Star
jjZ
ORGAN
TON
4 Hew to the Line, Let the Chips Fall Where they May."
VOL. I. MORGANTON, N. C., FRIDAY, APRIL 17, 1885. . XO. 7
I)C ittorgcmtoit Star.
OFFICIAL PAPER OF BURKE COUNTY.
riitaigiliecL Every Friday.
T. G. COBB, Editor and Proprietor.
K. A. COBB, Manager and Soliciting Agent.
Terms: $ I .OO per Year in advance
RSjTEntered at the Post Office in Morganton
as Second-Class Matter.
WISE WORDS.
agree-
HUMILIT?
The dew that never wets the flinty mountain,
Falls in the valley free ;
Bright verdure fringes the small desert foun
tain, But barren sand the sea.
Not in the stately oak the fragrance dwelleth,
Which charms the general wood:
But in the violet low, where sweetness tel
leth, Its unseen neighborhood.
HIS OM GLORIOUS NIGHT.
Ksthing hinders the constant
inent of people who live together but
vanity and selfishness. Let the spirit of
humility and benevolence prevail' and
discord and disagreement would be ban
ished from the household.
The philosopher and lover of man
have much harm to say of trade ; but the
historian will see that trade was the prin
ciple of liberty ; that trade planted Amer
ica and destroyed feudalism; that it
makes peace and keeps peace.
We often think we are of great im
portance to certain people; that they
must be thinking of us and our affairs ;
that they watch our actions and shape
their course accordingly. In general it
is not so; we are quite mistaken.
When we are in company of sensible
men, we ought to be doubly cautious of
talking too much, lest we lose two good
things their good opinion and our own
improvement; for what we have to say
we know, but what they have to say we
know not.
We must never imagine that it is only
the poor and unfortunate who need our
services. We have some power for good
over all with whom we mingle, and our
benevolent desires will multiply and
strengthen in proportion as they culmi
nate in wise action.
Ileal forgiveness is that which we ac
cord to a child who has been naughty
and now is penitent. Forgiveness is the
right thing from us all to each other.
Full of faults and shortcomings as we
know ourselves to be,
the like frailties in others?
Moral beauty cannot co-exist with
radical effects of principle. The char
acter that is unable to resist temptation
or unwilling to cling faithful to duty is
no more truly beautiful, whatever be its
generous impulses or amiable traits, than
a figure which cannot support its own
weight. Parts of it may be admirable ;
but, as a whole, as a unity, it cannot be
rightly called a beautiful character, for
it lacks the foundation.
cannot we forgive
General Gordon's Paper Honey.
A Gubat letter to a London paper says :
"The Mahdi, when Khartoum fell,
secured the whole of General Gordon's
papers, together with a large number of
bank notes hsued by the gallant de
fender of Khartoum. These, we are in
formed, he is now taking steps to negoti
ate, and. obtain much-needed reajdy cash
by discounting them. As General
Gordon pledged England's word to re
deem them, it will require some ingenuity
to defeat the Mahdi's object. Indeed,
it will be next to impossible to detect
the notes which the Madhi has seized
and those which have been circulated
bona fide by General Gordon himself,
especially as all documents are in the
False Prophet's hands. Many of the
people from Khartoum who came here in
Gordon's steamers hold these notes, which
they obtained in a perfectly legitimate
manner, and such claims as theirs can
scarcely be overlooked. Many natives,
moreover, who months ago held friendly
and trading relations with Khartoum,
have these pieces of paper, and they will
certainly look for their redemption.
3Iany of the notes have been bought by
the officers here at a far higher rate than
their nomiual value, as a memento of
the hero who is gone. Another relic of
the callant defense of Khartoum, how
ever, is even more sought after than the
bank notes, and that is the leaden medals
whichGeneral Gordon ordered to be struck
and distributed to every man, woman and
child in the beleaguered city, in token of
the bravery they had displayed. Severa
of these medals were in possession oi
Gordon's men, but they were so eagerly
bought up, not only by officers but by
the men too, that they are now at a
premium, and at such a premium, too,
that an offer of their weight in gold fails
to induce the lucky owners to part with
them."
Mr. Block was bald-headed. Extreme
self-esteem tad made him bald; for it
had prevented him from selling his pic
tures, except at prices which nobody
would pay, and compelled him to make
etchings and sketches in the small hours
of the night to keep soul and body to
gether. Such severe application and the
sleeplessness which it induced had de
prived Mr. Block of his capillary adorn
ments.'No lotions or magical compounds
would restore to him the crown of beauty
which he had lost. This was a severe
trial to Mr. Block, not because he was
vain, but because he was engaged. He
had been engaged to Miss Apollonia
Sch winger for nearly twenty years, and
what is still more remarkable, Apollonia
had been engaged to him for nearly twice
that period. For she devoutedly believed
that she had been expressly made for Mr.
Block, and that Mr. Block, from the
shining hour of his birth, had been ex
pressly destined for her. Mr. Block dt
clared himself in perfect accord with this
arrangement, although at times, when
he saw how gray Apollonia was getting,
he had doubts. But he was a loyal man,
Mr. Block was. and moreover he
had gotton so accustomed to being
engaged to Apollonia that he could not
imagine how he should feel if he were
not. Beside, Apollonia had her points:
she had been decidedly handsome in
her day, and at home in Switzerland
6he had been considered quite a catch.
After the death of both her parents she
had come to Eome, and after a few mod
est exploits in art had opened a boarding-house.
It was generally understood
that an Italian priixi had proposed to
her, but then there are few flourishing
boarding-house keepers in Rome who
have not had the chance of becoming
princesses ; that is, of course, on condi
tion of boarding the prince free. Ap
ollonia could not afford to do this, and
therefore she declined. Her first consid
eration, however, was her tenderness for
Mr. Block, from whose genius she ex
pected a greater distinction than that of
worldly rank.
It will be observed that Apollonia was
trifle romantic. Art was to her a
sacred thing, in the presence of which
she would have taken off her hat, if her
hat had been detachable. When she
visited Mr. Block's studio, as she often
did, in the company of a chaperon, she
walked on tiptoe and talked in whispers.
one Deuevea nrmty tnat tne world would
some day recognize Mr. Block's great
ness, and then she would be rewarded
for her long and weary waiting. In the
meanwhile she could only pity the world
for its purblind stupidity in not
cognizing Mr. Block. Only think
of the splendid gallery Mr. Block
had collected of his own works gam
bling peasants, shepherds from the Cam
pagna playing morra, etc. think of all
these radiant works of genius, which
might be had for the paltry sum of fifty
or sixty thousand dollars! Of courso
Mr. Block was perfectly right in refusing
to sell such gems for five nundred or a
thousand francs. She would rather wait
until the moment of recognition came,
when he would be able, perhaps, to sell
th.n all togetherto his native city of
Berne, to be preserved forever in a sepa
rate building, to be called the Block
museum. Apollonia wept tor very joy
when she thought of distant generations
deriving inspiration and enjoyment from
this museum, and blessing her name be
cause she had upheld and strengthened
Mr. Block in his defiance of the world's
miserable disregard.
I am very sure that the reader will now
expect me to tell him that Mr. Block was
a poor artist. No, my dear sir; there
you are wide of the mark. Mr. Block
disguised charities, and promptly re
pelled them. In fact, he suffered so
keenly from these well-meant attempts
to succor him that his friends would
have done better if they had permitted
him to starve in peace and self-respect.
Apollonia. as I have intimated, had
no idea that Mr. Block was having a
hand-to-hand fight with starvation. She
saw occasionally one of his etchings in
the illustrated papers, and naturally sup
posed that ecching was an immensely
profitable business. When Mr. Block
entered her parlor at half-past eight in
the evening and made her the mose cere
monious of bows, her old heart fluttered
and the tears often came into her eyes at
the thought of his staunch and loyal de
votion. When, at the end of an hour's
discreet and undemonstrative conversa
Hon, he arose to take his leave, he usu
ally stooped to kiss her hand, and re
marked, "Miss Schwinger, this day has
brought Us one day nearer t our marriage."
At these words Apollonia" s foolish old
heart positively ran riot, and her faded
old cheeks exhibited a coy little virginal
blush.
"The dear good man!" shs would say
to herself, with p, sigh, as she seated her
self on the sofa after his departure. And
then, for some reason or other, the tears
bv
queting board,
self with
A Queer Squirrel Tarn.
- Old citizens of Toledo distinctly re
member the time when there was an
emigration of squirrels in this vicinity.
On a certain day a gentleman was on the
bank of the Ten Mile creek, when the
number of quirrels moving was unusually
large. Among the squirrels was one
that exhibited such motherly care and
affection for her two little ones as to
prove a most interesting sight. She
reached the back of the creek where a
crossing was to be made. The little
squirrels were quite timid about going
near to the water, but the mother coaxed
them until they seemed to be satisfied to
do as she wished. She ran along the
shore, and finding a piece of bark about
a foot long and six inches wide, dragged
it to the water's edge and pushed it in
the water, so that only a small part of
one end of the bark was resting on the
shore. She then induced her little ones
to get on the bark and they at once cud
dled closely together, when the old
squirrel pushed the bark and its load
into the steam, and, taking one end of
the bark in her teeth, pushed it ahead of
her until the opposite bank was reached,
where the young squirrels quickly
scampered up the bank of the creek",
where the mother rested for a few min
utes, when the journey was resumed.
Toledo Made. )
was, on tne wnoie, more than a
fair artist. He was not a great
and shining light, perhaps; but he
was far from being a charlatan.
He was a little old bachelor, who with
conscientious and painstaking industry
and respectable talent had devoted his
life to art. If, however, you had ex
pressed such an estimate of him in his
bearing, he fcwould promptly have
knocked you down. He might be too
poor to get his dinner, but he was never
poor enough to pocket a profitable snub,
or to descend from the lolty pedestal on
his artistic dignity. He never let Apol
lonia knnow that he sometimes suffered
want; and -he never condescended to
visit her in time for dinner. Moreover,
in the matter of dress he was extremely
particular; when he pawned his waist
coat, he only brushed his coat the more
carefully, buttoned it close, and allowed
a fragmentary tie of a bright silk hand
kerchief to protrude slightly from the
outer breast pocket, as fasnion prescribed.
He had bought this many-colored hand
kerchief twelve years ago, and had cut
it up into as many tips as its size
would allow, using only one at a time,
managing by an artful division of the
pattern to give to each tip the
effect of a different handkerchief. In
spite of all these precautions, however,
the rumor gradually spread in the artis
tic colony that Block was miserably poor.
Some discreetly offered to help him, end
were told, with polite circumlocutions,
to mind their own business. Others,
who had perhaps seen him make a din
ner off a dish of broccoli and a slice of
dry bread, tried in all sorts of under
hand ways to make him their beneficiary ;
but his sensitive pride always detected
. . i i
ran silently, one ov one, a own ner
cheeks, while the knitting-needles click
ed nimbly, and the toe of the stocking
grew several inches too long, and shower,
no signs of contracting.
It was in the winter of 1879, I think
that Mr. Breitkopf, a wealthy manufac
turer from Berne, made his appearance
in the Roman colony. Mr. Breitkopf,
it was rumored, had come to Italy for
the purpose of buvinir pictures for his
gallery, and the artists scrambled and j
fought for his acquaintance like a pack
of wolves for a fat sheep. His courier
made quite a fortune from artists' fees,
and even his dog wa3 made an object of
marked attention. Breitkopf, however,
took his time before making his invest
ment. He passed by the works of the
most distinguished masters with a mere
passing glance, and expressed the most
unorthodox opinions about everybody
and everything. His taste, if he pos
sessed any such organ, was certainly ec
centric; and a certain obstinate and self
willed independence, characteristic of
the self-made man, inclined him to sub
scribe to no opinion which he suspected
of being en regie. After having passed
a month in exasperating the notabilities
of the artistic fraternity, Breitkopf one
day happened to see the name Anton
Block on the door of a rather shabby
studio. He inquired of his courier who
Anton .Block was, ana ins courier
shruerged his shoulders. a3 much as to
say that he was nothing remarkable.
That piqued the manufacturer's curiosity.
He knocked at the door and entered the
studio. Within fifteen minutes he had
bought three pictures at five hun
dred dollars each. Here was actu
ally an artist whom no one had thought
worth mentioning to him, and that an
artist from Berne, his own native city.
It was the blackest envy, of course.
which had leagued the rascals together
in a conspiracy to keep this great man
from his notice. But he would teach the
courier-bribers a lesson ; he would show
them that he was not to be duped. The
more he thought of it, the angrier he
grew, and the angrier he grew, the more
he bought. Three more pictures were
transferred to his possession, and two
checks, for fifteen hundred and one thou
6and dollars, to Block's pocket-book.
Breitkopf was in ecstasy ; he had dis-.
covered a man of genius from Berne a
man who, so to speak, knocked the
spots out of all his competitors. He
talked of nothing but Anton Block. All
the foreign correspondents, who had
hitherto studiously ignored the little
man from Berne, suddenly discovered
what a romantic character he was, and
filled columns upon columns with the
story of his poverty and his sudden good
fortune. Block him?elf, however, ac
cepted the latter as nothing but his due.
He behaved with the most admirable
dignity. The only piece of indiscretion
which he committed, under the stimulus
of a pardonable elation, was to kiss
Apollonia on the forehead instead of, as
before, on the hand. But Apollonia
thought that was so marvelous that she
was scarcely surprised at all when he
followed it up with the announcement
that now he was at last ia a
position to marry. The only
thing that troubled him (though this he
did not confess to Apollonia) was the
rumors about his former poverty, and the
affront to his dignity implied in the
efforts of his meddlesome friends to help
him. The newspapers, particularly the
French, made him furious, and he was
consumed with a wild desire to murder
some of those romancing correspondents.
His regard for Apollonia, however, re
strained his wrath, and after some medi
tation he hit upon another plan, which
and he conducted him-
a dignity wnicn would nave
been becoming an emperor. Apollonia
felt as if ner heart would burst; it posi
tively danced to the tune of Mendel
ssohn's wedding roach, which the band
played as she walked with an ambassa
dor at the head of the proceessioa into
the magnificently lighted sail a manger.
And when Block raised his glass and
welcomed the company, that same exci
table heart of hers shot up into her
throat, and remained there for the rest
of the evening. She was so jubilant
that she feared she would die from sheer
excess of happiness.
The banquet went off with brilliant
eclat. Everybody was amiab'.c, well-
bred and amusing. Great dignitaries,
secular and ecclesiastic, made speeches
celebrating the host's shining merits;
and Mr. Breitkopf, overflowing with en
thusiasm, compared him in one breath
with Raphael, Leonardo, and Michael An
gelo. That was perhaps a little too
much, and Block, without conceding an
inch of what he had held to be his le
gitimate due, deprecated his friend's ex
tiavagancc. He made a positive sensa
tion to the dry wit, nca t conciseness,
and admirable taste of his reply. Every
body's face shone with delight and ad
miration; and Block stood, glass in
hand, narrowly watching his would-bo
benefactorsvhile he spoke, and in his
heart he crowed over them, and sipped
his triumph like a precious wine, with
keen relish, in small delicious sips.
There could be no doubt of it; it was
an enormous success. But all things
must have an end, and so also a banquet.
It was long after midnight when the
guests departed; and when at last A
and Apollonia stood alone in the desert
ed salon, he suddenly clasped her in his
arms and Kissed ner. lie naa to give
vent to his ecstacy in some way. If she
had not happened to be near he might
have embraced the waiter.
"Glory, glory, halleluiah!" he shout
ed, and waltzed round the room with her
like a madman.
"Mr. Block! Mr. Block 1" she cried,
in faint remonstrance, "let me go."
"Glory hallelujah!" cried Block, and
whirled about with more maddening
peed.
"I shall die, Mr. Block," she whisper
ed, sinking into his arms exhausted.
"Do die," exclaimed Block, with wild
boyish abandon; "let us both die. We
may never have another chance of dying
so gloriously
Then
Ionia's waist he
table, struck an attitude before her, and
declaimed:
"Oh happy he whom Death the bloody
laurels
In victory's radiance winds about his crest,
Or whom in rapture of swift maddening
dances
He finds reposing on his maiden's breast;
Oh, would that I, before the Spirit's power,
Had fallen stark and dead in victory's
hour!'
SELECT SIFTINUS.
flinging
The eyes of a bee contain 1,000 mirrors.
The longest legitimate word in the
English language is disproportion able
ness. -.
Custom compels an Icelander in his
native island to kiss every woman he
meets.
A violin played near a flock of geese
will start them into a grand march about
a circle.
A man grows in staturo up to his
fiftieth year, although the growth is very
slow after twenty.
In the time of Herodotus (440 B. C.)
chickens were hatched artificially, in
underground ovens, which contained
six thousand eggs. So you can hardly
claim this as a Yankee invention after
all.
Turkey took its name from the Turks j
or Turcomans, which signifies wander- ;
ers, and originally belonged to the j
Scythians or Tartars. It is sometimes
called the Ottoman Empire, from Otho- 1
man, one ot their principal leaders.
It is said that the largest organ ia the
world has been built by Walck, of
Ludwigsburg, and placed in the cathedral
of Riga. It measures in width, thirty
two feet from back to front and sixty-five
feet in height. It has not less tnan
6,836 pipes, distributed among 124 sound
ing stops.
Harrison Hahn of Wind Gap, Penn.,
has a two- ear-old daughter whose ears
are bent forward and grown fast to the
face. The girl was deformed when born.
Both cars are without the orifice, but
nton deafness is prevented by the girl hearing
ert- cvcry sound, no matter how light, through !
her nose and mouth.
A bridge at Lyons, France, has a
stone parapet, pierced at intervals for
light, forming a passage which plays the
part of a gigantic flute. The rush of the
air currents through the openings causes
the bridge to emit such sounds of music
at different parts of its course that "one
might believe it haunted by legions of
invisible naiads pursuing the passengers i
witn their plaintive melodies."
Professor Fischer, of Munich, is said
to have obtained from distilled coal a
white crystalline powder which, in its
action on the system, cannot be dis
tinguished from quinine. Its efficacy in
reducing fever heat is thought to be re
markable, though one of our wholesale
druggists says that the amount of the
his arms about Apol- drug required to produce this effect is so
lifted her up on the large as to preclude any rivalry between
li ana genuine quinine.
Why Kerosene Exploits.
Girls as well as boys need to uader
stand about kerosene explosions. A great
many fatal accidents happen from trying
to pour oil into a lamp when it ia
lighted. Most persons suppose that it is
itself that explodes, and
JINGLE OF THE PINK.
Hear them prat, prat, prate,
The skater with his mate.
Oh, the skat, the merry, merry skate?
There's many a love ly story they relate,
As they speed at fearful rate
Tis often Cupid seals the fate,
Be rare and save your pate
Ere it shall be too late:
For 'tis so very, very great
To ride upon the merry, merry skat'
Tis better far than twinging on the gate.
Cambridge Tribxna.
He put on the rollers at seven.
And before the clock sounded eleven, '
His feet they went flying.
As if they were trying 4
To kick oat the blue dome of heaven.
Brooklyn Eagtth
I want to be a skater, -a
And with the skaters glide,
A pair of rollers on my feet, ' .
A sweet girl by my side. w
lie tried to be a skater.
And bravely Le struck oat.
The doctor says, "In three months
Again hell be about.'
A daring young lady, named Rastell,
Thought she'd give roller skating a. tussle,'1
Her skates were erratic-"'
Her fall was emphatic, -And
her life it was saved by her bustle. "
JUNIOR OF THE DAT.
a prr-
the kerosene
that if they are very careful to keen the
It was a pity, perhaps, that Mr. Block's oil from being touched by the fire or the
prayer was not fulfilled, lie would tnen
have left a glorious name behind him,
and Mr. Breitkopf would perhaps have
bought in his whole collection at auc
tion, and founded the Block museum in
his native city. Moreover, if Death had
taken him at his word, he would have
been absolved from the unpleasant neces
sity of paying the bill for the banquet,
which, I regret to" say, amounted to
$2,521.30. Block came near fainting
when it was presented to him; but
quickly collecting himself, he seated him
self easily, and without a murmur of
protest made out a check for the amount.
It was done with such royal sang-froid
that the caterer, who had come prepared
to haggle, and perhaps to take off thirty
nr fortv per cent., was completely dumb
founded. He was about to apologize or
justify his charge! ; but Block waved
him off grandly, and seized his palette.
But no' sooner "had the rascal gone than
he hastily wrapped one of his pictures in
a pillow-case, ran to a pawnbroker, and
obtained the fifty francs which were
needed to square his account with the
bank.
Thereupon Anton Block resumed his
light there will be no explosion. But
that is not so. If a can or'a lamp i3 left
about half full of kerosene oil, the oil
will dry up, that is "evaporate' a little,
and will form, by mingling in the air in
the upper part ot the can, a very ex
plosive gas. You cannot see this gas
any more than you can see air. But if
If you want a fast friend, buy
ous plaster. Call.
Its a poor skater that won't roll both
ways, as beginners speedily lesrn. Bos
ton Courier.
In these times a man can start a sensa
tion in London by stepping on a parlor
match. Chicago Ilerald.
Will England charge the cost of the
war with El Mahdi to the prophet an
loss account? Boston GUlc
Is it not contradictory to say that
soldiers who fire coolly make it hot for
the enemy? PitUhurB Telegraph.
The man in Germany who has made
and sold 3,000,000 thermometers ought
to believe in weather prophet. Stft
ingi. When Smithy gave his girl the sack
the other day, she took it very philo
sophically. It once covered a seaL St.'
Paul Ilerald.
The breath of winter may be cold, but
! it is not half so cold as the glance of the
man you strike for tho loan of hall a
dollar" Blizzard
An artist who went into the country.,
for the purpose of sketching a boll found
there was danger of the bull's catching,
him. Boston Time$.
"Soft words," says a writer of pre-,
verbs, "do not scald the mouth." Tba,
average dude ought to have a Tery cool
mouth. Burlington ( R.) Free Prte.
"Suppose we have no sugar? suggest
an English magazine. Well, then, we
don't see how you could successfully
run apolitical campaign. LoxceU Cituen.
We ame with a recent writer that
"it's all nonsense to say that eating piea
it is disturbed and driven out and a J is unhealthy." It is trying to digest
blaze reaches it, there will be a terrible 1 them that raises the mischief with one's
did not health. Botlon
other ,
explosion, although the blaze
touch the oil. There are several
liquids used in houses and workshops
which will produce an explosive vapor in
this way. Benzine is one, burning fluid
is another, and naphtha, alcohol, ether
and chloroform may do the same thing.
In a New York shop lately there was
a can of benzine or gasoline on the floor.
A boy sixteen years old lighted a ciga
rette and threw the burning match on
the floor near the can. He did not j
dream that there was any danger, be-1
cause the liquid was locked up in the j
can. But there was a great explosion,
and he was badly hurt. This seems very !
mysterious. The probability is that tne
can had been standing there a good
while, and a good deal of vapor had
formed, some of which had leaked out
genteel and well-disguised fight with his Rrouna the stopper and was hanging in a guge comprises forty volumes.
Trantcrtpt.
It is said that Japanese women haTe
never seen and do not know the use
of pins. When a Japanese man's sus
pender button comes off he uses a shin
gle nail or a match. Graphic,
Enfant terrible: "Say, Mr. Snobby,
can you play cards?" Snobby: "Why
no, Johnnv, I can't pUv very welL" E.
T. : "Well, then, you'd better look out,
for ma says if Emma plays her cards
well she'll catch you." Life.
In Boston there's a restaurant
Where no one asks you what you want,
But when you enter there to eat,
A soon as you have a seat
You hear the sprightly waiter call:
"A plate of beans and one fish-ball P
Boston CoMrirr. ,
A new dictionary of the Chinese laa-
wnea
ancient enemy poverty. He represented
to Apollonia that, all things considered,
it would be rather an unwise proceeding
to marry just now, and Apollonia, good
old soul that she was, was tearfully and
reluctantly persuaded that Mr. Block was
right, as always. A hat particularly 1m- cmpty or she would not care to fill it.
pressed her was the necessity of produc- 3 crEpty 6pace is filled with a cloud of
ing as many masterpieces as possible for CXpiosive vapor arising from the oil in the
me posi-muneni museum, uuu it ua .mn A Then she nushos the nozzle Ol
sort of invisible cloud over and around
the can, and the cloud, when the match
struck it, exploded.
Suppose a girl tries to fill a kerosene
lamp without first extinguishing the
blaze. Of course the lamp is nearly
had the merit ot being both ingenious
and effective. He sent out superbly en
jrraved cards all strictly comme il faut
inviting everybody he knew to a grand
banquet at the hotel Constanzi to cele
brate hi3 engagement with Apollonia
Schwinger. He gave the proprietor of
the hotel carte blanche, and only told
him to get up some thing in the best
style he knew, regardless of expense.
"it was a very grand assembly which
greeted Mr. Block that night in the par
lors of the Costanzi. All his meddle
some friends and all his pet enemies
were there Italian noblemen, French
and German attaches of legations, artists
of all grades of eminence and obscurity,
half a dozen monsignori, ladies of. lofty
birth and gorgeous toiletc, and ladies of
lowly birth and dowdy toilets in fact,
everybody who had ever done a kind
or an unkind deed to Mr. Anton lilock,
during the thirty years of his . residence
in Rome, he had honored with an invi
tation. He felt as happy as a king when
ho tonic his seat with Apollonia at the
head of the brilliantly decorated ban
evident that if Mr. Block was married,
he could not devote his undivided zeal
and ambition to this sublime cause. To bo
sure, there was a proposition which
trembled on the very tip ot her tongue,
and that was that Mr. Block might oc
cupy the position in her house which
the "Italian prince had vainly coveted:
e. g., become a free matrimonial boarder
iu return for the dignity which his illus
trious name conferred on the proprietress
of the establishment. But the unmaiden
ly boldness of such a proposal presently
rose before her in all its enormity, and
she became so flustered that there was
nothing left for her but meekly acquiesce
in Mr. Block's arrangements. The last
agreement, I believe, is that as soon as
Breitkopf establishes the Block Museum
in Berne their wedding day is to be fixed.
But up to date Mr. Ereitkopf has kept
remarkably quiet. isevertneiess, Apol
lonia never takes up a Berne newspaper
without a feverish little blush and a
strange and unaccountable agitation.
UjalmarH. Boyescn, in Harper's Weekly.
A dogmatical spirit inclines a man to
te censorious of his neighbors. Every
one of his opinions appears to him writ
ten, as it were, with sunbeams, and he
grows angry that his neighbors do not
ee it in the same light. He is tempted
to disdain his correspondents a3 men of
low and dark understanding, because
they do not believe what he does.
the can into the lamp at the top, and be
gins to pour, the oil, running into the
ramp, fills the cmpty spaces and pushes
the cloud of explosive vapor, and the
vapor is obliged to pour over the edges
of the lamp into the room outside.
Of course it strikes again., he blazing
wick which the girl is holdin down by
the side. The blaze of the wii sets the
invisible cloud of vapor on i and
there is an explosion which ignites the
oil and scatters it over her clothes, and
over the furniture of the room. This is
the way in which a kerosene lamp bursts.
This same thing may happen when a girl
pours the oil over the fire in the range,
or stove, if there is a cloud of explosive
vapor in the upper part of the can, or, if
the stove is hot enough to evaporize
quickly some of the oil as it falls. Re
member, it is not the oil but the invisible
vapor which explodes. Taking care of
the oil will not protect you. There is
no safety except in the rule: "Never
pour oil on a lighted fire or into alighted
lamp." vnnnian cruoi.
To make hasty-cup pudding, beat four
spoonfuls of flour with a pint of milk
and four eg 5s to a good batter, nutmeg
and sugar to taste ; butter teacups, fill
them three parts full, and send them to
the oven. Will bake in a quarter of an
hour.
The Bible has been translated into the
Zulu langusge
a Chinese editor gets stuck on the spell
ing of a word, he has to delay publica
tion for a week or two in order to eon
suit the lexicon. Loxtell Citizen,
Mark Twain has invented a shirt that
requires no buttons or studs; and now
if somebody will get up a sock that wont
give way at the heel and toe we don't
see why men folks cannot be moder
ately happy after alL Chicago Ledger.
"Yes," said pretty Miss Snooks, as she
came home from a party at 5 a. m., 1
was determined to be the last to leave.
I hate that horrid Mrs. Blinks, so I was
resolved she shouldn't have the pleasure
of slandering me after Td gone. San
Francisco Pott.
We observe with pain that the old
form of putting the name of a hotel first
13 going out of style, and that now thej
0 . . . . .- .... . . .
put it "Hotel r.ngnsn," "iioiei Ander
son," etc. Soon we shall see such shrni
as "Butcher Shop Jones," "Uin Jiiu
Schwab," and the like. What is th
country coming to? Derrick, .
Imposed Upon.
Representative White, ol Kentucky,
while Speaker of the House, in the
Twenty-seventh Congress. was so pressed
with business that when he had to de
liver his valedictory he got one of tho
men who are always on hand to make 1
little money to write his address. I
was handed him just little while be
fore the time he had to deliver it, and
he put it into his pocket without read
ing. When the time came he arose,and
slowly unfolding the manuscript, reai
the address. It was very brilliant, bu
it was Aaron Burr's famous Talcdictor
to the Senate. The Speaker never re
covered from the shock. He went home
was taken very ill, and it is supposed h
killed himself for shame. .