VOL. I.
BESSEMER CITY, N. C., THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1892.
NO. 20.
i Tnere is reported to De an Increasing
demand for bicycles among Congressmen,
and it is becoming a not infrequent sight
to see the well-known members of the
House spinning along the avenues of
Washington on wheels.
The city of Cincinnati has for many
years been a favorable abiding place of
Hebrews, remarks the New York Press.
■At a recent celebration there Rabbi
Wise said that “Cincinnati would here
after be the Zion of Judaism iu
'America.”
' The pneumatic tube is fast being per
fected. In St. Louis m iil matter is’ to
be carried two-thirds of a mile by such
service. Some day the Eastern States
will be gridironed with pneumatic tubes,
and then,-the New York Mail and Ex-
press predicts, Gotham newspapers will
(be left on an Albany doorstep within
thirty minutes after leaving the press.
■The perfection of pneu natic service will
[revolutionize many lines of in lustry.
Within three years passenger rate on
[the railroad across the Isthmus of Pana-
Ima have been reduced to ten and five
Icents a mile for first and second, class
(tickets. Up to that time the charge for
{passenger transportation on the Panama
(Railroad was the highest in the world,
being $25 in American gold for first-class
and $10 in gold for second -class passen
gers between Panama and Colon, or
about fifty cents and twenty cents a mile.
Respectively.
( Says the St. Louis Republic: There
5s plenty of money in New York—but it
doesn’t grow on trees. Bank coffersate
overflowing with idle dollars, and they
are so cheap that ths Union Trust Com
pany wilhallow only one per cent, on de-
iposits, while bankers are declining new
accounts. Au authority says: “Com
mission houses are overran with bank
(messengers offering to lend then funds
'at almost nominal rates and almost any
i80rt of collateral.'’
/ “Our afternoon papers,” says a San
•Francisco newspaper man, “are one day
{ahead of the world in giving the news.
■ For when they are ready to go to press
(New York is ready to go to bed, and the
‘London Times has gone to press for the
next day. In the case of our morning
(papers, they have the advantage of secur
ing the exclusive news our New York or
any other large Eastern paper may have
(for the representative of the San Francisco
papers wait until the New York papers
come out at 3 a. M. and then wire the
sensation west, where they arrive long
before midnight.”
The dreams of science penetrate the
field of miracles, soliloquizes the Detroit
Free Press. Since that German genius
has found a way of transforming sawdust
into sugar, other chemists are busily
peeking to convert articles that have been
useless for food into nutritious and tooth
some dishes. The wonderful accom
plishments of the age warn us against
scoffing at the wildest predictions of
science. No one knows how soon wet
may be eating hot basswood biscuits,
dog-wood sausages or Norway pine
apples. Hardwood army crackers and
slabs of side meat may feed future war- ,
riors and the food of our navies may be
towed in log-like rafts. You can’t tell,,
' English is now in the lead as the
probable universal language of the
world, asserts the New York Gazette.
In Germany and Russia it has supplanted
French as the first foreign language to
be learned. In Russia it is the fashion
able thing to be able to speak English.
Moreover, the Russians prefer English to
their own language for use in telegrams,
as English conveys more meaning in
fewer words. The deliberations in inter
national conferences are now conducted
In English instead of in French. Iu uu-
eivilized regions the triumphs of English
is, needless to say, even more complete.
It has everywhere on the coast of Africa
driven out all other European languages.
Even in the French Colonies it is assert
ing itself against French, and in the
German Cameroons it divides the honors
with German. It has no dangerous
rival in Africa except Arabic. Portu
guese was the dominant language on the
west coast for many years; now English
is spoken continuously from Sierra Leone
to the San Pedro River, a distance of
ever 800 miles. The Nile and Niger and
the Great Lakes are already English; the
Congo and Zambesi will most probably
end by being so. It is therefore difficult
to see what can prevent English from be
coming the common language of the
whole world. Omitting all mention of
India, where English has spread with
unexampled rapidity, Japan is said to be
adopting English wholesale, the sign-
boards of the shops being very generally,
and the names of towns and villages
always, inscribed in English as well as
Japanese characters. The agency which
has done and will do the most to make
English the universal speech is coloniza
tion, and the agents are English-speak
ing cn ’ " : ''■
A Race Between Tongue and
Hoof.
OU want anything?”
in a decidedly terselj
tone, was the greeting
old Joel Gringer gavi
the tall young school
master, who stood
fumbling the latch ci
the front gate.
That wasn’t th*
right way to encourage
the young man, and shrewd Joel Gringei
knew it. He wanted to make him go
through the torture of telling him plainly
that he had come to see his daughter so
that he could put an end to the thing
then and there.
“Hm! I—I—just wanted to know if
Miss—hm—hm—is at home,” and the
young fellow relieved his nervousness by
digging up the gravel walk with his left
toe.
“I thought >0111 business was to teach
the children to speak the English lan
guage, and here you can’t do anything
but hum and haw. I’m at home, and so
is the Growler there. Anything else?”
“No, sir,” with a loud ahem; “I was
just going up the road to Mr. Mason’s,
and I wanted to know if the family were
all well—that’s all.” And the bashful
young fellow seemed to have found his
wits somewhere, for he turned coolly
away.
The old farmer's eyes were not so sharp
as he prided himself they were, or he
might have seen the fiutter of something
white, three distinct times,from the nar
rowest opening in the blinds above, and
have guessed why the young man was so
easily satisfied.
He watched the straight, lithe young
rorm until it seemed only a shadow
against Neighbor Mason’s barn.
“Gone on to Mason’s,” was his gruff
answer to his wife’s questioning look.
“Only wanted to inquire after the health
of the family. S’pose he thinks the dees-
trick is assessed to pay him for goin’
round an’ doin’ that—ha, ha! We’ll see
how his fractions will work in this
house. Much good it will do him to
talk it over with John Mason,the old—”
“Sh—!” hissed cautiously into his
ear, and a warning finger told him to
leave uncomplimentary references to the
neighbor—with Whom ne bad been em
broiled in a bitter lawsuit, and between
whose farms a “devil’s lane” prevented
any joining of line fences—unsaid.
“There’s Mason’s hired man again.
“Well?”
“The old man sent me over to say
them there hogs o’ yourn’s been into the
back cornfield ag’in an’ he won’t turn
’em out till doomsday nor let me. They’re
there yit an’ making the interest on
$5000 fly like sixty—that’s what the old
man’lows the field’ll fetch him. Better
not take that there pup along, had ye?
Hi! wait till I can get out!”
The last exclamation was caused by
preparations for unchaining the huge
bulldog Growler; and Ben Stone made
one leap over the fence.
■‘Said my say out. He’n the dog’s
witnesses enough, I reckon, to the scrim
mage there'll be. Laws! but there’ll be
smash to pay for to-night, sure’s my
name’s Ben Stone.”
In a hollow in the road, not twenty
rods from Joel Gringer’s house, the thick
green turf by the wayside served as a
cushion for the feet of two restive steeds
that would stamp at the troublesome
flies. The nervy fellows—two of the
most tireless travelers John Mason's sta
ble could boast—champed their bits rest
lessly and tossed their heads.
Adown the green, thorny breastwork
that defended Joel Gringer’s possessions
from the wayside grazers flitted a slight
figure, crouching and halting, and then 1
darting swiftly forward toward the little
dell which seemed to be the rendezvous
sought.
“Is that you. Nannie?” a hoarse, ex
cited whisper met her a few rods distant
from the horses.
“Sh—! Yes; but do let us hurry!
I’m afraid every minute those hogs
haven’t, done justice to the obstinacy of
their nature, and, father—”
“Well, give me your foot, and off we
go. We’ll show Joel Gringer whether I
am competent to teach a girl addition.”
“ And are you sure the preacher un
derstands?
“Sure, darling, he’s to be at Brother
Stillwell’s to-night, on his way to the
Kildeer appointment. Now, old tel.
lows, do your best.” .
Patter, patter! click, click! Neck to
neck and nostril to nostril skimmed the
two fleet coursers, like two well mated
birds of flight.
Away back on the last ridge, a mile
or more away, the moonlight glistens on
something bright—-a silver plated b^kle
or saddle decoration—and then there
comes a clear, ringing sound, as when
steel strikes flint.
As the clatter of the hoofs rang down
the road past John Mason’s two unusual
night incidents might have been wit
nessed, the gleam of a light across ths
fields swaying and flickering as though
carried by an excited, unsteady hand, and
a man leaning against the door of John
Mason's stables, whittling a stick and
musing over something which evidently
pleased him much. “He. he! I never
helped take them out of here. Can’t
prove it by me who’s takin’ to stealin’;
h’ain’t I been behind the haystack tryin’
to hammer the bung in that barrel?
There’s one consolation; if them there
horses have to go fur, the’ve been well
fed an’ every shoe is as sound as a trigger
—ha, ha!”
“He’s coining! Ob, hurry, Dick! We
cannot reach Mr. Stilwell’s in time)
it’s—”
“Three miles yet, and-—”
“You know Fleetwood’s gait; Mr.
Mason never had a horse that could out
run him. What shall we do? Oh, if
only we were—”
“Married, and I could call you mj
own; thea-I would not run a step, but
could defend my right to yon jp the eyei
of the law. Listen! what’s that ahead?’’
“The Corners are just down there, yov
know, and some one may be coming os
the cross-road.”
“That is the direction from which th,
preacher comes. What if it should be
—But no; he’s going straight ahead
of us. Yes, there he turns! Whip up
and let’s overtake him.”
A quarter of a mile; half a mile; three-
quarters. The sound of hoofs in both
directions are growing distinct.
“Call him, Richard! He may stop.
Oh, if it only is!”
“But your father will hear, too, and
hasten I Hello, there? Wait!”
In a moment the overtaken party was
seen, sure enough, to be the very preacher
they were riding hard and fast to find.
But while the situation was being ex
plained, the footsteps of the pursuing
horse were heard close by, and in a min
ute another “Hello!” rang on their ears,
hoarse and infuriated: “Stop! stop, I
command you! Young man, I’ll horse
whip you on the spot if you don’t give
me my daughter?”
The two looked at each other in de
spair. But the preacher, backwoods
man that he was, was a man of wit and
resources, and of heart as well.
“Keep on,” said ho quietly, “and ride
as fast as you can. Join your hands and
sit firm in your saddle when I tell you.
I have it all on the top of my tongue.”
Clatter, clatter—clink, clink! rang the
sharp hoof beats! Nearer and nearei
they came together; but the word’s rolled
off the preacher's lips, as he rose and
sank in his stirrups, faster than the speed
of the racers.
Nearer and nearer sped Fleetwood
until his hoarse panting almost drowned
the preacher’s words. But a few rods
separated them.
“Join your right hands,” came the
share command.
“Halt, I command you, in the name
of—”
“Put spurs. Foreasmuch as Richard
W. Anderson and Annie Gringer have
consented to—”
“Hold up there! liman officer of the
law!” demanded another voice, drown
ing the rest of the preacher’s “foras
much.”
But the wild wedding party dashed
forward, and the preacher’s lips worked
fast.
“In the name of the Father—”
“Halt, or you suffer the penel—”
“And of the Son and—”
“Give me my daughter, you villian.’
“And of the Holy Ghost, I pronounce
that they are husband and wife. Amen.”
There was a halt then, and explana
tions that disarmed the man of the law
and sent old Joel Gringer back to bis
belated supper with vain cursings of his
luck.
The supper at Stilwell’s was flavored
with pleasanter reflections, and Ben
Stone had many an opportunity to won
der aloud in his sly way:
“How under the sun them hogs ever
did git into old man Mason’s cornfield
jest when Dick Anderson wanted to steal
Joel Gringer’s daughter.”—New York
Press.
—.^B^.—— „
flow Animals Bear Pain.
One of the pathetic things connected
with this life is the manner in which the
animal kingdom endures suffering, says
the Florida Times-Union. Take horses,
for instance, in battle, and after the
first shock of a wound they make no
sound. They bear tne pain with a mute,
wondering enduram 3, and if you hear a
wild groan from the bat• i .field it comes
from their loneliness, their loss of human
companionship which seems absolutely
indispensable to the comfort of domesti
cated animals.
The dog will carry a broken leg for
days wistfully,but uncomplainingly. The
cat, stricken with club or stone or
caught in some trap from which it
gnaws its way to freedom, crawls to some
secret place and bears in silence pain
which we could not endure. Sheep and
other cattle meet the thrust of the
butcher’s knife without a sound, and
even common poultry endure intense
agony without complaint.
The dove, shot unto death, flies to
some far off bough, and and as it dies
the silence is unbroken save by the pat
ter on the leaves of iits own life blood.
The wounded deer speeds to some thick
brake, and in pitiful submission waits
for death. The eagle, struck in mid
air, fights to the last against the fatal
summons. There is no moan or sound
of pain, and the defiant look never fades
from its eyes until the lids close over
them never to uncover again.
People Who Throw Pennies Away.
Have you ever picked up a penny on
thestreet? If so, you probably have not
stopped a minute to think how the cop
per coin came to be lying there. It prob
ably never entered your mind that the
former owner of that penny threw it
away purposely. Your'natural conclusion
after finding the coin was that some one
had accidentally dropned it.
It is a fact that ( go has many men
where superstition -h* form if re
garding the possess, a of copper coins
as unlucky. These men will never keep
a copper in their pockets if they can help
themselves, for which newsboys are pro
foundly grateful. Should a stray penny
find its way into the clothes of these
superstitious creatures,it is quickly flung
away with a sigh of relief—and as
quickly picked up unless invisible to the
Chicago eyes.
This habit is common among poli
ticians, speculators, gamblers of the or
dinary kind, actors and some business
men who would rather lose a good din
ner than be among thirteen at the table.
These men, who look upon the despised
but useful copper as a “hoodoo” are the
same men who carry the left hind foot
of a rabbit,a horse chestnut or other sup
posed charm in their vest pocket to ward
off the evil genius known as bad luck.
Some of these cranks go so far as to
keep pennies out of their homes, and as
long as the children get their pocket
money in more valuable metal there is no
objection to the boycott on copper.
There are men in the city hall and county
building who honestly think they would
be beaten at the polls or lose their job if
a penny got into their pocket.—Chicago
Tribune.
Black Buck-Hunting in India.
Tse black buck of India is a very
graceful animal, weighing between thirty
and fifty pounds. The hide of the male,
when full-grown, is of inky blackness
on the back, while the belly is as white
as snow; the contrast being very strik
ing. The horns are black and spiral in
shape, and in length average about
eighteen inches, although they have
been known to reach twenty-six. inches.
The animals are usually found in herds,
and are difficult to approach on foot, as
the bucks toss their heads into the air
from time to time iu a very graceful
manner and some of them arealmost sure
to detect any attempt at stalking. They
are at times hunted on horseback, but
the usual method in many sections is to
use a conveyance very much like the
back of a horse, only shorter, and made
of wood. This is on wheels, is drawn
by bullocks, and is called a jungle-cart.
It is very close to the ground, and from
both sides project flat pieces of wood
upon which the feet rest. The inside is
hollow and holds ammunition and
luncheon. It is believed that they take
the queer little wooden arrangement on
wheels for a plow, and consequently are
not much alarmed as it draws nearer
them in ever-decreasing circles. The
bullocks move at the work of command,
and are accompanied by a shikaree, or
native hunter. The bucks never seem
to fear the inhabitants, doubtless having
learned they are without guns, and
therefore not to be dreaded.—St. Nich
olas..
THE KILLER WHALE;
A FEROCIOUS AND AGGRESSIVE
MARINE MONSTER.
It Is the Demon of the Been,—and It
Attacks and Kills the Largest
Whales—An Insatiate
Appetite.
T HE shark is, by many persons,
considered the fiercest and
most cruel denizen of the ocean,
k and the octopus, or devil fish,
the most forbidding and stupidly daring,
yet neither of them ean compare in fero
city, voracity and audacity with that
demon of the deep, the killer whale, or
orcas, whose destructive habits and fero
cious disposition make it the terror of
the seas to everything that swims, from
the largest whale to the smallest mack
erel. It seems to have been created as
the special opponent of all large marine
animals, for it never misses an oppor
tunity of attacking them, and its strength
and speed are so great that it always
proves victorious in a contest. Even
man, armed with the best modern weap
ons, does not dare to assail it, although
it gives him every opportunity to try
conclusions by “nosing” his boats when
they are on the fishing grounds and tak
ing harpooned whales away from the
crews having charge of them.
The orcas, or killer, ranges from fif
teen to twenty-five feet in length and is
thick in proportion, its outlines proving
conclusively that it possesses both speed
and strength. It is readily distinguished
from all its kindred by the huge dagger-
shaped fin which towers to a height of
six or mote feet above its spinal column,
and its powerful conical teeth and heavy
jaws. This fin may be readily recog
nized at a distance, when the killer
swims close to the surface, on account
of its peculiar form and the speed with
which it travels through the water.
Two species of the orcas are known in
the Pacific Ocean, one being called the
low-finned killer, and the other the
high-finned killer, and both are equally
destructive. They are the inveterate
foes of the shoals of seal that follow the
salmon of the Pacific to their spawning
grounds in British Columbia and Alaska,
it being nothing unusual to behold a seal
in the net. of swallowing n Salmon,
gulped down by a pursuing killer. It is
also very destructive among fur seal,
often staying near a rookery for a long
time and devouring every cub incautious
enough to enter the water in its vicinity.
It commits greater havoc among the fur
seal than the entire Canadian fleet, as
it works unceasingly and its appetite
never seems satisfied.
The sight of a single killeris sufficient
to make a shoal of seal scatter like terror-
stricken sheep or run ashore, if land is
convenient,for they will face any danger
rather than encounter their rapacious
foe, which seems to fairly revel in blood
shed and the tortures it inflicts on its
prey.
When killers move in companies they
attack their prey on every side, but de
vote particular attention to the lips, to
which they cling like so many bulldogs
until they pull the quarry to the bottom,
where they soon finish its earthly career.
Should the object of their assault be a
whale, they tear out its tongue the mo
ment it opens its mouth, and cripple its
fins to prevent it from escaping. Two
or three of them are able to kill the lar
gest whale afloat, but they rarely assail
an adult if they can secure its young,un
less they are very hungry or in overpow
ering numbers. This is not through any
lack of courage or objections to a con
test, but their desire to secure provender
as expeditiously as possible.
When a whale is accompanied by its
calf the latter is usually the object of
their main attack, the dam only receive,
ing punishment enough to keep her
from protecting her progeny, but if she
proves very pugnacious they assault her
fiercely and rarely leave her until she is
dead and eaten.
They are as greedy as they are fierce,
for they cut huge lumps out of the
whales they kill,swallow them when they
come to the surface and descend imme
diately after more. One of them thinks
nothing of gulping down a seal or small
porpoise, and four of them can, in all
probability, devour a bowhead whale in
twenty-four hours.
They attack a walrus as promptly as
they would a common seal,and often rob
it of its young, and instances are known
where they carried away the carcass of a
whale which was being towed to a
whaling vessel by members of the crew.
The size of their maw may be inferred
from the fact that fourteen seals and
thirteen herring hogs, or bay porpoises,
were found in the stomach of a killer
only sixteen feet in length, and eight
tunnies in the stomach of another about
nineteen feet in length. As an adult
tunny weighs from 500 to 1500 pounds,
the appetite of that particular killer must
have been in fair condition.
The tunny, or horse mackerel, has the
deserved reputation of being one of the
most ferocious and voracious of its fierce
and hungry family, yet it becomes per
fectly panic-stricken on seeing its arch
enemy, the killer. I have seen vast
shoals of tunnies sweeping along the
southern shore of California and chasing
smaller fish ashore or devouring them by
the thousands, and a little later these
shoals rushing about in the wildest con
fusion to escape the onslaught of a small
detachment of killers. The water was
in a state of violent ebullition under the
impulse of their movements, and hun
dreds of tunnies could be seen leaping
into the air at a time trying to escape
their merciless pursuers, but all in vain,
as nothing that swims can escape them
when they put forth their best exer
tions.
I have also known them to ch^se the
beluga, or white whale, ashore on the
Alaskan coast and follow it out of the
water, despite the presence of Indiana
and many canoes.
They seem to have no fear of mar
probably because he has never wage
war on them, their strength, speec
courage and great vitality rendering we
too uncertain and costly an experimer
for those who pursue fish for profit. Th
Makah Indians of Washington used
about twenty years ago—and may nor
for all I know—to attack the killers and
capture some of them, but they consid
ered it very arduous and dangerou;
work, and would never willingly take f
white man on one of their expeditions
for fear he might get. injured. The;
considered the fat and flesh of a younj
orcas superior to that of the elk and t‘
possess “good medicine” properties i
all maritine pursuits.
Although the killers will, when hun
gry, devour small fish, yet their natural
prey is the largest marine animals, suet
as whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals,
walruses and their congeners. They
seem to have the deadliest hatred for
whales and assail them at every oppor
tunity and generally either kill or ronf
them. They have no prototypes on land
in dash, courage, perseverance and
ferocity, so that either species of the
genus deservis the title of the demon of
the deep.—Detroit Free Press.
Checking Slight Hemorrhages.
When minute bleeding points, such at
sometimes occur upon the face after th*
use of the razor, are neither checked
spontaneously nor by the usual means, a
drop of tincture of iron, applied on a 1
pledget of cotton or the end of a match,!
will at once put an end to the bleeding.
Sometimes obstinate and even alarming
hemorrhage follows the extraction of a
tooth. In such a case a bit of cotton
saturated with alum solution or sprinkled
with alum powder and applied to the
cavity will usually have the desired
effect, but should these means fail to
afford relief a pledget of cotton satu
rated with tincture of iron pressed into
the cavity will promptly staunch the
flow, unless the case be an exceptional
one. In case of the bursting of a vari
cose vein, the ensuing hemorrhage may
be at once checked by pressing a finger'
upon the bleeding part and laying the
person down flat, either on the ground
or on a bed. A pad is then applied over
the injured part and bound down tightly
with a roller bandage. Bleeding from
the nose is a common, though seldom
serious, form of hemorrhage. It is often
checked spontaneously by such simple
means as bathing the face and nasal’
cavities with cold water. Sometimes,*
however, when more persistent, some
styptic application may be needed. Alum
water or a solution of tannic acid may
be snuffed up the nose from the palm of
the hand, or some powdered styptic may
be blown into the nasal cavities by means
of a quill, roll of paper or other tube.
But the most unique, simple and efficient
way to check an obstinate nasal hemor
rhage is the old-fashioned one of press
ing an ordinary clothespin firmly over
the cartilaginous portions of the nose
from above downward.—Courier-Jour
nal.
M ar 7 e
The Indian who is persuaded to wear
shoes or boots is the easiest man to fit
imaginable. This is because nearly every
Indian is flat-footed, to use a favorite
expression of athletic circles. Hence in
fitting a semi-civilized redskin, all that
is necessary is to find a shoe that will go
on fairly easy,whereas with a white man
it is necessary to take into consideration
the expansion caused when he presses
down his foot and raises either heel or
toe. The peculiar gait of the Indian is
the result of the way he puts his foot
down perfectly flat and lifts it up again
all at once, as it were. An Indian can
run very rapidly, but he never runs
gracefully, because he never acquires the
spring which the athlete obtains by keep
ing his heels off the ground and running
on his toes.
The Palace Hotel in San Francisco,
Cal., is said to be absolutely safe in any
(earthquake. It is built of iron and has
inner and outer walls, separated by &
wall thirty-five feet wide and connected
by hundreds of iron braces.
Money is not exactly a religious article,
but still it has a denomination of its
own.—Rochester News,
A Utah Execution.
In regard to the talk about the dif
ferent modes of execution, writes the
Gleaner, I wish to say that shooting is
not so ignominious nor so frightful in its
general aspect. I saw Frederick Hopt,
a murderer, shot in the Utah Penitentiary
at Salt Lake City a few years ago. Lillie
Langtry had been appointed a Deputy
United States Marshal to witness ths
shooting of the same man a year before,
and she was with the other spectators on
the wall, but he was reprieved as he was
being led out for execution. He was
shot on the occasion of my visit. There
was a square canvas inclosure with five
portholes in the prison yard, and thirty-
two feet away an army blanket was
spread, in its middle a chair. Five men
carrying Winchesters and masked with
black dominoes marched into the yard
and entered the tent, inside which at
coni, nnrt-hnlo wo- " — :_ ■-’ J V - - - ^
gasp. It was a .ean job.—x^.
World.
It Ticked Through ths Revolution.
In an old-fashioned, low, Dutch style
stone house on the banks of ths
Hudson,at Nyack, N. Y., is the home
of the Barvents, a family whose de
scendents have occupied it for over
two centuries. The house is filled with
relics of ye ancient tyme, especially in
rusty old swords, flint locks, muskets,
cannon balls, grape and canister shot
and links of the iron chain which was
submerged across the Tappanzee during
the Revolution to prevent the passage of
the British fleet to West Point. There
are many other relics, but the most high
ly prized of all is an eight-day clock
which rings out the hours as regularly
and keeps as splendid time as it did
when it was first placed in the old house
by Philip Sarvent in 1755, when he
bought it from Whitlock in New York
and conveyed it by sloop to his house.
The clock hasa history, as it “fit inter
the Revolution.” Twenty years after
ward, when the old house was shelled by
the British fleet and the redcoats were
pillaging the homes of the honest Dutch
settlers and patriots, the clock was corn
veyed back in the country to Olarkstown,
and there buried under a barn, where if
remained for over seven years.
Garrett Sarvent, a grand old patriarch
of eighty years, a grandson of Philip,
now resides in the old bouse. He was
for many years Assessor and Mayor, and
widely known and highly respected
throughout Rockland County. In an
interview recently he declared that his
love and veneration for his grandfather's
clock and the historical associations con
nected with it was so strong that no
amount of money, even if it was thou
sands, would tempt him or his children
to part with the relic. It has kept such
fine time for 137 years, and is possibly
equal to the task for another century.
—New York Advertiser.
The Wren.
“The wren,” says an observer,
“hatches a remarkably large number of
eggs, sometimes as many as seventeen.
The building of the nest shows a desire
for ample house room. It is usually so
long and narrow that a small child can
scarcely get in its two fingers together,
and then they will not reach one-third
of the distance to the end. Now, how
are the little onesfed? The bird must
make several trips for food at every
meal, feeding one or two of her numer
ous brood at a time. How does she rec
ognize those which have received their
portion and those which have not? Ths
little ones always stretch tlieir necks,
open then beaks, and, like Oliver Twist,
persistently calls for more; but their
mother carefully avoids giving anything
beyond the quantity which will not
interfere with the digestion of her off
spring. The question is one which I
have never been able to answer. It is
one upon which the scientists of the
keen observation of Darwin or Richar l
Jeffries could throw an interesting light.”
Brooklyn Citizen.
If you have rowe l against the tide,
And all your ready cash is spent;
If you have nothing left but pride
The landlord’s sure to raise the rent.
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