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VOL. X.
PITTSBORO', CHATHAM CO., N. C, JANUARY 19, 1888.
NO. 20.
. 50
1
rati
G -
Anert!ieD.iy-Night
J.ove kno cked early at my door;
In the moru be came to find me,
PaviniT, "Iet me cross thy floor.
And tby chains shall ever bind me."
Put I turned away my heart;
Win was love that he should find mc!
Savin? : "Well thou playestthy part,
l'.iit iHTrhance thy chain would bind me.
',ntMe past; ho sought my door.
"If thou wilt thou still may'st bind me,
.nl I will yet eros thy floor;
Hi r, aain you never find me."
j;ut I nn.llv ch.wse my pirt;
What eared 1 to stay and find him?
l.vo s!i il l never win my heart;
YhTi i")v hould I pause to bind bimi
Si-lit U h'-ro: and at my door
Vainlv in-w I k to find him;
CohM l e ""'y t loss my floor,
I would give all else to bind him.
put again withoit my door
I shall never waiting find him;
He will never cross my floor,
No one thrice has power to bind him.
IFrom Templo Bar for December.
SILAS WEST'S SECRET.
EV WALLACE T. REED.
It wa tine o'clock in the morning,
anl the yards an I olVicss surrounding
th.? Money mills presented a spectacle
cf a! most tuibalcnt activity.
A thousand operatives were at work
ius'ulo the mill, and outside an orderly
mob of e'erfcs, truckmen and laborers
surgL-d to aud fro busily engaged in
tlit ir various tasks.
The private office of Mr. John Morley,
the inillioaairj owner of this vast cstab
Vlnnent, was unoccupied. It was too
curly for Mr. Morley to make his ap
pe:! ranee, but the janitor had cirefully
iii-tr.'l the handsomo desks and chairs,
a'il arranged cverthing ia perfect order.
From lime to time a clerk or an
tri 'iiil boy entered the office and dc
p.;o itt iott'jr or a parcel on the great
nia:i desk, jiLd then retired with busi
ucs like celerity.
Taking advantage of a moment when
tli j oiucj was deserted, a swarthy little
man with restless black eyes and a
siviii, strongly markel face, slipped
i..t'j t lie loom.
Til-.' visitor was Silas West, one of the
t'j natives, but hn movements would
have made it apparent, if there had
Km any oue to watch him, that he was
not in itarch ot hi employer.
Aha'." chuckled JnIus, "I am just in
time, aud 1 had belter not tarry."
lie drew l'nm his pocket a small
square p ii til wrapptfl la white paper
and laid it on the desk by the ink
stand. The parcel was addressed to "John
Motley. Kq.," and was marked "Per-
i!as Wat quietly left the place, and
Jiftcr a furtive glance around to assure
himself that he was not observed, he
t"k a quick turn down a narrow street
uIhtj there was not a living thing in
Si, 'lit.
"Old Morley didn't know that he had
fin anarchist among hia men,"-he mut
t'. red. "WeP, he will never know it
now. There is enough dynamite in
tliHt tiling to kilTa dozen men!"
A troubled look came over his face as
lie talked to himself.
"It is a bad thing to do," he said ;
"i'it, tuisehtm, why did he suspend
ne: An honest workman has a right to
t:ike his little spree now and then with
out hiving the bread taken out of his
mouth. Morley treated me like a dog,
find he deserves what he i3 going to
get."
The man walked along with his head
lown, evidently struggling with un
l'!cii?ant thoughts.
"Confound it!" he broke out, 'lam
ffrgctti tg the sublime principles of my
need. It has been held by wise and
U'icI men that it is right to assassinate
i' tyrant. Tlrsc bloated capitalists are
ii the same box. Whenever one is
l i'Ud his wealth goes into different
lands and isdisttibutcd. If we c.vi'thave
t'oniiitiiniiin we caa at least kill off the
nv n with Ug fortunes, and their money
vi l be scattered ly their numerous
" irs. Mot ley's death will be a benefit
t -' mankind. '
tid, Silas West did not linger any
v li' re i t the neighborhood of the mills.
II': knew tlutt the expected explosion
J. luht occur at aay moment, but a ner
Vl dread took posscsuon of him, and
was seized with a desire to reach hi3
(' ttaij'; and shut himself up.
"'! od news!" exclaimed Mrs. West
v li n Silas entered the door.
"H'w? What it it? I can't under--l"i
I," stamm rcd her husband, turning
1 i careworn face upon her.
"I" i; almo't toogood to be true," rc
1' i" I .Mr?. West, half laughing and half
aviar. "Who would have thought
a in':l'.i.;:n'nj like your Mr. Morley
v.o.,!(l take the trouble to think of us?M
"Woman ! AVhat do you "mean?"
Silas, how can you look so? Mr.
Morley U our friend. He sent his secre
, iry here this morning to request you tc
r '"in to work, and, Silas, he says that
" .vou win let liquor alone he will pro
ni0,c you, and th it this suspension was
only fr yullr own R00(I jt WM to gic
"'- time to think. Now. my dear, don't
5"i reo with m 5 that Mr. Morley is a
man, and won't you nrpmiso .o
turn over a new leaf, aid quit that se
cret society which ta'ces up so much of
your tim?? for I am sure thit half of
your trouble comes from goi ag with
those strange, repulsive looking men."
Silas West had turned as white as a
sheet, and ho raised hij hand to his
head with a groan.
"Husband, aro you sick?''
"Where is little Mary?" he asked
with a vacant stare.
'Oh, yes; I'll tell you about that,
too," said Mrs. West. 3Iary, dear lit
tle thing, was so delighted over the
news that she couldn't rest until she
fixed up a pretty bouquet to place C3
Mr. Morley's deik so that he would find
it when he came down."
''My God 1" screamed Silas. "Do you
mean that "
'Yes; she went to the mills half an
hour ago, and will be here in a few
minutes."
With a wild shriek of more than mor
tal agony, Silas West staggered for
ward and fell senseless to the floor, just
as the muffled sound of an explosion n
mile away rattled the windows of th i
cottage.
It was a long time before Silas West
recovered from his attack of brain fevr,
and when at last ho was strong em.uh
in mind and body to listen to the sorrow-stricken
woman by his bedside, he
silently prayed for death.
"It was so horrible, Silas," said his
weeping wife, 'to have our little
golden-haired darling killed in that
manner. She was mangled beyond j
recognition, and the horror of it nearly
killed ra3. But, . Silas, there was one
bright gleam in the. midst of all our
trouble. Mr. Morley and his wife came
here. They had the funeral arranga
ments made, and during all tho weeks
that you have been ill Mr. Morley has
footed all the bills and saved us from
starvation. We owe him a debt of
gratitude that we can never repay."
She paused in her talk. Her husband
had fainted."
The tragedy caused by the explosion
of the dynamite bomb in Mr. Morley's
offica had been driven out of the public
mind by other matters of sensationa
interest before Silas West was able to
return to his work. Some of his fellow
operatives told the wretched father that
the affair was supposed to be the work
of the anarchists, but that no clew had
ever Veen obtained. It was believed
that the little girl had waited in the
office for Mr. Morley, and the queer
laoking package had attracted her at
tention. She ha I probably handled it,
and an unfortir.uite touch had caused it
to explode.
Mr. Morley told his wife that Silas
West was the most tender-hearted man
he had ever known. He went back to
work a changed man. His face wore a
look of hopeless sorrow, but he seemed
to be entirely devoted to three things
his wife, his work, and Mr. Morley.
"No," said Mr. Morley one day; "I
am not afraid of anarchists in my mills.
I treat ray workmen like men, and they
appreciate it. But if there is any danger
that man, Silas West, will warn mo in
time. For some reason he has an intense
hatred of anything like anarchy. If you
mention the name of aa anarchist in his
hearing he turns white and red and grits
his teeth. I tell you, West has a heart
of gold ! There will be no anarchists
around as long as ho stays with me. "
The patient, pale-faced worker in the
Morley mills will doubtless go to his
grave and make no siga. His wife won
ders sometimes at his tenderness, and
his employer thinks him a little cranky
in his rigid sense of duty.
Silas West alone knows the cause of
his regeneration and reformation, and
his secret has made him a feeble old
man, although he is still in his thirties.
Atlanta Constitution.
Carrying Weapons.
A noted St. Louis detective says that
burglars and thieves as a general rule do
not carry concealed weapons for the rea
son that they know that they aro liable
at any time to be taken in on general
piinciplcs, and they can be sent to the
reck pile very easily if a knife or pistol
is found on them. Carrying weapons
is not fashionable with crooks of any
kind. Most casos of this kind arc made
on young fellows who carry
weapons as a bluff, and show
them up without any intent to hurt
any one. Knives arc carried only by
negroes and the very lowest hoodlums.
Brass knuckles, which used to be so
common years ago, are curiosities more
than anything else. Tho police don't
capture a man with a pair once in six
months. A peculiar thing about the
pistols gathered in by the police is that
not one in ten is any good. They aro
mostly cheap affairs, with which mur
ders and suiciles are committed.
Good and Bad Little Boys.
Mother (to B bby) I'm shocked to
hear that Willie WafFl;s whipped tho
poor cat, B)bby. My little boy wouldn't
do such a thing.
Bobby (with cooscious moral superior
ity) No, indeed, ma.
Mother Why didn't you 3top hirr..
Bobby?
Bobby I couldn't, ma. I was holding
the cat, -New York Sun.
PEARLS OF THOUGHT.
Life is a short day, but it is a working
day.
Though many guests be absent, it is j
the cheerful man we mis:.
Give because you love to give as the
flower pours forth its perfume.
A child who sees deceit arou id it will
rarely make an honorable man.
Where there is room in the heart
there is always room in the house.
Fame comes only when deserved, and
then it is inevitable as destiny.
Good intentions will not help a man
on hi3 way if he takes the wrong road.
All the events of our life are mate
rials out of which we may make what
we will
Grand temples ara made of small
stones, and great lives arj made up of
small events.
Modesty and the dew love tho shade.
Each shine in the open day only to be
exhaled to heaven.
Talents are best matured in solitude;
character is best formed in the stormy
billows of the world.
Even reckoning makes lasting friends,
and the way to make reckonings even is
to make them often.
Costly followers are not to be liked ;
lest while a man makes his train longer,
he makes his wings shorter.
A diamond with a flaw is better than
a pebble without. But the flaw adds
nothing to the value of the diamond.
The use we make of our fortune de
termines its sufficiency. A little is
enough if used wisely, too much if ex
pended foolishly.
Though reading and conversation may
furnish us with many ideas of men and
things, yet it is our owu meditation
must form our juigment.
Belief is an edifice never completed,
because we do not comprehend its plan,
and every day some workman brings a
new stone from the quarry.
With books, as with companions, it is
of more consequence to know which to
avoid than which to choose ; for good
books are as scarce as good companions.
It is beneath the dignity of a soul that
has but a grain of 6ense, to make
chance, and winds, and waves,
the-arbitrary disposers of his happi
ness. Grief or" misfortune seems to be in
dispensable to the development of intel
ligence, energy and virtue. The proofs
to which the people are submitted, as
with individuals, are necessary to draw
them from their lethargy and disclose
their character.
The three lessons that all are the bet
ter for knowing: That cheerfulness can
change misfortune into love and friends;
that, in ordering one's self aright, one
helps others to do the same; and that
the power of findiug beauty ia the hum
blest thing3 makes home happy and life
lovely.
Variations of Ships' Compasses.
"The variations of the needle, ' say3
Sir Thomas Browne, ' 'may proceed from
mutations of the earth, by subterranean
fires, fumes, mineral spirits or other
wise, which, altering the constitution
of the magnetical parts ia process of
time, doth vary the variation of the
place." Had the nobly eloquent ex
plorer of "vulgar errors" lived in these
days, he would have added others to his
list of the causes of the deflections of
the needle; and not the least strange
item in tho catalogue would be the
wearing of electric belts by rheumatic
or debilitated sailors.
"One or our crew here," writes, the
master of a steamer at Smyrna, "has a
magnetic belt. I got it from him one
day last voyage and taking it on the
bridge I found that all three compasses
were very much affected by it; in fict,"
add the captain, "the highest compass
of the three went reeling round and
round."
The moral he desires to poin t is that
as so at least he says these belts are
much worn by seafaring men, and fire
men in particular, masters should be care
ful to find out what magnets their crew
or passengers may happea to have.with
them "either in the shape of belts or in
any form," for as he justly asserts er
rors in the compass lead the seamen at
times into terrible accidents. London
Telegraph.
A Revolutionary Hero.
One of the heroes of the Revolution
whose deeds arc not recorded in history
was William Goff of Gray, Me. When
news came of the battle of Lexington
he was chopping . wood, with his gun
conveniently near him, ready for any
stray game that might appear. He at
once dropped his axe, picked up his
gun, stopped at his home a minute to
bid his wife good-bye, went to a
neighbor's and borrowed some bullet
molds, run what lead he had into bul
lets, and walked to Cambridge, getting
there just in season for the battle of
Bunker Hill. When rAked after the
battle in what company he was enrolled
he promptly replied, "William Goff's."
He continued to serve his country until
1777, when he fell at the battle of Crer-mantown.
CHILDREN'S COLUMN,
Golden Keys.
A bunch of golden keys is mine
To make each day with gladness shine.
"Good morning 1" that's the golden key
That unlocks every day for ma.
When evening comes, "Good night 1" I say,
And close the door of each glad day.
When at the table, "If you please,"
I take from off my bunch of keys.
"When friends give anything to me,
I'll use the little "Thank you!" key.
"Excuse me," "Beg your pardon," too.
When by mistake some harm I da
Or if unkindly harm I've given,
With "Forgive me?" I shall be forgiven.
On a golden ring these kevs IT1 bind,
This is its motto, "Be ye Kind."
I'll often use each golden key,
And then a child polite I'll be.
Quaint Speeches.
Some one gave Georgie a very ran
stamp for his collection the other day.
The youngster was delighted with the
treasure, but could not immediately de
cide upon its real value. After a close
examination, he at last attested it3rarety
by saying, "Well, that is one of the
most seldom stamps I ever saw."
"Papa," said Georgie at table the
other day, "will you please give me a
piece of meat ? "
"Certainly, my son. Would you like
a fat piece ?"
"No, papa; fat is too nutritious. I'd
like a piece that is unfat. "
"I think we must bo going to have
cabbage for dinner," Baid Aunt Mary
one day last week, as a strange odoi
reached the nursery from somewhere
down-stairs.
"Oh no; we're not," said Herbert.
"How do you know?" he was asked.
"I can smell that we're not," said the
boy.
Madcr Freddy thinks himself by no
means the least important member of
the household. One evening, after he
and his sister had gone to bed in the
nursery, a violent thunder-shower came
up. The children's mother, thinking
they might be frightened by the storm,
went upstairs to reassure them. Paus
ing just outside the nursery door, she
heard Fred say to . his sister, who wa3
crying, "Don't be 'fraid, baby; me an'
Dod's here." Harper's Young People.
Toiling: to Succeed.
He who would gain the palm must
wrestle in the dust. The life of Audu
bon, the naturalist, illustrates this law
of compensation. The boy fore-shadowed
the man by his passion for bird's-nesting,
and for collecting pictures of birds.
His father owned a farm ia Pennsyl
vania, and young Audubon was sent
there from France to look after it; but
he looked more at the birds than after
the farm, and what he saw suggested his
great work on American ornithology.
He married, tried his hand at keeping
store that is, ho left tho store to keep
itself, while he hua ted the forest for
specimens of birds. He had studied
drawing and painting in Paris under
David, the artist whom Napoleon hon
ored. The want of daily bread drove
him to portrait-painting, and his wife to
supporting herself and their children.
Ho continued to make collections and
drawings of American birds, and at last,
turuing drawing master, earned two
thousand dollars with which he started
for England to bring out his great work
: and to obtain subscribers for it.
In London he painted all day, and in
the evening walked the streets selling
his pictures at the stores for any price
the dealers would give for them. Every
! penuy he could save was paid to the en
gravers and eolorers of his "Birds of
America."
When it was published, with its four
hundred and thirty-live plates of birds,
each delineated life-size, the persistent,
pensated for his toil and endurance.
Youth's Companion.
She Didn't Want to Vote.
An amusing scene occurred at a Boston
polling place during the late election,
which tends to show how utterly un
conscious some people aro ia regard to
what is going on around them. At the
precinct in question the fight was a very
bitter one. The different contestants
were rallying their forces to the utmost,
and the room was filled to overflowing
with the friends of the different candi
dates. About noon a lady entered the
place, and at once elbowed her
way through tho crowd toward the rail,
the men gallantly giving way to let
her pass. but at once clos-
' ing in and following her, to see what
she wanted there. Upon reaching the
rail she stood before the inspector of
voting and held a paper toward him,
which was covered with Chinese hiero
glyphic 3.' "What is this?" inquired the
inspector. "For my washing," she re
plied. "Thii is not a Chinesa laundry,"
said the inspector; "it is a voting place,
and I am sorry I cannot receive your
ballot." "Oh! 'said the lady, and she
silently withlrew, to the amusement of
all, afterward entering a laundry next
door, where it is presumed she found
what she was looking for.
PICKPOCKETS.
The Methods Pursued By These
Lightfingered Individuals.
An Inmate of a Prison Cell
Loosens His Tongue.
A San Francisco Post reporter has
been interviewing an imprisoned pick
pocket. "What is your legitimate line
of work, as you call it ? ' asked the re
porter. The prisoner replied:
"Taking care of purses and such
things for people who don't know how
to take care of them themselves. If a
man studies his business he need never
get caught picking pockets. It is sim
ple and nice lignt work for gentlemen
who don't care about doing hard work.
You probably don't know it, but the
professional dipper studies his work just
the same as a lawyer studies law. Take
tho Enstern safe crackers, Randall,
Thomas and Heinz, who were out here
a couple of years ago. Why, they've
got their business down to a science.
They know just where to look for the
combination in a safe, and with one bore
they break tho tumbler and lock into
pieces. It is part of their business to
know these things, and they never have
to pry tho door off with a crowbar.
That's not safe cracking, and fellows
who do bungling work ought to go to
prison.
"People think that a pickpocket
rashes up to a man, dives his hand into
his pocket and grabs the purse. That's
not so. To do neat work, a pickpocket
must havo good 'stalls' to do the 'crush,'
and he must be able to tell what kind
of a man he has selected to rob. The
'stalls' are helpers, and do the rough
work while the pickpocket is getting
tho purse. When you work in a crowd
there is not one chance in a thousand
that you will get caught if the 'stalls'
understand their business. Now, when
I worked the theaters or the ferry land
ing I always had two good helpers. We
would go to the theater and wait until
the end of the first act. Of course, we
never noticed each other, and when the
other gentlemen would go out to get
cloves we would go to. The 'stal
then commenced their work, and I
would stand back and study. They
would size up men wrho looked as if they
had more money than they needed, and
would brush up close to them. While
they were workiug in and out around
the bar I would be studying.
"The nervous man who is alway3 on
guard against being robbed was the one
I wanted. Now, the cautious fellow
who feels for his purse as soon as he had
been crowded, shows two things. First,
that he has got something worth steal
ingaad then that ho will go to pieces
and lose his head when jammed in a
crowd. When I selected my man
would give the 'stalls' the sign and we
would go back to the show. When he
was leaving the theatre the 'stalls'
would manage to get around him, one
ahead, and one behind. I would walk
by his side and I knew just what pocket
his purse was in for I noticed that when
ho felt for it at the bar. Then when he
got into the jam the stalls' would com
mence the crush, that is, squeeze him
between them. The man ahead would
'accidentally' push him back, while the
one behind would 'crush' him ahead
As soon as he felt the crush he would
get nervom and excited, raise, his hands
up to make his way through the crowd
and wriggle from one side to the other.
Tho 'stalls' would only squeeze him
harder and then I would slip my hand
into his pocket and get the purse.
cough would be a signal to the 'stalls
that I was through, and then they
would stop squeezing him.
"As soon as we released him from the
crush it was funny to sec how he would
wiggle to get on a the crowd, and when
he got there he found that his purse was
gone. Of course you can work that way
in any crowd, I at you must always take
a nervous man. Take one of these cool
fellows who doesn't think of getting
robbed, and who doesn't mind the crush,
and 90 times out of 100 he will catch
you."
' But how is it that you manage to rob
ladies, when oftentimes their pockets are
covered by their skirts ?" asked the re
porter. "Just the same as a man," answered
the prisoner. " The 'stalls' give them
the 'crush,' and the one behind cuts the
dress at the same time. Why, it is ten
times easier to rob a woman than a man,
for they are all fidgety. When they get
into a crowd, and are jammed, all they
think of is their dress. They are afraid
that it is going to be torn and dragged
out of shape, and they get so angry and
excited that you could put your hand into
the pocket 50 times without being de
tected."r '
A Big Ferry Boat.
A massive ferry boat, built expressly
with a view to its ability to crush heavy
ice in the Straits of Mackinac, is being
constructed at Detroit for the Mackinac
Transportation Company. It will ply
between Mackinac and Point St. Ignace.
The boat will be 235 feet long, 52 feet
in breadth and will have compound
engines of 9,000 horse-power.
Pearl Oysters.
The business of getting the pearls CIA
of oysters is a tolerably disagreeable ono.
Tho oysters are thrown iuto large ves
sels and left to di whsn th shells ooen
of their own accord. The shells are
then removed, but the ovster3 them
selves are left in bucket 3 till thev be
come decomposed, when they arc well
stirred. The pearls sink to the bottom.
and tho remainder is poured off. It
may be readily inferred that the cd r
in the camp of the pearl ssckers is
more powerful than pleasant.
The pearl had its origin in the efforts
of the oyster to protect itself from the
irritation caused by the presence cf
some foreiga bodv between the shell
and its mantle, as the soft skin of the
oyster is technically termed. To mit
igate the suffering caused by this vex
atious intrular, tha oyjter deposits
thereon a coating of tho same material
as that of which the shell is composed,
and when onca this process has begun
it continues, till in time the pearl grow3
large enough to kill the oyster.
Linn ami, the "father of naturalists,"
received the honor of knighthood for
demonstrating the possibility of artifi
cially inducing the formation of pearls
in the pearl-beariag mussel. But, as
has been the case with other European
inventions of which we havo thought a
good deal, it has since turned out that
John Chinaman has been doin? this thing
for a couple of thousand years or so.
The Chinese method is to take the mus
sel from the river, carefully force the
shells a little way apart, and insert be
tween the mantle of tha oyster and one
of the shells a few little pellets of clays,
tiny pearls or foreign bodies of some
kind. When this has been done, the
oyster is turned over, and the poor fel
low i3 obliged to submitto a similar un
comfortabb process on his other side.
He is then put back into a pond, where
he is kept well and fat by a diet moro
nourishing than nice. After a few
months, or sometimes a year or two, ho
is again taken from his bed, his pearls
are taken out and he is eaten. Boston
Herald.
Nature's Oil Press.
According to Professor L. Lcsky, the
buried bed of vegetation which has be
come what is now known and used as
the Pittsburg coal bed, twelve feet thick,
must have originally beea as many as
150 feet in depth, it having b.?cn com
pressed to its present size, as the coal
bed, by the action of heat and the pres
sure of tho strata, or layers of sand
which were deposited upon it at different
times after it was covered with water.
As this coal bed is far above the oil
sand?, it is thought that the bed of veg
etation which it now represents furished
the oil and gas now being found, . but
that they have been formed from other
beds, buried below the oil sands,
and which may have beert
of even greater depth or thickness than
this one; pressed down by the tremen
dous weight of the hundreds and thou
sands of feet of sand, gravel, etc.,
which now form the rock strata above
them, and heated from below by the
internal heat of the earth to a very
high degree these beds of vegetation,
would as a result of such forces, bo
changed in part into oil and gas,
which would escape upward to where
it is now found, the parts not so
changed remaining and being changed
into beds of coal. It is supposed that
ia this way the gas has been pro
duced, and, possibly, is still being
produced, from beds of vegetation
buried below the oil sands, and that
it has found its way in company
oil perhaps, up to the porous
rocks or oil sands.
with
sand
The Tables Turned.
Old Jacob Barker, one of the early
lights of Wall street, once took offense
at some action of his bank.' A few
days after lie presented $40, 000 in bills
a much larger amount than the same
figures represent nowadays and de
manded specie for them. The bank of
ficials were equal to the emergency, but
thought to revenge themselves for the
scare Barker had' given them; so they
rolled out 40 kegs of $1000 each, the
tell- I
tided
cr explaining that tho
kegs were
with 5 and 10 cent pieces,
T, k '
the point, and justified his reputation for j
sharpness. He ordered the whole 40
kegs to be uuheaded on the spot, took a
careless handful of coin from each keg,
then'calmly said that he desired to have
the remainder placed to his credir. The
bank had to lose his valuable custom or
take this money, so it chose the latter;
but the tedious count of the forty kegs'
contents consumed many a profitless
hour.
Thickness of Clonds.
Capt. H. Toynbec, of the London
Meteorological Society, has arri ved r.c
the conclusion that clouds of less than
2000 feet in thickness are seldom ac-
companied by rain; and if they are it is
veryentle, consisting of minute drops.
With a thickness of between 2,000
and 4,000 feet the size of the drop;' is
moderate. . With increasing thickness
comes increasing size of the drops, and
at the same time their temperature be
comes lower, until, when the thickness
is great ir thai 6.000 feet, hail : produced
Pcrpetnal Youth.
Tis f aid there is a fount in Flower Land
De Leon found it where Old Age away
Throws woary mind and heart, and fresh
as day
Springs from the dark and joins Aurora's
band:
This tale, transformed by some skilled trou
vere's wand
From the old myth in a Greek poet's lay,
Rests on no truth. Change bodies as Time
may
Souls do not change, though heavy be his
hand.
Who of us needs this fount? What soul is
old?
Our mere masks age, and still we grow
more young,
For in our winter we talk most of Spring;
And as we near, slow-tottering, God's safe
fold,
Youth's loved ones gather nearer; though
among
The seeming dead, j'outh's songs more clear
they sing.
Maurice Egan in Century.
HUMOROUS.
A so.r spot The eagle's nest.
Tho divers' business is going down.
A watch that won't run doesn't need
any chain.
What kind of men ought to shrink
well Contractors.
If the gallows is the instrument of
death, what is the accordion?
When the baker makes his morning
rounds the roll call is ia order,
"He gave me some pointers," said the
tramp of tho farmer; "he jabbed mo
with a pitchfork,
Oa seeing a house being whitcwaslnd, a
small boy of 3 wanted to know if it was
going to be shaved.
Tom: "I think real estate men aro
awfully selfish." Harry who is one of
them): "Why?" "Because they are al
ways wanting the earth.''
He (at a very late hour, with deep
enderncss) How can I leave thee? She
Really, Mr. Stayer, I can't tell
you. I wish to heaven I could.
Caller (to little Bobby) "Bobby,
what makes your eyes so bright?"
Bobby (after a little thought) "I des
it's tause I hain't had 'em very long."
"Papa," asked little Bobby McSwil
ligen, "what is a railroad pool?" "A
railroad pool, Johnny," replied McSwil
ligen, "is where they water the stock."
A jiatent medicine advertiser advises:
"Give your lungs exercise." Tho
father who walks th-j floor at night to
quiet a vociferous youngster thinks the
advice superfluous.
. A Blind Watchmaker's Skill.
Many years ago there lived in the
town of Holbeach, England, a blind
watchmaker named William Rippia,
whose delicacy of touch and marvellous
skill ia repairing watches were famous
throughout all the neighboring country.
He was not born blind, either, so that
his singular faculty cannot be explained
as "congenital. After learning his trado
in regular fashion he commenced busi
ness at Holbeach, but three or four
years afterwards caught a severe cold in
his eyes, which resulted in amaurosis,
and although under treatment of thj
leading occulists of the day, he became
totally and hopelessly blind at 28 years
of age. Instead of beiDg crushed by his
misfortune, he, by great and untiring
energy and persevjrence, became one of
the cleverest of blind men. His ability
to clean and repair clocks, watches,
musical instruments, &nd every article
connected with the business was mar
vellous. He was able to work as well as beforo
his affliction. He could do any repairs
required, even turning in verges, &c.
The only aid he required in taking to
pieces and putting together a watch was
in unpinning and pinning the hairspring,
which was impossible for a blind man to
do, which was done by his wife, whom
he taught to work at the business after
! his loss of sight. He generally had 100
watches in the shop for repairs, some of
them being brought from a distance of
100 to 200 miles. Every watch he
knew by the touch, and every customer
by hi3 voice. Having been a first-class
crlcketcr previously, even after his loss
sSnt ho played two single-wicket
matches, both of which he won. He
uoulu .' .""""" T V l
1,1 ,i, ,i : i,ii
was 1 gOUlL mujj-i;iu, umi ivauci ui tuu
Holbeach Brass Band. He was an in-
telligent man, nearly six feet high, and
many who saw and conversed with him
were unaware that he was blind. He
died early in consequence of the severe
treatment for his eyes, but the prosper
' ous busino-is he left at nolbeach was
carried on successfully by hi3 wife and
j daughter until about five years ago.
J Jeweler's Review.
A Natural Seleetion.
An intelligent man, while in a strange
town, needed medical advice. He ap-
l"lcu n'M' lu l"u Vl
i .i i x ii, i ,n i r ii i. i i
nor to tnc local uruggist, uuc went
straight to the postmaster. "Tell me,"
he said, "which of the doctors of the
city takes, the largest number of jour
nals?'' The postmaster told him, and
the gentleman replied: "A man who
takes the-journals of his profession is
well read, -and up with the times, and
that is the doctor I want to treat me
xn& my family." Philadelphia Call,
. ..
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