Newspapers / The Blue Ridge Blade … / July 19, 1879, edition 1 / Page 1
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' ..." . - , " ,'.. " ' - '' . lv - . JHfi BLUE RIDGE BLADE. IY.-NO. MORGANTON, N. C SATURDAY. JULY 19, 1879. WHOLE NUMBER 178. ASSIST EACH OTHER. Lend ft hand to one another In the daily toil of life ; When we meet a weaker brother. Let ue help him in th j strife. There is none to rich bat may, In his tarn, be forced to borrow ; And the poor man's torn to-day May become oar own to-morrow. , Lend a band to one another ; And when rumor' tongne haa thrown' Dark suspicions on yoor brother, Be not prompt to cast a stone; There is none bo good bat may Ban adritt in shame and sorrow ; And the best of them to-day; I " May become the wont to-morrow. Lend a kl to. me : another-11 In U" raoa for honor's crowu ; . Should it fall upon your brother. Let not envy tear it down. Lend a band to all I sav, In their suashine and their sorrow. And the prize we've lost to-day May become our? own to-morrow. Seventy-five Miles an Hour. I had spent a night in a stage, a day in a saddle, a night id a 'sleeping-car, half a day doing business,! hklf aday in bed, and was, after supper, enjoying a cigar and a news paper, in the reading room of the Redwood House, Fayette, Ind. The newspaper was uninteresting, or else I was rather sleepy and I guess it wiis a little of both so that 1 soon neglected it, to watch the fantastic curling of the smoke from my line-flavored cigar. I didn't feel much like talking, and felt still less like reading; but I did feel jis if I would like exceedingly well to hear a good story. ; i had barely come to this conclusion, and commenced wishing: for some one of my ac quaintances to amuse me till the time was 1ip for the train which "was to take me to Indianapolis, when I recognized, in the person who sat next to me, a f ellow-trave-. ler irt the sleeping-car of the night before. He, too, had laid aside his paper, and was apparently, i like me, watching the smoke of his cigar, and wishing for absent friends to keep him company. ; He was a very agreeable-lwking little man, with a clear, gray eye, light hair, sandy1 whiskers, and smiling mouth. In deed, he had so much the appearance of the man that I would like to hear tell a story, that I thought Dame Fortune had smiled upon me, when he recognized me with a genial, "How d'ye do, stranger?" I returned his salutation, and asked him -some common-place questions about how he had enjoyadthe ride we had together. Ae said something in rey about the , running being too fast for tbjfe poor'track ; t find from this the conversation ran upon last traveling in general, for 8hie time.. At Ins I nOarked that jsixty miles ttn-bwr was the most 8tS"-f!y tr-welitig that I had ever done. Whereupon my friend informed, me, with a pleasant but knowing smile, that he had traveled considerably faster than that, and, in fact, faster:: than he had ever heard of, besides. Of 'course I was anxious to know where, how, and when he had done it ; and, after the modest assur- j ranee that he feared his tale would not be ' interesting, my friend relieved my anxiety ' by relating-the following story: "lam a railroad engineer;. Away long in '57, during the great -panic, I was run- ' ping on the F. & C. R. R. The; railroad pompanics were going under in all direc tions. Every day we heard of new fail ure?; and qujte ofteu n a quarter where we least expected it. Qur road was generally looked upon as one of the niqst substantial in the nation ; nobody seemed to have any fears that it would fail to survive the ge ueral. mash-up. But yet I did not fully share in the general confidence. Wages were cut down ; arrearages collected ; and a great many other little matteis seemed to indicate to mc' that the road had got into rather deeper water than was agreeable all around. Among other things, the master mechanic had told me in the spring that the company had ordered four first quality Taunton engines for the fall passenger bu siness. The road was put up in the very best condition, and other preparations were made, to cut down the time, and put the trains through quicker than ever known be fore, when the new engines should come. Well, there was but one of the engines came. "I said there was but qne engine" came; hut she was, in my opinion, altogether, the jest eyer turned out of the Taiitoh Works; and ttiatis saying ' as much as can be said in praise of any engine. She was put in iny charge immediately, with the under standing that she was mine. i'ls was Saturday when she came out of the shop, and I was to take a special train Up to Y . . The trajn was tq carry up the nreaident. aud several officers of the rqaei, tq 'meet some officers of another road, 'which crossed ours there, and arrange some Important business with them. . f ?I had no trouble at a-ll making my for ty miles an hour going out. The engine handled herself most beaqtjfully. We wepe just holding up at Y when Aid rich, the treasurer, whq had come out on he platform to put the brake on, slipped and fell. As we were yet under good head way, he was. very much injured, and was carried off to the hqtel jnsensjble. According tq the president's directions, gwjtched off my train, turned my engine, and stood ready to start back to C- at a moment's nofjtce, ' Aldrjch's presence was of so much im portance, that' the business could not be transacted without him j so all those J had brought out, except the president and Aid rich, went back to C on the 3 o'clock pirnress train. This was the last regular train which was to pass over the road until the next Monday. "Early in the evening I left the machine in charge of my fireman, and went over to an eating-house, to see if I could not spent the time more pleasantly than on my en gine. The tours dragged themselves away slowly. I was playing a game of dominous, , with the station-agent, when in came Ro berts, the president, in a state of great-excitement. " l' "Harry," said ljetq me, I want yoq to put mp flown4 r-r at 12 q'plockr As it was nearly 11 o'clock then, and the distance was seventy-five mies, I thought he was joking at first; but when we got outaide of the door, he caught me by the arms, and hnrried me along so fast that I saw he was in earnest. "Harry," said he, "if you don't set me down in C by 12 o'clock, I am a ruined man, and this road is a ruined road Aldrich is dead ; but he told me, before he lied, that he had embezzled from time to iime, five hundred thousand of our money; and his clerk is to start with it, on the 12 o'clock boat, from C for Canada. If we don't have that money on Monday morning, to make some payments with, the road goes into o.her hands; and if you put me down in C! at" the right time, so that I save the money, you shall have five tnousand dollars. Understand it, Harry? Five thousand dollars t" Of course, I understood it. I saw now the reason why the wages had been cut down; I understood it all, and my blood boiled. I felt that I would save the road if I lived, and told Roberts so. "See that you do Harry !" he replied, as he climbed up the steps of the coach which was pupiml -to ;ny eagiae. - " I sprang up into the foot-board, got up the switch-tender to help my fireman, opened the trottle, and just as she com menced moving, looked at my watch, it was ju3t 11 o'clock, so that I had one hour to make seventy-five miles. "FromY to C- r there were few curves on the road, but there were several heavy grades. I was perfeetly acquainted with every rod of it, so that I knew exactly what I had to encounter, and when I saw how the engine moved, I felt very litt fear for the result. "The road for the first few miles was an airline and so smooth that my engine flew along with scarcely a preemptible jar. I was so busy posting myself up as to the amount of wqodnd water, etc., that we danced by the first station almost before I was aware of, it, having been five minutes out and having five miles accomplished, "You are losing time!" yelled a voice from the coach. . 1 looked around, and there stood Roberts with his watch in his hand. "I knew very well that we would have to increase our speed by .some, means, if we carried out, our plans of reaching C by midnight, and looked anxiously around, to see what I could do to accomplish that pur pose. She was blowing off steam fiercely at one hundred pounds; so I turned down the valve to two hundred, for I know We should need it all to make some of the heavy grades which lay between us and C . "It was three miles to the next station. With the exception of a few curves, the track was as good as the last. As we dart ed around what commonly seemed to be a rather long curve, at the station, but which was, at our high speed, short enough, I looked at my watch ; and we had done it in two minutes and a half. "Gaining," I shouted back to Roberts, who was yet standing on the platform of the coach. "Look out for the heavy grades, he re plied and went inside the car. "Thejnext six miles rose gradually from a level the first, to ten and a half feet grade the aatrhUh lay between uj and the next station. M J fSj-Ti4a kept her fulls and now she began to got hot. The fur nace door was red, and the steam raised continually; so that she kept her speed, and passed the station, like a streak of light, in five minutes. "Now came nine miles like the last; over which she kept pace with her time and passed the station in seven and a half minutes. Here, for ten miles, we had a twenty -foot grade to encounter ; but the worst of it all was, at this place we would be obliged to stop for wood. I was just going to speak to Roberts about it, when I looked around, and saw him 4-lng the tender frqm the coach with wood which had been' placed there befqre starting, while he was gone . after me. 1 believe we would have made this ten miles with the same speed as before ; 'but, through the creleasness of the fireman, the fountain-valve, on the left-hand side of the engine, got opeued, and the water rose in the boiler so fast as to run the steam down to one hundred pounds, before I discovered wliere the difficulty lay. At first Roberts did'nt appear to notice the deerease of speed, and kept at work at the wood as if for dear life. But present sy, he looked up; and, seeing that the speed had decreased, he shouted: "Harry, we are stopping 1" and then coming over to vhere I was, he said, " Why, heTe we have been ten minutes on the last ten miles, ana I believe we will come to a dead stand if something is not done. The speed is con tinually slacking! "Vyhat s the matter?,' I explained the cause. H.e was appa rently satisfied with my explanation, and, Wter having tied down the safety valvp, he climbed over' the tender, exhorting to put her through, for God's sake, or we are all beggrs together I" Just then we passed the next station, having taken nine minutes for eight mjles. vve were nqw more than half 'oVer the road; we had lost nearly teq minutes time, and had left only twenty -seven minutes to do thirty-four miles. I had shut the water off from both my pumps, a little distance back, when I dis covered what was the matter, and she wa nqw makjng steam finely down a slight grade. From less than one hundred, with whjch we started over that Jten miles stretch, she had two hun&ed pounds be fore we finished it ; and, as the gauge indi cated no higher than that, anil the valve was tied down, I cquld not tell how much qyer twq hundred pounds she carried, but she certainly carried none less the rest of the iourney. And well might she carry such an enormous head of steam; for, after passing qyer that ten nijles a eight min utes, there lay ten miles of five-feet up grade, and fourteen miles of twenty -feet-lb-the-mile depression between us and C add it was now elevm o'olock aod forty seven miuutes. Now the engine was hot in earnest. The furnace door, smoke arch and chimney, all were red; while she seamed to fly onward as if the very Evil One himself operated her machinery.- Six minutes carried us over that ten miles: and we darted by the last station that had lain between us and C . Now we had fourteen miles to go, and my time showed eleven o'clock and fifty-three minutes. . "If Hive." said I a myself, ".twill make it." And we plunctfd down that twenty-foot grade with all steam on. Per sons who saw the train on that wild run, said that is was so soon after they heard the first sound of her apprqaphj 'hew the strange object,' which looked as if it was a flame of fire, darted by, and then the sound of iu traveling died away in the dis tance, thev could hardly convince them selves thev had really seen anything. It seemed more like the creature of a wild dream then a sober reality. And now let me tell you that no engine ever beat the time we made on those four teen miles. Those great wheels, seven feet in diameter, spun around so swift that you couldn't begin to count the revolutions. The engine barely seemed to touch the track as she flew along ; and although the track was as true as it was possible for it to be, she swayed fearfully, and sometimes made such prodigious jolts that required considerable skill for one to keep his feet. No engine could hold together if crowded to a greater speed. "Well, just as I came to a standstill in the depot at C the big clock boomed out twelve, and the steamboat was getting her steam on. Roberts got on board in time and nothing to spare," 'iAnd saved, hc. woney did J.??. I" asked, when I saw that my friend had fin ished his story. " Yes, he found it hid away in some old boxes as Aldrich had directed him. " " If you are the passenger for G d," said a waiter, "the 'bus' is ready." So I thanked my friend for his story and bade him "good-bye." Killing a Kangaroo. "We were to assemble next morning at our friend's station for breakfast, after which we were to join a large party that had as sembled at the place selected for the hunt. It was a lovely morning, with a fine, brisk wind blowing, just sufficient t5 dry up all the moisture from the atmosphere. We ar rived upon the ground in good time, and found those whom we were to join already waiting for us. The dogs which accompa nied them for the purposes of the hunt were unlike what we had been accustomed to in the more civilized neighborhood of Mel bourne. They were a kind" of large, bony greyhound a cross between the greyhound and Scotch deerhound; and it was explained that instead of following their quarry by scent, they hunted entirely by sight. The district whioh had been selected was not very prolific in kangaroo, as it is deemed better to select localities where a few are sure to be found, but not in large flocks, as it is difficult under these circumstances to separate them, and the dogs are apt to se lect an animal for themselves, instead of all keeping to one in particular. We were soon 'on to an old man,' who led us at a rat tling pace. At first it was very treacherous work riding through the thick bush, and it was neoesaary to Keep a sharp lookout sim ultaneously fqr the eyes, the knees, and the neck. The saddles used in the bush have large knee-pads, to prevent any injury to the knees; for it is impossible on all occa sions, especially when riding after cattle through the bush, tq prevpnt the face and eyes coming in contact with the branches, and also to guard against the number of hidden, fallen trees, which has been over grown with ferns pud grasses. The horse, howeii?r,-whiotea-ibeerl)?cd ,in accustomed to thejbush, is "itself very care ful ; and if the rider has a tight hand, and sits steadily and easily, yet closely to his steed, he is almost sure to be carried safely through all difficulties. The pace, as I have said, was very great at first, but it gradual ly slackened as we proceeded, and the ani mals began to tire. Some of our party had already had enough of it, and a horse ridden by the owner of two of the best dogs in the pack had got badly staked. Presently we came to cultivated land, and here the kan garoo endeavored to intercept u$' by placing a pretty stin 'lqg fence between him aud his, pursuers. But he might have saved himself the trouble, 'poor cJd man, ' had he known what a small batch of horsemen and dogs beliind him could do in the way of overcoming these obstacles; and, when he perceived that even this last effort was of no avail, and that he was still pursued, he evidently began to lose heart, and soon came to a standstill. The doga cautioualyftp proaphed him now cautiously, I say, for they were old hands,' and well knew the rrible use 'the old man- could make ol ins toes when driven to desperation in tins way; and most of the dogs bore testimony of his powers by the lare scars which were visible on their sides, f . r a kangaroo can rip a dog, or anything which attacks him, in the most wholesale manner, by the use of the sharp claws attached to his legs. The dogs were now called off, and one of the party dismounted, getting ld4nd the animal, while another, raced mm, witp a heavily loaded hunting whip, in order to dispatch him. This was ho easy matter, as the kangaroo would ward off the blow with his arms and hands, showing the skill of an experienced fencer. He would often endeavor to charge his opponent in front ; but, fortunately for the enemy, wno otner wise would not fail to feel the animal's fury, there was another behind, who would at this moment seize him by the tail, and, by a well-directed blow from his loaded whip on the animal's head, out an end to the combat. " IV; itiau Temples of the San. Of the early history of the Peruvians we have but little knowledge, wing to that barbarian policy exercised by the followers of Cortea and Pizarro, m destroying every thing helAnsinS tq 'he tnlies which they conquered. Lake the Mexicans, the Peru vians had advanced in art, science and learning, under the administration of sue cessive wise rulers, and, theuj State archives contained written histories or their country, from the dawn of civilization among them. tq the period of the conquest,. liqt the superstitious Spamardg committed these works tq the names, because of their heatheiorigin, and we are obliged to de nend almost exclusively oh the truth of tra dition for the knowledge we possess of the history of tCU people during the Inca dy nasty. The most magnificent of all the Peruvian temples was that of the sun at Cuzzo. The mode of worship in this tem ple was similar to that of Heliopolis in Egypt, where this great luminary was adored. His golden image occupied a large portion of one side of the interior of the temple, and before this the wfir&hfpperg prostrated temselVe with rfch offerings in thplr hands,' whiiph were received by the at tendant priests. Two or three virgins, se lected from the first families in their king dom, were in constant attendance, whqee duty it was to make oblatjona of wine to the 4elty. aqd chant hymns of praise to the great Father of Light. Like other abori gines of this continent, the Peruvians were nomadic tribes, and gained a subsistance by hunting and fishing. Superstitious in the extreme, their objects of worship were as numerous as those of the Egyptians. Trees and their Not a few strange superstitions and be-' liefs are embalmed in well-known names. The Celandine, from L'helidon, the swal low exudes a yellow juice, which applied by the old birds to the eyes of the young swallows who n- born blind or have lost their sight, at oice restores it. The Hawk weed has the same virtue in the case of hawks. The Fuiuatory, fvme-terre, was produced without seed bj' intake or vapor arising from the ground. The Devil's-bit is a common Scabious, wth a premorse or shortened root, which was used so success fully for all manner of diseases that the Devil spitefully bit it off, : and forever checked its growth. The Judas tree with its thorns and pink blossom was the tree on which Judas hanged Hj:ij1. , The Man drake gathered around itsG hot of wild cttaiulities. It was tlto'AiM&a ifaiumgofH, a plant nearly allied to the deadly Night shade, but with a large forked tuber, re sembling the human form. Hence it was held to remove sterility, x belief shared by Rachel in the book of Genesis, and was sold for high prices in the middle ages, with this idea. Jn fact, the demand being greater than the supply, the dealer used to cut the large roots of the White Bryany into the figure of a man and insert grains of wheat or millet in the head and face, which soon s,.rjuted and grew, producing the semblance of hair and beard. These monstrosities fetched in Italy as much as thirty gold ducats, and were sold largely, as Sir T. Brows tells us, in England. It was bought that the plant would grow only under a murderer's gibbet, being nursed by he fat which fell from kjs decaying body ; hence it formed an ingredient in the love philtries and other hell-broths of witches, and, as it was believed tiat the roqt when torn from the earth emitted a shriek which brought death to those who heard it, all man ner of- terrible devices were invented to ob tain it. The readers o( Thalaba will re member the fine scene in which the witch Khawla procures the plant to form part of the waxen figure of tie Destroyor. It is not uncommon in Crele and Southern Italy. Its fruit is narcotic ; aad its name is pro bably derived from mandra, an enclosed, overgrown place, such as forms its usual home. Carpenter Birds. The bill of the little tomtit, though short, is exceedingly strong, and in the formation of their nests they cut away until they get an upward winding entrance. Even in old stone walls there is the same formation. An experiment was once made with this bird to test the power of its bill, while con fined in a cage. In a common wire cage it could not be confine many minutes, as it warped the wires aside, first with its qui and then with its body, until it eqt out, Bqt upon being tried in ft cage of waxed thread instead of wire, and finding it un manageable, It attacked the wood-work, and thrusting in its bill, used it as a wedge. Half the foroe, had it been at liberty, would have prQvefL-'fliyiifirit ciftye hewn out a nest hele in the trunk ot Impartially decayed tree. Another of these little carpenters is the nuthatch. 1 his bird is also a mason. The peculiar form, wedge-like and abrupt ending of its bill, makes it very easy to be understood how this bird may do its work. A nuthatch having been confined in a cage of oak and wire, supplied with food and water, eating and drinking at pleasure. would spend the intervals in battering the frame of his cage ; the sound being so, great v,i to be heard in an adjoining room, with closed doors. He had a special fancy for the corner pillars of his cage ; on these he spent his most elaborate taps, and thongh he had occupied the cae bqt a day, the wood was pierced and worn like a piece ot old worm-eaten timber. He probably had an idea that if the main beams could be taken down, the rest would fall and free him. Once he suweded In opening the door, and when it was tied in a double knot with a Strong cord, the constant application of his beak quickly unloosened it. At the open space where the water-cup was placed, hnding it too small to insert his body, he would dig and hammer with his pickaxe of a beak to enlarge the circle. This hammer ing was peculiarly laborious, for he did not perch, but taking hold of the side of the cage with his immense feet, swung, as. It vPefe, on a pivot at every stroke, All night long, at the interval of every ten minutes, he kept up his hard work, but be fore morning dawned, he lay lifeless on the floor of the cage, actually dying from over work. Many animals with similar habits of carpentry would not have so used them, but would have been detracted and puzzled out of their confinement. Woodpeckers of every species are carpenters in the sense in whioh we have used the term ; that is, they not only bore into trees in pursuit of food, in the shape of insects, but chisel out holes for their nests. This abode is neither lined, with feathers, grass or straw, bt the eggs are deposited in the hvJe without anything to keep- them warm. It would seem as hough, being endowed by Providence with such an instiuct, they must take as greaj pleasure in the employment of these "du ties as We do in the most asretible occupa tions. - But of all the lrds which earn their subsistence by spoil, none lead a life so la bvriois and so painful as the woodpecker. In order to seek for its food, it is obliged to bore the bark and hard fibres of trees. Ne cessity nevgr suffers any interval of labor. 4t never shares in the ' cheerful sports of qther birds ; it will not join in ttieir merry song, but sings its wild, fctd note in the forest alone. The Alcalde of Santa Crnx. Judge Blackburn was Alcalde of Santa Cruz, Monterey county, California, under the military regime of Governor Mason. He was prominent among the earliest pio neers, having servea m me war of the (Jon quest, out was asionisnea When commis sioned Alcalde by Mason, for he knew nothing more 6f jurisprudence than the next farmer. He accepted the position, however, for the same reason that it was given him. to wit, he was the leading American of his neigh oornooa. ilU decisions were not only remarkable for impartiality, but their originality sur passed that of the decisions of Sancho, Pan- za when Governor of the 1 aland. His library consisted of the 'Wearing "T" - v - 111 SUp- POSed IQ oe a law dook which lie made pretence of consulting on all occasions prior to rendering judgment, but he invariably nnnouneeu ma ne icuaa "no law applica ble to this case, etc. " On one occasion a native Californian who had maliciously shaved the tail of a fine saddle horse belonging to another, was arrested and brought before him for trial The evidence was conclusive, and the Judze. after examining the volume bound in calf, announced, "I find no law exactly applica ble to this case, but my judgment is that the defendant shall be taken to the barber and have his head shaved. Officer, attend to your duty." The offender was accord- ngly taken to the barber and his head was shaven amid the shouts and ridicule of a crowd of spectators. On another occasion a native Californian, in a fit of jealousy, had murdered his wife in the most brutal manner by tying her to a bedstead and plunging a knife into various parts of her body thirty or fortv times, al most cutting her to pieces. The fiend was caught while the body was still warm, and was about to be summarily hung by the people every man in the place except tire Judge ready touv when the Judge d- BcJ8? yu must not do it thai way. The" man must die, but I won't have you dis grace Santa Cruz and yourselves by hanging man without a trial. Bring him to the Court room. I'll empanel a jury and try him in the regular, way, and if the jury find m guilty justice shall be done without violence to the majesty of the law." the mob obeyed, and was resolved into posse comitahis, according to the notion of those who composed it, and the prisoner was arraigned before Court. A jury was selected, but no counsel was appointed, for there was no lawyer in the place. The Judge conducted the proceedings, and, when the evidence was closed, the case was- pre sented to the jury, who rendered a verdict of euilty of murder in the first degree. The Judge, after examining the volume in calf, announced : 'I find no law exactly applicable to this case, but my judgment is that the prisoner, having been found guilty of murder in the first degree, shall have one hour to prepare himself, and then he shall be shot." No persons were appointed to do the shooting, but after the expiration of an hour the condemned was tied to a tree, the crowd retired a convenient distance, the word was given, every man who felt inclined 'blazed away," and there were more bullet holes in his body than knife wounds in the body of his murdered victim. Thus Santa Cruz was saved from the disgrace of a man being hung by a mob, I he Judge, having witnessed the execu tion, immediately wrote an account of the proceedings and dispatched it: by a courier Governor Mason. When the courier returned he brought with him a letter severe ly reprimanding him for having transgressed the la,w so outrageously and warning him against the repetition of a similar offence. A second courier was dispatched with another .letter to the Governor, informing him that if he supposed that the writer (Blackburn) had been serving as Alcalde for the honor or profit of the office he was much mistaken ; that he (Blackburn) had accepted the place to preserve good order and to administer justice in his neighbor hood, and if the Governor did not like his way of doing he might take the commission and go to the devil with it. Domesticated silkworms. The magnificent silk-farms of North Italy show the domesticated silkworm at his best. In these great nurseries the worm is watched, oyer with unremitting care, from thC'inoment when, a liny black thread, he chips the shell, until, a corpulent mass of waddling whiteness, he leaves off eatiqg anc clothes himself in the golden sheathing of the maiiy-threaded cocoon. The noise made by the many thousand worms, as they browse on the fresh-picked leaves, has heeu not inaptly- compared to that caused by grazing sheep, while scores of spindles are ever busy in reeling off the yellow film that is the tuture grist ior tne siiK-mms, or Lyons, Genoa, and Lombardy. Unfortu nately, f or some quarter of a century past, the silkworm farms of France and Italy have been scourged by a malady, akin to the oidium in vines and to potato disease, under the influence of which the worms sicken and perish by millions. No domes tic animal fattens so rapidly as the Silkworm. Give him his choice, and he wUl prefer the lettuce to even the white mulberry, as he likes the white leaves better than the red, nd the red leaves better than our common English black. Lettuce leaves, however, imply a white and weaker silk, and a defi ciency of healthy silks and the invaluable eggs. The leaf of the white mulberry, which does not suit our jil aad climate, is the true food of the true silkworm. In warm countries it is not indispensable that he should spend his little life in a house. A mulberry tree will harbor a vast popula tion of the crawling alchemists that turn vegetable fibre into sheeny silk. But such a grove needs caref ql netting to protect the toothless whit td-bits from the beaks of birds : while it is difficult to collect the cc- ooons, and a single thunder-Bhower or dual storm means ruin to the stock, The Jtwenity of London. Uf all the great cities, London, on the whole, contains the most w interest and in struct Americans. " It has doubled in popu lation in the memory of men still young. Most readers remember when Macauley's history appeared. .In his first volume the author contrasted the grandeur of the mod ern city with the London of Charles II. and boasted that the number of inhabitants had increased from little more than five thousand to at least one million nine hundred thousand. In the brief time that has passed since Ma- cauley wrote, the one million nine hundred tboiisand has become lour million. A few contrasts taken from the best esti mates will give some suggestions of the immense magnitude of the city. It is aptly described as a province covered with houses. New York is equal in population to the aggregate of Jiaine ana .New nampsntre. London equals Maine. New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island. Connecticut, Mas sachusetts and California all together. To equal the city of London, here we should haw to bring together the people of the following cities; New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, Bal timore, Cincinnati, New Orleans, ttun&io, San Franciaeo, Washington, and Louisville. The transient people in Ne w York are about thirty thousand; in London one hundred and sixty thousand. In NewYork a baby is born every fifteen minutes and a death occurs every seventeen minutes. In London a birth occurs every six minutes and a death every eight. The drinking places in New York set in one street would extend Seven teen miles; those in London seventy-three miles. Tire P-tlpiit Whwl-r is troubled with chronic sleeplessness, the disease thir IriilH dnniui luolur Sea Wonders. The ideas about coral which people have whp have never seen it in ita living state are generally erroneous. They know it as a beautifully white ornament under a glass shade, or in delicate pink branches in their jewelry, and they imagine living coral is like these. Their ideas are helped along by the common misnomer of trees and bran ches, as applied to coral. I have never seen it in the South Sea Islands, but throughout the Eastern seas the most com mon variety takes a laminated form, not unUke the large fungi to be met with any summer's day in an English wood growing out of the older trees. Flat, circular tables of dingy brown, growing one over another, with spaces under each. These attain a preat size, extending for yards without a break, so that the bottom of the as bi per- eHiy level, i tu kinu is : uuuKagiii after by lime burners. Another species grows in detached bosses, like thick stemmed plants which the gardener has trimmed around the top. These clumps grow out of the sand, and stand up in dull brown against the white flooring. A third pattern is spiked like stag's horns tangled- together, and is of a dingier brown than the first; its spikes collect the drifting weeds, and its appearance is consequently untidy. There are scores of varieties of corals and madre pores, but the three mentioned are those which principally make up the mass which is ever growing under the still waters inside the reef. At Maheburg the reef is distant seven miles from the shore, and the whole of this great lagoon is in process of filling up by coral. There are one or two holes, left capriciously, and a channel which the river has cut to the reef which it pierces in' what is locally "a pass." Everywhere else the bottom is only a few feet unde water, and is always slowly rising. The various corals, the patches of silver sand, the deep winding channel, lend each a tint to the water sapphire blue, where it is deepest, sea-green with emeral flecks, or cerulean blue shot with opaline tints, in the shallows. The reef is a solid wall, shelving toward shore, absolutely perpendicular toward the ocean, and varies in width from twenty to one hundred yards. Against the outer face the rollers rage incessantly. Swell follows 8 well, smoothly and regularly. There is no hurry, for here there is no shelving bottom to keep them back. On they come, separ ating their ink-blue masses from the tumble of the ocean, rearing aloft their crests, like living things anxious to try their strength, and fall with a roar on its edge as it stands up to meet them. You can stand within a few feet of the practically bottomless sea and watch them tumble, with the water no further than your knees, as the surge of their onward rush carries across the reef. To stand so and watch them coming on ap pears, to one not used to the sight, to court destruction ; the wave is so vast, its crest rising higher as it advances shuts out the sea beyond, nothing can be seen but a wall of water rolling on ; its strength is so appar ent, so irresistible, and the pause it appears to take as the top curls over seems to check your breath, . The ocka and luykj of dead coral with which storms have strewed the xeef are high and dry ; the pools of limpid water in the holes sink down and drain away, their surface glassy, and their depths full of color and strange-shaped living things, ithen the roller breaks and sends a surge of water hissing by, and the reef has sunk beneath the foam and bubbling water. The Fortresi of Lourder Parallel with the Val d'Ossau runs a valley- -that of Argelez, commonly called the Paradise of the Pryenees. It is of surpassing loveliness, truly; bright inue season with varied crops. the maize predominating; gay with grass pasture lands of a vivid dazzling green; owning luxuriant woods; the roadway festooned with vines, rich with wild cherry trees, in spring time a mass of snowy blossoms ; the whole valley watered with innumerable rills. Is is cursed nevertheless, with the lame fell disease which afflicts the most beautiful valleys of Switzerland; cre tinism is extremely prevalent, and the goitre makes man hideous where Na ture seems sublime. As if to bar ad mission to this enchanting region, the old fortress town of Lourdes is perched at the mouth of the defile; defiant stilt, but not ol supreme importance now, as in ancient times. After the fatal bat tle of Tours, when 300,000 Moslems fell, the Saracens flying before Charles M ar tel, "the Hammer," rallied beneath the wails of Lourdes. It was again and again a bone of contention, most of all when the English owned it, in the reign of Edward III. The Duke of Anjou vainly besieged it, and having failed at the citadel, burnt down the town in his l age. More insidious meth ods succeeded open attackj and at the Duke's instance, Gaston Phoebus of Foix, having summoned Peter Ernault its governor, to visit him at Orthez, plied him with persuasion, threats, and bribes in turn, but falling in all, sud denly subbed him in five placet. "Ha, monseigneur !" cried the poor knight, vous ne faites pas gentilesse, vous m aves et vous m'occlez." He died thus for his duty; but treachery pros pered not, for bis brother, whom be had left in command, coutinued to hold Lourdes. More recentlr. this castle was the prison of Lord Elgin, whom, in 1804, Napoleon seized aud inarcar- ated for no reason but to affront Eug land and st.r up war.. Its memorable history is its strong point, for Iourdes is now a dirty, uninteresting town'; only of late year it has gained a cer tain lustre from the alleged miracu lous apparition of the Virgin to i maiden of the place a revelation fol lowed by the bursting forth of a heal Ing spring from the rock. Now crowds of devotee s annually make pilgrimage thither; the halt and the maimed come to be cured, and .leave behind their crutches and other offerings In the pret ty white church which haa been built above the grotto de la Vierges. The French Government recently paid the Lat Instalment of its debt ot l,ft00,000,000f (1300,000,000) to the Bank I of France, incurred at the time of the war wft h flrma n v BR IE FB: Bonner has paid about $350,000 for trotters. Boston Is bragging of 100.000 bulb of all varieties mostly tulips,-lh blos som in its public gardeo. , Texas is the third sheen State in the Union. California rauks highest. next Ohio and then Texas. The German Empire has 21 univer sities, with 1250 professors, and more than 17,000 students. . The bronze sutne of "Voltaire, bv Jacques Malllet, was uncovered on the Place de la Mairle, of the Eleventh Arondissement in Paris, on he 30th of May. A life-size statue of Mr. - Gladstone has been placed In-i the Manchester, CEugljuBJjJ'own JLtll. Jb t'U ud is salu to be pert'eefvy characteristic, and the likeness excellent." Statistics printed In the American Ship -how that since 1833 one hundred and forty-three vessels have been "lost at sea and with tfiem two hundred and two lives. A bird's nst, containing four blue eggs, was found at Bridgeport, Uonn., Iat week, on a car of marble which came from Massachusetts. It was built in a corner of a platform' car, and made thejOurney without Injury. - An ounce of bread wasted daily In each household in England aud Wales means about 25. 600, (MX) quartern loaves, the produce of 30,000 acres of wheat in a year; while an ounce a week; or meat wasted amounts to 300,000 sheep. Ihere are said to have been & ap plications for the post of public execu tioner of Paris, made vacant' by the death of M. Roch, Amongst the appll. cants were 87 doctors of medicine anil 21 cabmen, , .' America smifnches about one mil lion bushels of peanuts a yearC They com Irom Vlrslnia, TTennexueev and North Carolina, the coming crop rora these S'ats being estimated at 1,290,- 000 bushels. Senator and MrirBruce have de termined to give their infant sou the baptismal name of Hoscoe Coukling, The child will be taken to Cleveland, Ohio, for baptism immediately follow ing the adjournment or congress. A shark 12 feet long became eu tangled In the propeller of the steam ship dut Stream, when off Charleston harbor, recently, and, though killed, caused great difficulty In the working of her machinery. The carcase' was extricated aud taken to Charleston. During the last year France contri buted to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul 2.730,000 francs, the United States, 1.153,000; Belgium, 760,000; Holland, 615,000; the British Isles, 691,000, or which the largest portion was contri buted and disbursed in Ireland; and all other countries, 2,395,000 francs. The fires in the State of Massachu setts during the year 1878 numbered 1728, -ort which 'Oft inllirance was $7,703,226, the loss (3.683,265. and the ttinount paid $2,525,182. A summary of the causes shows 397 incendiary, 249 explosive, 133 defective chimneys, 75 accidental, 41 lightning, &o. "Improvement" has marked for de struction the house No. 134 Aldersgate . street, London, in which William Shakespeare resided. What makes this the more to be regretted is the fact that this builuing U a" very cotnpleie exam ple of the crdin: ry domestic street architecture of the Elizabethan period. Newport, R. I., ha esUblishe.l a sanitary protective association, which furnishes its members, for a fee of $6 per year, the services of an Inspecting chemist and engineer to examine their premises, drinking water,' etc., and look after the sanitary condition of schools, churches aud places of public sort. A home for working girls was late ly opened in London under very en couraging auspices. Worklnggirls be tween the ages ot 1J and 18, who have no parents or, friends in London with whom they can reside, are boarded at shillings 6 pence per week, ihu first home coutains 37 rooms', and others are n contemplation. Five years ago the wife and child of a Mr. Chandler were drowned by the Mill river flood in Massachusetts. She wore at the time a valuable diamond ring. A few nny ago lame workmen Jigging in a bank discovered something bright, which, on investigation proved to be a ring which Has since been Iden tified as the one worn by Mrs. Chandler at the time ot her death. The production of the salmon can- nerffS of the Pacific coast last year was 584 000 cans, or 28,032,000 pounds of this delicious and nutritious fish. Speci mens weighing 60 to 75 pounds were caught by the Oregon fisherman. A peculiarity ot the Oregon salmon is their contempt for all he angler's lures. There is uo salmon angling on the Ore gon rivers, l ney are sometrmes caught by trolling at the mouths of the rivers, but tbey never take the anglers fly. Queen Vietoria was by no means undii-turbed by business duiing her holiday at Baveno. Between the 25th of March and the 21st of April, Her Majesty received at -the Villa Clara no less than 3C4 telegraphic despatches, or at the rate of 28 a day. The average length of these despatches was from 100 to 300 words; but on the 21tof April there was one of no fewer than 600 words, rehulng to the campaign of The Roman "tfstholic Church of America numbers 5,581 cbcrches. 2,183 chapels and fUtious. 212 asylums, and. 183 hospitals: ano5,75J 'prrlMt. and a Ca nolle populat e vf &r204.C33. Ten A utiiic seaboard uiiietv volutin z.sio, 000, or mre than threeeigUths of the total Catholic population of the coun try. These cities are Kew York, Bos ton, Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. LouU, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Chicago, Albany, and Brooklyn, In the order trained of population. The late Dr. Charles Li Ives, of New Haven, Conn., If It property valued at $195,626.81, of which $71,230 was In real estate and $124,396.81 in personal estate. AIs puolic tit-quests are as fol lows: $10,000 to Yale College, the in come only to be devoied.to tti support of indigent and worthy students In any department of the university ; $5000 to the New Haven Orphan Asylnia, and $10,000 to the Carletoo College, of Nufthfleld, Minn., tbe ioeome only to be devoted to indigent and worthy stu dents. . VU V milieu 4 i v-w-j . - - j . 1 jJky -4--.
The Blue Ridge Blade (Morganton, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
July 19, 1879, edition 1
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