect a stained glass wlodov
in the Woolwich Union Chapel; as a
thank-offering for their preservat'on
and a memento of the kindness which
they experienced from the officials ot
the Plumstead Infirmary.
During the last war 594 OOORulBslaii
SQldlers poured. dQwj. .U)awih. .itty-y ;
Dy sea, 2,uuu are still lti hof.!i3!V
000 laid their bones in Roumanla, and
99,000 perished in Bulgaria.
While a farmer of Monroe, X. Y ,
was prying open a flat stone in a quarry
last week his hand touched something
cold and clammy., fie raised the stone
and found a ball made up of forty -Ave
large black snakes. They were matted
together as though they had been braid
ed, and were separated by beating with
a club.
Mr. Spurgeon has declined toaace t
personally the gift of, $25,000, which h s .
congregation Is raising to copimemoraie
the completion or tils twenty fifth vear s
work as a Baptist minister, but will de
vote the amount to the establishment
nf a normanflnt fund for th(t nowl of tl a
Metropolitan Tabernacle aUnhousef,
fourteen in number.
The annual report of the Board f
Police Justices in New York city show s
the following statistics of crime in tl at
city: The number of arnss male by
the police during the year was 78,533,'
- " r
of which 66,404 were men. The num
ber of prisoners held was 01,780, tip
number discharged was 26,717, and 30
cases are still pending.
The old Charter which was granted
to the colony of Connecticut In 1CC2 ty
Charles II, and which was hung In tjj
Secretary of State's office' for mati v
years past, has recently been refrs-d
and the text renewed, and was on Su
urday hung In the Secretary of Statf'K
office, in the new Capitol, at Hartford.
The frame is made of solid oak, I rum
the charter oak tree.
Mr. Walter M. Gibson, a memler
of the Hawaiian Parliament, has iut
entrusted to Mr. T. K. Gould, of Bt ti,
the work of designing a bronze sutue f
Kamebameha, the founder of the pn f
ent government of the Sandwich inl
ands, which Is to be erected at an ex
pense of $10,000 to commemorate the
centennial anniversary of the discovery
of the Islands by Captain Cook.
A resident at Melbourne. Auxtra'la.
recently received trom a friend In the
ortttsn muwuma pacnaKv oi peas wnicn
were taken from the folds In the t-iotti ,
irg of an Egyptian mummy. 3000 years
old. On receiving them be placed them
In a tumbler of water, where in twenty
four hours they had swelled consider
ably, and then planted them In pot.
w here they are now growing vigorously.
The old steamer Columbia, which'
was sold In Baltimore last Monday for
$10C0 to satisfy claims against her, U
well known along trie rotomac. ne is
(opposed to be the oldest steamer In the
United States. She was built In 1828.
and for forty -five years ran between
Baltimore and Washington. She was re
built in 1859, and has been used v . an
excursion boat for the last five or t x
years.
An East Litchfield, Conn., boy
named Goodman fell recently and broke,
an arm and dislocated his shoulder,
short It after two of his brothers were
badly Injured Dy tut premature explo
sion of a blast. Tbe news was carried
to their father by someone incautiously.
H aa on the barn shingling, anu wis
so affected that be partially faln'edland
fell to tbe grounfl,.DreaKingone teg anu
receiving severe injuries soontme neao.
the ikull being fractured in one place.
Lately, on a dark eight, a stage
ceacit with nine passengers waapMiig
between Leadvillc and Canon City, Col.,
when suddenly coach and horses "and
driver and passengers fell oyer a bank
and down sixty feet Into a creek below.
Tbe coach turned over three times In Us
descent and landed bottom-upward, six
. . -.-.A aavIah A In.
Inside passengers escmpeu .n..
Jury; tbree outside were equF.'ly locky.
and the accident wu fatal u only one
horse, which was so much hurt that It
wa necessary to shoot him.