Robert Burns. 1 '
I see amid the .fields ot Ayr. j
A plowman who, in toul or tear,
Sings at hia task, 4
So clear we know not U it ia
The laverock's songjwehey or his,
Nor care lo ask".
' ' -J :
For him the plowing of those fields -
A more ethereal harvest yields
Than sheaves-of grain;
Bongs flash with purple bloom the rye ;
The plover's call, the curlew's cry,
Sing in his brain. p " .
.
Touched by hjis hand, the wayside weed
Becomes a flower; the lowliest reed
j Beside the stream
Is clothed with beauty; gorse and grass
And heather where his footsteps pass
The brightest seem. I
He sings of love, whose flame illumes
The darkness pt lone cottage rooms;
He. feels the force, !
The treacherous undertow and stress,
Of wayward passions, and no less
The keen remorse.
- - ' . ' ' '
At moments, wrestling with his fate, ,
His voice is harsh, but not mlLh fate;
The brushwood hung I
Above the tavernrdoor lets fall
Its bitter leaf, its drop of gall,
Upon his tongue.
But 'still the burden ofhis song
Is love of right, disdain.of wrong ;
Its master ohords
Are manhood) freedom, brotherhood;
Its discords but an interlude
. j-. Between the words.
i .
And then to die so young and leave
Unfinished what he might achieve.
; Yet better sure
Is this than wandering; up and down,
An old man in a country town,"
Inirmand poor.
For now
he haunts his native land
As an immortal youth ; his hand
Guides every plow
. He sits beside each ingle-pook ;
His voice is in each rushing brook,
Each rustling bough.
His presence haunts this room to-night
A iorm of mingled mist and light,
From that far coast.
Welcome beneath this room of mine!
Welcome! this vacant chair is thine,
Dear guest and ghost. ,
Henry W. Lbngfellow, in Harper.
An Insurmountable Objection.
- - AT THE GARDEN GATE.
Janet Dudley stood at the garden gate
that lovely evening in early September,
gazing up the road- with anxious eye3.
The faint light of the rising moon lay like
a blessing on her golden head, and the
air, filled with the fragrance of new
mown hay carelessly touched her fair
young face. - Never prettier maid
, awaited lover, and yet John Hallam's
sfr.Pn was sinw-nnd bis tr.e rlnnded na ho
emerged from p the shadow of the trees
and came toward her. Janet opened
ihe gate, and stepped out to meet him.
"Well, John?" she said, and her voice
1 trpmhlpH pvpt an little
The young man took her tiny hands
in his, and looked down upon her-s-she
was a wee thing with almost a frown
upon his brow.; " Uncle Roger is as
obstinate as a mule," he said. "I have
iust come from a most wearisome inter
view with him. ! He insists that I shall
either take up iny drudgery again at
Mink & Otter's, or some other equally
agreeable establishment, and forfeit all
claims upon him, or give mm the
promise he asks.?' ,
- Wn P" caid .Ton of o rroin ivorrtn
steadily up in his face, and this time her
voice did not tremble at all, but her
lover's did, as witn nail-averted eyes
, he made answer; "I should hate to go
clerking it again - after being my own
. . , . , ...... .
master so long, and, to: own the truth,
natronizine mvi old chums somewhat.
whenever we met ; and it seems too bad
to let such a fortune go to strangers, as
Uncle Roger declares it shall if I don't
come to terms. But ' then the promise
he exacts is so absurd." i! . ;
" is it so aosura, wnen you icnins oi it
calmly ? Your uncle wants I to make
Mm T' ii - 1 .' I. J .!.!' .' it . i m
jsure of a pleasant companion for five
years, and at the end of that time wishes
to choose a pleasant companion for tha
pleasant companion, thereoy securing
for himself two pleasant companions
for the remainder of his life--which
sounds like something out of one of
Ollendorff books for beginners, or
riddle," she continued, with a laugh
that had ho merriment in it. " And so
ne oners you great inducements to De-
come that companion. And, John, you
have always been discontented because
your station in lifo was not a higher
one, and more of the, world's gold had
not fallen to your share, And now that
wealth and position are offered you, i
would be 'absurd' indeed to refuse them
for the sake of a poor country school
mistress." i
" Janet, you are cruel."
"Perhaps I am in the , way surgeons
; are cruel ; but I really think, John, the
cure for your hurts is to accede to your
uncle's -wishes." I ;
"And part with you P" U
; "And part with me, as it is only too
evident that that worthy gentleman
considers me totally unworthy the honor
of ever becoming the pleasant compan
ion of his pleasant companion."
The young man. dropped her hands
and caught her in his arms. "You do
not love me, after all," he said, reproach-
ully.
" I do love you," she replied, at tne
same time turning her face away from
his kisses, "and I have loved you ever
since we first met, but I have become
convinced that as a poor man you would
no a success, John, and therefore I
say obey your uncle, live the life for
which you have longed, and get the
brtune." 1
" By heavens, I will not give you up !"
exclaimed Hal lam, st ung by her quiet
sarcasm. - cut, Jennie dear, listen to
reason. Promise to wait for me, to be
true to me, and I will agree to Uncle
Roger's conditions i Who knows what
m ay happen in n ve years r j. ne old man
may die " ,
The girl started back from his, arms
with glowing cheeks and flashing eyes.
"Shame on you, John!" she said.
'What happiness could attend the
union of two people who waited for
death and falsehood to bririg them to
gether? You have said enough. Our
bonds are broken. You are free." ,
A faint voice from the cottage called,
"I will never give you up," repeated
the lover, vehemently, and snatching
her again in his arms, Ihe kissed her
passionately and turned away. Janet
looked after his retreating form for a
moment, then raised her clasped hands
in mute appeal to heaven, choked a ris
ing sob, and answered her mother's 'call.
John Hal lam, then clerk in the whole
sale fur store of Mink & Otter, first saw
Janet Dudley at the country house of a
cousin, where he was visiting one sum
mer holiday. She had graduated at the
Normal college a year or so before, and
being obliged to leave the city directly
after,! on account of her mother's fail
ing health, had sought and obtained the
position of 1 village schoolmistress at
Strawberry Centre. r
They had fallen! in love with each
other at first sight, he fascinated by her
pretty girlish face, her graceful ways
and quaint, precise speech, and she by
his handsome brown eyes, his gayety,
his fine tenor voice and his gallantbear
ing; and before John's holiday was over
she had promised to become at some not
far distant time his wife. But a few
months after they had plighted troth,
John's uncle Roger, who had been the
black sheep of his family, returned from
abroad, like the famous black sheep of
Baby land, with three or more bags full,
not of wool, however, but money. No
one knew where or how these:bags had
been filled, and no one seemed to care.
That they were full appeared quite
enough, for all doors flew open to him
at the first "Baa."
Among others who renewed their
acquaintance with Mr, Roger Vander-
gass, now bleached to admirable white
ness, was his nephew, whom he liad not
seen since his childhood, and to whose
mother he had not sent one line for fif
teen years before her death. The old
man received his young relative with
great Kindness, . and being also imme
diately fascinated by his handsome face
(which he secretly flattered himself re
sembled his own), his air debonair, and
fine tenor yoice, declared his intention
of making him his heir, commanded
him to resign his situation at Mink &
Otter's a command which the com
manded lost no time in obeying and
installed him in elegant room$ adjoin
ing his own in the St. Sky hotel.
But when Uncle Roger came to hear !
of the pretty village schoolmistress, he
was exceeding wroth, and swore, with
many strange aijd. terrible oaths, that if
John did not. promise to remain a
bachelor for at- jleast five years, and
when he did change his state, to marry
his Uncle Roger's choice,, back ; to
work should he go, and not a penny
from the three or more bags full should
he ever have.
Now this jolly, singing, fine-looking
young fellow befieathj a careless, ex
terior concealed an intense longing for
wealth and all the comforts and lux
uries wealth could bring ; beside which
he was troubled with a constitutional
lassitude, as a certain fox once called
it, though it is better known to the
world under another name, also com
mencing with an 1. And to descend
from his perch, as it were, and mingle
once more with the grubbing work-a-day
crowd, seemed ' to him worse . than
death. But then he loved, as well as
such a selfish nature could love, blue
eyed, golden-haired Janet Dudley, and
hated to give her up almost as much as
he did the elegant rooms at the St. Sky.
Here was a coil, and thinking how to
unwind it cost him a week of sleepless
nights. The proposition he at length
made to his " ladye-love," as has been
seen, she indignantly repelled ; and
swearing, ," I will never give you up,"
he gave her up the next day, as "will
be seen by the following letter :
" My Darling For, not withstsnding
your cruelty" (her "cruelty," poor
child !) "my darling you are and ever
will be, the die is supposed to be cast. I
have acceded to Uncle Roger's wishes,
as you would say, you prim, old-fashioned
little sweetheart, with a mental
reservation. Be true to me, as I shall
be to you, and I may yet lay a fortune
at your feet. John."
AT THE GATE AGAIN.
Only a year had passed, and Mr. Van
dergaas, already weary of his nephew's
fine tenor voice, handsome face, and air
debonair, suddenly bade him farewell
one cloudy morning (they were stop
ping at a hotel in Paris), gave hioi the
smallest bag of wool money, I mean
and again departed for parts unknown.
To do John Hallam justice; he also was
tired of the companionship, land at
times had almost regretted entering into
the compact' with Ihe wicked old man.
But on regaining" his liberty he congrat
ulated himself on the cleverness he had
displayed, fcr though the larger portion
of the fortune might be lost, he had seen
the gayest part of the ' old world in its
gayest dress, secured a snug sum of
money, and was free to return to Amer
ica and Janet. "I'm sure she is waiting
for me," he said, " though she wouldn't
answer one of my letters, the proud, in-;
flexible little thing."
And back home he went post-haste-
back .to the village where he had left the
pretty young schoolmistress. ..;
It was just such a lovely evening as
that on which they parted when he
found himself once more, this time with
hurried . steps, walking along the old
familiar road The birds were chirping
"good-nights "to each other, the air
was full of fragrance, the great night
moths were humming in successful
mimicry of the humming-birds as they
hovered over the blossoms that open be
neath the stars, the crickets shrilled loud
and merrily, the fairy lanterns of the
fire-flies glowed fitfully on every side,
and Janet yes, it was Janet, the moon
beams resting on her golden head
stood, as though she had 'never left it
since the hour they parted, at the gar
den gate. " Dreaming of me, no doubt,"
thought the fast-approaching lover, and
in a moment more he stood before her.
She started ; a faint blush rose to her
cheek; she looked wonderfully bright
and happy. " Why, John Mr. Hallam,
I should say can it be you?" she said.
" 4 Mr. Hallam! ' " echoed tne young
man with a light laugh. " It is Joh ;
your own John." '
" You are mistaken " she began, but
he interrupted her hastily.
" Uncle Roger, has deserted me. I
am glad of it. His desertion sets me
free."
" And will you not get his fortune,
after all? " she asked.
" Don't, be sarcastic, Janet," he re
plied. " I did what I thought was for
the best, and the end proves I wasmor
far-seeing than you were, for every
thing has turned out for the best. I
have had a grand holiday, am richer by
twenty thousand dollars than when I
wooed and won you, and you shall have
a set of diamonds, and teach school no
more.".
"I never cared for thousands of dol
lars or diamonds,"- said Janet, with pro
voking calmness, ." and I gave up teach
ing school at the beginning of last vaca
tion." . i
"You did? Then there, need be no
delay. You. will marry me at once,
Jenny?" and he caught her hand and
pressed it to his lips.
"John," she replied, as she quickly
withdrew it, " I ceased to care for you
as soon as I had read the letter you sent
me announcing your decision to remain
with Mr. Vandergaas. Strive tordis
guise it as you will, you chose between
a humble life with me and a luxurious
one with your uncle. I "
"Janet," he interrupted, eagerly,
ilyovi do not, you will not, look at my
conduct in the right light. You are
such an uncompromising little woman.
But granting that I did do wrong
' Forget and forgive' that was one of
your. school mottoes, you know and
give me back your heart, if you have
ever taken it away from . me, which I
doubt" with a confident smile "and
tell me when you will be my wife."
" Never, John." '
" Nonsense! I won't take that fcrf an
answer, i loresaw, Knowing you so
well, that you would bring forward
many obstacles, and I have come pre
pared to combat them all, and to do
battle with whatever stands between us.
A lew good blows, and down it goes
before me, Janet."
Janet's eyes twinkled, and a little
laugh escaped from her lips.
"I warn you to attempt no blows,"
she said, as a stalwart young fellow
strode up to the gate, " for I must pre
sent to you an insurmountable obiec
tion Mr; John Hallam, my husband;
Mr. Oscar lianier." Harper's Weekly.
Curious Story of a Ring.
A curious story of an amethyst in the
British crown is told. The presence of
this stone, taken, it is said, from the
ring of Edward the Confessor, has the
power of preserving the wearer from all
contagious diseases. The story of this
ring isrepeated and believed to this
day in the remote rural shires of Eng
land. Edward, the legend says, was on
his way to Westminster when he was
met by a beggaf, who implored him in
toe name oi ot. jonn to grant mm as
sistance. The charitable king had ex
hausted all his change in almsgiving
and could find in his scrip neither bank-'
note nor gold piece; but drew from his
finger his ring, an amethyst of great
value,and gave it to the beggar, who
vanished in a cloud of smoke. Some
years' afterward two English pilgrims in
the Holy Land found themselves in a
desert in great distress, when a hoary-
headed and long-bearded stranger ap
peared to them, giving them sustenance,
and finally announcing to them that he
was tho prophet St. John the Baptist.
He gave them the ring that Edward had
given the beggar years before, telling
them to deliver it to the king, and say
that in a few weeks Edward would be
with him in Paradise. Edward re
ceived the ring and prepared for his
death, which occurred at the time ap
pointed by the saint. For many yearc
the stone was preserved as a sacred feli-
by the Church ot Havering in England,
but it was finally placed in the British
crown, though Havering retains the
name to this day.
Little Johnny went fishing last Sun
day, without consulting his parents.
Next morning a neighbor's boy met him
and asked i "Did you catch anything
yesterday?" "Not till I got home,"
was the rather sad response. Oalveslon
News. i
How a Fasting Prisoner Got Ahead ot
1 , His Keeper.
: 1 ' .:i ,
A correspondent, writing frpm
Moundsville, W. Va., to the Wheeling
Intelligencer, tells this story of an
obstinate prisoner's long fast : .
" Since thid Tanner busmess came
up," said Superintendent Bridges, oi
the penitentiary, to me, "I've been
thinking aboiit a man we had here a
year or iso ago. ne was a tail, lanK,
cadaverous Virginian, serving out a
short United States sentence for, illicit
distilling. His name was Begley. He
was fifty years old or upward, and there
was nothing bad about him, but he gave
us lots of bothsr. He was all the time
getting into tirouble for breaking some
rule or other J and I repeatedly talked
to him. When accused of any unruly
conduct he would make no denial or
offer no excuse. Finally he became
such a hopeless case that I was obliged
to order him into the dark cell on bread
and water. He was locked up, and at
the end of the first day I was told that
he had refused to touch either. The
second and third day passed, and he
still refused his bread and water."
" Twenty -tour nours is usually as
long as j a man can stand that sort of
punishment, isn't it?" I asked.
" Yes. Frequently in less time they
give in. ; it i is only tne most stub
born cases in Which they holdout for
two or three days, and even then they
take their bread and water. But this
Begley kept it up, too, in a way that
astonished us all. On the third or
fourth day Ii had Dr. Bruce in to see
him. The doctor pronounced him all
right. The thing went on till he had
been there a week, but he hadn't weak
ened. I begin to feel nervous about
him. He had neither tasted bread nor
drank a swallow of water."
"How did he look by this time?"
" He was so gaunt, naturally, that we
couldn't see any difference."
And he wouldn't knuckle under?"
' Not a bit, of it. He wouldn't ac
knowledge ihe had done wrong or
promise to do better for the future. I
was inJa quandary. If I did not suc
ceed in breaking his obstinacy it was a
bad precedent and an unfortunate thing
for the prison' discipline. All this time
the pulse was regular ; his condition in
every way normal."
" Did he ask for anything except the
bread and water P"
" No. We finally offered him other
food and tried to make him eat, but he
1 1 1j 'l. j TT .
wouiun c nave it ie Kept it up in a
way that worried me more than a little.
Day after day the lood was taken to the
dark cell he wouldn't touch it; he
would be asked if he was ready to sub
mit to the- rules of the prison always
the same discouraging result ; the doc
tor would pay his regular visit always
the same xepxirlu!!.... , . L
" What if he had died on your hands?"
" That was what I was afraid of.
I was only doing my duty, and yet I
knew how such a thing would be re
garded outside. It was bis own fault
that he didn't obey the rules ; it was his
own fault that he wouldn't eat."
" And hoW long did he finally Hold
out?'' ; ,1
" He held out till I didn't dare to keep
him any longer. I had him in that
cell fifteen days. During; that time he
neither ate nor drank. I only kept him
that long because I expected every hour
he would yield."
" And so he submitted at last?" ,
"Submitted! Never. He came out
ahead He beat me. He is the only
man I ever nad l couldn't subdue
When I took! him out he at first refused
anything, but I had a chicken cooked
for him, and jwhen he found that he was
master of the situation he finally con
sented to eatl He came out all right
and went back to his work in a day or
two.'V
"He'd make a good match for Tan-
ner,
"Yes, and Begley would beat Tan
ner, too. i lanner took water, lms
man took absolutely nothing. TJanner
went put every day, takes exercise and
his surroundings are pleasant. You
must remember that Begley was in the
dark cell, with not a ray of light and
nothing but the, floor to lie on. He
would have stayed there till he died."
I Coffee as a Disinfectant.
The Poonah Observer, a paper pub
is hed in India.states that recent experi
mentsmade in that country have proved
that roasted coflee is one of the most
powerful disinfectants, not only render
ing animal and vegetable emu via in
nocuous, but actually destroying them.
A room in which meat in an advanced
state of decomposition had been kept for
some time was instantly deprived of all
smell on an bpen, coffee roaster being
carried through it containing a pound of
newly-roasted coffee. In another room
the effluvia occasioned by the clearing
out of a cesspool was completely re
moved within half a minute by the use
of three ounces of. fresh coffee. The way
in which coffee is used as a disinfectant
is by drying the raw bean, then pound
ing it in a mortar, and afterward roast
ing the powder on a moderately-heated
iron plate until it assumes a dark hue
The coffee must, however, be pure, as
thicory possesses no deodorizing power
Tfe lonng Idea.
. Irritable Softool master: "Now, then,
stUDid. what's the next word? What
nomea after cheese?" Dull boy: "A
mouse, sir." ' . ,
"How, do you define ' black as your
hat? " said a schoolmaster to one of his
pupils, i" Darkness that may be felt,"
replied the youthful wit.
Kansas schoolteacher : ' Where does
our grain go to?" " Into the hopper;"
"What hopper?" "Grasshopper,"
triumphantly shouted a scholar.
THE HUDSON RIVER TUNNEL
An Account of tne Tunnel Which is to
Connect Jersey City -with Sew York;
A New York paper gives the follow
ing interesting history of the tunnel
under the ' Hudson and the manner in
which the work is done :
A number of schemes for tunnels under
the North river, between New York and
Jersey City, to facilitate transportation
between the two cities had been dis
cussed for years by engineers and capi
talists, but no steps were taken to carry
out the project until Colonel De WittC.
HasMn secured the support of a number
of moneyed men about eight years ago.
A company was then organized Under
the title of the Hudson Tunnel Railroad
company, with the object of building a
tunnel under the North river which
would be used in common by the rail
way systems centering in New Jersey
for passenger traffic during the day and
freight at night, and which would form
an unbroken chain of railroad connec
tions between New York and the West.
Charters were applied for in New York
and New Jersey, and the applications
were opposed by all the railroad com
panies that would be affected by the
tunnel. The New Jersey legislature after
months of argument gave the tunnel
company a char ter, and $10,000,000 was
subscribed .' Then was set up a litigation
over the right of , way, which ended in
establishing the right of the tunnel
company. ' The New York legislature
after a contest almost as severe as that
in New J ersey cave a charter1 to the
company. Work was begun in Novem
ber, 1873, and a working shaft was sunk
in Fifteenth street, Jersey City. Soon
after operations were -begun an injunc
tion suspended the work on the suit o
the Delaware, Lackawanna and West
ern Railroad company. This litigation
lasted for two. years and finally the
cliarter rignts oi tne tunnel company
were established. Work on the tunne!
was then immediately resumed.
j.ne engineering plan adopted was
that known as the "Haskin plan" o
tunneling in soft material which dif
leredirom otner plans in using com
pressed air to keep out the water and to
partly uphold the earth. The com
pressed air was also to be used to carry
back through pipes to the working
shaft any" clay, mud or water that
might accumulate in the heading dur
ing the: excavation. This use of com
pressed air had been declared by a num-r
ber of scientific men to be impracticable.
The width of the North river on the
line of the tunnel which is a straight
iine from the foot of Fifteenth street,
J ersey City, to the foot of Morton
street, New York, is 5,500 feet, or over
aimile. Investigation showed that the
greatest depth of water was sixty feet,
and the material to be tunneled was for
the most part a tenacious silt a kind of
blue-black mud underlaid by hard
sand. On the New York side there was
some rock and gravel. The character
of the soil was considered favorable for
tunnel construction.
It was at first proposed to make one
large double-track tunnel, but thi3 plan
was abandoned in favor of two single
track tunnels to be joined at each ter
minus so as to form a double-track
tunnel. One of these tunnels only is in
course of active construction, and
it is proposed soon to continue the other
one. The crown of the tunnel was
built at least twenty feet below the river
bed. For a distance of 2,400 feet from
the New Jersey shore the grade is two
feet in 100 feet. Then it fallsj to six
inches, and on approaching New York
rises to .three feet. . It is intended to
have the approaches on each si4e at an
easy grade. Trains will be drawn by
engines driven by- compressed air, and
it is estimated that the transit Will be
made in six minutes. It is said that
over four-hundred trains of ciirs can
pass through the two tunnels in twenty
four hours. I
The work of sinking the shaft at the
foot of Fifteenth street, Jersey GJty, be
gan November 1, 1879, and it is beleived
that the tunnel will be completed in
1883. When the -site is granted the
work of tunneling to NewMYork
tc meet the workmen on- the
New Jersey side will be begun.
The surface terminus of the tunnel in
New Jersey will be near -the base of
Bergen Heights, and in New York near
Bleecker street and Broadway. The
entire length of the tunnel will be about
two and a half miles, i i
The- tunnel is nearly round, and its
shell isan iron cylinder about twenty
two feet high by twenty feet broai,
made of boiler iron and worked forward
in sections. The iron is a quarter of an.
inch thick, and the plat-s are two feet
six inches wide ; some of them are three
and some six feet long, and they have
two and a half ineh flanges on each side,
through which each plate is bolted on
all four sides to those around it. Addi
tional strength is attained by the break
ing of joints as the different sections are
bolted together, the width of the plates,
two feet six inches, forming the width
of the several sections or ribs by which
the cylinder which constitutes the
framework of the tunnel is advanced.
Inside this outer shell is a wall of hard
burnt brick, laid In cement. This wall
is two feet thick and extending slorin
completely around the interior of the
tunnel. -
The men employed on the work con;
sist of miners, welders', laborers and
masons. After the men have passed
through tue air-lock they begin work
by digging forward a thin, circular
opening, representing about the shape
and size of the tunnel. This leaves a
core of eart-i- untouched, the space
excavated t eing just enough to
allow the plates of iron to be
placed in positiqn. The core of earth
is dug in the form of steps and the up
per plates are placed in position in ad
vance of the lower one. . The 'silt is
easily dug away because the compressed
air has partly dried it, and it is piled up.
in tne rear of the workmen and re
moved to the surface of the ground
through a six-inch pipe after being
puddled with water. As the welders
work forward the masons follow them
and lay the brick lining of the tunnel.
There are three sets of workmen, each
set working eight hours, so that the
work has progressed without cessation
and at the rate of about four feet a day.
The compressed air is furnished by two
compressors having ten-inch steam
cylinders and ten-inch cylinderswith a
thirteen-inch stroke. .The pressure gen
erally used varied from seventeen to
twenty pounds per square inch, being
carefully watched by means of a gauge1.
The compressed air passed through the
supply pipe into the air-lock and thence
into the tunnel. A stay in the air-lock
of from five to ten minutes is necessary
to enable persons to enter the tunnel.
Forty-Day rasters.
'. "Mr. O.," of Connecticut, in 178
fasted forty consecutive days and nights , -drinking
water only, arid a few times a -little
small beer. From the tenth to"
the nineteenth day he seemed some- '
what feeble, but after that he grew '
strong, and looked nearly as fresh and
well as ever he did. He survived and
received no injury from it.
John F. Arnold, of North Adams,.
Mass., wrote to Doctor Tanner that he
has twice gone twenty-four days with
out food of any kind except water. He
was ill of a bilious" fever, but took no
medicine. J
One Calvin Morgan, of New Xondqj
Connecticut, being converted duririg a
religious revival in the .year 1840, de
termined on fasting forty days and
nights. He emerged from his house
haggard and emaciated, but lived to be
a hale and hearty man and to be known :
as xoriy uay morgan. , ASiue irom
his emaciation the only proof of his
fasting was the declaration of "his family
i ' j i ii a r
that thpv had nnt, furnished him with
lood.
A Frenchman wagered $300. with some
of his friends that he could live fitty days
without eating or drinking. The' first
four days his agonies from thirst were
terrible. Subsequently his eyesight and.
hearing became unusually acute; but'
he grew weaker, and on the twenty-first
day, in spite'of all exertions to revive
him, died of exhaustion.
In 1872, Doctor Pusey Heald, at Wil
mington, Delaware, cured a desperate
ment" of starvation. The patient suffered
cessively from hunger the first few days,
which passed away.. A slimy coating
the twenty-first day disappeared. She'
. 1:4.4.1,, 4. j i j
renewed her appetite and her ability to
eat. - ,
The First F emale Novelist.
. We hardly read of. a single authoress
during the middle ages, In those days
female education was almost "entirely
neglected, except in rare instances. If,
women possessed talent ; they Were com
pelled to hide it. No female novelist
worthy of the name appeared in Eng
land until the reign of G'5rge III. The
lady wno Urst nad the courage to brave
public opinion was Frarides Barney, the
Iriend of Garrick andf Dr. Johnson.
Miss Barney remained unmarried until
she was nearly forty years of age. Ro
mance is then supposed to exercise a
less dominant power, but she neverthe
less had the imprudence to espouse
Monsieur d'Arblav. a French refugee-
whose income consisted only of a" pre-
PiirinTi nnnnifT) r f Sflfin Tho mornoini
however, proved a very happy one.
t 1 ,t : u nr jii
.uxauauiny uesunuca Diuusmur u JiiOKky-
as "an honorable and amiable man, With
a handsome person, frank, soldier-like
manners, and some taste for letters."
The nniT rlid nnt snflfipr frnm TftrcTt-v
the wife become the bread-winner, and
not very long after her marriage her
third novel, "Camilla," Was published,
by which she is said to have realized
over $16,000.
Oriental Physicians.
The Oriental physicians are the 'great
est. ni-!fk5 in the world. Tate the fol
lowing specimen of their profoundity : ,
An emir, supposed to have the heredi-
(arn rriH nf henlino- nreserihen frvr a
patient, an "upholsterer, lying at death's
door with the typhus fever- The next
day he called to see bis patient and
found, to his astonishment, for he had
given him up, that he was much better.
On inquiring into the particulars the
convalescent told the emir that, being
consumed with thirst, he had drank a
pailful of the juice of pickled Cabbage! ...
"Allah is great!" cried the emir, and
down went the fact on his tablets.
The doctor was soon alter called upon
to attend another patient, a dealer in
embroidered handkerchiefs, WhQ was
ill of the same disease typhus fever.
Of course he prescribed a pailful of
pickled cabbage juice. The next day.
he heard that the sufferer, was. dead,
whereupon he made the following entry
upon his books :
"Although, in cases of typhus fever,
pickled cabbage juice is an efficient
remedy, it must in no case be used un
less the patient is an upholsterer,"
It was evident to the Eastern sage that
his patient died because it was his mis
fortune to deal in handkerchiefs instead
of sofa coverings. ;
During a hailstorm in Troy a" boy
heaved a twenty-pound cake of ice into
the street, and over fifty persens. made
oath that it was a hailstone and that
they heard it strike a roof and bound off -